Turn 9: Mistakes

[Corporal Hicks]

The dim light obscured the Marines’ vision. Those at the front were aware that the leading target was not a threat. The short person was either a dwarf or a child and they directed their fire at the rear figures who appeared to be hostile. The mercenary on the left dropped from Henniger’s shot and the other surrendered.

Morse, however, was in the rear and didn’t have a good view of the situation. All he saw were the dark shapes of three people coming at them. He fired three bursts at the leading target which tumbled to ground sickeningly. Henniger’s semi-auto fire struck the surrendered merc in the chest and he fell forcefully backward.

“Clear,” called out PFC. Bennett. First Squad moved forward to secure the downed hostiles. Henniger looked down at the front target and saw a young boy looking up at him with unseeing eyes. He was gurgling blood through his lips and his shirt was turning from gray to dark red as Henniger looked at him. The little girl through the headset could be heard screaming “Nooooo!”

The two mercenaries were as dead as doornails. Sykes quickly glanced at the situation. “First Squad, secure the wounded and then regroup. Second and Third, proceed to the objective.” He fought the sickness rising in his stomach at the sight of the dying child. Whoever had shot the poor kid would likely be too distracted to be effective for some time so it was best to let First Squad take care of the situation and then catch up with the rest of them.

Second and Third Squad entered the storage building and encountered no resistance. It was dark and seemingly abandoned. Their boots clunked on the metal floor as they searched for the red crate the child had mentioned.

Storage Buildings Interior.jpg (90.29 KiB) Viewed 16384 times

[LT_Chun]

Henniger flipped the dead mercs over and zipped their hands behind their backs before joining the medical efforts on the child.

"Shit." He said quietly as he held pressure on the penetrating wounds. He hadn't hit the kid, but an innocent was down on their watch. And he'd initiated the fight. He wasn't innocent of this. But shit happened in the Colonial Marines. If you were queasy, you were in the wrong line of work. This was wet work. He'd seen it before on his last hitch in the outer rim colonies. Kid goes down in the course of an Op. it shook Marines up in the aftermath. Kids always changed hardened grunts back into humans basically instantly. He wasn't an unfeeling ghost, but he also knew what was on the line. Monsters, real, fucking monsters.

He called to the new corpsman.

"Doc! Multiple penetrating wounds, definitely haemopneumothorax on at least one side!"

<tag Davros>

He bit the wrapper off a bandage pack, split the seems along the sides. He unfolded the wrapper which was sterile on the inside and lined in weatherproof plastics. He slapped it over the hole in the wound on the child's torso and placed the bandage over it. It was an old school way to seal a sucking chest wound, but it was all he had until the corpsman arrived.

He used his combat knife to cut away the coat and shirt and began an assessment for other wounds. The child was gurgling blood so sealing the wound and reinflating the affected lobe wouldn't be worth a damn if the kid choked to death or died of shock and blood loss.

He looked around at his arriving squad.

"We have to clear his airway!"

<tag 1st Squad>

[LT_Chun]

"Sarge," he said into his helmet mic. "Need the Bed Pan to treat the kid. We also need security, got my hands full."

<tag Morse>

His nomex gloves were saturated with crimson blood.

"Paulson, mate can you keep that tracker online up here?"

<tag Paulson>

[eyeball]

paulson looked down at the small child then back to his detector, "scope clear," he reported "anything else you need just call out i can fetch and carry basics while i look at this thing" he said gestating with the motion tracker.
Trying not to watch the others work he shifted his awareness back to perimeter security, they were out in the open and all bunched together somehow it felt wrong., one good grenade or mortar shell and they were all down.
<roll awareness>
<roll motion detector>

[LT_Chun]

Henniger nodded, realized Paulson couldn't see it, and whispered "thanks mate" into the mic.

<tag Paulson>

[maxvale76]

Samantha had her squad in a support position, and so hadn’t been part of the fighting, but even over the comms, she could tell something was making the members of first squad tense. Hearing the calls for ‘Doc’, she quietly said to her squad, “Doc and Dmitri, get down dere and see what dey need. Dmitri, stay frosty and keep a sharp eye out”. She then clicked over to the unit channel, “Morse, I’m sending Doc and Dmitri to you”.

That done, she continued to secure the storage area.

[Morse]

It didn't take but a moment to size up the situation that First Squad was in, and it wasn't good. There had been hostiles approaching their position, that was true. Two downed black wearing combatants that could have easily given away their position, or engaged them and killed any of the marines in a firefight. But there was a child on the ground, that was an in inch from death... and there was no telling who hit it.

But Morse knew... Morse knew he had not had good eyes on his target. Morse had only taken aim of shapes with the information he had, and he had not hesitated for even a second.

There was one mercenary alive, hands up, weapon down. Morse pointed to get to his knees, which was complied. But Morse kicked him in the chest to make sure he was stunned and down all the way. Morse strapped his wrists with binding and put his face in the dirt, securing any weapons and equipment and tossing it away.

"Secure his shit!" Morse ordered.

And even in this moment, where the hardest side of combat was at the forefront, Morse still did not hesitate. Henniger was working on the kid, and Morse and the others moved forward to ensure the area was secure. Inhumane conditions tended to spawn horrific traps, and Morse was not going to let them walk right into one. He'd lost a leg to such actions, and this was not going to happen again.

But Hennigers frantic movements were too much to ignore. That Marine was trying to save a life, and fail or succeed, Morse was going to help. Though it had been years, Morse was a trained medic, and he'd probably have the best shot of anyone to help the situation.

A call had to be made though, one he made on reflex, but not because of willingness.

"Sierra-Six One" Morse called over the com to Sykes. "This is Hailhound 1." Morse gave his designator in case there was radio traffic. "Engaged squad of combatants. One neutralized, One captured. One civilian casualty. Civ condition is red. Securing area and providing aid. How Copy, over?"

The call was instinctual, but dealing with a caseless exploding round that was inside of the chest of this child... Morse did not look highly on the chances of survival.

<Tag First
<Tag Sykes
<Roll Medical

[LT_Chun]

Henniger tilted the child's chin to the side with his free hand to let the blood drain as best as possible. The improvised chest seal had sucked to the wound and was doing its job so he took his free hand and thrust the kid's jaw forward to open the airway a bit more. A thought occurred to him.

"Sarge!" He called over to Morse now that he was approaching. "We need to be cautious of this kid and the female with the platoon. Could be infected."

<tag Morse>

He unsnapped his pistol holster with his free hand, ready to "just be sure."

[lordstrand]

Davros ran at full speed toward the unfortunate child, yelling "Get the kid away from the monitor, doesn't need to see this!!!"
<tag anyone in the apc that will move the kid away from the screens>
He slid in on his knees. Seeing Doc come running in as well he had a little relief. Marines were good at quick patches but it would help to have another set of trained hands. He took a look at Henniger "Switch with Doc to help roll I need to check the back to see it the bullets went through. Doc watch the neck and head for me, on your count."
<tag Doc and Henniger>
Davros didn't like to bark orders but it worked better with one person in charge. With Doc's count 1,2,3...They rolled the kid keeping the neck stable. He took note of how many holes in the front to see if the bullets went through. As soon as he saw the back he grabbed a few of those clear plastic type dressings and slapped them over the holes sealing them closed. He did a quick assessment of the kid's backside. He threw an open bedroll down on the ground under where the kid would be when rolled back. "Ok Doc, roll em back."
1,2,3 and the kid was supine again. "Ok Doc, I'm hitting him with some quick drugs you get ready to intubate. Henny keep track of the pulse if it stops you give us a shout!!"
<tag Doc and Henniger again>
He found a vein and pushed a drug cocktail that would relax the kids muscles making the intubation possible, on top of that it would chill out whatever pain the kid might feel. As Doc intubated Davros started a good IV to steady his blood volume. He handed the IV bag to whatever marine was close by. "Keep this elevated about the kids heart."
<tag whomever>
Davros then felt along the ribs to find the right intercostal space, and gently yet with pressure inserted a Decompression needle. He opened the one way valve and some blood and air spurted out. With that inserted and bagging him on the tube the lungs should reinflate.
Davros rolled up the blanket on both sides of the kid. "Ok guys if we need to get the fuck out of here quick the guy at the feet grabs both sides behind him, and two people grab the top. Doc you keep pumping away at that bag, make sure not to pop his lungs." Davros pulled out his stethoscope and checked the lung sounds. He monitored the kids vitals as best he could in the field and hoped he would stay stable until he could be moved to a safer place.
<thanks for rolling in advance so I would know which way to take this>
<We would be ready to gtfo of dodge if we have to.>

[LT_Chun]

<Roll for vitals (pulse rate/shock/cardiac arrest)>
<roll awareness on nasty, toothy surprise in the chest area>

[wargamer]

Kelly sprinted towards the little knot f marines gathered around the casualty, sliding to a halt on his knee's, just a pace behind Davros who already has his Field Kit open and was calling out instructions.

"...I need to check the back to see it the bullets went through. Doc watch the neck and head for me, on your count." Kelly took a firm grip on either side the young lads head to stabilize the spine and motioned to Henniger to take hold of the torso and counted down before rolling the kid to give Davros access to the exit wounds "1, 2, 3 Roll Him!"

The marines rolled the boy smoothly onto his side, carefully protecting his airway. The back was a mess of exit woulds and the kid was loosing blood fast. Davros began slapping dressing patches over the gaping holes and unrolled a bedroll where they could lay the child down and move him easily if necessary. "Ok Doc, roll em back." Kelly nodded to Henniger "1, 2, 3" and they rolled the boy back onto the bedroll.

"Ok Doc, I'm hitting him with some quick drugs you get ready to intubate. Henny keep track of the pulse if it stops you give us a shout!!"

Kelly pulled the laryngoscope blade from his kit and extended it with a flick of his wrist before guiding it down the juvenile throat. Next, he slid the plastic tube down the steel guide past the boys larynx and withdrew the laryngoscope. He attached the airbag to the intubation tube and began pumping rhythmically as Davros finished administering a cocktail of painkillers and coagulants and began working to insert a decompression needle. There was a hiss of escaping air as the needle did it's job and relieved the pressure on the kids lungs.

"Ok guys if we need to get the fuck out of here quick the guy at the feet grabs both sides behind him, and two people grab the top. Doc you keep pumping away at that bag, make sure not to pop his lungs."
Kelly checked the kids pulse with his left hand while continuing the manual ventilation with his right. It was present but weak and thready. "Guys, we need to get him out of hear and get some whole blood in him. IV saline isn't gonna cut it much longer at the rate he's bleeding out!"

[JuanPerez]

Kelly's and Davros hard efforts to save the kids life payed off. Somehow a guardian angel had held its wings over the boy's life. The bullet went straight through and, more importantely, it did not detonate while penetrating. After very tense minutes of a different kind of battle - the boys life-force against the abyss - the former gained the upper hand. Maybe some of the marine's prayers were answered, maybe it was just luck. Anyway, Kelly and Davros managed to stabilize the boy, but clearly an immediate treatment with a life-support unit was necessary to get him off the hook for good.
<Tag Kelly & Davros>

"First Squad, get the wounded civilan and the prisoner back to the APC, we will take it from there. All Squads, prepare to move in to secure this underground lab. Actual out."
<Tag everyone>

[lordstrand]

Davros heard the orders from command.
"Ok boys lets get the fuck out of here." The marines grabbed their corners of the bed roll. Davros shouted "On the count of 3 we lift together gently. Don't run but move quickly got it!!" On 3 they all lifted as best they could. Davros grabbed the IV bag and told the marine to head back to his squad. The marines Hurried carrying the poor child in the direction of the APC. Davros shouted into his headset "Command we're on our way to you, meet us in the middle. We are carrying the kid he's stable but needs some more shit!! Have the droids get me a flat spot to put the boy down on, open the jump bag and pull out of few things. Grab the stapler, a few sutures don't give a shit what kind, grab out the 12 lead out, hook up the pedi-pads, and hang two bags of O. We're 3 minutes out anyone that doesn't need to be in the back get to the front and keep the kid occupied."

The APC Rolled up and the door slid open with a BANG. The marines loaded the kid onto the makeshift first aid station. "Thanks boys. Doc I need you and the droids for a minute then head back to your squad. Once we seal these holes closed its going to be up to the droids keep him stable. The rest of squad one filtered back outside the APC to make room. Doc hook him up to the vent and hook up the leads. I'll get the pads on and get the blood running. He slapped the pads on the kids chest and side. In the background he heard the Beep Beep Beep of the monitor behind him. "Ok, Doc we got it from here. Go take care of your boys. Make sure no one else comes in here if you can." Davros threw on some gloves as sterilely as he could. In an emergency sterility went out the window but you still wanted to do your best to keep infections out." Ready droids this will take a whole 5 minutes and then he's yours." He grabbed the stapler and with a Clip, Clip he sealed the holes closed right though the bandages. He grabbed threw on a few more of those clear bandages on top to make sure they were sealed. He repeated the same for the backside with the help of the Synthes, throwing in a suture or two to make sure the holes were securely closed.

Davros pulled the gloves off and checked the kids pulse. It was still weak but stronger than it had been a little bit ago. Davros walked over to the LT. Gave a quick salute. Chief, that kid needs to get on ice ASAP. He's stable but he may have internal injuries that we can't do anything about here. He gave another salute, restocked his medic pack again and headed out to rejoin his squad.