They sat outside the infirmary- Sam, Liara, Daenys, and Aleu perched nearby, not protesting his mother's arms around his shoulders- awaiting word.
The others were still dirt-side. Once they had reached the cargo bay not a single hostile had been found anywhere in the complex- and the ones that had been there had apparently completely vanished. The Normandy scans did not show any ship launch or any signs of them departing over the surface of the moon, but neither were they anywhere within the complex itself. Irie had managed to get the internal security systems working again, and full biometric and infrared scans showed they were the only living beings within the complex. Not to be daunted, Vina and Sihra launched a full manual search as well, but nothing was found.
Now they were working on trying to find out how the hostiles had gotten in, where they had gone, and what precisely had happened in the lower labs. Of Irie's Oasis research team, only a few geth who had been deep within the computer systems at the time had survived. Everyone else had been summarily slaughtered, though the scenes in a few of the rooms showed they tried to form barricades, and had fought back against their attackers as best as they were able.
When the door to the infirmary opened, one of Lily's assistants poking her head out, those gathered in wait almost seemed to rise as one. Dae gripped tightly to Aleu's hand, doing her best to keep her emotions under control for his sake. The look on the assistant's face did nothing to give away the nature of her news- it was infuriatingly neutral.
"Daenys, Lily would like you and Liara to come in please."
"Me too," Aleu said instantly, tightening his own grip on his mother's hand and looking at her intently. "I want to see Tatta, too."
"I'm sorry, Lily said only you two, no one else," the assistant said apologetically.
Dae crouched and took her son's shoulders. "Aleu, stay here with Sam and keep her company, all right?"
"No. I want to see Tatta," he said with a frown. "Why can't I go in too?"
"I do not know, but I am sure Lily has a good reason for her request. She is a doctor, and we must trust her as a doctor right now, son. I need you to stay with Sam, please. Aleu…please? Do this for me?"
Clearly displeased, he looked over at his grandmother, and then back at his mother, before he finally nodded. Hugging him tightly, Dae kissed his cheek.
"Thank you, Aleu. I will give your love to Tatta, I promise."
Sam gently took the boy's hand as Dae rose again. Seeking her own form of reassurance, her fingers slipped into Liara's as the pair headed into the infirmary, bracing themselves for what may be waiting them.
There was a hum as they passed inside. Lily had activated the full sterilization controls- anything entering or leaving the infirmary was automatically fully sterilized by the barrier beam. That did not bode well- it usually meant a surgery was in progress. Lily would not ask them in during surgery unless there was reason she could not continue with it…and there was no good reason Dae could think of that would cause that.
She felt the tremble in Liara's grip and knew her mother-in-law was coming to the same realization.
The assistant directed them to the far partition, the opaque wall blocking off any sight of the biobed behind it. As they neared, Lily stepped around the partition toward them, brows knit.
"She is still unconscious," she said without preamble, speaking softly as if she were worried of disturbing someone. "I am keeping her under chemical sedation for now."
"Her wounds…?" Liara asked, unconsciously fiddling with the hem of her tunic with her free hand. "Will she recover?"
"Her wounds were bad, I will not lie, but nothing that cannot be treated. She had severe puncture wounds on each side where you say that creature grabbed her. A badly broken shoulder, several ribs, and her left femur. She had two fractures to her back, one at the first thoracic vertebra and the other at the fifth lumbar vertebra just above the femoral nerve. The first fracture was as minor as could be hoped, easily repaired and with no lasting damage. The second fracture was worse but in itself not a large problem. However, the impact that caused it also caused bleeding into her spinal column- the hemorrhage was bad and put incredible pressure on her spinal cord. Fortunately we were able to relieve the pressure and stop the bleeding with no permanent damage to the cord itself."
Dae let out a breath of relief, feeling tears rise in her eyes. "So she will be all right?"
Lily's eyes shifted in a way that was hardly reassuring. "That… is the reason I wanted you two in here. Her wounds did not account for the sudden drop in her vitals. While extremely painful and enough to put her into physical shock, they should not have caused such medical distress as she was in when we lifted her out of the cargo bay to take her on board. They also would not have caused the inexplicable fever that, even now, we are having a hard time keeping down. It seems to be resisting normal treatments."
"Fever?" Liara asked.
"Yes. We found traces of an odd substance on her armor pads and in the puncture wounds on her shoulders. From the way that creature punctured her hard-suit so easily, it is my guess it had some kind of secretion- natural or applied-on its talons that allowed them to damage the metal and ceramic so easily. At first it appeared almost acidic in nature but my examination on samples of the substance were inconclusive. Given what we know of the cyberorganic nature of their technology, it may even be composed of nanites so small they are capable of directly changing atomic structure."
"And this substance is causing her fever?"
"I cannot say for sure. It may be that this substance entered her blood stream through the wounds it caused, or it may be her body is reacting to microbes or infectious bodies- germs that are completely alien to our galaxy and for which we have no natural immunity. She is having a minor immune reaction but not one that can account for this. She is also having a minor allergic reaction- an increase in her histamine levels, but antihistamine therapy is making no difference in her fever. I believe there were bodies of these alien creatures that we have secured in the research base?"
"Yes. We recovered several of the Jabberwocks and one of the flying creatures- I believe the same one that grappled with Melara," Liara said.
"I need to examine them directly, perhaps do some necropsies. I need to find out all I can about the nature of this infection, as swiftly as I am able."
"I can arrange for the winged alien's corpse to be brought up-" Dae began, but Lily was already shaking her head.
"No. Until we know what this is we cannot risk bringing a potentially hazardous body up to the Normandy. Sterilization procedures may destroy the very microorganisms we need to identify. I need to go down and examine it there. In the meantime my staff will continue to treat and monitor the Captain's condition…and I…I strongly recommend you two staying here with her. We cannot risk too many bodies getting in the way but…"
Liara looked at her granddaughter, her voice soft and composed, but her very heart seeming to quiver in fear. "You do not expect her to live."
"If I cannot pinpoint what it is that is making her sick, and quickly…I can neither stop it nor treat it. Our antibiotics and other treatments are doing nothing. Her fever continues to rise despite all my best efforts to break or halt it. If I cannot find a solution to this within the next few hours…there is nothing I can do."
Dae covered her face, taking in a shuddering breath. Lily gripped her shoulder. "I will do everything in my power, Daenys. Stay here with her. She is in a full sterilization field and this-whatever it is-does not appear to be airborne. You may touch her but try to limit the contact as much as possible, for your own safety. I must go, right now, if I am going to have any chance to help her."
Liara had only had occasion to see her child so ill and so close to death once before. Athena's meld, while innocently intentioned, had left Melara lingering in a coma with severe damage to her nervous system. The doctors still didn't know precisely what had happened, only that the damage was consistent with incredibly high and incredibly directed doses of eezo radiation.
Seeing Melara laying on that biobed brought back every agonizing moment of that first experience.
She was unconscious, under the scope of several monitors that constantly fed out her vitals and brain activity. Medications were plugged into her arms, and she was covered with a temperature blanket set to try and lower her raging body temperature. The fever had made her skin deeply flushed, her already purple complexion deepening in places nearly to black. Everywhere not covered by the blanket or bandage was visibly damp with perspiration. Molded to her body form and hovering just above it, the sterilization field was a faint white glimmer.
Liara felt the faint hum of it over her fingers as she sat down, slipping them through the field, and taking her daughter's hand. The flesh was uncomfortably hot, but she gripped it nonetheless.
Lily would be informing Sam of what the prognosis was as she headed down to the shuttle bay with her small team. Sam, she knew, would take care of Aleu, get him back up to the Nest and stay with him, do her best to explain the situation.
He will not understand. He is a good boy, but he is young. He will not understand why he cannot see his Tatta.
Her thoughts turned to Ashley. Her littlest daughter was only five years old, Aleu's age if not his growth or maturity. She was staying with a very trusted family member while her parents were on this excursion.
If the worst happens, Ashley will only barely remember her older sister…if at all. She shook her head sharply. No. No, that is not going to happen. Melara is stronger than this. I have lost my parents, my dearest friends. I have lost the one that I loved more than anything else in this galaxy. I will not lose my child as well. Not Irie, not Ashley, and not Melara. I refuse. I will not bury my daughter.
Irie was intently working, her brows knit, when Vina, Sihra, and Lily entered with the medical team.
The lower lab had been the scene of a massacre, one that had struck Irie almost as a physical blow. It was clear a firefight had taken place there, and no fewer than four geth chassis lay strewn about, damaged beyond repair. Leanne and two other organic members of her team were also there. They had been savaged, and Vina had not allowed Irie to enter until they could be covered.
These had been good friends, people she had known and worked with for years- in some cases, decades. The horror of what had happened to them, coupled with the grief of their loss and her worry over her sister, had quickly threatened to become overwhelming. In response, she compartmentalized it, taking that useless energy and focusing it into finding out what had happened and how to prevent it from happening again.
She was working in concert with Athena and Red, attempting to patch into the computer records for the secondary lab. She wanted to know what precisely had been going on at the moment the aliens had invaded, and both data and internal surveillance were damaged but hopefully salvageable. She did not realize that Lily and her team had even arrived until she heard her daughter's voice. Looking up, she saw them gathered around one of the covered forms they had moved here- one of the aliens.
"Lily, what is going on?" she asked, stepping around the console she was working at and heading over. "What are you doing here?"
"Your daughter needs to examine the body of the flying creature that attacked Mel," Vina said, before Lily could answer. "The Captain is…not in good condition."
"She is very ill, suffering a high fever," Lily told her gently. "I believe it is an element on the creature's claws that has infiltrated her system, but I must do a necropsy on the remains, see if I can isolate what it is and how to counter it."
"I will help you," Irie said without hesitation. "Athena-"
"We can finish with the computer systems," the other asari told her.
"Mama, no, it is not necessary, and it only puts you at risk of this toxin as well-"
"And you are not at risk of this toxin?" Irie asked sternly.
"Of course I am, but we will take every precaution-"
"Then I will help you," Irie said, brooking no argument. Lily glanced at Vina, then conceded with a nod.
"Very well. First we must get the remains upstairs to the infirmary. Is this the proper body?"
She crouched, carefully drawing back the covering. She squinted with intellectual curiosity as the dead creature was unveiled, already noting biology silently to herself.
Mammalian, high brow ridge showing temporal lobe evolution similar to ours. Jaw and chin suggests verbal speech patterns, eye set suggests predator- but this dentition is more indicative of an herbivore- red blood; iron hemoglobin, similar to humans?
Very carefully, using a static glove, she took the thing's wrist and lifted it, squinting at its hands. "These claws do not appear to be fully natural," she said. "I will not know for sure until I get them under the scope but- natural claws tend to be hardened layers of keratin, at least among the known species. These are growing out of its fingers but seem alloy based…all right. Do we have that hover gurney? Let's get it up and to the medical lab. Time is of the essence."
When dawn came, ship time, a Thessian fleet had joined the Normandy in orbit. Security teams of asari soldiers came down to enforce the security of the base and to help in the recovery efforts of both data and alien remains. Eír used their arrival as an excuse to accompany Lily back up to the ship; she was no longer needed dirt-side, and she wanted to be sure Liara was all right.
They arrived to find Melara was still hanging on, though her temperature had reached levels that brain damage was becoming a serious concern. In desperation, the medical team had put Melara into a semi-cryogenic state, encasing her in a pod and slowing her body functions down to near death levels in an attempt both to cool her, and to mitigate the damage done by nearly shutting off her metabolism. It was a dangerous move but given the circumstances, their only option beyond simply standing and watching her die.
Dae and Liara were still at her side, of course. Unable now to touch her at all, they stood together, giving each other what little comfort they could manage as they waited for word. Both had to resist the urge to accost Lily as she appeared, wanting to know what hope she'd found, if any at all. The younger asari paused only long enough to address them briefly.
"You must leave the infirmary now. I may have an answer and a possible treatment, but there is no time to test it. It is the only hope we have if we want to save her life. I must try it but it is best if only essential personnel are there when I do. Eír is waiting in the mess for you. She can explain some. I will come out to talk to you about matters once I know if the treatment is viable. For now, I am sorry but you must go."
Torn between the desire to stay and wanting the best chance for Mel to be saved, the pair reluctantly departed the infirmary. Eír, as promised, was waiting in the mess. Sam and Aleu were absent, but the hour was early enough neither was likely even awake.
"What has she found?" Dae asked the older asari, zeroing in on her immediately. "What is this toxin?"
"She is still not entirely sure," Eír told her. "We lack the equipment sophisticated enough to tell if it is truly a biochemical substance or a manufactured technology. What we were able to determine is that it is not a naturally occurring germ or microbe. The claws of the creature were bioengineered cyberorganic technology- much as Pio explained, they were grown using a combination of organic and biotech genetics. She said she had never seen the like- that she could study for another three centuries and only start to grasp the level of sophistication involved. They secrete a substance, apparently on demand, that facilitates cutting through any kind of material the wielder so desires- like a thought-directed corrosive."
"So it is an acid that dissolves anything, but only what its wielder wishes it to dissolve at the time it is deployed?" Dae asked.
"Not quite but close enough, from what I understand. On contact it broke down Melara's armor padding with as much ease as a knife going through butter. Honestly, it should have cut through both her shoulders with as much ease. That it did not fits my theory."
"What theory?" Liara asked.
"That the winged creature did not want to kill her- at least not then. One grabbed Athena in the same manner- fortunately it did not use its claws and so she was not injured. The fact that one grabbed her, and then grabbed Mel and tried to carry her away suggests they were more interested in a prisoner- someone alive to question. I think in the struggle- or even just with the alien's non-familiarity with our physiology- the wounds were inflicted unintentionally. I do not believe it meant to introduce this substance to her system, nor do I believe the substance is actually active as it was when cutting through the armor. Lily believes that it is her own body systems reacting to the inert substance that is causing this fever."
"An…allergic reaction? Would that not be evident, even on our scans?"
"Not an allergic reaction, but rather a reaction between the substance and the hemocyanin in her blood. It is causing a chemical cascade that is resulting in her body raising its core temperature beyond safe levels. It is likely that any species that does not have hemocyanin based blood would be completely unaffected. Lily has hope, and your daughter is strong, Liara. If she is even a tenth as stubborn as you and her father, she will be all right."
"I pray you are correct, Eír," Liara said wearily. "Did…were they able to find out how the invaders got into the facility?"
"Irie helped with the necropsy on the alien creature. When we departed there she was returning to join the computer repair with Athena and Red. Now that the Thessian fleet has arrived with skilled programmers and engineers, we should know the answer to that fairly quickly. For now, there is little to do but wait."
"I-I should go up and check on Aleu, see if he is awake," Dae said softly. "It is not fair on Sam that his care land solely on-"
"It's no trouble," Sam said just then, as she walked into the mess with the boy at her side. Seeing his mother, Aleu broke away from her and ran over.
"Tama, is Tatta ok? Can I see her?"
Dae crouched, hugging him close. "Soon, my love. I hope very, very soon."