New Mombasa
Year: 2552
Time: 2 Hours and 10 Minutes After Invasion
Okay gonna have to move fast, need to get it off the street and into a cleaner area. Just looking at it I know it's gonna be too heavy for me to move with my bare hands so I need leverage. I went back into the shop and opened the garage door to see if I could find something to use to pull it in. Gonna need something with more pulling strength, so lets see what I have to work with…
Alright I think I have something, starting with something to get leverage I found a chain. What else… what else… AH perfect! On a workbench I found a powered winch with a hook; running back outside, I wrapped the chain around its' ankles and hooked the winch to the chain. I went back to turn on the winch and as soon as I did I saw my plan worked. It wasn't fast but, slowly but surely, it was getting pulled right in. As soon as it made it to the center of the floor I turned off the winch, shut the garage door and flipped on the lights. Step one, get the armor off to get a full look of its' body; time for a crash course in xeno-emergency medicine. I started with the helmet, took a bit of pulling but eventually it gave way. Looking at its' face uncovered it kinda looked like a mix between a bear/dog and a gorilla. Okay lets see; feeling around the head it doesn't feel like there's any fractures or breaks in the skull so likely dealing with a severe concussion, turning to the side looks like swelling around the eye a cut just below. Not serious but I put some medigel and a bandage on just to let it heal, before moving away I checked its' neck to feel for a pulse (Christ this was like feeling a tree trunk). Once I found it I felt it was slow and steady, a good sign, body wasn't working in overdrive. Alright next, get the chest plate off; it was about as tough as the helmet but it eventually gave way. Feeling around the chest I eventually found what felt like at least two broken ribs, hoped to god that it didn't cause any internal bleeding. Best I could do was tape an ice pack to the area; looks like there was a pretty long bruise as well. Checking back at the chest plate I saw a pretty long slash, if that armor hadn't been there I'm not sure if it would have survived. Looking a bit closer at its' side I saw some damage from the grenade blast but it looked mostly like a flesh wound, the under-suit taking most of the brunt of it. Just to be safe I cut that bit of fabric, put some medigel on the area and put a bandage on it. I moved back up to its' arms to see if there was any damage to them. On the surface they looked pretty undamaged; I felt around to check for any breaks, so far nothing. Lifting each one up to test for range of motion they both seemed fine with no dislocations.
Alright, torso and arms seem in good order and I started feeling pretty good about its' condition. But then I looked lower to its' leg and my face paled.
Shit shit shit shit; there was a strip of metal inside its' thigh, likely from the explosion. I had to get that thing out to avoid blood loss and an infection. I began taking the armor off the leg, I had to do a tourniquet to keep blood from spurting once I removed the shard. Okay tie off at the top of the thigh and just above the knee. Now materials; gloves, medigel, bio-foam, gauze, forceps. Alright I had everything I needed, now I had to get this done quick to, one, save its' life and, two, not have it wake up to me rooting around its' leg. Okay first, clean the area around the wound with a bit of disinfectant. Now the delicate part of taking it out without causing anymore damage. I slid the forceps into the opening and held them in place, now lets see how fast I can get this thing out. Bit by bit I opened up the forceps and then as soon I saw blood start to flow out and the shard to loosen up I began to pull it out. It was pretty deep in so I had to be careful not to nic any arteries. Finally I was able to get it out, looking it over the metal shard wasn't rusty so I didn't have to worry about the possibility of a staff infection. Alright next, take some gauze and clean out any foreign particulate, inject a bit of medigel to clean it out then get some bio-foam in to seal it up. I rubbed some medigel around the outer area and then bandaged it up.
I breathed a final sigh of relief; I did my job, this thing was not going to die. I took a minute to wash my hands and get some water then I walked back over to the thing on the ground. Well after closer inspection, I should probably call it HER after finally noticing the breasts on her chest. Very curious, I had no reason to suspect there weren't any women in The Covenant army but I just had the feeling genocidal aliens weren't exactly equal opportunity employers. I decided to take off the last few pieces of her armor and set them in a pile next her, I also gave her a pillow and blanket to make sure she was comfortable when she eventually woke up.
Having nothing else to do I rolled a chair out across from her to keep an eye on her. Since I pretty much had nothing but time to kill I went back and grabbed the mechanics manual, I had just gotten to the part about drivetrains.
…..
New Mombasa
Year: 2552
Time: 5 Hours After Invasion
First there was nothing, then there was a chilling feeling, then there was throbbing and then there was pain. Was the afterlife supposed to be painful? Was I facing damnation for going against The Great Journey? That thought started to ebb away when my eyes began to open but the sudden bright light caused me squint a bit, after opening them slowly I saw it was artificial. Where was I? How did I end up inside? I have no memory of moving somewhere else; the last thing I remember is the Chieftain beating me to death. As I started to regain my senses I felt a searing headache, a throbbing pain in my side and a sharp but also numb pain in my leg. I then noticed a blanket covering me, had I been picked up by a medic? Looking around this was definitely not a medbay; it looked to be some sort of machine shop. I moved the blanket on me and that's when I saw the rest of me. I had a bandage taped to my side and another wrapped around my leg. If I wasn't in a medbay then who treated these wounds and gave me this pillow and blanket?
That's when I noticed a sound; was that… snoring? I turned to where the sound was coming from and that's when my mood soured.
A human…
Have I been taken prisoner? I am not shackled, this does not look like a prison cell and why would there just be one guard in the same room as me? I began to slowly stand up and tried to move slowly to take him by surprise. To my dismay though when I tried stepping on my wounded leg I let out a pained grunt. He must've noticed the sound cause he slowly started to wake up; when his eyes opened he looked like he was on the verge of panic. I started making a move to him but I felt a sharp pain in my side and began to stumble.
"Hey be careful your wounds are still healing!"
What? My wounds are still healing?
I regained my footing, reached out and grabbed him by the throat.
"Human, where are we? Where are the rest of you?"
"*aghk* There's no one else just me! I'm just a doctor! *aghk* Please let me go!"
Hmm... a doctor? Not a soldier? Why would some random doctor help me for no reason? A human doctor no less. I decided, since he posed no threat, to let him go.
Once I was no longer choking him he took a deep breath to recover.
"Okay, now as I was saying, you need to take it slow right now. I've done what I can for your wounds but you need to let them heal properly. You had a concussion, two broken ribs and I had to pull a shard of metal out of your leg."
I suppose that explains the pain in my leg.
I stood tall with my arms crossed and looked down on him; small, average build, average clothes, rather unremarkable. In terms of demeanor, he looked nervous but not frightened like before when I had my hand wrapped around its' neck, quite curious…
"Human, what is this place? Why are you here? How long have I been unconscious?"
He stood up and calmed down a bit.
"Okay one at a time; this is an auto shop, people go here to have their vehicles repaired. I've been hiding here since the since the start of the invasion. You've been unconscious for about three hours now."
Three hours hmm? I went over to the window and looked outside to confirm his statement.
He seemed to be telling the truth; it was now night compared to earlier when it was around dusk. As I was looking out I had one final question for him.
"Human, why did you help me? We have been at war for almost twenty years now and we have destroyed and conquered many of your worlds as well as end the lives countless numbers of your race. So what in heavens name compelled you to give me aid? Why not just kill me when I was unconscious?"
He stood there for a moment, collecting his thoughts. He then looked at me and very directly said, "Because I'm a doctor. When I finished my training in medicine, I swore an oath that I would always help and heal anyone, regardless of their lot in life. I would do my utmost to save their life and heal any sickness they had to the best of my abilities. I would do no harm and never allow another person to suffer under my care." "So when I saw you on the ground, wounded and barely breathing, and despite the situation we are in that I would do what I could to save your life."
It was not often I saw someone speak with such conviction; here was this entirely unremarkable human who was not physically imposing nor possessed any skill in combat, but had every opportunity to kill me while I was unconscious, tell me without hesitation that he would give me aid despite all logic and reason that says he shouldn't. This is something that not a single medic or doctor in The Covenant would do, they would probably have him killed to be honest.
I thought about this and turned over in my mind, going over it again and again. After a moment, there was only thing I could do.
What honor demanded I do.
…..
The creature was silent for a moment but then she turned around and looked me in the eye.
"Human, what is your name?"
"Uhh Dominic; Dominic Hawkins."
She then kneeled down in front of me, put her arm across her chest and looked me in the eye.
"Dominic Hawkins; for the act of selflessly saving my life, I Kirsuus of the Jiralhanae people, on my honor, swear my undying loyalty to you. From now until my death I shall protect you from all danger and harm and will do everything in my power to ensure your survival. Until I am released from your service, I shall never harm you or disobey you. Your code is my code, any commands given will be executed without hesitation and all who would do you harm will face my wrath. From this moment on, I shall be your sentry, your protector, your guardian."
To say I was stunned would be an understatement. This alien giant who had been committing a genocide on my entire race, up until now, had just made an oath to follow me for life and protect me from anything until I was dead.
Honestly, the best thing I could say at that moment was;
"Uhhh… thanks."
Wow, truly a response worthy of this, great job Dominic.