"Alright everyone, take cover!" Shepard barked out as she activated the giant mining laser.
A large beam projected from the end of the mining equipment and tore through one of the lower openings of the prothean ruins where Dr. T'Soni was trapped. James lowered his head as dirt and rock showered the area from the explosion, the debris clicking harmlessly off of his armor with a sound that reminded him of falling rain on a tin roof. Through squinted eyes, he looked to his left to where the others where taking cover and met the glowing gaze of Tali peering back at him. James acknowledged her with a slight up-nod and a smile.
As Tali nodded back to James, Shepard broke in through the comms. "Come on, lets move out!"
They made their way down into the hole that the mining laser created, and found a lower entrance into the prothan ruins. At the center of the ruins they discovered a prothean elevator that seemed to extend all the way up the length of the underground structure. They rode up a level to where they found the asari doctor suspended in some type of force field.
"You made it through! Please, press the button over there on that console to disable this field!" The asari desperately pleaded.
Shepard moved over to the console and hit the rather conspicuous holographic button floating in the center of the equipment. The action caused the barrier to dissipate and the asari woman to drop to the floor.
"Ooof!" The asari doctor blurted out as she hit the floor. Shepard walked over to her and extended her hand to help her up. As Shepard lifted blue-skinned woman to her feet, the asari collapsed into her arms momentarily as her legs gave out on her. She lingered in Shepard's arms a few moments before her eyes suddenly widened at the predicament she was in. "Oh! I'm terribly sorry! I must be weak after being in there so long." She pushed away from Shepard's hold, but Shepard left her arms clasping the asari's for support just in case.
"Don't worry about it." Shepard chuckled, and then beamed out a genuine smile that James hadn't seen her wear before.
Already, James was getting impatient about asking this so-called prothean expert about how the beacon could have sent him into the future, and how can he get one to send him back...
Before he could say anything however, the asari spoke up again. "Oh, where are my manners! I am Doctor Liara T'Soni, a prothean researcher studying these ruins. Or did I already introduce myself when we met earlier? Oh my, I'm sorry, I'm just terrible with people. I spend so much time studying ruins by myself that I barely ever get the chance to speak with others. How did you find this place..." The asari trailed off.
Shepard released her grip on Liara and took a couple of steps back. The warrior's face turned more serious as she intently gazed at the blue woman and posed her question. "The reason we're here has to do with your mother, Matriarch Benezia. Have you talked to her recently?" Shepard searched her face for a response.
Liara shook her head in confusion. "My mother? No, not in years. Has something happened?"
"No- well yes actually. I'm sorry there isn't a better way to put this... ...she was one of the people behind an attack on an Alliance colony."
"What!?" The asari blurted in confusion.
Shepard nodded. "The attack killed a lot of people. Civilians." Liara put her hand over her mouth in shock. "There's more..." Shepard continued, explaining in detail about the reaper threat and the visions she received from the prothean beacon.
Once Shepard was done explaining how James came through the beacon, he saw his chance to finally question the doctor.
"How does it work? How do I get back!?" James nearly shouted his question, the look of desperation evident in his face.
The asari look puzzled. "I... I don't know. A working prothean beacon is extremely rare. As far as I knew the beacons where some type of information relay, I had never heard of them being the source of any type of time travel..." The asari trailed off in thought. "Are you sure this is what happened? There could be another explan-"
James cut her off before she could finish. "I'm not crazy! My life was real god damn it!" He yelled, his voice quickly becoming horse at his tone. "I'm not making this up, you have to know something! Anything-" He stopped his yelling as he felt a gloved hand hesitantly come to rest on his armored shoulder. James recognized the black three-fingered glove as Tali's, but did not turn to acknowledge her.
"I'm sorry..." The meager statement was all the asari could muster before seismic shakes and rumbles echoed through the structure. Pieces of the ruin's ceiling began to fall around them. "The ruins are unstable! The mining laser must have triggered some sort of seismic event!"
Shepard spoke up above the sound of distant collapsing rock. "We need to get the hell out of here! MOVE!" She turned and ran back towards the elevator, the squad running in tow. "Joker, I need an evac NOW!"
James soberly walked toward the elevator, just barely catching up as they where getting on the large platform. "MOVE IT JAMES!" Shepard ordered at him, though the act triggered no change in his demeanor. As soon as his feet where both on the platform, Shepard slammed her fist into the elevator controls and they began their ascent upward through the center of the ruins.
"There's no way back..." James thought in despair.
"She's dead. She's been dead for over a hundred years..." A single tear worked it's way down his cheek.
His thumb idly rubbed the place where he remembered his wedding band being. "Or maybe it never happened, and I really am crazy..."
Time seemed to slow for James, and his senses dulled as if he'd been hit over the head with a lead pipe. As the elevator reached the top of the shaft, his targeting HUD chimed an alarm and showed a group of new hostiles moving toward their position. Sound was hallow, like the world was muted, and the only thing James registered was the red blip of the nearest enemy. He heard voices in the background, but the words where muffled. All he saw was that nearest red blip on his HUD, a blip that needed to disappear. Suddenly that fact was the only thing he knew was real.
As he rushed forward, he barely registered the yelling behind him. Barely recognized the gunfire erupting around him. Towards him.
Standing kick to the chest. Platform down. Shot to the headlamp to be sure. Next red dot.
Shields 63%
He ran full tilt at the next platform nearest to him. Flashes of light sprayed toward him like sparks from a metal grinder. A jump-kick to the knee joint causes the geth to crumple forward, and the following upper-cut sends the platform flying backwards in the opposite direction. Next target.
Shields 37%
Solid punch to the headlamp. Red dot disappears. Good enough. Next enemy.
Shields Critical
A geth explodes in a shower of debris from a shotgun blast to his right.
"REMOTE OVERRIDE. INITIATING EMERGENCY SHIELD BOOST."
Shields 28%
James hears yelling in his comms, but can't make out the words.
Suddenly he makes out a scream that brings him back to his senses. He looks to the source and sees Tali sprawled out on the floor with a giant krogan looming over her, the towering lizard's shotgun ready to finish the kill. She was laid out across the floor of the platform, still dazed from the strike from the krogan whom seemingly rushed into her as she was busy inputting commands into her omnitool.
Something strikes him as he sprints towards the looming beast. What hit him wasn't something physical, but something far less tangible. As he continued to run he felt a cold chill resonate down his spine, and a dark, sickening feeling tightening in the core of his being. It was as if every step he took toward the beast tightened a noose around his stomach.
"Something is horribly wrong with this krogan..." Was his last thought as James' closed the last few feet with the beast.
The krogan turned to find the large human diving onto him with the intent to bring him to the ground with a body slam. The krogan's mass, however, had different plans. The krogan reeled backwards a couple of steps, but kept his feet planted and stayed standing as James slammed into him. The krogan began to laugh at the attempt, but was silenced by an armored glove catching him in his jaw.
As James pummeled the krogan's face, he heard a sickening chuckle followed by disconnected words.
"Is-"
*straight punch*
"that-"
*left hook*
"all-"
*right cross to the jaw*
"you've-"
*uppercut to the chin*
"got-"
*haymaker to the eye*
"human?"
As the krogan finished his broken sentence, James couldn't help but pause to survey the damage. The first thing that struck him was that same feeling of sickness he felt before, but much more intense now at this distance. He felt like he had insects clawing at his stomach where the noose used to be, and that somehow the lizard's very presence was poisoning him. The second thing that immediately struck him was the amount of gore that he had inflicted on the beast, yet it was still standing. Inches away from him, the krogan's face was an ugly disfigured mess, even for a giant lizard. But what shocked James the most was the fact that through the mass of blood and meat, the krogan was smiling.
As James looked down at his feet to see the still recovering form of Tali, for the first time since he entered this nightmare... ...he was scared.
A massive headbutt knocked him backwards.
Shields Critical
The last thing James saw was the krogan's fist striking him squarely in the face.
He feels the impact of the floor as he collapses.
"He's out of the way! Drop the bastard!" Roared Shepard, her voice unmistakable even in the middle of the hail of gunfire.
After a few moments of shooting and cursing, James was aware of a large form collapsing near him. He vaguely was aware of voices, but struggled to remain conscious as he lay on the floor, the feeling of blood and pain washing down his crushed face.
"Is Tali ok?" Barked Shepard.
"She'll live." Came a booming reply.
"Yes, I was just dazed for a moment- Keelah! James!"
"I'm not carrying him."
"Wrex!"
"What? He dug his own grave. That was some of the dumbest fighting I've ever seen."
"Wrex, quit bitching and pick him up! We'll talk about this later. Normandy, prep the med bay we've got a man down!"
"Hmph. Have it your way Shepard."
"Lets move! The ruins are coming down around us!"
James was vaguely aware of being unceremoniously thrown over a large armored shoulder. For a moment, he could have sworn he felt a familiar three-fingered hand carefully touching the side of what was left of his face. As quickly as he felt the gentle stroke of the hand it was gone, replaced with the feeling of a lumbering sprint from the massive hulk he was slung over.
As James began to loose consciousness he managed to mutter a single plea:
"Sarah... I'm sorry."