Chapter 70
Karin And Vil were walking around the improvised hospital they'd set up doing the rounds. Aside from a Batarian teenager named Kavash with a missing foot whose stump was infected everyone was stable and ready to convalesce on their own terms. Unsurprisingly literally every Batarian had requested and was granted asylum with the Alliance following the removal of their slave chips, so they'd be convalescing on Earth or one of the colonies, having spent most of their captivity on board the slave ships none relished the idea of going back aboard one for an extended period any time soon.
They approached the timid Batarian girl, Karin checking the girl's vitals with an ancient looking stethoscope and her watch, while Vil read the readouts on machinery that was monitoring her condition.
"You look much better, darling. Do you think you're up to trying to put some weight on your foot today?" Karin asked. At first Karin and Vil had tried being delicate about the missing foot, but the girl had in her one and only outburst informed them loudly that hiding from the truth wouldn't change it, so from then on they spoke clearly and bluntly with her about her status, and she'd responded positively to it. The girl nodded in response and pulled the blanket off her legs. The right foot was bare, while the stump where the left had been was covered in a polymer sheath that debrided necrotic tissue as well as kept the medigel flowing. She stood, one-legged with no issue and was able to even hop while holding onto Karin.
"My goodness, you're doing much better than I'd have expected. Are you in any pain?" Karin asked. Kavash hesitated but then nodded.
"A little, but if it's ok I don't want any more pain medicine. It makes my head fuzzy." The girl said.
"How about we compromise, I'll give you an anti-inflammatory with no mind-altering effects, is that ok? I can't stand knowing my patients are in pain that I can prevent." Karin said. The girl nodded enthusiastically. Vil smiled and walked over to a locked cabinet, where she found and withdrew an anti-inflammatory medicine compatible with Batarian physiology. She measured out a dose appropriate for a teenager and handed it to the girl who swallowed it without question.
"So, you want to tell her, Dr. D'inan?" Karin asked, smiling.
"Are you sure?" Vil asked.
"I got the last one, it's your turn." Karin said, urging her on, Vil smiled and sat down next to the Batarian.
"Sweetheart I have a question, is that ok?" She asked. The girl nodded.
"Prosthetic or cloned?" Vil asked. The girl looked at her obviously confused.
"What do you mean, Dr. D'inan?" The girl asked. Vil grinned giddily.
"I mean how would you like your new foot, a cloned version of the old one or a cybernetic prosthesis? The prosthesis could be available today and you'd be back at 90% mobility within a month, though the cloned foot will take about a full year to grow and will require physical therapy to get back to full mobility." Vil asked.
"Wait... what?" The girl asked, her lower lip trembling. Karin smiled, noting how odd it was that humans shared so many emotional reactions with the other races in the galaxy.
"If you want, we would like to fix your foot, get you back up on your feet as it were. The alliace is pretty good with cloning and the Geth have revolutionized modern cybernetics. The prosthetic foot would even be able to pass along simple sensory information, you'd be able to 'feel' it for lack of a better term, but not as thoroughly as the cloned foot. With the cloned one, within a year after implantation it would be as strong and fully integrated as the old one was. It is your choice." Vil said.
It was a strange thing watching Batarians cry, because they did it from all four eyes, as Kavash was doing unabashedly now, while holding onto Vil for dear life. It took several minutes for her to regain her composure, and the doctors waited with her patiently, this was one of the best parts of the job after all, enjoying the happiness that comes with offering someone their life back.
"Can I think about it?" Kavash asked.
"Of course, dear. Take your time, there's no rush. In the meantime we're going to keep you here during the first round of evacuations to alliance territory because while you're doing better you're still not where I want you to be, once you're a little better we'll get you off this rock and on to one of our worlds, ok?" Karin asked. Kavash nodded and smiled.
"Call us if you need anything, alright?" Vil asked. Kavash nodded once again and lay back down on her cot. Within minutes she was lightly snoring with a smile on her face. Vil and Karin walked over to their enclosed office and sat down.
"Goddess I love that." Vil said.
"That's the whole reason I began studying medicine. There's nothing more rewarding." Karin said.
"Indeed. I'm very thankful you've given me the opportunity to be a part of this." Vil said.
"Oh hush, dear, I didn't give you anything, you earned it." Karin said.
"That's not what I meant, I mean overlooking my... condition." Vil said, still struggling to describe herself as an ardat yakshi out loud.
"That reminds me. I have something to discuss with you, and I need you to swear to me that you won't speak about this with anyone without my express permission." Karin said, her eyes dead serious.
"Of course, Karin." Vil said, reaching behind her to lock the door. As it was a medical office, when the door was locked fields went up to dampen noise and block RF transmissions in and out, this gave them the best privacy that current technology and the helpful Geth that monitored the area could provide.
"I need to know if you are aware of any other Ardat Yakshi that are in hiding. I don't need to know who or where they are just if you know any." Chakwas said, causing Vil the sensation of a heavy weight dragging her stomach down to the bottom of her abdomen.
"Only a few, one of them I'm actively avoiding. Why do you need this Karin? I'm not in trouble, am I? I haven't melded with anyone, I swear!" Vil insisted. Karin placed her hand on Vil's knee, a gesture that always managed to calm her down.
"Of course Vil nobody thinks you have. Do you remember when we went to Earth and you volunteered for the neurological scans and blood work?" Karin asked.
"Yes, of course, they were going to see what they could find out about... wait, did they find something?" Vil asked, her eyes wide.
"They have begun to find something but they need to compare it against others with the same affliction. Your scans completely stumped Dr. Collins at Harvard Medical which of course excited her immensely, she hasn't been challenged by an illness since shortly after college. She and a select few of her colleagues dove into the research with fervor and managed to discover a few similarities to some Human diseases, specifically autoimmune disorders." Karin said.
"So, wait, is it like some sort of neurological allergies or something?" Vil asked.
"We're not sure. Dr. Collins suggested it might be an ancient defense mechanism, there are volumes written up about Asari melding, it's frankly fascinating, I wish I could try it, but, well, the only one I trust enough to dig around in my brain is you, and I don't think that would work out well for either of us." Karin said, grinning at that last. Vil chuckled at the joke but was profoundly touched by the sentiment.
"Maidens when they reach physical maturity are trained in how to initiate, hold and resist a meld, for you this would have happened upon graduation from university. Since Asari can actively resist a meld, and some are naturally difficult to meld with, it is reasonable to assume the mind is able to defend itself to an extent. What they want to explore is if the disease is caused by an over-reaction, like anaphylactic shock that kills the other member of the meld. If that's the case, it might be something that can be combated with medicine, or surgery. We don't know nearly enough about the condition, but we are much closer to understanding it than we were, and than we suspect the Asari medical community is." Karin asked.
"That's... that's amazing! Vil asked. Karin nodded.
"Yes, but it's vital that should you contact them they keep as low a profile as they can until they are in Alliance space. Let's just say this isn't exactly sanctioned by the Asari Republics. We suspect the Justicars are still hunting the ardat yakshi that live outside the monasteries. Reach out to anyone you can, but I don't want you leaving to meet any of them, not unless you have Shepard at least with you." Vil had shuddered involuntarily when Karin said 'Justicar.' She knew better than most the lengths to which they'd go to bring in Ardat Yakshi.
"I'll reach out to the three I know for sure, there's another but she had spoken about taking a ship out towards dark space and living the rest of her days out in solitude, the last, there's no way I'm going within a light year of her." Vil said.
"Who is that last one, if you don't mind my asking?" Vil asked.
"Her name is Morinth and she truly is a demon. While the rest of us either went to the monasteries or fled to live in solitude, or in my case enslaved, she embraced it. She decided that if the universe wanted her to be a predator then who was she to say otherwise. She stalks people, sometimes for years, relishing the hunt. Other times she'd whip entire groups into lust-fueled frenzies and gorge on them leaving hundreds of burned out husks in her wake, or using them as living shields against the justicar that hunts her. She's rumored to have killed more than ten thousand sentient beings. She is easily the most feared ardat yakshi in recorded Asari history, so wicked that the justicar that hunts her is her own mother." Vil said, paling slightly as she recalled the details.
"Jesus." Karin said, she then reached into a cabinet and withdrew two bottles, one a single-malt whiskey from Ireland, and the other a bottle of Thessian brandy, she poured a glass for each of them. She and Vil both downed their drinks in one go.
"Well I could use a new topic." Karin said. Vil grinned.
"How long do you think until Jane asks Tali to marry her?" Vil asked. Karin smiled fondly.
"Not nearly soon enough." Karin said, pouring each of them another drink.
In their tent, Shepard awoke and was once again supremely grateful for the gorgeous young Quarian whose limbs were entangled with hers. They were both naked, but had not made love the night before. Shepard was not in much of a state for sex when they had ended the day before. All of the horrors that Shepard had been keeping to herself came pouring out in a torrent, and she had quickly exhausted herself. Tali had insisted on maintaining as much physical contact as they could while she soothed her love and guided her into the first restful sleep she'd had in far too long.
Tali had learned of a few more things that burdened the remarkable young woman she loved, nothing that Shepard had intentionally hidden from her, but things that either never came up in conversation, or had been too difficult to discuss before. Shepard had revealed that when she was sixteen she had been mugged at gunpoint and had been terrified to leave her house for a week but forced herself when she realized she had developed a phobia, then the horrors of losing her entire squad to a group of human separatists the year before she joined the N7 program, and how the last had taken hours to die while they awaited evac and she could still see the frothy pink blood erupting from her CO's mouth as she choked to death during some of her worse nightmares.
Shepard for her part felt lighter when she awoke. She was embarrassed, but could recognize that was foolish. Tali was her everything, she was allowed to see her vulnerable. She had seen her at her worse and her response had been to latch on and never let go and Shepard's heart ached when she thought about it. Shepard's gratitude for Tali was beyond her ability to describe.
Shepard checked her omnitool and saw a few messages, one of which was flagged urgent. She got up and put on a dressing robe, then went into the far end of the tent and brought up the first message which was from Ash's.
"Jane, I was going to hunt you down when I'd heard you'd had a crisis at the mess hall, but I found out Tali was with you so I left it alone. Just wanted you to know that I didn't want to interfere with her, and I wasn't just ignoring you. Let me know what's going on when you're ready, ok? Love, Ash. PS: Kaidan sends his love." Shepard was happy that her friend knew her so well. She looked at the next message was from Kurg.
"Commander Shepard, the squad is back up to full strength, I can't believe some of these pyjaks claimed their silly little flesh wounds keep them out of the fight. Of course you guys don't heal as fast as I do, but hey that's your problem. I'll keep them sharp until we're ready to go. -Kurg." Shepard smiled at this. Kurg never bothered with status updates unless something was off, she knew this was his way of trying to give her some normality, to let her know that things were going to be ok. The last message was flagged as urgent.
"Jane. Call me ASAP. -mom" That one scared her. Her mother never spoke with such urgency unless it was extremely important. She got dressed as quickly and quietly as she could and jogged over to the prefab working as a command HQ because it had the primary QEC to earth. It was just after midnight in Vancouver where Hannah was, so Jane was surprised to immediately see her mother, fully dressed an alert appear via hologram before her.
"Mom, or should I say Prime Minister?" Jane said, trying to crack a joke to gauge her mother's situation.
"Jane is the room secure?" Hannah asked. Shepard asked the Geth to secure the room, which they did immediately.
"It is now. What's going on, Mom?" She asked.
"The Batarians are on the move. We've got some time, especially since the Geth in place at outpost 2 have been slowing things down, but our intel suggests they're preparing to evacuate the slaves offworld. We don't have a lot of time to act. Apparently the hegemony found the wholesale slaughter of a million credits worth of 'product' to be financially undesirable, and they expect an attack." Hannah said.
"Think the Asari are willing to send more hospital ships to this outpost to speed the evacuation? I don't want to leave this world undefended if there are still civvies planetside." Jane said. Hannah grinned.
"They're already en route. I may have overdid it a bit in my talks with their Assembly." Hannah said.
"Oh lord, Mom what did you do?" Shepard asked, reading a readiness report from one of the Turian cruisers that had just been able to resume duty the day before.
"What did I do? I'll have you know young lady I was the pinnacle of professionalism and courtesy during all of our meetings." Hannah said. Shepard just looked at her skeptically.
"I might have convinced the Geth to unearth their secret archive of evidence surrounding the fall of the prothean empire as well as evidence of an active Prothean beacon hidden in a statue of Athame on Thessia." Hannah said, still grinning.
"Jesus Christ, Mom what the fuck?" Shepard said
"Language, kitten." Hannah admonished.
"Eat me. So aside from almost destroying the Asari government, what else has been going on at the talks?" Shepard asked. Hannah hesitated and looked decidedly guilty.
"Mom..." Jane said warningly. Hannah sighed.
"The talks have paused because the entire assembly has been recalled and the Matriarchs are running the government in the meantime pending special elections scheduled to start next month. Don't look at me like that it's not my fault!" Hannah insisted.
"You toppled a five thousand year-old government!" Jane said incredulously.
"Nuh-uh. The Geth did. Besides, they totally had it coming. Hiding Prothean artifacts is one of the highest crimes in Asari law." Hannah said.
"Christ, Mom what am I going to do with you?" Jane asked.
"It's ok though, because I love you!" Hannah said, her cheer returning.
"I love you too. I need to go get ready for the next push. Please don't destroy the Turian government while I'm gone." Jane said
"No promises. Bye!" Hannah said, cutting the link before Jane could object.