Again this story currently has no beta. So if there is any glaring mistakes please let me know.
Losa136
Chapter 2
Up on the bridge XO Pressley walked to his seat that was behind the Normandy's Ace pilot, Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Pressley was complaining about the reason why they were at their current location when the ensign spoke. "Sir, I'm picking up something on our long-ranged scanners. Unidentified vessel, it looks like a cruiser."
"Weird, it doesn't match any known signatures." Joker replied as he glared at his screens.
"The Cruiser is changing course." She narrowed her gaze, "It's now on intercept trajectory."
"It can't be. The stealth systems are engaged. There's no way a Geth ship could…" Pressley began to say when Joker interrupted,
"It's not the Geth, brace for evasive maneuvers!" He yelled as his fingers began to fly over his controls. The ship jerked to the side when the mysterious ship fired a beam that hit the right wing. It fired again which caused an explosion that killed the ensign and Pressley. Shepard was suddenly awaken by the alarms and found that Ashley had already made her way to her locker. Ava jumped out of the bed and began to throw on her armor. Once that was done, she ran to the end of the hallway that had the sleeper pods swinging her helmet back and forth in her hand.
She opened the interface and sent out the distress signal, but the Normandy was losing power fast, so the beacon wouldn't launch. She cursed out loud and ripped open a panel, working for ten minutes before she could finally send out the signal. There were screams all around her; she finally pulled her helmet on when she heard those familiar boots running towards her. That's when Ashley appeared, "Shepard! Will the Alliance get here in time?" She sounded frantic and rightly so.
"The Alliance won't abandon us. We just need to hold on. Ashley, get everyone onto the escape shuttles." Ava grabbed a fire extinguisher and threw it to Ashley trying to get the fire to go down.
"Joker is still in the cockpit and he's refusing to leave, and neither will I."
"Ashley, I'll make sure Joker leaves but I need you to get everyone else into the shuttles."
"But…" Ash began when another explosion knocked her into Ava's arms.
"Ash, please." Ava pleaded, Ashley lifted her head and she could faintly see her lover's eyes beginning to mist up.
"Aye, Aye." Ashley ran back and started to guide whatever crew that was left to the shuttles.
Ava slammed her fist into the console then ran to the cockpit to get Joker. When she got to him; she first cussed him out, then she lifted his crippled ass out of the chair and helped him into the shuttle. Suddenly there was an explosion that blasted Ava away from the door. She grabbed onto the control panel and had just enough time to launch the shuttle before she was propelled into the bulkhead behind her. Ava was now floating among the burning wreckage of her ship when she heard a hissing noise. She realized that it was her oxygen line but she didn't have the strength to try and fix it, so she just stared out in front of her, waiting for her end to come. She did however send her two final messages to Ashley and Miranda.
They were short and simple, Ashley's read 'I love you, check your pocket.' and Miranda's read 'It's time. Protect them.' Ava sighed and closed her eyes for the last time as she became unconscious while being pulled into the nearby planet's gravity. Ashley watched from the window of her shuttle. She saw the last shuttle blast out of the burning ship and noticed something else floating in the opposite direction. It was being pulled in by the planet. She watched as the figure's arm glowed and she instantly knew it was Ava, when her omni-tool showed Ava's final message to her, it only confirmed what she already knew. She collapsed to the floor and began to cry, quietly at first but she was not able to keep it in as she began to sob.
Doctors Liara T'soni and Karen Chakwas were there with her. They looked at each other, then undid their harnesses and went to comfort their friend. Ash had bonded with Liara and Tali during their time together and Chakwas was like a mother to Ava, so by association played the part as the wise in-law. Once they were saved Ash closed herself off, only speaking to the Asari or the older woman.
Meanwhile in another part of the galaxy, Miranda had just walked back into her office when she saw a message waiting for her. She made her way over to the desk and opened it. "It's time. Protect them." appeared onto the screen. She was about to break down like Ashley had, but she was able to push it back long enough to send the message, "Project Lazarus is a go." She then gathered everything she needed and went to another room where a young girl was sleeping. She had dark brown hair that was just like her mother's that was in a braid. Miranda walked over to the sleeping girl and gently shook her awake. The girl groaned at her so she said, "Aubrey, you need to get up. I have something to tell you."
Aubrey shifted until she was staring up at her big sister with her steel-gray eyes, the only thing that ever could prove that she was a daughter of Henry Lawson. Something that both her mother and sister were thankful for. Aubrey yawned and asked, "What's the matter Mi-Mi?" Miranda had a few tears in her eyes and on her face, she couldn't tell her little sister that her mother was gone. The silence told Aubrey all she needed to know. Her sister rarely showed any emotions and because she, herself was very smart for an almost thirteen year old, she could tell something was wrong. She got out of her bed and ran to Miranda, the older woman held her arms open to take her sister into them. Aubrey wrapped her arms around her and began to cry, which caused the woman to finally break down as she hugged her little sister tighter.
After a half an hour later, Aubrey asked just to make sure, "Mommy is gone, isn't she Mi-Mi?" all she got was a nod. The girl signaled that she wanted to be let go, Miranda complied and released her. Once she was released, the girl walked over to her bed and pulled out a suitcase to begin gathering her things.
"What are you doing, Brey?" Miranda asked as she watched her put the rest of her shirts into the case.
Aubrey looked up from her task and replied, "I'm getting ready to meet Ashley, Mi-Mi. I had woken up when mommy called and you yelled at her. Then I eavesdropped until it ended, and mommy is right sis. Between you trying to keep me and Ori safe, and doing your job it's just too much. I also really want to meet her, and truth be told, she's going to need the both of us to help her through this."
Miranda just stared at her for a few minutes and tried to get her mouth to work again, "When did you become so smart, Brey?"
"Do you really have to ask, sis? Come on high IQ runs in our family, both you and mom are really smart even though she pretends to be of average intelligence." she answers smugly as she placed the last of her clothes into the case and went to put her small paint kit and jewelry box inside it as well. Aubrey looked up again to find her sister still there, "Hey Mi-Mi, don't you have to get ready as well, or am I flying solo on this?"
"Huh...? Oh yes I do. I'll have everything ready in a half hour, okay?" The girl nodded. Once she left, Brey sat down and played the last recorded conversation she had with her mother, it was from week ago just before Ava had left to go find geth.
"Hello my bright star."
"Hi mommy. Anything new?" her cheery voice asked.
"As a matter of fact, there is baby girl. How would you like to pass judgement on mommy's new girlfriend?"
"Sounds fun, who is she, what's she like?"
"Her name is Ashley Williams, a marine to the core, but is passionate about her family and friends."
"Can I see a holo of her?"
"Sure baby, just give me a sec... There her pic is going to you now." The image popped up and Brey smiled.
"She's pretty mommy, though if it weren't for the regs it would be better with her hair down." she commented, "Can I meet her some day?"
"You will Aubrey, I don't know when but you will." Aubrey squeed and the conversation continued on, ten minutes later it ended. Aubrey sighed as she placed the last thing into her suitcase which was a picture with her, Ava, Miranda, and Orianna in it. It was taken the day Ori was sent to live with her new parents. Aubrey was cradled in her mother's arm, just barely three months old, Ava had her free hand around Miranda's waist, and Orianna was standing in front of her sister hugging her pink jaguar close to her chest. Aubrey closed her suitcase and grabbed a backpack that was full of stuff to keep her from getting bored.
Miranda walked into her room and went over to her jewelry box. She opened it and pulled out a necklace with a locket that was identical to the one she wore but the insides were different, when her locket was opened it projected a picture of the three of them. It was taken when Aubrey was three and they were living in Ava's apartment. It shows Aubrey off to the side, upside down in Ava's biotic field being tickled, while Miranda herself was trying not to be caught by the actual hands. It was taken while she was in mid stride trying to get away. Which she failed at because it shows that Ava had apparently caught her by getting a hand on Miranda's stomach, the spot were she is the most ticklish.
On the back there was a inscription. 'To the one I couldn't keep. One day you'll find some one. whom you'll love as much as you did me. -A' She had that down by heart and so far she hadn't found someone else, but she believed in what Ava said. She shook her head and set down the locket that was in her hand after she made sure it worked the way it was meant to. She got out of her catsuit uniform and slipped on a tee shirt from when she and Ava had been dating. Miranda was amazed it still fit after thirteen years, it was her favorite. It was from a concert where a Linkin Park, Green Day, Everessence, and The Fray cover bands cover bands played together. God her father was furious with her and Ava when they got her home.
Miranda and Ava walked into Miranda's home hand in hand at almost midnight and found Henry Lawson waiting for them in his office. "Miranda Alice Lawson get your ass in my office right now." Miranda looked pleadingly at Ava. Ava huffed and growled at his voice, because he was ruining all the work she had done that day to get Miranda to enjoy their date. She grabbed Miranda's hand and made her way to the office. When they entered the saw him at his desk. "Where have you been you stupid bitch?"
"Father, I told you I was going to a concert with Ava tonight and that I wasn't going to be home until later."
"You told me no such thing."
"Yes she did, you ass, I was standing right next to her. You were just more focused on whatever the hell you were doing to even hear her." Ava snarled at him.
"Well you should've had her home by her curfew you whore."
"Oh you didn't just call me a whore." Miranda knew Ava had a temper that she made an effort to keep in check when she was with her, but this man was the only person who could piss her off while she was standing right next the older girl. "I'll have you know Mr. Lawson that I am very much a virgin even though my past could say otherwise. Men have tried but they now live six feet beneath the ground."
"Miranda, I don't know why you must insist on being with such filth. She has no class at all."
"I insist because she treats me like the woman she loves and not a slave. She sees the real me not just this." she gestures up and down her body, "And she treats me and others with respect. Very much unlike you."
He got up from his desk and went to go slap her. He didn't notice that Ava had pulled out a pair of her throwing knives from her pocket so when he raised his hand and brought it down, it was stopped half way through. Ava growled at him and with bioticly driven strength she dragged him to the near by wall and pinned him there with the knives. "That's enough of you Henry." she yelled. She turned around to his desk and pulled out a chair and brought it over to where Miranda's father was. She set it ten feet from him and took Miranda's hand and sat her in it.
Then she turned back to the man attached to the wall. "Henry, in the past several months I've been seeing your daughter, not once have you told her that you were proud of her. She has done everything you have ever asked of her for nineteen years of hell. She's at the top of her class, and already has several Math and Science degrees under her belt and she's barely an adult. And FYI Lawson, I happened to have made sure Miranda had everything she needed to get done later today finished yesterday before we went out, so she could be free until at least noon because I didn't know how long the concert was going to be. I wanted to make sure she got her few hours of sleep before she became your slave for the rest of the day."
She paused and looked at Miranda. She spoke in a loving tone, "Miri, baby, get your things and some stuff for Ori as well. I'm taking you away from here. This is the last straw." She nodded and went to her room. She began to stuff things that Ava had given her into her pack along with a credit chit that had an amount of 100,000 credits and some of her clothes. Then she went and packed Oriana's clothes. She took them back to Ava and went to get her four year old twin sister who was sleeping.
Miranda bent down and whispered "Ori, me and Ava are taking you you away from father." The girl didn't wake and Miranda knelt down to wrap Ori's arms around her neck and lifted her out of her bed. Miranda adjusted her until she was the young woman's hip and she bent down to grab the stuffed pink jaguar that was hidden in the blankets. Ava had given it to her and she absolutely loved it. Ava saw Miranda carrying her sister back into the room. She turned back to Henry and snarled quietly at him.
"If I hear anything about you making another, I will kill you. Goodbye Henry, it hasn't been a pleasure to know you. I hope you rot in hell." Then she grabbed the bags and walked out of the room but stopped for a moment and bioticly pulled her knives and caught them with ease.
A/N: Sorry it took so long to post this chapter. I'm not that good with keyboards, and all the stuff that I have published are in notebooks. Again my work currently has no beta so please let me know about any mistakes.
Many thanks for reading,
Losa136
