"Hemo-Thorax"
By Draken
Lieutenant (jg) Robert Harrier

The klaxon's were wailing throughout sickbay as the first of the fighter pilots got beamed straight onto their bio-bed. Robert was the first on the scene, a medical tricorder in his hand as he quickly scanned the emergency patient.

'Lacerations to the upper left thigh and damage to the right lung. We have a spontaenous hemo-thorax in operation here!' He turned a looked around as several nurses moved over to his side, carrying a variety of medical equipment.

The pilot tried to reach for Robert, grasping a firm hold of his arm. 'Wh--- What---s the--- dam-- age--- doc?' the pilot gasped, trying to inhale rapidily.

'He's beginning to hyper-ventilate sir,' one of the nurses informed him, looking anxiousily at the pilots face.

'You think I don't see that!' Robert snapped at the nurse. He grabbed a firm hold of the pilots face with both hands, peering straight into his eyes and making sure the pilot could see him. 'You need to calm down. One of your lungs have collapsed, that's all, but this rapid breathing isn't going to help.' He looked up at the nurse that had stated the obvious, 'get me 8mg of Inoctrazin.'

As she nodded and went to get the drug ready in a hypo-spray, the pilot's eyes seemed to open wider as he tried to gasp even more desperately for air. 'm-- my-- l-- l--- lung?'

'You will be alright as long as you slow down your breathing,' Robert turned to look back at the patient. 'It's just one of your lungs. Why do you think God gave you two?' He reached out and took the hypo-spray from the nurse and injected the pilot. 'This should help you out a bit.'

The pilot tried nodding and within seconds, his breathing began to slow down a little as the medicine kicked in. Another two nurses were now on the scene, one with the necessary equipment to deal with his lacerations while the other brought what looked like a large needle with a series of valves on the end. The pilots eyes widen again when he saw the needle.

'24th Century medicine and still the easiest way to solve a collapsed lung is with a needle. Relax, this should not hurt too much.' Robert then turned and began to scan him again with a tricorder until he was satisfied that he had found the right spot. One of the nurses handed him a pen and he marked a quick 'X' upon the pilots cheast as another nurse removed enough of the pilots top to be able to treat the injury.

'Are-- you--' began the pilot, a little startled.

'Yes, I am,' Robert replied, 'now hold still while I get this right a moment. I don't want to puncture something major.' He took the needle and carefully pressed it into the man's cheast, slidding the needle down between two of his ribs. The pilot took one look down at his cheast and then decided better for it and tilted his head back, his eyes closed.

The first nurse had now taken over the tricorder. 'It's through doctor.'

Robert nodded. 'Good, then we can begin to drain some air.' He began to turn one of the halves and there was a slight hissing sound.

'Air?' asked the pilot, still trying not to look at what was happening.

'Yes, air. When your lung collapses, air gets caught between the two lung sacks, preventing one of the lungs from re-inflating again. We need to remove that air in order for your lung to start working properly. How are we doing nurse?'

'Nearly there.'

'See, it ain't that bad is it.'

The pilot just nodded his head as the hiss off air from the valve began to ease and then became silent. Robert looked up at the nurse who just nodded as she kept her eyes on the tricorder. With a smile, Robert pulled the needle back out of the pilot's cheast and ran a dermal regenerator over the surface to heal up the puncture wound.

'How do you feel?' Robert asked the pilot who was finding breathing a little easier now.

'There's a bit of pain in my upper cheast, but it is not so bad now.'

'Your lung will need time to properly return to it's normal shape. We can give you painkillers in the meanwhile to cope with any pain that you may feel.' Robert took the tricorder from the nurse to look at the results himself, 'not bad considering I just removed three-quarters of a litre of air from between your two lung sacks. You will be fine. How's his leg coming along nurse?'

The nurse dealing with his lacerations looked up and gave a quick thumbs up at her progress. 'My leg?' quiered the pilot who had been too engrossed with the pain in cheast so far to have even noticed his leg was injured as well.

Robert did not have time to answer though as two more pilots were beamed onto the adjacent beds. As he turned to tend to these new injuries, he looked up at one of the nurses. 'Where's Doctor Frobisher?'

The nurse just shrugged, 'last I heard she was getting some supplies before the emergency cropt up.'

'Damn,' Roberts cursed, 'looks like I am in charge for the time being. You and you, see to that pilot there. You, with me on this one.' As he dived straight back into his work, he realised that he was glad for his years of Field Medicine training.