"You wanted to see me, sir?" Alenko asked upon being admitted to Councilman Anderson's office.
"I did. We've got a message." Anderson looked older than ever, lines of worry and tension radiating from his face.
"From Shepard?" He was not sure he wanted to hear what kind of professional she wanted to leave: there was no way it was good news.
Anderson held up a holo-recording, then set it on the table as Alenko moved closer. Once they stood, one on either side of the desk, Anderson turned the message on.
Shepard, her face unblemished, the ugly scarring and that bizarre orange light vanished sat comfortably in a chair as she addressed the recorder. "Anderson, it's been awhile. I've included for you the last wills and testaments of several of my crewmen—I don't trust Cerberus to see to their affairs, but I know you would do it for those on the frontlines. I, myself, find it necessary to tell you that if you don't hear from me within the next standard week it means I'm dead, and my crew is probably dead, and the galaxy is screwed. Just a heads up." Her expression went grim. "All joking aside, this is going to be insanely dan—"
The recording cut out, replaced with a close up of Shepard's face, haggard and looking as though she had a murder on her conscience. Alenko gripped the edge of the table. Her face was livid with the green of healing bruises and several more which were purple, almost blue, and decidedly fresh. She looked pale, and her lips seemed to quiver as though she was struggling to maintain her composure.
"Anderson: get Alenko's ass in here, this message is for him, too." Her voice was low, husky, and held a note of something akin to desperation. "Listen, by the time you get this, you'll have heard all about Aratoht…"
Alenko closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. That explained it: she'd been involved with it. His blood went icy in his veins, trying to understand how she had gotten mixed up in that…and why.
"I didn't want it to go like that, but in case Hackett decides not to talk, the Reapers were trying to use the relay as an insertion point, and if they had they'd have had access to the entire relay network. I know it sounds crazy, but…" she stopped herself, cutting off a clear attempt to justify herself.
Alenko opened his eyes again, wanted to reach out and touch that battered face, wanted to kiss her until the dammed reservoir of tears behind her eyes could break. She always did hold too much in, and in this case it was painful to watch. This must have been recorded just hours after it happened for her to look so doggedly determined to record this message and send it out.
"That's not what this is about," but it was hard to tell if the words were for her viewers or for herself. "I'll cut to the chase: Alenko, get your family off Earth. Now. I don't care if you have to drug them or bonk them on the head, get them out." She took a short breath, bracing herself to continue. "Earth's probably the first place the Reapers will hit, or if it isn't, it's at near the top of the list, and they'll hit it hard. I can't save everyone, I may not be able to save anyone but…forewarned is forearmed. Get them out while there's time. Same for you, Anderson: if there's anyone there, get them out. Please get them out…" With that last plea, the message cut back to the original recording.
He reached for the playback button and wound the recording back, freezing it so Shepard's ravaged expression looked up at him. It was pitiful to see her in this kind of agony, and only desperate knowledge that she could not afford to wait, that they would need all the time they could get to extract their loved ones, made her record the message before pulling herself together.
"Do you need to take some time, Alenko?" Anderson asked quietly, walking over to the overlook onto the Presidium ring.
With Anderson's back turned, Alenko shifted so sight of the hologram was blocked by his back. Satisfied, he reached up, caressing the air of Shepard's holographic cheek. "Yes." He would, of course, take heed. He knew about the Reapers, and if Shepard said they were running out of time, they were running out of time.
Yet the making of plans to extract his family seemed curiously distant as he watched Shepard's face. He had the nasty suspicion she was not just at Aratoht: he suspected she was responsible for the destruction of the relay and everything else. Yet he couldn't blame her for it, couldn't wonder where her sanity was, couldn't wonder what had happened to the woman he loved.
She was right there, with all those lives on her shoulders, the pain over what she had done in hopes of saving as many of the numberless other sapients in the galaxy as possible gleaming in her eyes. So many people could have pushed the button, written the deaths off as collateral damages in a war no one knew was being fought…but not Shepard.
"Take the time."
Alenko's hand dropped to the desk before he groped to turn the recording off. That haunted look was beginning to haunt him. "So if she's saving us," he said in a low tone that still carried, "and we're saving our families…who's saving her?"
Not saving her from shit hitting the fan, or when bullets started flying. Who was saving her from herself? The look on her face said it all: if she saw Hackett, she might have her composure pulled together enough to put on her commander face…
…but the instant word reached her to come to Earth, to stand trial for the death and destruction of Aratoht, she would go without resistance.