Tanks, transports, and soldiers moved not in unison but in a broken-up formation and advanced on the Citadel. They moved towards the beam with speed, that was the target and this was the final push. No one waited around as they just pushed forward with little to no care what the plan was outside of 'get to the Citadel'. Jane, Garrus, and Liara were some of the front runners. Much like the rest they had little care for a formation. The goal was in sight and after all, they have been thought they were not going to let that goal slip from them.
Jane stood at the highest point of the crater and turned to look at the others still coming. She thrust her avenger in the air and yelled.
"FORWARD! TO VICTORY OR DEATH!"
A roar of people followed her down the slope and the speed picked up. This did or die. The area around the Citadel was just a crater with no cover protecting anyone. They didn't stop, they didn't wait, they just charged. A Reaper landed nearby and began to fire at them all. A beam cut past Shepard before exploding and destroying a mako. The tank flipped over her head and landed behind her. Dazed and disoriented she stood and looked at Liara who was now cut up and bloody. Shepard moved over to her lover quickly and held her in her hands. Garrus, also battered and beaten joined her by helping the Asari to cover
"Li," Jane said in a soft voice. "Don't leave me please,"
"'chough' I'm not going anywhere," the Shadow broker declared defiantly making Jane smile as she helped her lover up with Garrus as the Normandy came in close.
Grunting she and Garrus carried Miranda over to the Normandy as the ramp lowered and people began to flock to the ship to escape. A wounded James came up to meet the three and got Liara.
"Get to a safe distance, keep her safe," she ordered.
"Jane," Liara moaned but any objections were silenced as the commander kissed her.
"I'll be back," she said backing up. "I love you,"
"I am yours," Liara declared.
The Normandy's ramp closed and the ship took off, leaving the fate of Commander Shepard to herself.
OOOOO 30 years later.
"Red 30," the banker declared, which was followed by cheers and cries of disappointment.
"Come to me," a young human male said as he brought the credit chits towards him.
"Say, that's a lot of cash," a sultry voice said.
He turned to see a blue-skinned asari dressed in a red and black dress walk up to him. She lacked the face paint of other asari but had everything else that humans loved about the asari.
"Hey beautiful," he said with a smile as he brought the asari closer. "Like what you see?"
"Indeed, I do, names Arana," as she spoke, he gazed into her deep green eyes.
"I'm Alexi, care to blow?" he asked his chips.
Arana smiled and blew before he placed the chips down and the roulette spun. Cries of despair sounded and Alexi smiled as he pulled his new chips towards him. He wrapped his arm around Arana's waist which she held tight.
"Say, we don't we do somewhere more comfortable," she asked gaining a smile from him.
"Sounds like fun," he smiled as he leaned in and the two kissed.
Nearby a purple-skinned asari smiled as Arana and Alexi left. "Mission is a go," she muttered.
OOOOO
Alexi led Arana into a clean well-decorated room with wooden furniture and finishing. Light from the ward flowed in as well as a sight of the nebula where the station hung. Alexi moved over to a drinks cabinet and took out two glasses.
"How about some good old-fashioned vodka," he smiled and Arana smiled walked up to him and pressed her chest onto his back.
"Sounds good," she replied in a surly voice.
As he pulled a bottle, she placed a pill into both glasses. He then popped a bottle open and poured some into both glasses.
"After we had this, we can have some fun," she said as she picked up a glass.
Alexi smiled and picked up his own. They raised their glasses to each other and drank. A moment later he fell to the ground asleep, while she stood and finished her drink.
"Ahh, that was good," she muttered placing the glass on the table. "Always be aware of the women you keep company,"
She walked over to the door and unlocked it. Three asari dressed in bodysuits entered the room carrying duffle bags.
"You look good in that dress," the leader, Trivo, said.
"Buzz off," Arana said as she pulled off the dress to reveal a bodysuit of her own and grabbed one of the bags. "We have to move fast,"
The group moved over to the middle of the living room and pulled up a carpet. Niica, the technical expert then began to use a cutting torch to pull up some of the panels to get at the circuit boards. She reached in and began to snip selected wires disabling the alarms in the building while the other three moved over to a false wall and pulled it open. A vault door to a room full of loot.
"Niica we good?" Arana asked.
"Yep, all clear!" the technician replied.
Arana cracked her neck and grabbed a section of the wall before pulling. Trivo and Yanni watched as Arana's well-developed muscles allow her to pull the wall panel off and set it to one side.
Yanni shook her head. "Hard to believe your father was human," she said.
"Well, I do have some Krogan on my mother's side," Arana smiled as they moved up to the vault door. "So, time to get this thing open,"
"FREEZE!" a voice yelled and the three turned to see C-Sec standing behind them weapons at the ready.
"Shit," Trivo muttered.
Arana gulped as she raised her hands as did the others.
OOOOO
"Well, that was a fine mess," Trivo said as she looked at one another.
Arana sat at one side of the cell, her chin in her hands.
"Tell me about it," Yanni said as she pulled away from the bars and sat down. "We must have triggered a silent alarm,"
"I would have known if there was one," Niica shot. "I checked every inch of that place, alarms and all. There was no sign of any kind of silent alarm,"
Trivo looked at one another. "So, who spilled?" he asked her eyes narrowing at her 'friends'.
"None of you spilled," Executor Bailey said as he walked in front of the door.
Arana's eyes went wide as soon as she saw him but said nothing as she looked away.
"What do you mean pig?" Niica asked as she stood.
Bailey smiled as an Asari approached. "He means that your plan to rob Mr Falcrum was good, but not good enough," she said as she stood next to him.
The faces of the Asari in the cell went white as they stared at the Asari councillor before them.
"W…" Yanni tried to say but the councillor turned to Arana and crossed her arms.
"Luna," she said, her voice making it clear that she wasn't happy.
All eyes in the cell then turned to the named asari, who turned looking up to the Councillor. "Councillor Liara," she smiled, trying to mask her shock and horror. "Don't you have better things to do than look up some petty criminals?"
"When my daughter commits petty crimes, all other things are secondary," as soon as Liara had said that all eyes other than Luna's had widened.
"Wait…" Trivo asked slightly confused. "You are the daughter of the Asari Councillor?" her voice was more shocked than angry as Liara smiled turning to her.
"You mean she didn't tell you her real name?" she asked.
At that moment Luna stood staring daggers at her mother. "Don't you dare," she warned.
Liara ignored her as she continued. "Her full name is Luna Benezia Hannah Shepard,"
That last name got their attention as those that stood sat down looking up at the descendant of Jane Shepard.
"Shepard…" Niica asked in surprise and awe.
Luna just looked at the others with a defeated sigh. "Yes, I am the daughter of Commander Shepard, not that I ever wanted to be," she sat back down as she said that last part before looking up at the aged Executor and her mother. "So, what now?"
"I think…" Liara said as she looked at her daughter. "You need a day in the cell to think about what you did. I'll come and pick you up tomorrow,"
"Fine," Luna muttered as she looked to the floor as Bailey and her mother left.
As soon as they were out of earshot Luna's 'friends' turned to her with accusatory looks. "Why didn't you tell us?" Trivo asked.
"Yeah, why didn't you tell us your real name?" Niica asked.
"Do you know what it's like to be a descendant of a hero?" Luna asked looking up at the others. "To have people look at you with an expectation that you will do great things? To have your name mean 'hero' in the eyes of the Krogan? To have a statue of your father of the presidium? To have a mother who is the asari councillor? To have a Krogan uncle who rules the Krogan? To have a powerful biotic aunt who's bat-shit insane? A turrian uncle who is a vigilante? A qurrian Admiral for an aunt? A Prothean commander or the galaxy's best thief as a teacher?"
The others just looked at her in silence for a moment before Luna looked down at the floor and sighed. "My point exactly," was all she said for the rest of the day.
OOOOO Later that day.
Liara sat watching a recording of what Luna had said to her 'friends' in the cell. She sighed and rubbed her forehead. The only thing she had to ask was why. She and Jane did their best to shield Luna from their hero status, but that was easier said than done. It seemed that they didn't do all they can. Thinking about Jane, Liara's eyes turned to the photo next to her terminal. It was similar to the one that they took at the party after the clone tried to take Jane's life over.
But this one had the kids in. Jane and Liara upfront with a little Luna on the marine's lap smiling happily. Liara smiled too, sometimes she wished that she didn't have the long life of an asari. Humans had short lives, but they made the most out of them with the little time that they had. A tear fell down her cheek as she remembered the old days of hunting for Saren, taking down the Shadow Broker and defeating the Reapers. It was hard to believe it had been 30 years ago.
"Bleep, bleep," a terminal chimed.
Liara shook her head and turned to it turning it on.
"Archangel to Shadow Broker, come in Shadow Broker," a distorted voice called.
Liara's brow raised, that wasn't normal.
"This is the Shadow Broker," she said her voice getting distorted. "What do you have to report?"
There was a pause before Archangel replied. "Unknown but something is going on here," he replied. "Saw what looked like civilians getting taken in, unsure what they are trying to do,"
"Keep me informed," Liara replied.
"Understood," Archangel replied before the comm got cut.
Liara leaned back in her chair and cupped her chin in her hand. Something was happening.
OOOOO
"Huh," Luna said as her room shook.
She landed on her knee and hand before looking around as the cell shook again. Guards ran past her yelling at each other for one reason or another.
"What's going on?" Niica asked.
The cell shook again, this time with the sounds of an explosion following it. "Someone's attacking the station," Luna said as she stood focusing on her hearing.
Her friends looked at her shocked as she grabbed the bars and began to yell. "HEY WHAT'S GOING ON?" she asked while shaking the bars.
"Luna?" a familiar voice asked making her turn to see a blue-green scaled Drell stopping in front of her cell. "Causing trouble again?" he joked, but it was lost on Luna.
"Kolyat? What's happening?" she asked.
"The Citadel is under attack," he said, but the look he got from Luna told him that she knew that. "Unknown attackers, it seems that they are targeting the tower,"
Luna's eyes went wide. "Get me out of here," she said and Kolyat nodded activating his Omni-tool to let her go.
As soon as he locked the door behind her the two made a run for it out onto the presidium into a war zone. C-sec was fighting against yellow and white armoured troopers of some description. Whoever they were they were putting up a fight. As the two moved over to one of the barricades, Bailey turned to see them.
"Was wondering where you got to Captain," he said as a shot near his head forced him to duck.
"Had to deal with some snipers," Kolyat replied as he took aim with his battle rifle and fired. "Sorry for letting Shepard out of her cell,"
"Don't sweat it," the Executor smiled. "I was going to let her out anyway,"
Luna looked up to Bailey with surprise. "Why?"
"Regardless of what you may think of your heritage," he said jumping down and looking at her eye to eye, not as the Executor. "We need a Shepard right now," he then held out an N7 patch.
"But…" she stammered. "I'm not my father,"
"I'm not asking you to be," he said.
Luna looked at the patch and took it. Her hand wrapped around it before she pocketed it.
"I need to find my mother," she said.
"Last I heard, Liara was in the Council Chambers," Bailey said. "Negotiating with the Battarians about expansion,"
"Then that's where I need to go," Luna said as she prepped her biotics.
"You are going to need this then," Bailey said as he handed her a pistol.
She nodded as she took it giving it a once over. "Thanks," she said before she jumped over the barricade.
She charged up her biotics in mid-air focusing her attention on the enemies in front of her.
Remember child, biotics are not a weapon. They are an extension of yourself, a part of your will.
Biotics are also affected by your emotions, the angrier you get, the more destructive they become.
But don't let your mind become clouded by anger, anger cannot lead to anything good.
So only use it when you have no other choice but to fuck your enemies up.
Luna's eyes shot open as her biotic's intensified. "Ahhhhhhh!" she yelled out and landed on the bridge with her fist slamming down.
A shockwave shot out from her and slammed into the yellow armoured troopers pushing them back into the wall behind them. She then spun to stand while pushing them further into the walls. If they weren't already dead, then they soon would be. Before she could take stock of what she did Kolyat tackled her to the ground before a rocket nearly took her out. The two rolled and took cover.
As soon as they stood Kolyat handed her an earbud which she slid into her ear.
"Check, check, Bailey can you hear me?" she asked.
"Loud and clear," he said. "If you want to get to the Tower, you are going to have to get to the main security station,"
"Got it, where's Vakarian?" she asked.
"Over by the markets," Bailey replied his voice having a bit of a shaky tone. "Last I heard, she was getting some specialised rifle part,"
"Of course, she would," Luna muttered as sweat dripped from her forehead. "I pity those bastards,"
"You and me both, good luck,"
"Let's go," Luna said and she and Kolyat moved.
OOOOO Presidium market district.
"I'm going to kill you all!" Paedia Vakarian yelled as she fired another round from her rifle and caused a car to explode taking out a few of the yellow armoured troopers.
Behind her, a group of the Citadel militia moved some of their wounded. She then jumped over the barricade drawing her assault rifle and began to fire at the troopers. That forced them to get into cover as she moved into cover as well. A lightly armoured trooper moved slowly to the side to try and get a better shot at her.
"Paedia!" a voice yelled making the Turian turn to see the trooper trying to get a shot off, but she just threw a knife between his eyes.
The trooper fell dead as Luna and Kolyat jumped down and joined the turian. "I thought you were in jail," Paedia smiled.
"Got off for good behaviour," Luna shot back before trying to look over the barricade only for a shot to keep her down. "Mum's still in the tower, we need to get up there,"
Paedia looked up towards the tower and nodded. "If I know aunt Liara, she's giving them hell," she then looked toward Luna. "We can make it, but we need to head through the market to do so, but…"
Another round of gunfire emphasised the point of keeping heads down. "Damn it these guys are good," Luna muttered.
"Let's see them dodge this," Kolyat said as he threw a couple of grenades.
They exploded forcing some of the soldiers out of hiding only to be gunned down by the three. "They got the market locked down with heavy equipment. It was the first place they hit,"
"Well, if that's where we need to go, let's go," Luna smiled.
"Just like the stories,"
The three exited cover and moved into cover closer to the market stalls. Paedia hung back while Kolyat and Luna moved up into cover and began to fire at the troopers. A round hit Luna in the shoulder and her next shot went wild as she ducked.
"Fuck," she moaned as she applied medi-gel and sighed as the pain relief settled in.
Remember pup, do not rely on staying in one place.
Move around, get a feel for where your targets are, what they have, and where they are vulnerable.
But never underestimate them, always assume they are on the same level as you.
Luna's eyes snapped open and she jumped over her cover and headed towards cover to the side of the yellow armoured troopers and fired. While they did see her move, they did take cover as Luna fired at them.
"Flank them," she tapped into her comm and Kolyat moved.
No one saw him as she moved toward the opposite side that Luna was at. He armed a grenade before throwing it at them. It detonated sending two into the air and forcing the rest to jump out of cover. Paedia finished the ones who were too slow getting back into cover. Luna threw a singularity at the remaining group sending them scattering before she moved up and finished them off.
Paedia and Kolyat joined up with her and the group moved on towards the council chambers.
OOOOO
The lift soon reached the top and the three exited. Paedia hung back while Luna and Kolyat took point. All three scanned the room as they began to move up the stairs and towards the council stands. But as they got to the first set of stairs the sounds of gunfire met their ears. After a quick look at each other, the three ran up to the main level to see Liara being dragged into a transport.
"Mom!" Luna yelled and the free troopers turned to face her and fired their weapons.
The rounds hit the walls and floor around the group forcing them to take cover. But the fire from the yellow armoured troopers prevented them from getting their shots off. Once the fire lightened up, the three could only watch as the transport took off.
"Get back here!" Luna yelled as she ran and fired at one of the engine nacelles.
But it was either too well armoured or she missed as the craft took off.
"Noo!" she yelled as she ran up the stairs only to be stopped by the void of space.
The craft took off into space with her mother. Luna could only watch on in tear-stricken horror. Her rifle fell from her hands and her knees gave out from under her.
"Mother," she cried.
OOOOO 6 Hours later, Silversun strip, Zakara Ward, the Shepard Apartment.
Niica, Trivo and Yanni exited the lift and made their way over to the apartment and hit the bell.
"Who in the spirit's name are you?" a voice asked.
"We… we're friends of Ar… Luna…" Trivo answered.
The door opened and Paeida looked at the three asari who just looked wide-eyed at Archangel's daughter. It was hard not to miss the blue paint and the eyepiece. Despite the rounded features of female turians, she still had that hard look of her father.
"She's inside," she tilted her head inside the apartment and the three walked in.
The apartment was large, larger than the one they raided. It was well furnished as well with wooden furniture, decorative art and more. Luna sat on the couch in front of the fire holding a picture of her family but not looking at it. As they approached Trivo got a good look at it. It had Shepard and Liara, but it also had the rest of her family with their children. She could even see a young Paedia there sitting between her mother and father.
"Hey," Niica said as she sat next to Luna.
"Hey guys," she replied not looking at them. "I guess Bailey let you out,"
"Yeah, he did," Trivo said as she stood in front of Luna her arms folded. "But why did you lie to us? I get that being a child of a hero is not all it's cracked up to be, but there has to be more. So why? To get your own back? To get mommy's attention?" that made Luna look up sharply, her green eyes piercing Trivo as she gulped but continued. "You are the hero's child so why are you lowering yourself to petty criminality? Or are you just looking for some itch to scratch with your dad dead?"
Luna moved fast and grabbed Trivo by the throat and pulled her up off her feet choking her for a moment before she stopped. She let her friend go and walk over to the window while Trivo choked on the floor with her two friends helping.
"Y… you wouldn't understand," Luna said after a moment. "Hell, I don't even know why I did what I did, especially with mom's contacts. I'm worshipped like a princess, eyes on me all the time, expectations, and more," she yelled and slammed her fist onto the glass cracking it.
She then turned and slid down the glass to the floor. "Fuck,"
"Luna, you still need to control that anger of yours," Paedia said as she walked up.
"Please stop, you sound like aunt Jack," Luna laughed but stopped all of a sudden and she lost control of her emotions.
She began to cry uncontrollably while pulling herself into a ball. "I… I just don't know what to do. First dad, then Jack, and now mom…."
Trivo walked up to Luna and pulled her into a hug. "Pull yourself together," she said. "Whatever is going on we're with you,"
Luna smiled and looked at the other two who nodded as well before hugging Trivo. While some of the weight was lifted but not all.
"BRAVO! SUCH A GOOD SHOW!" a voice echoed across the room spooking the three asari.
Trivo pulled away and looked around while Luna and Paedia focused their ears. "Kasumi, where are you?" the Vakarian said.
"You have to find me!" the thief said with a sing-song tone.
"Very well," Paedia walked over to the fridge and pulled out a couple of white balloons.
She walked out before throwing one at the balcony. It splashed followed by a yelp and a grunt. Trivo, Niica and Yanni watched as Kasumi Goto pulled herself up and looked at the young Archangel who smiled while bouncing one of the balloons in hand.
"Milk, I'll get you for that Vakarian," she hissed.
The years had been semi-kind to Kasumi, her hair was slowly turning grey and her skin was already becoming wrinkled. But her skills had not diminished, but the reason why Paedia was able to hit her, was not only due to her father but also training thanks to Kasumi and the others.
"Aunt Kas, why are you here?" Luna asked as the thief jumped down.
"Well to see you of course," she smiled, but that smile dropped. "Liara let me know what was about to happen," she glanced over to Luna's friends.
Luna nodded and looked over to the others who still had shocked expressions. "Trivo, you said that all of you are here to help. Then I'm going to give you one chance to leave. If not, I will let you in on the understanding it's not to be spoken to anyone but us,"
The three looked at each other but stood at a form of attention. Paedia smiled and locked the door.
"You do pick good friends Luna," she smiled.
"The reason why we got caught wasn't because one of us spilled, but because Liara Shepard is the Shadow broker,"
Their eyes widened so much that Luna thought that they'd pop out. "She's what?" all three said at once before Niica took over. "You are telling us that the most powerful Asari in space, is more like the most powerful person in space?"
"When we defeated the Shadow Broker Liara said that she could start a war in 10 minutes," Kasumi smiled. "And at that moment, we gained a very powerful ally,"
"No wonder Liara became the youngest Asari councillor," Yanni said a thoughtful expression masking her shock. "She could create a controversy that will destroy any who opposed her,"
"Which is exactly what aunt Liara did," Paedia said. "Removed all possible opposition and elevated the more competent,"
The three asari stared at her before looking at Luna who shrugged. "My mother is one hell of a political animal," she said innocently.
Kasumi just laughed before she regained her composure. "I got a call from Liara yesterday, after she visited you, Luna, she was concerned about Archangel. He was on a mission to Noveria to recover something, but something happened and he was ambushed,"
"Figures," Paedia shrugged, but it was clear in her voice about her concern. "Dad's always been too confident,"
"He was looking into the Normandy disappearances," as she spoke, she activated her omni-tool and showed a chart of names.
The three asari gaped at the names as it was hard to not notice them. Shepard, Ashley, Garrus, Tali, Miranda, Chackwas, Wrex, Grunt, Adams, Gardener, Abby, Kenneth, Kelly, Trainer, Zaeed, Samara, Joker, EDI, Liara, Jacob, Kasumi, Vega and Javik. All of the Normandy crew from the SR1 and 2 hung in the air with a few names in green, most were greyed out and the rest were in red.
"I assume the names in red are dead," Niica said as she read the names.
Kasumi nodded with a sad smile. "Yes. Samara died of old age, Chackwas died of very aggressive cancer, and Javik committed suicide when his stasis burn started to become untreatable. Zaeed went out in a blaze of glory as he fought his old nemesis. Both died,"
"The green is the ones who are still around, while the grey is those missing," Peadia added.
The group looked back at the list and saw most of the names are in grey. The only names in green were Kasumi, Garrus, Tali, Wrex, Grunt and Vega. Luna looked at the list before she shook her head.
"We're going after them before they get captured right?" she asked and Kasumi nodded.
"Yeah, Liara was the one who was trying to keep tabs on the people who have been taking the Normandy crew," the thief said. "She said that if she got taken, we needed to get everyone out,"
"Noveria?" Peadia asked.
"Noveria," the others nodded.
OOOOO
Rutilea sighed as she looked over the latest reports about trade disputes. Ever since the war ended, her job ad gotten a little more complicated. Especially due to the reputation of her, rarely here, husband who was probably off on some mission to help out the council. Not that she didn't mind him doing that, but she did wish that he was around more often. But then again, his best friend did vanish, so it wasn't the best of situations. She sighed and leaned back, looking at a photo of her, her husband and child.
She smiled remembering those times. But yesterday put one hell of a damper on her mood. A call came through on her terminal. She was about to dismiss it until she saw the ID and hit accepted. A second later Peadia came up.
"Hi mom," the C-sec agent smiled. "Sorry for the call, but I need to ask a favour,"
"Name it," her mother said smiling.