Posted by Civilian Aedan Teller (Owner/CEO of OMAP Industries) in War… War Never Changes - Cestus III - Side Sim

Posted by Ensign Chloe Harland (Nurse) in War… War Never Changes - Cestus III - Side Sim

Posted by Lieutenant Nathan Harland (Counselor) in War… War Never Changes - Cestus III - Side Sim
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
*** 10 Years Ago ***
https://www.star-fleet.com/core/stf3/outpost42/notes/69387/ Original post
SNIP

*** San Francisco 2375 ***

“Come on Nathan, we have to help these people now!” Thomas shouted at his son as the weapon fire came down all around them. Thomas Harland had been working at Starfleet HQ for a while, raising his son as best as a single father good. Today though was something no parent could prepare for, as the lives of everyone around them came under fire as the Breen had begun bombarding the surface all around them.

Nathan stood, stunned and deafened to his father’s pleas as he looked across the San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate bridge laid in ruins burning as the fires seemed to sear into his mind before he felt his father’s arm pulling him as he snapped out of his daze.

“Nathan what did I say, follow me and don’t stop. We have to get to safety now, there are people here we can help!” Thomas said as Nathan looked past his father and saw the mass of huddled people, both Starfleet and civilian. “Get a move on now!” Thomas said as Nathan began to follow, running past the charred ash and debris that littered the quad as he entered the building as he caught his breath.

The moans of people could be heard, mixed the smell of blood and sweat. Nurses and staff all around were rushing to help people, but they were clearly short-staffed. Thomas handed Nathan a tricorder as he looked placed his hand on his shoulder as he squeezed gently. “I know you can do this, you are smart… smarter than me. We need help, I need you to go to the people who have been scanned and begin doing readings on them… let me or the medical staff know what they need and we can help them… can you do that Nate?” Thomas asked, trying to give his young son the encouragement he needed, but knowing deep down just how traumatic this was.

“Yes, I can,” Nathan said with a soft quiet tone as he turned. Most of the people on the south wall where civilian, a few children had even been here as he walked over and began scanning the patients as he tried to get past the smell of burnt flesh or the sight of severed limbs many of them had. Scanning slowly he tried his best to stay focused, look past the sites and just keep his face on the tricorder as he began sending results after the result to the staff. It was then that he heard the voice, soft and small, “Nathan.”

Stopping to find where the voice came from, in the corner Nathan saw a very familiar face. Jacqueline was a girl in his class with her pretty brown curls and dark amber eyes. The two had grown up together, having shared their first kiss, first date, first love. Their parents, of course, saw it as puppy love, and it was perhaps a bit naive and innocent. All the same, Nathan really liked the time he got to spend with Jacqui as he came and kneeled next to her.

“Jacqui!” he said quietly as he saw she had several bruises on her knee and scrapes all over her. She had clearly been near one of the strikes as Nathan began to notice she was breathing shallow and heavy. “Are you okay hon?” he asked in a quiet tone as he felt his stomach dropping, she was clenching her side as she looked at him, tears streaming down her face as she slowly shook her head no.

“I was walking with Dad…” she said slowly, her arm wrapped around her waist tightly as she began speaking. “We were coming to meet you and Mr. Harland.” she said as she began to cough, small traces of blood leaving her mouth as she did.

“Don’t talk… you are going to be okay…” Nathan said as he reached to grab her hand to comfort her, only to find as he moved her arm from her waist a slick gushing rush came with it as she began coughing more. The sight startled Nathan, the blood was from the piece of shrapnel directly in her as he looked closely. Unaware of many things, Nathan knew he had to save the girl he loved as he quickly began to remove the piece.

“We need to get this out, they can fix you up we need to just…” he said pausing as he got the piece out only to have more blood come with it as the girl began to crash. Nurses came running past as they shoved Nathan aside.

“Thomas! Get your son out of her, he just killed this girl.” one of the doctors said as they took out their tricorder to only find no pulse could be found. “Why did you remove that piece kid? It was keeping her alive!” the man shouted he got up and stared down Nathan angrily. It was clear everyone was on edge as Nathan just watched.

“No no no… I was helping!” he said as he rushed past the man to Jaqui’s side as he began to try to wake her. “Wake up… wake up!” he said loudly as he began slapping her as tears began to sting his eyes as he sat holding her tight, her body warm and wet as he couldn’t help but sob uncontrollably. Thomas began to walk near Nathan as he placed his hand on his shoulder as he let his son have the moment.

“You didn’t know better… it isn’t your fault…” Thomas said softly as Nathan shrugged get his father’s arm off him as he turned to look at him.

“It’s your fault… she came here cause you needed to see her dad! She wouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t for you!” Nathan snapped with an angry snot-filled sob as he looked back at Jaqui as he could feel nothing but the bile in his stomach-churning. “She didn’t need to be here…” he said softly as he felt nothing but numb silence as his world began to fade away as he sat with her body lying in his arms.

*** Cestus III - Present Day ***

“Nate. Nate we have to help him,” Chloe’s confused tone filled the air. The second her weight was not pressing on the wound, the blood bubbled quickly out of the wound pooling around the man. Thick red-brown trails dripped off the rubble filling the indentations of where Chloe had been kneeling. The man watched Chloe leaving him until he was no longer able to keep his eyes open. Seeing his face go slack sent Chloe into panic mode.

Nathan pulled her sharply away from the man, his hand gripped down hard into her arm as he began to yank her and himself to the door while still keeping Na’len firm in his grasp.

“Nathan,” she pulled away fighting every step Nathan took. “We can not leave him. Not like that. Not in the street. Nathan!” Chloe began to struggle against him as if she were being kidnapped. Twisting her body, Chloe squirmed as she pried at his fingers around her arm. “I am not leaving him,” she threatened, “if you won’t do your job fine but don’t you dare stop me from doing mine.” Nathan paused but not to begin a verbal confrontation. Planting his foot, Nathan jerked Chloe hard forcing her to fall into his side. The impact stunned her allowing Nathan to wedge Chloe against his hip. As he dragged her into the building H’rion closed it behind as the blasts just began to fall down as everyone began to have a sigh of relief.

Handing over Na’len to her father Nathan looked around and could see there were tons of injured all around as they began to huddle and gather around together as he looked over at Chloe. “Just what the hell was that?” barked Nathan as he began to help her up to her feet. He wasn’t one to ever mince words as he got to the point.

“Don’t you touch me,” Chloe tossed her hair over a shoulder looking up at him angrily. “You left him to die alone when we could have helped,”

“Stop being a child. His femoral artery was severed and his blood was deoxygenated indication some sort of thoracic or pulmonary injury. I did not leave him. It was triage. The dead don’t care if they are left behind… these people though.” Nathan turned to the room of Gorn and Human along with other mixed aliens of al types as all eyes seemed to be focused on them. “They care, you help the ones you can and you leave the ones you can’t. We can’t save them all… but we can save some.”

Nathan Harland

“What are you talking about? We are doctors,” she snapped moving back away from him. The sound of weapons fire in the street snapped her attention to the door breaking the tension growing between her and her fiance.

“Yes, we are… and that means we help those that we can and move on from those that we can’t. You can’t save everyone… you just can’t” Nathan said with a soft tremor in his voice as a small tear fell down his cheek.

Chloe stopped fighting and looked at Nathan confused at his reactions over the past ten minutes. He had gone from harsh and demanding to quiet and sensitive almost before her eyes. She had seen all these sides before but never a change so rapidly between them. It was this rapid change that concerned her most. Her mouth opened to speak however she was cut off from meaningful conversation by H’rion.

“Nathan,” the Gorn yelled out throwing him a small disruptor before taking up a position at the base of the stairs they used to come down from the street level.

Turning Nathan snatched up the disruptor as he began looking it over. He never liked using disruptors over phasers, but most of the Gorn only had these weapons on hand as they were cheaper and easier to make. “Thanks, who all did we get?” he asked as he began to look past as he took a count of everyone in the room. Eighteen, most wounded. This was going to end up being a long night.

“Not everyone but I could not hold the door any longer.” Gorn skeleto-musculature did not allow for the range of facial expressions but the tone of his voice informed everyone who could hear how bad the situation was.

“Are we safe here,” she asked him glancing back and forth between Harland and the door. Chloe was scared but not enough to panic. The ER had taught her to hide her emotions. Looking up at Nathan she fixed her eyes on his waiting for his response. He might downplay a situation but he would never lie to her.

“For now, but… we don’t have supplies. These bunkers can take a few hits but if they fire any photon or plasma torpedoes… we can’t make it out of that.” Nathan said softly as he began to move towards one of the wounded nearby.

Chloe did not move as she watched Nate cross the room. She needed a moment to get herself together. Nothing made sense right now. Cetsus was a colony world plagued by the occasional pirate not a world under attack so often it needed bomb shelters.

Chloe followed Nathan to an elderly woman clutching her arm. It was clearly broken yet her stoic expression belayed none of the pain she must be experiencing. Her eyes held a somber expression as Nathan knelt down next to her.

“Figures you would be here. It’s Saturday night. I told you partying would kill you one day,” Mrs. Abernathy quipped with a motherly tone the warbled between jovial and scolding. She had a soft spot for the young doctor. He reminded her of her own son Clayton who had been killed during the war with the Dominion. Clayton and Nathan were headstrong, bold and determined letting nothing distract them from a course of action. Leila Abernathy worried this would one day lead to Nathan suffering the same fate as her son.

“Nothing can take you out can it Mrs. Abernathy?” Nathan said with a soft wry smile as he patted her on the leg softly.

“I am going to remind you of that the next time you tell me to cut back on the Stolichnaya,” she managed a small smile. Letting her gaze lift from the young man’s blue eyes she looked up at Chloe. “Is this her,” she gave Nathan a sly wink still cradling her badly broken arm.

“Please please help me. ” a frantic woman began pulling at Nathan’s arm like a small child. “I need help. He won’t wake up. I have tried everything,” she began to cry as she backed up pulling Nathan’s arm to a ninety-degree angle.

Turning Nathan saw who she was talking about. Her grandson, Jasper was only three as he looked down at him as he took a deep breath. His leg had a large gash as Nathan began ripping his shirt sleeve off to serve as a tourniquet as he began to look over the boy. He also had a severe wound across his head, he was breathing but it was shallow as he began to exam him more. “Chloe, see what supplies we have. I told them all to try and stock as much antiseptic and bandages as they could in these bunkers… see what H’iron was able to pick up,” he said softly as he turned behind to point at the small storage area for Chloe to move over to.

“Bandages and antiseptic,” she raised an eyebrow at him. “Are they next to the leeches and hacksaw?” Chloe looked around trying to find the replicator and stasis units that would hold the supplies Nathan would need to treat all the patients in the room. It took several long moments to step over the people lying on the floor and assuring help would be coming to those reaching out to her. Opening the metal wall unit, Chloe frowned. There were no actual medical supplies on the shelves. Just wadded up rags in a box and bottles of whiskey and vodka. Throwing the containers into the box with the rags, Chloe carried it over to Nate who had begun to tirage those in the shelter.

“I am going to do everything… your grandson is going to be in the best hands okay?” Nathan said as he looked over at her arm. It was clearly broken but he knew right now she wouldn’t accept medical assistance.

Nathan Harland

“Go. Take care of him and the others. I am not going anywhere,” Leila leaned her head against the wall closing her eyes. There were others hurt more. Nathan would come back. He always took care of her even when she did not need it.

“My leg hurts,” Jasper said before breaking out in sobbing tears as he clung to his mother tightly. There was nothing Aimee Abernathy could do but hold her son and rock him gently against her body brushing the hair off his brow. Kissing his head, she looked up at Nathan desperate for help.

As Chloe approached Nathan the sound of a child sobbing echoed in the space. Her heart broke knowing there was little they could do for him in this place. A hypo of anesthetizing agent would take the pain away and a dermal generator fix the wound but they had none of this.