When she came to, it hurt less. The pain was still there, but dulled. She groaned and opened her eyes. Above her there was a white ceiling with bright lights. She tried to move her head to assess where she was, but the spinning came back, together with overwhelming nausea. As she groaned she heard steps coming her way. Then someone was next to the bed, a firm hand laid on her forehead.
"Try not to move your head," the voice was calm. "I'll get you something for the nausea in a moment."
"Okay," she managed to utter.
The hand moved away and the footsteps went away. She tried moving her head, this time slower. The spinning was now bearable. She was in some kind of medical facility, a monitor beeping and a piece of blue fabric separating her from other beds. An Asari was coming her way, a syringe in her hand. Whatever it contained in a few seconds it was added to her iv line.
"Give it a few minutes. Do you want something more for the pain? Don't answer, I know you do," the Asari said once her patient managed to reply with a moan.
A few more minutes, two more syringes of drugs and her head stopped spinning, pain almost away.
" Where am I?" she asked.
"And nice to meet you too," said the Asari. "You're on Chillon II. And I'm nurse Lyina Danis. What's your name?"
She faltered for a moment. Name. She must have had one. She just...
"I don't know," she muttered.
"Which year is it?"
"Twenty one... eightish?"
The Asari smiled gently.
"Okay, please, don't get nervous. You have something that's called retrograge amnesia. Nothing unexpected considering the trauma to your head - you've suffered a minor intracranial bleeding in addition to three broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder. Looking at what was left of your ship you were quite lucky."
Amnesia, of all the possible things. Tough luck.
"Has anyone else survived?" she asked.
"You were the only one we found. Someone may have been able to get off the ship before it burned. The sear party was dispatched only after the grain transport heard the explosion and found you near the crash site. We were a bit worried that your skip might have been shot down by one of the enemy fighters, but apart from the crash we haven't sighted any activity."
"Enemy? Is there a war?"
"About a year ago the galaxy was attacked by some outside force, nicknamed by the media as the Reapers, taking the name from a legend. The Asari and the salarians tried not to engage, so the reports we were getting on the colony were scarce. Just a few months ago, the Republics and the Union joined the war and just a few weeks later all interstellar comms went down. So we were hoping you could enlighten us about the current situation."
"Reapers," the human repeated. That name sounded familiar and stirred up anger and fear.
"Is there anything you can recall? About yourself or...?"
"Ships. I've spent a lot of time aboard ships. I have... I'm not sure."
"Is there any particular way I should call you?"
The woman tried once more to search her mind but nothing came back.
Jane Doe was a name Lyina came up with. She knew from some criminal dramas she watched eagerly that was what humans used to call unidentified people. Jane did not argue, not having a better idea herself. She spent the next days in bed, either sleeping or browsing some human books and journals on the local net, as the extranet was offline. Due to the scars on Jane's shaved head, the Asari nurse suspected she might be a biotic, but decided that without proper neurosurgical care it would be unsafe for her to test that theory. Physically she was better with every day, but mentally she felt broken. Lyina must have noticed it, because he started forcing her out of bed by giving the woman various small duties around the clinic and forcing to interact with other patients.
The colony on Chillon II counted around three thousand citizens, living in four main outposts and a large number of farms. They had no proper hospital, its upkeep being too expensive, but their med center was supposed to let the Asari nurse to perform most of the exams and treatments in contact with a Salarian physician based in another system. At least that's how it worked before the comm blackout. The colony consisted mostly of Salarians with the addition of just under a hundred members of other species, mostly Asari and Turians. No humans except for her. Jane kept hoping that one of them might have some info on the other rescues from the ship, so she often acted as a receptionist to meet as many new faces as possible.
In the meantime she took upon Lyina's offer to move into a guest bedroom in the Asari's home ("No one visits me anyway these days," the nurse joked). They spent most evenings together, watching a vid or trying to come up with ideas about Jane's past.
"I know I've spent most of my life on ships. I have no advanced technical skills and no deeper knowledge of navigation."
"Then a pilot maybe?"
"I don't think so."
"Then maybe you were running shipments or passenger transports?"
"Possible," Jane finally agreed.
"Maybe you did trade with the Hierarchy?" Lyina suggested taking a sip of a tea-like brew made from locally grown plants.
"Why with the Hierarchy?" Jane asked curiously.
"Oh... that scar on your night shoulder."
"You mean this?" she drew aside the neckline of her shirt. "What does a scar have to do with the Travian Hierarchy?"
"Oh," Lyina stumbled. "This scar... In my personal and professional opinion it is a Turian bonding mark."
"What?" Jane jumped on her chair.
"If you have that mark it means you must be... or, have been, in a serious relationship with a Turian."
"That's..." she wanted to say impossible. But somehow she knew a lot of Turian books and vids she had stumbled on since she had woken up. Not Asari, not
Salarian. Human and Turian. Somehow all the Turian gestures and expressions, both seen in the vids and presented by Lyina's patients, were no-brainers to her. When she thought about being with a Turian, about having sex with one… Well, it was very real. She had a very good idea of that special spot just under the fringe, she knew exactly how to hold his waist with her legs to elicit that wonderful purr that always made her moan his name.
And then, just before the name popped into her head, the memory was gone.
"That's quite possible," she sighed.
"That's good!" exclaimed Lyina, almost clapping her hands. "The Hierarchy keeps accurate records regarding all bondings and since a Turian bonding with a
human is an extremely rare case, they may be able to find your identity. And your mate."
Mate... there was a flutter in her chest.
"Unless they were on the ship."
I'll try to publish next chapter by the end of this week so please do keep your fingers crossed!!
PS. Still looking for a beta reader.