BIOWARE OWNS ALL
Black.
She tried to move but she couldn't Shepard could hear all manner of distressing sounds around her making her want to scream and sob all at the same time, but she could do neither.
The Reapers were here! All around her and she couldn't stop them, after everything she'd done, after all the preparation to ensure the galaxy's survival she'd fallen literally at the first hurdle. Screams and the telling sounds of death were thick in the air; she could hear Garrus and Thane struggling with something grunting in pain or exhaustion more unessecery deaths on her conscious she had failed them too. She just wanted to sob she was going to die, again, then she heard him but it couldn't be, could it?
Black.
Shepard opened her eyes, a blurry figure stood over her, even though her eyes were failing her she could make out the faint shape of Doctor Chakwas, machines beeped and trilled around her and her vision gradually became clearer, she opened her eyes fully to see Doctor Chakwas checking her over.
"Wha-"Shepard cleared her throat which was excruciatingly dry and raspy and tried to speak again.
"Ugh what happened?" Chakwas nearly jumped out of her skin she had apparently not realised her patient had woken up.
"Oh god! Shepard thank heavens your okay, how are you feeling?" She asked pressing a thermometer into her ear and squinting to see the reading.
"Like I died" Shepard's humour had never failed to make the doctor smile but instead she just sighed at Shepard's attempt to lighten the mood.
"Oh for goodness sake! You have to start taking things seriously your more fragile than you used to be" she helped her sit up and even though searing throbbing pain was exploring her whole body thanks to the small movement she complied. She felt a little light headed at the sudden change of altitude and swayed slightly then steadied herself. Given the fact that she remembered her own death she could recall little to nothing of what had brought her to the medbay that day.
"So doc hit me what happened?" She asked while lightly running a hand over a bandage on her left temple.
"Well ugh the Reapers arrived early we were not expecting them for another month or so according to the estimates, anyway you were at the trial and they attacked, you were pinned down beneath a falling beam and trapped"
In all the haste Shepard had chosen not to tell the doctor that the Reapers were coming in a few days not a month, thanks to Doctor Kenson's project Shepard had been given a true timeline of when the Reapers were arriving and it was days not months, she hadn't told Chakwas because she was still getting over the deaths of the rest of the Cerberus crew and blaming Shepard herself at some points, this would have pushed the doctor over the edge so she and the rest of the crew kept this nugget of information to themselves.
Shepard dug hard in her mind yes she was remembering parts of it she gestured for the doctor to continue.
"You were brought back here with multiple contusions and lacerations, burns, internal bleeding and a pretty hefty concussion. You were out for about 19 hours I'm clearly amazed that you survived at all let alone are up and talking mere hours later" Sheapard raised an eyebrow as if to say 'can't get rid of me that easily'.
"Your lucky Shepard your injuries should have kept you sedated for days and resting for at least a few weeks but thanks to the cybernetic implants Cerberus re-built you with, you heal at an accelerated rate which I suppose is good for you, like I said Shepard you were incredibly lucky" another reason to thank Miranda later Shepard made a mental note and began to speak herself.
"Well phew can't have the galaxy's last hope dying because of a few Reapers, now doc tell me what happened when I was groundside at the trial I don't remember a whole lot of it"
"I'm sorry Shepard I wish I could tell you more but as you know my place is on the Normandy if you need details of what happened down there you should ask the ground team who accompanied you which was Garrus and Thane, they can help you fill in any missing pieces" she smiled at Shepard then as if by magic the medbay doors slid open and Garrus and Thane hurried in, Thane began pacing the length of the room silently and Garrus went straight over to her cot.
For all they had disagreed upon when they had first been thrown together as a team, such as his disregard of the rules and constant desire to shoot first ask questions later Garrus and the commander had become firm friends hell he was her best friend and he knew it and often got away with blue murder just because he knew his commander had a soft spot for him, he was like the big brother she never had.
"Shepard!" Garrus exclaimed leaning in for a hug then stopping as soon as Dr Chakwas gave him a dirty look and shook her head. "Oh yeah right the pain how you feeling kiddo?" he retreated back a few steps and shifted nervously. "Fine other than my head feels like a ripe Melon fit to burst what about you two?" She could see from their faces that they had a few cuts and bruises but nothing major.
"You needn't worry about us Shepard we are both well" The assassin said without breaking his pace. He was like a coiled spring ready to leap into action at any moment Shepard didn't think she had ever seen him so on edge. She cast her eyes back to Garrus who proceeded to explode with a wealth of information of what happened at the trial making her head hurt even more.
He told her that during the trial the Normandy was grounded, which was the reason they could not escape the Reaper invasion and how Joker and the crew had stolen the ship back just in time before Earth was annihilated by the Reapers. She didn't really hear all Garrus was telling her all she heard was Earth and destroyed. She quickly slipped back into commander mode and began sitting up and attempting to get hold of herself. Chakwas sighed in the background but let her commander get on with it, she had learned long ago trying to get Shepard to rest was a futile effort.
"EDI I want details of the attack"
"Yes Shepard, the Reapers entered Earth's atmosphere at 15 hundred hours earth time, they quickly overtook all major cities heading first for their means of government, most of which were evacuated on shuttles and are now on unknown worlds in the Terminus system"
"Death toll EDI?" this was what Shepard really didn't want to know.
"The death toll is 3, 587, 09 organics and counting, most of the casualties so far are made up of military personnel who attempted to fight off the Collectors and seeker swarms which came from the ships, it appears the Collectors have replenished their numbers and probably have a new base of operations, though it is unlikely to be situated in the Omega 4 relay"
Shit! Huge death toll, earth invaded, the collectors have re-built, her head was swimming she needed to act fast if they were to survive this genocide. She grabbed her headset and came over the comm. in Miranda's office.
"Miranda its Shepard I need you in the medbay immediately" she closed the communication and waited the all of about 10 seconds it took Miranda to close the distance between her office and the medbay. Miranda asked curtly if Shepard was feeling okay, she replied by just nodding clearly frustrated at the datapad Garrus had just handed her which was a more detailed explanation of Earth's losses she put it down to talk to her XO.
"Miranda good your here, we need to mobilize the army I want the Krogan, the Geth and the Rachni forces to take back Earth, and then have the Quarians on standby in case the Reapers make a move on another planet or system" Miranda looked shocked at Shepard's request and instead of saying what she wanted to she said what she had to.
"Negative commander Earth is gone a lost cause nearly everyone has been either indoctrinated, turned into husks or captured and those who haven't will be dead soon anyway it's over for Earth but we can save every other planet if we simply act rationally" Shepard felt like she had been stabbed in the gut, Earth a lost cause, she didn't understand, couldn't understand then Miranda continued.
"The best course of action would be to observe the Reapers, most of them have gone back into dark space but we have noticed at least 30 hovering over other planets in the Terminus system and Council space, we need to send sections of the army to each planet to give an overall protective barrier of the planets they are currently orbiting if they strike we can then launch a counter strike"
"I don't get it why have they attacked Earth, humanity no offence intended isn't the most technologically advanced species in the galaxy surely it would be smarter to go after the Asari settlements first, and take out the most powerful species then work their way down why attack humanity first?" Garrus interjected his mandibles flaring nervously, Thane still paced in the background; Chakwas simply watched the four of them intently. Miranda seemed offended but made no show of it.
"Allow me to illuminate you Garrus" Miranda said flicking on her Omni-tool and getting up pictures of Sovereign and the Collector base. "The Reapers are here to complete genocide of every species; however this is the first time they have experienced a counter offensive, the Protheans tried and failed to defend themselves we are not doing the same. You want to know why the Reapers are targeting humanity first she's sitting right in front of you"
Everyone in the room turned to face Shepard, who had a complete blank look on her face, then Miranda waved her arm so everyone took notice of her Omni-tool once more.
"Shepard has spoken directly to Harbinger he knows she is the face and force behind this army and is trying to stop him and the rest of the Reapers, Shepard destroyed Sovereign a reaper one of them, with that one move she proved herself better than the entire race of the Protheans. Then she destroyed the Collector base, the soldiers of the Reapers their tool in enslaving an entire galaxy. Why did they attack earth? Because Shepard is human! They know she will care about Earth and be hurt by its destruction, angered by it and hopefully be rash and make mistakes such as sending the army to earth leaving the rest of the galaxy unprotected systematically leading to the destruction and eradication of all life in the galaxy" Miranda closed her Omni-tool and took a deep breath, everyone was equally shocked Miranda had figured out all that on her own and just let it explode in one huge exchange.
Shepard looked at her blankly then finally had enough strength to do to the unthinkable. "Operative Lawson, mobilize the army to meet at the secret locations and tell them to rendezvous with their captains, no one is to attack until I give the order any army members on Earth are to retreat Earth is lost, unessecery deaths won't change that" Shepard let out a sigh and Miranda turned and just before she left Shepard called after her "and Miranda" she turned on her heel poised for more instruction but only got one word. "Thanks"
Shepard would have killed all life in the galaxy if it wasn't for her hell Miranda should have been the commander of the army she knew more than them all put together. She had hated the perfect woman when they had first met, she was Cerberus afterall and had a heart like an ice queen to boot. But Miranda had wormed her way into Shepard affection and she now thought of her as more of a sister than just her second in command. Miranda had saved her ass more than once because of her estimates and organisation and Shepard had saved Miranda's ass more than once because of her skill with a weapon and her ability to see the bigger picture. They had somewhere along the way reached an understanding and a firm level of trust.
When Miranda had left Garrus just looked at his commander and made a whipping sound as to imply Shepard was under thumb.
"Watisssshh! Shepard she told you" Garrus mocked
"Oh be quiet Garrus if it wasn't for her we would have lost a heck of a lot more than our crew and Kasumi and Zaeed, she's good real good and you know it your just upset because she might be challenging you in the friend stake. Shepard added a tone of humour but truthfully reminding herself of their losses specifically of the losses of her two friends stung at her eyes.
She hit him on the shoulder as she got up from the cot, she tested a few muscles and sat back down again finding herself still in a considerable amount of pain. Shepard opened a comm. Link with Joker.
"Joker plot coordinates for the Citadel they have never listened to me about the Reapers perhaps now they will either way I'm not leaving that overpriced space station until I have the Alliance and their fleet with me!" Joker responded in his usual way.
"You know commander all you had to say was, 'to the Citadel Joker yah!' save your inspirational speeches for the council" he laughed and ended the communication before Shepard had a chance to pistol whip him with words. Garrus decided he better go and do some calibrations, the Thanix cannon needed repairs after the Omega 4 relay and he had hoped to get the on Earth but that was no longer an option. He turned to leave, then turned back Shepard was about to start talking to Thane who thank god had stopped pacing by this point when Garrus carefully chose his words.
"You know Shepard you should contact Alenko, with him being a commander of his own small fleet now and a spectre he has the trust of the council and could help convince them to give you their aid"
Shepard was shocked by his statement why oh why would she ever contact Kaiden again somewhere between Horizon and his pathetic excuse of an apology message she had decided she never wanted to see his sorry ass again. "Garrus you and I both know where commander Alenko's loyalty lies he won't help us because of our previous affinity with Cerberus, even if I convince him we are no longer with them he wouldn't believe me why waste my breath" she hadn't meant all of that to tumble out but it did and dammit she meant every word Kaiden was a fool he turned on her and called her a traitor she was dead for god's sake! Suddenly Thane appeared in front of her and offered his opinion.
"Perhaps Garrus is right it may be that the commander's allegiances have changed since the incident on Horizon"
"Oh really and what makes you think that?" Shepard crossed her arms clearly annoyed at Thane getting involved he of all people knew how Kaiden had hurt her and given the fact the pair had gotten awfully close while attempting to stop the Collectors she expected him to understand. She shook her head and waited for an answer to her question but instead she got her answer from Garrus, Thane just went and leaned up against the cot opposite her and crossed his arms tightly over his chest mirroring her body language.
"Well don't you remember Shepard? You got pinned by that beam, no matter how hard me and Thane tied we couldn't free you Thane even tried biotics but it wouldn't budge and you were fading fast. The Normandy was grounded as soon as the trial began so the rest of the crew were busy trying to get her back in the chaos. Just when we were being surrounded by Collectors and you were passing out a hand clapped down on my shoulder, it was Alenko he and his crew freed you and held covering fire so we could get you back to his ship. Alenko carried you to his ship himself and we took off and headed for a near mass relay that took us to safety. Kaiden took you to his medbay and their doc patched you up as best he could of course the facilities weren't as advanced as the Normandy's so when Joker and the crew got the ship away from Earth we all met up on Therum and he passed you over to Chakwas and stayed until you were stable then left"
Shepard could hardly believe her ears, when she blacked out at the courthouse she had thought she heard his soothing voice in her ear but simply put it down to her mind playing tricks on her and giving her a small piece of joy before she perished, she had no idea it had been real. She then looked at Thane finally understanding his distress Kaiden had saved her when he could not. Her and Thane were close but he shouldn't feel guilty about it, it wasn't his fault, she would talk to him about it later. But now the impending genocide of an entire galaxy rested on her bruised and scarred shoulders, and she relented she needed the alliance and if Kaiden could help her get them, well it was just something she would have to endure she opened her comm. Unit and spoke to Joker once again.
"Joker did commander Alenko leave the coordinates of where his ship would be heading?"
"No ma'm but he did leave the ship's name he's in charge of um hang on got it here somewhere oh yeah SSV Elysium I could set up a comm. Buoy if you want"
She dreaded it she felt sweat trickle down her brow and Garrus and Chakwas took this as their time for a quick exit. Thane however stayed and she was grateful for it she didn't want to face him alone.
"Set it up Joker" She heard him in the background.
"SSV Elysium this is SSV Normandy our commander requests a comm. Chat with commander Alenko"
"Very good Normandy putting you through now"
Then she heard the voice that stalked her memories, haunted her dreams and invaded her nightmares and hopefully the voice to convince the council and the Alliance to give her their best fleets.
"Commander Alenko here..."