Chapter 19: Blood

Benning

She was running, hard than she had ever ran before, it was all she could do she wasn't biotic like her sister, nor was she a soldier like Commander Shepherd. But she wished to god she was, she could have saved her parents, instead she saw them die. When she thought she lost the men pursuing her, she sat down to take a breather.

"Miranda…I need you…I'm scared" Orianna said. How did this happen to her? Why were they after her? She was just an ordinary girl, nothing special about her. And to think it all started off as a normal day…

Hours earlier

Orianna's alarm rang, she struggled to get up, she wasn't much of a morning person, but then the sleep got her again.

"Ori…time to get up, baby!"

"Um, okay mom!" It was a pain, but she got up and got ready for classes at her university. She opened the windows in her room, the sun was shining bright and Orianna smiled. At first she was upset about having to move from Illium to Benning, she missed the hustle and bustle of the asari colony but things were getting expensive on Illium. Benning was like culture shock, it was just so quiet, the only sound she could here was the local wildlife and it was slow people here weren't in any rush like on Illium but after a while she had gotten used to it. After getting out of the shower, her omni-tool rang; she smiled and presses the button,

"Miri!" she said. Miranda smiled.

It had been only a few months since she found out that she had an older sister, at first she didn't know what to think, she thought Miranda was just a strange lady, until she showed her a picture of her cradling a little girl, her. She had heard the story, of how they were poor orphans from the streets, Miranda made the painful decision of letting Orianna go, and that was how Alice and Michal Jameson came to adopt her. Her mom and dad were skeptical at first, but after a while they welcomed Miranda into the family.

"Hey Ori, How are you settling in?" she asked.

"Good! The house is huge! Seems so big for me."

"Trust me, you deserve it" Miranda said. "How are your studies going?"

Orianna groaned. "Come on sis; let my mom worry about that stuff…"

Miranda crossed her arms. "Ori..."

She sighed. "Fine… I still don't like Genetic Theory, but I want to understand everything y'know? Physics and Math all seem to breeze by."

"Your mark in Late 20th Century Earth History is below the standard deviation. Why?"

Orianna blinked. "How did…oh no you hacked my records didn't you?" Miranda rubbed her head sheepishly, as she found out later; Miranda was smart…like super smart. And what was eerie she felt like she always knew this, like a weird twin sixth sense almost. Oriana then groaned, her sister meant well, but sometime she can take the doting big sister thing too far.

Orianna blushed. "J-just not interested I guess." Miranda gave a huge grin.

"There's a boy you're thinking about, isn't it?"

Ori huffed. "Let me guess, you…"

"Nope, don't need to hack anything to know when someone had a crush" Miranda said. "I went through the same thing, so what's his name?"

"Danner Gossimah, he's always asking questions in class. I don't think he even knows I'm alive" She said with a blush.

"Aw, puppy love, that's so cute…" Miranda teased.

Orianna face became redder. "Miri!"

Miranda chuckled, something she didn't hear much from her older sister. "Alright, aright, I think I can help"

Orianna's eyes lit up, as she clasps her hands and brought it up to her face in a pleading manner. "Pleez"

"Boys. You must be sure to always be true to yourself. I know that sounds like silly advice but if he isn't interested in the real you he won't be interested. You have to trust that when things are right he will notice you, and he will appreciate what you are both inside and out. You can't make yourself into something you are not…"

"…because you will never learn if that special someone falls for you or falls for a lie." Oriana finished. "You are pasting advice from 'Dear Dinah' column dated two weeks ago!

Miranda blinked. "How did you…?"

"We have the extranet here as well sis. God!"

Miranda lowered her head." I didn't mean to make you angry. I only…"

"I know... I'm sorry. I just hate all this. Being here and you're off doing whatever to save the world or whatever. I just hate it!"

"There isn't a point to saving the world if I can't even talk to my sister. I'm sorry. I am. Now why don't you tell me about this boy?" Miranda said.

"Yeah, OK. He's...different." Oriana said with a smile. Orianna played with her fingers, it was more than that really, Danner Gossimah was the guy every girl wanted…he was handsome, a straight A student, and captain of the biotiball team. And he has the reputation of being a nice guy also, he could have any girl he wanted, and she was so average.

"I hate him already."

"MIRI!"

Miranda chuckled. "I'm your big sister. I'm going to hate all of them. Accept it" Orianna's mother then yelled for her, she look at the time, they talked for a long time. "You better go or Alice will have a cow"

"Okay, take care of yourself sis, and tell Jacob I said hi"

"I will, and you keep those grades up, you hear?"

Orianna rolled her eyes. "Yes, mom"

Present

As Orianna caught her breath, she heard footsteps, it was them. "There she is! Get her!" one of the soldiers said. Orianna ran almost tripping over a trash can, she had to get away, and send message to her sister.

"Sir, we're close to getting her, but she's tenacious" one of the men said.

An older man appeared. "More like defiant, no doubt, Miranda's poisonous influence" he said. "Run her down, she'll get tired eventually"

Hours earlier

Joughim State university, the premier college on Benning, due to the colony being so close to Arcturus Station, not only does the Alliance help fund the school it also had one of the best engineering programs this side of Earth. Orianna and one of her friends came out of building it was after class that was when things had gotten weird, she felt uneasy, like someone was watching her. She tried to shake off the feeling, thinking it was just anxiety from the tests today but it was still there. Even being with her friends didn't help. She got up wanting to go home.

"Ori, are you okay?" Nja asked. Nja Simpson, an asari that she met when she moved to Benning, and one of the first friends that she made. Her mother was one of the few aliens that worked at the school; she was the alien culture professor for the class, while her father was a human soldier stationed at Arcturus Station. She was a sweet girl, that looked up to her father a lot, even going so far to want join the Alliance military when she graduated, even though she wasn't allowed to join due to not being human.

"Oh Nja, it's nothing just not feeling well"

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that, will you be well enough to come to the party?" She asked.

Orianna smiled. "Of course, it's just a little thing"

"If you're lucky, you may get the chance to talk to Danner" She said with a sly smirk.

Ori blushed. "Nja! Must you do that all the time?"

"I'm sorry, but your reaction is just too priceless"

"Bye, Nja…" Orianna said annoyed. As she was walking home the feeling only became much stronger, until she found herself running home, what she was running from she didn't know. She got home and shut the door and locked it.

"Ori?" She jumped and looked behind her. It was her dad, Michal Jameson, her father was a big man due to being former military, but he was also very smart who loved kids which was why he worked at the local elementary school not far from their house. He looked at her concerned. "You okay, sweetheart? You seem tense"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine" She then heard sound of glass shattering and a scream. Orianna and her father ran into the kitchen and found her mother on the floor bleeding. "Mom!"

"Alice!" They went to the woman, her shirt was covered in blood and glass, Orianna looked at the window and saw that the glass was full of bullet holes, someone was shot at her. Who could have done this? Her mother was just a simple middle school teacher, why would anyone hurt her? Her thought was interrupted from the croaking sounds coming her mother, she was choking on her blood. Alice's hand came up to her husband's arm and she weakly grasped his sleeve, blood dripping from her arm. Her husband grabbed her hand.

"Ori, Mic…" she said weakly.

"Nononono! Alice stay with me…" Her eyes started to close.

Tears fell from Orianna face. "Mom, no, please don't go!" She cried as her father held her, until they heard more glass breaking, this time from the side of the house, whoever murdered Alice was not done yet. Michal went to a drawer and got out of a pistol, he didn't like violence, it was one of the reasons he left the military because he didn't have the stomach for killing. But this was different, the love of his life was killed and his daughter was in danger, he could make an exception. He looked back at a scared Orianna.

"Ori, I need you to go" Michal said.

"Not without you, dad!" she said in tears. Michal kissed her forehead.

"Don't argue with me, baby girl, go and hurry!" Oriana reluctantly ran out of the patio door, the last thing she saw were soldiers in gray and gold armor coming into the room. Her father fired his gun at the soldiers, but they had a gray shield to protect them. They aim at Michal and gunned down her father. Orianna looked back in horror as she saw her father fall to the floor right next to her mother.

"DADDY!" she said in horror.

"Orianna go…please…" Orianna ran and never looked back, even as she heard one last gunshot.

Now

Orianna ran with the soldiers deep on her heels, unfortunately she was met with a dead-end. With the solders coming, there was only one thing she could do. "Miranda, please help! They're after me, they're…" Orianna then felt something hit her neck, and her vision became blurry and she became weak. As she fell to the ground a man in white came up to her. She couldn't make out his features from the blurriness, but when he spoke it sounded so familiar.

"Poor girl, if only Miranda didn't involve you in her grudge against me, then maybe you would have been spared this treatment" the man said. "Don't worry; soon it will all be over, my daughter…." All she could see now was darkness.

"Sir, the Illusive Man would like to speak to you"

"Are you done with your hunt?" he asked.

"Yes, I can work on your little projects now" Lawson said.

"I am sending you data on the phantom project; I want results in four months"

"Of course" he said. He then looked at Orianna. "And I've got the perfect start to the project"

"Well my daughter, it looks like your usefulness has extended" he said. "Get her on the shuttle, and do be careful to not damage our prototype"

"Sir!"

The Normandy

It was nighttime and Miranda was doing some reading until her omni-tool beeped. It was from Orianna, she then looked at the time. "That's strange, it should be night in Benning now is she calling so late?" she asked. She shook her head. "Probably need some info on boys again…" She opened a message.

"Miranda, please help! They're after me, they're…" she then heard a dull thud.

"Ori!" It was the next voice that made her blood run cold.

"Poor girl, if only Miranda didn't involve you in her grudge against me, then maybe you would have been spared this treatment" the man said. "Don't worry; soon it will all be over, my daughter…." The message was cut, Miranda's legs felt weak and she collapsed on her knees in a daze.

"No…" Her door opened and Jacob came in and saw her on the floor. He rushed to her side.

"Miri, Miri, it's me what's wrong?"

"H-he's got her…" She said with tears in her eyes.

"Who's got who?" Miranda then cried in Jacob's arms.

"My father, he's got her, he's got my sister!"

The twisted family history of the Lawsons has come to this! Will Miranda save her sister? And what does her father have in store for Orianna?

Find out Next Time! As always Review and Comment.