Chapter 28: What's Next?

Consciousness returned slowly, though in its wake there was also pain. The sensation quickly became an inferno that engulfed his senses. Ratchet groaned in response, reaching out, hoping to find some reprieve from this all-encompassing fire. He was alarmed when his body refused to listen to his brain.

There was something else too. What was it? Voices? Help. Please… Ratchet thought he heard a croak. Was that him? Ratchet wanted to drift back into the blackness, but he couldn't. The pain was growing brighter, hotter. Was he on fire? Blinking rapidly to refocus his vision, Ratchet groaned and once again tried to push his body up.

A searing lance of pain immediately told him what a bad idea that was. Straining his eyes toward the source, Ratchet realized that the right side of his torso was completely buried in rubble. Suddenly, a voice caused him to freeze.

"Griff, whatcha got?" Trying to stay as still as possible, Ratchet flicked his eyes towards the sound and saw a scarred turian calling out to an even uglier krogan.

The krogan in question grunted as he pulled some debris off of the object of interest. "It looks like somebody got spaced in that last battle. Can't tell from what side, though. Armor's completely burnt out."

"Lemme take a look," The turian, who was clearly the leader of the duo, clambered over some debris to reach Griff's side. "What the–?" He leaned in to properly examine the body. The turian's eyes roamed across the burnt shell partially crushed underneath the rubble. The gears in the crafty smuggler's brain began rapidly turning.

"I think we just landed the jackpot, Griff. Take a look at the armor and gear," The turian said, pointing at some of the damaged hardware lying near the body. "It's all Alliance-issued."

Griff shook his head in confusion. "He don't look like any human I've ever seen, Rupus."

Rupus' mandibles briefly vibrated in the human equivalent of a self-satisfied sneer. "Exactly. And that's why I'm the brains of this operation. An alien that we've never seen before is using Alliance issue gear. That means that the fucking humans are performing illegal experimentation and are making some high-tech stuff."

Griff shook his head again. "So?"

Rupus growled in frustration. "Shut up and just let me do the thinking, dumbass. The only thing you need to know is that the right people will probably pay a shit ton of money to get this information or keep it secret." The turian leaned in close to the alien's head, tapping the strangely shaped helmet. "This thing is going to make us fucking rich."

If he could have, Ratchet would have recoiled in disgust. As it was, he tried to stay as still as possible, suddenly realizing the acute danger that he was in. He could barely speak or move his body, much less defend himself in his current condition. There was a maliciously intelligent gleam in the turian's eyes that he didn't like.

Griff bared his teeth in a krogan grin. After all the small-time jobs they had been pulling lately, fucking rich sounded like the break their crew had been waiting for. "I like the sound of that," He said as he lumbered towards Ratchet, intent on pulling the body loose from the rubble.

As the krogan bent down, Ratchet grit his teeth, trying to steel himself against the inevitable manhandling, but was unable to stop an involuntary groan from escaping his mouth as soon as Griff began trying to yank his body out.

Griff dropped Ratchet as if he were a radioactive pyjak. "Tuchanka! It's still alive, Rupus!"

Rupus tried to hide the fact that he too had nearly jumped out of his armor with a growl. "I see that, Griff!" He yelled. "Pull it out. I'm pretty sure that our paycheck just got even bigger!"

Ratchet had heard enough. He was in some deep trouble right now and immediately began to try to wriggle his arm free, but the realization that he couldn't feel his right arm sent an icy chill through his chest.

But before he could think about it too much, something strong grabbed onto his free arm and began tugging. Then it yanked, and suddenly it felt like Ratchet was tearing in two.

"AAAGGGGHHHH!" A cry of pure terror and anguish was torn form Ratchet's throat. It caused Griff to stop pulling.

"Shit, Rupus, what if someone hears him?"

Rupus growled. "Who cares? The Council doesn't," He scoffed. "Look around! This part of Zakera's still abandoned and the debris crashed here two days ago. Just pull the fucking alien out already."

Griff hesitated. "His other arm is crushed underneath some stuff there."

Rupus narrowed his eyes. Did he have to do everything? Seeing a weak point in the joint of the armor, the turian drew his omni-blade with a growl. Looking down, if he could have seen Ratchet's eyes behind his helmet, he would have seen pure terror shining back at him. It wouldn't have stopped him. Raising his omni-blade high, Rupus swung down with grim determination.

Unable to defend himself, Ratchet could only watch helplessly as the blade flashed downward. On the first hit, Ratchet's screaming renewed with a newfound terror, but Rupus brought his blade down again and again with a stony face until finally he had severed Ratchet's crushed arm from his body.

Mercifully, by that point, darkness had reclaimed Ratchet, and there was silence. "Whew," Griff muttered underneath his breath. "He passed out. But he's bleeding all over."

Rupus shook his head grimly, before gesturing at the stump where Ratchet's arm was once attached. "Look at that. Is his armor… sealing the wound?" Armor could compress around small bullet wounds, but around a severed limb? Neither the turian nor the krogan had ever seen armor do that before. Especially armor that looked like it had been passed through a blender.

Rupus shrugged. "Well, he's not bleeding any more, and this proves it. The Alliance must be working on some black-market stuff or something."

Griff chuckled menacingly. "Do you think they'll pay more if we keep it alive?"

"You betcha," Rupus said, turning away from Griff to hide the unease on his face. Alien or not, those screams were pure terror and pain.

CRACK!

The sharp sound was immediately followed by the sound of a sickening squelch behind him. Rupus faintly recalled memories of the sound from his early days in the turian navy. Was that a sniper rifle?

Quickly, he whirled upon Griff. "What's–?" To his shock, he saw the krogan standing where he had been a moments before, but where his head should have been was a pulpy mess of blood and flesh.

Before he realized what had happened, another shark crack sounded. That was most certainly a heavy sniper rifle. Firing modified armor-piercing rounds. But before he could recall those facts, Rupus was dead, his upper torso violently exploding.

From the shadows, a salarian materialized into being, holding what appeared to be a heavily modified sniper rifle. Quickly stowing it, he leapt over the debris to reach Ratchet. Running a quick scan on the Lombax, the salarian immediately began to apply medi-gel and emergency aid.

When he was satisfied that the Lombax had stabilized, the salarian hoisted Ratchet over his shoulder with a grunt and disappeared once again into the shadows.

When Ratchet opened his eyes, memories started to come back slowly. The Council had discovered that he was a Lombax and had separated him from Shepard in order to discover the truth. Interrogated was probably the proper word. And what was that buzzing in his head? Was he on painkillers? It made it hard to think. But what happened afterwards?

That's right. The Citadel invasion. The Reaper… Sovereign came and attacked the Citadel with an entire fleet of geth. Damn. So many dead. But then Shepard of all people crash landed on the Presidium in the Mako of all things. There was definitely a story behind that.

And then Ratchet made his way aboard Sovereign. There, he found Ashley. Oh god, the things that the Reapers had done to her. It was horrific. But she was safe. Hopefully. They destroyed Sovereign's element zero core, and he was able to get Ashley aboard the Normandy before Sovereign blew up…

A little voice in the back of Ratchet's head told him to stop digging. To just stop thinking and to go back to sleep, but he pushed past the fog in his head. Sovereign blew up, and the next thing he remembered was waking up somewhere on the Citadel. He remembered pain. As if he had been on fire.

There were also two others there with him. A turian, and a krogan. They were scavengers. They had found him…

With a start, Ratchet looked down, praying that he it had all been a nightmare. There was no way, right? But looking at the evidence in front of him, he could no longer deny it. His right arm was gone.

A rushing sound began to fill Ratchet's head, as his vision began to spin and blur. Was that him? Was he hyperventilating? There was also the thunderous booming that seemed to echo from his chest. Was that his heart? No, that couldn't have been right. Nothing about this was right. Nothing!

"Ratchet!"

The Lombax turned his head to the source of the noise. It was a salarian. He looked familiar. Oh, that's right, Corlaf. The Spectre from earlier. What was he doing here?

"My arm… It's gone…"

"Ratchet, you need to calm down! Your vitals are spiking like crazy!" Corlaf urged, already releasing a small dose of anesthetics into Ratchet's system.

"How did… What happened? Have you seen my arm?" There was a rising hint of hysteria creeping into Ratchet's voice, and it broke the Salarian's heart. Ratchet was just a kid. How had this happened?

"Ratchet, go to sleep. We can talk about it when you wake up," He said with a surprisingly soothing voice.

"But… my… arm," Ratchet said drowsily, the anesthetics beginning to take effect. "You'll… find it… right?" And like that, he was out.

Corlaf sighed. "I'm sorry, Ratchet," he muttered. "I'm sorry."

It wasn't until an hour later that Ratchet finally woke up. The first thing he did was check his arm again, but against all of his hopes, nothing had changed. It was still gone. There was no pain, no tingling, no familiar contraction of muscles. It was as if all sensation had ceased. The only thing he felt now was a dull throbbing near the stump where his elbow had once connected to his arm.

It had all really happened. He had never felt quite so helpless in his life as he did then, trapped underneath rubble and unable to fight back. Just thinking about the experience made Ratchet want to vomit.

He could feel his heart rate and breathing accelerate as his anxiety began to spike. No. Calm. Deep breaths, Ratchet told himself. It took some effort, but eventually he was able to calm himself down enough to notice his surroundings.

Corlaf was standing at the door, an inscrutable look on his face. "Ratchet?"

The Lombax turned towards the salarian Spectre. "What happened to the turian and krogan?" He glanced briefly at his arm before turning away.

Corlaf swallowed. "I found you on the Citadel. Uh, Zakera Ward. I killed the turian and krogan."

Ratchet nodded numbly. "Good," he muttered under his breath, a dark look crossing his face. An uncomfortable silence descended over the two.

"Are you going to be ok?" Corlaf asked, before frowning as he realized the obvious answer. Although salarian to his core, Corlaf had enough experience around other species to realize when he might be insensitive. But to his surprise, Ratchet released a laugh completely devoid of humor. The salarian waited, sensing that this was not the right time to speak.

"You know," Ratchet finally said after a brief bout of silence. "In all the trouble I've gotten up to… Even right before Sovereign exploded, I thought for sure that I'd be totally fine. It never crossed my mind that I would ever end up like this." There was a far-off look in the Lombax's eyes.

Corlaf had no suitable response and looked away in discomfort. "I'm sorry, Ratchet. If I had found you sooner…"

Ratchet shook his head sadly. "It wouldn't have helped. I'm pretty sure my arm was already crushed. This," He gestured at his stump, "Would probably have happened sooner or later." A sigh escaped from the Lombax. "It's weird, but I'm just numb right now. I'm not really sure what I feel."

Corlaf nodded. Time was needed to process the injury. That was something he understood was essential for other species. Unlike salarians, who tended to process just about everything rather quickly, most sapient species tended to need time to sort through traumatic events. It seemed that Lombaxes were no exception.

"To catch you up to speed," Corlaf said not unkindly, "It's been over two days since the Battle of the Citadel. With the Alliance's help, we destroyed the Reaper and sent the geth into retreat, but the fallout from the Reaper's destruction has severely impacted parts of the Citadel Wards."

Ratchet nodded. "The Normandy? Shepard? Did they make it?"

"Indeed. In fact, according to the report, it was thanks to Shepard and his ground crew that we won the battle of the Citadel," Corlaf said with a renewed respect for the human Spectre.

Ratchet breathed a sigh of relief. "So, they did it. That's a relief. But…" The Lombax hummed thoughtfully. "How the quark did you find me? When Sovereign blew up, I thought I was a goner!"

Corlaf frowned. "How near to the Reaper's blast radius were you?"

"I was on board," Ratchet responded matter-of-factly. "Ashley and I destroyed the core."

The salarian blinked rapidly in disbelief. That hadn't been on the report. "You were on board when the Reaper exploded? How are you still alive?!"

Ratchet wanted to laugh in the same way whenever people asked him that question, but he had a permanent reminder that luck was finite. Instead, the Lombax shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not sure. It's lucky… I'm lucky as hell that I'm not dead." A dark, somber look shaded Ratchet's face.

Corlaf, not truly understanding exactly what was running through Ratchet's head, simply nodded in agreement. "Your armor may have something to do with it. If you were in that explosion, it's a miracle that your armor was still even intact when I found you. I'm not even certain that Spectre armor would hold up against a concussive force like that."

Ratchet swallowed. "Yeah. Anyways," He said hurriedly, "Where are we?"

"We're headed to Omega right now. It's a space station built into an old mining asteroid."

Omega. Why did that sound familiar? "Wait, I think I've read about it. Isn't it a pirate haven? Why are we going there? Is the Council sending me there?"

Corlaf twitched his shoulder somewhat nervously. "The Council doesn't know that you're alive. According to the classified report that the Council received from Shepard, you were MIA after the battle."

This caused the Lombax to sit up a bit straighter. With a quirk of the head, he asked, "You didn't tell Shepard or the Council that you had found me?" Everybody thought he was dead?

Although the Spectre saw confusion on Ratchet's face, he was surprised to find a lack of fear. "I don't know why, but I just had a hard time believing you were dead. And while you were being… detained, I was able to lock onto the energy frequency that your suit's VI system utilizes. I used that to track you down after the battle." There was some silence as Corlaf observed a quiet Ratchet. "You don't seem to mistrust me," He noted.

A small smirk crossed the Lombax's face, the first hint of humor since waking. "Should I? I thought you owed me for the sniper rifle?" This caused the salarian to reflexively snort as Ratchet continued. "Maybe I should be a little more skeptical, since we just met and all," Ratchet added with a low chuckle, "But call it a gut feeling, that I can trust you. And I've learned to rely on my instincts."

Corlaf made an expression that looked like a raised eyebrow. "You're definitely a strange one," The Spectre noted somewhat skeptically, a healthy suspicion born from his time in various covert forces evident on his face.

Ratchet grinned humorlessly. "But you still haven't answered my question. Why didn't you tell anybody that I'm still alive?"

Corlaf turned his hands backwards, in a gesture reminiscent of a shrug. "If you want to tell Shepard, or even the Council that you're alive after you've recovered, that's up to you. But that information is yours to share, not mine." There was a moment's hesitation before Corlaf continued. "But I did think that you might want to lay low if you were still trying to find a way back home."

A blank stare crossed Ratchet's face as he thought about all of his friends back home. Cronk, Zephyr, and Talwyn. Those three were an interesting crew, to be sure, but he and Clank were just as unlikely a pair. The last time he had seen those three, he and Clank disappeared through the Zoni's portal. Were they looking for him? Hopefully they were taking good care of Aphelion. And Clank! Was his buddy ok? Where was he? The Zoni had to be the key.

And the others. Thoughts of the Q-Force flitted through Ratchet's mind. Big Al, Helga, Skid, even Qwark. Stars, what were those guys up to? Were any of them still with the Rangers? And Sasha… the two had a brief fling, which had a somewhat fiery, albeit mutual ending. Hopefully they were all ok.

Corlaf nodded. "It seems like you've got a lot to think about. We'll hit the Omega Mass Effect Corridor in another standard hour or so. Come up to the front then. In the meantime, just give some thought to what you want to do. No need to make a decision right now." With that, the salarian retreated from the med bay, returning to the cockpit of his small starship and leaving Ratchet alone once again.

A/N: Thank you for the patience, everybody. For all of my faithful readers, I really appreciate you all sticking around, especially to those taking time to review or send me a PM. A lot of talking this chapter in order to set up the next chapter (or two) which will finally complete the first entry of Ratchet's adventures in the Milky Way. Stay well, my friends!