20 Surgery

Commander Jane Shepard emerged from her video meeting with the Illusive Man as pissed off as she entered it. The man had sent them into a death trap based on his confidence that the team could turn it around. His gamble would have failed without the actions of one krogan, something that she hoped stuck in the craw of the xenophobic bastard.

The lab grown krogan brought the firepower of an entire fresh platoon of Alliance marines, but also caused her just as much headache as those young men would. Grunt operated with a level of bravado, lunacy, and lethal talent that made him so much larger than life and bestowed an aura of invincibility that shattered in the bowels of the collector cruiser.

There are only a few moments in a person's life where they can show that they are a hero, and even with all the galaxy had thrown at them, Jane hadn't imagined that Grunt would ever have any. He'd even fooled her with that aura of invincibility, like he was the protagonist of a story, and a person can't be a hero unless they consciously accept the sacrifice of the self to protect others. It's not courage if there is no fear, and it is not generosity if it was no problem.

Now the only reason Grunt still lived was the young krogan's own lack of faith in his invincibility. He'd been storing blood regularly with Dr Chakwas, the Normandy's medical officer. Just another bit of preparation Grunt did silently.

Broken sobs came through the opening elevator door as the Commander stepped onto the crew deck and found the ground teams surrounding the windows into the medical bay. While most stood grim faced as they watched Dr. Chakwas and Dr. Solus operated on the comatose krogan, Jack was on her knees openly weeping.

The heartbreaking noise was unexpected, making it so much worse. The anger that the violent woman used to deal with pretty much the entire galaxy fully ceded to grief. In their dealings Jack spoke with derision about subjects like love and loyalty, calling a past lover a fool for dying for her. None of that disdain came up for Grunt after he chose to die for the team.

The surgery took hours, and the pair of doctors had pulled out enough slugs to make a macob rain stick, and used enough grafts and stitching to make a new Frankenstein monster. After disposing of her soiled operating scrubs and washing up Dr Chakwas exited the med bay and had everyone's immediate attention.

"Grunt will make a full recovery." She announced. "With his healing factor he should be up and about by the time we reach Omega."

Zaeed's enthusiastic cheers made for another out of place sound. The man was so hardboiled and gritty he had hardly cracked a smile in her presence, but perhaps his whoops of joy weren't so surprising. He'd once described his relationship with Grunt as, 'like having a son I can actually be proud of.'

Garrus locked eyes with her after the excitement quieted down and asked, "How'd the meeting go?"

Shepard shook her head in disgust, "He confirmed it."

"Why would he do something like this? Risk the team?" Miranda sounded shocked despite EDI's evidence of the Illusive Man's duplicity in the collector ambush.

"He had cold logic and a desperate need driving him." Shepard explained, "But he made the wrong call. If Grunt hadn't stepped up when he did, we would all be dead."

"He's going to fucking get his when this is done." Zaeed growled.

"Damn straight." Agreed the seated Jack.

The Commander nodded her agreement. A woman can only be called Space Momma so many times before actually starting to feel maternal, even for a giant lizard man. The how of giving the Illusive Man his just due would be incredibly difficult, the man kept himself hidden from nearly the entire galaxy, but he had pissed off the most badass woman to ever fly across the stars. His days were numbered.

Jack suddenly running into the medical bay alerted the teams to the stirring krogan. Shepard took off after her and saw the psychotic biotic completely at a loss of what to do. She couldn't exactly throw herself on the mass of recovering wounds that is Grunt's body, and what do you say in a moment like this. Fortunately, Grunt knew just what to say.

"On a scale of one to Garrus, how fucked up is my face?"