Medical Facility

[Michael Hobbar]

The Space Port was currently undergoing preperations of defences. One of the first things to be established in one of the hagers was a medical facility for the wounded. Medical personal set up a ward, cots were laid out for the wounded, and a special part of the facility would have operations behind closed curtain, over ten people could be operated at one time, the maximum number of paitents for the hanger was over seventy. Those who were far too wounded would have to be treated here first and then sent up to the navy ships for medical attention. Those who could be patched up were taken care of and told of what they could and could not do. The medical facility was set up by the Republican Army, not the Special Drop Corps.

[Deleted]

John woke up in the medical facility at the spaceport. He didn't know how long he'd been sleeping, or what happened. The last thing he remembers is hitting the ground. It was probably temporary memory loss, but he didn't want to take any risk so he called a nurse.

"Nurse, What happened! Where am I!? What am I doing here?"

"Easy flyboy, you're lucky to be alive, do you know that? Now, I'll start with the beginning. You were transporting troops to the mountains, and you were hit while you were trying to land. Several dropships already went down, and you were among the final two. So your ship was hit, you did everything in your power to take her down gently, but evidently failed. Your co-pilot --ehm, ah -- Lieutenant Williams? He died on impact. Your right leg was pierced. When the medic woke up, she pumped you full of meds, because you were stubborn and ordered her to do so because you wanted to join the fight. Before you could do anything though, the battery was destroyed by strike bombers. You went to the CP, reported in and then fell asleep. Some men casevac-ed your ass back here, a medical facility to treat the wounded. You are here because like I said, you were wounded. You might even earn a medal for it!"

"I don't want any medals, I want my mate back. We knew each other better than our mothers!"

"I understand that boy, but there's nothing you could, or could've done! now rest"

Before John could react, the nurse gave him a sedative to make him sleep. He was gonna need it.

[Elizabeth 'Firefly' Kirkwood]

WHY did people under her watch always have to go and get harmed. Lizzie was not the type to enjoy hearing that her pilots were hurt. She sighed as she made her way to the medical facility. "I need to see Aldman"

[/b] she stated flatly. "Ma'am with all due respect you can't go in.." the young man at the desk started fumbling. "With all due respect I will be let in there. Got it"[/b] she said in a very soft but disciplined manner. "Ma'am Yes Ma'am" he stated.

The woman headed off as he rambled off the room number and she slipped into the doorway quietly. The woman didn't want to wake him if he was sleeping. She was far too gentle and caring to do something brash. The woman was different, she was actually rather a submissive person. Men had never been gentle with her and it sometimes reared its ugly face, but she was trained well and knew it. The Lt. Col looked towards the Lt. and shook her head. The man had almost as much combat experience as she had. Shaking her head she sat down silently and waited for him to wake up.
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[Deleted]

After a while, John woke up, again not knowing where he was and what he was doing there. He tried to remember.

Okay, I am Lieutenant John Aldman. I have a brother and two sisters. I was born on Luna but grew up on Earth. I was on a mission, flying troops into a combat zone. We were shot down, I woke up here. Hey, wait a second, that nurse drugged me! I didn't want to sleep!

Suddenly he began to shout.

"Joker! Where is Joker! JOOOOKEEER!!"

There was no response. Was he dead? or just sleeping. He didn't even notice the woman in the chair next to him.

[Elizabeth 'Firefly' Kirkwood]

Liz heard a voice screaming. "Lieutenant"

[/b] she stated in a sharp but gentle tone. The woman wasn't scared of angry men, she had seen her share of those also. Pushing a piece of her brunette locks behind her cover she looked towards him. "It's firefly"[/b] she reminded him. Liz had known Joker too and she also knew that Joker was dead, but she wasn't the type of person to take things out in anger. Things that bothered her were taken out in her stateroom in silence.

The woman finally stood up, not being one to sit still for long she wanted to get his attention. "You need to calm down"[/b] she used a soft voice, Liz was always soft spoken and she usually shied away from men when they were mad but she wasn't frightened. It was just part of her job. She didn't get to be where she was by bending over and letting others walk all over her, she did it by standing up for herself but having enough discipline to do the job, do it right and fly like she belonged in the sky.

Though the Lt. seemed a bit like her mother when she was flipping out. Somehow she knew the answer wasn't pinning him down and shoving medication down his throat, no this was trauma induced, from grief and pain. Liz closed her eyes and took a breathe before looking back down at the dropship pilot. In this condition, she would never get him cleared back to his job. Reassigning pilots who lost their co-pilot or navigator was always hard. It had been for this reason Liz had chosen to fly alone.
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[Deleted]

"I..I, I'm sorry ma'am,it's just, I'm so full of meds, I can't remember anything from the momet of impact. Please tell them to stop giving me any, or at least make the dose smaller? Now, where is Joker? He wasn't hurt, was he?"

He just didn't know, he tried to remember, but there was nothing. As if someone had erased his mind. If they wouldn't voluntarily down his dose, he'd pull rank, and if that didn't work either, he'd get up from this bed and down his dose himself.

[Elizabeth 'Firefly' Kirkwood]

Elizabeth sighed softly. "I am not medical staff I can't make them do anything. I have tried pulling rank on them before. They seem immune to it."

[/b] she joked lightly. Liz found a bit of light in everything, but when he asked about joker her voice lost all hint of hyperness and jest. "Joker didn't survive the impact of the crash."[/b] she stated looking towards him. "There was nothing anyone could do for him. I am sorry Lieutenant"[/b] The woman hated breaking bad news but occasionally it had to be done.

The man was not the only on reeling from loss, Liz hated losing pilots under her command. The woman's facial features turned from the Lt. as she refused to let him see any of this getting through to her right now. Well that wasn't the reason. Liz had this tendency to bury things and forget about them. Things that happened 3 months ago might hit her just now. She sighed softly and went silent. What else was she supposed to say?
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[Deleted]

Joker's dead? Oh man, it should've been me! I piloted the damned thing. We knew eachother better than we knew ourselves

"will... Will he get a proper burial?"

The fact that joker was dead hit him like a train, but he had to stay strong if he ever wanted to sit in a cockpit again. He couldn't let his commander see the weakness.

"We, we knew each other since we were just little kids, we signed up together, haven't done anything without each other! We knew each other better than we knew ourselves!"

It was the truth, but he couldn't cry now, it'll have to wait.

[Elizabeth 'Firefly' Kirkwood]

Liz looked towards the man as he starting asking about burials. Speaking of burying, she was burying her own emotions on the matter at the moment. "Yes, Lieutenant"

[/b] there was a pause. "Of Course"[/b] she continued, though really she was just finishing her first sentence. Her sentence just kind of hung there, she wasn't really sure what else she could say.

The woman glanced at the box she had laid on the table when she came in. It seemed so hollow, all of it. Lizzie hated the hollow feeling of anything. Loss was a part of where she sat. The woman saw pilots come and go. Some changed career paths, others not hacking it, even more were loss to the flames. It was a treacherous path. She had been a fighter pilot. Anything could happen in the air. You had to be prepared. Gulping down the lump in her throat she couldn't think what else to say. There were no words that was the entire problem.
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[Deleted]

After a while, it was still silent, so he broke it.

Ehm, ma'am? Is there any particular reason you're down here?"

He really didn't know why, and couldn't think of anything besides him getting punished. He didn't know for what he'd get punished, he just thought he'd get punished. Probably for getting shot down or something. Though that could happen to the most experienced pilots, like him. The other pilots were 'young'. And probably just out of flight school.

He picked up the glass on the table next to the bed, and then poured a liquid in it. He always got nervous in these moments, and when he gets nervous, he has to drink something, preferably water.

[Elizabeth 'Firefly' Kirkwood]

Elizabeth shook her head and looked towards the Lieutenant. "I have a few reasons for my visit"

[/b] she said with a very small smile. It would have been a more joyful occasion had things gone differently, but that wasn't the story at the moment. Things had gone south and she had just been the messenger between McCowan and the dauntless flight crew. McCowan was not Liz's favorite person but what was anyone going to do about it.

The woman picked the two boxes and handed them to him. "I thought they were sending me in here to take your wings, but you earned yourself a set of bars Captain"[/b] she commented lightly. Leave it up to her commanding officer to do things like that much later. "They plan on your promotional ceremony being when you get out of the hospital"[/b] she added. Elizabeth seemed... distracted, albeit it wasn't like she could just forget everything that had happened. Whatever the issue, she smiled at him and saluted him. It was always appropriate to salute on officer when they were promoted, even if she still was his commanding officer. "Don't forget your hide still belongs under my command, even if you have a squadron of your own now"[/b] Leave it to Liz to crack jokes any time of the day.
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[Deleted]

What!? Captain? My own squadron?

"Ehm, what the frack did I do to deserve those? I mean, all I can recall is me just being stupid, trying to prove myself to the grunts"

He knew the tension between pilots and troopers. That's why he did what he did, to try to prove to them that pilots can also take a beating and walk away from it. That they're just as though as the troopers in the field. But captain's bars and a squadron isn't the usual reward for this kind of stupidity. Usually they'd take his wings and kick him out. No, this had to be related to something else, but he didn't know what.

[Elizabeth 'Firefly' Kirkwood]

Elizabeth simply rolled her eyes. "Don't ask me. I am just the messenger. Just know the trying to prove yourself doesn't get you anywhere. Something I learned many years ago. You have to focus to prove you can do things, not prove your stupidty. It isn't hard to see why some pilots get the name flyboy"

[/b] she was of course joking with him at the same time as being serious. "There comes a point in time where you have to leave your flyboy days behind you and man up Captain"[/b] she stated firmly.

There had to have been a better time to do this and Elizabeth really didn't think now was appropriate but she didn't think that McCowan would approve of her disregarding orders. The Lt. Col was playing messenger. Why was she playing messenger? That was not in her job description. That did not mean she did not do it, just that she hated being a messenger.

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[Marcus McCowan]

Admin NPC Post:

McCowan's aide appeared in the doorway. "The Colonel is expecting you two to report with the others." he fumbled out. The man got a look back from the Lt. Col that suggested she already knew what was going on around here. Geez, he was just doing his job in giving her a message. "There is an airlift team on standby to get you back to the others." That was the most absurd idea he had ever heard, bring the injured back to a site that could be potentionally unsafe. Why not send the drop ship closer here and have the others.. nevermind he wasn't in any position as an enlistee to speak his mind so that man simply didn't.

He watched as the Lt. Col. started to get things prepared for them to leave. Right he had to report back to the Colonel, he was to be there when the drop ship arrived, but he had other people to make sure they got the message and he had to communicate back with McCowan that his messages had indeed been delivered. The last thing he wanted to do was cross that man.