(08-27-2017, 03:27 AM)Doreen Wrote: She intended her next day to be a relatively easy day, a day of paperwork in her office until another major battle would call her to the surgery ward. It wasn't just her but every available off duty surgeon was called and they were still overwhelmed. She had but five minutes to send a transmission to Erik.
Erik,
I don't know where all the casualties came in from but my staff has been overwhelmed by a battle.....somewhere. So much for this afternoon and quite possibly another day or two. Yes, it's that bad. I hate to ask you but I have a couple of requests. One, I may need someone from your nanite research. Even if the program isn't fully ready, we may have a need.
Second, I have no one to look after Ben. Would you mind? I mean....I have no one else and he likes you and of course, Peter. It looks like I'll be downing a lot of coffee over the next 24 to 48 hours.
*she frowns* Sorry
She felt guilty. One thing she hadn't set up was baby sitting for such emergencies. Hopefully Erik would be able to take care of Ben for her. For the moment, she didn't have time to think about it. Her first patient came in, a Colonial pilot badly burned with extensive internal injuries and his left eye was destroyed. He also had a chest tube stuck in his side.
"He was screaming," stated the paramedic, "we sedated him enough to stop that and re-inflated a collapsed lung. He's all yours, Doc."
She went to work on him, cleaning him up and began the process of fixing the damage. A laser scalpel, clamps, natural stitching and a host of other items were on her operating tray. The man was a mess.
"My God," she said under her breath, "And I though Corsairs and Bounty Hunters were bad." Yes, it would be a long night and the first of many patients.
Corvin Estate, New Thessalonica, Planet Yuma, Coronado
In the northern side of the Crayterian Capital, one could find Residential Complex C-1, home to a large amount of the city's population, including some more important people. Obviously, there was no room to waste on gargantuan manors, but within the Complex, a small bit of land had been given as property towards the Corvin Family. The Corvin Estate, as it came to be called, was an area mainly full of gardens and exotic trees, with alleys all around. The entrance, while it had no gates, was "guarded" by a large archway which held the family's blazon on top. Still, the entire area was perfectly secure - since every meter or so around the estate, small automated sentry pylons would be present. Within the grounds, amongst the vegetation, there were three medium sized houses - all looking quite similar. The western house was Lara Wilgrin's. While she didn't retain her family name, she was Erik's older sister, now married and working hard for the Republic. The central house was Henry's, the oldest of the three siblings and current Minister of State in the Republic, while the eastern house belonged to Erik.
As on any other lazy Friday morning... Erik would wake up, head straight to the kitchen and turn on the cooker to brew a pot of tea. Flexing his neck, shoulders and then arms... he'd gently reach for the cupboard to his right, plucking two cups, one for him and one for Peter.
While the tea was being infused, Erik looked out the window and noticed Adelline resting, in her front veranda. Seconds later, Henry came out his front door, quickly hugging Adelline and then striding away towards his shuttle. He didn't fail, however, to notice Erik and wave at him with a brotherly smile.
"Peter, come on down; breakfast's almost ready!" Erik shouted, while turning away from the window and starting to set the table.
Mornings were pretty much the only times he could get a break... enjoy a small bit of time alone with his son. Even this wasn't always the case though... Before Peter even came down, the house's AI perked up and announced Erik of a new urgent message. Erik sighed and thought ... sometimes i'm not sure if having an automated home is a blessing or a curse ... - then he replied "Send it to my pad."
While Peter finally decided to show up and take a seat, Erik invited the boy to start eating, while he took his holo-pad and started reading a transcript of the transmission from Doreen. As he kept taking in the words his eyes followed, his short moment of bliss faded and his face turned from neutral to worried. So many casualties... again... and so soon after only three days... Sadly though, this was the truth every Crayterian came to accept, war was a constant here... and reminders of this truth popped up every day, one way or another.
He quickly regained his composure however, sent a reply to Doreen and after his son finished eating in peace, he said "Go get dressed, please."
The reply was short and simple: "I'll take care of things, you focus on keeping those people alive." Truthfully, he didn't expect Doreen to see it anyway; she'd probably be up to her neck in work by now.
Six hours into surgery, she finally finished her first victim. He was saved but without a rejuvenator, this man would forever wear the scars of third degree burns. As the pain would still be excruciating, she kept him in a drug induced coma. She took a moment between patients, enough time to change scrubs, down a cup of coffee, take a breath and find out that Erik had things under control with Benjen.
"Thank God," she said under her breath, "Now if I could a rejuenator here, I would be set." She though a second as her next patient was being prepped. Quickly, she took her datapad out, recorded a quick message to an old friend and scrubbed back up for another patient.
She read her chart. This was where the reality of the situation she was in came to heart. A young twenty two year old female, her body loaded with shrapnel. Behind the glass in the hallway were whom she believed to be her parents. Her mother was a basket case, her father not much better. While the mother couldn't be consoled, the father was obviously praying. Scan showed a chunk of shrapnel in her aorta. To remove it was a death sentence. To leave it was an equal death sentence. It was either bleed out quick or bleed out slowly. Considering the blood loss already, Doreen was wondering how she was alive. Her staff looked to her wondering what to do.
"All right," she said, "get me a heart, preferably from someone AB positive." While she waited, she began cleaning the young woman up. What remained of her tattered uniform was removed and scrapped. She was removing pieces of metal shards from all over, some deeper than others while the heart was being looked for.
"112 over 78, Doctor," said a nurse. "I'm not sure how long she will hold like this." To buy time, she began running units of AB positive and plasma. She knew their was a steady supply of human organs and was growing annoyed. Within twenty minutes, the nurse frowned, "Doctor, she's starting to fade."
It was rare that Doreen got angry but time wasn't a luxury she had. She pulled her mask down, glared at the door and hollered, "What's taking so damned long? Where is that heart? I know we have one."
Almost on cue, a two people arrived with a box on ice. Inside was the heart, also on ice, that she was looking for. "Sorry, Doctor," said the intern, "We wanted to make sure it matched." Doreen said nothing as she went to work.
"Alright, Stephanie, stay with me," she told the patient as the patient, Stephanie, was put on artificial life support. It was a bit gruesome for people to watch a person's chest cavity being opened up but the alternative was far worse. A laser scalpel made things only slightly less of a mess but a good deal quicker. It only took a few minutes for the damaged heart to be exposed. Each artery and vein was clamped as the damaged heart was removed and then placed in a dish. The new heart was then placed in. This was the time consuming part as each artery, each vein, had to be stitched.
"Status, Nurse?" asked Doreen.
"She's stable, Doctor," answered the nurse.
"Good," answered Doreen, "since I have the time, I'm going to some of the other shards out while I'm here." She was allowing a little extra time for the stitching to settle before activating the heart.
Finally, after removing all the shards in the area, she took two fork like instruments with a wire on each. Placing them on either side of the heart, she called for a standard charge. The heart jumped a little but didn't start. "Again!" ordered Doreen. This time, it started. Under her mask, Doreen was smiling. It was her first transplant of which she was in charge of. Once satisfied nothing was bleeding, she reversed the laser scalpel and began closing up the chest cavity. To people's amazement, the only sign of entry was a faint white line down the center of her chest. Stepanie's ribs now re-attached at the sternum, a mild sedative was ordered to offset the discomfort when she would awake.
"Vitals?" asked Doreen of her nurse.
"Steady, Doctor," she answered smiling, "114 over 80. We did it." Doreen had been informed of the parents arrival during surgery.
"Clean her up," she instructed, "She's stable so I'll finish her up in a couple of days when she gets her strength up. For now, I should talk to her family."
She exited the room, removing her mask and hat. For the moment, her hair was up.
"Is.....she.....going to.......live?" asked the weeping mother.
"Yes," smiled Doreen, "she has a new heart but she will live.
"Oh thank God," said the mother. "Oh thank God. Thank you! Thank you for saving my baby!"
The father managed a smile and took her hands in his, "Thank you so much, young lady. I don't know how to thank you for this."
She just smiled, "You just did." While he had her hands, she noticed a small tattoo on his forearm. It was one from Alster shipyard where her own father once worked. She said nothing.
She then explained to them both, "Stephanie isn't out of the woods yet. The worst is over but when she gets her strength back, I need to removed more shrapnel and probably her spleen but, she'll live just fine without that."
She turned to an aid, "See to it they get accommodations here."
"Yes, Doctor," replied the aid.
"Thank you again, young lady," said the father."
It was close to midnight but there were more patients to at least check on. She was exhausted but she had work to do. A cup of coffee and new scrubs, she prepared for the next patient.
Erik and Peter left the Corvin Estate quite hastily, both dressed semi-casually. Erik was expecting he'd be travelling a lot today, so he saw no reason to put a suit on. While still on the road, Erik took a moment to tap his pad and open a channel with his research team.
"Gents, we might have an opportunity today. Doctor Doreen Naggar is taking care of our latest casualties and asked that we bring any part of our nanite research that might be useful. One of you should meet me on New Hippocrate, later this afternoon and bring prototype 3. I'll take care of the transport procedures and have a temporary lab set up inside the hospital. Keep your fingers crossed."
Their shuttle quickly reached the eastern Residential complexes, then Doreen's block. "Wait here for a second, alright?" he told his son with a soft smirk, then came out of the vessel and entered the building. As he reached Doreen's apartment, he rang the door bell... but as no answer came right away, he finally had a moment to realise what was actually happening. It felt odd that he was about to tend to someone else's child... even more so since it wasn't someone he knew too well. Still, he couldn't back out of this now and chose to be comforted by the fact that Peter and Benjen got along marvelously. At least he was doing a good deed.
Once Doreen's boy answered the Door, Erik smiled and gave a partial wave, saying "Hello, Benny. Sorry to come here unannounced. Apparently your mom is swamped at work and asked me to take care of you today. Is that ok with you?" - he paused, took a glance at his wrist, then continued - "School starts in half an hour, are you all set?"
For the moment, she thought she was through the worst of it. Her team had stabilized five lives already. Of the five, three were resting comfortably. The other two were left in drug induced comas. She was looking over the pilot who was badly burned. Most of his skin was burned through. It was obvious, someone didn't finish him off, they let the hulk burn to explosion and somehow he lived. She shook her head in disgust, "Sick!" Her reaching for another cup of ambition was interrupted by a nurse.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Naggar, but we have more incoming from Magellan."
With an eye roll, Doreen just replied with an "it figures." She was exhausted but was fully prepped for the next arrival. A Freelancer brought in a bomber crew. He was solemn, "I.....I couldn't save this one but this one was being in an escape pod being shot at by Outcasts....."
"Thank you, Sir," she answered him before turning to a staffer with some disgust, "Someone pay him for his services."
She quickly looked at the first. With a large, metal object lodged in his forehead, he had no pulse and was cold. She just looked at her watch and instructed, "Clean him up. There's nothing anyone can do for him."
She turned her attention to the other pilot. He was awake but in extreme pain. He was gasping for breath as he looked up at Doreen. "Outcasts............damned........Outcasts........" She nodded her sympathetic understanding.
"Don't let me die," said the pilot in one, short breath. Doreen gave him a soft smile, "Not on my watch."
He was missing his left arm and didn't know it. She took his right hand, bloody as it was, and held it tight in both of hers. While she was assuring him, another surgeon was stopping the bleeding from where his arm was shot off.
"Look at me," she told him, holding his hand tight, "breathe with me." She worked with him and worked on matching their breathing rates. If he tried to turn and look elsewhere, she told him to look at her.
"Now," she said, "nice and easy......nice and easy. You're going to be fine." For what seemed like an eternity, the two breathed in sequence to a point of calm. While that was going on, the nub on his left arm was gone. She then nodded to an anesthesiologist who then put a mask on his face. He quickly fell asleep
She ran a scan on him. Asides his missing arm, a lot of surface tissue damage and blood loss, he would recover. She then thought for a moment.
"Um, put him in ICU. I have an idea for him." Her thought? Nanite therapy for which she needed Erik for.
As she was washing up, a young nurse asked her, "Doctor, where did you learn to do that? You know, calm that patient?"
She smiled and simply answered, "I'm a Mom. Medical school just can't teach you some things."
After a short car-ride in which the two kids laughed and giggled almost continuously about god knows what, Erik dropped Ben at school. He also left Peter there, in the care of one of his bodyguards. That's how Peter usually spent a few hours a day anyway, strolling with a bodyguard in some random location, usually waiting for his father to be done with work. Erik thought this would help his son feel connected to the world, rather than isolate him at home.
As soon as that was sorted, Erik quickly reached his office on New Astarte and started making preparations. He tapped a communications console and started speaking... "I'll need three drones ready for departure with fragile cargo, level 3. You'll have the manifest in two hours so make it a top priority."
He switched the channel and began again "Miss Valders, is everyone in the lab?" "Yes, sir, everyone's here." "Great." "You said something about an opportunity?" "Yes." - he started with a smile - "I think I have an idea to check on our progress. If it works as i hope, it'll offer us a breakthrough in this project."
He paused, taking a moment to think. "We need to start packing up all the essentials. Drones are ready. Is prototype 3 here as i requested?" "It's here. Ok then, we'll start loading the equipment up in the drones."
Erik was excited. He frantically moved around his office for two more minutes, gathering a few papers and getting his holo-pad, after which he took the elevator and swiftly went out of the building to sort out what's left. The next few hours were spent finding a replacement for him at the university since he knew he was about to miss on a few lectures, as well as calling the New Hippocrate hospital to start setting up a room. With all the commotion over at the hospital, it was bound he'd have to call more than once to ensure everything was in order.
Later the same day, Erik sighed with relief as his shuttle was just arriving in front of Ben's school. Not even a second passed after he got out of the vehicle until Peter jumped to hug his father and started blabbering about how the school grounds were amazing and he can't wait to start going to school too. A kiss on the head, a soft chuckle, then the two were hand in hand and patiently waiting for Ben to come out. After some small talk, Erik took both kids back to the Corvin Estate. He figured it'd be easier to ensure both children's well-being if they were in the same place.
On the alley, Erik started talking while looking at Benjen "Since your mother didn't have time to set anything up, I figured you could stay at my place, with Peter. Just until your mom is done at work." Erik knew well enough this might last for the whole weekend, but he thought it best not to worry Ben for no reason.
As they approached the house door, Erik knelt on one leg, put one arm on each boy's shoulder and said "Now, you two be good." - he shifted his eyes towards Peter - "You're the host this time, young man. Make sure your friend has everything he needs. I left the AI to set you up something to eat later, so just let it know when you're hungry. And if anything's wrong, you can call me or run over to aunt Adelline, ok?" - he paused, smiled and rubbbed both of their heads - "I'll check on you boys later tonight."
Peter nodded, then pulled Ben into the house with a gleeful smile, while Erik slowly rose and started walking back to the shuttle. What's the worst that could happen...? he thought to himself.
New Hippocrate, Planet Yuma, Coronado
late evening of 4 Aug. 824 A.S.
After three hours of tiring work, Erik Corvin and one of his colleagues, Samantha Valders, managed to set up a small pseudo-laboratory in one of the hospital's store-rooms which had been prepared for them. It was nothing fancy but it was just meant to get the job done. With this done, all they needed was a patient both in need and willing to test Erik's idea. He told a hospital nurse to announce Doctor Naggar of their situation as soon as she was out of surgery - which, unknown to him, would happen late after midnight.
She was exhausted and beyond the help of coffee. One order of business remained after all patients were at least stable....whatever their conditions were. She had one death certificate to fill out. It was bad enough having to fill them out, it was worse informing family. There was very little comfort in knowing that the person had arrived dead. A set of dog tags, a wallet and a Colonial ID were on her desk as she filled out the information.
Name:James Knox D.O.B:7 Apr. 798 A.S. Sex: Male Complexion: Average Date of Death:4 Aug 824 A.S. Time of Death: Approximately 1700 Cause of Death: Head Trauma Secondary Causes: Combat, explosion. Identifying Marks: Left forearm tattoo, "Mom." Right shoulder tattoo, Crayter Republic emblem Personal Effects: Wallet, Crayter ID, dog tags and religious chain on neck.
She made copies of the certificate. Placing one in a filing cabinet, she went out and placed the other in the victim's file.
"Has the family been called yet?" she asked the coroner.
"I believe an attempt has been made, yes, but I don't know if they know yet," he replied.
Doreen nodded, "I will be in my office."
It had been a long time since she had worked an all nighter like she just had. It was the first time she performed a heart transplant as a chief medical officer nor had she done one under emergency circumstances. As there was no response yet to her transmission for supportive equipment and all her patients were stable, she sat on the sofa in her office. She never got to pour herself a glass of wine, the bottle of which was on a table next to the sofa, before fatigue won. She fell over, asleep, curled up on the sofa.
Two hours of waiting - Erik had the time to explain his idea in depth to Samantha, to which she agreed to be possible, but still highly experimental. Still, it was already extremely late. A nurse came in and explained Doctor Naggar's situation, asking whether to wake her up or not. Erik simply shook his head with a smile and the nurse left. He motioned to the door and said "You go on home, miss Valders. We can pick things up in the morning when the doctor's awake."
After everything was set in place, Erik finally exited the pseudo-lab, locked the door, and took a walk throughout the recuperation ward, seeing all those poor souls that more or less made it. It wasn't a pretty sight... but it wasn't too gruesome either, for it expressed the hope for life. A tired sigh. Erik then left New Astarte and shortly after arrived home. Both kids were asleep on the living room couch, TV still on (some random documentary playing). "Heeey thereee." - he began softly - "Sleepy-heads."
He shook both of them just barely, so as to partially wake them. "Come on now, this is no place to sleep." - he took their hands, one in each of his and gently lead them upstairs. Erik left Peter in front of his room, but not before kissing him good night and receiving a hug in return. Then, he lead Ben to a guest-room. "Feel free to make yourself at home, Benjen. Oh... I forgot..." - he drifted off - "Uhm, give me a moment."
Erik ran off to the end of the hallway and opened up a terminal in which he typed something. Seconds later, a drawer opened and Erik took out some clothes from it, coming back to Ben. "I forgot to tell you to pack some things when you left home, so here are some spare pajamas for the night." - he smiled, slightly awkwardly - "Right. I'll leave you to it. Good night!"
As Erik went downstairs, Peter silently came out of his room, tip-toed to the guest room and entered. Luckily, Ben hadn't gone to bed yet, since he had just finished getting changed. Peter hugged him "Good night, Ben." then left as suddenly as he came.
Planet Yuma, Coronado
5 Aug. 824 A.S.
Erik's next morning was more or less the same as the one before. After drinking his morning tea and making sure breakfast was ready for the kids, he left a video-note to be played to them by the AI once they woke up. It was mainly about how he was in a hurry to help Doreen save people's lives, but will be back later to check on them. All things in order, he was back on New Hippocrate before 09:00.
Right now, he and miss Valders were waiting to hear from doctor Naggar.
She woke up. She felt nasty after hours of surgery and not having had a shower. She didn't even bring a spare change of cloths. Her hair was a mess, somewhat flat from not having been washed and greasy. Having woke up on her own, she figured things were quiet. Having few options and since home was close, she made a quick trip back to her home. Benjen was gone. She smiled knowing that Erik came through. Quickly, she showered, changed and returned to work, settling for a breakfast sandwich on the run.
At the hospital, she found Erik. She was tired but clean and her hair was still damp. She smiled when she found Erik.
"Erik, you're a sweetie," she said, "Thanks for taking care of Benjen." Then she motioned him over towards where the coffee was. "We need to talk."
Pouring coffee for each of them, she handed one to Erik. "I don't know if it matters to you or not but of all the patients we had here last night, only one was lost and he was DOA. All are stable but in varying conditions." She then smirked a bit, "This is where you have a chance to test your nanite therapy."
She explained the case of the pilot with a missing arm and the severely burned pilot. Of course, all would have scars. In short, it was a golden opportunity for Erik's team.
"I have plans for the burn victim," she explained, "I've hired a private freelance pilot for a treatment we don't yet have here." She took a sip of her coffee, "trust me on this one."
On the way, she asked about Benjen. "I take it you had little trouble with him?"
She escorted him past the burn victim. He was in a ventilated room.....alone. He was alive but not recognizable. Despite the staff's best efforts, the faint smell of burned flesh came through the glass. They arrived at the pilot missing his left arm. He was asleep.
"Erik, this is the person I had in mind for nanite therapy. I figured we could try it here before we go the route of a prosthetic. So um, what do you think?"
A pleasant gesture - being offered a cup of coffee - but one that Erik always had to decline with an awkward apology. He simply didn't drink coffee. Afterwards, he silently listened to her entire comments. Hearing about most patients being alive and stable brightened his face quite clearly.
As she lead him through the ward and showed him her patients, explaining the issues, he commented after her "trust me on this one." ... "Trust isn't the issue. With or without your recommendation, security will have to check him first." and he ended with a chuckle.
To her question about Benjen, he replied "He was no trouble at all, only a bit confused in the beginning. If you want, I can call home so you can speak with him."
Once she presented the man missing an arm, Erik's eyes glittered with emotions between sorrow, concern and excitement. He let out a small sigh, then leaned back on the wall and began explaining... "Well. We haven't perfected the technology enough yet. As I've told you from the start, we still have to figure out a way to manufacture stem-cells within the nanites. However... I did think of something else for the moment, which might still be of good use.
Our third prototype in the series was designed to work differently than the final concept. Instead of creating entirely new stem-cells, it would clone and reprogram existing ones. As such, in order to make this work... we would first need a sample of stem-cells from the patient, most likely from a bone-marrow extract... and some DNA from his other arm."
After a moment of pause, he continued "But, before anything else, this is completely experimental. We need the consent of the patient first, before we attempt to reform his missing arm with these nanites." - as he ended his statement, he straightened back up and lead Doreen down the hall, to his makeshift lab. "This is one of my research colleages on the project, Samantha Valders. She and I will be ready to begin when you have a green light."
"I didn't know that you didn't drank coffee," Doreen answered his denial with a teasing smile, "I've had too many shifts where I wouldn't know where I would be without it." She took her cup as they walked.
"Trust isn't the issue. With or without your recommendation, security will have to check him first."
"I'll see to it that he's checked," she answered, "I don't dare wake him up considering the pain he will be in. I'll talk to security myself."
She listened as he spoke of creating new stem cells. It was stuff that she had read about and studied but never had involvement in. She nodded. It sounded excellent and she wanted to see the results of it herself.
The patient in question had been asleep for some time. While Erik watched, she sat beside him to check him over. As per her style, she quietly spoke to even a sleeping patient like she was including them.
"Your vitals are good," she told him as if to not awaken him. She then checked the dressings that were over his body. They were recently changed so they were good. His left shoulder and neck were improving as well.
"I think you can wake up for a few," she commented, "Besides, I'm guessing you might be hungry."
She reached up and turned off the drip that kept him asleep. Standing up, she told Erik, "In about ten minutes he'll be conscience enough to talk."
She then called for a security chief. "Erik, I'd like you to be here for this."
When he arrived, she showed the chief the burn patient. The chief cringed a bit at the site. Even bandages did little to hide how gruesome he appeared. "Chief, I have somewhere I'd like to send this man. The Freelancer who delivered two patients last night is still here and willing to run him to Omega 49. I figure, he brought our people here from Magellan through a field of Outcasts when he didn't have to and he's offered to do this......free of charge although I'll make it worth his time."
She then told the chief, "I have a good connection in Omega 49, he's the only person I know who has the equipment to help him. Perhaps I can get it for us but please, trust me on this."
After about ten minutes or so, the one-armed pilot began to stir. She took a seat next to him and took his hand in hers again. She motioned to Erik to stay by his other side.
"Mr. Frederick, good morning," she said kindly to him. He would awake to see her caring face.
"Mmm......ohhh.......," he moaned a bit before turning his head slightly to her, "......morning."
"How do you feel?" she asked him kindly.
"I feel.......nothing right now," he answered.
"Then I'm doing my job right," she quipped, "Can you understand me OK?"
He nodded.
She then introduced Erik and in layman's terms, explained who he was and what they wanted to do.
Entering the room as she explained was Samantha Valders.
"Mr. Frederick," explained Doreen, "it's worth a shot. If you're willing, we would like to try this."