Chapter 32
Shepard heard voices, though they sounded muffled and disitant, as she slowly started to regain consciousness. She felt awful, there were aches and pains all over her body, and all she wanted to do was sleep, but the voices kept getting louder. She groaned and the voices went silent for a moment before a familiar voice started speaking sternly.
"My head..." Shepard said aloud. Her throat was dry and it came out in a rasp. She felt a warm sensation all over her body, and as it abated she felt clear-headed, the pains in her body diminshed and her headache disappeared.
"I'll have you escorted out of here!" A woman's voice said sternly.
"Go ahead, they already tried that twice." Harry said, irritation obvious in the tone of his voice.
"H-Harry?" Shepard asked. She opened her eyes and immediately regretted it as the harsh lighting nearly blinded her. She heard the crash of breaking glass and an indignant squawk from the woman nearby her as the light dimmed dramatically.
"Oh shut up I'll repair it later." Harry said. Shepard felt herself being helped to a sitting position as a paper cup was brought to her lips. She allowed the heavenly, cool water to spill down her throat immediately relieving the soreness she'd felt.
"That's it, you're out of here." The woman said stomping off. Shepard looked around.
"Where am I?" Shepard asked.
"You're aboard the Destiny Ascension. How you feeling?" Harry asked, looking at her intently.
"A lot better now. Why was that lady trying to kick you out of here?" Shepard asked.
"Because I refused to identify myself." Harry said simply.
"Why?" Shepard asked.
"'Cuz fuck 'em." Harry said with a grin. Shepard laughed, before holding her ribs in pain.
"Sorry. Lay back down, Janey. She wouldn't let me fix everything yet." Harry said, waving the Elder wand over Jane's torso.
"This is the man. He won't leave!" An Asari in a medical officer's uniform said, as she lead a group of Asari soldiers into Shepard's room.
"You're kidding, right?" The lead soldier asked.
"Excuse me?" The doctor said.
"That's Harry Potter, the Immortal Admiral..." The lead soldier said.
"Retired." Harry corrected with a grin.
"Your ungrateful ass is only still here because of them. Go back to your rounds, we'll assign someone competent to her." The soldier said, rolling her eyes. The doctor gaped at him, struggling to reconcile the situation.
"Next time maybe ask who I am and what I'm doing here? Failing that run a biometric scan. You have access to Alliance databases, and my finger prints are all over the past two centuries of our history." Harry said. The doctor turned and left without another word.
"We're so sorry." The lead soldier said.
"Not at all, how are the fighter pilots?" Harry asked.
"Recovering, thanks to you. We're going to request that Captain Neela hire a magical medic for the crew. You saved a lot of them." The soldier said.
"It was my pleasure. Would you please excuse us? My Janey needs to rest ." Harry said.
"Of course." The soldier said.
"Come and get me if anyone's condition worsens." Harry said.
"Thanks." She said before leading the soldiers out of there. He turned and saw that Shepard was giving him an odd look.
"When I woke up I started looking for you here, ran into a lot of critically injured Asari on the way." Harry explained.
"No surprise there. Are you ok?" Shepard asked. Harry frowned.
"I died again, Janey." Harry said, looking disappointed. Shepard paled.
"Tell me." She said.
"It actually wasn't my fault this time!" Harry said with a grin. Shepard glared at him, and he sighed.
"I made it to Saren's shuttle..." Harry said
-Flashback-
Harry struggled to figure out the Turian controls in Saren's shuttle. He knew some of the basics, but there were several modifications with which he was not familiar, and the pounding headache from reading Sovereign's mind was not helping.
"Goddamnit how do I fly out of here?" Harry said to himself. Suddenly on the control panel, a navigation display appeared.
"Oh... That'll do." harry said with a grin, manipulating the controls.
"Warning... External Temperature approaching maximum tolerance." The shuttle's computer stated. Harry lifted the shuttle off the deck and slowly navigated it through the docking bay's kinetic barrier. He hit the accelerator and was thrown backwards into the pilot's seat as the ship lurched forward, faster and faster. Just as he made it outside of the blast radius, Sovereign exploded, sending fragments flying in all directions. He swerved wildly to avoid a flying tentacle that just barely scraped by him, bouncing off his shields.
"Well, that was exciting." Harry said to himself. He plotted a course towards the Citadel and sat back, catching his breath.
"Well, now that that's done, now I have time to sit back and re-" Harry said but was interrupted when the shields dropped under the stress of incoming fire.
"What the?" Harry said, spinning around trying to see what hit him. When he caught the culprit it was swinging around for another strafing run. Harry frantically worked the controls trying to bring the shields back up, not trusting his ability to pilot the shuttle well enough to evade. Just before it opened fire he recognized it as an Asari starfighter. He activated the helmet on his hard suit and assumed the fetal position just in time for the ship to explode, leaving him stranded in the vaccuum.
-End Flashback
"They picked me up when they came back to double tap the shuttle." Harry said.
"You're ok though." Shepard said, reassuring herself.
"Budge over." Harry said. Shepard shifted over, giving him room to lay next to him.
"I'm fine. I was worried about you." Harry said.
"Well I suppose we're even then." Shepard said with a grin. Harry laughed. A new doctor walked through the door and gave them a suspicious look.
"It isn't what it looks like." Harry said.
"Okay..." the doctor said.
"We were just having sex." Shepard said. Harry lost it, laughing so hard he rolled out of the bed and landed on the floor. Shepard wasn't much better off.
"I'd been warned that Humans are strange..." The doctor said.
"I'm sorry... we've had a rough day. We needed a laugh." Shepard said. Harry stood and grinned.
"I apologize as well." Harry said.
"I can't begrudge you that I suppose. My name is Lexi T'Perro." Lexi said.
"Harry Potter." Shepard said pointing at Harry
"Jane Shepard." Harry said pointing at Shepard.
"Suspect potential head injuries..." Lexi said, tapping on her omnitool. The slight smirk on her lips gave her away.
"Alright we'll stop." Harry said.
"Then I'll proceed. Are you having any pains?" Lexi asked.
"No, I was aching something awful but Harry took care of that." Shepard said. Lexi's eyes widened.
"I've not had a chance to witness magic in person." Lexi said.
"Tell you what, after this Janey could probably use some more rest. How about I accompany you on your rounds and help out where I can." Harry said.
"That would be wonderful." Lexi said. She examined Shepard, determining that while she was severely fatigued, her other injuries had been attended to. She kissed Harry and went to sleep, leaving Harry to walk the halls of the Ascension with Lexi.
"I'd heard you were rescued from space." Lexi said.
"Yeah, that wasn't fun. Hardsuits don't do shit when there's bits of reaper sticking out through them." Harry said.
"How did you not freeze?" Lexi asked.
"I was pretty close to the star..." Harry said with a grin.
"And how were you not irradiated, or cooked?" Lexi asked, gesturing for him to turn into a room.
"Magic!" Harry said, waving his fingers. He really didn't want to go into details about his peculiar relationship with death. Thankfully she didn't inquire further. Lexi walked over to an IV hanging off an injured Asari's bed.
"Alright there, Major?" Lexi asked. The Asari groaned as she tried to sit up.
"Lay back, major... Organ damage?" Harry asked. Lexi nodded.
"And a missing foot." Lexi said, pointing at her leg.
"How far along is the cloned replacement?" Harry asked.
"I can't afford that!" The Major said, incredulously. Harry slowly looked up at Lexi. She sighed and nodded.
"She's a soldier. She was injured in action. Why would you charge her to repair the injury?"
"Were it up to me, I wouldn't. Unfortunately, the cloning industry in the Republics is a duopoly, and both companies have purchased a number of our politicians." Lexi said. Harry took out his wand and started working on the Asari, shocking them both with the display of magic.
"Feel better?" Harry asked. The Asari sat up and stretched her arms.
"Yes! Thank you!" She said.
"Do you consent to my taking a sample of your genetic code?" Harry asked.
"What?" Lexi asked.
"For what you just did I'll have your babies." The Major said with a grin. Harry laughed.
"Sorry, I'm taken." Harry said, scanning her with his omnitool. He then brought up a call on his omnitool.
"Binary Helix Genetics department... oh, Hello sir." A man on the other end of the call said.
"Hello, is Ryan in?" Harry asked.
"Yes, hold on please." The other man said before transferring the call.
"Harry! We'd heard you were involved in the battle at the citadel!" Ryan said.
"I'm fine, Janey got hurt but she's recovering." Harry said.
"Good, good. So what can I do for you?" Ryan asked.
"Are you capable of cloning Asari tissue?" Harry asked.
"Sure, we're set up to do Human, Asari and Quarian tissue." Ryan said.
"I'm sending a genome sequence. Can you clone a left foot and ankle?" Harry asked.
"Harry, don't." The Major said. She grinned and winked at her.
"Yeah, sure. Where do you want it delivered?" Ryan asked.
"The Destiny Ascension. Speaking of which charge it to my account, as well as any other organ or limb requests coming from this ship." Harry said.
"You got it. I'll give 'em the 'Harry saved my ass from Batarians' discount." Ryan said with a laugh, pointing to a scar on his neck where the slave chip used to be.
"Thanks, Ryan. Have a good one." Harry said.
"Duopoly you say?" Harry said with a predatory grin.