Toe the line

Posted on Thu Dec 12th, 2024 @ 5:32pm by Lieutenant Commander Ferrand Beaulieu & Lieutenant Aaron Byrne

1,009 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Let That Be Your Last
Location: Quarters/Sickbay

Over the past 2 hours, sick Bay had seen and treated a number of the pilots in the forward division. Aaron had cared for any number of injuries from the simple to the slightly more complex. Some of them weren't even injured, they just needed to be checked over to ensure that they were in top fighting formation. There was at least one surgical team still operating on one of the pilots, but he was the only critical injury received. There had been a multitude of serious injuries that were treated on a first come first serve basis. It fortunately was not anything like the mass casualty drills of his academy days.

"Computer cross-reference pilots out on sortie today and patients seen."

"Discrepancy found."

"Please note discrepancy?" Aaron's voice sounded intrigued, mostly because he thought he'd scene and reported okay for duty almost all of the pilots. Any discrepancies meant more paperwork, and he was definitely not enjoying the increase in paperwork that came from being the temporary chief. He couldn't wait until Acacia was back taking up her normal duties.

"Commander Beaulieu registered a crash landing and is not yet been seen by any medical personnel.".

Aaron grumbled under his breath before he tapped his comb badge and spoke "sickbay to Commander Beaulieu"

"Ferrand here." This was a call he'd been expecting, if he wanted to get cleared to fly again he needed to get this done but there were far more wounded pilots that needed dealing with after the fight in the asteroid field.

"You are not exempt from the medical check, to be able to fly again" he said, his tone dry "you should have been here with the rest of the pilots."

"There were far more injured pilots and wounded then me, they had priority. If you're saying that my pilots are stable, I'm more than happy to attend, but my pilots come first." Ferrand answered, sure he couldn't fly till he was cleared but from the reports he'd seen...and casualties, they had to come first. "I'll attend promptly."

He quickly got dressed and headed to Sickbay. The walk felt longer than he expected it to be but partly because most of the time he was coming from the Hanger Bay which was more centrally located to most areas of the ship.

***********************************************

Walking into Sickbay he saw the chaos, it was a difficult sight to witness but the flurry of blue uniforms told him that everything was being tended to. "CAG reporting for medical." He spoke to a Nurse, hoping they would inform the proper authority of his arrival.

"Of course you are."the nurse was a little bit sharper in her words than she would usually have been, considering the situation. "Go back to the bed closest to the Chiefs office, and we'll get you sorted out. I'm assuming you want re-clearance to duty?"

"Correct." Ferrand replied as he then made his way to the bed. He was hoping it would be a clear bill so that he could get back into the fray.

"I can scan you, but the doctor actually has to give you the clean bill Just do as all a solid and stay put.". The nurse's voice soften just slightly, and she ran a scanner methodically over him, head to toe.

"Will do." He knew things were busy so any step forward was a step in the right direction. He wasn't sure how many pilots he'd lost or ground crew, he was sure at some point that Victoria would tell him how many fighter craft he was down by.

Aaron was busy as anything but when he he was handed the PADD he muttered something impolite under his breath. This at least he could clear quickly and go back to people that were more critically injured.

"You should have come in with the rest of your pilots." he said softly. "When you crashed, instead of waiting for us to reach out to you. If you'd had a slow injury it would have been too late for you to get the help you needed. Especially after a crash."

"Crash seems a little dramatic Doc." Which in his mind, it was but his mind lingered on the pilots he did lose, the letters he'd have to write, the moral of those left. "Tell me, ever had to write a letter to the parents of someone without a body to take back to them?" He was thinking of the pilots that died in the ambush in the asteroid belt.

"More than once. And for those whose parents wouldn't recognize them if they'd seen them. Those are worse." Heaving a sigh he checked the man's numbers once more and nodded "Physically you're fine. Mentally, you might consider seeing the new counselor that's incoming. I won't require it yet, but don't be surprised if Dr. Thomas makes the suggestion into an order when she gets back on duty."

Ferrand nodded, the usual routine but his mind dwelled on the lost pilots. Craft could be rebuilt, systems repaired, dings and scrapes hammered out but people were something else entirely. Even as he sat there thinking about how he'd even begin to write those letters about how sons and daughters had died in the line of duty, most of which for him were out of sight and he didn't see it happen. Victims of circumstance for some, fallen to a foe in others. Part of him wished he'd made more time to get to know them but time was often a luxury that he was not in abundance of and duty was in constant demand. "Right." With a sigh he slipped off the bed. "Anything else Doctor?"

"Don't make me chase you down next time."

Yeah, probably a wise remark, he was already in trouble with Victoria...Doctors though while taking an Oath to do no harm they could cause as much pain as they liked. Not something Ferrand wanted to test. Ferrand walked out and made his way to Operations, he needed to speak to Massy.

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