I hate hospitals. I didn't really know that until now. Until two days ago, I'd never been hurt enough to end up in one. But then, my insanely good luck couldn't last forever.
Here's what happened. While on call for the Navy, my fighter was scrambled to assist in the interdiction of the pirate ship Prospector, spotted in the Colorado system disrupting trade. I launched in a hurry, and moved to join the LNS=Washington and the LSF ship Chancellor in the fight. We went in guns blazing. I made a couple of good passes with my heavy "Magma Hammer" guns and Sunslayer torpedoes before the Prospector started paying attention to me.
It didn't take long for that to change, though... the pirate ship spun to face me and launched a salvo of missiles. I clicked the countermeasure dropper... nothing happened. Missiles still inbound, countermeasures not released. Well, no time to think... I punched afterburners and made an evasive roll, partially dodging the missiles' explosion. Once clear, I checked how many countermeasures I had left... None?! How did this happen?
I had been in such a hurry to launch that I didn't double-check my loadout. I found out later that the squadron quartermaster had removed them so that he could upgrade the dispenser, but hadn't gotten around to doing it yet. Somewhere in the landing bay shuffle, the unprepared fighter had been cleared for launch, and I was the lucky one who'd jumped into it.
Meanwhile, I decided to press the attack, hoping that the Prospector wouldn't realize I was a sitting duck for his missiles. I blazed in for a second pass, only to be greeted with another wave of missiles. I couldn't dodge them all... my Avenger shook, and I found myself emerging from the smoke on the other side with no shields and hull integrity at 50%.
I don't know what possessed me to make another pass, but I did. The pirate ship was waiting for me, and cockpit alarms screeched that another wave of missiles was inbound. I fired another torpedo and a burst of gunfire, then tried to dodge the incoming warheads. At least one of them landed solidly, though... the next thing I knew, I had already ejected. Thank goodness for auto-eject systems that work. There was a moment of anger, then of relief... then pain. I looked down, and was horrified to see that the lower half of the pod was crushed inward around my legs. I could feel them, but something definitely hurt... then I passed out.
I woke up here in Denver General Hospital. Apparently someone managed to get me back. The bad news I found out later was that the Prospector had gotten away. Still, all in all, I'm very lucky. Another couple of inches of escape pod collapse and I would probably be dead. As it is, I'll be able to walk again in a couple of days, and the docs say that in a couple of weeks I'll be good as new. But in the meantime, I'm bored stiff. Grey hospital walls and nothing to do all day (squadron paperwork doesn't count). I hope I can get out soon.
![[Image: aedos_mini.jpg]](http://students.cs.byu.edu/~sushi/aedos_mini.jpg)