Just to be clear: ME: Andromeda will not play any part in this story. Only events that take place within the original trilogy will be explored or referenced. So please don't mention anything about Andromeda in your comments.
This is not a good start, Shepard thought, as she matched her brother glare for glare. How am I supposed to persuade the Primarch if I can't even convince my own brother?
Of course, Shepard was hoping to convince Primarch Fedorian to follow her into battle, while Jason was proving himself unwilling to be left behind.
EDI had woken her less than an hour ago with the news that they were within range of Palaven. Shepard had reluctantly dragged herself out of bed, cursing the bedside clock for insisting that she'd gotten seven hours of sleep when her body told her it couldn't have been more than an hour. Either way, she couldn't afford to sit idle any longer.
Shepard ground her teeth and tried to concentrate on her little brother. Jason could be as stubborn as her, when he put his mind to it. Most of the time, Shepard considered that to be an excellent quality that would serve him well. Of course, when he was directing his stubbornness at her...
She understood why he wanted to come with her. Hell, in his shoes, she'd probably be doing exactly what he was doing. But with the Reapers already surrounding Palaven, driving the turian forces to Menae, her worry for Garrus was already this close to consuming her. On top of that, her mother - their mother - was still missing. She couldn't handle having someone else to worry over. So she had to convince him to stay behind.
Shepard tried to use logic instead of emotion. "It's been two years since you were in the field."
"You didn't let that stop you," Jason countered.
"I woke up in a facility under fire and just had to take care of a few mechs." Plus, I was dead for those two years, so it seemed as though no time had passed for me. But there was no use in reminding him of that. It'd just make him even more determined to come along. "Menae will be much more dangerous."
"All the more reason to bring along as many as you can." Jason sighed. "Look. I know I'm supposed to go with the Colonials, but that's not happening yet. There's no reason I can't back you up in the field."
"The Reapers are mindless and relentless. This isn't like chasing down slavers in the Terminus Systems."
"Did you know what you were facing when you deployed to Eden Prime?" Jason snorted. "Of course not. You managed to survive anyways. So don't tell me I can't handle this."
Shepard sighed. "Jason. That isn't it-"
"And how come you aren't concerned about Kara Thrace?" Jason paced the floor in front of Shepard's aquarium. Shepard had no idea how Joker had been able to keep her fish alive for the six months she'd been in lockdown, but she was grateful to him for having done so.
"Because she proved herself on Mars." Shepard raised a hand. "And before you say anything, I wasn't expecting any combat on Mars or I wouldn't have let her come."
"Right place, right time, huh?" Jason laughed bitterly. "Dammit, Artie. You always were too stubborn for your own good."
"Pot, kettle," Shepard retorted, closing the distance between them and wrapping her arm around his neck. She dragged her knuckles across the top of his head.
"Artie," he whined, struggling to break her grip without any success.
"Jase," Shepard said in exactly the same tone. She grinned as she released him. "Don't think of it as being left behind. Think of it as a chance to get more information about your next assignment. Chief Tyrol, Lieutenant Gaeta, and Caprica will be able to tell you a lot more about the Galactica and her people. It's an important assignment, Jase, and you really are the best person to handle it."
"All right, all right, consider me mollified." Jason folded his arms across his chest. Both of them had gotten the mannerism from their mother. "You're taking everyone with you to Menae?"
Shepard nodded. "The more help we can give the turians now, the more they can provide for retaking Earth."
"Then you really should-"
"No, Jase."
Jason shrugged. "It was worth a try."
"EDI. Have everyone meet in the shuttle bay." Shepard clapped her brother on the shoulder. "I'll see you when we get back."
"You'd damn well better," Jason called as she headed to the door. Shepard just shook her head and kept going.
Kara ran a hand down the shiny, matte-black armor that Liara had just presented to her. "It's tailored to you," Liara said, watching Kara intently. "EDI ran some scans on you, and I forwarded them to one of the armor manufacturers on the Citadel. Making that kind of modifications is easy enough, and you need better protection if you're going to be coming with us."
Kara picked up the armor from where it had been resting on the workbench. Behind her, she heard Lieutenant Cortez muttering to himself as he made some kind of adjustments to the Kodiak. "It's so light." She knew it was a stupid and obvious comment.
Liara just smiled. "It's not a top-of-the-line suit, since I had to go with what they had in stock. But it has all the required components. Kinetic shields including backup shield generators. Full range of motion in the joints. Cooling system. Built-in holster for whatever weapon you'd like. The scans mean that the fit is customized to you."
"How much did this cost?" Dammit, she did not want to be in debt to anyone, not even Shepard.
"Kara, please. Don't worry about it. Shepard outfits everyone on her ship in this manner. It's not preferential treatment."
Kara thought about that for a moment, then decided to accept that. It was a very Shepard-like thing to do. She turned the armor over in her hands. "There someplace on this level I can go to change?" It wasn't that she had an abundance of modesty (far from it, actually), but she did want to respect whatever Alliance protocols were in place. Despite what some thought, she didn't ignore every regulation and protocol. Only the stupid ones. She was also far more likely to start doing whatever the hell she wanted if she was annoyed with the people around her.
Liara nodded, as though she'd expected Kara to ask that question. "There's a restroom. Out the door and to your left."
"Thanks." Kara headed off. In the restroom, she stripped off her Alliance clothing, revealing the same tank top and pants that she always wore under her Viper uniform, then put the armor on. As Liara had promised, the fit was damn near perfect. She moved her arms experimentally, half-expecting to hear some sort of hiss or clank like a Centurion. But there was only a soft hum that might or might not have been her armor.
I could get used to this, Kara thought, grinning. She jumped up and down, then kicked one of her legs as high as it would go. Full range of motion, yep.
She made her way back to the shuttle bay. Ash and Vega had joined Liara by the weapons bench.
"How's the fit, Kara?" Liara asked, which drew everyone's attention. Even the shuttle pilot, Cortez, walked over to stand next to Vega. Kara controlled her reaction, making sure that she appeared completely unaffected by their scrutiny.
"Niiice," Vega said, grinning broadly. "You look like a proper Alliance soldier now."
"I'm not a proper Alliance soldier, Vega," Kara responded with a snort. "Hell, I wasn't a proper Viper pilot on the Galactica."
"What's that entail?" Vega asked.
"Hey, you were on Galactica while we were chasing Cerberus on Mars. Didn't anyone tell you that?"
"You think I got a chance to ask any questions of my own?" Vega laughed. "Your Admiral and President spent the entire time grilling me about our military."
Kara acknowledged his point with a nod of her head. "All right. Vipers are fighter planes. Piloted by one person. Galactica deploys them to combat the Cylon Raiders while it focuses on the basestar. There are Viper squadrons, and I've been leading one for years now. Also spent some time as CAG - Commander of the Air Group." She wondered who the hell was CAG right now, with Helo as XO, Lee out of the military, and herself here on the Normandy.
"Oh, so you're like Esteban here." Vega thumped Cortez on the shoulder.
Cortez grinned. "Used to command the flight deck of the SSV Hawking. Our Tridents sound a lot like your Vipers."
"So how'd you wind up as a shuttle pilot?" Kara asked.
"Spent nearly as much time tinkering with my bird as flying her," Cortez said. "That, and my knack for procurement and logistics, made me a good choice to come in and oversee the retrofit of the cargo bay, five months back. When Shepard took off from Earth, I decided to stick around." He shrugged. "Someone's got to fly the Kodiak and oversee the supply chains."
Kara nodded. "Just seems like a bit of a step down."
Cortez laughed. "Well, I could say the same about you. CAG to ordinary ground trooper. Except it's not really a step down for either of us. Because we're onboard the Normandy during the Reaper War, and Commander Shepard's our best chance for winning this war."
"You've got a point." Kara gave him a considering look. "I'd love to hear about the Tridents, sometime. And the Chief - Galen Tyrol - he'd probably love to hear about the maintenance. He's the one that built the Blackbird. Stealth fighter fabricated on Galactica. One of a kind. Blown to bits now." She had been a beauty, though.
"Stealth fighters would be useful," Ash said slowly, considering the idea. "I hope someone thinks to tell Hackett about that."
"Might not be that useful, since your sensors are much better than ours." Kara tried not to sound bitter about that. It wasn't Ash's fault that these people had more advanced technology than the Colonials.
Ash shook her head. "Low tech might be an advantage in this. Could be that the Reapers won't be looking for anything even remotely like your Vipers."
Kara wasn't convinced, but she nodded anyways. Not her problem, thank the gods.
The door behind her slid open. Kara turned to see Shepard walking in, looking about as rested as everyone else - which was to say, not at all. She stopped and stared at Kara for a few moments, then turned to look at Liara. "I should have thought of that."
"You can't think of everything, Shepard." Liara's voice was gentle, soothing.
Shepard gave a weary sigh and shook her head. "Yeah." Then she straightened herself up, looking more alert and energetic than she had when she walked in the door. "We're almost to Menae. Latest intel says that's where the turian forces are concentrated, so that's where we'll find Primarch Fedorian. We're going in silent so that the Reapers don't decide we'd make a nice target. Lieutenant Cortez will take us in and then return to the Normandy, since we don't know how long it will take to locate the Primarch." She swept her gaze across each of them individually. "You're all coming on this one. The Reapers are throwing everything they have at us, so I don't see any reason not to return the favor."
"All right," Vega said enthusiastically. Ash shot him a dirty look, which he ignored.
"Ash, make sure that Kara is properly kitted out. Joker will let us know when we're in shuttle range." Shepard's face softened into a smile. "Just relax until then. Dismissed."
Ash beckoned for Kara to follow her over to one of the supply lockers. "Emergency rations and a few other survival supplies, in case things go FUBAR."
"What?"
Ash grinned. "Frakked up beyond all repair."
Kara shot Ash a dirty look that was probably ruined by the stupid grin on her face, and started grabbing the indicated supplies. Good thing the armor's light, she thought. Not used to carrying around a ton of extra weight. I'll have to bulk up a bit.
"Hope you remember the basics of your omni-tool," Ash continued.
"Communication channel, linked into my suit to provide vital signs readouts - yeah, I got it."
"Right." Ash took a step back. "Form a fist with your left hand."
Puzzled, Kara did so. No sooner had her fingers dug into her palm than a wicked-looking blade slid loose with a snick.
"The blade will stay out as long as your fist is clenched," Ash explained. "If it turns out that gesture won't work for you, we can change it after the mission."
"Useful," Kara said, releasing her fingers. The blade hid itself away again.
Ash nodded her agreement and walked over to the weapons locker. "Your Katana's here. If you feel like changing it up, ask Vega."
"I'll stick with it for now." Kara picked up the Katana and fitted it into the holster on her new armor. She jogged forward, testing how the armor felt. She was impressed by how well the Katana stayed put. Plus, the holster was easy for her to reach, and the gun slid easily out when she tugged at it. She really liked her new armor.
Three years on the run had taught Kara the value of taking rest where she could find it, so she had no problem following Shepard's order to relax. She grabbed a seat against the wall behind the weapons bench, closing her eyes and tuning out the background noise.
She lost track of how long she sat there, in a half-meditative state, before a voice from overhead informed them that they were close enough to the turian moon that they should all head to the shuttle. Kara stood, rolling her neck from side to side to work out the kinks, and then followed the others.
The Kodiak felt a bit crowded with all five of them in the passenger area. Kara, Ash, and Liara took seats, while Vega and Shepard remained standing.
Liara tapped a few buttons on her omni-tool once the Kodiak had left the Normandy, bringing up what appeared to be an external video feed on one of the monitors. Kara leaned forward to try and get a better view, seeing hundreds of ships of all shapes and sizes. Damn. Whether that was the turians, the Reapers, or both … she needed to start thinking bigger. A lot bigger.
"Oh no … no … Palaven," Liara said, drawing Kara's attention back to the monitor. Her eyes went wide as she took in the fires that were visible even from this far out.
"We … have a friend down there," Shepard said hoarsely. Her face was tight and pale, her hands clenching into fists at her side. She swallowed and turned away from them, and Kara knew she must be thinking about Garrus Vakarian. Liara and Ash exchanged a quick glance - so Liara knows too - which caused Vega to raise an eyebrow. What- he mouthed.
Ash shook her head. Later, she replied. Vega shrugged, as though to say 'it's all the same to me', but Kara could tell he was still curious from the way he kept glancing at Shepard.
Kara continued to watch the display. She realized that the Reapers had to be the absolutely massive ships that dwarfed all but a few of the opposing turian vessels. The Reapers advanced slowly, inexorably, towards Palaven, the turian forces falling away before Kara's eyes.
How are they supposed to help Earth when they're doing this poorly on their own planet? She shook her head. Best not to dwell on that too much.
"Found a spot. Putting us down," Cortez said through the speakers.
"Copy. Thanks." Shepard waited until the shuttle thudded to a rest on the ground before she opened the hatch. The others followed close on her heels, and Kara got her first look at Menae. A rocky moon, devoid of any vegetation. The skies above flashed with the sights and sounds of aerial combat. For a moment, Kara felt out of place, yearning to be up there, in her Viper, like she'd done a hundred times before. The odds were impossible, but that was another thing that had become old hat to her by now.
Noticing that the others had already started moving forward, Kara jogged to catch up, making herself focus on the sights in front of her instead of above her. They had landed about a thousand feet away from what looked to be a military encampment, with metal barricades between some naturally-occurring choke points to denote entrances. Spiky turian heads appeared behind the sights of sniper rifles, scanning them.
"Friendlies! Let them in!" one of the turians called.
The barricade didn't move until they were almost next to it, a caution that Kara approved of. Shepard nodded to the sentinels, waiting until they were all inside and the barricade back in place before speaking. "I'm Commander Shepard. We're looking for the Primarch."
"Sergeant Alectrian. Honor to meet you, Commander," the sentinel said, offering her his hand, which she took and gave a firm shake. "I've no idea where the Primarch is, unfortunately. The communications tower for this area got hit a while back. General Corinthus sent a runner to let us know that he's got a team trying to fix it, but apparently they haven't managed to push through the Reaper forces yet, since everything's still down."
"Guess that means we'll head there and give the team some help," Shepard said with a nod, releasing Alectrian's hand. "Which way?"
"Follow me." He took off at a jog, and they moved quickly through the small camp to another barricaded exit. They drew stares and murmurs, but no one moved forward to intercept or question them.
"The tower's just up that hill." His mandibles flared in a wry smile. "Just follow the sounds of gunfire."
"Easy enough," Shepard replied, grinning as she motioned everyone forward through the newly opened exit. "Appreciate your time, Sergeant."
"Let the general know we're still holding on here," Alectrian called after them.
A few minutes at a quick trot brought them to the top of the hill, with the communications tower clearly in view at the end of a long open flat stretch. There had clearly been a fight there, dead and dying turian bodies strewn across the ground, mixed with what looked like - pieces of some other creature.
Before Kara really had time to process that fact, a loud, grating screech filled the air, like a thousand nails scraping down a thousand chalkboards, all slightly out of sync with one another. Kara's focus snapped to the source of that horrible sound. A long, skeletal body, with a tail - and wings -
"Is that a motherfrakking dragon?"
Shepard shook her head. "Hell if I know."
The dragon (or whatever it was) screeched again and flew lower.
Thunder rolled over her, a boom that seemed to shake her bones. The air had suddenly filled with a dense red smoke. Instinctively, Kara put her hand on her shotgun, pulling it out of the holster.
The smoke cleared as quickly as it had appeared, the previously empty flat expanse teeming with - things. They were human-shaped: two arms, two legs; head with eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. But there was nothing else human about them. Their skin was an unnatural pale blue, their entire body covered in weird patterns that looked almost like some of the Cylon machinery she'd glimpsed from time to time. Kara remembered what Ash had said about the Cerberus troopers back on Mars. They look like husks.
"Liara. Drop a Singularity in the middle of the group. James, frag 'em." Shepard checked her pistol. "Ash, Kara, and I will pick them off."
Nods and murmurs of agreement circulated through the small group, and then Liara held her hand up, blue energy starting to gather around her fingertips. She turned and met Vega's gaze, then made a throwing gesture.
The blue light seemed to multiply and intensify as it streaked through the air towards the husks, blossoming into the black hole-like shape that caught the husks and lifted them off the ground. Kara was barely aware of Vega tossing his frag grenade into the middle of the group that hadn't been caught in Liara's Singularity, as she brought up her sleek shotgun and sprayed pellets into the hapless husks.
She fought down her nausea when the husk bodies broke apart, falling to the ground in pieces. It hadn't been like this on Mars. Gritting her teeth, she turned her attention back to Shepard, who nodded and waved them forward.
The husks noticed their movement, a cluster of them turning to engage. Their mouths stretched unnaturally wide as they shrieked in mindless rage. She elbowed one in the face when it tried to grab her. It staggered backwards, giving her enough time to swing her shotgun around to shoot it. The husk dropped to the ground, a hole in its torso, its mouth still trying to work.
Vague shouts and explosions were all she knew of her companions for a few moments as they all worked to thin the herd. Kara remembered what Ash had shown her and brought out her omni-blade, slicing at limbs to give herself breathing space.
Someone bumped into her from behind, and only the impact of their armor on hers kept her from spinning around to shoot. "Got your six." Vega's voice had a slight accent - nothing she could immediately compare to a Colonial accent. Amazing what the mind focused on, during situations like this.
"Appreciated, Vega." Kara went back to scanning the area in front of her, falling into a rhythm with her gun. Shoot, shoot, reload. Shoot, shoot, reload. Shoot, shoot -
"Out of ammo," she called, annoyed with herself for not paying enough attention.
"Fall back to Shepard. I can handle the rest."
"Roger." Kara found Shepard's red-striped armor easily and started clearing a path. The group was much thinner than before, and getting thinner as Vega, Liara, Ash, and Shepard took them out. Kara holstered her shotgun and brought the omni-blade back up. Wonder just how sharp this thing is…
There was no time to test any of the stupid ideas that flashed through her mind. Kara stabbed a charging husk through the heart, kicking its body aside so that she could repeat the motion on another nearby husk.
"Looks like you got the hang of that fast," Shepard commented as Kara approached.
Grinning, Kara let the blade vanish. "What can I say. I like playing with new toys. Vega said you'd have some ammo for me?"
"Ah. Yeah." Shepard brought out a handful of the universal ammo clips and handed them to Kara. "We'll have a chance to scavenge for more soon. This is pretty much under control."
Kara nodded and slid one of the clips into the gun, then put the rest in her ammo holster. Hearing another inhuman screech, she pivoted in the direction of the sound - only to find that Shepard had very decisively beat her to it, having used her omni-tool to set the creature on fire.
They traded grins. "Let's find -"
Shepard was cut off by another bone-shaking boom, followed quickly by another burst of red smoke. Kara put her back against Shepard's as she'd been doing with Vega a few moments before, and they backed up as fast as they dared.
The smoke cleared away as before, and Kara found herself staring at a creature nearly five times her size - seemingly made only of bones, with the only thing that even resembled skin being a hard metallic hide on its face. Its hands were giant pincers, which it banged against its chest as it roared a challenge.
"The hell is that?" Kara shouted.
"You keep asking that, and I keep not having a good answer," Shepard shouted back.
"Can we at least agree that it isn't friendly?"
"Seems fairly obvious."
The creature finished bellowing a challenge, its hands sweeping out to the sides. It fixed a cold gaze on Kara and Shepard, and charged straight at them.