Chapter One Part Thirteen

Picking up the Pieces

The Gabriel drifted gently through space on its' way to the Cascade system's Mass Relay. Stars and planet's glittered across the brilliantly blackness around the Cruiser and reflected off of the metallic hull creating a beautiful reflection for anyone who could look out the viewing window. Jack, Liam, and Will sat in the recreation room where they passed the time between jumps with a good, long game of Poker. The three glanced at each other from above their hands. All of them were holding their cards close to their face to prevent any wandering eyes from seeing them. Jack looked down at his cards again. In his head he was grimacing with disgust, but on the outside he had on his best poker face. He looked at Will. A line of sweat caressed Will's forehead caused by the heat of the bright table light above them. Liam had a look just as stern as Jack's if not more so. Jack felt a chill run up his spine. He was getting tingles from this game. The bets were made, winner got to watch the other competitors choke down a Krogan Suicide. The Krogan Suicide was a swamp water beverage full of all sorts of mixed alcohols. Human's had a substantial ability to throw it up, but for a few hours before the dreaded upheaval, anyone who ingested the mystery concoction would become ridiculously drunk. Winner could join in the drinking if they wanted to, but they were not required to share in the suicide. The game was on.

The cards were laid down on the table and the results quickly followed.

"Damnit!" shouted Liam and Jack at the same time. Liam stared down at his hand and looked at Will's in disbelief. Jack covered his eyes with his hands and pulled them down his face in dejection. Will threw his feet up onto the table and grinned with devious anticipation.

"Time to pay up boys, I'll pour!" he exclaimed as he hopped out of his comfortable position and made his way to the bar. Jack had always wondered who had decided that a fully stocked bar was a good idea on a military vessel, but had always stopped griping once the alcohol hit his blood stream. Will poured the multi-colored liquids into the glasses and held them out to Jack and Liam who were now sat comfortably on the bar stools. The bar was a typical metal top bar with several fridges behind it full of any and all sorts of alcohol. No matter what race or species, getting drunk was getting drunk for just about everyone. The stools had blue Alliance cushions which shaped themselves perfectly to the person's behind. There was no greater comfort in the galaxy than a fitted bar stool and a shot of bourbon down the hatch. Technology was wonderful.

Jack grabbed his drink and raised his glass to Liam. Will stood behind the bar and grabbed a beer which he raised with the others.

"Another day another drink," said Will smiling.

"For new friends!" Jack shouted as he downed the contents. The stars quickly began to blend together and swirl into many different patterns. Jack put the glass down and enjoyed the sensations for as long as he could. The three talked about their experiences on Earth, where they came from and memories of loved ones. Jack and Liam became extremely emotional, one of the side effects of the Krogan Suicide. Then the world went black, as if someone had turned off their own personal soap opera. Many hours later Jack woke up next to a glass of water and a note. His pillow was drenched for some reason. This confused him because he knew he didn't drool that much in his sleep. The clock next to his bed read 9:00 AM, meaning he had slept through the night without dying. Only now he wish he had died and not had to deal with this new, far worse feeling. His head felt like it had a piece of ice was cracking inside of it. Every blink of an eye or movement of his body was a crunch to his brain. Jack winced as he reached for the note. The tips of his fingers managed to get ahold of the piece of paper. He squinted as he read the fine penmanship of none other than Dr. T'Soni. It read,

Found you and Sergeant Burmester fully clothed in the showers with cold water pouring down onto your heads. I brought you back to your beds and left you some pills near the water. They should help with the migraine. Hope the suicide was fun while it lasted.

Your Partner,

Liara

That explained the wet pillow, thought Jack as he rubbed his temples. He had a new sympathy for Captain Alenko. Jack once again reached out to his night stand, this time feeling around for the small purple pills which Liara had left next to the water. He managed to sit up a bit and choke down the water and pills. At first his stomach reacted with pangs of nausea, but the sensations quickly died down and within a few minutes Jack felt fresh and rejuvenated. Technology was absolutely wonderful. He changed clothes after a more conscious shower and walked out to the mess hall where he saw Commander Vega sitting alone enjoying a plate of scrambled eggs and sausage. Jack made a right turn and went to sit across from his Commander.

Vega looked up at Jack and smiled when he realized who it was.

"Kirk! Nice to see you awake and alert again after last night."

Jack chuckled and his face lit up a little in embarrassment. He still held the glass of water Liara had left for him and sipped from it a bit. The water felt so refreshing on his parched throat.

"I only drink on occasion, last night I just so happened to lose a bet… so that's how I wound up… where did you see me again?"

"Mostly crawling around on ground screaming how you were a Reaper and that you were going to maintain balance in the galaxy by blowing us all up."

Jack put his hand on the back of his neck and averted his gaze for a moment trying to think of something, anything to explain his episode. Nothing came to mind so he decided to change the subject and escape with what dignity he had left.

"So… how is our woman from Cascade doing?"

Vega's face quickly turned much more serious at the mention of the woman.

"She's recovering in a coma at the moment. Her life signs are returning to normal, but there's no telling what the devices they implanted in her are going to do to her mental health or memory. She still hasn't woken up yet." Jack nodded to himself processing what the Commander had said.

"Why didn't she die when I shot the Governor like the other colonists?"

Commander Vega took a big bite of his eggs before answering.

"From what the medical scans can tell when I clotheslined her she hit my forearm pretty damn hard… hard enough that I rattled whatever machine was controlling her. She went unconscious and the signal that was released when you killed the bastard Governor wasn't received by her."

Jack sipped his water a bit more before Vega continued that line of thought.

"Time will tell if what I did to her is a blessing or a curse, but at least she isn't shooting at Alliance soldiers anymore."

"I hope she's okay, sir…" a silence followed Jack's condolences. Jack's stomach growled. "I'll be right back Commander. I'm going to grab some breakfast of my own."

Jack began to stand up, but before he could Vega grabbed his arm.

He looked to see the Commander smiling at him.

"That was some fine marksmanship Lieutenant… keep it up." A smile crept onto Jack's lips.

"Thanks, Commander, I appreciate it."

Vega pointed to the cafeteria line.

"I made the eggs today so help yourself to as many as you want. They're damn good."

Jack helped himself and the Commander had not been lying. The Eggs were very, very good. Once he had finished breakfast Jack made his way to his bed once again and started his report. Jack lay on the bed and pulled up his omnitool. He started from the beginning talking about when they had first departed the shuttle and noted the lack of farmers tending to crops. It had been planting season, so that was completely abnormal for that time of the year. He wrote about the colonist attackers and the experience of having the Governor turn into a reaperesque monstrosity. He followed that bit with how the other colonists had reacted once their leader had been killed. He mentioned how it had seemed like a hive mentality similar to what he had read about the Collectors' combat strategy. The tech they had in their brains was definitely similar to what the Reapers had done with all of the races they encountered. Turn your enemy into your greatest weapon and you had the Reaper ground forces in a nutshell. Jack pushed the memories of the war out of his head and leaned back into the soft cushion of the pillow around his head. Without looking at the device on his wrist he saved the document, sent it to Commander Vega, and printed a copy onto a Barrack's data pad. The sound of the device chimed through the smaller living space and Jack went to collect it. On his way to the pad he passed Liam, who was still unconscious from the night before. The man slept peacefully as his body heaved slowly with each breath.

"Hope you sleep long enough that your head doesn't split open like mine, Sergeant."

Liam made no sign of response, but rather continued to lay there unmoved by Jack's recommendation. Jack grabbed his report and made his way to the Captain's Quarters. Kaidan's quarters were located at the top level of the ship. Most of the Alliance had a name for the CO's quarters up there. They tended to call it Mount Olympus, named after the Greek God's location of residence. Jack hound it amusing to picture Kaidan dressed as Zeus before quickly clearing his mind once more. A doorbell sat next to the door and Jack rang it. The door slid open and Kaidan's voice rang from further inside the quarters. As Jack stepped in he immediately noticed that Captain Alenko has his very own bathroom and shower. An office sat on the left side of the room and his sleeping section was placed on the far end across from the door on the right. Several photos of white, snow-capped mountains and beautifully pristine lakes hung from the walls. The place reminded Jack of a nice hotel room for one or two people. It made him miss his apartment in Dana Point.

"Hey, Lieutenant how are you feeling?" asked the Captain as he sat at his work desk typing on his holographic computer. He sat in a chair with a swivel which allowed him to rotate to face Jack after he had cleared some notes from the monitor. Did everyone see him drunk last night, Jack thought to himself in shame. The captain was wearing his Dress Blues.

"Meeting with the higher-ups, sir? Or are you just looking nice for me?" asked Jack hoping to get a laugh from his CO as well as avoid discussion about the night before. Kaidan chuckled a bit and put his fingers to his forehead in disbelief.

"I gotta get dressed up every once in a while, make sure I can still pull off the formal look, you know… make the ladies swoon." Captain Alenko looked up at Jack again smirking.

"So, is that your report in your hand, there Lieutenant or just something you wanted me to sign my autograph on?"

It was Jack's turn to laugh as he handed Kaidan his datapad. The captain scanned the data and turned back to his monitor where he transferred the files. He continued to talk to Jack with his back turned to him.

"Interesting, so the colonists acted like a swarming hive?"

Jack nodded initially until he realized that Alenko could not see him and said yes as well. Photos and notes crossed the captain's screen.

"When I killed the governor, sir, the other attackers were immediately neutralized… how they acted and attacked was vaguely familiar to Insect colonies, sir. When we attacked the center they became aggressive and angry, like we had attacked their hive."

"We'll have to be on the lookout then, great job, Lieutenant. I'm glad to have you aboard. Although it would seem as if Liara wants you off my ship as much as she wants you on it." Kaidan spun back to face Jack again.

"Well, she did say we had your approval, was she lying?"

Kaidan's lips were pursed.

"Not entirely… I was reluctant because I thought you would have a great ability to hunt down where this guy's base of operations was, but Liara showed me data that changed my mind."

Jack raised his eyebrow.

"What data, sir? If I might ask?"

"She thinks…" he cut himself off abruptly and looked around his quarters as if searching for someone who could be listening to their words.

He lowered his voice," she thinks that she has found another base, not for this guy, but a Hydra base… where it all started," he finished.

Jack stepped closer to Captain Alenko in shock.

"How did she find that out?" he asked his voice also lower than normal. He felt like a spy.

"You'll have to ask her next time you see her, Kirk… she's a shifty one… always holds on tightly to her secrets."

Jack immediately remembered what she had revealed to him earlier in the Debriefing Chamber.

"I'm the shadow broker." Her voice drifted through his mind again. That must be where she gets all these clues, he thought to himself. Kaidan noticed the expression on Jack's face.

"You okay, Kirk? Is the alcohol not sitting well?"

Jack smiled. "Sir, I'm alright, just seen a lot of crazy shit these past couple days…"

"Well, I know Vega is down in the fitness room blowing off steam right now… I'd recommend joining him… he'll get you back into physical peak condition and ready to fight a Krogan."

"I'll consider that, thanks Captain." Jack saluted Kaidan and turned to leave. Kaidan swiveled right back around and continued to type into the holographic keyboard. He sure reminded him of someone he knew not so long ago. A smile cracked Kaidan's lips.

Jack entered the fitness room to find James laying into a punching bag without a shirt on. Sweat dripped from his massive muscles and heaving body with each impact his fists made on the dangling sack of weight. When he noticed Jack, he immediately turned to welcome the Lieutenant with a firm handshake embrace.

"You ready to get some shape knocked back into you, Ligero?"

"Ligero?"

"Yeah, man it's Spanish for lightweight, haha.."

Jack shook his head, smiling.

"You're on Gordo."

"Hey, now that wasn't very nice," laughed James.

The two began to spar. James won through the sheer force of his grapples, but Jack managed to score a few hits due to his speed. Both of them were bleeding a bit by the end.

"Alright, Ligero, not such a pushover in hand to hand after all… well let's play with some toys to get some meat back on them bones.

Jack fell asleep that night completely immobile. James had ran him harder than any Alliance trainer ever had. Physically speaking, Jack could have used some more of those purple pills Liara had, but the pain was satisfying to him. The sense of accomplishment filled him with positivity. He was back in the saddle. Hydra better watch their ass he thought to himself as he drifted into sleep.