Red Sky at Morning
Summary: An Alternate Universe, Female Shepard/Kaidan Alenko Fanfiction.
Commander Kaidan Alenko and the crew of the Normandy answer a distress call from Mindoir Colony, where they help farm owner, Sarah Shepard, retake her home from the Geth. In return, she helps them find the Rogue Spectre, Saren Arterius.
Note: This story takes place in an alternate universe. It does not follow cannon and it is not compatible with any of my other fanfictions.
Chapter 1
Mindoir smelled like smoke and death. Commander Kaidan Alenko of the SSV Normandy climbed out of the cramped interior of his M35 Mako ground vehicle and took a good long look. The once abundant countryside of the human colony was now burning and silent; the "Galaxy's Breadbasket" destroyed in a matter of minutes. A mess of shouldering, broken buildings peeked out from the valley below, confirming the town had been decimated. Kaidan could still make out the dragon's teeth spikes set up to transform the colonists into those horrific, zombie-like husks. Rage boiled in his chest. They'd arrived too late. Saren and his Geth army had apparently been here and gone.
"You see any activity, Chief?" He called over his shoulder.
Ashley Williams, looked up from the scope of her Avenger sniper rifle and shook her head, brown eyes flashing fire. "Nothing here, Commander," she told him gravely. "Damn it! Not even a flicker from a 'Flashlight Head.'"
Garrus Vakarian, the only Turian in the Normandy's crew, approached Kaidan on the left and lowered his weapon. "They really did a number on this place, didn't they? Spirits, I hate being too late. We need to make that bastard pay!"
"Let's move out," Kaidan ordered, gritting his teeth against the guttural scream that threatened to burst out. "Keep your eyes peeled for any survivors and for anything at all that might tell us why Saren felt it necessary to burn a rural colony to the ground."
The interior of the mako was cramped, but they were all used to it by now, breathing through their mouths to avoid smelling each other's BO, and sticking to their own designated tasks. Ashley climbed into the gun turret at the center, while Garrus sat down on Kaidan's left and started scanning for foreign tech. The Commander himself took the driver's seat and pulled up the virtual window that gave them all a panoramic view of the devastated colony. He then gently moved them forward over a small hill without causing so much a ripple to the interior shocks. Slow and steady, was Kaidan's motto when operating a ground vehicle. Otherwise you could miss something important, or leave your crew vulnerable to attack while they vomited their c-rations up all over enemy territory.
After a few moments of contemplative silence, Garrus looked up from his display. His brow winkled in confusion, mandibles twitching in the turian version of a scowl, as he stared out at the burning countryside? "Why did they set everything on fire?" He asked, gesturing towards the devastation. "You said they burned a few things on Eden Prime, but I didn't expect anything like this. What's the point?"
"We beat them to the punch last time," Kaidan replied, swallowing his anger and frustration. "Kept them from getting to that artifact on Eden Prime and whatever they were hoping to learn from it. I'm guessing they weren't taking any chances on us beating them to whatever they wanted here. Fire's also a good way to cover your tracks."
"God, Skipper," Ashley exclaimed, her voice muffled a bit by the cannon's scope. "I still can't believe Nihlus sacrificed himself like that to destroy the Prothean device. One minute he was right there, trying to talk Saren down and then the next…"
"I know," Kaidan finished for her, his mind suddenly flashing to the turian Spectre's last moments. The plan had been to stop the geth and rescue the colony, but when that second turian spectre showed up, apparently working with the enemy, all their best laid plans had gone to hell. Without warning, Saren had just thrown himself at the glowing artifact, live grenade in hand. There had been no way to stop him in time; Kaidan and his team had been much too far away, the geth forces too numerous. In one second the two turians were having a heated discussion and in the next Nihlus was gone, along with the relic Saren coveted.
"Sacrifice for the greater good is taught to my people from birth," Garrus explained. "Nihlus was a credit to all Turians, and the spectres. Still," he shook his head, "getting betrayed by a friend like that is a terrible way to go - even if Saren always was a bastard."
"I hear that," Ashley agreed. "And who knows what would have happened if the Commander had let Nihlus go off alone like he'd wanted to. 'Saren might have taken him by surprise and gotten whatever he was after from that artifact, and maybe I wouldn't have made it out either." Her voice got quiet. "The geth had me pinned down so hard…"
"I'm glad you're with us too, Chief," Kaidan assured her, turning to grace her with a small smile.
When their eyes met, Ashley suddenly glanced away, hiding her face behind the cannon scope, but not before Kaidan noticed a bit of pink spilling across her light bronze cheeks. Oops, he thought, guilt heating the tips of his ears. He'd have to be careful with the compliments. Ash was a hell of a soldier, and a friend. He really didn't want to hurt her feelings by leading her on.
"I just wish we knew what they were talking about before Nihlus died," Ashley continued quickly, "or what Saren wanted with that artifact. You think it was some kind of weapon or something, Skipper? Was that why he was willing to die to take it out?"
"I couldn't hear what they were arguing about over the gunfire, either" Kaidan replied. "But, Saren wanted it badly enough to kill an entire colony of people," he looked out at the burning countryside, "twice."
Just before pulling the pin from the grenade and rushing full tilt at the artifact, Nihlus had looked up and briefly met Kaidan's gaze. There'd been a terror in those steely green eyes that had shaken the Commander to his very core. Nihulus was a turian, trained from birth to see death as a necessary sacrifice. He was also a spectre, chosen specifically for his valor, cunning, and dedication. Would someone like that fear death to that extent? Kaidan didn't think so. Nihlus's traitorous friend had revealed something to him so frightening; he was willing to die to stop Saren from getting it. The council made Kaidan the first human spectre in part to find out what that secret was, whatever the cost.
"Activity on our left, Commander," Garrus's steady voice called out, rousing Kaidan from his thoughts, "numerous ground troops and an armature." The virtual window revealed a large, smoldering farmhouse just a few hundred meters away, absolutely swarmed with geth.
"I see them, directly in my sights. Ashley assured them. "Permission to fire forward cannon?"
"Wait," Kaidan cautioned her, holding up a hand. "You'll hit the house and we don't know for sure yet if there are civilians still inside. See if you can draw their fire. We'll lead them out to the clearing."
"Aye aye, sir."
Ashley laid a line of heavy machine gun fire into the outer most flank of geth troops as Kaidan drove the mako around towards the side of the house. As planned, the armature followed suit, its massive crablike legs eating up the ground between them in no time. All three soldiers rocked violently inside the pressurized cabin, grabbing for purchase as the AI shot a bolt of pure energy into their hull.
"You can fire that cannon now, Chief," Kaidan announced, as another shot crashed into their shields.
Garrus grunted as he slammed against his safety restraints. "Sooner, rather than later, would be good."
"Understood, Commander," Ashley called out, locking her target in place on the armature's wide abdomen. "I hope you guys like your flashlight heads well-done. Oorah!"
It took more direct hits than Kaidan would have liked to drop the massive geth's shields. By the time it finally happened, the Mako's were running on less than half strength and he was feeling a bit motion sick from all the fancy maneuvering needed to evade its attacks.
"It's vulnerable, chief," he called over the cacophony, "shoot one right down the center and take it out!"
It was a perfect hit, blowing a hole right through the armature's chassis and out the other side. The behemoth froze for half a heartbeat, before shuddering all over and crashing to the ground in an inelegant heap.
Still very much in the middle of a battle, Kaidan called out to Garrus at the scanner. "How many more are left out there?"
"I'm counting fifteen ground troops, all centered around the house."
Kaidan's brows arched in confusion. "Why aren't they attacking us? What's so special about that farm?"
"Nothing, as far as the readings show," the turian buried his face back in the display and shook his head. "The only foreign tech I see is the geth, all fifteen of them…wait," he paused, mandibles flaring in shock – "make that fourteen, thirteen…we aren't the only ones fighting back, Commander. I'm reading life signs!"
Ashley nearly jumped out of her chair. "We need to hurry, Skipper. They'll be slaughtered!"
Already moving the Mako around to the front of the house, Kaidan visually searched the farm for any sign of survivors. The house, part prefab- part hastily added addition, was engulfed in smoke and flame, a total loss. The barn however, just a few meters away, was still perfectly intact, and it was this structure the geth seemed interested in. The reason became apparent just seconds later when a lone trooper collapsed to the ground, a single hole through its photoreceptor.
"Friendly sniper at the top window!" Garrus announced, "Damn, they're good, especially for a civilian. I only see one though. They're not gonna last long."
"Then let's give them some cover fire, shall we?" Kaidan called over his left shoulder. "Chief?"
"On it, Commander."
The Mako vibrated violently as the machine gun turret erupted into action. A row of four hunters went down easily, but a rocket trooper turned towards the Mako and fired its payload. Kaidan gripped the controls in a steely grip as the whole tank listed to the side for one terrifying heartbeat and then righted itself again. Ash took out four more troops.
Over at the barn, the civilian shooter took out a hopper, mid-jump, before it could land on the roof. A geth prime whirled on the little window and fired a wide round of shots up at the vinyl frame. Another rocket trooper moved in.
"Garrus," Kaidan yelled, "how's our civilian?"
"No longer firing, sir," he answered gravely. "That prime may have taken them out."
Gritting his teeth against the rage boiling in his gut, Kaidan whirled the vehicle around once more. "Take out those last two geth, Ash. Just in case our friend is still with us, I don't want the barn destroyed."
Ashley fired at the prime first, it being the larger of the two targets. It let out a horrific, grating screech as its shields fell, as if somehow able to feel pain through its metal synapses. After, there was only enemy left, but they'd taken too long to bring the prime down, giving the rocket trooper time to set up its shot.
"No!" Kaidan cried, as its clawed finger reached for the trigger.
Just before it could fire though, a commotion at the barn drew their attention. The large double doors flew open, an enraged battle cry screaming from within. Kaidan could only watch, eyes wide with astonishment as a large, honey colored horse practically exploded out onto the field. It flew towards the lone geth, a single rider hunched over his back. She griped the reigns with one hand and with the other, held aimed a simple hunting rifle at the enemy. It was like a scene out of one of those ancient western vids Kaidan used to watch as a child, and to his eternal shame, he was so shocked by it, he could only gape for half a heartbeat as she closed in on the geth.
"Everybody out!" He finally ordered, smacking the hatch release with a heavy palm. "Check your fire. Do NOT hit the civilian."
Kaidan raced across the field, his team close at his back. The civilian woman fired two shots at the AI from the back of her horse, before absurdly gripping the barrel of her gun and swinging it around like a lethal baseball bat. She let out a guttural cry as it made contact with the trooper's glowing photoreceptor.
"What the hell is she doing?" Garrus, cried incredulously. She's going to get herself killed.
His body erupting in blue fire, Kaidan flared a biotic throw directly at the geth. "Not today," he vowed, watching the trooper get knocked off its feet. It wasn't enough though, because immediately after hitting the ground, the geth reached up and fired a pulse at the civilian. She screamed in pain as the force knocked her from the back of her horse and slammed her to the earth with a sickening thud.
Finally within range, Ashley fired her shotgun three times into the Geth's abdomen. It twitched helplessly and then was still.
After ordering his team to check the perimeter, Kaidan ripped his helmet off and tossed it aside, before kneeling down to attend the injured woman. In other circumstances she was probably quite lovely; bright ginger hair, fair skin, a splash of freckles over a delicate nose. Right now though, she was filthy, disheveled, and covered in blood. Her hair stuck to her sweaty forehead, long ginger braid soaking up the blood seeping from the wound in her shoulder. Judging from the frantic, panting breaths she was making, the woman was obviously still panicked and in considerable pain.
"Hey," he soothed, "pulling up his omnitool and preparing to administer some medi-gel, "You're going to be okay. It's all over now."
"No," she cried, anxiety shaking in her voice, "I have to go. Let me go!" She pushed his arm away and rolled to her knees, but Kaidan stopped her with a gentle hand at her wrist.
It was the wrong move. Kaidan only had a split second of warning, his biotics tingling over his skin, before her entire body erupted in blue flames of her own. He rolled to the side, but her field grazed his shoulder, pushing him back a few feet.
"Get off!" she screeched, scrambling to her knees. Kaidan lurched forward, clawing for her ankles before she could get too far. He couldn't let her get away, had to sedate her before she injured herself further.
She kicked back at him, but he dodged, managing to clasp her other leg and pin them to the grass. She let out a cry of outrage, but stopped struggling, so Kaidan relaxed, glad she'd given up.
"I'm not trying to hurt you," he tried to reason, "I just want…" A loud crunch was accompanied by a rush of blood leaking onto his mouth as her fist made contact with his nose. Kaidan's entire face erupted in a black ball of blinding pain.
"Shit!" he cried, instantly releasing her to clutch at his injury. "Garrus, Ash," his muffled voice cried into the com, "catch her!"
The woman stumbled onto her feet and rushed into the barn, Kaidan's two officers directly on her heels. The commander followed slowly after, barely able to see past the watering in his eyes. Ash greeted him at the entrance, her face full of heavy concern.
"She's not going anywhere, sir," she assured him, "And we know what she was running to."
Curious what would cause someone to accost the one trying to save them, Kaidan crept further into the room. The civilian had opened some kind of trap door in the center of the dirt floor, revealing a storage compartment, or possibly storm shelter, within. Curled up inside, trembling with uncontainable terror was a very frightened little boy. The woman knelt at the edge of the opening, smoothing her bloody fingers over his dark curls wiping away his tears. "Mommy's here, baby," she soothed, between gasping sobs she tried valiantly to contain. "It's okay now. No one's going to hurt you. I promise."
Kaidan let out a deep sign and turned towards his gunnery chief. "Ash, send a message to the Normandy. We're going to need a pickup."