Kadance

Prelude Bandro

PRELUDE: Bandro

"Look at this. How could anyone possibly survive this?" The medic says in awed disbelief. The other medics don't say anything but they all agree with him, this time Sigma couldn't have survived. The dead were thrown all over, or at least parts of them were. Some have tears falling but don't even notice. Sigma was gone.

"Sigma is known for pulling miracles out of their hats people, don't give up on them yet. There might yet be survivors and if so they'll likely need medical attention yesterday so get moving." The senior medic snaps but she is upset as well. Her brother and father won't be this far behind lines, not those two.

She turns and heads to where the report of the huge explosion was recorded. If anyone knows how to make those it's her father and her brother. She makes it to the site and stops in awe. A crater two city blocks wide is in her path. This wasn't their work, but she does notice other patches that do look like their work. She knows from reading her father's reports that he likes to take the right and sends his men to the left so she does too.

She walks half a mile before any sign of casualties. Two men one of them lying on top of the other. She refuses to cry, that would be her brothers bloody corpse he always stayed just behind their father. The blast must have thrown him onto their father.

The blast was strong if it did that much damage half a mile away. She doesn't have much hope of finding her father alive but she has to check. She gently eases her brothers corpse off and checks for life signs on her father.

She sighs in relief and the tears she held back come out now. There are life signs. His pulse is weak but it's there. Miraculously he doesn't seem to have any other injuries other than his arm. It's pretty mangled but it might be what kept her father from suffering any worse injuries. She's not sure she'll be able to save it but she'll do her best.

She has both her father and her brothers bodies loaded up ready for transport. But the news that there is a survivor spreads like wildfire and energizes them all to find more.

The doctor returns back to where the main base for Sigma had been. She doesn't hold up much hope for them there but if anybody deserves to live it's Sgt. Jayse. If he hadn't called in for the backup airstrike, an unheard of thing for Sigma to do, she has no doubt her father would be dead like her brother and likely eaten by those bastard shifters.

The command tent or rather where the command tent should be was gone. Oh yeah, Jayse had said that the officers were in a meeting when a lucky direct strike hit the tent. That's why he, a lowly Sgt. directed the fight from almost the beginning. She'd met the officers of Sigma and doubts they would have been willing to call in air support, even if their lives depended on it. Which would have been too late for them, but had been necessary for the people of this colony.

She is brought out of her revery by a sound from the debris behind her. She whirls around and is shocked to see movement. It is small but movement nonetheless. She comes closer and notices a hand moving.

Her eyes open wide. Another survivor? She tries calling out to him but it's possible that he wouldn't be able to hear her after all a shell did land nearby.

She sees his hand move towards his gun. She is astounded that someone so wounded would still try to fight. Then the hand falls slack. She hastily uncovers the body from the debris and checks for wounds.

She calls out for help and starts issuing orders. His body armor is shredded. Shrapnel is embedded all over his torso. So much blood makes it hard to tell how deep some of the wounds are. Her first priority is to stop the bleeding. He's lost too much already.

Even as she frantically works on that another member of her team pulls out plasma and gets it going. Once she is convinced that he's stable enough she sends him to the transport. This is priority one and they are informed to take off and take him directly to the medics for immediate surgery. The medics going with him will be doing what they can to prep him as they go. Including taking xrays and having them ready by the time they get to surgery. She hopes they can get all that out of him, for she believes that to be Sgt Jayse.