"Dr. Chakwas would like to speak with you, Commander," the upbeat redhead known as Kelly Chambers announced as Commander John Shepard stepped through the door from the tech labs. Said commander sighed to himself in very slight annoyance, he really wanted to get back to stopping the collectors and focusing on stopping the reapers but everyone of his squadmates seemed to have some problem that needed solving. Being the good CO that he is, or at least thinks he is, he's assisted everyone to help them focus on the task at hand. Shepard was still tired from Tali's trial from two days ago, not from the physical output of fighting Geth, no he loved that, it was from the mental output of the actual trial and arguing with the admirals. But he got it done, Tali is still considered part of the fleet and, hopefully, when the reapers showed up he could count on the Quarian fleet for reinforcements. He planned on heading back to the Citadel to help Thane reconnect with his son and help Garrus find Sidonis.
"Thanks, Kelly," the commander replied turning towards the elevator and hitting the button for floor 3. As the rage inducing slow elevator descended, he really wondered what the doctor, or "Mother of Normandy" as Joker so liked to call her, wanted. Whatever it was, Shepard would help no matter what it was. Dr. Chakwas had been with his team since he was hunting Saren down, and even though she never had to raise a weapon, she was invaluable when treating wounds.
Heading through the mess hall he noticed Miranda staring at him from one of the tables. The commander fought to suppress a smirk as he noticed the Normandy's XO taking a big interest in him over the past few weeks. Too bad for her that his heart belonged to Tali, and he knew the Quarian wouldn't take kindly with miss Lawson hitting on her man. The doors to the med bay hissed open to reveal the doctor pacing the width of whole room.
"Chambers said you wanted to see me?" Shepard asked.
"Thank you for speaking to on such short notice, John," Chakwas started, bringing a smile to the commander's face because he only allowed three people from the Normandy to call him John: Tali, Chakwas, and Garrus. The doctor put and hand to her face in a thinking pose "By chance have you ever heard of the moon Pandora?"
"Can't say I have," replied Shepard while racking his brain. It sounded familiar to him but with the ever expanding galaxy it was impossible to keep up with every new discovery.
"Hmm, I guess I would be surprised if you had. The Alliance discovered it over ten years ago, but due to its unique biology, it's discovery was kept from the general public. Before you ask me about Pandora's biology let me tell you that I know nearly nothing about it," Chakwas looked apologetic
"Okay, what does this have to do with me?"
"I'll get to that in a second. A friend of mine got chosen to lead the science team conducting their studies. She wanted me to come with her but I didn't want to be a part of the experiments they were going to be conducting,"
"What were they doing?" the commander asked.
"Dabbling in genetic modification, which is illegal in council space by the way. I also didn't want anything to do with the company funding their experiments,"
"Who were..." Shepard rolled his wrist to indicate her to continue.
"Resources Development Administration, or RDA for short,"
"Sounds familiar," once again Shepard thought back to where he might have heard the name in passing.
"I don't know exactly what they do, alternate fuel sources research I think. They are a small time company but they are as crooked as Cerberus," that got Shepard's attention.
"Alternate fuel sources?"
"Yes, or at least that's their cover," Chakwas continued, "What I wanted to talk about though, I got a message from my friend. She said that soon she might be in a lot of trouble, it was mostly an apology letter, she said she wished we hadn't gone our separate ways. I haven't seen her in fifteen years and haven't spoken in five,"
"Why is she in trouble?"
"I don't know, she said she's going to be doing what's right and that the RDA will heavily disagree," Chakwas began pacing again, worry clearly etched into her body language.
"What's your friends name?" Shepard asked deciding to get this out of the way quickly.
"Dr. Grace Augustine," she replied with a hint of pride in her voice.
"I guess we can sort this out, send the coordinates to EDI,"
"Thanks commander," the doctor turned and sat back at her desk.
"Hell's Gate tower, this is the Normandy requesting permission to dock" Joker, the Normandy's pilot and resident commedian, said into the comm in an uncharacteristic professional voice.
"Normandy, this is Hell's Gate, we do not have a scheduled visit, land in docking bay 15. If your intentions can't be confirmed your ship will be impounded," came the reply.
"Wow, so this is what Noveria looks like with a forest" Joker turned to say to Shepard who just smirked and turned to head to the conference room.
"I really believe I should accompany you to this meeting," Miranda insisted for the hundredth time.
"No, we don't know what sort of dirty dealing this 'RDA' is up to but the last thing I need is for Cerberus to be involved," Shepard explained, rubbing his temples in annoyance. The whole squad was gathered to receive their assignment. "Garrus, armor up,"
"And why, may I ask, is HE going along with you?" Miranda, rudely, interrupted.
"Because he's former C-Sec," Shepard monotoned "and Zaeed lock and load. Before you ask, all the soldiers here are mercs, and who here has better experience with mercs than Mr. Massani,"
"Ready to crack skulls when you are, Commander," Zaeed sneered.
"Mordin, I don't know how familiar you are with genetics, but I want you to head over to the science labs,"
"Dabbled in genetics. Will see what I can do," Mordin nodded and left to get prepared.
As Shapard and his three squad members exited the airlock they were "greeted" by three of the RDA soldiers wearing clear-faced breather masks. The first one to speak up had is head completely shaved.
"Corporal Lyle Wainfleet," he started, sizing the group up "Private Atz and Private Gibson," he indicated the other two escorts.
"Commander Shepard," John replied extending his hand which Wainfleet ignored.
"The Colonel wants to see you immediately, follow us," the corporal turned and lead the way not bothering to make sure the three were following.
"This is a beautiful world, what's the RDA's interest in it?" Garrus asked as they walked.
Gibson turned to face him "Wouldn't you like to know, Turian,"
"Unlike the scientist fags here, RDA has no interest in Pandora other than the massive amounts of unobtanium," Lyle answered, not bother to discipline the soldier who spoke out of place.
"Unique biology. Unwise to ignore it," Mordin piped up.
"Quite, lizard-man," Atz lashed out.
"Amphibian actually. Common mistake among uneducated,"
"What's so great about this unobtanium?" Shepard asked looking around at what really was a magnificent planet if you ignored the obvious man-made items here and there.
"It gets me paid, that's all I care about it," Lyle replied with apparent annoyance in his voice.
"Blindly following orders just for a paycheck, easy way to get yourself killed," Zaeed commented.
"No one asked your opinion, scar face," the rude soldier piped up again.
"Listening to Mr. Massani here is in your best interest, kid," Shepard stepped in with a smirk.
Shepard and his crew plus escort entered a command room of sorts just as what looked like a fight broke out. A slim, aging, redhead woman was pleading to an equally slim but slightly younger man.
"Parker, listen, there may still be time to-"
"Shut your pie hole!" a large muscular older man with three scars running down the right side of his head shouted, disdain for the redhead evident in his voice and face. From his seated position he glared at the woman, his face red from pent up anger.
"Or what, Ranger Rick, you gonna shoot me?" the redhead matched his stare and resisted the urge to slap his smug face.
"I could do that," the big man replied with a smirk.
"You need to muzzle your dog," the woman said pointedly to the Parker.
"Can we take this down a couple of notches, please," the slim man demanded looking frustrated.
"You say you want to keep your people alive. Start by listening to her," a man in a wheelchair spoke up.
The big guy finally noticed the six people standing and staring "These the guys from the Normandy, Lyle?"
"Yes, Colonel. This is Commander Shep-"
"I know who he is," the colonel interrupted standing and sizing up the commander "What's your business her Shepard?"
"I'm here on a request from a friend of mine. What's the problem here?" Shepard asked indicating the other three that were arguing.
"None of your business. You think I'm about to tell a Cerberus monkey anything about what we do here, you've got another thing coming," the Colonel snorted and eyed up the rest of his squad, his eyes resting momentarily on Zaeed.
"I understand your concern but trust me it's not a voluntary alliance," Shepard was beginning to feel like a broken record.
"Bullshit, don't lie to me. I might just lock you up on principle," the Colonel continued with disgust, leering in amusement at the thought.
"Good luck keeping a council Spectre locked up," Shepard replied matching the colonel's stare "Now, while I'm still asking nicely, what's the problem here?"
"These two he-"
"You ain't gonna get anything but bullshit outta this guy, Shepard. Be better to ask one of them," Zaeed interrupted, clearly not intimidated by the colonel, and indicating the redhead woman and the guy in the wheelchair.
"Good call, Zaeed," Shepard started before the bully of a colonel could speak up. Even though at this point Shepard didn't think the colonel was capable of speech due to the amount of fury boiling under his skin as he stared at the veteran mercenary "You, what's your name?" he asked the redhead first.
The woman looked the commander up and down with disdain "Dr. Grace Augustine,"
"Dr. Chakwas' friend," Garrus concluded
Grace dropped the negative demeanor and turned to the Turian "You know Karin?"
Garrus gave the doctor the turian equivalent of a grin "Yes, Dr. Chakwas is one of our good friends,"
"Chakwas told me you sent her a message saying you were going to be in trouble, she's worried about you," Shepard stepped forward and offered his hand, which Grace shook and he could feel how tense she was. Whatever was going on clearly had her worked up.
"Another charge to add to your list, Augustine. Messages must be cleared by RDA before sent of world," the Colonel interrupted.
"That message would have never passed clearance, Quaritch, and you know it," Grace fired back.
"What kind of company are you running here, Quaritch?" Shepard inquired with a hard stare "A mining company or a prison?"
"I don't run this company, I just enforce the rules set to keep the staff safe. And it's 'Colonel Quaritch' to you, Shepard"
"And it's 'Commander' to you," Shepard shot back.
"You aren't part of the Alliance anymore, your rank doesn't mean shit to me," Quaritch replied with a smirk. He particularily enjoyed the brief look of malice that crossed Shepard's face.
"And you aren't military, either. You're just a bully who forces his victims to call him king," Garrus spoke up with nearly spitting with disgust.
"Don't lecture me on bullying, Turian," Quaritch shot back getting in Garrus' face. Garrus, to his credit, didn't back down and clenched his fist ready to go. To the non-combatants in the room the intensity in the air was almost unbearable.
"Okay, that's enough, all if you! I run this show here, I make the rules here, and like it or not Commander, Grace broke a major one," Selfridge stepped in between Garrus and Quaritch "So unfortunately, I will have to detain her and Jake Sully here for the time being,"
"Unfortunately?" Grace snorted in slight disbelief.
"I don't hate you, Grace, but you are starting to cost me more money than you or your projects are worth," Parker replied with a shrug.
"What's his offense?" Shepard asked indicating the wheelchair bound male who hadn't said a word since Shepard and his crew started making a scene.
"Destruction of company property and fraternizing with the Na'vi. Ironically the latter is a worse offense than the former," Parker eyed Sully with a hint of disdain.
"Na'vi? What's that?" Garrus asked.
"Follow me to the bio-lab, and I'll explain," Augustine said walking out.
"I haven't dismissed you yet, doctor," Quaritch growled out getting up to intercept her, but was stopped by Shepard.
"I'm dismissing her. Zaeed, I'm giving you Spectre's clearance to stay here and make sure these guys don't pull anything stupid until we get to the bottom of this. I trust you won't let the big cheese here out of your sight?"
"You bet, Shepard" the veteran replied with a wicked grin.
"Garrus, you have clearance as well, I need you to go through all the video logs of from those two and see what you can gather. Mordin follow Dr. Augustine, I want to talk to Jake first,"
"I'll get it done, Commander," Garrus strolled to a terminal and got to work starting with log number one from Grace "this is going to be a long night,"
Zaeed leaned up against a nearby support pillar and kept his gaze on Quaritch while Mordin followed the head scientist already firing off questions faster than the poor woman could answer.
"Come with me, Jake, I want to talk to you in private," Shepard indicated back towards the Normandy. Sully just nodded and followed the commander trying to wrap his around what just transpired in the comm tower and what he had gotten himself into.
Alright just a little bit of a disclaimer. If I have gotten anything wrong about what the RDA does etc. I apologize but I don't know THAT much about Avatar. I also apologize if anyone seems OOC. This will have irregular updates, I don't know when the next chapter will be released, hopefully before Saturday. For Shepard identifiers Mshep(obviously)/Soldier/Earthborn/War Hero.
