A/N: Lotsa 'splosions! MUAHAHAHAHA!
Gerty's little merchanter had just reached orbit, just behind Athena's slightly larger indi-trans, when the ships appeared.
Irie was sitting in the copilot's seat. Outside the view screen, they could the Normandy in position, waiting for the two Alliance frigates to reach flanking.
"The research base is on Nos Astra," she said. "It should take the frigates about four hours to reach it…we should arrive in just under six."
"I know you're the foremost expert on these anchors and Folds, and they need you- but if I had my druthers, we'd be going back to Oasis."
"I know, Gerty, but I-"
She broke off as light suddenly flashed outside, drawing their attention simultaneously. They just caught sight of a bright flash as it sliced over the Normandy's aft, the Spectre ship suddenly banking to avoid it. As it registered, two more slashes sank into the William Young, the frigate closest to them.
Then, a loud snap. The merchanter shook violently, alarms immediately ringing as the VI announced, "Damage to port hull and secondary thrusters."
"Taking evasive maneuvers!" Gerty said, fingers flying over his controls.
"Where did they come from?" Irie asked, alarmed as she checked her scopes. "They are not showing up on our radar or ladar sweeps-"
{Lily Fire, change to course 321 mark 8 and get your asses back planetside!}
Red's voice filled their ears as Athena's ship banked in front of them, its weapons lighting up.
{Mayday Mayday Mayday! We are under heavy attack!}
Joker's voice was next. As Gerty tried to turn the ship absent two key thrusters, cursing, Irie hit the com.
"Joker, this is the Lily Fire," she said, craning her head, still trying to see out the view screen. "Our instruments are not picking up the hostiles-"
{Irie, your ship is not equipped for this!} Dae's voice broke through. {All three frigates are under heavy attack by extragalactic hostiles! You need to get back planetside immediately!}
Brightness bloomed in the dark again, just for a moment. Turning toward it, Irie could see the William Young and the Edgewood had launched their fighters. So had the Normandy, who was doing better at evading and countering its attackers than the other two were.
Everything was a swirl of chaos, darting ships and flashes of weapon fire. The scene slowly shifted as Gerty laboriously got the merchanter to turn.
Irie was terrified. She didn't need ladar readouts or Dae's words to know who the hostiles were- their ship designs were advanced and incredibly foreign.
Athena's ship was still firing, trying to cover the Lily Fire's retreat. Gerty, still struggling with a sluggish helm, cursed again.
Another strike hit the Normandy, and she yawed. Fire bloomed momentarily along her starboard, and debris sailed away into the dark. Joker corrected the yaw, the main gun flashing again and disintegrating one of the enemy fighters.
We cannot survive this fight. Not even the Normandy, Irie thought, and her heart wanted to scream. Her family was on that ship…her only child.
Letting out a choked sound and clamping down on her fear, she looked back to her own console and began to work.
"What are you doing?" Gerty asked.
"Those ships are coming from somewhere. There must be an anchor, a Fold nearby-"
"They could have travelled for light years before reaching us-"
"No, unlikely-they did not know we would be here to seek us out in a precision strike, and if they attacked any other target before us we would have heard of it. No, they are just arriving, they have to be…but from where?"
"We can't…bloody hell!"
A dark metal hull suddenly loomed in their view screen, swinging into view as the merchanter turned. It was not quite the same as the other ships, more a dusky gray than slick, oily black. It was also far too large to be a fighter. Irie only got a brief glimpse of it, however. Gerty yanked on the controls reflexively, trying to turn the merchanter back the other way, but it was too late. By the time they had spotted it, the ship was already on top of them.
There was a horrible noise. Irie was thrown against her restraints as everything suddenly started to spin. Something popped in a flash of sparks and sailing metal that rained down over her, and she cried out in pain. Another slam, just as hard, and the entire universe seemed to shake and tremble, the long drawn out groan of metal shrieking in her ears, before everything steadied and went silent.
Gasping, she coughed as smoke abruptly filled her lungs.
The merchanter had collided with the larger ship, but the blow was glancing. It had torn along the side and sent the Lily Fire into a tumble, tearing its hull and overloading equipment.
Red lights flared out of the gloom, the alarm klaxon a dim bleat as Irie tried to breathe, to see through her streaming eyes.
Warm brown hands groped out of the gloom, and something was pressed to her face. It was a rebreather. Oxygen filled her lungs and she clung to the mask as he fastened it down, taking gasping breaths.
He unlatched her restraints. "Irie! Can you move?"
She nodded weakly, and he helped her up, even as he shouted at his VI. "Get that fire out!"
The fire suppression systems stuttered and then activated, plumes of white filling the air. Taking hold of Irie's shoulders he met her eyes. His own were reddened and streaming from the smoke, his rebreather puffing rapidly.
"Get into the escape pod, it's still functioning!"
"Not without you," she protested immediately.
"I'm coming, I promise!" he shouted over the alarms. "There's no time! Go!"
"Gerty!"
"Go!"
He shoved her toward the kitchen area, then turned back to the ship controls. Stumbling, still coughing through lungs that felt sandpapered, she nearly tripped over some debris. Part of the hull nearby was torn away, showing space through a flickering barrier. Reaching the portal that opened into the single, small escape pod she struggled it open, but did not climb within.
"Gerty!" she called, looking back toward the cockpit. While normally she would have been able to see him from her position, all she could see at the moment was billowing smoke and white haze from the suppression systems, all lit up with whirling, flashing red.
No answer came. Her hand slipped away from the hatch and she started back toward the cockpit, calling out again as tears streamed from her aching eyes.
"Gerty!"
A staggering form abruptly coalesced, and he caught hold of her. "Irie, get in the pod!"
Arm wound around her, the asari clinging to him, Gerty got her back to the pod hatch and helped her down into it, before climbing in himself. Hauling the hatch shut and then sealing the pod, he coughed as he activated its controls, then hit the release.
"Hang on."
The pod light went green, and as they rocketed away from the wounded Lily Fire, they jolted hard. Gerty wound his arms around her, holding her tightly.
The pod was unguidable, and programmed to do only one thing- zero in on the nearest habitable atmosphere and head for it. If none were close enough, the pod would do little but move away several hundred kilometers, and then hover until it's distress beacon allowed it to be found and recovered.
As they were still so close to Kallini the pod naturally headed there, and would set off the beacon automatically once it landed. Built technically only for one, it was cramped with the pair of them, but neither would have complained even if they were in a position too.
Their flight was hard. The pod shuddered and rocked, the turbulence only increasing as it entered Kallini's atmo. Irie had her eyes closed, her face all but buried in Gerty's chest. He could hear her faintly whispering in asari. The cadence and urgency made it sound like a prayer.
Gerty, not a terribly spiritual or religious man, found himself praying as well.
It seemed to last forever, but in truth it was less than twenty minutes. Heat raised in the pod as it passed through the atmo- the pod's shielding would keep it down to tolerable levels but it was still enough to bathe them in sweat. There was another hard rumble, shaking them…then a single jarring boom. Irie let out a squeak, Gerty cursing again, as the pod suddenly rolled, bounced, rolled…and finally skidded to a stop.
Neither moved, still clinging to each other, the only sound their breathing. After he realized they were both safe and still alive, and that all motion outside had ceased, Gerty shifted. Finding the hatch release with his hand, he hit it. The door popped off. Fresh air poured in around them.
Poking his head out, he saw they had landed in a field at the edge of some woods. Mountains were in the near distance, perhaps a hundred miles or so away, but there was no telling if they were the same mountains that housed the monastery. Without guidance or real coordinate tracking, they could be anywhere on Kallini.
Seeing it was safe, he climbed out, then helped Irie to emerge as well, easing her into a sit. She was battered and bruised, scratches on her cheek, the front of her tunic scorched and torn slightly. He sat her beside the pod as he tore his mask off and cast it aside, looking her over. "You're hurt…"
"So are you," she said weakly, touching a gash over his eye that was bleeding.
"It's nothing," he said, his voice rough from the smoke he'd breathed in, his concern only for her. "You have some minor burns, cuts…does anything feel broken?"
"N-no, I don't think so," she said, trembling. "Oh, Gerty…"
"I know," he said gently, then looked around. It was evening, wherever they were. The sun was down, but the stars had only started to appear. As he took in their surroundings, something brilliant and blue suddenly flared in the sky near the horizon. It was there, almost a perfect orb of sapphire light…then it was gone.
"Th-that was an eezo core explosion," Irie said. "Goddess…the Normandy…"
"No, shh…" He looked back at her, cupping her face as tears flooded her eyes. "We don't know that, Irie. It could have been the William Young, or the Edgewood…maybe it was even the Lily Fire."
"It was too big to be the Lily Fire," she said miserably, then covered her eyes. "My baby…Goddess, please…please not my baby…"
He hugged her close, carefully, mindful of her burns and scrapes. A moment later he felt her almost physically get her emotions back under control. When she spoke again, her voice was thick, but steady.
"Why did you go back?"
"What?" he asked, shifting just enough to be able to look at her.
"Before we got into the pod. Why did you go back to the helm?"
"Fool's hope," he said, looking skyward again, toward where they'd seen the explosion. "That big ship, the one that hit us- I had a crazy idea. I set the autopilot to track back along its course. I don't know if there were enough engine systems left to keep it on course or if it will do any good but…I set it to track back along its course and I set the self-destruct."
She blinked at him. "You were hoping to take out the anchor."
"As I said, it was a crazy idea, and a million to one shot. I figured the ship was lost anyway. If luck is on our side maybe it'll reach the anchor, and maybe the eezo core will go up close enough to it to destroy it, or at least break it up and render it nonfunctional. Could that explosion have been…?"
"It was still much too large to be the Lily Fire," she said, shaking her head. As he put his arm around her she leaned close, ignoring the ache of her wounds. Both fell silent, their eyes fixed on the newly born night sky.
There was nothing more to do but watch…and wait.
Daenys was clinging to the rail of the promontory as the Normandy was jolted, then jolted, then jolted again. Everything was chaos, voices shouting around her as well as through the com. They had started to blur together in an echoing, dreamlike haze…and had since the moment Joker had reported that the cargo bay had been hit hard, all but erased from the ship.
They are not missiles, they are hostiles! Keep this deck locked down!
Melara. Melara…
No, focus! Your son is still on this ship!
"We have taken heavy damage to our starboard shields! Hull breeches on decks two and four!"
"We've lost our fighters and two of our guns!"
"We need to cover the William Young! Joker, get us into position to-"
"Daenys, the Hopeful has drawn off three enemy fighters from our flank- the William Young has sustained damage to their engine core, they are abandoning ship!"
"All hands brace, imminent core collapse on the William Young! Evasive maneuvers!" Joker's voice cut above them all.
Dae tightened her grip, the galaxy map flashing in front of her as the William Young went up in a ball of dark energy. A breath later, the Normandy rocked wildly to the side, stabilizing only sluggishly as radiation alarms added their beeps to the overall din.
"Joker!"
"We have serious damage to our starboard engines! Life support has been compromised! Radiation levels are increasing, will reach dangerous levels in six minutes!"
{Captain, we're losing life support, and containment on the engine stabilizers have been compromised! Unless we shut down our engine core it's going to go!}
This voice was Nevil's, his frantic words ringing through her head.
Mel…oh, Goddess, Mel…
I have no choice.
The palm of her hand slapped down on a command. "All hands, abandon ship! I repeat, all hands, get to the escape pods and abandon ship!"
Turning away from the promontory she ran toward the stairs, the crew rushing all around her to reach the escape pods.
Aleu was a child, but he was a child growing up aboard a warship. Since the moment he could understand, she and Melara had run him through drills and lessons on what he was to do in case of any given situation. The moment the red alert klaxons went off and Joker reported they were under attack, he would have gone directly down to the crew deck and the infirmary. He would wait, out of the way, in the AI suite until the all clear was given, or an adult directed him otherwise. There, he was closer to the escape pods (the Nest and associated upper deck having none), and the medical team could see that he got aboard one in case of a call to abandon.
Dae wove through the smoke and the chaos, shouting as she directed the crew to various pods. Hearing Joker report again she hit her com.
"Joker! Get your synthetic ass to the helm pod! Sever your connections to the ship!"
{Negative,} he replied. {I have turned the Normandy toward Kallini. There is a chance I can land her hard. If I get her on the surface I may be able to shut down her core before it is compromised, and we can effect repairs without losing the ship!}
"Joker!"
{Take care of your son, Dae…I got this!}
Struggling back emotion, she rounded the corner onto the crew deck. Laws was directing various people to pods, lifting her voice sharply above the noise. When she saw Dae coming she pointed toward one in particular. Dae headed that way, shouting at Laws.
"Get on a pod, now!"
Laws all but shoved one last figure into a pod, then jumped in herself after them as Dae reached the one she'd indicated.
Lily was already within, securing a weeping, terribly frightened Ashley into her seat. A wide-eyed Aleu was lingering in the door and hollered when he saw her.
"Tama!"
Grabbing him about the waist she all but shoved him in the nearest seat, hauling down the harness over his head and fastening it. "Hang on, Aleu!"
"Where's Tatta?" he asked frantically, as his harness locks snapped into place and adjusted for his size. She ignored him, making sure Lily was locking up herself before dropping into a seat and hauling her own harness down, reaching over and smacking the release.
The pod door irised shut and sealed, the small vehicle shuddering slightly as it rocketed free of the Normandy, heading away.
Aleu strained forward against his restraints, a snarl on his lips. "Tama! Where is Tatta?"
Dae said nothing, only closed her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Several of the asari and geth were gathered in the garden, staring upward at the night sky, murmuring worriedly to each other. Eridra had witnessed odd lights in the distance- lights she had originally taken for falling stars before she saw how erratically they were moving. It took her a moment to realize it was a battle and call for the others.
The bright blue flash of an eezo core going critical momentarily lit up the sky, causing several of them to gasp. Bethayla, drawn along with Mikaysa by the commotion, stepped out into the garden just in time to see that flash.
Her hands, unseen by the others, fisted tightly in her skirts. "What is happening?" she asked calmly.
"There is a battle," Eridra said, eyes wide and haunted. "It has to be the Normandy and the Alliance ships, but who they are fighting…"
"Has an alert been put out to the Asari High Command? The Alliance?" she asked. One of the geth looked over at her.
"I have sent an emergency hail to both over our frequencies," it said in an even, feminine voice. "The asari are sending reinforcements but it shall be at least forty minutes before their nearest vessels are able to intervene. The Alliance has also responded- their nearest ships will take nine hours to reach this location."
"Thank you, Chiktikka. Can we communicate with them?"
"Communications appear to be blocked between their ships and the surface," the geth said. "I have not been successful in any attempts to break through the interference. It is highly sophisticated."
Several lights appeared on the horizon, slowly growing brighter…nearly a dozen of them. A few of the others backed up unconsciously, letting out soft gasps.
"Incoming hostiles?" one whispered nervously. They all remembered what the single alien jabberwocky had done before it had been killed…too well.
The lights grew more intense, then scattered. A few vanished out of view, probably going to ground in the valley over a hundred kilometers away. Some more kept on, then disappeared further down the mountain range.
One kept drawing steadily closer, and closer still. It narrowly missed a ragged peak, then suddenly shot by overhead, missing the highest point of the monastery by only a dozen feet. There were gasps and cries of surprise as it shot past, and almost as one, all the asari turned to follow its path.
Further up the mountain it hit the snow bank, huge spreading wings of snow spitting out from its sides as it slid a good half mile with momentum before drawing to a halt.
"That was an Alliance escape pod. There may be injured," Beth said. "Chiktikka, order the infirmary prepped, then I will need an escort."
"Matron?" Eridra's eyes were wide. "You mean to leave the monastery?"
"Hence the escort," Beth said evenly, and looked at her. "Help prep the infirmary, make sure the geth are prepared for incoming, then see that nonessential hands are in their chambers on lockdown. Inform High Command that I am going with the geth to retrieve possible survivors from this pod, and let them know several other pods have-"
"Goddess!"
Another flash of light lit up the distant horizon…another eezo core going up, this one much lower and far closer than the other had been- though not nearly close enough to be a danger. The light from the blast reflected in Beth's eyes, highlighted in the faint gleam of moisture there, then faded away again.
"Come," she said to Chiktikka. "We must help the survivors as we can."