A/N: I do not own Mass Effect
Chapter One:
The jungle air was hot, sticky and thick. Major Kaidan Alenko wiped another bead of sweat of his brow as he and the men of what was now his crew made their way back to the Normandy. The same pang of guilt hit him as he looked upon the wreckage they managed to turn into a form of shelter. Just outside the door, Liara T'Soni was building a fire while Tali'Zorah prepared a meal for the crew. "Good, you're back." Liara sighed in relief and hugged Kaidan tightly. "I was worried; we thought we heard animals fighting in the jungle."
"We're all okay, Liara." Kaidan replied, taking a seat beside the fire.
Garrus Vakarian took a seat opposite of Kaidan, dropping the varren they caught in the jungle. Kaidan dropped his gaze, focusing on the fire. Garrus sighed. Since he had rejoined Shepard's crew, Kaidan had done his best to avoid any kind of interaction with the turian. "Kaidan, you can't keep this up forever." Garrus said once everyone was out of earshot. "You've got something you want to say to me, now's your chance."
Kaidan glared at the turian across from him. "Do you really wanna know what I have to say?" he growled. "How could you do that to me? Christ, we were friends! I trusted you to take care of Shepard and the minute you have a chance, you try to take her away from me?"
Garrus leaned back and took a deep breath. "You're right. I deserve that. I did try to take Shepard from you. You should know, however, that she was the one that came onto me. Can you really blame her? She wanted to be with you, and you turned her down back on Horizon. And need I remind you that you are the one she chose in the end? I'm sorry if you feel betrayed, but it wasn't like that at all. Now can we just move past this for the good of the crew? If we can't work together, we won't survive out here."
Kaidan continued to glare at him silently for a long, uncomfortable moment. "Yeah." he sighed, unloading his arsenal. He couldn't help but think of Shepard. He missed her touch, her smile, her passion. It drove him mad to think that she was back on Earth trying to get a hold of him desperately and he had no way of contact. Even more depressing was the thought that the worst had happened to her during the Reaper attack.
"Fuck it! It's completely fucking useless! I give up!" Joker's yelling snapped Kaidan back to his surroundings. The pilot stumbled out of the ship angrily, his girlfriend EDI following closely behind. "Ow! Fuck! My arm!" Joker rubbed his forearm after slamming it against the hull.
"Jeff, you just need to calm down." EDI stated in a calm, monotonous tone. She helped ease him down into one of the chairs around their makeshift patio table. "There has been no progress on the Normandy, Major Alenko." EDI said, turning her attention from Joker's foul mumbling. "I'm not sure we will be able to get the Normandy running again."
"Great." Kaidan mumbled.
"I have taken a look at the ship's core, as well." Tali chimed in from behind them where she sat cutting chunks of meat. "It's completely dead. It's like we've been sabotaged."
"Maybe it has something to do with that wave we encountered just before we crashed." Liara suggested.
Garrus stood, grabbed the varren carcass and threw it over his shoulder once more. "Well, if that's the case, we need to figure out if that wave affected anything else. If it has… looks like this is home, sweet home." He put the carcass back down onto the table Tali was still cooking and pulled a large knife out of his boot.
"I hope you're not intending to gut that thing on the table." Tali said in a stern voice, giving him what could only be assumed was a nasty glare behind her mask. Garrus chuckled sheepishly as he again dragged the varren down to the ground and began to cut into the creature.
"Either way, we should try to see if there's civilization on this planet." EDI said.
"We have no idea how far this jungle stretches." Kaidan replied. He helped himself to a bowl of the stew boiling over the fire pit, despite Tali's disapproving tongue clicks. "It could take us days before we find the way out of here… but you're right, EDI. We can't just stay here forever."
At that moment, a low rumble was heard throughout the jungle surrounding them. As everyone reached for their weapons, they heard an ear shattering bang. In an instant, Garrus was on top of the Normandy, sniper rifle to his eye. Beneath him, the crew took whatever cover they could find. Kaidan glanced back at the turian, who shook his head to answer an unasked question.
"Vega, Liara." Kaidan said in a hushed voice, signaling them to follow. The trio silently made their way through the trees, eyes peeled for any sign of movement. "Damn these vines." Kaidan said, trying not to trip over the fallen trees and intertwining vines in the fading sunlight.
"Don't worry, Major. I got this." James Vega flicked the light mounted on his rifle. "So, what do you think that noise was? Think maybe another ship crash?"
"Vega, there's a knack to being stealthy." Kaidain whispered. "It's called being quiet." James grunted, but followed orders. They continued on in silence for a few miles until they came upon an oasis. The three stared into the crystal blue water of the lagoon. "Wow."
"Look at this place…" Liara gasped, delicately caressing the flowers on the edge of the water.
"Man. Too bad we didn't crash closer to here." James added, shrugging when Liara gave him a disapproving look.
"Well, I guess he's got a point." Kaidan agreed as he looked into the lagoon. "It looks like there's fish in here. We wouldn't have had to eat varren if we crashed over here." Liara rolled her eyes as she filled their canteens with the water. Another rumble shook the leaves of the trees; Kaidan and James readied their guns and ducked behind boulders.
"That sounded close, Major."
"Yeah. Let's go." Kaidan waved the group forward.
It had been hours since Kaidan left and Garrus sat beside the now dead fire, staring up at the stars. "Shepard…" He muttered to the sky, "I hope you're alright. I worry about you… I… I miss you. Even though I knew your heart always belonged to Kaidan, a part of me wishes that you had stayed with me. Maybe if you had… we probably wouldn't have ended up stranded on this planet… at least not without you, Shepard." He took the flask he kept hidden in his armor and held it towards the sky. "To you, Commander, wherever you are." He took a long drink. "I love you. Always will."
He drank silently, watching shooting stars as he thought back to happier times. He must have dozed off for a moment, as the snap of a twig made him shoot straight up. Instinctively, he grabbed his gun and searched for the source of the noise. "Relax, Garrus. It's just me." Tali said quietly. "I had trouble sleeping. The stars usually comfort me." The quarian sat next to him and poked at the ashes in the fire pit with a stick.
"I can go get more wood if you want a fire, Tali." Garrus offered.
"It's not necessary." She answered. "Besides drawing attention to us, it makes it difficult to really look at the stars. What were you thinking about out here?"
The turian picked up his fallen flask from the dirt, shaking his head. "I have a lot on my mind." He offered the flask to Tali, who refused. "Do you think Shepard is alive? She's survived a lot, but I can't help but think that she just had no chance this time around…"
"If she didn't, well, I'm sure she's in a better place." Tali folded her hands as she spoke to the stars. "If you are up there, Shepard… Keelah se'lai." She then closed her eyes and bowed her head in remembrance of the commander.
"You should get some sleep." Garrus said after a moment of silence. "You never know what's out in the jungle. Good night, Tali."
James hacked through the last of the vines blocking their path, exposing another clearing. The remains of what used to be an escape pod was strewn about the dirt, the disk for an SOS signal lay forgotten in the rubble. Slowly, James approached the wreckage, looking out for any potential attackers. Signaling for the others to follow, he circled the pod. "Major, there are no identifying marks."
"Great. No way of knowing if it was the Alliance or not."
"Kaidan! There are footprints!" Liara shrieked. "Whoever was in this escape pod survived. They must be in this jungle!"
"Or eaten alive by a jungle cat." James said nonchalantly. Before they could ask, Kaidan and Liara both turned to see a large, black, cat-like creature with a shaggy silver mane staring at them with liquid gold colored eyes. Slowly, the feline swished its tail back and forth, digging its claws into the rock formation it perched upon. "Oh, shit."
"I'll hold it off! You two head back towards the Normandy!" Kaidan shouted, raising his gun. A blue force field appeared in front of him before he had the chance to fire.
"We are not leaving you behind, Kaidan." Liara said sternly.
"And I'm not leaving this thing alive to come after us." Kaidan argued.
James switched his rifle for a shotgun and cocked it. "I agree, Major." He fired his weapon, causing Liara's barrier to dissipate. "Let's kill this fucker."
The cat leaped across the clearing towards them, landing a few feet away and towered over them. The weight of the creature caused the ground to shake, knocking the trio around. Liara quickly regained balance and shot a biotic shockwave while Kaidan unloaded a magazine on the creature. "We have to finish this quickly!" Liara said as she blasted at the cat with her pistol.
"I'm on it!" James replied. He started a charge, but the cat lifted one of its large paws and swiped at him. James was flung into the air, crashing into one of the surrounding trees.
"Lieutenant!" Kaidan shouted, running towards his fallen teammate. Again, the cat attacked; however, Liara threw another barrier in front of Kaidan. The major rolled to shelter behind the tree line and reached for one of the sniper rifles he had borrowed from Garrus. Carefully taking aim, he shot the cat in the neck. Unfortunately, the cat was barely phased by the shot and began stalking towards Kaidan's cover.
"I will not lose another teammate!" Liara shouted at the creature, her entire body being enveloped by a blue force. Yelling, she released all the built up biotic power, knocking the cat back into the base of the rock formation. She fell to her knees, saying as she gasped for air, "Kaidan! Finish this!"
Kaidan dashed across the field to where James lay unconscious and grabbed the shotgun and a frag grenade. He aimed the gun as the cat began to rise to its feet once more. Without hesitation, he shot the cat in the head and tossed the grenade at the rocks. He then dragged James to cover just as the rock formation came tumbling to the ground.
Liara found her way to the men as the dust settled, coughing and waving the dirt from in front of her face. "Oh, no," was all she said. Kaidan looked down; James had been caught by the cat's claws and was covered head to toe in his own blood.
"Oh, shit."