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Garrus sat in the chair by the hospital bed. Solana sat on the foot of the bed and Castis and Volena sat in the bed. They were all watching the latest episode of Fleet and Flotilla the series. The episode stopped for a short ad break.
“So Shepard is Garrus’ new mate?” Solana asked.
“Yep.” Garrus answered.
“And she was working with dad so he could chastise her on her missions.”
“That’s right.” Castis said.
“And all the while she was working on curing mom and setting us up at this hospital for free?”
“Seems like it.” Volena said.
“Spirits, I can’t believe I hated her. No, what I really can’t believe is that she would go through all this for Garrus.” Solana quipped.
“Neither can I.” Garrus admitted. “How am I supposed to be worthy of being her mate now? And what kind of bonding gift do I get her that can compare. ‘Hey Shepard thanks for saving my mom from an incurable disease. Here is a really cool gun I bought you for a bonding gift. Want to bond with me?’ She’ll never go for it.”
Solana giggled. “I’m sure she will like whatever you get her sweety.” Volena said helpfully.
“Just focus on being there for her and making her happy. But son…”
“Yes dad.”
“If it comes down to the two of you I will pick her over you.” He said with light teasing in his subvocals.
“I wouldn’t want it any other way dad.” Garrus agreed. Spirits he never felt this way about anyone before.
“ Breaking news. SPECTRE Shepard’s ship The Flock has reportedly been destroyed.”
“DAD turn it up!”
“ At this time the fate of the Spectre is unknown.” The news broadcast went on to say that who or what destroyed the ship was unknown. Shepard’s fate was unknown. Everything was unknown. Garrus heard his family try and talk to him but his mind was far away.
Your ship is named The Flock?
Yeah ‘cuz I’m a Shepard and this is my Flock. It’s a human joke. It plays off the word Shepherd. A person who is responsible for tending and protecting a group of sheep called a Flock.
You tend and protect your ship?
No, it's a play on the words.
Must not translate well.
Spirits when was that conversation? Two weeks ago? Three? It wasn’t that long ago. Now he might never get to hear her speak again.
His family was still trying to get his attention but he couldn’t hear anything over the keening.
~~~~~~
Saren was flying his ship through the Terminus System. Shepard’s new mate got off at the Citadel and Shepard got on her own ship for a change to do a mission of her own.
I still don’t understand why you constantly ride with us if you have your own ship.
I can barely afford the fuel to travel. I only take it on personal missions.
How are you so bad with money? These missions should pay for all the fuel you could ever want. Not to mention you get a cut of all the planets you survey.
I have a very expensive side project.
So that left Saren on his own as he wiped out Batarian Slavers praying on human colonists. There was a standing bounty for this work and it was easy. His comms were open to all frequencies so that when a distress call came in he could easily respond and take out the batarians. That is why he was prepared for the incoming distress call but not prepared for who it was from.
Mayday, mayday. This is Spectre Shepard of The Flock requesting assistance. I have been hit by something and my ship is severely damaged. Please respond anyone.
“Shepard? This is Spectre Arterius. I got your coordinates and am moving to help. What is your damage over?”
Only the hiss of Static greeted him in return.
“Shepard, this is Saren. Please respond.” Static again. He maneuvered the ship to go get her.
There was no question when they got to the coordinates. Ship debris was everywhere. Nihlus and Saren just stared at it unmoving. They tried radioing Shepard again but there was still no response.
In silence they ran every scanner they had over the debris field. Finally they came upon a piece of debris that had life signs. Getting as close as they could they pulled it up on the visual monitor. There was Shepard in her space suit drifting in space clutching what looked like a briefcase to her chest.
“Shepard, come in.” Nihlus called her personal channel. The figure drifting didn’t even flinch.
Saren started to get dressed in his space suit and put his helmet on.
“What are you doing?” Nihlus asked him.
“I’m going to get her.” He said strapping a long tether to his suit.
“You can’t be serious. Space walks are already dangerous enough as it is. This isn’t just a space walk, it's a space float. There is nothing for your mag boots to cling to and you won't be able to control where you float too. It’s too dangerous.” Nihlus said.
“If I don't, she dies. She is unconscious and running out of oxygen as it is.” Saren explained. He stepped into the airlock.
“Just be careful.” Nihlus whispered. Saren bumped his helmeted forehead against Nihlus’ forehead crest and closed the air lock. Soon he was jettisoned into space.
“I have visual.” He told Nilus on his comms. He floated towards her human spacesuited form. Nihlus was wrong; he did have a way to maneuver. He pulled out his hoverboard and activated it. He was able to use the propulsion on the hoverboard to effectively steer towards Shepard. He let the hoverboard float away as he grabbed a hold of her. “I have her. Pull me back.” He felt a jerk as the tether reeled him back towards the ship.
Once inside he tore Shepard’s helmet off. She gasped for air and her hands grabbed his suit. She started to shake. “Medbay. Clear the medbay.” He shouted and raced for all he could to the medbay. Placing her on the cot the doctor came over.
“We don’t have any Levo supplies. Without them she will die.” He told Saren.
“Can do dextro.” Came a small voice on the cot. They turned to her.
“Sir. If we give her dextro medicine she will die.” The doctor explained.
“Can do it. Please.” She looked at Saren. Her green eyes pleading.
“Her mate is turian. Do it. Give her all the medical supplies she needs. Nihlus set a course for Sur’Kesh. If we are going to take her to the hospital then we might as well take her to the same one her mate is at.” Saren left the medbay with their orders.
Saren walked into the communication room and sat in front of a council. He hesitated but typed in a number he never used but alway remembered.
“Admiral Shepard here…Saren is that you?”
“Hello Hanna.” He told the image of Hanna Shepard.
“Hello. What can I do for you?” She asked wearily.
“The Flock went down.” Seeing her blank stare he amended “Jane’s ship.”
“Jane’s ship went down?” She repeated. “Is she alright?”
“I don’t know Hanna. She isn’t in good shape. She’s in surgery on my ship now. I’ll let you know when she gets out. But I thought you deserved to know first.”
“Thank you Saren.” Then there was awkward silence.
“I should —” Saren started.
“Where are you on route to?” Hanna cut in.
“Sur’Kesh. They have a good hospital there and that is where her mate is. I think she would feel better recovering if she was near him.”
“She has a mate? A boyfriend?” Hanna asked.
“Yeah it’s fairly new. Much better than the last one she had.” Saren suppliled hoping to take Hanna’s mind off her daughter that was in surgery.
“She had one before?” Hanna asked.
“Yeah for a while. They were talking about getting bonded before she realized he didn’t mean it. Didn’t Jane tell you any of this ?”
“The last time I spoke to Jane was at her Spectre ceremony.”
“Spirits, Hanna, that was 3 years ago.”
“Already? My, how does time fly. I guess we both have been busy.”
“Too busy to talk to your daughter for three years?” Saren asked absolutely in awe.
“I guess so. I keep up with her career and . . . rumors. Tell me Saren is her new boyfriend human or turian? Although if he is at Sur'Kesh maybe Salarian.”
“Turian. His mom is there getting treatments for a previously incurable disease. Jane cured it last week.”
“I’m glad she looks out for her mother-in-law so much.”
“Hanna, why don’t you want her with a turian so badly? Why is it so important to you?” Saren asked.
“You know the answer to that, Saren. I’ll take some leave time to visit Sur’Kesh and see her. Please let me know when she is out of surgery.” And with that she hung up.
Saren sat staring blankly at the terminal screen for a long time. He couldn’t believe the conversation that just happened. He lost track of how long he sat there so he had no idea how much time passed before his doctor entered the communication room.
“Sir!” The doctor said.
“Report.” Saren ordered.
“The patient will make a full recovery.” Saren breathed easier. “However, there is something I need you to see.” The doctor handed him a datapad with a human skeleton on it.
“What am I looking at, doctor?”
“She took the dextro based medicine quite well, like a turian would. I got suspicious and did a full array of tests. As you can see by her skeleton she isn’t human.”
“I don’t know what a human skeleton looks like, doctor. It looks normal enough for a human.” The doctor pointed to the datapad and parts of the skeleton lit up.
“She has had several surgeries on her feet. From what it looks like it seems her feet grew in similar to ours. She had corrective surgery to bend them like a human’s would. Then if you look at the calf you can see what is left of a bone growing out of the femur. Like a bone spur that turians have. Her waist is too narrow for a human and look at her head.”
“I can see her hair.”
“Human hair doesn’t have bones in it so it wouldn’t show up on an x ray. It’s fringe.”
“What does this mean doctor?”
“If I didn’t know better I would swear this x-ray belonged to a human/turian hybrid.”
“That isn’t possible.”
“And yet the evidence doesn’t lie.”
“You’re dismissed doctor. Get some rest and report back in the morning.”
“Yes sir.”
After the doctor left Saren sprinted down to the medical bay. Shepard was asleep on a cot so he walked over to her carefully. He touched her skin. It was smooth to the touch but when he pressed on it, it didn’t give as much as he was expecting. He ran his hand over her scalp and felt that behind the squishy flesh he could feel bone like a small fringe.
She opened her eyes slowly and turned to him. “Hey.” She said sleepy.
“I didn’t mean to wake you, go back to sleep.” He told her in a whisper.
“The doctor figured out my secret and told you.” She whispered back.
“What secret?” He asked, still whispering. Whatever this was, it was too important to use a regular tone.
“I’m 28 years old. My mom carried me for 10 months. My birthday is April 11. You can do the rest of the math.”
He did, and he didn’t like it.
“Rest.” He told her.
“Have a good conversation.” She chuckled at him but her eyes fell closed and she drifted off to sleep.
He stormed down back to the communication room and angrily dialed the number again.
“Admir–”
“WHO IS HER FATHER?!?” He bellowed at Hanna Shepard.
“Hello Saren.” Hanna said perfectly calm.
“Don’t ‘hello Saren’ me! I asked you a question. How is it possible for her to take dextro medicine, have Turian features, and be born when she was. I am going to ask again. Who is her —”
“You are Saren.” Hanna said calmly again. Saren just started to breathe heavily and sat down. “Is she alright?”
“We are on our way to Sur’Kesh now. She will make a full recovery.” He said automatically.
“Thank you for the update. I should go.” And she hung up again. Saren just sat there for a long while. Finally he got up and ran into Nihlus in the hall.
“Wow Saren you okay? I was just on my way to see Shepard.” Saren grabbed him and then led him into the bar area that every ship should have for this exact reason.
He poured himself a shot and took it. Then he poured one for him and Nihlus and took it again. Then he poured another.
“Saren. What happened? Is Shepard all right?” Nihlus asked, looking at his shot.
“Nihlus. I need you to tell me the truth.” Saren began.
“Of course.”
“Did you sleep with Shepard?”
“No, never.”
“Promise?”
“Yes. I wanted to once but she shot me down. What is happening?” Nihlus asked concerned.
“I have to tell you something.” Saren took a shot and refilled it. “When I was 16 and a freshly made Spectre I met and fell in love with a wonderful woman.”
Nihlus finally took his shot. “You mean mom.” Saren refilled his glass.
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you know.” Saren told him.
“Shepard told me actually. When I asked why she turned me down for sex she explained it was because of my father. I told her I didn’t know who he was and she said it was you. I didn’t believe her so I asked uncle Laiel. He said it was true and I went digging through the Heiracy’s files for bonded couples and discovered it was true.”
“Good, never believe what someone tells you without verifying it for yourself.” Saren praises him.
“What does that have to do with Shepard?” Nihlus asked.
“Do you remember the war with the humans?” Saren asked him taking another shot.
“No, I was only four.” Nihlus reminded him.
“Right well I was briefly involved in it. I went to assess the humans and what they were capable of and my transport was shot down by a young fiery human. I took her transport out and we crashed landed on a planet. Well once we declared a truce we didn’t have much else to do so we decided to take our exploration a tad farther and see how far humans and turians were compatible.”
“Okay so Shepard isn’t the only one on the ship who slept with another race. I still don’t understand.”
“That human was Hanna Shepard. Jane’s mom. Less than a year later she had Jane. The timing works. Jane is your half-sister.” He didn’t take a shot. He just drank from the bottle.
“You just told me not to take something without verifying it. That isn’t possible and I think you might be drunk.” Nihlus told him.
“Here.” He hands him a datapad with the doctor’s notes on it. “Go ask Jane and verify it yourself. Also I am drunk. I’m going to rest now.” And with that he places his hand on Nihlus' shoulder and leaves.
Nihlus gets to work reading over the medical notes.
~~~~
Garrus hasn’t moved in 4 hours. Ever since the news report of Jane’s ship going down he hasn’t been able to do anything but rock in his chair and keen. His family tried to talk to him but it didn’t work.
The only thing that got through to him was that his mom’s hospital room overlooked the landing pad. He saw Saren’s ship touch down and keened harder.
“He’s coming to tell me in person that she didn’t make it.” Sol was by his side and looked out the window. She had a crush on Nihlus and wanted to catch a glimpse of him.
“I don’t think so, Garrus. Look they are unloading something.” And they saw a stretcher being wheeled out with what looked like an unconscious human on it. Garrus was up in a flash and raced towards the landing zone. He caught up to the stretcher and noticed it was Jane on it.
“Good. Now I don't have to track you down.” Saren said. “Our doctor on board did everything he could but he thinks she will make a full recovery.” They wheeled her into a medical room and the doctor politely but firmly told them to wait outside.
Soon a Salarian doctor came out and walked up to the three of them. Nihlus joined them in the waiting room after a few minutes. He was holding a package in his hand.
“Shepard’s party?” the doctor asked.
“Dr. Solas, is Shepard going to be okay?” Garrus asked.
“Yes, yes. She received excellent care onboard the Spectre’s ship. Should make a full recovery. Did she have a package with her?” Mordin asked.
“This is what she was clinging to when we found her.” And Nihlus handed over the package.
“Good this is the last thing I need for your mother Vakarian. Mate and Mother will be fine now.” And with that Mordin left towards his lab.
The three went into Shepard’s hospital room and sat quietly. Eventually she opened her eyes and she scanned the room. When her eyes landed on Garrus she smiled. “Hey big guy. I didn’t worry you,did I?”
“Me? Nah. I loved hearing how my new mate might be…hurt. And Not knowing if she was… it makes life exciting. But please no more excitement.” He leaned down and brushed their foreheads together.
“No promises.” She smiled back at him. Then her smile fell. “I lost the package that I was supposed to get to treat your mom. I’m sorry.”
“No you didn’t Shepard.” Nihlus spoke up and she turned to him. “You were clinging to it as you were spaced.”
“Spirits! You were spaced.” Garrus paled at the idea.
“We can talk about it later. First get some rest.” Saren said and got up to leave. Before he did he bumped his forehead with hers. “Daughter.” He whispered and left the room.
“What did I miss?” Garrus asked Nihlus.
“A lot. I’ll fill you in.” Nihlus answered and they left as Shepard closed her eyes at got some sleep.