ME: Lost

Destruction

Debris rained down around her as she crawled carefully to the edge of the fissure. A small chunk of marble slammed into her shoulder, radiating pain down her arm, and Shepard cursed her shields for failing during that last blast. The hall fell silent as the deafening hum of the gunship faded, and her stomach twisted with the knowledge that Kai Leng had escaped.

"Kaidan! Liara!"

Her voice echoed in the empty room as she searched the darkness below, tiny pieces of flooring crumbling off the edge as she shifted. A faint cough caught her ear and she scrambled for the tactical light on her rifle, flipping it to its highest setting. Broken artifacts and shattered glass littered the shaft below, sparkling against the dirt. Several massive slabs from the temple's concrete floor jutted up at odd angles, each miraculously bracing the next and holding them steady. Just under this overhang, she saw her teammates struggling to their knees.

"We're down here, commander," Kaidan called, helping Liara to her feet.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, nothing serious. Give me a second to find us a way up."

Jae paced nervously as she watched them feel for handholds in the broken concrete. The Illusive Man would pay for this. Even if it was the last thing she did, he would pay. Every moment the Crucible remained unfinished meant more death, more destruction, and she'd practically handed him the one piece they needed to finish it.

"Can anyone hear us? We're trapped, they-" a garbled voice rang out, and she pressed her communicator closer to her ear, struggling to make out the transmission, "-us pinned down...anyone left out there!"

"This is Commander Shepard, where are you?"

"Please! Is...out there...need assistance!"

Shepard gritted her teeth in frustration as she realized the soldier on the other end couldn't hear her.

"We're being overrun, they've...out the rest of...we need...Oh Goddess! It's a reaper!"

"Shepard!"

Jae turned in time to see her friend's pale face appear over the edge, and she knew Liara had heard the distress call as well.

"I'm so sorry, there's nothing I can do."

"No! We have to try!"

"We're too far away, they're gone."

Liara threw herself up over the edge, then leapt to her feet, dashing blindly towards the entrance. Her teammates paused only a moment before hurrying after her.

Unbelievable destruction greeted them. Fires burned on every surface, the smoke thick and toxic. Reds and purples and blacks blurred together in the fading light.

Shepard placed a gentle hand on Liara's shoulder, meeting her tear-filled eyes with a sympathetic gaze. They stood together in silence, watching reaper after reaper descend, and massive red energy tear into the planet's beautiful landscape. An asari and two humans - the three solitary witnesses to Thessia's final evening.

<><><>

Kaidan knew enough about relationships to slouch on the bed in silence as Shepard paced the cabin angrily. For the last half hour the Illusive Man had been subjected to every derogatory term known to man, including a handful of turian ones she'd picked up from Garrus, and one or two of Tali's favorite insults.

Eventually, her knowledge of expletives waned, as did her energy. With a final curse, she sank unceremoniously to the carpet, back against the door.

"I swear I'm going to kill him, Kaidan. If I get the chance, I will look him straight in the eye as I pull the trigger." She closed her eyes wearily and leaned her head back.

"How did the asari councilor take the news?"

"Badly," her eyes were still closed, but the single word answer spoke volumes.

"They'd already targeted Thessia full force, there wasn't anything you could have done to prevent it."

"I could have made their deaths count for something. Now we're just floating dead in space. No leads, nothing to help us finish the crucible, we're out of options."

Kaidan slipped off the bed, and crossed the room. Reaching the door, he held out a hand, "I seem to recall another time, on a different Normandy, when everything seemed hopeless."

Shepard opened her eyes, lips twitching into a faint smile as he gently pulled her to her feet, "this does seem rather familiar, although we're missing Joker's great sense of timing."

She leaned into his strong embrace, pressing him back a step with the ferocity of her sudden kiss. He responded immediately, wrapping both arms tightly around her waist as they allowed frustration to rule their emotions.

After a moment he stepped back, gently breaking the tight grip her hands had on his neck. "That wasn't what I meant," the words rasped against his throat, and he cleared it loudly as he tried to catch his breath, "I was trying to say that we'll figure this out, just like last time."

Shepard chuckled, "I knew what you meant," she stepped forward, resting a hand on his chest as her voice deepened playfully, " and I think you understood what I meant as well."

Kaidan hesitated only a second before wrapping a strong hand around the back of her neck and recapturing her lips with his.

"Commander," a single word echoed loudly over the intercom.

The outraged look that crossed Shepard's face was priceless, and Kaidan bit down on his lip to cover the laughter threatening to escape.

"What is it, Traynor?"

Clenched teeth did little to cover the annoyance in her tone, and the voice that responded rang with worry, "I'm so sorry, commander, is this a bad time? I found something I thought was important and I called you right away. I didn't think that it would be a problem, and I-"

"Traynor, just tell me what you need," Shepard rolled her eyes at Kaidan, who was still chuckling under his breath.

"Well, we found a signal, EDI and I, well, actually I found it and EDI helped me figure out where-"

"Traynor!"

"Oh, ok, um, sorry! We think we might know where to search for the Illusive Man."