A/N: I got a bit ahead of my story line in chapter 12 by having Javik awaken after five days, forcing me to backtrack a bit for this chapter. Enjoy!
We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over. — Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
• NORMANDY, DECK THREE · PORT SIDE, LIARA'S QUARTERS •
◦ 2 DAYS PRIOR TO JAVIK'S REGAINING CONSCIOUSNESS ◦
Liara awoke with a start. Her last thoughts before drifting off the previous evening were of Shepard telling of her reasoning regarding activation of the crucible. She eased her face out from under her quilts as she queried the info drone, "Glyph, time?"
"The time is 0640, Dr T'Soni," it responded.
Liara sighed as she eased back the covers, sat up and swung her legs over the edge of her bed. Stretching and yawning, she pulled the sleep shirt off and slid the N7 sweat pants down as she stood. Shivering as she stepped out of the pants, she pulled on her robe—Shepard's robe, appropriated from the loft—and opened the sliding doors. Grabbing bathing supplies, she pointedly ignored the auxiliary info feeds as she walked past, heading for the female crew's restroom. Time enough for to look at info after a nice warm shower. "Glyph, I should return in twenty minutes."
"Yes, Dr T'Soni."
• DECK THREE · STARBOARD SIDE, MED BAY
Samantha Traynor woke up gradually, relishing being able to sleep in; having to always jump out of bed and right into whatever the new day brought wore on her at times. It had taken her a full two evenings to recover from Javik's biotic and physical assault; her neck still displayed bruises imparted by the Prothean in his effort to choke the life from her. I could have thrown the bastard over my shoulder and stomped on him if I hadn't been hit by his biotic assault, she thought. Timely intervention by Tali'Zorah had prevented him from injuring her further. That she had been unable to stop him after he grabbed her brought tears to her eyes. Sitting up on the bed, she brought her knees to her chest; with her chin resting on her knees, she hugged her legs as her thoughts touched briefly on the assault she had suffered her first semester at Oxford. Hell, he was trying to kill me! Why? Did he think he could get past Shepard?
Dr Chakwas cheery, "Good morning, Specialist!" interrupted her reverie. "And how are we feeling this morning?"
Samantha had never understood the question, no matter how many times it was directed towards her. She could only speak for how she herself felt, and answered with a slight touch of annoyance. "I am feeling better this morning. Thirsty. Hungry. Gotta pee."
"Well, let me take a few readings so I can release you for duty," she responded as she walked over to the bedside and activated her omnitool. After several passes front and back, it beeped twice. Dr Chakwas checked the results and said, "Heart rate & pressure good, brain activity good. You're fit for duty, Samantha." Walking back to the cupboards over the sink, she pulled out a thin robe, made apparently from the same thin material as her gown; "This will help keep your modesty intact for your walk to the crew quarters," she said as she brought it over and handed it to Sam. "I imagine you'll want to shower before you get dressed. The clothes I removed when you arrived here have been laundered and returned to your locker. Slippers are on the floor."
"Thank you Doctor," Traynor replied, cautiously swinging her legs over the edge to stand by the bed.
Unlike her previous attempt to get out of this bed, her stomach didn't complain about the change from lying-to-sitting to standing. Feeling cool air on her back, she hurriedly put the robe on as she commented, "I thought you said this gown was custom fitted. Feels as if there's some material is missing from the back." Shoving her feet in the slippers, she cinched the tie on her robe, muttering darkly about dignity and privacy and the lack of same in this room.
"I did say it was a hospital gown, my dear," Karin said with a smile. "The custom fitting comes from the various ties and fasteners that keep it in place."
"Never understood why a person's bum has to be out in the breeze when one is in hospital," she muttered loud enough for the doctor to hear as she moved towards the exit.
• DECK THREE · CREW QUARTERS & SHOWER •
Samantha walked quietly to the crew quarters and slipped inside. The lighting was still dimmed in the compartment, as a few crewmen were in their berths; her own berth was in the far left corner, right against the aft bulkhead, beyond which the massive engine core and reaction chamber was housed. She grabbed a cup and filled it with water from the cooler; drinking it down only intensified the urge to relieve herself, so she grabbed bath supplies and a uniform from her locker, then hurried back out to the restroom.
As she entered, she took notice of the sound of water from the shower; the identity of the person enjoying an early bath was masked by the kinetic water and privacy barrier across the entrance. Engaging the door lock, Traynor disrobed and sat on the closest toilet to empty her bladder. She had always felt uncomfortable sharing the shower with anyone, even since college … it just felt so … awkward. It was not something she could easily avoid on board an Alliance vessel, even one as large and people friendly as the Normandy. She stood with a sigh, unconsciously noting the toilet performing a short flush, grabbed her bath supplies and said, "Hello?" just to avoid startling the person she was about to join.
"Come on in," came the reply. Sam was surprised by the vision in blue she saw as she passed through the barrier. "Good morning, Samantha. It's good to see you up and around again."
"Thanks," Sam answered back. She moved in front of the shower head adjacent to the one pouring water on the asari's back. "It's nice to be back on my feet." She glanced at Liara as she turned to face the shower, letting the water splash on her head and face. She had never seen an asari completely nude, and had occasionally wondered if the patterns of what appeared to be scales on her face and head crest extended down her back and chest. Not surprisingly, it appeared all of the skin on her body was similarly patterned—arms, back, chest, legs, hips. As she lathered her hair with shampoo, she wondered if it felt smooth like human skin, or could the texture actually be felt. She curled her lathered hair on top of her head, then applied body wash to her cloth and began washing her face and neck. "Ah-h-h," she groaned and winced as she touched an especially sensitive spot on her left collarbone. She had to be gentle with her neck and shoulders, as the skin and muscles were still quite sore.
She jumped as a gentle hand touched her left arm. "By the goddess, Specialist … Javik really did work you over."
Traynor turned her head to see Liara examining her shoulders and neck. "Yeah," she replied. "Still sore as 'ell."
There was concern in her eyes and her voice as she inquired, "Have you seen yourself in a mirror?" The hand slid gently around to rest on her breastbone, just below her neck.
"Uh, not yet. Truth is, I've been avoiding doing so," Sam replied. "Don't really want to know how close I was to being whacked by that asshole."
"May I?" Liara held her other hand out, indicating Sam's washcloth.
Samantha hesitated; she was intrigued by the possibilities, and had no reason for mistrust, so handed the soapy cloth to Liara. Spreading it across her fingers, Liara tilted Sam's head back and began gently washing under her chin. As she worked her way down to Sam's upper chest, she made use of the soapy slick skin to allow a nearly friction-free massage of those same areas with her free hand. She widened her attention to the collarbones, being especially gentle on the left side; she then washed her shoulders and upper arms. Moving close, Liara reached around under Sam's arms, causing a catch in Sam's breathing as their breasts touched. Turning her attention to the back of Traynor's neck, Liara continued to wash and massage until Sam laid her cheek on the asari's shoulder and groaned, "That feels wonderful. The soreness … the pain … is virtually gone. How did you? …
"Biotics can be used for more than defense or assault," she replied, pulling back and bringing up her hands for Traynor to see. The light blue glow was just receding as Liara handed the washcloth back to the specialist. "I have a bit of training in the healing arts of my people. I'll let you finish the rest yourself," she said. "I think you will find the discoloration of the bruises has lessened considerably, and the remaining soreness should be more manageable as well."
Placing a hand on Liara's shoulder, she replied, "Thank you, Dr T'Soni. I really appreciate your kindness." Samantha dropped her hand in order to continue washing; she now knew that the asari's skin texture, appearances aside, was quite smooth, though unlike human skin, it felt more like a fine, expensive leather … soft, pliable, like something one saw in the vids, expensive, unattainable.
Liara replied, "You're quite welcome, Sam." Finishing rinsing the soap from her own body, Liara shut her shower off, grabbed her towel and soaps and moved past the kinetic barrier to dry off. Samantha re-lathered her washcloth and proceeded to finish her own bath as she studied the asari, contemplating the exquisite musculature in her lower back, hips and thighs, the way her crest folded and ended on the back of her neck, and the ridges and valleys that ran down to the top of her butt. Being on Shepard's ground teams so often during the war had honed Liara's body into the equal of any asari commando, with the added bonus of killer biotics. The specialist felt deep sorrow for the physical loss of Liara's promised.
• DECK THREE · SHADOW BROKER'S QUARTERS •
Liara entered her quarters and turned all the terminal feeds on as she walked back towards her bed. Shedding the robe, she pulled casual clothing out of her case—panties, sport bra, socks, pants and a tee shirt. Dressed in her casual clothing—she'd be damned if she was going to look like an info broker every minute of every day—she stepped into an old pair of boots. Hanging the robe in its compartment, she gathered up all the discarded clothing, her towel and wash cloth and placed them in a bin to be laundered.
Looking at the auxiliary terminal just outside the partition, it pleased her to note the jumbled data from the previous day had been assembled into something a bit more coherent. She scanned through it briefly; seeing nothing that couldn't wait for another forty-five minutes or so, she said, "Glyph, I'm going to have breakfast. Look through the data on this terminal … flag anything to which I need to devote immediate attention when I return."
"As you wish, Dr T'Soni."
Picking up the laundry bin, she made her way out of the compartment to the crew's mess area.
• DECK THREE · CREW'S MESS •
Tali'Zorah walked around the corner of the support structure after leaving the elevator. Looking at the people sitting down or standing, some in conversations, some eating breakfast—day shifters—and some having dinner—night crew—she finally spotted the person she was looking for.
Joker sat at the forward of the pair of tables in the dining area. He liked to sit at the end, his back to the kitchen area, in order to have only a short distance to hobble—though his walking was continuing to improve—to grab food or coffee. He was working on a second cup after polishing off a short stack of pancakes, although he thought there might be something more in the mix than water, flour, powdered milk, dried eggs, butter and baking powder.
Tali came up beside him and said, "Joker, would you mind coming down to engineering with me? I need your input on how to configure a plasma injector I'm rebuilding."
Joker looked up at Tali and replied, "I'm no engineer, Tali, but sure, I'll come with you. Haven't actually been down there since … the Collectors. Probably ought to see the power plant every once in a while, just to make sure it's actually still there."
"My thinking exactly," she replied.
Upon draining the last of his coffee, Joker stood and turned to follow the willowy quarian back to the elevator. Once inside with the doors closed, Tali quickly moved to the control panel, there to stop the car between decks and lock it out against external overrides. "Tali, what are you? …"
"This will only take a few minutes, Flight Lieutenant," came the soft reply. Quickly setting the air scrubbers to maximum, she removed one of her gloves as she turned to face him. Placing a long fore-finger across his lips to stifle the protest, she used her other hand to unlatch and remove her facemask and helmet. "I believe you were complaining about your bad luck a few days ago? Something about my facemask?"
Joker felt his heart skip a beat. He had never seen a quarian unmasked, and Tali appeared to be even more beautiful than he ever could have imagined her. Medium length, raven black hair, highlighted with translucent magenta streaks, framed a pale, oval-shaped face with greenish-blue skin. Lush lips, corners slightly turned up in a nervous smile, sat invitingly under a pixyish nose dusted with a sprinkling of freckles. Glowing eyes, the color of pale, purple-white opals with hints of jeweled blue and green fire around vertically oriented irises, regarded him as she nervously waited for his reaction. After studying her features for several moments, he managed to croak out, "Damn, Tali. You. Are. Beautiful! Are all the females of your race so gorgeous, or are you the exception? Is there any hope the rest of your race will ever be able to shed their masks?"
Tali closed the distance between them; reaching behind him with her free hand, she pulled him in close, then reached up and kissed him. "So, like what you see?" she smirked, still holding on. "To answer your second question is … yes, at some point in a few years it may be possible for us to live on Rannoch without suits or masks. I cannot speak to your first question; I believe I am a rather average physical example of a quarian female."
Joker was quite taken aback by this turn of events. Recovering quickly, he wrapped his own arms tightly around her before she could back further away and returned her kiss, with interest. "Tali, I really hope you don't get sick from this experience. That one was for saving Traynor and me from that crazy-assed Prothean," Joker said. "And, if you are going to get sick anyway …" he trailed off, kissing her again with a bit more passion, reveling in the caress of her wonderfully sensuous lips as she just as passionately returned the kiss. Easing his arms out from behind her, he said softly, "That one was for me, just because. And if you're simply average looking … Tali, the males are going to be hard pressed to hang onto females on Rannoch!"
Tali responded by gently placing her ungloved hand on his cheek and looking into his eyes. Bringing her face forward again, she touched her forehead and nose to his and sighed, "It was my pleasure, you bosh'tet. And don't worry. With the scrubbers set so high in such a small compartment, I should be fine. Of course, you're perfectly welcome to check up on me in a day or two." With a wicked grin, something she must have learned from the commander, she pulled away and began replacing her helmet, mask and gloves. "By the way, your beard is a bit scratchy." Helmet and mask in place, she keyed the elevator controls to continue down to engineering. "Not unpleasant, mind you. Just … scratchy."
"Funny. EDI never complains." Joker simply couldn't resist hugging her again just before the doors opened. "That turian is one lucky guy, Tali," he whispered.
"He knows, Joker. He knows."
Samantha Traynor had finished her shower and was now dressed in her SDU … standard duty uniform. She was pleased to note the high collar of the jacket and epaulets mostly hid the bruising on her neck, which, thanks to Liara's biotic massage in the shower, the apparent depth of the bruising looked to be much less than it had an hour or so earlier.
She was feeling quite hungry by now, and wanted to have a full breakfast before she went on duty.
She didn't want to sit and eat alone, but was still a bit of a stranger to most of the people on the ship. As she rounded the corner on the starboard side of the elevator shaft, she noticed Joker following Tali out to the mid-deck passage on the other side; she also spotted Liara coming around the end of the kitchen partition outside her quarters, apparently to have her breakfast.
Traynor wanted to join the asari for breakfast, but thought it might prove a bit awkward after their shower. Bringing up her omnitool, she sent a text to Steve Cortez, "Had breakfast yet?"
She hadn't expected an immediate reply, but her omni quickly beeped in response. Pulling up the message, she read "Not yet."
She replied immediately with, "Join me? We can sit with Liara."
Steve answered, "Be right up."
That settled, she moved towards the kitchen area to see what might be available. Pancakes looked good. There was plenty of coffee, or what currently passed for coffee; the reserve stock had been totally depleted during the intervening weeks since hostilities ended. There was also several varieties of tea.
She placed three pancakes in a stack centered on a plate, grabbed syrup, utensils and a steaming mug of tea. Turning towards the tables, she moved to the closer of the two, setting her meal down in the space just vacated by Joker. As she sat down, Liara walked up with a mug of tea and a plate full of food. "May I join you, Specialist?"
"Please do," she replied, motioning to the space on her left. As Liara sat and began to eat, Cortez came around the corner. With a quick wave to Traynor, he headed to the kitchen area for coffee and oatmeal—not too bad, but no raisins; bringing his mug and bowl to the table, he took a seat across from Dr T'Soni. "Good morning ladies. How are you doing?"
"We're both fine, Lieutenant," Sam answered with a sidelong glance at Liara, who responded by nodding her head in Steve's direction.
They ate in silence for several minutes, until Cortez paused to take a long sip of liquid from his mug. Wrinkling his nose at the taste, he commented, "I will sure be happy when we get back to civilization … or whatever is left of it, even if it is in turian space." Taking another sip brought on another wrinkling of his nose. "There just has to be some real, honest-to-god non-dextro based coffee in that system." Thinking about where they were going, he added, "We may just have to loot some wrecked Alliance ships to find it."
"I expect all the wreckage, human and turian, will have been stripped for salvageable parts and supplies by the time we arrive, Lieutenant," Liara commented in a matter-of-fact tone. "Anything unusable will have been sent to a centralized location for extraction and reuse of raw materials. They'll need a planet like Korlus, although I would hope it wouldn't have the same crime problem."
Samantha added, "The turians lost a major portion of their fleets, both in defending their home system and in the assault on the Reapers in the Sol system."
"What's the status of repairs to the relays?"
"Intercepted communications confirm relay repairs in the Trebia system are progressing well," Liara responded. "Reapers are assisting with materials manufacturing, and will re-initialize the element zero core once the new containment rings have been reset in their bearings. Damage to the main arms was minimal, at least on this relay." Liara paused to take a sip of tea, then continued. "The humans were not as fortunate; the Charon relay suffered more extensive damage, possibly due to the fact it was the first relay to discharge. The arms were warped, bent and twisted away from each other the total length of the discharge end of the device. The entire relay will most likely need to be replaced."
Steve thought about this for a moment, then asked, "Are there any inactive relays that could be used for a replacement, or will an entire relay have to be built from scratch?
Sam responded for Liara. "Any inactive or dormant relays are tied by their programming to other relays, possibly even active ones not programmed to see their dormant mates. It would be problematic to relocate an existing relay … better to just start over."
Liara grinned at Sam's use of the word problematic. The only person she had ever known to use that word, to excess in some people's minds, was Dr Mordin Solus.
Steve changed the subject with a question. "Has anyone heard any news on the condition of our resident Prothean? Did whatsisname, Žiuk'Durmah, get tired of him and space him, or is he getting healed up so he can take another shot at one of us?"
"I think he would ultimately have died without some medical intervention, Steve. It's only been three days. I expect we would have heard something by now if things had gone badly. We'll need to wait a bit longer," responded Liara.
"I know Tali was hell-bent on killing him! You should have seen her on that platform, kneeling in front of Sam." Steve shook his head in amazement as he covered the specialist's right hand with his left. "Garrus commented that using his rifle would have been wasting a bullet. The impact of Tali's charged shotgun blast at that short range …" Looking at Sam, Cortez was surprised to see moisture in her eyes. "Hey, hey … there's no need for that. You made it. Everyone on this ship looks out for everyone else. You're no exception, Specialist."
"Thanks, Lieutenant," she replied in a shaky voice. "It's just … I've never had anyone attempt to throttle me like that. Tali got him off of me, yes," she looked at Liara at this point, "but Shepard was there as well. I heard her say my name as she was talking to Javik. Her voice …so full of sadness, regret."
"Shepard was all over the ship," Steve replied. "She was not going to let Javik's hatred for Reapers get any of us killed. She was also opposed to him, or any of us, entering Žiuk'Durmah's structure. Unfortunately, Javik forced everyone's hand."
"That reminds me, Liara," Traynor said. "I asked Shepard if we could move Javik's quarters to the starboard cargo compartment … get him away from the influence of Grunt's aggressive … residue? She didn't say yes, but she was not opposed to the idea, either. Would you be willing to assist with setup?"
"Of course. When are you going to work on this?"
"I have to coordinate with Major Alenko," she replied. "It's hoped we can have everything done by 1700 hours today."
Cortez added, "James and I will be available if there's any heavy lifting needed."
"Thanks, Steve. We'll be sure to page you."
Liara excused herself as she got up from the table. "I'm done eating … need to return to my info feeds. We'll can talk later."
"I have to get back to the hanger deck myself," replied Steve. "Nice talking with both of you. And Samantha, I'm glad you weren't more severely injured."
• DECK THREE · SERVER ROOM •
EDI handed a small pad with hand-written text to Major Alenko as she held her left hand up, revealing a spherical shaped device, glowing and pulsating in concentric rings of alternating red and purple. »this should allow Shepard to actually accompany us, should the need arise.«
»how does it work?« Alenko wanted to know.
EDI moved to the large board at the front of the compartment. She quickly wrote, »It is a drone control, similar to the one Kai Leng used on Thessia.« After Kaidan looked back at EDI, she spoke one word: "Observe."
Holding her hand palm outward in front of her, she activated the device. A spherical drone, about half the size of Glyph, appeared a half-meter in front of EDI. Touching two more controls on her palm device resulted in the drone projecting a ghost! Alenko gasped in surprise as Commander Shepard appeared, standing on the deck in front of him. Turning to look directly at him, she said, "Hello, Major. Surprised?"
The apparition in front of him looked exactly as he had last remembered seeing her in her battle dress uniform. "Alenko?" She was apparently waiting for an answer.
"Commander. It is such a surprise, seeing you here." Alenko was amazed. "EDI, how did you pull this off? It's an amazing facsimile!"
Shepard's projection answered for EDI, "Actually Major, it's not a facsimile at all. It's really me, right down to the freckles across my nose."
EDI continued, "The projection takes an enormous amount of processing power, Major, as you might imagine, but it really is Rachaél Shepard, as she exists in the computer core. It is obviously a holo-projection, just like that of the Illusive Man on Thessia when Kai Leng attempted to kill the ground team there."
"The power requirements mean I have to move with the drone." EDI approached Shepard's image, then walked right through it. "Her appearance really begins to degrade if we're separated by more than about fifteen meters, and I must be in the same room as the drone, or the image begins to pixelate and stutter. The drone projects the image, but my connection to Shepard in the computer extends into the control in my palm, and is the reason she can look right at you and address you so convincingly. She sees you through my eyes, assisted by the sensors built into the palm device and positional sensors in the projector. The audio comes from the projector, but since it is so close to the image, Shepard seems to be speaking."
Alenko was amazed. "What about obstacles in the compartment or room? Can she move around them?"
"As long as I am with her, yes," EDI responded. "She sees her environment through my eyes."
"Have you shown this to Liara? And, what's the effective range outside the ship?"
"Not yet. We wanted to make sure it would work correctly before we presented it to the rest of the crew, particularly Liara," EDI replied. "We have run a few late-night practice sessions in the hanger bay, with shipping crates and Vega's 'gym' for obstacles. The effective range would be nearly the same as my own, pre-Reaper tight-beam range from the Normandy, but as Shepard would be riding my carrier wave, available operational range is diminished; however, we do not foresee assaulting Cerberus strike teams or Reaper creatures. It will be sufficient."
"That's great, EDI. You should let Liara know as soon as possible, but … you may want to avoid springing it on her without some advance notice." Kaidan checked the time on his omnitool. "I have to meet with Specialist Traynor … something about relocating Javik's quarters to the starboard cargo compartment formerly occupied by Zaeed Massani."
"Actually, Traynor mentioned relocating Javik's quarters before she was released from Med Bay," Shepard said, turning to look at Kaidan as he moved towards the exit. "She believes he will calm down somewhat if he's not picking up all the aggressiveness of the krogan formerly domiciled in port cargo."
"Do you believe it will help, Shepard?" Kaidan massaged his temples as he looked at Shepard's projected image. "Javik has always considered himself above us, ever since you opened his pod on Eden Prime. I don't know if simply changing his environment will make any difference in his attitude."
"I honestly don't believe it could get any worse than it already is. We have the space, and Traynor is making an effort."
"Alright, I'll meet with Traynor. Moving everything may be an exercise in futility if Javik chooses to stay with this Reaper."
"Noted. Logging you out, Major," Shepard replied, as EDI terminated the projector drone.
"Time to visit the Shadow Broker, Commander," EDI said, as she followed Kaidan out of the server compartment.