A Second Chance

Chapter 20

Normandy SR-2

The victory on Kahje, if it could be considered such, had been short-lived. The events of the past few days threatened to dent the morale of Shepard and her entire crew. Thessia's blow was still being felt throughout the crew, and especially by Liara. Shepard didn't know what to say or do to comfort her. Garrus and Tali had tried without much success. Shepard couldn't blame her. Seeing her home planet succumb to the Reapers aided by Cerberus traitors had been one of her worst nightmares come true.

Despite her doubts, she had to talk to Liara, Shepard had to get her to vent, to let out everything inside her. It was impossible to witness firsthand the destructive capacity of the Reapers against her own people and want to cope with it all on her own.

The disappointment Shepard felt hurt more than the wounds of combat. It wasn't enough to have witnessed the practical annihilation of one of the capitals of the asari civilization on Thessia; they'd had to suffer the humiliation of seeing Cerberus take the information they so desperately needed out of their hands.

Kai Leng. The Illusive Man's new hound, and for the past few weeks one of her biggest headaches, the assassin who had attacked Thane on the Citadel, had stolen the Prothean virtual intelligence stored in the Temple of Athame that held the information to find the Catalyst, the last piece to complete the Crucible. Back on the Normandy, the stench of defeat reeked in the air. Shepard had no nerve to face the asari councilor Tevos.

Shepard stripped off her armor as soon as she entered her cabin, took a hot shower, and plopped down on the bed.

A gloomy forest surrounds her, plunged in permanent fog, where dark shadows dwell, murmuring her name and reminding her of all the pain and suffering they endured.

Shepard! Shepard!

Kaidan's voice comes, rocked by a wind that carries a single question.

Why me?

An innocent child runs away from her. She always runs after him, she has to save him, but she never manages to reach him.

When she woke up, she didn't know how long she had been sleeping. She could only remember the recurring nightmare that had disturbed her rest once again. It all faded away when she heard the intercom ring and, still sleepily, she made her way to the table.

"Tell me, Traynor."

"Commander, I've managed to track Kai Leng's whereabouts." She spoke quickly, which meant she was nervous. "His trail stops when he reaches the Horizon colony."

In wartime, there were few opportunities for rest, and hers had just ended. They had a reliable lead to follow.

"Well done, Traynor. Summon the team to the briefing room."

***

As had been the norm in recent weeks, the raid on Horizon yielded a bittersweet result. They had managed to arrest the man in charge of the facility, a maniacal scientist who turned out to be Miranda's father, in Sanctuary. However, what they had discovered in the supposed safe haven had meant yet another slap in the face from Cerberus.

At Garrus' insistence, Shepard had retired to her cabin to rest. She wouldn't tell him that she was unable to sleep knowing that the nightmare of that child awaited her, but at least she had lain down for a moment. The weight of her body and the exhaustion of the last few weeks buried her in her mattress, unable to move a finger. She stayed like that for minutes, hours, she didn't know how long.

The ringing of her private terminal shook her. With excruciating effort, she rose from the bed and dragged her feet to her desk. It was Dr. Juht, one of the two salarian scientists on board. He was asking her to come down to the third deck immediately, for he had news.

Upon entering the med bay, both the salarian doctors and Dr. Chakwas were gathered around the microscopes, test tubes, and terminals. They looked at her with equal amounts of excitement and perplexity on their faces. The human doctor took a couple of steps toward her, holding a datapad.

"I think we've done it," she said with weight in her voice. "We were able to isolate and repurpose the accelerating agent in the Cerberus bomb."

She didn't want to get her hopes up too high, yet Shepard looked at her with a shy illusion in her eyes. Dr. Cozot stepped forward. He raised his long bony finger as if preparing to give a lecture.

"The cause of death in drell victims at Kahje was septic shock. The Cerberus bomb suppresses the passage to the drell metalloprotein responsible for transporting oxygen. In healthy drell, it causes disproportionate absorption of moisture from the environment, thus accelerating the disordered reproduction of the dormant bacteria responsible for Kepral's Syndrome. The effect is aggressive and lethally fast. The bomb agent is the result of genetic engineering. Once isolated and reconverted, this agent is capable not only of acting as a vasopressor drug by increasing blood pressure and as an antibiotic by killing the bacteria, but also promotes oxygenation of the blood."

Is Kepral's Syndrome caused by an inactive bacterium?

"What is the status of this discovery? I mean, can it be given to a patient – is it safe?" Shepard asked the group of scientists.

They looked at each other. It was Dr. Chakwas who responded.

"We have synthesized a dose for intravenous administration. It is an experimental antidote, Commander. In the case of a terminal patient with Kepral's, we don't know what effect it will have."

Shepard swallowed. She felt the empathy of the doctor and old colleague from the Normandy as soon as she made eye contact with her. They both knew what was at stake. Her head was telling her that it wasn't just about Thane, but about Kahje's thousands of victims. Yet her heart beat with apprehension and hope intertwined as one feeling. The doctor knew what she was thinking, and so Shepard wordlessly consulted her opinion as if they could communicate telepathically. Her response was positive.

"Joker, set a course for Tuchanka," Shepard ordered.

"Aye aye, Commander," Joker replied over the loudspeakers.