Prologue - Normandy SR1
The Normandy was burning, and Commander Jane Shepard was running out of time.
It was as if the universe were ending, the way the ship was shaking. Paneling falling away, wires swinging from the sirens sounded their requiem call, accompanying the blood red flashing lights flooding every passageway. Every time a blast hit, more of her crew were dying, more of her home was being lost.
The ship was being ravaged by an unknown cruiser that somehow, despite the her incredible stealth systems and Joker's expert piloting, easily locked on a path to intercept The Normandy and relentlessly bombard her in a surprise attack. It was not the first time Commander Shepard faced certain death; however, this time she couldn't be sure it wasn't her last. But she had to put all tumultuous emotions aside, for each second Shepard wasted was another with which she gambled Joker's life.
The pilot had refused to leave his post, insisting that the Normandy could still be saved - but she knew, and she suspected he knew, that the only thing they could do now was run. It killed her, but it was true. This was the end of the SR1.
As she made her way with quick and careful footing down the stairs from the crew cabin to the CIC, tremors and terrible shocks running through the now floundering ship attempting to trip her up, many nagging thoughts itched at the back of her mind. Hundreds of questions of who, what, why, and how ate at her subconscious and threatened her focus. WHO were firing at them, WHAT could possibly be so powerful? Certainly not the Geth, with whom the Normandy and her crew had tangled with so many times before- "Shit, that was close," Shepard muttered as she ducked under a spout of fire-WHY were they attacking the Alliance, and HOW did they detect the Normandy from so far out? With her state-of-the-art Stealth Systems?
BOOM. Another blast hit the Normandy with earth-shattering force. Shepard stumbled and cursed herself for letting even a portion of her focus stray from her mission: Find Joker. Get out.
She engaged her Mag boots and thankfully did not have to pry open the doors to the CIC which was now almost completely destroyed by the unknown enemy's fire. An enormous hole in the hull had let out all of the air, and Shepard could see out into space and the bulk of a nearby frozen planet... It was a beautiful sight, if she weren't trying so hard not to let the debris of her ship and the bodies of her crew distract her, floating in the cold vacuum of space.
One frustratingly slow step at a time led her to the bridge, where she was relieved to see a spherical barrier was shining strong and bright, surrounding the helm in a protective shell of air and limited gravity. Stepping into it was like stepping out of cold water, for even in her armor she had felt the chill of open space, and it had taken her considerably more effort to move with dexterity.
Jeff "Joker" Moreau was completely focused - swiping at his flickering holo-screens and only giving into frustration for a split second at a time before locking back into his zone and continuing his futile attempts. If Shepard had time for it, she would have pitied the man, her friend, losing his home, his second skin. But the clock was running out.
"Come on, Joker! We've got to get out of here." She put a firm hand on his shoulder to stop further attempts. He shook her off.
"No! Shepard, I can save her, I know I can. I won't abandon the Normandy!"
Suppressinga sudden surge of frustration that pressed at a dam of a thousand emotions, Shepard pushed Joker's chair to rotate away from his console and looked him in the eyes.
"Jeff, we've lost her. It's over. I'm sorry. We. Have. To. Go."
Joker returned her gaze for a second, his own flurry of emotion passing over his eyes, and finally nodded.
"Yeah, okay. Help me up."
As Shepard began to reach for her friend, another blast hit the Normandy, severing the bridge - a huge, bright laser that was closing in fast. Heart pounding, Shepard hauled Joker out of his chair andhelped her disabled friend hobble into the helm's escape pod.
The intense beam hit the bridge once more and destroyed their little bubble of gravity, space'svacuumsucking the air and sending Shepard flying backwards, pulling her away from Joker and the pod. The world was spinning around her, But when she found her bearings, the bright, searing beam was between her and any chance of her own survival.
The eject console was to her left. She looked at Joker, who was staring back with growing fear.
"Commander!" he yelled, his arm reaching out towards her.
She knew that if the beam got any closer to him, the pod's integrity would be compromised.
"Shepard!" Joker all but screamed, realizing what she already knew. She was officially andcompletelyout of time.
She activated the console. The doors closed, the shuttle left.
The hull exploded.
Commander Jane Shepard was listed Killed in Action 2183 CE by Alliance Military.
Alliance Colony Freedom's Progress - 2 Years and 12 Days Later
"Heavy Mechs, up ahead!"
Shepard took cover as abarrageof missiles and bullets flew through the doorway of the portable apartment-pod she was just standing in. She was familiar with colonylife - having lived on the planet Mindor from her birth until it was attacked by slavers - and remembered what it was like to live in the marginally unstable makeshift homes. She saw the bitterly ironic similarities in the two situations, though the roles were switched - this time she was the soldier, swinging in to save the day... And she hoped desperately that there was someone to save. She rolled into a more advantageous position, outside the doors and under cover of a section of side railing, and took a series of shots at the mounted drones, taking out their shields. Jacob covered her move with a few shots of his own - the two of them had established a combat rhythm easy enough - and Miranda moved to overload a rocket drone. The Cerberus operative could turn out to be quite the asset, Shepard thought, in combat and otherwise... if she could figure out how to trust the woman who freely admitted to almostimplanting her with a controll chip. As for Jacob, Shepard liked him well enough. He was a good man, easily the most trustworthy person she had met since ... Since waking up. She had felt a great surge of gratitude toward him on the shuttle ride to Freedom's Progress, especially after Miranda started asking about Akuze and Virmire. Ashley's death and the pain of it were still largely unattended wounds, ones she had preferred to leave alone. She remembered hiding out with Wrex on the ship, in attempts to avoid Kaidan and Liara's "talks" or dragging Garrus orTaliout to a Citadel bar whenshe wanted to forget about it. Tali didn't drink, and Garrus could take a lot before the alcohol got to his would do that every once and a while for a month or so after Virmire, until Kaidan cornered her, angry at her for being selfish. Shepard had never had friends like Kaidan to helpdeal with such loss. That day, he made her see what a precious thing it is to have people who care, people you can trust.
A situation she would have given anything for now.
Jacob Pulled the last drone off the platform in front if themand the squad moved along. Every so often, Shepard would stop to listen for any signs of life. After the third stop, Shepard saw Miranda rolling her eyes.
"Have you got a problem, Lawson?" She snapped with coolauthority. Miranda cracked her neck in irritation butgave Shepard her attention.
"No, Commander," she said through her teeth. Shepard nodded, eyes hard,and the squad was on its way once more.
Shepard knew Miranda wasn't going to shoot her, she knew that the Illusive Manwasn't going to pour unlimited resources into reviving her just to kill her. But what Shepard wasn't sure of was Cerberus' motives as a whole. The organization - considered a terrorist organization - had done some terrible things in the past, with little to no consequences. Shepard had no reason to truly trust Cerberus - but she also had no choice but to work with them. The Alliance and the Council would have to petition to consider the costs and vote to start a committee to THINK about taking action. With Cerberus, Shepard could get the job done. Wasn't that the most important thing?
Aboard the NormandySR2- Captain's Cabin
Commander Shepard stripped out of her armor and made her way to the bathroom - her personal bathroom - to wash her hands and face. Never, in all her years of serving, had she had such a luxury. She had to admit, it was nice. Odd, and somewhat wrong - she didn't like having so much more than the rest of the crew - but nice. She glanced up at the mirror above the sink and examined her scars. they were already fading, but something about them bugged her. Did they... glow? She sighed. Another reminder that she was... what was she, exactly? A cyborg, like from the movies? Biotic implants were one thing, but this... what was it that Jacob had said... that she'd been nothing but meat and tubes. Shepard shuddered and looked down at her hands. Her hands. For they were hers, weren't they? They looked and felt that way, sure. Miranda hadn't exactly been cooperative in disclosing the details of Shepard's two year operation, or the extent of the damage. How much of her was synthetic? That was the big question, wasn't it?
Shepard took a brief shower and dressed in one of the Cerberus uniforms hanging in her new closet. She regarded the yellow, crystal-like symbol on her chest with a certain level of distaste, remembering the subtle change in Tali's body language when she'd seen it, and the bitter hatred in the voices of her Quarian companions. Shepard had been starving for a familiar face; seeing Tali was like a breath of fresh air... but seemed a wall was thrown between them when the word "Cerberus" was tossed into play.
Even her reunion with Joker and the unveiling of the SR2 was tainted by the new colors she would fly under. But seeing Joker again was a great comfort, and she was pleased to know he was fitting right in, like a glove, he'd said.
The pilot had plot a course to Omega, the galaxy's most infamouscesspool, in order to find 3 members of the "Team" the Illusive Man had put together for Shepard to round up. A new team, a new ship, a new Shepard, under a new flag, fighting a new enemy. Her world was full of unknowns.
One thing was for sure, this military commander wasn't going to find anything familiar in the Terminus Systems.
Terminus Systems - Omega
Garrus Vakarian was officially out of time.
He was tired. He was making mistakes. He knew he couldn't keep this up forever - not by a long shot - and he couldn't get out. The Blue Suns had him pinned.
He was surprised at himself. Everyone knows they're going to die, and he had never felt apprehension towards his own death, but even though when he was a boy he'd pictured himself going out in a blaze of valor, he had known, deep inside, that it would be scary. But now... he was ready for it. For two years, ever since he left the Normandy, everything had gone wrong. The council still didn't believe that Shepard - their damnedsavior - had enough evidence to prove that the Reapers even existed. Even after one showed up before their very eyes and attacked, they simply wrote it off as new Geth technology. Everyone knew, everyone who had foughtSovereign knewsomething was off about it. It felt wrong, alien, in the traditional sense. But the Council refused to see what was in front of them. Even after Shepard died, after the Normandy was taken down by something unmistakably new and powerful - nothing. And he couldn't do anything about it. So he left C-Sec, built a team of vigilantes and hitched it to Omega to do something - anything. He took down entire movements and cleaned up the streets as much as he could, tracking down dealers and stopping big merc groups from all sorts of mayhem... and then Sidonis got his whole team killed.
BAM. Garrus dropped a Sun peaking his head up a little too far. Thinking of Sidonis made him trigger happy.
Garrus didn't stop after Sidonis. He kept going - working at the Eclipse, the Blood Pack, and the Blue Suns until he found himself here, trapped in a hole with no way out.
Unless a miracle showed up, this would be his last day. And he would go down shooting.
He hadn't slept, couldn't eat, couldn't even get up for a drink of water without leaving the mercs an easy opening. Thankfully they had stopped sending in anyone experienced enough to be a challenge and started hiring freelancers. One after another, every one went down. Until - what was that? Off behind one of their barriers - a flash of auburn-red... no, it couldn't be. Yet, there it was again, closer this time. He took aim at the nearest Vorcha to the familiar head of hair. He shot. She didn't even flinch.
Shepard.
Well, he had his miracle.
BANG.
The Blood Pack Vorcha nearest to Shepard's left dropped dead instantly, a bullet lodged in his skull through his scarlet eye. Shepard didn't so much as blink as she continued through the ranks of mercs and their officers hustling to their places, getting ready for the attack. Having decided that, due to Archangel's current situation, that the Turian sharpshooter would be their new 1st Priority, Shepard and her team had "recruited" themselves to the mercenarys' cause - take down the notirious Archangel, who had been running circles around the biggest criminals in Omega. It was an easy had hacked the Eclipse's heaviest mech and Shepard had gathered as much information on Archangel and the attack as she could from the merc leaders. They were sending the freelancers - including Shepard and her team - to the bridge to give Archangel something to shoot at. Meanwhile, an infiltration squad would set up bombs at the locked door to the upper , the officer in charge of the infiltration, was working on a gunship that would spearhead the final attempt. Shepard had the opportunity to take care of Cathka before he became a problem, but she never liked shooting before she was shot at. She was already going to have to do it once today.
Soon enough, the hiredteams were green and headed out. Shepard and her squad followed behind the other freelancers onto the bridge... And Shepard took careful aim.
"Archangel?"
Garrus took a final shot andturned to see Shepard and her squad had made it up the stairs. The two behind her were Cerberus, that much he could see, one female, slight attitude,all business, the other male, respectful, an obvious career soldier. Shepard herself looked exactly the same. A little tense and unfamiliar, but most of that went away after he removed his helmet.
"Shepard." he hadn't realized how out of breath he was until he started talking. "I thought you were dead."
"Garrus!" Shepard exclaimed, relaxing. "What are you doing here?"
"Just keeping my skills sharp. A little target practice." he tried to keep his heavy breathing under control, but you can't hide from Shepard. Her face fell from pleasant surprise to soft concern fast. Her head tilted slightly, looking him over.
"You okay?" A hundred other questions danced behind her eyes... Humans had such expressive eyes, especially the females... Of course the only ones he'd seen lately were staring down the barrel of his rifle.
"I've been better, but it sure is good to see a friendly face."
"I know the feeling. Are you hurt?"
"No. No, Shepard, I'm fine. Honestly."
She gave him a look he'd been on the receiving end of before - the "you better not be lying to me, Garrus Vakarian," look, and he smirked right back at it as she moved on to another topic.
"The Illusive Man said you disappeared. Honestly the Vigilante thing doesn't surprise me, but... Garrus." her voice lowered,eyes narrowed."How did you get yourself pinned like this? With no backup? It's suicide."
He carefully considered his answer, and Shepard followed him over to the balcony.
"My feelings got in the way of my better judgement. It's a long story... I'll make you a deal: you get me out of here alive, and I'll tell you the whole damned thing. Besides, I have a feeling your story is the more... interesting."
Shepard smiled and sighed, but didn't remove her gaze from the approaching Eclipse mechs below. "Maybe. Well... Yeah, tell you what, I'll make you a deal. You getout of here alive, and I'll tell you the whole damned thing."
Well then, he thought, better start shooting. Garrus reloaded his rifle and kneeled into the balcony cover, taking aim and a long, deep breath. "Deal."
A shot rang out.
"Damnit. Well, they had to use their brains eventually."
Garrus was starting to feel like himself again, fighting with Shepard. She was kicking ass just as well as she used to, and it was a sweet sight to see. They had taken care of the Eclipse and now the Blood Pack were breaking through the lower level.
"You'd better get down there, Shepard. I'll keep the bridge clear."
"There is no way in Hell I'm leaving you alone up here. Let's split up two and two."
Garrus blinked. "You sure? You never know what you'll find down there." The thought of Shepard going down there with only one flank covered wasn't worrying per se, but it wasn't exactly comforting, either. Not to mention he wasn't so sure about fighting with one of the Cerberus-loyal babysitters. (No doubt that was the job given to them by the so-called "Illusive Man" - Shepard-sitting.)But if she trusted them...
She turned to the male in her squad and ordered shortly: "Jacob, stay with Garrus. Keep him alive."
Shepard started towards the stairs with the dark haired female when Jacobreplied, " If you say so. Though I'm not so sure it's a good idea."
Shepard stopped and turned around. She made sharp eye contact with the manand he straightened quickly to attention.
"Taylor, I'm trusting you with my friend's life. Can you handle it, soldier?"
"Yes, ma'am." Jacob replied, saluting. Garrus couldn't help but grin. That was Shepard, all right. Stillin charge, and making sure they know it. The Commander rolled her shoulders and continued on her way. Garrus could have sworn he heard her mutter: "Damn straight, Yes Ma'am."
Everything was moving too fast. The Blood Pack was gone, but the Blue Suns were still coming in force - they had made moderate repairs to the gunship and it had already come at them once. Garrus, Shepard and her two human squadmates were stuck on the top floor, which had become an easy kill zone for the Sun's bird. And it was coming back.
"Archangel!" A voice - undoubtedly Tarak - cried from inside the gunship, seething. Garrus turned to face his assailant.
"Damnit, Garrus, get down!" yelled Shepard, prepping her grenade damned Turian wouldn't get under cover as the Blue Sun's gunship closed in - and fired.
"NO!"
The sound of the ship crashing, of Miranda calling in help from the Normandy, of Jacob pointing out the obvious - "It looks bad, he needs medical attention, fast..." -all background noise to Shepard now. She was shoving more medigel packsintohis suit- it knew more about Turian anatomy and his injuries than she did- andlistening hard for the sound of breathing. So much blood. God, there was so much. Bright blue and terrifying.
"Garrus," she whispered, "Garrus, you big idiot. Breathe."
And, like a good soldier, he did.
The last thing he saw were wide green eyes.
Aboard The Normandy - Comm Room
Jacob was a little nervous to deliver the news to the commander. Chakwas had forced her to stay out of the Medbay, in fact that whole floor was off limits to Shepard until Garrus was stable, so Shepard had holed herself up in the Comm room until Chakwas sent somebody to get her. That someone just HAD to be him.
In the few hours Chakwas was working on Garrus, Shepard had alternated from shaking frustrationto pacing worry to a solemn calm. He had no idea how his news would effect her, nor how he would deal with it. But he had to, not just because those were his orders, but because he could see that every minute of not knowing was killing her. He knew how she felt. Losing friends was hard, so was almost losing them. But being kept in a constant state of uncertainty was torture.
"Commander?"
Shepard had been sitting in a corner of the Comm room, slowly wringing her hands and cracking her knuckles. When Jacob came in, she made herself stand up straight and put on her best brave face. She was a commander, andgoddammit, she was going to act like it.
She was quiet for a minute. Then -
"How is he?"
"We've done what we could for Garrus, but he took a bad hit. The docs corrected with surgery and some cybernetics. Best we can tell he'll have full functionality, but…"
He hesitated, and Shepard's breath caught. Full functionality, but what?
The door to the Comm room opened and a third voice pierced the brief silence.
"Shepard."
The tension rolled off the commander in visible waves as she let out a breath.
"Garrus."
"Tough son of a bitch. I didn't think he'd be up yet." Jacob said, sounding impressed.
"Chakwas wouldn't let me in," Shepard said, eyes still on the Turian, scanning him. He was walking okay, talking okay. He was tough. But he'd always been. "I was preparing to write you a eulogy."
"Have a littlefaith, commander," Garrus chuckled.
Jacob saluted his commander and left the two to talk, nodding to Garrus on his way relaxed against the wall by the door,hiding an attempt to rest, Shepard observed.
She stepped closer to the Turian and put a hand on his shoulder, examining his wound: a huge gash took over the left side of his face, his right side, and a large bandage covered up his neck and part of his right shoulder and back. She could feel some padding through his blue civvies.
"Nobody would give me a mirror, how bad is it?"
She stepped back with her hands on her hips and smirked.
"Hell, Garrus, I can't see a difference! Slap on a littleface paint- no one will even notice."
He laughed again a little harder, and his mandibles flared - something Shepard always found amusing about Turians- then cringed.
"Ow, ah, don't make me laugh, dammit, my face is barely holding together as it is..." he shrugged. "You know, some women find facial scars attractive. Mind you, most of those women are Krogan."
It was Shepard's turn to laugh, and when she was finished, she found Garrus looking her up and down.
"Frankly, I'm more worried about you," he said, stepping forward as she had done and tapping a talon on her Cerberus uniform, "And this. I've heard bad things about Cerberus these past few years." He paused before retreating, something seemed to catch his eye: his shadow had cast on Shepard's face and revealed her own scars, glowing slightly in the darkness. She noticed him looking, and before he could say anything more she gave him a gentle push and replied, "I'm fine. As for Cerberus... they're our only option, Garrus. Entire colonies are being abducted by the Collectors, and nobody else gives a damn." She moved to sit on a nearby chair that Jacob had brought her while she was brooding in the corner. She hadn't used it, but appreciated it nonetheless.
"I know. Nobody's doubting you, Shepard. Just... Cerberus's motives. But you know me. As long as it gets the job done." He watched her, a curious look in his eyes.
"... are you sure you're alright?"
Talk of Cerberus, surgeries and scars was bringing her back to her first night aboard the new Normandy. Garrus wasn't usually one to prod, especially when it came to the sensitive stuff. But now more than ever, she needed to talk to someone.
"Yeah, I... I've been thinking a lot since I woke up. Making up for lost time, I guess,"
She put her head in her hands and took a breath, attempting to keep her voice under control.
"I was dead, Garrus. I didn't know it before, but I... I've been remembering... bits. Of when it happened. It was..." She shuddered.
"They worked on me for two years, trying to bring me back. Me. They gave me a new ship, a new crew, a new body and a new mission. Why? Why me?" She nervously fiddled with her old Aliance dog tags. Shepard was a good listener, and gave good advice. But when it came to her own feelings...
"I have no doubts about what has to be done, and Hell yeah, I'm doing it. But that's just about the only thing I'm certain of. I'm halfway between trusting Cerberus and kicking the Illusive Man in his holographic nads. Between human and synthetic - who knows what they did to me, necessary and otherwise - between dealing with this right and screwing it all up."
Garrus remained silent, and hadn't reacted but to lean up against the wall opposite her and incline his head slightly, listening. Shepard was staring at her hands.
"And if this skin is my own, and we're doing the right thing, then how must I look now? Not like the Commander Shepardthey need." She looked up to see the Turian approaching quietly.
"Garrus, what if I'm not her anymore?"
He lent her a hand and she took it, standing up to face her old friend.
"I feel like I let this happen to you, Garrus," she admitted. "I should have taken care of Cathka when I had the chance."
"Shepard."
"He was repairing the gunship. He was all by himself, no weapons, and his back was turned."
"Shepard."
"What was I thinking? What if we didn't get you to the ship in time? What if -"
"Jane. Stop."
She because it was the first time in so long that she'd heard her first name spoken aloud. Her the shock brought her back to reality and she noticed Garrus hands on her shoulders as if trying to keep her from falling or running. He let go, gave her a chance tocompose herself, and began his own story.
"Shepard,when you... When the SR1 went down, we all knew it wasn't the Geth. Anderson, Kaidan, Joker, Liara... All of us. It was the same scenario as after the fight with Soverign but with less witnesses, no evidence, and no charismatic Aliance commander to lead he struggle. We were screwed. And every day I spent at C-Sec reminded me of all the political bullshit that made me leave in the first place was still going on. Only it was a helluva lot worse. So I left. Hitched it to Omega with a team of 11 others - a Salarian, ex STG, a couple defected C-Sec officers, a Batarian tech expert, so on. We were quick and effective, busting more jobs and making more of a difference than I had ever done with C-Sec.
But that fell apart, too. We were betrayed by one of our own - his name is Sidonis. He sent me on a false trail and by the time I got back to my team, he was gone and they were dead. I... I lost it, Shepard, and long story short, I ended up in the hellhole you found me in, with no one and nothing. I wasn't exactly giving up, but I knew I wasn't getting out of there alive. And then...
And then I saw you. Just the top of your head but I knew it was you. Everything logical told me it couldn't be, but all of that was out the window. You are you, . You saved my ass, got rid of some of the biggest troublemakers on Omega, and you did it within 48 hours after coming back from the dead. That's incredible. As for Cathka, if you had killed him, not only wouldn't it have made much of a difference, and trust me on that, but it wouldn't have made any sense, not for you. Hell, I would have killed him, but you? Shoot someone when their back was turned? An unarmed engineer? Never.
What I'm trying to say is, there's a reason they picked you. Why you are still here. You're not done, Shepard, not by a long shot. You're going to rip the galaxy a new one, and I'm gonna be right behind you. Just like old times."