Here come the Side Quests! And yes, they are a necessary part of the story. Don't worry though, these are some of the good ones!
Mass Effect 10 Part 1
Chapter 9
Breaking the Mold
Normandy
Immediately after Ben, Jane and Tali got finished teasing Liara, Joker pinged Jane's comms about an incoming message over a secure channel. Apparently Admiral Kahoku had managed to dig up something regarding the Thresher Maw trap back on Edolus. Remembering the trauma Shepard had gone through during that mission, Ben tagged along for moral support.
"Shepard, this is Admiral Kahoku." The recorded message began. "I found out who set that trap for my men. The ones killed by the thresher maw." Shepard tensed at the mention of that beast, though eased up slightly when Ben grabbed her shoulder reassuringly. "Damn, I hope you get this message!" The Admiral cursed silently. "It was a group called Cerberus. An Alliance black ops organization. Top-secret, highest level security clearance. They vanished a few months ago. Dropped right off the grid. Nobody knew where they went or what they were up to. They've gone completely rogue, Shepard!" His recording turned angry. "They're conducting illegal genetic experiments, trying to create some kind of super soldier. I don't have any proof, but I found the coordinates for one of their research worlds." The message began to sound slightly desperate, the Admiral clearly at his wit's end over this fiasco. "I'm uploading them with this message. They're completely out of control. Somebody needs to stop them. I've done my part. Now, it's up to you. This is...this is probably the last you'll hear from me." The Admiral's voice sounded completely resigned and beaten. "Cerberus is after me now. I need to disappear before they find me." With what would likely be his final message complete, the recording cut off.
"Joker! What are the coordinates Kahoku sent us?" Shepard barked out the moment the message ended.
"Planet Binthu, Yangtze System, Voyager Cluster." Joker answered promptly, dead serious for once. "Don't worry Commander, I've already charted us the fastest course."
"Good, because I wanna squash these Cerberus bastards for what they did!" Shepard hissed dangerously as she went to the locker room to suit up.
"Yikes, glad I'm not those guys." Ben winced nervously as he remembered how Shepard had torn into that thresher maw.
"You and me both, Ben." Joker replied over his comms. "It's times like these where I'm glad Shepard has me use the time you guys spend on the ground to scout out every system we go to from the Normandy for those resources and artifacts you got intel on from that Turian Admiral. The further away from her I am when she gets like that the better."
"That reminds me, I should probably ask Liara how she's doing with studying and cataloging all those artifacts we've picked up." Ben noted casually.
"...I hate you so much right now." Joker grumbled over the comms before cutting Ben off.
"What the hell is his problem?" Ben scratched his head in genuine confusion, only to get the best deadpan 'Really?' face that Quasar's avatar could muster. "...Okay, I see your point. But Liara and I aren't like that." Quasar's expression didn't change. "...yet?" Ben amended uncertainly, getting a sage nod from Quasar in response before he vanished back into Ben's armor. "I curse the day you developed a sense of humor." He grumbled at his partner even as he went off to get ready.
...
Binthu
"So how are you liking all the artifacts we've gathered on the Normandy, Liara?!" Ben asked loudly over the roar of Garrus firing on turrets that were firing on the Mako while Shepard drove like a woman possessed. "Find anything interesting yet?!"
"Not yet! I'd love a little more time to study those Prothean Data Drives though!" Liara responded as she glanced out the window worriedly. "The information I could potentially recover from them with the right cipher would be beyond value! Do you think Shepard would mind terribly if I melded with her to obtain the information she got from the Prothean Beacon?! It might serve as a point of reference, to help me decode them!"
"Going a little fast, aren't we?!" Tali joked just before Shepard pulled off a wicked skid into the damaged turret, finishing it off with a sickening crack. "Ohh, it's going to take me forever to fix the damage she's doing to the Mako, I just know it." She bemoaned the labor ahead of her as the crew piled out of the vehicle and into the Cerberus base.
"...I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that last part over the crash." Liara remarked uncertainly as they waited for Tali to hack the door. "It sounded like you said-"
"I'm in!" Tali said excitedly as the door to the base swooshed open. "Now let's go kill these Bosh'tet's!" She hissed violently as she drew her shotgun. "By the way, what was that you were saying Liara?"
"...There's a Prothean structure just up that hill." Liara sighed, suddenly feeling less interested in Tali's dialogue than before. "I'll try to salvage any artifacts from it I can while you all...do whatever it is you do to these people."
"Suit yourself." Shepard shrugged as she lead the march into the base.
"Try not to get caught in a bubble again." Wrex teased as he and the rest of the crew followed the leader.
Once they were all inside, Liara began the trudge up the hill to examine the ruins. "Next time." She told herself sternly, trying to bolster her confidence and steel her shaking nerves. "I'll go into an enemy base to help them kill terrorists next time."
Meanwhile, as Liara was giving herself a pep talk, the rest of the crew had managed to get a few rooms into the Cerberus base before something went wrong. Surprisingly, it wasn't Cerberus itself that presented the problem.
"...What. The. Fuck?!" Wrex growled as he tried to burn a hole in the force field cell he was glaring at. Or rather, what was inside the force field cell. "Why the hell do these Cerberus pyjacks have a Rachni?!"
"Quiet Wrex!" Shepard hissed as she pulled him down behind a console awkwardly. "Or do you want every Cerberus agent on this planet to hear us coming from a mile away?!" She might be curious about the giant bug as well, but she knew how to keep her cool under pressure.
"Yes!" Wrex hissed hungrily as he cradled his shotgun dangerously. "If these bastards are trying to bring back the greatest threat the galaxy has ever faced, I want them to know I'm coming. I want them to be scared."
"Later!" Shepard hissed back strictly. "Right now, I think we can use this to our advantage." She grinned maliciously as she hacked into the console controlling the barrier.
What happened next was a thing of beauty - at least in Wrex's eyes. The moment the barrier dropped, the Rachni - angry from the invasive tests Cerberus had no doubt been performing on it - lunged out and began to viciously maul the Cerberus researchers and troops that had been abusing it. Staying hidden while taking the occasional potshot at the Cerberus troops that were occupied dealing with the Rachni Soldier that had just gotten loose, the entire room was cleared of hostiles in no time, and with only a single minor injury sustained by their squad.
"Get this disgusting thing off me!" Tali screeched as she tried to push the heavy carcass of the Rachni away, the beast having lunged at her and pinned her to the floor just before being shot to death.
"Easy Tali, I've got this." Ben assured her gently as he used his Fourarms DNA to throw the Rachni corpse away with ease. Once he did, Tali immediately hopped up and clung to him tightly. "Whoa there! What's gotten into you, Tali?" Ben asked as he rubbed her trembling back. Looking from her to the Rachni and back again, Ben quickly put two and two together. "Tali...are you afraid of bugs?" He asked in disbelief.
"Those things are not normal, Ben." Tali said in a much too serious tone. "I've never seen it myself, but we never had bugs on Rannoch."
"You never had-? Then how do your plants get pollinated?" Ben questioned in confusion as the rest of the squad began searching the base for any intel or loot to grab.
"Our homeworld had very few microbial organisms." Tali explained, using science as a mantra to calm herself down. "Those that did exist were often benign, or even beneficial to our biology. We lived in symbiosis with our environment, so bugs were never needed for pollination." He fingers clenched tensely as she held Ben close. "Unfortunately, that made our immune systems ill-equipped to deal with life off our homeworld even before our exile made the situation worse." She hissed bitterly.
"I'll help you rebuild your homeworld, Tali." Ben assured her as her rubbed her back. "And I'll do it the right way, by helping you make peace with the Geth."
"I know you will." Tali chuckled as she stepped away from her boyfriend, feeling much better now. "It's funny, aside from the part about making peace with the Geth, you sounded like my father just now. He was always talking about building us a house on the homeworld, always working around the clock to try and make it a reality...never having time for me..." Unable to bare the sadness tinging her voice, Ben grabbed her firmly by the rear, getting an excited squeak of joy from his sexy, perverted, alien girlfriend. "You know me so well." She giggled, always happy to be reminded that the person most important to her thought she was attractive even under a suit.
"Ahem." Garrus coughed loudly, deliberately interrupting the moment. "If you two are quite done playing grabass, we still have two other facilities on this planet to raid."
"Your timing is impeccable, Garrus." Tali huffed as she and Ben parted. "You can't tell with the mask in the way, but I'm very angry right now. I'd flip you off, but I don't have enough fingers."
"Promises, promises." Kaidan quipped as the crew poured out of the base.
Just as Ben and Tali began making their way out, someone grabbed them both firmly by the rear. "I hope you two enjoyed your little moment alone together." Shepard smirked at them both as she forcefully ushered them forward. "Because once we get done killing all these bastards planetside, both of your sexy asses are mine." She growled hungrily before letting them go, marching forward with an eerie spring in her step as Ben and Tali were left to lag awkwardly behind.
"...I am so in love with that woman." Ben muttered in mute awe.
"...So am I." Tali seconded the motion, just as awed as her boyfriend.
...
After salvaging a crashed probe on the way to their next objective, a quick shootout with a pair of turrets was the only thing that stood between the crew and some soon to be dead Cerberus agents. Unlike the last time, Liara actually went into the base with them. The second Cerberus base turned out to be just as bare bones as the first. A few rooms and supplies, with scientists studying a trio of smaller Rachni Workers while the guards stood watch. Also, just like with the first base, releasing the Rachni served as a good way to distract the Cerberus operatives while the squad worked their magic.
Everyone had to admit, despite being an archaeologist for most of her many - by human standard - years, Liara was pretty decent in a fight.
"Looks like all that talk about running into pirates on digs wasn't just boasting." Ben congratulated the jumpy Liara when she easily used her biotics to throw a Cerberus scientist into a commando, sending them both crashing into a wall, where Wrex gleefully blasted them to death with his shotgun.
With everything quickly and easily wrapped up at Cerberus bases 1 and 2, a probe salvaged in the trip between them, and even a platinum deposit marked for claiming by the Alliance on the way to the last base, things seemed to be smooth sailing.
"This all seems too easy." Ben remarked cautiously as the squad entered the third base.
"I know the feeling." Wrex seconded his opinion. "A job like this isn't supposed to be easy. The better things seem to be going, the worse it's gonna get when shit hits the fan."
"Surely that's all just superstition." Liara argued against the idea, though doubt tinged her voice.
"Not in my experience." Shepard muttered darkly, her eye twitching slightly as a mental image of an attacking thresher maw flashed in her mind's eye. "Just keep your guard up." She cautioned everyone as they entered the room where the subjects were being kept. "...What the hell are those things?" She muttered in confusion when she saw the subjects contained within the barrier. They looked like humans in stance and shape, but they were completely dark-grey and sickly looking, almost corpse-like.
"Whatever they are, let's hope they're angry." Tali remarked as she began hacking the console, dropping the field and letting the monsters loose on the Cerberus agents. The fight was pretty much routine at this point, with the inhuman things providing a nice distraction while the crew gunned them and the enemy agents down like dogs.
"Wait...there's someone else in here." Jane noted tensely as her gaze landed on someone lying in the middle of the room. "Rear Admiral Kahoku..." She frowned at the sight of his corpse.
"External trauma is relatively minor, most likely post-mortem." Liara noted clinically as she studied the corpse, her emotional investment in helping the late Rear Admiral lowest among the crew, making her the obvious choice to examine the body. "The needle marks on his arm are the most likely means of execution."
"We have to find whoever is responsible for this and put a bullet in their skull!" Ashley hissed furiously, her blood boiling at the sight of a superior officer put down like like some wild animal just for trying to do the right thing.
"I don't know about the skull, but someone here probably put quite a few bullets in them already." Garrus joked darkly. "Still, I don't feel right about leaving a job half done. We should take all the intel we gathered from this place and use it to track down any other bases these Cerberus people have."
"I'll make one more side trip for this - for Kahoku's sake - but then we gotta get back to our main mission." Shepard decided resolutely. "Remember, we've still got to take down Saren."
"And Benezia." Liara added stoically, almost sounding a tiny bit eager for that part of the job.
"...And I thought I had issues with my family." Tali noted sarcastically.
...
Nepheron
With the data they'd scrounged from the research bases, as well as the final entries in Kahoku's omni-tool, Quasar managed to triangulate the location of a higher level Cerberus base in a nearby system. Granted, all the evidence suggested it was only a lower-middle rank base in Cerberus's organization at best, but it was all they had to go on. After the traditional scouring of the landing area for anything of value turned up three immediately available resource deposits, as well as a crashed probe, an old shack, another mummified Salarian with accompanying dog tags, and a Thresher Maw that the entire squad gleefully worked together to kill as an ultra-violent form of stress relief, they finally made their way to the Cerberus base.
"Please Shepard, allow me to take point this time." Liara had insisted once they had entered the base. "I want to show just what I am capable of in the field."
"You sure about that, Liara?" Ben asked her as he activated Fourarms and Diamondhead DNA in tandem, expanding the crystals of his left forearms into a large rectangular shield, while the crystal blades in his right hands fused into a massive claymore. "I know you're not as used to combat as the rest of us."
"Thank you for your concern Ben." Liara nodded gratefully. "But I need to prove that I can stand on my own, to be of use to you and Shepard." She explained confidently, only for that confidence to slip when she realized what she was saying. "In the field that is! I need to prove that I'm useful in a fight! Not that I'm not good at other things, mind you! Archaeology, that is! But you already know that..." She knew she should have stopped talking long ago, but the adrenaline from the fight with the thresher maw was still fueling her, as were certain...things she overheard Shepard, Ben and Tali doing in the infirmary while she was trying to examine the Prothean Data Drives in the very next room. "Ohh...this is why I'm no good at socializing." She bemoaned as her imagination ran wild.
"Okay, calm down, Liara." Jane chuckled at the panicking space babe. "Nobody here ever had any doubts about your abilities." She grabbed her by the shoulders, trying to placate her.
"...I have my doubts." Liara responded with a sigh. "It's more than just you and the rest of the crew I'm trying to impress here. I have to make sure I'm strong enough to handle what we're doing. Things are only going to get tougher from here on out, after all. I have to be ready for it." Her resolution brought a warm smile to both her and Shepard.
"Now kiss!" Quasar stage whispered eagerly from his perch on Ben's shoulder, totally killing the mood.
"You've been browsing Joker's extranet history, haven't you?" Ben addressed his AI partner stoically.
"...No comment." Quasar responded before deactivating his avatar.
"Well now that all of that awkwardness is over, what do you say we kill some terrorists?" Ashley remarked as she drew her gun eagerly, prompting everyone to follow suit. Making their way through the doors, it quickly became apparent that these Cerberus agents were much better prepared than their now dead cohorts, as no sooner did they enter the other room than they started shooting at them.
With Liara on point, her biotic barriers provided excellent cover for the crew to strafe behind. While the numerous enemy commandos and snipers tried to bombard them with everything they had, they were blocked by Liara's defenses long enough for the rest of the squad to gun most of them down, either from behind her barriers, or by stopping at other areas of cover that she passed by. Garrus and Ben in particular were very useful during the skirmish, as while the Turian sniper managed to provide cover fire against the numerous enemy snipers, Ben charged forward, his crystal shield absorbing most of the enemy ammunition, and his crystal claymore quickly finding its way into the enemy's necks once he got in close.
"RRAAAAGHHHH!" Wrex roared as he bashed in the skull of the last surviving commando with his headplate, his bloodrage subsiding soon afterwards. "Ahh, that was relaxing." He sighed as if he had just gotten back from the spa.
"You and I have very different definitions of relaxing, Wrex." Ben winced as he flicked the blood off his blade before deactivating his DNA, trying to avoid looking at the decapitated bodies he had left in his wake. 'I really am getting too used to this.' He thought to himself as the crew began searching the now empty base.
"Keep your eyes peeled for anything useful." Shepard instructed them. "If you find something that looks like a computer, don't examine it too closely until you call the rest of the squad. There's no telling what sort of failsafes these bastards have installed on their equipment." She ordered strictly, leaving no room for argument.
It didn't take long for everything of potential use in both rooms they had already gone through to be found and obtained. After that, Kaidan found a branching path in the back of the second room. The path on the right led to a locker room full of weapons and armor, which, while all useful in their own right, were small potatoes compared to what they found in the left chamber.
"This must be their main computer." Tali noted as she examined the terminal against the wall, taking great care not to touch anything. "They've probably got some kind of security to flash the entire database if accessed by an unauthorized user. That's what I'd do if I were up to something shady."
"But you can get around those security measures, right?" Kaidan asked hopefully, trusting the Quarian to be able to handle any technical issues.
"Maybe..." Tali hummed thoughtfully as she looked around, her eyes brightening slightly in epiphany when her gaze landed on Ben. "That's it! Ben, your suit can absorb any machinery or data it comes in contact with, right?"
"Affirmative." Quasar popped up before Ben could answer. "With this suit's capabilities, absorbing all data from this terminal without triggering any failsafes is a simple matter."
"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Ashley inquired in concern. "That suit might absorb something it really shouldn't."
"That possibility is statistically highly improbable." Quasar reassured her. "In addition to the highly sophisticated hardware, software, and preexisting security measures already installed in my platform, I have been periodically updating it with any protective software I come across on the extranet, as well as reverse-engineering a large quantity of viruses and malware in order to create better defenses. Put simply, I am currently the best protected computer in the entire galaxy."
"Good enough for me." Ben remarked casually as he placed a hand on the terminal, green electronic lines appearing over the surface of his suit and the terminal for a few seconds. "Did you get everything, Quasar?"
"Affirmative." The AI's avatar nodded proudly. "There were viruses and a purge protocol in the terminal, but I have quarantined them for study, and flashed the data from the source. The data itself is heavily encrypted, but I have also been collecting various decoding programs since our partnership began. Creating a proper decryption algorithm for this cipher should not take long."
"Should I be concerned that Quasar is developing so rapidly?" Tali asked uncertainly.
"Your caution is understandable, Tali'Zorah." Quasar replied impartially. "However, despite my evolving programming, I am still hardwired into this suit, and I can no longer exist without it, or directly influence Ben's actions...Furthermore, I find myself growing very...fond of you all." He said with what Ben could only describe happiness. "Our work together in defense of the galaxy from a myriad of threats provides me with positive feedback. I am...proud to be a member of this team."
"We're proud to have you with us too, Quasar." Jane smiled as she gave Ben a pat on the shoulder Quasar was projecting his avatar from. "Come on, team. We have to get back to the Normandy to report this intel to the Alliance."
...
Normandy
When the crew got back to the ship and began unloading and cataloging everything they retrieved from that last Cerberus base, they were all set to set a course back on the trail for Saren when Joker's voice came in over their comms, asking them to report to the galaxy map.
"Transmission coming in, Commander." Joker's voice sounded uncharacteristically grim, setting off immediate warning bells in Shepard's head. "I think you're going to want to hear this one." Not even waiting for her response, he patched the communication through.
"Greetings, Commander Shepard." A smooth, smug, and digitally altered sounding voice came in through the communicator. "I represent a party interested in obtaining information on Cerberus activities."
"Who are you? And who do you represent?" Shepard demanded curtly, intentionally letting a dangerous edge creep into her voice.
"Who I am is inconsequential." The voice remarked with casual dismissal. "Suffice to say, I am an agent for the Shadow Broker. You see, Admiral Kahoku contacted my employer looking for information on the location of any Cerberus facilities. We provided that information on the promise that he would turn over copies of all files gathered from the Cerberus systems to us."
'This isn't good.' Shepard thought to herself as she weighed her options and the facts. Kahoku had made a deal with these scumbags, but that deal had died with him. Now they were trying to collect from her, but she had no such obligation to them. She could withhold the information, and the Shadow Broker might understand, but much more likely they'd be angry at her to some extent. The fact that the Shadow Broker had provided information on the location of Cerberus bases meant that they likely had ties with them, and Cerberus could use those ties to recover the information, while the Shadow Broker would no doubt make a huge profit from the deal. Still, she wasn't prepared to make someone so dangerous her enemy, especially not when she was already dealing with Saren. She might be able to leverage the recovered data for information on Saren, but there was also the chance that the Shadow Broker would be offended by the idea of paying more for information he had already essentially bought.
'Damn it! No matter how I think it through, it always ends badly for me in some way! I need another option...' As her eyes wandered in contemplation, she saw something - or rather, someone - who made her remember a few earlier decisions and comments. A devious, dangerous, and all too tempting idea forming in her mind, she turned away and quickly typed something into her Omni-tool, then placed her hand on Ben's left shoulder. "I'm not sure how I should respond to this, Ben." She sighed as her eyes flickered to his shoulder a few times, hoping he would get the hint. When green lines ran from Shepard's Omni-tool to Ben's shoulder, and Ben's retractable visor popped out across his eyes, both of their eyes lit up in excitement. "I've made a lot of tough calls in the past, but you've made some good ones too. A second opinion would be much appreciated."
"...I say go for it." Ben replied, making a show of looking hesitant. "It might let Cerberus get the information back in the long run, but right now we need information on Saren more than anything else. We'll still send a copy to the Alliance as well, but it can't hurt to cover all our bases."
"Alright. You've got a deal." Shepard turned back to the console and replied to the middleman as if she had just swallowed a very bitter pill. "I'll forward you a copy of the retrieved data, and you tell your boss to give us everything he has on Saren."
"I believe that can be arranged." The middleman replied smugly, glad that Shepard was seeing things his way. "My employer has no fondness for Saren after he stabbed them in the back, so giving you information to help dispose of him should be to their liking. Forward a copy of the data, and I'll negotiate the deal."
"I'm going to need some collateral first." Shepard insisted, making a show of putting up a fight. "However many credits you think this information might be worth. I'll hold onto it until you can get me the information I want, at which point I'll give it back. That way you can't run off and leave me with nothing to show for this deal."
"A prudent negotiator." The middleman chuckled respectfully. "Very well, I've forwarded the funds I think are a fair price. Now you hold up your end of the bargain."
"...A deal is a deal." Shepard sighed reluctantly as she transmitted the data. "Fair warning, the data we found is heavily encrypted, I've never seen anything quite like it. Might take a while to crack."
"We have our ways." The middleman assured her confidently. "We hope to work with you again someday, Commander Shepard." With that, the line was cut.
"...Okay, Shepard." Tali grinned smugly underneath her helmet. "Don't think I didn't see what you did with Ben's suit just now. What did you really give them?"
...
Shadow Broker Base
The Shadow Broker was having an unusually good day today. Saren's recently exposed treachery had led to a boom in business. Information is power, and during times of chaos, power was in very high demand. The greatest, most trusted SPECTRE goes rogue, and the first Human SPECTRE, along with the first extra-galactic ambassador were chasing after him. What could be more chaotic than that?
So, although it made him busier than ever before, The Shadow Broker relished the influx of information flying across his monitors. More information meant more power for him, and he was nothing if not a power hungry man. One bit of information in particular caught his eye on this day however, as it was flagged as being from Commander Shepard.
Apparently, the newly minted SPECTRE had succeeded where Kahoku had failed, obtaining top secret information from a few Cerberus bases. The information didn't reach as far as anything that could lead directly to his - in his many eyes - unworthy competitor, The Illusive Man. The Shadow Broker had made sure of that little fact himself. After all, as incompetent and green as Jack Harper - The Illusive Man's real name, a fact The Shadow Broker learned almost immediately after the human began to build power - might be compared to the greater galactic community, he was still an interesting source of information to say the least. Everything Cerberus did pushed, or outright broke every boundary possible, which meant the information they could provide him - willingly or otherwise - was always a boon.
The fact that Shepard only wanted information on Saren in exchange was just the icing on the cake, as rather than just killing two birds with one stone, he'd be killing two birds with each other. Saren is dead for betraying The Shadow Broker, The Shadow Broker gets the information on Cerberus, and Shepard gets to believe she actually accomplished something, while also being grateful for his assistance. The Shadow Broker would lose nothing, and gain a valuable pawn, useful information, and a dead Saren.
...Or so he thought.
The moment he opened the file - in an isolated system, obviously - his computers started blaring out alarms. Whatever that file had contained, it had easily broken through every security precaution he'd prepared, and was currently siphoning a massive amount of data and credits from all his system, and very quickly at that. Isolating the virus, cutting off the rest of his systems, scrambling and encoding all his data, dumping data into remote servers to be retrieved later; The Shadow Broker literally couldn't even begin activating every countermeasure he could think of quickly enough, as the virus was more malignant than anything he'd ever seen before. It would have to be better than anything else if it was able to out maneuver everything The Shadow Broker's cyber defenses could throw at it.
By the time he'd FINALLY managed to get rid of the blasted virus, the damage done was so extensive it made The Shadow Broker's head spin. One-third of all data and one-fifth of all his funds had been transferred directly to the Systems Alliance, and the virus itself had self-destructed the moment The Shadow Broker had managed to corner it, meaning he couldn't even salvage and reverse-engineer the incredibly advanced bit of programming that had caused the damage to try and recoup at least SOME of his losses. It wasn't damage he couldn't eventually recover from, but even with the current rate of business, it would take at least a year to rebuild his security and the control he had over the information trade, and that was assuming that things kept going at their current rate during the entire time. Worst of all, the control and resources he'd lost had gone directly to the Systems Alliance, and even setting aside the rogue NGO Cerberus, Humanity was the most ambitious species The Shadow Broker had ever seen. Not even he could accurately predict just how much damage they could do to his operations with what was stolen.
By the time The Shadow Broker had managed to recover from his enraged frenzy, his office was completely unrecognizable, with all of his already sparse furniture in many pieces across the floor.
"Well played, Commander Shepard." The Shadow Broker growled in 9-parts seething rage and 1-part reluctant respect. "Well played, Ben Tennyson. Enjoy your victory while it lasts you two, because you've just made a declaration of war against the entire galaxy. And there will be no quarter for either of you." The Shadow Broker began his plotting of revenge immediately, but made sure to immediately arrange a little 'accident' for a certain middleman in his employ for incompetence.
...
Agebinium
"Remember Garrus, just because Shepard trusts you here, doesn't mean I do." Ashley glared at the Turian harshly. "You are not to breath one word of this to ANYONE. Not to the Council, and ESPECIALLY not to any other Turians. Understand?!"
Normally Shepard would have reprimanded the Gunnery Chief for singling out Garrus in such a harsh way, but even she couldn't find much room to argue against her point. After sending The Shadow Broker the encrypted virus Quasar had managed to create, and spending an hour celebrating with the whole crew when Captain Anderson called to congratulate the whole crew on delivering a MASSIVE chunk of The Shadow Broker's information network and funds to the Systems Alliance, they were all set to get back to chasing leads on Saren, when suddenly they received a priority communication from Admiral Steven Hackett of the Fifth Fleet. Apparently, an old espionage probe from the First Contact Wars had just sent out a 'Mission Accomplished' signal in the area. Despite the war itself having ended about 26 years ago, and old and lost probe being found after all this time wasn't anything unusual. What was unusual was the 20 Kiloton nuclear payload contained in the probe to prevent the - at the time - unknown enemy from obtaining Human technology. As Garrus actually was a Turian, the concern was not unwarranted.
"Don't worry, my mandibles are sealed." Garrus assured her as he made his way up to the Mako's turret. "Frankly, the strategist in me can't blame you for sending out those probes with the defenses you did. I would have done pretty much the same thing in your position, as would many Turian generals...Though they'll probably still try to blame you regardless if word of this got out." He admitted bitterly.
"Can we please just get this job done quickly?" Tali pleaded worriedly. "I don't think I have to remind anyone, but if that payload goes off, we're all going to die."
"You lot might, I'll be perfectly fine." Wrex grunted smugly. "Krogan are made of tougher stuff than you squishies. What you call a nuclear bomb, we call a stiff wind."
"Not all of us evolved on Tuchanka, Wrex." Shepard reminded the old Krogan as she swung the Mako by another resource deposit, stopping old briefly to place a claim marker for the Alliance. "Most of the galaxy would rather run away from a nuclear bomb than try to disarm it." 'Myself included.' She twitched slightly as she drove off towards another set of coordinates from Septimus's reports. Truth be told, despite already being a bit of a pack rat for these resource deposits and archaeological finds, Shepard was currently stalling for time more than anything else. She was getting that tingling feeling she always got whenever something majorly bad was about to happen, and her sixth sense had never steered her wrong yet. Still, as Garrus respectfully loaded another old Turian colony insignia into the cargo bay, Shepard knew she couldn't put this off forever. Steeling her nerves, she turned the Mako towards the coordinates she had gotten for the probe.
"Are you feeling okay, Jane?" Ben asked worriedly. "Your driving is suspiciously...not crazy."
"I'll be fine, Ben." Jane sighed irritably as she parked the Mako in front of a mine entrance. "I'm just getting that old itch again."
"I hardly think this is the time or the place, Shepard!" Liara flustered, her face turning a more vivid shade of blue.
"Not that itch, Liara." Shepard rolled her eyes as the rest of the crew snickered. "Though feel free to help me scratch it the next time I get the urge." She winked playfully at the nervous Asari. "I'm talking about the itch I get whenever my past is gonna rear its ugly head. It never fails, and the fact that the probe's signal is coming from a mine rather than a crater is making it even worse. The probe didn't crash, someone moved it here deliberately."
"Better get ready for a fight, then." Kaidan remarked cautiously as he drew his gun. "Last time that itch of yours flared up we ended up fighting a thresher maw, and I really don't wanna get caught off-guard with a nuke waiting just around the corner." Even as he said this, the crew descended into the mine.
"No thresher maws around here." Wrex noted casually as he gave the cave walls an tentative inspection. "The ground is way too still, plus thresher maws leave behind a thin slime wherever they tunnel. That stuff sticks around for weeks afterwords."
"Thank you for that reassuring bit of information, Wrex." Tali noted sarcastically. "Note that while I sound scathingly sarcastic right now, I'm actually being very serious. I just don't like to think about giant creepy crawlers potentially eating me alive in general."
"Yeah, that shit ain't pretty." Wrex nodded understandingly.
"I take it you speak from experience, Wrex?" Ben bantered playfully as everyone began searching the many nooks, crannies, and crates in the larger portion of the cave.
"That would explain the smell." Ashley wafted her hand in front of her helmet, getting a much needed laugh from the whole squad.
"Sure, it's all fun and games until someone gets half their hide melted off by stomach acid." Wrex grumbled as he opened a door. "Doesn't look like anything's here, let's check things out down this way." Barely waiting for everyone to follow, he went down the tunnel. When the last of the crew had descended down the path and into a smaller chamber, there was a boom, followed by the entire area shaking.
"That was a detonator, Commander." Garrus coughed as a communicator flickered to life at the back of the room, displaying a hologram of a slightly scarred Turian.
"Shepard. At last." The old Turian greeted the Commander bitterly.
"You have me at a disadvantage." Shepard remarked blithely, not really caring who this guy was, but since he set off her itch, she knew he was probably after her for something personal.
"You. Don't. Remember me?" The Turian asked tensely, before immediately relaxing with a chuckle. "No matter. I remember you. I never forget anyone I've fought."
'So it is revenge. But for what?' Shepard kept her thoughts to herself as the Turian kept talking.
"My name is Elanos Haliat." The Turian continued, unaware of Shepard's internal debate. "I doubt you know it. Who do you think runs the Terminus Clans, Shepard, huh? Thousands of pirates, slavers, criminals of every stripe."
"You assume I give a damn." Shepard scoffed dismissively, happy to let the evil man gloat as long as he wanted while she foiled his plans. "That's cute."
"The strongest leaders!" Elanos hissed, obviously pissed by Shepard's casual disdain. "The one who kills the most men, seizes the most ships, pillages the most colonies. Seven years ago, I was the strongest. I used my influence to assemble a fleet. We would drive your kind out of the Verge."
"You sick bastard!" Shepard hissed, finally understanding why her itch was going crazy. "You organized the attack on Elysium. You want me to thank you for my Star of Terra?" She sarcastically belittled him.
"I was the motivator!" Elanos hissed bitterly. "The instigator! The one who promised glory and riches for sacking the largest Human colony in the cluster! The one blamed when it failed! Failed! Failed! Because of you! Your damnable holding action!"
"Joker, bring the Normandy around." Shepard sighed tiredly into her comms, suddenly feeling a lot less worried than she had been when the mission started. "We're done here."
"Let your ship come!" Elanos hissed eagerly. "We'll be ready! An Alliance warship will make a fine prize! Oh, and if you haven't noticed, the ores here are laced with heavy metals." He clicked his mandibles smugly. "I'm afraid your suit radios aren't powerful enough to transmit out."
"I know, that's why I channeled the signal through Ben's radio." Jane grinned victoriously, the man is question waving playfully at the fallen crime lord. "Andromeda tech is a lot more advanced than our own. His suit's radio works just fine down here."
"Ah, the Andromeda ambassador!" Elanos postured dramatically. "I'll be sure to have a salvage team retrieve your suit, along with your corpse inside it. Though the radiation and explosion from the bomb might cause some damage, I'm sure you'll both be worth a fortune regardless."
"You mean this bomb?" Tali asked playfully as Wrex hoisted the now deactivated bomb onto his back. "I disarmed it while you were wasting your time yapping on about your evil plan."
Elanos's jaw immediately dropped at what he was seeing, but before he could gather his nerves for a rebuttal, Shepard fired a round into the communicator, cutting off the transmission.
"I've always wanted to do that." Jane grinned like a kid who'd just seen something cool in an action movie. "Let's get out of this hole, team! And bring that bomb with us while you're at it." She instructed as she led the team back the way they came, Ben using his Fourarms DNA to help Wrex carry the nuclear bomb up the pipe. "I wanna drop that baby right on Saren's smug little head when we find whatever rock he's hiding under." She chuckled maliciously.
"I'll happily drink to that plan, Commander!" Ashley grinned as the team came to a dead end just past the end of the tunnel, the earlier blast having blocked off the route they came through.
"Looks like we'll have to go this way." Garrus noted as he opened another hatch to their left. "Though I'd wager my last paycheck at C-Sec that these bastards have an ambush waiting for us on the other end."
"Agreed." Liara nodded as they squad entered the tunnel regardless. "We may want to leave the bomb here and retrieve it after the shootout, lest a stray shot set it off."
"There won't be any need for that." Shepard assured her confidently as they exited the tunnel, the rest of the squad looking up in awe at the sight of the Normandy in the sky, raining down heavy caliber fire on an enemy encampment. "Why do you think I called Joker to pick us up?"
Being the first to gather his wits about him, Wrex barked out a long string of laughter at the merciless tactics Shepard had used. "Death from above! I like it!"
...
Normandy - Med Bay
After grabbing the Mako and returning to the ship, Joker was livid to learn that they'd be carrying an old nuclear bomb with them for the foreseeable future. Shepard was only able to sent his anger - not fears, Joker had insisted - at ease by promising to take all the necessary safety precautions, and letting him name the bomb in question 'Captain Clown' for reasons no one felt comfortable asking him about.
Perhaps almost as upset as Joker was Karin Chakwas, the ship's medic, who ordered an immediate physical examination for the entire crew the moment they left atmo.
"For the hundredth time, Doc, I'm perfectly fine." Ben assured the grey-haired physician as she ran another diagnostic on him. "I was sealed in my suit during the last mission. I highly doubt I suffered any radiation poisoning."
"Better safe than sorry, Benjamin." Dr. Chakwas pointed a medical instrument of unknown function in his face before setting it aside. "Your biology is incredibly unique, literally one of a kind, so you'll have to forgive this old medic for worrying a little more about your condition than others."
"This is why nobody likes going to the doctor." Ben huffed as Dr. Chakwas examined his ears. "Well, this and shots that is."
"Grumble all you like, but in medical matters, I outrank everyone else on the Normandy. Yourself included." Dr. Chakwas glared pointedly at her patient. "Failing to heed the advice of a medic on a ship is a one way trip to disaster."
"Whatever you say, mom." Ben relented reluctantly just as Joker's voice sounded over the intercom.
"Attention Normandy ground team! Shepard wants you all geared up and ready to move in five!" Joker announced theatrically. "We've got a dead ship of Alliance make on the scanners, and she wants all the help she can get if it turns out it has alien parasites that lay eggs in your gut, burst out of your chest, enslave our minds for their hive queen, start a zombie apocalypse, or any combination of the above!"
"...Joker told me once that he used to be super straight-laced and serious back in flight school." Ben noted curiously as Karin finished up his check-up. "Of all the things I've experienced since I started working with this crew, that's the most unbelievable thing yet."
...
MSV Worthington
"Looks like this vessel was abandoned." Tali noted curiously as they crew sifted through the ship's cargo.
"Everything's shut down." Garrus noted, supporting Tali's hypothesis. "Only basic life support is running."
"No crew means free stuff." Wrex noted as Ashley and Kaiden each cracked open a container on either side of the room. "Still, gotta wonder what happened here."
"Keep an eye out for booby traps and giant alien parasites." Ben cautioned everyone as he went into the hallway and looked around, getting odd glaces from the rest of the squad. "...What? Joker said it first, and would it really be the weirdest thing we've seen so far?" That got several reluctant nods as everyone went back to searching the ship, though there was only one to go from here, and that was to the right.
Upon opening the door and walking into another cargo bay, Liara grabbed Ben and Shepard by their shoulders. "I think I heard footsteps just now." She warned them.
"...And that canister looks pretty suspicious sitting out in the open like that." Ben noted as he activated his Wildvine DNA, plucked a seed from his arm, and tossed it near the canister, which exploded violently without warning. "And you guys thought I was crazy when I said there might be booby traps."
"Nobody said anything like that, Ben." Jane quipped sarcastically, though internally she felt a little embarrassed for not taking his advice more seriously. "Advance cautiously. There's probably more where that came from."
Even with three or four more rigged canisters obstructing their path forward, it didn't take them long to reach the door on the other end of the room. Arriving in a hallway, Shepard came to a snap decision. "Ben, you, Quasar and Liara go left. Wrex, Williams, Alenko, you three go forward. I'll take Tali and Garrus right."
"Isn't splitting up the last thing anyone should do in a horror movie?" Kaidan noted, even as everyone followed Shepard's orders.
"Most people in horror movies don't have a Krogan biotic on their side." Ashley replied, eliciting a deep, rumbling chuckle from Wrex.
"...You know I'm not a superstitious woman, don't you Ben?" Liara said tensely as they entered the ship's med bay, obviously trying to reassure herself more than reassure him. "There's no reason to be so worked up right now, even if there is someone else on this ship."
"Let's just try to figure out what happened here for now." Ben suggested as he rubbed her shoulder. "The key to dealing with fear is not giving it time to affect you. Just focus on something else, and before you know it, the scary part is already over." He comforted her, paraphrasing some advice his grandpa Max had given him when he had to fight Zombozo for the first time.
"...Thank you Ben." Liara nodded as they began searching the room in a counterclockwise direction. "I needed that. Despite my desire to help, it seems I still have some anxiety dealing with dangerous situations like this."
"You get used to it." Ben shrugged casually as he had Quasar splice into a medical console. "Any clues as to what happened here, Quasar?"
"...Possibly." The AI's avatar tilted its head. "There is a medical file regarding a crew member named Jacob who suffered complete brain death from oxygen deprivation in a maintenance accident and was to be taken off life support, and his girlfriend Julia who suffered from severe depression and required medication as a result. It also mentions the doctor feeling the need to warn the captain of this development."
"Hey Ben." Shepard spoke over the comms. "Quasar just gave us the heads up on the medical report, and a personal log we've found in the crew's quarters supports the worries of the ship's doctor. Apparently Julia wasn't too happy about the news that they were gonna pull the plug on her boyfriend, and she refused to take her meds."
"If you think that's bad, what we've found is even worse." Kaidan joined the conversation. "According to the captain's log - his LAST log - Julia is a biotic, most likely an L2 if her migraines and temper is anything to go by, and she went rogue and attacked the rest of the crew just before they were gonna pull Jacob's plug."
"Just...before?" Ben gulped as he turned around nervously, seeing a man lying unconscious on life support, and...
"DON'T TOUCH HIM!" Julia roared as she launched a vicious biotic throw at Ben, catching him off guard and slamming him against the wall before she created a warp that sucked in him and the broken bits of the computer he crashed into.
"Ben!" Liara panicked as she tried to use her own biotics to counter Julia's, only having marginal success due to having to simultaneously generate a barrier to block Julia's gunfire, giving him enough wiggle room to combine Fourarms and Diamondhead DNA to create two large shields to protect his front and sides, and a second helmet over his head. For a split second, Liara thought she'd only have to hold out long enough for the rest of the crew to arrive and back her up, but those hopes were dashed as she heard a loud banging at the door, apparently having been sealed by Julia to prevent further outside interference.
"Damn you!" Liara growled at the madwoman, infuriated by her actions both past and present. 'Bad enough she betrayed her own crewmates and killed them all to protect a man who's already dead, but doesn't she realize how much harm she'd cause by killing Ben?! For Goddess's sake, the value of his life is beyond measure! Yes, he puts himself at risk, but it is only for the benefit of everyone else! Attacking him is equal to attacking the hopes and future of the entire galaxy!' A surge of willpower and resolve welling up inside her, she dropped her barrier in the split-second Julia was reloading, and launched a powerful throw at the madwoman, causing her warp to dissipate and Ben to drop roughly but safely to the floor as she and Liara became locked in a biotic struggle, kicking up a storm of debris from around the room. 'Too powerful! She'll burn herself out at this rate, but I can't afford to let this come to a battle of attrition! I need some sort of edge...'
As Liara was forced back half an inch, she noticed Jacob lying on life support. Gritting her teeth, Liara tensed herself up for what she was about to do. "You might be able to fight me to a draw, but can you do it while also protecting your precious Jacob?" The taunt worked like a charm, and just as Julia's power surged in her rage, Liara ducked down and to the right, letting the biotic clash sail overhead as she unloaded a full clip from her sidearm into the machines keeping Jacob's body 'alive'.
"JACOOOOOB!" Julia roared as she ran at her now completely dead lover, cradling his head in her lap as she uselessly struggled to put the machine back together. "It's gonna be alright, Jacob! It's gonna be alright! You're gonna recover, and we're gonna be together forever! You'll see! YOU'LL ALL SEE!"
"Jacob is dead, Julia." Liara informed her coldly as she used her biotics to rip away Julia's gun and throw the mentally broken woman into the wall. "Don't cry though. You'll be with him soon after all." She said as she aimed her gun at Julia's head.
"How could you?!" Julia sobbed furiously as she tried and failed to muster her biotics, her mind too full of pain and sorrow to concentrate. "Jacob was everything to me! You took him from me just to protect some four armed freak! Is that freak really more important to you than Jacob is to me!?"
"Absolutely." Liara hissed coldly as she fired once, putting Julia down for good. There was a silence that lasted for several seconds, only ending when the rest of the crew finally managed to get the door open and came rushing in, only to calm down when they saw everything was already finished.
"So..." Jane remarked casually as she approached Liara. "How did it feel? Ending the life of an enemy that had already lost?"
"What makes you so sure that's how it happened?" Liara asked mutely, though she didn't deny it.
"I'm the Butcher of Torfan, remember?" Jane scoffed playfully. "Trust me, I'm well acquainted with that look on your face. I still see it in the mirror sometimes."
"...So this feeling will never go away?" Liara asked tiredly as she looked down at her gun.
"Yes and no." Jane shrugged in disinterest. "Most days are easier than others once the initial shock wears off, and it usually doesn't matter at all, but it can still pop-up when you least expect it. What's important isn't remembering what you did, so much as why you did it. So long as you know it was for a good cause, you can usually still sleep at night."
"Why I did it..." Liara sighed wistfully as she reflected her thoughts inward. 'I know why, it was to protect Ben. His importance to our whole galaxy, in terms of culture, technology, and inter-species relations is immeasurable...but why did I say that at the end of the fight?' Liara was thinking unusually clearly right now, her mind and senses tuning into everything around and within her. Julia had loved Jacob, and his death had completely broken her, especially at the end of her life. When Liara had said that Ben had 'Absolutely' been more important to her than Jacob was to Julia...what did she really mean?
Was it just his position as an ambassador from another galaxy? Liara had never had any romantic interest in anyone in her entire life, so she had no frame of reference to go off of, but Ben was...special, in more ways than just the obvious. She knew the crew had joked about Ben 'seducing' her like he had Tali and Shepard, but embarrassment aside, Liara couldn't say she was entirely opposed to the idea. She hadn't known him for very long, but she liked to think she knew him well enough to at least consider the prospect. Ben was courageous, energetic, funny, confident and determined. All were traits Liara had always admired, likely because she didn't possess them herself. There was also the intellectual prospect, and while Ben didn't exactly appear to be very smart in the technical sense, his instinctual insight into concepts that might confound even geniuses, his very forward thinking views on Organic/Synthetic relations, and his craftiness and charisma that got others to listen to him whether they wanted to or not...
"...Thank you, Shepard." Liara eventually nodded, some emotion returning to her voice as she turned her attention to Ben, who had gotten back on his feet while she was thinking to herself. Suddenly, without any warning, Liara grabbed Ben by the face, and kissed him deeply, dancing her tongue together with his for as long as she could before they had to part for air. "Meet me in my study when we get back to the Normandy, Ben. I'd like some time to talk, just the two of us." She winked before walking off, a little extra confident spring in her step and a seductive sway in her hips as she sashayed out the door, leaving the entire squad gaping after her in shock.
"...Alright you three. I won the bet, now pay up." Wrex grunted smugly, Ashley, Kaidan and Garrus grumbling as they activated their Omni-tools and transferred the credits they had just lost.
Author's Note: Aaaand, boom goes the dynamite. Seriously though, this chapter was incredibly fun to write. Not only because Ben's presence allowed the crew to get more dirt on Cerberus than "canon", not only because I got to write The Shadow Broker getting totally screwed over by Ben, Shepard, and Quasar, and not only because I got a chance to add Liara to the harem, but a combination of all of the above, and everything else I put in this chapter. Now I know a lot of you aren't very happy that I'm giving focus to so many side missions and whatnot, but I think I have something that will make you feel better. Starting next week, I'm gonna be making a very special side story~! That's right! The first chapter of Mass Effect 10: Lemons will be posted this time next week! And I'll STILL be keeping my normal update schedule for the main story! (I hope)
