The whir of the heavy medical machinery used to be an annoyance, now they were the most comforting sounds he’d ever heard. It meant work had been completed, for now at least. The displays overhead started to black out, no longer pinning images of parts, both organic, synthetic and other. It was like closing time in the med bay, a moment of - he would never utter that word because soon after they would be flooded in a sea of crimson.
Julian had finally pulled away from the report, his body hunched over in a shielded stance to hide the input of his notes. He wasn’t interested in what they had to say, especially not after watching blatant negligence once again in his operating theater. Slowly he pulled from the cassette, his hands would find a comfortable place curled over the front of his robes. Each joint actuated, adjusting under the tension created by the overworked jelly that lived within those plated mock bones. He was furious. Although his pallid expression had shown otherwise.
One hand would raise, beckoning the team of anxious medics in his direction. “Come with me.” His vocals hung in the air much longer than intended. If he could, he would pierce their hearts with it’s icy tones. Just to make a point. One by one they would follow along like a raft of displaced ducklings. Their hands seem to fidget and fumble with their visors and gloves, anything to calm their anxiety. It seemed it was that time again, the time they’d have That conversation. The only conversation he seemed to have with them on more than one occasion. It was tiring.
The trek into his office was a somber one. The halo outside his door displayed a picture of his old face and a name he only wore on such formal occasions like these. He preferred the name Tally above all others. It was an affectionate name gifted to him by his crew before the fall. They had always been so curious about the crudely penned marks he wore on the side of his gauntlet before his resurrection. He still wore his marks, just now carved into the mechanical inlay of his forearm. The etching no longer looked primitive but it’s symbolism still remained.
One tally mark, one life saved. It was his duty to serve.
“Come on, I don’t have all day.” The biomedics picked up the pace with the sound of his bark as they scurried into his office. Their plated boots hit the concrete with loud thuds before the herd diminished into quiet tip toes. Julian didn’t sit, there was too much energy boiling within his central core that it made his zero unit act up and blink in his HUD.
“How many times do I have to tell you all - put e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e out?” Julian didn’t even give them a second to breathe before stating his claim. The irked medic stepped to the side, taking a deep breath of his own, one strong enough that it’s vibrations caused the liquid torso tank to jostle behind that fabric of his tunic. Plated index fingers found their home in the soft tissue still intact around his temple. It was habitual. He actually felt nothing there, not even an ounce of pressure in his cranial space to suggest his frustrations. “Do you know?” He pointed at some junior medical tech who had just been taken off guard by the sudden attention.
“No sir, we thought....” they piped up quickly, breathing so heavy it fogged the front panel of their mask. Their nerves were visible but he didn’t care for their anxiety, he cared more about the possibility of failure in his med bay. “Of course, you thought nothing. This is obvious.” Unlike those he was around on a daily, Tally was all bark and no bite. And clearly this crew was seeing that loud thunderous side of his growling vocals.
“I don’t care. I don’t care. Just because she has machine in her does not mean she has to be subjected to any form of medical brutality. She has a conscience, remember? Hello? Is anyone there?” He couldn’t bear to think of how many times this had happened outside of his supervision, how many others had been subjected to live vivisections of tissue and machine. How many had to be poked and prodded to find their fix while they lay wide awake and aware enough to remember everything. He never cared what percentage of organic tissue anyone was left with. They would all be treated the same, that was still an oath that he kept dear. No matter the circumstance.
First, do no harm.
Julian walked over to the side of his desk, an assortment of vials and syringes had been splayed out. Each one neatly labeled, tucked away with serial numbers printed along the sides. Every medication wore varied colors that were indicative of their medical use. It was a decent system that allowed them for quick responses - no reading required. “Do you see this?” His finger pointed to the gold lined syringe that rested beside its other companions on the exam tray, “I know you see this...because you gave it to her. And what happened?” He pointed at another random medic who was interrupted by a voice he didn't call towards.
“She went to sleep…” Julian huffed, shaking his head in clear disappointment. They knew what they were doing, they were all hand picked by him to tend to the patients in the med bay. He would once again exhale, the vibrations in his voice box picked up, hiding the tell of his impending rage, “Right. She went to sleep.” The tired medic would parrot back, making a fool out the newly chatty biomedical in that thickly tense room.
“The Major deserves the best care possible. That is an order. I can not keep dealing with this from each of you. Treat her like a person, it’s very simple. I don’t care what your beliefs are. You shouldn’t care either. We have scans, we have medicine - Do we have medicine!” He stopped himself short of cursing them out, pressing into that meaty tissue like clockwork. “We have a formula, do you all remember Midazolam, the gold vial? Hmm?” No one spoke up so Tally continued, “It stops her memory bank from cataloging any of the procedures when they require a lucid response. Other than that, put her out. Is that clear?” There was a chorus “Yes Sir,” followed by nods once he finished speaking. His hands would once again smooth out the cloth in front of his tunic, turning his attention from crew into something he had control over. “Out of my sight. You are dismissed. Go check on The Major.”
And with a wave of a hand he released them. Expect, he would be the one nimble on his heels to check on The Major for himself. Once he arrived, he found the holo display next to her bed blanked out.
“Where is Major Straza?”
