Blood of Our Blood

The Yorktown pulled into the berth in the Citadel, and Shepard called for C-Sec who sent a squad to escort Henry Lawson to a holding cell. Garrus, Shepard, Ashley, and Riley all went with them. They had to know that he made it to the cell he richly deserved. Former Commander Bailey, now Executor Bailey, met them personally when they got to C-Sec headquarters.

"Shepard," he said with a smile, "glad to see you're still on top of things. How is it being back in the field?"

"Damn good, but once this mission is over, I'll be back in my office across the hall. We can get back to morning coffee and complaining about the rest of the stuffed shirts."

"Your mom will appreciate that," mused Bailey. "I don't think she like politics any more than you do."

"That's for sure."

"Ashley, Garrus, Riley." Bailey acknowledged the other Spectres. "Good to have you all here, but four Spectres and a special prisoner sounds like more work for me."

"Somebody's got to keep you out of trouble," said Garrus.

"Bailey," said Shepard emphatically, "make damn sure that he doesn't get away, die, or anything else. I questioned him at length on the trip back, and as near as I can tell, he's behind it all. Given that he's the type to save his own skin and throw someone else under the bus, I don't think he's covering for another Illusive Man. Seems more like he aspired to be one himself. I've already informed the council on this."

"We'll keep him secure for you, Shepard. You have my word. You shipping out again?"

"Potentially," said Shepard. "Can't give details, but if things are wrapped up with this guy being taken out of the picture, then this is ending a lot better than I'd expected it to."

"That'd be a nice change," said Ashley. Garrus and Riley nodded in agreement.

"Incidentally," said Shepard, "Miranda may want to interrogate him. If she does, I need to be here."

"Understood, Shepard."

With that, the four Spectres departed C-Sec.

N7

"He's what?" Miranda was shocked. "He can't be alive! I killed the bastard myself!"

"If I was convinced that it all ends with him," replied Shepard, "I would have done just that. But I can't leave that to chance, so he's alive and in a C-sec holding cell. We need to interrogate him before we ship out, and I want you there. You know more about him, his motives, and his tactics than anyone else."

"Thank you, Shepard." Miranda was still shaking. If Henry Lawson were the one controlling those spheres, then he had used her to inflict grievous harm upon her crew and to lay a trap for her friends. No, it was worse than that. He found a way to get the one thing she thought she had denied him: complete control of her mind and body. The thought sent shudders through her. Then Miranda became alarmed as a thought entered her mind.

"Shepard, what if he can take control of me somehow?"

"No sphere, no control," said Shepard bluntly. He was probably correct. Nevertheless, the thought scared the hell out of her. "I'm heading home with Ash to check in my daughter and sister in law. If you need me, if anything comes up in regards to this, you contact me immediately."

"I will, Shepard, I will." She hugged him tightly. "Thank you again."

N7

Shepard and Ashley returned home and were greeted by Jan, Sarah, and Bakara. "Daddy! Mommy!" Jan squealed with delight as her parents came through the front door. Shepard scooped her up and spun her around, then landed her in Ashley's hands, at which point Ashley spun her around before kissing her and putting her down.

"So Shepard, you've solved this and we can all breathe easy?" Bakara said it jokingly, but also with some hope that it was indeed over.

"Not quite, but I think it's closer to being solved than I had thought it would be."

Sarah actually did breathe a sigh of relief at that. She hugged Ashley. "Do you have a moment before shipping out, sis?"

"Sure thing. Let's go to the study."

Ashley and Sarah left the room while Shepard, Jan, and Bakara took their seats in the living room.

"I appreciate you keeping an eye on them, Bakara."

"It was my pleasure, Shepard. I'm just glad that the excitement has been limited to games and vids. Sarah and Jan are enjoyable company. You are blessed to have them."

"Yes, I am." Shepard pulled Jan close and hugged her as he said it. "So how is Wrex doing?"

"He's jealous that you're out 'knocking heads' while he's stuck at home," laughed Bakara. "But it's just as well. He's doing a fine job, and Tuchanka has flourished under his leadership. Ten years is a fairly short amount of time for a culture, but he's made a bigger impact on Krogan culture in that short time than any leader has in generations."

Shepard considered that with a Krogan natural life span of nearly a thousand years, 'generations' meant several millennia.

"Glad to hear it," he said. "Funny. When I first met Wrex, he had no interest in leading the Krogan. He was resigned to the idea that Krogan were mercs for hire and that the genophage was slowly killing his people. Now, he's leading a Krogan renaissance."

"As I said back on the Normandy, Wrex is a mutant." Bakara laughed again. "And you can still tell him I said that."

"How did mommy do?" Jan interrupted the small talk.

"Yes, I was curious to know as well," said Bakara.

"Well, her aim is as good as it ever was," he began. "She handled her rifle like she'd never put it down, and she was able to keep up with the rest of the squad. Her hand-to-hand combat was rusty, but she picked it back up without missing a beat. Now, the mission wasn't anywhere near the intensity of the missions we ran during the war, but all in all, she did fine. In fact, she saved a few lives."

Jan hugged her dad again, visibly happy to hear that her mom had done well on her first time back out. Shepard knew that Jan really did not understand the gravity of the missions that Spectres ran, but it did make her happy.

N7

"So Ash, did you do it?"

"Do what Sarah?"

Ashley and Sarah had no sooner sat down when Sarah hit her with the questions.

"Get it out of your system," explained Sarah. "Did you? And did you get that poison out of your system as well?"

Ashley paused before just shooting back. She sipped her coffee and considered her response, determined not to eat her feet again.

"Sarah, there were things lurking inside that I didn't think were there." She sipped her coffee again. Sarah waited patiently for Ashley to continue. "I talked with John about Cerberus. I just … back on Horizon, I just felt like seeing him on that mission with Garrus just … I don't know … just invalidated everything that I had done to overcome all of the crap that had been dumped on grandpa and dad." More coffee. "It made no sense, and I sent him a long, apologetic message afterward. Then all that came out again. It was weird." She paused again, but put down her coffee before continuing. "When John told me he'd been reactivated, that insecure part of me was afraid that if I couldn't accompany him on missions that he'd decide that he didn't need me anymore. Insane and irrational, but I made a life out of proving myself at every turn. I thought that part of me was gone, but I was wrong."

"Ashley," Sarah reassured her, leaning over and touching her shoulder, "you carried the weight of the Williams family honor on your shoulders. You spared our sisters and me that burden, but you've carried it too long. Time to put it down."

"Thanks, Sarah." Ashley felt herself tearing up. For the first time, she did not fight it. "Sarah, something happened on the mission. Something . . . wonderful." She wiped her eyes and continued. "Riley, the Spectre, kind of challenged me to a little hand to hand sparring. All the crew gathered around and people started taking bets. She was good. Damn good. And fast … Kai Leng fast … and I was so, so not ready to take her on. But I did, and I figured her out and did something crazy." She shook her head with a smile. "She'd gotten a hold of my hair, so I grabbed her head, pulled her close and I kissed her."

Sarah's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in a silent 'o' shape.

"Freaked her out," laughed Ashley. "She let go and I seized the moment and took her down."

"My God," gasped Sarah. "Prim, proper, and religious Ashley kissed a girl?"

"Yep. Right on the lips," confirmed Ashley. "Lip locked her right in front of the crew."

They giggled about it for a few moments, and then Ashley continued.

"Anyway, I heard John's voice say, 'Alright, half of you owe me over a hundred credits each. Never bet against a Shepard.' Damn, that felt good. He was there the whole time. He bet on me, never doubting my skills, never doubting the outcome. In that moment, it all just fell away. The need to prove myself, the insecurity about how he might feel if I weren't right there in the thick of it … just gone. Like a weight had been lifted."

"I'm glad to hear it, Ash," said Sarah, hugging her sister. "Now you and John get out there and finish this. Bring each other home for us, Ash."

"I will, Sarah. I promise."

N7

Shepard and Miranda entered the C-Sec holding cell and flanked the restrained Dr. Henry Lawson. Miranda glared at him, her anger and hatred of him barely contained. Shepard was his usual mask of military professionalism.

"What do the two of you want?" Dr. Lawson got right down to business. "Money? Favors? Information?"

"How about blood?" Miranda spat the words.

"Actually, it's information," declared Shepard. He figured he would be good cop this time around. "Cooperate and you'll be treated fairly. If you don't … well, let's just say that we don't have a lot of time and Miranda isn't very patient."

"Fairly?" Lawson shook his head. "You offered me that before and then when you got what you wanted, she blasted me through a window. No deal."

"Alright, I'm done playing good cop." Shepard undid the restraints that held Lawson in place.

"What … what are you doing?" Miranda looked at Shepard with wide eyes, not believing what she was seeing.

"Here," Shepard said, helping Lawson to his feet. As soon as Lawson was steady, Shepard struck him in the solar plexus hard enough to lift him off the ground and followed up with a kick to the side of his head, knocking Dr. Lawson to the floor.

"I prefer not to beat the tar out of helpless opponents. Not very sporting."

Lawson slowly pulled himself up, his ears ringing from the kick and his entire torso on fire from Shepard's punch.

"Of course I'm talking to a man who lured refugees to a supposed safe haven and murdered them in scientific experiments." Shepard's words were followed left hook that caught Lawson in the floating ribs on his right side. Miranda winced at the sickening crack of bone. The punch was followed up with Shepard's right forearm slamming into the left side of Lawson's face and Shepard slamming him into the wall.

"Tell me what I want to know, or I'll cut your balls off and sell them to a Krogan." As if to punctuate his words, the blade on his omni-tool flared to life. "And then I'll have your genes pulled apart and sold to geneticists firms for experiments."

Lawson was white as a sheet. "Alright, Councilor, alright! Please don't hit me again!"

Shepard grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him into the air, throwing him back onto the table where he had been previously restrained.

"Talk. Cerberus. How deep does it go? How far does it go? Are there more spheres? And who do you answer to?"

"Me," cried a terrified Lawson. "I answer to me! I had the financial resources and all of the data! I was the only one who could do it. You destroyed all of the spheres and you destroyed my lab. There's nothing more. You have to believe me!"

"No," replied Shepard calmly. "I don't … and neither does Miranda. Now, I need to know exactly how far your operation goes and exactly who is involved. And you will tell us if Leviathan is a part of this."

Doctor Lawson knew that as Spectres, Shepard and Miranda could eviscerate him in cold blood and in broad daylight in public and face no consequences. All they had to do is declare it necessary to galactic peace. After his actions on Horizon, the public would likely cheer them on. Time to come clean.

Amazingly, Miranda made it through the interrogation without killing him. Lawson laid it all out, how he had directed the staff at Gei Hinnom to set the trap for Miranda and Shepard, how he had implanted reaper tech in the staff on Dobrovolsky, and how he had tried to reconstruct Cerberus. He also revealed the location of a third lab where the spheres were produced on another world in the Hades Nexus. Alison's analysis of the data from Lawson's computers confirmed his story. Her analysis and Lawson's confession also revealed something else: the clone Shepard had fought during the reaper war was not the only one. He had tried to perfect his work with Miranda and Oriana by using Shepard's DNA to create a hybrid of Shepard and Miranda. This designer girl was intended to serve Lawson in the same capacity that Kai Leng had served the Illusive Man, and was likely the major resistance they would meet at Lawson's base. Unlike the Shepard and Miranda, data revealed that this one had a control chip.

N7

"A female Shepard?" Ashley shook her head. "How on earth … or off of it … did he do that?"

"The same way he made me," said Miranda. "Gene sequencing, DNA manipulation. And she's not a female Shepard anyway; she's an amalgam of Shepard and me."

The five Spectres sat in Shepard's study enjoying some of his Serrice ice brandy, and in Garrus' case, Turian brandy, and considering their next move. The base had to be taken down, no question. However, this genetic creation, a biotic, no less, could prove to be a problem.

"We find this thing and we destroy it," Ashley spat. "Our little girl is the only one who should have Shepard's DNA mixed with that of another woman."

"I offered my clone a chance to live at the end," Shepard countered. "And he hadn't been chipped. She deserves as much. She deserves to be free."

"Shepard, how can you say that?" Garrus shook his head as he asked.

"The same way that I said that all of the Geth didn't need to die," he replied. "I was brought back by Cerberus, by Miranda specifically. The Illusive man wanted me to be 'me' and not a drone. It was a decision that cost him in the end, but I'm glad he made it. This girl has done nothing to warrant her death. According to Lawson and to the data we've retrieved, she hasn't been deployed. Like Oriana, she's a tool, a means to his end of trying to secure a legacy."

"But John," objected Ashley, "What if she's got reaper tech?"

"Edi had reaper tech," he replied.

Riley held up her index finger as she quaffed her brandy to let them know she wanted to speak.

"Sorry," she said. "Good stuff, Shepard." She paused for a moment, enjoying the brandy as it went down. "Personally, I'm inclined to go with Shepard on this. He's made calls like this in the past and they've been the right call each and every time. I was wrong on Miranda, and who'd have thought eleven years ago that the Rachni would be helping us defeat the Reapers and become allies? I mean, she's just a girl, Ashley. She's made of the same stuff as Miranda … and your husband. Doesn't that make her family to Miranda and Shepard … and by extension, you? I say, let's bring her home."

"Can't argue that," Ashley conceded. "Alright, Skipper, I'm with you on this, whatever you decide."

"Anyone in that position needs to be rescued," said Miranda emphatically. "I rescued Ori, and I won't let my father do to another human being what he did to me. I can also deactivate the chip and remove it."

"So the galaxy will have three Shepards in Alliance uniforms," observed Garrus. "Can't say that that's a bad thing. Alright, Shepard, let's go get her."

"Alright people," Shepard said, "let's do this."

N7

Shepard ended up staying the night at home with his family. When the morning came, he and Ashley kissed Jan good bye and went to the Yorktown together, hand in hand. This is how it should have been when we set out, thought Ashley, glad that her foot had remained out of her mouth since the argument prior to heading out to investigate Gei Hinom. They boarded the ship and were greeted by crisp salutes, which Shepard returned. Once the ship was cleared for takeoff, Shepard called up the Galaxy map and plotted his course. The Yorktown gracefully pulled out of the Citadel and plunged into the cold, darkness of space.