A big thank you to everybody that gave reviews and made my story their fav or on their alert. I never thought i would get this far! And i have to thank all that have read so far for spurring me on. BTW it's Ilos not Illos.
Chapter 12:
Separation
To be tactful, Joker arrived at the helm first complaining of the tight confines of the sleeper pods. "We have problems Joker," said a very distressed Pressly.
"I can see that," Joker stated flatly as he sat.
"What's the situation?" queried Laura, looking from the navigator to the pilot.
"The geth are waiting for us," Pressly noted on the chart. "We're scanning the remainder of the planet now. So far, there have only been small energy fluctuations."
Ashley and Tali soon came to join the discussion, as they were Laura's intended shore party. "Where do we stand Commander?" asked Williams, trying to squint out the viewport. "Can those geth ships see us?"
"Joker?" queried Laura expectantly.
"We're good. Geth ships don't have viewports, so they couldn't look out into space for a visual even f they wanted to," responded the pilot, crossing his arms.
"I found him!" exclaimed Pressly excitedly. "He's in the western hemisphere, sector T, W-32, N-87."
"Then that's where we need to be," Shepard said. "Joker, take us in."
"We can't," Pressly said from his terminal. "There's not a landing zone close enough, we'll never make it!"
"Then prep the Mako," Laura ordered, turning to leave. "Joker, drop us in."
"We can't," Pressly said again.
"I'm getting tired of your negative attitude," Laura intoned, turning back around.
"The Mako needs one hundred meters for a safe drop, and the closest I can find is only twenty," Pressly said, wiping his sweaty brow.
"Find another landing zone!" shouted the Gunnery Chief.
"There isn't one," Pressly responded angrily. "Anything that could be safe is too far away."
"I can do it," Joker stated quietly. Everyone turned at the usually brash pilot in surprise.
"Come again hotshot?" queried Laura with a smirk.
"I said 'I can do it,' Commander," Joker said calmly.
"Of course you can," reassured Laura, kissing the pilot before leaving. "Once we're on the ground, get into contact with Admiral Hackett and convince him to gather the Alliance fleet at the nearest Mass Relay that goes to the Citadel."
"Ma'am?" asked Pressly. "What do you mean by this?"
"The Reapers plan on attacking the Citadel, I know it," stated Laura. "Saving that station is more important than rescuing me. Even if nothing happens at the Citadel, you can always come back for me."
"But Commander, what if-" started Joker.
"Stow it, and drop us in the Mako flyboy. I'll see all of you later," Laura said with finality. "And that's a promise. Joker, drop us right on top of that bastard."
Everybody left the cockpit as Joker prepared for the most difficult maneuver of his career. Calm down, no need to panic. You know what the Normandy can do.
Yeah, just try not to focus on the fact that lives hang in the balance.
Exactly, this is just another training session.
"Tali to bridge," came the quarian's voice. "We are ready for Mako drop."
"Affirmative," replied Joker. "Beginning descent."
Joker sent the Normandy into a steep dive towards the twenty meters long drop coordinates. This could get a little rough. Pressly yelled something from his console that the pilot blocked out in order to concentrate. Soon, the Normandy broke the atmosphere of Ilos at blistering speeds. Alarms started to go off both in the ship and Joker's head, as every pilot instinct told him that what he was doing could kill them all. From the viewport, Joker could see a very derelict city, and the small army of geth that guarded it. Pressly shouted something about coming in too hot when Joker slammed the drop button and pulled back on the controls as hard as he could.
Joker could not watch as the Mako sped toward the ground, as he was too busy willing the Normandy to ascend. Come on baby. Show me what you got. Show me why we spent trillions on you. The cruiser thankfully pulled up and over the very large bunker and soon exited the planet's gravitational pull. The entire crew let out their held breaths in relief. It doesn't matter if we survived if Shepard and the others don't.
"Shore party to Normandy," came Laura voice over the comm. channel. "I have confirmation of a successful drop."
The crew cheered and came to the helm to pat Joker on the back in triumph. Now for the hard part. Not just for me, but for everyone. Leaving Shepard behind. Joker sighed, and set the course for the closest relay that would take them to the Arcturus Cluster to see Hackett.
As the Normandy entered FTL speeds towards the nearest relay, Joker was surprised to hear Wrex lumbering towards him. "I have to thank you Joker," he rumbled.
"Oh?"
"Thanks to your antics I've robbed Vakarian of over one thousand credits."
"Have the two of you been betting over my relationship with the commander?" queried Joker, finding it hard to focus on piloting the cruiser.
"It's about the only thing exciting that happens around here besides the killing," Wrex said with a devilish grin.
"I can't imagine what you would do without the killing," Joker replied.
"Life wouldn't be worth living without death," Wrex responded, cracking his neck.
"Oh that's deep," Joker scoffed, adding snaps for effect. "Exactly what facets did you two bet on?"
"I already told you about the first date and the lack of sex," started Wrex. "Then there was post Noveria, then when we were locked out, and then going to Ilos," he finished triumphantly.
"How do you know all these things?"
"Krogan senses," he said with a cackle and then lumbered off.
Great.
The console in front of the pilot beeped to alert him that the relay that would take them to the Arcturus Cluster was close enough to take the Normandy out of FTL speeds. As they entered the relay, the lithe footsteps of Liara surprised Joker. "Um, Joker?"
"Yes doctor?"
"How are you?" queried the asari awkwardly as she sat next to him.
"I've been better. I'm not keen on leaving those three behind," replied Joker, tearing his eyes from his work in order to look at the scientist.
The blue alien sighed, "Yes, leaving people behind does tend to lead to hurt and sorrow."
"Yeah, especially ones that you care about," Joker said.
"Yes, especially so," returned Liara, staring at her hands.
"I'm sorry, but are we talking about me and Laura or you and Kaidan?" Joker asked bluntly.
"It seems I cannot mask my feelings as well as I thought," Liara said pitifully.
"When you're a pilot, you tend to notice things," began Joker. "I saw that big goofy grin Alenko gave you and how you turned even more blue when you cured me. Thanks for that by the way."
"You're welcome. I must admit, I loved Kaidan, and at first, I was angry at Shepard for leaving him behind," Liara said, getting misty. "But then I realized, that it was what he wanted."
"I went through the mission logs Liara, he did want to be left behind," Joker said somberly, as his fingers flew over the keyboard. "But I have something else for you to hear. There's no visual feed, but I think the audio should be enough."
Joker brought the logs up of Kaidan's final minutes on Virmire. It began with the nuke's countdown sequence sounding off. "That's our cue boys, any last things to say?" came a salarian's voice.
"For the universe," replied one.
"For freedom," came another.
"For love," said the lieutenant's voice.
"Anybody in particular?" asked the first salarian voice.
There was a long pause, and the sound of an explosion. And then came a faint whisper, "Liara."
Joker killed the feed and turned to the asari archaeologist. "I just thought that you should hear that."
"Thank you Joker," Liara said, wiping away a tear before standing. "Shepard is truly blessed to have you." With that, the asari walked away towards Alenko's old panel.
Joker had no time to muse on the feelings of Liara because they had just arrived at the Arcturus Cluster. The pilot looked out at the Stanford torus type space station known simply as Arcturus Station in awe. Home sweet home. I'll never forget growing up around all of those starships. The station is home to the Alliance Fleet, the N7 program, and is both the military and political headquarters of the Systems Alliance. I remember learning about all the Mass Relays nearby and where they lead. And of course the one that leads to Earth.
The Normandy was swiftly given a hangar by Hackett himself. When he was informed of Shepard's absence from the Normandy, he personally met Pressly at the airlock. "What's going on? Where's Shepard?" Joker could hear Hackett ask through the bulkhead doors. Pressly's response could not be heard, but it got the job done as Hackett's voice came over the entire Alliance frequency. "This is Admiral Hackett. Fifth Fleet, mount up and gather into formation at Relay Alpha, we're going to have to save the Citadel if the worst should happen."
As the Normandy refueled, Joker punched up Laura's HUD view only to receive static. Please be okay Commander. Nobody else can put up with my crap. Joker knew that being several systems away was probably the biggest reason why he could only get static through the feed, but there was still that nagging possibility in the back of his head.
With the all-clear signal, Joker steered the Normandy into formation with Fifth Fleet. The hours ticked by, and every pilot in every ship surfed the emergency frequencies for any trouble. At one point, Joker could have sworn he heard the voice of Matriarch Lidanya, the commander of the Destiny Ascension, but it quickly cut out. After more waiting, the Normandy was hailed by the Citadel, with the sender initializing it L. P.
"This is Joker," the pilot said into the channel. "Tell me that's you Commander." How the hell did she get there?
"You were expecting the tooth fairy?" queried Laura's voice.
"I've got the Fifth Fleet waiting right outside the Mass Relay, we're just waiting for your orders ma'am."
"Get your ass through and save the Council onboard the Destiny Ascension," she responded smoothly, and then there was a crash. "Shit."
The entire fleet entered the relay and was dumped straight onto the battlefield. Geth fighters surrounded the asari dreadnought, threatening to overwhelm the sluggish ship. Didn't I say size isn't everything? The Normandy sped towards the flagship, dodging and weaving geth ships causing them to hit each other with friendly fire. Joker deftly steered the Normandy as his crewmates coordinated shots at the geth ships. Just focus on not getting killed, and the crew will do the rest. Once the Ascension was safe, the arms of Citadel began to open revealing Sovereign on top of the Citadel Tower.
"What the hell is that thing?" came one pilot's remark over the radio. The helmsman was quickly cut off by a red laser that tore the ship in half.
"Stay clear of those lasers and tentacles," came Hackett's voice over the radio band.
Joker concentrated at the view in front of him as the Normandy identified friend from foe. As the Citadel Tower came into view, a marker for Laura Shepard popped onto the screen. She's there? You have got to be kidding me.
The ferocity of the Reaper's attack slowed and it appeared to weaken. What is going on? "It's weak," came Hackett's voice again. "Fire at will!" Joker soared the Normand straight "up" and away from the massive ship as Pressly prepared the crew for a firing salvo. The Normandy flipped and dove towards Sovereign as the crew fired mercilessly. The Reaper ship began to fall off the Tower and soon broke into pieces.
The radio frequency became filled with cheers and shouts of joy at the fate of the enemy. The geth were in full retreat, and the Council was safe aboard the Destiny Ascension. Joker laced his hand behind his head in a feeling of triumph. The feeling was short lived as he looked out the viewport at the scene in front of him. A very large piece of Sovereign was falling towards the Citadel Tower, where Laura's marker was still holding. The debris crashed into the tower and shattered through the window.
"Oh God."
So was it good? I sure hope so! This will probably be the second to last chapter. So sad! If you like my writing style and KOTOR, i suggest my other story To Eternity. Yeah shameless plug I know. Now Review!