Chapter 1.
Rude Awakenings.
Hello everyone!
This is my first fanfic, so i'm looking for reveiws on this to see what you guys think of it.
i really enjoyed writing it, and i hope you enjoy reading it.
Thanks! :)
The Illusive Man gazed out over the star before him, its ever changing molten surface sharp in contrast to the cold, hungry void of space behind it. it never ceased to fascinate him, as with ever passing moment, he noticed new currents, new bends in its flowing sat in his thin black leather chair, the material warm against his bare hand as he pulled out a cigarette, lighting it near his face with a small lighter. He put it to his lips, inhaling deeply before blowing out, smoke billowing from his lips and spreading through the air around him. he let the hand with the cigarette dangle over the arm of the chair, smoke trickling up from the burning end.
The Illusive man was a man whose very name was a symbol of mystery and for most, distrust. He was the head of the pro human splinter group, Cerberus, known for their extreme methods in their relentless campaign to put humanity "Back on the top". No one ever knew who he was and barely anyone knew of his appearance. He was a man of middling height, with cropped silvery-gray hair and glowing steely blue eyes from optical implants, giving them an almost prosthetic appearance. As head of Cerberus, he controlled a large network of agents and employees running private shadow ops, divided into cells. He had billions of credits he could move in a moments notice, making him a man of noticeable power.
Cerberus had taken a wrong turn after Shepard had left their ranks. With the collector base gone, he had lost the perfect opportunity to study the reaper-collector technology, leaving him not only in a disappointed fury, but at a sharp disadvantage should he come in contact with the commander again. He knew that once he had left, he would treat cerberus the same way he had before, only this time, he had knowledge of their inner workings. This disturbed the Illusive Man more than anything else. Up until now, he never had to worry about anyone knowing enough about the organization to cause any physical harm, but with EDI and other explanations given by himself and miranda, he could do some serious damage to the organization should the information reach the wrong ears, like the systems alliance. He sighed, the star's bright radiance warm against his bare face.
He had since questioned the wisdom of many of his actions. He knew that it was necessary to rebuild the former spectre to further his own goals, but he knew Shepard's personality. he was a natural leader, capable of rallying almost anyone to his cause, but he was idealistic, which made him act irrationally at times. The illusive man learned this the hard way when he lost the Collector base. He adverted his gaze from the star to the left arm of his chair as he brought up a small blue holographic controller. His fingers danced across its listless surface, bringing up a miniature galaxy map before him. He focused it in on the local cluster, and then to earth, watching the plane peacefully spin on its ceaseless revolution. He had always said that if humanity was to be saved, sacrifices would have to be made. this was no different here.
He knew that now that shepard was back with the alliance, he would have to play a game of cat and mouse, to capture the commander or otherwise. Such was the will of his masters, and he dare not dissappoint them...
Shepard, You face inevitability. Your greatest civilizations are doomed to fall, Your time WILL come, yet you press on. What is it that drives you, human? Is it love? Fear? Hope? or is it foolish courage...
Harbinger's words echoed across shepard's restless mind, lingering longer than the should have.
He groaned under the chaotic influence of a raging nightmare. He saw a vision similar to the one he had back on eden prime when he threw Ashley out of the way in an attempt to save her. Violent images raced through his head like a ferocious wind, coming together in a jumbled heap. He saw batarian colonists, the mass relay, project base, the reapers as they made their way towards the milky way galaxy like a predator waiting to strike. It was too much for him to handle.
Suddenly, just as soon as the vision sprang upon him, it left, leaving him staring at an image of earth. He knew just by looking at it that something terrible had befallen the planet. The surface was a black and blue color, almost lifeless before billowing pillars of smoke that reached up towards the sky, blotting out large portions of the surfaceworld from his view. Orange splotches of light peirced the veil, symbolizing great raging fires burning on the once proud capitol of humanity. It was a husk of its former glory. He began to feel a chilling, hopeless fear, lancing the marrow of his bones with feelings colder than ice. the vision began to fade out. Just then, he heard a shrill, blood curdling scream. it was the very same he heard years ago, the one he swore he would never hear again. It was the dying scream of his mother when the batarian slavers had hit his farm back on mindoir. he remembered walking across the scorched earth, across the burning fields to where his parents lay.
He howled into the darkness, feeling nothing but a sharp pull.
He awoke with a violent start, bolting upright and casting off his covers in his violent upheaval. Tremors ran through his arms as he clutched at his breast in an attempt to slow his thundering heart. Sweat beaded up and rolled off his searing forehead, stinging his eyes. He squinted, rubbing them. he then opened his eyes to get a look at where he was. He sighed a breath of palpable relief. He sat in the Captain's Quarters safely on his bed, the white soft material mattress warm against his still trembling body. The room was permeated by a veil of warm darkness, the same way he had left it the night before. It was silent, aside from his irregular breathing, the slight bubbling of water from the fish tank off in the distance, and the usual white noise from the ship's active engines and heat emission syncs. Above them, an observatory window sat in the curved ceiling, looking outside the top of the ship's outer hull. Stars raced by as a casual light trickled down, illuminating the framework and plates around it softly, the light rippling across their length. It gently crept down onto their bed, warming the commander's face. He smiled, welcoming the radiance.
He laid his head back down, feeling the pillow cave in under his weight. He had just about settled when he heard the sound of rustling covers and soft grumbling next to him. He froze. His heart began to race again as he looked over, before relaxing once more. He watched Tali fidget restlessly in her sleep next to him, the covers distorted and convoluted across her body as she settled. He smiled, feeling a dim amusement. She must be dreaming. he thought, wondering what she saw underneath her closed eyelids.
He watched the light play off her envirosuit, casting long shadows across the bed under her. It shined across the rubbery hermetic material, passing listlessly over the intricate white symbols she had drawn over its surface and over the many straps that held the individual parts in place. The golden colored plates glinted under the light, creating a soft shine. Her hood made of a deep rich purple cloth stood out amongst the rest, running down from the top of her head to her shoulders, replicating what her hair could not. a similar cloth ran down her hips, and over a small portion of her legs. Her suit was beautiful, but nothing compared to the individual underneath.
She stirred again, this time reaching an arm out lazily towards the commander, as if to feel for him. He smiled as he reached out and squeezed her hand gently, the glove warm against his bare skin.
"Dont worry, i'm still here." he whispered to her softly.
He leaned over to his right, releasing her hand as he reached over to turn the lamp on. He snaked his arm past the upturned shot glass, a droplet of alcohol left from the night before, and past his old dogtags, which he had retrieved from the shadow broker's lair and had immortalized in a frame to serve as a constant momento to his time with the alliance. with an audible click, the lamp turned on, bright but plain light spilling out over its ruddy brown lampshade. he looked back over to Tali, watching her stretch like a cat.
After a moment, she relaxed, looking at him lovingly from her side of the bed. She squinted, her silver stoic eyes dilating under the lamplight.
"Is something wrong?" shepard asked, already knowing the answer.
"No, its just... bright..." she said, shielding herself with an upturned hand.
he reached over again and lowered the brightness.
she lowered her hand, laying it down beside her.
"Better." she said.
"i can hardly see..." he said blandly.
She giggled. "But i can."
He swung his legs out to the side of the bed, the sheets rustling under him at the motion. He let his feet rest on the cold, ridged flooring, shuddering at the contact. after a moment, his eyes adjusted to the dark. The room almost seemed asleep when he looked over it a second time. He reached down and pulled his boots on, feeling relief at their warm comfort compared to that of the floor.
He heard the covers rustle behind him as tali crawled across the bed to take her place beside him, running a hand across his back in a gentle massage. He smiled happily, leaning over to kiss her unmasked face.
"Sleep well?" he asked his soul mate, leaning back so as to soak in her features.
She had a pale blue skin which shone faintly under the dim lighting. her silver eyes stood out prominently next to her messy brown bangs that spilled out from the hood above. her cheekbones were prominent, sticking out some when she smiled. She had an unimaginable beauty, in an exotic, alien sort of way.
"I slept better than that," she started, intensifying her massage, "Thanks to you, shepard." she concluded, fingering at the bedsheets under her.
"To be honest, i'm more worried about you." she said abruptly, her tone concerned.
"Oh?" he asked.
"You were tossing and turning violently last night, and you groaned multiple times. are you alright, shepard?" she asked, inching in a little closer as she wrapped her other arm around his chest, slowly embracing him.
"Yeah, i'm fine." he said after a moments hesitation.
She stopped, fixing him with her peircing gaze. "Shepard, i know better." she stated flatly, gesturing towards his sweat soaked sheets. He smiled weakly, he appreciated her concern, but hated the thought of recounting the memories.
"So you dont believe me?" he said playfully.
"No, i don't. What's wrong?" she asked, resuming her embrace.
He allowed himself a sly smile. Nothing escaped her.
He breifly recounted his nightmare vision, slowly and nervously at first, but picking up tempo as he got it off his chest. He ended up feeling much better after he let it out.
"Oh, keelah..." she said, looking as though she were deep in thought. She seemed to share an empathy with him, but she didn't mention it. "You might want to see chambers about that." she said after a long moment, sounding very much like miranda. Shepard laughed at the thought, ignoring the questioning glances she shot him.
It had been a round-a-bout month since the suicide mission. since the two revealed their feelings to eachother. During the recent events, they hadn't had much time together, as both were busy with various tasks. the last two weeks since "The Project" had been empty, allowing them to spend time together. Their feelings for eachother had grown since then. it went from simple love and affection to something far stronger. they had forged a relationship that most marriages had hoped to rival, and both tali and shepard cherished it.
He knew that the trial was around the corner. He just didnt know exactly when, hackett had left that part out of the debriefing. He had been sent to rescue hackett's old friend and undercover alliance agent Dr. Amanda Kenson from a batarian prison she had been sent to on terrorism charges. He rescued her from a torturous guard who was about to conduct ungodly procedures on her, rescuing her from the now stirred hornets nest. Following an old pattern, however, he left from one to another, leading up to the project base, a small remote operations base erected on the side of a massive asteroid. They had developed a plan to destroy the system's mass relay, so as to slow the inevitable reaper invasion. it did not go as they hoped, however, as their "Proof" of the invasion, an unshielded reaper artifact, had indoctrinated all of the personnel on the base. the doctor led the commander into a trap waiting at the artifact, capturing him as a result. he then had to fight his way through the stirred hive two days later, activating the project and finding out he had been kept on heavy anesthetics to keep him out. With only a few hours to spare, he found the doctor, who had attempted to overload a reactor. he adverted the overload, finding her in a final attempt to delay his efforts, resulting in her death and knocking him unconcious.
when he awoke, he had only a mere 30 minutes remaining. He fought his way through the bases outer cargo port, dodging through mechs and personell alike in an attempt to escape his destruction. He signaled the normandy in through a comms array, before being confronted by a hologram of the reaper, harbinger. he shared a defiant speech with the machine, before it left him with an ultimatum. He still remembered its words as they echoed throughout his mind. the project was completed, with the normandy rescuing him just moments before the meteor struck the relay, destroying the entire system and murdering 300,500 innocent batarian colonists. hackett warned him of a trial, even though he felt the commander deserved a medal during the debreifing. he had sat with that on his mind for the following weeks.
Tali brought him back from space by resuming her massage.
He thought of the next few days. He wanted them to be special, right before the trial. He wanted to take tali on a vacation, to get away from all that they were facing at the present moment. He grew excited at the thought, various locations racing through his head.
"Tali, i wanted to ask you something." he said, his excitement showing in the form of a devious grin on his face.
"what is it shep?" she asked, her tone inquisitive.
He stood, stretching his weary and sore legs for the first time that day. he grabbed her hand, pulling her up with him. he held his grip on both of her hands, the same way he did the first time.
"I've been thinking..." he started, "I wanted to take us out on a vacation, you know before the trial, to escape all of THIS." he said, gesturing around him, but not at the room. at the ship in general.
Her gaze turned to loving, then stern as she wrestled with his hand for a better grip on one of them.
"I'd love nothing more, but shepard, i hate surprises, and you know that!" she said.
His grin widened in devilish delight. "I know, thats the fun part." he said slyly.
She couldnt help but smile. The commander released her hands, walking across the room, up a small set of steps and over to his large wooden desk that sat sequestered off in the corner. He pushed aside papers and folders alike, all of which clustered around his private terminal. he powered the small machine on, the holographic screen comming on with a small beep, painting the surrounding area with its faint orange radiance. He looked up and over at her behind the model ship rack, looking over the top of a turian cruiser. she walked over to him.
"besides, i have our whole day planned out." he said, with the same tone as before.
She slowly began to embrace him.
"Is that another human custom?" she asked.
He laughed, wrapping his arms around her slender, petite body.
"Yes." he said, nodding. "Yes it is."
The couple shared the moment together. Shepard then grabbed her rich purple visor from the desk, gazing into the reflective void before him, looking at a slanted image of himself. he looked up, then reluctantly fitted it to her helmet, sealing it in place. the couple then departed the room, heading towards the elevator. The walked through the small corridor, his boots clanking loudly against the flooring. a small black pedistal stuck out of the surrounding smooth silver plated walls. EDI's Holographic avatar sprang up.
"Good morning commander, would you like me to delete all security footage of the captain's quarters last night?" she asked in her usual monotone voice.
"Good morning EDI." he replied curtly, his tone annoyed. "Yes. delete all the footage from last night."
"Done." she said after a moment before retreating back into the pad.
The doors to the elevator opened quickly as they approached, revealing its small black interior. The walls were lined with a black plating, with a railing running around the elevator for lounging as it made its descent or ascent. A little holopad at the rear sprang to life as they stopped in front of it. Shepard hit ENGINEERING. The doors shut and the elevator began its slow descent.
Tali pulled him into a tight embrace.
it was today that the alliance engineers finished their upgrades to the normandy. Being that it was developed off of the origional normandy, the alliance felt that it was still their property, so they took it apart and rebuilt it with new militarized upgrades and standards. most of the old parts remained, like the captain's quarters, but with new bits and peices here and there now.
After long, the elevator stopped, the doors opening on the engineering deck. The white noise from the humming mass effect core was loud as it greeted them when they stepped off. the stood in a hallway, leading to the port cargo area where grunt had been staying, the starboard cargo, where zaeed had chosen to stay and with two doors on either side of the elevator, leading to both main engineering and down into the bowels of the deck, where jack had chosen to stay. the pair proceeded through the door, ignoring the staircase that led to jack's hidey hole, and into main engineering, where they stopped.
Tali gasped in a fury.
A small stubby man with a loosely trimmed beard and a shaved head sat working on her terminal.
She stormed angrily towards him, grumbling and ranting under her breath.
The two began to argue.
"What do you think you doing?" she asked, her tone rising.
"My job. What do you think you're doing? i have clearance to be here. get lost lady..." the man retorted.
She started to tremble with fury.
"as head engineer, i wont 'Get lost' so long as idiots like you are fiddling with my ship!" she exclaimed.
he turned to face her. it was an amusing sight to see the two fight.
"Well, Excuse me Quarian! you need to calm down!" the man said, throwing his hands up in a rude gesture.
"What you need is a swift kick to the head, you Bosh'Tet!" she said, poking a finger at him, stopping only inches from his face.
with a violent exclamation, the man stormed off to a different part of the room, leaving tali standing there at her terminal.
As before, Please, submit a review telling me what you think. every thought helps me to improve the story :)