Ilos Orbit
September 14th, 2186
"Sir, you'll want to look at this." The soft voice cut through the otherwise silent CIC, overtop the whirring of the dozens of terminals and clicking of keys. A flicker of holograms appeared over the CIC's main hub, showing a visual representation of incoming frequencies on the comm. Serviceman Kathy Hacker was the ship's Junior Comm Officer, the one responsible for filling in when Tryanor was off duty, and presently she was tripping over herself to find the words needed to describe what was happening to Garrus Vakarian. "We just got a lot—err two—different signals coming in… from the ground that is, not the batarians. The main signal is an open line, all frequencies—I… I'm putting it on now sir."
The Normandy was orbiting Ilos presently with its IES online, monitoring passively what was going on below and what was going on with the batarian fleet without actively probing in a way that would give them away. They could maintain this pattern for days if needed, but Liara silently hoped that Garrus would find a way to get their marines and get out before then. The asari scientist stood perfectly still, captivated by equal parts curiosity and concern at the alarm coming from the Junior Officer. She'd only been in the CIC to give a report to Garrus about her findings from initial data the ground team had beamed up, but she'd frozen in place when the flurry of activity had exploded inside the otherwise sleepy CIC.
'To any and all batarian forces currently engaged in hostilities, this is Commander Shepard of the Systems Alliance Marine Corps.'
An icy hand gripped Liara's insides immediately upon hearing the voice, and its grip only tightened at the confirmation of her name.Shepard, memories poured through Liara's mind—the experiences they'd shared when she had paired with Shepard's mind, the experiences and pain she'd seen inside the marine's mind, and the sight of the Citadel exploding with Shepard aboard it. The other crew members in the CIC seemed seized by the same tendril of ice as Liara, for even the soft rustling of Officers going about their duty had yielded to true silence.
Garrus was a statue in front of her, still standing atop the captain's podium with hands wrapped around the railing by his waist. The message played on around them all, but no one seemed to listen to the words, instead they were all stuck on the first line, this is Commander Shepard of the Systems Alliance Marine Corps.
Without thinking about her movements, Liara stepped closer to the communications terminal and Garrus. Her eyes were glued on the soft hologram that flickered in front of them to represent the rise and fall of Shepard's voice. "That is her… Garrus how can that be her, Shepard is alive?"
Her question had pulled Garrus back to reality, though as he returned his mood visibly shifted. He didn't seem surprised, excited, or happy, he seemed angry. Liara struggled to understand what about the message had angered him, had it been the rest of Shepard's transmission? Surely Garrus wasn't angry at the thought of turning over command of the Normandy to their friend. "Who the hell is that on the line? How are they doing that?" It was then that Liara understood his mood, he didn't believe it was her. Garrus was angry at the thought that someone would spoof Shepard's voice and torture them with her death all over again. "Hacker, get Traynor up here now, I want to know who is making that broadcast."
"Aye sir."
Shepard's voice stopped talking, and Liara desperately wished she would resume—as long as Shepard kept talking she knew that the human was alive and well. In return to what might have been a question came the gruff and throaty voice of a batarian, though she cared little what he had to say. "Commander." The newest to join the controversy of the transmission was E-Warfare Lieutenant Arnette. "I've run every transmission analysis we have in E-Warfare, and it keeps coming back with the same result: all our systems say that is Shepard speaking. There's no signs of tampering, and all the ambient sounds around her register as genuine."
Silence took over yet again, and Liara felt a new wave of shock overwhelm her. She'd known it was Shepard as soon as she heard the voice, but without seeing the woman's face, or touching her hand to Shepard's arm, Liara could cast doubt in her mind that it was real; without confirmation that she was actually alive, Liara could guard herself from losing Shepard again. To punctuate Arnette's revelation Shepard's voice returned to the transmission, and something visibly cleared behind Liara's deep eyes. We have to get down there to her… We cannot let her die this time…
"I… see." Garrus was in overload at the news, she could tell by the slight slack of his jaw. "What about the static coming through—that frequency?" One of his claw-like fingers gestured at the other holographic representation.
Hacker returned to the conversation now, taking this as her queue to share information. "That's the thing sir, it isn't originating from the same source. There's a different transmitter broadcasting all that static up here."
"Let me see the frequency, maybe it's some kind of non-verbal transmission. I've seen some of the marine non-verbal jargon before." The hologram resolved into flickering signal waves with a soft static roar playing behind them. The static seemed chaotic, but something about it seemed to captivate Garrus. His eyes were locked on each flicker of the frequency, and she could see his visor coming alive with readouts for him. "Specialist, move aside please."
Even as he gave the order he was already on the move, and had Hacker not shuffled away as fast as she had the tall turian would've shouldered her out of the way. Liara stepped back reflexively to avoid finding herself in his way, eyes even wider now at Garrus' sudden burst of life. "What is in the transmission Garrus?"
He didn't even seem to hear her voice, instead his fingers pecked at terminal. When he finished he just stepped a half-step back, and his face radiated silence confidence at his work. The sound of the static that'd been softly playing died off, and coming from the same speakers came a familiar voice. 'This is Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams, Normandy do you read me? I repeat this is Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams, on the ground on Ilos—Normandy do you read?' Liara couldn't hold back the gasp that escaped her lips, and she was about to ask Garrus what he'd done but the turian was on the comm replying already.
"Ashley this is Garrus… what the hell is going on down there? I'm listening to Shepard's voice on the comm, and If I hadn't recognized turian encryption on your line your transmission would've been lost to space."
'She's alive Garrus… I don't know how, and I don't know how she got here, but she's alive. She'll have to explain better when we have more time. We're pinned down here, the batarians seem to have limited ground forces but still we can't hold them for long.'
Garrus froze in place, his face unmoving but the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest—what could be seen of it underneath the soft parts of his carapace—stopped. Her friend hesitated for a whole minute in perfect stillness, and then he broke from his paralysis. "I understand. Does she have a plan?"
'About that… I'm switching us to a tight beam transmission to avoid sensor detection, are you in-atmosphere?'
The line clicked twice as the transmission switched, "Upper atmo, in geosynchronous orbit."
'Copy. Erm, the Commander wants to talk to you now.' There was a loud rustling from Ashley's end of the line as the comm was passed, and then silence.
'Hey Garrus, I—'
"You're alive…" His voice cut through hers as if he hadn't even heard anything after she said his name. The subtones of his voice carried a breadth of emotion that Liara had seldom heard from him. The restraint he'd shown moments earlier was gone—broken by the sound of his dear friend saying his name, and he allowed himself to believe she was alive.
'Yeah, it was a surprise to me too.' Shepard's voice had the dry playful sarcasm that Liara had grown so accustomed to, despite her initial difficulties discerning it from seriousness. A flicker of movement came from Garrus' face, and Liara swore internally that she saw the turian smile. 'I've got a Mako down here, but still we can only move the scientists and about half of the marines I've got down here. I brought five with me, and you've got over three fire teams down here. But like I said, I have an idea—and Joker will probably like it.'
"Damn Lola, I see you didn't lose your stones while you were playin' dead."
Something about the way James Vega talked to Shepard never ceased to grate Ashley. He was so comfortable talking to her, so loose with the things he said—no indication that they'd spent the last few weeks thinking she was dead. Even when Vega had only just met Shepard he was this way, assigning her that stupid nickname and making demands of her. Ashley Williams was a confident woman, but Vega had found a comfortability with Shepard that she never could settle into.
She had felt inferior the first time they met, Shepard was an Alliance legend and Ashley was the granddaughter of General Williams. In her mind it had been only a matter of time until Shepard learned of her history and blackballed her like the rest of the Officers she'd served under—but she hadn't. With time the feelings of inferiority dissolved, replaced by romantic anxieties. When Shepard came back from the dead wearing Cerberus colors it had shattered Ashley's world, and she had still been trying to sort through all the associated feelings with that when she had lost Shepard a second time.
"Oh she's still got her stones, but I'm pretty sure she lost her fucking marbles." They were all squeezed inside the Mako's tight troop bay, with Shepard beside Ashley and Worbaar sitting across from them with an incredulous look on her face. Earlier they had managed to painstakingly clear a path through the debris that had blocked the Mako's path, and the IFV now lumbered through the bunker towards the Conduit. "I know Joker is a good pilot, but are we going to bank on: Oh hey! Just fly a fucking Alliance warship through a miniature homemade relay—no matter that it exits directly onto the fucking Presidium. Sounds like a great plan to me, let's just hope we don't hit anything on the way out."
"You got a better plan, squid?"
Ashley felt her lips twist into a wide grin at Shepard's quip, an expression more genuine than anything that had crossed her face since they'd left Earth weeks earlier. Shepard didn't often use the nickname for Cyzilie, a reference to an error in some Alliance database that listed her as a sailor rather than a marine, but when she did it was always when Worbaar was primed to be bothered by it. Ashley had seen some of the official mail that Worbaar would occasionally receive, complete with the Naval seal that steamed her to her core. The typically mouthy Corporal just flashed her middle finger at Shepard and slumped back into her seat.
"I do gotta ask, Commander, how are we getting to the Normandy? She's out there somewhere, and we're kinda trapped at the end of this bunker." Lance Corporal Frain had a concerned look on his face, his eyes darting between Ashley and Shepard for some indication either woman had a plan. Worbaar annoyed facial expression resolved into one of amusement at the younger man's question, her head jerking towards Frain to indicate she agreed with him.
Shepard hooked a thumb underneath her visor and tugged upward, removing the helmet and revealing her red hair slicked to her head and neck with sweat and left unkempt by the helmet's disturbance. Her face looked tired and sitting so close Ashley could see the faint white lines that ran Shepard's cheeks—the remnant of the scars her implants had left.
She smiled coolly at the two marines' concern, but the smile didn't reach her eyes—they remained as tired looking as before, accentuated by the dark half circles that'd developed underneath them. "I spoke with Garrus earlier, he brought the Normandy down to the surface and they're standing by a short distance away. When we get to the Conduit we'll cut a small hole in the dome that's covering it, slip out, and rendezvous with the Normandy." She slapped the bulkhead of their IFV for emphasis. "Once we're aboard, we'll drop the dome—it's gotta drop, it wasn't there when I was here before—and Joker will fly us through."
Worbaar just started laughing, a more despair sound than anything amused, while her head leaned back against the seat. "You're going to cut a hole in the wall, just quietly sneak to a fucking frigate, and fly it through the Conduit? You know the IES doesn't make us invisible right?"
"Funny, Garrus said the same thing. I've got a few tricks for when the time comes."
"We saw 'er blow up on the Citadel, Cyzilie." Faunce was sitting just to the right of Worbaar, her eyes closed but her mouth drawn in an annoyed line. "I wouldn't doubt that she's got a few tricks left."
The remark silenced Worbaar, and the gathered marines settled into a tired silence. They were safe inside the Mako for now, and they were finally able to sit and rest—albeit for a short time—but there wasn't anything comfortable about the ride. They were each pointedly aware of the body bag lying amidst the troop compartment, the young Lance Corporal Woodland's body unmoving inside it. There had been little time to mount up the Mako when they'd departed, and so they had been forced to lie their fallen comrade on the floor at their feet. Woodland was one of the MARDET's new additions, and few of those gathered had known him well, but that didn't matter for Hallie Chadwell. She was in charge of the tactical element he'd been in—he had been one of her marines—and she had failed to protect him. Ashley could still remember the first time she lost marines under her command, and the forlorn look on Chadwell's face spoke to the old buried memories in the back of her mind. It wasn't just the marines that were worn down from the recent combat, the only non-human aboard—the wiry Major Kirrahe—was subdued. The STG Officer had lost most of his unit, including his CO, in the days-long fighting.
The jarring halt of the Mako's movement stirred Ashley from her exhausted musings, and she heard the voice of Havens call back from the cockpit. "We've reached the Conduit, ma'am." She addressed the remark to Shepard, but it was meant to let all the gathered marines know that they could file out and stretch their legs. The Mako dropped its rear troop hatch with a loud groan, and one by one the marines slowly filed out. Ashley caught sight of Hallie Chadwell stepping out of the IFV and noted that the Corporal was still lingering near the hatch. Her face was dark, and her mouth was drawn into an angry scowl, shit. Ashley hovered near the Mako once she exited, waiting for the confrontation she knew was only moments away.
It didn't take long to occur, as soon as the wiry PFC Engledow stepped out of the transport he was caught in the grip of a blue field and thrown across the cavern. The young boy sailed through the air with a confused yelp only to smack into the uneven ground with the sound of ceramic against stone. His hands and feet clawed at the slick wet stones underneath him to get away from whatever had hit him. Chadwell was on him even before he hit the ground, moving across the ground with a bright blue corona of biotic energy around her hands and fury in her eyes. "Listen here you reckless motherfucker."
A dozen words gathered in Ashley's mind, most of them sounding uncomfortably like old Gunny Ellison. She could feel her blood heating beneath her skin, and she was prepared to do her job—but she wasn't given the chance to. "Stand down marine." The voice was hard a steel, and it immediately halted the charging marine in her place. Shepard stood resolutely to Ashley's right, her hands clenched by her side and biotic corona wrapping fiercely around them.
"I don't care what he did, you lash out at another marine like that that and I'll beat the absolute fuck out of you. That is NOT your job, Chadwell." Chadwell remained unmoving for a tense few seconds, and Ashley began to think it might come to blows between the Corporal and Shepard, but the tension eased off. Chadwell broke away from Engledow with fury in her eyes, stomping across the cavern without saying a word. The PFC was on his feet now, his face frightened and his BDUs covered in wet dirt, though he was otherwise unharmed. Ashley let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and turned to Shepard.
Shepard didn't know what set Chadwell off, what blunder Engledow had made to warrant her rage, but she presumed it had something to do with the dead marine loaded on the Mako. Chadwell was a good marine, one Shepard didn't know personally but had seen during the attack on Earth—she wouldn't lose her cool if it'd been a minor annoyance. With that said, she couldn't allow that behavior among her marines, or she'd lose any semblance of professionalism from them.
From the edge of her vision she could see that Ashley was silently staring at her, only a few feet away. Shepard slowly turned to face her and crossed the distance between the them briskly. She wrapped her arms around Ashley, and the two softly laughed at how clumsy the clinking of ceramic on ceramic made their embrace. Ashley leaned in and pressed her lips against Shepard's, cutting her laugh short and drawing a sharp inhale of surprise from her.
She'd gone weeks without this, without being able to hold Ashley in her arms, to feel her safely against her chest, and to feel the soft brush of Ashley's lips against her own. Shepard stayed still in the embrace, moving her hand to the back of Ashley's head, her gloved hands intertwining with the other woman's long black hair. Shepard knew that a few of the marines had probably stopped to watch, but it wasn't news to any of them—at least she hoped not. Their relationship had come out at some point while Shepard was dead, prior to her resurrection at the hands of Cerberus, and Shepard felt comfortable indulging in a moment of intimacy with her the woman in her arms.
Shepard pulled away from Ashely slowly, and in response Ashley's fingers tightened their grip on Shepard's own hair, begrudgingly relenting after she realized Shepard needed to say something. Shepard took a few seconds to breathe, her eyes coming to settle into Ashley's deep brown gaze. "Ash..." her eyes darted downwardly, "I need you to get your gear and mount up the Mako with the scientists. You'll lead the Mako crew whi—" She was cut off my sentence by a harsh shove against her chest, nearly sending her to her ass if she hadn't caught her feet as quickly as she did.
Ashley was staring at her with a stony gaze, her previously warm and affectionate smile gone—in its place was anger and pain. "Oh hell no. I'm not leaving you again, I'm not going with the Mako crew. I let you send me away on Earth and I thought I lost you. As she spoke it became clear that Ashley wasn't mad, she was more scared and hurt than anything. Shepard's order to go with the Mako team had opened fresh wounds of guilt from London.
"Ash please..."
"Don't you fucking Ash me Jessica." A small group of marines had gathered nearby, intently watching the lovers' quarrel that was stewing; it wasn't every day a member of Normand's MARDET got to see someone nearly knock Shepard on her ass without hell to pay. Ashley's use of Shepard's first name had drawn even more interest from the marines, and Shepard felt her cheeks threatening to flush with heat. "I'm coming with you, and you can try to fucking stop me. You have rank but there isn't a Court Martial here, and I don't think you'd send me before one even if there were." Ashley's left hand was on her hip in defiance, but her right hand cupped her face, occasionally slipping a finger up to wipe tears away that threatened to streak the girl's makeup.
Shepard opened her mouth to protest, but closed it before Ashley could interrupt her. She loosened her posture and slowly approached Ashley, cupping the woman's face with her left hand, thumb resting underneath Ashley's jaw while her other four fingers wrapped around towards the back of Ashley's head. She gently wiped Ashley's tears away with her right hand, and with her left hand she slowly lifted Ashley's gaze to meet her own. Shepard could lose herself in the depth of Ashley's warm brown eyes, and rested her right hand on Ashley's shoulder once she was done wiping away the girl's tears. Now with the other woman's attention Shepard flashed her a warm smile, "Hey, it's okay. I'm here."
"I'm not going with them, Jess."
Shepard's stomach clinched with anxiety at Ashley's stubbornness, and she began to concede mentally on her position. She'd wanted to send Ashley with the Mako team to protect her, because going with the Normandy was a risky option—but it was clear that Ashley wouldn't go along with that. She pinched her eyes closed for a long minute, her head softly nodding, "Alright. We move out as soon as the Mako clears the Conduit, get your shit together Commander Williams."
Something resolved on Ashley's face when Shepard opened her eyes, a peace settling over the woman's soft features. She thought she could see surprise blooming in Ash's brown eyes, "Aye aye Skipper."
While Shepard had been occupied with Chadwell and Ashley the other marines had done an efficient job at forcing the salarians and their work into the Mako. Now that she had resolved the disagreement with Ashley she was able to pull back and check on the progress. Standing only a few feet behind her was Lieutenant Donnel, an awkward look on his face at having had to witness the intimacy of the two officers. "Erm ma'am," the young man gave Shepard a brisk nod, and his attention shifted to the side hoping to get caught up in none of the personal business that Shepard had just disengaged from. "The IFV is loaded up, and Grizzly is inside with the salarians and the other two Normandy marines you left behind. We've still got another seat, who else do you want to send?"
"I'll send Haight." She stepped past him and Donnel fell in step with her. "Haight!" Shepard called out to the distant Staff Sergeant.
The woman turned away from the marines she'd been bullshitting with to turn and face the Commander, "Ma'am?"
"Load up—you're in charge of the Mako marines and the salarians. See that they get through safely and their work is handed over to Hackett."
"Aye ma'am." Haight was still in her armor from the fight, and only had to grab a few weapons she'd laid down before she was in the Mako and ready to take off.
"Cowboy, you're clear to move out. You won't be able to radio back when you get there, so Godspeed."
"Copy that, Eagle. Cowboy out." The fighting vehicle came to life with a roar as Havens brought its engines online, and it surged forwards. The hulking IFV's wheels were so massive that Shepard subconsciously felt like she might be crushed by one while it blasted past and took a reflexive step backwards. The Mako barreled towards the Conduit, never slowing down, and at the last moment it boosted itself up into the air.
Watching the IFV blink out of existence in a blue flash still left her feeling a little stunned, even though she knew what'd happened and had been through the Conduit herself. "Alright marines, we move out now. Worbaar, do you have any of your heavy ordinance? Breaching charges? Energy lance?"
"Yeah, I got some stuff, Ma'am." Worbaar approached from the cluster of marines, reaching in one of her pouches for something. "What do you need me to do?"
"I need a hole in that dome big enough to let us out, but not big enough that it could be seen by any patrol craft that might be out there. I'm sure the batarians caught the conduit coming online on their scanners—it uses a ton of energy to transport across the galaxy. They'll be trying to find a way to get to the Conduit, even though they likely don't know what it is—that means we're on a limited time table. "
"Oh of course." Worbaar scoffed as she pulled a detonator from her belt and headed for a nearby supply crate. "Cyzilie disagrees with this batshit plan so Cyzilie has to kick off the plan, real nice Commander. But yes, I can do it."
Shepard thought she caught a roll of the Corporal's eyes from the side of her visor, "Glad you understand my style of command, Corporal."
With more muttered grumbling Worbaar collected some breaching charges from the crate and went to work on the dome, leaving Shepard with the remaining 9 marines. "Once we're out of the dome it's gonna be a fast-paced trek. I'm not sure what kind of tech the batarians have onboard their ships, and I'm not sure how closely they're watching the ground, but we'll need to move fast to get to the Normandy. By my estimates it shouldn't take more than ten minutes on foot at a decent pace to get there, and I've got a trick up my sleeve for keeping the batarians busy once we do get aboard."
The ambient sounds of Ilos made her uncomfortable, most likely because of how closely they simultaneously resembled the sounds of Earth at night, while remaining strikingly different. The distant sounds, the chirps of birds and crunches of wild fauna set Masters-At-Arms Emmy Brakefield on edge, and it was by far the most uncomfortable part of her current post. She could hear the hissing of distant insects the way that Earth's cicadas cried at night, but the pitch was wrong. What the jungle did have in common with Earth was the heat, it bared down on the sailor in unstopping waves. She adjusted her stance, shifting weight from one foot to another as her hand wiped sweat across her brow—though ultimately, she only smeared the sweat further across her face and across the back of her gloved hand.
Rather than the bulky ceramic armor of the Alliance's marines, as a part of the navy Emmy wore a slimmer and more compact type of armor. To better work in the narrow halls and decks of warships she wore her BDUs, a drab blue-gray color, with an anti-ballistic vest overtop and a faceless helmet. As a sailor her line of work meant that if she was ever in fierce ground combat, a situation where she'd need the marine hard suit, a series of things had gone wrong. The only reason she was on the ground at the time being was to scout for and assist the MARDET party inbound towards the Normandy.
The sleek frigate was a few dozen meters behind her, nestled into a narrow valley cut through the jungle and waiting for the marines. Though she was only running idle systems to stay aloft, the crew had to maintain the IES for stealth—which meant with each passing minute the inside of the frigate grew a little hotter, and the crew a little closer to boiling alive.
To tell the truth, Emmy Brakefield was glad to be out of the hot ship and in the jungle, even if the humid heat around her did make her think she was being boiled alive. "Gunny, I've got movement on the horizon—switching to thermal sights to see if I can make out any shapes." The voice that cut through her ear was that of fellow Masters-At Arms Carolyn Biggers, to Emmy's left in the forest with the same objective.
"Copy Bigs, I'll switch over too, see if I can't get a vantage on whoever's coming up. If the Commander doesn't hurry up she's going to have a toasty crew." Emmy pulled a dull black set of binoculars from a pouch on her webbing and pressed the bulky device to her face. It was night on Ilos now, which didn't do much for the humid heat of the jungle but did mean there was less wildlife to pick up on her thermal sights. Sure enough, in the distance she could make out a few silhouettes painted shades of yellow orange and red in the optics, just as Biggers had said. "Yeah I've got a visual too Bigs. Keep your wits about you, could be blinks instead of our guys."
As the figures drew closer Emmy began to recognize the distinctive armor of Alliance marines, and even more notably the red striped armor of an N7—Commander Shepard. Emmy stepped out from the spot she'd been standing behind a wide tree, and waved a hand at the approaching figures, "Commander Shepard?" Her voice was soft and light, but it carried through the air well enough the Commander should've been able to hear her.
Emmy had the attention of the party now, and though they were silent for a moment longer she could see more marines coming into view—eleven in total. Peeping from behind Shepard came Cyzilie Worbaar, one of the marines Emmy was fairly close to. The Corporal jostled into Emmy with her shoulder playfully and grinned, "Good to fuckin' see you Brakes. Tell me we're here—this jungle is hot as balls." Behind Worbaar stood Commander Shepard, not speaking but very clearly hoping for the same answer as Worbaar.
"Affirmative, right this way—the Lieutenant Commander is waiting for you."
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! It's a bit slower than past chapters, but is a lot of moving pieces where they need to be for future events :)