The Beginning
He was the unseen, the silent blade. She was the protector, the shining lance.
Together, they will fight.
Right and wrong are more often shades of gray than black and white.
Can they change the fate of the galaxy?
Can they save each other?
Kolyat,
I hope this message finds you well. I'm happy to hear that your new duties are not too onerous. I have been in contact with Captain Bailey as well. He informs me you are an apt assistant and that he hopes to make you a permanent part of C-Sec once your term of service is over. It would be a promising position, should you wish to pursue it. Perhaps you would be able to give me a tour of their offices someday.
Shepard has just called for a full assemblage to begin in a few moments for those few of us who are left. The Collectors stole our crew, our friends from us, and she intends to take them back. She vows that every innocent soul is under her protection and that she will reclaim them all. I hope that you will come to see her as I do-she is worthy of great respect.
I must go now. The last of our mission lies before us, Amonkira light our path. Shepard is confident that we will return, but if this is my last message to you, know that I am proud to be named as your father. And I love you, my son.
-Thane
The briefing room was crowded. He still felt the discomfort associated with long isolation, even among those that he considered friends and comrades. But this was different. Perhaps it was the lack of extraneous noise that gnawed at his sensibilities. The people of the Normandy were the pulse of the ship, much like Shepard was its heart. Without them, the harmony was broken, halting, limping.
Even Shepard seemed to be affected as she paced beside the conference table where Joker sat. He could see her occasional uneasy twitches during her gentle questioning. "Tell me what happened."
Joker grimaced, straightening his hat in irritation. "You know what happened. It was the old Normandy all over again."
"I'm sorry, Joker, but I need to know the details."
"Fine. After the IFF was installed, it began broadcasting a signal. I thought it was just static at first. Maybe if I'd noticed sooner..."
"There was no way we could have detected the signal prior to activating the IFF, Jeff. It was not your fault." There was a discernible difference in EDI's method of speech since she had been unleashed. She seemed..friendlier, particularly toward the angry pilot.
"Yeah, I suppose. Anyway, they hit us hard. Hadley and Hawthorne and the others tried to fight them off but there were too many." Joker slumped lower on his perch, shrugging as if to shake away unwanted images. "I can still hear Kelly screaming when I stop talking. EDI said she could stop them if I took the blocks off of her programming. I had to crawl. Through vents. Not as easy as some people make it look, you know?"
"Unshackling a damned AI was the only thing you could think of?" Miranda demanded. "Do you know what could have happened?"
"Listen, Miss Perfect-" Joker started.
"Enough, both of you." Shepard cut the air with the flat of her hand to short circuit the argument. "I don't want to hear it. Joker, continue."
"That's about it. EDI sealed off the drive core and vented all the decks. I woke up, and called you, and look, here you are."
"I'll bet it was a rough ride, how're you holding up?"
"There's a lot of empty chairs in here." His momentary spurt of energy spent, Joker leaned back against the table again.
EDI appeared again above her imaging plate. "We did everything we could Jeff."
"Yeah thanks Mom."
"Joker..."
"Sorry Commander."
Shepard glanced at EDI's sensor pad. "Omega was our last stop before the relay. We've done everything we can. I think it's time to take the fight to the Collectors. EDI, what's the status of the IFF?"
"The IFF has been cleaned and is online, Commander, but there is a chance that the Normandy will not survive the Omega Four relay. Once we are en route we will be committed."
"We'll have to take the chance sooner or later. The Collectors took my people. I'm going to go get them back. I have every confidence in our strength and abilities." Shepard's voice softened as she met each pair of eyes in turn. "We've been through a lot together. Trust is our strength and victory will be our reward. Lives are depending on us. We won't let them down."
Everyone seemed to draw encouragement from her speech. Even Joker moved with more energy as he saluted. "You got it commander. Plotting a course to the Omega 4 relay. ETA about two hours. I'll let you know when we arrive."
"Very well. Dismissed!" She nodded to each person, clasping each arm in an encouraging grip.
Thane left the room last to give the crew time to disperse before he went up to her cabin. He took his time, walking slowly to allow every smell, scent and touch sink into his mind. It might be the last time he experienced any of those sensations that he had come to identify as home. He knew that Shepard would want to personally check each of her team one last time and he had no where else to go. He could wait.
He sat quietly, his hands clasped on his lap, staring at the stars streaming past her clear cabin ceiling. What would it be like, he wondered, to fall asleep with a warm body next to him and that glorious view overhead? He wasn't sure if he would get the chance to find out.
Soon, they would take the fight to the Collectors. A suicide mission by any account. Once, that would have suited him well. He remembered his first words to her. He had moved toward his demise eagerly, had looked forward to Kalihira's grace. If he had felt fear, it was a distant, unimportant emotion. He had known only battle, the instant decisions required to complete a contract.
Heartbeats. Ringing susurrations, racing rapidly through my veins. Each thump carries lifeblood and adrenaline in equal measure.
Familiar battle emotions. He had disregarded them in the past and tried to do so again. The task was not as simple as it once was. Not since Shepard. He tried to calm himself with thoughts of the rescue. Instead of taking dark things out of the galaxy, he would be keeping good things in it. He did not consider this a contribution, but perhaps it was a step in the right direction. He used these thoughts to try and push the numbness back, but only succeeded in creating a hard knot in his chest.
She came into the room, unsurprised to see him waiting for her. Without a word, she nestled under his arm, pulling her legs up in her favorite pose. She waited for him like she always did, her patience an infinite well of understanding. He spoke to her of the fear that he felt now.
"I have known I will die for many years. I've tried to leave the galaxy better than I found it. We've righted many wrongs, you and I. I should be at peace on the eve of battle. I've worked so hard. Meditated and prayed and done good deeds. Atoned for the evils I've done. Prepared. Yet I consider my body's death and a chill settles in my gut. I'm afraid, and it shames me." He rose as he spoke, turned his back to face the blank wall, clenched his fist and punched down upon the table, hoping the force and pain would drive out the cold that threatened to consume him.
"Thane," she kissed him, cupped his face in her hands, brought him back. "We are all of us afraid. Without fear, there would be no bravery. The challenge is to feel it, and face it down. Deny it your soul."
"It was simpler when I slept. Fear did not touch me then. I had nothing to lose and nothing to live for." He kissed her beautiful, wonderful lips, her solemn deep eyes, her smooth forehead, crushed her to his chest; desperately he tried to still the turmoil of his mind. "That we might be parted so quickly, I dread that the most. You have given me the galaxy, my son, and my soul; I have awoken, yet there is so little time left. And even should we survive the mission, I will still be gone quickly. Will you forgive me for leaving you, siha?"
They held each other, giving and receiving comfort. "You're not going to die, Thane. Not tomorrow, not for a long time, I swear it." She pressed him closer, her words strong and clear. The heat of her body was the only thing that diminished the cold within. "I will turn the universe upside down to find you a cure. You know my determination."
"You have so many burdens already. I didn't intend to be another."
"Love is never a burden, Thane. We chose each other in full knowledge of danger and death. Do you regret it?"
"You are my hope and my love, siha. I regret none of the time spent with you. I would swear my own oath to you. I will stay with you, always. I shall haunt you night and day, until you are old and weary and gray. And we shall discover the unknown together."
He stood now at the apex of the Citadel. The Presidium was spread out below him, the galaxy lay above, and Shepard was by his side. The Council would convene momentarily to hear their report on the Collectors. Undoubtedly, there would be a fight of words as Shepard tried to convince them of the Reaper threat.
With the new information that they had taken from the Collector Base, the Derelict Reaper and the eye witness reports of the surviving colonists, they had a better chance for success than ever before. They would unite the galaxy against the Reaper threat, or die trying. Knowing Shepard, it would be the former rather than the latter. Her strength and determination had carried the day again. He even found in himself hope for a cure to his illness. She had promised as he had promised. A minuscule microbe could not win against such a team.
She shifted her broken arm irritably. "It's never over, is it?" she asked him, gazing out over the void.
He wrapped his arm around her waist, smiling down at her. "You thrive on challenge, siha. 'Over' will never be for you."
Her delicate wry smile crept across her face for a moment before she straightened her shoulders once again. "Too true", she said. "Well, then. Welcome to the beginning."
When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we'll see
No I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me
And darlin', darlin', stand by me, oh now now stand by me
Stand by me, stand by me
If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
And the mountains should crumble to the sea
I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me
A/M: An oldie but a goodie. Stand By Me is such a perfect song for this chapter. As promised the crew plunges though Omega4 and everyone survives, blowing up the base in the meantime.
We now head in to post ME 2, so the scenarious here after may be considered AU. Just to reiterate, this is not the end, merely the beginning!
The usual gang needs to be thanked here: Kiwibliss-her Fornax is just about the best thing since sliced bread, lyssaluu who keeps trying to insert lemons in my chapter, and all of NSAS for ideas, questions and general lols. I love you guys so much!
As always, if you see something wrong, silly or just out of place, PLEASE let me know. I am open to any and all criticism that helps me to improve my style.