Shepard sat opposite Taylor and buckled in while Miranda sorted them out and set the ship on autopilot to the nearest relay, which was hours away.
Miranda returned to a tense atmosphere she could just about cut with a knife. "It seems Jacob's told you who we work for." she sat down beside Jacob and calmly crossed her knees in a relaxed manner to try and diffuse the tension.
Shepard merely nodded.
"Whatever you think of Cerberus the Illusive Man has gone to great expense to bring you back because you're needed. You have seen and done what no one else has and the Illusive Man is showing great faith in you and your abilities. I'd ask you at least extend the courtesy of listening to what he has to say before you attempt to kill everyone." She informed the woman curtly.
Shepard looked to her with a closed expression, "You saved my life. It would be rather ungrateful of me to kill you for it." she returned in a controlled voice, though the huskiness remained.
Miranda noted it, she would have to take a closer look if it didn't improve. Perhaps some water would help. Getting up she continued speaking as she sought out a bottle for the Commander, "As you know we had to wake you up early due to unforeseen circumstances. There are really lots of tests we should run to determine your recovery."
Taylor interrupted her, "Shepard's physically in top shape, she tore through those mechs like they were toys."
Miranda nodded, "How do you feel?" she asked, finding a bottle and holding it out to the woman.
Shepard narrowed her eyes and looked from the bottle to Miranda skeptically.
Miranda rolled her eyes and opened it to drink from it herself before holding it out to Shepard again.
At that Shepard took it, "Thank you. I feel like I went ten rounds with Wrex and he ended up sitting on me."
"Understandable. Is it musculature pain or skeletal?" Miranda needed her to be specific.
"Muscles, everything's a little brighter than it should be as well and my skin feels like it's on fire." she wasn't complaining, just stating what she felt in response to the question she was asked. Then she lifted the water to her lips and drank deeply, finding it very refreshing.
"So far they sound like side effects from being inactive for an extended period of time and will fade in the next few days. I'd like to ask a few questions to determine that your memories are intact." she continued clinically.
Shepard made no move to respond while she was drinking. The cool liquid running down her throat was divine. When she was ready she closed the lid and nodded to Miranda.
Miranda glanced at Jacob.
"Akuze. You were the sole survivor of a Thresher Maw attack, what can you tell us about it." Jacob asked amicably.
Shepards cybernetics and biotics both flared but her voice, still husky, was tightly controlled, "What in particular would you like to know? That I lost a lot of friends that day? That the Alliance lost a lot of damn fine marines for your little experiment?"
Jacob frowned and looked to Miranda for clarification.
"You believe that Cerberus was responsible for Akuze?" Miranda clenched her jaw and her eyes flashed but other than that her face maintained the cool professionalism she was known for.
"I have two very good reasons for believing so. First. I was not the only survivor. Corporal Toombs also survived the attack only to be taken by Cerberus and experimented on, he had Thresher Maw acid pumped through his veins to see what it did to humans and a whole host of other horrific things done to him in the name of science and advancing humanity." she watched their faces closely. Miranda's remained a mask while Taylor looked appalled.
"And your second reason?" Miranda's tone carried a clear warning in it.
One Shepard ignored, "During my hunt for Saren, Admiral Kahoku's marines went missing. He tried every channel he could to locate them and was stonewalled everywhere he turned." she paused as she sought the right words.
"That's hardly compelling evidence..." Miranda began but Shepard cut her off with a wave of her hand.
"I found them. Not intentionally actually. I was answering an Alliance distress beacon. A beacon that just like on Akuze had been set up in the centre of the Thresher Maw pit. My team managed to take out the Maw as there was only one of them in this nest. Admiral Kahoku's marines, however, did not. They were killed down to the last man." she glared at Miranda.
Miranda had heard of Shepards 'death glare' and could certainly understand why most people trembled in fear from it, she however did not. "Pirates could have placed that beacon."
"Plausible. Until you consider the fact that the further Admiral Kahoku dug the more toes he stepped on until he discovered that it was Cerberus who'd set it all up. He sent me a message detailing the base responsible for the scientific investigation, he was terrified for his life at the time and rightfully so." she clenched her fists as dark energy began to swirl, it was so much harder to control with the amplified power.
Miranda shifted in readiness to act should Shepard lost control of her biotics.
"I led an assault on the base and amongst numerous monstrosities I found the Admiral's body. Killed by lethal injection not by natural causes as was released to the media. If pirates placed that beacon," she leaned forward, "why the hell did Cerberus go so far to shut Kahoku up permanently? And why the hell was it damn near identical to what happened on Akuze?" she demanded.
Jacob swore under his breath and was absolutely livid at the revelation.
"I can understand how you came to such conclusions. However you can be assured that Cerberus would not go to such lengths and risk the lives of valuable marines. There is another explanation I will be happy to investigate for you." Miranda responded as calmly as she could given the circumstances.
Shepard scoffed at her and sat back, "Let me guess, you'll ask the Illusive Man and he'll tell you whatever will make you happy to hear."
Miranda's eyes narrowed and she glared at the insufferable woman.
"My memory satisfactory enough for you?" Shepard growled, crossing her arms and shoving her hands under her arm pits to squash the biotic flares before they went dangerous. It was successful.
"How about something a bit more recent." Miranda was grateful for the topic change and she would investigate Shepard's claims if only to refute them and earn her trust enough to work with professionally.
"Virmire. Saren's base of operations, you had to leave a man behind. Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko. Why did you choose him?" Jacob asked, hoping this question wasn't as much of a land mine. Her blazing red eyes glanced at him like lasers attempting to cut into his soul.
"I left a friend to die that day and I didn't do it casually." she asserted instantly. "I needed someone who could arm the bomb, he was the best man for the job. Before I could go back for him after pulling William's arse from heavy fire a Geth dropship landed at the bomb site. He armed the bomb ahead of schedule giving us barely enough time to hightail it out of there let alone go back for him. He made the choice to give his life for us and to stop Saren. He died a hero." She defended her actions and Alenko's passionately.
"Of that there is no doubt. No one here is questioning your judgement or his sacrifice, you made the right call. There are few people left with the courage to do what you both did." Taylor nodded to her, hoping his approval was clear to her as he was sincere in his words.
She glared at them, "Anything else you want to ask? Mindoir? Torfan? Elysium? Want to know how I feel about Batarians?"
Taylor looked to Miranda, "I don't think that's necessary. The memories are there Miranda, surely we don't need to ask anything else."
Miranda took a deep, calming breath. "Yes, it's been a stressful awakening and will take some adjusting." she acknowledged, they had a few hours at least before they reached the relay then another hour before they reached the station that had another really big surprise for Shepard.
For the next two hours Miranda and Jacob occupied themselves, Miranda with work, writing a report about what had happened and the results of the impromptu tests on Shepard, Jacob with some brain numbing games on his omni-tool.
Shepard simply stared out the window into empty space processing all that had happened and all she'd learned. Her body ached, she was a captive of Cerberus and she'd lost two whole years. What in the stars had happened during all that time? She had to find a way to contact Anderson but first she'd find out what the hell the Illusive Man wanted with her. And what had happened to her childhood best friend who didn't seem to recognize her.
Miranda and Jacob were both startled when Shepard broke the silence.
"I figure you've got a pretty extensive file on me Miranda." She spoke softly, her manner infinitely calmer than before.
"I know everything there is to know about you Shepard." Miranda smirked, her pride in her work coming across as arrogance but she didn't care.
"So you know that when I was sixteen my father was murdered. My mother and I were put into witness protection, we had to change our names, our identities, everything. I joined the Alliance to better protect myself and keep mum safe." She turned from looking out the window to catch the surprise in Miranda's eyes.
Miranda went from cocky to floored then scowled, "Your point?" she bluffed, she did not like being shown up, especially after her previous comment.
"What's my real name?" Shepard asked calmly.
"Your name is Stephanie Shepard." Miranda was internally seething, "There was exceptionally little information regarding your childhood available." she admitted, "Though I fail to see what relevance your childhood has with the current state of affairs. As I said, I know everything there is to know." she reiterated.
Jacob valiantly tried to hide his smirk.
Shepard took a deep breath, "It has a far greater impact on the current state of affairs than you realize, Miranda." she spoke with hidden meaning laced in her tone.
"Is there something about your father's murder I should be made aware of?" Miranda asked icily, glaring at Shepard.
"The reason why it's impossible to find any information about my childhood is because the man who murdered my father is an exceptionally wealthy businessman. My father wasn't actually the target. I was. At all of sixteen years old I was proving to be a thorn in the side of his master plan." she watched Miranda closely as she spoke, her still husky voice softly calm.
Miranda just listened, aside from the fact she should know this and it was killing her she didn't it was rather fascinating.
"You see I made the fatal error in his eyes of being a distraction to his daughter. I was interfering with his plan of shaping her into the perfect dynasty for his multi-trillion credit empire." she continued.
Miranda's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, there were very few people who could claim such a vast business empire. She should know, her father was one of them.
"Therefore I needed to be removed. At first he simply relocated my family. But she and I had promised to message every day. I kept my promise. I messaged her every day for two years. I never received a single reply from her but I did, however, get a message from her father warning me to cease all contact with his daughter. It was a message I ignored and as a result he tried to silence me permanently." she turned her gaze back out the window to the stars at the heaviness on her heart. Miranda clearly had no idea.
"I'm sorry for what you went through but I fail to see its relevance now." Miranda didn't see that it had any bearing on the Reaper threat or the fact that she was now a galaxy wide public figure.
Shepard's shoulders dropped slightly and she sighed heavily, "Then I'll stop boring you with ancient history that's irrelevant to your mission." there was no disguise in the sadness and hurt that filled her being in that moment.
Miranda could see that she had just missed something incredibly important, "I did not say it was completely irrelevant, I'm still waiting to see what relevance this information has."
Shepard looked back at her sharply, "Clearly nothing." she snapped, "How long until we reach the Relay?"
Miranda glanced at her omni-tool, "Seventy three minutes." The fact that Shepard had suddenly clammed up was like waving a red flag in front of her. She didn't like not having all the facts and there was something very personal about this for Shepard that could indeed impact her in the future.
"Alright, what changes did you make to my physiology?" Shepard well and truly shut the previous conversation down.
Miranda obliged her for now but filed it away for later. The rest of the trip was spent clinically going over the changes to Shepard, what she could expect, how they affected her performance and what she needed to be careful of. It took so long because Shepard wanted to actually understand the changes on a technical level, how they'd done what they had to bring her back.
Shepard was incredibly impressed. She'd always known Miri was smart but this was way beyond her best friend and first love had ever shared with her.