A Wanderer in Trader's Point

The cop started to turn indifferently to clear the way for the ambulance doors to close.

"Get her in here then," the paramedic at the back said. "It's policy," she clarified.

Begrudgingly, the cop waved Nahdra over, away from the interrogative police. With a bit of hesitation, she climbed into the back of the ambulance. The doors shut and the woman rapped on the side of the ambulance three times. The engine hummed as the vehicle pulled away from the alleyway and towards the street, which had already been cordoned off.

Nahdra looked down at Nathan questioningly, unsure why she had been ushered into the ambulance with him.

Nathan answered her look with inhuman eyes, still, she could tell he didn't mean any harm.

"Do you remember what I asked you when we were in the forums earlier?" he asked calmly as the paramedics went to and fro inside the ambulance working on his injury. "In my coat pocket, left side, can you get it for me?"

Nahdra looked at him calmly and questioningly. She carefully went to take a step towards him, but one of the paramedics crossed in front of her and scolded her as she attached another sensor to him.

"You can't touch him yet, we have to get readings." Nahdra obeyed, waiting in the corner. She held onto the wall for support as the ambulance sped up. The sirens whirred a cacophony of high warbling notes and bright lights dashed off the darkened city buildings around them as they hit the main road. Outside the tiny windows in the back, Nahdra could see all the other cruisers on the road completely stopped. The edges of the street glowed softly, powering the ambulance and one accompanying police cruiser along.

He frowned but waited as well, he couldn't talk to her openly here, too many witnesses. He let his head relax back into the brace as much as it would and stared up at the lights above him.

"You can get it when we get to the hospital. Go to Duna City, there's an Orphanage there. Give it to a girl named Serana. I have a feeling I won't be able to make it there."

"Keep your head steady, sir," the head paramedic ordered. The ambulance steadily picked up speed. It was an incredibly smooth ride, but judging by the speed that the buildings flashed past, it must have been going at least seventy miles per hour down the usually packed streets. It barely slowed for a turn, taking it steadily as they now glided down a central highway.

"I...will do as you have asked." Nahdra's voice was still. She was unsure at this point whether this strange man might live or die, even as the EMS crew worked hurriedly over him. With a hint of discomfort, she readjusted her robes and nestled against the corner of the ambulance to keep her balance.

Nathan remained silent the rest of the ride, occasionally shifting his eyes back to the Ajkadi woman he had drug into all of this. He quietly thought of how he was going to clear her of all this so she didn't catch any blow back.

A few minutes later, the ambulance pulled into the docking station at the local hospital's emergency rooms. Nahdra was given specific instructions to stay back, check in at the front desk, and enter as a visitor while the paramedics unloaded Nathan, neck brace and all, and disappeared into the gaping entrance of the ER at Trader's Point Sector II Hospital.

As a precaution, the paramedics fitted an oxygen mask over Nathan's face before taking him out into the cold night air. He could go into shock or convulsions, and they had to monitor his air intake - or administer anesthesia if he needed to be prepped for immediate surgery. The mask partially obstructed his vision as they rushed him in through the doors to a waiting squad of fresh medical personnel, expertly wheeling him down a corridor and into an extravagantly fitted room. They began verifying his vitals while a nurse cut away the majority of his clothing, and yet another stuck him with a new IV. Beeping monitors and barking EMS workers filled the room.

Outside, the police cruiser pulled alongside the ambulance. Two armed officers got out and had escorted the crew inside, following behind at a respectful distance. One had a Deyshian assault rifle nestled into the crook of his arm, as the unmistakable sky blue glow reflected off its highlighted edges. The patient was still tagged as a possible crime suspect, and as such, the AR-bearing guard took a position outside the room while his partner disappeared into the ER's administrative offices to complete the appropriate paperwork.

Nahdra was effectively left alone outside the hospital entrance, so she swept out of sight of the few hospital staff prepping the ambulance for its next run. She glanced around as she reached a patch of trimmed shrubbery decorating an exterior wall and double-checked that she was out of sight of the cameras. Timidly, she tucked a hand under her robes and unclasped the still-sheathed shortswords from her side. She was lucky enough to get them past the havoc of the ambulance ride, but she knew she'd have no such luck getting past security in the hospital. Might even be a weapons violation - she had heard horror stories from other parts of Deysha, at least, and she wasn't about to take her chances here.

After lovingly concealing the sheaths in the thickest part of a juniper bush covered in the wrapped white cloth of her outer cloak - as tradition indicated, of course - she awkwardly stepped away and shuffled the final few yards towards the ER visitor entrance.

Nathan stayed silent as they rushed him through the corridors of the hospital. He was accustom to medical treatment, this was no different to him. As the nurse cut away his clothes she revealed a few minor scrapes and cuts, nothing severe. Under his arm on his left side there was a old scar from a stabbing between his ribs. The wound to his head was still bleeding and deep, but the bullet had scraped passed his skull without breaking through. It's likely that most of his current condition was caused by a concussion, blood loss, and shock.

The ER personnel diagnosed and treated the most severe injuries accordingly. The stabilization was the best they could do for the concussion right now, the bleeding was stopped and an IV was rapidly replacing all of the depleted fluids and blood content.

"It'll need stitches," the doctor announced. "so get him out for about an hour." With that, a nurse tapped into a keypad that was attached to the IV stand and reattached a new plastic pouch of clear fluid. "Down in five," she said, and Nathan's vision would begin to get a little blurry and dreamlike a few seconds later.

Meanwhile, Nahdra entered. A series of metal detectors and armed guards verified that she was unarmed. She looked rather out of place amongst the various civilians and medical professionals - her full mask made her stand out rather awkwardly and, after removing her white cloak, her silver-tinted metallic body armor was exposed. She checked in at the front desk, passing off her only official ID - a passport card from the Ajkadi colony planet, Arata.

"Nahdra of the Fourth," the fat man behind the desk read suspiciously and ignorantly. "That's your name?"

"Yes, sir."

"Your middle name is 'of the'...and your last name is 'Fourth'. You expect me to believe that."

"Yes, sir. I am Ajkadi. We take no surnames. I am of the Fourth generation in my family, so that is what we use when traveling internationally." She had clearly explained this to many impatient people before, and was not surprised by the man's scoffing tone.

"Do you have a Deyshian driver's license, or anything?"

"No, sir. Only my passport."

"Well, I can't let you in. It's against policy. A passport isn't recognized as state ID, and international travelers have to apply for a vaccination clearance before entering medically secured areas." The fat man matched her as if he was reading word-for-word out of some textbook.

"What do I need to apply for a vacci - "

"A vaccination clearance can be applied for at the Trader's Point Sector II or Sector IV courthouse or a local health clinic, and requires a five day waiting period for authorization on - "

"Sir. With all due respect, this man may die at any moment. I need to see him now."

"Sorry, lady. Can't do it."

Nahdra suppressed an impatient huff, and instead took a deep, relaxing breath. "Is there any other way?"

"No. ID, or I can't let you in until he's out of intensive care."

"...thank you for your time, sir, I - "

"Yeah. Have a nice night, lady." He eyed her for another few seconds, wondering what was up with the absurd face-mask, before turning back to his computer. Defeated, Nahdra turned and left out the entrance.

Nathan didn't struggle when they put him under and there were no complications relating to the anesthesia. He would remain calm, unconscious throughout the procedure.

Nahdra popped outside, walking inconscpicuously past the shrubbery just to check on her blades, and then headed towards the parking lot. She tried to keep her frustration controlled, and managed to keep everything at bay...except for the most vague thoughts of painlessly snapping the desk clerk's neck. People like that - no, she stopped herself from walking that path.

As she walked and glanced back at the massive building, she thought back to her training. Let nothing stand above the sanctity of human life, she remembered in the steady, collective voices of her old masters. The impatience of her youth melded with the temperance of the old teachings and brought her a few moments of clarity, even if it was through unscrupulous methods. She knew that the laws here, unlike on Arata, forbade tampering with personal property. But she had given her word to do one thing for Nathan, and so she would see it through.

The parking lot sprawled out before her. The signs above one section declared EMS Personnel Only and, even late in the night, there were dozens of vehicles parked across the many lines. Paramedics, nurses, and doctors, no doubt. The resources you need are the ones which you are given, she thought.

A few moments later found Nahdra gliding through the quiet lot to a row of cars mostly obscured from view of the hospital and its cameras. She moved swiftly without attracting any attention, and watched. A vehicle pulled in a few yards away, parked, and turned off. A young nurse got out and headed in - her shift was starting. Observantly, Nahdra moved down a few more cars.

About two minutes passed in relative silence. Then, there was a quiet beep and a subtle, dim blink of lights near her. A car a few spaces down just had its remote starter activated - some other nurse getting off her shift and already heading out through the parking lot. Nahdra only had a few seconds to act as the doors unlocked and the engine softly whirred to life.

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The nurse had stopped to chat with a co-worker for a few seconds, waving and laughing wearily as she shuffled her purse around and walked out into the night. The twelve-hour shifts were rough, but she was getting used to them, except for the dark circles around her eyes. Damn, she was tired. But it was only five minutes to her apartment, and she was running a little late tonight - the babysitter would probably be pissed again. Whatever, throw in fifty extra credits or something, to shut her up. She hoped Emma would be asleep by now - she kept her up all night yesterday, after all. She hopped into the old cruiser, tossed her purse into the side passenger seat, and daydreamed about what it would be like to crawl into bed when she got home. Fuck, she was so tired.

The cruiser backed out and left the parking lot. It turned once, onto a side-street, went about fifty yards, and then paused at the next stop sign. It stopped there for only a few extra seconds.

The nurse never heard anything from the back of the cruiser, but she felt something cool on the side of her head for a brief second. She jolted from the sudden unexpected movement, but found that something had trapped her head from behind the seat and she was utterly unable to move.

"Don't move. I won't hurt you." The voice was soft and calm.

The nurse screamed and struggled, trying to claw at the arms around her, but a strange warm feeling began to rush over her. She felt that her head and neck had been slightly moved to a particularly uncomfortable angle and she could no longer resist. It hurt. She reached towards her purse, towards her cell phone - but within a few seconds, she drifted off into unconsciousness.

Nahdra gently and carefully released her hold. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "It will only leave a bruise." She reached around and unclipped the nurse's ID badge from her scrubs, and then pulled her phone from her hand. Speed-dial, #1. Glancing around to see that there was still nothing around on the quiet side-street, she put the cruiser in park by the stop sign and opened the back passenger door. She made sure to click the locks before she slid out - she wouldn't leave the unconscious woman in an unlocked vehicle at night, of course - and disappeared into the darkness.

About thirty seconds later, the nurse coughed and her body shook itself back to terrified consciousness. "What the fuck," she said aloud, gasping for air and looking around. Nothing there. She wasn't hurt - at least, not bleeding or anything. She was scared shitless, but...she was in her car? Passed out at the stop sign? Had she fallen asleep? There was a noise. "Miss Deyn?" a young female voice asked through the phone's speaker, "Miss Deyn? Are you working late again? I can't hear you. I have to be home in ten minutes. Emma is asleep. Miss Deyn, are you alright? Hello?" She felt her hand on her cell phone and looked down at it. The babysitter's contact picture was up on the screen. "God, I'm sorry. I...I'm just a few minutes late. I'll be right there, okay? Sorry." She couldn't stop looking all around her car, the parking lot, the street, the sidewalk, for any sign of movement. Had she really imagined that whole thing? No way...

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Meanwhile, Nahdra was already out of sight. She had hated that whole ordeal, but she gritted her teeth to do what she knew had to be done. She would confess the whole thing later and be dealt with accordingly if she had acted unjustly, she told herself. But for now, it was done, and as she slid the ID card into the terminal on one of the hospital's back doors and slipped in unnoticed, she focused on what she had to do next.

Knowing that she'd be recognized, she had ditched the face mask and the most visible of her armor outside in a storage bin. Long hair the color of a dark autumn flowed down to her shoulders where it was cut straight and neat. She walked quickly down the hallway, ducking off into a storage closet outside of the corridor to the ER intensive care rooms.

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At about this time, the anesthetic would have taken full effect and the doctor began his stitching on the side of Nathan's head to close off the worst parts of the wound. He would finish early, of course, giving Nathan more time to recover while under the anesthetic. Meanwhile, the cop was bickering with the hospital administration over the finer points of Nathan's ID.

"We can verify a lot of this, but the background check just isn't coming back with jack shit," the cop said.

"So, we don't know how to bill the insurance, because he probably doesn't have any - "

"If this is fake, then you're probably right," the cop agreed.

"But until then, we have to keep his ass here. 'Right-of-treatment' and all that. This is how hospitals lose money, you know."

"Right." The cop sighed. "Well, get me in there when he's conscious. I have a few questions for our Mr. Steele. Keep a room open in case we find this alleged shooter, will you?"

"Of course. He should be up soon, doc finished early."

"Good." The cop left the office and headed back past the room. His partner was still stationed there.

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"Gonna go for coffee," the first cop informed the guard. "Hey, I wonder where that guy's sister went?"

"Who gives a shit," the guard answered indifferently. "Hey, black with two sugars. It's gonna be a long night."

"You lied!" he heard a voice shouting in his head, her hazy figure fighting against the shadows that bound her. He couldn't move, it's not real, he tried to tell himself but the images drowned his mind. The pain of the sun, searing pain, agony. I can't see.

He began to sweat and his heart monitor started showing a rapid increase. Even in the neck brace he shook, his brow furrowed and expression mixed of fear and pain.

He stumbled out into the sunlight, her shadow fighting against the shadows still, further his forced to kneel before his murderer. He reached for his gun, then the first shot echoed. Stop! Let her go.

((Italics are said through the anesthesia.))

Luckily, the doctor had already finished the stitching and was washing up when Nathan first began his startling reactions.

"Hm. Must be night terrors," the doctor judged. Although most of the nurses had left, a few remained to help clean up. They helped to restrain him appropriately. "Must be military, or something. Make sure he doesn't rip the stitches, and get him in a jacket if you need."

Dismissively, the doctor shuffled out of the room to the next call. He exchanged nods with the guard-on-duty.

"Keep an eye out in there, alright? Guy's spazzing out, even under anesthetics. Nurses might need help keeping him down." The doctor gave no chance for the guard to respond as he answered his holo-pager. "Yeah, I'll be there, give two and a half mililiters until the infection subsides..."

The guard shrugged and entered the room. He saw the nurses struggling as Nathan lashed around violently. He saw one of them upped the anesthetic dose. Sighing, he checked his rifle and set it in the corner, and then stepped forward to hold the man's arms down so they could continue working. He couldn't wait for that coffee...

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"Miss Deyn, you're sure you're alright? You don't sound so good."

"Yeah, Kellyn. I'm fine, I just...I don't know. Long day, I guess." Still in disbelief, the nurse shifted her car into drive, pulled past the stop sign, and headed towards home. "I'll be there in, like, two seconds. I promise." The phone clicked. She felt at the tender spot on her neck; it stung slightly.

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Nahdra concealed herself as well as she could in the winding hospital hallway, following signs to lead her to intensive care. She tried not to be spotted by any hospital staff, although she knew by now that her image was well-recorded by the various cameras staring down at her. She used what was left of her robes to cover over her armor as well as possible. With little time to waste, it was a risk worth taking. She slipped into the staff entrance and found herself in the back of an office. Nobody around - good.

She meandered around, finding her way to the next major corridor, where she saw the fat man sitting behind the desk at the far end, towards the waiting room. His back was to her, and there was no one else in sight that wasn't bustling from room to room or staring blankly down at a clipboard. She crouched behind an office cubicle and waited.

Nathan wasn't hard to restrain, but his heart rate continued at an alarming pace. He kept saying fragments of sentences, enough to be concerning but not enough to know what was going on in his head.

The nurses were grateful for the extra brawn of the guard to hold the man down. They couldn't do much else for him - all monitors were reading steady, with the exception of his heart rate. Pumping a small dose of a relaxant into his IV was the best that they could do for him. They watched to see if his state of excitement would subside.

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Stasha Deyn pulled her cruiser outside the front of the apartment complex, parked it, gathered all of her things, and exited with a few extra-cautious glances outside. She was beginning to shake off the haze of sleepiness and disbelief, but couldn't quite put the pieces together. She'd never been so tired in her life after this new gig at Sector II, but...surely she wasn't tired enough to have hallucinated the whole thing. Should she call the cops?

With constant looks over her shoulder, she entered the lobby and went straight to the elevator. A few hallways later, and she tapped her flat's key-fob and entered. As promised, Emma was asleep. Kellyn was waiting by the door, already packed up and ready to get home.

"I'm sorry, Kell - "

"It's okay, I just have to hurry. You can pay me next time, okay?" The young girl was tying hard to be polite, but she was clearly impatient. If she was too late getting home again...

"No, sweetie, I have it right here." She fumbled in her purse.

"No, really," she was already scurrying for the door, "I have to get home. Emma had mac and cheese for dinner. Bye, Miss Deyn." Her voice trailed off as she half-jogged down the hallway and disappeared.

"Fuck," the nurse rubbed her eyes and shut the door tight. She click-click-clicked all three locks, threw her stuff down, and went to check on little Emma.

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Nahdra continued waiting. She felt the familiar pangs of guilt and self-doubt now - what was she doing here? She barely knew this man. All she knew was that he was in trouble, and some girl that he was supposed to be protecting was also at risk. Was it something trivial? Was it even worth all this?

Occasionally, some desk-clerk or nurse on break would wander close to the cubicle. She would tuck herself away, completely under the empty desk, and hold her breath like the masters had taught. Even her mind would clear, leaving utter silence - physical and mental. She'd spent hours drilling scenarios like this. Dwell not in the shadows, she thought, but know how to tread them when the time comes.

Nathan continued in his night terror as the guards went through checking his identification. Inside his wallet on a small card stated clearly.

"In Case of Emergency, please call the numbers below.
901-345-2678
207-456-9825"

There were no names associated with the numbers on the blank white card.

The relaxant wasn't working like they had hoped. One of the nurses hypothesized that it could be a reaction to one of the medications, so they began treating for anaphylactic shock as a precaution. The guard had some trouble keeping a good grip on Nathan and had to re-position himself a time or two to keep him steady.

___________________________

Emma was okay. Thank God. Stasha kissed the little girl on her forehead, shuffled back out to the living room, and dumped her stuff on the old coffee table. Her fingers instinctively went to the clip for her badge, but it wasn't there. Goddamn! She lost that thing again? Her supervisor would be pissed. Another replacement...the third one in two months? Fuck, Stasha. Get your shit together.

She peeled off her scrubs, kicked all vestiges of civilization off, and dragged herself into her bedroom. She collapsed onto the bed. The only thoughts that twinkled through her mind before sleep completely overtook her within a few seconds were of those horrifying few seconds in the cruiser, where she thought she had imagined hands around her neck...no way...but sleep drifted over her entirely, and despite all that had happened, she slept like a rock.

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Nahdra sensed a gap in the activity in the hallway. The fat man at the far end was eating something, she noticed, but nothing else was happening. Even the waiting room beyond him was quiet. She moved swiftly from her hiding spot, moving the length of a dozen more cubicles before ducking out of sight again. A cop walked past toting a coffee and then disappeared down a side corridor. Something caught her attention. The room right behind the guy at the front desk had a placard indicating it as the Monitor Room. She had a hunch.

                                 _____________________________

The other cop returned with two cups of piping hot Stardock's coffee. He shrugged at the absence of his partner and set his coffee down on an end-table outside the room, popping his head in just long enough to announce the delivery, and then continue on his way down the hall. He turned, then turned again, and entered the processing room where all the belongings of the patient - or the suspect, whatever you wanted to call him - were brought to process as potential evidence for the crime. Sipping the coffee, the cop sat down and shuffled through everything that looked to be of any importance. Shit, this would be a lot of paperwork. First things first - notify the first of kin that this douche got himself shot in a dirty back-alley, might die, and get some real info on who he was really dealing with, since Mr. No-Background-Check barely existed in the system.

He dialed the first number on the list, waited for it to ring, and cleared his throat to put his best officer-of-the-law voice on.

The automatic doors of his quarters shut behind him, the tall man with long hair, sides buzzed collapsed onto an old metal cot. God damnit, what the hell am I suppose to do?, he thought to himself as he pushed the stranded of hair back neatly over his head. He sat virtually in darkness for a few moments until the small datapad on the end table next to the chair lit up. Who could possibly need to talk at this hour, he said to himself as he slid his finger across the screen, answering the call.

"General Axon, what's the situation?" he answered, assuming it was one of his subordinates.

The cop paused for a minute. He wasn't quite expecting that kind of answer.

"Uh, Mr. Axon. Good evening. This is Lieutenant Dembry with the Trader's Point Police Department, Sector I..."

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Nahdra made it down the hallway without incident. The monitor room was locked. She had expected this, and slid the key-card in with a click. The door opened and she slipped in, closing it behind her.

In front of her, the monitors on the wall showed a direct feed of all the intensive care rooms, the lobby, the waiting room, and the major entrances. Luckily, there was no security guard on duty. She pressed her back against the door of the small room, scanning the screens until she found...yes, there it was. Nathan's room. Was he...shaking? And screaming? What was wrong? She watched intently for a few seconds. Maybe he was right all along - it looked like they were hurting him...and there was a guard forcefully pinning him down. Were they about to kill him?

Thorne raised an eyebrow at the response, he just said Sector I, Deysha?

"...What's the purpose of this phone call?" he asked hesitantly. "I don't believe I have been in Sector I for quite a few years."

"We have a Mr. Nathan Steele in our emergency room right now, and he has this number listed as an emergency contact. What's your relation to Mr. Steele, sir?"

The slightly surprised cop straightened out the paperwork in front of him, pushing aside a few of the bagged evidence items to make some more room for himself. Inside one of the bags was the little box that, unknown to the lieutenant, contained Nathan's gift for the little girl.
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Nahdra continued waiting and watching. There was nothing she could do without making a scene. She had to be smart about this...

"I have many people under my command and some may have marked me as I.C.E contact if they have no other family, but I can't say for sure. Can you describe him? I might be able to give a better answer if I knew what the man looked like." Thorne took a deep breath, clearly irritated but trying to be cooperative.

Dembry scratched his head. He barely remembered what this faggot looked like, he had dealt with too many people like this to care.

"He has, uh, long dark hair. A scar across his face, sort of, and some type of...eye implants? I can send you over his ID photo, if you like. Can I ask - you mentioned 'under your command' - is this man stationed here on military assignment?"

Thorne cocked am eyebrow, sounds familiar, but there were so many people with similar descriptions it was hard for him to tell if he knew him or not.

"A copy of his ID could prove useful. As for assignment, Novalyse doesn't general station on duty militants in Deysha II, it tends to be more of a vacation spot. Like I said though, I have many soldiers who may have elected to inform me if something happened."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Dembry buried his forehead in his palm and took a deep breath.

"Novalyse? This guy's a long way from home, then." He paused for another second or two. If he was dealing with a foreign soldier, this was way above his pay grade. "If it's alright, sir, I'd like to transfer you to my on-duty supervisor, he has a little bit more experience dealing with this, and our background check isn't bringing us any records, Deyshian or otherwise, to any Nathan Steele matching this man whatsoever. I'm uploading a copy of the ID to you as we speak, hopefully you can help clarify so we can get the appropriate notifications out..."

The lieutenant absent-mindedly looked over the second number on the list. At least if the first one was a wash, he would have one more to try.