"Are you okay?"
Shepard turned toward Garrus. He was looking at her with concern from across the table. Here, they had finally set aside time for a date. They had even called in Solana from Palaven to babysit, and Garrus had made a reservation at a new interstellar restaurant on the presidium that was getting rave reviews in all the vids. (Okay, so he had demanded a reservation. Being a Councilor married to Commander Shepard had its perks.) He had gone through all this trouble to set up a nice, romantic evening, and Shepard felt like she was ruining it.
"Just one of those days," Shepard sighed, taking a rather large sip of wine.
She did not need to say anymore. After six years, 'one of those days' was code for flashbacks and nightmares. In the months that followed the defeat of the Reapers, Shepard had started feeling the psychological effects of the previous couple of years. All the trauma and all the loss had left scars behind. When Garrus looked at her now, Shepard was sure he could see them as plain as the faded red etchings on her face.
They both knew what triggered this particular episode. Early in the afternoon, word of what had happened on Earth reached them. No matter how many times Garrus tried to convince her otherwise, Shepard felt responsible. More importantly, she felt useless and restless up on the Citadel. She had convinced Kaidan and the team to go, and now she was having dinner on the Presidium while they tracked down a damn rogue admiral. It felt very far from right.
"You know, I – hold on," Garrus said, putting his hand to the side of his head. His face darkened as he listened to whatever the person on the other end of the line had to say. "Is C-Sec on the scene? Damn it. Wait – we might be able to head them off. … Like I give a damn, Auraea. Patch Sanders through to Shepard and me. That's an order."
"Sanders? Garrus, what the hell is going on?"
"I'm afraid we're going to have to reschedule, dear," Garrus said, standing up. "We've got a few mercs to intercept. You in?"
"Oh hell yes," Shepard said, draining her glass and following him. She put her hand to her leg, where she had uneventfully kept a pistol holstered for the past six months. "You said Sanders. What does this have to do with Indigo?"
"They grabbed a couple of the kids," Garrus growled, rushing out the door as Shepard followed. He looked woefully under-armed with just his own heavy pistol. Their waiter attempted to feebly protest, but Shepard pushed past him unceremoniously. "They're heading for the docks. We might be able to intercept."
"Shepard? Vakarian? You there?"
"We read you, Sanders," Shepard called over the comm. "What the hell happened?"
"Guys in Alliance uniforms showed up. Said they were taking the kids to a safer location. But, nobody had told me anything about a transfer," Sanders said. "When I told them I would need to call into HQ for confirmation, they just opened fire."
"Is anyone hurt?" Shepard said, stopping in front of a skycar terminal and hailing a cab.
"They took out a couple members of our guard," Sanders said. "One of my students, Mitchel, he's transmitting a tracking signal. I'm forwarding you the feed."
"Smart kid," Garrus said as they climbed in a car.
Shepard took the wheel. "We've got the coordinates Mitchel's transmitting. We should be able to head them off."
"Some maternity leave, huh, Shepard?" Garrus laughed. "Any idea what we do when we actually catch up to them?"
"I'm working on it. Sanders, does C-Sec have that signal?"
"Yeah. They're taking their sweet time scrambling together a team, though," Sanders said.
Shepard heard Garrus groan next to her. Since being appointed Councilor four months ago, one of his main missions had been stripping C-Sec of all of its bureaucratic bullshit. Of course, the rest of the council had not made that a particularly easy task, but Shepard thought it sounded like he was making progress. She was rethinking that assessment as they left presidium airspace and made for the docks.
"We're closing in," Garrus said next to her. "Five hundred meters and counting. So, how's that plan coming?"
"I could position us close enough for you to jump onto the hood of their skycar," Shepard offered.
"Very funny."
"Sanders! You there? At least tell me that C-Sec is working on pinning down what ship they're heading to," Shepard called out over the comm. As they merged onto the skycar path alongside the docks, she thought she saw their suspects ahead. There was a Kodiak wavering a bit, as if it had been hit by heavy artillery. "I think I see our guys. Sanders, did somebody hit them with a missile?"
"That would have been me," Sanders replied. "Grenade launcher."
"Nice," Shepard and Garrus said in unison. They exchanged a small smile.
"And C-Sec's got a fix on the ship they think they're heading to," Sanders continued. "The SSV – that can't be right. The Waterloo? That's where the Kodiak came from in the first place, but–"
"Looks like Hackett was right about this going to the top," Garrus said darkly.
"Alright, looks like we're taking a shortcut," Shepard said. She pulled off from the main road, to cut across an access channel that lead to the frigate docks. She was white-knuckling the steering wheel, practically praying that they would beat the team of false – or, disloyal, anyway – Alliance soldiers.
As they approached the Waterloo, Shepard spotted a contingent of soldiers waiting outside the jet way. Figuring for a split second that she might regret it, she gunned the cab into the open cargo bay of the ship. They touched down and piled out into cover behind some cargo crates, amid the chaos taking hold of the lower deck.
"I doubt this whole crew's gone rogue, Shepard," Garrus said. Shepard found herself, like many times before, grateful to have him along. She probably would have just started shooting.
"This is Captain Shepard, Alliance Navy!" she called out. "We have reason to believe there's a faction on your ship – oh shit!"
The Kodiak came around the corner, barreling into the cargo bay. Garrus and Shepard dived out of the way just in time, while a voice shouted from over by the Waterloo's armor bench, "Shepard? What the hell is going on?"
Shepard stood up, momentarily disoriented from all the noise of the Kodiak's crash, and ran over toward the elevator door. Garrus was at her heels as they reached the few privates and engineers who had been down in the cargo bay. They all looked between Shepard and Garrus with shock, clearly recognizing them.
"Someone from your ship just took two students from Grissom Academy hostage," Shepard explained. She noted the genuine surprise on their faces. Whatever was going on, these enlisted were not involved. "And they just crash landed in that Kodiak. Close that cargo bay door, now! Who's in command of this ship?"
"Major Coates, ma'am."
"Coates? Can you patch me into communications?" She and Garrus exchanged a look as one of the engineers nodded. Shepard had not seen Major Coates in years, not since they grabbed a drink in an under-construction London following the war. Shepard glanced back at the Kodiak – its weapons were cold and its doors were locked – as the engineer gave her the thumbs up. "Coates! What the hell are your people doing abducting teenagers?"
"Shepard? Is that you? What the – do you have anything to do with the breach we just registered down on the cargo deck?"
"Coates, I need an answer here," she said, watching as the cargo bay door sealed shut. Hopefully they were right about the Waterloo not being a rogue vessel.
"What the hell are you talking about Shepard?"
"Did you have orders to send men after Grissom Academy students here on the Citadel?" Shepard said, lining up a shot at the door of the Kodiak, just in case.
"Of course not!" Coates exclaimed. Shepard glanced at Garrus, who nodded. They knew Coates. Maybe they did not know him well, but he had been part of the resistance on Earth. He had been part of the push to the beam. Anderson had vouched for him. To think that he would be involved in something like this, that was crossing a line that Shepard did not fancy seeing the other side of.
"Well, somebody gave those orders to your men. They abducted two students in a Kodiak and just crash-landed in your cargo bay."
"God damn it! Somebody get me the names of whoever the hell is on that shuttle! Shepard, I'm sending some guys down your way. What's your status?"
"They've holed up inside the Kodiak, Major," Shepard said, looking for any signs of activity. "We've closed the bay door. They're sitting ducks."
"We're remotely disabling their onboard weapons, Shepard," Coates said over the comm. "Alright, I'm getting information in – Jesus, four marines signed out that Kodiak. What the hell are they playing at?"
"There's a rogue faction inside the Alliance," Shepard explained. The elevator door opened behind them, and a contingent of soldiers piled into cover. "We knew it went pretty high up, but things just keep getting worse and worse. I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to discuss any more than that."
"Shepard, we've got to get those kids out of there," Garrus said. "Once those soldiers realize there's no way out–"
"Coates," Shepard called out over the comm. "You can remotely disable their weapons. Can you get that damn door?"
"Already on it," Coates replied, and the door to the Kodiak swung open.
At first, it appeared completely empty. Then, two teenagers appeared in the doorway and stepped out. A blond girl was supporting a boy who was clutching at his side, fingers stained red. Shepard moved forward, flagging the soldiers behind her, with her gun drawn.
"It's alright. It's over," the girl said weakly. "My name is Maureen Collins. I'm a student at Grissom Academy. And the soldiers who tried to kidnap us are – they're dead, ma'am."
Shepard lowered her weapon and ran forward as the boy was collapsing onto the ground. She applied some Medi-gel and called for a medical team to get down there immediately. The girl, Maureen, was shaking horribly. She had blood and brain matter splattered across her face and hair.
"They were going to kill us," she whispered. "I didn't know what else to do. I wasn't even trying to – it just – they just pulled the trigger."
Shepard exchanged a meaningful look with Garrus. They never headed to hear her say it, although Maureen would eventually choke out a description of what happened when they met up with Sanders. Maureen had made the traitors commit suicide, the same way Kaya had killed Dr. Marcus on Omega. And if any of the Indigo Project kids could potentially wield that kind of power, then the stakes had just gone way up.