It hurt. No matter how many deaths one encounters, one can't grow used to it as much as he/she'd like to lie to themselves; he barely knew the eager GEAR pilot, he only had the chance to skim through his medical records and find nothing worth noting. A very healthy young man, with an entire life in front of him, yet, he chose a path that would bring his end sooner rather than later. Was he brave for it? Was he a fool to throw his life to chance and misery, manipulated by some sense of patriotism and righteousness? Then again, isn't everyone the same in the military? Aidan forced his eyes shut and swallowed heavily, feeling the pain in poor Kensington's reaction and demotivated gaze; all of the excuses he learnt to blurt out rushed in and out and he almost spewed them out, but he knew Ken was too smart and affected by Arcade's death for them to work. Instead, the dog carefully sunk into the copilot's seat, without interacting with the control stick and pedals; he sighed heavily and buckled himself in the seat and enjoyed the scenery for the rest of the ride. After maybe one minute of silence in the cockpit, Aidan felt too guilty to keep his muzzle shut and instead of coming up with some explanation of how Arcade died and how it was no one's fault, he preferred to let the humanity in him do the talking and try to warm the atmosphere up a little. He lightly chuckled to himself, a small, awkward smile crept up the right corner of his connected lips as he slightly leaned towards Ken's seat.

[b]"It always sucks the first time, I give you that. From, I dunno, three hundred-something patients, you're bound to have that one guy that rolls over and dies on you, regardless how hard you try to fight for him. It hurts even more if you know just how much effort you've put in it. Saving him, I mean. Wanna know how many died on me? Thirty-three, including Arcade. My first death was my ninety-seventh patient, I kind of expected to reach one hundred before my first casualty."[/b] Aidan turned his attention to his own hands and started playing with them. He felt a bit too personal at this point, but if helped Ken, he'd go the extra mile to open himself up a little. [b]"It sucked so hard. I mean, I had the stethoscope pinned on the guy's chest, I was trying to catch a systolic murmur: his heart would beat normally, but you could hear the sound very vaguely, it was somewhere in the background. One more heartbeat, and then, nothing. Boom, cardiac arrest. I'm not proud to admit it, my eyes were tearing while I climbed over him to do manual compressions before they slid a LAZARUS on him. He didn't make it. That night, the whole fucking night, I stood by his body nicely suited in his cramped, black body bag while I was choking on my sobs and drinking my tears in."[/b]

[b]"I've grown out of that, but it still hurts. Just like you said a while ago, you need to learn to just let it go; sure, have some of that sorrow wash over you, after all, one of your men just died, but it shouldn't bring anyone down. No, it should give strength, it always worked for me like that; not in the sense that I try harder to save someone's life, but I feel like now I have a duty towards the man that just slipped away. I feel like I should keep everyone else alive for him and that thought gives me strength, or better yet, motivation. No, it doesn't take someone's death to motivate me, but it certainly puts the pressure on me and when I am on pressure, my goal is not to save lives, it is to break those three rules. We've got another pilot that needs us and I am more than sure that Arcade would kick us under the tail if we don't manage save him. Focus on the grand scale of things and relax; you're much more likely to screw stuff up when you're so concentrated that you don't pay attention to everything else. Time to save a life, we'll mourn later with a six pack of beer. Let's fly, airman!"[/b]

The chopper was closing in on the mine camp and it looked worse than Aidan remembered it; he expected to see a place full of potholes and whatnot, but not a lunar surface riddled with cracks and debris. It seemed that some support arrived from the Claw, a number of more pilots, another heli and a medical team for Kuraiko. Aidan, honestly, felt insulted because of this move, but he knew that Blade wouldn't guess the medic's availability; also, a number of people is always better than being all alone with the patient, since a few more pairs of helping hands can only be useful. The dog unbuckled and pulled himself away from the copilot seat and headed back to repack his kit as neatly as he could before the deployment. Maybe Blade wouldn't want his medic to be on foot again and anywhere near the mine, but the canine couldn't care less and he preferred to be the subject of a stern rebuke than to have another death on the same day, during the first skirmish with the 101. He crammed the PADD back in its place, cleaned the electrodes and pads with medicinal alcohol to disinfect them to some degree, threw the empty epinephrine shot in a yellow bag and into the kit since there was no risk of getting prickled by the syringe, which had retracted inside its tube once the contents have been evacuated. Once he was pretty sure everything was back inside, he threw the whole kit on his back and secured it, tightening the straps to the point it wouldn't hang and wobble on his back, but it wouldn't suffocate and restrict his limbs either. He slid his hand into the combat gloves he stored earlier in one of his ammo pouches and cradled the PDW slung on his chest with the help of a short paracord, the other hand held tightly to the internal frame of the chopper and waited for the final approach. He pressed his head against the side door and closed his eyes, gathering his focus; he had to be in perfect shape, another man needed his aid and he had to be ready for anything. Ken did his magic and at a certain point, the skids of the Hawk hit the ground and as soon as they did, Aidan slid the side door open and hopped out, fresh and ready to save the second pilot that needed help.

[b]"I'm on foot and headed over to Kuraiko. I'll prep him for the medical team to take him to base, over."[/b] Aidan cautiously proceeded towards Blitzkrieg's location, keeping a jogging pace while he scanned for any threats coming out of the mine shaft. He had to be careful not to trip over some rock, or step into a shark piece of dead GEAR, but he managed. He was surprised to see Ken following him to Kuraiko's position, but he wasn't about to refuse a pair of helping hands; he wasn't sure if his talk motivated the pilot to come out and help, or if it was some sense of duty in him too. Either way, he gladly accepted the airman's support. He climbed on the downed GEAR and helped Ken up with him, then headed for the cockpit; Kuraiko's signal was still repeating over and over on Aidan's emergency commnet, to the point that it became an ingorable background noise. He pulled out an adaptive wrench out of the kit that seemed to have just about everything one can think of and proceeded to unscrew a few hidden bolts that would open a hatch hiding an emergency unlock handle; at least, that's how he remembered the LWX model emergency unlock mechanism. 

[b]"Stand by."[/b] He silently uttered to Ken as he pulled the yellow handle, which quickly unlocked and lifted the cockpit door just enough to slide an arm underneath it. [b]"Alright, help me out with this."[/b] He told Ken before he would kneel down and grunt, pulling the door up and then push it away. The wolf was there alright, but like Adrian suggested, he was "taking a nap". [b]"Kuraiko, you hear me? Aihara? If you can hear me, focus on my voice and stand still, alright? Keep tight, buddy, we're taking you out of here!"[/b] With that, Aidan lowered himself into the cockpit took off his kit, which he placed aside. He took another pair of sterile (purple) gloves and immediately started to check for the wolf's vitals; his heart was still beating, at a relaxed pace, and he was breathing normally. He checked for any cervical lesions, which he found none of, but still, he pulled one out anyway to secure his neck.

[b]"Help me unstrap him and take off his helmet. Easy, he may have a fracture somewhere."[/b] He calmly talked to Ken as he began to unbuckle the belts holding the wolf securely in place. [b]"No obvious lesions to be observed, suspect a knockout caused by concussion. He may form a haematoma, but for now-"[/b] Aidan pulled the flashlight attached to his vest and lit it on Kuraiko's eyes, once his helmet had been safely removed, noticing that his parasympathetic response was still there, meaning no oculomotor nerve damage or compression. Yet. [b]"Nothing notable."[/b] He then reached for a switch on his own helmet, until he found the Claw's frequency. [b]"Come in, Claw, com in, this is Lieutenant Sykes. Prepare to take another patient - he is stable - but he needs to get an emergency CT scan and a blood test, over."[/b] He turned to Ken. [b]"Okay, let's get a stretcher from my kit and get him out of here."[/b] With that, Aidan reached for the kit and pulled the same stretcher he used with Arcade and handled it over to Ken. [b]"Unfold it, I'll put an IV on him and maybe use a smelling packet, then we pull him out."[/b] Much like a machine, the doctor installed a venal catheter through the left arm of the downed wolf and then turned his attention back to Ken. [b]"We'll slide the thing under him, instead of getting him on it. Lemme show you why."[/b] Like so, Aidan crouched under the cockpit seat and tinkered with a few gears beneath, until the seat became mobile and fully stretched out, until Kuraiko was basically laying on his back instead of being strapped on a chair, on his back. He lifted Kuraiko's torso up, then his legs to allow Ken to slide the stretcher under their patient, then urged him to get out of the cockpit, provide cover and prepare to move him out. Then, Aidan tinkered some more with the chair's gears and cranked one of the handles, until the chair with the stretcher reached the height of the cockpit's lip. The dog pulled himself out of the cockpit, only to find the medical team from the Claw arrive right in time; they waited until some of them got to Blitzkrieg to help lower the patient down and move him out, Aidan dropped off the GEAR and followed them a while.

[b]"Patient's stable, he's been knocked out cold by some shell blasting him off his feet. No neurological symptoms, but I contacted the Claw to prepare for an emergency CT scan- hold up, he's moving! Kuraiko! Hey, pal, you hear me?"[/b] The pilot was squirming a little, trying to move his head and his arms away from the belts that kept him safely attached to the stretcher; the doctor slid his hand through Kuraiko's and took a closer look at his face. [b]"If you hear me, squeeze my hand as much as you can, no need to put effort in it. Okay, blink once if you feel pain. I know you're dizzy and you want to get up, but stay down. You've done enough for today, chump, so lay back and chill, you've earned it."[/b] He then turned his attention back to the handful of people that were mounting Kuraiko on some wheels to move him away with ease. 

[b]"So, no neurological symptoms, did you find any spinal lesions, dislodged limbs?"[/b]

[b]"None so far, but I secured his neck in case there's a loose bone fragment threatening his spine. His face has normal features, no cranial nerves have been affected by the shock, but I fear he'd might have a hematoma after that fall, helmet and all. So, he'll need a CT scan and I'd say, a blood test, rule out the IV serum."[/b]

[b]"Roger, roger. What about the other pilot? Did he make it to the 'cruiser?"[/b] The nurse badger asked.

[b]"No."[/b] Replied Aidan with some spite. [b]"Thrombotic storm, systematically shut down his body, it mostly affected the phrenic nerve and maybe the cervical sympathetic nodes, also, one clot blocked the coronary. He had bloody boils all over him and shrapnel damage, also, if I gave him unfractionated Heparin, he'd die in the OR. He ended up in asystole."[/b]

[b]"Sorry to hear that, sir. We'll have Aihara here back to base in no time and finish tests before supper. Should I get you some coffee when you get back for debrief?"[/b]

[b]"That would be very appreciated, thank you."[/b]

The doc gave his final regards to the team as they took away the wolf to their vehicle, then came to a halt: what is he going to do now? Kuraiko's safe, Arcade's dead, Blade needed Ken's eyes and guns above their heads and his own GEAR's abandoned some klicks away, a distance too long to cover by foot to be efficient. Then, he saw Captain Esailia Sprinsteam and a bright idea came to his mind.

[b]"Ken, you've got your orders from boss. Thanks for the assist, man, I really owe you that six pack. I'll manage from now. Alright, good luck up there and stay sharpish! See me after debrief!"[/b]

With that, Aidan took off and jogged his way to the entrance of the mine where he saw the feline captain, tossing the second set of sterile gloves into the dirt and took his combat gloves back on and again, covered his PDW with his right arm coming over the gun until it grabbed the top of the weapon, just after the holographic dot sight's position on the top rail, the left arm simply grabbed the secondary grip. The workout of the last half-an-hour made him break another drop of sweat, but he knew the day was not over yet and the hardest part has yet to come. He finally reached the cat, coming to a full stop and saluted her.

[b]"Ma'am. My GEAR's parked maybe four klicks from here, I'd prefer to be useful than to take that long walk. My gun and kit are yours, if you need me."[/b]