As always, Bioware owns all.
Sorry for the delay... There is no excuse.
Mending
Kaidan rubbed his eyes trying to make sense of the words on the data pad in front of him. Where was that woman? She said an hour, it had been almost two. Was she just stringing them along?
"Lieutenant, you are needed at the airlock." Kaidan looked up as Unwin entered the comm room.
"Thank you, Unwin." He tapped the datapad, deactivating it as he stood and followed her from the room. He handed the pad to Unwin as he continued to the airlock.
As he approached the airlock Garrus was walking into the ship.
"I think this is it." Garrus gestured to the airlock with his head.
"Is it her?" Kaidan sped up.
"No, it's the Trainer subject." Garrus fell in step with Kaidan as he headed through the inner doors of the airlock.
Kaidan exited the ship and saw that Trainer was outside on the dock. Trainer looked up at him while he approached. He noticed the male was flanked by two C– Sec officers on either side and one behind him.
"Lieutenant, here is the medication that you need. Grayston said to remind you to tell the doctor that it needs to be administered as soon as possible to be the most affective." He held out a block that had two vials in it. "She said it is quite likely the fever will come back once or twice as the body fights it, maybe more times. The directions are on in the OSD."
Kaidan looked at the package in Trainer's hand for just a moment before grabbing it. "Thank you." He nodded as he watched the dark man for a moment. He noted that the man started to salute him, but caught himself. Kaidan would lay odds that Trainer was ex-Alliance. It gave them a place to look anyway.
Kaidan turned and entered the ship, knowing that Garrus would make sure that Trainer would be taken clear of the ship. He headed straight for med bay. Dr. Chakwas looked up from Shepard as he entered and hurried over to him taking the block from his hand. As he turned and secured the lock to give them a few moments of privacy, Kaidan passed on Trainer's reminder and information. He then went over to Shepard. She looked so pale and weak. Her hair matted to her face where it was long enough to touch it. He turned and looked at the doctor as she started her tests.
"How is she?" The worry in his voice was quite evident. He was not used to her looking so weak. He didn't mind taking care of her when she recovered from being shot, she would fight the restrictions until she was strong enough to have them removed. This thing took a lot more out of her, she had never looked this weak before. He didn't like it at all.
"Not good, she is fighting it, but she's losing. I hope this stuff works, because if it doesn't, I don't know what else to do." She placed a drop from one of the vials on a tray that had some kind of gel on it.
The gel expanded and covered the liquid. She placed a drop from the other vile on another gel tray. She looked at the console readout. "Well, they vials have identical ingredients, so analysis of one will prove the safety of the other." Dr. Chakwas tapped some buttons on the terminal in front of her then she cursed.
"What's wrong?" Kaidan walked towards her, getting a look at the terminal.
"There are three compounds in the ingredients that are unfamiliar to me or the Alliance data base. It's going to slow down the analysis process." Her hands started flying over the terminal tapping quickly entering commands. The gel acted to her tapping by changing color, as it further analyzed the compounds for danger.
"What can I do?" He clenched his hands at his side, his voice pushed through his gritted teeth. As much as he could do for the ship, he needed to do something here. The most important thing in his life was in that bed, and he wanted her back.
"Let me work. Go back and do what you have to do, Kaidan. I will get this in her as fast as I can, providing I know it's safe." She never took her eyes off the terminal.
He walked over to Shepard. Her hand had fallen off the side of the bed. He gently took her hand in his, feeling how hot her skin temperature was. Lifting up the cooling blanket he placed her hand underneath it. He lingered holding onto it and giving it a little squeeze hoping for something in return. There was no response from the woman on the bed. He let go and tucked the blanket in under her so that her arm couldn't fall again. He leaned down and cupped her cheek.
"Ari, wake up." He was close to her ear, using a soft voice. "I'm here waiting for you to open your eyes." He ran his hand down to her chin. She didn't react. "I love you, Ari. We are taking care of you, and I am here." He quickly kissed her and then stood up.
"You can take the night shift and sleep with her in here, Kaidan. You are a trained medic and someone is going to have to be in here with her at all times." He looked over at Dr. Chakwas, but she was still tapping on the terminal.
"Isn't Kernsey a medic?" He looked back at Shepard, weighing the questions against this solution.
"Yes, but he's a new graduate, and we know she was attacked. We are dealing with the unknown and an experienced medic would be best to spell me. It won't seem odd that you would take it on yourself, under the circumstances." She took a solution out of the drawer next to her and added a drop to one of the trays, using the other as her control. "It's not like you're going to be able to sleep much anyway, but in here, there is a chance you might if she is in the bed next to yours."
"The repairs are ongoing. I don't think I could spend twelve hours in here." He touched Shepard's cheek for a moment. "They are having problems with the crystals in the drive."
"Ten at the most, more likely eight. It isn't like they can't find you if they need you." She waved her hand towards the door indicating the rest of the ship.
He let his hand linger on her cheek for a moment longer and turned towards the doctor. "I know that you are doing this mostly for me, Doc. I will be here tonight when I can get free."
"I am doing it for both of you. If she wakes up, you will be the first one she asks for." She tapped on the input board some more before looking up at him. "Besides you are the best man for the job, and I trust you with her life." She quickly went back to her analysis.
Kaidan looked back at Shepard one more time before schooling his expression to neutrality and leaving the med bay.
Kaidan had spent a restless night trying to sleep as he kept waking to check on Shepard. She had not woken, but didn't seem to be getting any worse. When the doctor returned, he went to the mess to try and replenish his energy with a hearty breakfast. He sat across from Garrus and quietly ate his food. He looked up from his meal and saw the Serviceman approaching him. He tried to remember the man's name as he walked up next to him.
"Engineer Adams request you come down sir, and he would like Garrus to come, too." The enlisted man stood at ease before him.
Kaidan paused for a moment before the man's name suddenly came to him, damn he was tired. "Thank you, Looft, We will be right there." Kaidan finished up the last of the food as he stood up and grabbed his plate.
The Serviceman left as Garrus also picked up his dirty tableware. Kaidan grabbed it from him and tossed it all in the chute and then followed Garrus to the elevator.
Garrus and Kaidan walked in to a flurry of activity. Tali and Adams were at a terminal and there were panels open on both sides of the room.
Adams looked over, aware there were other members of the crew around. "Lieutenant, Garrus, good, I need you. I think we can solve the uneven power problem if we tune the crystals on all four terminals at once. No one here is as good with the minor adjustments as you two are. I need you to man the terminals over there while Tali and I man these two." Adams indicated the terminals on both sides of the room to Garrus and Kaidan.
"Will this solve the power problem that has been keeping us here?" Kaidan walked over and looked at the data pad in Adam's hand.
"Yes. It looks like they didn't tune the crystals before they were in place, and now there is no way to do it manually, so we have to do it, via terminal, in place. Problem is if you don't tune them at the same time, they might shatter. Who knows when we will be able to leave if that happens. Tali assures me it can be done, but we have to work together to do it." He tapped the terminal in front of him bringing up schematics. "I lost two of my best techs when the Normandy went down, that makes you two my next best choice. Are you in?"
"Does it mean we will be able to leave if we do this?" Kaidan asked as he looked over the schematics.
"Yes, most of the repairs and fine tuning can be done in transit. The rest can wait until we reach the station. Barring any attacks we should be fine, and since we are heading for Alliance space, I don't see that as a problem." Adams pointed some things out on his terminal for Kaidan and Garrus.
"Okay let's do it, when do you think we can be moving providing this works?" Kaidan stepped back and looked from Adams to Tali.
"Tonight, as soon as everyone checks in." Adams tapped in commands so all the terminals mirrored his. "You work on this one Lieutenant." Indicating on the screen the crystal he wanted Kaidan to work on. "Garrus, you do this one." Kaidan and Garrus headed to the two terminals on the other side of the room. "Okay when I say go we are going to tune them together. Keep a watch on the screen to see that your readings are not too far off from the other three. When they are all the same shade and tolerances we have done it. The last few degrees will be crucial." Tali and Adams turned to their terminals. "Okay, begin."
It was slow going, each had to coax the resonances to the right frequency slowly. It was stressful when one crystal would veer because it probably had a flaw and it took time to get it back to the zone that the other three were in. So far none had shattered and they were making headway. Then Kaidan's omnitool pinged and they stopped while he looked to read the message.
"Chakwas needs me for Shepard." He frowned as he looked at Adams.
"Well, if you want to go..." Adams didn't look happy.
"No, let's finish first. Doc is taking care of her and she couldn't be in better hands. If we can finish this we can get her to safety." Kaidan went back to the terminal.
It seemed to take longer now that he wanted it to be finished. They made adjustments and again another crystal flared and it took a while to get it back with the others. Finally they all rang true.
Kaidan stretched as he turned around and walked over to Adams. "I will have Unwin advise you when everyone is back on board." He activated his omnitool sending a recall notice to the crew. He noticed the time, it had taken them hours to tune the crystals. He sent Unwin the message to advise Adams when all were on board and headed for the med bay.
"No, we have to go back and get Ashley, we can't let her die." Shepard shouted as she thrashed around.
"How long has this been going on?" Having just entered the med bay Kaidan rushed to her side.
"Just a little while, she is delirious. I have been trying to get her temperature down, it spiked again when I sent you word. Now she thinks we are back at Virmire." Dr. Chakwas was working on Shepard on the other side of the bed. "It might be normal, from the notes, a high spike is expected during the first treatment phase." The frown on her face said otherwise.
"I wish she had left us word on how to contact her with questions. They have checked out of the hotel." Kaidan grabbed Shepard's hand. "Ari, please it's Kaidan. We are not over Virmire, we are on the Citadel."
Her eyes opened and she focused on him for a moment before staring off in another direction. "Lieutenant, you forget yourself. Using my first name, who do you think you are?" She closed her eyes. "No matter, we have to go back, we can't let Ashley die. There must be something we can do to save her. I just can't think of anything. Help me, Lieutenant." She pulled her hand from under the blanket and reached out for him so he took it in his.
"I will help you, Shepard. I will be here for you." Kaidan gently squeezed her hand as she fell into a deeper sleep.
"Looks like her temperature is starting to go down. I thought your presence would calm her when it first struck." She tucked in the cooling blanket. "Then she went to Virmire, she still feels Ash's loss. They were close."
"I know, she told me it was Ash that convinced her to give me a chance. She was attracted to me, but didn't want to break the rules. Can you imagine Ari not wanting to break rules to be happy?" He returned her hand under the blanket and tucked it in again. "But then she didn't know if I could make her happy then." He stepped back from the bed watching her face.
"Yes, well, I will tell you she went out of her way to try and stop her attraction to you. She would have talks with Ash and me until all hours of the night trying to figure out ways to stop her feelings. Ash and I encouraged her to go with her feelings." She smiled down at Shepard and chuckled. "Anyone could see it was something new for her, she never became attached before. She didn't know what to do."
"Yes, she told me she had liked to love them and leave them." He shook his head smiling. "Told me it was easier than shooting them." He looked up from Shepard to the doctor. "After Saren died, she still told me she didn't think we should be together. She thought it wouldn't be good for either of us. I was really disappointed when she made reservations for herself at some fancy facility for her shore leave after the destruction of the Citadel. I went to Eden Prime, to help rebuild. I like it there. I figured it would keep my mind off her." He looked down at Shepard lovingly. "There I was sleeping in a tent, out on the outskirts of a small settlement. I woke up and she was sitting there watching me sleep." He wiped the hair back from her forehead. "She asked me if it was okay with me if she changed her mind. I couldn't have been happier." He stepped back from her remembering the time of day. "Then I spent the rest of the week trying to fix all the stuff she destroyed by helping me rebuild things." He looked back up at the doctor and smiled. "It was a great week." He looked back down at Shepard. "I will be happy when this is over and she is better."
"So will I, Kaidan. The good news is we are learning a lot about the attack. The bad news is, I suspect we are not done learning." She activated her omnitool and waved it over Shepard.
He looked down at Shepard again. "Well she seems to be resting again now. I will be back in a few hours unless you need me again." He touched Shepard's cheek before looking up at the doctor. She nodded at him in acknowledgement and he turned heading for the door.
Shepard opened her eyes and looked into the beautiful tired brown eyes that belonged to the man she loved.
"Hi." Her voice low it sounded cracked and weak.
Lifting her head he gave her a sip of water before returning the glass to the bedside table. Taking her hand in his he held it tightly to his chest. Kaidan wiped her hair back off her forehead with his other and smiled.
"How are you feeling?" His concern creased his brow.
"Like I can't lift my head off the pillow by myself. My head feels stuffy, like I have been asleep too long." She shook her head and frowned. "I don't like the feeling. You look tired." She pulled her other hand from beneath the blanket.
He spoke in a soft voice. "Yeah, I've been busy. It's the middle of the first sleep cycle, Doc's in bed as well as most everyone else. We figured it would be safer for me to take the night shift. We take turns, Doc and I, so someone that you trusted was here at all times." He gently rubbed his thumb back and forth across her forehead. "I will be sleeping in here with you. Spelling her as one of the better medics on board."
"You haven't been sleeping Kaidan, I can tell. I bet you've been watching me." She reached her hand up touching his face. "Kaidan, you have to sleep. I will be fine."
"Yeah, well now that you've woken up, maybe I can sleep." He kissed her fingers as she gently ran them over his lips.
"How long was I out?" Her fingers caressed his cheek.
"Forty-two hours, not counting the time you slept in your room before I found you. Adams was able to get the engines fixed and we are heading to Arcturus Station."
"No, you tell him no Kaidan." He pulled his hand back as she tried to raise her head but fell back against the pillow.
"Ari, I want to get you to a place we can protect you." He pushed her hair back from her face. "That infection, it was engineered attack you specifically. We need to be in Alliance space where we can protect you. At least until you're well and you can defend yourself again." He leaned into her hand as she caressed his cheek.
"We are not running from them Kaidan. I need to speak to the Shadows first. I really don't want to go to Arcturus Station." Her voice weakened as her hand dropped to her side.
"I will talk to them and arrange a meeting a week from now at a different location… how about Eden prime." He released her hand but still rubbed her head with his thumb.
"You really love that place. A week, that seems like a really long time to wait." Her eyes closed.
"Maybe I should make it two, just to make sure you're fully recovered?" She didn't answer him, and he smiled. "I will take that as a yes then. Two weeks it is."
Kaidan watched her face as she slept. She seemed much calmer now, like she was really asleep and not unconscious. He considered climbing into his bed when his comm beeped and he saw Joker's tag.
"Shouldn't you be asleep?" His voice sounded cranky even to his own ears.
"Kaidan, you need to get up here." The stress in Jokers' voice had him moving for the door before the sentence was finished.
"I am on my way." He sprinted up the stairs as he noticed the sparse night crew doing their duties. He entered the cockpit just short of a run. "What's going on?"
"Hanley woke me as he detected some traces of the SADS engine signature. It looks like they recently passed the ship path. In itself, nothing, since they were here in the area before we got here." Joker tapped the terminal bringing up a rendering of the ships path. "Then he noticed it again. That's when he woke me."
Kaidan looked from Hanley, who had sat in the copilot's chair back to Joker. "You think they are searching for us?"
"It looks like a criss cross search pattern, so yeah, I think they are." Hanley looked at Kaidan. A man of few words, it was the most Kaidan had heard from him in a week.
"That's why he called me. I did an analysis of the pattern. They are certainly looking for something, and considering the attack, I am thinking it's us." He turned to look at Kaidan, his hair all messed from bed and no hat. "There is another problem."
Kaidan walked between the two seats so he could see what each man was looking at. He noticed the location of the ship. "We are in Alliance space."
"Yeah, that's the problem. We thought they wouldn't try and find us here. Seems we were mistaken." Joker's hands flew across the terminal as he input commands to the ship.
Kaidan rubbed his head as his tired mind struggled to assess the threat to their safety. "Hanley, you said a criss-cross pattern, is it standard? Can we avoid them?" Kaidan put his hand onto the back of the copilot's chair and bent down looking at the readout over Hanley's shoulder.
"I think I can work out their path; that is if they keep the same pattern. If they change it, I could run right into them." Joker glanced at Kaidan. "We have not upgraded the shields enough yet. I'm ready for them, so there is a chance we could escape, but it would be a slim one, if the last attack was anything to go by." Joker frowned before returning to his terminal. "I wouldn't want to chance it."
"I would rather avoid them. I don't think we want to lose another ship, and I personally do not want to go through that again." He reached over and tapped on the terminal to get a look at the projected flight path to Arcturus Station that Hanley had on the screen in front of him.
"We are on the same wavelength there. I don't want to lose this baby to them." Joker sat forward adjusting his legs.
"Can you guys navigate through the asteroid belt? I know it's not the safest route, but it is the least expected one." Kaidan pointed to the path that would take them through the cloud of rocks.
"It's risky, and it will slow us down. But I think you're right, it would be the best way to avoid them." Joker input the trajectory change in his terminal. "Hanley and I will work together to get us through safely." Hanley's hands also started to fly across his terminal as he readied the forward sensors for higher sensitivity.
"I will have Garrus come up and assist. He can see if he can track the SADS." Kaidan turned to head back towards the CIC. "Keep me in the loop Joker."
"Will do." The stress in Jokers voice made it deeper.
Kaidan activated him comm and advised Garrus of the situation. Garrus assured him he was on his way. Entering the comm room Kaidan tapped up a secure connection on the terminal. He sent a message apprising Alliance Command of their current status and requested more patrols for their approach path as well as upgraded protection once they were on Station. He received the acknowledgment text that they were 'reviewing his request'. He then sent a second communication to Anderson's office telling him of the situation. Because they were in part under Council command also, maybe the Council could spare some smaller ships to assist in the protection of the route. It didn't hurt to ask.
Finished with the comm terminal he returned to the med bay. Shepard seemed to be still sleeping comfortably. He went to her side and leaned over pressing his cheek to hers needing the comfort it brought. She did not seem to be running a fever now and she even leaned into his cheek letting out a small sigh. It certainly gave him extra solace. He turned his head and gave her a peck on her cheek before moving to get in bed next to her. Maybe he could get a few hours of sleep while Joker navigated them through the asteroid field. They would call him if he was needed and between the three of them he knew they had it well covered.
"You knew I didn't even want to wait one week, why would you make it two?" Shepard glared at him her eyes silted slightly her mouth in a frown. The only surprise was that she wasn't raising her voice or throwing things at him.
Kaidan stood at a reasonable distance from her side since it was midmorning and any of the new shipmates could come into the med bay, but his arms ached to have her in them. She was sitting up with some of her pillows from her own bed behind her. There was a tray of uneaten food in front of her and her locket sitting on her chest between her breasts.
"I told you a week, but then I told you I thought I should make it two when you were so weak. You didn't object." She had had the doctor call him to her. His hand jerked at his side as he tried to control the urge to reach for her.
"What did you do, wait until I fell back to sleep to ask me?" She folded her arms across her chest and thrust her chin at him.
"You had just spoken to me. I didn't think you were asleep." He tried very hard to keep his face neutral and hoped that she was still weak enough not to notice any miniscule changes in his demeanor, no luck.
"Devious!" She looked away from him and started fingering her locket.
"Look, two weeks are not going to make any difference." He raised his arms and shrugged before returning them to his side.
"You don't know that." She still didn't look at him and spoke softly. "It might make all the difference in the universe. She did mention the Reapers in this meeting you had with her? I think that is really important." She shook her head gently a few times. "I wish you had waited for me."
"I know you wanted to do it yourself, but you were in no condition to do that." He took a step towards the bed hand reaching out toward her, but then dropped his hand and stepped back ridged. "I was just trying to get more information, like you said you wanted. It turned out to be beneficial. They were able to supply us with the antibiotic that finally started to clear the infection." He glanced towards the door frowning before returning his attention to her. "We still don't know how long it's going to be for you to get your strength back."
"It can't be soon enough for me. I wanted to be the one to speak with her, Kaidan, I told you that. You should have waited until I was better." She frowned, adjusting the blankets, an angry look on her face.
"You never said you didn't want me to talk to her, you only asked why she would talk to me instead of you. Besides, you wouldn't be getting better if I hadn't talked to them." She scowled at him before returning her attention to the blanket. "She did talk to me, kind of, and I still don't trust them." He folded his arms to try and stay the urge to touch her.
"Semantics, you knew I wanted to be the one to talk to her." With quick movements she picked at the covers looking down at her fingers.
He kept his voice comforting, still amazed she was so calm, since her movements conveyed she was really angry. "And you will be, Ari. I made the appointment. You should be back to your old self in two weeks…"
"How far are we from the Citadel, maybe we can change it for sooner." She looked at him.
"Twelve hours out. They would probably be gone by the time we got back. They had already checked out of the hotel." He shook his head. "And before you ask, no, they didn't give me a way to contact them."
"We should turn around and try to contact them." She sat forward and silted her eyes angrily at him. "That's what I want to do."
"And you could do that once Dr. Chakwas releases you as fit for duty." He smiled innocently at her.
She banged herself back into the pillows "I hate being ill, it's worse than being injured." Then she sat up quickly and almost fell forward and he caught her slowly lowering her back on the pillows.
"Feeling dizzy?" She nodded at his question while he activated his omnitool. "Looks like the fever is coming back. They said this might happen." He tapped some commands sending the information to the terminal. "Dr. Chakwas is just in the mess having an early lunch, she should get the update in a moment." He completed the update and closed his tool. "Do you see now why I made it for two weeks?"
"Yes." Her eyelids were starting to droop.
"This little discussion has taken almost all your energy. Here please drink a bit of juice before you fall back to sleep, you didn't eat anything." He picked up the glass from the tray and she took it with both hands. He put his hand on her leg and watched the glass tremble as she brought it to her lips.
"How about some toast, I had them put peanut butter on it, the way you like it." He picked up the bread and handed it to her, catching the glass with his other as she almost dropped it. "This will give you more energy." He put the glass back on the tray.
He watched her take a bite and chew it. Her eyelids drooped some more as she swallowed. She took another bite and as she swallowed that one, her eyes closed all the way. He reached up and took the toast out of her hand. Then turned quickly as the door opened.
"What's happening?" He moved the breakfast tray out of the way for the doctor.
"I think she just fell asleep. As you can see from the numbers she is having a fever spike again, I knew you might what to run some tests so you could add it to the research you are doing on this." He stepped back out of her way so she could approach the bed.
"Yes if they are going to use engineered attacks, the more data we have the better. It'll increase our chances to beat it quicker the next time." She checked the medication terminal next to the bed. "It looks like her latest dosage was just injected, I will watch for any changes." She turned to him. "Go get something to eat, you look like hell."
"I'm just tired, that's all." He rubbed his forehead. "She was fine, then all of a sudden she wasn't. It was fast."
"Yes, but according to the notes that woman provided, that is normal for this stage of recovery. I'll watch her, so go eat." She shooed him towards the door. "I'll send you updates and you can always connect to the terminal. I'm sure she will sleep for a while. Now go."
"Alright, I'm going. He put his hands up in surrender and turned and left the room.
Kaidan was still eating when Garrus came in for his lunch. Once he picked up his lunch, he sat across from Kaidan.
"Has she woken up again?" Garrus opened his sealed food tray and removed his plate.
"She did for a little while, but she's sleeping again." Kaidan took a drink from his glass.
Joker walked into the mess and approached Kaidan. "Before you ask, we have safely navigated through the smallest part of the asteroid field on this side of the station. I figured I would get a bite before I have to work through the next part. Hanley can handle the big ones." Joker rubbed his eyes. "He is keeping them between us and the projected flight path of the SADS. That should give us some additional cover. I am going to get some coffee too, you need anything?" He headed off to pick up his food as they both shook their heads.
Taking a mouthful of food Kaidan looked at his omnitool as it pinged. He swallowed and activated his tool
"What's up?" Joker gestured towards the omnitool as he sat next to Garrus. "You just made a face." He added at Kaidan's frown.
"Shepard has a fever again; it has stabilized but isn't going down yet." He deactivated his tool and continued eating.
"Hey, she'll pull through, she's strong. And I'm sure she's been in heat before." Kaidan choked on his food as Joker burst out laughing. "What? What did I say?" Garrus looked from one to the other.
"Nothing..." Kaidan coughed again attempthing to clear his breathing passage.
"Oh boy, she would just love it if you told her that." Joker banged on the table.
"No, Joker, No..." Kaidan coughed again.
"What happened? Didn't I get the human terminology right?" Garrus looked at the red faced human across from him then the chuckling one next to him. "I'll never understand humans." He went back to eating his meal.
"Humor doesn't always translate. Just take it from me, what you said was really funny in that connotation." Joker banged on Garrus' back.
"It's just that the word you used translated into a word that has two meanings for us, that's all." Kaidan grabbed his glass and drank, hoping to clear the last little tickle in his throat.
"What word? If you don't tell me I might make the same mistake again, Kaidan." Garrus reached out to Kaidan.
"Here, this is the word and the two definitions." Kaidan activated his omnitool and taped some commands and Garrus' omnitool pinged.
Lifting up the tool to his face Garrus looked at what Kaidan had sent to him. His mandibles flared as he read the definitions. "This is a joke right, you guys are kidding me?" He looked at Joker.
"No, it was epic." Joker banged Garrus on his shoulder.
"You're right I don't think she would want me to say that to her." Garrus looked down and concentrated on his food. He changed the subject. "You know I thought that the old Mako was in bad shape because it was old, but the new one is in just as bad a shape as that one was." Garrus took a bite of something brown off of his plate.
"The old Mako wasn't old really. We had just been commissioned and it had only been off the Normandy for tests. That was just before you joined us." Kaidan smiled as Garrus' mandibles flared.
"You're joking right. That thing had to be years old." Garrus dropped his fork in disbelief.
Now Kaidan laughed. "I am not joking. I think it had been out all of three times before you came to the ship."
"Then I hope that your Alliance engineers learn something from ours with this joint ship building. I was wondering why I kept having to tweak the new engine. I will just have to get it up to where the old one was. I really miss that machine." Garrus shook his head before eating something red off his plate.
"Yeah, considering what we had to do to get this ship moving, I doubt it." Joker shook his head as he continued to eat his food.
"You know, Joker, I was wondering, did you get any active scans from the SADS ship before it attacked the Normandy?" Kaidan put his utensil down, as he considered the thoughts running through his head.
"None that showed up on the ship's scanner, why?" Joker took a sip from his glass.
"I was thinking about something Shepard said, that they were looking for us. Right before she got you to the airlock, they shot the ship again. Why?" Kaidan tapped on the table listing his points as they went through his head. "The ship was almost completely destroyed at that point. The fuselage breached in such a way that she said the whole roof was gone. Now I got the crew in the escape pods pretty quick. The pod readout showed heavy breaches on all decks, when I checked the readings after we were jettisoned." He pointed to Joker. "At that point you and Shepard were the only ones left alive on that ship. The ship was going down and pretty much destroyed."
"Don't remind me." Joker shook his head, a grimace on his face.
"Right, so why still shoot?" Kaidan looked from Joker to Garrus. "There was no way to save the Normandy at that point. Shepard thinks that they wanted to utterly destroy the ship that defeated Sovereign, but what if it was more than that?" Kaidan tapped his finger on the table again. "What if it was her? The attack on the Citadel the other day, they were looking for her. They didn't even care if she was alive."
"What are you getting at, Kaidan?" Garrus put his utensil down too and leaned forward. "You think it was a microscan, a pinpoint scan. They were scanning for Shepard?"
"Yes, I think they were scanning for Shepard. They can send out thousands upon thousands of microscans and because they are so small, most scanners don't register them. I think the reason we missed the scan was because we had the settings on broad scan." He pointed to Joker. "You have to recalibrate for microscans. I think they are after her, not us. I think she was right they were looking for the Normandy, but for her, not all of us."
"That could be a problem." Garrus sat back and scratched his head. "Microscans are used because they go unnoticed. That is what they are for. I doubt the Antietam's scanners are made to be that sensitive."
"But can we do it? Her safety, and ours, depends on it." Kaidan activated his omnitool. "That is what we need to know." He tapped some commands on the tool then activated his comm. "Tali, can you come up to the mess for a minute." He paused obviously listening to her internal response. "It will only be a few moments, I need to run something by you. Have Adams come too, if he can free himself for a few minutes." Kaidan paused again then deactivated his comm obviously receiving an affirmative response. "Between the five of us I bet we can adjust the sensors to at least warn us of microscans, even if we can't find the source. Better yet if we can work out a way for the ship to reflect them away, we can keep us all safe. There is a chance that the stealth systems would keep us safe if we could do that."
Adams and Tali entered the mess and after grabbing something to drink, sat down with the others. Kaidan brought them up to date on what he was thinking and they put their heads together to see if they could come up with a workable solution to repel the microscans they believed the SADS were using to find Shepard.
"Kaidan, I admit that it seems that they knew she was still on the ship before it was blasted from space. What makes you think they were using microscans?" Adams took a sip of his coffee.
"On the Citadel, they knew where Shepard was. We thought that she was being watched." Kaidan looked from one to the other. "But we were watching and so were the Shadows. Neither of us noticed any other tails. I think after Shepard was injured the Shadows would have mentioned the other tails, or even tried to prevent the attack." Kaidan paused going over the points in his head to make sure his conclusions were sound. "They were tracing Shepard. Probably through her DNA that they somehow got a hold of."
"Okay, then maybe we can make some changes to the shielding to reflect any microscans off in another direction, so they don't know she is here and they can't tell we're here." Adams activates his omnitool and nods at Garrus and Tali to activate theirs. "The shield is not set for such small tolerances, because they are not seen as a threat. Besides no one uses microscans because of the resources that it uses up. This must be some ship they have."
Kaidan pulled up his omnitool. "If they are microscans, they would be strong for the return trip, but not necessarily strong enough to break through shielding. They depend on holes in the shield make up. If we put up a lite charge seamless shield under the current one, giving it reflective qualities, would that work?" He tapped the input into his omnitool sending it to the other three.
"That might just work, it wouldn't even take much power." Tali tapped her tool adding some equations and sending it to the other four. "It certainly wouldn't increase the power load, and if that is how they are searching for Shepard, it would afford her some protection."
"This is all supposition of course. We can't prove it was microscans, but if it was, it is something that we can prevent easily with the light shielding idea." Adams made a few more notes in his omnitool and deactivated it. "We will get on this right away, Lieutenant. I can have it put into place once we are on Arcturus. Come, Tali, let's get working on this. Garrus, can you work on the cockpit settings to allow for another shield? I take it you are going up there again for the voyage through the other half of the asteroid belt." He stood up looking at Garrus.
"Yes, I am heading there now. I will keep in touch with you and work on that while I am there assisting Joker." Adams patted him on the shoulder and headed back for the elevator with Tali right behind him.
"We had better get back to the cockpit. Hanley just sent word we are heading back through the small field on the other side now." Joker stood up and grabbed his tableware. "See you later, Kaidan, give Shepard a hug for me." He tossed his dirties in the chute and headed for the cockpit. Garrus followed after him, nodding at Kaidan.
Kaidan finished his now very cold meal before heading up to the comm room to go over the daily reports.
"Why Liara? Why can't you stay?" Shepard was sitting up with her pillows piled behind her again.
"Because it doesn't look right. I just stopped in to see if you were doing better. I am going to eat in the mess with the crew. We are letting Kernsey stay with you for your meal, since you are doing a bit better. She needs the practice, and it looks better to the crew." Kaidan crossed his arms to keep from touching her.
"I don't have to eat. Don't have her come, you know how she is." Shepard was whining she knew, but Liara just bugged her. She always wanted to touch her. Shepard didn't feel well enough for that. Besides she wanted Kaidan to stay.
"You have to eat. I can tell how you are feeling just by looking at Liara, so I am having Liara do it. I know how you feel about it, but I am in a selfish mood. If I can't be here I need someone who cares as much as I do to make sure you eat. We can both agree, that's Liara." He tried to be firm. She just looked so frail lying there among the pillows. She had only slept for six hours and it was just about dinner time. Liara just gushed when he asked her to do this for him. He knew that she would come and find him after she had finished. He would be able to see how Shepard was doing and still be where he needed to be on the ship. "I will be back at bed time. Ari, you know this is how it has to be. Any one of the new people can report us for fraternization."
"I'm feeling selfish, too." She started to play with her locket. "I don't care what they think. I'm sick and I want you here." She held up her hand when he started to answer her. "I know it's not possible, but it's what I want and I'm just telling you so you know how unhappy that I am. I realize you can't fix it, but I want you to." The frown covered her face. Why did things always have to be so complicated? She never should have given in to her stupid carnal urges. She never should have fallen in love. Now she wanted him all the time. She wanted him to hold her now, and he couldn't. She hated it. "You and Dr. Chakwas go and eat. I'll not cause trouble for Liara. I will not give you any more to worry about." She settled down further into the pillows and looked at him.
He reached out his hand to her and she took it. He gave it a squeeze and then released it. "Hopefully you'll be on the mend without any relapses and back to your old self soon enough. When you're up to it, I have some things I want to talk to you about."
"Where are we now?" Her voice seemed weaker already.
He activated his tool while answering her question. "We should be clearing the asteroid belt and heading for Arcturus." He said absentmindedly as he checked her vitals.
"Kaidan, I told you, I don't want to go to Arcturus Station. They're going to make us have a ceremony. I hate ceremonies. My mother will be there. Please take me somewhere else, Kaidan, Please." She was whining again. She had to stop this, but right now, she couldn't. Arcturus Station, her mother's ship was stationed out of there. She would have no way to avoid a presentation ceremony. She would be the same rank as her mother. That would probably rub her the wrong way. She was a good mother as mothers went, but she had Shepard's temper. On the other hand it would be nice if her father could attend. She was certainly a daddy's girl.
"I'm sorry, Ari, but it's already arranged for us to go to Arcturus, it's too late to change it now. I don't want to anyway. It's the safest place for you right now. I'll explain it all when you're better." He turned around and looked as the door opened. He waved the crewmember over to the bed. "Commander, you remember Corporal Kavi Kernsey. The Corporal is a new medic and will stay here with you while the doctor has lunch." He smiled as she scowled for a moment before clearing her expression so the approaching medic wouldn't see it. She was doing as she agreed and being good. "I have to go. Liara will be here any minute with your dinner, Commander." He turned to Kernsey. "Dr. T'soni will be sitting with the Commander while she eats. Dr. Chakwas is in the mess if you need her. The Commander's temperature is slightly raised and I sent the latest stats to the doctor. Just let her know if there is any drastic sudden change."
"Yes, sir." Kernsey turned and walked over to the terminal and logged on pulling up Shepard's vitals on the read out.
Kaidan turned to Shepard and smiled. "There, you're in good hands, Commander, I'll relieve Dr. Chakwas later, so I'll see you then, if you're still awake." He winked at her and nodded before turning to head out the door.
Kernsey looked over at Shepard. "Do you need anything Commander?"
"No, thank you, Corporal." Shepard had shoved her heart under her shirt, but found herself reaching for it. She frowned as she remembered why she had done it.
"Is something wrong, Commander?" Kernsey got up and walked over to the bed activating her omnitool. "Any pain?"
"No, no pain." Shepard crossed her arms in front of her and waited for the medic to finish her readings. She still felt weak and hated it. Killing those idiots that attacked her wasn't good enough. She needed to get to the bottom of this, that wasn't going to happen sitting here in bed.
She didn't know what Kaidan had been doing to find them, but she knew he wouldn't tell her while she was weak.
"Well, it looks like your fever is stable. If you need anything, or feel any pain you let me know. I'm here to help you." She turned around at the sound of the door, just in time to see Liara walk through with a big smile. Shepard's frown returned.
"Hi, Shepard, I have your dinner. I'm so glad to see you up. I was able to stop in a few times, but you were always sleeping." Liara put her food in front of her. "Kaidan said you need to eat everything, or at least most of it. You should be really hungry by now." Liara pulled up a chair as the Corporal went back to the terminal. Liara opened up the heat seal on the soup first. "Maybe start with the soup, it won't be too heavy. What do you think?"
"Okay." Shepard took her spoon and started on the soup. She tried to ignore Liara, as she played with the fingers on her other hand as she ate. Liara chatted away about some dig she had been on, but Shepard wasn't really paying attention. She just was concentrating on eating her food. She finished the soup and Liara gave her the sandwich. She ate the first half and then couldn't eat anymore. "Liara, I am full right now, can I finish it later maybe? If you leave the tray here, I could eat it when I get hungry again."
"Oh, sure. I'm sure that would be okay. You haven't eaten for a few days, I'm not surprised that you're not that hungry. Here though, Kaidan said you have to drink this." She handed Shepard one of the energy drinks that Kaidan drank to keep up his high calorie intake due to his biotics. Shepard made a face.
"I don't like the taste of that, Liara. I don't want to drink that." Shepard pushed the hand with the drink away.
"But Kaidan said you had to drink it. He said that you needed to drink it." Liara was starting to get flustered. Shepard rolled her eyes, if Liara went out of here flustered, Kaidan would know she had caused it and would be disappointed in her. She had said she would cooperate.
"Alright, I guess I need to drink it then." She took the drink and sipped some and then made a face.
"Oh, I'm sure it isn't that bad Shepard." She took the container from Shepard and took a sip. She made a face. "Okay, it isn't the most pleasant taste, but he did say it was good for you." She handed it back to Shepard. "It isn't too much, you should drink it. He wouldn't give me anything bad for you."
Shepard looked at it and frowned. She considered spilling it, but he would know she did it on purpose. All this thinking was making her tired. She steeled herself and drank the rest of the drink, making a yucky noise at the end of it. She handed it to Liara. She leaned back in the bed and made herself comfortable and closed her eyes. She felt Liara take her hand as she drifted off to sleep.
Liara had told him she was sleeping soundly when Dr. Chakwas had returned. Her fever had remained steady with no spikes for hours. Maybe she was finally getting over it. Kaidan certainly hoped so. He would be much happier when she was back with him. He was tired as he headed for the med bay to take over from the doctor. It would be nice to spend some time with Shepard, even if she was sleeping. He grabbed a fresh tray of food before heading into the med bay. When he walked into the med bay the doctor looked up and smiled at him.
"Still no spikes and it has gone down a bit." She pointed to the terminal. "I think we might be over the worst." The relief on her face was real.
Kaidan put the tray down next to the bed and looked over at Shepard sleeping peacefully and smiled. "Really, this is over?" He looked back at the doctor. He was afraid to get his hopes up until she confirmed her findings.
"Yes, the numbers and tests say she is fighting it. She's sleeping to heal. She's over the worst." She touched the screen toggling through the results so he could see. He walked over and stood next to her, watching as she cycled through the results.
Kaidan felt like he could burst he was so relieved. He knew he was smiling like a cat who had eaten the canary but he couldn't stop. She would be back to her old self soon, yelling and giving him hell. He wouldn't have it any other way. "Thank you, Doc, I needed to have some good news, and this is the best." He hugged her and walked her to the door. After she left he secured the door and then went over to the bed where Shepard lay sleeping.
He quietly pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat down. He watched her for only a few minutes before her eyes opened and quickly looked around the room. She relaxed significantly when she saw him sitting next to the bed. He smiled at her and gently took her hand and kissed it and then he buried his head into her side. Relief washed over him as he felt her hand running through his hair.
"Kaidan?" He looked up at her face responding to her soft voice. "I really don't like the taste of your energy drink, please don't make me drink it anymore."
He laughed at her. "Honey, just one more tonight, okay. I want you to get stronger. It'll help, I promise." He kissed her hand again. "That reminds me I brought you a fresh tray of food." He got up to get the tray, then put it in front of her. "Liara said you did good today, but I thought fresh would be better than leftover. Doc tossed your tray away, anyway." He opened the heat seal on the main protein dish and handed her a utensil.
"So what's been happening?" She started to move the food around on the plate. The first bite was always the hardest when she didn't feel well. She also didn't like eating when she first woke up which he well knew. "On the ship I mean. You know, what's going on?" She played a little longer then looked up at him. Kaidan stood there with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. He pointedly looked at her then at her food. She sighed and took a bite of the food.
"Everything is fine. We should be at Arcturus Station sometime tomorrow." He uncrossed his hands and sat on the bed next to her opening her bread.
"Wait, we should have been at Arcturus Station by now. What happened?" She put down her utensil and looked at him.
He picked it up and held it out for her waiting for her to take it from him. She frowned but took it from his hand. He broke off a piece of bread and handed it to her. She took the bread and took a bite. She looked at him as she chewed. "Okay, we took the long way around because I thought it would be safer." He pointed to her tray and she took another bite before he continued. "We went through the asteroid belt."
"You took my ship through and asteroid belt? How it that safer?" She put the utensil and bread down again and he picked it up and held it for her. She crossed her arms and frowned staring at him. He reached for her hand but she buried it under her arm.
"Okay, if someone was searching for us, we made it harder by going through the belt." He waved the utensil at her.
"And put the ship in danger, there is more to it than that, Kaidan. You would not put the ship in danger if there wasn't a good reason." She looked down at the utensil he was waving at her and then looked back at his face. She steeled her expression and looked in his eyes.
"Okay. We found trace of the SADS ship in our path. It was a precaution, that's all." He waved the utensil at her and she looked at it, then looked back in his eyes. "Joker, Hanley and Garrus, were in the cockpit, that is why I thought it would be safe." He held the utensil up to her again. "Yes, I wouldn't put the ship in danger, unnecessarily."
She reached up and took the utensil from his hand. "Unless it meant saving me." She said quietly right before she put more food in her mouth.
"To save us all. That ship is dangerous." He picked up the bread to hand it to her again.
"Yes, to save us all." She repeated his words and took the bread from his hands. She slowly worked her way through the food with him helping now and then, handing her bread, her drink or opening a heat seal. He handed her the energy drink and she made a face, but she took it. He smiled as she steeled herself and drank it very quickly then grabbed for the water to wash her mouth out.
He removed the tray, then climbed into the bed with her and held her in his arms.
"You know I really missed you the past couple of days, Ari. Barging around the ship, getting into mischief, doing reports and just eating meals together. It was different without you around."
"I don't do mischief, they are projects." She rubbed her hand along his arm.
"Yes, I know you think they are, but what is a project to you, usually causes mischief to someone else. I never thought I would miss it, until it was taken away." He kissed her forehead. "You seem a bit warm still, but much cooler then you were."
"How long do you think I will feel this way?" She looked up at his face.
"Doc said that the test results look good and that your blood count was excellent, so it will just take as long as your body needs to get rid of the infection. I think maybe a few days and you will feel a bit better. It might take a little longer for you to get to full strength." He kissed her gently on her nose. "Resting speeds up that process you know."
Nodding her head she snuggled up close to his chest and relaxed. He would alternately brush her hair with his hand or rub her lower back. They cuddled like this for a while until she fell asleep. Gently extricating himself from her arms he adjusted her pillows so she would be comfortable and pulled the blanket over her. He took her tray out to the chute and tossed it. Returning to med bay he changed his clothes and climbed into bed. Hoping that this would be the first good sleep he would have in three days, he dimmed the lights before finally relaxing and closing his eyes.