Rebirth

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Aikanaro
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2007 5:54 pm

Rebirth

Post by Aikanaro »

Wasn't he dead? Didn't he not only see, but feel the bulkhead crush down over him, nearly severing him in two? It was the final thing he saw and felt after all. Then there was the merciful darkness, a peaceful void at odds with the battle he had just left behind.

How long he drifted in that void he didn't know. It could have been hours, days, months, or even years. All he knew was that his life was finally at peace, and now there was some noise intruding. It was a rhythmic beeping, disturbing his peaceful rest.

Slowly but surely his other senses began to return. He smelled antiseptic air, tainted with a metallic tang. The beeping continued, but now he also heard other noises too. The soft sound of a pump, slowly wooshing air. The faint sound of voices and footsteps. His hands clenched, bunching up soft fabric in his palms. He became aware that he was prone in a bed, tubes running up along one arm.

"I'm in a bloody hospital." He thought, his mental processes warmed up enough for coherent thought. Resigned, he cracked open one eye and stared up at the ceiling, taking in the robotic arm tucked away against the wall above him. He opened his other eye and blinked a bit until his eyes focused. Who knew how long he had been out, but why was he even back? That bulkhead should have killed him.

It wasn't until he tried to clear his throat to call out for someone that he felt the tube running down his throat. So, he had a nutrition tube blocking him from speaking. There had to be another way to get the attention of a nurse or doctor that he was conscious and wanted to know what the hell was going on.

He turned his head and looked around, then down at his right hand. An IV line was taped to his hand, the tubing running up along his arm before curving up to the IV bag at his side. A sensor monitored the even dripping of the clear liquid into his arm. Perhaps if he pinched the tube it would set off the alarm and someone would come in to check on him. It was worth a shot at least. His left arm was free and he reached over his chest to pinch the tube closed. His actions were rewarded as, after a minute or so, the sensor alarm began to go off...a most annoying and high-pitched alarm.
Aikanaro
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2007 5:54 pm

Post by Aikanaro »

Sure enough, it didn't take long before a nurse came barreling into the room to find out what was wrong. She paused for a moment once she realized he was awake and watching her, but then she came forward and checked the machine. "You could have pressed the call button to alert us that you were awake." She scowled and pointed to the call button fastened to the left rail on his bed. He just gave her a steady look, no apology in his eyes. Shaking her head, she turned and left the room to summon the doctor.

He was drifting back off to sleep when the doctor finally came in to check on him. He woke back up though, and steadily watched the doctor. When he finally made eye contact with him, he pointed to the tube in his throat, his eyes narrowing slightly in a silent demand that the tube be removed. The doctor shook his head before replying. "Not quite yet, I think. You are not completely healed yet from the surgery to risk letting you eat normally. The regen took well, but we had to replace several of your internal organs. Once I am assured that they are operating normally, then the tube will come out and we will start you on a soft diet." He checked something off on his chart. "If you continue to show decent recovery, then I think we can take the tube out tomorrow. You took quite a blow from that bulkhead. You were lucky that the emergency crews were able to pry it off of you and get you to the hospital here." He hung the chart back up at the foot of the bed and looked directly at Aikanaro. "I should tell you now, before you discover it on your own. Not only did we have to replace several of your internal organs, but we also had to replace your legs. You have the latest in cybernetic parts now." He pointed towards his legs. "They are coated in nuskin, matching your own skin tone as closely as possible. You will have full range of movement, plus some added benefits, like strength. You will also be able to feel anything touching your legs. We were able to salvage enough of your nerves to give you sensation. You will still have to be careful though. While your new legs are stronger, you have to beware of any electrical discharges. Get a strong enough discharge, and your legs will be fried."

Aik frowned at the doctor, then shifted enough to lift the light blanket and look at his legs. Interesting...they looked normal, despite the lack of hair on them. He dropped the cover and looked back up at the doctor, pointing at the feeding tube with an impatient finger. The doctor just smiled. "Tomorrow. We'll take it out tomorrow." With that, he left, leaving Aikanaro to his thoughts.
Aikanaro
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2007 5:54 pm

Post by Aikanaro »

Aikanaro glared at the door after the doctor left. He hated the feeling of the tube running down the back of his throat, it felt too weird. He sighed inwardly and let his face relax, closing his eyes in the process. With nothing else to do, he let his memory drift back to the incident that landed him in the hospital.

It had started out as a normal run, no problems anticipated. His alliance had beaten the hell out of one of their rivals, putting a hurt on them that would take time to recover from. So there was no worry of an attack from that side. Several other alliances could be nuisances, but didn't really have that much power behind them for a full assault. He and his buddies felt pretty confident about running sector sweeps, keeping an eye out for any trouble while the traders in the alliance went about their business.

He was in a Battle Cruiser. Not the greatest of ships, but it was decent enough for him, especially considering how often he'd go through ships sometimes. It had enough weaponry to make some people think twice about taking him on, although he definitely couldn't go after some of the bigger ships out there, unless he had company and was feeling extremely lucky. He had a small crew with him, just a weapon's officer, a medic, and an engineer. He himself piloted the ship, and he knew he could count on his crew.

Funny, it wasn't an attack that caused the damage, now that he had a chance to reflect upon the incident. What happened was really quite embarrassing, and he was surprised that his leader hadn't shown up yet to chew him out for his mistake. He had programmed in the jump coordinates, but had made an error. He and the other two ships sweeping with him should have jumped to a clear sector, but he had transposed two figures and had been in too much of a hurry to double check his math. Instead of the clear sector, he landed them all in the middle of a dense asteroid field. Worse yet, there were a few old mines left drifting through the field.

Luck definitely wasn't with him. He all but appeared on top of a mine, causing it to explode before he even got his bearings as to where they were. His engineer was the one to realize that they had landed in the middle of an asteroid field. Aikanaro cursed, banging his armrest before leaning forward, trying to bring the ship back under control. The mine had caused damage along the aft side, knocking out weapons bay. It had also unfortunately sent him in a bit of a spin, the tail of his ship crunching into an asteroid. That collision knocked out his shields, and it was the second collision that punched a hole through his armor...breaching the hull.

It all happened in a matter of minutes. Aikanaro barely had enough time to shout commands to the other two ships to clear out if they were able to. He then hit the ship intercom and told his crew to head to the escape pods. With the hull breach, he couldn't jump out of the asteroids, and the engines were responding sluggishly to his controls. They had taken just enough damage that he couldn't maneuver fast enough to avoid any more hits.

He punched in the codes to send his data streaming back to the alliance headquarters, knowing even then that he was in for an ass-chewing when he got back. He set the controls to autopilot, letting the computer make the futile attempt at dodging the rocks. "Launch your escape pods!" He screamed into the intercom, before dashing off towards his own pod. That's when it happened. The computer couldn't react quick enough to avoid an asteroid, and he felt it crunch along the port side. The ship shuddered, smoke from blown conduits filling the air. He stumbled to one side, colliding with a wall, but managed to stay on his feet. He grasped the hand holds spaced out along the wall and pulled himself towards the glowing escape pod hatch. Before he could throw himself into it though, another hit sent shards of rock protruding through the bulkhead, knocking the bulkhead loose and sending it crashing down on top of him.

He must have blacked out, because he didn't remember anything after that point until he woke up in the hospital bed. He had a few questions though. How did he manage to end up in the hospital, when the ship had probably exploded in the asteroid field. He knew he didn't drag himself into an escape pod, or did he? Or did one of his crew members disobey orders and rescue him? He'd have to wait until he got back in contact with his alliance to find out the answers. If they even knew he was here...
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