A/N - Once again, all credit to Bioware for the characters and universe portrayed within!
Joker glanced over his shoulder when they entered the cockpit just before they hit the Charon relay.
"Two Spectres to babysit my relay approach?" he commented with an arched brow. "Guess I haven't come up in the world."
"We're just being nostalgic, Joker, don't take it personally," Kaidan said as he braced himself behind Joker's chair. Nostalgia was one thing, but he would not take his old seat in the copilot's chair. That would remain empty, in honor of another memory.
"Nostalgic, right," Joker shot back with sarcasm. "I would have thought you got that out of your system in Starboard Obs."
Kaidan felt the blush spread over his cheeks but Kat was unruffled. "Some things are so good they bear constant repetition," she told Joker casually.
"Ok, ew, I think you win, Shepard," Joker exclaimed with a shudder. "Just keep the TMI to yourself from now on," he pleaded.
"You started it," Shepard replied, then ruined it by sticking her tongue out at him.
Everyone shared a companionable laugh before they turned their attention to the relay looming just out the starboard viewport. The pale and familiar blue glow of the relay's mass effect core showed no signs of damage. Only the physical structure around the relay showed any scars from the Crucible's devastation.
"We received word from the turian cruiser Intrepid. They'll be waiting on the other side of the relay to dock with us," Joker reported as his hands worked over the helm control panel to begin their approach.
"Take us in, Joker," Kat replied with a nod.
All three humans held their breath and kept their eyes fixed on the viewport as the Normandy negotiated the process of being sucked into the ball of blue fire and spit back out into another part of the galaxy. It was a short trip and uneventful, but they all knew that although it had once been a journey so commonplace most starship captains didn't even stop what they were doing to watch it, since the day of the Crucible, it was a risky maneuver. Under Joker's talented hands, the Normandy performed the transition with barely a shake of the floor beneath their feet. Only the audible release of breath in the cockpit marked it as anything special.
"There's the Intrepid," Joker said, pointing to a large vessel looming just out the viewport now.
"Open a channel to them," Kat ordered tersely.
"Done," Joker replied after the press of a button.
"This is Captain Alenko of the SSV Normandy hailing turian cruiser Intrepid," Kat called in a voice that was all business.
"Acknowledged, Normandy," the flanged voice over the com replied. "We are in position and prepared for docking procedures."
Kat turned the technical process of syncing up the two ships over to Joker, and only listened with half her attention as they began to move together in a dance that was vaguely similar to sex. It was a fanciful thought that she blamed on her time in Starboard Obs with Kaidan and she met his eyes and saw the memory reflected there as well. When the procedure was complete, she finally heard the words she had been anticipating.
"General Garrus Vakarian requesting permission to board," the turian at the Intrepid's com reported.
"Granted," Kat called back tersely. She was already moving to the airlock door.
Once again, she stood with barely restrained excitement while she waited for decon to complete. When the doors swooshed open, she jumped into the familiar arms of her best friend in the galaxy with an exclamation of glee that was neither professional or appropriate. Neither person in the embrace cared. Garrus tightened his arms around her, careful because her body wasn't reinforced with metal as his was. They stood there for several minutes, indulging in a reunion that had been over a year in coming. Her only contact with Garrus since the wedding had been by QEC call or the even more frustrating interstellar message system. When she finally stepped back out of the hug, Garrus greeted her cheerily.
"Shepard, you look-" he began before she rushed to cut him off.
"If you say radiant, I'm going to add another scar to that pretty face," she growled in mock irritation.
"I was going to say larger," Garrus replied carefully, "But now I'm reconsidering that, too."
"Probably a wise choice," Kaidan commented from behind them. "Good to see you, General Vakarian," he added as he offered his hand for a shake.
"Kaidan," Garrus returned the greeting and shake with evident pleasure. "Guess this will be-"
"Just like old times," Kat stepped in to say the rest with him.
"There's a lot of that going around today," Kaidan said with a grin.
"On that note, I assume you'll want to set up in the forward battery?" Kat said as she led the small group out into the CIC and headed to the elevator.
"I'm sure something needs calibrating," Garrus muttered as he followed her.
"You don't have time to calibrate," Kat said as she called the elevator. "We'll meet in the briefing room in an hour to plan our rescue."
"I'll see you there," Garrus replied before the elevator doors closed behind and swept him off to his destination.
Kaidan slung an arm over his wife casually, right in the middle of the CIC. She turned to him with a happy smile.
"I know I shouldn't be this happy," she told him with a bit of guilt.
"It's ok to feel happy at seeing your old friend and being back in action," he told her as he met her eyes. "And I feel good about our chances."
"Yeah?" she said with an arched brow, remembering another conversation when he had said the same words.
"I wasn't wrong before," he reminded her with a steady look.
"True enough," she replied and laid her head against his shoulder. She could only hope that his prediction held this time, too.
###
"The coordinates in the message sent to Oriana Lawson indicate that Miranda is being held in a high security facility here," Kat opened the briefing by pointing at the holographic display that hovered over the center of the briefing room table.
She surveyed the earnest and serious faces that watched her conduct the briefing and another wave of nostalgia swept over her. Then her eyes fell on the new face, who was so crucial to the success of this mission, and she felt the contrast sharply. She may be leading the briefing, but for the first time in her career, she'd be watching from the sidelines while others carried out her orders. She'd have no way to control the situation and the outcome would be out of her hands once she laid out their careful plans. For the first time, she regretted her pregnancy for just a second before guilt shamed her. She met Kaidan's eyes, nearly cringing as if he had heard her thought, but saw the support and love in his and allowed it to comfort her. She took a deep breath and continued.
"It's a three-level industrial facility that has been abandoned since the war. Since it once manufactured explosive ordinance for the Alliance, you can expect that it still contains hazardous materials that make this mission all the more dangerous," she warned. "The ground team will have to pick their targets carefully and watch for potential external hazards."
She waited until she saw their nods of comprehension before she moved on. She highlighted a section of the facility they were studying, deep inside the third level. The structure was underground, with the first level at the surface and then continuing down from there.
"It seems likely that Miranda would be held in this section, this is the deepest and most easily defended part of the facility," she told them, using a wave of her hand to indicate the highlighted structure. "From what we know of Cerberus, we can expect heavy resistance on each level, though, especially since they're expecting an armed infiltration. Outside the target location, they would employ heavy mechs and engineers with turrets to fortify their position. It's not going to be easy to break through."
"You need every gun you can get, then," Garrus commented with a nod.
"Exactly," Kaidan stepped in to confirm. "Which is why we're deviating from the norm. I'll lead the ground team, and Garrus, James, Kasumi, and Kris will be my squad."
"I'm going, too," Liara said firmly. "I can still handle myself in a fight."
"I was hoping you'd offer," Kaidan replied with a grateful nod.
"So the six of you will work together to reach the central area and free Miranda," Kat summarized and took charge of the briefing again. "Assuming she's still alive and well, she'll be able to assist you in your escape after Cerberus springs whatever trap they have in place."
"It's as good a plan as we can have given the lack of details," Garrus commented. "But they want you, Shepard. And they may kill Miranda if they realize you're not on the ground team. How are you getting around that?"
"Excellent question, Garrus," Kat said with a smile of approval. "We're not. They want Commander Shepard... we're giving them Commander Shepard, thanks to a little thing we humans call smoke and mirrors."
"Smoke and mirrors?" Garrus echoed in confusion.
Kat gestured to Kris, who came to stand beside her. Kat pressed a button on the center console and another image transposed itself over Kris. Suddenly there were twin images of Kat standing side by side.
"Smoke and mirrors," the real Kat announced with a wave of her hand. "Kris will wear my N7 armor... at least a modified version of it to make it seem she's pregnant – we can't take a chance that Cerberus wouldn't know about my condition. She's the same height as I am, mostly, and with the modified armor, she'll be the same build. We don't even need the holo trickery, really, unless someone gets close enough to see her face through the visor."
"And they wouldn't survive long enough to notice," Kris put in grimly.
"But we'll use it in case there is video surveillance in place," Kaidan reminded them. It was the part of the plan he had insisted on – the illusion needed to be as real as possible.
"Which we can be fairly certain there will be," Kasumi confirmed his suspicions with a nod.
"But Cerberus would also use bioscans," Liara piped in to add.
"And the Alliance has taken care of that for us," Kat reported. "They switched our DNA records before we left Earth. As far as any bioscan would show, Kris is me."
"And she's a freaking sitting duck," James growled his constant objection to the plan.
"This duck has teeth, carino," Kris soothed gently. James just waved his hand as if swatting away her objection and fell silent again.
"James is right," Kat said grimly. "They want me, we're giving them 'me', so once you get to the target area..."
"We'll protect her as if she were you." It was Kaidan's turn to soothe now.
Kat nodded and turned back to the room. "Any questions, concerns, objections?" she asked in her traditional briefing close. When James would have spoken, she raised a hand and added, "Noted, Lieutenant," before she closed the briefing by telling them, "Joker will drop us into orbit and stealth systems have been engaged since we left the Intrepid. We won't have much benefit of surprise but there's that anyway. Everyone gear up, Cortez is waiting to shuttle you down to the surface."
She watched as everyone filed out of the room except for Kaidan. She turned to him and met his eyes for a long moment of silent communication which she broke first.
"You better bring them all back," she growled around the lump in her throat. "And that goes double for you, Major."
"Aye, aye, ma'am," he replied softly before he, too, turned to go.
Kat stood in the now empty room and felt something she never had before any other mission – fear. She didn't like it. Not at all. She tried to shake her unwelcome companion with a physical shake of her head as she left the room and headed to the cockpit, where she'd pass her time while they were on the ground, monitoring the coms for any information that could reassure her.
###
It really was startling... and surreal... Kaidan thought to himself as he studied his not-wife seated across from him in the shuttle for their short journey to the planet's surface. He could, of course, easily tell the difference – even in the armor and wearing extra padding over her abdomen to make her appear pregnant, and the holo disguising her face – Kris wasn't Kat. But the similarities were enough to fool the casual observer, and they hoped, Cerberus. It needed to be as real as possible to pull this off, and failure just wasn't an option.
The shuttle came to soft landing a short distance from the facility entrance and Kaidan opened the doors and prepared to step out before Liara's voice stopped him mid-motion.
"Wait," she called as she watched him prepare to take point. When he turned to her with a questioning look, she continued, "If Shepard were really here, wouldn't she be in command, pregnant or not?"
"Good call, Liara," Kaidan said with a relieved sigh as she pointed out the mistake. He motioned to Kris, who nodded and moved up, preparing to take point. With one simple oversight, they nearly ruined the entire ruse. He gave silent thanks that Liara was here. They had to assume they'd be observed at every step, and couldn't afford stupid mistakes.
"Once we enter the facility, we need radio silence," Kaidan continued as they took formation and crept slowly toward the entrance with Kris in her Shepard disguise in the lead.
"Guess we'll get to see how good your acting is," Kasumi put in cheerfully. "Since it looks like you're leading us."
"I trust her," Kaidan said quietly. "And so can all of you."
Everyone nodded and they fell silent again as they approached the entrance. The red light over the heavy steel doors warned that the facility was sealed with electronic locks. Kris stood aside while Kasumi and Kaidan stepped up to survey the situation. It was a fairly simple hack, and Kaidan knew either of them could accomplish it easily, but he deferred to the thief with a wave of his hand as he checked his rifle once again. The bottom line was, they could both do it, but Kasumi could do it faster.
She proved him right when she had the red light over the door switched to green in a matter of seconds. She employed her cloak and faded from view as the team moved back into formation behind Kris. She lifted her fist with three fingers raised in a silent countdown. When she reached zero, she threw the door open with a metallic bang and the team rolled to cover behind her. Shots rang out over them and the battle was on.
Kaidan surveyed the area quickly from behind cover and counted the red dots his HUD displayed. Twelve to six may seem like long odds, but the six were experienced combat veterans working as a cohesive unit. Kaidan motioned with his fist behind the crate he was using for cover and split the squad into two smaller units. He sent the team led by Kris to the east to begin moving forward to flank the large group of enemies that waited for them on the far side of the room. He led his group, which included Garrus and Liara, to the west with the same intent.
They needed to complete their battles efficiently and leave no enemies behind to report the one obvious distinction between the 'Commander Shepard' leading this infiltration and the real one – Kris was an incredibly skilled soldier, but she wasn't a biotic. They hoped that if the lack of biotics was noted, Cerberus would assume that it was the uncertainty of the use of biotic skills on an unborn fetus that motivated it, but Kaidan didn't want to take any chances. They advanced slowly, picking off targets as they went.
When they reached the other side of the large entry room, which appeared to have served as a storage and holding room for the plant's finished product before it was moved off-world, only one red dot remained on Kaidan's HUD. He ducked around cover and tried to locate the last threat visually. His eyes landed on the target a few seconds later and he saw the glow of tech armor surrounding the man. Another sentinel.
He gestured to the human leader with his head and Garrus easily caught his message. He prepared a concussive shot with his rifle and nodded when he was ready. Kaidan ducked around cover and threw an overload at the sentinel while Garrus' rifle rang out at nearly the same time. Kaidan watched in satisfaction as the sentinel's armor wavered and Garrus' concussive shot, modded with armor-piercing rounds struck. Before they could ready another attack, the sentinel groaned and fell to the floor dead. Kasumi uncloaked behind him and dusted her hands with satisfaction. Her shadow strike had finished off the enemy.
The squad regrouped just before the doors and Kaidan stooped to study the dead littering the floor. Their armor bore no markings, and in fact, it bore barely any commonality. The first three corpses he studied were human, but he had heard the roar of a krogan during the fight and Garrus was stooped over a turian corpse several meters away. The human faces he studied showed no signs of modification by Reaper tech, as the one on Mars had, but he could explain that by the firing of the Crucible. But the rest... for all intents and purposes, this disparate group of enemies had appeared to be more like a cobbled together band of mercs rather than a Cerberus cell. It didn't add up.
Kaidan stood and joined Kris where she waited patiently at the control panel for the elevator that would lead further into the facility. He saw her questioning look when he approached but he simply shrugged in response. He had no answers to the questions in her eyes. Not yet. Kris accepted his dismissal and turned to play her role, motioning Kasumi forward to hack the control panel. They moved into the elevator and to the next level.
###
"They're ok," Joker finally offered reassurance to his companion when the drumming of her fingernails against the arm of the jumpseat threatened to drive him insane. She startled and turned to him as if she had just noticed his presence. "No news is good news," he added quietly.
"How do you do this?" Kat asked him around gritted teeth. "Sit up here while we're down there?" she added in clarification.
"I run systems checks, then I double check them, and when that's done I even think about what I'm going to have for lunch," Joker replied seriously, "And when none of that works, I count stars."
"Count stars?" Kat echoed in surprise.
"Yeah...," Joker confirmed with a wave out the viewport. "There's too many to ever finish, and it's so peaceful out there. It helps. Keeps my mind off... things."
Kat stared out the viewport and let her gaze settle on the dots of light blinking in the sky around them. The vast galaxy spread out beyond the glow of the planet they were orbiting, and she let some of the peace settle into her and calm her. She silently began to count.