A Human and a Havenworlder are both trapped in a cargo bay of a medical transport ship. The Human is in a support frame due to an illness that had created serious malformations in the spine before they were rescued as one of the last few survivors from a failed Deregger colony. The door is forced open by the pirates and the only one to save them is a Havenworlder with a scalpel. The Human reassures the Havenworlder, "you're not as weak as you think you are." -- Lessons
Scoliosis, rickets, and some weird mutated virus combined to give Human Rav what they referred to as "rubber spine". Which was not great for anything other than lying very carefully down. The rest of what passed for society on Greater Deregulation Lower Northeast did the rest of the damage.
The Alliance had rescued Rav just before the entire planet died. What happened after the rescue had always amazed them. Free medical care with full informed consent. Prior to that, Rav's medical care consisted of being an "experimental animal" in the Deregger labs.
Just when they thought their life was getting back on track, the pirates attacked. They had been walking for the first time in decades. Admittedly, this was with the help of a supporting frame and a medical exoskeleton, but it was walking all the same. Rav didn't even care that they were being lapped by someone's toddler.
Orbiting Rav with an instant medical bay[1] on a lead, was Medik Yrsin. She was a somewhat nervous Havenworlder in a basic livesuit, chosen for her ability to react quickly and decisively in an emergency.
The first sign of which was all the doors shutting and locking. On a Medical ship, the Klaxxons are musical, so that the already-distressed patients are not alarmed. The medical profession has euphamisms for everything, including a pirate raid.
"Code Lymphocyte in the cargo bay. Repeat, Code Lymphocyte in the cargo bay. Security is advised to enact countermeasures."
Rav said, "We're in the cargo bay. Should we try to skedaddle?" not that they had the best land speed at the moment, but they could hike up their feet and let Medik Yrsin push.
"Remain calm," said Yrsin, checking through the compartments of the instant medical bay. "Stress is your enemy. We can adapt to the situation." She activated a HUD on her faceplate. Grimacing, she reached for the only weapon she had readily available. The laser scalpel. She thumbed the setting to Heavy Chitin with one hand and decoupled the lead with the other.
"Got one of those for me, Doc?"
"You're not authorised," said Yrsin, handing Rav the spare. "Only use it when they're close enough to grapple."
It took Rav a little longer to be certain it was set to Heavy Chitin, and by then, the first pirates turned up.
"You got this, Doc. Go for the wibbly bits."
It wasn't the best warcry, but it was certainly very instructive.
The first strike was with the live coffin itself. Two hundred Standard Weight Units[2] of specialised medical equipment set on Emergency Rush barelled into five humanoid bodies, followed closely by an angry medic with no shits to give for their collective welfare.
"You're disturbing my patient!" is not the best warcry either, but it was effective.
By the time they noticed that the patient was a Human, it was almost all over. Security was understandably impressed.
"Two scalpels and a bod pod," said the chief Pacifier. "Nice."
"Don't forget the angry Medik," said Rav. "She was super effective, right, Doc?"
"...I need my calm meds..."
[1] Just Add Patient(tm). Often referred to as 'live coffins' by both patients and medtechs alike, they are essentially a traveling ICU drawer. The only true difference is that the whole thing can be unfolded for maximum access.
[2] Each Galactic Standard Weight Unit is roughly equal to a kilogram.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / OleksandrLysenko]
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