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Carry On	By : Larania Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 6956 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Mass Effect belongs to Bioware and Electronic Arts, not me and I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all.

Chapter List
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Carry On
Chapter Three
Disclaimer: Mass Effect belongs to Bioware and Electronic Arts, not me and I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all.
Warnings: adult language and situations, mentions of dub-con and non-con, mpreg, sexual situations, threesomes, gender-bending and birth.
Characters/ pairings: Colonist War Hero Paragade ManShep/Kaidan/Garrus, others mentioned.
Summary: The Reapers are here, and amidst that backdrop, Commander Shepard struggles with gathering allies, caring for his child and fighting for his sanity.
~*~*~*~*~
Kaidan had been a soldier for the past sixteen years. In that time, he had fought pirates, mercenaries, and later things like creepers, geth, husks and even a Reaper. His muscle memory was more than adequate when it came to regular foes like Cerberus troops. His reflexes had him lurching behind a vehicle for cover, while half a lifetime of controlling his biotic abilities helped him shove the maelstrom of his emotions into a tightly controlled ball, out of the way.
But Kaidan knew that wouldn't last long. Hard earned experienced had taught him that the key to keeping his cool was venting those emotions in a steady, controlled manner. If the right time and place didn't present itself, he would explode. Worse, he could get careless.
Like right now, with Cerberus troops firing at them. He had to fight down the part that wanted to stand there and scream at Liara, at Shepard, even at the goddamn Reapers for all the good it would do. It railed and bashed at his mental bars, complaining at the unfairness of the situation.
Still, Cerberus went down quickly. Liara's Singularity, combined with Shepard's Pull and his own Reave sent a biotic detonation that wiped out the small squad in moments.
"What happened here?" Kaidan asked, as Shepard found a way up to the second level. Liara hesitated, then shrugged.
"I don't know. One minute were we getting reports of the Reapers attacking Earth, and the next, everything was chaos," she answered, as they clambered and leapt across vehicles and lifts.
"Do you think Cerberus is working with the Reapers?"
"Not purposefully, no," Shepard answered, sliding across the railing and walking towards the exit. "But given the reckless way the Illusive Man was throwing people at Reaper tech? It wouldn't surprise me if the whole organization was indoctrinated by now."
There was a difference in Cerberus tactics, Kaidan noted, but Shepard fought like a fiend, blowing through enemies with an almost reckless abandon. Mother bear, he noted, wanted to get back to her cub. Then he realized how he had labeled Derek, even in his own head, and tried to shake the thought loose. He was less than successful.
"Who's in the vid?" Kaidan asked, once they got to the control station. Liara was trying to open the security terminal while Derek worked on the pedway controls and he kept guard. There was a woman, dressed in a skin tight jumpsuit, intent on the security console's controls in the vid. Not a live feed, but...
"That's Doctor Eva Core´. She got here last week."
"Huh." Derek looked up at that. "Really? Was she vetted?"
"Don't be absurd, Shepard. She came with excellent credentials," Liara snapped, turning back to him. Derek eyeballed her. "My contacts vouched for her."
"Really. You were in the field of Prothean research before humanity knew that the Protheans existed. Did you ever read one of her papers? Meet her at a conference?" Shepard said, and Kaidan could hear the incredulity in his voice. Shepard sounded like a big brother giving little sister a lecture on That Boy. "Liara, look at her. Look at her hands. Look at her clothes. What archaeologist doesn't have pockets?"
Liara crossed her arms. "Even if you are angry at me, I'm still a very good information broker, Shepard."
"And I'm not saying you aren't. I'm saying that a human woman, here, a week before a Cerberus attack, wearing something no sane archaeologist would wear, having perfect hair and makeup? Seems pretty damn suspicious. You can make mistakes, Liara." He exhaled. "Come on. Pedway's been locked out."
"There's construction on the roof, we can get out that way."
Kaidan took the rear guard, Shepard on point and Liara between them as they masked and went outside. The storm rode closer, cutting off their communications with Vega and the Normandy. And his worried thoughts tugged like an undertow beneath his calm demeanor.
Reapers invading. Millions of civilians dead. Baby. Shepard freed. God, his parents, his students, he had no idea what was happening back on Earth. At least he was out doing something, anything, instead of sitting waiting for orders. At least... at least his son was safe. God, why, why, why now?
They continued to the next building towards the tramway to find that Cerberus had killed all the civilians inside by depressurizing the building. Bodies of the scientists were laid out like dropped puppets, some with their fingers bloodied from clawing at the doors, all with looks of horror on their faces. If he hadn't been almost stepping on Derek's heels, Kaidan would have missed Derek's stutter step and shudder. Kaidan's mind blanked before remembering that this was how Derek had died, on the original Normandy. His stomach twisted.
They found the killers: a group of Cerberus soldiers talking about the squad of Alliance in the building. They were dispatched in a matter of moments, Shepard smashing into them to take them out.
They got to the lab control room. And found a recording of what actually happened before the attack.
Kaidan had been watching Liara's face instead of the monitor, and saw her jaw drop to the point of hitting the floor when Doctor Core´ shot both soldiers with quick, precise shots. Her cheeks flushed purple, looking to the side.
"I'm sorry. You were right. I should have known from the moment I spoke to her," she said, getting up and leaning over a console in chagrin. Kaidan had taken up a post guarding the rear. "I was just so focused on defeating the Reapers..."
"You didn't know, and the only thing we need to focus on right now is stopping the Reapers." Kaidan glanced back to see Derek rubbing his face.
"And what if you're wrong?" her voice took on a soft, high note. A child asking for reassurances against the monsters in the dark. "What if these are our last days and we're just spending them, scurrying around, trying to solve a problem we can't fix?"
"Come on, Liara."
Kaidan remembered Shepard asking him, once, to lie to him. Even if there really wasn't a way to stop Sovereign, Derek had needed to hear it. That everything would be all right. Kaidan wondered how many times Shepard had returned the favor, telling everyone that they would survive when he saw the danger ahead of them. And how often they had succeeded because of the hope that lie had inspired.
"I know. I shouldn't think that way. I don't know how you do it." She turned to him, then paused, staring at Derek with the same star-struck admiration that had made him itch on the first Normandy. "You've always stayed focused, even in the worst situations."
Derek blinked. "I didn't realize I was that good of an actor." He gave her a lopsided smile. "But when there's so much at stake, I think about what I would lose if I fail: Bean, Kaidan, Garrus, my friends. That gives me strength."
"That's a terrible burden." She looked at him, crossing her arms and looking at him like he was mad.
"We'll do this, Liara. Together." He hesitated, then took her hand. She flinched and turned away.
"Thanks. I want to believe you," she whispered. "I've got access to the tramway and labs." She stepped away and towards the doors, not looking back.
"Good." Kaidan saw Derek staring at him, vulnerable and guarded. As he passed by, Kaidan grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze.
"A burden shared is halved, you know?"
The quick kiss, a feather light brush of the lips, caught him by surprise, but Kaidan welcomed it.
~*~*~*~*~
Kaidan was pretty damn proud of that bit of cleverness: finding a short range transmitter to fool the remaining Cerberus squads. Of course, he sort of blamed that on being an old school science fiction fan; at least he hadn't suggested stealing Cerberus uniforms.
There were enough bodies to choose from, as he checked the helmets to see if they were intact. Still, Shepard's tendency towards headshots with his shotgun made finding helmet radios more difficult than he would have expected.
"My god. He looks like a husk."
"Yeah, not quite." Derek knelt down, looking at it. "But they've definitely done something to him."
"And by them, you mean Cerberus?" Kaidan was appalled. "They would do that to their own guy?"
Derek looked up at him and lifted an eyebrow. "Obviously." He grunted, face flashing in pain as he got up from his squat. Kaidan caught his arm to help him up. "I guessed the Illusive Man's agenda was less than savory, but I hadn't realized they were doing this to their grunts." He rubbed pain-sweat off his face.
"Is this what they did to you?"
Derek shuddered, then shook his head. "I don't think so, but the comparison is... I try not to think about it too much, Kaidan." He gave himself a quick rub. "Hell, I didn't start to feel human again, really feel human again, until I felt Bean kick for the first time." A small smile creased his face. "Then he tap-danced on my bladder for four months."
"God." Kaidan laughed, weakly. "What was it like?" They finished prying out the radio.
"There's too much to tell," Derek answered, voice barely above a whisper. "Painful. Terrifying. Worth it."
Kaidan shook his head, shaking as he chuckled. "Right. You know I know nothing about babies?"
Shepard laughed again, before holding the radio to his mouth. "Here goes nothing."
Getting through across the tramway and into the tram control was... easy enough. This group was not expecting three specialists, and no one expected Commander Shepard. Five minutes later they were at the door to the archive, looking at each other and heading inside.
The room was a circle, built around a central chamber filled with Prothean pillars. Jagged streaks of light split the muddy green metal, its construction contrasting the stark human architecture. It bore a similar aesthetic to the Eden Prime beacon, the one that had started this whole mess. Beyond that, Kaidan was lost.
This time, there was no Ashley to peer into it, he thought. To take that one step too close.
Derek gestured for Kaidan to keep guard while Liara, who knew the station's protocols, tried to unlock the data they needed.
Kaidan's mind stayed on 'scan,' wondering if there were any more surprises left from Cerberus. They had only brought three, four transports worth of troops. They had to be out.
And that was when the Illusive Man decided to speak up.
~*~*~*~
"Shepard."
Derek and Liara both whirled around as the archive schematic flickered. The image of the archives dissolved, forming into a familiar tall form, clad in a luxurious suit and pinching at his ever-present cigarette.
"What do you want?" Shepard spat.
"Is that any way to talk to your old benefactor?" the Illusive Man said, amused, taking a long drag off his cigarette. "You know what I want, Shepard. What I've always wanted." His eyes lifted towards the Prothean archives. "The data in these artifacts hold the key ending the Reaper threat." He exhaled, the smoke making motes around his hologram. "I want the same thing you do, Shepard. Show a little gratitude."
"Gratitude? Gratitude? You turn your people into monsters, you risk your sanity and theirs by studying indoctrination and then you tried to steal my son! I might have given you a fair hearing before but now? Are you kidding me?"
"Ah. Indoctrination," The Illusive Man purred as he flicked his cigarette, scattering ash that disappeared outside of the QEC disk. "Funny you should bring that up. You would know about indoctrination, wouldn't you? After all... You have spent more time with Reaper artifacts than most. Even going on to a dead Reaper." His eyes and smile turned cruel. "Spent two days unconscious beside a Reaper indoctrination device. Perhaps it is best that you were a tool meant to be used once, then discarded. Perhaps studied, due to your exposure to the Reapers." He sneered.
"Still, despite you adventures in deviant anatomy, I will give you credit for your moderate successes."
Shepard's eyes narrowed. "Earth is under siege and you are trying to yank my chain? You're trying to study indoctrination? Are you mad?"
"You always were shortsighted." The Illusive Man, for the first time, looked annoyed. "Your destruction of the Collector base proves that. Where you see a means to destroy... I see a way to control..."
This was going on for far too long. Derek glanced back towards the console. "Liara." He paused, noting that her eyes were fixed on him, wide with something he didn't understand. He nodded for her to continue gathering the data. "This is getting us nowhere."
She nodded, hesitated, then went back to work.
"I would talk to you if you were going to give me your resources. Work with us because the entire galaxy is at stake. Not even Cerberus can stand alone."
The Illusive Man grimaced. "You would do better than most, but like the rest of the artifacts here, your time is over." He looked up at the archives. "Find some place to hide and play mother for the rest of the short time you have. Your time as a soldier is over."
Shepard reached for his shotgun. "Go to hell."
"Shepard! The data- it's being erased!" Liara cried, her fingers dancing in a frantic race to finish their download. Derek turned to her. Then it clicked.
"Where's the doctor?" he asked... just as Kaidan was kicked into a wall and the woman in the skin tight cat suit streaked by, running like a bat out of hell with Cerberus instead of the Alliance on her heels.
"She must have gotten the data!" Liara said, as all three of them took off after her.
Derek's HUD scanned her and told him that her shields were strong, but she was lightly armored. "Kaidan, overload!"
She didn't hold still as they ran through the airlock, and something else clicked in Derek's mind as well. Whomever this woman was, she wasn't wearing a helmet. Outside. On Mars.
"She's not human!" he barked over the coms, as Kaidan again tried to overload her shields. They flickered, but regenerated almost as soon as they lost strength. Derek kept running, barely rolling in time to avoid a plasma burst from the doctor's omni-tool.
"She's getting away!" Liara yelped as Derek got back to his feet, limping a few steps before regaining his stride. Adrenaline did great things for ignoring pain.
They saw her escape shuttle before driving it off, and the doctor continued running. Liara paused, taking out a piece of her shields with her SMG, but a moment later they were back to full strength. "Shit."
They dodged under the roof landing pad, rolling away from another plasma burst and Shepard saw her head towards the ladder. Reaching back, he grabbed Kaidan and Liara, hauling them close to his chest, and charged.
The first time Shepard had tried a biotic charge with a passenger, it had been Legion. The second time, it had been with Kaidan. He had also been pregnant, even if he hadn't known it. That, he reckoned, should have been the reason for the nausea.
God was he wrong.
His stomach stewed and thrashed, letting him know in no uncertain terms there would be hell to pay later. But they were three steps ahead, between the doctor and her shuttle. He dropped his squad, leaping and tackling the doctor.
It was like head-butting Wrex. Yet she staggered, twisting in his grip as he tried to grapple with her and drag her back. She pulled out a pistol, but Derek batted it aside before she struck, laying a haymaker that dropped him on his back.
"James," he wheezed, seeing stars as Liara used her biotics to drag some crates down between the doctor and her shuttle. "Normandy. Anybody-"
The Cerberus spy leapt, whirling around to stare at them-
When a streak of blue announced the arrival of an Alliance Kodiak shuttle, hammering into the other one and sending everyone off their feet and rolling to avoid the collision.
Derek grunted, shaking his head as he tried to get up. Swallowing down disorientation and bile, he first checked on Kaidan and then Liara, before standing up to wave Vega in. He exhaled, focusing on the fact that they finally got that damned data-
He was hunched over and limping as he walked over to James, trying to keep the tarmac under his feet. To his relief the Normandy was en route. He almost gave himself some medi-gel, and decided against it. They had a decent supply, but things were going to hell. He could wait. Following the thought that he needed to check on Liara and Kaidan, he walked around the parked shuttle.
Only to have his heart jerked out and dangled before him as the doctor- the mech- emerged from the flaming rubble of the Cerberus shuttle, dashing towards Kaidan and lifting him in the air despite him getting a few good shots.
Then it paused, swinging Kaidan up and holding him as a shield. It hesitated, briefly- just a moment- Kaidan's hands scrambling up for purchase, anything-
And Derek looked at his HUD.
"UNSHIELDED!" Derek barked into his com, as the mech reared back, about to slam the Sentinel into the shuttle-
When Kaidan reached out, omni-tool forming to deliver a EMP burst directly into the mech's face. It slowed, fingers freezing as momentum carried Kaidan out of her grip and into the shuttle. He slid down the side, breath coming in ragged pants that were obvious even over the coms. Then the mech shuddered, small sparks flying off its chassis a moment before it collapsed, smoking, at Kaidan's feet.
"Kaidan!" Derek called, shuffling over with his SMG pointed at the mech. "Kaidan- you okay?"
"I- yeah. Once the ground stops spinning," he answered, shaking as Derek pulled him to his feet. "You, um, wow. Did they clone you?" he warbled as he shook his head again.
Derek clapped him on the shoulder, swayed into the Cerberus shuttle's armored side and sputtered in relieved laughter. "I have no idea. Maybe he can do all the work?" He pushed himself off, and hobbled towards the mech.
"Commander. Reaper signatures in orbit."
Leaning over almost resulted in Derek spewing on his face plate. "James, grab that thing." He reached out to Liara, bracing her as she clutched at her sore ribs. "Come on, we need to get out of here."
The dust of Mars from the storm lashed their suits as they made their way to the Normandy as she glided down to hover over the tarmac. In the distance, Derek could see the dark, squid-like shapes of the Reapers dropped through the atmosphere, their deep metallic scream reverberating through the thin air.
They would have to leave the Sol system, but at least they had something to show for it. Perhaps, perhaps, there was a little to hope for. Only time would tell if this gamble would pay off.
To be continued.
Questions, comments, and criticisms welcomed and encouraged.
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Carry On