Posted by 2nd Lieutenant Laju Eghimea (Security Officer) in Side Sim - Sick Bay- Near Miss for Medical Personal

Posted by 2nd Lieutenant Laju Eghimea (Security Officer) in Side Sim - Sick Bay- Near Miss for Medical Personal

Standing just before the wide twin doors of the Saracen’s Sick Bay, Eghimea drew in a deep breath as she stood. Her mind flooded with mixed emotions and lost in a state of confusion. The walk here had been easy enough. Though with each passing step, she felt her heart starting to race. The moment she turned to enter; she just couldn’t take her remaining steps.

Her blue and green medical data card held tightly in her hand. Such transfers of documents weren’t necessarily required, but among the StarGuard it had been considered tradition. It was a way for new Guardsmen to get familiar with their medical officers. This simple task had been such an easy thing in the past, however not this time. Today, she felt her heart race as a discomforting level of panic ran through her. Already she could sense the sweat slowly building on her brow. And for the life of her, she couldn’t understand why. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been to a medical facility before.

After all, she had logged nearly thirty non-scheduled visits to her local medical facility even before going on to the Academy. In fact, her Academy Medical Officer had once joked that he didn’t need to see her file to know what region of Bajor she was from. That all he had to see was the repeated reconstructions of her bones and joints. He had claimed that for her and those honored few, it was a badge of honor. She had logged nearly as many visits during her standard five-year Academy cycle.

So why now did she suddenly feel panic and fear. Eghimea wondered if it was more that this was a Federation facility. That they simply wouldn’t understand who she was, or why she did things the way she did. Then again, it wasn’t the first time she had visited a Federation facility either.

There was a short non-scheduled visit to the medical facility on Deep Space Nine after her Cadet Squadron dusted up with a group of FedBoys stationed there. Of course, the big two-meter-tall ape got the better of her. After all, his fists were nearly as big as her face. Or at least that was how it looked during the fight. Still, she was proud to spit a large part of the FedBoy’s ear out while the doctor was rebuilding her eye socket. Then again, regardless of what the politicians want to claim, Deep Space Nine was Bajoran, not Federation. So, did it really count, she wondered.

Her mind slipped to a much darker point in her life. That darker place was the only other time she had been aboard a Federation warship, and worse inside a real Federation medical facility. A wave of cold washed over her as she continued to just stand there in the corridor. She couldn’t help it. The trimers started with her right hand and then up her arm. She felt as if she was frozen by fear. It was if the hand of death itself grabbed hold of her heart and started to squeeze it. A thick lump formed in her throat as she tried to breathe. Doing everything possible to shake off the feeling, she tried to force her foot forward. Yet the rebellious foot simply wouldn’t move.

Eghimea could feel the pounding in her chest, as if something was beating rapidly against her rib cage as it tried to escape. Echoes of her mind filled her ears as she heard the Chief Medical Officer of the Thunderchild yell out, “everyone on your toes, the first one has arrived!”

Eghimea blinked hard as she heard someone screaming in pain. Her heart ached with sorrow for the poor woman screaming in agony and anguish.

The broken voice shriek with suffering. Another voice spoke calmly, “where’s her arm.”

“I have it right here.”

Slowly turning her head to the side and downward, she gazed down at her right hand as she opened and closed it. ‘Such a strange thing’, she thought as her mind tried to make sense of the broken memories. Her vision blurred as cool wet trails worked their way down her face.

Eghimea’s eyes stung, and she reflexively reached up and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her wrist mounted pad started to beep. Lost in the moment, she gazed at the device and the heart shaped symbol flashing as it displayed some triple digit number in red.

That same strong and calm voice echoed again, “Doctor Surin, Bridge, how many more casualties should we expect?”

A distant voice replied, “sorry Doc, but it appears the one you have is the sole survivor.”

Just under the painful screaming, Eghimea could hear someone speaking in alarm, “didn’t they say to expect closer to a hundred or so?”

The Doctor’s voice broke into the conversation, “focus on the one we have, ladies and gentlemen. Not the ones we didn’t have a chance to save.”

There was a pause in the speaking. A shadow seemed to eclipse the memory. She could barely make out the man’s image, as she heard him speaking to her. “You’ve survived the worse. You’re in excellent hands,” his calming voice said. It continued but didn’t seem to be speaking to her, “lets get her sedated.”

2nd Lt Laju Eghimea

Eghimea stood there outside the Saracen’s medical facility, her eyes focused on something far beyond her sight. Her breathing was in short rapid breaths that seemed to trip over each other. Tears mixed with sweat lined her face. Her body caught in slight trimers. She hardly noticed the doors hissing open as a bright-eyed nurse was just walking out. Behind the nurse was a wave of blue medical personnel going about their normal duties. And there she stood for all to see, lost in her nightmare.

The blonde was looking over her shoulder and laughed as she completed her conversation with another nurse. The woman turned and saw Eghimea just in time to stop. “I’m sorry ma’am,” the NonCom nurse said with respect in her voice.

Not that Eghimea had noticed. It took a good five seconds and another statement from the nurse to rip her back to reality with a, “wha…..”

“Ma’am, can I help you,” there was clear alarm and concern in the blonde’s voice.

“What,” Eghimea said with a labored voice and struggling to recover. Finally she shook her head, “no….just dropping this off,” she added in haste. Then she planted the blue and green medical data card in the blonde’s hand. Without waiting for even a breath between them, Eghimea turned and walked away from the scene. She drew on her sheer force of will to stop herself from running in terror. Her hands threaten to shake themselves from their very wrists.

2nd Lt Laju Eghimea

Moving down the corridor, she quickly turned and entered a storage room. The door hissed behind her, and it took Eghimea more than one attempt to lock the door. “Lock you piece of junk,” she spat. The panic in her voice was only matched by her frustration in operating the new style control panel. A deep thud was felt then followed by the red indicator which signaled that the door was locked. With a sigh of relief, she turned and leaned against the door as she brought her hands up to her. She couldn’t keep the emotions at bay anymore, as she started to weep.

Her anger rose as she knew better, and this just added to her unexpected swing. “I am Laju,” she angrily declared struggling to keep her emotions from overwhelming her. “I am better than this,” she added. But helplessness was already taking hold, as she slid down the door. Her voice breaking as the emotions were still running havoc over her.

Her hand reached into her pocket and pulled the small white bottle. Through her tears she could barely make out the handwritten words on the label. She recalled something the bartender had said about the dosage. Though right now, all she cared about was the numbness those little yellow tablets brought.

Fumbling with the lid she struggled to steady her hands long enough to open the bottle. With cursed language suitable only in the heat of combat, she spat at the lid that would deny her relief in her hour of need. Finally with a pop, the bottle was opened. Her eyes filled with hope as she gazed down at the little yellow tablets.

Tears continued to slowly run down her face as she poured two of them into her waiting hand. With trembling hand, she rose the two tablets to her mouth and tossed them to the back of her throat. Leaning her head back, she felt them slide down her throat. With a hard gulp, they were within her. Slowly closing her eyes, she waited for the chaos of her emotions to slowly come to an end.

She rolled her left arm and looked down at the arm mounted datapad. She watched the rapid wavy lines start to spread out. The flashing red heart shaped icon turned yellow as the numbers next to it dropped as fast as they had jumped up. Her head turned back upward towards the ceiling as she closed her eyes once more.

She felt the wave of numbness wash over her, like waves washing over the beach. The sorrow, the guilt, the pain all was smothered by a thick gooey layer of blissfully numbness. The tears down her cheeks were all that remained of the five or so minutes of panic, helplessness and fear that gripped her heart.

Slowly she let out a long breath that she hadn’t realized that she had been holding since taking the tablets. Struggling with each movement, she climbed back up to her feet, while still using the wall and door to steady herself. Her knees felt weak, but she refused to allow them to crumple under her.

“Right,” she said with a hint of despair in her voice. “Now, no more…” she assured herself. Turning sightly she saw her reflection in a nearby metal container. Pulling a cloth from her pocket, she did her best to clean up. She couldn’t let anyone see her like this. She couldn’t let anyone know the truth. She couldn’t let down her family, Bajor, or the Prophets. Steeling herself she squared her shoulders.

Taking a step back to test her legs and mentally warning them of the consequences of further disobedience. As the gooey numbness continued to spread, her will overcame her knees enough to allow her to walk without drawing attention.

One last inspection of her uniform was her final check to ensure that she could maintain some measure of dignity among these Federation types.

Drawing in one last deep breath, “right. No more hiding….” She unlocked the door and stepped back into the world….

2nd Lt. Laju Eghimea

Natasha turned the corner juggling Oscar, coffee, and her PaDD. People said there would be days like this but at times Natasha felt like it should have been weeks like this. A small whining growl came out of Oscar as he bit down hard on the toy in his mouth and burst out crying. “Oh bubbie,” she kissed the top of his head. “We are almost there and I am gonna fix it. Cutting teeth just sucks. It sucks,” she pursed her lips and made a frowning face rubbing noses with Oscar.

An I doh getta bacon or the duh-etos Dad stuffs behind the pillow when you aren’t looking, Oscar looked up at his mom nodding as he listened to her words. I wuv wicking off all the cheese. Bucie likes to eat dah crisps which is why you never find dem, he went back to chewing his toy.

Turning the corner, Natasha saw a female officer standing in the hall looking lost. Letting out a small chuckle, she shifted Oscar on her hip as she approached her. “Security is down that hall to the turbo then two floors down. When you get out take to rights and a left,” she said.

Natasha Knight CMO