Chapter 1 Doc

When he woke up he was lying on a bunk in a cabin that looked like a medical compartment on a ship or a space station.

He tried to sit up and buy the moment he moved he felt enormous pain from his whole body which made him dizzy .

So he decided it was better to lay still until he had enough strength to get up.

From his position he could see only a part of the room but he knew that he wasn't alone in here.

After a while the door slid open and a woman in her thirties Came into the room.

-I see you're finally awake.

She said looking at him with a smile.

She was around 165 cm slender with red hair and a pleasant face , but her eyes betrayed a bit of caution,and her body language told him she was on guard.

-Where am I? 

-You're in a medical room on an exile station in the Themeris system.

She answered while sitting down on a small chair next to his bunk.

- By the way I'm Alicia Green and I'm the only one with any medical knowledge in this place.

-I'm Thomas Zieliński former mercenary.

He introduced himself.

-You can call me Tommy.So tell me doc how bad is it?

-To be honest i've never seen someone so beat up before.

Her smile faded when she answered.

-You have quite a few cuts that i had to stitch some cracker ribs, i suspect a concussion and generally you were beaten black and blue when they brought you to me.

You were unconscious for three days and had a fever for two of those. I wasn't sure if you were going to make it.

-How long will it take to heal me?

Was his next question.

-I don't know. she shook her head.-If i had meds and equipment then you would be healed in about 24 hours but here on this station everything is broken and there is almost no medicine so i'm doing what i can with what i have.

She said with a bitter voice.

Thomas started thinking about the situation, he had heard about exile stations but he never knew that it was this bad in them.

No medicine or medical instruments meant that it was going to take him a while to heal .

But even if he could not move it didn't mean he couldn't get some info from the doctor.

-You said that we are in the Themeris system. If I remember correctly this place is on the fringe of the empire,and is called the cemetery.

He asked, trying to change the subject.

-Yes that's correct. The Empire drops most if not all of the decommissioned vessels here starting from fighters all the way to drednot and super size cargo transports.

-Can you tell me the situation on this station?

-what do you mean? she asked, a bit confused about his question.

-I want to know how many people are here, how to get food and water, that kind of stuff.

He explained patiently.

-Well if you want food or water you have to work for them the same goes for everything else.

Clothes,medicine,tools, etc.

-O, so I have to work to live and get what I need. But what kind of work is available here and how am I getting paid?

He continued, with a bit of curiosity in his voice.

-.That depends on what you can do? Most people just strip the ships and sell the parts.

-Strips the ships? It was his turn to be confused.

-Yes. This station is an abandoned shipyard turned into an exile station so there are several docs to which we can pull smaller ships that are close with the help of magnetic harpoons that still work.

Then we can strip them and sell the materials to the ship that comes here once a month to restock the shop and get the parts.then we get credits that we can spend in the automated shop.

-Ok got it. But if I can't work right now then how will I pay for everything?

-Oh,that's easy as long as you're injured or sick. I'm paying for everything and when you get better you pay me back plus a small fee ,and don't even think of not paying or the next time you need a medic, you're on your own .

She said seriously.

-Ok you need to get some rest and I've got some work to do.

She got up and left after that.

This little chat wasn't as productive as he thought but still it gave him some information that he needed. The rest he would have to find out by himself when he got out of bed.

But for now he was exhausted so he closed his eyes and was asleep the next moment.

The next few days were a bit of a blur for him.

Everything was like a dream. He remembered Alicia coming a few times to check on him and feed him some food and water but other than that he was asleep for the most time.

When he woke up with a clear mind the first thing he saw was the doctor sleeping soundly in the chair.

Then he noticed that the pain in his body had lessened by quite a big margin.

He wasn't well enough to get out of bed but good enough to at least sit up.

When he tried the pain assaulted him again but it was tolerable for him.

While he was struggling to sit up Alice woke up and seeing what he was up to she tried to stop him.

 -What do you think you are doing! Lie down you idiot! she scolded him.

-I think i've laid down for long enough for now.

He answered with a bit of a smile when he was finally sitting propping his back against the wall.

-Well your fewer seems to have gone down. she said while getting up and checking his temperature by touching his forehead.

-You were slipping in and out of coma for the last week and a half, it's a miracle that you're alive.

She said clearly not happy that he ignored her command to lay down.

-Well I'm not that easy to get rid of. He joked trying to lighten the mood a little.

-That's certainly the case.

She admitted while checking his state with a stethoscope.

- Your heart and lungs sound better but I still think it'll take two weeks for you to move around and about a month to fully recover.

-Thank you Doc for helping me he said , mustering a smile.

-You're welcome, besides you're paying me back later so you don't have to thank me for anything. 

She smiled back at him.

-By the way Doc you said that you had no equipment.

He said, now that he was sitting he saw the whole room and there was some equipment lying here and there.

-Oh this junk doesn't work any of it. 

She answered after a while.

-Let's take this defibrylator for example. She went to a small white box lying on her desk.

-It's all here but it doesnt charge and no one here can repair it.

-Can I see it? he asked,it was always better to have something to do than be idle and think about everything he lost.

Alice brought the device to him, a little baffled by his request.

-Don't tell me you can fix it, didn't you say you were a mercenary?.

-I don't know yet, do you have a screwdriver?And yes i was but besides that lets just say i'm a man of many parts.

He said looking at the device, smiling slightly,.

She went to cabinet standing next to her desk and got a small box of tools.

-If you can repair it, I'll cut 10% from your debt. she said, giving him the tools.

Tommy didn't answer, just took the tool box and started to tinker with the device.

An hour later the device was back to its original state. The difference was that it worked.

No one but his best friend and his sister knew that he was studying engineering in his spare time and he liked to tinker when he was not studying.

After Alice turned the device on and clicked the charge button she heard a familiar sound of the device charging and she started grinning from ear to ear,looking at Tommy with gratitude.

- Thank you, you don't know how much this means to me to have some working equipment at last.

- Don't sweat it Doc.Just tell me what else is broken.I won't promise you that i can repair it but i can at least try.

He said smiling and looking forward to doing something useful for a change.