Chapter 12: The Problem With Space
"So… how did you like our little vacation?" Colt asked Liara. The couple was curled up together on his bed. They had returned to the Normandy a day ago from their Thessia vacation.
"It was lovely, Colt. Especially taking photos," she replied, while leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. They were both on their backs with their hands and fingers locked together. Liara's smooth thumb was going in lazy circles over his calloused hand.
He turned his head sideways and looked her over, "You don't seem like someone who would like their picture being taken."
"Are you calling me ugly, Commander?" Liara's eyebrows raised at him. Holy shit balls. This was like Code Red in the levels of what not to say. His foot was so far down his throat that it was an actual possibility it might come out of his ass.
"Of course not, Liara! I didn't-that did not come out right. Let me start again. You're just shy and stuff. You know, like camera-shy," Shepard could feel his cheeks burning up. Seconds felt like hours as he waited for her reply.
"I'm kidding...Buuuut I think you're going to have to buy me back with a kiss, so I definitely know that I'm not ugly," she said. Colt happily obliged by turning on his side and kissing her cheek. A sly, content smile etched across her features. A sudden urge to be nearer made him pull her closer. He nestled her under his chin and threw his arm over her shoulder. Her warm breathe against his neck and chest sent shivers down his spine. Liara's arm snaked around his waist.
It was a good place to be.
After a few moments of just enjoying it, he said, "I think I need to go buy a new heart after that scare-,"
"Unidentified vessel located eighty clicks away. Protective clothing recommended," the ship's VI interrupted. Shepard took a moment to gather his thoughts before he scrambled out of bed. He needed to get his armor on and then activate the distress signal. After that he would have to keep their offensive and defensive countermeasures running smoothly. He pulled Liara up sharply and shouted, "Liara, go to the armory and get your breather on! Quickly!" He stayed long enough to make sure she understood before he headed out for his first objective.
...
Liara started towards the armory when the Normandy's alarms started going off. Previously unnoticed lightbulbs flashed red and wailed their songs of danger. The VI alerted, "Unidentified ship sixty seven clicks from this vessel. All personnel need to have protective clothing on. All personnel head to battle stations."
Liara broke into an all out blind sprint for the armory as the sirens seemed to increase in noise. Fellow crew mates were also doing the same, in fact three rather brutal looking collisions took place. She didn't stop to help.
Panic prickled her mind. It suggested taking a course that involved losing all control. Instead of giving in, however, Liara willed herself to maintain her right mind.
The entire armory was engulfed in chaos when she entered. Everyone was trying to get their protective gear on quickly using shaky hands and foggy minds. Her previous repressed feelings of panic bubbled up with everyone else's rising tide of terror. The stench of fear hung in the air and allowed bile to rise in her throat. Every part of her begged to give in the dread that was running loose through the ranks. Her mind was no longer keen on keeping a level head. But her months in combat had taught her something about remaining calm, so she clung to the strained tether of rationality. It was a loose hold, but it was something.
She changed into her suit in record breaking times before she turned all of her attention on the Shepard Search. The emergency voice once again boomed across the ship, "Warning, Warning: Unidentified ship is approaching on an intercept trajectory. All personnel must have on breather suits."
Determination to find the Spectre flowed through every vein in her body. She flew from the armory blindly before her brain reminded her to pick a destination. He would most likely be preparing a distress beacon, so she headed for its location by the Med-Bay.
"Enemy projectile launched. Prepare for impact," the VI's calm voice said. The entire ship rocked violently to one side, throwing the asari into the metal wall. The preprogrammed voice came over the intercom again, "Hostile ship detected. All cre-." The voice was cut off by the ship rocking to its side again and the screech of metal being ripped away from itself. "Warning, Warning: Multiple hull breaches, kinetic barriers are down, and weapons are offline."
Liara raced fate to Colt's position.
Crew members streamed past her with wide, bright, fear filled eyes. The need to escape was feral in nature, causing everyone to do rather than think. Liara ran into someone, causing both to fly backwards. The asari jumped back to her feet and was off again on the Colt Hunt. She had no idea if the other person ever got up.
Joker's evasive maneuvers tossed Liara into walls and very nearly into the ground. It was a good thing that she was wearing armor.
Liara paid little attention to her surroundings until Ashley caught her by the arm. "Joker won't get out of the cockpit. Where's Shepard? I need to tell him!"
"Don't worry, I'll tell him, just get to an escape pod!" Liara yelled. Ashley nodded and ran off again, calling to crew members to follow.
She kept running and did her absolute best to ignore the screams of her fellow crew mates as they burned to death or died in an explosion. On one occasion she saw someone engulfed in flames screech at the top of their lungs and collapse to the floor. Parts of the a Mess Hall carpeting were hard to stay balanced on as they were slick with liquids. It was unclear if the source was blood or something else.
Liara found Colt exactly where she thought he would be, prepping a distress beacon for the Normandy.
"Shepard, we have to go!" Liara pulled on her breather helmet and watched in relief as he did the same. Like a bolt of lightening, what Ashley said flashed through her mind,"Joker won't leave the cockpit!"
"The beacon is ready for launch. Liara, get to an escape pod!" He yelled. An explosion to her right knocked Liara off balance but he caught her. "You need to get the crew to escape pods, I'll get Joker!" He started to charge away.
"Shepard, I'm not leaving you!" She screamed after him. Liara had decided long ago that she wouldn't leave him for anything.
"You have to go! Don't worry about me, the Alliance will come and get all the escape pods eventually. I'll hall Joker's ass out of here, but I can't be useful if I know that you're not safe. Go!" Colt pleaded.
"Shepard!" She couldn't say anything else.
"You have to get out here Liara, you have to go now!" Liara knew that tone of voice and didn't argue. She ran back towards the escape pods.
…
Shepard launched the distress beacon, and went as fast as he could to the cockpit. His whole ship was in ruins. Cables hung everywhere, electricity sparked, and fires raged wildly. He didn't see anybody dead, thank God, but he did walk over soggy carpeting that was coated with crimson. He trotted up the stairs and wondered what would be beyond the doors.
The Normandy was so utterly destroyed that he could see the stars and the glow of a nearby planet. A huge, gaping hole was in the roof of his ship. Maybe he would've thought the view was nice if they weren't getting the shit blown out of them.
Walking in zero gravity was a slow process and the vacuum of space allowed him only to hear his own elevated breathing. A long, tedious, scary stroll through his obliterated ship eventually led him to the cockpit. The outline of Joker showed his hands flying around on a console. "Joker, we have to go!" Shepard was glancing around hoping that the ship wouldn't do another attack.
"No, the Normandy is still salvageable," Joker yelled back, still staring at his screen.
"The Normandy is dead, Joker. It would be stupid of us to join her. Come on, we can still get to an escape pod," Shepard didn't wait for an answer as he grabbed Joker's arm and yanked him out of his chair.
"Geez Commander, take it easy," Joker was now wobbling towards the escape pod with Shepard in tow.
"I don't have time to be gentle! Hurry!" Shepard was tempted to pick Joker up, but refrained from doing so, his reasoning being Vrolick's Syndrome.
The escape pod was just a few feet from the cockpit and in a few agonizing seconds they were there. Shepard shoved Joker in, and started pulling himself in when an explosion behind him pulled him backwards out of the pod. Terrifying seconds ticked by as he twisted violently through space. His hands darted out to try and grab anything that would prevent him from being stranded. The Commander's left hand collided with what felt like metal, so he grabbed it with all his might. The lack of gravity made holding on a difficult task.
The enemy ship's laser-like weapon started another attack that left the cockpit torn in half. Its destructive path wouldn't stop there. Any longer and it would rip through Joker's escape pod. The button to launch the pod was right next to Colt. The decision was easy.
He looked at Joker, sent out a silent prayer, and then slammed his hand into the button. The pod's doors sealed completely and then propelled away at blinding speeds.
Space leeched in from every direction. He looked around peacefully for a minute, watching the bits of his ruined ship handle zero gravity. He even took a moment to think about his floating.
An explosion behind him ripped the metal out of grasp entirely. Its sheer force sent him backwards easily. His body crashed into something hard before he careened to the left. There was nothing nearby to hold onto, so he accepted space's cold embrace.
He hit his head pretty hard in the explosion, but aside from that Shepard was no worse for wear. If the Alliance arrived soon then he would be rescued before entering the nearby planet's atmosphere. How perfec-,"Warning: Your oxygen levels are depleting quickly. Recommend checking your oxygen hose." Shit.
…
Liara was worried about Colt. Not too worried however, he was very capable in situations such as this. She was on an escape pod with Doctor Chakwas and a few other crew members she didn't remember the names of. They sat in silence and stared at anything but each other until Doctor Chakwas' omni-tool pinged and came to life.
"What's happening, doc?" One of Liara's crew mates said.
"I programmed it to take biological readings for each of the ground team. Someone must be hurt if it went off," she said. Everyone in the small pod looked at Liara.
Before anyone could say anything a voice sounded from Chakwas' omni-tool, "Commander Colt Shepard's vitals are dropping, recommend immediate medical attention."
Doctor Chakwas' brows furrowed together as she pressed a few buttons on her omni-tool. "Commander, it's Doctor Chakwas, can you hear me?"
A few heavy breaths later and Shepard replied,"I read you doc…I'm not doing too well." No one said a word.
"My oxygen hose is," a few labored breaths, "ruptured." Liara felt numb. This wasn't something that was allowed to happen. Commander Shepard didn't die. He emerged with a broken arm and a concussion, but he certainly didn't die. Death wasn't lucky enough to get someone like him.
"Damn...it's gettin hard...breathe," he rasped. The asari couldn't agree more.
"Shepard, listen to me…," Chakwas said sternly back to him before she was cut off.
"No, just tell me something nice, don't let me die in silence," Shepard replied, his breathing getting heavier.
He was fine. They were nestled into each other an hour ago. Nope. This didn't happen to heroes. This didn't happen to Colt.
"Liara is here Commander," Chakwas kept her voice steady despite the tears now free falling.
"Liara?" Movement could be heard on Shepard's end. "God…hope…I suffocate before… enter atmo."
Chakwas' omni-tool started talking again, "Commander Colt Shepard's vitals are reaching critical levels. Immediate medical attention is required."
Liara spoke up, "Please don't leave." She didn't sound like herself.
"So…sorry," Shepard's gasped.
His breather suit could be heard in the background,"Oxygen levels at one percent. Return to hospitable conditions." Shepard's breathes were shallow and slowing down. "Oxygen levels now at zero percent."
No response indicated that Shepard was probably unconscious by now. Doctor Chakwas's omni-tool went off once more, "Commander Colt Shepard needs immediate medical attention. Oxygen depletion will cause permanent brain damage if not treated in three minutes."
Chakwas looked up from her omni-tool towards Liara, "If-if I could t..turn the pod around... I would trade anything to be a-able to go back."
Shepard hyper-ventilated for a couple of minutes and then…nothing. "Commander Colt Shepard requires emergency restart of the heart."
Liara's future was as cold and dead as Commander Shepard.