To say Karin was feeling a little drained as she left the med bay after performing multiple (hopefully) life saving surgeries would be something of an understatement.
She couldn't head to bed just yet though, she had volunteered herself for the first observational shift so that her equally tired assistants could grab some sleep.
First however, she was going to grab some much needed nutrients while they finished re-sterilizing and tidying the med bay.
Turning the corner, she wasn't at all surprised to find Shepard sitting in the otherwise empty mess with a cup of coffee and a stack of datapads in front of her.
There was also a nearly empty jug, formerly of coffee, that suggested at some point the commander had got bored of standing and walking to the counter every time she wanted a refill. Instead choosing to hoard the wonder drug all to herself. A fact that suggested she hadn't slept since coming back aboard from the somewhat strenuous mission on Virmire.
"Doc, how are they?" Tiredness certainly hadn't dulled the spectre's senses at least. Even if the exhaustion was audible in her voice, along with a croaky rasp that came with nearly being strangled to death
Chakwas had to override the instinct to pull out her omni-tool and start scanning. She knew the commander had already been taken care of, even if it hadn't been herself who treated her, and she trusted her staff.
"I've done all I can. They're stable for now but we need to get them to Arcturus."
The soldier nodded her understanding but didn't bother breaking off their conversation to issue fresh orders, having already made Arcturus their next destination the second she discovered the severity of their casualties. Instead she stood up to make them both some fresh coffee while the doctor rooted around for acceptable food.
"Individual prognoses?"
"Fredricks will pull through minus the leg. The surgeons at A.M.H will probably give him a choice between a prosthetic or the new clone replacements they've been trailing. As for Williams, it was close for awhile and if she was anybody else I'd still be worried, but she's out of the danger zone for now. It will be a long time before she's fit for combat missions again though. Lieutenant Alenko..."
Chakwas sighed, depositing a ready meal in the microwave and accepting the proffered mug of hot caffeine before continuing.
"The power he put in that last barrier completely fried his amp and the recoil damaged his implant. It needs removing but I'm not a brain surgeon Commander. Biotic implant replacement surgery has a very low success rate even when carried out by specialists, and the side effects if it does go wrong are highly debilitating at best and often fatal. It's the reason so few L2's upgrade despite the debilitating side effects. All I can do for Kaidan is try to keep him alive until we reach Arcturus."
Karin couldn't help noticing the loosely clenched fist subconsciously tapping a fast but gentle rhythm on the worktop, casually diagnosing it as a physical manifestation of the commander's frustration and sense of impotence at not being able to do anything to help.
The action ended as suddenly as it started as Shepard pulled herself together and issued a brisk, decisive nod of the head in official response, inquiring: "What about Kirrahe's men?"
"A couple more days in my med bay for observation then he can have them back. I'm confident they'll be just fine."
"Thank you doc..." The commander paused, looking as if she was about to say something else but Chakwas beat her to it.
"Go get some sleep Shepard."
"Too late." She declared, waving her newest, almost empty, coffee cup for emphasis but could only muster half a grin.
"I have drugs that can counter that."
"No thanks, besides I have reports to write."
"And how's that going?" The older woman asked knowingly, earning a grimace.
"Well... we've left the ship..."
Karin shook her head, repressing a faint smile as she retrieved her food and headed back to the infirmary.
"Sleep Commander, I don't want to see you here next time I come out."
...
The next few hours passed both excruciatingly slowly and quicker than Chakwas was expecting as she updated her patients' medical records in between monitoring their vitals and replacing IV bags.
She also contacted the Arcturus Military Hospital's admissions team, letting them know the expected arrival time, number, and condition of patients so they could inform the relevant departments to be on stand by.
By the time that was finished she still had over an hour left until her relief was due, so she opened up one of the many medical journals she was subscribed to, planning to catch up on her reading.
Even her brain's usually indomitable thirst for knowledge had its limits however, and after reading the same paragraph four times without it making any sense she gave up, giving her patients another check before resorting to going through her personal emails.
Needless to say, she'd never been so glad to see another person as when Lieutenant Chavasse finally walked through the door to relieve her. The sentiment going double for the steaming mug of hot chocolate in his hands.
"The commander's compliments ma'am." Chavasse stated as he passed it over and Chakwas felt her cheer evaporate at his words.
"Let me guess, she's still out there?"
Her assistant gave a shrug that she interpreted as an affirmative, but her frustrated frown dipped into a sigh of content as she took a sip and savoured the taste of bliss on her tongue. She'd thought it a fluke with the coffee, but apparently Shepard's eye for detail included paying attention to precisely how her officers liked their drinks.
After completing the handover to Chavasse, Karin reentered the mess with the remains of her cocoa. Shepard was sat in the same chair as before, glaring at her datapads.
"I thought I said I didn't want to see you out here? Attempting to bribe me won't save you."
"Doc! You look shattered, you should go to bed." Nikki proclaimed, not attempting to defend herself against the charges levied against her.
"Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you." Chakwas stated, her previously unamused voice darkening further as Shepard picked a mug off the table: "Take one more sip of that coffee Commander and I'll give you a stomach pump."
Nikki froze comically, the beverage half way to her lips, eyes darting calculatingly between Karin and the cup. Finally the first honest smile since Virmire crept onto the spectre's lips, the doctor raising a reproachful eyebrow.
"Wipe that grin off your face, don't think I won't do it."
"Oh no doc, I know you would. I remember you handcuffing Anderson to the bed one time."
The doctor chuckled.
"I remember you making inappropriate jokes about the situation."
"I blame the drugs." Nick shot back without missing a beat. "I would never dream of making such comments about a superior officer normally."
"Of course not." Karin agreed in a tone of voice that suggested otherwise. "Now go get some sleep Shepard, I mean it this time. Otherwise I'll be forced to declare you unfit for duty and chain you to a bed somewhere."
"Alright, alright. You win." The spectre held up her hands in surrender. "Just give me a minute to-"
"Now."
On second thoughts... Shepard thought morosely. At least in her cabin nosey doctors wouldn't be able to observe what she was or wasn't doing.
She made a mental note to get a coffee machine installed in her room next time they docked somewhere civilised as she gathered her datapads and made her escape.
"The next time I see you I'll be checking the sleep data on your omni-tool." Chakwas warned the retreating figure, having spent far too much time around N7s to be fooled by the sudden capitulation to her will.
Shaking her head, the doc quickly headed to her own bed, more than happy to follow her own advice.
...
Fredricks was the first of the critical cases to wake or, more accurately, the first to be taken off the sedatives and allowed the chance to wake.
Swimming in painkillers and covered in a blanket, it wasn't immediately obvious to the private that he was now missing a leg. The job of carefully breaking the news fell to Chakwas and it wasn't one Shepard envied.
Having said that, she wasn't exactly thrilled with her own task of talking to the council either.
At least she'd managed to get some sleep before the call. She was sorely tempted a couple of times to hang up on them and wasn't convinced she would have resisted the childish urge in her previous state.
She supposed she should be thankful they weren't telling her off for setting off an improvised nuke; 'Thou shalt not use Tier 3 WMDs on a garden world' ranked pretty highly on the list of galactic laws after all, but that would almost be preferable to their current conversation. At least she could understand why they'd be pissed about the nuke, except apparently they weren't. Instead it was:
"Our own intelligence has never turned up any corroborating evidence."
Where have I heard that before? I swear your 'intelligence' couldn't find an asari in a strip club!
"What about the STG report from Captain Kirrahe?" Was her actual, far more professional, response.
"The report on Saren cloning krogan and his research into mind control techniques, this... 'indoctrination', is indeed cause for concern. However there is still no concrete proof that he is working for anyone other than himself."
"Try to see this from our perspective, Saren is a threat we can recognise. However as far as we know the reapers only exist in your visions."
Great so now you're accusing me of being crazy. I bet Saren didn't have to put up with this much shit when HE was a spectre. Actually, maybe he did. Maybe that's why he went rogue and wants to unleash the 'vanguard of our destruction' upon us.
Somehow she got through the call without hanging up, swearing at the council (not out loud at least) or committing any acts of treason. Although it was a close run thing. As was so often the case after a talk with her new bosses she was left with an overwhelming urge to visit the gym and pummel the heavy bag into oblivion for a good half hour, but she restrained herself, deciding to check on her troops instead.
...
"Damn ma'am, what happened to you? You look worse than me." Was the far too cheerful greeting from Fredricks as she entered the med bay.
"Ouch, and to think I came bearing gifts." Shepard took mock offense.
"For me?" The young private sat up excitedly.
"Nope for your roommates." She deadpanned dropping a datapad off on the bedside tables of the still unconscious Alenko and Williams as she passed, before handing the final pad and a bag of gummy bears over to Fredricks, stage whispering conspiratorially: "I managed to smuggle these in from your squad. Don't tell the doc."
That earned her an eye roll from Chakwas who was sat within hearing range in the corner of the room. The doctor didn't protest though, she was used to the eccentricities of Alliance marines, and at least the commander had the sense to private message her in advance to check it would be ok before charging in and gifting unauthorized food substances to patients.
Fredricks accepted the confectionary eagerly, popping one in his mouth without even looking at it as he fired up the datapad to scroll through the multiple well wishes from the crew.
It was easy to judge how well a person knew him from the message left. The 'Get well soon's and 'fingers crossed for a speedy recovery's of casual acquaintances interspersed with his teammates calling dibs on borrowing his crutches, inquiring as to the finer details of his successful action plan for 20% weight loss in just one week, and declaring him: "an absolute leg... wait for it, wait for it -end".
It was dark humour. Military humour. The kind not all civilians understood and Nick had received more than one light cuff to the shoulder from Trish in the past for using it in inappropriate situations when surrounded by 'normal society'.
Fortunately the occupants of the med bay weren't what Trish would term 'normal' and so Fredrick laughed instead of becoming outraged when he reached for another sweet and finally realised that his battle buddies had painstakingly gone through the pack and cut a leg off every single bear in the bag.
"I best be off, I think the vampire queen wants to see me." Shepard finally ended their long and varied conversation after a suitable amount of time spent entertaining Fredricks and boosting morale.
"Careful Commander, I can always find a bigger needle." Chakwas added, aware what Shepard was up to and content to play the pantomime villain if it raised a smile from the young marine whose life plans were so freshly torn apart.
The two officers continued acting around, Shepard even making funny faces for the private's benefit until they were sequestered away in private.
"How's he really holding up?" Nikki asked, instantly becoming serious once she knew they couldn't be overheard.
"Not nearly as well as he pretends, but thinking he's got me fooled is about the only form of control he's got right now." The doctor admitted as she started her checkup. "Hopefully your stories about Larrson will help. Making him laugh while subtly reminding him this doesn't have to be the end of his career unless he wants it to be. Although I'm not sure removing a prosthetic and pretending to be injured in the middle of a shopping mall car park is the kind of activity I should be encouraging."
"I will never forget that salarian's face, and the elcor's reaction was priceless." The soldier chuckled. "Been a long time since I admitted to anyone I was part of that prank."
"What about Larrson, is he still serving?"
Shepard shook her head.
"No. Turns out even the best prosthetics in the galaxy can't help you outrun a thresher maw." She stated darkly before instantly perking up. "So how's it looking? Am I fit for duty?"
"As long as by 'duty' you mean walking around the ship giving orders and not running around being shot at then sure. I'll even include the word 'light' in your file so you don't get confused."
"And there was me hoping for dark duty." She joked.
Even though the commander wasn't arguing against the decision, Chakwas could still see the look in her eye. The one she'd seen on so many soldiers before. The one that said: but I feel fine. I was in much worse shape after Day 3 of N whatever and I managed to complete that no bother.
"Just because you can do something with your body at less than peak efficiency, doesn't mean you should. The body benefits greatly from being allowed to recharge to 100% every now and again instead of being reused and abused every time you get close to 90%."
Nikki nodded.
"What about melds? Much as I hate it, I could do with a second opinion from Liara about the new bits of vision from the second beacon. It's like a damn rubix cube right now. I know I've got all the bits of the puzzle but every time I manage to get the angle right in order for one bit to work, I lose another section from somewhere else. I just can't figure out how to twist it so it ALL makes sense at once."
"I'll allow it. As long as you take the necessary precautions like sitting or lying down. Why the vids insist on doing it standing up when the participants' legs could collapse under the strain and potentially lead to concussion, I'll never know."
...
"Ilos! The conduit is on Ilos!" Liara exclaimed, sitting up rapidly as she ended the meld.
"Great, I'll tell Pressly to start plotting a route from Arcturus. We can go as soon as we drop off the wounded."
"It's not that simple Commander." The asari quickly burst her bubble. "I recognise it from my Prothean studies but Ilos is only accessible through the Mu relay and that was lost four thousand years ago."
"How do you lose a relay?" Shepard stated incredulously. Liara opened her mouth to answer but the commander stopped her with a wave of her hand. "You know what, doesn't matter. Different question: Will Saren be able to find it and what will he do if he can't?"
"I don't know. It was originally in rachni space when it was lost but after the rachni wars the borders shifted and the area became part of the Terminus systems. It is possible Saren may find some clue, but it is notoriously difficult to find a cold object in space."
"So short of camping out in the Terminus and hoping Saren comes to us, we're essentially back where we started?" Nikki clarified with a sigh. "I'll talk to Pressly and Adams anyway, see if either of them have any ideas."
"But... Nobody's seen it in four thousand years. What makes you think your people will have any luck."
"Sometimes all you need is a fresh pair of eyes. Besides, how much of that four thousand years was actually spent looking and how much was spent saying 'it can't be found, there's no point trying'? Look... It's that or sit around doing nothing while the STG trawl through all that data from Virmire looking for something useful."
...
"Woah! That's not supposed to be there!" Joker called from the cockpit as the Normandy's automatic anti-collision failsafes pulled them out of FTL speed, mere seconds after Shepard arrived in the CIC.
I either have the best timing in the world or the worst.
"Impossible. I took the X57's movement plans into consideration when I plotted our course. We should fly straight past." Pressly assured them, even as his hands moved over his console.
"Switch to stealth mode." Shepard ordered as she made her presence on the bridge known. It might just be paranoia but she'd learnt to trust her gut instinct in these situations and it was screaming at her now. "Status report."
For some reason it was the Normandy VI that answered her before any of her crew could. "Sensors reveal three fusion torches propelling Asteroid X57."
"That is the usual way of transporting asteroids." Someone muttered before Pressly interrupted with what she wanted to hear. Well... what she needed to hear at least, want was another matter entirely.
"X57 is off course by 4.29 degrees, if it continues at current rate of speed without correcting course it will crash into Terra Nova in just under four hours."
"Nearest Alliance ship?" Shepard queried, after all she was restricted to light duty and trying to get her critically wounded to Arcturus as soon as possible.
"Five hours and twenty seven minutes, full burn speed."
"Commander I'm picking up a distress signal from the asteroid. Patching it through."
{Hello? Hello? I thought I saw a ship. Can you hear me? Please don't be gone already. They haven't found me yet but I can't talk long. Please, shut down the fusion torches or we're all going to die. God I hope your hearing this.}
"Wrex, Tali, Garrus. Suit up. Low gravity, zero atmosphere." The commander ordered over the comm system before turning to Pressly. "Find me an insertion point as close to one of the torches as possible without being seen. You have the deck."
The XO nodded as she turned on her heel and ran towards the cargo bay to suit up.
Chakwas is going to kill me.