The Aftermath

Posted on Fri Aug 1st, 2025 @ 11:57am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Commander Jennifer Baldric & Commander Jenna Ramthorne & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Lieutenant Commander Aurora Vali & Lieutenant JG Micheal Stevens & Lieutenant JG Thalek zh’Vareth & Ensign Kitiuas Thenis ie-Jia'anKahr & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell

1,774 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Masimal
Location: Masimal
Timeline: Current

Sickbay

Back in Sickbay Tarsis and Zh’Vareth were finalizing Sarah's treatment plan when the transporter deposited two bodies in centre of Sickbay. One was the very much awake and alert Lt Stevens. The other was a semi-conscious Commander Baldric who slumped over the moment the transporter released them.

"When it rains..." Tarsis grumbled and grabbed his kit, heading over. "What happened?" He asked Stevens.

Thalek was already in motion as the transporter beam dissipated, taking in Baldric's collapsed form and immediately noticing the swelling head wound.

“Let’s get her on the bio-bed,” he said quickly, already moving to assist. He guided her weight with care, helping Tarsis maneuver her onto the table without jarring the neck or spine.

Once she was flat, he activated the bio-bed’s monitor and opened his tricorder with practiced efficiency. “Blunt-force trauma to the left temporal region,” he reported, eyes narrowing as the scan updated. “Edema is forming. Pupillary response is delayed—possible concussion or cerebral hemorrhage.”

After a quick moment of preparation, Doctor Thalek pressed a hypospray gently to her neck. “Administering tri-ox and a mild neuro-sedative to reduce intracranial pressure.”

Tarsis moved closer to assist if necessary, setting up a monitor to track the commander's vital signs where it could be easily seen. He kept an eye on Sarah out of the corner of his eye, making sure she wasn't waking yet.

"Nasty concussion, someone might need to scrape some skull off the shuttle after this" Tarsis quipped as he propped the equipment they may need.

Thalek didn’t flinch at the remark—Andorian humor tended to skew colder—but he did allow himself the faintest tilt of an antenna in acknowledgment.

“She’s lucky the bulk of the force didn’t fracture the cranial ridge,” he replied, tone clinical but not without a sliver of dry gravity. “Skull integrity’s intact for now, but I’m more concerned about subdural swelling.”

He adjusted the cortical scanner, bringing up a 3D cross-section of Baldric’s brain activity. The affected region pulsed faintly red on the display, a slow flicker that matched the swelling pressure on her left side.

“Cerebral perfusion’s dropping,” he said, mostly for the record—but also for Tarsis. “Localized osmotic reducer should buy us time for regenerative support.”

He selected the injector, loaded the appropriate dosage with practiced precision, and applied it just below her jawline with a soft hiss. “Compound delivered. We should see improvement in intracranial pressure within sixty seconds.”

Even as he spoke, he was already keying the monitor to track the shift in perfusion. His antennae twitched slightly, attuned to both the Commander’s vitals and the unspoken rhythm of shared work between medical officers.

"Pressure is dropping, her vitals are beginning to stablise towards normal parameters" Tarsis read off the readings from the monitor to save the CMO the brain power.

Somewhere over Masimal

Some days work themselves out nicely. You wake up, have a nice breakfast with a tall, smooth glass of O.J., and then you go on duty. Those days, where soaring lazily through the clouds in a Type 12 shuttle, are the good days. This, was not one of those days.

Thermodynamics hit her just as hard as the blast from that bomb, as it grabbed her runabout and threw it across the sky. She had managed to turn the dorsal side towards the blast, and the shields had absorbed most of the impact. But that impact was hard, and suddenly ruptured the EPS manifolds within, showering the interior with sparks. The ship was tossed, and her within it as well.

Hangar Bay / Control Tower

Bonnie frantically searched, using every instrument, every thing she could to locate Jenna or Jenna's ship. Minutes passed, what felt like an eternity. There was nothing on the sensors. This was my plan. And I've gone and gotten Commander Ramthorne killed. She repeated to herself and her inner monologue. How could this happen?

But then, a faint blip, a sign perhaps, as the sensors pinged a metallic object approaching. Then a voice crying out over the din at the edge of the hangar, "Incoming!"

The runabout was difficult to see at first, shrouded in a ball of smoke and fire. But then the details became clearer as it approached the Sunfire, at a higher than normal rate of velocity. Someone slammed the emergency button, raising the catch nets and prepping the fire control systems.

She passed through the containment shields, one warp engine pylon missing, smoke billowing out, a plasma-burnt hole in the port side of the ship. The runabout set down hard and slid into the netting, hard, finally coming to a complete stop. The fire suppression system moved into place and began spraying the ship.

Everyone gathered around as the hatch popped off. A collective breath was held until a ball of Red-Violet hair emerged from the hatch. She hopped down from the runabout, her hair amiss, scratches on her face and hands, and what looked to be a black eye upon her face. She was the literal definition of a hot mess.

She did not stumble, she did not faint. Instead, she looked at one of the deck hands and said, "Hey, have her washed, waxed, and ready to fly again by 0600, would ya?" It was a sign that she was okay.

Bonnie had run down the stairs and across the deck, picking her way through the crowd. Out of her mouth flew apologies and sorries.

"Bonnie, easy now. It's not your fault, look, I'm fine, okay."

"You're not fine, you were injured, and it is my fault. It was my plan, well, mostly."

"Listen, I'm alive, okay, now, make it up to me by walking me to sickbay? And maybe let me know who decided to try to blow me up?" She wrapped her arm around Bonnie, who was two foot shorter, and together they walked across the deck and out the doors.

A crewmember tapped their communicator, "Bridge, Commander Ramthorne made it back in one piece." They said just before the runabout shifted, and several parts fell to the deck floor. "The runabout, not so much." He reported.

Bridge

The Captain exhaled, everyone was back on board. Shuttles could be replaced, Baldric's ended up smashed in the mountains somewhere. There would be some paperwork in that.

"Kit, can you ascertain if all the antidote had been dispersed appropriately, or do we have to go through that again?"

Kit heard the captain and quickly did an assessment, "All antidote is tracking and dispersal rate has improved, planet coverage in approximately one hour, give or take sixty seconds. Did everyone make it back?" she dreaded the answer.

"Affirm we have everyone on board and all but one of the shuttles." Rhenora replied warmly from the Bridge.

"Sounds like a great time to get the hell out of the atmosphere and back into a synchronized orbit. " Rhenora nodded to Savar to take the ship back out into orbit.

"Moving to a higher orbit." Savar repeated as the Sunfire gracefully retreated to space and a synchronized orbit above the planet. "Orbit is achieved Captain."

Bridge

With Sarah having turned a corner Aurora made her way to the bridge, she was glad to finally be able to get outside of the confines of Sickbay after having been in quarantine. Stepping out onto the bridge she offered a warm smile as she walked across to her seat.

“I’m happy to report Sarah will be okay, she’s turned a corner and is on the road to recovery.”

Savar turned from where he was sitting at the helm and looked at Aurora, "That is good news." He admitted. His eyes on Aurora and her well being.

"Indeed it is" Rhenora echoed, and waited for an update from sickbay as to Lt Stevens and Commander Baldric.

Sickbay

The doors parted once more to the bay. By the time they had reached sickbay, Bonnie was struggling to hold Jenna's weight and Jenna was starting to feel just how much pain she was really in.

Jenna slid onto a nearby, empty bio-bed and released Bonnie's shoulders. She then smiled at the young woman in front of her, "Thanks Bonnie, now, the question remains. Was it all worth it?"

"I... I don't know yet. I stopped monitoring when we lost your signal." There was a slight panicked look on her face. "Just sit tight, I'll get the doctor's attention."

"Sure, sure..." She reclined back onto the bed. "I'm just going to close my eyes for a minute. S'been a long day." She lay back, folded her arms onto her chest and closed her tired eyes.

Meanwhile Bonnie walked over to where Baldric was being tended to and cautiously tried to get someone's attention. "Excuse me, um, Commander Ramthorne needs help?"

Dr Tarsis glanced at the new CMO with a question on his eyes. At the nod, he left Baldric in the hands of the Andorran and headed quickly over to Bonnie and Jenna. "Dare I ask?" He asked as he took in the battered form of the helmsman.

"You can ask, but it won't do you any good." Jenna mumbled with her eyes still closed. "I'm sure your tricorder will tell you what you need to know, and then some. But, so you know in advance, my medical record is highly classified and seriously redacted under penalty of law, so, good luck."

Bonnie piped up, "She was, well her runabout was, almost blown up. It's in worse condition than she is though. Not... that you asked, or anything. Um," She caught a stern 'that was needless information' stare. "I... I'll just be over there if you need me."

"Thanks Bonnie, I'm in good hands. You're free to go if you have duties to fulfill. I understand."

"What is it with you commanders and shuttles?" Tarsis grumbled as he finished scanning and picked up several instruments, laying them on the trolley before him. He i jected Jenna in the neck with an analgesic and mild sedative then got to work.



Probe and Photon Torpedo control and monitor station

Kit sat back in the chair and looked over at the technician, "Well I think that was enough excitement for the day, perhaps the week. Mind taking over here and I'll mosey on up to the bridge." She the stood up and stretched and made her way to the turbolifit, not even waiting for the technician's response.

"Ummmm sure" The technician replied, stepping out of the way.

TBC

 

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