Arashu's Gift

Chapter 22

Blinding, flat white light filled her vision. Shepard blinked repeatedly, her eyes fighting to adjust to the brightness. She felt the buzz of the drive core through the surface she was lying on. Where was she? Her last memory was of the roof of the Shadow Broker's ship and the silhouettes of Liara and Thane closing in.

"Liara! Thane!" she screamed, pushing herself off the bed in one single motion.

Doctor Chakwas appeared by her side.

"You're on the Normandy, Commander," she said in a reassuring tone of voice. "Everything's alright."

Shepard ran her eyes over the surroundings while her head spun. She knew she had to lie back down and take a deep breath. How long had she been lying down for? She was on one of the beds in the med bay. She had IV catheters connected to both arms and to the backs of her hands. Suddenly she was aware of the tubes in her nose.

"What happened? Why am I here? Where's Liara and Thane? And Feron! Is he alright?"

Doctor Chakwas told her what had happened on the Shadow Broker base. A week had passed since that fight, and she had ended up with two broken ribs and a cranial contusion.

Shepard touched her head with a hand. She felt her scalp with her fingertips as if she was searching for anything out of the ordinary.

"You operated on my head, but ...?" she said, stunned, while she ran her fingers through her hair.

"There's no need to shave like in the old days. Micro-machines, the nanotechnology Cerberus used on the Lazarus Project."

"But the Normandy doesn't have that kind of technology."

"The SR-2 does, Commander. Miranda made sure of that," the doctor clarified, activating her omni-tool. She ran the device, hovering it over Shepard's body from head to toe and back. "The bone tissue reconstruction and cellular regeneration have been a success. If you promise me you won't get into a fist fight with another yahg, I can soon sign your release."

"What happened with Liara and Feron?"

"They stayed on the Shadow Broker base. Liara said something about wanting to check the information available. Feron offered to help her."

"Where are we now, then?"

"Docked at the Citadel as your schedule ordered, Commander." The doctor began to write something on a datapad as she checked her omni-tool and the serum bottles hanging at both sides of the bed. "Miranda and Tali took care of coordinating the kinetic barrier shielding upgrade as it was scheduled."

"Right. Well, if you think you can sign my release, I won't stop you, doctor. I want to take a shower and change. I need to speak to Thane," Shepard said and, taking a deep breath, she pushed herself up to sit at the edge of the bed. She looked up to the ceiling and breathed in at her lungs' maximum capacity.

Doctor Chakwas began to remove each of the IV catheters.

"Speaking of Thane, there are two very important things you ought to know, Commander," she said. "First, Operative Taylor checked your armor, and not only did he fail to find any flaws in it, but he also found the intact doses of your medi-gel, despite the receptor signal of your omni-tool registering four activation attempts. And second, your blood test results show traces of drell venom."

Shepard looked into her eyes.

"What are you trying to say, doctor?"

"Commander, I'm the last person who's entitled to meddle in your private life, but I'm afraid that, without that drell venom in your blood, that operation with Liara would have been as uneventful as all the others," she said, removing the last catheter and covering the back of Shepard's left hand with a band-aid.