The Never Ending Galaxy
"ETA 2 hours, Commander." Joker's voice broke through the passion filled fog between her and Kaidan.
"Mmmm already?" He asked as he rolled off her and stared at the ceiling.
She sat up, a half smile on her lips as she took in his form on her bed. The sheet casually draped over his waist but doing nothing to hide the state of his body. The half smile turned into a full smile as he reached up a hand and lightly cupped her cheek.
"You know I could get used to this..." He drawled as his fingers wove their way to the back of her head, gently pulling her down to place his lips against hers.
She pulled back suddenly and stared intently at him, looking at his dark eyes which swirled unreadable down to his lips where a small smile laid. He quirked his brow at her and tugged her back down, deepening the kiss while his free hand worked its way up her thigh.
She wrapped her hand around his wrist stopping him from reaching his destination while pulling back once again. Eyes dark with desire and a small groan.
"I would love too...but I still have to make my rounds and see who I'm taking ground side." She groaned out while closing her eyes briefly on seeing him pout.
"And if you're quick enough, they won't see you coming out of my room..." She continued as she began to tug the sheet off him.
He let out a soft rumbling laugh and shook his head.
"I'm pretty sure they already know where I spent the night. You weren't exactly..how to say this...quiet last night." He said smirking and sitting up and stretching.
She leaned back slightly, crossing one arm across her chest and her other hand covering her mouth as she hid a grin.
"Like what you see, Commander?" He teased as he noticed her eyeing him.
She shook her head and quickly grabbed their clothes they had somehow managed to scatter all over the room. Giving him his, she quickly got dressed and ran a brush through her longish hair, pulling it into a ponytail.
"C'mon we gotta suit up." She said as she gestured towards the door.
"Alright gimme a minute." He said as he quickly got dressed and followed her out the door.
She looked around the room and only saw Garrus who was assembling a sniper rifle on the bench. She made her way towards him and studied the rifle on the bench.
"Is that the sniper rifle I got you?" She asked him as she leaned against the bench.
"Yeah, just adding some mods to it before we get to Ilos." He said while studying her face, noting the content look on her face and slight blush staining her cheeks. He then turned his attention to Kaidan who had exited her room, looking tousled than his usual clean cut look. He bit the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from commenting and instead refocused his attention to the sniper rifle on the bench. Ignoring the blush that intensified on Emily's face.
"So have you decided who you're taking with you?" He asked instead, his voice cool and measured.
She bit her lip and rubbed the back of her neck. A thoughtful look on her face.
"Obviously you, and probably Liara...but its not a field trip. I really have no idea what to expect when we get there. Why? You scared Vakarian?" She teased as she looked up at him.
"Scared? No. Just figured I'd ask so I can get the rest of my gear ready." He nodded as he snapped the scope in place.
"Uh-huh." She continued in a teasing voice.
"Anyway I'll catch you later big guy. We're two hours out, so make sure you're ready." She said as she made her way towards the mess hall.
His grip on the sniper rifle tightened as he watched her walk away from him. A strange feeling growing in his chest. He shook his head ruefully and ran the cloth over the rifle before turning around to see Liara standing behind him with a sad look on her face.
"Never thought I'd see the day a turian falls in love." She said softly as she took a step closer to him.
"Love is for humans and asari. Not turians." He defended vehemently.
"Keep telling yourself that, turian." Wrex said from behind Liara.
"Whatever, I don't need to hear any of this." He said angrily as he walked away.
Liara and Wrex shared a look of mutual understanding. They both had noticed the way Garrus would act around Emily, and would seem to back off when Kaidan was around her as well.
"He's a big boy. He'll be fine." Wrex said to Liara as he escorted her to the mess hall.
Emily nursed her cup of coffee as she looked at the datapad in her hand.
"We're about to hit the Mu Relay, Commander." Joker's voice broke into her thoughts.
"Be there in a second." She said as she placed the cup on the table and quickly made her way to the cockpit. She leaned against the back of Joker's chair to watch as the blue light of the relay light up and surround the ship. Popping out through the other side they encountered hundreds of geth ships flying between them and Ilos.
"Uh... Commander? We've got company." Joker said as they leaned towards the window.
"Have their sensors picked us up yet?" Liara asked nervously.
"Stealth systems are engaged. Unless we get close enough for a visual, they won't have any idea we're here." Joker said quietly.
"Picking up some strange readings from the planet's surface." Navigator Pressly said while looking at some charts.
"Take us down, Joker. Lock in on the coordinates." Emily ordered from behind Joker.
"Negative on that, Commander. The nearest landing zone's two klicks away." Navigator Pressly said as he shook his head.
"We'll never make it in time on foot. Get us something closer." Kaidan ordered from behind Emily.
There is nowhere closer! I've looked!" Pressly growled out.
"Drop us in the Mako." Emily said.
"Anyone ever tell you that you're insane?" Garrus drawled out.
"You can always stay on the ship, Vakarian." Emily said softly narrowing her eyes at him.
"And miss all the fun? I don't think so." He challenged.
"Hate to interrupt the chest pounding." Pressly commented dryly.
"You need at least a hundred meters of open terrain to pull off a drop like that. The most I can find near Saren is twenty." He said pointing to a chart.
"Twenty meters? No way we can make a drop in there." Kaidan said in shock.
"We have to try!" Liara said angrily.
"Find another landing zone!" Kaidan demanded.
"There IS no other landing zone!" Pressly retorted angrily.
"The descent angle's too steep!" Tali commented.
"It's our only option! Liara pointed out.
"It's not an option! It's a suicide run! We don't-" Kaidan growled out.
"I can do it." Joker said quietly interrupting Kaidan's tirade.
"You heard the man. Joker can do it. Garrus, Liara gear up and head down to the Mako. And Joker? Drop us right on top of that bastard." Emily said with a dark gleam in her eyes.
She moved back and took a few steps to head to her locker as Kaidan's hand clamped tightly on her arm.
"You seriously think it's going to work?" He said softly.
She turned cold eyes on him and pulled her arm free.
"If it works or not, I'm not going to sit here and watch him get away with it. I will end it and I will end it now." She said coldly, her brown eyes flickering blue with her biotics.
"Okay. Just...just come back in one piece." He said softly as he brushed his fingers along her jaw.
She nodded mutely and quickly geared up.
"HANG ON!" Emily said as the Mako free falled to the ground, almost landing right on top of Saren and a company of geth. Only for a door to close before they could get through.
"Fuck. Let's see if there is another way in." Emily growled out as her fist slammed into the Mako's console causing it to spark slightly.
"Damn it Emily, try not to break the Mako from inside." Garrus growled out as he waved his omni-tool over the console.
"Bite me" She growled out, again her fist making another dive to the console.
Garrus quickly intercepted her fist and held it, and waited till her eyes met his, he gave her a smirk, his mandibles twitched in mirth.
"Is that a pick up line Emily?" He teased.
She shook her head and pulled her hand out of his grasp and opened the door.
"C'mon." She said softly.
They explored the areas around them, killing geth as they encountered them. She moved quickly through them and charged, detonated and warped them with her biotics. Garrus sniped and gunned down the ones Emily missed and Liara struggled to keep up.
"She's angry." Liara said softly to Garrus.
"We all are. Ashley's death hit her pretty hard." Garrus responded as he watched Emily lean against a wall, a protein bar in her hand as she bit chunks off it and swallowed it with water.
"You have strong feelings for her, don't you?" Liara asked Garrus.
"Yes, but it doesn't matter, she's human. I'm turian. She's with Kaidan and thats the way it should be." He said softly as he tore his eyes off Emily and turned his attention to Liara.
"And don't YOU also have feelings for her?" He pointed out.
"I see the way you look at her too." He continued as he watched Liara blush.
"She's been a good friend to me. Nothing more, nothing less." She answered serenely.
He snorted as he watched Emily crumple the wrapper and stash it in her kit.
"Think she's ready to move on now. Hopefully we find that console soon." Liara said as she placed a hand on Garrus' shoulder.
Emily nodded at them and reached for her shotgun, gesturing with it towards the set of stairs they came cross.
"I see a console, lets take a quick look at it. Liara can you understand what's written here?" She asked as her fingers traced the sides.
"No, not all of it, some of the letters yes but not the whole of it." Liara commented as she looked at it.
"Why? Can you?" Liara asked Emily.
"Yes" She said absentmindedly as she began to type some of the letters.
"There I think the gate is open now. Let's head back to the Mako." She said softly.
The trip back was quicker since they've already cleared the way of geth. Liara looked around and started taking pictures with her omni-tool.
"I really don't think this is the time for that, Liara." Garrus pointed out.
"It's fine we're almost to the Mako and look, the gate is open." Emily pointed forward.
"So who votes we take the Mako into the creepy tunnel?" Garrus drawled out.
"I do I do!' Liara said as she bounced on her heels.
Emily spared them both a grin as her mind swirled in anger.
"I wonder what those pods are..." Liara asked quietly.
"They look like stasis pods." Emily said softly.
"Deactivated stasis pods." She continued.
"What's happening?" Liara asked as they came up to a barrier.
"I don't know, but we better find out." Emily said as she made her way towards a door and found another console blinking at them. Activating it showed a shadowed form of a Prothean AI named Vigil.
"You are not Prothean. But you are not machine, either. This eventually was one of the many that was anticipated. This is why we sent our warning through the beacons." Vigil intoned.
"Look's like some kind of VI program. Pretty badly damaged." Garrus said while he looked it up and down.
"I do not sense the taint of indoctrination upon any of you. Unlike the other that passed recently. Perhaps there is still hope." It had said.
"This is incredible. An actual Prothean VI, and I can understand it!" Liara exclaimed, excitement lacing her voice.
"I have been monitoring your communications since you arrived at this facility. I have translated my output into a format you will comprehend." Vigil stated.
"You are safe here, for the moment. But that is likely to change. Soon, nowhere will be safe." he continued.
"Why did you bring me here?" Emily asked it
"You must break a cycle that has continued for millions of years. But to stop it you must understand or you will make the same mistakes we did. The Citadel is the heart of your civilization and the seat of government. As it was with us, and as it has been with every civilization that came before us. But the Citadel is a trap. The station is actually an enormous mass relay. One that links to dark space, the empty void beyond the galaxy's horizon. When the Citadel relay is activated, the Reapers will pour through. And all you know will be destroyed."
"And with the Council 'defending' the Citadel, they're basically right in the middle of a gigantic trap." Garrus commented.
"And with them gone, we're pretty much fucked." Emily retorted.
"Not if we stop them." Liara pointed out.
"But how?" Emily asked the VI.
"The Conduit is the key. It connects the relay here with the one in the Citadel. And Saren is already on his way through it." Vigil intoned.
"Well, that means we have to get through the Conduit before he closes it. Let's go." Emily said.
"Thank you Vigil."
"May you have better luck than we did." It said to their retreating backs.
"From the data I gathered from Vigil, the Conduit is at the end of the tunnels. So lets go, make sure you hang on tightly because this will be a fast and extremely bumpy ride." Emily said as she ran for the Mako.
Pushing the gas, they drove quickly, opting for running over the geth instead of shooting. Seeing the bright light from the mini relay ahead of them going faster and faster as the lights grew brighter.
The Mako shot through the light, flew into the air for a few hundred yards before making its quick descent to the ground. Only to land upside down.