Chapter 105 - Father & Son Rescue
"So, uh, Dr. Michel..." Garrus starts to speak, feeling a little uncomfortable, watching the new chief medical officer of the Normandy huddled over the operating table nearby, performing reconstructive surgery on Tali's legs, the quarian lying still under full anesthesia. "How bad is it?"
The doctor does not reply at once, continuing her delicate work. "Why, I thought we were on first name basis, Mr. Vakarian," she replies nonchalantly. "At least we were four years ago."
Garrus gulps audibly. His chest is still aching a little as he rests on one of the medbay cots, but he is certain that Dr. Chakwas would have never held him up in the medbay with such trivial injuries like gunshot wounds. Combined with the slightly odd tone of Dr. Michel's voice, he suddenly becomes very worried of the red-haired doctor's intentions. "Err... yeah, that was... quite a long time ago, wasn't it... Dr. Chloe?"
Chloe Michel sighs in exasperation, reaching out to grab more suture. "Yes, Garrus, that was a very long time ago. Long enough for you to stop acting like a complete and utter fool around me," she says. "I have to wonder how this girl managed to catch you. Probably cornered you and then whacked you with a large hammer until you came to your senses."
"Well, I... it wasn't completely like that..." Garrus manages.
"Threatened you with a shotgun?"
"...yeah, that sounds about right," the turian grumbles reluctantly.
"I should have tried that all those years ago. Granted, I don't carry around a shotgun, but I could have borrowed one, I'm sure," Dr. Michel mutters at herself. "Chocolate just wasn't going to get the message across, apparently."
"So... err... Chloe, do you think I'll have to stay in the medbay for much longer?" the turian asks desperately. "I feel fine!"
"Oh, you can leave at any time," Michel replies. "I just thought you would want to stay and keep an eye on Tali, make sure she's alright. You can never be sure with these quarian immune systems, a little overexposure to some innocent human bacteria and she might be gone."
"Umm..." Garrus is now blinking rapidly. "But... you wouldn't let that happen, would you?"
"Well, what do you think, my dear Garrus?" Dr. Michel turns around, a wicked expression on her face, hand holding a bloody scalpel. "With her gone, you would be mine! All mine!"
Garrus leaps backwards with such urgency that he falls off the cot and bonks his head on the medbay floor. "Ow! That hurt," he comments, lying prone on the ground.
"Oh dear, perhaps I went a little too far," Chloe chuckles, sounding very amused. "Sorry, Garrus, I just couldn't resist pulling that on you. You have to admit, you owed me one."
"Damn, Chloe... that was really, really evil," Garrus gives her a reproachful glare as he picks himself up from the floor.
"It certainly was," Dr. Chloe Michel chuckles. "Now get back on the bed, shut up and stop distracting me, my dear Garrus, or else your girlfriend might end up with a permanent limp, and we definitely do not want that to happen, do we?"
"EDI, the heat venting has been completed, the temperatures are back in normal range," Lia'Vael nar Ulnay informs her synthetic co-pilot. "We could enable the stealth drive and do a recon run, what do you think?"
"Commander Shepard has been on the ground for nearly three hours," EDI replies. "We have passed the time frame in which I expected them to make contact. I agree, Lia'Vael, we should investigate."
"Huzzah! Normandy to the rescue!" the young quarian cheers, activating the stealth drive to mask Normandy's emissions before setting a course towards the shuttle drop point on the planet below. As soon as they enter the comm range, both Lia and EDI begin to poke on every open channel, trying to raise the Commander and her friends. "Come in, anyone? This is the Normandy hailing!" Lia'Vael repeats again and again, beginning to feel worried.
"...-andy, copy that," suddenly there is a man's voice on one of the channels. "This is Lieutenant Steve Cortez, I hear you! Do you copy?"
"Acknowledged, Lieutenant Cortez," Lia'Vael replies. "What's the situation down there?"
"Very bad," comes the reply. "Shepard and her team went dark fifteen minutes ago."
"What? Are they... are they dead?" the quarian gasps, shocked as she looks at EDI.
"I can't confirm that. The remaining asari forces are falling back to their position, trying to launch a rescue," Cortez explains. "I will attempt to fly to their position as soon as these swarms of harvesters move on."
"Do you require Normandy's assistance, Lieutenant Cortez?" EDI asks.
"I wouldn't risk it, EDI, it's too dangerous to bring the Normandy into low orbit, there are destroyers everywhere," Cortez warns them.
"Very well. We will remain on standby and with open comm link, please update us at the first opportunity," EDI speaks, receiving a quick acknowledgement from Cortez.
"They... they can't be dead, can they?" Lia'Vael turns towards EDI, her voice quivering from worry.
"That you ask this, shows you have not spent sufficient amount of time on the Normandy," EDI replies, sounding amused, but Lia'Vael finds her voice kind and comforting. "Commander Shepard has gotten out of far more dangerous situations than this one..."
"Well, this is stupid," Commander Morgan Shepard curses quietly, lying in a nearly complete darkness, in a safe pocket under the collapsed roof of the temple of Athame. "This is really, exceptionally stupid."
"What if nobody is coming?" Liara asks, pressed next to Morgan's side in the dark. "What if there is nobody left to rescue us? I... never imagined we would go out like this. Always thought it would be while fighting, not just... trapped, waiting to die."
"Could be worse, I guess," Shepard shrugs, then instantly regretting it as her left shoulder hits something sharp. "At least we're together. Would have been kind of romantic, save for the knowledge that we have failed in our duty and Cerberus are making off with the Catalyst data... that's a bit of a downer."
"Uh-huh. Hmm..." Liara shifts a little, bumping into Shepard. "There. Now I can reach my pistol."
"Why do you need your pistol now?" Shepard asks with incomprehension.
"Not now, but... eventually. I do not wish to die from thirst and starvation," Liara replies.
"Ugh, don't be so glum, babe," Morgan replies, trying to lift their spirits. "Our people on the Normandy know where we are, they'll launch a rescue, I'm sure. We just need to be patient."
"I know," Liara says softly, then falling silent. "I love you," she adds a while later, completely out of the blue.
"Love you too, Liara," Morgan replies with tenderness, her hand seeking out Liara's. "What brought that on?"
"Oh, just... felt like saying it." They fall silent again, until Liara speaks up. "Morgan? If we're really going to die here, what's the one thing you will regret not having done?"
"Hmm, a difficult question. I was just now having a fantasy of Vendetta being a real person so I could punch him in the face," Shepard replies. "Or killing Tim or Clown Leng... damn, really wanted to do that..."
"How about something that doesn't have to do with this war?"
"Well... alright, let's see. There's always all the blue children we were supposed to have," Morgan manages a chuckle. "But above all... and I've been thinking about this a lot... Liara, our relationship has been... as if shaped by this war we've been dragged into. It's like... I don't even know what you are like during times of peace, and I always wanted to spend time with you like that. With no worries at the back of our minds."
"That is exactly what I wished for too, Morgan," Liara sighs deeply. "A pity if that would never come to pass."
"We'll see this through, babe, I'm sure of it," Morgan replies soothingly, shifting her weight to be able to touch Liara's side, hoping that the asari would draw comfort from the contact.
"Morgan... there's something else I need to tell you, something that you need to know," Liara speaks up a wile later, while Morgan is intently listening for any noises outside, it almost sounds as if someone is shuffling around in the rubble above them. "I'm with a-"
"-... hey, hold on for a moment, babe! Are... are those voices I hear outside?" Shepard suddenly cuts Liara's words off, trying to overhear something, now definitely sensing heavy footsteps, muffled voices coming in from above. "You know what, Liara? This might be a good time to start screaming from the top of your lungs..."
Shepard and Liara are both coughing from too much screaming by the time the large roof panel above them is finally raised and tossed aside. Shortly after, Shepard feels a pair of powerful hands dragging her limp body out of the rubble and crushing her against a bulky, armored chest. "Hi, Mom!" her rescuer bellows excitedly, and she opens her eyes to stare into Grunt's beady little orbs.
"Mom?" she croaks. "What are you talking about, you crazy krogan!"
"Well, Shepard, someone told me that since you released me from that tank, you gifted me with life, which means... you're my mom!" Grunt explains, Shepard finding it hard to immediately contest his reasoning.
"Wouldn't that mean that Okeer is your father..." Grunt nods at that. "Ugh... that leads to a disturbing mental image I do not wish to contemplate upon. Anyway, what are you doing here?"
"We're part of the krogan forces Wrex sent as a relief effort," Grunt replies proudly. "And Aralakh Company always leaves the battleground last!"
"You can probably put me down now, Grunt," Shepard says, the overexcited krogan slowly lowering her on the ground. "Careful there, Liara was right next to me under all that rubble," she warns a heavily armored asari together with another krogan working to free her bondmate.
"Relax, babe, we've got this," the asari speaks in a very familiar voice, and Shepard blinks as she sees Aethyta turning back to her with a broad smile, Morgan having difficulties immediately reconciling the images of a foul-mouthed Matriarch-bartender with this battle-hardened warrior in a full commando armor, blood smears on one side of her face from a shallow wound on her temples.
"Damn, Shepard, this one might look puny and fragile, but she is a great warrior!" Grunt roars, pointing at Aethyta. "And where's Kurin, did she make it?" he bellows, looking around at the last few asari commandos hobbling in, the lieutenant being one of them. "Ah, so she did... well, that's one bet I'm happy to lose, haha! A barrel of ryncol coming up for you, Kurin!"
Blood seeping from her armor in at least three places, Lieutenant Kurin still manages to offer a brave smile to Grunt. "Only if we share it, you crazy krogan!" she replies, barely managing to suppress a scream of pain as Grunt shakes her hand enthusiastically before crushing her in a krogan hug.
"Dad!" is Liara's exhilarated cry after being pulled free from the ruble as she throws herself into Aethyta's embrace, sobbing with tears of joy and relief.
Shepard briefly watches the tender reunion of father and daughter, her heart swelling from emotion, before turning back to Grunt. "What about the rest of my people?" she asks.
"The human is fine, he's over there... more than fine, if you ask me, hehehe," Grunt chuckles, pointing at the other side of the hall where James and Private Kinira are busy in a session of completely shameless kissing. "The others are still trying to get the four-eyed creep out of his trap," Grunt nods at the three other krogan, trying to free Javik from the rubble. "He'll be a bit flat but otherwise just fine, hah!"
Just as the krogan finish pulling Javik out of his prison, Lieutenant Cortez arrives on the scene, followed by two other shuttles piloted by asari commandos. "I'm guessing we need to move out ASAP," Morgan comments, unwilling to interrupt Aethyta and Liara, but having no choice in it.
"Yeah, sorry kid, but we need to cut this short," Aethyta agrees, releasing her daughter. "Go on, get to your shuttle, you've got a war to finish."
"You're not coming with us?" Liara's voice breaks as she looks at her father.
"Afraid not, Liara," Aethyta shakes her head. "Our people need me here, who else could keep them from panicking if not me? And Shepard already has you doing all the thinking for her, I would just get in the way," she adds with a grin.
"But... no, you are right," Liara agrees, after a small pause, realizing the wisdom in her father's words. "Where will you go?"
"The Nefrane stands in high orbit to take us to Lusia," Aethyta explains. "We have been splitting the refugees evenly across our colonies, making it harder for Reapers to choose targets. Lusia's defense grid is legendary, Reapers will find that planet fare more difficult to take than Thessia."
"Goddess, I hope you're right, dad," Liara whispers.
"Matriarch, are we bringing the krogan with us to Lusia?" Lieutenant Kurin asks.
"No, they are taking the other shuttle back to Cybaen, I made a promise that Aralakh Company will be there to aid Earth when Commander Shepard finally launches the attack to retake it," Aethyta says. "And Kurin, I'm sending you with the krogan. You work well with them, and it will help to have someone like you coordinating things. And you have better tolerance for ryncol than most of our people..."
"That she does! Kurin kicks ass!" Grunt cheers, looking pleased with the news, patting Lieutenant Kurin on the shoulder in a way that makes Shepard wonder a little. Hmm, maybe our little baby is starting to finally grow up, she thinks at herself.
"Commander, I don't want to rush you, but..." Cortez shouts from the Kodiak.
"We're coming, Steve!" Shepard yells back, before turning to Aethyta. "Best of luck, Matriarch Aethyta," she says, smiling. "We'll see you again when the Reapers are history, okay? And Grunt?" Morgan turns towards the krogan. "I'll see you on Earth soon. We're going to kick some Reaper ass together." Grunt's response to that is an excited roar.
"Promise you'll be careful, dad," Liara whispers, giving one last hug to Aethyta.
"I'll be just as careful as you are, kid," Aethyta grins in reply.
"That's not reassuring at all!" Liara protests.
"I know," the matriarch chuckles. "Listen, kid. Today's a special day for all the wrong reasons. We're the last asari who are getting off this planet alive, once the Nefrane and the Cybaen depart, Thessia will be abandoned, lost... for the first time in our history. But what is lost, can be reclaimed. That is what we're fighting for out there, okay? Remember that. No matter how things look right now... we'll win our homeworld back, if we both do our parts."
"I know, dad. Thank you," Liara smiles through tears, then turning away and wrapping her arm around Shepard's waist as together they walk back towards the Kodiak.
"Javik, let's go!" Morgan calls out to the Prothean, then turning towards Vega. "James, you have a tentacle creature stuck to your face! Shake it off and let's move!"
Vega and Kinira finally part, both sporting huge grins. "Coming, Lola!" the Lieutenant shouts, brushing his hand against the asari's cheek before turning around to leave.
"Look me up after the war, alright?" Kinira shouts after him.
"I will, it's a promise!" James waves back at her, then quickly catching up with Shepard and the others. "After the war... damn, there won't be any after the war, right, Shepard? I mean, without the Catalyst, we're screwed, no?"
"Yes... but while I was lying there under that rubble, I had an idea on how to get it back..." Shepard replies mysteriously. "But to do it, we must return to the Normandy immediately and I will have to speak with Councilor Tevos at the first opportunity..."
A/N: The scene with Grunt picking Morgan up from the rubble and calling her Mom was inspired by a similar scene in Awska's story 'Unity'. If you're not reading that already, I recommend that you do, it is very impressive and engaging. :)