Here is the next chapter, a little longer then the last one. I hope you enjoy it. I have tired to keep it as close as the game as possible, I have just finished my seventh play through!
I am still looking for a beta, so please, if anyone is interested in helping me out I would be very appreciative, the mistakes I make are mostly grammar and or punctuation. In the next few chapters it is going to be getting a little darker and a little more adult so I hope you enjoy.
A huge thanks to all those who followed this fic. Hope you enjoy!
Please read and review, I would really like to hear what you guys think.
Chapter 2: Back to work
Ashley Williams finished what was left of her coffee and leaned back in her seat, her eyes moving from her book of classic poetry and down towards the end of the table. She smiled as she watched her commander whisper something into the ear of the young Asari, hardly containing a chuckle as the maiden turned a bright shade of purple at what the commander had just said. Shepard kissed Liara on the cheek before moving to the chair to the left of the maiden, flashing her signature lopsided smile towards her lover before taking a sip of her 'freshly' made coffee. Ashley had counted that as the commander's fourth cup of coffee of the day.
Her gaze moved around the table, resting on each and every one of her team-mates that quietly conversed with each other, enjoying their breakfasts, their coffee or just the company of their closest friends. Her smile only grew. It had been a little over three years since the Reaper war had ended, the giant machines falling from the sky like someone had just flipped a switch. Everybody had their fair share of scars from the war, but as Ashley moved her gaze back towards her commander, her eyes could not help but fall to the angry raised wounds that splattered her C.O's face. The search teams that were sent out after the destruction were sure the commander was dead, when the crucible fell from the sky, a fiery explosion of metallic debris falling to earth like rain. After two days of continuous searching they had found the spectre trapped under the rubble, body broken and burned, armour destroyed and life slipping away by the second.
Liara had never left the commanders bed side.
A distorted noise broke her out of her thoughts, Jokers voice making her jump as it sounded over the intercom.
"Commander I am getting an urgent transmission from the colony we are heading to. It sounds pretty bad."
Ashley watched as Shepard's smile faulted, her eyes hardening and her shoulders suddenly becoming stiff.
"Ash, Liara, gear up. We move in five!" She ordered, rising from her seat and starting towards the bridge.
When the two women had arrived in the bridge, Shepard already had her armour on, her favoured Valkyrie assault rifle on her back and the hornet at her side. There was a strange look on her face as she stared at the screen that hung just above Jokers head, a frozen image of an unknown ship with an unknown insignia painted on the side. Liara narrowed her eyes and stared at Shepard with a worried expression.
"What have we got?" Ashley asked, her eyes focusing on the vid screen above Jokers head.
"We are getting an SOS from the colony, but the transmission was interrupted before they could tell us who or what was attacking them." Joker said. "We are almost there, ETA six minutes… you might want to get down to the shuttle bay."
Without a word, Shepard turned on her heel and started towards the elevator, Liara watched her go, her eyes narrowing once more.
"What's wrong with her?" Joker asked when his commander was out of earshot. Both Ashley and Liara turned to face the young pilot.
"What do you mean?" Liara asked, a frown forming on her face.
"When she got here she was all jokes and sarcasm…until she saw that" Joker pointed up towards the vid screen that still held the frozen image of the strange ship. Liara looked closely at the insignia that looked as if it had been painted on the side, something about it seemed familiar.
"Come on doc, we better go. Don't want to keep the commander waiting." Ashley's voice broke her out of her thoughts, the Asari nodded, turning on her heel to follow the human to the shuttle bay. She took one final look towards the frozen image on the screen, then started towards the elevator.
Shepard had been silent the entire shuttle ride to the colony, her eyes focused on the devastation that was displayed on the interior screen. Her jaw was clenched tightly, her rifle hanging by her side, Liara watched her from the comer of her eye, worry etching her features. Her own gaze turned towards the vid screen, showing the human colony engulfed in flames.
"Do we know anything about what's going on down there, who's attacking the colony?" Ashley asked, shifting in the uncomfortable hard seat of the Kodiak. Liara tore her gaze away from her lover before she answered.
"No, but whoever they are, they seem to have military grade hardware…judging from the devastation"
"Why attack this colony…there is nothing but farmland and agricultural labs." The young women pointed out, fiddling with something in her helmet as she spoke, she was also looking at the vid screen, the camera catching site of the strange ship once again.
"They are there for the people lieutenant." Shepard's voice suddenly broke the silence, her eyes never leaving the vid screen as her two companions turned to face her. "The people attacking the colony are slavers."
Liara could not help but gasp, her small hand moving to her lips as she took a step closer to her partner, Shepard did not seem to notice her movement as she continued to stare at the screen.
"Are you sure?" Ashley asked her CO, standing to put her helmet on.
Shepard said nothing for a short while, instead moving towards the door and putting her own helmet on, she straightened her back and gripped her rifle tightly. "Positive"
"We're going in hot commander, you might want to get ready!" Steve's voice shouted from the pilot seat. Liara and Ashley readied themselves behind their commander, waiting anxiously for the door to open.
"What are our orders commander?" Ashley's voice sounded through the radio.
"Survivors are our first priority!" Shepard ordered, readying her rifle in front of her.
"Yes ma'am!" Ashley answered, readying her own rifle as the door hissed open. In an instant Shepard was on the ground, firing her rifle at two heavily armed slavers that dragged a small boy towards their waiting ships. Their bodies hit the floor like a pile of bricks, dark red already seeping through their armour and staining the dusty floor beneath them. The young boy looked up towards Shepard with tearful eyes, his fair skin littered with small cuts and bruises. A man suddenly appeared beside her, sweeping the boy into his arms and holding him tightly.
"Thank you Commander!" He shouted through the roar of gunfire. Shepard nodded.
"Get somewhere safe!" the marine yelled, turning her rifle on two more batarian's that appeared from behind a large metallic structure. The man ran towards cover, holding his son close to his chest.
"Fan out!" she called to her team-mates, taking in the destruction around her. It was just like Mindoir, the blazing fires, the sound of gunfire and screaming and the smell burning flesh. It was all too familiar. Pushing back the memories that threatened to rise to the surface, Shepard surveyed the area, her eyes falling onto a group of people that were being ushered along by no more than five, heavily armoured slavers. She started towards them, her body suddenly engulfed in a brilliant blue, she waited for just the right moment, then threw a shock-wave, taking pleasure in the way the slavers were thrown off their feet. Her hand moved towards the hornet that rested against her hip, bringing it up, she pulled the trigger five times, each shot meeting its target with fatal precision.
"Get somewhere safe!" she shouted, turning away from the group of people she had just saved. As she turned to leave, a hand grabbed her arm. She turned, her eyes falling on a young girl no older than twenty, her pale skin dirtied by blood and grime.
"Wait…commander. You need to save Doctor Carter. She drew away some of the slavers to let us escape, but they caught her!"
"Where did you last see her?"
"The outskirts of the colony. Where they landed that big ship of theirs. They were piling everybody into cages like god dam animals!" Shepard swallowed hard, she remembered the cages very clearly.
"Get to cover. I will go save your doctor"
Her hand moved to her ear. "Cortez do you read me. I need some air support!"
The sound of static deafened her before she could hear the garbled response of her pilot.
"No can do…commander…the LZ is taking heavy….fire, had to get out of there…took out a group of retreating slavers…they seem to be retreating back to the ship…unidentified shuttles approaching my location…"
"Shit, I need to find that ship. Send me the Nav point!"
Shepard's Omni tool beeped. Without a second's hesitation, Shepard started towards the location of the slave ship. Liara and Ashley following closely behind her.
That is the second chapter, the third is already written and ready to be posted, just looking through it for silly mistakes. Please read and review and tell me what you think.
The next chapter will be up soon and it will be a lot more exiting.