In the mail sits a stiff engraved envelope that is a dark red color. Fancy swirls mark the letter and eventually point to the backside of the letter, indicating the user to open. When opened and unfolded, the stiff paper turned out to be a red and white invitation, stating the following:
"Neo Dreak and Cryno Gailian:
Request the honor of your presence at their marriage
Saturday, the fifteenth of October
two thousand one hundred eighty six
at three o’clock in the afternoon”
When flipped over, the back reads:
"The wedding is to take place at Zanguard Memorial Church. The attire is formal, and food will be provided at the reception, which will take place promptly after in the Church gallery.
Each guest is allowed to bring themselves as well as as many family members they please. Significant others are also allowed to attend.”
Back in the envelope, there is a small letter, styled like parchment and also folded. It reads the following:
"If attending, check the RSVP below.
RSVP? [ ]
Check if bringing guests, then state who and how many
[ ] _________________________________________________________________
If you are Levo, check the desired meal you wish to have. If Dextro, follow the same parameters
Check: [ ] Levo or [ ] Dextro
Check one:
[ ] Smoked beef brisket served with seasoned rice and steamed carrots
[ ] Grilled chicken breasts served on pasta with a white wine sauce and finely chopped broccoli
[ ] Smoked turkey leg with pan fried seasoned potatoes and coleslaw
[ ] Salad, served with eggs, chopped grilled chicken, carrots, spinach, red onions, and broccoli
[ ] Five jumbo shrimp, served with sweet sticky rice and assortment of steamed vegetables
For Beverage:
[ ] Wine
[ ] Soda
[ ] Water
[ ] Tea”
Cryno had left the ship after he awoke. He hadn't been in the bacta as long as she had wanted, but it was enough that he was ambulatory. Knowing he wouldn't listen, she did not try to persuade him to stay a few more days. He was not admitted, she couldn't force him to stay. For everyone's safety his leaving was probably for the best. Except for Neo. As she watched him exit the room, she could only hope he calmed enough that he wasn't a danger to anyone else when the effects of the sedative completely wore off. Regardless, when he left, it was out of her hands. Her gaze, full of trepidation, returned to the suspended drell.
----------------------------------------
She smiled when the readings came through. He was ready. His organs were functioning on their own. Not as well as she'd like, a few more days and he'd be back at 100%, but her father had given her another 2 doses of altered stem cells. They would make up for the lost time in the bacta and he would be able to eat and work his muscles, both of which were needed. He'd lost around twenty pounds so far and she was glad she could finally wake him.
She'd been giving him small electrical jolts to his muscles every few hours as well as physical manipulation once a day to keep his muscles conditioned as much as possible.
She nodded to her father and smiled at the rest that stood, waiting for her verdict. She tapped in the commands on the holo-pad on the side of the chamber. A whirring noise accompanied the slow lowering of the chamber into a prone position. The bacta quickly drained to the recycling reservoir. The doors separated and slid down into the side casing. She reached in and pulled Neo to his side, his lungs eventually expelled the serum. She laid him back onto his back and removed the IV containing the medication that kept him under. She flipped on her holo-tool, a green light ran the length of his body as it scanned him looking for organ distress or other abnormalities. Finding none, she flipped it off. "He is holding his own now. She smiled at the round of cheers.
A green glow wrapped around her body as her biotics kicked in. She raised Neo's body and lowered him down on the absorbent cloth covering one of the beds. She pulled a blanket over him, adjusted his remaining IV and injected a solution that would wake him up.
(I'm not playing Cryno...in your other threads he said he was off the ship and not going back, so I included his leaving.)
Receiving the alarm on her omni-tool of her newest patient's erratic lifesigns, she rushed back into the room and saw the turian struggling, then fall still again. According to the readouts, he'd come out of the chemically induced coma. He should not have been able to come out of it, but he had and she did not want to risk raising the dose. At least his lungs had been given the chance to be saturated with the healing serum.
With a green flare she rose to stand on the platform behind the tank. She slapped the panel to slide the lid and used her biotics to raise the turian. When his head was clear, she tilted him a bit until his lungs released the bacta, then scooped him up. She laid the IV bags on his chest and lowered them.
She settled him on a table. With a couple of pillows under his head to make room for his fringe when on his back and a blanket over him, she did her best to make him comfortable. Though she knew it would never be enough. Not for that one. She adjusted his IV bags, took his readings and then went to check Neo's. She could see the fluctuations in his as well. He calmed when his partner joined him, became agitated when he partner struggled and now had settled back down, though not at the calm level he had been when his partner was with him. She had not realized he'd been that aware. What people experience in a coma is vastly individual. It was never a thing science could pin down, not even in her cycle.
She looked at the now smooth wall that Cyrno had been pushed into. She had never seen a metal react like that with such elastic give. They hadn't had anything like that in her cycle and she was surprised that it could even exist. She had tried to question him about it, but just like she kept prothean technology tight-lipped, so did he with his technology. She could accept and respect that.
She glanced over when the man in thoughts appeared. It was always freaky when that happened. "Oh - I nearly forgot. Before the Cryno incident occurred, Neo received a message on his OT. Can you hack into it and find out what it was? If it's a friend, I would like to make them aware of what happened."
When Anzi returned to the room, she caught sight of Talyn asleep in a chair near Cryno. When she approached an odd scent reached her olfactory senses. She followed it to the turian and noticed the dried blood on him. She flipped on her holo-tool, its green light flared. She scanned the man and then wished she'd used the holo-tool instead of the omni-tool the first time she scanned him. She noted his damage, woke talyn and had him help her remove the turian's clothing. She started two IVs, nutrition and medication to keep him under, then, with Talyn's help, lowered the man into the bacta next to Neo. His body shuddered as he released air and took in the oxygen infused bacta into his lungs. Leave it to Cryno to find a way to be with his man.
She was making her hospital rounds and stopped in to check on any recent interesting cases she might be interested in. Gossip flew around like mad...about a turian that lost it and damn near killed both one of their staff and an arresting officer. She frowned. That was bit more extreme than she had expected. "Why did he behave in such a manner?"
The doctor frowned. "Hospital protocol. He wanted to know about the drell's condition and since they aren't family, we were unable to release those detials." he said with a shrug at the daunting looking prothean woman. "Howse has fucking concussion. Still, he was going to let the fucker walk. The turian would have been escorted out and released. He wasn't to come back until tomorrow...but he went berserk and mangled the detaining officer. Both men have been admitted." He shook his head. "Now, the fucker's been arrested and can't see his fiance at all....stupid ass.
A drell with a turian fiance. It couldn't be. "Who is the drell patient?" The words were spoken carefully, she did not want to make anyone aware of her concern.
Her gaze followed his finger and she wanted to dash off to see her friend. But she remained impassive. It was imperative that she showed no emotion. "Who's assigned to him? And what is the diagnosis?"
"No one is assigned to him. The doctor on that responded to the ER call resigned from the case late last night. No one has picked it up. The drell is a dead man. No one can figure out why he's dying and when he comes out of stasis, he won't live long. No one wants to add that stat to their record." He shrugged and gave a sad shake of his head. He wouldn't add the man to his stats either. Poor fucker.
Anzi's eyes narrowed and she frowned. "The case is now mine. He's my patient. I could care less about stats." She turned and swiftly made her way to the drell's room. The guards had to scan her and her credentials before they nodded and allowed her into the room.
When her eyes saw him, ice ran through her veins. Neo...no. She didn't know how she was going to save the man, but she knew that she would employ any means, regardless the cost, to do so.
She picked up the data chart that sat in the slot on the back of his foot board, sat down on a chair in the room and began to pour over every detail.
When she was finished, she sighed, rubbed her expanding belly and commed her father. "Dad,sorry to bother you, but when it comes to lab work, there's no one I trust more than you."
"Of course, Anzi. What do you need of me?" he replied.
"I need you to come down to Huerta. I have a new case. A case no one wants. It's Neo, dad. He's dying and no one has been able to figure out why." She drew in a ragged breath. I'll be taking samples of blood and biopsies of tissue from various locations. I want you to handle them, dad. Find me something...anything. I'm not letting him die."
Otek was stunned. Neo? He was all to aware that in the middle of war anyone could die. Friends and family were just as likely as anyone else. It shouldn't have phased him, but it did. He wasn't ready to lose anyone he cared about this cycle. Probably because there were precious few he cared about this cycle. "We WON'T let him die, Anzi. I'll be right down there for the samples."
He typed a message off to Talyn, letting him know about Neo. He received an intimidate response, which he hadn't expected. Apparently, the drell was a few hours out from the Citadel and would be arriving shortly.
He also shot off a text to the turian, even if their relationship was not as cordial as it had once been. He just wished Cryno would let the past go now that he had someone he loved and intended to marry.
Anzi reached in through the stasis field and felt the immediate numbing of her hand. She knew Neo's OT was the more rare implant, rather than a carried device. She depressed a spot on his wrist. She couldn't feel her fingers working, but knew they did when his OT glowed. She pulled up the screen. She took his other hand and depressed a finger over the holopad, allowing the details to pop up. She scanned through and found a small list of beings under family. His list was no larger than hers. It was sad how so many had so few.
She flipped open her own OT implant and commed Mavic and Rine as well as Cryno.
[Text] Neo is in the hospital. It is grave. I am taking over his care. You may see him during normal visiting hours, however he is in a life sustaining stasis. If you have any concerns, you may contact me.
Otek and Anzi hurried swiftly to The Venture. It was a sleek, powerful ship berthed alone on a private dock. He, himself, used a VIP dock for his ship. It was obvious this man had more money than he knew what to do with.
"Do you know anything more about the turian's condition?" Anzi asked quizzically.
"No, child, I told you all that I've been told. I do not think we will be able to find out more until we arrive." He looked down at the cases they each held. "I think you've prepared for any circumstance." Rarely, was she ever unprepared. He was very proud of his daughter.
A flashing drone whirled around them. "Protheans. It is so odd to see a prothean, because you were no more than historical records to me." She darted between the two and came back around to the front. "What was it like to wake up to a different reality?"
"Savvy!" The pilot spun around and admonished the drone. "Leave them alone and go amuse yourself elsewhere." He shooed his hand at the drown impatiently.
Otek and Anzi looked at each other. AIs were always a concern for them, due to their own war with the machines.
He rose from his seat. "Forgive her, I made her far too inquisitive. She means no harm by it. Talyn Nikyrian Teiner, at your service." He offered them a small bow.
They wanted to correct his use o f "her", but rather than insult the host, they returned the polite greeting and provided their names. They took the two remaining seats in the cockpit and as the ship pulled out of port, they went over everything they'd found out.
They watched in silence as the ship was yanked into the Relay. A moment of indefinable silence, utter stillness wrapped around their senses and then everything came crashing back as they shot out of the receiving Relay.
Once through the Relay, Talyn set course and then showed his guests around his opulent, sleek ship and then to their quarters.
The guests were suitably in awe, though none tried to show it. Such a palatial display of wealth was rarely seen aboard a ship. The flooring was soft, like a cloud, under the foot. It had been awkward to walk on at first until you adjusted to it. Murals were painted directly onto the ship's walls from the best artists the galaxy had to offer. They were based in a realism..the details so rich that you wanted to reach out and touch what you were seeing, because it looked too real.
When the tour was finished, they adjourned to their quarters to settle in.
It took a few days and one more Relay to reach their destination. Over those few days, lasting friendships were developed. The initial awkwardness had settled into an easy camaraderie.
In orbit above the planet, they stepped into the shuttle, fully armored, weapons ready. All the squad members but Talyn were biotics. He, however, was dangerous in his own right. He was a genius... his brain, quick and sharp. He'd created some nasty toys - illegal in Council Space, but that did not stop him from having them as part of his arsenal. Savvy zipped around the squad members, eager for the shuttle to touch down.
As they stepped out of the shuttle and into the facility, the security guards stepped aside when Talyn used his charged whips to relieve them of their guns. It was actually a bit of a let down. They had intended to barge in, guns blazing, wreaking a path of destruction through the facility...but people took one look at the well armed squad and quickly got out of their way. One young nurse was even so helpful as to escort them to the room at the back of the facility that housed their special guest.
As they burst through the door, Neo's eyes swept over the room. Saw the condition of turian on the table and thought him dead. His eyes found the man responsible. He charged the man, but pulled up just enough that he wouldn't be shattered too badly. The other drell slammed heavily into the wall and slid down it, puddling on the floor. He charged over to the other drell and hunkered down next to him, grabbing his shirt and pulling him towards his face. "I think not...you fucker. I'm not letting you out that easily. You will die...but all you will know is pain all you will hear is your own screaming...begging me to kill you." His voice was cold, hard and dangerously soft. His biotics glowed, a feral smile on his lips as he began to leach, or rip, the lifeforce from the man in his grasp. When the first screams came he dropped the man and stood back. The man body rose from the ground, arching up, stiff in agony. The screams that rent from his throat were high, hoarse, coming from his soul, as his cells burst one by one.
Ratash froze. Pain like he'd never known ripped through him. His eyes locked on to the other drell, before a vice squeezed him. His body lifted into the air. It felt like he was being melted from the inside out. The agony was more than he could bear. Raw screams tore at his auditory senses. He wanted to yell at whoever was screaming to shut the fuck up. As his body ripped itself asunder he realized he was the one screaming, but he couldn't stop…the pain was too deep…too consuming. His cells and then his organs began to burst, his veins and arteries shredding…and still the pain went on. His vision began to dim, the sounds faded, he could feel blood rolling off of him in rivers. Then blessedly…there was nothing.
"Neo, stop!" Talyn said, unsnapping the handles from his magbelt, he activated his whips. He flicked them out, wrapping one around each wrist and pulling the large drell's arms wide. Savvy was shooting low volts at the drell, but he didn't appear to even feel them. Neo glowed brightly and shot out a wave that sent Talyn flying. Talyn flipped in the air, disks slid out of his boots and he propelled himself at Neo, slamming into him and sending them both flying. They rolled arse over end until they came to a stop. Talyne sat up, a smile on his face. "I have never seen biotics like that. I do not know what you did to the good doctor, but he is quite dead. Crossed the sea some time ago, but you were too engrossed to realize it."
Neo glared at the rich dick...at Talyn. He'd come to know him too well on their voyage for him to see him in the same light. The man was still rick as fuck, but he wasn't a dick. "I wanted nothing left but a puddle...If I could rip him from your godess's embrace, I would kill him all over again. No one has the right to do that to another being. He deserved what he got!"
"You will broke no disagreement from me. I concur. But there is no point in killing the dead, when the living needs to be seen to," he said pointing over to the turian on the table that Anzi was working on.
When Anzi spotted the turian, she moved swiftly to his side. His eyes were open, but glazed in shock and pain. She smiled warmly at him. "My name is Anzi, I'm here to help you. I'm going to sedate you, but I will not leave your side." Her eyes taking note on the damage and what she needed to do to put him back together again as she talked to him. She sedated him and then flipped on her holo-tool..the prothean version of the omni-tool. It's green glow comforting as she scanned the turian. A wave of power slammed into them and she lowered her body over the turian's to shelter him from the blast. She glared at the two drell, she needed to stabilize him before they could risk removing him.
She sprayed film on her hands and gently sifted through his open chest cavity, placing his organs back into place. She then spread a thin layer of bacta-gel over his wounds and into the cavity of his chest. She proceeded to fill his cavity with medigel. She pinched his skin together, applying the med-glue. When she released the skin it held, but she wanted it to do more than hold. She aimed her holo-tool at the wound, as thin, laser-like beam shot out and she slowly drew the beam down the newly glued skin, activating the healing properties of the med-glue, sealing his skin together.
She sorted through one of her cases until she found what she needed. She withdrew five syringes that held enhanced, programmed embryonic stem cells attached to an inert virus. That would essentially rewrite the subject's damaged cells. This was the first time she would be applying this treatment to a primitive. It was something her husband, Zocha, had come up with late in the war. Too late to help many...and she had been too far away to save him. But that is a failure she did not wish to think about.
She rolled the turian slightly and carefully inserted the needle at the back of his neck, into the stem of his brain. She released the contents of the syringe, rolled him back onto his back and released the contents of the other syringes in the most beneficial locations she could find. Now, it was only a matter of time.
"We need to get him out of here. I'll work on his face on the ship. Someone find a hover bed!"
Talyn left the room, but returned quickly. "Everyone appears to have left. We are alone...and that is troubling."
"Fuck the bed! We need to go now!" Neo bellowed. He scooped up the turian, more gently than he had intended to and held him to his chest tightly. "If you can't charge, find someone who can. Go!" With his prize in hand he charged for the exit, the walls blowing by in a flash of color. he saw a brief glimpse of Talyn, who appeared to be flying by his side and he wondered how the hell the man was doing it.
When they reached the shuttle, he sat down with his burden in his lap as the others poured into the shuttle. Talyn hopped into the pilot's seat and they were off in a flash.
An explosion buffeted the shuttle, as the hospital and anything left in it, exploded in a brilliant ball of color. He tried to absorb the movement of the blast with his body, so as not to jolt the broken man in his arms.
He was the first off the shuttle, followed by Anzi, when they docked within the belly of The Venture. He moved swiftly to the med-bay and laid the turian down on the table. He tried to hide his shock as he took his first real look at the broken man.
Anzi shooed the dazed drell back. "He will not always look like this. He will heal...but it will take time for every cell in his body to be...rewritten. That term is not the most accurate, but it is the easiest to understand. Now, let me get to work so that everything heals as it should."
The man was an odd mix of turian and something else...almost reaper like. She didn't understand what she was seeing, but she didn't need to. She reset and braced his mandibles and then worked on the rest of his face, carefully setting everything back into place. After several hours of working on the turian she stretched her sore limbs.
There was little she could do on this ship about the missing limbs and fingers. She had to give the cells time to do their job. She turned to her father. "Is the bacta tank ready?" she asked, her tone exhausted and irritated.
"Of course," he said briskly and turned to exit the room.
She started to activate the bed when Neo stopped her. "Can he be moved?" He made a motion of picking the man up.
She nodded. "Yes, he is stable and in no current danger."
"You will need someone to put him into the tank and I'm far faster than that damned table." Neo slipped his arms under the turian and scooped him up. He held him tight and charged through the halls, landmarks flashing by. He slowed as he entered the lab with the bacta-tank. He laid the man in the tank and began to attach the electrodes to his hide. He stepped away when Anzi arrived.
Anzi looked over the electrode placement and smiled at Neo. She gave the turian another injection to keep him sedated and typed in the command to close the tank. Healing, oxygenated, bacterial fluid, thicker than water, but not as thick as gel began to fill the tank. The turian would breath the healing fluid while he was emerged. She released the dextro nutrients into the gel, so that he would receive adequate nutrition...which was something, it appeared, he hadn't received in some time.
The tank rose into a standing position, the pressure of the fluid keeping the turian in place. She had done all she could for him. Now, it was a matter of time. Though, she would continue to monitor her patient at the Huerta for the next week or two, depending on how fast his body acclimated to the new cellular growth.
Neo found himself stopping by the bacta-tank several times a day on their journey back. He would pull up a chair and talk to the turian. He doubted the man could hear him, at least he hoped he could not, for he told him stories about his life as a slave, what he had gone through, how he had escaped...the man that changed his life, becoming a Spectre whose job it was to hunt corrupt Spectres...he left little out as the days went by. It felt good to unburden. He'd never told anyone but Nihlus about the life he'd led. He just hoped the man in the induced coma had not heard, but regardless, the telling was cathartic.
By the time they arrived back at the Citadel, no one really wanted to leave. The ship had a pool, a rec room, gym...everything you could want...everything luxurious...it was like the world outside the hull ceased to exist. The only reminder was the man in the bacta-tank.
Anzi lowered the tank to a reclined position, the bacta-gel drained away. She tilted the turian as his lungs automatically expelled the fluid to breath the air again. He already looked quite a bit better than he had, which wasn't saying a whole lot...she wished she could have kept him in the bacta-tank for at least a week. He needed it...but it was a technology she wasn't ready to give to the primitives for fear of it being abused. That and they were still in the process of creating more bact-aid gel. There simply wasn't enough for wide-spread dispersal.
Neo picked up the turian and transferred him to a hover-table. He drew the straps over the man to secure him and then backed away with a nod.
They transferred him to the hospital and into a private room. Anzi registered him as her patient and then went to check on the young man. She had him on an IV of dextro nutrients and pain killers. The sedative she'd given him to induce a coma would wear off soon, but the pain killers he would continue to need, because it was painful to alter cells and repair damage...and growing something new could be excruciating.
She scanned him with her holo-tool. She smiled, his gizzard was in the process of growing back. She wasn't sure why the man was missing it, but the cells were doing their job. How many more treatments he would need, she didn't know. A prothean would need no more treatments. The cell altering was permanent. She suspected it would be the same for the primitive, but time would be the deciding factor on that. Her smile remained in place as she left his room. She considered him a success story, even if the story was not completely written.
