First off, usual disclaimer stuff. I don't own Mass Effect or any of it's related property's...and i make no money from this.
Not sure why i decided to write this. But i was playing ME2 tonight and suddenly gained inspiration to write my take on the suicide mission from my Shepard's perspective. With some liberty's taken and a few adjustments to make everything play out the way i want.
If you haven't already guessed, this contains major, MAJOR spoilers for Mass Effect 2's ending. So if you haven't finished the game for some reason. Or just don't want spoilers, then hit the back button now, I'm not responsible for whatever spoilers you encounter after this point.
This was something i cooked up in about an hour, two at best, and its 3am right now, so don't be surprised if there's errors or the like. It's rough i'll admit, but still readable i'm sure.
Hope you enjoy, please read and review. There will be more rest assured. This is merely the opening scene before the mission starts. (It picks up right after the space battle and subsistent crash landing on the Collector base)
Paying the Price
Chapter one
Shepard groaned as she dragged her suddenly heavy body back to her feet, her hands swiftly darted out and managed to find a handhold on the back of a nearby chair as she almost collapsed a second later. "The hell happened?" She coughed, her eyes weren't able to focus properly, and she could taste blood, that wasn't good.
"Everyone alright?" She spoke again when no one responded.
"Think I broke a rib." She heard Joker groan. "All of them." He corrected a moment later, despite being in worse shape, or so Melina believed, the crimson haired soldier placed a reassuring hand on the pilots shoulder, or tried to, thanks to her vision still being screwed she missed the first time.
A few moments of groaning and questions passed, and it was soon revealed the ship was, at least for now, inoperable. "We all knew this could be a one way trip." Miranda, having finally regained her composure, said quietly, despite her normally iron resolve, and having been warning the crew of this from the start, even she sounded disheartened by the thought.
"Either way, were here to destroy the Collector base, no matter the cost." Shepard stated as a hand moved to rub her eyes in a vain attempt to focus them. After the hectic battle, and the even worse crash landing, she was considering them lucky to even still be alive.
A pang of fear rolled through her as she considered the situation. Sure, they on the bridge had been lucky, but everyone else was still on other decks. How had they fared?
Ignoring the rest of the conversation, she quietly moved past Miranda and set off towards the elevator. God she hoped it still worked.
Whether by luck, or sheer stubbornness. Everyone aboard was still alive, a bit beat up, but alive none the less.
"Meet in the briefing room." She told each in turn before moving on. Once she'd rounded all of them up and made it there herself, it came time to discuss how exactly they were going to accomplish the immense task set out before them.
Everyone was busy preparing weapons and equipment when Melina entered, she didn't stop them, and instead she simply approached the briefing table and rested her hands heavily on its surface. Once all eyes were on her, she cleared her throat and spoke. "This isn't how we planned this mission, but this is where were at."
Her gaze slowly shifted from person to person, taking in each face and burning them into her memory forever. Not everyone would be going home, hell she didn't expect any of them to make it out alive. "We can't worry about whether the Normandy can get us home…We came here to stop the Collectors. And that means coming up with a plan on how to take out this station."
With a slight gesture, EDI activated and began filling them in on where to target. "You should be able to overload their critical control systems if you get to the control center, here." Melina's eyes narrowed slightly as a schematic flickered into view, and a location on the far side of the station was marked as their goal, her mouth opened to speak, though it was Jacob that spoke first.
"That means going through the heart of the station. Right past this massive energy signature." Tapping commands into his Omni-tool the schematic they were looking at changed, a different location highlighting.
"That's the central chamber…If the crew or any of the colonists are still alive, then chances are that's where they are." That was both a blessing, and a curse in her mind. On one hand, if they could find the crew before it was too late, then they stood a chance of getting everyone out in one piece. But at the same time, who knew how many enemies stood between them, and whoever might have still been alive.
The schematic changed again, as Jacob outlined two possible paths and suggested splitting up. "No good, both routes are blocked." Miranda cut him off, and Shepard cursed silently as she scanned the hologram and picked out a different method.
"There." She indicated the plan, the doors only opened from the other side, but a ventilation shaft. "Someone could sneak through there and open the doors." An argument swiftly broke out following this, as several offered to do it, while others either shot them down or tried to beat them to the punch.
Finally, Shepard raised a hand, somehow this alone managed to silence the room. "Tail…You're up." She said after a moment, several mumbled comments followed, though she tuned them out. Tail was the best candidate, and the commander trusted the qurian with her life.
Next came the choice for who would go with which squad. Naturally another argument broke out, this time solely between Jack and Miranda, though again Shepard ended it before it got out of hand. "Garrus, can I trust you to lead the second team?" The turian nodded slightly.
"Grunt and Legion will come with me. The rest of you are with Garrus." She stated with finality, before setting off for the door. It wasn't the best plan, but they really didn't have time to worry. If this didn't work, they'd be dead anyway so it hardly mattered.
She halted however, before turning to face the rest of the squad. Much as she hated speeches, this was something she needed to get off her chest. "I don't know what were going to find in there…But it's not going to be easy…We've lost good people. We may lose more."
Once again, all eyes were on her, but she didn't stop. Instead one hand swept up and brushed several locks of bright red hair from her pale blue eyes. "It doesn't matter how many the collectors have stolen. Thousands, hundreds of thousands…What matters, is not, one, more. That's what we can do today. We can stop them once and for all."
"I say we show them, on our turns." The commander paused to study each face again, before she turned away and set off towards the elevator once again.
As she entered her quarters, she spared a glance towards a mirror. Her red and black N7 armour was dented and buckled, dried blood stained the left shoulder and stomach where she'd taken a few hits, but luckily the injury's were long healed, and new injury's sustained from the crash weren't bad enough to slow her down.
Shaking her head slightly, Melina noted a bright orange scar on her left cheek, and one on her neck. Reminders of the reconstruction Cerberus had done to bring her back from the dead.
A sigh escaped her as she moved to the desk opposite the mirror and collected the dull crimson helmet resting on one edge, somehow it hadn't shaken lose and fallen to the floor. As she did so, her eyes fell upon another object still sitting in it's proper place, and Shepard froze.
Staring back at her was the smiling face of Liara. Her love from before, and after her death. The picture had been taken prior to the first Normandy's destruction, somehow it had survived and found its way back to her two years later.
Despite the need to move, Melina slowly righted her chair and collapsed onto it for a moment, her hand developed a mind of its own and plucked the picture from her desk and brought it closer to her face for inspection.
This was what she was fighting for. For all her bold words and actions, it wasn't the colonists; it wasn't to stop the reapers that she fought so hard. No, it was Liara that drove her to victory. No matter what happened, she wouldn't let anything happen to the asari. Whether she made it back or not didn't matter at this point, so long as the collectors were stopped and she knew her love would be safe.
Bitting her lip, the commander returned the picture to its original place. Before sliding the helmet over her head and locking it into place. One final glance was all she spared the still image, before she stood and scooped up the assault rifle she'd been carrying up from the floor and vanished from the room.