"And then we were swerving and rolling and there were lasers going 'pew pew pew' past us and Lanster is going crazy and everyone were running around like there was a fire on board and our shields failed 4 times so Sershin had to keep redirecting power and the engineers were running everywhere and-"
"Take a breath, Gideon," I said. Gideon took few deep breaths, ready for another great ramble of the events of our escape from the Citadel and Citadel space.
2 hours passed before the ships stopped chasing us. Another 3 hours ticked by before we decided the fleet chasing our ass had given up for now. Tucked safe and sound in the med bay, a large ice-pack covered my face and bandages compressed my chest, head and hips. On top of this, they bandaged home, although that wasn't the worse injury, it remained far from pleasant. Mat'al broke my hand to make me release the spine, my hand refused to release it. Once free from the spine, my body collapsed, which is why they carted me to the med bay instead of my room to recover. Gideon, true to fashion, glued himself to my side like a tick.
"Gideon, shoo!" Saere scowled. The boy whined.
"But Saere!" he complained. My lips lifted, stinging my battered face. Oh Gideon, he never learned.
"Oh? Are you sick as well?" Saere asked. Gideon fell quiet. "Then I had best give you something then! We can't have illnesses spreading on the ship! Now let me see..." A drawer opened. "Ah, perfect! A nice multivitamin shot, this should-" Gideon's squeal of terror rang beside me before the chair flew across the room. He scrambled out of the med bay crying 'she's gonna stab me! Help!' Laugher rumbled up, but the bandages and broken ribs restricted it. It cut short from the sharp pains. Saere tutted as she secured the door against any further intrusion from him.
"You are too good at this, Saere. Any tips?" I asked. Saere chuckled.
"Of course. Find something he hates and utilise it," she said. "Now, with Gideon taken care of, I can see if that bone serum has done its job. You had impressive skull fractures, Dell,"
"I had my face pounded into a wall by a pissed off Saboteur. I got off lightly," I sighed as Saere took the ice-pack off my face. Her fingers click through her omni-tool, checking for damage. Despite how sore every muscle and bone felt, I regained consciousness soon after returning to the ship. My brain avoided a haemorrhage, which was a miracle, amongst other things. My body trembled while waiting for her verdict.
"It has healed, a few of the larger fractures are still there but are hairline. A few weeks rest is what you need," Saere said. "I'll inform the XO and commanders," A scowl passed over my sore face at the woman as my eyes fluttered open. They ached, to be kind. A pained moan escaped, a withheld whimper while my body pushed itself up, wincing as the hip complained.
"Speaking of which," I grunted. "I need to have a word with them. Thanks, Saere. You are a life-saver," the female turian raised a brow plate.
"And where, my dear, do you think you are going?" she asked. A frown pinned onto my face
"I need an update of where we are, I still have a crew to lead," I said. Saere made a sound in her throat, discounting my words. She unlocked the door and poked her head out, my eyes narrowing as my body scooted into a more comfortable seated position. It wasn't easy.
"Gideon, do you want to help the captain?" I Saere sang. Heat rose into my face, a fire burning into Saere's back as a glare formed. Gideon bounded to her.
"Of course! What's she need?" he asked.
"Saere-!" I snapped. The turian ignored me.
"Collect the commanders and XO Jorgal please, Dell needs to speak to them," Saere said. Gideon saluted. Goddam, this turian knew how to work children!
"Yes ma'am, right away ma'am!" Gideon cheered before ran to the elevator, vanishing from my sight. My glare remained as Saere pinned me with a frown.
"As you said, Captain, you had your face pounded into a wall by a Saboteur. You will remain where you are for the next week at least. Now lie down," she ordered.
"Oi, who's the captain here?" I asked. Saere smiled, making me hesitate.
"I believe until I release from my care, Raisha is captain," Saere answered. My mouth opened to argue but her words struck too deep. With me in intensive care – or just out of it – and the doctor saying I am unfit for duty, they XO had to take over until Saere released me. I had no commanding power.
"Fuck," I sighed, falling limp against the pillow. Saere clicked her mandibles before she delved into her omni-tool. Too late to tell Saere to send the commanders away, let my body recover before embarrassing myself in front of them.
But regardless, our unstable status demanded an update. Gideon's little story about the escape was nice and all, but he lacked the crucial details, something the boy hadn't been on the mission, didn't understand the terminology or significance of what happened. We needed to plan for the future. We had killed a Saboteur… well, they killed Saria. My sole role was being so close to her to steal the kill shot. Had my face not stung so much from the fight, my hand would have run down it. So much uncertainty played in my mind, where does one begin with planning now, when everything is falling apart?
Shayan shuffled into the room first, noting me on the bed. He winced. My lips dropped, glancing to Saere for an explanation. The turian ignored me. The quarian perched himself on the bed beside me, quiet as he fiddled with his hands. Why did he wince? Was something wrong? He offered a small hello before Mat'al strutted in. The salarian raised a brow at me as he paused by the door. After a moment, he took a position on my right side, leaning against the wall. Ok, something was wrong, but what? Indira skipped in, although the anchors slammed on and she sucked in a breath, lips stretched to the sides as far as they could go. My temper simmered. She hopped up beside Shayan, sharing a look with him. Raisha blinked when she came in, although she didn't pause. She leaned against the desk near the bottom of my bed. Val, God bless that blunt bastard, at least at the curtesy to speak when he walked in.
"Wow," he started. "You look like absolute shit." Mat'al threw him a frosty glare. My gaze swept the commanders and XO around me, concern rising. What made me look like shit? Yeah, my face hurt but- Oh God, what did I look like? What was wrong with me?!
"In what sense?" I asked. Val snorted as he leaned beside Raisha.
"Well let me put it this way. Your face matches your eyes, although it is darker than that," he said. My jaw slackened. My face matched… oh shit, what did the injuries look like? A staggered breath trembled in.
"Mirror," I said. No one moved. "Now," I ordered with grit teeth. Indira shuffled as she reached out to the table beside her and plucked a small mirror free, passing it. My eyes widened at the answering reflection.
True to Val's word, about 95% of my face and neck was a deep, bruising purple or black. White, stiff straps stuck along my nose, preventing my nose from healing out of alignment. The swelling around my left eye kept it shut, the other eye had narrowed from the swollen muscles around it. Well, the swollenness covered most of my face. Scratches littered it with bandages hiding the damage on the forehead. My neck wasn't much better. My head flopped back, my lungs dragging deep breaths in while the mirror flailed in my hand for anyone to take it. Someone took the mirror from me. My hand grabbed the ice pack sitting near me and slapped it over my face, hiding the damage from the surrounding crew. Dammit, people couldn't see me like this, they couldn't!
"Can we get some privacy, Saere?" I asked, my voice flat Someone shuffled nearby.
"Now remember, young lady, you do not leave that bed for the next week. Do I make myself clear?" she asked. My jaw tightened, silencing any protests. Saere pulled a calm breath in. "She is very lucky, Commanders. If she wasn't so stubborn…" the silence stretched, thickening the air. The door opened then closed, a small beep announcing it locked. The ice stung my face, waiting for someone to say something.
"You are well?" Raisha asked. A sigh sounded, my body reluctant to shuffle in case it hurt. Don't give them anymore reason than they already do to fuss over you.
"No, but I need to know our situation," I said. Their silence only made me nervous.
"I think it would be best if you rest first, Dell," Shayan said. "You look like you are in a lot of pain…"
"And that is after Saere has pumped you with as much medication as she can without killing you," Mat'al added. Goddamn all of this…
"We're safe for now," Val sighed. "The Starquake took a smidge of damage but Shayan and his team are on the case. We're stockpiling the ammo caches throughout the Starquake, especially for the main cannons. We're arranging shift work just now for the crew, we've also withdrawn everything from our bank accounts so that'll be safe," A stone grew in my stomach, turning his words in my mind, teasing each letter apart.
"Why… would we need shift work and to withdraw our money?" I asked. Another silence answered, my teeth gritting.
"The… Council has ordered your arrest, Dellion," Indira admitted. "And the entire crew. They don't have everyone's names yet but no doubt they'll figure that out soon enough… We're bunkering down until the we finish the repairs but we'll move soon in case any more Spectres come our way-"
"Spectres?!" I cried. My body tried to rocket out of bed, but Mat'al pinned my good shoulder down, the ice pack flew off. "W-Why are Spectres after us? What's the charge?"
"Steady, Dell, Stea-" Val tried, My hand slapped his away from me, not even bothering to hide the tears falling as pain stabbed my body.
"Don't you steady me! What. Are. The. Charges?" I demanded. Mat'al struggled to keep me still without hurting me further.
"Murder," Raisha said. "For Arnold Keplar and for Saria T'Spia," My jaw slackened. "However, we all suspect that it is just a farce. You and Saria had a… in-depth talk before the fight broke out. I believe the Council know of your Reaper tech," My tongue flopped, struggling to comprehend all of this. My head slipped down into the gutter and it refused to come back up.
"D-Did everyone make it to the Starquake alright?" I asked with a quiver, trying to find something good in this whole mess. Eyes diverted. My heart sank.
"Cailcero Lerus did not survive the fight," Val said.
"Cailcero? T-The mint salarian? B-But he was on my te-!" the words died in my throat. My lungs stalled. Cailcero had been part of my team, he had been on the tower floor with me. His commanding officer was me! It had been my job to keep him safe, to make sure he got back! They were to follow my orders and- Wait… what orders?! I didn't give them any! My attention on Saria had distracted me from my job, what were my ground crew doing? Wo did I leave in charge? …No one. I ordered no one to be in charge in case something happened. Oh God! Why did I make so many mistakes? Why did they let me lead a combat team alone!?
"Dellion, breathe!" Indira said, hopping from the bed. The realisation that my inexperience had led to the abandoned my team to fend for themselves, putting no one in charge, crashed down upon me. So focused on Saria, so worried about not letting her kill anyone, I forgot about the men and women behind me, keeping my ass safe from the rear! The room faded, thoughts blurred together-
"Saere!" someone called, maybe Val. Paralysed to the bed, the egotistical, cheery Salarian's face flashed before me, through all the times we ran across each other in the ship, in combat training… I failed him, failed the team under my command, failing the team now…
"Why do you even bother to open your mouth, Valérien?" Mat'al snapped once on the officer's deck. My mandibles pinned to my cheeks, trying to brush off the frost growing on my shoulder from his stare as my blood boiled from his words. Raisha stood outside her door, on the left approaching Dell's room, as we filed inside.
"She had to know," I said, leaning against the wall between the door and the corner desk. Raisha's kept her room impeccable; a scattering of pictures of family and home, a computer screen full of reports bound for the captain, books filling the shelves above her desk. Everything had a place. Raisha leaned on the wall behind the bathroom, the small room occupying the bottom left corner. It was bland other than that.
"You of all people should know how vain Dell is," Mat'al continued, his tone cutting. "Without taking her fickle nature with her appearance into account, what implored you to tell her about Cailcero? You must have known she would react like this!" his voice rose, the ice melting by the raging inferno. My shoulders squared, preparing for the oncoming battering. A small part of me snarled at his words.
"She had to know, if the Council fleets ever run into us, the Starquake will do some funky manoeuvres. If she knows what is going on she won't panic-" I said, gritting my teeth as while attempting to out-smart this spirits forsaken alien.
"Ah, of course," Mat'al said, his tone drawling. The smiling façade dropped and the frown once more pinned his lips down. "Allow me, Valérien, to explain Dell's mind to you seeing as you are so incompetent," A snarl rose, shoulders hackling. Mat'al ignored me. "She will do either one of two things when the shock wears off. She will either become even more determined or drop into a deep depression from a confidence knock. In her current state, neither are advisable," he snapped, shoving me back a few steps with the force of the words. "If she goes down the determination path, she'll fight Saere every step of the way. She won't heal, more problems will rise and we could undermine the entirety of her physical well-being.
"The latter of the options will drop Dell herself into a hole even Raisha will struggle to pull her out from. Her confidence will shatter, unease will spread throughout the rest of the crew and our efficiency will drop. Dell has saved us from a Saboteur attack once, she has led us to the door of another which we have killed. The crew trust that she knows what she is going. If they see her stumbling and turning to Raisha or I for help, they'll wonder what the hell happened. And that is before we include the Council ships chasing us across the galaxy. We need Dell to lead and to lead with her head high, not casting over her shoulder every second to ensure everyone is alive. She won't trust herself with a team in the worst case scenario," Mat'al growled, his haughty tone itching my plates in every wrong way. How did Dell talk to this man for over 5 seconds?!
"She can heal-" I said.
"She is in no condition to be worrying about mental healing on top of severe physical healing!" Mat'al snapped. My eye twitched at the venom in the tone. "She almost died, Autillin! Had Shayan not asked you to hold an Overload field in front of his sniper, she'd be a bloodied corpse on the floor!"
"Mat'al," Raisha rumbled. Mat'al snapped the krogan. "What is done is done. Irrespective of the timing, Endellion would balance between your two situations regardless. If nothing else, at least she will be in the medical bay for the week to mull it over. It will give us time to prepare Endellion to face the crew once more," Mat'al and Raisha shared a look, frozen frustration against a tranquil lake. Mat'al snorted before pacing the length of the room.
"W-Well we can't do anything today," Shayan piped up. Eyes drifted to the quarian. He quivered but he picked his shoulders up. "We'll let Dell rest and talk to her in the morning. We can't help her until the shock wears off," he said with tiny quivers. He seemed… more confident today.
"I agree with Shay," Indira poked her nose in the air. "I know Dellion, she come through this. Just give her a hug and kick her butt a little,"
"A little?" Mat'al raised a brow.
"Ok, a lot but the hug is the important bit!" Indira sulked. "It's not fun being captain you know. She's got a machine that wants to destroy the galaxy in her head, the Council has put a hefty bounty on her head, an entire of crew of people to feed and pay, a ship that needs spare parts and fuel-" Indira listed.
"I understand, Indira," Mat'al scowled. Mat'al rubbed his eyes as he processed his thoughts. "We'll deal with this in the morning. Who are the commanders for night shift?"
"Yourself and Shayan. Valérien will alternate where possible on different weeks, he is on nights for now. Indira and I shall take the day shifts. When Endellion returns to her duties, she, you and Indira will take the day shifts. Valérien, Shayan and I will take nights," Raisha said. My teeth nipped my tongue. They had me work with Mat'al without Dell to moderate him? Fantastic, just great!
"Just one question," I said, tone bordering sarcasm despite my best attempt to keep it neutral. All eyes drifted. "What is the chain of command in terms of commanders? If Mat'al and I cannot agree on a decision and Raisha is not on deck…" My mandibles clicked, awaiting Mat'al's snort. His silence flared my mandibles.
"Raisha?" Mat'al asked after a delay. The krogan fell still, her sky blue eyes flicking between us.
"I shall question Dell when she is well enough. Until further notice, Mat'al shall be XO," Raisha said. My teeth snapped from clenching so much. "Do we need to discuss anything else?"
"Not that I know of," Mat'al said. "If there is nothing else, I should return to my duties. We will need to calculate possible routes and courses for any appearance of Council-allied ships," The salarian made strides towards the door. "Shayan, I'll need a full report of the Starquake's fuel, equipment and replacement parts. If we need to stop for anything, we need to start large diversions to reach our destinations,"
"S-Sure, Mat'al. I'll get that sorted," Shayan said.
"And you," Mat'al turned a frost stare. My mouth clamped shut to stop any sour words spilling free while my glare bounced off him. "Not another word to Dell. Do I make myself clear?"
"Fuck you," I said. My mind wanted to kick myself. Just shut up, dammit! My blood froze from his stillness. My back pushed me off the wall, cutting Mat'al off from the door. The words rushed out of my mouth as frustration won. "You've been a pain in the spirits forsaken ass since day one," I hissed. "I do not understand how Dell puts up with you-" Mat'al laughed. The shorter alien smiled at me, although it held menace and a promise of pain. A shudder ran down my back.
"Remind me, Valérien, who upset Dell due to his complete and utter ineptitude, arrogance and a strange ability that makes you fail to comprehend chain of command, hmm? Who almost lost Endellion as her fury blinded her common sense?" Mat'al asked, chirpy. My mandibles snapped to my cheeks, stinging the skin below it.
"This is coming from the asshole who won't even salute his captain-!" I roared.
"Enough!" Raisha thundered, her deep voice shaking the air. Breaths rattled into my lungs, my control gone, my temper reigning my tongue. Mat'al snorted before he turned back.
"Next time you speak, boy, I suggest you don't have several black marks on your record. I do not salute Dell because I know full well it still agitates her, as one so often did as often as he could when we began," Mat'al stabbed. My fists clenched at my sides. "When she is more comfortable with the position, then I will salute. Until then, she needs as little agitation as possible. So, here is what I want you to do if nothing else. Replay footage from the derelict Reaper, all of it. I want you to listen to Endellion screaming as Nyryntha gets a hair's breadth away from winning and know it was you who was the root of that. Do that and we shall see how well you sleep tonight, hmm?"
His smug tone only added to the scalding burn the memories left. A growl rumbled in my chest, shoulders hackled as my body turned to the door. My feet paused, my tongue wishing to spit another curse at the salarian. Every muscle tensed until I forced myself to turn away. A hand slammed on the door control, not even bothering to wait until it had closed before taking the 4 steps across the hall. My shoulders slumped once my room door closed behind me. My hand flicked the keypad off, the damn thing dangling from the wires, loose from being removed so often. The power to the door died. My hands ripped the armoured gloves off, tearing the armour free and forsaking them where they landed. The dark purple jumpsuit tugged as rage boiled before it freed me. Once my casual wear covered me, a calm settled. My rage eased, leaving a stinging path of regret in its wake. My knees caved at the bed, flopping head first onto the hard bed in the far bottom corner.
Why was it so hard to just shut up? Why could I never say the things Dell needed to hear when she needed them? Spirits, it was just my military career all over again! All because of… My head lifted as a tingle ran over my skin, a blue haze around my hand. My fist clenched, cutting it short. No, I couldn't blame that this time! …It saved Dell's life. even it was Shayan's bullets who drove Saria back far enough for Dell to regain control. These blasted biotics coated the bullets in a potent overload field to shatter through that barrier. Indira would have been better for it but… It didn't even matter, did it? Dell was alive, if hurt, Saria was dead, we had Saboteur tech to study and we only had one casualty. One too many in Dell's book though. My hands ran over my crest, wincing once they reached the bent up tip of my left crest, my hands twitched away from it. Dell was safe. That was all that mattered. My hands scrubbed my face. And now Mat'al ran riot on the ship without Dell to control him. My life just got that harder. A snarl reared when a knock sounded at the door.
"What?" I asked, tone borderline murderous. If that was Raisha…
"C-Cops?" a tiny voiced answered. My anger ceased, caught off-guard by the young human's appearance. My sigh released as my body threw itself off the bed, dragging myself to the door. Once power returned to the door, the thin, golden crested boy stood there with a thick blanket folded over his head. My mandibles waved, studying the trembling boy.
"Gideon?" I asked.
"C-Can I sleep here please? S-Saere sent me to bed but D-Dell's room is too… scary without someone there…" he asked, eyes large. My mouth opened, but it took several tries to get my tongue to work. Gideon had found a place on Dell's sofa, the best alternative to a bed we had since he couldn't sleep in the main bedroom – too many strange people – but couldn't sleep in the spare officer's quarters either due to having too few people in it. My feet shuffled to the side.
"Sure, grab somewhere on the sofa, hopefully it's not too hard," I said. It took a moment to realise Gideon already bounded into the room and had built some sort of pillow fort in the crook of the corner sofa. He bolted in before I even finished 'sure'. The door closed with a grumble, my hands shoved into my pockets as my gaze returned to my bed.
"You ok, Cops?" Gideon asked. My eyes skimmed the boy, catching the blue-green eyes from between the blanket and pillow.
"Fine," I said. Gideon frowned as he lifted his head.
"You sure? You don't look so good. Need something to cheer you up?" he asked. His worried tone caused me to cough, surprised. Spirits, with Dell out of action, he didn't have someone to 'mother hen' him as Dell put it. He was making me the surrogate with Indira snoring like an earthquake every night. My shoulders shrugged, realising it was impossible to ignore it or fly with it like Dell did.
"Gid, the only thing that could cheer me is if Dell could look at my bloody face and not hate it… or even just look at me," I said as my knees dropped me on the bed. Gideon frowned, confused.
"Is this because of Sir Squidy Anus?" he quizzed. The name lifted my lips, a soft snort escaping.
"Yeah," I answered, distracted.
"Dell doesn't hate you, y'know. She says you are a pain in the ass but she says that to me too. And Sassy and Diri and Lani and… well, everyone! I'll talk to her tomorrow!" he said, bouncing on the sofa.
"Don't even think about it-" I warned. It held no menace, spirits it was impossible to get angry with the kid, but Gideon wasn't put off. He got comfy on the sofa.
"She'd like you to hang out with her, I think. Ray and Sassy are too serious, Diri is too bouncy when she's hurt and Flash is too quiet. Maybe Lani could talk to her too but you know what he's like," he tugged the duvet over his head.
A frown grew at his words, glancing over to the bundle of material hiding the human below it. Deducing Lanster's nickname was easy. Where Shayan's nickname, 'Flash', came from though... A sigh escaped as my datapad slipped into my hand, dimming the lights to the rest of the room apart from the small spotlight above my bed. How long would it take for me to fall asleep this time?
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