Beginning of the End.
Wednesday 5th December 2185.
Cassie was suspended from active service for two weeks, and was then held on Earth during her trial; this was intended to put her at ease, but it was her first time on Earth, meaning she felt out of place among 'her' people. The trial was insisted upon by the Batarians, despite their lack of evidence which supported their argument that Shepard destroyed the colony on purpose. The trial eventually ground to a halt when the Batarians resorted to dredging up Cassie's history with their people; both as the Alliance Commander, and before she even enlisted. It became clear to the Alliance that the Batarians were desperate to shame Commander Shepard's reputation. Their final argument was that Cassie destroyed the Bahak system as long overdue payback for what the Batarian pirates did to her over twenty years prior, primarily killing her mother.
After the longest two weeks of her life, the pointless trial was concluded; Cassie was cleared of genocide, and the numerous other charges that the Batarians had thrown at her. She spent the rest of November in a position where she was still suspended, and unable to fly; owing to the Normandy's retrofits still being undertaken, and the Cerberus decor completely stripped from the now Alliance flagship. But, exactly one month after she had turned herself over to the Alliance, the Reapers invaded in-masse, and Earth was one of the first to be hit, and to even the Commander's shock, the homeworld of humanity faced a full-scale invasion. She and Anderson fled the besieged city of Vancouver, and though Cassie was reunited with the Normandy; Admiral Anderson chose to stay behind and lead the resistance; while Cassie understood his decision, the new member of the Normandy crew, James Vega, was not quite as understanding.
No sooner had they cleared the moon's orbit, Hackett ordered they head immediately to Mars. Cassie decided to use this mission as a good opportunity for her to reconnect with her fist post-Akuze lover.
"But..." Vega protested, clearly eager to help.
"No buts James, just Ash and I are going on this one," Cassie stated, blocking him from stepping on the shuttle. "If we need you, we'll call for back-up."
"What if that storm cuts you off?" James asked.
"EDI will know if I need assistance." Cassie smiled, before hitting the button to close the shuttle door.
"That was rather harsh Commander," Ash noted, watching her commander/lover take a seat opposite her as the shuttle took off. "He wants to help."
"I know Ash, I know." Cassie sighed. "But it's been months since we spoke on Horizon, and I felt this was the best opportunity for us to catch up, and James would just get in the way."
"I know you want to just kiss and forget the past few months Skipper, but too much has happened," Ash sighed, as Cassie moved to sit beside Ash and put an arm around her lieutenant's waist. "You were with Cerberus, the enemy we fought when we weren't kicking Saren's ass, I'm not sure if I can..."
"Ash... shut up and kiss me," Cassie growled, before pulling Ash into the kiss, melding the moment their lips met.
"I forgot you could do that, guess it has been a while." Ash smiled as they momentarily parted. "It makes forgiving you a lot easier."
"And quicker, especially when you can share moments in a heart-beat, leaves more time for... reconnecting."
"Skipper! There's a pilot just through there!" Ash hissed, playfully pushing Cassie away. "Plus this isn't the time or place to properly... reconnect; I promise we'll reconnect all night when we finish this simple retrieval mission."
"I'll hold you to that," Cassie smiled, giving Ash a love bite on her neck.
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Cassie thought that Ash would be the only lover she'd reconnect with on this mission, but after learning Cerberus was present in the Mars Archives, Liara jumped out of an air vent and into her arms. Though this wasn't the moment they were allowed to reconnect, as Cerberus grunts followed Liara, but the Broker showed her ruthless side to dispatch them without needing Cassie's help. After that, Liara was eager to tell her lovers exactly what was going on.
"It's good to see you again," Liara smiled after informing them of the situation. "I knew you wouldn't stay on Earth forever, even if the Batarians wanted you to stay grounded."
"Shame the invasion was the incentive needed to give me my wings again," Cassie noted. "I would ask how you've been..."
"But kissing is a lot quicker," Ash smiled, as Cassie pulled Liara into a passionate kiss, before she too was pulled into a three-way kiss.
"And a lot more enjoyable," Liara purred after kissing her lovers for a solid minute.
"Now that's enough kissing, for the moment at least. But right now we need to focus on kicking Cerberus' ass off the red planet, and ensure we get the Intel before them." Cassie said enthusiastically, hearing the door above them being opened by force. "And it sounds like Cerberus are eager to have us kick their asses."
Fifteen minutes later...
'Fucking Cerberus!' Cassie cursed in her head, as pursued the Cerberus android that had stolen the intel she needed from the Prothean Archive.
It was the same android that had infiltrated the Alliance facility, killed numerous innocent scientists, and was now thoroughly pissing her off. She chased the android through the facility and on to the roof, where a Cerberus shuttle rode the storm in to pick the bitch up.
"Liara, help me bring that thing down!" Cassie yelled over the roar of the oncoming sandstorm.
"How?" Liara asked, as the shuttle took off.
"Biotic pull NOW!" Cassie yelled, glowing blue with her biotics and lashing out at the shuttle, seeing Liara follow suit.
While Cassie's biotics managed to drag the shuttle back towards them, Liara managed to rip one of the engines off, causing it to spiral downward.
"That's one way to do it!" Ash called, the sandstorm growing louder and louder.
The shuttle crashed as flames erupted from the engines, quickly engulfing the doomed craft. As the trio closed in on the crashed shuttle, the android burst out; its eyes blazed with the orange fury of the fire, as it locked eyes with Cassie. Ash tried to move in and execute it, but the android surprised them all with its combat speed, disarming the lieutenant, before holding her aloft, with its metal fingers wrapped firmly around Ashley's neck.
"Put her down you bitch!" Cassie roared, moving in with her pistol aimed at the android's head.
The Android Doctor Eva glanced at Cassie, saw her determined look through her visor, and smiled with glee, before smashing Ashley against the shuttle.
Cassie bellowed with rage, and with Liara quickly following her lead, they opened fire on the android before it could attack them, bringing it down in a hail of gun fire. Before the android had even hit the floor, Cassie hurried over to Ash's motionless body, activating her omni-tool to keep her alive and check her vitals. As the eye of the sandstorm surrounded the Mars facility, the Normandy shuttle flew in and landed beside the burning Cerberus shuttle. Clearly anticipating a fight, James jumped out with his gun raised, before dropping it at seeing that the fight was over.
"Battle's over James," Cassie stated, as he approached her and the unconscious lieutenant. "Make yourself useful and pick that thing up, it has the intel we need."
James begrudgingly followed her orders, moving to pick up the remains of Doctor Eva, while Cassie cradled Ash in her arms and carried her into the shuttle. Once aboard, she sat down with Ash's unconscious form held tightly in her arms, with Liara moving to sit beside her Commander.
"What the hell happened?" James asked as the shuttle took off, dumping the android in the cargo compartment.
"We cleared Cerberus from the archives, but that tin-can almost escaped with the data we need," Liara explained, while Cassie removed Ashley's helmet and slowly ran her fingers through her long brown hair. "As you can see we stopped it from escaping, but... it tried to take Ash with her."
James watched Cassie caressing Ashley's hair for some time, before finally asking the obvious question.
"Are you two..."
"Ash was my first lover after Akuze... and before you stumble on the truth randomly, she's not my only lover... don't ask, it's not important right now. However, yes, it is the reason I asked you to stay behind on that mission, I wanted to reconnect on the flight down." Cassie said, snapping when she saw James opening his mouth. "What matters is that thing has the information we need, so when we get back to the Normandy, our top priority is getting to the Citadel, where we can get help for Ash, and present the data in that thing to the Council, whatever that data might be."
She thought it best not to give away too much about her love life, she was still learning whether or not James was trustworthy.
"Yes commander," James sighed, before noticing there was another person in the shuttle with them. "Hey, my name's James Vega, who are you?"
"Doctor Liara T'Soni. I'm a Prothean expert, information broker, and in case you're thinking it, Cassie is both my bondmate, and the mother of my child." Liara introduced herself, shaking James' hand.
"I'll ask for details later..." James said, glancing at Cassie with curiosity, but his Commander's glare made him think twice.
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Cassie laid Ash on one of the med-bay beds, feeling her heart sink slightly at the absence of Karin; she had to rely on EDI to do what she could through the Normandy's advanced equipment. She only took her eyes away from Ash, when she heard Liara putting the android on the adjacent bed.
"Put that thing in the AI Core, EDI can tear the information we need from its memory banks." Cassie stated, and Liara complied. "Right EDI?"
"Of course Cassie," EDI stated, her hologram appearing by the door. "I shall have ascertained the information you require by the time we reach the Citadel. But I should inform you that Hackett is on the QEC."
"I'll be right there," Cassie sighed. "Stay strong Ash, I need you, our daughter needs you."