A/N: For those Walking Dead fans in the audience…yes, I pulled a Governor.


Sam Feris sat in the small prefab dome she'd been assigned, methodically cleaning one of her rifles. As she was off-duty and the area had been proven safe from PMD, she was not in her hard-suit, but rather a simple Alliance flight jumpsuit- zipped to her neck and snapped to her wrists.

It was getting late outside, local time, and so she was rather surprised to hear a knock. Expecting it would probably be Ashley or Liara, she set the disassembled rifle aside and went to open the door, then lifted her brows.

"Dr. Shepard?"

"I'm sorry to bother you so late, Sam. May I come in for a moment?"

Feris nodded and stepped aside, allowing the shorter woman within. Shepard looked tired, a line having etched its way between her brows. She glanced around the hut with weary anxiety, fiddling with her fingers as if counting to be sure each was still attached.

"Thank you. I won't bother you long, I just…I wanted to apologize, if I got you into any trouble. It wasn't my intention to do so when I stepped into that static-cell."

Sam folded her arms. "I got a bit of a lecture, yes," she said. "That was a stupid thing to do, Doc. If you'd been wrong-"

"I know. But I wasn't, and I knew I wasn't," she said. "The only way to test it was to expose someone like that, and the only person I can risk like that is me."

"No," Sam replied firmly. "You can't risk yourself like that. Were you any other medic on this base then maybe, but you're too important. You're the only one that has a chance of stopping Osco's plague before it tears this galaxy apart. If you'd died this afternoon, trillions would have died with you."

"I knew I was right. I have no desire to die, Sam- far from it. I am very interested in my continued existence. I just knew I was right. Regardless, it's your duty to keep me safe and what I did put you in an awkward spot. I just wanted you to know that I was sorry for that. If you want I can talk to Captain T'Soni, make sure she understands it wasn't your fault-"

Sam shook her head, sitting down on her bunk beside her disassembled rifle and gesturing at a nearby chair. "It's all right, Doc. Really. Just don't do that again, ok?"

"I promise," she said, going over and sitting down.

"How are the patients doing?"

"Deefa is just fine. I'm keeping her in the static-cell until the morning. We should be able to verify with her tissue cultures then whether or not she's a carrier. If not, she can be let out. Tali is…a different story."

"If there's a way to help her, I know you'll find it."

"Your confidence in me is astounding," Del said with a faint smile. "Thank you. Truth be told, however…a cure or a vaccine may be completely impossible. Any vaccine capable of killing the PMD will not distinguish between it and regular DNA. We'd just end up doing the plague's work for it."

"You mentioned something about Domingo being immune because his body chemistry falls outside the PH norm the PMD can live in?"

"Yes, and that may be a window-but it presents its own difficulties. It is extremely hard to alter an entire body's PH and chemical balance- and even if we could find a way, it would be extremely temporary. Each body is the way it is for a reason, formulated through a thousand different variables-hormones, genetics, diet, environment, medications, lymphatic systems….any widespread change we could make artificially would simply change back- within a few hours at the very most- as the body reregulates itself to its natural balance. If we could get the change to permeate every single body system enough that no PMD whatsoever can survive anywhere within it for any length of time, the change would simply wear off a short time later and the risk would come right back. Hardly efficient for long-term or wide-spread vaccination, though it may work for a small group at immediate risk."

"So our biggest hope remains finding Osco and stopping her before she can release this on a galactic scale."

"So it seems," Shepard said. "I will not stop trying, of course. I will never stop, but that would be the ideal outcome. Is there any news on that front?"

"None I've heard," Sam said with a sigh. "I know the hunt is huge at the moment but solid leads are remarkably absent."

Shepard nodded, but in her distraction Feris could tell most of her mind was still in the lab. I wonder if Mordin chased her out to rest. Knowing her, if she had the chance she'd still be in there working, no matter how many hours had passed.

"So, Doc. Not to be immensely personal or anything but…you and Traynor?"

Shepard's bewildered blink made Feris smirk a little, before it seemed to click in Del's head what she was asking. "Oh, Sammi…no. I-I mean…yes, but it was a very long time ago."

"She seemed extremely happy to see you. You two were very close?"

"For about four years, we were more or less inseparable," Shepard said. "I was not expecting to see her here again. It was a bit of a surprise."

Regarding her carefully, Feris nodded. "You weren't as glad to see her again, as she was you? At least, not in the same way…?"

Shepard fiddled with her shirt a bit, a thoughtful pout on her face. "To be honest…i-it is very good to see her again. I was happy to see her, I just…as I said, it was a long time ago. We're not the same people we were back then. I-I do care for her, a great deal, and I don't want to hurt her, but-"

"Look, Doc…I'm hardly the expert on romance, but if you don't feel the same way and you don't want to hurt her, then you need to let her know. I know you've been distracted and hard at work, but looking in from the outside, it seems to me that Traynor very much still has those same feelings for you and is hoping to pick up where you left off. If you're on a different page, it needs to be said."

"Yes, of course. You're right, I know you're right. I just…" she shook her head, coloring a little, before she cleared her throat and looked at Feris. "You sound like someone who's been there."

Sam shrugged a little, looking distant a moment. "Had a bad experience when I was much younger. I was naïve, taken advantage of. I learned a hard lesson." Then she blinked. "Not that I'm suggesting you're going to take advantage of her, knowing you don't or may not feel the same-"

"Of course not," Shepard said. "I didn't think you were trying to suggest that. I'm sorry about what happened when you were younger."

Sam shrugged again. "As I said, lesson was learned. Such things help define us in the end."

"What about now?" Del asked. "Do you have someone out here worried about you now?"

Sam smiled and ducked her head a little, scrubbing her fingers over her short hair. "Yeah, I do," she said. "She's back on Earth. Met a couple of years ago when I was on leave. I had a concussive injury, soft tissue. She was my massage therapist."

Shepard smiled. "Oh really?"

Sam colored a bit, then laughed. "It wasn't anything like that. It was very professional. She refused to take me up on my offer to go out for drinks until the therapy was done."

"But she did, after you were better?"

"Yeah. Handed me my recovery papers and at the same time told me to meet her that night at a pub round the corner. Rest is history. Unfortunately we don't get to spend as much time together as I'd like. Duty, and all that."

Shepard smiled fondly. "I expect with you up for the Spectres it's been even harder lately. I guess I've never really pictured Spectres the…umm…romantic type. It doesn't strike me as a conducive lifestyle."

"It's hard, I'll grant you that," Sam replied. "Hard enough being a marine, never knowing where you'll be deployed, what you'll face…if you'll come home. Spectres just double that but…it happens. Not often, but it does. Couple of Spectres even have children."

She looked at Shepard, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully a moment before she realized something, and smiled slightly. "She's something, isn't she?"

Del looked startled, her dark eyes widening. "What? I-I don't know what you-"

Sam laughed, holding up her hands. "Relax Doc, sorry. It's all right. Just making an observation."

The woman's face had gone dark red again, and she cleared her throat, nodding and getting to her feet. "I don't know what you…I-I should be getting to sleep. Mordin's refused to let me back in the lab until I've had a few hours. I don't know why he keeps kicking me out- I don't think I've seen him go for a rest the entire time we've been working together."

"It's a salarian thing, they only need a couple of hours. Besides, Solus has so much energy I'm surprised they haven't wired him up to power the camp and saved the solar cells. I'm sorry, Doc. Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"It's not that, I just…I really do need some rest," Shepard said weakly, heading for the door. "It was nice talking to you, Sam."

"Nice talking to you too, Doc. I'll see you tomorrow."

She shook her head as Del all but ran out the door, before picking up the pieces of her rifle. She smirked quietly to herself, starting to hum as she began to reassemble it.


Once outside, Shepard slowed and took a few deep breaths. The night was cool, what faint breeze there was helping to soothe the horrible blush on her face. Inside, she was furious with herself.

Ever since the attack on her home, she had been acting and reacting like a goddamn teenager. Stammering like a child, blushing at the slightest provocation…that wasn't her. That had never been her.

So why am I doing it now? she thought. The fear and uncertainty that had come with the attack and dealing with this plague was definitely a contributor, but that only explained the initial behavior, not its continuance.

It's just…everything. Being around so much turmoil, alien faces I still haven't quite gotten used to…

"You ok, Doc?"

She jumped slightly, staring at Ashley wide-eyed, before her face heated all over again. She'd completely forgotten that Ash had been standing just outside the dome- her current bodyguard. Furious with herself for being startled and embarrassed all over again, she scowled.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, just…tired. I'm going to go turn in."

Without waiting to see if Williams would follow- which she already knew she would- she headed off toward her own dome.

I just wanna curl under the blankets and hope the galaxy and everyone in it forgets I even exist.

That was not to be, either. The moment she stepped in the dome, the rich smell of food hit her, and her stomach immediately reminded her how long it had been since she'd eaten. She drew to a halt, staring at the trays set out on a folding table…and the woman who turned toward her with a smile.

"Hey, you," Sam Traynor said, setting aside a small bottle before walking over. "I figured Mordin would be kicking you out soon, and knowing you, you'd forget all about eating before you went to sleep."

Del's stomach sank, then tightened as Traynor took her hands. Seeing her expression, the specialist looked concerned.

"'Lilah? What's the matter?"

"Sammi…that was very thoughtful of you, but…"

"But…?" Traynor asked, dark brows knitting. "You…don't eat any more? You've turned into some weird cybernetic monster that has no need for this human thing called food?"

"No, no, it's not that…"

Traynor searched her eyes a moment. "No, it's not," she said. "It's me."

"Sammi, it's just- it's been so long. What we had was very special to me, but we're both different people now."

Traynor released her hands, stepping back and pressing a palm to her forehead. "Ye gods, I'm such an idiot."

"You're not an idiot, I just-"

"Look, 'Lilah…I understand, I do. I guess just…seeing you again brought back some old feelings. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or pressure you, I-…is there someone else, is that it?"

"No, Sammi, there's not someone else, but you know as well as I we didn't work the first time. There's a reason we aren't still together. And with all this mess going on and…"

At the hurt look on Traynor's face, she felt her stomach clench again. She felt like a class one shit-heel, but what Feris had said was true. She couldn't pretend to feel something she didn't, and she cared for and respected Traynor too much to just string her along in a lie. Stepping forward, she gently took hold of Sammi's shoulders.

"You are a wonderful, beautiful woman, Sammi. You will always be one of my dearest friends, and I wish you every happiness you can find-but I can't pretend. It wouldn't be fair to you or to me. I do love you, you know."

Traynor's smile was wistful, but genuine. Lifting a hand she tucked an errant lock of dark hair back behind Del's ear. "You always were too sweet," she said softly, then sighed. "But you are right. Look, you need to eat and get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow."

Shepard tightened her hands briefly, preventing the other woman from leaving. "You don't have to run off just yet. You went through the trouble of bringing dinner, at least stay and eat."

"No, it's all right. I don't think that would be such a good idea. Oh, don't look at me like that. I'm all right, 'Lilah, I promise. Eat, and get some rest. We still have a lot of work to do."

She stepped past, and this time Del didn't stop her, listening as she walked out of the dome and carefully sealed the door. She looked forlornly at the food, her appetite all but gone now.

"This night officially cannot get any worse…"


It was not yet dawn before Del Shepard was awake, eyes popping open in the semi-darkness of her dome, taking a moment to orient herself to where she was.

A glance at the clock told her she'd gotten just over five hours. Her eyelids felt like lead weights and her every muscle seemed to groan with exhaustion, but she could still hear the faint sound of quarian screams echoing in her ears, and that banished every last thought of sleep.

The nightmare had been intense, and surreal. Running through a quarian ship, trying desperately to help them as their flesh melted and their bodies tore themselves apart. Nothing she did could stop it, and she was forced to watch them dying over and over again.

Rising, she cleaned up, using water as cold as she could make it in order to wake herself more and clear her mind. Dressing, she headed out of the dome.

The night was clear and bright, the stars shining intently. Only the faintest ghost of gray to the south warned of the slowly coming dawn, and the breeze and moon made the ripples of prairie grass shimmer with silver frost.

Williams was still on duty, and immediately straightened, peering at her. "You're up early, Doc."

"I couldn't sleep any more. Those samples should be done by now, might as well get a jump on them."

As they headed across the square to the static lab, Williams said, "Everything ok? Between you and Traynor?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"She left so quickly last night, I just thought you might have had an argument."

"No, no argument. Just…a conversation," Shepard replied softly. "I don't really want to discuss it."

"Fair enough. Didn't mean to pry."

"It's all right, Ash," Shepard said as they reached the decom chamber. "Thank you."

As she stepped inside Ashley took her position outside the door with a frown. First, Shepard had gone and talked with her cousin, then when she got back to her own dome, Traynor had come out looking upset. Ash wasn't a gossip by nature but she still wondered what the heck was going on.

Maybe she said something to Sam. I'll have to talk to her, see-…

Her brows knit, the thought banished as she caught sight of a low, dark shadow on the horizon. It was visible only because it blocked the starlight around it. Activating her omni-tool she immediately paged the Aswa.

"Jura, do we have a scheduled supply drop from the frigates?"

Despite the hour, Jura was immediate to reply. {Not until this afternoon-}

"Alert them and Liara. I think we've got incoming!"

{I canszszzzzzzzz-!}

"Shit!" Ashley lifted her rifle, edging away from the lab as communications suddenly dropped. The dark form had closed the distance, clearly a small ship or fighter of some kind. As she aimed, it swept over the camp, a dozen tiny silver forms breaking off from it as it shot by overhead. They spread out like a swarm of bees, snapping toward domes and prefabs and vehicles.

Instantly the camp was alive with explosions, bright flashes of fire blooming hot in the dark where every metal orb struck. Ashley fired twice at the ship, then dove to one side, barely avoiding a blast that rocked the hot lab and set her ears to ringing. Hauling her helmet off the small of her back, she snapped it in place as she surged to her feet.

"If anyone can hear me, we are under attack! Repeat, Purdue is under attack!"


As Shepard entered the lab, she glanced over at the cell. Deefa was asleep- or a close approximation thereof; it was hard to tell with the helmet. Glancing toward the pod she took in the vital readouts. Tali was sedated, but her temperature still flirted with dangerous highs and her other vitals were highlighted in amber instead of green. She wasn't much worse than she had been, but neither was she better.

She went over to the far console to see if the samples were finished when the hand of suddenly God seemed to come down, clutching the lab in omnipotent fingers and half crushing it. The sound was incredible, and Del let out a gasp of surprise as she grabbed the console to avoid being flung off her feet.

Alarms began to wail and smoke billowed into the air. Looking around with wide eyes, Shepard had a sudden feeling of déjà vu.

The far side of the lab was on fire, the same as her living room had been. An explosion…that was an explosion!

She desperately clung to the hope that it was an accident, some kind of equipment failure-but she could hear the hollow echoes of other blasts now, and the higher pitched return of gunfire.

They were under attack.

Quickly, she tried to assess. The door was gone, crushed beyond use and curtained with flame. Deefa was awake now, beating her hands on the glass. Her cell was far too close to the fire.

For the moment, Tali and her pod and the samples were all right, but the lab's fire suppression systems had not kicked on. Hurrying to the near wall, Shepard tore open a case and pulled out a manual extinguisher.

The air clouded white as she sent it toward the flames, trying to clear them away from the door and the helpless quarian trapped in the cell. Something popped and then gave way with a crash of glass and steel, and for a moment the heat flared toward her so intense that she stumbled back, flinging her arm up against it.

Gritting her teeth, her eyes streaming and her lungs burning with the smoke, she fired the extinguisher again. As soon as she could, she slapped the door release for the cell. They had not yet gotten confirmation that Deefa was not a carrier, but in her biosuit and with the fluid-transfer of the pathogen, the probability of her infecting anyone by accident was astronomically small. Her burning to death in this lab was a far greater risk at the moment.

The door opened, the anti-path shield falling. Deefa rushed out, finding another extinguisher and joining the effort to extinguish the flames. Outside the lab, more explosions slammed into the ground, one close enough to shake the floor and nearly topple Del off her feet again. Coughing and wheezing, she was forced to abandon the flames and retreat.

It was almost impossible to see and breathe from all the smoke. She heard Deefa shout something at her as she fell to her hands and knees, crawling over to the unconscious Tali and the pod.

Another blast. She cringed down, hands winding around her head as shards of metal and plastic whipped from the gloomy fog of black and pelted her. As she lifted her head she noticed the smoke was clearing. That last blast had punched a hole through the wall of the lab.

Coughing hard, eyes streaming and aching, she groped out and found the edge of the pod. Using it to pull herself up, she unlocked it from the wall.

Deefa appeared through the gloom, her face-mask streaked. She grabbed the pod along with Del, both women dragging it over to the newly torn rent in the wall.

Never had fresh air tasted so good. Shepard whooped in a breath as they got outside, coughing roughly as she gulped at the air. She and Deefa dragged the pod several feet away over the grass before Del collapsed into a sit.

"Are you ok?" Deefa asked, crouching in front of her and gripping her arm. Shepard waved her off.

"I'm fine…" Her voice was ragged, barely sounding like itself. She coughed again, wiping at her streaming eyes before rolling up onto her knees, checking over the pod. Tali seemed unharmed, the pod intact.

More heavy gunfire sounded from within the camp. She could hear shouts and orders as something flashed past in the sky. Whatever it was, it was too dark to make out markings or shape, but as it went by more explosions shook the ground and lit up the area.

Though they had subdued the fire they had not put it out completely, and the onrush of air from the rent in the prefab fed the flames. The entire lab was engulfed now, roiling curtains of orange and crimson tangling thirty feet into the sky.

All the samples were gone, to say nothing of the data backups and the equipment. Getting to her knees, fighting off dizziness from the smoke, she said, "We need to get Tali away from camp, put some distance between us and this mess-"

"It may be too late for that," Deefa said softly, pointing. Shepard turned, wiping her eyes again and looking into the distance.

Another dark shape, a ground vehicle of some kind, was drawing to a halt only a dozen yards away. Almost before it stopped, a wide door swung open, forms rushing out.

Shepard's first thought is that they were enemy troops, and that neither she nor Deefa were armed or armored. There was nothing between them and a bullet save cloth.

As the rushing forms came into the light of the fire, however, she realized the truth of the matter was far more horrible than mere armed Orthrus mercs.

There was no armor, no rifles or pistols or other such weapons. Instead she saw gray and pallid faces, wild eyes, self-inflicted wounds, and feverish madness. The horror slammed into her chest and she groped wildly for Deefa's arm. "They're mad infected! Run!"

Both women turned and ran along the flank of the camp, leaving Tali in her pod. The infected would not bother with her, and could not get into the pod even if they had the brain capacity left to figure it out. Heart thundering madly, her breath little more than wheezing, Shepard ran beside the quarian marine, trying not to imagine the pursuing footsteps were getting closer.

Then another form appeared in front of them. Shepard got a quick look at pale eyes and dark skin before a pistol went off with a snap. Seeing it lift, Deefa twisted and almost tackled Del to the ground, before crying out as the bullet ripped through her shoulder.

Del surged forward on her hands and knees, away from the gunman, half-turning back toward the wounded marine before a second bullet whispered by in front of her nose. She recoiled, scrambling across the grass, then gasped.

For a brief moment, she thought the descending hands belonged to help, to a rescuer. She looked up, expecting to see Feris, or Ashley, or Liara come to save her.

Instead, she saw a feverish gray face, wide blood-shot eyes, and a gaping mouth. Then weight was pressing her down, teeth were sinking into flesh, pain was flashing hot, and somewhere both nearby and far away…someone started screaming.