Chapter 23: Chapter 23
Alliances
Chapter 23 : Tourniquet
"Illin, I know you're not a tech but can you assist Gavn please?" he asks knowing that they have already reached hecs'tiyl. Hopefully she will be able to help him search for workable components as well as calm both their nerves.
"Yes Kal" she said then added "Thank you." Moving to his side she places a hand upon Gavn's arm and whispers to him softly so no one else could hear her words.
Kal watches her for a moment as she moves to him, taps his visor and then begins rummaging through a terminal next to the one he's working on. They are nearing felz'tiyl he thinks and smiled to himself as he watched them then thinking of Lana his smile fell to a worried frown.
"Kal, I'm picking up something on the HUD. Can you confirm? Electronic chatter in all directions" calls Patyn.
Checking his own HUD he sees what he means. All around the building there are indications of geth. "Confirmed." Damn, 8 of us left, 2 need to get that equipment working and Lana is still down. 5 against what seems to be over 50 platforms. "Okay marines. Looks like they decided to push back. Han, you and Rayna move to the eastern door. Patyn, you take the northwest and I'll hold the southwest one. Tia, please stay with Lana unless called. Move it people"
Luckily this was a quarian building with only three entrances to guard. He saw his squad moving to their assignments as he too moved to his.
Positioning himself behind a fallen cabinet he could easily cover the entrance out too about 70 meters. Placing a few thermal clips on the ground at his knee he would be able to quickly replace the spent ones without having to fumble for them in his pouch. Sighting down his sniper rifle he whispered the prayer for acceptance to the ancestors.
His HUD clearly showed the chatter but they were not advancing. Calling out he asks "Anyone see anything? Any movements?"
"No" came the replies. Why were they staying out of range? Were they still waiting for reinforcements? Just how many did they think 5 quarian's would be able to kill before we were overrun?
"Kal! Lana's waking up." Tia called out as she watched Lana's eyes begin to flutter.
"Tia, please trade positions with me for a moment." he calls as he quickly moves back to Lana's side. Tia had not even responded but moved with the same speed to his position, pulling her assault rifle from her back.
Reaching her side he said softly "Lana, Lana are you okay?"
Finally opening her eyes she is confused. Her world is now purple, not the grays of before. She realizes that her visor has been swapped and fear overcomes her for a moment as she remembers the explosion. "Kal!" she calls then feels his hands on her arms and his voice calms her.
"Shhhh, you're okay Lana." he says as he touches her for the first time intimately. Gently stroking her arm to reassure her he adds "Your visor was shattered, I'm sorry but I had to do something to..to save you. Don't move your face around too much, you need to get that helmet off to remove the glass and clean the wounds but I was able to get the larger pieces out safely."
She almost asked him if he saw her face but knew the answer to that. He must have to remove the glass and he still was by her side. It may be the silliest thing in the galaxy but every quarian female she knew was afraid to show their face. Fearing rejection was part of being a female quarian even from another quarian. A soft laugh escapes her helmet surprising Kal.
"Lana? Are you okay?" he asks worriedly. Laughing at a time like this was not normal to Kal. Was she alright?
"I'm fine Kal, I just realized that the first thing I thought of when I woke up was if you liked my face or not." she replied. "What else happened?" she asked as she tried to lift her right arm to return his caress. "My arm?" she says as she realizes it refuses to move.
"Lana, your right arm was badly broken. I've reset it and bound it to you so it wouldn't move. There is also a large cut on your upper thigh, it's been cleaned and sealed but a doctor needs to make sure it will heal correctly. I don't know if anything else was damaged, the medical scanner Mora had was destroyed so you need to tell me if anything else hurts." he says.
"Other than the fact I think you used too much painkiller I think the rest of me is whole. Help me sit up please" she responds. Helping her up Kal takes care not to touch her injured arm. Once sitting she says "Thanks and you didn't answer my question Kal'Reegar."
"Yes Lana, I saw your face. I had no choice and I have never seen anything quite as beautiful." he says softly having realized what question she wanted an answer too. "Now do you think you can walk? We may need to be on the move soon".
"Help me stand and I am ready for anything you want" she replies still smiling at his comment about her face.
Helping her walk towards the terminal Gavn says "Kal, I think I got it. There's a data-feed here. Monitor is powering up now."
"Good work Gavn, Illin" he says as he and Lana reach the terminal and watch its display.
Slowly the terminals screen warms up. The display grows in brightness until the words displayed are clearly visible. Kal looks at the display and says
"You two please join Tia at the door. Patyn, keep everyone at their posts until I call you."
"Kal? What's going on?" Patyn asks concerned.
"I don't know but if this is a trap I want you to be ready to make for the shuttle quickly." Looking at Lana he says "I won't make you leave but whatever you see or hear must remain with us until I know more."
"Then I will stay by your side and trust your judgment Kal." Lana responds quietly.
Looking into her eyes for a moment he then turns and once more reads the words on the screen. "Tell me again how you knew I was truly bonded to her."
"Kal, I don't understand. What kind of message is that?" Lana asks as she tries to pull more information from the sentence than is there.
As soon as he saw that message he knew what it meant and who had sent it but how? "Lana, it's a message to me from someone who should not be able to send it here." he said quietly.
"I'm confused Kal, you know what this message means? You know who sent it?" Lana asks.
"Yes, Commander Shepard sent it Lana. How I don't know but it must be from him and no one else" he replies. "He is referring to our private meeting held before his bonding ceremony. I was his witness as I believe you know. I told him that I did not need to verify his bond as it was already apparent it was real and then I explained how I knew."
"But here? Kal, that's impossible? How could he get a message to you here?" she asks still confused and a little pained. The medication was starting to wear off and her voice had a slight edge to it, she also felt a little light headed.
Looking hard at Lana he says "When we get back on the shuttle I'll tell you what I said but one thing I have come to know from Shepard is that impossible is something he does very well. Now, if you're in pain you should take another dose of medication. I don't want you hurting."
"It's not too bad yet Kal, um...How are you going to answer that question?" she asks.
Thinking about the conversation he remembers what he said. On thing stands out from the rest of his conversation and using the haptic keyboard types out his reply. 'I am aliv. . .ali ask.d you .o k..p m. aliv.' and presses the send icon. Wasn't perfect but they should be able to understand it.
"I'm sorry Kal, if I could use my arm I think I could fix the interface" she says then adds "So now we wait for...what?" Moving closer to Kal she holds his arm, if she hadn't she might have fallen.
"Yes, we wait for what I believe humans call a miracle." he says and places his hand over hers as she held onto him.
…
"Legion anything yet? It's been 30 minutes and that would have been plenty of time for Tali to get anything working. Surely their engineer can do it." John says as a worried frown crosses his face.
"We do not know what is being done within the building Shepard Commander. The power-feeds being monitored have detected variations in the power flow. The probability suggests at least the attempt to activate a terminal but without further data it is unknown what level of success they have had" states Legion.
"John, what happens if they don't answer your question? What if he thinks it's a trick by the geth?" Tali asks the concern clear in her voice.
John responds saying "Then we come up .."
Interrupted by Legion it says "We have received a reply. Message indicates a faulty input device. Probability algorithms have filled in missing information. Message is as follows. 'I am still alive because Tali asked you to keep me alive'. Message ends."
Tali looks at up at him saying "John? Is that what you expected to see?"
"Yes it is Tali. It's in reference to Haestrom and how you asked me to keep Kal alive as I came for you. It's him and he knows it's me." Now Legion, please send this "617 theta" and hope that he listens.
…
"How long do we wait for a reply Kal?" Lana asks.
"Not sure, but if he wants to talk it should be fairly quick." Kal replies as the display changes to show "617 theta"
"There's your answer. Shifting my radio to 617 theta" he says and he opens his omnitool and makes the adjustment. Reaching over to Lana's arm he looks at her and she nods the opens her own, allowing him to make the adjustment for her.
"Kal'Reegar here. Commander Shepard?" he says.
"It's me Reegar. Sorry for this odd means of communication but well, didn't really have a lot of options. Tali just wouldn't leave me alone until we called and said thank you for your part in our ceremony " John replies trying to keep the stress he hears in Reegar's voice from growing.
"Heh, sounds like her. Picked a hell of a time though Shepard. Don't suppose you're in orbit though" Kal responds.
Lana, unable to keep quiet any longer asks "Kal, why is he talking to us this way? On a quarian channel in geth space?"
"Who's that Kal?" Tali asks. It was not like him to have a second person in on his communications, she had listened to enough of them to know that fact.
Patting her hand Kal glances at her then says "Lana'Shalgur, my combat engineer and companion Tali. But to the question at hand, Shepard, why are you contacting us this way?"
"Because it was the only way to save more of your people Reegar. Your presence there is forcing me to move my own timetable up and what I am going to tell you must remain a secret for now. Miss Shalgur..." he says but is interrupted.
"Lana is my companion, my inszel, She is trusted Shepard." he replies. He actually felt himself blushing as he said it. He had known she meant a lot to him but it wasn't until then that he realized just how much.
Both women look at their partners but for different reasons. Lana just stares into Kal's eyes as she finally hears just how much she means to him. Tali looked at John and leaning close whispers "He has started the bonding path, he found someone!" The excitement in her voice conveyed her feelings for her friend.
"Then congratulations are in order to both of you. But we need to get you out of there. Reegar, Miss Shalgur, no one else must know of this yet but Tali and I are attempting peaceful negotiations with the geth. It's why they haven't attacked but you need to get back to your shuttle, can that be done safely?" he asks.
Silence was heard on the line as both Kal and Lana stood there shocked by the news. "Kal, John's telling you the truth, you must believe him. We believe you're after a transmitter there, it's broken Kal, there is nothing there for the fleet" Tali says trying to get a response from him.
Hearing Tali's voice mentally shook Kal. She had always been a voice of reason when their missions had gone badly. "Broken transmitter? Alright Shepard, I may be court-marshaled for abandoning a mission but I'm damn tired of losing good people for worthless equipment. What's the plan?"
"Reegar, get back on that shuttle of yours and return to the fleet. Tell them anything you want but don't mention the negotiations until Tali, Legion and I can join you and together we meet the Admirals" he says.
"Legion Shepard?" he asks but he watches Lana. She has been swaying slightly and asks "Lana, are you alright? Do you need to sit down?"
"I..I don't know Kal. My head.." She starts collapsing before she can finish.
"Lana!" Kal says as he catches her and laying her gently down on the ground he notices the pool of blood. Calling out "Tia help, Lana's fallen" he accesses her bio-readings and sees the warning indicators for her blood pressure. "Tia, she's bleeding badly!" He hears Tali talking but pays more attention to Lana.
"Kal? Is Lana okay? She's hurt? Why isn't the medic there?" Tali asks in rapid fire.
Tia comes running in with her omnitool already getting reading. She actives the injections to boost blood production but knows it won't be enough, at least a liter of blood was on the ground and her leg. She didn't know how much was inside the suit. "Kal we need to stop the bleeding. MOVE bosh'tet!" she says pushing him out of the way so she could reach her leg and find the cause.
Watching as Tia uses her hands to probe Lana's wound he finally answers Tali saying "Yes, she was caught in a missile explosion. I did what I could but our medic was killed. We need to get her back to the shuttle but it's 5 kilometers away." The concern in his voice was easily heard.
"Damn it, it's under her suit Kal. Somethings in there I can't get to without removing her lower portion. I need a clean room now!" Tia says loudly.
"John, that's too far. She needs to be in the medical compartment on that shuttle" Tali states, her own concern clearly in her voice.
"Shepard Commander. We geth do not have any medical platforms on planet. If speed is of the essence then we can provide a transport ship to deliver the Creators to their shuttle quickly. ETA would be 6 minutes" Legion says.
"Do it Legion, get it moving." then back to Kal "Reegar listen to me. A geth transport is coming to you. DO NOT fire on it! Tell your men now. It will get you to your shuttle quickly but for the sake of all the quarian people do not fire at it!" John says using his best persuasive voice.
…
Without acknowledging his request Kal calls on the all squad channel "Return to me and stow your weapons. If you can't stow them then drop them. Prepare for evac, we have a ride coming."
Patyn asked as he came quickly into the main room "Kal, what ride? All there is here are geth."
Holding his hand up to forestall any more questions he waits until all the squad members are present to explain. "I have just been informed by Command Shepard that the geth wish to talk peace. Now you can believe that or not but you must believe me now that if we don't get Lana back to the shuttle immediately she will die. There have been enough deaths on this mission."
Continuing he says "I have also been informed that a geth transport is due here any minute to take us back to our shuttle. I will be on that ship as will Lana. I'm willing to trust Commander Shepard not only with my life but also with the life of my inszel. I'm asking you to trust me and board that vessel so we all can live today."
"I'm coming with you Kal, Lana needs me" says Tia as she enters the specific codes to constrict Lana's leg seals into a tourniquet. "Kal, we only have 30 minutes before I must release the seals or we lose Lana's leg."
...
Inszel: Term of status or standing within a social circle. Literal translation: Most trusted confidant and partner. Used to describe the personal relationship of an individual. Implies a deep personal connection. Humans would say girlfriend or boyfriend but these only touch the surface of what it truly means.
Pemla'tiyl: Term for courtship. Literal translation: Pathway to the mind, the first of the three phases that lead to bonding. The period of time where the couple learns of one another through a deep sharing of thoughts. May lead to bonding or just a very deep friendship.
Hecs'tiyl: Term of courtship. Literal translation: Pathway to the heart. Second of three: Signifying the period where the needs of both begin to overrule the needs of self. Almost always leads to bonding though this phase is usually the longest of the three.
Felz'tiyl: Term of courtship. Literal translation: Pathway to the soul. Third of three: Signifies the period in which the two slowly realize that without the other they are incomplete. Once this phase is entered only ones death can prevent the bonding.