CHAPTER NINE – LOVE IS A VERB.
Shepard was at the galaxy map, checking his emails when the delegation from Earth arrived. A squad of eight soldiers and three men in black suits came aboard with a cryo tank. Shepard looked up and nodded. "I've been expecting you," he just said. He noted the soldiers were skittish, and smiled. "Could we do this elsewhere?" he asked, keeping calm while his heart hammered away in his chest.
"Of course, Commander," one of the men in black said. The delegation split up, one suit and four soldiers went with Shepard down to medbay, and the rest stayed with the Cryo tank.
"So how are we gonna do this?" Shepard asked, just glad his voice didn't tremble.
"Depends on you," the suit said, looking over at Chackwas and EDI, who were present.
"We're waiting for doctor T'soni," EDI said, "But otherwise we're good to go."
"Good," the suit said, stepping back.
" JS_v.12.003, would you lie down here, please," Chackwas said, gesturing toward a medbay cot.
Shepard just nodded, looking directly into Chackwas' eyes. He knew why she had not called him Shepard. It would just be too much, all things considered. "Can I ask you something?" he said as he sat down at the cot. Chackwas nodded, and Shepard took a deep breath. "Look after Kaidan."
"Absolutely," Chackwas said with a sad smile, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She would never get used to this. No one should.
Liara came through the doors, looking slightly ashen.
"We're all here, lets get going," the suit said. "He is needed in the battle on earth, and it won't be safe here for long."
Shepard lay down and took a couple of deep breaths. He wanted to close his eyes as Chackwas and Liara started to hook him up to cords, but he didn't want his last moments to be with his eyes closed. He looked at Liara, who wiped her eyes. He smiled at her. "I'm okay, really," he said in an attempt to soothe her.
"I'm not," Liara said.
He stared up at the ceiling, fighting to keep his breathing under control. He didn't want to show them how scared he was. He had no clue what to expect. Would it hurt? Or would he just stop existing, like if you flipped a switch? He bit his lip when he felt it tremble. You can do this, he told himself. For the Galaxy, for the next Shepard, for your friends, and for Kaidan.
"Ready," Chackwas said softly.
"Ready," Liara said with a choked voice.
Ready Shepard thought, but he didn't say anything. The suit stepped over to where the cot was and looked down at Shepard. "You did good, son," he said and pushed the button. Bright flaring pain shot through Shepard, as an electrical surge fried his cybernetics.
Liara stared down at Shepard and closed his eyes. "What about JS_v.12.003?" she asked, hearing the cryo tank being rolled in through the doors to medbay.
The suit shrugged. "Can't you shove it into the cryo tank? And store it somewhere on the shuttle bay?"
"Suppose we can," Liara said, stepping aside as two soldiers picked up JS_v.12.003 and two others switched him with the other model.
"This is JS_v.12.015," the suit said. "And besides that, it's is the last of it's kind."
"What does that mean?" Liara asked.
"It means that all the clones were destroyed, the facility was bombed from orbit. This is the last clone there is, besides the glitchy one." He nodded towards the cryo tank, which was being sealed for transport to be stored away. "So you better get this right."
EDI stepped forth. "I suggest we just remove his unfortunate discovery, but otherwise let him have his memories."
The suit shook his head. "The council demands that he get this done, so you should take out whatever could uhm… confuse him."
"You mean anything that makes him human?" Chackwas said acidly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"If you want to put it that way," the suit said, and then looked at EDI. "Can you do that?"
"Does the Dalatrass wear a funny hat?" EDI said. "That was a joke."
"Very funny," the suit said. "So can you?"
"Of course," EDI said. "But I wouldn't advise it; the only reason that JS_v.12.003 ever -"
"You are state of the art, I get it. But you're still an A.I.. And I was not asking you for your opinion. I just need to know if you can do it," the suit said.
Liara frowned. "That is crazy."
"No, he would be crazy," EDI added.
"He just has to last for the final push on Earth, so who cares about his psych evaluation?" the second suit said coldly.
"Got it," EDI said. "I will make sure that the only thought he has is killing the enemy. Good?"
"Perfect," the suit said. "And if you need to, you can use JS_v.12.003 for spare parts. It would be a shame if JS_v.12.015 broke right away".
Kaidan had stayed away from it all, staying with James down in the shuttlebay, pretending to focus on making sure that the equipment was up to date before they landed on earth. He hardly reacted when the soldiers and a suit came down and placed the cryo tank, pulling a large tarp over it to obscure it. It was not untill they left that Kaidan made a move toward it. James placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.
"I have to see," Kaidan said and shrugged James' hand off his shoulder. He walked over to the cyro tank and pulled the tarp aside and looked inside. There was Shepard, looking mostly like he slept. His ruby red cybernetics were black and shut off now, so he looked like a cracked porcelain doll. A note was stuck to his shirt which said "JS_v.12.003, decommissioned, fully functional." Kaidan gnawed the inside of his cheek. To think that it was only hours since he had whispered heated nonsense in his ear, had kissed him. And here he was as the thing he had accused him of being. "Fuck," Kaidan hissed and pulled down the tarp again.
His omnitool beeped, and he answered the incoming call. "Liara," he said. "Is it over?"
"Yes," Liara said. "He is sleeping right now, but I thought I should warn you. The command wanted a super soldier, someone who didn't lose focus… and…"
"They took all his memories?" Kaidan asked.
"Yes," Liara said. "EDI put in a false protocol so he wouldn't just go completely mad when he woke. But basically he only knows us as crew. He should have no feelings of anything deeper than loyalty to the cause."
Kaidan took a deep breath and sighed. "Maybe it's for the best." He tried to smile.
"He is the last," Liara said. "They destroyed the rest, so if he dies in the battle, he's gone. We could use JS_v.12.003 for spare parts since he is -"
"Don't you touch him!" Kaidan exclaimed, surprising himself at his reponse.
Liara smiled sadly. "I promise, I won't."
"Thank you," Kaidan said.
"Hey, come on," James said and wrapped an arm around Kaidan and ushered him away from the cryo tank. "This won't help."
"I know," Kaidan said with a sigh.
"Guess you got it like you wanted it, Shepard doesn't remember you at all," James said flatly.
"Don't."
"All I am saying is that this thing in the tank is not Shepard, either," James said softly. "You don't have to grieve for him again."
"Don't fucking remind me of my own mistakes," Kaidan yelled, and pushed James away. "I was wrong, okay? I couldn't have been more wrong if I had tried. And I don't need you to tell me that!"
James just smiled and nodded toward Kaidan's omnitool, which still had Liara on the line. "Glad you see it now," James said, reaching out and sqeezing Kaidan's shoulder.
