Bonnie

Bonnie’s first warning that something may have gone wrong with the collection mission was an alert to all medical personnel to ready themselves for triage. She and Effie had shared a momentary questioning look, the hopeful thought reflected on both their faces that this was a pre-empt for any injuries the stranded Ailu’t soldiers were arriving with.

All medical personnel aboard The Sentinel were always dressed in cotton t-shirts and flexible trousers, reminiscent of Earth paramedics. The pair were already clothed in uniform, so they jumped to their feet and followed the automated message’s instructions. Speeding down the metal corridors as fast as they could without running.

Bonnie and Effie arrived in the urgent care room - and it really was just a small room - to be handed single-use plastic aprons, surgical masks, and latex gloves. Every doctor, nurse and assistant ran through emergency cleansing and took position in the cramped space.

The tension rolling through the room unsettled Bonnie; at least one person in this room knew something she didn’t. Their dread was infecting even those that did not know what they had to be fearful of.

Shouting pre-empted the trundling sound of rickety wheels rolling along metal-plated floor. Bonnie couldn’t decipher what they were saying as they were all speaking at once, but when the wheeled stretcher burst into the room it no longer mattered.

Upon the trolley, splattered with blood and gritting her teeth like she was holding her tongue hostage, lay Major Ellie. From her abdomen, fresh blood was pulsing out of her. Her clothing was already in tatters, clinging to her body only through a combination of grit and blood at this point. Still, the trauma shears appeared and what was left was cut from her until only her bottom underwear remained. She was either impressively unbothered by the fanfare around her, or more likely, severely concussed.

The three Ailu’t officers who had wheeled her in ran back in the direction they had come from with a haste that made Bonnie nauseas. They had many trips to make, then.

Ellie’s stretcher was wheeled to one corner of the small room in an effort to keep open space. Two doctors teamed up to work on the gaping wound across her hip and stomach while a nurse created a woven masterpiece of tubes and cords, hooking the human up to all necessary monitors.

A second stretcher followed swiftly afterwards with another two Ailu’t officers pushing it at break-neck speed. As soon as they had deposited their Ailu’t charge, they also took off. Another followed, and another.

Dr Bonnie may have very little experience in surgery or trauma care, but she was still a doctor. She understood the basic orders she was given and was more than happy to obey them. The senior surgeon was their air traffic control, flinging his arms back and forth to direct the horde of medical personnel to different patients and stations. Bonnie was more than a little overwhelmed, but he had complete control. Dr Nathaniel was attempting to keep medical personnel matched with patients of their own species for best practice, but the humans were in much worse shape. Most were dead on arrival.

For some time the stream of injured officers seemed never-ending. Some hadn’t survived the journey from the planet to the medical unit. They didn’t have time to pronounce deaths, yet. They put the dead in another room for once those with a chance had been cared for.

The beeping warning tune from Ellie’s vitals caught Bonnie’s attention and her head lifted reflexively from the bloodied face she was gently disinfecting. The Major’s blood pressure was tanking. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the sound had frozen Effie entirely.

Bonnie gave Effie a firm look form across the room. They had many people to help, standing motionless was just about the worst thing they could do right now. The student unfroze, collected herself, and continued sewing up a long gash on the leg of an Ailu’t officer. He was the least injured of all in the room, but the medical personnel outnumbered the injured officers by higher ratios as more and more of them took their final breaths. Bonnie knew Effie desperately wanted to go to Ellie and help, but too many cooks could spoil a soup. Ellie had three of the most experienced members of their human medical team working on her, they were her best chance.

As soon as one or two patients began to stabilise, Bonnie was put to work testing for brain or internal injuries. Anyone who was conscious enough to participate was raising arms, wiggling toes and looking away from her mini flashlight. She ordered scans for everyone, just to be safe. They were lucky enough to have been fitted with both x-ray and CT scanning facilities in their medical unit. They had an additional scanning apparatus that was from the Ailu’t, but she didn’t know enough about how it worked to use it. They had no MRI machine, but she couldn’t complain about that when she had so much to do. She sent Effie to work as a technician in the scanning departments to get her out of the emergency unit. Incredible timing as not long after she left, Ellie’s blood pressure fell below a level that their monitors could even pick up, and her heart rate fell with it.

Just over thirteen hours after their first patient was wheeled in, every soldier brought back from the mission was either stabilised or dead. Unfortunately, of the fifteen officers dragged through the medical unit, only six were stabilised. Five were Ailu’t. A single human survived the night.