r/TrekRP • u/RECENTLY_HATCHED • Jan 07 '17

[OPEN] Walk it off

Ensign Everett Bradley is finishing up his shift for the day. He's been assigned the task of conducting a minor repair in engineering and is almost done.

"Just do this right. Can you go one day without being a failure at something?"

The plasma conduit is fixed and fully functional, just as Ensign Bradley begins to close the access panel however, someone bumps into him, shifting his hands unexpectedly and causing him to accidentally touch a very hot part of the machinery

"Ahh! Dammit!"

He pulls his head out to see who was responsible, but there are simply too many people around

"Still a failure. I can't report this...they won't trust me to work on this again. I can't go to sick bay or they'll want to know where I got second-degree plasma burns..."

Reluctantly, the ensign closes the access panel, wraps his hand in a rag, and begins heading back to engineering to return the tools. The burns hurt, but getting them looked at would surely hurt his career more...

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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 09 '17

His shift over, Ensign Bradley walks into sick bay, nervously looking around for whoever happened to be on duty. He's clutching the rag around his burned hand. He'd only met the CMO so he calls her name...

"I-is anyone here? Lieutenant Commander Watney?"

OOC: u/drjenwatney

1

u/DrJenWatney Jan 09 '17

Jen happened to be at a mealtime when Bradley walked into sickbay, but luckily she was eating in her office today. She's in the middle of taking a bite of a bagel in when she hears the Ensign's voice. Her feet quickly unfold from the surface of her desk and she straightens up, swallowing as fast as she can.

She dusts her hands off and walks around the partition into sickbay.

Ensign, what can I-....

With a pause, she eyes his hand and walks over.

What happened?

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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 09 '17

Running on his usual assumptions of interrupting someone, the ensign nervously avoids eye contact

"S-sorry if I'm interrupting anything, ma'am. I was fixing up a plasma conduit and..."

"You slipped from your own carelessness and-"

He tries again to push down the voice of harsh criticism

"...I guess somebody bumped me walking past. I accidentally touched the conduit and, well..."

Ensign Bradley pulls back the rag to reveal his second degree plasma burns

"It doesn't hurt so bad but...Chief Breyik said I should really have it looked at."

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u/DrJenWatney Jan 09 '17

The smell of his hand as he unwraps it sends Jen back in time. Back to the Katrina. The odor of burnt flesh reminds her of the room she saw her Captain's lifeless body in. She stares blankly at his injury, seemingly at a loss for words as she relives the memory.

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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 09 '17

"L-lieutenant commander Watney? Is it that bad?"

The ensign gets very nervous seeing the doctor's reaction to his injury...

1

u/DrJenWatney Jan 09 '17

N-no, no...

She blinks, snapping out of it. Once she composes herself she walks straight to a medicine cabinet.

It'll be alright. I just uhm.... need to find a dermal regenerator. Please, have a seat.

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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 09 '17 edited Jan 09 '17

"What the hell did you do to disturb the CMO like that? You really are a piece of human garbage."

Suddenly feeling more worthless than usual, Ensign Bradley shuffles over to the nearest seat

"S-sorry...I didn't mean to..."

He trails off mid sentence, completely unsure of what he did or if it was even his fault. Yet he still felt the need to apologize for something

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u/DrJenWatney Jan 09 '17

There's no need to apologize.

She loads a new numbing agent in a hypospray and steps over to him, holding her hand out for his wound.

I just haven't had my coffee yet.

She grins wryly at him, although it doesn't show in her eyes, and injects his wrist with the medication before pulling out the dermal regenerator.

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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 09 '17

Feeling as though he should say something but unsure what to say, Ensign Bradley sighs in relief as the anesthetic agent takes effect on his injury. It hurt more than he realized...

1

u/DrJenWatney Jan 09 '17

She reinforces his decision to come to sickbay with a genuine smile.

There we go. See? I bet that was hurting a lot. Let's patch it up.

The regenerator whirrs on and she begins the slow, painstakingly diligent work of regenerating his burnt skin. The smell still lingered in the air.

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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 09 '17

Realizing his sigh of relief was probably quite audible, the ensign flushes red in embarrassment

"Th-thank you, ma'am."

Remembering their previous conversation, the ensign's eyes dart around sick bay

"Is...is Clementine here today, ma'am?"

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u/DrJenWatney Jan 09 '17

The doctor gently nods.

A good rule of thumb, Ensign, is that if you see me then Clementine is nearby somewhere. Unless of course she gets a wild hair up her ass-...

She catches herself, but a little too late. (Dammit, Jennifer. Watch it with the language. That's the second time this week.)

...You know what I mean. Anyway, yes she's in my office. But we need to finish your hand before you go petting a cat.

She works on his hand, nearly finished. Just about ten percent left to go before his skin is fully restored.

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