She sat motionless in the chair next to her husband's hospital bed. Silent tears streamed from her unfocused eyes over her flushed cheeks to land on her warm hand clasping his icy one. She listened to the monitor tick off his heart beats slower and slower, the change barely noticeable since it was hardly moving in the first place.
"No! You can't leave me!" she thought as she closed her crystal blue eyes in concentration. She needed a happy memory to focus her energy on and a strong one. She chose the memory of their first kiss, and his startled, but not unpleased, expression. She focused solely on the light blush creeping over his facial features set in a look of pure ecstasy. She fixated on that happy time and tried to center herself in it. It was just so hard to reign in her conflicting emotions, but she knew it was the only chance she had to save the love of her life.
Ten years they had been married, united with an unbreakable bond. Even the war between Kusari and Bretonia wasn't enough to break them, they boarded a Zoner Transport to the newly formed colonies, designed to house the refugees. She had followed her husband from their wedding day to the edges of space, leaving their homes behind and raising no less than three healthy children.
She ignored the commotion and bustle of the busy hospital around her and listened solely on the beating of his heart, which seemed directly linked to her own. It was so slow now, or was it just his perception of time that had slowed? Her eyes were closed so tight, and she was so zeroed in on the sound of his heart, she didn’t hear the sound of approaching footsteps on the hard linoleum floor.
"Lt Gomez" the handsome Doctor smiled, reading the chart of the motionless soldier, "And you must be his darling wife, Mrs Selena Gomez is it?" he looked up at the tearful wife, sat so loyally beside her loved one,
"That's me, and this is my Charlie" she replied, hopeful of good news,
"I'm Doctor Caesera" he smiled, "Why the tears? Your husband had quite a shake escaping Omicron Gamma, give him a week and he'll be up and about, good as new"
"You mean he's okay?"
"Sure, nothing beats Coalition Medical Care, not even death..." he smiled and returned the chart to the foot of the bed, spotting a tall figure at the door, "Excuse me Mrs Gomez"
The figure leaned on the doorpost casually, filling all of it's six and a half feet. The man wore a lose ceremonial uniform, clearly of either Kusari descent, or some Eastern Coalition bloodline. His thin eyes and scarred face carried the same, expressionless gaze, judging silently.
This was Commissar Xin Tagachi, a calm, yet effective killer.
"Doctor, I have some bad news..." he growled slightly, "This man has been deemed a coward, a counter-revolutionary"
"I'm sorry?" Caesera responded, a little confused,
"Seems all your hard work is in vain" Xin half smiled, his left hand coming across and pushing Caesera aside, "Excuse me"
The Commissar fired three shots of a small Tachyon pistol, the unconscious body of Lt Gomez almost exploded, the power of the shots at point blank splattered the newly widowed Mrs Gomez and most of the south side of the room with blood. There was a split-second of silence before the widow began screaming, pulling and squeezing on the arms of her dead husband, trying to provoke a response, refusing to accept his death.
"Would have been much better if he was awake to suffer it" Xin sighed, holstering his gun, "Oh well, keep up the good work Doctor"
Xin turned and left, no emotions or expressions crossed him further, he really was a cold bastard. Caesera stood in shock for a second, the screams and flatline tone of the life support machines ringing in his ears.
Just another day in the Coalition.
Doctor Kurt Caesera - Lieutenant in the Sirius Coalition Revolutionary Army.
Education: Studied at Cambridge University, Trained to be a medical practitioner at Chesterton Medical School.
Trained in ship maintenance, basic pilot and combat skills at the Coalition Hong Kong Training Facility.
Operations: Gold Thirteen, Gold Squadron
Medical Team, CPW-Trotsky
Zhukovsky Medical Centre, Zhukovsky Station
Caesera backed out of the room slowly, pulling a newbie intern aside,
"See that that woman is comforted, or sedated" He muttered, "And get that room cleaned up"
The intern nodded and almost tripped over his own shoelaces in the rush to follow orders.
Kurt was tired, he had another two hours of running rounds before he could relax, take a nice swig of the vodka in his desk, and leave his twelve hour shift.
He arrived at the busy nurse station, ignoring most of the things happening around him as he casually shuffled through the stack of patient's charts, looking for something interesting to do. He felt a rushed tug on his arm as a small Hispanic nurse tried to get his attention.
"Doctor Caesera, sorry" She paused, looking flushed, "We need you!"
She pulled on his arm, breaking into a run towards the Emergency Room, Caesera followed, weaving his way in-between an orderly and some patients. The nurse disappeared through the push doors, Kurt following closely behind. She disappeared through some some curtains, Caesera rushed in behind.
"What are we looking at?" he questioned, slipping on some gloves and a protective gown,
"Shrapnel, some ordinance exploded in the loading bay below, this poor sucker was in the line of fire" the nurse replied,
"Do we have his name?" Caesera asked, seeing another Doctor across from him,
"Caesera, get that line in so we can tube him!" the other Doctor ordered,
"On it"
"Sub-Lt James Escuella, engineer-class"
Caesera cursed, feeling for a pulse, "His heart's stopped, put him on a monitor, get that blood up and page surgery"
"Alright" the other Doctor replied, "Nurse, get Doctor Vaschenko in here, I'm going to try and stabilise him"
"Charge the defib, or else we're gonna lose him"
"Clear" the other Doctor ordered, using the paddles to try and revive the patient,
"We're losing him, again" Caesera ordered,
"Clear!"
One more shock, no response.
"Come on, don't die on me..."
"Clear!"
Another shock, still no response.
"Again!" Caesera ordered,
"No... that's enough, we've maxed out, he's not young and healthy"
"We're not going to lose him!"
"We already have!" The other Doctor swore, throwing the paddles aside, the flatline tone clear, "Time of death fourteen-"
"Wait!" Caesera yelled, seeing a small pulse on the monitor, the flatline tone abruptly ended, "It's faint, we gotta move quickly"
The other Doctor adjusted some dials and began chest compressions,
"Caesera, we gotta get him up to surgery now"
"Alright, Vaschenko can take over from here" Caesera backed away, seeing Vaschenko arriving on the scene.
He moved away from the trolley, out into the corridor, leaning his back against the wall and sighing.
"I need a drink"
Doctor Kurt Caesera - Lieutenant in the Sirius Coalition Revolutionary Army.
Education: Studied at Cambridge University, Trained to be a medical practitioner at Chesterton Medical School.
Trained in ship maintenance, basic pilot and combat skills at the Coalition Hong Kong Training Facility.
Operations: Gold Thirteen, Gold Squadron
Medical Team, CPW-Trotsky
Zhukovsky Medical Centre, Zhukovsky Station
Caesera scrubbed up and led Doc Holliday into the operating theatre, indicating to the patient, a rather high ranking Coalition official.
"Meet Vladmir, this is the guy who needs the fabled new heart" Caesera explained, "And you'll be helping me replace it"
Caesera ordered the nurse to prepare the cardiopulmonary bypass, a machine that would take over the job of the heart, while the main organ is replaced, and to provide anesthesia to keep the patient asleep.
The new heart sat in an ice box at the edge of the room, ready to replace the old man's ticker.
"First of all, we'll need to take out the old one" Caesera said, "As soon as you're ready to begin"
Doctor Kurt Caesera - Lieutenant in the Sirius Coalition Revolutionary Army.
Education: Studied at Cambridge University, Trained to be a medical practitioner at Chesterton Medical School.
Trained in ship maintenance, basic pilot and combat skills at the Coalition Hong Kong Training Facility.
Operations: Gold Thirteen, Gold Squadron
Medical Team, CPW-Trotsky
Zhukovsky Medical Centre, Zhukovsky Station
Posts: 8,384
Threads: 738
Joined: Aug 2008
Staff roles: Moderator
Doc looked at Kurt, "High ranking Coalition official. No pressure at all."
He then put the joking aside, "let us begin." He then reached into his pocket, "you may find this most handy if you don't already have one. These laser scalpels are great as the power can be adjusted depending on what you are cutting and how deep you want to go. The cuts they make are also nice and clean. If you don't have any, I will get you some."
"Doctor, since I'm assisting it seems, I will follow your lead," as he stood awaiting instruction. The thought of the last surgeon being executed by a Coalition official didn't set too well with him. In fact, his nerves were a bit on edge.
"Cool, I guess I could use one of those..." Caesera admired the laser scalpel, "Anyway, if you wouldn't mind making the primary incision along the chest for me, there's a small line inked out for you"
Caesera waited and watched the Doc's work, preparing a large clamp to open up the ribcage,
"So how long have you been in the business of Medicine, Doc?" Caesera asked casually.
Doctor Kurt Caesera - Lieutenant in the Sirius Coalition Revolutionary Army.
Education: Studied at Cambridge University, Trained to be a medical practitioner at Chesterton Medical School.
Trained in ship maintenance, basic pilot and combat skills at the Coalition Hong Kong Training Facility.
Operations: Gold Thirteen, Gold Squadron
Medical Team, CPW-Trotsky
Zhukovsky Medical Centre, Zhukovsky Station
Posts: 8,384
Threads: 738
Joined: Aug 2008
Staff roles: Moderator
He followed the line, making a perfect incision. Once done, he yielded to Dr. Caesera with his clamp.
"Oh, I've been practicing medicine actively now for the last six years or so," he answered, "for me, it was my way of giving back for the gifts I have received. I consider myself priviledged to be able to work with so many other skilled medical professionals and learn from them."
He then watched as Kurt inserted the clamp and opened the rib cage. As he did, Doc had a quick flash back of his double lung transplant he had received a year before. He casually place his open hand over his chest to sooth the spasm that ensued.
"And what about yourself?" he asked of Dr. Caesera.
"I'm relatively new to the profession, though I took to it like a fish to water" He prepared the dials on the cardiopulmonary bypass, programming in the setting needed, "Gifted they said"
Caesera indicated to the machine,
"Alright, let's hook him up to this, then I can remove the old ticker" he explained, "So I worked my way through Chesterton, down on Planet Cambridge, but it wasn't until I started working in the real world that I really learned about medicine, particularly working with some of the injured troops during the war"
He looked up, "Mind if I borrow that laser scalpel thingy?"
Doctor Kurt Caesera - Lieutenant in the Sirius Coalition Revolutionary Army.
Education: Studied at Cambridge University, Trained to be a medical practitioner at Chesterton Medical School.
Trained in ship maintenance, basic pilot and combat skills at the Coalition Hong Kong Training Facility.
Operations: Gold Thirteen, Gold Squadron
Medical Team, CPW-Trotsky
Zhukovsky Medical Centre, Zhukovsky Station
Posts: 8,384
Threads: 738
Joined: Aug 2008
Staff roles: Moderator
"Sure thing," John replied as he handed the laser scalpel to Kurt, "I have yet to perform a heart transplant so I'm honored to be working with you on this man. It's quite a bit different from the liver transplant I just performed a few weeks ago." He shook his head, "I'm still surprised that she so much as made it to Med Force for treatment. I had to defib her upon arrival as it was."
He observed as the machine was hooked up, "Strange, I started in dentistry but was bored with it so I expanded my knowledge. Learning new procedures and discovering new things in research is never boring."
Before long, the machine was keeping the man alive which he found to be quite awe inspiring. He continued watching as Kurt began the process of removing the hold heart.
"Say, what caused his need for a new heart?" John asked.
"His heart was weak to begin with, generally he wasn't such a healthy person, and I suppose the cigars didn't help at all..." Caesera explained, making a few small incisions and hooking up the complex tubing.
He began to pour a clear liquid in the area around the heart, "This is a solution designed to effectively 'kill the heart', you'll see as it slows down and stops, as the machine kicks in to keep him alive"
Caesera reached over and turned one of the dials.
"This machine here will substitute the operations of the heart while it's 'off', by pumping oxygen and carbon dioxide in and out of the blood aswell as providing anesthesia to keep the patient knocked out" he explained in detail, "All we have to do is put the new one in and kick it into life, as soon as we cut this old one out and ice it"
Doctor Kurt Caesera - Lieutenant in the Sirius Coalition Revolutionary Army.
Education: Studied at Cambridge University, Trained to be a medical practitioner at Chesterton Medical School.
Trained in ship maintenance, basic pilot and combat skills at the Coalition Hong Kong Training Facility.
Operations: Gold Thirteen, Gold Squadron
Medical Team, CPW-Trotsky
Zhukovsky Medical Centre, Zhukovsky Station
Posts: 8,384
Threads: 738
Joined: Aug 2008
Staff roles: Moderator
John Holliday watched as Dr. Caesera did his work and explained things. While it wasn't his first transplant, it WAS his first heart transplant that he had been a part of. He watched as the machine was hooked up to the patient and after the liquid was used, he watched as the heart finally came to a stop. Clinically, the man was dead but the machine kept him "alive."
As Dr. Caesera finished the removal, John got the container with the new heart and prepared it while he also prepared a box of ice for the old.
"Dr. Caesera, ready when you are," John Holliday announced.
![[Image: 7Md2x4D.png]](https://i.imgur.com/7Md2x4D.png)