Nolan was already there, as well as the patient. He’d induced a coma and put on gloves and a face mask.
“Ready when you are, Doctor,” he said to Odessa. They barely knew each other, but Nolan was used to working with people at first sight.
“We’re working with makeshift emergency power, here, so let’s make it quick. We need to drain that fluid and relax the heart muscle, but we can’t risk a full cardiac arrest!”
Nolan hoped that Ensign had a real damn good reason to interrupt that surgery. He took out a scalpel and looked at the ultrasonic scan to decide where to cut.
“Doctor, we’re running out of time,” he pressed.
“I was unaware of her presence Ensign, I’m currently in operation.” She worked while she spoke, she pointed to a spot to the right of the left pectoral muscle for the ensign to cut. She grabbed a suction machine that would remove fluid and excess blood from the bloodstream.
Nolan made the cut, very precisely. When he was off-duty, he was so clumsy, but he left that person behind himself as soon as he set foot into sickbay. His hand was steady and he worked together with the doctor to hopefully remove the fluid and release some of the pressure on the officer’s cardiac muscle.
She applied the Dialysis machine, one of the few machines of the 21st century still useful to them. She monitored the full body scan as the machine ran. “Ensign, monitor their vitals, administer that hypo if it drops below normal levels.*
The power took effect immediately with the sterile field being visibly strengthened, and so did power to everything else, including the lighting. The heart was drained successfully after a moment and the muscle relaxed. Heart rate and other vitals were beginning to steady out.
“I must say Ensign, I’m surprised you aren’t here in my position.” She smiled as she took an autosuture to seal the opening. She attached a cardio monitor to his chest so that they could monitor him later. She had to med techs transfer him and his monitor to a recovery bed. “Computer, when we exit begin a self sterilization.”
