Chapter 47
"They're closing the gate," a merc called from the Normandy's cockpit.
Aria's feet pounded past Shepard's head and up the gangway.
"How?" she snapped.
"Manual controls on the wall next to the gate. Look."
Aria's footsteps plunged back into the CIC.
"They've pushed the warhead back into the cargo hold? What's happening?" Aria asked in a cold voice touching the comm at her ear. She stood next to the elevator and surveyed the CIC. Her gaze shifted down to Shepard lying against the wall. Shepard closed her eyes. The elevator doors dinged opened. Aria's footsteps moved inside. "Push them back. I'm coming."
The elevator doors slid shut. Shepard's eyes flew open, and she surveyed the room. The mercs' voices projected down the gangway from the cockpit. Joker and Liara lay against the wall, limp with eyes closed. Shepard bumped Joker's leg. He didn't move. He was really out then. They'd been injected from the same vial, Shepard was sure. She'd only felt a passing dizziness though, maybe some numbness. The needle had definitely gone into her arm though. She'd felt it. It hadn't been long since Miranda's binding antidote, maybe an hour. Miranda said she hadn't measure it. She'd given Shepard the full vial. It must still be in her system then. Shepard shifted against the floor and looked back at the gangway.
"There she is. That quarian better run," a merc said.
The dead merc she'd killed earlier lay face up against the galaxy map's consoles. Shepard scooted across the floor and turned her back to him. She fumbled over the merc's body with her cuffed hands. No gun, no biotic cuff keys. The merc's Omni-Tool was even missing.
"Damnit," Shepard hissed under her breath.
"Damn." The merc's voice boomed from the cockpit. "She took him down."
Shepard spun her head and scanned the room. With cuffed ankles and wrists, there was no way she would take down both mercs.
"Aria's gonna kill that quarian."
Shepard's fingers strayed to the pouch on her belt. She felt around inside. She pushed aside the leftover cord. Footsteps echoed down the gangway as her fingertips brushed the bristles of the toothbrush. All a biotic cuff needed was an exacting, small mass effect field to manipulate the lock. Forget bobbypins, Traynor's toothbrush was coming in handier every moment. The footsteps were coming faster.
"Open the gates again from that terminal," a voice from the cockpit called.
"Got it."
The merc on the gangway skipped down the steps and rushed over the to the CIC's console facing the galaxy map. Shepard stood up behind her glowing blue and pulled back a fist. The biotics-fueled punch sent the merc sprawling forward over the console. His shield broke with a spray of spittle and blood over the map. Shepard snapped his neck with a flash of biotics.
Even from inside the ship, she could hear the docking bay doors squeal. Down the gangway, light widening through the cockpit's windshield as the doors opened. A silhouette stood up from the pilot's seat and turned with a rifle. She hadn't been quiet.
Shepard spun back to the CIC console and slammed down on it with a glowing fist. She didn't know how to control the gates, and she didn't have an Omni-Tool. She did all she could. She sent volts of energy popping and sparking into the console. The galactic map disappeared and the console's lights shorted out. The doors outside ground to a halt.
A bullet shattered the console's glass. One hit her arm. She rolled for cover. She lifted the dead merc's pistol from the floor and darted to the wall. A new crack widened in her armor up the left arm. Shepard almost reached for her barrier, but she'd better save her reserves. This was just one merc.
"We have a problem. Pilot's dead. We'll need the commando pilot," the merc yelled, probably into his comm.
His feet pounded down the gangway. Shepard crouched against the wall, tensed and waiting. The feet stopped.
"What?" the merc said. "You're sure? I'll protect the cockpit."
His footsteps backed up, and he ran back down the gangway to the cockpit. Shepard spun around the corner and fired. The merc dodged and stumbled against the cockpit chair. Shepard tore down the gangway firing her pistol. The merc twisted and hit a button behind him. The cockpit doors slid shut. Shepard slammed into them and clawed at the seal. She pushed the door's open button, but it flashed red.
The gangway hummed beneath her feet. Energy built in the air. Shepard spun around panting. The merc she'd just killed had to have an Omni-Tool. Shepard raced back to the CIC. A loud explosion made the ground shutter beneath her. She careened down the gangway stairs and caught herself against the CIC consoles. It hadn't been the nuke. They wouldn't still be here. The vibration through the ship died away.
She looked up at the blinking red lights above the gangway. They'd fired the damned lasers. Her finger curled around the console in a choking grip, and she cursed. It hadn't sent off the warhead, but it could have damaged it, started the combustion process. Aria was getting reckless, desperate. Shepard searched the merc for his Omni-Tool. It would have to do. She turned back to the cockpit and clutched her pistol tighter. At least he wasn't the pilot, apparently. He wouldn't be flying them out. What she needed was to find Aria.
XXX
The laser blast shook the entire docking bay. The flash blinded them in a burst of fire and energy. Lights shattered overhead and fell from the ceiling. People flew across the bay, some hit the wall. A smell of burned chemical and ash rolled over them from the scorched section of the bay in front of the Normandy.
Kaidan sat up with a shield glowing out from his hand. Sunlight streamed through the charred gap in the docking bay doors. Pieces of metal crumbled and fell away from the blackened hole in the middle. The hole's edges still glowed red from the laser fire. The doors had grinded to a stop too narrow for the Normandy to escape through. This had been Aria's counter solution – insane. The Normandy would certainly fit through now.
Kaidan pushed himself up. He and Tali had made it back to the soldiers surrounding the Normandy's cargo bay. Good thing too. Some of the men on fringe closest to the gates weren't getting up.
The commandoes lying flat on the Normandy's cargo bay ramp rolled up off their backs. The mass effect shield flickered up around them again. Aria charged down the ramp waving them up and ordering them forward. Four commandoes rushed down the cargo ramp behind her pushing the warhead. Before the blast, the Alliance soldiers had pushed the nuke all the back up the ramp. It had seemed too easy all of a sudden. Now it made sense by – Aria wanted to protect it from the laser blast. Kaidan prayed it wasn't damaged, combustion ignited and starting to build. Aria helped the commandos extend a bright shield wall as she drove them down the ramp.
Kaidan scrambled through the soldiers searching for the right faces. They crawled to their feet dazed and searching for their weapons. Some of the men just lay unmoving as Kaidan tripped around them. Paneling fell from the ceiling above exploding into the men around him. A bulkhead had taken out a whole group of soldiers by the hallway doors. The door wasn't completely occluded, but it was plenty blocked. Miranda leaned against the wall holding her side as red expanded out across her white suit. Kaidan tore his eyes away and grabbed Garrus's arm to help him stand up from the floor. Garrus rested his sniper rifle on his shoulder with a huff and gained his footing. He held his left hand at an odd angle against his chest.
"Garrus," Kaidan said. "They're bringing the warhead down. The docking bay gates are wide open. We need to get everyone out of the docking bay. Now."
Garrus blinked at Kaidan. "We need to stop Aria."
Garrus held the rifle with his good hand and lowered it from his shoulder.
"No." Kaidan pushed his rifle away and stood in front of him. "We can't hit that warhead with crossfire. The casing might already be weakened. We struggle over it too much … No. Get everyone back. Leave only the front line. Everyone else is collateral damage."
Tali stumbled up beside Kaidan, and Garrus released a long breath. He reached a hand out and steadied her.
"You … you're okay?" Garrus asked her.
"Me? I'm okay. Just my leg."
"Garrus." Kaidan edged into his line of sight. "Get everyone out. They can slip around that bulkhead into the hall. Any biotic send back to me."
Garrus nodded. He squeezed Tali's arm before backing up. He shouted and waved at the men standing up in the back rows. Soldiers behind the frontline drained back to the hallway door with Garrus's urging.
Kaidan rushed back to the Normandy. Men were already regrouped and pressing in around it. Grunt fired over the heads of the soldiers in front of him with a roar. Commandoes fired back and threw biotics.
"Grunt," Kaidan said.
Grunt glanced over at Kaidan with a grin. "Their shield's weakening."
"Your team here," Kaidan said. "Keep the Normandy's hangar door open. Whatever it takes."
Grunt laughed and turned to the soldiers around him. He drew their attention. "Shut up. Listen up."
Aria pressed the shield wall further down the ramp as she lead the commandoes with the bomb. Grunt and his men pressed forward, but Aria held them back. The warhead rolled out onto the docking bay's floor. There was no way to stop it. With Aria leading the commandoes, the shieldwall was too strong.
"Tali." Kaidan rushed through the soldier to find her. "The warhead's down the ramp. With Aria there, we're not getting it back up. I'll shield you. We need to disarm the warhead's core. If the ship jumps and the FLT propulsion fires …"
"Yes, I know."
"If we can disarm it, the FTL won't ignite it. Might start the buildup, but it won't explode on the ship jumping."
"The docking bay will vaporize." Tali stopped.
"I know." Kaidan turned to her. "That's why Garrus's pulling the men back. But if that core isn't disarmed, nothing will matter."
"We have to stop them from leaving then."
"We can't get through the commandoes' shield."
"Shepard's inside. Maybe she—"
"We need to focus on this."
Tali fell silent, then nodded. "I'm ready."
Aria retreated leaving the warhead on the docking bay floor. She streaked back to the Normandy and up the ramp with commandoes at her heels. Kaidan put an arm under Tali to support her wounded leg, and they rushed to the warhead abandoned on the docking bay floor. Grunt charged at it motioning to his men to push it back up again. Kaidan waved him off. Aria strengthening the commandoes' shield would be too much to overcome. The Normandy's carbo bay door would close, and they'll have lost time in trying to disarm it.
He was almost there. The commandoes' bullets pinged around him, and he threw up a shield as they neared the warhead. Gunfire stopped. No one wanted the warhead to go off sooner than they could escape. Kaidan eased Tali down next to the warhead. She hunched and started to work at opening the casing.
Grunt stormed up the Normandy's ramp with his men to prevent it from closing. Aria drove the shieldwall out at him to push them back.
"Kaidan," Tali said. "They scrambled the frequency on the arming sequence. This will take—"
"What can I do?" Kaidan sank next to her holding his shield up with one hand.
Tali raised her Omni-Tool. "It's a one-person job. I'm the best for it. I'll try."
Aria disappeared into the shadows of the Normandy's cargo's bay. Grunt's soldiers had managed to make it partway up the ramp, but a team of commandoes held them back.
"Kaidan." Miranda appeared through a crowd of soldiers who were falling back.
She staggered on her feet holding her side.
Kaidan stood with a deep frowned. "You're—"
"I'm fine," she said. "I'm the only other biotic. You need me."
"All right." Kaidan nodded slowly. "Take my spot with the shield. No one's targeting us, but we can't let any debris or crossfire hit the core when Tali extracts it."
Miranda grimaced, adjusting the grip on her side, and raised her other hand up. A shield flared out from her fingertips. Kaidan released his shield and fumbled through his pockets. Bandages were the only medic supplies he had on him. He pulled her resistant hand away her side. The wound was deep and bloody, but he couldn't see much through the fabric. He replaced her hand over the bandages, and she cringed as he pressed her fingers in tight. With that, he rushed down next to Tali. Even if the disarming was a one-person job, he could at least help her pull the out the core.