Chapter Seven Part Two: Kidnapping and Its Friends

"Hackett has pinpointed Shepard's location. He is sending the coordinates to your omni-tools now," Joker announced to the people in the comm. room. The pilot's voice forced everyone out of their silence.

The entire crew's omni-tools flared to life, coordinates awaiting them. Harsh, orange glow assaulted Liara's eyes as she read through Hackett's message.

Shepard was being held on a cruiser capable of housing up to one hundred and fifty crew members. The ship was orbiting a small planet called Iris; Iris had a small trading colony on its surface. "All right people we need a plan and quickly! Any ideas?" Navigator Pressley asked, eyeing the room.

"I say we take a shuttle to their docking bay, and fight our way to Shepard!" Wrex roared, his reptilian eyes sparking with fire.

"No!...No, we can't do that, if they knew we were trying to rescue Shepard they would kill him, and then swarm us. We're good, but not kill one hundred and fifty Batarian good," Liara argued. She didn't know a lot about military strategy, but she knew Wrex's plan was suicidal. "We have to be stealthy. The Batarians can't know that we're there for Shepard."

Most nodded heads in agreement. "There's a trading colony below the Batarian ship. We could use that as our cover. Maybe pose as traders?" Ashley Williams said in her confident, unwavering voice.

"What happens when we get Shepard? The moment we grab him, they'll be on us," Garrus said, his eyes shifting.

"The Normandy is capable of going in and out of stealth mode. If we could place her on the other side of the planet and go out of stealth long enough for the Batarians to notice, then BOOM! The Batarians are at their battle stations and a couple lowly trade people will never be noticed," Tali said, her voice rising with excitement. "...What? Shepard has taught me some tactics." Liara was preparing to feel jealous.

"Any other ideas?" Presley asked.

Silence.

"No one else?" He said. "Now's the time people." Still silence. Discomfort started to cloak on the group like a thick blanket. Presley sighed. "I guess we'll go with Tali's plan... Who wants to be on the ground team?"

All hands shot up. "Ashley, Garrus, Liara, and Wrex will go in. Find some civilian clothes and be ready in thirty minutes. We will arrive at the ship in forty minutes," Presley said.

…

Everyone was able to find civilian clothes save Wrex, because Krogans didn't have civilian clothes and the only other option would have been to wear Turian clothes, which would have been a belly shirt on the massive Krogan. "Alright people, remember you are traders and the idea of shooting or…," Presley glanced at Liara,"… turning them into soup is not something traders think about." The whole team nodded, although their faces were deeply disappointed. "We're going to let you out in a shuttle here," Presley pointed to a place on a holographic map, "The shuttle is quick so you'll get to the Batarian ship in about fifteen minutes, when you arrive tell them that it's for trading and they'll let you in. Good luck out there."

The seventeen minute shuttle trip was the perfect amount of time to create every possible scenario of Shepard's death. Liara experienced Colt's dying breath three hundred thirty four times before they had finally arrived.

Only a gravelly voice over the shuttle's communicator interrupted her thought process, "State your business."

"One of your crewmembers requested a trading party from the colony of Iris. Well, here we are," Ashley spoke back, her voice lacking its usual bite.

"Alright, Docking Bay 3 is where you're gonna wanna go," the graveled voice said back.

When they landed at the dock, securities were low. In fact, only seven Batarians greeted them when they landed. After thoroughly inspecting them, the party was allowed to go. A Batarian spoke up as they started to leave,"Why is the Krogan in armor? Expecting a fight?"

"Have you ever seen a Krogan not wearing armor?" Wrex muttered back.

"No I haven't...Thank the gods," the Batarian said back, his challenging expression fading. "Let em' through," he spoke into his omni-tool. He turned back to them, "I'll lead you to the trading rooms."

"Fine, but I need to tell the colony that we made it," Liara told the Batarian. She opened up her omni-tool. "Trading Party 488 is on board, I repeat Trading Party 488 is on board."

"Iris colony reads you Trading Party 488," Joker's voice answered back.

Liara turned back to the Batarian,"Take us to the trading rooms." He nodded and turned to lead them. Liara wasn't paying attention as much as she should've during the briefing, but she gathered that the ship was biggish with at least three decks.

"You are not to leave the trading floor. Do you understand?" The rescue party was in the midst of nodding their heads when sirens started blaring.

"All crew members report to your battle stations. We have an unidentified ship ten thousand klicks starboard," another equally nasty voice said over the ship's intercom.

"The trading room is the fourth door on your right down this hallway," the Batarian pointed down a hallway before scurrying away.

"I'll lead the way...Let's get out of this with minimal fighting," Garrus told them. He turned and started walking up a staircase.

The staircase was completely empty. A couple Batarians were running around the third deck. Nothing they couldn't take. The group started heading towards Shepard's room, and were pleasantly surprised to find that the Batarians were completely ignoring them. No doubt they saw the odd group of civilians walking around, but not one stopped them or said a word. The Normandy must have been an intimidating sight. Unfortunately, the Batarians weren't stupid enough to not post guards outside of Shepard's room.

Liara rarely did anything without thoroughly overthinking it. Poisonous thoughts that would still her stride and stop her from approaching the nasty looking guards outside Shepard's prison started to creep in her mind. Instead of acting on them, however, she trudged towards the guards with deadly intent. She asked, "Where are the trading rooms?"

"They're on floor one, marked pretty clearly...but you can stay with us and trade, sweetheart," the Batarian guard grinned and stepped towards Liara. She also stepped closer and reached out her hand. Just before she had almost touched his face, she slammed her hand into the front of his mouth and shoved him through the slightly ajar door. He fell on his back into the room, and tried to get up. Liara was quicker, snapping his neck in an instant with the aide of biotics. Garrus had snapped the neck of the other Batarian.

Three Batarians were in the room, and before they could react Liara had sent a warp at two of them, effectively turning them into a stain. Liara turned to the other Batarian but Wrex had just sent a warp at him, he too became an afterthought. Shepard was in the middle of the room, still tied to a chair and shirtless.

Liara ran over to him. The first thing she noticed was the blood. There was a lot of it...too much. His whole face was smeered with crimson. His abdomen had trails streaking down it. The second was his unconscious state. "Wrex, Shepard is unconscious; you're going to have to carry him!" Liara yelled to the Krogan, who turned and ran over to Shepard. He easily broke Shepard's bonds and threw him over his shoulder. Garrus and Ashley were at the door, ready for anyone who entered.

"We have to leave, NOW!" Ashley yelled. Heavy footfalls that thundered close to their room made it clear that waves of Batarians were down the hallway. They must've been searching every room. "We go when I say so. We have to wait until they're in one of the rooms to move," Ashley told the group. A few seconds later she motioned her hand and everyone flew out of the room, gunning for the stairs. They could hear shouting behind them, and Liara realized that they had just entered the room Shepard was being held. She willed her legs to go faster. The Batarians would quickly realize where the intruders had gone.

Sure enough, right when they reached the second floor, Batarians burst into the staircase, chasing after them. The Batarians remained behind them, gaining no ground. Eventually, they reached the first floor and sprinted for their shuttle. On the flat surface the Batarians had begun to gain and Liara knew they wouldn't reach the shuttle. She kept running despite that knowledge. Then a hundred feet from the shuttle she turned around.

Ashley noticed the asari's abrupt stop and yelled for her to keep running, but Liara ignored her. Liara was gathering all the strength she had left into her biotics. Blue swirls danced along her body, and just when the Batarians reached her she unleashed her biotics, sending the front Batarians flying and the ones behind got knocked down. She turned, and somehow made herself get to the shuttle. She pulled her body into it and there she collapsed, utterly exhausted from her biotic effort. The last thing she saw was Shepard before she fell into unconsciousness.

…

Author's Note: Chapter Seven exists because when I first played the game I thought the Batarian's retaliation against Shepard for the Skyllian Blitz was a little weak. I thought a couple bombs are fun to diffuse, but why not turn it into a kidnapping?

On a different note the VGAs didn't give Mass Effect one award, one award! Personally the Mass Effect series is one of the best I've ever played, and I think it should've won game of the year and game of the decade. I was extremely disappointed.

I would also like to apologize for the wait. I rewrote this chapter three times because the first two times just weren't right. I hope you enjoyed it though.

-Wolfstar888