Allers: The reports never said anything about you leaving the Normandy.
Ashley: I know, we made sure of it once we got back on board.
Allers: It seems that in the short time that you had spent with Miranda, you were already falling for her.
Ashley: Maybe I had, even at that point I wasn't sure. Part of it was definitely the mystery behind it all and our covers helped as well.
Allers: I can imagine they did. Now Terra Nova?
We arrived at Terra Nova exactly four hours later, with no intention of landing we stayed in orbit with the scanners already working on finding the Batarians. Every ship has its own unique energy signature dependent on which race built it. Miranda was working with the scanners hoping to pick up anything they missed, which left me with nothing to do. With not being the science type I set out for something to do.
"There are some books in the rear compartment Ash."
"Thanks Miranda."
Even when it looked like she was preoccupied she was still keeping tabs on me. At least this time it meant I wasn't spending forever looking for something to do. Of course Miranda was right, in the rear compartment there was what could easily be called a library. It was only a small ship, but the rear compartment must have taken up half of it easily. Why would a Cerberus vessel be filled with books? I had never seen so many books, usually any reading material were either on a data pad or accessed via your omni-tool. These must have been worth a fortune. And that would be why Cerberus had them, for their retail value. But for the moment they were mine and I had one author I wanted to find. Tennyson. Split into author and genre, it took a while but I eventually found what I was looking for. The complete works of Tennyson. Moving back towards the centre compartment I sat down and started reading. Completely lost in the world of Tennyson, I lost track of time. It wasn't until Miranda came in that I responded to anything outside of my own world.
"Tennyson Ash?"
"Yeah. My father was a big Tennyson fan and I guess he passed that love down."
"I would never have expected that."
"See, not just an Alliance grunt."
"So it seems. You're as much a mystery as I am Ash."
"No one is as big a mystery as you Miri."
There it was again. That smile, my smile. Reserved only for me. I so wished to see more of it.
"That's nice. Time to go to work Ash, we've found them."
"O Captain! My Captain!"
"Whitman Ash, do you have any more literary surprises for me?"
We made our way to the cockpit where Miranda's instruments were chiming out of control. Whilst Miranda was checking out individual noise she was also taking me through everything that was happening. The first chime indicated that we had found the asteroid, the second chime meant that the trajectory of the asteroid was found and the final chime indicated that we were in the way. The three chimes none of them with anything good to follow. From the instruments Miranda deducted that there was thirty minutes before the asteroid impacted the ship and an hour until it wiped out Terra Nova. We took our positions and Miranda took the ship on a collision course with the asteroid, once we were within distance of the asteroid Miranda changed course and took us down for a safe landing. When we touched down on the asteroid we headed straight towards the first of three burners that had been isolated on the map. From Miranda's instruments she had deducted that they were the reason for the asteroids sudden collision course. The ship that we were in didn't have a Mako, there was no room for one. What it did have was a GRV-2, a Ground Reconnaissance Vehicle which held two people. Even most Alliance vessels didn't have a GRV-2, they were seen as a waste of military resources, why have something that could only hold 2, when you could have a Mako that held three and had firepower. The GRV-2 had no weapons what so ever, it was fast and nimble but wasn't very well armoured. It was perfect vehicle for an organisation like Cerberus who revelled in espionage. It also meant we wouldn't have trek all over the asteroid, most likely ending with the destruction of Terra Nova.
"I'm driving."
With a nod of her head Miranda agreed and slipped into the passenger seat, leaving me to the driver's seat. I'd never driven one of these before and now was exactly the right time to learn, it couldn't be that hard. And you know I was right. Before you could yell Thresher Maw we were headed towards the first burner. There was no one waiting for us outside so we parked the GRV outside the main door and headed inside. Once in the building became a hive of activity, there were Batarian's everywhere. These weren't scientists they were soldiers, heavily armed and waiting for any hostile activity and in we walked straight into danger. The second we saw the Batarians we went straight into the cover in front of us and stayed low. Luckily they hadn't seen is walk in, but unfortunately we didn't see the Varren. Small dog like creatures with a heightened sense of smell, as soon as we walked into the building they were already aware. By the time we had made it into cover they were already coming towards us, but because of the cover we couldn't see them. It wasn't until the first one came round the corner that we realised they were there. That's when my Alliance training kicked in, with Miranda still unaware of the danger that was behind her I grabbed her cat suit and brought her behind me whilst opening fire on the Varren. The Lotust sub machine gun fired several bursts straight into the creatures head bringing it down. This then alerted the Batarian guards to our position, within seconds they had us pinned down. We were under a constant barrage of bullets with no chance of being able to even look out of cover.
"Ash there's only one way to get us out of this."
"Miri?"
"Biotics."
"Well, unless you've got biotics we're all out of luck."
"Good job I have biotics then. I'll create a shield and place it around you, so when you're ready lean out of cover and give them hell."
"Let's do it."
With my approval sorted a blue aura appeared around Miranda as she manipulated her biotics. It didn't take her long to place a blue shield around me and when she was ready she gave me the go ahead. I leaned out of cover and stared down the barrel of the gun at the first Batarian I saw, a slight pull of the trigger and he was on the floor. I repeated this process several more times until all the Batarians were accounted for.
"All clear Miri."
"That's good, now let's move upstairs."
Upstairs we faced a couple more Batarians and a locked door. We slapped some omni-gel onto the lock and let it do its magic, several seconds later the door opened and we moved towards the open terminal. The terminal allowed the user to access the thrusters atop the building, presumably each building would have a terminal that would need to be deactivated in order stop the asteroid in its tracks. We deactivated the thrusters and headed back out, before we left the room we were contacted over the radio.
"Hello, whoever disarmed the thrusters, please answer."
Miranda gave me a nod to suggest that I handled it.
"Who is this?"
"My names Kate Bowman, please listen I don't have much time. Batarian extremists have taken over the facility, the only way for you to stop them is to carry on with what you've started. I've got to go, can't stay on they're always listening."
"That didn't really tell us much."
"No it didn't."
We moved out of the first building and climbed back into the GRV and headed towards the second thrusters on the map. This time was going to be more difficult than the first, there was a minefield spread out all around the building. The GRV looked like it could make it but I'd rather not take the chance. So once again we climbed out and very carefully headed towards the entrance. Using our omni-tools in order to find the mines we managed to creep past the mine field only to be attacked by several Batarians who had been hiding behind empty containers waiting for us. This time we didn't have any cover to get behind we were out in the open. It was only quick thinking by Miranda that we managed to overrun the Batarians. With a quick motion Miranda used her biotics and created a shockwave that went forward into the Batarians and sending them repelling backwards. For some of them it didn't end very well having been thrown back into the minefield. For the others I was quickly upon them and unloaded a few quick bursts into their heads. Once inside the building we encountered even more Batarians and Varren. They put up the same amount of resistance that their predecessors did and just like them it wasn't enough. This time there was no waiting around for them to open fire, we led the assault, dropping the first few instantly. For the rest we used a combination of firepower and biotics. Miranda placed a singularity in the gap that all the Varren were coming through and slowed them down. The Batarians were all using the same piece of cover, the one that happened to have two explosive canisters above them. With a single shot the Batarians were finished. With the battle ended we headed upstairs to override the second set of thrusters.
"Please hurry, you've got one more left."
"Kate, where are you?"
"In the facility north of the final thrusters, please hurry. The Batarians are getting closer to finding..."
"Kate what's happening?"
Kate never replied all that was transmitted over the radio was a gunshot. Either the Batarians had found Kate and killed her or she had attacked the Batarians. From the sounds of it, it was more likely that the Batarians had found her. We couldn't think about her at the moment we had to move onto the final thrusters. It took as all of a few minutes to reach the final set of thrusters, this time they had more defensive structures spaced around the building. As soon as we got closer the structures opened up and turrets appeared. Rocket turrets and they were firing.
"Miranda, you did say that the GRV wouldn't be able to handle incoming fire, more specifically rockets?"
"I did. Why...oh."
"Any ideas, apart from drive."
I waited as long as possible before I started the GRV up again and continued to dodge the incoming rockets.
"If we could get the turrets to aim at each other, then maybe."
"It's the best we've got Miri."
It took a while but we had to align each rocket with a turret and then align the last two with each other and just hope that the rockets crossed and didn't collide. The first rocket was the hardest; having to dodge all the others yet try and get into position at the same time was not easy. It took a while but eventually we managed to destroy the first turret. After that it got easier we could stay in one place for longer allowing time for the turrets to align and fire at the desired target. When there were just two left we carefully lined ourselves up and let the turrets do the work for us. Having two turrets explode at the same time was rather satisfying especially knowing we hadn't fired a single shot. Btu there was no time for celebrating we still had to extinguish the final thrusters. We left the GRV and headed into the final building, we met no resistance and headed straight up to the second floor and deactivated the final thrusters.
"Some things not right Miri."
"I know Ash, this was too easy. Be on your guard on the way out."
We had good reason for being on our guard, as soon as we reached the first floor there were Batarians waiting for us and strangely they didn't open fire. We made our way through to the waiting Batarians.
"Stand down human, there doesn't need to be any more bloodshed."
"Say's the one who is sending an asteroid on a collision course with a human colony."
"It wasn't suppose to go this far, Balak said this wouldn't need to escalate."
"It's too late; it's already gone too far. You've condemned thousands of innocent lives and for what? A chance to strike back at humanity."
"They're not condemned you've de-activated the thrusters, this is over. We've got nothing left, let us go."
"You expect us to let you go after everything you've done. Your terrorists trying to make murder look like a natural accident."
"You have the nerve to call us terrorists, Cerberus."
"We are not terrorists, now stand down. We're taking you in."
"Not a chance."
It was at that moment that the Batarians opened fire. Due to the conversation that we had, we were now at a disadvantage. Unbeknownst to us the Batarians and discreetly surrounded us and waited for the signal to attack. There was no immediate cover; it was fight or die whilst finding cover that wasn't already taken. It took Miranda seconds to place a biotic shield around us, the only problem was containing it long enough for us to defeat the Batarians and with only two submachine guns it would take a while. For a while it was just aim, fire and reload, by the time we'd reached some form of cover we'd taken down one Batarian. The reason for why there was some cover available. The Batarian had been using a Mattock rifle, which was now in my possession. Using my new found weapon I leaned out of cover and fired of a couple of rounds into any waiting Batarian. Whilst I was picking them of Miranda was throwing biotic warps in every direction just enough to distract the Batarians but not enough to stop them. It was a distraction tactic, whilst she distracted them I was taking them down. It was a good tactic and it didn't take long to whittle them down to just the ring leader. Even then he didn't give up, firing shot after shot at our location, hindering our attack. A quick shockwave from Miranda sent him stumbling out of cover and straight into my line of fire. He was quickly dropped as the remaining bullets from the Mattock rifle penetrated his shields. Miraculously he was still alive, his gun was out of reach but he still managed verbal abuse. As a soldier I was taught what one would survive from, the rounds that had hit him and struck all the vital organs, the only thing that was saving him at the moment was his armour which had resealed, keeping everything in. Once the armour was removed he would quickly perish, with no nearby help either way he wasn't going to make it. I brought the rifle up and slowly pulled the trigger, firing the final bullet into the Batarians head. Stopping the pain and agony he was going through. As I turned round and headed towards the exit, I quickly looked in Miranda's direction. Her face showed nothing, but her eyes showed that she understood.
"We need to get to the research station and find this Balak, before anything else happens."
And so we left and got straight back into the GRV and headed towards the research station, with thanks to the key card we found on the ring leader we had the co-ordinates and the entry key. Following the co-ordinates it didn't take us long to reach the facility and with no resistance we went straight through into the facility. Where we were met by hostile security drones, the instant that we walked through they were firing at us. We hid behind the minimal cover that we had and took down the drones, with them being machines they didn't hide behind objects for cover, they just fired until they were destroyed. This made it easier to defeat them, they zoomed around and fired shot after shot, but they were never in cover. With them gone we moved further forward until barriers sprung up and blocked our movements. Above us came the chuckle of who could only be Balak.
"Humans, you've reaped havoc and destruction upon my kind and when it comes for vengeance instead of taking it, you come back and have destruction follow you. For the sins of your forefathers Terra Nova will burn and the Batarian Hegemony will have its revenge."
"You're a terrorist Balak, don't lecture us on what the Hegemony wants. When it's clear you're acting out on your own. What happens if Terra Nova burns? Do you really want another war? If you do this there won't be any saving the Batarians, you'll doom your entire race. The Council won't stand aside this time."
"What do you care what the council do Cerberus? All you care about is humanity. You may have stopped the thrusters but I still have control here."
"Control? What control?"
"We have hostages. And in the room with the hostages we have placed a bomb. Now your choice either let us go or the hostages die."
"Tell us where the hostages are."
"Why? Are you going to let me go?"
Looking towards Miranda she slightly nodded. Agreeing that if we were to save human lives we would have to let the bad guy go.
"Yes, tell us where they are and you can go."
"There in the office and the second floor. Be quick the bombs on a timer as well."
"You bastard."
With that the Batarian slowly withdrew, his continuing existence protected.
"I hope you know how to disarm a bomb Miri."
"We'll see."
The room in which the hostages were situated was naturally locked. With no key or combination in which to use, it fell down to omni-gel again. This time we used up the last of our supply. Within a few seconds the omni-gel had got us through and the doors were open. We walked straight through and headed towards the bomb, as soon as the door opened its occupants ran out making sure they were safe, all apart from Kate Bowman.
"What are you doing, if we run now we can escape the blast?"
"No we won't. The blast will destroy this complex and shatter the asteroid. We're too close to Terra Nova, if that happens the shards will rain down on the planet."
With that she was quiet, leaving us to disarm the bomb. Neither of us were trained bomb technicians. The Alliance gave every soldier basic bomb procedures but none of it came close to what we had to do. This time it was Miranda who took the lead, clearly she must have known more about what to do then I. She took the front panel of and left the front exposed. Using her omni-tool she linked into the exposed hardware and started running a program.
"Hopefully this should stop the bomb."
"Hopefully?"
"Yeah. This programs never been field tested. The man that created it is, well he's a red sand addict. So you can understand why it's never been tested before. But since neither of us knows how to disarm a bomb, it's our only choice."
"Right, fingers crossed then."
We sat there waiting for the program to run its course, it seemed to be taking it's time. The display on the bomb suddenly flashed at the one minute mark. It clearly wasn't working and there was nothing we could to stop it. In the minute that was left a lot happened. First my hand found comfort within the confines of Miranda's. The fact that she didn't let go and instead grabbed harder spoke volumes. When the display slipped to thirty seconds we looked at each other, our eyes saying more than words. It was our last moments and we were going to make it count.
10
We moved closer together.
9
Our arms became entwined.
8
Our lips were within seconds of touching.
7
Miranda's eyes were dancing with passion and I'm fairly certain so were mine.
6
Our breathing quickened as our hands explored
5
There was only an inch between us
4
Miranda's omni-tool beeped
3
We lost ourselves to the moment
2
Our lips finally met
1
A/N It finally had to happen and I think pachecoissa123 will be happy. It wasn't how I intended to have this chapter end, but it's definitely better than where it was originally going. Thanks for those of you who have read every chapter. Let me know what you think.