Chapter Twenty-One
Your Mother was a Snowblower
SSV Normandy SR-2
Shepard watched her crew working on the Normandy's damaged starboard engine. In her hands she clutched the helmet of her hardsuit, an item not dissimilar to one she had worn almost three years ago. The tools she was to carry outside were stacked in their neat crate at her feet, but that was where they remained for the moment. She had wanted to help, and this was the most practical, essential task available. It just happened that it was outside.
Just breathe…
From the window it was almost serene. Everything was done in that lazy manner dictated by zero gravity. The same environment in which she had died.
Although it sometimes felt as though it had happened in another life, Shepard remembered the details of dying vividly. She knew what it was to fight for air that would never come; to not even be able to scream in terror. The utter helplessness of that moment etched into her mind. Soldiers in the heat of combat, could fight for their lives every step of the way. In the moments before she died, there was not a thing Shepard could do to save herself. It was those memories that kept her boots fixed to the floor in front of the window. Where she was safe.
I'm scared.
With the admission came the sinking feeling in her gut, the full-fledged fear that she had been fighting to keep at bay. She struggled to calm herself, restore her breathing to something approaching normal. Fear in itself was healthy. Sometimes it set limitations and sometimes gave her an impetus to push herself further. This time however she knew if she let it take a hold of her, Liara would sense it too. Her bondmate already felt enough fear of her own.
Shepard tried to recall her Zero-G training during her time as an N7 candidate. The exercises had been rigorous, but ultimately straight-forward for someone of her skill. Now Shepard found herself unable to take a step outside the ship. Her first instinct was to blame it on what Cerberus had done to her, but she knew her own memories betrayed her. The failures were chemically wired into her brain.
{Call for you on vidcom, Commander,} EDI mercifully interrupted Shepard's train of thought.
"Thanks, EDI," Shepard responded. "I'm on my way now."
Too grateful to bother asking who it was, Shepard made her way to the QEC. She was expecting Hackett, demanding an update on repairs. However, instead, the image of a man she had thought to be lost formed in front of her eyes.
"Anderson," Shepard whispered. "You're a sight for sore eyes."
That one word was all the speech her mind could process. She studied her old friend. Although seemingly back from the dead he appeared none the worse for wear. His old, worn uniform had been replaced by crisp combat fatigues. It was difficult to tell via the vidcom, but he appeared to be unwounded and moving freely.
{It's good to see you too, Shepard,} the Admiral replied, voice just as confident as ever.
"You just wanted a holiday didn't you?" was the only half coherent sentence that sprang into Shepard's mind.
Anderson chuckled. {A holiday behind Reaper lines in a dank, dark cave – everyone's destination of choice. That shit got boring pretty quickly. Not quite sure how I hauled myself and Park out but I was damned if I was going to die like that.}
"Park was with you?" Shepard raised her eyebrows, remembering how scared the young desk officer had been when she'd hauled her to her feet in the ruins of Alliance headquarters. "Is she okay?"
"A little worse for wear but she'll pull through. I just wanted to contact you myself, instead of letting you get the word second-hand. I heard about the Citadel - we're all thinking of you down here, Commander."
"For fuck's sake, Admiral, I should be the one thinking about you. I'm still swanning about the galaxy, you're stuck on Reaper infested Earth!" Shepard replied vehemently. She bit her lip for a moment. "Excuse my tone, sir. It has been a…rollercoaster over the past twenty-four hours. What happened on the Citadel was…"
Her voice trailed off as she was unable to find the right word to describe the scale of the tragedy and the loss to the Galaxy.
{We're all feeling our losses.} Anderson nodded in understanding. {The death tolls on Earth…Palaven, everywhere. They're catastrophic.}
"And personal - Liara's father was amongst the dead on the Citadel."
{My sincerest sympathies to Dr T'Soni,} Anderson offered. {How is she holding up?"
"She's devastated," was the best response Shepard could give. "But she's managing, like so many others."
{And how are you?}
Shepard paused before answering. The question seemed almost irrelevant. Millions were dead. Liara's father was dead. How she was feeling about any of it as so insignificant. "To be honest...I'm coping. I feel as though I can face anything as long as I have Liara with me."
{I've known you a long time, Commander, and I've never heard you admit that you needed someone like that,} Anderson commented. {I guess it's about time. Don't let that one get away from one.}
"I don't intend to," Shepard replied firmly. She wished there was more time to speak to her old friend, to explain just how damned happy Liara made her. However time was moving far too swiftly, even for a conversation that was long overdue. She sighed. "I have to go, sir. We're due to rendezvous with an envoy ship from the Quarians any moment now and my ship is still virtually dead in the water."
{What the fuck have you been doing to the Normandy, Commander?}
"Nothing she can't handle," Shepard said honestly. "Stay safe down there. You're not going to get out of being a godfather to a whole swag of little blue babies that easily."
Anderson laughed, it was almost carefree. {Not on your life, Shepard. I have to see you as a parent.}
Wistful thoughts of blue babies were pushed to the back of Shepard's mind with the arrival of the Quarian envoy ship less than half an hour later. The admirals of the Migrant Fleet were already assembled in the Normandy's war room when Shepard entered. Liara was already present, her body language tense. Four masked faces turned towards Shepard and she faced the scrutiny of eyes she could barely see let alone read.
Shepard quickly recognised Admirals Han'Gerrel, Shala'Raan and Zaal'Koris - a trio of veritable power and influence. However the fourth Admiral caused her to raise her eyebrows in surprise. With her open and relaxed body language, she could tell that Tali'Zorah was exceptionally pleased to see her. The sentiment was mutual. The young Quarian was one of her most trusted friends. It had been Tali's gentle strength that helped drag her away from Kasumi's corpse and escape the burning Collector vessel.
"Tali," Shepard said warmly, striding forward so she could envelope the Quarian in a gentle hug. "Welcome home."
"Thank you, Shepard," Tali replied, the warmth evident in her voice. She lowered her head and looked at the floor. "I wish we could have seen each other sooner, under better circumstances."
"If you were to tell me that the Quarian Fleet is joining our fight against the Reapers then I'd say my circumstances were already a hell of a lot better," Shepard replied. With one hand resting on Tali's shoulder, she turned to face the other admirals expectantly.
"If only it were that simple, Commander Shepard," the soft tones of Admiral Raan answered the question implicit in Shepard's statement.
Shepard found her good mood evaporating swiftly. She addressed Raan since the other Quarians did not want to meet her demanding stare. "I thought you were here to tell me we have the support of your Fleet?"
"That will be difficult, considering our Fleet is engaged in an all out war with the geth," Raan continued.
Shepard felt sick to her stomach. "What have you done?"
Admiral Han'Gerrel stepped forward in a confrontational manner. "We saw an opportunity and we took it!"
"We're already engaged in a war and you had to start another one? What the hell for?"
"For Rannoch!" Gerrel responded tersely. "We managed to push them back to the home world. The Quarian people are on the brink of finally reclaiming what is ours-"
"Bosh'tet!" Admiral Koris interjected harshly, stabbing his finger towards Gerrel. "You and your warmongers have driven our liveships to the brink of annihilation!" Koris turned to Shepard, his threatening gesture becoming one of earnest appeal. "Commander, although the campaign was initially swift and in our favour, we have subsequently discovered that the geth are being controlled by the Reapers. With the upgrades they have become considerably more formidable."
"Your civilian ships have been dragged into this?" Shepard asked in disbelief.
"Yes! The fleet is trapped and they're being decimated," Koris explained, shaking his head.
Barely managing to contain her anger, Shepard rounded on Gerrel. Her fist was clenched at her side and she had to suppress an overwhelming urge to smash it straight through his mask. "You delusional arse! The rest of the galaxy is fighting for their lives and you go and start another war?"
"We have not come for an argument, Shepard-" Gerrel tried to protest.
"Well you've damn well got one!" she hissed through clenched teeth. "How do you expect me to give a fuck about your people when you've brought this on yourselves."
As Shepard spoke she happened to catch Liara's eye, the asari was giving her a calm, steady stare. When she saw Shepard was looking at her, she responded with an almost imperceptible shake of her head. Shepard abruptly cut short her tirade. She unclenched her fists and drew in a calming breath.
"What do you need to save your people?" she asked, looking towards the other three as opposed to Gerrel.
"We've managed to locate the source of the Reaper signal." Tali was the one to reply. "It is being broadcast from a geth dreadnought. Shut it down and the fleet has a chance to escape."
"The Normandy's stealth drive can help us slip through," Shepard added with a curt nod. "However once we get this done, the Migrant Fleet is going to withdraw. I am not helping you so that you can continue your war against the geth."
"We can finish the fight on our own, Commander Shepard," Gerrel added coldly.
"There's no fight to finish!" Koris protested. "We should be talking with the geth, not trying to wipe them out."
"We should never have involved the liveships!" Raan made a sweeping gesture with her hand.
While the admirals descended into a heated argument, Shepard turned to Tali. She jerked her head towards the exit and the two of them left the room. Liara slipped out behind them. With the Quarian voices fading as they moved down the corridor, Shepard was able to relax slightly.
"I'll help get your liveships free, Tali. I promise. Beyond that however-"
Tali responded with a grateful nod. "I know, Shepard. You'll do what you can. I wish we were reuniting under more favourable circumstances where I could properly congratulate the two of you. I hope you'll forgive Garrus for sharing your news before you had a chance to tell me yourselves."
Shepard felt a gentle movement against her hand as Liara entwined their fingers in a gentle grip.
"Thank you, Tali'Zorah," Liara replied on the couple's behalf. "They say nothing good comes out of war, but sometimes it helps us appreciate the things that are important. Like love...and friendship."
Tali shook her head. "I am sorry that you have been dragged into our mess."
"Cleaning up other people's mess is my speciality," Shepard replied. "Make your preparations, Tali. I'll be seeing you next to the airlock in thirty minutes."
As Tali departed and left the two of them alone in the corridor, Liara tightened her grip on the Commander's hand. "I know I am not the obvious choice to board the dreadnought…but I formally request to join the away team on this mission."
Shepard had already decided to bring EDI for her tech skills. She knew that Liara's request originated from a desire for revenge. The geth were being controlled by Reapers. It was motivation at its basest, the kind Shepard found it difficult to condone, and yet this was her bondmate. She owed her this, even if her instincts were to say no.
"On one condition," Shepard began. "That you stasis every damn geth hunter before they sneak up on me and punch through my shields with those shotguns of theirs."
"Done," Liara replied. She let go of Shepard's hand and made to move away. "I will not let you down."
Shepard watched Liara walk away, knowing that she herself had to return to the war room and do her best to diffuse the situation with the Quarian admirals lest she had an all out brawl on her hands.
"You never have," Shepard added when Liara was out of earshot.
When the elevator doors opened onto the armoury, Shepard found it empty save for Cortez, a group of techies bustling around the shuttle and Liara. The asari was kneeling on the deck, wearing only her black, form-fitting undersuit, much the same as the one Shepard wore under her own armour. She looked up in the process of fastening her one of her greaves. Without saying a word, Shepard retrieved Liara's second greave from the deck and knelt in front of her. Liara stretched out a slender calf muscle in response, allowing Shepard to strap it on. The Commander's movements were quick and precise – thigh plates followed the greaves, then chest and gauntlets. Throughout the armouring process neither said a word, not until Shepard had spun Liara around to strap up the last remaining pieces of the plates that protected her back.
"You are actually intending to let me do this?" Liara finally asked in a quiet voice.
"Do what?" Shepard asked. "Your job?"
The blunt question was not reflected in her actions. She gently jerked the last strap tight, securing the protective covering in place against her lover's fragile body. Her hands then encircled Liara's waist. The asari moved in her arms, turning until she faced Shepard and was able to stare up at her with a determined gaze.
"My job," Liara replied fiercely – more of a promise than a statement.
Heedless of any eyes on the pair of them, Shepard ignored propriety and drew the asari in close for a deep kiss. It lasted for mere seconds, far less time than either of them would have liked, and yet at that moment in time it had to be enough.
"Is that a ritual you share with all your squadmates, Commander?" EDI's emotionless voice interrupted them.
Shepard turned to see both EDI and Tali staring at them. Since one had no expression and the other's was unreadable behind her mask, she felt somewhat better than if it had been Vega or Javik. The Prothean had not offered her congratulations on her bonding with Liara so much as a verbal dressing down for giving into base urges during wartime.
"The Commander would be more than happy to give you a kiss if you asked, EDI," Tali added, the amusement plain in her voice.
EDI cocked her head to one side. "That will not be necessary. I am quite sure that Jeff would not approve."
"Let's just do this, shall we?" Shepard straightened and moved away from Liara. The heat in her cheeks had already gone, it was definitely time for her game face.
If anything was enough to dispel the almost light-hearted attitude amongst her squadmates, it was the sight of the warring Quarian and geth fleets. Engaged in all out space combat, it was pure, destructive bedlam. With the Normandy's stealth drive engaged, making their way through the chaos was a relative cake walk compared to what they found when they reached the massive geth dreadnought. Still patched into the Normandy's system's, EDI informed them that all the vessel's docking ports were physically secured save one that had been heavily damaged during the course of the battle. If it was to be their only option, then Shepard was damned if she was going to risk the entire squad. Without even looking at Liara, she made the decision to secure it herself.
It was only when she actually stood in the tube some ten minutes later that she realised she ought to have discreetly delegated it to Tali or EDI.
The docking tube had been riddled with cannon fire, great gaping holes had been torn through the structure, leaving it held together only by god knows what. Shepard's boots felt solid enough beneath her, but in order to make her way down the tube she had to use the weight of her body as she walked to rotate it. The zig-zagging path she made as she moved was torturously slow. All the while she was faced with a view that turned her stomach.
She was N7. It should have been easy but Shepard found it difficult to concentrate. Her mind was occupied with memories of being blown out into space, her air supply failing.
{Shepard…are you alright?} Liara's voice sounded concerned over the commlink.
Shepard knew her squadmates would be waiting, becoming anxious as the minutes passed.
"Yeah," Shepard replied uneasily. She wished she could keep her gaze fixated on the end but the necessity of avoiding the holes in the tube meant otherwise. "It's just slow going. Almost-"
The heart-wrenched screech of tearing metal interrupted her mid-sentence. At the moment that the tube shuddered beneath her feet, Shepard yelled in fright and scrambled forward. She only narrowly avoided remaining connected to the part of the tube that was now floating away below her. With her breath hammering inside her suit, she realised that the link was still open.
{Evan?} Liara sounded as panicked as she slipped into using first names. {Talk to me?}
The only response she would have received for several seconds was Shepard's heavy breathing, gradually beginning to slow. "I'm getting too old for this shit," Shepard eventually replied. Or else I've lost my nerve.
{What happened?}
"Let's just say you guys won't be getting into the dreadnought this way."
Shepard steeled herself and tried to continue walking forward. However she found she could not take a single step. It was as though her boots were clamped in place. Belatedly she realised her legs were trembling.
"Fuck. Come on, Ev. Would you rather be stuck in a tube or on a nice, solid geth ship?"
{If you are trying prove you are okay, then you are failing miserably.}
Shepard realised she had spoken aloud. "Did we ever discuss finding a nice planet to settle down on when this is all over?"
{You are not making any sense. I am not sure this is the time-}
"It's the perfect time," Shepard replied quickly, trying to keep panic from entering her voice as the remainder of the tube gave another shudder beneath her weight. "Seriously, where should we live?"
{I honestly did not think you would want to settle on a planet,} Liara replied uncertainly. {Given that you grew up in space.}
"I want our kids to have grass beneath their feet, Liara – real, live grass. The kind you can dig up and find dirt beneath – just like their Mother did," Shepard found talking made the process less torturous. Another quick glance upwards confirmed that she was nearing the end of the tube. "And a house, a proper one – not just a set of rooms with no windows."
{Are you sure you are okay?} Liara prodded.
"Are you trying to get out of answering my question?" Shepard avoided the one Liara asked her.
{Perhaps – I had not considered our options. I should think that as long as I am with you…}
"Brilliant. I'm sure property prices on Eden Prime will be affordable after the War. Even with what I get paid." Shepard actually managed a grin as she replied. She finally reached the end of the tube and the airlock was within reach. "I'm through. Thanks for the verbal support. Patching through to EDI."
{Commander?} The AI's voice responded quickly.
"Find me an alternate tube, I'm going to have to clear it out myself so the three of you can board."
Securing another tube was straightforward enough. Although geth resistance was determined, Shepard was even more so. Following her near failure in the tube, she was eager to prove to herself that she had not lost her nerve. It was relatively easy so long as she could not see the vast emptiness of space beneath her feet. She wholeheartedly approved of the geth's attitude to windows. They were structural weaknesses, therefore they did not have any.
However when she linked up with the rest of her team after overriding another airlock, she was unable to look Liara in the eye at first. It wasn't until the asari chose a discreet moment to reach out and take her by the elbow that she was able to acknowledge what had happened earlier. EDI had planned a route through their defence network using maintenance shafts. It was circuitous, but if they moved quickly, they could avoid most of the geth presence. Shepard turned, watching Tali and EDI scale a ladder in front of them until both were gone from sight on the landing above. Part of her wanted to admit what had happened, but the Commander knew that they should be pressing on towards their objective – the dreadnought's Operations Centre. As Shepard went to climb the ladder, she felt a hand on her wrist.
"Liara-" Her tone was defensive from the moment she opened her mouth.
"What happened in that tube?" Liara was directly to the point.
"Nothing," Shepard replied quickly, trying to move forward.
Liara tightened her grip, clearly unconvinced. "We do not have time for you to cover anything up."
"It's nothing...just the day I died I…" she swallowed as her words trailed off. "Space...Zero-G...it was similar to my response on Tuchanka – to Kalros. Let's just say that your Commander is not the woman she was."
"Rubbish," Liara responded abruptly. "You have never stopped being that woman. Trauma as a result of past events does not make you any less effective in combat."
Shepard disagreed, but instead she reached out to cup the mask that covered Liara's jaw, desperately wanting the contact with her skin as opposed to the gloves she wore. The gesture was over in a second. No sooner had she let her hand fall, Liara was scaling the ladder in front of them. Shepard berated herself for staring at her lover's arse as she climbed.
"The Ops Centre is just through the door ahead, Shepard," Tali pointed out when all four of them were on the landing. "There will be resistance."
"Gotcha," Shepard nodded. She reached behind her, hand instinctively going straight to the Cerberus Harrier in its folded position on her back. The weapon began deploying upon contact. By the time she lifted it to her shoulder, the assault rifle was ready to fire. "Stay sharp, focus on the Hunters. Liara will stasis as many as she can but the rest of us need to take down their shields first and they won't be able to re-cloak. Tali can hack single targets so if its glowing orange, leave it and let it help us."
"Understood, Shepard," EDI responded, drawing out her Phalanx heavy pistol.
"We're with you." The Wraith shotgun in Tali's hands seemed incongruent with her delicate frame – but she could wield it effortlessly.
Liara didn't need to say a word in response, she drew her Carnifex and her biotics flared in preparation. In the confines of a ship, her singularity and stasis powers could easily turn the tide.
Almost from the moment the door opened the geth were on them in waves. Shepard scrambled for cover at the first opportunity she received, her body slamming into a console as she hunkered down. Geth pulse rifle fire spattered above her head. Two sharp retorts echoed around the Ops centre before Tali took cover to reload the Wraith. She heard the crackle of EDI's overload as its chain effect skipped between geth troopers and hunters alike – decimating their shields. At one point Shepard turned to fire at a cluster of troopers in front of her when she was staggered backwards by the bolts from a geth plasma shotgun. Her shields wavered in the face of the shot and she was sent sprawling backwards. Shepard's reactions were sluggish as she tried to recover. The second shot would have torn through her shields before she could bring up her own weapon. Everything happened so quickly, she was still trying to respond when the decloaked geth hunter suddenly froze in front of her. A split second later, two shots were fired in rapid succession from a Carnifex, splitting its head open. Shepard jerked her head around to see Liara with a relieved expression on her face.
Shepard was well aware that it had taken them almost ten minutes of frenetic combat to clear out all vestiges of geth resistance from the Ops Centre. It was time that alerted the geth to their presence and also gave them time to lock down the Reaper signal.
Tali's voice was crestfallen as she informed Shepard. "Bosh'tet! We can't shut it down from here. I'm sorry-"
"Apologies aren't necessary, Tali," Shepard interrupted. "Just tell me where we have to go."
Tali brought up the dreadnought's schematics on the console in front of them. "The drive core. We should be able to continue using the maintenance shafts but I can't guarantee that the geth haven't locked them down."
"Shepard, I can attempt to circumvent any such geth measures to curtail our activities," EDI added. "Given my processing power, it is likely I will be successful."
"Fucking fantastic," Shepard responded with a nod. "Let's hear it for A.I. optimism."
Geth pulse rifle fire arced just over her head a split second later, indicating it was well and truly time for them to be pushing onwards. With Shepard covering the rest of her squad, they fell back towards the tunnel. EDI sealed the door behind them and they were safe for the time being.
"Okay people, double time. Tali, you've got point, lead the way."
"I am sorry about that hunter, Shepard," Liara said as they moved. Shepard had paused to reach down and help Liara up a steep ledge. "I should have been faster."
"It's combat. We can never be as fast as we'd like," Shepard said, enjoying just the brief contact of their hands. She had to resist the urge to retain her grip even after she'd helped Liara up. "I guess that's why someone invented shields."
The comment made Shepard pause briefly to check her shield strength following the point blank shotgun blast. EDI was bypassing the security lock on a door ahead. As she had suspected, they had been damaged and were functioning at sixty percent. She could only hope that it would be enough to see her through the rest of the mission.
"You're worried about something."
"Huh?" Shepard glanced up from her omni-tool to find Liara giving her a level stare. She shook her head. "It's nothing."
"Regretting taking your bondmate into combat already?" The asari even dared to smirk a little following her statement.
If Shepard was being completely honest with herself, she would have said yes. Not for the fact that Liara was not a capable combatant but for the pure, simple reason that she wanted to keep her safe at any cost. It was an impossible thought. In the midst of a galactic war, nowhere was safe. With the door open, their group pressed forward into the next chamber – a set of ladders led directly upwards. Tali and her shotgun were in the lead, closely followed by EDI, then Liara with Shepard bringing up the rear. As she and Liara paused at the base of the ladder, Shepard gave Liara her reply.
"Yes, because you're bloody distracting," she said gruffly, quickly. "I see the way your arse looks in that suit and all I want to do is rip it off you."
"You can rip it off me later – as you so eloquently put it," Liara answered.
Resisting the urge to make another comment, Shepard propelled Liara up the ladder with a helping hand. The grin faded quickly from her face. Shit, I have to stop behaving like this during combat. She did however find an idle moment several minutes later to wonder what being in love with peace time would feel like. Having lived much of her adult life in the midst of combat, it was essentially unknown territory.
True to her promise, EDI was able to open the bulkheads that had been sealed in the wake of their incursion. Their small squad made it the length of the dreadnought with several small fire fights along the way. However their effective combination of her own firepower, Tali and EDI's tech powers and Liara's biotics meant that they were able to overcome any resistance with a determined effort. EDI's overload stripped shields rapidly before she lit up targets with incinerate. To add to the potential for fire explosions, Shepard had equipped incendiary ammunition on her Harrier. The powerful Cerberus weapon made short work of geth troopers. Often Liara would warp one only to have Shepard kill it before she could detonate the power. No one cared, as long as the targets went down and their route to the drive core was as smooth as possible whilst in the bowels of a geth dreadnought.
"Shepard, the drive core is ahead," Tali informed them.
"Right, we locate the source of the signal and shut it the fuck down," Shepard ordered crisply. "Tali, you're our geth expert, you can find-"
Almost as soon as Shepard entered the cavernous drive core her eyes were scanning, searching for possible threats. When she saw what lay at its heart, she cut short her order to Tali. There was no need, everyone could see the source of the signal. Trussed up with his limbs secured by metal shackles, was Legion. The geth platform that had assisted her to bring down the Collectors was somehow being used by the Reapers. Issuing a quick set of commands to her squadmates to watch the perimeter, Shepard surged forward and stopped just short of the raised dais. The bright light at the centre of Legions' head was trained directly on her.
"Shepard-Commander, help us," it stated succinctly.
To hear the word 'help' coming from something that looked vastly similar to the machines she had been destroying for the past hour was slightly disconcerting. Nevertheless, Shepard had very quickly come to accept the geth platform as another one of her squad members. For all his external appearance, Legion was different.
"Legion!" Tali's outburst followed almost as quickly. "What have they done to you?"
There was honest emotion in the Quarian's voice. While initially there had been intense hostility between creator and machine, the two of them had formed an acceptance that was verging on friendship whilst fighting the Collectors side by side.
"Creator-Zorah, the machine uses our networking architecture to broadcast the old machine command signal to all geth simultaneously. We are being used in the destruction of the Creator Fleet. It must stop," Legion responded.
Just in looking at the machine that held Legion, Shepard realised she was very much out of her depth. "So we get you out of there and the signal stops?"
"Yes." Legion's head moved as though it was nodding. "However we must advise that it will be difficult."
"I do not think so," EDI interjected. "Commander, if I may? It appears as though Legion is being restrained with A.I shackles. They are comparable to those that held my programme whilst the Normandy was under the control of Cerberus. If you allow me, I can override them."
"Have I congratulated myself for bringing you along on this mission?" Shepard idly commented as EDI went to work at a nearby console.
"Shepard, the geth are going to be incoming. As soon as we free Legion, we're going to need to get the hell out of here," Liara pointed out, moving to her lover's side.
"Agreed," Shepard replied with a curt nod.
Whilst scanning the surrounding space, Shepard kept an eye on the platform. It took EDI less than five minutes to free the geth from his shackles, but it felt like an eternity. She finally watched Legion's streamlined exterior drop down to the deck. He landed with a sharp, loud clang and almost immediately began working on his omni-tool. He looked up when Shepard approached.
"Shepard-Commander, we have disabled the geth drive core and weapons. The dreadnought has ceased attacking the Creator Fleet."
Suddenly the deck beneath Shepard's feet shuddered violently – her years of experience told her immediately that they were under attack. She tapped into her commlink and used it to contact Gerrel. "This is Shepard, the dreadnought has been disabled. What the hell are you doing?"
"Destroying the damn thing!" came Gerrel's succinct, unapologetic reply.
"We're still on board!" Shepard yelled, thoroughly pissed off.
"Then I suggest you get off as quickly as possible."
"Sanctimonious arsehole," Shepard hissed, not caring whether the link was still active. She looked up at her squad. "We'll never make it back to the Normandy in time. Any suggestions? Escape pods?"
"The geth do not have the same requirements as organics, Shepard-Commander," Legion explained patiently. "However there are geth fighters housed on the deck above this one. We could pilot one."
"Perfect," Shepard replied quickly. "Shepard to Normandy, move away from the dreadnought. We're getting out in a geth fighter."
"Great. There are hundreds of geth fighters out here. How the hell are we going to know which one is you?" was Joker's obvious reply.
"We'll…waggle our wings or something!" Shepard replied in a terse voice. A heavy cannon blast crashed into the bulkhead just above her head. She ducked and rolled so that the second and third blasts narrowly missed her body. "Shit!"
"Prime-unit!" Legion said, his metallic tones not betraying any sense of the urgency that Shepard herself felt.
"Great, I've got hostile geth and the whole Quarian Fleet firing at me," Shepard hissed to no one in particular. She hunkered down behind a console and peered over the top to see the red-glare from the Prime's armour several metres in front of her. The rest of her squad had also sought cover. "Tali, EDI, Liara, follow Legion to the hanger deck. I'll distract this guy until you're out."
"Engaging a foe of such size on your own is ill-advised, Commander" EDI pointed out loudly and unhelpfully.
The Prime fired again, this time its pulse cannons slammed into the console Shepard was using as cover. The resulting electrical explosion sent her flying backwards, out of cover and directly into the Prime's line of sight. Sparks were all she could see as she threw her body into a desperate roll to avoid the blast she knew was coming. When it hit her Harrier was knocked from her hand. She didn't hear it clatter across the deck, the ringing in her ears was too loud. The smell of something burning registered before the pain and Shepard realised that her weakened shields had been completely destroyed. However the third shot that would have killed her dissipated in front of her eyes as it slammed into a biotic barrier instead of her body. She glanced up in time to see the Prime struck with both overload and sabotage in quick succession. Momentarily losing control, the Prime destroyed its own combat drone and turret even as weapons fire rattled across its armoured carapace. Shepard scrambled for her gun, reaching it only in time for arms to wrap around her chest and start dragging her backwards. The inhuman strength told her immediately it was Legion.
Shepard instinctively struggled to get back in the fight – slightly concussed when she yelled out at the Prime, "Your mother was a snowblower!"
"Do not even think about it!" Liara's angry tone betrayed her feelings on Shepard's actions as she covered their retreat with a barrier.
She glanced back down over her shoulder at the Commander and her lips tightened to keep from calling her bondmate a rash idiot with a death wish. As they fell back, she could tell that EDI and Tali were managing with the Prime extremely admirably. Its final death rattle came just as Legion dragged Shepard through an adjoining door. Exhausted, Liara let the barrier drop while Legion hauled Shepard to her feet. The remainder of her shields had taken most of the cannon blast, but large sections of her Kassa Fabrications armour were black and burned.
"A lucky shot," Shepard said sheepishly as Liara seized her by the elbow.
"You will be lucky if I do not kick your arse," Liara growled as she propelled Shepard forward, glancing over her shoulder to check that their other two squadmates were still with them. EDI was also slightly black around the edges from a narrow miss, but they were otherwise unharmed.
"You sound like my mother," Shepard observed as she tried to make her own legs work.
It was a desperate dash to the geth fighter hanger as the Quarian Fleet ripped into the helpless dreadnought. With Legion half carrying Shepard they made it within barely any time to spare. The four man squad had to become extremely friendly in the small space behind the pilot's chair as they scrambled aboard. No sooner had their geth ally powered up the small craft, the connecting gangway they had just run across disintegrated.
"Tali?" Shepard said, she kept her voice low because the lack of space meant that she was almost sharing the Quarian's suit. Another explosion rocked the fighter as Legion guided them clear of the hanger bay.
"Yes, Shepard?"
"Don't let me anywhere near Admiral Gerrel," she growled through gritted teeth. "Or I swear my fist is going to connect with his face – his actual face. I'll take great pleasure in giving him the worst damn infection he's ever had!"