The fight across the bridge was never-ending. The waves of husks, brutes and banshees kept on coming. The banshees were pushing them back the most. Gemma could only do so much with her biotics to slow them down, but she was already trying to keep husks away as they ran at her. Javik and Shepard took on the brutes. His biotics were different from today's known biotics, moves he could use were things even Gemma couldn't do. "Shepard we need help, they keep coming and we can't keep pushing back like this" Liara shouted at the top of her voice.
Shepard turned back and looked up at the sky. Even more Reapers was dropping from the sky. "Is there anyone on this comm, that can give us air support? We need to get across this damn bridge"
There was low static for a few moments. "Commander, this is falcon 5 reporting in" A few second later. "Falcon 2, reporting in" The crew turned around and saw the fighters come in.
"Everyone push forward" Javik and Liara got into cover, Gemma pushed husks backwards with a shockwave. Liara followed suit and did the same. "Javik be careful, you've got brutes coming your way" Javik took his head out of cover and saw two brutes advancing to his position. He pulled out his particle rifle and aimed for the eyes of the brute, it didn't kill them. But, slowed them down as the beam from his gun seemed to give them a second or so of blindness. Shepard caught on that this could be an advantage for them. "Liara, Javik. Keep on going for their eyes. I'll try to knock them over"
Liara and Javik respectively shot the eyes of the brutes. Shepard started to use throws and pulls over and over again. Gemma continued to take down the husks. A harvester tried to land but she was able to scare it off when the biotic field she created that had started to drag it down to its knees.
Shepard eventually was able to make one of the brutes fall. Javiks last shot had blown the eye out of the other brute and it fell to the ground. They made it to the end of the bridge. In front of them now was a long low pond with walls collapsed, this would help with finding cover when they needed it. Shepard looked up at the fighters that hovered next to them. "Commander, you have incoming. Keep moving forward and we will cover you" At that moment, another wave started to come their way.
"Okay don't stop and keep pushing" They all ran and split off into cover. Shepard made sure she was ahead of everyone. Javik and Liara stayed close to together and Gemma tried to stay level with Shepard. But it seemed Shepard wasn't slowing down and Gemma needed time to kill the husks rushing towards Shepard. The fighters went on ahead and were able to kill a bunk of the brutes.
They pushed on further and a couple of banshees had arrived. Gemma took on one herself, shooting and throwing a flash to slow down the banshee. Its attention had turned away towards the fighter. "Falcon 5, watch out" Gemma shouted over the comms.
The pilot tried to pull the fighter in a hard left turn, but it had already been hit with the banshees biotics. "I've been hit" They all watched as it went out of eyesight. "I repeat. I'm going... ahhh" The comm cut out. The fury built up in Liara, she picked up the banshee with a force field and chucked it over the wall. Shepard took in a deep breath, they had to keep going.
"Liara, collect yourself. We need to get going and get out of this line of fire" Liara whipped her head around, eyes opened wide, her brow furrowed. She gave Shepard a quick nod. They pushed on, the last remaining fighter widened its distance to try and not get hit as well.
Javik went on ahead, Gemma following close behind. The anger fueled Liara on. Her biotics flying everywhere, killing all in her path. They were able to get close to the end and heard shouting going on ahead. There was just one last brute standing in their way. Javik and Shepard started to shoot its eyes. The fighter sent a rocket, but it missed the brutes by just a few inches. The brute faced the fighter. Using its arm to shield the bullets, it picked up a crumbled wall and chucked it at the fighter, clipping the back engines. " Falcon 2 hit... I'm sorry, Commander" The fighter dropped out of sight to the lower levels, the fire erupted back up. Gemma finished off the brute, running up close and using her biotics to punch it meters away from them.
"Dammit" Shepard walked over to the railing, looking down. The pure pain she felt in that moment, these Asari are trying to keep their homeworld safe and for what, at the cost of their own lives. Liara slowly walked up behind her, Javik and Gemma keeping a watch out.
"I know its hard Shepard. But we have to keep moving, we might be able to save these Asari who are ahead of us" Liara slowly placed her hand on Shepard's shoulder. She was angry herself, but she needed Shepard headstrong. They can't do this without her.
Shepard gave Liara a little sideways smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just had enough of the deaths. I've seen so many and there is still going to be more" Liara leaned against the railing, the fire and destruction laid before them.
"I know, but their sacrifice will not be forgotten. We need to keep going. Please Shepard" Shepard rubbed her face with her gloved hands. Shore leave only ended hours ago and she feels like she hasn't slept in days.
With a big sigh. "Come on, quicker we get this done the better" They both walked back over too Javik and Gemma, who was looking at the fighting ground ahead of them.
"Commander, there is a couple of Asari. But they will not last much longer" Javik pointed to the two remaining Asari that was fighting the hoard of husks and brutes. Just a couple of feet next to them was a pile of bodies, multiple shot wounds, lacerations covering some bodies from husks. Liara couldn't look at them, the pain they had suffered. Made her feel like she could feel their pain, she was away from home for too long. Her heart broke into a million little pieces, the tears welling up in her eyes.
"Come on" Shepard started to run at full speed, wanting to make sure they can at least save some Asari. As they got closer, they could hear the Asari shouting, they seemed to be talking to Kurin through their comms.
"No the Commander, is not here yet" Shepard threw a shockwave to the lower levels. Watching the husks being thrown into the air, the Asari followed the line of the shockwave and saw Shepard and her crew. "Wait, the Commander has just arrived"
Shepard and the crew ran over to help. They were on a higher level than the Reapers, which gave them the advantage. They all got behind cover, the wall was broken in half so Shepard stayed on the left-hand side with the Asari. No words were exchanged, they just got on with what they need to do. More husks had arrived, they started to try and climb the walls. Javik leaned over a little and pointed his gun at them. Gemma started to have a biotic fight with a banshee that had shown up.
Shepard leaned over to face the Asari. "What happened here?" She looked at the pile of bodies, the commandoes followed her gaze, they looked at each other and bowing their head down. Shepard got their attention making a low noise at the back of their throat.
"Uh, sorry, there was 14 of us, we were doing okay at first. But soon we were overwhelmed. Husks were tearing our people apart" She looked at the bodies again. "A harvester landed. It threw brutes and marauders on top of us" She dropped her head, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Then they just murdered the squad, we were able to pull ourselves back, a fighter took them down but got blew up by the harvester, now it is just us"
Shepard placed her hand on the Asari's shoulder. "I know its hard, but we have to keep going. I need to get to the temple" Shepard turned around, her crew still fighting, the brutes had gone, but the husks were still coming in large numbers.
The Commando looked over the ledge, seeing the gun-fire and biotics fly around the courtyard below them. "Alright, see that big building with the high up tower?" Shepard followed her line of sight and saw a very modern, but sophisticated temple, which seemed untouched. "You need to cross this courtyard, go through that building that is blown-up at the end and the temple will be right around the corner from there"
"Alright, we will help you clear them here and then get back over the bridge and back to Kurin, you have done more than enough" Both Asari gave a little smile, the appreciation that they may actually live through this. Shepard finally joined the fight, brutes were started to come from the other side of the courtyard.
A harvester, dropping to fireballs of husks. Shepard and the Asari started to work well together, biotics and gun-fire. Javik and Liara concentrated on the three brutes that were quickly advancing to their position.
Gemma looked up at the harvester, it was shooting the ground, dust and debris making it hard to see the husks coming until they are right below the wall. The brutes were even harder to see coming. Gemma crouched down, concentrating her thoughts for a moment. She knew she could take the harvester down just like she disabled the Reaper on Rannoch, but this was different. She was so angry and tired on Rannoch. She looked at the bodies behind her, their faces looking back at her, begging for revenge.
Anger started to flow through her. She stood up fully, the harvester noticed her and positioned itself to face her. "Gemma! What the fuck are you doing?" Shepard hissed at her. Gemma didn't respond, nor took her eyes off the harvester. She let her biotics light up around her, flaming across her body. The harvester shot at her first, the fast, heavy paced bullets doing nothing, but bounce off her shield. The harvester seemed to be taken aback by this. Gemma didn't know if they had free will, but it did make her smirk at it.
The harvester looked down, blue erupting from the bottom of its legs. It looked back up at Gemma, getting ready to shoot again. But it started to slowly lift off the ground. The harvester pulled its leg side to side, trying to gain gravity back on the ground. Shepard sent a shockwave to the husks that were trying to climb the wall to Gemma.
Gemma started to turn her arm in a full rotation, forcing the harvester to start to roll. She could start to feel the little strain in the back of her head. Ignoring it, she continued. The harvester moved 90 degrees. Gemma looked for somewhere that was deep enough for a drop to kill it. Another harvester saw what was happening and started to dive down for back up. The still floating harvester was flapping around like a fish out of water.
Gemma saw the harvester coming. Javik and Shepard started to shoot it. "Wait, stop. I can kill them both" Gemma shouted, she carried on turning the harvester, hoping this made it dizzy, but she doubts it'll work.
"What are you talking about?" Shepard shouted back, even the two Asari was a little confused and shocked by how this Human could lift a whole harvester without even breaking a sweat.
"I'm going to throw them into each other" Gemma looked up quickly the harvester was not far from being on top of them. "Just get behind cover when I do" They all crouched down, only getting out of cover to shoot their guns at the husks still running towards them. The harvester flying down was 40 meters above them. Gemma brought her body down to her knees, the harvester that was floating dropped just a little bit as Gemma lowered herself. She used both hands this time and pushed up with all her might.
Shepard and the crew all watched as the harvester being controlled by Gemma flew into the air. Both harvesters came crashing towards each other, making screeching noises. Gemma dropped behind the wall. Bodies could be heard crashing into each other, red erupted, making it almost too blinding for them to open their eyes.
Silence fell over them. Shepard poked her head over the edge of the wall. Harvester guts and body parts were still falling from the sky. The husks had been killed from the impact as well. All heads turned towards Gemma, she saw staring at the floor, a harvester gut had landed at the side of her. Tears welled up in her eyes. "You okay?" Liara turned to face her, still knelt down.
"Yeah, I am fine. Let's get going" She didn't wait for Shepard's command and jumped down over the wall onto the courtyard.
The two Asari looked at each then at Shepard. "How.. how did she do that?" Shepard watched Gemma as she dropped behind a wall, waiting for everyone else to catch up.
"She's" Shepard didn't really know how to answer. "She is very powerful and good at what she does. Javik, Liara. Jump down and join Gemma" They compiled and jumped down. Shepard stood up, the Asari followed. "You two can get back to Kurin. It should be near enough empty, the Reapers are following us right now"
"Thank you, Commander. May Goddess guide you" The two Asari started to jog off. Shepard jumped down, crouching down next to Liara, who gave her a little nod. They looked around and there were even more bodies than before.
"Commander" Gemma called. She pointed to across the courtyard. There were no more husks but the big guns, vultures and three ravagers had seemed to have finally joined the party. "This is going to take alot" Shepard nodded in agreement.
"Alright, we need to split up. Liara, Gemma. You two go right. Javik you are with me and we will go to the left. We will flank them" Everyone nodded in acknowledgement.
Liara and Gemma checked their guns and started to mould in the best they could with the collapsed walls as cover. They both decided to take out the vultures but sending in a shockwave at the same time. It gave more force and some fell to the side from the backlash of the shockwave and the ones in the firing line of it smashed against the wall.
The other Reaper ground forces saw this and started to move towards their position. Javik and Shepard took advantage of this and they started to walk around as the ground forces turned to face Gemma and Liara. Shepard shot the back of the ravages, they started to turn around. The crew started to close in on them. Each dropping one by one, some tried to back off, but Shepard wasn't giving them the satisfaction.
They pushed on. Gemma and Liara found a balance working well together with their biotics, they will throw an enemy off balance and then shot them. Shepard ran up to the last of the ravager and used her biotic punch to go right through its fluid bags, killing it instantly.
"Come on, we need to get through this damn courtyard" They all started to run, but more trouble was still on the way.
Kaidan was walking to the war room to get some updates on the crucible, when Traynor ran up to him. "Hey Traynor, you okay?" Traynor stopped for a minute to catch her breath.
"I saw this alert come through about a ship that was going ahead of the fleet that Admiral Hackett had sent" Kaidan brought her over to a more secluded area so they could talk in private. "I know they are now down on the planet and are helping to the best they can, but this ship has blocked comms, which is not allowed in Alliance ships" Kaidan nodded along with acknowledgement. Only an Admiral or Spectre such as himself or Shepard could block comms, Hackett would never have done that, there was no reason to. "Edi has pinpointed it. This ship didn't even come from the same relay that the fleet is meant to come through, its come from the Iera system in the Shadow Sea cluster"
"Wait. Horizon is there. Gemmas homeworld" He started to worry then. Something was happening on this planet and Gemma would want to know. "What is happening out there?"
"Sanctuary is there" Kaidan gave her a questioning look. "Have you not heard of it?" He shook his head. "It is a place for humans to go to for safety. No much is known about this place. The Alliance have not had the time to do a full investigation. All comms and messages are blocked coming and going"
"Alright, where is the shuttle now?" Traynor passed him a datapad. The shuttle was close to where Shepard was dropped off. "Do you think this could be Cerberus? Following Shepards steps?"
"I do. Edi is working on getting a trace, so we can follow its course and hopefully back to what I guess is Horizon. I feel sanctuary isn't what they say it is" Kaidan nodded in agreement, something was off about this. Horizon was the only colony world in that system, there were no reports of any buildings or colonies on the other worlds.
"Alright keep it between us for now. Get Edi to continue what is needed and we will see what to do with this information when Shepard is back" They started to walk back to the entrance of the war room.
"Understood, Major" She gave him salute, Kaidan returned it.
"Good work, Traynor" She gave him a little smile and walked off. "Joker, how are Shepard and the crew getting on?" There was a short pause until Joker responded.
"Her last update was that they are in the temple" Kaidan could only hope the catalyst is where the Asari councillor told her where it might be.
Inside the temple, it was large and open with multiple stone-like painting and in the middle a large statue of what Shepard guessed was Athame. "Commander look" Gemma called as she walked closer to the statue, but she was looking at the floor.
"Its the scientist" Shepard said, she knelt down to look at their bodies. Blood dripped from their necks, it was started to become darker and dryer, meaning whoever did this had done it a little while ago. "The Reapers did not do this. Their throats have been slit"
Liara came over to look. She was heartbroken, these scientists did nothing wrong, they didn't deserve to die. "Dammit, we are on our own then" Shepard knew she couldn't do anything for them so got up and got back to the task at hand.
They all stood in front of one of the most beautiful Asari they had ever seen. Athame was tall, elegant and so powerful, just by her statue. "Liara, why is Athame so... different from other Asari?" Shepard asked as they walked closer. Athame tentacle 'hair' was much longer than any other Asari's.
"She is a god in our eyes. She gave her gifts, knowledge and power to help us become so powerful. It is believed she gave us our biotic power, by making Thessia a natural element zero planet" Gemma walked around looking at the broken and worn rocks with pictures painted on them.
"What about Illium? That is an Asari born world, but Asari ran" Gemma asked. Liara turned to look at the stoned pictures as well.
"It is said she gave Illium to us. It had an abundance of minerals and food to help us when our populations grow. She also specifically chose it for its large amounts of element zero. Knowing full we would colonies Illium" Javik walked up close to Athame. He and Shepard looked at each other.
"There is a Porthean artefact here" Shepard shouted. Gemma and Liara quickly rushed back over to the statue.
"But where?" Liara asked as she looked around the temple. She has seen 100s of Prothean artefacts and none is the temple was any she noticed, only Asari.
"Me and the Commander can feel it. The statue holds the artefact inside" Javik announced. He and Liara started to squabbling about if it was true or not. Shepard walked off and started to look at the stone artefacts. Some were of Athame giving gifts, others were Asari bowing to her. One started to glow when Shepard approached it. She lighter placed her hand over it, not wanting to break the stone painting. It started to become stronger. She pressed the tip of her fingers into the neon green light. The light then burst into a rope-like light, leading right to Athames large statue that stood in front of them. Everyone looked at the light then at the statue.
"Amazing. Shepard the statue seems to think you are Prothean" Shepard walked to the next artefact and pressed her hand on it lightly. but nothing happened.
"Or maybe its the Prothean standing next to her" Javik said in a sarcastic voice. Gemma made a little snorting noise, making Liara give them both a dirty look and walked off to join Shepard.
"Javik look around. we both should be able to get all the lights to get the statue to fall" They both split up, taking each side of the stone paintings to see which one would activate the artefact. Gemma did a perimeter check to make sure whoever killed the scientist wasn't still around. She hoped someone wanted to find answers since when they arrived the temple was untouched and had high military protection and left when they didn't have the answers they wanted.
It didn't take long to find all the light beams. They all stopped moving when they heard cracking. Athames statue started to crack and fall. They all stepped back as the heavy stone fell. Liara was a little upset to see this old statue fall, but she knew this had to be done to stop the war.
As it fell the largest Prothean beacon they had ever seen appeared in front of them, it went meters down into the ground. "Well no wonder they built the statue, it was hiding the beacon. Liara, why?"
Liara couldn't answer she was in awe. The beacon was beautiful, who knew what information it had inside. Shepard walked closer, the beacon started to light up. "Liara?" Javik walked up to her.
"Oh, sorry. I'm not sure, no one of my contacts say anything about a beacon on Thessia" A little drone came out of the beacon, it scanned Shepard.
"Detecting life cycle, Human, Asari. Scanning area. Reaper invasion already underway, Shutting down systems" Shepard stepped closer.
"Wait, we need answers" The drone became much smaller, zooming right into Shepard's face. Javik came closer to Shepard. He noticed the drone was voiced by a Prothean.
"Answers are not available now, your cycle will come to an end. There is no way to stop the Reaper invasion" Javik put himself in front of the drone.
"We are fighting the Reapers" The drone took itself back, scanning Javik.
"You are Prothean. Do you join the fight with the Humans and Asari?" Javik turned around and looked at everyone else. They were practically begging for him to agree.
"Yes. The Commander is the one who is fighting save us all" Shepard stepped out from behind Javik. Liara and Gemma came closer.
"We have your plans for the crucible. We are building it right now to kill all Reapers" The drone floated to the middle of everyone. Turning into a Prothean, glowing green.
"The one you call crucible is not a Prothean plan. It has been passed down from cycle to cycle. Each adding to it. It has never worked" The Prothean turned itself into the plans of the crucible, changing with each cycle. Each was either bigger, smaller, wider, shaped differently.
"It will work this time. We need to find the catalyst" Liara realised her people have been hiding this from everyone for thousands of years.
"Wait" Liara shouted. "How long have you been here?" The visual Prothean turned itself to face her.
"You are Asari. Your people found this beacon at a time they sat around firepits. They deemed it necessary to hide this beacon from all. The beacon gave them the power to become the most advanced of all species" Shepard could feel her stomach turn.
"Wait the Asari knew all this long and they fucking hid it" Shepard looked straight at Liara. "This war may have never happened if your people told us" Liara tried to protest, but Shepard held her hand up. "Now is not the time for it. We will talk about this later" Shepard turned her attention back to the Prothean. "If you know where the catalyst is, we need it. Now" Gemma gave Liara a sympathetic look. She could see the tears well up in her eyes.
"As you wish, we will join with your systems and..." The Prothean quickly turned into a drone and lifted itself into the air. "Detecting indoctrinated presence. Activating security measure" It took itself back to float in front of the beacon, hiding behind Shepard.
They all tried to see who was coming, but the fighter had its lights on the brightest possible, making it nearly impossible. The figure became more clearer. It was Kai Leng. "You" Everyone got their guns out and pointed them right at him. "You killed the scientists"
Gemma instantly activated a shield to split between them all. Leng smirked at her. "Someone wants to talk to you" Shepard walked to the edge of the barrier, Gemma was still holding up. She held her hand up, requesting Gemma to drop it. She didn't want to but did what her Commander requested.
Leng brought out a small orb from a pouch at the back of his leather jacket. The orb started to spin continually and floated towards Shepard, stopping feet from in front of her. A projection started to come from the middle light of the orb, turning into the body of the Illusive man, cigarette in hand. "Illusive man" Shepard said with a snarl in her voice.
"Shepard. A pleasure to see you again of course" Shepard scoffed at his half-assed hello. "It seems you are in the way of something that I want" Shepard turned to drone floating behind her. She was the only thing standing between the drone and the Illusive man.
"You are not having it. So you might as well leave now" He didn't seem to care about her threat and walked right through her. "Why do you want it so badly?"
"That is information that you don't need to know. It is something that I need to continue my work and stop you from destroying the Reapers" Gemma looked back at Leng, he was pacing back and forth. Javik had his gun on him.
"You really think you can stop me from blowing the Reapers back to dark space?" She said with a smirk forming on her lips. The Illusive man turned around to face her. "You think that the Reapers will give you a free pass in life if you help them kill all life?"
"No" He seemed to fluster a little bit. "They chose me to do this. I will do this, even if I have to kill you" They both stared each other down. Shepard would gladly kill him right now, but as always he hid in that office of his.
"See you are already doubting yourself. Wasn't it your exact words about us needing to stop the Collectors since they work for the Reapers?" Javik walked a little closer to Leng when he himself started to walk a little closer.
"No. I never said that. They need me, they do" Shepard could see his self-doubt.
"Your fucking indoctrinated. You are doubting your every move" He walked backwards a little bit, looking down at the floor.
"Don't you dare think you know me" He pointed his burning cigarette at her. "Don't try to comment on my motives, you don't know me" He turned back to the drone, placing his projected hand through it.
"You are not getting this information, so leave and I won't kill you" He turned around, smirking at Shepard. He started to walk back to Leng.
"Leng. The Commander has something that I want, please relieve her of it. Kill her only if you have too" The projection started to float back to Lang as the Illusive man disappeared.
"Yes, sir" The orb landed in his hand and he placed it back. He gets his sword at the ready and runs towards them. Liara goes first, running towards him, firing her gun. Each bullet jumped off his barrier. He was feet from her, slapping the gun out of her hand and kicking her in the stomach. Gemma was running to help Liara, but the kick forced Liara to fly into Gemma, forcing them both to fall down.
Javik and Shepard stood next to each other, protecting the drone. Javik went first, running at Leng, he used his biotics. They were no match for Leng's. Javik tried to hold him back, Shepard was shooting him at the same time. But it wasn't doing much damage. Liara was trying to get up. Javik looked over at her, distracting him. Leng used this to his advantage. He picked up Javik with a gravity field, throwing him into the wall. "Javik, no!" Liara shouted, but he was knocked out.
Shepard jumped to the side shooting him. Gemma had joined her, Liara tried, but the pain in her stomach made it hard to move. They fought for what felt like hours. Every time his shields dropped he would call in the fighter to shoot at them continually and shining its large headlights, making it near impossible to see. Once he was back Gemma had enough, she threw her gun and ran at him, throwing a shockwave to run in front of her. Leng dodged it, throwing his own line of shockwaves at her. She was able to block them. But he threw a frag grenade at her, making it hard to see. He came running in from her left, punching her right in the face. She stumbled back a bit, kicking her leg, using her biotics for more force, he reflected that as well.
Leng kicked her leg. She heard the snapping noise, falling to her knees. He was about to dig his sword into him, but Shepard shot at him. "Come on. Let's finish what you started" He turned to face her, smirking. He ran at her. Shepard had her gun and omni-blade out. They matched each other, move for move. Shepard kicked him in the stomach, he reflected it with punching her in the chest. Shepard was taken aback, but she didn't give up.
He started to walk backwards. The fighter showed up again, Shepard realised she was in the line of fire. She started to run towards the drone, that hadn't moved. "Target the supports" Shepard tried to run, but the fighter's guns blasted the floor next to her, she flew to the left of the temple. She got to her hands and knees, the floor cracking around her, her gun fell first and soon she fell. The last thing she was saw Leng walking up to the console.
Leng hacked the console, the drone disappeared as all the information left the console and went to his omnitool. Shepard was hanging on for dear life. The floor had fallen, but the wires under the flooring were holding it together with the flooring that was still in intact. She was climbing up, but only by the edges.
Gemma tried to get up, but she could hear the bones cracked. She tried to use her biotics to ease the pain, but the pain and tiredness made it near impossible. She saw Leng was passing them all. Shepard was just coming back up to the top. "Cerberus wants to thank you for your service" He said sarcastically as he walked off.
Shepard tried to pull herself up. "Shepard! Hold on" She wrapped her arms around Shepard's shoulders, pulling her up. Shepard pushed her out of the way, running to the fighter, shooting at it to no avail.
Javik had gotten up, he went to help Gemma. Applying medi-gel and getting her leg into a splint to prevent further damage. "Fuck!" Shepard shouted. Liara slowly walked up behind her, still holding her stomach.
They all stood in silence for a minute. Processing what just happened. "Hello? Please, is anyone still left on this frequency" Shepard realised it was Kurin. "Please, goddess. Help us" She screamed over the comm.
"This is Shepard, where are you?!" There wasn't any response. Just more shouting and screaming from her crew. Shepard tried to fix the comms. But the signal had been lost for them to respond. Shepard dropped her head feeling the emotions trying to take over her line of thought. She heard the screams of the victims of Kurin and her crew as she watched a Reaper drop from where she last saw them. "Dammit, Liara go and help Gemma and Javik" As Liara walked off, Shepard walked outside feeling the morning sun blaze over her face. She felt so hot from the battle but so cold at the same time. Seeing Reapers drop all around the planet, she never felt so helpless. The comms of dying Asari started to fly in. People screaming, begging for help. Some praying as static took over. Shepard dropped to her knees when she heard the scream of children. Begging for their parents or just anyone to save them. She tried to hold back the tears, but she couldn't. They rolled down her cheeks. She could only imagine what those children are feeling. She couldn't bear to hear it anymore, she turned her comms off. The last thing she heard was... 'MOMMY, PLEASE!'
Shepard dragged herself back up to her feet. She felt the tremors of her knees, they nearly buckled underneath her. She walked back into the temple. Liara and Javik had Gemma between them, holding her up. "You alright?" Shepard asked.
Gemma tried to put weight on her leg, but she nearly fell. "Fuck! No. What's happening now then?" Shepard turned back around to look outside. She lifted her head in the air to stop the tears from falling again.
"There is nothing we can do. It's too late for the Asari" They all looked over at Liara, who looked like she was about to faint. "Is anyone's comms working? We need to call Cortez to see if he's okay and leave before the Reapers come for this temple"
Javik activated his omni-tool. Luckily it was still working fine. "We are ready for pick up at the temple" There was some low static.
"Roger that" Shepard breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn't bear losing him as well. They all walked outside. Shepard took over from Liara so she could walk ahead.
Liara made it outside. She looked at her homeworld, being destroyed. The Asari had come so far. Become so powerful. Just to be destroyed in a few hours. The rest made it outside. Javik was holding his head, he had a splitting headache and needed to rest.
The shuttle slowly made its way down outside the temple. Liara was the last to board. She looked at her Thessia one last time. "I'm sorry" She said in a small, weeping voice.
Shepard stood in the comm room, leaning against the wall. The call button blinking over and over. With a deep breath, she went to answer. They were still in Asari space so the connection was terrible. The Asari councillor came on the other side. Static and blurry imaged.
"Commander?" Shepard didn't respond, she stared down at the floor. "Commander are you there? We have lost contact with Thessia. Did you find what we need? Is the Crucible ready?" Her voice was full of pain and begged for help.
"Councillor... We couldn't finish the mission. Cerberus was there, they attacked us and took the information we needed" Silence was between them. The Asari looked down at the floor, swaying from side to side.
"I... I" No words would form on the tip of her tongue. She cleared her throat. "Well if you excuse me. I need to make preparations. Goddess watch over us"
"I'm..." The comms went to silence. Shepard looked at the blank wall. "Sorry" She said in a low tone. She leaned over the terminal, her weight was giving in. She felt 10x heavier. The comms rang again. She didn't want to talk to anyone. But with a sigh, Shepard stood high and answered. "Admiral"
Gemma laid slumped on the bed. Chakwas checking her leg. Javik and Liara were in there before, they got the all-clear. Kaidan stood next to her. "You know, I might just higher a bed for you here" He said trying to lift the mood. Gemma looked over at him, not in the mood for it. "Sorry" Kaidan looked down at the floor.
"Well good news, Gemma. It's not infected. Javik was able to prevent an infection from and it's not completely shattered. Bad news, you'll be using crutches for the next week to help with healing" Chakwas said as she took her gloves off and washed her hands.
Gemma slammed her head back on to the bed, letting out a big groan. "I swear when I see him next, I'm going to break the bastard's neck" She said with a snarl. Kaidan helped her sit up at the end of the bed. "Better yet. I'm going to snap his legs then his fucking neck" She punched both of her fists down in frustration.
Chakwas shook her head, trying to hold back her amused smile. "You may go. Here is some medication I want you to take twice a day to help with swelling and pain" Kaidan grabbed the medication from the doctor's hand. It was quite strong anti-antiinflammatory drugs, but he knew anything less would not work with biotics.
"Thank you, Dr Chakwas" Gemma said with an appreciative smile. Chakwas bowed her head and go back to the work on her terminal. Kaidan helped Gemma get the crutches to the right level for her height. Shepard had requested for the whole crew to come to the war room to determine their next move.
Shepard came down the stairs from the comm room. Hackett helped her feel better emotionally. He convinced her nothing she could have done would have changed the path life has dealt her. The fleet he sent did what they could, but many Asari had to be left behind. Most of the crew was still coming through the door. Kaidan was the second to last with Gemma hopping behind him with crutches. "Your leg alright?" They watched at Gemma nearly fell down the stairs, huffing and puffing in frustration.
"Yeah, it's fine. I'll live. What happens next with finding that prick who did this?" Some of the crew giggle and cleared their throat at her question. Shepard gave her a sympathetic smile, she knew Gemma would be out of action for a bit and at this far into the war, it could not have come at a worse time.
"I'm sick and tired of Cerberus being there every time with some plan to fuck ours up. We need to find them. Does anyone have any leads? Any at all?" She looked around the room, no one stepped forward straight away.
Kaidan looked over at Traynor, she was already looking back at him. "You're up, Traynor" She quickly turned shy. The rest of the crew had their eyes on her.
"Well.. um. You see there was a ship that had gone ahead of the fleet. Neither you or Admiral Hackett had given permission for this ship to do so. I was able to track the ship, it was purposely blocking its comms and would not respond to our hails" She looked over at Edi. "I asked Edi to track the ship and find out any information she could about it" She brought up a datapad of the information of this ship. "It is not Alliance and we were able to get comms leaving which was going straight to the Illusive man. This ship belongs to Kai Lang" Hope started to spread in the air. "We were not able to track the comms, unfortunately"
Shepard was disappointed about not being able to get the Illusive mans location, but this was better info then what they had 5 minutes ago. "Good work, both of you" Traynor had a small smiled spread across her lips.
"I was able to get a tracker placed onto the ship. It bounced to multiple systems until it stopped here" She brought up a visual image of the shuttle bouncing to different systems and it stopped... in the Shadow Sea cluster.
Gemma nearly fell over as she quickly realised where the ship had gone. "Wait! That's where my home is, Horizon. Why would he have gone there? The planet is now empty" Edi stepped closer to bring in a visual of Horizons planet surface.
"There is a refugee shelter that was made to help families with nowhere else to go. It is called Sanctuary. No comms will come or go from there" Gemma could not believe what she was hearing. She never knew of anything like this on her home planet.
"Shepard. My family. They might be there, please? We need to go" Shepard knew she couldn't pass up this opportunity. If Leng went there, then Cerberus must be behind something at Sanctuary.
"Joker set a course to Horizon. We need to figure out what the hell is going on. Gemma?" Gemma quickly turned to face her. "Give Edi all the information on your parents; names, age everything. If they are there we will bring them back"
Gemma started to get her crutches placed back on her arms. "Yes, Commander and thank you" Her and Kaidan left to get ready. Gemma knew she couldn't go, but she wanted to help in any way she could.
"Well done Edi" Edi stood tall, her hands behind her back.
"I give all credit to Specialist Traynor. I would not have done any of this without her" Edi turned her head to her, smiling. Traynor appreciated Edi's words.
"Looks like you are meant to be here after all. Well done, Traynor. You may take the rest of the shift off and spend it as you like" Traynor was very happy with her offer, but being at Shepard's side was all she wanted to do.
"Thank you, Commander. But I wish to keep on working. Helping you and the crew is all I wish to do the most" She looked at the rest of the crew, they all stared back with smiles across their faces. They all knew without Traynor, Cerberus would win this one. Traynor is part of the Normandy family, for life.
Shepard nodded. She knew all the crew would choose to keep working then leave their stations early. "Very well. Garrus, Kaidan, Edi. I want you all with me on this one. We need intelligence and brute force for this mission. Everyone else dismissed" Everyone started to file out. Shepard knew she needed to check in on Liara to make sure she was doing okay.
Shepard walked up to the bridge. Joker and Edi at their normal stations. "Hey, Commander. Bet the Asari wished they employed more commandoes then dancer by now?" He said in a humorous voice. Shepard stepped back a moment.
"The Asari just lost their homeworld and all you can do is joke... Again! I put up with a lot of your jokes, Joker, but this is just too far. I like you a lot. But don't start making missions like this a joke, I will not stand for it" Shepard stood high, an annoyed expression on her face.
Joker sat back in his seat. Not phased by Shepard's words. "I only made the joke to lighten the tension you are carrying right now. You are so stressed that Edi pointed out from your suits metabolic readings you were under more stress now than during the Blitz" Edi didn't turn around, she knew this conversation was not one she needed to be apart of.
"I don't need you to tell me if I'm stressed or not" Joker scoffed at her response. Pulling his hat a little lower.
"Funny enough. The last time I talked to Anderson. He asked me to look after you. Can you believe that?" He pointed at Shepard then himself. "He asked me to look after you" He laughed at the end of his sentence. Shepard was stressed, it was true. But Joker's attitude was making it hard for her to keep her cool.
She pointed her finger at him, stepping forward a little bit. "You are my damn pilot, not my physiatrist. So stop fucking acting like it" He looked down, shaking his head. Shepard crossed her arms, putting up a wall between them.
Joker turned around to face the controls again. "Yes, Commander" Shepard looked over at Edi. She was not watching them, but she had stopped working on her terminal.
"Edi. Where is Liara? I need to see her" Edi took a second to check the ship. She turned around to look up at Shepard.
"She has gone to see Javik. It seems they are in an... disagreement" Shepard let out a big sigh. She didn't need all this crap right after leaving Thessia. Shepard understood that Liara was upset, but going around and fighting the crew would not help her moods.
"I have a name. Liara! Liara T'soni" Shepard heard from outside the door to Javiks room. She walked in quickly. Liara was flaring blue with her biotics. She and Javik were inches from each other.
"You wanted to know of you're history. Now you do" Javik responded in a relaxed but firm voice. Liara going even closer to him. Shepard had to step in.
She pushed Liara to the side. "Liara, knock it off" Liara turned her head, tears stained her face.her biotics calmed down, she turned her body around so she didn't look at Javik.
"He was meant to be the answers we needed to win this. But the most he can do is gloat" She pointed in Javiks face. He didn't reply, just stood with no expression on his face.
"I am not here to answer the questions you seek out. I'm here to help the Commander destroy the Reapers, nothing more" Liara started to pace the room. It was true, the words Javik spoke. He wasn't there to help understand the Reapers, he had found out more about them working with the other species than he ever did with his own.
"You both need to stop this. Liara, Javik is not here to be the answer to all our problems. You really think winning this war would be down to one 50,000-year-old Prothean" Liara gazed down at the floor. "And Javik. You are too aggressive with the way you put yourself on top of everyone. You may be ahead of our time. But you are now in our cycle" Javik placed her hands behind his back, standing straight.
Javik looked between them both, seeming deep in thought of his response. "You were meant to be better than us" He simply said. Liara looked at him quickly, she walked closer, wiping the tears away from her eyes.
"What do you mean?" Liara bit her lip. Her and Javik had become very close in the last few weeks. She was happy around him, but their personalities clashed a lot.
"We saw the potential in your species. We gave you... guidance when it was required. You showed so much potential" He closed the gap between them. Liara suddenly became nervous. "You should be proud of the Asari, they have come so far and now you are the most advanced species in this cycle, don't lose sight of this. The Asari will thrive again someday" Liara's eyes were wide open. The air around her made her mouth dry.
"Thank you" She gave him a soft smile. Shepard looked between them both, she could see the small smile Javik was holding back and Liara was blushing a darker shade of blue on her cheeks.
"You are welcome, Liara T'soni" She looked at Shepard then once more at Javik as she walked out of the room. Shepard turned and waited until the door fully shut. Javik turned around to wash his hands in the black fluid by his main desk.
"So. Did you mean what you said?" Javik didn't turn around, he carried on washing his hands, looking at his reflection.
"If it makes her feel better, then I will say what I need to say. But to answer your question, yes I did mean it. She is a strong woman, but her conscious will get the better of her" Shepard knew that statement was true. She has improved over the years, but every time something didn't go her way, she would become frantic with her actions.
"You okay here? I need to go make sure she is okay?" Javik waved her off with his back still turned to her. Shepard left and headed straight for the mess hall. She thought of the times when Liara was emotional and become worried about everything around her. The anxiety fed best off her fear. When the lift arrived at the mess hall. Shepard saw Tali standing in front of the memorial wall that Anderson had built. Shepard had been adding to it as their war went on, she would not forget the fallen.
"Maybe you should talk to her. I have tried, but she keeps on insisting that she is okay" Tali said to herself. Shepard realised she was talking to Garrus.
"No, she will not talk to me either. I think we just need to give her time. But I am worried about her, she even kicked Glyph out of the room" Shepard walked up behind Tali. She could hear the pain in their voices.
"Don't worry, I will talk to her" Tali turned around and placed her hand on Shepard's shoulder in thanks. Shepard was the best person to talk to Liara, they just wanted to make sure she was okay. The Shadow Brokers agents still needed their Shadow Broker.
Liara was laid on her bed. Datapads spread around it, tears were streaming down her cheeks. Shepard walked in. Liara didn't notice her until she was at the foot of her bed. "Hey, you okay?" Liara looked up and then back down at the floods of reports.
"There are a thousand reports a minute. How do I move on from this?" Shepard picked up a few of the reports, they were never-ending. Liara swayed on the bed, she was becoming so light-headed by the amount of thinking she was trying to do.
"We have to keep going, Liara. I can't do this without you. You have two choices. You can sit here and let your fear take over your life or you can be who you truly are" Liara looked up again. She didn't know how to go on anymore, nearly a quarter of Thessia population had already gone. It would be a matter of years for the planet to be gone. Shepard walked over to Liara's terminal. "The Shadow Broker is needed"
As Shepard typed, getting Liara contacts up. Liara was coming over at a brisk pace. Shepard moved to the side for her. "I can help the people who are already struggling out there. Thank you, Shepard. I just need some time" Liara started to type away, the agent flooding in, asking for their new orders.
"Okay. Everything will be okay, Liara. We will win this" Liara gave her a little smile, then got right back to work. Shepard went to get some rest. The day had been hard on her and she wanted some time to herself. The cries of those children were still at the back of her head, replaying continually.