"How long has it been since you did that Richard?" Kyana asked, her chin resting on his chest, hand running over his inner thigh.
"About four years. Since before I joined the force. Why, was I that bad?" Richard ran his hand over Kyana's bluish butt. He was entranced by the designs on her skin as he traced them. "I keep a few condoms around just incase I need them."
"I'm glad you do. I'm not looking for another daughter yet. Maybe if you're around in a few years…" She laughed as Richard's face turned a light shade of red. "I wish I could stay for more, and I can see you do too, but I really should go and oversee the interrogation of that crazed human who was cutting up the Quarian." Kyana got up and tossed on some of Richard's clothing. It was a little baggy on her, but since her dress was a little torn up, it was the only thing she could reasonably wear.
"I'm coming with you, but first I need to see how Rina is doing." Kyana gave him a reproachful look. "I'm not going to interfere, but as Halona's representative while she and Vorx are away, and both Rina and Gemini are indisposed, I need to be there." He looked defiantly into Kyana's eyes. He realized this was his former boss, someone who had been alive nearly twenty times as long as he had, and he was demanding something from her.
"Maybe I was wrong about the few years. You can come, but you will be behind the glass. If you want to ask a question, you need my permission. Take it or don't come." She extended her hand to Richard. Without a moment's hesitation Richard took her hand, "Good, now that you know who is in charge, let's go see how your friends are doing." The finished getting dressed and headed out.
It took them about half an hour to make it to Camora hospital. Richard walked up to the front desk to register.
"Hello. My name is Richard Kadimus and this is Kyana R'Donis. We are here to see a Quarian who was brought in last night. I think i might need to register her." The Human behind the desk looked at the screen in front of him.
"The only Quarian who came in is a Rina'Vona nar Rella. It looks like she has been registered in full already. You two were cleared by the attending physician to have family rights. She is in room 37, Just keep the noise to a minimum." It was then that the Human looked over to see that Richard was holding a Geth platform. He sat in silent shock as RIchard and Kyana went down the hall to the room indicated.
Richard peeked in to see two Quarians and one Geth standing over Rina's bed. He could tell by the machines hooked up to her that she still lived and this was not some version of Last Rites. They entered the room as quietly as they could. All three awake occupants turned anyways to face them. Richard carefully laid Gemini's body on the floor in the corner and turned to the waiting trio.
"I'm Richard Kadimus. I am part of the Spectre Team that Rina'Vona nar Rella is a part of. And this is Captain R'Donis of C-sec. We were there With Gemini when this happened." Richard was unsure of what else to say to them. Neither of the Quarians had removed their helmets, so he could not judge their reactions. It was the Geth who finally broke the scilence.
"I am glad that you saved Creator Rina, and so is her sibling Gemini. I am known as Bonta. There are Creator Rina's parents. Jayya'Vona vas Rella and Heptep'Vona vas Rella."the two bowed their heads as their names were spoken, "I apologize for their silence, they are overcome with grief and relief about their only child. We all wish to extend our thanks to you for saving our children, but if you would not mind, we would prefer only our own company for right now."
"That's ok. I only wanted to see how Rina was and to return Gemini's platform to them."
"Captain R'donis, please tell me you have the monster in custody who did this to my daughter." Jayya pleaded, her voice breaking.
"Richard caught him and we are now going to interrogate him, Do not worry, I will not let him get away with what he has done." Jayya nodded and returned to Heptep's arms, gazing at Rina's recumbent form. Kyana excused herself and RIchard, leading him out of the hospital.
"It's hard seeing Rina like that. The looks her parents gave us." Richard couldn't lift his head at all during the walk to the Station where the Dr. Lenon was being held. Kyana led the way, becoming more and more the Captain, and less the lover wearing her lovers clothing, When they reached the C-sec headquarters, She changed into an officer's uniform and led the way to the interrogation room. Richard sat behind the glass with the technician.
Richard wrung his hands as he waited for Lenon to come to the room on the other end of the glass. After half an hour of waiting, the figure of Dr. Lenon was carried into the room and dumped in the one chair in the room. Kyana was standing just at the edge of the camera's view, leaning on the wall. The room remained motionless once the door closed. He waited for Kyana to start the questioning, but she remained motionless, staring at the Human.
Dr. Lenon's body started shaking. It took a few moments for everyone to realize that he was laughing. That laughter started to bubble up and rang out in the room, reaching an almost manic level. To her credit, Kyana did not react to the laughter. It subsided after a minute.
"I know what you me, you don't even need to ask, you Asari tramp. You all want to know why I did this, why I would chop up that Quarian and maybe even why I chopped up all of the others you found in my hold. I'll never speak about why to you or to anyone else who grovels to alien overlords." He spat on the floor about a foot from Kyana's foot, but not for lack of trying.
Kyana peeled herself off the wall and walked slowly over to the chair, clowly circling it. "You must know that Asari can read peoplee's minds, so I can just go in there and find the information I need."
"You wont though. I know that it's against policy, and you wont break the rules to catch me, you Asari don't have the stomach for it." Dr. Lenon's arrogant voice laughed out. "I know the law, and you know you have lost. You may get me, but that is all your corrupt laws will get." Richard was taken aback by this exchange. Lenon knew he was captured, but did not seem to be perturbed by it, in fact he still seemed happy. Something wasn't adding up with the evidence at hand. While there were still racists and specists, they were few and far between. Often those who were more educated had less of these leanings.
He was so engrossed in tring to peice this man together that he almost missed Kyana signal him to come in. As he walked into the room, Kyana retorted, "I may be bound by the law, but Spectres are not." She walked out of the room as Richard entered. He breathed deeply, knowing that he was now possing as a Spectre. While he did work for one, it felt odd and almost wrong to be using Halona's authority without her present.
Richard paced the room a few times, trying not to look at Dr. Lenon. He needed to think of an approach to this interrigation. Finally, he sighed and leaned against the mirror, looking at Dr. Lenon, trying to see any clue that he missed.
"Don't you want to know why? Isn't that why you are here? To find out why I did this? You could easily put me away with the evidence and never even need to interrogate me, but the question of why is eating away at you." Richard found it hard to look the man in the eye, but he forced himself to. "I know it's eating away at you, always having to answer to an alien. You chaff at the bit, knowing that you are supposed to be their supierior. Haven't you ever wondered why the Reapoers chose the humans? Why they were preserving humans and none of the other races? Haven't you ever wondered?" He started laughing manically.
Ricahrd couldn't take the man's attitude any longer and strode up to him. He grabbed the man by his shirt and wrench upwards. The shirt tore away as a small amount of Richard's energy bled into his grip. The man fell to the ground, half naked. Richard stared in horror at what he saw. Blazoned into the man's flesh was a symbol of horror. In an act of pure instinct, RIchard summoned his powers and sent the man flying back in a shockwave that pasted his remains onto the wall. He barged out of the room. Kyana tried to stop Richard, but he brushed past her. He pulled back to hit the wall, but before he could, Kyana slammed him into the wall. It was a gentle slam, but Richard glared at her.
"RIchard, what the hell was that! You just killed a suspect, and a possible lead to a large group. Now we have nothing!" She yelled at him and increased the pressure on Richard.
"Didn't you see the mark on his chest?" Richard looked calmly at her from where he was being forced into the wall. "It's an old Human symbol of hatred and supremecy. He had no right existing anymore. As to where they were, most likely a human colony, most likely one of the old ones."
"Can you find them? If you have Halona's access to secret documents and files and such, you find this cult. If you can't then I will have to put you up on murder charges." Richard gazed into Kyana's eyes as they teared up. She was determined to see the law carried out, no matter what.
"I will find them. I have more motivation than just my own freedom, do not worry. At least too much." Kyana let Richard down and marched away from him. As Richard left the precinct, Tannis stopped him.
"What was that about?" She asked him, a whisper of concern in her voice.
"Kya..Captain R'Donis gave me an ultimatum. Catch a group of terrorists or be brought up on charges."
"Were you about to use her familiar name? Are you two?" Tannis's eyes grew wide as Richard blushed. Tannis punched Richard's arm. "You need to be careful with her. I'm happy you finally got laid, but don't upset the Captain, ok." Richard nodded.
Richard headed back to his apartment. On the way, he sent out a message to Halona, Vorx, and Gemini that he needed their help. He had a lead on a human terrorist group. He started making dinner for Niala, knowing she would be home this evening. His hands were shaking while he was cooking, both from fear and rage. He was so intent on the cooking that he was startled when he finally looked up to see the table was set for 4, with a fifth seat with no place setting. Gemini and Niala were sitting at the table. Niala had her computer open, and Gemini was helping her with some of her school work.
Richard set the food onto the table and gave Niala a hug. "How is my little dove doing."
"I'm fine dad. What about you? I found a shredded Asari dress in the trash today. What happened?" Niala closed her computer and looked back and forth between Gemini and Richard.
"I was on a date with Captain R'Donis when Gemini called me. Rina had gone missing. We investigated and found a human had kidnapped her and was mutilating her. There was a fight and we saved Rina. Kyana, I mean Captain R'Donis, helped me get home after RIna was taken to the hospital. She stayed the night and took some of my clothes this morning."
"An accurate, if abridged, summary of what happened." Gemini responded.
"Ok, but if all of the happened last night, why is Gemini here today? And why did they insist on setting for 5 people?" Niala looked around. "Is your girlfriend coming over?"
"We got into a small argument. She isn't coming over tonight. I invited Gemini and the Spectre Halona over. We have some work we need to discuss. As long at Halona allows it, you can stay." Niala looked sceptical but reopened her computer and continued to work along with Gemini.
A few minutes later the door opened and Halona and Vorx walked in. Neither of them seemed to surprised to see the table set. They quickly sat down and waited for Richard to start speaking. He looked at them for a while before sighing.
"I need your help. There is a human supremacist group that is resurfacing and I have to take it down, or else I go up for murder charges."
"What! What did you do dad?" Niala shouted, aghast at what her father just said.
"I killed the man who cut up Rina. It was a reaction to finding out what group he worked for, or at least what they stand for." He tossed a piece of paper onto the table. Halona picked it up.
"It looks like a cross with bent arms." She shrugged.
"It was the symbol of one of the worst organizations in Human history. These seem to be taking that group's ideologies and marrying it to the remainder of Cerberus. If this gets out of hand, we could see a resurgance of the Reapers."
"What! Shepard got them to leave peacefully!" Vorx shouted out.
"They are claiming that humans are superior because of all the species in our cycle, only humans were chosen to be made into a Reaper. That is the superiority they are claiming. Their experiments are to find a way to destroy and discredit the other races." They sat around the table for a while, silent except for the clinking of silverware as Niala and Vorx ate. Richard and Halona ate at a much slower rate, playing with their food.
"Ancestors! I can't believe I forgot!" Niala grab her bag and started flipping through the OSD's she had from school. Finding the one she wanted, she brandished it to everyone at the table. "This is a report we have to watch about the growing unrest and isolationism of some of the human colonies."
Gemini took the disk and put it into it's Omni-tool. "This report says that there are human insurrections against aliens, mainly Turians and Salarians, in a system in the Hades Gamma cluster, They appear to be spouting some sort of rhetoric. I am unable to grasp all of the cultural references."
"Here, these might help. Just try not to hate humanity too much after integrating all of this." Richard started working on his Omni-Tool. "Huh, even with your Spectre Status Halona, I cannot access some of the information." Everyone looked at him, eyebrows raised. " I need special permission from the Alliance to access it, since it was declared a War Crime and a Crime against Humanity. Here is what I was able to get."
Gemini took a minute to collate all of the information. "I can see the parallels they are drawing to an Old Human Regime from the 20th century of Terra. I believe that Richard is correct, that if we do not stop this movement now we will fall into another war."
"Well, I guess our objective is simple. Go to the main headquarters of this new organization and unload our ammo clips on them." Vorx said, pushing his empty plate away. "How bad can they be?"
"Bad enough, there people are fanatical and full of zealous anger. I think we will need something more powerful than our normal load out. They may have even taken over most of the planetary government by now. Halona, do you have access to something better than what we already have?"
"I may be able to get some old experimental heatsink weapons. They were Spectre only back in the day, but are relics now."
"Wait, have you been holding out?" Vorx looked almost hurt.
"I need the council's permission to get them." Halona's eyes widened as Vorx started to push her out the door. "I guess we will meet you at the ship with the relic weapons." They heard Vorx's maniacal laughter even when they were out of the apartment. Richard and Niala exchanged glances.
"I'm sorry dear. I have to go. If i don't i will probably be arrested for murder." Richard pleaded. Niala's mandibles clenched together in sorrow and anger. She did not want her father to go, especially since he might be going into the start of a war. She didn't want to lose the man who adopted her, and no matter what he did, she was probably going to lose him. Her shoulders shuddered.
Her soft sobs were interrupted as she felt someone hug her. She looked up to see Gemini holding her. The confusion stopped her tears long enough to realize that Gemini was going through their own loss at the moment and gave them a hug back. Richard nearly broke into tears at the sight of them. He went over and gave both of them a hug,
After about 10 minutes of silent crying, Niala broke away. "I'm sorry. I don't want you to go. I want you to be safe."
"I know dear, but I need to do this to keep you safe. With them around, no one is safe, not even humans. That is why I do this job, to keep you safe." Niala nodded and quickly ran into her room. The door slammed behind her. Richard and Gemini did the dishes while they waited for Vorx to comm them. They finished quickly and Richard knocked on Niala's door.
"Honey, can I come in?" A muffled no came from the room. "Is there someone you want me to call over." A muffled yes. "Pevev?" Another yes. Richard pulled out his Omni-tool and contacted Pevev, asking if he wanted to come over. He said he would be there in 10 minutes. Since they did not have school the next day, Richard made sure there was enough food in the house and gave Pevev permission to stay overnight if Niala wanted him to.
"Gemini, what type of armor and barriers do you have?"
"SI light ablative over a mainly ferrous body with high frequency redundant shield generators. They are not meant for sustained combat. They are meant mainly to help keep creator Rina safe from smaller skirmishes."
"Come on." Richard grinned. "I know a place where we can get some stronger armor." Richard led Gemini to the C-sec main station in their part of the wards. The whole station grew quite as Richard entered. All of the officers were eyeing him with either contempt or pity. Gemini, who just showed another true emotion, seemed completely oblivious to the situation. Richard swallowed hard and walked up to a door marked 'Captain R'Donis'. He knocked and went in when she answered.
He almost wished he had not when he saw the withering look she gave him. His barriers immediately flared up in preparation for her biotic attack, but the attack never came.
"Giving yourself up already? I thought there was more to you than that." Her voice sounded hurt.
"No, I...I need a favor. I need heavy armor for both myself and Gemini here. We found the planet where they are located, but we may be going up against nearly an entire planet. These people are fanatics. Gemini and myself have no armor that would allow us to live more than a minute or so in a huge battle."
"You can have some of our riot gear. It should keep you alive for a while. You can take as many grenades and clips as you need."
"Grenades will be welcome. We will not need clips as Halona Spectre is acquiring some heatsink weapons for us." Gemini intoned.
"Good, that will be safer." Kyana nodded. She came around the desk and grabbed Richard's head. She forced him into a kiss. The kiss felt cold and wet until Richard realized that the extra cold and wet was from tears coming down her face. "You bastard. I can't believe I was falling for you. And then you go and get yourself mixed up in this. You have a daughter, a Mother, a grandmother even! And what about me? All of these hearts that you are going to break if you don't come back. Now, get out of here before I start to hate you." She pushed Richard and Gemini out of her office.
Taking a deep breath, Richard led the way to the armory and pulled out a fine suit of medium armor. He had trained in full heavy riot gear, but it did not give him the mobility he required.
"Ah, Tartarus Striker Armor. Perfect for boosting Biotics. What about you Gemini, anything stand out?"
"I have found some extra ablative coverings and a small cyclonic reactor." Richard turned around and saw Gemini looked twice its size in girth. The ablatives were not too thick, but the generator and cables was almost as big as Gemini.
"I think you should go for something a little smaller. How about a full set of these Mycinic generators? This will give you another layer of shielding, and this one is segmented, so even if you lose a section, your main shields will cover the zone till it regenerates." Gemini's top two head plates rose as they quickly slipped the generators into slots around their body.
They grabbed a few bags of grenades and left to meet the others at the ship. The station was silent until they left the front doors and a buzz of conversation erupted behind them. Richard felt lucky to have made it out of there alive, but then what he was doing was more likely to get him killed.
They made it to the ship a little before Vorx and Halona. Gemini and Richard quickly stored the gear and made sure the medical supplied were all stocked up. They heard Vorx's deep maniacal laugh as he neared the ship and they came out to see him armed to the teeth with weapons. Halona was behind him, similarly over armed. Vorx was still laughing as he entered the ship.
"Has he been doing that the entire time?" Richard asked Halona, one eyebrow raised.
"Yes, the whole time. I love him, but sometimes he is just too much." She smiled as the krogan's laugh reached a new height when he saw all of the grenades. "Here are the weapons we picked up for you. There was an old Heatsink Shotgun, Spectre Class. It was set up with frictionless material and an enormous barrel. He took a pair of pistols armed with smoother barrels and rapid fire mechanisms. He put tasers on the ends of the pistols and strapped them onto his waist. He flung the shotgun over his shoulder.
Richard was about to walk away when he noticed something special on the far end of the table. He walked over and found what looked like a sword. "What is this doing here? I didn't think swords would work against modern ceramics and barriers."
"These ones are special." Vorx smiled. "They are a set of melee weapons that the council commissioned with the heavy melee of the Reaper Invasion. They have mass effect fields and biotic reactives in them to help them cut through any materials."
"Wait, so you're saying that this sword becomes more powerful the more of my biotic energy i force into it? Who would make such a thing?" Vorx smiled again and laughed.
"A Krogan!" He bellowed. Richard strapped the sword to his hip. He had a lot of weapons, more than normal, but now he felt ready to take on a whole corrupt cult, well, at least armed enough to try.
They all piled into Halona's ship and sped off to the Hades Gamma Cluster. On the way they tried to find out more about the group. From what they could tell of public speeches, they were leaving the terrorist aspect behind and using rhetoric to sway people's minds. It seemed to be working too. After the Reaper Invasion, with so many dead and governments in shambles, the Council had tried to crack down and form a tighter hold on the systems it had.
While this had been good for the races who had lived under the Council for generations, many humans were upset. They felt as if what remained of their government was rolling over to their alien overlords, taking from the humans to help all the other races. This was the main core of their rhetoric. Richard had to admit that he could understand the feeling of these people.
Humans had been harvested before and during the invasion. Not just killed but harvested, and it was only because of Shepard that anyone in the galaxy did anything to save humanity. And now Shepard is gone, but the governments who did nothing to help them remain. If you looked at history that way, which a good number of humans on the far reaches of Alliance and Citadel space did, the rhetoric of these isolationists and supremacists spoke to you.
It took them twelve hours to reach the system with the cult. By that time they had come to a decision: the leader had to die. They were not going to capture and bring him to trial. A trial would only inflame the people. They would make sure that there was no one left alive in the compound. RIchard hated the idea of killing so many people, but he could not let them ruin the galaxy his daughter was growing up in.