SSV Einstein, March 14, 2170
Orbiting Mindoir
A loud hit was heard as the punching bag in front of her flew forward.
The lowest deck on the Mindoir was big, gray walls, well lit, somewhat empty besides the crew lockers.
John's current trip to Mindoir had given Jane far more time to do what she usually did in her free time: work out.
Even though she was still 11 and usually kept it to a minimum, there were still times she pushed herself a little too much.
She hit it again launching it forward more than the last one.
This was no exception. She had been exercising for the past few hours with few breaks in between and the poor punching bag in front of her looked more dead than John had after Tali had left the Einstein.
They knew each other for only 5 hours, why did he care so much about that?
She punched it again with all her force.
Jane couldn't help but try to find the reason why John had felt so sad after Tali left. After all, John had many friends both on Mindoir and other ships. But anytime he left them or they left he didn't care as much as he had just days prior. So why?
Her thoughts were broken as she lost focus as the punching bag had grown a conscience and stroke back slamming her hard enough to throw her backwards before plummeting to the ground.
Behind her, she could hear a snicker. Looking back she saw her mother there amused at the sudden failure and how she had been bested by an already beaten opponent.
"Yeah yeah, laugh it up mom" Jane said rolling her eyes.
"Oh please. Had that been John or me you would be doing the same" Hannah said between short snickers.
Jane let out a groan but even Hannah could her mutter 'Touché' from so far away.
"Besides, just take the hit as a signal that maybe you should take a break?" Hannah said as she walked over to Jane "You've been done here for some time, just go get a rest Jane."
Jane wanted to come up with any excuse for her to not have to go but she knew better than to argue with her mother. Not that she was the kind to pull out the 'usual parent bullshit excuses' card against her or John in an argument but she was too smart when it came to discussions.
She stood up and began walking over to her mother "Fine. You win. But only because I'm tired!"
Hannah let out a laugh and she led Jane over to the elevator. Pressing the button for the crew deck the elevator began ascending. Quite slowly.
"Always been impressed at how Alliance ships are already so advanced but they can't spend just a few bucks on making faster elevators..." Hannah pouted.
Jane chuckled at her mother's irritation towards the elevators. They stood in silence waiting for the elevator doors to open, but before they could all power was suddenly cut and the elevator was suddenly stopped launching both girls forward. Hannah managed to quickly grab Jane even in the pitch-black elevator stopping her from hitting the side of the elevator.
As Jane regained her ground she heard her mother quickly turn on her communicator "What just happened?" She asked with both anger and worry.
There was no answer.
"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" Hannah tried asking but with the same result as before.
Jane became worried. While she was no stranger to blackouts on ships, she knew the radios operated on separate systems so people could still communicate as her mother had told her. Whatever had just happened was probably not good.
Apparently her mother had the same concern as her breathing slightly but noticeably quickened, having never been placed in this situation before.
Jane finally gained the courage to talk "Mom, what's happening?"
Even though she could barely see the silhouette of her mom, she could still make out how she looked at her with what she believed was a worried face.
Hannah composed herself to answer her question but still letting some worry slip into her voice "I don't know Jane." Hannah kneeled in front of her and tried to find her shoulders, once they found them she spoke again "Listen, we're going to be okay. It's probably a problem with some form of device on the ship. I'm sure it'll just be a slight blackout and the power will be back sometime so-"
Before Hannah finished the power indeed returned to the ship and the elevator began moving in its slow, steady ascent. "See? Nothing to worry about!" Hannah chuckled and tried lightening the mood "You know? I think we should put this on John! He's already caused a blackout before. But if he can do it from Mindoir now and turn off our radios we might have the next Einstein on our hands."
Jane slightly laughed, finding how bad she was at humor than the joke itself.
Once the doors to the elevator finally opened, they both made their way towards the XO quarters passing by crew on the lunch tables frantically talking, while some did not care in the slightest still eating before they could go to sleep.
Finally reaching the quarters both girls made their way inside and Jane launched herself on the bed, already trying to forget what had just happened and indeed going over the chances that John had indeed done this.
"Okay. I'm going to stay up for a while and figure out what happened. I'm sure it was nothing to worry about but better safe than sorry as I always say." Jane looked over at Hannah still standing at the door and nodded.
Hannah made her way out of the quarters leaving Jane alone in the bed there. Being so tired, Jane quickly began drifting to sleep as her eyes narrowed and her tiredness overtook her.
Migrant Fleet
Liveship Rayya
"You know very well this is a waste of time!" A quarian yelled at the other people in the room with him. "No one in their right mind would ever so much as care about an Alliance with us, much less these humans! They are all completely egotistical!"
"Rael. You weren't there when Nila went on the human vessel. Keelah, even Tali, YOUR daughter was there but you weren't. But you think you have the right to judge them like that?" The quarian to his right asked
"Please Shala, just look at their record! They don't care about anyone but themselves!"
"How unlike anyone I know." Shala said while crossing her arms glaring at Rael.
"What are you insinuating?"
"I am not insinuating it Rael, I am saying it. You have barely even been with your own family! Nila has already started to think of you more as a stranger than her saera! You hide behind work and come up with excuses to-"
"Enough!" The quarian on the other side of them had shouted "Raan, you know Rael is right. We know nothing of humans and from what everyone says they are arrogant and selfish."
"Thank you Gerrel, at least someone sees reason." Rael said.
Raan crossed her arms and let out a bitter laugh "Ah. The other species? You mean the ones that call us beggars and thieves? Keelah, you two always say how it's unfair how they treat us but you act just like them!"
Both of the quarians knew that she had a point there, but Rael refused to budge "Even still, we don't know how they may act with us! When it comes to it they will pick their own species over helping us if we ever need help."
"Keelah, you are insufferable. We would do the same! We barely know humans and you come up with excuses against this Alliance because what? Are you afraid we will come off as weak? Or is it just that you still hold true to that dumb ideal that we are alone in this galaxy?"
"Raan is right on that. While I may not agree with her at times this could be quite beneficial to us if it works out." The final quarian in the room said. "If this works out we could very well have more supplies and we wouldn't be so close to extinction as we are now."
"Thanks, Koris"
"Oh great, another stalemate. Where even is Admiral Nomel?" Rael asked.
"Busy again, almost like you usually are Rael..." Raan said.
Gerrel raised his arms in a surrender position "We aren't here so you two can discuss Rael's family life."
Raan sighed "Yes. That is true. Sorry but the way this bosh'tet would rather have us throw away what could be our best chance at helping our species is very infuriating."
Just then, a knock was heard on the door making them all look at it "Ah, that must be Nomel." Rael said walking over to the door "Hopefully he will be able to decide this once and for a-" As the door slid open he realized that the quarian in front of him was not Nomel, but a regular soldier. "Nevermind then, what is the reason for this interruption?" He asked as he looked at the quarian.
The quarian assumed a formal stance and immediately "Admiral Zorah. We just received a communication from the cruiser we were dispatched to, the... Ensten? Eyestein?"
"Einstein?"
"Yes! That's the one. Well, the news is not good."
"What is it then?"
"They have just sent a communication on several frequencies, but it is a bad one. Here." The quarian pulled up his Omni-Tool and tinkered with it trying to find the transmission. Once he found it he played it with static interrupting the start until a panicked voice was heard.
"This is the SSV Einstein! We are under attack!"
SSV Einstein
Jane was awoken by a sudden shake which had thrown her off the bed and onto the floor. As much as she wanted to be mad by the fact that she had hit the floor twice in one day she was far too worried about whatever had happened to so much as care.
As she got up she heard the door open behind her and in came her mother. But she was frightened and very anxious if her face was of any indication.
"Jane! We have to get you somewhere safe! Come on!" Her mother's words were quick and through heavy breaths as she had been running. Not one to question the danger, Jane quickly ran towards the door and headed towards the elevator.
Before she could get close to the elevator though, another shake occurred followed by the sound of an explosion throwing her forwards again only not hitting the ground as Hannah caught her.
"What's happening mom?" Jane asked worried. There was no answer from Hannah, only fear in her eyes.
Before they could start moving again, gunfire was heard from one of the hallways and some loud yells from some of the crew.
Whatever was happening it was clear to Jane that they were under attack. But how? The Einstein was heavily defended and no ship could get past them without the scanners picking them up.
Then it hit her how they got close. The blackout. Whatever it did, it must have interfered with the scanners. Whoever was attacking them had planned for this.
She felt her mother pull her to the left towards the dining table and make her drop down below it. She could hear her mother tell her to wait there as she grabbed her side pistol and take cover against one of the walls.
The screams of the crew had stopped and all that could be heard was the ship's alarm blaring and what sounded like some form of gibberish coming from someone.
Was it the quarians who did this? They had been there only a few days ago and they were now being conveniently attacked by what she could assume was also aliens.
She couldn't finish her concerns that the quarians could have had something to do with this as she heard another yell in whatever language they were speaking followed by gunfire again, this time from her mother.
She could only watch as her side pistol did nothing with the attackers and her mother's shields were being hit causing her to take cover and allow the enemy to advance. This was it wasn't it? Whoever this was, was here in number, and they weren't just going to back down so easily.
No. This would not be how they were going to go out. She had to think of something and fast. And that's when she realized that there were still some crew lockers close to her. Crew lockers with guns and grenades.
Granted, she knew it was a terrible idea to use a gun when she didn't know how to use one, and using grenades inside a spaceship was just as bad of an idea. But John and Tali's idea to get to the engineering deck before had also been a terrible one and it still worked.
Using her small size to her advantage, she made her way to the lockers avoiding the gunfire on top of her. The lockers had been left open in the rush of the crew to arm themselves against this intruder which gave her easy access to the only pistol there and only three grenades. Hope this is enough.
She quickly grabbed the equipment and made her way back to her mother who was still fighting, but losing. "Mom! Maybe you can use this!" Jane extended her hand with one of the grenades to give it to her.
Hannah hesitated to grab it, but at this point it was their only option. She grabbed and primed the grenade, throwing it towards the enemy as she heard frightened cries as they realized what was going to happen. Hannah grabbed Jane and quickly pulled her close in a hug as the explosion went off.
The grenade had been way too loud and too close as both of them had their ears ringing.
Hannah pushed past the fact that now she couldn't hear, she grabbed Jane and dragged her towards the medical bay instead of the elevator. Quickly entering, Hannah grabbed supplies from the med bay with the doctor nowhere to be found. As Hannah sat down she quickly grabbed some bandages and pulled out her Omni-Tool to apply some medi-gel
Jane went to see what she was doing and what she saw made her want to throw up. Her mother had a small but noticeable hole on her torso. A sticky red liquid oozed out of it and ran down to her pelvis.
As Hannah applied the gel, she hissed at the cold feeling of it on her skin. She then grabbed some bandages and applied it to her wound.
Once she finished, she shot up and grabbed Jane again and began running towards the back of the med bay. "Wait, what about the elevator?" Jane asked
Hannah responded by quickly finding a release and pushing it causing a section of the ceiling to open and a ladder to drop down "The elevator is too dangerous, couple that with how we just threw a grenade close to it and it's a death trap."
Jane followed Hannah up the ladder and into the ducts making their way to the top level. In the silence only interrupted by the sounds of their movement she couldn't help but think about her brother. He was still on Mindoir and it was well defended, but so was the Einstein. What if they were there in force too? She wanted to shake the thought of her brother suffering down there but barely could.
Once they finally made it out of the ducts, they ended up in the armory where Hannah grabbed some armor and helmets knowing very well that the life support could at any point go out as the Einstein was bombarded.
Making their way out of the armory they came upon another group of aliens standing over several dead bodies. The sight made Jane sick but she had to push past it, she still had two grenades and a heavy pistol she didn't know how to use but still held in case of an emergency.
Hannah quickly dove out of cover and barrage the aliens with gunfire from her assault rifle killing all of them before they could turn around.
As both of them walked over towards the bridge, Jane risked a glance down at the aliens. Four eyes, pointed teeth and brown skin, these aliens could pass for humans if I wasn't for their differences but it clearly wasn't quarians, she had read about these, slavers and raiders who had it out for humanity. Batarians.
Hannah tried opening the door to the bridge but it was locked. There was the chance there were people still in there. But before she could open the door with her credentials, she came under fire from her left side. The Batarians had come in through the docking cradle and were still coming out from their ship.
Hannah took cover against a wall and returned fire, shooting a few of them between their eyes and leaving some of them gagging as the rounds hit their throats.
Jane came up with an idea. It would put them in extreme danger but they were wearing the necessary suits to survive. Being in cover and closer to the docking cradle, she pulled out a grenade and tried finding out how to activate it.
Hannah realized what Jane was trying to do and ran towards her as Jane finally found out how to use it and threw it at the Batarians.
Jane felt as her mother grabbed her and saw her run away from the explosion and grab onto a metal bar that was attached to the wall.
As the grenade exploded, all air was quickly pulled into space and gravity disappeared making them float, with the only sound being the breathing inside their helmets. They saw as the ship created several security barriers to protect uncompromised areas and once more made their way to the bridge.
The docking cradle was gone and in its stead was a hole staring deep into space and the Batarian ship outside.
As Hannah pulled out her identification, the door cycled open and inside were several humans. All of them were scared and in the front was Hannah's best friend Lieutenant Zabaleta. They both got in and Hannah removed her helmet which was met with everyone letting their weapons drop.
"Hannah! Holy shit I thought you were dead!" Zabaleta said as he glanced at Jane "Shit, at least Jane is safe too. We've tried to get a message out to the Alliance but something is blocking our comms." He said as he pointed over towards the communication console.
Hannah walked over to it and tried seeing if there was a way to fix it. Luckily, because John was such a tech wiz and he never shut up about it, she had indeed learned a bit about technology, at least enough to create a temporary fix to the communications.
"I can maybe fix it for a bit, but I can't guarantee the signal will be picked up by anyone. I need all of you to cover me as I do this, I'm sure they will come back." Everyone saluted and Zabaleta quickly grabbed Jane and put her in a safe position where the crossfire wouldn't harm her.
As Hannah worked on the console, the Batarians began coming out of the ship once again. The entire crew readied their weapons and as Batarians poured into the bridge they opened fire on them.
It was a massacre. While some of the crew managed to get into cover and still fought the Batarians, they were still heavily outnumbered but not willing to relent.
The fighting continued for a while with both sides taking heavy casualties, and meanwhile Jane could only watch.
She knew she could use a grenade to quickly kill them, but only her and her mother had suits, using one would only mean that everyone else would die from being exposed to space and it probably wouldn't matter either way as they still had an entire ship full of waiting Batarians next to them.
As the Batarian troops fell from the human resistance, one of them managed to slip through and get into cover unbeknownst to everyone else.
The Batarian had Hannah in his sights, one shot at her and it would all be over. Jane instead pulled out the heavy pistol and tried aiming it at the Batarian now ready to fire at Hannah.
Her hands shook as she held the heavy gun and aimed straight at its head. She began squeezing the trigger trying to keep it as steady as she could.
As Hannah worked on the console, she heard a Batarian growl from her right, looking over to it aiming at her the Batarian suddenly had its brains blown away. She tried to see whoever had just shot the Batarian, but what she saw shocked her even more than the Batarian had. Jane was now lying on the ground with the gun on her hand and covering a large cut on her face.
The recoil of the gun as Jane fired had been too much, even for her strength she still wasn't close to being as strong as an adult. As the round was discharged from the gun, it bounced back and the side hit her square in her face. Thankfully her strength did indeed help by reducing the amount of recoil and not killing her when the gun bounced back.
"Jane!" Her mother yelled.
Jane looked over at her and signaled her to continue with her console.
Hannah worked faster than she did before and finally found a temporary fix for it. She quickly opened all channels she could and yelled out "This is the SSV Einstein! We are under attack! Repeat! We are under attack! We are transmitting our coordinates, any Alliance ships that can hear this, please assist! The enemy has been confirmed as Batarians! We have no communication with the colony of Mindoir, please assist!" The message was quickly sent out across hundreds of channels and the console shut down.
Hannah quickly pulled out her weapons and fired back at the Batarians as she made her way to Jane who had take cover behind a fallen tile. Once next to Jane, Hannah rubbed some medi-gel on Jane's face causing her to hiss as it made contact.
Once she finished patching up Jane, Hannah concentrated on returning fire on the aliens and the fighting continued for what must have been almost 20 minutes.
The firefight ended with the humans being victorious against the aliens but having suffered heavy losses and being very tired. They knew that this wasn't the end, but if there was another firefight, there was no way they would survive.
They took inventory as they reloaded their heat sinks, medi-gel was low and so were their ammo.
Most of them tried resting for as long as they could before what would inevitably be the next firefight.
"You alright?" Hannah asked to Jane.
"Not at all. My face hurts a lot." Jane said smiling.
"Nice shot though..."
"Thanks mom..."
Almost 15 minutes passed of pure silence and neither one of the ship's doing anything. But it was broken as more Batarians came out of their ship.
Jane hugged her mother as she knew what this meant. Even if help arrived they would be dead before it did anything. She was scared, this was a fight they were going to lose, and there would be nothing they could do.
"I'm scared..." Jane said, tears had swelled up in her eyes and Hannah hugged Jane back.
"I know, don't worry, I'm here with you. And as long as I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you..." Hannah began rubbing her back which calmed her daughter down.
"I love you mom." Jane said.
"I love you too Jane."
Hannah saw as the Batarians readied themselves to come out of their ship. She had already accepted her fate, but damn her if she was going to allow her child to die like this. No, she would fight and try her best to make sure Jane came out alive no matter what.
The aliens began pouring out of the ship and floated towards the Einstein.
But something happened before they could get far from their ship. The Batarian ship exploded in a huge fireball that shook the Einstein.
Hannah got up to see what had happened, leaving a similarly confused Jane behind and she looked all around to see what had just happened.
She expected that perhaps the Alliance did indeed have a ship with them, that maybe the colonists on Mindoir were successful in repelling the Batarians and were now chasing them.
What she didn't expect, was that they hadn't been saved by any humans. They had been saved by the quarians. The Heavy Fleet had arrived to assist the Einstein.
Migrant Fleet
30 Minutes Earlier
"You want to what?!" Gerrel shouted.
"Help them Gerrel." Shala said
"Why should we?! There is no reason for us to help a species who wouldn't even do the same for us!" Gerrel shouted to which Shala scoffed This arrogant bosh'tet...
"Tell me Gerrel, did you read that too? Or did you hear it? Like all the species only hear or read about us?"
"I... I um..." Gerrel stuttered trying to figure out what to say.
"You know." Koris interjected "If we do help them we could gain their favor. If you truly are so worried about them being like that, then why not gain their favor by helping them?"
Shala sighed as she was done with them only caring about politics instead of actually helping for good reason. Oh ancestors help me, I really want to space these idiots.
Gerrel contemplated what Koris had said. Indeed if they helped they could gain the humans favor, if they didn't nobody would care regardless but this could indeed be good for them, even if he himself rejected the Alliance idea, he could see how this could help if it did come to pass.
Gerrel sighed as he made his mind "Very well, I'll send a part of the Fleet to help the humans."
With that, Gerrel began leaving the room, followed shortly by Koris leaving only Shala and Rael in there.
"Is it true Raan?" Rael asked.
Shala quickly looked over at Rael and titled her head "Is what true?"
Rael looked to the side not able to look Raan in her eyes "Does Nila barely even consider me her saera now?" He asked with a sorrowful tone, clearly not wanting to hear the answer.
Shala sighed and looked down "I'm sorry Rael, but I won't lie to you. She can barely even acknowledge you anymore... And Tali..." Raan stopped talking, not able to even speak the words.
"What about Tali?" Rael asked scared of what the answer would be.
"She... she barely even considers you her father..." Raan said, disgusted by the answer.
Rael couldn't speak, all he could do is look down disappointed in himself. Where had he gone so wrong? How had he failed this badly at being not only Nila's saera, but also Tali's father?
His thoughts were so distracting he didn't hear Shala apologize and leave the room, leaving him alone in the room, only able to think about how he had failed his family.
Raan walked through the corridors of the Rayya, weaving her way through the many quarians that inhabited these halls. She made her way towards her shuttle which would soon leave for the Tonbay.
Reaching it she tried stepping inside, but was stopped as she was tapped three times in her shoulder. Looking behind her she smiled as she saw the quarian that had appeared out of nowhere.
"Nila. Is everything alright?" Raan asked.
"Yes. Well except that I saw Gerrel walking through here not long ago and he looked in a rush." Raan tensed as Nila said that "I was wondering if you knew why? It's surprisingly unusual for him to be like that."
Raan was debating internally whether or not to tell her about the attack. From how Nila had spoken of the humans on that ship it was clear she took a liking to them. So if she told her the last thing she needed was her panicking.
"Oh, it's nothing. Everything is fine." Raan was known for usually talking with such a normal voice even when lying. But Nila had spent long enough to know her 'tells' like her sudden shoulder movement, quickened breathing, and twitching eye.
"Oh yes you do." Nila said crossing her arms "What happened?" Could she hide this by saying this was something only the Admirals could know? No, Nila was too smart for that. When part of the Heavy Fleet began moving away from the Fleet she would figure it out rather quickly. Better to just tell her now I guess Raan thought.
Raan pulled up her omni-tool and quickly hovered over the transmission having second thoughts. Eventually though she relented and played it.
Immediately Nila's eyes went wide and her posture became tense as she heard Hannah yell for assistance. She had taken a liking towards the human, and despite not knowing much about her children, she had also taken a bit of liking to them after their little 'mission' on the ship. And now, not even a week after leaving they were being attacked.
Nila felt Raan grab her shoulders and give them a squeeze "Gerrel was coordinating the Heavy Fleet to send assistance to them. They'll be fine, I promise."
Nila's posture visibly relaxed at the knowledge that they could still be saved. But what would she tell Tali? She would undoubtedly figure it out eventually. While Nila took a liking to Hannah for treating her as an equal, Tali had taken a liking to the human boy. If he was on the ship then what were the chances of him being alive? And if he was still on the planet then at least he was safe.
"Look, I have to leave for the Tonbay. If you want I will tell you some more once they are safe. Just... don't tell Tali. I don't think she'll be able to handle it." Raan said, Nila thought about it but decided she was right and nodded at her. Raan stepped onto the shuttle and Nila watched as it departed from the Rayya and began walking back to her quarters. Tali would most definitely find out eventually, but for the time being, it was best to stay quiet.
SSV Einstein
What was supposed to be a fight they would not win had just ended with their victory in just a few seconds. Everyone looked in shock as the quarians destroyed the batarian ship with so much firepower that it wasn't even a fight.
Soon after the batarian ship had gone out in a fireball, they saw one of the ship's go on the side of the nearly devastated Einstein. Without the ability to dock with them due to the damage, quarian EVA teams were sent through space onto the damaged carrier. Once on Hannah ordered the crew to hold fire and not do anything stupid.
Once the quarians were outside the bridge, Hannah could tell some of them were wide-eyed at the sight of the massacre on the bridge. She made her way towards them and holstered her weapon indicating she wasn't a threat which the quarians responded to by lowering theirs.
"Keelah, what happened here?" The red veiled leader asked.
"Exactly what it looks like. It was a massacre. We were taken by surprise, I'm just glad you showed up when you did. I don't think we would have lasted long." Hannah said.
Looking behind her, the quarian saw what was just barely over 15 survivors out of the 357 that once walked on the ship "Is this all that's left?" He asked.
"Yeah. We just barely held on. Tell me. Do you have any way to contact Mindoir?" She asked
"Your colony? No, I'm sorry." The quarian said saddened by it.
"That's okay. So... is there any way that you could get us down there?"
"Perhaps. We could lend you a shuttle to go down there."
"Thank you... ummm what's your name?" Hannah asked scratching the top of her head.
The quarian straightened up "I am squad leader Del'Syra vas Linya. I believe you are Captain Shepard correct?"
"Yes" Hannah responded and muttered "But it's still Commander" The Einstein shook as the power fluctuated, having been straining ever since the attack begun.
Hannah looked back and saw that no one but herself and Jane -Wherever she was- had suits for space "Shit. Look we need suits to go into space, they should be in the bottom deck. I can guide you there." Del nodded and Hannah put up their helmet telling everyone what they were going to do.
Before she could pass the gravity barrier she was grabbed from behind by a small hand stopping her. She looked behind and saw Jane looking at her "Mom, can't I go too?"
Hannah and the quarians looked back at the voice and their eyes went wide at the sight of the child. Hannah shook her head instead "No Jane. This is too dangerous for you to do. You need to stay here."
"It was also dangerous to walk through those halls and use the grenades but that didn't stop us! Please! I just want to help. If it means this can go faster and I can see John again then please..."
Hannah knew Jane had a point. All things considered this was probably safer than when they were going through the ship to the bridge. And at least this way she could keep her safe in case anything happened.
Hannah groaned "Fine. But you stay right next to me, the whole time. No ifs or buts." Jane nodded and put on her helmet before grabbing Hannah's hand and walking out of the bridge into what could now be considered space.
The elevator was out of service and taking the ducts was probably not going to work either. Instead with the help of their quarian friends, they managed to cut through the hull as power began running on the backup systems.
Jane watched as dozens of guards and crew members she once knew floated aimlessly in the halls dead. Catching accidental glances at them she could see how they had been murdered. Some of them still had their eyes open with most of them either having a bullet between their eyes, or they were peppered with them on their chests leaving several holes.
They reached the lowest deck and quickly began to get the suits out of the lockers. Once some of them had them they began floating back to the bridge, wasting no time as the backup systems quickly ran out.
Hannah attempted to open of the lockers open to no avail. However, Jane found a sharp metal piece that she carefully grabbed and stuck it in, forcefully prying it open and releasing the suit inside.
Once they had grabbed all of the suits, they began floating back to the bridge as Jane took in the sights above her of Mindoir.
However, just as she gazed at the planet, the ship shook again and threw a chair at her mother with high speeds launching her off into the direction of space.
Jane acted quickly by grabbing a long loose wire and grabbing her mom's arm. The speed at which she took off was staggering but the cable stopped them abruptly nearly causing both of them to hit each other.
Both were now floating in space without anything to hold on to except the wire. Hannah grabbed it with her free hand and both quickly made their way back to the ship.
However, just halfway through, Hannah suddenly stopped. Jane got in front of her and tried asking what was wrong to no avail.
Instead Hannah's eyes widened as her screen flashed red indicating a puncture in the oxygen tube of her suit. It was quickly dropping and instead of explaining she grabbed Jane and began moving much faster towards the ship and subsequently the bridge. The amount of oxygen in the suit quickly dropped from Hannah's heavy breaths, rapid movement, and large gash on the tube.
100%, 75%, 50%,
Time was quickly running out as the suit ran out of oxygen, but just as she thought she would be too late, she felt a sudden heavy push as she looked behind her and saw Del helping her.
With Del's help, Hannah made it to the pressurized bridge with very little oxygen left. Whatever they were going to do next none of them knew. The helmet was a no go as she refused anyone's offers to give them their helmets to the point where she pulled rank for it.
They tried to formulate a plan to get her onto the quarian vessel outside the Einstein. All of the helmets were attached and power was too close to being cut. Even if someone tried to give up their helmet, they wouldn't get it on her on time, and they would be losing two people instead of one.
Instead, they decided that the only choice to help her then would be to book it out of the Einstein and onto the quarian ship. Del sent out quarian teams with the humans alongside them to ready the airlock and get her a pressurized helmet.
Quarians could easily get sick, and if someone exhaled on the ship it would be contaminated, and that was the last thing any of them wanted.
Immediately, many groups of people went out floating towards the ship with Jane saying behind, unwilling to leave her mother there.
"Jane, you have to go." Hannah said.
"No! I am not leaving you here!" Jane wanted to hit her mom for even making that sort of remark.
"Jane please. This is not something I will want you to see. I don't want you to worry about me when we are in space. You could get hurt if you do." Hannah said grabbing the side of Jane's helmet.
"Please-" Jane tried to argue with her as tears swelled up in her eyes.
"Hey kid?" Jane looked up to see Del "Don't worry. I'll keep your mother safe and get her onto the ship before she gets hurt okay?" He said as he grabbed Jane's arm.
Jane finally relented and went towards the final group leaving the ship, looking back towards her mom before entering space once again and making her way through debris towards the other ship.
The voyage there wasn't easy. The flying debris were fast and sharp. One wrong move and she could get her suit punctured. But she made it to the airlock as it cycled open for the group she was with and she went in.
After the decontamination procedure ended, she quickly made her way to one of the windows to see the Einstein still intact but heavily damaged.
She overheard as one of the marines gave Del the go ahead and as another quarian stood in front of the airlock with a breather to give to Hannah once she got in.
The second they both made it out of the ship, they began quickly getting to the ship as Hannah's movements became erratic and frenzied. Del was trying to quickly make it there with Hannah in his arm who had by then passed out from the exposure.
But before they could make it, a section of the ship was torn off by another explosion and launched directly at them.
Some of the marines were quick to give Del signals about the danger as he got closer to the ship, but by the time he turned around it was almost too late.
There was no way that he could get Hannah and himself over to the ship before they were hit by the debris.
But what Jane saw was disheartening. Del had given her a look through the window and nodded. He threw Hannah's still unconscious body towards the ship and was then hit by the debris launching the quarian towards space to die a death that no one should have.
Jane heard as some of the quarians quickly opened the airlock from the inside, trying to get to Hannah before she died as well.
Nearly a minute passed after they had tried retrieving Hannah before the airlock cycled open once more and two quarians came in carrying her.
By Jane's count, her mother spent around 46 seconds exposed to the vacuum of space. She would be unconscious for just a while longer but she was definitely not going to be fine for a few days.
Jane made her way to her mother as the quarians sat her down and just before she got to her, she had woke up startled.
She immediately tried to figure out her surrounding, completely dazed and probably delirious, at least until she felt hands wrap around her calming her down as she looked to see a sobbing Jane on her chest.
"I- I thought... you were going to... to die..." Jane said between sobs.
Hannah wrapped her arms around Jane and began rubbing her back to calm her down "It's okay. I'm okay." She looked around her and realized that Del was nowhere to be seen "Where's Del?" She asked concerned for the quarian that had saved her.
Jane could barely speak, much less talk about the quarian that had not only saved her mother, but also died in front of her in such an unfair way.
"Jane?" Hannah asked.
Jane looked down and did her best to answer her question "He..." she paused for a few seconds "He was hit by... by debris..." Jane stopped at that, her mother could figure it out herself now.
"He's dead?" Hannah asked with wide eyes as Jane nodded.
"Oh" was all she could muster at the shock of not only her body but the revelation as well.
They stayed in the embrace for some time as some of the quarians did their best to help the crew injured in the firefight. After what felt like an eternity, the embrace was broken as another quarian entered the hallway they were in to which the marines stood at attention.
Hannah could see him look over at the new arrivals and turn to one of his marines ash she could barely hear him ask about Del only to get the answer that shook him but not as much as others had been.
The quarian began walking over to Hannah "Are you Captain Shepard?"
I hate being called that "Yeah, you are?" Hannah asked.
"I am Captain Himel'Jullt vas Linya." The quarian responded.
"Oh. You're the captain of this ship then?" Hannah asked as she stood up.
"Correct. May I ask if you know who the attackers were?" The captain asked.
"Yeah. They were Batarians" She said with venom in her voice "We were attacked while most of us slept and this is all that survived." She said as she pointed back to the surviving crew.
"I understand. We have also had our problems with Batarians. Looks like they now have it out for you, I apologize for that."
"You have no reason to apologize. We were probably too greedy with our colonies and this is just them taking revenge." Hannah's eyes widened "Oh shit! The colony! We have to get down to Mindoir!"
"May I ask why?"
"We don't know if they are in trouble as well. For all we know the Batarians attacked us to keep us from defending them. And also..."
"John is down there!" Jane suddenly joined the conversation startling both of them.
The captain looked at Jane and then at Hannah "John?"
Hannah looked down "He's my son, and her brother." Hannah pointed at Jane "We sent him to Mindoir a few days ago and if Batarians attacked the colony..." Hannah's teeth gritted at the thought "He doesn't know how to defend himself... if he dies... I can't lose him too..." Hannah's eyes became watery as the thought of losing John entered her mind.
The quarian captain looked at her with a worried look. He knew that Gerrel had only ordered him here to help the ship. And now they could return to the Fleet and say bye bye to the humans. But damn him if he wasn't going to spare a mother from the misery that would be losing her son. If Gerrel doesn't like it then he can go and meet the ancestors...
The captain grabbed Hannah's shoulder giving it a reaffirming squeeze "We will get you to your colony. If the Batarians are there as well, then I promise you will have our support in the coming fight. We'll find your son or ancestors help me no Batarians will leave there alive."
Hannah couldn't even begin to think of a single God to thank that the quarians she had met at this point had all been so nice. She nodded and they began walking towards the crews the news of what they were about to do.
It was time to head to Mindoir.
