Story Market Day
- Thread starter ComCamGuy
- Start date
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
WTF
Kara’s mind was trying all the ideas she was thinking of on how to get the gear down off the roof short of hand carrying it like luggage as she walked out the door to the helo pad. Her eyes were sweeping along the edge of the roof right away in the daylight, looking for window washer connections and the antennae array she knew had to be up here. ‘Bekka would want those’ her brain said.
Then her feet stopped. Stopped so suddenly she almost fell, and she didn’t know why.
She froze in place and listened. All she heard was the offshore breeze. Her eyes began scanning up close to see what her subconscious mind stopped her for. It didn’t take long for her to find the anomaly.
She hadn’t looked at the actual helicopter landing pad. Her focus was elsewhere since she wasn’t expecting a Huey inbound any time soon. Now she felt bad for her poor choice of words, even in her mind.
All around the pad, attached to each of the raised pad landing lights, were tiki torches, or sconces or something, holding candles.
In the middle of the pad were the bones.
There was a full skeleton, tied spread eagle in the middle of the pad. It was in the ‘dead’ center, and where the ‘H’ would normally be, there were other emblems, more intricate than a simple pentagram.
A chill went down Kara’s spine, and the words came on their own.
“What. The. ****?”
Kara’s mind was trying all the ideas she was thinking of on how to get the gear down off the roof short of hand carrying it like luggage as she walked out the door to the helo pad. Her eyes were sweeping along the edge of the roof right away in the daylight, looking for window washer connections and the antennae array she knew had to be up here. ‘Bekka would want those’ her brain said.
Then her feet stopped. Stopped so suddenly she almost fell, and she didn’t know why.
She froze in place and listened. All she heard was the offshore breeze. Her eyes began scanning up close to see what her subconscious mind stopped her for. It didn’t take long for her to find the anomaly.
She hadn’t looked at the actual helicopter landing pad. Her focus was elsewhere since she wasn’t expecting a Huey inbound any time soon. Now she felt bad for her poor choice of words, even in her mind.
All around the pad, attached to each of the raised pad landing lights, were tiki torches, or sconces or something, holding candles.
In the middle of the pad were the bones.
There was a full skeleton, tied spread eagle in the middle of the pad. It was in the ‘dead’ center, and where the ‘H’ would normally be, there were other emblems, more intricate than a simple pentagram.
A chill went down Kara’s spine, and the words came on their own.
“What. The. ****?”
223shootersc
Veteran Member
Play Spooky for me!
Thanks, CCG!
Thanks, CCG!
feralferret
Veteran Member
CCG, interesting twist. Thank you.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
The Far North, In the Trees
Barbara was having a slightly surreal moment. She was here, doing the job she trained for, for years. A job she had lived for. A job she was willing to give her life for. A job cut short. A job she fought to get back to. A job she was denied after the crash. A job she thought she would never do again.
Now, here she was, standing alert on a ridgeline waiting to go in and help extract a team. She didn’t know if it was going to happen, but she was ready.
She was with an interesting crew. In spite of her operational training, she was the one with the least actual combat experience. Penny, their driver for this mission, was running around the last couple firefights. Angelique had a ton of up-close hands-on urban fighting experience, along with decent survival experience in the woods. She was hella impressive for all of eighteen-years old.
Kingfisher was interesting. He reminded her of her senior supervisor. He was calm and quiet, but she could feel the experience at things like this pouring off of him. If you told the average person what their job out here was, what it could potentially entail, they would be a ball of nerves. Hell, she trained for years for this very job and she was nervous.
Kingfisher was cool and calm. Barbara could see the connection between Kingfisher and Angelique. The bits she had learned about the recent mission those two were on, it made sense to her why those two could maneuver well together. Barbara was the odd one out and would have to follow their lead as she worked her way into the operational flow.
She hated feeling like she might be the weak link.
Barbara was having a slightly surreal moment. She was here, doing the job she trained for, for years. A job she had lived for. A job she was willing to give her life for. A job cut short. A job she fought to get back to. A job she was denied after the crash. A job she thought she would never do again.
Now, here she was, standing alert on a ridgeline waiting to go in and help extract a team. She didn’t know if it was going to happen, but she was ready.
She was with an interesting crew. In spite of her operational training, she was the one with the least actual combat experience. Penny, their driver for this mission, was running around the last couple firefights. Angelique had a ton of up-close hands-on urban fighting experience, along with decent survival experience in the woods. She was hella impressive for all of eighteen-years old.
Kingfisher was interesting. He reminded her of her senior supervisor. He was calm and quiet, but she could feel the experience at things like this pouring off of him. If you told the average person what their job out here was, what it could potentially entail, they would be a ball of nerves. Hell, she trained for years for this very job and she was nervous.
Kingfisher was cool and calm. Barbara could see the connection between Kingfisher and Angelique. The bits she had learned about the recent mission those two were on, it made sense to her why those two could maneuver well together. Barbara was the odd one out and would have to follow their lead as she worked her way into the operational flow.
She hated feeling like she might be the weak link.
223shootersc
Veteran Member
Thanks, CCG!
Armadillo3
Contributing Member
Thanks CCG!
feralferret
Veteran Member
CCG, thank you.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
On the Roof
Kara stood there, taking it in a moment. Then she scanned around again looking for the things she missed. A small antennae array sat on top of the elevator housing at the edge of the hanger. From the info on the maps in the binder, she knew this elevator shaft was the express one that went from here pad-side all the way down to the ER, with only one other exit on the floor with the OR.
She stepped over to the edge of the building and looked into the narrow walkway that ran along just below the landing pad. She kept in a crouch and stayed close to the pad side, away from the edge to keep anyone down below from seeing her moving around.
She was halfway around her circuit when she found something unexpected.
The skeleton in rags sat in a faded folding chair on the seaward side. A small cooler sat next to the chair as a makeshift table. On the table was a crystal glass and an empty bottle. As she got closer, she could see something in a plastic bag under the glass. All of this had been victim of the weather.
She moved up next to the remains.
There was a pistol in his lap. She looked at the skeleton. No holes in the head. She looked at the plastic bag. There was paper with some writing. She lifted the glass and wiped the plastic off. Through the plastic, she could read the words.
After the first page, the one she could see, she had to open the bag and read the rest.
He had come to the hospital under the pretext of finding help. Or at least that was what he told his wife and daughter. He knew there wasn’t going to be anything they could do for him. He had known for months before the quake, and so did his wife. This was all about theater for their daughter.
The medicine that had been masking his symptoms was gone, and he told them he was just coming to the hospital to see if he could get some more. Like the highly specialized meds keeping his stage four cancer in check would just be lying around, still climate controlled, with someone who knew how to provide just the right blend sitting at the clinic waiting to help him have a few more months.
His wife knew he wasn’t coming back. He knew the sooner he left, the longer their supplies would last and the better they might be. He decided to leave well before the holidays so their daughter wouldn’t tie the two things together.
He was the one who made the display on the helo pad. The symbol was a symbol of protection. In the circle was a skeleton stolen from one of the rooms downstairs, and around the neck of the skeleton was a locket with a picture of his wife and daughter and locks of their hair.
In the plastic bag was another pair of pictures, one of the three of them, and the other one was of his wife and daughter. There was also a ring in there. It was silver in color, with a turquoise face.
Kara put the plastic packet in her bag, along with the pistol. She knew they would evacuate his body from here. She had a place already picked out in Terry’s clearing. If they ever came across the woman or her daughter, she would pass these things on to them. She thought she recognized the address.
‘Back to work.’ She told herself as she continued around the building’s perimeter.
Kara stood there, taking it in a moment. Then she scanned around again looking for the things she missed. A small antennae array sat on top of the elevator housing at the edge of the hanger. From the info on the maps in the binder, she knew this elevator shaft was the express one that went from here pad-side all the way down to the ER, with only one other exit on the floor with the OR.
She stepped over to the edge of the building and looked into the narrow walkway that ran along just below the landing pad. She kept in a crouch and stayed close to the pad side, away from the edge to keep anyone down below from seeing her moving around.
She was halfway around her circuit when she found something unexpected.
The skeleton in rags sat in a faded folding chair on the seaward side. A small cooler sat next to the chair as a makeshift table. On the table was a crystal glass and an empty bottle. As she got closer, she could see something in a plastic bag under the glass. All of this had been victim of the weather.
She moved up next to the remains.
There was a pistol in his lap. She looked at the skeleton. No holes in the head. She looked at the plastic bag. There was paper with some writing. She lifted the glass and wiped the plastic off. Through the plastic, she could read the words.
After the first page, the one she could see, she had to open the bag and read the rest.
He had come to the hospital under the pretext of finding help. Or at least that was what he told his wife and daughter. He knew there wasn’t going to be anything they could do for him. He had known for months before the quake, and so did his wife. This was all about theater for their daughter.
The medicine that had been masking his symptoms was gone, and he told them he was just coming to the hospital to see if he could get some more. Like the highly specialized meds keeping his stage four cancer in check would just be lying around, still climate controlled, with someone who knew how to provide just the right blend sitting at the clinic waiting to help him have a few more months.
His wife knew he wasn’t coming back. He knew the sooner he left, the longer their supplies would last and the better they might be. He decided to leave well before the holidays so their daughter wouldn’t tie the two things together.
He was the one who made the display on the helo pad. The symbol was a symbol of protection. In the circle was a skeleton stolen from one of the rooms downstairs, and around the neck of the skeleton was a locket with a picture of his wife and daughter and locks of their hair.
In the plastic bag was another pair of pictures, one of the three of them, and the other one was of his wife and daughter. There was also a ring in there. It was silver in color, with a turquoise face.
Kara put the plastic packet in her bag, along with the pistol. She knew they would evacuate his body from here. She had a place already picked out in Terry’s clearing. If they ever came across the woman or her daughter, she would pass these things on to them. She thought she recognized the address.
‘Back to work.’ She told herself as she continued around the building’s perimeter.
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223shootersc
Veteran Member
Nice turn on the bootleg!
Thanks, CCG!
Thanks, CCG!
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ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Dusk, Outside the Hospital
There were four people outside the hospital when Rahel lowered the climbing stick. They piled out of the vehicle with bags and packs and moved swiftly to the way in. The first up was Garen, followed by Deloris, then Doug, with Silas the last to climb.
Each carried two bags to the base of the wall and carried a bag on their back. All the bags were hauled up, along with the climbing stick. Once all four were in the hidden area, along with their bags, the seven people began to plan the next steps.
Silas and Rahel would work their way down to try and clear the lower parts of the building, ideally getting a good ground floor entrance for the main crew to use when they began packing everything out.
Hanna would take Deloris and start identifying and consolidating the other items on the OR floor.
Meanwhile Kara was taking Garen and Doug to the NICU floor to begin finalizing the plan using the elevator shaft for lowering the gear. She also wanted them to look at what she had in the helo hanger and her alternat idea of lowering at least the gear from up there straight over the side.
All were moving quickly now. With this many people in the building, discovery was a serious concern. They would rather get what they needed and get out early than hang around too long getting greedy, get discovered and have the whole thing devolve into an unnecessary firefight.
There were four people outside the hospital when Rahel lowered the climbing stick. They piled out of the vehicle with bags and packs and moved swiftly to the way in. The first up was Garen, followed by Deloris, then Doug, with Silas the last to climb.
Each carried two bags to the base of the wall and carried a bag on their back. All the bags were hauled up, along with the climbing stick. Once all four were in the hidden area, along with their bags, the seven people began to plan the next steps.
Silas and Rahel would work their way down to try and clear the lower parts of the building, ideally getting a good ground floor entrance for the main crew to use when they began packing everything out.
Hanna would take Deloris and start identifying and consolidating the other items on the OR floor.
Meanwhile Kara was taking Garen and Doug to the NICU floor to begin finalizing the plan using the elevator shaft for lowering the gear. She also wanted them to look at what she had in the helo hanger and her alternat idea of lowering at least the gear from up there straight over the side.
All were moving quickly now. With this many people in the building, discovery was a serious concern. They would rather get what they needed and get out early than hang around too long getting greedy, get discovered and have the whole thing devolve into an unnecessary firefight.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
At the Training Building
Jesse, Stephen, Brice and Petra were busy. They had just gotten the measurements from the elevator shafts from Doug, along with some other idea they needed to cobble together. Stephen and Jesse were making sure they had the cross braces ready to set up in the shaft while Brice and Petra worked on some other new contraption stemming from another idea.
“One of the boom trucks would do all this and is already made with a winch at the end and everything.” Petra said as she pulled the welding gear over to where Brice was.
“Yeah, and those trucks are big and noisy and too tall to get into place for this.” Brice countered as she made some fast work of some measurements with a tape measure on the steel.
“But it won’t be able to lift much.” Petra countered.
"True, but we don’t need it to. We just need it to be strong enough to keep the rope elevated once they put a load on it. Look.” She showed the drawing to Petra.
Petra thought it looked a lot like the lifting frame of the big vehicle recovery vehicles she had worked on. Brice moved her hand and the grease pencil around.
“It’s like the old school boom cranes we used back home. We just need a good A frame, a solid securing point and once we have the rope in place, we can drive forward to tension the rope, so we don’t even need a winch, just the pivots. That way we can just bolt it to the truck, swing the two poles up once it’s in place, secure the tips, add stabilizing chains and we are in business. Shouldn’t take more than five minutes, and tear down just as fast.”
Brice showed her the other elements she was planning. It made sense to Petra now. Now all they had to do was build it.
Jesse, Stephen, Brice and Petra were busy. They had just gotten the measurements from the elevator shafts from Doug, along with some other idea they needed to cobble together. Stephen and Jesse were making sure they had the cross braces ready to set up in the shaft while Brice and Petra worked on some other new contraption stemming from another idea.
“One of the boom trucks would do all this and is already made with a winch at the end and everything.” Petra said as she pulled the welding gear over to where Brice was.
“Yeah, and those trucks are big and noisy and too tall to get into place for this.” Brice countered as she made some fast work of some measurements with a tape measure on the steel.
“But it won’t be able to lift much.” Petra countered.
"True, but we don’t need it to. We just need it to be strong enough to keep the rope elevated once they put a load on it. Look.” She showed the drawing to Petra.
Petra thought it looked a lot like the lifting frame of the big vehicle recovery vehicles she had worked on. Brice moved her hand and the grease pencil around.
“It’s like the old school boom cranes we used back home. We just need a good A frame, a solid securing point and once we have the rope in place, we can drive forward to tension the rope, so we don’t even need a winch, just the pivots. That way we can just bolt it to the truck, swing the two poles up once it’s in place, secure the tips, add stabilizing chains and we are in business. Shouldn’t take more than five minutes, and tear down just as fast.”
Brice showed her the other elements she was planning. It made sense to Petra now. Now all they had to do was build it.
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223shootersc
Veteran Member
Thanks, CCG!
feralferret
Veteran Member
Thank you.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
High on a Ridgeline
The overwatch crew had swapped out. It was Ian, Ivar and Violet in the electronic warfare equipped Interceptor. Now the crew was Veronica, Bekka, Dylan and Emilia. The others had to get back to the Training Building to finish last minute preps and rest. They would probably be going in around dawn.
All of the different elements were swirling in their orbits. The next parts to move would be Brice, Stephen, Jesse and Zed. They would be headed in to finish the rigging and the last minute addition to the plan.
With all these people, they would scour the hospital for anything usable, first, the stuff Hanna had them come here for, then the rest. They would spend most of the day prepping and moving stuff to be ready. Then towards dusk, the others would arrive with the trucks to carry everything they could.
The last minute edition to the plan was their safety net. The first thing out of the building would go down the line to the truck Brice was working on. They estimated they could load up all the critical stuff they were taking out of the helo stash straight into the truck and trailer on the top of the parking structure. As soon as they got it loaded, it would leave right away.
Deloris and Hanna had found the storage bay where the aeromedical evacuation and transport stretchers were kept. They held gear far too sensitive and important to be kept up in the hanger. Besides, they would only go out on specific calls and would have one of the neonatal flight nurses onboard to run it. Until they were needed, they were stored here on the NICU floor in a side room on the Labor and Delivery side, where there was more room.
A modified backboard with gear bolted to it, these were just the thing for transporting a far too early preemie. Was it exactly what Hanna wanted to care for a premature birth? Not exactly compared to the other units on the NICU floor she intended to take. Was it better than nothing? By a long shot for sure.
Doug and Garen were already up in the hanger working on the plan to get the two air transport isolettes, along with all the other gear from up here, out of here first and fast. Kara was thinking using some sort of window washer’s rig to lower them straight down the side of the building. Doug was the one to come up with a safer and potentially faster alternative.
On the Roof, Earlier
Doug turned back to where Kara and Garen were standing next to him at the edge of the roof.
“OK, the lower straight from her might work, but the worry is getting the load over the side, and with no good anchors hanging over the side, we would either have to build one, which would take time, or just slide it down the side with a roller on the edge and hope it doesn’t bang too much or get hung up or any one of an thousand other elements. We do have the high angle A-frames, but we would have to go back to the park for them.”
“Are we overthinking this? Could we just carry them down the stairs?” Garen asked him.
“That’s a lot of carrying. It would be slow and would extend the timeline for getting the first load away.” Doug said, a smile starting to form.
“OK, what’s your idea?” Kara asked.
“OK, so, we have the stokes baskets,” he pointed into the hanger. “so there should be lifting bridals and such already. We can secure the isolettes, secure a rope high enough on this side and the other end over on the parking deck,” he pointed behind him. “and we use the pullies and a good tagline belay, and go straight to the parking deck with them. No stairs, load right int the truck, and away it goes.” Doug said with a smile.
“Let me make sure I’m understanding you right. We take the priceless, sole reason we came here for, fragile isolettes and zipline them to the parking deck.” Garen said.
“Basically. We use taglines so it’s not zip through the forest funride time, but we can already have the Stokes loaded and ready up here in the hanger. I can work on the anchor point right now, so when as soon as they get here, we toss them a 550 guideline to pull their end of the main rope to them. Once it’s secure, we can work the lowering. I figure with either Stephen or me up here, we could have all of the stuff in the storage room, plus the isolettes down and away in an hour or so.”
“I like the sound of that a lot better than slogging it down all those steps. What do we need to do to make it happen?” Garen asked.
“We need those isolettes up here, then you two work on packing the baskets while I start rigging the anchor on this end. But first I need to talk to Brice or Zed.” Doug said.
The overwatch crew had swapped out. It was Ian, Ivar and Violet in the electronic warfare equipped Interceptor. Now the crew was Veronica, Bekka, Dylan and Emilia. The others had to get back to the Training Building to finish last minute preps and rest. They would probably be going in around dawn.
All of the different elements were swirling in their orbits. The next parts to move would be Brice, Stephen, Jesse and Zed. They would be headed in to finish the rigging and the last minute addition to the plan.
With all these people, they would scour the hospital for anything usable, first, the stuff Hanna had them come here for, then the rest. They would spend most of the day prepping and moving stuff to be ready. Then towards dusk, the others would arrive with the trucks to carry everything they could.
The last minute edition to the plan was their safety net. The first thing out of the building would go down the line to the truck Brice was working on. They estimated they could load up all the critical stuff they were taking out of the helo stash straight into the truck and trailer on the top of the parking structure. As soon as they got it loaded, it would leave right away.
Deloris and Hanna had found the storage bay where the aeromedical evacuation and transport stretchers were kept. They held gear far too sensitive and important to be kept up in the hanger. Besides, they would only go out on specific calls and would have one of the neonatal flight nurses onboard to run it. Until they were needed, they were stored here on the NICU floor in a side room on the Labor and Delivery side, where there was more room.
A modified backboard with gear bolted to it, these were just the thing for transporting a far too early preemie. Was it exactly what Hanna wanted to care for a premature birth? Not exactly compared to the other units on the NICU floor she intended to take. Was it better than nothing? By a long shot for sure.
Doug and Garen were already up in the hanger working on the plan to get the two air transport isolettes, along with all the other gear from up here, out of here first and fast. Kara was thinking using some sort of window washer’s rig to lower them straight down the side of the building. Doug was the one to come up with a safer and potentially faster alternative.
On the Roof, Earlier
Doug turned back to where Kara and Garen were standing next to him at the edge of the roof.
“OK, the lower straight from her might work, but the worry is getting the load over the side, and with no good anchors hanging over the side, we would either have to build one, which would take time, or just slide it down the side with a roller on the edge and hope it doesn’t bang too much or get hung up or any one of an thousand other elements. We do have the high angle A-frames, but we would have to go back to the park for them.”
“Are we overthinking this? Could we just carry them down the stairs?” Garen asked him.
“That’s a lot of carrying. It would be slow and would extend the timeline for getting the first load away.” Doug said, a smile starting to form.
“OK, what’s your idea?” Kara asked.
“OK, so, we have the stokes baskets,” he pointed into the hanger. “so there should be lifting bridals and such already. We can secure the isolettes, secure a rope high enough on this side and the other end over on the parking deck,” he pointed behind him. “and we use the pullies and a good tagline belay, and go straight to the parking deck with them. No stairs, load right int the truck, and away it goes.” Doug said with a smile.
“Let me make sure I’m understanding you right. We take the priceless, sole reason we came here for, fragile isolettes and zipline them to the parking deck.” Garen said.
“Basically. We use taglines so it’s not zip through the forest funride time, but we can already have the Stokes loaded and ready up here in the hanger. I can work on the anchor point right now, so when as soon as they get here, we toss them a 550 guideline to pull their end of the main rope to them. Once it’s secure, we can work the lowering. I figure with either Stephen or me up here, we could have all of the stuff in the storage room, plus the isolettes down and away in an hour or so.”
“I like the sound of that a lot better than slogging it down all those steps. What do we need to do to make it happen?” Garen asked.
“We need those isolettes up here, then you two work on packing the baskets while I start rigging the anchor on this end. But first I need to talk to Brice or Zed.” Doug said.
Griz3752
Retired, practising Curmudgeon
It doesn't matter but I never did know where the name Gin poles came from.
Doesn't matter as the idea still works like a charm . . . .
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223shootersc
Veteran Member
Aerial work is the worst!
Thanks, CCG!
Thanks, CCG!
Sarmajor
Member
Pretty sure they don’t use wench’s on trucks. More likely to find a Wench in an Olde English Public House.
Think the word auto correct removed was Winch.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
yup, damn autocorrect. Brice spelled it right in her paragraph. Maybe it's Petra's accent?