Chapter 45: Fly the Coop

Shepard quietly walked back to the hospital room. He had just finished meeting with Garrus onboard the Normandy to strategize on their new mission. Now he's coming back to spend the night with Ashley in the hospital. The door wisped open and Shepard walked in. The room was dark but Shepard could see Ashley sleeping in her bed. He could also see Miranda sleeping next to her in the portable cot. Shepard was about to wake Miranda to suggest she go back to the Normandy to sleep. But then he remembered her nightmares and decided to not say anything. He walked over to Ashley's side and pulled up her covers and gave a gentle kiss on the cheek. Then he went over to the cabinet in the back of the room and took out a blanket and covered Miranda. As he pulled up the cover, he saw Miranda's face. She was breathing softly and appeared to be sleeping peacefully. Reflecting on all that Miranda has done for him and Ashley, Shepard slowly leaned in and whispered, "Thank you."

Shepard then stood up and walked out of the room to look for another cot.

"Admiral, what are you doing up?" asked Chakwas as she was making her last round in the evening.

"I'm just looking for a cot," replied Shepard.

"I thought the staff already delivered the cot you requested earlier," asked Chakwas.

"The cot is there. Miranda is sleeping in it," replied Shepard.

"Oh…" said Chakwas slightly surprised. Then she went on, "You know Ms. Lawson has been very attentive to Captain Williams. She spent the entire day with her. I didn't know they were such good friends."

"They were not," replied Shepard. "But in the last few months, it seems something has changed. They've grown closer. And then recently, Miranda had some nightmares and Ashley has been comforting her. Then Ashley got hurt, and Miranda has been taking care of her…"

Chakwas and Shepard turned to walk towards the storage room. As they approached the front of the storage room, Chakwas turned to Shepard, "Shepard, have you noticed…" Chakwas suddenly felt it was not the right thing to say so she cut herself off mid-sentence.

"Have I noticed what?" asked Shepard.

"What I was going to say was that it's really good to have friends you can count on," replied Chakwas.

She opened the storage room door. Shepard walked in and picked up a cot.

Shepard was tired and eager to get back to the room. So he decided not to push the point, "Thanks doc. It's getting late. I better get back."


The long corridor was poorly lit. There was a smell of smoke mixed with rotting flesh that hung heavily in the air. Suddenly, the silence was broken by the sound of running footsteps.

"Quick! I think she went down this way!"

Oriana could hear the voice of the soldiers trailing behind her. But for the moment, she struggled to remember which turn to take to get to her father's office. The corridor quickly came upon a "T" intersection. She looked to the left and then to the right. They were equally dark and unrecognizable.

"I think I see movement!" The soldier's voice was getting closer. Oriana turned and could see beams of light moving in her direction from behind. She decided to go right. It was dark, but she did not want to turn on her flashlight to give away her position. She could see about fifty feet away, there was a feint red glow coming from an overhead emergency light. Right below it was a door. Oriana stumbled to the door and opened it. She turned on the flashlight briefly to see what was in the room. In that brief moment, she could see a long lab table in the middle of the room. On top of the table was lab equipment including two microscopes, and numerous glass slides. In the back wall to the right were several lockers. On the left, there was a computer terminal, and a refrigeration unit. Oriana immediately recognized this to be one of her father's labs. His office is at the opposite end of this corridor. She should have turned left.

Just then, she heard footsteps approaching the door. She quickly hid behind the center lab table on the opposite side of the door.

"Are you sure you saw her come this way?" asked the first soldiers.

"I didn't exactly see her," admitted the second soldier. "I thought I heard her."

They pointed their flash lights against the back wall and waived it left to right.

"Who in their right mind would come to Sanctuary, anyways?" said the first soldier.

"Well, we won't have to worry about it too much longer. The demolition is on schedule for tomorrow," replied the second soldier. "Come on, let's check the other corridor and report back to Alliance Command."

The soldiers left the room. But Oriana decided to wait an extra few minutes to be sure they're gone. After what seemed like an eternity, everything was quiet. Oriana slowly got up and opened the door. She looked down the long corridor. It was dark. She slowly walked toward the T-junction. When she arrived at the junction, she looked to the left where she initially came from. It was dark and there were no sign of the soldiers. Slowly, she proceeded forward. After another couple of minutes walking in the dark, she came to another door that was poorly lit by an overhead emergency light. Oriana turned on her flashlight and pointed it at the door. There was a sign on the door. It read, "Lawson."


The Citadel's simulated sunlight gradually lit up the hospital room. It was around 0600 and Shepard instinctively woke up. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Miranda lying there quietly looking at him. Because there was not enough space on the other side of Ashley's bed, Shepard had placed his cot next to Miranda. Now they were lying facing each other. There were several minutes of silence until Shepard finally whispered, "Good morning."

Miranda smiled and whispered back, "Hey you. Good morning." This moment felt surreal to Miranda. She actually woke up sleeping next to Shepard and they were exchanging "good mornings."

"Any nightmares last night?" asked Shepard.

Miranda smiled and gently shook her head.

"Did you sleep okay?"

Miranda nodded slowly in response.

"You have a silly grin on your face. What are you thinking about?" asked Shepard.

Miranda slowly put a finger on her mouth to gesture for Shepard to be quiet.

The room was quiet again until Miranda finally whispered, "I just want to remember this."


"It has to be here somewhere," Oriana mumbled to herself in the dark. She was on both of her knees, crawling under a desk. She was looking for the switch to a backup power supply that her father kept in the lab. It was designed to run for several hours in case the lab lost external power.

"Found it!" exclaimed Oriana. This was followed by a "click" sound as she flicked the switch. At the same moment, the computer screen above her flickered on.

Oriana stood up and began to type on the keyboard, "Randa, I could sure use your help just about now."


The door wisped open and Shepard walked in with a tray. Miranda was packing Ashley's books into a travel bag by the bed. Ashley was standing by the sink and mirror brushing her hair. She was wearing a black tank top and blue skinny jeans.

"Ash, it looks like you're ready to fly the coop," said Shepard as he set the tray down on the small bedside table.

"You know it!" replied Ashley as she looked at Shepard in the mirror and smiled. "I just finished the scan and Dr. Chakwas said she'll let me know shortly."

"Hey Shepard," said Miranda as she looked up, "have you noticed you've become quite the full time butler since you've been promoted to Admiral?"

Shepard chuckled, "I noticed that too. But I'm okay with it. It keeps me out of trouble like blowing something up."

"Yeah, but have you noticed we haven't asked you to cook?" joked Ashley as she continued to brush her hair.

Shepard and Miranda both laughed at that comment.

"Ash, Miranda, let's eat before the oatmeal gets cold," said Shepard as he took a bowl of oatmeal in each hand and handed it to Ashley and Miranda.

Ashley and Miranda both sat on the side of the bed while Shepard sat on the cot facing them.

Miranda took a spoonful, "Mmm. Cinnamon oatmeal. This is pretty good for hospital food."

Shepard then looked at Miranda, "Thanks for taking care of Ash. But I'm concerned that we're taking time away from you and Will. I know if I was him, I'd be wondering where you were."

Miranda sighed and knew she had to talk about this at some point, "Will and I broke up."

"What? When?" asked Shepard in an astonished tone.

Miranda then went on to explain about Will's proposal at the Churchill Hotel, their recent argument before the Thunawanuro mission, and their last conversation the night before the Illium mission.

"Miranda, I'm sorry this happened. But maybe you just need more time…" said Shepard.

Miranda looked down at her oatmeal and was stirring it with her spoon. She then slowly shook her head.

She looked up at Shepard, "It wouldn't be fair to Will. I couldn't ask him to wait indefinitely. And even if I forced myself to say 'yes,' it's not fair to him that in my heart I love another."

Miranda looked at Shepard, and then looked at Ashley, "Sorry Ash…I'm just speaking what's on my heart." Miranda surprised herself that she was speaking so candidly. But since her near death experience at the Nakatomi building, she's felt less restrained in expressing her feelings.

"Don't be sorry," replied Ashley. "I know…"

Ashley looked over at Shepard, and then back at Miranda, "I'm not going to pretend I like it. But I do understand."

As the three of them was still pondering on their conversation, the door wisped open.

"I have good news!" announced Chakwas.

"Great!" replied Ashley.

Chakwas walked over to the bed, "The scan showed no more swelling in the brain. You can leave the hospital today. But still no ground mission for two weeks."

Ashley had a big smile on her face, "That's great news. Thanks Dr. Chakwas!"


"Ladies! Did you miss me?" Vega was on his crutches and in a white lightweight cast boot. He walked over to his weight bench in the Normandy's hangar bay. Currently, Whitaker was on the weight bench pressing three hundred pounds. Barnes was spotting him and West was standing on the side leaning against his crutches.

Whitaker set the weights back on the bench and sat up, "Hey, did they let all the crazies out of the hospital?"

"Nope. Just this crazy," replied Vega as he fist bumped each man. He then continued, "So, what's it like serving under Captain Williams?"

Barnes and West both chuckled as they looked at Whitaker.

Whitaker looked up at Vega, "umm…painful."


The door to the starboard lounge wisped open.

"Liara, you wanted to see me?" asked Garrus as he entered.

Ashley and Shepard agreed to have Liara set up her Shadow Broker terminals and equipment in this lounge. At the moment, Miranda was helping her to bring the monitor online. In front of Miranda was a wall of twenty monitors. Each monitor can connect to a live video feed or can play back files from the archive. Upon hearing Garrus, Miranda looked up and exchanged a smile. She then went back to her work.

Liara was behind Miranda facing the starboard windows. There was a terminal in front of her that she was looking at. Liara turned around and looked at Garrus "Thanks for coming, Garrus."

Liara walked over to Garrus, "Ashley asked me to look into all Cerberus related reports for the past two months. Besides the recent events we were involved in, there was one other incident that came over Alliance military report. This was regarding a General Oleg Petrovsky."

Garrus repeated the name, "Oleg Petrovsky…isn't he the Cerberus General that took over Omega? I remember Shepard helped Aria T'Loak take back the station and then took Petrovsky into Alliance custody."

"Yes, that's him," replied Liara. She then continued, "It looks like about a month ago, Alliance military was finally going to give him his day in court. But on the way from Guantanamo to Vancouver, the shuttle crashed. And according to official reports, the shuttle exploded and no bodies were ever found. All onboard, including the general, were presumed dead."

"That sounds suspicious," said Garrus. "I'm surprised Shepard was not notified of this when it happened."

Liara then replied, "At first I thought so as well. Then I noticed the date of the incident. It was on Shepard's wedding day."

"Shepard's wedding was well publicized, so this may have been timed specifically for that date," said Garrus. "And since so much attention was being paid to the wedding, the report probably came through and did not get the much attention."

"Wait, do you think Petrovsky is still alive?" asked Liara.

"Well, we don't have a body," replied Garrus. He then walked toward the large lounge window and looked out. "If he's alive, then he must have had help."

He then turned around and walked towards Miranda, "Miranda, I'd like to take a shuttle out to Guantanamo. I'd like to take someone from Alliance to help me get access to the surveillance video. Since Shepard and Ashley is not available, is there anyone else on the crew you can spare?"

Miranda looked up from the monitor, "Why don't you take Major Coats."

"That's a great idea. Thanks!" replied Garrus as he walked towards the door.

As Garrus left the room, Miranda shouted, "You can take Riley too!"


Oriana opened the door and stepped out. She looked at her watch. It was 03:58 and was still dark. But she was glad she's outside again. As far as she's concerned, it was perfectly fine that this place will get demolished. She never wanted to see the Sanctuary again.

Oriana slowly walked toward the outer perimeter fence that was put up by Alliance. She made her way to the small hole that she cut in the fence and was about to step through.

"Hold it right there!" said a voice behind her. "Let's see your hands."

Oriana could see her own shadow being projected to the ground in front of her from the flashlight beam from behind.

"Slowly turn around," said a second male voice.

Wham! Thud!

This was followed quickly by another wham and thud.

Within seconds, the two soldiers were both on the ground writhing in pain and holding their bloody noses with their hands.

Oriana turned, and slipped through the hole in the fence, and disappeared into the darkness.


"Hey Shepard!" shouted Taylor as he stepped off a shuttle at the Silversun Strip. Shepard was walking out of Tiberius Towers. He walked over to Taylor and shook his hands.

"Hey, thanks for meeting me here on such short notice."

"Wow, they actually finished reconstruction here!" said Taylor as he slowly turned three hundred sixty degrees to look at all the buildings including the casino, Armax Arena and Tiberius Towers.

"The last time we were here, we were at your party," Taylor reminisced.

"Yes, specific areas like this one got fast tracked for reconstruction," replied Shepard. "I guess the Council wants to establish as much normalcy as possible when we move the Citadel back to Citadel space."

"Does that mean your apartment is finished?" asked Taylor recalling Shepard mentioning that his apartment was under reconstruction.

"Yes, it is," replied Shepard. "That's why I had to meet you here. I was doing the final walk through and then I have a meeting with the Council right after this. I want the apartment to be a surprise for Ash. So please keep this a secret."

"Not a word from me," smiled Taylor. "Now, did you bring me here just to tell me about your apartment?"

"No," replied Shepard. "I was short on time and I needed an answer from you. Did you think over the Council's offer?"

Taylor walked over to a railing overlooking the lower Silversun Strip. He leaned on the railing with both of his forearms. "Shepard, it's a very generous offer. I can't thank you enough. I mean C-Sec SRD. And I would be able to live on the Citadel with Brynn. I know she would be thrilled to be able to continue her research here…and we can raise our child here."

Shepard leaned on the railing next to Taylor, "You sound hesitant. What's the problem?"

"Being the commander of The Special Response Division is a big deal. This is probably the most responsibility I have had. It's just that I don't know if I can do it. I mean, I watch you lead and you're a natural. But me - I'm not sure."

"Jacob, don't sell yourself short. Do you remember Gellix? Well you practically led a single man defense against Cerberus troops until the whole facility was evacuated," said Shepard.

"Well, you know I did have help. I mean, you did come and rescued my ass once more," said Taylor as he chuckled a little bit toward Shepard.

"Hey, stop ruining my pitch. What I saw when we landed was you holding off Cerberus assault troopers by yourself. You were able to rally a group of scientists into fighting back. That took leadership."

Taylor sighed and shook his head. He turned and smiled at Shepard, "You sure know how to make a sale…and make a friend feel worthy again….Okay, I'm in!"


"You should have seen the way Captain Williams took him down," said Barnes to Vega.

The four lieutenants were sitting at the larger dining table in the mess hall having dinner.

Barnes and Vega were sitting next to each other while Whitaker and West were across from them.

Whitaker swallowed his water and said to Vega, "So why didn't you speak up when I thought Captain Williams was your girlfriend? You could have saved me a world of hurt."

"Not to mention the embarrassment," chuckled West as he took a bite of his food.

"You were shooting off your mouth so fast, I didn't have time to say anything," replied Vega. He took a drink from his cup and then added, "You're just lucky Shepard didn't catch you."

"At ease!" said Barnes as he noticed Ashley, Miranda, and Liara walking up to the table.

"As you were," said Ashley as she walked to the other end of the table and sat next to Vega. Miranda was seated across from her and Liara sat at the head of the table.

"So what were you talking about?" asked Ashley. "Please continue."

Barnes, Whitaker, and West remained silent and continued eating. Vega finally spoke up, "we were talking about your hand-to-hand combat instructions with Lieutenant Whitaker."

Ashley picked up her knife and fork and was cutting her chicken. She looked to her left toward Whitaker and smiled, "I think the Lieutenant learned his lesson, right Lieutenant Whitaker?"

Whitaker looked over, "Yes, ma'am."

Ashley took a small bite of the chicken. After she finished she said to Vega, "But for the sake of Lieutenant Whitaker, I would suggest we not mention this to Admiral Shepard."

Vega looked at Ashley and smiled, "Whatever you say, Captain."

This has peaked Miranda's curiosity, "What happened?"

This caused a collective chuckling laughter from Barnes, West and Vega.

As Ashley was about to explain the story to Miranda, she heard her name being called.

"Captain Williams!" said Garrus as he walked over from the elevator. He was flanked by Coats and Riley.

Ashley turned around, "Welcome back. How was Guantanomo?"

Garrus didn't waste time with pleasantry, "You need to see this."


The group assembled in the conference room. Around the table were Ashley, Miranda, Liara, and Garrus. They were watching the holographic video playback in the center of the table. At the moment, they were watching a woman with blond hair wearing a blue business suit walking into Oleg Petrovsky's jail cell area.

"EDI, can you enlarge the image of the woman's face?" asked Ashley.

"Of course," replied EDI as she froze the video and enlarged the image.

The group looked at the image closely.

"Who is that?" said Miranda aloud.

"Well whoever she is, she helped Petrovsky escape," said Garrus.

"Wait…" said Ashley as she looked at the picture closer. "Is that-"

"What is it, Ash?" asked Miranda.

"I think that's-", said Ashley as she squinted a little and leaned in to look at the picture closer.

Then she finally said, "EDI, can you replace that blond hair with black hair. And also lose those glasses."

"As you wish," replied EDI and made the changes.

Liara let out a quiet gasp, "Maya Brooks!"


Oriana closed the door behind her and let out a sigh. She noticed she was breathing heavily and her heart was pounding. She was back in her apartment which was on the outskirt of Horizon. She had come here to help rebuild the colony. Her father had done so much evil here. In some small way, she hoped she could begin making up for what he had done. Few days ago, she heard Alliance was going to demolish the Sanctuary structure. Even though she hated that place, she felt she had to return one last time to retrieve whatever might be left of her father's research. While she hated everything he did, she knew it still had importance. It was important enough for Cerberus to send Kai Leng to retrieve it. She felt if she saved the research data, it might still be turned into good for some greater purpose in the right hands. That's why she went tonight.

Oriana slowed her breathing and turned to look through the door's peep hole. There was no motion outside. She turned and walked into her bedroom. She still dared not turn on her lights. In the darkness, she took out a small data disc from her pocket. She looked around the room for a place to hide it. As she walked toward the nightstand by her bed, she heard vehicles approaching. She ran to the window and looked out. From her second floor window, she could see two unmarked trucks stopping in front of her apartment. Soldiers began coming out of the trucks.

"Oh no!" said Oriana to herself as she saw they were Cerberus shock troopers.

Oriana quickly ran back to her nightstand and opened the drawer. She grabbed the pistol and two thermal clips. She ran to the front door. She could hear soldiers talking outside looking for the staircase. She knew there were two staircases to the second floor. One was in front by where the soldiers were. The second staircase was to the rear of the apartment.

Oriana slowly opened the door just slightly. She did not see any soldiers in the hallway. She crouched down and opened the door a little wider.

She took a deep breath and then slipped out the door. "Here we go."


The lounge door wisped open.

Ashley walked in to check on Miranda and Liara, "How's it going? Do you have enough space here?"

Liara and Miranda both looked up. Miranda and Ashley both exchanged a smile.

"Yes, we have ample space. Thank you Ashley," replied Liara.

"How are you holding up, Ash?" asked Miranda.

"I'm still a little dizzy and have a headache, but I'll be okay," replied Ashley as she walked toward the bank of monitors.

"Liara, do you have all your video feeds back online? Any luck on finding Maya Brooks?" asked Ashley.

"I have about sixty percent of the feeds. We have not spotted Maya Brooks, yet," replied Liara. "I am getting her file out to my operatives now. They will be looking for her."

"How many operatives do you have active?" asked Ashley.

"After the war, we had thirty six operatives remaining," replied Liara. She then began typing on the keyboard in front of her, "Each operative is injected with a tracking device. We can track them anywhere in the galaxy. I'm turning on the locators now…"

As Liara was finishing her statement, the screen in front of her began listing each agent's name and their location in the galaxy. As Liara began to scroll down the screen she suddenly stopped in front of one name.

"This can't be right!" exclaimed Liara.

"What's wrong?" asked Ashley.

"Tazzik," replied Liara. "I assumed he was killed on Thunawanuro."

Then Liara turned to Ashley, "When you were at the base, was one of the bodies a Salarian?"

"No, we didn't see any Salarian bodies," replied Ashley.

"Then there's something definitely wrong," replied Liara. "He was Feron's bodyguard. He was stationed at that base to protect Feron. There's no reason for him not to have been there."

"Unless he setup Feron," said Ashley. "Where is he now?"

Liara looked back at the screen, "Omega."