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Description
Title:                            End of Days - 5.  New Scars
Author:                         mcomommy
Game:                          Mass Effect
Characters:                   Axiom Shepard, James Vega, Kaidan Alenko, Hackett
Disclaimer:                   Mass Effect and all characters from it are owned by Bioware.
Content Warning:          Angst, Spoilers

Profile:                        Axiom Shepard
Background:                Spacer/War Hero
Affiliation:                   Paragade
Class:                         Sentinel

End of Days
5.  New Scars

     Vega stood, bewildered, looking between the closing cargo bay door and Shepard's retreating back as she moved toward the ship's elevator, grumbling and cursing.

     "What the hell, Shepard.  What just happened," he called, hurrying to catch up to her.  Reaching out, he grabbed a hold of her arm, swinging the Commander around to face him.  "What's going on," he asked, a hard edge in his voice.

     Axiom gave Vega a frosty look before yanking out of his grasp.  "We're leaving," she told him flatly, continuing on her way.

     "Leaving," Vega's voice cracked as he looked at her incredulously.  "Bullshit!  Where's Anderson?"

     Shrugging, Shepard poked at the control panel to call the elevator.  "You were there, you saw," she forced out between clenched teeth, "he's staying behind."

     "He wouldn't order us to leave," James pressed, fists clenched in anger that showed through in his voice.

     "Anderson can see what's going on down there, Lieutenant," Shepard rounded on him, a slim finger poking sharply into the burly man's chest.  "Without help this war is already over."

     "Fine," Vega shouted back, "But I'm not going," he folded his thick arms across his chest, "You can drop me off at the nearest depo because I'm not abandoning Earth."  Brows furrowed together, James glared down at Shepard.

     "You think we're....," Axiom broke off, jaw twitching as her teeth ground together.  Kaidan flinched, grimacing as he saw the rage bubbling just under the Commander's surface.  "We just left behind a man that is closer to me than my own family," she said slowly, voice dangerous and low, cracking with barely checked emotion.  "You're not the only one that doesn't want to leave, Lieutenant, but we have orders.  We're going to the Citadel, whether you like it or not.  Without allies, Earth will fall, and it's our job to make sure the Alliance has what it needs to push back the Reapers.  You don't want to be here.  We get it," she bit out, "That's fine.  I'll kick you out the airlock myself," she tapped herself on the chest and then turned to enter the elevator.

     Smirking, Kaidan slipped through the doors past a dumbfound Vega.  James stood for a moment, staring at the control panel after the doors had shut.  "Shit," he cursed, slamming a meaty fist into the wall.  Frowning, he turned from the away, running a hand over his hair before moving off to the weapons bench.

     "Come on, come on," Axiom frowned, bouncing on her toes as she glared toward the ceiling of the elevator.

     "Axiom, are you okay," Kaidan asked in concern, eyes drawn to the wound in her shoulder.

     Shooting a glare over her shoulder, Shepard frowned.  "I'm fine," she said, grunting when the doors opened allowing her to escape.

     "No, you're not," Kaidan countered, "you're bleeding!"

     "Not the first time, won't be the last," Axiom grumbled, striding into the med bay.  "Would it have been too much to ask for a doc to be on the ship when the Reapers hit Earth," Axiom huffed as she rummaged through storage compartments looking for supplies.

     Having followed her, Kaidan smiled and shook his head.  "Here," he said, "let me."  Gently, he took her by the shoulders and guided her toward the nearest bed before turning his attention to assess her wound.

     "Just a flesh wound," he said after a moment of poking.  "Pretty lucky for running around without your armor on."

     "Maybe next time I'll learn to duck," Shepard grumbled, waiting for him to dig out a pack of medi-gel.

     Kaidan's eyes narrowed as he applied the treatment to the Commander's shaking form.  "You're tired and you're hungry," he said, reaching up to brush a thumb across her cheek.  It hurt more than he would admit when she flinched away from the gentle touch, at first, before sighing and leaning slightly into his hand, eyes closed.  "Just relax and I'll go see if the mess has any protein bars," he murmurred.

     Axiom's eyes flashed open as she jerked upright, away from his touch.  "Don't bother," she hissed through grit teeth, experimentally rolling her shoulder.  "I'll get it myself."  Shepard hopped off the table, nearly running into Kaidan as he moved to block her.

     "Axiom," he sighed, exasperated.  "Let me do this?  You're so damn stubborn, it's not often I get to take care of you."

     Cocking an eyebrow at him, Shepard finally nodded, allowing herself to be pushed back onto the bed.  Kaidan offered a self - depricating half smile, hurrying to the mess deck.  Things were looking up, in his opinion.  Maybe she had pushed him away to protect his career, to protect him.  He'd have to thank the Reapers.  If nothing else, they had gotten Shepard out of the brig and back on the Normandy where she belonged.  With him.  Chewing on his lip, Alenko looked through the storage cabinets in the small kitchenette attached to the mess deck.  He would have to tell her about the file Udina had sent him, she would want to know.

     "I found a couple of strawberry protein bars," Kaidan called cheerfully as the med-bay doors swished open to admit him.  He offered one to Axiom, who took it with a grunt.  "How are you feeling," he asked cautiously.

     "I've seen better days," Shepard replied around the mouthful she was chewing on.  "Just another scar to add to the collection," she shrugged.

     "Umm, yeah.  I guess," Kaidan nodded, eyes roving over his bandaging job.  "Ah, there's something I need to talk to you about," he said nervously, rubbing at the back of his neck.  "Councilor Udina had sent me a file," he glanced at Shepard, noting she had stopped chewing her protein bar to look at him with narrowed eyes.  "Well, he, umm, said it contained information proving you were still in contact with Cerberus," he finished quickly.

     "And you believe him," Axiom eyed him seriously.

     "I...no.  Of course not," he answered.

     "You hesitated," she snorted.  "That is more of an answer than anything you could say," she turned from him bitterly.  "For all your claims of trusting me when I told you I didn't want anything to do with them, you still have doubts."

     "You pushed me away," he said softly, raising his hands in self defense.  "I love you and you pretty much told me to never come see you again.  What am I supposed to think about that?"  Kaidan's jaw twitched, his voice raising as he fought for control of his emotions.

     Shepard turned a cold gaze on the Major.  "Right now?  You're supposed to be thinking about Earth."

     Kaidan's shoulders dropped in defeat as Axiom turned from him.  "When is it going to be enough, Axiom?"  His deep brown eyes searched her features as he watched her stiffen.  "When are you going to be able to just stop and live for yourself?  For us?"  He frowned at her, anger smoldering just below the surface.  Shepard had been living for the Alliance for as long as he'd known her, always sacrificing herself for the greater good.

     "It will be enough when I'm dead," she growled, turning from him.

     "Ha," he laughed humorlessly.  "You've already done that once.  Or is that your problem?  Are you so screwed up from whatever experimental crap Cerberus did to you that fighting is all you know, now," he gestured at her wildly, arms flailing.

     Axiom whirled, rage contorting her features as her hand clenched, a finger shaking at Kaidan as she pointed at him.  "Get.  Out.  Now," she growled, jaw twitching with barely contained rage.

     Kaidan opened his mouth, anger fueling a response, when Joker cut in.

     "Shepard, incoming call from Admiral Hackett."

     Jaw snapping shut, Kaidan spun, stomping out of the med bay.

     Sighing, Axiom ran a hand through her auburn hair, blowing out an exasperated breath.  That couldn't possibly have gone any worse, in her opinion.  "Joker," she asked, sounding tired, "were you spying?"

     "No ma'am," he replied a little to seriously, "I would never.  Want me to transfer it to the med-bay?"

     "Yes, please," she answered, scrubbing a hand over her face.

     Straightening her uniform, Axiom moved to stand in front of the med-bay terminal.  "Admiral," she greet Hackett with a salute as his staticy image wavered on the terminal's monitor.

     "Shepard – zzzztt -- see you -- zzztt -- Anderson?"

     "EDI," Axiom called out, looking upward, "can you clean this up at all?"

     "I will do my best, Shepard.  There is a high amount of interferance."

     Sighing, Shepard planted her hands on her hips and chewed lightly on her lip in agitation.  "Just do what you can," she added.

     "There you are," Hackett sighed in relief as the picture became a bit more stable.  His brow furrowed.  "Where is - zzztt - Anderson?"

     "Admiral Anderson has ordered us to the Citadel, to seek aid from the Council," Axiom answered, clasping her hands behind her back.  "He hopes they will see reason for once."

     "zzztt - derstood," Hackett nodded, the picture turning to snow in sporadic bursts.  "We ha – zzztt – erious problem, Shepard," he shook his head.  "We've suff – zzztt – losses.  The Reaper forc – zzztt – overwhelming.  There's no way we can – zzztt – them conventionally."

     Shepard shook her head, mouth twitched to the side in a rueful smile.  "What are the odds I won't have to jump through hoops to get the other races to send aid?"

     "Likely slim and none, Commander," Hackett answered.  "Before you – zzztt – Alliance outpost on Mars – zzztt – lose control of the system.  We've been studying – zzztt – Prothean archives with Dr. T'soni.  Zzztt – may have found a way to stop the Reapers."

     "Liara's on Mars," Axiom asked in surprise, hands dropping down from behind her as her stomach did a little flip.  If the Reapers had even an inkling that Liara was looking for a way to beat them in the Mars archives, she would be in danger.  They would wipe the entire place out.

     Hackett nodded, confirming the Asari's location.  "You must – zzztt – her, Shepard.  Will be in contact, soon.  Hackett out."

     The connection cut, leaving the terminal to blink off and Shepard standing there, staring with her mouth open.  Moving with a jolt, Axiom called out, "Joker!"

     "Already turned around," came the smug reply.  Shepard smiled, realizing that the funny feeling in her gut a moment ago had likely been Joker spinning the Normandy around on its nose and the inertial dampener not quite being able to keep up.

     "EDI," she called out again, rubbing at her shoulder as she swept out of the med-bay toward the elevator.  Taking a deep breath, Shepard pushed aside the pain in her heart.  Just another new scar, she thought.  Two of them.

     "Yes, Shepard?"

     "Where's my gear," Axiom asked, punching the control panel and passing through the doors as they swished open.  "And tell those two meat heads to suit up," she added as an afterthought.  "We've got a job to do," she said grimly, the doors swishing shut behind her.

     "Fuck this planet," Major Ledger ground out, the thick gravel of his voice sounding clearly through the comm channel as he kicked at the snow in disgust.  Planting his hands on his hips, Will narrowed his eyes as he glared out at the snow encrusted landscape.  "Waste of god damn bloody time," he snorted.

     Being an N7, Ledger had been given orders to join Alliance Spec Ops Team Delta in the ongoing search for a supposed secret Cerberus base hidden in Loki's naturally occurring subterranean tunnels.  So far, they had turned up empty handed at every turn and Will was starting to think it was all just a wild goose chase.  He growled, wishing the surface wasn't so damn cold that they had to wear protective suits constantly or die.  He really wanted to spit on this damn planet, just to show it what he thought of it.

     Someone pretty far up the chain had wanted to make sure this planet was clean of Cerberus, and Ledger was the one stuck doing the cleaning.  Grimacing, he kicked at the snow again.  Even knowing the suit was thermally regulated didn't stop his missing eye from aching from the cold.

     "Major!  Major!  Emergency message coming from the Shanghai," the comm operator ran up to him, huffing.

     Surprised, Will turned to look at the man, pain momentarily forgotten.  "Well," he asked impatiently as the operator tried to catch his breath.  "Spit it out, man!"

     "The Shanghai," he said, "It sent out a mayday!  It's been attacked," he said, still puffing, "There's more.  Earth," he paused, hesitant to deliver bad news to a man notorious for his ruthlessness, "is being invaded, sir."

     Frowning, Will's brow furrowed.  "Invaded?  By who?"

     "They say…they say it's Reapers, sir," the operator's voice wavered.

     Ledger's jaw dropped open behind his face plate, and for the first time he was glad for the breather that was hiding his shock even though it restricted his field of vision.  It would only sow panic in the troops if they saw him have a meltdown.

     "The Shanghai," he asked roughly.

     Taking a steadying breath, the operator straightened a bit.  "The last message said they were going down on Terra Nova," he said, doing a better job of hiding the quaver in his voice.  "After that, the line went silent."

     "Reapers," Will mused, a cold stone of dread growing in his gut as he turning his back to the comm operator.  Briefly, he wondered if Shepard was on Earth right now, fighting.  "Get with Captain Brown," Ledger called back over his shoulder.  "Find out how long we can survive with our current supplies, and then send an encrypted burst to the Fifth Fleet Command apprising them of the situation."

     "Yes, sir," the man snapped to attention, popping off a salute before running back the direction he had come from.

     Turning, Will looked out over the cluster of temporary shelters they were using as a base camp in their search for the rumored Cerberus base.  The only supplies they had were in those conex boxes, any spare equipment would've been kept on board the Shanghai since it had been their transportation to Loki and would be their ride home after the mission was over.

     Kicking at the snow again, Ledger growled.  The mission would go on.  There was nothing more they could do right now, and a bunch of irate Marines sitting around getting twitchy wouldn't do any good for anyone.

     "Fuck this planet," Will said again, turning from the landscape to stomp back to his hut.

Description
Title:                            End of Days - 5.  New Scars
Author:                         mcomommy
Game:                          Mass Effect
Characters:                   Axiom Shepard, James Vega, Kaidan Alenko, Hackett
Disclaimer:                   Mass Effect and all characters from it are owned by Bioware.
Content Warning:          Angst, Spoilers

Profile:                        Axiom Shepard
Background:                Spacer/War Hero
Affiliation:                   Paragade
Class:                         Sentinel

End of Days
5.  New Scars

     Vega stood, bewildered, looking between the closing cargo bay door and Shepard's retreating back as she moved toward the ship's elevator, grumbling and cursing.

     "What the hell, Shepard.  What just happened," he called, hurrying to catch up to her.  Reaching out, he grabbed a hold of her arm, swinging the Commander around to face him.  "What's going on," he asked, a hard edge in his voice.

     Axiom gave Vega a frosty look before yanking out of his grasp.  "We're leaving," she told him flatly, continuing on her way.

     "Leaving," Vega's voice cracked as he looked at her incredulously.  "Bullshit!  Where's Anderson?"

     Shrugging, Shepard poked at the control panel to call the elevator.  "You were there, you saw," she forced out between clenched teeth, "he's staying behind."

     "He wouldn't order us to leave," James pressed, fists clenched in anger that showed through in his voice.

     "Anderson can see what's going on down there, Lieutenant," Shepard rounded on him, a slim finger poking sharply into the burly man's chest.  "Without help this war is already over."

     "Fine," Vega shouted back, "But I'm not going," he folded his thick arms across his chest, "You can drop me off at the nearest depo because I'm not abandoning Earth."  Brows furrowed together, James glared down at Shepard.

     "You think we're....," Axiom broke off, jaw twitching as her teeth ground together.  Kaidan flinched, grimacing as he saw the rage bubbling just under the Commander's surface.  "We just left behind a man that is closer to me than my own family," she said slowly, voice dangerous and low, cracking with barely checked emotion.  "You're not the only one that doesn't want to leave, Lieutenant, but we have orders.  We're going to the Citadel, whether you like it or not.  Without allies, Earth will fall, and it's our job to make sure the Alliance has what it needs to push back the Reapers.  You don't want to be here.  We get it," she bit out, "That's fine.  I'll kick you out the airlock myself," she tapped herself on the chest and then turned to enter the elevator.

     Smirking, Kaidan slipped through the doors past a dumbfound Vega.  James stood for a moment, staring at the control panel after the doors had shut.  "Shit," he cursed, slamming a meaty fist into the wall.  Frowning, he turned from the away, running a hand over his hair before moving off to the weapons bench.

     "Come on, come on," Axiom frowned, bouncing on her toes as she glared toward the ceiling of the elevator.

     "Axiom, are you okay," Kaidan asked in concern, eyes drawn to the wound in her shoulder.

     Shooting a glare over her shoulder, Shepard frowned.  "I'm fine," she said, grunting when the doors opened allowing her to escape.

     "No, you're not," Kaidan countered, "you're bleeding!"

     "Not the first time, won't be the last," Axiom grumbled, striding into the med bay.  "Would it have been too much to ask for a doc to be on the ship when the Reapers hit Earth," Axiom huffed as she rummaged through storage compartments looking for supplies.

     Having followed her, Kaidan smiled and shook his head.  "Here," he said, "let me."  Gently, he took her by the shoulders and guided her toward the nearest bed before turning his attention to assess her wound.

     "Just a flesh wound," he said after a moment of poking.  "Pretty lucky for running around without your armor on."

     "Maybe next time I'll learn to duck," Shepard grumbled, waiting for him to dig out a pack of medi-gel.

     Kaidan's eyes narrowed as he applied the treatment to the Commander's shaking form.  "You're tired and you're hungry," he said, reaching up to brush a thumb across her cheek.  It hurt more than he would admit when she flinched away from the gentle touch, at first, before sighing and leaning slightly into his hand, eyes closed.  "Just relax and I'll go see if the mess has any protein bars," he murmurred.

     Axiom's eyes flashed open as she jerked upright, away from his touch.  "Don't bother," she hissed through grit teeth, experimentally rolling her shoulder.  "I'll get it myself."  Shepard hopped off the table, nearly running into Kaidan as he moved to block her.

     "Axiom," he sighed, exasperated.  "Let me do this?  You're so damn stubborn, it's not often I get to take care of you."

     Cocking an eyebrow at him, Shepard finally nodded, allowing herself to be pushed back onto the bed.  Kaidan offered a self - depricating half smile, hurrying to the mess deck.  Things were looking up, in his opinion.  Maybe she had pushed him away to protect his career, to protect him.  He'd have to thank the Reapers.  If nothing else, they had gotten Shepard out of the brig and back on the Normandy where she belonged.  With him.  Chewing on his lip, Alenko looked through the storage cabinets in the small kitchenette attached to the mess deck.  He would have to tell her about the file Udina had sent him, she would want to know.

     "I found a couple of strawberry protein bars," Kaidan called cheerfully as the med-bay doors swished open to admit him.  He offered one to Axiom, who took it with a grunt.  "How are you feeling," he asked cautiously.

     "I've seen better days," Shepard replied around the mouthful she was chewing on.  "Just another scar to add to the collection," she shrugged.

     "Umm, yeah.  I guess," Kaidan nodded, eyes roving over his bandaging job.  "Ah, there's something I need to talk to you about," he said nervously, rubbing at the back of his neck.  "Councilor Udina had sent me a file," he glanced at Shepard, noting she had stopped chewing her protein bar to look at him with narrowed eyes.  "Well, he, umm, said it contained information proving you were still in contact with Cerberus," he finished quickly.

     "And you believe him," Axiom eyed him seriously.

     "I...no.  Of course not," he answered.

     "You hesitated," she snorted.  "That is more of an answer than anything you could say," she turned from him bitterly.  "For all your claims of trusting me when I told you I didn't want anything to do with them, you still have doubts."

     "You pushed me away," he said softly, raising his hands in self defense.  "I love you and you pretty much told me to never come see you again.  What am I supposed to think about that?"  Kaidan's jaw twitched, his voice raising as he fought for control of his emotions.

     Shepard turned a cold gaze on the Major.  "Right now?  You're supposed to be thinking about Earth."

     Kaidan's shoulders dropped in defeat as Axiom turned from him.  "When is it going to be enough, Axiom?"  His deep brown eyes searched her features as he watched her stiffen.  "When are you going to be able to just stop and live for yourself?  For us?"  He frowned at her, anger smoldering just below the surface.  Shepard had been living for the Alliance for as long as he'd known her, always sacrificing herself for the greater good.

     "It will be enough when I'm dead," she growled, turning from him.

     "Ha," he laughed humorlessly.  "You've already done that once.  Or is that your problem?  Are you so screwed up from whatever experimental crap Cerberus did to you that fighting is all you know, now," he gestured at her wildly, arms flailing.

     Axiom whirled, rage contorting her features as her hand clenched, a finger shaking at Kaidan as she pointed at him.  "Get.  Out.  Now," she growled, jaw twitching with barely contained rage.

     Kaidan opened his mouth, anger fueling a response, when Joker cut in.

     "Shepard, incoming call from Admiral Hackett."

     Jaw snapping shut, Kaidan spun, stomping out of the med bay.

     Sighing, Axiom ran a hand through her auburn hair, blowing out an exasperated breath.  That couldn't possibly have gone any worse, in her opinion.  "Joker," she asked, sounding tired, "were you spying?"

     "No ma'am," he replied a little to seriously, "I would never.  Want me to transfer it to the med-bay?"

     "Yes, please," she answered, scrubbing a hand over her face.

     Straightening her uniform, Axiom moved to stand in front of the med-bay terminal.  "Admiral," she greet Hackett with a salute as his staticy image wavered on the terminal's monitor.

     "Shepard – zzzztt -- see you -- zzztt -- Anderson?"

     "EDI," Axiom called out, looking upward, "can you clean this up at all?"

     "I will do my best, Shepard.  There is a high amount of interferance."

     Sighing, Shepard planted her hands on her hips and chewed lightly on her lip in agitation.  "Just do what you can," she added.

     "There you are," Hackett sighed in relief as the picture became a bit more stable.  His brow furrowed.  "Where is - zzztt - Anderson?"

     "Admiral Anderson has ordered us to the Citadel, to seek aid from the Council," Axiom answered, clasping her hands behind her back.  "He hopes they will see reason for once."

     "zzztt - derstood," Hackett nodded, the picture turning to snow in sporadic bursts.  "We ha – zzztt – erious problem, Shepard," he shook his head.  "We've suff – zzztt – losses.  The Reaper forc – zzztt – overwhelming.  There's no way we can – zzztt – them conventionally."

     Shepard shook her head, mouth twitched to the side in a rueful smile.  "What are the odds I won't have to jump through hoops to get the other races to send aid?"

     "Likely slim and none, Commander," Hackett answered.  "Before you – zzztt – Alliance outpost on Mars – zzztt – lose control of the system.  We've been studying – zzztt – Prothean archives with Dr. T'soni.  Zzztt – may have found a way to stop the Reapers."

     "Liara's on Mars," Axiom asked in surprise, hands dropping down from behind her as her stomach did a little flip.  If the Reapers had even an inkling that Liara was looking for a way to beat them in the Mars archives, she would be in danger.  They would wipe the entire place out.

     Hackett nodded, confirming the Asari's location.  "You must – zzztt – her, Shepard.  Will be in contact, soon.  Hackett out."

     The connection cut, leaving the terminal to blink off and Shepard standing there, staring with her mouth open.  Moving with a jolt, Axiom called out, "Joker!"

     "Already turned around," came the smug reply.  Shepard smiled, realizing that the funny feeling in her gut a moment ago had likely been Joker spinning the Normandy around on its nose and the inertial dampener not quite being able to keep up.

     "EDI," she called out again, rubbing at her shoulder as she swept out of the med-bay toward the elevator.  Taking a deep breath, Shepard pushed aside the pain in her heart.  Just another new scar, she thought.  Two of them.

     "Yes, Shepard?"

     "Where's my gear," Axiom asked, punching the control panel and passing through the doors as they swished open.  "And tell those two meat heads to suit up," she added as an afterthought.  "We've got a job to do," she said grimly, the doors swishing shut behind her.

     "Fuck this planet," Major Ledger ground out, the thick gravel of his voice sounding clearly through the comm channel as he kicked at the snow in disgust.  Planting his hands on his hips, Will narrowed his eyes as he glared out at the snow encrusted landscape.  "Waste of god damn bloody time," he snorted.

     Being an N7, Ledger had been given orders to join Alliance Spec Ops Team Delta in the ongoing search for a supposed secret Cerberus base hidden in Loki's naturally occurring subterranean tunnels.  So far, they had turned up empty handed at every turn and Will was starting to think it was all just a wild goose chase.  He growled, wishing the surface wasn't so damn cold that they had to wear protective suits constantly or die.  He really wanted to spit on this damn planet, just to show it what he thought of it.

     Someone pretty far up the chain had wanted to make sure this planet was clean of Cerberus, and Ledger was the one stuck doing the cleaning.  Grimacing, he kicked at the snow again.  Even knowing the suit was thermally regulated didn't stop his missing eye from aching from the cold.

     "Major!  Major!  Emergency message coming from the Shanghai," the comm operator ran up to him, huffing.

     Surprised, Will turned to look at the man, pain momentarily forgotten.  "Well," he asked impatiently as the operator tried to catch his breath.  "Spit it out, man!"

     "The Shanghai," he said, "It sent out a mayday!  It's been attacked," he said, still puffing, "There's more.  Earth," he paused, hesitant to deliver bad news to a man notorious for his ruthlessness, "is being invaded, sir."

     Frowning, Will's brow furrowed.  "Invaded?  By who?"

     "They say…they say it's Reapers, sir," the operator's voice wavered.

     Ledger's jaw dropped open behind his face plate, and for the first time he was glad for the breather that was hiding his shock even though it restricted his field of vision.  It would only sow panic in the troops if they saw him have a meltdown.

     "The Shanghai," he asked roughly.

     Taking a steadying breath, the operator straightened a bit.  "The last message said they were going down on Terra Nova," he said, doing a better job of hiding the quaver in his voice.  "After that, the line went silent."

     "Reapers," Will mused, a cold stone of dread growing in his gut as he turning his back to the comm operator.  Briefly, he wondered if Shepard was on Earth right now, fighting.  "Get with Captain Brown," Ledger called back over his shoulder.  "Find out how long we can survive with our current supplies, and then send an encrypted burst to the Fifth Fleet Command apprising them of the situation."

     "Yes, sir," the man snapped to attention, popping off a salute before running back the direction he had come from.

     Turning, Will looked out over the cluster of temporary shelters they were using as a base camp in their search for the rumored Cerberus base.  The only supplies they had were in those conex boxes, any spare equipment would've been kept on board the Shanghai since it had been their transportation to Loki and would be their ride home after the mission was over.

     Kicking at the snow again, Ledger growled.  The mission would go on.  There was nothing more they could do right now, and a bunch of irate Marines sitting around getting twitchy wouldn't do any good for anyone.

     "Fuck this planet," Will said again, turning from the landscape to stomp back to his hut.