Sarah Campbell hopped out of the shuttle with Westmoreland at her elbow, a rifle cradled in her arms ready to use. Her nerves jangled; she had never expected to be a third-string splinter-picker for the ground team…but here she was! In her first glance around, she had to admit that there were ecological reserves with more impactful additions by those operating them than the geth seemed to have had on Rannoch. In spite of the scrub brushes, she didn't smell the familiar tang of sage or mesquite, which she found disconcerting.
EDI had taken the shuttle directly to where the civilians were, Javik performing dust off with more competence than she expected. She hadn't known he could use the door gun.
Dr. Chakwas, who seemed to be the voice of leadership on this mission, followed them out of the shuttle with her black bag. With possible injuries among the civilians, EDI had requested the doctor's presence. The basic medical briefing—medigel to patch the flesh, omnigel to patch the suit—was all well and good, but one never knew when there would be more dire cases, and this mission was about saving as many lives as possible.
Campbell hoped that, despite weakened immune systems, the problems with suit breaches wouldn't be quite so bad. This was Rannoch after all, the place quarians came from. Surely the environment would be less hostile to them than other places…
It was a feeble hope, but she clung to it. Chances were high, though, that even Rannoch wouldn't be any less hostile to the fragile physiologies than any other place. Which was sad, in a way. Especially with how hard the quarians were fighting to regain their rock in the galaxy.
Still, she agreed wholeheartedly with Shepard: now was not a fabulous time for such things.
"How're we doing, EDI?" Westmoreland demanded, half-dropping the quarian she was helping into the shuttle in her haste to get back out and make sure everyone who could make it in had done so.
"Geth reinforcements are moving towards Lt. Vega's location," EDI reported briskly. "They seem aware that his target is more strategic than ours, and are responding accordingly."
"Good for us, bad for him," Campbell noted as they both hurried back to lend hands to stragglers.
"He'll be fine," Dr. Chakwas answered assuredly, looping a quarian's arm over her shoulders to help the man limp along.
Cambell wondered how the team was getting on with taking down those geth fighters, and again cursed the quarians (most of them) for stupidity.
She checked once more for signs of civilians, but found none. So she returned to the shuttle, where Westmoreland and Dr. Chakwas were also taking one last look at the scattered dead, geth and quarian alike. With a shake of her head, Dr. Chakwas retreated into the Kodiak. Campbell noticed that EDI had closed the door separating the cockpit from the cabin at some point. It was probably a good idea given the nature of the hostility here.
"The Admiral!" one of the women piped up, cradling a shoulder. "Is he…is he alright?"
"There's a mission to rescue him going on right now," Dr. Chakwas assured her soothingly.
"EDI, are you picking up anything from Lieutenant Vega's team?" Campbell asked quietly into her radio.
"Not at this time. However, as there has been no contact of any kind, it is likely that they have not finished their mission," EDI replied promptly.
"So we shouldn't give up just yet," Dr. Chakwas announced robustly, finishing an omnigel patch on one quarian's suit. "Put a little pressure on it."
The shuttle rose into the air, shuddering gently as it did so.
Things remained silent just long enough to begin to be worrisome. Campbell and Westmoreland were not, after all, accustomed to hitting dirt the way the rest of Shepard's team was. Then, "Dr. Chakwas, I have contact with Lt. Vega's team. Patching it through," EDI announced.
"Thank you, EDI."
"Hello? This is Zaal'Koris, is anyone reading me? Hello!" the Admiral sounded almost beside himself, panicky even.
"This is Dr. Chakwas. We've got your civilians, Admiral, safe and sound."
Campbell didn't miss how so many of the civilians looked almost limp with relief at hearing their admiral's voice. Clearly, they were aware that Koris was strategically more important. No one wanted to be the ones left behind for the sake of 'strategically important' but it was good when it was recognized.
"That's great," Vega said, relief and the sense of a job well done redolent in his voice. "We're gonna pick up Shepard. We'll meet you back on the Normandy."
"Is she alright?" Dr. Chakwas asked.
After the last mission, everyone was worried…but discreetly.
"As far as I can tell," Vega answered. She could hear the shrug that came with the comment and the faith that it would take more than a few geth to do more than slow Shepard down. She'd need that kind of attitude pointed her way.
"Good," the doctor nodded, looking relieved.
The radio clicked as Vega cut the call.
"Absolutely," Campbell agreed fervently. "It doesn't sound as if she's in too much trouble."
Dr. Chakwas snorted at the wording 'too much trouble.' Campbell wondered what the ground team considered to be 'too much trouble.'
She leaned against the wall dividing the cockpit and the cabin, arms crossed, eyes closed. It was stuffy in here, and smelled like bloody quarian—an unpleasant scent unlike anything she'd ever encountered before. Worse was the sense of waiting for the other shoe to drop.
But apparently, the civilians were not strategically important enough for the geth to want to kill them, because EDI piloted the shuttle back to the Normandy without any kind of mishaps. After that, it was a matter of unloading the civilains, and moving those who were worst-injured up to the medbay.
Campbell and Westmoreland were back at their post outside the war room before Shepard's and Vega's teams returned, as if nothing had ever happened.