2 Hours Prior
Liara didn't want to leave but Garrus didn't give her an option. He pulled her towards the back of the shuttle bay as she strained to watch Shepard sprinting towards the beam. "Come on Liara. He needs to know you're safe and taken care of."
They limped towards the elevator passing the triage area that was setup in the hanger. It seemed that along the way the Normandy was able to pick up two other assault teams that had suffered heavy losses. A medic directed them both to the Med Bay after taking one look at the two of them. "I can't lose him again, Garrus. I don't know if I could survive it a second time."
The turian didn't say anything. He could remember how much she grieved after the SR-1 was destroyed. During the memorial service he could remember seeing the visceral reaction she had at his death. He couldn't imagine how she reacted after seeing him when she stole his body from the Shadow Broker. A body generally didn't hold up well after an explosion and then being exposed to space. He had mourned his friend as well, but the connection between the two was deeper than anyone could imagine.
The elevator door slid open, and Garrus pulled Liara toward the Med Bay. Dr. Chakwas was directing medics and supplies. She saw the two enter and pointed them towards an empty bunk. "Liara on the bunk, Garrus go to Specialist Li." She turned to the young medic, "Li, help the turian. Looks like he's got some burns and a couple contusions and lacerations." She then turned to a woman who was washing her hands at the sink. "Roberts take over for me while I help the doctor."
"Don't worry about me, Dr. Chakwas. I just need some bandages."
The older woman was deceptively strong as she placed a hand on the asari's shoulder. "No Liara, I believe your injuries are much more severe than that." Liara had no choice but to lie back down. The doctor looked her over with the omnitool. "You have some third degree burns, the laceration on your thigh is not as bad as it looks, but it looks like you have some internal bleeding." Liara shook her head confused. She hadn't felt anything during the battle, but as the doctor gently pushed on her side Liara let out a surprised yelp. "We'll need to relieve the pressure that's building. We'll start you on an IV to get your blood pressure back up, but I don't think it's too serious. We'll keep you in observation to make sure it doesn't develop into something serious. It's going to be okay, Liara."
Liara laid on the metal slab as the doctor started to cut into her skin. She couldn't feel the sting as her mind strayed to the battlefield. Her last sight of John was of him rushing towards the beam. She willed him to come back, but he would not have listened. She closed her eyes and retreated to the memories she shared with him. He was sitting at his desk; hunched over as he was putting delicate touches on a turian cruiser model she had gotten him. He had told her one night that as a child his parents would tell him what ship they would be serving on by giving him a model of it. Before his father died they would huddle together at the small table in the family quarters and put the model together. I don't know . . . marriage, old age, and a lot of little blue children. She needed him to come back. Despite everything that had happened she had started to hope for a future filled with little blue girls, and nights huddled around a table putting together model ships. That future didn't exist without John. She had tired to not hope for a future once the reapers hit, but John had taught her to hope, especially in the direst of circumstances.
She could only hear a faint chatter around her.
"They did it. Someone made it to the beam."
"It has to be Shepard. Who else could have made."
Her eyes flew open and she searched around the Med Bay, but found herself out in the lounge area with a few other soldiers lying on cots. Liara could see Dr. Chakwas through the Med Bay windows supervising her people yet again. They had converted the lounge into a recovery area. Two Alliance soldiers were talking not that far away. Could it be true? She started to get up and instantly regretted it when she felt the sharp pain in her side. Her light Alliance armor was removed before the procedure and she was just left in her white undershirt and gray shorts. She lifted the shirt to find the clear medipatch covering the clean incision. Slowly she got up, and a medic came over. "Dr. T'soni, I'm going to need you to lay back down."
"Has there been news about the beam? Did someone get through?"
The young human looked conflicted, "The word is someone made it to the Citadel twenty minutes ago, but—"
Liara was already getting up. She was trying to pull the IV out but the medic was trying to fight her off. "Listen, I'm getting up with or without your say so." Her body began to radiate with biotic energy, and the medic could read the threat clearly.
"Fine, but if you pass out you snuck out. Deal?"
Liara dropped her biotic field and the medic took out the IV. She got up and walked the short distance to her quarters. She was only able to put on a pair of pants and her boots before the pain started bothering her. She made her way to the Bridge where she found everyone waiting for word. Garrus and Kaidan stood behind Joker while Javik waited by the airlock. They were all silent as they listened to Hackett. "The Crucible is in place, and the weapon armed. If you can read me on the other end we need you to activate it. The controls are on your side. Can you hear me? Commander is that you? Please respond?"
There was a long wait on the other end. Joker looked over at EDI, "Can you find anything EDI?"
"Nothing conclusive. One moment. There are some strange reading coming from the Crucible. It is attempting to send out a series of viruses at 3.7 Petawatts of force. All unshielded life on the Citadel will be in danger." EDI looked over at Joker with a worried look. "I'm sorry Jeff. Shutting down systems to preserve integrity. Recommend warning Geth forces. Signal will be sent in two minutes."
Jeff looked worried as Kaidan ran toward the CIC to send the warning. "What do you mean, EDI what's going on?"
"It will be OK Jeff. I love you. Shutting down systems." EDI's mech slumped over as the orange interface shut down. Sorrow seemed to flood Joker as he looked over at the lifeless android.
Liara summoned Glyph to give him orders to warn the other forces and to immediately shut down. "Jeff, she's trying to keep herself safe. If this is what she thinks needs to be done, than this is the only option she has." Still dazed Joker turned back to his controls. Hackett sent the order to fall back to the rendezvous site and Joker started to act. "Wait! What are you doing? We have to wait for Shepard. He's going to need transport off of there. You heard what EDI said. He won't survive on there."
Garrus placed his hand on her shoulder, "We need to get out of here. Who knows if those viruses will affect the Normandy? He would never forgive us if we didn't get you out of danger."
She pushed at him and started to grab at Joker who was trying to turn around from the Citadel. Garrus pulled her away calling to Vega and Javik for help. They managed to drag her towards the CIC where she threw them off with a biotic field. The struggle was taxing, but the final biotic attack took whatever strength she had left. Liara stumbled and fell. As she started to black out all she could think of was that she failed him.
