And so the silence begins

Posted on Sat Oct 19th, 2019 @ 10:48pm by Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Commander Calvin Morgan & Ensign Jaimie Nolan

Mission: Sounds of Silence
Location: Sickbay

It had been barely 24 hours since they had left Meria, and Abigail was feeling every single moment of it. So much for Meria leaving her feeling refreshed and relaxed. Between the lack of sleep and the constant pain that seemed to be getting worse with each passing hour, the only thing she wanted was to curl up and sleep in the darkness for a week. Except now even sleep couldn't come. She knew she was left with only one option, and she wasn't happy about it at all.

As she walked through the doors to sickbay, Abigail sank gratefully into the first seat she saw, grateful for the stability it offered her. Leaning forward, she rested her elbows on her knees, covering her face with her hands to block out the light. She drew in a sharp breath, wincing visibly as another wave of pain washed over her.

Jaimie looked up from her triage computer to the new arrival in the empty waiting room. She blinked a couple times, realizing it was the Captain who just walked in. "Ma'am, If you want to follow me, we have an open examination room ready, what seems to be the problem today?" She asked with concern walking over to Abigail, not used to seeing a senior staff member come in for a check up.

Abigail looked up in the general direction of the voice that had addressed her, the movement making her vision swim. She held up her hand, opening her mouth to speak, but there was no sound. Her shoulders slumped slightly as she drew in a breath, rising slowly from the seat and starting toward the examination room with slow, careful steps. She had admitted defeat.

Jaimie called over another nurse who quickly helped her with Abigail, getting her into an examination room quickly. Moments later Calvin walked around the corner. "She doesn't look good, and she isn't talking either," Jaimie stated over her shoulder as she got an initial set of vitals and blood for labs.

Calvin glanced at the monitor, listening to the nurse's report as he walked over to Abigail. With a quick feel of her wrist, he looked at her, "Tell me what's going on."

If Abigail had the energy to reach out and smack him, she would have, but that would have hurt too much, even though the act of aggression likely would have made her feel better. She opened her mouth to speak, but again no sound came. With a sigh that was more just an exhalation, she closed her eyes and waited for him to finish.

The corner of his mouth lifted in the slyest grin, sensing the annoyance she had of him at the moment. "You can have a raincheck on that slap when you feel better, promise." He gave her a wink and started checking over her physically while the nurses rattled off some information about her vitals. "Just nod if this has been going on for a few days? Flu like symptoms yes? Unable to talk?"

She nodded slightly with the first two questions but shook her head briefly at the final question, almost immediately wincing as she felt the stabbing shooting pains through her head again. This was going to be a difficult consultation if they could not find a more effective way to communicate. Looking around the room, she noticed the PaDD on the counter against the wall and pointed to it, using her hands to gesture as if she were writing on something.

Jaimie handed Calvin a PaDD, and quickly grabbed a blank one for the Captain to write on. "Write down everything you think is pertinent," Calvin said absentmindedly as he read through the initial lab reports, too wrapped up in trying to figure out what he was looking at to put any conviction behind it. He read through the numbers several times before snapping too and patiently waiting for her narrative.

Forcing herself into a more upright position, she pulled up the touch keyboard on the PaDD and started typing. "Headache." She stopped, making sure she had Calvin's attention before pressing her fingers into her temple and then to the base of her skull.

Returning to the PaDD she typed again. "No sleep. 3 days. Tired. No voice only today." She turned the PaDD around to show him and waited.

Calvin nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly as his brain began trying to put the puzzle pieces together. He read over the PaDD twice, and glanced at the PaDD in his hand. "How's that headache? Dull? Stabbing? Pain anywhere else? You been eating?" He watched her carefully.

With a silent sigh, Abigail turned the PaDD back and set it on her knees before she started typing her response. This really was becoming bothersome.

"Constant dull pain, intermittent sharp intense stabbing pain. Not eating. Not sleeping. Exhausted. Aching everywhere."

Nodding again, Calvin gave a bit of a frown. "Alright, well we are going to get some medication in you, hopefully so you can rest a little and relieve some of the pain. I'm going to do a little research, you aren't presenting with anything typical, and the computer is having trouble diagnosing as well." He paused for a moment and smiled, "But don't worry, I'll get you feeling better so you can give me that slap."

Abigail typed one more thing on the PaDD, handing it to him with a pained expression. "I'll hold you to it."

Calvin smiled, setting the PaDD to the side and picking up a hypospray. After inserting and setting the medication appropriately, he gave the Captain a shot in the arm as Jaimie rounded the corner.

"Doc," Jaimie said with a calm voice only a nurse can replicate. "We have a few more patients coming in with similar symptoms." Calvin locked eyes with her, their faces neutral, but their eyes showing concern.

The hushed whispers of concern were the last sounds Abigail heard before she closed her eyes, sleep rapidly taking over her exhausted body. She'd deal with what ever was happening after she took a nap.