[Book Three] Chapter 39: Hope

Chapter 39: Hope

Somber. That was the atmosphere aboard the Normandy. The entirety of the ground team was in the Crew Deck waiting to get some news from Karin who was operating on Rick. It was the second time for Jane to be in this situation, the first time being right after their escape from the Collector ship. It was even worse because of their failure on Thessia.  They had checked the beacon before Steve could come pick them up. To their dismay, Kai Leng had transferred the entirety of the database and left nothing behind.
Jane was mentally cursing herself. They had the answer of what was the catalyst but once again she made the same mistake. The same mistake she had made on Mars, Ilos and was stopped from doing on Noveria when chasing Saren. Asking questions to understand what was going on instead of directly asking what she needed. And now that had cost her and perhaps the rest of the Galaxy. Cerberus had the totality of the data the protheans had left behind for the Asari and god knew what they would do with it while the coalition was now in the dark about what to do except either finding Kai Leng or the Illusive man.

When the door to the med-bay opened and Karin walked out, Jane leaped out of her seat.

“He’s fine. I repaired the damage done to his stomach and he won’t have any problem. I can’t help with his spine however. I don’t have what’s necessary to help him with that.”
“What does that mean? Don’t you have everything needed to treat all wounds?”
“Most of them but not all, like spine and nerve damage of this kind. We need to go to the Citadel to have him treated properly. Until then I’m afraid he’s stuck in a wheelchair.”

“How long would it take for a full recovery?”
“For his stomach? A couple weeks. To walk again? From a month to many more, it all depends on his will, how well his body responds to the treatment and how good the doctor treating him is.”
“Thank you, Karin. Joker, we’re going to the Citadel. EDI try to get in touch with Miranda. She fixed me up from nothing, if someone can give him back the use of his legs, it’s her.”
“Roger that, Commander.”
“Everyone, meeting in the com center in three hours.” Jane ordered the rest of the crew and finally went inside the med-bay to look after her brother.

____________________________________________________________


Despite their best efforts, neither Ashley, Tali or Dorothea succeeded in comforting Liara. The fall of her homeworld, the truth about her people, Rick being hurt… It had been too much for her and she locked herself up in her quarters crying away everything she could. To think that all along the way to defeat the reapers was in the Asari possession but no matriarchs had even looked or shared the information made her sick and cry more.
She wasn’t the only one in that situation. Jane had gone back to her cabin and cried tears of rage, trashing her room around. She had failed and her failure doomed the galaxy. Whether the reapers won or the Illusive man succeeded was the same, she had lost and it was her fault. She hadn’t been strong enough, fast enough or smart enough. 

When she had left Earth she was full of doubts concerning their survival. A victory against the reapers was just a dream. Sure, she would have fought until the end but it was an unavoidable one. She had no delusions that the galaxy as a whole was not ready. When she met Liara back on Mars, and heard that there were blueprints for a weapon or some machine that could help them achieve victory, she finally had hope but still had some doubts. Hearing that Rick was here just washed those doubts away. She just knew that with him by her side they would win. She didn’t know how but she just knew it. It wouldn’t be a simple matter, that much was obvious. It would be a very hard fight but she knew that they would succeed. So far she had been right, the coalition between the different species was going well, every obstacle on their way was pulverized and they moved step by step closer to their goal, despite the numerous casualties that the reapers inflicted on them. Everything went wrong a few hours ago. Thessia was lost, the information on the catalyst was gone and her brother almost died and was stuck in a wheelchair for at least a month at the very minimum. The last part hit her the hardest. Without him on the field or just on the ship she wrongly felt that she couldn’t do it. She was not a quitter however and she would fight with everything she had, just like she promised herself back on Earth.

Smacking her hands on her cheeks to pull herself out of her mental state, she took multiple deep breaths to calm herself down. The time for lamenting was gone. She had a job to do and she would do it. Tidying her room first, she then went to the com center. The three hours were gone and they needed a new plan of actions before giving a report to Hackett.

____________________________________________________________

Karin was sitting on her chair at her desk, her mind far away, thinking of better times. She knew Jane and knew that the failure on Thessia was a hard hit. Without the information on the catalyst the war was lost and the redhead was probably angry beyond belief, especially with a member of the team down for the count. She was brought out of her reverie when a distinct alert on her terminal sounded. With only Rick as a patient, she turned around to check what was wrong when she saw him waking up, raising his hand to his oxygen mask, groggily.
In a flash she was up and by his side to pull back the mask in its proper position. She stopped mid-way when he weakly grabbed her hand and began to talk or rather whispered. Leaning to hear better she could only make out two words before his hand went limp, indicating that he fell unconscious. Her eyes big as saucers, she quickly put the mask on and ordered EDI to patch her through to Jane.

____________________________________________________________

“I need ideas! I need answers! I want to know where that asshole went! We need that data!” Jane shouted to the rest of the team which was surprisingly silent. “No one knows anything? No ideas on where he could have gone? Where Cerberus is?”
“I… I may have something.” Traynor said to the side and began to use the holo display in the middle of the room. “His shuttle took the relay leading to the Serpent Nebula.”
“That doesn’t help us much, there are half a dozen of them there.” stated Garrus.
“Yes but we can extrapolate his destination. The only relay not directly leading to a cluster under Reaper's invasion is this one.” she said and pointed towards a Cluster. “Out of the many destinations this relay can lead to without reapers' presence are all situated in the east part of the Traverse.”
“How do you know that he’s not going to a reaper…” Ashley began but was cut off by the voice of Chakwas over the com.
“Commander! I have urgent news!”
“Is Rick alright?” a worried Jane asked.
“Yes but he woke up for a moment. He was too weak to properly form a sentence and loud enough but I caught two words. Omni and data.”
“Omni and…” the redhead repeated, confused.
“Omni-tool! He has the data!” Liara exclaimed loudly, shocking everyone.
““““What?!””””
“Jane! He was fumbling with his omni-tool the whole time we were talking with Vendetta!”
“He was?!”
“Yes. I didn’t pay attention at the time but now his behavior makes sense!”
“What behavior?” inquired a puzzled Kaidan.
“He was letting Jane talk!”
“I don’t understand how this is relevant.” Javik said.
“It is relevant because usually he wouldn’t have let me. He would have taken the lead and gone straight to the point with the questions! But he didn’t!”
“Because he didn’t need to since he was making a copy of the data.” Liara added.
“How do you know it’s a copy?” asked Tali.
“Because Kai Leng wouldn’t have left without it. That actually explains why  he didn’t go all out during the fight. He wasn’t charging much and he was only using his shotgun. Not once did he use his sword in close quarters, and focused on using his fists when he was disarmed and dodging. He was buying time to get a full copy of the data!” Jane explained as she realized it.
“But why buy time if he could have trash the guy in the first place?” wondered James aloud, making everyone think for a moment.
“He set a trap.” EDI announced.
““““A trap?””””
“Cerberus thinks they have won. They believe that they have the data and no one else.” the AI explained.
“Making them think they have achieved victory to make them lower their guard while we’re readying ourselves to stab them in the back. Clever tactic.” commented Javik.
“I don’t get it. How would that help?”
“The data is big, James, and Vendetta activated its security protocol, it would take some time for Cerberus to go through it and then translate the prothean it's written in and then find the information on the catalyst. Since they think they have won they might put all their resources on it or at least an important part of it.” Liara explained.
“I wouldn’t go that far but it took them months to deal with part of the data from Mars. It would probably take more with this one.” Dorothea said.
“And they probably won’t bother checking up on us, since they think we're running around like a headless chicken. Their best course of action would be to go dark and not leave any trace. Meanwhile, we have four people who can read prothean without Cerberus to look over our shoulder and disturb us. Meaning, we’re free to get the information on the catalyst.” added Jane.
“I still say we should kick their asses. You know, just in case they got the info first.”
“James is right but also to make sure they don’t screw us over when it’s time to use the crucible or get the catalyst.” Ashley added her two credits.
“EDI, get into Rick’s omnitool and send a copy of the data to Liara, Javik and I so we can search for the catalyst. Traynor, good work on tailing Kai Leng, keep your eyes open for any information concerning Cerberus whereabouts, we need to take them down.”

Everyone nodded and left the com center. Jane watched her team leave and couldn’t help herself to hope again. Her baby brother had given the whole galaxy a golden opportunity and she would make sure as hell she wouldn’t waste it.

____________________________________________________________

It took two days for Rick to wake up. When he did, Tali was by his side holding his hand in support.

“Doctor, he’s awake.” he heard his best friend say then got blinded by the light Karin shoved into his eyes. Or at least that’s how it felt.
“If… I wasn’t blind… I am now.” he said with a short breath and difficulty.
“Pupils responding properly, that’s good. How are you feeling?”
“Did Joker run me over again? ’Cause it feels like it.”
“Not this time, no. What do you remember?”
“Kai Leng. Stabbed me in the back. I was trying to…”
“We know, we’re already working on the data. Though it’s difficult without the VI; Jane, Liara and Javik have to read everything.” informed the quarian.
“How did you know?”
“You suddenly woke up for a brief moment after your surgery and muttered about it. I was lucky to catch the words Omni and data before you lost consciousness.”
“I have no memory of that.”
“That’s not a surprise. I think it was your subconscious acting up.”
“Are you saying that I sleep talked?”
“That’s the best explanation I have. Now, how are you feeling?”
“Do I have a concussion too or did you already ask me that?”
“I already asked you but you made a joke. I’d like a proper answer this time.”
“Well… I’m hungry for one.”
“Really? You slept for two days after a surgery for getting stabbed and the first thing you say is that you feel hungry?” Tali said in an exasperated tone.
“Yeah. I feel weak but that’s not surprising and some pain in my…”
“...”
“...”
“Rick?”
“I don’t feel my legs.” he said and Tali looked up at Karin, something that he didn’t miss. “Please, don’t tell me I’m…”
“Paraplegic, yes.” Chakwas answered and Rick's heart rate quickened, skyrocketing as he began to hyperventilate. That was one of the worst fears for him. Being trapped by his own body.
“Calm down! It’s temporary!” Karin quickly said but that didn’t help one bit. In the end, she had to sedate him to calm him down.
“That’s not good. How will he walk again if he has a panic attack at the simple thought of…”
“I don’t know. Psychology is not my expertise.” replied Karin in worry.

____________________________________________________________

Jane was in Liara’s quarter, helping her with translating the data. To be more precise she was helping Liara and EDI finish a translating program that Rick had begun to code to help the former back on Mars. The asari’s mood had completely shifted at the news of having the data in their possession, having the knowledge that the fall of Thessia had not been in vain in the end. When the door to the room opened they saw Tali enter.

“Anything new?” Jane asked.
“He woke up.”
“Finally!” the redhead said as she stood up from her seat.
“Doctor Chackwas had to sedate him, though. He didn’t take the news well.” the quarian added and Jane sat back down.
“I should have known.”
“Perhaps Kelly should talk to him?” Liara said from her bed.
“I doubt that would help. Maybe giving him the data to skim through would.” Jane thought to herself aloud.
“Any news on Miranda?” asked Tali.
“She’s on the Citadel and will be at the dock when we arrive. Dr. Michel has agreed to lend her tools, so we’re bringing him there. What about you? Can you pick up his work?”
“Please. Of course I can. Well, the hardware part at least. Everything software is EDI’s to deal with. Can’t help with the chameleon armor but I can with the catsuits and I mean by that making them. Furthering his research on the other abilities is not my area of expertise.”
“What about the new thermal clip?”
“That’s a bit complicated. On one part I understand what he’s trying to do on the other his notes… It’s not even notes, it’s just a few words here and there or a doodle. Some make sense, others not so much. Honestly if someone else would take a look they wouldn’t understand anything. But don’t worry, I understand enough to make something.”
“Good.”
“I’m also done creating a second lightsaber. I don’t know why he didn’t do it himself but it’s done.”
“I didn’t have the training to use it so he may not have seen a point to waste time on making one. There were more important things to do.”
“I’m surprised he got this far with some of his ideas without me around though at the same time, not so much. The new cannon and shield.. That was brilliant.”
“You should have seen Garrus’ face when he got out of his hole with Rick in tow.” Liara chuckled. “You would have thought he met the goddess himself like his world had been turned upside down.”
“That was quite the sight.” confirmed Jane.

“I bet. Any chance you have a picture?”
“Maybe EDI?”
“I’ll ask her.”

With nothing else to talk about Tali left for the workshop to finish what she was doing before taking a break to go see Rick. Now alone, Liara and Jane discussed the situation further.

“Do you intend to tell her? About you and him I mean.”
“I don’t know… I trust her like I trust you but…You caught on to it and are fine with it because of your culture. Ash is… well… she is a bit of a degenerate when it’s about sex so is Jennifer and EDI doesn’t care. I don’t want to… you know.”
“I do. Speaking of family ties, what about your mother? How did she take his new… status?”
“She doesn’t know.”
“You didn’t tell her?!”
“No. I… dread what she would do. You heard Tali, he didn’t take the news well. Adding our mother to the mix? I don’t think it’s a good idea. She may do her work by his bedside.”
“I’m sure you’re exaggerating.”
“She’s relentless, Liara. She doesn’t stop until she gets what she wants. If she does it’s simply to come back stronger than ever. She wants him back and she will do anything to get him.”
“Like mother, like son. And like daughter.”
“You have no idea. The main difference is that Rick is smarter hence more subtle. Our mother is more like a bulldozer.”
“Still, you should tell her. She has a right to know.”
“I know, it’s just…Him alone with her with no means of escape, I… I don’t want him to think I’m siding with her or trapping him. That would be the worst.”
“It’s your decision in the end. Make sure you don’t regret it.”

____________________________________________________________

Explaining to him that he would be able to walk again has been, in the end, pretty easy. Jane was as blunt as possible and got things straight on the spot. Her authoritative tone left no doubt of what she expected him to do and that was to pull himself together and go forward. The fact that his situation wasn’t permanent and that he would walk again calmed him down a bit. Working on the data and explaining to Tali his projects kept his mind focused on something else.
When they arrived on the Citadel a day later, Rick had requested that Garrus would be the one to carry him outside the ship to the clinic, to everyone’s surprise.

“Why me?”
“Because It’s about time you pull your head out of your ass and ask Dr. Michel out.” replied nonchalantly Rick.
“What?!”
“Garrus, she’s been pinning for you for years.”
“Really?”
“She bought you expensive Turian Chocolate.” Liara, noted.
“That doesn’t mean anything. Dr. Michel has always been kind.” he denied.
“Garrus.” was all Jane said in a nonsense way. The turian looked at the face of his teammates that had all the same exasperated expression. “It’s fine if you’re not interested, but don’t miss the opportunity if you are. The galaxy is shitty enough as it is that having something good in your life is important.”
“And no, calibrations don't count.” added Tali in a mock tone.
“I… Should I get some flowers or…”
“That would be a start. We’re here for a few days anyway to make Cerberus believe we’re nursing our wounds. You have plenty of time to ask her out.”

The turian nodded and began to think about his situation while carrying Rick on his shoulders. When the Normandy docked and the team left it, Miranda was waiting on the dock with an empty wheelchair and Garrus put his load on it.

“Hello, Miranda.” greeted Rick as did the others.
“Hello to you too. Ready to go?”
“Not like I have much of a choice.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll fix you up.”
“I know, it’s just… having to learn how to walk again… That’s just.. Ugh.”
“See the bright side of it.”
“There is a bright side? I must have missed the memo.” he replied sarcastically.
“You won’t be there as long as the last time.”
“... That still sucks.”
“Well, maybe next time you’d be more careful when you’re executing a plan.” Jane interjected.

Rick took it on himself to not lash out to say that if he hadn’t had the need to save her ass again he wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with and simply sighed in defeat. He knew that she probably already felt guilty about it and that if she didn’t, she didn’t need to be added on the heavy weight she already had on her shoulders.
The team split with Miranda, Garrus pushing him and Ashley who went along for support and to see her sister, going to the clinic while the rest of the team went to do their own thing. Sarah had been quite surprised when she welcomed the whole group and completely shocked when she saw Rick’s state. From seeing him fight she knew that beating him was no small feat. She was taken aside by Ashley while Dr. Michel led Miranda to the operating room.

“I know that I don’t have to say it but I’ll do it anyway. Everything and anything you learn about him, you must keep to yourself. Not even mom, or Abby and Lyn.”
“Classified?”
“Very.” Ashley replied and got a nod from Sarah.
“Does it happen often?”
“Him getting hurt? Not that much.”
“I meant, the secret stuff but yes; him getting hurt works too. What happened?”
“It happens a lot the more you go up the ranks. As for him getting hurt… No it doesn’t. Though this time it was a calculated risk.”
“A calculated risk?”
“Yes.”

Seeing that she would not say anything more Sarah didn’t ask further questions. When she saw Dr. Michel and Garrus walking back out of the operating room walking close and speaking in a low volume, she raised a brow.

“Your friend and the Dr.?”
“She’s been in love for years, he was just too dense to notice.” Ashley replied with a smile.

____________________________________________________________

At the human embassies, Jane was standing outside the door of her mother’s office, not knowing what she would do once inside. She hadn’t made a decision yet as she wasn’t sure of what to do. She was brought out of her thoughts when the door opened and Bailey nearly rammed into her.

“Commander?”
“Bailey, nice to see you.”
“Nearly bumped into you. You must be in quite the pickle if you stand behind a door like that.”
“You don’t know the half of it. But it’s war, so…”
“Oh, you don’t have to say it, I understand.”

She let the man out and entered the office. The door barely closed and Hannah was already on her with a fierce hug.

“What happened?”
“A lot.”

Jane went to the long distance communication console to get Hackett on the line. She wondered if the man ever slept as he was always immediately available, no matter the time she called him.

“Hanna, Commander. I was expecting a report sooner. Did you get the artifact on Thessia? Do you have a lead on the catalyst?”

Jane took a deep breath and began to relate the events on the Asari homeworld. She held back nothing, including Rick’s on the fly plan to deal with Cerberus.

“This… this is good, Commander. We finally caught up to Cerberus, hell we may even be ahead of them by a few steps and they don’t even know it. Once again his ability to see how things are going to be played saved us a lot of trouble. How is he holding up? How bad are his wounds?”
“His spine was damaged and he lost the use of his legs. As we speak Miranda Lawson is operating on him to fix that problem but he’s out of the field for the foreseeable future.”
“Miranda Lawson? Isn’t she the one that brought you back?” asked Hannah.
“Yes, that’s why I know he’ll be fine but I… don’t know where to go from here without him on board. On one hand, he’s the one that will probably find what the catalyst is but on the other hand he is my best element on the team. If we were as successful so far it’s because of him and I’m not sure of what I should do to not get Cerberus suspicious of the situation.”
“Jane…”
“You’re selling yourself short, Commander.”
“Oh, I know I would have been successful, but I can’t guarantee that I would have achieved that level of success. The reapers on Tunchanka? Rannoch? The deal with the Salarian? Hell, we would be sitting on our hands right now if he didn't have the presence of mind to make a copy of the data. I guess what I mean is… I realized that I’ve been depending on him too much to point me in the right direction to get things done. Now I don’t really know where to go and what to do. There is no more alliance to make, no more peace to broker. There is only finding what the catalyst is or fighting the reapers directly. Both choices are a no go. The former because that would make Cerberus suspicious if I’m not active around the galaxy, the latter because we’re not ready for that fight yet.”
“In other words you need to do something. You’re in luck, Commander. I have plenty of things for you to do. Evacuating important personnel, retaking crucial outposts or more importantly meeting a scientist on the Citadel.”
“A scientist?” asked a puzzled Jane.
“Yes. Dr. Garett Byson contacted me a short while ago, saying that he had uncovered important new information about the Reapers that could have a significant bearing on the war.”
“Did he say what?” inquired Hannah.
“Unfortunately no but he said it was linked to their history. It’s worth getting a look into.”
“I will meet the man as soon as possible, sir.”
“Anything else to report?”
“With the failure of the matriarchs and their actions, Rick was thinking of… well another coup so to speak… Getting rid of them and having Matriarch Aethyta be in charge.”
“That’s not a matriarch I ever heard of.”
“She’s Liara’s father. Feisty, ready to fight and understand the need of working together. She was more or less dismissed because she had ideas that the other matriarchs deemed ridiculous and silly.”
“Such as?”
“Building their own mass relay instead of relying on the existing ones and being independent from other species. However,  she understands that we all need to work together if we want to survive.” Jane answered her mother.
“That’s quite smart. The relays are Reaper’s technology after all.”
“Rick thinks that they are in control of them. That the time spent on hyper space could be instantaneous and that’s why they are advancing so fast. Just like the conduit.”
“Why do we spend days or weeks in hyper space then? Why not shut the relays down to lock us in a cluster and exterminate us?”
“I do not know. Perhaps so we could flee and gather into hidden shelters they don’t know about and reap us to make sure no trace of our civilizations are left along with no survivors? To make sure their objective is hundred percent complete?”
“Well, that’s a problem for another time. Having a matriarch in charge ready to join the fight with us and our allies is more important.”
“I’ll talk with Tevos about it, she will probably help as she was dissatisfied with the matriarchs.”
“You may want to talk with Aria, too. Tevos is deferring to her. Apparently the queen of Omega is not just a big deal in the Terminus. Her support could help a lot.”
“I will, thank you.”
“The last thing I have to report is the development of an upgrade of the thermal clip, it’s in the early stage but the idea is to have it more compact to allow more mods on weapons and to increase the number of shots fired from six to eight times before needing to reload.”
“Six to eight times?!”
“Commander, that’s an enormous increase. The shields and barriers would fall even faster. That could change the war in our favor on the ground. This needs to be a priority.”
“I already put Tali on it. She has some difficulty because she’s not much on the theory side of things but EDI is helping her.”
“Good, send me everything on it once it’s ready. We cannot afford to pass on this.”

Hackett disconnected and left Hannah and Jane alone. Before the former could say anything the latter spoke up.

“You should not go see him.”
“Why?”
“Mom, he already feels trapped with his legs disabled and he didn’t take it well. At all. What do you think will happen if you’re there? You don’t want a powerful biotic thrashing around, believe me.”
“I’ll go when he’s asleep then.”
“Just… Make sure he doesn’t see you.”
“I knew that getting back in his life would be the hardest thing I have ever done but…” she didn’t finish her sentence and simply sighed out of tiredness.
“You made your bed…”
“I know. It won’t stop me though.” Hannah replied with determination.
“Of course not, you’re too stubborn for that.”
“I’ll have you know, it’s a family trait.” was said in a very unamused tone with a very unamused face.
“I’m not that stubborn. I’m determined, that’s all.”
“Uh-huh. Sure. Keep telling yourself that.”