It was sheer luck that Tuchanka wasn't that far away from the Citadel, so they only had to travel a couple days to reach it, after Councilor Valern reached out to Shepard. They had to take a look at Udina's activities, as Valern suspected he was dirty in some way.
She wasn't surprised, not the least, but playing detective and devoting her days to Udina was not one of her favourite things. Fortunately, she was saved by a comm from Admiral Hackett, who offered her a bit more fun before diving into Udina's financial shit:
On their way to the Citadel it so happened that they were close to a planet that housed a recently discovered Cerberus telescope. Hackett explained the telescope has been doing god knows what, but it's possibly collecting large amounts of unknown data.
"We need to find out what that telescope does and shut it down - whatever Cerberus is using it for, it cannot be for good. But make sure not to destroy it! If you manage to capture it, it will be invaluable for the alliance as a comms station, but if it gets destroyed, we won't be able to use it."
These were his exact words, like he already knew that everything Shepard touched was going to turn into ashes. In her cabin, as she gathered her stuff to give the coordinates to Joker, she laughed out a little at the thought of that, realizing she was indeed destroying stuff quite quickly. That included punching bags, facilities, mercs, spaceships, geth and reapers of course. She was in an ok mood somehow, now that a couple days had passed since… Tuchanka. She was still broken inside, but it was time again to bury herself in therapy, which was usually including wrecking something. Or someone. Fighting was her life, and war was her home.
On her way to the cockpit, she passed Saren who confidently nodded at her while passing by. She could wreck him during a well organized sparring session, she thought.
Come to think of it, Saren was very much what she expected. He was usually cold, not showing much emotion, especially when in a crowd. The crew hated him for what he had done in the past, but never dared to bring it up. He never talked about it either, in fact all he cared about was their current mission and its technical, operational details, and of course the reapers. It was a wonder to others he didn't do anything so far that would upset the crew, but she knew better. Saren was highly intelligent, and he knew what he walked into.
He was very smart.
He provided EDI with reaper targeting algorithms, that he scribbled down from memory. Memory. It somehow amazed her, but at the same time she wasn't surprised. He was a spectre for a reason, and that reason was clear as the sun: intelligent, strong, violent. It didn't bother her that he was on the Normandy. While the crew was wary of him clearly, it wasn't the case with her - she was not sure why, it was strange. The look on his face when they were fighting reaper scouts on Tuchanka.. The true relief in his eyes, the excitement evoked something raw in her.
Now she only had to figure out what to tell the Council…
"I'm listening!"
Jane snapped out of her chain of thoughts as she heard Joker's voice. She already arrived in the cockpit, and the pilot was now looking at her, waiting for whatever she had to say.
"Yeah" she sighed "Joker, head to these coordinates, we have received a little mission before reaching the Citadel." Joker nodded and started preparations while EDI stood up and walked over to the commander.
"Shepard, the targeting algorithms Saren provided us with..." she looked at Jane eagerly, as much as possible for a machine to look eager "They are quite advanced, and I think integrating them into our Thanix cannon is giving us a fighting chance even against reapers."
Jane tilted her head, her eyebrows furrowing a bit. "IS giving us?"
EDI looked at the floor. "I already applied the upgrade."
"What?" came a surprised, low voice from behind their backs, and they naturally saw Garrus entering the cockpit with an angry look on his face. There we go... "Commander, are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Are you asking this because the algorithm is from Saren?" she asked, her eyes showing she was intrigued. The look on Garrus' face became more intense.
"Of course!" he motioned, starting the argument, but he quickly decided to drop it instead "Look, Shepard, I don't want to be a pain, I'm just not sure we should trust him so quickly."
The look in her eyes softened at the sight of her best friend worrying about her and the crew. She suddenly felt really happy to still have Garrus around. After what happened with Mordin.. "It's alright" she smiled, lifting her hand to put it on his shoulder gently "Then trust me instead." She also threw a wink at EDI.
No one saw it, but a smile appeared on Joker's face sitting in his chair. Saren appeared out of the blue, and only he noticed.
"Hate to disturb your little parenting session" Saren said while looking at Garrus with despise in his tone "But Cerberus set up air defense turrets around the telescope, so going with a rover would be the best option."
The look on Garrus' face was surprising to see for Saren, as his mandibles pulled apart in a giant smile. What was that for?
"Be careful what you suggest to Shepard!" chuckled Garrus.
"SPIRITS! Jane, are you from hell?" Saren held onto the handrail in the mako as hard as he could, his back pushed to his seat, his talons digging into the side of the rover. All his breath got caught in his lungs as the vehicle touched the ground on the planet and Shepard stepped on the gas like there was no tomorrow. The blasted woman drove like a real demon: her feet never came close to even touching the brake, all she new was the gas pedal. The mako started screaming and dust flew in the air as their momentum pushed the front of the mako in the air.
That's when she activated the the jump jet, pushing them in balance in the air so the mako could land properly again. She stepped on the gas again, and the vehicle was blasting through the open grounds to reach the facility.
She also made sure to hit every possible obstacle in their way, making this ride resemble a roller-coaster of the devil, rather than a simple trip. James Vega in the backseat was laughing his ass off at the horrible driving of his commander, but not admitting that throwing up was really close. Saren on the other hand, cursed Jane in his mind as hard as he could.
He never saw anyone, let alone a human woman drive like this before. She had zero regard to taking gravity into account, and her smile spread from ear to ear in her craziness. She enjoyed this thoroughly and looked very much like a five year old with a weapon much bigger than her. He admired her courage but he also hated her to death in these moments. Her driving style resembled her fighting, now that he thought about it, but at this moment it was a curse on all of them.
"Just slow down, you're going to kill us!" he shouted, thinking of going rogue and taking the wheel from her.
"Don't tell me, you're afraid!" she laughed, clearly not planning on making it easy for him. He exhaled through his nose, his mandibles sticking tight to his face in anger. Garrus was right, he admitted to himself in shame. Then the mako suddenly stopped, out of nowhere, and he almost broke his neck in the process.
"We're here!" she smiled. Saren removed the safety belt and banged the door open, marching to the driver's side with a look of a killer on his face.
"How in hell did they let you through military school with that kind of a suicidal driving? If you'd pilot the Normandy instead of Joker, it would have killed everyone on board on its first mission!" he shouted in her face. Then he realized something. "Wait" he stepped back "Is this how you defeated the colossi I left behind on Virmire and Ilos?" he asked, genuine intrigue in his voice.
All that appeared on her face was a knowing, mischievous smirk.
"If you mean, Did I just drove into them full speed? Then yes. I didn't need to fire a single shot."
Saren stood there, flabbergasted, his mandibles released from his jaw, and his mouth opened a bit in shock. He couldn't believe that this little, squishy woman was just driving through the hardest of geth units. He would not admit it but he was actually impressed. Instead he turned around, walked away and decided to focus on the mission.
"Come on, give me some credit here!" Jane shouted after him with a large smile, and returned Vega's fist bump.
After parking the mako they found their way quite quickly to the dish access itself. The telescope was large, a couple hundred feet wide on the first look, and some smaller facilities were connected to it. The place was strangely swarming with Cerberus soldiers instead of scientists, but that only made things easier. They didn't have to bother with them like this, and they just killed the soldiers. But when they got through the main access and managed to reach the dish itself, the Cerberus soldiers weren't paying attention to them, and grouped around the main antenna in the core of the dish.
"What are these guys doing?" James asked, puzzled, looking at the horde of soldiers. They stepped on the dish, getting closer to them.
"They'll destroy the dish" Saren explained, apparently hacking one of the consoles on the arm next to them. "The logs say the information gathered with the dish somehow corrupted Cerberus systems, but they couldn't shut it down… They'll probably destroy the telescope itself to stop the infection. Explains why there are no scientists here, the facility was evacuated."
"What infected the system?" Jane asked, readying her weapon as they walked closer to the soldiers. When Saren found the information, he immediately shot the console with his gun, getting the attention of the soldiers now near them.
"Reapers" he breathed with disgust in his tone, raising his pistol to shoot a soldier charging at them. She looked at him, and he stepped closer to her, to make sure she hears "They were picking up on reaper comms and other non-comm related information like positions and routes... For whatever purpose. It appears the reapers have noticed."
"But that means-" was all she could say before they heard a thunder-like sound that shot through the air above them. A giant reaper appeared in the atmosphere, rapidly closing in on them. "Shit!" she cursed.
"We have to get out of here!" Vega shouted, immediately turning around, leaving the soldiers alone who also noticed the reaper and started panicking.
"Go!" Saren added and pushed Shepard towards the edge of the dish and followed right after her. The reaper behind their backs in the meantime had descended from the sky, and as they ran to the edge, it had crashed right into the middle of the dish, destroying the telescope with one fateful move.
The dish had cracked and concrete started flying everywhere. The scream of the reaper sounded, and shocked through the facility as it banged into the whole complex. The ground rapidly disappeared below them, and right after Vega, as Jane jumped on the edge of the dish that was still intact, she looked back. All the Cerberus soldiers fell down into the crater the reaper created.
Saren was right behind her, but the concrete ran out from under his feet, and in just a moment, he fell. She instantly dropped her gun and reached for him. She could feel him grabbing her forearm, his weight crushing her to the railing. As she fell face flat, Vega jumped to grab her feet to make sure she doesn't fall down with him.
"Saren!" she screamed, reaching out her other hand as well and grabbing his arm. The reaper's plates almost touched his body, the machine was so close.
"Come on!" she encouraged him, even though they had no time with the reaper right in their faces. She started pulling him, slowly but surely, even if his weight was a lot for her. "Hold on!" Vega started pulling Shepard in the meanwhile, slowly raising both of them up on the edge. Eventually, his hands were on the railing and she pulled him right up, and with one move they fell back next to each other. Vega stood up and motioned towards the reaper, freezing in his movement:
"This is not good!" he shouted, and they both looked at the machine.
The reaper stood in the place where the dish once was, its core right in front of them. The metal plates shifted, and bright red light enveloped them suddenly. The targeting core was scorching from the heat right into their eyes, and they instinctively moved closer to each other, not having a moment to escape. Saren moved his left hand over Jane, and without thinking he covered her from the reaper, turning his body to face her. The momentum shoved her down a bit, forcing her on her elbows.
The reaper behind his head was ready to fire its laser right through them, and their eyes suddenly met.
She looked right into his bright blue eyes, now reflecting the crimson light. They were the same eyes that looked at her in the Council's chambers, that opened up to her under the wreckage on the Namakli, the same eyes that almost laughed from the fight on Tuchanka. They had no weakness in them, no fear, just strength. His arm wrapped around her waist, his back covered her body, his face moved closer to her, protecting her. As the red light creeped in between them and the reaper's hellish siren went off once again, time stopped for Jane.
"She drifted off from the force of the explosion, turning as she went, she clearly saw the Normandy blowing to pieces. She had to figure something out really quickly, but she couldn't start on her thoughts, as she noticed that her oxygen tank was leaking. Panic flooded her mind,as she realized that there was no way she was getting out of this now. Finally her life caught up to her, and this was it. Still fighting, she tried to reach her tank but it was on her back. She moved, she tried, but to no avail. Her arms tired as she lost her breath, her legs felt heavier and her lungs gave in, emptier than ever before. Catching for air only to find emptiness, she gazed at the distant stars.
She was completely alone, defeated, torn. Her bones hurt, and a strange cold circled around her. A cold similar to the blue he saw in his eyes.. Saren's eyes. She still remembered him. The things he'd done, the things he said. Denying, lying, fighting and finally ending the pain. The way he moved and responded to her haunted her.
She looked for his hands to hold, but they were nowhere. He was gone forever, and she was here now, stuck between worlds, floating through time, dazed and hurt with an ache in her heart. She lost everything, this limbo, this passing thought of him was the only genuine thing she had, but it was fading away, leaving her dry. She understood now the death in his eyes, the pain, the solitude. The regret of a wasted life, the loss of time. A lone tear streamed down her face, and with a whisper of his name on her lips, her eyes closed."
She again looked in his eyes.
The reaper will fire in a moment, and there they were, intertwined, together. Neither of them alone. His blue eyes were there, shining into hers, his fingers squeezing the small of her back through the armor. It was how it should have been. Only they understood the connection the reapers created between them, the doom that always lingered over them.
And it felt right.
She found comfort in fading away with him, as she knew the moment the reaper will move, they will be dead. Her body eased in his arms, and she lifted her hand to touch his jaw.
He felt it. Her hand stayed on the side of his face, and his mandibles instinctively moved against it, his jaw sank into her palm. Her touch freed him of all the burdens he carried. The regret and the loneliness were no more, and all that remained was her touch and the silverish blue of her eyes. She was the only one who understood. She saw the visions, she fought for him to try to save him, she shed tears for him, she took her by his side and for some reason she trusted him. She was made of the same core as he was, and holding her he could accept death. Their fate should have always been like this. Always.
A screeching sound emanated from the sky, and Saren fell on Jane.
The reaper fell back, and after a second, the Normandy flew away above them. The ship shot right into the reaper's targeting core, freeing them from their doom. They both stood up, and after a quick look at each other confusingly, they ran back to where they came from, using the disturbance of the reaper to leave the facility. And within an hour they were back on the Normandy, both of them sitting in their room, staring dead into the emptiness.
What the hell just happened?