Saving Captain Thorrin Part II
Posted on Wed Sep 30th, 2026 @ 1:57pm by Captain Thorrin & Lieutenant Addison Talbert & Staff Warrant Officer Coen Hughes
Edited on on Wed Sep 30th, 2026 @ 1:58pm
2,076 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
In The Nick Of Time
Location: Sick Bay - Deck 4 - USS Herodotus
Timeline: MD006 1215 hrs
"Scissors," Coen called out, and one of the nurses aid quickly handed Coen the cutting instrument and Coen began to attack the Captain's uniform, starting at the neckline near where he had just felt for the Captain pulse. As Coen began to cut and peel away at the Captain's uniform the dark lines became more defined, webbing out in all directions from a spot on his torso near his rib case.
"Doctor, have you seen anything like this?" Coen asked as he peeled away Thorrin's uniform revealing the pulsing lesion along the Captain's left side.
She was in shock for a moment, Addison just staring at what she saw. then shook her head.
"I've not seen anything like this before but we do need to get that dealt with"
She looked at the overlay. "Computer, magnify the area near the aortic arch, on the upper left thorax"
Addison noticing the pulsing rhythm as Thorrin's heart was beating. At first glance she thought that the pulse of the lesion wa matching the rhythm of the heart then, an almost imperceptible difference, she barely caught.
Goosebumps rose on her skin, giving a slight shiver, the damned thing was trying to over ride Thorrin's natural beat, his harmonics.
Addison didn't waste anymore time. she swiftly moved, nanites was the answer to taking care of this. A hypospray was filled, being careful and yet precise, in her measurement and programming of them
It wouldn't do for her to introduce the nanites directly where the lesion was, instead Addison chose to put the hypospray in the side of his neck just above his shoulder.
The nanites were delivered with the hiss of the hypospray. having been programmed to specifically target the lesion, contain it and repair the damage it had caused.
Now to monitor the work of the nanites in order to save Thorrin.
Addison's eyes went to the monitor, enhancing the magnification to watch the nanites as they went into the bloodstream.
As she watched, she noticed the continuation of the webbing spreading. Her lips went into a grim line. She decided that this was turning into a divide-and-conquer scenario.
She had the main lesion to worry about as well as this unnatural invader. The initial target was the lesion upon the upper left thorax, near the aortic arch.
Though the advancing of the vascular webbing worried her.
She sent in a command for a group of nanites to move towards the front of the webbing and form a perimeter to block its advance. Meanwhile, her eyes darted back to the main lesion, where the nanites began their work.
Addison's fingers deftly put in other instructions for the nanites. She watched as they carefully isolated the main lesion, the miniature surgical tools separating the lesion from the aortic wall while preserving the vascular integrity of the vessel.
Her eyes went back to the monitor indicating Thorrin's blood pressure and cerebral perfusion, the flow of blood supplying his brain.
She didn't realize she was holding her breath as Addison watched the slow uptick of Thorrin's pressure. In her mind, she pictured each small incision that the nanites performed, working to remove the lesion and repair the damage it had caused, the thing that was trying to take Thorrin away from his ship, from his crew.
Another glance towards the screen monitoring the cerebral perfusion; it had dropped lower, then it began to climb. She took in a breath, willing it to rise, and little by little it did. Her muscles were tensed as she metaphorically, mentally felt like she was pushing the readings upward.
She checked the cortical electrical activity, then looked towards Thorrin, watching for his pupils to respond and his eyes to track her movement.
"Thorrin, look at me." Addison hoped that there would be a response.
She went even further, reaching out and taking his hand. "And I want you to squeeze my hand."
"Thorrin look at me..." The voice came from somewhere very far away. Somewhere, but Thorrin did not know where. A voice that he recognized and didn't at the same time. “And I want you to squeeze my hand.” There was that voice again but where and who was it. Everything seemed upside down. The man who was always in control, who had mastered time itself seemed to be at a loss.
For several seconds, there was no response. Then Thorrin's eyelids moved. A sliver of light appeared. Thorrin's eyes opened. He stared upward, unfocused. The ceiling. Bright lights with a flashing red one. A face he recognized and did not recognize at the same time. His breathing remained slow and measured. His eyes shifted toward the woman present. “Can you squeeze my hand?” Addison asked again.
A pause. Then, very deliberately, Thorrin's fingers closed around hers. Addison smiled. “Good. Very good.”
Thorrin continued to stare at her. His voice, when it finally emerged, was barely more than a whisper. “How...?” Addison leaned closer. “How are you?” Thorrin swallowed. “No.” She hesitated. “No?”
His eyes sharpened, the fog beginning to recede. “How,” he repeated, “is the ship? The crew?” Addison exchanged a glance with Coen. Thorrin noticed. Of course he noticed. Even barely conscious, his expression changed almost imperceptibly. “You're not telling me something.”
“Captain, you've only just regained consciousness—” Addison began. “What is the ship's status?” The room went silent. Thorrin's grip tightened around the doctor's hand. Not violently. Just enough to make his meaning unmistakable. “Please,” he whispered. For the first time, the composure cracked. There was a person behind the polished New Orleans veneer. “Tell me.”
Coen looked at Addison tentatively, waiting for direction from the doctor.
Locking her steady blue gaze with Thorrin's intense ebony gaze, her hand not letting go of his, Addison quietly replied.
"The ship is still together."
She felt the ship shudder beneath her feet, the lights flickering once again. To Addison, this indicated that the Herodotus was still in battle. She had to trust that those on the bridge were doing their damndest to keep the ship together.
Keep it together while she had been facing her own battle—their battle, she corrected in her mind—as she and Coen had been working to save Thorrin.
"Well then Doctor, it seems that I am needed elsewhere." Thorrin winced noticeably as he sat up and turned his feet toward the floor. He may have been in pain and near death, but he was determined to be on the bridge of his ship during a battle.
At his movement, Addison had released Thorrin's hand, taking a moment to observe him. Then she shook her head.
It wasn't lost on her that he winced in pain, even as the monitors gave out a protest. She looked there, then back to Thorrin.
"No, Captain, you are needed to be here. At this moment, you are not fit to take the command chair; you need to heal."
A steely glint of determination appeared as she said these next words.
"I can't, in good conscience, allow you to go back on that bridge. Sorry, Captain, I outrank you in this matter. You will not be permitted to resume your command until you are deemed healthy enough."
Thorrin stopped. For a moment, he simply regarded Addison, his expression one of genuine, almost academic interest. Then he glanced at the door and realized that the doctor had regulations on her side. “An order,” he repeated softly. “How fascinating. And here I was under the impression we were having a conversation.”
“You've barely recovered. Your vitals are still unstable, and I'm not authorizing your return to duty.” Addison replied steely eyed. She was determined to stand her ground on this.
“Then perhaps you might authorize my return to conscious thought, Doctor. I have a rather pressing matter to attend to, and I assure you, it has demonstrated a remarkable unwillingness to resolve itself in my absence.” Thorrin replied with his feet still off the bed and dangling above the floor.
“I'm not debating this with you.” Talbert replied PADD in hand as she began to make the notation in Thorrin's record.
“No, I gathered that. You appear to have arrived at your conclusion some time ago and have since mistaken repetition for persuasion.” Thorrin deadpanned. It seemed that the standoff had just begun. Both on the Bridge and in Sick Bay.
The doctor folded her arms. “I outrank you in this matter. You are hereby relieved of command under Starfleet General Orders."
Thorrin's eyebrows rose. “Do you indeed? Well, congratulations. I trust the ceremony was suitably moving.” The quip had some venom in it. The venom that came when one was not used to not winning an arguement.
“Captain.” Addison deadpanned.
“Doctor.” Thorrin replied.
Neither moved or budged, both in opinion and physical stature. Then Thorrin sighed, a sound of such profound disappointment that it might have been mistaken for a eulogy. “Very well. Let us dispense with the theatrics. You believe that allowing me to return to work would endanger my recovery. I believe that leaving my colleagues, my crew without my assistance may endanger considerably more than my recovery. We are both, I imagine, acting from a sense of professional responsibility.” He gestured toward the doors. “The difference is that your solution requires me to remain here, whereas mine requires me to leave. I wonder whether there might be a compromise that would spare us both the indignity of discovering which of us is more stubborn.”
“Bed rest. That's the compromise.” Addison replied. She knew it was not much of a compromise, but it had the luxury of keeping him in Sick Bay.
Thorrin stared at her. “Good heavens. You negotiate like a Ferengi merchant with a particularly poor grasp of diplomacy.” His smile returned, small and entirely without warmth. “You know, Doctor, I have encountered Klingons with a greater appreciation for nuance.”
“If you do not lay back down, I will have security here to force you down.” Addison tossed the PADD down on the treatment cart. The frustration built up within her.
That earned her a long silence. At last, Thorrin laid back down on his bed. “No need. I am perfectly capable of getting comfortable under my own power. I should hate to deprive security of a genuine emergency, the ship being fired upon or anything of the sort.” As if on cue the ship rocked with another volley of weapons fire from the enemy, an enemy that Thorrin did not know.
“However, I would like a terminal. Readouts from the Bridge, and for all the mercy get me a report from the Bridge.” Thorrin spoke with the tone that said this was both a question and an order.
“You're supposed to be resting.” Addison replied as she crossed her arms.
“My dear Doctor, I assure you that contemplating the ceiling is not among my more productive pastimes.” Thorrin deadpanned again. He was definitely not the type that could sit still at all.
She hesitated.
“Come now. You have established your authority, defended your domain, and prevented a convalescent officer from wandering about the ship. A triumph by any reasonable measure. Surely you can afford me a terminal without jeopardizing the integrity of your magnificent victory?” Thorrin replied as the corners of his mouth curled slightly upward in the faintest of smiles.
The doctor pinched the bridge of her nose. “Fine. A terminal. But if your vitals worsen, I shut it off.”
Thorrin inclined his head with solemn gratitude. “Doctor, your compassion is exceeded only by your capacity for ruthless compromise.” He settled onto the biobed. “And for what it is worth,” he added, activating the terminal, “I shall endeavor to recover as quickly as possible. If only to spare us both the prospect of another such negotiation.”
A Joint Post By
Captain Thorrin
Commanding Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
Lieutenant Addison Talbert
Chief Medical Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
Staff Warrant Officer Coen Hughes
Nurse
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
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