The wind had picked up a little as they made their way slowly and carefully down the winding path. It was like some sort of ancient funeral procession, lit up in the night with the orange light of omni-tools, the blue of biotics, the shimmer of various barriers.
The archway itself was sealed up in a solid metal case. Two meters long, one and a half meters wide, and nearly a foot thick, it was no light burden. Four of the soldiers carried it, one on each corner, with Irie pacing them and using her biotics to reduce its mass and weight as much as possible.
The pylons were next, each carried on the shoulders of three techs at a time. Fortunately, even sealed they were lighter than the anchor, and did not need biotics to help reduce the load.
It took nearly an hour to work their way down to the main path to the monastery, and half an hour more to get from there to the landing pad. Snow was skipping over the pad and swirling in the air in front of the open cargo bay door as Melara directed the artifacts inside.
The pylon cases they could stack, but the anchor itself they had to set upright to secure it. Clamps set in bolts mag-locked directly to the deck held it in place, and allowed for two different barrier generators to be attached. Mel didn't dare let out a breath until both barriers had been powered on.
The anchor was as secure as they could possibly make it.
"Joker, I want a scanning field on this thing at all times," Melara ordered, looking at her synthetic pilot as he stood nearby, having come down physically to help secure the items. "And security, priority one on the cargo bay. The only people I want accessing this room are those specifically cleared by me."
"Understood Captain," he said.
The others were starting to clear the cargo bay. Melara followed them down the ramp and onto the landing pad with Dae, Laws, and Nevil at her side.
"You're a braver woman than me," Lt. Kim said, shaking her hand as he looked past her and into the bay again. "Our frigates will shadow you until you reach the lab and offload that thing."
"We'll depart immediately." Melara said. "I don't want to waste any time. I-"
Her gaze shifted, and she abruptly stiffened. At the far end of the launch pad, in a doorway under an awning that lead into the monastery itself, a figure was standing, framed in warm light. Though the shape was little more than a dark form and did nothing to draw attention to itself, Melara knew who it was immediately.
Looking back at the lieutenant she continued. "Ten minutes be long enough?"
"I should be able to get our crews cleared back to the shuttles and returned to our ships by then," he nodded.
"Then we leave this system in ten minutes, not a second longer. Thank you, Kim."
"Yes ma'am," he said, and saluted, before he headed off to see to his people. Glancing around, Mel looked at Laws.
"Get everyone on board and prep us to leave," she said. As the private headed away, Nevil beside her, Melara's eyes shifted to her wife's.
Dae was looking toward the figure in the doorway as well. As Mel looked at her, her golden eyes shifted to meet her love's dark brown.
"Go," she said softly, then turned herself and walked up the ramp and back into the cargo bay.
Walking across the landing pad seemed longer and more exhausting than had climbing down the mountain with the artifacts. The figure in the door didn't move, waiting almost motionlessly with a grace and a serenity even the oldest of Matriarchs sometimes lacked. An eternity seemed to pass before Melara was slowly drawing to a halt under the awning, lifting her hands and removing her helmet.
The cold bit her cheeks, tempered by waves of heat escaping from the open door. She barely noticed either.
"Hello, Beth," she said.
"Hello, Mel," Bethayla replied in a gentle tenor.
Though it had been centuries since they had seen each other face to face, Melara was stunned at how much the other asari had not changed. She looked far younger than her years would account for, barely a maid instead of the matron she truly was. That guileless serenity that had followed her everywhere, even as a child, enveloped her like a cloak.
Behind her in the hall, clear but discreet, an armed geth soldier silently watched them, a constant reminder of Beth's situation.
"Are you well?" Mel heard herself ask, trying to ignore the synthetic. "You look well."
"I am doing quite well, thank you," Beth replied. "I have been helping to tend to Mikaysa. She is still recovering her strength."
"Mikaysa?"
"She is our newest resident," Beth told her. "She was gravely injured in the attack by that creature. She lost her hand, and part of her arm. Viole lost her life attempting to protect her."
"I'm so sorry," Melara said softly. "Beth…I am so sorry."
Beth smiled faintly. "I see you have not outgrown your habit of apologizing for things that you had no hand in."
"I just meant that-"
"I know," Beth said. "Mikaysa will be all right. When she accepts what has happened to her, she will take what steps she feels are appropriate to help her to feel whole again."
"And you?" Mel asked weakly. "Do you feel…whole?"
"I have not felt whole since I walked in through this very doorway for the first time," Beth told her. "It is something that I continue to work on."
"I guess that is evident," Melara said. "But…are you happy?"
"I have a good life," Beth said, looking around at the falling snow. "This place is my home. Here, I have been able to learn and contemplate, create and even contribute in some small way. It is peaceful, and beautiful. Yes. I believe I can say I am happy here. I am happy."
Her eyes returned to her companion. "What of you, Melara. Are you happy?"
Melara nodded, looking back toward the ship a moment, before meeting Beth's eyes again. "Yes," she said. "Yes, I am."
Beth smiled, genuinely pleased. "Daenys is a good asari. She has always been kind and thoughtful."
"She's the best," Melara said.
"I will not keep you," Bethayla said, straightening a little. "You have much to attend to, and I have my charge to get back to. Mikaysa will be waking soon- the trauma of her experience leads to unquiet rest. I am glad we had the opportunity to speak, even briefly."
"As am I. Take care of yourself, Beth."
"You as well, Melara. Stay safe out there. These are dark and troubling times. My prayers shall be with you."
"Thank you. That means…that means a lot."
Beth lifted a hand, reaching out toward Melara's face. Behind her, the geth chassis made a low, warning sound, but Melara didn't flinch back.
Beth didn't touch her. Instead, her back of her fingers drifted in the air a centimeter over Mel's cheek, before drawing back.
"Go with the Goddess, my friend," she said faintly, then turned and walked back into the light, passing her geth sentry and vanishing from view.
"You too, Beth," Melara said weakly. "You too."
Daenys was waiting in the cargo bay still as Melara came back on board. Almost as soon as she had stepped up onto the deck from the ramp, Joker began to close up in preparation to depart.
Though Dae outwardly seemed calm, Melara could tell from her tense shoulders and her folded arms that she wasn't comfortable. Mel dropped her helmet on the deck and walked up to her wife, embracing her close.
Dae seemed surprised at this, and it was a moment before she loosened her arms and hugged her wife back.
"Is she well?" she asked softly.
"She's good," Melara replied.
Dae drew back a little, meeting her eyes. "…you had a nice chat?"
"She asked me if I was happy," Melara said.
"….are you?"
Ducking close, Mel kissed her, soft and lingering. As their lips parted, she smiled slightly. "You already know the answer to that."
Dae nodded, a small but genuine smile curling her lips. "Yes, I do."
Mel kissed her cheek again, then stepped back a little. "Joker, get us on course for the research base, and lock this deck down- authorized access only."
{Course laid in. ETA about four hours.}
"Four hours with this thing on my ship," Mel said, looking at the clamped metal case holding the anchor.
"It could be much worse," Dae told her, then leaned over and pecked her cheek. "I should go check on Aleu."
"I'm going to stay here, recheck these barriers and clamps."
Dae lifted a brow, looking at her. "I am sure Joker was quite thorough."
"I'm sure he was as well, but I'm going to recheck them all the same," she said. "Go see Aleu. I'll finish up down here, and then I'll be up in the CIC- seeing if I can get this ship moving any faster by sheer strength of will."
"As you wish," Dae said, kissing her cheek briefly before heading for the lift, and gesturing to the last two cargo deck workers to clear out. Ignoring them as they went past and into the elevator, Mel activated her omni-tool and began looking over the mag-locks, connections, and barrier field generators.
When everything came up green, she looked again.
You are being paranoid, part of her mind told her when it was green a second time. She ignored it, and started her scans again.
The Normandy rose out of the storm, emerging from thick gray clouds to the crisp clear night of the upper atmosphere. As she reached space and full orbit, she slowed, allowing the William Young and the Edgewood to maneuver in to her flank.
Neither ship could fly as fast as the Normandy, of course-like all her predecessors bearing that name, this one was cutting edge and had improved FTL and stealth capabilities the two older frigates lacked. However, they made up for their slight shortcomings with a much larger fighter contingent. Each boasted six fighters that could lock into their hull- the Normandy had only two, in order to both keep her speed at optimum and provide more room for the extra stealth systems.
As the Normandy waited for the two other frigates to get into flanking position and prepare to jump to FTL, the blue and violet ball of Kallini shone faintly below them, framed in the perfect ebony of space.
Then, six drops of that perfect ebony seemed to break free, sailing in with breathless speed.
{Prepare for-!}
Mel was finishing her third scan when Joker's voice suddenly filled her ears, the AI unable to get the entire sentence out before something slammed into the cargo bay doors with enough force she was nearly thrown off her feet.
Recovering herself, she instinctively threw up a biotic barrier even as she turned, taking in the sight behind her.
Two objects- each about three meters around and shaped like elongated teardrops- were lodged in the cargo bay doors, having penetrated through the hull and shielding before becoming stuck halfway in. Both objects appeared to be made of metal, and both were almost perfectly black.
Alarms were wailing. Keeping her barrier up, Mel grabbed up her helmet from the floor nearby and jammed it on, locking it down as she shouted.
"Report!"
The ship shuddered again, violently, making her stagger.
{Mayday Mayday Mayday! We are under heavy attack!}
"Joker, we have what look like two missiles lodged in our cargo bay!" she said, keeping her barrier up. "Report!"
It was Dae's voice that came back. Normally, it would have been Vina, but Vina had remained with Liara and the others on Nakira as temporary security detail. {We have hostile ships that came out of nowhere, Captain! They hit all three ships simultaneously- we have damage to decks two and three and are under an incredible amount of fire. Joker is returning fire and trying to evade but…Goddess, they're everywhere! And they are so fast-!}
"Can we identify?" she asked.
{The ships are of no design or material I have ever seen,} she said. {By size, a dozen fighters and a frigate. Mel, if those are missiles that hit the cargo bay you need to get out of there before they detonate.}
Melara's eyes were fixed to the two strange objects, watching as their pointed ends suddenly parted and began to open, forcing the holes they'd punched into the bay wider as they spread like flower petals. Out of their interiors, two creatures squirmed free and dropped down to the deck.
They looked like asari- black skinned asari covered in chitinous armor. Sparks lifted as segmented, bladed tails rang against the metal doors behind them as they straightened. Their dark eyes fixed to her. One, slightly larger than its companion, suddenly opened its mouth impossibly wide. Rows and rows of sharp teeth appeared, pedipalps uncoiling from inside its cheeks, spreading from the corners of its mouth. Each was capped with a sharp spike dripping viscously.
"Negative, Dae! Keep this deck on hard lock down! No one comes down here!"
{Melara!}
"They are not missiles, they are hostiles! Keep this deck locked down!"
She swept a wave of dark energy at them, drawing her rifle in almost the same motion. Moving with uncanny speed, the two darted in opposite directions, barely missing being slammed by the biotics. The wave was enough, however, to discharge one of the 'pods' from its hole. It vanished back into space, the breech it had caused immediately sealed by a barrier.
Generating a sheet of biotics, she kept it between her body and the hostile that had darted to her right, turning a spray of rifle fire onto the hostile that had gone left. Bullets skipped and sang off its hard armor, one tearing past its head close enough to gash it. It shrieked at her, impossible jaws spread wide, and darted up onto the wall. Its tail clanged over the top of the shuttle clamped nearby as it moved.
Drifting back, Mel was suddenly slammed off her feet as the second hostile hit her barrier hard, driving her into and then across the cargo bay floor. Her rifle tore out of her hand and went spinning away. On the other side of her face plate she saw those rows of teeth as the thing latched on with its mouth to the front of her helmet. With a thrust of her arms, she hit it with a tremendous biotic blow, sending it sailing off of her and reeling back across the floor.
She rolled, just as the bladed tail of the first one sank into the deck where her head had just been. Managing to grab her pistol, she rolled again then came up firing. Two shots sang off its chest plate. Another tore into its throat in a spit of surprisingly white ichor. The wound seemed to only anger the thing even further. It ducked forward, tail darting out at Mel, slashing. She caught it in a wreath of biotics, the fanned and wet looking blade on its tip only inches from her neck. Gritting her teeth in fury, she spun and twisted, wrenching the thing forward onto its face and then pitching it with dark energy across the bay floor again. By that time, the second had recovered itself and was upon her.
Melara could not remember being in such a desperate battle before. Whenever one of the creatures was momentarily stunned or cast away, the other would be instantly there, constantly pressing. They fought with no weapons beyond the physical but their slashes were passing through her barriers as if they didn't exist. At one point, she'd gotten hold of her rifle again only to watch it be cut in half by one of the tail blades as if it were a simple wooden stick. Her armor padding would be about as useful as cloth if their quick blows managed to land.
It did not help that the Normandy was still under heavy attack. Every few moments the ship would shudder heavily, or heave hard enough to threaten her footing. Damage reports and frantic shouts from Dae and the rest of the crew as they tried to maneuver through a battlefield filled her ears, but she had no time to concentrate on even a word of it. All her energy was being poured into staying alive.
As the fight dragged on, she could feel the strain. Her biotics were starting to become spent, requiring more and more effort. Adrenaline was flooding her but she knew it was only a matter of time before she lost a beat, giving them an opening.
A single opening was all they would need.
Then, it suddenly registered on her that she was only being attacked by one now. Managing to fling it away from her again she looked around for the second, and spotted it over by the sealed anchor. It had apparently worked out or sensed what was contained within because it had utterly destroyed the barrier generators. By the time she caught sight of it, it was slamming its tail a second time into the front of the metal case, peeling it like a tin can.
"No!"
She ran for it, her entire body lighting with blue fire, pouring every ounce of her remaining biotics into the strike.
It tore the beast free from the metal case as it struck, ripping its tail in half as the blade caught at an awkward angle, and sending the bulk of the creature reeling into the weapon's lockers.
Pain exploded through her as something hit her from behind, driving her onto the ground and then hard against the struts holding the anchor case in place. Something scraped against her helmet, then burned across her temple as the thing sunk its teeth through the metal and reinforced ceramic. Its claws tore again into her side, finding flesh. Pinned beneath it, she couldn't help the grunting cry of pain as it deliberately twisted its claws, sadistically, millimeter by millimeter.
Ahead of her, she could see the front of the anchor case was all but torn free, only a few scraps of metal hanging in place. Blood was filling her mouth. Her attacker seemed to be taking some kind of pleasure in what it was doing, twisting its hand again as it sunk its claws even deeper, reveling in her grunting cry. She tried to draw up enough biotics to dislodge it, but she couldn't. In their current position, it either could not angle its tail enough to hit her…or else it had decided to make her death slow.
Her mind filled with Dae and Aleu, her mother and sister, little Ashley…and even Sam. Realization settled into her mind with crystal clarity. The realization of her own impending death, yes…but also that the creature had been deliberately trying to clear the measures used to block the anchor.
Maybe they could sense it on board, she thought. Maybe they didn't until they had already entered the cargo bay. With the barriers down and that case peeled open, they could activate it. Send more of these things right onto my ship.
Dae. Aleu. Lily. Ashley. Her crew. Her family.
She couldn't let that happen.
"Joker-" she said, her voice strained and breathless, blood flooding her mouth as the thing twisted deeper still. "Joker, vent the cargo deck…"
She would be blown out into space where she had no hope of surviving- not with the breaches to her suit and helmet. Still, her life was nothing in comparison to saving theirs.
Nothing happened. Unsure if he could even hear her, if she was even transmitting any more, she tried again, her voice little more than a strained, wet whisper. "Joker, please…vent the cargo deck…"
Something slammed hard, then again, rocking the deck beneath her.
Then, an explosion. Heat and pressure crushed against her, became her whole world.
The claws ripped out of her side, tearing along her flank before they were gone…before it was gone. The heat had vanished as fast as it had come. Wind howled around her and purely out of instinct she grabbed for the strut that had been jammed against her shoulder as her body suddenly yanked backward. Something fairly sizable suddenly tumbled past her. She thought she heard a woman's startled cry of surprise before it was gone again, but her mind dismissed it almost as soon as she'd heard it. She was the only one in the cargo bay besides the two hostiles she'd been fighting, and that sound certainly hadn't come from one of them.
The deck was in explosive decompression, but it was not because Joker had opened bay doors- it was because the ship had been hit hard enough to remove part of the hull. Agony filling her, she tried to strengthen her grip, knowing she only had to hold on for a couple of seconds before the atmo fully vented and the decompression stopped.
Only it didn't. The wind kept howling, kept hauling at her as if it had claws of its own, long past the point it should have ended. Gritting her teeth, she tried desperately to hold on, but her grip was weakening, her fingers slipping. Her biotics were exhausted and so offered no help, and when she tried to get her other arm around to grab on as well, the wind only fought it away again, twisting her, the pain renewing in a flash fire along her side.
It has got to stop, she thought, struggling. It should not still be going…how is it still going?
Her fingers were slipping. Try as she might, she could not maintain her grip. She made one single sharp, desperate sound as she tried one last time to hold on, but it was no use. Her hand slipped away from the strut…
…and she was suddenly grabbed hard around the wrist, her backward motion stopping almost as it began.
"Hang on! I've got you!"
The words seemed to ring in her ears in a riot of familiarity, bouncing around her skull as if battered by the same wind still tearing at her body. She did her best to cling to the hand that had caught her, somehow finally managing to get her other arm around and solidifying her hold slightly.
Looking up at the same moment, she found herself face-plate to face-plate with her savior.
Her heart seemed to stop beating.
Del Shepard's familiar dark eyes, intent beneath brows knotted with worry, met hers.
It wasn't real, wasn't possible. She was out in space, had to be-having one last hallucination as her oxygen-deprived brain went into its death throes. It simply could not be.
"Hang on," her father said again, her voice plain and clear and unmistakably her. "I've got you! I'm not letting go!"
Mel's entire soul seemed to shake and start to collapse, her body a mere bonfire of pain she barely noticed any more. The taste of blood only grew thicker as her lips moved of their own apparent volition.
"Bába…"
Every ounce of Del Shepard's old and much missed determination was etched into her face. Her teeth bared as she tightened her grip on Melara's wrist, trying to fight against the endless wind to hang on, to pull her closer. Mel could see every individual black hair that stuck to her forehead or cheek, the faint glitter of sweat over her skin. She could see the lines and etchings of black nearly lost in the dark brown of her irises, the almost invisible freckle just above the curl of her lip.
Mel's eyes began to blur, something warm and barely noticed damping her lashes.
She could feel the strength in the hand holding hers start to struggle, start to slip ever so slightly. She could feel that grip tighten, could see that determination screw down even more tightly, those eyes sparking.
"I. Won't. Fucking. Let. Go."
Then, the wind stopped.
It was as sudden as if someone had thrown a switch. Thanks to its powerful force she had been hanging in the air about a foot over the floor plates. When it stopped she dropped, slamming down onto the ground, sending pain roaring through her again with such severity blackness started to swim at the corners of her eyes. As she struggled to get air in again, she felt the grip on her hand loosening.
No!
Her brain screamed it, though her lungs could not. Eyes wide, she looked at her father, trying desperately to catch her hand again.
Don't let me go!
Shepard looked concerned, then abruptly startled, reaching out for her again as well even as she suddenly yanked backward.
"Bába…"
Mel felt the word spill out of her mouth on a thin tide of blood. She felt her fingers brush over Shepard's, a moment's contact that was there and gone again.
She was gone.
Her body gave up. She slumped to the floor, trembling, one arm still stretched out ahead of her. Tears spilled down her face as a sob clenched her chest, threatening to choke her. Pain consumed her, leeching the heat from her flesh even as it set fire to her bones and throat. Weakly, almost unconsciously, she tried to move. The motion was cursory, but enough for gravity to take hold, rolling her onto her back.
Above, the cargo bay roof vanished in a twist of torn metal ringed with blue light. Beyond her feet, she could see nothing but blurs of black, a glowing violet ball, flashes of orange. There was no sound left in the universe. No sensation. Even the pain was vanishing away.
The black broke free of its moorings and crept in closer, eating away at what she could see. Someone, somewhere close by, gurgled wetly. It echoed a moment before it finally disappeared, like everything else.
It sounded almost like a sob. Almost like a name.
"Bába…"