AWF Chpt 118

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=Chapter 118=
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===Reunion under less desired conditions===
Black Lion Class Battlecruiser, CSS Veil of Light
Jump Point
St. Ives System, St. Ives Compact
June, 3030
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Hap leaned back on the cot built into the bulkhead and rested his back against the metal surface. The warship happened to have a brig with two large prison cells. The ROM agents had segregated the men and women into the two cells. Hap watched as Doc Leslie worked on Mags shoulder. Doc Leslie and Roweyna had alternated between cajoling and threatening the guards until they allowed Leslie to have her medical pack and give first aid to anyone that had been hurt in the fire fight.
The crew of the Phaidin were gathered in the two cells. Hap was surprised how few they were. Two of crew were killed in the shoot out in cargo bay and Anastasia had been press-ganged into helping their captors but the rest of the crew and the mechwarriors were jammed together. The crew of the Tir na nOg were on their own vessel. This meant Hap wouldn't have much help from them, but they'd have to make sure and get their ship undocked before they could do the same for the Phaidin.
Hap watched Leslie work. In the fire exchange with the ROM Mags had been hit in the shoulder. Hap had also taken a laser bolt to the forearm. He didn't realize it during the fight, he had also caught a few laser bolts in the hands and the armor, but the laser bolt in the arm was really bothering him now. As they were getting ready Anastasia had insisted he wear the armored gloves in case the fight came down to what she referred to as "pugilism". It hadn't come to that, but his gloves now had laser holes and burns. So, Hap was glad he had listened to his wife.
In addition to the laser burns and holes, Hap's plate carrier was also embedded with flechettes. He had always heard a needler was murder at point blank range, but any armor would stop it cold. Hap was also surprised he didn't feel the trauma of being punched in the chest, but lasers and flechettes didn't have the same mass as slugs, and so they didn't cause blunt trauma. Thank heaven for little favors Hap thought cynically.
Hap glanced across the cell at Henry. He looked uncomfortable, "You okay, brother?"
"Caught one in the side. That pansy-ass engineer stomped me foot, and turned us." Henry lifted his shirt to show a couple laser burns around his ribs and side. "If it were ye, I'd be worried, but I've had worse times jest takin' a lady on date." Henry gingerly pulled his shirt back down.
Doc Leslie carefully pealed back half of Mags' bandage. "You're next Henry." Leslie put the bandage back down, and glanced over at Joker, "You do this?"
Joker walked over to the bars and nodded, "Yeah Hap sent me to the Lance Combat Lifesaver course. I always thought it was to get rid of me for two weeks."
"It was." Hap glanced between the two cells at Selene's kennel. She looked at him and gave a soft woof. He was glad the ROM agents had decided not jettison Selene even if she was stuck in her kennel.
Leslie smoothed out the bandage, "Apparently the AFFS military has a good medic program." She squeezed Mag's good shoulder, "Keep the bandage on and it should heal in a few weeks."
Leslie walked over to the prison door, "Alright, let me get into the cell with the gentlemen."
The two guards exchanged looks. "They don't seem hurt that bad." The taller guard said.
"Are you a doctor?" Leslie snapped, "Let me make sure. Because, if someone dies, how are you going to explain to the captain of this vessel, that you had a doctor and you wouldn't let her do her job?" Leslie's tone was like talking to children.
The men seemed hesitant but ordered everyone to stand back before they opened the door. Then they nearly pulled Doc Leslie out of the cell, and walked her the few steps to the other cell. Then the guards secured the ladies cell before ordering all the men away from the door and letting the doctor into the men's cell.
Doc Leslie approached Henry first. She sat down next to him as she dug in her bag and had him hold up his shirt. "Well this looks bad, but you're right, you tend to get stabbed, so this probably isn't much worse than your average Saturday night."
"Not stabbed, slashed mum. It's always some wee fella with somethin' to prove. He gets a few surprise slashes at me afore I put him on his ass."
"Right." Leslie said as she gently felt around Henry's wounds, "Either way I'm just glad I'm not having to sew you up." She pulled out a stethoscope, put it on his back, and had him take a few deep breaths. She moved the stethoscope around Henry's back and chest as she tried to ensure that the laser wounds were superficial. Hap noticed the guards were watching Leslie and not paying attention to the women behind them in their cell. Tasja was carefully manipulating the combination lock on Selene's kennel.
Leslie put the stethoscope away and pulled out an aerosol canister and a small tube. She used the aerosol canister to apply a topical pain reliever to Henry's wounds, and then opened the tube and dabbed an antibiotic cream, designed for laser burns, onto Henry's wounds. When she was done she wrapped a large bandage around the wounds. "I'll check that again in a few hours. Let me know if you start feeling anything odd on the inside." Henry nodded and reclined on the bed.
Leslie walked over to Hap, "What's your damages, Harold?" Leslie seemed to be in a good mood and was uncharacteristically nice. Usually she treated most of the mechwarriors with something between clinical detachment and boredom. She also had a reputation for sedating patients that were non-compliant or belligerent toward her.
Hap stretched out his arm, "I caught a laser bolt here, and I think I got hit in the hands."
"Laser or needler?"
"Uh pretty sure it was laser." Hap said.
Leslie sat down next to him and began to dig through her medical bag. "If you had been hit by a needler you'd know." She looked at the burns in his hands. "This doesn't look too bad. We're you wearing armored gloves?"
"They were re-enforced."
Leslie nodded, "That makes sense. It seems like a lot of people generally aim either center mass or for the muzzle flash." She pulled out the same small spray canister and tube that she had used on Henry and put them next to Hap. Wordlessly she also pulled out a hypodermic needle and a small glass jar. She shoved the needle into the jar's rubber lid, filled the needle and then set them next to Hap.
"I'm not planning to give you any trouble." Hap said.
"I'm sure you won't" Leslie said as she gave the aerosol can a good shake.
"So people often get shot in the hands during a fire fight?"
Leslie nodded, "Yes. I'm not sure if it's military training or psychology or maybe people are aiming for the point that is the brightest, which I guess would be psychology or physiology. Whatever the case, a lot of people get shot in the hands, at least if they have a standing 'shoot out' with another person." Leslie took the lid off the canister and sprayed Hap's arm. Immediately the painful burning feeling was replaced by a cool almost refreshing sensation.
"Be glad this was a laser. I think the first time I saw needler pistol effects on hands I thought the guy had shoved his hands into a meat grinder." Leslie said as she pulled out a field bandage. "Of course, that was when I was working at a mining claim in the periphery. Those idiots would get drunk and put their hands into a meat grinder just to prove they were tough."
"Really?" Hap said, "How'd you become a doctor in a mercenary unit?"
Leslie took the tube of antibiotic cream and applied cream to Hap's arm. "I don't think any of you mech jocks have ever asked me that."
She pulled the dressing from its sterile seal and with a smart snap opened it up and pressed it to Hap's arm. "In order to pay for medical school I had agreed to be the doctor for a missionary clinic in the periphery. I had visions of some little villages on the fringe of the known galaxy. I was sure they had cute little farms and they were good hard working people who just wanted to be left alone. I was trained to be an OB-GYN and I wanted to make sure all those women and their babies got the best medical care I could provide."
Doctor Leslie wrapped bandage on Hap's arm, "what actually happened was I found myself at a mining concern with almost no women, and because I was just out of medical school, and trained to be a 'lady doctor' the miners didn't have much confidence in me. The few farmers or ranchers also used me as a vet, which just further confused my role."
"You were part of a missionary clinic, was the missionary helping you?"
"Well, the actual missionary impregnated one of the few eligible bachelorettes, but then refused to marry her. He claimed he had taken a vow of chastity and even though he had broken it, he still had to live by it. Honestly, it was utter nonsense to everyone, so the farmers and miners nearly ran us all off."
"Damn, but how did you get from there to here?" Joker said.
"One day a lance of 'mechs dropped out of the sky and hit the mine's main warehouse and storage facilities. The miners had a few old tanks and I think they had some way to attach a few anti-mech weapons to a couple of their mining mechs. They were used to defending themselves from the occasional pirate raiding party."
"I'm guessing they weren't used to semi-disciplined mercenaries in well maintained 'mechs that moved with speed and precision." Hap said.
"They were not." Leslie said as she finished tying off the field dressing. "However, one of the miners got a lucky shot in and hit a 'mech in the cockpit. Kelly brought in this kid that was…he was in bad way. I think he had more injuries than I had ever seen outside of a mine collapse. Multiple broken bones, broken ribs, punctured lung, multiple contusions, internal bleeding. Trauma and shrapnel in all the worst places."
"Shit! Did he eat an autocannon round?" Joker asked
"Don't know. I don't really get into the specifics of how you all make messes of yourselves, I'm just here to fix you up. All I knew is whatever hit the cockpit turned it into a hurricane full of pieces of metal, glass, and plastics that all seemed to find something soft and inconvenient to bury themselves into." Leslie was lost in thought for a moment, "Although I've learned a few things, Hap here probably got hurt trying to push Anastasia out of the line of fire."
"How'd you know that?"
"The laser bolt struck the underside of your forearm. If you were gripping your weapon like when these other laser bolts hit you, you'd have been hit on the upper part of the arm."
"Yeah, she was trying to get a good clean shot on Tempes, and wasn't paying attention when one of the guys at the door was sighting her down. I saw the red dot slowly trace its way to her, and I pushed her down."
"You're a good man, Hap." Leslie said then paused, "Sorry I'm thinking about my own husband and daughter, and it makes me a little sentimental." Leslie glanced toward the guard, then shook her head.
Leslie looked over Hap's hands and pulled another tube of antibiotic cream "So I spent hours trying to dig out all the foreign objects and sew back together this young man, and as the sun began to rise the miners started to notice that there are 'mechs parked outside my clinic. They may not have been real bright, but they were smart enough to start drawing some conclusions, and none of them were good for me."
"Was an angry mob with pickaxes and torches starting to gather." Joker asked.
"I was elbow deep in guts, so I don't know, but probably. Whatever was happening Kelly realized it was time to go and so he tried to hurry me along. One of the things I remembered most I thought this 'mech warrior was Kelly's son, but it turned out to be just one of his hires. Even I, for all my clinical training and newly learned cynicism, was touched how he was making sure I was taking care of him. Once I got his warrior stabilized and Kelly asked what he owed me."
"What was the goin' rate for fixin' up one of father's rogues?" Roweyna asked from the other cell. "Also which rogue was it?"
"Hook, hmm, I mean Jerry." Leslie had to think hard, "I don't exactly miss patching that guy up, but that was a hard day when we lost him on Klathandu." She shook her head, "I told your father he had to take me away. The miners were already skeptical of me, but now they had reason to hate me, and I always hated it there. If he left me there, I'd be done, one way or another."
"But yer, then future husband, Morgan was already workin' for dad."
"Right and that's what he told me, but he also admires my work, and he recognizes the bad position he's placed me in. I told him that I'm actually an OB/GYN. If he could just get me off world and some place civilized I'd be fine, but all I wanted was to get off planet. Kelly told me that being an OB/GYN with this sort of surgical experience changed things. He started to tell me how he was running a "family" operation and letting his mechwarriors bring their spouses and children along."
Hap nodded, "How'd you end up marrying Morgan."
"That's a story for another day." Leslie put the tubes and can back in her bag, but subtly palmed the hypodermic needle. "Your hands look fine, just some burns. Good call wearing those gloves. Now, though, I think it's time to go." She stood up and walked over to the prison doors. "I'm ready for you to let me out."
The guards ordered all the men back, and both of them watched the men move. Hap watched as Tasja reached through the bars and unlocked Selene's kennel.
Leslie slipped past the partially opened door, but as she walked past the guard nearest her she buried the hypodermic needle in his thigh and squeezed all the sedative into his leg. He cursed and reached for her as went down hard on the deck.
Tasja flipped the hasp on the Kennel and the Coyote burst out of the kennel and ran straight at the second guard. He took a step back and put his arm out to defend himself as he pulled out his stun stick and raised it high over his head.
Dymitry rushed to help and reached through the bars to grab the guards wrist and pulled him hard into the bars. As he tried to get his feet back under him Selene lunged at him and clamped her teeth vice-like on his arm. Dymitry forced the guard's arm to bend at a painful angle and pushed the stunstick into his neck then crushed the man's hands until it activated. The guard fell hard next to his companion.
Leslie palmed the button to open the Ladies cell as the men got into the passage between the two cells. Roweyna looked around. "Brilliant work, Doctor, and Tasja, and that was quick thinking on yer part Dymitry. Alright, Hap I'm certain you'll want to get Anastasia, On yer way, if ye'd be so kind, disable the warships engines and weapon systems. The rest of us will get the Phaidin prepped, and I'll let my father know what we've done."
"Understood. Mags, Joker, I could use your help." Hap said.
"Let me join you." Henry said. He was moving a little gingerly, but he had a look about him that he wasn't going to let being shot slow him down.
"You good?" Hap asked
"These bastards killed my lads, took the people I call family captive, their usin' yer wife, one of the few nobles I like, to make her do things to make this vessel nastier. Oh, I'm far from good, boyo."
"They also shot you." Joker pointed out.
Henry looked at Joker like he was about to murder him, then smiled, "Aye. How could I forget? That's one more debt I owe 'em."
Leslie dug into her bag and pulled out a bottle of pills. She opened the bottle and shook out two pills, "Here take these Henry, they'll make you feel invincible so try not to push yourself too hard."
Henry popped the pills in his mouth and swallowed them whole. "Thanks, mum."
"Alright Henry, Mags, Joker, let's go." Hap whistled, "Selene, you too."
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