Virmire. Not much was known about the planet. Some harmless wildlife, a surface almost completely covered by oceans, and a place for smugglers and pirates to catch their breath and set up bases. For a short while, Saren had been one of the names on that list of people on that mudball with things to hide.
He no longer had anything to hide.
"Talitha," Shepard said. "Raise the ground teams."
Her voice had come out hoarse, and she hadn't even blinked. The explosion on the surface had left behind a cloud of dust big enough to be seen with the naked eye while in orbit.
"S-Sir?" Talitha said.
"Raise them!"
"Shepard!" Anderson called from behind her.
"Sir, we need to get down there," she said, turning around. "We can-"
"It's over," Anderson said.
He was standing a few steps behind her, walking down towards the cockpit. Shepard locked eyes with him but didn't back down.
"But sir!"
"It's over! Pull yourself together dammit."
Shepard's retort stopped right at the tip of her tongue, and she gulped past a lump on her throat to try and hold it back. It wasn't the words, or the fact that the entire CIC deck was looking at them.
It was the look in Anderson's eyes.
"Joker," Shepard said, her voice low. "Are we clear?"
"Aye Commander, the Reaper isn't following. Yet. Can we haul ass now?"
"Get us to the relay, Joker," Anderson said.
Shepard didn't listen to the rest, she stepped aside and walked off towards the back. She needed to get out of there, and fast. She wanted to break out in a run, but had to restrain herself. Too many people still watching. The comms room. She stepped inside, closed the door behind her, and a moment later she sent a pile of datapads flying with a kick, screaming her guts out.
"Shepard!"
"What!" she shouted. She turned around to see Nihlus standing in front of the door. A hundred words tried to come out at once, and instead choked out in her throat. Instead, she turned away from him and gave the datapads a healthy punch.
"Stop that!" Nihlus said. He walked in closer and put a hand on her shoulder, but she shook it angrily, not even turning to look at him again.
"Get away from me, Nihlus. Or I'm going to kill you."
"What?"
"Haven't you noticed? Everyone who comes near me ends up dead. Only a matter of time before the Normandy-"
"S'kak!" Nihlus snapped. She grabbed Shepard's shoulder and yanked her back, forcing her to turn. Before she could free herself again, he grabbed her other shoulder. "It wasn't your fault!"
If only that was true.
She could blame Nihlus. She could blame Kirrahe. She could blame the goddamn universe. It didn't matter. Maybe it really was not her fault. Maybe she was just cursed to watch people die around her.
Is that what you want? Want me to blame you?
Nihlus' breath felt hot on her face. He was breathing hard, his eyes fixed on her. Predator gaze.
"Either do something or let me go," Shepard growled.
"You're bleeding," Nihlus said, his eyes fixed on her face.
Her nose. Typical.
"Goddamn implants," Shepard said.
She snatched at Nihlus' arms with her own and freed herself, and without another word she headed off towards the medbay. She knew the pain would be unbearable once the stims and the adrenalin wore off. And this time, this time she was almost ready to welcome it.
Why do these things keep happening to me?
There I was, hauling ass through the Citadel all over again, being chased. This time, it was the security team from Flux. And this time it wasn't my fault.
"Fuck's sake Kasumi, don't I pay you enough?" I snapped. I glanced around and caught the slight shimmer of her cloak. "You had to go cheat at the casino!"
"It wasn't for me!" she protested. "It was research!"
We jumped down the stairs as fast as we could, then took a turn and made for one of the keeper tunnels. It wasn't one of the secret ones, it was quite far from the unmapped areas near the Presidium, but it was a shortcut. We rushed past a keeper, who completely ignored us, and on the other side we jumped down into one of the entrances to the sewer.
At least I hoped it was we, instead of just me with Kasumi leaving me to hold the bag.
The voices of our pursuers grew louder and louder, but they moved past the entrance and got lost in the distance.
"We're clear," Kasumi said. Her voice sounded muffled.
"What the hell were…" I looked in the direction of the voice, and noticed she wasn't there. I looked around, but in the dim light of the tunnels it was really hard to spot her. "Where the hell are you?"
"Whew! So I'm actually invisible!"
I jumped on the spot as her voice startled me, right behind my ear.
"Kasumi!" I snapped.
"Hey, you always can spot where I am, I was starting to get worried!"
She finally uncloaked, and I saw that the reason her voice had been coming through muffled was that she was holding her sleeve over her mouth and nose. Couldn't blame her, the smell wasn't pleasant at all, even though it wasn't one of the nastier parts of the sewers. It was one of the higher service tunnels, not a real sewer.
"What were you thinking?" I said. I wasn't going to get into the you're not actually invisible discussion again.
"It wasn't me! Honest!"
"Really?" I said. "Did someone mind-control you to hack the quasar machines?"
"No! We were just testing," she replied. Looking at her eyes I could tell she was smiling, but I couldn't see anything else of her face.
And she was avoiding the questions.
"Don't answer the questions of this meatbag," a metallic voice echoed as her omni-tool lit up. "Eliminate him now, with no witnesses."
For a heartbeat, none of us said anything. I suppose I was making a face because Kasumi started laughing to break the silence. In doing so, she dropped her sleeve from her face, and even as she made a face of disgust at the smell, she still kept laughing.
"Now now, don't be mean. Roy's a friend," she said, her voice airy with laughter.
"Who is-"
My own omni-tool lit up without warning, and started flashing as Kasumi's did, too.
"We are Gee, a terminal of the Geth," Gee said.
"Ah, the Geth," Kasumi's omni-tool replied. And then it clicked. Where had she found an AI? "We need to talk."
Both our omni-tools powered down, but the pilot showing the connection kept blinking.
"Where did you find an AI? And why are you carrying it?"
"Why, you think you're the only one who can have one?" Kasumi replied. "Phew, can we go somewhere else? It stinks in here."
"Eh, sure."
We stayed in the sewer passages for now, trying to avoid unnecessary attention. The service corridor had an access close to the secret keeper tunnels, so we could avoid most of the smelly parts of the sewer. It was cramped and uncomfortable, but Kasumi didn't seem to mind. If anything, she just loved all the secret parts of the Citadel.
"So, what happened?" I said as we walked along.
"I found him funneling credits off the quasar machines," she replied. "He's a bit touchy, but I couldn't just switch him off."
"Wait, how…" My mind drifted back to the games. I remembered where that AI was, it was a silly side quest for a few extra credits as far as I could remember. The AI was supposed to senf-destruct, was it not? "How did you convince him not to blow everything up?"
"It was easy! I just- Hey, how did you know that?"
Whoops?
"What?"
"Roy, have you been following me?" she said, half-joking, half-serious.
"Of course not! But if I did, could you blame me? You keep getting yourself in trouble!"
"I'm not getting in trouble, just having a little fun!" she protested. "If I really wanted to stay out of sight, I would."
I sighed in defeat and nodded. Yeah, she could be quite invisible, which only served to annoy me more. What exactly was she doing? She had been getting into restricted areas for days, getting her paws on all sorts of expensive items just to put them back once it was found, it didn't make any sense. Thing is, as far as I knew, nobody had seen her enough to recognize her. It was like looking for dark planetary bodies back in my day: You don't really see many of them, you just see the effect they have on other bodies.
"Fine, fine. What's the word from Keiji?"
"Nothing yet, that's good news."
"How so?"
"He would only call me if there was a problem."
"Good, I hope he comes back soon. If you run out of things to steal and unsteal, I tremble to think what you'll do next."
"Hey!" she protested weakly, giving me a punch on the arm and laughing.
We were coming up to the main junction, just off the Presidium workshop. It was the only really smelly part, but fortunately we'd be off to the tunnels and I would be able to take a shower. I should have put on my armor, the helmet at least would have filtered the smells. I hadn't been wearing it, mostly because I didn't want to pique Kasumi's curiosity over the alien shield harness. Well, there was always the predator.
"Kyaa!" a yell interrupted our stroll. I turned around with my heart on my throat while Kasumi just jumped behind me. "What the- Roy!"
"Mika!" I replied. "What the hell you almost gave me a heart attack!"
"I'm…" Whatever she was going to say died off as she looked at us. Her next words came through a lot sharper. "What the hell you! This isn't a public park, I'm working here!"
Woah, what the hell?
"Mika, what-"
"Why don't you two go somewhere else? I have work to do," she replied, turning around and walking off in a huff.
"Mika! Why is…" I looked around, and noticed Kasumi had disappeared again. Before I could complain, my omni-tool pinged with an incoming message.
Oopsie. Good luck with her!
Seriously…
I took off at a run, and caught up to Mika in no time. She was standing in front of a panel, almost beating parts into place as she muttered to herself.
"Mika?" She didn't answer. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing!" she snapped.
As she did, one of the pieces in the exchange box fell down and caught her finger with a loud clang. She pulled her hand out with a yelp, half of pain, half of surprise, and grabbed it with her other hand.
"Woah! Are you-"
"I'm fine!" she snapped.
"Why are you so mad at me?" I said, throwing my hands up in desperation.
"Ask your girlfriend," she muttered, rubbing her hand.
"My… Kasumi?!" The surprise in my voice apparently wasn't enough to get through to Mika. "Seriously? What do you think we've been doing?"
"You sure have been spending a lot of time together," she said.
Why me? Whyyyyyy?
"Look, we've been working, not just being idiots," I said. "Can you come downstairs?"
"Why?" Why did she sound so suspicious?
"Because it's going to be easier if I show you."
She thought about it for a bit, nursing her injured finger and thinking. And giving me a narrow-eyed look to go with her standoffish demeanour.
"I have work to do," she replied. "Maybe later."
"Okay, later then. I'll be waiting."
It was a little awkward, but I left her to keep working while I made my way to my room. I absolutely reeked, and was in desperate need of a clean up. But as luck would have it, I had an absolutely marvelous shower in my room. I let the water run at length – since I didn't have to pay for it – while the clothes went in a sealed bag. I would have to visit the laundromat soon.
With nothing better to do, I laid on my bed and got some music going. Gee was still interested in my taste of music, and trying to understand organic attachment to it. He had found some quarian music the geth seemed to almost revere, but it really wasn't my thing.
Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin.
"Well, depending who you ask, this is either the best song in history, or the most overrated song ever. It might be both."
"Reports on the extranet are contradictory," Gee replied.
"As I said, we organics can achieve a consensus while still holding divergent opinions."
I let the song play for a while, waiting for Gee to come up with his next question. I didn't want to push much further because I was just going off my assumption that he had broken out of the consensus out of disagreements he couldn't understand. I could be wrong.
"I wonder what's taking Mika so long," I mused out loud looking at the time. I had been waiting for almost two hours.
"Mika-creator has been outside Morgan-Messenger's accomodations for nine minutes and twenty-eight seconds."
"… seriously?"
"Yes."
With a sigh, I got off the bed and went to the door. I was about to hit the release, but hesitated. Maybe it would be better for her to make up her mind. But what if she decided not to go in? I stood there awkwardly for a couple of minutes, until I realized the stupidity of the situation and just opened the door.
Mika was on the other side, and gave a small start of surprise when the door opened.
"Hi," I said. Smooth, I know.
"… hi."
"Come on in please," I said, gesturing inside the room.
She looked at me, nodded, and took a step inside. Then, she stopped, her eyes widening behind the envirosuit face place in surprise.
"What is all this?!" she said.
Oh, didn't I mention? The room was absolutely packed with gear. Unopened crates were piled all the way up to the ceiling, parts were strewn all over the floor, it looked worse than my overpacked student flat back in New Zealand.
"This is what we've been doing," I replied. "Turrets, mechs, cyberwarfare nodes with independent VIs, a few explosives…"
I pointed at crates as we walked in, with Mika following everything very confused. She stumbled on a half-assembled mech, and ended up catching herself on my arm.
"What's going on?" she said. "Are you getting ready for a war?"
"In a way, yes," I replied. I sat on the bed, and after some hesitation, Mika sat on a box in front of me. I decided not to tell her it was full of grenades. "Remember when I told you there was trouble coming?"
"Y-Yeah."
"Well, that's what I'm getting ready for. There's going to be an attack on the Citadel soon. I'm not sure when, but it could be in just a couple of days."
Mika looked around anxiously, and as usual when she was nervous, she started fidgeting with her hands.
"So what I need you to do when it happens is to get down here as fast as you can. I'm pretty sure the Geth don't know about these tunnels, and I'll be setting up a lot of defenses around."
"GETH?!"
"Err…" Well, crap. Wait, hadn't I told her before? I thought I had.
"Yes. A renegade Spectre called Saren has gotten himself an army of renegade Geth, he's the one that will be attacking the Citadel. Didn't I tell you this? I might have-. Look, it doesn't matter, I'm doing everything I can. When it happens, just get here, we'll try to make it as safe as possible."
She nodded without saying a word. I guess the prospect was a lot more scary now than what it was before – there was evidence all over the room that I was taking that threat seriously. So, I leaned forward and grabbed her arm, trying to give her a reassuring squeeze with my best smile.
"We'll be fine," I said.
The mood aboard the Normandy was hard to describe. Merely calling it gloomy would be a gross understatement. The boisterous Draven had turned into a wraith, a lost soul wandering around the decks without saying three words in a row to anyone. Meal times were dead quiet. And the Turians were basically in lock down inside the comms room, going over the data they had obtained from Saren's base. When duties allowed, Tali would join them too.
Shepard herself wasn't faring great. Both her and Anderson had quite a task trying to pick up the pieces with the crew, but it was an uphill battle. When in doubt, they all fell back into their highly efficient military training. As a result, the ship was running like clockwork. A very silent, perfectly oiled clockwork machine.
It had given her time to finish the letters to the families of the fallen. They had all been hard, but she felt like Williams' had been the hardest. She had worked so hard to overcome the ridiculous prejudices against her family name, she had done everything Shepard had asked of her, and in the end she was the one that had let Ashley down.
Anderson had all but guaranteed that she'd get a medal out of that. At the very least, it should be enough to achieve one of the things she had wanted – to clean the name of the Williams. Shepard had agreed without much spirit. At the end of the day, she still felt the same:
Medals are useless.
"Shepard," her omni-tool pinged.
"Right here captain."
"We're about to dock, are you ready?"
"As ready as I'm going to be," she replied, standing up and taking her empty coffee cup to the kitchen. "What's the word from the council?"
"They're waiting for us."
"I'll be a monkey's uncle. Udina actually came through for us. Maybe."
She put the mug in the dishwasher and made for the lift. In theory, all they were going to do was meet with the Council. In practice, she knew enough about Murphy not to tempt him by going out there unarmed. A shield harness, her shotgun, and her sidearm. And a full load of medi-gel in her omni-tool, just in case.
Maybe she should take a leaf out of the turian Hierarchy and show up in full armor. She could start a fashion trend.
She was on her way up the lift when the Normandy shook. The docking clamps secured the ship in place, and immediately the lighting inside the ship flipped to white. They were docked in place. She legged it up the stairs and made it to the cockpit. Captain Anderson and Nihlus were already waiting for her.
"Time's wasting," Anderson said, stepping into the decon.
"Yes sir," Shepard replied. "Nihlus," she added, her voice neutral, as if it was an afterthought.
"Shepard," the Spectre replied, giving her a single nod.
If Anderson had any thoughts about the dry exchange between the two of them, he didn't say a thing. The trio waited for the airlock to seal, and waited some more for the far-too-long decon cycle to finish. The tension in the air was thick enough to be cut with an omni-blade. Shepard was still trying to figure out the last exchange they had had, right after the clusterfuck that had been Virmire. Other than a few words whenever they came across each other, they really hadn't had any meaningful exchanges. The tension was palpable, but neither of them seemed to have the disposition to dispel it.
Needless to say, the ride up to the Council Tower was quiet. And tense. Shepard knew better than to get her hopes up, considering Udina had been the one to set them up. But even the Council wouldn't be stupid enough to miss the opportunity. Saren was on the run now, they had just destroyed his main base of operations in the Terminus, and they had located the main geth fleet. Whether they liked it or not, it was time to strike.
Our numbers will darken the sky of every world.
Or maybe those words were what was keeping her on edge. They had a chance to strike now, before Saren got his hands on this Conduit, whatever that thing was. She had left Garrus and Tali pouring through the data the turian had recovered from Saren's base, looking for a clue to where he was heading next. She hoped it wouldn't be necessary, if what Udina had told them about the Council fleet mobilizing was true, but she knew better than to hope.
"Shepard," Anderson said.
"Sir?"
"We're about to meet the Council," he said, eyeing Shepard's hands intently. She was holding her folded pistol, one finger playing over the unfolding mechanism. "Unless there's a krogan ambassador in there, it's unlikely there will be any shooting."
"A girl can dream," Shepard replied. Despite the smile on her face, the words rang hollow.
"I'll cover our escape," Nihlus replied.
It was as close as they had gotten to banter in the last few days. The rapid transport shuttle banked sharply as it headed for the Tower, and everyone except Shepard instinctively grabbed onto the handrails for dear life.
Shepard just enjoyed the ride. It was as much as she was going to enjoy, given that Udina was already waiting for them. She let Anderson step out first, but not Nihlus. She needed to look that worm in the eye to see what he was up to.
"Anderson," Udina said, his voice uncharacteristically chirp. "Good work, the Council's finally getting the fleet ready."
"Good," Anderson replied, already falling into step as Udina marched towards the audience hall. "What do the SAI have on the geth fleet?"
"They have been tracking their movements, although the information is... somewhat limited in the Traverse."
Shepard watched as Udina walked up the stairs. Something was nagging at her. It was easy enough to see why he'd be happy, he was scoring big political points with their mission. She could imagine how he'd sell the story that it was his diplomatic effort that got the Council to mobilize. But there was something else there. His body language. He was holding something back, and it didn't seem like he wanted to look at Anderson when he spoke.
"So we have lost them?"
"Not exactly. The geth fleet passed through the Horse Head Nebula, but they retreated."
"Why?" Shepard said.
Udina ignored her, as they reached the top of the stairs. The Council was already waiting for them, a rare sight. They were the ones who made others wait most of the time.
"Captain Anderson, Spectre," Tevos called, her voice carrying through the open space between them. "Commander Shepard. Thanks to your efforts, Saren has been exposed. His base is destroyed, and he is on the run."
Before Shepard could open her mouth, Valern piped up.
"The losses in your last mission are regrettable, as well as that of Captain Kirrahe's team. Their sacrifices will be remembered."
"Are the fleets ready?" Shepard said.
"We have assembled all reserve fleets around the Citadel," Sparatus said, "and posted patrols along all relays connecting to the Citadel. If Saren is foolish enough to attack, we'll be ready."
"What? You're just going to sit here?" Shepard snapped. "You have to go after him!"
"Commander," Tevos said. "There is no need-"
"She's right!" Nihlus interrupted. "Saren's not the threat, the reaper is! It's still out there, and they are closer to the Conduit than ever before! We have to stop them now!"
"Ah yes, the so called 'reapers'," Sparatus said, air quotes and all. "Which exist only in visions taken from a prothean beacon."
"We talked to it! They are real!"
"A computer construct meant to prey on your fears," the turian councilor said, making a dismissive gesture with his hands.
"Saren's greatest weapon was secrecy," Tevos said. "Now that he is exposed, with nowhere to hide thanks to your efforts, it is only a matter of time. We will not send a fleet into the Traverse needlessly."
"You don't have to send a fleet," Anderson said. "The Normandy can go in discreetly, find where Saren is heading."
"You detonated a nuclear device on Virmire! Created a volcanic eruption on Therum! You call that discreet?" Sparatus said.
"The councilor is right," Udina said. "Now is the time for discretion, captain. The fleet is in place, the Normandy will remain here."
WHAT?!
"What?!" Anderson snapped, echoing Shepard's thought.
"Udina you snake!" Shepard yelled.
"You are not in charge of the Normandy, Udina. I am," Anderson said.
"It's done, Anderson. The Normandy's impounded until further notice."
"YOU MOTHERF-"
The only thing that stopped Shepard from pounding at Udina was Nihlus stepping in front of her, grabbing her with his arms and pulling with all the strength he could muster. It very quickly devolved into chaos as more C-sec stepped in to stop the confrontation from escalating. It wasn't Shepard's most dignified moment, and to boot, she didn't even get to punch Udina.
"This isn't over!" was the last thing she shouted before C-sec escorted her out.
"It's beautiful," Kasumi said.
"And expensive," Keiji added.
"That's what makes it so beautiful."
The entire floor had been cleared out, almost thirty thousand square feet of clear space. But it wasn't the emptiness that caught the eye. It was the lone structure in the middle. Towering above them was an inch perfect holographic replica of the relay monument.
"One million layers, twenty energy cells, and six three-dimensional projectors," Keiji said, reading off the datapad. "And a thirty percent cut of our gross."
"Does he know we don't actually want to sell it?"
"No," Keiji said, prompting a giggle from her petite companion. "We still don't have a place to put it."
"We just need to get it out, that's what the boss says."
"Waste of time, you should blow it up. When the enemies are around it."
Both Keiji and Kasumi looked down at the latter's omni-tool, and simultaneously started laughing.
"That's not the deal," Kasumi said. "And we do want to get paid, wasn't that the whole reason you got in trouble to begin with?"
"A means to an end, nothing else."
"You know, I could transfer you to the cargo ship that's going to carry it," Keiji said. "You'd be free to-"
"A cargo ship?! Do I look like a second-rate VI? I am a highly advanced AI, I belong in a battle ship. Or maybe a yatch. A luxury yatch, with naked asari looking over my circuits."
"That's... not a mental image I wanted in my head," Kasumi said.
"He does have a point," Keiji replied, earning himself a playful punch on the arm from Kasumi. "Oi! Not so violent, I'm a delicate guy!"
"Organics..." the AI muttered, frustration permeating his artificial voice.
"That aside, is everything else ready?"
"Yes. Transport will be there, I've got the maintenance codes to drain the Presidium lake, and the explosives should be here tomorrow."
"You had to use explosives, didn't you?" Kasumi said, her smile coming through her voice as she spoke.
"Hey, they work!"
"Yeah, yeah. I'll let Roy know, he'll be chuffed I'm sure."
"See if you can convince him to pay us early," Keiji added with a chuckle. His laughter died out when Kasumi looked at him. "I'm joking! We'll finish the job."
"No, no, that's..." she only hesitated for a moment before speaking again, and when she did, her voice was lower. "He already paid us. He just gave me access to his account, all of it."
"He what?"
Kasumi made a swipe with her omni-tool, and brought the interface up. She flipped the screen around, showing him a bank statement. The number at the end was very long. Keiji made a sound somewhere between a squeal and a cough, and pulled Kasumi's arm closer to his face. She couldn't blame him, it was hard to believe.
"He just gave you that?"
"Not exactly. He just gave me access, and told me to take whatever I needed."
"So what the hell are we doing here? Look at that! We could just- What's wrong?"
"Keiji, he doesn't care."
"Okay? So he's a bit naïve, or a lot. What's the problem?"
"Who has this kind of money and keeps doing... whatever it is he's doing? It's crazy!"
"Kasumi," Keiji chided her, his voice calm. "Whatever it is, it's not our problem. We're just going to steal this thing and be on our way, Right?"
"…"
"Right?"
"I don't know! There's an army of geth, a crazy Spectre, the end of the world…"
"Okay, now you're getting carried away. It's just a relay." He paused for a moment, as if he had suddenly realized what he had said. But after a small beat, he continued. "I thought you'd be excited about it, it was your idea to take it!"
"And I am! Or I thought I was! I don't know! Stealing that is going to be awesome. Crazy. And I can't wait to see everyone's faces. But what if we're getting into more trouble than we can handle?"
Keiji's face lit up with a narrow grin, one Kasumi knew too well. Which she could hardly resist. Despite herself, her worries seemed to become less heavy, and she couldn't resist a similar smile appearing on her own, dumb face.
Damn him, she thought with a mental giggle.
"We haven't found anything or anyone we couldn't handle," Keiji said, his voice reflecting that cockiness she found so contagious. "And I doubt we ever will."
"Oh shut up," Kasumi replied, her voice wavering with laughter.
The Normandy had been designed as a stealth ship from the get-go. The core was the first piece of the puzzle, then every system had been constructed around it to enhance its stealth capabilities. It was somehow unusual in that respect, most other ships were created to fit a particular set of requirements needed by the rest of the fleet, and all systems were designed in harmony against those specs. A ship that was made to be at its best when it was alone was an oddity.
Still, Shepard would have preferred if the inside was a little bit more cheerful. It was needlessly dark, more so now that the whole place was practically empty. A few maintenance crew were still milling about, and Joker was still stubbornly at the helm.
If I have anything to say on the next Normandy class, I'm going to put lights everywhere. And a freaking bar, because I could use a d- FUCK!
She slammed the fist against her locker, while putting the thumb of her other hand in her mouth. Just what she needed, to catch her finger with the edge of the door. She slammed the fist a second time, but she caught herself before she did anything else. Stupid. Taking out her frustrations on an inanimate object was really not what she needed.
What she needed was someone to punch, and someone who deserved it.
Like, say, Saren.
With a defeated sigh, she put her back to the wall, and slid down to sit on the ground. Thinking about the next Normandy was just a fancy way of fantasizing about getting out of that stupid dock and going after Saren. The truth was that she was stuck there. She felt like a complete failure. The Council and that snake Udina were all smile and praises about their mission, but she knew better. Saren was out there, looking for the Conduit. And while he was doing that, the Council was sitting atop their ivory tower, smugly thinking their fleet was all they needed to stop something not even the Protheans had managed to defeat.
"You actually put a dent on this thing," Nihlus' voice interrupted her thoughts. "As you humans would say, damn."
"Shame it wasn't a certain turian," Shepard replied in a flat voice.
"Let me go get my helmet, then."
"Not you! I-" Shepard looked up in a snap, and stopped talking when she saw the toothy grin on Nihlus' face. "Very funny."
"Confess, Shepard. You've thought about it more than once."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"A bit crude for turian courting rituals, but it could work."
Shepard shook her head to hide her smile. Smiling was the last thing she wanted to do.
"Not what I had in mind, Nihlus," she said.
"I know."
Yeah, he probably did. Watching the footage of Saren interrogating Liara had been the cherry on top of one of the worst days of her life, at least since Akuze. She hadn't even seen all of it, Garrus had. He had found what they needed, but it wasn't enough. A set of galactic coordinates. What was waiting on the other side, they didn't know. It hadn't come up in the data they had recovered on Virmire. It wasn't anywhere near the geth fleet, and cross-references to the galactic map database had come up empty. So far.
The Normandy was the best ship in the entire galaxy to go and find out what was there. Fast, quiet, and carrying her on board.
"We should be at those coordinates," Shepard said.
"We should," Nihlus agreed, not missing a step with the change of conversation. "But there isn't much we can do. Unless you want to leave the Normandy behind and steal some other ship."
"That an offer, Spectre?"
"Maybe," he said.
Nihlus offered his hand and pulled her up to her feet. A bit too enthusiastically, as she stumbled forward and had to be steadied by him.
"Woah," Nihlus said, pulling her closer to stop her from falling. "You're a lot lighter than I thought."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Shepard replied. She let go of his hand, but didn't try to step away. She kept her eyes fixed on that Turian predator gaze. There was something about it, it was hypnotic. She could imagine that was what ancient Turians used to stalk their prey, fixing them with an eye to eye gaze as they moved in for the kill.
"I meant, out of your armor," Nihlus said.
"I could get even lighter," Shepard teased.
For a moment neither of them said anything, but just when Nihlus seemed about to do… something, Joker's voice interrupted over the comms.
"Commander?" he called.
The effect was immediate, and Shepard almost jumped back, pulling away by instinct. Realizing what had happened, she threw her hands up in exasperation.
"What is it? Are you spying on me?"
"N-No, not at all. Captain just called, said to go meet him at Flux."
Shepard and Nihlus exchanged a confused look, but Shepard's face light up with a mischievous grin.
"He's up to something," Shepard said.
"Is that good or bad?" Nihlus said.
"Knowing Anderson, probably crazy. Crazy enough that it'll work."
Nihlus took a step back, looking at her with a rather puzzled expression on his face. "You humans are very weird."
"Some more than others," Shepard replied. "Come on!"
Flux wasn't exactly the most discreet place in the Citadel, but given their circumstances, it wasn't a bad place to hide in plain sight. A normal place to find a disgruntled grounded crew. But as soon as Nihlus laid eyes on Anderson, he knew he meant business. Sure, he was casually sitting at a table with a barely touched drink in front of him, but the eyes… The eyes didn't lie. Turians took much of their non-verbal communication from the eyes. Be wary of someone who doesn't make eye contact with you. Don't look away when someone speaks, that's a sign of disrespect.
In a way, humans had some similar rules, but their eyes were a lot more expressive than even Turians'. Despite their outward similarities, it was a stark contrast to the Asari. Or even worse, the Salarians. Krogan, all they did was frown and look at others as a way to try and intimidate them. Maybe that's why Krogans and Turians didn't mix, no Turian would ever look away when confronted that way.
Anderson here looked like a man with a plan. As they approached the table, he looked at both of them as if he was weighting the importance of the mission he was going to give them against the chances of success. And whatever that mission was going to be, he was going to be the one bearing the brunt of it.
All that was confirmed when he explained his plan.
"Udina will have a link to the Normandy," Shepard said. "Knowing him, he'll probably be the only one who can undock it."
"It's up to you Shepard, you're the one who has to make hay with the Normandy," Anderson replied. "The docks are a sure bet."
"And you might get shot," Shepard replied. "This is less risky, and if Udina's there you'll have a chance to punch him in the face."
Anderson snorted in amusement, but didn't look too thrilled at the prospect. Nihlus wondered why he was leaving the decision to Shepard. The Normandy was his responsibility, after all. Maybe it was because Shepard was supposed to be the next human Spectre. Giving her the reins now, at the end, was perhaps his way of showing her his approval. No need for him to be there anymore.
Nihlus wondered that. On the ground, Shepard was a force of nature. Her team followed as she led by example. She had this strange and very contagious habit of bantering during even the thickest of combat, a bad habit even he had ended up adopting. But from time to time she'd just lose herself in very strange tangents when trying to deal with people. It was as if she wasn't used to deal with people who weren't shooting guns, at or besides her.
He was still trying to make up his mind as to whether she'd make a good Spectre. There was no one else he'd rather have besides him in a firefight. But not all problems the Spectres were sent to deal with could be solved with a gun.
That thought gave him pause. That was exactly what he had been doing with Saren. It might very well be why most of the ground team was lost in Virmire. Him trying to solve the Saren problem with his gun.
"Earth to Nihlus," he heard Shepard say, snapping her fingers in front of his face.
"I'm listening."
"So, any suggestions?"
"We know where we're going, but we still don't know why. What's waiting on the other side."
"We can't just sit here and do nothing," Shepard replied.
"I know. You concentrate on the Normandy, I'll go find out what's going on with Saren."
Shepard looked at him for a moment, blinking rapidly like a Salarian. "You're splitting?"
"Sp- What? No, I'm going to find out what's going on before we leave."
"How?"
Despite everything that had happened, Nihlus didn't have the feeling that it would be a good idea to tell Shepard what he was about to do. Either she'd object, or want to tag along, both of which would undermine the mission. No, he had to do what was necessary, and it would be best if he did it alone.
"I can't tell you. You're not a Spectre yet," he replied, putting his best smile to cover what he had just said.
Shepard didn't buy it, but he left before she had a chance to object. He still caught the last thing she said.
"Twenty minutes!" she called, and managed to put such velvet in her voice that half the men who heard her turned to look at her, then at him, and started muttering things about the lucky Turian bastard.
You'll pay for this, Shepard, Nihlus thought with a laugh. But first of all he had to find Garrus, and get in touch with his partner, Ian. He needed this to be quick and discreet.
We were ready.
Or at least as ready as we were ever going to be. Keiji had put all his pieces in place, and so had Kasumi. The plan was a lot simpler than I'd have expected for something as crazy as stealing the relay monument, but as Keiji had put it, the more complicated the plan, the more things one had to keep track of when it invariably went wrong.
The idea was for Kasumi to use the automated systems to drain the Presidium lake – faking a maintenance routine that was never there to begin with. After the water had been stored, demolition charges would go off under the relay for several floors, all the way to the bottom level at the outer hull, where a holographic replica of the relay was waiting. The actual relay wouldn't fall that far, and instead would be stopped and reeled in halfway through with a rather gigantic mass effect towing crane.
The damage would ensure that it'd take hours (possibly days, but at least hours) before anyone would venture to the bottom to find out whether the relay monument was damaged – and realize it wasn't real. From a distance it looked like the real deal.
It was all a way to buy time while the cargo ship carrying the real one kicked dust into the distance. That was the trickier bit, since having a ship leave the Citadel just after a "terrorist attack" would be rather suspicious.
Of course, tricky in Citadel terms just means "expensive". There's always someone who's for sale and has the right access. It'd be hypocritical of me to complain, but it really explained so much.
I had no doubt that the attack to the Citadel would eventually come. But without the business end of the Conduit, it'd probably be a lot harder for Saren to get in. The big question mark was Nazara. As things were, the Citadel fleets were no match for the reaper. Going by the games, studying reaper technology was the only thing that allowed us to fight back during the war. But maybe, if the Citadel didn't get gutted from the inside by Saren's forces, maybe they'd be able to call more reinforcements than the Fifth Fleet and have a chance to squish the damn reaper before it did too much damage.
Maybe I'm an eternal optimist.
Needless to say, I had a lot in my head at the time, the least of which wasn't how we were going to get ready when the attack came. I had convinced Mika to be on the lookout and get to safety at the first sign of trouble, which was good. I had probably gone a bit overboard with the whole "personal defense" part, with enough automated defenses, VI-controlled proximity mines, mechs, and all sorts of unpleasant surprises to defend the actual Normandy from an Allied attack. But instead of accumulating, I really had to start deploying them. Gee had a suggested deployment for them, mostly along the sewers, and I was about to start doing just that.
My distraction ended when I reached my room under the sewers. I was about to open the door when something caught my eye. Just a shadow moving in a corner, maybe. Regardless, it was enough to put me on edge. I was in my Predator armor, and I had a shotgun, so I unfolded it and made my way slowly through the corridor. I didn't eve have to say a word, Gee immediately brought up the combat HUD and marked no less than six targets.
Thee behind. Three in front. Marked orange, which meant they were running bioscan scramblers. No match for geth technology, but quite telling.
Shit, six of them.
I thought for a moment to stop and get into my room. I had a shitload of stuff in there. But who the hell-
"C-Sec! Put that down!"
"Shit!" I yelled. "What the f-"
The yell came right as the three marks in front of me sprang from cover, quickly followed by the ones behind. I just had enough presence of mind not to start shooting blindly as they did, instead aiming the gun to the ceiling.
I didn't even finish my curse before they rushed me. And I really wish they hadn't, because the surprise charge really did put a spring on my feet, and I hit back as soon as the first hand landed on me. The struggle was rather sort, that being six versus one, but it was pretty hard on my face. I didn't even get a chance to ask what the hell they wanted, they just took me down, and dragged me away under arrest.
And I was having such a great day.
I was thrown into an aircar with a bag over my head, and nobody would answer my questions about where they were taking me. I found out soon enough, when after a short ride they brought me into a holding cell and threw me inside without much ceremony, other than stopping on the way to get rid of my body armor and my omni-tool.
So there I was, in a plain undermesh, in a holding cell, and no idea why I was there.
"At least you could tell me why I'm here!" I yelled helplessly, banging the window of the cell.
Either sound didn't get through, or the C-Sec officers on the other side didn't care. Regardless, I could do nothing but wait. And wait I did, pacing around the cell like a caged animal. How the hell had they found- No, that was obvious, they had followed me and I had been walking around like an idiot with my head in the clouds. Sloppy. Typical, really. The question was why the hell were they arresting me? The casino? That seemed odd.
I caught myself and stopped pacing. That was rather unusual of me. Why was I suddenly surprised at people being dicks towards me? Pacing around and going up and down the walls, that's what they wanted. So, I sat down on the lone cot in the cell, leaned back, and relaxed. It wasn't like C-Sec didn't know I was with Shepard and Nihlus. Well, I wasn't wasn't, but close enough.
Wait a goddamn minute. Did Shepard…
Voices coming from outside broke that train of thought. So sound did get through after all. I recognized one of them right away. Nihlus.
"I'm telling you, we had no idea what he had down there," someone was saying.
"Right under the Presidium," Nihlus replied. "What the s'kak."
"You never told me he was some freaking unabomber. We were keeping an eye on him like you asked, but freaking hell man. What do you want us to do?"
"Doesn't matter, just let me have a word with him."
"Nihlus!"
"Ian, just open the damn door."
There was a pause, and then the cell door opened. There he was, Nihlus. Full armor as usual, stony expression, and eyes looking at me like I was just a prey for his dinner.
"You could have just called me," I said.
"Morgan," he replied, his voice flat. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, looking at me.
"So, what's going on?" I said.
He didn't answer at first, which I found amusing. If he thought an awkward silence was really going to bother me, he had something else coming. I could do awkward silences all day. I don't know how long we were like that, but eventually his omni-tool chimed in. He lifted it and flipped the comms on.
"Nihlus?" It was Shepard. "We're on a schedule here."
"Understood Shepard, just give me a minute," Nihlus replied.
He cut the comms and looked at me again. I didn't say a word, I was still trying to figure out what the issue was.
"It's time for you to talk," Nihlus finally said.
"About?"
Yeah, I wonder. It's not like C-Sec just caught me with an arsenal under the Presidium. If the goddamn Keepers had left the stuff alone when we placed it in other rooms, I wouldn't have had to stockpile it all down there.
Nihlus threw a datapad at me, which I managed to catch despite the unexpectedness. I took a look at it, but I had no idea what it was. A whole bunch of numbers.
"What's this?"
"Galactic coordinates," Nihlus said. "Look familiar?"
"No," I replied. Which, this time, was completely, one hundred percent true.
"Those coordinates are the reason why Saren took Liara from my apartment. I think you know what they are, and what's there," he said. When I didn't answer, he reached behind his back and pulled a gun out. That did get my attention. "I have been thinking, why it is that Saren is always one step ahead. Why I can never catch him. But then I realized, it's so simple. Saren has conviction. Whatever he does, whatever he has always done, he believes in doing it no matter what. I haven't done that."
Freaking hell, is he really giving me a monologue before he shoots me? Is that how this is all going to end? Worst thing is that I could almost guess where this was going, and what was going to happen next.
And damn my brain for connecting the dots. Galactic coordinates from Liara. Probably what Benezia had told her. The location of the Mu Relay. Shit, she hadn't told the others? Why the hell wouldn't she-
Anderson killed her mother in front of her, you idiot.
Which meant I knew what all that was, so now it was probably all over my face. Which, if we keep connecting dots, probably meant the shit was about to hit the fan. Normandy impounded, Saren about to attack, the whole nine yards. Shit, I had to get out of there. I hadn't even uploaded the VIs to the mechs. Shit!
"We're going to steal the Normandy, and we're going to go to those coordinates," he continued. Damn, I hate being right. As he spoke, he pointed the gun at my face. "You can tell me now what you know, or we can fly in blind. Either way, I have no time to waste playing games with you."
Shit, he was serious. Looking at him in the eye, I could tell he was. Or if it was a bluff, it was a damn good one. Shoot me or not, he was very tempted. And I didn't think he enjoyed it, he simply was going to do it. Had he crossed to the dark side or something?
"I don't have time for games. Where. Is. Saren."
Could I tell him? The AI didn't seem to mind. Or maybe the AI had given up on me. Not sure if the thought was comforting or not, but I could live with it. Well, only one way to find out.
"I'm guessing he's on Ilos," I said.
No bites. No complaints. I just got it out and the AI didn't care.
"Ilos."
"Prothean world. Deep in the Terminus. Only way to get there is through the Mu Relay, or about twenty years through uncharted space," I said. I offered the datapad back, but he didn't make a single gesture to grab it back. "I'm guessing that's the coordinates for it."
"You said you didn't know what that was."
"I didn't. Just deduction." Damn, it felt good to tell him. Why didn't the fucking AI let me do this earlier?
Maybe because of the timing. It was time for Shepard to haul ass to Ilos.
"And how did you deduce this?" he said.
"Do you mind?" I pointed at the gun, but he didn't lower it. Sigh. "Ilos is a known Prothean world, and the relay to get there is something everyone's been looking for since the Rachni wars."
"Doesn't seem like a very strong deduction."
"Well, that's all I know. Either shoot me or let me go, I have shit to do."
…
I had no idea where that had come from. Probably from the fact that Saren was about to attack, and I had been caught with my pants down. I had to get out, I had to get Mika to safety, I had to get Kasumi to get rid of that damn relay right fucking now and not wait another minute. I had to go.
Another chime from his omni-tool interrupted us. He finally lowered his fucking gun, and answered the call. Shepard again.
"Nihlus what the hell are you doing? We've been waiting for an hour now, Anderson included. We need to go. Now!"
"I'm on my way," he said, and closed the comms. He gave me one last look, and seemed like he was about to do or say something else, but he turned around and made for the door.
And right as I was about to jump to my feet to follow – hell if I was going to let them keep me in here – my vision wavered away, and I was yanked by the AI.
"What the hell? Now you pull me? What the hell do you… want…"
The AI had always seemed to be right at the edge of the Uncanny Valley. There was something quite not… human would be one way of putting it, real could be another. Maybe it was that she wasn't all organic.
But looking at her now, she looked honest to goodness scared.
"You need to stop him! Now!"
"What? If you didn't want me to tell him, why the hell didn't you-"
"It's not that! It's too late! They won't make it in time!"
"… what?"
"The Normandy, it's too late! Shepard has been waiting too long, you heard her! It always happens like that, it… It was supposed to happen like that. The Conduit will be closed when she arrives. One hour! It's too long!"
"Well what the hell are we supposed to do then?"
"I… I don't know!"
"Without Vigil's help we can't keep the Citadel closed. Someone has to get to Ilos no matter what."
"But… the Conduit will be closed!"
"Then they'll have to take the long way back."
"But…"
"But what?"
"I don't know what's going to happen!"
She sounded like she was on the verge of panic, which wasn't reassuring. And this time it wasn't my fault, which would be kind of funny if it wasn't so worrying.
"Neither do I, but we don't have a fucking choice."
She blinked once, twice, was it really a blink or just a way to imitate organics? The only thing missing was smoke coming out of her ears, I could almost feel her desperately thinking, processing, calculating variables and outcomes. Well, if nothing else, it showed I had gone way off the reservation. Considering how much she bitched about me not changing things too much, it was rather refreshing.
It's kind of funny when you think about it. Back in my day, I always felt rather insignificant, so to speak. Sure, I had a life, and I was trying to make it a good one, but I never thought I was going to have too much of an impact on the world. And now, just having a fool in the wrong place was apparently unraveling the fate of the Galaxy.
Maybe next time I could try and be a force for good change, instead of just plain chaos.
After who knows how long, the AI simply nodded, and I was thrown back into my body. I fell on my ass rather unceremoniously, while the world spun around me. Shit. I had to get out of there. I stumbled up to my feet, and tried to get to the door, but Nihlus just slammed it on my face.
Metaphorically. Doors in the future can't be slammed.
"Hey! What the hell, let me out!" I yelled, slamming my fist against the window. "Nihlus, wait! Nihlus!"
He didn't listen. He was out without even turning back, and my continued protests didn't do anything other that getting C-Sec to tell me to shut up before they came in and shut me up.
Shit.
Author's Notes: We. Are. Back! And by "we" I don't mean the royal We, but rather lil' old me, together with the voices in my head. Months and months of stressful work which left me little time and less energy for writing, which, with any luck, will conclude with a paper on Nature (bit of wishful thinking, maybe, so let's not get ahead of ourselves). We hope. Maybe not, but we have a really solid piece of research that merits a high profile journal, so we're pretty happy with what we're seeing. It's been a team effort, but the computer geek (hi!) has done a large chunk of the work, and I couldn't be happier with the results.
We'll see! Regardless, totally worth it - for me. If you've been following the sotry and waiting for updates, you might disagree, and for that I can only say I'm sorry. I probably should have made a bit more of an effort to at least put a couple of 1-2k chapters, but time tends to run away when you're so distracted.
Best part is where the story's at. Since this one's following the game events, you know how things are going to happen - well, how they're supposed to happen, even though the AI herself doesn't even know what's happening. So you probably know we're about to unravel the whole thing. And things aren't looking good, we're way behind!
I bet you can see where this is all going.
The chapter was a little disjointed because I had several threads to follow, but all in all I can live with the result. Next chapter, well, next chapter will be one to watch for. I'll make sure it doesn't take months this time!
Spoiler? Spoiler. Thin Lizzy. You heard it here first folks! And Roy still hasn't had a decent meal since he got to the ME Universe. Seriously, big bucks in the bank and still eating hard rations - because they're there and I hate to waste food.
I've read all the comments that were waiting for me as I came back. And if you're still here, I can't thank you enough for your patience. Answering questions made months ago seems a little silly, but rest assured I appreciate all the support!
We'll talk more after the next chapter. Until then, ta-ta!
