A/N: Chapter 20! Almost 65,000 words! I wouldn't have thought it possible a year ago; yet, there's plenty to come still…
It's great to know that others are enjoying the story, too, so thanks to all you guys — and a special thanks to those who have taken the time to beta-read excerpts, leave reviews, send PMs, and/or comment on BSN. Both the support and the critique are always very helpful :)
Kasumi was practically vibrating with excitement. She had stridden back over to the Love Nest after biding enough time on the Hawking to avoid raising suspicion, and was currently contemplating the three rectangular bricks of hardware in front of her, willing them to reveal their secrets. She had already tried plugging the one labeled 'glyph 4' in, but the limited system Liara had created within her own systems was restricted to predefined hardware and external access. A few feeble attempts later Kasumi had resigned to having to wait for the asari; the other two would be, if anything, even more protected, and there was nothing that seemed of use in the databases or the offline versions of the various extranet information sources that the fleets hosted. She did find a few very funny cartoons and vid shows that various soldiers had created about the battle — many featuring Shepard and Liara, some even Garrus or other members of their team — and spent a good while looking them over while fastidiously staying away from the more serious content, journals, and memorials that most of the recent activity in the fleet's social cluster consisted of.
"I see you were successful! This is wonderful news," Liara said from the door when Kasumi turned toward her upon hearing the entryway slide open.
"I believe I shall have to postpone attempting to assemble them until later, however," the asari continued as she came up to the cot to unfasten her tunic. "Admiral Shepard promised to come visit in only a few hours, and I should get ready…"
"I'm glad the news from the Normandy wasn't all bad," Kasumi said, swinging around in the saddle chair she had come to quite like. "I'd like to come with you tomorrow, if you're going back?"
"Of course!" Liara exclaimed after laboriously extracting her crest from the collar of her undershirt before setting to rummaging in a small bag she had brought with her. "And since you are about to ask, yes, I believe you have earned the right to assist me in setting this equipment up later."
"Ha!" the thief cried triumphantly. "It's something awesome, isn't it?"
"It is. This reminds me…I have made arrangements for the suite three doors down to be made available for use by you and Jack unless there is a pressing need to admit more patients. You may come and go as you please, of course, but I believe it might feel crowded if we were to attempt to share the cot for several nights."
"That sounds fine, Li," Kasumi nodded, "I wont hold it against you that you don't like me and want to get rid of me."
"What? That's not true! …Oh, I see. Very amusing, Kasumi."
The thief was already grinning wide, but went ear to ear when Liara pulled out what looked unmistakably like gym clothes out of the little bag. "Not enough running for your life in the last days, doctor?"
"I…" Liara started, trying to figure out which way the bright orange gym shirt was supposed to go on, "Steve said there is a physical therapy room here and they had these available at the requisition office. I feel silly for not thinking of it myself. I quite took to the daily exercise on Normandy."
"I'm sure you did," Kasumi said, still grinning brightly.
"I did, I— Oh…hush." Liara admonished her kindly, violet creeping to her cheeks. "I was considering asking you to accompany me, but you insist on making fun of me, perhaps I shall do it alone!"
Trying to stifle a chortle, Kasumi made an earnest apology, and then decided to try a hunch. "I would be honored to accompany you, but I'm afraid I can't exercise with these injuries…"
Liara wandered toward the bed on the other side of the room, trying to maneuver her head through the correct hole in the sleeveless shirt without falling down. She leaned over Shepard to cup the woman's cheek, and then pulled up the little swiveled datapad before turning back toward Kasumi.
"That is not true, Kasumi. In fact, your doctor expressly ordered you to…" Liara started, trailing off as she noticed the sly look on the woman's face. "Yes, I know all kinds of things. I make it my business to."
"Still, it's pretty impressive that you can see the files…they weren't even from an Alliance doctor."
"I am an archeologist, Kasumi. I dig things up."
Bailey found himself strangely comforted by the sight of Aria T'Loak shouting at some poor underling for not having secured direct passage into the Ward proper for her; the ancient biotic was powerful and ruthless, but there was nothing that a sufficient number of bullets couldn't do. There was a definite charisma to her that was the real foundation of her sovereignty. He'd almost gotten used to having her around ignoring his every order; plus the woman ran a tight ship. There had been a marked reduction in unorganized crime – the kind that people noticed — since she'd gotten on board. He buzzed the entry guard to let the asari in and point her in his direction. It was a fifty-fifty shot that she'd just ignore him and go about her business, but he figured he might have established some kind of rapport and wasn't above leaning on it.
Life in Tayseri had mostly fallen right back into old patterns, even for him, sitting behind Keethem's old desk instead of a jail cell as he was. He should have known that rather than rightfully hold him responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands or more in the battle for the Citadel, the idiots with their big wigs would try to pin medals on him. They never got anything right.
Still, reflecting on the matter while eyeing the approaching pirate queen, the commander was starting to come to terms with his freedom. As much as he might have deserved to be court-martialed, this way was certainly much easier for Margit and the kids. He'd had to pull quite a few strings to get permission to have them extracted from the cabin in the Rockies that Joan — bless him for listening to his father once — had dragged his sister and mother to. Life on Tayseri wasn't going to be exactly glamorous when they got here, but by Bailey's reckoning it was going to get ugly planetside and he certainly didn't want to risk them getting hurt now that the worst was over.
"Bailey."
Aria didn't need much convincing about the benefits of a mutual understanding between her organization and the severely understaffed C-Sec; Bailey just hoped that the asari didn't consider herself doing him a favor…he'd never be done repaying it. As it was, though, she seemed to treat him almost as an equal…rudely, yes, but with some degree of respect mixed in. She didn't stay around for a chat after their business was concluded but, on the upside, he didn't think he'd ever get tired of watching Aria T'Loak walk away.
"Kolyat!" he hollered, reluctantly turning back to the mountains of paperwork on his HI. The population wasn't much different from what it had been before, but half of the Ward was destroyed and a good two thirds of everyone had injuries of some degree. Add to that the lack of a daily routine — though fortunately not food or water — and you had a mess of galactic proportions even without the goddamned politicians meddling with everything. Despite the entire Council being dead or gone, the bureaucrats were hard at work trying to re-establish themselves. Bailey bitterly wished they'd work as hard on actual issues for once.
Calling the enormous space a gym would have been a grave understatement if the same word covered the little cubbyhole that performed the same function in the Normandy. Kasumi wasn't quite sure if all the ships were similarly equipped, or if the Tiber was specifically purposed for rehabilitation, but the space covered three or four decks and by her quick count—something she'd had a knack for—there were five or six hundred soldiers, crew, and other personnel either amidst some therapeutic exercise, or merely there to keep themselves fit.
Liara had gone forth while Kasumi waited for the young man at the reception desk to retrieve her a set of clothing and changed, but the asari was not particularly hard to pick out of the human crowd, almost eye-achingly bright as her outfit was—although it did complement her blue quite well, which is more than Kasumi could say for her drab SA grey, which is what everyone else seemed to be wearing too. At least the little shirt had a hood on it that she could hide under.
Walking closer, she noticed a number of the soldiers nearby Liara were either staring at the asari openly or trying to cast surreptitious glances, and whispering with their neighbors. Liara, apparently stuck choosing between some kind of a skating simulator and an exercise bicycle, seemed oblivious to the quiet that was rapidly descending around the level they were on as well as the one above as more and more of the crowd took note. Finally, one woman braved the silence and called out to Liara by name, bringing the asari out of her rumination, head turning toward the speaker expecting to see a familiar face.
"Ooh, I knew it was you! Say hi to Shepard for me…I owe both of you a drink!" the woman said loudly, spurring an avalanche of cheers, thanks, and enough offers of rounds to last an entire asari lifetime. A few even approached the bewildered and perturbed Liara for handshakes or more personal greetings.
Liara seemed to have recomposed herself by the time Kasumi made it to her side. Clasping her hands in front of her, she looked up and around her before speaking in a quiet but carrying voice. "I… Thank you, everyone. I apologize, I was not expecting a welcome such as this. You are all equally deserving of credit, but I will ensure your greetings are delivered. Now, I should—"
"Alright, you lazy bums," Kasumi hollered to the room at large, with her brightest smile plastered on, "leave her alone and stop trying to avoid your exercise!"
There were quite a few jovial catcalls from around the room, and the thief was satisfied to see the crowds slowly turning back to their own activities without apparent offense. Liara was left standing awkwardly in the middle of the room where she'd been stopped, looking around herself as if she was uncertain whether she had permission to return to her activity.
"You better get used to it, m'lady," Kasumi whispered, stroking the asari's shoulder comfortingly, "it's only going to get worse. But for now, let's exercise…I don't think my mobility is quite there for skating, but I'll race you on the bikes? Handicap you one leg!"
"You…can race with these too?" Liara asked, eyeing the quite obviously stationary bicycles suspiciously but somewhat recovered from her surprise and trying very hard to ignore everyone else in the room.
"Sure!" Kasumi chirped, and walked over to the wall to enable the race simulation from the HI embedded in the wall in front of the bikes. "Do you want something traditional like the Alps or Pyrenees back on Earth, or would you prefer a more modern setting like the Bekenstein hill circuit? Nevermind, we're going to the Pyrenees!"
Clumsily mounting her bike, Kasumi waited for Liara to climb on hers to point out the interface for automatically adjusting the various distances on the cycle to fit the rider's measurements, and then switched on the projection that transported the duo to a gorgeous hillside road overlooking the city of Pau in what used to be southern France. She was glad to see that, at least momentarily, the asari's concerned, contemplative expression dissolved into a furtive smile as she took in the vista.
"Hey."
Jack had claimed the patient bed and was lying on it the wrong way around with her legs propped straight up on the wall, reading something off a datapad she had floating in a biotic grip above her face. This left her right hand free to bounce a ball off the wall, and the left one to hold an apple she was taking bites out of. Liara had presumably informed her of the sleeping arrangements, as she didn't even turn to look when Kasumi stepped in through the door.
"Hi!" Kasumi responded cheerily, riding high on the endorphins from the race she'd won—apparently the asari weren't naturally inclined toward endurance. Unloading her few possessions on what looked like an air mattress and felt much more comfortable than the hard cot Liara had, she looked around the room and noted with satisfaction that a reasonable HI setup had been brought in for her use. Leastwise, she didn't think Jack was terribly interested in such things.
"Where's your boyfriend?" Kasumi asked, peeling off her thin barefoot shoes and looking for her towel in the small gig bag she brought everywhere with her.
"Oh, shut up, or I'll…do something," Jack muttered with a vague wavy gesture of her hand and a smile reflecting off the datapad. "Soldier boy moved in with Steve. They're in one of these somewhere near here. The room number is…oh, fuck if I remember."
"You hungry? Call up the boys, we'll go get something to eat. Liara's meeting one half of the in-laws so she's not coming…and Miri's doing the doctor thing."
"Why the hell not," Jack replied, craning her neck to look at Kasumi, nose wrinkled. "You gotta shower first, though, you stink."
Steve was leaning his shoulder against the wall and speaking with a small group of soldiers who appeared to be in various stages of recovery, as the two women rounded the corner.
"Dumbass not coming, then?" Jack called out to the pilot, espying that the man had taken the opportunity to clean himself up and had actually found a clean and intact battle dress uniform somewhere.
Steve glanced over his shoulder and excused himself from the group before turning around to join the two in the direction of the officers' mess hall. "I thought he was with you?"
"Why the hell would you think— Oh, shut up, Kasumi," Jack admonished the tittering thief, and gave her an emphatic punch to the shoulder. "No, he's not with us."
"Hm, he said he was going to go find her," Steve explained, keying open the door with a traditional Officers' Club plaque on it. "Thought he meant you."
"Well, too bad, he can find his own— Fuck me," Jack growled as she heard a familiar voice bellowing something, with a very familiar slurred quality to it.
Steve dashed off toward the bar in the back corner at half run, with Jack close behind and Kasumi shuffling forward as fast as she dared with her hobbled leg.
"…your hand on me one more time, I'll court-martial your ass!" a young fleet captain was shouting at Vega and emphasizing his words by poking the marine's chest. The captain's retinue of officers was also bristling and gathering around their friend or boss, making a court-martial seem rather more like a plan B at the moment. Vega, unsteady as he was, was just about to push the man back when Steve grabbed him around the chest and somewhat successfully grappled the bigger marine's arms, trying to calm him down.
"No…fuck you!" Vega shouted, livid and struggling against Steve's grip. "You don't fucking get to say that and then hide behind your fucking rank—"
Jack stepped between the two men, pushing the captain back with one arm and jabbing at Vega with the other to try to get his attention with little success — he was dangerously close to getting an arm loose.
"Stand down, lieutenant! I'll say whatever I fucking please about that squid bitch, and you—"
The captain didn't get the chance to finish explaining his views before Jack, almost faster than even Kasumi could see, had a vivid purple flare around the hand that had just microseconds before been poking Vega's chest and then swung her whole body around with a trailing purple streak making a beautiful arc between the marine's chest and the location in space where the captain's jaw had been before Jack's strike dislocated it on both sides and shattered most of its left side into small bone shards.
Jack stood over the grotesquely mangled, unconscious man, now wholly wreathed in purple and with a feral sneer on her face, flanked by the hulking forms of both Steve and Vega whom the former had let go the instant the marine's rage was explained.
"Good thing there's a good hospital nearby. I think you gentlemen better leave before we airlock-martial every last one of you," Kasumi said solemnly as she stepped forward from behind the half-circle of now quite a bit less belligerent officers.