2. Everyone's Grudge
"All ships. This is Admiral Hackett. The Crucible is on the move. I repeat, the Crucible is on the move. Protect it at all costs." Hackett gives the orders to the fleets guarding the super-weapon and Commander Shepard's pulse quickens. It would be in position above Earth soon.
Sitting across from Admiral Anderson in the tank, she glances up at him. Shepard can tell he's thinking about something, or maybe someone. Maybe Kahlee Sanders and the things he wishes he had said. Her own thoughts drift to Garrus and their conversation before the push through the no man's land. If this really is the end, if that kiss was really our last...
"From here onward, it'll be a straight shot to the Conduit," says Anderson. His voice pulls Shepard out of her heavy thoughts.
"A straight shot with reapers trying to crush us along the way," Major Coats retorts.
Liara keeps her deep blue eyes focused straight ahead, her expression tense. Part of her wants to give the human male a good shock with her biotics to shut him up. Despite what Shepard said to her earlier, Liara can't ignore the dread that this may be the last she would see her friend. She doesn't need Coats bringing up just how impossible the situation looks. After losing Thessia to the reapers, she could not shake the feeling that she would lose Shepard as well.
"We just need to get a handful of troops through," Anderson continues.
"Is that all?" Garrus scoffs, a sharp bitterness replacing his usual cool bravado. Liara looks at him. His agitation is obvious and she wonders if he feels the dread too.
"We knew this would be a gamble at best."
Commander Shepard stands and nods at the Admiral. Her teammates and Coats stand as well.
"I can't think of anyone else I'd rather do this with," Shepard says to her squad.
"I'm honored to be a part of your team," Liara says, straightening her shoulders.
Shepard meets Garrus's gaze and he gives her a small affectionate smile that softens his stoic demeanor just a bit.
Kaidan's voice comes through the comm link. "Commander, a reaper ship is about to touch down at the beam. Where are you?"
"Damn it!" Anderson slams a closed fist against the wall of the tank.
"We're in sight of the target," Coats replies to Kaidan.
"I see you now, Major."
"Shit! So do the reapers," James cuts in from the tank leading the convoy. "Brace for impact!"
The reaper's attack strikes Shepard's vehicle. The explosion rocks the tank causing it to tumble down a hill of debris. Anderson is the first one out followed immediately by the Commander. The cold wind and rain mixes with the dirt and smoke swirling in the air. The Conduit is just ahead of them, a platform at its base and surrounded by three dark towering pillars that seem to reach into the sky like claws. The light from the beam envelops the area and casts a haunting cyan glow over the landing reaper. It's Harbinger.
Shepard looks at the distance between them and their goal. They aren't that far away. They can reach it if they're fast enough.
"We gotta move!" shouts Anderson.
"Come on!" Shepard readies her assault rifle as she slides down the embankment of rubble and toward the path to the beam.
"Hammer squads, go go go!" Anderson gives the orders, charging with the troops in the rush to the Conduit.
Sprinting at full speed, Shepard is nearly caught off guard by Harbinger's laser as it scorches the ground just two feet to her right. The impact causes her to lose her footing on the slippery and broken ground and her rifle flies from her hands. She leaves it, drawing her sidearm instead as she renews her mad dash for the platform.
The adrenaline coursing through her veins is now at full effect. Shepard can make out Garrus and Liara calling out to her from somewhere behind her but she can't stop. Reaching the beam is all that matters now. Through her earpiece she hears James ordering the tanks and ground assault vehicles to keep moving forward.
There's an explosion to her right as his tank is hit. The reaper's focus is on the vehicles now. Taking advantage of the enemy's distraction, she keeps her swift pace steady. A krogan assault vehicle at her left takes a direct hit from Harbinger, the impact sending it rolling backwards in flames as a second vehicle crashes into it. Her comm link cuts to static, not that she can hear it over the sounds of the battlefield and the buzz of the Conduit. The closer she gets to the platform, the louder the sound becomes, almost drowning out everything else.
Suddenly chunks of concrete and dirt shoot into the air in front of her as Harbinger's laser blasts the surrounding area. The heat and force knocking her into the air. Shepard crashes into the ground, landing on her left arm before everything goes dark.
The loud whirring of the beam is the first thing she senses. The blinding blue glare is the second. Damn it. I'm so close. Commander Shepard's thoughts give way to the pain on her left side and the burning in her lungs with every inhale. The rain and wind cools her skin as she slowly gets up, grabbing her pistol from the ground. In the distance she sees Harbinger drift away in to the night sky. A barrage of voices breaks through the static on comm link and she can make out some of the familiar ones over the drone of the Conduit.
"God-they're all gone." It's Major Coats.
"Can anyone here me? Did they make it to the beam?" Kaidan's voice. "Commander? Shepard do you copy?"
"Negative," Coats replies. "Our entire force was decimated within 50 feet it."
"We can't get through the wreckage to get any closer. We lost track of Shepard." Is that Wrex?
"It's too much. We need to regroup. Fall back to the buildings," Coats orders. "All forces retreat now!"
She slowly turns to look back at the path she'd just charged though. It's blocked now. A wall of smoke behind her, flaming vehicles and debris. Dead soldiers and carnage litter the area near her. Shepard tries to speak but the only sounds she can make are weak moans of pain. Her forearm plates are shredded and mangled and she lets the useless pieces of broken armor clatter to the ground.
The pain and exhaustion echo with each step as she moves closer to the platform of the Conduit. She doesn't see the three husks until they get within 10 feet of her. The pistol is heavy as she aims it at the abominations. Everything feels like it's in slow motion. Each pull of the trigger, the force of every shot, feels like it's setting her arm on fire, but they eventually fall and Shepard finally reaches the platform.
A movement off to the side catches her eye. A marauder. She can't seem to lift the pistol fast enough and the enemy gets the first shot as a result. The bullet punctures the Commander's damaged armor. The impact nearly knocks her over. Steady, Shepard. Line up the shot. She holds her breath and aims again. Pulls the trigger. Direct headshot. She exhales as the marauder's body falls to the ground. Shepard continues on to platform and into the blinding light. And then there's nothing. Just cold and darkness.
Garrus comes to amidst debris, concrete and chunks of metal from the destroyed vehicles. Staggering to his feet, his head is throbbing and with a deep inhale he feels a plate on the right side of his chest fracture with a soft crack. Looking down confirms his armor has been punctured by a piece of shrapnel. He grips the metal shard and pulls outward. The turian notices the navy blue coating the piece of steel before he lets it drops to the ground. The wound isn't too deep. But that's not his main concern now.
Shepard, where are you? His sharp eyes scan the surrounding area for her. Fire rages in the trench cut by Harbinger's devastating attack. A wall of mangled heavy metal and flames 15 feet in front of him blocks the way to the Conduit. Desperately he searches for any movement or the royal blue of her N7 armor, but to no avail. He lost sight of her once the wave of ground assault vehicles moved in. The last thing he can remember is the chain of explosions and a shower of burning metal.
"Garrus!" Liara calls his name from the distance behind him. He turns his head away from the blaze to look in her direction. Kaidan is helping Liara off the battlefield. The asari's lower left leg is badly wounded, her dark purple blood dripping down her foot and on to the ground. To the left, Major Coats and a couple Alliance soldiers pull a nearly unconscious James out of his damaged tank.
Garrus returns his focus to the inferno blocking his path. A gash on his left brow drips a small rivulet of indigo blood onto his dusty visor. He flips it up to the top of his head and begins calling out her name as loudly as he can. "Shepard!"
The skilled sniper attempts to use his Mantis scope to see past the haze but the smoke is too thick. He prepares to charge through the blaze when a blur of crimson grabs hold of his shoulders, dragging the turian backwards with such strength he's knocked off his feet.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Javik's voice is harsh and accusatory.
"Damn it!" Wrex swears at him. "Getting yourself burned to a crisp isn't going to do any good."
They continue to pull him back, away from the beam. Liara calls to Garrus again from the top of an embankment. "We can't stay here in the open. Another reaper is closing in on this location."
"We need to fall back into the cover of the buildings now!" says Wrex. "You can't help her if you're dead, Garrus."
He furiously shakes Wrex and Javik off of him before giving one last look to the obliterated battlefield. The glow of the beam seems to be mocking him. Heavy-hearted, Garrus turns away and trudges along with the others towards the derelict structures to their west.
Kaidan applies medi-gel to Liara's leg then lifts her right arm over his shoulder helping her walk. Tears well in her eyes, realizing that Shepard would not be climbing out of the of wreckage. "Kaidan... she's gone. We've lost her."
He clenches his jaw, shaking his head in disbelief and shock. "No... she's not...Shepard could have made it to the beam." His voice trails off at that last part to almost a whisper. Kaidan forces the thoughts from his head, trying to feel nothing at all, to become numb. They limp slowly towards the buildings, away from the wreckage and their failure.
The group takes refuge in the ground level of a nearby building as the reaper sirens get louder. Two destroyers are converging on the beam by the time they make it to the rendezvous point.
Garrus sits on the edge of a heavy metal desk and glances around at the interior of their shelter. The structure was an office building of some kind before the invasion. Some of the windows are still intact. No electricity except for some small emergency lights in the ceiling. A handful of krogan and human soldiers including some from Kaidan's biotic squad, are scattered throughout the first floor. Most are wounded and they are treating the serious injuries the best they can.
Coats and another male Alliance solider carry James in. Liara instructs them to place the critically injured Lieutenant on a dusty couch near the wall. Bruises cover his face. Garrus can hear Liara comment that his ribs could be broken and it's very likely he has internal injuries. He coughs up some blood attempting to say something to her. Garrus pulls the full unit of medi-gel from the utility belt of his armor and tosses it over to Liara.
"Thank you, Garrus," she replies, catching the medi-gel with her biotics. She hooks it up to the medic module in the Lieutenant's armor so it can be injected directly into his chest through the suit and then opens her omni-tool to monitor the dispersal.
"Is that any better? Are you having trouble breathing, James?" Liara asks.
"No," he replies, now able to speak. "It still stings like a bitch though, but I'll be ok."
"Good. In that case let's keep your armor on. It will provide support for your ribs until we can get you proper medical attention." She gives James her own remaining medi-gel. "Hang on to this. If you start getting light-headed, use the entire unit immediately."
Garrus notices Javik staring out of one of the broken windows, watching the reapers in the distance. He looks exhausted and his armor is dented and punctured in places, but the last surviving prothean seems to be in relatively good shape. No bleeding or serious injuries apparent. Do protheans even bleed? Garrus wonders to himself.
In another corner of the room, Wrex removes the twisted armor from his right shoulder. It's dislocated, the bones clearly misaligned. He also has a new crack in his spiked plating above his right temple, though Garrus can barely see any blood. Hard-headed as always.
One of the krogan helps the Battlemaster snap his shoulder into place, several of the human soldiers cringing at the sound. "Ah, good as new," Wrex declares.
"Cortez here." The pilot says over the comm link. "Can anybody hear me? Did you make it to the rendezvous point?"
Garrus jumps to his feet and adjusts his earpiece. "Cortez, we're at the rendezvous point. We lost Shepard. EDI, can you locate her?"
"Searching...," EDI replies over the link. "I am sorry. I can not locate the Commander. The beam could be interfering with the signal."
"Or she could have reached the Conduit," Javik interjects.
"If anyone could have made it, it's Shepard." Wrex agrees.
"We can't get a hold of Anderson either. Maybe there's a chance," says Coats.
"Garrus, we have the Kodiak up and running," Tali says over the comm link. "We'll pick you up at the rendezvous point. We have medi-gel and supplies. Are there any serious injuries?"
His mind is moving a mile a minute. She wasn't out there. I'm sure I would have spotted her on the ground if she were one of the dead. And she was so far ahead of me before the ground troops were decimated... she could have made it to the Citadel. This may not be over yet. He has some hope and clings to it.
"We'll be ready, Tali. We could use whatever supplies you've got. Most of the ground units didn't make it and we're all pretty beat up, but we'll live. Vega's in bad shape though."
"We're closing in on your location," she replies. "Grunt and Aralakh are traveling by ground and they have found some surviving Alliance as well. They lost communication during the Hammer assault but EDI can connect him with Wrex now."
Wrex's conversation with Grunt becomes mere background noise for Garrus as his thoughts continue to race. Is Shepard ok? She could be injured. Is Anderson with her? What the fuck is taking Cortez so long? If-
"Garrus," Liara asks, a desperate hopefulness to her voice. "Do you really think she made it?"
He pauses for a second before nodding. "Wrex is right. If anyone could have reached the Conduit, it would be her. And if she's on the Citadel, that's where we're going." I'll be there for you this time, Shepard. I won't fail you again.
"I'm with you, Garrus." she says, much more assured this time. If there is any chance Shepard is still alive, they had to get to her.
They organize their next steps while waiting for the shuttle. Aralakh and the Alliance soldiers are just minutes away. Kaidan opts to stay with his squad. The war on Earth isn't over and if Shepard or Anderson didn't make it, they would have to prepare for a second push to the Conduit. Javik also decides he will be more useful on the ground with the Alliance and krogan troops. Coats orders all remaining Hammer troops to regroup at the FOB.
Cortez lands the shuttle at the entrance to the building, Tali charging out of the Kodiak before it even touches the ground. She rushes to them. Kaidan helps Liara out to the shuttle and hands her off to Tali. EDI exits the shuttle with a medical supply box and heads towards James and the others.
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Liara asks Kaidan.
"I want to, Liara. More than anything," he replies. "But I can't leave my squad or the other Alliance troops. If Shepard didn't make it..."
"We'll find her, Kaidan," Tali says.
He gives them a small smile and nod that does little to hide his worry. "Good luck and be careful. The area is still crawling with reapers."
"You too, Kaidan," says Liara. She and Tali board the shuttle as he goes to find Garrus.
Wrex declines a medical pack from an Alliance solider with a smirk. "I'm fine, besides looks like Vega could use all the medi-gel you've got." The krogan nods towards James as another human solider tends to the Lieutenant's injuries. "Gotta hand it to you though. You're tougher than the average human. Not as tough as a krogan or Shepard of course, but I'm still impressed."
James chuckles at Wrex's joke, revealing blood-covered teeth. He's still not out of the woods yet, but the medical supplies are helping.
"Garrus, I need to talk to you before you go," Kaidan says walking up to Garrus and EDI as they head towards the Kodiak.
The turian instructs EDI to set up the coordinates for the Normandy pick up before he turns to face Kaidan. "What is it, Alenko?"
There's tension between them. Something neither have had the time to address. Garrus is fully aware of Kaidan's attempt to rekindle a relationship with Shepard, but she chose him. Not Kaidan.
Kaidan takes a deep breath. "Look, I know you and Shepard are together."
"We're more than just together. This isn't some fling," Garrus counters forcefully.
"I know that and I can't lie and say that those feelings I had for her are gone," Kaidan pauses, trying to keep the resentment from his voice. He sighs. "I still love her... but in all the time we spent together, she never looked at me the way she looks at you."
"I'm-" Garrus starts to apologize for his outburst, but Kaidan quickly raises his hand to stop him.
"I just wanted to say good luck. I don't know how all this will end, but I wanted to let you know that I wish you both the best. Look after her ok? Keep her safe, Garrus."
"I will," he says, shaking hands with Kaidan.
Moments later, the Kodiak is back in the air. Cortez flies low and uses the buildings for cover until they're away from the city core and near the pick up zone for the Normandy.
"Joker, we're ready for you," Cortez says to the Normandy pilot over the comm link.
"What took you so long?" Joker answers. "I'm making the final decent now. Let's go get the Commander."
Garrus couldn't agree more with Joker's sentiment. He'd already lost her once after the original Normandy was destroyed more than two years ago. He wasn't there to save her then but this would be different. He was not going to lose her again.
Author's Notes:
Thanks for reading the 2nd chapter and for all the story and author alerts!
Apologies for the typos in the previous chapter. I realized I'd been spelling Coats's and Kaidan's names wrong and also Aralakh. So they are corrected here. (I'll go back and correct the typos of the first chapter eventually as well.)
So the news came out a few days ago that BioWare has plans for some "closure" DLC. I've got my fingers crossed that it will be something fitting for this awesome game. Of course in the meantime, at least we've got our fanfiction. ;)