OOC: Koroth
Medic Specialty
Lesson 1: First Aid


BOOM… Koroth ducked as shards of earth and other debris rained down upon them “They keep firing like that they might just actually get lucky and hit us.” One of the troopers joked. More artillery rained down upon them and soon the dreaded call of Medic….Medic rang through the air. Grabbing his pack Koroth  took off not bothering to duck. With his size he was a big enough target whether he was hunched over or not, besides it hurt his back and he found he could run a hell of a lot faster than he could hunched over.

There….Koroth saw one of the troopers frantically waving, as if that somehow would make him get there any faster. He heard the incoming shell and taking two more steps, dove for cover however the shell wasn’t as close as he thought, in fact it was nowhere near him. Picking himself up he found himself almost face to face with the trooper who’d been waving. Shaking his head and mumbling something about recruits the trooper said “Now if your finished playing baseball and diving for homebase, ya mind taking a look at the Lieutenant, oh, here ya might be needing this.” The trooper said handing him part of an arm. Now whether it was shelling or just plain shock Koroth hadn’t heard the Lieutenants screams until just then,. Snapping out of it Koroth opened his Medical bag and started rummaging around, all the while his mind was racing, trying to remember his training. He had to stop the bleeding first, Koroth went to work, however no matter what he did the blood just kept flowing, it was just then that things went from bad to worse.

“WHAT ARE THE THREE P’s” the holographic drill instructor yelled, at the same moment the trooper started yelling at Koroth “He’s bleeding to death”. Ignoring the trooper for the moment Koroth concentrated on the task at hand while answering the instructors question “Preserve life, Prevent further injury and…and….and…Promote recovery.” He replied while slapping another bit of gauze on the wound. The problem he soon realized was the Lieutenant was screaming and thrashing around, which kept reopening the wound, looking at his pack he realized he was running low on bandages, worse yet all his sedatives seemed to have disappeared.

“Sorry Sir” Koroth said before punching the Lieutenant across the jaw effectively knocking him out. “What the hell?!” the trooper responded “What kinda medic are you?” he asked before firing at some unseen enemy in the distance. Ignoring him Koroth managed to finally get the bleeding stopped while he opened a comm. channel through his helmets interface “MadClaw to Angel Base request immediate medevac at my coordinates”a few agonizing moments went by before the response came through “Roger MadClaw, no medevac available for immediate pickup, you’ll have to get him there yourself.” Cursing Koroth cut the comm. and looked around, spotting a AT-Walker nearby, picking up the Lieutenant he hoisted him over his shoulder and ran toward the AT-Walker. Loading him onto the AT, Koroth heard more cries for Medic, it was almost like a chorus he’d later reflect “WHAT ARE THE ABC’s OF A MEDIC?” The holographic drill instructor yelled appearing once more out of thin air (after all he was a hologram, was he not?) more artillery rained down and shots from blasters both theirs and ours were flying everywhere. Ducking and running as best he could Koroth headed for the closest call “The ABC’s stand for Airway, Breathing and Circulation, an acronym for remembering those three things that need to be checked and monitored to ensure a patients survival.” he responded taking cover behind a partially demolished wall. The battlefield was replaced with a loud explosion, everything suddenly went white. Disoriented Koroth blinked several times as the white light was replaced by a classroom. Before him stood a n instructor holding a pair of VR (Virtual Reality) goggles “Excellent performance, though we normally don’t advise going around punching officers, it was still an interesting solution to the lack of sedatives, a little something we threw in to throw you off. All in all you did fine.” the instructor said. Thanking him, Koroth stepped from the chamber and walked out the room.

OOC: Koroth
Medic Specialty
Lesson 2: Bacta Tanks

“A miracle of modern medical technology, the bacta tank is a mainstay in both Imperial and Alliance medical wards. The containment cylinder fills with rejuvenating bacta fluid that is capable of healing even the most grievous wounds. The translucent red fluid nurtures the growth of a bacterial medium that seeks out traumatized tissue and promotes regeneration and growth to rapidly heal wounds with minimal or no scarring. Medical droids closely monitor the patient, who is suspended in the fluid.”

The instructor droned on as he slowly walked around the room. Koroth like the other students stood next to a large covered object. The fact that these were Bacta Tanks wasn’t lost on any of the students, Koroth like the others most likely was inwardly wondering why in fact did they bother covering up something so obvious.

“The insectoid Vratix of Thyferra invented bacta by mixing alazhi salve with a synthetic liquid chemical called kavam. This concoction is further mixed with a colorless viscous liquid called ambori.” The instructor said, continuing  his lecture.

“During the Galactic Civil War, the Empire realized the importance of bacta and shut down all satellite manufacturing centers, allowing the bacta plants on Thyferra to have a total monopoly on production. Two manufacturers reigned supreme, the Zaltin and Xucphra corporations.” One of the students had obviously not gotten enough sleep as he was leaning against his tank (er, mysterious covered object) half asleep. The instructor spotted him and as luck would have it chose to stop directly in front of the student “Mister Weston, would you care to explain to the class what Bacta is?”

Mister Weston jumped suddenly at the unexpected interruption however much to his credit he recovered quickly, blurting out the answer almost automatically. “Bacta is a synthetic chemical substance that consists of gelatinous, translucent red alazhi and kavam bacterial particles that are mixed within a colorless, viscous fluid known as ambori. When a patient is exposed to bacta, the bacterial particles within seek out wounds and promot rapid tissue regeneration while preventing the emergence of scar tissue. Bacta is often thought of as a "miracle fluid", and seems to be effective against almost every type of injury and ailment across an incredible cross-section of species throughout the galaxy. It is considered to be the best medicine available anywhere, with kolto as its short-lived competitor.”

“Very impressive Mr Weston, however  you fall asleep in my class again and you’d best find yourself another specialty.”looking across the room the instructor chose his next victim, “You, Tell us how Bacta can be applied.” He said pointing to a rather nervous looking lady across the room

“Bacta can be administered through disposable bacta patches, through direct injection, consumption (via bactade), through the application of a salve or out of a Bio-Bacta tank, or by submersion in a standard bacta tank. When bacta immersion is used, the patient is either clothed in white shorts or a white gown depending on the person's gender. The method of administration depends on the severity of the wounds. It is imperative that bacta is applied in a solution of clear synthetic fluid which mimicked the body's own vital fluids.” She replied without hesitation

“Bacta has a smell that is often described as 'sickly-sweet'; immersion in a bacta tank can leave one with the taste and smell of bacta within their mouths and nasal cavities for weeks afterwards, and even bacta patches leave a smelly residue, although it is weaker.
she added though whether this was in an attempt to gain extra points or recognition from their instructor or to show her superiority to her classmates was yet to be determined.

Thank you that will be enough.” The instructor said holding up his hand and resuming his pacing along with his lecture. “Bacta tanks themselves come in two varieties: there were the large, permanent or semi-permanent tanks installed within medical facilities, such as those your standing next to, as well as emergency tanks that were collapsible and portable. Such field tanks actually require the patient to lie on their backs or stomachs; the bacta within often has to be taken out and run through filters.Now how was this stuff we call Bacta made?”

“Bacta was invented by the Vratix on the planet Thyferra around the year 4000 BBY.[source?] The Vratix were willing to share the technology, but the substance could only be made on their homeworld where the needed resources were abundant. Struggles on Thyferra were often caused by disputes over control of  bacta, often between the two main producers of bacta, the Zaltin Corporation and the Xucphra Corporation, or over the bacta the planet produced. Before its obsolescence, kolto was used along with bacta for medical treatments. Bacta later outsold kolto and eventually replaced it altogether. After the reorganization of the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars, the new Galactic Empire only allowed bacta to be produced on Thyferra, which was then stockpiled on Bespin.” The student next to Koroth responded, one of those chipper fellas who always seemed to have a smile on his face, Koroth didn’t trust him.

Correct, anything you’d like to add?” It took a moment to realize the instructor was speaking to him. Koroth struggled for an answer, there had to be something they hadn’t touched upon yet. Next to him “Mr. Chiper” as Koroth had begun to think of him stood with a self satisfied rather mocking sneer as did a few of his other classmates, most of whom didn’t think a Wookie could ever be a medic. As one student was overheard saying to a few others the other day “What’s the difference between a Wookiee with a gun and one with a Medkit? Nothing, your dead either way as they’ll both kill you.” Another one was overheard saying he’d shoot himself just to avoid suffering at the hands of a Wookiee. “Amputations, no problem, Naw I don’t need a tool I’ll just rip that arm out.” Another classmate said mimicking Koroth. Yes he’d heard it all since his short time here, however he wasn’t giving up so easy, then it dawned on him…History.

“During the Swarm War, the Killiks staged a coup against the Thyferran government, which cut off the Galactic Alliance's supply of bacta during the Battle of Tenupe, thus crippling the medical abilities of the Alliance. During the Clone Wars, bacta dispensers were used by the Republic troops; the dispenser would hook up to a standard commando suit and dispense bacta into the suit's life support systems.

A bacta tank and a supply of bacta were expensive, the tank alone typically costing 100,000 credits from 32 BBY to 8 ABY, so such medical equipment was usually found only in hospitals, on board capital ships, and within major military bases. Movement of bacta tanks could prove difficult because the tanks weighed roughly 500 kilograms.
A patient is required to be fully submerged within the bacta for the healing agent to do its job. Patients wear breath masks to breathe while submerged. Certain species, such as Rodians, experienced complications with the bacta due to their metabolism, sometimes requiring extended submersions. Lesser wounds were usually treated with a miniature bacta tank. The miniature bacta tank was a miniature version of the bacta tank for use on localized injuries. It was used during the Clone Wars on clone troopers and during the Galactic Civil War on stormtroopers who were injured in battle and were not near a medical station. Miniature bacta tanks could have been installed on walls so that a clone trooper or a stormtrooper could use it quickly and move on. That way it is quick and the next trooper could use it.”

Correct, now that were done with our lesson it’s time for a little hands on so to speak.” The instructor said as the coverings were automatically lifted revealing a patient in each student’s tank “Now, since your students, your not being entrusted with the health of your fellow troopers just yet, instead we use prisoners for this. The wounds are of various degrees of severity, and how they received these wounds are none of your concern, your only concern is the treatment.” The classroom door opened and a line of droids entered as the instructor continued “Each of you is assigned a droid to ensure the patients survivability, even though their prisoners, still we don’t want any of them dying. Now the droids will see to this that nothing will happen, basically they’ll correct any mistakes you make, however, should those mistakes be life threatening or leave the patient with any unwanted growths or abnormalities you will fail. Now let’s begin shall we.”

Koroth checked the patient’s vital signs, along with the levels of fluid, flow rate and so forth while the droid basically did nothing but double check his work Next to him Mr. Chiper was happily whistling some unknown but annoying tune appearing confident and all but ignoring his droids advice as were some of the other students. By the time the class ended, several students were dismissed for failing to prevent Bacta growths on their patients, Three, including Mr. Chipper were dismissed after their patients died. Though the droids had prevented these things from actually happening, still it was enough to fail them from the course. Those who’d allow the growths would be able to reapply at a later date, the others were effectively banned from taking the course in the future. Koroth however managed to pass, though his score wouldn’t be known until later he was none the less happy that one more obstacle had been overcome. After the class was dismissed by the instructor Koroth returned to his quarters for some much needed rest and to prepare for the next course.

OOC: Koroth
Medic Specialty
Level 2 Lesson 1: Pathology

At first the Med station seemed like a place of chaos however upon closer inspection, that is if one knew what to look for, one would see it was more of an highly organized, fast paced collection of highly trained individuals doing their jobs, which were to save lives.

“This way” an orderly said before disappearing amongst the crowd. Koroth struggled to keep up, even though his height made it easy to keep an eye on the orderly and where he was headed he still had to weave amongst the crowd as did everyone else. Everywhere doctors, medics, droids, troopers, and the wounded moved about, all with the same rushed urgency, after all this was a medical facility.

The orderly disappeared through a curtained doorway, actually more like two pieces of plastic that hung floor to ceiling with a zipper down the middle. This allowed the section to be sealed off, creating a quarantine zone of sorts, or even just another section, however it was open which meant it was just another part of the Med station. Passing through the doorway Koroth found himself in a makeshift dormitory of sorts, beds filled with every manor of wounded lined the wall, those nearest the door he noticed were had minor wounds while those on the farthest end had the more severe wounds, where the orderly was standing impatiently waiting for him.

“I heard Wookiees were slow but ..oh never mind, here’s your patient, the doc wants a full pathology report on him. He’ll be by later when he gets the chance and we can’t spare any droids to help you so you’re on your own. Here, patient history, etc, it’s all there, now get to work.” The orderly said thrusting the datapad into Koroths hands before abruptly leaving. Speechless and somewhat taken aback Koroth just stood there for a moment before looking at the datapad in his hands and then the patient. The patient was unconscious, sweating profusely and almost as pale as the sheets he was laying on, not good. After examining the chart, which stated the patient had been on a training exercise with his platoon when he’d suddenly collapsed for no apparent reason. Heat exhaustion was immediately ruled out as were a number of other possibilities based on the fact that the soldier along with his platoon had just started the exercise ten minutes before and in fact they were lined up about to board a AT-Walker when he simply passed out.

According to the medic’s notes his temp was 98 when he’d examined him on scene, by the time he’d arrived at the Med station it spiked to 103 approximately 20 minutes later. Efforts were made to bring the temperature down but as soon as they’d get it down it raised back up. Ice baths, bacta tanks, nothing had seemed to work. Bewildered as well as intrigued Koroth began an examination of the patient, no outward signs of trauma, no bruising, marks or anything else, very strange, very strange indeed. Covering the Patient back up Koroth then disengaged the locks on the beds wheels and pushed it out of the room and into the hallway. Although he was unfamiliar with this aid station, all Imperial structures were built the same way, meaning all aid stations had the same layout as did barracks etc. Maneuvering the bed through the crowd Koroth only had to growl once at someone to get them to move, finally he pushed the bed through two double doors marked MRI. Luckily it was empty, the attendant was actually getting rready to leave from the looks of it when Koroth and his patient arrived. “Sorry bub, you’ll have to come back tomorrow, departmental meeting, the Captain gets kinda riled at those who don’t attend.” The technician said as way of explanation. Koroth however could have cared less, and shoved the datapad towards the technician. The technician was about to protest, however the Wookiee and his patient were between him and the door, and besides the Wookiee didn’t seem to interested in his problems. With a frustrated sigh the technician took the data pad and started reading, by the time he was halfway down the chart he’d forgotten all about the meeting. “Why didn’t they bring him here earlier?” he wondered outloud, the Wookiee just shrugged. “Well you did good bringing him here, ok move the bed inside the box marked on the floor and then join me in the control booth.”

Koroth nodded and pushed the bed to the middle of the floor where a large rectangular box was marked out on the floor. After making sure the bed was properly placed and the wheels locked Koroth joined the technician inside the control booth. The technician typed a series of commands and a small door opened along the wall, a small round droid appeared and floated toward the bed. As the droid started scanning the patient from head to toe the technician said “you know in the old days they’d put you in this tube like structure now it’s done with droids, ah the marvels of modern medicine, eh!” Koroth simply nodded “Wait what’s that?” the tech asked pointing to a dark mass on the screen. Koroth studied it, the mass seemed to be concentrated in the patients lungs, if it was cancer it was one he’d never seen before. Ther technician typed some more commands and the droid started a more intense scan of the chosen area, the mass now appeared as a colony of living organisms, microbes of some sort. “Hyleth Virus” the tech exclaimed Koroth once more agreed however they had to be sure.

The droid extracted both blood and tissue samples and sent them off to the lab, within the hour the results were back, it was indeed Hyleth luckily they’d caught it just in time, if they’d hadn’t caught it under the 24 hour mark the patients chances would have been zero, as Hyleth grows to full mutation by then and there is no cure. Once the diagnosis had been confirmed Koroth notified the Doctor in charge of the case, though he didn’t get credit for the diagnosis (that went to the technician) he however did get praised for his quick thinking in taking the patient in for an MRI which resulted in the diagnosis. On his way out Koroth stopped by to check on the patient, the orderly reported that the patient’s temperature had returned to normal and was holding steady, and the patient was expected to recover in a matter of days. “Look, I’m sorry for my behavior..” The orderly started to apologize however Koroth had simply turned and walked away.