An explosion rocked the ground around her and she fell forward.
The batarians were making another push.
She used her biotics to throw grenades from several places along the wall.
She waited for the explosions but heard none.
Taking a chance she poked her head over the wall.
The batarians were gone.
She stood and looked around again.
There was a strange sound from behind her.
She spun.
Too late.
A geth, bigger than any she'd seen, cocked a shotgun and fired at her.
The particles hit her barrier and sent her flying over the barricade. She tried to brace for her fall, but she wasn't quick enough. She hit the hard packed dirt of the floor and her head bounced painfully.
Shepard got to her feet to find she was no longer on Elysium. Now she was on the Normandy.
She ran forward but her legs felt like they were moving through water.
Another geth appeared around the corner with a grenade launcher. It fired at her but the shot went wide and hit the hull. There was a sound of rushing air as hole grew larger and larger. People were screaming and running around. Geth were pouring out of every door.
Shepard threw herself in front of the hole and tried to plug it with a barrier.
It was too strong.
Images flashed in her mind.
Death.
Destruction.
Organics and synthetics warring against each other.
It was the beacon again.
Only now the people dying were her people.
Kaidan.
Ash.
Garrus.
Wrex.
Tali.
Joker.
Even Adams and Pressley.
They were dying.
And it was her fault.
She couldn't save them.
She couldn't save any of them.
Shepard shut up in bed, covered in a cold sweat and breathing so hard she was sure her heart would explode.
It was a dream.
A nightmare.
Another nightmare about the blitz.
Only this one was different.
That damn beacon was turning her nightmares into . . . worse nightmares.
She swung her feet over the side of the bed and got up.
Picking her old grey robe up off the chair, she wrapped herself up and headed out of the room.
The ship was silent.
Only the floor lights and a few sparse overhead lights were still on.
It was a stark reminder of how dark space was.
She crept forward, quiet in her bare feet. She headed up the stairs toward the CIC and the bridge.
As she went she was surprised to find that no one was awake.
She hadn't ever served on a ship before, but she was certain there was supposed to be a night crew of some kind.
Or so she thought.
She stopped just outside the door to the stairs.
The CIC was dark and quiet.
Even the galaxy map was off.
The only light on this level came streaming in from the bridge.
Up she went, cursing herself for not putting slippers on. The mostly metal floor was cold.
"Evening," she said quietly to Joker when she was nearly behind him.
He jumped in his chair and cursed loudly.
"SON OF A BITHC!" He screamed. "Commander?! You scared the shit out of me!"
"I'm sorry," she apologized, trying hard not to laugh. "I thought you heard me walking up. There isn't another sound out there."
"Look when I get in the zone I don't hear anything but the ship. You need like a . . . bell . . . or something." He grumbled.
"What like a cat?" She asked taking the seat to his left.
"Maybe." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. The same look she'd seen him give her before.
"What?" She asked, slightly annoyed.
"What?!" He asked, confused.
"The look you're giving me, right now," she explained. "What is this look?"
"I'm not . . . looking at you," he stammered.
"You are, right now." She sighed. "Which is it? You don't think I should be commanding the ship or you don't believe what they say about me?"
Joker opened his mouth and then closed it again. He looked away from the commander and back out the Normandy's windows.
"You remind me of my sister," he said at last.
"Your . . . what?"
"I have a sister, she's twelve and living on Arcturus Station with my family. You look like her."
"I look like your sister," she repeated.
"Not exactly like her," he explained. "You're taller and blonder and your eyes are greener I think." He glanced back at her. "Yeah greener. But the shape of your face and your 'I'm-the-most-badass-chick-here' thing."
"Your twelve year old sister is a badass?"
"We don't call her Gunny for nothin."
"Hm," she pondered. "In that case I'm sorry, for exploding at you."
"I get it. Lot of people lookin at you lately."
"Yeah, lately."
"Not so much lately?" He questioned.
"So why are you still awake?" She asked, dodging his question.
"Somebody has to fly the ship."
"Can't the VI fly the ship while you sleep? Or a co-pilot that can take over?"
He waved her words away, "this ship is brand new and state of the art. I don't want anyone or anything flying her until I've put her through her paces."
"So there's no night pilot? Or crew?"
"Not while were flying. If we were docked then, yeah. We'd have a crew active all day."
Shepard nodded but said nothing.
"So why do they look at you?" He asked when she remained quiet.
"One of two reasons," she started with a sigh. "Either they heard about the blitz and they look at me because they don't believe I'm capable of what they say. Or they hear I'm N7 and they don't think I'm old enough. The age thing is kind of hard for people to get over."
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye again. "How old are you?"
"Twenty-eight to thirty-one," she commented offhandedly.
"How do you not know?"
"I'm an orphan," she repeated for what felt like the hundredth time that day.
"I think I heard something about that. But how does that explain the age range?"
"I was left at a firehouse when I was a baby. No birth certificate; only a note explaining that my parents couldn't deal with me."
Joker could hear the tension in her voice. He didn't want to press her for more info than she wanted to give. So he dropped the subject and the bridge fell back into silence.
"So not much for sleep then?" He asked after a while.
"Bad dreams."
"Blitz?"
"Beacon."
"That bad?"
"Maybe if it made sense it wouldn't be so bad. But it's all jumbled up, fragments and flashes."
"Commander?"
Joker and Shepard turned.
Kaidan was standing just outside the bridge wearing a pair of striped pajama pants and a loose blue robe. He had a cup of something, she assumed coffee, in his hand and the faintest trail of steam could be seen rising from the rim.
"Mornin Kaidan," Joker called, turning back to the control panels.
"What are you two up to?" He asked, trying to keep his voice nonchalant.
"I couldn't sleep." She leaned over and checked the time on Joker's consol. It was about five thirty. She wasn't going to be getting anymore sleep tonight. Not to mention the rest of the crew would be up soon. She should hit the showers before everyone else woke up.
"Couldn't handle all that space?" Kaidan joked as she stood and stretched.
"Bad dreams," Joker answered for her when she yawned.
"I should head back down," she said when she could. "You gonna be ok Joker?"
"Yeah, I'll sleep when I'm dead." She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'll sleep when we land. Mom," he added under his breath. She rolled her eyes at him headed out toward the CIC. A second later she felt, more than heard, Kaidan fall into step beside her.
"Bad dreams, Shepard?" He asked with forced lightness.
She smiled, not exactly sure why his concern made her stomach flip. "Yeah. A mix of the blitz and the vision from the beacon."
"Bad?"
"Bad."
"Anything I can do? Or that the crew can do, I mean."
She smiled again. "I think it's just because it's still fresh. I'm sure things will be better tomorrow."
He reached out and hesitated. It wasn't his place to comfort her, not physically. Or anyway actually. Still, his hand hovered over her shoulder for another second before he let it fall back at his side. He could walk with her, he realized. At the very least he could walk with her and talk with her if she would let him.
"You're up early," she stated, trying to fill the silence.
"Yeah I have hard time sleeping late on a ship."
"Why?" She asked.
"I think it's the lack of sunlight. I always feel like I'm gonna oversleep because it's so dark."
"Hm," she pondered, not really sure what to say to that.
She slowed as she reached the door for her quarters. Kaidan had followed her all the way over, moving past the crew quarters. They came to a stop and stared at each other for a moment. Shepard tried to keep her eyes anywhere but on his open shirt.
He was very fit. Most marines were fit of course, but he was so far beyond that. It was very distracting. She need to do or say something before her staring became obvious.
"Hey, I wanted to say thank you." She said at last.
"For what?"
"For being my friend, or trying to I guess," she faltered. This had all sounded so much better in her head.
"Friend?"
She couldn't tell if he was happy or sad about what she was saying. Suddenly this whole conversation was going down fast.
"You've been very kind to me, even though you don't know me, and you've acted like a real friend. I appreciate that."
"So you're saying you're glad we're friends?"
"Yes," she nodded, glad that her blathering wasn't distracting him from the point.
"In that case I am too," he agreed. "I should get to the showers before their taken. I'll see you at breakfast, Commander."
She smiled and nodded, turning to head back to her room.
Kaidan walked slowly back to his bunk and grabbed his shower gear without thinking. His body walked him into the men's bathroom and into one of the three shower stalls. He was on autopilot, his mind was actively engaged in thinking about Shepard.
Or how to keep from acting like an idiot in front of her.
He wanted to be her friend, at the very least.
Even though he had physically cringed when she'd called him that.
He would be her friend and help her with whatever they encountered on this mission. That was the safest play. Being a friend didn't violate any regulations and didn't jeopardize anything. He would be her friend.
Breakfast came and went and everyone was back to their duties. Shepard wandered around and checked with the rest of the crew. She was surprised to learn that there were so few people actually working on the ship. They had a crew of less than fifty now. Apparently after Anderson had stepped down their numbers had dropped to 49. Although she supposed with the addition of Wrex, Tali, and Garrus they were up to 52.
She was hoping she would be able to learn everyone's names. She always respected CO's who knew everyone by name.
After a while she returned to her quarters. She knew she had a mountain of paperwork she had to tackle.
And she was right.
She had over four hundred pages of forms and lists she had to go over and sign, just for the Council. Then another huge stack for C-Sec about being a Spectre operating on the Citadel. And then a larger stack for the Alliance. Apparently taking over a brand new, state of the art ship meant a huge amount of paperwork.
Lunch had come and gone by the time she'd finished.
She sent the last packet of forms off to the Alliance and stood. Her back creaked in protest as she stretched. She felt like she'd been sitting all day.
"Commander?" Joker's voice rang out through the ships intercom.
"Yeah?"
"Coming up on the relay. Do we have a destination yet?"
"I'm on my way up right now," she told him, moving to the door. "I'll check out the galaxy map and let you know."
Through her door and up to the CIC.
She walked up the ramp and opened the controls for the map. The spinning image of the Milky Way enlarged until it seemed to fill the room. She circled around slowly, taking in the sight of it. The way the holographic interface worked was you had to be standing on the same level as the platform to see the map. With the interface spaced out this way, captains got a much more comprehensive look at the systems they were in.
And it was cool.
They would come out of the relay in the Spartan system. There was a few habitable planets there and a few that were being mined for resources. Nothing here looked promising. But if she was studying Prothean ruins she could be anywhere.
"Joker do we have any leads on Prothean tech in this system?" She asked.
"Hold on, checking now. No nothing here, but the ships VI is picking up something in the next system over. In Knossos."
She slid the map over and enlarged the other system. There were five planets and two asteroid belts. One of them, Therum, she'd heard of before. There was something a few months back about ruins or maybe minerals being discovered there. She couldn't be sure which, but it was the best lead they had.
"Joker take us to Knossos, to Therum."
"Can do, Commander. ETA two hours."
"Let me know when we're on approach."
"Yes, ma'am."
Shepard closed the map and turned to find several crewmen watching her. Garrus was there too, watching her closely.
"Any luck?" He asked as though he hadn't heard her exchange with Joker.
"Hopefully in two hours we'll be having a conversation with Dr. T'Soni," she sighed a she headed back down to deck two. There was still paperwork calling her name, not to mention she needed to update her mission report.
Garrus fell into step beside her. "What if this Dr. T'Soni doesn't want to talk?"
Shepard pondered that for a moment. "Well the hope is she's willing to help us, or at least talk to us. We need information about her mother and Saren's plans. Information she might have."
"And if she's on their side?"
Shepard faltered on the last step. "If she knows anything and if she's not willing to talk," she emphasized, "then we'll have to employ alternate means of getting her help."
"Meaning?" He pressed. She'd made such a big deal about doing the right thing and ensuring people didn't get hurt; he wanted to know what lengths she was willing to go to.
"Garrus," she sighed frustrated as they walked onto the elevator. "I will talk to her and try to show her reason. If that fails, if she can't be reasoned with, then we'll take her into custody and hand her over to the authorities."
"Shepard," he started to protest. "As a Spectre you don't have to answer to anyone. We could bring her aboard and . . ."
"Garrus," she cut him off. "Why don't wait and see what the situation is like when we get there? Then we can decide the best course of action."
He looked like he wanted to say more, but he nodded instead. "That might be best."
She smiled, pleased to be able to avoid the conversation, even if only for a few hours. Garrus leaned forward and pushed the button on wall. The elevator started its slow decent into the cargo hold. Shepard realized, suddenly, that she hadn't meant to come down this far.
"Damn it," she sighed.
"What's wrong?" He asked, alarmed.
"I didn't mean to come down here," she explained with a laugh. "Now I have to ride this thing all the way back up."
Garrus chuckled. "We might be there by the time you get back up."
"Well then I'd have to come back down!" They shared a laugh as the elevator finally reached the bottom. The door slid open and he stepped out, still chuckling at Shepard's misfortune.
"Commander, Garrus," Ash greeted each of them as she stepped onto the elevator.
"Chief," Garrus nodded as he headed towards the Mako again. He looked at Shepard and gave her a nod, still chuckling lightly as he headed away.
She sighed and shook her head.
"So," Ash said once the door closed.
"So?" Shepard questioned, hearing how loaded the chief's words were.
"I heard a crazy rumor at breakfast," she smiled at the Commander knowingly. "About you and the LT, this morning, outside your room, somebody was shirtless I believe?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about Chief," she replied, looking at the celling of the elevator, wishing she could use her biotics to make it go faster.
"If you say so," she laughed. "Any idea what we're going to be walking into down there?" Her voice and manner changed instantly.
"I'm not sure," she replied honestly. "Best guess? Geth, and lots of them."
"Good," Ash replied, cracking her knuckles. She didn't say anymore, and she didn't need to. Shepard knew what killing the geth meant for her now.
Shepard checked the clock on her omnitool. "Assemble the team in the briefing room on one, I want to run down what we know before we touch down."
"Yes, ma'am," Ash replied with a salute. The door opened and second later and each woman went in their own direction. The Chief rushed and grabbed Kaidan, explaining the situation, together they headed back toward the elevator, getting ready to round up the rest of the team.
Shepard headed back to her cabin and grabbed the datapad she'd been using to record everything she knew about Saren, Benezia, the geth, and the Reapers. It wasn't much, but it made her feel better to have a definitive list of what they had.
A few minutes later the six were assembled in the briefing room on the first deck. The room had eight chairs in a simi circle against the wall. Shepard wasn't sure if they had done it on purpose or not, but they had segregated themselves; humans on one side, non-humans on the other.
"In less than an hour," the Commander started. "We'll be landing on the planet Therum. Before we do that I want to sit down and go over what we know about our enemy. I know we don't know much right now, but better to go in fully informed."
There was a general murmur of agreement around the room.
"Do we even know anything?" Wrex asked. "Of value I mean?"
"We know that Saren's crazy, and he's somehow controlling the geth," Garrus offered.
"Which should be impossible," Tali chimed in. "The geth are capable of rewriting their code if anyone or anything attempts to control them. We've been able to momentarily hack them with override codes. But it doesn't last."
"So does that mean the geth are willingly following Saren?" Kaidan asked.
"It's the only possible explanation," she assured them.
"So we're saying," Ash questioned, "that this Spectre somehow convinced the geth to follow him?"
"That's a terrifying assessment," Shepard contemplated out loud.
There was a long silence as no one knew what to say to such implications. They knew Saren was dangerous. But if he had convinced an entire army of geth to follow him, that made him beyond terrifying.
"So what do we do?" Kaidan asked after a long moment.
"The only thing we can," the Commander explained. "We keep our guard up, train, and make sure when we come face to face with that bastard, we're ready."
"Making our final approach," Joker said over his shoulder to Shepard. She'd finished briefing the team and had headed up to watch the approach of the planet.
"Alright, take us in," She turned and headed for the CIC.
"Uh, Commander?" Joker called after her.
"What is it?" She turned.
"I'm getting strange readings all over the potential dig site. I'm gonna have to drop you a few klicks away."
"Drop me?" She asked confused.
"Yea in the Mako," he explained. "I can't get a set reading on anything down there. There's no way for me to land."
"A drop in the Mako?" Shepard repeated, images of her last mission in a Mako flashed in her head.
"You ok Commander?"
"Yeah," she replied, her mind still elsewhere, "I'll get the team."
"The whole team?" He called again.
"Yes," she replied with a sigh. "Is that a problem?"
"Might get a little cramped it all," Joker muttered turning back to the console. "I'll let you know when we're approaching the drop site."
"Thank you, Joker," she called as she kept walking.
Down and into the elevator, and out into the cargo hold. Everyone was there, geared up and ready to go. She checked her own gear, including her lucky pistol, and loaded everyone into the Mako. She was surprised to see that they had extended the hold in this model. The version she'd trained in would only hold three people, and not comfortably.
She climbed in and headed for the driver's seat.
Garrus was already seated in the passenger seat, he flicked switches and pressed buttons as he initiated the startup sequence. She sat down and strapped herself in.
"Thirty seconds to drop, Commander," Joker's voice called through the comm.
"Everybody ready?" She called over her shoulder. Most everyone nodded, Wrex grunted, looking tightly contained in his restraints.
"Shepard," Garrus asked when she turned around. "I need to ask you a question before we drop."
"Shoot," she called over the sound of the cargo bay doors opening.
"Earlier, when you talked about lighting one of these things on fires, you were joking right?"
She laughed. Reaching over she patted him on the shoulder. "I'm sure these ones are much sturdier."
Looking shocked, he gripped the straps of his harness tighter as Shepard lifted the vehicle off the floor and, using the thrusters, flew it toward the open bay door. The controls were pretty much the same as what she had been trained on only now the reaction time was quicker.
That was good.
She didn't want history to repeat itself.
With the careful maneuvering, and a very accurate drop on Joker's part, the Mako touched down on the planet's surface.
The sky was blue, not the same shade as the sky on earth, but similar. The ground was a red brown and just ahead she could see a pool a magma. Checking the sensors she ascertained there was no heat advisory for the planet and the air was breathable.
There was a series of tubes that ran along the right side of a hill they were near. Hoping that following the pipes would lead her to the settlement, they set out.
"Commander, I'm picking up some strange readings," Joker said through the comm. "Really strange. Like off the damn charts. It looks like it's coming from and underground complex a few klicks away from the drop zone."
"What can you tell me about the complex?" She asked.
"It's a complex and it's underground." He replied sarcastically.
"Joker."
"Honestly Commander, that's all we've got. Whatever is giving off these readings it's throwing us some major interference."
"All right," she sighed, not liking the way the mission was shaping up already. "Keep the comms open and keep scanning the complex. If you learn anything else let us know."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Doesn't exactly bode well for the start of a mission," Wrex grunted from his seat.
"Well it can't be worse than our last mission," Kaidan joked.
"Let's hope," Shepard muttered. She steered the Mako around a large pool of magma and up a small hill.
The radar pinged.
"Commander," Garrus cautioned. "I've got something big coming in, just overhead."
"What is it?"
"Geth drop ship!" Tali shouted as her omnitool pinged.
A second later a large purple ship, closely resembling a huge flying cockroach, flew closely overhead. It hovered several yards ahead of them and dropped two objects, closely the size of the Mako, and took off over the next rise of the hill.
"What is that?" Garrus asked.
"It's an Armature," Tali informed them gravely. "They have plasma cannons and a minigun."
It looked like an odd four legged creature with the head of a geth. A second later it raised itself up and fired at them.
A white hot bolt of plasma came racing toward them.
"Hang on!" Shepard shouted as she banked the Mako hard to the left. It skimmed the right side and there was a large explosion. Smoke filled the Mako.
"Tali!" Shepard shouted over her shoulder as she brought them back around. "Get on that fire, see if you can put it out."
"Got it!" She called, bringing her tool up. She rushed over to the right side and set in on repairs.
"Ash, I need you on that gun," Shepard called, "Kaidan, Wrex, I need you two to use your biotics and put a barrier up around us. Garrus, get ready to use the thrusters when I say." Ash climbed up into the clear dome that housed the only gun on the Mako. She immediately opened fire on the geth.
Kaidan and Wrex each took side and started to project their barriers outside the hull. A few seconds later Tali got the fire under control and managed to clear the smoke. Shepard could see on the console between her and Garrus that Tali was repairing the ship, and quickly.
She swung them back around and started charging the Armatures head on.
"Shepard?" Garrus asked nervously.
"Just hold on," she cautioned.
They got closer.
Ash continued to fire on them, the geth before them went down, not before firing off another shot.
"Shepard," Garrus said again, his hand hovering over the controls for the thrusters.
"Not yet," she warned.
"Shepard!" He shouted. The bolt was directly in front of them.
"NOW!" She shouted.
Garrus hit the thrusters and the Mako jumped up and glided over the bolt. They hit the ground roughly and bounced. Tali was thrown into Kaidan and both toppled to the floor. It was like the geth could suddenly sense the left side was weaker.
It fired on them before the thrusters had chance to recharge. Shepard didn't have a chance to turn the Mako to the still shielded side in time. The bolt hit them, square on Shepard's side. The consoles on her left exploded, throwing sharp, hot shrapnel at her.
Most glanced off her armor, some found the chinks and others found her face. The Commander cried out in pain but managed to keep both hands on the wheel.
"Shepard!" Kaidan called out, back on his feet.
"I'm fine," she lied, wiping the blood from her face before it could reach her eye. "Get back on that barrier."
Kaidan looked like he might argue for a moment. Nodding he turned back to the left side and got the barrier going again. Another shot rang out and the last geth went down.
"Good shooting Ash," Shepard called weakly over her shoulder. She wasn't bleeding a lot, but she was definitely bleeding.
"Shepard," Garrus said, making a strange face. She couldn't say exactly what face he was making since turians had such strange faces to begin with. "We need to stop for a minute."
"I'm fine," she told him.
"Not for that," he knew how proud she was and he knew that she wouldn't stop for her own sake. "The Mako is damaged and Tali and I can't repair it while it's in motion."
She grumbled something he couldn't hear, then she slowly pulled them over and rested the Mako in a large alcove along the wall of the cliff. She powered it down and all but collapsed against the wheel.
"Tali," Garrus called, "Give me a hand?"
"Of course," she replied, opening the hatch. Garrus could see the worried look on Kaidan's face. The best thing he could do was to move and let the man tend to Shepard. He didn't know enough to take care of what was wrong with her. He stood and quickly moved out to help Tali.
Wrex, seeing an opportunity to get out of the cramped vehicle, followed the others out. He wasn't tech savvy but if any other geth were around, he could be useful.
Kaidan stepped up and took Garrus empty seat.
"Shepard?" He asked tentatively.
"I'm fine," she lied sitting up.
"Let me help," he insisted.
"Kaidan . . ." she started.
"Jennifer," he countered.
She glared at him. She hated her name and didn't much care to hear him use it while they were on a mission. She was his commanding officer, he needed to treat her deference while they were on duty. Still, she was bleeding and couldn't tend to the wound herself. She needed help.
"Fine," she relented. With a slight smile Kaidan reached out and pulled her from the chair. He laid her on the bench seat along the still intact right side. He reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a container of medigel. He pulled a glob if it out and applied it to the biggest gash on her forehead.
He put one hand behind her head, and used the other to massage the gel in. At once the gel stopped the bleeding and began to seal the wound. Taking a bit more he rubbed it over the smaller cuts along her cheek and neck.
"I need to uh . . ." he glanced down at her chest. She was bleeding below the collar of her armor, he would have to loosen her armor to get to them. He might even have to remove some of it. His face flushed red at the thought.
Trying not to smile, she reached up and undid the top latch of her armor. With a shaking hand, Kaidan pulled her collar away from her neck and applied the rest of the medigel.
Ash climbed back up into the gun, thinking she could at least keep watch while the Lt and Commander had a "moment." She spun around, looking for anything, any sign of movement. She had killed the other geth and was looking forward to killing more.
"This may be beyond my powers of calibration," Garrus commented as he took in the damage.
"Yours, but not mine," Tali said with smile. She lowered herself down on the ground and carefully slid under the Mako. The damage here was the worst, she needed proper tools and some salvage parts. But she had some omnigel and that would help, for now. They would need to do a bit of maintenance when they got back to the Normandy, but the patch job would get them through this mission.
"Pass me the omnigel," she called to Garrus.
A second later his hand appeared with a container of gel. She took it and set to work. The gel seemed to adhere better than she would have hoped. Apparently military grade omnigel didn't fool around.
A few moments later she was done. The gel was spreading out and holding everything in place. All the lines had been reconnected and so long as they didn't take any more heavy fire directed at this side, they would be fine.
"All done," she said, popping up. "We just need to be careful with this side until we can get it back to the Normandy."
"Heh, a Tonka wouldn't have taken damage so easily," Wrex chuckled. "Let's get this show on the road already." He walked up and climbed back into the Mako.
"There," Kaidan said, his voice shaking slightly. "That should keep until Chakwas can take a look at you." He fastened the collar of her armor again and took a wobbly step back. The door opened and Wrex came back in, followed by Garrus and Tali.
"The Mako is as good as it's gonna get right now," Tali informed the crew. "We should get moving."
"Sounds good to me," Shepard agreed, getting to her feet. The medigel was working and she felt better already. Better and a bit . . . bouncy maybe? She wasn't sure. She was sure that she was ready to get back to the mission.
"Are you sure you're ready ma'am?" Ash asked with as much respect as she could muster.
"Yeah, I'm great. Strap in and lets do this."
An uneasy look passed between the crew as Shepard turned for the controls. Knowing better than to ask, they all returned to their stations as the Mako started forward again.
