Chapter 4: Line of Duty

Kari pulled the trigger. She felt the mass accelerator punch forward as a flurry of incandesant rounds reached out towards her target. The Geth hunter who had been too interested in its kill previously to be either aware or troubled by her presence looked up just in time to see the sand-sized pellets strike it in the face. The power behind the blast was more that enough to shatter its shields and rip dozens of tiny holes in its head.
Err-err-err-ooor
Critical Dam-
A circuit akin to a major artery in the Geth's brain exploded.
The Geth's black form slumped and fell backwards, its head still smoking and leaking lubricant.

Kari let the shotgun drop from her hands. She had fired a weapon before…but never in anger…and never at another sapient creature, not even a Geth….but she didn't have time to think about it now.

The human, who had come to rescue that laying face down at her feet, two smoking great holes in his back nearly equidistance from each other. The tissue around the wounds was blackened and fused with the armour in a nasty looking red-black mess and the smell of overcooked meat, ozone and burnt plastic wafted up to Kari. Even through her suit's filters, the smell was overpowering. Kari couldn't help but gag. Despite the nauseating smell, Kari kneeled down, quickly gathering her strength as she pulled his arm around her shoulder. He was heavy, and tall…his body was nothing but dead weight on her as she threw her other arm between his legs like her father had taught her and hefted him up over her shoulders.
Her body strained at the load, she wasn't used to lifting heavy objects, much less a fully armoured soldier. She closed the distance remarkably quickly to her shuttle nevertheless, and with the help of the Asari woman, she managed to get the human down on her cot next to the Turian.

Tullius had been cracking jokes with Aesha, even though he had banged up pretty badly. He knew that she was worried about him, the way she was fussing over every little move that he made.
"Come on, Aesh…I've had worse." He sputtered, his voice playful but tinged with pain.
"I've had your Turian cooking. Believe me…compared to that, this is a flesh wound."
Aesha gave him a small smile, but her face was still contracted in concern.
"You just lie still and keep quiet. The Quarian girl will be back soon, and then we will get you to a hospital."
Tullius smiled, "Hospital? Woman, you are over-reacting. Rub a little dirt on it, it'll heal up fine."
Aesha shook her head, "More of your father's military remedies?"
Tullius nodded, with a chuckle. "Only the best for his darling boy."

Tullius knew his wound was critical, he knew that he was hemorrhaging internally and that every second without proper medical attention meant the likelihood of his death was increased.
But Tullius felt that death wasn't something to be feared. Indeed, it was the ultimate unknown, the adventure that waited for all at the end of days. He wasn't quite ready for his own yet, but he wasn't going to let a little thing like death stop him from making the one he loved smile.
She had such a pretty smile…

Tullius couldn't help himself. He grinned from ear to ear, as much as a Turian that is until the Quarian girl brought the human that had saved them into the shuttle. Tullius's smile disappeared. As much as he didn't fear for his life, he didn't have the same stipulations about the lives of others.

Tullius watched as the Quarian girl and Aesha lowered the soldier onto the cot very carefully next to him. He scooted aside, as best he could to make room for the injured human. He noticed two scorch marks in the human's back, the impacts were deep, they carved out two nearly identical craters into the human's back. Tullius wasn't sure, but he thought he saw the soft yellow-white gleam of human bone.
Plasma burns, bad ones.
Tullius thought as he shifted slightly on the cot so he could get a better look at the human.
He was laying rather still, Tullius had no real knowledge of human biology, but the smell that premeated the ship's cabin told him enough. The man was dying, or already dead. He couldn't tell with his helmet on. As carefully as he could, Tullius slipped his hands around the gorget of the death-mask and twisted slightly. There was a soft whirr, and the helmet came free.
The human's face was rather handsome, young, probably in his second decade from what Tullius knew of human life cycles. His face was rather battered and bruised, a small trickle of congealed blood ran from his right nostril, but otherwise his head was undamaged.
"Do we have any medi-gel, Aesh?" he managed with a slight groan.
The Asari looked over at Kari who had taken to the pilot's seat, doing a jump-start of the ship's systems.
"There's some on the wall over the hatch." Kari responded, her hands flying across the instrument panels, working her best to perform what usually took at least fifteen minutes in less than thirty seconds.

Aesha nodded and opened the small, dirty looking 4x4 box labeled "First Aid." She rummaged through the contents until she found the medi-gel. From the looks of it, it was rather old, and had been sitting in storage for a long time. The package was dusty and yellowed from age, but the gel itself seemed to be no worse for the wear.
"Got it!" Aesha proclaimed excitedly, even as the deck plating shifted beneath her feet, throwing her slightly off balance. The Quarian was still working feverishly, but from what Tullius could tell by the positive g's and the fleeting sense of vertigo they were off the ground and headed into space. Aesha sat down next to Tullius and loaded the medi-gel into her omni-tool. The orange interface glowed bright blue for a moment, a signal that the gel had been loaded properly. She leaned forward, pulling back the tattered fragment's of Tullius garments where he had been hit.
"No." he said simply, batting her hand away gently.
"Give it to him."
Aesha looked over at the human, his face was starting to drain of colour.
"He's already gone, Tullius…you're not." She said sadly, but matter-of-factually.
"No…" Tullius clicked his mandibles together, an Turian gesture for being deadly serious about a matter.
"Give it to him." He insisted. This human had saved Aesha…and him. He wasn't about to let him die like this.
Aesha opened her mouth to protest again…but she caught the look in her bond-mate's eye. It was a matter of honour to him…Aesha felt her heart drop into her stomach…but she did as Tullius asked.

"Unidentified shuttle, you are entering restricted Alliance military air-space. Squawk IFF and power down your engines or we will fire on you." Came a hard-lined voice over the radio.
Kari's mind snapped back to reality. She had been so focused on getting the ship safely into space that she had failed to notice the Alliance fleet staring down the gun-barrel at her tiny ship. The realization that she had endured so much just now to be blown out of the sky by the good guys….
She felt herself slipping, back into the timid creature that had first left the Migrant Fleet a month ago
"S-squawk? I-I don't know how to squawk or what it is! Don't shoot us! We are just trying to get away from the Geth!"
There was a long pause on the other side of the radio, the voice returned.
"Acknowledged, shuttle, please proceed to the SSV Heathrow's docking bay and await further instructions."
The console in front of her lit up as the Alliance transmitted codes and data to her ship's computer, allowing her to identify which one of massive warships was the SSV Heathrow.

Kari gulped audibly, her fingers gripping shakily around the ship's yoke.
"U-Understood…docking now." She managed as she brought the shuttle on an intercept course with the Heathrow's docking bay.
As she steered the ship into the gaping maw of the carrier's flight deck, she felt a sinking sensation in her stomach, like that of an insect in the mouth of a reptile.
There on the deck, was a squad of Alliance marines, fully armed and armoured as well as one of those human tanks she had seen earlier…all of them tracking her ship as she made her descent.
Kari brought the ship down with a soft thud on the deck. Even as she rose from her seat to open the hatch one thought burned into her mind.
"Keelah, I hope they don't think I did this."

Rain. Hard rain…cold. Must be winter…smells familiar. Earth? I'm home? Can't be home…still six months till shore leave. Wait… What's that? Voices?

…To fall in the line of duty, protecting the innocent is the greatest calling any soldier can aspire to. His bravery and courage shall be remembered by all those who...

A eulogy? Who died? Someone I know? Oh…yeah that's right…heh guess that was me.

Never shall there be another like Lt. James Irving…

Heh, you know… if this is heaven, it isn't too bad.

We commend his spirit to you Lord…ashes to ashes…dust to dust…We share the hope that we will meet Lt. Irving in the life to-

Wait...something's not…

"" James gasped, sensations of light, sound and pain flooding back in, drawing ragged breaths that burned like the hottest flames of hell in his chest, spreading outward across his back. Lights scrawling overhead, sending lances of pain through his eyes into his brain.
Pain, pain oh god it HURTS. Make it stop!

"We've got a pulse. He's still with us. Get me 20 cc's o-"
Voices like gunshots in his ears, plucking unseen chords in his head, sending tremors of agony through his skull.
No! No! Let me die, please it HURTS! I can't breathe! I CAN'T FUCKING BREATHE!

"Oh my god…he's awake. Get me that sedative, NOW!"
A face, pale, blurry, mask over mouth...doctor? A doctor. Blocking lights. Stay, please stay.
"Lt. Irving, calm down. You're going to be okay. You're at Huerta Memorial. Just hang in there…everything's going to be okay."

Stop talking. Your voice hurts...wait...
Oh god, why can't I feel m-my-… Just let me…-

"He's out, EEG shows brainwaves returning to acceptable ranges."
"Damn it, showing severe cell deterioration from lack of oxygen, get me an IV stat."

Kari cupped her hands over her visor's voice filter as she watched the Citadel's best doctors wheel the wounded soldier away. "Oh Keelah…is he going to be okay?" she said, voicing her thoughts more than asking anyone in particular. She had spent the last hours with the two other survivors and the soldier that had saved them in one of the Alliance carrier's med-bays. The doctors there had done their best, but they lacked the proper equipment to treat someone so badly injured. They had stabilized the soldier the best they could then transferred him to one of the Alliance's frigates, the SSV Normandy, which was traveling to the Citadel.

"I don't know." remarked the older soldier that had arrived on the Heathrow shortly after she did.
"But these doctors are the best in the galaxy, if there is someone that can save Frost, it's them."
Kari shook her head, pressing her visor into her hands.
This is all my fault. If I had tried to save those people… If I had been braver, or a little faster…
"Hey." The man said, putting a hand on her shoulder, as if reading her thoughts. "It's not your fault…" he gave a sympathetic smile. "You did the best you could, that is all any of us can do."

Kari lowered her hands slightly and looked up at him. He was a hard-looking man, like someone that had seen a lot of struggle in his life,. His face was taught but with long creases and his deep brown hair was flecked with pre-mature grey but his smile was kind and his deep emerald eyes were comforting. He reminded Kari a lot of Mr Ellis….

The Ellis's…she hadn't really had time to think about them since she left…so much had happened, and now…they were probably dead.
"Keelah." She whispered, her knees going weak. It all came flooding back to her, the memories, the trauma, the emotions, and sheer exhaustion. She felt like she could be crushed under their weight.
"I-I need to sit down." She said at last, her knees buckling as she slipped downwards into a sitting position right there in the middle of the waiting room floor.
Bishop helped her sit down slowly. Dropping the one knee next to her, his eyes studied the soft glowing dots behind her visor carefully. They were skewed off and away, staring off into the distance blankly. He recognized the symptom, he had seen it many times before. It seemed that some things were universal in the galaxy, evidentally the Thousand Yard Stare was one of those things.
"You'll be okay." He stated simply, patting her shoulder. "When you have some time, the Alliance would like to know what happened down there…" he paused for a moment, her eyes were still blank and unfocused. "…whenever you're ready." He stood back up, and gave the Quarian one last moment of quiet empathy before turning to go.
As much he wanted to stay, Bishop had reports to file and debriefings to attend.
There was nary a moment of rest in the line of duty.

"Knock knock." Keira said softly as she peaked her head into the hospital room.
Tullius was laying reclined on the bed, watching vids with Aesha, some comedy about a Human and a Turian who had to end up working together despite their differences to take down a rogue C-Sec officer. Tullius and Aesha looked up from the vid.
"Come in." Tullius said warmly, pressing the pause button and setting the datapad they had been using to watch on the desk.
Keira had already changed out of her armour, but she still word her Alliance fatigues and a ringer t-shirt with the N7 logo on it. Her shoulder length brown hair was caught up in a ponytail as always and her soft green eyes seemed to be particularly sharp compared to her pale skin.
"Staff Sergeant Keira Baines." She said, offering a respectful nod and handshakes for the both of them.
"I was wondering if you had a minute?" she asked formally. She was here on Alliance business after all, despite the informality of her attire, but she had never been one for strict adherence to regs.
"Of course. I'm Tullius Arcadian and this is my mate, Aesha Valenia."
"A pleasure."
"Likewise, Ms Baines."

Keira eyes glanced over Tullius's bandages, noting the location of the entry wounds. "How are you doing?" she asked, indicating his injuries.
The Turian grinned impishly, "I've had worse…can't remember when…but I've had worse." He stated simply with a light chuckle.
"Good to hear, if you're feeling up to it, I'd like to discuss with you what exactly happened on Eden Prime."
The Turian looked at Aesha with mock surprise, "Oh? Hear that Aesh? A debriefing! Haven't had one of those in awhile."
Keira raised an eyebrow, "You were in the military?"
Tullius gave Keira wounded look. "What? Is that so hard to believe? That a Turian that once served in the Imperial fleet has a sense of humor? Oh my fragile heart!"
Tullius gave an overly elaborate faint.
"Looks like you should have been a thespian." Keira noted, a smile playing about her lips.
Tullius laughed heartily until he had to clutch his ribs to keep them in place. "Oh, sure…and while we are at it why don't we see if we can find a Krogan artist or a humble Asari."

"Hey!..I'm sitting right here you know." Aesha shoved his arm playfully. She had known him far too long to take him serious when he got in one of his moods.
Which was all the time…
"Sorry, love." He grinned, giving her a peck on the cheek. She just rolled her eyes and shook her head, but couldn't help a smirk.
"Anyway, back to business. Eden Prime." Tullius nodded, propping himself up against the pillows so he could face Keira more easily.

Keira sat down on one of the chairs; she tapped a few buttons on her omni-tool and set it data collection mode/voice recording.

"So tell me, how the events of the attack take place?" she said, extending her left arm towards Tullius to get a better recording.

"Well…" Tullius began with an even tone, "Me and Aesha were out at the market, chatting with some friends at a café. We had decided that it was too lovely a day to keep cooped up in the store, so we left Adam Daniels, the assistant manager in charge."
Keira nodded slowly, signifying her interest in the continuance of the tale.

"Anyway, me and Aesh had finished lunch and were having a pleasant stroll in one of the market's gardens when the sky went dark. At first me and Aesh thought it was a cloud or a freighter passing overhead, but then it made this sound… like…"

Tullius held up his hands, and pressed them together.

"Like what?" Keira asked, leaning forward in her seat.

"Like…someone was crushing our heads between their hands." Aesha finished for him…her voice distant and pensive.

"Yeah, exactly! Well, we looked up and there was this giant ship…looked like a big claw of some kind, like an insect or something and it had a whole armada of dropships at its back."

"Geth dropships?" Keira inquired.

"Yeah, we didn't know it then though. Anyway, we took cover in a nearby hedge, and the big ship, the geth dreadnought just started blasting away at everything. The local marines tried to fight it off, but it was too strong. The Geth landed shortly after that, and started rounding everyone up."

"Why would they do that?"

Tullius shrugged, "Don't know. We managed to hide out in the bushes for a few hours before they found us. I didn't have a weapon, so I went toe-to-toe with the bastards. I killed five of them before they got me down."

Keira looked surprised, "You killed five armed Geth in hand to hand combat? At the same time?"

The Turian cracked a mischievous grin, "Don't my current situation fool you, I used to be Spec Ops back in the day, Ms Baines. The whole grocer thing didn't come along till after I met Aesh."

Aesha nodded reluctantly, "Guilty as charged. As much as the whole, 'saving the galaxy' thing was charming, it gave me a lot of sleepless nights when he was on deployment."

Tullius nodded, "Yeap. Most of the time fruit won't kill you…unless it's levo-amino fruit." He gave a mock scowl, "They're tricky bastards."

Keira chuckled, she was going to have to do some editing later if she was going to give this to Alliance brass. After the moment had passed she sat up straight again, in order to pursue her original line of questioning.

"So what did the Geth want with Eden Prime?"

Tullius shrugged, "I don't know. They seemed awfully intent on killing us all. That was the only objective I saw. I'm not sure if it was a raid, or they were looking for something, or if we all knew something they didn't want us to know…hell it makes no difference. All I know is a lot of good people are dead because of those synthetic bastards, and I think we should do something about it."

Keira was taken aback by Tullius's change in tone. He had gone from laughing and cutting up, to deadly serious in the space of a paragraph. The Turian scowled gravely.
"Whatever we do, we need to do it now, before we lose more innocent lives."
Aesha looked concerned, "Tully…"

"No, Aesh…I lost friends today, people I'd known for years. Don't ask me to forget about them, I won't."

Aesha gave Tullius a sympathetic frown. "I lost friends too, Tully…but shouldn't we honour their memory b-"

Tullius shook his head, already knowing what she was going to say. "No. We don't honour them by just going on living like nothing happened. We go and make the bastards pay for what they did. You can't just expect me to-"

Keira had already turned the omni-tool's recorder off and slipped out of the room, the voices of Tullius and Aesha following her several feet into hall, despite the noise dampening doors that Heurta used.
She would have to do some editing, but it would be good enough for Bishop's After-action report to HQ. She felt herself wishing that James was around.
As she passed the OR, she noticed the red "Do not enter, Surgery in progress." Light was still on…it had been over seven hours now, and there had been little to no word on James's condition. She found such thoughts troubling. She had gotten to know the LT rather well over the last few years, she had always imagined him being there with them, and now...well it just didn't seem like Frost was going to be with them much longer.
Keira wasn't sure if the LT would pull through, or even what kind of state he would be in if he did, but Keira held on to a smallhope that he would be back kicking ass with them in no time and that was enough to make her smile.

Kari had sat on the floor for a long time, she wasn't quite sure how long. Hours? Days? She wasn't quite sure. She had been going over in her mind, every moment since she first stepped foot on Eden Prime. From the little bald man, to the Ellis's and the attack, it all replayed in her mind like some old vid about the homeworld.

She had tried to block out the images, especially the ones that she didn't want to relive. The people on spikes, the Geth executing the colonists, the giant...thing…that sound…still now felt like it was squeezing her head. Vibrating and churning her thoughts around. Every time she thought of that sound, it made her relive the images of death and destruction in her mind, which in turn caused her to think more of the sound.

It was a cycle, thoughts like water circling a drain into madness. She shook her head vigorously. No, she wouldn't let herself succumb to despair. She was a Quarian, she knew how tough life could be, she had lived it all her life. Struggle and hardship were just another part of the greater cycle. There was love and friendship too.

She decided to concentrate on that, she thought of her family, of her mother and father on the fleet, who were still waiting for her to return. They had never seen visor-to-visor, but she knew they loved her.

And the Ellis's, she would never forget their kindness, even if they had died, she remembered their words.
"We will meet again."

She pondered this thought for a moment. She knew there were races that were deeply spiritual, her own people even believed that the ancestors were watching over the fleet and that they would be reunited someday in the place beyond this galaxy.

But Kari had never really thought about it before, not deeply. What had made them so sure they would see Kari again? She didn't doubt that they meant what they said, but the logistics of the concept seemed hard to fathom.

If there was an afterlife, would humans and quarians go to different places? Would they go to the same place, and if so, what would it be like?
The thoughts sloshed around in her head for awhile, her mind trying to comprehend exactly what the Ellis's meant. In the end she had deconstructed the theories so far that her head hurt. "Keelah." She muttered as she placed a hand to her temple and soothingly rubbed it.

Sometimes she really hated being a Quarian…well…not really, but she thought her people were probably too curious for their own good.
She smiled a bit, thinking of what Mr Ellis would say to that revelation…
"Hell, girl, I could have told you that from day one."

She smiled again, this time sadly. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the broken spark plug that they had given her.

"We will meet again, I swear it. Keelah Se'lai."

"I don't think you quite understand son." Came the all the familiar voice from across the table. The older man rubbed his eyes wearily.
He had put his teacup down on the table, steam rising slowly filling the air with the warm scent bergamont and sugar.
"Once you sign on the dotted line, that's it, you are theirs for however long they want to keep you." He put his face in his hand, they were tough, leathery things tanned from years of labour. He ran his fingers down the length of his face, and over his mouth before letting it drop back onto the table.
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
James furrowed his brow, bracing himself for the inevitable.
"Yes, father. I do." He stated plainly, directly.
Gavin's gaze dropped to his tea again, mindlessly stirring it with one of the silver spoon's from his wife's silverware set.
James knew what was coming next, yet it never seemed to help when it came to his father. He was tired of knuckling under, this time he was going to stand his ground, no matter what his father said.

"Son, you already know how I feel about it, you already know what your mother would have said if she were still alive…"
James felt his heart sink into his stomach again, his mother had always been against him going into the military, she had nearly lost a husband once…she didn't want to lose her only son.

"Dad…"

Gavin shook his head, he closed his eyes mournfully.
"I'm sorry, son. I can't do this anymore." He stood up slowly.
Their eyes met. James studied his father's face. There was no patronizing look, no pleading frown, no irritated grimace...no, it was something else entirely...
Resignation.
"Do what you want, James, but I won't be part of it anymore."
And without another word, he left.

"HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUK" James felt life rush into his limbs once again. His eyes snapped open and his body tensed in a convulsive spasm.
"Woah woah woah!" someone nearby shouted, James didn't care, he was out of the bed in a flash, his bare fleet slapping against laminate floors as painful lances shot through his arms. The pain caused him to pause, his mind orienting to this new reality that he had been dropped into.
Just a second ago, he had been on Eden Prime, fighting the Geth, killed quite a few of them actually, but had gotten hit.
Now he was in a hospital, with tubes stuck in his arm and the stink of anti-septic death flowing through his nostrils, as well the smell of the clear plastic breathing mask over his mouth and nose.
In front of him, a frightened looking young woman, likely a nurse, flanked by two brutish looking orderlies were standing near the open doorway in aggressive postures. One of them had an omni-tool ready, with what looked like a sedative capsule loaded into the receiving port.

James let his muscles relax.
"Sorry." He mumbled…and to his surprise, his voice was different and it hurt.
His lungs spasmed and he felt himself choke on something nasty, like phlegm but thicker…harder to get rid of. He gave a hacking cough and looked down in horrow to see black-red flecks of blood splattered against his mask…and more was on the way.

He coughed and choked, every movement of his lungs sending waves of aching pain into his brain and more bloody phlegm into his mask.
The nurse was shouting something to the orderlies, though James couldn't hear it, the hallway outside the room suddenly became a buzz of activity as doctors and nurses alike rushed into his room.

The mask had become streaked with the bloody mess and before the doctors could reach him, he pulled it off in a desperate attempt to get more air.

That was a mistake.
James gasped even harder, it was like being on top of a high mountain, or losing suit environment to a leak in the void, but much more intense. His limbs started to tingle and weaken as he went down to his knees. The arms of the orderlies wrapped around him and pulled him up.

"Get his mask back on, goddamn it!" he heard someone shout, though it sounded like an echo, more than a voice.
He felt himself slipping again, losing consciousness. The voices faded, and everything dipped into blackness again.

Kari wasn't quite sure what to do, it was her first time on the Citadel. She had already been by the Alliance's local military offices two days ago to give her report on Eden Prime. It had been…hard reliving some of the memories. But the Alliance had been very understanding. They may have been a bit suspicious about the timetable of her arrival, nly three weeks before the attack, but they had told her that they weren't going to pursue the matter further.
She also learned of the Ellis's fate. They had remained at their house after she left, and managed to take out an entire platoon of Geth troopers before the Geth decided to bring in a Colossus. Kari had taken some slight comfort in the fact that they had died together. Her father would have said they died well, but she hadn't told her parents about the Ellis's. She had called them to let them know she was okay, and that she had almost finished with her Pilgrimage, though she had neglected to mention what she was bringing back with her.

Her parents were happy that she was okay, and were delighted to hear of her success, her mother even tried to get her to tell what she was planning to bring back to the fleet. Kari had changed the subject.
She knew what was expected of her, Quarians were supposed to be computer geniuses, tech specialists or machinists, not biologists. It was a bit of a stigma for a pilgrim to bring back something that wasn't mechanical in nature, though not discouraged. Everyone knew how important the liveship's hydroponic farms were to the survival of the fleet. Yet, the people that tended them usually were labeled social pariahs by the rest of the fleet

"Give me a piece of scrap metal, a circuit board, and some eezo and I'll have it making precision jumps"
One of her instructors had said….It was something that Kari couldn't do. It just never felt right. Working with tech always felt like something she had to do, never something she wanted to do.
But on the flotilla it was "Fleet first, family second, self last." And so she had always done what was expected of her, but she craved so much more.

Kari's stomach rumbled. "Speaking of cravings…" she murmured to herself. She had spent all this time wandering around the Presidium aimlessly, lost in her thoughts and had forgotten to eat again. She reached down in her pocket to grab another packet of nutrient paste, the kind of sweet though slightly bland stuff that the Quarians gave their pilgrams.
She went to put the cap of the paste into her suits induction port, but paused.
Kari felt her tummy rumble again, this time for something very in particular, something that she had first tasted at the Ellis's.

Kari looked around the Presidium's restaurants for a moment, most of them were store fronts built into the walls with dining areas outside overlooking the large lake. It didn't take long until she saw what she was looking for.
"Excuse me." She said, walking up to the counter gingerly. The old Turian behind the counter raised an eyebrow slightly,
his look of mild surprised suggested that not many Quarians ventured up to the Presidium.

"What can I getca?" he inflected pleasantly enough.
"Do you have any dextro-amino ice cream?" she asked hesitantly but hopefully.
The Turian laughed heartily, "I don't get much call for that…most other races don't like human cuisine."
Kari's head drooped. She had really wanted some.
"But that doesn't mean I don't have it…" he said with a grin. Kari looked up at him eagerly.
"Do you have butter pecan?" she asked excitedly.
The Turian grinned, "You're a strange one aren't you….but yes. I do. I'll be right back."
"Extra large please!"she called after him.

A short time later, the Turian returned, with a large cylinder of pale yellow frozen treats. He measured out the size into a bowl and gave it to her along with a straw.
"You'll probably be needing this." He chuckled. Kari smiled, taking the ice cream and giving him her credit chit.
"Thank you so much." She beamed, placing the straw into the suit's induction port and sucking softly.
Mr Ellis had told her that the human variety usually had the nuts in a heterogeneous mixture. Unlike the Dextro variety in which imitation flavoring was injected into the solution, but that didn't make it any less tasty.
"Here you go," the Turian handed her the chit back. "Have a pleasant stay on the Citadel."
Kari gave a hearty nod of appreciation. "I will! Thank you."

She went to find a nice quiet place to sit down and enjoy her treat. She found a nice shady spot away from the rest of the crowd, on the edge of one of the gardens that overlooked the lake. She sat down on the bench, the sounds of the fountains and the now soft murmur of voices were comforting to her. The view was amazing, so idyllic and peaceful, calm.

She could easily get lost in a place like this. It was like being home, and on Eden Prime at the same time. It made her realize how much she missed both places. The feeling of belonging and of closeness that she got from the Ellis's and the sense of pride and humility she felt from her parents. They all mixed together into this one perfect moment, like the light of the Rannoch's sun meeting the fingers of the violet night.

It made her ache for home, and it made her ache for a homeworld.
To see the sunset on Rannoch with her own eyes… it was what she wanted more than anything.

"Excuse me, Miss Vereah?"
Kari's turned in her seat to face the origin of the voice. It was the old soldier that Kari had spoken to her earlier. Commander Aben-something, she couldn't remember.
"Yes? How can I help you, Commander" she offered cordially.
Kari couldn't quiet place it, but it seemed that the human wasn't quite all there, he looked distant…distracted, his body language seemed both anxious and mournful. It didn't bode well for Kari.

"Lt Irving is awake. He asked for you."
Kari's eyes widened a bit.
"Me? W-what for?"
Karl shook his head.
"Didn't say. He's waiting for you now."

A dozen possibilities flashed through Kari's brain, all of them bad.
"O-okay." She stuttered, standing to her feet clumsily. She felt small again, like a child being taken before her father for punishment.
She walked on past the Commander, who fell in behind her just on her right flank. Kari's head drooped as she walked.
Did I do something wrong?

James stared out of his room's window. His room was spacious, decorated and had the feeling of comfortable warmth one usually associated with civilian living. James hated it.
With a passion he hated the room, everything about it. The warm sunlight, the soft edges, the blue-green vista of the Presidium, it was a gilded cage. A reminder of his failure, as was every single breath he took.
He should have seen it coming. He should have been more aware. He should have known that there would be a fucking hunter lurking around somewhere.
How could you have known? No one's seen the Geth in three-hundred years. A part of his mind replied.
"Shut up." He growled at himself, his voice was hoarse and deep, like a thread that had been stretched to its limit and then released.
"Shut the fuck up." He wheezed to himself, with more venom this time.
He was alone in the room, and the sound-resistant walls ensured that his words wouldn't go past the door. It was not like he cared.

Bishop had already been by to tell him the news. The Halcyon was gone, scrapped by the Alliance. It had been so badly damaged in the fight, that command had decided that the old bird wasn't worth the trouble to fix. So they towed her out to God-knows-where to let her rot.

But that hadn't even been the worst of it. As much as James had loved the Halcyon, the revelation she was gone was nothing compared to what came next.

"Captain Hall has decided that you are to be discharged."
"What?" he yelled, snapping upwards in bed not caring that it was hell on his lungs and throat to do so.
"They can't discharge- huuukkkk." He laid back down, taking heavy wheezing breaths from the oxygen mask he was now forced to wear.
"I'm sorry, James…I really am. Believe me, I fought it as hard as I could."
James shook his head, tears starting to well up in his eyes, he fought them back.
"No. No…I can fight… I'll-"
Karl shook his head, "It's not just that. When they learned what happened down there…there was nothing I could do. Captain Hall wanted to Court-Marshall you."
James eyes unfocused, his mind not believing what his ears were telling him
"Because of your injuries…they decided to let you go quietly. Honourable discharge, full benefits and pension."
James stared at Bishop blankly.
There was a long pause, Karl's face was a picture of barely masked pain and sympathy.
"I know how much N7 meant to you, son, I wish I could do more for you…"

James didn't respond.
Bishop hesitated for a long moment before turning to go.
"If there's ever anything you need…"

"Bring the Quarian."

Karl turned. James still had that blank look on his face, but his eyes were tracking Bishop.
"I need to speak with her."
Karl didn't quite understand what it would accomplish, but he nodded anyway.
"Okay…" he said gently. "I'll get her."

James didn't really know why he had said that. Why he had asked for her. Was it that his mind wanted an outlet for his rage? That he wanted to blame her for his current predicament? Her people had made the Geth, her people had unleashed them on the galaxy. It was their fault that he was laying here in this bed with less than a lung left and two giant craters in his back. It was her fault that he was even still alive.

I want to die.
He thought. It was a simple statement, one not born of pain and agony, but the simple realization that he had failed in one duty that he had been born for: to die protecting others.
I want to die. He repeated in his mind.I want to die. I want to die. I want the clean fucking death that should have been mine.
His eyes stung again as he fought back tears again.
No, I won't just linger like this. A cripple, a freak…this can't be how it ends.

James furrowed his brow, he started to look around the room, for a scapel or something sharp, something he could jab into his chest or open his veins with, anything that would give him release from this torment.
There was nothing. He punched the wall with a roar of rage as he flopped back down in his bed, sobbing softly.
"Goddamn it…"

After a few moments of tearful sobs, he quieted himself. He stared up at the sterile white ceiling.
It wasn't right, he had tried so hard to be a good soldier, not only one that did his duty, but strived to be the best he could be. It was the first time in his life he had such purpose; he wanted to make up for the mediocre childhood and teenage years.
James sighed as the realization sunk in.
It had all been for nothing. The long hours of biotic training, the countless times on the rifle range the thick tech manuals.
All of it, gone in the blink of an eye.
He had been tossed aside, thrown away, scrapped.
James laid his head back on the pillow, turning his head towards the window again.
An Alliance dreadnought was passing by, the Capetown, he figured by the configuration.

Just another piece now useless knowledge.

"James…"
James turned his head slowly to see that Bishop and the Quarian were standing at the door.
Bishop was standing just outside the doorway, he nodded to the girl to go in.
The young Quarian folded her hands in front of her waist and picked at her fingers nervously as she looked at the Commander, but did as she was bade.
Bishop gave a slight nod to James, and quietly slipped out, closing the door behind him, leaving only him and the Quarian girl in the room.

"You're the one that saved me." James stated, his voice distant and emotionless.
The Quarian girl's head drooped, the dim lights of her eyes staring down at her feet.
"Y-Yes…it was me." she stuttered apprehensively.

"Why?"

The question was a simple one, delivered in a tone that was curious, desperate and cold all at the same time. A paradox of inflections, that put Kari even more on edge. She fiddled with her fingers a bit more…they felt itchy.

"B-because….I-I-I…you-…" she couldn't find the words to say, she looked up into the man's face. He had purple eyes…deep, passionate violet eyes. There were dark circles around them, and a heavy brow that cast shadows across them. It was like looking into the eyes of another Quarian: deep inky darkness, with twin pools of dim light.
Eyes that were filled with pain and misery…

"Why didn't you let me die?"
He asked again, this time more desperately.

Kari wanted to slip away, disappear, just vanish. She wanted to be invisible again, like she had been her whole life. She felt like she was on a stage with the whole galaxy as the audience, waiting for her answer.

"Y-you…saved us…" was all she could manage.
The human didn't seem satisfied by that answer. He sat up and set his feet on the floor.

"You should have left me there. I was supposed to die. Why did you save me?"

The human stood up shakily to his feet. He had nothing but a hospital robe on that buttoned in the front and the oxygen mask he was wearing.
She could see his part of his bare chest, and the two blacked bloody circles of flesh between his pectorials that were the exit wounds.
She turned her head away, the sight was making her nauseous.

"Look at me!" he cried out, closing the distance between them, pulling the top of his robe apart, revealing the full extent of the damage. Kari shrunk before him, afraid he would strike her, but she obeyed. She instantly wished he hadn't. His chest was a mess of stitches, cuts, deep bruises and burns. She almost threw up.

"I-I-I'm sorry… I w-was trying t-to…" Kari felt her eyes begin to sting as tears streamed down her face, pooling at the deepest part of the visor's curveatour. Everything he was feeling, she felt as well. Every brutal memory, every friend she had lost, it all came back to her in a crashing wave of emotions. She had tried to suppress it, she had tried to ignore it, but there it was.

James let go of his robes. The Quarian before him was bawling like a baby, ragged sobs and moans of misery cutting the anti-septic silence of the room. It was clear to him that it was more than just him yelling at her that had caused this.

James realized that he wasn't the only one that had lost a piece of himself on Eden Prime.

Silently, he wrapped his arms around the girl and hugged her. Her arms slipped around his back and she rested her head against his shoulder and she sobbed even harder.

James bowed his head over hers and closed his eyes tightly, the gentle hissing of his respirator and the soft whimpering of the girl were the only sounds in the room.

"Thank you…" he whispered.
For saving me…