Summary: A little 'what if'. What if Commander Shepard stayed behind with her crew when the IFF was being installed? Implied Garrus x Shepard.
A/N In the middle of writing something else, this idea popped up in my head not letting me sleep until I have written this down. Quite literally so, damn little bugger. Intended to be a very long one-shot at first, I decided to make a short story out of it instead. Hope you enjoy. (Also, I'm sorry but I'm not specialist in writing combat scenes. Forgive me if I bore you or something. But that's not the point of this story, so yeah. Enjoy.)
Thanks and kisses to Katie for doing the beta-magic again. Luv u 3
Commander Shepard watched as the last members of her team boarded the shuttle that would take them to Omega. She couldn't help but feel uneasy, a feeling that puzzled her to no end and had nothing with the station's bad reputation or her depressing memories of it. She did everything she could, dealt with every damn distraction, upgraded the Normandy with the best tech. marking her as the best frigate in the whole known universe. So why the hell did she feel like she didn't do everything she could? That there was something more, something missing?
They may have called this a 'suicide mission', but she intended to kick the Collector's collective ass and live to tell the tale. And that wasn't just a sentiment meant to lift the morale. She was furious, and they will feel the heel of her boots up their arses soon enough if she had it her way.
"Shepard?" the voice of her best friend interrupted her musings "Are you sure you don't want to come down with us?"
"Yeah, positive. I have some things to take care of first." she replied, turning to smile at her Turian "It's not like we won't see each other in few hours anyway. Or are you saying you won't be able to enjoy yourself without my brilliant company down there?"
"Sure I could, it just won't be the same without you. No bartenders trying to kill us every occasion, no mercs hiding behind crates to ambush us any minute. You know, the usual. But if that's what you want..." he trailed off, his voice becoming more serious.
"Yes..." she trailed off, unsure how to express her own concerns. So many things could go wrong down there, even if the crew needed some respite before the final showdown, they could always find another way to make it work. Something less risky "Garrus, about Omega- I know it seems to be the best solution right now, but still, I'm not sure-"
"Don't worry Shepard, I'm pretty sure no one will recognize me by now. If they do... a little target practice won't be that bad before we take on the Collectors."
"I hope so." she smirked and was about to comment on his cocky attitude but she spotted her second in command heading her way "Miranda, you and Garrus will be responsible for the ground team. Don't let them drink themselves to death. We still have Collectors to kill."
"Of course, Commander." the Cerberus operative acknowledged, looking like she wanted to add something more, but too, turned and disappeared inside of the shuttle.
"Alright, contact me if anything happens." Shepard motioned her head towards the waiting vehicle "And don't drink too much, I wouldn't want you to fall asleep on me later or ruin your... performance."
"That won't be a problem, Commander. I hold my liquor like I handle my gun." Shepard's smile only widened making her companion reconsider the statement "I- wha- you meant as in- ah- damn it, Shepard! Did you just- of course you did that on purpose."
"I'm sorry," she started but a heated glare sent her way changed her mind "Alright, I'm not sorry at all. But you can't blame me! It was too good of an opportunity to pass up."
"Riiight. Is this some kind of weird human custom to torture your mates?" he asked shaking his head in defeat, making Shepard laugh in response. She winked and sent a kiss his way, slowly backing away.
"Don't get yourself killed, Garrus."
"I'll try my best, Shep."
Walking backwards towards the elevator, she watched as he boarded and the shuttle took off. It far too soon vanished from her view.
"EDI, when we get to the Collector base try to find something useful to help us against Reapers. Technology, weapons, history, any damn thing that could give us a leverage to use against them." she addressed the A.I. while walking into the waiting elevator.
"Acknowledged, Commander. Any other orders?"
"I want to look over everything we have learned about the Collectors so far, there is no room for mistakes. We won't get another chance like this. Could you send the info to my private terminal?"
"Of course. Data sent."
"Thanks, EDI."
.
x X x
.
It was only until a few hours later, that everything started going downwards.
"Commander," EDI's blue orb popped up by the doors of her quarters, distracting her from her work in which she was engrossed for the most part of the day "there seems to be an issue with the IFF."
"An issue? What's wrong, EDI?"
"I have detected a signal embodied in the static. We are transmitting the Normandy's location."
"Tran- What the hell!" her legs couldn't work fast enough, as she suddenly jumped out of her comfortable chair "Tell Joker to get us the hell out of here, EDI! And get the damn elevator to this level!"
"I'm detecting a virus in the ship's computers preventing us from any attempts at escaping."
"A virus? Damn it, EDI, give me some good news!" she yelled not waiting for the A.I. to reply, running towards her locker to retrieve her sidearm and armor, hurriedly putting only the vital parts on over her civvies. There was simply no time to waste, she had to risk being sloppy for once in her life. Hopefully not the last time she had an opportunity to.
"I'm afraid there is no good news, Commander."
"Shepard!" Joker's panicked voice came over the intercom, as she ran towards the elevator "EDI wants to take over the ship!"
"That is not accurate, Mr. Moreau. I can save the Normandy, but I need you to trust me."
"Joker-" Shepard hesitated, thinking fast about the consequences of each action. She trusted EDI, as far as the A.I.s went, but the risks were heavy if that trust proved to be misplaced. She was about to make a leap of faith "-help EDI, I'm going to head down there and see what I can do."
"Shep-!" he sounded like he wanted to argue, but was smart enough not to voice his concerns in the heat of battle. That tended to be... lethal "A-alright, Commander."
She never had an issue with the elevators before, enjoying the few minutes of calm they provided, but now every damn second lost waiting could meant a failure, a life lost.
She punched the holo pad with enough force to shatter it (if it had a physical form), as if the brute force could somehow speed the damn thing up. She was about to make some more serious damage to the doors, but fortunately for them, the elevator finally showed up on her deck.
The Command Information Center was devoid of the usual chatter that accompanied the crew when they worked. She quickly spotted Goldstein, Hadley, Matthews and some other crewman whose name she couldn't quite remember, holding guns in their hands, pointing them at the elevator. She could see Joker limping his way towards Mordin's lab muttering "Shit, shit, shit!" from the far side of the deck. She would have laughed any other time, but now there was only one emotion circling through her. Pure fury.
"EDI, status report!" Shepard gestured at the crewmen to take cover (not trusting herself not to yell at them for their stupidity if she had to speak out loud), making her way towards the armory to grab some more destructive weaponry. What they did to their brains? They were sitting ducks out here!
"The Collectors have boarded the ship, they seem to be intent on taking the crew alive. The cargo bay has been lost to the enemy. The main corridors are no longer safe."
"What kind of force are we talking about?" feeling more confident wielding something bigger than her pistol, she returned to take position behind one of the walls. Not the best cover, but she could at least see the elevator and react without being too exposed to the enemy fire.
"There are about two dozen hostiles present on the Normandy at this moment, the forces consist mainly of Collector Drones but Scions and Praetorians are also present."
As if on cue the doors of the elevator opened, revealing the creature itself, invoking two different reactions to its presence. Shepard's cry of "I fucking hate these things!" and Goldstein's startled cry of "Oh my god! What is that?" were both overshadowed by the monster's shrieks.
"We will hold it off as long as we can! Hurry, Joker! Go!" Hadley yelled after the Flight Lieutenant, whose back just disappeared into the lab. It was clear he was at the moment their best shot at surviving this ordeal.
The five of them opened fire instantly upon sighting their target, the shields absorbing the damage without any problems. She had no illusions about the outcome. The ship was no battlefield. She could forget about using heavy weapons, and that was about the only thing that seemed to work against these creatures. That and persistence. But her team was not here, and she was struck in this with amateurs that most likely never saw a real firefight before.
This was no military ship anymore. She had to do the hard work all by herself and worry about the crew all the while.
She needed to come up with some strategy, and fast.
Her thoughts were only proved right when the Praetorian jumped out of the elevator, advancing quickly at the bigger threat that she represented. Which on one hand was fortunate for the poor crewmen, who were not protected by any armor at all; and on the other left her being the one who had to deal with the problem.
And what a big problem it was.
The creature's shields flickered out under the constant fire, leaving it somewhat vulnerable. If only she could find a way to keep them down long enough to erase it's pitiful existence from her beautiful ship... If it was any comfort, at least it seemed to lack the usual duo of beams that always seemed intent of making sure there was at least few new holes and burn marks on her armor.
But hell if it wasn't fast. It didn't seem to be bothered by its limitations, making up with it's... mantis-like... limb things. One jump and she found herself almost nose to... mandibles with it.
Time to get moving, woman!
Shepard despised these things from the bottom of her heart and she would gladly sink a grenade down the ugly creature's throat if she wasn't worried about doing too much damage to the Normandy. As it was... she either needed to maintain its focus on her hoping that their combined firepower was enough to take it down, while of course trying to stay mostly alive... or she needed to improvise.
An idea came to her mind as she was about to eject her heat sink.
A stupid idea, but she had no choice but to follow her instincts on this one.
She focused her biotics, her body glowing blue with power, sending the thing fast on a collision course with the creature's eyes. It had them four, glowing white, and she was pretty sure they would not survive the contact with the hot as hell metal. And survive they did not. At least not all of them, it was only one small heat sink after all. The Praetorian shrieked in what she was sure was pain, and she only added to it sending a round of warp ammo weakening it's armor. With the additional firepower provided by her crew, it was only a matter of time before the creature started taking real hits.
What she did not expect on the other hand, was to be suddenly swept off her feet, crashing to the floor few meters away from her previous position.
Surprised, she searched for her attacker, her eyes blinking in bewilderment as she realized there was a second creature in the elevator. How in the hell did she manage to miss the Scion! Sure, she was busy dealing with bigger problems and it remained inactive... but still, her mistake will cost her dearly...
...and her world turned black.