[Dr. Cole Ormont]

"A darkness?" He sighed, "if you are referring to pain, yes, I am dealing with ongoing pain from my recent surgery. This has not been helped any by getting shot."

Cole paused for a long moment, finally leaning forward and placing his elbows on the desk. "Knight Carrack, when you ambushed me at the Rec Hall the other night, I was feeling acute distress brought on by my surroundings. I was in pain from being almost killed by one of the Mandalorian snipers. For the former, I was enjoying a few drinks of whiskey, and for the latter, a measured and controlled dose of hydromophinone. I suspect that you are working from incomplete information, unless you sense something particularly 'dark' about me at this moment? My frustration notwithstanding, of course."

[Tethys Carrack]

"You may be giving me too much credit for tactical acuity, Doctor. I am generally not much good at ambushes," she says mildly, with an air of someone making a slightly embarrassing confession.

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

"You and I both," Cole relaxed back into his chair once more, knees askew at a wide angle. He seemed to be loosely put together, limbs tied together, angular and awkward, but not relaxed.

[Tethys Carrack]

"What is so distressing about a jizz night, anyway?" she asks lightly.

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

"For most people? Nothing. But it isn't something I enjoy under the best of conditions. Attending when I was already exhausted and in pain turned out to be ill-advised." Cole's pale eyes become distant as he thinks back to the only party he'd been to. It felt like it had happened to someone else, maybe it had. He ran a hand through his hair and refocused on Tethys.

[Tethys Carrack]

"Lucky thing you had a flask on hand." Tethys retains the same cool, gentle air. "You had no need to make it as far as the bar." She sighs faintly.

"Would you tell me about the person who attacked you?"

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Cole inhaled deeply and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "There are details I can't share*," he started, but I'll tell you what I can. "I was working with the Peacekeeping Division, escorting refugees, providing medical aid, that sort of thing, when the group intercepted a distress call." He heard that electric hum in his memories, tensing slightly, how many times do I have to relive this?

"It meant crossing into Imperial space, there we found a transport in distress. There was someone alive, so we decided to board."


(( * Because I still haven't determined all the details. ))

[Tethys Carrack]

She nods, leaning forward slightly. "That's right, with the treaty you could respond across the border without risk of being fired on. Or... fired on immediately, at least."

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

“Treaty or no, a distress call is a distress call. I would have done no different during the war, though I might not have been able to convince the group captain.” Cole pressed his lips together and resumed the story, “I took a small team and boarded the transport, we were sweeping the area, and I happened to be the one to find the patient. Half dead and barely conscious, he looked up, saw someone standing over him, and—
(that sound)
he attempted to defend himself.”

[Tethys Carrack]

"A curious action from someone who had triggered a distress beacon," she says, frowning at the thought. Anger, fear, aggression... one flows so easily into the others...

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

“Is it?” he clearly didn’t agree. He’d seen far too many people who’d stared into the abyss of death to be surprised at what they’d do to survive.

[Tethys Carrack]

"There are some habits of mind that I imagine make it more likely."

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

"With the treaty only sixteen or so months old, I cannot be surprised that an Imperial was taken unawares by the appearance of a Republic military uniform."

[Tethys Carrack]

"You are surprisingly understanding, Doctor, under the circumstances." She raises an eyebrow slightly. "I would only add that Sith training methods probably do not help either. Assume everyone is a potential rival, strike first, ask questions later... all of that may be conducive to advancement in their political system, but there are times when it is... maladaptive." Her expression grows a bit thoughtful. "So... did your patient survive his mistake?"

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

"Aye," Cole ran a hand through his hair, "and well enough to be begrudgingly thankful once we sent him back on his way."

[Tethys Carrack]

"That would have been..." she casts her eyes upward, counting forward from the date of the peace. "Six months ago, or so?"

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Cole thought for a moment. “Aye, it’s been longer than it feels.” A hand absently drifted to his stomach, brushing along the unseen line of scar there.

[Tethys Carrack]

"Hm. Unusual that the patient takes less time to recover from the appointment than his surgeon."

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

“My own surgery was delayed in order to care for the patient, his case was more immediately dire than mine.”

[Tethys Carrack]

"What had happened to him?" she asks, the lack of specificity piquing her curiosity.

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

“He had a number of internal injuries, including cerebral edema, which is almost always fatal without treatment. The vascular permeability had also caused an excessive clotting response, causing the formation of a number of thrombus throughout the circulatory system, any of which could have led to a stroke or cardiac infarction. The initial surgery alone was several hours.”

[Tethys Carrack]

Ask a surgeon a question.... "I meant, how was he injured?" she restates gently.

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

“That I’m not at liberty to say. Classified by people with nicer chairs than me.”

[Tethys Carrack]

"Hm. You ought to have earned a pretty nice chair to go with your medical leave," she comments, quirking an eyebrow. "Though I do know you don't mean furniture."

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

“Medical leave wasn’t really an option. We were on deployment, and even if the group could spare me for the length of my recovery, there was no where for me to go. I took on reduced duties for a time, but a light medical frigate doesn’t offer much by way of R-and-R.”