((Authors Note: I am so so so so sorry for not updating sooner. I have been very bad and very late I know. This chapter was hard for me to write because I wanted to do the main focus justice. So I had horrible writer's block. And then when that started to lift, I kept forgetting. Hopefully this will be the last time and only time. But if not, please be patient. I am not abandoning this story. And again I want to thank my beta reader who has been understanding in my delay as well.))
Chapter Eleven:
Ashley Williams watched as Shepard paced back and forth in the comm room. The commander had ordered everyone back to the ship. When the squad were all sat, Shepard had explained where they were going: a planet called Virmire. None of them had heard of it before. And the reason they were traveling there? Saren.
Ashley saw a range of reactions from her team mates. Excitement, anger, anticipation, wariness, nervousness. All matched her own, though some had more single minded reactions then others, like Wrex who was ready for a fight and Tali who was nervously wringing her hands.
It was Liara's question on what the STG on the ground had found that sent Shepard pacing as she confessed she didn't know – no one knew, except for the salarians, but their mayday was unclear. It was clear to Ashley, this was making the Commander stressed.
Despite that, Shepard took a deep breath before she started going over her plan. Joker would drop Wrex, Garrus and herself off in the Mako under Saren's radar. The Normandy would fly ahead. When they arrive, they would contact and find the STG squad. They would be reaching the planet the next day. Once she made sure everyone understood the plan, Shepard dismissed them.
They each went their own way to their little havens on the ship. Ashley noticed, with a smile, that Shepard headed toward the cockpit. Then she laughed as she saw money passing between Kaidan and Garrus. She wished she'd known – she would have gotten in on that bet.
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The next twenty four hours were some of the hardest Ashley ever had to go through. They were closing in on Saren, the turian responsible for Eden Prime; the man who, in a sense, had taken Liara's mother away. He was insane, and a traitor, and needed to be stopped. After the meeting, Ashley called her sisters. She had this feeling of dread, and wanted to talk to them, to chase the feeling away.
That night Ashley couldn't sleep. She didn't know what time it was when she left the sleeper pod, but she knew it was the night cycle from the lack of active crew. It didn't take her long to see she wasn't the only one awake. Shepard was sitting at the table in the dining area, a data pad in her hands.
"I thought you would be in your cabin," she said quietly as she joined Shepard.
"It felt too small. I wanted open space." The commander didn't look up.
Ashley nodded. "Something about tomorrow doesn't feel right. Like it can't be this easy."
Shepard put down the data pad and rubbed her temple. "I know, and that's what has me on edge. We don't even know what's there, and what Saren has waiting for us." Shepard sighed before jumping as Ashley slapped the table.
"Well, until then, what if we do something to pass the time. Have you played cards before?"
Shepard gave her a suspicious look. "I don't gamble, if that's what you mean."
Ashley shook her head. "I mean, just a card game. Something simple and mindless. My sisters and I used to play cards when we couldn't go out. I have a deck, if you want to." Shepard nodded, making Ashley beam and run to get her cards. When she came back she slammed them onto the table. "So, is there any you know?"
Shepard shook her head. "No, when I was younger I never played cards. By the time I did, I just knew the gambling games."
Ashley tsked. "Then I'll show you. Starting with Crazy Eights," she declared and started dealing out as she explained the rules.
But before she finished, Shepard stopped her, suggesting she invite Liara. The asari had been in her little room all day.
"You're right," Ashley agreed and went to the med bay. "Hey," the female soldier greeted as she entered the room that sat in the back of the med bay. "Shepard and I were wondering if you would be interested in joining us for cards?"
Liara looked up from the data pad she was reading from. "Oh, that would be nice, I guess. I've never played . . . cards was it?" Liara got up to follow Ashley out to the table where Shepard waited.
But Ashley stopped before they left the med bay. "Liara, I need to say something."
"Um, yes? What can I do for you Chief?"
"It's just Ashley," Liara nodded. "Anyway, I didn't get a chance after our little party, but I wanted to apologize."
Liara tilted her head, her cheeks a bit red from the mention of the party, but otherwise she was collected. "What do you need to apologize for?"
"The way I treated you when you join the crew, when you asked about my grandfather." Ashley looked down. "You were curious, and I shouldn't have responded and spoken the way I did."
Liara smiled and held out her hand. "Then let us put it behind us, Ashley. The past is the past."
Ashley shook her hand. "Deal."
She nodded and they left the room to rejoin Shepard. To Ashley's surprise though, Wrex, Garrus, Tali and Adams were already there. The last two were having an extensive talk about the new engine parts.
"I thought I would invite them to join us," Shepard told her. "Kaidan, and the good Doctor are getting some refreshments before they come too."
Ashley didn't know what to say. She had planned on having a small game with Shepard, but now this was becoming a huge gathering. It was strange how she was being reminded of her family back home. The thought was a happy and sad one.
Once everyone was there, sat and ready to listen to the rules, Ashley started, grateful that Chakwas and Adams knew the game and could help explain the rules to the crew members who were getting confused.
It was several rounds in that Ashley worked up her courage and turned to Garrus, asking him if he could calibrate her guns. She didn't have to finish before he agreed. She laughed as she inched away from Garrus, who was starting to suggest all the possible things he could do with her guns, his eyes gleaming like a mad scientist.
Wrex startled her when he spoke behind her. "Is it me? Or is the human seeing more than just aliens?" He chuckled.
"You can say that." Ashley chuckled back. "And I think I have for a while, but I let certain things stand in the way. But with tomorrow, we're approaching end game, and with Shepard's help I realised that singling out other races and being single minded . . . that's what Saren's been doing. So yeah, I'm seeing fellow teammates."
Wrex laughed and slapped her on the back from where he sat beside her. "About time, Williams."
Ashley smiled back, noticing the big smile and nod from Shepard. That's when she realised how she had become a part of a family away from her own.
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Ashley looked at the approaching geth. She could hear the Normandy coming in, but she knew it couldn't come for her. There wouldn't be any time. The last several hours had seemed like any other mission. They arrived, found out the STG needed more then what Shepard could provide, but the commander was more then she seemed. A plan was set, one that almost went out of the window when Wrex got angry.
He had found out that a 'cure' for the genophage was being made. He refused to let Shepard or anyone else destroy the base or the information it held. When he marched off, swearing to stop anyone who dare destroy the cure, Shepard was the only one who got him to think things through, made him realise it wasn't a real cure, so he came back and apologized in his gruff way.
The mission started after that. Shepard took Wrex, Liara, and then Kaidan; he was needed to set off a bomb. Garrus and Tali were tasked with joining Captain Kirrahe, while Ashley was asked to lead the last group. When Shepard asked her to lead, she was honored – it was more responsibility then she had ever been assigned in her military career.
Now though, she realised what her role had led to. And she didn't regret it. They had killed many geth, her team and her. They had taken on enough that Shepard and the other teams had made it through. Then Shepard informed her that she was coming for Ashley. But that was before Kaidan's call. He was being surrounded by geth too.
One of them had to be saved. The choice was Shepard's, and Shepard's alone. Both Kaidan and herself tried to tell their commander to save the other.
Time started to run out as Commander Merida Shepard went silent on the radio. Ashley could hear her breathing, hard. She had heard about Akuze. Whoever Shepard decided to save, she would be losing another team member.
"Commander." Ashley had finally spoken up. "It's ok, I'm ok." She was lying of course, but she didn't want to leave the choice up to Shepard anymore. "I'm ready to die for the cause." A few more moments passed before she heard Shepard telling Kaidan she was on her way.
Now she watched and waited. She could see the ship now, at the other side. She saw it go down for only a few moments before flying away. Ashley looked at the salarians with her. None of them seemed upset about their fate. The geth were still coming, though there weren't as many as there were before. Ashley readied her gun. She was a soldier, and she would go down fighting.
Her gun blazed with each trigger pulled, the area flashing with light until one light consumed everything . . . until there was nothing.