Team Corwin - Part Two

Posted on 14 Mar 2017 @ 7:11pm by Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Commodore Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale

5,797 words; about a 29 minute read

Mission: Endgame
Location: Deep Space Eleven
Timeline: MD 17 || 1045 Hours

Ricardo saw Joey go down and unleashed a blistering response with the phaser drill before he deactivated it and handed it to another enlisted. "If anything moves that isn't us, kill it!" he ordered as he pulled his medkit out and crouched next to Joey. "Miller, get your medkit!"

He pulled out a tricorder and scanned her, then frowned. "Her heart stopped!" He nearly tossed the tricorder aside and pulled out a hypospray and loaded it with a ampule of Cortolin to resuscitate her and pressed it to her neck. "Come on, Corwin," he muttered. "Don't you dare die on me." He pulled the Cortolin ampule out and loaded in another of Lectrazine to stabilize her cardiovascular and renal systems and pressed that to her neck as well. Finally, he added a hypospray of neoamoxicillin to help her fight off infection.

"Miller, I need Triptacederine," Ricardo said. "We need to begin CPR on her immediately."

~~~

"What are you doing here, iki kekahi (little one)," a familiar male voice asked her. He sounded so far away, yet so close.

Joey opened her eyes and looked around, but saw nothing but white as far as her eyes could see. She recognized the voice that spoke to her, and it immediate brought tears to her eyes. Where was he? Why couldn't she see him? What kind of cruel trick what this? "Papa," she called, her own voice sounding just like his had. "Where are you? Why can't I see you?"

Her grandfather, who passed away shortly after her seventeenth birthday, made a soft shushing noise. "It is okay, iki kekahi. Do not stress or worry about that. We will see one another some day, but that day just is not today. You are not staying. You are to return and fight... fight like I know you can."

She felt huge tears roll down her cheeks. "No! I want to stay here with you! I've missed you!"

"As I have missed you, my iki kekahi, but you are meant to live... to love. We will be together in time. Now go. You must," he said.

Joey felt something against her cheek and leaned into it as her eyes closed. It felt the same it did all those years ago. Reassuring, calming, comforting... everything it should have been. She opened her mouth to speak, but something was pulling at her, and it was strong. Resisting it just didn't seem to be an option, so she didn't. Images of her life flashed before her from when she was a little girl until more recently, all of which made her happy.

No... it wasn't her time. She had so much to live for, and as her grandfather requested, she would fight.

~~~

Miller reached in and grabbed the ampule of Triptacederine, handing it to Gutierrez. As he knelt beside Joey's head, he quickly saw boots gathering 'round. "Idiots! Set up a perimeter! Do you want us all killed?!" The boots disappeared and he leaned over, he placed his hands, one on top of the other, in the middle of her chest and began compressions. Then, he tilted Joey's head back slightly to lift her chin and open the airway. Allen then pinched Joey's nose and placed his mouth over hers, delivering two rescue breaths. Back to compressions, and then rescue breaths, and compressions again. Miller continued until he felt a wisp of air right before the next rescue breath. "There, a breath." He paused near her mouth. "And another. Yeah, she's breathing again."

Ricardo loaded the hypospray and pressed the analgesic to Corwin's neck and released a sigh of relief when Miller said she was breathing again. "We need to move her into a room and disable the sensors, then get her more stabilized. We can't depend on an extraction right away and they're going to be coming for us the moment they see we're sitting still. Our mission is on abort but we can't make it easy for them. Where's the nearest room?"

Allen stood and looked around. They had been hiding in a doorway a moment ago, but that one wouldn't work. Literally...too much phaser fire and explosions. Around the corner and on the opposite wall, he saw a door that might still work. "Over there," he said pointing. "That one looks it'll open easy enough."

"Get it open, blow it open, vaporize it, whichever is fastest," Ricardo said as he fought against a wave of emotions from all around him. "As soon as we get her in there, we can set up the portable forcefield generator and get the phaser drill back up. Then we can defend ourselves a bit easier than being here in the corridor!"

Allen ran over and tried the door panel. No such luck. Then he stepped back, set his phaser rifle to its highest setting and vaporized the door. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and ran back to Ricardo and Joey. "Room's open. Let's get her in there."

Ricardo directed a couple personnel to lay down phaser fire in either direction while he gently took her shoulders and looked at Allen. "Take her legs. Do a three count and then we'll get her in there."

Allen squatted down and moved to gingerly lift her legs. He looked up at Ricardo. "One...two...three." And lifted Joey up.

As quickly and carefully as he could, Ricardo lifted up Joey and began to move towards the room. Once they were inside, he whistled for the others who retreated backwards while continuing to lay down heavy fire. When the last one was in, he nodded as he carefully set Joey down. "Get that forcefield generator up!" he said.

Two Security officers worked on getting it up and put a barrier over the door while another one set up the phaser drill again. Another officer moved a desk in front of the barrier and hunkered down behind it with his phaser rifle aimed out the door.

Allen looked around the room to see if there was anything they could use to help stabilize Joey. Then it dawned on him that they had to get the sensors offline, too. There was still enough of their team left that they could get it all down. "You two," he said to the ones that had been with him, "get the sensors offline. The harder we can make it for them, the better it'll be for us." He turned back to Ricardo. "If this is an office, there might be a replicator around here someplace. And if we can get it to work, we might be able to replicate some more help for Joey, er, the Lieutenant."

The two Security personnel Miller ordered to get the sensors offline set to work quickly. Three of the remaining four moved to the entrance they'd created to get inside the room and stood guard. There wasn't a soul that would get passed them or the portable forcefield that had been erected. None of them were feeling up to par after watching the Lieutenant go down like she did, but their need to protect her and the two men working on ruled over any type of emotions they might be feeling.

Ricardo tapped his combadge =^=Gutierrez to Black Hawk. We need an extraction. We have casualties and an officer down. Repeat. We need an extraction.=^=

=^=Black Hawk to Gutierrez... sit tight, and we'll get you back as soon as we're able to.=^= the Transporter Chief from the ship responded.

Another officer went to look around the small office and checked his tricorder. "There's nothing in here but the office next to this one seems to have a replicator. The wall here doesn't have anything or anyone on the other side of it." He drew his phaser and adjusted the setting, then vaporized a hole in the wall before he stepped through it. "It's clear."

Joey fought against the darkness that enveloped her, but she just couldn't seem to break free. She had to get back... there were people that cared about her... loved her. The harder she seemed to fight, though, the more vicious the darkness surrounding her seemed to get. Its control over her was unlike anything she'd ever experienced in her life.

"Corwin!" a deep male voice shouted at her, easily recognized as Admiral David G. Farragut. "Get off your ass and do something! This isn't the time to be laying around. You have a mission to complete!"

I just want to lay here, she thought to herself, but the fact it was her instructor yelling at her to get her ass in gear... Joey fought the darkness that consumed her, straining and fighting against it with everything she had. She didn't know why he was so angry with her, but there had to be a good reason for it. Was he in trouble? Did he need her for protection? She had to know.

"Ad...ral," she muttered as her eyes fluttered beneath their lids.

Ricardo leaned close when he heard her mutter, bandages in his hand to cover the worst of her wounds. "Just lay still, Lieutenant," he said softly. "You've been hurt and I'm bandaging you up."

The office who had gone into the next room came back with several glasses of water and some ration bars. "Sorry I couldn't get more, but the replicator seemed to only offer these things."

Ricardo took one of the glasses and gently lifted Joey's head up to put a bit of water on her lips. "Water. Take a sip."

Joey heard someone speaking, but he... or was it a she?... sounded like they were so far away. What were they saying to her? Sadly, she didn't know. The pain she was feeling was far too great, and she was trapped inside of it. It wasn't long before the blackness was back, beckoning to her... offering comfort and a pain free existence. She'd be a fool not to let it claim her once again. Without further hesitation, Joey slipped back into the numbing abyss oblivious to what was going on around her in the real world.

Allen had taken up position at the door with the others while Ricardo tended to Joey. He'd been keeping an eye out and hadn't seen what was playing out behind him. "Is she taking the water?" he asked, not turning around.

"No," Ricardo said as he set the glass down and lowered her back down. "See if there's any lubricant around here. Grease the floors in front of the other door and see if there's any other rooms around us. We don't need them surprising us the same way we got in here without having a defense for them."

"Gotcha," he said. Allen had managed to find some oil of sorts and poured some on the floor in front of the doors. When he finished, he went back to Ricardo and Joey. "Done. And no other rooms around us except the office that we blew into."

Ricardo gave a nod and looked back at the Lieutenant. He had to make a choice of trying to bandage her up here or get her to a medical facility and hope they would treat her. He got his tricorder out and checked the map. "If we got up one deck, we can get to their secondary sickbay," he mused out loud and looked around. "Everyone keep an eye and ear out. Delphonse, I need all of your monomolecular rope and your jacket," he said.

He looked over at Miller. "Allen, can you run the rope through the sleeves, across the back and around the base of the jacket? We need to make a sling for Lieutenant Corwin."

"Yep," said Allen, taking the rope. "I got this." He threaded the monomolecular rope through the sleeves and around the back, just as Ricardo had said. "Okay, all set."

"Everyone, prepare your grapple guns," Ricardo said as he picked up the phaser drill and aimed it at the ceiling once he managed with the help of several others to get Joey in the makeshift sling and secured the rope. "Once we're up, establish a perimeter and then we'll bring her up." With that, he vaporized a section of the ceiling with the drill and stepped back.

Four officers stepped forward and fired their grappling guns to the ceiling in the upper deck, then grabs four ends of the monomolecular rope that held Lieutenant Corwin in a sling and began to raise up as they activated the microwinch in the grappling gun.

As Joey's body began to lift off of the floor, she hung there lifelessly, moving toward the opening in the ceiling Ricardo had made. Her once tanned skin was pale, but still had very slight color to it, and her lips were taking on a blue tint. The blast from the phaser she'd taken had done a visible number on her, but it was the damage that couldn't be seen that they needed to worry about.

When the rope grew taught and they took on Joey's added weight, they slowed their assent until they were over the hole. Carefully, they pulled the Lieutenant up and got her to solid deck before they stepped aside to set up a perimeter so four more could come up.

Allen had directed the other four security officers to get a sling set up for the dead officer. It was difficult enough that they had lost one of theirs, but now they were hauling her up. It looked...funeral-like to Allen. He swallowed hard and pushed the thought back. This was not the time, that would come later. Now was the time for action. He watched as they slowly made their way up and through the hole and to the deck. Allen then fired his grappler and activated the winch. He kinda grinned as he went up. Despite their current situation, that was pretty cool.

He stepped off to the side on the deck above. The others had done an excellent job of setting up a perimeter. He activated his tricorder and scanned the area around them. "Looks like we may have come up into some unoccupied quarters here Ricardo."

Ricardo had two men deactivate the sensors in the quarters and another one to check the door. He went back to Joey and saw that her lips were turning blue. He cursed under his breath and tried to remember the basic medical courses he had taken as he opened the medkit and pulled out the hypospray again. He hoped that the combination of drugs he had given her so far wouldn't react against each other as he loaded a ampule of glycopyrrolate, a long acting bronchodilators to help her breath better. "What's the situation looking like out there, Miller?"

Joey's color started to brighten up a bit, but she was still quite a bit paler than normal. A lot of it had to do with her injuries, but once they found a doctor and convinced him or her to care for her, the tables would turn. Time was against her, though. She needed medical attention and fast.

Inside the darkness, though, she was more than comfortable. There was no pain... no worries... there wasn't anything. She swore she could hear voices, but couldn't make out what they were saying. It was of no consequence. The Lieutenant seemed to be quite content where she was at the moment.

Allen pulled the exographic targeting sensor out and put it on, stowing his tricorder. "It's clear as far as I can tell." He turned and walked to the door of the quarters. "Yeah, clear. But I have a bad feeling it won't remain that way for long." He turned back to Ricardo.

Ricardo slipped his exographic targeting sensor on and activated it. "We're about six doors and a corridor away from the sickbay if my tricorder readings are right. I'll take point. Miller, take the rear. The rest fall in the middle with Lieutenant Corwin and Chief Petty Officer Miko, please."

He checked his phaser rifle and carefully exited the room, swinging the rifle through an arc in cased his exographic targeting sensor missed someone hiding. It was clear. He gave a hand signal and started up the corridor.

Four other Security officer picked up Lieutenant Corwin and CPO Miko and headed up the hall behind Gutierrez.

The others fell in around the four carrying their Assistant Chief and the Chief Petty Officer. Allen took up the rear, turning around periodically to make sure there was no one behind them. He kept his sensor on, just in case. He also mentally chastised himself for not having it on earlier.

It was a short walk and blessedly clear of enemy troops, but Ricardo didn't care why no one was here as he saw a sign that said Secondary Sickbay. "Come on, guys," he said as he moved forward with his phaser in his hand and activated the door sensor.

The four Security personnel carrying Lieutenant Corwin moved up behind him and waited for what was to come.

Inside, the facility had already been overwhelmed by wounded coming in from all over the base. Doctor Diarmaid Green scrambled from patient to patient, having been forced into triage mode. Thankfully, most of the wounded had only received minor injuries. He was more than aware intruders were aboard the station, and thought it only a matter of time before security arrived at his doorstep with wounded.

So, when said security arrived, he wasn't surprised. What did surprise him was the amount of people who escorted the wounded. With all of the intruders, he would have thought all able bodied officers would be left to repel boarding parties. Seeing how heavily armed they were, he could only assume the worst. "There's no place for the Consortium here!" he shouted, drawing the phaser that was mandated that he would wear.

Allen brought up the rear of the group and followed the others in that were carrying the dead CPO. But, what he walked into wasn't exactly what he expected. The man he assumed to be the Doctor was pointing a phaser at them. Allen raised his phaser rifle. "Take it easy, doc. We have no place for Consortium, either."

"Our Lieutenant's been hurt," Ricardo said as he holstered his phaser and held up a hand to hold off the others on the Security team. "Please, help her."

Petty Officer Sanchez lowered her weapon and took a step forward with her hands raised. "Look... we were sent here to provide you and everyone here with the truth about the Consortium. We're not them. We fight for the good side. You and your crew have been serving the wrong side for a long time now," she said in a tone that posed no threat. "Our Lieutenant has been wounded by one of yours. Her heart has already stopped beating once. If you don't help her, it's going to stop again... maybe for good. What happened to your oath to do no harm? What happened to helping those in need?"

She moved over to Joey and carefully peeled back the bandage to reveal just how nasty her injury was. "She needs your help. Please... do something. Don't let her die." She hoped she would get through to him. It was unlikely anyone part of the Consortium would beg for the life of another.

Diarmaid held his phaser steady, carefully studying the people before him. He certainly was confused. The doctor had been taught of the Consortium's ruthlessness, yet these people hadn't tried to do anything. "I... I don't understand," he told them. "You are Consortium. Why are you here?"

"We're not Consortium!" Ricardo all but yelled. "We're Starfleet and we're here," he turned and pointed at Joey in the sling. "because she needs your help. Now!"

Now wasn't the time for them to lose their cool. She kept her hands raised and moved toward the doctor again. "In told you why we're here. Over a week ago, I served on a ship I thought was controlled by the good guys. I thought these people..." She gestured to everyone behind her. "Were the bad guys. It turns out I was serving the wrong side the entire time. My Captain... she was after a super weapon that would have caused unneeded death and destruction. She was stopped before things could go from bad to worse. Like you, I was confused, and didn't want to believe what I was hearing. Because I did listen is why I'm standing before you today.. begging you to save her. We've lost one already. Please... please... don't be the reason we lose two."

The doctor eyed the armed security, then to the woman they carried. To the woman who tried to diffuse the situation, he simply asked, "What ship were you on?"

"I was Security on board the Chimera. Surresh was my Captain," Sanchez replied. "We were told we were going after the Black Hawk inside the Hadyn nebula because they wanted to get their hands on the weapon, but as it turned out, they were out to stop us. They had us all fooled... leading us all to believe we were serving the right side when in reality, we were just doing their bidding. Your free will... it isn't yours. It belongs to them. Please... I'm begging you. Break free from them. Let the first true act of your own choosing be helping her."

Diarmaid stared at the woman for a few moments as he considered her words. "The Chimera," he said at last. "Had an engineer named Green. An ensign. Where did he wind up?"

Sanchez shook her head. "There was no one by the name of Green in Engineering. Operations, yes. He's currently on board the Black Hawk. Safe and free of the Consortium."

He closed his eyes and sighed. "Fozz is... my brother." He lowered the phaser and pointed them to a nearby cot. "Let's have a look. And," he said, looking at the bold security officer who previously shouted, "keep the Consortium from coming in here."

"Your brother is safe, and once this is all over, I'm sure you can be reunited," she said, helping the other three get Joey over to the cot. "Thank you, Doctor." Sadly, she didn't have the heart to tell him the Consortium may have already been inside.

Allen had lowered his phaser rifle shortly after the conversation started. It was progressing well. But to him, 'progressing' meant getting their Assistant Chief dealt with. He had left his sensor on just to be safe and taken up position next to the door with his back to the wall.

Ricardo looked around and took note of all the entrances to the sickbay and sent two personnel to each location. He went over to the cot to where Joey had been taken and looked down at her. "No one is going to get in here, Lieutenant Corwin," he said before he headed for the main entrance. He drew his Type III phaser rifle, but would have preferred the phaser drill, but the doctor may not appreciate that in his sickbay.

Diarmaid pulled out his tricorder and began to scan her shoulder. "She's going to need surgery," he said instantly as he didn't need the tricorder to tell him what was wrong. "This is a severe phaser burn." He would hate to see what this team would have down to the Station's security. "Nurse!" he called out, hoping someone would join his side soon. The tricorder began to spit out results, showing that the patient was suffering from nerve and muscle damage, as well as issues with the bone underneath.

A nurse raced toward Doctor Green when called out for one. She was on the young side, possibly in her early twenties, and definitely appeared to be overwhelmed by everything that was going on. "You called, Doctor?" Nurse Bartlett asked, looking to the newcomers with a bit of unease.

"I need an autosuture, ketolane gel, neuromonitor, and..." The doctor's voice trailed off as he studied the tricorder more closely. "And a bone regenerator. Stat."

Bartlett rushed off to get the requested equipment for the Doctor before returning. She looked nervous, but only because she'd never been thrown into a situation quite like this. The number of wounded and dead... it just seemed to keep rising as the seconds ticked by. "I have everything you asked for, Doctor Green. I'll help you and way I can."

Allen was just glad that they had been able to convince the Doctor to move forward with treatment. He turned his attention from Lieutenant Corwin to the wall. Or at least he appeared to be staring at the wall. His exographic targeting sensor was allowing him to keep tabs on the corridors outside. No way was there going to be anyone sneak up on them.

Ricardo stepped up to Allen after he looked at Lieutenant Corwin once more, then turned to Allen. "Man, this mission is going all kinds of sideways. I hope Lieutenant Di Pasquale is doing better."

Allen turned around to face Ricardo. "Yeah, it really has. Heh, her team has got to be doing better than this. One of ours gone and Lieutenant Corwin down..."

Diarmaid accepted the autosuture and bone regenerator from the nurse. "Start applying the gel to the outer edges of the burn," he told her. "When I'm done with repairing the nerve damage, I'll need you to take care of the center of the burn."

"Yes, Doctor," Bartlett said, taking the gel so she could begin applying it to the outer edges of the burn being careful not to get in his way. "Aren't they the bad guys?" She was under the oath to do no harm, but if this woman was Consortium, she didn't know why they wouldn't just let her perish on her own. That wouldn't be doing any harm.

"If they were bad," Diarmaid suggested, "wouldn't they have started shooting the other injured just to get medical attention?" The doctor shook his head as he activated the bone regenerator and addressed the collarbone rendered brittle by the phaser blast. "And if they are Consortium, they're nothing like what we've been taught they're like. It makes me wonder..."

"They're all dressed like they're ready for a war, and while I would consider what's going on round us war, they had every chance to kill you when you pulled the phaser on them. But, they didn't," the nurse said as she continued to focus on what she was doing. "Something isn't right here, and I'm not entirely sure I like it."

"What really bothers me," he remarked, continuing to manipulate the bone regenerator over the lieutenant's bone, "is that if these people aren't Consortium, then one has to wonder who really is."

"It does make you wonder, doesn't it?" Bartlett asked, yanking the phaser rifle from Joey's unconscious form and leveling it on her head as she reached for one holstered in her belt. "You Starfleet types are pathetic, you know that? Back away from her, Green, and if any of you tries anything, I'll vaporize her."

"What the hell!?" Diarmaid shouted, quickly stepping in between nurse and patient. "After all these years, Bartlett? Why?"

"Why? You want to know why?" The young woman demanded, keeping the phaser leveled on the good Doctor. "I'll tell you why. Starfleet has made you all weak! If you were smart, you would have crossed over like so many of us did. That won't matter much when you're all dead. You should have chosen the winning side. You ALL should have chosen the winning side."

Allen knew that Ricardo wasn't a full Betazoid, but he hoped that he could still get some feelings across to him of some sort. He quietly tapped the trigger guard on his phaser rifle and thought things like, I have a plan, I've got this, Back me up, No worries and hoped that the feelings he was putting out could be picked up as he quickly formulated a way out of this.

¡Madre de la estupidez! went through Ricardo's mind as he realized that the enemy was already inside. He noticed Allen tap the trigger guard and gave a nod, then looked at the nurse to get her attention. "Pity is treason," he said as he brought his own phaser rifle up and aimed it at the doctor in the hope of throwing the woman's attention off.

Allen felt a wave of relief wash over him. He and his fellow security officer made an excellent team. He lowered his phaser rifle to the standard relaxed carry and said, "Well, it seems we now have control of a secondary sickbay, a host of hostages...some wounded and dying...and our very own doctor to patch us all up. Starfleet, huh." He walked over to the nurse and looked down at the table holding his Assistant Chief. "Damn, too bad, too," he said shaking his head. "What a waste." Allen had subtly positioned himself so that his relaxed carry phaser rifle was pointed directly at the Consortium nurse. "Well Barlett," he said, keeping his eyes on Lieutenant Corwin, "I think it's time someone dies again in order to prove our point." He winked at Joey's body and squeezed the trigger on his rifle, vaporizing the Consortium nurse. "War is hell."

The reaction of Guiterrez and Miller threw the others in the away team off and phaser rifles began to swing their way until Miller vaporized the nurse. "What was that?!" one asked as he aimed at Miller.

Ricardo brought his phaser rifle around and up in the air. "That was called a distraction so this doctor can save Lieutenant Corwin!" he shouted. "We aren't Consortium."

Allen immediately put his phaser rifle down across the Lieutenant's legs. "He's right, we aren't Consortium, that was," he said, gesturing to where the nurse once stood. "Now let's let this man do his work. And I'd suggest some us keep an eye on the rest of the room while the others monitor the doors and corridors."

As soon as that phaser blast shot past him, Diarmaid quickly leaped backwards, trying to avoid any of the firefight. Not to mention that he was as confused as everyone else when all weapons were trained on the two who had just eliminated Nurse Bartlett.

One thing was certain. The doctor had had enough.

"Get out!" he shouted at the security personnel. "This is a place of healing, not conflict!" Despite their intentions, it would take many sleepless nights to get that image out of his head. He personally grabbed Ricardo and Allen by their forearms and pushed them towards the door. "Take yourselves and your phasers outside and keep the killing out of my sickbay!"

Ricardo raised an eyebrow. "We just saved you and our Lieutenant," he said as he walked towards the door. "Remember that." He motioned to a few of the others to keep an eye on the Doctor and looked over at Allen. "C'mon, Miller. We have to keep Sickbay safe."

"Man, save a guy's life...," Allen mumbled as he was ushered out of Sickbay. "You got it, Gutierrez. Just remind me to never get sick if we win this thing and end up back here."

"You, you!" Diarmaid said, pointing to two random members of the security detail from the Black Hawk. "Stay by the door. And you," he gestured towards Sanchez. "You're now a nurse."

Sanchez blinked as she moved toward the Doctor. She was still feeling from what she'd just seen take place. "All I know is basic first aid," she began, trying not to appear as scared as she felt. "You'll have to tell me what you need me to do."

"Continue where Bartlett left off," he said, motioning with the open container of gel towards the lieutenant's shoulder. "Stick with the edges while I start rebuilding the nervous system."

Reaching for the gel, Sanchez picked up where Bartlett left off, applying it to the edges while Green did his thing. "Is she going to make it?" Maria asked softly.

"She'll live, that I can promise," replied Doctor Green. "Whether or not she retains use of her arm is up to us over the next five minutes." While they were in triage mode, he could not promise to complete the procedure. All he could guarantee for now was that he could repair the nerve and muscle damage.

"Without the use of her arm, her career is over, Doctor. Please... do whatever you can do," the Petty Officer pleaded as she continued applying the gel. Whatever she had to do to help make it possible, she would do so without question, and no one would have to worry about her turning on them. She wasn't Consortium, and wanted nothing more than for them to be taken down.

Doctor Green, having finished with the bone regenerator, moved on to regenerating the damaged nerve endings and the muscle mass using the neuromonitor as a guide. The autosuture proved to be an excellent tool as he continued to work. At his pace, it would take him several minutes to complete the process.

Maria continued with the gel until she finished, then stood upright to watch what the Doctor was doing while she waited for further instruction. She wanted Joey to be okay, and it seemed like she was in the best hands for that to happen. "What do you want me to do next?"

"Take this," he said, handing Sanchez a dermal regenerator. "There's a patient with some internal injuries that I need to check on. Your lieutenant will live."

"Thank you. When this is over, I'll see to it that you're reunited with your other," Sanchez said with a tone of pure gratitude. She took the device from Doctor Green and powered it on, then set to work on repairing what she could. Joey was going to live, and though they hadn't made it to the computer core, that was good news.

Diarmaid only smiled. "Thank you," he said with a curt nod. The doctor then moved away, off to see his other patients.

Sanchez continued to use the dermal regenerator on her Assistant Chief as she scanned the area for Gutierrez and Miller. They deserved to know she was going to be okay.


** ¡Madre de la estupidez! is "Mother of stupid!"

 

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