CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Landfall

The Normandy skirted Virmire's tropical terrain by a few meters only. Kara trusted in Jeffrey's piloting skills, but not enough to watch the taller of the lush trees whip past the narrow ports. She preferred to keep her attention firmly fixed on the operations display, where Brynja watched for any sign that they had been detected. Their low altitude and the radar-resistant properties of the hull made that almost impossible, but the mission would be difficult enough if they kept the element of surprise.

"Two kilometers, Cap'n," Jeffrey reported from the helm. With no thermal camouflage, Saren's extensive facilities had proven easy to find. Located on the edge of a small continent, the complex covered almost a square kilometer of the surface. Laser turrets, and a ring of eight outposts with anti-air cannons, prevented an aerial assault, while a curtain wall made a ground assault risky without heavy artillery support.

Finding the salarians had proved more difficult. Alone and outnumbers, their only chance of surviving had been to keep moving, but Brynja had reasoned that they would monitor the wreck of their ship, in anticipation of relief or rescue. Fortunately, the salarians had left an active transmitter on the wreck, putting out a weak signal that lead them to it. The ship must have been tagged by one of the turrets, forcing them to make a rough landing in the jungle. Unable to repair the damage, the crew had stripped wreck of whatever they could, and fled into the jungle just as the geth had descended upon them. Several bodies, both salarian and geth lay in the underbrush, suggesting a rearguard, left to cover their escape.

Thankfully, Brynja proved correct, and a salarian patrol cautiously made contact with Kara as she scouted the site. Showing them her authorization from Councillor Valern, showed her the location of their camp.

"Two kilometers, Cap'n," Jeffrey reported from the helm.

They were, by now, close enough to the perimeter outposts that an observer could spot them visually, and possibly hear them. She wondered how good Geth audio receptors were. Probably excellent. Once they landed, it would be dangerous to take off without disabling the turrets.

Kara leaned over Brynja's shoulder, to switch on the comm. "Orlanis, is everyone suited up?"

"Yes, sir," the turian answered. "We're ready and waiting in the cargo bay."

"Good," Kara replied, swinging herself into the nearest seat and strapping down. Just in time, too, as the Normandy turned, decelerating rapidly. The ship dropped neatly into the small clearing near the Salarian camp.

"That was fun," Jeffrey grinned, turning his chair to face her. "Not every pilot gets to buzz a forest full of monkeys in a starship."

"Just think, Joker, they're probably making up myths about you already," Sayuri laughed, from the copilot's seat. "I just hope you didn't scratch the paintwork. The god who clipped the trees—kind of lame, if you ask me."

"Captain, can I put her on report or something? Mockery of flying like that shows a real lack of judgement."

Kara had risen while they bantered, leaning over Brynja's shoulder again as she checked the monitor for enemy activity. The blond turned in her seat, and rolled her eyes.

Kara laughed, as much at Brynja as the two pilots. She was grateful that their relationship had remained strong, despite the new tension between them. "Stop that," she muttered at the blond, before turning towards the helm. "I'll tell the monkeys. Every god needs an enemy."

"Not to mention an unsupportive captain? Fine. I'll just sit here and play with my controls."

Kara wasn't even sure if Virmire had xenomammalian life, let alone bipeds. She had only checked for dangerous predators, and found none. Warm and humid, with beautiful blue oceans and sandy shores, It was very much a garden world; the perfect place for a picnic, Brynja might have said, if not for the Geth.

"Nice flying, Jeff," Kara said. "I wouldn't want anyone else at the helm in a crisis. I don't know when I'll need you again, so I want you to take off and get some rest."

"Aye, sir," he nodded. "Sayuri, the helm is yours. Try not to crash into anything."

Not waiting for him to leave his post, Kara headed down to the cargo bay, where Orlanis had already lowered the ramp. She stood in the opening, talking with two salarians. The first was the noncom who'd made contact with them at the wreck. The second wore armor bearing the insignia of an STG captain.

"Captain Sevis Kirrahe, this is Spectre Kara Shepard," the turian said, as Kara approached.

"Spectre Shepard," he nodded, the tension in his voice obvious even through the translator. "I had hoped the Council would send an army."

Interesting, and tactically unsound to the degree that she wondered if he was testing her. It would mean putting an isolated Council fleet up against an enemy of unknown size and composition, and in its own territory. "That would be tactically premature, and it would risk war with the batarians," she noted. "Right now, we need information,

The salarian captain's dark eyes fixed intently on her face. "Such a war would benefit the Systems Alliance."

"Yes," Kara replied, narrowing her eyes as she met his gaze, "but I'm not the Alliance, and I don't want war with anyone."

"Good," Kirrahe nodded. "Sir, the situation here is dire. Saren has a significant garrison here, made up primarily of geth, backed up by krogan mercenaries. While we haven't been able to learn much about his plans, we do know that he's breeding an army of krogan."

"What?" Orlanis yelped. "That's impossible. The Genophage—"

"They've developed a cure," the salarian said.

Kara frowned. She did not approve of the salarian's bioweapon, which she considered one step short of genocide, but in Saren's hands a cure would mean a second Uprising.

"Damn," Orlanis breathed. "If word got out, the krogan would rally to Saren's cause. The cure can't be allowed to survive."

No. Not as things stood. The natural krogan birthrate required some control. If not through the Genophage, then by voluntary means. That would require a leader strong enough to unite the clans, and wise enough to find an enduring solution.

"Captain, I'd like to fully review the situation before we make any plans."

"Of course," Kirrahe agreed. "I have the relevant information uploaded to your ship."

"Good," Kara said. "Orlanis will go with you. Deploy whatever marines you need to secure the perimeter, then join me in the briefing room."

Seventeen salarians had survived, out of a crew of forty. According to Kirrahe, he had only lost two in the crash, and another five providing cover while the other survivors escaped the wreck. The rest were lost on recon missions, or in the occasional small clashes with geth patrols. Kara had brought another seventeen combat-ready soldiers, for a total of thirty-four against an army of geth and krogan of unknown size, entrenched in a fortified position. She did not care for the odds.

"Sevis, I can't allow a frontal assault," Kara insisted, studying the map of the facility thrown up on the comm room's main display. The base's primary entrance opened north onto a pair of landing pads, with far too little cover for her taste. "You'll attack the gate, but as a diversion only. I'll be leading a squad in through the secondary entrance on the east side. We'll do whatever damage we can, but our primary goal will be to locate any information on Saren's plans."

"Orlanis, you'll lead Auran and Valaris in through the drainage tunnels on the west side. Your goal will be to shut down the AA turrets, then secure the target site here," she continued, pointing at building in the southwest corner, then at an open plaza near the center. On the list of objective Kara had made up, the first priority was to destroy the base, and the genophage cure along with it. In a sense, that made her a decoy for the turian, whose job was to clear the way for the Normandy, and their makeshift bomb, made out the salarian ship's reactor.

Orlanis frowned. "I believe Yana's biotics would be more of an asset against the Krogan, if I could take her and Auran instead."

As second in command of the CSec team, she was the obvious choice to leave behind, ready to guide Kaliran and Lixandris if the situation required it. However, Orlanis' proposal also made sense, and she knew the team better than anyone else. "Alright, Orlanis," Kara decided. "It's your choice."

"I should think so," the turian agreed. "But, uh, thanks."

Kara nodded at her, then continued the briefing.

"Once our teams are in position outside the base, Kaidan will lead an attack on this outpost here," she said, pointing out the northeastern post, about half a kilometer from the gate. "He'll have a team of five and the Mako. Hopefully, the Geth will scrambled a squad to retake the outpost. Sevis, you'll hit them from behind while they engage Kaidan's team. At the same time, the third team, under Commander Rentola, will hit the second northern outpost using the Ke'val."

The salarian Ke'val aerial tank used a large mass effect core and control thrusters to glide above the terrain, allowing for lateral as well as vertical movement. While lightly armored, it had strong kinetic barriers, an axial-mounted 140mm cannon, and a turreted antipersonnel machine gun with VI control. The interior had space for only four personnel, a pilot and three passengers.

"Then we hit the main entrance," Kirrahe stated.

"Yes," Kara nodded. Control over the outposts would at least prevent the geth from deploying any air support against them, giving them a decent change of surviving the engagement. "Kaidan will lead the Normandy's marine contingent, and will act as third in command of the assault teams. Lixandris and Wrex will join your group, while Valaris and Kaliran will go with Rentola."

Kara met Orlanis' gaze. Her goal, when distributing personnel, had been to provide each team with biotic and heavy support. The turian did not look happy at having the remainder of her squad split up, her mandibles tight as she decided how to respond. Even as a diversion, the attack was dangerous, but again, what choice did they have? "I agree."

"Will the krogan be reliable?" Kirrahe asked. "What if he finds out about the cure?"

Kara had considered that point. Obviously, she would need to deal with him herself, but she believed he understood the need to prevent a second Uprising. "I'm going to tell him," she informed the salarian. "He'll be angry, but he'll see that Saren needs to be stopped."

"It's a solid plan, Shepard. Good. I recommend we attack at an hour after dawn."

"I agree." Salarians and asari had decent night vision, but the rest of them did not, and the geth almost certainly weren't affected by darkness. "Once the turrets are shut down, the Normandy will land as close to the deployment site as possible, and drop off your modified reactor. It'll then return to pick you up. Be ready to leave, and don't leave anyone behind if you can help it."

Kara found Wrex on the edge of the Salarian camp, keeping watch through the thick jungle. As a species, the krogan had an excellent sense of hearing and smell, but moderate eyesight, which in part explained their taste for close combat.

"So, what, Shepard? Have you got a plan?"

"We do," Kara said, taking up watch beside him. "You'll like it. You get to fight an endless horde of geth and krogan."

He laughed. "You're right, I do like it. So, where did he get all the Krogan from? I never heard anything about Saren contracting mercenaries."

"He's breeding them here." She braced herself, waiting for him to make the connections and challenge her. She knew it wouldn't taking him long.

"Breeding? How… you mean, he's found a cure for the Genophage?"

"Yes," she said. "And we're going to blow it up."

"What? You're going to have to explain that one, Shepard. Saren created a cure, and you want to destroy it? Maybe I should be fighting on his side."

Kara sighed. "Your people were used as pawns to fight a war before, remember? That's all you are to Saren, and we don't even known his goals. You know I can't let him succeed."

"That's not good enough," Wrex growled. "Not now. This is about my people."

"You're right, and you should be fighting for their future. I don't know what happens to them, if you side with me. I can't promise you a cure, and I can't offer you hope, but we both know what you'll get from Saren. You'll be his army, just a weapon, like you were for the Council, but with less choice and no honor, and you won't be telling tales of heroic deeds over barrels of ryncol."

Wrex grumbled, staring off into the jungle. "You're right. We'd be nothing more than tools to him. We destroyed the rachni and saved the galaxy, and as a reward the Council neutered us. Saren wouldn't be as generous."

"That's a flawed view of history, Wrex. The Council used the krogan, but your people had time enough to set their own boundaries after the Rachni Wars. They failed, and that alone made the Krogan Uprising inevitable." Kara shook her head, turning towards the krogan. "The Genophage might have ended the Uprising, but it only defeated your people because they refused to adapt. You said as much yourself."

"Yes," Wrex grunted.

"You'll be fighting under Captain Kirrahe's command, tomorrow. Will that be a problem?"

"No."

Kara nodded. Given their history, it was hardly a surprise that the krogan held a grudge against the salarians, and the turians as well, but she trusted Wrex's self control. She only hoped Kirrahe's people would show similar restraint. "Good."

She left him at his post, and started back to the Normandy. Those salarians not on watch were loading their supplies onto the ship, with some help from her crew, in preparation for their departure. Seventeen more passengers would raise the Normandy past capacity, but she had no intention of leaving them behind. How many of them would survive the battle, though? And how many of her marines were about to die? Too many.

Climbing the ramp to the cargo bay, she found Ashley in the cargo bay, studying the salarian reactor with Aaron Handel and an STG combat tech. Kara had chosen them to deploy and arm the device, and, if necessary, to guard it while the Normandy escaped. "How are you feeling, Ash?"

"Ready to fight," the marine said, shaking her head. "I just wish I were coming with you, or holding the line with the LT."

"I know," Kara smiled, placing her hand on Ashley's arm. "Someone has to guard the ship, though, and plant that thing." She nodded towards the makeshift bomb with distaste. According to Kirrahe, the reactor would produce a twenty kiloton explosion when set off, not only destroying Saren's base, but releasing toxic fallout that would linger for years. She didn't like the idea of detonating it on an untouched garden world, but the damage would heal in time.

"Sir… Kara… I may not have a chance to say it in the morning, so, good luck, and if you see that bastard Saren, put a few extra holes in him for me."

Kara saw the flash of anger in Ashley's eyes, still haunted as they were by the ghosts of the dead. There was every chance that Saren was not on Virmire at all, or that he would avoid facing her and flee, but she hoped that destroying the base alone might help the marine recover from the loss at Eden Prime. She did not want to encourage vengeance, so limited herself to a quiet; "We'll stop him."

"Good," Ashley nodded firmly. "I should get back to work. I want to go through the armory again, before I bunk down."

With the Normandy landed, the eezo core was unusually still, shut down until launch preparations began. Kara followed the narrow maintenance walkway that ran back along the interior of the hull. She hadn't been aft of the engineering control section since her first tour of the ship, shortly after she boarded it. They had been docked at Arcturus Station, at the time, just a few days from departing for Eden Prime. It had seemed like just another mission, at the time, though evidence to the contrary had begun to pile up.

She found Tali at a control station, near the aft end of the core. Further back, one could find the ship's reactor, fuel tanks, and thrusters.

"Kara? What are you doing down here?" the quarian asked, turning away from the display. It was a measure of the static-electric waste generated by the eezo core, stored in-flight in a series of sinks, visible in the sub-deck below them. Standard engineering procedure was to vent the charge into the ground, upon landing.

"I wanted to talk with you."

"Good," Tali said, said, her eyes narrowing in anger or irritation. Her voice just sounded frustrated. "I can handle myself, you know."

Kara had noticed the amount of time the quarian had logged in the training room, over the last month. She could handle a gun as well most marines, and learned a few technical tricks that added to her value against the geth. Preparing, hoping to be worthy when the moment came.

"I do."

"Then why are you trying to leave me behind?" Tali demanded. "You'll be out there, with our friends, risking your lives. I want to help."

Kara knew the feeling, but Tali was young, too young to get tossed into battle. Most human soldiers were as well, drafted by some confluence of circumstances beyond their control. Poverty, distorted history, and vids that glamorized war as some sort of heroic game. The quarian Pilgrimage tradition was hardly better, throwing their youth into the galaxy with little more than their wits and a handful of credits.

"We have an opportunity to download Saren's database," she said, quietly, "and I intend to take it. I might be able to hack the system myself, but we'll only get one chance. I'd rather you did it."

"Oh, you… I didn't realize…"

Kara frowned, and leaned over the railing. The inert core was close enough to reach out and touch. "You weren't far wrong, Tali. I wish I didn't need you out there. You're young, and maybe you think it's glorious. It isn't." She sighed. Tali would find out for herself soon enough. "I suppose that, as the daughter of an Admiral, your people expect great things from you."

"Stealing a ship is a capital offense in the Migrant Fleet," the young quarian said, her voice unexpectedly frail, growing weaker as she continued. "I don't even know if I can go home. My father probably thinks I'm a traitor."

Kara put an arm around the quarian, pulling her close. "You heard something from the Flotilla, didn't you."

Tali didn't speak, but she nodded, clinging to awkwardly to Kara.

"Listen to me, Tali," Kara said, glad to provide what comfort she could. Aboard the Migrant Fleet, a capital crime earned exile, not execution. It was not a punishment that meant much to her, but she could understand why the news might hit Tali so hard. "When this is over, we'll find you a pilgrimage gift that'll have every captain in the Flotilla trying to get you on their crew; and if that isn't enough, I'll talk to them."

Tali laughed, interrupted by a sniff that made it clear she had been crying. "Thanks, Kara," she managed, pulling out of the embrace. "Even growing up, I never considered not returning from my Pilgrimage. I guess I just needed someone to tell me that hadn't changed."

"It hasn't," Kara replied, smiling softly, "and it won't. If ever you need to talk, come find me."

Thousands of stars shimmered softly through Virmire's pristine atmosphere, clear of the thick thunderclouds which had filled the sky before nightfall. Lying atop the Normandy's hull, with her shirt folded carefully and tucked under her head as a pillow, she could almost see them whirl overhead. The cool ceramic-metal alloy felt good against her skin, a contrast to the warm and humid air that hung, silent and still, over the area.

As a spacer, she had grown up around starscapes. Since then, she had witnessed the galaxy from several perspectives, and more places than could easily remember. She had lain in the middle of thessian plains, listening to the ancient tales they imposed on the tapestry of their nighttime sky. On Elysium, a lover had shown her those things seen by the colonists; alien faces mixed up with ancient myths, and old constellations made up of different stars.

The stars above held no stories, not to her. She wondered if Saren had studied them, making up constellations of those things that occupied his thoughts, as she had sometimes done.

She closed her eyes, and tried to empty her mind. She had failed to sleep in her cabin, distracted by attempts to devise a better plan, until finally abandoning it. Outside, she believed she had dozed, though sleep itself evaded her. The upcoming fight was not the cause of her restlessness. Perhaps the occasional murmur of voices, drifting up from the salarian camp, or the rustle of animals moving through the jungle. Even the sound of waves crashing against the nearby shoreline. Or maybe some part of her insisted on enjoying what small time she had, alone, and free of the confines of her ship. Stars were undoubtedly familiar, a comfort, but her favorite view of them was always looking up at a night sky, not through a viewport.

"Kara?"

The soft voice came as a surprise, interrupting her thoughts, or waking her from a light doze. She heard the soft sound of boots against the hull, and pushed herself up on her elbow. She could see nothing of her guest, except for reflected starlight in a pair of eyes. Maybe it was company she needed, to hasten the dawn. "Yes?"

"I don't mean to disturb you—"

"Liara," Kara interrupted, a warm smile curving her lips. She sat up. Asari could see in thermal infrared, with just enough distinction to tell predators from prey, a trait evolved to ease the moonless Thessian nights, so she almost reached for her shirt, but they also had no rules against public nudity. The sight of her body would not embarrass either of them. "Sit with me."

"I couldn't sleep," Liara said, as Kara turned sideways, so that the asari could sit beside her on the curved hull. "I searched the ship for you twice, before a salarian mentioned seeing someone up here. I knew it would be you."

The asari sat, close enough that they were touching. "I also brought you tea."

That was sweet, Kara decided, as the sound of her thermos opening reached her ears. A moment later, Liara pressed a cut into her hands, she breathed in a cloud of aromatic steam. Green tea. "Thank you."

"It's almost dawn."

And with it came time to start prep. She had been blissfully unaware of the hour, though it did feel right. Maybe she could even sense of faint lightening of the eastern horizon, where her eyes now watched, soon to spread across the sky, washing out the stars. "Yeah."

It surprised her how glad she was, not to be alone. The appreciation for dawn was a universal attraction, to thing that brought light and warmth, dispersing the shadows and their unseen dangers. Less so for asari than humans, perhaps, but it was still a beautiful and romantic moment, one she should have hesitated to share with someone who wanted to get close to her.

Instead, she put her arm around Liara's shoulders. As things were between them, it was not a friendly gesture, and she could not convince herself that she had intended anything else. Reason told her to escape while she could, and not risk compromising her judgement in the fight ahead. It didn't matter if she reassigned the asari to another team, or kept to her current plans, she needed to be focused. She had never fought a battle with a lover to protect, and wasn't sure how it would effect her. Now was not the time to find out. "Liara…"

The asari rested her head against Kara's shoulder, and a hand on her side. For all her skill at remaining distant, she liked to be touched, and to be loved. Somehow, she felt as though her defenses had been breached by a subtle romance, delivered through quiet moments and cups of tea. "Hmm?"

She offered her hand, palm up, and Liara's closed around it. The stars had gone, and in the early dawn she could see its dark outline. She hoped she could hold herself together, and hoped Brynja would understand. She did care about the blond, but the arguments she had made in good faith did not fit with her actions now.

Kara sighed. She couldn't think about it now. Instead, she tried to let go, and enjoy a fleeting moment before it passed.

Gently extracting herself from Liara's arms, she smiled softly. The asari's breath smelled of shared tea, as she leaned in. They met halfway, their lips brushing together, and parted again. A promise of something to come, and acceptance of what they had.

Resting her head on Liara's shoulder, she waited for the new day.