Hide and Seek Part III

 Episode Name:  Hide And Seek Part III
   Written By:  Starfleet
         Cast:  Clough, Duncan, Edwards, Ghorev and Starfleet.
  Produced By:  Starfleet
  Directed By:  Starfleet
     Aired On:  Sun Apr 14 21:10:48 2002
     Stardate:  52266.4

Time: Tue Apr 09 18:05:16 2002

Stardate: 52254.2

Edwards stands in front of the desk, looking to Duncan and Ghorev, with a most displeased frown on his face. "What the hell happened over there?" he demands.

Ghorev doesn't look too pleased, himself. "Before or after Rann got jumped by the angry Lithian?"

Duncan waits quietly.

Edwards turns his gaze fully on Ghorev and replies in a controlled tone, "I want a report. What happened over there?"

Ghorev says "We don't yet *know*, frankly." He folds his arms across his chest. "The information that the Lithians were dormant was apparently incorrect. While we reconnoitered, one came through the other side of a hatchway-wall near which Rann was standing on our side. He didn't get out of the way in time."

Edwards shakes his head and pauses a moment in consideration. "Tell me everything that happened, Akeen. Everything, from the moment you beamed in to when Dakin got attacked." he states.

Ghorev says "We beamed into a room without apparent exits. Folks scanned for exists. Found none. I suggested we pick a wall, any wall, and search for something that would create an exit. They have proximity sensors like we do and a door opened. We pcoeeded through. We came to another room further down a hall." A pause. "The door opened. In that room was a curtain of light, which I believe Agent Duncan can tell you more about than I can. We stepped through it. The curtain bisected the room, so we continued looking around. At that point, Rann moved close to a wall. The wall opened and a Lithian came through."

Edwards furrows his brow somewhat and glances toward Duncan expectantly.

Duncan looks to Edwards and states. "The curtain of light was a chronoton field at the edge of the subspace pocket in which the lithian ship is currently trapped. We passed through it on entering the room where Lt. Dakin was attacked. I am at least partially responsible for what happened. I did not feel that Mr. Dakin would accept my input so I did not correct his order that phaser rifles be set to level six, I simply set my own to maximum and hoped we would indeed only be retrieving a lithian corpse. Dealing with an inert lithian is one thing. Dealing with a live one requires a lot more force. The gist of all of this is that Mr. Dakin was careless and nearly got the entire away team killed. He was not watching where he was going, and activated the doorway through which the lithian attacked him. He also set inadequate weapons protocols in what was a potentially extremely dangerous situation.

Edwards actually laughs at that, in an entirely unamused way. "You passed onto the half of the ship that isn't exposed?" he questions, presumably in a rhetorical fashion, as he doesn't wait for a response. "I don't care about blame. Duncan, next time, speak up. What I care about is the fact that we're not leaving here empty-handed. We're going back over there and we're going to get what we came for."

Duncan says "In that case I would suggest environment suits, and phaser rifles set on at maximum. Blast anything that moves into small fragments and bring back anything that doesnt."

Ghorev frowns. "Indeed, after all, most of us weren't exactly blameless, Agent Duncan. I was loaded down with too much equipment to keep my own Tricorder or PADD in hand; Doctor Clough and Ensign Sulok both tried to play hero and focus more on rescuing the wounded than aiming at the enemy." He unfolds his arms, leaning forward against the table. "In short, there's more than enough blame to go around on this one. We were amateurs. We went in with bad information, and with people who weren't prepared to function as a coordinated reconaissance team. If we go back in there, it should be as a smaller group, a tighter group, no more than 3 or 4, two with rifles, two with Type II phaser pistols and tricorders to do the scanning and orienteering. All in EVA, as Agent Duncan advises."

Edwards shakes his head, "No EVA. What's the point? It'd only weigh you down and let any live Lithian crush you. But you shouldn't even run into any live ones."

Ghorev says "It didn't need to crush him, Michael. It spat some kind of goo on him."

Ghorev says "That's why Agent Duncan recommends the EVA, and why I concur."

Duncan says "forget the type two phasers, just mount the tricorders on the side of the rifles. Type two is too weak to be effective."

Edwards nods at Duncan's words. "Just rifles. And I've made my decision on the suits." he remarks, "The mission will be strictly volunteer. Nobody's being ordered over there."

Ghorev says "Fine, no suits. But I *must* protest on the tricorder mounting on rifles." He looks distressed now. "You're *guaranteeing* that someone has to lower his guard to read his tricorder effectively and use it to maximum efficiency. That's a license to fail spectacularly."

Duncan says "on second thought, the eva suits may not be nessasary or even warrented. The transfer agent that the lithians use tends to eat through just about anything to get to the tissue benieth. Best to be quick on our feet and have a lot of fire power."

Duncan says "The tricorders are going to be used minimally and I would suggest that no more than one at a time is scanning at any particular moment thus the other three will be able to defend as nessasary for enough time for the fourth to bring his weapon to bear."

Edwards looks to Ghorev and asks, "You going to command this away team for me?"

Duncan looks to Ghorev, if you'll have me, I'm volunteering.

Ghorev says "You're tying my hands with these sorts of advanced decisions, Michael. It's hardly how I work best. But given that Rann certainly can't, I suppose I am."

Duncan says "One thing I would suggest is that we retrieve Mr. Dakins arm for study by the doctor. The more we know about the infection process the better off we are."

Edwards gives Ghorev a look, "The only decisions I've made involve not bothering with hand phasers or EVA suits. Because, as I was about to say, this is your mission. Besides those equipment orders, you make the decisions. I don't care how people use their tricorders just as long as nobody gets killed." He pauses and slowly looks back to Duncan, "Dakin's /arm/?"

Ghorev considers. "Dr. Clough had to amputate, with a phaser. Or so I surmise. I wasn't watching." He sounds like there's something more he's considering saying.

Duncan says "Dr. Clough had to perform a field amputation. It may not have saved his life, but there is the chance that the infection had not spread very far by the time she did it."

Edwards makes a face and shakes his head, "That's a little gruesome, Duncan. We don't leave people behind, but we'll leave arms. Besides, you'd have to step onto the other half of the ship to get to it."

Ghorev doesn't look too settled about the matter, either. But mulls it over.

Duncan says "Lt. Edwards. One thing you must consider in all of this is that there is the distinct possibility that within twelve hours we will have a live lithian on our hands. That arm may have information that could stop that from happening."

Edwards hesitates and replies, "The Lithian is more important. If we can get a live Lithian into the pattern buffer, and please do it without crossing any fields, then it'll be up to Leftenant Ghorev to decide if you can risk going for the arm."

Ghorev says "We set up the pattern enhancers about 10 or 12 meters from the arm, no more. It'd be a quick run through the field and then back. The time delay would be in picking the thing up, more than anything."

Duncan having made the best case he can simply waits for orders.

Duncan says "the chronoton field is semi-transparent, and we should be able to see if there is activity in the other room."

Edwards states, "I want a Lithian first. That's our priority. And it's the only way I can rationalize trying to distract the Borg even longer."

Ghorev says "I don't disagree, mind you. However, I'm a little curious. I was in engineering when the initial battle occured, and I've not been briefed on exactly what happened." He inhales, then exhales sharply. "How do we *know* they are both alive and dormant, and not, for example, dead or not-dormant-but-shielded-from-our-bioscanners?"

Edwards explains patiently, "Energy signatures from their ship show that they're trapped in temporal flux. Anything on our side of that chroniton field should be moving slower than our eyes can percieve. For all intents and purposes, they're stuck in time. I knew what I was doing when I sent a team over."

Ghorev says "My apologies. That was not how it was explained to me. In fact, I am only now *hearing* about this."

Edwards replies, "Well know you know." He looks between the two and inquires, "Anything else? We don't have a whole lot of time."

Duncan says "Just that I wish we had a way to boost the power on these phaser rifles."

Ghorev says "It's not power we need so much as accuracy. Set the thing on slightly lower power than full, but wider beam. If we all do it, and all of us hit on, say, three-quarters power, it should be more effectively than one or two of us hitting at a time at full power."

Edwards nods a little and adds, "Besides, raising the power level would just burn the rifle out faster."

Ghorev says "So would a wide beam, in fact."

Ghorev says "But it's easier than hot-shotting the rifle to achieve the same result."

Duncan says "I would suggest that we have two try the lower setting and leave the other two with the higher setting incase the lower proves to be not enough punch."

Duncan says "It generally takes 3 good hits with a phaser rifle on max to take one of them down."

Edwards doesn't comment on any of this, since it won't matter to him.

Ghorev says "In any event, scrounge up some people. I'd prefer not to take Dr. Clough again. If we must take a medic, I'd prefer it be someone with few enough issues that they can concentrate more on firing the weapon than charging in to the rescue."

Edwards comments, "That's your job, Akeen. Volunteer mission. After what happened to Rann, nobody's being forced... But the job will be done. I'll go over there by myself if it comes to that."

Ghorev says "I'll make a quick review of the current onboard roster, then."

Duncan says "In making that team, dont forget that I'm already volunteering, Mr. Ghorev."

Ghorev says "I won't."

Edwards nods, satisfied with the way things have gone, "If that's all, then, you're both dismissed."

Time: Sun Apr 14 12:20:41 2002

Stardate: 52265.6

Dakin is brought into Sickbay by Duncan, Clough and Idrani, and carefully deposited onto a biobed. Sulok's injuries are very minor, so a nurse takes his injuries over as the rest of the medical staff tends to Dakin. The CMO has run all non-essential personnel out of the sickbay, leaving her with her patient and medical staff.

Aside from Sulok, who is being treated for his own injuries by the other on duty staff, Lt. Clough immediately orders everyone not in Medical out of the sickbay. At this point, any contagions Dakin might encounter could prove deadly, and she isn't willing to risk it. She gladly welcomes the assistance of two other medical personnel, but otherwise sends the others back to their duties as well. A containment field is erected around herself, the other two staff members, and Dakin, further preventing contagions from entering.

Dakin's unconscious crushed form lies in repose on the biobed, missing his left arm.

Clough sets a clamshell to scanning over the bed in order to get a full rundown of the injuries the Lieutenant has received, as well as keying it to assess whether any of the Lithian "goo" had entered his bloodstream before his arm was removed. While waiting, she looks up, pinpointing any other staff member present who looks likely to be paying attention but not doing anything specific. "As soon as it's possible, get word to 419 that Ensign Haven is to report immediately to the infirmary. She should run through our records for a DNA sequencing of Lt. Dakin if we have one on file. Otherwise, she should contact Ensign Leah and see what can be retrieved from his quarters. Then, she should begin working on creating a new arm for him. Unless I've badly misread her dossier, she has the skills we need to make one." Then, she turns her attention back to the clamshell, murmuring to the others nearest her. "Prepare for surgery. We're not chancing moving him again."

A nurse nods to Clough's order and sets about making it so. The diagnosis is grim: Lt. Dakin's lower spine is pulverized. He has suffered massive internal injuries as a result from the creature stepping on his abdomen. There are trace amounts of silicon running through Dakin's bloodstream which could be indicative of infection.

Clough nods at the readout. "Alright, get him hooked to a hemodialysis machine stat and filter out the silicon, then we get him open and hooked to a heart-lung bypass machine. His organs will need as much rest as we can give them if we're going to save him. We work on the internal injuries first, and save the spine from last, but /no one/ moves him until then, understood?" All business, she doesn't even look up from the readout as she starts handing out orders.

The second nurse moves in response to Clough's orders. He hooks up the hemodialysis machine and the first nurse starts life support. A third nurse steps into the field and begins to remove Dakin's uniform with a laser scalpel to prep him for surgery.

Clough is satisfied to let the others do the work for the time being. The dialysis will take five or more minutes at best, so little more can be done by her until then. While Dakin is being stabilized on the life support and heart-lung bypass machines and his blood is being filtered, she moves out of the field and over to a display screen, pulling up a brief review of Bajoran internal physiology before going to work on things she only vaguely remembers from the Academy.

Dr. T'sal approaches Clough from behind, and looks at the anatomical records that Clough is studying. "Do you require assistance, Doctor? I have detailed knowledge of Bajoran physiology." Indeed, Dr. T'sal's record indicates she gave medical services to Bajorans in labor camps before she joined the Academy.

Clough nods, "If you're willing to assist, Doctor, I would be grateful. I don't doubt I could muddle through, but someone to point out exactly what I'm looking at would be appreciated." After the dialysis has had time to run its course, and Dakin is ready, she returns to the field, allowing T'sal to follow at will. She sets the clamshell to run a second - and hopefully faster - scan for further silicon in the bloodstream.

T'sal steps into the field and begins to don the red surgical robes. The filtration system did not eliminate all of the silicon in the bloodstream, but there is a significant decrease in the amount.

Clough frowns over the clamshell, but helps herself into similar robes, as well as adding a cap in which she restrains all of her hair. She calls out in general, "Have eight units of compatible blood ready when we need it. When we're finished, we'll transfuse if we have to to get the rest out." That said, she takes up a similar scalpel and makes an initial, midline abdominal incision, leaving one of the others to monitor vital signs in the meantime.

GAME: Clough spends a courage point.

Clough contests her Medical Sciences (Surgical) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!

Clough (claiming advantage) contests her Medical Sciences (Surgical) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!

In a thirty-minute touch-and-go surgery, Dr. Clough and Dr. T'sal have managed to stabilize the prostrate Dakin and repair his internal injuries. His spine is still pulverized, but the bleeding has been staunched and his organs repaired.

Clough, after initially being too wound up, managed to calm herself following the initial incision and a silent prayer. Dakin has become a patient, not a friend any longer, and emotions are out of place. Succeeding in bringing this fact back to mind, she made her way through the surgery until the midline incision is fully closed and only the spine remains. There, she pauses and raises her eyes to Dr. T'sal. "We need to get him turned over and open his back. Tell me what you can about Bajoran spines. How many vertebrae? What fills the discs separating them? Have you dealt with past spinal injuries? Will rods to stabilize be sufficient as in most humanoids after the initial repair is complete, or will more be required?" After mentioning the Lieutenant needs to be turned over, she looks to the other staff to see it done, also telling them to leave him on the bypass machine for now. It'll make later transfusion that much easier.

T'sal replies as the other move to carefully turn Dakin over, "Bajoran spines have sixty-five vertebrae. They are not dissimilar from other humanoid spinal columns, being separated by cartilaginous tissue. My primary concern is his spinal cord. My suggestion would be to stabilize his condition as best as we can and wait until we have access to the infirmary. From there we can get a specialist to bio-synthesize a new spinal column and replace it fully. I recall reading of a doctor that had made advances in spinal replacement surgery."

Clough considers the response, forming her lips into a line as the silence grows. Eventually, she speaks up again, "Does the cord run down the center of the vertebrae as in most humanoids? It will make replacement difficult, though I /do/ recall reading a similar case study." She frowns, but sighs, "At the very least, it will be as unpleasant a procedure as this has been. We'll wait. In the meantime, we get the rest of that silicon out of his blood, even if it means a full transfusion." She looks over at one of the monitoring nurses. "Repeat the dialysis and add a unit of fresh blood as necessary until scans show no further traces of silicon. When that's done, you can take him off the bypass machine. He'll have to go back on it at the station, but in the meantime, he /needs/ to live for himself. Keep him unconscious, however. No movement whatsoever."

T'sal nods once to Clough's question as the nurses begin to follow the CMO's orders. "I suggest rods to keep his spine immobile until we can contact the appropriate specialist."

Clough nods her response. "That's fine, Doctor, but we deal with the blood first. It'll be a moot point if that silicon turns out to be infectious in about twelve hours." She smiles faintly, not wording the response rudely, just setting the priorities straight in her own head.

"Understood, Doctor." T'sal doffs the red surgical garb as the nurses work around Dakin.