Author's Note: So it looks like I'll only be able to update semi-weekly. Eh, it's better than nothing. I have a new job now, and classes are keeping me on my toes, so I'll write when I can.
This chapter was very difficult; I started it twice, deleted everything, and wrote the scene on Endymion first. What gave me the most trouble was Kaiden's emotions here. So if anyone feels that he got too OOC, tell me. Heck, if anything feels off, tell me.
Just a little note about Endymion. It's hard coming up with a new name for a planet. Not sure if someone's used it already, in either the game or the real world. By the way, the name comes from the myth about the moon goddess, Selene, who fell in love with a mortal man, Endymion. With five moons, it seemed appropriate.
Kaiden was not waiting for her when she returned to her quarters.
Her message to the Normandy's crew had been brief. After their next mission, she had said, they would be returning to the Citadel, where she would likely be reassigned off the warship. It had been a pleasure to serve with all of them, and she hoped they would meet again soon. Until then, they must do their duty for the Alliance and the Citadel.
Joker had been unamused.
"Come on, Commander, this reeks 'Top Secret'. What's so important that you can't captain the Normandy?"
"Lots of things, Joker. All of them classified."
"See, I knew it! Come on, you can tell me."
She hadn't, but there was certainly a temptation. Joker had been mentioned in the plans for Project Revelation, but she wasn't authorized to tell him anything. It hurt to keep something this big from him.
Pressley had offered his congratulations, but Shepard had barely heard him. Her reply had been unusually curt, and she left as soon as possible, down the stairs to her quarters.
Kaiden's absence drained her. Even if he had fought with her, he would still be there. This emptiness, this loneliness, was infinitely worse than any harsh words they could trade. She sat on her bed, the same one they had shared that night, and methodically worked at cleaning the mud off of her armor. Her hand moved back and forth with the scraper, the rhythm lulling her mind into an almost meditative state.
Why was he not there? Didn't he want to speak with her at all? Couldn't he understand the reason for her silence?
You've always been open with him before. He trusted you, trusted that he would always know what you knew. It hurt him when he had to find out with the others.
But he was a member of the shore team. He was a soldier, first and foremost. Surely he understood the chain of command? Even she had a boss that had to be obeyed.
Lying to yourself again? You didn't care about the chain of command when you were flirting. Or when you were doing more that flirting.
The armor's chest plate clean, Shepard flipped it over and began working on the back side.
It's so empty in here. I just wish I weren't so...so alone.
But she always had been alone. Growing up, her mother and father were always busy. They'd often been assigned to separate ships, and when her mother was on a mission she would be sent to her father, or vice versa. There was never time for someone to admire her finger paintings, or help her with algebra problems, or explain the facts of life. It had been her friends, other navy brats, who had done that. And even they were often absent from her life, what with her constant shuttling from ship to ship.
When she turned eighteen, she signed up for the military immediately. She'd been living with her mother at the time, and they'd fought.
"I don't want this life for you! It's a lonely life, Jane, and a hard one. You don't want to live this way forever!"
"You can't tell me what to do! I'm an adult now, and I can make my own choices."
Her mother had been right, of course. It was so terribly lonely in space. Even the closest star is light-years away.
"Commander? ETA to Endymion, fifteen minutes."
Shepard lifted her hand to the comlink. "Thanks, Joker. Tell Wrex and Alenko I want them on the deck."
"Will do."
As she rolled out of bed, still weary from her chronic insomnia, Shepard cringed. Why had she asked for Alenko? Would it really be wise to take him on shore with so much tension between them? He was a good soldier, and he had remarkable focus, but still.
Relax. You're not expecting a fight on Endymion. And even if you were, Kaiden is always useful to have along, what with his medical abilities.
Shepard strapped on her armor and picked up her guns as she walked out the door. She could handle this.
"Uh, Commander?" Joker's voice came from the comm link again. "I'm receiving a transmission from Endymion. You should hear this."
This could not be good. "I'm heading to the comm room. Patch it through to there."
"Yes, ma'am."
Her steps quickened, and she ran up the stairs. What could have happened? Endymion was a pleasure planet, of no real political or geographical importance. What was wrong?
The sensors in the comm room recognized her presence as soon as she entered, and the message began playing as soon as the doors closed. A man's voice, presumably the administrator's was heard over the sound of gunfire and screams.
"...they came so quickly, we didn't stand a chance. The guards here are all dead, and they're breaking through the security doors. Please, help us! Send reinforc--"
There was a gunshot, and the message dissolved into static. Shepard was frozen, remembering how much it sounded like the distress call from Eden Prime.
"Joker?"
"Yes, Commander?"
"Tell Wrex and Kaiden what we're expecting. They're to be combat ready at the airlock in five minutes."
"Yes, Commander."
She slung on her back brace as she made her way to the airlock, then slipped in her assault and sniper rifle. Kaiden was already outside the airlock, putting on the last of his armor. Shepard bent down next to him, but he wouldn't look at her.
"Lieutenant?" She said, strapping on her pistol.
He glanced up, his helmet in his hands. "Yes, Commander?"
"I need to know that you can focus on the mission today. If you can't handle it, tell me now."
"I'm ready, ma'am."
"Good."
They stepped into the airlock, Wrex joining them a moment later. "Equalizing interior pressure with exterior atmosphere," the computer chirped. "Logged: Commanding officer is ashore. XO Pressley has the deck." The outer hull door slid open.
Endymion was a planet of perpetual moonlight. The distance from the system's sun left it cold and dark, but the presence of five moons made for a silvery and romantic landscape. The FlyLite corporation had seen the possibilities for a lover's retreat, and established a small colony. Couples could walk through the glass atriums, enjoy the fine dining and gambling, or stay in their rooms for more "personal" activities. It had been billed as a honeymooner's paradise.
But once they had left the empty docking bay, Shepard and her crew saw that they had entered a slaughterhouse. The atrium was filled with bodies, and the stench of blood and fear and excrement and plasma burn filled the stale air. Some couples had embraced in their dying moments, their faces twisted in agony as their hands rested in comfort.
"My God," Kaiden whispered. "who did this? All these people..."
Shepard swept her gaze back and forth across the carnage, then bent to examine the nearest corpse. "It looks like Geth," she said. "See how precise the shots were? No stray fire towards the windows, either. Organics aren't that precise."
"Geth aren't, either," Wrex grumbled. "Couldn't hit the Mako when it was running over them."
"Maybe in the small groups we usually deal with. But their intelligence is based on large numbers. The more there are, the more brain power they share, and the more deadly they become. We're going to have to be careful here."
Kaiden shifted, then pulled out his pistol. "Roger that."
They moved through the atrium, guns raised, biotic light rippling over their bodies. The moonlight Endymion was famous for no longer seemed romantic in this setting; the shadows it created heightened their tension, and the silvery light on the bodies reminded Shepard of graveyards and ghosts. Not that she'd ever seen either. But the old holovids she watched as a kid always had the hero wandering alone on a moonlit night, mist rising around his ankles. There would be some sound to startle him, and when he turned, the monster would creep up...
The blast from Kaiden's pistol startled her. "Enemy engaged!" He shouted, edging toward a potted plant for cover.
Shepard turned and reflexively reached for her biotics, lifting the nearest Geth into the air. She whipped out her shotgun, fired once at the levitating synthetic, then dove behind a stairwell as it vocalized an electronic scream.
A quick check to her scanner revealed that it had been jammed by enemy sensors. She would be fighting blind. A quick glance around the stairwell, and her heart beat a measure faster. There had to be at least twenty Geth at the other end of the atrium. Who knew how many more were in the facility?
Calm down. Focus. Just keep shooting until they're all dead. Be strong.
She took a deep breath, exhaled, then came around the stairwell, shotgun blazing.
Two Geth dropped immediately, and the gun cooled as Shepard searched for her next target, taking another shallow breath.
Shoot on the exhale, her drill sergeant had said. When you hold your breath, your body shakes, and your aim is off. Breathe, then shoot!
The bright light of a Geth eye blinked in the distance, and a sniper shot whizzed past her ear. Shepard crouched to make herself a smaller target, and looked through the shotgun's sight.
Don't aim for the head. Head's are small, easy to miss. Aim for the torso. Plenty of vital organs, bound to hit one of them.
She adjusted her aim below the bright light of the Geth eye, and pulled the trigger. The recoil hit her shoulder, and the Geth screamed as it dropped. Shepard turned to the next one.
There was a grunt behind her, and she turned in time to see Wrex stagger backwards, blood streaming from a wound in his leg.
"Alenko," she called, "Wrex is hit!"
The Lieutenant turned, his hand raised and glowing with biotics, his back against the pot he was using for cover. Shepard was about to turn back to her own battle when she saw a Geth sniper behind Kaiden, gun raised.
No time! Shotgun's scatter is too wide, it could hit Kaiden. Move, damn you!
"Kaiden! Down!"
He ducked immediately as Shepard switched to her pistol and fired. Her first shot went wild, over the Geth's head, but it took its attention off Kaiden, firing at her instead.
She felt the impact, felt it rip right through her shields and armor, and burn a hole in her side. Plasma seared her flesh, cauterizing the entry point while digging deeper into her muscle. Shepard hissed, her teeth grinding in the only display of pain she allowed herself.
Her finger pulled the trigger again and again, until the Geth sank to its knees, vocalizer whining as it shut down. Kaiden, still aglow with biotics, reached for her.
"I'm all right," she shouted. "Don't exhaust yourself."
Kaiden drew back, eyebrows lowered in doubt and concern. Wrex crouched next to her, fully healed.
"What now, Shepard?"
She glanced around the atrium, spotted five more enemies, and pulled out her shotgun again.
"We need to know why they're here. Get to the administrative offices, download the logs, and fight our way back to the Normandy. We'll figure it out from there. Go."
Wrex and Kaiden moved ahead, taking down the remaining Geth. Shepard watched them out of the corner of her eye, one hand on the trigger. The other hand was reaching for a medpac.
It would only offer a temporary release. She knew that. But as she jabbed the needle in her side and felt the coolness spread along her inflamed muscles, she didn't care. As long as it got her through the next few minutes, she would be fine.
Time to move now, before the others got worried. She grimaced as she eased from her crouching position, but shook it off, searching for stray Geth she could have missed.
She could be strong now, for just a while longer.
Be strong.
Final Author's Note: Thank you for reading, guys. Too bad I left you another cliffhanger! Muahahaha! That wound of Shepard's will cost her in the end...
The "breathe on the exhale" advice is actually from my old photojournalism teacher. She also worked as a sports photographer, and had all sorts of tricks for keeping the camera steady. Shepard 'shoots' in a different medium, but I felt the same principle applied.
