[Galaxy] War Stories: Hospital Ship

[Robert]

== EHS Vigilance ==

Master Courtney Collins had been raised on cargo ships, her family had 
run a Class J all through her childhood and then a Class Y during her 
teen years. She hadn’t even seen Earth until age ten.

As an only child she was primed to take over the family supply as soon 
as she was big enough to hold a manifest. When her parents retired three 
years ago she’d traded in the ECS Camden Lock for the SS Cardiff.

Trading crates and cargo for tourists and baggage, sometimes she wished 
she’d stayed with cargo, it was usually quieter.

After the declaration of war by the Romulans, the Cardiff had been 
drafted into the auxiliary service. Three months of heavy rebuilding had 
gutted the inside of the Sarajevo Class Transport and fitted her as 220 
meter long Space Hospital.

The few weapons the Cardiff had carried were yanked out and cargo 
loaders replaced with modified people movers.

The normal transport crew had been reassigned to other ships, leaving 
just Courtney, her engineers and few pilots to run the ship, while fifty 
doctors, nurses and corpsmen ran the medical treatment facility.

Courtney rounded the edge of the Main Ward at a full jog weaving through 
nurses, medical equipment and bio-beds. Two weeks at warp 3.8 had given 
the medical staff plenty of time to set everything in place and run 
drills for the battle to come.

~Mis en place~ Courtney smiled as she remembered what Dr. Hunter had 
called it when they first departed from Jupiter Station.

“Morning Nancy,” Courtney called out as she past the Nurses Station.

“Good morning Courtney,” head nurse Nancy Spears replied, “Bruce is 
looking for you again…”

“Thanks, I’ll catch ‘im ‘round the bend,” Courtney replied stepping up 
her pace.

“He’s at pod eight,” Nancy called after.

Thanks again,” Courtney yelled back, turning to nearby stairs to the 
next deck.

---

Bruce Hunter knelt in the open hatch of Ambulance Pod Eight with a half 
dozen Engineers and EMTs huddled around, “…and this is the widest we can 
make this hatch?”

“Yes doctor,” an engineer replied after tapping on his pad, “any more 
and we’ll hit the doors on the next pod.”

Bruce rubbed his forehead, “We’ll need all the pods we can get, George 
can your people get the stretcher through this?”

“It’ll be tight,” George said shaking his head, “the knuckle bangers are 
gonna be a problem at the beginning, but I think we’ll learn to keep our 
hand inside the ride real quick.”

“Dr. Hunter,” Courtney spoke up from the back of the crowd, slowly 
winding down from her morning run, “You wanted to talk?”

Collins and Hunter had eased into a simple working relationship is the 
last couple weeks of avoidance and silence.

“Ah Master Collins, yes I did,” Bruce stood up, “what’s our ETA with the 
Fleet?”

“One day less than yesterday, Doc,” Courtney rolled her eyes, “we’re 
holding steady, should arrive in fourteen hours. Early tomorrow morning.”

“Does it always take this long to get between planets?” Bruce continued.

“Usually we travel at a slower rate,” Courtney replied, “but your 
Starfleet Command gave us a limited amount of time to retrofit my ship 
and get your staff to the battle. Warp 3.8 seems to be working out for 
that.”

“And we can’t go any faster?” Bruce asked as the pair moved away from 
the other group.

“Not really,” Courtney continued, “we’re sorta at the edge of our safe 
speed right now.”

Bruce shuddered.

“Doc, if you don’t like space travel why did you join Starfleet?”

“They didn’t say anything about space travel,” Bruce replied, “I’ve 
spent my career on Earth, in hospitals…”

“Well this looks just like a hospital now,” Courtney smirked, “try to 
ignore the warp travel and vacuum of space just on the other side of 
that bulkhead.”

“Thanks, that makes me feel better,” Bruce said.

“Really?”

“No, not at all… in fact now I’m worried about the hull breaching…”

“Doc it’s not like we’re actually going to be fighting,” she said trying 
to reassure the doctor, “we’re going to stay just out of range of their 
weapons and let the ambulances carry the wounded back and forth.”

“And when are we going to test the ambulances?”

“As soon as we drop out of warp,” Courtney said tapping a lift control.

“And if they don’t work?” Bruce asked as the lift opened.

“Then we just wasted three months,” Courtney smiled as she tapped the 
button for crew quarters, “Relax Doc, the universe tends to work itself 
out as it should…”

“That’s comforting…” Bruce said as the lift shut in his face.


-----
Courtney Collins
Earth Cargo Authority
Master of the EHS Vigilance

Com. Bruce Hunter, MD
Starfleet Medical

(abp TC)