well here's chapter 6, anyone else find it annoying that Dr Chakwas is not an option in the character search filters?
Disclaimer: Mass Effect is Biowares Baby. Sorry about the language.
"FUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKK!"
Jack tried to turn around to face the doctor, "What are you doing Doc? Are you trying to fucking kill me?" Dr Chakwas remained calm, "I'm sorry Jack. I did warn you that this would sting." Jack continued to grit her teeth while the doctor applied ointment to the burns on her back. Out of the ground team that went to help the colonists on Horizon, Jacks injuries were physically the worst but all of them came back scarred in some way. Jack had received severe burns when running for cover from a thing that Garrus had described as "a conglomerate of Husks in the shape of a giant bug."
Dr Chakwas finished applying the ointment. "There you go. Your back should now heal nicely. I do suggest however that you should invest in some armour. I don't think your skin would be able to endure more burns like the ones you received." Jack, who was already heading for the door, just gave a dismissive "whatever" as a reply. "Oh, and you should probably stay off your back for the next few days." At this, Jack turned around and narrowed her eyes on the doctor, suspecting something more had been implied. In the end she just turned and walked towards the elevator, deciding not to pursue it further.
The doctor breathed a sigh of relief and started filling in the paperwork about the teams injuries from Horizon. It was not long after she started that she heard the Med Bay door open again. She turned around to see Commander Shepard in the doorway. "Hey Doctor, Um...Do you feel like sharing another drink with me?" The Commander looked down at the bottle of orange liquid in her hand, "I'm afraid it's not Serrice Ice Brandy this time." The doctor started to answer, "I should probably finish writing these reports." At seeing the slight change in Shepard's face to what might have been determined as disappointment, she changed her mind. "But what the hell! I'll grab the glasses. This might just be what I need to numb the pain when Jack comes back to rip me to shreds when she finds out that the burns ointment may have a side effect of erasing tattoos." The commander looked nervous, "Did it?" the doctor shrugged, "too early to say.""Well," came Shepard's reply, "I don't think I'm game to tell her that one, and it's probably best that stays off the scuttlebutt." The commander then raised her voice, "wouldn't you agree Joker?" they then heard what sounded like a crash over the comm system, followed by the voice of the pilot sounding a little sheepish, "wouldn't I agree on what Commander?" Shepard rolled her eyes, "Exactly. Now get back to work." When she heard the click indicating the comm channel had been closed, she turned to face Dr Chakwas and smiled, satisfied at herself for catching Joker in the act this time.
The doctor returned the smile. "Thank you Commander. Though if something did happen, your action may not be enough to stop the gossip." As she said this, she turned to face the windows. Shepard followed her gaze and remarked, "I have no idea who designed the interior of the Normandy. But I don't think they were thinking Med Bay when they designed this." "I agree," the doctor replied, "It just throws Doctor – Patient confidentiality out the window." She then winced as she realised what she just said.
The commander gave a light chuckle at at the doctor's response. She then sat down and proceeded to open the bottle. Dr Chakwas grabbed some glasses and sat down in the seat opposite Shepard."What shall we drink to Commander?" the doctor asked when she received her glass. At this question, Shepard turned to look at a table in the Mess Hall with two of the crew sitting at it. Dr Chakwas recognised those crew as the two who were sitting there complaining about the meals to the Mess Sergeant on the first day they were on that ship. In fact, those two crew members seemed to always be at that exact same table, complaining about the meals to the Mess Sergeant every time she looked out the window. The doctor realised that Shepard was thinking along the same lines as her when she proposed the toast should be "To the crew of the Normandy. May we one day find out what they do." They clinked their glasses together and took a sip of the orange liquor. Immediately both of their faces screwed up into a disgusted look. "this stuff takes like crap," remarked Shepard in order to break the uncomfortable silence. "Getting numb is not worth this torture," came the doctor's reply as she put her glass aside, "Are you sure this isn't turian liquor?" The commander laughed but then found herself seriously studying the bottle. She breathed a sigh of relief as she read out "Not for Dextro-DNA consumption, I think were good here Doctor."
"Well I guess drinking to excess is out of the question now, but maybe we could discuss what's bothering you Commander." Shepard looked down at the glass in her hand. She seemed unsure how to start this conversation. "I'm sure...you've heard about what happened on Horizon." While the doctor was certain that she knew what Shepard was talking about, she decided to play it safe. "Yes I did, and despite what you may be thinking, you did a great job in stopping the collectors from taking the whole colony." the commander looked up, slightly irritated, "Yeah? Well if it wasn't for me, they wouldn't have been targeted in the first place. Anyway, please don't play dumb with me Doctor. If Joker knew all about Kaidan and I, there's a certainty that you did too." The Doctor nodded her head, "I had a feeling about it. That feeling wasn't confirmed until after you had died." She looked away and the memory of comforting Kaidan in those hours after the first Normandy was destroyed came to the forefront of her mind. Shepard interrupted those thoughts. "Out of all the people that I thought would have my back, Kaidan was the one that I never doubted. So seeing that bitter look on his face and then him walking away from me, it doesn't...I can't process it."
"You can't blame Lieutenant...Commander Alenko for being confused at the situation," the doctor chimed in. "It has been two years since you last saw each other. And you must admit that the situation you turned up in didn't put you in a flattering light." Shepard considered this, "Okay. Maybe you've got a point there Doctor. But does my association with Cerberus mean that I am no longer trustworthy to him? I am certain he saw that I came to save that colony and yet he didn't want to listen to me when he found out I was working with Cerberus. Doctor, how is it that you, who pretty much only knows me by my files and whatever gossip has been spread, can trust me so unconditionally when the one person,who I let in and who got to know so much more about me than anyone else, cannot trust me at all?" 'Maybe it is because I know something that he does not.' The doctor then knew how she would tackle that question.
"Perhaps we should look at what happened on Horizon from a different perspective Commander. It may be that Commander Alenko has made wrong assumptions about you because he does not possess certain information that we have." Shepard looked up,confused. The doctor continued. "Both you and I know Commander that you died and have been revived by Cerberus. But outside of this ship, the general consensus is that death is permanent. Kaidan's reaction to you is linked to his perspective of the situation. If his perspective comes with the assumption that death is permanent, then it will greatly differ from your perspective."
"So in order to understand where Kaidan is coming from, I need to forget about my death?" The doctor nodded, "Precisely." The Commander scoffed, "easier said than done." They then spent the next few minutes in silence as Shepard went through the events in her head. She finally spoke up, "I can see where he's connected things. The last time he saw a ship like the one on Horizon was when the Normandy was attacked. The last time he saw me was that same day, and now I'm with Cerberus. Take my death out of the equation and that puts Cerberus right there where the attack happened, waiting to take me in. Because of him seeing me again in this way, in his mind the attack has become a set up, and I've become the traitor who organised it." She put her hands up to her face, "Oh Kaidan, please don't think of me that way."
Dr Chakwas tried to comfort her, "Commander, while Kaidan's initial reaction may have been to think of you in that way, I don't believe that impression will stay in his mind. As you said before, Kaidan knows who you are. Once he gets to think through what happened, he will realise that his assumptions are wrong because they do not match who you are. He knows that you're not a traitor Commander, he just needs time to go through it all and get back to that knowledge." Commander Shepard let out a sigh, "I hope you're right." She then stood up, rolled her shoulders and became the commanding officer again. "Thank you for the chat Doctor, I'll dispose of this," she said, grabbing the liquor bottle on the way out. The doctor tried to get back to her reports but found her memories getting in the way. She remembered the playful fights that the Commander and the Lieutenant would have over a buggy interface panel for one of the non critical systems. Their tech knowledge combined didn't seem enough to get this panel to stay fixed. Their frustration over it turned into a game which the doctor now knew eventually led to more. She remembered the Commander's smile from back then. She remembered the Commander's frown from when they talked earlier. Comparing the two brought a thought back into her mind. 'Maybe it is because I know something that he does not.' " Perhaps he needs to be enlightened then," she said to herself. She brought up a file with pictures of Shepard's corpse on the operating table. She then opened a message screen.
TO : Staff Commander Kaidan Alenko