Confined rescue (1)

Posted on Thu Jun 7th, 2018 @ 10:32am by Lieutenant Commander Kah'Leth

931 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Caught in the Cracks
Location: Jeffery Tubes

ON:

Steph was shaking with the pain now and she was cold. She really hoped that was shock and not blood loss, but she really had no way to know for certain. There was a thick smear of blood along the floor and into the Jeffry Tube where she had gotten herself into a defensible corner. There were two tubes leading to this corner, but she could put her back to the wall and cover them both at the same time. Alone and wounded, bleeding freely from her leg, she had staggered, then literally dragged herself here after immobilizing, maybe killing, she wasn't sure, the man who had attacked her. Her comms had been unanswered and she had given up calling for help hours ago. She had idea what was going on.

She leaned back against the wall behind her and brushed her red hair of her face. Her adrenaline had long since drained away and she was now fighting falling asleep. She knew that was a death sentence. Sleep with this much blood loss and she was a dead girl.

Exactly what she planned to do instead, she wasn't really sure, but dying was not on the to-do list.

Hands working automatically, she checked the tourniquet on her leg to make sure it hadn't loosened. Good, still tight, though blood still seeped sluggishly away...

The tricorder said a weak vitals down the Jeffery Tube He was using the location as he focused the probe ahead of him for the best reading. The Prone man they had come across was in bad shape; phaser wounds in the right places. Someone knew what they were doing; and the sight of smeared blood was not a good sign. Three hours old; the rate of blood meant significant Blood Loss. Luckily for Kah'Leth's two meter height a Field Kit was little more than a satchel to him, he had brought a smaller one with some type O plasma and the equivalent in Vulcan as well. The smaller kit also had more bandages, chemical suchers if needed. The always present belt kit was added to his gear. He had not brought a weapon, he was in rescue mode, the Pain Stick was clipped to the case as his only defense.

The beeping of his Tricorder echoed ahead of him as he crawl along the 'trail of blood and following the Bio-reading. He had a cord to the kits and dragged them behind him so he could move. The echo of the tricorder and scraping of the kits made sure he did not sneak up on anyone as he saw the added light of a junction. He kept moving ahead trying to listen for any signs of life but with the echo he was not having much luck as he neared the small opening to the area where tubes meet.

Clattering and beeping startled Steph and she lurched a little. She had almost fallen asleep again. But at a sound from the tubes, her hand came up and she pointed her weapon towards the noise, firing a shot even though she could see nothing yet to aim at. It was just instinct. At her angle, though she could see both tube entrances that met here, she could not see very far down either one, and she couldn't quickly move into a more direct line for firing the distance, so she was almost raking across the entrance more than shooting down the tube.

The shot left a blackened part of the tube ahead of him; someone had an itchy Trigger finger, not good judging by the blood trail. He switched off the Tricorder and let it quiet for a second before speaking just loud enough to be heard.

"I am Doctor Kah'Leth." He said slowly. "It is generally considered a safe bet I do not carry weapons." He tried to remain calm and had to think of a way to assure the person he was really a doctor. "You did a good defensive job on the man in the corridor; he is being sent to Sick Bay. I know you Security types like to hit center of the chest to stun, it was a fine shot." He grunted a bit as he slid the field case through the really narrow tube for him to be crawling into. "I am pushing my field Medical Kit towards you...

He hoped this would work as he slowly slid the lule case with medical symbols on it ahead of him to where the person might see.

"Now would I carry a heavy thing like that if I wanted to harm you... I am a doctor and according to my observations of the tube and tricorder... please let me come there and help you. You can keep the phaser on me all you like, but you are bleeding and I can help stop it."

Steph narrowed her eyes and focused sounds of movement, seeing what sure looked like a med-kit shoved into view. It had Starfleet emblems on it. Not that those meant much; if the ship had been taken they could have easily looted the sickbay. "Name, rank, and serial number," she demanded, not giving in, just asking him to identify himself a little more precisely than 'Kah'leth', a name she didn't know off-hand, and wasn't going to trust without some other kind of verification. Starfleet serial numbers were all the same length and followed the same format; if he could rattle his off without a thought the chances of him being a member of her own crew increased substantially.

TBC

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