Chapter One Part Fourteen
Partners…
Liara sat on a stack of crates outside the shuttle she had commandeered from Captain Alenko. She wore a suit of armor with a silver sheen now instead of her usual lab coat outfit. On the right arm of the plate was a blue N7 emblem. She hadn't been through official N7 training, but after surviving the Reaper War Admiral Hackett had granted her the rank in salute to her service. The armor had arrived at the Normandy a few days later after the N7 acknowledgement. Generally she tended to feel immobile and clunky with the full suit on, but she had no idea what kind of firepower she and the Lieutenant would run into at the Hydra base so she had decided to play it safe. A small metal sphere sat in her left hand which she began to biotically lift out of her open palm. The metal surface of the ball glowed with the purple, blue energy as she channeled the element zero to suspend the gravity which would normally send the sphere hurtling to the ground. She let the power succeed and nimbly caught the ball between her two fingers before it could drop more than a few inches. She repeated the motions until on her fourth attempt metal, gloved fingers caught it for her. Jack stood to her left, holding onto the metal object and grinning smugly at her. His face always reminded her of her good friend, Theron… serious, strong, and sharp, but also genuinely cheerful and able to lighten a mood when necessary. Liara kept staring at the Lieutenant, whose face quickly became confused. His face quickly grew red.
"Sorry, couldn't resist… um, here's your ball back, Doctor."
Jack, clearly thinking he had upset her, quickly placed the ball back into her palm which was still lying open, face up. Liara realized that her expression had been plain and serious when she had been studying the young man's face and she immediately rushed to make amends as well.
"No, no, Lieutenant you didn't do anything wrong, you just caught me in one of my many moments of absorption in self thought, I'm not upset I promise."
Jack rubbed the back of his neck as he often did in uncomfortable situations. He was completely suited up and ready to go with his helmet tucked under his left arm. A true knight, straight out of the old human history texts Liara had read while touring Earth after the war.
"Well, Doctor whenever you're ready to go we can head out. The Captain just started his briefing of the rest of the crew for the Omega mission a few moments ago. I believe he is still the only one who knows about our mission away from the mission."
"You didn't tell your friends all about it? I'm so disappointed in you," Liara said mockingly.
Jack laughed, the nervous tension started to subside from his posture and face.
"They'll figure it out when we're not there on Omega I bet, no need to give them clues as to where we are haha."
Liara smirked and nodded her head to the shuttle.
"Know how to fly a Kodiak, Lieutenant?"
Jack's eyes widened at her question. He took a subconscious step backwards and accidentally bumped into another stack of crates similar to the ones Liara was sitting on. He fell on his behind and crates scattered everywhere. Liara broke into laughter.
"I'll fly then, but we're partners so you get to be my co-pilot today, sound fun?" Liara asked still giggling from Jack's spastic tumble with the crates.
Jack brushed himself off and put the crates back while answering her.
"I'm up for trying new things, but word of warning… never even got my license for driving a skycar."
Liara looked at Jack with her mouth wide open. Jack quickly answered the question he knew was coming.
"Straight into the Alliance out of High School… didn't need to drive or fly anywhere. Alliance took care of transportation, mostly."
Liara hopped off the crates and poked him in the middle of his chest piece. She winked at him.
"It'll be just like riding a bike…" she said as she turned to board the Alliance shuttle.
"Ha, I see what you did there!" Jack quipped sarcastically as he followed her aboard the shuttle. The doors hissed shut and the shuttle bay doors beneath the shuttle opened up. The clasps released their vessel and once they were clear of the Gabriel they exploded into the twinkling expanse.
As the Kodiak rocketed to their destination Liara figured she should fill the Lieutenant in on where they were going exactly. The man had been incredibly patient with the time it had taken to explain the data she had collected. Jack sat in his co-pilot's seat attempting to figure out what the various holographic interfaces did on the shuttle and how to pilot with them. His curious eyes found hers and he smiled.
"This is pretty cool," he said scrolling through the shuttle readings and maintenance demands.
"Far more things to do up front rather than in back… I know what you mean, Lieutenant."
Liara's hands glided over the console controls as she put the ship through its' proper paces. The ride was smooth so far.
"So, we are heading to an ex-Cerberus base on the planet Korar in the Fathar system."
Jack paused in his studies of the piloting interface.
"Ex-Cerberus? I thought we found the main Hydra base…" Jack looked to Liara with a look of confusion.
"Well, my sources say that there was mention of experiments with similar technology to the ones you described on Cascade being done at this secret Cerberus facility before and during the Reaper War. We think this is where Hydra got their sick ideas from… it may give us a hint of who Hydra really is and if we should be scared of more than just hive colony attacks."
Her partner had no response and instead sat there quietly processing the information Liara was giving him.
"This come from the Shadow Broker's sources?" he asked smirking at her.
"Where else, Lieutenant?" she replied smiling back at the man before increasing the throttle.
Eventually the shuttle broke through the borders of the Fathar system. Jack monitored radio traffic in the system, but besides satellite pings nothing else seemed to be anywhere near the planet they were going to land on.
"We're clear to descend, Doctor."
"You can call me Liara, Jack… I'd say you've earned it."
Jack laughed.
"Glad to be in your good graces."
Liara laughed, "You should be."
Jack went back to monitoring the shuttle's scanner. The scanner was still clear of any signals, both hostile and friendly.
The ex-Cerberus facility looked pretty worn down and reminded her of the mission she had been on to Sanctuary. Sanctuary had been a Reaper-overrun ghost town when Commander Shepard and she had found the remains of the sick Cerberus experiments with indoctrination. The base was definitely intended for science purposes. Liara could make out several lab structures within the compound from her elevated view. The shuttle circled the landing pad on the south entrance before finally settling down. Jack put his helmet on and Liara put on her rebreather mask. The atmosphere was breathable for both Humans and Asari, but to be safe about anything that might have leaked in the compound or other unknown anomalies she had decided to wear the clear air filter for breathing. Jack's helmet covered that purpose already so it was more-or-less a non-issue for him. The weather was fairly frigid on the temperature gauge. Lieutenant Kirk popped the door of the shuttle open and leapt out, sweeping the landing site for hostiles. He used a clearly modded Vindicator rifle, the same model that Garrus had used. Garrus, she thought to herself. The thought of her Turian friend warmed her a bit from the chilly air touching her uncovered face. She stepped down onto the landing pad cement and pulled out her pistol. The Black Carnifex glinted as the light from the solar system's star bounced off of the reflective surface. She biotically enveloped the pistol with dark energy, a talent she had first learned from one of the Asari soldiers on her many Prothean digs. It would do additional damage to shielding and the impact of her rounds would have an increased size as well, creating maximum trauma to organs and bones.
The two approached an entrance to the first compound labs. Liara went to work on getting the electronic door open. Everywhere around them were signs of large battles. Cerberus corpses and Reaper corpses as well littered the landing platform. Liara managed to cross a circuit which cued the door open. Within the entrance of the outer door was another, stronger looking door for added security of the facility. Liara knocked her knuckles against the thick steel frame. The door panged in response to her rapping her knuckles against it. It did not, however, open in front of her as she was hoping it would. Doors like this only spoke one language.
Jack looked at her.
"Is this why you asked me to bring some demolitions gear?"
Liara looked at Jack and nodded.
"Stand back, Liara… I brought plenty."
Liara watched him begin to set up the demo equipment at the door.
"I knew you wouldn't let me down, Jack."
Several wires later the door was ready to blow. Jack looked to her for approval.
"Do it," she said while she covered her ears and closed her eyes. Jack pressed down hard on the button. The door blew and smoke filled the small entrance space. They waited for the mess to clear up a bit before they headed into the dark interior of the lab. A little bit of light filtered through the opening Jack had created with the explosives, but that was the only source available. Liara turned on her flashlight attachment. The first thing Liara noticed about the complex was the stench of death which clung to the air. Several office desks lined the room in orderly rows. Data pads were still scattered on top of them as it looked like the scientists for Cerberus had been quickly evacuated when Reaper signals had been detected. Clear signs of battle littered several spots around the facility room they had entered. Liara tried to access one of the computers, but the power was completely gone, or off.
"Let's see if we can find something that can get power back to this facility," Liara told Jack who responded with a casual thumbs up.
Liara opened up her omnitool and pressed a button on the holographic interface. A three-dimensional map of the Cerberus compound spread out before her. She swiped the map to focus in on where the central power grid was located.
"Here, we need to get here so that we can power up the terminals and get some data on what went on down here."
Jack studied where Liara was pointing at the map. He looked at her and smiled.
"Your sources don't know what's going on down here?"
Liara rolled her eyes and gave Jack a look that said really?
"They're good, but not all knowing … otherwise the leader of the organization would be dead or locked away somewhere."
Jack raised his hands in mock surrender. Liara sighed before taking the lead in the trek towards the main power grid. Maneuvering through the dark rooms and corridors of the ex-Cerberus building was quite unsettling and creepy. Liara shivered as she continued to step over body after body, blood stain after blood stain. She came across a dead corpse with grotesque maggots performing their natural processes. Death no longer made her nauseous as it originally had on her first missions on the Normandy. It brought back the darker memories of Earth and everything she had lost that fateful night. She jumped when a metal hand planted itself on her shoulder. She quickly turned around to find Jack looking at her with a sympathetic look in his brilliant blue eyes. Even in the darkness they had a unique gleam the likes she hadn't seen before.
"Try to keep your mind on something you love, something that you enjoy… it helps," Jack said with a squeeze of her armored shoulder. He let go and walked ahead of her, usurping her role of leading the way.
Liara nodded to herself and attempted to think of something similar to what Jack had mentioned. The man was right, dwelling on the horrible days of the war only made her worked up and kept her mind off the task at hand. She of all people should know how to keep her mind in the right place at all times on an important mission. The memories ranged from her time on the Normandy to her many happy memories of childhood. They all had negative memories attached to them though. Her mother's indoctrination and subsequent death, the loss of her love, Commander Shepard, twice in very little succession. Suddenly she found her mind wandering to the touch of the man she was exploring the Cerberus base with. She thought of the night on the beach and how they had met so coincidentally… then swam together and truly enjoyed one another's company. Liara smiled to herself as she thought of that night on the beach in Dana Point. Jack continued to march ahead, his boots echoed through the absolute silence. She hadn't thought of it then, but the Lieutenant had definitely been the brightest light in her life since the darkest days of the Reaper War. She focused on that as she followed Jack through the dark, evil facility.
They made it to the power grid after a few more minutes of walking and began to search for the fuse box which would turn on the terminals throughout the facility. Liara managed to find it after a brief search which included Jack tripping on several electrical cables and almost running his helmeted head through the box itself. She rerouted power to all of the major systems until all that remained was to restart the main generator. Liara looked to Jack.
"You ready to uncover some dark, inhumane secrets, Jack?" she asked a thin smile on her face.
"Always ready for that, Liara, always…"
Liara pressed the button on her omnitool and light flooded the room as the power grid rebooted itself and the facility was revived.