He was in his office in Chronos Station, looking over the latest reports on the battles raging at the moment. More colonies were lost, hundreds more starships were destroyed, and here he was, sat in an office far too large for just one man.
The galaxy was burning, and he was powerless to stop it.
It was not a feeling he liked, being powerless. He always had some degree of control over a situation, no matter how small, but this current situation with the Reapers made him feel that no matter what he did, he was still just playing into their hands.
He wouldn't be strong enough to defeat them. Humanity wouldn't be strong enough to defeat them.
But... there might be someone who could. He tapped in a few comands into the holographic console, and watched as a hologram -all of the Council's data on Gallifrey- flickered to life.
He frowned--it seemed the one piece of data he was looking for, the co-ordinates, were classified. Sealed not by firewalls, but physical seperation from the rest of the files.It didn't matter, he had ways of getting past that.
He tapped a button on the arm of his chair. "Leng, I have a new mission for you. Come to my office immediately."
While he waited, he began drumming his fingers on the arm of the chair.
The Doctor's eyes slowly opened, and he looked around, the details of the dream fresh in his mind. He picked sleep out of his eyes, and looked up at the cieling.
"What was that?" The Doctor quietly questioned. "Trying to tell me something, eh old girl?"
The gentle, steady humming of the TARDIS in the back of his neck was the only response.
The Doctor frowned. The TARDIS didn't often cause him to experience dreams like that. Almost never, in fact. The last occasion the Time Lord could think of was Sarah Jane's wedding, alerting him to that business with the Trickster.
If this dream was anything like that, then something was about to go down. Problem is, when? Or were the banshee circuits playing up again, and there was no real danger at all?
Ah, well, he'd have plenty of time to dwell on that later. For now, it was time to get back to work.
But as he stepped out of the TARDIS, the Doctor couldn't help but think he was missing something. Specifically, the rythm the Illusive Man was drumming out...
*Line Break*
A few minutes after waking up, the Doctor had recieved the summons to join the rest of the ground team in the shuttle bay.
There really was no rest for the wicked, it seemed. Fortunately, Time Lords didn't require nearly as much sleep as humans, so the Doctor was ready and able to answer at a moment's notice.
From what Shepard told him, and the rest of the team, Mordin's work on the genophage cure was taking longer than expected, so in the meantime, the Commander decided to check out a distress signal from Grissom Academy, a school for the gifted.
When the Normandy jumped into the system, it easily became apparent why the academy required assistance.
Cerberus was there.
The Doctor wondered how they could have taken a station of such size. Shepard explained that, due to the war's severity, the students would have been sent home, leaving only a small skeleton crew to maintain the station.
So now, they were on a shuttle, with the Normandy providing a distraction allowing the shuttle to sneak in without being detected.
The shuttle docked, allowing the team to exit, and proceed into the station. The academy's head, Kahlee Sanders sent regular status updates to Shepard, guiding them to the server room she was holed up inside.
The team made quick work of the Cerberus troopers inside, and Kahlee opened the door, greeting the Commander.
She quickly explained the situation. The remaining students, who stayed behind to help the war effort, were pinned down with a teacher in Orion Hall.
Wasting no time, the Commander took point, leading the team out of the server room, and towards Orion Hall.
The Academy was mostly deserted. Even the Cerberus force that had assaulted the station was only the crew of a single cruiser. They had obviously expected an easy fight, but now that Shepard was here, she was going to make them work for it.
As they walked through, they were forced to watch a pair of Cerberus troops drag a student by his ankles, the kid screaming as he was pulled along.
Shepard tried to break the glass, but it had been reinforced, in case that section of the station was depressurized. One of the Cerberus troopers noticed this, and barely glanced at her, entirely unconcerned. The door shut behind them, and they were gone.
"Barbaric." Javik commented from his place in the squad.
"I won't let those bastards take any more." Shepard growled, and the Doctor agreed. "Let's keep moving, we're on a time crunch here."
As they kept moving, aa Cerberus announcer tried feeding propaganda over the loudspeakers. It took everything in Shepard not to pump the speakers full of lead.
As they entered the next room, they came across two more troopers trying to get a student to drop his barrier. Shepard didn't hesitate to fire upon them. When the fighting had stopped, the student dropped the barrier, gave the team thanks, told them to be on the lookout for his sister, and scurried off to security.
The team pushed forward, moving through some classrooms and administration areas, pushing through more Cerberus troops.
They found another student, the other student's sister, and sent her to security as well. Then, the team continued forward. They found the path into Orion Hall, and entered.
There, a battle was unfolding between Cerberus and the students, with a powerful biotic coordinating the students. A woman Shepard would recognize in a heartbeat.
"Jack?" Shepard said.
"Shepard?" Jack questioned. Then, the exchange was rudely interrupted by the arrival of a large ATLAS mech.
Seeing the mech getting ready to open fire on Jack, the team opened fire on the mech, drawing its attention.
"Keep that thing off us!" Jack shouted, pushing one of her students up the stairs.
The team dove into cover, popping out every few seconds to fire.
"Doctor!" Shepard shouted. "Got anything to deal with that thing?"
"Sure do!" He changed the setting on the sonic, and peeked out to point it at the ATLAS. He pressed down on the activator, though nothing happened. "I can't do anything while its shields are still up!"
Shepard nodded. "Garrus, EDI, hit it with an overload!"
"Roger that!" "Affirmative!" Garrus and EDI chorused, peeking out to shoot the blasts of energy at the mech.
The mech's shields sparked and spluttered as they fell, giving the Doctor his chance. He pressed down on the sonic screwdriver activator, and the mech's weapons stopped firing.
"It's weapons are jammed!" The Doctor informed the team.
Shepard and the rest of the squad jumped out, and opened fire. Liara hit the mech with a warp, tearing part of its armor, while James hit the mech with a carnage shot. Shepard's was the last blow, as she jumped up and slammed the ground, unleashing a nova.
The mech finally had too much, and it spluttered and kicked out flames. The mech's power core finally exploded, reducing the ATLAS to nothing more than a heap of scrap.
"Kahlee said she was putting out an SOS!" Jack shouted from up top. "I had no idea the Queen of the Girl Scouts would show up!" She turned around to give orders to her students, then jumped down to meet Shepard. She strode up to Shepard, and clocked her across the face. "Damn it, how many times have I told you not to trust Cerberus!?"
Shepard rubbed her cheek. Jack had a mean right hook. "Trust me, you're not telling me anything I haven't told myself."
"Oh..." Jack stepped closer. "Feel bad? Well shit, I guess that's a big comfort to all the people Cerberus has killed!"
"Jack." The Doctor stepped forward. "I see you're as... charming as ever."
"Doc." Jack returned. "That bowtie still looks ridiculous."
"Oi, its cool!"
"Okay." Jack looked back at Shepard. "All I care about right now is getting my guys out of here."
"Your guys?" Shepard smiled.
Jack looked up at the students. "Yeah. I guess so."
"I can't think of anyone who would care about them more." Shepard told her.
"Well, I had some free time while you were off playing hero." Jack said. "The Alliance knew I helped you. They offered me this, and apparently the students responded well to my teaching style." Jack raised her voice for the last part, so her students could hear.
"The psychotic biotic!" A male student reaponded.
"'I will destroy you!'" A female one shouted.
"Drink your juice, Rodruigez!" Jack retorted. "You couldn't destroy wet tissue paper!"
"Cortez to extraction team." The Lieutenant radioed. "The Cerberus cruiser's comin' back."
Shepard looked at Jack and the students, and paused briefly. "Get back to the Normandy, Cortez. We'll find an alternate route off the station."
"Understood. Cortez out."
"Shepard to Sanders." Shepard radioed. "The shuttle's a no-go. We'll need to find another way off the station."
"Understood." The woman responded. "I can probably find another way, but I'll need station-wide camera access. Cerberus locked it down, but their control terminal's in Orion Hall, can you find it?"
Shepard looked around, and saw a laptop sitting on a bench. She walked over to it, and disabled the lockout.
"Got it. Okay, if we can get to the shuttlebay and commandeer a Cerberus shuttle, that should give us an escape route. The fastest way to the shutlebay is through the Atrium."
"Understood." Shepard responded. "We'll give the students a little time to regroup, and then we'll head out."
The Doctor took that moment to butt in. "Tell me, Kahlee, do you have access to ths station's door controls?"
"No, that's routed through a different systwm."
The Doctor whipped out the sonic screwdriver, and used it on the terminal. "There, try it now."
"I have full control. How did you...?"
"Trade secret." The Doctor winked at a camera. "Can you lock down all the doors alongside the path?"
A short pause occured. "Done. That hasn't taken care of the Cerberus troops already in your way, but it should prevent them from calling in reinforcements. I'll get to the shuttles ahead of you and get a pair ready to fly."
"Roger that." Shepard responded. "We'll meet you there." Shepard turned to Jack and the students. "Everyone be ready to go. We'll head in first, and draw their fire."
Jack nodded. "We'll shadow you on the second level and hit those fu..." Jack cut herself off, and cringed. "Those guys from above."
Shepard raised an eyebrow, but chose not to ask.
"Good plan." The Doctor complimented. "Keeps them out of the line of fire, too."
Shepard nodded, and addressed Jack. "Just time your shots and stay safe."
Jack turned to her students. "All right, I didn't bust my ass training you so you can die now. Keep low, pick your targets."
At that moment, the Cerberus announcer chose to address the students by sending the message to their omni-tools.
As the announcer prattled on, the Doctor rolled his eyes, and took the sonic, aiming it at the students. The announcer's voice suddenly cut out.
"There. Now can we go?" The Doctor asked. "Mean Girls comes on later and I promised Susan I'd watch it with her."
"Let's go." Shepard said, taking her assault rifle off her back, leading the team forth. The door sealed behind them, and the team pushed forward.
The door to the atrium opened, and the team charged ahead.
"Careful, it's another one of those mechs!" James pointed out.
"Just like last time!" Shepard commanded.
Garrus and EDI hit the mech with overloads, allowing the Doctor to pop up and jam its weapons, allowing the rest of the squad to open fire and unleash an array of warps, incineration blasts, and carnage shots at it, taking the mech out.
Now, there were only the regular Cerberus troopers and Engineers to fight. The team pushed forth, cutting through the resistance Cerberus put up. Combat Engineers tried to place down turrets, which the sonic screwdriver made short work of, while Jack and her student unleashed biotic attacks on the Guardians and Centurions from above.
Shepard's team cut through a side hall, to the other side of the atrium, pushing foward towards the shuttle bay.
"Jack, we're pushing ahead to the shuttlebay." Shepard radioed.
"Got it. We'll see you there."
The team proceeded into one of the hallways, heading closer to the shuttlebay.
However, as they proceeded along, they ran into a group of Cerberus troopers attempting to get to yet another student. Well, group of students. These three were inside a shield bubble.
Shepard didn't hesitate to biotically charge forward into one of the troopers. She then slammed the ground with a nova, taking care of the other two.
Shepard caught her breath, and addressed the student. "I'm Commander Shepard, I'm here to help."
The student frowned. "I didn't buy it from the last guy, I'm not going to buy it now!"
"The square root of 906.01 equals..." A male student muttured from where he was working on the shield generator.
"30.1." Shepard finished for him.
The student looked up, and smiled slightly. "Hello, Commander Shepard."
Shepard smiled back. "David."
"You know her?" One of the students asked David.
"Yes." David answered. "She saved me, made it quiet."
The students dropped the shield, and David stood up.
"The biotic students are up that way." Shepard pointed. "Stick with them, they'll get you to safety."
The other two students nodded, and walked off, but David stayed behind.
He looked the squad over, stopping to look at EDI. "I recognize you. You're the Normandy's computer. I am... sorry."
"Don't be." EDI responded. "You were not at fault."
"Thank you." David smiled.
"Has Grissom Academy treated you alright?" Shepard asked.
"Yes." David nodded. "I've been counting."
"Anything in particular?" Shepard asked.
"The number of days you lengthened my life." David answered. "Thank you, Shepard."
"You're very welcome, David." Shepard responded. "You should go join your friends."
"I will." David nodded, and followed the path of the other two students.
"Who was that?" The Doctor inquired once David was out of earshot.
"David Archer." Shepard answered. "I'll tell you more after we get out of here. It's... a damn long story."
Shepard and the team continued forth, towards the shuttle bay. But in the room before the shuttle bay, there was a fully operational, and abandoned, ATLAS mech ripe for the taking.
"Shotgun." Shepard called.
"Fuck." James cursed.
Shepard walked over to the mech, and climbed inside. The canopy closed, and Shepard twisted the control sticks experimentally. Shepard pushed forward on the sticks, and the mech began walking forward, up the steps.
The team walked into the shuttlebay lobby, and Cerberus troops began to pour in from the sides.
"Aw yeah!" Shepard yelled as she began firing the mech's gun on the Cerberus troops. "How's this taste assholes!?"
Jack began sending over the students over in groups, while Shepard and the team drew the fire off them.
"Scratch one!" Garrus yelled, as he put a sniper round through the viewing slot of a guardian's shield.
"Like fish in a barrel!" Vega shouted, dropping a Centurion.
"Still don't know what that means!" Garrus returned.
"The shuttles are almost ready for take-off." Kahlee announced over the loudspeaker.
Jack sent over the second group, and another ATLAS entered the room.
Shepard marched her mech over to the other, raised one of the mech's arms, and bought it down on the other's head, taking down the shields, and cracking the canopy.
Shepard stepped back, and fired a rocket at the mech, shattering the canopy fully, and damaging the mech beyond repair.
"The shuttles are ready, we have to leave now!" Kahlee announced.
With the threat dealt with, Shepard hopped out, and led the team into the shuttlebay proper, Cerberus hot on thier heels. Jack ushered each and every one of the students on the shuttles, and only then did she hop aboard.
Shepard and the team followed suit, and with everyone on the shuttles, the bay doors opened, and the two commandeered Cerberus shuttles departed Grissom Academy for good.