Chapter One Part Twelve
More Questions
The shuttle ride to the Gabriel was dead silent. Commander Vega flew while Jack, Will, and Liam rode in the passenger section. Liam and Will sat in the seats on the left side of the shuttle, but Jack didn't feel like sitting down. Jack held on to the safety harness on the right side of the shuttle across from his friends.
Will looked from Jack to Liam; both had serious, weary expressions.
"You two look like you saw a ghost."
Liam looked out the viewing window; his head leaned against the cold, metal shuttle wall. Jack stared at Will for a good amount of time before replying.
"Some organization named Hydra was using reaper tech on the colonists and indoctrinating them into an aggressive attack force. That's what happened to the Alliance team we were trying to find too."
Will looked at Jack silently for a moment before he replied.
"So, that woman?"
"She was part of the Alliance team… we managed to knock her unconscious when she was attacking us in the Government Building… Commander Vega trained with her in Basic," replied Jack.
Will grew quiet again. The shuttle docked shortly thereafter and Commander Vega was the first to depart the aircraft. He made a beeline to the elevator and Jack had a good idea of where he was heading. While he waited for the elevator he turned to Jack, Liam, and Will.
"Debriefing in one hour," he said quickly before turning his gaze back to the elevator door. His voice suggested that he was dealing with some strong emotions. Jack made a mental note to avoid his XO for the next few days.
The trio stood and watched as Vega entered the elevator and headed up to another part of the ship. Liam, Jack, and Will were left to put their armor back into their locker and unwind by themselves. Sergeant Gonzalez' shuttle landed while they were taking their armor off. Gonzalez' team exited as well as a couple more Delta soldiers. The Sergeant noticed Jack and made her way to the lockers. She walked up to Jack and pushed him. Jack hadn't been expecting the force from her shove and almost stumbled over the armor pieces on the ground. Jack felt the adrenaline rush through him once again as the stress from the battle on the ground boiled over again. Jack glared at Gonzalez. She wore a bizarre expression. She didn't look angry, but rather amused, which made Jack even more pissed. Will stepped in between the two and Liam glowed with biotic energy behind Jack.
Will quickly took control of the situation.
"You mind telling me what the hell you're doing pushing your superior officer, Sergeant?"
Will pushed the woman back, she cracked a devious smile.
"I didn't realize the Lieutenant couldn't handle himself. I just wanted to say nice job down there… I underestimated you." She extended her neck so she could look past Will at Jack who was rubbing his head in an attempt to distract himself from the rage he felt. Jack was in no mental state to deal with BS of any sort. His hair was still too damn short… dammit. Jack stepped past Will and stood before Gonzalez. He couldn't help but keep studying Gonzalez' face as she continued that devilish smile. She had slightly tan skin and very dark brown eyes. Jack had a hard time discerning her pupils from the rest of her cornea. He looked into the swell of brown and didn't blink. Jack stood a good foot taller which made him feel better about his chances if things broke into a downright brawl. He was still tense and even more surprised when the Sergeant threw out her hand to be shaken. Their eyes never wavered as Jack extended his as well. The shake was firm, but brief. Just as quickly as she had arrived Gonzalez had left. Jack could admire one thing about her. She had a fire inside and she gave him the impression that she wasn't afraid of anything or anyone. He didn't mind as long as he wasn't falling on his ass whenever she wanted to say good job. Liam patted him on the back.
"Weird woman…" was all Liam could muster. Liam turned on some music.
Jack looked down at his feet. He still had on his leggings and boots. Gritting his teeth Jack pressed the armor release points and sighed with relief as the armor de-pressurized. He pulled off his leggings and did the same with the boots. He was now wearing nothing but his under armor suit. The suit was a thin mesh layer which made the armor more comfortable to wear. Heavy alloy suits weren't built for the comfort of the user, so the mesh did wonders to relieve the rashes and skin irritations. All three men had stripped down to their suits and now they made their own way to the elevator. Most days three thinly dressed muscular men would have been a sight on the Gabriel for the female crew. Today, however, was not one of those days. For starters they smelled rancid. The fiber mesh could not prevent post-combat stench from accumulating during missions. They also limped along with muscle aches and bruises. In all honesty, the trio probably looked like the walking dead, but with more tone. They made their way directly to the men's locker room where they cleaned up, shaved… except Will, and changed into some clean crew outfits. Jack made sure to enjoy the shower. He turned the heat up and let the water wash away the dirt and sweat. The steam helped him relax and cope with what he had experienced on Cascade. The next stop for the three friends was the mess hall. The three devoured several helpings of Alliance Grade F Meatloaf. It didn't matter to the soldiers as they ripped through plate after plate. Liam was the odd man out, however, because he was vegetarian. Jack stared at him as he sat down at their table… with a salad. Jack had no problems with salad, he actually enjoyed his vegetables. Meat, however, was something Jack could not go without. Liam caught Jack staring and smiled.
"Never seen a vegetarian before?"
Jack broke into laughter and put his fork down.
"I see where you get your biotics from!"
Liam looked down at his salad in confusion.
Jack laughed even harder.
"I'm kidding, man; enjoy your veggies… probably better for ya than this "meatloaf"."
Liam made a grimace when he saw the pile of gray meat on Jack's plate. The loaf continued to sit there and look gross.
"Yeah, these are the days I find myself appreciative of my decision to stay away from that."
They all dug into the meatloaf, except Liam… who munched on his spinach.
The debriefing chamber was quiet as what was left of the ground team sat in the circular room. Jack, Liam, and Will sat together in the center of the seats. Jack's stomach was not handling the transfer of food well.
Kaidan and James entered the room precisely at 9:25 PM Earth Time. The room sealed itself as the commanding officers prepared their presentations. Both men looked serious, which immediately let Jack know that Hydra was probably not an organization to screw with. This was not particularly great news for Jack considering he had just killed their sleeper agent on the Gabriel. Jack had a way with assholes.
Kaidan opened the debriefing with a picture, just one on the screen in front of the teams. The Hydra symbol pin, completely blown up and shiny as ever, stared back at the teams.
"First of all I wanted to say, great job down there soldiers, and I've been told things were quite crazy on the ground…"
Most of the troopers nodded in agreement. Kaidan turned his attention to the main screen once again. He pointed to the picture of the emblem.
"Hydra… a suspicious previously unknown organization which deals in brainwashing entire colonies of farmers with Reaper Tech… now has the full attention of all Citadel Species and most importantly, the Alliance. Like I suspected, an easy mission turned into something far greater and now we are left to put together pieces of what went on down there." He began pacing. Dr. Liara T'Soni has some newly discovered intelligence which doesn't answer many of our questions, but it does provide some idea of who we dealt with today. Liara stood up behind the soldiers. Jack was surprised he hadn't seen her. She was very good at blending into the rest of the room. The picture changed from Hydra's emblem to the mug shot of Sergeant Mendol. He was pleased to see his pictures of the hidden lab on Cascade were being put to good use. A medium sized red hole sat on the man's forehead in the picture. He had taken the traitor down clean. Liara pointed to the picture.
"This may not come as a surprise for most of you who have heard, but the man you knew as Sergeant Francis Mendol was actually a Hydra sleeper agent by the name of Drake Kresh."
Jack had to admit that the name Drake sounded far more evil than Francis. He smirked at the face of the man who had tried killing him a few hours earlier.
"Looks like he's a real sleeper agent now that he met you, Jack," quipped Will with a smirk. Will leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head with satisfaction at his pun.
Jack rolled his eyes and leaned back himself. He put his right leg over his left thigh and listened intently to what Liara had to say.
"My sources have done some background on Drake and discovered that he was a former agent for the Shadow Broker before the Reaper War. The Shadow Broker has a very checkered past, but lately he has run a streak of good deeds which leads us to assume Drake did not appreciate the Broker's change of heart."
Jack picked up on the fact that Liara had not mentioned where her sources were gathering this information, nor who the sources were. He found this odd, but he quieted those whispers and gave Liara his full attention once more.
"Now when I first heard the title Hydra, a monster of Greek Mythology, I immediately drew a link to the group Cerberus whom we are all very well acquainted. I could not discover any connections to Cerberus, but I don't think the similarities between their emblems and titles are coincidental."
The picture changed from Drake's dead face to a chart detailing the similarities between the Cerberus logo and the Hydra emblem they had found. Both looked similar, although Hydra's logo branched out and had the flowering points. Hydra's center was also an octagon rather than the hexagon of Cerberus. Jack hated both organizations either way. Liara continued.
"We tracked Drake's last known residence to the asteroid station of Omega. We're hoping to find more answers there, which is why that is the Gabriel's next destination.
Jack's jaw dropped. He had heard so many dirty rumors of Omega, from mutant zombies to the power hungry Asari in charge. Jack had made it a personal contract with himself that he would never wind up at Omega unless absolutely necessary. He figured this counted as necessary. As Liara began to wind up her presentation and give the floor back to Captain Alenko, Jack noticed she was looking right at him. Liara always seemed to wear the same white and blue outfit no matter what the occasion. Her eyes glinted fire and Jack noticed his skin was standing on end. He hadn't had goose bumps like this since High School when… no he didn't want to think about those days. Jack forced the memories out of his head and closed his eyes. When he opened them again Liara had sat down again behind him and Captain Alenko was wrapping up deadlines for mission reports for the leaders of the four teams. Alenko snapped Jack to attention when he called out to Jack directly.
"Sir?" asked Jack.
"I want a report from you too, Kirk… tell us everything you saw and everything that happened down in those labs."
Jack nodded.
"I want it hand delivered by you too, Lieutenant."
He nodded again.
"Will do, sir."
Alenko nodded as well and then scanned the room for a moment before finishing the meeting.
"Alright everyone, dismissed. Check your mail, because we'll be sending out teams once we're on Omega."
The room dispersed, all except Liara, who blocked the exit. Jack could not leave.
Liara locked the door and sat down in a chair. Jack continued to stand awkwardly. He had no idea what was about to happen.
"Sit down, man, you're not in trouble, goddess," Liara told Jack, laughing a little at his facial expression. He was almost as paralyzed as he had been on Earth when Will had pleaded with him to rejoin the Alliance.
"Did you need me for something, Doc?" he asked, a bit unsure.
"Yes, Jack, I wanted to clear the air a bit."
Jack's eyebrow lifted. She was clear and to the point.
"Alright, am I misunderstanding something?"
"No, no, at least I don't think so I just need to explain a few things that I think you should know if we're going to be partners."
He stared at her, face blank.
"Partners?"
She smiled mischievously and put her fingers together in a form that reminded Jack of a cocoon.
"Yes, partners… while the other Alliance teams are performing tasks on Omega, we are going somewhere else, Lieutenant."
He was completely blown away.
"But… wait a minute, the Captain said…"
Liara put a finger to her mouth to quiet Jack.
"Trust me, Lieutenant… what we're doing is far more important… and I can only trust you."
His eyebrows narrowed.
"Only me?" he asked, now curious of who or what was going to betray their trust after he had just ended the sleeper agent's reign of terror aboard the Gabriel.
"I'm going to assume this is okay with Captain Alenko and Commander Vega."
"Definitely… you don't beat an enemy like Hydra without doing some unconventional missions, Lieutenant… that's something every superior officer on this ship is well aware of. I told the Captain and although he wasn't thrilled I think he understood."
Jack nodded to himself. His thoughts were whirring around in his head. So much stuff had been dropped in his lap that day; he had no idea how to process it all.
"The report… are we leaving now? Or…."
She laughed. "You can do your report, Lieutenant… we won't leave until we arrive in the Omega system."
Jack placed his hand on his forehead and wiped the top of his head. Liara kept smiling at him with the knowing look on her face. He always felt like she knew so much more than she let on.
"One more thing before you get to leave… I'm the Shadow Broker."
If his brain could spontaneously combust, he had a feeling it would at that moment.
He could not speak. Instead he managed to blink a few times. Liara kept smiling.
"You have to assume this is highly classified information, so no telling anyone… I know I can trust you."
He nodded… he knew what it was like to trust someone implicitly and he was determined not to betray Liara's.
Liara stood to leave and motioned for Jack to do the same. He got up, but one question hung from the tip of his tongue.
"Why me?" he blurted out.
Liara simply turned her head and eyed Jack from the corner of her eyes as she continued to walk towards the exit.
"Because I like you, you're a great soldier and an even better man, Lieutenant… you remind me…," Liara paused, still facing the door," of a certain someone I used to know."
The door closed behind her leaving what remained of Jack's already shredded mental state of being behind.
"What the hell?" he asked himself silently. The lights turned off in the room leaving him with the luminescent glow of the presentation screen behind him.
