Arashu's Gift

Chapter 31

"Everyone? You lost everyone, and damn near lost the ship, too?"

"I know, I was there and saw it with my own eyes," Joker said, defensively.

He was sitting at the Comm Room's table.

"It wasn't his fault, Miranda," Jacob weighed in.

Shepard rubbed her face, throwing a killer look to Miranda. She'd known leaving the ship alone was a bad idea the moment the Cerberus officer had suggested it. She felt the urge to break Miranda's perfect profile with a good punch, yet she made an effort to master her growing frustration, focusing on Joker instead.

"Are you alright? Were you hurt?" she asked, closing in and putting a hand on his shoulder.

Joker raised his gaze so they were looking at each other. His usual carefree demeanor now looked subdued – his shoulders curved, head lowered. She had never seen her pilot look so defeated and unable to blurt out some wisecrack as he usually did.

"I'm fine, Commander. Thanks for asking," he barely said. "There are a lot of empty chairs here ..."

"We did everything we could, Jeff," EDI said.

The AI explained that the Reaper IFF had had a sophisticated virus, which not only began to transmit the Normandy's coordinates, bypassing EDI's tracking, but it also had blocked the ability to activate the drive core for a FTL jump to escape the Collector ship. If Joker hadn't freed EDI's database from the AI Core, in a matter of minutes it would have corrupted all systems.

The risk the Normandy had been put through from that Reaper virus was a catastrophe on its own, but it was something completely different that the crew was instantly targeted for abduction by the Collectors. Joker and EDI had managed to purge the ship of Collector presence as he'd unshackled the AI from her default limitations, giving her total control over the systems. However, they weren't able to prevent the crew's abduction.

"Don't even get me started about unshackling the damned AI," Miranda continued.

"You'll leave him alone!" Shepard commanded, raising the volume of her voice. "We're not here to point fingers at each other, because if we were, I'd already be pointing one at you for suggesting the brilliant idea of taking everyone on the next mission, leaving Joker alone, Miranda."

The officer paced the length of the room like a caged lioness. If stares could kill, Shepard would have already been lying on the floor.

"Even without my restrictions, I wouldn't do anything to cause you harm," EDI said. "You are my crewmates."

"I trust you, EDI," Shepard said. "Besides, if this allows you to act quicker in the case of another high-risk situation like today, I welcome it. We need all the help we can get for what awaits us," Shepard said, letting out a tired sigh. She rubbed her face, frustrated. "Are all systems clean from the Reaper virus?"

"They are, Shepard," EDI replied. "The IFF is functional and all systems ready."

"Then in two hours we hit the Omega 4 relay, understood, Joker?"

"Aye aye, ma'am."

"EDI, inform the team to prepare," Shepard ordered. "The time has come. We're going for our people, to avenge the millions killed and abducted, and to end things once and for all with the Collectors."

***

Shepard left for the CIC on the second deck and immediately Kelly's absence at the right of the galaxy map closed her throat with a tight knot. She looked around the bridge, counting all the empty navigator posts. She swallowed hard, clenching her jaw and trying to hold back the tears. She went down to the third deck and was confronted by the same view. She remained perfectly still in the middle of the mess and from there she looked through the windows of the med bay, which was now void of Doctor Chakwas, as well as Sergeant Gardner's empty kitchen.