Chapter 1.
The air inside the small room had grown stale and Olivia yearned to open the door so she could breathe in some fresh air. She didn't move however, she had not yet received word from her look-outs, and until then she had to remain where she was. She looked around the room, which was actually the inside of a large shipping container, silently counting the heads of the others who were inside with her. She had taken count at least a dozen times over the past few hours but there was little else for her to do to keep her mind occupied. 7 humans, 3 batarians, a turian and an asari. Liv knew that Ardak and Rudo were still in position, so that added the total to 14. 14 souls that were depending on her to get them safely off-world.
That was a bit of exaggeration, Ardak and Rudo were perfectly capable of leaving Khar'Shan if they wished, as free citizens they had rights to travel among Batarian homeworld and its colonies. However, if they were caught leaving the planet with Liv and the 12 others, they would be charged with treason against the Hegemony. It was one of the highest offenses to steal a slave and helping 13 slaves escape captivity would certainly be considered stealing. Nonetheless, Liv was the highest ranking member of the Dissent present and felt responsible for getting everyone out of the Harsa system alive.
When her omni-tool flashed nearly everyone jumped and turned to her, expecting to finally hear that their saviours had arrived. Liv opened the message and had to bite her tongue to keep from crying out with relief: They're here. ETA is 20 minutes. Wait for signal to move
"Well?" whispered a voice from the shadowy interior. Liv looked up at the speaker, a turian named Kybris, had been leaning against the wall but had moved toward her when she had received the message.
"It's Ardak. She just got word from the Cereberus ship, they're sending someone to pick us up. They'll be here in less than a half hour." Liv replied in a hushed voice.
Sighs and quiet mutters filled the space around the group, before Liv motioned for them to be silent once again. She looked down at her feet and began going through the steps of the plan in her mind, mentally playing out differing scenarios of how each part could happen. Liv was no soldier, but she had spent years as a member of the Dissent and had been able to get herself out of more than one tight spot after an operation had gone wrong. It was due more to the fact that she was still alive than anything else, that Liv was leading this mission.
Unfortunately, survival was not the ultimate goal of this operation and Liv had accepted that she would likely not survive to see it through. She had taken precautions, in case of her re-capture, her omni tool was set to self-destruct if activated, wiping out any intel on the device and electrocuting Liv in the process. It was extreme, but she was one of the few members of the group who would not be shot on sight. Herself, Ardak, Rudo, Kybris, and the asari, Ilacia, were all wanted fugitives due to their involvement with the Dissent, which was classified as a terrorist organization by the Hegemony. If found by Batarian authorities they would be tortured for information and then brutally punished in public as an example to other rebels. Fugitives could not even look forward to death as end to their suffering because they would eventually be re-enslaved and be equipped with cranial implants that would control their behavior and inhibit free will. They would serve high ranking officials of the Hegemony, adding status to their respective positions, nothing more than prized chattel. The other members of the group were human and batarian, both easily replaceable by their former owners, and if caught they would killed without question as the punishment for runaway slaves from Khar'Shan was death.
A sharp clang roused Olivia from her thoughts and she quickly stood to face the source of the noise. Kybris and Ilacia both lept their feet, ready for action at a moment's notice. A few tense seconds paseds, then another clang rattled the metal container as something struck the outside wall. Two more quick raps against the wall sounded and Liv motioned for the group to stand as she activated the door panel. Ardak and Rudo were waiting on the other side, both in full armor and holding assault rifles in the direction of a shuttle idling a dozen or so meters in front of them. Liv drew her own pistol and walked out onto the platform toward the shuttle, Ardak and Rudo following her while Ilacia and Kybris stayed back with the others. The shuttle doors opened and a human jumped down with a krogan and a turian in tow.
Rudo cursed under his breath, and Olivia silently agreed with the sentiment; she didn't have a good feeling about being met by non-humans who have been supposedly sent by a pro-human group. The two parties met roughly between the shuttle and the transport crate. but kept a safe distance from each other. The human was the first to speak up, surprising Liv when she addressed her by name.
"One of you three Cleary?"
Nodding her head, Liv stepped forward and answered the woman. "Yeah, that's me. You three with Cereberus?"
"For the time being." replied the human, seeing Liv's scowl she continued, "We're here for a pick-up for Brelem"
Liv relaxed hearing the name of her old mentor, it was the code word she had specified in her communication to Cereberus when she first asked for their aide. She knew the group in front of her was legitimate and that her charges were safe. For now.
"Okay, let's move then." Liv said. She turned and nodded to the pair behind her and then whistled for the group to move to the shuttle. Ardak and Rudo took positions off to her left and right to keep watch around the perimeter of the small dock. Ilacia led the group forward, with Kybris following behind. It took less than a minute for everyone to jog over to the shuttle, but it felt like an eternity for Olivia. She knew that the tides could turn in the blink of eye on Khar'Shan and so far that day things had gone too smoothly for Liv to feel secure. The group clambered onto the shuttle, the turian and krogan that had come with the human from Cereberus following them.
"You good?" the woman asked when Liv didn't move.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just paranoid." Liv replied.
The woman walked over to her, putting a gloved on Liv's shoulder. "Don't worry, we're gonna get you out of here. You're going to be okay."
Liv couldn't see her face, but there was something about the woman and her words that made Liv feel at ease enough to trust her. She nodded and followed the other human aboard and as the the doors closed she sighed and holstered her gun.
"Okay, Joker. Get us the hell off this planet."
"You don't have to tell me twice." a voice called out from the cockpit.
The shuttle jerked and shook as the engines roared to life, launching them upwards. Liv steadied herself, clutching a small railing on the wall. Closing her eyes, she breathed in deeply and softly prayed for strength to endure what lay before her.
Chapter 2.
The woman had introduced herself to Olivia and her group as Commander Shepard of the Normandy. Gesturing to the turian and the krogan, she included the pair as members of her crew, a mixed species operation working with Cereberus to uncover why entire human colonies had been going missing without explanation.
The passengers listened to Shepard speak but didn't ask any questions, Olivia knew the former slaves stayed silent due to years of servitude and that her colleagues were likely too suspicious of the human to speak up themselves. Clearing her throat, she straightened her stance and addressed the woman.
"Commander, thank you for the introduction. I don't have words to express my gratitude-" Liv began but Shepard raised her hand and interrupted her.
"No need, Cleary. I'm just doing what I can."
As Olivia stammered in reply, the turian chuckled to himself "Typical Shepard".
Before anyone else could say anymore, the pilot spoke over the intercom, "Yeah this nice and all but am I the only who missed the memo about the extra 10 people on the shuttle?"
"Way to state the obvious Joker." replied Shepard, shaking her head.
"Hey you're the one who's going to have to deal the wrath of Miranda when she hears about the new groupies."
Olivia could feel her anxiety building about the situation, and finding her voice she spoke up, "Is Miranda your superior Commander?"
"HA! She wishes!" this time it was the krogan who spoke and by now the Commander looked thoroughly exasperated by her team.
Olivia was at a loss, she had never witnessed subordinates act so casually around someone of a higher rank before. Batarian social norms were strict about how one was to behave in the presence of authority, many of those norms persisted among slaves and even within the Dissent. She looked over at Ardak who wore a similar expression of confusion about the situation, meeting her gaze Olivia shrugged and tuned back to grab hold of the wall railing as the shuttle rattled through the last of the planet's atmosphere.
Shepard had called ahead for the ship's doctor to meet the new arrivals in the shuttle bay, which was a flurry of activity as humans moved crates from one area to another to make room for temporary living quarters. The commander dismissed her crew and directed Olivia's group to wait to be examined by the doctor before requesting that Liv come with her for debriefing.
Once inside the elevator, Shepard addressed someone named 'Idi' asking them to tell Jacob and Miranda to meet her in the Comm Room. Liv followed the Commander through the elevator doors and immediately to her right, through another door and down a short passage that led them into a science lab where a salarian was working and muttering to himself.
Shepard greeted him as she passed through the room, but the scientist seemed too absorbed with his work to have noticed, so she continued on into another hall. Their destination was a room to their left, and waiting for them was a man who saluted the commander when they entered. Olivia recognized the human gesture as one of respect to another person and felt assured that at least one member of the crew knew how to act around a superior.
Shepard walked around the table in the center of the room and stood at the end that faced the door. Not knowing what else to do, Olivia followed her and stood off to the commander's right side, facing the man across the table.
"Commander" he stated, and as though on cue, the door opened and a woman walked briskly into the room and slammed her hands onto the table.
"Fifteen Shepard? You brought over a dozen slaves and fugitives on board and didn't bother giving me a moment's notice?" her voice was sharp and Olivia flinched at her words.
Seemingly unbothered by the outburst, the commander turned to Olivia and said, "Cleary, this is Operative Lawson."
Looking over at her, the woman addressed Liv with a terse, "Pleasure" before turning back to Shepard with an expectant look.
"We had a change of plans."
Olivia had to bite down on the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at the expression on Operative Lawson's face.
"Maybe our guest would be able to explain why there were 15 civilians at the pick up instead of the 5 we were expecting?" suggested the man across from Liv.
Three pairs of eyes were looking at Olivia, who suddenly felt very small. Best to get this over with, Liv thought to herself.
"Commander, I apologize for my deception. When I originally contacted your organization, I was only seeking refuge for myself and four others. In all honesty I wasn't expecting to hear back at all; reaching out for aid was an act of desperation."
Liv paused, How much more should she say? How much information could she trust these people with? Noticing her discomfort, Shepard still in her armor, nodded at Liv. Continuing on with her answer, Olivia explained that she and her colleagues had captured a small estate not far from where the Commander had picked up the group. Since she and the four other Dissent members were being actively hunted by the Hegemony, they had taken over the estate in the hopes of using it as a place to make a last stand. They had begun securing the area and arming the liberated slaves there, when Cereberus contacted them with the news that a team had been dispatched team to rescue them. Olivia had refused to leave anyone behind but had been afraid that Cereberus would rethink its mission if she told them that her company had suddenly tripled.
The man across from her spoke first, "You're lucky Shepard was the only person with a ship that could pull off a stealth mission like this. Any other team from Cereberus would have left the aliens behind."
"It was a risk I had to take. The people we freed would have been killed if they had been found with us."
"Sounds like the Hegemony lives up its cruel reputation." Operative Lawson spoke in a significantly softer tone now, to Olivia's great relief.
"They might have had a chance if we weren't wanted to by the Grand Admiral himself." Olivia said bitterly. It was common for runaways to have control jacks implanted into their skulls since the average slave owner usually didn't want to go through the trouble of finding a new slave. The Hegemony, however, would have seen the freed slaves as too vulnerable to outside persuasion to be left alive and implanting jacks would be too costly when they could be used instead as examples of what happens to slaves who leave their masters.
Shepard cleared her throat, bringing Liv's attention back to the present. "I think I speak for everyone when I say that I'm glad that we were able to get to you in time. We can make arrangements for the other civilians once we get out of the system."
'Commander we will reach the Mass Relay in approximately 8 hours.'
Olivia jumped at the voice that came from a small holograph which had appeared in front of Operative Lawson. Unfazed by the interruption, the commander simply thanked the voice, (apparently the holograph was the 'Idi' whom Shepard had addressed earlier in the elevator) and continued speaking. "I'll have Yeoman Chambers give you a tour of the ship, you can let her know if you or your group needs anything while you're onboard."
Not knowing what to say, Olivia just nodded at the commander.
"Jacob? Can you show Cleary to the CIC and introduce her to the Yeoman while I have a word with Miranda?"
"Will do ma'am." spoke the man to the commander's left.
Feeling somewhat lost for words, Olivia followed Jacob out of the room, pausing briefly to give the commander a clumsy salute. A small chuckle caught her attention, and Liv realized that Jacob was laughing at her from the hallway. "You salute with your right hand" he said with a smile.
"Oh, I didn't -" Olivia began
"Don't worry, give me a few days and I'll make a soldier out of you no problem." Jacob replied as he made his way through the door to the science lab.
Back in the large room outside the lab, Olivia met the Yeoman who was working at a terminal in front of an enormous hologram of the galaxy. Liv found it hard to pay attention to what the peppy redhead was saying and not stare at the image in the center of the room. Seeing that Liv was in the yeoman's care, Jacob said good-bye to the two women, telling Olivia that she could find him in the armory if she needed him for anything.
The yeoman, who insisted that Olivia call her Kelly, was very enthusiastic during her tour of the Normandy and made a point of introducing Liv to nearly every member of the crew that they passed. After they had spent twenty minutes on the crew deck alone, the pair met the ship's doctor outside the elevator. The older woman informed Kelly that Olivia could finish touring the ship after her medical examination, and looking disappointed the yeoman returned to the upper floor. Olivia followed the doctor into the Medical wing, wondering if she would get a moment of peace anytime soon. She quickly brushed the thought aside, she couldn't afford to be so thankless after everything the people of this ship had done for her.
"Well, I hope you've had a second to breathe but knowing how things seem to run around here I imagine that isn't the case." the woman said as she turned to look at Olivia, who felt blood rush to her cheeks fearing that the doctor had somehow read her thoughts.
"No need to fret, no one here will think any less of you for needing to rest after all that you've been through." she continued as she steered Liv toward an examination table. "Sit up here, please."
Olivia felt awkward as the woman, took ahold of her arm and held two fingers to the inside of her wrist. Her previous experience with doctors had been limited to receiving omni tool scans and applications of medi-gel. "I'm sorry, what was your name? I didn't hear what Yeoman Chambers told me earlier." Olivia asked as the woman moved her limbs, testing the flexibility of her joints.
"Since you asked so nicely, my name is Karin Chakwas. But I would prefer to be called Dr. Chakwas. Could you lie down please?" Dr. Chakwas pressed down gently onto Liv's abdomen. "Do you feel any pain when I press here?" Seeing her patient shake her head, she pressed down on a different spot. "What about here? No? Good. Alright, you can sit back up."
Walking over to a supply cabinet on the other side of the room, Dr. Chakwas continued addressing Olivia as she rummaged through its contents. "Now, I haven't the faintest idea of the state of the medical community on Khar'Shan but I imagine that you've never had a proper medical examination." Walking back to the table holding a few instruments, the woman took Olivia's arm and wiped a small area of skin near the inside of her elbow with a wet cloth, the smell from it was sharp and Olivia wrinkled her nose in response.
"I thought as much. I'm going to draw a small amount of blood from your arm so I can test it and formally give you a clean bill of health."
Olivia saw the needle in Dr. Chakwas' hand and gave her a questioning look, but the woman stopped her before she could protest. "This won't hurt, you'll feel a small prick and that'll be the worst of it." Nodding, Liv gritted her teeth as the doctor worked quickly. Small prick my ass, she thought to herself.
"Alright, you're finished. Now I imagine that you also have a name or shall I put you down as 'Jane Doe' in my records?" the doctor inquired as she put the tubes of red liquid into a small tray on her desk.
Liv shifted on the bed, wondering why the doctor asked to give her a false name but didn't pursue the topic. "My name is Olivia Cleary"
"Olivia" repeated Chakwas. "That's a pretty name. You don't hear it very often."
Liv didn't know what was appropriate to say, she had never been told that her name was pretty. It wasn't a common practice for Batarians to give compliments to their slaves. Thankfully, Dr. Chakwas didn't seem to notice Olivia's lack of a response and told her she was free to return to the shuttle bay. Not needing any further urging, Liv left the medical wing and walked back to the elevator. She pressed the button next to the door and walked inside.
Finally alone, Liv leaned against the wall breathing a deep sigh of relief. She had pulled off the impossible, she had escaped Khar'Shan unscathed. It was a feat she could have only imagined in her wildest dreams. The last few hours had been such a whirlwind of activity, this was the first moment she'd had to process that she was free. Free. The enormity of that realization crashed over Olivia like a wave and suddenly she felt her throat constrict and hot tears stung her eyes. The remains of Liv's self control fell apart and she was overcome by her emotion. No longer capable of coherent thought, Olivia wept, sobs shaking her body. After some time, Olivia's breathing slowed and she remembered that she was still on an elevator aboard a space-ship. Wiping her face, Liv looked at the console display and silently thanked her mentor for teaching her how to read. She quickly realized that she didn't know which deck the shuttle bay was on and began to panic.
"Ms. Cleary, scans of your vital signs indicate that you are experiencing distress. Are you in need of assistance?"
Olivia jumped, again, when she heard 'Idi' speak without warning.
"Uh, I'm fine. I need to go to the shuttle bay but I don't know which deck it's located on." Olivia felt very peculiar as she addressed the empty elevator.
"The shuttle bay is located on deck 5."
Before Liv could respond the elevator began to descend, and after a few moments the door opened to her destination. Trying to ignore the feeling that she was being watched, Olivia left the elevator and crossed the length of the huge room over to where a group of cots had been set up. Most of the humans were resting, but a few talked quietly among themselves. Rudo and Ilacia were standing next to some cots that had been pulled away from the others, seeing Liv approach Rudo nodded in greeting. Ilacia turned quickly, relief clear on her face, and embraced Liv when she reached them.
"That took forever! What did they want from you up there?" the asari asked as they parted.
"Mostly answers. I told them that we freed the slaves from the Akh'jar estate and knew that leaving them behind would be their death sentence." Liv explained as she sat down on a nearby cot. "The commander said she would help us find a place to bring the others."
"Truly?" Ilacia asked sitting next to Olivia, who nodded in reply. "I was so worried that we would not be able to fulfill the promises we made to them."
Liv put her hand over the asari's, "I know, I felt the same fears. But I believe we can trust the commander, she has done nothing to cause me to question her leadership. For now we're safe."