Trish had cried seemingly non-stop for days when her father died, breaking down as soon as she heard the news, but no tears fell for the people of Mindoir. It was too big, too incomprehensible. She was in the cafeteria when the breaking news came over the vid screens. At first she didn't pay much attention, food and social interaction was all that mattered to the hundreds of teenagers in the room and she was no exception until she heard the word 'Mindoir'. She froze in the queue until someone prodded her forward and she continued on autopilot, selecting a meal and making it back to her regular table all the while completely numb to the outside world.

"Hey Trish, are you ok?" One of her new friends asked and she nodded wordlessly, eyes not leaving the screen. Rachel turned to follow her gaze.

"Shit, you're from Mindoir aren't you?" Understanding and concern streaked across her face as the brunette gave another nod. "You still got family there?" Trish shook her head, finally managing to force some words past her tight throat.

"Mum's here on Earth, think today's Helsinki."

"Oh, that's alright then." Rachel flashed a reassuring smile and returned to her conversation, content in having done her part, unaware of the sheer depth of despair embroiling her friend. Trish's family might have been safe but what about Nikki? Alice? Henry? Thomas? Mr Connor at the corner shop? Every friend and acquaintance she'd known, loved or hated in the past five years?

The first couple of days she lived with an optimistic sense of denial, hoping against hope that the people she cared about would be OK. Sure, there was bound to be some casualties in town, but the Alliance would respond and save the colony before anything bad could happen to her friends. That hope faded more each day as further reports came in. New Amsterdam, the youngest and southernmost settlement, was quickly reclaimed and had come out relatively unscathed, but the further North the rescue teams went the worse the reports got.

By the time she started recognising locations on the news it had been days without finding human survivors, everyone either dead or enslaved. It had only been 13 years since first contact but humanity had heard the horror stories about batarian slavers and now Trish found herself hoping with every ounce of her being that all her friends were dead.

As the latest news report showed 'scenes some viewers may find disturbing' of slave pens at Jemison she finally broke down.

...

Nikki was also watching the slave pens but without the luxury of a vid screen and several solar systems between them and her. It was her third day staking out the hospital and she wasn't entirely sure why the batarians were using it as a stronghold.

Sure she could understand why others would use it; sterile rooms, plentiful drugs, but neither of those resources were being utilised as the batarians pulled captives out of the cages and cut into their heads without anesthetic in the courtyard. The screams tore through the air, chilling her to the bone. At least one of the houses along the perimeter had a pile of vomit inside from her earlier recons but she was starting to become desensitized, her brain shutting out the horrors, refusing to process it in self preservation.

A couple of times she thought she caught sight of familiar faces but so far she had been lucky enough not to spot anyone she knew by name. She didn't know how she would cope with that. The thought of seeing one of her brothers down there... she quickly derailed that train of thinking before she charged the compound with a shotgun. She'd be dead before she reached the perimeter and her mom still needed her. She had to face facts, it had been over two weeks and no one else had made it to the caves, the chances of survival were slim but she had to hope. She knew her family would have fought and even if they didn't survive, death had to be preferable to what was going on down there. She wouldn't wish that fate on her worst enemy, not even Trevor McCauley who had bullied young Kevin for three weeks before the rest of the Shepard siblings had found out and enacted their revenge.

Smiling at memories of violence, that wasn't a good sign. Nikki needed to focus. She needed to get inside that hospital. Well ok, getting in could be easy, as easy as walking up to the gate in fact. It was getting out again that would be the tricky part and she had no intention of approaching until she had a plan. She needed one soon though, her mother's health was deteriorating fast.

The first few days she had scouted out more remote locations; farms and lodges, cabins in the wood, she had managed to acquire enough food to last them a month and a variety of pain killers. Her mother's condition was rare however and treatments rarer still. Nikki couldn't even pronounce the names of the drugs she needed, but she'd seen the labels often enough to recognise them when she saw them.

She could picture them right now on her mother's bedside cabinet and cursed herself for not picking them up while they were in the house. They had just been in the next room! Of course her guilty memory conveniently ignored the part where both the room in question and the corridor leading to it had been on fire.

The sound of gunshots startled her from her daydream. It had been a common enough sound at the beginning of the raid but had mostly petered out as the local resistance fell and everyone was either captured or killed. The batarians certainly didn't bother shooting slaves in mercy killings, Nikki didn't know if they actually took pleasure in their victims suffering or if they simply didn't care one way or the other. Either way, after nearly dying out completely for awhile, gunfire had started becoming more common again in the last few days. She didn't know why and wasn't entirely certain if she cared. Hopefully it could be useful though.

She peered back out the window, searching for any openings, any newly exposed gaps or weaknesses she could exploit while the batarians were distracted... Nothing. If anything the batarian defensive position had been strengthened in response to the disturbance.

A noise behind her had her turning in panic, she saw the assault rifle swinging through the door towards her, the armoured body holding it and the inhuman face, her finger tightened reflexively on the trigger and a shotgun blast blew the figure off its feet. A distant part of her brain was aware of a faint flicker as a shield took the brunt of the damage, but before she could finish her attacker off return fire erupted from the doorway, forcing her to roll away.

"Cease fire!" The body on the ground called out. "Cease fire damn it, it's just a kid." The shooting stopped almost immediately but Nikki didn't relax just yet, her heart pumping fit to burst as adrenaline coursed through her veins. Her floored adversary raised a gauntlet to his face and a helmet was removed, revealing just a single pair of brown eyes staring out at her from a human face. She nearly dropped the shotgun in surprise but her survivalist instincts managed to keep hold of it while her brain struggled to process the sudden turn of events.

"It's ok kid, we're Alliance. Everything's going to be fine." The man's words helped calm her even as part of her brain called him a liar, how could anything be fine after all that had happened? He sat up slowly, taking care not to spook her. "I'm Lieutenant Zabaleta, what's your name kid?"

"Shepard." She lowered her weapon but raised it straight back up when another figure entered the room.

"Damn it Higgins, take your helmet off." The soldier obeyed and Nikki slumped to the floor, back against the wall, body shaking as the events of the past two weeks finally caught up to her. She could make out murmured orders in the background as marines searched the rest of the building and Zabaleta started speaking again. "Hey Shepard? Is it ok if we use your house as a base for a bit?"

"Not my house." She tensed as the lieutenant and another man drew closer and they stopped, hands raised placatingly.

"Easy Shepard, we're not going to hurt you. We need to check if you're injured, is it ok if doc scans you?"

"Doc?" Her forehead crinkled up in thought, "No I'm fine." She suddenly leapt to her feet, startling the soldiers. "Doctor! You've got to help my mom!" The medic and Lieutenant Zabaleta shared a look, glancing between the teenager and the sight of the hospital courtyard turned slave pens that was visible outside the window she'd been at when they entered, drawing the obvious conclusion.

"Shepard," the medic crouched down to her level, voice automatically switching to the special bedside manner reserved for bad news. "We can't go rushing in and mount a rescue, the batarians will blow up the cages if they think they're going to lose. We'll try and save her but I can't promise anything, we have to take things slowly, plan to precision."

The lieutenant had turned away while 'Doc' McCoy spoke. There was no way he could have known about the bombs at the first slave camp they'd assaulted, but it still weighed heavy on his conscious. Knowing or not, his orders had resulted in the deaths of at least 60 colonists. The rest of the campaign, having to watch the batarians carry out their barbaric torture and load slave ships under their very noses, impotent to help while they tried to visually locate every bomb and every detonator, plan every second of any attempted rescue and ultimately failing again and again... He wasn't sure which was worse.

One thing was for sure, he doubted he'd ever forget what happened here. The medic had finished speaking but there was no comeback from the kid. He'd expected an angry outburst, insistence that they do their job or blame for failing, that had been the common theme among the all too few that they'd managed to save further south. The silence was deafening forcing him to turn back round. There was only confusion on the kid's face and then suddenly it was as if she was visibly hit with realisation.

"Oh no, she's not in there! Up the woods. She needs help, she's ill." It sounded like a trap, an ambush. Get a distraught child, split the enemy's forces, lead them to a secluded place and hit them while their guard's down.

He eyed Shepard carefully. He couldn't see any head wounds, any sign the batarians had already caught her and implanted her with a control chip but that didn't guarantee anything. They might have a family member hostage, promising the child they'll be safe if she cooperates. Or she might not even be from Mindoir, she could have been taken years ago in an earlier raid, brain washed into believing her master's cause and willing to do whatever they asked of her. He had no way of knowing for sure and it didn't really matter, whatever he did was likely to come back and bite him on the ass but he was a firm believer in the mantra 'better to regret what you did than what you didn't do'. If there was even a slight chance of Shepard telling the truth then he couldn't just leave another civillian to die. He couldn't save everyone, but someone, anyone... He needed that right now. It was worth the risk.

"Ok McCoy, take two marines and go check it out. Make sure you stay in radio contact."

...

Hannah's breathing was laboured, specks of blood hit the floor when she coughed, floating in and out of cognitive thought. At first she hadn't been certain if the fog in her brain was caused by her condition or a side effect of the pain meds Nicola had found, but every now and again she'd find her mind sharp without the accompanying agony and knew her condition had deteriorated past the point of no return.

She had done plenty of research with Thomas when she was first diagnosed. It had been scary reading and she had made him promise; if she ever reached this stage and asked for it, he would allow her the dignity of death. If her husband was here she may well have chosen that route by now but he wasn't. It was just her and Nikki. Her daughter would struggle enough when she succumbed as it was, there was no way she would add to her burden by asking that of her.

Speak of the devil, she thought as she saw the teenager reenter the cave, eyes roaming for danger even here. Hannah stiffened as two more figures entered behind, relaxing almost immediately as she recognised the Alliance armour. One of them stopped, turning to guard the tunnel while the other followed her daughter who really was bounding over this time.

"Mom, I found a doctor!"

"Technically I'm just a field medic, but I should be able to help." The man smiled, omni-tool brightening to life on his wrist as he tapped a few buttons. "James McCoy, is it alright if I take some scans ma'am?" She nodded her consent while pushing an empty cup forward.

"Nikki, can you get me some more water please?" The happiness vanished from Nicola's face replaced by a frown as she picked up the cup. Carefully, but with enough force to make her point, she placed another of the 'within easy reaching distance' full mugs in its place before rising and heading to the river. Hannah watched her go with a sad smile.

"Good kid you've got there." James observed as he started the scan but a hand on his wrist attempted to stall his movement.

"It's terminal, don't waste your time." He glanced down at his patient but her attention was still fixed on the girl at the river, his omni-tool was continuing to feed him information and it was a wonder the woman had survived this long. "How are things out there? Is it over? Will Nikki be safe?"

"It's nearly over but not quite. She'll be safe I promise."

"Good, good. Then I have one last favour to ask. I understand if you can't..."

...

"No! That wasn't the deal!" Nikki raged, pain and betrayal burned in her eyes, mixing with the imminent grief.

"In future get a signed contract." Her mother advised weakly. Her heart wasn't really in it but it was the kind of thing Thomas would have said. Besides it was good advice for later life and it was her last chance to give her daughter any of that. "Always keep a copy and always read the small print."

"But we made it. We can get your meds now. You can get better." She was pleading now, desperation clear in her voice. Hannah wondered if she was being selfish, but her mind was set now, dragging things out wouldn't make it any better for either of them. Yes this would hurt Nikki, but that would still happen no matter when she stopped breathing.

"I'm sorry Nick but it's too late. I can't get better anymore, I've gotten too ill, been off the drugs for too long." She saw the change in her daughter's eyes and quickly headed it off. "Oh no, don't you dare think like that! This wasn't your fault Nikki, none of it. You were brilliant. Whatever you decide to do with your life, you're going to be amazing. I'm proud of you Nick, don't ever forget that."

"There's no other way?"

"No, it's a matter of days now anyway. Only difference is longer pain." Nicola nodded reluctantly, eyes glistening with the first pricks of tears. She clutched her mother's proffered hand so tight it hurt but Hannah wasn't about to tell her to stop, instead she merely signaled she was ready to the Alliance medic and he stepped forward with a full syringe.

...

Author's note: Phew, that was one hard chapter to write, hopefully I've done it justice and not ended up with something cheesy or over the top, or you know... plain old crap. A number of times I nearly cancelled this chapter and just jumped straight to the next one, but I didn't want you mistakenly thinking Hannah was still alive.

The story most certainly doesn't end here, in fact if you told me when I posted the first chapter that it would take me 12 chapters to get off Mindoir I would never have believed you, it was only supposed to be a small introductory background on the characters. I hope you're all still enjoying this and I promise the next couple of chapters won't be as dark. (I haven't actually written the next one yet, but it won't be as dark).