A/N: This chapter was a bit hard for me to write. I had something planned like a mini romantic moment between Shepard and Kaidan but I realized it wasn't the time or place for it considering the limited time frame you have. Anyway, reviews are welcome so please feel free to comment. 3
Where Angel's Trend
The asteroid was hurtling towards Terra Nova. A planet that looked a lot like earth the last time she saw it. She'd always had mixed feelings when she thinks about earth being her home. All she remembers were the dirty city streets, the malicious innocent looking children that could rob you blind or stab you in the back if you left them..
But from hearing Kaidan's stories about his home, the way his brown eyes light up as he talks about his family's private cabin in the woods. And how he enjoys hiking through the forests to clear his mind when he gets bogged down. She knows there is a subtle hint, pleading tone in his voice when he talks about his home. She yearns for it, but at the same time sends her a shiver of panic down her spine.
But now, standing here on the asteroid, she feels cold anger again at the batarian's that want to destroy another human world. Her memories from Elysium pop into her mind in clear detail. She lets out a sigh and rubs her thumb across her fist and rotates her wrist.
"Looks like earth doesn't it?" Kaidan asks as he took a step closer to her. Gently taking her gloved hand in his. She tosses him a smile through the visor of her helmet and nods.
"It's...very green. And lots of blue." Garrus commented.
"Reminds me of you." She drawled while nudging him with her helmeted head.
"It reminds me of home." Kaidan said softly while tossing her one of those soulful looks, his eyes smiling back at her.
"Well we better save it, or it won't be home for god knows how many people." Emily said, her voice hardening slightly.
"Uhm...So...Can I drive?" Garrus asked teasingly with a smirk on his face. "I see a lot of mountains, I don't think we need your shortcuts..."He continued as she climbed into the drivers seat.
She shakes her head and jerks her head to the seats behind her." Garrus nods and looks at Kaidan in mutual panic.
"There are three torches we need to disable to stop the asteroid. And we only have four hours till impact, really pressed for time here. Hang tight because mountains or not we need to do this fast. I'm not going to let them win." Her voice now cold and dangerous.
They locate the building for the first fusion torch, using the missile on the Mako they were able to shoot the turrets guarding the entrance. Jumping out, she double checked her weapons and activated her barrier striding quickly towards the door.
Inside, three batarians with two varrens sitting around a crate talking. Without a warning, Emily charged into the group, her shotgun riddling the bodies with bullets as a snarl escaped her lips. She looked around, seeing stairs she gestures her hand to beckon Kaidan and Garrus to follow her up.
Pushing the button to disable the torch she hears a woman's voice.
"Please, you have to disable the rest. You've pissed them off. Fuck I gotta go, I hope you hear this..." The voice trails off.
She runs back down the stairs and heads to the door, only to be shot in the chest by a skitterish man.
"Oh my god, I'm sorry I didn't realize you were human." He begged, holding the gun towards her.
"It's alright. It takes more than a bullet to kill me. Why don't you tell me what's going on here?" Shepard asked as she brushed her hands down the front of her barrier.
"Listen - we don't have much time. The batarians have fired up the fusion torches. You've got to shut them down before we hit Terra Nova! There...are four million people down there. I- my family. They live in Aronas, my kids...my grandkids..." He said with a slight pleading tone in his voice.
"I understand. What happens if the asteroid hits Terra Nova?" She asked, dread slicing down her spine as she feels the minutes crawl by slowly.
"X57 is 22 kilometers long. Twice the size of the asteroid that wiped out the Earth's dinosaurs. It would be millions of fusion bombs striking at once. Millions. The heat of the blast... a thousand kilometers away, clothes will ignite. There'll be global wildfires. Air shock will flatten everything for hundred kilometers. Terra Nova will die. Not just our colony - the planet. There'll be a climate shift. Mass extinctions. The ecosystem won't recover for thousands of years. Millions, maybe." He continues nervously.
"This doesn't make any sense. Batarians run criminal gangs. Unethical, but profitable. They don't destroy worlds. What does this gain them?" She growled out softly.
"I've heard all the stories. Slave rings ranching people like animals. Pirate bands burning colonies to the ground. But this...? The Citadel Conventions forbid asteroid drops. I never thought the batarians would go this far." He responds as he spreads his arms open slightly.
"We'll take care of this. Just stay safe." She said while quickly walking out the door.
Finding the last two fusion torches and disabling them didn't take that long. Exiting the last building she sees a group of batarians.
"We could do this the hard way...or we can end this peacefully." He said as they drew closer.
She quirks her brow, placing a balled fist on her cocked hip.
"I didn't think you batarians knew the meaning of the word." She said coldly, her free hand stroking the handle of her shotgun.
"Look, I'm just doing my job here. Hijacking this rock wasn't my idea. I signed on to make a little profit. A quick slave grab. Nothing more." He said while lowering his weapons.
"This isn't just a slave grab anymore. Millions of people are going to die." She said loudly while taking a step towards the batarian.
"I'm just following orders here. If it were up to me, we'd have left already." He said gesturing helplessly.
"Well, it's not too late. You can still leave." She said softly, ignoring the startled gasps coming from both Kaidan and Garrus.
"I don't think so. Balak would skin me alive and sell my hide out of spite. Crazy bastard. This whole mission's gone to hell and I'm going to pay for it." He continued.
"So why do you listen to him?" She asked curiously.
"I had a bad feeling about this from the moment we landed. Now Balak wants you dead. And what Balak wants, Balak gets." He says quietly.
Do you always want to be second in command? Get me out of here and I'll take care of Balak. Then you can start giving the orders." She told him.
"An, uh, interesting proposal. It certainly has benefits over the current situation. I hope you're as quick with a gun as you are with your promises. For both our sakes." he said while slowly walking away.
"Balak will get what's coming to him. And so will you if I ever catch you in human territory again. Are we clear?" She tells him with a smirk on her face.
"Balak's holed up in the main facility. You'll need this to get in. Don't underestimate him. He's a mean bastard." He said while tossing her an access card.
Without saying a word, she leads the way back to the Mako, nervous energy dances along her skin along with her biotics.
They slowly entered the main facility and get swarmed by batarians. She moves quickly across the floor shooting or using her biotics to dispatch of them quickly.
"You humans. You're almost more the trouble than you're worth." A cold voice echoed in the now empty looking building.
"And here I am, just getting started." She said as coldly, cracking her knuckles slightly.
"Predictable. But this is over. I'm leaving this asteroid. If you try to stop me. I'll detonate these charges and your helper and friends are all going to die."
"You don't get to leave, Balak. Not after what you've done." She said coldly, gripping her shotgun in her gloved hands.
"What've done? This is nothing compared to what's been done to the batarians. We've been forced into exile. Forced to survive on what we can scrounge up. It's been like that for decades." He said coldly while taking a menacing step towards her.
"Don't make it sound like you're the innocent party here. You brought it upon yourself." She said softly.
"Commander, just shoot him already." Kaidan growled out as his biotics flickered over his armor. Garrus tightens his finger on his sniper rifle.
"Really? You invaded our space. Took our resources. And when we asked the Council for aid, they brushed us off. We were left to defend ourselves. But the humans were stronger than us. We knew that. The Council knew that. But it didn't matter. It was you. You and your kind are the only reason we're in this position."
"How does killing innocent people make up for that?" She asked coldly.
"We had no other options. Sometimes you need to get someone's attention before they'll listen. That's why we attacked you at Elysium. That's why I'm doing this. You forced our hand!" He shouted in her face. Trying to crowd her back.
She smirked and narrowed her eyes.
"You attacked us first. When we retaliated, you ran off to the Council hoping for help. When you didn't get it, you hid. You've got no one to blame but yourself." She continued as she stared up at him. Her smirk still playing lightly along her lips.
"Enough! You couldn't possibly understand... Actually, you just don't want to understand. And I'm done wasting my breath. Now if you want your friends to live, I suggest you step aside." He sneered as he brushed past Shepard.
"You can run for now, but I'll catch up to you eventually. So I suggest you watch your back." She said coldly as she gestured for Kaidan and Garrus to free the hostages.
"Are you sure it was the right thing to do?" One of them asks her.
"I'm not going to lower myself to their level. We know who he is now, and he has nowhere to hide. We will catch him and punish him for his crimes." She responded quietly.
"You...you did it. Another hour and our course would have been irreversible. I ran the numbers, Shepard. X57 would have struck near the capital city. The most densely populated region. But that's not going to happen, thanks to you." Simon said softly.
"Letting a terrorist go, or sacrificing innocent lives. I- I'm glad thats not a choice I had to make." He continued staring at her in wonder.
"I just hope you won't get in trouble for that." He continued.
"I'm not going to sacrifice people who happen to be between me and my target." She nods.
"Shepard...? Thank you. For my grandchildren's lives. I don't think I'll stick around, though. Not with the team gone. Too many ghosts." He said as he walked away.
After talking to the hostages she sent her crew back to the Normandy and gave them a well deserved break while she disappeared into her room with a bottle of whiskey. Both Garrus and Kaidan watching her worriedly.
"If I feel ONE biotic energy going through my ship, Commander. I'm dropping off at the nearest station and you can explain to Captain Anderson why the best pilot quit and made off with the Normandy." Joker's voice called out from the comm.
"No promises Joker. Let's just hope this whiskey knocks me out before anything happens." She said softly while holding the bottle up before taking a deep drink.
"Hey...I know you had to make a tough call out there Commander. Just want to let you know that I'm proud of you." He said sadly.
"Joker out." He continued as he cut the voice comm.
She settled herself at her desk and poured a small measure into the glass. Clicking her Omni-Tool she sends Clara a video request and smiles as the girl picks it up.
"Emily! Finally, have some free time?" She asks a smile on her face.
"Something like that." Emily smiles as she holds up a glass to show Clara.
"Rough mission?" Clara asks as she leans back and crosses her arms.
"Rough enough to warrant a number of sleepless nights that I'll be having for a while." Emily says as she takes a small sip.
"From what you sent me earlier, you made the right choice. Sure its hard watching the baddies walk away. But you saved the hostages. Not even that, you saved a whole planet." Clara exclaimed.
"Who's to say he won't try it again? There have been an increase in pirates attacking outworld colonies lately. It just makes me nervous." Emily responded quietly while rolling the glass between her palms.
"You'll get him, once your mission is over you'll probably hunt for him across the galaxy." Clara said as she nodded fervently.
Emily smiles as she runs her hand through her hair and winces as her fingers get caught in a tangle.
"I really do need a haircut. My hair is getting too long." She rumbles a complaint as Clara laughs at her.
"Oh shush, you look pretty. And I bet that Alenko guy thinks so too." Clara teased.
Emily blushed slightly, and shook her head.
"Yeah. He does, and let me tell you, he's very easy on the eyes too." Emily giggled quietly.
"So...Emily? Do you think its 'love'? I mean like, I've never seen you talk about any guy like him and well I just want you happy ya know?" Clara asked worriedly.
"Hell. Ask me when I'm drunk. Or sober, one or the other." Emily evaded the question. It was something she's been wondering a lot lately. If they were serious about the relationship, one of them would have to be switched to a different ship. And since the Normandy was hers, she was pretty sure that Kaidan would be moved out of reach to prevent them from breaking the rules.
It sent a soft pang of pain through her heart, causing her to wince slightly.
"Aha." Clara said softly, her face a showing a hint of sadness.
"Well, I'm sure you two will figure things out. If not, maybe I'll date him!" Clara teased as a soft blush stained her cheeks.
Emily laughed and shook her head.
"No way!" She growled out and let out a soft giggle.
"Well, since you're pretty much close to being drunk. I'll let you go. Besides, Aunt Patty sends her regards and wanted to say thank you for that present you sent us." Clara smiled as she watched Emily nod drowsily and waved good bye.