"Shepard, we are in geostationary orbit above Mars." EDI's hologram blinked a soft blue.
Shepard looked through the viewport, hating the way her heartbeat picked up, and stared down at the red planet. "Has the research outpost responded to our hails?"
"Nope," Joker popped the word, tilting his head back to look at her. Seeing him in that chair made her feel like at least something was right in the world.
"I'll take the shuttle down."
"There is a large storm approaching the outpost," EDI warned, "It shouldn't pose any physical threat but it may interfere with communications."
"We'll try to keep it snappy then," she nodded. "In the meantime…" She turned and called out, "Vogt!"
Vogt stepped forward, crossing the bridge to stand behind her. "Aye Commander?"
"While we're on the ground, I want you to have the bridge." Well, want was a strong word. She felt enough possessive love for the Normandy that handing it over to the guy who'd spent six months dragging her through the mud made her stomach twist. But they might get into contact, in which case she needed Joker free to handle the flying, EDI to do her thing, and an officer of the deck to coordinate everything else.
"What?" Joker grimaced.
"Do you have any SWOs stuffed in the cupboard?" she asked archly.
"Well...no."
Vogt's face flashed joy for a brief moment, but he quickly contained it. "Aye, aye, Commander. I won't let you down."
She nodded. "Keep the ship safe. I'm going below. Play nice, Joker."
Joker sent her an innocent look. Who, me?
She took the elevator down, experimentally twisting her torso and grimaced at the twinge. She'd scanned herself in the medbay during the short flight over and had been glad to see that her ribs weren't broken. Still sore though. She was going to pay for it tomorrow.
At least she was out of her battered dress uniform, even if she'd had to borrow fatigues from one of the sailors who'd been working on the retrofits. She'd stripped the rank off the collar. She'd need to get new uniforms and insignia before someone mistook her for a Serviceman Third Class.
Vega, Ashley and the two Marines whose names she hadn't gotten yet were waiting for her in the shuttle bay, along with the shuttle pilot.
She read his nametape, "Lieutenant Cortez?"
"Ma'am," he said smartly, professionally. He was a Latino man of average height and build, hair and uniform to regulation, and clear blue eyes.
"There's a storm incoming, so once you've dropped us off, I want you to stand off back to the Normandy."
"No problem, ma'am," he replied, "I'll keep the engines hot."
"Good."
She turned to the armoury bench. Someone had set out a new set of Onyx combat armour - red stripe down the arm, N7 on the collar, Alliance symbol opposite, sized for someone of her build. Anderson's doing, no doubt. She wondered briefly what had happened to the customised set she'd worn to destroy the Collectors and then shrugged the thought off.
She suited up in silence. The movements were both intimately familiar and strangely alien. She hadn't gone so long without wearing armour since she was eighteen. Six months.
Six wasted months.
Vega came over and checked her armour for her as the suit computer booted. She looked past his dull-blue armoured shoulder and saw Ashley watching them, arms crossed. She looked away and started gathering her weapons - rifle, shotgun, pistol.
"Those two?" she asked Vega quietly, flicking her eyes at the two young Marines.
"Privates Westmoreland and Campbell," he replied, pitching his voice down, "they were Moreau's guards."
"MPs?"
"Grunts."
That was something. She hoped they weren't cherries, but with the way her day had been going...
She nodded and stepped away from the armoury bench, raising her voice, "Alright. The Archives on Mars aren't responding to hails, so we're not sure what we're walking into. I want everyone on their toes. Our primary objective is to secure the Project Crucible data and the lead scientists, Doctor Thabo Nkosi and his deputy directors. I've sent their images to your omnitools."
Ashley nodded. "Friendly forces?"
"There's a security force of a platoon and automated defences, but we have no intel on their status."
And it wasn't like they could ask for reinforcements either. The Alliance comm networks were, to put it lightly, a mess and all forces in the Sol System were engaged. She didn't like trying to secure such a large facility with five people - but they didn't have a choice but to try.
No pressure.
Vega asked a couple of questions of his own and then she gestured for them to mount up. The ride was quiet, absent of any banter. Westmoreland and Campbell were clearly nervous. Shepard could only hope they'd stand up in combat. Not everyone did.
She distracted herself from the oppressive silence by thinking through what she knew of Project Crucible. A dark energy superweapon, capable of immense destruction, built on top of theories and equations drawn from a translated Prothean cache courtesy of the Cipher stuffed in her brain, not that she'd understood what she'd been translating three years ago. The project was still in the theoretical stage, with some testing done - discreetly.
It was their hail mary, but Shepard retained her doubts that it would be enough even if they could build it before the fight was kicked out of the Alliance.
When they were on the ground, red rock dust under her boots, Shepard tried to remember the last time she'd been on Mars. It had to have been years.
The horizon was a mass of roiling dust clouds, the sky the same dull rust-red. The only splash of colour was the blue and white Kodiak as she waved it off.
Time to get back to work.
Joker tapped his fingers against his armrest, staring out at the planet above him. He'd been to Mars a couple of times. The first frigate he'd served on had had her home port at the Mars Orbital Spaceport and the crew had often torn it up in Lowell City on shore leave. Not him, though. He'd spent most of his free time honing his flying in the simulators. Besides, a shove could break something so the bar fights the Marines were so fond of were right out of the question.
He didn't want to think about Lowell City. How easy it'd be to pop its bubble. How no one would have anywhere to run.
He sighed, leaning back in his chair. "EDI, how's the heat?"
"Fifteen percent capacity," she responded. He'd been pretty worried about her during their detention, but she'd taken to his suggestion of pretending to be a simple VI with something close to glee. Hell, she'd managed to force the Alliance into bringing him onboard to 'unlock' systems.
"So this is the fabled Normandy," Vogt remarked. "I hope she lives up to her reputation."
Joker shot him a sideways look and then glanced over at EDI's projection, faux-whispering, "Shh, don't listen to him."
"I do not require external validation," she replied.
"Guess you wouldn't, considering you have a giant gun." He'd feel pretty confident if he was packing a thanix cannon.
"Precisely."
Vogt cocked a brow. "The VI is chatty. Did you make modifications to the personality yourself, Flight Lieutenant?"
"Nope." Unless releasing her from her shackles counted. He decided to change the subject - he wanted Shepard around when it came out about EDI's true nature. "So what's a lawyer doing with SWCOT quals, anyway? Got bored one day?"
"Something like that. What good is being an Officer in the Navy if you can't lead a division or take an OOD watch?" Vogt shrugged. "I wanted shipborne postings as a JAG, and I did every qual I could to be more competitive. What's the status of that storm?"
"EDI?"
"I estimate forty minutes before it reaches the Archives outpost," the AI replied, "at which time we will likely experience communication difficulties with the ground team."
"Aye. Let me know when it's five mikes out." Vogt looked around the bridge. There were only a handful of crew manning some of the consoles. "What does the manifest say for souls on board right now?"
"Twenty-six souls," EDI responded, "Half of which are assigned to be part of the operational crew. Another three have useful skill sets for operational duties."
"Define 'useful skill sets'."
"Lieutenant Samantha Traynor has been manning the communications station and integrating data since we left Earth."
Joker considered warning EDI off. Vogt was suspicious and EDI was clearly starting to show she was more than VI. But hey, it was Shepard's ship and EDI could always lock him in the head if need be.
"Petty Officers Johansen and Ren would be suitable as damage control personnel and for structural repair and maintenance."
"Very good," Vogt said thoughtfully, but he didn't prod EDI any further. "How long have you been flying, Flight Lieutenant?"
"Ten years, give or take." Joker adjusted the trim of one of the thrusters, rolling the Normandy slightly to port. If they needed to get down quickly to pick up Shepard, he wanted her belly to the planet, not the roof.
"And the climate control?" Vogt joked, though it came off a little awkwardly. "Still 25 degrees?"
"Yessir," Joker said dryly. He wasn't forgetting the trial anytime soon.
Vogt scratched at his neck. "Nothing on instruments," he addressed the bridge.
"Won't see us anyway," he said confidently, "It's almost like EDI and I know how to do our jobs."
Vogt pulled a face. "Maybe we'll keep the chatter to a minimum, Moreau."
"Killjoy," he muttered. This is why he missed Pressly. Pressly had been a grumpy old fucker, but he'd known Joker running his mouth was part of the process.
Vogt tapped his hands against his console and the minutes ticked by tensely. To the bridge crew's credit, there was no more speaking after Vogt's request.
"Ground team is hailing us," Traynor called over to Joker and Vogt, putting the transmission through to them.
"Overlord, Ranger Six," Shepard's voice - and she sounded pissed. The Overlord callsign had been her little joke with EDI. "Come in, over."
"Ranger, Overlord Actual." Vogt responded, leaning into his console. "We have you. Send traffic, over.
"Overlord, Ranger. Troops in contact. Cerberus has taken the Archives. We may need a hot extract, over."
"What the fuck?" After a brief pause, Vogt flicked the comm. "Roger, Ranger, we're standing to. Be advised, the storm is closing and will interfere with comms within minutes, over."
"Copy that. Ranger out."
"It may be possible to use the shuttle to relay communications between the ship and the ground team," EDI suggested. Made sense - the Kodiak had more powerful radios than the suit based ones the ground team used.
"Is there a risk the storm will damage the shuttle?"
"The risk is negligible. The Kodiak is rated for greater stressors and Lieutenant Cortez is a competent pilot."
She thought the fighter jock was competent? She better not let Cortez fly the Normandy.
Vogt considered for a moment. "Alright. We'll dispatch the shuttle." Again, Vogt pressed buttons on his console and his voice echoed through the entire ship when he set the comm to 1MC - the internal communication channel. "Hands to boarding stations, hands to boarding stations, set damage control condition zebra. Flight quarters, flight quarters, set condition 1-alpha for flight operations. All personnel not involved in flight operations are to leave the deck immediately."
Then, he flicked one more switch. "Bridge to Flight."
"Flight here," Cortez responded over the 5MC channel.
"Flight, Bridge." Vogt sucked air through his teeth. "Ranger is in contact and may need a hot extract - away the shuttle to the facility, but maintain radio contact with us. We're going to use you as a comm buoy to get around this storm."
"Aye aye. Engines are still hot so I can be airborne in five mikes."
Liara ached all over. She'd banged a knee and an elbow clambering through the vents. But she was alive and Shepard was here, so they had a vital opening to salvage the Project Crucible data. Even if her colleagues of a few months were dead.
What a waste.
"The project data is stored on an air gapped, secure network in a separate lab from the living quarters and older Prothean research labs," she explained, quickening to keep up with Shepard despite being taller than the human. Ashley had taken point, rifle in hand, and the three Marines Liara hadn't met before took up the rear.
"So we have to physically go and retrieve it," Shepard surmised.
"Yes."
"Wonderful."
"Any idea where Doctor Nkosi might be?" Ashley asked.
Liara glanced over, at Ashley's armoured back. With three years of distance, Liara knew she had handled her conversation with Ashley after Alchera poorly. They had both been grieving, and it hadn't brought the best out in either of them. The wound left behind was still there, but there was no time now to address it.
"He usually works in the secure lab. We can hope that survivors of the security team can hold the tram line but…"
Ashley nodded.
Uneasy silence settled across the group as they made their way through the metallic corridors of the research outpost. Shepard's dark eyes were grim beneath her visor. It was far from the camaraderie of the SR1, but the three of them fell into old habits, moving quickly and quietly, pulling Sergeant Vega and the two privates in their wake.
Liara had begun to think that the Cerberus troops had pulled back to the tramline, when Ashley slapped open the green lock of a door and they came across a handful of Cerberus troopers in prepared positions. The five operatives immediately raked the doorway with gunfire, Ashley's shields lighting up in a flash of blue.
Liara raised a hand, flaring, but Shepard was quicker. She grabbed Ash by the webbing and pulled her into cover behind the door frame.
"Liara! Singularity!" Shepard called, over the shriek of Harrier assault rifles.
Liara stepped forward and out of cover just long enough to pull at the gravity well, opening a miniature rupture. It pulled three of the men off their feets, with shouts that sounded distorted through their helmet.
Another screamed when Ashley leant around the corner and shot him in the stomach. He fell to the ground, clutching at the wound. One of the other troopers was foolish enough to try and get to him - he too fell, Shepard's burst of assault rifle fire breaking his shields and Ashley's next shot blowing off the top of his head.
"Charging!" Shepard announced and was gone in a flash of energy.
The room shook with the deep, brassy boom of two fields detonating. Liara grit her teeth against the disturbance of the gravity well. When she stepped into the room, Shepard was standing over the dead, her gauntlet splashed with red human blood.
"Damn," one of the privates said, clutching her rifle.
"Let's keep moving," Shepard said brusquely.
"They've sealed the door," Ash called a few minutes later, "without charges we're not getting through."
Cerberus had welded the door shut in a bid to keep them out. Unfortunately for them, Liara knew the facility well after living in it for months.
"We can detour. There's an airlock nearby, and we can use the maintenance ladders to access the emergency airlock for the dining hall. Then it's just a couple of doors to the tramway," Liara said. "I just need to unlock the airlock from the security station."
It was only about a hundred metres that they had to cross in the vacuum, clambering across the outside of the station and up and down the maintenance ladders. The storm, however, was starting to pick up, filling the air with the haze of brown-red dust. When Shepard did a comms check with the shuttle, the response was starting to get garbled.
"Shit, hope we don't have to leave in a hurry," Vega said.
"Joker and EDI won't leave us down here," Shepard's voice was matter-of-fact, calm in her trust in her ship and pilot.
"Hey," Ash called back, "the airlock is open."
"What?" Liara sped up - but Ashley was correct. The airlock was pitch black and forbidding.
"Night vision filters on," Shepard ordered.
They stepped into a nightmare, green through the night vision filter. Bodies were strewn across the dining hall, faces blue from asphyxiation. Many were clustered around the Emergency Life Supports Apparatus storage. Everyone who lived in places like this knew the emergency procedures. In case of rapid decompression you might only have thirty seconds to get into an ELSA. But they hadn't used them.
"What happened with the ELSAs?" Vega demanded, striding over - and then he swore. The oxygen bottles meant to be used inside the plastic bubble of the apparatus were all missing.
Liara felt numb. It had to have been an inside job.
"I feel sick," one of the privates - Westmoreland - said.
"Nasty way to go," the other, Campbell, stared down at one of the bodies.
"These were some of the Alliance's finest minds," Liara said, aghast. What was Cerberus thinking to kill them? Even someone of the Illusive Man's ruthlessness and brutality ahd to understand what a waste this was.
Then Shepard's fist shot into the air, silencing them all. Liara remembered that signal - the one that meant freeze - from the SR1.
Past the glass window separating the hall from the outside corridor, Liara heard the echo of footsteps and helmet-distorted voices. A Cerberus patrol, and this one was far less alert than the previous ones they'd run into. They were searching for civilian survivors. They weren't expecting an armed and very angry Alliance squad.
The six of them spread in a loose line facing the window, weapons raised. Liara's finger balanced on the trigger.
Three.
Two.
One.
Six guns opened up in unison, the dark room flashing with light. The glass shattered. The ensuing fight was more of a massacre, the Cerberus agents scythed down in the ambush.
"Motherfuckers," Shepard said, with feeling.
Ashley vaulted over the half wall, boots crunching glass underfoot. One of the wounded Cerberus troopers moved, reaching for a weapon. The Alliance lieutenant shot him so quickly it had to be reflex, before lowering her rifle. "There's a security terminal over here. Looks like it has camera footage."
Liara hurried over, stepping over the dead Cerberus troopers.
The security station had two more dead Marines. Poor Sergeant Gavins hadn't even been able to defend himself - he'd been shot in the back of the head while sitting in his chair.
"Definitely an inside job," Ashley said darkly from the doorway, "He trusted whoever killed him."
"Seems likely," Shepard agreed.
Liara had to lean across the body to access the terminal. "There."
The footage played. The man who walked in was familiar and nonthreatening in his Alliance uniform. She'd been introduced to him as Sergeant Zhao, one of the Marines charged with protecting the project. Nonthreatening, right up to the moment when he pulled out a silenced pistol and shot Gavins in the head. Lance Corporal Wei had managed to get her hand on her carbine, but with two shots Zhao had killed her too.
"Goddess," she gripped the edge of the desk.
"Pendejo," Shepard shook her head in disgust, "don't blame yourself, Liara. I know that bastard."
Liara blinked, "You do?"
"His real name is Kai Leng. We were classmates at N School, but he got blacklisted from the teams a year after we graduated, and then he killed someone in a bar fight and got court martialed."
A dark wave of despair crashed over Liara, heavy and choking. "I should have paid more attention."
Now Cerberus might well get the project data and the Alliance's best and brightest were dead on the floor of a cafeteria.
She was the Shadow Broker for goddess' sake.
"You were focused on helping find a way to destroy the Reapers. That's what we should all be focusing on."
"But what if we're wrong?" she said, that despair digging icy claws into her chest, "What if these are our last days and we're spending them screwing around trying to fix a problem we can't fix?"
"Liara…"
"I know, I know. I don't know how you do it - how you stay so focused in the worst situations."
"I think of my family," Shepard said quietly, "my friends. What I love and what I'll lose if the Reapers win." Her gaze slid past Liara to rest on Ashley, standing in the doorway, and then jerked away when the other human looked up.
Oh Shepard.
"That's a terrible burden."
Shepard didn't deny it, simply put her hand on Liara's shoulder. "We have to keep fighting. We have to keep hoping. The Reapers aren't infallible."
"I believe you," Liara said. Or perhaps she wanted to. Maybe that would be enough.
"Commander, this guy looks like a squad leader - and I think he has a radio in his helmet," Ash called, kneeling in front of one of the dead Cerberus troopers. "I'm thinking I'll patch us into their comms so at least we can get an idea of what they're doing."
"Good idea, LT," Shepard said, coming to join her.
It was strange, the formality of rank between them after - everything. Shepard felt like the most familiar stranger. They'd both changed, hadn't they? Shepard even fought differently. Where did that leave them now?
Why the fuck was she thinking about this now, on one of the most important missions she'd ever been on?
She found the latches to the helmet and pulled it off. She reeled back in horror, dropping the helmet to the ground with a thump.
"Oh god. He looks like a husk."
His open, glassy eyes were vibrant, unnatural blue, cybernetics splitting the bruised looking skin of his face.
"They've certainly done something to him," Shepard knelt and calmly pulled the radio out of his helmet.
The detachment in her voice was too much. "They could've done this to you."
Desecrated Shepard's body - turned her into something Ashley couldn't recognise -
Shepard shot up to her feet, whirling on Ash. When she spoke, her voice was low and angry, "I am nothing like that thing."
"You can't tell me they just started this sort of thing. It's Cerberus we're talking about-"
"How can you even think that?"
"It's not like you've told me anything! How am I supposed to know what they did or didn't do?"
"Ashley," Shepard's voice was bitter and hard, "You don't have to believe me. You don't have to forgive me. But we have a job to do. Once it's done, we can go our separate ways."
"That's not what I-" wanted? Meant?
"Let's just get across to this fucking lab," Shepard snapped and strode off.
Ashley watched her go, chest all twisted up. There'd been a time where they'd known how to talk to each other.
And then she followed.
It took another twenty minutes to fight their way across the tramway but then finally, they were at the secure part of the facility.
The lab was a large, open office space with Prothean artifacts in containment fields and desks scattered around the room. In the centre Kai Leng held a gun to the head of a dark-skinned, middle-aged man with greying hair. Dr Nkosi.
"Don't come any closer," Leng called. He had cold eyes.
"Leng," Shepard said coolly, voice dripping with derision. Vega, Campbell and Westmoreland spread out to secure the rest of the room with a few hand gestures from the sergeant. Ashley stayed where she was, at Shepard's left shoulder and Liara at her right.
"Shepard," he smiled, a knife of an expression, "someone would like to speak with you."
A holo drone popped up from behind him and began projecting.
The Illusive Man breathed out and holographic smoke trailed from his lips. "Commander Shepard."
"What do you want?" Shepard asked, eyes never leaving Leng and his hostage.
"What I've always wanted: the survival of our species. The Alliance is weak, ineffective, but it was correct that this project holds the key to solving the Reaper threat."
"You killed some of the brightest minds humanity has to offer and turned your people into monsters. Spare me your 'vision'."
Ashley wanted nothing more than to put a bullet in Leng's traitorous skull, but he was smart and kept himself behind Nkosi so any shot she took risked hitting the scientist.
"Monsters? Hardly. They're being improved. That is the difference between us Shepard. Your vision is limited to destruction."
"Earth is occupied," Shepard snapped, "millions are dying as we speak - and you want to fight the Alliance? Stop this - work with us, with the Alliance. Help me save our people."
"You would do better than many," the Illusive Man conceded, "but our goals are not compatible. There are other solutions to the Reaper threat than mere extermination."
"They'll kill us all if we don't stop fighting each other!" Shepard's voice rose. "They want exactly this."
"I don't need your understanding - or your approval. You were a tool for a singular purpose, a purpose that has been achieved. I will raise humanity to the apex of evolution, and you will not stop me."
"You think," she said, the muzzle of her rifle not wavering, "I'm just gonna let Leng walk out of here?"
"Yes," he breathed out another breath of smoke, "because if you don't, Nkosi will die and you will have doomed us all. Don't interfere with my plans again, Shepard. I won't warn you again."
"Go to hell."
The Illusive Man smiled. "Goodbye, Shepard."
The hologram blinked out.
"It's been a pleasure, Shepard," Leng said with a smarmy smile and began to back towards the door, still holding onto Nkosi.
Then - a flash of movement and a thump. Vega, who'd crept up on the bastard while he'd been preoccupied with Shepard, tossed himself at the former N7, grabbed his gun and pulling it up and away from the scientist.
Nkosi didn't hesitate - he ran straight towards Shepard and Ashley. Shepard grabbed him and put her body in between him and Leng. He was visibly trembling, his hand gripping Shepard's armoured arm.
Ash tried to get a shot but couldn't - not without hitting Vega. The two men grabbled, Leng trying to grab for Vega's pistol - but the bigger Marine managed to grab his hand. Then Leng got his legs up and kicked. Vega flew off him, crashing into a desk hard enough that it crumpled under his weight, dumping him onto the ground.
Ashley fired. The round deflected off Leng's shields and buried itself in the wall.
And then Leng turned and ran. Ash fired again to hurry him on his way.
"He has the data!" Nkosi yelled, his voice cracking.
"What?" Ash demanded.
"He took the project data - you must get it back-"
"Ashley!" Shepard yelled.
She understood. She took off running after Leng through the warren of corridors, her heavy marksman rifle thumping against her chestplate with each stride. Leng was fast - and he wasn't in full combat gear. She had pretty damn good PT scores but she found herself straining to keep up.
C'mere asshole.
She heard running steps behind her and tossed a look over her shoulder. Shepard and Liara, hurrying to catch up.
He burst out of the airlock and uptop, and for a moment Ashley thought she had him. The airlock opened up into the swirling dust of the storm - and a small alcove with the only way out a ladder.
But then he managed to jump - far higher than any human had any business jumping - and grabbed some of the top rungs, quickly pulling himself over the top. Of course he was a cyborg or modified with Reaper tech. Of course he was. She should've suspected that. This was Cerberus after all.
She had to climb the ladder normally.
She could hear Shepard just behind her, shouting into her comm, as she lengthened her strides, breathing hard.
No, no, no.
Ahead of them, a white and grey painted shuttle was waiting, door open. Leng jumped and landed.
"Fuck!" she shouted and fired in frustration, but even the Saber's rounds dashed off the Kodiak's shields with barely a flicker of the shields.
"Overlord!" Shepard shouted into the comm, "Hawk! The Cerberus shuttle has the data! Shoot it the fuck down, over!"
The Cerberus shuttle spun, spraying the landing zone with automatic fire. Ashley swore, stumbling back, as her shields lit up and died. And then Shepard was there, glowing so bright it hurt to look at her, forcing a barrier up and around them both.
She remembered this part. Shepard had to focus on the barrier and Ash - she had to make they both got back into cover. She grabbed Shepard by the shoulders, impersonal through two layers of armour, and guided her back with her, into cover behind some crates that would never be unpacked. Shepard glanced back at her, eyes glowing blue with her corona, before refocusing on the shuttle.
Ash watched the shuttle start to rise. She'd never wanted a goddamn rocket launcher more.
That was when a flash of blue and white fell from the sky. The Normandy's shuttle.
"Oh thank the Goddess," Liara said behind her.
But Ash quickly saw why it wasn't firing on the Cerberus shuttle. If Cortez missed, he'd hit the landing pad - and them.
The Cerberus shuttle hurtled up, unaccosted - but then the Alliance shuttle was diving to meet it.
"He's not going to…" she began.
But he was.
The two shuttles came together with a horrific shrieking of metal tearing and buckling.
The Alliance shuttle pulled off, one thruster smoking and sputtering, the bow dented and scarred from the impact. The Cerberus shuttle had come off second-best, one side punched in and two of four thrusters completely sheared off in the impact.
The Cerberus shuttle dropped like a stone and crashed below the landing pad, gouging a long furrow into the metallic roof of the facility. The Alliance Kodiak circled around, wobbling in the air, and came into the landing pad.
The shuttle landed hard, sliding a few metres before coming to a stop. It didn't look like it was going to be getting back up in the air.
"I'll check on Lieutenant Cortez, you two get down there," Shepard ordered, pointing down at the wreckage.
She didn't need to tell them twice. Ashley jogged over to the edge of the landing pad. The Cerberus shuttle was smouldering below. Behind her she heard running steps and then Liara launched herself off the edge of the landing pad. For a moment she fell, and then she caught herself with her biotics, gracefully floating down to the ground below.
Ash had to content herself with climbing down.
The side closest to them was butted up against some machinery, so they had to carefully pick their way around the crashed shuttle.
"I hope the data is okay," Liara fretted.
"Here's hoping."
The shuttle was a mess of buckled metal, but Ash thought they might be able to get the door open using the emergency releases. She magnetised her rifle to the front of her armour to get her hands free and pried the cover off the release, tossing it aside.
She heard boots crunching in rock dust and looked up to see Shepard's black-armoured form coming around the rear of the shuttle.
"Cortez is okay," she called, "shuttle is busted though. He's gonna try and get through to the Normandy on the shuttle radio. How are we doing?"
"Just trying to get this door open," she responded, pulling the release lever.
Everything happened very quickly then.
The shuttle door blew upon. Leng stood there - bloodied, but not dead - and there was a long, sharp knife in his hand. Ash reacted first. She shoved Liara, in her much lighter civilian clothing, out of the way, sending the asari sprawling.
Then Leng was on her, quicker than she could draw her pistol - because the Saber was the best marksman rifle she'd ever used but it was far too unwieldy for this. She got a hand up, deflecting his first strike, the knife skating across the ceramic plating on her armour. Her first blow knocked the knife out of his hand. It landed handle-first with a puff of red-brown dust.
He grabbed her by the helmet, both hands clamped on either side.
What the fuck?
He lifted her bodily off the ground by her head.
What the FUCK?
She tried to bring a knife hand down on one of the elbows hefting her into the air, but he didn't budge. How was he so strong? What had Cerberus done to him to make him so strong?
"End of the line, Marine," he said with a nasty, gleeful smile. His face was painted with blood but his eyes burned with a sick light.
"Put her down, Leng!" Shepard shouted.
He laughed. "You never can keep them alive, can you, Shepard?"
And then he slammed Ashley's head into the shuttle.
Pain exploded across the back of her head, her neck, her shoulders and all she could see was stars. Again. Something snapped in her neck in her head. She could taste blood, her blood painting the inside of her mouth.
She couldn't move - she couldn't move - why couldn't she fucking move -
She realised this was how she was going to die.
The last thing Ashley Williams heard was Emilia Shepard screaming her name.
Kai Leng dropped Ashley's unmoving body (no, not a body, she can't be-) to the Mars dirt and leant down to pick up his knife.
Liara might have said something but all Shepard could hear was the roar of blood in her ears.
All she could taste was her own rage, metallic on her tongue.
In the next moment she slammed into Leng with bone-crunching biotic force. He managed to get his own barrier up enough to deflect most of the force, but he still stumbled back into the shuttle he'd just broken Ashley's body against.
For a moment they grappled, Leng holding onto the knife for dear life, and somewhere distant she noted that he was the first human who'd been able to physically match her since she'd been brought back.
Her barrier erupted out and tossed him off his feet. He hit the ground with a pained noise (good), knife skittering across the ground. She didn't let him get up. She hit him with all the strength Cerberus had spliced into her muscles, biotic field clenched in her fist. Bone crunched.
He choked and when his eyes met hers through her visor, she saw fear. She wanted him afraid but more importantly she wanted Kai Leng dead.
She hit him again. His skull shattered under her biotic-wreathed fist.
"Shepard!" Liara shouted.
She staggered upright and away from the body. Liara was kneeling beside Ashley, omnitool light washing over the Marine's blue-grey armour.
"She's alive," Liara said urgently, "but-"
Shepard had her omnitool med scanner up in a moment. Alive, but badly wounded. The list of injuries felt like a vise squeezing her chest. Skull fracture, potential traumatic brain injury, fracture of C6 vertebrae, potential spinal cord injury.
She dropped to her knees beside her. "Tell Cortez we need the Normandy down here now."
Liara touched her shoulder as she passed but Shepard barely noticed.
The movements were rote. Monitor breathing. Using the armour systems to lock and hold Ash's head and neck still.
"Please don't do this to me," she whispered. But Ashley didn't move except for the just there rise and fall of her chest.
"Sir!" Traynor called to Commander Vogt, "I'm getting communications from the ground again, but it's really garbled."
The command deck had warmed up from Joker's customary 25 degrees celsius thanks to the building heat stored in the heatsinks, creeping closer to 28. Joker kept his eye on it and hoped Shepard hurried the fuck up.
EDI had already picked up Reaper signatures above several of Mars' settlements.
"Damn storm… Put it through to my console, Lieutenant."
"There you go, sir. Doing my best to clear it up."
"...copy? Lieu...shuttle…" Cortez's voice on the radio, crackling and garbled by the interference, but even through it, Joker could hear the tension in the usually calm fighter jock's voice.
"Fuck sake!" Vogt exclaimed, urgency present in his voice. "Hawk 1, Overlord, we have you one by five. Say again your last, over!"
"..lord, one wounded...shuttle damaged...need pick-up, over." That was a little clearer.
Someone was hurt. Joker clenched his jaw. He had always hated it, the feeling of helplessness when Shepard was on the ground and he couldn't do anything to help, and he especially hated the dread when it was reported someone was hit. The who and the how bad racing through his head.
"The upper part of the facility should be clear enough for us to land the ship," he told Vogt. He hoped.
"Affirm. Full ahead, you have the conn. Go get our shuttle." Vogt looked over to Traynor. "Do we have a medical team onboard?"
Joker didn't need to be told twice. He pushed the Normandy's nose down and pushing the thrusters to full ahead. She hurtled through atmo towards the research outpost.
"Uh," Traynor swallowed, "no medics, sir. I think Jansen has first aid training."
"Better than nothing." Vogt's voice rang through 1MC, "Medical, stand-to flight deck. Casualties inbound, casualties inbound. That's you, Jansen."
"Shepard's got some medical training, yeah? She's a N7." Joker eased off on the thrusters as the ship hit the storm. Immediately the viewport filled with red, swirling dust and the hull shook. "Y'know...if she's not the one hurt."
He looked at his altimeter. 900 metres. He eased off further, pulling the nose up a little. Shit that dust was bad. Damnit. If he couldn't see the landing zone, he'd have to go around.
"Active pings," Vogt commanded. "Radar and LADAR. We can't do this with LOS. EDI, anything we can use to breach the dust?"
"I will try active sensors. Stand by."
Active pinging would start to reveal them to anything close enough, but the alternative was probably a go around so - lesser of two evils.
On Joker's panels a clearer picture started to emerge. He could at least aim for where his chosen LZ was and avoid the outpost's tower that was in the way. "EDI, landing sleds down."
"Landing sleds are down, Jeff."
Through the haze he could pick up the vague shape of the landing pads on top of the facility. The sensors seemed to indicate it was just big enough for the frigate to land.
"This might be a bit rough. Suggest you hold onto something," he shot Vogt a tight grin.
Heeding his advice, Vogt gripped his console tightly and flicked back onto 1MC. "Brace for landing."
The whole craft shook and Vogt struggled against the rocking to maintain his footing.
Joker forced the ship down, hard, flaring the reverse thrusters. The Normandy bucked underneath their feet and then stilled. They'd cleared the nearest comms tower by thirty metres.
"Any damage, EDI?"
"Negative. Impact was within parameters for landing sleds."
"Good flying, Moreau," Vogt said after standing back to his full height. "Comms, try to raise Ranger, and we'll open the hangar bay door. Hopefully they can see us 'cause we need to get the fuck out of dodge." Grimly, he added, "Hopefully we made it in time."
Barely five minutes later, Joker heard blessedly familiar footsteps. Shepard, striding into the cockpit, her helmet under her arm. Her face was grim, dried blood splattered on her arms and gloved hands, streaked like she'd tried to hurriedly wipe it off, and her hair was slicked to her face with sweat.
"Shuttle's fucked," she said flatly, "but everyone's onboard. Get us out of here. We need to get to the Citadel as fast as the ship can take us."`
"You have the deck, Commander," he looked over his shoulder. "How's the casualty?"
"Yeah, and who is it?" Joker added. The Normandy lifted off and he pointed her bow up, hitting the thrusters aggressively, pushing hard for orbit. The Reapers would be looking for whatever Alliance ship had been pinging.
"Ashley - Lieutenant Williams," Shepard said, jaw working, "and...not great. I'm…" she swallowed, "not sure she'll make it if we don't get her to proper medical attention soon. Liara is with her now."
"Liara?" Joker blinked. The hell was T'Soni doing here?
"Yeah. She was working with the Alliance here."
"I will inform the Citadel we will require an ambulance standing by as soon as we're in comm range," EDI offered.
"Thanks, EDI."
"Commander… Would you like me to take the deck?" Vogt's voice was surprisingly gentle. "I'm happy to take us all the way into the Citadel."
Shepard took a moment to answer, something conflicted crossing her face before she nodded. "Yes, thank you. Call me up if you need me."
"Aye, aye. I have the deck. Let's get to Charon as quickly as we can."
Codex Entry
Future Content Corporation Broadcast 21st September 2186:
[Camera feed begins. A smartly dressed asari smiles warmly at the camera.]
"Good morning, I'm Aesha T'Jalla, and you're watching Citadel PopNews, where we interview the galaxy's biggest stars and ask all the burning questions! Today, I'm chatting with Vera Aetrian, star of the recent simulstim holo 'Nights on Invictus', following a turian sergeant who finds love with an asari doctor. Welcome to the program, Vera."
[The camera pans to a tall turian woman with teal Invictus markings and pale plating. She flicks her mandibles in acknowledgement.]
"Always a pleasure, Aesha."
"So, how was it working with Selyana Eranos?"
"Well, Selyana is always great fun to work with. This is actually the second holo we've done together, and she has a great sense of humour-"
[The video cuts off, displaying a brief BREAKING NEWS banner across the screen before resolving into a grim looking news anchor.]
"We interrupt your program to bring you breaking news. A comms blackout in the Arcturus Stream has spread to the Sol System, meaning all communications with the human homeworld of Earth and the Alliance capital of Arcturus Station have ceased.
"The Alliance Councillor, Mr Donnel Udina, has remained tight-lipped, but concerns are mounting after reports of civilian and military ships arriving from human space in the Widow Nebula. Some of these ships appear damaged.
"We cross now to the Citadel Docks where reporter Lunon Maebon is with one of the human captains who just arrived from the Sol System. Over to you, Maebon."
[Maebon is a green-skinned salarian who towers over the human woman he's with. The human captain's eyes are bloodshot.]
"Thank you, Katus. I'm here with Amelia Richolls, the captain of the freighter Spring Maiden. Thank you for joining me. You came from the Sol System?"
"Yes. God. We've been attacked. Earth was attacked. Oh my god."
"You're saying Earth was attacked by an enemy force?"
"Yes! They came out of the Relay and just started - tearing into the Navy and the defence stations. One of the Navy ships told us to run so we - we did. I watched several Alliance ships just disappear off our ladar. God."
"Could you identify the attackers? Was it the batarians?"
"No-no, it didn't look like batarian ships. It was hundreds of dreadnoughts."
"Hundreds of dreadnoughts? No military in the galaxy has that many dreadnoughts."
"I know what I saw! And I saw a goddamn massacre."