Liara T'soni gave a yawn. It was a big one and she felt it was about to break her jaw. She was staring at her HUD screen for several minutes, unable to focus. She was tired, she knew that, she felt it. Dr. Chakwas had advised her to rest, and she would have liked to, but there was so much she had to do, to think about, to research. She finally decided to turn off the HUD entirely and move away from her desk and the stack of papers she had been compiling. She wasn't accomplishing anything.
She stood up and looked around her. Dr. Chakwas had turned the med bay back room, that usually stood for a medical lab, into make-shift lodgings for Liara complete with a couch, tables, bookshelves, and a small bed, which she very much appreciated. T'soni liked Chakwas, the doctor was sarcastic and funny, everything Liara was not. She was also so knowledgable, it seemed Dr. Chakwas had done a little bit of everything, and she fascinated Liara. Almost like, a mother.
Mother. Benezia.
No, Liara, she thought to herself, shaking her head furiously, you must'nt...
Mustn't, what? Believe her own mother is working for a Galactic defector? A traitor and proceeding deliberately to wipe out the entire galaxy?
T'soni sighed, forcing all thoughts out of her head. She needed to relax, unwind, sleep. But she didn't want to sleep, she was tired, but she didn't want to sleep. She decided to plop down on her couch and stare at the opposite wall. No matter how much she wanted to push away, it always came back. Liara rubbed her face in frustration and furrowed her eyebrows. Everything was wrong, she just didn't want to admit to it. She hadn't spoken to her mother in years. Perhaps, it was selfish of her, not perhaps, it was selfish, but at the time she didn't think she had a choice. Liara was unhappy and she had to make the decision to change that.
A chime sounded throughout the room. Liara jumped slightly and looked up. She frowned, not entirely sure what that was. She waited for a moment and the chime went off again. She stood up slowly and walked over to the door.
"W-who is it?"
"Liara, it's Shepard."
T'soni blinked a few times, surprised. She reached over for the panel on the side of the door and unlocked it. She took a step back and watched as Shepard walked in, a small, amused smile on her face.
"Shepard, are you coming to check on me?" T'soni wanted to take that back immediately and grimaced. It almost sounded accusing.
"How are you holding up, Liara?" Shepard said with small nod. Apparently, she was not offended. "You look better."
"I'm okay." she said, feeling somewhat relieved. "Dr. Chakwas assures me I am going to be fine. I was impressed with her knowledge of asari physiology."
"You're in good hands. Dr. Chakwas knows what she's doing." Shepard said, looking around. "You seem as if you've settled down in here."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Liara said, feeling rather irritated with herself, and raised a hand to her face. "Would you like some tea, or you could, sit, there, or- I'm not doing very well..."
"You're doing fine." Shepard said with a laugh, and taking a seat on the couch. "I don't need anything, thanks."
"Okay." Liara said taking a breath. She turned around and reached for her own mug of tea she had been sipping. Although, it has become rather lukewarm and not very tasteful, Liara needed to do something with her hands. She gripped the mug between her hands and took a seat on the edge of the couch, feeling rather nervous. "I'm not entirely used to being around so many people in such a long period of time. I suppose it would take time to acclimate to...everything."
"I can imagine."
"You know, I've never properly thanked you for saving me from the geth, Shepard." Liara finally said, staring into her cup. She felt an odd tension on her neck. She made a mental note to see Dr. Chakwas again. "If you hadn't shown up..."
"No problem." Shepard said with a wave of her hand. "I'm glad we just got there in time."
"So am I." Liara smiled at the commander. Then she looked down again, her head working, "I know you took a chance bringing me aboard this ship. I have seen the way your crew looks at me. They do not trust me...but I am not Benezia!"
"I can understand where they're coming from, Liara. You are Benezia's daughter whom we find out seems to be working closely with Saren." Shepard said, not unkindly. She was leaning forward, her hands clasped in front of her. The commander had a frown on her face, but she was anything but chastising. "But, it seems you are willing to help the crew, whether they outwardly accept you or not. I'll take whatever help I can get."
Liara blinked, surprised at the sincerity in Shepard's voice, "It means a lot to hear you say that, Shepard. Thank you."
"Do you know why Benezia joined up with Saren?"
Liara frowned. Of course, she had often thought of this question herself, it was the reason for her immediate troubles. "I don't understand it. She was always outspoken about the need for the asari to become involved in galactic events. Maybe she thought allying herself with Saren would somehow be for the greater good in the long run...at least, I hope so."
"You didn't expect this."
"No, of course not." Liara said, looking at Shepard. "None of this makes any sense to me. I have not spoken to Benezia in years, but I know her! And this was not like her! Something's changed."
"I'm sorry, Liara."
T'soni shook her head and stared into her cup. At the moment, there was nothing she could do and all she seemed to be doing is worrying. And why wouldn't she be? Benezia is her mother. The one that raised her, that cared for her all by herself. Her beautiful, lonely mother.
"So, tell me about yourself, Liara." Shepard said, interrupting the asari's thoughts. The commander leaned back into the couch, with a friendly smile.
"Me? Oh, well, I-I am not very interesting." Liara looked into her mug again, feeling embarrassed, but relieved at the change of subject. She placed her cup with the tasteless liquid on a table beside her. "I spend most of my time on remote digs, unearthing mundane items buried in long-forgotten Prothean ruins."
"It must be enjoyable since you've done it for so long."
"Sometimes I would run afoul of indigenous life-forms, or stumble across a small group of mercenaries or privateers. But I was always careful." Liara paused, taking a quick glance at Shepard. "Until the geth followed me to Artemis Tau, I've never found myself in any situation my biotics could not handle."
"Isn't lonesome?"
"It can be." Liara said with a shrug. She bit her lower lip. "The solitude appealed to me the most, though. Sometimes, I just need to get away from people. I am Benezia's daughter, and I think a lot of people expected me to follow in her footsteps. They wanted me to become the leader of our people."
"Sounds like a lot of pressure."
Liara crossed her legs on the couch and looked at Shepard, nodding her head. "Benezia was, is, a matriarch. They guide their followers into the future; they seek the truth of what is yet to come. Maybe that's why I became to interested in the secrets of the past."
"You rebelled." Shepard stated.
Liara let out a laugh, but it sounded strange. She couldn't remember the last time she laughed out loud. She cleared her throat. "That's exactly what I did, and it seems foolish, but I was drawn to the past. The Protheans were these wonderous, mysterious figures. I wanted to know everything about them. And you! You've actually been marked by the beacon, touched my working Prothean technology!"
"You sound as if you want to dissect me in a lab somewhere." Shepard said, her eyes wide.
"What? No, I-I didn't mean to insinuate-" Liara felt horrified and stammered. "Ah, I-I never meant to offend you! I only meant that you would be an interesting specimen for in-depth study. N-no-that's even worse!"
Liara finally noticed that Shepard was hiding a smile behind her hand, her eyes twinkling. "Calm down, Liara. I was only joking."
"Joking." Liara's hands were moved to her cheeks. She could feel her face burning. "How could I be so dense? You must think I'm a fool. How embarrassing. This is why I prefer to spend time in the field with data disks and computers...let's just pretend the conversation never happened."
"Understood. I'm glad you're doing okay, Liara." Shepard laughed and stood. "We'll talk again, soon."
"I'd like that." Liara said, standing as well. "I appreciate you coming to speak with me, Shepard. You and Dr. Chakwas have made me feel very welcome."
"I'm glad."
Liara watched silently as Shepard give a final nod and walked out the door.
"I'm just sayin'! I prefer gold to silver. You know, for my medal. I figured you'd recommend me for pulling your, uh, boots out of the fire."
Shepard smiled to herself and shook her head as she spoke to the comm in her quarters. "If we gave you a medal, Joker, you'd be stuck on stage listening to politicians give speeches."
A pause. "Oh, well, maybe the medal isn't a good idea. They'd probably make me shave, too, and I can't have that."
"Good choice." Shepard replied, her hands over her head as she leaned back into her chair and stretched.
"So, how are you, Commander?"
Shepard turned her eyes to the comm and raised an eyebrow, her arms had fallen behind her head. "You need something, Joker?"
"What?" Joker replied sounding offended. "Can't a guy ask a question?"
"You're not that nice. Even to me."
Joker made a discursive noise and said, "I know what happened to Anderson. He gave up everything because of some back room politics. Same thing could happen to you, if this mission goes badly, Shepard. Your head will be on the next chopping block and I'll be out of a job."
"Ha," Shepard chuckled. "Right..."
Her door chime went off just then.
"Talk to you later, Joker." Shepard said, reaching for her comm.
"Commander."
Shepard sat up straighter in her chair and moved a few informational data pads to the side of her desk. One thing she had always tried to fix was her inability to stay neat. "Come in."
Her door opened and there stood Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko. His usual indecipherable demeanor established on his face, his strong arms positioned firmly behind his back. Shepard watched as Alenko's eyes politely roved around the room taking everything in before his eyes landed on hers. A very soft smile appeared on his face along with a small nod. Shepard stared at him momentarily, wondering how she felt about him.
"Lieutenant." Shepard said, looking up at him as his heavy footsteps stopped in front of her desk. "It's good to see you. How can I help?"
"Do you have a minute, Commander?" he asked, in his soft-spoken voice.
"Of course, Kaiden." Shepard said standing and moving around her desk. She waved her hand toward a chair. "Have a seat."
"Thanks." He replied. Shepard pulled up another chair and sat in in backwards to face Kaiden.
"What can I do for you?"
"Off the record, Commander, I've been meaning to say something about all the bullshit that's been going on," Alenko began. Shepard raised her eyebrows slightly as he continued, "I think there's something wrong here. This Saren is looking for some kind of records on galactic extinction. But we can't get backup from the Council. Sorry, Commander, there's writing on the wall here, but someone isn't reading it."
"I can understand your frustration." Shepard told him and shrugged, "The council doesn't want to believe anything's wrong. I'd call it human nature, but..."
"Yeah. It seems like a group that's been around for as long as the council should see this coming." He paused for a minute, a small humorless smile on his face. "It's funny. We finally get out here, and the final frontier was already settled. And the residents don't even seemed impressed by the view. Or the dangers."
Shepard blinked at him. She thought him cute just then. She stopped herself from thinking anything more and stood to try and busy herself with something, anything. "I would never have pegged you for a romantic, Kaiden. Is that what you want, secure man's future in space? Coffee?"
"I'd love some." He chuckled then, looking thoughtful. "I did read a lot of those books when I was a kid. Where the hero goes to space to prove himself worthy of a woman he loves. Or, you know. For justice."
"Not so much anymore?" Shepard said, handing him a hot silver mug and laid out other condiments on the desk he might be interested in. He took it with a nod of 'thanks' and she reached for three cubes of sugar plopping them into her own mug one by one.
"Maybe I was in the beginning, but I'm not looking for the 'dream'. Just want to see what's out there." Kaiden replied, taking a sip. "But I thought about it after Brain Camp-ah, sorry, 'Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training'."
"'Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training'." Shepard repeated, blowing the hot coffee. "Sounds heavy."
"'Biotic Acclimation and Temperance' didn't get past the airlock. To the kids they hauled in, it was 'Brain Camp'. 'Encouraged to commit to an evaluation of our abilities, so an understanding of biotics could be compiled'."
"That makes you sound like cattle." Shepard said, her fingers interlocked around her hot mug.
Kaiden smiled, reaching over to the desk, "Well, there are worse results of 'accidental' exposure to element zero in the womb. Beats the brain tumors some kids grew up with."
"You don't believe the turn-over were accidents?"
"My mother was downwind of a transport crash." Kaiden said, eyeing the coffee in his mug as he leaned back in his chair. "It was before there were human biotics. A little after the discovery of the Martian ruins. It only got iffy around '63 when Conatix was running out of first-gen subjects. Until then, they relied on accidentals."
Shepard furrowed her eyebrows, looking at Alenko from the brim of her mug. "You know of any intentional exposures for certain?"
"No one 'knows'." The lieutenant said with a sigh. "Doesn't mean they didn't happen. As big as the exposure were, it was hard to track down accidentals and it was different then. No one knew the potential, so there wasn't a lot of regulation. Anything Conatix did was gold."
"Oh?" Shepard said, pouring more coffee into Alenko's mug, having drained it.
"I'm not saying they intentionally detonated drives over our outposts." He replied, reaching for sugar. "But in retrospect, they were damn quick on the scene. Bunch of guys in suits show up at your front door. Next thing you know, you're out on Jump Zero."
"Jump Zero is at the Gagarin Station, right? That's a long way from home." Shepard said, feeling sympathetic. "What was it like?"
Kaiden shrugged, staring at Shepard. "Gagarin is the official name, yeah. The biggest and farthest facility we had for decades. Right on the termination shock, the outer edge of the solar system." He gave a mirthless chuckle. "The grand gateway to humanity looks a lot better in the vids."
"What?" Shepard asked, curious, setting her mug on her desk and warpped her arms around the back of the chair, her chin resting on them.
"Well, it's where they did all the the 'goose chase' FTL research. Before we caught on to using mass effect fields. It was a sterile research platform when I was there."
"There were other kids in the same boat, right?" Shepard asked him, "At least you weren't alone out there?"
"That's true." Kaiden replied, "We did have a little circle that'd get together every night before lights-out. We didn't have much to do, though. It was a research platform, then, and Conatix kept Jump Zero off the extranet. To prevent leaks."
"I'm sure you found things to do." Shepard said, smiling at him. "You were all teenagers."
"We spoke, mainly. Nothing else, I would consider in doing so lightly, anyway." Alenko said, looking rather serious. More so than usual. "There was a girl I spent a lot of time with, but we kept our clothes on. Rahna."
"Tell me about her."
Kaiden paused for moment, looking as if he didn't want to, but he placed his empty mug gently on Shepard's desk and exhaled slowly. "She was from Turkey. Her family was very rich. But she was smart, charming as hell. Beautiful, but not stuck up about it. Like you, I guess. Ma'am." He cleared his throat.
"She sounds very special." Shepard said, preferring to ignore the compliment. Not a good idea.
Kaiden nodded slowly, still watching the commander carefully. It made Shepard slightly uncomfortable, but mostly, not. "She was. Maybe she felt the same, but...Things never fell together. Training. You know." He paused to stand. "Anyway. This was supposed to be a casual debrief, not a bullshit session about stuff that happened years ago."
"It's alright, Kaiden, thank you." Shepard said, standing as well. "I'm glad you came in."
"Well, you're welcome." Alenko said, crossing his arms. He paused for a second and raised an eyebrow. "You make a habit of getting personal with everyone?"
Shepard looked at him for a moment wondering how she should answer that. No, she wasn't oblivious to Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko, she had an idea as to what he was feeling, as subtle as he tried to make them be. It was a rather endearing quality she found. When she first met Alenko, she mistakenly thought him timid; he was quiet and soft-spoken, but out on the battlefield, he was anything but. Almost frightful. Shepard found it...attractive. It would have certainly been a very bad idea to say anything about it at all. She was flattered, she admitted that, but there was also the very strict chain of command and that, no, Shepard wasn't allowed to forget it, nor did she have any intention of breaking it. There just wasn't time. She finally decided to speak based on more neutral territory.
"Yeah, Kaiden..." Shepard began, hesitating. She could see he was waiting for an answer. "I like getting to know all my officers."
Alenko didn't answer right away, his face, once again, unreadable. He finally opened his mouth. "Okay, Commander. Thanks for listening. I appreciate it."
Shepard watched as the Lieutenant gave her a salute and a nod and turned on his heel to walk out the door. She sighed after he left, her arms crossed.
"Anytime."
Asari. Fleshy. Soft. Tough. Worth killing. Lots of credits. I can take 'em.
Turian. Hah. Pyjaks. Waste of a good fight.
Quarian. Eh, not worth the time. They're all gonna die, anyway.
Human. Also fleshy and soft. Don't often fight humans. Not many of them, anyway.
Shepard.
...Shepard. Hmm.
How to kill a Shepard?
It would be a punishing. Good. Might be worth my time.
Not now, though. Maybe after I get my bounty. Shepard's probably worth a lot.
Saren. Bastard turian.
Huh. I have to clean my gun again. I thought I did that this morning.
Must have been because of that last fight with that other asshole turian, Actus.
Damn, there's a lot of blood on the barrel.
Heh.
That turian deserved the hole in the face. Stealing something from a krogan is always a bad idea.
Stealing from me is a worse one.
Idiot.
Shepard helped me...the human deserves my respect.
Maybe I won't kill her, just hurt her a little.
That would be fun.
Garrus was sitting on by a table in the officer's quarters in the early morning, he was having trouble sleeping. He had a foot across over one knee, his hand holding up his head and the other sitting across his lap. He was staring out through into space; the vastness of space always comforted him. This was his favorite spot in the whole ship. It wasn't a very large window, but it was big enough.
He was feeling angry and depressed and relieved. He wasn't sure which he felt more. He decided on anger.
Fucking salarian lizard. Too damn smart for their own kind, they'd be willing to sacrifice anything and everything for their own ambitions. "For the greater good." Bah. He was nothing but a ruthless and greedy son of a bitch.
He didn't hear the quarter doors open over his in-head ranting.
"Garrus. I knew I'd find you here."
Startled, the turian quickly turned in his chair only to see the Normandy's Lieutenant Alenko heading over to him.
"Kaiden." Garrus replied, recovering quickly. "How are you?"
"I'm good." Kaiden said, with a nod. He took a seat on the other side of the table and leaned back in the chair, his arms across his chest. He stared out the window, "Never gets old does it?"
"No, it doesn't." Vakarian replied, looking out into space again. "As much as I've tried, I can't get away from it."
"Tried?" Alenko said, looking at him. "You didn't want to fly again?"
"It was a long time ago." Garrus said, waving it away. "I thought of settling down after, well, this whole mess."
"You mean with Dr. Saleon."
Garrus made disconcerting noise. "Hardly a doctor, but, yeah."
"What made you change your mind?"
Garrus felt thoughtful for a moment before answering. "Saren was a name that often crossed the desks back in C-Sec. The reports often affiliated with his name were crossed out and blackened, so no one ever did anything about it. As a Citadel Spectre and a turian, there isn't much we could do, but I decided to try anyway."
"What'd you find?"
"Not much." Garrus replied with a chuckle. "When the Citadel wants things a secret, they really keep things secret. But the name Saleon came up in the same reports and that was a familiar name."
"What was the connection?"
"Don't know. Nothing to do wth the geth." Garrus added, noticing Kaiden's face. "I can only believe they worked together at one point. There were disturbing occurrences involving a particular salarian geneticist and the black market. There was an increase in the trading of body parts and we weren't sure what was going on."
"Christ. How'd you find out?" Alenko asked, turning in his chair to face Garrus, his hands together.
Garrus looked at him, "We managed to get a hold of a sample and took DNA tests. Funny thing, we tracked it back to a turian who was still very much alive and refused to believe he had lent out his liver to anybody. He mentioned he had worked briefly for a Dr. Saleon and we paid the good doctor a visit. There was nothing."
"No lab? No equipment?"
"Nothing." Garrus said, feeling upset. He sighed, however, a sense of relief washing over him. "No salarian hearts, no turian livers, not one krogan testicle. It was damn frustrating. I ended up having to bring in his former employees. None of them wanted to talk, so I...'persuaded' one, and then he began to bleed profusely. We had to call in an emergency and our medics found incisions all over his body, some of them fresh. It was our big break. These people were test tubes. Walking, living, test tubes."
"He was growing organs? Inside his own employees?"
"Yes." Garrus replied. "Most of his subjects were poor, so Saleon would pay them a percentage, but only if the organs were good. What's worse, is if the organ didn't grow properly, he would leave them in the bodies. Most of them were a mess, but on the inside where nothing could be seen."
"How'd he get away?"
"There's no question of salarian smarts." Garrus said, making a face. "He blew up his lab, took hold of some of his employees, and left for the nearest space port. By the time we found him, he was already out and threatened to kill his hostages if we didn't let him go."
"You went after him, didn't you?"
"I ordered the feds to shoot them down but C-Sec commandeered my order. They were worried about the hostages, and the ship blowing up to close to the Citadel, so there was a threat to civilian casualties. I told them those hostages were dead already, but they didn't care and they let him go."
"You sound bitter, Garrus."
"I am. I was." Vakarian paused for a minute, realizing he was feeling rather tense. C-Sec was not a place he liked working and he was glad he left. He felt his shoulders relax and continued, "Anyway, when I heard a Commander Shepard was after Saren, I jumped at the chance. And I figured I could find Dr. Saleon, too. Glad I did. Shepard's really something."
"Yeah." Kaiden said softly, turning back to the stars. His arms crossed his chest, a very small smile on his face.
"Kaiden." Garrus said, looking at him interestedly. "Wanna share with the class?"
"Not really." Alenko said, looking at him seriously, his eyebrows raised.
Garrus chuckled and gave a shrug. He looked back out the window. "Okay, okay. 'Cause, you know, if she wasn't human..."
Kaiden stared at Garrus for moment before a smirk formed on his face but he said nothing. The sound of doors opening caused Vakarian to turn around and there stood Williams, a frown on her face as she was concentrating with reading something on her datapad.
"Ash."
Williams looked up startled at the sound of her name. She blinked and noticed both Alenko and Garrus looking at her. Vakarian sighed inwardly at her presence. It was more out of habit that he felt unease at the sight of her; he really didn't have the best first encounter with the Chief. Not that she was like that anymore. Williams no longer seemed that xenophobic as when they first met, in fact, she seemed to have warmed up to Garrus considerably.
"Hey, kids." Williams said, good-natuerdly, taking a seat at the same table, her datapad on hand. "How's it goin'?"
"You looked pretty preoccupied there." Garrus said to her.
She led out a heavy sigh and threw her datapad on the table, "Just watching some mail from home. M-"
"Oh, before I go. We saw Kaiden in a news vid about the Normandy. He's cute. Later, sis." Williams eyes widened as she stared at her datapad. Garrus watched her amusingly trying to fumble with her pad and turn off the mail but it was to late.
Ashley placed a hand over her mouth and looked up at Kaiden.
Alenko was leaning back in his chair, looking pleased and embarrassed at the same time. His cheeks were red and his shoulders were moving up and down from silent chuckles.
Garrus was laughing himself, not bothering to keep his voice down. This was great.
"Ahem." Williams said, clearing he throat, standing to place her datapad in a drawer by her bed. "Let's pretend this never happened."
"Quite the ladies man, Lieutenant." Garrus teased.
Kaiden said nothing, simply shook his head.
"Anyway," Ashley continued loudly, taking her seat again, "scuttlebutt says the Lieutenant is sweet on someone already."
"Is he?" Garrus replied, laughing louder. He watched Alenko blushing more than ever but he didn't say a word. "Wonder who the lucky one is?"
There was a chime that went off in the room, giving Alenko time to recover.
"What is it?" Williams said, who looked as if she was trying to compose herself.
A corporal by the name of Varner marched into the room and stopped to salute. "Commander Shepard has asked Chief Williams, Lieutenant Alenko, and Garrus Vakarian to report to the briefing room."
"Thanks, Varner." Garrus said, with a nod. He waited until the corporal left before looking at the others and standing. "Guess we're bound for Feros."
"What do you think we'll find there?" Williams asked, following the others out of the room.
"The habitable surface is full of Prothean ruins. Maybe there's another beacon." Kaiden said, pushing the button for the elevator. "If we're lucky, Saren."
"A dead Saren." Garrus supplied.
"Not dead." Ashely said darkly, as she stood between Vakaria and Alenko. "I want to be the one to kill him."
