[hider=Previously on GEARS!] [quote=HopelessIncubus] [/quote] [quote=Silverwind Blade] ...a female rough collie and head of the land-ships' security team, directed one of her men to assist the wounded medic as he moved on. "Any more in there?" she asked Edward, keeping pace. "We've got the outside secured. I can send my squad deeper into the mine if the rest of your team needs support". [/quote] [quote=Silverwind Blade] "Fireteam, this is Blade. We've got a building that needs breaching and clearing, reading four poss tangoes inside. The rest of the cavern is secured, and friendlies are moving in. What's your situation, over?" [/quote] [quote=Esailia] When Asked if the rest of his squad needed reinforcement, the fox nodded "There's only Naida, nathanial, and Mike in there now. We captured some infantry too." He informed the soldier, never slowing from Esailia's side. [/quote] [/hider] The tiger quickly flipped his comm on, answering "We ran into trouble, but we'll advance as soon as we figure out how to handle some prisoners we captured." Nathanial nodded at Mike at his question, hefting his weapon "Yeah, when we move out you take point, but we've got to take care of these prisoners first. Can't just leave them here unrestrai-" He cut off and whirled around, along with Naida, when they both heard footsteps behind them. Nathanial was about to open fire, when he noted the IFF tags on the soldier who rounded the corner. The tiger lowered his rifle and motioned for Naida to do the same before walking up to the soldier, noting others behind her "You have great timing. How many of you are there? We've got prisoners that need securing and extraction. We'll be taking one of them with us as a guide, it'd be nice to have some extra guns to help with freeing the hostages." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [hider=(Response to...)] [hider=Aidan's question] [quote=Machinesoul] "Ed." He started in a more quiet tone. "You must tell me for how long she's had the cough. It's an order. I can't do anything if I don't know when it started, how it started, how bad has it been and if there's anything else out of the ordinary with Captain Spinstream. I mean, it could be a stupid bronchitis or it might as well be a malignant tumor for all we know, and those are very different conditions with equally different treatments." [/quote] [/hider] [hider=Assisting Esailia] [quote=Machinesoul] Aidan immediately pulled the OPA out of her mouth and urged the fox to help him roll the woman on her side to help her spit out any blood that might come up -------------- "Easy, ma'am, you're safe, you're fine. It's just you, me and Ed here. Breathe slowly and if you have to cough, spit it out, I've got you covered, alright? Here, this should take the edge off. Stay put, you've done more than enough today, just kick back and rest a while, OK?" [/quote] [/hider] [/hider] In the secluded infirmary room, Edward shifted uncomfortably to the quiet, almost disappointed tone the Doctor took when asking him that question. The fox was standing beside Esailia's bed, and he glanced down at her to look at her unconscious form before answering. "We don't know how long she's had it, but the first time I can remember her coughing up blood was during training about about six months ago. It had only been a week in, and she had been running us ragged. But during one of the longer jogs, she collapsed and started coughing hard. Nathan, Naid, and I were all there demanding we get her to the Doctor, but she yelled at us. Told us not to breathe a word about it. She went on to explain she just had inflamed lungs from being in a burning building too long in the past. She recovered, and finished the job without any more coughing. Since then, we just kept it to ourselves...If we had known it was anything more than that, I promise you we would have said something. We all care about our captain. The last thing we want is for her to die because we kept our mouths shut..." Edward backed up and collapsed into a chair behind him, holding his head in his hands... A short time later, Esailia would regain consciousness, and follow Aidan's suggestion of coughing up anything she felt was in her throat before slumping back to lay on the bed. She slowly moved her head to look around, catching sight of a worried Edward at her bedside. She lifting her free hand and held it there, saying with a small smile "I'm still alive." Edward laughed in relief and grabbed the raised hand, slowly lowering it back down "Yes, ma'am, you are." The feline captain then turned her head to look at Aidan, her smile quickly vanishing "Doctor...I know I'm to be discharged by Blade any minute for hiding my condition, but do not l-" She was cut off by Edward squeezing her hand and quickly inserting "He hasn't reported you to anyone, Ma'am! I've been with him the whole time, he faked you getting shot and being knocked out. He shot your vest- while it was off!- and punched your chest to cause a bruise." Esailia listened, then chuckled, which caused her to cough weakly "That's why my gut hurts..." She nodded and turned her eyes back to the Doctor "Thank you..."