Wolf     Wednesday, January 31, 2007  04:53 PM

Nancy had heard that the Away Team was back on the ship.  At first she was excited and relieved, thinking that they were finally going to get off this planet.  Then she got word that the team was bringing one of the team to the Sickbay.  They had not said who it was or how badly the person was hurt, but the urgency in their voice had said enough.  Nancy was confident though that when they walked though that door, Doctor Connor would have everything well in hand and Nancy would be right there to assist her.

That was when Tull and Borta brought in the crude stretcher and placed the figure directly on the surgical table.  Nancy was finishing putting on her surgical garb as she turned around and froze in her tracks as she saw that the wounded person was in fact Chrissy.

Nancy was caught off guard and said softly, “Oh my god…no…um…I mean…”

One of the technicians turned to her and asked, “Doctor Nichols, are you going to be okay?”

She struggled to respond, “I don’t do well under pressure…she’s a close friend and…”

Tull walked over and grabbed her by the shoulder, “There is no time, she is dying!  Do something!”

Nancy turned and wiping a tear away with the back of her hand, she walked over and began tapping at the console.  Within seconds, pieces of clothing and equipment began disappearing as the surgical team prepared her and worked to stop the bleeding.

A technician quickly chased out Tull and Borta and a privacy barrier went up.  Nancy quickly began giving orders to her surgical assistants and called up the EMH to help advise her.  She was very nervous, but also did not want her friend to die.  She could see how close to the heart the wound had been and it had in fact even caused a small injury to the heart that would require repair, but the bleeding was slow and contained for the moment.  The biggest problem was actually the fact that there was such blood loss.  There was not much internal bleeding, which was good, but the fact that she had been nearly drained of blood had sent her into shock.

Nancy worked as fast as she could to repair the damage and replaced the blood that had been lost as well as do everything that was required to combat infections and so on.  In spite of all this, Chrissy remained unconscious.  She was stable, but her vitals were low and she was basically in a coma.

Nancy had her moved to an isolated recovery area and sat with her.  She rested her head on Chrissy’s still form, covered only by a blanket.  Nancy saw in her mind flashes of her old friend dying horribly at the hands of monsters on the surface of a planet that had come alive and tried to kill the entire crew of the ship years ago.  She had  tried to save her friend then, only to be too late.  She had found what was left of her looking like something scraped off the underside of your shoe.

Xander knight walked at just then and stopped at the doorway, clearly in shock, “It’s true!  Will she be okay?  Can I talk to her?  How bad was it?”

Nancy stood and tried to speak with him by saying, “Xander, she’s in a coma.  She needs to finish healing right now.  We don’t know…”  She then had to walk away.

Wolf     Wednesday, February 05, 2007  01:14 PM

Kelly walked into Sickbay and saw Xander standing next to the bed of the still unconscious Christina Conner.  He was staring at her in disbelief, holding her hand.

Kelly approached and tried to think of something to say, but nothing seemed to come to mind that felt appropriate.  She turned and was about to walk away when Xander turned and spoke to her.

“Captain, what happened out there?  She’s a doctor, why would someone have done this to her?”

Kelly stopped, turned partially back toward him and struggled with how to explain even pat of the mission to him.  So much had happened.  Once again she found herself speechless.

From the side came a light chuckle.  It was Nancy.  “Xander, you have no idea what you are asking  It is not that simple.”

Kelly tried, “Xander, it was not like that.  You don’t understand.”

Xander was very upset now and said, “I understand that she saves lives!  Why would someone try to kill her?”

Nancy stepped forward and said, “I’m sorry Kelly, but he needs to know…”  She walked over and grabbed them each by the hand and they both felt like a jolt of electricity went through them for a second.

In that brief moment, Xander saw the mission from Kelly’s point of view.  He also saw Chrissy doing what she did on the planet.  He saw for himself her elegant dance of death and the seemingly endless pile of bodies that formed around her as she killed with amazing efficiency.  She was both beautiful and horrible to watch.  It was only a matter of timing that allowed the one warrior to plunge the dagger into her chest.  It somehow felt like much more, but it was beyond explanation.  Still, there it was, he had seen for himself and now understood why she had not been able to find the right words.

Nancy let go of them both and Xander stumbled back a step, his eyes wide.  He looked around in bewilderment as Nancy looked a bit apologetic.  Kelly on the other hand looked a bit angry.

“Nancy, you should not have done that!”

Nancy replied, “He had the right to know!  She may die and he loves her.  If you have a better reason, I’m listening.”

Kelly shook her head and said to Xander, “I’m sure that she would have told you in her own way.  She is a complex person Xander.  You of all people understand that.”

He spoke as if beginning to understand for the first time, “I think she tried to tell me once, but I didn’t listen.  Maybe I don’t know her as well as I thought I did.”

He brushed some hair from Chrissy’s face and then said, “Call me if there is any change.  I want to be here when she wakes up, no matter when that is.”

Wolf     Friday, February 16, 2007  12:53 PM

Kelly looked around the room and began, "Of all the missions we've been on, this has perhaps been one of the most dangerous.  The very nature of this weapon has come into question and reminds me of some of the briefings I read on the Q.  This may not be quite as bad as that, but it certainly comes close.  For this next part of the mission, I can't order any of you to participate, but I am asking for volunteers.  I am going to have us land the ship within an asteroid that I am aware of.  It is remote and very unlikely to ever be encountered in the near future.  The system has no life and the only very few ships have ever come through this part of the galaxy.  Because we are going to try and strand this thing here, I think it may lash out at us.  I don't know how, but we need to be prepared for anything.  It could try to crash the ship, it may cause EVA suits to malfunction, there are many things that could go wrong."

Rayne asked, "Since it seems to negate electrical energy at will, how are you going to get it off the ship?"

She replied, "Well, we have EVA suits that are designed for something like this.  They have very few devices involved and I'll need you to come up with a way to replace them with mechanical replacements so that the dampening effect will not influence them.  As a back-up, I'll have any crew member involved, attached to lifelines and at the first sign of trouble, I want a crew standing by to pull them back manually to be able to assist them.  I plan to take this thing off the ship myself.  Anyone else who wants to be involved, that is your own choice.  I'll admit that I'll likely need all the help I can get if this thing gets angry."

As she looked around the table, each one of them confirmed that they were in and would support what ever she was going to try.  She smiled, nodded and then said, "Okay then, we should be landing inside the thing soon.  Rayne, I need you to convert as many EVA suits as you can, as soon as you can.  We'll suit up as soon as we're ready.  Good luck to us all."