"Commander, something.." Traynor looked up, words catching in her throat. Shepard was limping forward, face pale, hair matted with sweat. Her assault rifle was clutched loosely in one hand and she rolled her head towards Traynor more than turned it.
"What?" A lazy question pulled from weariness.
"Sorry, the comm system has gone down, the ships systems are going haywire!"
"I know, Joker told me EDI is offline, I'm heading to deck three" The Commander looked down at her leg then back up at Traynor, her eyes terrifyingly glassy "Get Vega and Liara down there if you can"
"Yes Commander"
Shepard frowned as the lights dimmed just as she entered the elevator. The small electrical panel flittering on and off in a series of random flashes. It would be just her luck to get stuck in the elevator.
Outside on deck three, just by the AI core, were two crewmen, both holding fire extinguishers. Shepard didn't say anything, just waved her rifle in a lazy motion, indicating for them to proceed. The sound of the extinguishers hurt her ears and the powder clogged her nose and throat, an acrid tang that made her cough in reflex. She bought her rifle up, wedging it into the grove of her shoulder and stepped forward, past the crewmen and into a patch of sinking powder. The thing before her, was the very last thing she expected to see and If EDI hadn't of spoken so quickly, Shepard would have fired out of instinct.
"Commander" The android body turned to face her, its artificial skin of metal and plastic shimmering in the light.
"EDI?" Shepard didn't lower her rifle "What's going on?"
"I have taken control of Dr Eva's body. It was not a seamless transition" A sleek silver arm extended as the android twisted and rotated the hand, bending every finger in turn, head tilting in an eerily familiar human motion.
"You're telling me" Shepard lowered the rifle enough to look over the scope, her eyebrows rising slightly "We lost you for a moment"
"Correct. When we brought this unit on board, I began a background process to search for its information on the Prothean device. This eventually triggered a trap - a backup power source and CPU activated, and the unit attempted physical confrontation. Fortunately, I was able to gain root access and repurpose it as I saw fit. During this process, it... struggled. Thus, the fire" EDI waved her arms at the black lines on the wall. The motion was exaggerated, like a small excited child telling a story "This body could accompany you to areas the Normandy cannot reach. I will run tests to ensure that it matches or exceeds the capabilities of organic squad mates"
"Oh I've seen the thing in action EDI, I'm pretty sure it matches up" Shepard relaxed now, stowing her rifle and rolling her shoulders "EDI, you can't do things like this without letting the crew know in advance, do you understand me? You could have potentially put lives in danger" Shepard felt slightly absurd talking to EDI's new body like a naughty child and she looked away, the emotionless dull eyes boring into her were unsettling "That said, if it means having full access to the Prothean data in its head. Good work"
"Commander, am I to understand that I can remain within the body and also remain in the ship?"
"Yes EDI" Shepard looked at the android and gave her a small smile "I trust you"
There was a moment of silence, as EDI tried to marry the correct physical response to the words she wished to say. A second later she was holding her hand out to Shepard, waiting for the Commander to respond. Shepard laughed and took her hand, giving it a firm shake "Thank you Commander" EDI tried to smile but didn't quite pull it off. Shepard bit her lip in an effort not to laugh.
"My first step should be restoring functionality to the Normandy to reassure the crew that all is normal. Then I will take it to the bridge. Joker will also want to see it"
"Yes, yes he will" Shepard paused "Just take it easy EDI ok? Don't be surprised if the crew is a little wary of your new body. It was shooting at them a little while ago"
"Of course commander"
The deep scar burn of pain was bleeding slowly down her leg. The blood had started coagulating, the fabric dressing sticking to her flesh, and Shepard sucked in a breath as Doctor Chakwas cut away, tugging at the sticky, coated strip.
"You have hands like a sailor!" Shepard growled, convincing herself it was just pain, and pain wasn't really important. They had told her in the N7 program, that she was physically brave, a rare and dangerous trait. Now she thought about it, the pain was easy to manage, you just had to look at it differently. She looked away from the wound and wondered where that idea had come from, and seemed to remember she'd been taught how to do this, how to look at everything as a metaphor. All things were something other than themselves. Her pain for example, was the ocean at midnight and she was adrift on it, body calm, mind a fortress. Two parts of her, separate and cut from each other "Oh fuck!" She swore, fingers tensing on the bed as she lost her mental image.
"Well Commander if you hadn't injected yourself with so much medigel on Menae, you wouldn't be in quite so much pain now" Chakwas carried on, unperturbed "There isn't enough skin to seal the largest wound Commander I'm sorry, best I can do is pack it and seal it with artificial skin weaves until it heals from beneath" she looked up, eyes apologetic "It will be painful for quite some time"
"That's nothing new" Shepard shrugged, wincing immediately as the motion jarred her leg and sent fingers of fire gouging down her thigh "Honestly I feel like I'm a hundred years old some days"
"That's not a bad feeling" Shepard and the Doctor looked up to see Liara leant in the doorway, legs crossed at the ankles, arms folded across her chest. She was giving Shepard a heated glare "Garrus told me to come find you" She pushed off from the door and stepped fully into the medical bay "How bad is it?"
"It's not that.."
"Quiet Commander" The Doctor cut her off with a menacing tone, shocking Shepard into a stunned silence "It is bad enough Liara, I've been unable to completely repair the wound, it will take time to heal "
Liara nodded, smiling at the look of complete shock on the Commanders face. She glanced around the medical office, looking from the white ceiling to the white wall and white sheets. She hadn't been in the room since joining the Normandy and hoped to have no reason to visit, but it was a foolish hope, and here she was.
Shepard was sat with her legs hanging off the side of one of the beds, her armour was discarded on the floor leaving her clad in her N7 jumpsuit, with one of the legs torn completely off. The absent material exposed a large area of damaged tissue, with several ragged scratches running from the top of Shepard's knee to almost the very top of her thigh. Liara kept watching as doctor Chakwas smeared something over the worst of the scrapes and then ran a small lamp over it, watching as steam rose up and made Shepard's nose twitch. In her heart, Liara knew this was going to be the first of many times she would see Shepard injured. There would never be a time when Shepard didn't put herself at the front, never be a moment where she put her own well being first. With a sigh she moved closer, peering down at the angry, bruised and ravaged flesh as Chakwas nodded her head, seemingly pleased with her handy work.
"Commander?" Doctor Chakwas waited for green eyes to track to her "Get out of my medical bay" she smiled to take the edge off her words and laughed as Shepard rolled her eyes.
"Yes ma'am" Shepard lowered both feet to the floor but struggled to weight bear, fighting her swimming head and the throbbing pain in her leg, she staggered, finding herself instantly steadied by warm blue hands that grabbed her shoulders.
"Hi" Shepard said, slightly dizzy from the blood she'd lost.
"Hi yourself" Liara shook her head, smiling "I'll give you hand back to your cabin Shepard"
"Ok" Shepard nodded, and threaded her arm across Liara's shoulder, letting the Asari take a lot of her weight as she limped to the door "Doctor, can you put my hard suit to one side for now, I'll..."
"Commander" Chakwas eyed the discarded suit "I'll have someone sort it out, don't worry" she waved at Shepard as Liara turned them around and hobbled out into the crew deck. A few people were eating at the mess and made a conscious effort not to stare as the two of them shuffled past.
"How are you feeling Shepard?" Liara asked, squeezing Shepard's side lightly, her thumb tracing idle patterns on her back as they walked.
"Pretty good right about now" Shepard blew a strand of hair off her face as they reached the lift. Inside she took the opportunity to relieve some of the pressure from Liara, leaning her weight against the wall until they exited outside her quarters. The journey from the med bay had been almost silent and now they stood, face to face. It would have been awkward to anyone else.
"You're sure you're alright?" Liara stepped closer, her eyes scanning the wound on Shepard's leg.
"Honestly, I'm fine, a scratch is the least of my problems right now" Shepard hopped a little, running her fingers through her hair in a gesture that screamed frustration "You heard that the Primarch wants me to broker a treaty with the Turians and Krogans?" Liara nodded "How do I do that Liara?"
"We will start at the bottom, start with Wrex and go from there" Liara spoke as if it was obvious "something will come from that Shepard, I know of no one else in the galaxy that could do such a thing"
"Yeah" Shepard sighed and cast her eyes up "I've been hearing that a lot lately"
"People have a faith in you Shepard, that is not a bad thing"
"Really?"
"I think you've earned it"
"What if I can't" she made a mad gesture with her hands, as if reaching for something "Make it happen?"
"Is that what has been bothering you Shepard, you're worried you'll fail?" Liara's heart clenched as tormented green eyes met hers. Shepard had no idea how expressive her eyes were, how much of herself she let slip through in the simplest of looks. Those eyes were anguished now and filled with something Liara had never seen there before.
"I am terrified" Shepard let her hands fall to her sides as she studied Liara's face "That I'll fall beneath the standards I've set for myself and worse, those that humanity has the right to expect from me. I can't do this and be the Commander Shepard people expect me to be" Her voice was so distant, gaze so achingly hollow "If this war doesn't cost me my life Liara, I think it might well cost me my soul"
Liara moved forward, wrapping her arms around Shepard, embracing her, careful not to knock her off balance "Never your soul Shepard I can promise you that" She breathed in the scent of her.
"How can you be so sure?" A tiny question, spoken like a child.
"Because I'm going to be guarding it" She felt Shepard smile against her neck, felt the woman in her arms relax as she let out a long breath. After a moment she pulled back.
"Stay with me?" Shepard asked, her eyes full of need and lazy desire.
Liara's breath caught as her stomach tightened and suddenly there was a small smile on her face. She might have shaken her head just a fraction "No" She lifted her hand to Shepard's face, ran a thumb across her cheek and traced a line of freckles, lingering on a light, faded scar "You need to rest Shepard, your injured, your body full of drugs" she said after a pause "Sleep tonight, heal and I'll see you in the morning" she placed the gentlest of chaste kisses on the Commanders lips, her body and mind aching for more.
"I'll hold you to that" Shepard shighed, took a wobbly step backwards and turned, activating the door with a swipe of her hand. She stepped into her quarters and listened for the door close, not looking back.
Once she'd manoeuvred through her cabin, she threw herself onto the bed, flinging her arms and legs out in a star and fought against the memory of Liara being there. The force of the memory, of them lying huddled together, body into body in whatever arrangement it might have been from night to night was the only warmth she could cling to right now. She rolled onto her side and laughed at the thought, her side, but it was a form of habit which drove her over and she lay, slumped down in the bed, letting the piled bedclothes submerge her like some drift, and there she slept, her right hand under her pillow, left splayed out to the empty bed beside her.
