The rest of the evening of the party went past with a blur. Instead of calming the drinks down. Everyone started to drink again to celebrate. They went on until 3 am. Shepard was the last man standing and was cleaning up as she wasn't tired. Garrus realised he was alone in the bed so he dragged her to bed with her protesting. But he never intended on sleeping.
The rest of the crew was planted around the apartment, there weren't many beds so the sofa's had been occupied. Gemma woke up with her leg and arm hanging off the bed. She tried to sit up but felt a large force holding her down. Kaidan was practically lying on her. She turned over and Kaidan moved more of his weight on her. She didn't want to wake him, but her bladder was forcing her too. "Kaidan?"
He didn't move, just making a groaning noise. Gemma started to push him to the side. "Ugh. What?" He started to get up and turn around on his side to face Gemma. "My head is killing me. What happened last night?"
Gemma giggled to herself. "I'm not sure" She climbed out of bed and ran to the bathroom. "I know you and Garrus started doing shots, we had to stop him from drinking the Vodka before it killed him. He was pretty out of it, then I found you eating all the chocolates" She stood in the doorway whilst she wiped her hands with the towel, Kaidan sat up.
"That was probably why I could hardly move with the stomach ache I had. How do you look so awake?" Gemma placed the towel back down and sat at the end of the bed.
"How are you not awake? Shouldn't your biotics help with the hangover?" Kaidan placed his head in his hands. "You really struggling aren't you?" Gemma climbed over to him on her hands and knees, sat up facing him.
Kaidan didn't reply, he just nodded. The migraine was slowly creeping upon him. Gemma moved his hand down and placed hers on his forehead. She could feel the low buzz of his implant. She sat there for a minute and massaged his temple. He groaned when she pushed a little too hard on the right side of his head. "Does it hurt the most there?" He nodded. "Okay give me a minute" Gemma wanted to see if she could ease the pain, the same she did for Thane.
She put both index fingers on his temple and closed her eyes to concentrate. Kaidan could feel a cold sensation on his head, he opened his eyes to see a blue light flowing down Gemma's arms. He looked at her in confusion. "Just let me try something"
Gemma pushed her fingers in a little more and then she picked up the thumping of what must be his migraine since Kaidan described them as a thumping sensation. She sent a little shot of her biotics through his head. He flinched a little but then started to become more relaxed. "Did it work?"
Kaidan looked up and smiled. "Alot, actually" He pulled her hands down from his head and kissed them. "Thank you" Gemma leaned in and gave a slow kiss. The kiss was broken by the smell of bacon. Gemma could feel her body wanting to move to get some. "Are you hungry?"
"I'm starving" Gemma started to climb out of bed. Kaidan decided to grab a shower instead. He still felt a little sick from all the chocolate last night. Gemma jogged to the kitchen. Vega already had a plate out for her. Piled high with eggs, toast and bacon. "Good morning" Gemma said as she sat at the breakfast bar.
James, Cortez, Wrex were in the kitchen as well. Wrex was eating some sort of Varren meat and grumbling at the smell of Human food. "Morning, Gemma. You sleep well?" Cortez asked. James was calling out to people who might want some eggs.
"Not bad. Just really hungry. Where is everyone else?" She took the first bite of her breakfast and hummed to the sweet taste of the eggs. She then remembered her last meal with her parents, which she never actually ate. Eggs and bacon. She held back the tears, she needed to talk to Edi privately when they are back at the ship.
"Most of the crew is plotted around the apartment. Javik, Tali and Grunt are feeling sorry for themselves. Garrus and Shepard are still asleep. Where is Kaidan?" Joker walked in at that moment. He could smell the food, but not as a good thing. It made him feel sick, he took a beeline for the medicine cabinet and the coffee machine.
"He is in the shower. He should be out soon" Joker came to stand next to her as he waited for the coffee machine to brew. Jack had appeared to.
"Has it sunk in yet?" Gemma looked at Joker with a confused glance, he looked down at her hand. Gemma followed his gaze to the ring on her finger, she had actually forgotten that it was there. She placed her hand out and smiled.
"It feels a bit weird. But really I feel as though, this is meant to be" Joker gave her a little smile, but then he clenched his head again with his hangover coming back. He made a moaning noise and walked off with a big cup of coffee and some tablets in his hand.
Shepard woke up to the feeling of Garrus getting off the bed and groaning. "God, what happened last night?" He sat up straight at the end of the bed, Shepard moved up close and placed her hands around him.
"Can't we just stay here all day?" Garrus turned to face her and placed his talons on her cheeks. Shepard hummed at the feel of his warmth, she would love to stay there all day with him. With a sigh, she started to push him to get up. "But, I guess the Reapers won't wait that long, let's see who else is awake"
Garrus went straight downstairs to go get some food. He did hope Vega had cooked some dextro breakfast. He must admit he has always wanted to try Human food, the smells made him feel like he was actually eating it without the food being present in front of him. Shepard had got up to use the bathroom until she heard mumbling. Javik was on the floor telling himself that all the 'primitives' was a nightmare. "You alright, Javik?"
He looked up. "Oh, Commander. I guess it wasn't a nightmare. I'm okay...just" He looked back down at the floor and started to sway. Shepard couldn't tell if he was still drunk or that badly hungover.
"Well if you're okay. I'll just leave you to it" Shepard used the other bathroom and then made her way to the kitchen. Garrus was sat with Gemma talking about the night before. Kaidan was in the corner looking like he has drunk way too much coffee, being giddy and jumpy. She looked around for the rest of the crew and talked to some of them. Jack was boasting about being wide awake and not hungover thanks to her strong biotics.
Shepard looked at the time, she needed to get to the meeting with the Asari counsellor. She started to make her way to the transit station and put in the destination for the embassy. Joker had followed her out. "Guessing it's back to work then?"
"Not yet, I have a meeting I need to go to. Tell everyone to meet me at the Normandy's docking bay in 2 hours. And say thank you to rest of the crew who are going their separate ways. It's a little too hard to say goodbye right now" Joker saluted her and walked off, he didn't want to comment on the last part. He respected that it is hard for Shepard, they will not have many weeks left until they go back to Earth.
Shepard got into the taxi and sat down to think of how much her life has changed in 3 years. She fell in love, defeated a Reaper, died, came back, had her heartbroken, fell in love again, told Cerebrus to go fuck themselves, got arrested and now it's all lead to the where she is today. She wished somethings do go differently, but she doesn't regret what happened with her and Kaidan. If not Kaidan and Gemma may have never been together and she and Garrus may have never been together either.
She arrived at the embassy. It was busy as hell with queues of people wanting to either find their families or ambassadors wanting help from the council. She walked past quickly, not wanting people to notice her. She decided to pop to see Bailey but he was being shouted at by another reporter. He saw her and looked like he was needing help, but Shepard giggled and snuck back out.
The doors opened to Udinas office. C-sec was still there. Looking for anything that could help them track down more information about Udinas activities and illegal contacts. The Asari councillor was giving orders to the C-sec officer about looking through everything that Udina could get his hands on. "Ah. Commander. I'm glad your here. I must say I was expecting you a little earlier"
Shepard walked up the councillor shaking her hand. "I do apologize. Hackett's orders for shore leave and I'm sure you heard about what happened with that damn clone" The councillor nodded with confirmation of knowing about that situation.
"Yes. Commander Bailey had told us about it. I'm glad it has been dealt with. I'm sure you and your crew are well-rested. Let's get down to business, I know your crucible is missing a key component" Shepard moved a little closer.
"Do you know something?" The councillor waved Shepard for her to follow to the balcony, there was no C-sec out there and this information was a need to know basis.
"The situation for my people are becoming desperate. For the first in my people's history, we are under threat. I know your homeworld is already under attack. But the Reapers have already closed in on Thessia. We need your help" Shepard leaned against the railing, looking out at the sky cars fly past.
"Look I know you are struggling, but where were you when we needed you for Earth. We could have slowed them down if you and the other councillors helped me" The councillor broke eye contact first. She knew she did wrong. "Why should I help you? My priority is the crucible, my crew, ship and homeworld"
"I understand, I do apologize for the choice I made. But it was something that was logically correct. I need to look out for my people and my homeworld, even including Illium" Shepard started to get a little angry. Her response was just so ironic for Shepard, that it was annoying to even listen to.
"And I'm just looking out for every man, woman and child. Including my own species, Turians, Salarians, Krogan, Hanar and everyone else. You said about the crucible. What do you know?" The Asari gave Shepard a datapad.
A picture came up of temple, but a lot more modern looking than most temples she has seen before. "This is the Temple of Athame. It is protected by the highest levels of my government"
Shepard looked up from the datapad. "Why? It's just a temple" The councillor walked away and dropped her gaze. "What are you hiding?"
I don't know" The Asari looked up quickly, looking defensive. "Even I don't have the clearance to know this. It's a need to know bases. All I know is the power in this temple, is something that my people knows no other species can control"
"Why are you telling me this then. It's not like the Asari loves Humans" Shepard gave her back the datapad. She never understood why the Councillors acted so cold to her, but in private they will practically beg for her help. It pissed her off, at least Udina told her how he felt about her, was probably the only thing she ever liked about him.
"Because you are the little bit of light we have in this right now. I like you Shepard and I always have. I know the Turian and Salarian councillors can be cold towards you, but I do not wish to be like that. I do apologize for not believing you those 3 years ago, we might not be here if we had listened to you" Shepard looked into the Asari's eyes. It was true, most of the time her and the Turian councillor was arguing. The Asari councillor did defend her most times.
"Okay, I will help you" A weight could be seen being lifted from the Asari. "Send me what you know on this to the Normandy we should arrive in a couple of hours"
The councillor took Shepard's hands into her. "Thank you, Commander. You do not know how much this means to me and my people. Please anything you need I am happy to help. The Asari will stand by you in the final battle for Earth"
"Thank you, councillor" Shepard said her goodbye and started to make her way to the Normandy's docking bay.
Shepard was the first to arrive at the docking bay. She leaned against the railing, looking at her ship, her home. She had so many memories in that ship and she couldn't imagine losing this one as she lost her first ship.
She started to hear the crew come over behind her, all leaning against the railing. Garrus came to stand next to her. "That was a hell of a party" Garrus held Shepard's hand, squeezing them when he saw her become upset.
"Yeah, it was" She looked up more, trying to mask her tears. "Probably the last" Garrus leaned into her.
"Come on, Shepard. Don't be like that. You will find a way to win, you always have and always will. I will always be there to meet you at the bar in the end" The tears started to slowly roll down Shepard's cheeks. She wanted to save everyone, but she was scared of death. She wasn't before until it happened with the fall of the SR-1.
"I will always meet you there as well. Thank you, for everything you have done for me, Garrus. I love you" Garrus leaned his head into hers.
"And I love you too, Shepard. Come on let's get to the ship" They all started to walk towards the docking bay doors. Shepard stayed a minute longer, knowing this will probably be the last time she will come to the Citadel. With a little smile, she jogged to catch up to the rest of the crew.
The Normandy had soon arrived inParnitha System. The Reapers could be seen in all corners of the Normandy's windows. Joker was able to sneak past them. But, the shuttle would have to be dropped closer to the planet. "Joker how we looking?" Shepard asked as she walked at a brisk pace.
"A big old shit storm, Commander. I'm not able to get through to any comms but from reports flooding in, the Asari are on their knees and won't last much longer. We are 10 minutes out. We will have to be quick, I can't hide the Normandy for long" Edi was working on trying to get through the comms, but she wasn't having much luck in doing so.
"Okay get the Normandy as close as you can, tell Cortez to have the shuttle ready in 5. We are meeting the Asari commandos by the temple" Shepard went to get ready. She turned around to see Liara running towards her.
"Shepard! That is my homeworld, I need to be there" Shepard nodded and carried on rushing to the lift.
"Get ready then, tell Javik and Gemma to suit up as well. Javik might be able to help us understand what the councillor couldn't tell me, and if it is that much of a shit show, we need Gemma and her biotics to help us to get the temple" Shepard slammed the button to the armoury. Liara ran to the war room, where Gemma was with Thane, going over some plans with coordinating the ships for Earth when the time comes.
"Gemma we are going to Thessia, Shepard needs you" Gemma didn't say anything and just started to pack up her datapads at lighting speed. She gave Thane a little nod and jogged off to get ready.
Liara called to Javik through the comms. He grunted in reply and went to the shuttle, his own armour and guns were always with him in his room. Shepard was getting the last of her guns together, as Gemma was clasping in the last parts of her amour. She ate a few energy bars as from what Shepard had caught her up on, her biotics was going to be tested to the limits today. "Everyone ready? Where is Liara?"
At that moment, Liara walked from the lift and picked up with the first pistol she saw, she was not slowing down. "Let's go, commander"
"Alright you heard her, let's go. We are not losing the Asari today" They all boarded the shuttle and the second the docking bays opened all they could see was Reapers, ships on fire and the burning planet before them. "Normandy, when Cortez is back I want you to jump to the next system just to be safe"
"Roger that, Commander. Good luck. Normandy out" The shuttle slowly started to make its way to the planet. Most of the big cities could be seen burning to a crisp.
"Take it easy Cortez" Cortez gave a slow nod, not taking his eyes off the controls. They were able to make it to the lower atmosphere without being seen. "Liara what can you tell us about this temple?"
Liara stopped looking at the destruction outside the windows and turned to the crew staring back at her. "They call it the Temple of Athame.Athame was a goddess of prophecy and fate, and the matriarch of the Asari pantheon. Not many follow the religion anymore, most who do are our matriarchs and families of those who had stories of her passed down. I couldn't get much information, but what I do know is that the temple gets private funding from the government and no information leaves Asari space. If it does it is never in written form and is always encrypted"
"But what could the Asari want with some old temple. It has to be hiding something inside" Gemma said, leaning against the bulkhead. Shepard could only see that as a plausible reason for this temple to be so hidden.
"Commander I've got the commandos on the line, they are being decimated. We are 30 seconds out, but the landing zone is being swarmed"
"Alright. Open the side doors. Everyone get ready and kill those bastards. I ain't losing this squad before we get there" The doors opened as Cortez turned the shuttle in a 90-degree angle. There were about 11 commandos, some using the guns and a couple holding up a biotic field at the front. "Everyone jump and get into position" Shepard shouted.
They all dropped out of the shuttle before it touched the ground. Cortez took off quickly, but then a Harvester came in from his 9 o'clock position. "Cortez get you ass out of there. NOW! Normandy get to Cortez, he has been seen"
Shepard could not wait to see if Cortez could get away, she needs to concentrate on the ground crew. She turned to her right and saw a gunship that had a blown engine. Under the gunship was body bags, more than a dozen. "Commander Shepard is here. Hold the line" Lieutenant Kuran shouted.Shepard jumped onto the big guns and started to shoot the husks that were the furthest away. Javik and Liara took posts across from each other to pick off husks that tried to climb the walls. A few did start to get to close and swipe at the biotic shield. Gemma saw the sweat with the Asari struggling to hold the shield. Gemma holstered her gun and ran to help them. She pushed her arms into the air and concentrated all her energy. The shield shrunk just a little bit then doubled in size in the blink of the eye. The Asari looked at Gemma in shock and confusion as the shield turned from the pale blue colour to a dark blue and purple mixed.
The husks were coming in waves. Gemma was able to kill the ones that tried to scratch at the shield by sending an electric bolt that targetted their heart. Gemma was glad she had improved on that skill of being able to target the respiratory system with ease, they may be husks, but they still have the same body layout as any other species. The other Asari was becoming a little nervous by how well Gemma was able to use her biotics and not even flinch with the pressure on her implant. "Fuck. Everyone watch out we have some brutes coming this way! Gemma hold that damn shield" Shepard stopped shooting the husks and concentrated on the brutes, she wanted to try and get their health down as quickly as possible, even try to kill them before they reached Gemma and the other Asari with her. Javik had used some of his biotics to push the husks back. Liara threw some singularity in front of the shield and shot the husks as they started to rise into the air.
Back on the Normandy Traynor was going through the comms, trying to get some help sent to the SOS's that was flooding in. Hackett had sent the 6th fleet to help. Joker was sending reports and one caught Traynor's eye. It was a comm for a ship that had just entered the system, tagged as part of the 6th fleet. But what was confusing to Traynor was that the 6th fleet was not going to arrive for another 20 minutes. Hackett would not have allowed a lone frigit to go ahead of the Captain's ship.
"Edi could you try and get comm on this ship, please. Something isn't right?" Traynor sent over the information.
"Of course, I will let you know when I find something"
The waves of husks and brutes had finally seized for the moment. A harvester had tried to land and send more husks. But Javik and Shepard were able to take it down whilst Liara killed the husks that the harvester had dropped, Gemma carried on holding the shield. As it all died down, Shepard jumped down from the gun and walked over to the Kurin.
"Commander, I'm glad you are here, but you are too late. I've lost too many of my men. We are leaving" Kurin was walking around shouting commands to her crew.
"You cannot leave. We have to get to the temple" Kurin wasn't listening and turned towards the fighter that was still being fixed.
"Get that fighter in the air, we need air support now!" She started to walk over to the line of bodies. "I'm sorry, Commander. I have lost more than half my men, we sent a squad across and we can't get through to them nor can we can get through to the science team. What do you even need from this temple"
Kurin stopped walking and turned to face Shepard. She wanted the truth, but her superiors wouldn't tell her a word on what she was meant to be doing there. "There is an artefact in the temple that we need. This may end this war"
Kurin turned back to the fighter that was still on the ground. "Get that ship into the air NOW!" The engineer who was fixing it jumped down in fright and sent off the fighter. It may not be fully fixed, but they couldn't be picky right now. "Look if this artefact has been there this all time, it will last a little longer. I'm taking my people and leaving, I'm not dying for this"
Javik was standing with Liara trying to help the injured. He heard the conversation between Shepard and Kurin. Javik walked over and placed both his hands on Kurin, who jumped in fear at the Prothean grabbing hold of her. Javik closed his eyes. "You are scared, scared you will lose, scared you will die. But, you also have hope deep inside you. You know we have the chance to win, the determination inside you is strong" He opened his eyes and narrowed them. "Use it"
Kurin stepped back a little, her breath slow and ragged. "Your that prothean everyone is talking about" She didn't wait for a reply, instead gathered her crew. "Get ready, we have to help the Commander get to the other side of that bridge. We are not leaving until the job is done. Commander get going and I will try and get through to my squad on the other side"
"Thank you, Lieutenant" Shepard gathered her crew. Gemma was still holding up the barrier with the other Asari, but they dropped it when the metal boards had to be moved. "Okay, we only have one chance at this. The war could be ending today"
The metal board got moved, Shepard and the crew stepped over the other side. "Good luck, Commander. Make sure everyone knows the war was ended on Thessia"
"Thank you, Lieutenant, we will be as quickly as we can. Please if it gets too much, then leave" Kurin nodded and the metal board was placed back in place. Shepard turned around. The Reapers knew what they were doing and they were getting ready. Husks, brutes and banshees started to appear from the otherwise, making their way towards Shepard and her crew.
Javik and Liara looked at each other, determination written across their face. Shepard pulled out her gun and Gemma started to light up with her biotics, flaming blue and dark red, the fire fighting inside her. "Let's do this"