The sickbay, the chaos, had landed on the shoulders of the medical personnel once again. The situation of the Mariner was, in many ways, similar to the situation of the USS Damascus back in Delta Quadrant during Operations Blood Dilithium. An estimate of the ship's total damage was still an unknown factor, but data didn't lie about the numbers of crew injuries or deaths. The sickbay was the place no crew member wanted to be; it was the final destination for those tagged for severity or life-threatening injuries. 

Iron, the smell of iron, was now a familiar smell for Kossaal; the Andorian was working on some medical supplies to distract his mind from his patients' groaning and whining pains. He understood their suffering, and he treated their suffering, but if one person approached him with an iron splinter in his finger, he would lose it. It was his job, of course, but simultaneously, he was overwhelmed the last few hours with extreme cases. Not to count the fact that not all his medical equipment was working. He glared over his shoulder, seeing engineers who had time and were not wounded to focus on the medical equipment to get it back working. 

Kossaal shrugged and rubbed his head to the eerie headache bugging him. The cause could be anything from the damage he had received from the hefty flight to the lack of sleep. Who needs sleep at times like these? He noticed Adrián walking into the sickbay, which made him raise an eyebrow. “Commander, is there a need for your presence here?” He was not in the mood to have more people or engineers in his sickbay, and in his fair opinion, Mister Valerio had to focus on other things for sure.

“Ah, doctor, no, I am not here for myself or my engineers that you borrowed,” He snaps back and raises his hand. “I am unaware of the urgency to get things going here, but your attitude makes any person unwelcome.” Adrián could see the dire situation of the sickbay and felt nausea from the overwhelming iron smell as he saw the doctor reach out with a pill.

“It's against nausea. The sickbay is not for the weak stomach.” Kossaal stated, “I repeat my question, what can I do for you, Commander?” 

Adrián took the pill and swallowed it. A few seconds later, he could feel his stomach calming down. He looked at the doctor. “Status report of the crew.” He shrugged a bit. “Captain wants to have a briefing soon, and this data is needed,” he added.

Letting out a deep breath, “Nurse, give me the status PADD.” Kossaal looked at Theetika, who walked to him with the PADD. “Thank you.” He looked at the list; it was quite the numbers. “A few examples of these are”

Ensign Velara

• Injury: Severe Burns
• Cause: Plasma conduit explosion

Lieutenant Threx

• Injury: Severe chemical exposure
• Cause: Leak from one science lab

Crewman Zora

• Injury: Fractured ribs, severe burns
• Cause: Structural collapse near the engineering

Ensign Jaxa 

• Injury: Fractured skull, severe burns
• Cause: Structural collapse in maintenance bay

Kossaal stopped and looked up at Mister Valerio. “I can continue for a good thirty minutes, but the numbers are there, and I barely have time as it is to be your reader.” He shrugged. “Of the one-hundred and twenty crew members in service of this ship. We lost eighteen people. We have eleven critical here. Furthermore, we got about forty-four in the severity of injuries, and the rest can operate.” 

“That brings our active operating crew to forty-seven…shit,” Adrián scratched his head and flinched as he noticed Theetika behind him. “What …”

She got out the tricorder and started working on the cuts on his back. “Stand still; we require you to be functional and operate, Commander. These cuts won't do.” Theetika ignored any other response and worked on his back. She was also showing fatigue. 

Letting out another sigh, “But I presume the Captain wants to know the status of her senior staff who are out of commission.” “Commander Ruslanovna has been pierced by metal debris during the crash-land, or whatever you wish to call it. She managed to hold most of the bleeding back but not the internal bleeding. I have induced her into an artificial coma so her body can, with some help, recover. She is under careful watch.” Kossaal looked over his shoulder to the isolated biobed where Suto was lying and narrowed his eyes. “Lieutenant Scott will be out of commission for a while.”

Adrián eyes looked at Suto, and every fiber in his body wanted to move in her direction. But he couldn't; it would be weird. Why did he feel so protective over her? He liked her, sure, but the feelings were not mutual. “Why is that?” He finally manages to get out.

“A series of bad choices," Theetika replied, continuing her work. “The Lieutenant has frostbite from the exposure to space temperature; she has received a dose of radiation while in space without any protection. The lack of protection caused her to have decompression sickness that will linger for a while in her system." 

“Not only that,” Kossaal continued, “She held her breath.” Looking back at Mister Valerio, who looked puzzled, “Medical 101, do not hold your breath in space. I don't know if it's 101, but the academy should teach about that.” Kossaal crossed his arms over each other. “She suffered barotrauma, which means that her lungs were damaged from holding her breath in vacuum space, and she had over a total of one hundred seventy-six small ruptures in her lungs. Additionally, she got hypoxia.” 

Looking puzzled at Theetika, Adrián had no idea what that meant.

“It means she lacked oxygen that blacked her out and got her some damage to her brain, but it's fixable; it just takes … time” 

Adrián looked back at Suto. “How long have they both been out?” 

“Commander Ruslanovna will be stuck here for at least four days. But knowing her, make that three, as she is too stubborn to sit down and rest.” Kossaal rolled his eyes, thinking how a golden match she was to the Captain as she had the same principle. “Lieutenant Scott will be out for seven to eight days.” He shrugs. “But she does need medical advantage equipment to fix her lungs.” 

“Right,” he shrugged. I will….” he puzzled in his mind and looked around the sickbay, seeing the wounded. I will get you more engineers to fix this up.” Adrián shrugged but nodded to Theetika, who finished with his back and walked to the exit. “Thanks, Doc, for the info.” He raised the PADD and walked out. 

They both looked at him, leaving. “He seemed troubled, distracted?” Theetika concluded, a bit confused.

“I wonder why the Captain sent him instead of Lieutenant K'Nala; maybe we got bigger problems than a shortage of personnel, power, and functional systems.” Kossaal shrugged and shook his head, turning back to the sickbay as he heard people crying for painkillers “Back to work”