The Man in Stasis
Posted on Wed Jul 30th, 2025 @ 2:32am by Ensign Dani Harper & Ensign Charlotte Dawes & Lieutenant Alexandra Blackstone & Lieutenant JG Thivi & Josef Forstinger & Lieutenant JG Kasper Andersen M.D & Ensign Iozhara
Edited on on Wed Jul 30th, 2025 @ 2:34am
1,979 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Bombs or Bombshells
Location: Astrea Medical Bay
Timeline: MD 004
Dani and Thivi materialized alongside the stasis unit in Astrea's Medical Bay and approached the attending physicians.
"We did a little to make him comfortable and reduce the chances of shock when he's brought out of stasis. Simetriline because he was pretty dosed on amphetamines and barbiturates, and plasma for blood loss."
Iozhara hovered at the opposite side of the stasis unit, eyes on the readout.
"Stasis vitals stable," she said, her voice low but steady. "Neural activity minimal, but no critical drops. He's holding."
She turned, wheeling a tray closer to Thivi. It was a neat arrangement of sterile implements, a hypospray, fresh plasma packs.
The Man inside the Stasis was a mess. Dressed in 20-21st century. Millitary garb and wearing a exoskeleton, big bulky seemingly kevlar west and helmet/gasmask combo.
Wound wise, he was obviously shot twice by disruptors, once clipped on his right leg and once in the chest (which the vest seems to have taken the brunt of the damage.). Other than that, he had a gaping bullet wound in his abdomen, and several older bullets still buried inside him.
His lungs and stomach have water in them-and what skin was visible on him was semi-necrotic.
Alex looked up as the transport finished and raised a brow at the patient. “If it wasn’t my iob I’d ask you if I actually wanted to know what happened…” she called as she got up from her office and walked into sickbay proper. “This is not what I expected to be receiving today.”
"When we found him he was still in his cryochamber, 21st century design, and not in good condition," Dani explained. "Our scans showed a Human inside - he was in Nausicaan possession, so we were in the process of trying to broker a deal and bring him back, to you know thaw him out properly, but I guess the unit had been failing for some time. He woke up unexpectedly and started firing on everyone. Honestly, I can't blame him. If he's from the 21st century, we must have looked pretty strange to him. He was surrounded by aliens."
Dr. Beckett took a look at the readings. "Alright team, he's not getting any better sittin' here in stasis, I want to make sure we have Netanaline on standby. We'll use the medical Transporter to clear his lungs of the excess water, and then we'll assess whether he needs a regeneration chamber or if we can repair the damage manually. Dr. Blackstone, can you oversee that until Dr. Siv gets here?" Malcolm asked.
"Of course; it will give me a chance to assess his neurological condition as well." Alex jumped into action. She targeted the excess fluid in Josef's lungs and paused for a moment while she input commands on the biobed console to put the ongoing scan to the screens behind the bed for closer examination. "That... doesn't necessarily look promising."
"What do you see, Doctor Blackstone?" Malcolm asked. "Nurse Reynolds, you'll assist Dr. Blackstone, if you want to pay attention in case she needs anything."
The petite brunette nodded her head in acknowledgement and quickly shifted places around the stasis unit so that she was closest to the Vulcan physician.
“His synapses show some pretty bad degradation but… I don’t think it is unable to be recovered with a little bit of work. I’ll need a neuro-stabilizer and… oh 5 ccs of Alkysine.” Alex looked up from the scan to look at her peers. “I don’t know any doctors who have actually seen this sort of neurological damage… but it is kind of indicative of heavy trauma and overuse of old Earth amphetamines.”
"Charlotte dear, I'm going to get started on these bullet wounds. I'm going to need organ and muscle regenerators along with the standard tools. I'm seeing damage to his right kidney, liver, and some likely intestinal perforation, so can you make sure we have what we need for that please. Also, have Jenna see if Kasper - err Dr. Andersen is available to assist," Malcolm's words sprung Charlotte into quick action, as she'd been working with him long enough to anticipate his full request before he was finished.
"Nurse Iozhara, can you prep hyposprays with anesthizine, we'll try 5 cc's to start, and bicardine, 2 cc's to start. We'll go from there. Once he's out of stasis, everyone will want to move quickly."
Iozhara moved at once, hands always steady despite the hum of urgency around her. She turned to the tray, fingers checking each hypospray twice, ensuring everything was prepared accordingly.
"Anesthizine, five CCs," she murmured to herself, slipping the vial into place. "Bicardine, two."
She glanced at the patient--his skin looked waxy and peeling in clumps, some of it already giving up on the idea of being alive. She didn't flinch. Instead, she checked the sprays one last time, the tiny lights flickering green. Good. She placed them carefully on the tray beside Doctor Beckett, aligning it for an easier reach.
"Ready when you are, doctor," she said quietly.
"Alright, we've got everyone in place," Malcolm stated announcing his observations. "Nurse Iozhara, I'm going to bring him out of stasis now, help me keep an eye on vitals, including his apparent pain levels. His base level will determine if we'll need the Bicardine or the Anesthizine first, but if he's lucid, I'd like to try to explain to him what's going on before we have to put him under for surgery."
Iozhara nodded a confirmation to Malcolm, though he had already turned to face the patient.
Malcolm typed in the commands and security code needed to deactivate the stasis protocols, slowly bringing Joseph's vital signs back into normal ranges. As soon as the slightest brain activity began to register, Malcolm began talking in a soothing voice.
"My name is Malcolm Beckett, I'm a doctor, you're in a hospital. Do you understand? You are injured, we need to treat you. I'm Malcolm. What's your name?"
Josef seemed hazy as he spoke. Barely registering his surroundings visually, but it seems something Beckett said triggered some ingrained response in him. "Forstinger, Joseph. #09348049, A, rh positive-" he rattled off, but stopped to take a deep breath, which caused him to cough up some water.
Iozhara leaned in at once, her eyes firmly on the vitals. There was a faint tremor in the respiration curve. The pulse oximeter blinked red, then yellow. There was definitely fluid, all right--more than expected. She watched his chest rise, stall, then rise again with effort, as though the body couldn't remember how to do the one thing it had always done.
"Fluids in the lungs," she said, her voice certain. "Partial alveolar drowning. Oxygen saturation dropping, doctor."
She nodded to Blackstone. The man's skin now had a dull sheen to it, like moisture creeping across old paper.
"Purging the fluid now!" Alex pressed the button and bent closer to listen to Josef's breathing as the transport finished.
Josefs breathing after the transport has now improved greatly. No longer raspy, short or causing coughs.
"Okay, Josef, I'm sorry about that," Malcolm's Scottish lilt softening his already gentle bedside demeanor even more. "We needed to get you out of stasis to start some of this treatment, or we risked more harm."
"We need to be doing surgery soon," Malcolm continued. "You have some internal damage from a ballistic weapon. Projectiles in your abdomen we need to remove. Do you understand, lad?"
The young man still didn't seem entirely lucid. His eyes not focusing on any of the people or objects surrounding him, Just staring up at the ceiling and lights emanating from nearby.
"The others-where-no-they're dead. All dead-" he then grunted in pain, his brain seeming to finally realize he had been shot after coming off both the amphetamines and morphine.
"Shot-Ive been shot-yes, surgery-" he babbles on. His mental activity was picking up, but he seemed to be in some sort of shock almost. His brain picking up the pieces and trying to peace them together from what's memory and what's reality.
Iozhara looked up from the console monitoring his vitals. "His heart rate is rising above one-fifty-five... blood pressure dropping."
"Start fluids, 1 unit of plasma, and the anesthizine," Malcolm directed. "Nurse, let me know when he's ready.
"On it," Iozhara said, already moving.
She reached for the plasma unit with one hand, the hypospray with the other. There was a hiss as the plasma line snapped into the port, another tiny hiss from the anesthizine entering the spray, and then a click as she upped the dose with her thumb.
Iozhara passed the hypospray to Malcolm and added, "Fluids are running."
Alex shifted so that she could check Josef's pupillary reaction and grimaced to herself. "Aye; I'll have to take a regenerator to his neurons once you have him stable enough for me to work. She placed the neurostabilizer on his brow and pressed the button to activate it, watching as the series of lights on it began to pulse.
"Aye, Doctor. Once we've got the bleeders taken care of, he should be right and ready for you to do your work," Malcolm said, his eyes already focusing on his first move. "I need some suction in here, Charlotte can you hand me the auto-suture, Thivi I'll have you come behind me with the vascular regenerator, alright?"
"Of course." Thivi already had the device in her hands, in fact, having anticipated that he might need it. That's what years of experience gets you.
Kasper skidded to a halt outside the surgical suite and within moments, he was suited up with gloves, mask and gown. He cursed at himself as he walked in for not being able to get there sooner than he would've liked, and he couldn't even blame it on anyone else other than himself. "Doctor Beckett, my apologies for being late. What do you need and where do you want me?"
"You can help me get him put back together. Those old time weapons really did a number on him. We've got to stop all the bleeding, then we'll need to repair some damage to the kidney and small intestine." Malcolm directed him to the other side of the table and a nurse walked up and took her place beside him. Charlotte looked up briefly at Kasper as he joined the team and smiled under her mask, the gesture visible only in her eyes.
Iozhara didn't interrupt unless she had to. Her eyes remained locked on the monitor, following the cascade of numbers like it were a prayer. There was movement now--not good, not bad. But movement nonetheless.
"Heart rate's dropping--one-thirty and falling," she said calmly. "BP stabilizing, systolic at ninety-five and climbing. Oxygen holding steady." She didn't look up when she spoke. She knew Malcolm and Kasper were clocking her words while they continued their ministrations.
The patient's eyes fluttered once, then closed--not from trust, not yet, but likely from sheer exhaustion. His chest rose and fell like something burrowed. Around him, the room returned to its quiet choreography--hands moving, instruments clicking into place, grief and urgency folded neatly behind routine.
They had him now. That was something.
Lieutenant Alexandra Blackstone
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Astrea
Lieutenant J.G. Dr. Kasper Andersen
Lieutenant J.G. Dr. Malcolm Beckett
Lieutenant J.G. Thivi
Ensign Iozhara
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