A/N: Thank you AngstyShenko, SerenityFalconNormandy, Kirabaros, Impslave, Vorcha Girl, and Jules Hawk for your reviews! Each one absolutely made my day! As always thank you Vorcha Girl for beta reading :)
And now, enjoy.
Chapter 51. Sur'Kesh
Anger radiated off Wrex in heavy waves as Cortez began the flight approach to the STG facility on Sur'Kesh. Not that Nick could blame him, she wasn't too happy with their Salarian allies herself. Discovering a female krogan had survived Maelon's gruesome experiments only to be taken to Sur'Kesh secretly had come as a shock. Linron, the salarian dalatrass, had vehemently denied this being the case. She had spluttered about, saying the video Wrex showed as proof might be a fabrication, but in the end had admitted the truth; the females were being kept at a STG base.
Wrex had every right to be pissed at the salarians, but his constant scowling was grating at her nerves.
"You can stop glaring at us, Wrex," Shepard told him. "Save it for the salarians. If they bristle too much you can even growl at them. The plan is to keep it simple. We land, get the females, and leave."
"Don't make fun of this, Shepard," he growled. "I don't trust the salarians. They're devious bastards. These females are the best and probably the last chance my people have."
She stared back at him steadily. "I wasn't joking. I told you we're going to get the females, and that's what we're going to do. You have every reason not to trust them and I don't plan on spending more time than necessary at that facility. I'm not exactly happy about this either."
Wrex held her gaze for a moment before nodding, some of his anger evaporating. "I trust you, Shepard."
"Glad to hear that's settled then." She turned towards the helm, rolling her shoulders to loosen the tension in them. "What's our ETA?"
"We should be cleared to land by now, but they haven't," Cortez replied.
Shepard frowned. She was sick of salarian politicians and their condescending and bigoted manner, sick of all the obstacles thrown in her path by so-called allies. Who knew what else was being withheld?
"Tell them you have a Council spectre aboard, and set her down." She turned to her ground team and signaled them to get ready.
The first pleasant surprise on Sur'Kesh was seeing Kirrahe again and learning that his STG unit at least was ready to join the fight against the Reapers regardless of the dalatrass' decision.
The second one was seeing Mordin. Nick grinned as she listened to him talk about the females at a great rate. He had to be Wrex' inside source, it was the most logical choice.
Her temporary good mood dissipated quickly when she heard that only one of the females was still alive, and it soured even more at the salarian reluctance to hand her over. Her temper was running short, even by her standards. She was ready to throttle the salarian controlling the pod with the living female when Mordin stepped next to her and shocked the other salarian with his omnitool.
"Huh," Shepard said. "That works, too. Thanks, Mordin."
But before he could reply, an air raid siren sounded, and the salarians sprang to action around them. Confused and alarmed Nick looked around. For a moment she thought it had to do with Mordin's actions, but the salarians completely ignored them. A faint explosion rumbled. No, this was an attack. Two questions came to her mind. First, why hadn't Joker or EDI warned them they had incoming? And second, was it Cerberus or the Reapers?
"Shepard!" Mordin called. "Must take female to upper level. You must clear us through checkpoints. Meet you at landing pad!" Nick nodded and ran towards the elevator.
She came to a full stop when the elevator doors opened and her eyes widened at the sight that greeted her. She hadn't reckoned with a device being placed inside it. Especially not a bomb.
"Get down!" she called, throwing herself to the ground just as the detonation tore through the air. Shielding her head with her arms she remained on the floor as debris dropped around her. Coughing she rose to her feet, her ears ringing from the blast. A quick glance to either side told her that Garrus and Liara were on their feet again as well.
"I guess we're not using the elevator," Liara remarked. Shepard shook her head and stopped the nearest salarian to ask if there was another way to the landing pad.
Cerberus was attacking in full force. They wanted control of the facility - or the secrets the facility held - badly. Shuttle after shuttle dropped off more troops; their reserves seemed sheer and inexhaustible. Shepard and her team had cleared two floors but the sound of gunfire and explosions didn't abate.
She peered around the corner, sweeping the area in front of her with a skilled look. Clouds of oily smoke billowed through the air, burning her nostrils. "Two engineers with turrets and half a dozen troopers," she told her squad quietly, readying her sniper rifle. "The turrets are at ten o'clock and one o'clock. Garrus, I need you to Overload the first one for me."
She dove behind a raised flower bed, and immediately the turrets began firing at her. Taking her place Garrus glanced around the corner, his omnitool flashing brightly as he sent out the Overload, stripping both the engineer and the turret he was controlling of their shields. Shepard fired three rapid shots at the turret, and it exploded. She reloaded and zeroed in on the second engineer.
Liara moved forwards, catching several troopers in a Singularity and picking them off with her pistol while Shepard and Garrus took down the remaining ones. The last one fell when reinforcements landed at the far end of the room.
"Centurions!" Shepard called, the sharp report of her rifle echoing through the room. Garrus immediately sent an Overload their way and she followed it up with a Carnage, detonating it in a tech burst. She moved closer to the door, as did Garrus and Liara, but it began opening before they reached it. Ducking back into cover they watched it open, revealing a number of guardians. Shepard brought her rifle to the ready and shot the first one through the narrow slot in his shield.
They moved forward quickly once the last Cerberus soldier was down. Shepard wondered briefly what would happen to the yahg they had seen on one of the lowers levels. Neither she nor her squadmates had been keen on meeting one of those again; the former Shadow Broker had been enough. Would Cerberus capture it for experiments? Or the salarians? She shook off those thoughts; they weren't her problem right now, getting the pod with the female krogan through the checkpoint and to the landing area was.
They climbed up a ladder to the landing zone and ducked into cover at the sight of more Cerberus troops on the landing pad trying to gain access to the pod.
"This is getting kind of boring, wouldn't you say?" Garrus asked in a low voice, aiming at a trooper.
"What? Cerberus showing up everywhere we go? Yeah," Nick replied just as quietly, peering through her scope. She pulled the trigger. Her target's head exploded and a wave of satisfaction rolled over her as she zeroed in on the next one.
As soon as the roof was clear Shepard ran to the control panel to release the clamps on the pod.
"Shepard, you'll want to hurry. You've got incoming," Wrex' voice sounded over the radio at the same time as Garrus let out a vehement, "Shit!"
A loud thud sounded from the far end of the landing platform. Shepard turned her head.
An Atlas mech.
Yeah, "shit" sounded about right.
She went into cover, pulling a frag grenade from her belt, priming it, and throwing it at the mech in one fluid movement. They hit the mech with everything they had. The air was acrid with smoke. Her shields crackled as a shot grazed her and she swivelled around. More troops had arrived. A bolt of blue energy whooshed past her as Liara cast a Warp, enveloping the trooper that had hit her in dark energy.
"Liara, Garrus, keep those troopers and centurions off me! I'll deal with the mech!" she ordered, throwing another Carnage at the mech. Finally it stuttered forward before exploding, giving her the chance to join Liara and Garrus against the remaining hostiles.
This was going to be a long day.
Nick stepped into the cool darkness of her quarters. She was exhausted. She had made sure Mordin and the krogan female - Eve, as Mordin called her - got settled in the med bay, taken care of her equipment, talked to her crew, and received orders to investigate a Cerberus lab in the Decoris system.
After a quick shower she dropped onto her bed and drifted into sleep.
The synthetic held Kaidan off the ground without effort as he clawed desperately at its hands. He had dropped his pistol so he could use both hands against the offender, but it was useless. His movements grew weaker as he struggled to break free from its grip, twisting and turning. With a swift movement it whirled around and slammed him against the burning Cerberus shuttle.
Once.
Twice.
Still unable to do as much as pull the trigger, Nick watched in silent horror as he went limp. The gynoid dropped him, turning around and running towards her instead.
With a shout of rage Nick fired her pistol, each shot hitting true. Time seemed to slow down as the synthetic stumbled and fell to the ground. Nick darted past it until she reached Kaidan. She dropped to her knees next to him and stared at the broken visor of his helmet with horror. He gasped for air as it escaped through the breach in his helmet. She tried to lift him, tottering under the added weight of his armor as she struggled to get him aboard the Normandy before he ran out of oxygen.
She laid him down on a sickbed in the med bay and stepped back to take off his helmet. He stared back at her, his eyes lifeless and empty and his features distorted.
Nick thrashed and sat up, panting hard. Cold sweat drenched her shirt and her heart hammered in her chest. A choked sob escaped her and she rubbed her face with shaking hands.
"It was just a dream," she whispered. She glanced at her bedside clock, and got up, stripping off her sweaty tanktop and skivvies. She stepped into the shower and turned on the water as hot as she could handle. Bracing herself against the wall to keep her hands from trembling she let the water batter on her back and forced herself to take deep, regular breaths, but she couldn't shake the images of her nightmare.
"He's at Huerta. He's in good hands, and he'll be fine. This was just a dream," Nick repeated to herself as she stepped out of the shower drying herself off. A light on her private terminal blinked, catching her attention. Wrapping herself in her towel she sat down and opened her emails.
"Oh, thank goodness!" she whispered as she saw the unread message.
From: Kaidan Alenko Subject: Doc says I'm ready for visitors
Taking a deep breath she shook off the last vestiges of her dream. He was awake, and she could visit him. Grinning to herself she closed her terminal and finished getting dressed; once they had checked out this Cerberus lab on Sanctum she was ordering the Normandy to the Citadel.
Five days had passed since Kaidan woke up in his hospital room; five days since he'd talked to Ashley and since he had sent a message to Nick. He hadn't heard back yet and he worried that something had happened.
Stop worrying, he chided himself. Who knows what state the comm buoys are in. Maybe the message hasn't even reached her.
The thought did little to make him feel better. Shifting uncomfortably in his bed he returned his attention to his visitor who had ceased speaking. Instead, Councilor Donnel Udina looked at him expectantly.
"You'll have my answer soon, Councilor. I promise," Kaidan said, hoping Udina would finally leave. The man made him feel itchy. The memory of Udina locking the Normandy down when they were hunting Saren and dismissing all proof they had on the Reapers three years earlier probably had a lot to do with that.
Much to his relief the Councilor stood up. "I look forward to it, Major."
The door slid open. Kaidan's heart skipped a beat when he saw Nick enter the room. Seeing her made him feel better, but also slightly nervous. Her gaze drifted from him to Udina, and her expression became carefully neutral. She and Udina eyed each other warily. The Councilor left the room after politely greeting her, and she looked after him over her shoulder until the door shut behind him.
"What did Udina want?" she asked, pointing behind her with her thumb. Her nose was wrinkled as though she'd just smelled something bad.
Kaidan shook his head in amusement. "Didn't you read the email I sent you?"
"Well," she began slowly, pulling a chair closer to the bed. She sat down and set the bags she had been carrying on the floor carefully. "I might have just read the subject. Then I told Joker to get the Normandy back here ASAP. So, what did that twat want?"
"He's offered to make me a Spectre." Kaidan answered, looking at her closely. Was that a blush? Maybe she was as nervous as he felt?
"That's awesome! Is he actually doing something right for a change? You're going to take it, right?"
"Maybe. It's a huge responsibility." Kaidan said with a shrug. He paused and sniffed. "Do I smell food?"
A grin appeared on Nick's face. She grabbed one of the bags she had been carrying and produced several cartons of asian carry-out food. "I was hungry, and figured you might want something else other than hospital chow, so I took the liberty of grabbing us a bite. There's this little place down on the lower wards that has the most amazing Phat Thai." She handed him a pair of chopsticks. "I also got you a sushi sampler because I know the Phat Thai alone won't be enough. As I recall, you like that stuff."
"Sushi is not "stuff", Nick," he replied taking the offered container. He opened it and peered inside. It looked good.
"The only good thing about sushi is the wasabi and the pickled ginger," she scoffed, adding hot sauce to her Phat Thai.
Kaidan chuckled. They'd had this discussion before.
"This sure looks better than what I just had," he admitted, moving into a more upright position. "You just missed snack time," he explained. "Probably better, otherwise you'd have lost all appetite. There was an absolutely disgusting jello as dessert. On the other hand, we're talking about the person who loves MREs, so you might have even liked it."
"Very funny, Alenko," she replied around a mouthful of noodles.
They spent a few minutes eating in silence until Nick glanced into her container, closed it, and put it back into the bag.
"How are you?" she asked, resting her elbows on her knees, her gaze roaming over his face. "I don't think I've ever been as scared as when that thing slammed you against the shuttle."
"I'm okay. My implant got a little rattled, so Doc wants me to keep my biotics offline for a bit. It's really no big deal," he answered in a light tone.
"Bullshit, Kaidan. You were that close" - she held thumb and index finger a hairsbreadth apart - "to dying." Her voice quivered slightly. "Rattled, my ass."
"Hey," he said quietly, reaching for her hand and giving it a light squeeze before releasing it again. "I didn't die."
She met his steady gaze, and nodded.
But you could have.
The words lingered between them, unspoken; she didn't say them out loud, but Kaidan heard them as clearly as if she had. He shifted positions, his gaze drifting to the window before looking back at Nick.
"I'm ready to get out of here, you know?" he said. "I want to get back into the fight and help you kick the Reapers straight to hell. Ash would never let me live it down if I didn't join the fight. It wouldn't be any fun, if she had to kick all that Reaper ass alone."
Nick let out an amused snort.
"Her words, not mine," Kaidan added. "But, I'm tied to this bed by medical red tape. Doc says I'm good to go, but then she always finds 'just one more test' to run. She's fascinated by the L2 implant. I get the feeling I'm kind of her pet project." He chuckled. "The headaches are as bad as ever, but she's got me on this regimen of acupuncture, meds, and this nasty concoction." He involuntarily pulled a face. The thought of it alone was revolting already.
Nick bit her lip. "Speaking of concoction, I also got you this," she said with a twinkle in her eye as she held up a bottle of Peruvian whiskey before slipping it back into her bag as he reached for it. "But you don't get that until you're out of here."
Kaidan huffed.
"Just giving you an incentive to get out of here."
"My incentive is sitting right next to me." A pregnant silence filled the room and Kaidan swallowed, wondering briefly if he had gone to far. He was more nervous than on his first date, and that even though they had agreed on trying to fix things. But that had been before he'd put his foot in it on Mars. "Listen, I'm sorry about what I said on Mars. And on Horizon. I had no right -."
Nick held up her hand, looking at him sternly. "On Mars, true. But on Horizon you had every right to be suspicious. We've talked about this, so stop feeling guilty." She paused and dropped her gaze to the bed. She began to say something, but changed her mind again. She knit her brows together and he waited patiently for her to adjust her thoughts.
"Why didn't you use your biotics against that bot on Mars?" Nick asked suddenly.
Kaidan looked away, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly before meeting her steady gaze. "I didn't think I'd need them," he admitted. "I'd used my biotics quite a bit already by then, and my amp was running hot. I didn't want to risk a migraine because I wanted a chance to talk to you once we were back on the Normandy, not end up curled in a corner with pain, and I figured the pistol would do fine. In retrospect that was kind of stupid," he added in a quiet tone.
Nick took his hand and squeezed it. "You couldn't have known it wouldn't go down after one or two well-placed shots. I unloaded my whole fucking clip square into that thing's chest before it finally did. But the next time an unknown synthetic comes running at you like that Throw it over the next ledge. By the way, those biotics on Mars were pretty damn impressive, Major."
"Yeah, Major." Kaidan let out a short explosive laugh. It still felt unreal; almost as unreal as feeling her hand in his. But it was real. He gently rubbed his thumb in small circles across the back of her hand.
"You going to fill me in?" Nick asked.
"Anderson asked me to take over a spec ops program. First Special Operations, Biotic Division. Said my history and the training I'd received at The Villa made me the best choice for this. I turned it down at first, but Anderson wouldn't let up. We recruited the most talented human biotics from around the galaxy. Some were fresh from Grissom Academy, while others were already active soldiers." He paused. "I never would have thought I'd enjoy teaching so much."
She smiled. "Kaidan, I can't think of anybody better for the job than you. You're one of the most skilled and powerful biotics the Alliance has. They'd be fools not to give you a job like this. You used biotic powers on Mars I've only seen asari use before, and damn, you sure packed a punch!"
The heat of a blush crept up from his collar at her praise. "Yeah, my biotics are stronger than ever. Maybe some things get better with age."
"Or maybe you have," Nick said, a smile dancing on her lips. He couldn't help but smile back.
"Are you flirting with me, Commander?" he asked, dropping his voice a notch and smirking slightly.
Her smile widened to a grin. Intertwining her fingers with his she leaned closer. "You bet I am," she whispered into his ear.
His heart soared. He gazed at her lips so close to his face. The thought of feeling her lips on his was tantalizing. Clearing his throat he said, "Enough of me now. How are you?"
"A lot better since knowing you're on the mend," she replied earnestly, sitting back again. "Garrus is back on the Normandy, and so is Wrex. At least for now. Also we rescued a krogan female from a science facility on Sur'Kesh. Long story," she said seeing his quizzical expression. "I'll tell you the whole thing when we get the chance to crack this open." She tipped the whiskey bottle in the bag with her fingernail. He nodded understandingly.
An incoming message on her omnitool sounded and she glanced down, slowly slipping her fingers from his hold. She sighed after reading it. "I have to get back to it. I'll be back to visit as soon as I can. And Kaidan? Next time don't send me an email, send me a direct message to my omni-tool. Or, you know, try giving me a call."
"Will do," he smiled. "Thanks for coming by, Nick. And … stay safe." They both knew the last part was unlikely, but she returned the smile before rising from her seat. His stomach turned into knots as he watched her leave, and he hoped she would make it back safely. If only he could go with her. He glanced at the clock. It was almost time for more acupuncture. With a sigh he laid back and slowly relaxed. The best he could do now was focus on getting back into fighting shape.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed it, especially Nick's visit at Huerta! Reviews are most welcome :)
