When the ship arrived the docking bay was busy as ever, Flight crews galloped back and forth trying to put equipment back, or trying to put equipment back on the waiting fighters. Lights blinked everywhere and small carts drove by with ammunition, thrusters, even food. The control tower was swamped with signals and messages, and there were five coffee makers working at once. The ship approached the hanger doors and slowly stared to ease its way into the massive ship. The landing pad was cleared and the ship gradually came down to steady touch down. The Pegasus were immediately unhooked from the trailer and taken to fly another one. Medical staff rushed Sights as the doors opened.
" Hey, easy y'all, that's my shooting hoof!" said Sights pulling it away.
" I thought you pulled the trigger with your horn?" asked Charger.
" Yah, but the magic messes with the scope and then I miss, and then the enemy knows where I am and…" Sights continued. Charger always remembered him as being a chatter box.
As the medics hauled Sights back off to the infirmary Gold Wings started to walk up to Charger.
" It's a darn shame that shrapnel got to him before I could." said Gold Wings laughing.
" Gold, if you got to him first, he would be dead." responded Charger. Both of the stallions reported to the mess hall for some after battle snacks and refreshments. Tasting all the ash and smoke doesn't really help your taste buds.
The medical ponies wheeled Sights into the operation room. He was laying out on the stretcher, the doctor was holding him down as he tried to look at his hoof. The rest of the ponies galloped either along side of behind the self moving bed. Sights noticed how all of the medical staff were acting tense. They seemed to think a small wound was going to kill him. He then realized everything else they had gone through. The battle he had just witnessed was no small conflict. They had probably witnessed twenty soldiers die before he was even struck in the fight. With this thought Sights eased up a little bit, but there was still that small thought in the back of his mind, "What if I can really die?"
The operation room was a blinding white area, the table ( which was more of a box) was white. The smooth tile walls and floor were white. Every damned cabinet and shelf was white. A large light hung down over the operation table. One of the medics pushed a small button on the side of the table and a tray with operation tools popped out the side.
" Let him down easily." ordered the doctor. Six of the mare nurses picked up Sights and slowly lowered him down onto the table. They propped up his hoof so that the light was right on it. The light was so close he could feel the heat and then the sweat running into his wound.
" Gee, thanks a lot dock!" he thought to himself sarcastically.
The doctor pulled out a small pair of glasses. These were no ordinary glasses. attached to them was a small laser pointer which you could direct at any point of the wound. The lenses would then multiple your vision, almost to a microscopic level on the lasers spot. This allowed you to examine ever small detail of the injury.
When the laser hit Sights felt a slight burn, then it subsided after a few seconds. The doctor was now holding his hoof as if it was a glass doll and constantly repositioning the laser and lenses.
" What, is he looking at? Just take the damn thing out?" thought Sights. The doctor still examined his wound. he then put his hoof down and called over a nurse.
He spoke very softly into her ear and then walked over to another doctor. He spoke to this doctor with a serious expression and then looked back at Sights for a second. The second doctor nodded and they both walked back over to Sights.
" OH SHIT, it is worst then they thought!" thought Sights to himself. When the doctors reached Sights table they both smiled. It was a cheap "Yah somethings wrong" smile. SIghts recognized this and gulped.
" PFC Sights…" began the first doctor.
" Your leg is not a fatal injury." said the second doctor. This doctor was a larger more bulky stallion, he was light grey with a grayer mane and green eyes. He also happened to be a unicorn
" So, can you take it out?" asked Sights motioning towards his hoof.
" Oh, yes we can take it out, there's no problem there." explained the first doctor.
" The problem is, the ash and conditions of the battle infected the hoof." Explained the second doctor.
" Infected, that's impossible I've only had the wound for twenty minutes!" exclaimed Sights.
" Actually, you've had it for three hours." explained the second doctor.
" I've had a hunk of metal stuck in my hoof for THREE HOURS, and I didn't feel it!" screamed Sights. He was frustrated now, he knew that an infected hoof would take him out of combat, why hadn't no one noticed this piece of metal before Charger?
" A solider's adrenaline levels increase in a battle, they increase so mush they might not even feel their legs get blown off." explained the first doctor.
" I wasn't that pumped, I mean maybe I did almost crash our jeep, but I felt the impact." explained Sights.
" Well, it's the only logical reason we can find, son." said the second doctor.
" Now, how about we quick talking and get that hunk of junk out."
Gold Wings and Charger were in the mess hall chowing down on tarts. These were apple tarts shipped straight from the orchards of G5.
" Man, those weaklings can sure cook!" Charger joyfully exclaimed. He then took another large bight out of his tart.
" Weaklings, is an understatement." Gold Wings responded.
" What do you mean." asked Charger with his mouth half full.
" I mean, they don't even know how to fight anymore, don't you watch the news anymore?" asked Gold Wings. Charger put down his tart and looked at Gold Wings confused. Gold Wings gave him an annoyed expression and then carried on.
" They've demilitarized the planet man, They don't have an army anymore. Hell, we can't even get in their atmosphere without being ordered back!" complained Gold Wings. Charger couldn't believe this. How could a whole planet just drop all of its weapons in a time like this.
The universe seamed to be at war as Union planets were fighting rebels within them. Most of these rebels were fighting for religious, or government beliefs. Other rebels, mostly their leaders, were using the war to gain power. They wanted as many planets under their command as possible , surely the ponies of G5 would know they were going to be attacked. The rebels wouldn't let a planet like that just stay free.
" So, they have absolutely no weapons?" asked Charger still not believing Gold Wings.
" I'm telling you the straight up truth man." Gold Wings responded. Charger was still in shock, but he decided that if it wasn't his planet, it wasn't his problem. So, the two soldiers went back to eating their tarts casually and started talking about other subjects.
Back down in the medical wing Sights was going through an operation. They had managed to pull out the metal, but they didn't tell Sights they were going to do something else. Sights probably would have nocked them both on their flanks if they had told him. The two doctors were trying there best to remove some of the infected tissue. This meant that the recovery of Sights would be longer, but they thought it would be worth it. The carefully cut away the red and inflamed tissue, putting it in research containers. They then sowed up the cut away areas and swabbed the remaining parts with disinfectant. They sowed up the hoof.
" Ok Nurse, we're going to apply the nerve blockers, then you can wake him up." said one of the doctors. The white mare just simply nodded and started to slowly lower the dose of Anesthetics in Sights. The doctor injected Sights with a large needle that let out nerve blockers into his blood stream.
Nerve blockers allowed patients to be woken up faster, even after they were just sowed up. The nerve blockers would numb the area were the operation took place. The area would then stay numb for about three days, by then the medicine would ware off and the patient wouldn't feel a thing.
" Alright, let's wake him up." ordered the doctor. The mare lowered Sights levels completely and slowly his eyes started to open. It took him awhile, but he finally released his whole hoof was numb.
" Holly CRAP dock! You didn't cut it off did you?" Screamed Sights horrified. He took a quick look down at his hoof and realized it was still there
" OH thank Celestia!" he said.
The doctor chuckled at his remark.
" NO Sights we didn't cut off your hoof, we still need you for the fight." said the doctor.
" So, that's a good thing, I'm going to get back into the fight?" asked Sights nervously. The doctors and nurses stared at each other for a second.
" Well, you still need time to recover, maybe more than a normal patient." said one of the doctors sadly
" GAAAA! I KNEW THERE WAS A CATCH!" exclaimed Sights. He sat there for a second wondering how long it would take him to get better.
" So, how long am I going to have to wait?" asked Sights sighing. The doctors looked at each other again, this time for almost a whole minute. Finally, one of them spoke up.
"Sights, your hoof is completely fine, from the out side. But, it still needs to heal on the inside." explained the doctor.
" Why would it have to heal on the inside?" Sights asked. He then thought about this. If his hoof was cut open and the metal was removed than no tissue would be gone. The tissue would have to have been taken out. That's when he got the idea.
" YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!" he screamed! He lashed out at the doctor who quickly galloped to the other side of the room
" Calm down PFC!" the nurse screamed.
" I can't calm down, they took out my infected parts, NOW I have to wait longer to get back in!" exclaimed Sights.
" Well, it might not be that long?" said a doctor poking out from behind a chair.
" HOW LONG dock!?" Sight said, slowly calming down.
" Long is a matter of…" The doctor began.
" HOW LONG?" asked Sights, his voice raising again. The doctor took a long pause and then sighed heavily.
" Sights, you probably won't see combat for awhile." He said.
" Like, almost half a year awhile." He finished.
Sights slowly straightened his face. He was trying to process what he just heard. He then got up and slowly started to walk towards the door. When he was almost there he turned to a table and put his head down. He stayed in that potation for a second. Every pony carefully inched closer to see if he was OK. He then exploded! he grabbed the table and flipped it! The equipment went everywhere and every pony ran back to their hiding spots. Sights slowly limped out of the door, a small tear running down his cheek.
Charger and Gold Wings had finished their tarts and where now in Chargers room. It wasn't a big room, it had a white tile floor, with Chargers green throw rug on it. The beds were bunks attached to the walls, there was a small latter other the back side. Charger really didn't have a roommate, but Gold Wings was in there pretty often. There were two desks on the left side of the room, one was empty and the other was cluttered and full of Chargers stuff. The same went for the cabinets and closets.
Charger was sitting on his bunk and Gold Wings was fiddling with his aviation shades at the empty desk.
" These damn things keep fogging up when I fly, you know I almost ran the squad into another cruiser!" complained Gold Wings.
" Maybe you should stop spitting in them to clean them." answered Charger while laughing. Gold Wings gave him one of his "shut up" looks and Charger zipped his lips. He knew better than to mess with Gold Wings. They both sat there for a second, Charger fitted with his mane, and Gold Wings kept spitting in his glasses. Finally Charger started a conversation.
" What do you think the docks are doing the Sights right now?" asked Charger.
" They're probably probing him and researching his "areas"." joked Gold Wings smiling.
" Man, you know that was disgusting!" laughed Charger
" But, seriously, what would they being doing to him?" continued Charger.
" I have no idea, I"m not a medic, I'm a fighter and a flyer!" responded Gold Wings. He then looked up from his glasses and at Charger.
" So, you seriously ran into him on the battlefield?" asked Gold Wings.
" Yah, it was probably the worst way for us to find each other, but the fact that we even did run into each other is amazing!" explained Charger.
" Yah, well I guess the military is a lot smaller than we thought." chuckled Gold Wings. He then looked back down at his glasses satisfied with Chargers answer. Just then the radio buzzed.
" PFC's SIghts and Charger, please report to Captain Thunders Office." Charger looked at GOld Wings and he just shrugged.