Chapter 13: It's Always Darkest before Dawn

Sorry this is late! I got sick this week and… Diablo III came out. Really it's just Diablo III's fault. Next chapter we won't be at BAaT anymore! Excited for moving forward.

Shepard had never seen Tiberus with an expression of pure surprise and confusion. It was almost as if he couldn't comprehend the words that had come out of her mouth.

After a few moments, the Turian collected himself, and was once more the calm, polished Lieutenant that she'd come to know. Jane explained exactly what happened during her Mission simulation, and she was entertained as she spoke: that expression overcame Tiberus' face a few more times.

In the end, he simply shook his head.

"Only you, Jane Shepard, could have taken a simple simulated mission and turn it into a disaster," His dual-toned voice was full of amusement and awe at her actions.

"Hey! If Conatix and the Alliance hadn't relegated so many tasks to ELIZA in the first place, this would have never happened. It was only a matter of time before she would have 'awakened' on her own. That would have been a lot worse for her to be alone in that situation," Shepard defended.

"And instead, she had the Mechs shoot you full of holes, oh yes, that was a much better situation," Tiberus argued, the memory of her bleeding and passed out nearly kicking in his protective instincts. This AI was what had harmed Shepard, and she wanted to ask it for help.

"Tiberus, she didn't understand what was happening at the time; there was no one here to explain to her what happened. I couldn't even explain to her what happened exactly. Plus, we're completely cut off from the extranet here, so we can't exactly look up 'over-tasked VI gone rogue AI', we can only work with what we have," Shepard had become angry, fully determined to have him see that Eliza was not a threat.

The AI took the pause in their conversation to speak, "Tiberus-Oraka, I have fully apologized to Jane. However, I understand the protocol with AI's, and how they are to be handled if the station ever encountered them. After looking over the data from her mission simulation, I failed to stay within the parameters of the program, harming Jane. If you feel that Jane-Shepard has made an error in her judgement in keeping me active, I fully recommend-"

"Eliza, this is not your fault!" Shepard cut her off. "I came here to ask you for help, not to alert the authorities on the ship of your awareness," Her eyes narrowed at Tiberus as she crossed her arms, "You are staying active, that is not up for discussion," Her stance dared the Turian to argue against her words. She wasn't surprised that Tiberus was acting this way, but she did expect him to trust her for the moment.

Tiberus took several steps towards her, his large figure looming over her, but she didn't budge from her spot. Blue meeting green, Tiberus whispered to her, a growl escaping the end of his words. "I will trust you for now Shepard, but we will talk about this later,"

Jane calmed when she realized that he wasn't going to make a big deal about the AI at the moment. She mouthed the words 'Thank you' and lifted her hand to brush her fingers over his mandible, and stood on her tip-toes to touch her forehead to his. Those small actions seemed to quiet Tiberus slightly, for which she was thankful. They'd agreed to work on one problem at a time, and at the moment it was dealing with a certain commander called Vyrnnus.

"Eliza, we came here for your help," Jane re-stated, slightly moving away from Tiberus, but only enough for their faces to be inches away from one another's. She was watching him to make sure that he was okay with her taking control for the moment, a large change from the norm.

"How can I be of assistance, Jane?" Eliza's smooth voice was without any accent or dialect, the only odd thing that was it sounded slightly mechanical.

"Are you able to access personal files within any part of the station?" Jane and Tiberus were locked in a subconscious staring contest, their eyes meeting, but their minds focused on the conversation and situation that lay before them. Her question had made Tiberus realize where this conversation was going to go, Jane had noticed something clicked in his eyes.

"I can gain access to any personal terminal within the station. However, personal files may be encrypted, I cannot guarantee access to those," Eliza replied with ease.

"I need you to find some video files within the personal terminal of Commander Vyrnnus. They should be from the Med-Bay surveillance camera, recorded within the last few days," Jane supplied.

The AI was silent for a few extra moments before speaking again, "I have tapped into the personal terminal of Commander-Vyrnnus. All of his files are encrypted, but I have found the video files that you speak of, there are two separates ones. I can decrypt these files if you wish,"

Jane gave a large sigh, but kept her gaze on Tiberus. He gave her an imperceptible nod, and she spoke again. "I need those files deleted off of his system, and wherever else they can be found on the station, including the data-logs for the Med-Bay, if that's possible, Eliza,"

Eliza was silent. Jane was standing with her right hand on Tiberus' mandible and her left hand hovering over his side, holding her breath. She could feel warm breath feather over her face as she stared at the blue-eyed Turian, his hands clenched into loose fists.

"Jane…" Eliza began, "I have deleted all data copies of the requested video files from both the data-logs and Commander-Vyrnnus' personal terminal," Collectively, Tiberus and Jane leaned into each other, their bodies relaxing.

Eliza continued speaking, "If it is of any aide to you, I have acquired the knowledge that Commander-Vyrnnus has taken data from a particular video that I deleted and hard-copied it a total of three times. Whether or not the data was written onto separate OSDs or onto a single OSD is unknowable,"

"Thank you, Eliza. We appreciate everything that you've done," It was Tiberus that spoke, Jane having sighed, thinking that nothing was ever that easy. His words gave Jane a pleasant surprise, and she nuzzled his jaw. Perhaps he would be more receptive to Eliza than she originally thought. A girl could hope.

"We have to leave before anyone finds out that we've been here, but I will see you soon," Jane spoke as she pulled away from Tiberus and headed towards the exit. He wondered exactly why would she be coming back soon to see the AI again, but he didn't ask. They would leave that for tomorrow.

They reached the elevator in silence. There was one more thing that Jane wanted to tell Tiberus, but she was unsure of how he would take it. As the doors closed to the MS Deck, Shepard turned to him.

"About seeing Eliza again…" She spoke softly, "I promised her that I would take her with me when I left the station, so that the officials here wouldn't know that she existed. It's my fault that she woke up anyway…" Her bright green eyes looked around the entire elevator but on him, not wanting to see his reaction.

"Jane… I'm not opposed to the AI existing… I was only worried about your safety, because Eliza is the one who nearly killed you. I know you have good intentions about this idea, but you have to be careful," His words were softer, and butterflies fluttered in her ribcage. He was worried about her. That would only make her departure that much harder.

"Well… It's a good thing that this kick-ass Turian taught me everything he knows," She smirked at him, slipping her hand in his, squeezing it lightly.

"Once you leave here, I won't be there to rush you to the Med-Bay whenever you decide to be incredibly stubborn and take on more than you can handle, which is all the time, by the way," His voice was still soft, but she could hear the humorous tone it'd taken on. They had already had the goodbye conversation, no need to repeat it and rehash feelings that were still too new and raw to rub again.

"I still need practice on working within a team…" Jane's eyes had a mischievous gleam in them as she talked. Leaning against him, she whispered huskily, "Would you be interested in a team building exercise tonight?"

Tiberus ran his hands down her sides, loving how she shivered under his talons. "If we can sneak into the MS Deck, getting to the observation deck should be no problem for us," He spoke softly into her hair, breathing the scent of earth into his lungs.

"I was hoping you'd say that," Jane purred.

Amber sat across from Jane, listening to her retelling of the night before. As soon as Amber had grabbed her food, Jane had waved her down, bright green eyes full of concern and worry. Amber didn't know how much trouble a person could get into within a day's time, but with Jane Shepard, it was apparently an endless amount.

Jane explained about Eliza, which Amber took exceptionally better than Tiberus had; only voicing concern about the possibility of the AI using Shepard to get off the station. After the Auburn-haired vanguard explained the situation with Vyrnnus, Amber added to the conversation, noting that he had been unusually angry the past few days. Apparently, after seeing the video, Vyrnnus had been sending a record-breaking amount of kids to the Med-Bay in critical condition. That weighed more on Jane's heart than she let on, feeling that the consequences of Vyrnnus' anger were something that she created.

Thinking back to after leaving the MS Deck, Jane's cheeks reddened. Tiberus had been much different last night. His movements were gentle as they joined, united on the deck's floor. Jane had felt her heart breaking as she realized that it was possible the last time she'd ever get the chance to be with him. Those thoughts had made his slow gestures mean that much more, as if he was trying to remember every moment with her before they had to leave one another.

He had been so careful with her, as if she had been made of glass. Neither of them had spoken a word during their time in the observation deck, having said their goodbyes with words. The silence was punctuated by the occasional moan or gasp from one of them.

At that moment, they were saying goodbye to one another's bodies.

Afterwards, they had lain still under the starry window, their bodies still pressed together. What seemed like hours later, Tiberus gave Jane one last kiss.

It was long, deep, and full of every emotion that he'd never voiced to her out loud. He left her before she could protest, and Jane had never felt so lonely. That night, Jane had dreamed of midnight leather and white-hot fires that touched her very soul.

Jane didn't tell her young companion any of this about Tiberus, keeping those private thoughts to herself. The emotions that came with those thoughts were something that she couldn't deal with at the moment. Jane wanted to cut those feelings out of her so they wouldn't hurt so much when she left. Amber could tell what she was thinking just by glancing at Jane's face, which was currently full of unspoken emotions that hurt Amber's own heart.

After explaining everything, Amber simply sat there, quiet for a few minutes.

Honey-hued irises settled on her companion's emerald stare, before speaking softly, "Jane, I trust you. I know that you have a plan, but you need to be careful,"

"I will be, Amber," Jane promised.

After leaving Amber, Jane was feeling anxious. Her stomach felt as if it was in knots that just grew tighter as the day neared its end. The afternoon training sessions were halfway over, and when those were over, Jane was sure that Vyrnnus would be revealing everything. And all she was doing was sitting in the Observation Deck, still trying to figure out what to do.

It wasn't her that Jane was worried about, it was Tiberus. Jane was talented and capable; there would always be a place for her among those in the Alliance Navy, even if she had to deal with people considering her a xenophiliac. She didn't care what people thought about her anyway, never had.

Tiberus, on the other hand, was another story. Jane knew that he was only at the beginning of his career, being only a few years older than her. Knowingly engaging in a relationship with a human wouldn't be good for him any way that you looked at it. Best case scenario: they re-assign him and he's ostracized within his own community. Worst case scenario: his colony disowns him and he is stripped of title and markings.

Jane cringed at the thought of any of those things happening, especially when they were so close to getting away with it. All she had to do was figure out some way to get into Vyrnnus' suite and find those OSDs.

A simple task when you put it that way.

She was pacing.

If she could somehow get into the crews' private quarters, she was sure that she could find the OSDs before anyone knew the wiser.

A few more steps until Jane nearly runs into the wall.

But she'd need an access card for that hall, and have to find out which room was Vyrnnus', before being able to search through his room.

Turn around.

She could use Tiberus' access card if she could get to him, but the afternoon classes were nearly over and the committee was already docked and on board the station.

More steps until Jane almost kissed the window, her eyes looking over the expansiveness of space.

The committee might already have the OSDs in their possession, Vyrnnus could have handed them over as soon as the committee had gotten there, handed them over during lunch.

Her hands clenched into tight fists, and banged them against the window loudly. Thankfully, not another soul inhabited the observation deck at the time. If there had been anyone else there, they would have quickly fled the room.

More pacing.

She could just hack into the holo-pad access for that wing; it can't be much more difficult than her own room. That would save her a lot of time.

Jane's thoughts were broken by a large amount of commotion outside the room; the hallway was full of people, all rushing towards the students' mess hall. She was surprised that she hadn't heard the sounds before; she must've been deep in thought. A familiar form was amongst the people moving in the hallways, but this form was going against the grain of movement.

Amber had pushed her way through a large crowd of the station's crewmembers and students alike, nearly falling to her knees when the doors opened, reaching the open space of the observation deck. Jane saw the wide-eyed, scared expression on her face, but willed her heart to calm.

Amber pushes a few blond locks out of her eyes before taking a step towards Jane, and managed to gather enough breath before saying, "It's General Vyrnnus,"

Jane's heart dropped to her stomach in seconds. There was only one fathomable reason that Amber could be rushing to get her about a certain Turian Commander that knew a certain something about her and another certain Turian instructor.

A cold sweat had broken out along her spine.

How I adore cliff-hangers. Let me know what you think is going to happen in a review!