Post by do on Sept 19, 2009 0:21:31 GMT -5
"Captain's Log, Stardate 17.10.2170
Our scheduled trip to Trillius Prime has been delayed owing to a distress signal received from a Cardassian colony on Solarian IV.
We were on route to the Trill star system to deliver a diplomatic delegation, which was due to open talks with the Trill about the possibility of joining the Federation. Our trajectory brought us on the edge of Cardassian space when we detected a general distress signal from the colony of a thousand people who settled there in the wake of the Xindi War.
The distress signal seemed to indicate that a Jem'Hadar attack ship had arrived on Solarian and was holding the colony under siege. We have contacted the Dominion and demanded an explanation for the incursion but so far have received no response. Solarian IV is outside the area designated by the Dominion as their territory and therefore, it is puzzling that they have breached their own borders unless they are planning a move outside of Bajor.
Starfleet Command has asked the Vanguard to investigate and determine what are the Dominions intentions."
~~~~~~~~
Colony 1 on Solarian IV was barely a year old.
It had been built in the wake of the Xindi War, by a group of Cardassians and Bajorans who wanted to take advantage of the planet's rustic terrain. Most of Solarian IV was ripe for pastoral farming and while some of the land was clear, the majority of the planet was thick, dense jungle with an abundance of wildlife, both predatory and harmless. It was certainly a world that provoked the pioneering spirit and although the terrain was difficult, reports had been favourable that the colonials of Solarian were making good progress in terraforming the planet.
Of course, Jake Mercer couldn't tell as he walked through the wreckage that was Colony 1. They had arrived to find the colony in ruins, with broken bodies buried under the rubble of walls brought down by superior firepower. It appeared as if a bomb had been dropped in the middle of town and allowed to detonate. There wasn't a building standing that did not bear some brunt of the Jem'Hadar's brutality. Jake had yet to encounter the Dominion's combat elite but he knew that they were bad ass if Colonel Tom 'marking his turf like a pissy dog' Merrick claimed such. As the Sharks continued to find more and more bodies in the rubble, some who were still alive, Jake decided they needed a medical team to deal with the injured who had been left to fend for themselves where they had fallen.
"Captain Mercer to Vanguard," Jake spoke into his communicator attached to the breast plate of his MACO armour.
"Captain Mercer, this is the Vanguard. What is the situation?"
The voice belonged to Captain Houser and the sound of her made Jake wish that Ray was here on this mission, instead of enjoying three days of R and R on Betazed.
"We've got a lot of injured down here," Jake replied. "We're not sure yet what happened to the Dominion but it's safe to say, they really had in for this place. Everything's trashed."
"Acknowledged," Captain Houser replied. "A medical team will be transporting to your location shortly."
*
"I'll be fine, Dr. Martin," Cate said to the Vanguard CMO, a man in his early fifties, as she packed her gear and double-checked the equipment and supplies the team would be transporting along.
"I'm sure you will be." Dr. Dennis Martin regarded Dr. Cate Vedder, who had just walked in to start her shift. Had the call come ten minutes earlier, he would have been the one down on the planet. That would have sat better with him, but as it was, after a double shift because the third doctor aboard the ship had taken ill to some bad Palamarian sea urchins, it made more sense to send down someone rested and fresh. The young lieutenant and doctor was more than capable but Martin was just old school and a colony attacked by Dominion Jem'Hadar was something he'd rather handle himself.
"The MACOs have been sifting through the rubble so let them lead you to the injured, triage and stabilise them for transport. We'll do the rest up here," he carried on with his orders.
"Understood." Cate nodded before she turned to the four nurses (three men and one woman, a ratio she guessed Martin hadn't left to chance) that made the away team.
"All set?" her slight accent barely told anyone English wasn't her mother tongue. At their nods, she said, "Alright, grab the gear and let's get going. We've got work to do."
As they made their way to the Transporter, Nurse Clayton nudged her. "You think we'll get to see some of 'em Jems, Cate?"
"I don't know, Janice," Cate replied, giving the other woman a glance as they walked quickly, noting the worry in her eyes. "Maybe some dead ones. The MACOs have secured the area so it's not like we'll be entering a live war zone..." Or at least she hoped not.
"Oh, okay." Janice Clayton sighed in relief, something Cate didn't miss so she decided that keeping the nurse's focus on work might help.
"So how up are you on Cardassian and Bajoran physiologies, Janice?"
"Oh, I'm good," the nurse replied. "Was on Bajor during the Xindi War.
"Good." Cate smiled. "You can help me then," she joked.
Moments later, the team was materialising on Solarian IV and Cate had to keep her initial reaction in check. The devastation and the smell... some bodies were already rotting, that much was clear.
"Mon dieu," she muttered to herself as she did a three-sixty to get her bearings. It looked like the whole colony had been levelled. What on Earth had happened here?
*
Corporal Diedra Sheridan was in the process of walking the perimeter when she saw the shimmer of the transporter in the middle of what used to be the main street. Medics, she thought to herself and activated her communicator.
Captain, the medics are here, she announced, aware that the man would want to know as soon as possible. Diedra or Dee as everyone called her walked out of the rubble towards the team of medics.
Jake who was on the other side of the colony didn't answer for a few seconds as he and Sgt. Ka'ana were in the process of removing a large piece of steel siding off the body of the poor bastard who had been standing next to the building it came off. Checking the mans pulse, he raised his eyes to Ka'ana and shook his head.
He's gone, Jake frowned and then replied to Sheridan's announcement. Bring up to the north east section of the colony, there's a lot of wounded up here. They hide out in an emergency shelter for all the good it did.
Yes, Captain, Dee answered promptly, aware that the man didn't like being called Sir. See you in a minute.
With that, Dee approached Cate Vedder and Janice Clayton with whom she was on more than friendly terms with. Dee had served on Vanguard almost as long as the duo and though they weren't life long buddies or anything (Cate and Janice were FLEET after all), they were friends.
Hey Cate, Janice, Dee greeted How'd you manage to keep Martin on the ship? I was sure he'd be leading this charge.
"Oh, Dee. Hi," Cate said, still a little astounded by their surroundings but happy to at least see a friendly face among the grim-looking MACOs. "Martin... oh, he'll be running things from up there." She pointed to the sky, leaving the details as to why out of it. "Where do you need us?" Again, her gaze was searching the rubble, her mind trying to make sense of it, to reconcile what was before her with the photos she had seen of the colony in the Potemkin's database.
"The Captain says that there's wounded in the north east." Dee motioned the medical team to follow as she started walking across the main street, to a side street that would take them to the shelter the captain spoke off. She had seen the place when they had first done their preliminary sweep of the colony. "They were hiding out in a shelter or something, not that those things were made to keep out the Jems."
"From what I can see now, it's amazing some survived at all," Cate said as she walked beside Corporal Sheridan. How the woman did this day in day out, Cate didn't know but then again her own job wasn't any easier.
"Any Jems left?" Janice asked from behind the two women.
Dee glanced over her shoulder at Janice. "No, not one sign of the bastards. They were here." She swept her gaze across the ravaged colony. "But we've seen no trace of them since we've arrived."
"Oh." Janice was unsettled by all the destruction but if the Jems were gone, at least that was that.
"Why come at all?" Medic Armando Bernard asked from the back. "Aren't they had of their damn zone? Why come here and kick the shit around to just leave?"
"I think that's the million dollar question," Tyler Everett replied before the MACO woman could say anything. What the hell were they after...
"Christ knows," Dee answered truthfully as they walked down the side street with frontages that was blackened by the scorch marks from phaser blasts. Nothing was spared, not a home, not a municipal building, nothing. "Looks like they went fucking caveman on this colony though."
"Caveman?" Cate asked, glancing back over her shoulder at her team. "What do you mean?"
"Well, there's no pattern to any of these," Dee explained. "I mean it's like they blasted the shit out of the place for the sake of just shooting. I mean even the casualties, they shot everyone and there was no reason too. Most of the population were unarmed civilians. There was no reason to inflict this much damage and they didn't even take the time to kill them, like they were shooting anything in sight. From what we've learned about the Jems, they're methodical, efficient killers. This is sloppy."
Cate looked around again, trying to see what Dee could beyond the destruction. She guessed she could read the attack and guess the tactics behind it just like Cate could read a body and see the injuries and illnesses. "I'll take your word for it... so why are we so certain this was Jem'Hadar?"
"The civilians that we found alive identified their attackers as Jems," Dee answered as she reached the end of the side street that emptied into a sort of intersection. A large greyish building that was almost demolished by phaser fire stood before them. Section of wall were scorched with heat, while others had fissured and lay in untidy piles of broken plasticreet and thermal guarding.
"Of course," Cate muttered to herself, not having thought of that obvious explanation. "Sorry."
"No apologies necessary, Cate," Dee replied automatically. "We had to wonder ourselves when we saw this. This doesn't look like something the Jems do."
Jake straightened at the sight of the medicas and ordered Sgt. Ka'ana to keep working on finding survivors in the mess. Tricoders were being used to find bodies in the rubble but the progress of actually getting to them was slow.
Walking towards the team, he greeted everyone with a slight nod. "The injured are just on the other side of this building," he declared, gesturing to the bend of road that led behind the ruined structure. "We tried to keep them all together."
"Thank you, Captain," Cate said, noting his sombre look. Though not unusual for Captain Mercer, this one seemed to be worse. "We'll be stabilising and transporting them as we go," she let him know how Doc Martin wanted to go about this. "Well, we'll get to it." Turning to her group, she motioned for them to follow her.
"Good," Jake answered with a nod, pleased by this. They had no idea where the Jems were and by Jake's reckoning that meant the area was far from being secured. For all they knew, they could be in the eye of the storm instead of the aftermath. The sooner these people got to the Vanguard, the better.
"The Captain looks worried." Janice nudged Cate as they started to pull away. "Didn't you say we were safe?" she nearly squeaked.
"Janice," Cate warned her with a glare. "Let's just go do our job, alright? The quicker we do it, the quicker we're out of here," she finished saying, her eyes touching on Mercer, in case he had overheard.
Jake did hear but he didn't respond. He had Sharks walking the perimeter and kept the lines of communication with the Vanguard open. Everything that could be done to secure the area in their purview had been undertaken. Of course, since the Jems weren't part of the equation, there was still every possibility that things could go to bug fuck hell in a damn hurry. "You should get moving," he urged, doing nothing to allay the nurse's fears.
He didn't have the patience to hold her hand and tell her that everything was going to be nice, he left that up to Dr. Vedder to nursemaid her own people. He had larger concerns on his mind, like where the fuck were the Jems who had done this.
"We're moving," Medic Ronnie Lloyd replied, bringing up the rear of the group. He adjusted the strap of the heavy equipment bag he carried and pushed the other two guys with a pat on their backs.
"Come on, ladies."
Janice was starting to unnerve her, but Cate tried to ignore the feeling. Just focus on the work, she told herself as they negotiated a way through the rubble. Soon they found the reason why they were here.
"Jesus," Tyler let out, before he turned to Cate. In front of them were about forty people, Cardassians but mostly Bajorans, all huddled together or flat on their backs, with injuries varying in severity.
Cate's breath caught but this wasn't anything she hadn't seen before in some shape or another. "Alright, come on, people. Armando and Ronnie, you're on triage. Get me for any critical. Janice, Tyler, you're with me. Let's check the ones already lying down."
"Yes, Doc." Ronnie grabbed Armando's sleeve and pulled him along while the other three got to work.
*
Jake had gathered the uninjured into what could be loosely described as the community hall, one of the few structures that was still sound enough to house a large number of people, distributing supplies of food and water that had been transported from the Vanguard upon their arrival. While some of the Sharks were walking the perimeter, others were aiding the civilians in any way they could, tending to frightened people who were uncertain as to their future on this world.
As they were several hundred people left in the colony, even with the dead and the injured, more ships would have to arrive to evacuate the population of Solarian IV since they had no indication if the Jems were coming back again. Leaving Sgt. Ka'ana and Corporal Sheridan to handle the situation with the civilians, Jake made his way to the medical team while trying to raise the ship.
"Captain Mercer, this is Vanguard," his communicator suddenly came alive. Jake tensed when he heard the whine in the background of what sounded like an emergency klaxon. Tensing immediately, he reached for his phaser out of sheer reflex.
"What's going on?" He demanded.
"Three Jem'Hadar attack ships have just jumped out of warp," replied Lt. Carstairs, the communications officer. "We've moved to engage but we've had to raise shields."
Shit. Jake cursed inwardly, knowing what that meant. "Acknowledged, we'll hold up down here until we hear from you."
"We'll contact you as soon as the situation changes," Carstairs answered before the channel went silent.
Jake stood in the middle of the street, not far from the medics and their charges, hoping that Carstair's optimism wasn't misplaced.
*
"No, no, no, no." Tyler banged his fist on the case next to him. Inside, the instruments and supplies rattled.
"Move on, Everett," Cate said, looking up briefly from the patient she was currently treating.
"Why bother? They can't go anywhere anymore!" Tyler cursed under his breath as his hand brushed the eyelids close of yet another casualty. This one should have made it. If it hadn't been for the Vanguard refusing to transport him, this boy would have made it. "Just a kid..."
Cate met Janice's gaze and nodded towards Tyler. "I'm good here."
Janice nodded and went to see to Tyler. A break, a drink of water, something to allow the medic the distance he needed to refocus.
Out of the forty-odd injured people that Mercer and his men had gathered here, eighteen had been transported already and five had been treated for rather superficial wounds and sent to join the uninjured. They had lost ten... now eleven and that left... Cate looked up again to do a quick count... another eight. Well, nine but Cate didn't think the pregnant woman would make it if she didn't get transported in the next five minutes or so.
Jake arrived at the makeshift triage that the medics had created around the space where the injured had been brought. Seeking out Dr. Vedder who was in charge of this group, he made eye contact with the woman and gestured at her to join him. He had no wish to cause a panic especially among her stuff but he needed to convey to her the urgency of the situation because they were now facing an entirely different problem.
Cate was just finishing up on fusing the femoral bone on a Cardassian when Mercer caught her attention. "Ronnie," she called out, giving the MACO Captain a curt nod that she had understood. "Can you finish this for me, please?"
"Sure," Ronnie came over, having dealt with his last patient. They were all stabilised now and awaiting transport.
Wiping her hands on a cloth, Cate made her way to Mercer. "What's up?" Her uniform was covered in blood and her face sported some splatter as well. She blew a loose strand of hair out of her face. "You know what's going on with the transporter?"
Jake didn't answer immediately, not until they had taken a few steps away from the others. No sense causing a panic before they had to. It was going to happen as it was when the news got out. Hopefully the doc could determine if her people could handle what he was about to tell her. He got a sense of her during their brief encounters since he came on board the Vanguard and believed she could keep her head.
"The Vanguard has raised shields because she's under attack," Jake explained simply, opting to get to the point. "They can't transport us while shields are up so we're going to have to hole up down here until she's able to beam us aboard."
Cate blanched but didn't show more reaction more than that. Her fear and helplessness at feeling cornered, she kept to herself and well.
"Well, that explains that." She turned her head to look at the pregnant Bajoran lady. "Merde," she let out on a breath and then seemed to catch herself. "Jem'Hadar?" She would at least know who were attacking them and who would most likely come down and finish them off. If it was Jem, she also knew not to kid herself. Everyone had heard about the SS Potemkin.
Considering what he told her, she took it pretty well. Some women could go to complete pieces especially when faced with such news, even Fleeters. "Yeah," he nodded, "Jems. We need to move the wounded, keep them undercover. Were going to have company soon and it will be easier if we can keep everyone in the same place. The hall where the others are has a couple of rooms for private discussion, you can use those."
Her mind reviewed each patient and their condition to see who would handled being moved and who wouldn't. "There are nine left. We could do with some help for expediency," she returned, her heart thudding rather hard in her chest. Yeah, lose it in front of the MACO Commander, nitwit. "Some probably won't make it."
Not breaking her gaze, he reached for his communicator and activated it, "Ka'ana, Dee, send some bodies over to my location, we need to move the injured into the hall and fast."
The intensity in his eyes kept her there but as his Sergeant and Corporal both replied in turn, Cate blinked and averted her gaze. "I'll go get them ready." Stabilised for the transporter and stabilised for manhandling around a war zone were two different things. She started to walk away and then turned back to him, hesitating. "There's a..." Hell, she knew better than to try and put her foot down to reason that some patients simply could not be moved. She'd been through that before, with the sky falling on them for having stayed back. To save one or two lives you risked ten more. It wasn't always worth it but... "She's pregnant. If there's any chance for an open window for transport, that woman and her baby should get it."
"Noted," he replied, understanding the urgency by her eyes. "Is it safe to move her into the shelter?" Jake inquired, particularly because the woman was in such dire need.
"No." Simple reply. "Four-foot rod through her chest. The least movement the better. I'm not even sure she'd survive the transporter..." Besides the woman's left lung, the collar bone was also damaged at a number of places and the rod was dangerously close to the heart. However, for now the heart was safe but the blood loss would get her sooner or later if shock didn't.
"You need to stabilise her," Jake said firmly, "because we are moving her."
Looking at him like he had suddenly turned into a first class idiot, Cate bit her tongue. How the fuck did he expect her to stabilise that kind of injury? "That rod is not even an inch shy of the woman's heart. Can you move that smoothly?" she retorted, keeping her voice low. She looked him up and down and guessed that he probably fucking could but she wasn't about to put it to the test with that patient's life.
"We move pretty well under pressure and if the Jems get past the Vanguard, that rod's going to move a hell of a lot more," he said plainly, not about to debate the matter with her as he saw a couple Sharks, moving at double to time to reach them.
"Alright, alright." She could see she'd already lost. "Then let's move her last. In case we get lucky." It gave more time for the Vanguard to deal with the enemy and maybe resume the transport of patients. It sure as hell gave the woman a little more time.
"Dr. Vedder, over here."
She heard her name called by young Tyler and glanced to see the medic keeping two Sharks back. An odd sight really. "Gotta go," she told Mercer and jogged back to her team.
Thank Christ, a practical woman. Following her, he went to the medica called Tyler who was trying to deal with two of his own. "We need to move the injured quick," he said to the two Sharks, young men by the name of Wallace and Chou. "Do whatever Dr. Vedder says but they all get moved. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Sir," they answered with nods.
Cate flinched at that but didn't say anything further on the subject. "Tyler, you heard the Captain. We need to move them where the others are. Some hall are something..." Cate wasn't sure where the where was but she couldn't worry about that. She had to trust that Mercer was calling it right. "Check the vitals on these two but I think they're good to go." She pointed to two Bajoran men, farmers judging by their clothes and calloused hands, before she went to bring Janice, Ronnie and Armando up to speed on the change of plan.
The two Sharks looked at Jake, wanting confirmation and Jake snapped. "What the fuck are you waiting for? You heard her," he barked, sending the duo into obeying the doc's order without further question.
With the help from two Sharks, moving the injured went rather quickly. They lost the Cardassian grand-mother though, and that rattled Janice and even MACO Wallace, who had been carrying her with Ronnie. Tyler was getting edgy, always having a bit of trouble with adapting when things didn't go according to plan, but so far he was keeping his head. Janice on the other hand, just knowing that the Jem'Hadar were somewhere above them, attacking their ship, was barely holding on. She wasn't so much worried about her own situation, though she damn knew it was right on the verge of being dire, but was more focused on the fact her brother (Fleet as well) was still up there, manning the torpedoes.
Ronnie kept watch at their new position while the others went back for what would be the last trip as only three patients remained. Cate sent the MACOs with Janice and Tyler with two patients and, waiting a beat, she turned to Armando.
"Head or feet?" he asked.
"She won't make it," Cate said quietly, shaking her head as she kneeled beside the pregnant lady and took her hand.
"I figured..." Armando said, watching the doctor closely. "I know what you want to do, but that guy, Mercer, he'll pop a vein when he finds out."
"Then run interference..." Cate said, almost smirking. She had hoped the Vanguard had been in a position to beam the woman up by now. Or at least that she would have expired. It was a sheer miracle that she was still holding on at all.
"I'd rather stay," he countered.
"No. They'll need you there," Cate said quickly. "And yes, I'm needed too. I know, but this won't take long." But it was something she had to do.
Armando understood like any other medic would. "Alright, I'll see what I can do to keep Mercer off your back. You're armed?"
"Yes. Grab the gear and go. I'll bring the rest."
*
"Vanguard," Jake spoke into his communicator outside the building away from his team. "This is Mercer, are you receiving us? What's your status?"
There was only silence, which Jake knew to mean only two things, either shields were up and they couldn't communicate or the ship had been destroyed. The odds were in favour of the former, since the destruction of the Vanguard would almost ensure the Jems beaming into the place long before this. Glancing at the darkening sky, Jake tried to see the fight he knew was happening above the space of Solarian. Not knowing pissed him off to no end. This was too reminiscent of being trapped on Azati with Sloane when, in their little microcosm, they had no idea that thirty-five ships were being obliterated.
Jake walked back into the large hall, hearing the rumble of voices of people gathered first before he set eyes on them. The civilians were more or less settled now, thanks to the Sharks, supplies had been distributed and people were bearing down for the wait and preparing for the night. He wished Ray was here because his 21C knew how to talk to people, put them at ease. It was the one skill Jake still had trouble mastering. Oh, he wasn't as dour as he used to be, he knew that but he wasn't exactly Mr. Happy either, as Sloane used to call him. With a sigh, he thought about the woman briefly and wondered how she was doing as he walked toward the suite of rooms that had been taken up by the medical team.
"Dee," he came across the redhead as he was crossing the floor, "I want you to find the Sarge, tell him to start divvying up the guys into shifts, I want someone walking the perimeter at all times. There's too many places the Jems can come at us from the surrounding terrain."
"Sure, Captain." Dee nodded before trotting off to go find the Sarge.
Jake resumed his journey to the rooms he had nicknamed the Triage in his head. One assumed closed chamber discussions took place here and noted that the medics had set up a decent looking MASH in the three rooms. Sweeping his gaze across the faces as he entered, he noted one exception.
"Hey," he asked no one in particular, "where's the Doc?"
"Should be in the hall," Armando replied, not making eye contact but rather pretending to have all his attention needed on taking a patient's vitals.
Janice and Tyler exchanged a glance but Ronnie didn't even move.
"Just came from there," Jake stated without pause. "She's not there."
"Maybe she stepped out..." That was Janice and, at that, Armando looked up sharply.
Jake could spot a pile of bullshit when he saw it and Armando definitely had the look of a man with a shovel. "Where the fuck is she?" he asked point blank, his intense gaze fixed on the man with a look that said, 'truth or broken bones, take your pick'.
Armando swallowed nervously, torn between his loyalty to his boss and her well-being. With a sigh, he hung his head. "She's still back there."
"Oh fuck." Jake rolled his eyes, wondering why the hell he was surprised. He should have known she gave up too easily. "Let me guess, the pregnant woman?"
"Yes." Janice and Tyler replied in unison and looked at each other in embarrassment.
"You lot are hopeless," Armando muttered.
Jake let out a low growl and turned on his heels, making his way to the nearest exit, catching sight of Wallace as he prepared to step outside. "Tell Sarge, I'm going to back to the first Triage spot, we've got a straggler."
"Yes, Sir." Wallace nodded. "Do you need back up?"
"No, I'm good," he replied, making sure he had a phase rifle before he walked out into the night air.
It took him little more than two minutes to find her. As expected, she was still attending the pregnant woman that couldn't be moved. "What the fuck are you still doing here?"
"Jesus Christ," Cate gasped, averting the phaser she had aimed in his general direction. Having heard a noise, she had grabbed for it in case, but now she realised she should have anticipated it would be him. Ignoring his question, which she assumed was rhetorical, she turned back to the woman.
"It's okay, Alia. This one is friendly," she tried to reassure the Bajoran, who kept slipping in and out of consciousness. Cate's Bajoran was sketchy at best so she was padding it with more English than anything else.
"I thought we were moving her." Jake stared at her reproachfully.
"Yeah," Cate said sadly, feeling a bit like a creep for getting one past him. Not that she had thought it would come to that. She understood his job and his concern but then there was Nalor Alia and her baby. "Come and listen to this." She waved at him to come closer.
Jake wanted to get them both back to the hall but could see his hopes for that dwindling as she motioned him forward. Frowning, he came in closer. "What am I listening to?" He met her brown eyes with puzzlement. The woman didn't look in good shape and Jake couldn't imagine her remaining out here was any better than being moved to the shelter.
"This," she said, thankful he wasn't fighting her on this.
"You ready, Alia?" Cate brushed the woman's long fringe back before turning the tricorder back on. The two women had had the talk. Alia knew her fate unless the Vanguard came through for them real soon, and following that Cate had done what she could for the mother to meet her child while she still could.
There, in the ruins of the Solarian colony bunker, the strong beats of a baby's heart echoed around them.
Jake stared at her.
The beat was strong, alive. Unlike the mother, who seemed deathly. "You play dirty, Doc."
She could play dirty, yes. But this was hardly a game. She hoped he would understand and if not then he wasn't worth her time. "Won't be long now. We're good here. I'll join you all when..." When this will be over, which would be soon, judging from the increasing difficult breaths Alia was drawing.
"Here, I'm here." She grabbed the woman's hands as they reached out in panic. She was struggling to breathe. "Let me make you more comfortable." Cate pushed the meds with the hypospray, knowing full well that while it would make it easier on her patient, it would sure as hell cause respiratory arrest at some point.
He stared at her. "I'm staying," Jake stated firmly in a tone that told her that he'd not broke any argument on the matter. He looked at the woman, her difficulty and the baby that would come into this world, never knowing a mother. He thought of the brothers he had lost who had no memory of their mother and felt it affect him more than he liked. "Is there anything we can do?" He met the doctor's gaze.
Cate shook her head simply. "I keep draining her lungs but they keep filling up again." Seeing in his eyes that after all Jake Mercer had a heart, Cate really wished he didn't stay for what would come next. "She's drowning and her baby... it's just too soon." There was nothing else Cate could do for either of them except not leaving them to die alone.
She felt Alia relax next to her and she looked down. The woman's pupils were dilated and bubbles could be heard every time she took a breath, as shallow as they were. "Want to see him again?"
"Yes," the woman answered weakly in her mother tongue, a tear rolling down the side of her face.
"Here." Cate moved the tricorder so the woman could look at the screen and the scans she had recorded earlier. "A beautiful boy."
Suddenly Jake felt like a bastard for being so determined earlier to move her. "Isn't there any equipment here that we could use to keep them alive?" he asked. So focused on moving people, he hadn't consider that possibility. "I mean they had medical facilities here, perhaps not as state of art as Vanguard, but Bajoran and Cardassian tech is pretty advanced...."
It was an act of desperation but he was willing to give it a try if she was.
Cate frowned, trying to keep control of her emotions but she was so surprised this MACO Captain would even try. "Already checked on that. Sheridan took Lloyd earlier. They found that over there. An incubator of sorts." She wasn't totally up to speed on Bajoran and Cardassian medical knowledge. "But we couldn't get it to work." Fuck, why was he raising her hopes up again? She'd been through all of that earlier and had written that idea off. Then again, they hadn't though Alia would hold on this long.
"Where is it?" Jake asked. While he wasn't an engineer, he wasn't totally useless with machinery either. "I can read a bit of Bajoran."
"Over there." Cate nodded in the direction where boxes and equipment from what was left of the colony's clinic had been moved to. "Shit, don't tell me you can fix it..." she muttered, kicking herself for not asking him any earlier, for waiting this so damn long.
He put down his phaser rifle and rummage through the boxes until he found it. It was a portable incubator, functioning with an independent power source in case of catastrophic failure in the main grid. Like the kind that would be experienced when a bunch of Jems decided to shoot the hell out of everything. A quick study and Jake determined what was wrong.
"The internal power source has been ruptured," he said, flipping the thing right on its side, turning on the torch on his helmet so that he could see better. He could see where the connections to the main board had been shattered, probably when it fell over. "It needs a power source," he spoke, trying to think of an alternative. "Give your phaser," he instructed.
Not wasting a second, Cate unholstered her phaser and threw it at him. If he could fix it, she'd need another pair of hands like Armando or Ronnie back here with a few key things they had already taken away with them. Then again, maybe there was a Bajoran or Cardassian version of it already here in those boxes.
Jake caught the weapon in one hand and immediately set to work on it, aware that time was of the essence. "I think" he said as he slid the panel of the the weapon, "that I can use the phaser power pack to power this thing." He removed the cylindrical tube and placed it in on the ground next to the incubator before removing its damage power cell.
As the Captain worked, Cate drained Alia's lungs once more. God, the woman was a fighter. "Feels better, huh? You hang in there..."
She turned to Mercer. "Have you heard back from Vanguard?" Did engagements such as these last as long or was it already all over and they didn't know it?
"Not a word," Jake replied. "Doesn't mean anything though." He made eye contact with her. "The Jems aren't here so the Vanguard must still be engaging them."
He had a point, Cate agreed, turning her attention back on the mother and baby and leaving Mercer to concentrate on fixing the thing.
It took a few minute of rerouting wires and switching connector modules before he dared to insert the phaser cell into place.
"Keep your fingers crossed," he said, powering up the incubator. The internal lights flickered once and then twice before the tiny motor came alive with a low drone. "Shit." he gave her a look. "I think it's working."
"What?" Cate couldn't believe it. Her gaze watering, she looked away as she took a breath to calm herself down. Shit, she really was going to have to cut this baby out. She swallowed and felt dizzy and, gritting her teeth, she looked down on the mom.
"Hey, Alia. We have some news," she said with some difficulty.
The woman could barely respond but Jake waited, wondering what came next. He knew the sounds of dying on the battlefield and she seemed pretty damned close to that. Would she have strength enough to deliver a baby in all this?
"We could save your baby boy," Cate told Alia, her gaze searching the woman's face and her eyes to see if she was still lucid enough to understand what was being said. "Alia?"
Alia blinked and tried to speak but all that did was making her cough.
"Okay, okay. Squeeze my hand once for yes, twice for no," Cate offered with a soothing, compassionate smile. "You understand we have now the means to save your baby, yes?"
Alia squeezed the doctor's hand once, her eyes now brimming with tears.
"Good." Cate squeezed her hand back. "Do you want us to?" Cate knew she was past the point where she had to remind Alia that she wouldn't make it. They had already discussed that while they were stabilising her for the transporter. So the purpose of her question really was whether or not she wanted this baby, who would be dangerously premature, to be an orphan, or would she rather keep him with her. Nobody would fault the woman for wanting that because the odds of that baby surviving at all were slim.
Alia blinked her eyes closed, fresh tears spilling, and she started to nod vigorously as she squeezed Cate's hand. Her lips were moving, she was trying to mouth something. 'How?'
Cate glanced up at Mercer, a nervous glance as she dreaded having to answer that question.
"We will wait for you, sweetie," Cate said, her hand caressing Alia's cheek, her thumb wiping the tears. "We will wait for you and then I'll get your baby out." At the woman's surprise, her eyes widening in fear, Cate shushed her softly. "It's okay. He'll be okay. You're nowhere ready for labour and you wouldn't be able to go through it if you were," she explained calmly, making it sound so simple and like she had done this hundreds of times. "I will get him out safely."
Cut. Him. Out. Cate's head was swimming a little. Maybe Dr. Dennis Martin should have been here after all. And she couldn't even contact him for some guidance.
The incubator would keep the child alive but for the mother there was nothing they could and as he watched Cate trying to explain what was necessary, he felt a surge of anger at the Jems for attacking a civilian colony. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen this kind of brutality before but this made him mad, made him want to hurt something but right now there was nothing to do but save one life instead of two.
He reached for the woman's other hand, not knowing why he was doing it, perhaps wanting to help the doc in some small way.
"So what do you say?" Cate asked, noting in the corner of her eye that Mercer had approached and was now trying to comfort Alia.
"Yes," Alia replied in Bajoran, her eyes probably the clearest Cate had seen them in the past hour and a half.
"Okay then. I will be back shortly. This is..." Cate had to pause to think about it. Mercer, Jacob Tristan, type O positive. Captain, MACO, CO. Not too communicative nor forthcoming with anything resembling a smile. "Jake. He'll keep you company for a little while. Make him tell you about his home. I hear it was a gorgeous place, much like this would have been."
Cate looked up at Mercer, an apology in her eyes as she'd just blurted out the first thing that had come to mind. The woman needed to stay awake and alive until Cate would be ready, otherwise they would lose them both, and that meant Mercer would have to talk to her. "You okay?" she asked him, before she pushed up to her feet.
"I'm good," Jake replied automatically almost on reflex even if he wished that Ray was here. His 21C was better at this stuff than he was. Still clutching the woman's hand, he looked at the woman named Alia, who was bleeding away right before his eyes and started speaking, forcing out words. "I was on Bajor during the war, had a chance to go to the Kendra Province when I was on leave. Pretty place, lots of trees..." he sought his memory about the visit, hoping thoughts of home would help.
Cate went through her gear, getting out what she would need and setting it all down on a sterile tray, before she went to check what exactly had been brought back from the clinic. There were quite a few things there and after a closer look at the portable incubator, Cate thought it was nothing short of amazing, and if the baby kept the strong vitals he'd shown throughout, he might have a chance yet.
Scrubbing up with a liquid gel, she turned to Mercer. He really had the right tone of voice for doing this, whether he realised it or not, and she hated to interrupt him. "I'm gonna need another set of hands. Would you get Ronnie Lloyd back here, please? With extra supplies? Just tell him it's for the baby, he'll know what to bring." Yeah, Ronnie. Of all of the medics, he was the most seasoned, with the coolest head.
"Right," he nodded, trying to maintain his cool composure even though inwardly, he was struggling with how to deal with this. Sharks injured in the line of duty he could deal with but pregnant women, that was an entirely new experience. Reaching for his communicator, he spoke quickly, "Sarge, this is Captain, get the medic named Ronnie Lloyd to my location and tell him bring supplies for the baby."
"The baby?" Ka'ana's voice responded through the device puzzled.
"You heard me," Jake retorted, without need for explanation. The order should be enough. "Get him here on the double."
"Yes, Sir," the Sergeant replied before the line went dead and Jake resumed his conversation with the woman. "I'm guessing you want your kid to be blessed at the Temple of Iponu? I've been there, it's pretty."
Alia was about to answer when Jake heard an explosion of sound that made him forget immediately what was happening around him. "That was a phaser blast." Jake declared reaching for his communicator. "Sarge, what the fuck was that?
"Not sure, Sir!" Sarge answered a few seconds later, his voice tense and excitable. "We heard phaser fire but it wasn't aimed at us!"
"What?" Jake exclaimed, puzzled.
"There was a shot but it came from the jungle. We saw the flash but nothing else." The man's puzzlement was clear.
Jake could appreciate that he was similarly confused himself. "Alright, keep an eye out and see what else happens. Keep everyone in the shelter for now."
"What about you?" Sarge asked automatically.
"We're fine," he said, glancing at the doc. "We'll manage."
Somehow.
Having ducked at the sound of the blast, Cate straightened up when she heard Mercer talk. "What?" She couldn't do this on her own. Merde. No, Lloyd had to be here. In panic mode, she started moving the stuff she had sorted earlier closer to the Bajoran woman and, as she approached her patient, the panic seem to drain away. She had to appear calm and in control, that had been engrained into her in Med school and her training kicked back in.
"We're ready, Alia," she told her in broken Bajoran, lying through her teeth as she squeezed the woman's arm gently. "Okay?" She nodded in Mercer's direction with a smile. "I told you he was good company, huh?"
Alia closed her eyes and squeezed Mercer's hand once, with a slight nod of her head.
"He'll be safe," Jake said to her, before she faded out. "I promise you." Jake meant it too. If nothing else could be done and she had to slip out of this world, that was the least he could do.
And in the next instant, when Cate left to go get the incubator, it was like Nalor Alia had been reassured as much as she could be, that she could trust her baby son's life to the hands of one doctor Cate Vedder and one soldier Jake Mercer. She took and pushed her last breath.
The ache that came about when he heard that last breath was worse than he expected. He had seen people die before, had cradled them in his arms, bloodied ruin bodies in the field and it didn't sting as much as it did now. Jaw clenched, he saw her breathing slow and then stop permanently. A heavy sigh escaped him and that was all the anguish he would permit himself to feel. "She's gone," he said quietly. "Now what?"
"She's what?" Cate looked back in his direction. "Fuck. We have like a minute to get the baby out," she replied in a rush, her expression grim. She ran back to Mercer and Alia's body and placed the incubator on the ground carefully before picking a new pair of sterile gloves. She nudged her medical bag close to him with her foot. "Glove up too."
He was about to tell her that she was fucking kidding until Jake saw the doc nudging the bag in his direction and realised that she really wasn't. "Fuck." He cursed as he pulled off his gloves and slipped on the latex covering. "I only wear latex for working girls," he grumbled, slipping them on.
Working girls? Cate spared him a shock look but was soon kneeling down, and her attention went on to grabbing scissors to cut the rest of the woman's tunic off her belly. She checked her vitals, just habit, not really thinking that Mercer wouldn't be able to call it given what he probably saw on the field day in day out. The device locked on the baby's slowing heartbeat and Cate swallowed. "We have about thirty seconds," she warned him, laser scalpel in hand. "If you think you need to throw up, please turn around to do so." This place was nowhere near as sterile as it should be and proximity to puke would not help.
"I can take it," he snorted, somewhat offended by the suggestion but deciding this wasn't really the time to get pissy like some Fleeter who needed sensitivity counselling.
Activating the laser beam, she sliced through the woman's abdomen in thin layers, one after the other, until she could see the swollen muscle of the uterus. "Gauze. Come on. Those white things," she told Mercer, nodding at the rolls of gauze she'd prepared. "Dab the area. I need a clear view." Last thing she wanted to do was slice the baby.
He hadn't quite connected the latex with the possibility that he'd have to do something but staring at her, he looked dumbfounded until he realise once again that she wasn't kidding. Cursing under his breath and ignoring the sight of blood and innards, Jake reached for the wads of gauze and wiped the area as instructed. "Like that?" He looked at her uncertainly, which was a feeling he did not at all like to experience.
"Yeah," Cate replied, her tone all business. She didn't spare him a glance before she started cutting through the uterus, and then punctured the membrane of the placenta. The whole abdomen cavity was flooded with blood and amniotic fluid but all Cate was set on doing was pluck the baby out as the tricorder told her the heart rate had dipped dangerously low.
Jake stared for a minute and then looked away to compose himself. Fuck, this was actually getting to him. Swallowing thickly, he crushed the horror he was seeing and focussed because neither the doc or the kid she was trying to save had time for him to go to pieces like some pussy.
Dropping her instruments, both her hands went in, trying to move the skin and muscles apart. She didn't have any splitters handy to keep things tidy, nor was there time to install them had she had. "Slide your hands along mine and hold them there."
Ah hell, Jake thought and reached forward, his hands following the path she had taken. Being completely helpless at the mercy of someone else's instruction was not something he was accustomed to or liking for that matter. However, he forced himself to tolerate it because of the situation.
"Here we go," she spoke quietly, more to herself than anyone else. She dug in and carefully dislodged the baby and brought him on top. "Okay, suction." She glanced up. "That little balloon looking thing there."
Nodding quickly, he reached for the balloon thing she described and depressed the inflated pad. With a hiss, it did what it was supposed to, removing the excess fluid so that she could see.
She cleared the baby's airway but she didn't believe his lungs were developed enough. No, they would have to see what the incubator would do once the baby was hooked up. "Towel."
Grabbing the towel in his hands, he was about to hand it to her when suddenly, she was presenting him with a baby. It was bloody, covered in fluids but alive.
She lifted the little life in her hands, keeping his head low, and presented it to Mercer so he could wipe off the excess fluid. "Gently." The friction on the skin would also stimulate the baby. "Okay, you hold him."
She didn't give him much choice in the matter as Jake took the child in his arms, saw the small, pink face that didn't see or know anything about the way he had come into this world. For a moment as Jake wiped him off, he was revisited by the twins, remembering how it had been to hold his brothers for the first time. The moment had been burned into his memory, just like this one.
"Hey," he said quietly, wiping off the noisome fluids off the small face. "How you doing?"
Cate turned and found the clamp and scissors and finally cut the cord. "Here," she took the infant back and placed him in the incubator, hooking him up to some sensors and a med delivery patch, but largely this thing operated with an internal scanner. Lights flashed and soon a status update scrolled on the little screen on the side. The baby's heart was still going and somehow he was getting oxygen in his blood stream though his chest clearly did not move.
"How the hell does this thing work?" Cate let out, amazed.
"I have no idea," Jake replied, watching the infant inside the chamber. "Is he okay?" Stupid question really but Jake couldn't help but ask.
Cate shrugged. "I'm no paediatrician but this seems to say his heart rate is normal and stable and somehow his blood and brain are adequately oxygenated." She glanced at him before looking back the baby. "I guess this works in a similar way to the umbilical cord because his lungs sure aren't mature enough to function but somehow it's sustaining him. That doesn't mean there is no brain damage. I'm not sure I was fast enough," she said with a frown.
"You did okay," Jake replied, looking at her as he stripped the latex gloves off his hands with real admiration. Considering where they were and what had to be done to deliver the little boy under glass, it was amazing the kid was here at all. "We should get inside," he said after a moment. There was no repeat of the phaser blast they heard but that didn't mean it was safe either.
"Yeah..." Cate pulled her gaze from the baby and turned to the mother. With shaky hands she pulled on the blanket she had used to keep the woman warm and covered her cut up body, the metal rod still protruding out of her chest. It had been a damn miracle she had lasted that long. And an even bigger miracle that her son was still alive. She bit back on a sob, pulling her gloves off with the sounds of stretched latex smacking back into shape, before she reached to caressed the Bajoran's face.
"Oh, Alia. He's gorgeous," Cate said softly, as if her pagh, or spiritual force, was still among them. "Tennan is gorgeous." She remembered the name Alia had decided on and she would make sure her wish was honoured.
Jake watched the woman for a moment, Doctor Vedder. He didn't know that much about her really. Oh they'd exchanged words over the last couple of months since he'd been on the Vanguard but they hadn't really talked. Truth was Jake still had trouble relating to his comrades, even after Sloane McRae. Sure, he was less closed off than he used to be but actually making strides to being an approachable was a slow process for him. He knew that. Ray told him that he needed to lighten up and Jake wouldn't say he was going out of his way to try but he had a lot less mercurial than he used to be.
However, right now, he wished he was one of those guys who knew the right thing to say.
All he could do was reach for her, squeezing her shoulder slightly in the best gesture of comfort he could offer.
"Not the funeral rites she should have been given, is it?" Cate sighed, feeling his strong hand on her and drawing strength from it.
"Thanks for your help." She lifted her face to him. Alia wasn't the first patient she'd lost and she wouldn't be the last but these circumstances had been particularly trying. "And for not passing out." She smiled a little at that, trying to leave death behind and focus on the living. She started wrapping up her things and stuffing them in her bag. He had done as she had asked and now it was time she did what he wanted.
"Don't mention it," Jake replied, offering her the barest hint of a smile and helped her gather her things. "We'll try and bury her in the morning if we're still here," he offered, not liking to leave the woman where she was any more than Doctor Cate probably did.
"Thanks," she found herself saying again before she stood up, brushing the dust off. "That phaser blast... that was Jem, wasn't it?" Cate figured he could tell.
"Yeah, it was," Jake replied, thinking on Sarge's curious report. "But they weren't shooting at us but something in the jungle."
This whole situation with the Jems was strange. With the exception of the attack on the Vanguard, everything about the Dominion's behaviour so far didn't fit. They didn't shoot civilians for no good reason. They didn't wander out of what was designated territory either. When they had a moment to think about it, Jake would have to give serious thought as to the game the Dominion was playing on Solarian IV.
While she was thinking on having him carry the incubator and her the bags, she figured she should see to the baby herself. If there were Jem'Hadar out there, better he be able to throw the gear to the ground and shoot back than having to juggle with the incubator. Besides, Cate's phaser was now useless as its power cell was what was keeping the babe alive.
"Mind grabbing the gear? In case you need to be a fast shot," she explained, although she guessed he would have already thought about all that. She slung her medical bag across her chest and went to pick the portable incubator up. Portable, yes, but still rather cumbersome.
"Good idea," Jake agreed, picking up everything else and leaving her to the incubator because he'd need his hands in a hurry if they got into trouble. He would have picked up in the incubator too. Grabbing what he could, in a minute he had the gear either slung over his shoulder or stored in its bag and glanced at her. "Ready?"
She threw Nalor Alia one last look and met his gaze. "Yes."