After Action Briefing

Posted on Sat Aug 30th, 2025 @ 6:33am by Ensign Josiah Lambert & Lieutenant JG Christian Rogers

2,227 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: What was Lost is Found
Location: Medical
Timeline: after quarantine is lifted

OOC: I'll look to set up the timeline stuff as we go along. I'm exasperated trying to get a playlist on my phone. It used to be so much easier before all this "stream everything" stuff!

Rogers glared at the door. Then at his chrono. Then at the door again. He disliked waiting. Disliked it very much. A person would think that someone who started his career as an enlisted Marine would be used to the idea of "hurry up and wait" but...no.

He glared at his chrono again. Glared hard. As if glaring at the device would convey to the universe that it needed to bend to his will.

He glared at the door. Glared hard. As if it needed to break its quarantine seal and open. He glared. It remained closed. Rogers sighed and shifted his stance against the bulkhead where he stood opposite the wall.

He took the PaDD out of his thigh pocket. He would have glared at it but the characteristic 'whoosh' of the doors opening brought his focus back to the doors leading into Medical. The corpsman who had been tasked, or punished, with the job of keeping him updated rolled his eyes then finally just stepped aside and indicated Rogers could enter.

"Thank you," the security officer said as he walked by and entered a world that wasn't one of his favorite places. If he could, he'd do this elsewhere. The gym. A training room. The security offices. Even on a holodeck playing a non-baseball or combat training program. But Medical...?

He found where Lambert was situated and walked over to him. He didn't know much about this officer. He saw him a few times about the ship but he wasn't one of the officers assigned to work with his team and that had been Rogers's focus. Until now.

"Lambert," he said, "how are you doing?"

The man still in the hospital bed, not shivering, in fact he was looking a bit angry. "Sir, can I get out of here?" looking about for one of the medical staff. "They're saying they want to keep me under observation."

Lambert ran his hand in frustration against his short cropped brown hair.

Rogers took a moment to look at the man. Granted, he didn't know the particulars about psychology and the effects something like what he must have gone through down on the planet. But he knew what it was like to see members of your team die right in front of you. He knew what it was like to feel like the failure for not saving them, then the coward for allowing yourself to feel anger, sadness, contempt...all the emotions possible. He understood what Lambert was asking and even the why of it. Would he have been so different? Had he been so different in the ensign's situtaion. He knew the answer to that.

"I'll see what I can do," Rogers said, knowing the answer was going to be "no". He also knew he wasn't going to fight to get Lambert what he thought, in this moment, he wanted. "But you and I both know how doctors are. They demand to get people in here, then seem to think they're paid by the hour that you're here." Rogers shrugged. "I think we both know the answer to that."

Lambert gave a nod, "just that being here, not being able to move or do something active is really grinding on my nerves. The doctor said I took quite a bit of a shock to the system, I don't know if I want to believe what the medical staff had said to me. Then again, that O'Riley, probably thinks I am just a weak-willed individual. He had such a look of disdain where I was concerned." Lambert paused, "I probably should save all of this for the counselor instead of unloading on you."

"It's fine, Ensign," Rogers said as he grabbed a chair and moved it nearer to the bed. "Speaking with a counselor is a good thing. But the important thing is knowing you have support to get through this. It couldn't have been easy, what happened down there."

Meanwhile, he was making a mental note to find whoever "O'Riley" was in the department and have a "chat" with him. One that he will not enjoy. "You're one of my personnel now, Ensign, there isn't any such concept of "instead of unloading on you."

"Sir it was-" there was a catch in the man's voice. "Like something out of a horror film, hard core terror. T-the only thing that saved myself and O'Riley, was that the roof collapsed between us and that thing that tore through the others. " Lambert's hands began to shake as he reported this to Rogers. "How the hell can a person unsee t-that. The screams of the crewman, the last one who died before the roof collapsed."

Lambert clutched at the blanket with both of his hands, the material bunching up in the white knuckled grip of his hands.

"You don't," Rogers said softly, watching the security officer processing the events. "You don't even try. Forgetting doesn't help, not seeing it doesn't help. It's something that you've experienced and will need to process. Without doing so, you'll never understand that you weren't useless or frozen in fear, scared or incompetent. It was a set of circumstances that you can't control, no matter how hard you tried and how much you beat yourself up over not doing 'more'."

He took a breath. "And you have information that's going to help us do better if we come up against them once more. It may be difficult to relive, but with the help of your security brethren and the counselors, you'll come back and will be better for it."

"I'm going to be out of action for the time being aren't I." Lambert starting to see the light, "Can't let me be out in the field, until after the shakes go away." giving a wry look.

He took a real look at Rogers, "You've lost people haven't you."

Rogers took a breath and looked away. Finally, letting the breath out slowly. "I have. It's a part of Marine life that we lose buddies and brothers." He reached for the baseball that he usually keeps in his pocket. "No, it doesn't get easier. No, you don't get calloused. No, you don't get cold to it." He started tossing the ball from one hand to the other. But he turned to look directly at the man lying on the bed.

"My last one was my former first sergeant. He was a good man, a good Marine and I really needed his help when we were put into this SWAT/S program. But he tried to hard to 'tough it out', all the things he tried to forget he saw, all the things he tried to bury. He fought it alone and never asked for help from the team that he created and guided. A group of young men who looked to him as their Marine father figure. He didn't want to be soft or weak or cowardly in front of them."

Rogers stopped and took another breath, the ball smacking into each hand. "And I didn't see that he needed help. In the end, he lost the battle fighting alone, trying so hard to be strong for everyone else. I was his CO and he didn't have enough trust and faith to ask for my help." He glanced at Lambert again. "That is not a mistake I'm ever willing to make again. So no, you are on medical leave until you're cleared. Then you will follow whatever restrictions are placed on you until you are cleared. Even then you're going to get sick and annoyed on how often you - and any other person on this ship - are checked on until all of us are sure you're okay. That, by the way, is not negotiable. Clear?"

"Crystal clear sir!" Lambert's face cleared from his frustrations, "Sir, thanks I needed to hear that." his hands loosening up their grip on the blanket. "I'll keep from being a pain to the medical staff, as well. I had the feeling that one of them was thinking of putting me on a sedative to knock me out." Lambert reluctantly admitted. "I've been a bit of a pain..."

"Well," Rogers said with a bit of a smile, "you do have a reputation for Security and Marines to be 'babies' in Medical. So being a 'bit of a pain' is expected. I'm going to suggest, though, that you reserve most of your best annoying behavior for Petty Officer Hannah over there," he waved in the direction of a young, blonde haired man in a tactical security uniform. "He's a combat medic, so he can take it. And he deserves it. Trust me on that one."

Lambert gave the petty officer the once over, "Combat medic you say?"

Rogers, caught the ball in one hand. "Before you rest though, I have a few questions about the creatures down there."

Lambert gave a nod "I'll try to answer them, without- crawling under the blanket." a half smile appearing, the ensign putting on a brave face.

"Why weren't the creatures noticed before they were in position to attack?" Rogers asked, heading right into his questions. He needed answers so he could begin formulating the plan and tactics for when they went back down there.

"The thing didn't register on the scans, no lifesigns and the wall was phasered open as the door was sealed shut. There was a laboratory thing that had a broken glass case sort of thing. Didn't see anything then that thing came from out of nowhere. "

Lambert's hands clutched at the blanket once more, his eyes staring out into the distance as he rememberred.

"Didn't register on sensors?" Rogers asked, scowling as he made a notation. That would be a considerable problem. "Was it in concealment? Hidden as a result of insufficient lighting? Some sort of chameloic property?" he asked, looking up at the man on the bed.

"Nothing camoflaged, one moment the room seemed to be clear then just wham out of some nightmare it ripped t-them apart and- just engulfed them. It's dead like some monstrous zombie! N-no pulse no reading of lifesigns. just--monster. " Lambert's eyes locked with Rogers, there was terror in his eyes but also-he was connecting with him, like a lifeline.

"You fired at it?" Rogers asked.

"Yes I did, it was a reflex motion." Lambert nodding

"You hit it?"

"I hit and it did nothing. Just seemed to bounce off the damned thing. I was shaking too much that my shots went to the ceiling much like the crewman's did. Bringing down the house as it were. That is the only thing that saved us. but sadly it didn't save the-chief."

"Bounced off? Like they were shielded or their skin was reflective?" Rogers asked, his dark gaze studying the ensign. He saw signs the young officer was again starting to blame himself for all of what happened down on the planet but that would have to wait for now. He needed to get this information. How was he supposed to ensure the safety of others if he didn't have as much information as he could get regarding what happened. And why it happened. "You're doing well, Ensign, really helping out in fact. I'll bet others who were in your position wouldn't be able to discuss this as well as you're doing."

"What I sent at it, the weapon was set to kill, it didn't seem to affect it. I was wishing I had a Klingon disruptor setting that, I feel it would have worked."

Lambert was starting to look a bit green at the gills, a white line appearing around his lips, with his blood pressure spiking.

"Uh-Sir? Um... I don't know if I can answer anything more. I feel like I am going to hurl."

Lambert was fighting hard to not do such, he barely grabbed something to keep from making a mess, and he was embarrassed. Just the thinking of what happened, made his stomach churn.

Rogers was silent for a few moments. Then he shut down the PaDD and held it in his lap. "Okay, Ensign," he said. "The information you gave is going to prove extremely helpful. But for now, do your best to relax and let the medical staff help out. Get some rest." He shifted to stand but resumed his seat. "Me and the entire department are here to help out with anything you need. Anytime." With that he rose and pocketed the PaDD. He looked around the room and made a motion for one of the medics to come over. "I'll make that an order, if I have to. I'd rather not though. Just remember, in this department, we never have to fight alone."

With the approach of the medic, he gave a brief smile and then turned to walk away.

"Thank you, Lieutenant, and you won't need to make it an order." Lambert looking towards Rogers, "I appreciate you coming to check on me." Josiah adjusted himself, and layed back against the pillow, closing his eyes.



Ensign Josiah Lambert
Security Officer

LTjg Christian Rogers
Security Chief

 

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