Chapter 2: ...Another Begins

Seven Hours Later.

"Jeff."

The bridge was shroud in darkness, the only light coming from a few activated panels. Stars sped passed the windows, millions of twinkling lights against the black backdrop of space. Joker lay reclined in his chair, sounds that could only be compared to active energy saw coming from his mouth.

"Jeff?" EDI asked over the comm systems.

Joker shifted a bit in his sleep, his head rolling to the other side of the chair. A shockingly human-like sigh sounded over the speakers.

"JEFF!"

"Ah!" Joker almost fell out of his chair. His hand practically slammed into his forehead in a quick salute. "Lieutenant Jeff Moreau reporting for duty, sir!" An instant later, his other hand went to his now throbbing shoulder. He looked around in confusion for a moment, before staring up at the ceiling, struggling not to scowl. "EDI, please never wake me up like that again. Makes me think I'm back in flight school."

"I'm sorry, Jeff." EDI apologized. "It was not my intention to elicit such a reaction from you." Then, a surprisingly soft tone entered the AI's voice. "Are you okay?"

Joker looked up and smiled, carefully flexing the pained appendage. "I'm fine, EDI. Nothing's broken." He started going over the sensors of the ship, making sure nothing had happened while he slept. "So, any particular reason you woke me up, or did you just miss the sound of my voice?"

"Long range sensors have picked up a distress signal from a Turian cruiser. They claim that their ship is inoperable due to the loss of their VI." (pause) "Although, I do find your vocal patterns... pleasing."

Joker hands stopped moving for a moment. Then he let out a light chuckle. Instinctively he reached to call the captain's quarters. Then he froze, his hand hovering over the comm systems. "Um... EDI?" He asked uncertainly. "Who do I call?"

EDI was silent for a few seconds. Then she answered, "As it is a Turian craft, perhaps Garrus would have some insight on the situation?"

Joker nodded. "Sounds good." He typed a few lines of code into the displays. "Garrus?" He called into the comm.

"What do you need, Joker?"

"We've got a Turian Cruiser sending us a distress signal. Think you can come up here and give me a hand?"

"I'll be right there."

Five minutes later, the door to the bridge opened, Garrus walking in.

"Were are now in visual range." EDI announced. A vid-screen opened up in front of Joker

"Doesn't look like any Turian Cruiser I've ever seen," The pilot commented, staring at the screen. "And I've seen a lot."

The ship was shaped like a Turian cruiser, but was jet black, and significantly smaller. Deep blue lights glittered across it's hull.

"It's one of the new Shadow-class cruisers." Garrus explained. "Fast, stealthy, and armed to the teeth. Mostly used for recon or hit-and-run tactics. Maximum crew of twenty. Though no one will admit it, I believe it's my military's answer to the Normandy." He put a hand to his chin in thought. "Though why one would be all the way out here escapes me."

"Then let's find out." Joker said with a smirk. We worked at the controls for a minute before speaking into the comm. "Turian Cruiser, this is the Normandy. Please state you're the reason for your presence in this sector."

In answer, a line of text scrolled across the screen.

"Says they were stationed here to monitor the Reaper occupation of the Vetus system." Joker read.

Garrus nodded. "Makes sense. Elysium, Sidon, Grissom Academy; there's a lot of Alliance tech in that system. High command would probably want to know what the Reapers were doing with it."

"Hmm..." Joker thought for a moment. "EDI, anything suspicious about the signal?"

"Nothing that I can detect, Jeff. Everything about it seems legitimate."

Joker turned his chair around to Garrus, a questioning look on his face. Garrus contemplated for a minute, then looked Joker in the eyes, and nodded an affirmative. Nodding back, Joker turned back to the comm. "Turian Cruiser, we'd be more then happy to help. Prepare for docking."

A few minutes later found Garrus standing outside the airlock, waiting to greet his fellow Turians as the ships docked. He glanced towards the CIC, the four officers that made up the night shift milling around, keeping the ship running.

A faint hiss drew his attention back to airlock. The tell-tale beeping of a door opening sounded, telling that the visitors now stood in airlock itself.

Garrus tapped on the green holopad, and the doors slid open to reveal six figures in armor.

White and yellow armor.

"Oh crap."

"...lert! I repeat, Red Alert! The ship is under att-SSSSCCCCHHH..."

Samantha jolted awake as Joker's voice was drowned out by static, before the comm went silent.

Looking wildly around the room, a sense of dread quickly filled her. The room was bathed in a pulsating red light, constantly glowing on and off. A sound like hail falling echoed through the bulkheads.

Samantha threw off the covers. The Normandy was under attack, and she needed to be at her post. She jumped out of the bed, reaching for her uniform laid over the sofa.

(Boom! Boom!)

Samantha froze as two heavy blows hit the door to the room. A third sounded. Muffled voices could be heard outside. She couldn't make out what they we saying, but they sounded male. And angry.

Samantha cautiously climbed the short flight of stairs that split the room in half. She edged towards the door, for the red holopad on its front. A quick tap would show her who was on the other side via security cam. She had just reached out her hand, when...

(csh-csh-csh-csh-csh-csh-csh!)

The Comm Specialist dived around the corner, slamming her back against the bathroom door.

Someone was shooting at the door!

The noise persisted nonstop for three seconds as the attacker apparently an entire thermal clip into the door, to no effect. As the gunfire ended, the voices began again, even angrier then before.

Samantha's mind was in a paradox, both moving a mile a minute and completely stalling. She'd never been in combat. She'd gotten into the Alliance navy thanks to her mind, not her ability on the battlefield. Hell, she never even fired a gun before outside of basic training. She had one of the rare jobs that existed that was both extremely important and relatively "safe". Aside from the Normandy's space assaults, she'd never seen battle.

And now someone was trying to kill her.

She tried to calm herself, to slow her mind. She closed her eyes and focused. She thought back to Basic, to the lessons her instructor pounded into her. She searched her memory, looking for the moment she needed.

Okay...okay...it was... it was my second year... third week... Tuesday... no! Thursday. Yes... Thursday... Commander Litchfield's class... the lesson... lesson was... survival. Yes! Separation and Survival Training!

Samantha's eyes snapped open as the face of her former Commander materialized in her mind: a gruff, war hardened man, a scar going over milky, dead left eye. A man who didn't care whether you were technical prodigy or infantry grunt. Rich, poor, strong, weak; didn't matter. All he cared about were two things: if you followed orders, and how well you followed them.

She listened as his voice played in her mind:

"In the event you find yourself cut off from command, you have only two objectives: Number one should go without saying: survive. Number two: Unless your mission says otherwise, reestablish contact, by any means necessary short of inciting an interplanetary indecent."

Samantha released an unneeded small sigh of relief. It was by no means a solution, but it was a step in the right direction. As the voices outside the room continued to converse, Samantha slid into the desk side chair below the model ships. She tapped the terminal and brought up the comm.

=ACCSESS DENIED=

Samantha frowned. That... shouldn't be possible. This was Shepard's personal terminal. It had access to every other computer on the ship, capable of overriding any security, with EDI''s help, of course. The only way it couldn't be accessed was if...

If the entire comm system was being blocked.

Samantha felt the strategist in her take over. Okay, hypothetical situation: you want to invade the Normandy. Best course of action? Divide the crew. Best way to do that? Disable the comms.

She remembered Joker's brief attempt at a warning, how it was cut off by static.

A few more taps brought her too a screen filled with lines of code. To the average person, it was just a jumble of numbers, but to her, it was like having the enemies playbook right in front of her.

. Let's see... class two dampening field... level three encrypted firewall... Her eyes widened. She recognized these programs. She'd dealt with them before.

Cerberus.

Samantha quickly squashed the flood of questions that filled her mind. Getting worked up wouldn't help her. Her fingers quickly glided across the terminal, attempting to break through the binds Cerberus had placed on the ship.

As she worked, she was aware that the voices (who she now assumed were Cerberus agents) had fallen silent. A faint hiss could be heard instead. After a moment, she placed the sound: an engineer's torch.

They were cutting through.

The screen suddenly went green. A small smirk formed on her face. She was in. Traynor: one, she thought. Cerberus: zero.

Whoever, know she had a dilemma: who to call? For all she knew, everyone else on the ship was captured, or worse.

Samantha felt a light bulb go off in her head. There was one person she was sure she could reach. She pressed on the 'call' button. "EDI? Can you hear me?"

Seconds ticked by. One... two... "Hello, Specialist Traynor."

A sigh of relief escaped her. "Oh, thank God. EDI, what the hell is going on?"

The AI's voice seemed to be it's usual neutral tone, but Samantha caught a minuscule amount of strain in it. "Cerberus troopers have laid siege to the Normandy."

Even though she'd already guessed as much, a cold chill ran through the Specialist at the confirmation. "How did this happen?"

"We encountered a disabled Turian cruiser, claiming that, with their VI having been destroyed, most of their systems were down. The communication seemed legitimate."

Samantha thought for a moment. "They probably learned from their mistake at Grissom Academy." She muttered, mostly to herself. Out of habit, she looked towards the speaker EDI's voice came from. "What happened next?"

"We docked with the ship. Garrus opened the hatch, expecting to be greeted with Turian soldiers. Instead, six Cerberus Assault Troopers opened fire."

Dread seeped into Samantha. "Is he...?" She trailed off.

"He is alive, but injured. He was shot in the shoulder before retreating to the bridge. He and Joker have locked down the bridge with themselves inside."

"What about the rest of the ship?"

"That information is... limited." Samantha could hear what passed for frustration in the AI's voice. "When Cerberus entered the ship, they opened fire on the CIC. There were... casualties." The dark-skinned woman tensed. She was friends with most of the CIC officers. "The survivors retreated to the War Room, locking it down. After that, Cerberus... suppressed me."

Before Samantha could ask her to elaborate, a sharp hiss filled the room. Looking behind her, Samantha saw the white-hot tip of laser torch jutting out from the top of the doors, sparks flying as it inched down the door agonizingly slow. A cold sweat ran down Samantha's spine at the sight.

The sound did not go unnoticed by EDI. "Specialist Traynor, what is that noise? What is you situation?"

The Specialist forced herself to tear her eyes away from shower of sparks. She tried to let out a slow, calming breath, but it came out short and choppy. "Someone's cutting their way into the room."

EDI was silent for only a moment, but that moment seemed to stretch for hours. When she spoke, it was not in the light, inquiring voice that she usually used. It was the cool clipped tones of solider. "Specialist, I trust you know how to use a weapon?"

Samantha was surprised by the sudden question. "Y-Yes, but-"

"Go to the left-side table by Commander Shepard's bed." EDI cut her off. "There is a weapon hidden between the bed and the table."

Despite herself, the dark-skinned woman couldn't help but ask, "How did-?"

"I am the AI of the Normandy." She was once again cut off, but she could hear a bit of what passed for pride in EDI's voice. "As such, it is in my programing to keep track of all equipment on the ship, including weapons, both in and outside of the Shuttle Bay. Therefore, it is part of my knowledge that Commander Shepard kept a Class Ten Scorpion pistol at her bedside, 'just in case,' as she put it."

Snapping out of her daze at this new revelation, Samantha did as she was told, practically running passed the sparks that cascaded down the door. Sure enough, nestled between the bed and the desk side table was the shape of a weapon. Samantha pulled it out, surprised by how unexpectedly heavy it was. It was alien in design, white, all curves, and with a grip that obviously had not been designed with humans in mind. Despite that, she was able to hold it with a strong, if uncomfortable, grip.

Normally, Samantha would have laughed, saying that Shepard was too paranoid.

Now she wondered if maybe she was too naïve.

Her thoughts were broken by EDI's voice. "Specialist, have you found the weapon?"

"Y-Yes, I have EDI." Samantha answered, holding the gun awkwardly in her hands.

"Good. Now, take cover behind the stairs."

In a strange daze, (she would later realize that she was in shock of the situation) the Specialist put her back to the directed wall. Peeking around the corner, she had a clear shot at the door, which by now was cut halfway down its length. The red holopad fizzed and bent like static as the torch cut through the sensitive circuitry.

"Samantha," EDI's voice calm, yet strained. "You are going to have to trust me. I will walk you through this conflict. Do you understand?"

The Specialist fought down the sudden waves of nausea and doubt, trying to recall every minuscule amount of combat training she'd learned in Basic. She let out a shaky breath. "Y-Yes, EDI. I understand."

"Confirmed. Aim your weapon at the cutting tool."

She did, ignoring how the sights of the pistol shook as she looked down them.

EDI continued. "I now have limited control of the captain's cabin. I shall count to three. On the third count, I will open the doors. Specialist Traynor, the instant the doors start to open, squeeze the trigger. You must not hesitate. Understood?"

"Understood." The word was out of her mouth before the thought had been fully processed.

"Okay." Was it her imagination, or did the AI seem... worried? "One..."

Samantha sucked in a deep breath.

"Two..."

She placed a slender finger on the trigger.

"Three."

The doors slid open...

(Cshoo!)

The Cerberus Engineer jerked in surprise as a vibrating blue orb latched onto his hand. The Assault Trooper next to him was startled by both the doors sudden opening and his companion's unexpected reaction. Looking into the room, all he saw was a clearly terrified woman, clad only in her sleepwear, clutching some type of weapon in an inexperienced grip. Instinctively, he raised his rifle and took aim.

Samantha's heart completely stopped as the Assault Trooper put her in his crosshairs. The Engineer beside him had recovered and reached for his own weapon, seemingly oblivious of the orb on his hand.

Samantha froze, her eyes wide. She could actually see the man's finger squeeze the trigger...

A deafening explosion rocked the confined space. Horror gripped the Specialist as the two men in front of her were reduced to twin eruptions of blood and muscle. The destruction was so complete that not even bone were left, just a fine white powder that mixed with the gore.

The sound died down, a crushing silence in its place. Seconds ticked by. Over the Comms, EDI started asking questions. "Specialist, are you unharmed? Are the Cerberus agents dealt with?"

The silence was broken by the sudden sound of the Scorpion pistol clattered to the ground.

I just killed someone. This thought replayed in the Comm Specialist's head as if on a loop. Her unblinking eyes remained glued to the pile of gore that now painted the walls and floor just outside the room. I pulled the trigger and now their dead. Just like that. Her breathing started to increase, becoming faster, choppy, uneven. I just-

"Ow!" Samantha's mind was put back in place by a large electric shock to her left hand. As she cradled it, she saw that her Omni-tool hand was partly activated form of some unfamiliar tool. After a moment, she recognized it as a taser.

"Samantha." EDI's voice was more urgent now. "Are you okay?"

Samantha looked between the comm and her Omni-tool, piecing together what had happened. She took a deep breath through her mouth and let it out shakily. "Yes, EDI. I'm fine. Thank you."

"Good. I apologize for the shock."

"No, don't. I..." her eyes flicked back to what was left of the Cerberus agents. The blood was starting to seep through the grating on the floor, running into the ships inner workings. She forced her eyes from it. "I needed it."

EDI was silent. Then; "Specialist, I need to be frank with you."

Samantha blinked, unsuspecting the statement. "O...kay?"

EDI wasted no time. "Specialist, the Normandy is under siege. As I am locked out of most systems, we have no way to make contact with the rest of the ship. The only reason you managed to contact me is because I essentially am the communications network."

That left Samantha a bit disheartened, and more then a little hopeless. "Then what do we do?"

"When Cerberus came aboard, they did two things: They shut down the communications systems, and disabled the automated defenses." Samantha didn't say anything, so she continued. "If someone could reach engineering through the maintenance shafts undetected, then, with my help, they could reactivate the automated defenses manually."

Samantha nodded. It made sense. If the defenses were back online, then Cerberus would have to fight the ship itself. But who would they get to...

Her mind stalled.

"Oh no. No. No! EDI, you can't seriously expect me to-"

"It's only with my help that someone could bypass security to activate the defenses. You are the only member of the crew I can contact. In addition, you have experience with disabling Cerberus programing. It's only logical that you be the one."

Logical. Samantha suddenly had a strong hatred for the word. "EDI, I'm a Communications Specialist, not a solider!"

"As you a member of the Alliance Navy, that statement is technically inaccurate."

"Ugh!" Samantha sunk into desk-side chair, putting her head in her hands. She knew she was going to lose this argument. In desperation she whispered, "EDI, I can't do this. I'm just one person."

EDI was quiet for only a moment. When she spoke, her voice was the kindest Samantha had ever heard from her.

"Commander Shepard was only one person."

Samantha was silent, EDI's words rolling around in her head. It wasn't the same! Shepard was...Shepard. She was strong; she was brave. She was trained in combat, had seen dozens of battlefields. She was a tactical genius. She was...

Human.

That was the thought that stopped Samantha cold. Despite everything she'd been through, despite all the training, all the heroics, every single unbelievable victory, one thing was true: Shepard was still human. It was this fact that had surprised Samantha early on in their relationship. That under all the armor and scars, there was a person that remained hidden, a person that Samantha was likely the only one to ever see: A human woman. A woman who still hurt. Who still cried. Who still feared.

Samantha remembered Shepard's nightmares. The Commander would never tell her what they were, but she could tell that Shepard was hurting. One night Samantha had woken up in the dead of night to find tears streaming down her lovers sleeping face.

It was that moment when Samantha had her realization: Shepard wasn't some superhero like some people made her out to be. She was just a normal person, who happened to be thrown into a world of pain and death, and managed to survive.

And if one normal person could do it, so could another.

By this point, Traynor had back slipped into her uniform. As she walked back the comms desk, she scooped up the Scorpion pistol and attached it to her belt. "Okay, EDI. What do I do?"

If the AI was happy with Traynor's acceptance of the situation, she didn't show it. "First, you need a way for us to stay in contact. Do you know if the Commander kept any personal communication devices."

Traynor wasn't sure. She started looking through drawers and compartments in searching. Most were empty, unsurprising given Shepard's mannerisms. In desperation, Traynor checked the closet.

What she found surprised her. Among four identical uniforms, a set of Dress Blues, and some civilian clothes, was a simple black dress. From the looks of it, it hadn't been worn much, and Samantha had never seen Shepard in it.

Traynor brushed aside the pain in her heart and kept searching. Finally, on the top shelf, she found what she was looking for: a box of simple military earbuds. She took one out and was about to sync it with her Omni-tool, when something caught her eye.

Next to the box... was an Omni-tool. Unlike her own, this one was covered in scratches, and was worn from use.

She realized it was Shepard's spare. She knew the Commander had two identical Omni-tools, just in case one was damaged during a mission. From the looks of it, she had switched between the two constantly.

Traynor stared at the battle-worn tool for a moment. Then, with a flick of her wrist, she took off her own Omni-tool and replaced it with Shepard's.

Just in case, she thought to herself.

She synced the new Omni-tool to the comms desk, then synced the earbud with the Omni-tool. "Okay EDI. I'm ready."

"Good." The AI's voice sounded crisp and clear in Traynor's ear. "The nearest shaft to you is near the elevator. There will be a panel labeled was 'Maintenance Entrance.'"

Traynor exited the room, keeping her eyes ahead and her nose covered as she stepped through the mangled remains of her would be attackers. Sure enough, just over the railing, was the panel EDI had mentioned. She climbed over the railing, balancing on the pipes and conduits as she pried the panel open. The shaft inside stretched down the length of the ship. Of to the side was a shaft that went straight down, ladder rungs bolted into the sides of it.

Traynor took a deep breath and let it out slowly. There was no shake now.

"Okay," She said to herself. "Let's go save the ship."

A/n: Sorry if it seemed like a long wait, but I just started back up into college, so updates might be few and far between. I'll try to make sure that it's worth the wait.

Remember, lengthy reviesw equal lengthy chapters!