14: Morning Activities
Shepard awoke to find that Miranda was still cradled in his arm, something he hadn't really expected to see. The only reason he could think for this was that he had woken up early, before their usual six to eight hours of rest had expired.
He was in no real position to check his clock as he laid there, as all he could see was Miranda's dark black hair as she was nestled against his body. Judging by how peaceful she remained, she was still lost in slumber, and he didn't want to give any sudden movement to disturb that sleep.
He lifted his head slightly to see if he could read the clock's reflection of the off of any available reflective surface, but it was no use. He made a mental note to make sure he fixed this situation in the future.
Despite waking up early, he didn't feel tired at all, and looked forward to using the extra time to head down to the shuttle bay to check his equipment, maybe get in some reps on James' weights. Now came the tricky part.
Shepard lifted the sheets up to cover Miranda as he slid his arm off the top of her body, doing what he could to replace warmth with warmth. He slowly separated his body from hers, placing his pillow behind her back in order to provide a pale imitation of a structure for support.
Slipping out of bed in just his boxers, he was thankful for his lack of tidiness the other night, simply picking up his clothes and shoes as he headed for the cabin door, deciding to change in the elevator. He was able to glance at his clock finally, seeing that it had just passed five in the morning Normandy time.
Knowing where to walk in his cabin to avoid loud sounds and squeeks, the loudest sound during this time was the door opening, which almost signaled his defeat at sneaking away, but Miranda didn't move at all.
Taking his time to change as he put on his clothes, and after a quick stop off at the mess hall for a protein bar and water, Shepard made his way back to the elevator, surprised to see that Ashley was also heading down to the bay for a morning workout.
"Skipper." She nodded politely, some surprise at seeing the Captain so early in the morning.
"Ash, getting in some exercise too, I see."
"Old habits die hard and all that."
Stepping into the elevator, Shepard finished eating the protein bar in his hand, Ashley getting a look at his bandaged bicep.
"Heard from Vega and Tali about what you guys saw down there, Eden Prime just never gets a real break..." Ashley sighed a bit at that realization.
"I need to figure out a new way to engage them; if you get more than two of them coming at you they just detonate their biotics endlessly, and that's not even factoring in how they infect anyone they touch."
Stepping into the shuttle bay, Shepard continued as he allowed Ashley to step off first, "Eight of the best fighters in the galaxy made to look like fools, if Hackett saw that fighting he would have immediately stripped me of my promotion."
"How'd you fight them on Omega, then?"
"Distance, no civilians, my Mattock, the most powerful biotic around, and a turian who sacrificed herself to take out a few of them with explosives." Shepard didn't realize how depressing that sounded until it left his mouth. In many ways Nyreen was similar to Ashley, doing what she could to help those unable to help themselves.
"You're really dour in the morning, Skipper." Ashley said playfully, trying to get his mind off what he just said.
As they walked into the bay they could see there was very little activity going on, being caught in that moment of the day when the night crew was wrapping up their duties and the day shift had yet to really get into action. Outside of two crewmembers finishing up maintenance on the shuttles, the only other person around was Vega, who was passed out in his cot.
"Well, there goes the idea of getting in some reps." Shepard said dryly. He could make Vega get up to be able to access the bench press that also occupied his little corner of the bay, but he didn't want to deprive a fellow soldier of sleep, especially seeing as how he technically had another hour before getting up for duty.
"You're going soft, Skipper. Vega's used to it." Ashley kicked his bare foot, the Lieutenant waking up immediately, Shepard realizing Ashley must be his daily alarm clock.
"Morning, Blues. Oh hey, Loco. What brings you away from Curves so early in the morning?"
Curves, huh. I wonder if he'll let that slip out around Miranda.
"Figured I'd get in a workout since I'm up this morning, show you how it's done, Vega. 183."
Vega couldn't help but laugh at that number, Ashley wondering if the two had lost their minds.
"Blues, Loco here did 183 consecutive pull-ups, beat my record by fifty." That number drew a wide eyed response from Ashley as she picked up a few free weights.
"I knew you were exaggerating your 'record.' "
"Jeffe, I knew you wouldn't let me down," pointing at the pipe above him, Vega continued, "you can always increase your lead here, you know."
As he listened to his Lieutenant, Shepard had finished placing his weights on the bench press, settling on a light workout of 250 pounds. "Why don't you just spot me, Vega, before I decide to give this area to Grunt for your insubordination."
"Man, you really aren't a morning person, are you, Loco?" James did as his Captain ordered, spotting him as everyone began their morning workout.
"Out!"
"Don't give me that crap, Rodriguez, the ball was in bounds when Octavia made the shot!" Jack yelled at her student, this time coming from the heat of the biotiball game the students (and teacher) were participating in.
"Come on Jack, you know that was out, don't start complaining because you're losing."
"Jacob, you and your by-the-book bullshit is going to look so funny when you fall off your precious pedestal!"
"Oh come on now, it seems like you're just whining to whine." Jacob used his biotics to pull the ball from Rodriguez as everyone settled in for the game to restart, players getting in position, one of the students making sure the blown off hand of a Loki mech was back in its new position as a boundary marker.
Killing time for the students was rather easy while arriving alliance forces brought the necessary equipment needed to get the station up and running as an academy. They were, in many ways, just acting as a big moving vessel, transporting Citadel accommodations to their new home, a few technicians and hazard crews cleaning out the labs and bodies from the assault two days prior.
Watching the main hall from a server room on the third floor, Brynn smiled as she helped Liara and Kasumi continue to pull any data they can, everyone nursing mugs of soup to keep them satiated while punching the odd keystroke now and again.
Sitting back down, the former Cerberus researcher watched as Liara's eyes slowly glossed over, seemingly taking in everything that went past her face, but at the same time taking nothing in. She had been in a similar position during her own research many months ago, back when she believed in what Cerberus stood for.
"It's good to see the kids are still finding ways to keep busy, even amidst the potential problems this station might cause the rest of the galaxy."
"Youth is resilient, always has been. Think about all the stuff your kid is going to be able to bounce back from." Kasumi chimed in, letting her hacking program do its work while she checked up on extranet reports.
"That is something I'm looking forward to seeing," Brynn couldn't help but show her smile at the mention of her unborn child.
"So do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?"
"Not yet, I didn't really pay any mind to it while working on the Crucible, I didn't want to get my hopes up in case..."
"See, that is something Jacob should have been able to knock out of your head with all the time you spent with him. It should have been even more apparent when Shepard arrived to save you guys."
"It was pretty amazing to see the Captain in action, clearing the bays for shuttle launches while everyone else watched, expecting the worse." Brynn's eyes showed a reminiscent look, moments of pain creeping in before she blinked and turned her head away.
"He...he saved Jacob, and gave my child the opportunity to have a father in their life. It's something I'll always be grateful for."
"Shepard has that way of connecting his self to you, even when he doesn't realize it," Liara added to the conversation, the other two women surprised at the asari finally joining in, even if her voice had hints of regret laced within those words.
"I was wondering where you were, Liara. The lights were on, but nobody was home."
"It's just fascinating to see how Santelli was able to just have complete control over the station, yet still be so close to a colony that he could have infected at any time. Perhaps he really was thinking of humanity's interests with this adjutant serum, or maybe he was so far down the line of indoctrination..." She tapped her finger to her lips, wondering where she was going with this idea.
"Well whatever he was thinking of, it was over the second he sent that shuttle to Eden Prime. I've never felt so helpless. What's a thief to do when you can't touch the enemy?" Kasumi raised this question as she looked to the two with eyes of genuine confusion, neither being able to offer anything more than a comforting look.
"Agreed, there's no excuse for what occurred. It always amazes me how situations of galactic importance always seems to come down to one person these days, for good or ill."
"On that subject of one person, how is your book about Javik going?"
The asari had a light smile cross her lips. "It's been...interesting. I've had Glyph take recordings to transcribe, but Javik seems to not know what he wants to do next. He was a soldier, but he now has nothing truly worthwhile left to fight, and no real power to spread across the galaxy."
"The hanar do love him, maybe he'll go live on Kahje," Kasumi joked as she stood up to stretch her arms and legs.
"That certainly is one option he's expressed. While Shepard enjoys flying to the rescue of the galaxy with his crew, taking care of the smallest problems, Javik seems to only have an 'on' or 'off' setting. He's even contemplated suicide."
"That's appalling!" Brynn said, unable to process how someone could feel that way after everything the races did to ensure their survival.
"Yeah, going from ruling jellyfish to killing yourself, those are very extreme positions."
"I've had the idea of asking Wrex to take Javik in, give him something to do, keep others in line."
Listening to Liara's opinion on the situation, Brynn and Kasumi watched as the prothean entered the room, having done a check of the facility to check with his psychometry.
"T'Soni, hooded one, pregnant one," Javik greeted them all with his deep voice, watching as his eyes moved around while his head was focused on Liara.
"Hey four eyes, find anything interesting?" Kasumi joked, but Javik simply took her greeting for what it was, a truth. He did have four eyes, after all.
"What I was able to gather about these adjutants the Captain had fought, was that they originated in research lab 3, or at the very least were created there. There presence was like nothing I have felt from any other race."
"So they existed before the protheans rose to power..." Liara added, Javik nodding his head.
"Yes, and what they were seems borderline feral, not fit for being uplifted like your races. There is an...anger there that seems to come from a need to destroy, assert dominance." Javik smiled slightly, showing his pointed teeth, "A most fearsome and desirable enemy to fight."
"It seems like the only difference between him and Grunt is 200 kilograms," Kasumi quietly added.
"I can show you what I mean, human, if you feel you are up to the task."
"No thanks, I've got memories I want to keep fresh." Kasumi had destroyed the graybox as Keiji had wanted, Shepard siding with her dead lover to honor his request. She recovered some of the data but had made sure to always keep those timeless moments at the forefront of her mind, hoping that they would never disappear.
"Here, Javik, let me see what you mean," Liara held out her hand to the prothean, who took it between his two hands, Liara receiving the information without saying a thing. Compared to when Shepard was grabbed by Javik, there was no resistance or head turning, unable to keep up with the information that was being processed.
"Goddess, the anger, and the...the way the indoctrinated humans were just...empty inside." Liara held her hand to her head, feeling the rush of emotions catch up to her.
"I think I've got enough to send to Shepard now, if you'll excuse me." Liara quietly exited the room, leaving the three to stare at each other in a somewhat uncomfortable moment.
"Pregnant one, I have heard you do not know the gender of your child, if you'll allow me I can be of assistance. To have a son would be most desired thing among my people."
Kasumi watched as Brynn did her best to decline the offer without offending the alien. "I'll...let this pass, Javik. We want to keep it a surprise now. Thank you though."
After the workout, Shepard, Ashley, and James headed up to the mess hall to eat breakfast, the shift between day and night crews becoming official as crewmembers finished their morning meals to begin work.
"Loco, Blues, leave breakfast to me. Got to fuel the fire, keep us warm on Noveria." James rubbed his hands together as he walked away from the two towards the kitchen, casting the yeomen aside, for they were in the presence of a self proclaimed culinary master.
Sitting down at the back table, Ashley and Shepard took a seat next to Garrus and Tali, who were finishing up their meals.
"Shepard, Tali was telling me about those adjutants you faced yesterday..."
"Garrus, really, this early in the morning..." Tali attempted to cut Garrus off before he continued, sounding like she knew what he was going to say.
"Going by what you said about the adjutants on Omega, and what Tali said, I was thinking about this last night-"
"To yourself," Tali quickly interrupted.
"To myself, sure, but I was thinking of something like this to keep them occupied..." Garrus handed Shepard a piece of packing material that came off one of his newly arrived rifle scopes, lines and circles drawn everywhere, some things were scribbled out that indicated this was something the turian had worked on for a while.
Looking at it intently on the table, allowing Ashley to look at it on the other side, Shepard covered his mouth with his hand, studying it intently.
"Interesting, and I take these things are...?"
"Exactly." Garrus seemed to read his friend's mind, answering his question before it was fully asked.
"It has to work better than what we did before. And with only four people, it cuts back on bottling up and being easy targets."
Ashley had figured out what the plan was, and added her own opinion. "You are leaving one squad member to basically trust everyone else to do their jobs, they're kind of running light in this plan."
"I know, and I'll agree to handle that part, it will give you a chance to step back up to your old passion, LC." Shepard joked but nodded approvingly at Garrus' plan.
"You three are dorks." Tali dropped her finished protein shake bag on the table, hiding her helmet with her hands at the sight, three soldiers working out plans on scrap packaging instead of eating breakfast.
"Alright, alright," Shepard slid the plan back over to Garrus, trying to change the subject. "Did you have any trouble when we left the station, Garrus?"
"Just a few more soldiers, no Atlas'. We did the sterilization procedures you requested while waiting to hear from you guys, maybe they'll keep those in the rooms to scare the students into studying better."
"Jack probably would go along with it."
"Speaking of the 'psychotic biotic,' she's got those kids in good shape, although I'd say she needs to cut loose every now and then, otherwise she's going to go crazy."
"I can see that. If we run into more Cerberus I'll make sure to call her back up here, give her a vacation."
"Good morning, everyone." Miranda's appearance at the table was greeted by nods and smiles from the others as she sat to Shepard's left, the two sharing a silent smile.
"James, one more plate." Shepard loudly said, hoping the Lieutenant heard his voice. Between the wall that separated this section of the mess hall and the sounds of eggs in hot skillets, it was a fifty/fifty chance.
"Miranda! How are you? Do you have anything to talk about other than squad tactics this morning?" Beyond her increased enthusiasm, especially when dealing with a person who she only trusted because Sheaprd did, Tali was trying to make sure anything but Garrus' plans were brought up, the quarian making sure that the turian knew she was scowling at him behind the reflection of her helmet.
"I was actually wondering if I could have your opinion on something, Tali." Miranda tapped on her omnitool to transfer a list. "If you can run some of these ideas by the engineering crew, I'm wondering exactly what we need to keep in the war room and if any of the programs there can be diverted to other areas of the ship now that EDI isn't around."
"Hmm, just looking at some of these right now, I think we can salvage a lot of stuff. I doubt the fleets still have us patched in to their military info after the war, I know for sure the flotilla has restricted access..."
Flicking through the data in front of her, Tali attempted to turn to her left to nod to Miranda, but Shepard was in her way. After leaning forward and back a bit, Tali trying to see Miranda and Shepard genuinely trying to get out of the way to accommodate her but just couldn't get his timing right. Finally she used her hands to push Shepard forward and keep him pressed against the table, nodding to the XO. "Yes, Miranda, we can make that work."
"Whoa now, Sparks, I can't think the XO here likes you beating up her boy toy like that," James joked as he arrived with the breakfast, including another plate for Miranda.
"You guys are really making me think about getting a whole new crew..." Shepard said, his face still being pressed on the table. Finally Tali removed her hands, allowing James to slide a plate over to the Captain.
"Bah, I'm an admiral, I can pull rank." Tali then got up, finished with her meal. "I'm going to go check in with Adams and talk about your requests, Miranda. It will give us something to do while you're shooting everything in Noveria."
"Yeah, I'm going to head down as well, get the weapons checked out. Want me to inform Cortez about your changes?" Garrus asked.
"Go for it, Cortez should have everything needed."
As the two left, Ashley quietly commented as she tore into her huevos rancheros, "Is it me or has Tali's sarcasm gotten worse since she started dating Garrus?" Taking a bite of her breakfast she was impressed, giving James a thumbs up while she still held the silverware in her hand.
"I thought the same thing when I got back on the ship, Ash. I think she's even spending nights in the battery with Garrus." As Shepard scooped a forkful of food into his mouth, he was surprised how well the food tasted. "Man, it's been so long since I had a tortilla..."
Miranda had taken her time to cut her food properly, not shoveling it in like the rest of the humans at the table. Before she brought her fork to her mouth she replied, "I kind of like this new side of Tali, she's really taking on the world now, not hiding behind anyone else."
This answer made Shepard give her a smirk, realizing she was warming up to Tali because she was becoming more like herself. Miranda gave him a look of feigned innocence as she popped her forkful of breakfast into her mouth. Waiting a moment, she commented as well, "Excellent work, Lieutenant, this is balanced just right."
Vega dropped his fork and clapped his hands together as he let out a loud woot sound, making everyone in the vicinity look at him with an odd look. "Three for three, baby! I told ya I got the magic touch!"
2 hours later
"Listen up, team, here's what we know thanks to what the others have decrypted." Shepard had gathered everyone at the CIC, standing on the dais as they stood by the elevator.
"Santelli was working on this adjutant serum after Omega was recaptured by Aria. Instead of turning subjects into adjutants thanks to a controlled pod infusion, he was able to modify the serum to run purely on overriding the subject's DNA with the older species. It's a species even Javik doesn't know about, but he said he had felt a vicious aura in one of the research labs."
"Captain, Port Hanshan authorities are pulling the same crap they did three years ago, if you'd like to come up here and sort them out," Joker had announced, Shepard nodding to Miranda as he stepped down and headed to the cockpit.
Miranda pulled up a diagram of the adjutants they had faced on Eden Prime, taking over for the Captain.
"Because Santelli has essentially condensed the formula as opposed to a controlled modification of the subject through periodic inhalation in an incubator, the adjutants exist for only four to six hours before they burn up, using the host's body to fuel their sudden biotic abilities. If the host already has biotic power, this seems to double the timeframe before self destructing. This would likely be a key selling point on Noveria; you have violent, disposable shock troops that can replicate at the expense of your enemy and ultimately self destruct after a short amount of time."
"Cerberus finally got the shock troops they always wanted," Garrus sarcastically said, Miranda showing no signs of offense at what was spoken.
"We have reports from the Alliance that the STG has quietly increased their presence on the planet in the sake of protecting salarian space. The Noveria Development Corporation was accommodating during the war, providing R&D access to all military forces in an attempt to help out company home worlds, but since the war has ended they have denied legal entry to all but refugee ships. This seems to be purely a PR stunt, as any ship that docked was simply refueled, restocked and sent back into space."
"Which means Santelli must have slipped in on a ship or had someone else open a back door for him..."
"Exactly, Tali. From my time in Cerberus I knew they had a lease on one of the smaller peaks under a human medical front, New Dawn Pharmaceuticals, but were never able to get further into the NDC Executive Board. While I was on the run during the war nothing ever came up about any attempted takeover, perhaps because of STG influence."
"An extra hour of downtime to the person who can guess which peak Cerberus has interests in," Shepard announced, having returned from taking care of the docking matters. As he turned the corner to the group he stayed on the ground, giving Miranda a look as if to say he hated dealing with the planet's corporate bureaucracy.
"What, three?" Cortez asked, half-expecting to have his guess be waved away. In an odd role reversal of the superior officers, it was Miranda who responded to the answer with two taps to her nose, signaling it was the correct answer.
Ashley couldn't believe what she heard, uncrossing her arms as she threw them up the air, "You're kidding me, they actually did that? How damn arrogant!"
Miranda shook her head "The NDC didn't seem to care or investigate too much as long as they had, and still do, continue to pay their lease and caused no trouble. Add to it New Dawn is three companies removed from anything remotely traceable by the best intelligence various species can offer, it provided adequate cover for Cerberus research. Although anyone could do be a shining example of corporate responsibility after the Peak 15 debacle..."
"I'm confused, what am I missing here?" Tali asked.
James quietly answered, "In ancient human mythology, Cerberus was the three-headed guard dog of the underworld."
"Oh that's not fair! You have too many humans here!"
"Yeah, I don't like being seen as dumb either!" Grunt yelled out, his intent being just to yell while it was acceptable.
"Someone get the Admiral her protein bottle, she's being cranky." Everyone in attendance laughed at Shepard's joke, Tali punching his arm twice in a playful but forceful manner, cursing at him in quarian.
"Ok, ok, that's all for right now. We're going to be docking in ten minutes. Tali, make sure you've got all your hacking programs good to go. Grunt, Zaeed, Vega, you stay in the shuttle bay, get ready while we make sure we can get access to Peak Three in a more accommodating manner." The three nodded as they headed to the elevator, Zaeed pulling out a cigar, offering one to the other soldiers. Shepard saw that Grunt took one before the doors shut.
Ashley and I are the only ones allowed to maintain access to weapons, but we'll double up for you guys just to make sure you have a firearm. Armor up, everyone."
Javik is hard to write. It's one thing to have a renegade-type character while you have a war who is able to always be second guessing you, but adding post-war stuff to him, and on top of that he's not even human like Zaeed and you get tripped up a bit.