Posted by Lieutenant Cara Esmé O’Farrell (Counselor / Education Specialist) in Concurrence of Jurisdiction

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Gravel Mardusk (Chief of Security) in Concurrence of Jurisdiction

(snip)

As Cara moved into position to deal with the patient, Mardusk looked at the Nurse and nodded her over. “Ok, what happened and what is going on?” The Nurse looked up at Mardusk and said “The two Engineers brought him in. Said he was working and caught a surge of power from a conduit that knocked him over a console. They carried him here. He was semi-conscious, but when we laid him on the biobed to begin scanning, he suddenly became aggressive and hostile. He hit one of the medics and then tried to run, but collapsed then you and the Counselor came in.” Mardusk nodded and said “Ok. You stay, one medic. Get veryone that can get out, out. Then lock down the door.” and he turned back to the scene before him.

Mardusk

The nurse nodded, ushering the two engineers out of the room, sent one of the other nurses with the injured medic to primary sickbay and then everyone else out the door and locked it.

The man continued to scream, but Cara was able to hear snippets of the conversation. There was only a few ways the man could move. Over the biobeds or past her. Cara was far enough back the man could get past her, but she could, quite literally, roll safely out of the way. After several minutes the volume began to lessen and there were longer moments of breaths between. Cara took the time to glance at the files she’d requested, her eyes going wide over a couple of points. She turned her gaze back to Poltier, and finally got a good look at his hands, one was very badly burned. Probably from the power surge, and that meant there had to be an exit mark somewhere. She waved the nurse over quietly and in a hushed voice, “Has he ever been treated for burns before? Any history of this behavior before?” The nurse went to the computer and looked through his medical file and, “He’s been treated for plasma burns before, a welding accident once, but no record of this type of behavior.” Cara nodded, “I want screens on either side of the biobeds and reduce the lumens of the lights by 5.” Quietly she tossed back to whoever else was in the room, “I want ya outta his line of sight. Wherever ya gotta be ta stop him ifin’ he runs, but I want his focus on me not on the rest of ya.” Cara turned back…he was going to run out of the energy to scream in another minutes.

O’Farrell

Mardusk motioned the nurse behind the desk and then he stepped just out of sight around the central office wall.

Mardusk, CoS

Before the nurse stepped away Cara motioned her over one more time. “Can ya make something up for pain and a sedative?” The nurse contemplated. “Low dose, until I get better scans.” Cara nodded, she wasn’t certified to give medications but anything to get him calm enough the nurse could treat him. A hypo was placed at her side and then the nurse scurried behind the desk.

The body needed oxygen and his breath became gasping rather than hyperventilating. “Potlier isn’t it?” Cara spoke very softly, he could hear her, but it was low enough he’d have to concentrate, he couldn’t start yelling and screaming again. He didn’t answer but nodded, an automatic response. “Yer friends are worried about ya. Said ya got hurt.” He half lunged at her, “DON”T TOUCH ME.” Cara stayed still, the lunge was a protective gesture not aggressive. She took a breath and let it out nodding, “Okay, I’m not gonna touch ya, Lad. What did you have for breakfast this mornin’?” Potlier face twisted into confusion and then he looked at Cara for the first time. “Umm…oatmeal. W…who are you?” Cara smiled, “Lt O’Farrell.” Potlier studied her for a moment. Inwardly Cara thought at least her red hair was good for something. It distracted people. “I haven’t seen you before.” Cara shifted her weight forward slightly judging his reaction, “I arrived five days ago. I’m still gettin’ settled. Atlantis is really big.”

Potlier nodded but leaned back in response to her movement. Not quite there yet are ya lad? “She’s a wonderful ship. Her design is elegant and…” the conversation went back and forth for several minutes. Each time his attention wandered Cara gently redirected him. He leaned forward in his earnestness placing weight on the injured hand, which drew his attention away from her. He winced craddling it…the haunted look returning. “Tha’ looks like it hurts. Do ya want somethin’ for it?” She pointed, she thought carefully, at his hand. “I SAID DON’T TOUCH ME!” And he really lunged at her that time. She rolled out of the way. So much for the gentle approach. “Now lad I said I wouldna touch you so ya donna touch me. Now ya really in trouble. Sit down or we’ll make ya sit.”

Cara

At the second lunge Mardusk took three steps forward which put him one step behind O’Farrell. “Crewman…” the sound of distant thunder in mountains that was the rumble of the Security Chief’s voice filled the space between him and the patient. “You have seen me before. So listen to her. She’s here to help you. And no one will touch you unless you try to touch them first, okay? So let’s take a breath, start from the top. We just want to help you… whatever form of help that needs to take, ok?”

Mardusk

Dear gods the man was silent. If she hadn’t been watching Potlier so closely and seen the widened eyes and recognition that told her someone was there, she would have jumped at the sound of his voice. Potlier opened his mouth and closed it, trying to reconcile events that he wasn’t totally aware of. “I was replacing a power transfer conduit…” he looked down at his hand and Cara saw the reaction on his face before the panic set again, “Ya know I’m hopeless with that Potlier, what is a power transfer conduit?” It was an idiotic question, of course she knew, but the absurdness of the question distracted him and he began to explain it to her. While he talked she moved slowly so that she had his back to the biobed. Locked into a technical explanation now when he paused, “Do you know what happened?”

Potlier looked back at the blackened skin, there was a pause while Potlier had to decide if he would panic or answer, “power surge…hit…hit me.” Cara nodded and she stepped toward him one pace, and he backed up towards the bed. “You’ve seen burns like that before.” It wasn’t a question but Potlier nodded anyway. “Worse, when I was a kid.” Cara took another step towards him and he bumped against the bed. “It was really bad wasn’t it? Damaged his lungs.” Potlier looked up at her and she nodded at him and another step. Potlier didn’t want to talk about it, but that was the problem he’d never talked about it. He couldn’t back up, so he sat on the biobed scooting away from her. “He was in a bit of pain wasn’ he?”

Cara held up the hypo, “I’m goin’ ta put this right here on the bio bed,” she held his gaze making sure he wasn’t going to lunge at her again. She set it down. “That will stop the pain. You just have ta take it.” Potlier looked at it and then at his hand. Cara was pushing more than she really wanted to but the man was hurt and needed medical attention. She waited letting the tension build for him a bit, see if he would go ahead and take it. After what felt like several minutes but was only one Cara made the decision for him. “Your da wouldna want you ta hurt the way he did. Now you are gonna take that, the nurse has ta treat that.” Potlier looked at her and blinked and she nodded at the hypo. He picked it up and kind of stared at it and then pressed it to his arm and there was the pop-hiss of the meds going in. He looked back down at his hand, “his whole chest looked like this…” Cara nodded, counted waiting for him to start swaying as the sedative kicked in.

O’Farrell

It took a moment, but start swaying he did. In fact, the sedatives kicked in fast. A few sways and he fell forward… only to be caught by a large arm. “Easy there, my guy.... I got ya.” Mardusk said softly and picked up Potlier and gently laid him on the biobed. His turned his head to look at the nurse, but kept one hand sitting on the center of Potlier’s chest. “Ok, unlock the doors and let everyone back in. And you can check out our friend here.”

OOC: leaving room here for medical

As the nurse opened the doors and came to examine Potlier, Mardusk watched but said quietly to Cara “Nicely done, Doc. I guess we’ll keep ya around.” and grinned slightly.

Mardusk, CoS

Cara turned to the nurse, “Call me afore he wakes up. If medically possible, I strongly suggest ya keep him sedated until yer finished. The behavior will repeat, the only unknown is the intensity at which it repeats.” Cara moved away from the biobed to give the nurse and medics room to work. The smile she cast Mardusk way was sad. “Nay, that was the easy part.” She bent down and picked up the PaDD she’d been using off the floor and glanced at the screen and then swore softly in Irish. She looked over at Potlier, who was well and truly out from the sedatives and the sudden release of tension. She tapped the PaDD against her leg a moment and then turned back to Mardusk. “Any chance I can see the video feeds?”

O’Farrell, CNS

Mardusk nodded once. “Sure thing, Doc. Follow me.” and he led her out of Sickbay and towards the turbolift. “Deck 14.” he said and the lift began to move. “You okay, Red?” he asked softly.

Mardusk, COS

Cara was looking at the PaDD lost in thought as she followed him. At his question she looked up at him, she smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Ya, I’m fine. He’s not. And if what I think happened is what happened, there was no reason for today.”

O’Farrell, CNS

“Ok, I’ll bite. What do you think happened?” Mardusk asked as they stepped off the lift and walked into the COS Office. He pulled up the feeds and spun the display so she could see them.

Mardusk, CoS

“Negligence. There is a two sentence entry in his file tha’ says his father died when he was 12 from a severe energy discharge. Potlier found ‘em and was then transported off the ship ta his mother. I’ll have ta check ta be sure, but I’m pretty certain no one took that poor lad for help. Not one bloody person stopped ta check if he was processin’ his shock and horror at what he saw and his grief. The nurse confirmed he’s never had a burn like that afore. He is probably not even aware that he’s repressin’ the incident.”

Cara watched the feed, reaching out to manually slow the feed. She watched it several times. “I donna think he meant to hurt the medic. The instinctual reaction when ya get hurt is to lash out ta defend yourself. He was knocked out, so when he came ta, instinct made him lash out. ‘Course a shock like tha’ could have made him muddle headed too and altered his behavior a bit…”

O’Farrell, CNS

“So… mental and emotional trauma is allowed to linger untreated due to lack of proper mental health care during a time of formative emotional development; leading to repressed feelings of loss and terror stemming from the discovery of his father’s body and the sudden loss of a close parental figure. That repressed trauma was then triggered by the sight of of the burn he himself received, and the realization the same thing that killed his father almost killed him. Repressed trauma caused overriding fight or flight response… and he punched the medic.” Mardusk said

Hw then looked at her and grinned. “Contrary to popular belief, my biggest muscle is my brain.” and he mock-thought for a moment.

“Well… second biggest.”

Mardusk, CoS

Cara was not her normal flirtatious self, concentrating totally on what was going on. She did pause however; though not ready to explode she could feel her temper beginning to simmer. Gravel was putting some lightness into the situation and she appreciated it. Cara glanced up at him through her lashes and smiled knowingly, “I told ya it wasnna just your muscles that kept the wolves away.” She looked back at the screen and zoomed in on Potlier. “And I can work with ya too! Comin’ ta Atlantis is the biggest non-what-if so far.”

She started the replay again, even slower. “Yeah that’s the whole problem in a stem-bolt. He experienced traumatic emotional trauma as a child and it was left untreated, compounded by intense grief. What I’m tryin’ ta see here is when he noticed the burn, and observe his reaction. I’m trying ta determine if he punched the medic out of instinct because he’d been ‘attacked’ or because of the repressed trauma. It’s a fine line, but tells me how severe each of the issues are that we’re gonna be talkin’ about.” Cara tapped her hand against the PaDD in her lab, a soft metalic click sounded as her ring tapped against the edge of the PaDD.

O’Farrell, CNS

Gravel looked at the feed, lightly brushed her hand from the control, and in a few seconds had a slow motion capture of the time needed. “Here, this will make it clearer.” and he tapped a few commands.

In the center of the room, the scene began to play out ina 3D holographic image.

Mardusk, COS