Chapter 2
Mounds of rubble, and shard materials floated in the air as biotic teams used their powers to dump them into large, yellow bins stationed on the decks of the Citadel. It had barely been a year since the repairs from Sovereign's attack had been completed, and now they were being redone again. Work was a lot quicker, and swifter this time around. It was not even a week since the Crucible had been fired, and the Citadel was almost ready for civilians and soldiers to seek refuge in.
The Presidium and Embassies were focused on first, as they would obviously have the most traffic. With the help of so many numbers, both were cleaned up easily. All that was left was for the emergency supplies and storage to be accessed, and then refugees could begin to settle in.
That, and dealing with the Crucible. Many of the scientists were still confused on what exactly had caused it to fire, and research of it was not only desired but necessary in order for them to understand. A small team of biotics was sent up to begin to clear a path for the scientists.
"We need to start research immediately! I don't care if I have to crawl over a bit of rubble!" An impatient Salarian scientist said. A team of thirty scientists had gathered around the entrance to the Crucible, gear in hand.
A human soldier standing near the entrance crossed his arms. "There is barely anything to see! It was all blown up, I don't know what you are expecting to f-"
"Major Harvard." Another human soldier stepped forward, and saluted him. "Admiral Hackett has just sent in his approval for the scientists to begin research on the Crucible."
"Oh." The Major's face turned red. "Well, then I guess go on ahead. Watch out for the biotic kids." He said, shaking hands with the lead Scientist.
Flashing an excited smile, the Salarian gestured for his team to follow him. The mixed group of scientists clutched onto their kits, and carefully began climbing over the wreckage. For obvious reasons, this part of the Citadel was a total wreck. Metal columns laid across the ground, lives wires sparking. But three ramps seemed to be mostly intact, leading up to the now stagnant Crucible. The team decided to stick to the main ramp, before splitting off into the left and right paths.
A young asari peered over the edge of one of them, and found herself looking through a glass ceiling into a room. Craning her neck, she tried to get a better look inside, at the pool of dried blood that sat on the floor. She jumped when a voice behind her spoke. "That's where we found Admiral Anderson's body." It was another human soldier on guard.
"Oh. I was just wondering what was in the room. I'm sorry." The young asari said, bowing her head down.
"We think that him and Commander Shepard were at the control panel when the Crucible was fired. Most of the blood down there was her's."
The young asari twisted her face confusion. "Well where is Commander Shepard?"
"MIA." The soldier let out a sigh, and then turned away from the ledge. The young asari looked out at the sky, admiring Earth's beauty before rejoining her team.
"The columns are no longer intact. The explosion must have destroyed them." A dark haired man said, his glasses pulled down to his nose as he stared at the center of the Crucible.
"But what caused it to explode up here? Nothing was damaged on Earth. Well ... other then the synthetics of course." A member kicked up a piece of rubble, scanning it with her omni tool.
"Yes, that is exactly what I was thinking." said the lead Salarian scientist. "When the Crucible was being built the main core and control panel were completely stable. But the energy chamber, that was never 100% stable. Especially because we never knew what the Catalyst was until ... well we still don't!" He almost laughed at the end.
"Scientists.." A biotic muttered, shaking his head.
"We should look at the energy chamber then, if it was the most likely to cause the explosion. Perhaps their will be shrapnel from the Catalyst." The young asari proposed.
The team nodded in agreement, and began to make the trek over towards the path to the right. The rubble had not been touched here, and a few glowing ambers could even still be found. Pulling out their omni tools, the scientists began to scan the rubble, searching for any signs of the Catalyst.
Focusing on the scanners on her omni tool, the Asari momentarily lost her footing causing her to trip and fall. She quickly tried to put her hands in front of her, scrapping and cutting them. "Ouch." She hissed, as she lifted them up to her hands.
"Hey, watch it!" A woman yelled, as she ran over to them. She was quite the sight, half of her head shaved, tattoos covering every inch of exposed skin. "You okay?" She offered her hand to the asari woman on the ground.
Hesitantly, the asari took it and gritted her teeth as she stood up. "Thank you." she said, bowing her head to human.
The woman just laughed. "We tried to tell you guys we should clean up more. But you're just all so god damn impatient." The asari smiled at the strange woman, and began scanning again, more aware this time.
Beep. Beep. A scientists omni tool suddenly vibrated, and he paused. "What the hell..." Bending over, he used his hands to dig through a layer of rubble before reaching his hand down. When he pulled it back up, his hands were wrapped around a pistol. A couple of scientists let out gasps.
"Why," The Salarian stumbled over his words in confusion, as he spoke faster and faster. "Why would it be here? No living activity up here. Crucible activated below."
"Maelon, calm down." The dark haired man grabbed his shoulder to comfort him.
The biotic woman, with the strange hair and tattoos walked over. "How about I just lift some of the rubble? Maybe you'll find more?"
Maelon nodded, and stepped back to allow her through. The biotic planted her feet apart and began to slowly raise her hands, a layer of rubble moved with them. With a small flick of her hands, the rubble was pushed away towards the pile on the open deck. She did this several times before a scientist stopped her.
"Wait! Did you see that?" Pointing in the distance. "There! Did you see it?" He started heading over to wherever he pointed, walking with his heels.
The group exchanged some looks, before curiously following him. When they reached him, the scientist was crouching down with his omni tool out. "I don't know what you expect to fin-"
Beep. Beep.
"No way." He said, not moving. The Salarian scientist jogged over next to him, and knelt down. Grabbing the man's right hand to get a better look, the Salarian let out a sound of utter shock.
Turning around to the rest of the group, he simply states. "It seems as if - he has found life."
"What?" One of the soldiers on guard, began jogging towards them. The biotic woman, and a young human followed him. The scientists began to back up off of the ramp, their curiosity now replaced with the smallest twinge of fear.
By the time they reached where the two scientists crouched, they had already begun digging through the rubble carefully with bare hands. The soldier pushed passed them and used his armored hands to push more away, until he suddenly felt the brush of metal on metal. A piece of white armor shone through the rubble, with a small red symbol on it that was known across the entire galaxy - N7. The soldier could not believe his eyes. "Holy shit." They all began brushing more away frantically, until a body was revealed.
A straggled half piece of armor laid on top of the mangled body of Commander Shepard. Her face was covered in bruises, and her hair was sticking to the blood on her face. Her body looked broken, and her left arm bent at an extremely awkward angle. But there was the smallest of movement in her chest, and the occasional flutter of her eyelids.
"Get a medical team now!" The soldier shouted.
The biotic woman with the strange tattoos fell to her knees, "Shepard?"
"We need a medical team!" He screamed again, more panic in his voice now. One of the scientists finally shook their head, and jumped back into reality. They ran towards another one of the soldiers, waving her arms frantically.
Placing a finger to his left ear, the soldier patched into communications. The faint sound of a woman talking could be heard, but he interrupted her mid-sentence. "I need to patched into Admiral Hackett immediately. We found Shepard."