Oda Nobugana stood well behind the barricade wall waiting for the Commander to complete his own mission. Thankfully the aliens were could not break through, either they were scared or they didn't know how to get past. The salvaged tech that they had found was very useful in defence and attack. Granted it was pseudo laser tech, but it was still useful. The light show was fantastic to say the least, as his ashigaru forces held them back along with the solar combat mechs.
He made a mental note that if or when he turned on John he would need to be careful on how fast the commander could take him out. While some of the commander's stories were likely exaggerated or even invented, the one thing that no one could deny was that if he was on the war path, no one may be able to stop him. But if he watched the commander's soldiers then he could probably find a weakness to take him on.
But that was for later. Right now he needed to wait for the go ahead to evacuate. If they didn't leave soon then things may turn bad for them. The sound of gunfire made him look towards the barricades, the aliens were trying to make another push towards the hanger. But due to how the fortifications were set up they would not get too far. But with each push meant less ammo to use, and they were almost out.
He gritted his teeth, they needed to move and soon.
"Oda, Oda come in!" John then yelled over the radio making him sigh.
"Shepard good you hear you, what's the plan?" he asked.
"We just ran into a slight complication, we have rebels who are looking to escape the empire in Pegasus. They already have a ship ready to go, they just need to give me a signal before we can set off,"
"How long?" Oda asked.
"Shouldn't be long," John answered. "It will take us 10 min to get back to the Normandy, from what I have been told it will take them that long to get to their ship,"
"I think we can hold out for that long," Oda said looking towards the barricade. "See you in 10," he then turned to face the soldiers. "PULL BACK TO THE SECOND LINE IN 5 THEN FALL BACK TO THE SHIP IN 3 AFTER THAT!"
A number of confirmations echoed in the hanger. But those 5 min would be over soon. Before he knew it, the front line fell back. And soon they all headed towards the ships. Oda followed them. As soon as the last man was on the ships took off.
OOOOO
Ty'un watched in surprise as the enemy fell back and fast. Something was up but for now he was happy to have the hanger back. He and his forces moved in only to see that the aliens left a lot of stuff there. Looking around he found a screen and looked at it, it was a face of a smile with something below it changes every point.
It was a timer!
"By the gods!" he yelled before turning to run, "GET OFF THE…"
But he didn't get a chance to finish as the timer reached 4 circles and a skull appeared for one point before the entire station detonated.
OOOOO
John, Oda and the others watched as Midpoint station blew with such force nothing was left. With it gone the ships turned and headed back to the milky way. The ships jumped into lightspeed as John walked into the captain's quarters. Moaning he walked over to the bed and fell on it in exhaustion. He was about to fall asleep but a moan kept him from the little luxury.
Looking over to the corner of the room he saw a cot sitting there. He stood and walked over to it to see all five of his children slaying there. Each one of them slept soundly wrapped up in their blankets. He resisted the temptation to stroke them but Alexis gurgled and woke up. She looked up at him with a happy face forcing him to pick her up. He cradled her in his arms lovingly rocking her back and forth trying to get her to go back to sleep.
But it seemed like she picked up his stubbornness and just relaxed in his arms with a smile on her face. It took a good 10 minutes until she fell asleep. Before he could to anything else, Ashley walked in and looked at the two.
"Is daddy's girl trying to keep him from me?" she asked getting the commander's attention.
"Seems like it," John said as he stood and placed the young Shepard back into the cot.
Ash walked up and looked down at the babies with a smile on her face. "You feeling ok?"
"I'm fine, but this just reminded of me when I was a kid. Growing up on spaceships, mom not being there, 'sigh' sometimes I just want to go back to when everything was just simple,"
"I know," she said as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"What happened to mom?" John asked looking at her.
Ash nodded, "It was 5 months after the Reapers arrived…."
OOOOO
Ash stood in front of a screen talking to a woman who looked good for her age but had clearly seen quite a bit of action. An alliance officer cap on her head.
"Ashley stop calling us!" she demanded. "I know your worried about us but we can take care of ourselves,"
"Mom I know, but we all know the situation here! With the crucible under construction all hands are needed to defend it. It makes us a very tempting target. If the Reapers come I want all four of you on the nearest escape ship," Ashley demanded as well. "You are family, I don't know where I would be without you all,"
Her mother gave a warm smile. "I know, don't worry you also have the Normandy crew there to help you. Anyway, I need to go, see you soon," she said before cutting the link.
Ash gave a defeated sigh, she could never with when her mother was involved. "Problems below?" a voice asked making her turn to see an admiral standing behind her.
"Admiral Shepard!" she reacted quickly and saluted making the admiral laugh.
"You can stop that, given the saturation we need less formality more alertness," she said walking up and lowered Ashley's hand. "We all need to be alert,"
"Yes sir," Ash said a little intimidated by the older Shepard.
Hannah Shepard was clearly a woman of experience and many fights, and it didn't seem like she had lost any of them. She held herself with a sense of ease, discipline and authority that seemed to be like some form of aura about her. It was almost like she was born to command, just like her son.
"Walk with me," she said turning and walking down the corridor and Ash followed. "With the fleet in position we need to remain focused on protecting the Crucible. Given that this place is out of the way of the war I doubt we'll get many visitors,"
"That and that this place is highly secret, let just hope it remains that way," Ash added.
"Indeed. But several places have already been compromised due to Reaper agents, we may have to fight our own,"
"I know that feeling," Ashley admitted. "We had to put down a rouge alliance force on a moon not too long ago, they turned into pirates,"
"Such is the shame of the alliance," Hannah admitted as the two walked into a lift she then sighed and looked to the marine. "John spoke highly of you and I can see why," she said making Ash blush. "He always spoke of your hidden talents and skill, wasted due to a deed your grandfather made. It took me so long to make admiral because I backed him, along with Anderson and Hackett. But I was singled out due to my, heh, exploits. But with the situation at hand, they needed to give me the Admiral spot for many reasons,"
"Because you're a hard ass?" Ash joked.
"More than just a hard ass, I get shit done and that gives me points," she smiled waving a finger.
The lift then stopped and the doors open to show Liara waiting for the lift. She looked up with a surprised look on her face.
"Oh Commander, Admiral…" she muttered.
"Walk with us," Hannah said as she walked past the Asari followed by Ash who just shrugged. "What do you have?"
"Err," Liara said for a moment before following the two. "From what I've been able to find is quite complex, and a little too technical for my liking. But it would appear that it can disable all reaper tech causing it to disintegrate. The Reapers rely on some form of Bio fuel, likely harvested from us, and that is their atllies heel,"
"It's pounced Achilles heel," Ash corrected.
"I always find it funny when non-humans mess up human metaphors," the Admiral laughed. "Don't feel bad Liara, it's a common thing,"
"Right... other than a few translation issues we seem to be on track, competition should be done within the year,"
"Meaning that we have to survive a year," Ash said making Liara nod.
The Admiral stopped and leaned against a wall and pinched the bridge of her nose. "If only we listened," she said out loud. "My son would still be here and have a better idea of what to do. If only we listened we wouldn't be in this goddamn MESS!"
It was clear the that pressure of command and losing her son had finally hit her. Ash and Liara couldn't say the same. When John died they, both cried as did the rest of the crew. But Hannah was a stronger woman, and they knew it. She was not the kind of person to show off her emotions like this as her emotions just overflowing.
"I was never around for him and when I was… I did little, he was my son! I should have been there for him," she yelled all of the sadness in her turning into rage.
Time seemed to stop at that as she moved her hand from her face and looked out of the window opposite her. Her face turned from a mix of sad and angry to just angry. She straightened up and walked over to the window and looked for a good long time before hitting her comm.
"ALL STATIONS COMBAT POSITIONS!" she yelled as Liara and Ash moved up next to her.
"Wh…" Ash tried to ask but saw what she was concerned about.
A number of stars were moving, slowly but they were. There was only one explanation…
"Reapers…" she muttered.
OOOOO
The attack came but while it was sudden they were ready. The 6th fleet engaged three reapers and their Collector back up forces. The alliance and several council ships were losing as ships blew up left and right as fighters, rockets and projectiles flew across the space. But the Reapers were winning and invaded the planet below. But the biggest problem was the crucible, that needed to move.
"Mom you need to get out of there now!" Ashley demanded as she was on the comm with her mother.
"Ash listen, the last ship is gone we cannot get out!" she shot back as she dived into cover.
"Then I'll get the London down there to get you!"
"NO DON'T YOU DARE!" she yelled. "Get to your ship and go! Get the Crucible out of here!"
"Not without you!" the marine said as tears started.
"You have to, the rest of the galaxy depends on it," her mother said in a soothing voice. "Look Ash if you come for us, then everything will be for nothing. Go, save the rest of the galaxy,"
"Mom…" she said as her tears truly fell but before her mother could say anything an explosion severed the connection.
Hannah watched from her command console and sighed before looking to one of her marines. Her eyes fell on a big muscular man with a belt of grenades over his shoulder.
"James!" she yelled getting his attention. "Get Ashley out of here!" she said before turning to Ash who looked at the Admiral, "Take him and get out of here. He's one of the best soldiers I have, he'll serve you well,"
"What about you?" James asked.
"I'll buy you as much time as I can get you no go!" she ordered.
James and Ash looked to each other before saluting the Admiral and running. Hannah turned to look at all the faces of her bridge.
"If any of you want to follow now is the time," she said, everyone got up and saluted.
"With respect, we are not going anywhere," one of them said.
The Admiral smiled and looked forward. "FULL STEAM AHEAD! RAM THE BASTARD INTO OBLIVION!"
No one spoke and just got to the controls and flew the ship but before anything could happen the door to the bridge exploded and something rolled in. it detonated with a blinding flash knocking everyone out. Hannah slowly regained consciousness only to find herself being held to her knees by two cannibals with a collector commander in front of her.
"Tell me, what is the code to find where the weapon is?" he asked.
She would resist, but she had lost that long ago but there was one thing that she could do. "You want the code? Fine, it's alfa 1 566/295 delta,"
"Good," it said and typed it in.
"Self-destruct engaged!" the computer said.
"YOU…." The commander tried to say but Hannah just laughed.
"If I'm going to die, I'm taking you with me! Semper fi MOTHER FUCKERS!" she yelled as the ship exploded taking one of the Reapers with her.
OOOOO present
"… but at the time we all felt like she died in vein. She sacrificed to take out one Reaper, but that's all in the past now," Ash said as she finished.
"So, your sword and flower tattoo…" John started.
"Is in remembrance of my mother and sisters. It's the only thing I can to in order to remember and honour them," she said. "We all lost people during that war, and we did what we could,"
"I know," Shepard said as he placed his arm around her. "Now all we have to do is make things right,"
"And we will, for all those that were lost,"