Aviophobia (Leonard McCoy)

5. Marooned

Kate never let go of Leonard's hand while they were on the turbo lift.  It was the small bit of sanity that she could hold onto when it felt like everything was falling apart.  They had come so close to dying and she hadn't even really realized it until it was almost too late.  Now, she was worried about Jim going to the planet to deal with whatever the Romulans had lowered into the Vulcan atmosphere and Captain Pike going over to the Romulan ship.  Chances were high that one or both of them would not return to the Enterprise, and that thought made her sick to her stomach.

Leonard seemed to sense her discomfort and squeezed her hand softly as he said, "Come on Kate, we've got people that will be needing us.  You've gotta get your head in the game."

She knew he was right, so nodded as she said, "I know, I'll be fine," but was glad that he still hadn't let go of her hand.

As the turbo lift neared med bay, she felt more of a sense of calm coming over her.  Even though it was because their ship had been attacked, there would be people in med bay that needed treatment and that would keep her mind busy.  Her mind being busy would keep her from worrying about Jim and Captain Pike, and that was just what she needed.  This developing sense of calm was immediately wiped out when the turbo lift doors opened and revealed what was waiting for them in med bay.

Med bay was full of movement as nurses were moving patients and organizing them based on the immediacy of their need for treatment.  Kate's brain switched to doctor mode immediately and ran to Dr. Puri's office to see what she needed to do.  She felt Leonard following closely behind her, but they both came to a stop as one of the nurses yelled out to them, "Dr. Kirk, Dr. McCoy, over here please!"

They looked at each other, then looked to Puri's office and saw that he wasn't there.  Since they couldn't report to him anyway, they went to the nurse first before trying to find Puri.  When they got over to her, the both stopped dead in their tracks for a moment.  She pointed to Dr. Puri's body and said, "He was on level six when the torpedos hit.  We didn't know what else to do, so we brought him here."

Kate stared in shock for a moment as Leonard asked, "How many more injured are there on level six?"

The nurse shook her head, "We're not sure.  We've got security helping some of the medics to search through the debris,  but there were more casualties than survivors."

Leonard brought her back into reality by placing a hand on her shoulder and saying, "Well, seeing as you out rank me, you're our new chief.  What's the plan?"

Kate felt overwhelmed, but took a deep breath to steady herself before looking back at the nurse and asking, "Are you organizing the patients by the degree of their injuries?"

The nurse replied, "Yes, we've been tagging them.  Black are deceased and those who are too severely injured to survive, even with treatement.  Red need immediate help, yellow are stable but will need to be looked at later, and green have small wounds but are fine otherwise."

Kate nodded and said, "For now, you'll help me.  Get Nurse Chapel to help Dr. McCoy.  We'll start working on the reds.  Have the rest of the nurses monitor the yellows and let us know if their status changes.  If any more reds come in, make sure they know I'm to be notified immediately," then turned her attention to Leonard and said, "We've got to start treating our red patients.  Just pick a starting point and we'll work around each other."

Leonard nodded and said, "Yes ma'am," before rushing to his first patient, Nurse Chapel by his side.

She felt like she had just started working on her first patient when they received a message from the bridge.  She had it played over the speaker in med bay and heard Spock's voice ask, "Doctor Puri, report?"