Thread 6: Rampart Hospital

[Marishal]

Thus it continues. Once again, co-authored with Hotflash from fanfiction.net.

It was then she saw who was with the patient. "Kel," she said and it came out in a squeak. "Where the hell have you been?" She saw he looked awful. He had disappeared in the middle of an extremely busy shift the night before and the police were looking for him. "Room one," she shouted and her eyes never left the doctor she had been so worried about.

Rachel moved again, intent on staying as close to Tasha as possible. She was worried about her fellow Starfleet officer, plus she was also feeling a bit protective. She had no idea what exactly they were going to do to her and she wanted to be there to see every moment of it.

Johnny emerged at that moment after parking the squad and went to the beautiful red head's side. "Ma'am, now, you'll have to step aside and let them do their jobs. Come on, this way." He put a hand on her shoulder and gently guided her the right direction. He went with her to make sure she stayed on task.

Rachel scowled at him then, and attempted to pull away. “I am staying with her!” she said, inserting some authority into her voice. Even though she knew perfectly well that she was not onboard a starship, nor was she even at her base of operations. She was on THEIR turf now. But she still felt the need to assert herself.

"Ma'am, now you can't do that. You'd be in the way. The best way you can help your friend is to let them do what they need to do and get the paperwork taken care of. In a little while, I'll use my paramedic privileges and go check on her for you if we haven't heard anything, okay?" He gave her his most charming smile and spoke soothingly to her as he encouraged her.

Her scowl lessened slightly, but did not vanish completely. “Paperwork,” she then growled out loud. Oh sure, paperwork. But what kind of paperwork would she have to fill out, exactly? She knew a fair amount about this time era to fit in acceptably well, but there were still a few finer details she didn’t know.

And when you got right down to it, it wasn’t like anyone had real homes down here. Nor did they have any real identities. They wouldn’t be born for a couple hundred years, after all.

So what if the paperwork required personal information? What the hell was she going to put down?

“Is the paperwork REALLY necessary?” she then asked, somewhat warily.

"Yes. Come on now. I'll help you." Johnny tried to reassure her.

Rachel sighed. “I guess I could take a look at it at least,” she finally grumbled. “Where do I go?” If she didn’t blow it somehow before this day was over, it was going to be a miracle.

Johnny smiled at her. "Atta girl," he said as he led her to the desk. He looked behind the desk and saw a pretty blonde petite woman smiling back at him.

"Hi Johnny," she said smiling brightly.

"Daisy, how ya doin?" he said, then looked back at the red head he was with. Suddenly all business again he said, "We just brought in a woman, her friend, and she needs to get her admitted.”

"Of course," said Daisy grabbing a clipboard full of paperwork and a pen. She was not an admitting receptionist but she was standing in while the current one on duty was on an emergency break. She handed the clipboard to the woman. "Fill this out please and bring it back." She pointed to some chairs in a waiting area. "You can sit there, if you like."

“Yeah sure,” Rachel muttered, still a little unsure about this. She glanced at the black-haired paramedic, almost pathetically. She hated the way she knew she looked. But she was only an ensign, fresh out of Starfleet Academy, put into this mission out of necessity. All because the Enterprise was poorly staffed at the moment, thanks to the fact that it had been whisked away while it was in space dock for routine repairs… only to end up in THIS time/place.

And now here she was… having to deal with paperwork she wasn’t even sure she could handle properly. What if she screwed up? What if she gave something away that she shouldn’t?

Johnny ushered the pretty red-head over to the chairs in the waiting area and sat with her while she looked at the paper work on the clip board. Seeing her wrinkle her nose and furrow her brow he could tell she had anxiety over the paperwork.

"Don't worry, ma'am. It's just routine stuff... You know, like name rank and serial number." He had hoped his little joke would lighten her anxiety a bit.

“Yeah,” Rachel muttered. She looked at the first thing on the list. It seemed simple enough; name. She wrote down “Tasha Barnes”, then glanced down the list. “I don’t see anything about a rank and serial number,” she then said, glancing up at Johnny. “So this isn’t a military hospital?”

Johnny looked at her quizzically. "Uh, no ma'am. It's a county hospital."

“Oh okay. Well that’s a little better then.” Rachel looked back at the paperwork, glancing over what she needed to fill out next.

She ended up writing down Dr. McCoy’s name as Tasha’s personal physician, but shortly after that she got stuck again. What exactly was she supposed to put down for the basic health background? She didn’t even know Tasha all THAT well, even though they had been friends for a little while.

“Uh…” Rachel grimaced, realizing she was at a loss.

"What's the matter?" asked Johnny, concerned.

“Well,” Rachel said, a bit grumpily, “I don’t know much about Tasha’s medical background. I… haven’t known her very long. And well… far as I know, she doesn’t have a phone. AND she doesn’t have any insurance to speak of.” She snapped the pen down on top of the clipboard and scowled. “What the hell am I supposed to write?” she asked aloud, frustrated.

[Marishal]

"Let me see it," said John reaching for the clipboard. He picked it up and looked at it. She had a name on it, no address, a doctor and nothing else. "Do you know the address?"

“Um.” Rachel thought quickly. “She lives with me,” she finally said. Actually Tasha didn’t really, but the only location Rachel could THINK of to say at the moment was that house where she’d been stationed when she called the paramedics.

"What's the address?" he asked and wrote it down on the form for her as she told him. "Did she just move here?"

“Yeah… only a few days ago,” Rachel said quickly. “She didn’t have anywhere else to go so I took her in.”

"That was nice of you. It makes sense you wouldn't know what to write. Does she have next of kin you can give info for? I mean, the hospital will want to notify them that she's here so they won't worry about her. And they might be able to answer questions for the docs."

“Not that I know of,” Rachel said honestly. “There’s nobody.” She hoped he would simply accept that answer. The fact was, there WAS no one. Not in this time, at least.

"Well, then that's about all you can do. You want me to take it up for you?"

“I’d appreciate that,” Rachel muttered. “I’d like to just sit here and… hope I hear something soon.” Actually she wanted a chance to be able to sneak into the operation room, even just sneak a peek, if she could.

"Sure, I'll take it and then I'll go see if I can find anything out for you, okay?" As Johnny stood up, Roy came walking over from down the hall. He approached Rachel with a hand extended.

"Ma'am, I'm Roy DeSoto, I was the paramedic working on your friend. I just wanted to tell you the docs just took her back to surgery. It looks like what ever caused her injuries missed all the major organs, thankfully. They're gonna clean everything out with some antibiotics and stitch her closed. Her vitals have already stabilized from the IV. They gave her a couple of pints of blood and her color is a lot better. I just thought you'd wanna know. How are you doing? Are you okay?" His voice was full of compassion.

Rachel closed her eyes, sucking in a deep breath. “Thanks for telling me,” she murmured, opening her eyes again. Then her relief gave way to more of a business-like tone. “Okay, when can I see her, and when can she leave here?”

"You're welcome, Ma'am. But I'm afraid it's going to be a while before you can see her. At least a few hours, I'm sure. She'll be in surgery for a while and then the recovery room. The doc will come talk to you when she's out of surgery and after they've had her in the recovery room a while, they'll get her assigned to a room. They'll probably let you see her then. But you didn't answer my question. Are YOU okay?"

“Oh just fine and dandy considering the circumstances,” Rachel snapped, a bit more forcefully then she meant to. “Sorry,” she muttered a moment later. “You just wouldn’t believe… well, never mind.” She stood up and started to move away a little.

Roy took his cue from her body language and stepped back a little to give her some space. "No need to apologize. Would you like a cup of coffee or something?" he offered, trying to sooth her nerves a bit.

“Thanks but no thanks.” Her tone remained formal and business-like. Though she did soften her mannerism with a small smile.

"Well, is there anything else we can do for you?" he asked gesturing toward Johnny as he said it. "Can we call anyone or... anything at all?" Roy hated to leave a patient's advocate alone to wait. But he had to get the two of them back in service before too much longer.

Rachel opened her mouth then closed it. “Nobody to call,” she finally said. She huffed slightly and turned away. “There’s somebody I NEED to call but I can’t get through!” she snapped out loud before she could stop herself. He really didn’t need to know that, especially since she was talking about the Enterprise.

"Well, maybe the hospital operator could get through," suggested Johnny. "I know the girl at the switchboard..."

“Uh,” Rachel stammered. “Not that kind of call. I mean… these people you can’t call… that way.” She shook her head. “Look, I really want to thank you guys, you’re really sweet for wanting to help and I appreciate it. But there’s not much you can do.”

"Well, thanks,” Roy said. ”We're just doing our jobs. If there's nothing else we can do then, I guess we'll be on our way. Good luck."

Roy felt bad leaving her alone but there wasn't anything else to do. "We'll try to check in on her later." he added as he motioned to Johnny that it was time to go.

“Thanks,” Rachel said again, and returned to her seat. She folded her hands and waited for them to go.

[Marishal]

Once the two paramedics were out of sight, Rachel stood up and, trying to appear casual, she walked down the hallway and tried to figure out where to go. She knew that this was a large building, and she didn’t have time to search the entire complex to figure out where Tasha was.

Just then she spotted a familiar nurse—it was the same one who’d taken her aside after she’d first gotten out of the ambulance’s passenger seat, upon arriving. The nurse seemed to be talking to a gray-haired man, possibly a doctor. Curious, she stepped a little closer to hear what they were saying.

"That poor girl was really torn up. Kel kept saying something about a bird beast and a cat beast. I don't know what to make of it. He's really whacked out. I hope he's okay in the OR.”

Dixie was quite worried about her favorite doctor and the concern on Joe's face was a mirror image of hers.

Rachel immediately knew they were talking about Tasha. She leaned against the wall slightly, trying to appear casual and like she wasn’t looking at them. Maybe one of them could lead her to the other Starfleet officer.

"Did anyone examine Kel before he went up to surgery?" Asked the gray haired doctor.

"No, I don't think so, now that you mention it. She was in such bad shape and he did what he always does, took charge!" Now she was really concerned.

Dixie nodded and picked up the phone to let the OR know Joe was coming. She was glad he was able to go.

Rachel casually glanced in the direction of the gray-haired doctor. She heard the nurse refer to him as “Dr. Early” on the phone. Making a minor mental note of this, she strolled toward the elevator that she saw the doctor heading toward.

“Hold that please!” she called out, rushing forward.

Joe stuck his hand in the door just as it was closing and held it for the pretty red head running towards it. "Going up?" he asked.

“Yeah, thanks,” she said, stepping in once the doors were open again. “What floor are you headed to?” she then asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"3, I'm headed to OR. Which floor?" he asked, reaching to press the button for her.

"Oh, same one," she said simply.

"You have a loved one in surgery? I know the waiting room there is a lot more comfortable and quiet than the emergency room."

Rachel smiled at him softly. “I’d rather be as close as I can,” she told him. “I won’t get in the way, I promise.”

"Well, the waiting room there is the first place the docs will look for a patient's loved ones. That is as close as close gets. You'll be much more comfortable there, I'm sure."

She nodded. “Yeah, okay.” She then stared at the elevator door, waiting for the lift to stop and for the doors to open.

Just then, her communicator beeped a couple times. She glanced down toward her pocket, having not expected it. She then glanced self-consciously toward the doctor, even as it beeped again.

"Your timer's going off. What ever you were trying to remind yourself of, it's time." Doctor Early smiled at her. Those modern watches are amazing! With that he stepped aside so she could exit the elevator, then stepped out himself. "Good luck to you." Then he turned down the hall to get scrubbed up.

Rachel made note of where he went into, then she swore softly under her breath as she reached into her pocket. She glanced around, making sure no one was around, then flipped the communicator open. “Yes?” she hissed quietly.

“Ensign,” came a familiar voice—it was Uhura’s voice! “This is the Enterprise. What is your status?”

“Looking for Tasha,” Rachel said, then quickly explained the situation. She told the Lieutenant-commander that Tasha had been pretty badly hurt and, since she couldn’t contact help, she’d been taken into one of the local hospitals.

Uhura was silent for a moment. Then she said, “Is that where you are now?”

[Marishal]

“Yes.”

“Okay, do you think you can get to her?”

“That’s what I’m trying to do now.”

“What is her condition, Ensign?”

“Not good.”

“Alright. I will alert sickbay. I want you to try and locate her, and then we will beam her aboard. Be advised that we are still having technological difficulties, so we can only beam people up if it’s absolutely necessary.”

“In other words I’m staying down here,” Rachel murmured.

“Well, just until we get the transporters fully operational. Until then, we can only beam people up one at a time.”

Since Uhura was doing all the talking, Rachel figured that she was in command right now. Where was Captain Kirk? She was about to ask when she noticed the gray-haired doctor coming out of the room he’d gone into. “Gotta go, call you back,” she said, then snapped the device shut and put it back into her pocket.

Doctor Early stepped out into hall and into the room next door. He was now in scrubs and ready to scrub up. He scrubbed carefully and then stepped into the OR. Inside Kel and Dr. Salmon were suturing away, one on Tasha's right side and one on her left.

Rachel very slowly moved closer, and was grateful to find that there was a window there. She could peer into the room without having to go inside.

She saw what appeared to be the doctors stitching up Tasha’s skin with needles and string. She shuddered at the sight, placing a hand over her mouth. She then ducked down a little, hoping to watch and avoid being seen at the same time, and hauled out her communicator. “Enterprise,” she whispered.

“Go ahead, Ensign.”

“I found her. She’s in an operating room, about fifteen feet away from me right now. She looks pretty bad, and they’re sewing up some deep cuts in her back with needle and string.”

There was a moment of silence. Rachel could almost envision a few exchanged glances of shock or even repulsion going around the bridge at that moment.

“Stand by, Ensign. We are attempting to lock onto her.”

Rachel waited. She wanted to make certain Tasha was safely gone before she moved an inch. Though she also knew that as soon as the injured woman vanished into a transporter beam, all hell was going to break loose. And Rachel would have to sprint.

Meanwhile, inside the room, the doctors were conversing as they worked.

"How's she holding up?" Joe asked Kel as he stood along side of him.

"She's in rough shape, but if we can just get her stitched up I think we can keep her stabilized. Then time will tell."

Just at that moment, the monitors started going crazy.

"Pressure's dropping," shouted a nurse.

"Heart rate is skyrocketing," shouted a tech.

"Get her rolled over, stat!”

Doctor Salmon stepped out of the way as the techs and nurses carefully turned Tasha over. Doctor Brackett was already at the defibrillator smearing gel on the paddles. Before he finished, she flat lined. Doctor Salmon hit the controls to charge them.

"One, two, three, four." Doctor Salmon counted loudly.

"Clear!" barked Doctor Brackett. He leaned forward, placed the paddles on her chest and side and pressed the buttons to send electricity coursing through her body.

Just as he did it, he suddenly felt himself falling forward and the paddles hit the cold stainless steel table sending the jolt through it and through Doctor Brackett. The jolt shot him backward and into the wall where he slid down and crumpled on the floor.

"What the fuck!? What happened?" he asked, woozy and dazed.

Doctor Early ran to his side, checked his pupils and started to feel for a pulse. The OR was in complete pandemonium... nurses screaming, Doctor Salmon fainted, techs running out through the scrub area, and Doc Early left to restore order.

"Everybody calm down!" he commanded. "Just stand still!" He needed a minute to assess what the hell was going on.

"YOU..." he pointed to a nurse. “Check on Doctor Salmon." He turned back to Kel. "Kel, I'm going to get a gurney. I want to get you checked out thoroughly. You've had quite a jolt. Don't try to move." With that he turned and headed out the door. As he did so he ran smack into Rachel, knocking her to the ground.

Rachel landed on her rump, hard. Her communicator went flying out of her hand and clattered on the floor. Startled, she stared at Dr. Early for a moment. Then, feeling slightly sore as she hurried to her feet, she made a dive to retrieve her communicator. After grabbing it she staggered, turned around toward the elevator, and made an attempt to sprint past the gray-haired doctor.

Doctor Early reached out and grabbed for her, catching her arm. "Wait, Miss!! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" he asked.

[Marishal]

“No! Let go!” She attempted to yank herself free. She had to get the hell out of the building, stat.

"Miss, were you watching? Did you see what happened? Because if you did, I'd sure love to know what it was!"

“Yeah, quite a sight. LET GO!” She yanked again. She did not want to resort to more physical means, but if he did not let her go…

Joe let go of her immediately. She must be as shook up as the rest of them. "Sorry," he said. She bolted before he could say anything else. It didn't matter, he had bigger fish to fry. He looked around and saw an empty gurney in the hall. He grabbed hold of it and wheeled it back to the OR, stopping to pick up a phone just inside the OR and call for security.

Rachel ran into the elevator and stabbed her thumb against the button, for the first floor. As the doors shut she leaned heavily against the back wall, releasing a huge sigh. Then she whipped out her communicator again. “Enterprise… do you have her?”

“Yes we do, Ensign,” replied Uhura’s voice. “Good work. How are you doing down there?”

“Okay, I’m going to leave the building now. Is Tasha okay?”

“Last I heard from sickbay, Dr. McCoy said her condition was stabilized. He also said he was going to remove the stitches and ‘seal her up properly’ because he didn’t ‘approve of humans being used like sewing fabric.’” There was a trace of dry amusement in Uhura’s tone.

Rachel grinned. At least she now knew where the doctor was. He was right where he needed to be most right now. “Thanks, glad she’s okay. And I need to go, I’ll check in later.” She snapped the communicator shut, just as the elevator doors opened.

[Marishal]

Meanwhile, in the OR, Joe hung up the phone and turned to Kel. "I'm here Kel. As soon as I have some help, we're going to get you up and on this chariot and head straight for the ER." He turned to the nurse attending to Dr. Salmon who had just broken a capsule under his nose. He was coming to. "How is he?" he asked.

"I think he'll live," she said sarcastically before turning back to Doctor Salmon. "Doctor, wake up. You fainted."

The doctor shook his head hard. "What on earth happened?"

"Well, I don't think whatever happened was of Earth, but our patient vanished in thin air, Doctor Brackett got shocked and knocked into Orange County and you fainted." She told it like it was.

Dr. Salmon stared blankly for a moment. He then glanced over at the bed, which was empty. He then glanced over at Kel Brackett, who was on the floor. He then glanced upward at the ceiling. He grinned slightly, then he fainted again.

Just then, two security men came up to the door and stepped inside. “What happened?” one of them asked, looking around.

"You won't believe it, but our patient disappeared into thin air." Doctor Early informed them. "I don't really know what you are supposed to do with that, but there are quite a few techs out there running for their lives! Maybe you could find them and round them up so we can debrief and figure out what happened." He spoke calmly and matter of factly. Nothing EVER seemed to phase him.

Nurse Carol stared at him in disbelief. Finally she shook her head and said, "Doctor, you never stop amazing me. How can you be so calm all the time?"

He knew it was a rhetorical question so he just smiled at her. "What's with him?" he asked pointing to the again out like a light doctor.

"Oh, he fainted again, the big baby!" she answered.

Joe chuckled. He addressed a security man who had stayed behind, just incase and asked for his help. "Would you mind giving me a hand here? I just need you to stand by Kel's other side and grab him if he falls. I'm gonna help him up and get him on this gurney here."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Once Rachel made it outside the hospital, she whipped out her communicator again. “Hello, is anyone available to come pick me up?”

Thankfully one of the Autobots acknowledged her. “Affirmative,” answered Ironhide’s voice. “Give me your location and I will be right there.”

“Rampart General Hospital. Pick me up stat. I need to get back to the hideout and then figure out what to do next,” Rachel told the Autobot.