I'll Find You
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He was falling. Darkness surrounded him, his vision all but spent, and no ground appeared in his sight but there was no mistaking that all too familiar feeling of falling, his stomach rising up his body, his chest being pushed backwards, and the strong, inescapable tug of gravity. He had felt it before when the Normandy was destroyed, which sent him falling to abyss that was space. Back then he struggled till he lost his breath. He had looked for some way to pull himself out of the planet's gravitational pull or to somehow signal the escape pods that he was out there still alive. But before he knew it he had exhausted all the air in his suit. He could still remember that moment where his limbs began to slow to a halt. His heart had begun its final decrescendo to silence and his mind began to fade. But even then he still believed he could fight. He still believed there was a way out. Here in this strange darkness, Shepard found no strength, none of that indomitable will he had somehow gotten infamous for.
He was just so tired.
OOOOO
Chaos was the only word Miranda Lawson could think to describe the current situation. The Crucible had connected with the Citadel almost twenty minutes ago yet nothing had activated. All parties involved had known the plan was a longshot as no one had been sure just what the Crucible was supposed to do, but something should have happened by now. Meanwhile Reaper fighters pounded against their exposed ship. The crew had learned the hard way that the Crucible turrets were out of sync had a slow rate of fire, and were too close together to cover the entire ship. A weakness the Reapers were all too willing to exploit.
"Reaper fighters incoming on our flank!" cried ensign Richard.
"The Lincoln is requesting reinforcements, it can't keep up the pressure!" announced another ensign, Stevens.
"Miss Lawson, Admiral Hackett is requesting our status!" Richard said.
The deck shook as Reaper fire hailed against the hull. The various status screens flared to life describing various levels of damage around the ship. The ensigns fingers sprinted across their display boards trying to level the commotion, each exclaiming the status of the ship. But Miranda didn't need a computer or an ensign to know they were in trouble.
"Has he tried to reach Commander Shepard?" she asked, her fingers running across her keyboard, hailing the engineering crew on the lower decks.
"There's some kind of jammer blocking the Commander's frequency," Richard said. "He's been out of contact for several minutes now."
A spark of worry and dread slowed her typing for a brief moment, but a quick breath cleared it. Worrying wouldn't get the Reapers off their backs or get Shepard back to her.
"Send me the jamming code and I'll see what I can do with it," she commanded the ensign. "Divert non-critical power to the rear turrets. It won't do much but it'll keep us in this for a little while longer."
"Yes ma'am."
A notification buzz on her screen caught her eye. She quickly answered the hail while looking over the near implausible Reaper jamming code. Jacob's light brown face appeared on her screen. Behind him the former Cerberus engineers and scientists scrambled below deck keeping the drive core and other technical aspects of the ship intact.
"Jacob," she said, her eyes not leaving the Reaper code. "What's the Crucible's status? Why isn't it firing?"
"You're guess is as good as mine Miranda," he replied. "My people are doing everything in their power just to keep this ship in on piece. Maybe Hackett's right and it's something on Shepard's end on the Citadel."
"Commander Shepard is out of contact," she said.
"What? What happened to him? Is he all right?"
"His status is unknown at this point. I'm attempting to break some Reaper jamming code that maybe be blocking his comm frequency but it's unlike anything I've seen before."
Despite the chaos, Jacob managed a chuckle. "Where's Tali when you need her?"
"She's doing her part on the ground. We need to do ours up here. Do what you can to keep us in orbit; I'll try to figure this out."
"Got it. Be careful Miranda."
"No promises."
The screen faded to black signaling the end of the call, leaving Miranda with what looked terabytes of code to figure in under a few minutes.
"Reaper flagship incoming!" Stevens announced
Scratch that, a few seconds.
Her eyes ran up and down the code taking as much in as she could. From what she could tell the code was similar to the types that the Collectors and the geth had used. But far more advanced and with very little room to maneuver. Firewalls, seek and destroy programs and false openings stopped all her attempted probes. Miranda gritted her teeth and tried once more. The image of Shepard surrounded by enemies with no way out entered her mind, making her fingers move even faster. The alert radar blared indicating that the flagship had begun targeting them. All around her the soldiers and the ensigns activated the defense measures. Dreadnaughts swooped towards the approaching flagship covering it with heavy fire. But they could only hold it off for so long. They needed the Crucible, whatever it did. They needed Shepard.
"Shepard…where are you?" she muttered.
A bright flare and a rumble on the deck brought Miranda back to the task and told her all she needed to know. The dreadnaughts had failed. She glanced out the window and saw only rubble floating in space where the three dreadnaughts had once been. A bright crimson light began to gather around the Reaper flagship. The soldiers stood frozen, their mouths agape at the sight of death itself before them. They were out of time. Everything they had sacrificed, everything they went through, it all came up to nothing. Miranda could only close her eyes and wait.
"Ori, Shepard…I'm sorry."
"Miranda!" she heard Jacob shout. "Miranda, are you seeing this?"
"Jacob, gallows humor hardly seems appreciate at the moment," she said simply.
"Not that!" Jacob exclaimed. "The drive core, it just lit up like a Christmas tree!"
As if on cue, the Crucible sprang to life. A pristine glare lit up every computer screen and keyboard on the deck. Numbers and symbols ran up and down the screens like a steady rain while the rotation of gears echoed across the room. Notifications from the various levels of the ship piled onto Miranda's computer screen all indicating every device on their decks had activated without their knowledge.
"Incoming!" cried a soldier.
The crimson blast from the Reaper rocketed towards them, engulfing their vision in red. Miranda braced herself against her desk for the impact but it never came. The deck vibrated for a brief moment but after a few seconds all was still. The ensigns glanced at each other as if checking if they were all still alive.
"Damage report!" she shouted, snapping the crew out of their stupor. Miranda rubbed down a growing vein on her forehead. The crew of the Normandy would have never allowed themselves to freeze up that way. It was times like this Miranda actually missed Joker. His crass attitude, insubordination and constant sarcasm took a toll on her nerves but when he said he was the very best pilot the Alliance had to offer, that was one of the few instances where the handicapped pilot was dead serious. She had seen him handle the Normandy in ways she never thought were possible and take on the worst abominations the Reapers and Collectors could throw at them all without losing his trademark jokes. As she watched the ensigns under her command scramble to figure out what was happening, she allowed her eyes to drift to the window in the hopes of catching at least a glimpse of the frigate.
"Ms. Lawson," a nearby ensign, Charles exclaimed. "No significant damage to the Crucible."
"Explain," Miranda said. "We took a full blast from a Reaper cannon. How are we not damaged?"
"Frankly ma'am, is that really something you wish to question?"
Miranda folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at the ensign, causing beads of sweat to form on his brow. A quick gulp and a salute was his response.
"I will look into right away ma'am."
"Ms. Lawson, we have a situation with the power cells."
Miranda made her way to the console. "Were they damaged from the attack?"
"No ma'am just the opposite, their levels are actually increasing."
"What? That can't be right."
"See for yourself ma'am."
On the screen the bars signifying the amount of element zero and other resources within the power cells skyrocketed. They had increased a solid 50% higher than they were prior to the Reaper attack. Miranda read over the report five more times trying to take in the contradictory information before her. Every solid substance than had gotten even within a yard of the blasts from a Reaper flagship had always been disintegrated. No amount of shielding could properly protect a ship from that kind of fire. Miranda knew for a fact that the Crucible shields weren't highest grade either. So what had protected them? What was different?
"Ms. Lawson! The flagship is charging up another blast!"
"Miranda!" she heard Jacob cry from her consul. "We got a problem! The drive core is overheating! We need lose some energy and fast!"
Miranda looked between the consul and the display view of the Reaper. The sudden activity of the Crucible, the blast from the Reaper flagship, the surge in power, it all had to be connected somehow. Miranda took a deep breath and hoped she was right about this hunch.
"Return fire," she ordered. "Aim for the flag ship."
"Are you sure ma'am?" Stevens asked. "Our attacks have been nothing but flea bites to that thing."
"It's a risk we have to take," she said simply. "Prepare the turrets."
On the display screens the crosshairs closed in on the nearby Reaper. The monster's crimson energy gathered as it prepared its own attack.
"30 seconds till impact!" Richard announced.
"Aim for the cannon," Miranda said. "According the reports on Rannoch, they're at their most vulnerable before they fire."
"Target locked."
Miranda narrowed her eyes and took a breath. It was now or never. "Fire."
With that order the turrets drummed against the hull of the ship in a harmony that Miranda had not seen prior. The abyss of space lit up with pristine white bolts. They crossed the distance between the Crucible and the Reaper flagship in a matter of seconds. The bolts hammered against the cannon of the flagship. Explosions ran up and down the monster like a swarm of insects. Nearby frigates dreadnaughts joined in the fray, covering the Reaper with their blasts. A meager blast from the Reaper that only struck against the Crucible's shields was its only counter before the blasts and explosions became too much. The Reaper let out one last mechanical cry before being consumed by the blasts. The abysses lit up once more into a bright orange-red light as the Reaper blew into countless pieces.
Miranda and her crew stared the monitor, their mouths agape and their breaths forgotten. Four words ignited the deck into victorious cries.
"Destruction of Reaper confirmed!"
Miranda closed her eyes and allowed herself to breathe. It wasn't all for nothing after all. But they weren't out this just yet.
"Connect me to Admiral Hackett!" she ordered over the crew's excitement.
The aged veteran's chiseled featured appeared on her monitor. Behind him the crew on the main deck seemed just as excited as hers. She couldn't blame them but there were still thousands more Reapers to deal with around Earth's orbit alone.
"Ms. Lawson," Hackett nodded. "I trust you've looked out the viewing screen."
"Yes admiral and that's what I wished to discuss with you."
Another rumble and the deck reminded her to keep the call short.
"A brief discussion I hope," Hackett said, looking over his shoulder at the crewmen preparing for the next attack.
"I believe how the Crucible destroyed the Reaper was no accident," Miranda said getting straight to the point. "I believe this ship is actually fueled by the energy output of Reaper ships and fires it back at them."
Hackett's hand passed over his goatee. "That's a bold statement Ms. Lawson."
"I'm aware of that but the evidence fits. The ship took a direct shot from that flagship but somehow survived and afterwards our power readings went off the chart. Furthermore in all the plans we've managed to translate it never said anything about a last power source. The drive core that we installed only brought the Crucible up to 65%."
"If that's the case then why was it never completed in previous cycles?"
"I'm not sure, I have several theories none which I am able to prove."
"No need to worry about that Ms. Lawson. This entire operation has been based on theory and conjecture. But even if what you say is true, putting the Crucible on the front lines is quite the risk. There's no doubt the Reapers will catch on."
"I understand but at this point it has to be all or nothing. The Reapers won't give us a second chance."
"A valid point, Ms. Lawson, we'll take some hits but it wouldn't be a war if we didn't. I'll bring the Crucible to the front and hope you're not wrong."
I'm never wrong pressed against her lips but she bit it down, settling for a mere nod of agreement.
"Was there anything else Ms. Lawson?"
Where's Shepard? The question scratched at her in the forefront of her mind. It had been over five hours since he had last contacted her and another two since his communicator went offline. She had been playing out countless scenarios in her head for the longest time, all of which involved finding Shepard's mangled body among the rubble that was Earth. For the sake of the mission she had done what she had always done and buried those feelings. But now she felt them clawing their way back up. She needed to be professional; playing the worried girlfriend role wouldn't help Earth. But still if anyone knew of Shepard status it would be Hackett.
"Ms. Lawson?"
"What's the situation on the ground?"
Hackett sighed. "Stable but we're steadily losing ground. The Reapers seem to have endless troops at their disposal. But if you're right, this will give us the advantage we need to end this war."
"Understood."
"Hackett out."
The image faded out and Miranda brought up the list of frequencies used by Alliance soldiers on the ground. Countless codes and numbers flashed before, but Miranda swiped through them with professional expertise until she found Shepard's frequency. Underneath it still read "frequency offline." She sighed unsure what else she had been expecting. A total of seven hours out of contact in a battle scenario, it was time to assume the worst. Miranda mentally shook her head at the thought. Shepard was alive. He was still fighting as he always had. When this was all over, he would find his way back to her. He had to.
"Miss Lawson!" Ensign Charles said, catching her attention. "The Crucible is moving towards the front lines. ETA four minutes."
Miranda took a breath to regain herself. "Acknowledged. Be ready for anything."
"Yes ma'am."
Shepard, she thought as the legion of Reapers grew closer. Stay alive
AN: Sorry this update took so long, school, work and the like kept getting the way. Plus an overall lack of direction. But I fixed that for the most part. This was actually my first time writing Miranda, she's my favorite ME female so I hope I portrayed her all right. Anyways thanks for reading and be sure to tell me what you think.