Private Burn

[Arashi Hagane]

Spitegate Shore, Naboo

In the hours that followed the debacle on Atrisia, those Jedi and relief elements who gathered up refugees and survivors acted quickly. Too many people were displaced to send them all to a single nation or planet. While the nearby Confederacy opened its borders to some, and the Republic offered new homes to others, there were still limitations to who could do what. The situation politically became rocky and convoluted.

While he remained conscious, the half-Atrisian youth was critically wounded. Blasted-out eardrums meant he barely found the ability to remain upright in his best moments. He could not slump forward or lay down properly due to the third degree burns on his torso. The bandages remained- almost miraculously, in fact- unharmed, but flesh had been soldered to them and what wasn't simply hideously charred and dead was open and in danger of infection.

The pain was intolerable.

Broken away from the other ships that carried hundreds, perhaps thousands to transition, a single craft ferried Arashi to Naboo. There were substantiated claims about a skilled healer that might be able to help him.

The man hobbled from the ship with only the sedative that had been administered to keep him awake and in command of his facilities to assist him. He had waved off the staff, told them to help people who truly needed it. Arashi clung to the wrappings at his chest and made his way toward the lush, green grass and shimmering rivers that felt almost serene ahead of him.

For an instant, he didn't care about the pain. The breeze stole away his thoughts of failure. It whispered comfort into his ears. Arashi promptly dropped to the grass on his back, staring skyward.

It was a tall order to make it this far, he'd known that.

Gianna Aegis

 

[Gianna Aegis]

Location: Spritegate Shore
Tag: Arashi Hagane

Spritegate Shore hadn’t seen so much activity in quite some time. Anytime disaster struck, or, some poor planet was the subject of intense hate and violence—Naboo offered refuge. Most of the rooms had been taken for a variety of reasons. Some from Atrisia. Some were evacuees from Kuat. Gianna didn’t pry. All she knew for certain was that there were a lot of wounded, a lot of sick, and injured people that needed help. The Knight would do her best to provide. The situation was far from perfect but everyone had somewhere to sleep, food to eat, and care. They were safe.​

​

“Knight Aegis—Another ship has docked! More injured. Some bound for Theed…Some can’t wait.” ​

​

The flame-haired woman looked up from the mortal and pestle she’d been grinding herbs into. She’d run out of most of her stocks of salves and had spent the afternoon making poultices. The Confederacy had lent her a few personnel, a half dozen medical droids to assist, and supplies. The nation led by a Sith Lord could be difficult. Trying, when it came to philosophy, but they never failed to come through when it mattered. This was what perplexed her.​

​

They were so prone to war; but they fulfilled more than their fair share of good. It was a grey area that she had not yet grown comfortable with explaining or understanding. In the present, she could only champion them to be their best selves. Gianna had patients that needed action now. Not speeches, idealism, and dissent. “Get a few of the repulsorlift stretchers. Some may not be mobile. We should still have a few field medpacs and plenty of traction web. Ration the anesthetics and narco-mist as carefully as you can, but, use what you need to. I don’t want anyone to be in anymore pain than absolutely necessary.” ​

​

Narco-mist, numb-spray, and other general forms of medical treatment took little to no skill to apply. Bacta was something that had begun to run out of over a week ago. They still had some, but, it wouldn’t last if they weren’t smart. Gianna expected another shipment soon but they weren’t the only area in need. Her homely house of healing was a small satellite. They wouldn’t be first or even thirty in the level of priority. If things were different, she could have reached out to John Locke for assistance…But that wasn’t an option. Not now.​

​

She packed up what she needed to and slung a cloth kit over her shoulder along the way. The Knight wore a pale green set of robes that were adorned with the palest of pink stitched flowers at the hems. Gianna wore a slim tan apron atop that. It had multiple pockets that contained items she might need quickly. There were many things she needed to use carefully.​

​

The evening breeze was welcome on her face. The softness of the area bade her to take a moment to enjoy it but she pushed through, single-minded, and focused. Her footsteps broke into a measured sprint when she saw one of the passenger’s collapse. Her heart sank. Why wasn’t anyone assisting him? He was clearly hurt, wounded, and his pain radiated in the Force. She could hear it ringing piercingly like a bell in the dead of night. “Here! Let’s get him onto the stretcher.” ​

​

Two-assistants helped with traction webbing to keep him still. Then a suspension field to lift him without jarring anything. Gianna breathed in deeply and bit her lip. There was far more wrong with him than what the naked eye could discern. Her heart-shaped face hovered in his vision for a moment while she stood at the head of the stretcher. One hand came to rest on either side of his head. “My name is Gianna. Can you tell me your name? Anything you’re allergic to? If it hurts too much to talk just…Think. Think loudly.”​

​

It would allow her to skim the surface of his mind and take only what she needed. In the meantime, her eyes closed, and her hands began to emit a faint light. Her patient would feel a sense of warmth that would spread down from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. Peace. Spritegate Shore fooled the senses. She would take the edge off to ensure he would survive the diagnostic.​

​

“You should feel a little better. We’re going to take you inside and get you patched up. Try and stay calm. Your only job right now is to keep breathing. Trust me—And I’ll have you good as new.” ​

 

[Arashi Hagane]

Tag: Gianna Aegis

Arashi saw red.

It was not anger nor hate, but pain. It never stopped him on the battlefield. The medicines they dosed them with always numbed it out, made it less, pressed it to the back of their minds. Now, without the medicine and with the indoctrination broken he laid in the grass contemplating death.

Mottled crimson and black on his midsection became visible as his fingers clawed away at the bandages reflexively. He felt himself moving, but he could not see why. Then, two hands rested on either side of his head.

Her face was a strange sight, not at all the visage of grim ending that he anticipated. If she was the angel of death, at least she wasn't grotesque. Arashi strained in an attempt to understand her. He couldn't read her lips.

The young man shook his head as they moved to indicate he could not understand. The blood that dried on his face and in his ears became more prevalent. She would be able to draw clues from that.

Warmth filled him anew at her gentle touch. The comfort that the place instilled renewed. He let out the breath he had held from the moment he saw her, and tried to speak.

He could not hear his own voice.

"Burns..." he managed to rasp, patting the bandages on his chest. They were dirty, but far from ruined. The pain raged through him at the slightest touch. "...ears."

Whether the words came out clearly or slurred, or worse, Arashi would never quite know.

 

[Gianna Aegis]

Location: Spritegate Shore
Tag: Arashi Hagane

The patient was non-responsive. At least, at first.

The green-eyed woman poured what she could into the injuries she could feel. The Force would spread through him, warming, and healing some of the deeper damage. Some. Gianna had been using her abilities to heal almost daily. Just as she rationed the medication carefully, she also, rationed her own gifts. Just in case she needed it for a dire emergency.

He tried to shake his head and she shook her own in return while keeping her hands pressed softly to his skin. It didn’t take more than a moment for her to realize why he wasn’t responding to her inquiries. He couldn’t hear her. A voice eventually came from him. She made out a few of the words, but, it was mostly garbled. She caught the attention of one of her medics and let them know she planned to move out. His wounds…They needed to be treated right away. “I’ll take him back to the medical bay. See to the others?”

Her helpers nodded and began to sort the rest of then refugees. Gianna led the stretcher to the correct building and the portals whooshed open. The suspension field generator allowed her to move him from the stretcher to the diagnostic table without trouble. It was an older unit but it still served its purpose. Nothing severely broken, though, she did see a few hairline fractures. The burns on his torso were the most worrisome.

His ears. She could fix that.

When the scan completed, she released a heavy sigh. Atrisia. It must have been a blood bath.

“I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

He couldn’t hear her. That was all right. She began to set up an appropriate protocol for pain while she made a care plan in her head. First, she took sanitary measures. He would need every bit of protection she could offer from observing proper hygiene in a sterile setting. Controlling his pain to keep his heart from overworking itself would also be a trial. Give him just enough. Not too much nor too little. Keeping his burns from infection would also be difficult. She could make a solution with bacta and allow it to settle in the form of ear drops while preparing a line of broad-spectrum antibiotics for the rest.

If the patient had not expired from the initial injury, despite his collapse, there was time. She wrapped a medication dispenser cuff around his least damaged wrist and when ready, ensured he received a steady stream of narcotics. Everything she would need to do, from here on out, would be akin to torture if she didn’t mind him carefully. Her initial assessment would involve checking his airway to see if there was any injury to his throat and esophagus due to inhalation. A lack of burned facial structures were a good sign. Thankfully, it seemed clear.

From there she provided the patient with oxygen and waited to see if there was any sort of allergic reaction to the medication. When it seemed to have done its job, carefully, she used her gifts to guide him into slumber. Chemically inducing rest presented with its own set of risks. This was safer.

Regardless—He could not be awake for debridement and potential grafting. Period. She would spend much of the night surgically removing non-viable tissue to ensure that the wound beds remained relatively infection-free. The last thing she wanted to do was to incite some sort of inflammatory cascade that lead to remote and multi-organ system failure. She could use a combination of synthskin that matched his genetic profile and microsutures to rebuild his outer chest wall.

It was going to be a long night.

Gianna would keep the patient asleep through the following day. He would awake, slowly, to find her changing bandages on his chest that were covered in a pale-blue burn salve and anti-bacterial compounds. Certain herbs were also included to stimulate growth and ensure his body didn’t reject the synthskin. He would still be in an intense amount of pain so the cuff would need to stay on.

His hearing…Gianna was uncertain. The bacta would help, but, it might take a little more assistance in the form of the Force to restore him fully. Regardless, she knew she needed to give it time. When she felt him rousing, she smiled softly down at him and reached for a water pack with a straw. “Good morning sleepy head. Thirsty?”

Undoubtedly, he would be. She would hold the straw carefully for him. “Slowly if you want…Not too much at once.”

 

[Arashi Hagane]

The amount of hearing that had been restored was adequate to his surroundings. It was no battlefield, so the likelihood he would need to perceive danger was low. Moreover, the woman attending him seemed protective and interested in his healing. Even though he had slept, he could feel her there throughout the night. This was the sort of being who sought to preserve life, to foster regrowth and rebirth after the fires burned away old crops.

Atrisia was one such instance. He pushed it from his mind for the moment. Arashi needed to hear her and to understand what she had done, and what she would further need to do. He needed to be fully recovered so he could return to his training, and to duty.

Her words rang clear, but there was a hollow resonance that he knew meant there was still some lasting damage. Markedly, the ability to hear at all after a sonic boom at so close range was a miracle in itself. There must have been a bacta treatment involved.

Not like the Kolto they used for the legion. The good stuff, the miracle medicine from Thyferra. He had no idea how he could begin to compensate this woman for wasting a single drop on him.

Arashi nodded groggily. Sedatives. Heavy dosage. She had kept him under, and when she brought him out of it, he'd continued to sleep. That meant his body was trying to recover in its own way, too.

Never a bad sign.

Arashi looked down to the new dressings and looked around for the older ones. "The other bandages," he asked. "Did you discard them? They're specially designed, they can be cleaned." He mostly spoke at length to be sure he could hear himself again. While he was slightly worried about his bandages, he was more glad to know that there was a chance he'd make a recovery.

"Yes," he answered her finally. "I'd like to drink."

When she offered the straw, he leaned forward slightly and sipped at it. The pain was still present, but it was much less pronounced than before. No blood surged to the surface to stain the bandages. He surmised the burns were closed up and sterilized from that slight motion.

His time among the Stormtroopers Corps taught him a thing or two about the limitations of his body.

"Thank you," Arashi said at last, bowing his head. "I am in your debt, ma'am."

Gianna Aegis

 

[Gianna Aegis]

Location: Spritegate Shore
Tag: [ Arashi Hagane

The flame-haired Knight held the water patiently whilst the young man examined his surroundings. He seemed to be evaluating her. Gianna didn’t blame him. It was clear that he had just been shuttled here from Atrisia and from what she knew, truth be told, it was a veritable warzone. She was starting to feel the pull. The need to do something about it. It was a feeling that came and went, but, she trusted her instincts. She held faith in the Force.

First, however, she needed to tend to her patient. He needed her far more than any battlefield.

When he asked about his bandages, she tilted her head and her brow furrowed while she considered it. They had been caked with viscous fluids, flesh, and burned remains. Had they kept them? It was possible that they hadn’t been sent to the incinerator yet, just, highly unlikely. “They were considered bio-waste, but, I’ll check and see if I can recover them. I apologize…It’s not something we would usually keep for sanitary purposes.”

Washing a bandage?

That wasn’t something she had ever done. But, he claimed they were special. When he acquiesced to a little hydration, she offered him a rewarding smile. It seemed to change the light in the room, brighten it, while the shadows found themselves banished. “Slowly..”, she reminded, ever gentle, while letting him take a drink. His body wouldn’t be able to handle much and expelling it through traditional methods would be exceedingly painful.

“Your range of motion will be severely limited for a long time. Don’t try to sit up all the way. Not without help.”, Gianna spoke clearly, carefully, so that his damaged hearing would be able to pick her up clearly. She didn’t know that he had already deduced much of this on his own. Her only concern remained among ensuring that her patient was well-informed and didn’t aggravate his injuries. All of her efforts to keep him alive and restore his body with minimal scaring would be in vain if he overtaxed himself too soon.

She placed the water back on the table beside him and returned to inspecting his bandages. When he thanked her, jade eyes stole up, and another smile crossed her features. “You don’t need to thank me. But, you’re most welcome.”

Gianna made sure that the edges of the clean white dressing were secured properly. Her eyes lingered around the edges of his skin, looking for discoloration, redness, or other signs of a persisting infection. Seemingly satisfied that his recovery was going well she straightened up.

“I’m Gianna. You don’t have to call me ma’am unless you really want to. You’re at my home—On Naboo. You’re also very, very safe.”

One of the first things she tried to do was reassure her patients. Tell them where they were, and most importantly, assured them that she meant no harm. This was a place of peace and healing. “You arrived on a ship carrying Atrisian refugees. I don’t know how much you remember…But you were in pretty bad shape. Burns. Deep, into your tissue.”

“I had to remove the deadened flesh to promote new growth properly. It was the primary reason you were sedated so long. You will have some scaring; however, the synth skin seems to be taking. Soon enough it will incorporate with your physiology and a new epidermis will form. It may be sensitive to the touch for quite some time. Your ears…”, her expression changed, briefly, flecked with concern, “Your ears are still a work in progress.”

“It will take much more than traditional methods of medicine.”

What did that mean? Bacta, was scarce. Kolto was too. Gianna would need to use the Force repeatedly to bring it back to a full range that wouldn’t do him a disservice. Her hand moved and delicate fingertips rest softly against the edge of his ear. Green eyes filled with soft light, bright, comforting. Just a flicker of the power and energy that the visage of a sweet young woman artfully hid. “You’ll need regular treatments for a little while. But, I’m confident we can make you whole.”

Her hand fell away and crossed in front of her.

“Do you have any questions for me?”

 

[Arashi Hagane]

He gagged a bit and hacked several coughs from imbibing the water just a hair too fast. That happened before she could tell him to go a bit more slowly, so when she did so, he looked a bit embarrassed. The former Stormtrooper knew better. They were made to go days with only a limited supply of rations, so reserving water for the times of most necessity was a discipline he should have displayed.

Should have, however, and the sensation of dehydration from burns all over his body were two different things. To add to that, certain medicines also robbed the body of water. There was no way of knowing exactly what kind she'd used, but his mind did know one thing.

He needed water.

The writing was on the wall for his skin. That sort of damage was forthright and he knew the moment that it had incurred the flesh was not salvageable. It was almost a miracle in his mind that they could replace it. Modern technology and medicine were a marvel.

It took a moment to fully process everything she said. He could hear it, but somehow, it sounded faint. That was how he knew it for truth.

He hadn't moved since she chided him. Part of him didn't even want to. The failure on Atrisia told him that he was incapable of any sort of defiance toward a Sith. Arashi felt like these treatments were wasted on him.

If he could not fight, he should die for the atrocities he had committed.

"There are, perhaps, others," he murmured, "people who need this treatment more, or different treatments. Others you could devote your time or resources to. I failed to do anything of consequence, and my crimes are many. To leave me this way, or to let me stand trial and face my fate would be fair and just," he told the woman.

Gianna Aegis