Jus’ Doin’ My Duty

Posted on Mon May 26th, 2025 @ 7:27pm by Master Warrant Officer Yerin Di'Ara & Staff Sergeant Lacey Burkett
Edited on on Mon May 26th, 2025 @ 7:33pm

3,017 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Mission 9: When the Stars Went Silent
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Two Days After the Battle of Vulcan

Lacey’s hand was getting a tad sweaty under the warm grip of the Lieutenant.

“No, you did the right thing, Sergeant,” the woman said, her back propped up on the bio bed so she could sit after a fashion, or at least lie up. She looked pale, but stable. Her eyes were a little gaunt but the doctor had told her she’d be alright in a while. Lacey was glad of that. “If you’d waited any longer to launch the pod I don’t think any of us would have lived. I owe you my life… thank you.” All of this was a bit much for the girl from the Ozarks. She deflected.

“Jus’ doin’ my duty, ma’am. Shame I couldn’a’ got some more. Guess that would’a’ been too risky huh?”

“Yes, Sergeant,” Lieutenant Ashley confirmed. “I think so. I know we all want to help everyone but sometimes you just have to take the win you have rather than risk everything. You saved me, and Lorek and there were others in that pod too. It’s not everyone but it’s enough.”

“I guess,” Lacey reluctantly agreed. “I couldn’t see nobody else, an’ with that fire…”

Lieutenant Ashley nodded and patted her on the hand.

“You did well, Sergeant. You did the right thing.”

A surge of guilt bubbled up in the Marine’s chest.

“Ah hell, I shouldn’t be troublin’ you wi’ this ma’am I’m sorry.” The lieutenant shook her head.

“No, no. It’s good to talk to you Lacey, and I brought it up, not you, if you remember.”

Lacey smiled.

“I guess you did ma’am,” she replied. “Well your lady doctor here’s lookin’ at me like I’m a varmint, guess I better get so as you can heal some.”

“Alright,” the Lieutenant smiled.

“See ya later, ma’am. You take care now.” Lacey watched Lieutenant Ashley gratefully rest her head back and close her eyes before she turned to make her way. She was jonesing for some chow, but had elected to visit Sickbay first. There had been injured in her escape pod and she’d wanted to see how they were.

Yerin had just come back from Gabrielle’s office, and the first thing she did was to head straight to sickbay and the ICU to check in on all the patients there. The amount of energy she had in her was a lot which could easily treat several dozen people at once.

Or bring back a dozen people from the brink of death.

A lot of their critical patients were those who required a higher level of healthcare; specialized surgery, exotic medication, and esoteric therapy to name a few. The sickbay in a Nebula class was no joke, and had the best level of care available outside of starbases and on planetary installations. However there were just too many people who needed more than what they could offer.

And many of them knew that even as they limped back to a safe haven as fast as they could, many of them would not make it. But Yerin wasn’t going to give up without a fight. Before when she was running on fumes, all she could do was rely on her training and do her best while being helpless. Now? At least she could save those who were suffering the worst.

She had to be careful. What she was doing was definitely a violation of medical procedures. At the very least she could earn the ire of the Chief Medical Officer if she was ever found out. But right now, she didn’t have time to explain herself, nor did her patients. In situations like this, it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

She couldn’t go too far either. If she infused too much energy into each patient she might not have enough for the rest and then the doctors would definitely become suspicious of the insanely drastic recovery. It was enough to heal them to the point where they were out of danger. Later, if she had the chance, she could give them more treatment.

That done, she briefly helped out a doctor and a couple of junior nurses for some technical procedures then quietly headed to the recovery wing to check in on her patients from the Bellerophon.

Only to run into a familiar face, literally.

She was too much in a hurry and trying to be subtle as to not be noticed being suspicious, only to literally run into someone from around the corner. Fortunately neither of them were moving quickly and they seemed to have excellent reflexes to avoid the worst, but when Yerin looked up, she was surprised to find a fellow shipmate from the Bellerophon she didn’t expect to see.

“Oh my God, Lacey? Is that you?”

“Oh… sorry…” With Yerin’s exclamation Lacey looked up from the tap dance she was doing trying to avoid the collision.

“Warrant Officer Di’Ara? You’re alive!” A huge smile blossomed on the Sergeant’s face. “Permission to hug freely, ma’am!”

“Oh, come here!” She didn’t give her a chance to reply as she pulled the redhead into her arms and gave her a tight squeeze.

The staff on the Denver were nice enough to her, especially Rhaani who was just a sweetheart when she was still new to helping them out. And while her patients were her crew mates, she wasn’t really close to them either, even Ensign Mayer. For the past couple of days she felt alone, and it wasn’t until she met Gabrielle earlier did that change.

But Lacey was someone she knew well, a Marine from the Bellerophon, they’d worked together and even fought on the same actions as her unit’s combat medic. Heck, if she wasn’t in sickbay, she spent more time mingling with the marines and security people than anywhere else.

“Of course I’m alive,” Yerin grinned as she eased her arms from their tight hold around her, only to lightly boop her on the nose with a finger. “And I thought I told you to stop calling me ma’am. I still have stripes with my black pip, not a fancy gold one.”

“I thought I was the only one who made it along with twelve patients I brought over before… well, you know. I figured there might have been others who got picked up elsewhere but I never thought I’d run into you here.” She relaxed and stepped back a little to look her over. “How are you? Are you okay? How did you get here?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Lacey said reassuringly. “Not a scratch on me. My uni got it though, plasma fire. But these fancy high tech materials did their job. My escape pod got picked up a while back, I was with Lieutenant Ashley in some makeshift triage center they had goin’ on, then I got ordered into service by some scary security lady with a cybernetic arm to guardin’ some stuff, now I’m a Yeoman for the Marine ell-tee they got here who’s more ginger than I am, except he’s a Vulcan. At least, I think he is…”

Lacey took a deep breath, the enormity of all that had happened being thrown into sharp relief by the telling of it.

“Sure is good to see you ma’am,” Lacey said, looking a little like a lost lamb.

Yerin sighed in mock exasperation and gave her a funny look but decided to let it go. Some people just prefer to stick to protocol no matter what and she respected that. Still she had to give her a bit of a hard time just for that. “Really? We’ve seen each other naked and I’ve saved your butt at least once and you still can’t call me by my name when not on duty eh?”

The name she mentioned was familiar to her, though she didn’t know her personally. She vaguely remembered her being one of the eggheads in the science department but that was the extent of it. Even if they’d been serving together for years on the same ship, it wasn’t like she knew everyone to the same degree as she did Lacey.

But hearing about another survivor from the Bellerophon made her happy.

“Wow, I didn’t know you’ve been around all this time. But then again I’ve been stuck here in the critical care unit pretty much the whole time. There’s just too many patients and not enough staff.”

“I’m very glad you and Lieutenant Ashley made it though,” Yerin said with a smile. “Is she being made to work for their keep like the scary security lady made you?”

Lacey shook her head, looking concerned.

“Nah, they got her laid up round there now,” she explained, pointing somewhere behind her. “Says she’s doin’ alright but I don’t know, she seems pretty bad to me. Now I ain’t no doctor or nothin’ but… she got burned real bad. I.. I had to carry her to the escape pod.”

Hearing that, Yerin’s smile collapsed and she grew worried. She’d been in the critical care unit for two days now. Granted it wasn’t possible for her to care for all the casualties under treatment as there were just so many rescued survivors from other ships that the other staff were working in makeshift treatment centers in other parts of the ship.

But to think that she missed someone who was from her ship? She didn’t like the thought of that.

“I didn’t know,” she murmured. “Has she been treated by the burn unit?”

“Yup,” Lacey nodded. “Is it bad that they brought her here, or good?”

“I can’t really say for sure unless I see her file,” said Yerin. “She might be in such a state that she needs to be closely monitored by specialists. But on the other hand, she could be out of danger and they’re just being thorough considering her injuries.”

Tempting as it was for her to head over there right away and blast her with some refined life force, it wasn’t something she could just do recklessly, especially when she was doing her treatment behind other people’s backs. Right now she could only hope she was okay. She would have to look at her later when there weren’t too many eyes around.

“Don’t worry,” she said to her with a reassuring smile. “I’ll pay her a visit later and see how she’s doing.”

“Thank you ma’am, ‘pperciate it.” Lacey looked troubled by talk of Lieutenant Ashley, she stared at the wall next to Yerin for a moment.

“You uh…” the Marine slowly came back to reality and looked at Yerin again. “How’d you get here? Like, I’m glad you did o’ course. What I mean is… what happened? I wasn’t privy to info ‘bout what was goin’ on outside, jus’ like, one minute we was fine, next minute, we wasn’t…”

“Why don’t I take you somewhere where we can talk more comfortably,” Yerin offered softly as she led the way to the staff break room just down the hall. Technically it was only supposed to be staff only but considering the circumstances, no one was really enforcing that right now, not when people who weren’t even from the Denver like her were pitching in to help.

The room was quiet, much like it had been earlier when she met Gabrielle for the first time. There was the occasional nurse or orderly who came in to grab something to drink before heading out again. “Make yourself comfortable. You want coffee or water?”

“Coffee…” Lacey said automatically, looking at the Orlanian with kind appreciation. “No! Wait. Best make that water please ma’am. I’m so used to wantin’ coffee I didn’ stop to think ‘bout it. I got me some time off now, ell-tee gave it me. First in days. Gonna get me some chow after, then some rack time, if I can find a spare rack that is.”

Yerin chuckled at hearing about how she was already falling into routine with her temporary CO. She came back with two glasses of water and sat down as she handed her one. “A ship this big would have closets bigger than my quarters back on the Bell”, she said with clear amusement. “I’m sure they’ll find you somewhere to rest your head. And if they don’t, come find me later. I’ll see if I can get you a place to get some shuteye.”

She took a sip of water before she answered her earlier question. “As for me, I was busy evacuating patients along with two other nurses and Doctor Terell. When we got the order to abandon ship, the doc had me take care of the critical patients first and transport them all to the nearest one which was the Denver. I went with the first batch so I can coordinate with the sickbay here and receive the others but… well, it just ended up being me and twelve others.”

She looked up and smiled at the younger woman .”I thought that was the case for the past two days until I ran into you. I’m glad you’re okay, Lacey.”

Lacey nodded, still looking troubled.

“Well me too, like, ‘m glad you’re here and you’re alright. It’s a big lift for me, y’know? Who else made it with ya?”

“Ensign Mayer from Flight Ops, Senior Chief L’Pell, Chief Juma, and six others from the Damage Control teams, two from Operations, and an astrometrician from Science,” Yerin enumerated. “They were in really rough shape before so Doc Terell wanted them off first.”

She wasn’t ignorant of the fact that her current survival right now was by a mere stroke of luck. Had she not listened to the ACMO to take the patients across first and stuck behind the help evacuate the remaining casualties, which was her forte since she was the critical care nurse on duty and a combat medic, she would not be alive right now.

Wanting to forget about anything morose for the time being, the playful brunette grinned teasingly at her comrade. “So, yeoman huh? Does that mean you get to fetch officers coffee and give them massages when they feel tired now?”

“Well gee I sure hope not,” Lacey replied earnestly. “Ell-tee said he needed help with all the reports an’ requests comin’ in for Marines, guess there’s a lot o’ requests for Marines to help out wi’ guardin’ an’ securin’ an’ patrollin’ and trainin’ an’ whatever. “No needs for a Staff Sergeant for fetchin’ coffee, could get a scrub to do that. An’ I follows orders like a good Marine? But I ain’t given’ out no massages. I ain’t that kinda girl.”

Lacey looked at Yerin, seeing the jocularity in her expression.

“Ah hell, I’m sorry, I know you’re just joshin’. I’m in problem-solvin’ mode. Guess I’m too tired to give it back.”

Yerin nodded in understanding. “Yeah I know how you feel,” she said with a sigh. “Until earlier when I had a real break, I felt like I was dead on my feet. Hadn’t had any sleep since the battle and the only time I actually stepped out of sickbay was to eat, shower, and change clothes. I’m feeling a lot better now, and I feel like I could stay up for a couple of days straight but I know my body won’t like that. Proper rest is important.”

As she said that, she came to a realization. “Wow, I just realized I don’t have quarters yet either. Guess I’ll end up in the on-call room with the other snoring zombies till I get my own hole in the wall.”

“Y’all get quarters?” Lacey asked, looking somewhat miffed. “I guess it’s good to be the Queen Bee huh?” She grinned. “Us lowlifes we get a bunk etched outa some wall, lucky if the view is more than your mate’s be-hind other side of the corridor. It’s fine though I mean, we don’t do any real work…”

Lacey elbowed Yerin gently.

The comely brunette snorted at the surprise moniker. “Queen Bee? Me? You must have me confused with someone else. I am nowhere near influential enough to have my own entourage.”

Lacey didn’t reply but just smiled. It was the first time she had in days.

“I’m sure glad to see you,” she said after a beat, “It’s like all that… stuff… didn’t happen… just for a moment like.”

Yerin’s expression softened from playful as she reached over and gently squeezed Lacey’s forearm. “I don’t know where the others are out there, for all we know there’s someone else who made it aboard and we just never knew, but no matter what, I have your back and I’m here for you. At least we both know we’re not alone anymore, right?”

Lacey nodded and reached over with her left to place her hand on Yerin’s in a warm and friendly gesture.

“I am too, if you need me I’m about, ya hear?” She said. “I do gotta run though now. I gotta get me some chow and some sleep while I got the opportunity. Y’all don’t mind, do ya?”

“Of course! I’ll be sure to find you for even the most mundane reasons,” she said teasingly. “And no, I don’t mind at all! Go get your belly filled, and get some shuteye. You deserve it. See you later!”

 

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