[center][h2] 
[color=39b54a]Clinical Precision and Messy Memories[/color][/h2]
[h3] Drono Loyalty Mission Prologue[/h3] [/center]





There is a certain something about staring death in the face. A sort of creeping fear that you will lose everything. It keeps you from making connections. It severs ties you did not know you had. It stifles any hope of normalcy. For the past years, he had been doing nothing but surviving. Forced himself through increasingly painful cramps with the sole purpose of paying Yestin back for his betrayal. That and his own in its own right crippling fear of dying without  anyone who know or care for him. A drell by nature was not a solitary being, his father had once told him. 

 Drono had begun to identify that little prickling of absolute, ice cold terror. He felt it now. Staring at the text before him. Going back to LaFayette for the first time since he joined with the crew. And it wasn’t going to be the same old procedure. No. He had a chance. A possibility of finally getting rid of the pain and the crippling fear of paralyzation. It came with a gamble, like all things Drono. The chance of the procedure leading to a fatal end was only 0.5 percent. Partial rejection of the synth spine however, was 30 percent. Those were pretty bad odds when it came to betting your future on something wholesale. But there was nothing else to it. Bringing up the vid message again, he stared at the elderly woman.

“Hello Drono. I have some bad news and some good news. The good news is that I finally found a specialist in drell physiology and a spinal surgeon who specifies in synthetics. “ She smiled, but the smile was strained. “Its just that two men wearing eclipse armor arrived to the station just a while ago, and they’ve been turning the place upside down looking for you. Going so far as to hire some of the local riff raff. I think whoever you didn’t want to find out about your visits here, has been alerted.”


Drono killed the message and ran his hands across his scalp, groaning audibly. [color=a2d39c]“Fucking perfect.”[/color] He muttered under his breath. [color=a2d39c]“Yestin...”[/color] He got up and began walking towards the Bridge. He was on auto pilot, feet steering him past everyone while snapping his fingers like he was trying to get the attention of waiter at a restaurant. He strolled right up the the ship intercom, all but smashing his finger on the button. [color=a2d39c]“Everyone. Get you asses to the Bridge..”[/color]  He stood there, cross armed, leaning on their charming, slavic pilots seat. Drono look surprisingly somber as they arrived, one by one. He waited for them all to be gathered before he spoke. There was none of the jovial, snarky tone he usually had. For once, you could hear the calm, very drell like finality all his species seemed to possess.

[color=a2d39c]“I know I am usually the first to crack jokes and be inappropriate at times like this.”[/color] He said. [color=a2d39c]“But I can’t now.  If you read my earlier message, you know I am in a bad shape. It seems to be progressing at a more rapid pace, and soon, the deterioration of my nerves and spine will reach a critical point. [/color]“  He shrugged, clearly trying his damndest not to show the pain he was feeling. He was fidgeting with some of the gifts he gotten from Serena before. Assembling a detonator. Something to keep his fingers dexterous. 

[color=a2d39c]“The Salarian who did this to me, Is named Yestin. He was my partner in crime, back during my smuggling days. He left me to die.”[/color] He put away the now finished detonator away and started with a second one. [color=a2d39c]“After putting bullet in my spine. And when I asked him why, he dumped a nerve toxin into the wound.”[/color] He waited, letting them digest what he was saying. He was stating everything with the most calm, deadpan expression he likely ever shown around them.

[color=a2d39c]“One day. I will kill him. With my own two hands. I will smash his skull like and watch as his frail neck snap.”[/color] He said, in the same serene voice of Drell everywhere. The juxtaposition between his tone and his violent words was quite jarring. [color=a2d39c]“But to do that, I have to live that long. And to do that, I need to get lafayette. Dr Sheeva was the one who saved me, however, lafayette is 90 percent humans, and he had never operated on anything alien before. There were..”[/color] His left hand spasmed slightly, almost making him drop the detonator. [color=a2d39c]“Complications. The nerve toxin poured into my wound caused rapid necrosis.[/color]" He let it hang there. He realized he was stalling for some reason. 

[color=a2d39c]"They managed to stem it. But they needed a expert in Drell physiology, as well as Synthetic Prosthetic spine, arm and shoulder. None of these are cheap on their own and my involvement in a particularly high stake heist at the time was… problematic for one seeking out public healthcare.”[/color]

 He sighed. [color=a2d39c]“I squirreled money away. Every job, all my money funneled into that clinic, into helping them set it up for me. And happy days, they found someone who, thanks to you guys, I can now afford.”[/color]  He made a grimace. [color=a2d39c]“But. Apparently, some people came looking for my records. Armed people.The kind with a black and yellow sun on their crest.”[/color] 

He put down the second detonator. [color=a2d39c]“I need your guys help. Usually, I can handle a few thugs. But I have a feeling these guys aren’t just here as a case of bad timing. I used Yestins name to get in close during the last job. I think he knows, and that he is looking for whoever helped me survive. If we don’t clear them out quick, I am not gonna make it. Their appear to be only two heavy hitters, Eclipse guys. They have some local muscle with them though. It makes sense, Yestin always liked doing business with they yellow bastards. ”[/color] He didn’t mention that the operation was far from a sure thing either. They didn’t need to know that. [color=a2d39c]“I don’t wanna die guys.”[/color] He said simply. [color=a2d39c]“Not like this.”

[/color]He sighed and and stood straight, palms out and open towards them. [color=a2d39c]“Questions?”[/color]  A hesitant, weak smile found its way past the grim, deadpanned mask.