The brooding bystanders in the mess hall shuffled at the sharp sound of the medbay door. Chakwas emerged, slender and straight in her medical uniform, folding her arms upon meeting the worried gazes of four restless onlookers.
"Don't tell me you're all here for Shepard", came her redundant remark.
"Will she be alright?" Liara spoke with unrestrained concern.
"Of course", she replied in melodic British intonation. "Commander's been through far worse than this, you know".
"Can we speak to her?" the turian appeared ready to fight his way into the medbay.
"Not just yet, Garrus", Chakwas let her arms fall to her sides. "I only gave her a mild sedative, but she'll need all the rest she can get".
"Oh. Of course", Garrus let his eyes drop to the floor. "If anyone deserves it, I suppose it's her. Hell, if I'd been through all that, I might sleep for days".
"You can sleep longer than that", Wrex noted, "I can arrange for you to take a nice nap. Drug free, even. Can't promise you'll wake up from it, through".
"It would be best to allow the commander to sleep undisturbed, for the time being", Chakwas struck preemptively with her own words before Garrus could launch a counterattack on the krogan antagonist. "Shepard tends to be a light sleeper, so we'll just have to-"
"How is she, Doctor?" a rich baritone cut through the air.
The crew turned to the voice, and saw Captain Anderson in the traditional blue of a perfectly pressed Alliance uniform.
"Minor wounds, Captain" Chakwas stood and saluted, being the only Alliance officer present. "She's resting now, but I wouldn't expect her to be fit for combat for another few days".
"That's fine", Anderson replied. "I only wish she could take an extended shore leave. We don't have the luxury of time, though".
Wrex watched as Anderson's theatrical eyes passed over the onlookers. Most people looked at krogans for a different period of time than other species. Anderson did not seem to give any special scrutiny to Wrex, however. Krogans were very slow to trust, but something about this human's eyes seemed strange to the veteran mercenary.
"You have performed superbly. All of you", the captain spoke to no one in particular. Anderson's bizarre posture and locking of hands behind the back was easy to recognize as a human gesture of authority. Wrex had no special love for authority, speeches, or humans in general. He remained seated.
"The commander will soon be undertaking the most important mission ever assigned to a soldier. I can't promise you what the future will hold. All I know is that your contributions are nothing short of historic. On behalf of the Systems Alliance, I thank you".
Anderson nodded before departing. Deciding his seat was suddenly uncomfortable, Wrex stood with a grunt and followed Tali and Garrus to the Normandy's spacious elevator.
No words were spoken during their descent.