The captain had finally stabilized. Gorma had slept undisturbed for seven hours, the longest since the attacks had begun. While he had followed his own advice about sleeping and rotating out of the hospital, the days had taken its toll. The hospital at the castle and the outlying clinics and medic stations had done as much preparation as possible. Kits with everything needed to treat a specific injury had been prepared throughout Arus. As the kits were used, those unable to return to battle or repair work were making new kits. Outside of the hospital, the injured worked wherever they could. The worst of the injured were evacuated to the caverns and rescue shelters.
While Mikko broke his fast, he reviewed the records of his hospital. Supplies were in better shape that he could have hoped. Cloth bandages had been washed and restocked by non-medical staff. Those soldiers had also kept the place organized and made the jobs of the trained staff much easier. Many of the soldiers had first aid knowledge and could assist with non-life threatening injuries, again freeing the trained staff to attend others. They had lost fewer soldiers to injuries that even the best predictions. Dr. Gorma had expected a 10 causality rate for the most critically injured soldiers. Smiling, Mikko saw the rate was only 5. Half of the expected. He credited the preparation, and the military staff assistance as key to the drop.
Finally, Gorma switched to the update on Captain Kogane's condition. The good news was he had stabilized and not lost any further ground. However he still ran a fever even after spindling his blood and they still could not identify the source. Although they kept him on high potency TPNs, fighting the fever was taking all that energy. It did not leave much left over for recovery. Mikko wrote a note to increase the dosage of the antipyretic hoping to reduce the fever.
The nurses had notice something odd. After Lt. Garrett had turned on the device he had brought, the captain's heart had briefly sped up before resuming a more normal rate. There had also been a brief moment where one nurse said she 'felt' him. That particular nurse had tested slightly sensitive as a child, so Gorma took that as a good sign. He looked to see if anything further had come of the testing of the substance on the spines embedded in the captain. The report indicated it was an alkaloid of unknown origin and they were looking to see what effect it had on rats. The initial results should be in shortly. The doctor had only allowed one of the lab technicians to do the testing, he could not even spare the one body, but Mikko had made the decision. He had promised himself to do everything in his power to save Captain Kogane, even if they ran a little short handed. It was not as imperative now as a few hours earlier.
The captain had shown no signs of waking, not completely unexpected. Between the Agappon, exhaustion, injuries, two surgeries, lack of food for days had left his body in need of recovery. The only aspect which worried the doctor was the lack of higher brain functions from the captain. While the captain did breath on his own, and aside from the pace maker did not require any assistance with body functions, it was not a good sign he showed no signs of dreaming or deeper thought. Again, Mikko did not know if this was because of the Agappon, and other issues, but it bore watching. He had checked with his staff, and the various original team members had stopped to check on the captain and visit with him for a few minutes. Cady had only been allowed a few short visits with her Dad because the danger had not yet passed.
Gorma sighed, finished his kava and headed to do rounds on all his patients. Injuries had dropped significantly in the last day as Lotor's armada finally began its retreat. His uninterrupted sleep showed that the relief troops could care for the critically wounded and Mikko could now focus on the patients already treated. He believed this to be a good thing. His staff had worked under extreme conditions and deserved a lessening of the frantic pace maintained over the course of the first six days.
The doctor planned on checking on each of the critical patients and slowly moving the most injured back to the hospital. Many of the surgeries had been patch jobs, or the minimal amount they could do to stabilize the patient until the attack passed. He knew some of the injured would need second surgeries to finish attending to injuries, and many of those with broken bones still needed a polymer injection to stabilize the breaks. They had run out of the polymer on day three. Unfortunately, it could not be synthesized rapidly. He had one of the techs working on it the last few days. It would bring relief to those who had been splinted or given temporary casts until now.
Once the moves for the critical patients had begun, he would check on Captain Kogane's progress and then move back to surgery. Realistically, he knew that only time would tell if the captain would survive, but Mikko could not help but check several times a day. If prayers and good will did work miracles, then the people of Arus, when they found out about the captain, would be sending more than enough toward the captain to make him jump out of bed and start dancing. One could only hope.
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Lance sat in the chair near Keith's bed, giving him the latest news. As of several hours previous, Lotor's fleet had completely withdrawn from Arusian space and broken into a dozen factions in different directions. The alliance had marked as many ships with homing beacons as possible. Orders stated no quarter to be given. Every ship had the option of unconditional surrender or destruction. The alliance had come to end the threat of Lotor once and for all. When Lotor's fleet had retreated, confusion had reigned supreme. No one had anticipated how many directions they would flee. Mop-up operations could take months or perhaps years. The garrison would not be able to spare the fleet for very long as the Drule conflict continued in other parts of the galaxy. Volton would be needed for quite some time.
The first step would be to locate the base Lotor had been using. Thus far, none of the special investigators had been able to uncover any leads. Wherever Lotor had hidden, he had not even allowed supply ships to have the coordinates. All traders who had dealings with Lotor had been met in neutral territory, relieved of their goods, given payment (in some cases) and then told to leave. The receiving ships did not leave their orbits until the trader ships were out of range.
Surrendering ships' computers had been wiped clean and the navigation chips melted before being handed over to the allies. Even if the ships could have avoided capture, without navigation, they could not even find a safe place to land. Garrison had to use guide ships to land the larger carriers and transports, archaic, but effective.
Dr. Gorma had given orders that both teams from the lions were to be grounded for 24 hours. The good doctor had made sure to tell Coran, Magda, and the Garrison and allied ships the pilots would be unavailable except for dire emergencies. Rarely did Dr. Gorma pull his rank as physician on the team, but in this case he determined they would be more danger to others and themselves if they did not have some down time and some recovery time. Even the princess did not argue this time. Of course, she wanted nothing more than to sit with Keith until he opened his eyes. When Lance had asked, Dr. Gorma had not given any estimate as to when that would happen. Keith had not twitched in the entire time Lance had been sitting there, filling him in on the details of the last day.
He had never seen his friend lie so still. Keith had spent more than his fair share of time in the hospital, but Lance had never seen him lie so still. Always, even unconscious, Keith felt, well, there.
Frustrated, the red pilot stood and paced the room, needing some kind of activity. He passed the box Hunk had set up in the room. Black Lion had not yet returned to service. The damage had been more extensive than Keith had ever let on to the rest of the team. The technicians had reported some strange goings-on with Black. Systems would suddenly come on-line without needing any repair, and systems which should work perfectly after hours of repair still did not function. It seemed the lion was in as bad shape as its pilot.
Muttering under his breath, Lance resisted the urge to bash the chair or a pillow or any other non-essential item in the room. The last time that had happened, the good doctor had banished Lance for the duration of the captain's stay. He did not want that repeated. Damn Keith and his oh-so-noble sentiments. He could have told them what he had planned. But no, Captain-do-it-all could not step down from his lofty perch to allow the other mere mortal members of the team to help. Just let the rest of the team think he was following the same pattern as the rest of them Captain-stoic-I-can-handle-more-than-everyone-else.
Of course, none of them gave a thought as to who was spelling Keith in the Black. Without Sven on planet, only Allura could pilot Voltron's head. Sighing, Lance gave the captain a break. Did he really have any other choice? Yes, Allura could fly Black, but she did not have the stamina of the rest of the pilots. In addition to flying and defending her planet, she also headed the government and all that entailed. Her duties pulled her in so many directions during the day, it was a wonder she slept at all. Towns sent people to be trained to govern as they recovered. It took time to train everyone, and until more had training, the burden of government fell centrally.
Allura had a vision for the planet. Eventually, she wanted a supportive central government but where most of the decisions originated with a small council within each township. It would be several generations before any one area would be large enough to sustain government as a career, but until that time part time councilors would fulfill the needs. Those coming for training learned diplomacy, accounting, budgeting, and some planning crammed into as short a time frame as possible.
Most of the ruling body of the planet had died in the first waves of Doom's attacks. The Doomite invaders had specifically targeted places of government to throw the population into as much panic as possible and to lower the chances of resistance cells quickly growing. Without traditional leadership, it would take time for the masses to move from panic to action. Arus had learned that Haggar had worked behind the scenes for many months before the official invasion to learn the identities of the most effective leaders. With the knowledge her spies brought back, few of those who could have mounted any resistance survived the first day of the attacks.
The witch had also released a spell designed to incite panic and confusion among the largest population areas, effectively making the task of gathering slaves a picnic. They ran to the first voice of reason they could hear, which happened to be an Arusian sounding voice urging them onto the transport ships as a place of safety. Doom did not have to gather the people for slavery, they came rushing toward it eagerly.
Dropping back into the chair with a thump, Lance leaned forward, elbows on his knees, wrists crossed, and head bent. For four years, he had watched the people of Arus come from the caves where they had lived in fear, the remnants of Haggars spell upon them. The people had returned to find only the memories of their homes remaining. Zarkon had ordered no stone left piled on another, not a wall standing, nothing but dust. The RoBeasts and soldiers had nearly accomplished that. Some people could not even find a clearing where their homes had stood. All had been erased.
At least this time, some homes had not fallen to the destructiveness of Lotor's forces. As the invading force found abandoned village after village, some had taken their frustrations out on the buildings. In some areas, the people would have much rebuilding to accomplish. Other areas, the gorilla tactics used by the Arusians had chased of the invaders before much destruction occurred. This time they would not slowly stave in caves, afraid to venture forth, afraid of any person, or anyone approaching.
With all his heart, Lance wished Keith awake to see how the people had pushed back the invaders. To see the start of celebrations and the ideas beginning to flow regarding rebuilding. In some areas, fighting continued as Lotor's forces refused to surrender. The stand down alert had not yet sounded, but every hour brought word of more soldiers surrendering and laying down their arms. Without aerial support, they could not hope to overpower the combined might of Garrison ships and the people's will.
Lance let his head drop to his hands. Any other time, he could imagine Keith stirring and demanding information, but his friend stayed all too still. Finally, Lance could not stand the quiet any longer, and with a good-bye to his commander, walked out of the room and down the hallway. As he left, a quiet sound starting emanating from the box Hunk had set up on Cady's request. The heart monitor sped up for several heart beats before returning to its quiet steady beat.
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