Medbay

Any further questions were put off by the level of discomfort Dustin felt as their shuttle flew back to the ship, and the wooziness from a painkilling spray Rye had given him. On arrival, Meli and Emely were waiting for them, grav-stretcher on standby to ferry him through to the so far unused medbay. Indeed, asides from briefly popping his head through the door during Rye’s tour of the ship, Dustin hadn’t spent any time at all in the clean room with it’s half-and-half pale cream and dark green walls and silvery sterile flooring. Now however he found himself whisked briskly in and transferred onto one of the beds. Meli thumbed a control and a scanner slid up over his leg before dropping back into it’s resting place.

“If my memory of human skeletal structure is correct, looks like a clean break across your leg, which is good. We’ll need to get you out of the suit; I’ll give you a stronger pain blocker than the one the shuttle carries first otherwise that’s going to hurt significantly. Suit’s reading no damage to itself, so we may as well try to salvage it rather than cutting it off you - I’d need to give you the blocker anyhow before setting that break, so let’s go with that.” His fiance’s tone was clinical and monotone as she worked, pulling supplies from the cabinets dotted around the room. “Three-cycle-nullion spray I think. Rye, sit down before you fall over, I’ll check you out in a minute. Emely, would you hold Dustin’s head steady for me? There’s a chance he might spasm with this spray, it’s a little strong for humans.” Her orders were quick, and before Dustin could realize what was happening he had the fox girl’s soft hands on either side of his head - then the cold of a spray pressed against his neck and sensation faded.

He blinked - he was aware of the blinking, his Feliax comms officer’s hands - but everything below his neck was just… not there as far as feeling went. The pain had gone completely, and he opened his mouth to ask a question. “In a moment, please Dustin. That spray is strong but not very long lasting in humans and I want to get this work done before it wears off.” Meli’s hands were already working the locks on his suit; he was vaguely aware of a tugging as the back of his head shifted slightly on the bed and then a gasp from Emely. Before the fox woman could say anything, Meli’s commentary continued. “Hmm. Scan didn’t show that. No matter, the resolution is the same.”

“What…?” he asked, slightly concerned as Emely moved out of his field of vision. “We’re just going to set your leg now, don’t worry.” The fox girl’s voice had an undertone of concern to it that did indeed worry him regardless of her words, but a moment later there was the distinct click of metal locking into place. “There. Three, two, one…” Meli counted down, and then there was a grunt of exertion from both of his lovers and a sharp intake of breath from Rye. A moment later, Meli’s face appeared, looking into his eyes calculatingly. “No pain? Good. Right, lets get some medspray on that leg and call it done.”

A moment later Dustin’s feeling started to return - and what he felt first of all was cold, incredible cold. “Gah!” he gasped, then felt hands holding his legs in place. “Spray’s nearly done, give it a moment…” Meli’s voice remained focused, then “…that should do it. Emely, run a scan over the rest of him to be safe while I go check on Rye, make sure he’s not managed to hide a punctured abdomen or gravitational micro-fractures, the suit might not pick those up if the built in bio-monitor got too scrambled.” Dustin shifted, trying to sit up but a firm hand in his chest halted him. “Oh no you don’t captain. The matriarch’s orders were quite clear, you stay right there until I’ve scanned you properly.” Emely grinned at him, her earlier worry replaced with a relieved face as she began to run the scanner across his entire form.

Time passed. Meli had bustled over both him and Rye, double checking scans before finally sitting down and breathing a sigh of relief. “Well, the good news is neither of you appear to have suffered any damage from a weave bubble popping right next to you. I don’t quite know how it was even possible to generate one that small, but the fact that you’re not turned inside out from gravitational or dimensional shock is a good thing so I’ll take what I’ve got right now. You have however managed to fracture your leg Dustin, to the point where the bone had broken through the skin - I’ve set it and administered a restorative but I’m not a proper medic, you’ll need to stay in medbay for a day or two. If we had an actual doctor on board, they could probably get some bio-coded nanites to rebuild the damaged tissue in a hour or so. Something to add to the crew roster plans now I think, if you’re going to keep getting into these dangerous situations.”

Emely had looked puzzled at that, which had lead to the the other three recounting the incident with the Ressth crystals. Once that was done with, Dustin managed to finally get himself propped up in bed and looked at his crew. Emely and Meli both looked worried and tired, Rye’s fur was plastered to her skin; he was pretty sure he didn’t look much better himself. “Okay” he said at last, doing his best to resume command. “We can go over what we learned in more detail later, right now the important bit is that whatever was sabotaging that station it wasn’t either of the species in this system. Or any kind of merc I’ve ever heard of. I really would like to know what was so important that it weave-jumped that bag rather than itself when things turned against it - but for now lets get the facts to the people of this system. Emely, can you figure out the best way to handle the locals and give them the information we’ve uncovered? I need to heal and then we need to report this to the council and Star Command. I’ll do the last one once I’m rested, Meli - can you issue a report to the council while I’m out of action?”

The women nodded, and Rye glanced at him, clearly expecting her own orders. “Rye - rest up too. No, Rye, that’s an order. I need you rested - get a good eight hours sleep. Once we’re both out of here you’ll be busy enough, I want to make doubly sure Sola’s fighting fit before we leave the system. If that thing had friends the other side of a nearby jump point I don’t want to fly into the ship-mounted equivalent of that gun without being sure our own vessel’s as capable as she can be.” The bunny girl winced and gave him a thumbs up in agreement. Once the other two had left on their chores however, she slipped off her bed and walked unsteadily over to him.

“You saved my life back on that moon.” She muttered, glancing at his injured leg. “I…” Dustin reached out and gently took her hand. “Rye, you’re part of my crew, you’re my friend and you’re my lover. Of course I’m going to try and keep you safe.” Her other hand closed over his. “I know that Dusty. It’s just a lot.” Then, some of her normal bravado returned to her and she moved her stare from where she was looking at his leg to a point slightly higher up, smirking as she did so. “Heal up quick alright? I want to give you a proper Rabyth thank you, and I think if I un-set your leg by doing so right now Meli’d probably turn me into a rug.”