Cody had only vague memories of being rescued; his ensuing days were a blur of medics attending to him.
"You've been asleep for three days," his CMO, Silver, informed him. "We've done two surgeries on your leg already. You'll need more."
"Wh…ere am I?" His brain could think the words, but his mouth was having difficulties forming them.
"Rimsoo 0718. It was the closest one to the data center. I transferred here so I could take over your care."
"'S'ank you, Sssilver," Cody said, his words slurred, finding it difficult to keep his eyes open. He wanted to inquire about the 212th's status, but his brain was not cooperating.
His CMO slid a fresh ice pack under the back of Cody's skull. "How's the headache?"
"Is…okay." Truth was, the headache was only manageable now that he had ice numbing the throbbing that wanted to split his skull.
Silver pulled a mini o-scope from his belt and shined the light directly in Cody's eyes.
"Ow," Cody complained, but he knew his eyes were not nearly as sensitive as they had been.
Cavil, his previous CMO, had once explained to him over drinks at 79s, in great detail, how a concussion affects the eyes. Vision-related activities occupy more brain territory than any other body function. The eyes are particularly vulnerable to the effects of a concussion because of their proximity to the brain. Cody suspected Cavil's drunken lecture was meant to dissuade him from getting any further head injuries. But, it wasn't like he did these things on purpose.
"Your condition is improving, particularly your concussion. Light sensitivity is a normal post-concussion symptom."
"Is… because of the trigeminal nerve pathway," Cody murmured. The ice pack was soothing his head and it was getting much easier to concentrate on difficult things... like words. And... thinking.
Silver's eyes widened in surprise. "Yes, that's correct."
Cody enjoyed Cavil's company and had gone drinking with him more than once. As a result, he'd picked up a lot of knowledge about medicine.
"I'm no longer seeing evidence of altered eye movements, that's a good sign. No more evidence of-"
"Ocular flutter," Cody filled in. "Also known as opsoclonus."
"Yes, that's right. We did several scans when you first came in to rule out-"
"Intracranial hemorrhage," Cody yawned hugely.
"Right. Do you want to do the exam yourself?"
Cody gave a clumsy gesture with one hand. "Continue."
"I wish we could have you on higher pain meds, but…" Silver grimaced with the fatigued smile of a medic caught in a no-win situation, "we're short on everything."
Cody wanted to thank his medic for everything he was doing. He yearned for a status update on their medical supplies, despite potentially disheartening news. He wanted to hear the latest on the blockade and to read reports from Waxer. But, he only managed to say: "'Mmmmm… tired," while attempting to stifle another yawn so huge it threatened to swallow his face.
"A concussion will do that to you, although you seem to know that already. Rest some more. I'll be back to check on you again later. Maybe then you can teach me a thing or two more about medicine."
Cody hummed slightly in amusement and succumbed to sleep immediately.
He was not in such a good mood when he woke up an indeterminate amount of time later. The ice pack was now a warm gelatinous bag of gel behind his head and he had a throbbing ache in his skull with every beat of his heart. He could feel every injury he'd sustained in the blast like he was taking inventory: busted ribs, one leg that was broken, and another leg that was very, very broken. He'd broken bones before- many times- but this was bad.
"Cody."
He kept his eyes closed while he tried to identify the voice. His foggy brain eventually supplied him with the correct information, but it was a slow process. He didn't function well when he was in this much pain. "General." With great effort, he slowly turned his head in the direction of the voice. He only saw a row of empty storeroom shelves.
"On the other side, Cody."
Annoyed with himself for his sub-optimal functioning, Cody slowly and painfully turned his head to the other side. "Gen-"
"No need for formalities. Our recent experiences entitle us to a certain level of informality when we are having a private discussion."
"You sound formal even when you are telling me to be informal," Cody blurted out, and then cursed himself for lack of filter.
But, rather than take offense, Ponds' General huffed out an amused breath. "I suppose that's true. You don't pull punches, Cody. It's an admirable quality."
Cody glimpsed around his surroundings, as much as he could without turning his tortured head too much. "Are we... in a storeroom?"
"Back corner of the Rimsoo. Yes."
Cody looked up at the empty shelves around him, forming makeshift walls. It provided him and the General a private room of sorts. But, he was more disturbed by the lack of any sort of medical supplies in what was supposed to be a storeroom. "Where are the supplies?"
Windu shook his head. He gestured to the empty storeroom shelves. "The... blockade has been most effective."
Cody looked out at the surgical unit full of injured men. "Shab." He shifted uncomfortably and hissed as the slight motion caused agony in his very badly broken leg. He needed a pain shot, but he knew Silver would've given him one if there was any medication to be had. And that meant, none of these troopers likely had any pain relief either...
Cody could hear it now. The groans echoed throughout the Rimsoo; men enduring their injuries with minimal or no pain relief.
"Fek," Cody hissed, unable to stop himself from moving restlessly again, trying to get away from the pain. But, his movements were only making things worse.
"Cody, focus on my voice."
Cody squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't focus on anything right now other than the agony that was his leg, and the pain he could feel radiating off of the other troopers.
"I can help with your pain, now that you are awake. I am doing what I can for the others, but they don't have your level of… sensitivity."
Cody wanted to object. He wasn't sensitive to anything. But, he could feel it now, the injuries of the other men, and it was unbearable. It was adding to the pain of his own injuries until he wanted to claw his way out of his skull.
'Focus on my voice.'
He could hear Windu's voice now inside his head, just like when they were running for their lives from the explosion. Cody grabbed at the lifeline like a trooper tossed into the vast Kaminoan seas.
'Be at peace. There is a light in you. Feel it. It has always been there. Use it now. You are injured, but these injuries are part of you. They are a part of who you are, but they do not control you. Focus on your own healing and trust that others will take care of themselves. Redirect your thoughts and focus on the areas of your body that are not in pain. Focus on what is going well in your life and not what is causing you stress. Your thoughts and feelings can make your pain worse. Your mind is very powerful and can override pain signals.'
Cody lost himself in the General's voice and drifted back off to sleep.
# # #
A/N: RMSU or 'Rimsoos' are Republic Mobile Surgical Units. Dave Filoni first mentioned these pre-fabricated medical units at Celebration 2015. They were supposed to be featured in a future season of Clone Wars, but the show was canceled before we could see them on-screen. I believe they were featured somewhere in the EU because Wookipedia has a reference to them on "the jungle planet of Drongar." On my Tumblr (Longlivetheclones), I shared Dave's concept art of the RMSUs. You'll have to search on RMSU as I made the posting a while back. I think I'm the only one on Tumblr to ever write about this obscure topic, so it shouldn't be hard to find. I think these medical units make a great setting for character development and dialogue within a battlefield environment.
Concussed Cody is like a drunken Cody and is great fun to write. I also like the idea of Cody as something of a genius, but he doesn't realize it.
This is a short chapter, but I wanted to get something out before I hit the road again. (I'm at the airport now.) This is part of a much longer chapter, but this is as much as I could get edited. It's not perfect, but it's finished enough. I've learned to be less of a perfectionist and just get on with the story. I've written hundreds more pages and I'm excited to upload them to you. There is a lot of action with Rex, Cody and Fox coming soon. It's going to be a very exciting ride as we get closer to O66.