Separation Anxiety

I humbly ask that you suspend your disbelief for a while longer. Seeing as no one has really described what a bio-amp looks like or how the omni-tools actually work in fics (that I know of—any recs?), I thought I would give it a go.

Techno-babble, aweigh! Long paragraphs, ahoy!

The building seemed to shift as a gust of wind rammed the side of the tall Prothean-built sky scraper. The building creaked and groaned unnaturally against the low howl of the air current. Dust filtered down from the crumbling ceiling, glazing the tops of their helmets and the prone form of the Commander in silicate. Ash shuddered. These things had been there for fifty thousand years. It was a nice place to visit, but she wouldn't want to live here. Looking down at the fallen Commander, the Gunnery Chief revised her thinking. Scratch that. It's not a nice place to visit.

The room smelled like battery acid, smoke, and mass accelerator vapor. All weapons used mass accelerator technology, and it seemed even the geth used the tech. When ever the microcomputer shaved off a piece of ammo, the smell it produced was a pungent cross between axle grease and ozone. The vapor was a smell she took pleasure in. It meant her gun was working. And that meant she was still alive. There was another lingering odor she couldn't place. The closest she could come to the smell was boiling cabbage. But there didn't seem to be any vegetation anywhere, so it confused her. The cabbage smell reminded Ash of a time when she had taken some Liberty to visit home and Sarah's boyfriend had burned cabbage imported from Mindoir. Mom had been less than thrilled. That stuff was expensive.

She mentally shook her head at where her mind had suddenly wandered to. But it wasn't as if she could do anything to help. Ash was a soldier—infantry. Hell, her first combat experience had been Eden Prime and only because they were invaded for the beacon. She had basic first aid training and had only just recently completed her heavy hardsuit rating—and yeah, she was looking forward to the pay raise. But Alenko was the team's medic. And he knew a hell of lot more about biotics than she did. He was one after all.

The others had disbursed; it was just Lieutenant Alenko—helmet off, kneeling, Omni-tool out—and Ash—helmet on, standing, feeling out of place. Vakarian and Nar Rayya had gone to check out the medical equipment in the back area. Hopefully, they would find something that would be of some use. If they weren't planning a mutiny behind their backs.

Wrex was guarding the only exit with what she thought might have been a look of boredom. Or he was just standing there looking menacing? Or something. She'd already witnessed the krogan gun down someone in cold blood-for cash no less. She wouldn't put it past him to do it again. And who knew if the Shadow Broker had paid him to keep tabs on the first human Spectre? That had been his employer, right?

"Is there anything we can do for her, sir?" she asked as she put her thoughts away—though still kept an eye on Wrex—and knelt beside the Lieutenant. The amber glow of his omni-tool cast shadows on their faces and over the still unconscious form of Commander Shepard. Alenko's eyes were whiskey-colored under the light, and it highlighted the fine lines around his eyes and mouth, the deeper line across his forehead, aging him with worry. It also highlighted a miniscule scar on his cheekbone that wasn't noticeable under normal lighting. She found herself wondering where and how he had gotten it.

He shook his head drawing her thoughts back to the conversation. "All her readings are normal. Just a fever." He was quiet a moment as he gingerly removed Shepard's helmet, taking care not to move her neck too much. He didn't know if he should be worried that she was still glowing with dark energy or that she was still unconscious. Or that the dark energy flowed around his hands as he worked, making his skin prickle underneath his gloves. She'd been out for almost seven minutes now. Her chopped hair was sweat-slicked and stuck to her face, but he did nothing about it, though his fingers itched to comb it out of her eyes.

"I've never seen any biotic extend their barrier. Ever," he told Williams quietly, leaning Shepard's head against his armor-encased knee facing the Chief, making sure that the unconscious woman stayed on her side as he didn't want to risk further injury to her back while her hardsuit's ceramic plates were as cracked as they were, and as casually as he could, tucked a few strands behind her ear so that he could better see her face. "Not even an asari."

He knew the Chief didn't know the first thing about biotics. After all, she had asked all those questions when they first met. But as weird as she was about aliens, she didn't seem all that intimidated by the fact that he was a biotic with a mutated nervous system and—according to some of the extremist vids—killed people with his thoughts and ate babies for breakfast. It was one of the things he liked about her. He could actually be himself around her instead of just some weird, L2-he-may-go-crazy-any-minute superior officer. It was the same reason—only modified for a biotic and his CO—that he liked the Commander.

If he had a sister, he would want her to be like Williams. Unfortunately, exposure to eezo had left his mother only capable of carrying to term one child. And that was him. It was no wonder that after he and his father had convinced Mom that he wouldn't kill everybody with his brain that she was so overprotective of him. Hell, maybe one of these days he would find a nice civilian girl and give his mother the grandchildren she so desperately wanted. He mentally snorted at that just as soon as the thought surfaced. They were still studying human biotics. They didn't even know what indirect exposures would do to children, and he sure as hell wasn't about to experiment just to please his mother. The statistics were not good for anyone with exposure to eezo. The only time he didn't feel lucky to be alive was when the migraines hit or a crew member watched him eat.

"I bet she's gonna wake up with one bitch of a headache," the Chief commented, trying to make light of it. He only gave her a noncommittal grunt. She needed to stay out of his head. It weirded him out.

"Two human hardsuits in the medical station, Lieutenant," Garrus reported, tossing the white-shelled and magenta hardsuits down. They clacked against the dirt-covered, Prothean-made metal floor. He kneeled beside the fallen Commander and her human subordinates. "Easiest decryption I've ever seen." Kaidan felt Williams bristle from beside him but refrained from saying anything, only gave Garrus a polite nod of thanks.

"Debug them. Tali, give him a hand. The Commander and the Chief need another set," he ordered absently as he continued to interface with Shepard's armor. Still nothing. She was running a low-grade fever, and she had slipped into REM, the movement of her eyes beneath her closed lids eerily unsettling.

The blast had turned her two rifles into slag. He handed them off to Williams to keep her occupied. There was a pensive shimmer in the shadow of her eyes. He would deal with it later. His priority right now was to see to it that their commanding officer was functional. "Gel these. Check if anyone needs patches."

Ash did as told, field stripping the rifles to the best of her ability given that they were little more than melted plastic and metal now, getting irritated when the sniper scope wouldn't dislodge from the barrel. She grunted and thwacked it on the ground a few times. When it still didn't come off, she shrugged and flipped on her Omni-tool, cursed when the barrel wouldn't fit into the fabricator. She rarely used her tool, and, in fact, the Bluewire was in dire straits. The holographic interface flickered in places. She was deeply envious of Alenko's Logic Arrest. Damn nerd. The fabricator was larger, the sensor array was better designed, and the computer was slightly slower than the speed of God. No fair. Her only consolation was that her gun was bigger.

She didn't know if she should be pleased or irritated when the quarian snatched the scope from her hand and gelled it with her Cipher, whose fabricator wasn't as big as the Logic Arrest, but was larger than her Bluewire. Ash was not going to say thank you. The quarian didn't seem too put out that she didn't. Damn alien. If it weren't for her damn species… The quarian put the omni-gel in a compartment in her boot and sat crossed legged next to the turian with a hard-suit on her lap, completely engrossed in the technology. She interfaced it with her Omni-tool. Quarian letters and numbers scrolled across the reflection on her mask.

"Shepard's neck is burned," Garrus observed as Shepard's dark energy glow finally dissipated, drawing everyone's attention.

Holy Hell. "The amp," Kaidan breathed, quickly pulling out a medi-gel pack and tearing it open. The skin around the implant jack at the base of Shepard's skull was red and puckered, peeling in places. "Second-degree burn." Checking the bio-amp, he made a mental note to see if Burns had access to something that would withstand her power. It was in worse shape than her guns. The melted black of the Solaris X drooped over the outer rim of the implant jack—the cause of the burns on her neck. A Solaris X was obviously not cut out to take the kind of abuse Shepard had put it through. And he was sure the Normandy quartermaster didn't have anything but standard-issue Aldrin Labs crap. Standard-issue Alliance gear was not good for a Spectre. Maybe they would be able to go back to the Citadel and stop by the requisitions officer at C-Sec.

But he could see the reasoning behind choosing the Solaris X. The Commander's bio-amplifier of choice was nothing more than a computer chip on a standard seven-and-a-half centimeter by five millimeter implant jack. It resembled a large black thumb tack with a thick head housing the microcomputer, and it was nearly invisible under Shepard's thick, dark hair. There were no external wires that would catch on anything like on the amp he chose, a turian-made Gemini VII. His amp was actually clipped into his helmet. If he took off the helmet, he had to be careful to unclip it or risk jerking the plug out of his skull—which was not a pleasant experience if the amp was still on. He preferred the Gemini to his old Solaris because it allowed him to use more power and not get as tired as quickly. Not to mention the static discharge wasn't as painful if he happened to touch metal barehanded. The Commander needed him at the top of his game and his model was most he could purchase at the moment.

As he leaned forward to study her, her body began to twitch. That's not REM sleep.

"What's wrong with her?" Tali questioned, her voice sounding panicky.

"Get that amp out before it fries her brain," Wrex ordered gruffly. Kaidan looked up owlishly. When had the krogan come back over? He wondered.

"I can't just rip it out," he argued. "The heat grafted it to her skin. My kit only has medi-gel. I'm a medic, not a surgeon."

Her body twitched harder this time, alarming everyone. Williams moved to hold her down.

"Yeah?" Wrex questioned. He pointed at Shepard as she began to flail. "Flesh heals. Brains don't. Seems to me that the Commander would rather have her brain than her skin. Use the medi-gel after you un-plug her." Kaidan could have sworn the krogan finished the sentence with "Stupid human," but didn't press the subject.

Williams glared daggers at the krogan. "We should get her back to the ship," she insisted.

If a krogan could roll his eyes, Wrex probably did. "Great morale booster for the colonists," he remarked dryly. "Let's drag humanity's first Spectre back to the ship while she twitches and drools. I bet the colonists would fight after that."

Kaidan unplugged the OSD that was interfacing with Shepard's hardsuit. Wrex was right. He handed it to Garrus. "Monitor her," he commanded.

Garrus nodded solemnly and powered up his Omni-tool. Kaidan ripped off his gloves and fought for purchase on the amp. It was still hot. Without regard to the pain that sliced him, he managed to get his fingers under it and unplugged the melted amplifier. The redened skin peeled away as he removed it for good.

Shepard gasped, her eyes opening immediately, though she remained very stiff and very still.

"Williams?" she demanded, hoarsely.

Ash reached out and clutched the Commander's arm even as relief flooded her. "Here, Commander." Shepard's eyes cut to her face and she breathed in relief.

The Commander winced. "Sitrep," she ordered as she sat up, her eyes darting to Kaidan's face.

He filled her in, adding, "The only thing that's good on your hardsuit is the medical interface, but Garrus found two sets of armors. He and Tali are inspecting them now."

Shepard looked down at her gray armor that was chipped all over from the blast. "So much for the ablative coating," she mused. She allowed Kaidan apply medi-gel to her burn, the gel taking away all sensation immediately. The minor burns to his fingers were immediately soothed as well.

"Dr. Chakwas should have a look at you," he told her. "My equipment says you've got a fever but everything else is normal. Garrus?"

Garrus handed the OSD back to Kaidan. "All appears normal. Even the implant." Kaidan placed the OSD back in its place within the medkit on his right wrist.

"I feel like hammered shit," Shepard supplied, putting a hand to her head. He didn't think she looked like hammered shit. She looked tired and beautiful and her hair was mussed, but—thankfully—his mouth didn't run away with him this time. He was just worried enough to keep his mouth closed.

"There is nothing wrong with this hardsuit," Tali announced. She handed off the heavy grade Phoenix armor to Williams who immediately walked behind the wall to change.

Shepard accepted the medium grade Phoenix armor from Garrus with a nod before looking Kaidan straight in the eye and surprising him. "Help me get out of this, will you?"

Kaidan was struck by the surreal feeling. He was going to field strip his superior officer. He nodded, ignoring the awkward way his fingers fumbled on the latches of her armor. Ignoring the way the coating chipped and the sound it made as it hit the floor and his boots as he gently peeled back the plating over her arms and chest. Ignoring the way his pulse raced at the sight of the black insular cloth as it clung to her curves. Ignoring the way his breathing hitched when he unzipped the back of the inner cloth armor to reveal the creamy texture of her skin.

He swallowed hard, averting his gaze as she leaned on him to shrug into the new hardsuit's magenta fabric armor. He didn't have his gloves on, so when he steadied her… My God. Her skin was a soft at it looked. She tapped him in the chest to get his attention. He zipped her back up and helped her with the chest plate, latching it beneath her breasts on either side to the back. Kaidan knew she could put on a hardsuit in under three minutes, and chalked up her inability to coordinate to the biofeedback she must have gotten from the amp. He wondered if there was any internal damage.

"Do I have any weapons left?" she asked in a quiet murmur as Williams reentered the area in brand new armor. It didn't surprise either one that the Chief had opted to keep her old scored, gore-encrusted helmet. Marines could be superstitious about their brain boxes like that.

He shook his head. "Let's check back with Fai Dan and then see if they have a shopkeeper or if they can spare anything."

"Garrus, Tali, you have point," Shepard commanded. "Williams, Wrex, bring up the rear. Alenko, you've got my back."

Always. "Yes, ma'am."

Trivia/Geekery: Americanese: 3 inches = 7.6 centimeters according to an online calculator. Just so you know. Bio-amp overload idea inspired by one of sinvraal's fics.