Hemlocke listened to what doc had to say about the way he operated before chuckling. "God you sound a whole lot like Sun Koken." As Hemlocke felt the IV and heard the words "put him under" He reached to tear the IV out. "If you put me under Doc I swear to f*cking god I wi-" Hemlock's words were cut short but his head and arm dropping pretty damn hard to the surgery table. That was one thing he never let happen, surgery while he was asleep. He was kinda screwed now though and would probably be pissed off when he woke up, Though when wasn't this edgy man pissed and wanting the world to burn?
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"Boy you sure know how to pick em," commented one of the nurses as the surgery was in its beginnings.
"So I am guilty of misplacing my faith in humanity," replied Doc with a shrug.
"But," paused an assistant passing his hand over the top of the patient, "he's a Rogue and has probably killed hundreds or more and Rogues never cared for us Zoner types."
"Yes, he is," answered Doc as he was making an incision with a laser scalpel down Hemlocke's chest, "And no, they do not. We cannot fix things with the Rogues as a whole but we can for at least one."
"Ah yes," commented the nurse who had previously spoken, "there is your misplaced faith."
"So be it," replied Doc as he turned up the setting on his scalpel. He began cutting ribs at the sternum. "Now watch and learn for those who have not done this before."
Hemlocke's ribs were now open, exposing his beating heart and two black lungs with cancer cells coming through. Doc was right, he shouldn't even be living. No sooner did he think it when the EKG began crashing.
"Doc, we're losing him...fast," stated the obvious by an assistant.
"Heart paddles," requested Doc as he held his hand out to receive them. Once he did, he placed them on the sides of his heart and shocked it back into rhythm. Handing them back, he said not to keep them far away.
He began cutting through the air tube to the first lung. He had to cut it high to get away from the cancer and removed the lung, dropping it on a tray in front of his peers. "I need a small length of soft rubber tube to make an airway cut to about two inches," he ordered. Before long, he received it and began to stitch it into place. "Vitals," he asked as he sewed.
"Weak, Doctor. He won't last long on that one bad lung so work fast," was the answer. Work fast he did, getting ready to receive the first lung.
He lowered it into place and began stitching it to the other side of the tube. Again, the EKG began to flatline and again the heart was shocked back into rhythm. He then stitched the main artery and vein to the new lung and then inserted a small tube through the side to inflate it. It began to work as air entered and exited.
"Vitals are still weak but stable," said the assistant.
Doc began his work with the other lung much as he did the first. Again, he had to shock Hemlocke's heart back into rhythm. It took several hours but both lungs were implanted and working in Hemlocke's chest.
"Vitals are stable, Doc. Oxygen percentages are increasing."
"Rejection?" asked Doc.
"Not as of yet," replied the assistant.
"Good, let us close him up," stated Doc as his team did as ordered.
As his team worked, Doc cut open one of the cancerated lungs with his laser scalpel. Most of it was non functional and white with cells. His other lung looked as bad. Doc just looked skyward and said aloud, "I guess for some reason you are looking over him, too."
Seeing Hemlocke closed up, Doc gave the order. "Prep him for transport to Med Force One in Baffin and keep him comatose until I say otherwise.
The next morning, a transport left for Baffin. Hemlocke would be in a medically induced coma for the next couple of weeks by Doc himself.
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Two Weeks Later, ICU, Med Force One, Baffin System
Hemlocke's body seemed to be accepting the new lungs it now contained. It would seem that the anti-rejection medications did their job. While the physical scars were healing, chemo drugs were being used to keep the spread of cancer at bay so he was still weak. Besides, Doc wanted to give his body maximum healing potential so he kept him asleep.
His eye had been in the care of his cybernetics department.
"An interesting set up," commented the doctor who ran it. "I don't know where he got it but it was a defective unit from somewhere. I'm guessing he picked it up at a Junker base or something. I mean, you CAN get anything at one of those bases ya know."
The two men discussed it as he worked on it. Doctor Schweitzer was very Rheinland and noticed the placard in it.
"Look at this," he told Doc handing him a thirty power magnifier, "It either originated from the Red Hessians or the Red Hessians got a hold of it and modified it. It has red diamond in it."
Doc handed him back the magnifier with a nod. "Looks like they modified the appearance at the expense of it operating correctly."
"Exactly!" replied Schweitzer. "I'll have it working proper and even better than before. Just give me a couple of days."
"Done," was Doc's answer. That had been a couple of days after his arrival.
While Hemlocke was sedated, Doc took time to treat the burns in his eyes. He had put Hemocke through his Rejuvenator process and reconditioned the skin of his face like new. Any scars from the surgery were also gone. No one would know of his surgery at all.
What he couldn't fix though was his attitude. He knew what he would be like when he came around and Doc was ready for it. He was strapped to his bed so that he couldn't get up and start pulling things out of him. Doc was also armed. After all, Doc wasn't done with him yet and he more chemo to go through.
"All right, let us see how you act," as he reduced the flow of sleeping meds. When Hemlocke would awaken, he would be awake enough to talk but would have little if any strength. Doc just sat in a chair next to him, watching him.
Hemlocke would slowly open his eye, clearing his throat as he got used to not having butcher knives in his chest, laying his head back as he stared up at the ceiling, attempting to sit up as his legs and arms popped from the tendons slipping back into place him his long slumber. He was a little dazed as he wasn't able to get up, before trying again and thinking he couldn't actually move before pushing himself hard up and finding heavy resistance in the form of bed straps, unable to fight against that with such little strength. He'd be pissed if he had enough energy to be, knowing Doc would most certainly be in the room her lifted his head to look at the straps, seeing how many IVs were in his arm he had an unamused look on his face before scanning the room and spotting Holiday, giving him a death glare. "Why in the actual hell do you have me strapped down like a lab rat?" He dropped his head back down and ran his hands against the straps to feel if there was a latch somewhere, but to his dismay there was none. "So how f*cking long did you have me sedated, I should feel way worse than I do if I just woke up from surgery." Hemlocke turned his head to the side to stare at Holiday, his neutral dead gaze was still present but there was no flicker of burning rage in his eye, which was abnormal for Hemlocke in general.
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Doc just ran a scan as he awoke. "Welcome back." He then leaned forward on his forearms, "I know of your reputation. I did not want you going into a rage when you woke up hence why I strapped you. Your body is not healed enough to handle it."
"Now, you behave yourself," he explained as he released the straps, "I have enough sedative here to knock out Sirius if I need it."
"You are now aboard Med Force One in the Baffin system," he explained, "I brought you here to complete your treatment. You have some strong drugs in your body to keep the cancer from spreading but you still have a lot of healing to do. I kept you under for the last two weeks as the more your body sleeps, the more it heals."
He then pulled the sheet away from his chest. "It is as if you nothing ever happened."
Covering him back up, he held up a mirror so that he could see his face. "Sort of as payment for the inconvenience, I had my cybernetics doctor fix that eye and I cleaned up the scarring."
Doc sat back, letting Hemlocke process it all.
Hemlocke rolled a little bit as the straps were released, lifting his hand to see how thin he was, it had improved since he went to find Holiday where he was almost thin enough for his fingers to be entirely skin and bone. Glancing at the IV and growling a bit. "I really hate feeling like I could pass the hell out of any second, can we just ditch the sedation so I can actually think straight. I feel too sh*tty to go on a rampage anyway.. I have for the past two... well it's a month now that you've kept me sedated so long." He sighed, not even having the energy to sit up after Doc released the straps, laying his left hand against the left side of his face and feeling the flesh around the eye socket wasn't so incredibly tender and charred anymore, running the tips of his fingers down into the ancient wound that split through from eye to chin, feeling the cybernetic stem and face-plate had been removed. "What did you do with the cybernetic face-plate and stem that connected to my eye?" Hemlocke remembered that his Werewolf was still back on Erie as what Holiday had said processed in his mind. He let out a simple word as he thought of that, muttering under his breath. "F*ck."
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"I can lessen the sedatives but I need to keep your meds going," he replied, shutting a valve down on one of the lines. "Still, you will not have the strength for awhile.
He then got up and went to the back part of the room and brought back a container.
"Grady brought me this from Erie as we figured that you would want it," he explained as he handed him his face plate. "Everything should be in working order. If not, I have someone here to make it right or even better."
While Hemlocke fumbled with it, Doc simply made an offer, "What would you like to eat?"
Hemlocke glanced at the faceplate and lifted it from the container, inspected the cybernetic wire that attached to the bottom of it, laying it back in the container on the table next to the bed, finding enough strength to slowly sit up and glanced toward Holiday, being absolutely silent for a moment before speaking. "Why do I feel like you're trying to keep me in good graces simply because of the repair bill you'll have if I go nuts and for no other reason." Holiday could tell by the defeated look in his eye there was no way he actually intended to do that, maybe Hemlocke had been proven wrong and he was changing, or was just too weak to behave like the animal he often was. He smirked a bit and stretched his back, still feeling incredibly weak, the smirk faded as he stared forward blankly and thought about that. "Anything that doesn't taste like cardboard, give me the sh*ts or make me wonder if i'm eating an alien life form will be fine, my tastes aren't as high maintenance as my royally screwed insides."
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Doc just gave Hemlocke an angry stare before jumping to his feet. "You obviously know nothing about Med Force Enterprises," he retorted. He then took a deep sigh, folded his arms in front of him and looked off a bit. "Not one patient has ever been presented a bill and none will so long as I run it."
He then turned and took a couple of steps, standing at the end of Hemlocke's bed. "All of it is funded either by donations which by the way are few in number or my traversing the sector trading goods. That is also why I get short with pirates who feel the need to extort me. It is less that I can put into my work."
He turned back to take a step but stopped again, pointing out in front of him. "Rogues....Rogues have had a dislike of Zoners. I know this from a time before I arrived. I know a past administration asked them to leave Freeport Two after they were using as a staging area for raids into Liberty. Modern Rogues could learn much from me. I am one of the few true Zoners left. I do not care what side of the law you walk on or what your politics are or even who your enemies are. None of it is my problem."
He then sat back down. "That is the base for my creation of Med Force Enterprises. Even when I was administrator for TAZ, I turned the other way to the Outcast slave and cardamine trade. People know me well yet they do not know John Holliday at all."
At about this time, a man entered the room with a cart. He acknowledged the man in the bed and gave a soft bow and simply said, "Bon appetit!" before leaving the room. Doc simply raised the back of the bed so that Hemlocke could eat. He then motioned to the cart which had a lid covering whatever cuisine was provided which Doc removed.
"We get a regular supply of beef from Planet Cambridge," as he spoke of the contents of the food. "Because many patients suffer from injuries that make consumption a chore, we braise it to make it a bit softer while it retains its flavor. In your case, I included some mashed potato and vegetables from Kusari." He then offered it to Hemlocke.
"I get fresh from all houses," he continued. "Rheinland sausage is popular. One thing that you will never find on my ships is Synthe food. If I do not like it, I will not allow it to be served and that Synthe paste is something I disapprove of."
While Hemlocke ate, Doc shared a beverage with him. He poured Seltzer. Something good but not harsh on the system.
Hemlocke gave Holiday a grin as he had succeeded in getting on the man's nerves, listening to him pratel on about Med Force, He let out a sigh, not taking a bite to eat yet as Holiday explained how he operated and turned his gaze up to the man. "I may be a Rogue, and some may call me a mad dog, or the Hellhound for instance, but i've never mistreated Zoners. After all, I told you about that doctor that saved my ass on Freeport 2, pre take over. Can remember her face, not her name, that part of my history has remained somewhat blank. But it is because of her that I didn't shoot you on Padua, and any Zoner that has encountered me has left the same as they came. Aside from the Zoners of Galileo who exploit your neutrality to make money." Hemlocke turned his gaze down to the food before looking over to his folded clothes across the room, pointing their way. "Could you do me a favor and bring me the neural pad I keep in my back pocket all the time?" He turned his gaze back down to the food and chuckled a bit as it occured to him that he'd had his ass saved by a zoner once again. "The Xenos are the only respectable faction in Liberty aside from the Zoners. They are the only ones who do not lie about what they work toward, despite how it makes others shun them. Just like the Zoners left house space and made their own way amongst the lawless stars of Sirius, you basically built everything you have now from scratch, whereas we Rogues simply do what we want, with no cause, I've been with them long enough to recognize all we're fighting for is checks and power. Makes me question why I still do it sometimes, if I'm still in the exact same place I was when I fled Liberty the first time." Hemlocke decided he should start eating before the food cools, being completely silent as he did so.