The Sidelines

Posted on 21 Jul 2023 @ 10:03am by Captain Jasmine Somers FCapt & Captain Patrick Jackson
Edited on on 21 Jul 2023 @ 10:18am

2,061 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: S3 Episode 5: Diplomatic Incident/Hydaransz Again (Incidentals)
Location: Starbase 51 - Medical
Timeline: After Current Mission of the Tomcat

[ON]

It had been a couple of days since they pulled him from Cryo. Patrick was still working on gaining his muscle and coordination back. He was laying in his biobed as technicians and a therapist placed metal around his arms and legs. There was a soft click and then a gentle hum. The hums came and went and a light blue glow came from small lights going down some of the metal.

"Ok Patrick, the exoskeleton is attached and active. Let's sit you up." The therapist told the Captain as he and the technician helped him slowly move into a sitting position. He sat and tried to move his left arm around. It jerked frequently but made a full circle. "It will take a couple of hours for your neural impulses to be recognized efficiently by the exoskeleton, but this will get you more freedom for a while. You are also rebuilding neural pathways that were destroyed by the fever, so you may have this for a little while."

"Thanks, Lieutenant," Patrick said and moved the other arm as well as he could. "Can I take a lap around medical?"

"I think that would be a good idea. We will be holding you for a little bit to keep you balanced but should be able to let you move and require less stability after a couple of laps." The Lieutenant answered and helped him off the bed. Patrick slowly moved his way around, looking like a newborn calf learning to walk. It was slow going, but he was moving under standard gravity again.

Jasmine had been given the all-clear and was currently getting dressed into civilian attire, she was stuck with a cane for a bit, just to be sure, she was told that she could go without it, but she also knew after what she had been through it was a state of mind. Now fully dressed and cane in hand she left her room and heard the whine of server motors like what one would find on an exoskeleton frame, she walked over to the nearest console and pulled up a list of patients and came across a familiar name, intrigued she headed over to the bay, arriving she saw a Medical officer say something to Jackson and he thanked the officer who left Jackson to get used to his contraption.

"Well, well, well the infamous Rifle Captain Patrick Jackson back in the land of the living, tell me Captain what were you in cryo for? Last I knew you suddenly vanished, now I know why, but what put you here?" Somers asked.

Patrick floundered to give a salute but his motor control in standard gravity was not having it and turned it more into a wave. "Well Fleet Captain, I'd love to say it was for black Ops or because of one heck of a night on shore leave, but this was not nearly as good. I caught a case of Rigelian Fever. They put me on ice to slow it down until the treatment could show up." He recognized now she was out of uniform and using a cane. "I'm sorry I missed your party, Ma'am. Looks like you had as much fun as I did."

"Well in your absence on my way back from launching the Leto my runabout was disabled, I was rendered unconscious and abducted by a disturbed individual who was the only survivor of the second-class M planet that was infected by mutated Bluegills, Colonel Somers had to BDZ the planet. This guy had his people beat me, abuse me both mentally and physically and tortured me, it is too fresh to go too much into it, but I was rescued obviously, but it did leave scars, emotional ones, my physical ones are all but gone, I also ruined my career on the rescue ship, the highest I will ever go now is Commodore, I will never be an Admiral after my action on that rescue ship" Jasmine said falling silent.

The Captain gave a sigh and moved his head. "You don't need to go into details Captain. I'm not a therapist. The best I could do is listen and be available, which I am, but I am sorry to hear that all happened. Emotional scars can be worse than debilitating physical scars. If the inflictor knows what they are doing, they could borderline war crime."

Patrick moved his hand's spasticity to the side then let them drop down with a shake of his head. "If you need to talk at any point Ma'am, I'm available as a fellow veteran. You know where to find me." He looked around the medical bay as he finished. "It doesn't look like I'll be leaving here anytime soon."

Holding a finger up she hobbled over to the on-duty doctor and spoke, with a few nods and muffled words she thanked the doctor and returned to where Jackson was "Okay Mr Jackson put some pants on and let's go for a walk, I am told you are no longer contagious and the doctor here has agreed that on the account you will be back he has granted you two hours outside the Medical Centre, but you have to wear a cortical monitor" Somers said.

"You know ma'am, normally when I am relieved of duty I do everything I can to avoid wearing pants. I think can make an exception in this case." The Marine said as he began his slow move to his biobed area. A technician helped take his medical gown off and put on some loose casual clothing that did not require the removal of the exoskeleton. Before he left the bed, a nurse placed the cortical monitor on his head and calibrated the sensor.

Once he was clothed he made his way back to the waiting Captain. "Thanks for springing me out for a little while."

"Not a problem Patrick, let's take a stroll around the immediate area, feel free to ask me about happenings on the Tomcat I will answer what I can, but Colonel Somers or Brevet Captain Falk will be able to answer better, as the mission they have just completed had the Rifles have their very own side mission," Somers said as they left Medical.

Patrick shambles along with the Fleet Captain, his walking stuttered and slow, but moving. He was not even sure what to ask. You close your eyes and months pass the next time you open them. Where do you really even start? "Sounds like they have been busy ma'am. It appears they picked you up, but what else? The calendar says I was on the ice for months. To me, it was like going to bed after a long night of leave. You wake up the following morning feeling like you were hit by a bus. It does not feel like there is a memory gap, but there is a big one. What did the rifles do that you do know of?"

Taking his arm to help him along "I was here because I was tortured, beaten, abused by someone who was the sole survivor of that planet Colonel Somers did a Base Delta Zero on, had to wipe out the survivors as they had been taken over by mutated Bluegill and could not be saved so for the whole of the last mission I sat it out, occasionally I met some of the new crew that was being shipped out, but at that time I was being a thorn in the side of the medics" she said and laughed lightly.

The pair walked through the Medical ward, as for the Rifles they retook all the captured facilities and finally aided the starbase in the system and freed it of Pirate activity while the on-loan USS Roosevelt took care of the Pirate carrier, it was Commander Cahill's first command, by all reports she barely managed, but she managed to keep her people alive, that is something at least" Somers added and the pair reached the wards small garden, where Jasmine guided Patrick to a bench "have a breather Captain" she said indicating the bench, as he sat down she sat next to him and remained silent allowing him to ask or say anything.

Patrick slowly and awkwardly sat down on the bench with the help of the Captain. Resting felt good, his muscles were regaining strength but it was still an effort to move around. "Sounds like I slept through the fun." He said with a smirk. "Not at your expense though ma'am. Just a Marine thing. I know you understand." He said and cleared his throat. "Do you know how the Colonel is holding up? I know she is in a whole different ocean with Starfleet, not Marines."

"Colonel Somers is one tough hombre, she has gotten used to it now and she is attending the Academy to learn the finer points of Fleet Command, as I want her to take command of the Tomcat at some point. I know her side mission meant Dodd had to sit on the ship and he was not happy with it, but the result is all Starfleet cares about and we lost few of any and none of name so that is good too. enjoy the time outside of Medical Patrick, you will have to go back soon" Somers said.

The Marine was glad to hear things went smoothly without him. He wondered what Mazal was up to, he wondered what all his people were doing. His time was up soon but he was grateful for the space, even short as it was. "Thanks for springing me for a little while. And Captain, I'm sorry I wasn't there to help bust you out. I'm not sure what I can do in the state I'm in but if you need anything, I'll be your man." He said as he shakily stood back up, the servos forcing him into balance.

*Standing with him as she took his arm* "No worries I need my MCO back in full operation, I will start you off with light duties I think" she said as they proceeded to exit the arboretum "You need to get back onto your own feet first Patrick, but today's medicine should do the trick" she said then her Commbadge sounded she tapped it =/\= Somers here! =/\= she said.

=/\= Captain I need you to bring Mr Jackson back, in your time out a specialist has arrived to fix Mr Jackson up =/\= a voice from Medical said.

*rolls eyes* =/\= Bringing him back now see you in a few, Somers out =/\= she looked at Patrick "Well seems like you will be out of those support braces sooner than you thought Patrick, how does that make you feel?" She asked.

He moved at what he tried to make as a shrug. "I'll feel better once the poking and prodding are done. Can only handle so much fun for so long." He paused a moment. "It will be nice to get in the saddle again, not quite ready for a desk full time." He said and stood up. He made a salute as he could. "Don't be a stranger, ma'am. The marine country is a nice place to visit."

*Smiles* Both return to Medical where the Medical staff took over, she looked at him and returned the salute, "I will try to remember to visit Marine Country next time, you just get better, I need my MCO back in operation not living the life of Riley in Medical" she said with a smile.

The Marine gave a small grin. "You know how it is ma'am, you get a taste of this medical food paste they gave me after thawing out, you just never want to leave the cuisine." He then saw the medical staff returning. "Sooner I get out the better."

With a final smile, Jasmine turn around and left Starbase Medical and returned to her quarters, not for the first time wondering how the mission was going without her and how well was her cousin coping with her extended time in command.

[OFF]

 

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