Thanks so much to the people leaving reviews! You guys are really driving me to keep this going and work out a longer story than my initial concept of just a few chapters.
I'm actually amazed it's made sense so far considering I've been doped up on painkillers for the past few days. Hopefully now it'll only improve.

The unrelenting rumbling of the buggy rattled through Korra's body, leaving her with a constant ache. She lay slumped in the back seat, Sara's blanket covering her totally. Her eyes where shut tight against the increasing glare of the sunrise, the thin material doing little to block out the light. The footwell beside her was packed with some of the shuttle's emergency supplies, first aid kits and dextro rations she had pointed out to the human. A fraction of what the ship held, enough for a few days.

She hissed in pain as the vehicle jumped after hitting a rock, curling up into a fetal position. She was vaguely aware of Sara making some apology, too focused on suppressing her pain to pay attention. The human had said she would make an effort to make the ride as gentle as possible for her, but that she would need to go quickly to return to her colony before the rest of her people awoke. Korra understood her want for secrecy and supported it, at least until she could get her strength back. She knew little of these people, but she got the feeling that Sara was afraid. Of what, she wasn't sure, but she knew she was at the heart of it.

There was a horribly tense moment when someone called out to Sara as they approached the colony, a friendly greeting from a local farmer, it seemed. Korra held her breath for a few terrible, aching moments as they passed. The journey became a little more comfortable after that, at least, as Sara was forced to go slower, act as though everything was normal. She was simply returning from a night of stargazing, checking up on the lab before heading for some rest.

When the vehicle finally came to a stop, she simply lay there for a moment enjoying that small reduction in her discomfort. She squinted as the blanket was lifted, expecting an unwelcome glare of light, but was pleasantly surprised to see Sara's face appear in a darkened room.
"We're lucky the garage connects to the lab...we can get you in without anyone seeing, but I need you to stand up. Can you walk?"
Korra grunted what she hoped was an affirmative, slowly forcing herself into a sitting position and from there, to her feet. The painkillers were starting to wear off and without her prior adrenaline to keep the pain at bay, she was struggling. She lost her footing stepping down and would have fallen had Sara not been there to catch her. She doubled over suddenly has a hacking cough fought it's way through her, dark blue flecks spraying on the floor at her feet.

Sara had fallen silent. The turian's weight was greater than that of an average humans and it was something of a struggle to support her. Both women were grimacing as Sara walked her into the surgery, doing her best to lay her gently on the bed. She turned away, then hesitated when she felt Korra's hard grip on her wrist. Turning back, she caught the woman's eye and saw fear. She was making low, gutteral noises in what she assumed was her native language, trying her best to communicate. Seeing that look, a look she had seen so many times before in her patients reflected n such alien eyes gave her a sudden burst of empathy for the injured woman. She reached out and took her hand, squeezing it lightly. "Korra. I'm going to help you. I promise. I need to run a few scans to see how your body works, I'm going to give you some stronger painkillers to help you sleep. When you wake up, you should feel a lot better."

She tried to pull away but Korra's hand remained, surprisingly strong despite her obvious weakness. Ger mouth twitched as she tried to form a word are could understand "P-pro...miz..." Her face was so different but she could still see her frustration at the language barrier. "Do you trust me Korra?"
Her eyes narrowed slightly, peering into the humans. After a moment, her grip relaxed, she gave a weak nod an slumped back onto the cot, her eyes closing.

Several hours later, an exhausted Sara peeled blue stained gloves from her hands, tossing them into the waste bin. She would need to incinerate everything she had used, she thought. She couldn't risk any evidence of the non-human patient being found. She slumped against a workbench, watching Korra sleep an listening to the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor, the soft hiss of her breath. The operation had been a success, she had been able to isolate all of the internal injuries and mend them to the best of her abilities. The only issues had been getting past the alien's hard metallic plates; her skin was rough, irregular, difficult to cut cleanly and stitch back together. She had tried to be delicate but was worried that she had botched the job and that the cut would leave an ugly scar. She hoped Korra would be grateful enough for her life not to care.

Now that the excitement and urgency of the past couple of hours had started to wear off, she had time to think things over. What she had done- what she was continuing to do in helping Korra- could be considered treason by some of the more narrow minded military types she knew. She glanced wearily at her omni-tool, looking over a folder containing everything she had learned about turian physiology during her examinations. The tool's scan was fairly extensive but she had been able to add several pages worth of notes during and after the operation. She sighed heavily and closed the file, burying her face in her hands an trying to rub the tiredness out of her eyes. The responsible thing to do now would be to hand the notes over to Alliance Command for further study, straight after she informed them of the captured alien she had sedated. Her actions up to this point could be justified as humanitarian aid.

She wouldn't do that though. She couldn't...the truth was, she was scared. She was in completely out of her depth. And she had seen the fear in Korra's eyes. Korra. She had a name. She could understand her and was actively trying to communicate. This was no strange alien animal to be studied, this was an intelligent person. She had heard rumors of Alliance ships being destroyed while activating Mass Relays, everybody had, and she knew that Korra would be treated as a hostile combatant. Perhaps she was, perhaps Sara was a fool for wanting to protect her, but something inside her had just clicked. She would not allow anything to happen to this woman, the least she could do was protect her until she was strong enough and knowledgeable enough to make her own stand.

She glanced up at the clock. The planet's day an night cycle was only slightly longer than that of Earth's and the time read 10:32. The realisation that she had been awake for over 24 hours came down on her like a lead weight, the hour or so nap after finding the crashed shuttle was doing little to take the edge off. She desperately needed sleep but she knew she couldn't leave Korra here alone. She needed a place to stay until she was healed where she wouldn't be seen. Sara lived alone in a small apartment close to the lab, she would hopefully be safe there...getting her there though when she couldn't walk, that would be the difficult part.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the communicator on her tool suddenly beeped, causing her to let out a small cry. After a quick glance at Korra, she hurried into the small office beside the operating room to take the call. "Y-yes? Hello?"
"Sara, hey, listen you need to get over here. Daniels is- you alright? You look like hell."
She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, rubbing her forehead. Greg McCallum, the junior medical officer and one of her few true friends on the lonely colony, even if he was a bit of an ass. "Thanks, Greg...I'm fine. Just...long night."
Even through the poor quality hologram she could see him rolling his eyes. "If I were talking to anyone else I'd make a joke about that. Shame that I know the closest thing to a man in your life is that bloody telescope." He paused and she thought she heard voices in the background. When he returned his attention to her, he was suddenly serious. "Look Sar, I don't know what's happening. The Corporal wants everyone gathered in the mess hall for some reason. You better get over here." Before she could reply, the call ended.

The universe hates me. That's what's happening here. She sighed and looked in on the sleeping turian. She would likely be out a while yet, there was nothing more she could to to help at the moment. It was important that she acted like nothing was wrong. Reluctantly, she splashed her face at the sink, did her best to make herself presentable, then locked up the lab and headed for the mess hall. Hopefully this wouldn't take long.