The Marines of the 28th MEF and the 58th's Hammerheads had finished shoring up the Ferengi and getting them out of the Neutral Zone and into Federation space. It was on a sweep of the Cardassian DMZ that the Iwo Jima had picked up the signal from the Banshee Squadron and followed it to Lazon II.
Jayme Alcon was off duty and was suppose to be sleeping but was instead was tossing and turning until she sat up in frustration and just stared at the blank wall at the end of her bed. She reached over and turned on the light and sat back against the wall, running her fingers though her short hair. "Damn," she thought to herself about the week they'd been away from the station and she'd probably only gotten twelve hours of decent sleep...
Captain Morgan was on the bridge. He'd ordered Jayme off two hours ago. Major Boyle had sat the bridge as an observer and had allowed the young human captain to make several errors and figure out the corrections the hard way. She was exhausted, he could see that in her eyes when he'd relieved her for the watch. He had two members of her unit keeping watch and would report if she went back to work or to workout.
"Geosynch orbit of Lazon II, and make contact with Commander Carter of the Banshee Squadron."
The communications/operations officer of the watch nodded and said, "Commander Carter, sir."
"Captain Morgan from the Iwo Jima. We picked up your beacon and are here to assist you."
Down on the planet, dawn had broken an hour ago, and the six Banshees were gathered around their campfire eating breakfast. While the standard field ration barely qualified as edible in most people's opinions, to Jazz it was a feast fit for a queen. She was on her fifth bar.
"I think I broke a tooth," complained Alex, looking with revulsion at her own ration bar.
"You're lucky," replied Jo. "You won't be able to eat any more of these without your teeth."
Alex made a face indicating she didn't think that was very funny.
Just then, the beeping of the comm system in Carter's Banshee went off. Carter sprang up, thankful for anything that interrupted their eating, and bounded up the ladder into the Griffon's cockpit. Stabbing the activation button with her forefinger, she was rewarded with a burst of static, and then the welcome voice of Captain Morgan Bicardi. "Greetings from Lazon II, Captain," she replied to his hail. "Thank you for responding to our call for help."
"Sorry it took so long, Commander," said Bicardi, "but we've had our hands full with the Mullurans and Ferengi. Give us your coordinates and we'll beam you up."
"Negative," replied Carter, shaking her head even though Bicardi couldn't see her. "The atmosphere is laced with kelbanite. I'd end up in a million separate pieces if you tried beaming me through that. I'll rendezvous with you in the Griffon."
"Acknowledged, Commander. Our shuttle bay will be standing by. Out."
The comm channel went dead, and Carter dropped back down to the ground and walked back over to where the others had been intently listening.
"Well?" she said. "You guys wanna stay here forever? Let's go!"
Five minutes later, five Banshee starfighters climbed steadily upward through the dusty atmosphere towards the clean blackness of space. There was little spare room in the Iwo Jima's relatively small hangar, but they managed to squeeze in.
The ponderous hangar bay door ground silently shut as Jazz climbed out of the back seat of Max's fighter where she'd ridden. She jumped to the deck and pulled off her flight helmet, shaking out her long, brown hair. God I could use a shower, she realized with a resurgence of long-idle self-respect. She caught a glimpse of the Cardassian Badlands outside just before the bay doors closed on the view, the view she'd had for the last twelve years, and was suddenly thankful she'd never have to look at the damn thing again. Turning her back, she gave her attention to the happenings around her.
Major Thomas Boyle strode from the turbolift at the periphery of the hangar and stopped before Lee Carter. Shaking her hand in greeting, he said in his frank, gruff voice, "Welcome aboard, Commander." Then he proceeded up the line to where Jazz stood.
"So, this is the infamous Jasmine Phoenix I've heard so much about," he said, giving her a long appraising look.
For some strange reason, Jazz felt acutely self-conscious under his scrutiny, and found herself on the verge of blushing like a teenager on her first date. A swift counter-attack was called for in order to deflect the Major's frontal approach. Erecting her best unabashed smile, she replied, "Everybody calls me Jazz, Major."
"In that case, you can call me Thomas," replied Boyle smoothly. He reached out and shook her hand more gently than he had rattled Carter's arm moments earlier.
In the background, where they'd been momentarily forgotten and couldn't be readily seen or heard, Jo nudged Sam in the ribs with an elbow and made little kissy-kissy sounds. Sam and Alex snickered, but stopped when they caught Max giving them an evil sideways glance.
Releasing Jazz's hand with a show of reluctance, Boyle turned back to the other Banshees and noted their wounds and bandages and general dilapidated condition. "You all look like crap!" Carter nodded in wry affirmation. "We have medics aboard. Come on," he ordered, and led them back towards the turbolift.
Jazz brought up the rear, watching as Thomas disappeared into the elevator, feeling somehow reborn. Ten long years had passed her by as she rotted on Lazon II, forgotten, but she suddenly felt twenty years younger. She hurried to catch up with the others before the turbolift doors closed on her.
Corporals Dayrne and Rashan were on duty when the six pilots and Major Boyle entered the small sickbay on the Iwo Jima. Kama walked to a comm set and asked for, "Captain Alcon, Sergeant Berke, and Sergeant Tagye to sickbay, stat."
Marki and Kama immediately led the women to the six couches to have a seat. Both women had basic and intermediate certifications and started treating the injuries, but some of this was beyond their level of training.
Jayme had been meditating on her bunk since she couldn't sleep, and once paged, ran in a set of scrubs to the sickbay. She entered and looked around seeing the Banshees. She immediately scanned the biomonitors above each couch and visually assessed each woman. "Marki, treat and discharge Max. Kama, work on Jo's facial abrasions."
The door opened and in walked her two Sergeants. "Tagye, come here and clean and autosuture this shoulder shrapnel wound. Berke, assess Commander Carter. I'll assess Sam's arm and..." Jayme looked at the tall, thin, dark haired woman and said, "I'll examine Commander Phoenix, isn't it?"
Berke moved over as having met Commander Carter before, fixed up the split lip and treated the black eye with the dermal regenerator He had her do the standard neuro checks. He moved in with a hypospray and administered several medications to help with pain and the concussion before applying a neurostim unit to treat the concussion. He placed a warm blanket over her and watched as she drifted off to sleep. Several hours later he repeated the tests and removed the stimulator and let her eat.
"Yes," Jazz said looking to Max who smiled and shrugged, then said to her friend, "Jayme Alcon, Marine Captain and physician in training." Jayme smiled at Jazz.
Tagye had medicated, cleaned, and sutured the laceration in Alex's shoulder and had moved on to assess a complaint about dental pain from a tooth that was bothering her from her emergency ration pack.
Jayme did the emergency repairs to Sam's cybernetic arm, but said to the woman, "Keep it as dry as possible and see the specialist tomorrow on Sb901. I've done all I can do. I'm ordering you to eat a decent meal, and eight hours of sleep."
Jayme turned and moved to examine Commander Phoenix and found, other than standard side-effects from mild malnutrition, she was in relatively good form. "Are you having any pain?"
"No," Jazz said standing up and meeting the medic's eyes.
Jayme wasn't going to argue with the woman. "Fine, same orders: shower, meal and sleep. Dismissed."
Jayme then walked around and watched her four medics work and after grudgingly OK'ing Alex for discharge, held Commander Carter and Jo for several hours of observation before they were discharged to quarters for showers and sleep period.
Jayme sat at the main desk and worked silently on her reports and debated about getting a cup of coffee when one appeared at her elbow. "Thanks," she said looking up at Sergeant Berke. She keyed the bridge. "Sickbay to bridge."
"Bridge. Report, Captain." Major Boyle sat in his chair and sipped a cup of coffee. He'd left the Banshees several hours ago and saw the Captain only momentarily as she entered sickbay and started working.
"I've finally discharged all of the squadron to quarters and they are resting. Several serious injuries but nothing that will keep them out of action for more than twenty-four hours."
"Good," he said nodding and initialing a report the private handed him. "Anything else, Captain?"
"Sir, what's your plan?" she asked running her fingers through her hair and seeing her team cleaning up and loitering.
"We are returning to SB901; we will be in port in 48 hours. Get some sleep; you're relieving me in 8 hours. Out."
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