Chapter Ten
Bring Down The Sky
"Everything I am and everything in me
Wants to be the one you wanted me to be
I'll never let you down, even if I could
I'd give up everything, if only for your good"
3 Doors Down: "When I'm Gone"
Castle sat at a work bench in the ship's armory, his M-7 lancer disassembled on the table in front of him. The rifle's mass effect field generator, ammunition density selection microprocessor and targeting-assist calculator were fully operational, but the ceramic-composite spine running the length of the collapsible butt-stock was cracked from pounding on the geth infiltrator with it in Port Hanshan's garage. One more solid blow and he would have cracked the ME-field receiver housing, thus rendering the weapon into a high tech metal, plastic and ceramic polymer paperweight.
There weren't a lot of M-7 Lancer spare parts available, at least not aboard the Normandy. The M-8 Avenger butt-stock was a close match, only the connection linkage between it and the receiver housing was different, which necessitated using his omni-tool to manufacture a custom part to bridge the differing interfaces. With that completed, he carefully cleaned all the parts, reassembled his weapon and moved to the target range that ran half the length of the bay where he loaded it with a fresh ammo block, inserted a thermal clip and squeezed off a five round burst. Satisfied with his handiwork, he safed the rifle and snapped it into his weapons locker to charge its batteries and run software updates.
With his work complete, but his thoughts rambling, he headed for the mess.
He'd seen the geth's flashlight head go out, the tell-tale clue that it had flash-fried it's memory core and gone offline, but didn't know why he'd kept pounding on the mobile platform hard enough to cause that much structural damage to his weapon. He was a trained biotic and a disciplined Marine - not someone prone to losing it like that - but in that split second when Kate was in mortal peril, he'd just... reacted.
Something about himself and Beckett just... clicked... they worked together seamlessly in combat and finished each others sentences in other circumstances like they shared a brain. In any other life he was sure they could have something real together, but at least for now, they had to live in this one. The regs were clear about fraternization between officers and enlisted personnel, so he'd done his best to keep his feelings for Kate – no, Captain Beckett - in check.
Her Spectre status might shield her from the regs, and they might not but that wasn't a chance he was willing to take without knowing she was in this as well. He had a fallback position – his successful writing alter ego - if the shit hit the fan, but she didn't.
When he entered the mess hall on deck two, Normandy's VI informed him of a vid-mail packet from Alexis - the first from her since the desperate, frightened one shortly after the Eden Prime attack had hit the extra-net. He'd warned his daughter to stay away from Westerlund News, Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani was a bit of a reactionary who tended to provoke anti-alien sentiment in her broadcasts.
He wasn't sure if Ms al-Jilani actually believed the rhetoric she was saying or was simply pandering to her human-centric audience, but either way he didn't want Alexis exposed to that. As a human biotic – one of the first generation of them after the Singapore eezo accident the year he was born - he was aware of what bigotry felt like and he wanted better for his daughter.
Alexis' vid-mail was nearly done and he had no idea anyone else was in the mess... especially not the Captain, who had come down to get a cup of coffee after looking in on Liara, who was holding up better that expected.
"...oh, before I go," Alexis gushed shortly after telling him all about how she'd created a singularity for the first time, "my friends and I saw a vid about the Normandy. Ashley thinks Captain Beckett is pretty hot. Paige thinks you'd make a great couple! Later dad!"
Castle heard something between laughing and gagging and turned to see Captain Beckett had just spit coffee though her nose. He bowed his head and prayed for the deck to open up and swallow him whole. After counting to ten, he opened his eyes again to see Beckett was still there, now over her coughing fit.
"Let's pretend that never happened," Castle asked, the blush burning his cheeks a bright pink, "shall we?"
"Ashley, huh?" Kate asked, her eyes alight with mischief.
"Don't remind me," Castle groaned. "My daughter Alexis' first serious boyfriend. I remember when I was the only man in her life."
"Be thankful," Kate replied, "you have no idea what I put my dad through during my wild child phase."
"I think I need to go... over there... uh... sir, " Castle replied as he rose and saluted, "to...uh... check on Tali... uhm...Chief Engineer Adams thinks something might be off with her... with your permission?"
"Dismissed, Chief," Kate offered with an amused gleam in her eye as she let him off the hook.
Castle hadn't been lying... much... Adams did think something was off with Tali, but he didn't want to do anything official unless it got out of hand. She seemed less animated than she had been when she'd first come aboard, and Adams had enlisted his help because he had a daughter about Tali's age.
When he reached engineering, he saw Tali at the station Adams assigned her to and mused that some body language cues definitely seemed to transcend species. Her shoulders were slumped and she was far more quiet than she had been when she'd first come aboard. Something was clearly bothering her.
"Hey Tali," he offered, "how's it going?"
"Oh," Tali replied, her voice subdued and depressed, "hello, Chief Castle."
"You sound pretty down," Castle replied, "are you okay?"
"I don't know," Tali replied dully, "Your ship is amazing and Chief Engineer Adams has been really good to me, but some of the others... well... I just feel... out of place."
"Has anyone been bothering you?" Castle asked, concerned. He knew that Gunny Hastings wasn't wild about aliens in general and Pressly wasn't much better about it, simply more diplomatic but he didn't get down to engineering much and Adams wouldn't have come to him if it was one of his engineers bugging her. His engineering crew had the perfect blend of admiration and fear. If he said Tali was part of the team, then that was it. "If somebody's mistreating you, I can get them to stop."
"No," Tali replied. "It's all right, nothing I'm not used to and nowhere near as bad as it was on the Citadel. It's just... the Normandy runs so smoothly... like we're hardly moving and the engines are so... quiet. How do you sleep at night?"
"The silence wakes you up?" Castle asked, confused.
"Back on the Rayya," Tali explained, "the last thing you wanted to hear was silence. It could mean an engine's died or an air filter had shut down. I guess you don't have to worry about that on a ship this new, but old habits die hard. It isn't just the silence, though. This ship is so... empty, like half of the crew is missing. I couldn't wait to go on my pilgrimage to get away from the crowded corridors and lack of privacy, but now that I've been away for so long... I kind of miss them."
"Sometimes we don't appreciate what we have until it's gone." Castle offered, "I couldn't wait to get away from my mother when I was old enough and I have a daughter not much younger than you. I miss her and my mother every day and talk or send vid-mails as often as I can."
"I'm starting to wonder if that's part of what the pilgrimage is really about," Tali explained. "I've gained a whole new perspective on my people and our culture. There's always a few who go on their pilgrimage and never return. I'd always assumed something bad happened to them, but maybe they just found something better for themselves."
"You are going to go home again, though...right?" Castle asked.
"I could never abandon my people, Castle, but I want to see this through first. Saren must be stopped, or I might not have a home to return to."
"Okay, Tali," Castle replied, "I'll let you get back to your duties. Try to get some sleep later okay? If anybody gives you trouble let myself or Adams know. Harassment is not okay."
On his way back up to his bunk, the alert klaxon went off.
"General quarters, general quarters all hands man your battle-stations Threat Condition One is now in effect, Captain Beckett and Chief Castle report to CIC."
"Report, Mr. Pressly," Captain Beckett commanded as soon as she entered the CIC.
"We received a distress call from the Asgard system in the Exodus cluster, Captain," Pressly reported.
"Only one system over from Eden Prime," Kate replied, "I can see why it was routed to us."
"If this is Saren," Castle noted, "he's certainly got big brass ones hitting here so soon after attacking Eden Prime."
"We aren't close enough to a mass relay to get there in time," Chief Hastings reported.
"Mr. Pressly, begin jump prep," Kate ordered, "bring the FTL drive on-line and spool up the navigational computer to make calculations for a jump to the Asgard System."
"Aye, aye, Captain," Pressly replied, then turned to Chief Hastings. "Start the clock, stand ready for jump."
"All hands this is the captain speaking," Kate stated into the ship-wide comm, "secure all stations for immediate FTL jump."
Normandy's variable geometry wings retracted into the primary hull as the sub-light drive engines shut down and all protruding interfaces retracted making the ship's profile as narrow as possible. Inside the hull, all sections of the ship were secured for the FTL jump. All internal bulkheads were sealed, all crew members found seats to strap into. All non-critical systems were locked down.
Back in the CIC, the entire command crew was abuzz with activity as they strapped into their seats, including the captain.
"Coordinates set and locked, Captain," Pressly reported.
"Board is green," Castle stated, "Normandy is ready for FTL jump to the Exodus Star Cluster on your command."
"Execute jump," Kate ordered.
"FTL in 10... 9... 8... 7... 6..." Castle counted down.
Meanwhile down in engineering, Tali had strapped herself into a seat and shivered involuntarily as the Normandy's FTL drive powered up, making the engine room seem to visibly shrink as space folded in on itself.
"I always hate this part," she whispered to no-one in particular.
"... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." Castle counted down, "JUMP!"
SSV Normandy disappeared from normal space as if popped out of reality and seconds later burst into being again near the Asgard System.
"Report," Kate ordered, galvanizing Chief Hastings into action to reactivate her LIDAR console.
"We are now in the Exodus Cluster," Hastings reported. "On course for the Asgard System."
"Spin up the IES stealth system and go to silent running," Kate ordered, "set course for Terra Nova."
As the Normandy entered the Asgard system, they began to catch up with an artificially propelled asteroid hurtling into the system, dragging other, smaller fragments with it. Clearly, the emergency that incited the distress call.
"I have a LIDAR lock on the asteroid, Captain," Gunnery Chief Hastings reported, "the local charts list it as Asteroid X-57. The three fusion torches propelling it are all set at maximum burn. On its current trajectory and rate of acceleration X-57 will collide with the most densely populated region of Terra Nova in five hours."
"Options?" Kate asked.
"If we disable the torches within the next four hours," Castle replied from the science console, "Terra Nova's gravity well should snag it into a relatively stable, but correctable orbit."
"I have comm traffic from the asteroid, Captain," XO Pressly stated, "low band but not the same carrier as the distress call."
"Put it on speaker, Mr. Pressly," Kate ordered.
"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" a female voice said over the comm. "They haven't found us yet, but I can't talk for long. If anyone is listening, shut down the fusion torches or we're all gonna die!"
Kate debated for a moment whether she should respond or maintain radio silence, but the comm crackled again.
"God, I hope somebody's hearing this."
"This is Captain Katherine Beckett of the Alliance Frigate SSV Normandy," Kate stated with authority, "responding to your distress call."
"Oh, thank God," the woman replied. "My name is Rose Freeman, part of the engineering team assigned to bring X-57 to Terra Nova. We were attacked yesterday by batarian extremists. My team and I have been in hiding since they arrived. I'm the one who sent the distress call."
"Do you know why they're doing this, Ms Freeman?" Beckett asked.
"I don't know," Rose replied, "but if this station isn't slowed, millions of people on Terra Nova are going to die! If I find out anything..."
She was cut off by a loud series of clattering noises and a muttered curse barely audible over the comm.
"...I've gotta go," Rose muttered and the line went dead.
Ten Minutes later, Kate had selected the four teams she'd assembled to hit the fusion torch facilities and the main complex and began her briefing. She nodded and Castle brought up a holographic overlay of the asteroid, specifically the four facilities in question.
"These are the primary targets," Kate stated. "It is imperative that we shut down all three torches within the next three hours, preferably without damaging them, as they will be needed to stabilize X-57's orbit at the end of the operation. Each team will consist of a team lead, a tech expert to shut down the torch and a squad of Marines."
Captain Beckett nodded to Castle, who shifted the display.
"Chief Castle, Urdnot Wrex and I will hit the main facility to deal with whomever is in charge of this operation. We will wait on station in the Mako in case any of the teams call for assistance. If not, we will make our push to the main complex as soon as the last torch goes out."
Kate waited for a moment before continuing.
"Lt. Esposito, you will lead first squad, your tech expert will be Garrus Vakarian. Lt. Alenko, will lead second squad, with Dr. T'Soni backing him on tech. Gunnery Chief Hastings, you have third squad with Tali'Zorah on tech. Your orders are to get into the torch facilities by any means necessary, neutralize the Batarian terrorists and shut down the torches. You are weapons-free as soon as your boots hit dirt. If it comes your way and refuses to identify, kill it. There's no time to be subtle people, The citizens of Terra Nova are counting on us to get it done."
Castle made another shift and the focus changed to a high peak on the asteroid.
"This is the highest point on X-57," Kate stated. "The primary comm antenna is located there. It commands all three torch facilities and as such makes a perfect sniper nest. I'm assigning LT to take up station there as your eye in the sky."
"Captain Beckett," Flight Lt. Ryan stated, limping forward with his cane, "permission to join LT on the sniper's perch, sir."
"Mr Ryan, you can barely walk and we need you at the conn, Permission de..." Kate began, but Ryan cut her off.
"With all due respect, Captain," Ryan stated coolly, "The M-98a Black Widow anti-materiel rifle is best fired on a bipod from the prone or kneeling position. I had twenty five confirmed kills at Torfan and my long rifle range scores are on record as the best on this ship. Two snipers on high watch can cover more ground than one. Lieutenant jg Williams is more than proficient in the gravitational tractor maneuver XO Pressly will likely call for if the batarians prevent us from shutting down all the torches."
Beckett trained her eye on LT – the Normandy's official Scout/Sniper of record as well as her range safety officer – who nodded his acknowledgment of Ryan's scores and training.
Staff Sergeant Kevin Ryan had once been an instructor at the Alliance Scout/Sniper school on Arcturus Station prior to the shuttle accident that killed his wife, their two children and destroyed his right knee. After his immune system rejected the gene therapy to regenerate it, the only way for him to qualify for a space posting with a prosthetic had been to retrain as a frigate pilot.
He'd pursued flight training alongside people ten years his junior with the single minded focus and drive of a wounded soul hoping to outrun his own ghosts. Only Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau – who went on to fly for John Shepard on SSV Pearl Harbor - had scored higher in technical proficiency. The two of them had been close friends ever since and every time the two of them ran into each other they'd share a few beers and reminisce about how the two "cripples" everyone had assumed would wash out took the Alliance's best and brightest young pilot candidates to school.
"All right, Mr. Ryan," Beckett amended. "Permission granted, check out your gear and suit up. We are go mission everybody. Wheels up in twenty."
"Captain Beckett," Hastings called out, "permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Denied," Beckett stated flatly, knowing what her objection would be, "you have your orders, Gunnery Chief, suit up and move out!"
One hour later
Kate sat at the controls of the Mako with the engine running at a position equidistant to all of the torches and waited for the reports to come in. She always hated being the one in charge of an operation. Of sending people out, knowing some of them might not be coming back. It was the hardest thing to get used to after N-7 training was completed. Having to be the one to make that call instead of being there to do the job herself.
She'd received the "objective complete" messages from First and Second squads, but not yet from Third squad. Until...
"Third squad...requesting assistance... they've mined the approach to the torch!" came Hastings voice followed by static.
Kate was just about to put the Mako into gear when the comms lit up again.
"Tali'Zorah to Command..." Tali shouted, her voice shaking, "Do not... I repeat do not approach our position, the area is salted with vehicle demolition mines. Hastings is down with a suit rupture, one Marine is dead and I sent the rest of the squad ahead to secure the beacon and and disable the minefield."
Followed again by silence and a burst of static.
Ten Minutes Earlier
Tali knew that Hastings did not trust her. She would not flinch in her duty, would make sure she made it back to the Normandy per her orders, but that was as far as that went. Tali could respect that. It was a lot more consideration than she'd ever received on the citadel. At least the woman never stooped to calling her "suit rat," like the turian clerk who ran the Zakera Ward homeless shelter.
"Get a move on, Zorah!" Hastings shouted, "we're waiting on you!"
"Something doesn't feel right," Tali tried to tell her, "my suit scanners are going crazy."
Hastings was about to turn and tell her to shut up, when Lance Corporal Saunders took another step and hit a mine. He took nearly the entire brunt of it and was almost completely vaporized.
"Third squad, requesting assistance!" Hastings shouted into her mic just before a wave of dizziness hit her, "they've mined the approach to the torch!"
Hastings pitched over revealing a piece of shrapnel had cleanly bisected the regulator hose to her helmet and her suit was venting atmosphere.
"I think you're clear of the mines!" Tali shouted to the others, tossing Private Talabi an OSD, "use that to crack any security they have and take the torch! I've got the chief!"
Without a second thought for the fact she may be signing her own death warrant, Tali ejected the now useless regulator interface from Hastings helmet and connected the emergency hose from her own, linking their suit atmospheres. With that task completed, she brought her own helmet mic online.
"Tali'Zorah to Command..." Tali shouted, the infection already setting in like an allergic reaction, making her voice shaky, "Do not... I repeat, do not approach Fusion Torch Three, the area is salted with anti vehicle mines. Hastings is down with a suit rupture, one Marine is dead and I sent the rest of the squad ahead to secure the torch and disable the minefield."
Tali looked up to see a batarian bearing down on them. His four eyes beneath his helmet bright with glee. Tali was not able to get to her shotgun without disconnecting from Hastings and she doubted she'd be able to see straight to fire it when the batarian's head promptly exploded.
"Team Three Lead this is Archangel Gabriel," Ryan stated over the comm from his mountain perch atop the antenna shed after a second batarian was center-punched with an explosive-tipped rifle round, "The Grim Reaper and I will guide you safely to the promised land. Leave the bad guys to us."
Ryan sighted in on another batarian from atop the shed and sent a third round downrange. Shooting in a zero atmosphere micro gravity environment allowed him to sight in a near direct line to fire into the valley as LT spotted targets for him for his third hit and second head-shot of the day. Protecting the wounded was a righteous fire mission if ever their was one.
Sniping required a different discipline and mindset than aggressively piloting a frigate – he had to eliminate all distractions, slow his breathing, lower his heart rate and exhale each time he squeezed the trigger - but he was surprised how quickly it all came back to him once he'd begun to engage enemy targets. He was so in the zone, he almost forgot about his prosthetic knee.
A few minutes later the third torch went out and the Mako was on the move.
"Are you there?" Rose Freeman whispered over the comm in Kate's helmet, "You've got to hurry, you've really pissed them off. Their leader's got them setting charges, I think he's gonna blow the whole facility!"
Kate was about to answer her with something reassuring when a loud, angry sounding voice boomed.
"Get away from there!"
"Don't shoot!" Rose pleaded. "Please! No!"
After that, the comms whined, shrieked and then went dead. Kate punched the accelerator and the Mako lurched forward.
Back in the main complex, a pair of batarians held Rose Freeman and her brother Matt at gunpoint as the angry looking batarian who was clearly their leader stalked into the room. At a nod from him, one of the two holding them at gunpoint kicked the back of Matt's knees savagely, forcing him to kneel.
"Who's shutting down the torches?" The angry batarian leader demanded as he pointed his pistol at the back of Matt's head.
Rose looked at her brother, the truth at the tip of her tongue, ready to spill freely from her lips until Matt looked up at her, shook his head and mouthed "Don't".
"I won't ask you again." the batarian leader stated coldly, selecting sledgehammer rounds with his thumb.
Rose did the only thing she could do - though it broke her heart, sending a tear streaming down her cheek - she turned her back and did what her bother wanted. Too many lives were hanging on the shoulders of a woman so young. The batarian leader pulled the trigger, twice. Matt's body jerked involuntarily then collapsed and went still
"Find this problem and deal with it." the leader commanded then stalked from the room. "Lock her up with the others!"
The Mako barreled into the arroyo holding the access hatch to the main complex of the asteroid retrieval operation. Castle, at the controls of the main gun, blasted away at the defense turrets the batarians had quickly set up. The heavy canon and chain gun made short work of the batarians' hastily cobbled together outer defenses. When active resistance ceased, the Mako drew up to the hatch and skidded to a stop.
"Move out!" Kate ordered, then into her comms, "all available ground units engage in rescue operations for team three and triage the wounded for medivac to the Normandy."
The reception area was eerily quiet when the doors slid open. Castle checked the atmosphere and nodded so they each touched a control on their omni-tools which retracted the breathing apparatus on their helmets.
"Be on the lookout," Kate said "All three teams reported that their numbers were small at all the torches, but we still don't know how many terrorists we're dealing with here at the main control complex. Wrex this would be a good time for your angry krogan act."
"Who says I'm acting?" Wrex rumbled in response before he charged biotics and drew his heavy shotgun.
Action commenced when they moved into the atrium of the complex. From the more elegant construction it was clear that this was to be a long term construction project after X-57 was in a stable orbit around Terra Nova. Elysium had done the same to construct the Grissom Academy, Castle mused, it was less expensive to move a whole asteroid than to put construction materials in orbit. It was clear that the colonists here were looking to do the same. Anything left over could then be sold at a tidy profit to cover the costs of construction. By the time it was done the place would make a lovely satellite and few would know it had ever been an asteroid.
The batarians opened fire as soon as they were through the door, but clearly these were not front line fighters. Even with two to one numerical superiority at each of the torch facilities they had clearly been no match for the aggressive tactics of trained Alliance Marines. Their attacks though spirited were disorganized and easily swept aside. Half their number were taken down in a single charge from the rampaging krogan, Wrex who tore into them with a relish that few could understand. He hadn't been kidding, he really did like to fight.
Castle and Beckett turned in the opposite direction and took the other side of the circular atrium. They leap-frogged from cover to cover in a slower, more methodical approach until they and Wrex met on the other side of the facility near the stairs leading to the main control center.
"You humans," The batarian leader announced coldly from the top of the stairs, flanked by two more batarians and four varren. "You're almost more trouble than you're worth."
"Let the hostages go, batarian and maybe you'll live long enough to answer to the Citadel Council." Kate commanded.
"I am Commander Balak of the Batarian Rebellion," Balak stated coldly, "I don't answer to the council, or to you! I am leaving this asteroid. My men have set charges all over this complex with the detonator set to my heartbeat. If I die, your little helper and all of her friends on this asteroid are going to die. Killing these people is nothing!" You humans have done worse to the batarian people. We've been forced for decades to survive on what we could scrounge up!"
"Don't make it sound like you're the innocent party here," Kate shouted back, "your people brought the condemnation of the galaxy down on yourselves!"
"Really?" Balak ranted contemptuously. "You invaded our space, took our resources. When we petitioned the Council for aid, they brushed us off! We were left to defend ourselves, but you humans were stronger than us. We knew that, the council knew that, but it didn't matter to them. You and your kind are the only reason we're in this position!"
"Even if that were true," Kate interjected, "how exactly does murdering millions of innocent people make up for that?"
"We had no other option!" Balak spat back at her. "Sometimes you have to do something drastic to get people's attention before they'll listen! That's why we attacked you at Elysium and why we're doing this now! You forced our hand!"
"Bullshit!" Kate shot back, growing even more angry. "You attacked us first. When we retaliated, you ran off to the council hoping for help. When you didn't get it and were too cowardly to face us yourselves, you set up a proxy war to get others to do your dirty work for you. When even that didn't work, you ran away and hid like the cowardly slavers yous are!"
"Enough!" Balak shouted. "You couldn't possibly understand! You don't want to understand! I'm done wasting my breath! We're leaving and if you want these "innocent" civilians to live you won't try to stop us!"
"Go, you cowardly piece of shit," Kate hissed, "you will see me again."
A few moments later her comm unit buzzed.
"Ground team, this is Normandy actual," Pressly stated into her comm, "I have a ship lifting from the surface, signature reads batarian but it's not broadcasting any registry. Permission to intercept."
"Negative, Normandy," Kate replied, "begin medivac operations then get me a damage control party and a bomb disposal unit down here on the double! We need to do a sweep for IED's and get this rock stabilized, ASAP."
After the bomb disposal unit performed a careful sweep for explosive devices – finding several, some tied to the fusion torch control interfaces and others set to blow out sections of bulkheads and others attacked to doors holding the command crew and engineers for the asteroid move – the damage control party began checking the primary systems for sabotage, finding none.
An older man, who identified himself as Simon Book, the chief engineer of the project came out of hiding.
"Balak left?" he asked when Kate told him that the area was secure. "Is that... is that all right? Did Rosie and her team make it? Are they okay? We were all unarmed so I ordered everybody to split up and hide when the batarians landed and started shooting, but when I lost track of them, I..."
"They had better be," Kate muttered, "I let Balak walk so he wouldn't blow them up. If they're not, he is gonna have a very short, unhappy life."
"You let him go to save them?" Simon asked incredulously, "Is that... won't you get in trouble for that? Couldn't Balak could do the same thing somewhere else?"
"Have you ever hunted, Simon?" Kate asked. "I mean actually stalked an animal in the wilderness?"
"No," Simon replied, "I can't say that I have."
"Hunting an animal requires patience and discipline." Kate explained darkly, "I'll make sure the Alliance knows about Balak. Myself or another Marine just like me will wait for this particular batarian animal to pop his head up again. When he does, the full weight of the Alliance Navy and Marine Corps will rain fire down upon him like the wrath of God."
"Well, I wouldn't want you coming after me," Simon replied, repressing a shiver. "Thank you Captain Beckett, for my grandchildren's lives. You did it. Another hour at full burn and our course would have been irreversible. I ran the numbers, X-57 would have struck near the capital city, the most densely populated region of Terra Nova. Thanks to you, the main computer was able to put us back on our original course. You and your Marines have saved us all.
Three Hours later
"Gunnery Chief Hastings woke slowly, her eyes extremely heavy, but when she finally managed to pry them open her nose and mouth were covered with an oxygen mask. As her eyes began to focus on her surroundings she began to take in her surroundings – Normandy's sick bay – and breathed a sigh of relief. She was fully aware of the fate that batarians meted out to their prisoners.
A nurse lifted the oxygen mask and lowered a cup and a straw to her lips from which she drank greedily as if she had been trapped in a desert. A few moments later she was met by the kind, but severe face of Dr. Lanie Parrish.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Chief Hastings," Lanie offered. She'd had to pronounce time of death on two of the Marines from Tean Three that morning due to radioactive round poisoning and was relieved to see one of her patients recover.
"What happened?" Hastings whispered. The last thing she remembered was the whoosh of air as her regulator hose gave way.
"Your regulator took a shrapnel hit from the mine," Lanie whispered, "one of your team connected their emergency hose to keep you alive until help arrived."
"Who...?" Hastings asked, the only member of her team near her had been the quarian. "How?"
Lanie slid back the privacy sheet to reveal Tali'Zorah lying unmoving in the biobed next to hers, the monitor beeped regularly, but she didn't move, except for the rise and fall of her chest inside her enviro-suit.
"Tali moved fast after you were hit," Dr. Parrish whispered, "in spite of the risk of infection due to her species weak immune system, she connected her oxygen system to your damaged regulator. Her suit environment was linked to yours for nearly two hours before the Normandy could medivac you out. She collapsed from the infection as soon as the two of you were brought aboard.
"Oh... my god..." Hastings whispered, "is she...?"
"I don't know," Dr. Parrish whispered, her face knotted with worry, "I've pumped her full of quarian antibiotics and made sure her suit's feeding apparatus had plenty of nutrients but, that's all I can do. The rest is up to her."
**Author's note** I would like to take a moment to note today's date. September 11, 2016. Fifteen years ago today two aircraft struck and destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center and another crashed into the Pentagon. A fourth aircraft was believed to have been targeting the White House, but was stopped when passengers stepped up, rallying to the words "Let's Roll" to attempt to retake Flight 93 at the cost of their lives. Please remember the nearly 3,000 people who died on that day of infamy, including the first responders who valiantly gave their lives trying to save them.
Honor The Fallen