Mass Effect: The Reaper War (LadyMatsudai and Ducky)

[Ducky]

In 2186, the Bahak system is destroyed after an asteroid collides with the mass effect relay. The Reaper invasion is delayed. Six months later, communications with all colonies are lost as something big heads towards Earth. The story begins at an Alliance military hospital in Vancouver.

 

[Ducky]

Alliance Military Hospital, Vancouver


2186





Staff Sergeant David "Ducky" Pike sat in the hospital cafeteria nursing a coffee. Watching the various doctors and nurses conversing, the Alliance combat engineer felt a knot growing in his stomach as he dreaded the conversation which would shortly commence. Like pulling off a band aid, the conversation needed to be short, quick, and to the point. Fidgeting with his Navy ring, Ducky couldn't help but overhear a radiologist discussing results with two nurses who intently looked on. Craning his neck, he thought he caught a glimpse of Susan. It turned out to be a nurse of the same height and build but wrong hair color. His soon to be ex-girlfriend liked her deep red hair too much to ever dye it. Sighing, the Staff Sergeant looked out the window to watch several supply trucks pull up to the main gate. Lost in the moment, David was jolted back into the cafeteria by a familiar voice, "Good morning. So have you finally decided?"


Looking up, a short, petite frame topped with shoulder length hair pulled back into a pony tail pulled back the chair and sat down. A clenched fist belied an otherwise calm demeanor. Glancing to one side, unable to look Susan in the eyes, David gave his answer, "Yeah. I think things may finally be beginning to gel in engineering aboard the Titan. I don't want to screw that up by requesting a transfer. I'm sorry... I guess that means this is it." Silently, the nurse got up from her chair, walked around the table, drew back her hand, and delivered a slap that caused everyone in the immediate vicinity to quiet down. "Your sister's wrong. I can't ever see you committing." The steady 'clip clop' of her shoes trailed off as Susan muttered, "god damn little prick", under her breath.


The stunned silence was broken by a familiar voice, "Ouch! I heard that clear across the cafeteria. Way to go, champ." A hand clasped his shoulder as Dave's crew mate and friend then walked over and occupied the chair where Susan had sat, "I'm guessing that went as expected." Dave nodded, "Yeah. It was... Things were falling apart anyway." Corporal Patrick Troughton twisted his mouth and crinkled his nose, "Uh huh. What's the longest you've been in a relationship again?" Taking another sip of coffee, Ducky then set the cup down and crossed his arms, "I know. Six months." Eager to change the subject, David brought up the upgrades being made to their ship, the Titan, "I think my tweaks to the eezo converters should give us at least a five percent efficiency boost to our engines." Leaning forward, Patrick tilted his head to one side, "Yeah, but won't that put the ship a lot more at risk in high acceleration situations." David waved off the concern, "Eh, I've run the numbers several times. We should be good." The Corporal shook his head, "If something happens, none of your boyish charms will save your sorry ass from a court martial." Standing back up, he continued, "Look, I gotta go now or I'll be late catching my shuttle back to the Titan. I just wanted to check up and see how things went with Susan. We can catch up later tonight after our shift ends." David replied, "Sounds good. Talk to you then", and with that, Patrick got up and made his way to the exit.


Sitting alone once again, David Pike continued to nurse his coffee and stare out the window. His eyes went wide as off in the distance, a large, black, lobster shaped ship descended in the distance. "Shit!", he muttered to himself, "Shepard was right." Standing up and looking around the room, the combat engineer saw no other military personnel. As highly trained as medical staff were, announcing what was about to happen would either be met with incredulity or panic. Dressed in a standard issue button down shirt and shorts, he didn't have combat armor or even a sidearm to aid in what would happen next. Running out of the cafeteria, he tried to formulate a plan of action against a far more advanced and powerful enemy - the Reapers.

 

[LadyMatsudai]

Alliance Military Hospital, Vancouver


2186


In a hospital room not too far from the cafeteria, the door for 'Sage Koyama' was closed, the windows to her room opened to allow the fresh air to blow through. The curtains hanging from the ceiling slowly drifted up into the air to the soft breeze, a young woman laying in bed with her raven hair being brushed from her sapphire eyes, slowly opening from her deep sleep. Her skin was scarred across her hands and arms, hints of what was lurking underneath her hospital clothes. After Shepard was incarcerated and the Normandy was docked, Sage as well as the rest of the crew went their separate ways, the Alliance not really helping them with taking the next step in the fight against the Reapers. Among the months of being left on her own and everyone parting ways, Sage had hurt herself greatly with her biotics yet again, having her wind up in the Military Hospital.


Her body was hooked up with IVs and bandaging, her blue eyes slowly looking towards the window before they grew a little wider, the familiar outline of a Reaper slowly touching down on the solid Earth ground as the ground quaked under her. "No...no not...not now..." she wheezed, breathing a little heavily as her monitor started to go off from her heart beating too fast. Nurses in the cafeteria as well as a couple of doctors heard the alarm, rushing from their tables to head for Sage's room to attend to her, some brushing past Dave.


(( OOC: I am sorry this is so short So tired from the Super Bowl party I went to ))

 

[Ducky]

The crowd, panicked at an alarm that normally doesn't sound, was beginning to carry David along like driftwood on a river. Realizing that the best way to survive when everybody else loses their head is to keep yours, he found the nearest hospital room to duck into and regain composure. Entering the room and shutting the door behind him, David turned around to see two doctors and a nurse attending to a patient who was covered in bandages and hooked to monitors and an IV. The occupants startled, one of the doctors immediately asked, "Who are you?"


David paused to assess the situation. The medical staff was probably trained for combat and may have seen action, but this enemy was something they never encountered. Glancing at the electronic chart, the woman in the bed - an adept - would have been useful had she been at full health. However, it was highly doubtful she could fight in this condition. The odds of getting out of here alive were already slim, bringing along these four would reduce the chance to a long shot. Following his gut reaction, the combat engineer turned around to open the door and promptly leave.


Remembering the fight with Susan, David paused. They were originally going to spend the day in Vancouver together. Had that happened, he may have stood a good chance of saving her when the Reapers hit. She's a resourceful woman, but this enemy could easily negate that. The internal debate only took a few seconds as David turned around again to face everyone, "My name is Staff Sergeant David Pike. You can all call me 'Ducky' if you want. It's a long story with no time to explain." The expression on his face became even more earnest and somewhat pleading, "We're facing something that makes the First Contact War look like a schoolyard fight. Do as I say and there's a chance we may get out of here." Being met with stunned silence and nodding heads, David continued.


"Ok, it's two floors up then the roof. There's a landing pad up there, so I'm fairly certain they're trying to evac whomever they can." Looking at the chart, he saw the name 'Sage Koyama', "Sage. That's a very pretty name. It would be much more comfortable for you if we took the elevator up while we wheeled you in this bed. But we're sitting ducks if the power is cut. So the plan is for two of you to carry her out on a stretcher, the third will hold a portable monitor and the IV bag. We make our way to the roof via the stairs and hope to catch a medical shuttle out of here." Holding his hand up to the door and clenching his fist, Ducky activated his combat drone outside in the hallway, "Wiley, my combat drone, will provide some protection and warning for us. I'm hoping we meet up with some MPs who have weapons. Otherwise, I'm going to have to try getting some from our dead enemies. I'm not exactly dressed for combat, but they do train us for this." Looking at the patient, he continued, "I'm sorry, Sage, this may get a little bumpy or even sting. You can smack me if you want when we're all safe." Sighing, he continued, "Lord knows it wouldn't be the first time today." Looking around the room, he asked, "Any questions?"

 

[LadyMatsudai]

Sage whimpered, still struggling to breathe normally while the doctors and nurses quickly attended to her needs, the doctors shushing her while the adept squirmed weakly in the bed, shaking at the horrible pain and panic rushing through her. Her sapphire eyes slowly opened to gaze at the stranger that had entered the room, his body covered with a crisp Alliance uniform. He wasn't anyone from the Normandy though...no one she recognized from any of her missions with Shepard. He was so determined when he started to turn to leave but only to change his mind and look back at her and the staff. His face smeared in the distance and fuzzy from her weak state. His voice along with the voices of the other doctors were distant, faint and muffled as if Sage were in a glass box and could only see the exchange of words, the original content of their speech muted.


Watching the man named Ducky take her chart to examine it, Sage kept breathing tiredly through the oxygen tube in her nose, bandaged arms still resting on the top of the sheets before Ducky started to vent on for a while, the doctors and nurses having their eyes locked on him before a small drone appeared in the hallway, surveying the scene. But she finally heard him as he drew closer, the soft voice of the man who would come to her rescue, offering her the chance to smack him once all of this was over. Just as her lips parted to speak, glass shattered in the room, a massive Cannibal charging through before roaring out in anger, blindly marching to one of the nurses as he began to rip her apart, other Cannibals slowly moving into the room.

 

[Ducky]

"Oh hell!", Ducky shouted as the cannibals burst into the room. Snapping into action, he ordered Wiley to disable as many as it could. With one nurse torn to pieces, the other medical staff panicked at the sight of the strange, deadly creature and ran from the room. With nobody left, he hovered over Sage to protect her, held out his left hand, and sent a paralyzing jolt of electricity through the two closest Cannibals. With Wiley engaging the other three, that gave Ducky a small window to act. With the closest Cannibal being a few feet from the table, he extended his OmniBlade and drove it deep into the creature's heart. Running to the nearest counter, he opened the top drawer which he knew would contain an assortment of surgical knives for cutting and amputating. Grabbing the largest one he could find, he threw it into the head of the one writhing on the ground. With Wiley engaging the rest, Ducky took the opportunity to arm and gear himself up.


Opening another drawer, the engineer grabbed several units of medigel and stuffed them into a bag. Tying the bag around his belt, he stuffed a few more surgical knives into another bag and tied it onto his belt as well. Searching the Reaper corpses, Ducky found an M-5 Phalanx that likely was taken from the body of a dead MP. Grateful for the luck, he stuffed it in his pants pocket and scrounged for thermal clips. Finding some, he put them in his other pocket. Checking the hallway, Ducky saw more a few more Cannibals chasing down screaming medical staff. Downing the two closest ones with his Phalanx, the other Cannibals recognized the threat and started advancing towards him from the cafeteria. Hanging by the doorway, he waiting until the closest was about a meter away and unleashed a fireball upon them. Ducking back into the room and closing the door, Wiley's last act before winking out of existence was to set off an explosion the cleared the hallway on both sides of inhabitants. Turning his attention back to Sage, he figured out a way to carry her.


He leaned in close as soft, sapphire eyes stared back. Smiling to reassure her, he said, "Don't worry. I'll save you." Searching through a few cabinets, Ducky found a portable oxygen tank. Grabbing more rubber tubing, he looped it around a handle on the tank. Turning off the main oxygen tank, he disconnected the tube and attached it to the portable one. Twisting the knob of the portable tank, he stood up, unhooked the IV bag, and put the rubber tubing through it. Leaning down, he tied the tubing into a ring. Putting it around his shoulder, he could unload it is he needed to lay Sage down again. Phalanx in hand, he put his arms underneath Sage and gently lifted her up, "This is going to be even bumpier than I thought, but we'll make it." Slowly walking towards the door, he kicked it open. Off at the other end of the cafeteria, still more Cannibals made there way in. Next, he walked out of the room while cradling Sage in both arms and the Phalanx in his right hand.

 

[LadyMatsudai]

Sage kept panting tiredly to the screams of the nurse as she gargled in her own blood, dying at the hands of the Cannibal, catching a glimpse of the drone quickly working away to reduce the numbers of the Cannibals in the room. The adept struggled to sit up before watching the stranger named Ducky place himself over her, sending sparks of electricity through the bodies of a couple of Cannibals near the bed and not too long after, drew his OmniBlade right through the body of another. They started to fall like sacks of rocks left and right, hearing Ducky begin to scramble through the drawers for anything he could use. He popped across the bodies for anything to loot of value to get the three of them out of here as Sage could hear the distant screams of other staff members before the halls grew silent with nothing but the throaty growls and roars of the monsters in the hallways before Ducky quickly set ablaze a few more of them in the hallway.


Listening to his promise to save her, Sage could only frown weakly and shook her head. "Everyone...says that to me..." she wheezed, sighing with relief to the oxygen flowing again in her mask before whimpering to being picked up, her sore body screaming in pain to the adjustment, leaning tiredly against his torso. Her head slowly lifted up from Ducky's shoulder to the site of the Cannibals filling the end of the hallway, starting to clammer to make their way to the living flesh of the two humans. Taking in a deep breath, Sage slowly raised her bandaged hand before it started to glow. Lines of light streamed down her scarred arms, violent sparks of biotics grazing her skin without a mark as a ball of biotic energy curled in the palm of her hand. Her fingers straightened before closing into a firm fist, the ball shooting out like a rocket to the crowd before it exploded like a firework, Cannibals screaming from being disintegrated at the simple touch, others scrambling to get free from the biotic cage of death. Blood slowly dripped from Sage's nose as she fell limp in Ducky's arms, a shaking hand pointing towards the stairs leading to the rooftop. "The...shuttle..." she whispered exhaustedly, coughing as a little blood spattered on the inside of her oxygen mask, dripping from the corner of her mouth.

 

[Ducky]

Hearing Sage respond that everybody makes that promise, Ducky quickly retorted, "Well, tell ya what. If I fail then I promise you can spend half of eternity in the afterlife smacking me upside the head while saying, 'But you promised we'd live.'" Shortly thereafter, Sage used her biotics to take out more Cannibals. Stunned at what he saw, he didn't respond until after she mentioned the shuttle, "That's where we're headed." Ducking into an adjacent open room, he walked up to an undamaged paper towel dispenser, grabbed a few, and made his way to the stairs.


Pushing open the door, he climbed up two surprisingly uneventful flights of stairs. Unfortunately, they would have to make their way to the other side of the building as this stairwell didn't go to the roof. Gently setting Sage down, he pulled out a paper towel and wiped her mouth and oxygen mask. Tossing the towel aside and setting down the tank and IV bag, Ducky activated Wiley on the other side of the door. Peering down the twenty meters of hallway, the coast was clear for the moment. Glancing out a window, he saw more Cannibals and now some Husks entering the building. Odds are things wouldn't stay quiet for long. Going back to the stairwell, he gathered up Sage and the equipment and entered the hallway. Glancing down, Ducky asked, "You still with us?"

 

[LadyMatsudai]

Sage nodded to Ducky confirming they were heading for the shuttles, still breathing heavily to being carried along the stairs closer and closer towards the rooftop. The world seemed to just start to melt again into one large blur, Sage feeling her eyes growing heavy from overexerting herself before whimpering to being placed on the cold floor. Her heart raced for a moment to see blurry Ducky hold a paper towel in his hand, inching closer to her face before relaxing to the towel being there to clean up her mouth and mask. Tears welled up in her eyes from the constant changing of being lifted to being lowered to rest, nodding her head weakly towards Ducky at his question. "Barely..." she panted, a scarred hand gripping his shirt weakly for comfort as she could hear the ugly cries of the Husks and Cannibals in the floors below.

 

[Ducky]

Looking down, a lump started to form in Ducky's throat as he saw the tears well up in Sage's eyes. The pain must have been immense, and moving her around like this didn't help. Seeing her hand grasp for his shirt, he tried to make her laugh amid the cries of the Reapers, "I'd kiss your boo boo to make it feel better, but then I might drop you. Next thing you know I'd be facing the same biotics that took out the Reapers." Almost on cue, the hallway lights went out as the battery powered emergency lights kicked in, "There goes the main substation. I'm gonna send out a distress call on my OmniTool. I'm not too worried about attracting attention. The Reapers have numerous targets to choose from." Activating the emergency beacon on his OmniTool, Ducky heard more noises coming from down the hallway.


"Crap, looks like more Reapers have joined us." Activating Wiley, he saw a few Husks moving ahead of the Cannibals. Another discharge of electricity temporarily disabled them, but not before a bullet from one of the Cannibal's guns caught Ducky in the leg. "Ahh!!", he cried in pain. Backing up a couple of feet, he crouched down again, "I'm so sorry, but I have to set you down again." After setting Sage down in a side room, he treated the bullet would with some medigel. Taking out a surgical knife, he tossed it at the nearest downed Husk and fired a couple of shots into the other one. The Cannibals responded with more gunfire. Caught in a standoff, Ducky pulled out a map of the upper floor on his OmniTool. Eyeing the rooms down the hallway, a smirk spread across the face as he saw what lay at the end of the hallway. Another bullet caught his arm as he held it out in the oncoming gunfire, but not before a fireball travelled down to the end of the hallway and into an end room. A loud "boom" echoed down the hall as ether storage tanks burst into flame.


Going back into the side room, he applied more medigel to the bullet wound then crouched down next to Sage and lightly touched her hand with two fingers, "Just a little bit more, then there's the shuttle." He gathered up Sage and the gear again. The heat from the explosion died down quickly as walked towards the door to the roof.

 

[LadyMatsudai]

Sage could not smile at Ducky's attempt to get her to laugh, more tears simply welling in her sapphire eyes to the invisible pain before her ears perked to the sound of the electricity going out, replaced by the dim lights of the emergency power-run lamps along the walls. She gasped to the sound of Ducky crying out from a gunshot to his leg, whimpering to being lowered on the ground again as she watched Ducky struggle to fight back the monsters roaming the halls and treating his own personal wounds. She struggled in the weakened vessel that was her physical body to try and help Ducky, feeling winded from the effort before coughing up a little more blood again, head resting against the wall. A grimace curled on her face to the sudden heat from the fireball sending the other end of the hallway into an explosion.


Her hand retreated back to Ducky's shirt to grip onto something with being lifted yet again, bare feet dangling over his arm while the door to the roof slowly came into view. Upon going through it, Sage's eyes had widened in fear to see the shuttle had exploded not too long after take off, parts scattered everywhere across the roof and some on the ground far below the hospital as well, leaving the two stranded on the roof with no way down.

 

[Ducky]

Ducky stood there, dumbfounded. Beating long odds, they made it to the roof only to see their ride in flames. Taking a few steps forward, he looked around in a vain attempt to find another shuttle. The search was futile as it was met with more bodies and debris. Moisture formed at the corner of his eye, and a tear drop fell and splashed onto Sage's hand. Lip quivering slightly, he looked down to Sage with slightly red eyes, "I failed you. I'm sorry."


Ducky stood on the roof, holding Sage, looking off into the distance. A distant noise from behind them grew louder. Ducky ignored it until he saw a shadow fall upon the roof. Turning around, he saw an unfamiliar ship with 'Normandy' emblazoned on the side firing maneuvering thrusters. The rear of the ship opened as two men walked down the hatch. Kaiden called out to Ducky, "Come aboard, quickly." He walked slightly faster onto the ramp. After a few more steps, the hatch began to close again. Kaiden turned to Vega, "Told you Joker could pick them up in under sixty seconds. I know Shepard, one more minute won't stop him." Kaiden then approached and activated his OmniTool, "Med bay, I need a trauma team to the shuttle bay, stat. Got a soldier with burns all over her body." Leaning in, he recognized the familiar face and smiled, "Welcome back, Sage."

 

[LadyMatsudai]

So this was how she would die...not from her injuries but from the monsters flooding the building beneath them. What a way to go... Sage blinked to the wet drop on the skin of her hand, looking up weakly to see Ducky's eyes red and his bottom lip shaking, saying he failed her. A weak hand slowly rose from his chest to his face, wiping away the tear from his cheek and offered him a weakened smile, shaking her head. "No...you didn't...Ducky...you...proved something to me...today...something...very valuable..." she wheezed.


Not too long after, a familiar roaring hum of thrusters echoed the air, Sage looking up to the sleek silver and black panelling of none other than the Normandy, her smile growing with disbelief. "I'll be damned..." she panted, watching two men march out from the ramp in the back of the ship, beckoning for Ducky to come on board. It was as if she was in a dream, suddenly seeing Kaidan's face close to hers with his hand gingerly cradling her cheeks. "Kaidan..." she breathed before coughing violently in the mask, more blood spraying on the inside of the mask this time as Kaidan quickly and carefully picked up Sage into his arms. "Help me get her to the med bay," he instructed Ducky, shushing Sage while her head leaned on Kaidan's shoulder. "Joker! Get Chakwas to prep the medbay ASAP. We found Sage! She's not doing good," he called out to Joker on the intercoms throughout the hall.

 

[Ducky]

Relieved he delivered Sage safely out of trouble, he silently nodded at Kaiden's order. Taking the tubing off his shoulder, he walked to one side of Kaiden while holding the IV and oxygen tank. As they walked through the hallway, Ducky looked around in awe. He had heard stories of the Normandy, but they didn't do justice to actually being on board. Looking behind him, he noticed that Vega was no longer following them. Looking over to Kaiden again, he addressed the officer as they walked, "Staff Sergeant David Pike of the SSV Titan, though people often call me 'Ducky'"

 

[LadyMatsudai]

"I am Major Kaidan Alenko. You are onboard the Normandy, manned under Commander John Shepard of the Alliance Navy," introduced Kaidan as he shushed Sage more while she whimpered and coughed up more blood. "You saved a dear friend of ours. Sage Koyama is her name...she trusts you so you are good in my book. Very rare for her to trust humans she does not know," added Kaidan before finally reaching the medbay, laying her down on the bed as Chakwas rushed to the bedside, her face contorted to worry. "Oh sweetheart, what happened to you?" she asked, stroking Sage's cheek as she only whimpered from the pain. "Kaidan, help her sit up. You," directed Chakwas, pointing right at Ducky. "Keep her oxygen flowing as well as her IVs. There is a stand right behind you," she explained while she helped Kaidan have Sage sit up.


Quickly getting her tools together, Kaidan started to remove Sage's hospital gown, untying the back to reveal her hidden scars. Surgical scars lined across her anatomical features perfectly, deep and visible since the day she received them years ago, her body looking fragile from behind as needle marks, healed burn marks coated her skin. Her body leaned forward against Kaidan as he shushed her gently, wiping her mouth again of the blood to let her breathe as Chakwas started to run her OmniTool over Sage's back, examining the damage before shaking her head and grabbed a long needle filled with a blue clear fluid. "You overexerted on your biotics again, didn't you, Sage?" asked Chakwas as Sage remained silent, clinging to Kaidan more, who shushed her and rested his forehead to hers, stroking her cheeks to help her relax. "You know I have to give it to you, Sage..." cooed Chakwas a little softer, watching Sage tense up immediately, clinging to Kaidan for comfort before she cried to the needle being buried between her vertebrae in her spine, soft wails of pain escaping her lips while Kaidan held her a little closer, shushing her as Chakwas pulled out the needle.


Kaidan kept stroking Sage's head before he glanced up, blinking to see none other than Shepard entering the medbay, the male hero of the Citadel and galaxy looking on to the scene. "Shepard..."

 

[Ducky]

@Ducky

 

[Ducky]

Ducky acknowledged Kaiden's orders, "Yes, sir", and put the IV and oxygen tank on the stand. Feeling the weight of the tank compared to earlier, it felt about half full. Enough to get through whatever procedure awaited the biotic who apparently overexerted herself. Silently reflecting on the earlier conversation and what was being said, it finally hit him how little he knew about the mysterious woman he unintentionally walked in on. 'She has extraordinary eyes that see more than others', Ducky thought to himself, 'Given what Kaiden said and her last words to me, trust doesn't come easy to her.' He sighed as he looked at the IV levels, thinking about how the day began and wondering if the woman's trust was perhaps misplaced. He froze upon hearing Sage scream and wished he knew back then what he did now. If that were so, Ducky would have tried his hardest to stop Sage from using her biotics.


Commander Shepard entered med bay and quickly took stock of the situation. He didn't recognize the engineer. Glancing over to Sage, Shepard quickly pieced together that he must have rescued her from the hospital. He nodded to Chakwas as she disposed of the needle, "Good work, Doctor." Being the consummate professional, Chakwas kept things strictly business at the moment and replied, "Thanks." Looking over to Ducky, he continued, "Good work, Sergeant. Vega told me what he saw on the hospital roof. Most people would have totally lost it by then." Ducky nodded, "Yes, sir. I didn't think the odds were very good making it up to the roof, and I gave up hope before seeing the Normandy arrive." Trying to break the tension, Shepard relayed Vega's thoughts, "Vega, the man with Kaiden, asked me if you were Sage's husband. I raised an eyebrow and said, 'I wasn't aware of that. And she damn well better have told me by now, or she'll have some explaining to do'" Kaiden smiled to himself but held back from making any noise, not wanting to disturb Sage. Shepard continued, "Anyhow, I just wanted to warn you that Lieutenant Vega will probably give you a lot of shit. He's already told me that it looked like something out of a old, romantic vid." Addressing Kaiden again, "Lieutenant, come by CIC when you're done here. I want to discuss preparations for Mars." Kaiden acknowledged, "Yes sir", and Shepard left the room.

 

[LadyMatsudai]

Kaidan watched Shepard leave the medbay while he kept shushing Sage to help her relax, her fragile scarred body shaking like a leaf under his touch. Chakwas softened to seeing Sage taking such comfort in Kaidan's arms after what seemed like forever and prepared another needle. "Sage...you know what I need to do next," she cooed softly, the biotics eyes widening in fear as she clung to Kaidan's arms. "And I have to go see Shepard, Sage," cooed Kaidan, the news received with crying and a pleading look on her face. "No Kaidan please. Just stay a little please. Please," begged Sage, hands weakly pawing at his uniform. "I have to talk to Shepard, Sage. You know how impatient he can be," he teased gently, shushing her at seeing her still crying, brushing hair from her eyes. "I am going to leave Ducky here to take care of you, alright? And then I will be right back," promised Kaidan, rubbing her cheeks with his gloved hands. Kaidan looked towards Ducky and slowly released a pitiful Sage, shaking as she was laying back down on the bed on her side with Chakwas's aid. "Sargent, I need to...ask you for a favor. Chakwas needs to do a spinal tap on Sage to make sure her brain hasn't swelled from using too much of her biotics at once. I need you to stay here to comfort her. She has had a...dark history with procedures like this," he hinted, looking back at Sage's scar ridden body. "She is freaking out because she trusts a few number of humans. So don't take offense if she is...reluctant to take your hand during the procedure."


((OOC: I am on my phone so it won't look too pretty lol ))

 

[Ducky]

Ducky stood up and gave Kaiden a crisp salute, "Will do." As Kaiden left the room, Ducky beckoned the aid over, "The oxygen tank feels like it's running low." The aid put a hand on the tank and lifted it up an inch, "Yeah. I'll take this opportunity to get her on the main system. Nice bit of Turian tech that uses electrolysis to break down water, feeding the oxygen to med bay and the hydrogen is used to mix in with the eezo." Ducky recognized how weight was normally an inhibiting factor raised an eyebrow in surprise, "I'll have to check it out down in engineering. We always had difficulty pulling that off." As the aid switched oxygen sources, Ducky returned his attention back to Sage.


Looking down at Sage, sapphire eyes pleaded with him to stop what was coming. He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated that there wasn't a better way to treat her. Leaning down, he spoke to her, "I would wheel you away from all this right now if I thought it would help. We made a pretty good team down there, if I do say so myself." His mind drifting back to this morning's argument, Ducky's lips widened in a small smile, "I'm glad I could keep at least one promise today."


((OOC: I understand. It looks fine, though))

 

[LadyMatsudai]

Still pawing at the medbay bed pitifully, begging for it to comfort her and stop Chakwas from doing the spinal tap, Sage looked up to Ducky and sniffed, sapphire eyes red from her tears. "It would find me eventually..." she confessed, sniffing as she blinked to him mentioning a promise. "What was the other one?" she asked curiously before feeling Chakwas's hands touch her bare back.


"Okay, Sage, are you ready?" asked the doctor feebly, feeling her body shake violently under her touch, the biotic shaking her head more, making the doctor look at Ducky, hoping he could help her calm down.

 

[Ducky]

Looking back down, he sighed in frustration at not being able to ease the biotic's pain. Almost instinctively, Ducky reached down and lightly wiped away the tears, "I promised someone that I'd request a transfer to the Alliance military base at Vancouver." In his peripheral vision, he could see Dr. Chakwas preparing the needle. Ducky hoped that least it would be a short procedure. It obviously was far from painless, "But I couldn't do it." Looking away in shame, he explained, "I couldn't put somebody else ahead of my career."

 

[LadyMatsudai]

"We all do that here..." smiled Sage weakly up to Ducky, sniffing to him wiping away her tears. She parted her lips to speak before she cried out in horrible pain to the needle moving between her vertebrae, fluid from her spinal cord slowly dripping into a small vial as Sage shook violently, the tears returning as she struggled to cling to the sheets, eyes shut tight.

 

[Ducky]

Ducky fell silent as he watched the needle extract spinal fluid from Sage. He lightly put his hand on her shoulder as she shook violently, hoping it would help Sage in some way. Ducky couldn't help but wonder how it was possible that humans could travel from one end of the galaxy to the other but still had to resort to barbaric methods of treating patients.


Dr. Chakwas removed the needle and said, "There. All finished", before putting the needle in medical waste disposal. Removing his hand from Sage's shoulder, he asked, "Are you going to be ok, Sage?" His brow furrowed as he tried to figure out how the spinal tap helped her.

 

[LadyMatsudai]

Sage kept trembling on the bed, the pain vibrating across her body as she whimpered to Chakwas extracting the needle from her back, feeling the good doctor placing medigel over the wound to have it heal. Too disoriented in her pain and fear to speak, Chakwas spoke for her. "She will be fine for now. The spinal tap is to make sure there is no inflammation in her brain or spinal cord from her overuse of biotics. As you can tell...she has had...unwilling modifications done to her," explained Chakwas, hinting towards the numerous scars covering Sage's body, watching her curl up in a ball.

 

[Ducky]

Ducky looked down to see Sage curled up in a ball, "I'd like to have a few choice words with whomever did that to her. More like string them up by their balls. Nobody should have to endure this kind of pain." Dr. Chakwas nodded, "Mhmm. Though you may have to wait in line behind Commander Shepard, Lt. Kaiden, and a few others, including myself." Glancing down, Ducky could take some small comfort in the fact that she wasn't enduring the pain of a spinal tap, "The medical staff attending to her were either killed or fled when the Reapers attacked. I had to carry her up in my arms. With the burns on her body. The pain..."


Vega interrupted the completion of the sentence when he appeared in the med bay doorway, "There they are. Looks like Rose is resting comfortably." Ducky turned to face the beefy lieutenant and cocked his head to one side, "Rose?" Vega gave him a toothy grin as he held out his hand to shake, "Short for rosemary. Another spice. Never thought she looked like a Sage. Don't know what her parents were pensando." The two shook hands as Vega continued, "That was quite a rescue down there, Romeo. Lot of soldiers didn't make it out of there by themselves, let alone carrying a seriously injured woman. Oh, the name's Vega. Lieutenant James Vega." Ducky instinctively saluted the officer when Vega waved him off, "No need for that mierda when the muckety mucks aren't around. And you can call me Vega. No need for lieutenant. That's for the people who aren't ground pounders. Anyhow, just wanted to drop by to introduce myself. You'll have to tell me the whole story over a cerveza sometime." Looking down at Sage, Vega smiled, "I see why Kaiden is so fond of her. Anywho, drop by the armory and we'll get you geared up. Later Doc." With that, Vega exited med bay to head back to the armory.