Summary:
Where Miranda comes into play, and Liara heads for Omega
Reference:
Several callbacks in this one:
Mass Effect Galaxy game
Mass Effect Comics; Evolution, Foundations 2, Redemption
Necessities in Cari'ssi'mi Drabbles
Obligations Ch 15
Click. Click. Click.
You could learn a great deal about someone from their footsteps. They were a consistent part of a person's expression.
With experience, an individual might be able to identify another by the force and timing of their footfalls. Were their strides bold and forceful, allowing their presence to fill a space? Did they drag their feet, allowing their hesitant nature to show? Did they stomp, fearlessly announcing their presence to all, or tiptoe, trying to avoid as much interaction with others as possible? Even emotional insight was attainable. The cadence of an individual's stride could provide clues to their sense of urgency. Were they rushed? Were they fleeing?
Click. Click. Click.
These steps in particular, were steps with purpose. Each step the same precise distance, with a regularity that rivaled a metronome. There was a strength behind them that would elicit fear in many enemies, and yet they were combined with a grace that suggested the potential of more than just pain. These were steps that could cause one to flee, or to follow. They were not steps to be ignored, for to do so would be at peril.
The members of Cerberus who frequented the station had had a great deal of time to learn to interpret the sounds of these particular footsteps. They had learned to detect the subtle differences in mood and expectation. To know when it was appropriate to interact, and when not to. Those that hadn't, well, they'd learned to regret their inattention to such detail.
The majority of them survived that education.
Click. Click. Click.
Miranda Lawson was annoyed.
In a matter of days she'd lost a ship, Shepard's body, and a certain percentage of her self respect. She still wasn't sure if she was pleased that Jacob had been able to rescue her, or upset that she'd needed his assistance. Their mission to retrieve the commander's corpse had been a successful failure. Although they'd returned empty handed, it had served to reinforce the opinion she'd formed on Cartagena Station when she had first encountered Mr. Taylor. Now she walked away from the Terminus certain that recruiting the man was no longer an option, but a necessity. Cerberus needed good people, and Jacob, more than anything, was… good.
She'd answered all his questions, but he remained noncommittal. She wouldn't bring him before The Illusive Man until he was sure. She knew he'd make the right decision, but she didn't want to wait for him to make it. She also knew that pressuring him was the surest way to drive him away.
She hated waiting, and in this instance they didn't have the time. Shepard didn't have the time. Surely he could see that.
Click. Click. Click.
Miranda Lawson was beautiful.
She continued resolutely down the center of the corridor, and as usual, making no accommodation for others. The sound of her heels against the floor sounded like nothing as much as the popping of a weapon's heat sink. If she were to ever give it thought, she would like that analogy. It was an effective way to insure that people were aware of her presence. She barely cast a glance at the various scientists, administrators, and troopers who hurried out of her way. She was aware of course, that many of them turned and watched her after she passed. Both men and women would admire her body as she strode down the hallway. She thought no less of them for it, mostly because it was impossible for her to think any less of them than she already did.
In any event, she'd long stopped paying attention to such behavior in others. Her body had been designed to attract such attention, and that design was nothing if not effective. She'd used her body as a distraction more than once. The fact that she could use it as such was poor compensation for how much attention it drew at other times, when such regard was unwanted. That, along with her disdain at the idea of having been designed to someone else's idea of perfection, caused her to have little association between her body and her sense of self.
Click. Click. Click.
Miranda Lawson was not to be trifled with.
The Illusive Man kept the environment at Cronos Station cooler than was comfortable for most humans. It never seemed to bother him, of course. He with his loose clothing and open collars. Miranda sometimes wondered if the exposure to the artifact on Shanxi had changed his tolerance for temperature along with the other abilities he'd been granted. If so, it was a small price to pay.
Not that she really noticed anyway. Miranda had long ago adjusted to The Illusive Man's idiosyncrasies, his temperature preferences included. This particular one didn't come up often anymore. Given her current role as his de facto second in command, her duties seldom saw her in his physical presence.
Such separation was fortunate given the most recent redesign of the Cerberus uniform for female operatives. She'd originally thought the form fitting bodysuit was a joke, or a test, until she'd seen Rasa wearing an identical uniform. It provided nearly no protection from the environment.
So she'd embraced it, even going so far as to reject wearing armor on missions. If it was a test, she had been determined to exceed all expectation. Asari commandos were known for wearing leather instead of armor as a way of exhibiting the strength of their barriers. It also allowed them additional stealth and greater freedom of movement. She'd followed their example and taken to doing the same. Her barriers were more than sufficient to protect her in battle. Those who perceived her method of dress as vulnerability usually didn't live long enough to correct their mistake. All in all, the change had worked to her advantage, and was really only noticed when she visited Cronos.
Click. Click. Click.
Miranda Lawson was grateful.
Not to the egomaniacal bastard who designed her genome and called himself her father. No, not him. Who was so in love with themselves that they would create a cloned child from their own DNA? Only someone with too much money who had surrounded themselves with people who wouldn't say no.
No, it was Jack Harper who held her gratitude. The man had been her savior, her defender. He'd provided her a refuge where she could become who she was, not who someone else wanted her to be.
It was no small affair. The Illusive Man had protected her, and assisted in the rescue and concealment of her sister. Both actions had alienated Cerberus' largest human donor. The amount of money that protecting Miranda and Oriana from Henry Lawson cost Harper defied easy calculation.
She could never think of herself as being worth such a sacrifice. She was good, she knew that, but not worth the billions that she cost the organization.
She'd tried once to let him know she understood, to let him know how truly beholden she felt to him for what he'd done. Even offered herself to him. Purposefully, deliberately, being fully present and not holding herself back as she'd often done on missions.
He'd rebuffed her advances, but kindly, telling her to never bring it up again. She never knew why. His appetites were legendary, and seemed to follow no pattern.
But as always, she followed his direction. He wanted her obedience, not her gratitude. That's what she made certain that he received from her.
Cerberus was where she'd found a home, and she would do nothing to jeopardize it.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.
He kept her waiting in the dark antechamber, as he typically did.
Of course he knew she was there. Nothing escaped his notice on Cronos. This dance they played was not a new one. She knew he had nothing but the utmost respect for her, but they were not equals, and he made sure that she never lost awareness of that.
After a period during which Miranda had silently marked time by counting seconds, the door finally slid open. She silently stepped into his inner sanctum. No tapping of heels, no overt announcement of her presence here. This was his place, not hers, and she would only fill as much of it with herself as he permitted.
He neither rose nor turned, so she continued forward. Remaining behind him was not an acceptable option. He was completely aware of her position, but he would not tolerate anyone standing at his back for long. She slowly crossed the room until she was standing in a familiar position at the edge of the abyss. She gazed out onto the star Anadius, taking in its boiling surface. She would find such a view distracting, but The Illusive Man seemed oddly comforted with his range of vision being filled with nuclear fire.
"Miranda," he began as if their conversation had been underway for some time. "The drell has made contact with Dr. T'Soni. She will arrive on Omega soon."
So much communicated with so few words. "Miranda" meant that he was not displeased with her for losing the stasis pod containing Shepard. "Miss Lawson" would have been a mild rebuke, while no address at all would have been a method to convey extreme anger.
"The drell" could only mean Feron, the only drell Cerberus currently used as an agent. A weak reed, Feron. He was a man with multiple allegiances, the first and foremost to his financial ledger. He was only as loyal as the highest bidder. Fortunately Cerberus had deeper pockets than many.
"Dr. T'Soni" confirmed what Miranda already suspected. She was to continue her mission to retrieve Shepard. Lawson had never met the asari, but the dossier that had been made available to her had evoked an almost instinctive distrust in the alien. Shepard had lived a life of few attachments, and no romantic entanglements worthy of the name, until suddenly she'd become perplexingly enmeshed with the asari. Shepard lead from her heart to be sure, but suddenly that heart had expanded to include any number of nonhuman individuals, with seemingly the entire asari race at the center of her newly expressed xenophilia. Miranda had no idea what T'Soni had done to split the commander's loyalties like she had, but if the asari could be persuaded to join in the search for Shepard, she could be an asset. At least until the personal level of her involvement became a liability.
"Omega" meant that The Illusive Man knew the location of Shepard's body. As the asari researcher had already been contacted through an intermediary and directed to the Terminus enclave, he had likely known Shepard's location for some time. Long enough to have diverted Miranda from her mission on the pirate colony that had almost cost her her life.
She didn't resent this omission. The Illusive Man provided her with the information she required, no more, no less. If this information had not been shared, then obviously he felt that she had not needed to know it until now. She did not resent the fact that she had been captured and tortured by pirates. She had survived. She expected nothing less from herself. Had she been killed it would have demonstrated an error in judgement in the selection of her partner, an inability to complete the mission as assigned, or bad luck. Any of those were historically fatal, and would have proven her unworthy of the position she held.
She was nothing if not worthy of the position she held. The Illusive Man had not dishonored her by asking about the mission, so she wouldn't mention it either.
"The asari is the backup plan then?" She asked. Cerberus had assets on Omega, but she didn't know how willing The Illusive Man might be to expose them for this venture.
"No," she heard the ice in his glass as he took a sip of his bourbon. "She will be the one to acquire Shepard's body. With your help, of course," he added.
"T'Soni is barely an adult," she reminded, careful not to sound dissenting. "Will she be up to the task?"
A soft chuckle rose from the man behind her. "T'Soni has access to resources even we do not."
"If she chooses to avail herself of them," reminded Miranda.
"I wasn't referring solely to her familial wealth," he corrected. "Aria will provide her a level of assistance and protection that she would deny others." He drew deeply from his cigarette. "Probably," he amended.
Miranda processed the statement for a moment. "I was unaware that T'Soni and Aria had a relationship."
"They don't, not directly anyway." He paused a minute before clarifying. "Dr. T'Soni may be young, but Shepard wasn't her only guardian angel."
"It sounds like I won't be her only one either then."
"No," he confirmed. "But that doesn't mean that you should take a passive role in her protection. She'll only be able to recover Shepard if she survives, and she'll likely have value to us even beyond that."
"Her relationship with Shepard might make her sympathetic to Cerberus' cause," Miranda conceded.
"Nothing so direct," he corrected as he swirled the ice in his glass. "I was thinking more along the lines of Archimedes' lever."
Miranda waited in silence, continuing to stare out at the star, never having been invited to join him at his console. She understood the reference, but he seemingly didn't care if she did so or not. If he was concerned about her degree of understanding, he would expound, or less likely, ask if she understood what he meant. In neither case was it appropriate for her to volunteer her understanding, as the leader of Cerberus had little tolerance for small talk that he himself did not initiate.
"The ship is staffed and ready to depart," he announced, dismissing her. "You'll contact our lead agent on Omega when you arrive, but she is not to know your purpose. The team you bring with you are cleared for this information, but outside agents are not."
She nodded her acknowledgement as she spun on one heel and made for the door without another word.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Aethyta politely announced her arrival by violently kicking a chair across the room. Alaya almost fell out of her own chair in response, while Denai cooly regarded the matriarch. Aethyta was aglow in her fury.
"Where. The. Fuck. Is. She." Her voice filled the room.
Eight days. Eight fucking days it had taken her to follow the imbeciles in front of her, to track them down. Ship changes, stops on human colonies, and even one uncomfortable transit through a batarian system. After all that, here she finds them relaxing in a cafe in the Citadel, drinking tea as if they didn't have a care in the world.
She'd show them exactly how much they had to care about.
Patrons scattered as she stomped her way to their table. It was too much to hope for that they knew who she was. That might have made them move faster. It would have once anyway. Maybe Tevos was right. Maybe her reputation was too far in the past for her to trade upon as she once did. She didn't really give a shit.
Then again there was some benefit to anonymity as well. She'd learned a great deal of compromising information while standing behind a bar. It had made her a wealthy woman.
Even if it hadn't done anything for her anger issues.
She threw herself into a seat across from Alaya and Denai, piercing the former with a glare.
"Was that question too fucking much for you? Fine. Where the hell have you been?"
"Following Liara, the same as you," replied Alaya with enough deference to keep Aethyta from warping her out of her chair.
"Pretty goddess damned circuitous route, don't you think?" Asked Aethyta in disbelief. "No shuttles between here and Arcturus? I mean, I wouldn't want to travel with humans either but this was a little extreme."
"We followed the same route Liara did, Aethyta." Alaya's nervousness starting to demonstrate that the matriarch realized exactly how angry Aethyta actually was. This was no act. "We don't know what caused her to travel the route she did. We never had the opportunity to ask. She hasn't responded to any messages, and we were always one step behind her."
"And she ended up coming to the Citadel? The highest profile destination in Council Space and she was trying to keep it a secret? I'm sure her ID was tagged as soon as she hit the nebula."
"It was, Matriarch," agreed Alaya. "We had hoped to catch up with her here, but she was gone before we arrived."
"Fuckwits. So you lost her again." Aethyta's biotics flickered briefly like those of an emotional maiden. "Do you at least know what she's been doing?"
"We do know what Matriarch, just not why." Alaya seemed eager to placate Aethyta. "She's been visiting contacts, vendors, and some former confidantes of Shepard. She's been talking to those she'd met during her travels on the Normandy."
"That doesn't make any sense," refuted Aethyta. "Why go visit in person when a simple comm would do?"
"It would appear that Liara wanted secrecy." Alaya responded unnecessarily.
"Even on Noveria? They have some of the most secure comms in the galaxy." Aethya knew this to be a fact. She'd tried to break them in an attempt to keep tabs on Benezia, and had only been partially successful.
"Even a secure comm logs calls. Sometimes knowing that communication occurred is just as much of a disclosure as the content of such communication." Alaya seemed to be calming a bit, which did not please Aethyta.
"Thanks. I was stupid there for a minute." Aethyta shook her head as she glared at Alaya. "It isn't like traveling in person doesn't announce just as much of an intent at subterfuge, and it takes longer to boot. What is she doing? What is she trying to keep secret?"
"Perhaps her final destination? We still don't know where she's heading."
"Morons," replied Aethyta. "If she's traveling for fucking chats, who did she talk to here?"
A panicked look came over Alaya, as the matriarch obviously didn't want to admit that she still didn't know.
After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Denai spoke up. "She came to the Citadel to see Neria, Shepard's armorer," the matron interjected to both Aethyta and Alaya's surprise, "Of course she would buy armor before going to Omega, and she would trust Shepard's judgment on who to buy it from."
"Omega?" Both matriarchs replied in unison. "You couldn't fucking lead with that?" demanded Aethyta.
"The two of you seemed to be doing so well, I didn't want to interrupt the show." Denai's voice dripped with contempt.
"How dare you…" Alaya began, seemingly sure of herself for the first time during the encounter.
Aethyta ignored Alaya's response, focusing entirely on Denai. Her voice was deathly quiet. "You knew she was going to Omega. You just let her go when you could have stopped her?"
Denai shrugged, seemingly unperturbed by the implied threat. "She's the Head of House T'Soni. My loyalties are clear," she overtly glanced in Alaya's direction, "unlike others." She took a sip of her tea. "And they are no concern of yours."
"No concern…?" Aethyta felt like she was going to burst a blood vessel. "Do you have any idea who I am?"
Denai responded with a look that bordered on insolent, before it crossed the border. "Were you referring to being Liara's father, or to your somewhat sordid past?" Denai continued without giving Aethyta a chance to respond. "Of course I know who you are." She gave the matriarch a look that practically begged for violence. "And I couldn't care less. Doesn't seem like you cared all that much either."
Aethyta's wrapped her response in an almost unnatural calm. "I promised Benezia I would stay away."
"Thessia's greatest mother," taunted Denai. "Liara would have been better off without parents."
The resounding crack of the slap surprised them both. "No one talks about Benezia like that!" Denai hadn't moved, even as the purple outline of Aethyta's hand slowly appeared on her face, her glare taunting the matriarch to escalate further.
"Enough," hissed Alaya, temporarily distracting Aethyta from diving headlong into another irrational act. "We're in a public place."
Aethyta returned her attention to Alaya with a look that communicated how little she cared about their audience. "Fine. Let's be all civilized. For now," she turned to Denai with a 'later for you' look. "How did you know who she came to see?"
"She told me."
Now Alaya interrupted before Aethyta could continue. "You've been in contact? You never told me?"
"As I said," Denai was obviously working to maintain her own calm demeanor. "My loyalties are clear. Liara received information about what happened to the Normandy, and she felt compelled to act upon it. She did not want to be accompanied, but also thought it prudent that someone know where she was." She shrugged again, this time without the derision. "So she told me."
"Why you?" Asked Aethyta. "What makes you special? What are you to Liara?"
"Her tie to Shepard," Alaya responded for her. "Denai was Shepard's princeps, and her only acolyte."
"I am her princeps," corrected Denai.
"Shepard's dead," spat Alaya, "and she nearly took Liara's sanity with her."
"Her sanity is fine. She's hurting. You don't understand how difficult it is for her to let Shepard go." Denai looked from one to the other, looking for comprehension. "This is something she needs to do. The way you're behaving now is why she couldn't come to you before she left."
"It was not your right to make that decision. If Liara couldn't have been persuaded against this fool's errand, then Eliata would have assigned a protection detail, or at least an honor guard." Alaya was much more sure of herself in reprimanding Denai than facing an angry Aethyta.
"She expressed her wishes to me, and I obeyed. Had she communicated the same desires to you, you would have subverted them. Is it any surprise that she confided in me, and not the seneschal of her House? You question her every decision, including her choice in bondmate." Denai's emotion was beginning to show. "She knows you don't respect her or her wishes. Why would you ever think she would confide in you? What did you expect her to do? Sarah loved her in a way she'd never experienced before."
Aethyta looked back and forth between the pair. "By Athame's blessed blue ass you two are idiots." She addressed Alaya. "We'll talk more about this later. I already told you that you needed to fix this, and now I find that it's worse than ever. She is House T'Soni. If you can't come to terms with that then you need to get out and hide somewhere I'll never find you." She pointer her finger at Denai. "You. Dumbass. You seem pretty calm about letting Liara go traipsing off into the Terminus, which is a pretty idiotic move, I don't care how upset she is. You've obviously been spying on her though. I respect that. Do you have a plan, or is this where I get angry again?"
"Letting her go wasn't my first choice, but what was I supposed to do? She needed support, not a confrontation," Denai explained. "It is a stupid move, but like I said, she's hurting. She needed to do this, no matter how stupid it is. It was either allow her to go so she can work through her grief, or try to prevent it and we might lose her forever."
"Now you sound pissed at her."
"I'm pissed at Shepard!"
"Eh?" Aethyta was finding it difficult to follow Denai's train of thought.
"Fine, I'm angry at Liara too," continued Denai before Aethyta could ask for clarification. "But how did you expect her to handle this?" Aethyta caught the angry look the matron threw at Alaya before continuing. "Did you think she would come to you you for comfort? She cried on her doctor, but wouldn't show any emotion to you - because she knew you didn't want to see it. It isn't like she's not already made to feel like an intruder at her own estate. You don't know her. Neither of you do. Her bond was severed, and she felt Shepard die! If she can do one last thing for her bondmate, she's going to do it."
'You fucking human,' thought Aethyta. 'It isn't enough that you got your hooks in my girl, but you've managed to light a torch in your fucking acolyte too.'
"It appears that Liara is not the only one who's grieving," said Alaya, surprising Aethyta by giving voice to their shared thoughts. "And I also believe I now understand why you felt a need to assist Liara in her endeavor."
"You don't understand anything," Denai coldly responded.
"Be that as it may," continued Alaya as if Denai hadn't spoken. "It is possible that if we talk to this armor merchant, they can tell us Liara's next steps."
"That thought had occurred to me," Denai rose from her chair. "That's why she's waiting for us now."
.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Earlier…
Liara did what she could to not draw attention to herself as she progressed towards her destination. The maiden remained close to the walls, kept her head down, and avoided eye contact with those she encountered where she could. The effort left her both exhausted, yet fidgety with nervous energy. She was very aware of the seemingly run down nature of this particular thoroughfare. She hadn't been before, she remembered.
The last time she'd been in this part of the wards, Shepard had been at her side. Everything had been so different then. She remembered having to hurry to keep up with the commander's purposeful strides. There'd been no time for sightseeing, despite the seeming adventurous nature of the outing. She'd been very frustrated with Shepard that day, despite Shepard's obvious enjoyment during their excursion. She would give anything for Shepard to be able to frustrate her like that again.
But she refused to let herself think about that now.
She'd hoped to be finished by now, and well on her way to Omega. She'd found that everything was taking longer than it should have. She felt burdened by the blackness she carried within her, slowing every movement. Even breathing was an effort. Her hands still trembled unless she focused on them, forcing her traitorous fingers to obey her wishes.
She's learned that anger helped. Anger would push back the darkness and give her strength. When she was angry she had purpose.
But her anger terrified her now. She walled it off, kept it away.
And the darkness was always waiting.
She blinked as she found herself standing in front of the turian's shop. She pulled herself together as best she could, and let herself in.
She'd called ahead, and Neria was expecting her.
"Hello again," the turian greeted from behind the counter with the same informality Liara remembered from her last visit. "I was surprised to hear from you." She shook her head. "I'll say this, Shepard keeps breaking new ground. I've never had to replace a Colossus X before."
Liara briefly closed her eyes at the mention of Shepard, and of the armor that was a gift from the spectre. "Unfortunately it could not be repaired."
"Yeah, you'd said that," replied Neria as she laid out a bluish-purple, orange and white asarioid armor of a design that Liara was unfamiliar with. "I still would have like to have taken a crack at it. I've restored a lot of armor over the years." She looked Liara up and down. "You obviously survived whatever took it out. You must be tougher than you look," she commented.
Liara let the slight pass. "It wasn't damaged in combat," she clarified. "It was accidental damage. The torso was ruptured from here," Liara indicated her neckline, "Starting at the helmet ring, and down" her finger drew a line to her abdomen. "The tear was several centimeters wide. It could not have been restored to pressure integrity."
Neria's look was pure horror. "What the hell did that to a Colossus? Those things are practically indestructible. I've had clients whose Colossus held together long enough under fire for them to replace a shield generator. What did you do, drop a shuttle on it?"
Liara just lowered her head, looking at her hands as she nervously rubbed them together.
"Holy fuck," the turian whispered, Liara having accidentally relayed how her armor had been destroyed.
Liara looked up at that, and gave the armorer a small shrug. "That's why I needed something right away."
"Um, OK." Neira straightened the armor in front of her instead of pursuing the matter. "Like I said on the comm, I don't have another light Colossus in your size, but I do have this. It's the Regent from Kyaius Manufacturing on Imeria. They're new, trying to break into the personal protection space. It's high quality, reasonable price. It stacks up well against the Rosenkov Titan. Not that you'll need it, but if it sees combat they'll cover any repair in exchange for endorsement."
Liara looked it over. "It is not exactly form fitting."
"No, but there's a lot of protection in that thickness. It's no heavier than your Colossus, and I've already modified it to your measurements."
The maiden took in the rather gaudy armor. Perhaps in Omega it would be better to stand out than to try and blend in. Shepard had had a certain arrogance that made others unwilling to challenge her. She would never have worn armor like this, but perhaps it might have the same effect.
"Fine," she sighed. After all, would she ever need armor again after this? She waved her omni-tool over the turian's terminal. "Please have it sent to the merchant docks, bay two seventy seven."
Neria nodded. "Pleasure doing business with you. Tell Shepard I said hi."
Liara turned and exited the shop without another word.
A/N:
As always everyone, thanks for reading.
Responses to some queries:
No, we will not be jumping to Shepard's resurrection in the immediate future. I expect Asunder to be about "Obligations" length, which at my current word count per chapter means at least ten chapters. Of course, I'm already one chapter longer than my notes accounted for at this point, to I may overshoot.
Shepard's journey post-resurrection may be the beginning of another story. Asunder will possiblyend at that point, with Liara's chapters going there, or possibly both stories may run in tandem until LotSB. I haven't decided yet. To point out the obvious, that means that Asunder will cover two years of time in-story. (For reference, Fragments covered 12 weeks, four of which were spent on the Normandy and not shown.)
No, I don't intend to show Omega. That story is in Redemption and it's convoluted enough without me adding my complexity to it. I'll have some post-Omega clearing up though.
Yes, we will see Liara interact (a little) with Joker (reference to Secrets in Drabbles). I'm not sure how it will play out yet.
Feel free to keep any questions coming!
Assumptions here include:
FemShep/Liara
Post ME2 beginning / Pre Redemption comic
Sarah Shepard is:
Colonist / Vanguard / War Hero / Busily Dead
As always, feedback is welcome and desired
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