Chapter Forty Six: Much Ado About Shepard
The extranet article's cover art hit Liara hard. It showed a cartoon version of Shepard holding the Milky Way Galaxy on his shoulders. Planets were crumbling off, their features distinctive of Earth, and Palaven. The cartoon Shepard was desperately trying to save them with last ditch efforts using his feet. His face was aged ten years (she didn't know if that was on purpose) and his normal brown hair on his face was white. The top of his head might have been white, too, but it was hard to tell since the artist used his trademark shaved head. The scar on his hairline was even there, only looking more rundown. The cartoon was a sickeningly accurate picture of Shepard's position.
Before this she had never really thought of how much pressure was on Shepard, but the artwork had brought her to reality. Liara had been doing things, important things, with the Shadow Broker network, but the gravity of the universe's situation had never dawned on her. Now it had. It was especially horrible to realize the awful position Colt was in. She thought it might be better to continue to live obliviously.
Even when Shepard walked into her room wearing his very clingy, and very distracting dress blues, it didn't make her feel better. Rosebud following him in, and looking like she was smiling didn't help.
"So how do I look?" Shepard gestured his hands out wide. He grinned that crooked smile that made Liara's heart skip a beat.
"Fine," she stood up, and immediately started straightening out everything. Crooked medal? Adjusted. Wrinkle in his collar? Gone. Still the distraction didn't help. She tried to make herself joyful; since she knew Shepard could feel some of her emotions.
She was apparently doing a horrible job, though, because Colt caught her hand. Then he proceeded to very worriedly ask what's wrong. The concern clouding his normally vibrant jade eyes made Liara feel a little better.
"Nothing serious, go to the war summit, and then we can talk," Liara straightened everything out again. Shepard slapped off a salute, and escorted her to the CIC. There she would wait with Rosebud to hear what the top galactic politicians and military leaders decided what the fate of everything would be.
...
'I want this,' and 'I don't want that' would be an accurate summary of Shepard's war summit. Basically, whenever anyone wanted something, another leader would say they didn't want that. The most prominent of these fights was the one over the genophage. The Krogans wanted it cured, the salarians didn't. The tension built up from there.
Shepard really, really hated choosing between two species. Both the Krogans and the salarians had so much to offer the war effort. The decision came when Shepard thought about how many people each race had. Sure the salarians had more people at the moment, but if he cured the genophage, Krogans would easily surpass that number. More people to throw at the Reapers meant they were more valuable. A flawed, and awful way to picture war, but sometimes ruthless calculus was needed.
Then the bombshell about female Krogans being cured of the genophage, and locked up in a salarian laboratory hit. Shepard's decision to side with the Krogans felt even more justified. Victus seemed to agree with his decision, so they planned to head for Sur' Kesh. The salarian dalatrass was very reluctant, even calling Shepard a bully, but it was hard to say no when three races were breathing down your neck.
Relief hit Shepard hard when he walked from the war summit. He was glad to be away from everyone, Wrex included. Liara, Garrus, Rosebud and Vega waited for him in the CIC. Liara waved at him enthusiastically, and he waved back.
Colt approached the four, and threw them a crazed look, "Oh. My. God. That was one of the worst meetings I have ever experienced. Everyone was just in it for themselves. Does no one see that we will only defeat the Reapers together? I was not designed to put up with these type of things," Colt knew his eyes were bulging, and his hands were moving wildly during his rant. He tried to calm himself down. "Sorry, what I meant was that everyone was just so courteous I couldn't believe it. We all ran around the table holding hands, singing lullabies, and talking about our dear families. Then we sipped hot cocoa, and sang a song on the importance of togetherness," Colt laughed at how everything he said was the exact opposite of what happened. He laughed even more when he saw Liara giggling behind her hand.
"Commander Shepard. I knew you were willing to bully anyone to get what you wanted, but I was not aware that you also lied," Shepard held in a long sigh when he heard the salarian dalatrass speak. She was not amused by his antics.
"I was joking, dalatrass. I'm sorry for appearing to be a bully, but the galaxy needs the Krogan. They won't cooperate unless we do something about the genophage," Shepard tried to speak calmly; he wanted to sound in control.
"The salarians will have to deal with the repercussions of your short sightedness, Commander. When this is over, we'll be dealing with large numbers of Krogan. My people will have to sacrifice even more than we already have, a concept I'm sure you don't understand," a rolling tide of anger hit Shepard hard. How dare she assume he hadn't sacrificed!
"Dalatrass, I would watch your words carefully, since it's quite obvious you have no idea what you're talking about. You have NO idea what I've sacrificed! You don't even understand what sacrificing is. I'm guessing the only thing you've ever had to do without is a meal or two. Your people understand what it means to sacrifice; such a shame that their politicians can't. Before making any more uninformed decisions, shut your mouth. The galaxy needs military leaders right now, and insulting a high ranking member of the Alliance isn't going to get you far," Shepard yelled at the dalatrass. He was seething at her words. He hoped his words were as devastating to her, as her words to him.
"Joker, take us to Sur' Kesh. Ensign Garcia, make sure the lovely dalatrass has everything she needs. The ride to Sur' Kesh will be a while." Ensign Garcia ran up to Shepard when his name was said. At this point everyone in the CIC was staring at the yelling match. When Shepard turned to leave he saw the horror in Liara's eyes. He didn't care if yelling at the leader of a major race was frowned upon, he was done. A prickle of pain made its way from Shepard's stomach, a sure sign of how mad he was.
Liara, Garrus, Rosebud and James followed Shepard on the elevator. Satisfaction coursed through him when he saw the shocked face of the dalatrass. Liara gripped his hand in an effort to comfort him, while James and Garrus spent their time avoiding eye contact. Colt felt bad that he had made everyone else feel bad. "Listen guys, I'm sorry-," he was interrupted when nausea hit him. He could feel bile in his throat, but swallowed it back down. His mouth tasted like blood, so he brought his free hand to his mouth. When he brought his fingers into his sight range, he could see crimson red.
Confusion clouded his mind for a second, and then white hot pain ripped through Colt's torso. He yanked his hand out of Liara's and gripped his stomach. The pain was unbearable, and he let out a strangled sigh. His body was glued to the elevator's side, in an attempt to keep upright. He could feel Liara at his side. Colt could vaguely hear her asking what was wrong. Rosebud was furiously licking his hand. Garrus and James were also close, asking him questions he couldn't understand.
The elevator had stopped on the crew deck. Colt remembered that's where they were going. He stumbled out of the elevator, still gripping his stomach. He went down to one knee, a very shaking hand keeping him up. Before he could stop it, he vomited. Blood and that thick clear oil were the only things that came out. "Get Chakwas," was the only thing he could get out. The pain was too overwhelming to think of anything else.
Vaguely he could feel himself being lifted. It might have been someone using biotics. People spoke all around him, but he couldn't make out voices. He felt a prick in his arm, and ever so slowly the pain went away. "Shepard, can you hear me?" Chakwas asked. Her voice was off to the side.
"Ya, what happened?" He felt so tired. All he wanted to do was sleep.
"Do you think you can sit up?" Chakwas' hand lightly touched his arm.
"Ya, I think so," Shepard sat up with some help. He was in the Normandy's med-bay.
"Surprisingly, this incident was quite lucky for you," Shepard's vision cleared, and he saw Chakwas looking at him.
"Doesn't seem like it," he replied, still trying to get his bearings back.
"I have some... news, so listen closely," Chakwas' voice clearly changed, so Shepard tried to focus even more on her. "Do you remember how I talked to you about medical leave after the Batarian relay incident?" Shepard nodded as best he could.
"I told you that your cybernetics weren't taking to your organic tissue as much as they should've, and you needed time to make them fuse together. To make two parts of you into one. I'm sorry, but your organic tissue is rejecting your cybernetics," Chakwas' words made no sense to Shepard. "When you worked with Cerberus, they were fusing nicely. I think a combination of shortened healing time, and strenuous activity has made your organic tissue reject the cybernetics. Your organs are only working at eighty percent right now. You're lucky this happened, or I might not have caught all this in time," Shepard wasn't understanding her point at all.
"What are you trying to tell me?" Shepard's words were a bit slurred.
Chakwas turned her head from him. He thought he saw a tear run down her cheek, "Shepard, you're dying."