A/N: Thank you, everyone, for those awesome reviews! I'm so glad y'all are enjoying this. Hopefully I can bat away lazy bouts more and more so that I can post more often (sorry for the delays). Please enjoy this next chapter!
Gear (or lack thereof)
"It doesn't take much," McCoy announced to the young group. "A rockslide, a fall, just about anything involving water… and injuries almost inevitably follow such events anyway." He held up is medkit. "This? This cannot be your lifeline. So for this training session I want you all to stack your kits up at the back of the room."
Kirk watched from the side as the new batch of medical cadets obeyed the doctor's orders. He knew McCoy put his staff through regular training, but he'd never had opportunity to sit in on one. It was a larger group than usual since they were transporting Academy cadets back to Earth from their time on Starbase 16. Dr. McCoy had realized it was 'lucky' that the trip just so happened to coincide with one of his sessions.
As they found their way back to their seats, McCoy resumed speaking. "Now that you've lost your medkit, you will encounter surviving crewmembers with an assortment of injuries. Plants differ from planet to planet, but there are certain absolutes found across M Class worlds. For example…"
McCoy ran through standard medicinal and herbal properties with accompanying pictures on a viewscreen. "Do not take any of this as a hard and fast rule," he cautioned. "There are always exceptions. If you do use any native flora to assist in your healing, make absolutely sure you've identified them correctly. Your patient won't like you very much if you used poison ivy as a bandage."
Some chuckles ran through the crowd.
McCoy went on to explain the bare bones basics. Kirk watched him demonstrate tourniquets with a variety of materials on hand, walk the cadets through how to create a proper splint, and how to circumvent infection on the fly. He covered considerations Kirk wouldn't have even thought to be worried about. The captain made a mental note to recommend all general personnel take McCoy's "stone knives and bearskins" lesson on basic medical skills. Come to think, make that a requirement.
The doctor ran through dealing with broken bones, lacerations, venom, painkillers and even old-fashioned CPR. Kirk was glad to see that most of the cadets actually seemed to be paying attention.
"Remember: these are all temporary measures. The goal in these circumstances is to keep the patient alive until they can receive proper medical care. It's going to hurt, it's going to be messy, and it's going to be imperfect. The point is to just do the best you can with what you have. Sometimes it won't be enough. That's reality. But hopefully what you learned today will stretch your skills further so that you now know what you can do should you ever find yourself in this unfortunate circumstance. I do not exaggerate when I say this is a matter of life and death. Dismissed."
Kirk waited until the brighter students were finished peppering McCoy with questions before sidling up to the doctor.
"You know, Bones, you should write a book about this stuff."
McCoy snorted. "Jim, I've got enough to do without adding that to the list."
"I'm serious," Kirk replied. "That was very informative. I may make your little sessions a requirement for all personnel before they're cleared to join landing parties. It's especially handy for people without medkits to lose in the first place."
McCoy inclined his head. "That's a good point. M'Benga and I will have to stagger, though. Just one of these things wears me out."
"That's why you should write it down," Kirk raised his eyebrows, trying to suppress a smile.
"Smartass."