Transit from Singapore to Hyderabad
John K. "Jack" Shepard
I looked out of the window of the shuttle, trying to catch a glimpse of the beauty of Earth. I had spent all my time so far on board the Normandy, and hadn't even poked my head out for a breath of fresh air. The old girl was fine when you were traversing the furthest fringes of outer space, but when it was idling in dock on the home planet itself, it was hard to resist stepping outside for just a moment.
The scenery was zooming by so quickly I saw a mere blur of green and brown and blue and white. Disappointed, I sat back in my seat. My hand was inching towards my cigarette case before remembering that the shuttle was a no smoking zone.
Miranda had recommended that I put on my best suit instead of my armour, as it was supposed to be a negotiation, not a battle. With the most powerful shield generator we had been saving hidden under my clothes, of course. But I refused and donned what I was beginning to think of as my 'Jack' outfit. Stonewashed jeans, black leather jacket, black muscle t-shirt and combat boots. I kept the shield generator, though.
When I looked at my mirror that morning, I found an almost unrecognisable man staring back at me. Bloodshot eyes, veined nose, hollowed cheeks. The stress of the previous day had done its work in the space of a single night.
As for what went on in that night, the less said the better.
Ashley was sitting beside me, her long legs crossed, her arms folded. I knew she was looking at me, I could feel her eyes on me. I didn't look back, but stared off into space instead.
The shuttle was small, barely big enough for two passengers to travel comfortably. She reached for my hand and held it.
"John. About last night," she began hesitantly.
"I don't want to talk about last night," I said at once.
"Don't shut me out."
"Ash, I don't want to talk about last night. Not now."
"Fine," she said. "If that's what you want."
"All I want is my friend back," I said. "If Garrus is dead..."
My voice trailed off into thin air. I had no idea how to complete that sentence.
"You're right, of course," said Ashley. "Let's focus on the mission. We'll have time to talk things over once we get Garrus and the others back."
I didn't want to talk about last night. I didn't even want to think about what happened. We flew the rest of the way in relative silence. But she continued to hold my hand, and I did not pull away.
Sombra Corp HQ
Hyderabad, India
9:02 AM
We touched down on a private landing pad on the roof of the HQ building. It was immense, dominating the city's skyline. I shaded my eyes from the early morning sun and gazed out over the metropolis. It was teeming with people and vehicles seized with hurried, purposeful activity.
I got out of the shuttle first and helped Ashley to get down. She look faintly bemused, but took my hand and allowed me to assist her.
The wind whipped at my jacket, making it flap. Before we could take another step, what looked like an entire squad of Sombra Corp representatives assembled in front of us, ranks upon ranks hurrying up like a swarm.
A woman stepped forward, dressed in a nondescript dark suit. Short, blonde, with her eyes covered in shades, her lips tightened as she looked at us.
"Welcome, Commander Shepard, Miss Williams," she said.
I said nothing. She took the hint.
"Follow me please," she said curtly. The security personnel parted like the Red Sea in her wake, Ashley and I trailing behind.
We were led to a gorgeous reception area with luxurious carpets, water fountains, chandeliers, art on the walls – the works. Sombra hadn't done too badly in its last quarter, it appeared.
The blonde woman nodded to a man on her team, who approached us with a suspicious looking instrument. Before he could lower his arm I grabbed it and forced it back. Almost immediately I sensed dozens of hands edging towards hidden holsters.
"No weapons, Commander. As you agreed," said our chaperone.
"I agreed. Don't you trust me?" I said evenly. The guard grunted in pain as my fingers dug into his wrist.
"No. We don't."
"You're not complete idiots," I said. "Still if this man so much wiggles his fingers I am making him eat this gadget of his. Every bit."
"Then you're not going in," she said.
"Lady, that's your problem. Your boss wants to see me. Not the other way round."
She chewed her lip, then muttered something that sounded like acquiescence. I released the guard and he fell back, rubbing his wrist.
"They're cleared," she said reluctantly.
I smiled pleasantly at the guard. He glared and bristled with anger, but seemed hesitant to actually start a fight. Ashley rolled her eyes and stepped in front of me.
We were then led into a massive office. It was larger than my entire command deck on board the Normandy, with a huge desk taking pride of place in the exact centre of the room. All along one side of the room, was a clear glass window affording a brilliant early morning view of the Hyderabadi skyline.
In front of the window standing ramrod straight with his arms locked behind his back, was a tall black man in a somber grey suit. He was facing away from us, apparently transfixed by the view.
"Sir. Commander Shepard to see you, sir," said our welcoming committee. The man turned around and I came face to face with Ransom Foley for the first time.
Even as a Navy brat who travelled the length and breadth of the galaxy, I'd heard of the legend of Ransom Foley. Typical rags to riches story, but with a dark twist. Ransom had grown up on the streets of Los Angeles, quickly forging a gang by beating up the kids smaller than him and outsmarting the kids bigger than him.
Possessing fierce intelligence and utter ruthlessness, he wiped out the seemingly invincible Blade gang in less than ten years. Taking over their operations and breaking every single member to his will, he was in the process of doing the same to their rivals when he was finally arrested on multiple homicide charges and locked away, in what the media called the trial of the modern day Corleone.
Even in prison, he retained vestiges of his former power, and lived as luxuriously as possible while still in a federal cell. For a while it seemed like Foley was destined to be stuck behind bars for the rest of his life, when the second American Civil War erupted and changed everything.
In desperate need of fighting men, the government made a deal with every convict in the nation (and there were a hell of a lot to choose from, at least in the states still under their control). Serve in the army, and win your freedom. Almost everyone took the deal, and in return the government got more men to throw in the meat grinder.
They weren't supposed to survive. Once the war was over any survivor would be a potential political embarrassment for the government. But the most hardcore group of the most depraved and sadistic murderers and cut-throats finally found their true calling.
They were recruited by a top secret black ops branch of the US Army, where it was whispered they did unspeakable things in the name of war. Ransom Foley was among them, and he was so valuable to their operations he was eventually granted a full Presidential pardon with all the appropriate military honours.
Not satisfied with what he'd achieved, Foley then focused on building up the Sombra Corporation, adding legitimate money, power and authority to that which he already possessed. Along the way he acquired the most valuable currency of all – credibility. He was no longer a common criminal, but a respected and feared man with roots in the community and tentacles stretching to every corner of the globe.
Dreadful whispers of the ice that ran in Ransom's veins made their rounds among the most wretched, decrepit pits of the underworld, as well as the highest levels of government. Everyone knew that Ransom had two sons, lieutenants who ran his criminal empire with brutal efficiency. Everything worked well until the younger son decided he had accumulated enough personal power to take out his old man.
The hit was devastating, and Ransom barely escaped with his life. Despite suffering massive injuries, he held his broken body together by sheer force of will and committed his every waking moment to finding the one responsible.
The fact that it was his own flesh and blood apparently had no bearing on Ransom's need for vengeance. He tied his younger son to a chair by himself, with his own hands. Then he doused him in lighter fluid and set him on fire.
It is said that Ransom watched every second of his son's death, every lick of flame, every howl of agony as the skin bubbled and blackened and sloughed off the flesh. And in all that time, not a muscle moved on his face, nor did he say a single word.
The man was not given to loose talk. Every word he uttered was measured and deliberate, with no hint whatsoever of his rough beginnings. Ransom could almost have passed for a respectable mogul like any other, save for two details.
One, the numerous scars that adorned his face and cheeks, slashing deep furrows across the otherwise smooth dark flesh, a testament to the violence in his past. Despite being able to afford reconstructive surgery a million times over, Foley had decided to leave them where they were. He knew they were intimidating, and he was right.
The other, his eyes. Ransom Foley was said to have eyes that would make the Devil shudder. He looked at me and I felt the full force of his gaze, the stare that burned like the touch of winter frost.
Within that man's eyes was hatred that could make the sun's fire freeze and die, leaving it a cold, lifeless rock. He looked into my own eyes and despite all the things I had seen and done, despite the millennia old horrors I faced, I couldn't help but shudder a little bit myself.
The man could hate.
Almighty God, the man could hate.
"Shepard," said Ransom Foley evenly.
I felt a chill settle over me. "Foley," I returned, a little curt.
If he was offended by that, he gave no sign. "Explain why you have been interfering in my operations."
Straight to business. I decided to return the favour.
"I know you're with Cerberus," I said.
"So are you," he shot back, almost immediately.
"I'm not," I said.
"My sources are good," he said.
"Your sources are wrong."
"My sources are never wrong," Foley said, dismissively.
"They are this time."
A ghost of a smile flashed across Ransom's face, like a lizard skittering over a rock. Then it was gone.
"You're honest, I'll give you that. Anyone who has burned his bridges with the Illusive Man as thoroughly as you have could never be a part of Cerberus."
"Thanks," I said, trying to act cool. Ashley shifted slightly beside me.
"It wasn't a compliment. Honest men are a rarity at this level Shepard, and with good reason. They tend to die horrifically."
"I'll take my chances."
Ransom changed tack. "What is it you're trying to accomplish? What do you possibly get out of defying the Illusive Man?"
"Satisfaction."
"A pathetic answer," he sneered.
"Innocent lives then. I don't need to spell that out for you."
"How can you be so short sighted? Cerberus guards humanity. Whatever Cerberus does is for humanity's benefit."
I thought of a girl who had her own humanity ripped out of her mind, and the woman she became.
"Cerberus will save the human race, Foley. They just need to sacrifice every man, woman and child in the galaxy to do it."
His lip curled. "You make me sick. Associating with alien filth to save politicians. Milking it for all you're worth in front of a galactic audience. As though they were equals. As though they mattered."
I felt anger well up in my mind like a flooded river. There were dams, well-built dams to block its way and prevent it from spilling out, but I didn't know how long they would last. Then something occurred to me.
"How can you buy this Cerberus bullshit?"
"What?"
"They're torturing people. Enslaving them. They'll stop at nothing to control humanity," I said forcefully. But Ransom didn't look convinced.
"Shows how little you know," said Ransom. "We are being enslaved, not by other men, but by aliens. And they're helped along by traitors like you. Selling out your own kind so you can get a pat on the head from the superior beings from other planets."
I shook my head, wondering how someone so smart could get it so spectacularly wrong.
"We're burning daylight," I said. "You wanted me. Here I am."
"Yes indeed," said Ransom, almost thoughtfully. "Face to face with the great Commander Shepard...or should I say, ex-Commander."
"You can't make me angry," I lied.
"Please, give me an hour."
"What is it you want?" I asked.
"Business, Shepard, is based on the principles of give and take. I have something you want -"
"Give me back my friends. Now."
Ransom fixed me with the full force of his glare after my interruption, and once again I felt another shiver run down my spine.
"- as I was saying, I have something you want. But you, Shepard, you have nothing I want."
I felt Ashley tense up beside me, but it was too late. Far too late. In a blink of an eye the guards had raised their weapons and pointed them directly at us. Ransom shook his head pityingly.
"I'm ashamed, to be honest. I'm ashamed such a simple trap worked."
Ransom's calm facade cracked as his eyes lit up with an insane fury and he bared his teeth in a mirthless grin.
"The Illusive Man wants you alive. No other specifications."
I felt my heart sink down to the level of somewhere around my testicles. How the hell could I have been so stupid?
I glanced at Ashley, expecting the familiar look of grim determination she wore when things went horribly wrong. Instead I was met with a stone wall of blank detachment, the kind that revealed not a single hint of emotion. Being in the Agency had changed her in ways I could not comprehend.
"Mr Foley," she began. Calmly. Pleasantly. "I am sure we can talk things over. My name is -"
"Agent Ashley Williams of Alliance Intelligence, formerly Chief Williams of the Alliance Marines," said Ransom, without concern. Ignoring the way Ashley's mouth snapped shut, he went blithely on.
"Yes, I know who you are Agent Williams. I know the details of your entire life, from your service records to your dental records, and the fact you've been trying to spy on my company. We have people in the highest levels of your pitiful little organisation."
I risked another look at Ashley. Her cheeks flamed red and a vein was working in her temple. Now that was the Ashley I remembered, usually when we were arguing.
"Let me tell you what's going to happen," said Ransom. "You will be taken to the Illusive Man, and he will decide your fate. You may live. You may die. I don't know and I don't care. The Illusive Man protects us all, and if not for complete fools like the pair of you, humanity wouldn't be in the state it is now."
Freaking out wouldn't help. We were unarmed, but we did have shield generators hidden underneath our clothes. At point blank range, under heavy fire from about twenty goons, I could maybe take ten steps before the generator shorted out.
And Foley, for all his bluster, was nine steps away.
In the blink of an eye I dropped my shoulder and hurled myself at the CEO, trying to get to him before my shields shorted out. I moved with all the speed that my newly built and genetically modified body could give me, strengthened and enhanced to the very peak of human capabilities.
I was fast. But Foley, unbelievably, was faster.
He moved like a snake, immediately raising a knee that I smashed my breastbone against. The pain was incredible. I slumped to the floor, but even in my red-eyed haze I managed to grab the man by his ankles and tip him off balance.
It was enough for Ashley, who thankfully knew what I was going to do before I had thought of it myself. She had been a second behind me and wrestled Foley to the ground in a full nelson lock.
The gunfire ceased, and my hearing came back to me. We had been protected by our shields, but they were a whisker away from shorting out. The fact that Foley's goons had stopped shooting apparently meant that he wasn't similarly protected.
"No one move," I coughed, rubbing my chest. How did you know if you've cracked a rib or three? Was there some way to tell?
"You don't have any weapons," muttered Foley, and Ashley reacted by grinding his face against the carpet.
"I can kill a man with my little finger. It's something they teach at the Agency," she hissed in his ear.
"Here's what's going to happen," I said to the room in general. "We're going to walk out of here very slowly, with Mr Foley in our custody. You're going to let us go, or else he dies."
"I'm going to die anyway, once you're done with me," growled Foley.
"I'm not going to kill you. I just want to know where my friends are."
"And what happens if I don't tell you?"
"I do have a krogan on board my ship who is eager to test out new and interesting ways to inflict pain," I said.
"Torture," remarked Foley calmly. "Coming from someone like you, Commander, that's a surprise."
I couldn't believe my ears. "You routinely put people to death every day of your life, you prick."
"At least I don't pretend I'm a big hero while I do it," he shot back.
"I'm not Alliance any more, Ransom," I said. "I'm not a Commander. I'm a Spectre. We get our information – and here's a phrase you might find familiar – by any means necessary."
"You can do what you want. I'll die happy knowing that you and this bitch are dead. Shoot," he ordered the guards.
Before the guards could carry out that order, an immense tremor seemed to shake the very foundations of the building. Everything that wasn't nailed down toppled over and smashed on the floor. Light fixtures were swaying. Then suddenly every electrical device in the room flared and died. Sunlight was still streaming in, but it was obvious that the power to the building had been cut.
I lost my balance and tumbled to the floor, but Ashley maintained her death grip on Foley. At least one of us was keeping our head screwed on, without Foley we would never get out of the place alive.
Then a tremendous crash sent all of us rolling again, as one wall of Foley's office simply crumbled and collapsed, sending thick clouds of dust billowing into the air. The guards swung around, their weapons trained on the new intruder.
The dust swirled around me and stung my eyes. I could hardly see a thing, and rubbing only made it worse. But somehow, I knew who was there. Before I saw her shape or heard her voice I knew that only one person in the entire galaxy would announce herself in so explosive and destructive a fashion.
"Shepard, you bastard!" she yelled by way of greeting.
I blinked hard, my eyes swimming with tears. Ashley was staring at me in utter disbelief and I shrugged.
"Who else but Jackie?"
It was a crazy tableau. But crazy had pretty much been the definition of my life ever since the Illusive Man had breathed life back into my broken corpse.
A huge office bigger than all three decks of my ship put together, filled head to toe with opulence that was worth a small country. Although somewhat tarnished now because on one end there stood...
My crazy bald-headed tattooed girlfriend with murder in her eyes, who couldn't seem to decide whether she loved me or not. Someone for whom tearing down an entire wall of said office was a relatively mild entrance.
Standing a little way from her were a squadron of armed goons, serving as corporate security for one of the largest and decidedly most evil corporations in existence. The marine in me wanted to sneer at the very idea of corporate security being a threat, then I remembered they had taken out Garrus, Jacob and freakin' Thane.
A short distance from them stood the unlikely trio of one of the most powerful men in the world, my ex-girlfriend turned spy, and me. With all the baggage that implied.
It was at that precise moment I felt an uncontrollable urge to laugh, and I had to bite my lip to stop myself. My life was insane. Any moment now I'd wake up and be back in the real world.
A moment passed and sadly, I didn't.
The guards were looking at Jackie in amazement. I realised they were hanging back because Ransom Foley hadn't yet given the order to shoot her. That was the downside of training underlings to follow your commands to the letter. It left little room for independent thought.
From his position, Foley couldn't see who had ventilated his office. So acting on autopilot, the guards carried out the last order they were given. They turned their guns around and fired on Ashley and me.
I leapt in front of Ashley, trusting everything to the slim little shield generator that Mordin had given me. The one he had assured me was turned all the way up to eleven.
Earlier
"That reference is not understood, Captain."
"It's an old human joke – look, forget about the dial. Just make sure this thing is as strong as you can possibly make it."
"Certainly."
A few days later...
"Here you are Captain, as requested. Shield generator upgraded to peak efficiency. Remnants of Cerberus, turian, asari biotic and geth cyclonic field technology combined. Believe you will be satisfied with its performance," Mordin said confidently.
I turned over the tiny device and had to laugh. On one side there was an old-fashioned dial, with only two settings; 1 and 11.
"Dial is perfunctory, superfluous. Yet added as requested. Shield generator will 'go up to eleven.'"
"Thanks Mordin. By the way, it's a standing order on my ship that the use of air quotes is banned."
"Air quotes?"
"That thing you did with your fingers when you said 'up to eleven.'"
"It seems innocuous -"
"Just don't," I said.
"What would be the disciplinary measure enacted for a second offence?" he asked.
"I'll keelhaul you."
"But we're in space," he pointed out.
"Ya got it," I said.
"I see."
Now
The mad doctor had done his homework. The shields held for a few seconds more, although I was detecting a worrying hint of burning ozone in the air.
I knew Jackie wasn't telepathic. But as ever, when we got to fighting – whether against an enemy or with each other – it was like she read my mind.
The few seconds I gained was enough for her to reach out and yank the weapons from the hands of everyone in the room simultaneously. With another gesture she knocked all the guards to the floor. Jackie crushed all of their weapons except two, the black metal screeching in protest at being rolled up into a twisted little ball. She caught one assault rifle and hurled me the other.
I managed not to drop it and aimed it right at Ransom. Despite the pain in my chest I held it steady.
"Game's up, Foley. You're coming with me."
He sneered at me. The suddenly there was a brilliant spark of light, a scream of pain from Ashley, and a blur of movement.
"Ash!" I yelled. She seemed to be hurt, but she was still breathing. Foley had shook himself free and was back on his feet.
He didn't look behind him, but took off as fast as he could for the far end of his office. I stood dumbstruck for a moment. Then I realised what Foley was going to do.
There was no way he could fight his way past the three of us, now his guards were out of commission. There was only one way he could escape from the place.
Directly ahead of him was the glass wall showing off the city skyline. I raised the rifle and squeezed off a shot, but my aim was wild and instead of the round taking him in the back like I intended, it only smashed the window, shattering it into pieces.
The instant I saw that my shot wasn't going to hit him, I flung away the rifle and took off after him.
The glass crunched under my boots, my ribs and chest were screaming at their idiot of an owner, but they were all secondary to the thought that had lodged itself in my brain. Get. To. Foley.
He reached the edge of his office floor and leapt from the broken window without hesitation. Three seconds later, so did I.
I had done some training with the Alliance Airborne Infantry. We took part in atmospheric parachuting as well as orbital drop shock jumps. So it wasn't as if I was totally unfamiliar with the circumstances.
Still, you try hurling yourself out of a ninety storey building with nothing on but the shirt on your back.
The glorious view of Hyderabad's cityscape did little to calm the nerves. As I sailed through the fresh, early morning air, the mantra of Get. To. Foley in my mind had been replaced by ohshitohshitohshitimgonnadie.
The CEO was a fast dwindling speck far below me. I thought I would be able to grab him and sort of use him as a shield or something when I hit the ground. I tried to steer myself towards him before realising I was in mid-air and had no earthly way of making it possible.
"SHEPAAAAAAAAAAAARRD!" yelled someone high above me. Ignoring the terrible pressures involved, I twisted my neck to look upwards.
Jackie was above me. Apparently she had been feeling suicidal as well, and had followed me out of the window. Her arms and legs were spread out and she was flailing around like a drowning swimmer. Dimly I wondered if this was the view a shark saw when looking up at its prey, except that we were in the sky.
Then I felt the ghost of Sir Isaac Newton beating me about the head with the ghost of the Principia Mathematica, as the laws of physics which he so brilliantly explained were scandalously told to sit down and shut up by my lovely girlfriend's biotic abilities. I also felt the rush of air slow down all around me, as Jackie used her biotics to arrest our descent.
She came closer and stretched out her hand. I grabbed it and held tight.
"What the hell are you doing?" I screamed in her ear.
"Not letting go!" she yelled back.
I made up my mind. I could spend the rest of my life with her.
I looked down again and saw Foley land on a patch of grass, roll over a number of times and get back to his feet. He had to be hiding some kind of Cerberus tech in his own suit to survive the fall, and probably also used it to shock Ashley earlier.
"Don't let him get away!" I yelled.
"I know, dumbass!" Jackie yelled back.
A few seconds more and we would hit the ground. A few seconds more and we would find out if Jackie's biotics had slowed us down enough so we wouldn't be killed instantly on impact. A field of blue shimmered into existence just below us. A shield.
I glanced to my right. In the same instant, Jackie glanced to her left. I decided if this was how we were going to die, it would be pretty fitting. Hand in hand, and causing massive amounts of property damage.
I saw a faint flicker of a smile appear on Jackie's lips and I knew she was thinking the same thing.
We hit the ground.
We did not die.
But Newton was a kind of fussy guy, and his laws always had to be satisfied. So there was a massive shockwave that smashed a huge hole in the pavement and rippled all around us, knocking pedestrians off their feet and overturning parked cars.
I got up as quickly as I could. Foley was some distance from us, taller than the average man, which made him stand out in a crowd. As I watched that bald head got further and further away from me.
I took to my heels and pushed my way through the crowd. Foley alone knew where Garrus and the others were, and I wasn't going to let him out of my sight. But Hyderabad was a city of tens of millions of people, and it seemed like everyone desired a morning's walk at the same time.
Behind me I heard a series of yelled curses.
"Get out of my way – can't you look where you going – move, bitch! - ARGH!"
There was a sound like a freight train and I instinctively jumped as high as I could straight up in the air. All around me people were shoved aside like bowling pins as Jackie cleared a path in her own unique way, her biotic battering ram missing me by inches.
"Warn me when you're going to do that!" I yelled.
"No time!" she yelled back.
We ran side by side once more. I thought of a battle we had fought on a Collector station, billions of light years away, running together like all hell was on our heels. It all seemed so long ago.
"Where were you?" I yelled.
"Why are you still with Williams?!" she enquired, ignoring my question.
"We had a plan to get Ransom Foley -"
"Which worked out so great!"
"I didn't know he was crazy!" I shouted.
"He's a Cerberus jackass who loves the Illusive Man! What did you think?!" Jackie yelled back at me.
I didn't have an answer for that.
We raced along, Jackie occasionally swatting a luckless bystander aside with a flick of her hand and a rush of blue. Sweat poured down my face and my breaths were coming in deep and ragged. Although my eyes stung, I could make out from the signs that Ransom was headed to a nearby spaceport.
"He's going to go off world!"
"Not if I can help it!" Jackie thrust her arms outwards, beginning to direct bolts of biotic force at Ransom's retreating back.
Jackie smashed through everything in her path. But he always seemed to be one step ahead of us.
We reached the outskirts of the great Nehru Spaceport, a place which was teeming with travellers. In the background I could see shuttles and ships taking off, bound for other destinations.
Ransom pulled out a weapon and began firing over his back. At this range he was lucky if he could hit the side of a barn, but the sound of the gunfire sent the crowd into a panic and they began to shove each other aside to get away. I redoubled my efforts and plunged forward, desperate to get my hands on Foley and stop him before he killed someone.
Ransom raced up a flight of stairs that led to a row of docking bays. I hurtled after him. Jackie was suddenly no longer beside me, and half of me wanted to go back for her. But then I heard a scream of rage and frustration and knew she was fine. This was my last chance to grab Ransom and I wasn't about to let it slip.
I turned into a long corridor and saw Ransom entering a docking bay. Throwing caution to the wind I jumped as high as I could and slammed onto the floor, sliding under the lowering gate in the nick of time. A second later and it would have bisected my torso.
Ransom ran up the loading ramp and into his shuttle. The ramp began to lift and panicking, I must have broken the sound barrier as I covered those last few steps.
I leapt off the ground again with one leg, trying to grab the lip of the ramp with both hands. Despite the shock of slamming into the ramp, I held on. Ignoring the screaming protests from my muscles I hauled myself over the edge and rolled inside.
Ashley was behind. Jackie was behind. I was in Ransom's shuttle with no weapon, on a path to only God knew where. But until I could look Garrus in the eye and punch the turian bastard in the arm again, I would follow the Cerberus maniac to the furthest reaches of the galaxy.
Jackie
Jackie paused for breath, one arm on a pillar, her thin body heaving as she struggled to draw oxygen. She felt like she had been running for days without rest and it was all catching up on her now.
One of Ransom's bullets had found its mark and although she threw up a shield to deal with it, it cost her a precious few seconds and in the next moment she was swallowed up by the panicking crowd.
If Shepard hadn't managed to catch up to Ransom, he would have gone back to check on her in an instant. That was the kind of guy he was.
A few minutes passed, and no big strapping guy dressed all in black appeared, looking for her. Either he'd killed Foley, or Foley had killed him.
Jackie decided to go up to the level where she saw him disappear and find out what had happened to him. But judging by the general lack of explosions in the vicinity, he wasn't around any longer.
Or worse still, dead.
She was about to go up when she noticed a horde of security agents pouring into the terminal. Someone had alerted the police and the military and every other idiot with a gun in the city, and they were all rushing into the spaceport.
Let them come, thought Jackie stubbornly. She'd take them all out. Even if she was feeling light-headed and was swaying a little on her feet.
Dully she tried to remember the last time she'd eaten and couldn't remember. The police were getting closer.
"This way!" whispered a voice urgently. Jackie was so dazed she allowed whoever it was to drag her by the arm and into a dark corner.
Her mysterious benefactor threw off her hood and looked at Jackie with dark eyes full of surprise. Jackie blinked.
"Kasumi?"
"Jackie?"
"No, it's some other criminal biotic," Jackie said, regaining her sarcasm with impressive speed.
"You're Jackie alright. What are you doing here?" Kasumi asked.
"Saving Shepard's stupid life. What are you doing here?"
"I was on that mission, remember? I got the data the Captain wanted. Where is he?"
"He's gone," said Jackie, fighting an urge to throw up. "Or dead."
"He's dead?" asked Kasumi, sounding shocked.
"I don't know," Jackie said miserably.
"This is bad," Kasumi said. "We need to get back to the ship and tell Miranda as soon as possible -"
"FREEZE! Don't move!" yelled another voice.
"Oh shit."
A squad of soldiers had surrounded them. Kasumi recognised the outfits of the state security, the men who had been interrogating her.
"I'll handle this," mumbled Jackie, and raised her arms.
"Stand down!" snapped a loud, authoritative voice. The soldiers looked over their shoulders to see who it was.
Ashley Williams strode up to them, her eyes flashing. Her hair had unwound itself from its neat bun, and had fallen in a tangle around her neck.
"Who are you?" asked one of the men loudly.
"Are you the commanding officer here?" Ashley asked.
"Yes."
"Good. My name is Agent Ashley Williams from Alliance Intelligence. Those women are to be turned over to me this instant."
The soldier sneered. "Alliance authority holds no sway here. I have the jurisdic – ARGH!"
Ashley crossed the distance between herself and the officer in less than a second and grabbed him by the throat. The other soldiers raised their weapons and aimed at her, but she didn't even blink, and focused on their officer.
"Listen to me you snivelling little son of a bitch, I have had an absolute bitch of a day and you will not make it worse for me. I am an agent of the AIA and you will cooperate with me or I swear to God I will make your life a miserable hell the way only I know how. Think of the worst pain imaginable, and I assure you, every single minute of that kind of suffering will seem like a bloody goddamn day at the bloody goddamn seaside compared to the kind of pain I CAN AND WILL inflict on your worthless hide! YOU GOT THAT?!"
Ashley had bellowed all of the above without pausing for breath, her mouth inches away from the officer's face. When she let go of his collar he collapsed at her feet in a boneless heap.
"Alliance...Alliance issue. Not ours," he gasped.
"Fucking superb," Ashley said, her voice dripping with condescension. "Come on, ladies."
Ashley turned on her heel and stalked off. Not knowing what else to do, Kasumi and Jackie followed her.
"You and me have a little talk coming," growled Jackie.
"Oh, happy day," Ashley snapped. "But it'll have to wait. First we need to get that idiot back. Who are you?" The last was directed at Kasumi.
"Kasumi Goto, at your service," said the young woman easily. "I know you, of course. Chief Williams of the Alliance."
"Agent," Ashley replied.
"So I heard." Kasumi said.
"You work with John?" Ashley asked.
"Yes indeed. He sent me to recover Cerberus data."
"Along with Operative Taylor, Garrus Vakarian and the assassin?"
Kasumi glanced at Jackie, who shrugged.
"Yes," Kasumi said, telling the truth.
"My men didn't detect you," Ashley mused.
"I'm not surprised. Few people do."
"Hmm. Did you get the data?" asked Ashley.
"Oh, yes. Far more extensive than I'd hoped," Kasumi said.
"Wonderful. But still we need Foley in chains, not to mention your Captain," Ashley griped.
"You want to chain up the Captain? Kinky."
Kasumi became aware of burning death glares thrown at her by both women and hurriedly changed tack.
"I agree. First step is to contact the Normandy," she said.
"Yeah, they'll want to know how badly you fucked up the negotiations," chimed in Jackie.
Ashley fumed, but she took the hit without comment. "I'm calling in some extra firepower."
"Who?"
"I still have a few friends in the Alliance. People who want John alive."
Hawkwing Eta Cluster
Alliance Dreadnought SSV Orizaba
Command Deck
The Alliance officer in charge of communications paled as a message pinged in on the high priority alert. In his experience, messages passed on that channel was never good news.
He read the name on the message and his eyes widened. This would have to be delivered in person to the Captain herself.
He hurried along the bridge, turning a few heads with his haste. People rarely ran about on the bridge, and certainly not when the Captain was at hand, overseeing operations.
He skidded to a halt in front of her and saluted. She was a small woman, roughly five-foot-three with soft brown hair falling neatly to her cheek.
Yet she had a reputation and the authority that far overshadowed her stature, with her long service in half a hundred battles only the beginning of a proud and storied career. Her intelligent grey eyes flicked over the communications officer, calm and cool as she sized up the situation.
"Ma'am!"
"Yes, Jorgensen?" she asked.
"High priority message, ma'am. For your eyes only."
The Captain accepted the message and scanned its contents. Her eyes suddenly blazed with such intensity Jorgensen felt like taking a step back just to be safe.
"Ma'am?" asked her XO uncertainly, noticing the change in her demeanour.
"Set a course for Sol System immediately," she snapped, and all around her, men and women paused in their duties, not certain they heard her right.
"The local system? Why? We're not scheduled to end this patrol for another two weeks," asked her XO.
"Just do it. I'll deal with any fallout," she said sharply. "My son is in danger."
"Aye aye, Captain Shepard!