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Helix was a very good medic and he had the scores to prove it. Not every vod, hell, not even every medical track vod had it in them to become a Chief Medical Officer. But very good did not mean perfect, and even with the miracle that was the General’s Force osik keeping vode alive to get them to help, sometimes Helix’s best wasn’t enough.
This was one of those times.
This had only been CT-7730’s second battle. He’d still been shiny enough that he hadn’t chosen armour paint or a name.
Helix returned to his bedside once everyone else had been seen to. There was nothing that could be done for him in Helix’s medbay. They just didn’t have the tools, at least not for the vode.
Helix smoothed a hand over the vod’s hair. If he woke up, Helix would ask him what he wanted, but the chances of that were very low. If he didn’t, Helix would have to decide if he died in the medbay on the Negotiator or in the labs of Tipoca City, and Helix knew which one he would chose.
It was the least he could do really, to let a vod march on with some degree of comfort, even if it ultimately made little difference. He had done it before for vode he knew better than ‘Three-oh but it always weighed heavy on him.
“You’re thinking some heavy thoughts there my friend.” The General’s voice, quiet and gentle though it was, startled Helix and he flinched away from ‘Three-oh’s bed.
“Can you—“ Helix coughed, his voice a lot closer to lost than he had thought.
“I can not read your thoughts.” The General said, a hand coming down to rest, solid and warm, on Helix’s shoulder. His statement didn’t assuage Helix’s fear but the next one did. A little bit. “At least not without causing both of us a great deal of harm. I can read your face though, and your emotions.”
“My emotions sir?” Helix asked, trying and almost certainly failing to rearrange his features so that they didn’t scream out the dread he was feeling.
“Jedi are empathy.” The General said. “I will start to teach you how to shield your emotions more when we have a bit of down time.”
“Yes sir.” Helix wasn’t fully sure what an empath was, though if it had anything to do with the long-neck-derided empathy he might have some idea.
“What is it that’s on your mind Helix?” The General asked. His hand was still on Helix’s shoulder and it felt more like a comfort than a prison. More like a vod than a trainer.
“That was not an order.” The General said when Helix hesitated. “You do not have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“‘Three-oh isn’t going to last the night sir.” Helix said lowly. There was little use in telling the General otherwise. He had weighed his options, and even keeping the shiny alive long enough to get him to Kamino to die there instead was more resources than the GAR would ever spare.
“Is there nothing that can be done?” The General asked and somehow it didn’t sound like an accusation.
“There’s nothing I can do.” Helix said, fighting hard to keep the bitterness out of his voice. Maybe, if he was able to use the bacta tank for vode he would be able to keep more of them alive.
“And it’s not something the bacta tank can fix?” The General asked and Helix frowned.
“I can’t use the bacta tank for troopers.”
“Why not?” The General asked softly.
“It’s against the regs sir.” Helix had accidentally dropped the honourific a couple of times but the General didn’t seem to mind, or at least hadn’t said anything.
“Can I see?”
“Yes sir.” Helix pulled the relevant section of the regs up on his ‘pad and handed it over. He watched as the General’s frown deepened the more he read.
“What does ‘of approved ranks’ mean?” The General asked, showing Helix the section he was referring to.
“The Commander can be placed in the bacta tank with your permission should it be deemed medically necessary sir.” Helix said.
“Can I approve of anyone other than the Commander going into the tank?” The General asked. Helix wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
“It’s a waste of resources sir.” He said after a moment and hated himself for it.
“None of your brothers are a waste of resources.” The General said and Helix wondered it he actually believed that, wondered if there was a trap hidden somewhere in this conversation. “You have my permission to use the bacta tanks as you see fit for anyone who needs it, regardless of what the regs say about my ability to give that order.”
“Sir?” Helix asked.
“I will take the fall for it if it comes to that.” The General said. “Put ‘Three-oh and anyone else who needs it in the tanks. We’ll take a detour and refill on bacta before we get to our next campaigns. There’s a MedCorps station not too far off route.”
“Yes sir.” Helix said. He took his ‘pad back when the General offered it and stepped away. He brought the Emdee droid back online and started the process of bringing the bacta tanks online.
When Helix returned to ‘Three-oh’s bedside, the General was still there, sitting on the edge of the cot, his own datapad in one hand, the other petting ‘Three-oh’s hair.
Something in Helix’s chest long unused, something he tentatively identified as hope began to wake up.