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Garrus Vakarian felt overwhelmed.
So much for 'a quick run across the system to the relay.' Well, unless by 'quick run' I meant two weeks and by 'across the system to the relay' I meant to some swampy jungle in the middle of Spirits-knows where…
Garrus pinched his eyes closed for a second to refocus. Bitching about it isn't going to help. He took a look around at the vast sea of wires and pipes and conduits that used to be the Engineering deck and sighed softly to himself. Tali and Adams knew what they were doing, he knew that, but he found himself wondering if they'd decided that the best way to fix the ship would be to completely disassemble it and build a new one. He saw a pair of bifurcated feet sticking out from one of the access panels, and since they weren't his own, that narrowed down the possibilities.
"How's it going, Tali?" He crouched down beside the feet and peered into the panel opening to talk to the person to whom the feet were connected. "Gonna have the old girl ready to hit space by lunchtime, I assume?
"We probably would if we didn't have to stop working to answer questions from an impatient turian every 10 minutes," came an echoed voice from inside the access duct. Garrus had often thought that Tali's voice from within her helmet made it sound as though she were inside a tin can. Combined with the metallic echo from within the access duct, it gave it an almost turian-like flanged sound. Garrus suppressed a chuckle as Tali slid out onto the deck and stood up. "It's time for a break anyway. Let's go to the mess and...what's so funny?" She looked at him pointedly, and even behind her mask he could see the silvery orbs of her eyes narrow in suspicion.
"Oh, nothing," he fibbed. "Just our entire situation." Garrus began walking out of engineering and towards the elevator, and Tali fell into step beside him. "Half the time, I don't know whether to punch a bulkhead or just laugh. Since Dr. Chakwas is busy enough as it is, I figured laughing would be the better option." They entered the elevator and he punched the button for the crew deck, then let out a long breath as he leaned against the wall. "Plus, having my entire world being about four degrees off kilter is messing with my head." When the Normandy touched down on this planet, it was not exactly a smooth landing, and the ship came to rest somewhat off level. "Every time I go outside I feel like I'm going to fall over." The elevator doors opened and the two stepped out.
"Keelah, Garrus," Tali snorted as they entered the mess area. It's more like point four degrees. Most people don't even notice it. You're just being - what was it that Kelly used to say you were - osee-dee? Yes, you're just being osee-dee about it."
"I can't help it if I'm admirably level-headed, Tali," Garrus replied with just a hint of sarcasm.
This brought another snort from Tali. "Oh yes, clearly that is it." She went to the cooler cabinet where the dextro rations were stored and pulled out two ration packs, one for Garrus and a sterilized version for herself. She handed him the meal and sat down across the table from him. "Hey, speaking of Dr. Chakwas, have you talked to her at all?" Tali glanced back over her shoulder to the Med Bay windows. "I just wondered how Cervelli is doing."
Garrus finished his bite and took a pull from his energy drink before answering. "She says he'll be fine. He's still unconscious, but it's a medically-induced coma. The burns were pretty severe. From what she says, though, he's about as lucky as can be - the initial electrical shock would have knocked him out before he felt a thing, and she's going to keep him under until the bones are knitted and the skin regen is completed. When he wakes up, it will be like nothing ever happened. A two-week nap."
"I'm glad. Every one of us in Engineering owes him our lives. If he hadn't gone in and activated that manual release when he did, Javik and James would have been pulling remains out of Engineering rather than engineers." She shuddered at the thought. "I could certainly use a long nap, but not under those circumstances." Even with all she'd been through the last couple years, it had been one of the most terrifying experiences of her life.
"Tali! Get down to Engineering, Adams is going to need you." The words were barely out of Garrus' mouth before she was off and running for the engine room. Not wanting to waste even a second waiting for the elevator, she sprinted through the conference room and slid down the maintenance hatch. I don't care what the filthy bosh'tets throw at us, I will NOT let them stop this ship. I will NOT let them get to Shepard before we do. Before I do. She hit the deck running and sprinted into the main engineering bay.
"Tali, glad you're here!" Adams was clearly stressed, but not letting it get the best of him. Tali always admired how he stayed cool and efficient for his engineers, and led them by example. It was a trait she had done her very best to take with her when she had returned to the Migrant Fleet after the original Normandy had been lost. "Help Gabby regulate the coolant flow rates - the ship is getting pushed hard and for whatever reason the temps are off the charts. Donnelly, Cervelli - I want hands on those electrical subsystem routers! Be ready to bypass any damage to keep the juice flowing. Kang and Harrison are in the core room ready to switch whatever you need." He looked up from his panel to smile at Tali. "Never a dull moment on the Normandy, is there?" He turned back to yell to the other engineers, "Hitting the relay in 5 seconds. Get ready, gang. It might be a bumpy ride!"
Tali had just taken her station beside Gabby when she felt the ship enter the relay, and she immediately knew that something was wrong. Very wrong.
Tali had grown up, had in fact spent the vast majority of her life, on various ships. After a while, she, like many quarians, was able to "feel" what the ship was doing without looking at any instruments or readouts. The subtle thump of a ship hitting a relay and entering that nearly mass-free corridor of space was as familiar to her as the thump of her own heartbeat, but this was a different kind of thump altogether. It had just barely registered in her mind that something was amiss when every alarm and klaxon on the ship started shrieking.
The board in front of her lit up like the galaxy map upstairs, and her fingers flew deftly across the controls, trying her best to keep the ship's engines from going into terminal overload. But, it wasn't working.
"Coolant temperatures past critical!" yelled Gabby. "Initiating emergency vent…the release isn't working! The servos must have melted down from the heat! I won't be able to..."
At that moment a wave of red enveloped Tali and the entire Engineering deck. Steam vents opened along the ceiling, filling the entire deck with a haze and fogging her mask. Just like that, the red wave had passed and was gone, but the pandemonium in Engineering continued unabated. A series of small, deep noises - wump, wump, wump - vibrated through the deck plating and up through her feet. The emergency bulkheads! The coolant must have finally cooked off and sent the engines into emergency lockdown. If there is no coolant flowing to the core, we're going to be baked alive in here! She scrambled around the corner and headed for the short gangway leading to the core. I have to pull the manual release, and I have to do it now.
Before she made it three steps, the entire ship gave a mighty lurch to starboard, and she felt the world fall out from beneath her feet as the catwalk buckled and fell away. She grabbed onto one of the exposed conduits and spun herself around nearly 360 degrees, regaining her footing right where she had started.
"I can't get to the manual release!" she yelled. "The catwalk is gone!" She hoped that Adams, that anyone, could hear her over the shriek of the klaxons and the roar of the overheating engines. "We have to jettison the core or we'll all.."
"NO!" Cervelli yelled back. "I've got it!" He turned towards Adams as he ran past him and towards the gap where the catwalk once was. "Get everyone out, sir! I've got it!" Before Adams could respond, Cervelli had leapt across the gap in the catwalk and was reaching for the release.
"Cervelli!" Adams shouted. Hearing him yell actually made Tali stop short - even in a situation like this, hearing Adams raise his voice was a jaw-dropper. "You can't do that! The power conduits are sheared and everything is arcing! If you try to grab it..."
Cervelli turned to look back at his boss, and Adams went silent. He knew what would happen if Cervelli went for the release...and from the look on his face, Cervelli knew it too. He looked Adams in the eye, and said one word.
"Go."
He grabbed the release and pulled, and was immediately thrown back as though he'd been punched by a Krogan. He hit the wall so hard that Tali could hear it over the din, and he landed face down, with wisps of smoke rising from his body. Keelah. There was no time to think about it, though. They had to get out.
Adams had already made it to the door, but it wasn't opening. "Emergency bulkheads already engaged! The mechanism is shot and we can't open them from this side. We'll have to..."
The ship lurched again, and Tali was thrown hard against the console and slumped to the floor. The fire from the core room was getting closer. Cervelli's sacrifice had gotten coolant to the engines, but the burning conduits and wires were causing the entire engineering deck to fill with acrid smoke. The other engineers had managed to get their emergency masks on. Tali didn't need one because of her atmosphere suit, but even its internal filters wouldn't do any good once the deck was filled completely. She was starting to feel a little lightheaded when she looked up at the console.
It was right here. I was standing right here when he told me that he felt the same way about me as I felt about him. The greatest joy in my life began right here, and now I'm going to suffocate right on this very spot.
The smoke got thicker, and it was nearly impossible to see now. She could hear someone yelling her name. "Tali! Tali, you have to.."
"Tali," Garrus asked from across the table, "are you awake, or did you just turn off your audio sensors so you could ignore me?"
Tali snapped back to reality with a start. "Keelah, I'm sorry, Garrus. I'm just...I'm just exhausted. I must have dozed off for a second," she said, sounding a little contrite.
"Don't be sorry," Garrus chuckled. "You've been working so hard that I guess even my fascinating conversation isn't enough to keep you conscious." He gave her the turian equivalent of an innocent grin.
"Ha, I figured your fascinating conversation was what Dr. Chakwas used to induce Cervelli's medical coma." They rose from the table, and Garrus dumped their ration wrappers in the bin marked "dextro." Tali looked at the bin, then at Garrus. "How long?"
"Ten days," he replied. "Fifteen, if you're willing to put a new hole or two in your suit belts."
"No problem," Tali said. "We'll be out of here long before then. We have to be. Shepard needs us."
Garrus had really hoped she wouldn't go there. Shepard was his best friend. Spirits, it was more than even that. DNA be damned, Shepard was his brother. But, unlike Tali, Garrus had been on the bridge. He'd seen the boiling red hell coming out of the Citadel, and he'd known Shepard was right at the center. "Tali," he said gently, "I hope he made it, too - you know that. But we have to prepare for the possibility that maybe he didn't."
"No," Tali stated flatly. "He's alive. If he were dead I would know it. I would just know it."
"Spirits, Tali," Garrus was a little exasperated and didn't want to let it show, but he couldn't help it. "I know how you feel about him, but we're light years away, and you don't believe in mental mumbo-jumbo any more than I do. What makes you think you would just know?"
Tali got silent and looked at her feet, and her hands were wringing at her waist like they always did when she was nervous. She looked back up at Garrus, and even through the mask he could see that her eyes had widened and her face had softened.
"Because," she said quietly, "I knew last time."
Garrus let out a sigh and a short chuckle. Tali was like a sister to him, and the last thing he wanted to do was bring her down just because he was feeling overwhelmed. "Touché," he said. "Just get this tub in the air again before we run out of dextro rations, OK?"
The mischievous look had returned to Tali's silvery orbs. "I'm not worried at all," she said as she started walking towards the door. "I'm sure Javik has a recipe for braised leg of turian somewhere in that memory shard." She turned back to Garrus and in her best Javik impersonation she said, "Primitives!" and bounced off into the hall, leaving a speechless Garrus staring at an empty doorway.
Diana Allers stepped out of the elevator and was nearly bowled over by a hurrying quarian. "Primitives!...oh, excuse me, Ms. Allers." Tali Zorah zipped past her and into the elevator.
What on earth was that all about? She's been very quiet around the crew ever since we've been stranded here, but now she seems to be perking up a bit. Maybe that means things are going well. Even better, maybe it means she'd be up for an interview. I've got some great stuff from other members of Shepard's crew, but an interview with his girlfriend while we still don't know what happened? That's a Pulitzer right there. Yeah, right. Never gonna happen.
Diana was a sharp reporter, but she was also a pragmatist. The possibility of an interview with Tali was fantastic, but the possibility that not only would she refuse but talk the others into clamming up as well would be catastrophic. I'm good at this, but just not THAT aggressive. Khalisah wouldn't be scared of that.
The thought of her friends back on Earth and on the Citadel made her chest tighten. She got a bottle of water and some raisins out of the small auxiliary fridge in the galley, and sat down at the table. I wonder if they're even still alive. Khali was on the Citadel, and I know she made it through the Cerberus attack. Crazy freak stayed on the air through it! Emily was on Earth, but I don't know where. And here I am, with the sweet assignment on the Normandy - stuck God knows how many light years away from anything newsworthy. I should have taken the Westerlund job. Khali said she was sure they'd hire me, but no, I had to be the flashy war correspondent reporting from the front lines. Em took one look at my outfit and asked me if it was going to be 'Battlespace' or 'Battletits.'
Diana chuckled at the memory. Em's a fine one to talk, Little Miss Evening Gown with all the news that fit to print. They were a strange and different breed, news reporters - Diana would be the first to admit that. Still, they were colleagues and friends, and her heart hurt just thinking what might have become of them.
Bah, what am I worried about? They can take care of themselves. They'd probably even contribute to the fighting. Banshees might be scary, but Khali when she's pissed could probably scream them into submission. And Em? Get a few drinks in her and put her on the dance floor, and the Reapers would laugh themselves to death. Hell, get her and Shepard dancing at the same time and the war would have been over in ten minutes.
The lighthearted thoughts brought Diana a bit of much-needed cheer. She looked down at her hands and smiled. One way or another, we're all going to have one hell of a story to tell. She began writing camera copy in her head, already molding her observations and experiences into a narrative for her viewers. She was a pro, after all, and good copy wasn't going to write itself. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Liara T'Soni walking briskly through the door into her office/quarters. Now there's a tough nut to crack. I can't get much out of her, and I'll bet she's the only one on this ship who really knows what's going on. She tries to play that 'just an archaeologist' bit, but that's bullshit. She HAS to be working for the Shadow Broker, maybe even near the top of the organization. She'd never give up who he really is - hell, neither would I. I don't want to be dead - but she knows a lot more than she lets on. Maybe someday...
Diana was streetwise enough to choose her targets wisely, and that one would be profoundly unwise, at least for now. She stuffed the last few raisins in her mouth, tossed the box in the recycler and headed back for her nest in the cargo hold.
Maybe someday...
Liara entered the crew deck and headed straight for her quarters. She noticed Diana Allers sitting in the mess, and that was the last person she wanted to talk to. She told herself that it was strictly a professional avoidance, but she knew that wasn't entirely true. Diana wasn't just a reporter - she was a gorgeous human reporter. How was it that I heard Vega describe her? 'Built like a brick shithouse?' The words didn't make much sense to Liara, but she got the drift. One more bimbo on the Shepard train. Bitch.
She put her hand to her forehead and scolded herself. You've got to get over this childish jealousy. It didn't happen on the trail to stop Saren, it didn't happen after Hagalaz, and it isn't ever going to happen. Get over it. Liara had been so drawn to Shepard, nearly from the moment they met, but he saw her only as a friend. A very close and trusted friend to be sure, but no more than that. When Shepard had gotten involved with Ashley back then, Liara had understood. Most people were drawn only to members of their own species. That was perfectly normal (and also the root of so many of the rumors about the asari), so she swallowed her disappointment and moved on. But, when she later learned that Shepard had ended up with Tali - with Tali - she was angry and jealous all over again. What could he possibly have seen in a quarian, of all people, that she couldn't have offered him?
Damn it. I'm doing it again. What is wrong with me? Shepard is my friend, and so is Tali. If it wasn't for Shepard, Tali and Wrex, I'd be a dusty corpse in the ruins of Therum.
"Good afternoon, Dr. T'Soni. May I be of assistance?" The little blue ball that was her 'assistant,' Glyph, moved ahead and hovered in front of her. "I am still unable to receive any transmissions from your agents, but I have been monitoring for any other transmissions as well."
Liara started for her terminal, but then thought better of it. She was tired and cranky, and staring at monitors or pacing her cabin like a caged varren wouldn't help. "No, thank you, Glyph. I'm going to rest for a while." She threw her jacket over the back of the chair and headed for the large bed at the back of the room. I wonder why Miranda had a king-size bed installed in this cabin. Maybe she figured there'd be more than one way to 'persuade' Shepard? She fell backwards onto the bed and put her arm across her eyes. Dammit, I'm doing it again. Miranda turned out to be a true friend to Shepard. Probably a better friend than me, since all I do is think of reasons to be jealous. And at least I'm alive. I have no idea what happened to Miranda or any of the others that weren't with the ship. She shifted to get her head on the pillow and then let out a long breath. How did it all end up in such a mess like this…
Liara," Garrus had said firmly, and looked her in the eye. "Go. Now."
Liara's blood had run cold. Those had been Shepard's exact words. She thought she might faint, but she pulled herself together. I can't let the crew down, not last time and not this time. "Yes," she stammered, "yes, right away" and she ran off for the Crew Deck.
Liara's heart was beating so quickly she thought it might burst. I can't go through this all again. The sense of deja vu was so strong that she caught herself running in the direction of the blocked-off doorway near the galaxy map, as though she were headed for the stairs on the old Normandy.
Stop, Liara. Calm down and concentrate. Panicking will only get people killed. She gathered herself together and headed for the elevator, pushing the button for the crew deck. Gather a couple of crewmen and have them start checking the escape pods, then help Dr. Chakwas prep her patients to be moved. You can do this.
She stepped off the elevator and into a beehive of activity. Two crewmen were just running out of the crew quarters, so she stopped them before they got past her. At least it's two whose names I know. Small blessings. "Mercer, Jaso - I need your help. Get a team together and start prepping the escape pods in case we need them. Garrus' orders - he's in charge until we can get to Commander Shepard." The two crewman looked at each other, then back at her. "Yes, ma'am," they said in unison and took off at a run.
OK, that's done. Now to Dr. Chakwas and get started on... That was as far as the thought went before a wave of red swept over the entire crew deck and alarm klaxons started blaring. The ship lurched, and she was tossed sideways against the wall, nearly losing her footing. She regained her balance and took off for medbay at a run. When she entered , Dr. Chakwas was already scrambling to fill a medical bag with medi-gel.
"Doctor, Garrus ordered that we be ready to evacuate if necessary. Do you need assistance with any patients?" Liara noticed that the door to the AI Core room was open, and although the medbay lights were on and everything appeared to be operational, the lights were out in the AI Core. Must have been a power outage. I hope EDI is able to keep the ship functioning.
"I don't have any patients at the moment, but it appears that is likely to change. What was that red flash? Are we under attack?" Dr. Chakwas was clearly worried, but unlike Liara she didn't seem to be fighting off an imminent panic attack.
"I don't know," replied Liara, "but Garrus wants us to be ready for anything. The escape pods are being prepped in case we need them. What can I do to help?" Give me a task, give me something to focus on, before I go completely mad. Please.
"Here, take these med-kits and start stocking the pods with them. If you have enough, leave a few around the workstations as well in case we have people needing to do emergency triage. If you have to order an evacuation tell the crewmen to grab them and bring them along." Liara nodded and started to head for the door, but Dr. Chakwas grabbed her hand and looked at her levelly. "Dr. T'Soni - Liara - calm down," she said gently. "We will be OK. This is not a repeat of last time."
Goddess, how did she know? Is it that obvious that I'm falling apart? She took her satchel of med-kits and headed for the pods, but her mind was headed back to Earth, back to those last few moments. Back to Shepard.
Stop beating yourself up about that. You could have done it, but you didn't. You CHOSE not to do it, and it was the right choice. Shepard never knew how close he was to 'fathering' a little blue warrior. And he must never know. It was a peaceful moment between friends, and that's all. You made the right choice.
Liara stopped and rubbed the back of her hand across her forehead. She hadn't even noticed the noise and commotion for a few moments while she was lost in her own thoughts, her memories, her...regrets? No, not regrets. You made the right choice.
She took a deep breath and continued down the gangway, her arms full of medkits and her heart full of sorrow.
Through the medbay window, Dr. Chakwas saw Liara stop and sort of stare off into the distance for a moment before proceeding on her way. I do worry about her. It's bad enough that she wears her feelings for Shepard right there on her sleeve, but when you add in all that senseless self-doubt, she's a ticking time bomb. Brave and brilliant, but she lets the ghost of her mother haunt her every move. Poor girl.
Karin shook her head and chuckled, more at herself than at Liara. Girl? Ha, she's a few decades older than me, and I haven't been a 'girl' since before we escaped our own solar system. And here I am now, a woman and an older one at that, still hoping we can escape our solar system once again.
She set down the datapad on which she was making notes and moved over to the desk, reaching into the drawer to retrieve a bottle as she sat down. It wasn't Serrice Ice Brandy, but it was good enough. The asari might have brains and beauty and a thousand-year life span, but there are some things they just don't have. Like, for instance, Jim Beam. Nothing to do now but wait to see what happens, so I'd might as well take a minute. Maybe a minute is all we have left. She poured two fingers in a coffee cup and looked down into the amber liquid, smiling to herself. I never really liked this stuff when I was younger. I was always a 'brandy and cognac' kind of girl, at least until...
This was it. The fleet was assembled, and the target was Earth. Karin had spent her entire adult life aboard warships, and she always knew in the back of her mind that she would likely die aboard one as well. That knowledge, in these moments before the final battle with the Reapers, filled her not with fear, but with peace. She was where she was supposed to be, in a place she loved with all her heart and surrounded by people of a half-dozen species who she'd come to love as well. If this was the day, then it would be the day, and Karin Chakwas would be at her post, taking care of her very extended family.
The medbay door slid open, and she was surprised to see the imposing figure of Admiral Hackett entering her realm. She had heard the speech he'd just given over the intercom, but the last thing she expected was for him to show up below decks like this. He turned and said something to his guards, who took up post right outside the door. "Dr. Chakwas, may I have a moment of your time, please? There's something we need to discuss."
Oh shit, what did I do now? "Of course, Admiral." They were alone in the medbay, so she pressed the button to close the privacy windows. "What can I do for you?"
"I need to ask you about Commander Shepard."
Thank God, I'm not going to start off what may be my last moments being chewed out by an Admiral. "Certainly, Admiral. What do you need to know?"
Hackett relaxed his posture, and walked over to lean against one of the exam tables. His brows knit together and he frowned, the looked up to face her. "Doctor, we still don't know exactly what Cerberus did to bring the commander back, but we know that it involved Reaper tech. We're about to use a weapon that is going to - well, we don't really know what the hell it's going to do, but it will hopefully involve killing Reapers. The way you kill a machine is to turn off the technology. With Reaper tech inside him, what happens to Shepard if it all 'turns off'?"
Karin took a deep breath. "I've considered this quite a bit, you know. I've done numerous scans on Shepard, and as near as I can tell, while Reaper tech was certainly used in the process, very little of it was actually used inside Shepard himself. That being said, there is certainly some cause for concern. Some of the implants used to rejoin nerves and muscles are no doubt of Reaper origin, but his own body has grown around those devices to compensate. What were once prostheses could now be more accurately described as augmentations. Rather than doing the work, they are now helping his own body do the work more efficiently. That's the primary reason he has such incredible strength and endurance, not to mention his increased healing capacity."
Hackett seemed relieved. "So if the tech shuts down, he'll be OK, then?"
"I didn't say that," Karin replied. "His body is strong enough to continue without them, but I can't predict what the effects would be if they were to shut down, perhaps suddenly and violently."
Hackett slammed his palm down on the exam table. "Dammit, Doctor! That's what I'm asking you! That's what I need to know!"
Karin felt her own temper slipping as her voice began to rise to meet Hackett's. "And I've told you, Admiral, I don't know! Ask Miranda Lawson, she did the work in the first place. For that matter, she's offered to help the Alliance any way she can, so why are you asking me instead of just asking her to begin with?" And now I might get through the Reaper battle and end up being court martialed. Brilliant, Karin.
Hackett stopped, and the frown on his face gave way to a look that was almost contrite. "I apologize, Doctor. The stress is wearing on me and I took it out on you. I'm sorry." He took off his cap and ran his fingers through graying hair. "I know I could have asked Miss Lawson. She's actually been on the Crucible team the last couple of weeks. But still, she was Cerberus. You've been with Shepard from the beginning...and I needed to ask someone I know I can trust."
Karin let out a long breath and composed herself before speaking. "I'm sorry as well, Admiral. I hope you'll forgive my outburst. The stress is wearing on us all, and when I think about what might happen to Shepard - well, I think perhaps I'm still scarred a bit from the last time."
Hackett chuckled, a low and mirthless sound. "We certainly all bear our scars, Doctor."
Karin stopped, then looked directly at him. "The scar on your face - do you remember getting it?"
Hackett chuckled again, a much more cheerful sound this time. "How could I forget. The Liberation of Shanxi. I was leading a group of landing parties when the turian antiaircraft batteries opened up on us. I think they dropped six or seven of us in the first thirty seconds. I remember as the landing craft was spiraling towards the ground, thinking, 'Well, this is it.' Somehow, some of us survived, and ended up right in a hot zone. From shuttle crash to infantry combat in the blink of an eye. We were holding our own, waiting for reinforcements, but the turians were throwing wave after wave of troops at us. I remember a grenade going off nearby, and then blood in my eyes. Next thing I knew, I was in the medbay on the Cincinnati, and a doctor was looking down at me and telling me that I'd be alright, but that my face would be scarred."
Karin smiled nostalgically. "And you looked back up at me and said, 'What does it matter? Someone as beautiful as you would never give me a second look anyway.' God, Steven, where have the years gone?" She stepped forward towards him, placing her palms on his shoulders and her forehead on his chest. "Where have they gone, and how did they go so quickly?"
She felt his hands on her shoulders, then on her back. "I don't know, Karin. But they have certainly gone. Seems like a lifetime ago. Considering what we're heading into, it might end up being exactly that - a lifetime ago." He leaned his head forward until his face touched her hair. She still used that same shampoo, with the coconut scent that always made his head spin. How I've missed that, too. "Do you ever wonder if maybe it should have gone differently for us?"
She responded without looking up. "Of course, but we made the right choice. I belonged on a warship, and so did you."
"I know," he said. "The last time I talked to Anderson, he said something that really stuck with me. He said that after all this time, now that he was back on Earth, he realized that maybe he didn't want to leave. Now that we're headed back there, I understand his feelings. I've always belonged on a warship, but if I survive this one, maybe it's time to hang up my hat and let younger men take that chair on the bridge." He put a finger under her chin, and raised her face to look into his. "Have you ever thought the same thing?"
"No," she replied flatly. Then her face softened, and she raised her hand to his face, placing her palm over the scar that had defined his visage for so long. She smiled. "Not until now, at least."
"Then I have one more reason to live to see tomorrow. Take care of yourself, Doctor. That's an order."
A deep shudder that ran through the length of the ship brought Karin back to reality. Daydreaming in a crisis. Get it together. The shudder turned into a lurch, and a deep groaning noise seemed to vibrate the entire ship. Suddenly, the intercom came to life, and she heard Joker's voice yelling, "Emergency landing! I repeat, emergency landing! All hands, brace for impact!"
Karin grabbed hold of the desk with both hands, holding on for dear life as the ship bucked beneath her. There was another deep groan from the belly of the ship, then a massive thump as she felt the ship make impact. The whole world seemed to be in slow motion - she could see each bottle and paper clearly as they flew from the desk and shelves, and they seemed to be almost frozen in midair for a second. Suddenly, everything dropped, she felt momentum slam her into the side of the desk, and then all was still.
She picked herself up from the floor and surveyed the damage. Well, whatever happened, it seems to be over and I'm still alive. The intercom came to life again, and this time it was Garrus' voice. "Dr. Chakwas, prepare for incoming. We've got injured on all decks, and people trapped in Engineering."
Karin reached over and hit the button. "Understood. Garrus, what just happened?"
"We took a blast of energy when the Crucible fired. It hit the relay at almost the same instant we did, and tore things up pretty badly. We made it through the relay, but the Normandy couldn't stay in the air, so Joker had to make an emergency landing on this planet."
"And what planet is this?" she asked. "Where exactly are we?"
The intercom was silent for a second or two, then Garrus' voice came through again, quieter this time.
"Honestly, Doctor...We have no idea."
Two weeks later, and we still have no idea. Or at least, not much of one. Karin stood by the exam table where Cervelli lay, checking his vitals and the progress of his skin regen. Excellent. He's healing faster than I'd hoped. Another day or two and I can bring him out of it.
Well, maybe he's better off. The last couple weeks haven't been anything but stress and worry. At least someone on this ship is relaxed. Garrus is holding it together pretty well, but the rest…I don't know. Liara is more of a basket case than usual, Tali is under huge pressure to help get the ship up and running but distracted by worrying about Shepard, and Jeff…ever since EDI went offline, he's been quiet and sullen, even withdrawn. And to top it all off, none of us know what actually happened back on Earth. Did we win? Was there some kind of stalemate? Are the Reapers going to be pouring out of the skies to attack us any minute now?
Years of medical practice had taught Karin one very valuable lesson: sometimes, all you can do is wait and see.
