Log:Resistance: Blood Type

The enemy's blood, and alpha females

OOC Date: January 15, 2017
Location: Nar Shaddaa
Participants: Ambrosia Greystorm, Jax Greystorm, Sesti Gath, Qadira Suuryet, and Fuze as GM

(This log immediately follows the events of Imperial Code 12-C)

The two ships found their docking space so that Sesti could get a better med pac from the Zoehu Jith, and set her on one of the berths so that she could set up an IV for the wounded woman. With the fluid of one of the little bags that she pulled out now slowly dripping into the vein, the zabrak begins work on the wound in the chest. "It is a good thing that we had primitive healing classes on Iridonia... " She pulls off the dressing she had put on in the ship, and then stems the blood flow with a cauterization to a couple of the veins.

Jax was trying not to watch his wife work, say a word, or do anything that draws attention or brings him having to look inside the chest of the First Order officer. But he was around to fetch what he can fine.

The Lieutenant has lost a lot of blood. A lot. The gaping hole is fixable, but she's going to need a transfusion, as the medics say, stat. Her skin is waxy and gray, her breathing shallow and ragged. She's in her late twenties, perhaps, short brown hair, a heart-shaped face. The kid who helped Sesti earlier is watching, biting his lip, his white-knuckled fists clenched; he's shifting from foot to foot, like he's nervous (more likely) or needs to go potty (also possible). And Ali is, against the laws of biology, still awake and keeping watch over her charges, most of whom are curled together sleeping the sleep of the truly exhausted.

"Jax, hold this," Sesti says to the hovering man, even though he's trying to stay out sight. She hands him the saline bag. "I have a sample of her blood, I need to take a sample of yours, please. And..." she looks around to the other adults. "She is human, so my blood will not work." She takes a scanner from her pack, and then she scans her husband's arm, first.

Jax wasn't hovering as much as trying not to be seen. But no luck so he moves up taking ahold of the saline bag. "It won't never thought about that. That's kinda I don't." He says sticking his arm out for her to scan.

Kadi had just followed Jax, to make sure everything was okay. After going this far, she wasn't about to quit now. She stays out of the way, quiet, especially since this is all about the squishy stuff and well - Ick! Just ick. Better if she stays far away from that area, but she's there in case her help is required.

"All right." Greystorm stares at the muted glare of her reflection in the sleeping navcomp. She's hidden up here long enough, waited for the sound of things to quiet down while she went over step 'b' of this still-evolving plan. She's also been undergoing metamorphosis, loosening her hair from its braids, combing it into a big mane of soft. Something touchable. Wash face. Leave light armor on. Ditch the vibroblade, keep the sidearm - hers. Okay. This is a good compromise.

When the cockpit stirs and Ambrosia slips out, she almost looks hugable. Almost. She's careful not to trod on sleeping children, which makes navigating the corridor and hold area slow-going. Finally though, she's near enough to "Ali," to not disturb Sesti's concentration too badly. And maybe be overlooked as a donor, haha. "A word, cadet?"

Ali looks up, her thin face pinched and pale. "Yes, m'am?" she replies, levering herself up wearily from beside one of the younger kids. "What do you need?" The proto-medic boy looks from the Lieutenant to Sesti and Jax. Then he simply rolls up his sleeve so Sesti can scan it, and steps up behind Jax. Maybe a hundred pounds, hundred and five soaking wet. The Lieutenant is starting to fade, clinging on to life by a slender thread. A fraying thread.

"Lieutenant Colonel," Sesti says, her voice combining mild request and stern order in its tone. "You could be a possible match, even though your son is not." She pauses, but only for a moment, and then scans the boy's arm. "I also think, it might be a good idea to refrain from questioning Ali too much before she has had some sleep. She has held up through circumstances that would probably put most adults I know down for the count already."

Kadi moves at this, stepping forward wordlessly and offering her arm for scanning. She does not look over at the poor wounded lieutenant though, because she would prefer to not go green and throw up, truthfully. Too bad Jax is not a match, that would have been easier probably.

Jax continues to hold the saline bag. The pilot lets out a sigh of relief. He really really hate needles especially the days. There had been test to run after his memory loss. "Well there's a sign that the force is with us."

"Kid can handle it," Ambrosia reserves just the tiniest of snarls for Sesti there and her endeavors to spare the First Order bitch. But...she does the decent thing and works to free up her left forearm from its protective plating while nodding at Ali's former seat. "At ease. I just wanted to ask if you've got a frequency, a number, anything we can use to contact your parents with. Let them know you're safe. Let all the moms and dads out there know you're safe." There. With a bit of effort, she peels the fibersuit beneath back to the elbow and offers it up to Sesti for scanning.

Ali, trembling, moves into the queue behind Ambrosia. "My parents are dead. I lived with my grandma, and she put me into the cadet program to get me the hell out of her hair." And then she turns, raising her voice. "Zerek squad! ZEREK SQUAD! Get your asses up and in line for a medical! Move it, cadets!" The kids stir, moving quicker than most kids, sleepy and dazed but obedient. Totally obedient.

Sesti Greystorm just looks at Amber steadily through the snarl, saying nothing with her mouth. When the sleeve is rolled up, she scans Amber, Kadi, Ali, and a few other of the older children. Most of the children she only does a cursory pass over, only actually looking at some of the larger ones. The boy that threatened them with the iron bar is scanned, and she holds up her finger, then nods. "I am going to need to use some of your blood to save your Lieutenant," she tells the boy, looking him in the eye. "If we contact their parents, will they not report to the First Order somehow that we have the children?"

Jax is mostly quiet during this discussion on what the children want to do. Then he askes, "The question that never was asked was is what do these kids want to do? I think they've seen the tender caress of the First Order and they know what a childhood on Nar will get them. Maybe they're intrested in a third option?"

Kadi's off the hook too, it seem. Her relief is probably palpable. She heads back to her little corner, staying out of the way and just watching. Lily is of course there with her, the droid quiet as well. She does speak up at Jax's comment though. "What sort of third option?" she asks, sort of confused. Probably like 3/4 of the kids are just about now. Other than that, the engineer is just observing.

"Possibly. But we aren't in the business of kidnapping and I'll bet the First Order's a little too busy at the moment to concern themselves with personally congratulating our humble freight crew for recovering their lost assets." Hear that, kids? You're all just a bunch of assets. "Sorry to hear that," she adds as a softer aside to Ali, then cranes her head around, searching for another little girl. The one that almost got spaced. She's their poster child, now.

The sturdy iron bar boy nods. "Take as much as you need, m'am," he says respectfully, glancing at Ali, who gives him an approving nod back. "Good job, CA-8740," she says quietly, her shoulders slumping as she figures she can't be a match if Sesti hasn't called her out. CA-8744, the girl who was nearly spaced, is perhaps nine or ten, scrawny, blonde, wide blue eyes that widen further as she sees Amber is looking for her. She has her arm around a younger boy, comforting him. Examining the squad of 20 kids, a good half-dozen are looking at and to Amber for guidance rather than at Ali. That isn't lost on Ali; she casts Amber a glare and yells out, "Zerek Squad! Get back to your berths, all except you, CA-8740. Listen up! CA-8740 is gonna save the LT!" Poor Sesti is not the key player in Ali's galaxy, it seems. The squad leader is retreating in on herself, throwing up her shields.

"Yes, he is," Sesti agrees, her eyes on her instruments, then she settles the boy next to the lieutenant, and puts the tourniquet on his arm before she presses the needle into his brain. "All right, then. Just relax, try not to flex your hand too much, it will make the blood pump to fast," she isntructs as she releases the tourniquet. "We can only take a pint from you, and I do not want it come back out as it goes in if we can help it." Then she is back to working on the woman, setting a monitor on the transfer of blood to have it alert her when a pint has left the young man. Kadi, Amber, Jax, are all background again as she cauterizes, stitches and otherwise repairs the wound.

Jax Greystorm shrugs, "Ain't quite sure yet. I'm trying to figure out. How this is going play out." He says still holding the saline bag. He looks over at Ali, "Hey Ali, you got your next move figured out for you and your squad? The First Order doesn't take too kindly to mutineers."

Kadi nods to Jax's answer, leaning by the wall. After a while, she settles down on the floor, watching the kids now, more than Sesti's work. It's safer. And maybe she can see if any of the kids needs a bit more comfort or anything. Not that she's maternal or anything and never mind the fertility idol that Rheisa gave her and Ax as a wedding gift.

"Jax," Ambrosia intones lowly, with a sideways look at the living IV pole. She's watching the kids scramble, sleepily, in the wake of Ali's command. "CA-8744, who's waiting for your return, and do you know how we may reach them? We're not going anywhere until your Lt is stabilized, but it's prudent to plan ahead."

As the boy's blood flows into the First Order officer's system, her color starts to return, and her pulse and blood pressure start to stabilize. It's not much, she's certainly not about to run a marathon, but it's something. The donor boy can see the monitors, and he's smart. "Take more if you need it, m'am, I'm young and fit. I can handle more." he says, and although the words are softly spoken, in a few years those words will be orders confidently and assertively given. Orders to whom, though? The First Order?

Some of the younger kids are in need of comfort; a boy who must be eight but looks to be no older than six or seven scoots over to Kadi, resting his buzz-cut head against her shoulder, looking gratefully up at the mechanic.

Ali moistens her cracked lips as she looks around the room, at her squad, at Jax. "The Lieutenant left me in charge," she mutters forcefully, "and I'm not turning over command of my squad to anyone but her. Not you, not anyone."

CA-8744 says, barely audibly, "My parents are waiting. Their holonet is...." and she recites the contact details. She plucks up her courage to ask, "Will the First Order execute us?" It's a terrible question, coming from a child, but these are all smart kids. Most of them can understand their predicament. And many are looking to Jax and Amber for an answer. Ali is losing it. "Belay that chatter, CA-8744!" she yells harshly.

"You might be able, to, yes," Sesti replies giving the lad a bit of a smile by the tilt of her chin, since her eyes are focused on veins, muscles, bone and organ. "But, a pint is one seventh of the entire blood in your body, so if I need more, I will use Ali or one of the others that has the same blood type." She continues to work without looking up, "you are as bad as your mother, Jax. What to do now is not a simple answer for them. Let them rest, let me heal their Lieutenant, and then let them talk about it."

Jax Greystorm grins, "Always got to be thinking and planning. But fine fine." Jax then answers CA, "They got to catch you to execute you."

Kadi smiles at the kid who comes over and leans against her. Hey, she's way younger than Ambrosia, not sticking needles into people, and relatively small. So she's definitely not a threatening figure. "It's okay for now," she says softly, putting one arm round his shoulder, and letting him lean in. Her gaze goes up to Jax and then over to the others, and she calls out, "That sounds like the right thing to do, if you ask me. Mind you, I don't take orders too well. Good thing I'm a civilian, right?"

"SIT your ass down, /cadet/" The bear erupts. Ambrosia's twitching, winky face - ah, spasms again - lowers to go nose to nose with Ali. "I admire your fighting spirit, but onboard /this/ ship, I am the senior officer. I've fought more wars than your Lt there, and even if she makes it to see morning, she's not going to be in fighting shape for awhile, do you copy? You and your squad do not have time to wait for her full recovery, because we do not have the time to keep you here, indefinitely, undecided. So get some rest and shut your trap. We'll talk it over in the morning."

Closing her eyes, she blows a thin stream from each nostril, then refocuses on 8744. "I'm not sure what the protocol is regarding disobedient cadets. This whole 'child soldier' bit is admittedly new to me. We, however, are not going to punish you or permit the Order to do so. I promise you...you're in better hands than you know. Now...what's your given name, 8477? You're better'n just numbers."

Ali pales, drawing back from Amber's wrath. She opens and closes her mouth, then sits down heavily on a bench, staring bleakly into nowhere. She's lost the battle of wills, and she's lost her squad; the majoring now are looking to Amber. As she assembles her broken thoughts, she looks towards the Lieutenant and Sesti. She moistens her lips again, avoiding Amber's gaze, avoiding the glances of her squad. She looks to Sesti and says quietly, flatly, "Doctor? I'd like to be next, m'am." Nothing more. Ali has been broken.

CA-8477 no longer looks at Ali. She tells Ambrosia, "M'am, I'm Yana Novastar. We were told we could no longer use our given names." But the First Order spell is breaking. One kid gets up in front of Amber and says, nervously, "I'm Torm Aiden." Another, "Bri Yarrow." Kadi's charge says proudly, "My name is Tiberius Antilles." No relation, dammit. The tidal wave is breaking, and all are shedding their designations. All except Ali. She waits until there is silence, then says in a clear voice, "My designation is CA-8736." Defiance. Broken defiance, but defiance. It's perhaps the only thing she has left.

Kadi listens, watches, and is willing to chat softly with whichever of the children gravitate her way. She does give poor Ali a long look. A very long look, but well, she's not sure what to do there. "Me? Oh. I'm an engineer," she explains to one of the kids who ask her. Mostly, she's just looking to settle them down, get them to relax enough to maybe sleep. At least where she can. "No, I don't want to join the military at all, I'm happy the way I am. Some people just aren't made to be military. And some people are."

The monitor beeps, and Sesti reaches over to clamp the tube from the boy's arm. She finishes something with the Lieutenant, then moves to take the needle from the boy, putting a patch over it and having him bend it with pressure on it to close it. She looks up to Ali, and motions her over. "Roll up your sleeve," she tells the girl gently, taking out a hypo to clean the girl's elbow, the same as she did with the boy. Once the girl has done so, she presses the hypo to the inside of her arm, then shifts as the young one slumps. "Trade you," she says to Jax, handing him the now sleeping girl, and taking the practically empty fluid bag. She's done all she can for now for the woman, and she changes out the bag, putting some medicine in the new one.

Jax ends up with a sleeping child in his arms and looks at Sesti and looks at the child. Then looks at Sesti. He moves to go find the Tiny Trooper a place to curl up and sleep. No comments about how cut they are at this age when they're not trying to shoot you down or kidnap your friends.

"Very good," Ambrosia mutters to all and none, then nods equally ambiguously. She's considering picking her way through mini fighters back into the cockpit but, after Ali's little outburst, has a change of heart. The gruff woman soldier squats down and squeezes her way between a couple of the kids, then props her back against the bulkhead and closes her eyes. Mmmmm, yep. Rest. Nice and comfy. Snuggle up, wee ones, snuggle up, and Aunty A will tell you the story of how she gave Gunter Habeez a red smile. One, sly eye peeps open just wide enough to fix Ali with a knowing look, then blonde lashes flutter closed again. You're in her army, now.