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Description
Title: Life after the Reaper 1 - Shepard

Author: written and translated by Servala, corrected by Niorah
Game: Mass Effect 3
characters/pairing: Jane Shepard/ Liara T´Soni, Matriarch Aethyta, Karin Chakwas, Ashley Williams, James Vega, Joker
Disclaimer: Mass Effect and its assets belong to Electronic Arts and BioWare.
No copyright infringement intended.

*****

Shepard fell a few meters in absolute darkness until her back hit hard on the ground. Under her hands she felt cold stone. It took her a moment to collect herself, and check her body functions. She felt her equipment. First, her precision rifle dug painfully into her side. It was luckily not destroyed, and more so she had a gun and four grenades with her. She had emergency provisions, so she would not starve to death in the next days at least, unless she ran out of air to breathe. She cursed for not wearing her helmet, on this mission she had opted for the Visor, the faint light of which could not light up the small area. Shepard tried to radio the Normandy, or the landing party, but got only static as a response. The debris over her and the e-Zero deposits in the soil apparently prevented communication.
Shepard turned on her knees and ran her hands over the surrounding cave. Not much bigger than her in length, width and height. She began to panic. She could feel the sweat running down her forehead and her heart raced. Buried alive. She knew that the shuttle had to have seen the explosion and Ashley would do everything to find her. She felt, however, that her chances were next to zero if she could not find her own way.
Shepard sat down with her back against the wall, fighting for a calm pulse in order not to consume too much oxygen and she closed her eyes. Her thoughts drifted back home to Liara and naked fear crept down her spine. Before her she saw the little Volus girl again. Her suit had been pierced by a piece of falling roof. Had she been scared in her last moments? Certainly. Shepard hardly dared imagine how it must have been for her mother to send away her daughter and not knowing how she was doing.
The faces blurred and she saw the large, azure eyes of Liara. They were wide with fear. She heard Liara's voice, she was begging to look after her daughter, to find her and bring her back. Before the explosion there had been no time to think about it. Her mind had turned to her job leaving the shuttle. But now it was chasing one horrible scenario after the next through her head.
Oh God, Liara. Shepard felt her stomach clench. In the standard procedure Hackett would have to give notice to her in at least one hour. Let her know that there had been an accident, that Shepard was buried under a collapsed building. Hopefully she was not alone, Shepard prayed. She felt her cheeks were wet and hung her head. She thought back to the moment of their parting two days ago.
Liara never asked for anything for herself, never. But this one time she had almost begged her to stay. Shepard felt that Liara was concerned with something, but she had been requested in person for this last order. Liara's gaze was broken as a result of the discussion. She had nodded, hugged Shepard and then she was gone without a second glance, back into the house.
Shepard felt her heart squeezing. She rubbed over her chest.
Then the floor opened underneath her and she fell again.

Doctor Chakwas left Liara back in the living room and went into the kitchen to put together a breakfast for the Asari. She was worried, she contacted matriarch Aethyta and asked her to stop by later that day at her daughter's. Aethyta, as one of the last old matriarchs, had been asked to join the new government, but had refused. They had not listened to her before the war, and she doubted that anyone would listen to her now. She headed the administration of the colony and run the bar for fun. Therefore it took not even a quarter of an hour until she arrived at Liara´s house.

"Child, you can talk to me, I'm here!" Aethyta had talked for a while now to Liara. It looked terrible. Now everyone went through a pregnancy differently and she herself had experienced some where she had emotionally gone through hell, but her daughter looked like she would break down at any moment.
"There is nothing," Liara answered her simply, once again, and she felt irritated. "And you've got more important issues, don´t you?" Aethyta snorted. "More important to me than to take care of you? Nah!" Liara shook her head and looked angrily at the human doctor and her father. She did like that they cornered her and she felt distressed. "I'm fine!" The two looked at each other and Aethyta snorted again, but did not give an answer because Liara's news terminal flashed.
She rose with difficulty, turned it on and welcomed Admiral Hackett. "Dr. T'Soni, I must inform you that during the evacuation of some Volus families, before slavers could hit them, an accident happened. Commander Shepard was in a building that was torn apart by an explosion and collapsed. At the moment we are trying to clear everything around the rubble, and they have not found her yet. Our hope is that she fell in one of the tunnels dug by the Volus. I will keep you in the loop." Liara looked at the black screen after the call ended. She had understood the words, but her brain refused even to understand the message.
Aethyta exchanged a very distressed look with the doctor. Both sprang to their feet, as Liara lost consciousness and slipped to the ground, but neither reached her in time.

As Shepard came to her senses again, she was soaked and disoriented. Before her she felt solid ground, but her feet were in ice-cold water, and so she withdrew them to get out of there. She was freezing, her teeth were chattering hard, and she was trembling. Shepard took a few minutes to rally again. The Volus had completely tunneled under their settlement, as they searched for Element Zero and if there was water, there was maybe one way out.
She reached around and found her sniper rifle. She activated it and looked around in the dim light of the torch. She found her gun, but it was broken into many pieces and she only picked up the thermal clips. Shepard looked around. She was in a gigantic cave and she shivered. She was lucky, the fall from the ceiling had to be at least twenty feet and without the water, although cold, she would have been dead. She hoped that her luck would not stop.
Shepard went in circles in order to decide in which direction she wanted to go. Each side of the cave was at least fifty yards wide, but the shape seemed strange, almost too symmetrical for her. She shone with the gun a little higher. About five feet above the ground, there were drawings. They were heavily faded and Shepard could hardly see anything, but her instinct told her that it was something Prothean.
She followed the drawings and entered another large room. The sides had collapsed, but the original circular shape could be guessed. As the light of her torch glided over a few dry bones in the center, she was terrified at first, but then her curiosity won. She recognized that it was not a natural skeleton, but a stone sculpture. The outlines were already heavily weathered, but it was still the statue of a large, dragon-like animal with six legs.
Shepard touched one of the sharp, almost twenty centimeters long teeth and a growl and groan went through the room. Small stones and earth trickled down on the edge of the cave to her right. Shepard touched the tooth again and the grumbling continued, so she just shrugged her shoulders and pulled the tooth completely. When the wall collapsed onto itself, Shepard jumped in the other direction for cover.

Dr. Chakwas saw the blood under Liara. "Shall we bring her to your clinic?" Aethyta stood behind her. "No, there is not enough time. I have almost everything with me." She looked at the matriarch, who was worried. "Bring her up, I'll contact my Mech" Aethyta lifted Liara carefully from the ground. Beneath her was a large amount of blood and the doctor was alarmed. She would now have to act quickly, otherwise they would lose both mother and child. "If Shepard is still alive, I'll kill her," growled Aethyta as she went upstairs. Chakwas shivered because of the cold tone in her voice.

"Commander" Shepard´s communicator crunched and rustled, but she understood Ashley and relief flowed through her. Where the wall had collapsed there had been a secret door, Shepard suspected, and a small hole had opened up. She looked up and saw a worried face.
"You can´t stop with it... Shepard?" Jane thought she had misheard. "Ash?" But this just turned around and talked to Joker. Then she gave James the coordinates so that he could help with heavy equipment.

Joker wiped the sweat from his brow. He had immediately tried to contact Liara, but had only reached matriarch Aethyta. Joker was now talking to Ashley, about whether she should tell Shepard about Liara's state. According to the Matriarch Liara hadn't reacted well to the message from Admiral Hackett and Chakwas was in the middle of an emergency surgery. Aethyta had - in a tone that could freeze hell - suggested that Shepard should move her ass quickly, back to the colony.

"You know, Shepard, I would have never thought of you as a poser, but no, you cannot even retire quietly. No, Commander Shepard goes off with a bang!" Shepard winced through the suppressed anger in Ashley's voice.
"LC? Get me out of here now? "Ashley looked furiously through the hole in the ground. "We should just let you in there." She looked past Shepard. "No, do not say it, you have found a ruin?" Her eyes roamed to the stone sculpture inside. "It just keeps getting better, you know, one can give his wife flowers, too."
Ashley stepped aside to allow James to dig using an atlas. She spoke with Joker and sent for the shuttle. Once Shepard fit with her shoulders through the hole, Ash grabbed her by the collar.
"I would prefer to knock you out, really. That was idiotic Shepard, unnecessary, stupid," she pushed Shepard, who did not really understand what was going on, towards the shuttle. "Ash? Is everything all right?" Ash gave her a cold look and Shepard began to worry. "Did something happen, is Liara well?" Ash squinted. "What do you believe, how do you think she could take the news?" Shepard felt herself getting damp.
"Chakwas is operating on her." Shepard slammed her head against the back of her seat and cursed silently.

Description
Title: Life after the Reaper 1 - Shepard

Author: written and translated by Servala, corrected by Niorah
Game: Mass Effect 3
characters/pairing: Jane Shepard/ Liara T´Soni, Matriarch Aethyta, Karin Chakwas, Ashley Williams, James Vega, Joker
Disclaimer: Mass Effect and its assets belong to Electronic Arts and BioWare.
No copyright infringement intended.

*****

Shepard fell a few meters in absolute darkness until her back hit hard on the ground. Under her hands she felt cold stone. It took her a moment to collect herself, and check her body functions. She felt her equipment. First, her precision rifle dug painfully into her side. It was luckily not destroyed, and more so she had a gun and four grenades with her. She had emergency provisions, so she would not starve to death in the next days at least, unless she ran out of air to breathe. She cursed for not wearing her helmet, on this mission she had opted for the Visor, the faint light of which could not light up the small area. Shepard tried to radio the Normandy, or the landing party, but got only static as a response. The debris over her and the e-Zero deposits in the soil apparently prevented communication.
Shepard turned on her knees and ran her hands over the surrounding cave. Not much bigger than her in length, width and height. She began to panic. She could feel the sweat running down her forehead and her heart raced. Buried alive. She knew that the shuttle had to have seen the explosion and Ashley would do everything to find her. She felt, however, that her chances were next to zero if she could not find her own way.
Shepard sat down with her back against the wall, fighting for a calm pulse in order not to consume too much oxygen and she closed her eyes. Her thoughts drifted back home to Liara and naked fear crept down her spine. Before her she saw the little Volus girl again. Her suit had been pierced by a piece of falling roof. Had she been scared in her last moments? Certainly. Shepard hardly dared imagine how it must have been for her mother to send away her daughter and not knowing how she was doing.
The faces blurred and she saw the large, azure eyes of Liara. They were wide with fear. She heard Liara's voice, she was begging to look after her daughter, to find her and bring her back. Before the explosion there had been no time to think about it. Her mind had turned to her job leaving the shuttle. But now it was chasing one horrible scenario after the next through her head.
Oh God, Liara. Shepard felt her stomach clench. In the standard procedure Hackett would have to give notice to her in at least one hour. Let her know that there had been an accident, that Shepard was buried under a collapsed building. Hopefully she was not alone, Shepard prayed. She felt her cheeks were wet and hung her head. She thought back to the moment of their parting two days ago.
Liara never asked for anything for herself, never. But this one time she had almost begged her to stay. Shepard felt that Liara was concerned with something, but she had been requested in person for this last order. Liara's gaze was broken as a result of the discussion. She had nodded, hugged Shepard and then she was gone without a second glance, back into the house.
Shepard felt her heart squeezing. She rubbed over her chest.
Then the floor opened underneath her and she fell again.

Doctor Chakwas left Liara back in the living room and went into the kitchen to put together a breakfast for the Asari. She was worried, she contacted matriarch Aethyta and asked her to stop by later that day at her daughter's. Aethyta, as one of the last old matriarchs, had been asked to join the new government, but had refused. They had not listened to her before the war, and she doubted that anyone would listen to her now. She headed the administration of the colony and run the bar for fun. Therefore it took not even a quarter of an hour until she arrived at Liara´s house.

"Child, you can talk to me, I'm here!" Aethyta had talked for a while now to Liara. It looked terrible. Now everyone went through a pregnancy differently and she herself had experienced some where she had emotionally gone through hell, but her daughter looked like she would break down at any moment.
"There is nothing," Liara answered her simply, once again, and she felt irritated. "And you've got more important issues, don´t you?" Aethyta snorted. "More important to me than to take care of you? Nah!" Liara shook her head and looked angrily at the human doctor and her father. She did like that they cornered her and she felt distressed. "I'm fine!" The two looked at each other and Aethyta snorted again, but did not give an answer because Liara's news terminal flashed.
She rose with difficulty, turned it on and welcomed Admiral Hackett. "Dr. T'Soni, I must inform you that during the evacuation of some Volus families, before slavers could hit them, an accident happened. Commander Shepard was in a building that was torn apart by an explosion and collapsed. At the moment we are trying to clear everything around the rubble, and they have not found her yet. Our hope is that she fell in one of the tunnels dug by the Volus. I will keep you in the loop." Liara looked at the black screen after the call ended. She had understood the words, but her brain refused even to understand the message.
Aethyta exchanged a very distressed look with the doctor. Both sprang to their feet, as Liara lost consciousness and slipped to the ground, but neither reached her in time.

As Shepard came to her senses again, she was soaked and disoriented. Before her she felt solid ground, but her feet were in ice-cold water, and so she withdrew them to get out of there. She was freezing, her teeth were chattering hard, and she was trembling. Shepard took a few minutes to rally again. The Volus had completely tunneled under their settlement, as they searched for Element Zero and if there was water, there was maybe one way out.
She reached around and found her sniper rifle. She activated it and looked around in the dim light of the torch. She found her gun, but it was broken into many pieces and she only picked up the thermal clips. Shepard looked around. She was in a gigantic cave and she shivered. She was lucky, the fall from the ceiling had to be at least twenty feet and without the water, although cold, she would have been dead. She hoped that her luck would not stop.
Shepard went in circles in order to decide in which direction she wanted to go. Each side of the cave was at least fifty yards wide, but the shape seemed strange, almost too symmetrical for her. She shone with the gun a little higher. About five feet above the ground, there were drawings. They were heavily faded and Shepard could hardly see anything, but her instinct told her that it was something Prothean.
She followed the drawings and entered another large room. The sides had collapsed, but the original circular shape could be guessed. As the light of her torch glided over a few dry bones in the center, she was terrified at first, but then her curiosity won. She recognized that it was not a natural skeleton, but a stone sculpture. The outlines were already heavily weathered, but it was still the statue of a large, dragon-like animal with six legs.
Shepard touched one of the sharp, almost twenty centimeters long teeth and a growl and groan went through the room. Small stones and earth trickled down on the edge of the cave to her right. Shepard touched the tooth again and the grumbling continued, so she just shrugged her shoulders and pulled the tooth completely. When the wall collapsed onto itself, Shepard jumped in the other direction for cover.

Dr. Chakwas saw the blood under Liara. "Shall we bring her to your clinic?" Aethyta stood behind her. "No, there is not enough time. I have almost everything with me." She looked at the matriarch, who was worried. "Bring her up, I'll contact my Mech" Aethyta lifted Liara carefully from the ground. Beneath her was a large amount of blood and the doctor was alarmed. She would now have to act quickly, otherwise they would lose both mother and child. "If Shepard is still alive, I'll kill her," growled Aethyta as she went upstairs. Chakwas shivered because of the cold tone in her voice.

"Commander" Shepard´s communicator crunched and rustled, but she understood Ashley and relief flowed through her. Where the wall had collapsed there had been a secret door, Shepard suspected, and a small hole had opened up. She looked up and saw a worried face.
"You can´t stop with it... Shepard?" Jane thought she had misheard. "Ash?" But this just turned around and talked to Joker. Then she gave James the coordinates so that he could help with heavy equipment.

Joker wiped the sweat from his brow. He had immediately tried to contact Liara, but had only reached matriarch Aethyta. Joker was now talking to Ashley, about whether she should tell Shepard about Liara's state. According to the Matriarch Liara hadn't reacted well to the message from Admiral Hackett and Chakwas was in the middle of an emergency surgery. Aethyta had - in a tone that could freeze hell - suggested that Shepard should move her ass quickly, back to the colony.

"You know, Shepard, I would have never thought of you as a poser, but no, you cannot even retire quietly. No, Commander Shepard goes off with a bang!" Shepard winced through the suppressed anger in Ashley's voice.
"LC? Get me out of here now? "Ashley looked furiously through the hole in the ground. "We should just let you in there." She looked past Shepard. "No, do not say it, you have found a ruin?" Her eyes roamed to the stone sculpture inside. "It just keeps getting better, you know, one can give his wife flowers, too."
Ashley stepped aside to allow James to dig using an atlas. She spoke with Joker and sent for the shuttle. Once Shepard fit with her shoulders through the hole, Ash grabbed her by the collar.
"I would prefer to knock you out, really. That was idiotic Shepard, unnecessary, stupid," she pushed Shepard, who did not really understand what was going on, towards the shuttle. "Ash? Is everything all right?" Ash gave her a cold look and Shepard began to worry. "Did something happen, is Liara well?" Ash squinted. "What do you believe, how do you think she could take the news?" Shepard felt herself getting damp.
"Chakwas is operating on her." Shepard slammed her head against the back of her seat and cursed silently.