TO SURVIVE II:
AFTERMATH
Earthbound Anomalies
Andreas was a smart man. He wouldn't break, Hellion had taught him not too. He eyed the C-Sec officers around him, and he was not pleased. He was surrounded by aliens of every kind; turian, asari, quarian, geth, whats the difference? Their all alien. It doesn't make a difference what the name of their kind is. Not a single human being in the room. Was this done to deliberately torture him? To make him feel insecure? To feel alienated? Well it was working, but not in the way they hoped. It wasn't going to be broken by alien presence alone, no, it would take them integrating him into their culture for him to break.
He had only one countermeasure for when they broke him, and he hoped to god he wouldn't have to use it. He took one more look across the room. There was one turian, male, leaning in the corner, carefully inspecting his rifle, as if mocking him with the threat of lingering death. Another, a geth, just opposite him, staring motionlessly at him, as if daring him to make a escape attempt. His quarian female colleague seemed to be examining one of this cigarettes, evidently having no idea how to use it. Eventually she quit and dropped it to the ground, deciding to play tetris on her omnitool. Tetris for quarians. Heh. Looking closer, he clearly saw the Quarian republican insignia on her right shoulder. Not C-Sec. Maybe, quarian spy? Quarian black ops agent? Or maybe...informant in C-Sec? Rana better have taken out Shepard and that filthy thief or Hellion won't bother saving our asses. A single Drell stood behind him. He had heard a few of the officers exchange words with him, dropping the name 'Kolyat' but thats all he got out of it.
He maintained a blank expression on the glowing haptic interface of the door that lay only 4 meters from him. He wasn't strapped down, so he could easily run out. Only problem with that plan was that 7 armed C-Sec officers stood in the room, not to mention a geth and drell, both of which would cut him down in seconds, one with machine-like accuracy and the other because he was trained to be like that. Either way, escape would be impossible unless he had someway of defending himself. So he just sat there, his expression as blank as he could make it without the need of transforming into a husk. Can Bellerophon even do that right now? Could he do it telepathically? Andreas shook away that thought as he returned to blankly staring at the door. What if I'm indoctrinated? Could I even think for myself when indoctrinated? If Bellerophon was really in his head, he would have answered. He didn't, which meant he was free, for now. But that wouldn't last too long.
Andreas shook away these thoughts when he saw the haptic interface disappear and the door slide open. He saw a man in Cerberus designed Ajax Armor who looked like a heavily built war veteran followed by a close to naked woman with a ponytail. The man saw him and entered a parade rest, circling his chair slowly, while the woman just watched from the background, smiling. Andreas wanted to see the man who was so easily mocking him, but couldn't. The man was now right behind him. It was then that he spoke, "So your Andreas Decman, agent for Hellion of Cerberus, Correct?" Andreas didn't answer, but then he did, "I want my lawyer." The man sighed and leaned on the chair. "Your lawyer is dead, maggot. Dead for trying to kill me and my lifemate. Now, open your mouth and start talking or Jack over here will be more than welcome to show you how to open it...the hard way." Everything dawned on him in a instant. That crazy woman is Jack. This guy is Shepard. Which means Tali and him survived and Rana is dead. No matter, I probably won't return alive to Hellion anyway. "I don't know what your talking about." Shepard was really losing his patience with this man.
"You know EXACTLY what I'm talking about." Before he continued speaking, he whispered into his mike, saying something indistinquishable from his point, but he soon realized what. The quarian, that filthy quarian this so called hero called his lover, stepped in. Next thing he knew, Shepard had his hair balled in his fist, and he leaned in close, "See that quarian? Her name is Tali, my lifemate and from a certain eye witness account..." At that moment, the thief in the black hoody decloaked and he forced himself not to lean back instinctively. Shepard must have noticed his slight movement, "Yes. She noticed what you did to her you racist dog. But you made a mistake in getting her arrested. For as soon as your little colleague...Rana...stepped in there, she was dead. My mother put a bullet right through her skull and if you don't come clean...same thing will happen to you!"
Andreas, despite the threats, sat in defiance, "I have my right to a lawyer! I don't any Rana! I was just protecting my store from thieves! It was in my right! And she!" He pointed an accusing finger at Kasumi, "She! She forced a credit chit into my mouth!" Andreas remembered how he had to spit it out. Shepard looked at Kasumi with a raised brow, Kasumi reciprocated the look, "What? Little prick was asking for it. He's lucky I wasn't Zaeed. He wouldn't be alive." Andreas shivered at the thought of the galaxy's most infamous bounty hunter coming to the quarian's aid. Shepard nodded in his head in 'you've got a point.' He stepped further away before eventually attracting Andreas' eye contact. Shepard smiled, "So you want your lawyer? I told you, Rana's dead. You know her, she admitted it!" Tali nodded, crossing her arms. Andreas knew when to keep his mouth shut. I've seen quarian women fight. Back when we were ordered to abduct quarian and turian test subjects for some project, I had to abduct one, I think her name was Xilota'Prowz. Yeah, she and her wannabe turian boyfriend in their hotel, watching Fleet and Flotilla. Could have had two subjects in a bag. But nope, Kirk just had to fuck up and that woman snapped his neck faster than I could say 'filth!'
"I don't know Rana. I have no idea who she is. Now...I want my lawyer!" Shepard wanted to punch the wall. Who's great idea was it to give the clearly guilty a lawyer? They need to find a new job. Shepard instead he remained visibly placid, before they heard the door open again and Lana stepped in. "Subject Decman. Your lawyer...unfortunently...is here." The man stepped in, and Shepard realized it was the same man who had come to Elias Kelham's aid. Why am I conviently meeting all these people? The lawyer took a drag of his cigarette but before he could open his mouth, a very hoppy man leapt past him. "Admiral Shepard! Ah! Lieutenant Shepard!" Shepard was about to tell Conrad to leave, but he saw Conrad was approaching Tali, not him. "You must be Shepard's wife!" Before Tali could open her mouth either, Conrad hugged her. Kasumi just stood there, grinning. Shepard could see it clearly under her dark hood. First an interrogation. Then a lawyer standoff. Now Conrad barges in and Tali gets some hugs. Uh...what odd situations we find ourselves in. Kasumi just continued to grin her head off as Conrad let go of Tali and bowed. Tali didn't know what to say. She wanted to refute and say she wasn't his wife, but his lifemate, but that would require explanation. Something Conrad had trouble listening to. Instead, she smiled and looked at Shepard. Dropping the smile for a second she gave him a look of 'get him out of here, anyway you can.' If Shepard had been alone with her, he would have asked her if their bond was telepathic, as they so easily read each other. Instead, he motioned for Kasumi to have a 'chat' with him. Nodding, Kasumi wrapped her arm around Conrad's and walked him outside.
Andreas was confused by the turn of events. That was retarded. Shepard refocused his attention on the Cerberus agent. There must be some way to make him break...Then it dawned on him, who else could read people's thoughts. He keyed his mike, "Joker, could you contact Javik and have him meet us at the C-Sec interrogation room on Zakera Ward. Shepard out." He then disconnected. He turned his gaze to the lawyer, who seemed unfazed. "So..." the lawyer immediately saw Shepard's gaze and froze in place. Shepard laughed, "Yes that's right. Its Spectre John Shepard again. I'd run off now before you waste more time." Another advantage of being a Spectre. The lawyer nodded and simply walked off. Andreas sighed and rolled his head. Fucking Spectres. Come on Andreas, think! Lana stepped alittle closer to Andreas, before seemingly breaking off. Maybe she had been examining him, looking for facial flaws that could give away a hint of lies. Maybe she found none, and maybe he was just paranoid. Lana walked up to Shepard, her back to Andreas and whispered in his ear, "I've got to see to Kal. He's all yours. As a Spectre I imagine you could overrule me anyways."
He smiled and looked at Lana, "Commander Reegar, I would never think of such a thing!" Lana giggled, "I'm sure you wouldn't, but you do have a habit of getting what you want no matter the objection." She threw a glance at Tali and then smiled back at Shepard before saluting and walking off, the door closing behind her sleek form. Shepard shook his head in amusement before facing Andreas once more. "You people are retarded, I mean, you really are." Shepard just continued smiling, "Its called humor Andreas. Its what makes us family, why do you think we achieved the impossible? It wasn't through ruthless experiments and armies of upgraded soldiers like a certain black ops organization I know you work for." Andreas fists clenched to the point of being pure white. Not quite, but close. Don't let him break you. Remember Hellion's training. "I don't work for Cerberus. I told you that. Why pick on a innocent shopkeeper?" Shepard laughed loudly, which didn't surprise Andreas. He was told the Admiral had a ego. A feeling of invincibility. Illusive Man wasn't exactly incorrect. "Because your the exact opposite of innocent." At that moment, an alien like no other stood into the room. He looked like a fucking bug, his head shaped like a Collector, yet without glowing eyes and his eyes were reminicent of a reptile.
He wore what looked like ancient Earth Samurai armor, but it was built for his species, what species it was. He had three fingers, no surprise there, and three toes. "You summoned me Admiral." Shepard nodded, "Yes Javik. We've got a very uncooperative prisoner and I would be happy for you to...see through him. You know, do that thing that you do." Javik smiled weakly, before turning to Andreas. The alien named Javik reached his hand to touch him, but Andreas spoke first, "What...the...fuck...are you?" Javik smiled, "I am Prothean." Andreas froze. No. Its a guy in disguise. Has to be. This is some elaborate trick. "Your a human under that suit. I can tell." Javik shook his head in disappointment, "You are thick human. I knew your kind when you still hiding in caves and hunting the animals you called 'Mammoths' to extinction. And you..." Shepard smiled as Javik pointed to the nearby turian. Broadcast his intelligence. Show Andreas he's the real deal. "...I knew your kind when you were still running on all fours, like your native shatha. When you worked in packs." The turian was bewildered, wondering whether to take it as a insult, or simply historical fact. "And you...," he pointed to Kolyat, "Your kind, the Drell, I knew your people when you were simply quiet, peaceful people who walked in social groups. You were perfect hunters, but herbivores mostly. And you quarian..." As Javik pointed at the quarian female, who was trying to get her induction port into the socket, and she stopped as she saw his finger, dropping the straw. Shepard laughed, keying his dedicated channel, "Emergency...Induction...Port."
The only response was a simple, "Bosh'tet" and he had to stifle a laugh. He could imagine Tali was trying not to laugh either. Javik continued, "I knew your kind when you lived near trees. Your females would run out hunting while your males would stay to protect your young. You were emotional, symbiotic, and..." He stole a glance at Tali "...your women were and are still...extremely attractive." Although he could not see it, the quarian blushed heavily, looking for a reason to break the awkward silence. Tali was smiling, which was a surprise. I guess I'm getting used to it.
Satisfied that he had convinced Andreas of his current reality, he turned and before the human terrorist could react, placed a hand on his shoulder. Andreas saw his life flash before his eyes. Then he saw Rana, he and TIM shaking hands, Hellion giving him his mission and then he screamed, "I DID IT! I DID IT JUST STOP IT!" Shepard lifted a hand to signal Javik to stop. Javik immediately released his hand and moved to stand next to Tali. Shepard turned to Andreas, "So, you admit that you did it?" Andreas nodded erratically, "Rana was working alongside me and Hellion sent us to hijack the Normandy, kill the crew, especially you two and escape back to his base of operations in the Tasale System!" Andreas was a broken wreck. He wasn't telling them anything else, he had to prevent that from happening. Without thinking, he bit down hard on his tongue. Within seconds, white foam erupted from his mouth and everything went black. Shepard shook his head. I see they still use poison pills these days. Stick them to the agent's tongue and bite down hard when you know your cornered.
"There goes our source, John. What now?" Tali said, uncrossing her arms as she saw bits of white foam dribble from the dead prisoner's mouth. Shepard smiled, "We go to the Tasale System and do a thorough sweep of the area. My best bet is that Hellion's hiding on Illium, but its best to check first." Tali raised a brow, "I don't know John. Its pretty hard to hide a 5km long superdreadnought over a cityworld."
Shepard shook his head, "I know Bellerophon and Behemoth aren't there. However, Hellion was most likely sent out to prepare some of the major worlds for invasion. Weaken defenses, distract some ships, or maybe invade it himself. I don't know, but whatever he's up to...it can't be good." Tali nodded in agreement and they left the interrogation room, Shepard getting Kolyat and his men to move the body to disposal. Javik followed closely behind, and it wasn't long before Kasumi joined them again. "Got rid of Conrad for you." Shepard raised a brow, "What did you do." Kasumi smiled mischeviously, "I might have gotten him drunk and...set him to sleep." Shepard knew she didn't kill him, but if her words were true at all, then she had obviously done something. "Spit it out Kasumi. What did you do to him?"
Kasumi sighed. "Your no fun at all," she sighed again, "I got him drunk and left him in the Dark Star Lounge. He's going to wake up with a major hangover and one hell of a headache and be wondering where the hell he is." Shepard nodded. Sneaky as always. It wasn't long before Joker came up on his omnitool, "Shepard. Small problem here." Shepard rolled his eyes. What other kind could there be? "What is it?" Joker smiled but ever so slightly, "To answer a question with a question, who's great idea was it to introduce Rael to the drive core?" Shepard stopped dead and Tali had as well. Seeing their expressions, Joker continued, "Well...Rael is kinda playing around in engineering and messing with EDI's systems. Ken, Gabby and Adams have long since gotten him out but..." Tali almost laughed as she saw Rael snatch Joker's cap and run off with it. Joker felt around his scalp and his face turned into one of anger, "That little...Come back here you little mobile murder!" Shepard could here Voz saying something before he ran off the bridge in pursuit of Rael. Joker turned to the screen. When he saw Shepard and Tali's expressions of amusement he rolled his eyes, "You need to control your child! God help us Tali if he's anything like you! EDI will have a hard time dodging his hacking attempts! And Shepard! What if he also gets the knack for blowing up everything?"
Shepard laughed, "We'll be right there, Joker. Shepard out." Joker was disconnecting when ship alarms went off. "DAMN IT! YOU LITTLE FUC...GET AWAY FROM..." The rest of Joker's words were cut off by the disconnection. Tali and Shepard burst out laughing, followed by Kasumi. Javik tried to join in, but ultimately failed. There was no humor to be found in the pilot's predicament.
...
"Hello, welcome to the AngryJoeShow. I am sorry about this. But my..my...my...mind. Is...jacked...jacked...jacked."
"Jacob, just what the hell is this?" Garrus asked, as he was completely confused by the human calling himself 'Joe.' He appeared to have a robotic voice. And was 'Mindjack?' it looked like somekind of Earth video game. Jacob chuckled, "A game reviewer. He goes back a hundred years, at least..." AngryJoe's voice cut in, "THIS!? This is how you start 2011?" Jacob stopped, "Yeah, 2011. I was close to correct." Garrus chuckled as he watched the reviewer bitch about the game. He was fully immersed and even fonud himself agreeing, even if he had never heard or played the game.
He, Jacob and Kal were just chilling out in the Lounge while Kasumi was out, watching television. He had watched many videos about old human shows such as Big Bang Theory, AngryJoe, Zero Punctuation, Tobuscus and so many others. He even heard of a few games he kinda grew fond of such as 'Assassin's Creed' which had only just released the newest variant in the series, 'Assassin's Creed: Drell Saga.' Other games like Far Cry, Max Payne, Halo, Call of Duty, Battlefield also held similiar tastes. Apparently Halo had stopped production as soon as the First Contact War began as the aliens in that game looked nothing like the actual living ones.
He hadn't been long since Lana joined them, sitting in Kal's lap, watching the videos with them. They sorta hovered in the background, not saying much to attract the group's attention. Garrus just continued to sip on his dextro brandy as he watched AngryJoe's review on Mindjack. It was certainly his favourite of the human videos, as he was quite the comedian. Then he heard Joker's shipwide announcement, "All hands, abandon ship. We are under attack." Garrus frowned and turned to Joker, pausing the video. "By Cerberus?" Joker didn't answer for a few seconds as the ship wide alarms went off. "No, by a crazing quman child! Abandon ship!" Garrus laughed, "Don't worry, Shepard and Tali will defeat him." Joker chuckled halfheartedly, "But this is the deadliest threat we've ever faced sir! Even the Reapers would shake in...PUT THAT DOWN!" Garrus began laughing his head off.
"Lieutenant Commander Vakarian, this is Flight Lieutenant Moreau, hostile is inbound on your location, over." Garrus smiled, "Copy that, we'll hold position until our duo reinforcements arrive." He motioned for Jacob, Kal and Lana to face the doors, pretending to look serious, but they all couldn't help but smile. Damn Shepard, this child is like you already. The door opened and Rael stepped in, holding...No...
"My beloved!" Garrus shouted as he reached to grab the sniper rifle from the child's little hands. But the child was too fast and straffed his grab. Liara now stood in the doorway as he looked up, "Dumped me for a rifle, heh Garrus?" Garrus went to retort, but saw her smile. He looked to see that Rael didn't just have his sniper rifle. He had Tali's omnitool, Shepard's model Normandy, his widow sniper rifle, Liara's Glyph and Joker's cap. How was this kid managing to hold all this stuff, the sniper rifle confused him even more. How was Rael carrying it around without dragging it? "Uncle Garrus has big gun! Aunty Liara has cool robot!" Rael popped Joker's cap on his head and ran past Liara, who playfully let him past. "He's running off with the love of my life!"
Liara put her hands on her hips, "Your ex-love you mean?" Garrus stood up and smiled at her, "Who says I can't have both?" Liara lost her smile, "I do." Garrus laughed, "I was joking. Now come on, lets get our..."
"Stuff back?"
Everyone turned to see Shepard and Tali exit the elevator. "He has my omnitool John!" Shepard sighed, "And he has my model Normandy!" Tali rolled her eyes, "Noone cares about your precious little toy!" Shepard looked at her with mock shock, "That thing is not a toy! Its an antique!" Tali just mumbled, "whatever" before continuing towards them, "I'm guessing were not the only victims of his stealing spree. Really Kasumi, I think you'll be out of a job." Kasumi decloaked next to them, "Maybe in a while." Garrus nodded, "He took my sniper rifle from the armory, Liara's Glyph from her office and Joker's cap!" Shepard facepalmed, "Where is he now?"
"Ah! Watch out...!" Shepard put up his hand after hearing Gardner's shouting, "Don't answer that." He ran towards the Crew Deck where he found Gardner telling Rael not to touch the stove. "Rael! Get away from there! Now!" Tali ran forward and scooped Rael up in her arms, her arms sore immediately after picking him up, due to the added wait of the sniper rifle. She took the sniper rifle and gave it back to Garrus as he approached. He immediately hugged it, "My baby..." Liara rolled her eyes as she received Glyph back. Tali took back her omnitool and her eyes widened as she saw a very disturbing photo on the front, but thats not what caused the shock, "This omnitool had a passcode lock! How did you bypass it?" Forgetting her own question, she reattached her omnitool to her left arm and then gave back the model Normandy to Shepard.
"Now come on, your going to give this cap back to Uncle Jeff." Tali stated, and with that, they were in the elevator and rising towards the CIC. Shepard eyed Rael with amusement, but he did not return the look, he was too busy playing with the pal'tec vis surden hanging around Tali's neck. When they finally reached CIC, they headed immediately for the Bridge. It wasn't long before they saw Joker, who had finally turned off the alarm and was helping EDI fix everything. "Hey, what happened to Voz?" Joker said as he turned to the couple holding their hellion of a child. He smiled when he saw his cap on Rael's head.
"Right here, sir."
Voz came from behind the couple, holding his chest. Joker looked at him with concern, "What the hell happened to you? Looks like you tripped." Voz nodded, "That's exactly what happened. Kids are fast, I'll give them that." Tali couldn't help but giggle a little. Then she reentered serious mode and turned to Joker. "Rael would like to return your cap and apologize for causing trouble." Joker waved his hands in the air, "Don't. I found it quite enjoyable actually. Kids have got to act like that to have a proper childhood. I'd be surprised if didn't tear the place up. As for the cap, you know what, let him keep it. It looks good on him. Let him keep it as a reminder of me when this is all over."
Shepard nodded. Tali smiled as she saw Rael in the cap. He really did look good in it. She turned to Joker, "You sure?" Joker nodded again and Tali smiled again as Rael continued to be fascinated by her medallion. Shepard turned to Joker, remembering what else he wanted, "Joker, set a course for the Tasale System. Were going hunting." He nodded at Tali and she put Rael on the ground, took his little hand and walked him up to the cabin. Turning back to Joker, he spoke, "We believe Hellion's hiding on Illium, but I want the whole system scanned first. Were to capture Hellion for questioning. If he really is..." He was interrupted by EDI, "Admiral...incoming comm signal coming from Illium to the Citadel. Its Hellion."
"Hack into the transmission." EDI nodded and began typing into her console. Hellion's voice came up on the console, "Andreas. Rana. Tali and Shepard better be dead or I'll have your heads. When your done, meet me on Illium. I'm throwing a party there and I'd like you to be formally invited...," Joker raised a brow and Shepard, and he reciprocated it. "...to it. I've payed for the fees. Cerberus guards will be posted all over. I want this to be a quick clean up operation. There can be no room for stuffing up. Hellion out." The transmission stopped and Shepard crossed his arms smiling. He knew how he'd get Hellion. He keyed his omnitool, "Tali, meet me in the Citadel clothing area at 7:00. Were going shopping." EDI stopped him, "If you plan to infiltrate the party Shepard you should know one thing. Bring a date." Shepard raised a brow. EDI explained, "This party is fabricated for one purpose; its a strip party. Couple's bring their dates and the men talk and chat while their dates...well...do what they do in the strip party."
Shepard sighed in relief as he remembered he had turned off the omnitool. "Great. Well I know who my date is but I don't think she likes the prospect of stripping. We'll think of something. I have two reasons for not bring anyone else; one, I bring Tali everywhere, especially to parties involving dating, and two, she'll kill me if she sees me holding hands with Miranda, or Ashley, or...you get the idea." EDI nodded, "You will both need appropriate dressing and Tali will have to wear something...that a stripper would. Shepard sighed in defeat, "Thanks for adding another tick to Tali's list of reasons to kill me on the spot. Anything else?"
"Recommend an extraction team. Garrus or Kal leading it would be a intelligent choice." Shepard nodded, "Then I'll go get this party started. First by dropping the bomb on Tali. She's just going to love this." Joker laughed, "Just make sure your not watching her breasts as you do it. I think that'll just make her enen angrier." Shepard rolled his eyes as he walked, "Thanks for the tip." Joker continued laughing as he turned back to his console, "No prob." Then he saw the recommendations of the invitations Hellion sent. It was too late to tell Shepard, so he kept reading until his eyes dropped on the last few requirements. All Quarians Welcome. Shepard raised a brow. Hellion hates quarians, thats for sure. Something's not right. Its almost as if...as if he's the master, the party is the ball of yarn, and Shepard is the cat. He's tempting Shepard with something he prefers. As if...As if he's...
As if he's inviting them to their deaths.
Bosh'tet: Thought by many non-quarians to be the quarian equivalent of "son of a bitch" or "bastard." Surprisingly, it is actually the name of a animal native to Rannoch, similiar to Earth rats. It is a rodent to lives my scavenging, but has a very low intelligence, is quite irritating and lazy. It eats the excrement of other animals, using what's let of it as a home and the undigested bits as sustenance. It will eat any dung, even its own. It will defend its dung pile at any cost, even its own kind, and has been known to fight to the death. Quarians used it as a curse word for people who are being stupid, unresponsive, irritating or fighting for a worthless cause or reason.
First things first, has any of you heard of AngryJoeShow? If not, he's a link to the video I referenced in the chapter, its REALLY funny: watch?v=eK4u4uezIPM
And why not? Here's two of his funniest reviews: watch?v=LkwRJz1-2Qg
watch?v=_ArpWuV_zvo
Want to know how I got that idea in my head? Well I was listening to his Mindjack review as I started that paragraph and the next thing I know...well...hallejulah. Its there. So, I hope you find that bit funny. I also think letting Rael wear Joker's cap would be pretty cool. Besides, Joker needs some sunshine! Rael is a quman, so why can't he carry a sniper rifle? He's a hybrid! There's alot he can do! How did Rael bypass her passcode? He's the son of a genius combat engineer, so who says a passcode is going to stop him? And what can I say; Calinstel always made it clear that Shepard was like a child with his ship models. :P
I have a little challenge for you. There is a irregularity about the name of the chapter, and your challenge is to find out what. Comment in the review section. First one to figure it out gets their username used in the next chapter! Or maybe later on, I don't know. Depends.
And before you start saying 'hey, you got the party idea from nevertalk.' Yes, it was inspired, but not completely ripped off. Besides, you guys could do with a break from the romance and combat and do with some infiltrator stuff. Its kinda awkward to imagine Shepard in a tuxedo though, don't you think? If you don't know who 'nevertalk' is, he is obviously another fanfiction writer, and he is responsible for writing 'Reclamation', a very well written mass effect fanfiction based after the events of Mass Effect 2. No 'will you marry me?' or any dramatic 'I love you' scenes, just plain, simple and well-written Tali and Shepard romance. Its a good read, try it out. Heck, try Warrior Ethos, a fanfiction using ideas from Calinstel out as well. Its based after ME2's intro cutscene where Tali tries to come to terms with Shepard's death.
Anything else I'd like to say? Yes. I'm in a dilemma and internal war right now. I feel like Hitler in World War II where he was trying to fight two fronts at the same time. Except I have to write two different fanfics at the same time; Mass Effect 3: How it could have happened and To Survive II. I'm dearly in need of assistance. If you can offer any assistance on how to rotate between these stories and keep them both flowing, that'd be great. HICH is of course going to be slower cause I have a story to stick to with absolute perfect, but To Survive II is more 'daily' and more frequent, making it a difficult battle.
I feel like there is something else I should say, but there's nothing really. For you guys, its only 6 days till Christmas. Mine is technically already over. I will probably release a To Survive II chapter involving Christmas on that day just for the heck of it, so stay tuned. Hell, the whole chapter will be Christmas oriented probably. Hell, I'm starting to think Wrex makes a good Santa Clause. Even so, I think Rael will be on the naughty list...
"Fight or Flight, Avet. Which is it going to be? I feel like I'm bluffing sis. I don't know what to do. I'm in love with a quarian admiral who loves me back, I'm with a organization where my loyalty is constantly questioned, even though its not there, and now Hellion maybe a threat to everything I've ever cared for. I don't know Avet. What would you do? When you lost Nicolas on Ferris Fields, what did you do? Please sis, I know we haven't been on good ties lately, but I really need your help. If not for me, do it for our family. Do it for Nick. Because its either Daro, you...or Cerberus."
- Connor Faringar