"Maybe, Karin, maybe," saying this softly, Shepard slowly turned around, seeing the eyes of the frigate's doctor radiating kindness and concern. "But I don't need any stimulant injections," The marine captain's hand found the shoulder-mounted speaker. "Commander, I'm done. I need a few minutes to... come to my senses and I'll go down to the hangar. Ask Steve and my drop team with Corporal Jenkins to be there as well. Let the archaeologists guide their column through the lighthouse of our shuttle. I will transmit the exact coordinates via the audio channel."

"Okay, John," Anderson's voice was unusually quiet and soft. "Thank you. You have intelligent people who owe you their lives. And freedom," With that, the captain turned off the channel.

Chakwas's omny-tool beeped.

"John," the doctor said after reviewing the text of the incoming message. "Anderson informed the archaeologists. They agree to wait for the shuttle to leave. They understand that you are busy. Let me at least give you a decoction of herbs. These are not tonics, they are restorative. You're exhausted, John," Chakwas added.

"Karin, has anyone ever told you that you are always extremely convincing?" Shepard asked without a smile, taking a vessel with a decoction from the hands of the ship's doctor.

"After such a miracle, which I recently witnessed, no one," Chakvas answered honestly, watching as the commander of the landing crew slowly sipped the decoction, as he carefully placed the vessel on the bedside table. "I think we can remove most of the implants from his body now," she pointed at the Turian with a glance.

"Yes, Karin. I can't help you here," Shepard grinned from the corners of his lips, feeling the warmth of the decoction spreading through his body. "You have the upper hand here, Doctor. He is perhaps the most difficult... patient. With her," a glance in the direction of the Asari, "it will be easier."

"You're right, John," the doctor looked at Shepard carefully. "The decoction will take effect in a few minutes", She pressed a key on the wall remote and looked at a small information screen that lit up. Ingvar is free now. He'll escort you to the shuttle, Captain. I can't let you out of the Infirmary alone."

"I understand, Doctor." Shepard playfully slowly raised both hands to shoulder level. "I obey."

"That's good." Chakwas stepped aside, allowing the incoming electronic warfare specialist to offer his shoulder to the captain. "Good luck to you, John," she said softly.

She was answered by a deep nod from the captain, who stepped over the threshold of the Medical Bay. The door slowly slid into place. A red light flashed on it, forbidding access.

"If it wasn't for him, I'd have two bodies in the infirmary. And the interplanetary scandal afterwards," the doctor said softly, sorting through the instruments in the surgical stack. Well. He did his job. Now it's my turn to work. Chakwas pulled on fresh sterile gloves and covered her face with a mask. "But as soon as he's back on board, he'll be my patient. He needs to rest and sleep it off. It would be good if he could take a nap while flying to the excavation site", The doctor adjusted the light above the Turian's bed and picked up a thermal scalpel. — Let's get started.

Chapter 18 Benezia and Saren. Awakening and the beginning of recovery

Why she decided that Spectrum Saren Arterius, the Turian who had become a legend of the Corps, should be her first surgical patient, Karin herself would not be able to explain clearly even to herself right now. It was unlikely because, as a man, the Turian was physically more primitive, and therefore the traumatologist and surgeon was confident that she would perform the necessary surgical intervention for this patient faster and, perhaps, less traumatic.

While working with a scalpel, Chakwas did not think about it. She was just acting. Now, during the operation, she was not interested in this, although some part of her mind was still working on such a question, using all the information available to the doctor at that point in time.

Saren, according to the logic of the situation known to Karin, was the first to fall under the influence of the Reaper Observer. And he stayed under his influence much longer than Benezia.

That's probably why Chakwas decided to operate on the Turian first, and the Asari second. And Shepard, as Karin remembered, repeatedly noted, albeit not always explicitly and verbally, that the Turian got more and his position was ... harder, or something. However, as the medic remembered, the XO did not insist that his point of view was the most correct one. However, as the medic remembered, the XO did not insist that his point of view was the most correct one.

For Chakwas, as a military medic, it was easier and even more familiar to cut out implants from the body of an intelligent organic than to engage in routine fusion of fractures, removal of sprains and other bodily troubles. On the screens mounted on brackets above the operating field, the data from small automatic and semi-automatic medical scanners glowed, combined into large-scale graphic maps, which helped the doctor navigate the jumble of microcircuits dotted with the bones of the Turian skeleton. Routine movements, a proven technique. The main thing is not to miss an unnecessary or harmful implant, not to leave it in the patient's body.

Karin worked, occasionally glancing at the Spectr status indicators. She knew that Shepard had already flown to the site of new excavations, the result of which was still unknown.

The arrival of the frigate on Eden Prime this time was extremely unusual: no one, as Chakwas now understood, from the inhabitants of the Normandy, not even the Spectr of the Citadel Council Nilus Kraik, did not assume that the earthlings would have to shoot at a real Reaper. Karin was well aware that the frigate's crew members were still actively discussing the collision. Needless to say, the event was exactly what people usually call "out of the ordinary."

These huge ships were actually considered legends, in which, as usual, few modern intelligent organics believed seriously and deeply enough. The legend, meanwhile, turned out to be... more than material.

If it hadn't been for the quick response of the frigate's crew, if it hadn't been for the well— and fully implemented relay instrument and hardware reconnaissance of the situation on Eden Prime.... Chakwas would not vouch for the fact that so many Normandians survived right now. The Reaper would have been able to respond to the frigate's attack with its main caliber, and according to objective hardware monitoring, including video recordings, it was such that it was better for the reconnaissance frigate not to get under it in any conceivable situation.

The Reaper turned out to be a great expert at bending intelligent organics to his will. Yes, Chakwas remembered that the Batarians, for example, almost massively used the chipping of intelligent organics who were captured by them and who most often became slaves of the four-eyed. And the Reaper... As it turned out, he applied more than chipping to Saren, putting so many implants into the Turian's body that, after reviewing the medical scanner data, Chakwas was forced to believe: and in the worst case scenario, Saren Arterius, as the humble servant of the shrimp, was practically invulnerable to most types of weapons possessed by intelligent organics today. Unless a large-caliber artillery piece could stop it with its charge. It looks like the same frigate "Tanix". Anything smaller was unlikely to have the desired effect: the Turian's backbone was completely covered with these implants, which together dramatically increased Saren's ability to survive under the most terrible bombardment.

The Turian Spectre is enslaved by the Reaper Watcher. Chakwas couldn't even think of such a variant of the real situation before. And now she had to not only see this Turian, but also operate on him. The Reaper, by the way, has not gone anywhere either — here it is, quietly and, so far, calmly lying on the surface of Eden Prime.

The pile of implants removed from Saren's body, placed on a gleaming white enamel medical tray next to the operating room, grew, and Karin tried to limit her field of vision only to the limits of the "operating area", although she occasionally returned to the realization that a huge number of implants did not benefit the patient, who, as it turned out, had been there before ultimate submission to the Reaper in many serious skirmishes.

Saren's skull was repeatedly roughly operated on, the jaw was held on pins and plates and gave the Spectrum a frightening appearance. It is quite possible that Saren did not like to take off the helmet of his spacesuit because of this, and if he did, it was only when there was a special need.

While removing unnecessary implants, the doctor looked at the patient's face, wondering whether it was worth doing maxillofacial surgery as well, to bring, in other words, the appearance of the patient's head to a more or less normal state. So far, Chakwas has decided to focus on leaving a minimum of absolutely necessary and quite common implants in the body of a Turian, and only then — to solve problems with the face and head of Arterius.

After removing the implants, Karin performed the usual set of necessary procedures to ensure rapid wound healing and plunged the Turian into a deep, drug-induced sleep so that the patient could not wake up earlier than a few hours later. If necessary, it was now possible to increase the duration of sleep within any reasonable limits, which meant that enough time was freed up to work with Asari.

Covering the completely naked body of the Turian with a canopy fixed on a light wire frame, Chakwas moved away from the cot on which the Spectr was lying and slowly approached the cot on which the matriarch Benezia was lying.

Looking at the monitors above her bed, the doctor confirmed that the Asari had indeed suffered multiple injuries when the Reaper had fallen to the ground of Eden Prime. In their report, the members of the landing team indicated that Benezia T'Soni, in all likelihood, did not have time to sit in the chair and, moreover, her dress did not form a sufficiently rigid frame, unlike the spacesuit. So the Asari had plenty of problems with bodily integrity. Besides, Benezia's age was far from young, and healing, as Chakvas assumed, after examining the patient's body, would be long and difficult. Benezia Shepard's left forearm and right shin had already been fitted with a set of tires on the Reaper, and he had lubricated the wounds in several places with a thick layer of panacelin and medigel. He performed the necessary primary medical procedures, which, of course, greatly facilitated the professional doctor's subsequent work with the injured Azari.

After completing the inspection, Chakwas carefully cut open the black and white dress and took it off, trying to preserve its integrity as much as possible. Of course, these cuts will have to be stitched later, but for now... the Asari may well use female human dresses. Technicians, engineers of the ship — women and girls — will help. The frigate's doctor was convinced of this. Underwear was also affected, but to a lesser extent. After removing it, Chakwas freed Asari's head from the ritual and ceremonial cap and began performing the usual preoperative manipulations.

Shepard stated in the report that she was lying like a "broken mannequin." After scanning the matriarch's body with small scanners, Karin was convinced of the correctness of the conclusion made by the paratrooper: Benezia, in addition to fractures and sprains with bruises, had other bodily problems that appeared in connection with the fall, albeit from a small, but still from a height.

It's also good that Shepard independently worked on the psychosphere of the former prisoners of the Reaper. Or maybe slaves, after all? Right now, Karin didn't want to answer that question, even to herself. It was necessary to start dealing with the injuries as soon as possible, of which the Asari matriarch had a lot.

Never before would Karin have thought that a special forces soldier, officer, or Army soldier would be able to so professionally, safely, and most importantly, efficiently reanimate not the body of an intelligent organic, but its essence, its soul. While doing the usual manipulations, Karin recalled how she worked with the Asari and the Turian XO, once again convinced that if it hadn't been for his help, it was unlikely that she would now be calmly and freely doing her part, putting the bodies of both injured sentients in order. Of course, as is often the case, experts and simple, non-settled commentators did not agree on what exactly should be understood by husk's. Neither historical digressions nor logical calculations using arguments and proofs that were often far-fetched helped.

Karin recalled and noted with some amazement that she had unexpectedly managed to see real husk's. It was the Husk's who were Saren Arterius and Benezia T'Soni. Husk's, obedient to the will and desires of the pilot of this gigantic (by the standards of most races of the modern Galaxy) ship.

Husk's. If it hadn't been for Shepard, who risked himself, then both the Asari and the Turian would have remained in this state for a very long time, if not forever. It is unlikely that there would be specialists in the Galaxy now who would be able to return Arterius and Benezia to a normal state. Karin was inclined to evaluate what Shepard had done as nothing more than an embodied miracle, which she witnessed directly.

In the few days since the new XO appeared on board the prototype frigate, so many important events have happened that Karin Chakvas could not remember in all her rich and diverse — not only medical — practice. Shepard, as the doctor understood, was focused primarily on continuous work, and high-quality and effective work. He quite possibly did not know how to rest, did not know how to relax. To some extent, this attitude was due to his specialty — a paratrooper and a special forces soldier. It could also be that Shepard was an orphan. As the head of the frigate's medical service, Karin, of course, looked through the personal file of the XO, rummaged through the special bases of the Alliance Air Force, but unfortunately there was little relevant information there that could shed light on many circumstances of the initial period of John Shepard's life.

Chakwas knew about Akusa, she knew that Shepard still had a girlfriend on Earth. Her name was Dana, and she was a pretty famous professional athlete. So, on a personal level, John, quite possibly, as Chakwas believed, was not alone, but ... even now, approaching the middle of the list of necessary manipulations according to protocol, Chakwas remembered how Shepard warmly treated her, almost the only female senior officer on the ship.