"Shiva is this right?" I asked her, showing her the atlas as she did a scan.
It couldn't be, mom was back on Earth. That couldn't be her, could it?
I waited for a few moments as Shiva began scanning for information.
"According to the Citadel Estate Agency, Samantha Shepard has bought a small apartment in the Zakera Ward and is currently working as an assistant for Dr. Chloe Michel" Shiva informed me as we left the embassy lounge and headed towards a close by rapid-transit hub.
"Thanks for the info" I nodded at her as we entered the cab and flew towards the Upper Wards.
We remained silent during the ride; the only sound being Shiva beeping every now and then.
Eventually, the cab landed as we exited to see the entrance of the Med Clinic.
Wasting no time, we entered the clinic to see mom filing away some documents.
"Mom?" I called out to her as I walked towards her.
She turned around; immediately after seeing me she raised a grin.
"Lily!" she said happily as she closed the distance and brought me into a hug. I tensed under her touch, not expecting it. She pulled back, still wearing a smile.
"How have you been?" she asked as she walked to her desk to put down the files in her hand.
"Uh, good. Thanks for asking" I replied as she turned back to me.
"So, what can I do for you?" she asked, curiously, eyeing Shiva as she floated around the room.
"Well, not to sound rude, but…what are you doing here?" I asked her.
She replied with a laugh that I've never heard before, ever. Is this the same woman who raised me? Her laughter soon died down as she thought more about her reply.
"Well…when your father died and you left, I couldn't afford to keep the house anymore. I managed to sell it for a good sum of credits but I knew that I couldn't stay on Earth anymore…too many bad memories" she answered, her happiness slowly dissipating.
"I managed to afford a ticket off-world and onto the Citadel, but by then, I only had a handful of credits left and nowhere to go," she continued before looking down.
"I…I sent a message to the Normandy, to you and Jane, to…to see if you could help me" she said, shamefully.
I couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for her.
"I got a reply from the ship: it suggested an apartment that was being sold cheap because of its poor quality, but it also suggested the job opening at the clinic and, after about a week, I was able to fix up the place" she smiled, her happiness returning.
"Wait, I never received the message. Who replied to it?" I asked her, confused.
"It was Lieutenant Alenko, I believe his name was" she replied. Kaidan?!
"Really?" I asked, shocked.
"He was the one who came to help you at the bank, wasn't he? He is such a gentleman. You are very lucky to have a man like that by your side" she smiled at me.
"What do you…oh! Oh no, we're just friends" I told her.
"Really? But he looked…are you sure?" she asked. I rolled my eyes.
"Of course I'm sure" I shook my head at her.
"Oh, well. Never mind then" she smiled quickly at me. We stood awkwardly for a few moments before I started talking.
"So, what do you do here?" I asked her.
"Well, ironically, I'm a health consultant and assistant here. I help people who've had drug or alcohol addictions," she said, taking pride in her work.
"And a very good consultant at that" Michel's familiar face appeared from around the corner as she began sorted through different files. She looked at me before flashing a friendly smile.
"I haven't forgotten what you have done for me, Lieutenant. When I realized that Samantha was your mother and that she was having trouble, I felt it was the least I could," she explained as she stood next to her.
"Thanks, Doctor" I nodded at her as mum turned to face her.
"Michel, is it alright if I take a break? I need to talk to my daughter for a few minutes" she asked her as Michel nodded.
"Of course, just don't take too long. There are appointments to sort through, after all" she said as she sat down at the desk, beginning to type on the computer. Mother motioned to the door.
"I will remain here to assist Doctor Michel. I know enough not to intrude on 'family moments' " Shiva told me as she flew around the corner. The surprised yelp told me she noticed Shiva.
"Well," Mom said as she began to walk to the door.
"Shall we?" she said as we left the clinic together, leading me to a cab.
"What did you need to talk to me about?" I asked her.
She remained silent as we entered the cab. Mom took the wheel as we flew to what I assume is her apartment.
No sooner than when we entered the cab were we parking at an apartment block.
"Come on. This way" she said as we left the cab and entered the large building. I didn't know if it was just me but something felt troubling about this place.
We entered one of the few elevators that were working as it lifted us up to what felt like the top floor.
"You get an amazing view from up here" she told me as the elevator stopped, revealing a small empty space and a locked door. Quickly fishing out the key from her pocket, she unlocked the door, revealing a pure-white living room. Literally, everything was white: walls, carpet, sofa, kitchen and even the doors.
A window formed the entire wall at the back of the apartment, showing the view of the presidium ring, the illuminated citadel tower, and the ward arms reaching out past us.
"Colourful" I joked while walking towards the large window reaching from the floor to the ceiling, leaning against it as I gazed down below.
Hearing a noise, I turned to see mom searching the cupboards.
"Tea?" she asked.
"I'm alright thanks" I nodded, walking over and leaning against the kitchen counter.
She continued her search, looking for a teacup.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" I asked her, curiously. She seemed to falter in her searching before spotting a cup.
"I want to talk about your father," she said, grabbing the cup.
"Oh, mom…" I groaned, not wanting to talk about him.
"No you're going to listen to me" she said firmly, almost slamming the cup onto the counter.
I remained silent as I waited for her to continue.
It was only then that I got a good look at her: dark brown, neatly cut hair circled her face like a bowl of hair; dark green eyes stared defiantly at me, reminding me of Jane; her medical clothes were a grey-white colour and hugged her tightly like a second skin on top of her natural pasty white skin.
"I need to tell you this otherwise it will bug me for the rest of my life" she finally continued, turning to face me.
"I know how you feel about your father…" she began as I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms in the process.
"But he wasn't always like that" she finished. I looked at her, waiting for more. This I have to hear.
She sighed as she leaned on the counter opposite me.
"He used to be in the military, y'know," she said, immediately catching me off-guard. I stayed silent, patiently waiting.
"He was proud when he reached the rank of Lieutenant. Said he wanted to be just like his Grandfather," she continued.
"Grandfather was in the military?" I asked, continuing my surprise.
"He was one of the men who fought to protect Shanxi" she told me, stunning me.
"He was in the First Contact War? Why wasn't I told?" I asked her.
"I didn't want to tell you. I felt it may sour your views on the other races and we didn't want that. As harsh as your father was, even he respected the aliens" she explained.
"He served under General Williams. They were great friends and he was there when Shanxi had to be surrendered to the turians…he didn't want to give up since he lost so many friends to the turians… so he did a suicidal charge at the turian commander…he was shot dead before he even realized he was bleeding" she said sadly before shrugging.
"At least that's what the general said. Your father was greatly upset but was determined to make him proud. He enlisted into the military the first chance he got. He was usually assigned to different systems so I raised your sister on my own most of the time while carrying his second daughter for months on end" she continued, smiling weakly at me.
"But then why did he leave the military, and why did he turn into…him?" I asked her.
"Well it was more forceful than voluntarily," she said.
She stayed silent for a few seconds before slowly beginning to answer.
"He and his men…got a distress signal from a nearby planet. He immediately noticed it was close to a Thresher Maw's nest" she began. Oh…
"He tried to tell them to ignore it but…the commander wasn't having any of it. He said there job was to protect people. He didn't give up, saying they were all going to die if they did a rescue attempt…the commander glared at him and said if he wasn't prepared to die to help the people he wanted to protect, then he didn't deserve to wear his uniform" she continued before shaking her head.
"He still didn't give up. He yelled at him to turn the ship around and nearly forcibly took control. Eventually, it took most of his friends to hold him down as the commander organized a shuttle to the nearest station and suspended him from service" she finished before standing up from the counter and began to pace.
"You can imagine what happened next…he received the news a week later. He didn't stop blaming himself. He eventually was discharge from the military, being judged unfit for active duty. I tried to help him through this but he mostly ignored my attempts…inevitably, he drowned his sorrows in bottles, which made him even more upset, meaning he drank more and…well, you get the picture" she stopped in front of me.
"Eventually, he was so far gone that, when you were born, he just stopped caring about us" she said sadly as I stood unmoving, soaking it all in. Mom waited for a reaction but, receiving only a black face, she flashed a smile, as if forgetting the conversation completely.
"Why don't I make you a tea?" she said before turning to face the kettle. I shook myself out of my thoughts, declining the tea with a wave of my hand.
"No thanks, I…I need to go" I said before quickly heading to the door.
"Oh…ok" she said, watching me. As I opened the door, I heard her shout loudly behind me.
"Love you!" she yelled.
I was too lost in my thought to hear her, shutting the door quickly and entered the elevator.
Riding it down, the doors opened as I just about ran from the building and into the cab, quickly starting it and flying off.
I didn't know what to think: whether I should feel pity for the man or even more hatred for mother, trying to make the man seem honorable and guiltless.
I guess, if anything, I at least knew why he was the way he was. Better than blind resentment, I suppose.
I was so lost in my thoughts; I reached the Ward Markets in what seemed like only a minute.
Exiting the cab, I immediately headed straight to Flux. If there was anything my father taught me at a young age, it was drinking solves your problems as long as you keep drinking it. The years of alcohol have given me a krogan-like stomach: I'm able to drink with the best of them. How'd you think I'm able to drink Ryncol and still stay standing? Well, for a while…
"Hey" a gruff voice said in front of me.
I looked up to see Wrex walking out of Flux.
"Wrex" I nodded at him, knowing exactly what he wanted.
"Don't suppose you remember our deal?" he asked, standing in front of me.
"It may have crossed my mind" I smiled innocently.
"Well, turns out, there's a way to pay me back for Noveria" he said before looking behind me.
"Noticed you forgot your little helper," he said. I squeezed my eyelids in frustration. I knew I was forgetting something.
"Don't worry. Anyway, about the favor?" I questioned him.
"Right. Here's the thing: I've got some…unfinished business with my family" he started explaining.
"Like?" I pushed the topic.
"I made an oath to my father's father. I swore to recover my family's battle armor. It was taken from him after the uprising" he continued.
"So what? You're expecting me to lead an assault against the turian military for a piece of armour?" I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Now there's a thought" he chuckled before shaking his head.
"Unfortunately, no. The military used to have it, but now it's in the hands of a turian called Tonn Actus, a turian bastard who's made millions selling krogan relics to the highest bidder" he sneered.
"Ok, that I can do. So, where is he?"
"I've got the data and I'll send it to your nav. system." He finished before closing the space.
"And I want to be there when you get it" he stated before backing off and walking past me.
"Nice doing business with you" he shouted over his shoulder. I shook my head, smiling at the bounty hunter, before making my way into Flux. The sole desire for a drink growing every second.
Until distraction No. 2 arrives.
I looked around to see Kaidan and Garrus glaring at each other and what seems like Kaidan yelling at him. Figuring I won't have my drink in peace until it's ended, I sighed as I waked towards the pair.
"Nice to see you two getting along" I joked as I stood next to them.
"Actually, I was just leaving" Kaidan said before turning and pacing off.
"Kaidan" I yelled behind him trying to get his attention but he just waved me off.
I turned to Garrus to see his eyes still haven't left Kaidan disappearing form.
"What the hell was that about?" I asked him.
"Nothing, Shepard. Just a…minor disagreement" he finished, turning to me at last.
"Minor? Okay, now I know it's more than that" I crossed my arms at the turian. He never calls me Shepard unless he's really angry or deadly serious. Given his glaring form, I'm opting for the former.
"It doesn't matter. Besides, it's a problem you can't fix" he said, sounding like he wanted to drop it.
'I can always bug them about it later. Right now, focus on the mission', my brain told me.
"Well then," I said, leaning on the table next to us.
"Willing to buy a girl a drink?" I grinned flirtatiously at him. He chuckled before leading me to the bar.
"Depends on the woman" he replied smoothly before looking me up and down.
"Yep. I think you fit the bill" he waved his hand at the bartender as he began fixing up a couple of drinks.
"Glad I've earned your approval" I joked accepting the drink from the bartender.
I took a quick gulp of the drink before turning the Garrus.
"So, I didn't really give you a chance to vent about things. So, let's fix that" I said before leaning my side against the bar, hand folded over my stomach.
"Tell me about C-Sec" I asked him.
"C-Sec, huh?" he asked before shrugging.
"Not much to tell, except for a few missions" he replied dismissively.
"Anything interesting?" I continued.
"Well, there was the mission on Earth" he gave a turian smile in my direction before continuing.
"The only other mission really worth knowing is…a bit more disturbing," he explained, immediately catching my curiousity.
"Do tell" I made a gesture with my hand for him to continue.
He took a gulp from his drink before beginning.
"It was this Salarian geneticist I was sent to investigate" he began.
"I was tasked with black market trade on the Citadel. Most of it's harmless. Nothing I needed to pursue" he continued.
"But during my investigation, I noticed a particular increase in body parts. Organs, mostly" he explained. When he finished, I looked back at my drink before sighing and putting it on the table.
"Thanks, Garrus. You put me off my drink. You deserve a medal" I joked but stared sadly at the glass before turning back to Garrus.
"I told you it was disturbing" he defended before getting back to the story.
"Anyway, we usually get a few of those but this was off the charts. We weren't sure if it was a lab or a psycho harvesting body parts," he continued.
"Wait, this sort of thing is common?" I stared at him shocked.
"Usually labs selling unwanted parts. Occasionally, you get the psychos" he replied, leaving me speechless, mainly because I had no intention of finding out about the psychos.
"One of them was an elcor diplomat we caught in my first year. He hacked up his victims and sold their organs; had the whole station panicked" he added.
And of course he would tell me about the psychos…
"There was also this hanar-" he began but I quickly stopped him.
"Please, no more" I begged. The idea of hacking someone up…I can't even imagine. It makes me nauseous just thinking about it.
"Just, stay with the story?" I suggested, hopefully.
He rolled his eyes but I knew he said that on purpose. He always had a way of making me squirm.
"Anyway, we managed to get a sample of an organ and ran DNA tests. Weird thing: it matched a very much-alive turian who was pretty certain he hadn't lost a liver" he continued.
"Turns out he used to work briefly with Dr. Saleon, the geneticist" he finished before taking another gulp of his drink; finishing it off. Deciding to risk it, I tried taking a sip from my drink.
"So we searched his lab for evidence, but nothing turned up. No livers, stomachs…not even one krogan testicle" he said, making me try hard not to spit my drink out as I giggled immaturely.
"I knew that would make you laugh" he smirked before getting back to the story.
"Anyway, we began interrogating his employees, see if we could learn anything," he continued.
"And during one of them, the employee started to bleed profusely. We tried to patch him up but he began to panic" he explained
"What did you do?" I asked, becoming enthralled in the story.
"We eventually had to knock him out. I ordered a full exam on him, which discovered multiple incision marks all over is body. Most of them were fresh" he replied, immediately reminding me of Cerberus, the human-survivalist paramilitary organization.
You see, before we were assigned onto the Normandy as Anderson's crew, Kaidan and I were sent to investigate the disappearance of a rear admiral. We traced his movements to a remote Cerberus facility where we found his body strapped to 'medical' equipment with incision marks surrounding his forehead.
Ignoring my thoughts, I paid attention to Garrus's story.
"It was our break. We realized that he was cloning organs inside these people and later harvested them. They weren't employees, they were test subjects!" he told me.
Noticing movement in the corner of my eye, I turned to see the bartender shaking his head.
"I've never seen someone talk this much at a bar before…"he mumbled, catching Garrus's attention. He fell silent as I chuckled at his expression.
"He'll have another one" I asked the salarian bartender. He nodded at me before fixing a drink while I turned back to Garrus.
"Go on, then. I want to know what happened to him" I encouraged him as I passed the drink to his side.
"Well, if the bartender doesn't mind…" he stared at said man as he lifted his hands in defeat before beginning to serve the other customers.
He turned back to me as he began to continue the story.
"Anyway, the people were poor so he traded a percentage of the profit for their help but only if the organs were good" he explained.
"And if they weren't?" I dreaded the answer.
"He left them in there" he replied curtly.
"You two always talk about this sort of things in bars?" the salarian asked.
"Luckily, no" I answered him as we both turned to Garrus. Seemed his story caught his attention as well.
"The worst part was that, because he left them in there, their body completely changed internally; everything had to move to make space for the organ and the body didn't function properly when the organ had fully developed. They eventually died," he added.
"I hope he got what was coming to him," I thought aloud; the bartender nodded in agreement.
"That's the thing…we never caught him," he confessed.
"What?!" the salarian and I said instantaneously.
"Yep. He blew up his lab and ran with a few of his test subjects to the closest space port" he explained.
"Why couldn't you stop him?" the salarian asked.
"I only found out when he was just leaving. Threatened the lives of the test subjects if we stopped him" he replied.
"But you followed him, right?" I questioned him.
"I ordered them to fire but C-Sec overrode my command. They were worried about the hostages and fatalities if we blew it up this close to the Citadel" he answered, which I couldn't help but agree to. Still, I would've at least tracked him to see where he was going and finish him where it was safe.
"Do you have any idea where he is?" the bartender asked.
"I sent out agents now and then to check out suspicious people and I think I may have found him" he replied.
"A few days ago, I got a report from one of the scouts about a salarian called Dr. Heart and his ship, the MSV Fedele" he continued.
"If you want, I could ask Jane to see if we could check it out," I told him. I swear his eyes brightened at my words.
"I was hoping you'd say that. I'll upload the co-ordinates to the Normandy database. But, please, tell your sister to bring me if you're heading there. If it is Dr. Saleon, I want to be there" he asked as I noticed our friendly bartender go silent.
I turned to see him as a hint of worry flashed in his eyes.
"What ship was that again? He asked Garrus.
"The MSV Fedele" he answered. Worry returned to his eyes.
"My brother's working on that ship…" he said as his form slumped. Garrus and I exchanged uncomfortable glances as I awkwardly laid a hand on his shoulder.
"We'll keep an eye out for your brother while we're there, okay?" I tried to comfort him as he nodded.
"Thank you," he mumbled as the awkwardness settled. A few moments later, he sat up and returned to his normal state.
"Well, I better get back to work. Let me know if you find him" he said before returning to the other customers.
"…Wow, that was quick," I said in awe as the previously worried salarian returned to the task at hand without so much as a slumped posture.
"He is a salarian, remember? They're not exactly known as being emotional," he stated as his eyes went past me towards the door.
"Yeah, but you'd think it would've lasted a little longer" I argued as I noticed his attention was elsewhere.
"I think someone wants you," he told me as I turned to see Shiva floating by the door with a never-before-seen red light flashing from her 'face'.
"Well, I'll see you later, Garrus" I nodded as I left towards Shiva.
"What's wrong?" I asked her as I came closer to her. She floated closer before opening a compartment on her body, revealing a black hole.
"Shiva, what're you-OW!" I yelped as the stinging sensation travelled up and down my arm. She just zapped me!
"You left me in the med clinic" she stated as she floated next to my head.
"And that gives you the right to zap me?" I glared at her, rubbing my arm.
"Precisely" she replied as we left Flux and travelled down the stairs.
"Well, warn me next time, would ya?" I asked her as we headed towards the rapid transit before I noticed Kaidan leaning against the railing overlooking the ward arms.
I stared at him before turning to Shiva.
"Shiva, can you find my sister and tell her we've found the data required for the crew's loyalty?" I asked her.
"Very well, Lily" she replied, returning to her normal state as we began to hover towards the markets.
"If she wanted me to leave, she should've said so…" her mumbles followed her away.
When she left, I made a beeline towards Kaidan.
"Guess who?" I said as I walked next to him, leaning on the rail.
"I give up" he replied, giving a small smile before returning to his blank stare out into space.
"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked him.
"I'm sorry," he said. Well that was unexpected.
"Sorry about?" I asked.
"Everything…I don't know if you haven't noticed yet, but I've been a bit grouchy lately," he explained.
"A bit?" I joked, earning a chuckle.
"Yeah, well it turns out my implants have started to flare up lately" he told me.
"Really? Why?" I questioned him.
"Apparently, Dr. Chakwas said I've been under a lot of stress lately.
"About what?" I questioned him. He remained silent for a few moments before speaking.
"He's not good, Lily" he stated, catching me off guard.
"Who isn't?" I asked him.
"Garrus: he's not good" he stated, making me roll my eyes.
"Why do you hate him?" I sighed in agitation.
"I don't trust him. Look, I'll tell you why later. Now I just want to…. I just need to think," he mumbled, staring out at the arms.
We stood in comfortable silence next to each other.
"Do you remember when we met?" he asked me, out of the blue.
"You mean when we were training to be lieutenants?" I asked him.
"Yeah" he nodded.
"What about it?" I asked him as he sighed.
"…When I first saw you standing at attention as the officers inspected you, I said to myself 'She's special'. I'd never met you before in my life, and my brain was saying you were special" he explained, smiling slightly as if it was a joke.
"I'm a special woman" I grinned happily.
"I didn't understand it at first, but…thinking about it…I've realized why" he said, turning to face me. I watched him as I patiently waited for him to continue.
He pushed himself off the railing and turned to face me fully.
"You're different," he said, as if that was all he needed to say.
"Different?" I said, confused.
"You're beautiful, smart, charming as hell," he said, walking closer.
"And you're always there to help…no matter what" he said, lifting a hand as he cupped my cheek.
"You can find that in all women, Kaidan" I replied swiftly, weakly trying to pull away.
"I've only found it in one" he whispered. Wait, what is he-
He leaned in and, in one swift move, pulled me in for a kiss.