"Keith? Keith, are you there?" Hunk and Lance called out to their comrade from outside the engine room door which had sealed itself shut during the power drain. They tried to override the controls without success and were now attempting to pry open the door, though working in zero gravity was proving to be difficult and with no response from the other side of the door they were beginning to worry.
"Come on, Keith at least make some noise so we know you're not dead in there!" The two stopped working and Lance put his ear to the door for several seconds. It was faint but soon he could hear a soft clang of metal on metal.
"Is that you, Keith? Do it again!"
It was softer but the clanging repeated itself. That was affirmation enough to hurry the boys along. They put as much strength as they could muster into the door until it finally opened an inch with a creaking sound before sliding all the way open suddenly. It caught the boys off guard but it wasn't as surprising as the sight before them. Fruit was floating all over the room amidst crimson orbs and in the middle of it all was the curled body of their friend. He was in the middle of the room while his bayard was floating closer to the far wall as though he'd pushed it away from him to create the sound they heard. Lance floated towards Keith while Hunk moved to the console.
"Hunk, see if you can get this thing back up and running!"
"I'm on it, I'm on it!"
Turning back to Keith, Lance lightly touched him, turning his body so he could get a look at Keith's face.
"Keith, are you alright?"
Keith's eyes opened and it was clear that he wasn't okay in the slightest.
"I wish I could say yes…"
"Yeah you don't look so good. Where does it hurt?"
"My…" Keith moved to point to his abdomen but even the slightest movements sent a wave of pain through him.
"Okay okay, I got it just don't move."
Lance pushed open Keith's jacket and cringed at the sight of the thin projectile sticking out of him. He hadn't noticed it during their escape from the surface but he wished he had.
"Oh geez… Keith…" Lance's hands trembled a bit as he floated there clueless. He didn't know much first aid and in this situation he didn't have the foggiest idea of what to do. Keith was clearly in pain and bleeding out, albeit slowly but he didn't want to worry his friends so Keith forced a smile.
"Hey, come on…what's that look for? I bet I still look better than you right now."
"Yeah… right…." Lance looked up at Hunk who met his gaze before turning back to his work, rerouting power.
"You just hang in there okay Keith? I'm gonna try to get us moving again in no time."
"Don't worry about me." Keith said softly. "I'll be fine as long as I don't mo-"
Suddenly the lights and power kicked back on and without warning they all fell to the floor. Luckily Keith didn't fall on his wounded side and Lance was able to position himself over his friend to protect against the falling fruit.
"Hunk!" Lance scolded as he sat up, shoving the fruit away as Keith groaned in pain.
"Oops… sorry! But hey, I got some things working at least!"
"The engines?" Lance was hopeful but Hunk regretfully shook his head.
"I got the life support systems working, lights and gravity… but there's not much more I can do. There's just not enough power."
"Geez…"
"What about the radio…?" Keith asked, looking around.
"Oh!" Lance remembered seeing it last in the cockpit but that was before everything went flying about. He stood up quickly. "I'll find it! Hunk, keep an eye on him and I'll be right back!"
"Got it! Stay there, Keith!"
"Not like I'm going anywhere." Keith rolled his eyes but doing so only made him feel dizzy. Lance rushed out the door, hoping it wouldn't decide to close again and made his way back to the cockpit which was in shambles with broken glass and other bits of debris. The travel packs they'd brought with them were strung about the cabin so locating the small communicator was no easy feat. He only hoped it didn't break during the fall. In his search Lance was able to locate an emergency medical kit under one of the seats as well as some blankets in one of the compartments. He let out a frustrated groan.
"Where is it?!" In his anger he kicked one of their backpacks, unknowingly uncovering their communicator. He gasped and quickly picked it up, switching it on.
"Hello? Castle this is Lance! Coran are you there?"
At the castle, everyone had begun to worry about the lack of communication from the team an so Pidge was helping Coran adjust their signal in the hopes of reestablishing contact. Finally, after nearly three hours without word Lance's voice reached them.
"Ah there you are!" Coran said with a deep sigh of relief. "Sorry about that, we encountered some interference and wasn't able to reach you. How are thing going? We thought you'd have been back by-"
"Sorry Coran but I don't have time to explain right now! We've run into a major problem and need your help! The ship is a dead stick and we need immediate evac! Do you copy?"
"Y-yes I copy!" Coran replied, exchanging looks with the others. "What seems to be the problem?"
"We have a medical emergency, Coran! Keith is…" That was all they needed to hear. Allura immediately moved into position to move the castle in the direction of the planet with Coran's help and Pidge took off, running right for Shiro's room. Shiro had been sleeping soundly until the suddenly jolt of the ship awoke him. He blinked his tired eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, noting the low hum that the ship made while in motion. He was about to get up to investigate when his door opened and an out of breath Pidge poked her head in.
"Pidge? What's going on? Is the ship movin?"
"Y-yeah. We're going to pick up the guys!"
"Pick them up?" It was strange that they hadn't come back by now and Shiro hated that his first thought was that they'd gone and caused some trouble somewhere.
"What'd they do this time?"
"It's not like that, Shiro. There's been some kind of an accident. Keith's hurt!"
Shiro's eyes widened and his heart just about stopped. The sickening ball of worry once again churned in Shiro's stomach as the two of them bolted towards the bridge. Shiro's mind was racing and though he tried to ease his anxiety it just wasn't working. He just kept hearing those words over and over. Keith was hurt, hurt enough that they had to go get them and here Shiro was relaxing like nothing was wrong!
They ran as quickly as they could but when the door to the bridge opened the first thing Shiro heard was Keith's voice and he was screaming. It actually struck him stiff as a board. He held his breath as he heard the strained cries of pain over the communicator along with Lance and Hunk's trying to comfort him. The two were trying to move Keith to a less crowded part of the ship that wasn't full of fruit, laying him down in the cockpit.
"Shiro?" Pidge shook Shiro's arm, looking up at him worriedly. The elder paladin took the hint and moved closer. Coran moved aside to let him sit at the communication console.
"This is Shiro…"
"Shiro? Man I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! It all happened so fast and-" Lance apologized repeatedly, speaking so fast that it was hard to hear him.
"Lance, take a breath and as calmly as you can tell me what happened down there."
Lance tried but he was struggling so Hunk took the radio.
"It was all going fine and we were about to leave when we encountered the natives. Only they weren't as harmless as we thought they were. They had some advanced weapons, stolen from unsuspecting saps like us and they took us captive. Keith got us out of there but then he got shot and-"
"He was shot?! Like, with a bullet or was it a laser?" Pidge asked, stepping closer.
"N-not exactly…"
"Well that'd he get shot with? If you can tell us that then we can talk you through first aid."
"Well it's … it's like an arrow thing but not like something from earth. It's metal and thinner than we have on earth."
"An arrow…?" Coran was curious. "Does it have any strange markings on it?"
"Let me check. Sorry, Keith…." The boys worked together to move Keith from his side onto his back but the movement still caused Keith to yell out- but as they lifted his shirt they soon found out why it hurt so much.
"Oh what the heck! It's moving! The thing is moving!" Hunk shrieked, falling back a bit.
"What do you mean moving?"
"I mean it's moving! It's- it's spinning and looks like it's going deeper in!"
Shiro looked up as Coran leaned in closer suddenly.
"Is it spinning clockwise or counterclockwise?"
"DOES IT MATTER?!" Lance yelled finding the question ridiculous.
"Yes it matters! Tell me quickly!"
"Ugh!" Lance leaned in to get a better look, the end of the object barely sticking out anymore. "Counter clockwise!"
"Counter…" Coran put a hand to his face as he thought to himself. "Just as I feared… it sounds like he got hit with a digger dart. They're popular amongst deep space pirates and are no laughing matter. For such peaceful creatures to use such a weapon…"
"Peaceful my butt!" Lance said, shaking his head. "This thing is just going deeper. Can I pull it out or what?"
"No!" Shiro shouted. "Absolutely not! The number one rule is that you never pull out a penetrating object unless you have the right medical equipment to treat it. If you do Keith could bleed to death in minutes!" Lance and Hunk paled.
"Well we can't just leave it there! What do we do?"
Coran quickly searched the archives and pulled up what data he had on the dart in question.
"Here it is. The Archenian digger dart is designed to burrow inside its target in order to inflict pain but unless it hits a major organ it wont be immediately fatal. However, any sudden movement will cause it to move faster so it's important to stay as still as possible." He turned to Shiro, his voice softening. "The sooner we get to him the sooner we can treat the wound. I can remove it once he's back aboard the castle but we can't risk it until then."
"Right. You hear that? Make sure not to move him too much."
"That's fine but what if this thing already hit something important?"
"You can check for yourselves but you'll have to feel around."
"Come again?" Hunk looked almost horrified.
"Very carefully move your hands around the wound without touching the end of the dart and tell me if you can feel the tip."
Lance and Hunk exchanged glances and they each rose a hand as though to play janken to decide who would do it but ultimately Lance volunteered for the task. He said a soft apology and Hunk held Keith's hand while Lance's fingers touched Keith's stomach. He didn't want to apply too much pressure but as he felt around the wound he couldn't feel anything resembling a tip.
"I don't… I don't feel anything."
"I know it's difficult but you need to press harder, Lance." Lance took in a big gulp of air and Keith gave him a slight nod. Hesitantly he pressed down more and Keith clenched his jaw to hold back his voice. The grip on Hunk's and tightened and the larger teen had to shut his eyes as a bit of blood leaked from around the wound.
"Lance?" Shiro whispered. "Lance, do you-"
"I can feel it. J-just barely but… It feels like it's in pretty deep." He finally let up on the pressure and Keith unclenched his jaw, panting heavily. "It's bleeding more now, too. What do we do, Shiro?"
Shiro knew what to say but hearing how much pain Keith was in was just so hard for him. If he were there Shiro could treat him himself but he wasn't. Shiro felt so helpless… Keith was hurting, maybe dying and he couldn't do anything! His hands clenched tightly but Allura set her hand gently on his shoulder for comfort.
"We'll get to them soon… For now, they need you to be strong." Her words helped, even if only a little and Shiro gave the boys instructions.
"Until we get there you need to keep him still and comfortable. Roll him onto his side to take weight off the wound and use whatever you can to patch up the area around the wound. You don't want to push it in any deeper or pull it out but you need to control the bleeding. Make sure you keep him warm and alert, too."
"Right." Hunk and Lance did the best they could to make Keith comfortable and once he was settled back on his side the waves of pain died down again. Keith's eyes closed softly but a gentle tap on his cheek prompted them to open.
"Hey, come on now. Gotta stay awake, you hear?"
"I'll try. Just so tired…"
"Here." Lance set the communicator in Keith's open hand so that he could hear Shiro's voice more clearly.
"Shiro…?" The strain in Keith's voice broke Shiro's heart.
"I'm here, Keith. I'm right here…"
"..." Keith couldn't help the tears that were forming in his eyes. "Shiro I'm sorry. I promised I wouldn't be careless…"
"You have nothing to apologize for, okay? This isn't your fault."
"But it is. It is my fault, Shiro. All this was my idea and-"
"No, Keith." Shiro interrupted him. "It's just an accident. So I don't want you to blame yourself. Just hang in there. We'll come get you soon and then it'll be alright."
"Sure…"
Pidge and Allura stepped back to let the two talk. If anyone could comfort Keith now it was Shiro. But this was a dire situation and Allura was greatly concerned.
"Do you think we'll make it in time?" Allura asked quietly.
"Keith is a tough guy but that wound sounds serious."
"Yes it does. I don't know how resilient human bodies are but they seem so frail to me."
"Oh they're not and Keith's stubborn. He wouldn't give up easily." Pidge crossed her arms. "The real worry is the risk of shock. If he can stay stable until we get there then he stands an okay chance…"
"I was hoping for a more positive answer…" Pidge only wished she could give her one. For now all they could do was hope.
