A/N - This chapter is conservatively Rated M for some mature content and a firefight. Lots of technical detail about battlefield medicine in 2183.
*** Not on My Watch ***
Joker's voice echoed through the hangar, "Over Drop Point One in sixty seconds. Ready for Hangar door open."
As yellow strobes began to flash at each of the four corners of the hangar door, the forward end of the hangar clanked and growled as an orangeish light began to shine in from the top.
Shepard had just finished inspecting Jenkins' and Alenko's suits when Anderson's hand was on his shoulder. "Your team is the muscle in this operation."
"That's what I'm talkin' about," Jenkins agreed.
"What about survivors, Captain?"
"The Beacon is your top priority. Looking for survivors is secondary."
Shepard frowned. "Sounds like they're dying down there, Captain."
Jenkins turned suddenly. "Survivors? What?"
"I know," Anderson nodded, "But that should tell you how valuable this thing is. The Colony isn't our primary mission; we don't have the manpower for it. We're just here for the beacon. I've called Trident, forwarded the transmission we picked up. But it's good that we're here before they've had a chance to take the beacon from us, too. Get the beacon safely back to the Normandy, and then we'll deploy SAR." Anderson folded his arms across his chest. "Since this could be a First Contact situation, the usual stuff applies, but since it looks like they've already engaged, you're authorized to use Deadly Force, your discretion."
Shepard could see Jenkins becoming agitated. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and nodded. "Dubyenski, Lowe, and Crosby are qualified CFR One and Two. I know they're off shift, but they're not Sleeping. If you can get them on the ground…"
"It'd be the right thing to do," Anderson agreed, "Though it could foul up our departure. But I'll see if they're up for it." He shrugged. "If I know Crosby, we'll have more trouble getting him back aboard than you."
"Probably." Shepard shook his head, "I don't know what Chakwas will do if she ever loses him." He nodded at Anderson, clacked the ammoblock into place on his rifle, and lit up the electronics. "We'll get that Beacon, sir."
"Ten seconds to drop," the Loadmaster's unamplified voice came from aft and still managed to fill the cavernous hangar. "Team One, gear up!"
Jenkins eyed the Spectre suspiciously. "Nihlus, you comin' with us?"
"I move faster on my own," the turian answered, looking up from his weapon but not making eye contact. He jogged up to the end of the loading ramp and leapt out.
"He's not part of your mission, Corporal," Anderson spoke over the wind noise, "He'll scout out ahead, and feed you status reports throughout the mission. Otherwise, I want radio silence between you and him."
Shepard nodded, "Expert, Ready and Able, sir."
Anderson nodded grimly, looking where the Spectre had just disappeared.
"Drop Two in ten seconds," called the Loadmaster, "Team Two, gear up!"
Shepard held his hand, palm up, between Alenko and Jenkins. He shouted, "Are we ready?"
Alenko got his hand in first, Jenkins put his hand on theirs. "We were born ready!" They answered together. They raised their joined hands a few centimeters and then quickly dropped them as Shepard shouted, "Go, go, go!" He turned and ran to the end of the loading ramp, and leapt the 300 meters or so to the ground. The MEFGs in his dropsuit activated on the way down, slowing his descent.
Each suit's four generators used the same tiny amounts of element zero, but put a huge power draw on the suit. This kept costs down, but it meant the generators failed regularly. Any two were enough to assure a controlled landing, and one was enough to allow survivability. Each dropsuit was linked to the user's ARO so they'd know on the way down if they needed help from another diver.
Shepard saw that both Jenkins and Alenko had failed generator three. This was not uncommon for right-handed divers, because it was the most heavily encumbered, but it was annoying to have them both fail now. His own suit started to slow his fall, as the two other men steered over to flank him. As he watched, Alenko's suit failed generator two as well.
Jenkins' voice was in Shepard's "radio ears," "You seein' this, sir?"
"You'll be fine," he answered, "This is a real short drop, and we're almost there."
"View from up high is bad," Alenko said as he touched down. "Three firefights that I could see, and damage to two of the SRN towers."
Serbrook-Regal Nanofacture ("SRN") had designed the NewTower series of self-assembling skyscrapers that was finding a lot of success in the colony market. Normandy had dropped them so they were facing into the sun, with three of the 70-story buildings in view. Shepard's ARO informed him that this variant had internal waste processing and UPS, collector arrays on all the sun-facing surfaces, and it could comfortably house and support over 900 people. It also deployed using local materials, and was "self-steering" in terms of its orientation, optimizing for weather and sun patterns (which had to be entered at startup by a user or VI.)
I hope they have automated Fire Control, Shepard thought grimly.
Nihlus, not subject to Anderson's radio silence order, seemed to think it worthwhile to provide info to Team Two. "This place got hit hard, Commander. Hostiles are everywhere. Keep your guard up."
As Shepard pulled his rifle off his SmartPak, his ARO switched to Combat Mode. Since there were no targets present, it simply began providing range and vector data on wherever his attention focused.
Jenkins, who had hit the ground running, was standing despondently at the edge of the cliff. "Oh, god…what happened here?"
"Smells like smoke and death," Kaidan said quietly.
Shepard tapped a key on his forearm and the helmet sealed itself into Hardsuit mode. Even though Eden Prime was a garden world, and a reportedly pleasant one at that, sealing their suits allowed them to talk to each other without being overheard acoustically. He made eye contact with his teammates and tapped his sealed helmet. It would also protect them in case the enemy was using chemical agents. "Configure for CEVA," Shepard said.
"We saw part of a transmission just as we were on final," Shepard told Jenkins as the other two men's suits reconfigured into Hardsuit mode, "I'm sorry you didn't get to see it. Looked like the local troops were taking a beating. We don't know who's responsible yet," Shepard compared the ARO with the rifle's local display. "Alright, light 'em up. Stay frosty. Don't die." He turned and started away from the distant buildings and was followed, first by Alenko, and then more reluctantly by Jenkins.
They were partway across the swamp when the suit showed motion at 25 meters. Shepard, on point, motioned for a stop. The ARO showed the target's relative location; it wasn't moving fast, and it wasn't heading for them. Shepard checked his suit's status. "Hey, remember to go to active camo." He switched his own on, and the suit VI painted camouflage on their suits as Shepard pointed left and right to cover. The two other men moved silently to the places he'd indicated.
From his location, Shepard saw it first, Kaidan saw it next. Even as alien as it looked, the slow-moving organic balloon creature simply wasn't threatening; it was almost comical. It was hard to tell if the Lieutenant was stunned, or just exasperated. "What the hell's that?"
"Gasbags," Jenkins said, suddenly feeling like the know-it-all. "Me and my sister used to hunt them. Called them 'Politicians!' Mom though it was funny, but dad made us stop."
"Are they toxic? Or dangerous?"
"No, but they're really chewy, and there's not much edible tissue. They're filled with hydrogen…I think…so they make a nice big explosion if you set fire to…"
"Alright, quiet," Shepard interrupted. "You guys haven't seen what we're up against, but I have. This is serious, and I need you to stay focused."
"Sorry, sir."
A glint of metal caught the attention of the suit camera, and Shepard's ARO called it out. "Hold. Something to the south." Bringing the weapon to his shoulder changed his ARO view to what the rifle scope saw. "Looks like…it's electronic." He stepped closer, weapon still trained on the unknown device. When the suit VI identified it, it highlighted the silhouette, and tagged a label to it. The information showed up on all their HUDs:
SHIELD GENERATOR, ELKOSS COMBINE
RFID SN: SY12-WW18-812X-4148
DATE OF MANUFACTURE: CE297.02182.
"A shield generator," Jenkins read. "And not too old. Looks like it still has power."
"Somebody must have dropped it," Alenko stood, lowering his pistol.
Shepard continued his slow approach, waiting for his modified suit VI to run a series of remote tests on it. If it was a disguised mine, it needed to be destroyed. If it really was a shield generator, it was a valuable find.
The VI's analysis agreed with the RFID.
Shepard aimed a few centimeters to the side of it and fired a single shot. Dust erupted into the air, and the cigar-sized generator rolled away from it. "I'm calling it safe," Shepard said. He approached, picked it up, and examined it. Rolling it between his hands, he worked the dirt off and held it up for them to see. "Who's got the lowest-powered shields? I'm at 150-980."
"120-920 for me," said Richard.
"Sounds like he gets it," said Kaidan.
Jenkins reached for the generator module, and stopped halfway. "Wait. What are you at?"
"Lieutenant," Alenko said with a meaningful look.
"Awww, I don't know about that. You may be a biotic, but you're just as vulnerable to hostile fire as anyone."
"We don't have time for this," Shepard put a hand on Alenko's shoulder and spun him around. The generator module slipped into place on the backclip and lit briefly to indicate successful integration. "And you lost a second generator on final. I'd bet real money you had to use some biotics to slow your descent."
"Thanks, Commander." Alenko managed to sound both relieved and annoyed.
"You don't mess with the Richard J," Jenkins strutted like Inky Blinky, a popular performer with animated LED tattoos. "None of this takin' one for Rich crap." As Shepard stepped between them on his way east, Jenkins tweaked the controls on his rifle, set off after Shepard.
"Guess not," Kaidan relented, and brought up the rear.
They backtracked across the swamp and up a small rise, where they found two burned bodies were prone across a rock, faintly smoking. Jenkins started to run to them, then drew up suddenly.
He gasped. "They're…dead!"
Shepard frowned. Dead they were, and beyond his immediate help. He gestured to his suit VI to stop showing sensor data on them, then pulled a handheld device off his belt and sprayed the head orifices with Nanotech Neurological Preservative (NNP.) The bodies might well be beyond healing, but the neurological structure could be protected from further deterioration. With the proper tech, the personalities could be largely reconstructed. The families would have the option. It was the last resort, but it was the best he could offer.
"What are you doing?" It was hard to tell if Richard was disturbed or just confused.
"I'm protecting their brains against further damage," Shepard explained as he replaced the NNP pack, "We have the technology to build human bodies, or at least most of them, and in case the family doesn't want to let them stay dead—"
"But they're…they're in heaven now," Richard was wide-eyed, "You can't save them!"
"Death isn't an event, it's a process…" Kaidan started to explain.
"And they're at the end of it," Richard pointed at the bodies, "These are just…just husks, the people are gone!"
Shepard and Alenko exchanged a glance. Shepard rose from a crouch. "And there's nothing else we can do here."
"We can notify the next of kin," Jenkins said, pointing at the bodies, "Do they have any ID on them? RFIDs or cybernetics? Are their omnitools—"
"There's nothing else we can do here," Shepard repeated, "A proper medical team will have to handle this. We are on a mission. Victor Indigo, mark the location and send a notice to the local 911 network. Sign my name." The suit VI displayed its instructions on the ARO to let him confirm them with a gesture. "Jenkins. We have to go." Shepard started north, away from the bodies.
Shepard performed a digit flick and the ARO displayed its rear view in a translucent window. Jenkins was following, but he kept glancing back at the bodies. They hadn't gone twenty meters before they found another. Shepard positioned his body to block Jenkins' view, quickly dropped to one knee, sprayed the head orifices with NNP, and issued another command to his suit VI. He wasn't quite fast enough.
"Why are you still doing that?" Richard sounded somehow angry and offended, "They're dead."
Standing again, Shepard turned to Jenkins. "Remember that stuff I told you about the team always comes first?"
From his deer-in-the-headlights expression, it was obvious he did. "Yes, sir…" He took a step back.
Shepard pointed at the fallen body, "Because we weren't here, this guy is dead. This," he held up the NNP sprayer, "is the best I can offer. So I offer it. If you don't want to do so yourself, then you may explain to their families why you did not. But I choose to help everyone I can." He turned and continued north. "Let's go."
As they walked, Shepard's suit comm clicked.
"Rich, this is Kaidan. I've switched to privacy mode for a moment. He can't hear me, but he could hear you, so just listen."
Shepard acted as if he couldn't hear this, and kept walking north.
Kaiden continued, "Our esteemed Commander Shepard is a Technologist. I don't just mean he knows about technology, it means he thinks that technology can save us. Not only from nature, but from each other…and maybe even death."
"Wha-?!"
"Quiet! He can still hear you," Kaidan said quickly.
"Corporal?" Shepard said without slowing his brisk pace.
"Sorry, sir…it's nothing."
Kaidan was silent as they continued north for a few seconds. "That was close. Like I said, just listen. Shepard thinks technology can save us…I've found the best thing to do is just let him spray his magic bottle on the dead ones. He's not hurting anyone, and it makes him feel better. And if you tell him I told you this, I'll put a grenade in your shorts. We can talk later if you want, but for now, just trust me and keep quiet about it."
The comm system chunked again.
"Hey, you guys getting any interference?" Shepard tapped his helmet. "I keep hearing something."
Kaidan feigned troubleshooting, "What…like static? Line noise? Echo?"
"Like someone's tapping their bone mic."
"I heard something," Richard said, "And it did sound like that."
Shepard played along, "You suppose Nihlus could be listening in?"
"Not on this channel," Kaidan said.
"You don't know that," Richard sounded like he was squinting, "I hear Spectres get access to lots of Top Secret tech."
Shepard smiled to himself as they walked, "That just means they have to work the bugs out. Always more bugs in new tech than old tech, or stuff that's already been commercialized and licensed."
"Well, I haven't heard it. But I'll be listening for it now," Kaidan finished.
As they reached the top of the next hill, they could see three more of the SRN NT70s, two completed, the nearest still building itself. Smoke billowed from the two nearest.
Shepard's ARO had mapped their destination, and the next hundred meters or so were clear to a blind corner to the right. Outcroppings of rock offered ample cover.
Alenko was all business. "Two targets incoming. They're moving fast and straight; I think they're flying."
Shepard raised a fist, Hold. With hand motions, he directed them to cover on either side, waited until they were in position, and then moved forward.
"Eighty meters. Watch 'em." said Alenko.
Shepard said, "Check your targets, remember this is–"
Two matte-grey drones appeared at the far end of the next rise, raining fire as they came. Richard, well covered but closest, found himself their target. His training was to dive for new cover, but as he did, the machines tracked him precisely. Two lines of blue fire connected the drones with their prey, and Richard cried out in surprise and pain. Blood sprayed across the landscape behind him as he fell.
Shepard gestured to accelerate into full Firefight Mode. Everything around him seemed to slow down to nearly a crawl as the neurotronics sped up his synaptic rate to six times normal speed.
"Rich!" Kaidan leapt from cover, running toward the drones, and then suddenly spinning a kind of pirouette; tech relays flew from either hand. In one fluid motion, he seemed to land in a crouch, throwing something at the drones as one might throw a javelin. As he did, indigo light exploded from his head and shoulders, coalescing into a projectile that accelerated away from him.
As the tech relays got within a meter of their targets, blue-white electrical arcs connected them with the relays, sending sparks flying. The burst of energy struck the electrically-joined machines and exploded.
There was nothing to do but watch the deadly dance; clearly it was one that had been performed many times before. But it did give Shepard time to start bringing up his weapon.
A third drone had joined the fray, and was bearing down on Kaidan. With his accelerated perception, Shepard could also move with increased precision; he took his right hand off the rifle, plucked a tech relay off his belt and flung it underhand toward the third drone. As it sailed across the space between them, Shepard gripped his rifle and squeezed the trigger. The drone exploded, close enough to Kaidan that he put up a hand to shield himself.
"Man down!" shouted Kaidan. He sprang across the field to where Richard had fallen.
Gesturing to slow back down to No Acceleration, Shepard watched the debris fall to the ground as he also bolted to Richard's side.
"Damn damn damn…took his leg off…and shrapnel in his abdomen." Kaidan wasn't looking up from his omnitool as the suit computer continued to analyze the injury. "Charged ammo, and lots of it; the stuff ripped right through his shields. Who are these guys?"
It didn't sound like the kind of question requiring an answer; Shepard dropped to his knees as the VI informed him it was switching to Sentry Mode. A radar-like overlay appeared on the right side of his visual field; no other moving objects had been detected. Shepard continued, "Jenkins' suit, active medigel deployment, code Blue."
"Medigel deployment at 30% efficiency," replied Jenkins' suit VI. It presented an icon on Shepard's ARO which, once activated, displayed an overlay of the damaged armor. Five of the twelve AbPlate modules had been shattered, medigel conduits underneath were useless. "Warning: Medical Emergency Proto—"
"Quiet, I know!" Shepard interrupted. "Release panels two, six…seven and eight. And eleven…and twelve." Atomic crosslinks between the panels retracted, the remaining pieces of the armor settled slightly, but visibly. Shepard pulled the debris away, flipping pieces aside as though digging; blood was filling the spaces between. Jenkins' suit would not be able to get the gel to where it was needed.
Shepard gestured to his suit VI, and the ARO showed what Kaidan had seen; whoever sent the drones, they were using smaller slugs at higher velocities, wrapped in shield-piercing "jackets." Though the jackets didn't make it through the shield, they allowed the payload through. The armor had taken all the damage, and even a gram of ammo accelerated to a fraction of light speed could shatter the exotic armor materials.
Shepard glanced at the tactical display; the bad guys were still headed in the same direction as before, so he had some time. "Victor Indigo, manufacture replacements panels for Jenkins' ground armor…uh…Abdomen panels two, six, seven, eight, eleven and twelve."
The omnitool chirped as it began working; Shepard glanced toward Kaidan. "How you doin' there?"
Kaidan pointed, "I need to keep him from moving; hold him down over there. Do like this…" Kaidan brought up a knee and pressed it down on Jenkins' hip. Shepard put his right knee on Jenkins' left hip as Alenko pulled the detached leg up by the armor. "No, there!" Kaidan pointed higher up Jenkins' torso, "You don't want pressure near the abdominal wound. We might have to leave the leg, but…wait! Does his helmet have stasis installed?"
A glance revealed the double-lined and faintly-glowing green triangle. "Yes." Shepard turned his wrist so the fabber could still produce the armor replacements as he put a finger to the icon and held it there. After a pause, the helmet chirped three times, and then made a low hooting sound over their comms. Lights at the neck interface and on the front of the helmet slowly flashed blue.
"Emergency brain support enabled," Richard's suit VI announced.
"Good," Kaidan said, pointing at Jenkins' belly, "Do you know how to tell if that's set up?"
"I have to build armor segments to get the gel applied," Shepard said as the omnitool chirped the completion of another segment, "But that'll take—"
"No, get the gel on there now!" Kaidan interrupted, "Otherwise he'll bleed to death!" He lifted the medigel pack he was holding, broke the seal and mashed it into the open wound. "The conduits are just for better control, the tech in the gel can work on its own; just slap some on there and tape him shut!"
"I'm fabbing his armor," Shepard waved his left arm slightly, "Can you do it?"
"Trade places with me; you'll need to keep his leg together so he bleeds less." Kaidan rose to a crouch, "Do you know how to cauterize it? Chakwas can put it back on when we get back to the ship."
Shepard set the armor segment down on Jenkins' chest plate, moved to his right and took the leg at the knee and ankle. "Here?"
"Wait, stay where you are, put your…put that knee there," Kaidan pointed at Shepard's left leg, slapped Richard's other hip, "And put a little weight on it."
Kaidan's enhanced vision showed him structures in different colors by density; he manipulated his omnitool, which extruded two small toothpick-like structures almost instantly. Fitting them on his thumb and forefinger, he picked a few pieces of shrapnel out by hand, tossing them aside as Shepard placed two more armor segments atop Jenkins' unmoving chest. He fed the armor fragments quickly back into the disassembler.
Shepard folded open his left thigh pocket, and handed Kaidan a nine centimeter square, wrapped in clear tape.
There was a faint fizzing sound in Shepard's ears as he fitted the last two pieces of armor into place. The ARO informed him that the damage underneath it was now getting medigel, that it had formed a scaffolded dermis, and was filling it quickly with blood recoded as IPS cells.
"Glad he's not awake," Shepard observed.
Kaidan didn't look away from his omnitool, "Oh yeah. 'Cos if it didn't hurt, you know it would itch like crazy. He wouldn't be able to keep his hands off it." He adjusted the omnitool and studied the display of how far along the reconnection process was.
With nothing to do but hold the Corporal together, Shepard noticed that Jenkins was not breathing.
And had no heartbeat.
"Still got no respiration, and no pulse," he said, "Do we need to start CPR?"
"No, you can't. Not yet. We have to get his leg and abdomen sealed. But he's in stasis, and that'll do what we need. When I tell you, you get up and trade positions with me again. I'm going to restart him as soon as I think the structures are strong enough to withstand it. What I really want you to do is hold this leg in place. Medigel should normally run for about five minutes before putting this kind of stress on it, but I don't think we can afford to wait. The leg was severed, so the armor can't go into Splint mode."
Shepard glanced at Kaidan and then at his omnitool. "There's a field repair for that. If I can fix his exoskeleton, will that do the trick?"
"Field repair? We don't have the time! We have to get him restarted, and we can't do that until he's closed up."
"Wait…if he's in stasis, can he wait for another minute?" Shepard tapped omnitool controls, started the build.
"One minute?" Kaidan seemed surprised and confused. "Well, yeah…but I thought it would take you longer to print out a new leg module."
Shepard explained as the omnitool printed. "His suit VI knows where the damage is; I only have to print four pieces of fifteen centimeter splint. They grip to the FlexNet and interface with any edition of PCMA newer than v12."
As the "treed" rods slid into Shepard's left hand, he snapped them apart and test-fitted them to the armor on Jenkins' lower left leg before taking them off again. "Set it to display instructions on your TransOpter instead of mine." He touched the hologauntlet with one of the splints, and began affixing them to the armor.
"Insert Medi-Gel™ between severed segments," Kaidan read off his ARO, "Clear a 3cm margin…Apply antiseptic tape…Set compression to 120 and…" He shook his head, "For a reattached amputation? How long have they had this?" He pulled another pack of medigel off his belt and broke the seal as Shepard fitted the bottom two struts. Blood continued to ooze freely, even if it wasn't pulsing; there was still a huge gap between the parts of Jenkins' leg.
Shepard picked up the BioTape card Kaidan had put on Jenkin's armor, rolled out a length of it, slid it between the struts and Jenkins' leg and began wrapping. "I heard about it…mm…eighteen months ago, but I have a special interest in my personal health, so I try to stay aware of stuff like this. Also wanted to be able to help if anyone needed it."
Kaidan focused on Richard again; with the tape under the leg, the medigel would be retained while it worked. Shepard tore it off at a perforation, and patched the ends while Kaidan adjusted the settings on Jenkins' medigel controller. "That's it? Just because it might be helpful?" He touched the Start key on his omnitool. "Wait. We've got to get him restarted. You're going to want to grip the leg like I'm doing here. See how I have my hands around the injury, and how I'm keeping it up off the ground?"
"Got it. I can do that."
"But I'm going to restart his heart, and that will make him jump. That'll mean away from you, and up away from the ground. You'll have to support the lower leg and be able to move it in that direction as needed. We can't let him break open, or he'll bleed to death."
Shepard's sentry radar pinged. "Unknown at one-fifty, northeast. Looks like two walkers. We've got three…maybe four minutes."
"Let's get him going, then. Are you ready?"
"Ready."
Kaidan seemed to hesitate. "You know I left you in the loop with the Technologist talk," he said almost guiltily.
"Of course. And Sierra Hotel, buddy; I appreciate it. I thought you handled it brilliantly." He glanced back down at the Corporal, "Now are we gonna use technology to save him from death or what?"
"Yeah." Kaidan grinned and nodded. "Okay, let's do this."
Shepard rose, moved next to Kaidan, took Jenkins' leg – trading hands with Kaidan one at a time – and then positioning himself so he could see the injury. "Victor Indigo, Sentry to left half of ARO. Medical TransOpter on right half." The display adjusted, and Shepard was able to see the bones looked to be perfectly aligned, but still with some space between them.
"Gut injury's doing well," Alenko said. "You have an update on the inbound?"
Shepard focused on the Sentry display. "No change in speed or direction. I think we're dealing with ground mechs. But I'm not getting IFF data off 'em, so they're not municipal. Could be private, but I'm thinking they're hostiles. We have maybe a minute and a half before they'll be able to see us...assuming they haven't already picked up our infrared."
Kaidan had straddled Jenkins' chest in a crouch, but put no weight on him.
"I'm gonna restart him; are you ready?"
"Ready."
Kaidan spoke to his omnitool, "Jenkins' suit, Code Blue restart now!"
"Charging for restart," replied the suit VI. "Clear of contact?"
Alenko hunkered down slightly, gripped Jenkins' helmet with both hands, "Clear!"
There was a muffled metallic crunch, and Jenkins lurched violently. Kaidan threw out an arm to keep from being smashed against the rock as Jenkins coughed, sputtered, then inhaled on his own. He convulsed, bringing his right leg up to try to push Kaidan away.
"Hold him down, hold him down!" Kaidan pressed a finger into Richard's helmet to toggle the brain support out of Recovery mode and back to its Stabilizer mode. "Richard…Richard! You're okay!"
"Richard, you're alright," Shepard spoke quickly, "It's Stephen and Kaidan. You took some fire, but we've got you back. We've got to move, though."
The man flailed as his eyes blinked rapidly, "Help," he said through clenched teeth, "Help!" As he seemed to focus on Kaidan, he relaxed. "Oh…Kaidan…I mean, Lieutenant. What are you doing here? What happened?"
Kaidan watched Richard's vitals on a translucent window on his ARO as he waved his omnitool over the splint. "We got ambushed. You took some fire. We fixed you up, but it was close. You need to lie still for a few minutes and let the damage repair."
"One minute…" Shepard saw the bones in Richard's leg were cooling to 35°C, but not fast enough. "Can we move him? Up to that rock, so we have some cover?"
"Carefully. Richard, we have to move you. Don't try to help. Just relax." Kaidan moved around so he could drag Richard by his shoulders; Shepard kept weight and shear forces off the still-fusing leg. Fortunately, they only had to move about a meter.
"Can I have some medigel? Do I need it?" Richard asked.
"You've got three packs working right now," Kaidan peeked over the rock toward where he knew the inbound was. "If you haven't got a PMA running, you should start one."
"Uh…sir?"
"A Pain Management App." Alenko glanced at him briefly. "Wait, don't tell me. You thought you could just tough it out?"
"It's not bad now…well, it kind of throbs…" His eyes grew suddenly larger. "Hot!"
Shepard gripped his wrists with his opposing hands, "Go like this, Jenkins, go like this!"
Both Richard's fists were clenched. "It itches like a mother!"
Shepard tapped one finger on Jenkins' faceplate, "Attaboy. Keep it up. Stay focused." He leaned up closer to Jenkins' face, "And if you reach for it, I will personally knock you out," he said, continuing to hold the leg aloft and toward Richard's torso.
"I know, but I didn't know it would burn!"
"Do you have ToughIt installed?" Kaidan wheeled through something on his omnitool. "Or Sleepi?"
"That stuff's for nerds," Richard sputtered.
"You'd better get over that attitude real quick, Corporal," Kaidan continued to look at his omnitool's gauntlet display as he took remote control of the Corporal's omnitool, "These things have been developed by people like us for use in situations like this. If you don't have them, or know how to use them, people can die. Your DIs should have told you as much."
Jenkins spoke through clenched teeth, "You sound just like him," he growled, "My suit's as well-programmed as anyone else's."
"It's not about letting the tech do the work for you. You have to be prepared for these things. I'm taking over your suit VI," Kaidan hunkered behind the gray outcropping, "You've got to have something…there." He nodded, seemed satisfied. He activated a very heavy-duty tranquilizer/analgesic. "AFE has some stuff...there you go. That should help."
Richard relaxed visibly. "Oh…" he blinked rapidly, "Oh, that's much better. Hey, I could do this all day." He took a couple of breaths. "Wait. Aren't we supposed to go get something?"
Shepard snapped, "Quiet, stop moving. Tango at fifty meters." He watched the blobs on his map overlay for a few seconds. "Still acting like they don't see us."
The three men looked at each other expectantly as they waited. Shepard kept watching the ARO's calculated map. Whatever the two things were, they turned and accelerated toward the humans. "I take it back," Shepard said, "You two stay down." His omnitool emitted a hockey-puck-shaped tech grenade, which Shepard passed to his right hand, then another, and another. "Must have used DMT to spot us. I'm gonna short out their weapons first. Kaidan, you be ready to head over there." He nodded to the west with his head. "If I can't stop them, I'm going to draw their fire the other way."
As the tech grenades displayed a pattern of lights indicating their readiness, Shepard gestured for 6x Acceleration, then rolled left and tossed the grenades over the outcropping. Blue bolts fired overhead, and all three bogeys winked off his display.
Firefight mode slid into place. The grenades had located the two targets and sent images from aloft; before being destroyed, they showed something clearly not colony mechs; the humanoid forms were topped with a forward-curving arc of a head, ending in a self-lit camera. Shepard's momentary ignorance disappeared into confusion as the VI identified them: GETH.
"Geth!" he barked. He squeezed the sides of his rifle's scope and the ARO switched to the scope's view; he poked the weapon over the top of the outcropping. The suit had discriminated the targets and outlined them; Shepard said, "Victor Indigo Autotarget!" The words Autotargeting ACTIVE appeared briefly over his view of the hostiles, then faded to semi-transparency. The geth were already in cover again; Shepard fired to keep them there.
One of the geth was closing fast on Kaidan; though it moved from cover to cover, it was far less conservative than Shepard would have been were the roles reversed. He tracked it until it moved through a cluster of tall grasses; his assault rifle chattered, the geth went down.
As he pulled back into cover, his weapon suddenly exploded; he watched in slow motion as it was blown out of his hands, shrapnel flying to the right. Refocusing on the ARO showed he had nearly been flanked. He rolled left and drew his pistol as he dove into new cover. The geth emitted a stream of noise that sounded like static as Shepard fired two preemptive shots, and then poked his pistol out from behind the rock to find himself under fire.
He pulled back into cover, touched left thumb to forefinger. As the omnitool rendered another tech grenade, he thought, These geth things are insanely fearless…I thought they were supposed to be AGIs, not just expendable puppets. He leaned around the rock and rolled the grenade toward the geth. Another tech grenade popped into his hand, and he tossed it high and right, drawing attention away from the lower, slower first grenade.
The flying grenade promptly disappeared in an explosion. There was a loud burst of electrical static, and the red outline disappeared from the display.
His ARO pinged an alarm and drew a callout on the hostile. Kaidan and Richard, about six meters away, were looking in his direction, and didn't see the geth weapon as it appeared from behind another rock.
Firefight mode allowed Shepard to realize he wasn't going to be able to bring his weapon to bear on it fast enough; he started to do so anyway. "Kaidan!" he shouted.
It was painful to watch the geth weapon zeroing in on his teammates faster than he was able to bring his own weapon to bear, but he continued, even as he began searching for alternatives.
Kaidan's head turned slightly. Then his back arched as if he had been impaled.
No! Shepard thought.
Kaidan's omnitool gauntlet lit up as he continued to bend and twist to his left, and Shepard watched as something extended from the omnitool like a stiletto.
As they connected, it became obvious: the Lieutenant had fabricated an electrically-charged stabbing weapon. Blue-white arcs covered the geth, and the machine seemed to fold in half.
Shepard's pistol was aiming at empty air as his time perception slowed back down. He was breathing hard and fast...as usual...and his forehead hurt…also as usual.
Richard was trying to crane his neck to see what Shepard was aiming at as Kaidan stood heavily from the smoking wreckage.
"Nice work, Lieutenant. Innovative." Shepard shook his head. "Made up for my FUBAR."
The still-smoking blade was reversing into the omnitool's disassembler; Kaidan didn't look up. "Thank you…I didn't see him. Jenkins, you all right?"
"Getting there, sir. Probably need a few more minutes to be back on my feet."
"You can bet on it," Kaidan held up an open hand toward the Corporal. "Lie back. Stay."
The younger man barked like a dog. Then he had second thoughts and added, "Sir."
Shepard was checking his suit sensors for signs of more hostiles. "It can't be safe here. We've taken down two parties, six guys…or robots, I mean…and I'd bet you they're as aware we're here as we are."
*** Glossary ***
AGI: Artificial General Intelligence
CEVA: Combat EVA, a hardsuit combat mode that protects against chemical or biological warfare, and allows for radio communications that aren't heard outside the suit helmets (see EVA)
CFR: Civilian First Response
CPR: Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation
DI: Drill Instructor
DMT: Doppler Motion Tracking
EVA: Extravehicular Activity: usually involving a pressure suit or biosuit, technically, this is any activity outside the atmosphere of a vessel, base, station, or planet.
FUBAR: Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition (worse than SNAFU, see SNAFU)
IPS cells: Induced Pluripotent Stem cells. Stem cells derived from other local tissue.
IFF: Identification Friend or Foe; system for discriminating allies from everything else in combat
MEFG: Mass Effect Field Generators
NNP: Nanotech Neurological Preservative. After the rise in popularity of cryogenic preservation, a short-term "last aid" solution appeared for people who die quite remote from a cryo facility to prevent damage to the brain while awaiting transport. As of 2180, NNP is effective for about five to seven months, depending on the conditions at death (hydration, temperature, type of damage if any, etc.) Normally a 2cc cell of NNP is integrated into a user's omnitool, but First Responders (SAR, CFR, and other First Aid Personnel) are nearly always equipped with NNP injectors.
PCMA: Personal Cyber Medicine Application. First-line VI-augmented personalized medicine, a default app in omnitools.
RFID ("AR-fid"): Radio Frequency Identification
SAR: Search and Rescue
SmartPak: an integrated weapons carrier worn as the back panel for compatible standard armor types. Active hardpoint controllers are linked to standard combat VIs so that a soldier has only to reach for the weapon for it to unlock and begin decompaction. Also automatically connects to weapons and allows them to finish compaction when being secured.
SNAFU: Situation Normal: All Fouled Up
TransOpter: Omnitool (mostly medical) function allowing user to see hidden structure of small, close objects; effective up to about 50cm
UPS: Uninterruptible Power Supply
