Saving Lieutenant Arnaldo

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 2:51am by Lieutenant Alexandra Alves MD & Lieutenant JG Aeryn Jameson & Chief Petty Officer Renora Jassim & Mauricio Arnaldo
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:41pm

Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: Sickbay

ON:

With the arrival of Mauricio in Sickbay Aeryn stepped aside for Alexandra to treat him whilst she set about getting what would be needed to treat and clean up his wounds. oO It certainly looks like he had one hell of a night and it smells like it too! I wonder just how many drinks he got through? Oo She thought to herself and shook her head.

Alexandra rushed in with Nurse Renora following her steps, and walked towards the unconscious Marine, who has just been beamed to one of the biobeds. "What the hell happened to him?!", she asked wide-eyed, rather just from herself, "Nurse, tricorder, please. And get ready with an osteogenic stimulator.", she then turned to Aeryn, "Assist me, please.", she asked her, then shook her head in disgust, "He smells like an Antedean wild boar."

“Already on it Doctor!” Aeryn smiled as she brought over a tray of hyposprays that Alexandra might need to select from. “I’m not sure exactly what happened to Lieutenant Arnaldo but whatever, or whoever, it was made a good job of it.”

"That's for sure.", Alex nodded, in agreement with the last sentence, "Thank you, Nurse.", she said, as she grabbed the tricorder given to her, then hovered it over Lieutenant Arnaldo, "Severe concussion. And his nose is broken."

Aeryn nodded. “It’s no wonder he collapsed, I’m surprised he could even stand up with a severe concussion let alone walk.”

"Right.", she replied, "We need to repair his injuries, starting with the concussion. Nurse, where's that osteogenic stimulator?"

“Right here Doctor!” Aeryn smiled as the nurse passed her the stimulator before handing it to Alexandra. “Whatever happened to Mauricio he’s going to have a lot of questions to answer once he’s awake and up to it.

"I bet on that.", Alex said, as she reached for the medical tool she requested, "Give him 10ccs of hydrocortilene, please.", she told Aeryn, while she tapped a key to activate the overhead monitor above the biobed, and project the tricorder's images on it.

Aeryn reached for a hypospray. "10ccs of hydrocortilene" She pressed the hypospray to Mauricio's neck and stood back to let it take effect.

"Thank you.", the doctor nodded, "First, we deal with the concussion, that's our most important task. Then, we fix his nose.", she said, while activating the osteogenic stimulator, "I'd also like to make a psychological evaluation on the Lieutenant once he's awake."

"I can do the psychological evaluation if you'd like Doctor?" Aeryn looked at Alex. "I was Chief Counsellor before the change around. Either that or I can call Counsellor Kaleri once we're ready for her."

"Ah, yes.", Alex replied, "That's a good idea. He's yours after we've succeeded in getting him back to shape."

Aeryn nodded. "In that case let's get the Lieutenant patched up and see just how he got himself into this mess in the first place."

"I have a hunch, call it intiution, or anything, that he may shed some light on what happened on the station and how that murder occured.", she explained, "Alright. Starting the surgical procedure."

Aeryn stood ready to assist if Alexandra needed her help. She also had to keep watch for any other patients arriving in Sickbay. “Let’s hope the Lieutenant hasn’t gotten himself involved in the murder, he’s a part of this crew and a marine at that.”

"I still can't believe that any member of a Starfleet crew would be capable of doing such a thing.", Alex said, yet she was more and more uncertain in that.

"I know how you feel" Aeryn nodded as she kept a check on Mauricio's vitals. "It's hard to believe anyone on this ship could do this. I just hope we find out who it is before anything else happens."

"Let's hope.", the doctor nodded, as she began the procedure, "His condition seems stable. Hopefully, it'll remain this way."

Aeryn nodded. "Heart rate, & blood pressure are within norms so far" She kept a careful watch just in case of any complications. "I'll get a detox into his system otherwise he's going to wake up with more than just a headache."

"Maybe a well-deserved headache, neverthless.", she smiled, as she check the bio readings, "Alright. So far the stimulation is working. Nerve cells are regenerating fine."

Aeryn nodded. “All readings are within acceptable limits.” She smiled as she checked the hypo she’d picked up to give Mauricio to detox his system of the alcohol he’d consumed. “Detox is going in now.”

"Fine.", Alex nodded, "The procedure is working, it seems, he'll make a full recovery. He should thank his lucky stars.", she said, "Now comes our little nose job."

An hour later, Lieutenant Arnaldo's condition seemed stable, as the two doctors finished their job.

“Now we wait for the Lieutenant to regain consciousness and see if there’s any problems.” Aeryn looked at Alexandra as she stepped away to tidy up.

"Hopefully, he'll remember at least a fraction of what happened to him.", Alexandra said, as she handed the surgical tools to Nurse Renora.

“I guess time will tell” Aeryn nodded as she looked back at Alexandra.

[A while later]

Aeryn was standing beside Mauricio as he finally started to regain consciousness. “Well hello there Lieutenant” She smiled warmly looking across to Alexandra. “Doctor our patient is waking up.”

"Thank the Prophets!", the Nurse said, as she turned her attention towards her superiors.

"Good job.", Alexandra smiled at her two colleagues, as she quickly went to check on the Lieutenant's readings.

Aeryn stood beside the biobed letting her Counselling side take over from her Doctor side. She needed to observe Mauricio now he was waking up, something that allowed her Betazoid abilities to come into play more.

Mauricio's eyes fluttered for a moment. He wasn't quite awake, but he was regaining consciousness. He was dreaming - indeed, remembering - what had happened the night before. He remembered taking a few shots with the boys in Marine Country, then going to get dressed. He remembered standing in the Turbo Lift with Dorian, Vieers, and Vicuno. They were arguing, being nasty to each other. He particularly remembered the way Vicuno looked at Dorian, with a smug little sneer. Then he was drinking in Rulaskatox with the Marines; it was a heavy night of drinking with lots of different alcoholic beverages going into his body. He remembered the Guards coming to kick them out of the bar and he was getting in their silver helmeted-faces, pointing his finger and cursing at them in Spanish.

Then it was the fight, him struggling with someone. A brawl. A flash of a silver helmet. On his back, in pain. His brow furrowed, trying to push away the memory, his heart full of dread as he knew what it could mean. What if he had murdered someone? But there was also tinges of something else. Fick. Vecon Fick, coming to help him out. His smiling face, his helpful words. He didn't want to disappoint Fick, but he couldn't live with himself if he had harmed someone. He had to remember...

[Paradise Outpost, the night before]

A drunken Mauricio had been removed from the bar, as he continued to shout at the Guards. The other Marines wanted to find a strip club or a brothel, but that wasn't for Arnaldo. He parted ways with the others and stumbled off into the streets by himself. He sang an old lullaby from his home town as he sauntered through the boulevard of the Entertainment district. Male and female aliens would come up to him, offering a night at the Parlour, but he declined them, waving them away. As he continued on, he came across a squad of Paradise Guards, who seemed to point him out. Not wanting any more trouble, Mauricio slipped down a back alley way and started running. He didn't know where he was going, but he had a sudden burst of energy and managed to lose the guards quickly.

After a while, he stopped behind a building, as he immediately kneeled over and vomited up the night's drink onto the ground. He leaned against the wall and breathed heavily, the taste of sick in his mouth. When he managed to regain his breath and calm down again, Mauricio knew he needed to get some water and find out where he was. He peered around the corner of the building and realised he had stumbled upon the Parlour, a pink neon sign flashing before his eyes. As he was staring up at the sign, someone urgently grabbed him from behind and pulled him backwards into the alley.

"Where did they go?" Came the voice. It was male, human, familiar. "TELL ME!"

"Get off me, man!" Mauricio growled, pushing back against the person.

"DID YOU SEE THEM?" He was now yelling into Mauricio's face, grabbing at him hard and pushing him against the wall.

Feeling threatened and attacked, the Marine struck back, slamming his fists into the stranger's chest. The two fell to the floor, grappling and struggling against each other. There was a silver helmet (somehow) on the floor and the stranger used it to strike Mauricio in the face, breaking his nose. Groaning and coughing up blood, Mauricio turned over and held his hands to his injury. Just as quickly as it began, the assailant suddenly jumped off him and ran away; Arnaldo could hear his light footsteps as he swiftly departed.

Confused but relieved it was over, the Marine laid on his back, battered and bloodied. He looked up to the fake night sky being broadcast across the station's ceiling just as the light show began. The sky was soon illuminated with a serious of brightly coloured lasers in magnificent patterns, it was mesmerising. The lights came from seemingly every building in the area, each projecting a vibrant display across the ceiling. Mauricio watched it in numb fascination. It was a beautiful sight, in complete contrast with his current, awful situation. He lay on the cold ground for a while before blacking out.

-Later-

"Mauricio?" Came another voice, this one softer and friendlier. "You awake?"

He wasn't sure how long had passed but it felt like hours. The station was quieter now, the light show was long over. He was being watched over by someone else now, another voice he recognised. This one was female.

"I'm sorry, Mauricio." She said. "I'm sorry."

After this, he felt like he was being dragged somewhere. He could feel his body being slowly moved as he fell in and out of consciousness. He aware that the area around him turned from the cold outdoors to somewhere warm now. Somewhere soft. But he also remembered throwing up again, this time against a carpeted floor. There were voices around him, two people, who seemed to be arguing.

"We can't do this!" She was saying, her voice high and distraught.

"It's the only way." Said someone else.

Finally the Marine collapsed into unconsciousness again.

[USS Pandora, Sickbay, present]

Mauricio's eyes flew open and he bolted up right, his body in a full state of panic. "Who's there?!" He cried.

“Mauricio...relax you’re okay!” Aeryn smiled as she stood alongside Mauricio. “It’s Aeryn Monroe. You’re in Sickbay aboard the Pandora, it’s just me and Doctor Alves here with you.” She could feel the panic he was feeling. She had noticed he was dreaming beforehand but without his permission she couldn’t share his dream telepathically. “Lieutenant you were dreaming, are you willing to tell us what happened to frighten you so much?”

Alexandra heard Aeryn talking to someone, and hurried to the room to see if the Lieutenant has awakened. 'Aeryn Monroe?', she raised an eyebrow. "It's alright, Lieutenant.", she said, looking at Mauricio, and checking his bio-signs, "You're safe here." She then turned to Aeryn with a look which told her, 'Are you sure it's not too early for that?'

Aeryn offered Mauricio a smile and stepped away from the biobed.

After taking a few minutes to calm down again, Mauricio lay back on the bed and looked to the ceiling. There were tears welling in his eyes as he recounted to the two Doctors everything he had just remembered. By the end, he was crying, "I didn't kill any one. I didn't kill any one."

Aeryn looked at Alexandra as she stood alongside her. “He’s absolutely terrified and I can’t say I blame him.” She gently placed a hand on Mauricio’s shoulder. “Try and rest Lieutenant you’re safe here.”

Mauricio gave a deep, staccato breath as he rolled over. He couldn't quite sleep again, but he closed his eyes anyway. He was crying tears of relief; he felt assured now that he hadn't committed the heinous crime.

"Severe psychological trauma.", Alexandra replied to Aeryn, summarizing what they just witnessed, "He needs time. And a lot of attention.", she said, "And it seems, we have another enigma on our hands." She was utterly puzzled by the heavily fragmented story she just heard. What does the Lieutenant had to do with the murder... or another possible Murder? She wanted to get answers as soon as possible, but it was not yet the right time for that.

Aeryn nodded. "Agreed I think it's best we invoice Lieutenant Kaleri she'll be responsible for the Lieutenant's ongoing psychological wellbeing. I'll let her know when he's ready to talk."

"I agree.", Alex nodded with a serious look, "Hopefully, she'll be able to find out more than we are."

OFF