To Survive: Terminus Coalition
Chapter 36 : Tears
"And how might you be faring, Captain?" Came the welcome voice of Miranda as Shepard lay face-up on the ground.
"Is everyone alright?" Shepard asked instinctively.
"Ashley's been shot, went into her lower back, and it looked like it could have been bad. Grunt carried her to Dr. Chakwas, but you look like you'll be fine, if I know anything about your cybernetics." Miranda said with a genuine smile on her face. Despite the serious aftermath of the battle, Miranda was glad to see Shepard was alright, and he didn't get himself killed in her absence.
Shepard made an attempt to sit up and groaned, falling back to his more comfortable horizontal position. "So you're saying I'll be fine?" Shepard teased with comical concern, but he truly was concerned for Ashley's sake. He didn't know the extent of her wound, but it had the potential to be serious.
"Yes, Captain. Here, lets get you on your feet." Miranda said, holding to her smile. She crouched down to support Shepard's left arm, realizing beforehand that his right arm had taken significant damage. Shepard hissed in pain as he put pressure on his feet. He had taken a bullet into his left leg, and one through his right forearm as well, as if that arm wasn't damaged enough. "I don't want to see you crying Shepard."
"Ha," he shouted, "From this bug bite? I would hope not." he joined in the running joke.
Miranda made sure to be there to support Shepard's weight, which was extremely difficult with the full force of his armour pressing down on her shoulders. Shepard leaned on her, and she helped him move closer to Moorg, who approached followed by a batarian that Shepard recognized as Hadr.
"When that shot fired, just about everyone turned to fire on the shooter. Grunt managed to get to him before he died, and suffice it to say that the human now has a huge bite out of him."
"Where?" Shepard asked, gruesomely curious.
"Well, the head, or perhaps the neck. I said suffice it to say damn it! I was trying to avoid saying he had his head bitten off and spit out."
"Why?" Shepard laughed coarsely.
"Because I didn't think Grunt had it in him," Miranda said as she shook her head in disgust.
"You up for a chat, Shepard? Or do you want to get those taken care of?" Hadr asked gruffly as the distance between them closed.
"If this isn't going to take long, I'd prefer to get this over with." He hobbled forward, still tightly supporting himself over Miranda's shoulders. The setting held a sort of tension. The bulk of mercenaries around were no longer Blue Suns, but an entire brigade of Hadr's men that had been sent from Omega. Nonetheless, the bodies of many dead mercenaries littered the compound, and it was likely that some of the Blue Suns in the crowd were embittered by the deaths of friends and comrades. Something that Shepard was aware of.
"The sign of a war-leader." Moorg huffed, judging Shepard in contrast to Vido.
Shepard didn't know much about Moorg, other than the fact that he clearly had some influential ties to the Blue Suns. Miranda would undoubtedly fill him in.
"The name's Shepard, Captain of the Normandy; Council Spectre, but we'll see how long that lasts." Shepard introduced himself to Moorg, unable to extend a hand to shake. It wasn't exactly a batarian custom anyway, so it didn't matter to him in the least.
Moorg introduced himself in his own fashion, "Moorg, second to command the forces of the Blue Suns. Your messenger told me of your proposition, and that it entails the deposition of Vido Santiago. Has he already been gutted, or do I get to take part?" He asked with undertones giving to his enthusiasm.
"That's something we should go and check now-"
"Nah, you don't." Zaeed's said, his harsh voice similar to the batarian's in ferocity. He tossed an unrecognizable ball of flesh, blood and bone at the feet of the others, sauntering close as he did. "His bloody head." he informed.
"Hah!" Moorg roared, "The bastard got what was coming to him." Contrasting to Shepard's silent disapproval as the head leaked fluid as it rolled closer.
"That's for damn sure." Zaeed replied with his hands rested on his hips. "What about you Moorg? You were there too."
"Are you still the bastard who won't work with a batarian for his life?" Moorg questioned. He chuckled deeply after a moment of pause; "At least you didn't just want to use us as cheap labour." He said, derisive of how Vido had so cruelly treated him and his people whilst working with them.
Moorg was there when Zaeed was shot, when Vido first wanted to bring the batarians into their business in order to greatly expand the amount of troops in the organization. They were much easier to recruit in the Terminus than the more disciplined alternatives: humans and turians.
"For the mercenary business, no, I don't think batarians benefit this God-forsaken organization and feel free to prove me wrong. Since we're all here, and we've got bigger fish to fry, well, I'm not stupid enough to turn down fighting men." Zaeed answered.
"The machines that the female told me about, hmm…. So you believe 'em do you?" Moorg contemplated.
"Aye, I do. Heard 'em speak when we killed Collectors. Saw the bloody proof myself. There ain't no arguing about it." Zaeed stated. Shepard continued to watch on, happy to see that Moorg seemed to take Zaeed's word without too much need of persuasion. Shepard was still angry that Zaeed had taken it into his own hands to kill Vido, Ashley's blood was on his hands. Shepard knew that a shot to the gut could be very serious.
Legion! Shepard screamed inwardly, remembering that the battle had left him to an unknown outcome. Caught up in the quick moving of events he had forgotten to ask, but surely the fact that no huff was being made about him was a good sign.
Shepard asked Miranda, as Moorg and Zaeed continued to speak to one another, "What happened to Legion?"
Miranda clenched her teeth with a pained expression. "He's been severely damaged, but I bet he'll be alright. He lost an arm and his lower torso and legs were mangled in what must have been an explosion, but he still had enough power reserved to keep his optic lit. I don't know much about the geth, but I'd bet that he'll be all right."
"Damn…" Shepard sighed.
"I know Shepard… I know. But the mission was a success. EDI and Chakwas will be able to brief you on all of the damages we took when we get back to the ship." Miranda attempted to comfort; something she was not particularly good at.
"They'll be glad to know that the mission was a success." Shepard said, concealing his doubts of whether the mission was worth the damage to the team or not. If Legion or Ashley had died in battle, he'd be cursing this place. Hopefully they'd be okay, but he couldn't stop the feeling that he messed up somewhere. His stoic countenance gave up none of these thoughts or worries.
"Indeed they will, and maybe Zaeed will give them big old bear hugs to show his gratitude. I doubt it, but maybe." She replied, trying to discern what Shepard was really thinking, and answer to lighten his mood without blatantly didn't believe that's what he truly thought.
"He just might." Shepard replied, not finding it all that funny. His thoughts were too bogged down in concern and the worry that he might regret something done that day.
"Moorg, so is this something you're up for?" Shepard asked, getting into the larger conversation and interrupting Zaeed. Shepard didn't particularly care at that point what Zaeed had to say.
"What exactly do you want? You want Zaeed to replace Vido?" He asked with what Shepard thought was a little defensiveness.
"How about a cooperative leadership, where you and Zaeed run this place together?" Shepard shrugged, then getting to his point, "What I really want is for you to know that the Reaper threat is real and dangerous, and for you to agree to a coalition force with the rest of the Terminus systems. As you've seen, we've got a force on Omega, but we also have the support of the krogan, the quarians and even the geth. If we're going to have any chance, we need to be united and fight as one." Shepard explained.
"What of the batarians, and the Council for that matter? The Council isn't behind its own Spectre?" Moorg enquired.
Grunt had returned from carrying Ashley back to the ship, and took Miranda's job in supporting Shepard. His bigger stature made it a little difficult for Shepard to adjust, and he grunted while making the transition.
As comfortable as he was ever going to get, he answered, "The Council sees themselves above the coalition, and is too worried about their own politics to react to the Reapers. They can join if and when they finally commit, but even then I'll continue to work for the survival of the galaxy against the Reapers and not for them."
"I don't know if you expect the Blue Suns to just drop everything we've always done to fight, because these people didn't sign up to be in an army. They signed up to make money." Moorg attested.
"We're not asking that you stop anything you've been doing now, the only thing I'd say is that you aren't doing yourselves any favours by moving into the slaving business."
"Ugh, that was Vido's shitty idea." Moorg replied disgustedly.
"You can continue to take jobs, and do whatever it is you want. Perhaps you can even coordinate a little with Hadr's group on Omega. I don't really care what you do. I just want you to make sure you and your men are ready when the call comes, and that you'll fall in line with the rest of the races. These things want to wipe out all life in the galaxy, and we have no idea when they're coming. When they come, you're going to have to make an army out of your men."
"I can think of worse deals…." Moorg considered, probably a little overwhelmed with the drastic switch from not even being a decision maker, to being offered a very unorthodox partnership with a Spectre. "I suppose we'll have to make this thing work." He agreed, not really seeing any better option.
"I'm glad to have you with us, Moorg. Now, give me some of the running numbers." Shepard asked, getting straight back to business.
"The Blue Suns has seven thousand fighting troops, including nine hundred pilots, seven hundred ships, four hundred combat engineers, a manufacturing department of two hundred, and ninety bases of varying degrees scattered throughout the Terminus Systems and the Attican Traverse."
They were a solid group, and one extremely large for a non-military faction. In comparison to the Alliance, which had closer to one and a half million active soldiers from many different Earth governments, or the combined forces of Earth's trained military force coming in around thirteen million, it was hopelessly small. That considered, the location of the group was of great strategic importance and its strong influence over the scattered and forgotten colonies left in the Terminus systems could bring hope to unite those people. There were millions of people throughout the Terminus, and the Blue Suns had a strong influence over most of them.
"Hadr, how many do we have on Omega?" Shepard asked, trying to get a rough comparison.
"We picked up about two thousand men trained from the united mercenary groups, and we have about eight thousand more in training coming in from all over the damn galaxy. We have only three hundred pilots in comparison with about seven hundred ships, since we've started outfitting even the transporters with at least some weaponry and armour." Hadr answered.
The numbers were promising, and it was good to hear that Hadr was training so many to fight. Overall, he did believe that those two factions, now part of the coalition, would be of great value. The death of Vido was something he wasn't happy with, but there wasn't anything that was immediately limiting about it.
With a few more plans and issues to work out, including the exchange of some of the Collector information on advanced weapons systems, and plans for how to rendezvous if the Reapers arrive in systems that wouldn't hinder a path to Omega. Shepard did believe that the Reapers would seize the Citadel as their first objective, if the VI on Ilos was accurate. Moreover, Shepard had some questions about Borenmyrth itself, and had an opportunity to have all of his curiosities answered.
Three krogan with light-green clan colours charged the platform, a krogan of the Urdnot clan roared and launched off a high platform to slam into one of the chargers, hitting hard against him. They crashed to the ground, with the breed of Urdnot digging his teeth firmly into the neck of his prey, as it thrashed in resistance.
"Clan Varchta aggresses!" Came the thunderous warning of the Urdnot Shaman, watching from a higher seat in the stadium. The other two krogan of Varchta sped up the stairway to the dias, with Urdnot Wrex standing proud in front of his throne.
The coliseum erupted with the howls of the Urdnot Clan, and any allies it had gathered there. Wrex narrowed his eyes, and braced to defend his right to rule once again.
The youthful Varchta krogan poured over the lip of the stairs to his stage with predatory speed, both had large daggers, which were more akin to short-swords, held tightly in their claws. "For the krogan!" The closest shouted grittily, trying to take advantage of his speed by ramming at full speed into Wrex.
Wrex offset himself, throwing the inexperienced and overzealous krogan into disarray, as he overcommitted to the strike. Wrex immediately reacted to the second, as the first of the assassins soared off of the edge of the platform and fell a harrowing height of forty feet. His thick bones snapped with the impact.
Wrex met the last krogan in a clash, where he managed to hold onto his footing as he slid from the initial absorption of the charge. The crowd was chanting and pouring over the railings and falling into the lower tier of the stadium, where they undoubtedly tore the fallen and wounded krogan to pieces. The fall was a crippling blow, but one that a krogan would surely survive.
The assassin's blade punctured Wrex's side as they continued their clash, but it only filled him with frenzy. With full force he slammed the crest of his head against his young opponent. The assassin stumbled backwards in disorientation. Wrex wrenched the blade from between his ribs, and tossed it off of the platform, with his own method of dealing with the rotten clan-worm in mind.
He picked up momentum with three large strides, and head-butted the pyjak again. The plate on the assassin's forehead bent inward slightly, and he fell to his knees clasping his hands to the terrible pain that the impact inflicted. His hands could not quell the agonizing throbs.
"Clan Urdnot! They throw away children, because they have no quads of their own!" Wrex shouted to the crowds as they cheered and roared in bloody hysteria. He continued to speak loudly to the crowd as he sauntered over to the Varchta krogan who was in dire pain. "We survive, because we are strong! We survive, because we are the true krogan!" Wrex grabbed the collar of the youth, and lifted him to his feet. With ferocity in his eyes, he tilted his head back and let the muscles in his neck flex as he came forward with brutal force. The plate of the young krogan's head cracked in two, and thick blood splashed across Wrex's forehead, and trickled down his calloused face.
"The Varchta have made their choice! There are three krogan clans who have yet to accept the vision of Urdnot, and our vision for the glory of Tuchanka and all krogan! May the other two clans witness our resolve to the uniting of our people! We will slay every krogan of clan Varchta, and burn any that grovel for mercy!" Wrex shouted enthusiastically, the crowd responding with barks and cheers of great approval.
"Wreav!" Wrex called down the platform, to his half-brother who had taken the first of the assassin's to his death.
"Yes, brother!" he replied, getting off of the mauled corpse, and quickly walking up the stairs as Wrex descended to meet him. His mouth was lined with the blood of the krogan.
"It seems we finally go to war against other krogan." Wrex rumbled.
""I believe it to be a wise choice."
"Don't mistake this extermination to be a softening of my resolve. We are strong, but the krogan must be fully united before we can advance to the next steps in preparation. These last clans are stubborn, and they will only hold us from advancing. The others will fall in line when they see how swiftly we slaughter all of their people and how we plunder their females." Wrex defended his idea."They will ally with us."
"I believe our allies have been pushing this for some time."
"Yes, but I don't do this for them. If we are going to build a real and mighty horde, we need to destroy the turian satellites around Tuchanka. How can we scare off the turians from retaliating if we do not have meat to back our threats? They will not take on our entire race; not if they know what's good for 'em anyway."
"I hope they try." Wreav grinned.
Wrex headbutted his half-brother, who lost balance and tumbled down the stairs a good distance. "You're an idiot, Wreav. Go gather the men for battle." Wrex commanded, unimpressed with his brother's untempered and idiotic lust for revenge. The krogan will soon be ready to face the galaxy again. We will be respected and feared, and when the Reapers arrive, we'll crush them in true Tuchankan custom.
"Well that was a royal shit storm," Jack casually said as the remaining crew walked back to the Normandy, Shepard being supported fully by Grunt. "Fucking fun though… lots of fuckin' fun."
Grunt laughed, but Shepard didn't pay any attention as he hobbled forward. His mind wrapped up in his own thoughts and evaluations of their victory. What flooded his thoughts was a resounding sense of misstep. It was peculiar, given how practical of a man he was. Perhaps the irrationality of his train of thought explained it better than he would ever admit.
Things would have been different if Tali were here. She would have had that tower down, probably already knew the young quarian kid's methods… I mean why the Hell not? This feels like when we lost Okeer back on Korlus, or whatever that dump was called.
Freedom's Progress… damn, Freedom's Progress. I saw her, and it was… like I had a good reason for being brought back to life, not that this isn't good enough…. No, what was I saying….
Right, the quarian admirals have been a real pain in my ass, that's what I was getting at. They had some problem they needed Tali to fix then, and they need her again now. Why can't they fix their own damn problems?
And walking back to the ship after letting Okeer die, she was the one who I thought could've made the difference. If only she came with me on that colony… but I know she couldn't, and she would've if she could have. Shepard sighed.
"You dying, Shepard? You're awful fuckin' quiet." Jack said.
"Hmm." Shepard responded, "Oh, nothing Jack. Just thinking about what we could have done differently." he said before continuing to rant in his mind.
But why am I being so irrational with this? Not like me to react this way, I usually just take it… I probably still will. Shepard finished. He believed that he needed to calm down. Perhaps it was just the frightening reality that he almost lost two crewmates. Moreover, he still had no idea as to how they were holding up.
Grunt had blood on his armour, and some of it looked like it was his. Shepard then saw the holes in his armour, clogged with medi-gel. Looked like Dr. Chakwas patched him up and said he'd be fine; she was usually right about that.
In silence the four of them entered into the Normandy's airlock. Kal was already back at the ship and Ashley and Legion were being attended to. Zaeed came along to grab his many trophies and few personal possessions, and perhaps say a quick goodbye. Somehow, Shepard didn't think he was the type for one that was long winded.
Entering the ship, and happy to be home, EDI's voice followed him as he guided Grunt to help him towards the medical bay. "It is good to see you in one piece, Captain. Legion however has not been so fortunate. Kal is currently hooking him up to an external power source in the main AI core, as he follows my instruction. His main power source was damaged, but still maintained minimal energy levels I have been able to communicate to Legion through microwave frequencies, but the hardware which allows him to speak through conventional means has been destroyed."
Shepard got into the elevator and began descent, glad that Legion was at least making communications, and EDI hadn't pronounced him nonfunctional. He was eager to see how Ashley was faring, though a knot tied in his stomach as he prepared for the worst.
Meanwhile EDI continued, "Legion's higher functions have remained completely intact, but he lost an arm and his legs have lost all functionality though they are still attached and could be repaired by Tali, if not Lana. His optics are experiencing issues, evidenced by some tests I ran, but it is mainly perception of depth and velocity."
The elevator opened its doors, and Shepard hooked left quickly as Grunt knew exactly where to go.
EDI's console lit on the floor to continue, "Getting Legion repaired by another member of the geth collective may be the only way to fix many of these problems," Shepard heard when he reached the med bay door. He stopped to let EDI finish, "as I am unsure to what extent Tali's knowledge reaches to the operational hardware and software of advanced platforms like Legion. Perhaps the geth on Aeia will have the necessary resources to fully repair him, and I recommend we attempt there first."
"We'll do that." Shepard replied, before opening the door for admittance. Dr. Chakwas didn't stop to look up or turn around to acknowledge him, but remained behind the curtain that hung around the closest bed, where Ashley no doubt lied. Shepard wasn't sure if she was necessarily in surgery to have the bullet removed or not, but he did catch that Ashley's blue Alliance armour was in pieces on the desk. It looked like the doctor needed to cut the armour off to get to the wound, which could mean anything.
Taking initiative, Shepard nodded forward to let Grunt know he wanted to move, and he went and grabbed a pair of spare crutches. Only able to use one because of his shoulder injury, he left one behind and dismissed Grunt.
Immediately after the battle, Miranda had slathered medi-gel to close his wounds and stop the bleeding, as well as relieve much of the discomfort. Shepard wasn't feeling particularly lightheaded, and was worried enough about Ashley that he reasoned he would stick around, and take a seat. His face did feel extremely painful, especially when he tried a few facial expressions. It wasn't something he could easily bear, so he stopped as quick as he started.
A few minutes went by, as he watched the silhouette of the doctor work behind the drape. Shepard's angst wasn't settling, and his thoughts weren't particularly focused. One thing meaningful did come to mind: I think Ash has proved she's a part of this team. A real friend.
Unable to take the wait, Shepard decided he'd do something. He slowly stood from his chair, with stings of pain coursing through him, and he walked towards the AI core.
Shepard's eyebrows crossed when he entered and saw Kal fiddling with what was left of Legion. He wasn't reduced to nothing, but the devastation was enough that it surely would have been fatal to any organic being; even a krogan. Back in the days when Shepard destroyed geth in the hundreds, he would have counted a geth in Legion's state as one of their casualties.
The large gap in Legion's torso was a large part in this appearance, but even it had cables hanging loosely out, ones that Shepard assumed should have been attached to his internal battery, as Kal had attached them to a console by the wall through an intermediary cord. One of his arms looked like it was torn off, and it sat on a table towards the back of the room. His legs were a mangled mess, with armour plating missing, and many frays of wiring that often sparked and glowed.
"It's a real shame, isn't it Shepard?" Kal asked.
"I'm, just glad he's alive." Shepard replied, not bothering about the wording despite the look Kal gave him; a look that he was able to discern through the mask, and proud of it.
"Yeah… he's salvageable." Kal replied.
"Captain, Legion has asked that I relay a message to you." EDI stated as Shepard nodded to Kal, heavily leaning on his crutch.
"Yes, EDI?" Shepard asked, happy that Legion could communicate with him still.
"I relay: Shepard-Captain, your N7 armour maintained its structure through higher heat and force than was initially anticipated. This unit's vital functions remain intact because of this anomaly. We thank you."
Shepard smirked involuntarily. However much of that was true, he couldn't help but be thankful that Legion didn't… die; that his consciousness wasn't lost to the void.
"No Legion, thank you for saving my ass out there." Shepard replied.
EDI again replied for Legion, in her regular tone of voice, "Acknowledged."
Shepard's grin grew ever wider.
"How's the Gunnery Chief doing?" Kal asked with a sensitive voice.
Shepard breathed a heavy breath and his smile diminished, all as well because the smil hurt his face. EDI replied first, "Dr. Chakwas is in the medical bay now, and appears to be finished treating the wound. Chief Williams has been left to sleep, so now might be a good time for you to find out, Captain."
Shepard nodded, "Do you want to come Kal?"
"I think it's best you and the Chief find out first. Only proper. Besides, I'm sure EDI's got plenty more things for me to do in here." Kal replied.
Shepard planned to pat him on the shoulder but failed, as he needed the support of his crutch. Kal understood, and opened the door for him.
Emerging from the AI core, Shepard made eye contact with Dr. Chakwas writing on a clipboard, but her face was grim. A weight dropped in Shepard's gut.
"And what, pray tell, did you do to yourself, hmm?"
"I'm fine, but Ash, how's she? Is she alright?" Shepard asked.
"Let me take a look at you, and then we'll talk." the doctor said.
Shepard rolled his eyes, but held onto the hope that her delaying to tell him meant she wasn't going to die.
"That's right, come closer please, and take a seat on the bed here." she directed, and Shepard complied. "I see you've got heavy burns, though the black might just be soot on a less serious burn. Let me take a closer look at that." She began her survey.
She continued from there to examine the depths of the burn, then moving to scan his shoulder, and finally to perform preliminary checks on the bullet wounds in both his arm and leg. Removing the armour was the most difficult part, as it often was, but medigel offered a nice lubrication on top of bating the pain of movement.
The whole process lasted a few hours, and it included a quick administration of anesthesia to extract the slugs imbedded in his muscle. Dr. Chakwas was much quicker and more efficient with Shepard than any of her other patients, both because of familiarity and because she knew what his cybernetics could handle, and she would often take advantage of them.
"So, doc? Am I gonna make it?" Shepard asked lightheartedly, trying to lighten the doctor's mood, as she seemed unnervingly grave the entirety of the check. It brought back the knot in his gut.
"Indeed, your burns should subside, though I'd recommend nightly treatment with a lotion that I'll give to you. It's yet to be seen, but your cybernetics just might prevent you from turning out like Mr. Massani. They are indeed third degree burns, which can make a beast of a man. The bullet wounds didn't hit any bone or major arteries, and Ms. Lawson's administration of medigel prevented any blood loss from becoming seriously excessive. As far as your shoulder goes, you've managed to all but shatter the bone, but much of it is still held intact by some supporting struts of metal reinforcement. The shards that did break off tore through much of your muscle when you clearly continued to use the arm. I'll need to perform a more extensive surgery to find and align these shards so that your cybernetics can effectively bind them back to the bone. I would expect you to be fully functioning once again by the end of three weeks time, given your history of recovery."
"Thank you Doctor. But-"
"Shepard?" Came a weak voice, from the bedside that Shepard reacted far too quickly to. He tried to stand, but only tumbled to the ground when he placed too much weight on his damaged leg.
"Agh! Damn it!"
"Shepard, you big dolt. Here, take my hand," the Doctor responded, shaking her head.
With the doctor's help, Shepard got up to his feet, and together they moved towards Ashley's bedside. The doctor grabbed a large blanket to cover Ashley with before removing the curtain.
"You made it." Ashley gulped. No marks of battle afflicted her appearance. Relief was clear in her eyes as they became saturated.
"Yeah Ash… and so did you." Shepard replied, a sting in his own eye. Ashley appeared to be in a great deal of pain by her ragged breaths. Quickly realized by the doctor as well, Dr. Chakwas moved to give her another light dose of anesthetic to keep the pain at bay.
"Did we do it, Skipper? Did we get that rat-bastard? Do you mind if I call you Skipper?" Ash asked throatily.
"I don't mind Ash… Yeah, Zaeed cut his head off."
"Eeeugh." She cringed.
"Yeah, I know. Pretty sick…. So Doctor, now that Ashley's awake, do you think you can fill us in on her recovery?" Shepard asked.
Dr. Chakwas answered, "Yes Shepard, and this is why I made you wait. I'd prefer to go over this only once between the two of you."
Ashley turned her eyes, and Shepard turned her way as well. Ashley didn't move much, but who could blame her with a wound that pierced her torso. Turning would be an unadvisable nightmare.
"Ashley, you were shot in the back with enough force to penetrate your armour, pass through your lower abdomen, and have the bullet embed itself in the frontal plates of your suit. In passing through, you were fortunate enough to have your arteries spared, and most of the bleeding at the back was stopped with a quick application of medi-gel. The penetration point on the front of your torso could not be treated until I could remove your armour to get to the wound. Unfortunately, you did lose a lot of blood, but the blood managed to seal the air off in your armour, around the lesion, and prevent infection. We did have enough blood in the bay to offset that and get you into safe levels, but you may feel lightheaded until you regenerate more on your own."
The doctor sighed and took a deep breath before she continued, "What concerns me most is that the bullet did hit the edge of your spine…."
The room seemed to grow immensely silent and heavy despite the noise of the medical equipment and ventilation. Instead of looking at Chakwas, Shepard turned his eyes to Ashley, and he could see that fear filled her eyes but she tried to remain firm as she always did.
The good doctor continued, "I can't be certain, and I'm no neurologist, but there is a high probability that you may never walk again, dear." the doctor said, her face a medley of emotion lending credence to how much she believed her own words.
Ashley's eyes seemed to break as tears pooled on her lids. She continued to look straight forward in silence, but couldn't stop a tear from falling. Shepard couldn't prevent his own eyes from filling. His compatriots eyes turned to look into his, and it broke his heart.
Author's Note
So everyone, we've come to the end of one of the major elements of this instalment. I realize I don't write exactly like Calinstel, so I'd love to know how you feel about that. Do you believe I've dealt well with the series, or do you think there is something major I should focus on that made Calinstel's work so gratifying. If there is something you like about how I write, or the direction I've taken the series, than feel free to say so. Calinstel has a had a lot going on in his life, and hasn't been able to keep up with the story, so I'm trusting you ladies and gentlemen will help me out.