Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 21 to 34 of 34

Thread: The Molting Cicada

  1. #21
    "I have made significant advancements in my field of research," she said, somewhat forcefully, as if she could drive home the importance of her achievements. And then, diminishing, she added, "It is the reason why I was taken by the Empire. My intuition allows me to see doors where most only see walls."

    Now in step with Lilaena, she cast her a sideways glance, "That sounds like the Force, right?"

  2. #22
    TheHolo.Net Admin
    OG Forum Overlord


    Lilaena De'Ville's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    AKA
    Holly
    Location
    deep space
    Posts
    31,078
    Blog Entries
    35
    Gamer IDs

    Gamertag: Lilaena Steam ID: jainhollie
    She nodded. "It does." Lilaena looked at Ireen as they walked together. "I have copies of other Imperial research projects that I have...come across. I would like you to look them over, see what your intuition tells you about them. Perhaps they can be useful, or perhaps not. Maybe the information can be reworked in some way."

    She stopped walking, and pressed her hand against a set of door controls. The door slid open, revealing a set of officers quarters. "Holonet access is limited to download only. I am sure you can circumvent the firewalls, but I have some talent in slicing and I will know if you tamper with it. These are your rooms."



    oh what a tangled web I weave


  3. #23
    Well, that was unexpected. Ireen took a tentative step forward, and peeked inside. There was a large bed, with space on both sides. There was space everywhere. A footlocker and some fancy cabinets, an adjoining room, which was, presumably, the fresher, and sure enough, there was a work space, with her very own computer terminal. Her mouth fell open.

    "Oh, wow. This is sooo much more than I had expected. I mean, I was happy with the box room I was in..." Suddenly, she snapped upright, and turned owlish eyes on Lilaena, "Not that I'm not grateful. I am grateful. Honestly, I'm just relieved you're not blasting me out of an airlock. Is that air con!? Oh, my gosh! Scoff is going to love this place!"

    Ireen clapped with excitement, and, giddy, she tore her attention away from her new quarters for a second time. Hands clasped, she regarded Lilaena again, and all of the silliness melted away.

    "Thank you, Lilaena. I don't deserve this, but I will earn it."

  4. #24
    TheHolo.Net Admin
    OG Forum Overlord


    Lilaena De'Ville's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    AKA
    Holly
    Location
    deep space
    Posts
    31,078
    Blog Entries
    35
    Gamer IDs

    Gamertag: Lilaena Steam ID: jainhollie
    "Yes," she said, without menace, "You will."

    Lilaena regarded the space she'd given to the scientist, and met her eyes again. "Your ...Scoff... will be delivered to you shortly. I'm not going to tell you to keep it in your room, but make sure it isn't running wild in the ship. My Mando'ade may try to eat it." A trace of a smile crossed her face, though it was only half a joke. "In the morning, report to the main medical bay. Draylshy'a will put you to work." The young Mandalorian woman who served as the ship's doctor was incredibly smart, and pairing the two together would probably be good for them both. Along with Mirshe, the chief engineer, Draylshy'a had manufactured and overseen the transfer of De'Ville's former apprentice, Hawkins Grime, into his new exoskeleton a year or so ago.

    The Mandalorians were used to second hand equipment, refurbished a hundred times, and their ship was no different - an old Hammerhead class that they had put together themselves. They had some who were skilled in robotics, having maintained their basilisk droids for centuries over generations, and many more had learned what they needed in order to keep the Aranar in flying condition.

  5. #25
    The next day, Ireen rose early. That in itself was uncharacteristic of her, but all night, her stomach had roiled with a cocktail of the fear of the unknown and an eagerness to impress. She dressed simple, and appropriate for a medical bay. Her hair was tied back because it was always tied back. Typically, when she worked, Scoff was loathe to join her, however, following Lilaena's warning the day before, she wasn't prepared to let him out of her sight. A sharp snap of the fingers and an I-mean-it glare was enough to persuade him to flop from the bed and waddle to her side. She imagined they made for a peculiar sight as they passed the armoured men and women, and the hard-faced officers in uniform. Ireen didn't wish to appear timid, but her arms might as well have been glued to her sides the whole time. Scoff grunted and kept close whenever someone walked by.

    It wasn't difficult to find the medical bay - it only took forty minutes without asking for directions - and she was still early. The doors gasped open, and Ireen stepped inside.

    "Hello?"

  6. #26
    TheHolo.Net Admin
    OG Forum Overlord


    Lilaena De'Ville's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    AKA
    Holly
    Location
    deep space
    Posts
    31,078
    Blog Entries
    35
    Gamer IDs

    Gamertag: Lilaena Steam ID: jainhollie
    Draylshy'a looked up from where she was sewing up a cut on Hel's shoulder, the acolyte sitting stoically and watching while the needle passed in and out of her flesh. "Ah, hello." She smiled, her brown eyes friendly. "I'll be with you in a moment."

    There was an ancient medical droid in the corner, it's original designation lost to time. Draylshy'a called it Duck, that is what her mentor had called it, and his mentor before him. It turned it's head to watch Ireen as she walked further into the clean and tidy medical bay.

  7. #27
    Ireen smiled and gave the doctor a small wave of acknowledgement. Scoff took shelter beneath an unoccupied bed while Ireen permitted herself to wander the outskirts of the medical bay, hands clasped behind her back with the composure of a nosy health inspector. The facility was worlds away from her last medical lab, in more ways than one, but then, the absent spectre of Imperial malevolence was a welcome change. It was somehow... homely, in a neat and sterile kind of way.

    When she passed by the doctor and her patient, Ireen couldn't help but notice, and recoil a little at the sight of the wound being stitched by hand. It was something she assumed only ever happened in old holovids, and the thought that she herself might have to learn to stitch flesh, like some sort of gruesome seamstress, put her stomach in knots. She couldn't help but wince.

    "Yikes. That's quite a wound. What happened?"

  8. #28
    TheHolo.Net Admin
    OG Forum Overlord


    Lilaena De'Ville's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    AKA
    Holly
    Location
    deep space
    Posts
    31,078
    Blog Entries
    35
    Gamer IDs

    Gamertag: Lilaena Steam ID: jainhollie
    Hel smiled, a scar on her cheek stretching as she did. "I was too slow in the battle circle. Tiktik got me with her knife."

    Draylshy'a tsked, tying off the last stitch. "I am done. Keep it clean, Hel, or I will see you again and you will get bacta."

    The warrior bared her teeth. "Then I won't get another pretty scar." She winked at the newcomer, who seemed a little taken aback, and shrugged into her boma skin leather jacket. "Thank you, Draylshy'a." Hel put her fist to her heart, and then prowled out of the medical bay.

    The doctor walked to the sink, washing her hands while she talked over her shoulder to the other woman. "You must be Cole. Manda'lor told me you were coming to help?"

  9. #29
    "Manda'lor?" Ireen repeated. The word rang a bell, "Do you mean Lilaena?"

  10. #30
    TheHolo.Net Admin
    OG Forum Overlord


    Lilaena De'Ville's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    AKA
    Holly
    Location
    deep space
    Posts
    31,078
    Blog Entries
    35
    Gamer IDs

    Gamertag: Lilaena Steam ID: jainhollie
    Draylshy'a raised an eyebrow as she dried her hands. "Yes. She leads us, Manda'lor is her ...title." The Mandalorian woman turned to face Cole as she pulled the bit of elastic from her brown hair and redid the ponytail. "I have some questions for you." She beckoned the other woman to follow her, and walked over to a small plasteel box marked with a black plus sign.

    The twenty-three year old pulled open the top, exposing a layer of modern medical tools and supplies, all carefully packaged. "Tell me what these do."

  11. #31
    "That looks like a portable anabolic stimulator." From the box she lifted an instrument that was fifteen inches long, and light enough to hold in one hand. She gave the top a twist, and half of it detached with a satisfying pop. A second cylinder was removed from the box, and snapped onto the bottom half of the instrument. "Ah! And now it is a dermal regenerator."

    At risk of patronising the doctor, Ireen brandished the tool and its detached other half, and explained, "In the field, this facilitates tissue regeneration - torn veins, gashed arteries, damaged nerves, even muscle fibers - buying valuable time to get the patient to surgery. The other one mends simple flesh wounds."

    Since the doctor remained silent, Ireen decided to continue, unsure whether she was genuinely interested, or merely testing her knowledge. It wouldn't surprise her to discover the Mandalorians actually preferred Draylshy'a's needlework over modern machines - they took pride in their scars, it seemed. Perhaps they were less partial to nasty infections, so Ireen pointed to a bulkier instrument that had a wide conical appendage.

    "Spectral sterilizer. It uses a frequency of radiation to sterilize wounds. You need the proper stand, power supply and computer systems to operate it, though. Next to that, you have a few rolls of cautergauze: it works like normal gauze, except once exposed to tissue, it will apply a deep heat that can will cauterise wounds over time. And it stings like hell."

    Finally, Ireen lifted out an instrument that looked a bit like a blaster but with a small screen on top. She aimed it just below the doctor's neck and squeezed the trigger, and from the device came a friendly buzzing voice:

    "Humanoid female. Healthy. Collar bone, intact, no evidence of tissue damage or dermal abrasions. Recommended treatment: a big hug and a smile."

    Ireen promptly stuffed the tool into the box, and gave a nervous laugh.

    "Heh. That's the MedMate 2. It... well, you see what it does."

  12. #32
    TheHolo.Net Admin
    OG Forum Overlord


    Lilaena De'Ville's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    AKA
    Holly
    Location
    deep space
    Posts
    31,078
    Blog Entries
    35
    Gamer IDs

    Gamertag: Lilaena Steam ID: jainhollie
    Draylshy'a picked up the dermal regenerator, turning it over in her hands. "This technology is impressive." She sighed, putting it back into the box. "I have been taught all of the knowledge that my ancestors knew of medicine. Unfortunately the First, those abandoned for dead on Dxun," she explained as an aside, "had only a field medic with them. We learned more from those in the City, but access to proper equipment has never been easy. Now I have this," she gestured at the medical bay and it's rows of emergency beds, "And just Duck to explain it to me."

    As it was mentioned, the ancient medical droid lifted it's head. The Mandalorian waved it off, and the droid returned to standby mode. "I do not even know how old he is," she confided in Cole, and smiled. "I can do everything my people need, but it can be done better, and I need to learn as much as I can. You will help me." Draylshy'a added, "I know you are not a medical doctor, Manda'lor told me, but together I am sure we can figure all this out."

  13. #33
    Ireen listened intently to Draylshy'a's story. She welcomed the fleeting insight into the history of these people - sure enough, they dressed like Mandalorians and behaved, well, they behaved as she had always imagined they would. As a child, she read about the Mandalorian warriors and the great civil war; stories of epic battles with ferocious dogfights, and warrior women that rode into battle on great droid beasts, and the marksmen that could take to the skies to rain fire down upon their enemies, it all bubbled to the surface of her thoughts. Manda'lor, she remembered. Of course. There was a flicker of a smile, borne on the wings of childish delight, and of admiration for Draylshy'a, and her simple, yet noble, ambition.

    "I'm sure we can, too."

    In truth, Ireen sounded more confident than she felt, but the last thing she wanted to do was dampen the doctor's spirits. The logistical challenge of becoming a self-made doctor was a little staggering, but she braced herself with a breath, and dove right in:

    "So what kind of learning resources do we have?"

  14. #34
    TheHolo.Net Admin
    OG Forum Overlord


    Lilaena De'Ville's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    AKA
    Holly
    Location
    deep space
    Posts
    31,078
    Blog Entries
    35
    Gamer IDs

    Gamertag: Lilaena Steam ID: jainhollie
    "As far as I know, just this." Draylshy'a held up a bulky looking piece of tech. "It's a medical interface visor. It will tell you everything you need to know about someone's injuries. Still, some of the commands it suggests are not... easily translated to my current knowledge level." The Mandalorian gestured to the decrepit droid.

    "And then there is Duck." She gently set the visor on the table in front of her, almost reverently. Such a piece of tech would have been priceless on Onderon among her people. "If there are other training devices here, I have not discovered them."

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •