Starkiller base had six medical team workers that weren't droids. Part of this was to catch certain mistakes droids may make and the other part was due to the discrimination of droids in and of themselves. Perhaps the reasons were both inextricably linked. All that Vora knew was that both she and her colleagues were the esteemed team they were because of the high quality of the medical droids. The medical bay saw many stormtroopers, generals and officers alike on the daily. Oppressing the whole solar system was a violent affair.
The majority of those working in the First Order come about through force or through selective nurturing. Most of the stormtroopers had been snatched from their parents at an early age, ripe for shaping into little killing machines. Other troopers had been convinced of the first order cause and then given conditioning.
Vora, like others who had lots of experience mastering their particular skill, had been left with the illusion of a choice when she had been caught in a First Order siege resulting in many individuals being killed. The First Order offered her a place amongst them, impressed and aware of her medical skills, in return for allegiance. After glancing around at the dead bodies on the floor, Vora had agreed. After she'd been at the First Order for a few weeks she met others who had the same story as her. They'd all renounced death for a while longer and accepted their fate, drained of hope. The medical team alone knew holding on to their ability to help people was enough to keep them going whilst part of the organisation that had doomed their lives as they'd known it.
Working for the First Order, surprisingly, was not the oppressive hell Vora had envisioned – especially if approached from an internal approach which refused to consider what the First Order stood for. She and the other medical bay workers had their own small rooms with a bed, shower, and toilet not far from the main medical bay. Food was served in a large canteen, so Vora was never expected to make a meal again. There were some rooms that enabled socialising in the brief times that one was off duty. Vora mainly socialised with the other medical bay workers or the patients that arrived.
Her shifts usually lasted most of the day. Especially if she or the other medical bay workers were tasked with being on an attacking ship. For the most part, though, she had remained on Starkiller for most of her First Order 'career'. She'd even been tasked with running a workshop, with a medical droid, to train up some people who were going to be acting as medical technicians on attacking ships. She found herself loving showing people what to do but hating what it was for. She remembered being watched briefly that day by both General Hux and General Phasma who had given her brief praise afterwards. It was an unusual but encouraging experience. It made Vora feel that she had been going the right direction – in this case that meant, not being killed by the First Order.
Vora had seen all types of wounds. On Starkiller she especially treated burns. These came from faulty consoles or mistreated weapons. Sometimes they even came from a lightsaber, wielded by the one commander who was a Sith. On more severe occasions, individuals were impaled on base equipment or other sharp objects. Sometimes, more fatally, they were impaled by a lightsaber.
Vora sighed. The one with the lightsaber, Commander Ren, was notorious for violent tantrums. She had been lucky to not cross his path during these tantrums. He was the most distinctive from others of the First Order due to his height paired with dark clothes, and an associated mask.
Vora had first seen him whilst in the flight bay whilst tending to a man who had been crushed in between the wall and the heavy machinery normally used to move broken ships. She immediately had nodded in his direction in performative respect and returned to her pressing (or pressed?) work. Whenever she bumped into him then onwards, as well as any high ranking general or officer on the Starkiller, she would always show respect and quickly move on. If she was stuck on the ship, she would at least avoid being killed for the time being. As someone who had been sympathetic of the resistance most of her life, if she was going to be killed by the First Order, she'd want to go out loud.
Vora thought back to the lightsaber burns and wondered if Commander Kylo Ren was the only one in the First Order who was what remained of the Jedi or Sith. Vora had kept it secret on the base that she had an affinity for the force too. She'd never been able to truly access it in the way a Jedi or Sith were described to be able to, however she'd heard that it required training. Even though not used at its full potential, it had most definitely made her a truly successful healer.
"Alright, Vora, you're up. Twenty minutes to grab something from the canteen. Bring me back something too." One of the medical workers, Kenar, was holding a touchpad, writing up the injury for file.
Vora had just finished tying off a bandage on a stormtrooper. She jumped up off her seat after giving a gentle tug to the knot to check her work.
"On it, give this guy another check-over and then feel free to dispatch."
She sent a nod and smile to the stormtrooper who gave her a weak smile back.
The canteen workers were always droids. They were friendly and Vora liked to imagine that they pitied her and gave her bigger portions on the days when she couldn't sit down to eat. She brought back two plates that were stacked with an array of food shaped items, mainly brown in colour. Food was simply fuel here. Gone were the days of diverse foods and flavours from different systems. Vora had had the privilege of eating richly whilst on coruscant in the past, where they imported all forms of foods from all over the galaxy.
She would try her best to not dwell on those flavours for too long, it spoiled her attempts to eat the simplistic brown meals provided by the First Order canteen.
Vora returned to the medical bay with five minutes to spare which she used to eat her food. This was done in a smaller room in the back as its not sanitary to eat near the equipment or the injured. When she finished, she swapped positions with Kenar and continued to work. The number of patients slowed down and she began sanitising the bay whilst having a good chat with one of the other medical bay workers, Boona. The medical droids, meanwhile, went through stocks and refilled what had been used in the day so far.
"MT-3 and 4 your presence is requested urgently at command center." A droid announced at the doorway.
Kenar emerged when his number was called. Vora had already grabbed her kitbag after her number had been called. Boona, who was known on the base as MT-2, stayed behind to tend to the bay with the medical droids.
"MT-6 is on call if you need help." Vora reminded. Only within the team did they use their real names. The First Order used codes to discern between people. Vora understood it as a much simpler way of accounting for everyone.
The messenger droid was moving at a rapid pace, making Kenar and Vora jog to keep up with it.
"What is the situation?" Vora attempted to ask the droid.
To which it replied, "MT-3 and MT-4 your presence is requested urgently at command center," as it could solely reply with its task.
They arrived at command center. Vora saw one of the command deck workers was on the floor choking on blood whilst everyone else in the command center seemed to be calming keeping at their work, unaffected by his gargled chokes and pleas for help. Vora ran to him, putting on a face mask as she got closer. She crouched down on her knees with Kenar close by ready to assist.
"Can you talk?" She asked the man, helping him sit up and forward so his face would be leaning forward to encourage the blood to go out of his mouth instead of into his lungs. "What happened?"
The man leaned towards her and muttered Commander Ren's name. "Comman- Kylo ren." He then coughed and spluttered. Vora tried to check where the impact that was causing his bleeding was coming from. He looked terrified.
"I just said he had a bad idea." He began to cry, spluttering more blood from his mouth. "Now I'm going to die."
Vora put her hands to his temple and looked him in the eyes. "I'm going to help you. You'll be okay. Try not to talk anymore unless you really need to. Just focus on breathing." She slowed her breathing so that he could use her as a template to follow with his own breathing.
Thankfully Kenar and the other medical team often took the touch and eye contact as Vora trying to ground the patient and make them focus on her rather than their wounds. In reality, she was trying her best to give them a calming feeling. It was immensely draining for her, and she only used it in worst cases. The man stopped spluttering and began to breath at a regular pace. Vora used a gauge to wipe out as much blood as she could from around and in his mouth.
"I wish that droid had told us the situation," Vora groaned, "We could have brought a crash cart to take him back to the bay."
"We called you here to remove his body," General Hux emerged from a separate room within the command center. A sour expression tightened his face. "If you can save him, I'll be impressed, Commander Ren was not forgiving."
"I – We would have appreciated if the messenger droid had suggested bringing a crash cart, General." Vora did her best to speak diplomatically but firm. "He could have a spinal injury."
"Carry him there. There's two of you."
Vora expelled air out of her nose, dismissing his comment. Then she saw that General Hux was serious, and it was the only suggestion he would give her. With no other alternative available, Vora sighed and stood up.
"MT-4 would you please grab this man's upper legs. I'll support head and shoulders." She hoped the wash of calm she had given the injured man would assist him throughout the journey.
Kenar nodded. They counted down to lift and began heading back the way they came. The corridor was not too busy. Those who were in the way would immediately step aside, grimacing at Commander Ren's new public example of defiance.
They were not too far from the medical bay when the man himself came striding down the corridor. He looked to Vora and Kenar slowly carrying the body down the, now almost empty, hall. Vora could feel that he was disappointed. Perhaps disappointed that the man survived or that the medical team had gotten involved.
"Let me help you with that." Through the mask, he sounded somewhat smug.
Vora heard the lightsaber ignite. She'd never seen it in person. It was beautiful and alarming both in color and with its threatening buzz.
As Commander Ren's arms moved to cut through the man's flesh, Vora cried out in surprise, flicking her wrist nearest to the commander, and imagining that she was pushing back on the hilt of the lightsaber. To her surprise, the lightsaber's movement was directed in that direction and it lodged in the wall for a second, scorching it.
Vora had no training with the force other than what her grandmother had taught her as a healer. This involved helping people feel better. She could use the force to help her guide bones back into place, ease patients and have a steady hand. The events that had just taken place were completely new to her to say the least. She did her very best to compose herself, she glanced to Kenar reassuringly then looked back to Commander Ren. Kenar had flinched away when the lightsaber ignited and missed the moment, so Vora assumed that he thought Kylo Ren had paused his attack upon hearing her shout.
The air in the corridor felt like it had become still and stale. Vora snapped herself out of her shock and pushed herself to enter her role.
"Commander Ren. General Hux has informed me to take this man to the medical bay." There was no lie to her words. She hoped that General Hux was of an equal rank to Commander Ren so that his want of the man's death would be superseded.
Commander Ren did not reply. He stood there. His lightsaber had been disengaged and returned to his belt. Vora took a deep breath in and felt his emotions. They were embarrassment and surprise.
"I'm terribly sorry, Commander, but we are on a time limit right now." Vora nodded to Kenar to keep walking towards the medical bay. For a moment he hesitated and Vora gave him a look of urgency that he was compelled to obey. The hallway began to repopulate again and Vora hoped that the commander would be distracted as she continued her duty as medical worker.
In the safety of the medical bay, they were able to strip off the man's clothes and tend to the wounds. The medical droids performed minor surgery on the man's chest wound. Kenar wrote up the incident report. Vora did her best to assist the medical droid whilst feeling an aching in her stomach that she'd done wrong and would be found out by the commander and perhaps the rest of the ship. The command center worker was to be kept in the bay overnight under the watch of MT- 1 and MT - 5.
Kenar and Vora at dinner together and decompressed by discussing the incident and how it made them feel - something they did whenever it was a hard day. They did their best not to bring up General Hux or Commander Ren in case those sitting nearby wanted to report them as questioning their chain of command. After a late dinner, they both went back to their respective rooms in the same hall.
The clothes that were worn for work were tossed onto the bed and Vora headed to the refresher. As the water of the shower sputtered into action, she took her long braid that was hidden under her MT cap for work so that her hair didn't get in the way.
She brushed through the waves formed by the braid. Her thick chestnut hair reminded her of her mother and grandmother who had always proudly grown their hair out long. She'd wanted to shave it off sometimes, but it felt like one of the only things on the sterile Starkiller base that kept her connected to her family and life before the First Order. Culture was sanitised and erased in the First Order. It was yet another of its many miserable feats.
After a long shower rinsing off the stressful day, Vora lay in bed for a long while processing the amount of people that had been patched up in the medical bay due to Kylo Ren's temper. She wondered if she would be next after the events that had unfolded in the corridor.
She hardly slept that night.