"Back in the Saddle"
(previous post "The Lion And The Mouse")
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Stardate: 60298.1624
Setting: USS ANUBIS Sickbay
TI: Before both Sabrina's and Lisa's posts
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The light was just beginning to filter through his partially closed eyes. He could hear the sounds of sickbay and internally groaned at the thought of once again finding himself flat on his back on a biobed.
He slowly opened one eye and as the brightness from the artificial light poured in, the throbbing in his head was amplified. A groan escaped his lips and he forced the other eye open. He tried to recall what had brought him to this place once again and a fleeting memory of a Romulan past through his mind. That was all that he could remember at the moment, his frustration level growing the harder he tried to remember the details.
"You are okay," a gruff but familiar voice said, interrupting his concentration.
He turned his head, feeling a bit of stiffness in his neck, to see his trust MXO sitting next to the biobed to his right. "I'm getting too old for this Tes," he said with a slight grin to the Klingoness.
"One is never too old to taste the blood of an enemy," she said.
"Unfortunately it was my blood they were tasting?" he replied, rubbing his fingers against his temple.
"You didn't loose any blood, Lieutenant," a nurse said, walking up on the conversation between the two Marines.
"That's good to hear," Prav said as he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
A wave of dizziness and nausea hit him at the same time, though the nurse was too busy looking at the monitor display to see the green hue tint his face.
Tes didn't miss it but kept the observation to herself. If her commanding officer was going to take a header of the bed she'd catch him but other then that she knew better then to point out the change in his skin tone.
"What are you doing?" the nurse asked as she adjusted a few settings on the display. "You can't get out of bed; we haven't finished treating your injuries." She made an attempt to block his movement off the bed.
"Well, what haven't you treated," Prav asked incredulously. He aborted his attempt to get off the bed, at least long enough until the nurse moved.
"You have a severe concussion," she said. "And we can't just press a few buttons or inject you with a hypospray to make it go away. Now lay back and rest." She turned back to look at the monitor again.
He took that as his moment and he slipped off the bed. Sitting up had allowed him to maintain his equilibrium and the dizziness had passed, at least for the moment. When she saw him with both feet firmly on the floor she turned toward him and crossed the gap between them in one smooth move.
"Get back up there this minute!" she said with the tone and facial expressions of Nurse Ratchet, an infamous character from a late 20th century EARTH film.
He held a hand out to stave her advance on him. "How long could this concussion last?" he asked as she stopped centimeters in front of him.
Her expression changed at his question as she shifted back into the role of caregiver from that of prison warden. "It is a severe concussion and the effect of the brain isn't something we can see, like a bruise or a contusion."
He looked at her, his expression conveying that she hadn't answered his question.
"Anywhere from several hours to weeks," she said, irritated that he had pushed her into giving a timeline.
"Well then," he said as he stepped to the side and then around her. "Most likely I'll still have it when this mission is over so I'll come back then and we can take care of it then."
Tes'Karka watched her commanding officer leave the nurse with her mouth agape. A small smile crossed her lips as he exited sickbay.
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Stardate:10298.1648
Setting: Bridge
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He had made a brief stop at his quarters, just long enough to change into a fresh uniform, before he went straight to the bridge. He nodded to the Captain as he took his place at the back of the bridge. Although he had left sickbay he was feeling the effects of the blow he had taken to the back of his head. An intense, localize throbbing seemed to keep time with the pulsating of the engines.
"Glad to see you are feeling better, Lieutenant," Simmons said, returning to the PADD he had been reading.
He acknowledged the Captain, glad to see that his discomfort wasn't that evident. Prav glanced around the bridge until he caught the eye of the Science Officer. The concern he saw in her eyes somehow made the throbbing fade into the background. He smiled at her, glad to see her at her station. She smiled back and then quickly turned back to her task.
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Matt Kelly (downwitmal@yahoo.com)
Writing for:
2nd Lt. Pravat
MCO
USS ANUBIS
2005 post #014
