Therex sat behind a small desk, recalling his days at the Csilla Academy. His parents had enrolled him there to study medicine and the arts. Before his accident with his brother got him thrown out of the Academy and into prison. Now that he had joined up with the Vast Empire, he figured he would take the classes and finish his training. He squirmed a bit in his seat as the Sergeant walked in. The stiff backed, career man, started looking down the aisles critically at his students.
"You sad sack of bones are here to become the next line of combat doctors." he shouted, enunciating each word.
"People will rely on you to save their arses on the front lines. By the looks of you, I think they would be better off cutting off their own limbs and limping back to base. I hope to change that."
The Sergeant turned around and pulled out a presentation remote. As the lights dimmed a hologram popped up in the middle of the classroom.
"Let's start with basic anatomy..."
-Two weeks later-
Therex was sitting at his desk in his apartment, pouring over several books from his class. In the past two weeks, he had advanced quite a bit due to his previous experience, but it was finally catching up to him. Suddenly he heard a faint buzzing from somewhere on his desk. Sifting through his notes, he found a small datapad. It was alerting him to wake up.
Swearing, he jumped up and piled all his notes and books together. He started hopping on one foot, trying to put his boots on. About 15 minutes later, he was out the door and headed for the hospital. When he came through the door, the rest of the class was running around. Grabbing one of them, Therex pulled him aside and set his books down.
“What's going on?” he asked.
“We got sent some wounded. The combat hospitals were flooded and they needed to send some of their cases to us.”
Running over to the first person he saw, Therex threw his coat to the floor and started looking under the bandages. Blood had soaked through the first-aid gauze, and the skull looked like it had caved in at one spot. Flashing a light in his eyes, Therex noticed that his eyes were severely dilated.
“Corpsman!” Therex yelled, “Grab this man, he has a subdermal hematoma.. Get him into surgery stat.”
Running over to another one, Therex ran his hand over the guys leg. He felt the bone underneath. It had been shattered into several smaller pieces.
“Sorry buddy. You're gonna have to wait.” Therex said, giving the man a stim for the pain.
As he started towards the next case, there was a loud explosion and the whole building shook. Covering his patient, Therex kept his head down. He had plenty of experience in combat, but that was usually when he had a gun of his own and could shoot back. After cleaning his patient’s wound, Therex was about to lift the bandage to check the damage. Before he could do so, the sergeant grabbed his arm and pulled him aside.
“We need you in Pre-op. Scrub.” he said, as another shell hit, closer to the hospital.
“Looks like these guys brought the party with them.”
Therex ran into a side room and a nurse helped sterilize his hands and arms. Donning a pair of gloves, Therex used another door that led into the pre-op. Bodies were double-parked everywhere, and people were running around like mad. Choosing the stretcher closest to him, Therex checked the tag. The man had a broken arm, ribs, and possible internal bleeding. The whole building shook again, causing tiles to fall from the ceiling.
Cursing, Therex reached for a medkit. Opening it, he pulled out a roll of bandages and started wrapping the broken arm and chest. As he finished, he hit some buttons on the stretcher, kicking in the repulsors, lifting it off the ground. A couple seconds later, someone showed up and pushed him away. The surgeon's would try to stop the internal bleeding. Therex wasn't legally certified to preform surgery. He had the experience, but not the license. Changing his gloves, Therex checked the room looking for his next case.
Suddenly, he heard the loudest explosion so far. A wall caved in bringing parts of the ceiling with it. Running over, Therex started moving debris and pulling bodies out.
Great. Now we have even more people to worry about.
Dragging the last person from the crumbled remains of the wall, Therex sighed and sat the man down on some permacrete. Checking the man's pupils and ribs, he deemed him fine. Patting him on the shoulder he stood and walked over to another one.
Another shell exploded, slightly further away this time. The battle was obviously winding down. Looking out their new window, Therex could see the sun setting.
Let's hope that's the end of that.
-Three hours later-
Therex was sitting with his elbows on his knees, and his head in his hands. A man came by and offered him a cup of caf. Looking up, Therex wrinkled his nose, and shook his head. Standing slowly, he stretched out his back, and grabbed his coat. Dusting it off, he just threw it over one shoulder and headed out into the night. As the cool air hit his face, Therex's head cleared. Taking a deep breath, he stood there for a couple minutes. Looking down, he checked his watch and saw that the night was still young.
I could use a drink.
Once he got back to his apartment, Therex started rummaging through his liquor. Finally he decided on a bottle of blue liquid. It was a drink from his home planet, that he had only drank once. He still had no recollection of the weekend after. It was just what he needed. Pouring himself a glass, Therex took a sip, sat down in his chair, letting the clouds fill his mind.
