An Officers Duty
characters:
Cen Ardand
Eri Shepard-Vakarian
She glared at her left arm hanging uselessly at her side, it figures her shields would have failed at that exact moment one of her attackers had hit her with pull. At least it was only dislocated not like her leg which had taken a bullet, she groaned then letting her head fall back against her squad car. She wasn't sure how much blood she'd lost, but she was out of medigel as well as thermal clips. Her only chance was getting through to c-sec again, she gritted her teeth and reached for her communicator again "C-sec? Commander Bailey? Come in! This is officer Shepard-Vakarian requesting immediate assistance!" With disgust she threw her communicator to the ground "Damnit, that asshole's blocking my communicator" she muttered, suddenly she heard her attackers break fire for a moment. She wasn't sure if she was delirious from the pain or if she was going deaf but it sounded like her attackers had begon to concentrate their fire elsewhere. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to make it 2 feet without passing out, but on the other hand her options weren't that appealing. Try to make a break for it, possibly aggravating her injuries more making them more serious than they were. Or she could sit there dead in the water waiting for one of them to finish her off, and she had no guarantee that the one drawing fire was a friendly.
Biting back an oath she uses her right hand to grip the door of her squad car to lift herself up. Favoring her injured leg she slowly stands up. Peeking around the car she checks to see how many of them are watching her. Narrowing her eyes more to see properly than anger she realizes the mercs are wearing a familiar outfit, suddenly a shot rings out as it whizzes past her head she gasps. Before she can bring up her weakened shield the merc who shot at her is already aiming his assault rifle at her. Her last concious thought was "So this is how it ends, huh? Dead in some back alley of the citadel" she closes her eyes and waits for the bullet that never comes as she cracks open her eyes she's greeted with the face of an unsmiling definitely pissed off turian. He's trying to say something to her but before he can a merc shouts out "Grenade!" Her eyes widened as the turian tackles her to the ground behind her squad car and covers her smaller frame with his. Normally she'd have a wise crack saved up for that but the grenade explodes and knocks her off her feet. As she falls her head smacks the ground hard, knocking her out and the last thing she see's is the turian yelling at her... "shepard-vakarian?" She wanted to laugh but felt like she'd been hit dead on by a charging krogan her last thought was "Should shorten my name thats a mouthful" The turian growled "damnit" At least she was still breathing that was a plus, while he was looking at the bright side the mercs were down to 2. Moving quickly to the squad car he aims his sniper rifle trying to bring the mercs into his sight properly when they begin to retreat. Not wanting to draw their attention any more now that they were leaving he remained crouched where he was.
As their voices fade out completely he turns to look at the young c-sec officer he'd arrived to late to help properly. She'd been banged up pretty badly, her left leg was bleeding profusely and her left arm dangled at an unnatural angle. Broken at worst, Dislocated at best, a few cuts on her forehead where bleeding but not as bad as the leg. Bending down he picked her up alarmed by how little she weighed he'd awkwardly carried her to his car. Getting in he tapped his communicator, and got in touch with C-sec. "Commander Bailey? Yeah its Cen Ardand I found your officer she's in pretty rough shape those mercs were far more numerous than what was initially reported." He paused listening quietly as he drove the car to Huerta hospital, "No.. yeah im on my way to the hospital now... Be there in a few minutes... no i didn't see her partner... yes i know thats suspicious. Anyways im at the hospital now Commander, I'll be there if you need me" With a sigh he disconnected the call and tossed his ear piece to the backseat of his car. Turning to look at his unconcious passenger he sighs and shakes his head "You're more trouble than you're worth sometimes Eri."
With a sigh he makes it to the hospital and picking her up gently he walks in. As he's about to enter the hospital orderlies rush out to meet him, bailey must have called ahead to let them know he was arriving. He lets them take Eri from his arms, as much as he liked to tell himself that he didn't feel anything for the young woman he knew it was a lie. He was worried about her, looking at his hand he see's her blood on them for the first time, no that was wrong he was letting himself see her blood. Sighing he goes to the restroom and washes his hands as he dries them he sighs to himself. "keep dreaming Ardand it's not like she's just going to remember you its been years since you last saw each other, not to mention how you left her. " Running a hand over his face, he leans back against the wall next to her room. He wasn't looking forward to the hastle that would be showing up soon. An attack like this on the primarchs daughter would bring the turian councillor as well as more c-sec officers. And lucky him he was smack dab in the middle of it, although why she would have been there in the first place was a mystery she had told bailey her partner had called her to meet up, with a possible lead on a case they had been working. Bailey had mentioned that her partner had spent a lot of time trying to convince her to drop the case. But of course she was raised by two of the most stubborn individuals the universe had seen. His head hit the wall as he groaned, "great!" the primarch would be here soon, as well as the commander and it would be a security nightmare.
He turned and slipped into the room to sit in a chair he'd placed near the door, Eri was still unconcious he leaned forward and took her smaller hand in his. "hey, i guess im the last person you'd want to see right now." he sighed heavily "I don't know what you were doing there, but goddamnit Eri. You do this all the damn time, running off trying to save the world." He was tracing his thumb over her skin in small circles. "We have a lot to talk about whenever you're awake, I don't have an excuse for what I did. But there isn't much i can tell you that doesn't make me sound like a complete asshole" He placed both hands over her small one and lifts her hand to his lips and presses a small kiss to her knuckles. "But right now im here, and you're going to be okay thats all that matters this moment." Leaning forward he brushes some hair from her face. "Get better soon i'll be right here, watching. So get as much rest as you can." He settled back into his chair watching her, the motion of her chest rising and falling with her breath helped relax them, she would pull through this.. Right now he would sit here, and think of how much he could tell her. Especially why someone she would have thought dead was back, alive and breathing that was not a conversation he was looking forward too. But she deserved it, his eyes were drawn right back to her she would have a few scars but she would walk properly. The bullet hadn't done that much damage to her leg, which was a blessing. Her arm had been dislocated and had been popped back into place she was damned tough. Although what she had been drawn into would change her, the question was how? Another question he wasn't looking forward to answering. He was tired, he'd been up since they brought her in, six..seven? maybe it was eight hours ago. He couldn't remember, the steady sound of her breathing was lulling him to sleep, when he fell asleep he wasn't even aware of it. She'd woken up a few minutes ago groggy but aware of two things, the first thing was she wasn't in her bed in her small apartment
She was a little disoriented but the smell of antiseptic and cleaning product that never really could cover up the subtle sweetness of death just screamed hospital. Which was unfortunate as she hated the damn places, the second thing was she wasn't alone in the room. She stared at the turian sleeping in the chair beside her bed, how long had she been out? She wouldn't be able to tell from the light the citadel kept the settings on day all the time. For a few brief seconds she wanted to be on earth or even palaven at least then the day/night cycle wasn't as screwed up. She tried to sit up and was rewarded with pain, every muscle ached and she hissed out a breath between her teeth. Wincing she made it into a sitting position.