A Roll of the Dice

“Good news, Adler, Alliance gave us the green light for lift off -- it’s a short hop to Valentine, they got a medical center gonna fix you right up.” Riley took off her beret, folding it over her shoulder as she entered the medbay. “You ready for that shot yet?”

Fortunately, Vas’ help had restored the doc’s dignity before Lt. Riley could arrive...apparently with further good news. “If they’ve got a surgeon on site,” Dorian sighed, “that does mah heart some good..”

He lay upon the treatment table, his back raised to permit sitting up. His robe was tied about his waist, its’ full length permitting two white calves to extend toward the table’s foot. The thoughtful Vas had also presented him with ice that Dorian used sparingly upon the increasingly sensitive facial fracture. *A medical center,* he thought. Given the diagnosis, more blessed news couldn’t come. Knowing that outcome, Dorian could permit Riley to send him off to morpheus’ care for the time being. “What’s our ETA?” he asked the Lieutenant.

“Straight shot I think we can make it in a little over 76 hours. Shave an hour or two depending on what Devron can max us off at, and it’s a core planet, I can near guarantee you a surgeon, but I’ll call ahead to get us some lead time. You’ll have another cheek to turn in no time. Speaking of cheeks -- ” She held up the sedative she’d busied herself to draw. Flight training took precedence over all else in the academy, meaning first aid was limited to the basics. Sure she’d set broken noses and relocated shoulders over the years, mostly from minor skirmishes the crew would find themselves in. For the most part, all training consisted of administering painkillers or performance enhancers until someone qualified could take over.

Dorian loosed a heavy sigh. “Ah knew it was too good tah be true,” he said quietly. “Lieutenant,” the medic said earnestly, “Vas was just in. He helped me diagnose mah injury. Tha right zygomatic...mah cheekbone,” he gestured with a circling index finger, has been broken free. Not so bad all by itself, but unfortunately when it was forced inward it also fractured mah right orbital floor. That’s tha solid bone in tha bottom of mah eye socket,” he continued. “Some of tha bone fragments went further in...lying between tha remaining orbital floor and mah right eye.” To illustrate his point, he offered the ultrasound with its’ glowing screen. “That’s a serious problem,” he said as she studied the imagery.

Riley tilted her head to the side studying the image. “Serious problem as in that there ain’t nothing holding your eye in that socket but gravity, or how serious are we talking?”

Dorian nodded. “That’s serious,” he agreed, “but see those bits there? Jagged pieces of bone, between mah eye and tha remaining orbital floor.” He pointed out the more pronounced points of light in the overall mud of the scanner display. “The longer they remain, tha greater the chance they’ll puncture mah eyeball, or sever tha optic nerve altogether.” He laid the unit down at his side. “If Ah stay awake, ah can control tha motions somewhat. But sleep...any sleep...an’ Ah risk rapid eye movement,” Dorian concluded. “We may hold off on tha finer parts of this surgery til’ Valentine, but until those fragments come out Ah’m at risk of losing that eye.”

Riley bit the inside of her cheek, staring at the Ultrasound. Even if they were to find Serrano, there’d be no telling if he’d have anyone nearby, qualified, or willing to help. And they’d just sealed up that can of worms, She wasn’t keen on unsealing it, but she also wasn’t opposed if it’d save his sight. Losing an eye was a bitter pill to swallow, but to a pilot? A gunslinger? A doctor? Loss of depth perception was endgame.

“I don’t want to be insensitive to the situation, I’ll get us there as fast as the ship will take us, but there’s a reason we take a doc along - shit holes like Ezra, I have a better chance of finding a drink the captain ain’t took a liking to than I do finding anyone qualified on Ezra.”

Of course she was right; this was the devil’s bargain of a life in the black. Dillon had already chosen this roll of the dice. Now, the throw was Dorian’s. “Ah understand tha circumstances,” he said as the options weighed upon him. “From what Ah can tell, seventy-six hours means a definite loss of tha eye,” he continued. “There’s two alternatives tah waiting it out. We either pop tha eye right out of its’ socket an’ pray they’ve got an opthalmologist, or we do some of tha surgery ourselves.”

Riley raised both of her eyebrows. “I know you were hit in the head pretty hard, but the only one person we have remotely qualified to do that is the guy hit in the head pretty hard. You can’t operate on yourself. I can give you a shot so you won’t feel a thing, but unless one of my deckhands is running away from paying student loans at med school, how do you propose we do that?”

His head lowered. “Not without some difficulty,” Dorian nodded. “Simply put, Ah’ll need two pairs of hands...steady hands...and cool heads. Beyond that,” he lifted his gaze to meet the lieutenant’s eyes, “tha rest is up tah me. Ah’ll be awake, and Ah’ll direct tha operation.”

“What are the risks? If this is a toss up between losing an eye and something that might punch your card for good, the latter isn’t an option.”

Typically, he’d take the moment to tease Riley for an uncharacteristic display of concern.*Not this time,* he thought as he read genuine worry in her eyes. “If it all goes tah hell,” Dorian replied, “Ah lose an eye either way...but tha surgery itself isn’t life threatening. Howevah it turns out, we can have a proper surgeon on Valentine complete the job. All Ah intend tah do,” he said, “is remove tha threat.”

Riley mulled it over momentarily, rubbing the back of her neck. “If we could remove the -- no I guess we can’t. What if we keep you from-- no, that wouldn’t work either. Well, shit.”*Shit.*Captain was ruled out, all that booze left him with a permanent shake. She needed to be in the cockpit. *Shit.*“All right. I’m gonna get us underway before the alliance changes their minds. In the meantime, I’ll get you your four steady hands. Once we break atmo, we’ll do what we can. But if this goes sideways at all? The op stops, we get you where we’re going and figure it out from there.”

“Yah have mah word,” he nodded his affirmation. “Once we’re away, if yah could send ‘em along we’ll all prepare together.”

“I best not regret this.” She warned, looking at the sonogram a final time. “We’ll get you a real doc soon, Adler, but in the meantime,” no words of comfort sprang to mind, and trying to find them was burning daylight. “I’ll send them your way.”

Dorian offered a nod. “Thank yah, Riley,” he said quietly. “Thank yah.”

The Doc being serious was a rare enough sight that it could have potentially been unnerving., In lieu of responding, she dropped her beret back on her head and lightly patted his shoulder before heading to the galley to break the news to the ‘surgeons.’