Liara burst into the infirmary when the team of makeshift soldiers had returned and stormed to Shepard's side, "You foolish woman!" She yelled. She had heard the entire missions communications in the CIC, sitting in almost dead silence save for Jokers communications with the Commander, even after the Normandy's surviving crew members returned largely without injury.
"Most people would say I'm a hero," Shepard winced as she pulled off the armour she was wearing- which was not the same armour she had left with, unzipped her Cerberus issue uniform (leaving the N7 shirt she wore underneath) and laid back on the table so Doctor Chakwas could get to her injuries.
"I'm not most people Shepard. What were you thinking! You were going to get yourself killed!"
Shepard held up a finger, "But I didn't," she said smugly, then hissed as the Doctor prodded her sensitive flesh.
"You two can fight over how big an idiot Shepard is at a later time, right now I need to get her bleeding under control," Doctor Chakwas commanded, her eyes never leaving the injuries in the soldier's side as she grabbed bandages and tried to stop the fast flowing blood.
"Hey," The Commander was supposed to sound annoyed, but instead the word barely choked itself out in a splatter of blood.
"Shepard?!" Liara's stance changed instantly, she took the Commander's jaw in her hands and turned the woman's head to her, "Shepard?!" Her eyes unfocused and started to roll back, "NO!" Liara screamed at her, tapping her cheek and unconsciously leaning closer, she tried to form a meld with Shepard.
Don't you dare die on me a second time! You said you'd come back. You promised me.
The silence she received back was frightening.
"Doctor Chakwas what is happening?!" Liara demanded, rationality escaping her.
The Doctor lifted Shepard's left eye lid for a second then resumed pressing down hard on the Commander's ribs, "She's unconscious, uhh," The Doctor looked around the room and the onlooking occupants, "Garrus, press down hard on this but don't break the Commander's ribs any further!" She instructed and then pushed an alarmed Liara out of the way to assess the damage to Shepard's right side, "Jacob, get that bullet out of the Commander's leg!"
"Which one?"
"Godess," Liara exclaimed, her hand shaking slightly where it rested across her lips.
Doctor Chakwas didn't miss a beat, "All of them, start with the one in her right thigh. Tali, attend to these burns on her arms. Miranda, see to the others and send only send me those in a critical condition. Everyone else get out so I can think!" Chakwas was good at her job and she was fine with working under pressure, but that didn't mean she liked to have the whole crew-or what was left of the crew- hovering inside her door and watching.
The crew dispersed as per the doctor's request, but without further instruction, the crew were lost, waiting to hear the fate of their commander, they ignored when Miranda tried to get them moving by sending them back to their individual stations.
Jack, Kasumi and Liara stayed behind however.
"Jacob stop! She's bleeding too much," The doctor ordered and the Cerberus operative put down the tweezers he'd been holding and grabbed a bandage.
"What do you want us to do?" He asked.
"Dammit I just need a moment a think!" The Doctor yelled, the Commander had too many injuries that all required immediate attention but she needed a moment to full assess the situation and which wound to address first. It would also have helped if she knew how the Commander had received her injuries.
Liara stepped back up to the table in a haze of rippling blue and before the Doctor could ask what the hell she was doing, the Commander became wrapped in a stasis bubble, "Save. Her." The asari commanded, though the order was hardly necessary, it was in everyone's best interests that the woman live, "If she dies-"
"You don't need to threaten me Doctor T'Soni," Chakwas shot back, moving around the trio to get to a cabinet, "I want the Commander to live just as much as you do," She brought forth a number of packets of medi-gel and placed them on the bed at the Commanders feet.
"I don't think you do," The asari challenged.
Chakwas turned on the alien, "I may not be sleeping with her, but I sure as hell want her to live through this war, not only because she is an asset to the galaxy but because she is my friend. Back. Off."
After yelling at the Asari she turned her attention back to the Commander and noticed that the Stasis had stopped Shepard's bleeding, making it easier for her to apply medi-gel to some her burns, and lacerations when the effects wore off. But there was still a long way to go before the Commander would be out of the woods.
"Leave," Chakwas ordered Liara.
"No."
"Jack," The Doctor tossed one of the medi-gels at the woman for her lesser scrapes and bruises, "Kasumi," she threw one to the thief as well, "Make her leave."
"I'm not leaving!" Liara argued.
"I can't work with you hovering around! Leave!" Chakwas ordered, returning her focus to the Commander's broken ribs on her right side, "What the hell happened out there…"
"A particle beam tore through her armour," Jack recounted for the doctor as she and Kasumi bodily dragged Liara away from the infirmary.
"She's bloody lucky we got to her when we did, but despite everything she still saved us all," Miranda added, the group standing by the door.
"Still wish the Commander hadn't saved you," Jack taunted, letting a struggling Liara free now that they were out of the infirmary.
"How come you two got away so easily?" Liara asked to the pair that had pulled her away, Kasumi's injuries all gone save for the marks left behind on her clothes, Jack's in healing as she applied the medi-gel.
"They knew we were coming and they targeted Shepard exclusively," Jack replied.
"Kasumi and Samara were with her, when we joined Shepard in the final battle against the reaper human…" Miranda paused shaking her head.
"Shepard wasn't wearing armour," Grunt filled in, although it wasn't where Miranda's sentence was heading.
"WHAT?!" Liara yelled, despite having heard the entire mission from the CIC, it was clear that there were pertinent details still missing.
Mordin spoke up immediately, rationalising the situation, "Shepard's armour was broken. Useless. Would have gotten in the way of movement."
"Then whose armour was she wearing when she came in?"
"Mine," Kasumi spoke, "I didn't really need it."
"How did her armour break? Is that why she wasn't regenerating and her injuries are so severe?"
"They kept overloading Shepard's armour until her shields wouldn't come up again, without her armours power she was unable to automatically deploy medi-gel or regenerate. They didn't stop there though, they kept going until the circuits in her suit blew up, the overload electrocuting the Commander… But she still drew the Collectors fire and even used one of their weapons against them."
"If she'd just stayed down and trusted us to handle it-" Tali started.
"She did trust us, she drew their fire to give us a clear and free shot at those bastards." Miranda cut in.
"Shepard protected us," Grunt added.
"She trusted us to kill them all before they killed her," Miranda responded.
Liara would have cried if she'd been somewhere more private; That's the Commander I know, always putting her crew first despite the repetitive warnings that we need her more than the crew. The woman is loyal to a fault, but it's part of what makes her the Commander, "Okay okay, so Shepard's armour was destroyed and she fought a large portion of the battle without it, Kasumi, you gave Shepard your armour and then she stood in the line of fire, killing as many Collectors as she could and distracting them while you…" She pointed to Kasumi and Samara, "also fought them largely unhindered and waited for everyone else to catch up and join in the fight?"
Jack jumped in as the other's nodded to Liara's summary, "Yeah and even with all of us there to back her up Shepard still jumped into battle the human reaper without a second thought."
"She really oughtn't have done that," Miranda felt a need to emphasise what she saw as reckless endangerment in the Commander's actions by highlighting the situation that had faced them at the time, "For a while there Shepard could barely remain standing with the number of high velocity projectiles her armour was taking."
Goddess. Liara sat down on an empty crate that was fortunately nearby while conflicting senses of pride and fear formed in her chest as she was filled in on the details from the crews' point of view.
"Had Shepard not been a distraction we would have likely been killed. Our armour is not as sophisticated. Can't take as much damage. Jack has no armour. Miranda Neither. Grunt regenerates fast, might have lived. Kasumi-"
"Can it Salarian!" Jack interrupted, "None of that matters now…" Jack pushed through the group and started towards the elevator.
"Unfortunately Jack is right," Miranda turned, standing on a chair to address the crew, "Today was only the beginning, today we took the fight to the Collectors and Repears and we won a small battle. But now we've started a war. The Reapers will want revenge and the galaxy won't want to believe us when we tell them that. The galaxy needs Commander Shepard now as much as ever but assuming she makes it through the night, she's going to be out of action for a while and the galaxy is going to spin into chaos. We will have to pick up the slack in the meantime to keep the galaxy calm, it won't be easy, the Commander leaves a tough role to fill but if we stay together and work together, we can make it seem like everything is alright with the Commander. That's what the galaxy really needs to hear."
"You mean, pretend like the Commander is still calling the shots?" One of the crew accused, making it sound like Miranda wanted to take over the Commander's role.
"Shepard will still be running the show, but we'll be doing all the ground work for her. The galaxy needs to believe that the Commander is fit for duty and out saving all of existence. That isn't possible right now but we can still provide them everyone with hope this way," Miranda elaborated.
Looking out at the crew below her she saw a sea of heads nodding in agreement, showing their support, ready to step in as a group and fill in the Commander's shoes in her absence.
"For Shepard!" Kelly Chambers yelled, raising her fist in the air.
"For Shepard!" Everyone chorused, repeating the action.
"Shepard…" Liara whispered, her eyes staring holes in the door between her and her bondmate.