Shepard was praying silently to herself as she heard the Angelus bell start to ring in the distance. She slowly raised her head and looked out at the main thoroughfare that led to the white sand beach of Elysium. Just a week ago she was lying on that white sand, getting a little color and drinking margaritas. Now in between her and that beach were pirates, slavers and a few warlords, less than there was at the start of the blitz but enough to keep her from it. Now she was quietly sitting in the mayor's empty office after dropping a few careless batarians from the rooftop and preparing for when the daylight faded. She needed to return to that chiming bell located in the St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church tower. She had dropped into both the major retailer Gal-Co and now the Elysium City Hall to not only inspire and encourage the people in each defense post but to also ensure that the enemy did not get an actual bearing on her. With her Naginata sniper rifle and Hesketh scope she had been deadly accurate at the start of the blitz and had too many kills to count, but she knew that the enemy was counting. The batarians tucked in the trenches had a greater fear of the "daimōn", as they were calling her, then the rest of the humans fighting back. She seemed to be everywhere and nowhere. They had even taken to putting up decoys for triangulation purposes so that they could hit her with all their fire power if she fell for one of them. So far, she had not taken a shot at the decoys but it had been close on one. She had almost squeezed the trigger when the wind moved the paper ruse over. Shepard had given a small laugh, "Mother, did you do that? Stop blowing on their traps."
While some worried about her constant movement from one defense post to the next, Shepard had realized very early on that her presence was important to keep up morale. She could see that the resistance, as they were calling themselves now, believed in her and saw her as the sole reason they would make it through. The weight of their dependence on her was heavy but she couldn't let it cripple her. She didn't see herself the way they did but Shepard knew that if these people didn't have someone or something to look up to, they were all lost. There were fellow Alliance soldiers and citizens camped at the city hall, library, Gal-Co and along the main route and Shepard would always arrive at each location smiling as if she had just come from a nice jog in the park. Her friend and crewmate Gunnery Chief Wernher Buckbee, who was camped out at the library, on day five had asked her how she looked so positive and Shepard had just smiled at him as she held up a candy bar and said, "We get the chance to save innocent lives and eat free snickers, Bucky! This is the best way to spend a furlough. Anyone can lie on the beach, but we get to save a community. What's not to like?"
The truth was that Shepard remembered that long ago flight to Illium and her mother's words, you can either join them in their fear or you can offer hope. Shepard was scared, tired and wanted someone else to take the reins … she simply wanted to call it a day but the words of a pastor pushed the young Alliance Naval Operations Chief. I challenge you to think of others, to look outside of yourself and be a beacon of light when everything seems dark. As she stood looking out towards the beach she whispered, "Well, momma ... It's dark. Not sure if this is the beacon of light that you meant though. I'll do my part if you just stay near me."
Shepard found it funny and yet quite appropriate that the church was all hers, even if it was a Catholic church. Maybe it was being the preacher woman's kid that made her gravitate towards it or that at 215 feet up in the tower, separated by 384 steps from earth to belfry, it made her feel safe. No one else wanted to climb up all those steps or be in the tower when the bell began to chime at 0600, 1200 and 1800. The bell would ring in three groups of three chimes with a pause in between each group which was then followed by 9 consecutive strokes. Father Quaglia had told her he could shut it off but Shepard had said no. "Father, as long as the tower stays loud the enemy won't think that some idiot would sit up there." The priest had smiled at her response, asked if he could bless her with holy water and say a prayer. Shepard looked at him and accepted, "Sure Father, I'll take all the help I can get." Shepard, seeing the oversized basement and how secure it was, had the children and adults not fit to fight moved there for their safety. Father Quaglia, Sisters Aquinata, Benedict and Ascenza all worked around the clock to attend to the hideaways as well as the wounded brought there. They also made sure to keep the 'Good Shepherd', as Shepard was christened by Sr. Benedict, in their daily prayers.
The bell that was both her friend and foe had the words O Rex Gloriæ Veni Cum Pace inscribed on it and Shepard had punched the phrase into her omni-tool to translate. O King of Glory, Come with Peace it read back in English. "Peace," Shepard whispered as she pulled her rifle up and peered through the Hesketh scope, "that would be nice right about now." With the bell chiming while she was camped there, she would climb halfway down the tower, plop in ear plugs and sit it out. Not that the plugs cut the sound out completely but it did help. The bell had saved her life and others once when she had went into a micro sleep and a batarian had made it across the field. The bell shook her awake and just as she popped up, she saw him duck into the city hall. She quickly began to tap out a warning in Morse code on her omni-tool to the guys in the building. "Come on my little scout, understand this." Shepard had chosen six of her LOTF crew to work the radios and each of these had been a member of the Boy Scouts that had earned the Radio Merit Badge. As she waited she wiped the sweat off her forehead and realized that she wasn't breathing. What seemed an eternity passed and then the message came back, "Four eyes dead". Shepard let out a deep breath of relief which passed quickly as she saw six batarians break from the trench that the enemy had created at the entrance of the main street. Shepard smiled, began quietly singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" as she dropped all six in beat with the song. Then she gathered her weapons, informed an imaginary Tommy Lasorda that she couldn't accept his offer to join the 1974 Dodgers "due to a prior commitment, Tommy … but tell Davey I still love him" and headed for the next point … Gal-Co.
Six days in with no true sleep, snacks only for food and on rare occasion lousy tasting Elysium coffee made her moody and a little punch drunk, but she made sure that she kept hydrated. Keeping hydrated meant increased pee breaks that included struggling to urinate without being caught with her pants down in a squat out in the field. This was the only time that she wished that she were a guy, "Is this what penis envy really means?" she had joked to Bucky on the first day as she squatted in an empty coffee can in an alley that they had been pinned in for four hours.
"Where did you get that coffee can?" He asked as he kept a look out.
"Inside the trash bin," She said as the sound of urine started. "There is brown gunk in it that I think is tobacco … At least that is what I am telling myself."
Yep, penis envy while squatting over Folgers.
After 144 plus hours of this crazy run she was getting really good at relieving herself mid-stride almost and any modesty that she might have had with the males around her were soon left behind. She could flush her system in under a few seconds and be back in position before the enemy would have time to stand. As for the lack of sleep, she had read somewhere that a teenager once went 264 hours with no sleep so she had another 251 hours at least in her bank. She hoped.
Staff Lieutenant Lezeu Moldovan was the highest ranking Alliance officer still alive and located in Elysium's Gal-Co. He was in his late forties and was about to retire from the Alliance. He and his wife had saved enough money to open a restaurant in Constanța, Romania and all he wanted was to return to his hometown, to his wife and to their three teenage children. After the initial conflict resulted in only a fifth of the Alliance Marines and Naval personnel surviving, Moldovan had looked at Shepard as they were discussing the new designated defense posts and whispered, "We will make it?" Shepard had placed her hand on his shoulder, looked him in the eyes and said, "Da!" She had made him feel more confident but inside she gave them just 24 hours to survive. Why spoil the ending? She had thought to herself as she answered him. Now as the light disappeared, Moldovan stopped her, "Shepard, you must sleep. Rest here and I'll wake you if there is a change in our situation." Shepard slung her Naginata sniper rifle over her back, Kessler pistol in hand, joked "no rest for the wicked, Moldy!" and began her quarter mile sprint from the Elysium City Hall back towards the St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church.
Moldovan had watched as Shepard had quickly rallied the few soldiers left along with the majority of the citizens following the first two days of the blitz. She had done this shortly after the head of their leader, Major Varus, was placed on a pole to show the humans how their leader had failed. Marine Major Varus had been tough and brutal but also sometimes too careless while he led the fight. Shepard had admired his strength and determination but worried as both sides saw heavy casualty and the bodies piled up at the beach side of the city. With his leadership the batarians were caught just outside the heart of the city as the Alliance moved in with their fleet to battle the raiders in the skies. This took a great burden off groundside as it kept the batarians from doing air strikes or sending in more ground troops. But instead of re-grouping to review their resources, enemies' location and strategy the Major felt that it was a waste of time. So he and 52 Marines battled their way farther into enemy territory with only 3 making it out.
The evening following the death and beheading of the Major, Shepard with three Marines stripped down naked, covered each other in mud, took only their weapons and carefully snuck behind enemy lines where they overpowered two of the leaders. Shepard personally snuck behind the one that was determined to be the head of the ground slavers and slit his throat. They decapitated both leaders, hid their bodies and then carried the heads back across the line … The heads were then carried just twenty feet from the enemy lines during the darkest part of the night and raised up on poles like the Major had been. Come daybreak the heads became visible with the morning light causing the enemy to panic. As some of the batarians tried to leave, their own side shot them in the middle of the desertion. It had made Shepard smile because she knew that they might have a chance of surviving. The batarians were like humans … they also felt fear and could display cowardice the same as humans. We just might win.
Moldovan had stepped aside to let the Alliance Naval Operations Chief lead since she seem to not only know what the batarians were going to do before they did it, but she was also willing to make decisions that he just couldn't make. She at times seemed ruthless but he knew that the leader needed to be if they were to survive. She had quickly cut off all roads in to the heart of the town and the batarians responded by digging a trench at the main entrance. Shepard had found it almost comical that the batarians were building a trench since they were using the dead. "Please someone tell me that they smell odors like us." Shepard had said half to herself.
Bucky had overheard, "Probably. Why?"
Shepard motioned towards the trench using bodies in place of earth or bags and half laughed, "Because in a couple days that place should really gag anything when those bodies start to decompose."
Shepard herself had taken out at least a hundred and sixty batarians with her rifle alone, not that she was counting. For the past six days there had been instances of the enemy trying to push in closer but Shepard would quickly spot the leaders in the bunch and drop them. This demoralized and left the rest of the group confused. Each defense post had plenty of ammo, rations and batteries for the oversized flashlights taken from Gal-Co due to the help of her LOTF team that scurried about. This was the name that she had given to the younger citizens that she had enlisted. The LOTF stood for Lord of the Flies and when she had started handing some of them weapons from bows to rifles she received shouts of protests from some of the parents.
"These are children!" A woman had protested as Shepard gave a rifle to a girl of fourteen.
"Yes, they are." Shepard said as she handed another teen a bow. "See that man over there?" She said to the acned boy as he took it, "He can show you how to properly use this," As the boy trotted off, Shepard instructed after him. "And aim at the chest; it's the biggest target on them. Don't try to be fancy with a head shot."
"What kind of monster are you? Someone stop her from using our children!" The woman had started to try and rile up the other citizens as she stood in front of her teenage son.
Shepard grabbed the woman by her shirt, pulled her close and said in a cold stern voice, "We do not have the luxury to baby these kids … just as I do not have time to coddle you. If you want these children to see another year then they need to join the fight. Only then do we stand a fighting chance."
The woman struggled free and pulled her husband in front of her, "But they are children! You have no right! Think of what this will do to them if they kill someone. The years of mental trauma they will live with. Years of-"
Shepard began rubbing her temples with her middle finger and thumb as she cut the woman off, "Years that they won't have at all if they do not fight."
The woman began talking more to the crowd as she answered, "Can't we talk to the batarians? If they knew that there were children here they would go away. They can't all be bad. We at least must try and end this peacefully … for our children."
Shepard stepped closer to the woman and pushing the husband to the side, "In Mindoir you know what they did to the children?" Shepard gritted her teeth. "They put chips in their heads. Chips. They pulled back the skin," Shepard made a motion of the skin being pulled back from the temple area, "drilled the chip in and then simply put the skin back into place … where they sewed it together without any anesthetic. The screams still ring in my ears. The children were then thrown into cages like animals and transported to their ships. Those children, if alive, are somewhere living as slaves. That's what they plan for these children. Now, if you are done with your tapioca delusions … I have things to do to protect this place, to protect these children."
As Shepard went back to outfitting the new LOTF team the woman was still calling Shepard a monster for using the children as her husband tried calming his wife. It was that woman's teenage son that had carried a duffel bag filled with ammo, first aid, food and blankets up to the belfry for Shepard a day later and had apologized for his mother. "She just doesn't understand. My mom thinks that everyone wants to do good." Shepard looked at the boy without emotion and the young man lowered his head, "No, that's a lie. Truth is she just doesn't want me fighting. I know that she would sacrifice everyone else, even my father, to see me survive this." Shepard went over to the boy, lifted his head up by the chin and told him that his mother was doing what mother's do. "She loves you. She would die for you so give her a break. Don't judge your mother, OK?" The boy wiped his eyes as he nodded. Shepard smiled at the boy, appreciated that the boy had set up her base because the less she had to carry between locations the quicker she could get there, but she had wished that he had stayed in his designated spot. She scolded him for leaving his station but then thanked him for the set-up. The boy grinned, grabbed his bow and promised not to stray again as he left her very well stocked in the tower.
Now as she moved across the dark town, Shepard under her breath silently quoted a scripture that she quoted every run as her own personal blessing;
It is God who arms me with strength
and keeps my way secure.
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he causes me to stand on the heights.
He trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
As she passed the library she decided to stop in and refill her canteen as well as check in with Bucky. He had kept a bottle of Jack Daniels and she wanted to make sure that he wasn't getting drunk. As she entered into the dimly lit first floor she put her rifle down against a chair and quietly walked over to a table. She pulled out her almost empty water canteen and as she turned and put the spout of the canteen to her lips she felt a sudden and extreme pain in her chest, ribs and back as she flew over the table and on to the floor. She had landed on her back and was struggling to catch her breath as she looked up to see three batarians looking down at her. How they had got there she had no idea and at first she thought that she was hallucinating. But with the pain, lack of air and dizziness that the batarian's kick to her chest had caused, she knew that she was not imagining them. She also quickly realized that her rifle was more than twenty feet from her and that she was about to die when they did something surprising.
The three batarians turned their backs on her as they strategized on getting to the fourth floor where the resistance was stationed. As they continued to talk among themselves, it was then that Shepard realized they thought she was just some weak nobody. It helped that she was dressed in civvies and not a uniform and that they had also not seen or noticed her rifle or the pistol tucked in her belt at her back. They may have not noticed but she remembered the pistol was there … it had made her almost scream out in pain as it pound into her back when she landed on it. Thank the Bacchus that she had the wind knocked out of her so she couldn't scream.
She began to slowly move forward as she reached behind her. She carefully wrapped her hand around the pistol, released the safety, pulled it out in front of her and in three squeezes killed the batarians where they stood.
Ten minutes later and Shepard was sitting on the same table that she had flipped over laughing with Bucky and a few others about the incident. Bucky had asked if she was hurt but Shepard had said no. Why tell him that she thought her ribs were broken or that she was breathing shallow to limit the pain in her torso. Shepard then told Bucky that they needed to figure out how the enemy had gotten past all of the defense points with no one seeing them. Bucky brought out his Jack Daniels and poured her a glass. The glass of whiskey was sitting next to her on the desk and she picked up the glass and admired the dark amber color.