He was exhausted, and closed his eyes. Samara's power was definitely a force to be known. Shepard was about to pass out when he heard his name.
"Shepard? Are you alright?" A familiar voice spoke out to him. He barely had the air in his lungs to stay concious, much less speak.
"Please, get up Shepard." The voice sounded more worried. He reached out his hand to where the voice came from, and felt a hand grasp his. Lifting him up with surprising strength, he struggled to keep his footing. Opening his eyes, he saw Samara holding his shoulders, keeping him steady. Her face conveyed the panic she was experiencing; she did not wish an innocent to die for her cause.
"I'm okay...I'm ok-" But suddenly the blackness returned, and he collapsed to the ground.
Samara found his false bravado both admirable and childish at the same time. She used her biotics and lifted the unconcious human over her shoulders as gingerly as possible.
It wasn't a long walk back to Afterlife, and she found Garrus and the other human, Zaeed if she recalled correctly, standing by the entrance. When they saw her they sprinted over.
"What the hell happened?" Garrus exclaimed with a slight amount of anger.
"He is okay, he was knocked unconcious during the fight." She calmly replied. "Where do we go? I agree to aid your mission, as he faithfully assisted me with mine."
Garrus and Zaeed motioned her to follow them. The walk back to the Normandy was also short, and she saw the other two from earlier standing by an airlock.
"Is Shepard alright?" Tali exclaimed running up to the justicar; the other human was right behind her. Tali pulled out her omnitool and scanned him while Samara continued to walk towards the ship. "Keelah.. he's okay..."
Down in the clinic, Mordin was preparing to leave, but Daniel had one last thing to say. "Dr. Solus, you received a secure transmission from the salarian government shortly after you left. They asked me to give it to you as soon as possible." The assistant typed a few things into his omnitool and sent it to the professor. Mordin opened it and typed in his old STG passcode, which caused the rest of the message to open. It was short, but had dire implications. 'Dr. Solus, we have been informed of your current affiliations with Commander Shepard. Reports show your old student Maelon is currently on Tuchanka being forced to work on a cure for the genophage. We request that you inform him and investigate as soon as possible.' The message did not state how to fix the problem, but it was obvious why they would ask Shepard's assistance as well. The salarian read the message twice just to be certain, and sprinted out of the clinic. He had to inform the commander.
At nearly the same time, Aria saw the camera feeds; she knew Shepard wouldn't die from anything short of a supernovae. She forwarded the last known location of Vido Santiago to her old friend Zaeed, one of the few other humans she had actually enjoyed to work with.
After entering the ship, Samara followed Garrus to the med bay. Dr. Chakwas saw him being carried into the ship and had her facility ready within seconds. The asari gently put him down on the bed.
The two remained silent while Dr. Chakwas scanned his body, and with a more thorough medical eye, looked back up smiling. Garrus nodded and left. "He's fine, just needs a little bit of rest." She stuck out her hand towards the justicar, who shook it after a brief hesitation. "I'm doctor Chakwas, ma'am, I assume you're Samara?" After a nod, she continued, "If you'll allow me to scan you, I would prefer to have a healthy readout of all my possible patients for reference."
While she was scanning the asari, Shepard woke up. "Dr. Chakwas? Am I alright?" He sat up, albeit slowly.
"Oh you're awake, good. I was just scanning your new recruit. You're fine, just get some rest soon." The doctor replied smiling.
"Okay, do you mind if I have a minute with her, doc?" She nodded and left the room.
"Commander, thank you for your assistance. It would have been nearly impossible without your aid."
"It's fine Samara, thanks for saving me. She was as bad as you said, and then some. Will you be able to join me on my mission now?"
"The Collectors are a worthy opponent, but there is something I must do before I can serve with you to fulfill the Code." She stated.
Shepard was about to ask what else she could possibly want when she knelt down in front of him, her entire body glowing much as if covered with blue flames. "I swear an oath to you, Commander Shepard. During our missions, your word is my word, your actions are my actions. Until our mission is complete, I will serve you to my utmost ability." She stood up and added. "If you do anything unnecessarily dishonorable after my oath to you is complete, I may have to kill you."
He was shocked at the sudden turn of events, but was humbled nonetheless. "I'm honored Samara, I can tell this means a lot. And do not worry, I do not serve your code, but on my ship we do not harm innocents, we protect them. We will need you to accomplish this, and I'm proud to have you on board."
Pausing for a moment, Shepard continued, "I am sorry you had to kill your daughter..." he looked at the ground, unsure how to voice his sorrow at the irony.
She sat beside him and shook her head. "Do not pity me. I accepted my daughter's fate over four centuries ago, Commander. I do not regret what has happened, but she left me no choice. I had always been...proud...of her."
"I understand." He said without much conviction, and decided to change the subject. "I'm thinking of where to quarter you."
"I'd prefer an area to view the vastness of space, if possible." She requested.
"The Observation deck has an open view of space Commander." EDI interrupted popping up on the nearby terminal.
"Thanks EDI, that's an excellent suggestion." He looked back at Samara who was staring at the hologram. "EDI is the onboard AI. I know what you're thinking about the geth and genocide and all that rather unpleasant stuff, but she has proven herself a loyal member of the team."
"I see. I will trust your judgement on...her, Shepard. It is odd you have designated a synthetic a gender." She inquisitively suggested.
That's... true actually. Why do I call EDI a her? Hmm... "When I refer to 'it', I feel as though I'm refering to a piece of hardware. EDI is fully self-aware, and her body is the Normandy. And for the specific gender, most ships are called by a feminine designator."
"That is... odd, but logical. You must trust her for that sort of thought."
"I do. She's a valuable crew member, and has never let me down. Now, do you wish for me to show you to your quarters?"
"Yes if it isn't too much of a trouble. I wish to meditate on today's events."
Unknown to the two, EDI felt a data influx she could only describe as 'pride'. She was not just a piece of machinery to her commander. She was an actual sapient in his eyes. She would continue to serve him in any way possible. She would never let him down, as he stated himself.
After a rather short walk to her new quarters, she bid him farewell, and began her meditations. Shepard did not know it, but the justicar had already developed an important opinion of the commander. He trusted his crew, more than just as assets, but to their individualities. She was at peace, and it was all thanks to his help.
Shepard walked out of the room, and nearly ran into Zaeed who had just came up.
"Shepard, Aria just sent me the information on Vido. He's on a ship called the MSV Strontium Mule." The man said with a noticeable grin. He lifted the omnitool and showed the commander its current coordinates. "It's right here in the area Shepard, the Arinlarkan system!"
"EDI, mind telling Joker?"
"Already done, commander. Dr. Solus informed me he was on his way back to the ship."
Zaeed nodded. "I'll be down in my quarters." He hopped back in the elevator with Shepard down to deck four. Zaeed was not a religious man, but he did his own type of meditation. Now was his chance, Shepard had not only fought to get him once, but had helped him track him down again. The man knew how to do one thing, instill a true unity into his team, even with the odd group he had gathered. He wasn't going to fuck this one up this time. It was time for revenge.
Shepard decided to visit Grunt down in his post, the krogan had been a real asset to the team, and he wanted him to be in tip top shape. He found the young warrior pacing the deck, grumbling.
"Shepard."
"Grunt. How are you feeling now?" He asked.
"Angry, but different."
"What do you mean?"
"I just want to...graah!" He punched the wall, causing a small dent. "See? I can't control it. I just want to kill something, but I don't know what!"
"EDI, any information on what might be happening?"
"No commander. Dr. Solus has just arrived, and he may have more information. Should I ask him to come down?"
"Yes please, and thank you."
Grunt nodded and began pacing the deck. Less than a minute later, Mordin came by; he looked more worked up than normal.
"Mordin, any idea what's going on with Grunt?"
The salarian quickly activated his omnitool, and after a few moments looked up. "Nothing wrong with him. Enhanced hormone levels. Do not know of a 'cure' for the ailment, as the krogan are secular about their medical problems. Most information does not leave their homeworld."
"So we need to go to Tuchanka? That's fine." He looked at Grunt. "If you can hold out a little longer, we've got one mission to take first. You can come too, there'll be undoubtedly killing. Then we can make a stop there."
"Yes battlemaster. I could use a good fight first." Grunt said with a grin.
Mordin and Shepard exited the room, but the doctor added. "STG contacted me. Old acquaintance possibly in trouble, abducted by krogan. Wish to investigate. Is on Tuchanka as well."
"That works out great then, we'll get these two things sorted out as soon as we're done on this raid we have planned." The commander said happily. Two birds with one stone. The STG wouldn't ask for assistance for anything minor anyways.
Mordin did not often show excitement, but he was ecstatic at the quick acceptance. He hoped his old underling was not in any major trouble. A cure for the genophage at this moment could possibly destabilize the entire galaxy. Shepard would fight to protect this at any costs, hopefully.
The trip to the system took less than an hour, and he called the team to the debriefing room. He called up Grunt along with Miranda and Kasumi. He did not want his closest friends to see what may occur ahead. Zaeed was already armored up and ready as soon as the ship had left Omega's dock.
"Alright everyone, this is an infiltration mission. Kasumi will be our tech, us four will have one simple goal." He paused and looked around. "Search and destroy." This was much to the satisfaction of Grunt and Zaeed, and Miranda nodded in understanding. "This ship has the head of the Blue Suns onboard, and Cerberus sent us another packet detailing it had valuable cargo. After all hostiles are eliminated, we will secure the cargo."
EDI chimed in after his short speech. "Commander, we are a few minutes away. I have disabled their engines, and have access to only one hatch in their cargo bay. It will provide a suitable entryway for your team."
"Okay" He looked right at the mercenary. "We have him Zaeed, don't do anything stupid. Anyone else who sees Vido do not, I repeat, do not use lethal force. He is not our objective, he is his" He motioned at Zaeed. "But if he attempts to escape, feel free to shoot out his knees." The group prepared accordingly. Due to the close quarters, Grunt and Shepard reluctantly left their beam rifles on the Normandy. Everyone on this mission was equipping incindiery ammo except Kasumi with her normal disrupter ammo.
As soon as the Kodiak latched and they exited, they were met with eight troopers. Kasumi quickly tossed a flashbang, stunning the idiotically close group. Zaeed laughed and shot one's head clear off with his Mantis, while Miranda and Shepard slammed two into the ground. Grunt charged and killed the two nearest with close range Eviscerator shots; they were a pile of ashes in moments. Zaeed took down another in the chest this time, burting him into flames. By the time the last two regained their composure, they found out why the Locust killed two presidents, both Miranda and Kasumi slaughtered the duo.
Running forward into a small hallway, another group, this time of five, popped up. Miranda threw a warp at one, then rained hell burning him to bits, while Zaeed threw an incendiary grenade, killing three. Shepard took down the last one with his Revenant.
They noticed there was two stairwells, and he sent Miranda and Zaeed up one, while he and Kasumi went up the other. Miranda and Zaeed ran into three more Blue Suns in a room. There were dead noncombatants everywhere, disgusting both of them. Zaeed shot one at close range with his Mantis, and charged another with his knife, tackling and slitting his throat. Miranda slammed the other into the wall and shot him in the chest multiple times.
"Miranda and Zaeed here, rendesvous at your position, dead end here, out."
"Understood, no hostiles yet here."
At the second he switched off his coms, five troopers and one heavily shielded engineer popped up. Shepard and Grunt looked at each other and nodded. They charged the group head on, raining hell. Kasumi took down two of the troopers with her Locust from afar. Grunt punched the engineer right in the chest, his own shields survived the human's single shotgun burst. Unfortunately for the engineer, shields did not protect against brute force. His chest collapsed, and Grunt stomped on his face, killing him. Shepard had biotically pushed another, which crumpled in the same fashion, and mowed down the other two with his Revenant. They were both lucky, however, that Cerberus had provided resources ensuring their shields were as powerful as possible. Kasumi walked up to them and shook her head, but she actually had a grin.
"You know, you two are perfect shields. I never even get shot at!" She quipped.
"One shot and you'd fall dead anyways" Grunt retorted with a grin of his own.
Kasumi huffed in disapproval, while Shepard just laughed. "Gee thanks Grunt, I'll remember that next time I see ryncol up for grabs."
Grunt seemed deep in thought for a moment, but Zaeed and Miranda appeared before he could provide rebuttal. The group began walking to a door with two hallways on each side.
"Commander, all life signs are now situated in the room ahead. I am counting 12 human beings, two of them are extremely heavily shielded." EDI said through the com.
"More shields just means more shooting." Zaeed grumbled, Grunt agreed.
Over the ship's com, a person yelled. "I don't know who you are, but you think you can fuck with the head of the Blue Suns? Come in here and you're as good as dead!"
Zaeed's eyes changed from amusement to pure rage. "That's the son of a bitch!"
"Remember everyone, disable Vido." Shepard chimed.
"I have located the individual who spoke recently, and added his target to your omnitools." EDI interjected again.
When they got to the door, Shepard nodded at Kasumi. She typed away at her omnitool for a little longer than normal, but the door's indicator turned green once she got up.
When the door opened, Zaeed tossed an incendiary grenade opposite of Vido's indicator while Kasumi threw a flashbang right at it. The group hid behind the nearby over by the door.
The incendiary took out two quickly, and the flashbang disabled a group nearby. Shepard and Grunt mowed down four of them at close range. Miranda focused on one of the heavily shielded individuals, and overloaded the shields. A quick burst from her Locust impacted his skull, cooking his brain to a crisp. Zaeed had blown off one's torso from his hips with an accuratly placed round.
One of the heavily shielded personel was in fact Vido, but surprisingly, Zaeed kept his cool for now,and aimed another shot at a common trooper. His headless body slumped to the ground soon thereafter, while Zaeed took cover to reload. Grunt charged one and ripped his arm off, then beat him to death with it, while Kasumi and Shepard rained hell on the other. Only Vido was left.
Miranda quickly overloaded his shields and left the room. Kasumi knew this wouldn't be a pleasant scene either, and followed Miranda. Shepard and Grunt slowly walked towards the man.
"I surrender!" Vido screamed dropping his rifle and raising up his hands.
Grunt walked right up to the man and laughed, picked up the dropped rifle, and snapped it in half. When Zaeed popped out of cover, he glared right at the man.
Vido saw him and immediately tried to run away, but Shepard threw him against the wall. It wasn't hard enough to break any bones, however.
"Za...Zaeed, I can give you anything you want, anything!" The man pleaded from the ground as the mercenary slowly walked towards him. Grunt stepped back to prevent his escape, with Shepard right beside him.
Zaeed lifted his pistol, and aimed at the man's head. He had a grin on his face to rival any krogans. "I've got a better idea." He aimed towards Vido's genitalia and pulled the trigger.
The man's scream penetrated the air, only causing Grunt to laugh in amusement. Shepard walked away towards the women, satisfied the mission would be complete. Although none of the three wished to be directly involved in the torture, they were not too pleased with the sounds they heard.
Zaeed looked at the krogan eagerly behind him and motioned him over, pointing at the crying man's legs. Zaeed stomped on the man's arms, breaking them with his heavy boot. Grunt did the same with both of his legs.
The man was nearing the point of fainting from the pain, and both of them knew it. Zaeed looked at Grunt again.
"Grunt, if there's one thing I want you to learn, it's how to make sure the job's done." He pulled out an incendiary grenade. "Know how to cut a hole in a person?" He handed the young krogan a knife.
Grunt nodded in approval and stabbed the man's belly, carving out a small hole in his intestines. Zaeed activated the grenade and shoved it inside. The duo jogged away with grins on their faces. They met up with the other three outside the door.
The remains of Vido Santiago were no more than a pile of ashes and a few blood stains.
"You two done?" Shepard asked emotionless. Both nodded. "Vido was killed, no more needs to be elaborated upon to anyone outside this ship, including you EDI."
"You got it Shepard." Zaeed had a look on his face he had never had before, a true smile.
"Yes battlemaster." Grunt replied grinning.
"Understood commander." EDI responded.
They backtracked down the stairs and into a door which led to the engine compartment. They found a tall safebox near the control terminal, which Kasumi jogged towards. It took her a few seconds to open it, and what was inside was nothing more than a datapad.
"What's it say Kasumi?" Shepard asked.
"It's a contract... on Aria T'loak...for over 3 million credits" She stated.
The group left the ship and headed back to the Normandy.
The team departed, except Shepard called Zaeed over to his cabin. "We got a call to make to Omega."
Shepard typed into his omnitool, and the leader of asari responded, rather quickly actually. "Aria, we eliminated Vido, and found something else you may be interested in."
Zaeed lifted up the datapad and sent the information directly to the crime queen, who's face went from stoic to pure anger.
"Those bastards think they can pull a fucking contract on me?" She screamed, but regained her composure. "I appreciate the warning, if I find anything useful for your mission Shepard I'll send it immediately." She nodded and cut the link.
Aria T'loak was not an easy person to get along with. She glanced at the implant schematics, and thought about the data she had just received. She would never openly admit it, but she decided, then and there, Shepard would always have a safe haven on her asteroid as long as she was in charge.
Zaeed stuck out his hand afterwards, which Shepard shook. "You helped my ass out Shepard, something not many people would have done. My guns yours as long as ya need me."
"I might need it soon, next stop's Tuchanka." He retorted.
The mercenary nodded, but Shepard added one last thing. "I understand why you did that, but I don't want anymore of it."
"I got it. Good enough to take off their heads cleanly anyways" He tapped his Mantis and walked out.
Shepard descended the elevator with him to deck four, but headed to Tali and Aj. He always seemed to pick the strangest times to intrude.
"Why did the pervert cross the road?" Aj said unknowing of his captain behind him.
"Uh, I don't know?" Tali said hesitantly.
"Because he was stuck in the chicken!" Aj exclaimed laughing. He heard the scottish man snicker, but Gabby yelled out.
"That's disgusting!"
"Uh, what's a chicken?" Tali asked.
"A bird, you see..." Aj was interrupted by Shepard's throat clearing.
"Aj, what on earth are you trying to teach her?" He asked shaking his head.
All four of the engineers quickly turned around to see their commander raising an eyebrow at the interspecies couple in front of him.
"Oh, hey Shepard. Uh, well..."
"He's teaching her how he nearly got hit by a car" Ken jibbed, getting even Gabby to laugh.
Sighing, but with a weak smile, he said "I'm about to call Shala, do you have her address Tali?"
"Yes, one moment" She punched into her omnitool a few times.
Shepard called the Admiral then and there, which she answered within ten seconds. "Commander Shepard?" She said obviously nervous at why he would have to speak to her.
"Yes Admiral Raan, and no. Aj and Tali are perfectly fine, except your niece is in love with a moron." He said with a grin. "I called to tell you we just cleared a ship of mercenaries, and thought you'd want it for the fleet."
Shala immediately changed her demeanor with the new intel. "That I've known for a while, but yes, we would be very grateful for any resources."
"I'll send the coordinates immediately Admiral, sorry for the intrusion."
"Please, do not worry. And thank you for your gift, we appreciate you aiding the flotilla." She cut the link.
"The coordinates have been sent commander" EDI stated. She was becoming good at the new proactive approach. She noticed organics appreciated being assisted without being asked.
"Thank you Shepard!" Tali happily squeaked after the synthetic.
"Yeah, but now she'll expect me to bring back something useful besides my glorious smile." Aj added jokingly
"Bosh'tet! You'll try to bring her some turian ale!"
"Hey hey now, you're the one who got shitfaced drunk on the stuff, not me!"
Tali gasped blushing, but everyone else in the room howled with laughter at her expense.
"You got drunk Tali?" Shepard asked extremely amused.
Her face only acquired a deeper hue, so Aj decided to respond for her. "That she did, had to carry her back to her room on the Neema. You know how awkward that conversation was with her dad?"
"Oh keelah.." She whispered.
"Man Tali, trying to seduce a poor human." Shepard did not expect this sort of info on the 'innocent' quarian.
"Hey, he drank much more than me!" She defended.
"Well Shepard, she has a shotgun, so we might need to continue this lovely tale later" Aj added smirking.
"You're finally learning from Garrus, but I doubt you're getting off this one easy." Tali's evil laugh confirmed his suspicions.
"Save your ammo for now Tali, we're headed to Tuchanka next."