Ori's green eyes followed the shifting lines of code, monitoring the process program with a scrutiny that bordered on the spooky. The code ended and her assistant nodded.
"End of section 15a, all clear."
"Only three thousand sections to go." Ori straightened her shoulders sharply and cracked her neck. "Short break. I'm going to see where the second team is. They should be done with the fighter by now."
Heading through the mess, she grabbed a cup of coffee and sipped at it as she rode the lift down to the cargo hold. She had not yet seen the fighter, and when she stepped out of the lift and caught sight of it, she suddenly understood why Wilcher had been all but drooling over it. He grinned as he caught sight of her, waving her over.
"Hey, Ori, come see!"
"She's definitely a beautiful bird." Unable to resist, Ori let one hand stroke over the smooth metal plates. "Think Shep will share?"
"Are you kidding? I think she kisses it goodnight," he joked, lighting his omni-tool. "Check this out. I just finished integrating the VI pilot interface."
"Oh? You found one that worked?"
"You could say that."
He activated the VI, amusement dancing over his face. A likeness of Captain Shepard appeared beside the fighter. Ori broke out in laughter, grinning widely.
"Oh, that's wonderful! Where'd you get it?"
"Joker, who else? You remember, when the Normandy was being refit Del had this following Joker around like an obnoxious puppy?"
"That's right! I do remember. I hope you fixed her voice."
"Yeah, it's retuned. Sounds like the real one now, and doesn't go off every five minutes talking about asari. I just need to go through a little testing, make sure all the response algorithms work and we're good to go. Oh, that reminds me. I need my daigo sim pad to really put it through the paces without having the fighter actually go zipping around the place. I left it in the west work room. Mind grabbing it for me?"
"Sure, I have a couple things I should pick up as well. I'll get it."
Leaving the Normandy via the open cargo bay ramp, Ori crossed the huge workroom floor and into the base proper. Picking up a few things, she stopped by the west work room to look for Wilcher's sim pad, most of her mind on EDI, trying to figure the logistics of recreating the mobile chassis.
There have to be plans somewhere. I'm sure Liara could find them, even if it was Cerberus that built her. Wouldn't make them true AI's of course but as VI-driven platforms they could be extremely handy. Good Lord, Wilcher, you are the most unorganized man I know. Where is that bloody pad?
She finally spotted it amongst some other randomly scattered tools and let out an aha! Just as her fingers closed on it, however, the light in the room suddenly dimmed and turned crimson.
An alarm began to wail.
Shepard, supervising the crews scanning the Normandy environmental systems in the CIC, heard the muffled but unmistakable wail of an alarm echoing from outside the ship. Haley was lingering nearby, his head snapping up almost in concert with hers.
Instantly Haley began activating a helm-link console as Shepard looked upward. "Wilcher! What the hell is going on?"
{My systems are reporting hostile ships entering the system. Two frigates,} Wilcher reported. {Ladar is painting them Cerberus!}
Haley turned his head. "Ma'am, I've got them on our ladar as well. Delta-Class Frigates, pinging Cerberus. They are on a direct course for Folsberg, ETA less than five minutes."
"Wilcher! What exterior defenses do we have?" Shepard pointed at Haley again. "Get the crew locked down and the Normandy closed up!"
{We have AC guns and a barrier system, but it they won't last long against the firepower of two full frigate.}
"Start evacuation protocols! If I can get the Normandy into the air I can take the fight to them and allow your people to get a running start at that relay."
{You try and lift the Normandy up through the launch shaft you'll be a sitting target. It'll be like shooting a dead fish in a barrel!}
"We need a distraction to draw their fire away while the Normandy launches! Is that fighter ready?"
{I haven't been able to test it yet but it's fully integrated-}
"Looks like we're going to have a live test then. Get it ready to go and get your people ready to evac!"
She headed for the airlock as she saw Joker limp onto the deck, moving as fast as he could toward the helm.
"Joker, get us powered up and ready to launch on my signal," she ordered, and ran out of the airlock, down the ramp and to the workroom floor.
People were rushing everywhere, several shuttles nearby already powering up and being loaded. Weaving through the chaotic throng Shepard finally spotted Liara and Nan, hurrying toward her.
"What is happening?" Liara asked as Shepard caught her hand, turning and ushering them toward the Normandy.
"There are two Cerberus frigates bearing down on the Folly. Seems the Illusive Man remembered about Thanatos."
She felt the distant rumble under her feet, the only sign the AC guns had begun to fire. They didn't have very long before the frigates would take them out, and then concentrate their fire on the base. The Folly might be a thousand feet beneath rock and dirt but it would not take much bombardment to either penetrate through to the base, bury it beyond any hope of recovery, or find a fault line and simply break the tiny moon apart.
The three quickly ran up the ramp, Shepard waving a few more people aboard before ordering the airlock closed. The Normandy, engines idling, was rumbling like a panther ready to go after its prey.
"We've got to get out there and cover the shuttles or they won't stand a chance. Joker! Are we sealed?"
"Cargo bay is still open. Wilcher is moving the fighter out onto the open deck-"
The entire ship suddenly shuddered as the view screens on the cockpit lit up with a bloom of orange and red. Shepard instinctively lifted a hand against it before she realized it was outside of the ship.
"What happened?"
"Cerberus somehow overrode the docking blast doors," Joker quickly reported, frantically going over his screens. "They're halfway open. Atmo barriers are holding but they planted a lucky shot and took out one of the shuttles!"
"Fuck! We need out there now! Wilcher!"
{Fighter is nearly ready! I've got it out on deck, powering up! You there! Brandt! Help Ori get those people onto that shuttle!}
The air lit up again, another shot screaming through the atmo barriers and slamming into the flank of one of the loading shuttles. Its eezo core went up, consuming the vehicle and those trying to load onto it in a ball of fire and dark energy. Almost immediately on the flank of that terrible noise was another one, as Wilcher cried out.
{ORI!}
"Fuck! Vega! Garrus! Get him!" Shepard didn't pause, turning and sprinting through the CIC, Liara on her heels.
They ran through the still open cargo bay to see not only Vega and Garrus, but Cortez struggling with the massive Wilcher, who was doing his best to tear free of them. Vega hooked his feet out from under him and the three all but pinned him to the ground, but still he fought, trying to get back to his feet. All the while he was spitting and cursing and calling out Ori's name, red-faced and unabashedly weeping.
"Get him inside!"
She rushed past the tangled knot and the hovering fighter and toward the few coughing and wounded, battered forms who had been just outside the shuttle's blast radius.
Gripping one man with a broken leg she hauled him up, slinging an arm around him and half carrying him toward the ramp as Liara assisted the others.
"EDI! I need you to remotely activate the fighter! Get it launched and distract those frigates long enough to get the Normandy into the black!"
{Activating fighter now, Shepard.}
The men had gotten Wilcher into the cargo bay. Shepard urged Liara and the other survivors up the ramp first, glancing back as the fighter lifted up into the air and zipped toward the launch tube, before following.
"We're clear! Close us up, Joker! Get ready to fly!"
The cargo doors started to close as Shepard lowered the man she was supporting into a sit. Spotting Chakwas and Nan rushing toward them she waved them over, then left his side and headed over to Wilcher.
He had stopped fighting, and was sitting slumped beside some boxes, knees drawn up and hands dangling over them. His head was bowed forward, only the faint gasps of breath revealing the fact that he was sobbing.
She looked at Vega, who was sporting a rather lovely black eye, and gestured at him and Cortez. "Get these people secure. Garrus, I need you in the battery."
They dispersed with silent nods, and Shepard went down to one knee at Wilcher's side, resting her hand on his shoulder.
He waved a calloused hand abruptly, before self-consciously scrubbing it over his face. Shepard said nothing, her fingers brushing lightly over the stiff bristles on his head a moment before she rose and ran for the lift.
The CIC was in chaos. Ignoring it, she pelted straight for the helm. "Joker!"
EDI, who was hovering behind the pilot's chair, looked over at her. "I have one frigate disabled, Shepard. The fighter's swarm was able to cripple its maneuvering and compromise part of its weapons systems, and its barriers are down. It is in a slow roll and cannot stabilize. The other frigate is breaking off to engage the fighter."
"Keep hitting them, keep their focus on the Sabre. Joker, get us up that launch tube and the moment you see those bastards, you start hitting them."
The Normandy lifted off the deck and began to rise, the walls of the launch tube and then the flare of the atmo-barrier sliding past them. The deep heavy dark of space replaced cold metal and as the tiny moon retreated below them, Joker's fingers flew.
"Turning to bear on the frigates. EDI, give 'em hell!"
"Engaging."
The Normandy's weapon systems lit up. Even as the ship banked to bear on the frigates, the main gun slashed into the disabled one, cutting it neatly in half. The other frigate was firing, trying to take out the swift fighter which was darting around it like a sparrow harassing a hawk. The Sabre had already caused significant damage along the hull but even from here, Shepard could see the hated yellow, black, and white markings of Cerberus.
As Joker put it in their sights the fighter cleared the way, and they started the attack. Shepard looked from the view screen to an image on Joker's left, noting the shuttles were starting to emerge from the launch tube a breath before Joker announced it.
"Shuttles are clearing, we've got two minutes before they can hit that relay."
"Protect those shuttles at all costs."
The frigate had reoriented itself and fired. Shepard felt the bulkhead beneath her feet shudder a little even as Joker banked out of the way and EDI returned fire.
"Our barriers are down to seventy percent but still holding," EDI told her. "There is no significant damage to the ship."
"Can you get that fighter in to hit their core?"
"We will have to halt the Normandy's fire for exactly twenty three seconds for me to be able to do so, or else risk that the fighter be destroyed in crossfire."
"We halt our shooting and that frigate takes out those shuttles. We have to risk it. Keep firing and get the fighter in there if you can."
"Yes, Captain."
Outside the warring ships, the relatively tiny fighter darted and slipped through streams of ordinance being fired in both directions. The Cerberus frigate landed another lucky shot, the Normandy's barriers flaring again before it had to swing out of the way. The main gun ignited, ripping through the Cerberus vessel's barriers just as the Sabre swept in under its belly.
Five shots planted neatly along its gut, the fourth striking a fatal wound. The frigate began to shift forward, rotating on the horizontal as the eezo core was compromised. The fighter darted away from it just as the explosion of uncontained dark energy swelled the frigate and then tore it apart.
Shepard's look of grim intent softened slightly into one of satisfaction, and she nodded, lightly gripping Joker's shoulder a moment.
"Make sure all the shuttles have cleared safely and make sure no one has been left behind on the base," she said. "Then follow them into the relay. I'll be downstairs."
Wilcher had recovered himself and was standing stiffly outside the infirmary while Chakwas and the medical team dealt with the few wounded they had gotten aboard. Liara stood beside him, her slim blue fingers wound in his hand, almost swallowed by it.
His reddened eyes shifted to Del as she came in, and he nodded. She could tell by his posture that he was dealing with his grief much the same way she usually dealt with hers. He was turning it into anger.
"Thank you for your help," he said as she walked up. "We get everyone?"
"Joker's doing a final check to make sure the base completely evacuated, but it looks like all the survivors got clear. We'll take you to the Citadel, and I'll notify Hackett that Thanatos is on their way to help with the Crucible. That is…if that's still the plan?"
"Yeah, it is. You going after Cerberus?"
"Our primary mission is still to garner any aid we can for Earth. My main focus has to be that…but yes. Truth be told I plan to find a way to erase Cerberus every chance I get."
"Good." He nodded, then sighed. "Ori-…wouldn't want me to go all 'angry bear' and throw myself into some stupid quest for vengeance. That said, you promise me one thing, Del."
"Anything."
"If you find the Illusive Man, if you figure out what deep, shit-filled hole that bastard is squirreling himself away in and plan on blowing him off the map, you let me know. I want to be there."
Her face held nothing but resolve. "You got it, Wilcher. You're damn right I will."
As Shepard stepped away, Liara gave Wilcher's hand a squeeze, murmuring softly to him a moment before pursuing the human captain.
"Are you all right?"
Del summoned the lift, taking a deep breath. "I lost another friend. How would you feel?"
"She was my friend too," Liara said sadly. "They all were."
"I…know. I know, Tianlán. I'm sorry, I just…God, I want to kill that fucker. He does nothing but sow hate and murder and plain goddamn evil everywhere he goes."
Liara, of course, did not need to ask to know that Del was referring to the Illusive Man. The pair stepped into the lift and as it started to descend, Liara tentatively reached out and touched Shepard's hand. When the human woman's did not shift to take hers, she felt her gut sink a little. Things were still far from all right.
"Without Ori's expertise, it is going to take much longer to finish examining the ship's systems."
Liara's words were tentative, but needed saying. It was obvious to the asari that Del was trying to be as neutral as possible. Too many emotions were raging their storm within her, and holding on to them tightly was the only form of control that Shepard felt able to exert.
"We'll dock as long as we can but Mordin's nearly ready with his cure, and the Normandy can't just stay idle at the Citadel. On the other hand, with your broker network down a lot of the war effort is going to be severely hampered. Shit. Can nothing ever be fucking easy?"
The doors opened on the cargo deck, revealing Allers standing there, her pesky little hover-cam idly drifting just over her shoulder.
"Oh, Captain, I-"
"Later, Allers."
Del abruptly pushed past her and headed toward Cortez. Allers lifted her eyebrows and then looked at Liara.
"I am sorry, Diana. She is…tense right now."
"I can understand that. I was in the cargo hold during the evacuation. Is that big guy going to be ok?"
"Wilcher? He just lost his best friend and only love," Liara said. "It will be a long time before 'okay' even factors into it. You were down here filming the evac?"
Allers held up her hands. "I stayed out of the way. No one even noticed me. Besides, I have to clear all the footage through the Captain before I can air it anyway, so no worries that anything 'classified' is going to get out onto the extranet."
"I see. If you will excuse me."
"Sure," Allers said to Liara's back, as the asari walked away from her and across the cargo deck. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she stepped onto the lift. She was still staring intently at the asari as the doors slid shut.
It was extremely late that night when Del returned to the Nest. They had docked at the Citadel, and her afternoon had been filled with coordinating with Admiral Hackett and the remnants of Thanatos. Most of the group was going to move on to Alliance transports to rendezvous with the Crucible. They were leaving in the morning. Wilcher and a pair of the programmers had decided to stay on the Normandy for a while, to help finish tracking down the point of infiltration in her systems and secure them against any further hacking attempts.
The programmers were two of the best ones that he had left, but they were no Ori and most certainly no Tali, and it was going to take them at least forty-eight hours to complete their work. They were aware that the Normandy could not stay at the Citadel that long, and they may be stuck aboard as temporary crew until they were able to get them to the Crucible.
Shepard's entire being seemed to vibrate with need for sleep, yet at the same time she felt almost repulsed by the very idea of laying down and closing her eyes.
Slipping out of her uniform jacket and kicking off her boots, she turned on some Flatwood and plucked a bottle of whiskey out of the bedside stand. Sitting down on the mattress, she spun the cap off and tossed it idly aside, before she took a swig directly from the neck.
"Captain?"
She ignored the voice, taking another swig. Some part of her mind seemed to actively refuse to hear it, convinced it was merely another sign of the false psychosis that Wyatt and his mysterious compatriots were trying to impress on her.
"Captain?"
Her gaze finally shifted to the steps and there stood Traynor, watching her with the timidity of a field mouse gauging a cat. Shepard made a sound that could have been anything from irritation to a greeting, and set the whiskey to the side, picking up her cigar case and snapping it open.
"These are my quarters, Traynor. Don't you know how to knock?"
"I'm sorry, Captain. I do, but I was rather sure if I did so you wouldn't answer."
"That usually signifies that I wish to be alone, Specialist."
Shepard plucked a cigar from the case and then snapped it closed, tossing it absent-mindedly on the mattress beside her. She tucked the smoke into her mouth and fished out her lighter.
"I understand. However, I'm pretty sure right now is a very bad time for you to be alone."
"Fuck. Are you a fucking psychiatrist now?"
"No. I'm just concerned for my friend. We...are friends, aren't we?"
"Being my friend is a dangerous business. There's a very low survival rate. I suggest you quit now before you get hurt."
The lighter snapped on, the rich smell of the gold-label tobacco filling the air a moment later. She heard Traynor's footsteps move down the stairs and draw closer, and slapped the lighter down.
"Didn't you hear me?"
"I heard," Samantha said. The mattress dented a little as she sat on the corner of the bed, just a couple of feet away. "It seems I thrive on danger."
Shepard let out a stream of smoke, propping her head in her free hand as she stared in hazy misery at the floor. "What do you want?"
"You shouldn't be alone. I believe I said that before." A pause. "You need to sleep."
"I have bad dreams." Shepard confessed it before she realized. Shakily she took another draw on the cigar. The smoke was soothing, the nicotine seeming to stretch the edges of her veins wide, relieving in the way stretching a sore muscle could be relieving.
"Then I'll stay here, and make sure they leave you alone," Traynor told her. Reaching over the Specialist plucked the cigar out of Del's fingers and set it on the ash tray, before she grabbed a pillow and drew it over. Pushing firmly back on Shepard's shoulder, she urged her to lie down, scooping up her legs and swinging them onto the bed.
Shepard made no sound or motion of protest. She felt like nothing more than a lethargic observer, unable to bring herself to care, wanting only sleep, however temporary and false an oblivion it was.
It seemed the moment her head hit the pillow that thick curtain of black fell over her, and she tumbled helplessly into it.
Traynor settled the Captain comfortably, then cautiously stubbed out her cigar. She found the cap for the whiskey, neatly returned it to the bottle, and set the booze back in its proper place. She turned down the music slightly but left it on. Drawing a chair over she sat silently.
Twenty minutes later the door to the Nest opened again. Softly rustling footsteps padded near, then hesitated. Liara took in the sight with knit brows.
Shepard was clearly asleep. Whispering so as not to wake her, she moved down the steps, bewildered. "Sam? Why are you here?"
The young woman rose from the chair and straightened her shirt a bit as she walked over. "She shouldn't be alone."
Her words were simple and hardly accusatory, but Liara fancied the look in her eyes held a deeper truth.
The real question is, why weren't you?
"Good night, Liara."
As Traynor stepped past and headed for the door, the asari watched her go. "Good night, Sam."
Moving over to the bed, Liara bent and softly cleared a lock or two of hair away from Del's cheek, before bending and kissing the spot briefly. Turning down the lights, she went around the bed and climbed carefully onto it, winding an arm around her love's waist as her body almost unconsciously conformed to the one beside it.
"I love you."
It was whispered sadly, almost tentatively. Shepard continued to sleep, the deep and gentle tides of breathing her only response.