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[To be editted]

Corpsman Dromah Saves Bravo Company's Reputation!

Date: 1104-240

The barrage was relentless.

Incoming artillery was hitting everything around Corpsman Mikhel Dromah, and trying to keep the lieutenant’s wounds from filling with dirt thrown around by the explosions was difficult. The current firefight had been going on for less than a few minutes, and casualties were much higher than expected. Intel had not discovered the mass of artillery the insurgents had hidden in the forest on the hill in front of the supposed ambush site. The level of incompetence was astounding. Or the insurgents had had much more assistance than anyone had surmised. Who had provided it? Way above Corpsman pay grade, even an exalted Corpsman Corporal's pay grade.

Mikhel grabbed another pressure bandage, and applied it to the lieutenant's leg. With a cringe, Mikhel thought, what was left of the lieutenant's leg. The sedation had reduced the screaming to moaning. Which was better for the morale of the platoon, as they desparately tried to squirm under the dirt to avoid the shrapnel filling the air. This had gone so off the rails, the troops didn't even have time to dig shell scrapes. Somebody was gonna catch hell for this debacle, but Mikhel and the platoon would only care if anyone made it back alive.

More shells landed amongst the platoon. Someone else started screaming, Mikhel ran to the source, as more rounds howled in. Dirt flew. Mikhel grabbed the writhing marine, hauling the body into a smoking shell hole, as more dirt and hot bits of metal whistled past. Within seconds, Mikhel had slapped a trauma kit on the company captain. He was out of this fight, maybe any future fight, if they weren't rescued very soon. As Mikhel glanced around, he saw a torso with the name of the medical section I/C laying a few yards away. Outstanding! Corpsman Dromah just got field promoted to Company Medic I/C. And with the Captain and the LT sedated, that put the Company RSM in command of the survivors. If the RSM was still functional.

Mikhel radioed to the medics on the company radio net, “White Vals (medics of Bravo Company), Sound Off!” Out of the six medics in the company, only three responded, including Mikhel. As Medic of Alpha Platoon, that confirmed him I/C, as the Sgt wasn't remotely functional any more.

“White Vals, White Val Alpha is now White Val Niner.” This was telling the other two medics remaining that Mikhel was assuming charge of the company medics and was point of contact for the outside world.

“White Vals, Sit Rep!” This was Mikhel wanting the other medics to tell him what their situations were (Situation Report). They would include current casualties, supplies available, and evacuation requirements. The other two medics responded with grevious levels of injured and dead casualties, and near exhausted medical supplies. “White Vals, salvage med sacks from non-F Vals. Evac Reqs will be forwarded. Wait, out"

Mikhel then passed the bad news up to battalion HQ medics. The company was getting obliterated, and there were more casualies than combat effective marines. Any more artillery and there wouldn’t be a company to recover. Mikhel was up and running to the remains of Master Corpsman Friedmann, to grab any gear and drugs he could find. Then, he was off to check on any marines around him. A quick patch on this marine, a shot of Stim to that Corporal, dodge into a shell hole as a round burrowed in, up and on to the next clump of bodies to see if any were still breathing, or beyond help.

Off in the distance, a hill full of trees suddenly lit on fire. A comet had just descended from the heavens and ignited it. The barrage ceased, and the constant screaming of falling shells became the screaming of wounded marines. Mikhel tried to multiply himself into four people. Trauma packs ran out in the blink of an eye, and hard decisions were made for the remaining injured. A Sit Rep to Battalion advised that more medics and supplies were urgently needed, ten minutes ago.

And that was when things got worse. Insurgents poured out of the burning woods, shooting as they came, moving through the drifting smoke that was now rolling across the field in the light breeze. The only saving grace was the open field was now pockmarked with shell holes. Mikhel did what he could to get unresponsive bodies into holes, slapping bandages and drug patches on them as needed. On a few occassions, he had to use his stunner on some insurgents intent on bayonetting a casualy as they overran the company. This was chaos unparallelled in Mikhel's experience. Even with the confusion of the cover of smoke and severe casualties, the Imperial Marines prevailed against a considerably larger force. It should have been a slaughter of the marines, but the insurgents were wiped out to a man before the charge was over.

It was hours later that Corpsman Dromah discovered the extent of the tragedy. Over half of the company were casualties, perhaps a half of them had fired a shot at anything. They were supposed to have been moving into an ambush position, when the insurgent artillery caught them completely out in the open. Company Captain Meshurlu and 2 I/C, Lieutenant Eneri Sharikara, survived, as did most of the marines. Fatalities were light only because the medics never stopped moving, despite the continuous barrage and the chaotic charge. Many marines were adamant that the callsign for the company medics was more than rightfully earned. “Val" was supposedly short radio-speak for Valkyries (Choosers of the Slain). That being said, the marines were happy to be drinking beer in the mess with bandages, instead of drinking mead with the angels.

Oh. And Corpsman Dromah's med bag and ruck sack were so riddled with shrapnel holes, they had to be retired. The equipment in them wasn't much better. All had taken sufficient damage that had they not been in the way, Dromah wouldn't have survived the battle, even in combat armor.

Sgt Friedmann was a fatal casualty of the battle, which made Corpsman Dromah the Acting Non-Commissioned Officer In/Charge of the Company Medical Section for the rest of the conflict. Colonel Kaias Giirkaa, the Regimental Commander, investigated the incident, discovering a few interesting things. The artillery had been brought in by an unidentified arms dealer, who also provided shielding equipment. Normal scanners didn't pick them up, nor did the multi-spectral optics. Intel only failed because they didn't expect TL14 concealment efforts from TL8 troops. Bravo Company marines only held the field, instead of routing in panic, because some completely insane medic was running around in a heavy artillery barrage saving their buddies' lives, and bandaging wounded comrades. If he was going to do that, none of the armed and dangerous marines were going to surrender the field to rabble, or leave wounded marines to the tender mercies of savage barbarians.