Chapter TwoAngel laid her pillows and blanket out and placed a pallet down for ember who purred happily as she stretched out on it and chewed on a bone. Angel smiled and leaned against the railing.
"I missed you Normandy. You too EDI."
"It is good to have you back Hawkeye."
"Can you make a note that when we get to the Citadel we need to pick up some meat? Ember has a strict diet."
"Of course. Commander Shepard says she will not need you to go to Mars but wishes for you to prepare your gear for our next mission."
Angel looked down at her bags and unzipped a large black one and pulled out her armor and weapons. The armor was similar in design to Shepard's own, although it was a dark shade of blue compared to Shepard's purple. She sorted through and checked each gun, checking over her clips and looked around and saw the weapon bench Garrus had used. She placed her weapons on one side and hung her armor up in the small locker beside it.
~~~~~
"Joker, set a course for the Citadel."
Said Shepard as they boarded after returning from Mars. She walked into the med bay where Angel was setting up her medical supplies, Kaiden over her shoulders. She lay him down on one of the beds and Angel began looking him over and looked at Liara and Shepard.
"Shepard, he needs medical attention. My supplies here are limited. We need to get to the Citadel asap."
"Liara, EDI, see what you can figure out from that thing there."
"What is that?"
"Something from Cerberus. It took the data we needed."
"Creepy."
~~~~~
"Commander Shepard, we got word you were arriving."
They turned to see Bailey and he shook Shepard's hand.
"Bailey, good to see you again."
"Shepard, I'm gonna go with Mom and Dad and throw some of my things out and then I'll meet you all back on the Normandy."
Angel said before walking off with her parents who both hugged Shepard tightly.
"Shepard, you two keep an eye on one another, okay?"
Said their mother with a smile.
"I will…Mom."
"I'll meet you in Udina's office."
Liara said before walking off as well.
"And what about you?"
Said Bailey looking to James.
"I'm just a civilian today."
Shepard walked to the elevator and took it to the hospital where she walked out and looked around. Off to the side she saw Dr. Chakwas.
"Dr. Chakwas, you're here."
"I've been working down in an R&D in the Wards and coordinating closely with Admiral Hackett. I heard one of yours was critically wounded. I came as quick as I could."
"We ran into a Cerberus synthetic on Mars. Kaiden took the worse of it. How is he?"
"Very well all things considering. I'm amazed at Major Alenko's resilience. I wish I could have been there with you to help on Mars."
"You belong on the Normandy. Not some lab here."
"I couldn't agree more. Just say the word."
"Grab your stuff. We're in Bay D-24."
"Will do Commander. And thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. Remember Joker's still aboard."
"And I highly doubt he's been remembering to take his medication."
Dr. Chakwas walked off and Shepard began heading for Kaiden's room. She walked inside and stood there, staring at his unconscious body.
"Hey Kaiden. Don't know if you can hear me…but since you can't tell me to get the hell out, I'll take my chances. You can beat this. Don't die on us Kaiden. Seeing you out there again…it reminded me that you're one hell of a solider. Fight. We need you. I need you."
The doctor walked in and paused behind her before she turned to him.
"You need anything doctor, let me know."
She began walking out and paused at the door.
"Get better soon. And that's an order."
~~~~~
Shepard walked into Udina's office where she was greeted by an Asari who was his assistant. She followed her to the chambers where the Council was already in session.
"Every Councilor planet is being hit. Earth is no less important than our own home worlds."
Said the Turrian councilman as he looked at Udina.
"Yes, but Earth was the first council home world attacked. By that, it has taken the full brunt of this."
"And who's to say this is the brunt of the Reaper's attack?"
Chimed in the Salarian councilwoman.
Liara sighed and shook her head as Shepard walked up beside her.
"It's true. Earth was attacked. We need everything you have."
"Isn't this a fool's errand? If we focus all our forces on Earth and it fails, what then?"
"We need a weapon to defeat them…"
"We have that weapon. It is of Prothean design."
Said Liara pulling the schematics up on her omni tool.
"It's massive."
"Yes."
"How can we be sure of this? The Protheans were wiped out be the Reapers."
"They never had a chance to complete it. It's missing something that is only referred to as the Catalyst."
"Shepard, do you believe in this? After what you've seen of the Reapers?"
Asked the Turrian councilman as he looked to her.
"If Liara believes it can work, so do I. And while I haven't always seen eye to eye with Udina, he's right. We need to stand together. The Reapers won't stop at Earth. They'll destroy every organic being unless we all come together."
"The council cannot help Earth. We must secure our own borders first."
Said the Asari councilwoman as she exchanged looks with the Salarian councilwoman.
"We are conveying a meeting of our species. If we can secure our world, we may be able to aid you."
Said the Salarian councilwoman.
"I cannot make any promises Commander. We will do our best to provide aid but that is all I can say."
The Asari, Salarian, and Turrian left as Udina looked down and then to Shepard.
"Shepard, meet me in my office."
~~~~~
"They're not understanding that we need them! They're running scared!"
Ranted Udina as he paced back and forth in front of Shepard.
The doors hissed open and the Turrian councilman walked in and looked at them.
"I have a proposition. Our home world is under attack and getting hit hard. If you can get to Primarch Fedorian…he's essential to our summit. If the Normandy could fly in and get him undetected…"
"You want me to save his ass in the hopes he'll agree to help Earth."
"Put bluntly? Yes. Gain an ally in the hopes of getting things together. Hell, I shouldn't even be telling you this. Our intel says he's fighting on one of our larger moons. Get there, and you've gained help."
She sighed and looked at Udina as the Turrian councilman began walking out.
"Oh, and one more thing. The council has agreed to reinstate your Spectere status. It'll open up certain…resources."
He left and she turned to Udina.
"Well, that's a start."
"I guess. I'll talk to the others and see what I can do. If you need anything, let me know."
~~~~~
It was a desolate spot. It was covered in shadows. Shepard stood in her armor and she looked around. Ahead of her was the young boy she had seen on Earth. He ran off as she moved slowly towards him, then he disappeared. She paused and looked around once more and saw him in the distance. This time she caught up with him but the sound of the Reapers rang through and a pulsing red light appeared. The child stood and looked up at her and began to burn. She woke up with a startled gasp and sat up in bed before swinging her legs over the side and holding her head. A knock caused her to look up and she walked out to see Liara.
"Liara, can I help you?"
"I've been sending blueprints to the Turrian councilman. But he won't budge on it until their Primarch is safe."
"I know."
"Shepard…are you alright?"
"I didn't get what you would call a good night's rest."
"There's more to it than that. What's really bothering you?"
"When we left I could hear people screaming in the street's below me…we left a lot of them behind…"
"You can't save all of them…but I know you'll do your best. And we will get back to Earth."
"I hope you're right…"
"Don't blame yourself Commander."
The elevator hissed open behind them and they looked to see a young woman walking towards them.
"Commander, I'm Specialist-Oh, I'm so sorry. I thought you were alone.
"It's fine. I was just leaving."
Liara brushed past her and headed into the elevator as the girl saluted.
"Commander, I'm Specialist Samantha Traynor. I'm part of the Alliance R&D. I was one of those helping retrofit the Normandy after you turned her over to the Alliance. There weren't many of us on board when the Reapers hit…"
"Calm down Specialist Traynor. You're doing fine. Why don't you tell me about those retrofits?"
Shepard lead her into her cabin and the two spoke for a while as Traynor showed Shepard everything on the data pad in her hands.
"It's pretty much still the same ship, just flies Alliance colors. Oh, speaking of, I believe Admiral Hackett wishes to speak to you on vid comm."
