8/31/2211
Deafening booms tore through the station one after another, the entire structure shaking violently. The world spun before Ria as she lost her foot, landing hard on her side. Her vision became awash with a dazzling display of colored spots, the lights flickering with each violent tremor. Harsh red joined cold white as warning lights flooded in the, accompanying the wails of sirens that obliterated all other noise.
A hand entered Ria vision, roughly pulling her up to her feet. Swaying as the station shook again, Ria grabbed hold of her father's arm to keep from toppling over. "Core, status, now!" Ria demanded into her comms.
"Scanners detect primary explosions emanating from power centers of Alpha and Beta complexes. No corresponding explosion in Gamma complex. Secondary explosions centered on transportation and support network connecting the three asteroids. All three complexes are no longer connected. Structural integrity collapse imminent. Chain reaction in power cell imminent. Detonation time unknown, estimation less than twenty minutes," the geth's voice replied frantically.
Cursing under her breath, Ria quickly looked around. A few feet away, Laura helped Kel to his feet, slinging the smaller quarian's arm around her shoulder to support his weight. "Why weren't there bombs here too?" she asked. The Marine grimaced, glancing over her shoulder at the generators behind them. "Not that I'm complaining."
"They must have been setting the explosives up before we arrived. Probably didn't have time to finish," Shepard shrugged.
"Doesn't matter now, we need to move," Ria cut in. Quickly she activated her comms again. "Talena, Core, I don't care which one of you does this, just get the ship over here for pick up, now!"
They set off back the way they came, going as quickly as their injuries allowed. More tremors rocked the complex as they ran, some threatening to toss them from their feet.
"Where is the Invisible going to pick us up?" Laura asked her a minute later.
"There should be a docking tube up ahead! We just need to—"
Another explosion tore through the station, this time close. A fiery light flicking from around a corner ahead of them was the only warning she had before a rolling fireball rushed into sight. The shock wave slammed into Ria like an invisible fist, knocking her down. Her kinetic barriers were the only thing that saved her from frying inside her suit..
Derbies now choked the hallway ahead, open flames spreading at an alarming rate. It must have been an incendiary charge. Groaning Ria dragged herself up off the floor.
"Fire's too hot, we can't get through!" Laura shouted. Even as she spoke, the Alliance marine slammed her fist into the control panel, sealing the hallway. "What do we do?"
Ria bit her lower lip, frantically working through their options. Her eyes fell on the wide windows to one side of the hallway, the pieces on a plan falling into place. Moving quickly, Ria opened her comms, saying, "Core, Talena, I need you two to bring the Invisible to our location now. Double time it!" Without waiting for a reply, Ria spun to face her team. "I want everyone to check suit integrity, patch breeches with omni-gel. Laura, you help Kel. No arguments, now!"
At once her team did what they were told. A minute later everyone had sealed any breaches their armor had sustained. "Dad, you have any breaching charges?" Ria asked quickly. He nodded back at her, tossing the small explosive to her. Snatching it out of mid air, Ria stuck it to the center of the glass.
"Laura, seal that door behind us, we're creating our own airlock," Ria snapped, sprinting back away from the glass. Coming to a stop next to her father, she yanked the M-77 Paladin its holstered at her father's hip. Whirling around, she unloaded the clip into the window. Cracks formed in the pane, but the reinforced glass held.
"Right," Ria said, tossing the weapon back to her father. "Lets hope this works." Outside the blackness of space seemed to blur as a dark shape moved to blot out the stars. The shape glinted as it pulled in close, the Invisible's mat-black armor appearing as an oily shadow against the void. "Here's our ride. When I say go, jump!" Ria shouted, turning to frantically wave them forward. "Now!"
Ria's omni-tool flashed. She jumped, pushing off with all her might. An instant later there was a deafening bang the a breaching charge went off. The reinforced glass, weakened by Paladin's armor piercing shells, collapsed. Invisible hands seemed to grab hold of her, the sudden decompression yanking her out into the void of space.
The word became a blur of motion as Ria tumbled end over end. The station. Stars. The Invisible. The station. Stars. The Invisible. Each of these flashed before her in dizzying waves. Her heart hammered, her breathing came as gasps. Panic seized he, and a chant started in her mind.
I hope I aimed this right, I hope I aimed this right...
Gray steel and harsh artificial light filled her vision a moment later, just before she slammed back first into the inside of an airlock. Bouncing off, she fell to the floor in a tangled heap, having passed within the Invisible's artificial gravity field. Ria tried to raise her head, only to be crushed back to the floor as her teammates tumbled down on top of her. The airlock shut behind them a moment later.
"Will you get off of me!" Ria groaned, scrambling out from under the tangled pile of bodies. Worming her way free, Ria pushed herself to her feet, leaning against a bulkhead as she gasped for air. "Is everyone alright?" she asked between heavy breaths, waiting as her team extricated themselves from one another.
"Lets not do that, ever again. Ever." Laura groaned as she stood, shaking her head as if to clear it.
"I don't know, so far as space jumping goes, I think we did rather well, considering. I didn't even partially die this time." Ria's father countered, his voice carrying the wide, stupid grin his helmet hid from view.
Ria shook her head, about to reply when a chime sounded, indicating that the airlock had finished re-pressurization. The second set of blast doors burst open a second later, allowing them inside the ship. "Witty banter later, right now we need to hurry." Ria turned away, calling out to the ship's pilot. "Talena, bring the ship around to the first structure. There are people still on aboard, we need to—" Ria started to shout, her words suddenly lost as a tremor shook through the ship.
Staggering, Ria fell against a bulkhead, the deck swaying under her feet. Warning alarms blared out from the ship's helm. "What just happened? Status, now!" Ria shouted as the tremor's stopped, though the alarms did not cease. Staggering forward, she came to a stop at the entrance to the ship's helm, gazing intently at the display screens inside.
"Mass accelerator round impact, starboard side. Total armor plating integrity eight-three-point-seven percent. Feedback to shield generators resulted in power surge, drive core offline."Core replied, his voice coming in over the ship's open comms.
"The shots came from that cruiser from before, it looks like they re-engaged while we were busy!" Talena added
"Can we retaliate?" a calm voice asked to Ria's side. Turning she saw that her father was standing next to him. If he was alarmed at what had occurred, he didn't show it. He brushed past her, moving to stand behind Talena's chair.
"Not until we can get the damn drive core back online," the pilot replied, her voice tinged with concern.
"So we're sitting ducks, then," Laura's voice cut in as she staggered out of the airlock, Kel still supported at her side.
"Negative. Scanners detecting an increase in drivecore power output prior to attack. Data indicates preparation for FTL jump in three … two … one," Core replied. Just as the geth finished its countdown, the image of the enemy ship became awash with a burst of brilliant light, then vanished. "Prediction confirmed," Core added, sounding positively smug that he'd been correct.
"So our friends just decided to give us a little parting gift, great. Not that I should complain, means we get to live," Talena replied. The pilot's hands appeared almost as blurs as they moved frantically over the holographic controls. "Core, how soon till the drive core is online?"
"Rebooting. Sequence initiated. Reserve power redirecting from non-critical systems. Drive core operational at forty-six-point-nine percent output of normal operation," Core answered. "If given an adequate opportunity, we could improve output by another five-point—"
"Good enough, lets get the hell out of here," Ria said, cutting the geth off. The ship's engines hummed as they burst to life, the Invisible pulling away from the station.
"Understood, are we going back for—" the turian pilot started to ask, falling silent as Ria's father suddenly cut in.
"Get us to a safe distance. We need to be out of range before the whole place goes." Glancing his way, Ria watched as he removed his helmet, setting it aside. The expression he wore now was hard, as if chiseled from stone. "That's an order, as senior Spectre I can and will override all other orders. Retreat to safe distance."
"No!" Ria shouted. She fought her way forward, shoving past Laura and Kel to reach the front of the ship. "There are people still there, we have to go back for them!"
"There's not enough time, Ria. You heard Core. Besides, I have my orders," the turian replied, her voice flat and raw.
Spinning away, Ria turned to face her father."You have to do something. You can't just let them all die!" She pleaded with him. Reaching out she tugged on his shoulders, trying in vain to force him around, to make him face her. "In all those stories growing up, you always saved everyone. You're Commander Shepard, you can do anything. Why won't you save them?"
Pulling again, Ria was surprised to find no resistance this time, her father letting himself be turned around. "I can't, Ria. I can't," he answered, his voice nothing more than a whisper of breath.
Staring up at his face, Ria was surprised to find none of the stoic resolve she expected, nor the uncaring cold she'd feared. The face that looked back at her was pained, his mouth drawn into a frown, skin lined with exhaustion. And his eyes, the eyes that stared into her's were… empty of all life.
"There's nothing I can do, Ria. There's nothing we can do. If we tried to go back for those people, the only thing we'd accomplish is dying with them. We're out of time," he continued, his voice thick with barely contained emotion. "I wish I could do something, Ria. I wish more than anything we could save them. But I can't." He gently took hold of her wrist, moving her hand away from his shoulder. "I'm not invincible, Ria. I can't do everything. No matter how much I'd want it to be otherwise."
Slowly he turned away from her, his gaze forward on the ship's display screen. For several moments Ria didn't move, she couldn't breath. A cold had filled every fiber of her being at her father's words, sapping every ounce of life and energy. Everything had gone numb. Distantly she heard her father's voice, cold and remote. "Talena, bring up the base on the view screen. I need to watch it happen."
Ria saw the three asteroids spinning in the view screen. Chains of explosions tore through the complexes, brief bursts of light that danced and flashed across its surface. Cracks began to form in the rock, sections of the structures collapsing. Then the explosions suddenly cut out, the scene stilled as if frozen in time. A single heartbeat echoed like a drum, long and drawn out.
A massive burst of light filled the screen. The ship rumbled and shook as the shock wave rolled over them. Against the blinding light, Ria could see the moonlet split at the seems, blown apart as their power cores went critical. A rolling fireball engulfed them as the base's escaping atmosphere ignited.
Then, all at once, the scene dimmed. The last traces of the blast faded away, until all that could be seen were chunks of wreckage, appearing as nothing more than black silhouettes in the void. Behind the light of distant stars twinkled, drifting endlessly in an cold, ethereal dance.
For several long, painful moments Ria stood there motionless, her eyes fixed on the screen.
Plop. A single tear splashed against the bottom of her helmet.
"Talena, get us out of here," a soft voice said. It was so calm and steady, it took Ria a moment to realise it at been her own. At once the hum of the drive core filled the air, growing in intensity the ship prepared to jump.
Without a word Ria turned away, walking as calmly as she could towards the elevator, brushing past Laura stepped forward, her friend's expression concerned.
"Its alright, I'm fine," she murmured, not looking back.
Within moments she'd reached her cabin. As she stepped inside she reached for the control panel, locking the doors behind her. Taking two more steps she came to a stop, standing as still as if she'd been turned to stone.
She'd believed that no matter how bad things got, there was always a choice. No matter what, her father never failed, meaning that in turn nothing was impossible. That she could do anything, only if she were more like him.
A tear ran down her cheek. Then another. Wet and hot, more followed one after another, running freely in burning lines down her face. Her tears fell like rain, pooling against her visor. The world hollow around her, empty, all light snuffed out.
Ria's legs buckled, the ground suddenly rushing up to meet her. Landing on her hands and knees, she let loose a choking sob. Her shoulders began to shake, sobs falling freely from her throat. She wasn't sure what she grieved more for, the lives she'd failed, or the loss of an ideal.
End of Part 1
Author's Note: Well, we are finally done with the first arc. God that dragged on way longer than I expected it too. Going to be honest, it was a bit of a slog to write this bit, so I am sorry if it felt like the plot grinded to a halt. Things are shaping up to start moving at a much faster pace now, as we are now getting into the meat of the story. I have already gotten a great deal of feedback so far, which I plan to use to fix the issues this arc had. Going forward there will be less fighting with more plot and character interaction/development. Answers will be coming for what's been going on, and I will be breaking up the formula that things fell into over the past 13 chapters. If you have any other feedback, please let me know, now is the time I really would like to hear it.
As this is the end of an arc, I will be taking an extra week off before the next chapter, which should be up three weeks from now instead of the normal two. I need a chance to catch my breath and get ahead on my writing, since I really have been slacking off and using up the chapters I'd already completed ahead of time (I am going to blame this on Fire Emblem: Awakening, which has absorbed my life for the past three weeks).