New Fic: Unexpected Anomaly

[jackwabbit]

Unexpected Anomaly

Fandom: Star Trek Discovery
Rated: G
Category: Vignette. AU – takes place in the Star Wars Universe (but no real knowledge of that needed). Alternate First Meeting. Medical. But Not Graphic. My first true AU.
Word Count: 1397.
Time Frame: N/A in regards to Trek. For Star Wars, I place this most easily in The Clone Wars era, but can occur any time that Jedi exist publicly. There may be more to this story, and that may nail this down, but for now, open time frame.
Spoilers: None.
Summary: Hugh has done this procedure dozens of times, but medicine (like the universe and the Force that inhabits it) still finds a way to surprise him.
Note: Written for Culmets Celebration 2020, Day Three (Alternate Universe).

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It wasn’t his first time.

Not by a long shot. Even in the thick of battle, he’d done it dozens of times. It was a simple consciousness check, nothing more. Sure, some patients regained awareness from it, but that also wasn’t new to him.

So why, when this patient opened his eyes, did Hugh pull back his hand and pull in a sharp breath?

Why did he notice how startlingly blue those eyes were, and why did a bolt shoot through his entire being, as if he’d been shocked by this stranger?

That had never happened before, and for a moment, he forgot his place – literally. His hand hovered in the air over his patient’s chest as he froze, one knee on the ground, next to the wounded man.

Then something exploded nearby, and his surroundings came roaring back to him.

His training kicked in, and he addressed the man beneath him calmly.

“Can you move, soldier?”

The man on the ground blinked, and his face contorted into a confused look.

Another explosion went off, this time closer. Small shards of gravel peppered both men.

“As much as I’d like to do this properly,” said Hugh, “we can’t stay here. I’ve got to move you. So come on, up we go.”

As he spoke, Hugh grabbed hold of both sides of his patient’s armored vest and hoisted the man into a sitting position.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, as the man grunted in pain. Then, as another rain of debris fell on them, he added, “but not too sorry.”

That earned him a strained chuckle, and Hugh gave his patient an amused look as he slid a hand behind his shoulders and helped him to his feet.

“Well, that’s a good sign,” he said.

Again came the confused look from the man now leaning on his shoulder heavily.

“You must not be too bad off if you can laugh,” Hugh elaborated, “at your own expense, even.

His patient nodded in understanding, but didn’t say anything as the pair shuffled forward.

“Then again,” Hugh continued, growing serious, “I guess that’s not too uncommon in soldiers.”

And finally, his patient spoke.

“Not a soldier,” he muttered.

Hugh’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

“Then what are you doing here? And what’s with the uniform?”

“Specialist,” answered the man. “I’m just here for the science. The soil here, it…”

His words trailed off as a coughing fit took over his body. Hugh stopped for a moment and held the man up. When the spasms subsided, he took a firmer grip under the man’s arms and admonished him.

“Okay. Maybe tell me later. Save your breath.”

“You asked.”

Hugh opened his mouth to retort, then closed it. The man had a point.

“Sorry,” he said after a moment, again shuffling them both toward his evac point. It wasn’t far, but just then, four city blocks seemed like miles. They’d managed to get out of the hottest zone of fire, but there were still skirmishes all around them, and between those and the condition of his patient, Hugh was making slow progress.

“S’okay,” mumbled his charge. Something in the voice made Hugh look up at the man rather than at the path in front of them, and again those blue eyes captivated him. Only this time, it was because their pupils were uneven.

Hugh stopped again, confirmed his observation, and made a snap decision.  He brought out his best command voice.

“What’s your name, soldier?” he snapped.

“Told you. Not a soldier. Paul.”

Hugh chuckled at the man’s priorities, but didn’t comment on them. Instead, he let go of Paul’s shoulder and slid around to face him. He kept his hands on Paul’s chest to support him, then stepped forward so his chest was against Paul’s. He then spoke directly into the other man’s ear.

“Okay. Paul, this isn’t working. Your injuries are slowing us down too much. I can stabilize you, or I can get us out of here. I can’t do both. And we can’t stay here. So I’m going to pick you up, alright? I’m going to carry you to the evac point.”

Paul nodded weakly. If Hugh was surprised by the lack of resistance, he didn’t show it. Instead, he crouched down, hoisted Paul over and across his shoulders, and secured him there by grabbing hold of Paul’s arm. He nearly let go when his bare hand grasped Paul’s exposed wrist as another shock jolted through him.

But he didn’t. He packed his response away – he’d examine that later. For now, he had other priorities. He straightened up and began to jog toward the landing zone. Paul groaned with the movement, and Hugh tried to comfort him.

“Just hang in there, Paul,” he muttered, going as fast as the situation and his legs would allow.

It was touch and go for a while, but he made it to the transport, and so did Paul.

As Hugh laid his patient down on the deck of the drop ship, he confirmed he was still breathing, then rattled off symptoms on autopilot.

“Found unconscious. Revived nearly immediately after triage. Able to walk with assistance. Conscious and responsive until just a few moments ago, when he passed out again. Vomited once just before that.  Anisocoria present. Some coughing with exertion.”

As the doctor on duty took over from Hugh, he started to head back out, but he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see that the hand belonged to the military officer overseeing the operation.

“No,” he said, shaking his head at Hugh. “We’re bugging out.”

Hugh shook his head back. “But there may be more out there. We have to…”

The commander interrupted.

“No. We’re full up,” he said. As he spoke, he gestured to the ship around him, and for the first time, Hugh noticed that there were wounded everywhere. The entire floor was covered with injured bodies. His colleagues had been busy. So he didn’t bother to argue further. He just nodded at the commander and stepped back into the interior of the ship. It rose into the air a moment later, but Hugh barely noticed. He was too busy patching up a teenager.

When that was done (as much as it could be on a moving transport ship), they were nearly to their destination, a neutral city on this war-torn planet, where they’d drop the wounded at the local hospital before heading back out.

Hugh took a moment to look around at the ship’s occupants. Miraculously, all of the patients appeared in stable, if still serious, condition. There was nothing for him to do just then but watch and wait.

So he checked in on his latest recovery.

As he stepped to Paul’s side, he saw that his helmet had been removed, and a shock of pale blond hair was visible. Hugh had wondered if the man’s pallor had been entirely from his injuries – now he knew it wasn’t, and he couldn’t help the slight smiled that played across his face.

But that didn’t last long. Because looking at that hair and that face, so peaceful in slumber, Hugh remembered his body’s response to this man, and the smile faded. He knelt next to Paul, and the look on his face was somewhere between fear and confusion.

Why had this man affected him so? It had been years since he’d been blindsided like this.

And suddenly, he had to know more.

Paul’s gloves had been removed along with his helmet, and Hugh reached out tentatively to grasp one of his hands. As he made contact, Hugh sat back on his heels and stared at Paul in wonder.

He was prepared this time, so there was no shock. No jolt through his system.

But a warmth spread up his arm like a soft blanket on a chilly day, and for the first time since he’d become a healer, Hugh questioned his oath.

Not the medical one – the other one.

For while there was most definitely peace in this moment, there were also a lot of emotions.

And even though he had hardly anything left to give; even though he felt his eyelids drooping already from the effort he’d given the teen; even if it was completely irrational; if Hugh just so happened to push what he could still spare of his life force into Paul, so be it.

-----

A/N:

1-The first line of the most-ofted quoted Jedi Code reads: There is no emotion, there is peace.

2-Jedi healers and Force healing are canon in Star Wars, but they have been handled very inconsistently through the years. The one thing that is consistent is that healing takes a toll on the practitioner. That’s why Hugh couldn’t heal Paul immediately, and why everyone on the ship couldn’t be healed in flight. There is only so much even a Jedi can do with mass injuries/when in combat situations. Also, this story takes its inspiration from Obi-Wan waking Luke up in A New Hope. I’ve always felt that was a Jedi healing of some sort, but others do not believe this. I split the difference. It’s diagnostic here. A poke in the head just to see what’s up, and it wakes some people up and not others. Yeah. Sounds good. ;)