Star Trek: Theurgy

CH02: S [D01|2219] A Sibling Sorrow.

August 20, 2020, 01:02:47 AM

A SIBLING SORROW.

STARDATE 57650.42
APRIL 16, 2381
2219 HRS

[ Lt. JG Kate Foster | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Masorin

Disturbed from a decidedly restful sleep, Kate Foster had only just arisen from her deep slumber at the utmost behest of a somewhat alarmed and disjointed artificial voice. That voice, being Thea’s as she called for all Medical personnel to report to their respective emergency response zones. Something calamitous had happened, and immediately Kate had felt the weariness of a disrupted sleep cycle give way to the surge of adrenaline. She was the ship’s Chief Surgeon, newly minted so maybe, but she had a duty to perform, and perform that duty to the best of her capabilities she would. It was, however, her will to accede to the desperate needs of injured and oft-dying persons that had been one of the few positive aspects of her frequently troubled life. For no matter how badly, she could screw things up on a personal front, she could always be counted on to offer skillful and attentive care of those under her stead. So it was, that when the call came in from Thea for emergency action, she’d thrown off the sheets that had covered her lithe body during the night, essentially leaping from her bed. A minute or so later, donning the same uniform that she’d worn for most of the day, she’d hastily bounded out of her quarters, brushing past several other crewman and officers as they too went about adhering to their own emergency procedures and protocols.

Unfortunately, or more likely deliberately, the ship’s quarter-master had situated her on Deck 08, literally next door to her half-brother and his decidedly more impressive accommodations. It meant something of a frantic fight just to get down the three-decks to Main Sickbay, during which she'd nearly been trampled over upon losing her footing on a gangway that led down. The fact that Stellan got to essentially wake up, and roll out of bed and into his office, yet she had to traverse three-decks to get to hers was something of an extraordinary annoyance already.

Entering via the main entrance, as proximity wise it was the closest for her, Kate took an urgent stock of the flurry of activity as it was rapidly unfolding before and around her. Something had definitely gone horribly awry. There were bloodied and singed faces everywhere; some to a far worse degree than others. Hover gurneys were being ferried about with a mixed bag of wounded Starfleet and Klingons atop them, which meant that whatever had happened, it had happened someplace where a large quantity of people had been gathered.

“Duncan!” Kate called out as Nurse Karen Duncan rounded a corner with a number of PADDs in her hands, and a somewhat panic-strewn look of concern on her face. “What the hell is going on? What happened?”

Dropping those PADDs as she stopped in her tracks, Duncan afforded the blonde Chief Surgeon a brief explanation. “Some kind of an explosion! I don’t know. It... it was in one of the lounges!” she was forced to holler slightly as a cacophony of cries and commotion had thoroughly permeated the area surrounding the main reception station. “We’ve got wounded of varying degrees streaming in all across the ship. All three sickbays are accepting patients.” She leant down to retrieve the PADDs, and Kate crossed the distance between them to lend a helping hand, and also to afford the woman something of a reassuring hand upon her shoulder. Duncan in turn reacted to the touch, and her face sought out to find Kate’s as a concerned look grew upon it. And with an understanding nod that spoke volumes of the sentiment she sought to share with Duncan, Kate rose from where she had been knelt. They had their respective duties to perform, and both knew there was little time for parting pleasantries, so they simply departed without another word.

“Where is Dr. Kobol ?!” Kate called out to the nearby receptionist, interrupting her somewhat stammering attempt to quell the boisterous concerns of an agitated Klingon Warrior. The two of them almost in sync then turned to face the petite surgeon, who herself waited impatiently for an answer with little regard for having disrupted them. Triage was something that Kate herself had plenty of personal experience in, and she knew well of the difficulties associated with the task, but she simply didn’t have the time to allow that level of outward understanding for the receptionist. No doubt this would reflect poorly on her personal standing with the poor woman, and perhaps rightfully so. All the same, Kate knew that personal relationships could be mended later on, when lives weren’t of more immediate concern. If not, then it was no loss on her part she would convince herself of.

“I don’t know!” the receptionist retorted rather hastily, which meant that Kobol  was either there and she simply didn’t specifically where, or he wasn’t. Either way, it was a frustrating realization, that the whereabouts of the Chief Medical Officer were evidently left up to such a vague assertion. For his part however, the Klingon pointed an accusatory finger in Kate’s direction. Clearly, he’d been unappreciative of the manner in which she had interrupted him. Another time and place, Kate might have offered up a finger of her own, though in this given moment, she knew it probably best if she didn’t.

“Dr. Foster!” came the voice of Ensign Janteel as Kate entered the ICU a moment later, her senses immediately assailed by the scent of burnt flesh. It was a pungent stink that she’d more than grown accustomed to, but it was still something that stung at your nostrils during your initial inhales of it. Janteel, was one of Theurgy’s longer tenured surgeons; Kate witnessed first-hand how talented and knowledgeable the young Bajoran was. He was also exceedingly handsome, in a cute and downright wholesome way. Kate had no doubt that someday, he’d make for one hell of a Chief himself. “We’ve got severely wounded coming in now! I’ve got two severe cases set up and prepped for emergency surgery in the two suites!” Selecting a PADD from a nearby cart, Kate read the list of injured that had thus far bene reported. Ducote. Akoni. Martin. This was far worse than Kate could have imagined. The Executive Officer, Chief of Security, and the former Chief Science Officer, all wounded so severely that they each demanded immediate emergency surgical procedures. ‘What the hell happened?’ she wondered to herself as he regarded her with a motion of his hand, leading them both away from the ICU, another Nurse stepping into take the place beside the patient he had just been attending to. “If it’s alright with you, Ma’am; I figure you and Courtland can take Commander Martin, while Xevin and I accede to the other situation?” Side by side they soon entered the antechamber outside of the dual surgical suites, there were a number of concerned parties that hung around impatiently, but Kate paid them no attention.

In the moment, they mattered little if at all.

“Fine, sounds good. Good work, Janteel.” She responded, genuinely impressed by how he had handled himself during this rapidly unfolding crisis.

Taking a moment for herself to repress any potentially unpleasant thoughts before the had the chance to assail her deep focus, Kate exhaled deeply. Commander Martin was hers to care for, and Ensign Miles Courtland would serve as her primary assistant; good, she thought, as she’d also previously worked with him during the surgical procedure which she had performed on her half-brother, Stellan just a few days prior. ‘Stellan?’ her brother’s unknown status suddenly crossed her mind, and she couldn’t help but feel a surprising level of concern for him take hold. Was he also injured in the bombing? Where was he? They’d only talked once since she’d brought him out of stasis, and that had gone about as well as any other conversation between them had; it in fact ending in almost the same fashion as all the others, with her rather blatantly telling him off with an angered mixture of profanity and barbed insults. She’d have thought that by now, she would have learned better than to part on such negative terms with him. She could ask Thea as to his whereabouts, but no, that would’ve been unprofessional of her. She needed to focus on Commander Martin and leave personal concerns for later consideration.

Swallowing audibly, Kate nodded to Janteel as he appraised her for a moment, before offering a gentle reassuring embrace of her shoulder. The familiar gesture was something of an all-too-common practice among medical personnel. Likely derived from the links that they all shared; a need to care for and comfort others, and also likely something they’d all adopted from their respective times spent at Starfleet Medical.

“Good luck!” She offered him, and without another word he turned to enter the surgical suite in which the other patient waited.

Turning back, Kate saw a different man huddled quietly in a nearby corner, a few lacerations and burns across his face and uniform. ‘Who was he?’ she wondered but thought better than to ask. He had clearly been involved in the explosion, though to a far lesser extent. Whoever he was, she examined him for a faint moment with her eerily tangerine hued eyes, before turning back to the surgical suite and the severely wounded patient within. A deep breath later, she strode in, feeling the confidence of her skill and background rushing to the surface of her mind. There were no other concerns that would consume even an ounce of her attention. It was an uncanny ability she had discovered during the Dominion War and thusly honed into a fine-tipped weapon. Though, that weapon suddenly blunted as Nurse Kitty Ellison handed Kate a PADD with Commander Martin’s relevant medical history, and she saw mention of a brother: Lieutenant Salem Martin. The man outside. It all clicked, and whereas before she could separate personal considerations from those of professional, now she could only see the parallels at play between Salem and Vivian. Kate and Stellan.

“Dr. Foster?” asked Ensign Courtland, as there was an audible moment of hesitance from Kate.

A hesitance that continued for a relatively long moment, as Kate wrestled with the emotional toll that was suddenly at stake, but eventually gave way. “Sorry. Right. Give me a fresh full scan of her injuries. Let’s go!” Kate ordered as she hovered over Vivian Martin, examining the poor Commander’s blood-stained uniform, which had been greatly torn and shredded by the heat of a blast and whatever debris that had peppered her curvy form. Her slender hands joining those of Ensign Courtland as they sought to cut away that uniform and access the wounded woman that it had barely any longer obscured. On a nearby wall display, she saw the read-out of her vital signs, noting how distressingly low her blood-pressure was, which spoke to immense blood-loss, likely brought on by severe internal injury. They would need to find and repair those internal injuries quickly if Vivi were to survive long enough for additional restorative measures to be taken. It was to be a lengthy process, and as Kate began settling into the rhythm of a caring surgeon, in the back of her mind, she felt an immeasurable sorrow for the sibling that waited just outside.

“There!” she pointed out to the viewscreen, which displayed a series of several deep lacerations to her anterior spinal artery. No doubt the first of many injuries that she would need to head off in order to save the woman’s life. But it was a start at least.

"Let's get her onto her stomach! Ellison, get me a laser scalpel, and a vascular regeneration probe!"

Re: CH02: S [D01|2219] A Sibling Sorrow.

Reply #1 – September 12, 2020, 02:24:40 AM

[ Salem Martin | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Swift
[Show/Hide]

Salem had been transported alongside his sister, but quickly seperated from her the moment she was pulled away to a surgical suit, in his mind he wasn't really sure where he was. He felt so numb, estranged from his own body. He kept trying to tell himself this wasn't happening. He was stuck in a moment of shell shock and was rather easily pushed to the side of the room, he had burns, cuts and bruises that he was sure would needed to be tended too at some point, but in the moment he only had one concern.

Vivian, he had to remind himself that his twin was hard to kill. That they had both thought the other dead at one point or another, and that they had pulled through worse situations. A bomb wasn't enough to kill her right?

Salem found his way to the waiting room. He wasn't a doctor, he would get in their way, but he couldn't report for duty or do anything else till he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Vivian would survive this. He didn't take a chair, finding a place where he could sit down on the floor and just be small, quiet and out of the way. His mind was still reeling from the explosion as well. He had blood on his uniform and the smell of it brought up several unpleasant memories. When he closed his eyes he wasn't sure exactly where he was. He had to make a conscious effort to stay in the sickbay, and not let his mind wonder to places that he hadn't been in for years.

When he closed his eyes he was eight years younger. A cardassian prisoner. His mind convinced him moments at a time that he was sore and wounded not from an explosion, but from some punishment at the hands of a Cardassian Warden, yet when he woke, and his eyes opened he reminded himself that he was in Sickbay, on a Federation ship, that everything he was feeling was a trick of an unstable mind. With his eyes open he was able to rationalize things, but the overall feeling of fear was ever present it caused his hands to shake so he dug them into his knees and retreated inward.

Loosing track of time as he let himself rest, on the floor of sickbay hearing everyone panic all around him. Still not entirely sure where he was in space or time, just feeling afraid and alert.

Re: CH02: S [D01|2219] A Sibling Sorrow.

Reply #2 – September 18, 2020, 02:55:10 AM

[ Lt. JG Kate Foster | Surgical Suite 02 | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Masorin

Twenty minutes.

That’s all it had taken for Kate and her team to repair the deep lacerations to poor Vivian Martin’s anterior spinal artery, but during that process it had become evidently apparent that the injuries she had sustained, had placed her in the midst of precariously tenuous situation. As even though her blood-pressure had gradually begun to normalize in the wake of having completed the extensive repairs to her spine’s vascular system, it was soon discovered that several of the artificial vertebrae which had encapsulated the majority of her spinal cord had sustained compound fractures. It was these fractures, that had combined with the temporary lack of consistent blood flow and caused a marked decline in the vitality of said spinal cord. As it was, they couldn’t fore-cast what kind of deteriorated state her motor senses would be in as a result, as she was decidedly unconscious and likely needed to remain so; but it was likely that she would have found herself with severely weakened sensation below her midsection, if she felt any sensation at all. Worse still, the only remedy afforded to the Theurgy’s medical staff in terms of healing her injuries, would take a length of time that they didn’t have.

Simply put, Vivi’s injuries were too grand in scope to be healed in any kind of immediate time-frame.

It was a revelation that Kate and the entirety of her staff had each come to in abject silence; each of them sensing what was abundantly clear, and the necessary steps that would need to be taken in order to have any hope at preserving the woman’s life. It would of course fall on Kate to make the ultimate decision to cease active medical attention, and opt for placing Vivian into cryo-stasis, but to her she felt it necessary to appraise the other Martin sibling of the matter first. She imagined that if the situation were one which reflected her own sibling relationship with Stellan, that she would have likely wanted to be approached with the ultimate decision as to how to proceed on the matter. That there was an air of responsibility that all siblings assumed when grave realities came to fruition, and that to deny Vivian’s brother such consideration would have been wholly inappropriate.

“Courtland... prep her, would you?” She looked to the Ensign as he nodded solemnly, understanding what she meant. He’d need to apply a series of sub-dermal regenerators to Vivian’s spinal column, so that she could continue to heal even during cryostasis. With an exasperated sigh, Kate stepped away from the SSR upon which the unconscious woman laid, affording the beautiful features of her face a momentary appraisal before nodding in silent acquiescence to what fate had dictated.

[ Main Sickbay Waiting Lobby | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]

“Lieutenant Martin?” Kate spoke softly as she approached the clearly distraught man while he sat upon the carpeted deck-plating. The waiting lobby of Main Sickbay was packed to say the least, as there were dozens of friends, colleagues, and significant others waiting expectantly for any news of the condition of their loved-ones. Some where crying, others seemed stuck in a state of shock and awe, and yet others seemed as though they were trying as best as possible to be invisible to it all. That they could sink away and hide from the harshness of the world which had harangued them this evening. For his part, Salem seemed to fall within the third group, though there may have also been a mixture of the other mental states plaguing his mind. Kate could only imagine the horrors that were running through his consciousness, as she had been spared such a stark revelation due to her absence from Stellan’s life.

“Salem?” She spoke his given name softly as she stepped closer, her delicate hands finding an uneasy position behind the small of her back as she gently dropped down to kneel before him.

“Salem, I’m Doctor Foster. I’m the surgeon that was working on your sister, Vivian.” There was a tenderness to her voice, as she clearly wanted only Salem to be privy to the details that she was going to be providing. She hated delivering bad news to good people, but it was simply a part of her job. In this case, it wasn’t necessarily the worst news that she could give, but it was damned near close. In a sense, being stuck in ambiguity was worse, because you couldn’t rightfully go through the stages of mourning. Instead it left you resigned to wait, which could be excruciating. “Your sister’s condition is...” she hesitated a moment in order to search for the right term, which wouldn’t be misleading in one way, or the other. “...tenuous. She’s stable for the moment, but I’m afraid the damage to her vertebral prosthesis was extensive.” She waited to see if the man was absorbing any of what she was saying thus far, her exotic tangerine-hued eyes scanning the handsome features of his face.

In a sense, he reminded her of Stellan, though there was no feeling of abject disdain for him, as there was for her own brother.

Re: CH02: S [D01|2219] A Sibling Sorrow.

Reply #3 – November 11, 2020, 12:22:33 PM

[ Salem Martin | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Swift
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Blinking, Salem's blurry eyes came to focus on the woman in front of him. He looked around, orienting himself, and perhaps also clinging to the hope that he would see Vivian as well: That she would have accompanied the medical officer into the lobby. No such luck, so he tried to focus on what she was saying. "Aye, I'm Salem Martin. How..."

He needn't ask. Doctor Foster was had begun to tell him what happened to her.

"Your sister's condition is..."

No, don't tell me she's dead. She's survived the entire voyage of the Resolve, from across Romulan space, he thought, his chest hurting with the premonition that the Doctor would say her condition was worsening, and that they were about to loose her. It was so unfair, in how Vivian had just begun to sort out her mind after loosing Doctor Lyhn at Starbase 84. She'd pushed herself so hard, for so long, to serve as the Chief Science Officer, until she had to give up and pass her duties on the Vael Kaeris. She had begun to heal, only to end up in sickbay because of Klingon politics and sabotage against the Chancellor Martok. They had been able to catch up, during the time at Aldea, after she'd been gone for so long, only to die? The unfairness of it all crippled him...

...until Foster said that she was stable, but hung on by a thread. His eyes darted about, as if to seek answers.

"What," he said, but he had to swallow and clear his throat, "does that mean? You can't treat her? Or can you? Will s-she make it?"

---

OOC: Maso has left, but I figured one more from you and I can close this scene. No need for a lengthy one either. Just some closure for these twins in the story.

Re: CH02: S [D01|2219] A Sibling Sorrow.

Reply #4 – November 29, 2020, 04:57:00 PM

[ Lt. JG Kate Foster | Main Sickbay Waiting Lobby | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Scratchrat 

Seeing herself reflected in poor Salem’s stricken eyes, Kate could feel the very pang of deep anguish that he was experiencing. There was a mutual parallel at play between herself and the man, though she imagined the bond between Salem and his sister Vivian couldn’t possibly be as contemptuous as Kate’s bond with Stellan was. Still, she could understand the very visceral dread which accompanied that worry over the status of a sibling, because it had wracked her with unease for the nearly three-years in which she had no idea of her brother’s whereabouts. A worry which extended, and intensified upon her arrival aboard Theurgy, and she discovered how tenuous his grasp of life had been. But whereas Salem was helpless to do anything to save his sister, Kate had been able to directly intercede on the matter, and in fact had wrested Stellan from the clutches of death. And though upon his revival, they had resumed their perpetual disdain for one another, Kate knew that she would never be free of worry for him. It was a reality of that bond shared between siblings, that she could see so painfully evidenced in the face of Vivian’s brother.

“For now, there isn’t anything else that we can do for her.” She hated how cold it sounded to say, but facts were facts, and they needed to be relayed to Vivian’s brother. At the same time though, Kate had broken a cardinal rule, in that she directly implied there would indeed be a time in which she could do more for the poor woman. “There was a temporary drop in blood flow to the nerve cluster encased within her artificial vertebrae, which caused a marked degradation of those cells. We’ve managed to repair the arteries that had been severed, restoring blood flow, but that degradation is substantial. If we were to revive her now, it’s likely that she would experience symptoms in line with near total paralysis from the waist down.” Letting the gravity of the situation sink in a little, and averting her gaze for a just moment, she could only imagine the depth of sorrow in Salem’s thoughts. “Unfortunately, there’s additional concern about her artificial spinal column. Four of the vertebrae sustained fractures and need to be replaced. But if we do so now, the added stress would likely guarantee any paralysis to be of a more permanent kind.”

Taking a steady breath, she knew what she was about to propose would be traumatic, and even inspired a sense of guilt within her because she had only just days prior freed her own sibling from a similarly grave situation.

“I’m recommending that we move Vivian into cryo-stasis until the condition of her nerve cluster has improved. While in stasis, we’ll setup a series of low-yield regenerative probes along her spinal column, which will hopefully work to restore it. We don’t know how long it will take, or even if it will work the way we want it to. But this is the only option I can see which might save your sister from paralysis.” Once more, she let Salem absorb everything that she was imparting, aware of just how insanely unfair it probably seemed to him. But there was only so much time she could afford him because Vivian was quite literally waiting to be attended to, and every passing minute made her situation all the more dire. It was why she needed to press on the issue now, rather than wait.

“As she’s your sister, I need your approval in order to proceed.”

It felt so very cruel.

Re: CH02: S [D01|2219] A Sibling Sorrow.

Reply #5 – November 29, 2020, 05:45:40 PM

Lt. JG Salem Martin | Main Sickbay Waiting Lobby | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Swift 

The words hit him like no phaser ever could and they hurt more than any weapon ever could. The world around him seemed to go from the violent spinning madness of sickbay during an emergency to a slowed down carousel of horrors, the colour drained from the scene, the sounds blurring together. Had he just heard the Doctor correctly? There was "nothing" they could do for Vivian? With all the technology behind the Federation, all the training the Theurgy crew had been through, there was "nothing" they could do?

Salem shook himself, realising that he'd been asked a time sensitive question and that he'd need to answer. But how could he? How could he answer a question like this? On one hand, if he said yes, his sister would be gone, frozen away in stasis for who knows how long, not able to smile, to laugh, to judge him for his mistakes. Hell, if it wasn't for her, he damn well WOULD have punched Rutherford. She was his centre, his rock, his grounding and now he could just send her away, to maybe never see her again?

Or he could say no and then what? They revive her and his loving sister would be paralysed, potentially completely and irreversibly? He would be responsible for forcing his sister into a life-altering disability that she may never recover from. No, he couldn't bear it. It just didn't feel right to force her to live through such hardship just for his selfish desire to see her live.

He gulped loudly as tears streamed from his eyes over his cheek and he looked directly into the eyes of Lt. Foster and simply said: "Do it.".

It was the hardest thing he'd had to do. The Cardassian labour camps felt like summer camps in comparison. His scars felt like tickles in comparison. No heartache would ever feel as burning as this but he knew if there were any chance to save Vivian, he had to take it. He nodded to the Doctor in a sign of agreement and wiped the tears from his face.

Salem had never let anyone into his life, romantically or really as a friend. He'd always had his twin, from the womb until now, a bond that was unbreakable and now he was preparing to say goodbye to it. Goodbye to a twin. It felt like saying goodbye to a part of himself. Perhaps, he thought, this was a sign of just how lonely he'd become. He'd spent so much time caring for others and being the brave support that he'd never found a support system of his own.

"May I...say goodbye?" he asked softly. "Before you put her in...you know..." he trailed off. "I want to remember her without tubes and tanks and wires..." he said pleadingly to Kate.

Re: CH02: S [D01|2219] A Sibling Sorrow.

Reply #6 – December 03, 2020, 01:03:37 AM

[ Lt. JG Kate Foster | Main Sickbay Waiting Lobby | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Scratchrat

Kate felt as though her heart were breaking as she saw the contemplation in the anguished man’s face. How she hated delivering bad news to good people, but it was part of her job, and to an extent she was used to it by now. But given the relative parallels drawn between herself and poor Salem, this one was a little more painful to go through. And even though it technically wasn’t the worst possible prognosis she could have delivered, the uncertainty of it was likely just as difficult to cope with as if she had.

Still, she could see the courage wellspring up within Salem as he looked to her and with confidence made the decision, which she knew was the right one, even if it meant he would be without the presence of his sister for an unknown length of time. It provided the best chances that Vivian had at ever making a full recovery from her injuries and living a normal life again. Similarly, Kate wondered what Stellan might have decided for her if the situation ever came to a point which dictated it. And despite all of the anger, disdain, and even hatred that existed between herself and her brother, she felt a great deal of sadness in imagining him having to go through what Salem was now. Aware of where such a train of thought would lead, Kate washed the thought from her mind and reached out with a delicate hand. “Sure.” She affirmed while helping him stand to his feet, ready to lead him back into the attached chamber where her team was already working to prepare Vivian for stasis. There had been a chance that Salem would’ve rejected her recommendation, but she was counting on him making the right call.

And he hadn’t disappointed.

[ Surgical Suite 02 | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]

As they soon arrived in the sanitation chamber which led directly into where Vivian lay unconscious with her back exposed, a series of devices attached to her olive skin running the length of her spine, Kate nodded to Courtland before she opened the door which led into the suite. “Would you umm... guys give us a moment?” Likewise, Courtland and the others gave a somber nod as they one-by-one cleared out of the small room, leaving only Kate and Salem standing in the midst of the unconscious woman. “Go ahead. I’ll wait just out here to monitor her readings.” Stepping aside, she knew that it was a personal matter, but that there was still the likelihood that he might need some form of emotional support, or that Vivian’s condition changed and necessitated her presence. So, as a compromise she could at least keep an eye on things from the decontamination chamber and move in if it came to it.

She watched the man patiently, willing to give him whatever length of time he needed before calling her people back in to make the final preparations for Vivian to go into stasis.

“Take as much time as you need.”

Re: CH02: S [D01|2219] A Sibling Sorrow.

Reply #7 – December 03, 2020, 09:20:35 AM

Lt. JG Salem Martin | [ Surgical Suite 02 | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Swift

Salem followed the Doctor into the surgical room, watching as the medical team parted like the red sea upon her request and his arrival. There, in the centre of the room, his sister, his twin lay motionless on a biobed. To look at her, he could still see her beauty, her radiance but then as his eyes travelled, all he could see were the devices, the wires, the technology keeping her alive, keeping her safe. It was more than he could handle and he found himself gasping for breath, not quite sure where the next breath would come from, if at all.

Taking her hand in his, Salem looked to his sister, tears starting to cascade down his face as he tried to summon the words through a croaked voice, reminding him of his adolescence. "Vivian...Viv...." he said, before wiping some tears from his face. "You don't deserve this, why couldn't it be me instead?" he asked, gripping her hand tightly. "You're the strong one, the smart one, hell, Chief Science Officer Vivian Martin! That's success. Me? I'm just a victim, a fuck-up, a disappointment. Nobody would notice if it were me on the bed, hell I'm sure half the crew don't even know I exist..." he said, choking on his words.

It was obvious to anyone that Salem felt like he was in his sister's shadow. She'd always been his idol, his role model. Now, she was helpless and so was he.

He leaned down to kiss her forehead. "How dare they use you in their games of politics? I used to sit in the garden and read Sun Tzu's Art of War, remember? You'd be playing with dolls in the sun and there was me, studying tactics. I always admired warfare and the beauty of it, but this isn't war. War isn't bombs in bars, that's terrorism." he said, anger boiling in his blood.

"The Captain won't let this stand, Viv, a sentence WILL be carried out, justice will be sought, I promise you...and when you wake up, because you will wake up, you're gonna see a whole new Salem Martin. Someone you can be proud to call your brother." he said, proudly, kissing her once more before turning to Kate and nodding. "I'm ready." he said, placing her hand back on her chest and turning away. He left the room slowly, turning just once more to look back. "Goodbye Vivian".

Re: CH02: S [D01|2219] A Sibling Sorrow.

Reply #8 – December 18, 2020, 08:26:17 AM

[ Lt. JG Kate Foster | Main Sickbay Waiting Lobby | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Scratchrat

Kate struggled to keep her own emotions in check as she could sense the internal turmoil and anguish coming from Salem. She didn’t need to possess the gift of extra-sensory perception to pick up on what the poor man was feeling; simply being alive, and a being capable of understanding emotion was enough to grant her that notion. It was awful. It was unfair. It was so familiar in an unpleasant way. It triggered a plethora of difficult contemplations and considerations within her own mind, and she knew it was a poor time to allow any of them the benefit of her full attention. She needed to be strong in this time of crisis. The night was still young, and there were so many other wounded that would likely merit her attentive care before it would come to a merciful end. Yet no matter how hard she tried not to let her mind fill with thoughts of her own brother, she couldn’t escape them entirely. She didn’t know Salem, or Vivian very well, if at all to be honest. Kate wondered what kind of relationship the two Martin’s shared prior to this tragedy which had befallen them, and if she and Stellan were in place of them, if he would shed tears the way Salem was.

‘No.’ she thought to herself solemnly, knowing beyond a shadow of doubt that Stellan likely wouldn’t care in the slightest if Kate were suffering as Vivian was in this moment. He wouldn’t shed a single tear she knew with absolution, and it panged her with a mixture of sorrow and indignant anger. She felt so uneased by it, Kate found it necessary to cross her arms over her chest and hug herself out of a need for comfort of any kind. All while she watched the stricken man bare his soul to a sister who couldn’t even hear his words. But it lessened not the impact of what he was surely expressing to her, and it moved Kate to the point where a single stray tear streamed down from the corner of one of her tangerine-hued eyes. Stoked by her own emotions, and those that were on display before her, she carefully wiped it away with one of her delicate hands, hopeful that no one had noticed the slip of the strong exterior she was trying to put on.

A moment later, Salem had seemingly finished saying his temporary good-byes to his sister and motioned for Kate to re-join him. Slowly striding in, so as not to cut short any linger sentimentality that the man was due, Kate placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as he moved past her on the way out of the surgical suite. Her gaze turning back to Vivian, Kate exhaled softly as she stepped over to the immobilized and unconscious woman and tapped her combadge. “Okay Courtland. Please return so that we can proceed.” She said simply, immediately regretful by how cold her words sounded in the wake of such warm sentiments having been shared.

‘I’m sorry, Vivian.’ She thought to herself as she tapped at the console, ready to finalize the process of moving her into cryostasis.

-FIN