Alistair felt as though he could fall asleep at any moment and not wake up for at least a full 26 hours. It had been a horrible couple of days aboard the USS Arizona. The Arizona was sent on a mission to stop the activities of the rogue USS Wellington. For reasons yet unknown, the captain and crew of the Wellington had severely deviated from their orders and had destroyed a couple of Cardassian ships and outposts in the process. After a couple of battles and casualties on both sides, the threat of the Wellington had finally come to an end. Now, after the smoke of battle had cleared, no matter how tired he felt, it was his job to help get the crew of the Arizona back on their feet.
Just as Alistair had collected his bearings from being thrown around the Medical Bay as a result of the exchange of weapons fire between the two ships, he heard the medical bay's communications channel open. [Doctor Cherrin. Medical emergency to the bridge,] said the haggard voice of Commander Wallace.
Alistair tapped his communicator badge in response and replied, "Be there soon." Hurriedly, he grabbed a nearby emergency medical kit, and quickly made his way towards the bridge.
Upon arriving to this destination, he was momentarily shocked by the scene of the wreckage that was once the bridge of the Arizona. Commander Wallace was standing at one of the consoles trying to assess the damage to his ship when he noticed Alistair out of the corner of his eye.
"Over here Doctor, it's Commander Kelly."
"What happened?" asked Alistair as he simultaneously moved toward where Wallace was standing and took out his medical tricorder from the emergency medical kit that he brought with him. He stooped down to the floor of the bridge and began to scan Commander Kelly for signs of injury.
"He was working at the tactical station when we took that last hit from the Wellington. I didn't even notice that he was injured from the blast until I tried to give him an order. Then I turned around to see him passed out on the ground near his station."
"According to these scans, it looks like he hit his head pretty hard. He has a mild frontal parietal contusion," said Dr. Cherrin as he traded his tricorder for a hypospray and administered an injection of neurosine to the Commander. "I just need to get him to sickbay to make sure that the contusion is stable. Do we have transporters?"
Wallace looked over to Ensign Kalvin who was standing nearby at one of the Operations stations. "What about it Kalvin, do we have transporters?"
"Affirmative, Sir," replied Kalvin as he continued to scan the information on the terminal in front of him.
"Good, initiate an emergency site to site transport directly to the Medical Bay," ordered Wallace as he stepped away from Alistair and the unconscious Commander Kelly.
"Coordinating with the transporter room now. Transport in progress, Sir," replied Kalvin in his standard matter-of-fact tone.
As the transporter activated around him, Alistair closed his eyes for a moment. I've always hated these things. In an instant the transporter beam materialized both men to the Medical Bay, where Alistair immediately called for help from a nearby crewmember to assist him in getting Commander Kelly on a bio-bed.
A few hours later, Commander Kelly was conscious again, with his only serious maladies being a little short-term memory loss regarding the events of the past few hours, and a splitting headache. Both problems would clear with a little rest, and that is what Dr. Cherrin was trying to prescribe for the Commander.
"No arguing with me on this issue, Commander. You need to rest. Doctor's orders," said Alistair in his most stern, authoritative voice.
"I assure you, doctor, that I'm fine," said Kelly as he tried to sit up in the bio-bed. For his efforts he was met with a splitting headache and a little vertigo. Grabbing his head in pain, and slightly loosing his balance, Kelly was fortunate that Alistair was right beside him to steady his frame.
"This is an order, Commander. You need at least 8 hours of rest. I'll give you the choice of resting here in the Medical Bay where I can monitor you, or you can rest in your quarters with a cortical monitoring device that will allow me to monitor you remotely. Those are your only options," said Alistair as he slowly helped Kelly sit up in the bio-bed.
"Yeah, I think you're right, Doc, I do need some rest. I think I'll take you up on that remote monitoring option, though, it's too bright down here to sleep," replied Kelly as he slowly began to regain his balance on his own.
"I'll escort you to your quarters and set up the cortical monitoring device. I'll also inform Lieutenant Le'Chell about your need for rest. I'll give you another moment to get your equilibrium back before taking you to your quarters," said Alistair as he slowly took his hand away from Commander Kelly's shoulder and allowed him to regain his internal sense of balance.
"Thanks, Doc."
"Don't worry about it, Commander. Let me get the cortical monitoring device ready, and then we'll see about getting you back to your quarters for some rest."