Shepard's Last Mission.
Chapter 1
Garrus looked up the long walkway that led to the large home of his former crewmates. It had been a couple of months since he last saw Liara and Shepard, and the couple's invitation to visit was enough of a push to motivate him to leave Palaven for a bit.
As the turian made his way towards the seaside home he admired the garden that one of the two women must have been tending to for quite some time. He guessed Liara, but part of him hoped it was Shepard. The novelty of seeing his old Commander in retirement had not yet worn off and seeing Shepard doing ordinary activities often made him chuckle.
As Garrus made his approach to the front door he took a moment to wipe his clothes clean with a brush of his hands and straighten his coat. He raised his three fingered hand and pressed the doorbell. Much quicker than he expected the front door swung open and Liara T'Soni stood before him. The asari was dressed very casually; she wore what appeared to Garrus to be one of Shepard's t-shirts.
Liara's face lit up when she laid her eyes on him. "Garrus! Good to see you!" Liara greeted him, wrapping him in a tight hug.
"Always nice to see you as well, Liara." Garrus replied.
Liara took his hand and led him inside the couple's large home. "Please come in!" she exclaimed as she dragged him into the living room.
Garrus admired the tall, sloped ceiling of the house, which for once did not make him feel cramped. A rarity in non-turian households.
"I always forget how nice this place is. I guess being the galaxy's biggest information broker has its perks."
"Indeed it does." Liara agreed, taking a seat.
"Which reminds me, that garden outside is wonderful. Your work or Shepard's?" Garrus asked trying to hide his interest in the question.
Liara smirked, "Oh please that was Shepard completely."
Garrus celebrated a little victory to himself. "Where is she, by the way?"
"Not sure. She was taking Benezia out for a walk earlier; I imagine she will be back soon. Can I get you anything?" Liara replied, standing from her seat and heading to the kitchen.
"No, I'm all right. So how are things?" Garrus said as he followed the Asari.
"Great. Shepard and Benezia go together better than I ever would have imagined. And my business as the Broker has been quite profitable lately. Feron has been making some aggressive expansions in the Terminus and I've been getting more intel than ever. " Liara answered as she poured herself a drink.
"You're not worried about working in the Terminus?" .
"Please, Garrus, I'm the Shadow Broker. If I wasn't working in the Terminus Systems I wouldn't be very good at my job. Still, it is worrisome dealing in such an unstable region of the galaxy. "
"Well, I guess you know what you're doing."
"What about you, Garrus? How are things back home?" Liara asked, sipping her drink.
"Good. Everything is finally back in working order. The Primarch keeps threatening me with a position by his side. "
"And you don't want one?"
"As much as I love bureaucracy, no. But I still do a thing or two for Victus when he needs it. Part of the reason I came out to Thessia today."
"And how are things with Tali?" Liara asked with a smile.
"Great, actually. She had to do some Admiral business on Rannoch otherwise I would have brought her. Actually, I was hoping to ask the two of you something."
Before Liara could respond, Shepard came through the front door with Benezia in her arms. The small Asari child had her hands wrapped around Shepard's hair and was tugging violently; each tug was followed by a loud "Ow!" from Shepard.
"Liara, I don't know what it is with this kid and my hair but I'm gonna be bald by the end of the week." Shepard said as she glared at the handful of hair her daughter had just yanked from her head.
Garrus walked into the entryway to greet his old friend.
"Might be a good look for you, Commander." Garrus said with a chuckle.
"Garrus, you came!" Shepard said with a surprised smile on her face.
"Figured I'd drop in to see how the galaxy's greatest dad was doing." He said.
"Ha ha." Shepard said dryly. "Here, can you take her for a second before she scalps me?" She said handing the baby to the turian.
Garrus carefully took the child from her hands and was surprised at how heavy she was.
Garrus raised the tiny Asari above his head. "You are getting big, Benezia!"
Shepard greeted her wife with a kiss. "Miss me?"
"Of course. How was your walk?"
"Nice, little girl almost took a few steps on her own. She's getting there pretty quickly." Shepard answered. "So Garrus what brings you here? I didn't exactly think you would accept our dinner invitation so soon."
"Actually, I was about to discuss that with Liara but now that you're here I'd like you to be a part of the discussion." Garrus said as he bounced Benezia up and down, earning a giggle of joy from the child.
"All right, shoot." Shepard said, crossing her arms.
"I'm thinking about proposing to Tali. Thoughts?" Garrus blurted out to his unsuspecting audience.
Shepard's eyes widened in surprise. "Wow, that's big! Absolutely go for it."
"Agreed you've known each other for a long time and there's no doubt in my mind she will accept." Liara said softly.
"You don't think it's too soon?" Garrus asked as Benezia ran her little fingers over his scar.
"Are you kidding? No way. You two have been at it since our wedding." Shepard reminded him.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm a little nervous is all. " Garrus admitted.
"How were you planning on proposing?" Liara asked.
"Haven't thought about it yet. Figured I'd involve you two." Garrus answered.
Suddenly the Turian's omni-tool lit up with an incoming message. Liara took her daughter from Garrus's arms. Garrus opened the device and checked the message.
"Damn. The Primarch wants me to meet some Asari official in the center of town." He said, disappointed.
"Well, why don't you go take care of business and I'll grab some dextro food to prepare for dinner. We will see you tonight," Liara suggested.
"All right. Sorry about this, I'll be back soon. We'll discuss this over dinner." Garrus said, and hurried out the door.
Chapter 2
Jane Shepard sat on the couch rubbing a rag over her Avenger in an attempt to make it shine before locking it back in it's glass display case. It had been a long time since she had fired a gun and although part of her missed the action, she was in no hurry to break that streak.
Still some part of her paranoid brain made her keep some relics from her Military past. She still kept a set of N7 armor for herself and a separate set for Liara, and she maintained a full armory. It was all rather unnecessary however, the two women were very careful to find a home far enough away from the general population to not be bothered. Still, some part of Shepard kept her on edge from time to time, as if she expected the Reapers to return. Jane finished with the Assault Rifle returned it to the display as Liara joined her in the room.
"Benezia is finally asleep." Liara said, taking a seat next to Shepard.
"Good. I might need a haircut to even out the recent makeover she gave me. You game?"
Liara smirked. "You really want me to cut your hair?"
"Sure, why not? You did a good job last time and it's not like I'm going to find a barber on Thessia. Plus I'm tired of cutting it myself."
"All right, I suppose it's worth a try. Garrus just messaged me; he said he will be here soon."
"That gives us some time alone." Shepard said as her hand found it's way onto Liara's thigh.
Liara blushed. "We shouldn't, we could wake her." Liara demurred trying to deny Shepard's advances. But it only made Shepard want her more.
"I can be quiet. How about you?" Shepard said as she squeezed the Doctor's leg.
"I'm not sure; if it's anything like last time, then no."
Shepard giggled, "Well I guess we are gonna have to risk it." She replied as she leaned in for a kiss.
Their lips were almost together when a glowing blue orb appeared beside them.
"Doctor T'Soni, you have an urgent message from operative Feron." Glyph said.
Shepard let out a disappointed sigh, which Liara joined her in.
"Put him through to the monitor room Glyph. " Liara said before giving Shepard a quick peck on the lips. "We'll continue this in a moment."
"You know better than to tease me Liara."
Liara walked into her Broker command center. The room resembled her set up aboard the Normandy but on a much larger scale. Monitors lined the walls and a set of 4 consoles lay on the Doctor's desk. Liara took a seat in front of the consoles and opened the comm link with Feron. The vidscreen was nothing but static when the link was established. Liara narrowed her eyes and checked the signal. It was indeed connected to Feron's Omni-tool, but where was he? Suddenly the Drell's voice came through the speakers.
"Li…Liara?" Feron said, his voice sounded weak and his breath was labored.
Liara instantly shot up in her seat as she heard the pain in the Drell's voice. "Feron, what's wrong? Where are you?!" she shouted frantically.
The vidscreen finally connected properly and displayed an image of Feron. Liara wished it had remained static. The drell was severely beaten and was missing an eye.
"Goddess, Feron! What happened!?" Liara screamed. She wanted to cover her eyes but she was unable to pull her eyes away from the gruesome sight.
Shepard came running into the room when she heard her wife's screams. When she saw the vidscreen she didn't bother asking what was wrong.
"Liara…I'm sorry." Feron said. He was losing consciousness fast.
"Sorry? For what?" Liara demanded.
Feron coughed producing blood from his motuh. "I tried to stay quiet, but they were relentless. They know Liara…they know who and where you are."
Liara's eyes widened with fear. "What!?"
Shepard stepped up to the console. "Who's "they"?" she demanded.
"Not sure…batarians, some new info broker wannabe. But he's got a lot of men and money to finance them. …They're coming, you need to get out of there…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…." Feron said before a final exhale of breath left his mouth.
Liara placed her hands over her face and began to frantically pace around the room.
"Goddess I… I don't know what to do!" Liara said as panic over took her.
"Calm down! We need to think." Shepard said trying to calm her. But it wasn't working. Liara seemed to be hyperventilating.
Shepard pulled her by the hand into the kitchen. She poured her a glass of water and handed it to Liara who accepted it with shaking hands. Liara took several chugs from the drink and seemed to calm down a bit.
"Okay Liara, think. Who could be behind this? And how long do we have?" Shepard asked.
"I'm…I'm not sure. Nothing in my networks has found any reference of a batarian equipped to execute a plan such as this. Feron was in the Terminus System so perhaps we have enough time to…" Suddenly Liara's glass exploded coating both women in water.
It took a moment for Shepard to understand what had happened but she had already tackled Liara down to the kitchen floor before the next bullet came through the window. The kitchen erupted into a storm of debris as bullets began to fly through the windows and walls. Liara covered her face from the flying glass but Shepard was already full of adrenaline. She grabbed her wife's hand and crawled below the bullet paths, pulling the asari behind her.
The couple made their way into Benezia's room who was now crying loudly.
"I need to get to my gun. Keep her safe in here!" Shepard said and ran back into the living room before Liara could protest.
Shepard kept low, crawling on the ground until she could reach the display holding the old Avenger. The bullets had stopped flying for now but she wasn't taking any chances. She removed one of her shoes and used it to smash the glass containing the rifle and removed it. She rolled across the room and opened the stash of thermal clips she kept under the desk. As she loaded the clip into the gun, bullets resumed flying through the walls. Shepard was trying her best to remain calm under the pressure but it had been a very long time since she had been in a fight. Still, she was one of the best and she was confident she could take out a couple hired guns. She finished loading the weapon and waited for another pause in fire before making her way back to the kitchen.
The kitchen was almost unrecognizable now; it was a wasteland of broken glass and wood following the initial attack. Shepard flipped the rifle's scope open and carefully peered through the window to find the shooter. She got lucky the glare of the setting sun reflected off the scope of the shooter and Shepard let loose a hail of bullets that all hit their mark. She could hear the batarian cry out in pain as he rolled around on the ground outside the home. Shepard fired off another round to finish the job and the batarian's cries ceased.
Shepard knew that it wasn't over. There was no way a single shooter was hired to take down Liara but she saw no more contacts out the kitchen window. Shepard crept back to the front of the home. As Shepard took cover under the window that overlooked the front of the house Liara carefully opened Benezia's door and crawled to her side.
"What's the plan?" Liara asked. A piece of glass must have hit her face because a gash on her cheek was spewing purple blood.
"Keep Benezia in her room. Go grab yourself a rifle and two kinetic barriers from the closet in our room. Stay low and get back to me here." Shepard ordered. She was speaking in a voice she hadn't used in years, the voice of a Commander.
Liara instantly complied and crawled her way to the bedroom. She fumbled through their clothes and pulled out an old N7 Valkyrie and the two barriers Shepard kept.
Shepard was still crouched under the window when Liara returned. The Commander took her barrier from her and activated it.
"I spotted five contacts, all armed with either shotguns or heavy pistols."
"All right, how do we deal with them?" Liara asked, activating her own barrier and loading a thermal clip into her rifle.
Shepard peeked back out the window and noticed that the five batarians had begun to rally outside the couple's home. One of them made a point of stepping on her garden. She would kill him first.
"They are grouping outside for another attack. I'm gonna try and get them talking. Wait for me to make a move then hit them with a singularity and open fire." Shepard ordered.
"Wait! You're not going out there." Liara said, fearfully clutching Shepard's arm.
"We need to get all the information we can get from them. I've got an idea, Liara, I'll be fine. Just stick to the plan." Shepard made her move for the front door.
Shepard kicked the front door open and took cover from the inevitable stream of bullets that would follow the action. She waited for a break to speak up.
"I'm going to give you bug eyed freaks one chance to leave!" Shepard shouted.
An expected laugh came from the group outside.
"I don't think so, honey! Why don't you fork that asari bitch of yours over and we'll kill you and the baby quick. How's that sound?" The batarian ringleader hollered back.
"Well, how about you fulfill a dead woman's final request. Who sent you?" Shepard barked back.
"Killian Tagar sends his regards to the soon to be deceased Shadow Broker and her pet, the great Commander Shepard." The batarian replied.
Shepard was somewhat surprised that the fool actually answered the question.
"Good to know!" Shepard said, and turned into the doorframe, squeezing the trigger.
Liara reaction was almost instantaneous. The Asari had three of the goons trapped in a singularity while Shepard landed a precision shot into the forehead of the garden stomper. The batarian's head exploded into goo that coated her flowers before she moved her attention to the ringleader. Liara opened fire on the floating men before finishing them off with a warp detonation. Shepard peppered the shocked ringleader's kneecaps with four well-placed shots. The batarian dropped his weapon and fell the ground clutching his wounds.
Before the overly confident fool could regain his weapon Shepard was on top of him pressing all her weight into a stomp on the ringleader's wounds. He screamed in agony as Shepard turned him over to face her.
"Okay now we get to have a little chat. Killian Tagar; you're going to tell me everything you know about him, NOW!" Shepard demanded pointing her rifle in the batarian's face.
"I don't know him beyond being hired. He's a fellow batarian, it's the only reason I took the job. Rich, judging by his payment…and he hates both of you." The batarian grunted out.
These guys really were amateurs, Shepard thought. She didn't even get a chance to enjoy herself before he gave it all up. Before Shepard could think of a follow up question her shoulder erupted in a flash of crimson blood and pain rocked her body.
Before Shepard could completely assess her injury she rolled the ringleader on top of her and let him absorb the incoming shots. Soon the batarian stopped crying in pain and went limp on top of her.
"Shepard!" Liara screamed from inside the home. But Shepard couldn't think of words to reply.
Her arm burned and she could barely move it. She needed to seal the wound with medi-gel, and soon.
Shepard peered over the ringleader's corpse and spotted the charging batarian shooter. Liara attempted to hit the moving target but her vantage point was less than ideal.
Stupid, how could you be so stupid? Of course there was a sixth man and now he's going to kill your dumb ass in front of your wife, Shepard thought
Something high-pitched screeched from the sky and made the batarian stop in his tracks. Suddenly a skycar came crashing down from above on top of the remaining shooter splitting the Batarian's body in two.
The door to the wrecked skycar shot open, and Garrus Vakarain stumbled out and assessed the scene.
"Boy, I hope that was a bad guy." Garrus said.