A/N: After my last play through of ME3, I decided that there just isn't enough Samantha Traynor out there. I started writing this frantically and finished this (long) chapter in a couple days, and I'm nearly done with the next (longer) chapter. Most of what I've written fills in Samantha's past – I thought BioWare gave her an awesome skeleton of a background. I decided to fill it in.
Regarding Samantha's childhood: I altered it bit. It's my understanding from gameplay/Codex that she was born on Horizon. However, the Horizon Codex entry states that at the time of ME2, humans had only lived there for 14 years; I place Samantha at about 24-25 in ME3. In light of this discrepancy, I've written it so that she was born on Earth but went to Horizon with her parents as part of the pilot habitation when she was young.
Chapter 1: The Ones They Love
Iera System, Horizon
"Happy birthday to you; happy birthday to you-"
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR DANIELLLLLL," Samantha's voice rose several decibels over those of her family members as she approached the table. Carefully balancing the cake and trying not to trip, she belted out the final "Happy birthday to you!" as she set the confection in front of her brother. Pleased that she had managed to do multiple things at once without utter failure, she straightened and smoothed her shirt, beaming down at Daniel.
"I'm getting too old for this shit, you know," he raised his eyebrow at Samantha, grinning nonetheless.
"Daniel, language!" their mother gasped, swatting at his shoulder.
"It's a bit true, mum," Sam agreed with a tilt of her head. "If you two hippies hadn't dragged us out to the Terminus Systems he'd be nearly done with sixth form."
In the background Daniel unceremoniously extinguished the birthday candles with a single breath.
"We had no future in England, love," her mother said gently as she busied herself with plucking the candles from the cake.
"I know, I know," Sam responded, not unkindly. She'd heard the same refrain countless times, and her response was almost as impulsive as saying "bless you" when she heard a sneeze.
"We couldn't even pay for university," Diana continued, half to herself. Sam concealed an eye roll with mixed success.
Sensing his daughter's exasperation, Michael decided to jump into the conversation. "We were lucky to be blessed with such a brilliant and promising first-born," his grey eyes crinkled in a warm smile. "A full ride to school and a First Class Serviceman to boot!"
This time Sam's eye roll was accompanied by a faint coloring of her cheeks. "All right, all right," she murmured, waving at him. She was fairly sure he didn't even know what 'First Class' or 'Serviceman' referred to, and he certainly wasn't saying her rank correctly, but nobody who'd spoken with Michael for more than ten seconds could ever have doubted his affection for his daughter.
"Oi!" Daniel cried out indignantly, shifting his family's attention back to himself. "It's my birthday. How about heaping some compliments on me instead?"
"Right you are," agreed Diana, turning her focus back to their little gathering. "We'll just- oh, bollocks!" she muttered, frowning and setting her hands on her hips. Daniel suppressed a snort. "Samantha, dear, would you run back up to the prefab and fetch a knife?"
"Of course." Sam began to turn away.
"One big enough for cutting this cake!" Diana added sternly. Her daughter had an irritating habit of technically following directions but ultimately doing something of absolute uselessness – and quite on purpose. Daniel always found it hilarious, and Sam could never resist making him laugh.
"I'll do my best!" she called over her shoulder, glad her mother couldn't see her grin.
Sam trotted up the gentle slope toward her family's prefab, humming a little to herself. It was a gorgeous day in the colony on Horizon, and she couldn't help a slight twinge of nostalgia. It had been six years since she'd left to attend Oxford University back on Earth; now she was stationed at Arcturus, functioning as a Junior Communications Analyst in Alliance R&D. She'd risen quickly through the ranks, her commanding officers having recognized her uncanny knack for identifying shortcomings in communication lines. Her talents had been used both to fortify Alliance intelligence dissemination and exploit enemy communications weaknesses.
The Traynors had been among the first to arrive at the colony, nearly 17 years ago, encouraged by an incentive program implemented by the International Council of United Peoples of Earth. ICUPE had established the program to promote swift and widespread colonization of other planets to help assert humanity's place in galactic society. Oftentimes, ICUPE jumped the gun on colony plans, preferring quantity of colonies over quality – many of their projects were doomed from the start. In fact, their greatest success, Eden Prime, had become Ground Zero for Saren's insane plan of galactic domination eighteen months prior. For this reason and more, young Samantha had been greatly apprehensive about colony life. But happily, with the help of her parents, Horizon became one of those infrequent success stories that raised humanity's esteem ever so slightly in the eyes of other races.
Sam reached the top of the hill, stepping onto a path that led to the Traynors' prefab. A large shadow moved into her peripheral vision, but she ignored it as she pushed on towards her destination. Suddenly, a deep hum sounded, vibrating the ground beneath her feet ever so slightly.
The hydraulic generators? she guessed, pursing her lips thoughtfully. They're quite a bit louder than the last time I was on holiday. Perhaps they finally got some decent equipment from Elkoss. Not that knockoff rubbish they've been getting from some Omega back alley or god-knows-where…
Her thoughts quickly evaporated as she approached the door to the prefab, tapping in the front door's release authorization key and passing through. The door whisked shut behind her, a gentle beep confirming that the lock had reengaged.
"Alright," Sam murmured to herself, looking around the kitchen. "Surely mum hasn't moved things around that much…"
She began opening drawers, admittedly slightly rusty with regards to navigating a kitchen. She glanced up momentarily to the Mass Message Administrator. The MMA displayed a constant stream of colony-related news and was installed in the walls of all Horizon prefabs. Occasionally, galactic news made it to the MMA as well, but only events of great galactic import interrupted the cycle of colony-related announcements.
…utenant Ashley Williams of the Systems Alliance joins Horizon as Chief SA Liaison - ICUPE increases Horizon annual budget by 1.3% for 2186 - Biweekly Town Leadership meeting moved to Th…
Lieutenant Williams, eh? Sam thought, making a mental note to seek her out later and introduce herself. She'd seen the vids, of course. Every member of the Normandy's crew was considered legendary, and they all had the medals to prove it. She wondered briefly why such an esteemed soldier was posted on Horizon. She supposed it was because of their proximity to the Terminus systems, not to mention the fact that the Collectors were going about the galaxy plucking humans from their homes. Considering the fact that a larger military contingent would surely ruffle the feathers of Terminus races who were already resentful of humanity's presence, Sam decided that assigning Lieutenant Williams to the colony to keep the Alliance apprised of Horizon's safety was a hell of a good idea. In any event, she didn't intend to pass up the opportunity to meet a crewmember who had served under the Hero of the Citadel.
Pulling herself out of her musings, Sam returned to shuffling through the kitchen drawers for a knife that would mollify Diana.
"For fuck's sake, mum, where the bloody hell did you put all the cutlery?" she exhaled in exasperation, shutting yet another drawer after a fruitless search. "Honestly, why would you even need to m-"
"First time in a kitchen then?" Daniel teased from behind her. She whipped around, glaring at him as he moved into the room. "I thought the military was supposed to make you more mature and responsible, but here you are, losing horribly on the battlefield of domestic living."
Samantha huffed indignantly. "Yes, well, I must have missed that day in boot."
Daniel snorted and Sam grinned in response, shaking her head.
"I've missed you, sis," her brother said after a moment. "And it doesn't hurt that having you around takes some of mum and dad's attention from me."
"I wish I could get back more," Sam shook her head. "After all this mess with the Collectors it's a miracle I got even three days of leave. I reckon it helps that I put in my request ages ago…" she trailed off, looking seriously at Daniel. "Have you heard anything about it? The Collectors, I mean."
The young man shrugged his shoulders. "A bit, from eavesdropping on mum and dad. No specifics though – I think most of the others in the Leadership aren't taking the reports seriously. They think that the fact the Alliance only sent one soldier here means everything is being blown out of proportion. "
Samantha clicked her tongue in irritation. "It's likely the opposite."
Daniel shrugged again. After a moment, he continued. "Well, enough of that ominous shit. Let's talk about something fun. Are you still seeing that girl- what was her name? Becky? Becca?"
"Rachel," Sam corrected him with an eye roll. "And god no."
"That bad, eh?" her brother asked, raising a brow and grinning.
"Worse," she sighed. "Honestly, we sleep together one time and next thing I know she's pinging my omni tool every five seconds. I was suffocating." Daniel's eyebrows shot up in skepticism. "What?" she asked, seeing his look. "You know I like my space! Can't help it if I prefer being a free agent," she rolled her shoulders with feigned cockiness.
"Ah, yes, my sister the heartbreaker!" Daniel's voice cracked at the last word as laughter spilled out. Sam punched his shoulder playfully. "She was hot, though!" He insisted.
"She was," Sam agreed, a coy smile playing on her lips. "But not hot enough, unfortunately."
"Well, nobody's perfect," Daniel nodded sagely. "You know, next time you sh-"
Suddenly, alarms like Samantha had never heard before in the colony blared to life; she could've sworn she felt her brain vibrating in her skull.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" she shouted, looking away from Daniel to cast her eyes around as she slammed her hands over her ears. A beat later, the display on the MMA shifted, the text turning bright red and emitting a faint strobe.
***ALERT***COLONY-WIDE EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN***ALERT***REMAIN IN YOUR HOMES AND DO NOT LEAVE FOR ANY PURPOSE***ALERT***ALL BUILDINGS TO BE SECURED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE***ALERT***THIS IS NOT A DRILL***
Sam stared in horror at the messages; the alarms were muffled through her hands but she could still feel the vibrations chattering her teeth.
Mum and dad! Her eyes widened and she looked around to Daniel once again. His face was stricken with fear like she'd never seen before, and the sudden pale of his complexion told her he was thinking the same thing. Together, brother and sister rushed over to the door, tapping desperately at the interface to get it open despite the warning on the MMA.
Emergency lockdown has been initiated. Please enter administrative override code. The text appeared on a small screen adjacent to the door, and Sam looked wildly at Daniel.
"Override code? What is this?!" she shouted over the wailing of the alarms.
He shrugged helplessly. "I've no idea, I've never seen it before!"
Sam let out a grunt of frustration, pounding at the door and glaring at the red interface. Part of her knew it was futile, but her parents were out there; she would be damned if she was going to simply accept their situation.
Looking back out of the window, her dark brows knit in confusion. For a brief moment, Sam wondered how it was that twilight had come upon them so quickly – the darkening sky was in complete contrast to what she'd experienced walking back to the prefab from the park. Suddenly, she felt a cold jolt of realization in her gut. It wasn't the setting sun that was darkening the sky; squinting and leaning forward, she could see that what she believed to be night's approach was instead immense clouds of…
What in the bloody hell are those? Dark swarms of what looked like large bugs were writhing en masse in patches outside. All Horizon residents were more than used to giant bugs. The gravity on the colony planet was lower than that of Earth, and as a result, the native insect-type inhabitants had become massive over the course of their evolution. Indeed, Sam believed any trace of bravery in her character could be attributed to Horizon's bugs, the likes of which were otherwise only seen in horror vids.
But she'd never seen anything like what she was witnessing now.
"What the fuck are those things?" Daniel screamed, echoing her thoughts.
Suddenly, a loud WHOMP sounded, audible even over the screaming of the klaxons. The giant bug-things were attacking the window, throwing themselves repeatedly against the glass. Daniel fell to the ground trying to scramble back even as tiny cracks began to spread across the glass. Sam grabbed her younger brother under the arms, hauling him to his feet and pushing him deeper into the prefab.
He already knew the destination she had in mind. They turned down a narrow hall and pushed open a false panel in the wall, revealing a small room with a couple shelves of canned food and water flasks. Squeezing inside, Sam pulled the false panel back over the covering while Daniel approached a terminal on the wall. He took a couple fruitless stabs at the screen.
"Bollocks! I don't remember how to do this – it's been ages since we've had a lockdown drill!"
"Move!" Sam shouted, shoving him aside. She drew up the menu, scrolling through the options with lightning-fast speed. As soon as she made her selection, a door began sliding across to cover the false panel she'd been moving only moments before. When it reached the other side, the alarms were significantly dampened, and Sam could hear the grinding of the steel bolts as they slid into their catches.
She exhaled shakily, stumbling back against the wall and sliding to the ground, joining Daniel where he was already sitting with his arms wrapped around his legs as he rocked slightly.
"Will this place really keep them out?" he asked uncertainly, staring at the door.
Sam shrugged. "A solid meter of reinforced steel and concrete all the way around? I would like to think so, but…" the cracking glass of the window echoed in her head, "I'm not sure."
The air between them was thick with the thing they were both refusing to say. Finally, Daniel cracked.
"Mum and Dad…" his voice hitched and he swallowed the rest of his words. Sam watched as his gaze grew heavy with tears; she began to feel a heat in her own eyes.
"Maybe they made it inside in time. The park maintenance shed was right there – it's got the same lockdown protocols as the prefabs," she told him, sounding unconvinced even to herself.
"Yeah," he agreed nonetheless. "You're probably right…"
Samantha took a couple deep breaths, pressing her hands to her eyes and suddenly glad she'd actually remembered to take her medication earlier that morning. She was usually terrible at it – if she'd forgotten today she likely wouldn't have made it past the kitchen once the alarms started sounding off.
Asthma was fairly rare in the late 22nd century – its genetic underpinnings were easily identified and corrected, and those cases induced by environmental factors were easy enough to defend against epigenetically if they were identified in time. Sam's condition was caused by the latter – something about Horizon's atmosphere did not agree with her immune system and had resulted in a marked weakening of her lungs. Normally it would have been a quick fix, but there was a reason that Horizon had safe rooms in every prefab. ICUPE had decided that its proximity to the Terminus systems warranted advanced home defense, at the expense of all else, including health care. Budget allocations for genetic and epigenetic therapy were reserved for only the most severe diseases, and Sam's condition could be treated by oral medication. Dr. Ricardi, the physician who had treated her when she'd first begun developing systems, told her that back in the 21st, folks with asthma had to use an inhaler – an archaic device that only worked if administered in time. These days, preventative medication could be ingested to severely decrease the chances of suffering an asthma attack. Unfortunately the drug had a short half-life and had to be taken at least once a day, depending on the individual's activity level – a fact that Samantha usually neglected.
Seeing her steady herself, Daniel gave his sister a sideways glance. "Took your pill today?"
Sam swallowed, nodding and looking back at her brother. "Amazingly."
"When?" he asked, not assuaged by her answer.
"Early this morning," she said quietly.
He gave her a meaningful look. "How much time do you have left?"
She bit her lip and glanced at her omni tool for the time. It was early evening.
"I've got time," she sighed, not wanting to worry her little brother.
"How much?" he demanded. "Sam, this is serious; I can go back out there-"
"No!" she said, louder than she'd intended. Taking a breath, she continued, "I've got- I've got a few hours…"
She could see Daniel's jaw working as he stared back at her. Apparently deciding there was no use in getting worked up over it at the moment, he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. "Fine. It'll be fine."
"Yeah," she agreed quietly, wondering how such a small word could feel like such a huge lie.
A couple tense moments passed before Daniel spoke again. "So what now?"
Sam swallowed, a sick feeling roiling in her stomach. "Now we wait." She could see Daniel nodding out of the corner of her eye, dropping his head onto his forearms. "We wait, and we pray."
xxx
A silence fell on the room.
"The alarms stopped!" Samantha exclaimed, grabbing Daniel's hand and pulling him to his feet. She moved over to the terminal, pulling up the grainy security footage of the front of their prefab. The quality was poor so she couldn't be sure, but Sam didn't think she could see those bug-things outside any longer.
She turned to look over her shoulder at her brother. "Ready?" He swallowed audibly and nodded, the anxiety plain on his face. Nodding in return, she glanced back at the terminal and swiftly disabled the safe room lockdown. The massive door ground open, and she placed her hands against the cool metal of the false panel. Taking a deep breath, she pushed against the panel, sliding it out of the way.
Lifting her hand back towards Daniel to indicate for him to stay put, she leaned through the opening, peering down the hallway in both directions before stepping through. Treading softly down the hall, she entered the kitchen, glancing around. She distantly registered Daniel's quiet footsteps behind her as she examined the damage to the window. The glass had nearly given, but apparently once the siblings had disappeared from view, the bug-things had lost interest and gone on a different way. A sharp beep drew her attention to the MMA, and she turned around in time to see the text shift.
***ALERT***LOCKDOWN HAS BEEN LIFTED***ALERT***PLEASE PROCEED TO COLONY CENTER FOR EMERGENCY EVACUATION***ALERT***BRING ONLY ESSENTIAL ITEMS WITH YOU***ALERT***
She whipped around to see the security indicator on the door had been switched from red to green, and she quickly hurried over and tapped it. The door slid open obediently.
"Come on!" she called to Daniel, not looking back as she sprinted through the door and back down to the park where their parents had been. As she bolted across the grass and down the hill, a thought flickered through her mind that she probably hadn't moved this quickly since boot. In moments, she had arrived at the park proper.
It was chaos.
The colonists had apparently heeded the MMA and immediately come down to the colony Center, which was located at the other end of the park. People were darting about, looking frantically through the sea of faces trying to find their loved ones and friends. Sam could see a couple members of the Leadership rushing around with data pads, hurriedly cross-referencing their colony census with those who had made it down to the Center.
"Help!" she heard someone call from behind her. She looked over her shoulder toward the gardens and spotted someone waving their hands frantically in the air. Sam took off in their direction, Daniel on her heels.
"What's happened?" she asked, only slightly breathless as she approached a hysterical man. "Mr. Ricardi?" she rushed to his side.
"Please, Samantha, Pamela and Ani-" Sam followed the direction of his gesturing and gasped. Scrambling over, she peered within.
Two pod-like things like she had never seen before lay on the ground, smelling of earth and something bitter that she couldn't identify. Through the glass of the pods, she could see the faces of Dr. Ricardi in one and her daughter, Ani, in the other.
"I can't get them open!" Mr. Ricardi shouted from behind her.
Sam clutched at the edges of Ani's pod, trying to gain traction without success. She could see Daniel from the corner of her eye failing similarly. Letting out an uncharacteristic snarl of frustration, she shot to her feet and rushed to the garden, picking up a large rock and returning to the pod. She raised the stone up above her head, ignoring Mr. Ricardi's pleas of caution, and brought it down hard against the glass.
It cracked from her first blow but didn't break. She'd caught her fingers beneath the makeshift battering ram and felt immense shooting pain in her hands. Gritting her teeth and breathing through it, she brought the rock down again and again, each time harder than the last.
"Sam?" Daniel called out as he watched his sister beating the pod with the stone, likely shattering several of her fingers in the process. He'd never seen her like this before – his sister had always been somewhat reserved, analyzing and calculating all possible consequences before taking an action. She hadn't even hesitated to grab the rock and start in on the glass with it – when she'd crushed her own fingers, he hadn't heard so much as a grunt of pain. An idle thought flickered through his head that perhaps military life really had changed her.
Finally the glass broke. Sam tossed the rock vaguely in Daniel's direction and grabbed at the opening, using the sharp edges as handholds. A hot, slick liquid spread across her hands, and somewhere in her mind she registered the feeling of glass shards penetrating her skin.
Standing slightly, she hauled with all her strength, engaging her legs in her effort. The Alliance required intense PT for enlisted servicemembers, but even still she was straining her muscles to their limit. Finally, she could feel the lid of the pod begin to shift from its seal. Renewing her efforts, she bent her legs and pulled upwards again. Once free of the seal, the lid began to move more easily, and finally she had pulled it open enough to reach in and extract Ani. Tugging the young girl free from the pod, she toppled over backwards and became vaguely aware that Ani, unconscious on the grass next to her, was covered in some kind of goo.
Meanwhile, Daniel was still working to break open the glass of Dr. Ricardi's pod. Sam looked over just as a flash of blue armor appeared from her periphery and moved Daniel aside. Her eyes caught the glimmer of silver bars on the shoulders of the armored figure, and she watched as Lieutenant Williams brought her rifle high over her head, driving the butt into the glass, tossing it aside at the sound of shattering. Reaching down, Williams grabbed at the glass just as Sam had done, but with the benefit of thick, reinforced gloves. Only moments later, she had loosened the lid from the pod and pulled Dr. Ricardi's body from within, laying her gently on the grass. Sam could hear Mr. Ricardi sobbing gratefully as he moved between his daughter and his wife.
Sam shot to her feet, catching Williams's eye and snapping to a salute. "Lieutenant Williams!"
Ashley's eyebrow arched – she'd never seen this woman before, and her eyes flickered to the crimson dripping from the stranger's hands, noting briefly that her pinky finger was bent in at an unnatural angle – but she returned the salute nonetheless. "Report!"
"Serviceman First Class Traynor, ma'am," Sam responded crisply. "I'm a Junior Communications Analyst stationed on Arcturus – here on leave visiting family, ma'am."
"At ease, Traynor," Williams told her. Samantha immediately moved to parade rest, leaving behind a dark streak of blood on her forehead. "Your family – they all accounted for?"
Feeling the heat in her eyes once more, Sam glanced to Daniel. "Only my brother, ma'am. We went to the Center to look for our parents, but came here to help Mr. Ricardi instead."
Ashley's dark brows knitted together in concern and Sam could see a flash of empathy in her brown eyes. The lieutenant cleared her throat. "Good woman," she said, clapping Sam on the shoulder. "Come on, I'll help you look."
"Thank you, ma'am," Sam sighed, turning and trotting back down to the park.
"We were celebrating my brother's birthday," she informed Ashley, "when he and I went back to the prefab to fetch something. We were in the kitchen when, when, uh-" Sam swallowed down the bile that had risen in her throat.
"It's alright, Traynor," Williams told her. Sam nodded curtly, leaving her sentence unfinished.
They reached the table where she had left her parents, but Michael and Diana were nowhere to be found. Sam whipped around frantically, searching through the colonists who were still gathered in the park proper. Spotting one of the Leadership members she'd seen clutching a data pad earlier, Sam ran up to her.
"Mrs. Delaney," she said, grabbing the woman's arm as best she could, oblivious of the blood that still flowed from her palms. "Please, my mum and dad…"
The woman looked around and gazed at Sam for a moment, her brows drawn together. Her eyes began to glisten.
"Sam...I'm so sorry." Laura Delaney's voice cracked when she finally spoke.
Samantha searched Mrs. Delaney's eyes, shaking her head slowly. "No…"
Laura placed a hand on Sam's shoulder, gesturing with her data pad. "Two of the other colonists – the Nuon brothers – they saw…" she gave a quick shake of her head, suddenly unable to meet Sam's eyes. "They saw them take your parents."
"Them- who is 'them'?" she asked, gripping Laura's arm harder. When Laura didn't immediately answer, Sam's voice shot up, "Who the bloody hell is 'them'?!"
"The Collectors, Sam," the older woman answered, finally meeting her eyes again.
"No," Samantha whispered, releasing her grip on Mrs. Delaney's arm and stepping back a couple paces.
"Sammy?" Daniel's voice came from somewhere behind her.
Sam shook her head, looking down at the ground but seeing nothing. Suddenly, her lungs constricted, cutting off her airflow – she clutched at her chest, leaving behind a bloody handprint as she stumbled to her knees and gasped for breath.
"Sam!" her brother's voice sounded oddly far.
"What's happening?" she heard Lieutenant Williams from that same far-off place.
"Asthma attack – hang on!"
Sam arched her back, trying to open her diaphragm as much as possible. She couldn't contemplate why her medicine had worn off already – all her energy was focused on drawing as much air with each breath as she possibly could. Her peripheral vision began to grow blurry, but she could see a smear of blue moving next to her and felt a hand on her back.
"Hey, hang in there." It was Lieutenant Williams. "Your brother's getting help."
Sam nodded in acknowledgement, slightly mortified by the sharp wheezing of her restricted breaths.
A few moments passed before Williams spoke again, this time more excitedly. "Here! He's back!" She stood and moved away from Sam, making room for Daniel to move in. He pulled up a tab at the end of a small tube he was holding and removed a cap from the other end, revealing a thick needle.
"Here we go, Sammy!" he shouted, jamming the needle into her thigh.
She grunted, more so at the force with which he'd stabbed her than the needle itself. A few seconds passed, and she could feel the tension in her chest easing up as her airway dilated, allowing an influx of oxygen with every breath she took. Her vision began clearing, the dark spots gradually fading away, until finally, she could stand. Leaning against Daniel for support, she continued to breathe deeply.
"Good as new, hey?" he asked, his voice trembling with relief. Despite her newfound air, Sam shook her head, and Daniel looked at his sister quizzically.
"They're gone, Dan." She met his eyes. "Mum and dad are gone."
His face fell, tears springing to his eyes. He shook his head, much in the same way Sam had when Laura had informed her. Taking a ragged breath, he refocused his gaze on his sister. "The Collectors?"
Sam nodded, looking away momentarily. When Mrs. Delaney had told her, she wanted to collapse then and there – she nearly had. For a second, Dan had looked like he might as well, and Samantha's older sibling instincts kicked in. She pulled him into a tight hug and held him for a few beats, Ashley looking on with a grim expression.
When they pulled apart, Daniel swiped at his eyes and Sam could see a hardened look on his face that she wasn't familiar with. He looked over his sister's shoulder at the lieutenant before stepping around and towards Ashley.
"I want to enlist."
"Daniel!" Sam cried out with shock.
Without looking back at his sister, he amended his statement to the lieutenant.
"I need to enlist."
"Daniel, think about this," Sam pleaded, grabbing her brother's arm.
"I don't need to!" he whipped around before Ashley could respond. "There's nothing here for me anymore!" his voice was desperate. "Mum and dad are gone – they're fucking gone, Sam! You're off at Arcturus, doing something useful and meaningful – I'm going to do something meaningful, too! I need to take these bastards down!" Brother and sister stared at each other intensely for several beats before Sam sighed, rubbing the back of her hand across her forehead, newly conscious of the blood that still covered her palms.
Samantha had never been one to rush off into battle, unless it was chess. She'd only enlisted in the Alliance to pay for university, where she'd studied quantum engineering, of all things – her knowledge of quantum mechanics was one of the things that made her so adept at understanding both military and civilian communications systems. Sam had been – and still was – the nerdy type; she usually preferred a book or a strategy game to most of the activities her fellow students had enjoyed. Daniel was different – outgoing, charming, sure of himself. Everything he did, he did with conviction and purpose, and Sam could see that same conviction in his gaze now. Although she'd never shared his single-minded determination, being on Horizon when the Collectors hit, taking her family and who knew how many others…she understood Daniel's impulse to 'take the bastards down.' She felt it, too.
"Okay, Daniel," she nodded, glancing at the lieutenant and then back to her brother. "I understand."
"Thank you," he whispered and grabbed her shoulder before turning around to Ashley, who nodded at him.
"A couple Alliance shuttles have landed over behind the Center to begin evac. Tell them Lieutenant Williams sent you over to get started on the paperwork, and they'll set you up with a recruiter. You'll have to clear medical and basic eligibility requirements, but I'm not gonna lie – we're spread pretty thin right now, and we need all the help we can get."
"Yes, ma'am," he said, before turning back to his sister.
"Dan," Sam whispered.
"Don't try to talk me out of it," he told her sternly.
She shook her head, blinking back her tears. Opening her mouth to speak, she changed her mind and instead pulled in him for a hug. "Keep in touch, hey?" she whispered in his ear. "You're all I've got left now…"
She felt him smile against her neck. "And you're all I've got," he responded. "Although knowing you – well, let's just say I wouldn't bet against us." He pulled back and smiled at her, bringing his hand to her cheek. "I'll see you soon, Sammy."
"Yeah, yeah," she murmured, her eyes still watery. "Get out of here, you twat."
He snorted a laugh, grinning at her for a couple more moments before he turned away and jogged off toward the Center.
Sam watched him go and turned back to the lieutenant. Ashley had a thoughtful look on her face.
"Your brother is a good kid."
"Right you are, ma'am," Sam agreed, smiling sadly.
"It seems he gets it from you."
Samantha ducked her head a little. "Thank you, ma'am."
"Call me Williams," the lieutenant said. "I think you've at least earned that today." Ashley glanced down at the servicewoman's mangled hands and bloody clothes. "Come on, I'll take you to triage and we'll get you patched up – who knows what the hell was in those pods."
Sam silently agreed, following the lieutenant and looking down at her hands. Deep punctures were peppered across her palms, many of them still oozing dark crimson – her crushed fingers were nearly black with pooling blood and throbbing painfully. She looked down at the rest of her body and saw that her clothes had become largely stained with dirt and blood. There was a small tear in her pants where Daniel had injected her with the needle, and she could feel an impressive bruise already beginning to form.
"Over here," Williams interrupted her thoughts, gesturing in the direction of the med tent. There were about a dozen or so colonists receiving treatment from Alliance medics. "Make sure you tell them you're a servicewoman – we take care of our own." Ashley clapped her hand on Sam's shoulder. "You did a fine job today. I know you're Intelligence, but you'd make a hell of a soldier," she told the younger woman seriously.
"Thank you, ma'am," Sam responded with a curt nod, hiding her surprise at the lieutenant's compliment.
"Williams," Ashley corrected.
Sam smiled. "Williams. Thank you again."
Ashley nodded, speaking out once more as Samantha turned to go. "And, Traynor – I'm sorry. About your folks."
Sam met the lieutenant's gaze, swallowing a lump in her throat. "Me too," she sighed. "They were good people."
Williams nodded once more. "They'd have to be – people like you and your brother don't come around every orbit."
Sam smiled gratefully. "I'll see you around, Williams."
"Copy that," the lieutenant responded, grinning and shifting her gaze away. Before Sam could turn away fully, however, she saw Ashley's eyes darken to almost black. Slightly panicked, Sam followed her gaze to see what had upset her so suddenly, worried it was another round of Collectors.
For a moment, she could see nothing in evidence. A figure clad in black armor was making its way up the hill, almost in a beeline for the lieutenant. The figure reached up and unlocked the attached helmet, hauling it off and coming to a stop.
Sam gasped, looking back at Ashley, who had begun marching resolutely toward Commander Shepard.
She's alive? Sam almost couldn't believe her eyes.
She could still remember the day that news of Shepard's death hit the extranet two years ago. The hot burn of loss had immediately taken up residence in her chest. Sam had never known the Spectre in person of course, but Shepard had been a sort of poster child of the Alliance. Although there was no fanfare, or even an organized ceremony, for her appointment to the Citadel Special Tactics and Reconnaissance force, Sam had watched the vid more than once. For reasons she couldn't quite articulate, she'd always found herself drawn to the Commander; it might have been her unprecedented accomplishments or her unwavering honor or, most likely, both. At the very least, there was a broody darkness in the woman's green eyes that Sam found immensely alluring.
And then, only months ago, the rumors had begun flying about Arcturus – sightings of the Commander on the Citadel, Illium, Omega. Although she sometimes found gossip entertaining, Sam never put any stock in it. A decorated soldier returning from death? It was the stuff of science fiction, an egregious rumor - but one that was, apparently, true.
She moved to follow Williams as the lieutenant strode towards Shepard and the two figures that now joined her. From her vantage point, Sam could see an armored turian – she couldn't be sure, but she thought it might be Garrus Vakarian, another famous member of the Normandy's crew. If it was him, he had a lot more scarring than she remembered from the vids; it looked like he'd tried to stop a gunship with his face. The other person she didn't know, but she felt a jolt in her stomach when the saw the Cerberus logo emblazoned on the woman's chest.
"Ash," relief was etched on the Commander's face. "I heard you were here, I thought maybe-"
Sam didn't find out what the Commander thought. Ashley stalked right up to Shepard, swinging out a right hook and catching her former CO across the chin – hard enough to stumble the Hero of the Citadel.
"Cerberus, Shepard?!" Ashley cried out, pointing accusingly at the dark-haired woman whose bodysuit bore the Cerberus logo. The stranger merely blinked at the enraged lieutenant.
Realization dawned in Sam's mind. The rumors that Shepard was alive had always been whispered with a dark undercurrent – not only was she alive, they said, she was working with Cerberus. 'The Illusive Man's puppet' was an unpleasant epithet Sam had heard on more than one occasion. Even if somehow the Commander was alive, Sam had refused to believe that particular claim. Seeing her here now however, with this Cerberus woman…the doubt crept up into her gut.
Shepard spit to the side, clearing her mouth of blood. "Hold the fuck up, Ash," she raised her hand toward the lieutenant in an attempt to pacify her. "It's more complicated than you know."
"What is there to know?" Williams gestured wildly. "You're working for a fucking terrorist group, Jo! That's all any of us need to know!"
"I'm not working for them!" Shepard retorted hotly.
"Sure could have fooled me," Ashley spat. "How did you do it, Shepard, huh?"
"What are you talking about?" The Commander responded, eyeing her warily.
"Don't play stupid with me. How did you fake your death? And why the fuck would you do it?" William's voice hitched.
Shit. Sam's eyes widened as she watched Shepard cast down her helmet before throwing a right hook of her own. Seeing the helmet fall, Ashley had shifted a little, but the blow still connected with her ear.
"You don't know what the fuck you're talking about!" Sam heard Shepard yell as she started in again on Ashley. Within moments, it was an all-out brawl.
Shit shit shit shit, was the only thing Sam could think as she sprinted over to the battling women. She grabbed for Ashley's arm but instead caught an elbow in the gut, stumbling to the ground as the wind was knocked out of her.
Bloody hell, she thought, clambering to her feet and wincing as she put pressure on her broken fingers. Two of the most revered humans in the galaxy and they're fighting like schoolchildren.
This time, she watched Ashley's movements, timing her interruption. She lunged in, snatching the lieutenant's arm and hauling back, vaguely aware that the turian was doing the same thing to Shepard.
"Hey!" Ashley called out indignantly, looking around to see who was interrupting her punching spree.
"Take a breath, Williams!" Sam grunted, moving in front of the lieutenant and placing her hands forcefully on the woman's shoulders.
Ashley moved to push Sam out of the way, but the younger woman wouldn't be daunted. She dug in her heels and held her ground until the lieutenant threw up her hands and stepped back. Sam whipped around to see Shepard swipe at her bloodied mouth.
Williams was shaking her head vehemently, looking first at the Commander and then to the turian. "You too, huh, Garrus?" she snorted. "Un-fucking-believable."
"It really isn't what it looks like," Garrus said, his gentle tenor taking Sam aback slightly. Ashley only gritted her teeth, glaring hard at him.
Sam looked from the turian to Shepard, unintentionally locking eyes with the Commander. Instinctively, she snapped into a salute, her heart skipping a beat. Cerberus or not, Shepard was still the Hero of the Citadel.
And the Butcher of Torfan, Sam's doubt whispered in her head.
Whatever, came the response. She's Commander fucking Shepard, and I'm bloody saluting her.
"Commander," she stated. "Serviceman First Class Traynor, ma'am." She recited automatically. Shepard held her hands up.
"Easy, there. You don't have to do that, I'm-"
"Damn right," Ashley jumped in. "We don't salute traitors, Traynor." The lieutenant's voice was venomous.
"Ash-" the Commander pleaded.
"Let's go," Williams murmured, grabbing Sam and tugging her back to the med tent.
Glancing frantically at Shepard, Sam made eye contact with her once more, wincing when she saw a flicker of something sad and broken in the Commander's eyes.
"Come on, Vakarian," she heard Shepard mumble dejectedly before turning on her heel and heading in the other direction. Reluctantly, Samantha tore her eyes away from the Commander's back, following Ashley obediently to the med tent.
The fight between the former crewmembers had been loud, and there wasn't a soul in triage that was even pretending to not have heard. Everyone had ceased working and was staring unabashedly at both the approaching lieutenant and the retreating Commander – a fact Williams immediately addressed.
"There had better be a damn good reason you're all neglecting your duty!" she shouted at the cluster of Alliance medics.
There was a disorganized chorus of "Sorry, ma'am" with accompanying salutes before everyone returned to their tasks.
"Traynor," Williams snapped, beckoning her to an empty bio-stretcher. "Sit."
Sam immediately parked herself on the surface, swallowing nervously. Any sort of positive camaraderie that had formed between herself and the lieutenant had completely evaporated. As soon as Sam had moved to the stretcher, Ashley's attention was elsewhere.
"Parker!" she barked at a nearby medic.
"Yes, ma'am," he responded, trotting up to her.
"See to Serviceman Traynor here," she gestured at younger woman. "She banged herself up pretty good trying to help some of the colonists."
"Aye, ma'am," Parker nodded, already activating his omni tool and beginning a full-body scan as Ashley retreated.
Sam watched her go, feeling a twinge of disappointment that Williams hadn't bid her farewell.
Oh, grow up, she chided herself. She doesn't care about your bloody feelings right now – her friend just appeared from the dead like a freaking zombie. An evil, Cerberus zombie… Samantha chewed at the inside of her lip, frowning at the confirmation that Shepard was at least with Cerberus, if not working for them.
"I wonder why she was here…" she murmured.
"Shepard?" Parker asked. Sam jumped a little, completely unaware she'd said anything aloud.
"Oh!" she stammered, regaining her composure. "Yes, Shepard. And…Cerberus."
Parker shrugged, tapping away at his omni tool. Mechanized arms attached to the bio-stretcher zipped around Sam, drawing up various intravenous fluids from neatly organized bottles. "Well, who can really guess as to what Cerberus wants, right?" he asked rhetorically, still looking down at his interface. "All I know is if Shepard hadn't shown up, this whole colony would have been completely fucked. Cerberus or not, she's the reason some people actually made it out."
Several feelings tugged at Sam's gut. First, she was shocked to hear the extent of Shepard's involvement on Horizon. She'd had no idea why the alarms had stopped or what had happened to all the bug-things, but she supposed now that Shepard had ridden up on her proverbial white horse – as she always did – and saved the day yet again. Second, she suddenly felt sheepish that she hadn't said anything more to the Commander other than rattling off her rank like some kind of military service bot. Granted, if she'd known, she wasn't sure what exactly she would've said, especially given that Williams hadn't even let her salute Shepard properly. Lastly, Sam was finding herself extremely put off by Parker's glib comment regarding the relative fucked-ness of Horizon's residents.
Unsure of how to respond to any of the emotions brewing within her, she simply hummed noncommittally. Parker finally looked up from his omni tool.
"What brings you to Horizon anyway? You're not in uniform – were you stationed here with Lieutenant Williams?"
"Not quite," she responded, preferring to watch the bio-stretcher scan her vasculature and insert an IV port into her forearm rather than meet the medic's eyes. "I'm visiting."
Parker snorted. "Taking a tour of places where you definitely shouldn't live?" he grinned.
Sam felt a hot ball of fury in her gut. "It's a bit late for that, unfortunately," she snapped, feeling heat rush to her face. "My brother and I were raised here, by our parents, who are now – as you might so callously put it – fucked, having been taken by the Collectors to god-knows-where and having god-knows-what done to them!" She nearly shouted the last words. The medic's eyes had grown wide, a deep red flush rising up his neck.
"I'm sorry, I didn't-" he began to mumble, suddenly unable to meet her eyes.
"Yes, well, your apology doesn't do me a whole lot of good right now, so instead of wasting my time with that how about you scurry off and find someone else to take over my medical attention, because I think you and I are quite done here." Sam stared hard at him, her jaw working as she watched him nod and tap off the display on his omni tool before hurrying away.
She took a deep breath and leaned back against the slight incline of the bio-stretcher. Closing her eyes, she tried to calm herself, fully aware of the blood rushing through her veins at high pressure. Yelling at Parker, using that stone to break Ani free of the pod, even pulling Lieutenant Williams out of that fight…none of those were things that Sam would have normally considered doing, but today she had done them without a second thought. It was as if she had been driven by pure instinct, willfully ignorant of any consequences she might have faced.
Maybe the military really has changed me, she considered, unaware that the same thought had crossed Daniel's mind earlier that day. Or maybe this is just what people do when the ones they love are threatened…
Her mind drifted to Shepard. She didn't dare claim to know the motivations behind the Spectre's actions, but she'd heard some about the woman's history. Sam knew she was from London – a fellow Brit – but that was where the similarities in their childhoods ended. She'd heard in the vids, and now in person, the Commander's accent; it was unlike the crisp tones of Sam's inflection, which was historically attributed to the middle and upper classes. It wasn't as if the Spectre was difficult to understand, merely that her somewhat lazy pronunciation of certain words would have made her voice stand apart from the Traynors'.
She also knew Shepard had grown up on the streets – first in the catacombs under Camden Town, and then later mostly in the Catholic Church. The exact details of her time both in the catacombs and in the church were sketchy at best, but Sam was fairly confident the reports that Shepard was raised by nuns could be counted as fact – one that made Sam cringe slightly, if the stories of Catholic nuns were to be believed.
Another story she'd heard that she was inclined to trust was that Shepard had lost a young sibling – not a blood sibling, or even a foster sibling per se, but someone close enough - when she was around 12 or 13. According to this particular insight into the Commander's background, it was just this loss that finally ushered her off the streets and into the arms of the church, where she lived almost without incident - save a few minor encounters with law enforcement - until she was able to enlist in the military.
Reflecting on her own actions of the past day and chewing her lip thoughtfully, Sam supposed that she believed Shepard had lost a sibling because it was the only rational explanation she could conjure for the woman's utter selflessness. The Commander devoted her life to protecting the galaxy, even when its inhabitants refused to believe in the very real threats they faced. She'd even accepted the possibility of execution when she'd hijacked the Normandy and taken it through the Mu Relay to confront Saren, and she'd surely be accused of treason for defecting from the Alliance to work with Cerberus.
Those are the actions of a woman who is driven to protect those who cannot protect themselves... Is that what happened to me today? Sam wondered. Of course, breaking one's nail with a rock is hardly comparable to stopping the complete destruction of the Cita-
"Serviceman Traynor?" a voice interrupted Sam's self-criticism. She jumped once again, startled by the appearance of a new medic.
"Y-yes," she stammered, straightening on the bio-stretcher.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," the young woman smiled at Sam, lifting her omni tool and inputting a series of commands. The arms of the bio-stretcher began withdrawing liquid from a vial and attaching an IV bag to the port that had already been started by Parker. "Is there anything in particular I should know?"
"Um," Sam floundered, feeling very much caught off-guard. "I'm deathly allergic to melon – all kinds, really. Cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew," she began listing off melon species she could recall.
The medic's smile grew, and she tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "I meant health-wise."
"Oh!" Sam cried. "Of course, no, that makes complete sense, seeing as you're ready to inject me with a cocktail of medications." She frowned in thought, wishing she could administer the drugs herself and be done with it. She could feel the events of the day finally catching up to her, and she very much wanted to be alone. "Asthma," Sam told the medic. "I have asthma."
The woman nodded and gestured to the vial from which the mechanized arm was now drawing liquid. "I know," she said, glancing down at her omni tool.
"Wait, what?"
"Dr. Ricardi is my aunt," she explained as she sat down on the edge of the bio-stretcher, gesturing toward the other edge of the med tent. Sam looked curiously over the medic's shoulder and saw the doctor's unconscious form on a bio-stretcher next to Ani, who appeared to be in similar condition. "She didn't give me the details, of course – ethical guidelines and all that," the medic waved a hand vaguely as she continued. "But I put it together, especially when Parker came rushing over with his tail between his legs."
At the name of her former medic, Samantha rolled her eyes and groaned. "That man's an ass."
"That man is an ass," the blonde agreed with a laugh. "I hope you find me more agreeable. I'm Lisa – Lisa Martin. It's only fair that you have my last name if I have yours."
"And my medical history, apparently," Sam responded in a halfhearted attempt at levity. "Nice to meet you," she extended a hand.
"Mm, perhaps we should hold off on that until you're all healed up," Lisa raised an eyebrow at Sam's blackened fingers.
"Well, I have quite a high pain tolerance," she intoned before wincing and examining her hands again. "Although, now that the adrenaline has fully worn off, I'm actually realizing that to be quite untrue."
Lisa smiled and patted Sam's knee. "Well, you're all set for now – the pain meds will be pumping soon. We'll just keep you here a few hours, but I'll be back later for that handshake. And, of course, to thank you for saving my family." The medic held Sam's gaze a beat too long before rising from the bio-stretcher and disappearing further into the med tent.
What in the hell? Sam thought as she watched the blonde retreat. Normally, she would have been tantalized at the prospect of an attractive woman potentially flirting with her, but now she felt only exhausted and bereft. It had been just five hours since she and Daniel had shut themselves in the safe room, but it felt like a week.
Sam leaned her head back against the bio-stretcher, looking out across the dark colony and aching for her family. She wasn't sure what she was going to do next, but Daniel's words played over and over in her mind.
I need to take these bastards down.
A/N: So that's the first installment. I'm not sure how much of ME3 I want this to cover. It's not going to be a one-shot as I've already started writing more (as mentioned above), but I'm also not sure I want to go through all of ME3. If I did, it would be from Sam's perspective
My typical pairing is FShep/Liara – pretty much every time I play through that's what I go with. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with Sam and the Commander. I haven't decided a lot of it! Please let me know what direction you would like this to go in the reviews. I will hopefully have the second chapter up in the next few days.
I do have another fic in the works that will proceed from ME1-3, with Shepard as the focus. Those of you who are reading my Dragon Age story know that I like to begin with companion backgrounds – I'll be doing that as well, and have already written them for Liara, Wrex, and Kaidan, and I've fleshed out my background and character profile for Shepard. I will begin posting those shortly.
Again, please let me know what you think in the reviews and what you'd like to see if there's something in particular!