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Shepard and Garrus sat in the forward battery in companionable silence, Garrus calibrating, Shepard looking at a holographic map of the star system, pondering their next move.
They had no way to contact or search for other surviving ships without attracting Reaper attention. Even if they did, Hades Observatory was probably not the only trap out there. They needed to be cautious when approaching other survivors, and other survivors would be suspicious of them. The logical course left then, was either to try to leave the system by conventional FTL Drive, or head to Earth and help Anderson.
An FTL flight to the nearest system with a mass relay would require two years and three months using the straightest possible course. They would be unable to use the stealth drive during this journey, and would be dazzlingly visible to any Reapers who happened to be watching. Even if they reached the Exodus cluster, found another massive fleet miraculously assembled, the Crucible still intact, and headed back as soon as possible, they would have been gone for four and a half years. The Reapers would have harvested most of the galaxy in that time. Also they only had nine months of food.
Heading to Earth seemed a good choice, but in all reality, Shepard doubted that there was much the crew of the Normandy could to to help. They would add one ship to the fight, their stealth frigate no match for a Reaper dreadnought.
She sighed, wondering how the rest of the galaxy was coping. The voice from the intercom interrupted her train of thought.
"Commander, this is specialist Traynor, do you have a moment, I would like to run your monthly virus scan on your terminal."
Shepard held down the intercom. "Yeah, sure Traynor, I'll be up to the CIC in a few minutes."
"Actually, I already scanned that one, I need to do the one in your quarters."
"Okay then, I'll head up there." Shepard released the intercom button and turned to Garrus, who flashed a Turian smile.
"Civilization ending around her and she still runs regular virus scans. I've never seen such dedication to protocol in someone who isn't Turian." Garrus said.
"Well," Shepard said, drawing the word out and sliding her arm around Garrus's narrow waist. "As long as I have to go up to my cabin anyway, I suppose you could count to fifty and follow me. There's something wrong with my shower and I think you may be able to help."
Garrus fluttered his mandibles, and his voice went even deeper. "This problem with your shower, is it the lack of a certain charming vigilante to help you scrub your back?"
"If you only get to my back, I'll be very disappointed." Shepard whispered.
"I can count to fifty pretty fast." Garrus said.
"Well you get started." Shepard said. "I've got to go deal with Traynor."
Shepard strode quickly out of the battery and to the elevator, taking the ride up to her cabin.
The doors slid open to reveal Traynor standing outside, datapad in hand, looking nervous.
"Oh, commander, if this is a bad time, we can do it later." Traynor fumbled.
"Relax Traynor, you distracted me from sitting in the battery and brooding. You deserve a medal."
Shepard opened the door to her cabin and Traynor followed her in, staring around awkwardly.
"So, what do you need me to do." Shepard asked, hoping to hurry this up so she could spend some quality time with Garrus.
"Just log in to your console and I'll do the rest." Traynor said, as Shepard stepped over to her desk and input her password. (AuthorizationPicardYellow5)
Her background, a picture of Cthulhu eating the USS Enterprise D appeared. "Is there anything else you-" she started, turning back to Traynor.
"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL"
Traynor's eyes lit up in bursts of red, bright orange lines highlighting the hidden cybernetics under her skin. Her face twisted and changed, her fingers lengthened into claws, and a surge of biotics wreathed her twisted body.
Shepard froze, disbelief and terror entering her mind. This is a dream, she told herself, I'm about to wake up, and Garrus is going to be holding me and everything will be okay.
"YOU ESCAPED US BEFORE SHEPARD, BUT NEVER AGAIN."
Harbinger struck out with a biotic throw, knocking Shepard over her chair and into the wall with a bone jarring impact.
Dazed, she scrambled for her feet as Harbinger stepped forward, reaching for Shepard's throat.
Shepard ducked and swung a short right hook into Harbinger's torso, following with an elbow to the solar plexus, and was reaching back to execute a straight punch to the neck when Harbinger caught her hand effortlessly and slammed it's fist into her chest.
Shepard felt ribs break and she collapsed limply in Harbinger's grasp, struggling to breathe.
"YOUR ATTACKS ARE PITIFUL."
Shepard reached frantically for a weapon, painfully aware of her pistol on her coffee table, only two meters away, though it may as well be in another solar system for all the good it would do her now. She snatched the model of Sovereign off it's shelf and smashed it into Harbinger's face, knocking it back a step. She tried to follow up with a kick to the chest when Harbinger pounded it's misshapen hand into her face.
Her nose broke in a spray of blood, her cheekbones cracked, broken fragments of teeth wandered her mouth, and she fell to her knees, head spinning and a darkness creeping into her vision.
"WE ARE THE HARBINGER OF YOUR DESTINY. PROGRESS CANNOT BE HALTED."
Garrus burst into her quarters, unarmed, saw the situation and grabbed Harbinger with a shout of rage, pulling it away from Shepard.
The two grappled furiously as Shepard struggled to her feet, seeing Garrus unleash a quick combination of punches into Harbinger, only to receive a biotic blast that knocked him to the ground and cracked one of his chest plates. Garrus let out a grunt of pain, kicking out at his enemy's leg, slowing Harbinger down for a brief moment before climbing on top of Garrus and slamming a biotic charged fist into his face.
"YOU WOULD DIE FOR HER, AND SHE WILL DISCARD YOU."
Time slowed down as Shepard watched Harbinger punch Garrus again, sending a spray of his blood and broken bits of plating across the floor. Harbinger grabbed him by the neck, tensing up to rip her lover and friend to pieces. Harbinger's back was to her. She could jump over her console, land on her couch and retrieve her pistol, but would be too late for Garrus.
Steeling herself for what was to come, she charged Harbinger, tackling the now unrecognizable figure of Traynor off of him and rolling deeper into her quarters.
Garrus shook himself, able to breathe properly again, and looked to his left to see Harbinger lift a feebly struggling Shepard to her feet, twist her neck with a sickening pop and slam her head against the wall hard enough to crack her skull. Blood gushed out of Shepard's ears, nose, and mouth, and Harbinger released her, her limp body falling to the floor and lying very still.
"YOU HAVE FAILED."
Garrus let out a wordless cry of agony and rage and attacked brutally, leaping on Harbinger and jamming his long talons into the thing's face, dodging a biotic throw, dragging it to the floor and pounding his fists into it's head, screaming incoherently. After about ten hits, it stopped struggling.
Garrus rolled back, and approached Shepard's limp form, a faint keening sound emitting from his throat, barely noticing as Vega, Kaiden, and Dr. Chakwas burst into the room.
Vega and Kaiden trained their weapon's on the disfigured body of Samantha Traynor, while Chakwas knelt near Shepard, checking for a pulse and scanning her with her omni tool.
"What are you doing?" Garrus demanded furiously, trying to pick Shepard up. "We need to get her to the Med bay now!"
"Garrus," Chakwas said quietly, laying her hand on his forearm. "There's nothing we can do, she's dead."
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