After the Crash
Posted on Fri Feb 11th, 2022 @ 6:25pm by Ranger Blue & Captain Luka Mahone & Cornelius Warner MS & Lieutenant Gunnar Arnason
Edited on on Sat Feb 12th, 2022 @ 9:34am
1,291 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
What Lies Ahead, Between, and Behind
Location: Haumean Woodlands
Timeline: Before 'Roll With It' - 1430 hours
Ranger had found that setting the bone regenerator on his clavicle with one useful hand was near impossible. He had tried three times and was growing more and more frustrated. The pain, despite the hypospray full of medications had barely touched his pain. He felt the device clatter to the ground a fourth time and leaned back against the shuttle’s ruined hull.
Despite it being midday, the dense woods were dark, much darker than the areas within his sight line. They were almost brilliant with the day’s sun. He grit his teeth, cursed under his breath and reached for the bone generator again. When he looked up, he was no longer alone.
"Hold still," Gunnar said, checking a medical tricorder to check the extent of injuries. Fractures, lacerations, radiation exposure, concussion, some internal bleeding and ...quite a lot... of pain killer in his system, but fortunately no spinal compromise that would require getting out the back board to move him. "I'm Lt. Arnason. I was out on a survey when I saw your ship come down. It's leaking theta radiation so we need to get you out of here," he explained, even as he climbed in and started to lift the man into a fireman's carry.
Ranger felt himself pulled up and over the other man’s shoulder. He grunted with the pain, suppressing an audible cry of pain for a little more than the satisfaction of a grunt. ‘Theta radiation? he wondered silently. His own tricorder hadn’t picked that up.
Suddenly, he broke out in a heavy flop sweat. Those stars and blackness that had threatened earlier now consumed him. No longer could he keep back the threat of unconsciousness. His eyes rolled back and his body went limp.
Gunnar knew the moment the man was about to pass out and adjusted his grip. Carry people out of enough disasters and you got a feel for that sort of thing; it was helpful, especially when climbing down the side of a wreck. But since the man was out and no longer feeling pain with movement, he could move faster. Jumping the last half meter to the ground, he ran back to the truck, far enough to be outside the zone affected by the leak.
After laying the man down, he quickly administered treatment for radiation, first to the patient, then to himself. His own exposure had been brie, and the ship's interior seemed to have had decent shielding, but better to be safe. The next priorities were ABC - airway, bleeding, cardiac. Rerunning the initial scan in case the radiation had interfered, Whatever had caused the crash, the ship's crash safety system had not been compromised - it had shifted full inertial damping to a small bubble surrounding the passenger's head and torso to protect the brain and vital organs. There was some damage, but more like being throw from a hoverbike than crashing a vehicle at entry speed into a planet. He applied vertazine for the concussion, then treatment for shock and dehydration before moving on to the fractures. As he began administering aide, he opened a comm. "Haumea, this is Arnason. I'm at the crash site." He had no doubt Ops was aware a ship had plunged to the planet. "On casualty, alive. Fractures, crash trauma. I'm going to stabilize and bring him in."
The comms came back a little broken and choppy, scrambled slightly by the radiation leaking nearby. //"Arnason, this is Colonel Bradley in Ops, we have a Marine transport that was nearby that'll be on station in a minute or less, colony medical transport is one-five minutes out to your location.\\" there was a pause as the Colonel was clearly talking to someone else. //"Lieutenant I confirmed, Marines are not carrying a Medic, and the radiation is scrambling transporters, we can't pull you out. Are you okay to continue to provide first response aid?\\"
"Understood, Colonel. Your assistance appreciated," Gunnar replied as he examined the clavicle fracture, frowning. It was half set but misaligned. That would need to be rebroken. "I'm a medical officer, I can handle it until they arrive."
One could hear the Marine transport before it arrived, flying low and slow over the tree line, keeping a steady pace. The tops of the trees were whipped into a fury as the craft's engines pushed it into a hover, the force of which causing the chaos above. Thick braided lines dropped to the surface, and soon eight Marines were on the ground moving quickly towards Gunnar, their sidearms drawn as they scanned the surroundings. These were not the armored, or even battle dressed marines most were used to seeing, but merely the duty uniformed ones, who themselves looked just as out of place in this situation as the nearby medical officer had been. First Lieutenant Kristian Erikson locked eyes with Arnson and looked down to his incapacitated friend. Where most would wear a commbadge, a small Marine transmitter sat instead, him tapping it twice he watched as the ropes ripped back up to the craft and it pulled off looking for a clearing to touch down in.
"Sorry doc," the Marine said, slipping into the Marine term for a medic with ease, "She's too fat to put down here, once we have an LZ we'll get it down, but for now it's just us eight." The 1LT turned back to his team, and gestured with a wide sweeping motion, as they fanned out and began to search. Kristian pulled just backpack around from his back and dropped it to the ground - it was mostly full of survey gear, but strapped to the top molle connection was a bright red Medic bag. "I'm useless with this stuff, Sithav is the closest we have here to a medic, but if you need anything the kit is yours," he added, nodding towards the Andorian who was scanning the scene.
"No worries. There's room in my truck to lay him down once I handle the breaks and get him stable. I can drive him to wherever you can put that big bird down," Gunnar replied, having looked up from working on that just long enough to identify the person in charge and assure himself that no one running around with guns drawn was going to get trigger happy. "You can hang onto your bag. I appreciate the offer, but I always have an emergency kit with me, especially after seeing what can pop up in less explored territory out here."
He paused a moment, pulling quikset temporary casts from his kit and checking that the man was still well and truly out before he began to set bones. "You should probably secure the crash site. There's a theta radiation leak, so take precautions," he told the marine. and offered a brief smile. "But I probably don't have to tell you that."
Private Samuels jumped out of the Marine transport. He rushed to the doctor’s side and knelt down. “I’ll help you get the patient to the transport, sir. Then we can get you to transport range.”
"Thank you, Private." Gunnar rechecked the casts and the patient's readings, then pulled out what looked like a small scroll but with a couple efficient motions was pulled and unrolled to a simple stretcher. "Onto the stretcher." He moved to a position to grip the man's shoulders, letting the marine get into position at the legs. "On three.."
Within moments the patient was loaded in the flatbed. Gunnar hopped up beside him and closed the back, signaling the marine to drive them to the transport. "Don't worry," he told the unconscious man. "You'll be in good hands here."
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