Earth, London

Two days after Fall of Hammer

Garrus Vakarian

I breathe out...

Most people don't understand the amount of time that passes you know, between when you decide to take the shot and when you actually take it. By my own very critical standards, I had excellent reflexes, yet I still can't help but have a hundred thoughts before I pull the trigger. For example, the thoughts of doubt and fear. Am I going to miss? What if I hit the person I'm trying to save? Does it ever bother me in this millisecond that if, by some small chance I miss, that a young Quarian engineer's neck is about to be snapped like a twig by a brute?

The ammunition system of the Viper slices the round from the internal projectile block and locks it into the chamber firing position...

No. Not normally anyway. Moments like this had become commonplace in the company of Commander Shepard. Although this moment was unique, the Commander wasn't here, or anywhere that we knew of for that matter. And that was the biggest problem with me right now. The unsureness, the nervousness, the shaking, oh the damn shaking. I never had these issues before, even when I was on Omega, there was just something different about it all. The engagements were smaller, the consequences for a missed shot less far-reaching and cataclysmic. Sure people would die but...

I can't let this register on a personal level. If I do then I'll become too nervous and...

The round finally fires, a dull whistle slicing the air around me as it flies. A Quarian grabs frantically with her small elegant fingers at the vicious claws suspending her by her throat a few feet off the ground. She flails, the grip of the brute nearing a pressure sufficient to cause shattering of vertebrae. I heard a faint gurgle of saliva and blood, although it's possible I imagined that, the distance is substantial. Death is nearing for the girl as the brute just stared up at her pathetic wriggling form. It must be toying with her, looking for that moment of realization in her eyes when she understands that it's over and she's going to die...messily.

I squint and see that it hadn't killed her yet, but its grip hadn't lessened either. I rose from my perch and turned my back to the scene, radioing my other ally down on the field.

"Zaeed, attend to Tali's wounds until I make my way to you." I said calmly

A response came back quickly. "Would love to scars, but ol' girls 'bout to get her neck snap..."

I breathed in...I had done this a million times already.

The radio chimed again "Right, big ugly just collapsed. Hell of a fuckin' shot scars."

I approached Tali and placed a gentle hand on on of her arms. She still seemed shocked and frightened from nearly having her neck broken like a toy and the pain from the whole ordeal was no doubt still fresh in her mind. I lent my touch, hoping that I could lend reassurance in this moment. It was a nice enough thought I think.

"I'm fine Vakarian, get off of me..." The Quarian's smooth accent rung in my ears. Her tone was cold, as it had been for a while now.

I withdrew my hand as I spoke. "Just trying to make sure you're alright."

She had walked off before I could even finish. I hung my head a moment, but I quickly pushed the feeling aside before turning back to my squad.

Zaeed surveyed the terrain of broken and demolished buildings from cover, making sure to scan the windows and doorways every couple of seconds. It was quiet now. Bodies of all sorts littered the area, but that was nothing new anymore. We had lost this war already and were just trying to survive now. The sword and shield fleets had been all but decimated, and the remains of them were running from point to point to avoid the Reapers and keep the Crucible hidden.

I watched as Tali hurriedly scanned the terrain for signs of their objective. Nothing stopped her for the duration. Nuclear ash flew around the landscape like snow, a cold wind sweeping through every so often. The occasional beat of harvester wings far overheard would make us duck, but other than that we were unmolested.

Finally Tali signaled to me that she had found something. I instructed Zaeed to keep watch while I jogged over to her. I knelled down beside the Quarian, stifling another rising want to comfort her to focus on what she was presenting. After a moment Tali pulled a chain from the dirt, two dirty silver dog-tags dangling from the end of them. I used my thumb to clear some dirt away, just enough to make out a name.

Shepard.

My heart beat a little bit faster.

"These are his Tali."

The Quarian nodded and pointed to a set of large tire tracks leading north of our position. My mandibles twitched, I was confused.

"What I'm gathering from my Omni-tool suggests that whatever vehicle this was was carrying Shepard."

"This is not adding up. We were told that he was abducted by Reaper forces, you seen any husks driving lately?" I spoke the words sharply, probably too sharply. I was on edge and was doing a poor job of hiding it.

"It's possible that our info was out of date...But if he was located by Alliance forces I'm sure everyone would have known about it by now. Something is definitely off Vakarian."

I cringed as I heard her refer to me as Vakarian a second time. The use of my last name usually meant she was not pleased with me in the slightest. And she had good reason to be, considering I had taken my sweet time lining up my last shot.

I called to Zaeed, the old mercenary coming over to where we were already. With a quick nod and a few words we were off following the tracks of the vehicle that had apparently made off with Shepard. I hid my fear of finding what had become of him beneath a cold exterior. I also hid the hurt from Tali's feeling of anger towards me as well. In the absence of the greatest champion the galaxy had ever seen, I had been asked to step into the commanding role, it felt like trying to fit the shoes of a planet.

"Wonder if you're at that bar already Shepard."

"Stop it Vakarian"

The glare of Tali was upon me, but I couldn't meet it. I felt like a coward.

Zaeed spat into the ground as we walked.

"Oi, if Shepard's been at a fuckin' bar this whole goddamn time..."

Earth, Alliance Camp

Two days after Fall of Hammer

Goodman

I couldn't shake the feeling of surrealness.

I watched as the last shuttle was lifting off from the ground. We had just finished loading a new type of communications device on board of several different shuttles. Most of the other communications had been destroyed or damaged in the fighting since the Reapers attacked Earth, but luckily this was one of the few issues that Alliance command had foresaw early enough to plan for. The new tech was just nearing completion as the main assaults had begun so our job was simply to load it up and take it to where it needed to be, which was every remaining outpost of resistance left on Earth. There was even one being shipped up to Admiral Hackett so that he could simultaneously keep in touch with the remaining ground forces when they were ready to stage a counter-attack.

Perhaps that was what made it feel off. I couldn't come to terms with the fact that this 'end of the world' scenario was actually coming to pass. Truthfully maybe it wasn't the scenario itself that had me bent out of shape, in my mind I almost didn't seem surprised it was happening but how it had happened maybe?

I shook my head and readjusted the grip on my Mattock, reminding myself that at any minute I might need to help the other soldiers repel the borders from another Reaper ground force. We had deflected three of them already today and I was almost positive that a fourth would be arriving before too long. My grip on my Mattock tightened at the thought...

I felt a hand touch my back and immediately knew that a husk had snuck up on me and was about to rip me apart. I cursed at myself and spun on my heel, my omni-tool flash forging a blade as I faced my attacker.

"Jesus man, wait! It's me! Your watch is over, Doc wants you to report to the medical tent!"

I stood still for a moment, not immediately lowering my weapon as I observed the familiar soldier that I had been serving with for the past day or so. I sighed and relaxed.

"Sorry, Reapers have me on edge. I'll go see what the doc needs."

I patted the man on the shoulder and walked off, he gave an understanding nod and took my post.

The walk to the medical tent was quick, but still required me to pass by the other tents that were set-up for various field operations. The main purpose of the camp was field intelligence. This one in particular was responsible for coordinating the intel for the remaining ground forces on Earth. After a moment I finally reached the medical tent and stepped inside. A voice greeted me instantly as I entered.

"Ah, I see you've made it to me Corporal Goodman. Good, I've got many patients and not much time to spare."

The doctor was an extremely well known expert by the name of Karin Chakwas. Everyone in the Alliance had probably heard of her at this point, and I was no exception.

"Sorry doctor, just making sure those listening devices made it off safely."

"Yes, I understand soldier. I'm just going to quickly administer your medication and then you can be off on your soldierly duties again, I assure you."

I nodded. I had been receiving a dosage of some type of medicine daily to help me recover quicker from the injuries I sustained two days ago. I tried asking about what the hell hit me in the head that made me forget when I got deployed to Earth, but nobody seemed to know, what's more, I was the new guy in the unit so nobody had any history with me.

I watched as Doctor Chakwas hovered the syringe filled with the dark red liquid in it near my skin. She hesitated, her hand trembling slightly and her face seemed almost pained for a moment.

"Something wrong?"

She shrugged the feeling off before sticking me with the syringe and administering the liquid. I looked at her a moment after she applied the medicine and saw that she suddenly had begun bleeding from her nose. I was going to comment again but a sudden blue hum surrounded me for a brief moment as the serum was administered. It was apparently my biotics reacting to the outside stimulus of the medicine. Having biotics was also something I didn't immediately recall. Just another side effect of injury they had all assured me.

I made a note of Chakwas' pained expression but decided not to press it further at the moment. I gave an appreciative nod to her and walked out. As if on queue, my omni-tool began to blink. Someone was trying to open a private channel with me. I stared at it for a moment, the ID was encrypted and no information was provided. I figured it could have been from Alliance Command, so I opened the link. It wasn't Alliance Command.

The face a beautiful and young looking Asari greeted me as the link opened. Her eyes stood in wide shock, the expression in the beautiful blue of her face reflecting this. Immediately, almost tripping over her words she began to speak, I was listening intently.

"It...Corporal Goodman...I am." The Asari blinks, she seems to almost tremble. "I am Liara T'soni, and I have information vital to you, Corporal Goodman."

"And what might that be T'soni?" Goodman was positive he heard that name plastered all over the extranet, but he was unsure as to what she wanted with him now, Liara T'soni dwarfed Doctor Chakwas in terms of galactic fame.

"I have information vital to the war effort, if you want it I need you to meet me at the coordinates-..."

Suddenly gunshots and an explosion interrupted my focus. Soldiers began screaming about attackers to the east attacking from the cover of one of the ruined skyscrapers. Oddly enough they weren't screaming about Reapers. Apparently the attackers were...Turian, Quarian, and Human. I blinked as some soldiers ran to evacuate the remaining communications tech, and others raced to defend the perimeter. I gritted my teeth and looked back to the omni-tool.

"Sorry Liara, another time."

"No wait! You don't understa-" I cut the connection.

Immediately I threw my helmet on and charged in the direction of the attack. I wanted to know what the Asari had to say, especially if it could help win us the war, but I wanted even worse to know why our own people were fucking attacking us.

The search continues. My main struggles in the next chapters are going to be making sure that I place certain POV's logically. I want to urge all readers to pay attention to the dating before the beginning of the POV so that they do not get confused. Events in the story will at times occur out of chronological order as they various members of the crew get closer and closer to the truth of what happened to Shepard.

As always reviews are appreciated so I get better, thanks for reading folks :)