Visitors

XII

The officers materialized on the platform, tears filling their eyes and hair smoldering from the flames of the explosion.
Their sorrow turned to shock as they saw a smoking figure clad in a Betazoid uniform laying on the floor, Suoh hovering above them.
"Sivna?!" Andromeda cried out.
Sivna remained silent on the floor, not showing any signs of life. Their back steamed and smoked, gleaming red from the bloody burns.
"They signaled with their emergency beacon, I got them out just as the vessel blew!" Suoh explained, flipping them onto their back and cradling their head.
"Oh, god." Ejhisseh whimpered and ran to the com, "Transporter room two to sickbay! We have an extreme medical emergency!"
"You're okay, Siv." Andromeda muttered, gently wiping ash from their cheek, "You're okay. We're gonna get you all patched up and you'll be as good as new."
Vahn and T'Ve came zooming into the transporter room, medical bags on their hips and prepared for the worst.
Vahn didn't even have time to make a grumpy comment... the emergency was too severe and Sivna was hanging in the balance.
T'Ve ran a scanner over them and grimaced, "Second and third degree burns across twenty-seven percent of their body, cracked pelvis at left lateral dislocated right shoulder, compound fracture of the left femur, and massive internal trauma across the right lateral and medial abdomen."
"Nurse, get to sickbay and activate the medical transporter."
"Yes sir." T'Ve replied calmly, but took off at her top speed down the hall.
Ejhisseh and Andromeda stood back, feeling helpless. There was nothing they could do at the moment besides watch.
"Vital signs are fading rapidly..." he whispered to himself. He pulled out a hypospray and released it into their neck, praying it would give their body the boost it needed to keep going.
"Not good, but definitely better."
Around the Doctor and Sivna formed a blue, glittering tunnel, and in a split second they were gone from the room.
"I'll let the Captain know what's going on." Suoh said, turning to the com.
"Yeah..." Ejhisseh said breathlessly, "Yeah, okay."
"Let's get to sickbay." Andromeda suggested, pulling Ejhisseh along by the hand.
As they quickly strode down the hall, they were suddenly racked with pain. They looked at each other with horror as they watched their skin bubbled and warped.
The modifications were wearing off.
Andromeda knelt down, holding her face. While the reversal process wasn't nearly as painful, it certainly wasn't pleasant.
Ejhisseh felt a popping sensation on the top of their head and reached up to feel the small sprouts of her antennae growing back.
Andromeda's skin shifted color unnervingly, going from dark brown to emerald green.
A few officers stopped to stare as they transformed, repulsed by the gruesome display.
"You good?" Ejhisseh asked, looking up as the last of her hair faded back to white.
"Been better..." Andromeda groaned, her tight curls straightening into waves.
"Does this mean Sivna is going through the same thing?" Ejhisseh inquired. If Sivna was already fighting to survive against the massive pain and internal trauma, this genetic reset could disfigure them permanently, or even worse, kill them.
"Going to sickbay now!" A familiar voice said into a communicator, "Do not inform Admiral Kirk or Captain Spock yet!"
Mac'hla came shooting down the hall, traveling as fast as her feet could take her.
"Commander, Ensign!" they called, slowing to a stop in front of the fallen officers, "Are you alright?"
"Unscathed." Andromeda replied as the last of her genetic changes reversed, "But Sivna is..."
"Yes, I am aware. Did you get the box?"
Ejhisseh was taken aback, "Is that what you're worried about? The box?"
"Answer the question."
Ejhisseh was at a loss of words, appalled by Mac'hla's seeming lack of concern.
"Yes, we have it." Andromeda replied. She was much more familiar with Mac'hla's behavior, and understood that she did care, but her vulcan brain put the mission as top priority.
"Well done. Keep it with you at all times until the Admiral and Captain return."
"So, are you going to even acknowledge what happened to Sivna?" Ejhisseh demanded, fists balled at her side angrily
"I... already did?" Mac'hla asked, not understanding, "I told you I know what happened."
Perhaps if this had happened over six years ago, before they had rebuilt their emotional blocks during their Kolinahr attempt, they would be having an absolute meltdown. They would be crying, panicking, and most likely breaking things.
But now, they had control. It wasn't that they didn't care– quite the opposite, actually. They cared more than they could possibly vocalize, and it was becoming problematic and difficult to control. As a response to this, they hardened themself and put all their energy into processing and hiding away the emotion until there was nothing left to feel.
"You-!" Ejhisseh snapped and lunged forward at her, pinning her to the wall, "What the hell is wrong with you? They could be dead for all we know and you're simply saying 'you know what happened'?!"
"Get off of me, please." Mac'hla said, putting their hand over their stomach subconsciously.
Ejhisseh saw this movement and jumped back, horrified at her actions.
"I-I'm... I'm so sorry, I– I didn't mean– I totally forgo–."
"I understand that you are distressed, but do not mistake my lack of expression as a lack of caring." Mac'hla said evenly, "I do care, and I was on my way to sickbay to check up on the process of their recovery."
"It's just... I've known them for so long, and I don't know what I'd do without them. I mean, they did this knowing there was no escape. They were going to die for us, and they didn't hesitate for even a second."
Mac'hla bit her lip, "I know how that feels. I have had many encounters with the very same experience... and I have lost friends because of it."
Ejhisseh's face darkened, and Mac'hla realized that her attempt to comfort her didn't work... it would have worked on a vulcan, but clearly those who embrace emotions fully do not appreciate reality.
"But Sivna is strong." Mac'hla added, "How much have they survived already? How many obstacles have they overcome? They are strong, and they are stubborn. Do you really think they'd leave you alone at the console? You know they are far too protective of it to do that, Miss Zhiquitren."
Ejhisseh laughed sadly, "I know. They'll pull through, I'm sure of it... I can still feel their mind working strongly."
"Listen, I love this conversation and all the sentiment, but we're not doing them any favors by standing out here." Andromeda cut in, "We should really be going to sickbay."
"Oh, god, yeah." Ejhisseh said suddenly, "Yeah, definitely."
The three strode down the hall quickly, and Mac'hla noticed the injuries to their backs.
They hadn't noticed, most likely because of shock, but Mac'hla knew that if she said anything, they would notice and the pain would surface. The injuries weren't too severe... they could go a little while without being treated.
In sickbay, Sivna was laid down in a regenerative chamber, only their head and feet showing. All the nurses and Doctors in sickbay buzzed around frantically, doing their best to keep Sivna's vitals up and regenerate the skin that still smoldered.
Across their face was a nasty, glistening burn filled with debris. The skin still bubbled from the heat, damaging the tissue deeper and deeper.
Mac'hla quickly sanitized their hands and retrieved a bag of saline. The tore it open and began to pour the sterile saline over the wound, and it steamed angrily as the heat was drawn out.
T'Ve and Vahn both noticed what she was doing, but they were in no place to protest. They needed as many hands as they could get, and Mac'hla was trained in herbal healing and somewhat primitive medical techniques. Not only that, but Mac'hla was very familiar with injuries, seeing as she rarely wasn't injured. She had spent enough time in sickbay to know what all of the instruments did and how to use them.
She grabbed a pair of tweezers and began to painstaking process of pulling the chunks of ash and shrapnel from their face.
Blood spattered on their pristine white uniform, but they paid no mind to it. Their only focus was their patient.
"Ejhisseh, hand me the dermal regenerator!" Mac'hla ordered, holding gauze over the wound.
"Yes, sir!" she said, and ran over to the table piled high with medical instruments. Fortunately, everything was labeled. 
"Quickly!" Mac'hla said urgently.
Ejhisseh tossed the regenerator over the tube and by some miracle, Mac'hla caught it.
She peeled away the gauze and began to focus on the worst bits of the burns, closing them up from third to first degree. First degree could be helped later, but right now their focus was on stopping the bleeding.
"Captain, I need that." Vahn said, holding out his hand.
"Heard, hand me the auto suture."
They traded instruments, and continued their work.
Across the bridge of Sivna's node was a deep gash, and Mac'hla tenderly closed it.
It's funny how people remember things at the strangest times. Mac'hla's mind wandered as she closed the wound, thinking back to the time when they had sustained a head injury in a shuttlepod accident. In a moment of panic, they had thrown an autosuture at Mr. Spock, leaving a neat little line of stitches across the bridge of his nose.
She almost laughed, but shook away the illogical urge. Nothing about this was funny.
"Femur has been set," T'Ve informed them, "I need the autosuture."
Mac'hla tossed the suture to her head nurse, and applied pressure once more to the burns. Most of the deep tissue damage had been closed, but a great amount of serous drainage was seeping through the new and raw skin.
"Wound is closed. How are the burns?" T'Ve asked.
"Skin is regenerating at a rapid rate and closing up nicely. The regeneration tube is working on the internal damage. They had blunt splenic trauma, but that's going well too. Everything is draining properly. Captain?"
"The skin in their face has healed to first degree–just minor with and will cause little bit of pain, but it no longer poses a threat." Mac'hla informed them.
"Well done, Captain." Vahn said, wiping sweat from his forehead, "I'm glad you stepped in. We'd still be working on them if you hadn't."
"I was not about to stand by helplessly."
"I know you weren't. That's not who you are."
"Are they going to wake up any time soon?" Andromeda inquired, looking at her unconscious friend with worry.
"We're keeping them sedated for a while, at least until they can stay stable on their own." T'Ve explained, "But knowing them, they'd manage to hold themselves stable out of sheer spite."
"Lieutenant Suoh to Captain Tirok."
Mac'hla strode over to the com, wiping blood from their hands. The pressed the button with their elbow and replied, "Yes, Lieutenant, what is it?"
"How are they?"
"They are stable with the machine, though they cannot hold themselves on their own."
"At least they're stable... um, the Admiral and Captain are back."
The room felt charged with electricity. They all knew that Mac'hla was going to give the Admiral and Captain absolute hell, and they pitied them for inducing Mac'hla's wrath.
"Understood. I will be there momentarily." they said, deadly calm.
The evenness of their voice sent shivers down the spine of everyone in the room.
"Alert me of any changes in their condition." Mac'hla ordered, and left sickbay without another word.
"Those poor bastards," Vahn said solemnly, "She's going to kill them."
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Mac'hla calmly walked into the transporter room and stood before the Admiral and Captain, covered in blood and serous fluid. On the floor was a massive pool of shimmering red and ash.
"Did you get the box?" Jim asked, somehow oblivious to his very obvious surroundings.
"Yes." Mac'hla said coldly.
"Did it go well?"
"Does it look like it went well?"
Jim finally saw the copious amounts of blood on the Captain and floor, "What happened?"
He stepped off the platform and reached out to Mac'hla, hoping to squeeze their shoulders comfortingly, but instead they stepped back.
"Ensign Tissa saved the lives of Commander Moriv and Ensign Zhiquitren, but in doing so they became seriously injured. They were on the verge of death when they beamed up."
"You said that if anything happened to them, that I would be held responsible." Jim said.
"We all knew the risks." Mac'hla said softly, "To hold you responsible for what you could not control would be illogical. Injuries are bound to happen. Am I pleased that they are hurt? No, certainly not. But I am pleased that they are not dead."
"I can only imagine how difficult that must be to say." Jim whispered.
"Ensign Sivna is alive, and I wholeheartedly trust my medical officers to keep them alive. If they die, which would be most improbable, things may be different. But as of right now, they are okay. We have the box in sickbay, and if you will follow me, I will bring you to it."
"Wait a second." Jim said, "Are you okay?"
Mac'hla looked at their uniform, "This blood is not mine."
He couldn't help but laugh, her response was so utterly Vulcan. Of course she would assume that he was talking about her body.
"No, I mean are you okay... emotionally?"
Mac'hla offered him a faint smirk, "I do not feel emotions like I used to so long ago, Jim. I have learned to not let them affect me– so to answer your question, yes. I am okay."
"You should change your uniform." Spock suggested.
"Yes, I should." Mac'hla agreed, and again Kirk snorted. In the midst of chaos, with a wounded officer in sickbay, the two were discussing the state of her uniform, "We were short on hands and I assisted in the medical procedure."
Finally, it seemed that Jim and Spock were beginning to get more familiar with the layout of the labyrinth-like ship.
"Are they still stable?" Mac'hla inquired as the three entered sickbay.
T'Ve looked up from her patient, "Their vitals are steady. We will be weaning them off of support soon."
"Brilliant. Ejhisseh, the box?"
Ejhisseh glared daggers at Jim and Spock, knowing it was their idea to beam to the surface and retrieve it. It was their fault Sivna was hurt.
"Over there." She muttered, gesturing with her head to the box sitting on the table.
Mac'hla raised an eyebrow but said nothing, knowing she was still deeply distressed by the situation.
Mac'hla strode over and retrieved the box, pausing for a moment to stare at the blood dripping from it.
They sighed and handed it to the admiral, "I do hope that this contains the information that you need."
"It will, Misses Tirok." Spock said, "Your crew has done well."
"I would expect nothing less of them, sir."