"I see you brought us a present, Commander," Hackett said as Shepard herded Petrovsky and Erica onto the SSV New York, an alliance cruiser. It wasn't Hackett's flagship, but it had been decided it was a safe place to both meet and transfer the prisoners.
"Yeah, well. It's my way of saying sorry for cutting and running all those times," Shepard said, smirking.
"General Petrvosky. I don't believe I've seen you since the First Contact War," Hackett remarked. Ashley glanced over at Shepard which caused the Commander to give a sympathetic look to her.
"Admiral Hackett," Petrovsky grunted. He didn't seem particularly pleased about the reunion.
"Take Miss Buckner to one of the open cells. I want to speak to the general alone," Hackett instructed. Shepard hesitated.
"Sir, I already have a rapport started. I could-" Shepard began.
"It's all right, Commander. Go on. You'll get your time with him. As well as Williams," Hackett interrupted. Shepard frowned then shrugged to herself. She lead the way down the hall.
"You lied to me!" Erica accused as she was nudged into the holding cell a few minutes later.
"No, I didn't. This is procedure. I have to follow it," Shepard said, typing in a command on the panel next to the door. The door hissed shut then locked.
"I knew I shouldn't have played along. Trusting the Alliance has always been a mistake," Erica said. Shepard sighed a little, pulling away from the door.
"No. It's not on them. It's on me. I shouldn't have promised what I did. You'll be safe here. They'll treat you well," Shepard said.
"We'll see," Erica sneered. Shepard frowned a little bit then headed off with Ashley in tow. As they left the brig, a young Corporal ran over.
"Commander Shepard!" the young man gasped out then doubled over to try to get his breath back.
"Whoa there, Corporal. Calm down. What's wrong?" Shepard asked, helping him up.
"It's Shanxi, sir. It's gone silent," the Corporal managed to get out, his face flushed.
Before Shepard could get a word out she felt Ashley push past her then saw her run down the hall full-tilt.
"Williams!" she shouted after the other Spectre but Ashley neither slowed down nor looked back.
"God dammit. Where's Hackett?" Shepard asked the Corporal.
"Still talking to Petrovsky. If I may... this seems off," the young man replied, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.
"Yeah, no kidding. Hackett, Williams, and Petrovsky all have a connection to Shanxi and then it's attacked. But is it retaliatory? Either way, excuse me," Shepard said. She gently pushed the young man aside before typing a command into her omni-tool. She grunted as a small needle pierced her bicep then injected a shot of adrenaline. Boosted up, shot off down the hall after her XO.
"Ashley!" she shouted as she rounded the corner, skidding slightly. The halls of the ship had a lot of choke points on purpose in case of boarding. Luckily they weren't too slippery so that she could take the corners quickly.
Ashley still did not stop or slow.
"Whoa!" Shepard yelped as a cart carrying a platoon worth of Avengers started crossing the intersection in front of her. She kicked off of the ground, jumping over it. She landed hard but kept running. Ashley continued to navigate the halls to return to where they had arrived.
Shepard slid under another obstacle, which actually happened to be a soldier being carried on a stretcher. She popped back up then ran around another corner, almost running smack dab into Ashley who had finally stopped. Her feet slid a little on the floor but she managed to stop herself.
Shepard peeked over Ashley's shoulder to the screen showing the reports from Shanxi.
"Ashley..." Shepard intoned.
"We have to go," Ashley said.
"We will go if Hackett tells us," Shepard said. She jumped back half a step when Ashley spun around, pointing an accusatory finger at Shepard's face.
"No. You don't get to suddenly listen to every order that comes down from on high. I don't know what game you're playing at, Shepard, but, we are going," Ashley snapped.
"Get a hold of yourself, Ash! Running off to Shanxi isn't going to do much of anything. For all we know it's a God damn trap planted by Cerberus. You remember when we met, and I had no idea about your heritage? Guess what, that's because I didn't make a habit of learning about people I'd meet or recently met. Cerberus makes a huge habit of it. They know who you are. They know about your family. You really think they wouldn't do something like this to get under your skin and drag all of us over to Shanxi?" Shepard said as calmly as she could.
Shepard watched as the fire in Ashley's eyes died down a little. The second human Spectre dropped her hand then her head.
"They're attacking civilian colonies, right? Shanxi is still one of them. The reasons for attacking Shanxi are two-fold now. I know how you feel, Ash. Having them hit Eden Prime was rough for me," Shepard continued.
"No you don't know how I feel. They didn't target Eden Prime cause of you. They targeted it because of the Protheans. This is different. They're making it personal. For me," Ashley argued, shaking her head.
Shepard frowned a little then rubbed the back of her neck. She opened her mouth to respond but didn't get the words out before the door off to her left hissed open to allow Admiral Hackett entrance.
"Did you get anything out of him, sir?" Shepard asked, snapping to attention.
"Not a thing. Am I hearing the reports correctly? Shanxi has been hit?" Hackett asked. Shepard gave a slight nod to the question then gestured wordlessly to one of the monitors.
She watched as Hackett rubbed his jaw in thought. He looked troubled, and the Commander suspected for similar reasons that Ashley was.
"Something doesn't feel right, Commander. You told me he gave up some information willingly yet other information stayed hidden. Do you think he was trying to stall?" Hackett asked, hand dropping from his face.
"If he was, it didn't work and wasn't going to work since I was doing the interrogation while traveling here. What do you think they're trying to pull sacking Shanxi?" Shepard said.
"Hell if I know. You're the best choice to investigate but I feel like that's just what they want, especially with Williams on your team."
"Figured as much. But who would go in my stead? Sometimes we have to risk a trap..."
Shepard hated the idea. She'd been lured into traps more times than she would have liked in her life.
"I request permission to go, Admiral. Even if Shepard doesn't go with, I need to go," Ashley said, straightening up a little when Hackett's gaze turned to her.
"Sir, Williams will not be going alone if I can help it. If she goes, I go," Shepard said.
"Your requests are noted. However, we cannot be hasty about this. If we are going to let you go into a trap, you'll be well prepared for it and we're going to make them wait and sweat about whether we really are going to fall for it," Hackett said.
Shepard frowned then shared a look with her second-in-command. Ashley looked like she was still recovering from a punch to the gut.
"We can't wait all that long, sir. Who knows what they have planned if we don't show up," Shepard said, returning her attention to the Admiral.
"Don't worry, Commander. I don't plan on waiting too long. I do, however, think it would be wise to send a recon probe out there to get a feel for the force waiting for you," Hackett said.
"Right..." Shepard agreed even though the last time she'd dealt with a recon probe it had been used by a terrorist and she'd had to defuse it. On the other hand, she wouldn't be dealing with it...
Shepard watched as the Admiral gave the order to send the probe out to Shanxi. She folded her arms then closed her eyes.
"I really don't like waiting, Admiral," Shepard said.
"Give it an hour, Commander. In the meantime you should get ready," Hackett said.
"Of course, sir," Shepard said, giving up the argument before it even started. "Take care of Buckner... please."
"She will be well taken care of. They both will. What better way to show we're better than Cerberus?" Hackett assured the younger officer. Shepard nodded before stepping off the ship with Ashley in tow.
Together they checked their gear over in the armory for what had to be the third time in only forty-eight hours.
As Shepard was finishing with checking her helmet, EDI came over the comm.
"Admiral Hackett says the probe has returned unharmed but with information you will want to see," the AI said.
Shepard frowned slightly at EDI's words. Something gnawed at her gut... something akin to fear. Or uncertainty. She hated the feeling of walking into a trap. She had gotten pretty good at detecting such things...
"Thanks, EDI," Shepard said at last.
With Ashley in tow, Shepard returned to the New York so they could see the results in person.