Resurgence

Posted on 30 May 2023 @ 7:45am by Commander Calliope Zahn & Lieutenant Ethan Gunnarsen

Mission: M3 - Into the Deep
Location: Infirmary, Pathfinder, enroute to OC
Timeline: MD10 - 1330 (post follows on the day after climactic events)
1836 words - 3.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Reality trickled in spurts through the leaden haze that seemed to settle around Ethan. At times he could swear he was wide awake, only for events to take a decided twist that made no sense in any reality he could imagine. About the only thing he could say of any of it was that his experiences were painless. That all changed as his awareness grew.

It started with an irritating buzz of sound that he couldn't quite place, but soon recognized as the sound of a suppression field of some sort. Low-grade but close at hand. He blinked his eyes, wincing as the motion sparked a flicker of pain across his brow and fought against the gumminess of too too much sleep to force them open part way, taking in his surroundings. It was a sick-bay, though everything seemed muted and hazy, as if laying in his room in the late afternoon with no light besides whatever drifted through the blinds.

"Welcome back, Lieutenant." Ethan startled slightly as a form appeared beside him. Steadily his surroundings sharpened as they reached up to adjust a control. "You may want to close your eyes a bit until you adjust." The suggestion came on the edge of a wave of sensation as whatever had been cocooning his senses evaporated and he was exposed to the environment around him. After a while, it was manageable, if still on the otherside of comfortable.

The medical officer - a young Trill he could see by the markings extending above the collar - rested a hand on Ethan's shoulder and held a cup for him to grasp, releasing it only when he determined the patient's grip steady enough to drink on his own. "Think you're up to a visit? I know you just woke up, but Commander Zahn was wanting to check in on you."

Zahn ... for some reason Ethan wondered why he felt uneasy at the thought of speaking to the otherwise amiable woman. He swallowed, and then shrugged with a half grin. "Ah, sure. Don't know if ..." he cleared his throat, still dry. "If I'll be that entertaining."

An encouraging pat on the shoulder was his only response as the officer slipped out of the bay to retrieve his guest.

Sickbay had given her a heads up about Gunnarsen's vitals as he was coming around and they were planning on bringing him out of the treatment he had been under so she could time a visit when he came around. She rounded the privacy shield when she was motioned inside.

"Hey, Fly," She greeted him with a smile, arranging a chair for herself and then butt scooting it in closer to lean in. "You've been out a bit. How was your nap?"

A flickering grin crossed Ethan's face as he ruefully shook his head. "Wouldn' know - slept through most of it." His brow furrowed as the niggling thought from before pushed against his memory, demanding attention. "What'd I miss?"

Calliope rubbed her hand over her mouth. She had a thought about him posing this very question on the way down to sickbay to great him. While others on the crew had to be sworn to secrecy during debriefs, Ethan didn't remember anything that had to be forgot. She considered commenting that if she told him, she'd have to kill him, but the joke as likely to just raise more issues. Better to stick to what he actually knew and close that story out for him. "Well, we picked up those survivors. It was choppy weather. You were doing a pretty swell job of keeping the Acamas in the air, and then, bam. You were out. Between me an' Cesar on the controls, we made it back here to the Pathfinder."

The images flickered at the back of his mind - snippets of memory threaded through a pulsing agony that threatened to return just at the thought. Ethan exhaled, and nodded. "It all gets foggy at the end. I think I remember going down, but I can't say for sure."

"They're telling me that you suffered from something called Vasovagal Syncope? It was never a problem before?"

"Not enough to compromise my duty," He frowned. "I think I've only ever passed out twice?" He reached for the water again to sip before continuing.

"Twice?" Calliope listened, getting the bigger picture.

"There was a lot of stress at the time, and t' be honest it wasn't the same. More like I took a suppressant and passed out in bed for a few days until it went away. There was that one time on shore leave, but I was drugged so ... doesn't really count."

'Drugged' didn't sound like, taking medicine... "There's a story behind that one, I take it?"

"You could call it that." Passing out on the beach and waking up in a stone cell had not been how he planned on spending Shore Leave on his last assignment. "That was a year ago, though. Doctor Corduke took me off the meds and we were doing different therapies - I'd gone through all the requisite stress tests without issue." He trailed off trying to put together the pieces he could identify. "I ... the storm wasn't helping, but it was just a headache and I've dealt with that before. It wasn't ..." The answer came with the fleeting memory of figures coalescing in front of him seconds before everything went dark. "The shields."

Calliope was relieved to know he'd been addressing it with the CMO on his ship. If Corduke hadn't foreseen it being an issue, then there was nothing serious that she would have to address. The parallel to her own error with Mazur's advisement was not lost on her. "I'm sorry? It wasn't the shields?" she repeated, uncertain of his phrasing.

Ethan knew he probably wasn't making a lot of sense. He still felt like everything was still in the process of coming back online as it was. "Sorry, I meant it wasn't bad until the shields. They went down and the pain went supernova." There was a logic in there, somewhere, he was sure of it.

"That's interesting. We should make sure Dr. Corduke knows the timing, in case it's not just a coincidence. I'll make sure the sensor readings from the flight log are sent over to him. If there's anything he can make out from the Shuttle sensors recorded in that scramble."

"Yeah." The statement didn't come off all that enthusiastically and Ethan hoped Zahn attributed that to weariness rather than unease. While he was fairly certain the spell had been a fluke, the chance of something going wrong and putting him off-duty loomed at the edge of his thoughts. "So the shuttle made it back alright? That's good. Anyone get hurt?"

"Everyone from our Away team was returned safely." Calliope said. "Plus the survivors you helped to recover. They're recuperating now as well, as we're underway back to the Loki System. There were other away teams besides our own, though." Calliope put a hand into her hair and gripped, shaking her head. "It's pretty complicated to give an account of actually."

"Probably best to leave it, then." Ethan offered her a half-smile. "Knowing my luck I won't remember enough before my debriefing to make any sense." The news was bittersweet, then; should he feel guilty that the idea at least his ship made it back in one piece? Deciding not to think on it too much, Ethan pressed on. "They should be letting me go soon." After all, it wasn't common that a patient remained in sickbay long after regaining their faculties.

"Whenever Corduke decides to release you, I guess. You guys are stuck on the return flight with us." Calliope wasn't sure how Callum would handle updating his pilot later. Gunnarsen was going to feel like he was out of the loop on the biggest secret ever, having been away while the rest of his crewmates were flying the Theseus in multi-vector mode in a battle with the Pyrryx. If she was in Callum's shoes, she'd give him a summary on the down-low. In her experience being out of that kind of thing only inspired too many questions and led to unintended consequences when the uninformed started wondering if they were going crazy and piecing it together themselves. Calliope folded and unfolded her fingers. But it wasn't her place. "There are a few other officers from the Theseus aboard. Your tactical chief and Mr. Brightwood, even your doctor, they're here because they took a team down on the Demophon to support some Marines from the Pathfinder. They recovered another cast away and the rest of our away team. Just, logistically ended up in our shuttlebay. We figured, you know," Calliope smiled. "Shouldn't press our luck. It was best to get underway as fast as possible. Didn't have the time to swap everyone back."

He nodded his head slowly, his mind clumsily poking at the gaps between her words. Something had happened while he was out, whether or not it would have an impact on him later, Ethan wasn’t sure. The idea that Corduke was here might be in his own best interest, but still … “But the Theseus is alright, yes? Just out of range because of the storm?”

"The Theseus is alright, yes. But we're more than clear of the storm. We're at high warp cruise back to the Loki System."

“Already?” Ethan rubbed the bridge of his nose. “How long was I out?”

Calliope had to look at a display and do math. "The better part of a standard day."

Somehow it felt longer to hear her talk. Ethan wondered how much of that time had been medically induced; he still felt wiped as he always did coming out of a cluster attack. “We’ve still got time to go before we’re back, then.” He breathed in, and then let it out. “And you’re busy.”

"We're keeping our eyes peeled, but nothing feels that busy after our away mission and all. I slept pretty well myself. Not quite as long as you did." She smirked. "But close."

“I think the jury’s out on that one.” Ethan grinned slightly. “But that’s good to hear you’re good.” If she was managing downtime as the XO of the mission, then that bode well for the crew in general.

The Ensign returned with PADD in hand. “Excuse me, Commander-"

Calliope turned in her guest seat. "Yes?"

"Commnder Corduke will be wanting to check in soon with the Lieutenant. He should be by in a few minutes.”

She looked between the patient and the nurse. "I think I'm being politely asked to leave." Calliope chuckled as she came to stand and returned the seat where she had gotten it from. "Alright. I won't overstay my welcome. See you on the outside, Gunnarsen."

“Sure thing, Commander.” Ethan offered up a wave as she made her departure before preparing himself to face the doctor.