The fighter was in better shape than Ema was right now. Testing out the new refitted fighters and working out the kinks before more than their lives hung in the balance was imperative. The leak from the port thruster had finally opened up enough that the thruster stopped working altogether. Initially, Emagyn was excited to have the fighters back, polished and updated. The lure of shiny hardware was nearly impossible to resist. Putting the new hands-on throttle and stick into practice had come with some unexpected bargains. 

“Hathaway, this is Cerberus – Two. I’ve had a mechanical malfunction in the reaction control systems. The ship has isolated the problem, but I am returning for repair. Please have medical standing by as I can barely move my right shoulder. She knocked me up…I mean around out here. I think dislocated my shoulder.”

“Do you need emergency beam out, Cerberus?”, the landing signals officer on the Hathaway replied.

“Negative Hathaway. I’ve been through far worse. Open the shuttle bay door. On final approach.” Ema countered. 

“LSO to Sickbay.”

“This is Selara, go ahead,” she said, tapping her communicator.

“We’ve received a medical request from Cerberus Two.”

“Pretend I don’t know what that means.”

Hesitation. “It’s a member of the ship’s fighter group, ma’am.”

One of the emergency teams, listening to the conversation, waited for confirmation from the doctor. Selara nodded to them, and they headed out of Sickbay. “I’m sending a team to the shuttlebay now. Selara out.” She tapped to close the channel.

The emergency team stood waiting, bags in hand, for the craft to land.

The landing went textbook. After the shutdown, she was already pulling the panel apart when the medics arrived.

“Ma’am, we’re here to render aid as requested,” a team member spoke as he approached the fighter.

Tossing the cover panel unceremoniously on the floor of the fighter, she reached in with her right hand while wincing through gritted teeth, “One second.” While she successfully pulled the part out from the new stick controller she needed to look at, pain shot up her right torso, arm, and shoulder. After slipping the recalcitrant piece into a leg cargo pocket, she was more than ready.

“Ok. That was an interesting mistake.” She said, finally slipping out of the restraints Ema had loosened upon landing. Emagyn managed to get 30% of the way out of the cockpit, mostly on the left, before having to be assisted by the medics.

Watching from nearby, Squadron Leader Orys Ch’tosrik waved over a maintenance team to the craft. “Help the medical team get the XO to sickbay and then complete a thorough review of the craft,” the Commander instructed, then placed a gentle hand on the XO’s good arm. “Make sure you do everything you’re told. You’re grounded until the CMO says otherwise, so don’t rush back,” the Andorian told her bluntly. Like all pilots, he was sure she’d be rushing back to get in the cockpit otherwise.

One of the more muscular members of the emergency team helped extract Emagyn from the cockpit. The leader, a female Vulcan, opened up a tricorder and moved the probe over Emagyn’s torso, taking care to work around the rescuers. “I am showing fractures bilaterally on the 3rd ribs, multiple hairline fractures on the right 1st and 5th ribs.” She looked at the tricorder, “Fascinating,” she raised an eyebrow. “Some fractures are previous injuries. It would indicate they were improperly healed.” More scanning, “Tears to your trapezius and partial impingement due to torn rotator cuff tendons.”

“What she’s saying is you’re worse for wear,” the final member came alongside with an anti-grav stretcher.

The woman raised an eyebrow, “I would not use such blunt terms.” She began loading a hypospray, “I am giving you 10 ccs of terakine for the pain. Your adrenaline will wear off soon and with it severe pain.” She pressed the hypospray to Emagyn’s neck. Now please lie down.” She gestured to the stretcher.

“Trust me Doc, I won’t fight anyone on this.” As she lies down, her shoulder winced. Using her left hand, she struck her left leg in sympathy as she exclaimed, “Christ!” through clenched teeth.  

The Vulcan woman started to speak, but one of the team members stopped her, “They always think we’re doctors. There’s no sense in correcting them.”

As the other two team members secured Emagyn, the Vulcan tapped her communicator, “Sukal to Sickbay, we are returning with the Lieutenant.”

“Understood, Sickbay out.” And the line closed.

The team entered Sickbay with the anti-grav stretcher. They met Selara and a team of medical officers at a nearby biobed. The team moved Emagyn to the bed. “Well,” Selara spoke, looking at the display screen of Emagyn’s scan. “When you injure yourself, you don’t do it in half measures.” She chuckled, “The fractures aren’t too severe and look straightforward. A few hours with an osteo-regenerator should be enough.”

“I’m sensing more. Continue, Doctor,”  Emagyn responded, now slightly more lucid with the analgesic painkiller she’d been given. 

Her fingers traced the muscle and tendon tears on the screen. “Your other injuries are a different story. It may require surgery, I’ll have to conduct a deeper scan.” She placed a hand on Emagyn’s good shoulder. “We’ll start with the fractures.” She looked up, “Mr. Korren, would you be so kind and bring an osteo-regenerator?”

The ensign nodded and grabbed a tool from a nearby table. He handed it to Selara. “How much terakine was given in the field?”

“10,” Sukal answered.

Selara frowned, “Prep me some asinolyathin and metorapan,” she paused. “Something low dose, we’ll start with 2. Keep it on standby just in case. And let’s keep a continuous scan in case something in there doesn’t like what I’m doing.”

Ensign Korren nodded and began prepping the hyposprays. He locked the bed’s scanning array over Emagyn and entered commands into it, initiating a real time scan.

Activating the oseto-regenerator, she looked down at Emagyn, “We’ll have you feeling a lot better in a moment, Lieutenant.” Selara worked in silence, moving with the mastery of a weaver creating a tapestry.

”Thanks, Doc.” Ema said sincerely. She had her share and more of accidents, scrapes, and even a crash or three. 

“All right… I think that will about do it,” Selara took a quick glance at Emagyn’s biological readings. She set her instrument down on the tray. “Lieutenant Mox, begin titrating down the kayolane. Once she’s reached the neurological threshold, begin the reversal agent.”

The Trill pushed a few commands on the display screen. “We should reach equilibrium in 3 minutes,” he reported.

Selara nodded, “Very good.” She stepped away from the surgical table and removed her sterile attire. “Let me know when she’s recovered from the anesthetics. I’ll be in my office.”

Light bothered her eyes. She heard someone far off say her name. Was it a dream? No, it was close by. Ema wasn’t alert enough to form sentences. Her mouth opened, but nothing happened. Clearing her throat and smacking her lips, she felt someone hand her a cup. Sickbay she was in sickbay. Feeling the cool water, she attempted again. “So how long until the anesthetic kicks in?” Ema asked.

“Oh, your surgery is already done.”

“Already? That was fast.”

“It’s been hours, Lieutenant.”

“So, I get breakfast?” Ema asked.

“I think that can be arranged,” Selara said, arriving at the bedside. She watched Emagyn with the offered water. “It looks like you’re swallowing well, that’s a good start.” She looked at the post-op report on the screen. “It’ll be boring to start, nothing fatty or carb heavy, and see where things go from there.” She looked at the nurse, “Put in a diet order for soft foods. We’ll monitor things throughout the day and advance as appropriate.”

Selara turned her attention to Emagyn. “We’ll have you hang out with us for the day while you recover.” She looked over the monitoring screen, ”We were able to fix the muscle tear, it turns out was in multiple places. The torn tendons were a little tougher, which they tend to be, but overall the surgery went well.” She consulted a PADD in her hand, “We can get away with a sling and light duty for a week. After that, we’ll reevaluate things. We can start PT whenever you feel up to it, but don’t push too hard. I don’t need you ruining our handiwork.” She smiled.

Finally feeling more awake, Ema sipped more at the water as she listened. “Doc, you got it. I am not in a rush to repeat that. That wasn’t bravado but a mechanical failure.” Gingerly moving, there was discomfort to be expected. ”I can deal with light duty.”

The unwritten rule is that all went out the window when other lives were on the line. The medicos were no different in that regard, and danger was part of the job. 

“All right, I’ll leave you to your recovery,” Selara placed her hand on Emagyn’s good shoulder. “If you need anything, Ensign Korren can help you.” She walked away back to her office.

Emagyn had the nurse apply a painkilling micro-dose patch on the injured side. Deciding not to slip her uniform tunic back on, she thanked the staff and headed for the overstuffed couch in her quarters.