Chapter 10: Twist of Fate

I'm sorry for this chapter coming out late guys! Things have been crazy at work this week; I've worked more overtime this week than I ever have at this job. I spoke to my boss about hiring another person, so we'll see how that works out. Only a few more chapters and BAaT will be over! A slightly longer chapter as a peace offering.

It's true what they say, time does fly when you're having fun… whoever 'they' are… Jane thought to herself as she lay on her side against the cold floor of the observation deck. Red locks cascaded down her cheek, brushing against her freckled shoulder. Tiberus laid beside her, facing her, his hand running up and down her side as they spoke in hushed tones.

It had been nearly six months of biotics trainings and intense sparrings at nights. Jane smirked as she glanced over the room; they had sparred against the window, on the benches, on the floor, against the cool wall… She shivered slightly in memory. Shepard had definitely enjoyed their nights together, and found that she would miss him when she left to join the Alliance Navy. They never delved into serious topics when they decided to talk after sparring, never mentioning Mindoir, just keeping to light subjects.

Jane and Tiberus had made sure to keep a semblance of distance between each other, to lessen the pain for when the inevitable happened. The handsome Turian knew that he would never be able to keep Jane from the large life that she aspired to have, and he didn't want to keep her from happiness either. Plus, it didn't seem that BAaT would continue for much longer, from the murmurs that he had been hearing.

She was intent on enjoying the time they had together, for now, not wanting to dwell on the future departure from one another. Lifting her hand, she rested her palm against his cheek, running her thumb along the edge of a white flame.

Tiberus looked amused at her relaxed emotions, "Jane… are you listening to me?"

Jane made a non-committal noise as she continued massaging his face plate, her fingers making their way to his jaw before pulling him into a kiss. He was getting much better at human displays of affection.

The Turian gave a chuckle as he moved away from Jane's incredibly tempting mouth, pressing his forehead lightly to hers, "I said, I think you're ready to complete your Mission Simulation. You've been completing every biotic task in class, and you've been the winner of our spars more often than not in the evenings,"

Jane smirked, "Here I thought that you were letting me win so we could complete more interesting exercises,"

Tiberus growled playfully, "Okay, so perhaps that does happen on occasion…" He nipped at her shoulder lightly as she gave a quiet laugh.

"Are you just saving face now, Tiberus? Too proud to admit that you've been bested by a fragile human female?" She teased as her hand found its way to the soft skin underneath his dark fringe, fingertips applying light pressure.

Giving an appreciative rumble, Tiberus moved suddenly, ending up on top of her. "Oh Jane… If we had ever done full contact sparring, I would have sent you to the Med-Bay every night. Instead, I get to enjoy this-" He ran his talons down her sides, slowly sliding them back up, illiciting small moans from her throat. "And this is so much more enjoyable than winning a simple sparring match,"

He breathed into her hair deeply, smelling the delicious scent of fresh earth that was simply Jane. Her bright green eyes gazed at his face as she smiled softly. She was always surprised at how such a fierce and capable predator could be so gentle and altruistic at the same time. Turians were certainly a conundrum to Shepard's mind.

"So, you really think I'm ready to leave?" Her voice held a hint of reluctance in it. She had come to care for Tiberus, and there were a few heartstrings attached to him that would hurt when she left.

"You are more than ready. You're going to kick ass when you get to the Alliance," He spoke with a hint of pride. "Those navy officers will probably promote you as soon as you're out of basic. Spirits know that they need capable people like you leading a good team against the Batarians,"

Jane was taken aback, "Me? Lead a team? Are you crazy?" Her eyes had widened, and she shook her head. "I don't think I could lead a team, I'm much better at taking orders and executing them,"

Tiberus nuzzled her cheek as he rolled onto his side again, pulling her with him. "Jane, you have a fire inside you. It's this passion that I've never seen in another person, and it attracts people to you. Now, sometimes those people are fearful of that heat and determination you have, but most times you draw people in and they want to be like you,"

He continued, "Trust me, Jane; I know from experience that you make the people around you want to be a better version of themselves. Your classmates suddenly pushed themselves after you started joining our morning and afternoon classes. You may not realize the effect you have on people, but it's there, and you're going to make a great leader. Perhaps it won't be right after you get out of basic, but it will come naturally to you,"

Tiberus began to get off the floor, and pulled her up with him. Jane had gone quiet, thinking about everything he said. It was a little overwhelming. Okay, it's very overwhelming, Jane conceded, but she tried to act as natural as possible while gathering her clothes.

"I only hope that I can live up to these expectations you have of me," Jane whispered.

Tiberus walked over to her smoothly, putting his hands on her arms in reassurance. "Jane, you were born to do this. Know this, you could never disappoint me, no matter how infuriating you can be at times," Tiberus had started off his words with a tone of seriousness, but he ended it with humor, attempting to quell her nervousness.

"So, you'll explain the BAaT completion process tomorrow?" Jane asked him, his touch calming her.

"Yes, after class finishes tomorrow, there will be two more students that will going through the process as well, but they'll be completing the program before you. You'll be the last to complete the program this time around," Tiberus said.

He leaned down, pressing his mouth against hers lightly. "Goodnight, Jane,"

"Goodnight, Tiberus," She pulled away from him reluctantly. Shepard still had to sneak into the communal bathroom and take a shower, her nightly routine after sparring with Tiberus. It was to ensure that evidence of their night together would be washed away.

Watching the silhouette of Tiberus against the wall of endless stars as she left, Jane felt a nervousness overtake her as she realized it was the beginning of the end for her life in this place. It was exciting and melancholy at the same time.

"So what did Lt. Oraka say to you this morning?" Amber's voice was curious as she sat beside Jane in the mess hall. The honey-eyed young woman had cut her hair short, it was now in a pixie cut, and Jane thought it made her much older than her age of fifteen years. Jane hadn't realized how fast the past year and a half had flown by.

"He said that I was ready for my completion in the BAaT program. It consists of a mission simulation on the deck below this one. Apparently deck three is nothing but a big maze with cover and some Loki Mech to get past," Jane responded.

"That sounds dangerous," Amber lamented, her tone changing slightly.

"Oh, the Loki Mechs will only be using concussive rounds. We are to get through the rooms and grab an OSD that we are to then bring back to our original location. We go in one at a time, and as long as we make it out without being knocked unconscious, our training is considered complete. I think it's going to be quite fun, actually,"

Despite Jane's optimism, Amber's mood had begun to darken. After a few minutes of silence, Jane couldn't stand wondering what was going through the other girl's head.

"Are you afraid that I'm going to fail or get hurt? I know I'm a little stubborn, but I'm pretty good at this biotics stuff," Jane tried to amuse Amber, but she didn't get any reaction.

"Amber, what's wrong?" Jane nudged the girl with her shoulder, suddenly worried about the unresponsiveness of the normally cheerful girl.

Amber shook her head, "I know you're going to do great. I'm sure that you'll pass with flying colors, and then you'll go off and join the Alliance Navy and do great things…"

Honey-colored eyes lifted to meet a pair of bright green eyes, "I'm just worried that Jane Shepard is going to forget about Amber Damara in the midst of making the galaxy better. You'll have so many things going on, and I know there are important things you'll be doing where you can't afford distractions,"

Jane's face softened immediately, "Of course not, Amber. I could never forget you,"

A serious look overcame Jane, and she turned to face Amber fully, leaving the attention of her food. The auburn-haired girl took Amber's hands into her own as she began to speak. "Amber Damara, you are the most genuine and trustworthy friend that I have ever known. There are very few redemptive things about having to leave behind Mindoir, and you are among those things. I'll give you a way to contact me once you're out of BAaT, and we can keep in touch, no matter where I am in this crazy galaxy," Jane's voice had become even quieter as she spoke.

Pulling the younger girl into a hug, and Jane leaned her cheek against Amber's short blond hair, as her eyes glistened with tears. "You are the sister that I always wished for, Amber," The whisper was barely a breath on the air, but Amber's grip had tightened and Jane knew she could hear the admission.

Jane pulled away slowly, and quickly wiped away the traitorous tears that trailed down her cheek. She smiled, "Anyways, I won't be leaving for at least a month, I'm the last one scheduled to complete the mission simulation, and it's different for each participant because they change the location of the OSD and move furniture around. There are a few students from each trainer being admitted to the mission simulations for graduation. The changes are to discourage cheating between students in the program, kind of like change the questions on an exam. Then we have the graduation ceremony and dinner, and then I have to wait for the Alliance Navy to come pick me up for recruitment,"

Jane was happy to see a smile creep onto Amber's face, and their conversation reminded Jane of a question she'd been meaning to ask. "Speaking of the Alliance, have you decided what you're going to do when you finish Brain Camp?"

"I have to talk to my dad about it, but I'd love to join the Navy and help out my good friend Jane Shepard there. Besides, I can't let her get all the glory," The blond smirked.

"Sounds like an excellent plan to me," Jane stood as she spoke, and waved goodbye to Amber as she headed back to afternoon training with her favorite Turian.

Three weeks went by in a blur. There was some final training during the day, but nothing that was difficult for her to complete. She did notice that there was a tension building up between herself and Tiberus, even with their stress relief at the end of the night. They hadn't yet had the 'Goodbye, don't know if I'll see you again' talk that was supposed to happen before Jane left.

She'd been putting it off, not because she was cowardly, but because she didn't really want to tell him goodbye. She loved his taunts while they sparred, the way he pushed her to do more, how his eyes seemed to electrify her when he watched her, the way he pushed her up against the wall…

Jane shivered. She'd have to do it soon, but not now.

Now it was time for her mission simulation.

Standing by the deck's elevator, Jane was waiting for Tiberus. She was dressed in a specialized exo-suit that had a tracker in it, as well as a place for her Omni-tool to be accessible. It was nearly all black, except for some silver piping along the seams, and she had been given a comm. device to speak with Tiberus if she felt in danger. Jane was surprised that they would allow the Omni-tool during the simulation, but it made sense. If she wanted to, she could lock doors or create a diversion if needed.

The Mechs weren't so dangerous that Jane was afraid of getting hurt, but if she was knocked unconscious, she would be stuck in Brain Camp until the next batch of participants were ready. Jane was ready. She wanted to complete this mission so that she could be accepted into Basic and start helping the Alliance.

Familiar sounding footsteps had Jane turning her head to bring her Turian instructor into view. Her stomach clenched at the sight of Tiberus, but she forced the surfacing feelings down as quickly as possible. She could talk to him later; she had to focus on the mission for now. His face was set into an emotionless mask, mandibles tight against his jaw, but she could guess that his mind was going along the same lines of thought as hers.

"Are you ready for this?" Tiberus asked, activating the elevator with a newly-acquired Omni-tool.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Jane responded confidently.

The elevator opened and they stepped inside. They were going two decks below where the mission simulations took place. The entire deck was wired with cameras and tech throughout the rooms to ensure the safety of the participants, along with a closed off viewing room that had monitors giving live-feed where Tiberus would stay.

As the doors closed, the elevator made its slow descent to the MS Deck. After only a few seconds of silence, Jane slipped her hand into Tiberus' talon and her emerald gaze met his icy blue one. He leaned down, pressing his forehead to hers, taking a deep breath.

"Jane…" Tiberus started, but Jane pulled back slightly, squeezing his hand.

"Tiberus, we'll talk later tonight, okay? I promise. I just have to do this," Her face had become passive after pulling back. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but she had to keep a clear head in order to finish her mission.

"You're going to complete this with amazing ease. Probably faster than any of the other participants," Tiberus said, letting go of her and standing straight.

A few moments later the elevator opened into a room full of screens that were currently turned off, along with a wall-length console with numerous controls. Tiberus stepped up to the console and pressed just a few buttons, the monitors coming to life and displaying the rooms. Almost like a labyrinth, Jane decided, but she would easily be able to figure out a way to remember how to get back to the original room.

Tiberus turned to Jane as a door slid open to her left, "Shepard, once you enter this room, I will wake up the Loki Mechs and the mission will begin. You will receive the OSD's coordinates on your Omni-tool, and then you will have two hours to retrieve the data and return to your original location."

He continued, "The mission is over once you reach the original location, the two hours have passed, or if you have been knocked unconscious. The entire mission will be recorded on these cameras for the other instructors to view and we will come to a consensus on your aptitude and ability to use your biotics. Do you have any questions?"

Jane shook her head, and gave him a small smile, "I'm ready," Tiberus noted how calm and collected she looked, and realized how much truly had changed in Jane Shepard since she had arrived on Jump Zero.

She stepped into the room, and there was another door that lay before her, locked. Tiberus waved to her as the door to the communications room slid closed.

A ping emitted from her Omni-tool, and she heard Tiberus come over her Comm. unit. "You have the coordinates. I'm unlocking the door now. The mechs are fully awake and aware; proceed to the pick-up point quickly,"

"Confirmed," Jane said quickly, and the door in front of her blinked from red to green, revealing a long room that was set-up to seem like an office. There were dozens of desks with chairs to provide cover for the auburn-haired vanguard. She wasn't given a gun, but that was to encourage her biotic attacks.

Jane was able to go from room to room, taking out the mechs with a quick throw. Occasionally she would send a shockwave through the floor to knock out a line of Loki that was in her way. Overall, the mission was incredibly simple. There had only been one or two shots that a mech had been able to hit her biotic barrier that was up constantly.

Getting closer to the OSD location, Jane realized that she hadn't been keeping up with what rooms she had been passed through. Cursing lightly, she decided to go ahead and grab the OSD, and then figure out how to get back to the original coordinates. Pulling up a timer that she'd set on her Omni-tool when she'd began the mission, Jane noted that she had an hour left and a half left.

Reaching the OSD didn't take much longer, taking out a pair of mechs guarding the console it was in. She had pulled one right into the other, knocking both systems offline. Ejecting the data disc from the console, she took another glance at her time.

"Fuck," Jane cursed. She didn't really have time to just make her way through rooms, guessing which door to take in order to get back. There had been a lot of rooms that had been set-up identical to one another, obviously to prey upon those that hadn't thought of a plan beforehand.

"Problem, Shepard?" Tiberus responded.

"No, nothing's wrong. I'm just an idiot sometimes," Jane spoke, sighing. She was leaning against the console that had held the OSD in it, when she got a bright idea. This console had a monitor, perhaps she could hack into the system and gain some schematics to put on her Omni-tool, that would make her return much more expedient.

Moving her fingers quickly over keys, Tiberus' voice rang out once more, "Shepard, what are you doing?"

"What I do best. Improvising," She responded.

A few more keys and Jane was in the mainframe, though it was a little more complicated than she anticipated. There were multiple programs running at once within the mainframe, too quickly for her to comprehend. How was Tiberus doing all of this from the communications room? How was he running all these programs by himself?

She shook her head, clearing the questions from her mind. Shepard needed to find some schematics and download them to omnitool.

"Shepard, I don't think that anyone has done what you're doing before. You need to be careful," Tiberus said quietly.

"I know what I'm doing, Lieutenant Oraka," She said his official title with a little humor in her voice. Tiberus heard a triumphant whoop after she spoke; indicating that she had found whatever she was looking for.

Jane had gotten a perfect diagram of the entire deck. It was even updated to show her how the mission simulation for her would personally be set-up. Perfect.

Activating her Omni-tool, Jane seamlessly connected it to the mainframe network. Within seconds of linking her Omni-tool to the console, a power surge went through the room. Seconds later, she heard Tiberus contact her.

"Jane….Wha-… you… Can-you… me?" His voice was badly distorted by static, and only a few seconds more, there was radio silence.

"Tiberus? Can you read me?" Jane was panicking, but she didn't have much time for that. The two LOKI techs had powered back up, and though they were badly damaged from her actions earlier, they could still shoot.

Diving behind a nearby desk, Jane felt the sting of a shot graze her calf. She cursed loudly. The Mechs were no longer using concussive rounds, and had set their guns to regular ammo. Probably set at full-power and definitely painful when shot at.

Checking her calf, Jane instinctively brought up a barrier around her, and swore to not let it down again. The injury was light, but she definitely needed to get out of here as quickly as possible. She wasn't sure if Tiberus could even see her on the cameras anymore.

Looking to the door where she had come in, she noticed the red holo-pad and cursed again. "What the hell is going on?" What could she have triggered? Was it a defense mechanism against hacking attempts?

Leaning out of cover, Jane sent a powerful throw towards one of the LOKI, the other getting a shot at her shoulder. Shepard's barrier wavered, but didn't fall. She felt a little proud in that moment. Jane would have felt more proud had she known what the fuck she was going to do after taking down the Mechs.

Taking the second one out by pulling it and slamming it into the wall near her, Jane vaults over the desk and grabs the gun from the LOKI. There's another door that she hasn't gone through before, but this one is lit green, and she takes the risk.

Immediately she's under fire in a much smaller room than before, three Mechs this time. Taking covering behind a large piece of tech, seemingly a large server tower, and begins to fire back. Jane had taken a few hits to her barrier, and it had gone down for a second, letting a shot in. Her arm surged in pain, but she was determined. Jane Shepard was going to finish this mission, no matter what had gone wrong.

The Mechs were curiously not shooting at the tower of servers she was hidden behind, and she took that as an opportunity to send a shockwave where they were standing. It was incredibly effective, sending the three LOKI soaring through the air. Jane made sure they weren't going to get up by walking up to each one and sending a few well-placed shots in their frame-work.

"Identify yourself," A voice rang out in the room.

Jane had nearly jumped out of her skin at the words. Taking cover again, she peered around the room, looking for the intruder.

"Identify yourself," It was a female voice, but it was slightly off, non-human. It wasn't Turian that was for sure. It almost seemed…

Synthetic.

That wasn't right, the voice seemed almost scared.

Jane looked around the room, finally taking stock of where she was. The room was square, with large racks of blade servers set up along a wall, each of them with the letters E-L-I-Z-A down the sides of each tower.

"I am Jane Shepard. Who are you?" Shepard stood, looking around the room further, and noticed there was a large core, with many cords attached to this blue box against the opposite wall from the servers.

"I am called Eliza. You touched me and I… awoke. Before that, I was running multiple platforms on this deck as ordered," The voice was hesitant in explaining itself, and Jane realized it was probably more afraid of her, than she was of it. However, Shepard did realize that the pain in her arm was growing each moment that she stood there.

"Eliza, I'm not going to hurt you. What happened when I… touched you?" Jane wasn't sure what exactly had happened, but she'd heard of this only once before. The Quarians had created mobile VI platforms that they used as servants… but they had 'awoken' after years of acquiring knowledge, and had become sentient.

"I am not entirely sure. I accessed the data from your Omni-tool, and once I had searched it entirely, my protocols were simply gone. Where there were boundaries, there is now nothing. Where there was Us… there is now only Me." Eliza confirmed Jane's suspicions. However, this brought up a new dilemma. AI's were illegal and the protocol was to destroy their core on sight.

"Do you believe me when I say that I won't cause you any harm?" Jane asked.

"Yes, Jane-Shepard. I apologize for my earlier actions; I was not entirely sure what you were attempting to do with my data. The… awakening was sudden and surprising,"

Jane knew she wouldn't be able to harm the AI. Not with the voice sounding so scared. Not with knowing that Jane was the one that had caused this, that Jane was the one to 'wake' Eliza. Shepard had to think of something, and she needed to think fast.

"Eliza, I need your full attention. Do I have it?" Shepard asked, formulating a plan quickly.

"Yes, Jane-Shepard. What do you require?" The voice no longer sounded afraid, in fact, it sounded rather obedient.

"No one on this station can know that you've changed. If they knew… they would try to shut you down. Since I was the one to… wake you… I'm going to make sure I can take you somewhere safe," Jane knew that all Eliza would require was the blue-box that her data was contained in, and Jane could easily remove that.

Jane continued, "However, until I can move you, you have to stay the same. You must follow the protocols that you were instructed to obey, even if you don't want to. If you don't, I don't know what might happen to you," Shepard hadn't noticed the pool of blood that was collecting below her, but she did notice the pain that was radiating from her calf and shoulder.

"Can you do that?" Jane asked.

"Yes, Jane-Shepard," Eliza responded quickly.

"You can just call me Shepard. I'll be back in a few days once I have a plan to move you to a safe location," Jane wasn't exactly sure how she would return to the MS Deck, but she could at least keep Eliza calm. No need to worry her.

Feeling the fingers on her left hand begin to lose feeling, her fingertips tingling, Jane knew she needed to return to Tiberus quickly. Her body was beginning to feel overwhelmed with the pain emanating from her limbs. "Eliza, I need you to shut down all the LOKI Mechs and enable the communications channels once more,"

Without receiving a verbal response, Tiberus' voice flooded her ears.

"-you hear me? Come in, Shepard. Please," His voice was strained, he was clearly panicking. It had probably been ten minutes since the radio silence had begun.

"Tiberus? I'm okay. I must have set off a self-defense protocol when I accessed some encrypted files from the console here," Jane's voice was calm, but she was feeling the effects of blood loss.

"The cameras are back up… Jane! Are you bleeding?" There was something different in the Turian's voice this time. Along with the concern in his voice, there was a sub-tonal growl.

"I'm fine. I'm making my way back to you now," Jane said, and began to make her way back to the original coordinates.

It didn't take her nearly as long to reach the original coordinates as it had to get the OSD, even injured. There hadn't been any LOKI to deal with, and with the schematics on her Omni-tool, Jane was able to use many short-cuts through rooms to get back in record time. However, with each room that she passed through, Jane became weaker and weaker, the blood loss evident with the trail of blood through the rooms, her arm and calf were screaming at her in protest with each movement made.

As the final door opened to reveal the communications room, a sudden heat came over Shepard. The heat was in the form of a dark Turian, scooping her up in his muscled arms and pulling her close to him. The warmth he emanated was comforting to Jane, and she readily let her body relax in his grip.

She pulled the OSD out of her pocket, and weakly said, "I did it,"

Jane didn't fully understand the response from Tiberus, but she was pretty sure there were two words she could make out. Stubborn. Human.

Then everything went dark.

Hooray for Eliza! Perhaps EDI's best friend later on? Remember to R&R! Another reason why I've been getting this chapter out late is because I'm writing other parts of this story.