Critical Threshold: Emergency in Sickbay
Posted on Thu Mar 19th, 2026 @ 2:13pm by Lieutenant Patrick Ryan M.D.
697 words; about a 3 minute read
Mission: Wolf in the Fold: Hide and Seek
Sickbay was already in motion before the transporter cycle completed.
Dr. Patrick Ryan stood at the center of it, sleeves rolled, voice cutting cleanly through the rising tension as two forms materialized onto adjacent biobeds.
“Alright, here we go,” he said, already moving. “I want full trauma protocols on Bed One—Relen. Bed Two is toxicology emergency—Trynn.”
He didn’t wait for acknowledgements. He trusted his team to move.
Ryan reached Relen first, hands immediately working as the biobed began its scans.
“Status?”
“Severe abdominal trauma, internal bleeding, organ involvement likely,” a nurse replied.
“Yeah, I gathered that,” Ryan muttered, already activating a surgical field. “Let’s keep him alive long enough to complain about it.”
He pressed a stabilizer over the wound, then grabbed a dermal regenerator.
“Clamp the bleed… no, not there—there. If you hit that vessel wrong, we’re upgrading this from ‘bad day’ to ‘memorial service.’”
The bleeding slowed under controlled pressure. Ryan’s eyes flicked to the monitors.
“Vitals are weak but holding. Good. He’s stubborn. I like stubborn.”
He stepped back half a pace.
“Prep him for internal repair. I’ll be back.”
Ryan turned sharply and crossed to Trynn.
The tone of the monitors was already wrong.
Too fast. Too unstable.
“What do we have?”
“Unknown toxin, Doctor. Blood chemistry is destabilizing rapidly. Cellular degradation—”
“I can see that,” Ryan cut in, already scanning her himself. His tricorder chirped in rapid, uneven bursts.
“Alright… you picked something impressive,” he murmured under his breath. “Let’s not make that your legacy.”
He grabbed a hypospray, administering a broad-spectrum antitoxin, then another—more targeted.
“No response,” a nurse said quietly.
Ryan’s jaw tightened.
“Of course not. That would be too easy.”
He adjusted the biobed, forcing a deeper analysis.
“Toxin is multi-phase. It’s already integrated at the cellular level… it’s attacking the nervous system and shutting down organ function in parallel.”
He exhaled slowly.
“Alright. We fight smarter.”
“Prepare a neural stabilizer and metabolic inhibitors. If we can slow it, we can buy time.”
The hypos hissed. The monitors flickered.
For a moment—
Stabilization.
Ryan leaned in slightly, watching the numbers.
“Come on… come on…”
Then the readings dropped.
Hard.
“Damn it.”
“Cardiac instability!”
“I see it—boost the field!”
They worked in tight coordination, Ryan directing every move.
“Again—counteragent, higher dose.”
“No effect!”
“Then change the vector—flush the bloodstream, cycle it—”
Her vitals crashed further.
Ryan didn’t hesitate.
“Resuscitation protocol. Now.”
The team moved instantly.
Shock.
No response.
Again.
Ryan pressed his hands to the biobed edge, eyes locked on the failing readings.
“Don’t do this,” he muttered, more to the universe than anyone in the room. “Not today.”
Another shock.
A flicker—
Then nothing.
The steady, unbroken tone filled the air.
Silence followed.
Ryan stood there for a long second, staring at the flatline.
Then, quieter—
“Time of death.”
The room stilled.
He exhaled once, controlled, then straightened.
“Call it.”
A nurse confirmed it softly.
Ryan gave a small nod, then pulled himself back into motion.
“Alright,” he said, voice firm again. “We’re not losing two.”
He turned and moved back to Relen.
“Status.”
“Still critical, but holding.”
“Good. Let’s keep it that way.”
Ryan stepped back into the surgical field, hands steady, focus absolute.
“Internal bleeding is our priority. Seal the damage, stabilize organ function.”
The team worked with him, precise and efficient.
Minutes stretched.
The bleeding slowed.
Vitals steadied.
Then—
A change.
“Doctor—heart rate stabilizing.”
Ryan glanced at the monitor, then allowed the faintest hint of a breath out.
“There we go,” he said quietly. “That’s what I like to see.”
He continued working a moment longer, ensuring the repairs would hold before finally stepping back.
“Relen is stable,” he confirmed. “He’s not out of the woods, but he’s alive.”
Ryan removed his gloves, tossing them aside, then looked briefly across the room toward Trynn’s now-silent biobed.
His expression didn’t linger—but it didn’t ignore it either.
Then he turned back to his team.
“Alright,” he said, voice steady once more. “Let’s make sure he stays that way.”
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