Under Pressure

Eden Prime hadn't exactly been a success. There were civilian casualties; Geth Recon Drones killed Jenkins; Saren, a Spectre, had murdered Nihlus and disappeared. She and Alenko had found 212 Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, but the rest of the 212 had been wiped out. One point for our side, Kathryn thought when they finally found the Prothean beacon. It had been moved, according to Williams, so chances were high Saren had used it, but there it was, and it was working.

"I'm calling the Normandy," she said, leaving Williams and Alenko staring at the beacon. "Normandy, the beacon is secured." She turned and walked away from the others, arranging transport back to the ship.

"This is crazy," Alenko whispered. "Real, working Prothean technology. Unbelievable!"

Williams shook her head. "I don't know about this. It wasn't doing anything like that when we dug it up." She looked over her shoulder to find Shepard and went back to the Commander's side.

"Something must have activated it..." Alenko's brow wrinkled. Am I hallucinating? The air around him seemed to warp and flex.

"Roger, Normandy. Standing by." Shepard turned her comm link off and smiled as Williams approached her. "We're almost done here, Chief."

"Commander, about the beacon. I don't..."

Over Williams's shoulder, Kathryn saw Alenko. Something was happening, he was sliding toward the beacon. Without warning, she pushed Williams aside, racing toward the lieutenant. Williams turned to see that Alenko was being pulled toward the beacon by an unseen force, one arm reaching back as though he were trying to grab onto something. As his body began to rise up off the ground, Shepard leapt at him, grabbing him around the waist. They fell to the ground and Shepard threw him bodily at Williams. The gunnery chief grabbed the lieutenant to ask if he was okay, but Alenko's attention was focused on his commander.

"Shepard!" he yelled, trying to get back up.

"No!" Williams shouted. "Don't touch her, it's too dangerous." When he struggled, she pinned him down.

Shepard couldn't hear them. She was suspended in the air, being bombarded with sounds and images. None of it made sense, it was frightening, and her last thought was that this was maybe more than she could handle. This might be it. And then the world went black.

x ~ X ~ x

"...suffered psychological trauma..."

"...beacon destroyed..."

That was not good, what had she done? Her head hurt and opening her eyes didn't help. The lights of the med bay were harsh. Groaning, she tried to sit up.

"Doctor? Doctor Chakwas, she's waking up." Alenko was at the head of the bed. Warm hands at her back helped her to sit up and then retreated, too quickly. She was cold and found herself wanting him to stay close. Do not go there, she reminded herself. He had taken a step back out of sight. Somehow Kathryn knew he would be blaming himself for this, but the doctor was coming around to look her in the eye and caught her attention.

"You had us worried there, Shepard. How are you feeling?"

Kathryn rubbed her temples. "Uhn...like I got hit by a freighter after a week of shore leave with nothing but Peruvian Whiskey to keep me company. How long was I out?" She thought she heard Alenko snort, but he coughed and excused himself hastily.

The doctor shot him a look over Shepard's shoulder. "About fifteen hours. Something happened down there, with the beacon."

"It's my fault," Alenko spoke up. "I must have triggered some sort of security field when I approached it. You had to push me out of the way."

He had dark circles under his eyes and Shepard wondered if he'd been kicking himself for the past fifteen hours. Probably. She made a practice of not letting those who worked under her command dwell on their mistakes, real or perceived, unless they weren't learning the lessons mistakes offered. Based on what Anderson had told her about Alenko, he rarely made mistakes, and he always learned his lesson.

"Lieutenant...You had no way of knowing what would happen, so don't beat yourself up, okay?"

A hint of a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth and that twinkle was back in his eye. She felt warmer, pleased that she'd made him feel better. That was perplexing.

"Actually," Chakwas said, "we don't know if that's what set it off and we never will."

Alenko finally moved to stand in front of her. "The beacon exploded, some sort of system overload, maybe, and the blast knocked you out cold. Williams and I had to carry you back." He had carried her back himself, but didn't think she needed to know that. Or how he'd thought she was going to die and how...afraid he had been that she might.

"Thank you. So...what's the damage, doctor?" She couldn't take her eyes off Alenko, and he seemed just as stuck, standing there watching her talk with Chakwas. The urge to sit down with him over drinks to just...get to know him...

Captain Anderson's arrival and request to speak with her privately interrupted that train of thought and she wasn't sure if she was grateful or not.

Alenko snapped to attention. "Aye, aye, Captain. I'll be in the mess if you need me." He spoke to Anderson, but looked at her.

He kept looking at her until the med bay doors slid shut behind him and Chakwas. Oh, what the hell? After what we just went through, we could both use a drink and a debrief. Shepard focused her attention on Anderson, her conversation with him strengthening her resolve to have a drink with Alenko. This was going to be a rough ride.

A/N: Don't get used to this...I just happen to have had some luck getting these two installments written and posted! Thanks to Bioware, and thank you to everyone who has read and commented. I'm happy to see I've been added to some favorite lists, too.

I love hearing from readers, so reviews are always appreciated. Next up, we find out what made Kaiden laugh at the shore leave comment...Cheers!