"Rannon is a forest planet," the robotic voice of the navigation device said in a garbled tone as it died in Gail's Stormtrooper helmet. The crash had left Gail barely conscious but she managed to open her eyes.
"No fuck! That would explain all the trees that I fell through," she grumbled before passing out.
~A short time and a classy radial transition later :P ~
Pain. Unspeakable pain. That is what Gail felt as she drifted in and out of consciousness, her body silently screaming as she tried to breathe. She knew that her time on this godforsaken forest planet would be short. This thought came as a relief to her as a violent cough tore through her, causing her to blackout again.
The next time Gail woke, she knew something was different. Her armor had been removed, and she was in a tent of sorts, but more importantly, she could breathe again.
"Don't you dare move and rip out your stitches!" A female voice said from the other side of the small tent. "It took me over an hour to put in your chest tube and keep you from bleeding out." Gail tried to lift her head but was too weak to do so and felt exhausted from the effort. It was then she felt a soothing hand press down on her shoulder. "Go ahead and sleep, trooper. You're safe here," the now quiet voice insisted as Gail drifted off. She tried to fight it, her training demanded that she fight it, but it was a losing battle.
/
Relief swept through the physician's apprentice as she watched over the young blonde who slept soundly. Holly hadn't been sure that the trooper would even wake up after finding her in such a broken state.
She leaned back against the crate that she used as a nightstand and reflected back on the events of the day.
~A few hours earlier~
She heard an explosion, and watched as a New Order transport ship shot through the sky and broke apart as it lost altitude. The ground had shook with such force when the largest part of the ship hit that she almost toppled over.
She knew that survivors were unlikely but that was never going to stop her from looking. They might be the enemy but they were still people. After all, as a physician in training, Holly had taken an oath to help those in need of medical attention.
It took Holly over an hour to reach the crash site. The smell of smoke and death was thick in the air and it was making her eyes water. But she was determined and pushed through her discomfort. It didn't take her long to figure out that the crash had been devastating after searching the area. And it was with a heavy heart that she decided it was time to go, that finding any survivors was a lost cause.
But when she turned to leave and make her way back to her camp, she heard a faint cry a little ways off, deeper into the woods. Holly didn't take any time to think, she just acted, and rushed towards the sound. What she found was a Stormtrooper crumpled on the ground, their white armor stained with blood and blackened from smoke. She could tell from the raspy sounds that they were having difficulty breathing. And while she didn't want to risk further injury, she had no choice but to remove their helmet.
As gently as she could, Holly pulled their helmet off, and as she did, her own breathing stopped. The woman that had been wearing the helmet was stunning. Even with her short blonde hair matted with blood and her face covered in soot, Holly could tell that she was beautiful. But now wasn't the time to admire her, not when the woman's life was teetering on the edge.
Piece by piece, Holly removed the armor, careful not to make a life-threatening move. Ear to chest, she listened to the blonde breathe before concluding that she had a collapsed lung and wasn't getting enough oxygen. Having watched her mentor do the procedure a dozen times, it was now ingrained Holly's memory. But seeing it and doing it were two completely different things.
With a shaky breath, Holly opened her kit and found a blade and sterile tube. She counted the ribs, finding the intercostal space that she needed, and after giving herself a short pep talk, cut into the flesh with precision.
Swapping the blade for the tube, Holly winced at the animalistic noise the blonde made as she shoved the tube into place. It took a second but once the blonde's breathing started to normalize, Holly relaxed and continued on with her examination.
She noted several gashes, and it was clear that the blonde's ulna and radius were broken. But Holly couldn't be certain of the extent of her internal injuries. So she did the only thing she could think of. She made a makeshift skiff and loaded the trooper onto it and started the long journey back to her camp.
It took several hours to navigate a clear path to the camp but Holly couldn't bring herself to leave the injured woman and bring the camp to her. It wasn't easy to patch her up. There were so many wounds that needed stitches and there wasn't a sliver of skin that wasn't bruised or marred in someway.
Holly was torn from her thoughts as her patient woke again, groaned and fell back to sleep. Holly smiled in spite of her exhaustion. Her patient was a fighter, and now, because of her, the beautiful woman had a chance to live.
As Holly studied the sleeping woman, she couldn't help but be curious. Judging by her face, the blonde couldn't have been much older than her own nineteen years. How did this young woman come to be a Stormtrooper? What was she doing on the transport?
"Oh damn!" Holly cursed when she realized she'd forgotten to radio in the crash. Such a rookie mistake. She bolted towards the communications radio and fiddled with the dials until she found the current emergency channel. She had been given the radio when she had left the base earlier that week on a medicinal plant-hunting mission. "Base, this is Hotel Sierra, come in, base," Holly said with as much calm as she could muster.
There was a little static so she repeated her call sign until she heard, "This is base, report."
"At approximately 14:30 a New Order transport ship crashed in the northwest sector of quadrant 83," Holly answered and covered the mic when she heard the blonde groan in her sleep.
"What is the status of the ship?"
Holly shuddered at the memory of the twisted metal and charred bodies but pushed the thoughts away, "It's a complete loss, sir. It was on fire before impact."
"Survivors?"
Holly knew that she should say yes, but she also knew that the moment she did, an alliance officer would come and question the blonde, they would take her to base and find out what she knew of them. Meaning, Holly would most likely never see her again and the thought of that happening disappointed Holly.
She gulped down the lump in her throat and replied, "No. No sir. No survivors."
A crackle of static filled the small tent before the voice replied back, "Very well. A team will investigate the crash to see if anything of informational value can be found. Do you plan on continuing your foraging?"
The lie heavy on her tongue, she was slow to answer, "Yes, sir, I have several more areas to search. I should be returning in three weeks."
A moment later she got her reply. "Understood. Carry on, and report back with any additional news. Base out."
Holly set the mic down and shook her head. What had she done? Why did she lie? She walked back to her patient who was wrapped up in a blanket and trembling from the cold and probably shock. Holly sat on the edge of the cot, and held one of the blonde's wrists to check her pulse. It was slightly elevated but stable.
Switching her focus, Holly wiped the dried blood away from woman's pale skin around her cheek. She was risking everything for this stranger, this enemy. "Tell me that I didn't throw my life away just now," she voiced as she tucked a lock of sweat-dampened hair back. "Tell me that you're worth it, trooper, whoever you are."
Holly almost jumped when the woman squeezed her hand.
"I'll try," a weak voice whispered. "I'm SHRKFN15 but I used to go by Gail." There might have been more but the blonde fell asleep again, her body still exhausted from the trauma.
With a slightly lopsided smile Holly made herself comfortable on the space next to the bed so she could be close if she was needed. Holly started to close her eyes but sat up, she couldn't sleep; not before one last look at her patient…Gail, one last look at Gail. The blonde was in a deep sleep, Holly could tell that she was dreaming but of what she hadn't a clue; maybe she'd find out someday. Satisfied, Holly let herself relax and closed her eyes; she had no idea what tomorrow would bring but she was looking forward to it.
