Hello there
First of all, I'd like to thank all of you who favored and are following my story. Thank you! I feel that as an encouragement, and it gives me extra drive to attack the next chapters.
Second, it is quite interesting what I have learned from writing sofar. I thought by chapter 5 we would be knee-deep into action, but every time I sit down, the only thing that comes out of my keyboard is more dialogue, encounters, and emotions between the characters, I learned that I enjoy that part of creating a story.
There will be action, I promise, it's in the back of my head, and it's definately not what you expect. However, it's still some chapters away. :)
The medical part of this chapter was like pulling teeth, while the rest came to me in only a few hours.
Special thanks to Bebus and Vector 71, this story thrives because of your help and encouragement.
And finally: Reviews are very much appreciated. If you like a certain part, or dislike a certain part, please tell me, and why. It might help me be a better writer.
Thanks all!
Chapter 5, Trials
It was hard to unnerve a woman like Shepard, but for the last twenty-four hours, an anxious feeling had settled in her gut. This was not an enemy she could shoot, or charge, in this fight she was completely reliant on others. Shepard had no control over this situation, and for her, that was an unbearable feeling.
She hurriedly checked her omni-tool, and muttered to herself, "451 Waverly place." This was the place Miranda Lawson and Doctor Brynn Cole had picked as their workspace. It was a huge office building, with no apparent war damage.
The guard at the front desk gawked at her. "Commander Shepard! How good it is to see you! Dr. Cole informed me that you were coming, please proceed to the fourth floor, but, eh... "
Karli was surprised to see the guard wearing Alliance colors. Is this an Alliance facilty? "What is it soldier?"
"Well, eh, can I please have your autograph? - my wife and I have talked about you a few times, you saved us and our little James, he was born three days after the Reapers landed, and... we owe you everything Commander, thank you so very much!" He reached under the desk and produced a magazine: Shepard on the cover, pointing a gun at a cowering Harbinger.
Despite her anxiety, she had to laugh at the image. "You know soldier, Harbinger was about two kilometres tall, he would not have been impressed with me waving a pistol at him." They both laughed, and the mood changed from semi-official to comfortable.
Opening the magazine, she flipped through a few pages. On page 32 Karli found a large image of herself and Liara, holding hands while entering a restaurant at Silversun Strip. Overhead a large font title: POWERRR COUPLE!
Shepard groaned, "Is everything we do news?" At least Liara looks charming in this picture... I will never get used to seeing myself in the media.
She closed the magazine, and signed: "To James with love, I wish you a life filled with peace - Commander Shepard."
The look on the guard's face was priceless. "Wonderful! - I will frame this and hang it in his room, thank you so much Commander!"
Miranda waited for her by the elevator. "Shepard, it's a pleasure to see you!" She extended her hand, while Karli tried to move in for a friendly hug.
"Come here Miranda, stop being so distant." Shepard ignored the awkward situation, and gave Miranda a good hug, while the other woman meekly patted her on the back.
Miranda introduced the other woman in the hall. "Commander, this is Doctor Brynn Cole, ex-Cerberus."
"Actually..." Brynn interrupted, "the Commander and I have met before, she saved me and my entire team of scientists. So, please, do call me Brynn!"
Shepard grinned at both of them, eager to get this over with. She knew just the thing to get these two started, the challenge hung in her voice: "So, which one of you is going to fix me?" and like she expected, they both put up their professional faces.
Pointing at a chair surrounded by monitors and wires, Miranda asked, "Shepard, I'd like to monitor your vitals for 120 minutes, could you please sit down?"
The sour look on Karli's face was so apparent, they all shared a laugh. "Go sit down Commander, I promise I will not torture you... much" added Brynn with a mischievous smile. Karli allowed herself to be strapped into the chair, and within five minutes, all her life functions were on display on the many monitors.
Brynn had her perform some small biotic tricks, while Miranda read to her: "irregular fainting, unstable biotics, balance issues, and what was that new thing, Commander?"
Sighing, Karli replied, "Over the past three days, I cannot raise my arms above my head. Liara can move them there, but I cannot. The command from my brain doesn't seem to reach my arms for that particular motion... "
The two scientists locked eyes, and spoke simultaneously. "Cerebellum" - "Spine!"
Shepard gave the two a sour smile. "Whichever one it is, can you two repair it?" And as the pair turned to walk away, she quietly whispered to herself, "Please?"
An hour passed, when Miranda approached her again, datapad in hand. Karli could not read her expression, nor was there emotion in her voice. "Your overall cell regeneration seems to have picked up, and that could help us in the long term. However, the rest is not good news. Whatever we have tried in the last few months, the simple and the elaborate methods, have failed to raise your blood pressure. But even blood pressures of this level should not have you fainting that often.
"Red blood cells are formed in bone marrow, a normal human body makes about two million red blood cells every second - but your body produces about five million per second, and we are baffled by that number."
Brynn came to stand beside Karli, and explained, "Some readings tell us that it might have something to do with your biotic implant interfering with your bone marrow. However, scans tell us that your implant is functioning as we expected, therefore... "
"Therefore you don't really know what is wrong!" Karli spat out the words, and immediately regretted her tone. She clenched her fists, and had to make a conscious effort to relax them again.
Insecurity seeped into her voice, as she turned toward the duo. "Miranda, you know me, you brought me back to life with all of the enhancements. Please tell me, will I ever be me again?"
Miranda blinked three times, while she seemed to study the floor underneath the chair. An awkward silence filled the room.
There is my answer... If even Miranda cannot fix this, that means ... I will never see action again.
Karli was hit by a wave of despair and anguish. She had come this far, overcome such ridiculous odds, and now that she was standing at the end of all things, her own body was crumbling.
Fortunately she was seated, for her legs turned to rubber in a heartbeat. Moisture appeared in her eyes as she tried to fight the tears.
As she watched Shepard being reduced, Brynn couldn't just stand there any longer. She went on one knee beside the chair and wrapped her arms around the crying woman. "Allright... allright... " she whispered.
When Karli entered the hotel room, the first thing that struck her, again, was the darkness of the place. It weighed on her, and in that instant she decided it'd been enough. To her own surprise, she got really angry with the whole situation, Damned stupid darkness... stupid curtains... stupid floor! as she kicked a small table across the room, where it broke a flower vase.
She steadied herself against the doorpost, a feeling of disbelief rising to the surface. Her left hand slowly moved up, stroking her dark brown hair, she realized it was a subconscious sign of self-doubt.
Did I just do that? Because the room is gloomy? Stuff like that never bothered me before, why does it do so now? - and like before, she came to the same conclusion - I am not the person I used to be. My emotions, like my health, have shifted. Will I see action again? Can I ever be the Vanguard again?
Three minutes later she decided that at least she could get another room. No more dark room, I need light!
A quick trip to the front desk produced the key to the top floor penthouse. As she toured the new room, the sunlight soothed her senses. Ah, bright colors, a large glass roof, wait, why does this stuff affect me so much?
But she already had her answer.
She laid on her back, on a huge pink bed, staring through the glass ceiling, while a few tiny clouds lazily drifted by in the blazing blue sky.
Her thoughts moved even slower than the clouds.
Liara wanted to go see the zoo tomorrow, but I don't want to see people. Regent's park has a... that's a nice plan for tomorrow, let me ask Blue tonight.
Slowly, she sat up.
Still some time till dinner, might be a good time to give Mom a call.
She seated herself in front of the room's comm, and connected to the Alliance network. "Admiral Hannah Shepard please, SSV Libra."
"Karli! How nice of you to call! How are you my dear?"
Hearing her Mom's voice suddenly made Karli feel very protected. After the horrid morning, connecting with her mother felt very right. In the last couple of months she'd always answered this very question with a well-rehearsed "Thank you, I'm fine", but her mother deserved more than that, and Karli was relieved to share what was going on inside her head.
"Hi Mom, it's great to hear your voice. It's been difficult the last few months."
Concern was obvious in her mother's voice, "Oh? On a personal or a professional level?"
"Personal Mom, I have not been involved in Alliance affairs since that day. You know I have been in the hospital for nine months, and now the last three months I am slowly trying to get back in the swing of things. But... I keep fainting, I have issues with my balance, my biotics are unreliable, it's an issue no one can explain at this point. Even Miranda, the one who re-built me after the first Normandy went down, cannot solve it at this point."
Her mother's voice was now more than concerned. "Fainting? How long are you out for? How often does it happen?"
"It happens about two or three times a week, completely unpredictable. I'm usually out for about ten minutes. And the instability... sometimes I just fall over, happened one time while I was in a staircase. On top of that, unreliable biotics, nothing works like it is supposed to."
"That's it! I am coming over to see you. If I pull some strings, I will be on earth in about three weeks." Determination filled Hannah's voice, her decision made.
"Uh, Mom, three weeks from now I will be on Thessia."
The voice on the other side was clearly confused. "Thessia? What are you doing there?"
"Mother, do you remember when I talked about Doctor Liara T'Soni?" Karli asked.
Hannah smiled. "Every time you mentioned her name, which was quite often, your voice became brighter and your face lights up. How could I forget you mentioning her?"
Out with it! "Mom, Liara and I... eh, we, we have just bought a house on Thessia, and will be moving there soon."
"Bought a house together? That... that is unexpected!" Karli heard the confusion in her mother's voice. I thought she liked Liara? Or did she assume I would go back to being a Spectre?
"So you are moving to Thessia," continued Hannah thoughtfully, "and there is something else as well, I hear it in your voice. Please tell me everything."
You will be a grandmother soon!
"Mother, ehm, Liara and I, we are talking about having a child together..."
For a few seconds, the comm line was completely silent. Then Hannah found her voice once more, ominous and doubtful. "You are having a child... with an asari?"
Karli gasped for breath, this is was not the response she'd expected. Her heart cringed, the way her mother spat out the word "asari".
"Sweetheart, I want to accept everything you do. But consider this: when you were born, mankind had never met an alien, and three years later we were fighting the Turians. Aliens were the enemy, Karli! I fought them, I lost good friends fighting them. Now I am aware interspecies relationships exist, and that's fine, but for my own daughter to, to... wait a second, is anyone pregnant already?"
Shepard tried to see from her mother's perspective, and understood, a little. Her mother had grown up in an age where space was the unknown, and the first contact with alien life had been violent. As an Alliance officer, her mother had been involved in the First contact war.
If she could only meet Liara, things will be much better!
"No mom, nobody is pregnant. Why don't you come to Thessia and meet Liara, I'm sure you'll love her once you get to know her."
Hannah laughed, "You might just be a tiny bit biased! - And of course I am coming to Thessia. My daughter is talking about children, you just try and keep me away!"
They both laughed at that, relieving the tension of the moment.
"Karli, one last thing before I go."
Oh gosh, here comes the story about blue babies. "Of course Mom, go ahead."
"What happened that day on the Citadel? When the crucible fired? Because of my last name I was able to access your report, but you never shared exactly what happened." The expectation was heavy in her voice.
Karli sighed. "Mom, I haven't been able to tell anyone. Even Liara does not know at this point. It is... difficult." Cold chills ran down her spine, and she felt her biotics flare in response to feelings of cold, primal rage. That... thing onboard the Citadel, and its insane reasoning, was her best kept secret. But it had to come out, for the sake of the universe.
"How about this Mom: I will share the memory of that day with Liara soon. Then when we meet on Thessia, I can tell you as well."
Karli thought this sounded very reasonable, but she could clearly hear the irritation in her mother's reply. "Liara first, then your mother. I understand."
"Mom, I.." But her mother quickly interrupted her.
"Sorry, did not mean to be so curt. I have leave in three weeks, and will make arrangements to travel to Thessia, we'll take it from there, alright? Make sure you send the address. Take care of yourself dear."
Her mother disconnected the call, and Karli dragged herself over to the bed.
Tomorrow will be a better day!