I have to this galaxy, now it's time for
Wreckage. Even after months of reconstruction, the Citadel was in ruins. Broken statues surrounded by broken people, weeping for those lost or those threatening to fade away. Entire sections of homes, businesses, living spaces, had been wiped out. Everything destroyed by the use of the Citadel in the last battle. Only approximately 30% of the space station was even habitable at this point, even the Presidium was barely able to hold the clean-up crew and a few civilians.
His words were weak, a trickle of blood leaking from the corner of his lips. She swallowed the lump in her throat and wiped furiously at the tears rolling down her cheeks. Strength was what she needed. Strength for him. The shotgun blast to his right flank was fatal, she knew that, and her limbs shook as she slowly pulled him up into her arms. Holding him close to her chest, she cradled his cheek with one hand. “I’m here, mi vida. I’m here. I’ve got you,” her lips trembling around the words.
His hand came up to cup her cheek and a pained smile pulled one side of his lips up. He drew in breath, only to cringe at the movement. “No, love. Don’t speak. Just be still. I’m here.” She knew what he had been trying to do. Say goodbye. Say he loved her. Another tear drop fell from the tip of her nose, landing on his cheek. “I love you forever. Don’t worry about me.” Her voice fell into a low murmur, and a quiet sob broke free. “Wait for me on the other side.” He didn’t speak, but his lips moved to say “I will”. His eyes shone with fear; for her, perhaps? She didn’t know. Doing her best to put on a reassuring smile, her thumb ran over his rapidly cooling cheek, the warmth sucked from it by the warm pool of blood collecting around them. His gaze never broke from hers as the light in his eyes slowly flickered out.
A ragged sob ripped out from her, causing her whole body to shake. Slowly, she lowered his body back to the ground and closed his eyes. Her heart broke in two and her soul shrunk back into the box that had carried it for so long. The Jaya he had loved disappeared as his last breath left his body, her replacement the cold, calculating woman she had been before. The only difference was the streak of fire-red hatred that boiled beneath her flesh. Hatred for the world and all that it had taken from her. Hatred for the collaboration that had attacked their home. Hatred for the man who had shot her love.
She stood, withdrawing her knifes from her boots, her gaze shooting to the gun-wielding merc. Her legs moved, bolting towards him, as her body fell into a fighting stance. She would avenge her Admiral if it were the last thing she’d do.
[How dare you]
“HACKETT!” the commander screeched at the top of her lungs, quickly taking out the assassin that fired the shot before falling onto her knees to try and assist. But he was hit hard, directly in the center of his chest. “Sir, don’t you die on me! God dammit Hackett, why would you do that?!” she muttered under her breath, trying to apply pressure to the bleeding wound. But it was seemingly futile, and she broke down- sobbing into his chest. “Please, dad, please don’t leave me. I… I need you…” she continued to sob before gathering herself. She looked at the admiral with a look of determination- the glassy look in his eyes almost making her shutter. She began doing CPR, making quick compressions on his chest and putting her lips to his and blowing in ragged breaths, trying to get him to wake out of the eternal slumber. “Hackett don’t you dare do this to me…you can’t leave me, not now!” she muttered, a small set of onlookers watching her every move. “Don’t just stand there! Help me!” she cried out to them, not caring about the tears streaming down her face. The blood from his chest quickly gathered on her hands, soaking through the wrists of her clothing. “Come on, dad, breathe. Don’t leave me now, I can’t do this without you…” she murmured under her breath, and the onlookers just stared with mixtures of grief and pity. He was gone, and the commander knew that, but she wasn’t going to admit it. She couldn’t lose him now, he meant so much to her and she never had the chance to tell him. “P-please…sir…don’t do this…” she barely even spoke, sobs beginning to rack through her just as she gave up, collapsing onto his chest and pulling him into her for a hug that she knew wouldn’t be returned. She thought of the first time they met, how he took her under her wing, the first time “Dad” slipped off of her tongue, and the warm chuckle that followed. The now cooling blood stuck to her face, but she couldn’t care less. She just sat there, sobbing over the loss of the father that she never thought she’d lose.
“Ms. Lamba!” Someone shouted behind her. She turned, expecting the worst. What appeared to be three assassins stood in formation down the hallway from her, one with his gun drawn and the other two with biotics flaring to life.
“Shit.” She whispered under her breath. The chances of her targets finding her after she sold their information was extremely small, but this certainly wasn’t the first time this had happened. There always seemed to be someone with loose lips and someone else with large pockets will to make a deal. She slowly took a fight stance and carefully, so as not to draw attention, slid three throwing knives from her boot.
At her change in stance, they attacked, the armed one firing rapid rounds at her torso. She dodged the shots quickly, hurling one of her knives into his poorly protected neck. A small smile crept along her mouth as he want down with a muffled scream. Diving out of the way of one of the biotic’s throws, she threw another knife towards the one who had just attacked. Her shot went wide and she cursed herself. She was out of practice.
The biotic who had yet to attack hurled a ball of energy at her, managing to hit her in her distraction. She went down, but managed to throw the last knife into the biotic’s chest before she hit the ground. Her body hurt from the impact, but she scrambled up, retaking her fighting stance. Gods, she hated biotics. It was cheating. She sprinted for the asari, weaving to avoid the spikes of energy the woman hurled at her. She was on her in moments, tackling her to the ground. The spry young asari avoided her hands as Jaya tried to put her in a hold. She scrambled away from Jaya’s grasp and caught her in a stasis field. A smile formed on the young asari’s lips as she pulled a small sword from her belt.
From down the hallway, Jaya faintly heard her name called. She closed her eyes, awaiting the death blow she knew was coming. A harsh, guttural noise accompanied by a single gunshot met her ears and her eyes shot open. Through the hazy field of biotics, she saw the love of her life slowly collapse in front of her, the sword skewering him. “NO!” The young asari was down as well, a neat hole in the center of her forehead. But Jaya could only look at the man she trusted with her entire being, watch as the life slowly drained from his eyes while she could do nothing but float, waiting for the field to wear off. She screamed unintelligible words, tears streaking her face as she fought the blue flames which held her.
Finally the field collapsed and Jaya fell to her knees, quickly crawling over to the Admiral’s body. Cradling his face in her hands, she turned him to face her. “Please, Steven. Oh Gods, please. Come back to me. I can’t lose you yet.” Her words came out strangled as glassy orbs stared back at her. “No. No no no. PLEASE STEVEN! GODDAMMIT! NO!” Her head fell and she placed her forehead gently against his, her eyes closing against his still open ones as helpless sobs wracked her form.
[Ouchie.]
The ringing in her ears barely allowed his words to reach her… and her eyes, bright, vivid, crimson, were wide and practically sparking, void… staring at the man beyond the barrel of her pistol, still held at arms length, her hand glued to the mechanism. Her breathing had stopped… her face had become deadpan, as had it not been for the sleepless, dark rings to prove her flawed and broken state of humanity, she might have seemed nothing more than an android.
She could feel it… the clawing inside her skull… the tick-tick-ticking of wires and words and whispers… she felt a jolt every now and again… she ignored a jolt every now and again… a twitch of her trigger finger or a curl of her lip… she passed it for cruelty… She passed it for intolerance… and so had everyone else, from one end of the galaxy to the next. They called her a renegade… but the fact of the matter was that Commander Shepard held so much more weight in the predicament that organics— that all existent life —faced, and it was not until now that it was crystal clear.
”I couldn’t let you continue…”
Her voice was low, strained, and she took a slow step towards the Admiral as the words cut from between her lips. Those eyes seemed to flare… the scars that littered her skin like an overheated grid following frightening suit, “The Reapers cannot be stopped… this cycle will end.”
