Ouch...

Posted on Tue Sep 18th, 2018 @ 7:32am by Lieutenant Felicity Kaz

Mission: Season 2: Mission 2: Just Breath
Location: Eclipse Casino
Timeline: during the skirmish with the Elysium
1055 words - 2.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Anne was bought into the Casino by 2 of her engineering colleagues. She was bleeding from a leg wound, caused by a sharp piece of broken conduit, that was currently sticking out of the leg. She was unconscious from the amount of blood she'd lost.

Just as Estelle had thought the worst was over, the severely mauled Anne was brought to her. "Straight onto the primary", she said, directing the staff around her to lift the unconscious woman onto the surgical bed. A quick scan told her the extent of the injuries, and the first measure was giving the patient some synthetic blood. A dozen hands worked quickly to get her hooked up to about a litre of the red stuff, and to cut away part of her clothes and sterilise the wound, to prevent any further contamination.

"These engineers must be nuts, going this close to explosions and jagged objects", Estelle remarked to no-one in particular as she prepared for taking what she was unable to identify as a piece of conduit out of her patient. As there was no telling who'd be rushed through the door next, she wasn't concerned with the fine touches. A quick evaluation told her there was no need to take off the leg entirely, but the femoral artery had been nicked and would need some plugging. "15CCs of cortolin", she ordered, and the injection quickly restarted her patient's autonomous breathing.

Estelle cared little for preserving muscle tissue, it was easily replaced in a later operation. She started cutting along the line of entry and stopped the bleeding with her laser scalpel, until the formerly airborne piece of conduit was loose enough that it would have fallen out, along with a thin layer of tissue, if it hadn't been held in place by one of the nursing staff.

Mostly concerned with further blood loss, Estelle manoeuvred a vascular regenerator in between the foreign object and Anne's flesh, to immediately close the gash in the femural artery the moment the sharp splinter was removed. Once that was done, the rest of the operation was a walk in the park, as far as Estelle was concerned. Had her patient been awake for it, Estelle was certain she would have disagreed.

The splinter removed, Estelle gave a liberal amount of corophizine, covered the wound with a dermoplast and fixated the leg in position, so the muscles which were missing part of their central structure could not be moved. By tomorrow, she figured, she could begin restoring the muscle tissue itself, provided the antibiotics did their work well. Anne was carried out and onto one of the secondary beds that had been set up for intensive care patients. Two more hyposprays followed: an analeptic compound to treat the effects of radiation exposure, something one always had to worry about near plasma leaks, and a mild stimulant to allow her to wake up. Estelle put her hand on Anne's shoulder as reassurance and to prevent her from trying to jump off the bed as soon as she regained consciousness. "Rise and shine!" Estelle intoned. "Actually, don't rise, just shine."

Anne opened her eyes and instantly noticed the pain. "Ahhhh... where am I?" She asked in between blasts of pain.

"In the casino, missing chunks of your leg", Estelle said. She immediately injected her with some metorapan, a low dosage to see if that would do the trick. "Is this any better?"

"Ahh... a little." She said, still feeling some pain, but not as much as before.

Estelle gave her a little more. "Okay, this should do. Any more and you'll start seeing invisible pink unicorns." She pointed at the leg, resting in a fixed and elevated position. "You won't be able to move it for a while. Once this battle is over, we can do the rest. You're not in any danger, there won't be a permanent injury. You'll just be out of commission for a few days, two weeks on the outside if you're really unlucky."

Anne moaned, nearly fainting upon seeing her leg. "How did that happen?" She asked. "I don't remember anything." She looked confusedly around. "What is this place?" She asked.

"The casino, turned infirmary for the duration", Estelle answered the part she could first. "You were brought here with half a starship sticking out of your leg. Don't ask me how it got there, but there were plasma burns on it so I've also treated you for radiation exposure. I patched you up, nothing pretty, but we can't afford the time to do the whole operation in one sitting."

"Starship? What starship? And who are you?" Anne asked, getting more panicked by the second.

"The Eclipse. I'm Estelle Hertz, your surgeon. You're out of danger, and this room is well-shielded. There is no need for concern."

Anne heard a loud bang, and jumped. "What was that? What's happening." Anne's breathing started to become really fast.

"We're taking back the Elysium", Estelle explained calmly. She could understand why she was panicking. She'd just come out of shock, had several different medications in her body, was restrained and there was a battle raging around them. If there was ever a reason to panic... "But the battle is over for you. You can relax now." Should she tell her to 'keep calm and carry on'? Probably not.

Anne nodded, trying to calm down. "You should probably see to other more important things, I'm sure there's others here that need your help more than I do... I'm sorry to be a burden." Anne said, quietening down.

"That's what we're here for", Estelle offered. "Would you like some tea? Long-standing tradition of my ancestors, give the wounded some tea to help them settle. After surgery, it's even useful."

Anne nodded. "That'd be nice, but please, don't let me take you away from anyone that needs help." She said, slightly embarrassed.

"Someone's been doing some fancy flying", Estelle said, pointing out the window. "We're so close to the Elysium now, most of her weapons can't land a hit." There were ways to combat that, but apparently the hijackers hadn't found them yet. Estelle grabbed a mug of tea from the replicator, made sure it wasn't hot enough to pose a hazard, then sat down on the cot beside Anne and handed it over. "Here you are."