Ashley Shepard sat in the dark and wept silently. She was frightened, even more than when she'd seen her first Thresher Maw when she was six. Her wrist was raw around the bare metal shackle that chained her to the metal bunk she lay in. Her mouth was parched from the dry ration bar they'd made her choke down. Her gut churned around the bar and she had no way of knowing when the guards would come back to let them make a head call. Ash was thankful she hadn't been the first one to break and call for a guard to take her to the toilets, back when they'd first been brought here. She'd been thinking about it, but Kara had broken first, her friend Kara whose cousin owned the apartment they'd been staying at on Omega. The guards had come, and taken Kara, and all the other captives heard the screaming from across the hall.
It went on for a long time. Nobody asked the guards for anything after that. Kara hadn't come back.
Ash thought about that and almost whimpered, but bit down on her tongue instead. The guards might be listening, and she wouldn't give them that satisfaction. But right in that moment, she would have cheerfully thrown all the captives, friends and strangers, out an airlock just to hear her mother tell her everything would be all right.
Mother. She was going to be so mad about this. After all, she'd been the one who let the guys from the spaceport walk with them, gave away their locat-
No. She wouldn't think like that. A bit of one of her mother's stories came back to her. When you're in trouble it's no good dwelling on how you got there. You need everything you've got figuring how to get out.
So what would Mom do? Okay, not the best question. Mom would already have broken through her cuffs, killed a guard with her bare hands, taken his weapon, and convinced the entire transport crew to surrender because she was Commander Fucking Shepard. But what would Mom do that Ash had a chance of actually doing?
She'd fight. Somehow. A direct approach was out- Ash had seen at least six guards, and they kept her chained up except for head calls covered by a shotgun. But- Battles happen everywhere- ground, air, space. But the only place that really matters is inside your head. Gather information. Gather allies. Wait for your moment. As long as you're still fighting the battle inside your own head, you haven't lost.
Right.
"Hsst!" No response, so Ash did it again. "Hsst!" A pause, and then a voice came back from the bunk over hers, soft and human and scared.
"What are you doing? If we make noise they'll come back and take us like they did that other girl!" Ash licked her lips. The possibility was there. But if she didn't fight, she'd already lost, and she'd be damned if Jane Shepard's daughter was going down this easy.
"So stay quiet. If I hear them coming I'll make a sound like this-" Ash pushed with her wrist, grinding her cuff over the metal of the bunk's post. "- and we can shut up. They're about as quiet as a krogan birthday party, so we won't get caught." A giggle at that, with a hint of nervous hysteria. Well, she'd take it. "What's your name?"
"Summer." Human, like she'd thought. "Summer Mboya. Do you know-"
"No, I don't know anything." Ash took another swallow. "But here's what we're going to do, Summer. You're going to turn to the kid next to you and get her name. Then she gets the next one, and we pass it down the line. That way nobody will get left behind."
"Left behind?"
"When we get out." Ash kept her voice completely level- making a statement, not asking a question. "We're going to get our chance. We're going to take it. And when we do, we're all going to know everyone's name, so we make sure nobody's left. Got it?" There was another, longer pause. Then Ash heard the sound of whispers, soft as a breeze, starting to spread around the room. She closed her eyes, forced her mind blank, and began to listen to the roll of names the whispers brought.
She'd need it. Because they'd get a chance, at least. Her parents would make sure of that. And Ashley forced herself to believe that, because she needed to. Troops can always tell when you don't believe in a mission. So you've gotta make yourself believe. That's the only way to pull off some of the sh- stuff I've done.
Thanks, Mom. Now don't make me a liar. Please?