Solana knew the casualty was going to die before the computer finished screaming at her.

The simulated corpsman lay against what had once been the wall of a ruined outpost, one hand pressed uselessly against the darkened side of his uniform while his other arm reached toward her. Somewhere beyond the shattered doorway came the sharp crack of weapons fire, followed by another explosion that made the deck beneath Solana's knees shudder. Smoke moved through the room in uneven sheets, thick enough to turn the emergency lighting into a dirty red haze.

"Help me" the corpsman managed.

Solana already had a field scanner in her hand. She ran it over him once, read the results and felt her jaw tighten. Massive internal trauma, circulatory collapse, neurological damage. The computer had built him specifically to punish hesitation and she knew it.

"Computer, mark casualty four expectant" she ordered as she shoved the scanner back into her kit.

A soft tone acknowledged the decision, but the holographic corpsman's fingers closed around her wrist before she could move away. "Don't leave me."

There it was. Solana looked down at him and for half a second the simulator stopped being clever. She had seen training programs do this before. Give you numbers and wounds, then make the patient look at you. Make them talk. Make them young. Make them scared. Anyone could categorize a diagnostic display. The real test was whether you could make the same decision once the display had a face attached to it.

She covered his hand with hers. "I'm sorry" Solana said, and meant it even though neither of them was real.

Another voice cried out from farther inside the room before the corpsman could answer. That casualty might live. Solana pulled herself free and moved.

The next casualty was sprawled behind an overturned table, conscious but disoriented, with one foot pinned beneath a section of collapsed plating. The scanner gave her a much better answer this time. Blood loss, fractures, concussion, but survivable if she kept it that way.

"Okay, sweetheart, you're having a terrible afternoon" Solana said as she dropped beside him. The holographic crewman blinked up at her in confusion.

"What?"

"Good. You're talking. Keep doing that" she replied while continuing the scan.

"My leg. It hurts."

"I know. That is generally what happens when a building lands on you" Solana said as she administered a simulated analgesic and continued checking his readings. The crewman stared at her. "Don't look at me like that. I'm charming under better circumstances."

A burst of weapons fire struck somewhere outside. The room flashed white for a moment, followed by the sound of something heavy collapsing in the corridor. Solana ignored it as long as she could. That was another lesson the simulator was trying to teach. The noise mattered, but not every noise deserved her attention. If she looked up every time something exploded, she would spend the entire exercise watching the walls instead of the patient.

His pulse was rapid but present, and there was no major arterial bleed. The trapped foot was badly damaged, but for the moment the rest of him was stable enough to wait.

"Computer, casualty two delayed" Solana said.

The crewman caught at her sleeve when she started to rise. "You're leaving?"

"Temporarily" she told him while gathering her equipment.

"You can't just—"

"I absolutely can. It's one of the benefits of being the one with the medical kit" Solana replied.

She was already moving before he could argue further because three meters away another casualty had stopped making noise, and that bothered her considerably more than someone complaining.

Solana crossed the room quickly and found a woman lying facedown near the ruined doorway. She rolled her carefully enough to clear the airway and put two fingers against her neck before remembering, with some irritation, that the hologram's pulse would tell her almost nothing compared with the scanner clipped at her belt. Old habits had apparently survived twenty-fourth-century medicine.

The scanner gave her what she needed. No respiration, weak pulse, obstructed airway, but treatable. Solana moved immediately.

"Come on. You do not get to become my paperwork today" she muttered while she worked.

The simulation resisted her because of course it did. The casualty's first response was poor, then worse, before the readings finally began climbing in exactly the direction Solana wanted them to. Breathing returned.

"That's better. Very considerate of you" Solana said as she gave the woman an approving look.

A shout of "Medic!" came from the corridor before she could do much more.

Solana looked up as a holographic Blackwatch operator stumbled through the doorway with another person hanging over his shoulder. He barely managed two steps before lowering the casualty onto the deck.

"I need you here" he said.

"Everyone needs me. It's becoming a problem" Solana replied as she moved the scanner over the new arrival.