Think Ahead, Thinking Before

Posted on Tue Feb 4th, 2025 @ 10:38pm by Petty Officer, 3rd Class Lottie Daglish & Petty Officer, 1st Class Etienne Couture

Mission: Remnant
Location: Shuttle Bay
Timeline: Day 406
1287 words - 2.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Standing outside the shuttlepod, Etienne had pulled out the United Earth issued first aid kit that all shuttlepods came equipped with since the launch of the Enterprise. While it had no cost any lives so far, it had proven to be woefully incomplete. In Couture's mind, it was just a matter of time. Inside were bandages, some antiseptics, a couple splints, tourniquets, and a few more modern medical tools. But that was just about it. He had asked Lottie to the pod bay in order to help him figure out a better system. There would be times where a transporter may not always be usable or when the numbers of wounded could overwhelm the small system.

Lottie hummed a tune as she stepped inside the shuttlebay smiling at the ship that her girlfriend had brought onboard before she carried on to the shuttlepod at the back that currently had several panels off but that was not why she was there. "Petty Officer?" She called and looked with interest at the first aid kit being open.

"Ah thank you for coming," Etienne replied as he turned to greet the nurse. "How are you holding up?" he asked, it was a common question that he tried to ask everyone he came across. They were all in a tough situation and sometimes a simple question could make a difference in someone's day.

Lottie raised an eyebrow but shrugged her shoulders. What could she really say to a senior officer that her girlfriend was not able to communicate with people cause the language updates had been turned off or that she had eaten the same meal that she hated for the 4th day in a row cause there was not much variety on the night shift? No, she could not say anything like that so she simply said. "I am fine. What about yourself? What brings you here and myself hmm?"

"Living the dream," Etienne replied. It was a customary answer when there was not an appropriate answer for the situation they were found themselves. Acknowledging her gaze from before, the pilot pointed toward the first aid kit. "As you can see, it's rather basic. For basic operations close to... home," even saying it was hard as it reminded him of how far away they were, "this was enough to keep someone alive until we could get to a transporter or to you in Sickbay. But, given what is happening, I don't want to lose someone just because we are too far away."

Lottie looked at the kit and nodded. She felt her face breaking into a smile as she realised that indeed that was something logical and something she could work with to bring up to take to their needs and not what Earth Starfleet had thought necessary. "What do you think we need then?" He had obviously thought about it so it was easy for her to start there and gauge his thoughts.

"That isn't my specialty," Etienne laughed. He did not really want to start calling her items of trade by descriptors rather than their proper names. A skin sealer or happy juice may not be the most professional names that he could call them. Instead he decided to go the other route and ask for her advice, "Well, to be honest we could really do with pain management and wound care. Maybe some kind of biological containment or PPE. Those items are good, but what can we do to help someone make it here? To you."

Lottie smirked a little as the man laughed he might not have an idea but he had some thoughts otherwise she would not be there. “Not your specialty no but you have obviously put some thought into things to ask for me to meet you here.” She reminded gently. “Pain management is a hard one with our limited resources but we’re looking at alternatives. What are most of the incidents that you have seen?” She asked turning it on him as the things that she saw were not wounds but dislocations and trouble sleeping which was not unusual for night.

"Usually, nothing major. Just minor injuries sustained while exploring," Etienne admitted. However, he recalled a few times during their trek through the stars where they were not so lucky. "But, we have a history of things happening. We had a senior officer get his mind scrambled with body experiments and the Captain was wounded during a firefight. I want to be prepared for anything. We don't have a batch of new recruits coming to relieve us or replenish our staff." Etienne had seen more death over the last year than he had over the course of the rest of his life. He just did not want to say aloud that he did not want someone to die under his watch.

“You are correct. So we have a medical scanner , Hypospray.” She held up the items already there that he knew. “Defibrillator inducer.” She held up the circular item. “… Hmm what we need is a Emergency Surgical Kit.” She realised thoughtfully as what was there was perfect for the day to day of leaving the ship and around the ship but they needed something more flexible. “A supplemental field kit to this.”

"And the training to go along with it," Etienne pointed out. Pointing out the lack of experience on most away missions, he said, "I may have performed surgery on the shuttlepod, but never on a real person."

“With us having two doctors and one nurse and one trainee now we should have personnel enough to be able to perform most emergency stuff and be with away teams, but that is an idea to discuss with The Doctor and Doctor Hughes perhaps running a first aid course. You seem eager to get involved.” Lottie said sitting back on her butt as he legs started to go numb. It was all things that the medical team had considered but it was great to get a push from an outside source.

"I am definitely interested," Etienne replied. Though to be honest, he really did not see actual surgery as a realistic option outside of a few extreme circumstances. And in those cases, it probably would not help if a pilot was who the patient was depending on for medical knowledge. "While that is worked out, do you have any other recommendations?"

“If you are worried about using any of these items learning the signs of shock.” Shock was the biggest killer in her previous posting where people succumbed to it before they got to a medical profession despite Earth Starfleet basic first aid training.

"Irregular heartbeat, shallow breathing, pale, cold sweat, and grey lips?" Etienne replied. It was one of the lessons that they had really drilled into the class during the survival training courses.

“Mental status eg anxiety, agitation, confusion, or disorientation. Dizziness, lightheadedness, faintness, nausea, vomiting, thirst, yawning, sighing, or weakness. Very similar things to low blood pressure.” She did not want to add that the symptoms varied depending on the cause and type of shock but he had a good understanding for the most part.

"Thanks for the clarification," Etienne replied. "So to recap, the biggest thing we may be missing is some medical training. So should I get with Cheif Karalo about setting up a schedule with Dr. zh'Kenarh?"

“And Doctor Hughes. They both are brilliant at different things and I have learned so much from the combined brilliance of them both.” Lottie admitted. She really had learned so much and if this had been any other ship she had thought she might have been inspired to become a nurse practitioner and gone up a level of training.