Artem City
Shore Farm - Outer City Limits
135th year - January 15th
"Helo's down in - three…." First Airman Canlas rasped over comms, her voice
cold and unyielding, every bit the pilot she was.
Niko braced himself by the door. This was now or never. One chance to get
out, get to his patient, and do his job. Heat or sand be damned.
"You with me?" Dave shouted barely audible over the deafening whine of the
helicopter's engines.
"I'm ready, are you with me?" Niko bounced back.
"I got your back. Don't you worry." Dave grinned as he patted his fully
equipped medical board, his gear ready to go.
"Two…" Canlas said.
Niko's hand flexed on the door. He wasn't ready, not really, not this early in
the day. But a call was a call, no matter the time.
They'd just been sitting around as usual. Then that alarm had gone off, and
they'd all ran for it, even the pilot he had today, whom he'd only flown with a
couple of times pelted across to their helo in record time, still tugging on her flight
suit.
Third time's the charm, right? he thought.
"One!"
The bump as the helo downed almost had Niko falling, but his grip was solid,
and in the next moment the door was open, and he was running full bore toward
his patient.
The suffocating dust and blistering heat invaded his lungs, but Niko's boots
tore across the treacherous terrain before the sun's fury could sear another breath
from him.
Why the fuck were they out near this terrain anyway. The mind boggled. It was
winter, it shouldn't be this hot….
Ahead of him, desperate figures waved frantically. One sprawled on the
ground, two others down with him, and then he saw the blood. There was so much
blood. How can there be so much…. Impossible.
Niko dumped his bag and fell to his knees, the blood soaking through them
already. This was about as dire as it got. This wasn't just a normal medic run, this
was cat one. Highest importance, and his need the greatest.
"Sitrep?" Canlas asked.
"Raise the ante. Cat number one." He sent to her without hesitation.
"On it," Canlas replied.
"Talk me through what happened," Niko said and reached for the bloodied
wrist of the young man who was flat out before him.
"Chief Master Sergeant Drust," someone said behind him. "Twenty-eight,
blood pressure's 80/48…"
The Chief Master Sergeant's was cold and clammy. Niko needed HUD access
and fast. He needed to see what was really going on, at least the worst of it.
"Too low," Niko said and noted more details around him. Not just his patient's
uniform or stripes.
"Vota came in," a young woman to Niko's right said. "We… none of us stood
a chance… He got in the way, before his teams got back to us."
Niko glanced around. Vota here, now… Holy shit. He'd never seen them up
close, and he didn't want to right now. They were killers. The amount of blood
here reflected that thought. "They're gone?"
"Yes," said someone else to his left. "He has two major injuries to the right
arm and left leg."
Without another thought, Niko grabbed his bag and yanked out his gear. "Let
me see."
"He's losing too much blood," the woman cried.
Niko glanced over at the young man. Yeah, it was a lot of blood loss, maybe
twenty to thirty percent. He didn't know how much time the sergeant had, but it
was running out fast. There was no way they could move him without him seeing
how bad this really was though.
"Dee," he said as his friend fell on the other side of their patient. "IV and fluids.
Get a line in where you can."
"On it," his friend replied, pulling equipment off the board and from his bag.
Niko took out his scissors and then his packs, which he quickly spread out on
the floor. "I need to see," he said and with deft skill cut up the young man's leg
before him. He caught the other man's eyes with his. "Do it."
The man lifted the bandage he'd been pressuring on the leg. Niko got one look
before he shoved it back down. One slight spurt of blood, his pressure was low,
but that could be just how he was in general. Fit. The majority of them were.
"Okay," Niko reacted. "I need to sort that out before I do anything else. Fluids,
now."
"I'm trying!" Dave said, but his friend's voice and hands shook. "Line going
in now."