Thessia
Liara raced through the foyer of Sen's complex, hating everything that was elevator technology as she waited to ascend to the proper floor. Her fingers drummed a frenetic tattoo on the wall and her foot tapped against the floor. She did not acknowledge the askance glances of those in the elevator with her. They did not matter. Nothing mattered but her intuition. Nothing mattered but what she would find when she reached Sen's apartment.
The elevator doors opened and Liara rushed out, upsetting the young couple who were attempting to enter. The matron tossed a harried apology over her shoulder and continued running. She reached Sen's door, terrified when she found it unlocked. The door flew open and the scene greeted Liara's eyes. She struggled to control the furious beating of her heart.
Sen lay in a circle of shattered glass. A spire of black metal protruded from her thigh, a pool of violet blood soaked into the carpet beneath the injury. Liara skidded to her knees, unmindful of the broken glass as she lifted her omni-tool and ran a scan. The itemized list of injuries appeared and a sickened tightness constricted Liara's throat.
Broken nose.
Seven cracked ribs.
Mild internal bleeding.
Punctured thigh resulting in damaged muscle tissue and ripped tendon.
Severely bruised lumbar spine.
Thanking whatever god would hear that no injury was immediately life threatening, Liara apologized for the breach of secrecy, and ran an illegal hack on Sen's omni-tool, transmitting the young doctor's contacts to Liara. The broker's eyes scanned the listing and lit on the name they sought. She opened a call and waited for the screen to resolve into the face of the asari physician she had met but once.
Treya's eyes were sleep-fogged and bleary, but they immediately lit as they saw the face of the stranger who had called her on her time off.
"Doctor Valen?" Liara asked. "I trust I have the right person?"
"Umm…yes." Treya replied, her brow still furrowed with confusion. "Doctor…Doctor T'Soni?"
"Yes." Liara replied. "I do apologize for calling you, but this is an emergency. I'm with Sen. She's been beaten and is badly hurt."
The figure on the screen moved and Liara averted her eyes as Treya began to get dressed. "Get her to the hospital." the surgeon ordered. "I'll meet you there and take care of her personally."
Liara glanced from Sen's blood covered face, attempting to put the mystery of what had happened together without wasting the time needed to get Sen help. This was not something that had happened randomly. And Liara knew that Sen had few, if any, friends that she would allow into her home.
She had mentioned something about Mira's father…oh no. No! No! That man had best be prepared for the showers of hell that are soon to descend on him. A line has been crossed and he will suffer for it.
However, as anger blistered through her thoughts, the calm, rational part of Liara's mind realized that to take Sen to the hospital would be to put her in close proximity to the man who had brutalized her. Not to mention the fact that the chief of medicine, Ela T'Vari, was still none too pleased with Sen T'Aryn and Liara's actions on her behalf. Taking Sen for treatment there would be akin to throwing a wounded, bleeding rabbit into a den of wolves.
"No." Liara shook her head. "That's a risk I won't take with her life, and I promise I will explain later. Until then, a transport will be at your home in ten minutes. Get in and it will take you to my estate."
"Doctor T'Soni…"
"I have medical facilities in my home that outstrip those possessed by any hospital in the known galaxy." Liara snapped as she watched Sen's eyelids flutter. "I am trusting you, Doctor Valen. Do not disappoint that trust."
Treya nodded over the link. "You've got it. Ten minutes. I'll be ready."
"Thank you." Liara poured a full measure of gratitude into those two small words, hoping that they would be enough until after the crisis had passed, when Sen was on the way to recovery.
Her omni-tool screen closed and Liara reached out, touching Sen's cheek, relieved to find that her temperature remained normal. The doctor's eyelids fluttered again and her unusual, beautiful eyes opened. Liara's heart cracked as she saw those eyes filled with fear.
"Sen," Liara spoke, her voice low and calm. She had learned long ago how to avert an attack of panic and shock after an injured person regained consciousness. "Sen, it's Liara. Can you hear me?"
Sen attempted to nod an answer, but her eyes flared wide and a tiny whimper broke past the lips that were stained with dried violet blood.
"Try not to move, dear." Liara urged her. "You've been badly hurt."
At that statement, Liara could see memory of the attack filter into Sen's eyes. The maiden's body went rigid and Liara rested a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to impart a comforting touch. Sen's stiffness did not ease, however.
"Is he…" Sen rasped, her voice hoarse and nasal. "..still here?"
"No." Liara shook her head. "No, it is just you and me. Sen, I have to get you help."
Sen's eyes filled with dread. "Please no. Not the hospital." she murmured, reaching out and weakly grasping Liara's sleeve. "He's there. I don't…I can't…"
"Shhhhh." Liara soothed her, cradling Sen's cheek with her hand. "Hush now. I am going to take you home, and there is a doctor on the way to help you. I need to get you to my car."
"I can't…can't move." Sen's voice rose and took on a panicky tone. "My back is…my legs won't…did…oh goddess…am I…"
"No." Liara stated, emphatic, already seeing the horrific fear of paralysis enter Sen's eyes.
Not that such things are irreversible in this magnificent day and age but…but it is still not a condition mended with ease and without pain.
"Your back is badly bruised, but nothing is truly broken." Liara comforted the cardiologist, knowing that those in the profession of healing preferred full disclosure of their own injuries. "Treya Valen is meeting us at the estate, and you are going to be fine in no time."
"If you…take me down…" Sen took a labored breath, "…someone will see and…call it in."
"No one is going to know, believe you me." Liara promised. "I will make certain you are safe."
Liara pulled up her omnitool again and sent a command to her skycar to pick them up on the roof. Her throat tightened further as she turned her attention to the metal in Sen's thigh. It was thick and heavy, the base of it visible under Sen's leg. If Liara attempted to lift the maiden, the metal would pull free from the wound and Sen would begin loosing blood far too rapidly. The shrapnel needed to remain inside until it could be removed by a medical professional.
"This is going to hurt." Liara cautioned, engaging her omni-blade.
She grasped Sen's calf and raised the leg so that she could cut through the base of the metal. Sen cried out, a ragged, pained noise that broke Liara's heart all over again. With a quick, decisive move, Liara sliced through the base of the metal and moved it out of the way, gently setting Sen's leg on the ground. Tears of pain streaked down the maiden's cheeks, but she did not make a sound.
"I'm going lift you now." Liara prepared her. "Keep breathing evenly, and don't struggle."
Sen's eyes darkened as the blanket of Liara's biotic energy washed over her. The Shadow Broker lifted the injured woman off of the floor and Sen's face flushed with shame.
"The first hit…" she muttered as Liara carried her out of the apartment and to the service elevator at the end of the hall. "…didn't expect it. Tried to…put up a shield but…but I haven't used my biotics…in over ten years."
"If you do not use a skill, it will atrophy." Liara commented, needing to keep Sen talking, but feeling her heart break more and more with every word from her friend's lips.
She asked to be alone, but I should not have honored that request. I should have stayed with her. I could have prevented this from happening. And what drove that man to do it? He nearly lost his daughter, and he takes it out on Sen? That bastard!
The elevator rose. Liara kept a close eye on Sen, frowning as she noticed the cardiologist's chest rising and falling faster and faster. The maiden had to be in an unimaginable amount of pain. She had to be so afraid. She had been attacked in her own home. She could not even be taken to the hospital because of the many there who wished to harm her.
"I apologize in advance." Liara said as the top hatch of her skycar opened with a verbal command.
Liara lifted Sen into the back seat before crawling into the space between front and back before lowering the cardiologist fully onto the bench. Sen pinched her eyes shut and screamed as Liara's biotics faded and Sen's bruised back was subjected to the full weight of her body. Liara laced her fingers through Sen's.
"Squeeze my hand." Liara ordered. "As hard as you want, until the pain passes. You're going to be fine. I promise you."
Sen gripped Liara's hand as though she were on the edge of a cliff, about to fall into a dark abyss, and Liara the sole hand-hold keeping her from plummeting to her death. Liara frowned as the rapidity of Sen's breathing increased to the point of hyperventilation, but Liara knew there was nothing she could do. With Sen's injuries, no position would be comfortable. No shifting would keep her out of pain.
"It will be better soon." Liara promised as Sen bit her lip in an attempt to combat the agony dominating her very being. "I promise." Liara rose from her crouch and closed the top hatch of her car. "Home." she ordered, and the engine engaged.
As they began to fly towards the estate, Liara gathered her composure and opened her omni-tool, preparing to make the last necessary call. She gave the order and waited until a familiar face appeared on the other side of the screen. Amethyst eyes were as bright and intelligent as ever, and though there were more lines at the corners of the fine features, it did not look as though Zhira T'Aryn had aged at all.
"Well this is a surprise." Zhira commented. "I take it that something either went horribly wrong…or right."
Liara smiled at the sound of Zhira's voice, a cadence and tone she had not heard in centuries…since shortly after the Reaper War ended, in fact.
"Coincedence and conscience overrode caution awhile back." Liara answered. "But that is a story that can wait. Zhira, you need to come to my home on Thessia immediately."
Zhira's eyes narrowed. "I thought we agreed…"
"Things have changed." Liara answered. "And I need you here. Sen needs you here. She's been hurt."
"Say no more." Zhira paled. "I'm taking care of some things in the nebula. I'll be there as soon as I can, less than a solar day."
"Thank you." Liara said, moving her hand to close the link.
"Liara," Zhira halted her, "take care of my daughter."
"I will." Liara made another promise. The call ended and Liara bit her lip, before sighing and speaking words neither for Zhira nor Sen's ears. "As though she were my own."