Chapter Twelve
Orbit of Themis, Arcturus cluster, Arcturus System
Normandy SR-2 Shepard's Quarters, 2344h
"NO! MIRANDA!" Shepard screamed at the top of his lungs, lurched out of their spooned embrace, and awoke in a sweat. She rolled over and propped herself up on an elbow as he sat with his back to her on the edge of the bed.
"Shepard, I'm right here," her voice cracked as she groggily opened her eyes. After wiping some of the debris that had settled upon them for the night away, her hand reached up to trace a scar upon his back. "What's the matter, did you have another nightmare?"
"We're down on Earth in another hot and heavy fight. The Reapers have gotten our unit in deep, we were surrounded on every single damn side, and a harvester just took out the rest of your squad two streets away from us. I couldn't think straight, couldn't focus. Garrus and James were with me, yelling at me to push forward towards a pair of missiles that would send that destroyer protecting the conduit to Hell."
"Then what happened?" Her fingers now ran smoothly back and forth across the small of his back, sending small ripples of biotic energy to his flesh. The action made his breathing slow down a little, but not by much.
"I took down two pairs of cannibals that tried to outflank us. Garrus overloaded the marauder who was bolstering their strength and took him out. James lobbed a frag grenade at a whole ton of husks that started to charge upon us, and that's when…that's when I saw a brute come rushing by me and head to you. Then more of them followed him into the alley. There's no way that anyone could survive a charge from more than one of those bastards. So I broke away from my team and rushed after those animals to get to you. One of them heard me and turned around."
"Shepard…" Miranda sat up, planted a kiss onto the back of his neck, and wrapped both of her arms around his abdomen. Her cool forehead made contact with him, and she blew out some air from her mouth onto his perspiring flesh.
"I took out the son of a bitch with some several shotgun blasts loaded with incendiary ammo to the face. When he fell down to the ground, I hopped over his corpse and chased after the rest of them. But I was too late." He paused and hung his head. "You were still alive but barely hanging on when I got to you."
She hugged him more tightly now and began to rock the both of their bodies gingerly.
"I had plenty of medi-gel to spare, for once, and I was about to give you a really concentrated amount, but you took me into your arms and told me not to do it. You said that…that I had more important things to do, that I needed to keep going on no matter what."
"And did you?"
"I…" a breath hitched in his lungs as he thought for a moment. "I couldn't save you. You'd lost too much blood." He tore himself away from their embrace, got up from the bed, and put on a pair of boxers that were strewn on the floor beside his place. "Fuck it, Miranda. Let's just take the Normandy and go to the Perseus Veil or something. Or maybe the Valhallan Threshold. We just re-fueled not too long ago."
"You can't seriously mean that, Shepard." Miranda also left the bed, slipped her robe on, and went into the bathroom to splash some water onto her face.
He snarled and slammed a fist onto the bureau near his bed. "No, I don't. I know what has to be done. And I'm ready to do it."
"Then don't you dare to submerge yourself into the depths of despair," Miranda quietly scolded him and returned from the bathroom. "We both may not survive this fight. But you knew that going through the Omega 4 relay, too. And although I wasn't there, I'm sure that your trip to Ilos felt the same. How does this feel different for you?"
"Because…" he struggled with his words. "Because we won't be fighting together. And I now know that I couldn't go on living without you."
She padded down the stairs and touched his shoulder. He turned around and made complete eye contact with her.
"I love you, Miranda. I've never been more sure of any feeling in my life than this. Losing you would-"
She silenced him with an extremely slow and tender kiss. He roughly pulled her closer and squeezed both of their bodies as firmly as he possibly could without causing them discomfort. Miranda broke away first and leaned her forehead against his. "I complained about them once before, but right now, I really don't mind losing control over my hormones, Shepard," she finally confessed. "I hate this bloody war. And I'm almost regretting that I said I'd help your admiral Anderson now."
"How many lives are we losing right now while the two of us are here enjoying ourselves?" His voice turned into a whisper. "Why am I the one who gets the girl at the end of the day while some people live their lives totally alone or heart broken?"
Her hands cupped both of his cheeks and caressed them with her thumbs. "Because you are the one who has sacrificed so much for the galaxy. I think that you deserve five or ten minutes a day to yourself out of the rest of the twenty-three and a half hours that you give to everyone else. Actions are more important than words, Shepard. Most people are all talk, but you're not." She reclaimed her hands and gestured to the couch with her head. "Come on. You won't be able to sleep for at least another hour."
"Well, there are other ways to amend that situation," he grinned and followed her as she sat down.
"There'll be time for that later. We're ready for another chat."
"Another deep and dark secret from the sexy but mysterious Miranda Lawson." Shepard pretended to hold up a microphone to his lips and passed it to her mouth. "Take it away, Ms. Lawson."
"Ugh, don't remind me about that reporter." She rolled her eyes. "Trying to avoid her is worse than evading a salarian certified public accountant. I'd rather catch a case of the bubonic plague first."
"Tell me about it. She's already asked about the two of us a dozens times over. If I didn't need her to bolster our allied forces' resolve, I would have kicked her off of the ship long ago."
"Right, well, I told you that I'd discovered that my father was making another clone of me…Oriana. Well, I never told you precisely how that happened."
"Should I make some popcorn?" Shepard retorted.
"This happened before I ran away, mind you," Miranda said and brushed some of her hair behind her ears. "I was on my way to sneak out of the house to go see a movie with Niket; naturally Father had forbidden me to do so because it was on a school night. But before I even left the house, I overheard an altercation that was occurring between my father and one of his employees on the vid com. The subordinate reiterated that he and his colleagues were working as fast as they could, but that they had too many other genetic projects and not enough scientists on the payroll to push Oriana's test tube creation any farther along than it should be."
"So they were in the process of synthesizing her already when you found out?"
"Yes. My father said that he had already selected a surrogate mother for the in vitro fertilization, and that they were limited by time. The employee said that if they were given the proper time, then no surrogate mother would even be needed, unlike the last subject they had successfully made. That was me, of course." Miranda pointed to herself and crossed her legs. "And it was at that point, too, that I found out that I never truly had a mother."
"You mean that your father lied about you having one in the first place?" Shepard's face twisted into disbelief. Then he shook his head. "Of course he did."
"Henry Lawson had carefully crafted this lie to perfection. Well, it was enough to fool me for nearly fifteen years, anyhow. Whether it was to keep up appearances for his house guests or simply to keep me at bay; I'll never know the real reason. He had pictures of her on the fireplace mantel, vid footage of a wedding, and women's clothing in his closet. The vid footage was filmed from far enough away with only the backs of everyone's heads in sight. The sound was so poor that even I couldn't tell that it wasn't truly his voice."
"What?"
She held up a hand to stop him from outbursting any further. "There's more. He even had two wedding rings framed and hanging in the living room in the mansion. I'm sure that he probably had them engraved just in case I demanded to see proof of it, too." Miranda tapped her index finger upon her chin pensively. "But now that I think of it, he never actually had pictures of her in his bedroom. And I never saw him express any kind of sorrow over my supposed mother's death. He'd always change the subject whenever I'd ask about her, saying that it was too painful to talk about. Or he'd snap at me so that I'd be too frightened to do so in the future."
"Unbelievable." Shepard cracked his knuckles.
"After I heard that conversation, I knew that I had to get away from him and her, too, someday. But, I needed a place to go first. Six months later, just after my sixteenth birthday, I did."
"He didn't have his men shoot at you on your birthday, did he?" Shepard's face dimmed, and she took his hand in hers.
"No. He gave me the car then. It was after I rammed it through his garage door a month later to make my escape that the gunfire occurred."
"Have you ever told this to anyone else?"
She shook her head 'no' and gave his hand a squeeze. "I haven't even told Oriana about it yet." Although his ego soared through the roof upon this revelation, he remained reticent and gave her a nod.
"Well, here's a story from me that isn't in the vids that depict me as the almighty Hercules. My mom was a quiet but strong woman. Like a certain other gorgeous lady I know, she spoke more with her actions than her words and made the best desserts a boy could ever eat. You know that we were farmers, but you may not know that my dad had developed Mindoir's first baseball league. It was all amateur of course, and nobody got paid to play." Shepard lifted their hands up to his mouth and kissed hers. "I remember going to the games, watching my dad pitch, and scarfing as many hot dogs down my throat as my mom would let me. Later on, I made a deal with the hot dog vendor behind her back and traded some stuff with him so that she didn't have to buy them any more."
She laughed. "Even before you reached puberty, you were already making those famous deals of yours."
"We grew indigo and cotton." He let go of their hands and brought both of his own up closer for her inspection. "That's why my hands are so rough and calloused. We had some help as well as some mechs to do the harvesting, but you need dexterity to properly pick cotton without destroying the plant. Naturally, we had some chickens and cows, too. So yes, I was the little farm boy that got up at six every morning to either milk the cow or fetch the eggs from the hens for breakfast."
"Did you have any swine?"
"No, but our neighbors did. We'd swap our eggs for their bacon sometimes or just have them over." He smiled as he thought of his earlier, much simpler life. "The Batarians attacked us just after I finished up playing a baseball game." His grin faded, and his expression darkened.
"Let me guess. You hit a grand slam to win the game."
"I wish my performance had been that stellar. It certainly would've made what happened afterward somewhat bearable." Shepard bit his lower lip and looked away. "I struck out three times that night, popped a foul that a catcher caught, and had one RBI."
"RBI?"
"Run batted in. That means that someone else was on a base and could make it home to score a run for my team. But, that RBI did break the tie in between the two teams to win the game." He shifted himself about the couch and brought one leg across the other. "On the way home from the baseball field, that was when the Batarians hit us. I only had a baseball bat and a mitt in my hands when my folks told me to run for the barn."
"Shepard." Miranda gently pushed his leg down and sat upon the side of his lap. She began to rake her fingers through his hair. "If this is too painful…"
"They said that they'd follow me inside, and my father went to go arm himself with the rifle he kept just above our front door. I started to obey him but then turned back towards our home. Two RPGs nailed our pre-fab unit after that, and then the barn caught on fire from some fuel that had leaked from the tractor."
"What happened to the Alliance? They got there eventually, didn't they?"
"Yeah. I saw 'em landing after I pulled myself out of the wreckage. Guess the Batarians thought I was dead, which is why I didn't end up as a slave."
She pulled his head onto her bosom and stroked his face. His eyes closed. "I'm sorry you had to go through that." There was silence between them for the next two minutes as his throat and chest rumbled with pleasure against her.
"Well, at least my childhood had some happy moments in it, unlike most of yours," he mused. "I could stay in this position forever and die a happy marine."
"Hmm, but not a truly satisfied marine. Weren't there some other ones you wanted to try tonight?" She lightly traced the outline of his ear with a subtle hint of biotic power upon her middle finger.
His head came away from her bosom, and he gave her a debonair grin. "That reminds me, Ms. Lawson, quite a while ago, you mentioned something about some material that was in an Alliance marine training vid. We don't easily give up those possessions or mention those outside of the showers. It's time for you to…" Shepard's eyes viciously teased her, and he licked his lips. "Come clean."
"Hmm, I suppose you deserve to know," she returned his smile and arose from his lap. As she sauntered up the stairs to his bathroom, she threw a sultry glance over her shoulder as if to give him a personal invitation. The moment Miranda turned the shower's faucet on, he leapt up from the couch and flew up the stairs. Her robe smacked him lightly in the face as he opened the door. "I might have spent a little time wandering about an Alliance base full of greasy, grimy marines like yourself."
"You weren't spending time with any of them, were you?" His eyes narrowed as he stripped himself of his boxers.
"Not to their knowledge." She pulled him into the steaming hot room and teased him with several short but rapid kisses along his neck.
His larynx rumbled against her lips as he spoke again. "Where exactly were you? Was I present?"
"Perhaps," was all she said. Her next action quickened the pulse in his throat and she slid one hand down his abdomen and danced her fingers along his length.
It took all of his self control not to slam her against the wall at that point, and he was desperately trying to slow down his breathing. "Were we all wearing clothing at the time?" he choked.
"Mmm…" Miranda separated their bodies momentarily to pour some of the body wash that she'd earlier stolen from Liara onto her hands and rub them together to form a generous ball of suds. She returned to him and smoothed her hands all over his chest in a rich lather.
"Perhaps not," she finally whispered into his ear as she pulled it into her mouth.
"Ah, and…did you…" His confidence came back to him quickly. "Did you like everything that you saw, Ms. Lawson?"
As she lazily released his earlobe, she made eye contact with him, and raised an eyebrow. "I might have lingered there for a moment or two longer than I should have."
"Oh, goddamn it, woman!" he yelled and mashed her up against the wall. Her laughter reverberated all throughout the bathroom, and he literally sank his teeth into her neck.
Orbit of Arcturus Station, Arcturus System
Normandy SR-2 Cockpit, 0507h
"What's our status, Joker?" Shepard demanded as he strolled towards his pilot completely outfitted in his body armor and weapons.
"The Asari, Turian, Salarian, Geth, and Quarian fleets have all made it through the mass relay to the Sol system, Commander. No reports have come through regarding the Hanar or Batarian fleets yet, though. The Alliance is proceeding through the Arcturus relay right now. Should we join them or remain with the Crucible's escort, sir?" Joker turned his head to make eye contact with his commander.
"Let's wait until Hackett boards, then you can proceed at your discretion, Joker. But before this all happens, I've got a question for you, a favor to ask, actually."
"From me? What could I do for you, Commander?" Joker pointed to himself.
"Well, after Hackett leaves, I'd like to be able to bring someone up here to the bridge. Would it trouble you if-"
"You brought Miranda up here?" the pilot finished. He rotated his chair around to face Shepard. "Not at all, sir. I've already got my good luck charm up here, why shouldn't you have yours?" Joker motioned his thumb towards EDI.
"Jeff, you should reconsider your statements before you utter them out loud. I am not your good luck charm," EDI warned him. "In fact, I am assuming your duties as of this moment."
"Uh, it looks like this argument might not end well, so let's just stop it from going on any further," Shepard intervened. Joker turned his chair back around.
"Fine…" the pilot groaned.
"Joker, this is the part where you apologize." Shepard crossed his arms.
"But I didn't say anything-"
"You did, Jeff. The remark was highly inappropriate," EDI glanced in his direction with an expression that could pass for irritation.
"Fine, I'm sorry." Joker rested his forehead upon his elbow.
"Not good enough," Shepard rebuked him and cleared his throat. "Say it like you mean it, Joker. You might fool EDI into a perfunctory apology, but not me."
The fighter jockey bit his lip hard and gripped his elbow rests with all of his might as he swallowed his pride. "I was wrong, EDI, and I'm sorry. That was rude and inconsiderate."
"Apology accepted, Jeff. As a gesture of good will and my trust, I will not make a copy of this disagreement for a later record in my servers," the AI replied.
"Phew. Thanks, Shepard," Joker sighed with relief. "I can't believe that I forgot that I'm dating someone who could do that. Do you have that problem with Miranda, too?"
"She's got a very good memory, so I mind my p's and my q's around her most of the time," Shepard commented. "But not all of the time," he mumbled.
"Oops, looks like we've got an incoming communication from Admiral Hackett's flagship, sir." Joker activated the silent transmission to his holo screen. "He's requesting permission to come aboard, Commander."
"Granted." He peered outside the Normandy's port window to the Alliance cruiser that had just come alongside them. A docking tube and clamp secured itself to the Normandy, and Shepard readied the airlock to open for Hackett as well as his own escort of two guards armed only with pistols. When the LED turned green, he activated the door, and twenty seconds later, all three visitors boarded the vessel.
"Sir," Shepard saluted him and escorted the party towards the CIC. The rest of the navigation crew watched the admiral as he made his way towards the galaxy map. Those that were not occupied came to full attention with a salute, including Lt. Steve Cortez and Engineer Adams.
"The Normandy stands ready for our last jump through the Arcturus and Charon relays, Commander Shepard," Adams informed him, and Shepard gave him a nod. "Just give the word, and my team will properly assign power to the stealth drive as well as a full ahead for propulsion. It's been an honor, sir."
"Likewise, Adams."
"Admiral, the Normandy is now linked to all the fleets and is prepared for your communication," Traynor also came to full attention and gave him a salute.
The senior officer returned her greeting respectfully but silently and climbed the stairs to the galaxy map. Years of battle scarred his face, but with those scars also came wisdom and tenacity. Like Shepard, it seemed like nothing would break his determination. "We come together today to face a foe unlike any other," he began.
"Our cultures are all different, as are our societies and beliefs. But today, we stand as one. One voice, one goal, one mission. One heart, one soul, one solution." Hackett paused to shift upon the weight between his feet. "We must take our combined might and as one galaxy, bring it down upon the Reapers. They may destroy our ships here in space or knock down our troops planet side, but they will not crush our spirits. Organic and non-organic, we all have one. Let us truly remind them why they will not cause our minds or our bodies to stagger with fear. Today, it will all end, but no matter the final result, we will not go out quietly into the night. Be proud of yourselves and stand strong." He nodded to Traynor and made a gesture to her that he was finished with his speech.
"Well said, sir," Shepard stated and shook his superior's hand. "I couldn't have done any better myself."
"Is your civilian ready to depart your ship?" Hackett agreed and inquired.
"She is, Admiral, sir," Oriana Lawson spoke up from behind them all. She and Miranda exchanged one deep but final hug. "Thank you both for letting me have this opportunity. And thank you, Sam."
"It was my pleasure," Traynor announced with a smile. "You'll be serving under Coms Specialist Shingen Uesugi. He's absolutely fabulous and is a wicked chess opponent. Take care of him for me."
"I will, and goodbye to you, too, Commander Shepard. I know that you're going to kick those Reaper bastards out of this galaxy and into the next." She gave Shepard a hug as well then followed Hackett with his men out of the airlock.
Hackett turned to Shepard before he departed the Normandy. "You've made a believer out of everyone in the galaxy, Shepard and done what many have deemed goddamned impossible, including me. Stay strong and keep your head in the game, soldier," he told his underling and shook his hand.
"Aye, aye, sir," Shepard acknowledged him with a final salute. As the Alliance cruiser pulled away from the Normandy, Miranda joined him on his left behind Joker. He reached for her hand and kept it close by his side. "All right, Joker. Let's go home."
"Aye aye, sir. All hands, stand by for the jump through the relay." The pilot quietly fingered his way through the holo screen's various systems to double check that everything was ready. After a quick but positive confirmation from EDI, he cracked his knuckles. "Here we go, Commander in 3…2…and 1.