Bright Dog

from May Swenson's Question

Body my house
My horse my hound
What will I do
When you are fallen...
When Body my good
Bright dog is dead

"Hey, Jefe, think fast," yelled James as he tossed a Cerberus turret top at Javik like a Frisbee before jumping into the shuttle. Javik knocked it down with his biotics, glowering. Shepard could just make out some Prothean curses, thanks to the Cipher, in Javik's response. She shook her head at James' continuing awkward attempts to bond with him.

"You see that, Estaban?" James shouted as he jumped into the hovering shuttle. "I told you his biotics are green."

"Vega, you don't know what's good for you," Steve responded. "I'd show anyone more than 50,000 years old, used to ruling the world and able to use biotics of any color more respect."

"Yeah, James," Shepard added, "you're lucky he didn't do what he just said he wanted to do to you." With a last look around the comm. facility, Shepard lowered her gun and turned to follow Javik to the waiting shuttle.

"And what was that, Lola?" James responded with a grin. "Hey, do you think Protheans can dance?"

Javik turned to face her, still steps from the shuttle, and crossed his arms over his chest. With his head cocked to the side and his grimace, he was the very picture of disdain. "In my time, we killed people for such insubordination."

"Save it for the Reapers," Shepard said as she sauntered toward the shuttle. Unit cohesion among her crew members still had rough edges, but it was coming together. Missions like this, where they saw and relied on each other's abilities, helped. She was pretty sure Javik's last comment had been a joke. "That was good work, every…" Her sentence ended in a grunt as several things happened at once.

She heard a sound behind her and spun in its direction as a blade sliced through her. The speed and force of the blow knocked the breath out of her as the blade punched through her armor, ribs and abdomen until the hilt slammed against her right side. Shepard's right hand automatically clamped down on the hilt and the hand holding it as a phantom decloaked inches in front of her. How had she not heard her?

Everything narrowed and slowed. She folded around the blade. Electricity crackled blue before her eyes. It danced over her hand and armor. Current surged up her spine, swept across her face. The taste of copper filled her mouth. She fought the urge to cough.

"Commander!" shouted Javik, his eyes widened, witnessing the attack. He started for her. At his shout, James turned from talking with Cortez. "Oh shit!"

The phantom's eye coverings glowed red. They stood nose-to-nose. Shepard noted how slender the phantom was, how delicate. Then the phantom crouched low, pulling down on the hilt. Shepard resisted, not letting the phantom twist or remove the blade. With her free hand she grabbed the woman's mask.

James jumped out of the shuttle and hit the ground running, his assault rifle raised. Javik equipped his pulse rifle, stopped and dropped to one knee, taking aim.

Shepard couldn't breath. The phantom struggled. Shepard exploded a biotic pulse into the agent's mask. The hand on the hilt pulled outward as the phantom's body jerked back. Then the phantom dropped lifeless, her weight dragging down on it, changing its angle. Stars swam in front of Shepard. She fell to her knees. She couldn't breath. EDI's voice came over the comm., "Commander Shepard? Commander Shepard! What's happening?"

The green beam of Javik's rifle resonated across the space, drilling into the phantom's body as it swung to Shepard's right. The phantom fell to the metal platform as Shepard released her hold to catch herself from falling forward. "Oh shit!," James repeated as he continued to run toward her. "Oh shit!" as he watched her crumple, saw a hilt protruding from her right side, the end of a blade from her other. He shipped his rifle as he saw the phantom fall.

On board the Normandy, Dr. Chakwas sprang to her feet. She always monitored the away team's hardsuit readouts, and Shepard's screen had just flashed critical, with vitals dropping. EDI's voice came over the comm., "Doctor, we have an emergency…." Her voice held a high pitch. "Shepard's not responding!" In the background, Chakwas could hear Joker saying, "Shit, shit, shit, shit, no; this isn't happening!"

"Remain calm," Chakwas ordered. "Shepard's a marine. She's tough. She'll be fine. Just get her to me. Now." Beside her, the monitor blinked from yellow to orange then red. "EDI, the sitrep, STAT!" she ordered.

James reached Shepard first, as Javik got to his feet. "Shepard!" James shouted as he grabbed her shoulders and propped her torso up to a kneel. Her eyes rolled back, then her head. He shook her. "Stay with us!"

Everything spun and swam. James' face. The rumble of his voice. She felt dizzy. Deep cold pooled around her, pressed in on her. Her suit's oxygen must have failed, again. She spun in space.

Javik pushed James aside and swept Shepard up in his arms, one arm under her arms and another under her knees, the hilt scraping under his left arm as he lifted her. He held her against him and turned and ran for the shuttle. James followed. EDI's voice broadcast over all away team coms, "Away team, Doctor Chakwas has ordered that Commander Shepard be returned to the Normandy immediately. We need a sitrep. Report!"

In the CIC, Samantha froze in place, recognizing EDI's distress, hearing the cries from the away team and no sound from the Commander in the communication feeds. She turned and ran for the elevator.

Javik jumped onto the shuttle, James at his heels, and they lifted off before the shuttle door closed. Javik sat, cradling Shepard in his arms, looking down at her, her head lolled back, eyes closed, face still and pale, lips blue.

"She's not breathing," James cried.

"She's in shock," Javik stated. Without shifting how he was holding her, he lifted a hand to touch her face.

"In shock from what?" EDI asked over the comms. "Lieutenant Vega!" she shouted when no one replied. "What has happened to the Commander? Report!"

Shepard felt a pulse flow through her. She gasped. "It is not your time, Commander," she heard Javik say. "You keep breathing, Lola," She recognized James' voice, "I'm not losing another CO!" A heavy weight crushed her chest. Why didn't they remove it? With an effort, she opened her eyes.

"Are all humans so weak?" Javik asked, looking down at her. He seemed too close. It was hard to focus on him.

"I can't tell what's wrong, EDI," Steve said, "but we are inbound. ETA 15 minutes."

"That's too long, Estaban," James shouted.

Shepard felt a flare of anger at Javik's question, closed her eyes, and smiled. He was prompting her fight or flight reaction. Good, she thought. She knew she had to stay awake. Even shallow breaths burned. The urge to cough was strong. She resisted. "I don't know," she whispered, breath hitching. "Are all … Protheans … so insufferable?"

"Shepard?!" EDI shouted in her comm.

"Yes," Javik replied, and the arms around her tightened. Shepard gasped. She tried to move. Cold constricted her. "Why ... is everyone … so loud, … close?" She tried to focus on Javik's face. "you … hugging me?"

"No human, I am holding you."

Shepard whispered. "Tell Liara…. I'll … write a book … Cuddling with … Protheans." Then the shuttle's shaking knocked the hilt against Javik and she groaned. She closed her eyes.

"You blushing, Lola?" James teased, but Shepard didn't hear. She was out again.

"Will somebody please answer EDI?" Steve yelled.

"Shepard took a sword through the gut from a phantom after we thought the base was cleared," James answered. "It's still in her. She was having trouble breathing and then passed out."

"Shit," said Steve.

"Doctor T'Soni, I have been following the away team's communications and hardsuit readouts as requested, and you may want to access and review them now." When Glyph spoke, Liara looked up from her monitor. She rubbed her hand over her face at the interruption. "Thank you, Glyph, please load the feeds on this monitor." A few seconds later, Liara jumped up from her desk, looked around the room, walked toward the shelves by her bed, then turned and headed for the door. She stepped out into the mess and looked across to the medbay. Doctor Chakwas was standing, bent over her instrument drawers, pulling items out and placing them on a tray.

Liara entered the medbay. "Doctor Chakwas…"

Karin looked up.

EDI's voice came over the comm. "Doctor, Lieutenant Vega reports that Shepard has been stabbed by a phantom, and the sword is still in her. She can't breathe."

"Tell me how I can help," Liara said, appearing calm.

"Liara, this is a surgical matter. I don't think you can assist given your lack of surgical expertise. I appreciate the offer, but it would be best to wait outside." The monitor flashed and beeped as Shepard's blood pressure dropped further, and again to indicate her loss of consciousness. Liara stared at it. "Liara—out," Karin herded Liara to the door.

"Karin, you will need my help to remove Shepard's armor," Liara said before the medbay door closed. "She is wearing the custom-made suit the Krogan gave her after she helped cure the genophage. It's the silver one emblazoned with the Thresher Maw in red across it." Shepard had loved that gift. The suit was perfect for the biotic charges and novas she favored, and the idea of being compared to a thresher maw had appealed to her, especially, she had said, if it reminded the Reapers of their vulnerability. Liara thought that it should, especially after Rannoch. Since Shepard had taken on the Reaper there, even before that, when she had gotten in the habit of charging Brutes as well as turrets, much to the awe and amusement of the crew, Liara had begun to believe nothing could stop her. Until Thessia. Liara frowned. That one of Kai Leng's minions had managed to stab Shepard…. Liara feared Kai Leng. She had seen him stab Thane. She had been afraid he'd kill Shepard, since swords could get through her impressive barriers. That's why Liara had tried to stand between the two of them on Thessia. But Shepard had yelled at her for that, and reassured her that armor, which Thane had lacked, would keep out blades. What had happened? All she knew was that she needed to touch Shepard, needed to feel her alive. "I don't think anyone else besides Shepard and I know how to remove it," Liara explained. Doctor Chakwas raised an eyebrow, but Liara didn't blush. "It has well-hidden clasps, and it is tricky to remove."

"Ok, Liara, but if you insist on staying, I insist on you taking this," Karin reached into a nearby drawer and pulled out a flat yellow tablet sealed in a clear plastic wrapper. "It's a mild sedative. It won't slow you down, but it will help you handle seeing someone you care about injured."

"You care about her too, and you do fine," Liara protested, but she took and swallowed the pill.

"Ah, yes, but I'm a trauma surgeon and a friend, not her lover," Karin said softly, "her bondmate." When Liara looked confused, Karin continued, "You didn't think the crew was unaware, did you? Or that we'd missed the proposal or the kiss on the Presidium? It made quite a splash in the Citadel news vids. It is lovely to see something so beautiful bloom in the midst of all this war and death. It reminds us of what we're fighting for and what there is to celebrate." Karin stopped prepping for a second to look Liara in the eye. "I'll do everything in my power. I owe her my life." Liara nodded, brushing a hand over her forehead, and took a deep breath.

Up on the bridge, Samantha paced behind Joker and EDI, listening to the away team comm.s and wringing her fingers. She was not used to combat. She had thought Shepard invulnerable, invincible. The woman came back from mission after mission with apparently no wounds, just perfect skin and teeth and curves and … no, she just couldn't believe Shepard could be hurt, or what she or any of the crew would do if….

"Shuttle pilot Cortez, be advised, the Normandy is coming to you. Meeting point coordinates updated. Rendezvous in 3 minutes," EDI announced. Joker dialed over the controls and sped the ship toward the approaching shuttle. They'd "shorten the road" for the Commander.

As soon as the shuttle docked, Javik marched across the bay to the elevator. The crew on deck gawked at the sight of Shepard being carried, unconscious, in the Prothean's arms. A sword blade protruded from her side and glinted beneath the lights. The yellow hilt only Javik could feel, pressed against his side and Shepard's. Javik could also sense her fading, knew that she was bleeding internally, that blood and air from her punctured lung filled her chest, crushing the air out of her other lung. If Samantha and EDI had not been there to keep the crew out of his way when the doors opened on the mess hall, he would not have hesitated to clear the path with his biotics.

News that Commander Shepard had been injured spread rapidly through the ship. Garrus, Tali and Kaidan joined James, Steve, EDI and Samantha outside the medbay as Javik strode into it. They watched Javik place the Commander on the surgery bed, then step back and talk to Doctor Chakwas as she examined the blade's entry and exit. They saw Liara fumble with the chestplate, trying to remove it. Then Doctor Chakwas turned the windows opaque. Garrus suggested that they await the outcome in the lounge, but Tali said she preferred the mess. Kaidan, as XO, had other duties. He headed for the war room. He had to contact Hackett and Anderson, let them know what was happening. They were not going to be happy. He'd get the crew back to work after. On his way, he had EDI lock Allers in her room. This was not a story they could afford to have leak.

Doctor Chakwas used the bed's monitors to scan Shepard. She saw Liara's fingers fail to function properly and laid a hand over one of hers on the chestplate, stopping her. "I have to remove the blade first, and then it's going to be very important to get her armor off as quickly as possible." Doctor Chakwas looked grim. "Can you tell Javik how to help you?" Liara nodded and swallowed. "Good." Chakwas picked up a small rod that glowed red with heat. "Javik, what did you do to the Commander on the shuttle?" As she spoke, she placed the rod against the protruding blade. Liara paled at the smell of burning flesh and turned away.

"I spoke to her, Prothean to Prothean."

"You … what?"

Looking at the array of medical equipment, Javik sneered. "You are such primitives! Human, I restored her biorhythms with my touch." He glowered, crossing his arms in front of him. "In my time everyone could do it. I will stay in case she needs my help again," he announced.

Doctor Chakwas scowled, nonplussed. Liara, more accustomed to his manner, felt her anger at him strengthen her nerves. She took a deep breath and turning back to Shepard's inert form, spoke, "That sounds very useful. Thank you, Javik. If you would come here, I will show you how to help with her armor." A few minutes later, she spoke again, "Doctor, I suggest that I encase the blade in a biotic field so that it can do no damage as you pull it out." Karin nodded, and grasped the hilt. "On my mark, three, two, one…." Chakwas said.