In hindsight, Samantha was not surprised the leader of the Talons was Nyreen. Shepard also didn't seem surprised. Aria was difficult to read, but if Sam had to guess, the asari wasn't expecting it. She just had a very good poker face.

Sam watched as Aria made her speech to the people of Omega; as Nyreen agreed to work with them, making her own agenda clear; and as the three of them left to help clear the way for the evacuation of their base. Sam watched and remained silent and monitored Cerberus comm chatter through all of it.

So it came as quite a surprise when everything around her exploded into complete chaos.

The first thing to tip her off was her console suddenly shutting down.

"What the bloody-"

"Attack!" somebody shouted, cutting Sam off.

She looked up to see someone flying across the room. He hit the wall, slid down, and didn't move after that.

Sam was rooted in place, eyes wide, a sudden bitter taste in the back of her mouth.

"Move!"

Sam was pushed to the ground, and a body landed on top of her. It was heavy, and she was pinned. The head of the body lolled to the side, and she saw it was her fellow Brit hacker.

Sam didn't know what to do. What do you do in this situation?

Get her off of you, Sammy!

Right. Right. First thing's first.

Sam tried to get a good grip, but the slender woman who looked almost a slip of a thing was too much for Samantha's poor upper body strength. It didn't help that she was half on her side, half on her stomach, pinned against her console. Perhaps if she'd been on her back, she could have done something. She wasn't that weak in reality...

Just as panic started to overtake her brain, the weight shifted, and she could roll over. Bray hovered above her.

"You okay?" he asked.

Sam couldn't quite find her voice, but she managed to nod.

"Good. Let's go. This bunker is lost." He pulled her to her feet by her arm. "Grab what you can and follow me."

Sam grabbed her helmet, miraculously still next to her sparking console. She shoved it down over her head, satisfied by the lock clicking into place. The metallic smell to the air was suddenly whisked away by her suit's internal air filtration system. Sam breathed deeply and ran after Bray.

They stopped long enough to grab a pistol for each of them, then he was moving again, Sam on his heels.

It was pandemonium all around. Sam had a difficult time making sense of it. Blue light flared, but she didn't know if it originated from whoever was attacking or from the many asari who worked for Aria. She mostly made sure not to stray too close to broken, sparking equipment, and to help anyone to their feet she might be near. They picked up a few stragglers, but somehow by the time they were in some escape tunnels, it was just Sam and Bray.

"Where is everyone?" she asked.

"Rules of an ambush," he explained, weapon up and clearing the next corner. "Don't stay in a group. Scatter and take stock over comms once you're safe. If you can't raise anyone, go to the next rendezvous point."

"That makes sense," Sam said, thinking of some of the strategy games she'd played. A large group presented an easy target for the attacking force to chase. A scattered force made it so the pocket that was followed would likely be demolished, but the rest stood a good chance of regrouping later. The fact it made sense, however, didn't stop it from being entirely horrifying to actually be in this situation.

"You know how to use that weapon?" Bray asked her.

Sam blinked. She'd been trying to pull up her omnitool, see if she could reestablish connection with Shepard. But Bray's question re-centered her priorities, and she pulled the pistol out of its holster. She had it open and live within seconds, the muscle-memory from all the hours she'd spent on the shooting range taking over. Bray nodded, a grin on his face.

"If they make them all as multi-talented as you in the Alliance, then the rest of the galaxy is screwed."

Sam felt her face heat.

"Did you get a good look at what attacked us?" Bray asked after a few minutes of silent walking.

"No. I saw a lot of biotics lighting up, but it was chaotic."

"Yeah, me, too. People flying, equipment sparking. How was it so light and so dark at the same time?"

"Do we know where we're heading?" Sam asked him.

Bray's head shook in the negative. "No pre-planned spot. Just trying to keep us moving."

"If we can stop somewhere for a minute or two, I'd like to get a message to Shepard. She has no idea the bunker was attacked."

"I got something off to Aria," Bray said. "A one-button 'things went to shit' message we always have on hand. But I could use the routing you do for them. I don't know where we are."

Sam immediately had her omnitool up. The map of the station suddenly shone in front of her.

"Aria and Shepard were going to try to shut down those forcefields next," Sam said, spinning the image this way and that. "All routes to Afterlife were blocked by those things."

"Right." They had stopped, and Bray was attempting to cover both the way they were going and the way they had come, switching his weapon every half minute or so.

Sam hurriedly zoomed in.

"What if we took shelter in one of these dark spaces?"

Bray halted mid-switch, looking at her. "That's a thought. Isn't there no power there?"

"Yes, but we have power in our omnitools. There are no troops – they would need power en masse – and it's only powered down so they can power the force fields, right? As soon as Shepard and Aria succeed, it should power back up and we can try to set up a new operating base."

Bray thought for a moment. "Go to ground and hunker down, get them through their next priority." He shrugged. "It's as good a plan as any. Let's go."

Sam plotted a quick route to the closest dark portion of Omega and sent it to Bray. Then she closed out of her omnitool and pulled her pistol up.

"You good?" he asked. Sam nodded. "All right. Let's go."

"Wow," Sam said.

"What?"

"When they said it was 'dark' here, I never quite connected that it would be, well. Dark. No light."

"There's no power."

Sam's face flushed beneath her helmet. "I know. I just didn't put it together." She fiddled with her pistol until a flashlight came on. "It's so rare to have it truly dark in the modern world."

"Fair enough. I bet the lights never really go out on a ship."

Sam nodded. "And before the ship I was on Earth."

"Wasn't Earth invaded?"

"Yes. We left in the middle of it, actually." Sam didn't think about the invasion much. The true horror had been watching Ashley get smashed up by the mech. It was what she had nightmares about, sometimes with herself in Ashley's place. Strangely, the mech was never EDI. Sam didn't waste too much time thinking about it, but it did puzzle her from time to time. EDI didn't scare her, even if that other program inhabiting that mech did. Even after she herself had been attacked.

The invasion itself felt far too dreamlike in her memory, and besides that, she hadn't been on the ground at the time. It was all ship-side emergencies for her. No horrifying pictures for her brain to feed her. None except that first view of a giant hand descending from the sky through the windows in the conference room. That showed up in vague horrific impressions in her nightmares sometimes. But that was it.

"Had to hurt," Bray said. "Leaving it behind like that."

"We were going for help. But yes. It didn't exactly feel right."

Sam heard a shuffling sound, and Bray immediately turned his light in that direction.

"Did you hear something?" he asked.

"I did, actually." Sam shined her light, too, but saw nothing. She realized her heart had sped up. "I could really do without more sudden ambushes."

"We should hunker down somewhere else," Bray said. "I don't want to see what's lurking in here with just two of us."

"Agreed. Let's go."

"Wait!"

The voice was neither Sam's nor Bray's. They had their weapons up and pointed in unison, lighting up the face of-

"A kid?" Bray said.

Sam had her weapon down immediately. "More like a teenager," she said quietly. "Are you all right?" she addressed the human teen.

"Yeah. But my friends aren't." It was hard to tell if the voice was masculine or feminine. "I've been hiding and trying to figure out how to get out for help." The kid was dirty under the flashlight, skin tone impossible to discern thanks to that dirt. They had mussed short hair and torn clothing. Their boots were intact, though. Always a good thing to have shoes, especially on a space station with the power out. It was probably bloody cold without the environmentally controlled armor Sam had.

Bray shook his head, "We don't have time to-"

"Where are they?" Sam interrupted him. She was not going to accept letting people die if she could help them. Especially not a child, no matter how close to adulthood they might be.

The kid looked from Bray to Sam. "I can show you."

"Lead the way."

Bray spoke again. "We can't just-"

"Go without me if you must," Sam said, turning to face him. "I refuse to abandon a kid."

Bray considered her for a moment. "Shepard will kill me if you die."

"I am an adult who can make my own decisions."

"So am I." Bray frowned. "Fine. Let's get these civilians and get the fuck out of here."

Sam nodded. "All right." She turned to the teen. "What's your name?"

"Finn."

Does not give me an indication of gender. Oh well. Ultimately unimportant.

"All right, Finn. Lead the way."

They turned and led them into the dark.

Finn only led them for about five minutes before they slowed, starting to look for something.

"What are we looking for?" Sam asked them.

"Someone's hurt. I left them hidden when I went for help."

"Lucky they weren't too far away," Sam said, eyeing Bray.

"Took longer to find you," Finn answered. "I couldn't see anything." They indicated Sam and Bray's flashlights.

"Right. Makes sense."

Bray moved forward. "Here. I'll do a sweep. Tell me when you find what you're looking for."

"There!" Finn hurried forward, disappearing around a bend. Samantha followed, rounded the corner, and found Finn crouching before four other people.

"Hello," Sam said. She shined her light at the ground to keep from blinding them. From what she could see, every person was a woman, but she couldn't see anybody's faces clearly.

"I found help," Finn said. "They can get us out of here."

"Who are they? If they're Cerberus, we'll take our chances here."

The voice sounded familiar. Sam moved a bit closer, peering into the person's face.

"We're with Aria's forces," Sam explained. "She's here to retake the station."

"Wanna prove you're here to help? Give us some medigel from your pack."

Sam took a step back, examining the face that had just thrust into her own. She pulled her light up a bit, causing the woman to wince. The woman blinked and took a single step back, but otherwise held her ground.

"Oh my God. Sarah?!"

I found Ashley's family, no wonder she sounded familiar!

Sam nearly dropped her pistol. She reached for the woman, intending without thinking to pull her into an embrace, but Sarah stepped back, arms up defensively.

"Whoa, what the fuck is this?!"

Sam stowed her pistol and reached for her helmet.

Bray reached for her. "Whoa, what are you-"

Sam pushed him away and undid the clasps, pulling the thing off so her sister-in-law-to-be could see her face.

"It's Samantha," she said.

"Holy... shit!" Sarah was in her arms immediately, giving Sam the tightest hug she had possibly ever received. "I don't know how it's you or how you're here but fuck, Sam, I'm so happy to see your face!"

"I'm so glad to see you okay," Sam said. She examined each face as they came to hug her alongside Sarah, and indeed, Ashley's sisters were all accounted for. But Beth was on the ground, and everyone's face showed a lot of strain.

Sam gently untangled herself. "What happened?"

"Shit, right." Sarah ran a hand through her incredibly mussed hair. "You got medigel? Mom's hurt."

Sam fumbled with her belt pouch, producing the asked-for material. Sarah took it from her, tearing it open and pulling the single-use injection pen out. She knelt next to her mother, searched for a moment, and then used the pen on a spot on her leg. Sam watched, internally wincing at the bloodied leg. They had put a tourniquet on it. As the medigel began to take effect, Sarah loosened it. Sam knew as much field-medicine as Sarah apparently did and knew the hope was that the medigel could undo some of the damage the tourniquet had done in keeping Beth from bleeding out.

"I can't believe you're here." Lynn came up next to Sam, examining her face. "How?"

"It's a long story. Involving Shepard helping Aria take back the station so she can save the Council, who we're sure are here."

"They are," Abby said. "We saw them when we were taken."

Sam reached out to give Abby a hug. "We also came to get you."

"You, but not Ash?"

Sam released her, examining her face. "Ashley couldn't come. She tried. It really is hard to explain."

"Well, perhaps when we make it somewhere safer," Beth said, and Sam realized she was now on her feet. "Samantha," she said, limping close. "Come here."

Sam reached out, accepting the woman's embrace. It felt like warmth and home and love and Sam realized in that moment how much she missed those feelings.

I need to find my family, too. She ignored the tear slipping down her cheek.

"I'm all for a reunion or whatever the fuck is going on," Bray's voice cut in like a slap, reminding Sam of what the situation outside this little family circle was. "But we need to get moving."

Sam and Beth parted. "Right, of course." She pulled her pistol. "You know how to use this, right?" she said, holding it out to Beth.

Beth nodded, taking the weapon and checking the safety. Sam then reached for Bray, pulling his sidearm – he had traded for a rifle they had found on a dead Cerberus soldier on their way here.

"All right, let's-"

A shriek, piercing and inhuman, cut Sam off.

"Oh no," Sarah said. Sam glanced at her to see her normally-dusky skin white in terror.

"What is it?"

Finn, who had remained silent during the reunion, now pushed forward. "The monster," they whispered. "We need to run!"

Blue light burst around them, and Sam just had time to see a truly monstrous form hulking in the shadows before she was knocked off her feet.