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his mouth and pooled on the deck beneath his blunt, balding head. When I jerked aside his tunic and palpated his abdomen, I swore.
    “Shattered ribs and internal hemorrhaging, from the feel of it.” I checked his pulse, then jerked my head toward the room panel. “He’s taching on me. Call for medevac. Now.”
    With swift movements I tore a piece of linen and bound it around Shropana’s skull. I had no case, no bonesetters, no scanner. Unless I moved fast, I soon wouldn’t have a patient.
    “Well?” I glared at Reever.
    TssVar nudged the Colonel with one huge clawed foot, making Shropana groan. “Isn’t he dead?”
    “No. Don’t do that.” I swatted at the Hsktskt’s leg. “He needs surgery. Now. I’ll have to perform a thoracotomy to see how bad it is.” If his heart would stand the strain. Since my heroes evidently weren’t going to signal Medical, I rose and headed for the console.
    The big Hsktskt got in my way. “This one tried to kill you.”
    “Not my problem.” I went around him. “Let me do my job, will you?”
    TssVar made no indication whether he was going to grant me permission to do it, but waiting for approval was never one of my strong points. Behind me, I heard him say to Reever, “I will observe her, HalaVar.”
    “As you wish, OverLord,” Reever said.
    Like I was a bug under a microscope, doing some fascinating tricks.
    “You two can stand here and chat all day,” I said, and keyed in a signal. “I’m moving the Colonel before he bleeds to death.”
    The charge nurse dispatched two orderlies and a hover gurney to aid me. Once we loaded Shropana, I trotted down the corridor alongside him, my fingers wrapped around the pulse point in his arm. His thready heart rate had seriously weakened by the time we reached Medical.
    I started handing out orders before the entrance panel slid shut behind me. “Thoracic surgical team, one minute. I need a bretyliumine infuser setup and full portable cardiac array, stat. Nurse”—the League staffer gawked when I pointed at her—“yes,
you
. Get your backside over here.”
    Malgat began protesting at once. I shoved him out of my face. He trailed after me, still squawking some nonsense about seniority. From the corner of my eye I saw TssVar nod to one of the centurons, who grabbed the furious physician and hauled him out of my face.
    Having the OverLord around had its advantages, I thought, then looked down at the patient. Sometimes.
    Between me and the suddenly cooperative nurse, we had Shropana prepped by the time the surgical team had assembled. I had an intern take the Colonel in, while the nurse and I geared up. She didn’t offer to help when I changed the dressing on my burned arm before I scrubbed. She just stared at my brand, then the collar around my neck.
    “Yeah, I’m a slave, too.” I secured the new bandage and shook down the sleeve of my gown. “Just like everyone else.”
    “Doctor.” TssVar walked in, looking around with interest. “This appears to be much more efficient than your center on Kevarzangia Two.”
    A supply closet would have been an improvement on K-2’s FreeClinic. I missed it anyway.
    “Here.” I handed the largest set of surgical gear to TssVar. “Put this on and scrub.” I nodded toward the sink, then turned to the attending nurse. “Help me.”
    The nurse went pale. “But—but—”
    He wasn’t contaminating my sterile field with all his Hsktskt germs. “Do it.”
    I left the two of them at the biodecon unit and entered the main surgical suite, where Shropana lay shrouded and ready for the procedure.
    “Status,” I said, and one of the surgical interns hesitantly rattled off Shropana’s vital signs. The tachycardia had leveled out. “Okay. Let’s get rolling.”
    League medical equipment might be better than K-2’s, but it hardly compared to the Jorenian tech I had worked with on the
Sunlace
. The same main control console governed most of the surgery’s various apparatus. I muttered to