The klaxon blared across the harbour, seeming to ride with the wind that buffeted the waves and tore Shepard's hair from its neat ponytail. She shook her head, eyes darting over the destruction. Anderson was running away, and alarms were bleating on the Normandy. Their rifles punched with a rat-tatt to cover his retreat. Steel was rending. It drowned out the voices below.
Then she saw him. Across the bay. The little boy from the vents. From the rooftop garden. Not a hand was reaching for him.
When the klaxon rang again, the shuttles were burned from the sky, and she clenched and grit her teeth. The hydraulics hissed as the Normandy pulled higher. A numbness crept through her limbs as the crew called, but hulking Reaper limbs and eezo engines soon dissolved any other sound.
"Commander!"
Shepard tightened her first on the dog tags in her grasp, and searched the harbour again – but Anderson and the Alliance shuttles were gone. "EDI – get us out of here."
The hatch closed, and Shepard wheeled backwards. The sound of gunfire died, and left only her hard breathing in the hold. The guns of the soldiers nearby charged down, and she heard Ashley sigh.
"What now?" she said under her breath.
"We follow our orders," Shepard replied, looking at the dog tags a moment before looping the chain over her head. They turned around and stumbled as the ship veered. She cleared her throat, and her voice half-wavered as she spoke. "Still haven't learned to fly, Joker?"
"Very funny," Joker replied over the comm. "Sorry for not wanting to let the Reapers use us for target practise, Commander."
"Let me know when... when we've cleared Earth's atmosphere."
"Yes, ma'am..."
"What the hell is going on? Where are we going?"
Shepard looked to Vega from where he stormed across the shuttle bay. "The Citadel. Our orders are to get help from the Council."
"We're just leaving? Like hell we are."
"Admiral Anderson's orders – keep in line, soldier," Ashley said, and marched to toss her gun down on one of the nearby work benches. She put her hands on her hips and hung her head. "Earth needs help... we – we can't do this alone."
Shepard's eyes strayed and she nodded, "Exactly."
"We can't just abandon all of our people down there!"
"I don't like it any more than you, lieutenant," Shepard snapped. "But there is nothing we can do, and dying in a head-on rush won't help anyone!"
The ship banked again and the all stumbled to maintain balance.
"Commander, priority message coming in from Admiral Hackett."
Swallowing the bile in her throat, Shepard took to the console near the elevator, and pulled up the message. Williams and Vega lingered nearby, separate from the other crew stranded in the hold. She exchanged short words with Hackett, the line crackling and broken. When the Admiral's face disappeared, Shepard leant heavily onto the console.
"Joker – set course for Mars."
"Aye, aye, Commander."
"Mars?" Ashley asked, and furrowed her brow.
"Ash, James... suit up. You'll be coming with me. We'll be going to the archives, and time is of the essence," Shepard ordered, and pushed off the console. "We can only hope the Reapers haven't thought to look there yet."
"The archives? When Earth is burning?" Vega interjected, following her on heavy steps.
Shepard threw open the armoury, clunking and picking over the spare equipment there to find bits and pieces to her liking. She moved with frantic efficiency. "I trust the Admiral. He knows what he's doing… and I trust who's there. Now get your gear!"
When the lieutenant strode away to join Williams in prepping, Shepard braced her arms on either side of the cabinet. She stared blankly at the ill-fitting pieces of armour, a throb in her temple and the vision of Vancouver Harbour in ruins flickering in her thoughts. Smacking one of the metal doors open, she snagged the armour and began to dress.
"We've lost all communication," the tech said over the comm. "No response from any buoys – from any satellites. All feeds from Earth have been cut."
"Hmm, I was under the impression the storm was still an hour out," Liara said, and furrowed her brow. She put down the pastry, wiped a few crumbs from her lips and switched feeds to access her ship, where it hid at the other end of the relays. "Feron?" When no reply came, a spark of panic lit in her chest, and she jumped between displays, finding the extranet and her contacts silent.
"It – It's Earth…" the tech replied, the panic in her voice growing. "Our last images - the comm. was flooded – it's under attack. Is… is this what you were telling us about? It's really happening?"
"Let me see," Liara said, and leant heavily on the console. When the vid played and showed the dark arms of the far too familiar machines in Earth's sky, she gasped, "Goddess!"
"Doctor?"
"We need to get back to the site, I… I think we've just run out of time. We need to get this to the Alliance, as soon as possible! Can you get me Admiral Hackett?"
"I'll try, it's just –" The line cut out.
Liara stood there a moment, hovering over her workstation as her mind raced. "Glyph, please tell me you have anything."
"I have lost all feeds, Dr. T'soni," the glowing orb replied. "There appears to be significant interference – your satellites are no longer in orbit around Earth."
"Earth?" Liara furrowed her brow, and she gripped the console. "Shepard…"
"One moment," the VI flickered.
"There's no time, come here," she said, and with a flicker of her omni-tool, the drone disappeared. She hurried across the room and pulled up a secondary internal call box. "Devon, we need to mobilize the base. Devon? What's going on? I thought that storm wasn't supposed to hit yet?"
"It's not the storm, it's –" The line crackled and there was a smatter of gunfire and screaming before it went dead.
"Damn it!" Liara's omni-tool flickered, and she sliced the lines to access security footage. There was a momentary image of troopers in white and yellow suits – and their insignia. "Cerberus… no…"
An explosion rocked the ground, and the sound of buckling metal and screams was scarce muffled by the walls. Liara glanced out the window of her office, and through the growing smoke of a grenade, saw one of the troopers clock a researcher with their rifle. With another vain glance at the door, she rigged the failsafe scrubbers on her terminals, escaping into the ventilation ducts as Cerberus forced open the door and bore the brunt of the shearing blast she left behind.
"So you don't know anything about why Cereberus is here?"
Shepard stopped in her tracks and initiated the pressurization sequence. Her sigh was audible over the radio. "No. I haven't willingly contacted Cerberus since prior to the Alpha Relay – since I blew up the Collector base. After that? Let's just say we didn't part on the best of terms."
"The Commander was under constant surveillance on Earth," Vega interjected, as he clicked a new sink into his rifle. "I think we would have noticed."
"It just seems odd that you worked with them for so long and then completely cut ties."
A muscle at the side of Shepard's face twitched, and she turned as the lights went green. She snatched her helmet off. "I didn't really have much choice in the matter. I didn't ask to be brought back, but they did it anyway. And I stopped the Collectors for humanity, not some racist terrorist organization."
"Right… I know," Ashley replied, and her helmet hissed as she detached it. She avoided the commander's gaze.
"I gave up a lot more than just my 'employers' when I surrendered," Shepard said under her breath and turned away. "I expected more from you – and there are more pressing matters at hand."
"More pressing than if the one person expected to represent us is a double agent?"
Shepard shot her a glance, and it was obvious Ashley regretted her words.
"Look I – I'm just spouting my thoughts. I meant to come see you – so we could talk about… everything."
"It's fine." The doors in front of them cycled open and Shepard charged her pistol. "Let's get the job done."
"Feel like I'm missing something," Vega said as he took to Shepard's side. "Couldn't get her to talk, you know?"
"Not now," Shepard said, and shook her head as the lift settled in the dimly lit vehicle hangar of the station. She motioned for them to move, advancing into cover as she swept the area with her pistol. They were about to move when the clanking buckle of metal echoed through the space, and they ducked down into cover. Echoes of gunfire followed.
Shepard lay flat against the shipping crane, peering towards the sound, when a vent overhead burst free, and an asari leapt from the confined space. As the wub of a singularity filled the air, she was on her feet, in time to see Liara peg each of the troopers with her pistol.
Vega was on his feet, rifle primed and focused on the asari, and Shepard leapt to snag the muzzle and jerk it down.
"Stand down, she's with us," she said, and picked up the pace. "Liara…"
"Shepard!" Liara's hand dropped, and she shook her head absently. "You're here… you're alive… when I heard about Earth, I…"
Pressing her lips in a grim line, Shepard's steps faltered. "No, I made it out on the Normandy."
"Thank the Goddess," Liara said, and threw her arms around the commander. "I couldn't lose you again."
Shepard briefly tensed before pulling the asari close. "I'll do my best then. What are you doing here?"
Behind them Vega cleared his throat, and the pair parted with a stilted jerk.
"I apologize, it is just a relief to see you," Liara said, touching her brow. "Well, considering my experience with the Protheans, Admiral Hackett asked me to investigate the archives here for anything relating to the Reapers. Shepard, I'm so sorry about Earth…"
"We'll get her back," Shepard quietly said, and followed Liara as she moved. "I'm hoping you found something?"
"Yes," Liara said, twining her hands together. "But it seems Cerberus is just as eager to get it."
"Ash!"
There was the grating crunch of hardsuit on metal, and Shepard whipped her pistol to clip the former Dr. Eva in the head. The platform released Williams and snapped her attention on the Commander, as another shot cracked from the pistol and burst through the cybernetics in her neck. The next shots pulled with ease as the synthetic woman vaulted at Shepard at an unnatural speed, sparking and dropping dead at her feet as the clip hissed in the chamber.
Popping the sink, she unloaded another round in the AI before hurrying across the rooftop. The wind was pulling the debris away, and the fire burning on the wrecked Cerberus Kodiak fanned higher. The smoke dragged away, and the crackle and pop were drowned out by the gale.
"Vega, grab it," Shepard barked on the comm, and took a knee at Ashley's side. "Williams - Ash, on your feet!"
"Shepard, Reaper forces are incoming on our location!" EDI's frantic voice broke through.
Huffing under her breath, Shepard took Ashley's arm and hoisted her dead weight up over her shoulders, grunting as she rose to double time back to the shuttle. Invariably, her eyes drew skyward, where the tentacles of Reaper dreadnaughts descended through the growing billows of the storm.
"Let me," Liara said, as Vega tossed the AI's body down, and she side-stepped him to slide into the pilot's chair. With a rush, the shuttle's core lit and they shot off into the crimson sky.
Shepard seemed oblivious, keeping a hold onto Ashley as the shuttle rocked and careened, jolted by the storm until they cleared the atmosphere. "Just hold on, Ash. You're going to be okay."
Snug in the hold of the Normandy, the door pressurized and let them out to leave sandy red footprints in the hold. A clutch of soldiers were waiting, and they snapped to attention as Shepard blew past them, Ashley still slung across her soldiers.
"Where's the doc?" she said in a huff to the man closest to her.
The blue-eyed solider glanced at Vega before hurrying after Shepard. "There is no doctor on board, Commander. The Normandy was in the midst of being retrofitted."
Shepard spun about once she was in the elevator, standing stunned and bearing the weight of her friend. Liara hurried in after her and ushered them up to the crew deck. In the med bay, she eased her down onto one of the beds, learning forward to feel Ashley's faint breath on her lips.
"We have to go, Shepard," Liara said, leaning onto the table opposite her.
Staring down, Shepard raised a hand to act. She absently shook her head. "What do I need to do? I carried her all this way, I shouldn't have moved her."
"They'll have the best doctors at the Citadel - the best chance of us getting any help for Earth, Jade," Liara said, and took her hand, pulling it away from Ashley. "I'll do what I can, I'm a doctor."
"Yeah, of archaeology," Shepard said, and braced herself on the medical bed. "Joker, get us to the Citadel."
"Roger that."
Liara swung around the edge of the bed, nudging Shepard back to pull up the statis field around Williams. "Get some medigel, your suit is ruptured. And find a uniform - we'll need to petition the Council as soon as we arrive."
Shepard blinked and met Liara's gaze, huffing quietly before she said, "Yes, ma'am."
"EDI, could you please ask Lieutenant Vega to bring the AI we recovered? I thought we could dissect it in the secure space in your core."
"An excellent idea, Dr. T'soni."
"You'll watch over her?" Shepard said as she back-pedalled to snag a medigel. She stabbed it into the junction of her suit and felt the rush and tingle as it shunted through her weaves.
"Of course," Liara said, looking up from her omni-tool. "Your crew needs you."
"Right," Shepard said with failing strength. She snagged another vial of medi-gel, the tension in her limbs stiffening as she made it out into the mess. The soldiers there fell silent and stood up as she came closer, and it kicked something in her. "As you were."
She was Alliance again.
Back down in the cargo hold, Shepard stripped the mishmash of armour off, huddled by the cabinet she'd originally stolen it from. Here and there, she could feel the blistered spots it had rubbed and worn, mingled with the bullet grazes and burns sealed beneath medi-gel.
Gripping the top of the cabinet door, she sighed and hung her head."EDI, what's the crew compliment?"
"Fifteen members of the Alliance were on board, not including Jeff," EDI replied in Shepard's private comm. "Lieutenant Vega and Lt. Commander Williams came aboard shortly after the initial Reaper attack on the command centre."
Shepard dragged a hand down her neck and face, where yet more medigel sealed the jagged cuts obtained in their escape; from when the dreadnaught exploded, and the defence council was blown apart. She sorted through the cabinet and the next in just her shorts and bra, until she found a uniform her size - dress blues. Like Liara had said. Like she'd worn for months at the tribunal.
"What's the new crew like?"
"They are not the Normandy's crew, Commander, they are primarily technicians and specialists - though two were responsible for guarding Jeff."
"Really? What'd he do?"
"He was under investigation by the same tribunal that held you, due to his association with Cerberus."
Shepard closed her eyes and closed the last button under her chin, before letting out a sigh. "Lovely."
