My name is Lilith Kudo. I am a Corporal in the UNSC Marine Corp. I have recently been on a joint operations mission with several SPARTANs. I don't remember much after that. A big fight, some pain. Something about falling meteors? I don't know. All I know now is that my chest really hurts, it's hard to breathe, and I'm laying down in a bed. The ceiling is stark white, pretty cold in here too. The lights are all blindingly bright. I must be in an infirmary. I slowly sat up, looking down at my arm. I had an IV in my arm, still dressed in my standard issue underclothes. There was a hole in my shirt, just above my right breast. It hurt, a lot. I looked down at it. Underneath was a bandage, soaked in blood. There were two doctors coming down the hall, talking to each other. I slipped quietly back down and pretended to be asleep. As they walked closer I could hear one of them mention my name.
"Yeah she's not looking good, puncture of the right lung, inches away from the heart. Shrapnel from the projectile is lodged next to her heart and we can't get it out without serious damage." said one of the doctors.
That couldn't be good.
"Would she be fine if it were to be left alone?" asked the other.
The other doctor sighed, "I wish that would work, but too much movement could jam it into some vitals, including her heart."
That really couldn't be good. I suddenly regretted my decision to sit up earlier.
The doctors continued their chat, "Well, could we use a magnet to draw it-"
"No, to risky, the slightest movement in the wrong direction could kill her."
"We could…" said the second doctor
"We could what James, what can we do?!" asked the other doctor, obviously frustrated.
"We could attempt an augmentation." said James, he seemed uncomfortable with the words that had just spilled from his lips.
It was the craziest thing I'd heard all day, and maybe one of the craziest things I'd ever heard.
"That… that actually might work! James you're a genius!" the doctor grabbed a clipboard from the end of my bed and began reading it. He walked away with the clipboard, James remaining standing at the foot of my bed.
I waited until the older balding man left, leaving the younger, dark haired James standing in the room, shifting on his feet in the lab coat he wore. I opened my eyes fully now, blinking a bit as the lights blinded me once more.
James ran his hands together a few times, turning around. As he spun he must have seen me looking at him, because he jumped, turning back towards me. I continued to look at him for a moment before he scurried out of the room, leaving me to think about what he had just said.