A/N: I have to post a little warning here. This chapter contains gritty scenes. Just so you know.
-X-
"Breaking news: the most advanced ship in the Alliance, the SSV Normandy, was destroyed by an advanced space pirate ship. The investigation is still in process, but we heard from reliable sources that they have identified the space pirate's ship. The ones responsible for the destruction of the Normandy will be sentenced, as Admiral Hackett promised. Later on, see the documentary of the creation of the Normandy." The commercial started and Shepard turned off the tv, frustrated about the lies the Alliance told the reporters. She was certain that these were not some space pirates who destroyed the Normandy with weapons from the black market and a large dose of luck. Her gut was telling her that there is more to it, but if the Alliance and the Council keeps stalling her, she won't find any clue about the attackers.
She took a large sip from her beer bottle as Kaidan entered the living room. The apartment was large, everyone had his own private space so they could have their peace. He slumped down next to her and drank his own beer before she slumped back into the couch next to him.
"You know what the people think destroyed the Normandy?"
"Some lucky space pirates?" Shepard sighed and nodded before taking a sip from her beer.
"Yep. Seems the most advanced ship in human history isn't so advanced at all." She said sarcastically before gazing out of the windows. Kaidan watched her silently for some time, then remembered why he came here in the first place.
"I got a call from Anderson."
"Yeah?" she said while turning to look back at him, then she saw the frown on his face.
"Why did you turn off your omni-tool? He needed to discuss something private with you." She took another sip from her beer before placing the beer bottle on the coffee table.
"Private...like what I wonder. I don't have the nerve for him or the Council Kaidan." She stood up and went to the kitchen. Kaidan followed, taking her beer bottle with him.
"He called because he has a ship for us." He said while placing his and her beer bottle on the nearby counter. She turned around to face him, and for the first time this month she wore a bright smile on her face.
"For real?" she said as she stopped in front of Kaidan. He grabbed her by her waist and lifted her on the kitchen counter, settling himself between her legs.
"For real. It won't be the Normandy, but at least we'll have our own ship so we can investigate what happened. The fucking Council won't stall us anymore." His voice dropped a whole level and she instantly wrapped her legs around his hips to pull him closer before wrapping her hands around his neck.
"Ooh, I love it when you swear and act like a bad boy. So sexy." She whispered seductively which sent a spark to his crotch. He squeezed her rear and she jumped because of the sudden movement, then he brought his face to hers until their lips met. She moaned into his mouth and tightened her grip with het legs around him. She could feel his erection poking her through their clothes so she rubbed her crotch against the tip. He groaned and broke the kiss to look at her.
"We can get caught you know..." She licked her lower lip and pulled him back to her. He groaned again when he felt the heat she radiated.
"I don't know, it's kinda thrilling to know we can get caught any minute." He squeezed her rear again and groaned which send a shiver down her spine.
"You're such a naughty girl sometimes, you know that?"
"Oh you know you love it when I'm naughty." He slipped his hand under her shirt and cupped her breast as he started to kiss her neck. She moaned and let her back arch into him as he massaged her breast and nipped her neck. He gently pushed her down on the counter, still kissing her neck and touching her body, both completely oblivious to the kitchen door going open.
Liara stepped in humming a song but when she saw them on the kitchen counter she squealed and put her hand on her eyes. Both Shepard and Kaidan shot up and straighten their clothes. Kaidan stood behind the counter because of his still visible erection.
"Goddess I- I'm sorry I didn't know-" Liara stuttered before she ran out of the kitchen. Kaidan blushed bright red, Shepard just giggled as she went to the couch to throw a pillow to Kaidan.
"Here." He grinned and took the pillow to put it on his erection. She took his other hand and guided him upstairs. "Let me make it up to you."
And Kaidan was so happy after she made it up.
-X-
Standing in the bridge of her new ship was somehow strange. Nothing was the same as in the Normandy. Everything was...she didn't know how to explain it, but it didn't feel like on the Normandy.
The first time she stepped into the Normandy, she felt like home. Now, she felt as if she's on a stolen ship. But at least her favourite pilot is flying the ship who is also so not pleased with it.
Shepard watched Joker fumbling on the controls, more than frustrated and pissed. She understood him though, completely, "Status report?" It was more of a question than an order. She would understand if he wouldn't want to give her any.
"Fuel, at optimum. Systems, check. Life support, check. Weapon systems, check. Everything looks in good working order." She sighed and sat down on the co-pilots seat, hoping he would turn his head to look at her. But he kept watching the numbers on the screen without paying much attention to her.
"You're acting as if it's my fault."
"Your fault for what?" He tried to sound uninterested, which he always succeeded at, but Shepard knew him.
"For making you fly a ship without a name. Oh, and for losing the Normandy." Joker stopped fumbling on the controls and readjusted his cap before turning his chair to look at her.
"Don't tell me you aren't pissed?"
"How could I not be pissed?" she stood up and started pacing the cockpit up and down. "We lost the best ship only so we can get the worst ship in the Alliance fleet."
"Well the only plus in this ship are the crew quarters. Cozy and not-too-small crew quarters. You know, I was thinking of sending a complain against the sleeper pods on the Normandy." That made her brows furrow together.
"Really?"
Joker shrugged his shoulders and smiled, "Really, now we have beds as well. Not just you Commander." He stuck his tongue out at her playfully, she took his cap and put it on her head before walking away. "Hey! Aw come on, this isn't fair. That's my lucky cap!"
"That's your punishment for complaining too much!" She yelled back from the briefing room that was connected to the bridge. She walked down the stairs before reaching the galaxy map (another plus she forgot to mention). She gazed down the map, thinking to maybe explore a planet or two, then she spotted Kaidan coming from the armory which was also connected to the briefing room. The ships layout was terrible!
"Commander," he saluted and grinned when he spotted Joker's cap on her head. She smiled and walked over to him before they both walked down the hallway that lead them to the engineering room.
"The weapons ready, lieutenant?"
Kaidan nodded, "Aye ma'am, locked and ready." Once they reached the engine room they walked towards the mako where Garrus stood, obviously calibrating the mako's weapons. "We were inspecting the mako and saw a few parts that could be upgraded."
"Like?" Garrus turned to her, looking at the data pad in his hand.
"The shileds can be boosted, the ammunition capacity as well. I've taken a closer look on the rocket launcher and it can be upgraded as well. In fact, after we upgrade it the rocket launcher will have such firepower it can tear the shield of a Geth Prime to zero." Her eyebrows rose up at that.
"Well then boys, you have some serious upgrading to do." Both nodded before resuming their work. Suddenly Joker contacted her over the intercom.
"Commander, Admiral Hackett on the line." She took a quickened pace back to the briefing room.
"Patch him through in the briefing room." When she reached the briefing room she could already see Hackett's hologram instead of the galaxy map so she saluted when the door hissed close behind her.
"Admiral."
"Commander, we've received some...disturbing news." As soon as she heard it, she knew it was something grave. "We have reports of underground activities on a planet nearby."
"What kind of activities?" She had to know the details so she could prepare properly.
"Abuse of children." She froze in place.
"What?"
"We have leads that a former Alliance soldier by the name of Harrison abuses kids and sells them as slaves. Even uses them for his own...entertainment." Shepard felt sick just by the thought of it.
"Who is he?"
"Quit the Alliance last month when he heard that most of the superiors don't believe in the Reapers. Said we are all crazy so he left." Hackett took a deep breath, his expression even more serious than before. "This is a sensitive matter, Shepard. We can't let him do so." Shepard saluted then nodded as Hackett send the coordinates to Joker. "I have send Joker the coordinates. Good hunting, Commander." He saluted back, then the screen went dark. She turned to leave to grab her equipment when she spoke into the intercom.
"Liara, Wrex. With me! Joker?"
"ETA 2 hours, Commander." She rushed back into the armory to grab her weapons, meeting Liara and Wrex on the way. None said a word on the mission, and 2 hours later, they landed on Terlox.
-X-
After a long marsh through the rocky wastelands of Terlox they reached the large facility where they believed they held the kids. The door hissed open and as soon as the party stepped in they could smell something rotten there.
"Ugh, what a smell," said Liara as she tried hard not to pass out from the horrid smell. "Whatever it is that smells like this must be dead for weeks."
Shepard walked around the corner to scan the surroundings before she signaled for them to follow. "Stay sharp people. We don't know what's lurking down there." They walked down a large hallway, everyone scanning the surroundings carefully to avoid any surprise attacks. After a while of walking they reached something like a control room which was empty. Shepard went to the screens, searching for any kind of evidence of what happened here. Finally she found a video, probably a few days old. She called for the others before she played the file.
On the screen appeared a man (probably Harrison), he was talking to someone but she couldn't see them because they were out of the camera view.
-How are the experiments moving on?- Said an unknown, female voice.
-Fine, but we're running out of kids. They can't stand the amount of eezo we inject them.- Said Harrison which twisted Shepard's gut.
-When can we expect any results?- Asked another male voice, ignoring his statement completely. Harrison shifted, clearly nervous because of something.
-We are experimenting on children. What do you expect? They're not as resistant as grown ups.- Answered Harrison, then the other male stepped slightly forward, just enough so Shepard could see his silhouette. Still she couldn't recognize him.
-We want results. The last thing we need is the admiral getting pissed!- That turned Shepard's insides even more.
-I will do my best, but don't expect results until the end of the week.-
-We want results by the end of the week. No exceptions.-
The video ended and Shepard stepped away from the console, shocked about what she found out. She turned to Liara and Wrex, and she didn't miss the look of pure shock on Liara's face.
"Shepard, he said 'the admiral'."
"I know," she said as she downloaded the file to her omni-tool before they approached the lower levels of the facility.
They encountered little resistance on their way and Shepard wondered what had happened to the personnel. Once they approached a large, heavy secured door, they could smell the same stench again, only was it much more intense. Liara went to hack the door and moments later they stepped in with their weapons drawn. They saw a dead body on the ground and approached it, a gun in his hand and a large gunshot wound on the right side of his head. Shepard inspected the body with her omni-tool and found no signs of trauma.
"He killed himself," stated Wrex. "Idiot."
"Shepard, over here!" said Liara a little louder before Shepard went to her. They were looking at a terminal, a log was opened and paused in the background.
"Open it," Liara did as Shepard said. On the screen appeared the one that killed himself. Shepard could see the lines of exhaustion and despair on his face.
-This is log 2, 4...hell I don't know what log this is. The things we're doing here, the things he wants us to do...it's disgusting. This is not why I quit the Alliance for.-
"That must be Harrison," said Shepard before the log continued.
-I thought I would do some good, but I don't really see how stuffing the kids with eezo is going to help us fight the reapers. He assures us it will work but...I doubt that with every day that passes.-
-I...can't keep up with this any longer. Hundreds of kids have died, and I feel like it's all my fault. Whenever I want to quit, I can hear my mind screaming at me, saying 'don't piss of the admiral'. My God but I can't do this anymore. Whoever finds this...I have shut down the facility and killed myself. The...failures, are behind that door. I'm sorry.-
Shepard downloaded the video as well before she made her way towards the dead body to look for a key card. She found one and took it, then went to the large, last door of the room with a cold and sick feeling. She ran the card through the slit and the door opened, and what she saw made her drop her weapon when she felt cold sweat covering her body.
"My God..."
Liara came and stopped behind her, and immediately placed a hand on her mouth and nose when the stench hit her. "Goddess..." Shepard watched the now dead children hanging from the walls, naked. Tubes and cables were connected to their bodies. She wanted to look away, but she couldn't bring herself to do so when her legs carried her to the walls filled to the brim with dead children.
"That is disgusting," said Liara as she stopped in front of a girl who was maybe five years old. "Who- who does this? How by the goddess can stuffing the children with eezo help with the reaper war?!" Shepard stopped and leaned her hands on a desk before she turned on the radio.
"Joker, contact the Alliance. Tell them...tell them to get here and clean up the mess." Her will was broken, she felt sick. She couldn't hide it even in her voice.
"Commander, you okay?" She let out a long breath as she turned around to face the horrid scene before her. To look at the children's dead bodies and probably branding that image deep into her mind.
"No, Joker...nothing's okay."