Chapter 53

Adrien, Hannah and Melanie all got the message that Cassidy was found. Hannah walked over to hug Melanie. Melanie asked, "What does that mean, Grandma, that she's been located? Does it mean she still needs extraction or what? Why aren't they saying when she'll be brought here?" "We'll have to be patient. It was Cortez that sent the message, so that means that it was the southern group that found her." Hannah looked to see a second message. "Cortez is asking Liara to gather a rescue group of biotics, Cassidy's under a rock slide. He's arranging to pick them up in an hour and a half. He says he had to fly for half an hour to get free of the interference of the storm down there."

Drs Freilich and Chakwas came in. Dr Freilich said, "I've ordered another bed for up here. Where do you want her Hannah, there's plenty of room in here." "Pull Melanie to the center and have Cassidy's bed in that corner, with a guest bed for Garrus nearby."

Adrien helped Dr Chakwas rearrange Melanie's bed. He said, "Why don't we watch a movie then order up lunch. They are going to be a long time if they have to move a rock slide off Cassidy." Melanie said "I want to see 'Through the Looking Glass'." Everybody settled themselves for a movie then lunch.

After lunch, orderlies brought in a medical bed and a guest bed. Melanie perused the guide and found a marathon of 'Whodunnits'. They had fun guessing the culprit in each one.

Finally, a message came up that the shuttle was landing at the hospital. Melanie pulled up the local news and sure enough there were reporters down there broadcasting live. Hospital personnel came out with a gurney. The shuttle's door opened and James came out and pushed the cameras back. Sways in the Currents and Campbell came out and helped him. Cassidy was transferred from the sled to the gurney, thermal blanket and all and wheeled into the hospital. Garrus accompanied them in. The Spectres disappeared. The doctor and nurse went into the hospital by another way. Liara, James, Javik, EDI and Clowder got back in the shuttle and went back to the Normandy.

Cassidy was taken straight to Evaluation. Drs Freilich and Chakwas went down to supervise. Garrus came up to the suite and sat down hard. Adrien ordered a quick meal for him. Garrus said, "The field doc says she's in hypoglycemic coma and has bruising from the cab crash and then new bruising, cuts, friction burns, probable internal bleeding and bruises and a couple fractures from the rock slide. She was dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia as well, but the thermal blanket and the IV took care of those last two." He looked over at Melanie. "And how are you doing?" "I'm okay, Dad. Dr Freilich say I'll start physical therapy tomorrow. She says the bars will get lower for me. Oh, and they turned my biotic implant back on, though I promised not to do any biotics for another day. I got a message from Administrator Sanders, with a form for me to fill out."

The VI announced cafeteria services and Garrus' meal was brought in. He snarfed it down. A message came up from Dr Freilich that they were going to start Cassidy on some of her treatment right away and to not wait on them for dinner. Adrien ordered a buffet to be set up in another hour. Adrien turned to Hannah, "How about a walk up to the viewing deck?" Hannah said, "Sounds good to me." She pulled on a robe and slippers. They left the room. Garrus pulled his chair over by Melanie and they played cribbage.

The buffet was being set up when Adrien and Hannah came back. Adrien quizzed Melanie about which soft foods she liked and he prepared a tray for her and brought it to her, then he did the same for Hannah. Garrus came up and got his own. Adrien was preparing his when Cassidy was brought in on a gurney and transferred to the bed. The orderlies left and Drs Freilich and Chakwas came in. Adrien encouraged them to eat. Cassidy was splinted from neck down to her waist. She was covered in bruises everywhere skin was showing.

Dr Chakwas said, "We stopped the internal bleeding. We went in and repaired some internal connective tissues that had been torn. We did the initial alignment treatment for the two fractures, one in her ribs and one in a neck vertebra. We have her on a saline IV with the pain meds added and a nutrition tube. We'll start the dermal regen tomorrow after her glucose stores have been built up, again." Adrien said, "What do you mean, 'again', doctor?" Garrus answered, "When we were on Rannoch, she had been using her biotics like she does. If she can't snipe it she'll warp or pull or throw in a singularity. Then she took on the Reaper, playing dodge-the-beam to keep the target on lock on its firing chamber. Only it got a little too close once and she got burns all up and down her right side. But she kept the target on and the fleet took down the Reaper. Then, she had to yell at a quarian admiral to get him to stand down so that the geth wouldn't be forced to wipe the quarians out. Only after all that did she come back to the ship for food and treatment. Dr Chakwas there put her on light duty the next day because of the dermal regen from the burns. Only I was stupid enough to challenge her to ping pong and we went at it like we usually do which is definitely not light duty. She collapsed afterward in a hypoglycemic coma."

Adrien said, "And word is that she went through something similar at the Battle for Earth? I spoke to her briefly just before you kissed her in front of the spirits and everybody." "Kissing my mate before a fate-of-the-galaxy battle, such a shame." teased Garrus. "I believe Liara, Javik, Clowder, and EDI's platform were all in that pile of debris with Cassidy after the Crucible was triggered, but yes, Dr Lawson's report did mention hypoglycemic shock." said Hannah. Melanie said, "She warned me not to let myself get drained." Dr Chakwas said, "I hope you take that warning to heart, dear. You do not have the deep reserves of energy that she does."

Drs Freilich and Chakwas went back to the ship for the night. Garrus, Adrien and Hannah stayed up talking. Eventually Garrus looked over and saw Melanie had dropped off to sleep. Adrien cleared his throat and said, "Garrus, what's this Rahana tells me about her contributing genetic material for your turian children?" "That's what Cassidy told me she arranged with Rahana." "Well, I'm pleased that you two agreed to include Rahana and therefore our family genetics. When are you thinking to start the process?" "Cassidy said sometime not long after the family ceremony." Hannah said, "May I ask who is contributing to your human children?" "Steve Cortez." Hannah nodded, "I like that young man. That's good."

Hannah yawned and Garrus and Adrien agreed that it was time to call it a night. Garrus gratefully took the bed over by Cassidy and Adrien went back into the guest room.

Garrus woke to the sound of an argument outside the suite door. He quietly got out of bed and pulled his assault rifle out of the bag. The door was hinged on his side so he crept over just inside the open doorway of the guest room. Adrien looked up, saw him and got out of bed and grabbed a pistol. Adrien went out and quietly woke Hannah. The arguing was still going on outside the door. Hannah pointed at her bag and Adrien fetched it for her while she maneuvered herself off the other side of the bed. Melanie woke and looked at Hannah who put her finger to her lips. Melanie nodded. Hannah pulled a pistol out of her bag, quietly laid the bag on the floor and gently took a kneeling position, then used her omni-tool to put the camera view up on their big screen. She checked to make sure the armored covers were down over the windows, which they were.

On of the turian guards were holding a biotic shield over themselves and the other was speaking into his omni-tool. An asari in a cafeteria uniform was behind a cart with an assault rifle, firing in bursts at the shield. Her rifle sparked and she dropped it and pulled out a pistol and resumed firing. The sound of air ships was now coming from outside the windows. Adrien typed into his omni-tool. The biotic shield went down. The second guard stripped her shields and the biotic warped her. The asari fell over with from a head shot from behind her. An explosion from outside rattled the armored window covers. Rapid shots sounded.

EDI sent a text to Garrus' omni-tool, saying a wing of turian fighters had been deployed to take care of the gunship. Garrus looked back up at the screen. Hannah typed in something and the screen split to also show the view from an outward looking camera on the roof, just two floors above them. There was a gunship about to shoot another explosive round at their room.

Hannah said, "Melanie, get your barrier up!" Melanie's barrier was up. The explosion on the armored covers bent one inward and the window shattered in place behind it. Another cover dipped down slightly and an upper corner was now exposed. Garrus said, "We can't stay in here." Adrien barked into his omni-tool "Get that door open, we're coming out. Hannah put on her robe and slippers. Garrus ran to toss his bag and Melanie's onto Melanie's bed. Adrien went and got his bag and he came out and grabbed Hannah's bag. He placed them on Cassidy's bed. The door was open, Hannah and Garrus pushed Melanie's bed out first. The two turian guards pulled from the other end and got Melanie over by the elevator. Meanwhile Garrus motioned Hannah to walk behind Melanie's bed and he went in to help Adrien who had Cassidy's bed nearly lined up with the door.

There was another explosion and the shattered window was pushed entirely inward and it fell to the floor. Adrien told the VI to black out everything in the room. The big screen went off and the low level lights went out. Adrien and Garrus pushed Cassidy's bed into the hallway and closed the door behind. Hospital guards had pulled Melanie's bed down by the elevator. When Adrien and Garrus got Cassidy's bed over there, they both stopped and dug their armor out and put it on. One of the guards suggested that Hannah squeeze in with Melanie, so she did and wrapped her arms securely around Melanie. Melanie's barrier was down. An explosion sounded into the suite and they heard debris hit the interior wall of the suite.

Garrus said, "The window is breached, they could land troops. We need to get off this floor." The elevator rang and the hospital guards took up position targeting the doors. The VI said, "Administrator Besia". The guard captain said, "Open the doors." The doors open and an asari Matriarch held up her hands inside. The guards lowered their weapons.

Besia stepped out and motioned for the beds to go into the elevator. She said, "I'm going to take you to the basement. It is the most secure part of the hospital. I will go with you all. The hospital guards can go down on the other elevator car." Melanie and Hannah's bed was halfway onto the elevator when another explosion cracked the interior wall of the suite and the power went out. Emergency generators went on and emergency lighting came on. "Change of plan." said Besia. She pointed to the guard captain and said, "Get three carry frames, now." The captain turned and went through a door across from the elevators. She handed three folded frames out and the guards quickly got them unfolded.

Adrien helped Hannah into one while the turian guards got Melanie into a double carry and into a frame. Garrus got Cassidy into a double carry with one of the hospital guards while another hospital guard took the IV support off the bed. The got Cassidy and her fluids into the frame and strapped her in. The other hospital guards arranged themselves so there were 4 carrying each frame. Hannah's group got to the stairwell and started down. Melanie's group came next and then Cassidy's. Besia was across from Garrus, on Cassidy's frame. The hallway door closed and Besia locked the stairwell. Another explosion rocked the building. She said, "You all were the only ones on that floor, for which I am glad."

Garrus spoke into his omni-tool. "EDI, where is the turian wing?" "They should arrive in just over 2 minutes. There is another gunship on the map." and with that an explosion rattled the door above them where they had just come into the stairwell.

Two minutes found them between the 11th and 12th floors. The hospital guards were looking winded. Besia signaled a stop and pulled up her omni-tool. She projected the image onto the wall. It looked like an interior view of the hallway looking at their suite. The dead asari was burning and there was a sizeable hole in the wall next to the door. There were Eclipse soldiers in the hallway.

Besia said, "Put the frames on float and get them going down with one attendant each. The rest follow behind ready for action from above." She looked at Garrus, "The frames don't have much battery. They'll get you to the basement, then probably run out of juice. There are wheels tucked up, you can lower them when you need to. Go to B2, through the door and left, then about 200 floor tiles to a black door marked emergency bunker on the right side. Tell the VI to go into combat lockdown. You can pull the frames from in front faster than they will go on their own." One turian guard pulled Melanie's sled on down while the other pulled her assault rifle and led the way. Adrien pulled Hannah's and Garrus pulled Cassidy's. Besia followed Cassidy's with the hospital guards carrying their weapons behind her.

Cassidy blinked her eyes. She saw she was tucked into a metal frame, tilted with her feet downhill, which was swaying. She saw Garrus at the foot, pulling her. She was also floating on pain meds, she could tell. Her neck and ribs ached anyway. She was in a neck brace and what felt like a chest splint. She was firmly strapped into the frame over her legs, her chest and her forehead. She tried to speak and it came out soft and hoarse, "Where are we?" Garrus looked back at her. "Hang on, love. I'll welcome you back more properly when we get somewhere safer than this stairwell."

A bang resounded down the stairwell. Besia said, "They've got through the door up there. Hurry!" They were now between the 1st and 2nd floors. Besia sent a singularity up there, then signaled one of the guards who shot a grenade up to land in the field of the singularity. Then she detonated the grenade, taking down barriers and shields, and by the sound of it, several Eclipse soldiers got caught up in it. Besia kept coming down but after a few beats she sent up a warp to detonate the singularity. The shock wave passed up and down the stairwell.

Garrus shouted to the turian guard up front, "That's the door, B2!" Besia waved her omni-tool down that way and it unlocked. The guard looked back at Garrus and he pointed left. Besia paused just at B1 and motioned the guards to get past her. When the last one had cleared the floor level of the first floor, she waved her omni-tool over her head and thick armor plates swiveled out of all 4 walls to overlap and make a ceiling over their heads.

She said to Garrus, "I'm not going with you, I'm leaving with the guards here on B1. We have to coordinate on the surface with the police. Do like I said. You've got some breathing room now. I'll be back in touch later." And she went out the B1 door with the hospital guards.