Chapter 4: A Long Time Ago

"It's just through here," Liara said.

The corridors to the tram line security station were quiet. For the first time since we'd arrived at the Mars Archives, there were no dead bodies. No Cerberus troops. Nothing but an errant M-23 Katana shotgun that someone had dropped along the way. I opened the doors—

The back of my neck tingled.

"Heads up!" Alenko yelled.

We dove for the ground as a weapons turret opened fire. "I think Cerberus was prepared for us," Liara dared to say.

"I knew this was going too well," I said wryly.

"I take it that's the only way in?" Alenko asked.

"It's the only way I know of," Liara replied, checking her schematics to make sure. "I'm afraid the only other route around that turret would require at least half an hour, and that's assuming Cerberus hasn't set up additional safeguards."

"Then we'll have to go in and skirt around it," I decided. "Stay out of its sights."

"I'll move up first," Alenko volunteered.

He was already moving forward before I could say anything. The turret tried to track him, but he'd already found cover by the time the bullets started flying. "Don't let it target you," he advised.

Gee, ya think?

I moved in next, with Liara close on my heels. Alenko timed his own advances so we all went left to right, then right to left. Ideally, we'd leapfrog forward one at a time, but we didn't have the luxury of time to permit that particular tactic. Thankfully, we managed to thwart the turret.

"Shit!" I heard Alenko curse. Well, we thwarted the turret most of the time.

It only took a minute to get past the turret, but it felt a lot longer. None of our weapons were able to deal with it, after all. Scurrying and cringing with each rapid-fire whine was a bit galling. So it was nice to open the doors and face another squad of Cerberus troopers, led by another guy protected by shields—of the kinetic barrier variety, not a physical one. (1).

"Heads up, people!"

It would've been nicer if we had been able to catch them by surprise, but I suppose beggars can't be choosers. Using the telemetry from my hardsuit sensors, Liara cast a singularity that snared three troopers. Alenko and I hit them with biotics and plasma. "Hold your positions!" their leader called. For his trouble, I drained his shields with several rapid-fire shots, then set him on fire.

Another trooper found cover behind a nearby desk, whether to prepare an assault or recover from his injuries I wasn't quite sure. What I did know was that I had a clear line of sight on him, so I fired several rounds into him, switched targets to barbeque another trooper, then switched back to him again. Between my bullets and Alenko's biotics, we drove him back into Liara's singularity, where he began floating and twirling around all over again.

"Hold the station at all costs!" the leader yelled, apparently worried that his men might run away from an opponent that actually knew what they were doing. I had Alenko cover Liara and I while we found better firing positions. Easy enough to do when the odds were three-to-one in our favour. Then, we slowly whittled down the boss's shields, sabotaged his weapon, caught him in a singularity and finished him off.

We reloaded our weapons and grabbed some fresh thermal clips from the various troopers lying around us. I skimmed through some research notes that were contained on yet another datapad with one hand while swiping a sniper rifle mod with another. Seemed like the scientists here had finished going through a Prothean research base, but suspected the presence of another based on the layout of the communication systems and the presence of backup power supplies. What was most important, to me, was that the author had referred to the need of getting permission from The Powers That Be. (2)

I looted the contents of a med-kit, shook my head at the discovery of some controls for the weapons turret that would've been helpful a few minutes ago before winding up at the security station. While Alenko covered us, I did a little computer searching. "Well, what do we have here?" I said aloud.

Liara and Alenko joined me as I played a security log, starring Cerberus troopers as faceless extras and a certain individual as the main cast. "Set up a perimeter," Dr. Core ordered. "No one else comes across."

"We still have teams on the other side," one of the troopers told her.

Dr. Core was less than sympathetic. "No one!" she repeated. "And shut down those cameras!"

She demonstrated by shooting the camera herself. As the screens dissolved into static, Liara turned to me. "Looks like they've made it to the Archives," she said.

"And I doubt they'll just send us a tram," Alenko added.

"Maybe we can override it?" I suggested.

Liara shook her head after a minute. "The Archives are on a separate network. We're completely locked out."

"Not if we can find a short-range communicator," Alenko said thoughtfully. "Helmet to helmet."

"Say, a helmet from one of the guys we just dealt with," I said, seeing where he was going.

Alenko nodded. "Exactly. We contact them, convince them that we're on their side, tell them the Alliance reinforcements have been taken care of and ask to rendezvous with them."

"Good idea," I had to admit. "See what you can find."

I watched Alenko head off, then turned around. Liara was watching me with a… she had this look in her eyes. "What?"

"Nothing," she shrugged. "Kaidan has become very capable, that's all."

"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled. "Now if he could just get his head out of his ass and stop thinking I'm gonna stab him in the back at a moment's notice."

"I think he's coming around," Liara offered.

"Really?" I challenged. "'Cause you weren't here when he asked whether I'd been in contact with the Cerberus forces who attacked the Archives."

"But since then, he's fought alongside you," Liara said. "Seen how you act. How you fight. How you give orders. That has to count for—"

"Commander! I found something."

"We'll finish this later," I told Liara before heading over to Alenko. He was in the hallway, wrestling with a trooper. "He's got a transmitter in his helmet," he grunted. "If I can… just… get this…"

With a hiss of pressurized air, the helmet retracted and…

…

...holy crap.

A grey-skinned face—slightly darker than the grey plates on the hardsuit he wore greeted us. There were red splotches on his left cheek and around his mouth, like a fresh bruise. But his eyes… his eyes were bright blue, so blue they were almost white. I couldn't distinguish the pupils from the irises. Blue-white lines stretched out from the top and bottom of both eyes like scars or tendrils.

"My god," Alenko breathed, stumbling back. "He… he looks like a husk."

"Almost," I said, crouching down to get a better look—all thanks to my insatiable and, unfortunately, non-discriminatory curiosity. "Not quite. But they've definitely done something to him."

"And by 'they', you mean Cerberus? They did this to their own guy?" He looked at me, a look of—wariness? Worry? Concern?—on his face. "Is this what they did to you?"

Oh for crying out loud. From anyone else, I'd attribute that question to concern. From him, it meant another trip through banefully familiar territory. "How can you compare me to him?" I snapped angrily. "Are my eyes glowing? Do I have any scars popping out? (3) Is my skin all pasty?"

"Shepard, I don't know what you are. Or who… not since Cerberus rebuilt you. For all I know, you could be their puppet, controlled by the Illusive Man himself."

Now didn't seem the time to mention that TIMmy himself vetoed the control chip. (4) "That's not true, Alenko. You do know. You just don't want to admit it."

"I want to, Shepard," Alenko said earnestly.

"I really do. But… I just… I gotta know: is the person I followed to hell and back still in there? Somewhere?"

Oh for crying out loud. "They didn't change me, Alenko," I bit out. "I haven't changed. Liara recognized that—and by the way, she was defending you while you were playing with that trooper over there. Saying how you'd come around. Boy was she wrong about you. But still, she recognized I was still me.

"So did Garrus. Remember him? Turian, with the visor and the stick up his ass? He believed me. Same with Tali. Never doubted me, well, not after I reminded her about how I helped her out on her Pilgrimage. And Joker. And Dr. Chakwas. And Wrex. Anderson too—he had my back all along, unlike some people. Oh, how 'bout Admiral Hackett? Not to mention my family. Hell, even people who hadn't seen me in years knew it was me. All those people believed me. Not you. So what makes you so damn special, huh?

"I wish I knew what to say. How to convince you I'm still the same guy who dragged you all over the galaxy, broke out of the Citadel and took a one-way trip from Ilos back to the Citadel. But words won't convince you, will they?"

Alenko opened his mouth, then closed it. "Probably not," he admitted.

"Didn't think so," I sighed. "Stupid, stubborn idiot."

"Stubborn?"

Really? That was what he objected to? "Yeah."

"Me?"

"You did spend every waking moment when we weren't hunting Saren trying to fix the flickering light on that computer console," I reminded him.

"That was different," Alenko claimed.

"Uh huh."

"No, really."

"Whatever. Come on; let's see what Cerberus is up to. Maybe we'll both get some answers." Assuming a certain someone finally took his head out of his ass so he could hear them. Reaching down, I dug the transmitter out of the helmet Alenko had pried loose and turned it on. "Hello," I said gruffly, trying to sound like one of the troopers I'd just barbequed or shot. "This is… Delta Team. Anybody there?

"Where the hell have you been?"

Nice to know that TIMmy's latest experiments didn't involve a personality transplant or anything that might have taught his minions some manners.

"Never mind. What's your status?"

"We're at the tram station, waiting for extraction," I replied. "All hostiles terminated."

"Roger that. Echo Team will ride over and secure the station."

"Understood," I said.

Alenko was smart enough to wait until I turned off the transmitter before asking "Think they bought it?"

"If they didn't, they'll figure it out soon enough," I shrugged. "Hopefully when we get the drop on them."

"We should get in position," Alenko suggested. "Flank them when they get off the tram."

"Agreed." Looking around, I determined where the tram would stop and assigned appropriate locations for Liara and Alenko. We didn't have to wait very long.

As soon as the tram doors opened, Liara yanked a few troopers into a singularity. While Alenko blew it up, I drilled a hole through another trooper using my sniper rifle, cloaked, launched a fireball, then scored another headshot. Because that's how I roll.

"It's a trap!" someone belatedly realized.

Gee, ya think? Not that I said that aloud.

"Fall back!" another yelled as Liara and Alenko continued their biotic barrage. Judging by all the fire flickering round, one of them—Liara, I think—re-ignited my earlier plasma to light up a few more troopers. Spotting a target, I zoomed in while my teammates rained biotic fury on their sorry asses and fired. One shot, one kill.

"They got us flanked!"

"Regroup!"

Not that they would have a chance to do that. We had the element of surprise, we were hitting them from multiple angles and we weren't letting up any time soon. As I advanced, another trooper bit the dust. As I advanced, I had to admit that whatever TIMmy had done to these guys, it was effective. Horrifying and violating, but damn effective. As I finished off a target—one still floating in Liara's singularity—with bullets and plasma, he still had the presence of mind to issue orders: "Keep them away from the tram!"

One more hostile. I set him on fire and let Liara cause a secondary explosion that blew him to smithereens. Then I boarded the tram, Liara and Alenko hot on my heels. It didn't take me long to figure out two things: first, the controls were pretty straight-forward. Second, the windows were cracked or shattered, which meant we'd be exposed to the thin Martian air while travelling to the Archives. Which meant we had to put on our helmets again.

Our helmets sealed just in the nick of time. "Storm's getting bad," I observed. "We better wrap this up quickly."

"The Archives are right on the other side," Liara pointed, trying to reassure me.

"That and an angry squad of Cerberus troops," Alenko predicted.

"Only one squad, Alenko?" I joked.

Before he could respond, an explosion knocked us off our feet and brought the tram to a screeching halt. By the time I got up, bullets were already flying through the air. "Take out that tram!"

By now, our response was pretty much automatic. Singularity. Merry-go-round. Biotics. Boom. Hee.

"Keep your heads down!" I heard. Curiously, it sounded like it was coming from somewhere else. Then I heard "You're not getting across!" I figured that was meant for us.

Activating my cloak, I saw another tram approaching—carrying at least a few troopers, one of whom was doing the talking I'd heard a second ago. So I sent a fireball towards the opposing tram before turning back and firing my sniper rifle. I paused long enough to see his head disintegrate in a cloud of blood and bone before preparing for the next wave of hostiles.

Apparently, they were smart enough to recognize that fire equals bad. "Wait for 'em to show their heads."

Good plan, in theory. Problem was, when we showed our heads, it was so we could fire a sniper round into their noggins or rip them apart with some biotics. Looking around, I didn't see any more hostiles. A quick check also told me that the tram we were on wouldn't be running again any time soon. So I hopped onto the one that the other troopers—Echo Squad, presumably—had used. "Damn," Alenko said as he joined me. "They really didn't want us getting in here."

"Yes, it confirms my assertions about the value of the data stored here," Liara replied.

That sounded like something Miranda would say…

…

Shit. Miranda.

It had been six months and… a week? Two weeks? I know there was a day or two in there somewhere. I hadn't seen her in ages. Not even when the idiots keeping me in lockdown condescended to let me see visitors. Because someone with former ties to Cerberus couldn't exactly waltz into a secure facility. Even if she was one of the most important people in my life, an achievement that was even more remarkable considering how little time I had to know her. And fall in love with her.

I hadn't thought about her since the Reapers first arrived. It had been one wide-eyed, adrenaline-pumping, bullet-flying, plasma-burning race from lockdown through the rooftops of Vancouver to the spaceport to Mars to the Prothean Archives. Where was she? What was she doing? Was she all right?

Would I ever see her again?

I didn't know the answers to any of those questions and I didn't dare try. Partly because my mind would inevitably go to the worst-case scenario. Or scenarios—there's something seriously wrong with me. Partly because I really, really needed to get my head in the game. No matter how badly I wanted to do otherwise.

So I took a deep breath and hit the controls. The tram started moving.

Next stop: the Archives.

As much as I hated to admit it, there was no denying the fact that Alenko was right. When we reached the other side and the tram stopped, there was a squad of Cerberus troops waiting for us.

And they were definitely angry.

We immediately took out a trooper with a singularity, a round of biotics and some plasma. In response, one of the troopers tossed out a grenade. I braced myself for an explosion. Instead, I got a large cloud of smoke that obscured our view. Undeterred, I sent a stream of plasma into the smoke and shuffled to the other side of the crates I'd been hiding behind. A trooper was hiding a few metres away. Liara pulled him out with another singularity, allowing me to shoot him a couple times before finishing him off with another fireball.

Heading to the other side again—a moving target's always harder to hit—I opened fire on another trooper. To his credit, he managed to fire back. Unfortunately, he had nothing in his repertoire to withstand Liara's biotics.

More smoke. I snapped off a few rounds in their general direction, reloaded and had Alenko move up. Meanwhile, I lunged out of cover and rolled to the left. The two troopers weren't expecting that. I quickly finished one off with a dozen shots from my pistol. The other trooper—one of the higher-ups, judging by his shields—turned around and lifted his weapon… only to find himself floating up into the air. I emptied the rest of my clip into him after Alenko gave him a biotic what-for, set him on fire, reloaded and fired several more shots to make sure he was dead.

There were another half dozen troopers were in the area. I kept them pinned down with more gunfire. Liara disabled one with another singularity, which made it really easy for me to shoot him. I rushed forward and hopped into this little depression in the ground. The troopers whirled around, realized where I was and started backing up. I encouraged that with another fireball right in their faces. One of them was so eager to get away he stumbled into Liara's singularity. He never got the chance to make up for his mistake.

As I ordered Liara to move, one of them finally put two and two together. "Holy shit, that's Shepard!"

"You have a fan," Liara told me sweetly. Evidently she still remembered how Alenko and I had teased her earlier.

"Not now, Liara," I said tersely.

To make it up to me, Liara spawned another singularity, sending the poor schmuck spinning over our heads. Meanwhile, I fired a full clip into another guy, draining his shields in the blink of an eye. He and his colleague got caught up in yet another singularity, just before I launched a fireball in their midst. Some more biotics, a lot more gunfire and a plasma burst from yours truly finished them off.

Still two more hostiles—either my earlier and admittedly hasty count was off or a straggler had arrived late. One of them was carrying another giant shield. I quickly switched to my sniper rifle and fired. The bullet went right through the slit in the shield, through his helmet and into his brain. Finally.

While Liara and Alenko took out the other trooper with biotics and bullets, I did a quick look around. At least two more hostiles. My tactical awareness couldn't have been that rusty. Clearly some backup had arrived. As soon as they realized they'd been made, they tossed down some smoke grenades. I fired off a few shots, mostly to use up the rest of my clip and reload than anything else, then turned to the other side. The rest of the team had finished off the trooper they'd been tangling, only to find themselves facing three more troopers—two of whom were behind shields while advancing forward.

I pulled out my sniper rifle, hoping that I could get lucky again, only to find that Liara wasn't willing to wait. Using her biotics, she yanked them in the air one at a time. Her singularities were so strong and so sudden that they lost their grip on their shields. Alenko and I amused ourselves by hitting them with biotics and sniper rounds.

Meanwhile, Liara was amusing herself with another trooper. They were literally running around in circles, chasing and shooting at each other. I watched them for a few seconds, waited a little longer to make sure Liara was out of harm's way, then let loose another torrent of plasma.

Believe it or not, there was still one more trooper. I ran forward, fired a few shots and set him on fire. He tried to slap out the flames, only to have Alenko help him out when he froze him solid. Helpless, the trooper could only watch as I emptied the rest of my clip into him, the final shot shattering him into a pile of ice and frozen fleshy bits.

After that, we finally had a chance to reload and stock up on thermal clips. In the interests of clearing the room and satisfying my kleptomania, I dug up an M-15 Vindicator assault rifle, a shotgun upgrade and a med-kit.

By the time I was done, I was starting to get tired—and not because the adrenaline was wearing off. No, it was because of all the weight I was carrying. Seemed like only yesterday that I'd run around the galaxy, merrily looting every gun, hardsuit, weapon mod, grenade mod, biotic amp mod and omni-tool mod—until I physically ran out of room to carry them all and was forced to convert the excess inventory to omni-gel. Now? One sniper rifle, one heavy pistol, one assault rifle, one shotgun, one submachine gun and a handful of weapon mods were enough to make me stagger. Note to self: I'd definitely have to make some hard choices about what to bring on my next mission.

After I finished this one, of course. Assuming I survived this one, of course. Stopping at the door, I waited for my teammates to be ready and hit the controls before charging into the room.

In front of us stood a cluster of Prothean beacons, including an honest-to-gosh beacon, surrounded by a column of reinforced glass, holographic displays and a lot of computers. "Alenko," I said. "Secure the room."

While he did that, Liara and I walked towards the artifacts. All made of smooth metal, unmarked and unmarred other than a series of thin glowing lines that traced their contours. It was incredible. The first time I saw one was on Eden Prime. That one had rammed a garbled and distorted vision into my brain before exploding into smithereens. Hopefully we wouldn't have to go down that road again.

Scanning the air, I saw that this room was pressurized, so I took off my helmet. Liara followed suit before busying herself by one of the computers. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the holograms flicker. Flicker again. It dissolved into a cluster of dots—no, more like horizontal lines. Then all of that expanded into a black-and-white—well, blue and white—hologram of a man. Mostly solid, aside from the grid lines and bright blue highlights outlining his frame. Wearing what was no doubt a very expensive and custom-fitted suit. He pulled a cigarette out of his mouth and exhaled. "Shepard."

Liara was so engrossed in her work that she hadn't seen his arrival. Having realized we weren't alone, she whirled around and pulled out her heavy pistol. She stopped herself from wasting a bullet on the hologram just in the nick of time. "Illusive Man," she said.

"Fascinating race, the Protheans," TIMmy said, gesturing towards the beacon while ignoring Liara. "They left all this for us to discover, but we've squandered it. The Alliance has known about the Archives for more than thirty years, and what have they done with it?"

He always did like to pontificate. "What do you want?" I asked.

He looked at me, his eyes even more relentless and creepy than usual thanks to their holographic depiction. Those eyes drifted from me to focus on the Prothean artifacts behind me. "What I've always wanted," he finally replied. "The data in these artifacts hold the key to solving the Reaper threat."

"'Solving'?" I repeated. "I've seen how you solve threats. I've had to clean up enough of them in the past. And have you seen your latest handiwork? Your 'solutions' are turning your own people into monsters."

"Hardly. They're being improved."

I really shouldn't be surprised. Not by this point. "Improved?"

"That's what separates us, Shepard: you're too small-minded. Too limited. Where you see a means to destroy I see a way to control—to dominate and harness the Reapers' power for the benefit of our species. Imagine how strong humanity would be if we controlled them."

Oh for crying out loud. "Earth is under siege," I told him. "Right now. Cities are under attack, people are dying and you're busy hatching some half-baked scheme to control the Reapers?"

"You've always been short-sighted," TIMmy chided. "Hasty. Your destruction of the Collector base proved that."

"I destroyed that base because it was a floating fortress of horrors," I snapped. "I destroyed it because nothing it offered could possibly be worth the lives of everyone who had been abducted, liquefied and 'processed.' I destroyed it because I didn't trust you with any information or technology that could come from it."

TIMmy took another puff from his cigarette. "This isn't your fight any longer, Shepard. You can't defeat the Reapers, even with the Prothean data."

"Wanna bet?" I asked with a bravado I didn't entirely feel. But I couldn't let him know that. "I've done it before, I'll do it again."

"More likely you'll just die trying," TIMmy corrected. "Destroying the Reapers is a wasted opportunity. Don't you see? We can dominate them. Use their power. Harness their very essence to bring humanity forward to the apex of evolution."

"Are you even listening to yourself?" I wanted to know. "Do you know how crazy that is? Can't you see that the Reapers will kill us all if we don't stop fighting each other?"

"I don't expect you to understand, Shepard," TIMmy sighed. "And I'm certainly not looking for your approval."

"Good," I retorted. "'Cause you're not getting it."

"You were a tool," TIMmy continued, as if I hadn't said anything. "An agent with a singular purpose. And despite our differences, you were relatively successful."

"Stop it. Please. I'm blushing."

TIMmy ignored that too. "But like the rest of the relics in this place, your time is over."

The relics. Glancing back, I realized that Liara had been just as engrossed in this conversation as I was. (5) I silently motioned for Liara to get back to the computers and find those weapon schematics.

"Don't interfere with my plans, Shepard," TIMmy warned. "I won't warn you again."

"Duly noted," I said coldly.

"Shepard!"

Aw, crap. That didn't sound good. Turning back, I saw a look of worry and, dare I say it, panic on Liara's face. "What?"

"The data. It's not here. It's being erased!"

"Goodbye, Shepard."

Ignoring the disappearance of TIMmy's hologram, I focused on Liara. "Damn it! How's he doing it?"

Liara's fingers flew over the keyboard. "Tracing. It's local. Wait—it's not being erased! Someone's uploading the information!"

I quickly opened a comm channel to Alenko. "Tell me you heard that," I said.

"I heard it, Shepard. All of it."

Now what did that mean?

"Hey! Step away from the console!"

Sounded like he'd found whoever was uploading the data we needed. I pulled up a map on my HUD to locate Alenko's current position.

"I said step away. Now."

There he was. And there was a second life-sign… no. Not quite. It was… something was definitely there, but it didn't quite register as…

"Gah!"

Every artifact went dark. Warning lights flashed in my HUD. Liara and I barely got our helmets back on before the room depressurized. "Alenko!" I snapped.

"Dr. Core. She's here! She's got the data!"

"I see her," I replied. "Let's go."

"She's faster than she looks," Liara observed.

She wasn't kidding: I'd seen professional athletes race in everything from marathons to 100-metre sprints. Dr. Core was putting all of them to shame. But two could play that game, assuming that all my implants and enhancements hadn't gotten rusty during the last six months. "Stay close! We can't lose her!"

I set off in hot pursuit, Liara and Alenko right behind me. As we ran, my sensors began scanning. She had one hell of a shield package, one that was especially impressive since it came from a portable generator and not a hardsuit. Unless they made hardsuits that were thin enough to fit under clothes. (6) The shields briefly dimmed, losing a bit of strength as they were hit by what looked like an EMP. "Who did that?"

"Me," Alenko admitted.

"You had an EMP all this time and you didn't think to use it?" I asked.

"We didn't really need it against those other troopers."

"Can we talk about this later?" Liara asked.

"Fine," we said in unison.

Liara and Alenko tried to slow her down with random bursts of biotics and bullets, to no avail. She ran through a set of doors, which closed behind her. When I opened them again, she greeted me with a stream of plasma. "Hey!" I said, outraged despite myself. "That's my shtick!"

"Shepard!"

"Yeah, yeah. I know, Liara. Not now."

We had Dr. Core cornered, or so I thought. Before I could do anything, she hit a set of controls. Metal panels dropped, turning an open-concept chamber into a sealed cubicle. Then she crouched down and jumped, bursting through the ceiling. I looked down at the floor and up at the gaping hole, jaw dropping for a moment, before recovering and lunging for the controls. "There she is!" Liara said as the panels retracted.

"Stay on her!" I yelled, vaulting over the consoles and resuming the chase.

"We're losing her," Liara warned as Dr. Core rounded the corner and disappeared from view. I ran around the corner, hoping I wouldn't be greeted with another fireball. Instead, I found… nothing. She'd disappeared.

Telling myself to calm down, I quickly looked around. Dead end. Ladder. No grates to ventilation shafts or tunnels. No holes. Must've taken the ladder. Sure enough, when I reached the top, I saw her. She was running across the ceiling of the Archives, only 10 metres away.

And shooting at us. "Watch out!"

Finding cover, I pulled out my heavy pistol, only to see her duck before I could line up a clear shot. She popped up to fire and ducked back down again, but not before I saw something odd. Something really, really odd: she wasn't wearing a helmet. Or even a rebreather. I mean, all she had were the clothes she was wearing when we first saw her. And, now that I had a good look at her face, a blue transparent visor running over her eyes. How the heck was that possible? Even someone with Miranda's level of genetic enhancements couldn't survive for that long.

Before I could ponder that question any longer, Dr. Core got up and ran off again. I got up and chased her. 9 metres. 10 metres. 11 metres. Damn it. Alenko tried to zap her shields again with a similar lack of success. As we ran, a shuttle flew overhead. Her escape route, judging by the Cerberus logo stamped on the side.

Stifling a curse, I tried to slow her down with a fireball. No good. She was going to get away. 12 metres. 13 metres. I doubled my efforts, pouring every ounce of strength into my legs. 11 metres. Ten. Seven. Six. Five. Three.

One metre.

She vaulted over a support brace. Six. Seven. Nine. Damn it.

"Down there," Liara yelled.

I saw her. Running down a ramp like her life depended on it. I was doing the same. Eight metres. Seven. Six. Five. Three.

Rounding the corner, I saw Dr. Core had put on another burst of speed. She was ten metres away. Again. How the hell was she doing it? "James?" I yelled, activating the comm. "You read me?"

A burst of static came back, with a garbled incoherent mess of sounds. Hoping things were clearer on his end than mine, I gave him a quick sitrep in between biotic and plasma bursts. (7) "Cerberus has the data."

More garbled nonsense. "Radio the Normandy! Get them down here now!"

Dr. Core was climbing another ladder, with yours truly right behind her. She was still ahead of me, but I was able to keep her within three to five metres. When I popped up on what looked like a landing pad, she opened fire. Ignoring all the damage she was doing to my shields, I simply charged forward.

A loud roar overhead heralded the arrival of the Cerberus shuttle. It slowed down near the edge of the landing pad, hatch opening for Dr. Core to run onboard. "Damn it!" I couldn't help but curse. "She's getting away!"

I broke out into a sprint. Too late: Dr. Core had made it. The hatch closed and the shuttle took off. I had to screech to a halt before I ran off the landing pad and plummeted to the ground below. "Damn it!" I repeated myself. "James? Normandy?

"Anybody?"

On the horizon, I saw a light pierce through the storm. The light grew larger, resolving into another shuttle. A blue shuttle with white and black trim.

"I got this one!"

"James? The Cerberus shuttle's right in—James? Slow down. You're gonna—"

There was a loud bang as the two shuttles collided in mid-air. The Cerberus shuttle spun around, trailing a stream of fire and smoke, as it dropped down towards…

…

…aw, crap. "Move!"

We jumped out of the way just before the Cerberus shuttle crashed back on the landing pad. It slid by us, narrowly missing us by mere inches, sending up a burst of sparks as it rolled over and over. Finally, it slowed to a stop. It was now covered in dents and scorch marks. Flames roared from the shattered windows. One of the engine thrusters abruptly sagged, barely hanging on by a few wires and a severely damaged sheet of metal.

James's shuttle was in significantly better shape, slowly circling around us before entering a more controlled descent. At least, I thought it was controlled until the shuttle dropped the last few metres and bounced off the landing pad, separating Alenko and I from Liara. I swear my bones were still vibrating when the hatch popped open. I shook my head as Alenko got to his feet.

"Normandy's en route," I heard James report. "They'll be here soon."

"Check on Liara," I replied.

"I'm fine," I heard her protest. "Don't worry about me. We need the data."

"Agreed," I said. Well, I was going to say it but then I heard a loud bang. Then another bang. Alenko and I turned around.

There was a pause.

Then the hatch opened with such force that it ripped right off its hinges. It flew towards me, a large plate of metal alloy rapidly closing at what was sure to be terminal velocity. I found myself frozen, rooted to the spot as the hatch grew larger and larger. This was it, I realized. This was how it was going to end. Not at the hands of the Reapers, but because of a damn shuttle hat—

"Shepard!"

Another force hit me, knocking me sideways. The hatch clipped me, spinning me around so quickly I was dizzy when I hit the ground. And out of breath. When my eyes focused, I saw…

…

Alenko. He'd pushed me out of the way. I looked at him blankly. He looked back. Then we stared at the now-open Cerberus shuttle and the flames that engulfed its interior.

A mech emerged out of the inferno. It was slim. Lithe. Feminine. Its chassis was totally scorched. A blue visor running over her eyes—wait a second. If you took the basic body proportions, added some clothes and skin, you got…

….

…Dr. Core.

Whoa.

She ran towards me with an unnatural speed that now made total sense. I saw the look of cold, determined intent on her face before someone—Alenko—stepped in the way. Feet in Alliance-standard firing position, he raised his pistol and emptied the full clip into her. Didn't make a difference. Dr. Core closed the gap, slapped the pistol out of his hands and lifted him up. Judging by the position and the way Alenko was struggling, it looked like she had a vice grip on his face. Well, the front of his helmet anyway.

"Kaidan!" I yelled, stumbling to my feet. (8) "Dr. Core—or whatever the hell you are—let him go! Now!"

The Dr. Core mech lifted a hand to the side of her visor, clearly activating some sort of comm system. "Orders?" she asked.

She got her answer. Turning around, she backed up and began slamming Kaidan into the side of the shuttle. And again. And again.

"No!" I yelled to no avail. The shuttle was practically buckling under the mech's repeated onslaught. I didn't want to think about the damage she was doing to Kaidan. She slammed him one more time before letting him go. He collapsed to the ground.

And didn't move.

I saw James stumble around the corner, half-carrying Liara. When they saw what was happening, they fumbled with their weapons. But they wouldn't get them ready in time. Not when the mech was charging towards me again.

This time I was ready. I grabbed my heavy pistol, absently noting that the crash had disabled the mech's shields, and opened fire. Three shots hit the mech. Four. Five. Six. Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

The mech dropped like the puppet it was, bereft of any strings to keep it standing. I stood there. Staring at it. Daring for it to stir again. But it just lay there. Still. Lifeless. Like Kaidan.

Oh God. Kaidan.

"Grab that thing," I ordered as I raced towards Kaidan's body. "Bring it with us."

"Shepard!" It was Joker. "We've got Reaper signatures in orbit."

I couldn't worry about that right now. "Kaidan." I dropped to my knees and reached over, stopping myself from shaking him just in the nick of time. With all the trauma he'd undoubtedly received, that was probably a really bad idea. "Kaidan!"

No response.

I hoisted Kaidan over my shoulders. James had done the same with the mech. On some level, I saw the Normandy swoop down, slowing with a grace that only a pilot of Joker's calibre could handle. The four of us—plus the mech—limped onboard. I turned around as the ramp to the shuttle bay closed. Through the doors, I could see the Reapers landing, one by one. Just for a moment. Then the storm swept in again and the Reapers disappeared.

We made our way to sickbay. I gently lowered Kaidan onto one of the beds. James dropped the mech on another with considerably less TLC. (9) Reaching over, I disengaged the helmet seals and pulled the helmet off.

He just… lay there.

Liara bent down, catching my eye. "Kaidan needs medical attention."

Yeah, he did. And why was Liara speaking so loud?

"We have to leave the Sol system," she said slowly.

"I know," I replied. "But…"

"The Citadel is our best chance. We can find help there."

She was right. About everything. Even when fully staffed, the Normandy's sickbay was never designed or intended for the kind of surgery or intensive care that Kaidan would undoubtedly require. It was only meant for combat first-aid, to stabilize the injured until they could be delivered to more advanced facilities. And there were no facilities more advanced than the ones on the Citadel.

But we'd never get there if we didn't leave now. The Reapers were still sweeping through the system. They hadn't caught up to us yet, but that could change at any moment. I took a deep breath, then let it out. "Joker, get us to the Citadel. Let them know we've got someone who needs immediate medical attention."

"Roger that."

"Hold on, Kaidan," I whispered.

He didn't say anything.

"Liara, see what you and EDI can learn from that thing," I ordered, pointing to the mech.

As if she heard me—actually, she probably did—EDI spoke up over the comm. "Commander, I'm receiving a signal over the secondary QEC. I believe it's Admiral Hackett."

Hackett. Yeah, he'd want to know—wait. QEC? As in quantum entanglement communicator? I thought the only QEC we had on the Normandy was linked to TIMmy? But she said secondary QEC, so maybe another set of particles had been entangled while I was in lockup. Only one way to find out, I suppose. "Patch it through."

"I'll forward it to the comm room," EDI replied as I ran out of the sickbay.

One benefit of consistently going on daily rounds to harass your crew was that you gained a pretty good idea of where everything was, so much so that you didn't need to think about it. So I basically left the sickbay, found the elevator, went up to Deck Two and made my way to the comm room on autopilot. There were a few differences that I vaguely noticed. New paint. Lighting. Different people. But I couldn't spare the mental effort to note any of that. Not right now.

The comm room looked different too, but it was easy to see where Hackett was. Or where he was supposed to be. I just had to look for the blurred image that flickered in and out so quickly it looked more like a man-shaped cloud of blue particles than an Alliance admiral. "Sheeepard, are you reading meeeeee?" I barely made out. "Command-d-d-d-d-der?"

This was ridiculous. For once, I'd like to have a single long-distance chat that was actually intelligible. "EDI, can you clear this up?" I asked.

"I'll do my best."

Hackett's image crystallized first. Don't get me wrong: it still looked blue-and-white, but the detail was so crisp, I could swear the stripes on his uniform were gold-coloured. "Did you get to the Arcc-ch-ch-chives?" he asked.

Close enough. "I was there," I nodded. "So was the Illusive Man."

Hackett rested his chin on one hand, his other hand moving to brace that arm. Anderson had once told me it was an old habit of his. "I was worried Cerberus might try something," he reluctantly admitted. "Did you get the data?"

"Most of it," I replied. "He downloaded some before I could stop him. EDI and Liara are analyzing what we recovered."

Speaking of Liara, she entered the comm room just as I finished. Hackett saw her too. "Doctor. What have you learned? Was it worth the effort?"

"Preliminary evidence suggests the data is a blueprint for a Prothean device," Liara confirmed.

"Device?"

In response, Liara entered a command on her omni-tool. A hologram of the device shimmered to life beside us, Prothean script running up and down on either side. As Hackett and I turned our heads to look at it, she continued. "A weapon, massive in size and scope, that's capable of unquantifiable levels of destruction."

Gee, where did I hear that before?

"Send me the data," Hackett ordered. "We'll do our own analysis. If Liara's instincts are right, this might be the key to stopping the Reapers."

"I hope so," I sighed, leaning against a railing set in front of the holo-projectors. "Sir, you should know that Major Alenko was critically injured. We're taking him to the Citadel."

"Sorry to hear that, Shepard. But we both know this is just the beginning." He managed to say that with a note of sympathy, but the tone was still polite and matter-of-fact. I couldn't blame him. If I'd had any illusions that this war would be simple, clean and easy, the last few hours had blown them right out of the water. There would be billions of deaths and injuries of all sorts throughout the galaxy. I would have to walk a fine line between being motivated and being overwhelmed by all those casualties.

"Talk to the Council," Hackett urged. "Show them what you've found. With luck, they'll give you all the support we need."

I tried not to laugh. "Anderson said the same thing. I'll do my best, but... what if they aren't that accommodating?"

The response was blunt and to the point: "Do whatever it takes to get them on board."

Before I knew it, I was standing to attention and saluting him. Old habits, I guess.

Hackett saluted me back. "I'll be in touch soon. Hackett out." Then his hologram faded away.

"Commander?"

I didn't answer at first. What did Liara want? If she was looking for support… I didn't know if I had it in me.

"EDI is extracting data from the Cerberus machine and continuing our analysis. We'll have details to present to the Council by the time we reach the Citadel."

"Good. That's… that's good," I managed. "And Major—and Kaidan?"

"I've done what I can for him, but we need to get him to the Citadel soon."

Pushing myself away from the railing, I headed out of the comm room. "The Admiral's right," Liara said as I passed her. "It's going to get worse, isn't it?"

I slowed to a stop and looked at her. "Unless we stop the Reapers… yeah."

Liara turned to follow me as we left the comm room and entered a larger, circular room. It consisted of two split-levels, the upper one filled with computer stations and displays, the lower, central one devoted to a few computer consoles surrounding a round holo-projector. "I've looked at the data," Liara was saying. "This weapon could be the answer if we can build it."

She paused before adding "I get the sense you don't believe it, though."

Damn. That façade of unassailable leader-type confidence must've cracked. I tried to recover, tried to look all strong and mighty…

…

…then gave up. "You didn't see what they did to Earth," I said quietly. "Fighters and shuttles being blown out of the sky, ships exploding everywhere, husks and worse running amok. Civilians running for their lives. And the Reapers just kept coming. Kept landing. Kept marching through the streets. Kept killing… How is one weapon supposed to stop them? How can one weapon possibly stop them?"

"What are our options?" Liara said. "You know we can't win this conventionally."

I rubbed a hand over my eyes. It was cold and hard. Belatedly, I remembered I was still wearing my hardsuit. I hadn't had a chance to take it off.

"Commander."

I looked at Liara. She offered me a reassuring smile; trying to boost my morale the way I boosted hers back on Mars. How the tables had turned… "Isn't it worth trying at least?" she asked softly.

This was a far cry from the doubts she'd expressed back on Mars. She was right, I guess. It was worth trying. Probably worth it. Maybe. But I… I just didn't know. And I didn't have it in me to lie or pretend otherwise.

Not now, anyway. "I'm going to check on Kaidan and James," I said instead. I took a few steps before slowing down and turning around. "Make sure we're ready to present our findings to the Council."

"I'm sure the Council will see the need to help," she tried.

"It'll be a hell of a short war if they don't," I replied.

As I entered the next room, a message popped up on one of the displays. "Please put on your helmet," it said, so I complied. "EDI?"

"Shepard. I assumed you wanted to hear my status report privately."

"Status report?" I asked blankly. I checked the comm frequency EDI was using. It was encrypted.

"You assigned me a task in the shuttle bay before departing for the Mars Archives."

Oh yeah! I'd completely forgotten, what with everything that had happened. "And?" I prompted.

"Modifications are complete. The results are… not optimal, but they are the best I could do with the available resources."

"Good," I replied. "Proceed with deployment."

"Understood, Commander."

This war was going to take everything I had—everything we had—and then some. The costs were going to be high, as I'd already seen. If we were going to have any chance at coming out of this alive, we'd need every advantage we could get. Maybe this Prothean weapon would be our salvation. Maybe not.

Either way, it was reassuring to know I had another card to play.

(1): Eventually, the former would come to be referred to as 'Centurions' and the latter as 'Guardians'.

(2): A less-than-flattering term Shepard used to refer to the Citadel Council, usually with the acronym 'TPTB.' In this case, it is unclear as to whether the author was referring to the Council or the Alliance. The coincidence, however, is notable.

(3): By his own account, the implants used to bring Shepard back from the dead did result in glowing eyes and scars popping out.

(4): Shepard's nickname for the Illusive Man.

(5): I was distracted, despite my best efforts. I can't describe what it was like to be there, watching as Shepard and the Illusive Man talked and debated.

(6): Miranda's 'hardsuit' might come to mind for attentive readers. The truth was something different, as we would soon find out.

(7): Alliance military shorthand for situation report, which summarized what was presently happening.

(8): I trust readers will recognize the significance of Shepard's sudden shift to Kaidan's first name.

(9): An acronym for Tender Loving Care.