Concerto - 5 - Here in the Silence
Pairing: mShenko | Rating: M
Notable tags: Canonical character death, graphic depictions of violence, desperate mutual pining
Summary: Shepard struggles. Kaidan spirals. Joker is an unwilling participant in a 3am conversation.
Chapter 5: Here in the Silence (Ao3)
Karin Chakwas grips the corner of a medical bed as the engines whine, deck plates shuddering under the churn of the inertial dampeners as the Normandy kicks hard and free of Virmire’s atmosphere.
Shepard calls for her over the comm, but she can’t retrieve Lieutenant Alenko’s hardsuit data to prepare, and she’s watching her scans when Williams’ transponder disappears.
No. We can’t lose them both. We can’t lose—
The med bay door swishes open and Shepard fills the space, cradling Alenko to his chest, blood smeared across his chest plate. Alenko’s eyes flutter, one arm hanging limp, the other draped loose around Shepard’s neck. No readings from his suit, none at all, as Shepard lays him on the nearest bed, expression stricken.
“Sam,” Alenko mumbles as Shepard removes his helmet. “Sam, please.”
Karin’s body is moving even as her brain tries to catch up, the training she’s honed for over thirty years overriding everything else.
“Get his armor off,” she snaps. If the hardsuit’s medical exoskeleton isn’t giving her data, it’s of no use to her. He’s bleeding, badly, and she needs access. She calls over Serviceman Lowe, the med tech still finishing with Tali, but gives Shepard space to work. No one knows Alenko’s armor better than he does – he’ll have the fastest hands to get it off.
He releases the chest plate, thigh gauntlet. The reactive armor is not designed to be removed so easily, but Shepard is an N7 trained in frontline trauma. He flash-fabricates a blade with his omni-tool and knows where to cut.
The worst breach is in the soft armor over his left side. Medical scan tells her it’s the renal artery.
“He’s O-negative,” Shepard stammers when his hands come away bloody. “I’m not…I’m not compatible.”
“I know his blood type, Commander, get his armor off so I can save his life. Lowe, I need to do a celiotomy.”
As soon as Shepard steps away she takes over, barking orders and prepping the lieutenant for surgery.
It’s always easier to think of them as their rank when they’re on the table.
Two salarian bodies in the morgue, and one body left on Virmire that will never come home.
She’s not adding the lieutenant to the list.
Read the rest on Ao3 | Read from the beginning | The Concerto Playlist
