A/N: Lemon warning
Chapter 7: Illium and Shadow Broker Danger
Liara wakes in the middle of the night at 0100 hours to find Shepard not there. She rises from the bed and peers into the darkness of her moonlit room and softly calls outs "Jon?" When she receives no answer she looks towards the bathroom to see no light on. Her eyes dart throughout her loft as she scans the room with no sight of him. She furrows her brow markings then hears soft footsteps coming up the stairs and says "Jon?"
Shepard answers back "Yes?"
She releases a breath as she relaxes "I was worried for a moment. Where'd you go?"
"I got up to pee and was thirsty. So, I went for some water." He carefully places his water on the nightstand then crawls over to kiss her lips. "You were worried?"
"Yes, it's late and you weren't here." She said as her eyes begin to tear up.
He kisses her lips and gently responds "Lia, why are you crying?"
She sniffles then said, "You're going to leave me in a few days just as I'm starting to get used to being near you again."
He gently ran his hand down her face "You're my soon to be wife." he began kissing down her neck "I'll always do everything in my power to come back to you."
She ran her hand up the back of his neck "I know Jon. I'm just going to miss you. What happens after all this is all over?"
Kissing down her chest. "Well…. We get married." He gently kissed her perky blue breast then starts to suck on her nipple."
She moaned softly "Mmmm and?"
He kisses her stomach as he glided his fingers down to rub her blue pearl. "And we'll also get bonded."
Her breath skipping. "Mmmhmmm...?"
He kisses her hips as he slides his fingers into her wet sex. "And I'll try to make love to you every day".
Licking her lips as her breathing picked up slightly "Mmmm...yesss... and.."
"And this." He shifts his body between her legs as he spreads her legs wider. He leans down and sucks on her clit as he fingers her then sends light biotic pulses up her.
She grabs the sheets as she arches her back and moans. "Oh, goddess above I love when you do that!"
After a moment she pulls him up "Mmm come here and let me taste me on your lips."
He kisses her then sucks on her bottom lip "mmm I love when you talk like that."
She smiles as she slowly shimmers her hands up his sides "I know. Now I want on top."
He smiles and rolls on his back pulling her on top. "Mmm"
She straddles his sides then reaches down and slides his hard-throbbing membrane inside her. She let out a long breathy moan when she slides him into her. She throws her head back moaning as she rocks back and forth and rubs her clit against him. "nMmm... yess.."
He shimmers his hands up her thighs and closes his eyes as he moans. "Oh, yesss Liara."
She placed her hands on his chest as she continues to slide up and down his shaft. Breathing heavier she says "Tell me what else?"
He bit his lip then says "Mmm I want lots of blue babies."
She stops and looks down at him surprised. "You what?"
He sits up and kisses her. "You heard me. You also stopped you, bad girl."
Smiling devilishly "Mmm you going to spank me?"
"Oooh, more than that. Turn around and get on your knees."
She removes herself from him and gets on her hands and knees. He looks her sexy blue body over as he shimmers his hand over her rear then slaps it
She looks back at him as she moans "nMmm"
He smiles "Spread your knees apart, lean down, butt up." He slides his hands over her butt then grabs her hips and pushes himself deep into her wetness. He gently began kneading one of her erogenous zones as he moves in and out of her.
Liara gripped the sheets and let out a long moan "Oooh! goddess...yesss"
"You like when I do that? How about this" He rubs both of them together.
Breathing and moaning rapidly she barely gets out. "Yess…." Her eyes blacken over as she moans louder "... goddess... Jon... " She dove into his mind eagerly. He feels her barely hanging on and she feels him at his brink. He sends her his love and the desire he has for her. It sends her over the edge and it makes him follow her into it. After the release, they slowly fall back into each other.
He leans down and kisses her back then lays down beside her. "I love you."
She slides down on her stomach "I love you too." She moves over and drapes herself on half of his body then kisses his neck. "Jon?"
"Hmmm?"
She ran her fingers through the hair on his chest "Did you mean what you said about lots of blue babies?"
He kisses her crest. "I sure did. I want as many as I can get."
She raised a brow marking quickly "Mmhmm." (We'll see about)
Scrunching his brow together. "What do you mean by that?"
"Huh? I didn't say anything..."
"Yes, you did. You said, "We'll see about that..."
Propping herself up on her elbow she looks at him "No, I didn't."
"Yes, you did Lia I heard you plain as day."
"No, I mean I didn't say it. I thought it!"
Shepard furrowed his forehead. "Are we stuck in our meld still?"
She shook her head "I don't think so but possibly. It could be something else..."
He pinched his brows "What?"
"You have nanites in your body. Your sister said something about them being unpredictable. She mentioned mind capabilities depend on the person. I'm wondering if our resent deep melding is causing this. When you talk to your sister ask her about this."
He huffed "I'm not asking Katie about Asari sex melds. Let's just get some sleep and see if it's there in the morning."
-/
He woke and hit the time on his omni tool. 0840. "Damn!" He slides out from under Liara slowly. Heads to the bathroom to pee. Comes out grabs his underwear, puts them on as he looks around for the rest of his clothes. "Lia?" She stirs in the bed. "Liara?"
She grunts "Hmm?"
Putting on his pants and his shirt. (Damn it woman get up!)
Irritated she says in a tone "I'm up Jon! Why are you yelling at me?" Turning and sitting up in bed. She looks at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
His eyes were wide and his mouth was gaping open. (Liara?)
"What?" Her mouth drops. "Wait...You didn't say that aloud."
"Liara hurry up and get dressed I need to call Katie."
—-
Message from Jon Shepard: Hey Kat, I need to talk to you. Secured. Have a minute? Call me back. Info sent. -Jon Jon
—-
Message from Kathleen Shepard: Jon Jon! Hey! Give me five! -Kat
—-
He smiled when he saw his sister come into view "Hey Katie!"
She smiled the excitingly said "Jon-Jon! Oh, my goodness I can't believe it! So amazing! I was so freaked out about it."
"I know Mom told me," he replied
"Look at you!..." Her smile faded "And what the hell is with your face? You look like Alex!" she pointed to Liara "... and who is that?"
He rolled his eyes "Ugh you sound just like Mom! I'm working on getting that fixed." He looked at Liara then back at her "Oh, I'm sorry Kat this is my fiancé Dr. Liara T'Soni."
Liara slides more into view, smiles and says "Hello."
"Lia, this is my sister Kathleen."
Katie smiles "Hi! Oh, my goodness, Jon, she's beautiful!"
Liara turns a darker shade of blue "Thank you"
Kathleen smiles "When do I get to meet her in person?"
Jon scratches the back of his neck "Thank you. I don't know when you can meet her. I'm busy with saving the Galaxy right now. She lives on Illium and well you're over on earth. Mom wants to get together too. Maybe we can meet up at the Citadel or something? Anyway, I need to wrap this up sister so we can all get back to work but I have to ask you something about the nanites"
Her eyes flashed and she quickly says "What happened! I knew it! I told Alex... but noooo—"
He waves his hand rapidly in front of the screen "Kat calm down. I have a question is all."
"Oh! Ok well, what's the question?"
He nervously takes a breath "Ok Ummm well it's…It's kind of... ya know... ummm see...err... we.."
She cocked her head and scrunched her face as she watched him stumble over his words. "Ugh, Jon just spit it out."
"I'm trying Katie it just difficult to explain."
Liara buts in. "I'll ask her. Ok, so with your nanite subjects that had these so-called extensive mind capabilities were they Asari or all types of subjects?"
Katie pinched her lips to the side "The majority of them were Asari, Yes. How'd you know that?"
"Ok, well that explains part of it. And the others?" Liara asked
"The other subjects were random species and were mildly affected and only temporarily," she replied
Liara nodded "Interesting. Do you know if they have or had Asari partners?"
She cupped her hand around her chin as she thought for a moment. "Hmm, No, not sure about their partners." She sat for a moment processing what Liara just said then her eyes widen "Ooooh! Oooh! {Writing it down} Sexual Melding causing temporary telekinesis and or telepathy." Bringing her hand to her mouth as she gasped. "That explains a lot. Yes, I can't believe we didn't think of that." Slapping her hand to her forehead. "Ugh, I feel so dumb."
"Ok, you said temporary, so not permanent?"
"Correct not permanent per se, three to four days maybe. Technically it would renew at every deep meld. It's almost as if the nanites pick up on the meld and hang on to it. The difference here is, you two are in a relationship and are not a one-night stand. Your link is going to be continuous. As you probably know Liara, with Asari, pure deep sexual melds with the same partner, the more it happens the more you absorb of one another." She glanced over at her brother and noticed he had a look of confusion on his face. "In other words, Jon, during your deep melds it's like you two are on a road facing each other and the information is flowing back and forth. You see her, she sees you and in that time you two are one person. During that time the nanites trap you two, as a whole for "X" amount of time. When it's pure it's almost as if your unlocking your souls, you give your partner all of you. Even without the nanites, in that pure of a meld, you could learn her biotic moves and or her language via deep continuous melds. So, who knows with the nanites. As I told Alex, there are infinite possibilities as to what they can do."
"I see and yes, she right about the pure melding. Ours didn't happen on a regular deep meld only after a few pure melds. I'm guessing that was a pure meld."
"It's different for everyone," responded Katie
"How far do you think the link reaches?" says Liara
Katie raises her brows "Oh! Good question. I guess you'll have to find out and let me know!"
Shepard steps in "Thanks, Katie! I appreciate the info and talking to you but I have to get to work. Love you. Bye" (End transmission)
Looking at each other. "Holy hell Liara! I love you and I love our melds but you in my head twenty-four seven. I don't know if I can handle that." He said as he shook his head
Furrowing her brow and bringing her hand to her chest. "Ouch Jon!"
He shook his head slightly "Babe, You're on my mind all day but in my head? That could be highly distracting."
She giggled "No, I know what you mean. We'll have to figure this out."
"Damn it, why now? Why didn't this happen the other day?"
She shrugged "I don't know. Maybe it's because you unshielded your mind and let me completely in. Thus, being a pure meld." She quickly raised her brow markings "Oh... maybe we can shield each other out like we can memories?"
He nodded "Ok ok ummm let's try." Looking at each other. "Ready, go." A moment or two passes. "I got nothing," he said
"Me too! Well at least we know we can shut the link down." She said smiling "So now I can tell you I love you whenever I want." she said then kissed him
He smiles and kisses her back then looks at his Omni tool time. "Shit Liara it's 0915. I have to go."
"Me as well." She kisses him. "I'll see you later."
-/
"Welcome back Commander Shepard. Miranda Lawson is now relieved of command," states EDI
He smiles I see she made it back before me. He looks up "EDI what time did Miranda make it back in this morning?"
"Commander, Ms. Lawson relieved Lt. Adams at 0730," replied EDI
Laughing "Thank you EDI."
Shepard takes the elevator up to his quarters to shower and change. Afterward, he stops at the mess hall to grab a quick bite to eat then walks into Miranda's office with his coffee. He sips some coffee then says "Good Morning Ms. Lawson."
She looked up from her computer briefly "Good morning Commander. What can I do for you?"
"I was wondering, how long have you…. you know…. with the Red Dragon."
She stops typing at the keyboard and looks at him. Furrowing her brow and slightly shaking her head, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Shepard jumped slightly when he heard Liara in his head (Really love, you're going to bombard her with that?)
Holding his hand to his heart. (Holy Hell, Liara! You scared the bejeezus out of me)
Liara was laughing (I'm sorry and what's bejeezus?)
(I'll explain later. We need to work on this. I have to go. I love you)
(I love you too!)
Miranda was looking at him strangely. "Shepard are you ok? Shepard…."
Startled he said "Huh? Oh! Yea... yea I uhhhh….. I.. I burned myself on my coffee." Pausing for a moment "So, ummm your extra activities. Please explain?"
She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him then darted her eyes around. "Commander Shepard." Gritting her teeth "I honestly DON'T know what you THINK you know but this is definitely NOT something to talk about HERE and now."
Looking at her with an arched eyebrow. "You're right! I have NO idea what I'm talking about. I was just giving you a hard time. Uuggghhh….Oh, I have a side mission to do for Liara. More terminal hacking and then some data reconstruction. I'll need Kasumi and whoever you don't need around at the moment. Then we need to catch up with Thane."
She nodded "I'll go with you. When do you want to get started?"
"In an hour or so I need to do some rounds. Also, when are we going to get that machine?" He made a circular motion around his face "I'd like to get these scars taken care of."
"Oh, right not too much longer. Have you talked to Liara about the body upgrades?"
(Body upgrades? What kind?)
Jumping again slightly. "Damn it, I completely forgot but I will." (Yes, body upgrades. We'll talk about it later)
-/
Shepard reconstructed the hacked information to find Nxyeris was the Observer. Also, recruited Thane and Samara.
—-
The last morning with Liara. He's awoken by the blaring sound of his alarm clock. She grunts when he disturbs her sleep as he moves to turn off the alarm. She reaches for him then holds him close. "Ughhh you're leaving me today."
He kisses her crest "I know babe. I'll be back as soon as I can. I have to recruit a few more people and do whatever else comes up. Oh, before I forget did my equipment come in?"
Kissing his neck and running her hand down his stomach. "It did. It's downstairs in a black bag. You can grab it on the way out."
"mmm, Lia what are you doing…."
"Mmmmm keeping you here as long as I can." She began to kiss on his chest. "I'm not going to see you for months and I want you to make love to me before you leave."
-/
Arriving back on Illium after several months. 1800 hours.
Message from Jon Shepard: Hey babe, I just landed I should be there in thirty minutes or so.
Message from Liara T'Soni: Can't wait. I'll see you soon!
Liara looks up when she hears her doorbell ring. She quickly slips into her black skimpy dress and calls out from upstairs "Kirre that should be Shepard can you grab the door!" She slides her high heels on then hurries downstairs to meet Shepard in the living room. She walks over to him quickly then kisses him deeply and hugs him tight. "Goddess I missed you, my love."
Mesmerized by what she's wearing he says "Wow, Look at you!" He waggles his eyebrows "Mmm I can't wait to get you out of that sexy dress."
She stepped back and shimmered her hands down her sides as she seductively swayed her body at him "MMmm just for you baby."
-/
Tela Vasir waiting at her sniper location.
She had her sniper rifle propped up on the next door building's ledge as she looked through the scope of her sniper rifle. "There she is standing in the living room with Commander Shepard no less. No armor, this should be easy, I can get a clean shot to the heart through your back. It'll tear through you and hit him as well though." Sighing. "I really don't want to kill a fellow Spectre especially Commander Shepard." She groaned "Ugh damn it she just engaged the privacy windows. It's now or never and I'll have to do it blind. I'll fire a couple of shots, one should hit her." She breathes in and lets it out slowly as she gently pulls the trigger.
-/
Liara was laughing with Shepard. "I'm going to get dinner ready." Just at that moment, she moved away from the bullet to walk to the kitchen. He cried out as the bullet ripped through the right side of his chest and the force of the impact spun him slightly.
Liara turned quickly as she frantically cried out "Jon!"
With his left hand, he pushes her to the ground as he yells "Liara get down." As he pushes her out of the way the second shot hits him in the back near his left shoulder.
She picks herself up slightly from the ground and in a panic, she turns her head toward Shepard to see him lying face first on the floor with crimson blood oozing out of his back. She screams. "Noooo no no noooo!. Jon!" She crawls to cover then biotic pulls him to her. She rolls him over on his back. "Please...please goddess..." She ran her hand down his face "Jon, look at me!" She looked up then frantically yelled "Shandri, I need lots of medi gel now! I also need a medical transport! Kirre call Miranda and Dr. Chakwas! Get someone here now!" she demanded
Shepard looking at her trying to speak but unable to speak. He tries to talks to her through their mind link but he's been gone too long but instead, he just coughs out blood.
Tears flowed out of Liara eyes. "I know love, I've got you." He nods at her and closes his eyes. "Jon, don't you dare close your eyes on me." Holding pressure over the bullet hole wounds. "Stay with me, my love… Please!" Watching the color in his face beginning to fade. "No, don't you dare leave me! Shandri I need that medi gel!"
-/
Miranda scrunched her brow at the call coming in "This is Miranda Lawson."
"Miranda, This is Kirre, One of Liara's bodyguards. Shepard's been shot by a sniper in Liara apartment. We've called medical transport. He's fading fast. Sent you her info."
Her eyes flashed "Holy Shit! We're actually in the same building a few floors up! We'll be there soon!"
—
"Hello, This is Dr. Karin Chakwas."
"Doctor, This is Kirre, One of Liara's bodyguards. Shepard's been shot by a sniper in Liara apartment. We've called medical transport. We need someone now! He's fading fast. Sent you her info."
"On my way dear."
-/
Shandri runs over to Liara with the medi gel in her hands. "I'll do the back wounds first, lift him Liara." She kneels down and squirts medi gel in both his wounds on his back. "Ok, lay him back down." She squirts another tube of medi gel in his chest and shoulder wound.
Liara gently ran her hand down his face. "There you go, my love…. Does that feel better?" He just grunts at her. She could hear his bubbling breaths start to slow. She wipes the blood from his mouth and kisses his forehead. He grips her hand tightly as he scrunches his face. She looks into his eyes as she cries and pleads "Hold on…. Please… " Liara watches her lover's eyes lids start to blink slower and slower as his life slips away. She looks up and yells "Where my fucking medical transport!"
"Everyone is on their way Mistress," replies Kirre
Liara feels the grip of his hand release slightly. She looks down to see his eyes closing and barely breathing. He looks at her as he softly gasps out his last breaths then his eyes close. Her face scrunches as she starts sobbing uncontrollably and in pleading a voice "Nooo no no no… please nooo... please…."
Shandri quickly checks his neck for a pulse and when she doesn't find one starts compressions on his chest.
A few moments later she hears banging at the door then hears Miranda yelling. "Where is he?"
She runs over to see blood everywhere. "Bloody hell! Liara, I need you to move out of the way." Liara in a daze and not responding to Miranda says "Alex, get her out of my way!" She looks at Shandri "How long have you been doing compressions?"
She shrugs "I'm not sure. Not long I suppose."
"Let me take over!" She does mouth to mouth then starts compressions on his chest. As she's doing compressions she looks over at Liara "Talk to me Liara when did he stop breathing?… Liara!?…. When did he stop breathing!?"
Liara looking at her hands and clothes covered in her lover's blood, she starts shaking.
Miranda says "Shandri she's going into shock! Keep an eye on her." She stops compressions, checks for breathing and does mouth to mouth then starts compressions again. "Damn it, Shepard! Don't you fucking die on me! Come on you little shits do your fucking job!"
A couple moments later… Medical transport and local police arrive.
EMS leader yells out. "Where is he?"
Miranda calls out "Over here!"
EMS leader says "What do we have?"
"Dual gunshot wound, one to the left shoulder area and one to the right chest. Medi gel in place. Stopped breathing maybe four minutes ago. CPR started shortly after breathing stopped." replied Miranda
EMS leader says "I'm Tael and this is Peova, Please move so we can work." Tael cuts his shirt off and says "Peova prep the defibrillator." After Peova preps the unit, she starts compressions on his chest again while Tael adds several sticky nodes to his chest. After placing the nodes on his chest, she hooks him up to a portable heart machine that's flatlining. Tael unwraps the bubble breather from its bag, places it over his mouth and starts pumping air into his mouth. They hear the defib unit beep ready. Tael yells "CLEAR" then places the paddles on its pads. His chest jolts up as they shock him. They raise the voltage on the defib unit. Peova starts compressions again as they wait for the defib unit to charge. "Come on…Come on!" They hear the defib beep ready. Tael yells out "CLEAR" then places the paddles on his chest! His chest jolts up again as they shock him. They hear a slight heart beep from the machine. "We've got HIM! Let's get him on the litter and into the transport."
Karin says "Where are you taking him? I'm his personal surgeon and I would like to come with you."
Tael responds "Nos Astras Central Medical Hospital. That's fine. The rest of you can follow us there."
Tela Vasir speaks loudly "Ok crew let's get this scene closed off and get me someone that can tell me what happened!" She looks over at Shepard then sees Liara unscathed. Damn it! It'll be much harder to get to her now.
Kirre walks over to her and says "Who are you?"
Vasir responds with Tela Vasir Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. Alex walks over "What the hell is a Spectre doing here?"
She says, "I heard the call and rushed over. Can you tell me what happened here?"
Alex narrows his eyes at her and looks her over. Somethings not right here.
Kirre says "Yes, Liara and Commander Shepard were standing over there, {she points into the living room}when he got hit."
They follow Vasir over to the living room. Tela looks at the multiple bullet holes in the large exterior glass window then down at the blood on the floor. She says "and this is where the sniper shots came through and attempted to assassinate Liara but hit Commander Shepard?"
Kirre says "That's correct."
Alex buts in and said, "Woah…wait a minute… why would you say that?"
Cocking her head at him "Say what?"
Glaring at her he says "You said attempted to assassinate Liara but hit Commander Shepard. Why not say attempted to assassinate them both?"
Trying to recover from letting her error slip "Why would anyone want to kill the Hero of the Citadel? I figured the attempt was on Liara considering she works in a dangerous field of information brokerage " Shit
"Mmmhmmm."
"Well… I have what I need here." She heads for the door and says "Thank you."
Alex walks over to Miranda and speaks to her softly. "Something is not right with her. "
She looks up and over at her as she leaves "How so?"
"For instance, She's a Spectre. Why is a Spectre even here? That on its own is extremely odd. Then she says the sniper attempted to kill Liara, not Jon. Why would she even know that or say that? When I asked her about it, she says it was just a hunch. She knows something and I'm going to get to the bottom of it."
Miranda pinched her brows "You're right that is odd. We'll have to talk to Liara about it and dig into it further."
Sneering he says. "Fuck that, I'm digging into it now. She just became my prey and if she had anything to do with this, she's dead."
-/
Karin comes out of surgery eight hours later. She walks into the visitor room and softly shakes Liara's shoulder.
She opens her eyes then jolts up. "Karin! Is he ok?"
Karin speaks to everyone in the room. "He's going to be fine, Yes. He gave us quite the scare but with everyone's help plus the nanites he'll make it through. The first bullet ripped through his chest which collapsed his lung and broke through two of his ribs. Then the second bullet shattered his shoulder blade and a fractured bone cut part of his main axillary vein. He has some internal bleeding. He's currently sedated and in ICU. We're currently running a bone restructuring scan on him. With his nanites in place, his recovery should be much faster. He should be on his feet in three to four days."
Liara stood "Can I see him?"
She nodded "Just For a moment Liara." Karin looked at the others "Everyone else should go back to the Normandy and get some rest."
Liara walks into ICU and into his darkened room. She softly runs her hand down the side of his face then kisses his forehead and whispers "I love you."
Karin taps her shoulder "Come on Liara."
"Can't I just stay here with him?"
Karin shakes her head "No, Liara go home and rest."
She turns to her. "Go home? To a crime scene?"
Sighing, "I'm sorry Liara. They're going to stop his drip in five hours and should be un-sedated in about seven hours. You will be available to see him in six. Go home"
-/
Six hours later her Omni tool dings. She looks at the time. 0900. He should be up in an hour. Liara gets up, showers, and gets dressed.
—-
She walks through ICU and into his room quietly. She pulls up a chair, sits next to the bed and takes hold of his hand. He squeezes her hand and clears his throat. "Liara?"
She stands up "Jon?"
He grunts "Mmm?"
She leans in and kisses him all over his face. "Goddess Jon, don't ever do that to me again! I was terrified!"
Laughing softly. "Oh man, that hurts. I'll do my best not to babe. They said I'll be out of here in a few days."
Liara replied, "Yes, three to four days I was told."
"Good that just means I have more time with you," he said then smiled at her.
She rolled her eyes "Jon..."
They both turned when they heard a knock at the door then Miranda walks in. "How are you doing Commander?"
"I'm alive Ms. Lawson."
She laughs "Yes, you are Shepard. Liara we need to talk about the shooting. Red has some interesting information about what happened." Miranda then proceeds to tell her everything.
By the end, Liara is glowing angrily with biotics. She spats out "I'm going to hit her so hard with a warp that her remains will fit into a cup!"
Miranda laughs and says "Well, that's if you get to her before Red. He is already hunting her."
Shepard furrowed his brow "Why do you think she tried to kill you?"
She sighs "It has to be another attempt from the Shadow Broker."
"I see, Red told me the backstory of what all went on during the capture of Shepard's body" said Miranda
"Yes, and we left Feron behind." Shaking her head. "I shouldn't have left him."
Intrigued. Shepard says "Who's Feron?"
Miranda replies "A double agent. He worked for Cerberus and the Shadow Broker. He knew the consequences Liara."
"I understand that Miranda but I still shouldn't have just left him."
Miranda holds out a data pad "The Illusive Man gave this to me this morning."
"What's this?" Liara grabs the data pad and listens to it. "It looks like a leaked transmission between operatives and the Shadow Broker. Some hints to the location and Feron! He's still alive." she smiles then says "I need to get to a secure com and call Seket."
Shepard raises a brow "Who's Seket?"
"He's the best research analyst I know. He works at the Dracon Trade Center. I'll send what I have to him and he can put it all together for me in no time." replies Liara
He grabs her hand gently "Liara don't go at this alone. Take a team with you. Tali, Grunt, Garrus, Miranda, hell even Jack. I don't care."
She kisses him. "I will my love. I must go!"
-/
Liara yells "Vasir... it's over!" Liara, Miranda, Jack pointing their guns at Vasir
Vasir turns slowly to a pedestrian nearby and says "Hey... hey you. What's your name?" She walks up to her, grabs her from behind and puts a gun to her head.
"Ma...Marianna" the woman says frantically
"Marianna, you want to live, don't you? You tell those people that you want to live."
Liara glares then said, "I'm going to end you Vasir!"
The Red Dragon materializes behind Vasir. As quick as a snake he grabs her head with one hand, with the other he shoves his dagger into the back for her neck and pierces it through. Vasir drops her gun as her arms flop to the side. As she gurgles he whispers in her ear "For my brother you fucking bitch."
Liara looks angrily at Red and says "I wanted to kill her"
He shrugs as he says "Yea well… too late"
She stalks up to Vasir, shoots her in the head then rummages through her pockets and grabs the data disk.
-/
On the Shadow Broker ship, Liara talks to the Yahg….
Shepard looks at Red points to him then himself and then brings his hand to his fist. Red looks back at him and says "Oooh fuck yea! It's shake and bake time baby. I'm assuming crash and bash?"
Shepard smiles broadly "You know it!"
Liara looks at Shepard confused (shake and bake?)
He laughs (yea. You'll see)
Miranda rolls her eyes.
Jack looks at them both and says "What the fuck?! Shake and bake?"
Red laughs then shakes his head from side to side as he says "Yes. He's going to shake it and I'm gonna muthafuckin bake it!"
The Yahg breaks his desk in two and throws it at them taking out Miranda and Garrus.
Shepard flash charges the Yahg and shoots him with his shotgun. Then Red does the same. They rinse and repeat several more times. After Red's second hit he slices the Yahg with his poisonous blade.
Jack eyes wide as she yells "Holy shit you two, you going to let anyone else get to play?"
Red yells back, "What the fuck are you waiting for a god damn invitation?"
"Fuck you Red!" snarls Jack
He snaps back "Blow me, Jack."
Jack kisses her middle finger at him.
Liara looks up at the massive energy field above the Yahg. "I have an idea. Guys tag team him again. Jack, we're going to bring that massive energy field down on him."
As Shepard and Red tag team the Shadow Broker another time. Jack and Liara give everything they have to pull the field down on it.
After the Shadow Broker is dead, Shepard and Red help up Garrus and Miranda as Jack says "Did you two have a nice nap?"
As Miranda leans on Red he says "Are you ok?" Then wipes off some of the debris from her clothes.
She grunts "I'll be fine but Bloody Hell did that hurt."
He whispers "Want me to kiss it better?"
A smile crept across her face as she murmured "Mmm you better..."
Jack says "Hey Cheerleader! Did you fall on your big bubbly butt because it looks swollen?"
Miranda grunts then said, "Shut up Jack!"
After helping up Garrus, Shepard walks back over to Liara. "Are you sure you want to do this? Become the new Shadow Broker?"
Liara gives a lopsided grin "With the Shadow Brokers information network, I can help you tremendously." She looked at him then said "Let's get Mordin, Kasumi, Tali, and Red in here. We need to strategize and secure this place down. We also need to figure out how to mobilize the network. I don't want to be trapped on this ship." She looks at Shepard (TIM will know soon enough. I'm sure she'll tell him)
He looks at her (I don't know. She's turning on him more and more every day. She's different. Also, her involvement with Red has changed her) "I agree you need to be mobile. I also need to talk to Miranda about this. We need to maintain your secret." (What about Feron?)
She shrugged "Hmmm I dunno..."
"I'll leave you to it. I'll see you later." Shepard walks up to Miranda. "We need to talk."
Crossing her arms. "Ok, I'm listening."
"We need to discuss what happened here," he said
She nods "Yes, I know. He's going to want a full report."
"And? What are you going to tell him?"
"I don't know Shepard but I have to tell him something. My loyalty to him is just about gone. His ideas are ludicrous! What he did to us on the collector ship was asinine. After I get my sister, I want out!" she replied
He scratched his chin "Is that what Liara helped you with?"
She nodded "She is helping me with it. So is Red."
"How is Red working for you?" he asked
"What do you mean?" she said
Arching his eyebrow "You know what I mean."
Rolling her eyes. "He can be an ass and cocky, but affectionate and attentive. He's different than others. It's not always about sex either. When we're apart and I hear from him, it makes me smile. Ugh, damn it. I don't know what this is... I don't know if it's stress or just blowing off steam! Why am I telling you this?"
He smiled "Miranda you care for him. Have you talked to him about this?"
She jerks her hand down "No! This is no time for emotional entanglement."
He crossed his arms "I'm sure it's too late for that. It's ok to care for someone. I know him, Miranda. He's only been "involved" a few times the rest were a bang and toss. For him to continue with you means he cares for you."
She sighed "I know he does! You and I know more about the collectors than anyone. We know how unlikely it is we're coming back alive. Damn it! Why does he make me feel like I do!"
"You should talk to him about this Miranda."
-/
Miranda walked over to Red "Red, I need to speak with you over here when you're done with Liara."
He looks at her "Uh oh! Am I in trouble Ms. Lawson?"
"Just come see me when you're done." Turning and walking away. "Ass…"
Laughing "ok, I'll be there as soon as I'm done."
Walking up to Miranda "Hey, you wanted to talk?"
"Yes, I do. Come in here." They walk into another room. As the door closes she says "What are we doing Alex?"
Furrowing his brow and saying in a sarcastic tone "ugh... well it looks like we're fighting bad guys Miri. What do you mean?"
She huffed "I know that, you ass. I'm talking about you and me."
He walks up to her and places his hands on her hips. "What about us?"
She turns from him. "You know how unlikely it is I won't make it out of this."
"Yea and I'll be highly pissed if you don't because then I'll have to go hunting some fucking Collectors and Reapers."
Laughing softly. "Alex... I... I care about you."
Walking up behind her. "And I care about you Miri."
Sighing. "What idiotic bunch of hormones thought this was a good time for love?"
Wrapping his arms around her. "You love me?"
She nodded gently "Yes, I do Damn it!"
Turning her to face him. "Hey, look at me." Smiling at her he says "Miri, I love you too." He kisses her passionately. "Now, I need to talk to you about something."
"What?"
He takes a breath then explains their plan "We have a plan in place. As you and Jon are off fighting. I'm going to stay here with Liara and Feron to secure this place for now. We need to get off this ship and take it mobile. Kas is placing an order for some extremely high-tech equipment that can do just that."
She raises her brows "How do you plan on doing that?"
He does a quick side nod "Well, that's where the high-tech equipment comes in place. Liara doesn't want full control of the Shadow Broker. After this is all over she just wants Jon and a family. She wants to be involved but doesn't want it consuming her life. What we came up with is to share the load between her, myself, Feron, a select few of her commandos, and whoever else."
Miranda smiles "Hmm that's a great idea to break it up. Can I join?"
"You want to? I thought maybe you'd go back—"
She shook her head. "No, I want out after I get my sister and I want to be done with this. I'll need something to do afterward and this is right up my alley."
He nodded "I'm sure she won't have a problem with it" He grunted, "Well, she'll probably want you on your own ship."
She groaned "Ugh... I'd rather be with you."
He rubbed her back "I know but we'll figure it out. Let's go talk to her about it."
They walk up to Liara and Red says "Hey Liara, do you have a minute to talk?"
Liara looks over at him "Of course. Red."
"I was discussing our plan with Miranda."
Liara blurts out "You did what?! Can we trust her!" (Jon?! I need you)
(What's the matter!?)
Miranda shook her head as she says "Red, I knew this wasn't going to work."
He says "No it's fine Miri." He looks a Liara. "She can be trusted."
Liara holds up a finger "Hang on I need to talk it over with Shepard." (Alex just told Miranda our entire plan. Can we trust her?)
(Oh, yes, she can be trusted. She wants to be done with Cerberus)
She looks at them both. "Ok, he says you're good."
Both of them raising an eyebrow at her and says "Wait what?! How?"
"Oh, right. Shepard and I can communicate telepathically," says Liara
Miranda closed her eyes as she shook her head. When she opened them she said "When?... wait it's the nanites... wow. Why only you?"
Liara smiles "Yes, only me and that's a complicated answer. Now let's get back to the question about you Miranda. So, you want in?"
She nodded "Yes, I do. When my sister is safe from Cerberus and this is over with. I want to be done with them. They'll hunt me but what you're doing is right up my alley."
"Ok, well Feron will be on his ship with a commando. Red will have his ship with a crew of my commandos. Miranda you can take Tezzik's ship with your crew of commandos as well and please rename it." She points to herself "I'll be taking the Blue Lagoon with my own crew."
Red and Miranda looking at each other with frowns on their faces. Liara looks at them both. "What?"
"Well we were kind of hoping we'd be working on the same ship," replies Miranda
Liara furrows her forehead "I see... well... let's not worry about it now. Let's get through this and see what happens.
Miranda smiles "Thank you Liara."
