Coincidences

Posted on Sat Apr 16th, 2016 @ 2:17pm by Lieutenant Mikela Reyes MD & Staff Sergeant Sandrine White

Mission: The Ties That Bind
Location: Starbase 375
Timeline: TBD

[ON]

The cargo area they had re-purposed was full. Patients lay about, doctors and nurses and other medical personnel going through them, helping where they could. The initial triage had been done a while back, the gravely injured having been sent to the main medical ward. Which still left several hundred people to care for. Medical personnel from every ship in dock had come to help. Interns, combat medics, nurses of various capabilities and a few doctors here and there. The numbers were frighteningly low.

Sandrine sighed and wiped the sweat off her brow. Another batch of wounded had come in. The Potemkin she thought she had heard one of the nurses say. Whichever ship it was mattered little, in only that the number of wounded they had brought in was ... high. For a week now ship after ship had been arriving at the starbase dragging their broken shells and injured crewmen. She had volunteered her help.

She finished stitching the man up and nodded at a nearby nurse to call for a Doctor. Her job now done, it did require the oversight of an actual MD. She stood by her work, but procedures are in place to ensure safety. Feeling fatigue starting to push down on her, she advised the nurse she'd be taking a 5 minute break. She took a moment to wash her hands and arms, and stepped outside the cargo area.

As Sandrine stepped outside, the voice of the doctor could faintly be heard from the patient she had just left. The voice was tart with stress, but not unpleasant, and something about it was oddly familiar, from a long, long time ago. "This is fine. This is better than fine. I'm wasting my time, checking up on work like this." The nurse's response was murmured, and the doctor's voice rang out again. "You're right, you're right. Okay, I'm taking five. Maybe more. Let them know." A moment later, an uneven step, heavier on one side than the other, approached the entryway to the cargo area. Mikela exited the cargo area, side-stepped once, and put her back to the wall, frazzled. She rested her hands over her face for a moment, not even bothering to see if anybody else was within view first, and let out a quiet, frustrated growl.

Standing in the middle of the corridor, the staff sergeant turned around and spotted the doctor. Mistaking the growl to be for her benefit, she started towards the entrance of the makeshift infirmary. "Apologies Doctor. I'll give you some space." The woman seemed... familiar somehow. Odd.

Mikela quickly shook her head. "No, don't go. You didn't do anything wrong. It's just... well, it's a rough job, isn't it? And it's all too easy to push beyond your strength, when there's so many people who need our help." She noticed the slightly longer gaze that Sandrine had turned on her... but Mikela didn't remember this woman in the slightest. She shook her head slightly again, too tired to think deeper.

Coming to a stop, Sandrine turned on her heals to face the woman.. or at least to face the woman's side and straightened her back. Even when tired, and technically off duty, she held herself like a marine about to receive a rebuttal. She nodded slowly. "Agreed. Although it is rare for a Doctor and Officer to admit to it." Immediately she regretted speaking. One did not question an Officer's utterances, unless there was imminent need to do so. being the obvious choice, and without an ability to defend itself, she blamed fatigue.

"I'm not," Mikela replied without thinking. Then she chuckled wryly. "Okay, I guess I am. I'm... I guess I just don't think like one. I've got my MD, and I'm down here because they need me, but I'm technically a ship's counselor. But underneath, I'm a Marine, and I'm pretty sure you are too. You've got it in your back. Relax, I'm on break, same as you."

"It's wartime sir. There's no such thing." Trying not to stare, the Staff Sergeant attempted to figure out where she'd seen this woman before. "Apologies if this sounds out of line sir.. but I do believe we've met before, I just can't seem to remember where."

Mikela shook her head, puzzled. "I don't remember ever seeing you. I spent the last few years with Starfleet Medical on Earth, but you've been in the field, haven't you? You seem like you're used to the field."

Glancing at the woman Sandrine nodded. "Past two years notwithstanding, yes sir. Right out the gates into the pit." Furiously attempting to place the face into context, she started going back year by year. Why did this face seem so familiar? She wasn't someone she had served with, she would remember that.

"Well," Mikela said wryly, staring straight ahead now and unconsciously following Sandrine's train of thought, "at least I'm sure I didn't serve with you on the Icarus."

Sandrine's eyes flared slightly. The Icarus! Juhraya! "Private First Class Reyes. I had to put half the bones in your left leg back together. By the time I gave you up to the doctors you had gone in shock. I wasn't sure you'd ever wake up." She nodded and offered one of her rare smiles. "You managed to save a lot of civilians there. You're one hell of a soldier sir." Her smile nearly disappeared as the rest of it came back to her. She had been the only marine left alive on the planet.

At the sound of her name and her old rank, Mikela quickly glanced up at Sandrine, almost as if she was about to straighten up and salute. Her eyes widened as she listened. Then she tried to pull up a wry smile, but all she managed was the 'wry'. "Yes," she said, slowly, almost distractedly. "Yes, that was me. And yes, I wouldn't have remembered you. I still don't remember... I remember it, but I don't remember... afterwards... for a good while." She turned almost embarrassed for a moment. "No offense or anything. I just... it became a blur, and I never really wanted to sort it out." Mikela sighed slightly, glancing down, then flexed her left leg a couple of times. "Well, then, I think I have you to thank for saving my leg. I'm allergic to the alloy they use in the prosthetics. You couldn't have known that, and I bet you weren't the one who found out, but that means what I've got left is pretty much what you gave me. If you'd given up on it, I wouldn't have had a leg left at all." A truer smile returned, as she glanced up again, but she could only meet Sandrine's eyes for a short moment. "Thank you."

A mixture of pride and solemn relief hit the staff sergeant. She snapped to attention and saluted. "Sir! Just doing my job sir." Although the words rang true, even she couldn't completely hide the fact there was much more to it than that. This was why she had become a combat medic instead of a doctor. So she could get there in time and save lives. And this one life she had saved, had turned around and become a doctor. One would be hard pressed to feel prouder than she did at this moment.

"Oh, you don't have to salute me of all people, you..." Mikela's voice trailed off as Sandrine spoke with certainty rather than hesitation, and her face broke into a much truer smile. "Hey. Hey! I remember! I don't remember your face, but I remember your voice! I don't remember much else, but I know I remember that voice. You told me my mission was accomplished, and that it was time to rest and focus on healing. You gave me my stand-down order. Didn't you." Her voice had turned down rather than up at the end of her statement, assuring herself of the answer rather than honestly asking the question. "And I did. I was pretty well out of it, but I knew I could stand down. How about that. I wasn't even sure you were real, when I finally woke up."

She smiled. It was a small one, but it was genuine. "I'm just glad I got to you on time." Glancing back at the patients within the cargo area, Sandrine nodded. Going back in didn't feel as daunting anymore. "If I may be so bold sir, I'm glad you're up and ready. This war is going to need people like you."

"You can be so bold anytime you want," Mikela said wryly. "And you don't have to call me 'sir'. The officer stuff is a veneer. I'm a Counselor now, but I'll always be a Marine. Speaking of which, you know who I am... what's your name?" She raised a hand slightly in forewarning, chuckling lightly. "Don't salute when you say it, okay?"

Sandrine stood to attention, but did not salute. "Staff Sergeant Sandrine White, sir." She glanced at the officer, a twinkle in her eyes. "I'll spare you the rest sir." She relaxed a little, but not much.

Mikela chuckled. "Don't worry, that's all I need to find you again," she said, reaching out in an offer to shake hands. "And the rest of my name is 'Mikela'. I'm glad to meet you... consciously. And I'm glad you're out here, finding and saving people like me."

Taking the offered hand, Sandrine shook it with vigor. "That's why we enlist isn't it?" Offering another small smile, she glanced back at the cargo area and it's inhabitants. "Back to salt mines, sir?"

Mikela shook her head wryly. "You know how sometimes, when you take a bit of rest, it makes you feel energized and ready to head back to it, and sometimes, when you take a bit of rest, it reminds you of how exhausted you are? I just realized I've been 'on' for about fifteen hours now, and I'm not quite as young as I used to be. I warned them that I might be taking my break for the night, and I think that's probably the wisest thing I can do right now. Let them know for me, okay?"

"Of course sir. It's been a pleasure." She nodded with respect and started towards to entrance. This was turning out to be a good night.

Mikela offered a friendly "Likewise!" and turned away from the entrance, intent on her own quarters. She was not going to spend another night on a Starbase cot.