A/N: Well, here is the second chapter :0 The reason its out so quickly is that I already had most of it written, before I decided that this story wont be a one-shot :) So I just needed to finish it up, before releasing it :)
There will be one more chapter to conclude the events of ME2.
I collapsed on the floor, as the vision overwhelmed me. Miranda was at my side instantly. That's why neither she nor I have noticed that Kenson pointed the gun at my head. "I cannot let you stop the Arrival, Commander." The room was suddenly filled with guards.
Damn. Reapers got to her. I looked at Miranda and gave her a very small nod. She shot up, towards the good doctor, trying to disarm her, breaking her wrist in process.
Kenson screamed for the guards to attack us, while she limped out, as both Miranda and I dove for cover.
"There is too many of them!" Miranda screamed, as she slammed few guards with her biotic powers. She is right. As soon as we take out one, two more fill in.
"Pyro on the left!" I yelled when I saw one guard with a flame thrower approaching Miranda. She took him out with Warp.
"Two more to go!" As soon as she said that, a YMIR Mech strolled in. Its rocket launcher was pointed at the couch Miranda was hiding behind. She was under heavy fire from the remaining guards, so she didn't see, when the mech launched the rocket.
Shit.
I jumped out of my cover, landing on top of her, just as the rocket hit the couch. My shields were gone instantly and my armor took most of the damage.
But not all.
I struggled to stay conscious, as the pain wrecked my body. My ears were ringing from the explosion, and everything was blurry. Miranda was shouting something, casting quick glances towards me, as she was trying to keep enemies at bay.
Then everything went black.
I heard some voices. Someone said my name. Miranda? What happened?
It all came crashing down on me. My eyes shot open, though my vision was still a little blurry. I shook my head to clear it a little, and then I looked around, assessing the situation.
There were two armed guards, a scientist, and "... Miri..." My eyes widened a little, when I saw her unconscious form on the table besides me.
But first thing's first, I have to take care of the guards. They were just starting to turn around, to see why the scientist was fleeing the room, when I jumped on the first one, knocking him unconscious. The other raised his riffle, but before he had a chance to shoot, I disarmed him, by grabbing the end of the riffle, twisting it towards him with all my strength, until he had to let go. Then I used the butt of the riffle to hit him on the head, knocking him out too.
There was a humming sound as the barrier went up, sealing me and Miranda in. The scientist was calling for backup. I ignored her as I went to see Miranda.
I checked her pulse and breathing. She stirred from my touch, and I let out sigh of relief, as I helped her up in the sitting position.
"You OK?" I asked, unable to keep the concern from my voice. She smiled faintly as she nodded.
"Good. We need to get out of here." I immediately fell into my commanding mode. "Try to find something we can use. I will see what I can do from that console over there."
She proceeded to search the guards, as I activated the console. The scientist was screaming at us "No! Get away from there! Don't touch anything!"
I just smirked at her, as I activated one of the LOKI mechs. "Surrender now, and I won't hurt you." I said, making mech to point a gun at her. She ignored my proposition as she started raising her own gun at my mech. I had no choice but to kill her. Why won't they listen? I hate killing civilians.
When I destroyed the barrier power source with the mech, I heard Miranda calling me.
"Take a look at this." She said, pointing at the countdown clock.
Damn it. We were out for two days. We have less than two hours to destroy the Alpha Relay and get out of here.
I bypassed a door, and Miranda took out two guards, one with biotics and the other with her gun, simultaneously. We heard the other guard calling them over the radio, and Kenson telling him that they are probably already dead. "To all personnel, get in there, and stop them from getting in the project control room.
Miranda turned towards me "Well, that's not very nice."
I grinned at her "Let us invite ourselves in, then."
Miranda was panting lightly from exertion as she slammed the last guard. She was using her biotic a little to much for my liking, but we really didn't have much choice, we were getting low on ammo.
I approached the console, and VI greeted me "Welcome to Project Control."
"I want to activate the Project." Miranda stood besides me, as the VI predicted the casualties "Warning. Activating the Project would result in estimating 304 942 casualties. Do you wish to continue?"
I looked at Miranda, who gave a slight nod, her expression unreadable. Well, the needs of the many, always come before the needs of the few.
I punched the button and we felt engines powering up, pushing the asteroid towards the Alpha Relay. The VI started giving warnings about the collision, urging the crew to evacuate.
"We need to at least warn the battarians." Miranda said. I nodded, patching up my comm. to the colonies. "Alert! All colonies living in the Bahak system..." There was a buzzing sound, as the communications got interrupted, and Kenson appeared on the screen before me.
"Shepard, no! Do you have any idea what you have done? You leave me no choice! If I cant stop this asteroid, it must be destroyed!"
Miranda ignored her as she asked the VI about her location. "Doctor Kenson is heading for the Reactor Core Module."
"Core meltdown will do the trick. Because of you Shepard, everyone on this rock will die!"
"Not if we get to you first." I said as the transmission ended, and two more guards got into the room. I fried them both with my flamethrower, and we proceeded to the door.
As I pushed the second cooling rod into its place, the VI announced that the core meltdown has been averted. I heard Miranda let out the sigh of relief.
"Lets go." I said as I headed towards the elevator.
Kenson was there, at the reactor console. She either didn't hear us, or she just ignored us. "Step away from the reactor." I said in my most menacing voice, as both, Miranda and I, trained our guns on the Doctor.
It would be an understatement to say that Kenson was pissed "You've ruined EVERYTHING!"
I ignored her rambling about how she wouldn't get to see the Reapers, as all my attention was on the detonator in her hand. I glanced at Miranda and saw worry in her eyes.
I shot doctor in the shoulder, causing her to fall and Miranda started towards her to get the detonator before she released it. But there was no time.
In her last act of defiance, Kenson released the detonator. The resulting explosion threw Miranda backwards. I managed to get in her path, but the force of impact, pushed us both into the wall. She was already knocked out, when the blast depleted her shields, and the blackness consumed me when I hit the wall with my head.
As I regained consciousness, I could hear the VI warning us about the imminent collision. Miranda was still unconscious in my arms. She groaned when I started lifting her.
"Shepard? What...?" She started to ask, but I interrupted her "Are you alright? Can you walk?" She nodded so I let her down.
"We need to call the Normandy to get us of this rock." She said as she went to the console.
I glanced at the clock "We need to hurry, only 30 minutes left."
"Joker, this is Ground team, we need a pick-up." She called out, but the VI interrupted her, saying that the communication system was damaged.
"Damn it! What now? I asked, fighting my panic down.
She looked at the schematics "We need to get to that Comm. Tower on the surface, its our only chance."
"Right. lets go." We raced through the station, stopping only at the airlock, so that Miranda can put on her breather mask. There was enough gravity and atmosphere that we didn't need full space suits, and that we could walk relatively normal on the platform. When the mask was in place, she nodded and I opened the door.
The sight that greeted us was breathtaking. I always loved the space, that's why I joined the Alliance. And I have seen many beautiful things, such as nebulas, Blue Giants, even Supernova once.
There was Alpha Relay in the background. Still far away, but coming closer with every second. I must say, the Relays are one of the most beautiful artificially made objects I have ever seen.
Another thing that increased the impression of being so close to the relay, while on the surface of the asteroid is that there was no sound. I could only hear my heart beating, and Miranda's breath through the comm. link.
But there was no time for sightseeing. Some of the guards were left behind. And they were pissed.
"We need to take care of them, and fast." I said as both of us took cover. The guards were coming closer. I got up and used my shockwave, that I learned from Jack, on the closest. Two guards got sucked in the vacuum of space as they were hit.
I looked at Miranda to see her shudder at the fate of those guards. She quickly pulled herself together as she got up and shot another guard straight between the eyes.
I looked out of the cover to asses the situation "There is five more, as far as I can see."
She smirked at me, before slamming two more guards, who then bounced of the platform, getting sucked in the space, like the first two. "Now there is only three."
"Correction, four. Move!" I yelled as I jumped out of the cover, going for the other one. Miranda did the same thing, only on the other side. The crates we were hiding moments before exploded as the rocket from YMIR mech hit them.
"Use your Overload on it!" I yelled, but Miranda was one step ahead of me, as she fried the mech's shields. My Incendiary Ammo then quickly finished the job, but not before the mech launched another rocked at me.
It slammed right into me, destroying my shields and making a big hole in my armor. Miranda screamed something as she used her biotics to keep me from following those poor guards that were sucked out in the vacuum.
She lowered me, not very gently as she ran towards me. I was fighting to stay conscious, as she applied medi-gel on my abdomen.
After a few moments I felt pain lessening, so I waved her off "Go, we need to get the rest of the guards."
She looked me, a concern in her eyes, as I got into the sitting position. "Don't worry about me, I will be fine." I said, unable to keep annoyance from my voice. I hate it when people are trying to take care of me. I take care of other people, that's why I'm here.
But I wasn't entirely unsatisfied with her concern. Maybe... Just maybe, there is a chance for more than friendship between us.
I mean, yeah, she could only be looking out for a friend. I know I would rush to help Tali, Mordin, Grunt, Morinth even, if one of them was shot by a rocket.
But something about the look in her eyes, the way her hand lingered on my bare stomach a moment longer than necessary, while applying medi-gel...
Stop it Shepard! Concentrate on getting her to safety. Only three more guards between you and the Normandy.
The guards were bunched up together, not very smart decision. I sent another shockwave which reached them just as Miranda used her slam on them. They were swept of the platform in the blink of an eye.
But there was no time to waste. The Alpha Relay was now dangerously close, so we ran towards the Communication Tower. I contacted the Normandy, while Miranda kept an eye out, just in case we missed someone or something.
"Shepard to Normandy. Joker, do you read me?" But before we could get any answer, there was a holographic projection of an Reaper.
Miranda stared in shock "Is that...?"
"Harbinger." I stated, keeping my voice ice cold.
"Shepard. You have become an annoyance. You fight against the inevitability." I approached him, Miranda by my side, as we looked at the Harbinger defiantly.
"It may seem a victor to you. A star system sacrificed." I clenched my fists at this, but decided to remain silent, for now.
"But even now, your greatest civilizations are doomed to fall. Your leaders will beg to serve us."
It was Miranda who answered him. "Maybe you are right. Maybe we cant win this. But we will fight you regardless."
"Just like I did Sovereign. Just like we are fighting you now." I decided to speak up.
"That's what humans do!" We said in unison, as we locked our hands together, not taking our eyes from the Reaper leader.
"Know this before you die in vain; Your time will come. Your species will fall. Prepare yourselves for the Arrival!" Harbinger said before vanishing.
I looked at Miranda, then at our intervened hands, but before I could say anything, Normandy appeared.
"Commander Shepard. Normandy inbound for pick up." Said a voice from my comm.
"Roger that." With that, Miranda and I turned and ran as fast as we could towards the edge of the platform. Our hands still locked together, we jumped over the edge and inside the airlock. The door closed a moment later, and we ran towards the cockpit.
As soon as we got there, I yelled at the pilot "Get us out of here, Joker!" He ignored me, punching in the coordinates, and a few seconds later, we jumped to the mass-free corridor of the relay.
