Okay, I'm super nervous about posting this! I don't even know if this idea's been done, I'm pretty sure it has, but I hope it's okay all the same! I'm sure there are plenty of noir style ME fics that are totally awesome, and I know my paltry attempt won't come close, but I was inspired by Mayer Hawthorne's song/video Cosmic Love, and I couldn't get the idea out of my head!
"Everything's in order, Commander." Steve's voice rang into her ear. "It's just… Isn't this strange?"
"Yeah, very strange." Shepard frowned. The entire planet had gone dark. People were there, they were just… Missing? They weren't picking up any life scans, but there were no outgoing shuttles, no outgoing ships in the ports; just a large bevy of incoming ships, but no one there.
Any hails the Alliance had tried to make didn't reach, and strangely enough the Reapers were leaving this planet untouched. It was pretty far out on the Rim though; they had a small colony station here she didn't know much about, but it was a growing place. Apparently they were mining for Iridium and Palladium, of which they'd found rather large deposits. Thus they'd begun to set up a contained colony that would allow them to mine the minerals and allow the civilians and alliance personnel that were stationed here a more comfortable living arrangement.
It cost a pretty penny, but it was worth a hell of a lot more.
"I have a bad feeling." Steve said, his uneasiness exuding from the cockpit.
"When don't you have a bad feeling about a mission, Esteban?" James quipped from the rear of the shuttle. He was checking his weapons one more time before they landed.
"Come on, Mr. Vega, you can't possibly think this isn't strange? The whole colony went dark, there's not a trace of thermal scans from any people down there, and visual scans show no activity."
"Besides," Kaidan spoke up, "their surveillance is all shut down, not to mention there's been no incoming traffic being recorded, and the logs show there was no outgoing ships. Something's definitely up."
"Yeah, especially when this was one of the last things on the cameras," Shepard had pulled up a data pad for the three of them to look at. A Cerberus shuttle was shown docking in the hangar, shortly before everything shut down. "Cerberus definitely has their fingers dipped in this, in one way or another."
"Look, guys, all I'm saying is we can handle it. We've been handling their asses so far." Shepard gave him a deadpanned expression and he chuckled slowly. "Heh, I mean excluding Thessia. But that's Kai Leng."
"Who's been one step ahead of us this whole time." Kaidan mentioned, a sigh escaping him.
"He whose name shall not be mentioned aside, we need to find out what they're doing there," she gritted her teeth. Him besting her still grated at her nerves and had wounded her pride; not to mention murdering Thane. These were all causes for him being a thorn in her side, pain in her ass, and a grade A piece of shit that she couldn't stand was still alive. Reflexively she cracked her knuckles just thinking about the bastard.
"L—Shepard," Kaidan corrected himself. "It's going to be alright, we'll get him." He always called her by her first name, but they were trying to be discreet when it came to the rest of the crew knowing; despite the fact she was sure they'd all already figured out they were back together way back after the Citadel coup. She watched that tidbit being confirmed when she saw James try to hide the chuckle he wanted to release as he eyed the two of them.
"I know…" She responded to Kaidan.
Steve landed the shuttle outside the hangar; since power was shut down they had to get out and manually open the doors themselves. Steve sealed the cockpit and the three of them put their helmets on and made their way outside.
"Brr, kind of cold out here, yeah?" James remarked.
"Vega, your suit is keeping you warm." Lonyn remarked with a chuckle.
"Yeah, but the temps are reading in the negative, there's only so much our armor can help with that."
"Aw, someone having trouble with the cold?" She teased, and Kaidan let out a raspy chuckle himself as he made his way to the panel on the door. She sidled up next to him as James took a moment to look around the entryway. He was also checking the specs of the place.
"Topside scans show that there shouldn't be any other entryways. I'm not showing any new ones having been built." James relayed to them.
"This panel still works, but it uses auxiliary power when they want to open the doors." Kaidan said as he opened a compartment on his Omni tool and took a wire from it, plugging it into the power jack on the panel. He got to work scrambling a code and Lon watched him with a smile. He was so good with this stuff. She could handle the basics, but she was just a soldier. She wasn't much for computer tech like he was.
Kaidan glanced up at her; she couldn't see his smile she saw the crinkle in his eyes. "What?" He asked.
She shrugged, "It's just always nice to see you in action," She raised a brow and he laughed.
"Okay you two, enough flirting, that's my department." James said as he came up to them.
"Alright, door's open." Kaidan announced, and immediately the three turned to soldier mode; all playing put aside as they flanked the doors when they slid open. Shepard peered around the corner scanning the hangar through her Black Widow's scope seeing that the airlock was already opened. She signaled to James she was going in and he was next. She slipped inside the door, finding a spot to hide while she continued to look around.
James glided inside behind her and stooped down behind some cargo bins, and Kaidan followed suit right after.
"Commander, I'm not finding any signs of life in the hangar." He relayed.
"Aye, aye, Major." Shepard switched to her rifle and stood as they made their way down the ramp taking a look around. "Hard to believe there's no patrols or anyone guarding this hangar." She remarked and the other two nodded in agreement.
"Since the life support is off, maybe they think it doesn't matter." James said as kept his rifle ready.
"I would think that too, but anyone who's smart isn't going to come in here without the proper equipment." Kaidan countered.
"Yeah, but you had to manually override the panel. No one with regular tech is going to do that."
"Unless," Shepard stopped as she led them in, "you're Alliance."
"You thinking this is a trap, Lola?"
"Maybe, it's still strange." She said as they found the checkpoint that led to the airlock which lead into the city. Kaidan posted himself at the door and began to override this panel as well. "There should be blood right? Cerberus came in and shot the Alliance soldiers at their posts."
"Maybe they stunned them?" James offered up and she furrowed her brow.
"Yeah, but to what end? Why?"
"Who knows with Cerberus. Look at how the refugee center on Horizon turned out."
"True, but stunning them and taking them… Where? For what?"
"I guess we'll have to figure that out," Kaidan said as the airlocks began to open. "The power grid is showing no oxygen or power flowing on this level. But I'm finding something strange on my scans."
"What is it?" Shepard asked.
"There's a power grid, and running oxygen; below us."
She could see James turn his head to look over at Kaidan. "What's strange about that?" He asked.
"That's not on the schematics."
"Do you have an entry to this area?" Shepard wondered as they began to walk through the streets of the town, flashlights beaming on their guns.
"Not yet. I'm working on it."
They stuck close to the building fronts, keeping their sides covered as they slowly made their way through the makeshift town.
"We should probably start with the main hall. It's where they have their headquarters, a mess hall, and it's the main barracks for the Alliance personnel that were supposed to be stationed here." Kaidan said and they continued forward.
"Hey, cool," James piped up, "They have clubs in this place. Cosmic Love? You know, I think I may have heard of that club."
"Something to keep the locals busy in their down time." Shepard commented and they came across HQ. She immediately stopped, turning off her light and the guys followed suit. There was a light inside and James crossed quietly to the other side of the door as Lon and Kaidan waited on their side. Once the door opened, she and James tackled him while Kaidan looked inside to see if there was anyone else. He shouted into his comm that they'd been compromised, so she sent a left hook into his gut to get him to shut up for the moment.
"Tell us what's going on here!" Shepard ordered, but as soon as they heard the words 'activate' wheeze from his lips they let him go as she shouted for them to move. The resulting minor explosion sent them flying to the ground as the guy's body was pushed backwards into the building. "Is everyone alright?" Shepard asked as she got up to survey the damage.
"I'm fine. James?" Kaidan called out.
"Argh, I think I got guts on my boots." He whined and the three of them convened at the doorway.
"I don't hear any backup coming." Turning on her flashlight she made her way inside and knelt down next to the smoking body. She popped open his helmet, revealing the indoctrinated husk looking face of most Cerberus soldiers and could see the comm was still working. "And I don't hear any radio chatter." Standing up the guys flanked her side. "Let's take a look around. The way down below has to be in here somewhere."
They moved throughout the facility focusing on the first floor and came up empty. "Major?"
"I haven't found anything on the scans yet, Commander."
"What about the holding cells? There's gotta be some right? Shit like that's pretty fortified." James remarked and she looked to Kaidan.
"They're down this way," he said and they began to form up and follow him as he led the way. Once in there, things looked to be normal. It was your everyday average looking jail, with a hallway full of holding cells.
"What's down at the end of the hall?" She asked as their eyes landed on a dimly glowing light and they followed the path towards it.
"It should be just an office."
"There's a lot of seals on that door," She mentioned as they got to it. Kaidan studied the panel, holding up his arm as he worked on his Omni tool. "There's an airlock behind this door."
"Can you get it open?" She asked and James huffed beside her as he kept his eyes on the hallway they'd come from.
"Lola, Lola, Lola, Major's got enough brains for the both of us, I'm sure he could get it open."
"Is that supposed to be sarcasm?" Kaidan remarked as he got to work on the door.
"Not at all, Major. I wouldn't tease a superior officer like that."
"Hah," She nearly snorted, as she watched the doors open and the hallway was flooded with ambient light from the airlock. "Nice work." They stepped inside and he overrode the panel inside to shut it and begin the decontamination process. They backed against the walls on the sides of the chamber as it began the process and filled the lock with oxygen.
The doors opened and they peered out, seeing the hallway devoid of any life. "Any heat signatures registering?" She whispered into her comm and Kaidan shook his head.
"Nothing in the area." They moved out into the hallway taking a look around.
"This looks like a standard lab." She remarked, letting her helmet slide back into her suit. The guys followed suit and they began to explore the chamber.
"Did they build this? Cerberus?" James asked.
"I don't know. If it's not on the schematics, then it looks that way. That or the Alliance was doing some experiments it wasn't cleared for. This is supposed to be a mining colony not a scientific research facility." She found an office and pressed a button that slid the door open. She and Kaidan went in while James stood in the hallway. She went to the computer, Kaidan finding another, and they both began to try and access information.
"This is weird," They heard James say. "Where is everyone? Why'd they let us walk right in?"
"I don't know…" Shepard frowned as she wasn't able to get into any relevant files. "Any luck?" She asked as she looked over at Kaidan who looked equally perplexed.
"No, no luck." The sound of gunfire had them all ready to go as they crouched down. James backed into the room and almost immediately the door shut, sealing itself off, while a mist began to spread throughout the room.
"Helmets!" Shepard called out, and they all geared back up, but their suits were screaming out a warning.
"My suit's been compromised!" James yelled, and Shepard tried to remain calm despite the beating of her heart. So had hers and she looked to Kaidan who confirmed it as well.
"The airlock…" He trailed off.
They shot at the window and Shepard switched to her Black Widow, firing off concussive shot after concussive shot at the door. Nothing was penetrating it and she took a deep breath as she charged at the door, slamming her shoulder into it.
James followed suit after her, but his motions were becoming slow as he collapsed to the ground. She could feel herself beginning to feel tired, dizzy, and she looked back at Kaidan bathed in blue. She backed up and as a last ditch effort he sent a biotic shockwave that blasted the door off into the hall, but he collapsed right after. She fell to her knees, trying to will herself to stay awake at the sight of Cerberus soldiers tromping into the room.
She struggled, gun limply falling as she fell forward. Her vision was blurring as footsteps entered her line of sight in the form of black blurs, and the last thing she heard was a muted and faint, "Ah. Commander Shepard herself."
"Shepard come in. Shepard? Commander? Steve?" Joker leaned back in his chair frustrated. "I can't get ahold of any of them. What the hell's going on down there?"
"It seems as though a storm has moved in. Communications may be limited." EDI quipped from beside him and he let out a disgusted sigh.
"Look, we've had weather problems before, there's always some sort of garbled transmission, EDI, have you not watched any movies?"
"On the contrary, Jeff, I've watched many movies, however this is—"
"Real life, yeah, yeah, I know. It's just… I don't like this."
"Have you heard from Shepard yet?" Garrus asked as he came into the cockpit followed closely by Tali.
"No, I haven't. What you know something I don't?" Joker grumbled and the four of them were left in silence. "It's been radio silence ever since Steve said they made it inside. I didn't think much of it, until the radio silence spread a little too long."
"I should've gone with them." Garrus's concern mimicked the others.
"Maybe you should've, but calibrations were apparently a little more important." Tali teased, trying to lighten the mood.
"I'm going down there." Garrus announced, and Tali nodded declaring she would as well. "Tell Liara to meet us in the shuttle bay."
"Alright, but we're going to have to land. The other shuttles are being repaired at the moment." Joker told him.
"Then let's get this show on the road." Garrus said and he and Tali began to head back towards the elevator.
"Do you think something has happened to them?" Tali asked, worry tinging her voice.
"No, no… It's Shepard we're talking about."
"Shepard died one time, Garrus. Or have you forgotten that?"
"Not forgotten, just trying to keep that buried in the back of my mind." He said back to her. "I'm sure they're fine. They're just in a void, I'm sure of it."
"I don't like this." Tali said to him. They made it into the shuttle bay while Joker landed the ship, seeing Liara gearing up once the elevator doors opened.
"This mission never had a satisfactory outcome." She said quietly.
"Did we all have a bad feeling about this?" Tali asked.
"Apparently. Shepard, didn't have a good feeling about it either, and I'm sure Kaidan wasn't far behind on that." Garrus told them as he grabbed his guns. Tali was outfitting her Omni tool and loaded up her shotgun.
The ship rocked, a pulse racing through the walls. "What was that?" Tali asked as they felt the effects of another pulse hit the ship.
"EDI?!" Garrus called, and they were met with no response. It was silent, another pulse racked the Normandy, and suddenly a white gas was spewing through the vents.
"Goddess, what is happening!?" Liara grabbed her mask, but it was too late. One by one they all fell, as well as the other Normandy personnel who'd tried to grab some guns. Garrus watched Tali, worry becoming him.
"Are you…" He started, but he began to fall.
"Garrus!" She tried to help him before he passed out on the floor and she looked around. Her suit was airtight, completely sealed, but would it affect her too? She could hear the shuttle doors beginning to open and she pulled Garrus behind the requisitions bench where Liara had dropped. "Shit," She swore and heard boots beginning to touch the paneled floor. She was about to send a combat drone when one of their own came around the corner.
A shock consumed her, and it was lights out after that.