Chapter 38

She scrambled around the shuttle and dove down the passageway off the cargo bay. Her Omni-Tool lit up the long narrow passage. Escape pods lined the outer wall opposite a long wall of dark buttons and silent circuitry. Shepard dropped her rifle and flew down the corridor up to the distress beacon's release terminal. The power was out, but she should be able to draw from the emergency generator reserve. She pulled up the generator's interface screen on her Omni-Tool. She'd learned the interface in training. She only needed to—

She rammed forward into the terminal. Pain exploded in her head with a gasp. Shot? No, still alive. She lifted her off her feet as something spun her around and slammed against the bulkhead. A helmet pressed into her face as armored hands constricted her neck. Shepard sucked at the air as the fingers buried deeper into her throat. She gripped his arm and tried to raise an elbow, break it like she'd been taught. He lifted her again and slammed her into the bulkhead. Her vision burst with bright spots swimming in pain. Her hands fumbled and started to slip as the world shifted and blurred away. He drew her away from the wall and threw her back against the bulkhead. He backed away and pulled out a pistol. Shepard slipped down the wall clutching at a seam in the bulkhead to keep upright. She doubled over retching as she sucked in air. Her attacker reached up to his helmet. It clicked, and he pulled it off. Anchor grinned. His helmet clapped on the floor as he moved both hands around the pistol. He leveled it at her chest.

"The Great Commander Shepard."

An explosion rocked the ship, and Shepard tumbled to the floor. Anchor stumbled a step as a wave of heat scorched over them. The entrance to the cargo bay rolled with flames. Shepard coughed in the gathering smoke. Anchor pressed the pistol to her forehead.

"Where is it?" he yelled. "You have it on you?"

"Your friends hit the fuel recoupler," Shepard croaked. She wheezed as she pulled up against the wall to stand on shaky feet.

"Surrender now," he said. "You can live. I agreed to that much. But damn, I hope you say 'no.'"

Shepard's chest heaved as the flames brightened the side of their faces. She glanced to the roaring mix of flame and smoke. The fire could backed up in the recycler line running under that crappy shuttle. The shrapnel from a shuttle explosion would kill everyone. Maybe that was preferable to them losing the ship and the shard. Her hand strayed to her back pocket. Anchor's eyes followed the movement.

"You do have it. Give it to me."

He put his hand out. Shepard reached into her pocket. As she pulled out the shard, her fingers brushed against her waistband. She still had that pistol. With her fat fingers and Anchor armored, she'd only get one shot before he kill her. She held the shard in her hand. Blood dripped off his gauntlet as he stretched his fingers out. He hesitated to take it from her. He was probably realizing taking it from her dead would be less risky.

"I have my cuffs. Put them on, you can live."

If she hesitated any longer, he'd just shoot her.

"My crew?" Shepard asked.

"I won't lie. No."

"Then, I agree."

Shepard lobbed the shard down the corridor opposite the roaring fire of the cargo bay. The shard ricocheted down the passageway swallowed in the dark. Anchor's eye flew wide, teeth grinding, as he snapped his gun up to her chest.

"I surrender," Shepard said hurriedly. "Give me your cuffs."

Anchor's nostrils flared. His eyes shifted to the dark passageway and back to her.

"Go get it."

His face reddened, breathing heavy and fast, but his gun lowered. He really would take her alive then.

"Not part of the deal."

His fingers squeezed around the butt of his pistol, face tightening into a bright red scrunch. Push him too far he'd just kill her, to hell with it, but she needed him mad enough to do something.

"Give me your cuffs. I'll wait for you to go find it," she said.

He lashed forward with the back of his glove. The flash of movement, and she caught his arm. His eyes widened as the shot exploded around the small space deafened her. His pupils dilated, face going blank. She released his arm, and it fell limply falling him crashed to the floor. His gun clattered on beside him. A bloody mist hung in the air. She clutched the pistol from her waistband in her left hand. The barrel angled up from her waist with a finger still tense on the trigger.

The ship shuttered. Shepard stumbled arms whirling to catch her balance. A low hum lit up buttons along the wall in front of her. Circuitry buzzed to life as lights blazing along the ceiling. A bright fluorescence bloomed in from the cargo bay. The beacon's release terminal beeped next to her with the glow of a loading screen. Someone had gotten the power back on.

Fire plumed in the bay still echoing with gunfire. The ship lurched, and air slipped under her feet with a sudden gradient. The gravity was fluxing. Shepard's tumbled back toward the cargo bay and grabbed for traction with her boots. Anchor's body slid into her before rolling into the cargo bay. Flames gushing up from the bay as the ship's gravity resettled. Shepard stumbled to her feet choking on smoke. She had to get the beacon released before the fire disabled it. Shepard stumbled to the beacon's terminal and punched through the programming. The button under the terminal's screen changed from red to green. Shepard smashed her fist down on it. A pop, and she heard the release.

Shepard rushed to the cloudy fluorescence at the entrance to the cargo bay. The ship slid and lurched underneath her again. She reeled forward caught herself on the edge of the doorway before careening into the flames. She coughed, eyes stinging, as the gravity reset. Her feet slipped as she stabilized on the floor. The gray outline of the shuttle loomed across from her with the fire climbing around it. If it ignited, the explosion's shrapnel would tear through everything in the bay.

She darted out through the flame and smoke. She ducked, holding her breath, and skimmed along the wall. The smoke thinned as the volume of gunshots and yelling overwhelmed the electrical popping and roar of flame. Two soldier silhouettes hurried to the elevator in front of her.

"He isn't coming. Let's go," one said.

It was Sable. The station soldier with him turned his head as he braked in front of the elevator.

"Shepard," he yelled.

"Shepard?" Sable whirled around raising his rifle.

Shepard stumbled back into the smoke but left the wall as bullets sprayed around her. She skimmed the raging heat by the shuttle and burst out. The bank of terminals in front of the elevator divided them as she dodged past. Bullets sparked on the consoles behind her.

"That was Shepard! Something happened to him then. Get the others, and we're going up."

She plowed deeper into the bay. Shapes moved in thin smoke out in the bay. Two armored forms returned fire as they rushed backward probably to reach the elevator. A group of shadows followed the two men and returned fire. Shepard planted her feet, heat at her back, and tracked the two men with her pistol. Her shot hit the closest soldier in his side. He yelled out and stumbled. The other soldier turned back and rushed to grab him under the arm. Shepard pulled the trigger again. Click. The clip was spent.

She charged the attackers with her Omni-Tool blade glowing. A voice, sounded like James, yelled out and the gunfire from the shadows stopped. The attacker held the other up in one arm. He saw Shepard and straightened. The rifle dropped from free hand, and he raising an open palm. The wounded one swayed and tossed his rifle to the side. He raised empty hands. Shepard skid to a stop in front of them.

"You and I then," Sable's voice said so quiet Shepard barley heard it.

The two forms at the end of the bay turned to the elevator. Shepard surrendered men's rifle away before whipping her head to the elevator. James and Cortez crashed through the smoke by her.

"They're getting away!" James coughed.

"They'll vent the bay," Shepard said darting to the elevators.

"Holy—" James launched after her with feet pounding behind her.

The two men rushed into the elevator. Sable jabbed a button by the door. They lifted their rifles and fired. James darted to the armory. Shepard ducked and rammed her shin into Cortez's toolchest. It didn't even rock so heavy with tools. The elevator doors closed off the rifle fire sliding shut. Shepard's heart pounded watching it narrow and stood. Dark energy glowed in her vision as the toolbox flared blue. It shot to the elevator with a swing of her arm. Tools rattled and crashed out as it caught the closing doors.

The blue energy disappeared. Sable rushed to shove the tool box from between the doors, but the doors were already opening. The box slammed down to the floor overturning and spilling out tools. Shepard caught James in the edge of her vision throw her something from the armory. She caught it, tore off the ring, and pitched it into the elevator. She dove behind the bank of terminals. It exploded. Tools pelted the terminal as shrapnel tore into the metal floor at her feet. Shepard popped up. The elevator swirled smoke under flickering lights. A bloody palm rested on the elevator's threshold not moving.

Shepard raced back to her men. The two surrendered station soldiers knelt with hands behind their heads. Tobin pointed a rifle at their backs. Cortez lay on the ground holding his side as red spreading across the floor. He must take a bullet when Sable and the other solider fired out from the elevator. Stofsky hunched over him as she slid to a stop over them.

"We need to vent the fire. We're going back up the ladder," Shepard yelled wetly tasting metal in her mouth.

James panted by her elbow. His eyes widened as she turned to him.

"Lola, your nose …"

Shepard touched her nose. Blood gushed over her fingertips, and she stumbled. James caught her elbow and steadied her.

"Lola …"

Something behind them exploded with a pop. The shock slammed into them to the floor shuttering through Shepard's chest. The fire was backing up in the recycling line under the shuttle. A roar of heat and smoke, and the floor heaving under them. Shepard pushed up to her feet. It exploded again, and she braced.

Time stood still. She stared around feeling every breath, every blink, every heartbeat. James's head turned to her eyes eye rounding. The others raising their heads off the floor. Out of the smoke and fire, like a wraith, the shuttle hurled toward them. The roar of building pressure deafened her as light bursting out through the shuttle's seams. Throw from the duct's explosion, it was igniting. It eclipsed the blaze behind. Their eyes widened, mouths open, as the men pushed themselves up to run. Too late.

Shepard set her feet, and it slammed into her palm flaring blue. She stumbled back straining forward against it as dark energy enveloped the shuttle blooming in orange and red. She spread her fingertips gritting her teeth as shockwaves slammed into her body. Heat and flame rolled under the veil of blue as it flared with light. Nerves burst through her body as her teeth clenched almost to shattering. Air squeezed tight in her lungs as pain hemorrhaged through her chest and stabbed up her neck.

She shuddered pressing her burning palm harder against the erupting shuttle. Sheets of metal imploded and shrieked as they pulled tighter in her trembling barrier. The shuttle tipped backward. Pain erupted behind her eyes, splintered through her bones, her vision erupting in white. The barrier shattered. Metal and heat imploded in a shockwave of thunder and fire. Shepard flew backward. Her head slammed against the floor. Her vision dimmed, breath escaping through her lips as the world hung suspended. Each blink. Each breath. Each heartbeat. Emptiness.