"Something to help me with my fatigue and exhaustion. And I have a few minor injuries here. Medical Officer, you can take care of them for me. Sister, please continue with your surgery," Horatio said.
"Alright, please wait a moment." The Medical Officer nodded and immediately went to fetch the officer-specific, side-effect-free stimulants and hemostatic gel for Horatio.
Horatio rolled up his sleeves, revealing his bleeding wounds, and while waiting for the bleeding to stop, watched the Battle Sister prepare for the surgery on the child with the severed arm.
"Sir, was your arm broken like that too?" The boy lying on the operating table looked at Horatio's iron hand and asked with trembling, pale lips.
Horatio glanced at his iron hand and nodded, following the boy's words, "Yes."
"Does amputation hurt a lot?"
Horatio fell silent.
In the Imperium of Man, medicine was more expensive than human lives.
Even the well-off Imperial Navy's medical supplies were allocated based on a fixed quota per ship.
Regardless of the exact number of people on board or the ship's class, only a certain amount of supervised medicine was provided at one time.
For more, the Captain could only purchase from licensed suppliers with a special permit.
Just like the special permit Horatio asked Archie to help him obtain.
The Gothic Fleet, anchored at Abyss Port on the Hive City planet, was relatively better off.
Many less developed worlds lacked sterile production conditions and qualified workers, and authorized special permits were difficult to obtain, making medicine a luxury item always in short supply.
It had to be allocated by the Star Realm Navy Department, relying on planets like Abyss Port to transport it via shipping lanes to other fleet anchorages, which completely emptied the Gothic Fleet's storage.
Ship's boys were not considered ordinary Sailors; they were mostly children of Sailors, or 'little rats' (the Sailors' term for these stowaways) who snuck on board to make a living. They were too young to be official crew members, so they naturally had no logistical support in any official documents.
Captains would often still allow the Quartermaster to issue clothes and food to the children, with treatment similar to their parents.
This also meant that Sailors' children, like most Sailors, only had access to common medicines and anti-plague drugs, and hardly enjoyed precious emergency medical supplies. This was only available to second-class Sailors, with each person receiving one allocation. Even as an officer, one person only had five to ten allocations.
Even so, the Sailors' medical treatment was superior to that of most Lower Hive residents.
But this was not because the Imperial Navy was truly generous; it was simply a reluctant measure taken out of fear of plague spreading throughout the ship.
No Captain dared to be so extravagant as to use precious emergency medicine in large quantities for Sailors, let alone for ship's boys who had little work capacity and could only do odd jobs.
Every dose of medicine spent occupied the quota of other, more important crew members.
Which meant.
The scarred ship's boy before them would have to undergo surgery without anesthesia, and would not receive a precious tube of antibiotics after the operation.
"Make way! Make way! Make way!" A Medical Assistant walked over, shouting, carrying a scalding hot iron bucket.
The bucket filled with hot tar was placed on a trolley next to the operating table.
The steaming, thick tar bubbled, like slowly flowing black lava.
Its purpose was to immerse the stump of the wound after amputation and coat it with high-temperature tar to stop the bleeding.
But there was a problem with doing this: it didn't prevent infection, and many people died because of it.
Whether this ship's boy, who had lost his entire arm at such a young age, would die from infection depended entirely on whether the Emperor watched over him.
Hemostatic gel was something only professional armed personnel and higher-ranking Voidsmen-at-Arms Officers and officers could use.
It felt cool when applied to the body, had a bactericidal effect, and promoted wound healing. Others could only follow the traditional method of applying hot tar.
Horatio did not answer the ship's boy's question, because everyone knew that amputation without anesthesia was very painful.
A boiled and sterilized gag was inserted into the child's mouth by an assistant.
He was sweating profusely, his eyes glazed over, filled with tension and fear.
He hadn't cried much even when his arm was shattered, but looking at the terrifying, bloody saw, he couldn't help but start to sob, his face flushing even more.
The Medical Sister turned on the high-speed rotating bone saw on the arm.
Buzz!!——
The terrifying roar of the chain-saw made the ship's boy shiver and tremble.
The little boy tightly closed his eyes.
Horatio frowned slightly and slowly spoke.
"Take one from my allocation for him."
"Are you sure?" The Medical Officer, who had brought the stimulants, subtly hinted with his eyes for Horatio not to be so generous.
"I'm sure," Horatio said.
"Anyway, I still have several, don't I? By the time I could use that many, I'd probably be meeting the God-Emperor," he joked humorously.
If a person needed medical supplies for five to ten surgeries, even if he didn't die, he would be at the level where a Space Marine could enter a Dreadnought.
It might even be worse, becoming a 'human stick' who could only live in a life-support tank for the rest of his life.
"If you wish to do so, as you wish, sir," the Battle Sister in power armor nodded.
Her beautiful face showed relief, and her tone was more respectful than when they first met.
If not for Imperial Navy regulations and strategic drug reserves.
How could they, as the Emperor's messengers, spreading the light of reason to the world, sit by and watch such a young child suffer such torment after enduring so much hardship?
Horatio remembered that the woman who gave birth to his current body was also a Sisters of the Sacred Rose.
"Thank you, Sir! Thank you, Sir! We can never repay your kindness in our lifetime!" The injured boy's clan family knelt on the ground, kowtowing to Horatio, tears streaming down their faces, overwhelmed with gratitude.
He pulled the woman up and said solemnly, "Continue to be loyal to the Imperial Navy, Sailor. His blood has already flowed enough; there's no need for more tears."
"Yes, Sir." The woman haphazardly wiped her tears, smearing her oil-stained face even more. She tremblingly performed a solemn forehead salute to Horatio to express her gratitude.
The needle on the Medical Sister's power armor medical gauntlet began injecting a quietblue liquid, a pain-relieving antibiotic supervised by the Navy Department.
The sharp, pointed needle was injected into the ship's boy's vein.
Soon, the face, tightly creased with pain, began to calm and relax, and the sobbing and moaning gradually disappeared, replaced by quiet sleep.
This Medical Sister's movements were efficient and precise.
In the blink of an eye, the necrotic part was cut off with one saw, the entire process flowing smoothly without any delay.
It was no wonder they were recognized by the people of the Imperium as the best doctors and nurses.
The scalding tar was replaced with the remaining hemostatic gel from Horatio's use. After the Medical Officer finished with him, he utilized the extra materials.
As a doctor, one's heart always desires to save lives and heal the wounded.
Influenced by Horatio, he turned a blind eye.
He had the Medical Assistant collect the leftover scraps from multiple surgeries, gathering enough material to treat one child.
He didn't count the consumption against the young officer's quota.
A polymer cover filled with a jelly-like, translucent blue gel was placed over the smooth, amputated limb wound.
Once the underlying muscle scabbed and healed, the next step would be for his clan to raise money to install a Sailor's bionic limb, supervised by the Imperial Navy, as a replacement, and he could then live a life with full use of his limbs again.
Horatio took the stimulant tablet with wine. Soon, a refreshing sensation significantly sharpened his focus.
This medicine was specially supplied to officers, made from exotic plant extracts, and was said to have no major side effects.
Horatio looked at the list of side effects in the instructions.
'One tablet at a time, maximum two tablets per day, single tablet efficacy lasts 8 to 12 hours.
Note: After the medicine wears off, the user may experience abnormal fatigue, or a state similar to drunkenness. If alcohol is consumed, the latter effect may be even more pronounced. All officers, please ensure you get enough sleep and rest!'
"…" Horatio looked at the instructions on the medicine bottle and raised an eyebrow.
[Well, I hope the battle is over by the time I have a drunken reaction.] He put the medicine bottle away.
Farida stood on the command platform, the display console alternately working and showing errors, exhausting her. She hadn't even had a sip of water since she started working.
Due to the Untouchable's unique nature, everyone standing on the platform with her experienced discomfort; one Warrant Officer even vomited, and the Navy Breachers serving as the guard also showed signs of weakness and fatigue.
Finally, she simply sent everyone away, leaving only herself to close all the doors and continue her command work inside.
[Horatio… when are you coming back… ] Exhausted, she had never so longed for that dependable young man to return to her side.
A hollow sense of loneliness gradually grew in her heart, a feeling that had frequently appeared since her mother's death in her childhood, and it was the taste she hated most.
Thump thump thump…
Urgent, steady footsteps suddenly appeared from the corridor outside.
Farida's keen ears twitched, catching the sound.
She widened her eyes, looking excitedly at the approaching figure.
[That's right, it's Horatio, he's back!]
The servant respectfully opened the hatch for the young man, and he strode in.
"How are things?" he asked.
"Hmm, everything's fine."
"You worked hard, you did very well," Horatio said with a smile.
"Of course, I'm exhausted. I can finally hand over command to you. I need to rest."
"Captain Peru said this ship needs to coordinate operations with the Avenging Blade battle barge. We can all rest until the next order is received."