Private War Is Hard

[Iris Arani]

Empress Teta was.. Wrong. All that fighting, all that death. And through it, Iris was useless. Running to try and get help because she couldn't do anything herself. She was weak. After everything, she still was just weak. At least in a fight. The scarred Jedi was aboard one of the numerous medical shuttles. Not even for her own injuries, which she was neglecting. No, others needed help, more than her. The one in particular she was working on had been shot in the chest. A boy. Younger than her. It was the first time she'd thought about it. As Jedi, they were trained in ways normal people couldn't be. Their power made them capable of so much. Of being wiser, right?

So why was it kids who were fighting?

Her eyes narrowed as she focused on the burn on his chest. Slowly she made the skin renew itself. Rebuilding everything she could. It helped he was human. It helped she'd had her own wound like this. Experience, learning, it all helped her to do this right. Even if she couldn't fight, she could still protect people. "You'll be alright, Jaxxon. Keep fighting." That was the other half. As much as she tried to sooth his pain, he was dying. If he gave up, he would.

"Don't stop fighting."

Elena Lowe

 

[Elena Lowe]

​

Evacuation Shuttle,
Empress Teta

Iris Arani ​

-

Elena’s eyes were glued to the floor, her eyes scanning the gridlike pattern beneath her booted feet in an adamant attempt not to look up. Everything was horrifically bad, but Elena just felt shaken, disoriented. She held her head in her hands, one hand over her right ear, which was trickling blood, deadened to the sounds around her.

Next to her, on the floor of the shuttle, Jaxxon was fighting for his life, a young woman Elena had soon realised was a Jedi, tending to him sporadically. Elena watched out of the corner of her eye as the woman slowly, tentatively, treated her friend’s wounds. Elena’s head perked up for the first time since they’d boarded.

“Is there anything I can do?” Elena asked the woman, her voice much more muted than usual. “For Jaxxon, I mean.”

Their squad had been ambushed by Final Dawn special forces during what should have been a normal logistics assignment at the palace. Instead, they had been thrust into a firefight for which they were woefully unprepared. They had held their ground for only minutes before they were overwhelmed and scattered.

Jaxxon had been shot at the beginning of the confrontation, and was lucky to be alive at this point. Others in her squad were probably dead, or hurt like Jaxxon. At least as many had minor injuries like Elena’s ear.
She couldn’t be certain, but in the pandemonium after they broke formation, Elena was sure she’d seen her squadmates struck as they scattered down the hillside.

Elena swallowed the lump in her throat, trying not to think about it. They would know who had made it when they got back to the ship. Still, she was worried.

“I’m Elena, by the way. Thank you for helping my friend.”

She slid off her seat to sit beside Jaxxon, ready with the medical bag to help if needed.

 

[Iris Arani]

"If you have any medical training I can think of a couple things. If you don't, depends on how steady your hands are." Iris didn't look up from what she was doing. The wound knitted itself together, burned flesh going from a black char back to his original skin tone. Bit by bit slowly healing him, but it was a process. And one the Padawan wasn't skilled enough in yet to do quickly.

"If you can, find a vein and get him an IV. He's going to need a lot of liquids and I don't think he's in any state to drink. There's a small disk device in the pack. It'll help you find the vein."

Elena Lowe

 

[Elena Lowe]

Iris Arani ​

-

“Okay…” Elena replied, her voice betraying sudden nerves. She reached over and fumbled through the medical bag, muttering to herself. “Little disc thing, help find the vein-"

"If you have any medical training I can think of a couple things. If you don't, depends on how steady your hands are."

Steady hands… Hah. Elena reckoned her hands hadn't stopped trembling since she’d climbed aboard the shuttle. Still, her friend needed help and this woman was working on her own. So Elena figured if she really concentrated she could steady up her hands enough to be of help.

Okay, so now to do the drip. Elena cast her mind back to the several day first aid training she’d received at basic. She was sure they had done an IV then. She dug around the pack again, pulling out the bag, needle and sanitising wipes she remembered using during her exercises. Then she pulled out the unfamiliar disc device, powering it on and fiddling until she figured out how to use it.

“What’s your name?”

As Elena scanned the disc over Jaxxon’s arm to find a good spot, speaking to the woman without looking up. After a few moments the lights on the disc device flashed green and Elena pressed her finger on the vein so she didn’t lose the spot, grabbing her supplies with the other hand. She looked up at the woman, seemingly she was ready to get started.

“I’m set up. I might need some help though, I don’t remember being very good at this part.” She smiled slightly at the memory of a popped saline bag and the laps of the PT course that had followed.

As she spoke, Elena noticed a hilt hanging on the woman’s belt. Her eyes widened.

“Is that your saber? I’ve never seen one up close”

 

[Iris Arani]

"Iris." Her hands had moved. The wound was sealed, healed enough to keep the Cadet from flat out dying on the table. But shock had settled in. Iris set her hands on the boy's cheeks, reaching through the colors. Trying to pull away the colors assaulting his mind. He needed fluids. "Go slow. At an angle. Use your fingernail as a guide. You'll feel the vein give and see a rush of blood. Once you get that slip the needle out and attach the IV to the bag. Let me know once you have that done."

She didn't even register the question of her lightsaber. She was too focused. She couldn't stop the Sith from their slaughter. She'd been helpless. But not here. Here she could save a life. Her brows knitted together as she delved deeper into her focus. Was there something else wrong? Was the wound infected? Why wasn't he stilling? "Scratch the saline. Do you know his blood type?"

 

[Elena Lowe]

Iris Arani ​

-

"Iris. Nice to meet you." She seemed nice, though it was hard to tell much about her personality while they were in the midst of a medical emergency.

"Scratch the saline. Do you know his blood type?"

"No I don't, but I can check." Elena said quickly, breathing out a sigh of relief as she dropped the saline bag and IV, moments before piercing the vein. She pulled out her Holo, scrolling rapidly through her squadmate's names until she found the entry for Jaxxon. Since he was a cadet his file didn't contain much, but it did have the necessary biometrics, including blood type.

"Here's his bloods information" Elena said, holding up the Holo so Iris could see. “But.” Elena frowned quizzically, “I’m not sure we have any blood stores on the shuttle.”

Iris had a hand on Jaxxon’s cheek, and she looked genuinely concerned. Elena felt a surge of gratitude that somebody was looking out for her friend, a feeling she promptly pushed down. No time to be soft. Stuff to do.

“So for the blood, what… Uh… What do we do?”

 

[Iris Arani]

Yeah, Iris doubted they had any blood on the shuttle. Worse, it didn't seem like Jaxxon was going to survive the trip. Her lips thinned to a frown. What could she do? He was anemic, deathly so. She was just trying to keep the blood flowing to his brain through the touch of his cheeks. If he didn't get enough, it wouldn't matter if he survived or not. No, wait. She turned her gaze to the file. They all had that, right?

"Pull up the other files. Find who matches his blood type, we can use theirs."

Elena Lowe

 

[Elena Lowe]

Iris Arani​

-

"Pull up the other files. Find who matches his blood type, we can use theirs."

"Got it."

As soon as the words left the woman’s mouth Elena was moving, rapidly moving through the soldiers seated in the shuttle in search for a donor match. Many of them around her had been sitting and watching quietly, others further out in the shuttle were talking in low voices in pairs or threes, packing up their gear, or else just sitting there, staring into space.

Elena had made it probably halfway round the shuttle before she finally found a match, an older Sergeant who gruffly told her to get on with it and pulled up his tattered shirt sleeve. Elena had come prepared this time, and she used the little vein finding device to find her spot, gritted her teeth and poked the needle into the man’s vein as delicately as she could, leaving the needle as the attached plastic bag filled with warm red fluid. Elena murmured her thanks and crossed the shuttle back to where Iris was working.

“Got your blood.” Elena said, elated. Her face fell when she saw Jaxxon’s pale features. He was clearly on death’s door, despite the Jedi’s efforts. Elena clenched her jaw and knelt down beside Jaxxon, repeating the same procedure to find the vein and insert the needle. Her breath was trembling as she worked, and she willed her hands to stop shaking long enough to finish her task.

Finally Elena leant back and held the bag in the air, and red fluid trickled downwards. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"What now?"

 

[Iris Arani]

With the blood hooked up, Iris let out a breath of relief. The effect wasn't immediate, but soon enough color returned to the boys paled features. She took a step back, though it was more shaky than she realized. The Padawan ended up just plopping down on the floor, groaning. She spent too long running away from the Sith Lords and fighting only to try and rebuild a shot out chest. Yeah, she was tired.

"Now we rest. He'll be fine, come morning. Tired and sore, but fine." She flashed Elena Lowe a smile, even gave a half hearted thumbs up. "I'm hungry. You hungry?"