Page 31 of Star-Crossed Captive
“Trauma,” she replied with a hint of pride.
“Shit. We’re getting incoming trauma patients. They’d usually be redirected to the main trauma center, but since you’re here—”
A chute opened in the bulkhead. Three hover beds rolled inside via an automated system with two teenagers and one child in stasis.
Nia’s body tensed. The boy, the youngest of them, was covered in blood. The medics turned wide eyes on her. From what she’d seen so far, they didn’t have enough training to work with these patients. Maybe they’d been sent here because the main trauma center was already overrun.
Silence echoed in the room, disconcerting while paired with the crimson lights, like the four of them were bathed in blood like the patients.
Time.Every triage doctor knew time was the biggest factor when treating trauma patients. And these three might not have any left.
Nia’s training took over. “Kill the alarm.” She strode to the hover beds. Burns covered the girls’ bodies, and their stasis only had minutes left on the clock.
“You,” Nia said, pointing to Faas. “Take this one. Give her a sedative immediately upon exiting stasis. Start with the worst of the burns using a broad-spectrum regenerator set to level—” Nia checked the girl’s stats again, “five point two six. Plug her into fluid and blood transfusions. By the time you get to the first-degree burns, your regenerator should be at about three point three one. Once all the burns are healed, cover all affected areas with two layers of regeneration gauze.”
Nia went over to the other hover bed. “And you,” she said pointing to Mayra. “You do the same with the other girl but start the regenerator at six point one.”
They both stood staring at her, jaws dropped.
“Move,” Nia ordered between clenched teeth. They jerked out of their daze, scampering to the beds. When they took the girls out of stasis, momentary cries of pain and alarm echoed before they were put under.
Nia gestured to Kessy. “You’re going to help me with the boy.”
The panel on the side of the bed read his name was Kilian and he was ten years old. The leg had been newly amputated, but from his stats, the work had been done quickly and without skill.
“It’s a dirty wound,” Kessy said, reading the panel on the other side of the bed.
Nia dropped the stasis field, glad the boy was sedated. Kessy plugged him into the hydration and blood transfusion portals without her having to ask.
“Retrieve a dose of nanos to remove the infection while I re-cut the limb.” Kessy hurried to the dispensary on the bulkhead. “We’re going to need to remove all the shattered bone in the wound,” Nia said when the assistant returned. “Do you have access to prosthetics limbs on this station?”
Kessy injected the nanos. “Yes, but—”
“Good. We’ll need to keep it open flap for the bonding process. A PK576 model or whatever equivalent you have here would be best for his age.”
“Yes, sir,” Kessy replied with wide eyes.
“You can call me Nia.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kessy placed a tray of laser scalpels beside Nia then used the sterilizer at the end of the hover bed. Nia did the same before examining the tray, selecting the appropriate scalpel, testing its charge.
After taking a quick look at the other two medics to make sure they were doing as told, Nia returned her attention to the boy. Kessy removed the remainder of his pants, then held his thigh immobile.
Nia focused, everything else fading into the background as she began her first incision.
A strangled sound made her lift the scalpel.
“She’s CORE!” a new voice shouted, then she went flying through the air.
Mace strode toward Nia’s medical bay, recently notified she’d received trauma patients from the inbound transports. He didn’t doubt her skills as a surgeon, but something made him quicken his pace.
In the last corridor, a man entered the med bay ahead of him. A moment later, someone shouted.
Battle readiness licked up his spine. Mace ran the rest of the way, touching his vambrace to summon a security team. He bounded into the med bay, his first thought to make sure Nia was okay.
She lay on the deck beside a hover bed. His heart lurch in his chest, rage darkening his vision. She wasn’t moving and blood smeared across her temple. A medic crouched beside her as two others restrained a man who looked ready to assault Nia again.
