On Death's Door...

Posted on Wed Feb 9th, 2022 @ 11:29am by Captain Ivan Petrov & Lieutenant Commander Troy Marshall & Lieutenant Johnathan Anderson III & Callie Marshall & Lieutenant JG Karen Lamont & Lieutenant JG Kassandra Selin

Mission: S1 Episode 1: Caretaker, Part I
Location: ISS Vengeance
Timeline: MD 32, 1445 Hours
993 words - 2 OF Standard Post Measure

Johnathan managed to pull himself out of the Jeffries tube and into the corridor. Which was empty. Cursing his bad luck, he reached up and used the railings that were mounted to the bulkhead, to pull himself to his feet. He was starting to feel cold and his feet were getting numb.

Though he was in excruciating agony, he refused to stop. His mind was focused on Kassandra and not leaving her alone. Slowly, he started to drag himself down the corridor.

On the bridge Callie was feeling oddly cold. She didn’t think it was anything to do with her pregnancy, but something felt decidedly off. She glanced towards Troy.

“Lieutenant is there anything...odd going on?” She checked her station readouts just to be sure. “It’s just, I’m feeling...off. I can’t explain what it is, but something isn’t right.”

Troy reviewed the internal sensors. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first glance. He replayed the log of the last five minutes and spotted John's commbade fall of almost ten meters. "Sickbay, bridge dispatch medical personnel to the portside Jeffries Tube access on decks 4 and 7 forward section. Possible injury. Security will be alerted and sent to assist." He then contacted the security duty NCO to have a security specialist sent to both locations.

"Understood," Karen said and ran out the door.

Down below, Johnathan was struggling to stay conscious. He was cold in his core, yet was sweating profusely from yhe exertion to keep moving. Suddenly, he saw her. Kass had just entered this corridor. But she was so engrossed in reading the PADD in her hands that she didn't notice him right away. "K-Kass...!"

Kass looked up, and gasped with a curse. She lunged and grabbed him, hitting her comm. "Selin to medical, I have Lieutenant Anderson here, he is injured! Need medical Immediately!"

"Understood," Karen said, pausing in the corridor. She hit her com badge again. "Lamont to Petrova. Site-to-site transport authorized. Get Lieutenant Anderson to Sickbay immediately. I'll be back momentarily."

As soon as he felt Kassandra's arms wrap around him, the last of Johnathan’s reserves finally failed. He collapsed heavily against her, his blood covering her arms and hands. As he crumbled to the deck, he looked up into her beautiful eyes, eyes that looked scared. Why were they scared? Nothing was wrong, was it? He could see her speaking to him but, try as he might to focus, he could make out what she was saying.

Darkness was closing in. There was something he had to tell her.....what was it? As his body started to shut down, his blood pooling underneath him, he remembered. "M-M-Mar...Marshall...." then he lost consciousness, his body going completely limp in Kassandra's arms.

Kass stared. Marshall did this? No not at all likely. Kass pressed her hands to the wounds to staunch the blood. She realised that Johnathan probably didn't know that she knew about Callie and the baby. No Marshall would not have done this. She knew the man, he was more face to face. Maybe it was Morrison... or the best candidate was Andrei.

Where the hell was medical?

On the bridge Callie had heard Troy’s call to medical. Something was very wrong, she didn’t know exactly what but she was going to find out. She summoned her relief before heading off the bridge, she was going to Sickbay to find out just what was going on.”

Emerging from the turbolift Callie could only follow her senses, the overwhelmingly strong sense of pain had drawn her painfully close before the sensation had stopped. Rounding a corner her eyes met the horrific sight of Johnathan lying on the floor with Kass trying to stem the flow of profuse bleeding. “Johnathan!!!” She ran across, feeling a mix of anger, fear, and utter uselessness as she crouched down beside Johnathan. Her watery eyes met Kass’ gaze. “Do I need to ask who did this!!?”

The Intelligence ensign bit her lip. "I am not sure who did it." She aaid honestly. She was not about to throw Troy under the starship.

Removing her comm badge she replaced it onto her under shirt before removing her uniform jacket and using it to try and help Kass stem Johnathan’s bleeding wounds. She hit her comm badge. =/\= Vali to Marshall. John...Lieutenant Anderson is down!” She pulled back long enough to check the nearest wound. “He’s been stabbed!” =/\=

Troy alerted the security team to divert to Sickbay with strict orders to assist if needed or stay out of the way in the corridor if not.

The shimmering of transporter beams filled the hallway as three medical personnel appeared. Two were enlisted and one a cadet. Mika frowned at the sight of the man on the floor. He had been kind when she gave him his transfer physical, and seeing him this way was a shock and surprise.

"What happened?" she asked, surging over and observing his wounds

Callie shook her head, and looked at Kass.

Kass spoke softly. "He just stumbled out of the turbolift, said a few nonsensical words and collasped."

"He's lost a lot of blood." Mika said, her heart racing and her face flushing. She knelt beside the man and placed a device on his arm. Pressing a button, she spoke. "Sight to sight transport to sickbay."

And with that, the Mika and Johnathan disappeared into he same transporter haze that brought her, leaving the two women standing with the nurses, both of which rushed back toward the turbolift.

Callie looked towards Kass. “I’m going to Sickbay.” She wasn’t sure if Kass would follow unless invited. “You’d better come too Ensign, the Captain will want to know what happened.” She offered a brief smile and motioned Kass to the turbolift.

Kass nodded and followed. She had Johnathan's blood on her hands and she tried to focus on the situation.