IIML: Beyond - Chapter 11: ...Gone

If It Meant Living: Beyond - Chapter 11

“…Gone”

 Author: Graceyn
Game: Mass Effect Trilogy
Characters/pairing: femShep/Kaidan
Disclaimer: Bioware owns all rights to Mass Effect and its characters
Content Warning: Language, Violence, Sexual Themes

“When they come for me, I’ll be gone.” – Linkin Park

August 2, 2194: Normandy SR-3 Cockpit

“Normandy! Normandy, do you come in?!”

Joker frowned at the panic in Steve’s voice. He pulled his feet off the console and sat up straighter. “This is Normandy. I read you, Cortez – is everything okay?”

He sounded agitated and…something else Joker couldn’t quite put his finger on. “There was an explosion or – I don’t know, I didn’t see it but I felt it – ” he was panting “ –  I flew up there to check it out, and…the whole top of this place is destroyed, the roof’s blown off, there’s nothing but wreckage – ”

There was a sharp intake of breath, and anguish bled out of his voice and through the comm. “…there aren’t even any bodies. They’re…they’re just…gone.”

Joker sank back in his chair in stunned disbelief. “That’s impossible.”

҇

Deck 5 Drive Access Tunnel

Garrus sprinted through the narrow tunnel toward the Cargo Bay. There had to be some mistake; there was no way… He activated his comm again. “Shepard? Shepard, do you read me? Kaidan? Liara?…Vega? Ashley, Andrew…anybody?”

Shepard? Are you there? Kaidan?

No matter who or how he commed, he was met only with silence. He blew through the engineering storage room, down the hallway, and burst into the Cargo Bay just as the Kodiak landed. He hurried over to it – and found Steve sitting in the pilot’s chair, staring at nothing, tears streaming down his face.

“Steve? Steve, what happened?”

Steve’s head slowly turned, as if surprised to discover he was on the ship and other people were there.

Garrus exhaled sharply and got the shuttle door opened, then went inside and up to the small cockpit. He laid a hand on Cortez’s shoulder. “Come on, Steve. You need to get out. I know this is hard, but you need to tell us what happened.”

He looked up and slowly nodded, but continued sitting there. He didn’t resist though when Garrus wrapped an arm around his shoulders and guided him out of the shuttle.

He was trying to figure out what to do next when Miranda came over the speakers. “Priority Red Alert. All command staff report to the Conference Room immediately.”

He smiled gratefully as Litha appeared out of nowhere at his side. “We’re going upstairs.”

She nodded and lightly grasped Steve’s other arm. As they hurried toward the elevator, she couldn’t help but glance over Steve’s head at Garrus. “Is it true? Could they really be…”

His head shook tightly. “No. It’s impossible.”

Steve choked out a harsh laugh. “Oh, it’s not impossible at all.”

҇

Conference Room

Miranda flew through the open doorway to the Conference Room. Her hair was damp, but pulled back in a tight ponytail. She wore her standard black slacks and a crisp black buttoned shirt. As it was dark, it wasn’t obvious that the back of her shirt was damp from water droplets trickling onto it.

She began pacing deliberately along the head of the table. “EDI, are any of them responding to any comms on any frequency?”

EDI answered through the speakers. “No, there has been no response. Further, their – ” her voice transitioned seamlessly as she walked in the room “ – locators are not registering, nor are their vital signs.”

Joker entered behind EDI. “So it’s like when Shepard went through that wormhole is all, right? We couldn’t read her because she was wherever, but she was okay.”

Steve was hunched over in a chair, his face buried in his hands – but he looked out through splayed fingers at that. “Okay? They are not okay.”

“But if – ”

“They were at the top of a six hundred meter tall building, and it got blown up, and now they are gone. Understand?”

Miranda frowned darkly. “Are you sure? Did you actually get out and check for bodies? They could – ”

Garrus’ voice was low with warning as he approached the table. “Miranda…” He sat down next to Steve and tilted his head slightly so he could catch his gaze; his voice was calm and reassuring. “Steve, you said you didn’t see the explosion, right?”

He nodded quickly. “I was in the docking bay on the ground floor. Suddenly everything started shaking, and there was this low rumbling sound. I pulled out immediately and flew up there, but whatever had happened was already over.”

“So was there smoke, were things on fire?”

Steve’s head shook erratically. “No, not really. The whole building was made of that black metal, so I couldn’t tell if things were charred or not. But there was wreckage all over the place, like a tornado had blown through or something.”

Keenon was leaning against the far wall, arms crossed over his chest. His facial markings were pulsing angrily, but his voice was soft and flat. “But you did say there weren’t any bodies? Like, at all? I mean, maybe they fell – ”

Steve looked up with already-bloodshot eyes. “It was six hundred meters down.”

Miranda planted her palms on the table and took a long, deep breath. Then she straightened up and squared her shoulders. “EDI, contact the local Escena and track the rescue efforts; make sure they inform us if they find any bodies.”

“Of course…” an infinitesimal pause “…they have thus far recovered three Escena bodies, but no others.”

Kasumi and Keiji ran into the room. Tears had left streaks down Kasumi’s face, but it was unclear whether they were old or new. She looked around the room. “Is it true? Is she gone?”

Jacob sighed from the opposite wall. “They all are.”

“Who?” She scowled at the glares that came her way. “Look, I’m sorry, I’ve been a bit preoccupied. I don’t know who all went, okay?”

Jacob smiled sadly at her. “Shepard, Kaidan, Liara, James, Ashley and Andrew. Maybe Wrex, too, we don’t know if he had left already or not.”

She sagged against the glass wall. “My god…”

Litha was tapping her talons on the table in a dissonant rhythm. “Alright. We know the Escena basically don’t have violence, right? So we can assume with some degree of confidence that it wasn’t a deliberate bombing. Was it the Aduri?”

EDI shook her head. “There’s been no indication of an Aduri attack on the planet. The residents are alive and functioning normally. There is an unusually high concentration of exotic matter in the area immediately surrounding the site of the incident; however, that is likely a result of it being a wormhole generating facility and not indicative of anything else.”

Garrus’ brow furrowed. “Maybe it was an accident – a server overload?”

Litha frowned at him. “Do the Escena have accidents?”

“They’re not infallible; I’m sure they do.” He glanced behind her and realized for the first time that Thane was already at the table. Sitting alone near the other end, Thane's hands were clasped together, lips moving in silent prayer. He sighed; he wished he had the luxury of turning to a higher power for guidance… “Steve, is there anything else you can tell us, anything else you saw?”

Steve’s chin dropped to his chest. “No…I wish there was. I wish…” His throat worked but no more words came out.

“Okay.” Garrus patted his shoulder in what was a gesture of sympathy in virtually every culture he knew of. He looked over to Chakwas, who was standing quietly near the door. “Doctor, why don’t you…”

She attempted a smile, though in truth she was close to breaking down herself. She came over and wrapped an arm warmly around Steve’s shoulder. “Come with me, Lieutenant; I’ll give you something that will help you rest.”

He made an effort to sit up straighter. “No thank you. I’ll stay.”

Chakwas nodded tightly and squeezed his shoulder. “You know where to find me if you need me.”

Miranda gazed resolutely out across the table. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re – ”

Garrus’ head shot up suddenly, his eyes sparking with renewed hope. “I just thought of something. We need to talk to the Guides immediately.”

***

Aethraene – Chamber of the Guides

Garrus Vakarian. EDI. Miranda Lawson, we know of you. Welcome.

Miranda frowned a bit, unnerved by their placid formality. “Yes, well. We had people at – ”

We are aware of the events that occurred on Trafero.

She frowned more deeply. “Are you aware that Shepard and some of our very best people were there and – ”

We are aware.

“Are they dead?”

We do not know.

She glared over at Garrus. “Why are we here again? Because…”

“Right.” He nodded politely at the one Shepard called ‘George.’ “So I was thinking – why don’t you just send somebody back in time to warn them ahead of time?”

“What – ”

He ignored Miranda. “You could warn everybody, not just our people; that way they’d all live.”

The tenor of Miranda’s voice made it clear she didn’t intend to be ignored. “What are you talking about? Are you telling me these aliens can time travel?”

He glanced at Miranda. “Yeah. They, uh, sent Shepard back in time that first day. She went to Virmire and saved Ash and stuff.”

“That’s what all that was about?” She glared at him a moment, then at EDI. “Did you know about this?”

EDI nodded. “Yes, though I was not aware of the precise details. Shepard told me it was a private matter.”

“And of course you just said ‘okay!’…” Miranda rolled her eyes in annoyance, but quickly refocused. “Alright…wormholes…time travel…all scientifically plausible…fine.” She looked up at a random Escena. “Garrus makes a valid point – just send someone back, and we can avoid this whole unpleasant affair.”

We cannot.

She waited for more, but there was no elaboration forthcoming. “…why not?”

It is not possible to send a person back, or forward, to a time in which they already exist. We do not know precisely what occurs, as none have lived to recount it. We know that the existing life in that time is not extinguished. Perhaps the individual merges with itself; perhaps it blinks out of existence upon entering the timeline at that point. But for reasons We cannot fathom, the Universe does not allow two copies of the same Soul to exist at the same time.

It was Garrus’ turn to frown in confusion. “Wait a minute. That doesn’t make any sense. You sent Shepard back to a time where she most certainly existed – hell, she probably ran into herself! That doesn’t exactly jive with what you just said.”

Miranda huffed a jaded laugh. “Yes it does.”

“How?”

She looked up at another random Escena. “It’s because she was dead, isn’t it?”

It is.

Garrus’ mandibles fluttered in agitation. “No. Are you seriously suggesting that the person Miranda and her Cerberus buddies brought back is not the same person that died in the attack on the Normandy? Because she would beg to differ – and so would I.”

We do not mean to suggest that this ‘Cerberus’ organization created a different person in the physical form of Graceyn Shepard. We agree that what came after is fundamentally the same as what came before. Even We do not know the whims of the Universe, but it is more likely that in rebuilding a body that was dead, sufficient chemical and molecular changes were made such that the Universe viewed that which came after as something new.

Or perhaps – There was a perceptible shift in tone; even without voices, it was clear that someone else was speaking. Garrus and EDI had only ever known the Guides to speak with one voice; was there dissent in the ranks? – the traversal of the Soul of Graceyn Shepard from physical Life to spiritual Life and back to physical Life was enough for the Universe to view her as a Life begun anew.

Miranda gazed out at them dubiously from beneath long lashes. “Are you trying to say that she went to ‘Heaven’ or ‘Paradise’ or wherever, and came back, all while she lay on my lab table?”

We suspect it is not so simple as that. Regardless, We have spent many hours contemplating such questions, and found no answers. The important point is this – Shepard could go back, because the Universe deemed her not the same. Shepard is not here, and no one else meets this rather unique criteria. Therefore, no one can go back. It cannot be done.

Miranda looked over at Garrus and EDI. “Excellent. Next idea?”

Garrus’ eyes narrowed at George. “How did you even know she died, anyway?”

We have observed much, in many places, for a very long time.

“And that’s not at all creepy…fine. What now?”

In the absence of your Shepard, who will be your leader?

Miranda straightened her shoulders. “Under the circumstances, I’ll be – ”

– Garrus cleared his throat. “Under the circumstances, I believe Shepard would – ”

– EDI smiled pleasantly. “Under the circumstances, given my extensive resources – ”

They all stopped and looked each other warily.

– “I really think that – ”

– “You know Shepard would want – ”

– “The logical course of action would be – ”

They stopped again.

Miranda exhaled heavily and stared at EDI and Garrus. “EDI will be overseeing all technical matters; she can be your primary point of contact should you need to reach us. As for our internal chain of command, we will work out those details…internally. You need not concern yourselves with it.”

Very well. Which of you will be able to find a way to stop the Aduri?

None of them had an answer to that.

***

Normandy SR-3 Engineering

Garrus dropped his head back against the wall. A horn from his crest caught in the brace of the shelf above him; he sighed in weary annoyance, jerked it out, and tried again.

It was impossible. Shepard could not be dead; she’d tried that once before, and despite being quite clearly dead, she had nonetheless reappeared in spectacular fashion. He was pretty sure all he had to do was put himself in mortal danger and she would materialize out of nowhere to save him. It was what she did. Gods, and Kaidan, Liara…Ashley…he groaned and rubbed his crest in a vain attempt to ease the headache that was crashing in on him.

He knew he needed to keep his head on straight; he couldn’t afford to lie around and wallow. He was a statesman, a leader, and the others would look to him for guidance and even inspiration. It didn’t matter that deep down, he just wanted something to shoot at. That was the one thing he knew he was good at, and he hadn’t been lying when he had told the Guides that it solved a shocking number of problems.

Probably not this one, though…

“Penny for your thoughts.”

He looked over at Litha as she appeared out of nowhere – which she had a habit of doing – to lean against the wall. “Dammit, you’re as good as Kasumi is at that – and what does that even mean, anyway? What the hell is a ‘penny’?”

“Damned if I know. Something Humans say.” She eased down beside him. “I think it means, I’m willing to listen if you’re willing to share…or something to that effect.”

He huffed a weary laugh as his gaze ran across the empty Engineering room. “I was just thinking that if I could come up with a couple hundred mercs out for my head and put myself in a no-way-out last stand situation, I could conjure up Shepard.”

She shook her head briefly, but let it go. “Has it worked?”

“Well, I haven’t found the mercs yet, so…” He smiled slightly at her. “I don’t know if I mentioned it or not, but I might have had a somewhat checkered past before the Reapers invaded.”

“And I might have heard a thing or two about that.” She shrugged. “Doesn’t scare me.”

His expression scrunched up quizzically, but she continued before he could follow that train of thought to any logical conclusion. “You do realize she could actually be dead.”

He exhaled slowly through a clenched jaw. “I do. They could all be dead. After all, sooner or later everybody dies. Even her.” He paused. “I just…something tells me it’s not today.”

“Okay.”

He looked over at her in a measure of surprise. She raised an eyebrow. “What? I’m along for the ride. You say they’re not dead, I say sure – why not.”

He shook his head wryly. “You are an odd one, Litha.”

She beamed. “Thank you.”

“I didn’t say it was a compliment.”

She chuckled as she stood. “You didn’t have to. See you in the morning, sir.”

He watched her leave…then suddenly realized he was smiling when by all rights he should in no way whatsoever be doing so, and wondered what the hell had just happened…

***

Cargo Bay

“Why would I want to talk about it with you?”

Keenon shrugged faintly. He was falling apart on the inside, but it wasn’t like he had anyone to share that with and he damn sure couldn’t sleep, not in what was now a cold, empty bed, so… “Because you’re more comfortable with me than anyone else currently residing on the ship – partly because I’m the polar opposite of you in every way imaginable and partly just because I’ve known you longer than anyone else.”

Timah sagged against the support beam; only then did he realize that smears of Vega’s blood were still on it. He found he didn’t particularly care. “Fine. What do you want me to talk about – Shepard being dead or Keiji being alive?”

Keenon twitched. “We don’t know that Shepard’s dead.”

“Of course not; wouldn’t matter if she is, she has nine lives anyway. But we do know that Keiji’s alive – so he wins.” He glanced over at Keenon; the man was practically vibrating with angst, but, well, he had his own angst to deal with. He rolled his eyes at the ceiling. “What do you want me to say – that I fucked her because she was hot? Fine – I fucked her because she was hot. The end.”

Keenon nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah…me too…”

Timah looked over at him in surprise – then burst out laughing.

Keenon quirked a tired grin. Timah never laughed. It didn’t last long though, fading as he sighed wearily. “We’re two sorry souls, aren’t we?”

Timah nodded in agreement as the elevator opened and Litha strolled out. “And we don’t even have any beer…”

“I can fix that problem at least.” She sat the cooler in her hand on the floor and opened it, grabbing one for herself and leaning against the wall as she tipped her bottle up.

Timah raised an eyebrow at her. “Don’t you have somewhere else you should be?”

She smirked from behind the bottle. “All in due time, my friend.”

Keenon frowned in confusion. “What are you…oh.” He nodded to himself. “Of course.”

Litha glanced over at him. “Don’t you have somewhere else you should be? Like, running the ship? You’re the highest ranking military officer left; surely there’s a chain of command in place.”

“Oh, there was a chain of command – it got wiped out. And we may have come a long way in the last few years, but do you really think this crew is going to let a Quarian lead them?”

He shrugged in resignation. “Actually, as a Council-sponsored multi-agency operation, it’s not strictly military; there is still a chain of command, and Garrus, Miranda and…Liara…all officially outrank me on it. Which is fine; Vakarian knows more about combat in his left talon than I’ve learned in my lifetime. If decisions need to be made, I trust him to make them.”

Litha quickly finished off the bottle and grabbed another. “You know if they really are dead, we’re all well and truly fucked, right?”

Timah walked over and dug into the cooler, seeing as Litha apparently wasn’t interested in playing bartender. “Why? We’ll just go home then…” He went back to his support beam with his drink and tried to lean casually against it, but couldn’t help but notice Keenon’s increasingly ragged and worn demeanor. He guzzled a sip from the bottle then sighed. “I’m sorry, ‘Daal. Unlike some of us, you had an actual relationship. I’m…I’m sure she’s fine.”

Keenon stared at the fuzzy light reflecting through the bottle he held in front of him. “Me too. Assuming she survived the initial blast, she’s brilliant enough to find her way out of anything. She’s fine. Somehow.”

Kasumi pressed her nose to the wide viewport and stared out at the planet below. Though the lights were off, the lounge was lit a faint green hue from the planetary ring.

They were still orbiting Trafero; EDI, Garrus and Miranda had taken a Kodiak to Aethraene earlier that evening, the uneasy trifecta of leaders deciding that the ship should stay near the scene of the accident for now.

She glanced down at her Omni-tool. Seventy-six percent complete. With some minutes remaining before further action would be required on her part, she returned to pondering the choices that had led her to this moment.

Oh, she could try to blame her parents – her addict criminal lackey mother and non-existent father – if she liked, but that was far too droll and juvenile. She had made a thousand choices since she had left them behind, and had enjoyed most of them. Only fair that she accepted the negative ones as well.

Once, she had held everything in the palm of her hand. Then Keiji had died. She hadn’t chosen for him to die – god knows she hadn’t chosen that. But she had chosen to try to bring him back…then chosen to play with fire when she measured the result against an impossible standard and found it wanting.

And now she had lost nearly everything – her love, her lover, her best friend – all in a single day. If she had believed in a god she would have imagined him having a rollicking good time laughing at her from above. And she would deserve it.

But no matter. It wasn’t as if it was the first time she had found herself on the flip side of fortune. She would find a way through; she always did. She might not be able to find a way to bring Shepard back, but she would find a way to make him understand, to get him back, or die trying…

Her Omni-tool beeped, signaling the completion of the download. She had hacked into the orbiting satellites, a surprisingly easy task given the technical sophistication of the Escena – on the other hand, who did they imagine was going to hack them? Once in the network, she had set to download all the vid footage from the quadrant containing the transport station for the hour surrounding the accident.

She activated the holo-display and parked it in front of the glass, and sat down on the couch to watch. She increased it to 2x speed until five minutes beforehand, then slowed it to real-time. Everything looked, if not peaceful, at least normal. A few dozen transports whizzed through the air, lights twinkled; periodically small flashes of blue flared at the edges of the top of the tower. Then all of a sudden there was –

– she sat up straight. What was that?

She rewound it and watched again. Then she watched it at .5x speed. Twice.

“EDI, I need you to ask Garrus and Miranda to meet you and I in the Conference Room in ten minutes.”

“Are you certain? It is 02:46 in the morning.”

“I know; that’s why I’m giving them ten minutes.”

“Then I will see you – actually, they are already in the Conference Room. It would appear you are not the only person unable to sleep tonight.”

***

Conference Room

The dim light cast an eerie glow across Miranda’s face, giving her already pale complexion an almost ghostly appearance.  She took a long sip of water then set the glass back on the table. “Jacob will take over for Vega in the Armory, as well as some of Williams’ supervisory duties – though of course he’ll run any major decisions by you.”

Garrus smiled a little. “That sound fine; he’ll do a good job.”

She huffed a weary breath. “He’s been itching for some real work…though I doubt this was the manner in which he wanted it.”

“I’m sure.” He studied the holo-display in front of him. “Keenon can cover the gaps in technical left by Kaidan’s absence.”

Miranda frowned slightly. “Will he be able to focus? With Liara gone, I mean.”

He nodded. “He’s a soldier; a war-hardened officer. He’ll keep it together.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” She glanced at the roster again. “Do I need to upgrade Lieutenant Rogers to full-time shuttle pilot? I assume Cortez is in no condition to be flying.”

He sighed uncertainly. “He’s hanging in there; I mean he’s closed himself off, shut down, so who knows what he’s actually going through. But…I think we leave it up to him. He won’t fly if he doesn’t believe he can do it safely.”

“Again, I’ll trust your judgment.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Alright, I think that covers everything for now. Just so we’re clear; I don’t want to beat around the bush. We’re going to have to work together to keep the ship running and the team focused on the mission.”

She paused; he motioned idly for her to continue.

“To the extent that any military or combat decisions need to be made, you have full authority; when it comes to crew and operational matters, I’ll exercise control. Should strategic mission-related decisions need to be made, we’ll consult – ”

EDI’s voice over the speakers interrupted her. “Miranda, Garrus – Kasumi would like to meet with us in the Conference Room in ten minutes…but I note that you are both already there.”

Miranda grimaced; she had almost begun to hope for sleep sometime in the foreseeable future. “What about, EDI?”

“She didn’t say; she did indicate it was of some importance.”

“Fine.” She reschooled her expression and looked back over at Garrus. “So we’re in agreement then?”

He nodded tightly. “We’re in agreement. But for the record, if you try to go behind my back or usurp – ”

“I won’t. I can’t afford any more drama on this ship right now – and it would negatively impact the morale of the crew.”

***

Kasumi gave them a quick, speculative glance as she walked in and went straight to the head of the table and began feeding data into the overhead display access panel.

Miranda watched her curiously, and a little suspiciously. “What did you do?”

“I hacked the satellites orbiting Trafero and pulled the footage of the accident.”

“Of course you did.” Her eyes narrowed, now intrigued. “You found something.”

Kasumi just nodded. After another few seconds she brought up the vid feed on the display. “I’m going to start the footage thirty seconds before the accident.” She hit ‘play’ and let it run.

The tall tower could be clearly seen rising through the hazy, thin atmosphere. Suddenly there was an explosion of light, originating from the top of the tower. White, writhing light pulsed within the structure – then waves of blue energy shot out from the tower in every direction. They vanished almost as quickly as they had appeared, and the entire structure exploded in white-blue light that expanded like a mushroom cloud then collapsed onto itself.

“Whoa!”

“Holy shit – ”

EDI’s head tilted sharply – so sharply as to identify her otherwise organic-appearing body as AI – as her gaze shot to Kasumi. Her synthetic visual receptors had recorded what she was seeing, and she had already analyzed it a dozen times. But in truth, she had only needed to analyze it once. As the foremost expert on the subject in the Milky Way, she knew precisely what she had seen. “Those were wormholes.”

Kasumi grinned. “I thought so, too. Here, let me slow it down so everyone can see.” She replayed the vid at .5x speed.

Garrus leaned forward intently, the haze of fatigue gone in a flash. Miranda ran a hand across her mouth; it settled at her chin. “Okay, I agree – those look like wormholes. But – ”

“They weren’t just wormholes, Miranda. They were wormholes that activated after the event began but before the destructive explosion; if I had to guess, I’d say that initial surge of energy blew out the control system safety protocols and turned all the gates on.”

Garrus rubbed his mandibles thoughtfully. “You think Shepard and the others were thrown through the wormholes…” It was more a statement than a question.

Kasumi nodded. “I do. I mean, where are they? There’s no indication that the explosion was hot enough to vaporize them, but their bodies are nowhere to be found.”

Miranda sighed heavily. “I have to admit, that’s a reasonable possibility. But is that really any better? If they were just randomly generated wormholes then they wouldn’t have had a destination, so odds are our people…” her voice dropped noticeably “…would have just been dumped out into space.”

EDI’s face seemed to light up, a shrewd smile pulling at her lips. “Not necessarily. Wormholes leave residual traces, subtly altering the composition of the space they travel through. Like ruts in a dirt road. In the absence of a defined destination, a later wormhole might naturally follow a path previous ones had left behind.”

Miranda’s shoulders lifted slightly. “That’s…but how many wormholes has that station generated – hundreds? Thousands? Would they just follow the most recent one?”

“Difficult to say; it would depend on the initial trajectory and force. Also, as the wormhole traveled it could get pulled off course by any number of factors.”

Kasumi exhaled harshly; only the tightness around her eyes revealed how much effort she was putting into holding herself together. “But it’s possible, right? Some or all of them could have made it somewhere safely?”

EDI nodded. “Oh, it’s definitely possible.”

Garrus was grinning as he leaned back in the chair. “Son of a bitch…” He gazed around the table. “Should we tell the others?”

Miranda shook her head. “Not until we know more. But one thing’s for certain – we’re paying the Guides another visit first thing this morning.”

***

Aethraene – Chamber of the Guides

Miranda wasted no time. “Have you reviewed the external footage from the accident?”

We have. We believe that a lone Soul managed to escape through a Passage during an Aduri appearance on the planet of Aristei. A small number of Aduri followed through the Passage before it had closed; their presence caused an instability that ruptured the Passage at its termination point and set off a cascading explosion of energy.

“A cascading explosion of energy that caused wormholes to open in all the gates.”

There was a pause. Yes. You are aware of this?

EDI spoke up. “The Normandy was recording images while it orbited Trafero; it captured some of the incident.” She had become quite adept at lying, a somewhat disconcerting notion the others chose not to linger on.

Miranda leveled her gaze at George. “The question I have is, why didn’t you make us aware of this rather important fact?”

In the absence of the recovery of your companions, We did not deem it relevant.

Garrus huffed a rather jaded laugh. “Well I’d say it’s relevancy depends on a few things. Could they have safely made it to a destination at the other end of a wormhole?”

Yes. Two Souls from the Trafero station have been located, alive and relatively unharmed.

“Yeah, that’s going to make it relevant.”

Miranda took another step forward. “Wormholes leave traces of their paths. You can track where they would have gone. You can find them.”

It is not so simple as you presume.

She rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Of course it isn’t; it’s never so simple as others presume. But you can do it, right?”

Perhaps. There were fourteen Passage gateways at Trafero; each of them has created hundreds of thousands of Passages over their four thousand year existence. Furthermore, the Passages may not have held to particular traces for their entire course. The possible destinations are…many.

EDI nodded thoughtfully. “Would it be possible for me to receive a copy of the historical records from the station? I could assist in parsing the data to narrow the search.”

We assure you that We have sufficient resources to explore all possibilities.

“Still. I too have…sufficient resources.”

Very well.

Garrus was pacing in a slow circle. “I’m still hung up on this whole ‘disclosure’ thing. How could you not think this was something we would want to know?”

We began an analysis immediately upon becoming aware of what had transpired. Should any of your companions be found, We would of course inform you. Unless or until that occurs, you gain nothing from the knowledge.

He stared at them incredulously. “We gain hope.”

We…do not understand. The potential for mishap is significant; though We have recovered two Souls, we have also located three Souls who were deposited in unfortunate locales and did not survive the journey. The odds are not in your companions’ favor.

His mandibles fluttered as he smiled wryly. “Well, that’s why they call it ‘hope.’ We’re big fans of it back in the Milky Way.”

***

Normandy SR-3 Conference Room

Steve was standing on the far side of the table, his palms spread wide on the smooth yet non-slick surface; he leaned heavily into them, his head hanging low. He didn’t look up when Miranda and Garrus walked in.

“Is it true? Could they be alive?”

Miranda went to the head of the table and began queuing up files for the display. “We’ll relay what we know once everyone is here; it will – ”

He still didn’t look up, but the muscles in the forearms noticeably tensed. “Could he be alive?”

Garrus nodded. “We don’t know for certain, but yes. It’s possible.”

Steve looked up then, and smiled weakly at Garrus. “Thank you.”

Noise filled the entryway as the team quickly began filing in, animated in a way they hadn’t been since before Praede. EDI had sent word of the developments to Jeff before they had even left Aethraene, and so of course everyone else had known approximately 2.3 seconds later.

Keenon grinned at Garrus as he walked in. “I knew she’d find a way to survive. She can make it through anything.” He winked. “Shepard, too, of course.”

Garrus chuckled lightly, but felt obliged to show some restraint. “I’m hopeful, too – but we don’t know for certain.”

Miranda glanced quickly around to confirm everyone was there, then cleared her throat. “That’s right. Here’s what we do know. Footage from the time of the accident indicates that some Aduri followed an Escena through one of the wormholes, resulting in a system overload. The overload blew out the safety protocols, causing the server to overheat and explode – but not before all the wormhole gates activated.”

Litha cleared her throat from the far end of the table. “You’re talking like the Escena showed you that, but I heard Kasumi pulled the footage off the satellites herself.”

Miranda nodded. “That’s correct.” Kasumi shrugged mildly from the wall in response to the murmurs of approval, but smiled ever-so-slightly in response to Keiji’s deliberate nod.

Miranda paced slowly along the end of the table. “As I was saying – there were ten Escena working at the wormhole generation station. Three bodies were recovered at the accident site; two of the workers have surfaced unharmed at various locations around the galaxy, apparently having been thrown through the active gates.”

She raised a hand to quiet the increasing buzz in the room. “However, an additional three workers did not survive the journey, and two are still unaccounted for. Given that Escena can know everything essentially instantly, that’s not a good sign for them.”

Joker nodded slowly. “So…twenty, maybe thirty percent odds of survival, give or take? Yeah, our people have got that covered, no problem.”

Miranda huffed a breath that was almost a chuckle before she stifled it. Truth be told, she thought the acerbic pilot likely had the right of it. If it was possible, she had no doubt that Shepard would find a way to survive. And though she had doubted it initially, in time she had come to admit that Shepard had chosen her companion rather well; Alenko was nothing if not talented. As for the others…while they were an eccentric, idiosyncratic lot, none of whom she particularly cared for in the slightest personally, they were nonetheless – objectively speaking – some of the most brilliant and/or physically skilled individuals in the galaxy; their galaxy, anyway. If anyone could defy the general odds, it would be them…or, she somewhat reluctantly acknowledged, anyone in this room.

But she could share none of that publicly; she had a ship to run, order to maintain – and low expectations met were far better in the long run than high expectations devastated. She formed her mouth into a set line. “Of course Shepard and the others are very skilled; to the extent they can control their circumstances, I’m sure they will succeed. However, we must recognize that they weren’t in control of their circumstances, at least to begin with.”

She nodded, more to reassure herself than them. “And even if they did survive the initial explosion, they could be literally anywhere in the galaxy – and this isn’t our galaxy; we don’t know it, not in the slightest.”

“EDI is assisting in reviewing the data from the station, but we can’t just go randomly jumping around LMC looking for them; it would be like looking for a needle on a planet of haystacks. We’re rerouting auxiliary power to increase the range of our locator sensors and communications band, but the simple fact is, we’re going to have to rely on the Escena to find them. If they can be found.”

The room quieted as they digested the somewhat sobering reality. Finally Timah looked up, quirking an eyebrow just slightly. “If there’s no way for us to search for them, what are we going to do in the meantime?”

Garrus shrugged from his position against the far wall beside Miranda. “We’re going to do what Shepard brought us here to do – we’re going to help these people.”

***

Deck 4

Garrus took a quick swing through Engineering to make sure everything was status quo then strolled back toward the main hallway. Miranda’s cautionary words – necessary though they probably were, he had to admit – were not meant for him, nor had they dampened his spirits in the slightest. They would meet again in the morning to brainstorm about ways to move the mission forward, but tonight, he was just going to be happy at the possibility they could be alive. At the fact that there was hope.

He was grinning as he went through the door into the hallway, imagining what spectacular sort of entrance Shepard would make this time. He nodded at Litha as she exited the elevator and fell in beside him.

“So how long you think it’ll take Shepard to show up?”

“Depends on what else she has to take care of first; two, three days, maybe as long as a week. But she’ll be here; most, probably all of the others too. Trust me – I’ve seen it happen more than once.”

He turned to the right down the smaller hallway to his cabin, then slowed, frowning slightly. “Um…your cabin is on the other wing…”

She nodded. “Yup.” She pulled a bottle of liquor out from under her arm. “Interested?”

For a split second his brain malfunctioned, red lights flashing Warning! Warning! Danger ahead! in his mind…but he ignored them and shrugged lightly. “Sure, why not? I’d say we both deserve a drink…” he looked back over his shoulder “…did you want to head up to the Starboard Lounge? I’m sure some of the others will be there.”

She smiled. “Nope.” ҇

His neck twitched as they reached the door to his cabin. “Okay, well…we can just have a drink in here then…” he chuckled slightly as he opened the door “…won’t have far to go later that way, too.”

She had to stifle the laugh that rose in her throat, but she couldn’t help but mutter under her breath as the door closed behind her, “not far at all…”

҇

“…and then Shepard up and head-butted him. A Krogan. The look on his face…it was priceless.” He reached over and refilled his glass as Litha’s full-throated, resonant laugher filled the cabin. She’d always had a rather nice laugh, he thought. He was sure this wasn’t the first time he had noticed it. After all, she had laughed many times before, even if it was more often than not cynical in tenor.

He settled back into the couch with his refilled glass. It was with a truly shocking amount of surprise that he realized she was lightly stroking his right mandible. He blinked, then blinked again. “What are you…um…” the words choked in his throat as her talons ran along his neck.

She purred as she leaned closer, her tongue flicking out at the lower juncture of his mandible and throat. “I’m seducing you, obviously. So what do you say, sir…are you game?”

He swallowed heavily as the scent of her pheromones mixed with the alcohol and began to overwhelm him. He reached over and grasped her hip, pulling it closer. “I do believe…I am.”

***

Life Support

Keiji glanced over his shoulder as he rolled out the sleeping bag. “Thanks for letting me crash here. I’ll talk to Miranda about a more permanent sleeping arrangement tomorrow.”

Thane merely smiled slightly as he lay back on his cot and crossed his arms behind his head. “It is no trouble. I would never claim to be lonely, but I do not mind the company.”

Keiji sat down on the soft material and leaned against the wall.

“So do I take that to mean that you don’t expect to be returning to Miss Goto’s quarters in the near future?”

His chin dropped to his chest and he sighed. “No. I…I don’t think so.” He glanced over at Thane. “Have you ever been in love, Krios?”

Thane couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yes, I daresay I have.”

Keiji cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, I don’t really know your story…anyway. I love Kas; my memories of my…first life…are a bit spotty, but I think she may be the only woman I’ve truly loved. Not that I didn’t have lovers before her. But Kas, she…” he stared at his hands “…and she brought me back, which is either the most amazing thing a person can do or the most selfish, I haven’t decided yet.”

His eyes darted rapidly beneath their lids as memories flashed through his mind. “And she is selfish – which should be fine, so am I; it worked for us before, but now…” He looked back at Thane. “I don’t mean to keep prying; it’s just you seem kind of, well, wise I suppose. Like you’ve seen more than most and paid attention. So…have you ever had to forgive someone? For something terrible?”

Thane shook his head slowly. “No. But I have done many things requiring such forgiveness.”

“I see. So you think I should forgive her then.”

“Not at all. True forgiveness occurs only when it is not deserved. It is given not because of anything, but in spite of everything. And that, my friend, is a choice for you and you alone.”

Date Unknown: Location Unknown

Shepard gasped, sucking in a dramatic, life-affirming breath. It was disconcertingly like coming to consciousness on a Cerberus lab table – but she knew immediately there was no lab table here. Also, she didn’t hear the telltale sounds of a medical tech – and there was always a medical tech when she was dead.

Actually, it felt as though there was nothing here. She grasped around with her hands; they provided no answers. She nodded to herself in her mind. Okay. She breathed in again and steeled herself.

She opened her eyes to blinding light.