Hey guys it's Able, decided to try my hand at a Star Wars story. Some of the themes and medical interventions here are things I learned and know from my time as a medic in the US Army.

That being said, although this is a fanfiction, I'd like to dedicate it to all my brothers and sisters in boots. Stay safe out there guys.

If you guys like this one I may take it somewhere but other than that, might just be a one shot.

Review kindly, it's only my second story.

Thanks!


CT-14105 for once was thankful for the noise of the battlefield.

It helped drown out his brother's screaming.

He could feel the hot blood through his gloves as he tried to sinch the tourniquet to the stump of the trooper that lay before him.

He didn't know this brother, his HUD told him the serial they'd all been branded with but at this point it didn't matter who they were, they were wounded and needed him.

So many down, so many dead already.

This brother would be soon too if he missed anything.

He fought and fought and finally the bleeding stopped, the scarlet gore pouring from his vod had ceased.

"Yes!" He cried, elation at a successful intervention coursing through him.

But it wasn't the end of his worries, the trooper he was working on had stopped screaming.

He'd gone completely still.

His HUD gave him a constant play-by-play of his casualty's vital signs and right now this trooper's were dropping.

Oxygen saturation decreased, his blood pressure, body temp, and heart rate were falling lower and lower with every minute.

He set his fingers on his brother's wrist and felt nothing, no radial pulse and his mind sped into lightspeed at the realization.

"Kriff!" He growled scrambling for an IO kit.

The loss of blood volume was causing the absent pulses, if he didn't hurry he'd fade into oblivion.

"Hang on brother!" He shouted to the man.

A weak squeeze that he barely registered through his armor was the trooper's response and CT-14105's heart sank.

It flooded with relief when he heard what came next.

"They're backing off!" A brother cried as he sent streaks of blue toward the droids.

CT-14105 pulled an IO injector from his aid bag and thumbed the clasps of his brother's armor away. A quick yank down with the strap cutter he kept close opened the bodysuit, exposing bare chest to the unforgiving Geonosian sun.

The Medic knelt at his brother's head, uncapped the needle cluster and looked into his brother's visor.

He raised the needle cluster just as he flatlined.

CT-14105's ears rang, his blood rang cold despite the heat and it felt like he was suffocating, an invisible hand crushing everything he was.

Another one gone.

He hadn't been fast enough.

He dare not do chest compressions, if he started he couldn't stop... and his hands couldn't be occupied, not now.

"Kriff!" He roared throwing the IO right into the sand.

Hot tears threatened to fall, his eyes blurred and stung from the sweat that fell from his brow.

How many had he saved? Truly?

'Useless.' That insidious voice in his mind spat.

He glanced to what his infantry trained brothers had so valiantly attempted to protect, the casualty collection point.

It was a solid ten feet from the front line, and the medic had worked himself into exhaustion getting the wounded inside.

The start of the battle allowed Bravo Company to make excellent gains in the first few hours, but they'd gone too far too fast and the enemy had made them pay for their overconfidence.

They'd been pushed back to one of the many mesas that littered the planet, their captain had been wise to move for rigid cover.

Bravo had been fortunate from a tactical standpoint, there were definitely worse places to be. They had plenty of cover from both blaster and artillery and the droids had to cross an open field to get to them.

For the first hour they held, but the arty was constant and the droids kept coming and coming. Even if for every one trooper they killed they destroyed a dozen droids, they couldn't hold forever.

"Rancor Main this is Bravo Main! We're barely holding! Multiple KIA multiple urgent WIA requesting reinforcements to our pos' and immediate MEDEVAC over!" His captain blared into his comm.

Captain Aldane, their big brother, rocksteady and always ready.

At least until they landed on this force forsaken dustball.

"Bravo Company, Rancor main. Artillery assets negative and air support is forty mikes out." A brief silence came as the other voice, a voice they all shared said what was on every trooper's mind.

"We don't have forty minutes!" The captain roared.

The comm was silent for just a brief moment.

"I'm sorry vod, you're not the only unit getting hammered. You just have to hold on, Rancor main out."

The captain's visor conveyed no emotion, but he stared into space for a moment before he blared an affirmative into the comm.

Bravo company was in shambles, almost all four platoons were combined into one, and CT-14105 was the last medic standing.

The bugs and tinnies had singled out the red sigil almost immediately and many of his brothers had now died unattended or their wounds proved far too great of a responsibility for a lone medic.

He cursed the sonic weapons of the bugs, it just liquified their insides, he never had a chance to even try to save so many of his peers.

His visor scanned the few that were stable for now, a solid dozen of the republic's finest all treated to the best of CT-14105's abilities.

The clone medic was grateful to the force for a reprieve as he prepared to check them, jogging into the cave.

This was the quietest it had ever been, even as the sounds of the battle echoed all over.

"You good vod?" Captain Aldane called out concerned.

"Another one sir... I-I tried..."

The Captain closed the distance.

"I know vod." His CO said soothingly, a hand coming up to his armored shoulder to give it a firm shake.

CT-14105 nodded and moved toward the wounded still breathing.

Vital signs were holding as he eyed them, he put hands to the interventions and sighed almost content as he ensured their effectiveness.

"W-water..." A voice groaned.

CT-14105 moved to the trooper, his back against the cave wall.

"Hey brother..." He groaned as the medic knelt before him, "It hurts... so much..."

CT-14105 brought his canteen to his brother's lips and let him drink, he needed it more than he did.

The trooper sputtered and shut his eyes tight, a series of wet coughs racking through him as the medic put steadying hands on his brother's shoulders.

He barely knew this trooper, he was from a different platoon, and while the company worked closely there were so many of them.

At least there was.

"What's your name brother?" The wounded clone asked.

"CT-14-"

"Not that shab vod no... your name."

"I... I don't have one?" The medic said sheepishly as he checked the combat gauze he'd packed into the trooper's shredded femoral arteries. The gauze held well, the excess material at the top of he wound was still a pristine white.

"Why not?" The wounded clone asked, genuine confusion etched into his face.

"I never thought of one." He admitted, the gauze was holding, wonderful.

"Sithspit vod... you have to have an idea."

"I had some." The medic admitted as he checked the unconscious form of another brother, his wounds demanding had painkillers.

"Well mine's Jace." The Clone said, as he spat into the sand, "Third platoon... what's left of it I suppose."

The medic glanced at the spit, glad it wasn't tinged red, he withdrew a syringe and jammed it into his brother's neck. Another dose of painkillers to keep him comfortable.

"How'd you get that name?" CT-14105 asked.

"Well it-"

"Here they come!" Rang out on the open comm.

The medic grabbed his carbine and aid bag and ran to the entrance of the cave, sparing Jace a glance as he left.

Geonosians were upon them in their dozens, firing the weapons the medic had grown to despise. His brothers scrambled madly to defend themselves and the medic moved for his own blaster.

What was left of their company opened up on the bugs, the droids weren't far behind, the medic could just barely make out he battle droids that were on their way.

The medic knew in his gut this was it as he kept to the mouth of the cave, trying his hardest to keep a low silhouette.

Nothing in the simulations could've prepared him for this.

"Help! Help!" The Captain cried as the bugs wrestled the blaster from his hands and hefted him by his arms.

The medic tried not to hit his captain and frantically fired as they flew up with him.

His screams rang through the comms, his legs kicking as he wrestled for his freedom before a third Geonosian came and jammed it's pike into the captain's neck.

They dropped him into the sand, the man fell into a plasteel heap.

The men that remained were easy pickings, the shock of losing their leader settling in. The junior officers had already been killed, all that was left was a line sergeant and CT-14105 could barely make out the bark of his command.

"Fall back to the cave! Defend the wounded!"

The Clones of Bravo Company formed a three-sixty that seemed to shrink more and more with every second, the bugs kept up their frequency even under the accurate fire.

The medic had already killed six of the Geos, his mind focused solely on defending his casualties.

His brothers fought hard, but were either turned to jelly or carried off screaming. The Geos had begun to swarm them now, the overzealous warrior caste bringing pikes to bear.

It was hand to hand now as the Geonosians shrieked and chittered, shattering helmets and stabbing where their plates didn't cover.

His brothers screams made his heart ache and his eyes sting, the pain they felt had racked him to his core and he prayed to whatever god that was listening.

'Just make it quick... don't let them suffer.'

It was savage as DC blasters became clubs and fists shattered against the hard exoskeleton of their opposition and it could only worsen for them.

Red laser fire came their way and the droids let their presence be known...B1's, B2's, Spiders and Hailfires.

Almost triple what they had been fighting off all day.

"Get inside now!" The Sergeant barked before laser fire shredded him from the abdomen down, the supercharged bolt of a B2 blowing his legs off at the knee.

What was left of his men soon followed, the droids and Geonosians overwhelming them.

With his dying breath, the sergeant pulled two thermal imploders and primed them, holding them up.

"For the Republic!" He roared as he vaporized everything in fifty meter radius.

CT-14105 was the last trooper standing, and the odds were not in his favor.

It bought him the breathing room he needed to move further into the cave.

He had a duty, to his brothers who had fallen and he'd be damned to the void if he let the bugs touch them.

That horrible clicking and screeching that formed their language came in bursts outside and he could hear the clank of the droid's footfalls drawing nearer.

The large cave was filled with wounded, and if they were going to be overrun the medic had one last ace.

He'd saved a thermal imploder himself and would follow the Sergeant's example.

CT-14105 had heard during the briefings of how cruel the Geonosians could be, and he wouldn't and couldn't allow for the bugs to get their claws on the wounded.

The only light in the cave were the chemlights they'd brought, the sickening fluorescent green casting the darkness back.

"This is Bravo Med to Rancor main!" He said into his commlink.

"Bravo Med, Rancor main go ahead." The calm voice requested.

His heart thundered in his chest as he spoke.

"Rancor main, Bravo company status Broken Arrow I repeat, Broken Arrow... all that's left is me and my casualties and I can't hold the droids or bugs."

"Broken Arrow confirmed, support is... support is a negative at this time over... there are no assets available at this time." The voice said, an edge of sadness tinged in it.

The medic sighed and swallowed hard, so much for forty mikes out.

"Rancor main, Bravo med... affirmative...over."

"I'm sorry vod..." Rancor Main blared, "Give them hell trooper."

"I will vod, Bravo med out."

He steeled his nerves for what came next.

The bugs came and he opened up with his blaster, dropping them as they came funneling in, not expecting opposition it seemed.

"Come on! Come on you bug filth!" He cried.

Their aggression increased and more than he could keep down had made their way in.

He didn't let up even as the Geonosians came at him, head butting the first bug that dare grab him and giving it a healthy dose of blaster fire as it was stunned. The next came and he jammed the muzzle into its face, cracking the exoskeleton and its neck.

But there were so many.

A pike found its way into his left shoulder and the Clone Medic cried out in pain as he blasted the offending Geonosian's face away.

One of his casualties screamed and the medic turned, one of the bugs had moved to the wounded jamming its pike into a litter bound clone.

"Get away from him!" The medic roared, blasting the bug in the back.

The distraction had taken his focus off the rest and he felt the hot pain of a pike being jammed into his knee, where the armor didn't cover.

He was floored, and turned, swiping the bug that wounded him in the face with his blaster. He moved to blast it but the rest of the Geonosian warriors swarmed him.

He fought as best he could, using his blaster as a club but his own bleeding slowed him down.

A Geonosian warrior slapped the blaster from his grip and he had nothing left now.

They grabbed an arm each and held him up, he cried in pain as his ruined shoulder was forced to move. The medic thrashed against their grip, screaming expletives in basic and mando'a that didn't even faze the expressions on their faces.

They pinned him to the wall of the cave and tore off his helmet, tossing it aside.

The Geonosians skittered and chattered, the one he'd hit with his carbine stood shakily, wings bristling with anger as it squinted its bulbous eyes at him hatefully.

One of them that held his arms seemed to ask a question, it's beady eyes glancing toward the wounded all doped into oblivion.

It shrieked and clicked, and it's comrades seemed to concur with what it said. It drew a knife and his eyes widened fearfully.

The wounded could wait it seemed.

The Clone medic jolted and thrashed but their grip was too strong to fight against. The warrior sized him up from head to foot with the same disgust that the clone sent it's way.

It ran the blade from his left temple to his chin and he growled in pain, he would not scream, he didn't want to give them the satisfaction.

It chattered at him in its native tongue and the clone had one response.

He spat into its eye.

It shrieked in anger at his defiance and backhanded him. The Geonosians were strong and his head felt light as it throbbed with pain from the blow, he tasted blood and spat it out.

"That all you got you overgrown roach?" He hissed, staring into the face of his foe.

It chattered ruefully and raised the knife.

The blade never came down, blue laser fire stitched it's back and it shrieked into its demise.

Jace sat where the medic had left him, DC-17 in his hand, he used it to kill the Geonosian that held the medic's right arm with a well placed shot to the head.

The shock of it gave the clone medic all he needed to shove the last Geonosian to the ground, pouncing onto it's back.

His bodyweight broke its wings and it shrieked in pain, thrashing against the rocky floor of the cave.

He got his good arm around it's throat and squeezed, it's screaming turning into a sick gurgle as it clawed at his armored forearm.

His bad arm groped the floor for something, anything and when he found it he brought it against the Geonosians head.

The blow from the rock disoriented it, halting it's attempts to escape his grasp but only momentarily.

The next blow knocked it out.

Twelve more, and it had no more skull left to crush.

He straddled his foe, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he panted, fighting for precious oxygen. The sweat and grime of the day stung the laceration on his face but he found he didn't care when there were more pressing matters.

More would come, and soon.

He stood shakily, using the cave wall as leverage as he grit his teeth and whispered in agony. He gingerly stepping on his bad leg as he moved to pick up his bucket.

Jace breathed heavy too, using a pistol must've been hell for the wounded clone and the medic was glad to the Force and all the gods that were that he'd given his brother only a half dose.

"You alright vod?" The wounded clone gasped.

"I'm fine." The medic said ruefully as he picked up a DC-15, the full size blaster rifle familiar in his hands.

This brief respite wouldn't last, there was a solid battalion of droids with these bugs.

He used the large blaster as a crutch to move to Jace he glanced toward every casualty and sighed.

"Brother... I won't be able to hold them, when you see them come through that entrance... you take this," He unclipped the thermal imploder and handed it to him, "And you don't let them take you."

Jace's eyes glanced at the explosive sadly before he grabbed it.

"It- it was an honor vod." He whispered.

"Likewise brother... thanks for what you did."

Jace nodded and the medic moved for the entrance, limping.

His comm blared.

"Bravo Med, this is Jedi Master Mace Windu,come in Bravo Med."

The medic stared at his commlink in disbelief.

"Bravo Med, last call, this is Jedi Master Mace Windu come in over."

"Bravo Med... I read you." He grit out, the pain overwhelming.

"Bravo Med, support is here." His commlink blared.

As quickly as he could on a busted leg the medic made his way to the mouth of the cave.

If it wasn't for the polarizing effect of his helmet he'd of been blinded by the light of the Geonosian sun.

His spirits soared when he saw what came next.

A myriad of blue and green sabers lead the way for white armored men as they moved against the forces that had decimated Bravo Company. The bugs flew away in fear of the gunships that flew overhead, shredding the infantry and Hailfire droids with their ball turrets.

AT-TE's marched forward slowly as they fired heavy ordnance at the droids, blue laser fire overcoming the red.

He could see the Jedi making mincemeat of the droids with their fabled weapons and it was a sight to behold. The medic staggered over to a rock to prop himself onto as he began to join the fray.

The medic chose his shots carefully, he was two hundred meters away and knew he couldn't take another step.

His knee wouldn't allow for it and he couldn't abandon the CCP, not after all his brother's did to defend it.

He heard footsteps to his right and swung the blaster around to bear, the sight centered right between the eyes of a Jedi wielding a purple lightsaber.

He dropped the blaster as the eyes of Jedi Master Mace Windu narrowed critically.

"Bravo Med?" The Jedi ground out.

"Yes sir." He rasped, struggling to stand, "I'm sorry you... I thought you were..."

"Worry not trooper." The Jedi Master assured firmly.

Other medics were on him almost immediately, but he shoved them off him.

"I have casualties, go to them!" He growled with an angry point.

"Vod you're hurt-"

"Go help my casualties now!" He roared, "Announce you're friendly when you go in."

The medics looked at each other and conceded.

"Friendlies!" One shouted as they disappeared into the darkness.

"You did good today trooper." The Jedi Master said sagely, "What's your name?"

"CT-14105 sir." He rambled quickly.

"Hm." The Jedi gave him a critical, almost displeased look with his answer.

LAAT gunships came down and the medic watched his casualties get loaded onto MEDEVACS then and only then did he allow the medics to treat him.

They jammed a hypo into his neck, and the Clone felt the pain in his shoulder and knee ebb away.

"I got you vod." One said as they moved to take an arm.

His mind flashed to the Geonosians and he shook his head furiously.

"No." He spat shrugging off their help, "I'm walking there myself."

He limped to the gunship that waited, the hefty painkillers in his system keeping him focused.

The Medic almost collapsed, bile fought its way up and he kept it down just barely. He felt so heavy, the painkillers felt like he was carrying a hundred pounds.

He couldn't be weak, not now, not in front of his brother's ghosts.

Master Windu's eyes were on him the entire way.

The Clone didn't know who was watching until he guided himself to the floor of the gunship, the flight medic asked him something that didn't even register.

The Jedi gave the Clone a nod of respect from where he stood.

Then the hatch sealed and the trooper felt the LAAT take off with slight rumble.

The Medic began to fade into unconsciousness as they took off, his casualties right next to him.

He saw Jace in the darkness, the Clone was litterbound and supine.

"Thank you brother." He rasped to the medic.

It was the last thing he heard before he passed out.