ataraxion | Video

[The video flicks on to reveal a particularly banged up Commander Shepard still sitting in Medical, her scars cracking and glowing orange-red just a little more than they had been previously. She's got the communicator propped up so she doesn't have to move around too much. Getting it that way had required her to be entirely too patient and she was running thin on that. Being in a bed was by far the one thing she didn't want to do. While she's feeling better, it's clear that getting up is probably not something that's going to be happening for awhile yet. When she speaks, her voice is weary but there's steely determination in there.]

My name is Commander Sarka Shepard of the SSV Normandy SR-2 requesting a sitrep -- any information on our current whereabouts or mission parameters would be particularly helpful. Obviously, this-- [Shepard waves, indicating the ship itself.] --is not at all something I remotely recognize as being any sort of ship or facility design I am familiar with in the least. So, useful details would be appreciated.

[The muscles in her jaw tighten and twitch as she turns away, gingerly reaching for a glass of water. There's a brief flare of her biotics and she pauses to refocus. Nothing was working properly and it didn't help that she was irritated. Getting a hold of the glass, she drains it, and leans painfully to put it back down.]

I'll be Medical, probably for a few more hours, and then I think I'll drag my sorry ass to my quarters.

[She makes a face.]

I could think of better ways to wake up.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Pretty much what I say before every mission. So far, I've only been dead once.

[ Eyebrow raise. ] You look like you got better. [ Mostly. ]

A few people and a some deep pockets decided they needed me alive more than dead. So, yeah. I got better before they threw me back into the fire.

[Shepard can't figure out if she wants to laugh and her expression slides on into a half grimace and a slight laugh. It was bizarre, a little ridiculous, and goddamned miraculous all at once. But there was that war still raging that said she ought to be dead right alongside the part of her that clung to life tooth and nail. Life was winning. It always would.]

I was dead for two years before their project worked. I owe a second chance at life to a now very good friend. The universe [this smile is real and managed to soften her face] is full of more than a few realities that shouldn't be possible.

The technology in your world's more impressive than I realized. I knew about the mass relays, but bringing someone back from the dead?

[ Very impressive, even if there's the slightest pang of jealousy. ]

Some universes are, anyway.

Took a team of scientists and probably more money than I want to think about, but--

[Shepard gestured.]

It's a minor miracle it worked at all. The Lazarus Project probably shouldn't have been successful. I got lucky that my helmet kept my brain intact or that would have been the end for me. It was pretty crazy, though.

Medical technology has never been much of a priority where I'm from. It's too bad.

[ But it is what it is. ]

Mmm. [Shepard nodded ever so slightly.] I've been in some pretty bad rat holes where medical care is almost nonexistent for humans and aliens alike. It's never pretty.

Some places aren't too bad. The Tangiers system is fairly well-off, for example. But in other places... well, people are expendable, as far as most people are considered.

Yeah. I know the sentiment. Terminus system is like that. You do what you have to in order to survive. When you can get medical care, it's substandard at best, and you're left to fend for yourself.

[Shepard closed her eyes, letting out a slow breath.]

Ton of crime.

Sounds like most of my universe.

[ She shrugs. Carolyn's used to it, and it's serving her well here; makes her more aware of potential dangers, keeps her focused on survival. ]

Most people here don't know how to deal with that sort of mindset.

If they're pre-spaceflight, I can see why. Makes it rough to deal. I guess the adjustment period can be a little tough on some of these people.

Not all of them are. They're just from universes where it's not something they have to worry about, apparently.

[ She rolls her eyes, but Shepard's right about the adjustment period. ]

I try to help with that as much as I can, but you can only help as much as people let you.

Sometimes, you gotta let people struggle.

[Her lips curl slightly in a half smile.]

That's the only way they learn. If someone doesn't want to be helped, there's not a damned thing you can do. Offer, leave the offer open, and if they don't want it? At least you tried.

That's what everyone keeps telling me. I'm just waiting for one of them to kill us all because they wouldn't accept the offer.

That's why you gotta keep an eye out. Sad as it is, there's a moment when if it's you or them, you kill them before they can screw everyone over. Can't let your guard down.

Believe me, I know it. It's not a line of thinking everyone on this ship likes, though. [ Which gets to be... problematic. ]

Always gonna be someone -- usually a whole crapload of them -- that don't like thinking any way but their own. Logic doesn't always apply, and because of that, it usually boils down to someone dying. At least, that's how it goes in my line of work.

I guess we'll see what happens.

[Shepard nodded.]

That's usually how it goes.

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