Author's Note: For anyone who has read this before: I went over this chapter and fixed a couple small errors to clean it up. I am doing the same with Chapters 2-4 both in an effort to clear up any misunderstandings and to beat my writer's block regarding the elusive Chapter 5. Even if there are only small changes, going over the material helps me to sink into my world and avoid those nasty plot holes that come from writers who are unfamiliar with their own material.
For new readers, please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect-that honor belongs to EA and Bioware.
2165 CE onboard the SSV Geneva
It was a landmark day for the SSV Geneva and for mankind. Eight years after the First Contact War, humanity had been granted an embassy on the Citadel and the SSV Geneva had the honor of transporting the first human ambassador Anita Goyle to the Citadel. While most of the ship celebrated this fact, an attractive athletic woman found herself in an entirely different frame of mind.
Staff Lieutenant Hannah Shepard glared at the empty room with sharp green eyes. She had expected to find her children at their terminals doing their schoolwork for the day. Instead the terminals were dark and her children were nowhere to be found in the family quarters. In hindsight, she should have expected something like this, as this wasn't the first time James and Rebecca had played hooky. It was precisely this reason she couldn't leave her twins on a station like other members of the crew.
Heading out of the quarters, she didn't bother asking the ship VI to track their location. No doubt Rebecca had hacked it to prevent that. Hannah paused to check the lock on the quarters and grimaced. Her prodigal son James had bypassed the door again. How an eleven year old boy managed to bypass a lock of this strength was beyond her. Then again how her daughter could hack into things she shouldn't be able to hack was also disturbing. If this kept up, her head would be fully gray before she hit middle age.
The first thing she needed to check was their favorite places on the ship. They had to be somewhere on this cruiser. She just hoped they didn't turn out somewhere forbidden and get them and her in a lot of trouble. Hannah gave a terse nod as she passed by the other crew members.
"Have the chicks left the nest again Ma'am?" Flight Lieutenant Sean O'Neil asked as he saluted. His black hair was a bit longer than regulation and his blue eyes had their trademark glint. Sean was rarely cross, taking everything life threw at him with good humor and a pint. The only man that had ever drunk him under the table was his best friend Seth, and even then Hannah had had to drag Seth away before he passed out.
Hannah sighed then answered, "Yes Sean. Have you seen them?" Her voice was cool, reflecting little of the southern drawl she'd grown up with and subsequently spent her entire career trying to rid herself of. Due to her iron control and years of practice she could proudly say it only colored her voice when her emotions ran too high for her to curb. It had been something of a nuisance when she first began her service as her thick accent reflected her less than privileged childhood-those with any decently good education in this century learned to drop the regional accents in favor of a standardized way of speaking that was universally understood across a particular language- and therefore marked her as somebody different. She had no issues with being different on the grounds of superior performance and excellent character but Hannah despised being laughed at or sneered at simply because of her roots.
"Last I heard they were heading toward the firing range on the hanger deck. Ma'am" He saluted as he walked off whistling an Irish tune.
She followed his directions to the flight deck where the fighters were being maintained by the maintenance crews. Walking toward the crew chief she addressed him. "Chief Walker have you seen my children? They're playing hooky again."
From his spot under the trident fighter he was working on, Fred Walker answered, "You might try the firing range with Chief Schulyer. They're usually over there when they're here. Would you mind passing that Eezo wrench? This drive core has been on the fritz lately and my omni tool just isn't up to it. This fighter needs a complete overhaul." The only thing visible of his body was grimy boots desperately in need of polish. If he wasn't so good at his job, she'd put him on report for being out of uniform.
Hannah passed the correct wrench into his greasy hand and then walked off. She approached the firing range at a brisk pace, her unpainted mouth set in a stern line.
Gunnery chief John Schulyer stood, arms crossed as he observed the twins firing M3 Predators. The grizzled black man was a veteran of the First Contact War and remembered vividly the attack on Shanxi. As such, he was more than happy to instruct the Shepard twins on the proper way to handle firearms. "James don't grip the pistol so hard. It's a gun not your-"
A delicate cough interrupted him in mid-sentence.
The twins froze and turned around. The doomed look on their faces told the chief who was there.
"Your mother's there isn't she?" He asked them.
They nodded mutely, red heads bobbing in agreement.
Putting on a smile he turned around and offered a salute to the blond woman. "Lieutenant Shepard."
"Gunnery Chief Schulyer," She gave him a look that spoke of demotions to the rank of Private. He had known Hannah Shepard since the early days in the First Contact War but never in eight years had he seen the woman be anything but coldly efficient on duty. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn the woman was made of ice.
Rebecca grinned brightly, her green eyes batting as she spoke. "Mom, James and I were just-"
"Thinking of ways to finish our homework," James interrupted with his green eyes gleaming with sincerity. Unlike his sister Rebecca whose red hair leaned toward reddish-gold, his hair was a dark red that would no doubt match the auburn shade of his father's hair someday.
Hannah raised an elegant eyebrow. "Oh really? Shooting guns helps you finish how…?" She folded her arms.
Rebecca opened and closed her mouth soundlessly. Her mother always saw through the smokescreen, and zeroed in on the truth.
Next to her, James summoned up all the charisma he had. "Well Becca and I disagreed on how to solve a math problem. I thought if you take into account the distance between this point and the target with the speed of a round fired by a M3 Predator you can determine how quickly the round will get to the target every time."
Rebecca seamlessly took over. "I disagreed in that the speed of a round fired from the M3 is not always constant. Case in point armor piercing ammo always travels faster than normal ammo."
"That's an interesting argument but that doesn't explain why you're here and not doing your schoolwork." Hannah countered.
James shrugged cheerfully. "Oh we already finished."
"Yeah, we've been debating tomorrow's homework." Rebecca grinned.
Hannah used her omni tool to access a nearby terminal to confirm their story. She sighed in defeat. "Schulyer you're off the hook. But from now on, the twins are not allowed into the armory or the range without me or their father present."
"Yes ma'am," Schulyer saluted smartly.
Hannah relaxed into a pose with her hands clasped behind her back. "How did they do on the range?"
Schulyer smiled proudly, and stood tall. "James was five points away from the ship record at forty meters. If he didn't grip so hard he would've gotten it. Rebecca held it correctly but she needs work on her sighting. Her score places her at proficient."
Rebecca frowned as a thought occurred to her while the adults were talking. "James let me see your gun."
James shrugged and handed over the pistol. "Sure. Maybe you can figure it out. It didn't feel right when I was shooting it."
Rebecca examined the gun closely. "Something's off with the barrel. Hey Chief, can you take a look at James's gun?" She interrupted and handed it to Schulyer.
Using his omni tool Schulyer ran a quick diagnostic. "No wonder he was gripping so hard. The barrel's off by four millimeters screwing up the recoil. Let me fix this real quick." With his experienced hands the repair took no more than five minutes and then handed it back to James.
James turned around, sighted and fired. The round was dead center every time.
Not to be outdone, Rebecca fired a few rounds herself. While she was in the center, she didn't always hit the bulls eye.
James nudged her. "Becca try adjusting your point of aim three centimeters to the left."
Rebecca frowned and adjusted accordingly. Narrowing her eyes she fired several rounds and was pleased to see them hit dead center.
Hannah blinked in surprise. "James I didn't know you could shoot so well. Just how much time do you spend down here anyway?"
Schulyer cleared his throat. "Most days and every time Seth comes to practice. They've also been taking pointers from the Marines."
"I see," Hannah's tone was surprised. Her children were pestering the Marines? Didn't they usually hate children? "Have they been a bother?"
Schulyer denied it vehemently. "No ma'am. The Marines are delighted to…that is none of them mind the children. They're very mature for their age and are never a bother."
Hannah absorbed this for a moment before turning to her children. "James, Rebecca we need to go and collect your father from Engineering. He should be getting off duty about now. Chief Schulyer." She nodded to the Chief and gently steered her children away from the range after they returned the guns.
As the family waited in the elevator for it to reach the Engineering Deck, Hannah cleared her throat. "Is there any reason the two of you like to go traipsing all over the ship without permission? "
Rebecca scuffed her shoes against the floor. "It's boring being locked up in a little room all day. We only leave when we go see Daddy or to the Mess Hall."
Hannah's face softened a little but her voice remained stern. "I understand that but if we are in a combat situation we can't have you wandering around the ship. You could get seriously hurt or be in the way of the crew. Could you at least call me and tell me where're you're headed?"
"Yes Mom and we'll call the Section Head too to ask permission before we go." James added.
The elevator doors opened and they stepped off onto the Engineering Deck. Walking at a brisk pace they soon reached the Core Room where the drive core gave a soft hum behind the mass effect shield. Standing at a console monitoring the core was a tall wirey auburn haired man.
"DADDY!" Rebecca shrieked and flew at her father.
Chief Engineer Seth Shepard picked up his daughter and hugged her. "How's my little rose doing? Causing any more trouble today?"
Rebecca giggled. "I can finally hit the bullseye of the target thanks to James helping me. But Mom told Chief Schulyer we're not allowed to be at the range any more without you or her there." She pouted a bit.
"I take it you and Mr. Bond sneaked out again then." Seth ruffled his son's hair benignly. "What are we going to do with you two?"
"How about restraints?" Hannah suggested dryly.
"How about a nanny? Maybe we can bribe one of the PFCs to watch them. Put those Marines to use for something other than grunting." Seth joked, his blue eyes twinkling.
James frowned at his father. "Dad, Marines don't grunt. They fight."
Rebecca frowned at her father also as she shifted in his arms. "Yeah Daddy they're not that bad. Marines keep us all safe."
Seth looked in surprise at his children. "That's it, no more Marines for you. Keep this talk up and you'll end up enlisting as one."
"What's wrong with that?" Rebecca blinked surprised.
Seth just sighed and put her down. "Alright give me a minute and we can get going." He consulted briefly with his small dark haired assistant.
"Don't worry Chief, I have everything handled." Tolavi saluted before taking over.
When the family was in the elevator again, heading up to deck C1, Seth glanced mischievously at his beautiful wife. Quickly reaching behind her, he pinched her ass and grinned at the resulting shriek.
"SETH!" Hannah glared at her husband. "NOT HERE!"
"What? I can't express my love and admiration for my lovely wife? Next you'll tell me I can't hug our children." Seth said with a hurt look. He loved it when she blushed.
"Keep that up and you'll be sleeping on the couch mister." Hannah growled trying to contain her laughter. Only Seth could loosen her up like this.
James stage whispered, "I'd do what she says."
Rebecca nodded sagely. "Yup, otherwise you'll never get any."
Both parents stared in shock at their children. Finally Hannah cleared her throat and with a meaningful look at Seth, "Definitely too much time with the Marines."
Later in the family quarters after the living area had been cleaned up from the weekly Skyllian 5 Poker game and the twins sent off to bed in the small second bedroom, Hannah and Seth moved into their bedroom to talk.
"I can't believe James won again. If it isn't him its Rebecca winning. I think he's cheating. How else do you explain two grown adults getting fleeced by an eleven year old?" Seth complained good naturedly.
"Oh please, everyone knows you have a horrible poker face. Besides James takes after my father, you never can tell when he's bluffing. He was Special Forces," Hannah said with pride. Her family could trace their military lineage all the way back to Earth's Second World War. Since that war, her family had fought in every war North America had participated in all the way to the founding of the Alliance. Since the beginning all had served with honor.
"In all seriousness with them constantly being AWOL from our quarters they can't stay on this ship much longer. They don't have anybody their own age to play with or room to play, so they're just getting into trouble." Seth said for an opening statement, folding his arms.
"Just how much trouble do you think they'd get into out of our sight on some station? I'm not letting them out of my sight." Hannah set her jaw in a stubborn manner.
"You can't watch them forever. Someday they have to grow up and get some independence. They can't get that on a ship where their every move is monitored and controlled," Seth argued.
"They're only eleven, are they really old enough to go on a station by themselves?" Hannah suddenly smirked. "Besides I'm the ranking officer here, what I say goes."
Seth rolled his eyes. "Aye, aye Lieutenant. Permission to love my wife?"
"Granted." Hannah smiled as the lights dimmed.
The next day began as a peaceful, uneventful day aboard the Geneva but by the end of the day it would become hell itself. Sequestered in one of the rooms set aside for the press who were aboard to document the first human ambassador traveling to the Citadel, four reporters systematically disabled the security in the room, cutting off video and sound of the room and locking the door against intrusion.
Once the room had been sealed against outsiders, the stocky senior reporter Angus Ross pressed a button and displayed a holographic map of the SSV Geneva. "You understand the importance of this mission to Cerberus correct? We must not let that 'ambassador' reach the Citadel or humanity will soon be crushed under those oppressive alien scum. Plan A is to locate the ambassador and kill her. We need to get in and out of the officer's crew deck before anybody realizes what's happened. Should this somehow fail we have an alternate plan. In plan B, we attack the ship at her weakest point-the Mass Effect Core. Ricardo," Angus turned to the short Hispanic man next to him, "We'll need your expert hacking to get down to the Engineering deck and into the Core room. Gabriel," Here he faced a tall angelic faced blond man in his early twenties, "Be prepared to kill any of those Marines that get in our way. You better not let Ricardo die or we're screwed," Then Angus's dark eyes flashed over to a beautiful brunette, "Miranda…back up Gabriel and just stay out of trouble. You survive and you might get a gold star. Any questions?"
The fifteen year old girl folded her arms. "You know I could easily hack better than Ricardo."
Angus glared at the girl. "Shut up, Lawson."
Gabriel cracked his knuckles as he spoke. "Are we going to start this soon? I'd like to shoot some Marines before this day is out."
Angus nodded. "The mission will begin now."
Ricardo moved to the terminal inside the room and began hacking furiously. A few minutes later he spoke. "Ship wide monitors disabled. Alarm turned off. We have ten minutes."
"Let's get cracking." Angus commanded as they left the room.
In the CIC Specialist Abigail Brewer a plain older woman with graying brown hair and sharp eyes stiffened as she read the latest data packet on the ship wide monitors. "Damn kids," She muttered.
Hannah glanced up from her own terminal. "What's wrong Brewer?"
"Those children of yours did it again Ma'am. They turned off all the monitors in the entire ship and disabled the alarm. I don't know what they're up to but they better stop fooling around." Brewer spat out. She had never liked children but after seeing the Shepard twins in action, she swore off children forever. If she had her way, spacers would not be allowed to have children unless on stations.
Hannah frowned. "They can't be doing that. They just promised yesterday they'd stop."
Brewer snorted. "Obviously they lied."
Crewman Lisa Allen chimed in, "Don't worry, I'll fix it!" She announced in her perky voice. She was a petite young woman from a colony on her first fleet assignment. Her big brown eyes and golden curls added to the impression of a hyperactive family dog.
Crewman Martha Crawford suggested in a soft voice, "Maybe it's a system malfunction. Besides the children haven't blacked out the system before, so why would they start now?" Her raven hair was cut short and her hazel eyes were always thoughtful. She had a motherly air about her despite her young age and her voice was rarely raised above a conversational tone.
"I'll check on them and if it's not them you owe me a big apology, Brewer." Hannah shot back as she opened up a communications line.
On the first hail a high pitched childish voice answered. "Hello?"
"James? It's Mom. What are you and Rebecca up to now?" Hannah questioned.
"We're doing homework. Why?" James asked innocently.
"Are you sure you're not up to anything naughty again? Snuck out of the quarters?" Hannah queried.
"No, we've been in here since breakfast. We haven't even stopped for lunch yet. Besides we promised we'd stop fooling around and we have." James sounded puzzled now.
Hannah glanced at the source of the line. She had deliberately opened up a line to the family quarters to test if they really were in there. Since James had answered promptly and didn't sound out of breath, they were in there. Which meant her children weren't behind the hack. "Never mind. You and your sister get back to work and stay inside." She closed the line just as Lisa exclaimed in a distressed tone.
"The hack originated from one of the press rooms. You have any idea what your kids are doing there?" Lisa inquired.
"They're not anywhere near the press rooms. They're still in my quarters." Hannah answered.
"Damn. There isn't any reason for anybody, much less one of those reporters to be fooling around with the ship monitoring system. Which means…" Brewer trailed off, fearful of saying it.
Hannah's face hardened. "Somebody's up to something we're not supposed to know about." She raised her voice. "Rouse the Captain and tell him we have an unauthorized network intrusion and that it isn't my children. In the meantime I want the ship on lockdown and the intruders to be tracked."
A chorus of Aye Ma'am was heard from the crewman as they carried out her orders.
In the Shepard family quarters James paused in the midst of his mathematics equation. "I wonder why Mom called us like that."
Rebecca didn't glance up from her terminal. "She probably just wanted to make sure we weren't breaking our promise."
James wasn't convinced. Narrowing his eyes in thought he spoke slowly. "But why call in the middle of her watch like that? She's not supposed to be off for a few hours and normally she'd be too busy to check up on us. Besides, she sounded strange. Like something was wrong."
Rebecca shrugged. "Maybe you're just imagining things. C'mon James hurry up and finish. I want to show you this new vid I downloaded off the Extranet."
James glanced derisively at his sister. "Not another old Earth television show. When are you going to stop watching those things?"
Rebecca made a face at him. "They're really cool and you know it. Besides I think they're a fascinating look at 20th century thinking and culture."
"Where you do even find those things anyway?" James rolled his eyes. His sister could find the strangest, most obscure things on the Extranet where most people failed.
"Let's just say I have contacts in many places. Including certain archives back on Earth," Rebecca smirked.
Before James could reply, a high pitched shriek sounded and a red light started flashing. "What was that?"
"Do I look like a VI to you?" snapped Rebecca. Quickly her fingers danced over her terminal. "Let me see what I can find out."
James jumped up and went over to the locked door. He wasn't just going to sit inside and not know what was going on.
"Oh shit," Rebecca swore.
"What is it?" James asked as he began the process of bypassing the door.
"I can't get inside. The system is completely locked down and the VI won't tell me anything. There's definitely something wrong for there to be this many security measures up," Rebecca ran a hand through her red hair. She closed down her terminal and walked over to James. "What are you doing?"
"Bypassing," James muttered as he continued. Finally the lock was undone and he finished.
Rebecca's eyes flew wide open. "But Mom told us to stay inside. And judging by the computer system, there's something really wrong. We could get hurt if we go out."
James glared at her. "I'm not going to sit around without any information and be a scared little boy. Since hacking the system didn't work, we need to do some reconnaissance."
She glared back. "I don't care how good you are at bypassing and shooting James, you're not a Marine. And right now, what you're proposing is the Marines job. We're only going to get in their way. Besides Mom would kill us if we disobeyed her and went out in a time like this."
He set his jaw stubbornly. "Be that as it may, I'm not going to sit and wait for trouble to find us. Especially when this ship and crew needs our help. Now are you coming or not?"
She sighed. "Fine but when Mom kills you, I get your stuff."
As the ship wide alert went off, the four Cerberus operatives came to a sudden halt by an elevator.
"Crap how were we discovered so quickly?" Ricardo swore.
"Obviously you didn't cover your tracks properly." Miranda sneered.
"Shut up rookie. You couldn't have done any better," Ricardo snapped.
"Shut up both of you and do your jobs. We're already behind five minutes," Angus ordered.
"Shit. Who is blocking my signal? I thought Alliance security was a joke," Ricardo gritted his teeth.
"Give me thirty seconds," Miranda elbowed Ricardo away from the door and began working. "Make yourself useful and hack into the ship comms and learn their movements."
True to her word the door swooshed open. Just as that happened, Ricardo successfully tapped the comm system.
"Chief Schulyer, take your men and sweep this ship. We have intruders. Try to take them alive."
"Yes ma'am. They won't know what hit 'em."
"And Schulyer? Keep an eye out for my children. Knowing them, they may get involved in your mission."
"Don't worry ma'am, they have more sense than that."
Angus snorted. "Nothing useful there."
Miranda offered, "Maybe they're trying to confuse us by speaking in code."
"Code? How smart do you think the Alliance is?" Gabriel spoke derisively.
"We're in, let's go." Angus ordered them inside the elevator.
As the elevator climbed to the crew decks, Angus divided his team.
"Lawson you and Gabriel will take out the objective. Ricardo and I will secure our escape. Remember we're behind. Get in and get out quick, I will not wait for stragglers."
A chorus of ayes was heard as the doors opened to the lowest crew deck.
"Why're we stopping here?" Miranda queried.
Ricardo swore and reported, "Somebody accessed the elevator controls and stopped us prematurely. I don't know what bastard is screwing with me but I owe him a bullet in the head."
While Ricardo was griping, Miranda was correcting the situation. Soon they were on their way again.
Meanwhile in the CIC…
Brewer frowned as she read the latest data. "I'm detecting another presence in the system. It's not Alliance or the intruders. But what's odd is this third party is erecting firewalls behind us, and defending the system against the intruders where we fail."
Lisa's eyes widened. "I wonder who it could be! Do you think they're harmful?" This space assignment got more interesting every day.
Hannah ordered without glancing up. "Lock them out. We don't know what the third party's doing behind the firewalls."
"Belay that," Captain Daniel Everett ordered as he sat down in his chair. "It's probably your daughter. And for once, I'm glad she's disobeying orders." He added to Hannah. "Do we have a location on the intruders?"
Martha's fingers danced over the console. "Somewhere in the elevator but I have no sensors. They've locked me out."
"What about Rebecca?" The Captain asked.
"Negative. She's just been locked out. The intruders are skilled." Lisa answered, settling down to work.
"Crap!" A curse was heard from Brewer. "I've just lost control of the elevators. They've all been shut down."
"Do we still have control of the airlocks?" Captain Everett queried.
"We do sir…but I don't know for how long." Brewer answered honestly.
"Tell Chief Schulyer to gear up. He's taking a walk." The Captain ordered.
"James they kicked me out again! What now?" Rebecca glanced up from a terminal in the lounge of their deck.
"Any chance you can get back in?" James asked as he paced.
"I'll try," Rebecca answered as she began to furiously hack.
"Try to locate the weapons locker on this deck. We may need some." James ordered his sister.
"Got it. A location that is," Rebecca finished typing up commands and then a section of the wall nearest James slid open to reveal a small locker.
James activated his omni tool and got to work bypassing the lock. After three loud beeps, he pulled two pistols from the locker. He quickly checked the pistols making sure they had their ammo block before throwing Rebecca one.
Without even glancing up Rebecca reached up with one hand and snatched the pistol out of the air. "Thanks. Let's hope we don't need them."
"Any luck getting back in?" James walked over.
"No. Whoever did this isolated this entire deck. Nobody has access beyond local control, and even then that's temporary. Maybe if you bypass the command circuits in Sections 5 and 3 we can gain control of the elevators." Rebecca stated.
James nodded. "Alright. Put the nav points on my omni tool."
"Done. Get out of here," Rebecca glanced up and met her brother's eye. "Don't do anything stupid okay?"
"Come on, it's me. Would I do anything that dumb?" James quipped.
Rebecca rolled her eyes as she worked on her console.
James ran to Section 3 first and located the correct panel. He waved his omni tool in front of the panel and it sparked as the panel opened up. Then he proceeded to reroute all the command circuitry into a new configuration. "I got it. Your turn," He talked into his omni tool.
Rebecca quickly encrypted the rerouted pathways and erected firewalls for good measures. "We're good. Next panel."
James was already removing the next panel and began work on the circuits. After a lot of sparks, he finished his bypass. "You're up."
Rebecca worked on her end, effectively locking the intruders out. With this section good to go, she snatched control of the elevators back from the intruders. After she did this, she opened an encrypted line to the bridge. "Lt. can you hear me?"
"What's your status crewman?" Hannah's voice sounded from the console.
James cut in. "Ma'am we have regained control of the elevators and are requesting further orders." He entered the lounge as he spoke into his omni tool.
"Roger that. Send the elevators to the hangar deck. Can you tell us anything else about your status?" Hannah responded.
"Alive and well. We are at *static*."
In the CIC, Hannah glanced over at communications "Give me a status report," She ordered, even as fear leapt into her throat for her children.
"We lost the signal ma'am." Martha answered grimly.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, Miranda and Gabriel were running down the main corridor of the officer's crew deck.
Out of the corner of his eye Gabriel saw a flash of movement. Almost instinctively he fired his Carnifex hand cannon at the disturbance.
"What are you doing you idiot? If there are any Marines on this deck, they now know our position!" Miranda hissed furiously.
"Relax toots, I just took someone out. Now are we going to find the objective or would you prefer to find a private room?" Gabriel drawled, scanning the area as he spoke.
"Keep your mind on the mission." Miranda snapped as she moved forward.
Gabriel smirked as he followed the well endowed brunette. Too bad such a great body was wasted on an ice queen like Lawson.
Rebecca gasped in surprise when James's fist slammed on the terminal, severing the comm line but before she could react further, he grabbed her arm and began running with her out of the lounge. They were dashing down a side corridor when a loud boom sounded and they narrowly avoided being shot. Biting back a scream of fright-she had never been shot at before- she jerked her arm out of her brother's tight grasp and dove inside a doorway that appeared. Seconds after she did this, her brother tumbled in.
Only as she looked up did she realize this wasn't an empty room or storage closet like she assumed. Judging by the furnishings it belonged to somebody very high ranking. Her green eyes landed on two massive men holding guns on them and behind the men was a delicate looking woman who raised her eyebrows. Oh shit.
"I do hope this isn't a game of hide n' go seek," Was the woman's wry statement. Her voice was cultured and smooth like a politician, totally unlike the rough voices of the Marines onboard. Her clothing was sophisticated and looked as though they had been made just for her. All in all, she did not present the picture of an Alliance soldier in any way.
Rebecca blinked owlishly as the connection hit home. No wonder-this must be the human Ambassador to the Citadel! Struggling to recall the manners her mother had drilled into her, she scrambled up from the floor and saluted. "I'm so sorry Ma'am. My brother and I were just…we were running…that is somebody tried to kill us!"
James coughed and amended his sister's statement. "That is, the intruders have reached this floor and took a shot at us. We sought the nearest shelter and this happened to be the room."
Ambassador Goyle nodded. "Understandable. But why precisely, are you armed?"
James stood at attention, "It's SOP ma'am. When military vessels are boarded by hostile forces, all personnel must arm themselves and prepare to repel. Ma'am."
Goyle's eyebrows flew up at such a serious statement from a child. "But why would children have access to weapons? That seems a trifle-"
The Ambassador was interrupted by Rebecca's terse announcement. "Intruders at the door," She spoke as she heard the faint sounds of somebody bypassing.
Immediately James and the two body guards went to cover positions, ready to open fire when the door opened.
"Excuse me Ambassador but we should get out of the way," Rebecca saluted again before grabbing the startled woman's arm and dragging her out of the room. She thanked any higher powers for Goyle having a suite as she entered the back bedroom. After making sure the Ambassador was in a corner behind the bed she readied her pistol in case the intruders made it past the outer room.
In the outer room James tensed as the intruders finished bypassing. He ignored the sudden burst of panic in his stomach at the thought of a firefight and took deep breaths. He couldn't afford to panic now. The Ambassador and his sister had to be protected, no matter what the cost.
Then the door swooshed open and all hell broke loose. Bullets flew, propelled by the Mass Accelerators in the guns but neither side hit, only tearing up the room and corridor beyond. Suddenly one of the body guards cried out as he rose from cover to fire only to be hit by a powerful burst of gunfire that left him dead on the floor.
James didn't glance at the dead body, didn't let the cold fear of him lying dead on the floor grab him as he took aim and fired. His hands remained steady, his eyes cold and his mouth set in a determined manner even as inside he furiously thought about a way out. Somehow they had to push back the intruders in order for the Ambassador to escape. Then a thought occurred to him. "Do you have a grenade?" He yelled to the remaining bodyguard hoping he'd understand.
The man glanced at the boy in surprise; he hadn't thought about that until now. Quickly he reached for a grenade from his belt, pushed a button and tossed it just outside the door where the enemy was taking cover. Promptly it went off with a loud explosion of flames and shrapnel.
At the sight of the disc both operatives split up and ran from the door. Miranda quickly put up a barrier to reinforce her shields but she was still close enough that the explosion took out both of her defenses and knocked her off her feet.
Gabriel who had only his shields and no biotic powers to reinforce them wasn't as lucky. He cried out as hot pieces of metal and plastic embedded themselves in his back, and he fell to the floor, bleeding.
James and the body guard leaped over their cover and dashed from the room, guns up and ready to fire.
Where the hell did this kid learn how to fight like a Marine? The bodyguard wondered just as Miranda killed him with a well aimed head shot from her Carnifex hand cannon.
James in the meantime shot the other operative in the back of the head as he attempted to rise. Before he could process the fact he had just killed someone for the first time, he heard the boom of a Carnifex and the thud of a body falling to the floor behind him. Immediately he spun around and found himself staring at a beautiful girl with dark hair and the face of an angel. She was older, in her mid teens, he guessed but she pointed a gun at him with a steady hand. So this is the enemy he thought.
Miranda remembered seeing the boy kill Gabriel seconds before she killed the second bodyguard but it wasn't until now she realized how young he was. He couldn't have been more than eleven, with dark red hair and bright green eyes but his mouth was set in a grim line and he didn't seem scared at all. I hadn't factored in children protecting the Ambassador she thought. Still no matter how good a shot the boy was, he obviously had no shields or armor. It would be pathetically easy to kill him.
Before the girl could fire, James aimed at her hand and fired quickly. He couldn't help the smug grin as her hand bled and she dropped the gun involuntarily. This smugness didn't last long as suddenly her entire body glowed and with a furious expression she threw something at him. Later he would realize she was a biotic but for the moment he was in shock as she lifted him off his feet and he hung in mid air helplessly.
Miranda ignored the pain of her shot hand as she summoned her biotics and lifted the boy off his feet. It was her turn to feel smug as she saw the flash of real fear in his green eyes. Before she could slam him into the floor to finish him off she was interrupted by a hail of gunfire from an Avenger rifle forcing her to end her lift and form a barrier.
"She's a biotic! Watch it Marines!" Schulyer shouted as he took aim for another burst from the airlock. Good thing the Captain had ordered an EVA. "She can't hold that barrier forever, keep shooting!"
At first Miranda was merely annoyed from the technical difficulties in getting this far, then the grenade and the brat pissed her off, but a whole team of Marines pumping lead into her barrier at full automatic was the last straw. It was fair to say, Miranda was very put out. "Time to finish you off!" She yelled as she turned her barrier into a shockwave, bowling the Marines over with nine hundred Newtons of force. Then she made her escape, grabbing her gun on the way.
As the Marines got up from the floor they saw that the enemy was gone, leaving a bullet filled corridor, two dead bodies, and James lying limply on the floor.
Schulyer went over to James and checked his vitals. "Medic!" He yelled to his team. "Get him down to med-bay ASAP."
He then opened a comm line to the bridge. "Captain this is Schulyer. Made contact with the enemy on the officer's crew deck. It looks like they were after the Ambassador. I'm checking on her status now. Over and out." He strode into the suite and noted a firefight had gone on inside the front room, and the body of the other bodyguard was on the floor. Turning he ordered his men, "I want two on this door and two at the elevator in case they come back." He went into the rear room and was greeted by a shot from a Predator. Looking he saw Rebecca holding the gun while using the bed for cover.
Rebecca's eyes widened as she realized who she had fired at. "Oh crap, I'm so sorry Chief! I thought you were the enemy!"
"Where's the Ambassador?" Schulyer asked. At least she was okay.
"Right here, where my little protector shoved me," A cultured voice came as the Ambassador stood up from behind the bed. "I wasn't aware the Alliance had a new child soldier program,"
Schulyer coughed. "No ma'am, their mother will be killing them later. They live on this ship, and are military born and bred."
"I see. Have the intruders gone then?" She asked.
"Yes Ma'am…for now. I'm posting guards outside your quarters until further notice." He responded.
"What happened to my body guards?" The Ambassador queried.
"They're both dead Ma'am," Schulyer said apologetically before speaking to Rebecca, "Rebecca put down your gun and come with me. We have professionals now protecting the Ambassador." Schulyer ordered the girl.
Rebecca nodded and followed the Chief out, handing him her gun as she did so. She gasped at the sight of the outer room and the dead man. Outside the Ambassador's quarters were worse and the formerly pristine corridor was ripped with bullets, scorch marks, and blood. Then her eyes landed on the limp form of her twin. "James!" She yelled and tried to run to him only to be held back by Schulyer. "Is he dead?" She asked the medic anxiously, close to tears.
"He's probably cracked or broken some ribs from the fall. He may be further injured but we won't know until we get him down to med bay," The medic answered as he worked to stabilize James enough to move him. He was applying medi gel as he spoke, hoping to repair some of the damage.
Schulyer was deeply affected by James's injuries. A Marine getting hurt in the line of duty was normal, almost expected. A kid like James though wasn't and he kept recalling the moment when they came around the corner and saw him hanging in the air because of the biotic. He could say he wasn't the only Marine who sprayed the corridor with a touch more fire than necessary. Away from home for so long, with many not seeing their families for months at a time if they even had them, they had all adopted the younger Shepards in a way, and often stopped to help them when they asked for help. It helped ease the pain of separation and reminded the Marines of just why they had joined the Alliance so many years ago.
Rebecca's eyes widened even further. "How did he get hurt? What do you mean a fall?"
"He was helping to fight off the enemy but he capped one and the other was a biotic. She lifted him off his feet to kill him before we interrupted her. Then he fell," Schulyer answered her question honestly.
Rebecca's eyes darkened with anger. "A girl was trying to kill my brother with biotics? That…" Abruptly she snapped her mouth shut before any more anger could spill out in a furious flood. She should have been the one helping her brother, but instead she was protecting the Ambassador. And from the looks of things, those body guards had been no help at all.
Schulyer walked away from Rebecca and opened up another comm. line to the bridge. "Captain, this is Schulyer. The Ambassador is safe. Looks like those crewmen from before came to her defense. I have secured the deck and am awaiting further orders."
Rebecca in the meanwhile had the nagging feeling the situation wasn't resolved. Sure the attempt on the Ambassador's life had failed, but if that was all, why would the alarm still be going off and the Marines still look worried? Could it be there were more intruders somewhere? But what else could they be after? Absently she gnawed on a fingernail as she thought. Maybe I could get to a terminal or console and hack into the ship's systems again. No, the security will be even tighter now, especially if we're still on red alert. Besides the Marines know where I am now, and they'd notice my absence as soon as I'm gone. Plus James is really hurt. I can't leave him. Could I?
Suddenly the voice of the ship's VI sounded as it broadcasted to the entire ship, "WARNING! FUSION LEAK DETECTED! ALL CREW EVACUATE ENGINEERING IMEDIATELY! ALL PERSONNEL PREPARE TO ABANDON SHIP!"
DADDY NO! Rebecca screamed mentally.
From Schulyer's open comm. line Hannah barked. "They did what and helped who? Wait belay that. Send some Marines to Engineering immediately."
"Belay that Staff Lieutenant. Chief Schulyer, hold position and prepare to evacuate the Ambassador." Captain Everett ordered.
In the elevator Miranda applied medi gel to her hand even as she opened a secure line to her team mates. She knew it was risky opening a line like this, but she didn't have a choice. "We need to initiate Plan B. Plan A has failed."
To his credit, Angus didn't give away surprise or anger over the line. "Roger that. Will commence with Plan B,"
Miranda waited somewhat impatiently for the elevator to reach the engineering deck. Failure was not an option, especially after she had bungled Plan A. It was humiliating that Angus's carefully laid plans had been shredded to bits by a child who had no business being in a firefight. Deep down though, she had to admit the kid had courage. It wasn't so long ago she herself had been in a firefight, though hers with her father. Her thoughts were interrupted by the elevator doors opening.
Angus and Ricardo were waiting for her. "So Miss Perfect actually failed?" Ricardo sneered.
"Gabriel dead?" Angus asked, noting the absence of the other operative.
Miranda's mouth twitched. "One of the body guards got cute and chucked a grenade. Gabriel was too slow. I had to cut my losses when the Marines came in."
Angus gave a look to Ricardo before he could make another comment and ordered to both of them, "Let's begin then. You know what's at stake."
Before the Cerberus operatives entered the main control room in the engineering section, they fitted their breath masks on themselves in preparation for their next move.
Angus reached for a gas grenade, pushed a button and as soon as the doors to the room opened he tossed it in the middle. The effect was instantaneous as the three engineers working inside fell to the ground. He and his team moved quickly inside and without delay shot the unconscious engineers in the head.
Miranda bent over the bodies checking the jumpsuits and tags of the engineers before straightening up. "The chief engineer isn't here. He's most likely in the Core Room."
Angus nodded. "Proceed to the Core Room then."
Seth was monitoring the drive core when he heard gunshots echoing down the corridor. Quickly activating his omni tool he opened a direct line to Hannah.
"Honey I need some Marines in Engineering now. There are hostiles headed my way. I love you…"
"Aww how sweet. Step away from that console, Chief Engineer Shepard." A female voice from behind him ordered.
Spinning around, Seth fired an EMP burst from his omni tool into the hostiles and then charged in. Before he could grab a gun from the hostiles he found himself paralyzed in a stasis field.
"I should kill you for that but we need a hostage and you're it. Ricardo, get to work." Angus ordered. His body was still numb from the high voltage pulse and his shields were only now starting to recover. "Good work Miranda," He added to the girl who had erected the stasis field. She was starting to earn her pay.
As Miranda looked at the engineer she noticed a resemblance between him and the boy she fought outside the Ambassador's quarters. I wonder if they're related. Too bad his son's dead.
Ricardo went to work on the consoles, shutting down the cooling systems on the drive core causing it to overheat. "In about thirty minutes the whole ship will blow," He announced.
"Move out. Shepard, you're coming with us. Put your hands on your head. Try anything funny and you're dead." Angus jabbed the engineer in the back with his gun putting him out in front of them.
"Wait," Miranda ordered and began sabotaging the fusion core.
"What's that for?" Ricardo asked puzzled.
Before Seth could think of a way to escape, Miranda answered Ricardo, "Insurance in case you bungle this too."
Seth glared at the girl. "Are you crazy or just psychotic? You're going to kill us all."
"Don't you get it yet? We don't care. We'll be long gone. If a few Alliance dogs have die for the cause, so be it." Angus shoved Seth forward.
Just as the group left the control room, a group of Marines accosted them.
"Drop your weapons and surrender." The squad leader shouted.
"Not going to happen. How about your drop your weapons or your chief engineer gets it?" Angus responded as he, Ricardo and Miranda all had a gun on the engineer.
Without taking his eyes off the assassins the squad leader opened a direct line to the bridge. "Captain the hostiles have taken Engineer Shepard hostage. Your orders?"
Before the Captain could respond the ship VI shrieked, "WARNING! FUSION LEAK DETECTED! ALL CREW EVACUATE ENGINEERING IMEDIATELY! ALL PERSONNEL PREPARE TO ABANDON SHIP!"
Angus smirked and spoke loud enough to be heard over the line. "Looks like you're over a barrel. You need our boy here," He jabbed Seth painfully in the back before continuing with his demands. "To stop the leak since your other engineers are dead. We need to get to the flight deck. Your move Alliance dog."
"Cooperate for now. We'll have an ambush waiting in the hanger." The Captain ordered.
"Aye skipper." The squad leader closed the line and then ordered his squad, "Lower your weapons and stand down."
As soon as the VI finished its announcement Rebecca ran. She ignored the protesting shouts of the Marines and found the emergency maintenance ladder in the adjourning corridor. She scrambled down it, and found the next ladder quickly. Luckily she and James used to play in this maze of ladders and tunnels before their dad caught them one day. He had a death glare that would send most Marines to a violent and painful death. After that day, the twins had quit but her experience served her well now even if the tunnels were tighter than she remembered.
She quickly reached the engineering deck and stepped out into the corridor. She began searching for a hazmat suit, knowing without one she couldn't get through the radiation. Thankfully she found one close to her size. Good thing Engineer Tolavi wasn't much bigger than her.
After suiting up she headed into the control room but was greeted by the bodies of her friends. She had a sudden flashback of each of them explaining their jobs on the ship. She gasped in horror but controlled herself as she remembered what was at stake. She immediately began to figure out the problem. The intruders had shut off the automatic safety systems and blew out the main seal. As she was working she realized just how serious the problem was. The hum of the engines had stopped, the lights were dimmer and according to her Geiger counter on her suit, the radiation level was climbing. Soon the whole ship would be affected. She had to seal the leak or else they were all dead.
Using her omni tool she welded the seal back together. Once that was complete she bypassed the automatic safeties and rerouted the system through the back-ups. Blinking furiously to rid herself of the sweat dripping into her eyes, she called the bridge, "Captain, I've sealed the leak but it will take time for the main power to be restored."
Then the ship VI announced, "DRIVE CORE TEMPERATURE REACHING CRITICAL LEVEL! EXPLOSION IMNIENANT! ALL CREW EVACUATE, REPEAT, ALL CREW EVACUATE!"
"Rebecca get out of there now. You don't know anything about drive cores. Get to an escape pod at once. That's an order." The Captain ordered.
"I'm sorry sir, but I will not let this ship sink. I love you Mom," She added to Hannah before closing the line. She ran out of the control room and into the Core room. Good thing she had read her father's technical manuals for fun.
"WARNING! EEZO CONTAINMENT AT 30 PERCENT! TEN MINUTES TO CORE MELTDOWN!" The VI made another grim announcement.
"Damn," Rebecca cursed as she interfaced with the cooling system control. She tried to rewrite the protocols to turn the system on but the automatic system was damaged. Going to the main terminal she bypassed the circuitry and turned it on.
"System restart in progress. Please reset the coolant injectors." The VI instructed.
How much damage did they do? Of all the chances he had to get hurt, James had to pick today. Rebecca mentally cursed as she ran across the maintenance walkway by the core itself. Once she located the coolant injects she proceeded to bypass their control protocols and switched them to manual. She was finishing with this when the VI shrieked again.
"DRIVE CORE CONTAINMENT FIELD DOWN! ELEMENT ZERO EXPOSURE AT DANGEROUS LEVELS! CORE BREACH IN THREE MINUTES!"
In too much of a hurry to even curse, Rebecca dashed back to the main terminal and started the reset. She ignored the odd feeling of numbness settling over her body as she focused on restoring the containment fields.
"Containment field restored. Please vent excess radiation." The VI droned.
Entering a few more keystrokes at her dad's terminal, Rebecca vented the radiation. She paused to catch her breath, failing to notice how she was glowing.
"DRIVE CORE HAS RETURNED TO NORMAL OPERATION! FUSION LEAK CONTAINED! MAIN POWER BACK ONLINE!" The VI finished with the ship wide announcement.
While Rebecca was busy saving the ship, the Marines were having a showdown with the terrorists on the flight deck.
"Let us through or your engineer dies and with him your ship." Angus prodded Seth forward as the group walked towards a waiting shuttle.
"Release him and we'll talk," Schulyer demanded.
"Not going to happen. I don't care if the ship blows up with me on it, my mission is complete either way. But I don't think you want to die just yet so I'd cooperate. Get out of our way now," Angus ordered menacingly.
Schulyer was torn, if he tried to take the terrorists Seth would die for certain. If he let them go, Seth still might die and the ship with it. "How can you guarantee you will let him live?"
"It's called trust and you don't have a choice." Angus smirked.
The ship VI announced, "DRIVE CORE TEMPERATURE REACHING CRITICAL LEVEL! EXPLOSION IMNIENANT! ALL CREW EVACUATE, REPEAT, ALL CREW EVACUATE!"
"Looks like you're running out of time. From my guess you have less than thirty minutes. In a ship this size, that'd be just enough time to evacuate…or fix the ship if you give in to my demands." Angus sneered.
"Do you have to be that cheesy?" Miranda hissed while keeping her gun on Seth.
"It worked didn't it?" Angus muttered back. Why was that girl constantly questioning his orders?
Schulyer tried to plead to their sense of humanity. "Do you have to kill him? He's a family man. You want to take him away from his kids? His wife?"
"Is that so?" Angus drawled as he shifted his gun and shot Seth in the shoulder. "Oh look, now he only has one arm. I guess your chances just got lower. Next one goes in the other arm…or maybe his head."
"WARNING! EEZO CONTAINMENT AT 30 PERCENT! TEN MINUTES TO CORE MELTDOWN!" The VI made another grim announcement.
From the hanger comm. the Captain ordered, "Fine we give in to your demands. Let him go and we'll let you go."
Schulyer reluctantly ordered his men to stand down and watched as the terrorists reached the shuttle.
Miranda entered the shuttle cockpit to warm up the engines and to wait for the hanger doors to open.
Angus muttered in Ricardo's ear before entering the shuttle, "Clean up the mess."
Ricardo nodded and turning to Seth, kicked him to his knees. Then he put the gun to Seth's head and pulled the trigger.
Just then the VI announced, "DRIVE CORE CONTAINMENT FIELD DOWN! ELEMENT ZERO EXPOSURE AT DANGEROUS LEVELS! CORE BREACH IN THREE MINUTES!"
"So long Alliance fools. See you in hell." Ricardo turned to enter the shuttle when a well placed shot took him down.
From inside the shuttle Angus ordered Miranda, "Lift off. There's nothing we can do."
Quickly the shuttle powered up and blasted out of the cruiser at top speed. "We have less than three minutes to get to a safe distance. Then our mission is complete. Best plan I ever came up with," Angus gloated.
Miranda snorted. Any plan that sacrificed two highly trained operatives was a failure but she wisely kept that to herself. A twinge of guilt struck her at the thought of Mrs. Shepard's loss of her husband and son. But the mission had to be achieved at any cost didn't it?
The entire bridge and CIC was utterly silent as the monitors showed the results of the hostage situation. As the shock wore off that they had lost their chief engineer and their last hope at saving the ship, the reactions were varied.
Lisa gasped, "Oh my god those monsters! How could they?"
Martha sobbed silently over her terminal. Those poor children to lose their father like this…
Brewer cursed up a blue streak. Seth hadn't been so bad for a grease monkey and he didn't deserve the death he had received.
Captain Everett sat silently reflecting on this loss and with it, his command. He resigned himself to going down with his ship.
Hannah stared at her console, frozen as she relived the moment when her husband, love of her life and best friend had died. In her entire career as an Alliance officer, she had never allowed her personal feelings to get in the way of her duties but now she felt such overwhelming grief that it was all she could do to stop herself from wailing and curling up into a ball. Her husband was dead, her son was in med-bay and her daughter's last communications indicated she was down in Engineering where there was now an Eezo leak. In the space of a single afternoon her life had been shredded to bits.
"DRIVE CORE HAS RETURNED TO NORMAL OPERATION! FUSION LEAK CONTAINED! MAIN POWER BACK ONLINE!" The VI snatched Hannah out of her gloomy thoughts.
Brewer's jaw dropped at the announcement and with a few keystrokes brought up the monitors for Engineering. "Holy crap, she did it. Hannah your daughter's a hero!"
Lisa burst into tears of happiness and relief that she was still alive.
Martha puffed up with pride. She had always known Rebecca could save the ship.
Hannah snapped her head up. "What? She did what?"
"She stopped the leak and saved the ship. Rebecca came through." Brewer announced happily for once. Maybe the Shepard children weren't so bad after all.
Captain Everett allowed the cheers ringing through the ship to continue for a few moments before he stopped them. "Settle down. I want status reports on all areas of the ship, evacuation orders canceled, injured personnel moved to med-bay, and a full roll call. Send out shuttles to recover our life pods." He ordered over the ship wide comm. Switching off, he left his chair to walk over to Lt. Shepard. "Hannah I'm relieving you of duty. Go find your children. And I'm sorry for your loss."
Hannah gathered her emotions and saluted smartly, aware of the pitying stares from the bridge crew. "Yes sir. Thank you sir," Then she exited the bridge, her trademark brisk walk in place and her back straight. She didn't allow herself to slump until she was in the elevator alone. There she wrapped her arms around herself and let the tears fall.