Two
Riley lined up with the rest of the troops waiting to enter the docking bay, she pushed a stray blond strand of hair out of her face and adjusted her Alliance backpack, she held her holopad tightly in her hand in nervousness,
"Hey Riley." Her bunkmate Ophelia pushed through the line to stand next to Riley,
"No cutting!" called another Soldier
"I'm saying goodbye to my sister. Calm the hell down." Ophelia yelled over her shoulder, Riley chuckled at her friend, it was clear that they weren't sisters, Ophelia was 6'3 with long dark hair, dark eyes and tanned skinned from growing up on
Terra Nova while Riley was 5'10 and shoulder length sandy blonde hair and bright green eyes, "So where are you deployed?" Ophelia swapped holopads with Riley,
"The Qwib-Qwib? Isn't that a Quarian ship?" Riley asked,
"The Alliance's new 'Ally Initiative' the Asari, Turians, Salarians, Quarians and even the Batarian's agreed to allow operatives to learn and work on their ship. I'm luck enough to be working with their engineers." Ophelia smiled and bounced on her feet in excitement, "So you will be off to-" Ophelia's eyes widen when they reached the bottom of the holopad, "Holy shit the Norm-"
Riley silenced her friend with her hand to her mouth, "I didn't know they were asking for soldiers."
"I didn't either I was requested."
"Wow that's incredible. I'm so proud of you." Riley hugged her friend and mimicked her bouncing.
"Promise to tell me about the Quarian's? I want a very detailed description if they take of their masks."
"I promise."
The girls made their way to the front of the line and handed their holopads to the soldiers guarding, one of the large burly men whistled low,
"So we have a Specter ship and a Citadel ship bound for the Flotila." He scanned the holopads with his omnitool, "Docking bay 3 for the Specter and 9 for the Quarian. Good luck ladies. Do us proud." Riley and Ophelia saluted the soldier and entered the large, busy docking bay.
"How many more flights?" Hammond asked from behind Riley,
"I think 2 or 3 more to get a good view." Riley continued to take the stairs two at a time while her Commander struggled behind her, "Struggling in that heavy armour sir?" she tired to lighten the mood; they both knew that she didn't have the best sense of humour.
"Very funny Private." Hammond puffed, "I'm saving my energy."
"Sure you are."
They reached their floor and Hammond slid down the wall to the floor and wiped the sweat that had formed on his brow. Riley decrypted the lock on the empty apartment,
"Let's go old man." Hammond was only 5 years Riley's senior but she would always bring it up because he was sensitive about turning 25. Riley helped Hammond off the floor and continued into the sleek loft, "This place would have been beautiful a few months ago." Riley took in modern furnishings and the floor to ceiling windows that lined the entire right wall of the loft, she lay Vilchez's shotgun carefully on the glass dining table, took off her helmet and released her hair from the tight bun at the back of her head,
"Do you want me to check for any food?" She asked, she entered the white marble kitchen and opened a cabinet and grabbed the unopened box of cereal, she carefully closed the door and noticed a red smudge on the handle which hadn't been there before, she looked down at her gloved hands to see they are wet with blood, "Hammond!" Riley dropped the cereal and ran to her Commanding officer who was sitting against a bedside table facing the window, his right arm against his body,
"Fucking hell." Riley pushed his arm away to inspect the damage; she wasn't a trained medic but knew enough to know the wound was deep enough to be fatal.
"I didn't think it was that bad." He grimaced,
"When did it happen?" She asked, she took off her gloves and took the single medigel pack on her belt.
"I think when you were with Vilchez."
"I need to take off your armour." She methodically began to take off Hammonds armour,
"I remember the last time you said that."
"Dean not now you might be dying and we are on duty."
"I know but's its just us. Remember Rio?" He gingerly leaned forward allowing her to take off his chest plate,
"Don't distract me I'm trying to save your life." Riley applied the medigel to Dean's stomach but it wasn't helping, the gel healed some of the minor scratches around the gunshot wound,
"I'm trying to distract myself. I remember when I saw you for the first time. You had your hair in a ponytail, you were fresh face and it looked as if you had never seen a gun before let alone hold one. You were a spacer by the way your held yourself and I was intrigued by that." Hammond paused to cough as Riley pulled the sheet of the bed and ripped a strip to compress his wound, "I'll admit it I thought you were hot." Riley couldn't help but laugh, "I thought I was dreaming when we started talking, you weren't scared that I was a commanding officer and liked that even more." She tied the strip of sheet around his wound, "That night in Rio on shore leave when I saw you in the club in that little black dress I knew I couldn't live if I didn't kiss you." Riley held his head in her hand and ran her thumb across his cheekbone,
"I bought that dress with you in mind." She kissed him softly on the lips, "Hold tight Dean I have to contact Anderson."
"Operations Chief Riley Cooper requesting to come aboard." Riley spoke into the intercom of the Normandy SR2,
"OC Cooper this is Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau welcome aboard the Normandy. Report to Specialist Samantha Traynor to receive further instructions." The door of the legendary warship slid open and Riley cautiously stepped in and walked down the bridge past the crewmembers sitting at their computer stations and around the large galaxy map in the center of the room, the room glowed red besides the blue consoles that filled the table surrounding the map,
"Specialist Traynor?" Riley asked the girl with the short black hair,
"Oh sorry, you must be OC Cooper." Samantha saluted and smiled, "I'm Samantha. It's nice to have a new face."
"Please call me Riley. Where do I put my things?"
"Your down on Level 3. Follow me." Riley followed Samantha to the elevator to the third level, "So are you from Earth?"
"No Arcturus. This it?" Riley pointed to the door,
"I'm sorry I should have read your report. Your bunkmate is down in the shuttle bay you might want to ask him if he wants top or bottom. Come see me if you need anything." Samantha saluted and left the room leaving Riley to leave her things on the bottom bunk and grab her Alliance wear out of her locker to change into.
"This is Private Cooper does anybody read me?" Riley held her omnitool at face height but all she could see is static, "This is Private Cooper can anyone hear me?" She paced along the window, "Private Cooper calling for help. Is anyone on this frequency?" She ran her fingers through her hair and glanced at Dean lying on the bed, "Your not falling asleep on me are you?"
"Nope I promise." He called back weakly, "Come sit with me." He patted the bed next to him. Riley lay next to him and held his hand and rested her head on his shoulder, "How about we get a place like this when this is all over?"
"On Earth or in space?"
"Earth maybe here or Rio."
"I think Rio. Near that club, there were some beautiful apartments around that area right near the ocean. I loved waking up the next morning lying next to you, we went and had breakfast and spent the day at the beach. After this war we deserve some shore leave." Riley lifted her head and kissed him,
"That's perfect. Let's be finished with the Alliance; I can find a job in construction and you can finally go to university like you originally planned." Dean smiled at his comment as if he was imagining their life,
"Hello Private Riley." Riley's omnitool crackled with static as Admiral Anderson's voice struggled to reach the pair, "Private Riley do you copy?" She bolted up straight and answered the call,
"Anderson we lost our position we were overrun by reaper forces."
"I figured. I've sent Shepard's squad to fire the missiles. Where are you private?"
"In an apartment building about near the Mako's I have a visual on the missiles. I can break a window and give Shepard sniper support."
"Perfect Private. When Shepard fires the missiles you need to get out of that building and be careful making you way through the street back to command reaper forces are closing in on us."
"Yes sir. Commander Dean Hammond is hit."
"How bad?"
"Bad."
"You both know what to do. Anderson out."