Disc

Sitting on a bed in the med-bay of the Normandy, Liara T'Soni was hard pressed not to stare at the human doctor.

She'd simply never been this close to a human before, and her curiosity threatened to get the better of her at every moment. A fascinatingly complex network of lines both subtle and obvious seemed to describe Doctor Chakwas' face, smoothing or deepening as her expressions changed. Liara thought she saw a slight asymmetry in the woman's features, something she'd noticed in the faces of the others as well. A flaw in human genetics, perhaps? But by far the most intriguing was her hair. Liara had certainly read about hair before, briefly, in a treatise on human social patterns, but had never seen it this close up. She found herself enthralled by the interplay of strands, the way it shifted with every move of the doctor's head. There must be thousands... millions! What must it be like to-

"Your electrolytes are somewhat out of balance," Doctor Chakwas pronounced, snapping Liara out of her reverie. "But it's nothing serious. Stress, exertion of your biotics without sufficient sleep or food, I imagine. Something to eat and some rest and you'll be fine." The doctor smiled at her as she turned off the diagnostic display. The woman's speech had an odd cadence, what must have been a regional accent different than the others. Her manner was a mix of professional efficiency and motherly concern, and Liara liked her immediately.

"Thank you, Doctor," Liara said. "I didn't expect... well, you seem to know a great deal about asari physiology."

"My medical training did include some basics on the treatment of different species, and Commander Shepard seems bent on making sure I put it to use," Doctor Chakwas said with a wry smile.

"This crew is... unusual, isn't it?"

"Alliance vessels don't normally include krogans, quarians and turians on staff, no. But then nothing about the commander's mission seems like it's going to be run-of-the-mill."

"I'm sorry, run of...?" Liara trailed off, confused.

Doctor Chakwas chuckled. "Normal, predictable. It's easy to forget that not everyone understands our idioms, isn't it?"

Liara brightened. "So true! Prothean ideograms are one of my main areas of interest, their cultural works are full of them. I've compiled a database to attempt to cross-reference them with historical events, but there are so many gaps and I-"

She stopped as the med-bay door cycled open and Commander Shepard strode in, a tray on one hand and a small metal box in the other. Shepard put the box down on one of the other beds and approached Liara with what the archaeologist realized was food- a steaming bowl and a small round bun.

"I'm afraid we don't have any asari meals on board, but hopefully this will do," the commander said, just as Liara noticed a strange mark on the skin of her forearm that looked much like a wound.

"Oh! Were you injured?" she asked, pointing at the mark. The battle against the krogan and his geth down on the planet had been short but fierce, and when pressed, the brutal mercenary had charged Shepard and her team with a wicked-looking knife.

Shepard stopped, looking faintly surprised. "Well... yes, but several years ago."

Doctor Chakwas, seeing Liara's perplexed expression, came to her rescue. "It's a scar, Doctor T'Soni. Humans don't have the same kind of cellular regeneration that you do, so tissue trauma often leaves some kind of permanent mark. Just about all of us have them somewhere or other."

"Oh, of... of course. I'm sorry if I offended you, Commander..."

"You didn't offend me," Shepard said with a smile and a dismissive wave of her hand. "This is a learning experience for all of us." She handed the tray to Liara.

"Thank you." Liara picked up the steaming bowl and sampled its contents. The soup was rather bland, but hearty and entirely edible. Regardless, her stomach suddenly remembered how hungry it was and taste became irrelevant.

While the commander and Doctor Chakwas discussed arrangements for her accommodations, Liara took the opportunity to surreptitiously examine her rescuer as she ate. She still had trouble believing a human had come into contact with a prothean interstellar communications beacon and come away from the experience intact, but it seemed the species was nothing if not surprising at every turn. And this Shepard was particularly intriguing, so commanding and confidant, yet capable of genuine warmth. Despite being on a ship full of strange aliens, Liara found the commander's presence at its center strangely reassuring.

It wasn't helping her feel at ease that the crew already associated her with Benezia, ally to their avowed foe. Even in the brief couple of hours she'd been aboard, a strange mixture of suspicion and fascination seemed to follow her like a cloud.

She'd been warned about the human males in particular. One of her colleagues at the university had traveled to the Citadel, and went on at great length about them and how much fun they were to play with, especially the younger ones. "Enthusiastic" had been the word she'd used repeatedly. Liara wasn't sure how much she liked the idea of using anyone for fun, and anyway seeing them in the flesh was something entirely different than hearing her friend's wild stories. They were all so... square. Variations of muscular, bulky or reed-thin, all straight lines and hard angles. Most bizarre was that some of them had hair on their faces. Liara had tried to imagine an evolutionary or societal advantage to that, but thus far had come up empty.

"Liara?"

Liara started slightly, realizing she'd been drifting again. The pervasive weariness was starting to override the excitement of recent events. "I'm sorry, yes?"

Shepard was looking at her. "I set you up with one of the sleeper pods for second shift. It isn't very luxurious as rooms go, but it's comfortable enough."

"Oh, luxury isn't necessary!" Liara assured her. "I spend most of my nights in tents at dig-sites, so anything you provide will be more than adequate. It's just..."

"What is it?"

"Well, I don't want to feel like I'm just taking up space and resources on your ship..."

"Actually, I have something here that might occupy some of your time." Shepard turned to pick up the small metal case she'd brought in and unclipped the lid, bringing it over so Liara could see. Inside, a padded interior cradled a small, battered-looking square of metal. The design was slightly different than she'd seen before, but Liara nonetheless recognized it instantly.

"A prothean data disc!" she exclaimed.

"We happened upon it in the Hades Gamma cluster," Shepard explained.

Unable to resist, Liara gently lifted the disc from the box and turned it over in her hands, examining every detail and already beginning to form theories of where it may have come from. Just looking at it made her weariness recede. And what secrets do you hold, little one?

"It looks damaged... but with the right scanning equipment, we might be able to extract something from it," she murmured, half to herself. I'll have to get my files and databases uploaded, maybe at the next comm buoy I can send a request to the university...

"My medical scanner is top of the line, Doctor T'Soni," Chakwas said. "It's not quite what you're used to, but I'm sure we could calibrate it for your needs."

Looking up from the disc held carefully in her hands, Liara looked gratefully at Doctor Chakwas, then caught Shepard's inquiring gaze.

"You... would entrust this to me, Commander?" the young archaeologist asked, still amazed that she'd been given so wonderful a thing seemingly out of hand.

"I was thinking of using it as a coaster for my coffee cup, but I think you'll get more good out of it..." Shepard said mildly.

The horror must have shown on Liara's face, because Shepard's expression changed.

"That was a joke, Liara," the commander said with an apologetic smile. "I know how valuable it is, to all of us."

"Oh... um..."

"If you're through traumatizing my patient, Commander, I think Doctor T'Soni needs some rest," Chakwas said briskly.

Shepard nodded. "We'll talk later, Liara," she said, then turned and strode out the door. Liara looked back down at the disc, but found herself thinking instead of the commander, a thousand questions running through her mind.

What secrets do you hold, Shepard?