The Diego Diaries: (dd8 638)
(Sorry. Another long distance call. :D Now lets talk about time zones ...) ;)
=0=Earlier at a Coroner's Inquest
"That's all I have to ask," Coln-2 said as he sat.
Sky glanced at the coroner, then Tarsil dismissed him. Sky rose to walk to the audience to sit. Several of his mechs and a femme from the department he headed were there to be called if necessary. He sat with them.
Tarsil glanced up. "I would like Chief Medical Officer Ratchet of Iacon to come speak."
Ratchet rose to walk to the table, take the oath, then sit to wait for questions. Coroner's inquests were familiar territory and he'd even conducted them himself before.
"Doctor, please outline the condition of the deceased individuals and their plausible cause of injury. I would caution the families that if you wish to avoid this part of the inquest that we can wait until you leave, then call you back inside when its passed. Your representation can hear this information for you."
Several looked defiant, while others wavered. In the end, most of them left after a quick word with their representatives. When the door closed, Tarsil glanced at Ratchet. "Doctor."
"I examined the bodies in the morgue when the other two individuals were finally settled in Intensive Care. I had my post mortem team to do the autopsies while I supervised the information. Corso of Praxus and Suvius of Crystal City sustained close quarters shots of a high caliber plasma gun through the frontal cortex of their processors which killed them instantly. They were close to the gun blast and as such their internal structures that maintain their neural net were destroyed. Given that kind of wound, death is instantaneous due to the loss of their vital functioning controls. From that sort of wounding, there's no recovery.
"As for Sims of Praxus along with Template and Hexagon of Capital City, their wounds were multiple. Sims received one through the neck and another directly at the spark chamber. That was deflected because our spark chambers are our toughest most protected body part along with the processor and it struck Template in the neck nearly severing his helm. He was dead before he hit the ground.
"Hexagon apparently grabbed Sim's gun, swung it around and while doing so it fired. That shot killed Hexagon because it was a shot fired through his processor, taken through the left side. He died instantly.
"Sims because someone reached him in enough time managed to stem the flow of energon but he was declared dead at the Medical Center upon arrival." Ratchet sat quietly waiting.
"Sum up the wounds for each please," Tarsil asked.
"Corso of Praxus died from wounds sustained when a shot through the forehead destroyed all of his frontal cortex instantly. He was dead the moment the shot registered against him. Suvius of Crystal City in the same portion of the fight received the same kind of wound and died instantly. There was no way for anyone to save either even if I were there or someone else of my skill set.
"Sims, Template and Hexagon received multiple wounds in the melee, none of which were life threatening but for the last ones.
"Sims received a wound in the neck from which he bled to death.
"Hexagon grabbed a gun to shoot with, Sim's gun, then in the process of doing so shot himself through the processor. His death was instantaneous.
"Sims in the course of the melee had been shoatcjett in the spark chamber. That shot deflected and hit Template in the neck. It was so close quarters that he was nearly decapitated." Ratchet sat quietly as he discretely monitored the crowd of unsettled mechanisms.
"What you are saying is that they shot each other," Coln-2 asked from his table.
Ratchet nodded. "They held the guns, it was a melee struggle in close quarters, everyone was grabbing for the guns and they were both very high caliber used in a small tight space." Ratchet sat silently having learned through hard experience that saying less was more.
"What about the wounds to the two individuals on the other side of the argument?" Tarsil asked as he made notations.
"They received wounds to their faces and necks, both of them from the roving aim of the guns being grabbed or deflected. They were serious, even critical but they didn't bleed out as much and thus we were able to emergency transfuse them on the spot before transport. Both were classed critical injuries but because there were medics on the spot and they were less obviously possibly lethal wounds, they were able to recover. The Watch medics are trained to the military emergency medical standards which saves lives more often than conventional critical care operations."
"What were the response times to the emergency, Doctor," a lawyer asked from the audience.
Ratchet accessed that information, then glanced at him. "The medics arrived about 4 minutes Terran time at the scene. They were unable to enter due to the shooting underway but the moment it was subdued they entered to deliver care."
"Who was administered first by the medics?" the same mech asked.
Ratchet considered the question. "Our medics are trained to go to the injured, sometimes under fire, then deliver aid. All of them entered together or behind each other when the all clear was given. They spread out to deliver care as per their training."
"What is the former make up of the medical personnel here, on world and at the response scene? I realize that the Convocation makes that fraught thing to ask but I must," the same attorney said.
Tarsil gazed at him a moment. "The System is over. If this is a hate crime motivated by it then it becomes relevant. I am going to allow that question to satisfy your need to ask it but it is irrelevant if not applicable to the actions of those involved. I hope we're clear. We are skating on thin ice here."
The mech nodded. "Understood." He glanced at Ratchet. "Doctor?"
Ratchet glanced at him. "Give me a minute please," he said as he went through the personnel rosters on a Senior Autobot security override.
It was tense in the room, extremely so as everyone waited.
Then Ratchet relaxed. "I am going to speak about percentages. I won't be naming or confirming or discarding names."
Tarsil nodded. "Continue please."
Ratchet looked at the mech who was sitting by two emotional but contained mechs. "Our services, both military, security and civilian, recruit directly through the various employment agencies, then we train up those who want a career in medicine, especially the emergency medical and deploying medical personnel roles. The University supplies doctors and we train also different professions on world to have those on site who can respond to emergencies until medics arrive.
"That being said, we have thousands of medics in all areas of pursuit as well as medically trained civilians on site. I'm assuming you want information on the Watch medics? Or what?" Ratchet asked.
"Watch, Fire Department and the ambulance corp is we can have it," the mech asked.
Ratchet nodded, then sorted it out. "The former caste status of the Watch medics, none of whom shall be named or located stands at 52% low, 32% mid and 16% high. The Fire Department deploys medics with each call out. Their status formerly is 66% low, 22% mid and 12% high caste. The Ambulance Corp which comprises both land and air ambulances all of which carry fully trained EMTs, Emergency Medical Technicians runs at 72% low, 15% mid and 15% high caste in former designations."
It was silent a moment. Then the mech looked upward at him. "What were the former castes of those who responded to this event?"
"I don't intend to disclose that at the moment. If its required in any further legal proceedings, then yes. I'm the director of all of them. Its my duty to protect their privacy and I shall. I am aware of your interest and why you want to know but my duty is clear," Ratchet said calmly.
One of the mechs next to the attorney shifted in his chair. "It would appear that any time something happens your likelihood of getting someone from the lower castes ranges around 75%."
"I've found that medicine like many professions is a calling. Many have it and all are welcome. I'm not interested in caste and never have been. A mech or femme who wants to learn medicine is welcome in my department," Ratchet replied.
"I don't expect that you have a statistic that tells about the outcomes of encounters were the medic is of a lower caste than the imperiled individual do you? You appear to have all the answers," the mech said.
"I don't," Ratchet said. "Our outcomes are stellar. Our death rate no matter the problem is in the single digits. Cybertron can't report those numbers and they never tried to match them. We treat everyone equally expending the same energy on them as anyone else"
"That's not what I've heard," the mech said darkly.
Tarsil stared at the exchange as it happened, then glanced at the mech. "If you have information relevant to this matter then I invite you to give it. We deal in facts here around this sad occasion. It helped those who mourn to have the truth about their loved ones. I would like to hear it."
The mech stared at him stonily as his attorney spoke off line with him. The attorney glanced at Tarsil. "We have no comment on this matter. This is a very difficult situation. Please continue, Doctor. I would like to know any information you have about the survival rate of those who were former high castes in the matter of response times and general outcome of patient health."
Ratchet considered that, checked the state, then glanced at him. "Our response time given the wide spread nature of our operation averages two and a half minutes on the Terran clock. Ifs most often less given local circumstances with traffic and other factors. We also built landing pads for our vessels as we built this colony to allow faster travel to hospitals if needed.
"As for survival rates, we don't keep statistics on caste for the rest of your questions. We don't respond to emergencies with the idea that some deserve more attention than others. The same effort and protocols apply to all emergencies. Consider as well, how can we know the former caste of a victim when that's not part of the call in code to launch teams?"
"So you say," the stony faced mech replied.
"I do. I say it. No one gets more care than anyone else for any reason. If that occurred in my department I would fire them. No is allowed to bring in or act on caste bigotry in my department," Ratchet replied.
It would go on for a short while.
=0=Ops Center later on
"I have reports requesting meetings with you, Optimus, from individuals upset about being followed," Prowl said as he leaned on the doorjamb of Prime's office.
Optimus sat back in his chair to consider that. "Could you have Starlet and Kellus come to see me now?"
Prowl nodded, then made the call. "I suppose they're going to be extra hot about this."
Prime nodded. "It was designed to be that way."
=0=Winding up earlier
"After the gathering of evidence, the Court usually takes time to decide on an answer and resolution. It isn't required nor is it set in stone. Its my belief that a reasonable conclusion is evident." He glanced at the two kids sitting surrounded by family in the audience. They were the survivors who gave their testimony earlier before the group took a break for Tarsil to ask his staff questions for the court.
"Two young mechs went to dinner at The Terracotta for personal reasons. It was there that they met a group of mechs who were over energized and looking for trouble," he began.
=0=TBC 2-14-2023
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!