“Don’t spread out too much, I don’t want to lose sight of any of you.”, called Brennan once they had materialised planetside. The air was heavy with dust, and the ground littered with the debris of the collapsed building. There were first responders already getting to work, and local medical teams trying their best to triage the wounded. Brennan watched her team spread out, tricorders in hand, scanning for survivors underneath the rubble.Alcyone did the same. “This is….”, started Eshrevi, not finishing the sentence. “Not pretty.”, completed Brennan, giving a nod. “We will need support from the search and rescue teams, but I want to get an overview first.”Her tricorder beeped, indicating the fading life-signs of a local. “Over here.”, said Brennan, and Eshrevi followed to the spot the other woman indicated.  

Ike wasn’t sure if he was hearing shifting debris or something else, until he started hearing voices. The weight of items crushing his leg and torso made it impossible to yell. The best he could do was a soft whistle. A wet nose tested his face and a big mottled dog made contact, turned, and barked. Soon a handler came by. “Good job, Maggie. Sir. Help is on the way. Over here”. he said tapping his commbadge for a locator pin to pop up. He stayed until the medical team came around the corner to take over. 

“What do we have?”, asked Brennan upon her arrival, directing the question as much to the nearby handler as to her medical tricorder. And then she answered her question herself. “Middle-aged male, presenting with significant crush injuries to the lower extremities and torso,” Brennan reported, her voice steady as she analyzes the data streaming from her medical tricorder. “Vital signs are stable but elevated – there are indications of soft tissue damage – muscle and organ trauma. Neurological assessment shows no immediate signs of impairment.”Sh’shiqil in the meanwhile, quite unlike herself, turned her attention to the patient rather than the data. “What’s your name?”  Barely able to inhale, it took him a second to get out “Ike” though it sounded a bit like Ick.

“His name is Ick.”, said Eshrevi, who didn’t quite get that it was somewhat difficult to breathe when you had debris compressing your chest. “Doubt that.”, said Brennan, who did. “Okay, we will need an anti-grav unit or something similar. Can you get that?” “Yes, sir.”Wow, that felt strange. Giving her friend orders like that, but if this were a tactical situation, Brennan probably would defer to Sh’shiqil’s experience as well. While Eshrevi went in search of something they could use, Brennan kneeled down to….  Ick. “I’m Doctor Brennan, I’m with Starfleet. We will get the debris off your chest first, and then we will take care of the leg and beam you up to sickbay. You will feel something a little cold on the side of your neck. It’s a hypospray that enriches your blood with oxygen. It will still feel like you can’t breathe – that’s because your lungs can’t expand the way they are used to – but it will make sure your organs don’t suffer any damage from lack of oxygen.” She explained her steps, making sure that her patient knew what was happening. The one thing they really couldn’t afford was him panicking. “Ike nodded in appreciation and even managed a wane smile. The tension in his mind was still there, but there was some relief in knowing he wasn’t alone. It took him several seconds to draw in enough in the short micro-gulps as he motioned his head at Doctor Brennan. He couldn’t scream even if he wanted to, he tried. 

Eshrevi arrived with an antigrav unit, and worked on freeing the man from the rubble that compressed his chest and made it so difficult to breathe. Brennan, in the meanwhile, monitored his vital signs, which improved significantly once the load was lifted. 

“You should be able to breathe easier now.“, she let her patient know, placing a hand on his shoulder and at the same time administering pain medication. It made more sense now that the blood could circulate again. 

“The leg next?“, asked Esh, already moving to remove what kept it stuck. But Brennan stopped her. “Wait, let me take a look first.“ 

She didn’t want to say anything, not yet anyway, but blood circulation in said leg didn’t look well at all. “I know it’s hard to tell, but how long have you been stuck?“

Closing his eyes, he tried to concentrate on anything but the pain. “I…I couldn’t begin to tell you. An hour?” Ike said through gritted teeth and clenched hands. In a moment, he added, “What are you badly trying not to tell me?”

Brennan sighed. “There is something called crush-syndrome. When there is no blood flow to tissue, it becomes necrotic. Cells die, and as they die, toxins build. Now, since there is no blood flow, those toxins are staying in your leg, but once blood flow is re-established, it floods your whole system.”

They were looking at multi-organ-failure. And for a moment, Brennan simply sat down next to the man, considering whether to risk that or not. And what the alternative was….

“So since I am going to die, can I get a painkiller on top of the oxygen stuff from before?” Ike said point blank. “Not to piss off my doctor or anything, but while I have a high pain tolerance, I am at my limits.” Then he added. “You could use a tourniquet.”

“You could use a tourniquet.”, echoed Eshrevi, not very helpfully, and Brennan gave her a stern look, then turned her attention back to the man. She had already administered an analgesic once blood circulation had been reestablished, but there wasn’t really a point in arguing that she wasn’t entirely incompetent. Instead, she simply gave a nod and administered another dose. She just hoped that it didn’t cause the vital signs to tank again. 

“Okay… Eshrevi, clear us an emergency transport to the Valkyrie’s sickbay. We will do the tourniquet and lift the debris, and then immediately have to be beamed up.”

Sh’shiqil gave a nod, doing as she was told. 

“How is the pain now?”, Brennan asked the man. “Any improvement?” 

“Yes, thank you Doc…Doctor Brennan.” He corrected himself. “My name is Ike Jansen. Having a high pain tolerance seemed to come with an equally high tolerance for most medications. It’s handy, but severely annoying at times. My apologies for being snippy.” He even managed a wan smile. 

“Don’t worry about it, Ick.”, Brennan said, offering a smile. Eshrevi returned after successfully having cleared their transport, and gave her a nod. 

“Okay, let’s do this.”