Chapter 124 - Search and Rescue
We have won this war... but now a different challenge stands before us. To count our losses and to understand just how much has been sacrificed to ensure this victory, Admiral Hackett thinks, standing on the bridge of the SSV Fuji, deep in thought. To begin rebuilding all that has been destroyed... which in this case is close to starting completely anew, from the scratch...
The stream of incoming information appears to be never-ending, and his aides do their best to filter out and combine the crucial intel into easily digestible reports. The state of the fleets is the only thing they have a good idea about right now, the Crucible beam that has apparently destroyed all the Reapers, has proved to be harmless to the ships of the galactic fleets, save for those few who happened to be in the direct path of the beam as the energy pulse was being directed towards the Charon Relay.
Hackett feels his brow creasing with worry as he reads the reports that there might be some issues with the relay itself, after it has channeled this powerful surge of energy, sending a request that any research vessels with the Crucible scientists onboard that find themselves near the relay, proceed directly towards it to investigate. The situation groundside is a complete mystery as well, the few reports sent by Major Coats shedding only a brief glimpse of light about the fate of the Hammer forces, and the estimated survival rate below 20% proves difficult for Hackett to stomach. But Earth is more than just London, and they have absolutely zero knowledge of what the situation may be elsewhere.
Reports from the Citadel are becoming more frequent, and it seems as if the massive space station has somehow endured the terrible blast of the Crucible. Between the Reaper invasion and the damage wrought by explosions, the casualties reported are in the millions, and the only thing to console themselves with is the knowledge that it could have been so much worse had the Citadel been destroyed outright. Our scientists definitely deserve a huge pat on their backs for the Crucible job... the Citadel endured, and the released energy was discharged safely... and we even have reports that Shepard might have survived...
"Who do we have on the comms, Lieutenant-Commander?" he turns to Takashima, his second in command.
"Rear Admiral Nitesh Singh of the Third Fleet," the small-statured but plucky officer of Japanese ancestry replies immediately. "The First and the Sixth Fleets are currently left without commanding officers, following the deaths of Admiral Ines Lindholm and Rear Admiral Boris Mikhailovich."
Hackett sighs. Mikhailovich, he was always such a pain in the ass. So eager to lead his own fleet in the final battle... maybe if he hadn't prodded me to give him the command of the Sixth, he would have still been alive now. And Ines... I will miss your wise counsel and quiet insight. May you rest in peace, my friend... "Go on, LC," he then urges his XO.
"According to the latest reports, Ambassador Dominic Osoba was killed by... batarian looters on the Citadel," Takashima continues, Hackett admiring her self-control as she reads this frustrating bit of news. "Sir, at this point, we are not certain about the chain of succession, it would appear that all the diplomats still on the Citadel who could have stepped in for Ambassador Osoba are either dead or missing."
"The political structure of the Alliance was all but ruined after we lost Arcturus," Hackett mutters angrily. "Looks like the Reapers just wiped out the last of our politicians on the Citadel, after having indoctrinated all the regional leaders on Earth. Brilliant... just brilliant."
"What is to be done, sir?" Takashima asks.
"The military will simply need to take greater control to make sure that chaos does not break out," Hackett replies sternly. "Our own ambassador murdered by looters... a clear example why we need to remain involved, until order is restored." Takashima simply nods in return, and Hackett continues. "Do we have anyone from the Council or our allied fleets available?"
"Yes, Councilors Valern of the Salarian Union and Sparatus of the Turian Hierarchy are available on the QEC," comes the reply. "Councilor Tevos of the Asari Republics remains in critical condition in a Citadel hospital, and her place will be taken by Matriarch Lidanya, commander of the asari fleets."
"Very well, link them all in," Hackett says, and moments later faces of the other four appear on the screens before him, there is Singh, the small and wiry Indian, looking a bit like a scrawny rat, but there is no mistaking the man's keen intelligence and his legendary ruthlessness, often necessary, but sometimes making Hackett feel rather uncomfortable. Sparatus and Valern appear on the screen together, in the Council chambers, the turian making some kind of insulting remark about the salarian having only just now crawled out from under the desk, to which Valern replies with indignant sputtering. And finally, there is Lidanya, looking grim, regal and wise at once, something about her posture radiating trust and protection.
"My friends, before we begin, allow me to congratulate us all with what seems to be a decisive victory," Hackett begins. "The Reapers are no more, and we have done what hundreds of other cycles before us failed to accomplish. While our losses have been terrible, we can now rebuild this galaxy as we wish, free of fear from this dark legacy of the past."
The others nod grimly, Lidanya the only one to speak up. "A terrible cost indeed, Admiral Hackett. Absorbing the Reaper attacks on the Crucible have crippled the Destiny's Ascension, and killed well over a thousand of my staff... including two lieutenants with whom I had served for over three decades. But at least now we can look forward to returning home and rebuilding our homeworld."
"Ah... there might be a problem with that, Matriarch," Hackett says uncomfortably, hating to disappoint Lidanya in particular. "We are receiving reports that the Crucible beam has left the mass relays damaged... our scientists have been sent to investigate."
Lidanya pales slightly and Valern is left shaking his head, as Sparatus takes up the conversation. "This could be disastrous for our people, if the relays cannot be repaired and we have to remain in Sol System for a prolonged period of time. I do not think we have brought enough food supplies for this kind of contingency... perhaps with the supplies left on the Citadel it will not become a problem."
"We expect you to provide us with more intel as soon as it becomes available, Admiral," Valern adds quickly, looking equally concerned.
"Repairing the relay should be our greatest priority, equal to that of search and rescue of the survivors," Lidanya speaks again, having recovered slightly. "These news will be another blow to the morale of our troops, but the knowledge that we have been victorious should make it bearable."
"Speaking of search and rescue of the injured, can the Citadel accommodate any more patients?" Hackett asks. "The groundside hospitals lack both specialists and supplies, and we are looking to bring those people either to the hospital fleet or the Citadel."
"I believe we have capacity to house extra patients, but we lack the specialists who could treat them. Many on the staff of our hospitals perished during the Reaper invasion," Valern replies. "If there is a surplus of doctors on the hospital fleet, we would appreciate if some of them could be relocated to the Citadel."
"I wouldn't call it a surplus, but we'll see what we can do, Councilor," Lidanya replies.
"In the meantime, I would appreciate if you could confirm the status of your fleets," Hackett then continues. "The Systems Alliance forces have been reduced to 34% of our total strength. 935 ships remain intact. I understand that the asari and the turians have fared slightly better."
"There's not much difference between 34% and 35%, Admiral Hackett. But the 1035 ships left at our disposal are badly damaged," Sparatus shrugs his shoulders numbly. "We will have fewer mouths to feed, which means that perhaps the food supplies will not become such an issue. A terrible thought."
"The asari fleets are at 41% strength, boasting 1025 ships," Lidanya says. "Should we call ourselves fortunate?"
Valern can be seen shifting nervously. "The Third Fleet is still at 47% with 580 ships... of course, considering that the dalatrass did not see fit to assign more dreadnaughts to our fleet, the Reapers understandably ignored the salarian ships."
"One day your dalatrass will answer for her crimes," Admiral Singh, having kept quiet for now, finally joins the discussion, Valern wincing from the comment.
"This is not the topic for this discussion, Admiral Singh," Hackett reminds to his colleague, even if he quietly agrees with the sentiment. "Now, I also have reports of the other fleets, which have not been confirmed yet, but our estimates so far have proven fairly accurate. The hanar, drell, volus and elcor have roughly one hundred and fifty ships remaining between them. The geth have suffered the worst, down to 26% of their capacity, 585 ships remaining. However... they report no casualties as such, insisting that all their programs have been preserved, and the destruction has occurred only on hardware level... whatever that means..."
"They can simply rebuild their platforms and repopulate them with the stored programs, Admiral," Lidanya explains, Hackett wondering just how she has gained such insight into the geth. "Unless they are... removed on a software level, they cannot be destroyed as such."
"Lucky bastards," Sparatus sighs, clearly wishing that his people would also have such a convenient option of resurrection.
"Meanwhile, the quarians have suffered greatly as well," Hackett continues. "Only 1040 ships remain from the over three thousand that left Rannoch, down to 32% of their strength. On top of that, they report severe damage to their sole liveship, the Rayya, which is the reason why Admiral Shala'Raan has not graced us with her presence."
"Damnation," Sparatus curses. "If they lose that ship, then... then we might truly encounter some serious issues with supplies!"
"I'm sure it will not come to that, Councilor," Hackett says. "They denied our offer of assistance, claiming that they can contain the situation on their own. Well... I believe that is the most crucial information I had to share with you at this moment, so let us focus on the most important issues at hand, SAR and investigating the relay."
"There is another issue that will need to be addressed soon, Admiral," Sparatus continues. "Not all the krogan forces we brought here on our ships from Palaven were deployed with the Hammer ground squads. Plenty were held back in reserve, and they are now stuck onboard of our vessels. We are running out of sedatives to keep them under control. I would respectfully request you to assign a territory for some sort of... groundside enclave, where they could be shipped to."
"Why would we want them on Earth where they can terrorize what is left of our population?" Singh protests with his usual tact and charm. "You brought them, they're your problem to deal with."
"...we will discuss your request, Councilor Sparatus," Hackett replies, grinding his teeth at Singh's untimely comment. While the krogan might pose certain dangers, simply dumping all responsibility on the turians isn't something that Hackett finds himself agreeing with. "Now, if there's nothing else, I propose we reconvene in four hours... and hopefully we can get more leaders involved in the decision making. Fly safe, my friends."
"Finally. He's on his way," Garrus lets out a heavy sigh of relief, watching with concern as Liara again begins to slip into unconsciousness. "The comms are just an insane mess right now, impossible to get through to anyone."
"Did he give any ETA?" Tali asks, still sitting on her knees, Liara pulled up in her lap, the quarian gently cradling her friend.
"Three minutes," Garrus replies, watching the sky in the direction of the FOB in anticipation for the appearance of the Kodiak shuttle. Reaching Lieutenant Steve Cortez had been almost impossible, but once he had gotten through, Cortez had abandoned everything to hurry to Liara's aid.
"Where are we supposed to take her, do you know? The Normandy? Citadel? Some asari cruiser?"
"Sent the request ten minutes ago, as you well know, Tali," Garrus shrugs. "Still waiting for a reply."
"Then try again," Tali states, frustrated.
"Fine, fine, anything for you, Chiktikka," the turian grumbles, then starting to type another message on his omni-tool. "Oh wait... how typical, getting a response just as I had finished typing the second message," he sighs, looking at the reply. "Right, the asari High Command wants us to bring her to Level 28 of Shalta Ward on the Citadel. And... right on cue, there's our ride, too," he adds as the familiar, comfortingly dark blue shuttle lands, Cortez leaping out of the pilot's seat and rushing over to them.
"How is she?" he drops down on his knees next to Tali.
"She'll be alright, we think, but you need to take her to the Citadel. Hospital on Level 28 of Shalta Ward," Tali tells the pilot.
"Got it," Cortez nods, moving to softly gather the groaning asari in his arms, carrying her towards the shuttle. "God, I thought that the Citadel was about to come apart, when that one arm broke off... still, dreadful to see, all those people..."
"Know what you mean," Garrus says, following Cortez towards the shuttle, then stopping and giving a curious stare to Tali when she is not moving to go with them. "You're not coming, or do you want me to carry you in my arms, too?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Tali shakes her head. "I'm just thinking, Steve will get Liara to safety on his own, there's no need for us to go with them. There could be more injured soldiers down here that we can help, instead of sitting by Liara's side at the hospital. Don't you think that is what she would want, too?"
"Yes... you're damn right, Tali, that is what she would want, and that is what I want as well," Garrus nods firmly, then turning to Cortez. "Steve, you'll handle this on your own, right? We'll see if we can rescue anyone else."
"Got it, Garrus," Cortez replies. "Don't worry, people, I'll keep Blue safe."
"Wait up, though," Garrus speaks up as Steve carries Liara inside the cargo space of the shuttle and gently lays her down on a pair of soft blankets stretched over a row of seats. "There's more for you to bring back to the Normandy, Cortez..."
"Garrus... please, I told you that we won't be able to bring her back," Tali says softly, barely able to hold back her sorrow as she watches her turian boyfriend picking up EDI's deactivated platform from the mud and carrying the pile of metallic limbs towards the shuttle.
"Even if we can't, it's just... not right to leave her here," Garrus mutters, placing EDI's body down at Liara's feet, Cortez looking a little stunned as he sees their synthetic friend disabled, likely forever.
"I... got a message from the Normandy a while ago, saying that EDI was offline..." Steve says, sounding dejected. "I will... take her back there, I think. Perhaps someone will figure out what to do," he adds, ignoring Tali's sad shake of the head.
For a while, Tali and Garrus simply watch as the Kodiak shuttle finally lifts off and escapes into the sky, watching as it becomes a small dot and eventually leaves their view, finding that they have inexplicably moved to stand side by side while watching. They share a brief hug, before turning around and beginning to search through the fields of the death, but not finding much, those in the path of Harbinger's particle weapon dying instantly, without leaving even a corpse behind.
"I'm thinking we should fall back to the previous sector if we want to find any survivors, where we fought their ground forces. I'm sure we'd have a better luck back there," Garrus suggests.
"That's a good idea, Garrus," the quarian agrees, and they begin the long trek back to the ruins of the residential area. Now and then, they encounter other Hammer marines, searching the rubble for survivors, exchanging grim nods, pleased about their victory, but unable to truly celebrate in the face of all this death and devastation.
Crossing a square that is littered with a particularly thick layer of Reaper corpses, and the occasional dead krogan, Garrus for a moment finds himself hearing a soft, mournful growl coming from somewhere ahead. "Do you hear that, Tali?" he asks the quarian, his lover also looking as if she has heard something.
"Yes, I think it's coming from over there," she points to a spot ahead of them, amongst the rubble and they hurry towards it, coming upon a most surprising sight. A krogan is sitting amongst the debris, gently rocking the limp body of an asari commando, continuing with his sad, inconsolable growl.
"Keelah... is that... is that Grunt?" Tali gasps, coming closer to the sad sight.
"Grunt, old friend, what happened here?" Garrus asks, as they both rush towards their krogan friend, slowly turning his massive head to face them, looking sad and dejected.
"She won't wake up," he says simply, continuing to hold the asari.
Fearing the worst, Tali begins to scan the commando's badly mangled body with her omni-tool. Blood is slowly dribbling from her mouth and nose, and Tali finds herself mildly shocked, having detected minimal life signs, but the prospect is not rosy at all. There is severe internal bleeding combined with complicated fractures, punctured lung and a myriad of other injuries.
"What happened to her?" Garrus asks, watching as Tali works quickly, activating the asari's suit commands to inject her with medi-gel and at least stabilize her condition somewhat.
"A wall fell on her," Grunt explains simply, the turian wincing from the very idea of the relatively fragile asari getting trapped under such tremendous weight.
"It's a wonder she's alive, Grunt. If we can get her to a hospital, she might just make it," Tali says. "Why didn't you administer some medi-gel to her?"
"I'm good at causing injuries... not so good at healing them..." Grunt replies, a little helplessly.
"Trying to get through to Cortez again," Garrus says quickly, starting his attempts to get in touch with the shuttle pilot on the comms. "Cortez? Steve, do you copy? Lt. Steve Cortez, please answer! Yeah, okay, hear you! Listen... listen, Steve, once you drop off Liara, how do you feel about one more trip down here? Yeah? Alright, we'll wait... no, thank you... on my coordinates, yes, that'll work... great, that's great, Steve. Garrus out."
"Well?" Tali asks, not daring to tear her eyes away from the asari patient.
"He's about to reach the Citadel. Will take about forty minutes for him to get back," Garrus answers. "Hope she has that much time."
"She has... now that she got some medi-gel. If we hadn't come..."
"Thank you... both of you," Grunt speaks, surprisingly politely. "Wrex told me to forget about her. Kurin is tougher than he thought. Shows what the old man knows."
"Wrex? You were fighting alongside Wrex?" Garrus asks. "We haven't heard anything from him for a long time, any idea which way he was heading when you parted?"
"Sure. He was going back to catch up with the artillery squads," Grunt says.
"Alright, in that case that's where we're going," Tali rises from the ground, motioning for Grunt to pick the asari back up in his arms again. "Grab her and follow us, but gently, try not to move her too much." Much to the surprise of them both, Grunt actually manages to lift Kurin's body from the ground with such tenderness that they haven't thought a krogan to be capable of.
Trying to retrace the steps of Wrex and the Aralakh Company is not a very difficult task, they simply need to follow the thickest piles of Reaper corpses, and the occasional dead krogan amongst them confirms that they are on the right path. At some point, however, there are no longer any signs of Wrex and his people having wandered even further back, leaving them a little clueless, until Garrus spots a krogan footprint in the mud leading towards a complex of partly collapsed buildings.
"Did they try to move to a different sector to link up with another group?" Garrus asks.
"Don't know, I stayed behind to dig her out," Grunt returns.
"There's... something ahead of us... I can hear voices!" Tali exclaims, increasing her pace, leading them towards a pile of rubble between two once connecting buildings, now having collapsed in a violent explosion. Someone is there already, having climbed atop the rubble and beginning to dig there, as if hoping to extract some survivors trapped underneath.
"Hey, do you need assistance?" Garrus shouts out to the others, a pair of soldiers already working hard to remove large parts of the wall, bricks and chunks of mortar.
"We certainly would appreciate it," one of the two men replies, a rather familiar looking salarian. "Ah... Vakarian, good to see you!" he adds, jumping down from the rubble and rushing to greet them. "And miss Tali'Zorah, too!"
"Major Kirrahe!" Tali squeals with joy, which only increases tenfold when she notices the other figure approaching them, this one a quarian. "Oh... Keelah, it can't be... Kal'Reegar! You're alive!" she immediately throws herself into the marine's embrace with such force that she almost bowls Kal over, the gesture sending flutters of jealousy through Garrus' chest, but he swallows it quickly, knowing that Tali is simply relieved that an old friend has survived this slaughter.
"It is good to see you too, Admiral Tali'Zorah," Kal'Reegar returns a little awkwardly, moving to shake Garrus' hand. "Vakarian."
"What's the situation?" Garrus asks. "Don't tell me you're just digging for buried treasure?"
"Hardly. There's a krogan squad buried under all that rubble," Kirrahe replies quickly. "Normally we would have given up, because surely nobody can survive that, but... you know how tough those krogan are. Besides... we're certain of having felt some movement down there. Someone amongst them is still alive."
"Well, what are we waiting for, then?" Garrus asks, rubbing his hands and turning back to Grunt. "You'll have to put your girlfriend down for a bit now, Grunt. We'll need some of that famous krogan heavy lifting, my friend."
It takes about ten minutes of frantic work to reach the first of the trapped krogan. He is bleeding severely from his terrible wounds and unfortunately expires while they pull him out of his entrapment. The next two that they dig out are already dead, but luck begins to smile on them afterwards, managing to pull out a young krogan who while badly injured by what looks like heavy explosives, will live despite his horrific injuries. And then, finally, they reach the leader of the krogan squad, Wrex himself, covered in blood from head to toes and breathing shallowly, but still alive, and they take great care to extract him from the rubble.
"I think that's the last of them," Kal'Reegar says, poking his head into the tunnel they have dug out just to make sure they haven't left anyone behind.
"Urdnot Wrex, a fortunate rescue," Kirrahe nods thoughtfully, watching Tali and Garrus fussing over Wrex's injured shape, the large krogan unconscious and for once unable to respond with one of his trademark surly growls. "His survival would be very much preferable in terms of galactic stability. Should we ensure transportation to the nearest medical facilities?"
"It's been taken care of, Major, shuttle is already on its way," Garrus says, pulling back up, keeping his eyes locked at Tali. "What do you think? He should be alright, yes?"
"I think so, though my knowledge of krogan physiology is sorely lacking," Tali shrugs. "Cortez should be arriving soon, shouldn't he? It feels like it's over the forty minutes from the last talk you had with him."
"Yeah... and I bet it's him who's calling me right now," Garrus replies, switching his comms back on to answer. "Copy that, Steve. Sending my coordinates... okay, that's good. By the way, you'll be picking up not just one asari, but also a few krogan. We've been busy, and we found Wrex."
"Hopefully there'll be enough room for them all," Kal'Reegar remarks thoughtfully.
"What? No... I don't think Wrex will want to fly your shuttle, he's kind of unconscious, Steve. Yeah... hurt quite badly, so we need you to hurry. Five minutes, copy that, should be fine. Yep, that's fine, Garrus ou-... say that again? Shepard?"
Tali literally jumps a feet up in the air from hearing the name of her closest friend. "Shepard, what's going on with Shepard, did they find her, how is she, is she alright?" questions pour forth from the excited and nervous quarian.
"They moved her to the same Shalta hospital as Liara? That's good, isn't it? You saw her?" There is a very unpleasantly long pause after this last question that makes Tali shiver from toes to the tips of her hair. When Garrus speaks again, his voice sounds grim and depressed. "Oh. I... see. Are they certain? I... no... it's okay, Steve... waiting for your arrival."
"What, what did he say! What did he say about Shepard?" Tali almost pounces on Garrus, demanding that he explains himself immediately, but the turian continues to stare numbly at the wall in front of himself.
"Aria found Shepard, alright," he says eventually. "But she found her too late. Her injuries are too severe. Shepard is dying."