#otek1

[queencfthegirlscouts-blog]

otek1 liked for a starter

“So you said you’re a scientist...”

[neodraek]

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”

[anzi1]

Neo - waking up

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.)

[anzi1]

She came in to check on her patient, found the turian passed out. He was either tired or refused to go to the mess...or both. She picked him up, laid him on a cot and covered him with a blanket. She sighed, looked over the readings and then went to the mess, gathering up a plate of dextro food. She jotted a note telling him to be sure to hit the mess.

If he didn't like it, then he should go fix his own plate. She set the covered plate on the small table near his cot and went back to bed.

______

She used her biotics to raise her to the top of the bacta chamber, punched in the holo keys that caused the top to slide into itself. She rose higher and then lowered herself into the tank with the drell. She gripped his shoulders for a moment and gave them a squeeze. She wasn't sure he could feel the touch, but she needed it as much as he did. She gently pushed him to the front of the chamber, until he couldn't move. She held her hand up and felt the syringe placed upon it.

She ran her hands down his spine, until her practiced fingers found the spot they needed. She tried not to think of her friend or the nice body beneath her fingers. She had no interest in the man, but she wasn't blind. She inserted the needle, very glad that he would not feel the pain of the spinal tap. She withdrew the precious fluid, held the syringe up. It was taken and another placed in its stead.

She gently tucked his head down and pushed him firmly against the chamber wall. She flipped on her holotool, its green light filling the fluid filled chamber, and scanned the back of his neck, Following the path directed, she inserted the needle into his brain-stem and withdrew a small amount of cell rich fluid.

She pulled him back to the center of the chamber. Gave his arm another squeeze and rose from the bacta serum.

When she lowered herself back to the ground, Vanny wrapped a towel around her. She murmured her thanks, and hurried over to her father, who was busy analyzing the spinal tap fluid.

She handed the small syringe with the stem cells and watched him begin to work on them. She absently rubbed her belly when her babies began to kick and then realized she hadn't gotten dressed. She slipped back into her robes.

_____

A few hours later, an excited cry brought her attention back to her father.  He was talking excitedly to Vanny. She hurried over to them.

"Ritumesium!"

She blinked. "You are not making sense, dad."

His smile broadened. "The oils produced by a flower found on Thessia." He frowned. "I'm not sure..." He'd never heard of the flower, yet that was the composition of an odd chemical that showed up minutely in his stem cells.

Savvy spun around. "The Rits plant is often used by asari. The petal oils are the weakest, the root oils the strongest. It is used to relax, and cause a more sensual and gratifying mind meld. Especially between two asari." She darted between Anzi and Otek, her lights flashing excitedly. "Humans discovered that it relaxes them to the point where their inhibitions are non-existent. According to C-Sec, it is used as a date-rape drug with humans. There are no reported records of the plant being used on a drell," the sultry voice intoned.

Otek flipped on his holotool and  pulled out a slide of blood. He put a tiny drop of the extracted chemical on the drop of blood. The three protheans watched the blood cells become still and die...and it happened in a blink.

"I'll start on the antidote," Otek said with a nod.

Anzi slipped over to the turian. "Talyn told me about your believing it to be a 'roofie'. I investigated what that was, but did not find any flunitrazepam in his system. But you were right about the date-rape idea. Dad found minute traces of ritumesium, the primary chemical found in the oils of the rits flower, that originated on Thessia. Asari use it to relax and enhance their mind meld and human's use it as a date-rape drug. I'm not sure how or why he was exposed. But when dad exposed his blood to the chemical, the cells died instantly. He is working on a cure." She paused letting him absorb what she said. "Despite having an antidote soon, he will have to remain in a medically induced coma until all his organs are functioning again. I'm sorry, it's only a matter of time now. He will survive this." She had to believe that.

[1tayln]

He let out a ragged sigh and dropped his head in his hands. It was done. For better or worse Neo was now his older brother. He didn't, for a moment, think Neo would use the connection to his advantage or try weasel money from him. He respected the man, trusted him and liked him a hell of a lot. He'd even gotten rather used to the name richdick. He knew it had become a term of endearment and he accepted that.

He wished, in truth, that Neo had been his brother. He would have saved him from the life he'd lived if he could. But then again, perhaps his brother would have died with the rest of his family during the invasion. He shook the thought from his head and rose from the desk. One day, when this damned war was over, he'd help Neo find his true birth family. He didn't even think that Neo would not survive this. The man had too much zest...or was it sass....to let a small think like death bring him down. 

He rose early, made sure all the documents he would need were in his datapad and headed off to the hospital at a fast clip, one hand on a stasis pod hovering next to him. Otek was on a quick trip to Illium with Vanny to gather a few black-market supplies he'd need for Neo's care. For the next three or four days, while awaiting their return, it would just be Neo in the bacta's embrace under Anzi's eagle eye. With, no doubt, the Council's guards parked outside the entry of his ship. 

He arrived at the Huerta and moved directly to the front desk. He handed them the document rich datapad and asked for the release papers. He nodded to Anzi, who took control of the stasis pod and moved off towards Neo's room.

The hospital seemed more than relieved to release the Spectre. It would get rid of the armed guards, a dead man they did not wish to add to their stats or get sued over, and it would keep the man's fiance from returning. Win-win in their eyes. 

The guards stepped aside, but kept careful eye on the proceedings. Draek was not allowed to leave the Citadel. And anywhere on the Citadel he went, they were to follow. 

By the time the release paperwork was finished and he'd made it back to his brother's room, Anzi already had Neo in the stasis pod. He looked down through the glass, his heart constricted with pain. The drell's eyes had been closed...thankfully, but the look of unimaginable agony was frozen on the man's features. And somehow...somehow, he looked smaller. Talyn sighed and backed away, nodding at Anzi. 

They left the hospital in silence. Not even the armed Spectre's could be heard. The silence lasted all the way to his ship, where he saw the flashing red light at his berth. His ship was locked down so they could not take off with Neo. No matter, they hadn't intended to leave. But if he wanted to, breaking lock-down was child's play. The guards pulled up, stood at either side of the airlock and allowed them to enter with the pod.

[anzi1]

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.

[neodraek]

[Msg: Spectre: Neo Draek] Turian subject kidnapped by maniacal drell doctor. Illegal experimenting on subject. Locate ASAP.

[Msg: Grand Poobah: Vorn]:  Not big on details are you? Trying to make my job harder? Who is the subject? Where was he last seen? Any demands made? Standard protocol, Otek. Even I need a little thing called deets.

[unholygobslobbersends-blog-blog]

Calm|| Atlas and Otek

At first it was just welcoming him into their odd little family. Him and his daughter… Then the longer they stayed the more she seemed to peek over at otek, and ask him questions.  He was smart, and he carried himself like a damn nobleman, but no matter how much that pissed him off she still couldn’t help but become drawn to him. She would peek into his lab every now and again and watch him fuss around with the chemicals, listen to the soft hum of the borrowed machines. It was almost relaxing, then he noticed her one day and they had that stupid spar and just. It shook everything up, she fell for his stupid charm and that scent.. It was about a week after they’re bond and she has been avoiding him ever since, even so much as hiding when he needed to have access to his room. Atlas was guessing he was away in his lab, usually he knocked or walked through by now to go to bed… but there wasn’t any real sign of him coming. Not now anyway.