Posted by Lieutenant Helena Laursen (Helm/Nagivation Officer) in Memory: Deadly Food

Posted by Captain Marceau Renault (Commanding Officer) in Memory: Deadly Food

Posted by Lieutenant Helena Laursen (Helm/Nagivation Officer) in Memory: Deadly Food
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
It was the second year of Marceau and Helena’s academy time, and just after Christmas break. Marceau had spent Christmas with the Laursen family. Lucy and her family had gone to Jamaica for Christmas. She had left three days before Marceau’s exams were finished.

Marceau and Helena had gotten back the day before class started, on Sunday. Lucy hadn’t arrived back in San Francisco until Monday afternoon. Marceau had been able to meet her at the airport after class that day.

Today was Wednesday and Marceau and Lucy had agreed to meet for lunch at the Academy’s school lunch area. It was an outdoor area with some shops with different kinds of food. Then tables with four chairs each. Marceau and Lucy sat at a table near the middle under a large umbrella. Lucy had a large salad with dressing over the top and a water. Marceau was having a sandwich and muffin with a soda. They seemed to be having a good time despite some hurt feelings about the separate vacations.

~ Marceau

Second year was going rather smoothly for Helena. She had spent the summer taking extra flight classes to cover what she hadn’t tested out of. That meant that she spent the whole summer (after her and Marceau’s trip to Iceland) in space. Flying shuttles up and down to Alpha station and even did a run to the moon a few times. She had passed with flying colors. The problems with Morgan seemed settled. Helena was taking 4th year flight classes, and was not with any of Morgan’s friends.

Marceau had missed her over the summer, but it had given him a lot of uninterrupted time with Lucy, which they both enjoyed. It had been overall a great summer. Lucy had been upset about his impromptu trip with Helena, but he had managed to calm her down when he told her he’d missed her the whole time and showed her the pictures of the botanical garden and some of the other landscape type pictures they’d taken.

Early at the start of the fall semester that had been some issues with Morgan’s squad harassing her. It was all verbal and more annoying, but because she had promised Marceau, she told him. It had stopped suddenly, but she didn’t know why.

Marceau had been glad when Helena followed through on her word and told him about Morgan’s squad. When she wasn’t around, he’d gone and had a chat with them, and since Helena hadn’t mentioned them harassing him anymore, he knew they weren’t anymore.

Christmas had been great. Her family was thrilled to have Marceau with them again, and he was spoiled just as much as Helena and Edílon. Marceau had gotten to experience perpetual night, with only 3 hours of daylight in the early afternoon. Helena had taken him to the beach again. She left the car running and they sat on the warm hood wrapped in blankets and watched the Northern Lights.

Marceau had loved all of it. Christmas wasn’t like that at his house and he was happy to spend it with them. He had really loved the Northern Lights and had tried to get some good pictures of them.

Now classes were back and things were going well for the start. Helena and Billy were going to be doing a lot of flying together. They had to plan different routes, and it was a puzzle because Helena was cleared for maneuvers Billy wasn’t. They were currently at the lunch area working out a schedule for Helena to give Billy some tutoring flights to give Billy more experience. Billy was one of the best pilot’s Helena had ever met, he just lacked the flight time that brought experience.

Helena

Marceau and Lucy were nearly done with lunch, and then Marceau would have to go back to class. Lucy had class at her school later that day. His muffin was half gone and his sandwich entirely gone. Lucy’s salad was mostly gone.

Lucy’s high pitched, girly, bubbly voice was typically quite distinctive, but today it was unmistakeable, louder than usual, and full of concern and worry: “Marcy? What’s wrong? Marcy!!”

Across the table from her, Marceau gasped hard for breath, pulling at the collar of his shirt as if that might help in some way, but it didn’t seem to be. Frantically, one arm braced against the table he tried to get a full breath but found himself unable to do so, his breaths wheezing and rapid. He felt dizzy, his skin had broken out in hives, and his voice was hoarse when he tried to force words out, “some… thing’s… wrong.”

~ Marceau

Billy and Helena had been doing their best to ignore Lucy. Her constant giggled “Marcy’s” grated like nails on a chalkboard and annoyed everyone around her. But the whole squad had been around her enough to know the sudden pitch change meant she was upset. Billy and Helena looked over. Billy was out of his seat first, recognizing what was happening. His father had severe allergic reactions. Helena was right behind him.

“Medic! Call a medic!” Billy shouted as he sprinted over to the table and pulled Marceau out of the chair and to the ground before he fell. Helena grabbed her comm and called for medical. Lucy was…screeching, “What’s wrong?! Marcy!!!” And was on the ground trying to grab his hands and muttering “What am I going to do!”

Desperately, guided partly by survival instinct, Marceau grabbed at anything around himself. When Lucy started reaching for his hands he grabbed her hand, a little awkwardly, the other still clawing at his shirt collar and throat.

A fourth year medical cadet ran up, “Out of the way. Miss move.” The swelling and inability to breath told the cadet enough. He pulled out a pen of epinephrine from his kit and injected it into Marceau’s thigh. He nodded to Billy, “Keep him reclined like that. What is he allergic to?”

Lucy wailed, “I don’t know!”

Billy and Helena, both at the same time, “Nothing that he is aware of.” Their in unison answer annoyed Lucy. Marceau and Akela had insisted they all known the basic health and concerns for everyone. Incase something ever happened.

Marceau had tried to shake his head. He was focusing more on his inability to breathe than trying to speak. It had been Marceau’s idea to know everyone’s basic health, to prevent something preventable happening on a mission. Akela had agreed it was a great idea and they had compelled the rest of the squad to go along with it.

The epinephrine took quick effect, his breathing beginning to ease. Getting any air at all felt much better. But like Helena and Billy and Lucy had told the medical cadet, Marceau didn’t know what he was allergic to. What had caused this?

One of the medical teachers came up and knelt on the ground with Marceau and went over everything while they waited for a stretcher. What happened, what the student gave him, and his vitals.

Lucy was not a lot of help. All they could get out of her with how panicked she was, was that they had been eating lunch and all of a sudden Marceau wasn’t breathing right. His heart rate was still rapid, but beginning to slow. His blood pressure was low, which was why he felt so dizzy. His O2 levels were rising as he got more breaths in, his breathing still somewhat shallow and rapid but beginning to slow.

Helena bent down and grabbed Lucy by both her shoulders and gently pulled her up. “Come on, Lucy, give them some space to work. Marceau will be alright. See he’s already breathing better.” She was genuinely trying to comfort her.

Lucy nodded, the poor girl was shaking like a leaf, trying to cling on to Marceau when the medical teacher wasn’t shooing her away. “But Marcy....” She said, still reaching for him as Helena guided her away. She looked at Helena and it looked like she might cry, “I hope he’s okay.”

The teacher left with Marceau and the medics. The 4th year was ordered to collect everything at the table. “Miss?” He addressed Lucy, “Is there anything not here? That got thrown away?”

Helena

Lucy was still not a lot of help though Helena had succeeded in calming her down a little. “Uhm I think that was everything.”

~ Marceau

“Thank you,” the student bagged everything, Marceau and Lucy’s food and drink, napkins and even a swab of the table and cahir incase it was environmental. Then he left.

Helena gave Lucy and awkward one arm hug. “Come on, we’ll go to the infirmary and wait.” Helena and Billy walked with her and managed to convince the cargo nurse to let Lucy stay, at least for a little bit.

Kenneth showed up shortly after. Billy had called him. He was the squad XO after all. Over the next hour everyone came in at least for a few minutes. In short order Kenneth had everyone assigned to take notes or collect such for Marceau. This was the worst sort of time to miss class. Kenneth left to go make official arrangements with his instructors. Marceau may have been released quickly but Kenneth didn’t want to wait last minute.

Lucy was hysterical and every time someone came in, from outside or in, she would jump and then cry that it wasn’t someone with news of her Marcy. The Blackjacks (the name they chose for themselves at the beginning of the year, a salute to their poker tradition) tried to be patient with her. Helena by contrast was a statue. Her eyes were glued on the door. She didn’t flinch once when the doors opened. She was quiet, even when she was on the comms talking quietly to…well someone.

An hour and a half later, Akela came out. “He’s fine. Anaphylaxis to an unknown allergen. Luckily a medic got to him fast. He’s sleeping at the moment. Visiting hours start at 1600. So you all get to class and come back then. I’m on duty for practicum hours. I’ll let you know if anything changes.”

Akela

The others dispersed to class, making it back when they could for a few minutes to ask how he was doing. Lucy on the other hand, tried to stay as long as she could. Finally she left to go to her own class.

Marceau woke just after 1600 when someone came into his room. He was tired and had no idea what time it was. Anaphylaxis was hard on a person, he assumed that was why he was so tired. He felt better than earlier, though.

~ Marceau

It was Helena he heard entering his room. She’d left class as soon as it was over and jogged all the way to the infirmary. No one else was waiting to see him, at the moment and so she’d taken full advantage to see for herself that he was okay. She settled into the chair near his bed and was quiet. Kenneth would be by soon to give Marceau his ‘orders’ as far as his classes and duties. Akela would be in to check on him at some point and the rest would be by with classes and work and to keep him company. But right now it was just Helena.

Helena

“Helena.” He smiled. He was glad it was only her for now. Lucy would be by later, she had classes right now but once they were over, she’d told the nurse to tell him she PROMISED she’d be there as soon as she could. His smile faded and he looked up at Helena, “I was very scared.”

~ Marceau