A Bite in the Dark

Posted on Mon Jul 15th, 2019 @ 4:29am by Commander Talia Varen & Lieutenant JG Bradley Jones

Mission: Starbase 332, Where Are You?
Location: Main Sickbay, SB332

Lieutenant JG Bradley Jones, one of the newer Medical Officers aboard the station, made his way through the busy sickbay. He'd only just arrived a few weeks back, but was getting used to the routine. Today, however, was nothing close to routine. He and his team had been working like crazy to prep the sickbay for the possible influx of civilian patients, and the latest update from Ops had only left him more confused. It was time to ask questions, and hope someone had the answers.

"Chief," He called, spotting Talia through the crowd, "Bays twenty four through thirty-four are ready to go, and we've restocked all of the supply cabinets and closets in all three nurses stations," He explained. "We're pretty much ready for anything... and I guess based on that last update we should be," He said, lifting his PaDD up to read it again, "Since we need to be ready for 'injuries associated with wild life, such as bites, rends, breaks, and tears....'"He looked up at his Chief, "We got something loose on the station?" He asked.

"Not yet we don't, but there's something nasty coming our way. A swarm of insectoids that destroyed the Carthage, tore it apart in some sort of frenzy." If they prepared well, perhaps their losses would be minimal.

Brad stood there somewhat slack jawed, "I'm sorry... did you say they tore apart the Carthage?" He asked, sounding dumbfounded.

"That's what the briefing said. Tore it apart, ate through the bulkheads or something until the ship tore itself to pieces. " Her eyes flickered to the floor for a moment and she took a deep breath to center herself. "It's tragic, but we have to prepare for similar."

"Good lord," Bradley said, looking down at the floor himself for a moment, "I mean... surely the station will be able to stand up to them, right?" He asked, nervously.

"I certainly hope so. " Talia glanced over at him, his nervous look matching the one she held inside her chest. Her nerves were carefully interred in her chest, buried deeply in her vulcan control. "If not, we're...over quickly."

"Yeah... I guess it won't matter much if the station can't, will it," Bradley replied, looking down at his hands. Nothing like pondering your own mortality to put things in perspective.

"Well... I guess we'll get more--"

The doors to the main sickbay swished open to a racket as several paramedics and EMTs rushed in with people looking like they'd seen the underside of a rock smasher.

"Riot on the docking ring," One of the tech said. "We've got about thirty incoming with various levels of injuries," He said, as more people pushed in behind him, all with patients.

Bradley looked back to the Chief, eyes wide, "Guess we'll worry about that later, huh?" He said, turning back to the other people in sick bay, "Listen up, people! This isn't a drill! Incoming, incoming!"