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IIML: Beyond - Chapter 23: Second Chances

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If It Meant Living: Beyond - Chapter 23

“Second Chances For New Beginnings”


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


“The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.”

– Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch



September 13, 2194:  Lunar Base above Aethraene, LMC-Alpha System, Large Magellanic Cloud

Joker drummed fingertips on the glass in an erratic, agitated rhythm.

On the other side of the window, the Normandy hung suspended within a zero-gravity latticed frame. The lower hull doors were open, exposing the drive access tunnel and the engineering area above it. Beyond the frame there was nothing but stars, save for the shadow of the moon beneath them.

Escena mechs darted about the zero-g facility, which was located on the outer edge of one of Aethraene’s orbital lunar rings. Though he couldn’t see them, he knew there were similar mechs inside the hull right now, installing the Aduri barrier shielding. He smacked his lips together; a dramatic sigh blew them back out.

“Joker, stop.”

He glanced over at Shepard, standing beside him at the glass. “Stop what?”

The corner of her mouth quirked up in an exaggerated smirk. “Tapping your fingers on the glass like they’re the drums of war. Breathing like you’re a Volus after a ten kilometer hike. Clacking your jaw like you’re a Varren about to pounce on its evening meal. Vibrating like a mech short-circuiting.” Her expression morphed to a more kind grin. “In other words, chill out. It’s going to be fine.”

He rolled his eyes and glared at the translucent ceiling, then at the wall behind him, then inexorably back at the glass. “It’s just…I don’t care how ‘smart’ these VIs are, they don’t know our systems. In fact, it’s guaranteed that our systems work differently than theirs. What if they break something important? What if they install it wrong? What if they access our network and find my porn stash and send it instantaneously to all two hundred billion Escena?”

She threw her head back and laughed, taking the opportunity to appeal to the heavens for assistance. “Well. I can’t help you with the last one, though if I had to guess I suspect EDI has your porn collection under multiple levels of encryption – you should probably thank her for that, by the way. But as for the rest, Kaidan and Garrus and Keenon and Adams are all in engineering with the mechs. Between the four of them, I’m quite confident they will make sure nothing goes wrong.”

“Right, right. But what if it doesn’t work? I mean, our ship tech is different than theirs. What if the Aduri just sneer at it and come right on in?”

“You’re worried about EDI?”

He huffed a resigned sigh. “Nah. No matter what happens here, she’s still back in the Citadel, too. If she loses this body, she can make another one. She’ll be fine. No, I’m worried about my ship and my own ass – and the crew, of course.”

Shepard smiled thoughtfully and watched the mechs buzzing around the Normandy for a moment. “If something happens to us, EDI may still be alive back home, but…she won’t be fine. Not without you.”

His gaze darted over to her. “You really think so?”

“I know so. EDI may be the most powerful being in the Milky Way, but Joker, you’re what makes her human. And she loves you more than anything.”

His eyes lit up, and the tension in his bearing eased despite the fact that his ship was still open and exposed and being tinkered with by aliens. He didn’t smile, but the look on his face could be mistaken for peaceful contentment. “Good. I mean, I don’t want her to be sad – I never want that. But sometimes, even now, I still can’t believe that…that she loves me. I’m only…”

“The greatest pilot the Milky Way has ever produced?”

“Well, yeah, there is that.”

She threw an arm across his shoulder and hugged him against her playfully. “Which is why everything is going to be fine. If anyone can fly this mission successfully, you can. And you can. You’ll take care of the Normandy and you’ll take care of us, just like you always have.”

He grinned at their reflection in the glass. “And I always will.”



September 15, 2194:  LMC-Invictus System, Large Magellanic Cloud

Normandy SR-3 Cockpit

Shepard contemplated the space beyond the cockpit viewports. One hand rested on the back of the pilot’s chair; the other maneuvered a floating display to her right.

Nearly everyone else was, at her insistence, in the War Room – where they could access far more detailed real-time data, feed her and the other captains information and if needed, make on-the-spot decisions.

But she needed to see. Data was less important to her for identifying the right moment to act; seeing the flow of events was what mattered.

The display showed her the locations of her little fleet, for they were far outside visual range. She patted Joker on the shoulder. “You ready to do this?”

“Yep. Absolutely. The shield’s going to hold, right? I know, we talked about it, but our lives kind of depend on it holding and all.”

She winked at EDI in the co-pilot’s chair. “The technology works. The Diramae have been using it for two years; the Escena have used it with a one hundred percent success rate the last several weeks. It’ll hold.”

He exhaled dramatically until all the breath must have left his lungs. “Okay.” He nodded to himself. “Just give the order.”

She scanned the scene laid out before them again, and found nothing – which was, this once, what she wanted. “Open the wormhole.”

“Aye, aye.”

The familiar red-and-silver vortex appeared in front of them; they eased into it the same way they had dozens, even hundreds of times before. Only this time, they didn’t speed through it to the other end (which was merely a half light-year away). Instead they cruised slowly until they were well inside the passage.

She stared at the swirling, writhing vortex. She had never paid that much attention to the particulars or the science of wormholes. EDI said they would work; Liara said they would work; she trusted their judgment and used the technology as she saw fit.

Then she had started getting thrown into them, and developed some rather uncharitable opinions about the passages.

But now…she appreciated the beauty, the wonder, the miracle even that these tunnels through dimensions, time and space represented – and the dangers they held.

She laughed quietly to herself, earning a glance over the shoulder from Joker. She shrugged. “I wanted to call this system ‘Icarus’…because there is no more important moment than when committing genocide to remember not to let our hubris get the best of us.”

EDI half-turned in her chair. “Yet the Military Board has designated it the ‘Invictus’ system.”

She smirked wryly. “Thereby proving my point. But it’s fine, because they’re not here and they’re not in charge. We are.”

She gripped the back of the pilot’s chair decisively. “Fire two Javelins, thirty-five degrees starboard. Have reverse thrusters ready.”

“Alrighty then…”

Legion’s voice intoned from the speakers and echoed from his mech to their right. “Javelins One and Two firing.”

The torpedoes pierced the vortex wall ahead of them and a little to the right and disappeared.

Nobody breathed.

Ten seconds passed.

Nothing happened.

She swallowed silently. “Fire two more Javelins, thirty-two degrees starboard.”

“Javelins Three and Four firing.”

They too pierced the vortex; the hole in the wall began to close behind them – suddenly bright blue-white light burst forth through it.

“Reverse thrusters!”

“Yeah, yeah, didn’t have to tell me!”

The Normandy sped backward through the wormhole. Aduri poured out from the breach in dimensions, chasing the trail of dark energy.

“Fire the last two Javelins, straight ahead – now.”

“Javelins Five and Six firing.”

The Aduri grew impossibly brighter, seemingly emboldened or at least invigorated by the infusion of dark energy. They rushed forward at incredible speed, getting closer and closer to the Normandy.

“Shepard…”

“The shield will hold.”

The wave washed over them, flooding the viewports with light. Please hold.

It held.

Abruptly they were out the entrance of the wormhole and in normal space. “Everyone grab onto something!”

Engulfed by the Aduri, the Normandy fishtailed and spun one hundred eighty degrees. Legion’s deep voice intoned, “Firing thrusters at 110% maximum power.” The ship accelerated forward at 0.7 light-speed, in a blink leaving the Aduri behind.

Well that’s
one obstacle vaulted. “Alright, Joker, move into position.”

“You got it.” He sounded a bit breathless but was completely focused on the controls. They slowed and arced around somewhat more gently to a location slightly under two million kilometers from the mouth of the wormhole.

The Aduri had begun scattering as they poured out of the wormhole, their light becoming more effuse with the increase in breadth. “We need to keep them focused here and draw them all the way out. Activate the eezo stream.”

Before leaving the Citadel, the Normandy and the lead ships of each team had been equipped with an additional ‘weapon.’ It was little more than a gun that fired bursts of pure eezo, pausing after each burst to send an electrical current into the ejected eezo in order to generate a field of dark energy. The bureaucrats had pitched monumental fits over what they said was a reprehensible waste of a still relatively scarce resource. They had lost the argument.

She watched the Aduri leap forward to dine at the buffet the stream created. “Alpha Lead, Bravo Lead, fire an eezo stream into their flanks.”

Her hand gripped the back of Joker’s chair. “Keep firing. Keep moving.”

The Normandy and the engaged ships poured nearly pure dark energy into the growing wave, all while pulling back, drawing them further and further out of the wormhole and into normal space.
As they began to fill the sky, Joker frowned. “How many more do you think there are?”

Her eyes were steel as she stared out at them. “More.”

~

War Room

“Andraste’s tits, that wave is big…”

Ashley arched an eyebrow at James. “What the who?”

James shrugged a little haphazardly. He had nothing to do but watch, and it was making him fidgety. “I dunno, just something I heard somewhere. Seemed appropriate.”

Her nose crinkled up. “Nothing you say is ever appropriate.”

Kaidan calmly fed data over the comm to Shepard. “Aduri now measure eight hundred seventy thousand by nine hundred sixty thousand kilometers, increasing at 6.5% per second.”

A number of visuals hovered above the data center. The largest was a three-dimensional tactical view of the field of battle: the Aduri measured by the parameters Legion had devised were in the center; the locations of all the ships were marked in green. It updated every 1.5 seconds with ship and wave movements.

Smaller screens surrounding it contained status reports from the ships, including missiles fired and remaining. Below the primary visual was a series of sensor readings monitoring the EM spectrum of the area, fluctuations in dark energy, and the overall “health” of space in the sector.

Hovering off to the left side and above the rest was the visual feed; effectively the view from the cockpit. It consisted of little more than white-blue light.

Kaidan and Garrus had control of the data center and access to the communications network with the other ships. Everyone else was scattered about the War Room. They had all returned for the final act of the nearly eight month mission; but in truth they were merely spectators now. For all its scope and destructive power, the operation was quite simple and straightforward, and would succeed or fail a million kilometers away in space.

Tali’s eyes were wide, luminescent orbs as she gaped at the visual feed. “That’s what you all have been fighting?”

Keenon nodded beside her. “Less ‘fighting’ and more ‘chasing after’ or ‘running from,’ but yeah.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it…”

“Neither had I. You wouldn’t believe what it’s like to be in the middle of them.”

Across the data center, Shepard’s voice sounded low and tight with tension. “Kaidan…”

“Nine hundred ninety-five thousand by one million one hundred eighty thousand kilometers; rate of growth has decreased to 1.2% per second.”

Tali glanced over at Keenon. “What was it like?”

He grimaced slightly. “Loud, mostly.”

~

Cockpit

The Aduri now filled the landscape; no stars or blackness could be seen beyond the sheer brightness of their presence. They had long since ripped open the wormhole and begun surging out from invisible tears in space. If the tears got much larger, she was going to cause the very cataclysm she was trying to prevent.

Wait…wait…wait…

“Joker, close the wormhole. Alpha Team, fire all nukes.”

From the left the wispy trails of a dozen nuclear missiles arced in a tight cascade into the wave.

What burst forth as the first missiles hit was something new. Light seemed to invert, exploding outward and instantly, almost simultaneously, drawing in on itself.

The wave hollowed in and began surging in the opposite direction.

“Bravo Team, fire all nukes.”

The sound hit the Normandy. A deafening, ancient, primeval growl more suited to the depths of Hell than brilliant beings of energy.

Joker grumbled as his fingers flew over the controls and he tried to stay out of the way of the undulating energy. “EDI, any chance we can get some sound dampeners here?”

“Not at this time.” Her voice was tight and flat; clearly she was…occupied.

Shepard didn’t give a damn about the sound. “Charlie Team, shift to updated coordinates.” She trusted that Kaidan and Garrus had already fed them updated coordinates to adapt to the movement of the Aduri, and wasn’t wrong.

The wave contorted erratically, streams trying to escape through what looked like a gap and  potential refuge. But that too was a trap. “Charlie Team, fire all nukes. Then everyone bug out to the rendezvous point.”

All the ships’ radiation shields had been upgraded and strengthened; still, this would be a new kind of radiation, and no one knew how far it might spread. “Yes, ma’am…” came more than one relieved captain’s reply.

As the new missiles hit, the wave collapsed back toward the center again, flaring and writhing as it tried to dodge cascading explosions.

It convulsed violently; she readied their nukes –

– The explosion was breathtaking in its intensity. The spectrum filters shuttered over the viewports, preventing them from being blinded. But it was as if a star had imploded. The reinforcing nuclear detonations had increased until they reached a tipping point – and everything was annihilated.

White light burst outward, then blinked out of existence.

The sound arrived two seconds later; it was like standing inside a sonic boom. The hull shuddered roughly despite the dampeners.

She stumbled backward, only to find arms steadying her from behind. She didn’t have to turn around to know whose they were. Whose they would always be.

With nothing left to direct or monitor, Kaidan, Garrus, Liara, Tali and most of the others had hurried up to the cockpit.

She stared out into the blackness, blinking repeatedly to clear the halos from her vision. “EDI? Legion?”

“Scans report no trace of Aduri presence.”

“How’s that whole ‘fabric of space’ thing looking?”

“No signs of a breach.” EDI grinned over her shoulder. “Three dimensions, tidy and stable.”

Shepard exhaled slowly. She squeezed Kaidan’s hand at her hip. “Okay. Inform the Escena and the Diramae to be on high alert for incursions, and to let us know immediately if any occur.”

“Understood.”

~

But there was nothing left. Space remained an inky black. Scans returned nothing. Both the Escena and the Diramae reported no signs of Aduri in normal space.

“Operation Tartarus ships, remain on Yellow Alert at the rendezvous point for two more hours. If no activity has been reported at that point, we’ll send you a wormhole home.” She smiled and leaned in close to Joker. “Take us in to port.”

He yawned, stretching his arms lazily over his head. “You bet.”

The enormity of what they had accomplished crashed over her. The deluge of relief that came with the adrenaline dump was overwhelming; she felt lightheaded.

You demand that the galaxy bend to your will, siha, and it realizes it must do so.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She recalled the ribbon of light that had spun around and around her until it abruptly shattered apart at the crushing end of space and time, and brought it to the front of her mind. She tied a knot around the wrent end; then with one hell of a mental shove, she sent it spinning off into the void.



September 16, 2194:  Chamber of the Guides, Aethraene

You did indeed find a way, beyond even Our most hopeful expectations. You have Our eternal gratitude.

Shepard shrugged impishly. “It was nothing. Well, it was something, but it…it’s what I do.”

Yes. It seems it is. We would like to ask – you say the Aduri were born from a Passage; Our Passages are a foundation of Our civilization, but We do not wish this threat to recur. Is it wise to continue utilizing them?

She and EDI had discussed that very question the evening before. “It’s possible that a small number of them remain, hiding in their native dimension. If so, they already possess the capability to breach dimensions and come here; wormholes won’t matter for them. Be alert for them, and if they appear, we can deal with them before they grow strong.”

“But as for new threats, new forms of life? It is a risk, however small. But it’s a risk in everything we do. The birth of the Aduri was a single, improbable event thousands of millennia ago, and it happened only once. For something like it to recur is…unlikely.”

She smiled warmly. “I say, live your lives. Be aware, and always cognizant of the possible consequences of your actions, but don’t cower in fear. You can’t let fear define who you are or how you live.”

George dipped his chin graciously. Thank you. We will take your advice to heart.

The left corner of her mouth quirked up a little. “In that case, there’s something else I want to say. Your civilization is a wonder, a shining beacon that lights your galaxy. The things you have accomplished are beyond measure.”

“But the universe is always in motion, always shifting and changing and bringing new challenges and opportunities. Don’t let it leave you behind. It’s easy to be complacent and comfortable, but you have a second chance now to control your own destiny. The minute you stop growing, you start dying. See that you don’t die.”

The Guides were silent for a long time. When they finally spoke, their voice was tentative. We are not certain We know how to begin.

Her eyes twinkled. “Maybe that means you already have.”

Then she nodded firmly. “Thank you and your people – for your welcome, your hospitality and your assistance in our own difficulties. We’re going to stay another day or two and relax a bit, after which we’ll be on our way. But I hope we’ll meet again.”

***

Downtown Aethraene

Shepard strode brusquely through the courtyard and up the wide marbled steps of the medical facility. The others were getting in some final shopping at the unique boutiques the Escena proffered; they would meet back up for lunch shortly.

Like everything else on Aethraene, the stone flooring glistened and the towering walls shone. Escena strolled along the wide avenues, going about their lives, perhaps with less fear than the day before. They smiled at her as they passed, each one conscious of who she was and what she had done. She returned the smiles politely, but didn’t slow her stride.

The comm from Keiji had arrived as she was leaving the Pinnacle. It was simple and to the point. She is asking to see you.

She had frozen halfway across the atrium. She hadn’t known for certain Keiji’s purpose in spiriting Kasumi away, but had suspected the nature of it. How long has she been awake?

Eight days. There was an…adjustment period.

Send me the location.

She moved quickly down the long, pristine hall; those she passed now were far more likely to be medical mechs than Escena. When she reached the door, she paused. Not sure what else to do, she knocked.

It was Keiji that responded. “Please, come in.”

The door slid open to reveal a brightly-lit space that was more luxury suite than hospital room. A plush bed covered in soft blankets stood against the right wall, medical equipment and screens tucked discreetly into the wall and headboard. A dresser and cabinets lined the rest of the wall; a small table occupied the opposite side of the room, and two couches faced floor-to-ceiling windows.

Kasumi was standing at the windows. She wore a pale blue kimono-style tunic over black leggings. The tunic shimmered subtly, a hallmark of Escena tailoring.

Keiji stood from the table and cleared his throat. “I’ll, um, give you two a minute; I’ll go check if the cafeteria has any snacks. Kas has been ravenous ever since she woke up.”

Shepard nodded at him as he passed, then continued across the room to stand beside Kasumi.

It took a moment, but Kasumi turned to look at her. She had a thoughtful, introspective expression on her face. Her irises were the same black as ever, but if you stared directly into them you could discern flecks of light pulsing in their depths. Her hair wasn’t her hair, but rather micro-fiber threads of deep purple woven into black.

She seemed immediately self-conscious about it, shrugging sheepishly and running her fingers through it. “It’s not real; but it’ll do until my hair grows back – which is going to take forever.”

Her voice was the same, lilting and harmonic with a playful edge. Shepard grinned affectionately. “It’s beautiful, and suits you perfectly.” She reached out and gently wrapped her arms around her, careful not to squeeze too hard.

“It’s okay – I’m not fragile.” Kasumi returned the hug, squeezing her with shocking strength before pulling back.

Shepard made an effort not to wince visibly; once they had separated, she turned and leaned against the window ledge. “So how do you feel?”

She was relieved to see a sparkle in Kasumi's eyes resembling the one that used to appear so frequently. “They repaired all my broken bones with a bio-synthetic weave, so I mostly feel…strong. I’ll probably be able to perform even grander acrobatics now, once I get the hang of the new balance.”

“That’s good – but how do you feel?”

Kasumi turned to gaze out the windows. “I feel…alive. I have so much energy, I feel like I can run a marathon – two marathons in a row, in fact – if I can just figure out how to work these strange new limbs. It’s like my brain is moving faster than I can keep up with…like I’m always trying to catch up to the next thought. It’s rather disorienting.”

She glanced quickly over at Shepard. “I’m not part Escena or anything. They assured us that they used clean quantum synthetics, and only to patch the areas of my brain that had been damaged and to get everything started back up again. Though I guess that was kind of a lot. But I’m still me; I’m just a little…more.”

Shepard laughed. “Well more you is a good thing.”

“And did you notice my eyes? Aren’t they the coolest? There’s this weird shimmer to everything; I think I can see new wavelengths or something. They said my ocular nerves had been damaged irreparably; they were able to save my eyes, but had to rewire them into my brain. Now they’re sort of like yours…actually, I suppose a lot of me is sort of like you now.”

The eyes in question narrowed slightly. Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “Why didn’t you tell anyone it was like this?”

Shepard looked away, taken aback by the question. Like Kasumi had said, she was still her, even if she had awoken on a Cerberus lab table – it seemed like a lifetime, two lifetimes, ago – sporting a few improvements. She had never felt particularly like a cyborg, save possibly when interacting with David Archer’s brain or the Geth Consensus. She knew that she could do things others could not, but it was something she rarely dwelled on. It didn’t matter what held her together.

She supposed they were each one-of-a-kind now. She smiled deviously. “Wouldn’t want everyone else getting all jealous, right?”

“Hmm, good point. I should probably keep it to myself, too.”

Shepard glanced around at the gleaming room, at the perfect city beyond the windows, then back at the diminutive, powerful woman beside her. While Cerberus had spent billions and utilized the most cutting edge technology to bring her back…they were no Escena. “Still…I think you may be something more than I am. Something…new.”

Kasumi exhaled slowly and twirled her new hair around a finger. When she spoke, it was soft and tentative. “Something good?”

“Yes, something good. Maybe even something better.”

“Perhaps…”

Kasumi glanced over her shoulder at the sound of the door opening, then closing again as Keiji started to step in before retreating back into the hall.

“I can’t believe he saved me. I was ready to die for him, even though I knew I’d lost him. I willingly made that choice. But he brought me back, and now I have a second chance for…everything.”

Her expression was tinged with regret, or at least wistfulness. “Everything isn’t fixed between us. We have a lot we need to work through; for ourselves and each other. But this new me…I’m a little more like him now; I  can understand him better now.”

She exhaled quietly. “And he says he wants to try, so…I’m hopeful. Really hopeful.”

“And I’m hopeful for you.” She gave Kasumi an encouraging grin. “Listen, we’re all getting together for lunch nearby, are you up to coming?”

“Um…” she turned as Keiji walked again, almost as though she had messaged him that it was okay for him to do so – which she probably had. “…I shouldn’t. While my brain is running a million kilometers a minute, my legs aren’t quite up to that speed yet. The docs say I’ll be here a few more weeks doing rehab.”

She gratefully accepted a water from Keiji; he turned to Shepard. “The Escena have promised us transport home whenever she’s ready, so you needn’t worry about us. We’re well taken care of. And who knows…we may stay awhile, explore a bit.”

Shepard smiled. “Take all the time you want. Get healthy, get strong, then take a vacation. If you need anything at all, anytime, you get in touch with me.”

She leaned in and hugged Kasumi once more. “I’ll see you again soon.”

***

The restaurant hovered, untethered, two meters above a crystal blue pond filled with colorful fish and coral. The floor was virtually transparent, giving the impression that one was walking on water. Swirling silver and copper ornamentation made up the rest of the minimal structure.

“Wow…you guys certainly know how to pick the place.” Shepard settled into the empty chair beside Kaidan and leaned over to plant a soft kiss on his temple. “Hi,” he whispered in return.

Liara beamed. “I did some research during our downtime; as soon as I read about this place I knew we had to try it. The fish are brought in from over a dozen Escena worlds, and specially bred so they don’t cannibalize each other, then they – well, anyway, it reminded me of Russo’s, and…”

Miranda sighed audibly. “It’s such a shame they never rebuilt that place after you destroyed it.”

“That was not my fault.”

Garrus frowned and leaned into the table. “In fairness, you were the one that broke the fish tank…”

Shepard groaned. “No, the mercs with the assault rifles broke the fish tank. I fell through the fish tank. Which was not my idea of a good time, by the way.”

Joker squinted into the midday sun. “Still, they were shooting at you, so technically…”

She buried her face in Kaidan’s shoulder, grumbling into it. “Am I ever going to live that down?”

He kissed the top of her head. “No, love.”

She groaned again for dramatic effect and flopped back in the chair, grabbed the beer in front of her that she could only assume they had brought with them and guzzled half of it down.

“Is Kasumi really…awake?”

“Yep. And walking around, if a bit gingerly.”

EDI’s head tilted slightly. “I am most curious about what they did to her – ” she frowned “ – I mean, what methods they used to…enable her to recuperate successfully.”

“You’ll have to ask her that…give her some time though; she’s still kind of fragile, even if she won’t admit it. But in layman’s terms, basically they employed their considerable knowledge of organic functioning and how to boost it with quantum synthetics, and they patched her up.”

Miranda nodded appreciatively. “It took me two years; they did it in four weeks. Impressive.”

Shepard quirked a brief grin at her, then gazed speculatively around the table. “So. I seem to recall most of us sitting around a very similar table at a very similar yet very different restaurant, about eight years ago and 160,000 light years away. That day, we had just saved everyone in our galaxy from extinction; we’ve upped our game since then, wouldn’t you say?”

Chuckles rippled around the table. “A lot has changed in those eight years…but we’re still here. Better, stronger, maybe a little wiser – ”

Joker’s hand came up as he shook his head. “I’m not any wiser.”

EDI patted his leg. “Of course you are, Jeff.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Really? I am? Cool.”

Miranda brushed her hair over her shoulder dramatically. “Well I’m definitely wiser.” She almost didn’t contain the twitch of her lips threatening to curl up in a mischievous smirk.

Ashley scoffed as she stole a piece of fruit off Andrew’s plate. “Not any more humble, though…”

Miranda laughed. “No one’s perfect.”

Shepard shrugged wryly. “Okay, so at least some of us are a little wiser. But most of all, we’re together. And I think we’ve proven that when we’re together, there’s nothing we can’t do. Given that…” her eyes shone brightly “…what do you want to do now?”

“Watch the game – ”

“Meet these Diramae – ”

“Go for a swim – ”

“See my sisters – ”

“Get a damn haircut – ”

“Sleep for a week – ”



October 12, 2194:  British Columbia, Earth: Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way

“What do you want to do now?”

Shepard hugged her knees against her chest as a cool breeze chilled her skin and sent her hair whipping about.

There had been no sign of Aduri in the month since the operation. The Escena and the Diramae would both continue to monitor sensors throughout LMC; they would be watching for any appearance for quite a while. The Council had authorized deployment of similar sensors here as well; given the circumstances, caution and preparation were the order of the day.

Escena scientists were working with EDI and the Research Council to improve the Citadel’s wormhole technology. It was important that the development be their own, and not Escena-based; but the scientists were providing valuable insights that would accelerate the process by decades.

In the meantime, they were building a permanent gate – large enough for a frigate – that would bridge the Alpha System in LMC and the Widow System in the Milky Way. Negotiations were also underway with the Diramae Board to construct a similar gate to the Daidalus System. Rumor was that discussions had begun for creating a small, individual passage between Aethraene and Apérta…but those discussions would likely go on for some time yet.

Bakara was settling nicely into her new Council position, though it had required Wrex being banned from the Council Chambers in order for her to do so. The Krogan were mostly accepting the fertility alteration, if not without incident.

The rest of the team had for the moment scattered, to deal with the issues that inevitably crept up from leaving normal life unattended for eight months – but rather more for some richly-deserved downtime.

The two of them sat on a bed of pine needles at the edge of a clearing in the mountains of Clayoquot Park on Vancouver Island. Kennedy Lake filled the left half of the vista before them; beyond it smaller mountains sloped into the deep indigo of the Pacific Ocean that stretched to the horizon. They had spent all morning hiking up here; the pouch beside them held the remnants of what had been a delicious picnic lunch.

Kaidan draped an arm over her shoulders and pulled her close against him. Her hair blew into his face; he chuckled and reached over to tuck it behind her ear. “They make these things called hair bands, I’ve heard. Scarves, too. Five credits at the store in town.”

She giggled into his neck. “I know. But I like it unbound. It…reminds me that I’m free.”

His voice was soft. “I know.” He kissed her hair above the temple. “So, you didn’t answer my question – what do you want to do now?”

It was nine years to the day since she had woken up on a Cerberus lab table, alive when she should have been dead, given a second chance to save lives. A second chance to live.

She glanced behind them at the shaded canopy of conifers. “Make love in the woods.”

He bit his lower lip, the light in his eyes flaring a little. “That is…an enticing notion and one I am wholeheartedly in favor of – but not exactly what I meant.”

She had been to the end of time and back, changed the past, changed the future, watched a billion paths and a trillion lives unfold anew. She had given the universe a second chance to live.

She leaned in the rest of the way and kissed him gently, running her thumb along his delightfully bearded jaw, then turned back to the beautiful vista. “Well, there are several interesting new initiatives being talked about – ideas on how to be more proactive in discovering what else is out there, which is something I can definitely get behind.”

She grinned teasingly. “And would you believe there are over two hundred billion galaxies in the universe? If we start now, I figure we can manage to see at least twenty, maybe thirty percent of them…”

He laughed softly, in willing resignation. “Wherever you want to go, I’ll be there with you.”

“That’s good. I hoped you’d say that.” She paused, gazing thoughtfully at the ocean in the distance.

She had seen how the universe was so much more than the lives within it, yet each and every life within it was everything. This life was everything.

She wound her fingers through his and dropped her head against his shoulder. The anchor that tethered her to the world. Home.

She smiled. “Still, we have plenty of time. I think I’d like to stay right here a while.”

~
The End
~




Author's Note: See my new Journal entry on the conclusion of this story and what comes next (Journal Link).

Finale. Thanks so much to everyone for reading! See my Journal for more gushing and such :).

***
What do you do after you’ve saved the galaxy? Save another one, of course! Seven years after the end of the Reaper War, Shepard and her team embark on a journey into the unknown. Along the way they must confront questions about the nature of the universe, life itself, and themselves. Sequel to “If It Meant Living” and "Tales."

Ship Manifest: graceyn.deviantart.com/art/Ope…
Dossiers: graceyn.deviantart.com/art/Ope…
SR-3 Layout: graceyn.deviantart.com/art/SR-…
Cover Art: graceyn.deviantart.com/art/Bey…
Concept art of the Escena, courtsey of ~Lakdav : lakdav.deviantart.com/art/Esce…

***
Companion art piece, "Graceyn Shepard": graceyn.deviantart.com/art/Gra…

***
Thanks so much to ~Nanahuatli for this adorable "Little Graceyn Shep": nanahuatli.deviantart.com/art/… :love:

***
First - Ch. 1 "Quantum Signals, Old Mysteries, and New Stars" -> graceyn.deviantart.com/art/IIM…
Previous - Ch. 22 "A Capital Plan" -> graceyn.deviantart.com/art/IIM…
Ch. 23 "Second Chances For New Beginnings" -> Viewing
Next -> None. The story is complete!

***

"If It Meant Living" starts here, with "Chapter 1: Beginnings" -> graceyn.deviantart.com/art/If-…
And ends here, with "Chapter 72: The Cycle Ends" -> graceyn.deviantart.com/art/If-…

"Tales" starts here -> graceyn.deviantart.com/art/If-…
Comments7
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Dreamrstar's avatar
I love this. So well put together and well told.


Now I need more 🤔