Geoff finds Specialist Haru with the wounded - roughly a third of the Rebels have some injury, but only about a dozen need more care than a bandage and painkiller, or some quick suturing. Nonetheless, he's grateful for your aid.

Seeing the Chief Medic, Geoff extends his hand. "Specialist Haru, I am Doctor Hanson and this is Oro. What is the status of the injuries? Any critical we need to take care of now?"

[unfortunately, this is where military training and experience comes into play. Of the dozen injuries, have they been triaged yet? If not, can I get list of those open wounds, major head wounds, internal injuries, and broken legs first? I'm then going to need a list of broken arms, minor head wounds, gashes, and so on? Also, what is the timescale we have to work with?]

"I've already run the wounded through triage. We've got two criticals, who the others are caring for - a gut-shot, and an amputation - along with four serious who I've been moving between and six major injuries who I'm afraid I've had to slip down the priority order. That being said, with you here I doubt that will be much of a problem. I'm glad we've got more trained personnel here."

It's not necessary to roll for these wounded; you've got enough time and personnel to stabilise the wounded and put them in a better position without any undue risk.

Letting the Specialist speak, Geoff's brain starts processing the information. Once the Specialist is done speaking, Geoff immediately starts asking questions. "The gut wound will be a priority. Once the bleeding stops and the wound is taken care, we should be able to move him. What is the status of the amputee? Are we looking at a leg or arm amputee? Is it above or below the joint? We have four serious, what is the situation with them? Same question with the six major."

As he speaks, Geoff does a quick glance at the two criticals, evaluating them as he brings the ECM up.

Haru gestures to the two critically wounded men; they are laid out on makeshift tables constructed from roof and floor boards. "For the status of those two criticals, you'd have to ask Bolus and Mesko, they've been handling them single handedly. I can tell you our amputee's down an arm at the shoulder. He's lost a lot of blood; unless that machine of yours can manufacture plasma he won't make it if we try to move him," Haru moves over to the area of floor with the wounded laid in two rows - serious on one, major on the other. "The serious and major casualties have all had basic care: I've stopped any bleeding, and they've all had basic first aid - we don't teach it to our troops for nothing - so we won't have anyone die on us in the next few minutes."

He gestures to the four seriously wounded soldiers. "Two of them were hit in the head, but their helmets stopped it being an outright kill-shot; that said, neither are moving. Another is a broken leg, while the fourth was badly burned: they both got caught near an exploding fuel tank," At last he moves to the majorly wounded soldiers. "The six serious are your standard blaster wounds - two leg, three chest, one caught a glancing hit to the side of the hit and lost an ear; once I patched him up all he has is a hell of a headache and bad haircut. The others all had their wounds largely cauterised by the shot. They won't die in the next twenty-four hours, but we need to fix them up soon because the chest wounds are likely to be a problem soon. The leg wounded can't walk, but hopped up on stims and given a buddy to lean on they'll be movable by morning. If you want to help, best you can do would be to fire up a scanner and find out what the internals look like on those three, and maybe take a scan of the head wound in case the brain got hit. And again, thanks for your help."

Taking stock of what was said, Geoff nods at Specialist Haru. "Excellent work, Specialist. Sounds like we need some more eyes on the casualties. If possible, I want to get one observer for every two wounded. I also want to have an observer on the non-responsive, since those are closed head wounds. There any issues, I want them screaming medic."

Indicating the ECM, Geoff nods towards the two criticals, then puts both the ECM and the medpac on a table close to the two criticals. "I am a trauma surgeon. If your people want, I will work on those two criticals first. Goal will be to stabilize them enough to move. Once they are both good, I will check on the two non-responsives. Then I'll work on the burn cas. The broken leg will be last. In the mean time, the two leg wounds could probably be moved towards the vehicles, in case we need to evac quickly. However, that will be up to you and the LT."

[What are the med checks for the casualties? Goal will be to work on the gut wound first, then the amputee. Once those two are done, I'll check on the two concussed guys and then move on.]

"If you can get our people up, so much the better, but anything you can do would help. However vehicle transport is limited. If we're getting anyone out, it'll have to be on foot."

Both checks are hard with a Destiny point flip (CDD)

Frowning at the statement, Geoff starts unpacking both the ECM and Medpac next to the gut wound casualty. "That doesn't make much sense. I thought there was enough vehicles for everyone. Either way, that will have to be worried about later. Will Bolus and Mesko be sticking around? Oro is willing to assist but isn't trained. Having a trained assistant will help out immensely."

"Weren't you paying attention to the mad flight through the sewers?" the Specialist asks. "We didn't get out in vehicles, and we don't have them sticking around now. Most of our remaining vehicles are parked in nondescript spots around the city, or smoking wrecks in the warehouse. I imagine you've got Tookur to thank that your truck's here at all."

"And that's not ideal if anything makes a magnetic scan; hay can't hide something that big from the scanners." Braxus calls from across the room. Haru turns back to Geoff.

"Bolus and Mesko are sticking around, but I'd prefer if they could keep an eye on the others. I need more skilled hands to make sure we can respond to any crises."

Shaking his head at the lack of planning and preparedness of the Cell, in addition to the rest of the events over the last few days, Geoff immediately goes to the trooper with the gut and the medic standing over them. "Specialist Bolus? Doctor Hanson, surgeon. What is the status of the patient?"

Looking up at the Doctor, the bloodstained medic shakes his head. "Not good. I'm barely keeping him alive, same with Mesko with his guy. Problem is, we don't have the equipment to operate and my skills aren't up to par. Wish Doctor Cohlen was here for this."

Nodding, Geoff quickly opens up both the med pac and the ECM, talking to both Oro and Bolus. "Both of you are doing great work with what you have. The fact they are still alive and can be worked on is a blessing, trust me. That being said, we have other casualties in the area that need to get moved out as quickly as possible. The sooner we get the blaster casualties moved out of here, the better off we will be incase we need to move quickly."

Hands moving in an automated fashion, first cleaning then prepping himself like he has done countless time sbefore, Geoff continues. "Bolus, Specialist Haru wants you to help with the other casualties. I recommend you check on the severe casualties first, especially the two head wounds. If they have not gotten worse, get the broken leg fixed first. I would want to get him out of here ASAP. Mesko, I am going to need you on that patient still. The second I am done with the first case I will assist you. It looks you stopped the bleeding, but stay by and make sure he doesn't move. Oro, once I am done with this guy contact the rest of the team. We are sitting ducks while we are fixing the wounded."

Taking a deep breath and putting the surgical mask on, Geoff turns and immediately gets to work on the patient.

********

Gut Wound Medicine Check: 2eA+2eP+2eB+2eD+1eC 6 successes

********

Wiping his sweat with the upper part of the sleeve, Geoff looks to ensure everything accounted, from laser scalpels to clamps. This is just like old times, Geoff thought as he starts closing up the wound. Next to him, a cup full of shrapnel lay in blood, while gauze and other spent items lie on the ground.

"Specialist Mesko, status report? Is your patient still here?"

Glad that he was not asked to help with the wounded, Rax wanders about aimlessly for a few moments, trying to get to grips with that happened at the base, and trying not to think about what the rebels decide to do with Zavvel. To get his mind of their former commander, he starts looking for vehicles. Apart from the Brick, there don't seem to be any.They would have to cram as many as they could into the Brick if they were forced to flee again. He had no illusions about what would happen if the Imperials tracked them here. They wouldn't stand a chance.

He looks at the rest of the team. "I think we need to talk about how we want to handle the whole Zavvel-situation."

"Well he's not going anywhere much," Braxus observes, gesturing to the sedated Weequay who lies unconscious in one corner of the barn's upper room. "We could just kill him, but I suppose that's not quite in line with the ideology command's always going on about."

Amputee Medicine Check: 2eA+2eP+2eB+2eD+1eC 0 successes, 4 advantage

Wiping his hands of the amputee's bodily fluids, Geoff shakes his head as he gets up. This is not good. There is severe damage to the wound. Hopefully we can get him fixed up enough for him to be moved.

Rotating his head and neck, Geoff lets the popping sound provide and indicator of his own frailties. We need to get everyone out of here quickly.

Looking around, Geoff nods at Specialist Mesko. "Specialist Mesko, can you keep an eye out for our patient? I'll work on a few others so we won't have worry about them."

[Going to use the advantage to keep him stabilized. Still might want to work on the amputee so he can be safely moved, but other wise there isn't much to be done here. Geoff is going to check on the severe cases and see if he can get them stabilized.]

Geoff moves on to other patients, working long into the night to get his work done. In the small hours of the morning he sews up his last incision, tugs off bloody gloves, and collapses in a heap of straw in one corner of the hayloft. He's out for almost sixteen hours.

Oro heads off before then. The worst of the injuries are done, so he's free to head off to other duties. Finding himself unneeded, as the perimeter has been secured by others, he goes to visit Toco in his perch in the top of one of the grain silos. The two take alternating watches through the night, talking softly as the rain patters off the roof.

Rax and Tookur meet in the barn to perform maintenance on the battered Brick. Its systems are fully functional, and they spend the time knocking out dents and polishing over scrapes and blaster scoring. The two of them keep up good spirits as they work, cheerful together amidst the recuperating soldiers.

The team stays at the farm for three days before Braxus is willing to let them move. With the most severely wounded loaded up in the Brick and the rest of them hiking across country, they set off towards the cell's rendezvous coordinates, at a site in the mountains. It's a long trek, but you are quietly confident as you shoulder your gear and set out on your way.

See OOC thread for further details.

Five days. Five days of hard marching, through rugged terrain, always on the lookout for Imperial patrols. Holing up by day in forests or empty farm buildings, ducking subconsciously into deeper cover as a TIE fighter's familiar banshee scream fills the air overhead. Moving by night, in darkness and silence, tripping over roots, falling down ditches, getting kit soaked through. Broiling by day in your combat gear under the hot subtropical sun - for though you are moving up, you are still geographically only just above the planet's tropical belt - and freezing by night as the cloudless sky leaves you shivering as you stagger along. The stress has the whole company anxious - they nervously cast their eyes around from point to point when placed on sentry duty, or when setting up a camp in the latest bolt hole as dawn approaches.

On the morning of the fourth day you reach a forest of thorny trees, and Braxus orders you to carry on up the trail, to see how far you get. The ache in your legs intensifies as you feel the path begin to shift upwards, and you are grateful for the shade provided by the stark vegetation as the hot sun rises, however unnerving the ash-white branches are, or how completely the silence envelops you.

Braxus halts the company before mid-morning, as you rise above the thorn groves and drop down into a valley full of pines. You make camp on the bank of a stream, nestling under the trees and looking up at the much steeper hill rising before you, and the mountains ahead of that. A few hours' sleep refreshes you enough that you are up again in the early evening, striding confidently towards this next hill, and what follows. By dawn you are firmly ensconced in the mountains, and as the sun rises you pass through a salive grove and see before you a small town. Compared to Nostria it is tiny, barely more than a couple of dozen houses, a local faith-house, a tavern and a few pastures and crops scattered atop a low peak at the base of the mountain chain, but you are still nearly three thousand feet above sea level, and as you enter the town square you are presented with an incredible view out across the plains, almost as far back as Nostria. Up here, signs of Imperial presence are few and far between - the occasional shuttle can be seen in flight far away, but there are not the usual patrols and checkpoints of an occupied planet. You could almost believe, up here in the mountains, that you were living on a free world.

Braxus separates himself from the cluster of village dignitaries he was in conversation with, and crosses to where you lean on a rail on the edge of the square. "Hell of a view isn't it? We've used Alcatia as a refuge a few times before, but the elders say they haven't seen any new faces in the past five days so I doubt our friends are here yet. Seen anything interesting?"

"Smiles." Toco almost laughs the word out. Exhausted, yet no longer weary. "It has been too long since I have seen smiles."

"They seem like nice beings." he nods his head toward the elders. "Are they 'Friends' or 'Acquaintances'?"

"Friendly acquaintances," he grins. "They have no love for us - a lot of off-world no-gooders, if you ask the older ones - but they're about the only people who hate the Empire more than we do. And besides, we usually do a good turn or two for them in exchange for stuff they can afford to trade, so we're decent people in their eyes."

Looking around, Geoff also takes in the sights, and admires the peace and tranquility. Reminds me of home. Has it been that long?

Seeing the Lieutenant head toward the group, Geoff shoots off a quick salute and listens to the officer. Hearing the news, Geoff quickly frowns, as his thoughts took a darker turn. No contact? They should have been here long before we arrived. They had a three day lead on us!

"Sir, Commander Cohlen and her group had a three day head start on us. Do you know the route they took?"

Letting the question hang, Geoff nods at the Elders. "You said they have no love for the Empire and are willing to deal. Do you know what they need or could have a use for?"

"Anything they need help with, right now?"

Currying favour couldn't hurt right now.

Rax has been miserable for the past few days. For the first hour or so of hiking he was in high spirits, but as the trek dragged on he became more miserable by the mile. You haven't seen him smile or heard him joke for five days now, which is very unlike the Rax you have come to know. At times he has struggled to keep up with the group, mumbling something about starfighters when one of you went back to see if he had gotten lost, refusing any offered help with a rough "I don't need your pity".

As the sun rises on the fifth day and Braxus leaves to talk to the locals Rax ignores the rest of you and tries to find a decent spot to lie down before collapsing on the ground by the rail at the edge of the square, clearly exhausted from the hiking. He removes his boots, takes a look at the blisters on his feet before cursing and putting his boots on again with a disgusted look on his face. You think you hear him muttering something about not signing up for this, that the battle could be happening right now in space, and he was missing it.

As Braxus returns the the group and asks if they've seen something interesting, clearly not to hard put up with the hiking, Rax ignores him with a disgusted look on his face. You hear him mutter to himself a little clearer this time. "How can the rebellion win if they waste the talents of good pilots with groundpounders?"

"There's not much for us to do around here," Braxus responds. "Up here this high there isn't much use for a bunch of soldiers. Most of what we can do now is rest, and wait for news to filter down from Cohlen. Her group took an easier route over, given that they had wounded to care for, and besides they were heading to a different destination, so we'll be here for a while. For now we can only recuperate, tend to the wounded, and generally get ourselves back in fighting shape. That said, if you want to offer to help they could possibly use some support getting the harvest in, if any of you are up for a few hours of back-breaking work."

Toco got out of that Gundark nest we used to call a base unscathed.

"Point me at their headman and I'll be a Binary Load Lifter for a while."

"Head over there and help out if you want to; I'm off to snag a bed before the tavern fills up and I end up camped under yet another frakking tree."

Securing his weapon, Toco makes his way to the harvest workers.

Sometimes you just gotta work.

A warm morning turns to a hot midday. Toco grimly slogs on with his work until the Ithorian and Gran field workers down tools for lunch. He enjoys his meagre rations with them, though they are much improved by the feeling of hard work and the hefty salive liquor the workers pass around. The work continues towards evening, and though it is hard by the end of the day Toco feels happier than he has in a while, the honest graft and workers' banter cheering him along to the end of the day.

Oro and Geoff are exhausted after the hard days of marching, and their first response is to join the other Rebels who set themselves up in bivouacs sheltered from both sun and prying eyes by the broad branches of the village's salive groves. However, just as they are setting up a stern set of old women from the village, of a myriad of species - Ithorian, Gran, Human, even an Iktotchi - come striding up to them. A nearby Sergeant looks ready to shift his tired men off of their land, but instead they offer rooms in the village - for a fair price. Soon you are being billeted in houses across the town, alongside bleary-eyed Rebels desperate for a proper rest. You are able to have a comfortable day lounging in an attic space with room for four to spread out their bedding. Though your landlady is relatively relaxed in making you pay your way, a casual glance into the street is enough to see dozens of young Rebels carrying linens out to wash, fetching water, or performing any one of a dozen other chores as the town moves towards evening.

Rax decides that after the long night's march, his best option is a short nap. This inevitably turns into a long nap under the tree, the water of a nearby fountain lilting him to sleep. He is however awoken a few hours later when the village's children arrive from their school, a building across a steep saddle where the next village lies, fully out of blaster shot. For all that however, the mountain-born children seem to have handled the climb far better than the Rebel soldiers, as they cluster around the exhausted pilot where he has sprawled under the tree, clamouring to see his trinkets and toys - or as Rebel command calls it, classified combat gear.