Rylee POV
A couple of days later
Shit Nate why do you have to do this now? He didn't bother moving when the doors started clothing and he landed in a heap on the ground. To make a great day so much better he has an attack. Thankfully this ship was fully stocked and Dr Chakwas was able to get him into the med-bay.
Tali, Kaidan and Kasumi were devastated by everything they'd witnessed. Someone they cared about was either dead or they were gone. Tali wasn't acting like herself after she saw Reegar get shot and I don't blame her. Jacob pulled the trigger without a moment's pause on one of his close friends. I try to imagine what it would be like to see Nate get gunned down and it' just too painful
Kasumi felt responsible for what Jacob did since he was her boyfriend. She hasn't cracked a joke nor has she even smiled at anything. She must be really hurting. Thinking that you know someone and then they flip and do that to you.
Kaidan was feeling very hurt and confused. He explained to me and me alone that he and Miranda had kissed the night of the attack. He felt that they had a genuine connection. To add on to the whole Miranda mess his parents weren't on the ship. So now he was feeling very conflicted and confused. He's experienced a lot of pain in his life I just wish something would go his way.
Just about everyone aboard the ship has lost someone important to them. Whether it's been through separation or death they've experienced loss. But I doubt anyone has lost more than Nate in the past few days especially on a deeply personal level. He's managed to lose his best friends, his father figure, our mother, and his love.
Seeing Jennifer like that must have set his head spinning. I just don't understand Jack is the most anti-Cerberus person I know. Why would she help them take over? Unless it was all just an act and she needed to get close to us. But that doesn't make any sense. It's not like we're that special. Yeah my father was a big Alliance hero but there were far more important places she could have infiltrated. Like Councillor Udina's place, imagine how much she could have learned if she were there instead of with us and the same applies for Miranda. Then there's Jacob and Kelly. They've known Nate for years and they've never even pried about our father.
Thane and his son mainly stuck to the Crew Deck. They stayed in the ship's life support room and I stayed in the Crew quarters on the same deck. Liara claimed the XO's cabin for herself,
Nate has been in the med-bay ever since we managed to escape. Dr Chakwas says that he's stable and should recover within the week. But a small part of me doesn't want him to wake up so he doesn't have to go through what the others have gone through. He's already lost so much with what happened with Ashley and Talitha.
I was sitting in the Med-bay by my brother's bed still waiting for the Dr's scan of my shoulder. She said that we should let it heal naturally and this scan was just a check up to see how far I was progressing. She also asked us to visit Nate as often as possible to tell him about our day and be very positive around him. Even when comatose there's a chance he could be conscious of what's around him.
Thane walked into the Med-bay. He was coughing for a little bit but soon regained his composure. He sat beside me and I rested my head on his shoulder. He was going to put his hand around my shoulder but he thought twice when he remembered my arm was in a sling.
"The past number of days have been…. Eventful" he started
"A bit too eventful for my tastes, I just want this to be some nightmare that I'll wake up from soon"
"I wish that were true but we both know it is not"
"We're going to have to deal with that. How are you holding up?" I asked
The drell began to chuckle and shake his head slightly. "It's just like you to ask how I'm fairing when you're in distress" he stated "I am fine. I have been the most fortunate person on this ship by far. I still have you and Kolyat"
We stayed like that for a few minutes waiting for Dr Chakwas. I was thinking of just how fortunate I was as well. I hadn't lost my closest friends with the exception of Miranda and Jennifer. I was closest to Liara, Kaidan, Tali, Sam and Thane. Hearing that Jen and Miranda were working with Cerberus did hurt a lot but I could survive.
On the other hand there was Nate. His closest friends are Garrus, Kaidan, James, Jacob, Sam, Jack and Miranda. Now one of them is dead and three are working for the group responsible for his death.
Dr Chakwas strolled into the room holding a data pad. She radiated this warmth which drew most of us to her to talk. I still haven't spoken to anyone of my feelings. I just think it would be selfish of me to complain when others have lost so much more than me.
"Let's see what these scans show… it looks like it's healing rather nicely. Now let's take a look at the external injuries" she ordered me to take my shirt off. "Well sonny if you're going to be present then the least you could do is make yourself useful" she ranted
Is she asking Thane to take my shirt off… he's never seen me even remotely naked before. The most revealing thing I've worn around him was a crop top which stopped just above my bellybutton and that was when we were sparring.
With his usual confidence he grabbed the base of my shirt. I raised my hands in the air the best I could and he proceeded to slide the shirt over my torso. He stopped for a few seconds while my shirt was over my head before continuing.
"Very good, your healing at a rate far faster than what I would assume any human could. Do you have implants?"
"Yeah, when I was 13 they planted some nanoparticles into my blood stream and ever since I've healed very quickly"
"Well you should be good to go within a week"
"Thanks Dr"
"Your very welcome Rylee and don't worry, should Nathan wake up you'll be the first to know"
"I would appreciate that, thank you" Thane and I walked towards the door
"By the way Mr Krios, if you wish to appreciate Miss Shepard's body may you please do that when she isn't having a medical exam?" the Dr chuckled
I looked at Thane with surprise, however the drell couldn't meet my eye. I need to count how many times he's embarrassed because it's so rare. That makes it two.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
3 days later
We'd been flying through space aimlessly for a few days now. Word from Joker was that we were waiting for word from Admiral Hackett. He was the only Alliance personnel that he trusted not to be a Cerberus mole. Unfortunately for me Oriana and Jade were getting stir crazy.
They hadn't once mentioned Jack nor Miranda's name ever since we escaped. They were always playing games and on the move. It scared me just how hard that they were trying to act like kids. They were speaking toddlers English and they acted like 5 year olds. Jack and Miranda's actions seem to have affected them greatly.
That's something else that doesn't make sense. I've spent the past couple of days racking my brain around the idea of Jack working with Cerberus to take the Citadel. None of it made sense. She hates Cerberus for everything they did to her and she loves Nate. She would never kill anyone important to him. Then there was Miranda. She may not have hated Cerberus but she wasn't a fan after the invasion. That and Miranda would never abandon Oriana for anything.
I approached Liara and Kasumi who were in the lounge. "Do you want to talk about it Liara?" Kasumi asked
"There is nothing to speak of"
"Yes there is Liara you haven't been yourself since we landed"
"No one has been themselves Kasumi; no one could be considering what we have witnessed"
"But everyone has spoken about it except for you. I'm not asking you to relive it. I'm just asking how you feel"
"Just mind your business Kasumi" she yelled before stomping away from the thief. She brushed past me with a lone tear coming from her eye.
I approached the thief "What was that about?"
"Benezia… she bought us time to escape. But we haven't heard from her ever since. After what we saw Cerberus do to the other aliens… well I don't have high hopes"
Oh my God Liara I am so sorry. I've noticed that she hasn't been herself too, but I just assumed it was due to the fact that an invasion occurred. She lost that confidence she gained after she started chilling with us. I love Liara and I hate it whenever she's sad.
"How are you holding up Kass" I wondered
"Oh me I'm just peachy. My new home was destroyed, my best friends mom is MIA and let's not forget. My fucking boyfriend is responsible for all of it" she listed off whilst still smiling. "I mean just when you think you know a guy. But I guess I didn't really know him. We've only been dating for 6 months and in that time we've had sex, talked about our deepest secrets and survived a Cerberus invasion together. So we obviously weren't that close" she grew more angry as she spoke
"Jacob FUCKING Taylor. Hunk, body of a Greek God and let's not forget a fucking murderer. How… how can I ever…. look Tali in the eye again knowing what he's done?" she broke into tears at end of her tirade.
I brought her into a hug and let her cry on my chest, but I soon found myself crying with her. If Kasumi reacted this way to Jacob killing Reegar, I really started dreading to see how Nate would react to Jack killing Anderson
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Alliance Command, Vancouver, Canada, Earth
After a week of wondering in space Joker finally got word from Admiral Hackett and we landed in Vancouver. All of the teachers left us to our own devices. So now I was with Thane and Kaidan bored out of my mind. There was absolutely nothing for us to do in a military base.
We all stood out of anticipation when Joker and Samara walked towards us. "Come with us children. There is something that we tell you" Samara said
"If I were you I'd hurry before the old man changes his mind" Joker recommended and we followed them with pace. Along the way we met the rest of our friends. We stood in a room which was comprised of Admiral Hackett and other members of Alliance brass.
"Ladies and gentlemen, as you are well aware the Citadel has been taken over and that has resulted in a massive loss of life."
"With all due respect Admiral I really don't think we should be reminding them" Joker interrupted
"Flight Lieutenant, was I addressing you" Hackett demanded
"No sir!"
"Then don't say anything. Do I make myself clear!?"
"Yes sir!" Joker saluted
"What was I saying… oh yes the invasion. You are well aware that Cerberus is behind this travesty, and not only Cerberus but many non-human citizens of the Citadel are also at fault"
"Yeah why was that?" I asked
"Admiral I urge you to reconsider. This is classified information and you are about to tell it to a group of children" one of the board members interjected
"These so called children managed to help stave off the last Cerberus invasion without our help. And they managed to survive this onslaught"
"Yes but not all of them survived and not all of them were combatants clearly…"
"Are you fucking kidding me" I snapped which caused quite a few to gasp "Not all of us survived is that a fucking reason why we can't know the truth. So you automatically assume that they died due to inexperience or carelessness. How dare you belittle my friends' sacrifices like that? They died like heroes and I won't stand by while someone tries to convince me otherwise!"
"Who is this little girl!" the man on the bench demanded an answer
"Her name is Rylee Shepard and this little girl is right." Zaeed backed me up. "There's a reason why I never worked for the Alliance and this is it. You've got a bunch of fucking bureaucrats sitting at the top who've never seen combat before. And they have the audacity to complain and criticise real soldiers. I witnessed many students help fight off Cerberus and buy time for others including myself to escape. Their sacrifice should be lauded and instead you're trying to vilify them for it"
"You idiots were the ones who had no faith in either Eric or his team. You tried to dismiss his findings as the ravings of a madman. That was before the threat showed up in front of your eyes and it was almost too late to solve it. So fuck what you think. If you don't tell them we sure as hell will" Aleena challenged. What is everyone's connection with my father? It seems that just about everyone in the damn galaxy knows what my father did apart from me
Alliance command remained silent for a few seconds before exchanging looks and nods. Hackett took that as his queue to begin speaking
"23 years ago Dr Garrett Bryson was murdered by his assistant, when the assistant was interviewed he pulled the trigger on himself. Dr Bryson was working on an artefact which was discovered by a group of miners on Mahavid. The artefact was discovered to be a mind control device. The Council redacted anything which documented the findings. Somehow the Illusive Man must have gotten a hold of them"
"So Cerberus is controlling our friends with that paint. But they were rarely around the stuff. Why are they helping them?" Garrus asked
"Yes Samara mentioned the involvement of students. Were these students by any chance sponsored by Cerberus?"
"Yes they were"
Hackett sighed and frowned "I'm not entirely sure how to tell you this…. every Cerberus sponsored student has some form of contingency plan designed specifically for them. It's done in order to ensure loyalty no matter what and it's done during the physical check-up. The… 'least valuable' students have a killswitch, any defection results in death by drug overdose from their implants in order to make it look natural. The more valuable students are fitted with a control chip" the Admiral sneered
"Those sick bastards" Tali cussed
"But that is assuming that your friends were never loyal to Cerberus in the first place" Hackett said
"I can say for certain that at least one of them isn't" Zaeed added. We were all thinking of Jack that very second. But I wasn't only thinking of Jack. I was also thinking of Miranda, Jacob and Kelly
"So it wasn't Jacob who did those horrible things… it was Cerberus" Kasumi muttered with her hand over her mouth. "He isn't a monster…." She began smiling out of relief but her eyes still conveyed anguish. "I know I shouldn't be smiling but…"
"I understand Kasumi, I would feel just as you do were I in your position" Tali interjected
"The reason I'm telling you this is because your instructors were worried about your state of mind and so was I. But now it's time for us to act. Taking the Citadel won't be easy but it must be done. Those of you that are considered adults are to help with the effort. Those that are not can help in other ways."
Those that are adults? Shit that means if you're at least 18. I only just turned 16 so that means he won't let me fight. But that also rules out Kasumi, Tali
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
SSV Normandy SR-3, Vancouver, Canada, Earth
October 17th 2189
While everyone else was receiving their Alliance military training I was stuck here aboard the Normandy helping with the retrofit. The only good thing was that Sam and Kasumi were helping us. Tali was required in the engine room so we hadn't really seen much from her besides when we slept and woke up.
Working on the Normandy was long arduous and not to mention tedious, but it allowed me time to reflect. The more time passed by the more time I had to process the news that Jack, Jacob, Kelly and Miranda weren't evil psychopaths but they were actually under mind control. It made focusing on helping the Alliance easier. The Turians, Salarians, Krogan, Asari and Quarians have sent their best people in to help us train the young soldiers and they sent their own soldiers for training as well. The Hanar even sent some Drell monks to help train Thane and tutor in hand to hand combat. Every race knew that taking the Citadel would require a group effort and we needed to work together.
Whilst they're all out there here I am stuck on the Normandy away from all of the action. I want to be out there so bad so that I can improve but Hackett said I was too young. The only thing keeping me sane was that Dr Chakwas was teaching me about medicine and healing people. This would help me be a good battlefield medic so I grasped at the opportunity with both hands
Rikki had been visiting Nate more and more often in the med-bay. It seemed that whenever I wasn't there, she was. She might be interested in him but I doubt he'd return the favour. He told me just how annoying she was to him. Her little brother was a lone wolf, he never spoke to anyone outside of Rikki and the cook. He was a disrespectful little bugger who enjoyed playing pranks on people, occasionally with Rikki's help.
In fact she was in Nate's room right now. I asked Sam to cover for me while I checked up on my brother. When I entered she didn't acknowledge my existence. I assume that she didn't hear the door open and she was mumbling something.
"Why am I even here? I find myself constantly wanting to speak to you but I don't know why. I know that I want to fuck you but it's obvious that isn't going to happen. AARG" she huffed "You don't care about me so why am I so damn concerned about you?!"
I accidentally knocked into one of the beds and some of the equipment fell to the ground. Rikki noticed this and turned around "What the fuck are you doing here?"
"Sorry I didn't mean to sneak up on you"
"Just what did you hear?" she urged.
I considered lying to her but it just didn't make sense to me as to why I should so I just told her the truth. "I heard that you want to fuck my brother and you're concerned about him" I said as nonchalantly as possible.
Rikki glared at me "Well he is pretty hot in case you haven't noticed. I'm certain every girl on this ship would want to"
"Ewww don't make me think about that" I cringed
"Aww you're one of those virgins aren't you. Don't like talking about sexy business with those more experienced" she teased
"No!"
"No to being a virgin or no to the sexy business?"
"No…. I mean yes…. Let me start again. Yes I'm a virgin and no about the sexy business. It's just that... he's my big brother. I don't want to ever think of him doing that"
Rikki had a satisfied smirk on her face. "I believe my job here is done" she strutted towards the door. "By the way virgin Rylee"
"What!?" I glared
"Sex isn't as scary as you think. Just do it and see what happens. And remember that you're lucky enough to do it with someone you care and trust" she waved off as the door closed
I dismissed what she said as unimportant. She was probably making fun of me. I turned my attention to my still unconscious brother. He turned 18 a couple of months back and he hasn't realised it. I had hoped he would at least wake up so we could spend that day together but fate wasn't on my side.
I stood in place for 20 minutes just sitting beside his bed. I grabbed his hand and began praying for the first time in a long time. If there is a God then now is the time for him to act. I need my brother back, I love Thane and Kolyat but they can't replace Nate. I can't lose him, not after losing my mother. Please don't take him from me.
I let go of his hand and stood up when I saw him stirring. His eyes began to open very slowly until they were wide open. He tried to sit up but for it difficult. I massaged him and moved his body around to prevent muscle atrophy but moving on his own was going to be difficult.
"Rylee? Where am I? What's going on?"
Shit I remember Dr Chakwas telling me to sedate him to prevent him from having another attack. The only problem was I don't know where the sedatives are. I did the only thing I thought would calm him down. I hugged him.
"Thank God you're awake."
"Yeah me too… the last thing I remember was… Jen… Anderson" Nate breathed. He began to hyperventilate
"Nate please calm down, if you get too stressed you could have another attack." I tried to tell him but his heart rate kept on going up
"Nate please don't do this, I just got you back and I can't lose you again"
He looked at me with vacant eyes but they soon turned to pity. "OK I'll try… but you have to answer every question I ask"
"I'll try to the best of my ability"
"Did Cerberus take the Citadel?"
"Yes"
He sighed out of frustration "DAMMIT! Who made it off with us?"
"Garrus made it" I made sure to mention him first since they were best friends. The relief was evident on his face "So did Thane, Kolyat, Sam, Kaidan, Jade, Oriana, Solana, Aria, Kasumi, Tali, Liara, Javik, Zaeed, Bray, Samara, Aleena, Joker, Rikki and Jason. A few other people made it too but I don't know their names"
"Where are we?"
"We're on the Normandy"
He actually chuckled when I mentioned the ships name "What's so funny"
"You might be too young to remember but back when I was 8 and Dad was around he used to tell me some of his old stories"
"What's the ship got to do with it?"
"This is dad's ship"
Before I could respond the doors opened and Garrus was helping Thane into the med-bay. Thane was hobbling and he wasn't stepping on his right leg. I got up and approached them.
"Oh my god are you okay? What happened?"
"Nothing much, we were racing on an obstacle course and he slipped and fell off of a wall" Garrus explained
I observed the pair and noticed that they were covered in rain water "They made you do an obstacle course during a storm"
"I believe Officer Ellison said that it builds character" Thane grunted
"Sure why talk to your recently conscious brother when you can make out with your boyfriend" Nate drawled
"We aren't making out, you ass" I smiled
Garrus moved his head so that he could get a clear look at the bed. "By the spirits you're alive."
"Good to be alive and kicking. Well not kicking, more like sitting around waiting for the good Doctor. And speak of the devil"
On queue Dr Chakwas walked into the room. "Look who's finally woken up from his nap"
"Happy to be here Doctor." He announced before turning to me one more time. "By the way Rylee how long was I out for?" he asked with a smile
All of our smiles disappeared and we looked to each other uncomfortably. Nate will not be happy to hear this.