I've been putting off commenting at the end of chapters because even though you guys are awesome and your reviews are total confidence boosts, I wasn't sure how much of what I actually felt while writing was making it through until Ractis died. Now, I'll be moving to the bottom of a chapter and commenting there from here on out. Thanks, you guys are all amazing. ^_^
The next several hours are excruciating and mostly a blur. Jane remembers throwing a car at a group, but blocks out the blood smear on the ground. She doesn't remember how many people she shot and killed, but she knows it's more than she ever thought she would.
She remembers getting shot in the leg because it hurt like mad, but deciding to ignore it since it didn't seem to have hit anything major. She remembers her face splitting open when she tried to do a singularity she'd read about. She'd never managed it before, but she'd been desperate, and now she's sure she's going to have a scar from her eyebrow, across her nose, and wrapped around her cheek. She remembers getting shot in the shoulder while she was distracted wiping blood out of her eye.
But mostly, she remembers being found.
Jane is behind a burning car, hoping the heat will help mask her location, panting and waiting. It's been a while since she saw any slavers, so she knows her hiding place is at least decent. But that hasn't stopped her from being prepared anyway.
She can't bring herself to be able to move anymore, so she's propped her arm on her knee, keeping her pistol at the ready; waiting for another slaver to come around. The pile of bodies that was accumulating had already attracted over more than she could count and stay detached from.
This time however; it's not a batarian who appears, but an Alliance Marine. It takes every ounce of willpower left in her not to shot on reflex.
She lets out a strangled cry of relief. "Thank God." She whispers, letting her battered and bruised arms slump into her lap. She must look as terrible as she feels, because the shocked look she gets from the marine isn't one she'll ever forget. He rushes to her side and reaches for her hands. Jane thinks he's going to take her gun and panics.
"No!" Sorely abused adrenaline kicks in and she summons every biotic bit left in her to push him away, but all she can manage is a weak flickering of blue along her skin.
It has the desired effect though. He backs off a little, but he smiles gently at her. "There now, it's alright." His voice is deep and soothing. "I'm just going to check your pulse. You can keep your pistol." His brown eyes look like they're full of truth to Jane. "As long as I can have one of your hands."
Her muted blue eyes peer at him for a moment before she opens her left hand in as much offering as she can manage.
"There we go." His fingers trace along her wrist, searching for her pulse. His eyes however are searching the rest of her injuries. Finally he reaches for his comm. "I need a medical evac on my position. One teenaged girl, multiple gunshot wounds, severe blood loss, and other injuries I'm unsure on."
When his attention returns to her, his face is full of calm reassurance. "We'll get your out of here and patched up. My name's Commander David Anderson. What's yours?"
She can tell he's trying to keep her focused and alert now that she doesn't have a threat to focus on. "Jane Shepard."
"How old are you Jane?"
"Sixteen."
"How long have you been fighting?"
"I, don't know. I was, about to go to xenobiology when the attack started." She struggles to grab onto what feels like a lifetime ago already.
"Have you been alone this whole time?"
She shakes her head. "Ractis… Mr. Ractis, my teacher, was with me. He's dead because of me." Jane had managed to not cry the whole rest of the time she'd been fighting. But now that it's over, the tears threaten to spill over. She chokes them back, but whimpers unconsciously into her breathing. "How did you find us?"
He knows she's talking about the colony. "Our scanners picked up a Morse Code message about an hour ago while we were patrolling the system. We almost didn't catch it except our ship's VI understood it as a current active distress call."
Jane smiles and let's her head thunk back onto the car. "Thank you daddy." She says to the sky. "That was me. I sent out that message. My dad and I learned the code so we could talk privately, just the two of us. It was a game." She trails off.
"Where are your parents Jane?"
Her whole mouth begins to quiver. "I don't know." Her voice cracks, but she clears her throat. "They were at the farm, but who knows where they are now. They're both retired marines though. They have to be safe."
"I'm sure they are." His voice is reassuring, and Jane is grateful that he doesn't know for sure. It lets her cling to hope.
Then two men show up with a gurney. A nod of understanding passes between them and the Commander before they set to work. One scans her with his omni-tool before setting to work applying medigel to her wounds, even though the bleeding has mostly stopped, which Jane suspects is because there's not a lot left, it's mostly for the pain and to protect her from them reopening when they move her.
The other clears some ground with the Commander's help so they can lay the gurney close to Jane to make it easier to move her. But he also reaches to relieve Jane of her weapon, not knowing or maybe not caring that it's her own personal weapon and not something salvaged from the battlefield. He's probably just following procedure for all she knows. But when she stiffens, Commander Anderson stops the soldier.
"Jane, it's time to go. Let me carry your gun." When she tightens her grip, she reminds Anderson of a wounded animal. "I'll stay right with you and keep it safe. I promise."
Jane takes a deep breath and lets it out with a shudder. "My dad just put the scope on it this morning." She's not sure exactly why it's important he knows that; but when he nods like he understands why, she hands the gun to him.
As soon as the gun is out of her hands, they move her to the gurney and she has trouble keeping track of where the Commander is; her vision doing a weird tilting thing after spending so much time without moving herself. It's easier once they're moving toward their ship and Commander Anderson is keeping pace beside her.
Jane does her best to keep her eyes on the Commander. She doesn't want to look at all the death around them. It's bad enough that the sky is so filled with smoke that you'd think it's an overcast day.
When they get back to the ship, it seems like the cargo hold has been converted into an emergency med bay. (It's a small frigate, Jane didn't catch the name.) No doubt the actual med bay was being saved for surgeries. The two men who are carrying her lay her down on a cot before heading back out. "How many have you found?" She asks Anderson.
"A couple dozen so far. Not nearly enough. Mostly what's left of the garrison and the civilians they managed to protect. But we're still searching, and another ship is on its way to help." He doesn't mention if they'd been engaged with the enemy at all, and Jane doesn't ask.
"Commander?" An older man with graying hair, wearing a medical officer's uniform approaches her cot.
"Doctor Evers. This is Jane Shepard. Found her near the secondary school." Anderson fills in the doctor, a grimace crossing over the doctors' face.
"I see." Is all he says before activating his omni-tool, probably pulling up her records from the Alliance database before scanning her himself. "Took quite a beating it looks like. We'll need to get her into surgery as soon as possible. Get those bullets out and repair her shoulders, get some blood in her. For now, let's get an IV going."
Jane doesn't notice the other marines with the doctor until they move. They work quickly to set up the drip and tick a needle in her. She watches as they clean a spot on top of her hand, watching the dried red-brown of her blood briefly flare back to a darker red with the water and disappear to be replaced by the pink white of her skin. She thinks for a moment that she sees dark blue, but it's quickly gone from her eyes.
"Williams, get her as cleaned up as you can." The doctor orders before moving on to the next survivor.
"Sir." The marine answers with a salute, gathering a few packets of medical cloths. Nice to have wipes for something like this, Jane thinks to herself; instead of basins of bloody water like they used to hundreds of years ago.
"Let me give you a hand Williams." Anderson says, grabbing a couple of packets himself and opening one.
"Ah, thank you sir, but don't you need to get back out there? I can handle this." The marine looks worried he'll be in trouble or that he already is in trouble; at least to Jane. But the Commander shakes his head.
"Promised I'd stay with her."
"It's alright if you want to go out and look more. Just give me back my gun." Jane interjects. Both men look at her, surprised by her interruption, and Anderson chuckles. He carefully places the pistol the pistol under her pillow and holds a finger over his lips for her not to mention it to any one.
"I'll go if you're really alright being left here, but I did promise to stay right with you."
Jane looks around as best she can at all the people she can see. She doesn't immediately recognize anyone, and lets out a shaky breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"Maybe, just until someone finds my parents." She looks up at Anderson and presses her lips together to keep them from trembling, and is relieved when he nods.
"Alright, I'll put an alert on their names so when they're found they'll be told you're safe. What are their names? He says, pulling up his omni-tool.
"John and Hannah Shepard." She whispers, almost afraid to call their names to fate's attention.
"Hannah?" Anderson pauses. "Lieutenant Hannah Shepard is your mother?" He asks, and when Jane nods he smiles. "I served with your mother during the First Contact War. Can't wait to see her again. You're right to believe they're still alive. They're both good soldiers." He shakes his head at a memory. "But let's get you cleaned up." He says after flagging her parents. "Don't need to scare them anymore than they already will be."
Jane never does get to see what she looks like, but that comment coupled with the look he gave her earlier gives her a pretty good idea. When Anderson starts wiping blood smears from her face, she finally relaxes a little. His confidence in her parents is soothing, or maybe there's something in her IV other than water, but soon she finds herself asleep.
Anyone who's played the Colonist background should know what's coming very soon. And, hurray for Anderson! I love that man. Five points to anyone who can guess who the captain of this ship is. Yeah that Williams is supposed to be Ashley's dad. Don't expect to see him again. He's not actually part of the crew; he was being transported to another assignment, but got roped into helping out. I can't imagine Anderson being ok with the treatment the Williams family gets from the rest of military command, so if her were ever posted under Anderson, I think he'd fight to make things better for him. That's just my head cannon though.