Relativity

"Don't you dare leave me here!" Shepard screamed, battering futilely against the locked bathroom door. "Supernova! Turian! Whatever the hell your name is, let me out! That's an order!" There was no handle to jimmy, only a holographic interface that normally would have slid the door open at the slightest provocation. If it had been back on Earth, she simply would have kicked through the drywall, but the walls on stations were made from solid steel. "I am Commander fucking Shepard and I demand you open this door!"

Silence. He was long gone. Shepard banged her head against the door. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. Growling, Shepard shoved herself back from the door and glared at the lock. She did have a belt of grenades…

Easy girl, calm down. Shepard took a deep breath, trying to reason with her fury. This isn't the first time you've been locked in a bathroom. Shepard paced a few short steps, which, given the limited space, was more like turning in a circle. She needed to be focused, able to concentrate enough to bypass the lock. Shepard inhaled through her nose, held the breath for five seconds, then exhaled lengthily through her mouth. An anger-management technique, taught in one of her regular psych evaluations.

"Which I passed," Shepard muttered, though there was no possible way Admiral Hackett could hear her. Knowing Steven, he'd probably sense her back sass. She sent him a quick mental apology then knelt to deal with the door's emergency override.

Security was likely having an aneurism. First the silent alarm from the explosion, unless the mercenaries had paid off the hotel, and now her hasty bypass. She didn't bother trying not to tip off the alarms, she just bludgeoned her way through the system until the door stuttered and hacked its way open.

The bodies were still congealing in the hall, deep red blood oozing across the floor in every direction, with a noticeable slant towards the entrance. Stepping over the bodies to the one her turian had been inspecting, her boots left thick prints in the crimson that slowly refilled. Boots to a nightclub? Really Shepard? At least she'd give security a blood trail to follow.

Shepard knelt beside the dead man, her pants greedily drinking up his now superficial blood. The material was black, and the effect did little more than make her knees uncomfortable. Drawing up his omnitool, she noted Supernova had thankfully left it on the file he'd copied. It was the last call he'd gotten, and would ever get. Shepard copied it over and played it back to her earpiece.

"What the fuck, man? You know not to call on the job, that's a damn rookie move and you could have gotten us killed." The speaker, now dead, snarled to whoever had been on the other line.

"Shut up and listen," The caller interrupted. Shepard started up a trace on the old signal while listening to the rest of the conversation play out a third time, first for the mercenary, then for Supernova, now for her. "There's been a change of plans-"

"-what the fuck?-"

"The client wants them both out of the way. The money we're getting for this is surreal, so don't fuck it up."

"-yeah, yeah-"

"Get out of there fast when you're done, we're not sending in the cleaning crew. This is gonna be public, and it's gonna be big."

"-that all?"

"You taking this shit seriously?"

"Oh, no, I just thought I'd take Terra Libera's best out for a look at the local real-estate, of course I'm taking it seriously."

Shepard's omnitool blipped a completed trace, locking the signal. A quick local search got her the public blueprints for the station, and she overlapped the trace with the layout. It led to what should have been another business emporium, but the station had it flagged as in the midst of renovation.

The rest of the mercenary's conversation got her no more useful intel, though it did give her a few creative insults she planned on putting to use later. Shepard pushed herself to her feet, and set her omnitool to guide her to the merc base. She'd have to hurry if she hoped to get out of here before security arrived, and if she wanted to be of any help to her turian.

Not that he even wanted her help. Just the opposite, he went out of his way to avoid it. So why bother helping? So he wanted to get himself killed, why should she care? Why do you care? Shepard chewed on her lower lip. The call confirmed the mercenary group had been hired to kill both of them, so she could argue it was self-preservation.

Or she could not argue at all. She didn't care why she cared. She was going to help him whether he wanted her to or not and that was that.

Shepard flicked the safety on her pistol and shoved it into the back of her pants. She couldn't exactly hide the belt of grenades, or the fact that she had no shirt on and was dripping blood, but who cared about semantics? Focusing on the map on her omnitool, she bolted from the apartment and started jogging towards the base.

When the frantic shouts of "Go, go, go!" echoed from behind her.

Shit.

Shepard chanced a glance over her shoulder, and was greeted with the site of a squad of security officers charging after her and her bloody footprints. Red-footed. At least she hadn't been caught red-handed. Wait… Then she remembered the blood that had dripped down her arms. Shepard shrugged it off and kept running.

"Stop!" She had no intention of doing so. Several similar demands to halt grew dimmer and dimmer, and she smugly realized she was gaining a great deal of ground, when a wall of black chain fell from the ceiling and blocked her path. Ah, right, anti-riot gates. She turned and another one fell to block her only exit. Completely trapped. Well… fuck.

"I said stop," The first man to reach her make-shift cage pointed out.

"And yet," Shepard shrugged, contemplating warping the opposite wall and continuing on her way. She didn't have time for this.

"Funny," His expression said he found her anything but. "The rest of you," He gestured to the rest of his squad, "Check out the apartment. I'll interrogate our 'friend'." Strange, that he would trust himself to be alone with her. She could have a concealed weapon, or biotics for all he knew. Then Shepard noted an almost imperceptible shimmer around the gates. Kinetic barriers. Impressive.

"I'll save you the time. I'm Commander Shepard with the Alliance Navy, and I'm in the middle of an investigation," She drew up her ID to add weight to her words, "A… friend and I were recently attacked by a mercenary group called 'Terra Libera' based on this station, and I need your cooperation if I'm going to take them down."

The security guard's glared wavered as he looked over her credentials, clearly hoping for a fake he didn't find. The entire situation was obviously above his pay-grade, but from the uneasy way in which he eyed her, he still needed convincing. "And you didn't report all this when you were attacked for security to handle because…?"

"This is a covert military operation." Starting now. "They've made themselves enemies of the Alliance by targeting one of their most decorated Commanders, and as you are well aware military authority supersedes local jurisdiction." Shepard stood up straighter, as though she were giving a lecture to her squad. "The Alliance of course thanks you for your cooperation." She added, though she was still literally behind bars.

The officer frowned at her for a great deal longer than necessary before tapping a command into his omnitool. The gates lifted slowly with an ear-piercing screech, as if they begrudged her as well. "… I've heard of Terra Libera. A bunch of ex-military guys who branched off from Terra Firma. What do you need us to do?"

Shepard held in a sigh of relief. She hadn't actually expected he'd help her. She held all her doubts back, however, and made it seem as if she'd planned every instance of this encounter. "Exactly what you've been doing. Continue your investigation and stay out of mine."

"I can't just ignore-!" He gaped at the thought of standing on the sidelines. A man after her own heart.

"You won't be. But we both know proper channels for a raid of this size won't get you approval in time to help." He nodded, a bit sullenly, and seemed lost in thought for a moment. When he looked back at her, his gaze was much more intense.

"I believe you, I'm not going to get in the Alliance's way on this, but keep us informed, and while you're-… investigating, we think Terra Libera might have a supplier in customs. If you can find any information-"

"You'll be the first to know." She promised.

"One other thing." He added as she turned to go, "I'm still waiting on that statement from you and your 'friend.'" Shepard flushed. He'd been the same security guard from last night. And he remembered her.

"Ah-…" She cringed, rubbing the back of her neck in her typical gesture of unease.

"I know the Alliance is out there protecting the galaxy, and I take that seriously. But I'm here protecting this station. It'd be nice if you returned the favor." The guy had balls to call her out. She couldn't help but respect that, even if she didn't particularly like it.

"You'll get your statement." Shepard gave an abrupt nod, and kept eye-contact.

"I better. I know where you live," He joked light-heartedly, and she forced a chuckle before she turned and rushed towards the base.

An ex-military group, Shepard thought with disbelief as she ran. For some reason it just didn't compute. How could anyone turn their back on the Alliance? To become extremist terrorists no less? The Systems Alliance had united Earth, protected her and all her colonies against internal and external threats. It was the single most important human operation in existence. It was the single most important thing to her.

"Hey, look at that, Shepard," Finch snorted over his drink, waving it at the bar's television. "You're a big fucking hero."

Shepard had been looking. The holos spoke of an attack on the colony of Mindoir, and the reporter was currently getting a statement from the captain of the SSV Einstein, Hannah Shepard, who'd been part of the planet's relief force.

"Dumb colonists, what'd they think was gonna happen?" Jimmy laughed, throwing his bottle cap at the screen.

"Prolly thought the Alliance would protect them." Finch hooted.

"Dumb jarheads always get there late." Jason chimed in, "Think they're so important, but they never do shit."

Shepard glanced at the Reds laughing around her, and focused back on the scrolling report of the news channel. The captain who happened to share her name was giving a sad, soulful speech about how she wished they'd arrived sooner, petitioning for a larger garrison for the colonies, while giving thanks for the ones they'd managed to save.

She didn't seem self-important. If anything, she looked ashamed. The camera flipped to a Lieutenant Zabaleta, who was helping a teen who looked to be about her age. He waved the reporter away with a growl, and the holo flashed to show other survivors the rescue team had managed to save.

The Reds lost interest in the report. They kept laughing, joking, some of them branched off to dust up. Jason waved at her, calling for her to join.

"We think we're so important, but we never do shit…" Shepard mumbled.

"Wassat, Shep? Finch slurred. He wasn't nearly as drunk as he acted.

"Nothing." We're nothing. Shepard shook her head and left to join Jason.

She reflected briefly on what the security guard had said. How she and her turian had avoided being questioned simply because it was inconvenient. His job hadn't meant anything to her. Maybe the mercenaries were the same, and the Alliance didn't mean anything to them.