"Spinal Complications: LtCmdr Sorvak"
Posted on 25 Mar 2026 @ 11:12pm by Lieutenant Commander Riah Amberlyn XMD
1,151 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Arawyn’s Itchy Trigger Finger
Location: Sickbay - USS Arawyn
// Sickbay :: Arawyn //
The young Science crewman, PO Rosenthal, arrived to find the Sickbay a hive of what appeared at first to be random frenetic activity. Nurses helping people sitting on chairs and even on the floor in the lobby. She ran up to one woman in scrubs. “Is the transporter working?” she asked breathlessly.
“Yes,” replied the woman without looking up from her scanner, which was trained on another woman crewman with a clearly dislocated shoulder.
“Our Science Chief Officer was crushed under some equipment in whatever happened. We found a lot of injuries and lastly a spinal severance. Can we beam him here?” asked Rosenthal.
This got the nurse’s attention. “Around the corner there, look for a woman in a red lab coat. She’s triage back there. Ask her.”
“Thank you,” Rosenthal replied, already headed for the door from the lobby into the back of Sickbay. The woman in red was easy to spot, and she ran up to her, grasping her by the shoulder. “I need help. We have a spinal cord injury in Science. We can’t move him. Can you beam him here?”
The red lab coat looked at her, ready to dismiss her. “Science?” she said instead. “How do you know it’s a spinal injury?”
“The scanner indicated a severed cord at the midback. He’s unconscious. Other injuries too, but we can’t move him,” Rosenthal insisted.
“Ok, I know that. The transporter should be able to lock onto his comm badge, even if the badge is not working for comms.” She was basically thinking aloud. “Do you know his name?”
“LtCmdr Sorvak.”
“Ok. I’ll handle it immediately. Thank you.” Taking off the red jacket, she walked over to another nurse. “Sarah. Triage. I’ve got a severed spine to transport from Science. Cmdr Sorvak.”
Sarah took the lab coat and slipped into it without question, and the former triage nurse dashed to the transport receiving area.
Rosenthal stood numbly in place, uncertain if she was expected to wait, or take a message back to Science or something else. An orderly bumped her shoulder.
“Excuse me, are you lost?” he asked.
“No, no, I was just leaving, I think.”
“Well, if you’re not injured that would be best,” he replied kindly, in spite of the pressure and hectic energy.
PO Rosenthal exited the way she had come and stood outside in the lobby to wait.
Eventually, the second woman in the red lab coat came looking for her. “Tell Science we are preparing a surgical table and will beam him here shortly. Hurry!”
// Surgical Suite :: Arawyn Sickbay //
Cmdr Sorvak arrived on the raised transport pad in the sickbay surgical suite in the same prone position in which he had been found. Multiple staff descended upon him, taking vital signs and skeletal scans.
Life saving equipment brought oxygen to his bloodstream and a heart stimulant supported cardiac function. Internal injuries were identified and immediate action was taken to bring those issues under control before it was ever suggested that he be moved.
Abdominal bleeding was sourced and stopped, and liver damage addressed. A collapsed lung required draining, repair and reinflation, along with the offending broken ribs that had pierced it. A fractured sternum was identified and stabilized. And a subdural hematoma was also discovered and treated.
Riah Amberlyn stood back and let her efficient staff prepare the patient. They were professional and with the help of a medical tricorder TR-600, knew how to move the patient into position on the table, using the surgical support frame, which would ensure absolute spinal immobilization.
Sorvak had been stripped down and all of him except the length of his spine was draped. The surgical support frame also provided a continual sterilization process.
A potent cocktail of Tricordrazine, Inaprovaline, and a universal coagulant to stop internal hemorrhaging around the spinal column had been administered by hypospray, along with Anesthizine in an IV apparatus, which was being monitored by the anesthesia specialist.
A neural regulator stabilized his autonomic nervous system and brain activity to guard against further neurological collapse.
Genetronic replicator process would replace the damaged spinal cord with a new, DNA matched cord as the old cord was surgically removed. Once Riah was certain of an identical genetic code match, she proceeded with the surgery.
With the help of a micro robot, she used a sonic separator to open the incision at a cellular level and began the careful removal of the damaged sections of the original spinal cord and broken vertebrae debris. With calm precision , she positioned the replicated cord within the vertebral canal. The neural stimulator bridged the gap between the new cord, the existing brainstem and peripheral nerves, allowing for electrical continuity.
“Doctor, I’m getting synaptic ghosting in the genetronic replicator,” said the surgical attendant, just as a short choppy alarm began to sound. “The monitor shows a phase variance, and we are getting steadily closer to rejection.”
Riah didn’t say anything but grabbed a hypospray and injected a precision dose of cordrazine-lectrazine mix as a stimulant to prime the nerve endings, making them more receptive to the grafting. “Recalibrate the neural stimulator matching his delta-wave frequency.”
“Got it Doctor.” Moments passed. “Ghosting stabilizing. Back in the green zone,” announced the attendant.
Riah returned to the task at hand.
Two hours passed before she applied the osteo-regenerator to the surrounding vertebrae in the severed location, as well as three other locations along the spine that were fractured, without cord involvement.
“How are those genetronic readings?” asked Riah.
“The cord has locked,” replied the attendant.
“Good. Neural stimulation ratio?”
“That’s still in the yellow, Dr A.”
“Synaptic discontinuity.” Riah named the issue. They were not getting the full neurological connection at the C-1 junction. The signals were leaving the motor cortex of the brain but dissipating before they reached the new graft. “Damn. Try neural stimulation again. It’s gotta match the harmonic resonance to bridge that gap.”
Pause.
“The neuro-genetic frequency is drifting faster than our processors can track it,” complained the attendant.
“Discontinue that,” Riah ordered. “We risk a feedback loop that will cause neural degradation or an uncontrolled bleed in here. Ok. He needs a multi-dimensional neural mapping array. We don’t have that. But! That’s available at Starbase 369.” She paused, pondering, before shaking her head in the negative. “We put him in a level-5 stasis field and get him back to 369.”
A dermal regenerator sealed the incision.
“Ok. What’s the status of the osteo-regenerator?” asked the Doctor.
“All green. Structural integrity of the new tissue and bone is well within the safety range.”
“He’s stable,” said Riah, masking her dissatisfaction that it was not a better immediate prognosis. “Level-5 stasis. We have other patients that need us right now.”
~~~
LtCmdr Riah Amberlyn, XMD
Chief Medical Officer
USS Arawyn
&
Various NPC’s apb Kate
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