A/N: Thank you SamaraLavellan and Willablack93 for the fave and follow. I hope you're enjoy the story!
They were fighting their way out, but they just kept on coming. The Collectors were relentless.
They had just done something: Kacey knew they had just done something in the room behind her, but she couldn't remember what. It was starting to drive her insane. Why was she here again?
They were here to do something, something incredibly important. It was vital that they were here and did something. Kacey tried desperately racked her brain for any memory that could explain why she was here. Her squad was shooting as many Collectors as they could; but their strength was waning. They couldn't hold out for much longer.
"Mordin! Thane!"
The pair were shot dead; Mordin was killed through a perfectly aimed headshot, while Thane was covered in bullet holes. She had only looked away for a second…what just happened to them?
"Commander Shepard! You need to stay focused!" She heard Miranda shout.
She brought attention back into the fight and opened fire on the Collectors. Despite mowing them down quickly, she barely put a dent in their forces. For every Collector she killed, two more replaced it. This wasn't right…how did this go again?
"Kasumi! Zaeed! Jack! Grunt!"
They were mowed down like they were nothing; killed and riddled with bullet holes. Shortly after, Samara, Legion, Miranda, and Jacob were disintegrated by the Collector Beam. This wasn't right! This couldn't be happening!
What was going on? This doesn't feel quite right…
"Tali! Garrus! Let's get out of here!" Kacey shouted.
They ran. Ran and fired shots behind them. Kacey bolted towards the door, but the floor was crumbling around them. She narrowly avoided it, but Tali and Garrus won't so lucky.
"Garrus! Tali! Just hold on!"
She ran and tried to desperately catch them, but instead they fell and sunk into the dark abyss below. Her stomach turned, twisted she wanted to be sick. This couldn't be happening!
"Commander! We're taking heavy fire! Get out of there now!" Joker shouted.
Kacey ran off distraught only to see the Normandy crash and explode: the place turned dark and she found herself back in her normal clothes and her younger self standing a few feet in front of her.
"Hehehehehe."
…
Kacey awoke, gasping as she pulled herself up from the bed. Her head hurt and she felt tired; she hadn't slept properly at all. Nausea immediately kicked in and Kacey started to feel sick in a way she had never felt before. She took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm herself but she knew deep down it wasn't working.
That was twice now that she had experienced such vivid nightmares. It felt so real, she almost was fully convinced she could smell the burning wreckage of the frigate. She ran her hand through her hair, confused and concerned. Now was not the time for her to get caught up in silly little nightmares; she had a war to win.
And everyone was counting on her.
Her train of thought was interrupted by a knock on her door. She wasn't sure if she wanted to answer it; her head was a clusterfuck. Reluctantly, the ruby haired commander headed toward the door, yawning as she opened it to see the Asari archaeologist on the other side.
"Liara, *yawn*can I help you?" Kacey said, tired.
"I've been forwarding the Turian Councillor information on the Prothean device." Liara said, "It can't be built without Council support, but he's not budging until their primarch is safe."
"Of course not." Kacey sighed, walking towards the railing in front of her door and leaning on it, "That would be too easy."
"Are you all right?" Liara asked with concern in her voice.
Kacey wasn't sure how to answer that; truth be told she wasn't doing as well as she usually would. She didn't feel right, and those dreams worried her.
"I didn't get what you'd call a good night's rest."
So instead, she did what she always did; deflect, deny, distance. Be as vague as possible. Liara didn't need to know; it was just some stupid nightmares. What does it matter?
"There's more to it than that, isn't there?" Liara said, "What's really bothering you?"
Kacey paused. Her hesitation spoke volumes. It was crystal clear that she didn't want to talk about it. Kacey had spent much of her life keeping things to herself. After all, nobody needed to know her problems, right?
But then again, this wasn't just some random asari; it was Liara. Her close friend. Someone she viewed as a sister. Someone she trusted. It was different this time. And if she was asking, it was because she cared…right?
"When the Reapers hit…" Kacey sighed trying to straighten out her confused thoughts, "I…I could hear people screaming in the streets below me. We left too many of them behind. And so many of them are going to die…because nobody wanted to believe that this was going to happen."
"Kacey, there was no way you could've saved them all." Liara reasoned with sympathy, "But I know you're doing everything you can, and you'll get back there in time to help."
"I hope you're right."
"Don't blame yourself, Commander." Liara said.
Kacey gave a meek smile before hearing the elevator door open and a young woman with black hair stepped out.
"Commander Shepard?" She said in a thick British accent, "I'm Specialist—oh. I beg your pardon. I thought you were alone."
"I was just leaving." Liara said quickly as she disappeared into the elevator. The woman looked at Kacey, a worried look on her face.
"Oh I'm sorry, was I interrupting?"
"No, not at all." Kacey corrected, "Liara was just giving me an update about the Prothean device, that's all."
"Oh, okay. Commander Shepard? I'm Comm Specialist Samantha Traynor, with Alliance R&D. I was part of the team retrofitting the Normandy after you turned it over to the Alliance."
"You mean when I got arrested and the ship was impounded?" Kacey mused, "You know what? I prefer the way you said it."
"I understand, Commander." Traynor said; Kacey had clearly thrown her off with her comment, "There weren't many of us when the Reapers hit…"
"Okay, slow down Specialist Traynor." Kacey said calmly, "You're doing fine."
"Thank you." Traynor said, "I worked in a lab. I never thought I'd be serving on a ship and with you no less."
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Kacey said modestly, "Say why don't you tell me about the retrofits?"
"The ship's in line with Alliance regs now, and it has new top-of-the-line quantum entanglement communicators." Traynor explained, "In fact, Admiral Anderson had intended to use the Normandy as his mobile command centre."
"That's no longer an option." Kacey said.
"Yes, I heard he chose to stay and fight…" Traynor trailed off, "In any event, I'm honoured to serve under you, Commander. For as long as you need me, that is. They only sent me here to oversee the retrofits…"
Traynor was clearly nervous; this wasn't the first time that someone had been like that around Kacey. And she doubted that Traynor would be the last. It had been going on since the Skyllian Blitz.
"Shepard, some of our systems require further testing and Specialist Traynor has been extremely effective during installation." EDI chimed, "I would prefer that she remain."
"I wasn't planning on kicking her out but okay. Thanks for the input EDI." Kacey replied.
"Wait…since when does a virtual intelligence make requests?" Traynor asked.
"EDI's an AI." Kacey explained, "Fully self-aware."
"Oh, I knew it! I knew Joker was lying!"
"Yeah, he does that."
"Jeff requested that I pretend to be a simple VI to protect myself." EDI explained, "I apologise for the deception."
"Thanks EDI." Traynor replied, "And I apologise for all those times I talked about how…attractive your voice was…"
…
Kacey headed down to the CIC, reluctant. After speaking with Traynor about the Normandy's new technology and upgrades, Traynor had informed Kacey that Hackett wanted to talk to her. And Kacey had feeling that she knew what it was about.
First impressions of the Comms Specialist were fairly positive: Traynor was eager but also nervous, and Kacey could understand why. People tended to be intimidated by Kacey, either out of fear of what she was capable of, or the viewed her in such high regard it was almost as if she was a moviestar. And she didn't know which was worse. Kacey just had to hope that Traynor got over it soon.
The same however, could not be said for Ensign Copeland, who stormed over to Kacey with James behind him, a scowl on his face. She had taken James' word about Copeland seriously and for the most part tried to avoid the newer members of the Normandy's crew; she didn't have the time nor patience to argue with them over her presence and command of the ship. But it seemed that she couldn't avoid it now.
"Shepard! Hey, I'm talking to you!" Copeland shouted, "Don't you dare turn your back on me!"
"What the fuck did you just say to me?" Kacey turned around. It had been years since someone had said such a thing to her; it was all the way back on the Tokyo when she had to deal with an unruly solider.
"What? You expect me to follow your orders after you ran off with Cerberus?" Copeland snapped, getting right up into Kacey's face. "Who the hell do you think you are?!"
"Commander Shepard, and I've been the captain of the ship for nearly four years." Kacey replied, holding her tongue, "And if you don't watch your mouth, I'm going throw you off this ship faster than you can say eezo."
"You can't do that."
"I can and I will." Kacey replied, "Admiral Anderson reinstated me, and Admiral Hackett approved it. So, you either fall in line or you can go and explain to Admiral Hackett in person why I threw you out the airlock. Got it?"
"Did you just threaten me?"
"Do I need to make it more obvious?"
Copeland took a swing at Kacey, but she simply stepped out the way and avoided it. Before Copeland could lunge at her, James had stepped in between them.
"Get out of my way, Vega." Copeland said.
"Absolutely not, pendejo." James replied, "You need to calm down."
"Calm down? With a Cerberus spy aboard?" Copeland added, "You saw what she did to the Major—"
"You think what happened to Kaidan is my fault?" Kacey replied shocked.
"Of course, it was! How else would you explain Cerberus being there?"
"Oh, I don't know, the mangled up android body that I smashed to pieces when it attacked Kaidan?" Kacey snapped back, "If you've got a problem with me, take it up Admiral Hackett. If you're lucky, he'll reassign you to a bench until you learn how to talk to your superior officers."
"Forget this!" Copeland stormed off in a huff.
The CIC remained deadly quiet; all eyes were on Kacey, and it was unnerving. She didn't like it.
"So, does anyone else want to have go at me?" Kacey shouted, with no response, "No? Okay, now get back to work."
She stormed off through the War Room and towards the comm room. The confrontation had left a disgusting taste in her mouth and her sour mood from before had returned. She was pissed off.
As she reached the comm room and put the call through, Hackett appeared as a hologram as he did before. The Admiral didn't hesitate before starting to talk.
"Commander, Udina updated me on your meeting with the Council." Hackett said, "Sounds like they're running scared."
"Yeah. They're more concerned about their borders than actually helping." Kacey said sourly.
"I heard. I also heard about what you said during the meeting." Hackett added, "I don't think that was necessary, Kacey."
"Maybe not, but it felt good though." Kacey replied.
"I get where you're coming from, but we won't get anywhere if you antagonise them." Hackett reasoned.
"Yeah, I know." Kacey relented, "They just want solutions, not theories."
"Theories are all we've got right now." Hackett sighed, "What's your plan?"
Plan? Why was he looking at her for a plan? Their only hope was this device, and the Council didn't want to partake in it. They only had one plan and it was dead on arrival. Kacey sighed as she tried to figure out a plan on the spot; she didn't have a clue on how they were going to win this.
"I'm trying to get the Turian Primarch for a summit meeting with the Asari and Salarians." Kacey explained, "I'll bypass the Council and appeal directly to their leadership. Hopefully they're more cooperative."
"That's good. I like it." Hackett nodded, "This is where we start laying the groundwork for our counterattack."
"Unfortunately, we don't have a whole lot to back it up right now."
"Then build alliances. Gather everything and everyone you can for the cause."
Easier said than done. How in the hell was she supposed to do that? The waters were muddied thanks to Cerberus. And she wasn't sure it was going to be enough.
"What about the Prothean device?" Kacey asked.
"Find me people who can help build it." Hackett said, "And if you can't, I'll take ships, soldiers, supplies…whatever you can get. We need to keep hitting the Reapers across every theatre of war they open, buy us time to figure out the device."
"And when it's finished?"
"Assuming it ever is, we pool all our resources. Think of it as a giant armada for delivering the device when the Reapers are most vulnerable. The stronger we make that armada, the better its chances of punching through."
"What about Earth?"
"We'll just have to hope Anderson—and what's left of the Alliance forces—can hold out until we've dealt with the enemy."
"I understand." Kacey sighed.
"Good. Then make it happen, Commander." Hackett said, "I'll be expecting regular updates on your progress."
"I assume I'm answering directly to you now?" Kacey mused.
"Somebody's got to keep an eye on you. We can't lose you, Kacey. Especially not now."
"Is that because you need me for the war or because my mother will butcher you if I kick the bucket?"
"A little bit of both." Hackett mused, "Oh, and one more thing; we've found a Cerberus lab on Sanctum that could use some demolition work, if you're up to it."
"I'll go and prep the bombs." Kacey said sarcastically.
"Good. Keep me updated. Hackett out."
…
Kacey avoided the looks of the crew as she walked along towards Joker. She had no interest in arguing anymore and was ready to toss the next person who crossed her out the airlock. Now was not the time for stupid arguments.
She hoped that Copeland had actually spoke to Hackett about it: the admiral seemed keen to keep her on the Normandy and given how her orders from him was to basically recruit the entire galaxy for a war, she assumed her position on the Normandy was secure.
Joker had spun around in his chair by the time Kacey had approached. She was happy to see the wise cracking pilot again; it had been far too long. And with both of them in Alliance captivity during that time, it was hard to catch up with each other.
She hadn't known Joker for that long; maybe about five or six years. And she knew that she had never served with a better pilot. Sure, he was a bit of an ass and his sly comments about her and Kaidan's relationship grew aggravating after a while, but he was a pretty chill guy, whose sense of humour really came through when the crew needed it the most. He had her back from the beginning of the Saren and Collector incidents and got them and the ship out of some pretty tight spots. Both Kacey and the Normandy couldn't ask for a better pilot; he was truly in a league of his own.
"Hey, Commander." Joker said, a small grin on his face, "You know, I had my doubts about the Council…But after years of ignoring your warnings, they're finally willing to step up and tell you they just can't help."
"You're surprised?" Kacey scoffed, before changing to a sarcastic tone, "Oh, but don't worry, they're doing everything they can by sitting on their asses."
Joker smirked, "Did they at least validate our parking?"
Kacey laughed, "I wish. Damn I should've asked that."
"I heard what you said to them from Liara." Joker laughed, "It was perfect. Hah! Let me if you want me to get them on the channel and hang up on them. You know, for old time's sake."
"Will do."
"Good, so do you feel better yet?" Joker asked.
"Depends. Why do you ask?"
"Hey, I heard that shouting match with Copeland from here. And you sounded like you were going to kick his ass into next year." Joker said, "Plus with what happened on Mars…I just wanted to know if you're okay."
"I'll be fine." Kacey replied, "He say anything to you?"
"Plenty." Joker replied, "Hopefully you've scared him off."
"Fingers crossed."
…
"Everything okay down here, Doctor?" Kacey asked as she entered the Med-Bay.
"Commander." Chakwas greeted her, "The Alliance team cleaned up and restocked, but still my old Med-Bay. Feels like home."
"Welcome back."
"Thank you. Let's waste no time." Chakwas said, "If I may, I'd like to examine you."
"Why?" Kacey said surprised, "There's nothing wrong with me, is there? Aside from the usual offender?"
"No, and as far as that goes, nothing has appeared out of the ordinary." Chakwas explained, "But we should keep an eye on all those cybernetic implants that Cerberus grafted into you."
"Expensive stuff, bringing me back." Kacey mused.
"And worth every penny. Let's just make sure everything is okay."
"No needles, right?"
"Come now, you get shot at five thousand times a day and a pin prick makes you nervous?"
"Yes?" Kacey said.
"Take a seat, Commander." Chakwas said, "You can't keep avoiding medical check-ups forever."
"I know, I know." Kacey said sitting down, "Worth a try though."
"I bet." Chakwas said, starting the process, "So, did anyone else take a look at you while on Earth?"
"No, Doctor." Kacey replied, "You know I would just refuse if they asked."
"And so would Hackett and Anderson, I imagine." Chakwas replied, "Still, nobody asked any questions?"
"A few. I mostly ignored it. Can't say anything about it, remember?"
"True. And if I'm right, Cerberus still has no idea?"
"They know it's there and they know what it means for me." Kacey answered, "But they've got no idea what caused it, or what it actually is. They know less than the Alliance and that's good enough for me."
"It would've been better had Cerberus not known about it at all." Chakwas pointed out, "But all things considered, it is a preferable outcome."
"The only person that came close was Mordin." Kacey said, "He picked up on it on Omega. If we wanted answers about our usual offender, he'd probably be the best person to ask."
"And you trust him to keep it quiet?"
"I do. He is a doctor as well. Patient confidentiality and all that."
"If you are serious about it, we should run it by Admiral Hackett first, just in case." Chakwas said, "Just be safe."
"Yeah, I know."
"Okay, I'm just going to run some diagnostics on your implants, and it'll take a few readings." Chakwas said.
"Scan away."
Chakwas scanned Kacey with her omni-tool a few times before checking her readings, "Well, your body has accepted the implants quite nicely and the scarring is completely covered up."
"And our usual offender?"
"Well it hasn't had any effects on your implants, that much is certain." Chakwas mused, "But it's still unclear whether the implants have affected the usual offender."
"That's a possibility?"
"Yes and considering you survived being biotically slammed down into concrete from a four storey height, I'd say there are signs of it." Chakwas explained, "I can do a blood test to make sure, but otherwise, the only way we'll know is through physical tests."
"So more falling into mats and jumping through glass?" Kacey groaned, "Yay~."
"Relax, Commander. I'm not going to suggest that." Chakwas corrected, "Instead, I was going to suggest that we do the blood test, then I can monitor your hardsuit's vitals while on missions to get the readings we need to confirm it. I imagine the Reapers will put up more of a fight than a crash mat."
"I rather fight Reapers than land on a crash mat several times over." Kacey mused, "Damn, I can't even remember the last time I did one of those."
"Must've been when you were a child." Chakwas said, "So, do you want to do the blood test?"
"Have at it." Kacey said, stretching her arm out.
Kacey looked away as Chakwas brought out the needles. She always had some type of deep-seeded fear since she was a child. The reason for it wasn't clear to Kacey.
"You've never mentioned any of your family." Kacey said, trying to start a conversation to distract herself.
"None to speak of, really." Chakwas replied calmly, "I'm the last of a prestigious line of medical professionals. The Alliance is my spouse, and you're all my children."
"You know that includes Joker and I, right?"
"Yes, and you're both needing someone around to keep an eye on you." Chakwas laughed, "One more than the other, I will admit. I'm blessed with many close friends, but with each Alliance vessel taken, I lose one or two. We need to end this war as soon as possible."
"I agree." Kacey said.
"Done." Chakwas said, "It'll take time before we have the results, but I wager that by the time you've returned from Palaven we'll have the results."
"And hopefully, its nothing bad." Kacey mused.