Sly's gut clenched as he ushered the contingent of armored troopers down the corridor, the noisy tread of clone boots across the polished floors turning heading heads as they marched along. They were too conspicuous.
Armored troopers sometimes came to ArmyMed, but they were usually on stretchers. Or, dropping off troopers on stretchers. They didn't push patients down the hallway like medtechs.
For the briefest of seconds, Sly missed his old ArmyMed uniform. But, if he'd changed into it, there would have been no place to stash his armor. He wasn't giving it up.
The paint was still wet on his armor. He had a single blue stripe on one shoulder bell, added in a hasty swipe by Fives, but it meant everything to him.
The quartermaster glanced over at them with a grin. "Fives, you explain to him about we treat the paint jobs in the 501st?"
"Not yet, Harley. Been busy with..." Fives examined his work critically, "... Echo."
"Right, right, of course. Glad he's doing better. Saved all of our shebs, he did." Harley locked a large crate with a flourish and regarded Sly. "So, shiny-"
"I'm not shiny-"
"Uh-huh, right," the quartermaster continued undeterred, "the blue identifies you as a member of the 501st, and the single stripe usually indicates shinies. Although, some shinies have no paint. Fives giving you a stripe means he thinks you earned it."
"How can you be shiny AND have a stripe?" Sly pointed to his shoulder.
Harley grinned. "501st rules. Now, as you complete missions, come see me in the quartermaster's office. I can add more stripes-"
"Unless I add them first," Fives objected.
"Right," Harley agreed, "and eventually you'll earn your first tin of paint."
"Well, will that be?" Sly's brow furrowed in confusion, trying to understand the complex rules around the paint.
"That's entirely up to you, isn't it?" Fives gave him a searching look.
He was no longer stuck at ArmyMed; provided he didn't fek up this mission and get them all sent to Kamino. He doublechecked surgi-suite numbers as they hurried past and glanced at the medics from the 501st, 212th and 104th.
The fact so many medics were assigned to the commander spoke of his importance to these Legions.
Don't mess up. Don't mess up. Don't mess up.
"This is it," he halted the group in front of the room he'd hastily reserved for them. There were only droids and lower-level admins in the corridor now and none of them paid him any heed.
We just might pull this off.
He quickly keyed in his access code and his heart sank as the panel bleeped out a warning. "Incorrect code. Enter a valid security access."
Shab! Enter the code inaccurately three times and ArmyMed Security would be alerted.
"What's going on?" Fives' voice was tense.
"I don't know. I think my codes were deactivated when..."
"Your transfer, right," Fives sighed in exasperation as if he hadn't been the one to create said-flimsiwork. "Fine. I'll hack it, then." He tugged a small toolkit from his belt and reached for the panel.
No, no, no, no, no...
"You can't! These rooms have high-security panels!"
Fives scoffed. "Why? That can't be right."
"The equipment in there is worth a fortune."
"Who steals med equipment? " He put up a hand. "Don't answer that. I'm not going to make a mistake."
"You can't hack this type of panel. You cross one wrong wire-"
"I don't make mistakes-"
Kix stepped between them. "While you two are arguing, Commander Cody is bleeding out. Figure this out. NOW."
Fives backed off immediately.
"Leave him be, Fives," Echo echo echoed firmly. "Sly try it again."
Sly cast a nervous glance toward the grievously injured commander and then focused intently on the panel. Fives was glaring at him, and the others were waiting impatiently. He could feel their rising frustration.
I can do this...
I'm a clever clone.
My codes are deactivated, but those aren't the only codes I know...
Numbers had always come easily to him and he'd memorized the codes of his colleagues.
Sly chose the code of a colleague who would be least likely to hate him. They'd be embroiled in a security nightmare from his actions.
Sorry, Bloodbath. You're a decent vod. I hope one day you can forgive me for this...
He held his breath as he waited. A relieved sigh escaped his lips as the door slid open. "Let's go." Not waiting for the others, he gripped the front of the hoverstretcher and hurried inside. There was complete silence behind him. The other four medics were standing just inside the door. They all seemed temporarily stunned; staring at the state-of-the-art equipment.
I guess that means they have nothing like this out in the field.
But, it was different for him; these systems were all he knew. "Fives, Echo, deactivate the security cams and lock the doors. Start monitoring for any signs we have been detected," he gestured to a console near the door. "The rest of you, over here with me. I'm going to need your help with the commander."
There was a slight hesitation, as the clones exchanged subtle glances back and forth.
Right. Field troopers. Rank is important to them.
Sly was clearly the junior medic here, but he had the expertise in this particular place.
The two older medics exchanged a long look before coming to some kind of silent agreement.
"Alright," the Wolfpack medic gave him a slight nod, "you have our attention."
Sly did his best not to smirk but was sure he failed miserably.
And, this is why people don't like me. 'You're too sly...'
He'd been told that all his life; until he embraced it and named himself. He cleared his throat and gave the quickest, shortest briefing on his life; aware that Commander Cody didn't have much time. Severe thoracic injuries were almost always fatal.
"This is one of the top surgery suites in ArmyMed. It's designed for maximum speed and efficiency. Processing quickly. And, that's what we're going to do."He pointed up to the assortment of robotic equipment dangling down from above. "Clones can be treated directly on the hoverstretcher. No transfers. We slide Commander Cody in under the equipment, patch him up and slide him out."
Do we even have an egress? How are we getting him out of here?
He didn't dare waste time, though, asking questions.
The 501st medic furrowed his brows. "What about decon?"
"Decon is done right on the hoverstretcher. It will begin as soon as push him into place, so you'll all need to step back. Once the decon is complete, the scanner will activate."
"A little more to the left- now center him." Sly removed his bucket and gloves, setting them on the floor. "Stand clear."
"Clone trooper CC-2224 detected. Identity verified." A pleasant robotic voice boomed through the room as the scanner swept over Cody's battered frame, "Beginning full body scan. Accessing patient records. Entering data into-"
"Shab!" Sly over the automated voice. "Fives, Echo, make sure the doors are locked."
"What just happened?" Fives' voice was sharp.
"The initial scan detects a clone's ID chip and enters it into the system. But, if anyone is looking for the commander-"
Fives crossed the room in three swift strides. "It's a safe bet to assume we'll have company soon." He eyed Kix, Iron, Digger and Glitch. "You are all about to set a new GAR record for surgery."
"It doesn't work that way-" Kix objected, although he was already positioning himself next to Sly dragging on a pair of medical gloves from a nearby sanitation station.
"It will today. Stop talking and start operating."
Kix muttered something unsavory under his breath about the Fives' gestation vat, but was already analyzing the scans. He pointed into the scan. "We should begin here in the area of greatest damage."
Iron reached into the 3D hoverscan to pivot it and zoom in. "We need to address the thermal shock to his chest wall."
"There's damage here to the intercostal neurovascular bundles." The 501st medic traced the structure in the scan with his finger and it left a glowing blue wake in the path of his finger. "There could be complications here tracing down to T11."
The Wolfpack medic leaned closer to the scan and growled low under his breath. "You're right. There's some armor shrapnel here that needs to come out. It's dangerously close to the spine."
Sly nodded, continuing to add in their human observations to what the machine was detecting on its own. The robotic arms swooped in and started repairs at inhuman speed. He normally didn't operate the machine at this speed. There was less room to correct an error in the AI system. And, it was, unfortunately, prone to glitches and errors.
The two junior medics from the 212th conferred quietly back and forth, pointing into the scan.
"We'll also need a high res, multi-detector scan," Digger announced, leaning in slightly to take a better look directly at Cody's chest. "I'm seeing evidence of an esophageal injury. There could be lung deformation."
Glitch nodded. "It would explain his breathing difficulties. We have to address the lung issues or his chances of surviving are-"
"I got it." Sly nodded and immediately ordered the additional test. "Back up. The instruments swing wide on this one. They don't have sensors to avoid causing damage to the staff. And, those fekkers hurt when they hit you."
"That's GAR thinking for you," Iron muttered, as the results of the latest scan came in. "If we attempt any sort of positive pressure ventilation, we'll need to watch for bleeding, especially in these two areas. You can see both burning and bleeding in those areas." He pointed again into the scan, eyeing the robotic arms warily. He jumped back quickly as one of them nearly took off his head.
Sly shook his head.
And, they call me shiny.
He continued to refine the commands going into the touchpad controller, absorbing the feedback from the combined team of medics. The blue light of decon reflected back over the Iron and Kix. It was both eerie and strangely soothing. Being in an operating theater was familiar to him.
The overhead machinery whirred in with laser cutters; correcting the deformities on his badly blasted chest.
Iron growled again as he studied the new scans coming in. "We'll also need a sono-assessment to gauge his risk of uncontrolled bleeding."
Sly nodded, mumbling out loud as he focused on adding in the orders. "I've seen a lot of wounds like this come through..." He glanced up as a yellow halo light enveloped the commander. He focused back on his task, continuing to mutter. His one close friend at the center, Bloodbath, always said he got really chatty during surgery. "Seeing fairly typical intense kinetic matter damage. Happens a lot with these close-range shots. The survival rate is so poor I've seen the damage more on cadavers. Usually, this type of damage comes from Seppie blasters, but it's been different lately... since they started deploying those new clone troopers. They seem to shoot each other as much as they hit their targets." He huffed lightly, more to relieve stress than because it was funny. Sly barely paid attention to his words, his mind more on his work than what he was saying.
The room went silent.
"What new troopers?" Iron's voice was low and intense, his attention diverted from the scans. "What type of clone can't shoot straight?"
The sounds of the robotic arms quickly repairing the damage on Cody seemed unnaturally loud in the sudden silence of the room.
"We have a problem," Echo said softly, his voice interrupting the stalemate, his face leaning in to stare at his control screen. "Fives, I need you here."
"We'll talk about this later," Fives said quickly; crossing the room to rejoin Echo.
Sly turned his attention back to his monitoring panel. He hadn't meant to shock the others with his statement. Were they not familiar with the newer troopers? Well, maybe not, since rumor has it they're being manufactured on one of the moons about Coruscant. Why would there be one class of clone trooper out in the field and another on Coruscant?
I need to shut up more when I'm working.
He stared down at this monitoring panel, losing himself in the familiarity of monitoring a surgery.
Sly double-checked one of the results coming back off the panel. He spotted the problem at the same time as Kix.
The 501st medic's voice was grim. "He's losing blood faster than it can be replaced."
On the other side of the room, Fives leaned in over Echo's shoulder, studying his screen and then back to his own. "Fek! That's not good." He turned to face the medics, who were ignoring their conversation, too deeply focused on their surgery to pay them any attention.
Fives spoke up loudly to gain the attention of the medics over the whirling hum of the medical equipment. "Echo has been monitoring communications for anything of interest. Commander Cody has received transfer orders to Kamino. Effective immediately."
"What?!" Sly was visibly startled, looking up for his work monitoring the bleeding. "That can't be right. He is not even out of surgery yet. That would effectively be a death warrant."
Echo read back the order. "GAR Mandate 1202, due to high medical need, CC-2224 is hereby ordered to be transferred to the Kamino facility for further evaluation and treatment. Effective immediately.."
"Take over here," Sly gestured to Iron. Kix joined him and the two senior medics took over the programming panel.
Iron and Kix nodded, heads already bent deep in discussion on the issue of how to handle the issue of the bleeding.
Sly stalked over to the screen, pulling off his thin medical gloves as he walked. He tossed them with a practiced move into a flash bin. "'All of CC-2224's treatments from herein on will be the responsibility of the Kaminoan facility.' That's usually code for when you never see a trooper again." He leaned over Echo's shoulder. "Who signed the order? We are the only ones who've seen him since he came in here."
Echo did some fast typing, his hands a blur on the keys. "It's classified with unusually high encryption."
"This came from the highest levels of the GAR," Fives confirmed. "Few people have clearance at that level."
The orders updated as they watched. "He is to be expedited to Kamino with a full security detail," Echo read grimly.
Sly sucked in a breath. "Stall them, Echo. Do whatever it takes."