11: Rough Landing

We came down to watch the world walk by
And all she found was trouble in my eyes
From the sky she pulled me down tonight
She calls out the farther that I fly
I love that sound, so give me one more line
From the sky she pulled me down tonight
Let her go, let her go

Thankfully, there were no aliens in the way. Ash was glad; she didn't want to have to waste any bullets until she got to the source of the gunfire. It sounded like three people—three colonists who'd managed to evade the seekers, maybe? She managed to find a good number of thermal clips in the Horizon armory as she made her way towards the ring of GARDIAN cannons. It sounded like she'd need them.

Climbing up onto the rooftop of one of the buildings, Ashley lay down on her stomach and brought the sight up to her face.

It was three people all right, but it wasn't all humans. There was a krogan, a human, and a turian.

A turian in blue armor that looked hauntingly familiar…Ash did a double take.

Garrus?

Unless her mind was playing tricks on her, that was Garrus Vakarian in that clearing. Ash zoomed in; it seemed that half of his face had been badly damaged by what seemed to be a close-range missile attack. A chunk of his armor had been blasted off as well, but it was undoubtedly the C-Sec detective who she'd hunted Saren with…and never really trusted.

She didn't recognize the krogan. He (the only krogan she'd ever seen were male, so she assumed this one was a guy as well) looked pretty young, probably no more than a half century old. Wrex was probably the expert on that. It…he…was wielding a shotgun which he fired with gusto, sending husks and Collectors flying. He seemed to be enjoying it thoroughly, too.

Her sight shifted to the third member of the party, a human. He was clad in N7 armor, the emblem clearly visible through her scope. But then her eyes shifted to his face, and her heart stopped.

The sculpted jaw, the buzz cut, the blue eyes, the light stubble…everything about him screamed that he was Commander Shepard, but her mind refused to accept it. No, no, she had grieved two years for this man—a man that, unless her eyes were playing tricks on her, had not been dead at all.

What the hell was he doing on Horizon?

Whatever grief she was feeling was suddenly ripped from her chest, to be replaced by annoyance and indignity. She'd made herself a promise to sock him in the face if she ever got the chance. Now, unless her eyes were deceiving her (they rarely did) then she could get the chance to do just that.

And yet…

Other emotions rose to the surface, but Ash forced them down almost unconsciously as she watched Shepard spraying his assault rifle in short, controlled bursts like he always had when they were chasing Saren. Tearing her vision away, Ash scanned the area. There were several packing containers from the last supply drop littering the area, obstructing her vision in some places, but she could still see the aliens—Collectors, she thought they were called—and…husks?

The things charged at the three fighters, howling. She'd seen the things before…but where—that was what escaped her. She simply could not remember.

Instead, she fell into soldier mode and sighted her first target, a Collector wielding a heavy weapon of some sort. She squeezed the trigger; the thing's head exploded and it fell to the ground.

The turian (Ashley resolved to think of him as "the turian" rather than "Garrus," it was easier to believe that the human was not Shepard that way) started shouting something about shots from someone he could not see. (That would have been her.) The human shouted back that they had more to worry about than gunfire that was taking down the enemy. Ash smiled wryly. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, she thought.

"I AM ASSUMING CONTROL."

Even from this distance, she recognized the voice. It was that…devil-thing that had released her and allowed her to make it this far. Zeroing in on it through her sight, Ash's heart swelled with anger. Oh, was she going to show this son of a bitch what for.

She peppered it with gunfire. It was equipped with some sort of biotic barrier, which rippled under her actions combined with those of the turian, the krogan, and the human. But with the four of them combined, it didn't take long to remove it from the battlefield and Ash felt a quiet sense of triumph as it disintegrated into ashes.

Suck on that, asshole.

But the feeling of victory was quick to disappear when the next wave of Collectors showed up. They weren't alone.

A monstrous, hideous creature landed in the clearing with a horrific scream and began floating towards the shore party. It looked like something from a bad science fiction movie, a grotesque floating thing composed of a bunch of Husks fused together and floating around, firing beams of energy similar to those the Collector heavies were wielding, but blue in color and seemingly much more powerful. She could hear the shore party screaming, firing their weapons with reckless abandon. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the human's—Shepard's—shields flicker and die. He managed to get into cover just in time, being careful to edge away from the thing at all costs.

"Keep your distance!" shouted the turian, taking potshots at the thing whenever he could. Ash let go with the assault rifle, spraying it with little regard to her ammo capacity. Only dumb luck and irony could allow it to slowly turn and set its sights on her just as her weapon clicked. Empty.

Shit.

This situation has just gone FUBAR, she thought. Shit.

She could only watch as the monstrosity came closer but screeched in frustration, unable to get to her from the rooftop. Whatever relief she felt at that point was quickly wiped from her mind when it glowed bright blue, planting its four spidery legs planted on the grass, and its maw opened up in a gruesome wail, a death choir. There was a screaming noise and a shudder of energy that knocked her off the rooftop. She fell through the air, the rifle flying from her grasp, and time seemed to slow down as she scrabbled desperately for purchase against the smooth wall.

Ash landed hard, the breath knocked from her body, and she saw stars. She felt something crack. Then there was pain, waves of it, and she tried to escape as the thing towered over her.

I'm sorry, Skipper.

The world went black.


The Praetorian turned its attention away from whatever had distracted it on the rooftop, and Shepard smiled wryly. It was just enough time for them to unload a considerable amount of ammo into the thing's sorry hide. A few more shots should do it, he thought.

Except it didn't. The thing was unscathed, and he realized that his bullets were rippling against a biotic barrier. He growled in frustration. It didn't have a biotic barrier before. There were heat sinks scattered around the area, but he'd have to run across open ground to reach them, leaving him exposed. There weren't a lot of options left. It was getting closer, and its particle beams were eating away at the crates.

Taking a deep breath, he ran, forcing himself onwards, and rolled behind a truck just as the beam ripped through the grass where he had been seconds ago. He scooped up the two heat sinks on the ground and pushed one into his assault rifle, the other in his sniper. Popping out of cover, he aimed at the Praetorian's eyes with his assault rifle.

It seemed to be working a little, at least. One of the particle beams was rendered useless, but by the time it was gone, the Praetorian was much too close for comfort. If it turned blue again…well, it had gotten a barrier the last time. He didn't want to know what would happen if it happened again. He ran across the clearing, wishing that he could tell EDI to target the Praetorian with one of the GARDIAN towers. He ground his teeth with frustration. Was this the end of the road?

But then he remembered the M-920 Cain strapped to his back. Cerberus had been pretty confident about its capabilities when they'd handed it to him. Maybe it would prove to deliver them from this completely FUBAR mess. Maybe he had enough juice to get off one shot.

He hauled the heavy weapon off his back with difficulty. It was pretty heavy, and bulky too. Cerberus obviously wasn't thinking much about size efficiency when they'd designed it; hopefully its damage would be worth the weight. (No pun intended.)

Aiming the best he could, Shepard pulled the trigger. Nothing could have prepared him for what happened next. There was a blinding flash and an explosion that knocked him off-balance, and his vision went white. A small mushroom cloud bloomed in the air. His ears were ringing and Shepard realized, with a sick sensation in his gut, that he hadn't checked to see if his squad mates had been clear of the blast. Crap.

But the Praetorian was dead, at least. That was a relief. So was the sight of Garrus and Grunt jogging up to meet him, breathless.

"Damn, Shepard," Garrus said, impressed. "When did you get that piece of hardware?"

"Cerberus." That was all the answer they needed.

"Well, give us a heads-up next time you plan on using that thing," Grunt told him a little snappishly. "I'm no good for fighting if I'm a pile of ash on the ground."

Shepard cracked a smile. "I'll make sure to let you know."

The smile faded as his eyes shifted to the Collector ship. He hoped that the Praetorian was part of the last wave; he honestly didn't know how much longer he could last against these hordes of enemies. Maybe if EDI could get the GARDIAN towers to disable the ship, they could board it and rescue the colonists. Or, at least, find out where they were going. That would be the least that could be salvaged from the mess.

But at the next moment, Grunt shouted out a warning and he shielded his eyes, turning away from the blinding flash as the ship's thrusters roared to life.

"They're pulling out!" shouted Grunt.

It took a lot of willpower to keep himself upright, but Shepard caught himself against the console and stared in dismay after the ship, rapidly becoming a disappearing speck in the sky. He wanted to scream out in frustration. Had he really come this far to see them escape, with more than half of the colony on board?

"God dammit!" he snarled. He reached for his sniper rifle, but Garrus stopped him.

"They're gone, Shepard," he said. "They got what they came for."

Resignedly, Caleb nodded and relaxed. There was a soft crunching of grass and Shepard turned to see the mechanic running up to them, his eyes staring in dismay and horror as the ship disappeared.

"NO! Don't let them get away!" he cried.

"There's nothing I can do," Shepard said apologetically. "They're gone."


When Ash came to, it was quiet. She was lying on her stomach, her face planted in the grass. She coughed and pulled herself up into a sitting position, looking around. She swallowed back a small whimper of pain.

She had taken a bad fall. Her ribs ached and her arm felt like it had been dislocated. Reaching out, she grasped the railing of a walkway and jerked, snarling in pain as the bone popped back into place. Ash sank back down to the grass, clutching her shoulder. She flipped herself on her back and tried to get her bearings.

The gunfire was gone, but she remembered where it had come from. Ash pulled herself to her feet and cut through a building to get to the clearing where the GARDIAN control console was housed.

She headed towards where the gunfire had been the thickest, thinking that whoever was left would be there. She could probably use the communications beacon to radio for help.

The first thing she saw was Delan, pointing up at the sky and shouting. At first she didn't move, obscured by the boxes, but then she caught sight of the turian and the krogan. The krogan she didn't recognize, but the turian was undoubtedly Garrus. She closed her eyes. This day just couldn't get any worse.

"...nothing I can do," that was the human, his voice regretful. She kept telling herself that she didn't recognize his voice. "They're gone."

"Half the colony is up there!" protested Delan. "They got Egan and Sam and…and Lilith!"

Lilith. Ash's blood ran cold. She'd hoped that Lilith, at least, had escaped. Now, she swallowed defeat.

"What would you have me do?" demanded the human. "I did what I could!"

The krogan spoke. "It was a good fight, Shepard."

Time seemed to stand still. Ash closed her eyes, not believing. It was Shepard after all…god dammit…

"Shepard!" Delan echoed. His voice hardened. "I know that name."

With a dismissive wave of his hand, he continued. "Sure, I've heard of you. You're some big Alliance hero, aren't you?"

Before she could stop herself, she found herself stepping into Shepard's line of sight.

"Commander Shepard," she said softly. "Captain of the Normandy, first human Spectre, savior of the Citadel…" Ash eyed Delan. "You're in the presence of a god, Delan. Back from the dead."

The old mechanic scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "All the good people we lost and you get left behind," he grumbled. "Figures. Screw this. I'm done with you Alliance peacocks."

He stormed off. Shepard didn't even notice him leave. He only had eyes for Ash. Blue eyes wide, raking over her, trying to take in every detail. He mouthed her name, agape. He stepped forward, not believing.

Suddenly, he pulled her into his arms and crushed her to his chest, burying his face in her shoulder. He squeezed his eyes shut, holding back tears. She did the same.

"I thought you were dead, Shepard," she said hoarsely. "We all did."

He did not answer at first, simply holding her against his chest. She felt a single tear fall onto her shoulder, and when he finally, reluctantly pulled away his eyes were wet.

He blinked the tears away and regarded her with a new eye. She felt the back of her neck prickle unpleasantly beneath her gaze, and flushed a little. Did she really want to know what would come next?

"You don't sound so happy to see me, Ash," he said finally. "Is something wrong?"

She almost exploded. Wrong? What kind of a question was that?

"You could say that," she retorted. She tried to sound angry, but there was too much pain to be successful. "I spent two years thinking you were dead. How could you put me through that? I almost..."

She didn't need to continue. Her head hurt, her whole body ached, and this wasn't helping. God dammit, she wanted to lie down. Not deal with this.

"Ash...it wasn't my choice," he said desperately. "I was clinically dead, comatose at best—while Cerberus rebuilt me."

It took a moment for the words to sink in. When they did, she stepped back, aghast. She'd thought of a million different possibilities on his survival, but Cerberus...not once...

How could she have been so stupid?

"You're with Cerberus now?" Her eyes found Garrus. "Garrus, too. I can't believe the reports were right."

"Reports?" Garrus echoed. "You mean you already knew?"

She nodded. "Anderson wouldn't talk, but there were reports that you weren't dead. That you were working for the enemy."

Her mind flashed back to Commander Walsh and his constant comments on her relationship with Shepard, insolent words that she'd always tried to shut out but was now trying desperately to remember.

He said nothing for a moment, simply agape at her words. But he found his tongue, and his words stung.

"I don't answer to Cerberus," he said indignantly. "We want the same thing. To stop the Collectors."

"Is that what you think?" Ash narrowed her eyes. "Maybe you just feel grateful that they saved you. What if they're behind it? What—"

"What do you mean, saved?" demanded Shepard. "I was dead, Ash! Dead! I didn't ask anyone to rebuild me! I didn't ask for my ship to be blown up, either, in case you were wondering. Are you going to tell me the Reapers are fake, too? You were there! You—you saw Saren. And Sovereign. How—"

"What about us, Shepard?" She cut him off, meeting his eyes. "I thought we had something. I—I loved you! Why didn't you at least try to contact me?"

"I—" He broke off. "I didn't want to hurt you," he managed. "Too much time has passed."

"What, Cerberus operatives can't be bothered telling their loved ones that they're okay?" she asked scathingly. She hadn't meant it like that, but her head hurt and the stress from…everything drove all rational thought from her mind.

Garrus cut in, frustrated. "Damn it, Williams! You're so focused on Cerberus that you're ignoring the real threat!"

Ash stood her ground. "Maybe," she shot back. "But at least I know where my loyalties lie. I'm an Alliance soldier; it's in my blood."

The blood was pounding in her head now, and she was, literally, seeing red.

"I'm an Alliance soldier, too," protested Shepard.

But Ash shook her head. Partly from the pain. Well, mostly from the pain. "No," she said flatly. "Not while you're with Cerberus, you're not."

"Ash—"

"I have to go," she said abruptly. "I have to report to my superiors. They'll decide whether or not they believe your story."

"My story?" demanded Shepard. "You saw it yourself! The Collectors are attacking human colonies! And they're working with the Reapers—Ash, just stop walking away and listen to me!"

She stopped in her tracks, her eyes on the grass. Slowly, she turned around.

"What?" she snapped. "What can you say? What do you want me to say? Two years I thought you were dead, Shepard! And now you show up and the first word out of your mouth is Cerberus—"

"No, it wasn't—"

"Do you have any idea what I've been through?"

Shepard stopped, agape. He was quite speechless for a moment. It took him a while to find his tongue.

"No."

Ash looked up; her face was unreadable.

"I'm going to report to the Alliance," she said. "Take care of yourself, Shepard."

She turned on her heel and walked away, not wanting to see the agony in his eyes. She pretended not to hear him call her name.

When she felt that he could no longer see him, she sank down, massaging her temples and squeezing her eyes tightly shut. Slowly, she replayed their conversation back through her head. She grimaced. Had she really said those things? She knew better of Caleb Shepard…

It was hard to think now. The migraine was becoming overwhelming and Ash privately wondered if this was what Kaidan Alenko went through on a daily basis when he was still alive. She mentally kicked herself for her rashness. For two years she'd been rehearsing what she'd say to Shepard if she ever saw him again, and this was what she came up with?

One year ago she would have simply curled up and cried her heart out, cursing anything and everything she possibly could. But she knew now that a Williams never cried; instead, she just got to her feet and turned her face skywards just in time to see a UT-47 Drop Shuttle streak across the blue. And then she turned around to assess the damage, both inside and out.


A/N: God, I hope I haven't fallen short of your Horizon expectations. Truth is that I've never played a male Shepard, only seen the Ash encounter on YouTube, so it was kind of hard to draw out the best that I could have done with emotion. BUT I HAVE DONE IT. :D Shepard's emotions will come in the next chapter, I just feel really bad about leaving this all hanging.

Fair warning, I'm not going to be concentrating much on the actual events in the game because c'mon, we all know what happens. This will not turn into a dry novelization of game events. Oh, no. I have a very devious surprise for you guys. Brendan knows. ;)