At the Edge of Heaven

He walked past the bloodied corpse of the Krogan and the scattered remains of over a dozen vorcha as he wound through the junk and towards the door. He could feel her eyes boring into his back. The hairs on the back of his neck rose and he clenched his teeth. He didn’t like her all that much. She was always watching, always judging. She almost treated him like a child. He hated it. He hated being here. He hated that it was all real, painfully real. So he avoided her as best he could.

“Shepard.” Miranda’s voice cut through his thoughts and he almost stopped. There was a surprising note to her voice, a note he couldn’t place. He only continued to walk. Her frustrated sigh wafted in the air behind him before he heard the clicking of her heels on the floor. He shrugged it off, trying his best to ignore her. The next voice, he couldn’t ignore though.

“Get back here, Shepard.” Garrus’ voice was insistent. “They’re coming in through the doors.”

The comm link went silent and, without warning, Shepard broke into another sprint. He vaguely heard Miranda swearing as she broke into her own run behind him. He imagined the impatient and irritated scowl on her face. He smiled briefly, enjoying the moment. But he quickly regained his composure and readied for the skirmish ahead. He holstered his shotgun and drew his pistol. He toggled the settings on the pistol, switching to incendiary ammo and took the grip in both hands. He wasn’t taking the chance with another damn Krogan. His chest still throbbed for the harsh blow that had floored him for a few seconds.

His ego wasn’t faring too well either since he knew Miranda had saved his ass. One moment he was staring down a shotgun and the next the Krogan was stumbling around, his armour creaking. He winced just thinking about it.

He shook his head again as he vaulted the stairs. He heard a soft grunt fairly close behind him as Miranda bounded up the stairs. He slowed to a walk as he heard the unmistakeable voice of a Krogan and the irritating screeches of vorcha. He heard one screech abruptly cut short. He readied his pistol and walked through the doorway. He saw the Krogan issue his final orders and the vorcha began to move. Shepard fired.

The Krogan looked at him briefly before the vorcha opened fire. Shepard ducked behind the nearby pillar. He quickly leaned out to scan the room and smirked. The Krogan had already went up the stairs, all that was left on the bottom floor was a bunch of pitiful vorcha. He pulled out, aimed his pistol, and walked forward into the erratic gunfire of the vorcha. He fired. Five pitiful screeches erupted and five vorcha died. The hiss of his regenerating shields barely registered in his mind before the walkway above him shook slightly and Shepard bolted forward to turn up the stairs. A loud roar echoed in the room where Garrus and Jacob were bunkered down and a moment later and gunfire erupted again. He sprinted up the stairs blindly, only to run directly into another Krogan.

“Shit!” He grunted and whipped his pistol across the krogan’s face. The shock from the massive bulk shot up his arm, but other than that, it didn’t do much. But it gave him enough room to kick out and push the Krogan back out of reach. The Krogan spread his arms and roared. With a slightly throbbing hand he quickly aimed and shot seven quick rounds right into the krogan’s open mouth as it roared and before it could charge. A small trail of blood arched through the air to splatter across the floor as the Krogan fell dead at Shepard’s feet.

Shepard shook his arm, grunted again, and leapt over the corpse. He tore into the room to find Garrus circling around a maddened Garm, the Blood Pack leader, and Jacob desperately trying to shoot the Krogan without hitting Garrus. It wasn’t working too well. Shepard wasted no time and flanked Garm quickly and aimed his pistol at the circling figures. If he missed Garm, he would hit Garrus. He didn’t hesitate. He fired. The first two rounds bounced uselessly off of Garm’s shields and armour, but the final three rounds managed to puncture the armour and hit flesh. Garm only spun around in rage, roared again, and charged.

“Shit!” Shepard yelled as the hulking mass slammed into him and lifted him off his feet. With a crash, Shepard bounced off the wall and fell to the ground in a heap. The blood was thundering through his ears and his vision was dimmed. He could only get to his knees and shake his head as a large shadow loomed over him again. He heard several gunshots and the frustrated cursing of his squad mates as Garm remained standing. Miranda’s voice carried over it all, dripping with anger and annoyance. It cleared his head immediately. With a desperate twist, he flung himself to his back and blindly fired his pistol as he rolled. Blood spattered as several rounds found their mark and Garm growled and stumbled.

Then one resounding shot rang out and Shepard blinked in surprise as blood splashed across his face. Shepard looked up. Garm tried to speak, but he only gargled through the hole under his chin before he toppled over. He looked over to Garrus lowering his sniper rifle and smiled.

“Nice shot.”