Chapter 27: Aftermath
"Carmine come in." Shepard's voice spoke over his teams comms.
"Kinda busy here Sarge!" Rah barked back. He made quick work of a few Collectors that had snuck up on Grunt. His ammo was low and all of his grenades used and spare weapons had been given out. He couldn't hold out for much longer under the Collector's onslaught.
"I'm setting the base to self destruct in fifteen minutes. Get your team out of there!" Shepard ordered.
"You heard the lady!" Rah barked out to his team. "Fall back to the ship!"
They all followed his orders. Slower than an ancient turtle, Rah and his team made their way back to the Normandy, fighting for every step they took.
"Everyone in!" Rah barked and motioned for his team to enter the open cargo bay. "Joker! Where's Sarge?"
"She's still in the station. She hasn't moved in the last ten minutes." Joker replied, worry in his voice.
"God damn it." Rah cursed. He dropped his weapon on the ground and pulled his pack off. "Get this bird in the air Flight Lieutenant! I want her waiting for me when I haul Sarge's sorry ass out of this place."
"Aye aye sir." Joker replied.
"What?!" Jack exclaimed grabbing his arm. "You can't go back there!"
"Don't worry about me Princess." Rah grinned to the woman. "I'll be fine."
Rah gently touched his faceplate to Jack's forehead. He held still for a moment, taking in every detail of her gorgeous face. When he pulled away from her, He turned and sprinted back into the station, his biotics up and augmenting his speed.
"You know that you're dying right?" Fox's voice spoke to him over his comms.
I know. The medigel will have to suffice for now. Rah thought to the AI. Just have my ship ready.
"Always playing the hero." Fox sighed.
Rah raced his way through the station, following the markers that EDI put on his HUD to lead him to Shepard. He evaded Collectors as he went, and those that he couldn't evade, he knocked out of his way with biotics. He couldn't afford to stop.
"Sarge!" Rah called out when he spotted Shepard and her squad. They were all out cold, and he still had a dozen meters to go before he reached them.
Shepard stood up and then woke up Garrus. She helped up Massani and Rah sighed in relief.
"Sarge!" Rah called out again. "Come on! We need to go!" Rah yelled at them.
Shepard and her team followed him. He lead them to the Normandy. Shepard ran ahead of him and looked at him. He could see that she was worried for him. He knew his injuries needed to be taken care of, but for now they could wait.
"I'm fine." Rah grunted. He sprinted past Shepard, flaring up his biotics to protect himself from the Collectors that had followed him.
Rah lead them to a cliff, a point in the hull of the station that was open to space. At the end, the Normandy hovered waiting for them.
"Go!' Go!" Rah urged them on. He fell back and stopped. He unleashed his biotics on the Collectors that were chasing them. He sent shockwaves and blasts of energy into their ranks, keeping them at bay.
"Rah! We need to go!" Shepard yelled to him. Rah grunted and sprinted towards the cliff.
He jumped, but he didn't make it. He stretched out his arms to try and grab either the Normandy or one of the others. His fingertips grazed Shepard's palms, but he fell before she could grab him.
"JOKER!" Rah heard shepard yell. Anything else his friend would have said he didn't hear.
He tumbled through the space around the station, trying to get himself righted. He had a back up plan for everything, even for this.
"What is it EDI?" Shepard asked, her voice hollow.
She had retreated into her cabin until they were to drop out of FTL. She needed time to herself.
"I have picked up a signal broadcasting from the location we are to drop out of FTL at." EDI informed her.
"So?" She asked, still not finding a reason to care.
"This is the signal." EDI told her simply.
Over the speakers in her cabin, a song from three hundred years ago played, one titled I Am A Stone. Shepard knew that it was one of Rah's favorites. She felt her sorrow come over her at hearing the song. At the end of the song, it didn't repeat, but a voice spoke out.
"I'm still kicking Sarge." A raspy voice spoke. She could hear the labored breathing in Rah's voice, but she felt joy unlike any she'd felt before. That simple sentence made her feel like the entire mission was worth it.
"EDI, get us there as fast as you can. Tell Chakwas to be ready with trauma care when we get there. Major Carmine will need her best." Shepard ordered the AI. Even with the dire situation that her friend was no doubt in, she knew that a few bullets wouldn't stop him. Only he could do that.
Jack lay face down on her cot in her hole of the ship. She knew that something was going to go wrong. She knew when Rah pressed his helmet to her forehead and then ran off to find Shepard, he wouldn't come back.
Jack tried to fight them back, but her tears soaked her pillow. Why did he need to do this? Why did he have to steal her heart and then die on her?
Jack, in her sorrow filled state of mind, thought that he was just like everyone else. He'd taken what he wanted from her, then left. He never really cared about her, but even thinking that made her weep more. She knew it wasn't true. She knew it when he'd paused to press his faceplate to her forehead that he was promising to come back to her. She knew that if he could, he'd have done it.
Jack felt her shoulders stiffen when the PA system of the Normandy began playing music. The slow and easy build of the song made her begin to weep even harder. It was one of Rah's songs, one that he sang to her when she asked him to the night before while she lay in his arms.
Jack felt drained by the time the song was done. At the end, there was a heavy silence and the faint sounds of someone breathing heavily.
"I'm still kicking Sarge." Rah's raspy voice spoke over the PA system.
Jack didn't believe it. He couldn't still be alive, could he? No this had to be some kind of trick.
"Please don't kill me when I get picked up Jack. Not my fault I can't jump." Rah chuckled and a coughing fit followed. "I'll just be here, waiting for you guys."
Rah woke up from his light, pain filled sleep to the sounds of his fighter's thrusters powering on. After setting up a beason of the Normandy to pick up, he'd used up the last of his medigel and dozed off. If he were to die before the Normandy could make a pick up, at least he'd do it in his sleep.
The readings that his suit gave him were nowhere close to being good. He had lost a lot of blood, had several broken bones, several pulled muscles, one lung was fully collapsed and the other partially collapsed. Add in the internal bleeding that the medigel had stopped, and he was little more than a dead man waiting to die. Thankfully, his suit had a way of forcing oxygen into his body and the bleeding had stopped for the most part.
Now it seemed, much to his relief, that the Normandy had arrived and Fox was flying him in. Three years ago, he'd never have believed it if he was told that an AI would save his life time and time again.
When his fighter landed safely in the cargo bay of the Normandy Rah opened his cockpit. He pulled himself up and out, barely catching himself from passing out and falling when he stepped onto the floor. Only his willpower kept him from crumbling like any other man would have. He took the time to catch his breath and looked around.
Around him, the entire ground team and a good portion of the crew watched him. All of them with worry in the faces. Rah cracked a smile at them.
"Anyone gonna help me?" Rah asked, his voice light even though he could feel his strength fading. "Or does the injured guy need to get himself to the medbay?"
Jack pushed forward and stepped to his right side. Rah could see the tear lines that had dried on her face, but none the less, she had him drape an arm around her shoulder.
"Anyone else gonna help." Jack asked, her voice demanding that someone help. "Or do I need to carry the fucker alone?"
Out of the crowd, Grunt stepped forward. "Human." He grunted to Rah. Rah grinned when the Krogan took his other side. Between the two of them, they carried Rah into the lift and out of the sight of the rest of the crew.
"What the fuck were you thinking?" Jack snapped at him when the doors closed.
"I always have a plan Princess. Might not be the best ones, but I have them." Rah replied, keeping his voice light. He didn't need her to know how much pain he was in.
"Just don't do it again." Jack sighed.
They spent the rest of the elevator ride in silence. The two of them hauled Rah into the medbay. Jack helped him out of his armor and then was shooed out by Chakwas. Rah lay back on the bed that the doctor put him on, and promptly passed out.
"I thought we had an understanding Shepard." The Illusive Man snarled when Shepard finally accepted his call to her. "I thought you could be reasonable and not blinded by the ideals of the Alliance."
"Clearly you're a complete moron." Shepard replied, rolling her eyes. "I'm not going to let you get your greedy hands on tech like that. You and I both know that only fools would try and use it."
"I am no fool Shepard." The Illusive Man replied, his voice icy.
"Clearly you are." Shepard replied, not giving him the chance to do anything else. "Consider this my resignation. Thanks for the ship and the crew."
Shepard didn't give the fuming man the chance to reply. She terminated the call and left the briefing room. She had a friend to welcome back, and repairs to oversee.
"Katherine, I have Carmine in my care. I will do all I can." Doctor chakwas told her via her omni-tool.
"That's all I can ask Karin." Shepard replied. She felt worry in the pit of her stomach. Chakwas hadn't given her any details so Rah's injuries must have been bad.
When Shepard stepped out into the CIC she found it deserted.
"EDI, where is everyone?" Shepard asked the AI.
"They are currently in the mess hall. Save for the Engineering crew, they are watching Doctor Chakwas operate on Major carmine." EDI replied. Shepard sighed and took the elevator down to the crew deck.
When she reached the deck, she stormed into the mess hall. She found nearly everyone watching through the window into the medbay while the doctor worked. The ground team seemed to have front row seats and all of them looked worried. Shepard wouldn't have believed it, but Rah had gone from being a near stranger, to their brother in arms.
"Why are you all standing around!" Shepard barked, making everyone jump. "We've got a ship to fix! Let Chakwas do her thing in piece!" Shepard ordered. "I want this ship back up and running at full capacity in forty eight hours! Now move it people!"
With her cracking of the whip, her crew sprung into action. Most of them heading the the lift, while others began to tidy up the crew deck.
After a few minutes, Shepard found Jack still watching the doctor work, her concern visible on her face.
"He'll be alright Jack." Shepard spoke softly to the other woman, coming to stand next to her. "He's got something to fight for now. I don't think he'll let a few flesh wounds keep him down for long."
"How can you know?" Jack asked, her voice quiet and soft. "How do you know that he won't die on that table? That he'll make it?"
"I told you." Shepard smiled to the woman. "He's got something to fight for. Something to come back to."
"What?" Jack asked though Shepard could see the almost hopeful light to the woman's eyes.
"Don't stay too long." Shepard ordered her gently. She left the question unanswered and left the woman be.
Just as she ordered, the Normandy was nearly back to being fully functional after two days. With the ship repaired as best they could manage, Shepard ordered them to head to the Citadel for dry dock and a full refit.
Much to the relief of everyone on the ship, Chakwas had managed to stabilize Rah, but he was still in a state of needing intensive care. He was able to get Foxtrot to pull in a few favors, and he was to be taken to one of the best hospitals on the Citadel when the arrived.
When Jack was told, she asked Shepard if she could leave with him. Shepard agreed, and even got her a room in a hotel close to the hospital. Shepard would never turn down someone from staying with their lover, and never when they were close friends of hers.
To add to it, Zaeed, Samara, and Thane all asked to depart when they reached the Citadel as well. Zaeed made some flustered excuse of having another job to do, and then an even more flustered reaction when Shepard hugged him and told him to keep in touch. Thane wanted to spend what time he could with his son, and Shepard agreed. She knew what it was like to have a parent that wasn't around as much as they wanted to be, she didn't wish that on anyone. Samara told her that she was being called back to Asari space. Shepard let the Justicar out of her oath, and was surprised when the matriarch pulled her into a mothering hug. Samara told her that she was glad to have served under Shepard's command, and would do it again when the Reapers came.
A week after they had destroyed the Collector base, The Normandy arrived at the Citadel.
A/N: As I said, I wasn't going to let you all wait too long for this. I was honestly shock at the reaction to the last chapter. I had this mostly written already when I posted the last chapter, so I can happily say that this was part of my diabolical plan all along.
Anyways, thank you all for reading and I hope you'll stick around for the rest of what I have in store. Thank you all so much for the support and also for the feedback. All of it is very much appreciated.
Hope you all enjoyed!
Until next time!
