"Natural Causes"

### "You comin', Dad?"

Shepard blinked a couple times, turning to his smiling daughter. He'd give one look back to his desk and sigh. "Yeah, sweetie. I'll be there in a few minutes, go make sure your mother has everything she needs." He pauses for a moment, another sigh breaching his nostrils. "And tell her to bring an extra torch, the stars are looking a bit dim tonight."

Sera turned to leave, but he caught her by the shoulder. "Actually, I think it's time you got to try out something." The teen's eyes lit up, almost completely certain what was coming next. Shepard walked to the corner of the room where a glass case waited, opening it and reaching inside. Sera could barely contain her excitement as her father requested that she close her eyes. Within moments, a heavy weight rested on her palms, and she opened them to have her gaze met with her own reflection, looking back from a well-polished sword. She stood silent for a solid minute before Shepard passed her the sheath and patted her towards the door. "Go on, go show your mom."

Sera, whose joy could actually be felt by the Clone for obvious reasons, slid the blade into its home and slung it over her shoulder, practically sprinting out of the room with a resounding cheer. The old clone watched her go, his fist balling tightly as she disappeared from view. He'd mutter a few words to himself, then move to his gun racks. His hand hovered above his old DC-15x marksman rifle, but it instead moved to his trademarked sidearms. He'd take them both and tuck them into his chest holsters, covering them with a thick winter jacket.

A fresh snowfall had blanked the hilly peaks and mountain ranges of Dantooine in a calming white, wispy clouds rolling overhead. Far from their homestead, a trio and their furry companion could be seen from a distance, hiking through the hills and valleys with relative ease. They'd rarely stop, and the only thing that could be heard for miles was the laughter of Sera and Shepard as they cracked jokes to each other, while mother Izera would only be rolling her eyes and hiding smiles. Closely tailing the Chiss wife would be a hound, happily wagging its tail as it pawed its way through the snow.

During the quiet periods of the hike, the group's members had their own thoughts racing through their heads. Sera was joyful, but felt a light sense that they were all being watched. She kept that to herself. Shepard and Izera's eyes darted to and fro, scanning the hills above as one set of their hands was interlocked, the other set on the barely visible outlines of their concealed weapons. The hound, Chow, bristled its fur and let out low growls every once in a while. As time passed, so did the feeling of unease, and they safely arrived at the peak of a massive cliffside where their camp was to be set up.

Laughter once again echoed through the land as dark had fallen over the cliffside, stars shining bright contrary to Shepard's statement. The family joked, cooked, and storied their way through the early night, nothing but pure joy burning bright as the campfire they sat around. Sera got to swing Shepard's sword around in the night, practicing her form with the weapon. She was completely caught off guard by Shepard pressing a release on the hilt of the sword, splitting it into two. She got some practice time with the twinblades as well. After a long day and night, the family retired to their tents, with Shepard and Izera sharing one as per usual, and Sera taking Chow into her tent.

Deep into the night, Sera and Chow shot awake at the same time, a presence revealing itself en masse, surrounding their campsite. Shepard and Izera were jolted awake by the rabid barking and unsheathing of a blade, the pair bursting out of their tent with weapons drawn. In the dark, shadows shifted closer and gained form, humanoid figures armed with a plethora of weapons, all with the intent to harm as sensed by Sera. There was a brief, tense pause, then the first punch was thrown.

It wasn't really a punch, it was a vibroblade swing being sent towards Sera, whose quick reflexes allowed her to deflect the attack and engage her assailant one-on-one. Chow, seeing that one of his close companions was in duress, decided to lunge at the throat of another shadow-doused figure, and their screams into the night turned into hollow gurgles as the hound made his namesake shine out of the baddie's windpipe. Burning bolts of red and blue lit up the campsite as Shepard akimbo'd his DC-17s as he had done back in wartime, and Izera popped off with an old DC-15s. The skirmish lasted no longer than two minutes.

In that two minutes, however, happened a lot. Chow managed to shred three of the assailants before he was heavily wounded, kicked and sliced by a few figures. Izera killed these men and went to her beloved companion's side, defending him from further harm. Shepard was in the zone, brain after brain being gifted a new burning hole as what seemed to be a small company of cloaked individuals invaded the campsite. In a break between waves, he took a second to move to cover closer to Izera and chow, and was caught in the abdomen by a blaster bolt originating from a man who in a split second had his head rolling on the floor, a backswing from the twinblades of Sera slicing through his neck. She, however, didn't see the shot, and Shepard was able to conceal his wound so that the family would keep focus on their survival.

In the final moments of the fight, in a duel between Sera and the assumed leader of the attacking group, a statement was brought down on Sera. "We know what you are, mutt. The Force will fail you, and you will either die, or fall to the dark side, and your family will be slaughtered in front of your eyes." These were the final words spoken by this individual before he was disemboweled and decapitated by Sera, a berserker's rage having washed over her. She kicked the body over the edge of the cliff and watched it as it dropped, her fury subsiding into fear. She turned and sprinted towards her family, where Shepard and Izera had already treated the wounded hound. They immediately tore down their camp, doused the fire, and made a beeline for their homestead.

A few miles from their destination, Shepard dropped to one knee, his breathing labored. When Izera and Sera dropped to his side, they found that his coat had been soaked in his blood, the bandage he had applied being soaked through. Panicked, they took the old Clone over their shoulders and carried him and Chow home. When they got inside, they were met with frantic communications requests at Shepard's desk. While Sera set him down and tended to him, Izera took the most recent request. A gravelly voice came through, worry painted in the words, accompanied by the holographic face of a familiar man.

"H-hey, Ma. Pops sent me a pretty cryptic message, is everything okay?"

"Khada, he's..." Izera could barely get words out as she choked on her panic. "He's in bad shape, we were attacked while camping and we don't have enough to help him here."

"Damn it, he wasn't lying." Khada's hologram stepped back, a muffled stream of curses barely audible from the speakers. "I've already sent my fastest escort team to come retrieve you. They've got docs on board, they're gonna bring you here. We're keeping you and Sera safe for the time being." Behind him, a young white-haired woman appeared. "Kami is gonna make arrangements for your arrival, just keep him stable until you get here." Izera could only let out a nod between quiet sobs as she cut the comm, moving back into the room with Shepard.

"Sera, pack your things, I'll keep watch over your dad. We're going to your brother's."

"O-okay, mom." Sera could feel the fear in her mother as she sprinted up the stairs, grabbing her things. After a short while, the sound of starships howled in the dark night. Departing men and women sporting the Aran Ops. logo surrounded the house, standing guard as their medical staff moved in and aided them to the waiting transport vessel. Sera and her mother sat next to Shepard, silent, holding each other with their eyes glued to the man that had given them everything. The resting Chow lay at their feet, pained whines coming from the wounded hound. The ride to Nar Shadda was painfully long.

"The doors to the Aran residence opened, more medical staff rushing out and assisting those already present with bringing Shepard in. Behind them stood Khada and Kami, grave expressions on their face as their eyes set themselves on the wounded man. When he passed between them, they changed their gaze and moved to embrace Izera and Sera.

"Come in, we should be with him," stated a tired-eyed Khada. "The docs say he doesn't have much longer."

Kami held Sera as they walked in, the teen's cries muffled by the fabric of the woman's coat. Izera slowly shuffled behind, her own tears drenching the sleeve of her own jacket. Khada set his hat on the table, leading the group into the bedroom where Shepard lay. Over the course of a couple hours, Shepard said his words to each family member, save for his grandson who wasn't able to make it in time. In his last moments, he beckoned for Sera to come to him.

"Hey dad," Sera choked out through tears. "Sounds like you finally let 'em get ya'."

Shepard let out a pained chuckle. "Nah, only thing killing me is Father Time, baby." He laid his head back, letting out a deep sigh. "Sera, you're special. You know that, I know that, your mother and brother know that..." He paused, staring at the ceiling. "And as it seems, some bad people know that." He took her hand into his, looking her in the eyes. "Your life is going to change, very drastically and very soon. You're a product of the Force, a Jedi, and you're going to go and train as one as my old Generals had done back in the day." His grip tightened as Sera's head bowed, and he let out his final words. "I'm proud of you, Sera. Ares and I will be watching over you, and I want you to bring light to the galaxy as Windu, Kenobi, Toldreyn, Skywalker, and all the others did. I love you, my beautiful daughter."

Shepard sat at his desk, puffing at his cigar. He was polishing one of the helmets in his gear collection, a gift for Sera when she turned eighteen. His calmed actions were halted by a communique from a secure line, one that he hadn't spoken with in a few years. He accepted the comm, and what seemed to be a mirrored hologram appeared, but with less hair and a working eye. The Clone's expression was plastered with unease.

"Rex, you old bastard, I haven't seen you in ages." Shepard paused, noting the face that his brother was making. "But your face tells me something is wrong."

Rex sighed, eyeing the floor. "Shepard, something bad is happening, and you need to listen carefully." He tapped a few buttons, and aside Rex's hologram flashed the Dantooine sector, and the exact coordinates of Shepard's farm.

Shepard blinked, looking at the map, an annoyed frown crossing his features. "Okay, that's my farm. What's the pro--" He paused, noticing a discrepancy in the map's code. "This isn't a Republic file."

"The Jedi Order has linked this data's origin to individuals related to the disappearances of force-sensitive children." He stared directly back at Shepard, stating matter-of-factly. "They're coming for Sera. I don't have any patrols in the sector that can help, so you need to do what you can to stay clear of them."

Shepard growled, a fist slamming into his desk. "These sons of bitches want my daughter, they're going to get my boot on their necks instead." He tapped a few controls on his desk, linking another secure comm. Rex's face contorted to confusion as a white-haired woman appeared next to them.

"Hey old mannnnnnnn wait why are there two of you?" the woman flicked her gaze between Shepard and Rex, confused for a moment but gaining her bearings. "Huh, hey Rex."

"Uhhh, hello Kami," Rex managed to get out.

"Kami, I need you to do something for me," Shepard stated. He tapped a few more controls and the Dantooine map went away, replaced by a long list of code. "Someone's coming after me, I need one of our teams to head to the farm as fast as possible." The code flicked and disappeared into Kami's hologram, her eyes wide. "When they get here, I need a squadron to hunt for any transport serials not registered on this list." Kami paused for a moment and tapped some buttons herself.

"I've just sent the order to Enforcer Taljhin. She's gathering Nova-7 and will be there as soon as possible." She looked back and shouted out in Huttese, though neither of the clones could understand what she said. "I'm sending a ping to Khada, he'll be your point of contact if anything goes wrong. Do you think this'll be that bad?"

"I wouldn't be asking for a full team if it weren't, little Jade. I'll talk to you later, yeah?" Shepard asked.

"Stay safe, gramps, love you." Kami turns to Rex nodding. "You stay safe too, killer."

Kami's hologram flickers away, and Shepard returns his gaze back to Rex, whose own is visibly worried.

"Rex, if things do go as bad as I'm thinking, and I do go down, we need to set the protocol in place." Shepard ashes his cigar, extinguishing the flame in its tray. "I trust the Jedi, and they'll need to be her guardians."

Rex looked down in sorrow, nodding. "Say it."

Shepard tapped a few controls, sighing. "CT-7567, upon my death, you have permission to initiate personal protocol CBSD-44-22-KF, 'Natural Causes,' under authorization CC-6410." Shepard's console flashed before him, accepting the input. "All of my logs, my personal messages, everything are gonna be sent to a data core in Izera's possession. Sera'll train for a while, then she's going to the Academy."

Rex tapped a few things on his end and nodded. "It's done." A long period of contemplative silence was broken again by Rex. "We're some of the last ones left. We're old bastards, and our time is nearly here anyway. If this is the last time I speak to you, know this. You're my brother, Shepard. I love you, I'd fight to the death with you, or any of the others, any day."

Shepard let out a soft chuckle. "Love you too, Rex. It's been a hell of a ride, and I wouldn't have traded it for anything. When it's over, we'll be with the others. All of our brothers, the Generals, and we'll watch over those still alive." He snaps a crisp salute. "Farewell, Captain Rex."

Rex returns the salute. "It's been an honor, Commander Shepard."

The comm cuts out and Shepard sits in silence for a few minutes. He turns and looks at his glass case, nodding. He pushes himself off of his desk's edge and walks up to the case.

"You're riding with your sister today, Ares." He opens the glass case and runs his hand down the left half of the blade. "Keep her safe, give her your strength, be her guiding hand instead of a watchful eye today." His ears perk up at the sound of approaching footsteps and a cheerful voice.

"You comin', Dad?"