Location: SSV Dublin, docked near Firebase Dagger-Ontarom
"They were right under our noses the entire time," Dana bristled as she read the report projected on her data-pad.
Liam only watched as she paced his room like a caged animal. "Fi was nice enough to give us time to scrub the servers, the encryption keys we found will help us decrypt the rest of Elena's files. We might actually have a leg up on Cerberus here."
"It doesn't do us much good when we're ten steps away." She hurled the tablet across the room with so much force that it dented the bulkhead.
Liam thought he saw wisps of dark energy surrounding it, but passed it off as smoke from the electronics. "Hey." He leapt from his bed and came to stand before her. "What's going on?"
"We're getting our asses handed to us, that's what going on!" Dana yelled, stepping to move past him, but he took her arm. It was warm to the touch, as if she had a fever. "Let go of me, Shepard."
He cringed when she yanked her hand away, the burn singed his palm. She grew concerned at his discomfort and hovered close, but far enough away so as not to touch him. "You haven't seen Chakwas before she left, have you?" Liam asked.
"Let me see your palm," she commanded, but the worry in her eyes softened the words.
Liam balled his fist and hid it behind his back. "Whatever he did to you, it's getting worse."
"I'm fine," she said, standing her ground. "The biotics take some getting used to that's all. He did me a favor, now let me see." She lunged for his hand, but he side-stepped.
"Take my other hand," he said, offering his open palm.
Dana kept her arms at her sides as she regained her composure. He could see the calculations working in her head, sometimes even when they were alone he could hear the mental ticking clock forcing her to analyze every single part of their relationship. They both knew what they were doing was risky, but such was the nature of love. They had been playing it safe, doing their best not to be seen alone together and respecting one another's battle decisions, something he found easy to do because most of her orders made sense.
"I'm not going to burn you," she said begrudgingly, crossing her arms.
"You won't," he agreed, palm still outstretched. "Trust me, Dana."
The standoff was so intense he thought she had her mind set, until slowly she reached out and hovered her scalding hot palm above his own. He remembered all the times Fi would lock herself up for days, too afraid of burning anyone with her strange powers to ever come out and play until he developed this technique.
When he raised his palm to close the distance her voice rang out in warning, but her hand still maintained its distance above his. "Stop!"
Liam nodded, but took a step forward and watched her carefully. "Don't think about the power. Don't think about me. Just focus on your hand. Pretend it's weightless."
Dana scrunched her brow, but if she thought it was stupid she didn't say a word as she did what he asked.
"It's nice and cool in here, nothing—"
She exhaled deeply. "Shepard."
"Yeah?"
"Shut up for a sec."
He smiled. "Yes ma'am."
He could feel the technique working as her hand became cool to the touch and settled into his. They both smiled before he pulled her close into a calming hug. Tension ebbed from her back and shoulders as he rubbed soothing circles.
"Thank you." He could hear the words mumbled into his chest and drew back.
Dana smiled up at him and stifled a yawn. He couldn't remember the last time he watched her sleep, maybe sometime after they met with Elena. Since then she's been running herself ragged trying to rid Ontarom of every last Cerberus influence. So when she found an entire facility underground, it was no wonder she took it personally.
"We're winning," he assured as she started inspecting his singed hand. "Elena was smart to get that information to the Alliance."
"She gave them non-essential intel." Dana flexed his red fingers and watched his face for a reaction. "If the Alliance had hard evidence against Cerberus they would've used it. Elena only deployed a smoke screen of chaos."
"Good point," he conceded, watching her work.
"You need to patch this up," she said, avoiding the tender spots with some guilt, "that's an order."
"Please, speak with a medic?" he pleaded, cupping the side of her face.
"Captain, we have mobilization orders from fifth fleet. The Citadel is under attack," Ellie announced through the comms, interrupting their moment.
Dana stepped away from his touch with finality as her professional mask fell into place, never faltering despite the exhaustion. He could see the cold burn of determination in her eyes and knew it didn't make sense to argue. "Prep us for an emergency launch and plot a circumnavigation intercept. We'll maintain a perimeter until the big guns get there."
"Roger that," Ellie replied and the ship's emergency launch siren blared. All ship techs, engineers and combat specialists knew it by heart as code to grab their gear and hightail it back to the ship for a quick launch.
Liam grabbed his gear but before he could take off for the hangar, Dana grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and pulled him into a chaste kiss. For a moment he was dazed and confused by the sudden passion, but she remained professional as they took off for the lifts. "Tell them to dump all the ground vehicles and leave the Jarheads on base. We need just need the ship crew for this one, it's a space battle."
"I'll get Hunt—Glen," Liam caught himself, swallowing back the young Chief's name. "I'll send him up to prep the main cannon."
Dana nodded as they stood near the lifts, their parting point. "Be careful," she warned, but he could hear the slight note of urgency in her tone. It was more than their uniforms were allowed to say.
"Always." But even as he took off for the maintenance shaft, something in his heart urged him to go back. Something he didn't quite listen to.
o~O~o
Location: Presidium—Citadel
Miranda squeezed herself through the small opening of the elevator shaft, wishing she was wearing her combat suit and not the impractical dress. People were screaming as they rushed for the stairs, racing for the launch bays before all the life pods ran out.
Another explosion rocked the fake sky above and showered the ground with debris. Miranda lunged for the cover of the embassy just in time to avoid a steel beam which crushed an unlucky salarian. Under the general shelter of the awning she had a good vantage point of the disturbance.
Pods landed on the other side of the Presidium and geth troopers engaged the few CSEC officers mounting a resistance. Husks leapt at people, tearing their flesh and sinew's out as they attacked. All of the monthly surveillance reports on Commander John Shepard's findings backed the evidence before her. If only those idiots on the council had listened.
Miranda tried to reach her team but only received static on her omni-tool. There was a contingency for everything, including the Citadel. Keeping that in mind she made a dash for the ducts. Her gear was back in the hotel room on the other side, but going directly across would be suicide which made going around her only solution.
A part of her wished Banes was here. He would make quick work of these things without breaking a sweat, but the thought of him vanished as her training and experience kicked in. There was no sense wallowing in guilt when the entire station could collapse, along with humanity's chance to one day sit at the seat of galactic power. She couldn't let that happen.
Miranda crawled through the ventilation ducts, forcing memories of asphyxiated street kids caught in the same shafts from her mind. It was a challenge to keep up with the shifting pattern, but one she couldn't afford to lose lest she died in this hole. Clutching a gun in one hand and a purse in the other wasn't helping matters.
A vent poured light into the ducts from ahead. She stopped and alternated her hand positions as the duct mechanics moved beneath her. Silhouettes of geth juggernauts coming to inspect the pipes made her freeze.
o~O~o
Location: CIC— Cerberus Frigate Albatross—Orbiting Citadel Station in Stealth Mode.
"Dad, what's going on? You never call during work hours," Sasha questioned on the vid screen, her eyes questioned him.
"It is nothing you need to worry about, my darling," Petrovsky said, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief now that he knew she and Michael were on Arcturus with Dillon. "Are you receiving plenty of rest?"
"It was a miscarriage. I'm not an invalid," she chided, though the lightness of her tone still held the burden of sadness.
Oleg nodded, wishing he could pry her for more details, but time was a harsh mistress. "I have to go, my dear."
"Right, I'll just be sitting here waiting for the next call with baited breath," she said sarcastically.
He couldn't blame her attitude, but was at a loss for words that would make all of this pain go away. "I'm sorry, Sasha."
But she signed off without a word, leaving him cold in the command seat as everyone around him pretended to work and not eavesdrop. Under normal conditions he never would have made a personal call from the bridge, it was unheard of. But the understanding from the crew around him showed in the small smiles accompanying their furtive glances.
As explosions rumbled through the Citadel far away from the Albatross, Petrovosky wondered how many of his men and women had family on the station. They were all so strong to keep working without a word of protest or concern. They were much stronger than the old fool commanding them.
His thoughts turned to Banes, whom he had ultimately sentenced to death. Sure it was the Illusive Man who ordered the execution, picking the most unlikely of assassin's, his own right hand Miranda Lawson. But ultimately, Petrovsky knew he killed him the minute he kicked both of them off his ship. The Illusive Man said jump and he had answered like a dancing bear, asking how high.
"General, we are getting incoming life pods on our vectors," Yuri the radar technician spoke up from his controls.
"Collect them," Petrovsky ordered, leaning a heavy hand under his chin. "Do not open their pods for any reason. We don't know if they are innocent civilians or crafty enemies. Once this war is over we will set them on course to Arcturus air-space."
"Yes, sir!"
Petrovsky watched the monitor as his hangar crew began collecting the PODs. For the first time in too many years he smiled in battle.
o~O~o
Location: Deck 1 Hangar—SSV Dublin, en-route to Citadel station.
"We should be good, Shep," Glen said as he typed at the Ship's weapon terminal. "I'll have engineers take another look, but my boy Hunter had it all running top notch." Glen shook his head and stepped away. "Well all except that damn ELRC cannon taking up our prime real-estate."
Liam wondered about the experimental offensive cannon. It had never been test fired thanks to its outrageous thermal output. That was a problem meant to be rectified after a retro-fit, one that Hunter never got around to supervising that before his untimely death. "We have torpedoes and nukes I highly doubt we'll need to fire the ELRC."
Glen shrugged. "Still, if it turns to a dog-fight and it's all we're left with, might become a suicide-mission if you know what I'm saying."
"I do." Liam chuckled and nodded resolutely. "Good work, Glen. Head to the CIC, I'll stay here in case anything needs a quick adjustment."
Glen ran off, brushing past the sole platoon of 12 marines left aboard the Dublin. The hangar looked like a small abandoned city with so few personnel...and empty without Hunter. Liam swallowed a lump in his throat as he observed his home.
Vega's heavy steps neared his side. Both men didn't say anything as they stood in full armor, ready for anything.
"Kind of eerie, don't you think?" Vega started, holding his assault rifle at the ready. "One minute this place is bustling with jarheads..."
"Don't tell me you're getting cold feet, Vega?" Liam glanced to his friend, a man he's come to rely on like a brother these past few months.
Vega regarded him with a raised brow. "Come on, Loco. What rule of engagement says rush into battle in an empty ship?"
"What good are ground troops in space? They're more useful back on Ontarom," Liam explained, not sure why he felt the need to defend Dana's actions but did anyways.
"Hmmm." Vega tried to brush it off with a nod but Liam wasn't buying it. Something was unsettling the marine, if his twitchy eyes and flexed fingers said anything.
"What is it?" Liam prompted.
"Nothing."
"Vega?"
James rolled his shoulders and popped his neck with a loud crack. "Okay, fuck it. Have you noticed anything different about the Captain?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Liam asked, barely keeping his voice in check.
Vega held both palms up in a pacifying gesture. "Loco, I respect the hell out of that woman but something...something ain't right. It hasn't been for a while."
Liam's mind flashed to all the instances where she accidentally burned glasses until they popped in her hand, or how certain marines seemed to burn under her concentration. Minor accidents that would've caused normal people to whisper, but marines and Alliance soldiers to watch and consider in silence. Dana's new powers were erratic but nothing to put the ship on high alert over. "She's dealing with a lot right now but her judgement is sound."
"I don't know, Loco. Maybe I'm not one for gossip but some of the jarheads are saying crazy shit, she nearly beat some shopkeeper to death during a patrol because she suspected he was a Cerberus agent. The squad thought she was using biotics but no one could see them."
Liam listened with the patience of a saint but knew his hands were tied. The biotics mess was Dana's secret, not his to share. But he heard about the shopkeeper incident and it unsettled him. That was a night she wouldn't let him near her and momentarily rebuilt the walls she so stubbornly hid behind. "You're worried about the mission?" Liam asked, hoping to divert the subject.
Vega shook his head. "She'll get the job done, I have no doubts. I'm just concerned." He looked around the empty hangar with the same sense of belonging Liam felt. "I kinda like this place...it wouldn't be the same if top brass dismissed her on a section 8."
Liam patted Vega on the shoulder and smiled. "You make a good point, but our mission comes first. Maybe once this is over I'll say something. But truthfully, now that the Cerberus thing is over I think things will wind down."
"I hope so. Thanks, Loco," he began to walk away with a goofy grin, "just tell her I'm available if she ever needs to beat out her frustration."
Liam shook his head with a light chuckle but the moment was swallowed up by Ellie's panicked voice directly in his ear. "Shepard, we need you on the bridge."
"Ellie, what's going on?"
"We're entering Citadel airspace and it's not pretty."