It appears I do have too many characters to keep track of. I missed someone in chapter 44, so I went back and added some paragraphs there ;)
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Shepard was brimming with excitement. He was standing in the cargo bay, clad in his grey and red heavy armour, accompanied by his full squad. In his mind, he imagined how the Akuze was currently sweeping down on its unsuspecting prey, coming swiftly down onto it like a falcon descending from the sky. This was what the ship had been built for: Quick, ruthless strikes that left the enemy no time to even react. And this time, there was no moral ambiguity involved; they were going against an enemy who clearly deserved this treatment.
Purgatory was FTL capable, but only rarely changed system; that would shrink their profit margin. And since it existed to do business, its location was never a secret.
The Akuze had been waiting for thirty hours in the same system. Its stealth capacities did not cover FTL flights, so it was possible sensors had picked up its entry into the system. Personally, Shepard doubted that: Purgatory was no warship, and it was manned by prison wardens rather than military specialists. But it was better to make sure. Thirty hours should be enough to let any alertness that picking up the Akuze's entry into the system might have caused to cool down.
Purgatory had dealt with violent attempts at freeing prisoners before. Mass breakouts were impossible; the ship could simply dump every cell in a block into cold space. It was possible, though, to free specific prisoners as long as the crew did not know which ones were targeted. Some attempts of this sort had in fact succeeded in the past, if the extranet could be believed. Not many tried them: Since Purgatory was housing so many valuable and dangerous prisoners, trying to free any of them would summon up the ire of at least a dozen planetary governments. For any individual or group doing business in the Terminus, this could lead to quite some problems.
For Shepard, though, what some petty Terminus governments thought was completely irrelevant.
"They should be able to see us by now," Tali commented at his side.
Shepard nodded. There was only so much the Akuze's stealth could do. It did not make the ship invisible. Going in and freeing Jack without being seen was impossible. Instead, the plan was to launch a surprise boarding attack on Purgatory, overwhelm the wardens and create enough havoc to cover the boarding party's retreat.
"Getting into wireless range," EDI reported. "Accessing enemy systems." After a pause she continued: "They have seen us. Aiming GARDIAN weapons at us. I'm countermanding the firing orders. I'm also beginning to enter other ship systems. Control should be reached in circa five minutes. I'm sorry for the delay; stopping the GARDIAN cannons is taking up a preponderance of my resources."
"Don't worry," Shepard told her, "Those are your primary concern."
For the first time, Shepard would make full use of EDI's electronic warfare capabilities. In fact, this was a crucial point in his battle plan. EDI would allow the Akuze to dock at Purgatory, and she would shut down the access points between the single prison blocks, making it impossible for the Blue Suns to reinforce their troops.
"I've gained access to most of the enemy ship systems," EDI reported after a while. "Docking is now possible."
"Good thing, too," Joker chimed in over the ship's comm system. "Just in time. Docking in two minutes. Get ready, people. And be glad she didn't take longer."
"By my estimation, you could have delayed the docking manoeuvre by up to seven minutes," EDI defended herself, probably using both the loudspeakers in the docking bay and the cockpit.
Is it just me or did she actually sound a bit indignant there?
A bit more than a minute later, EDI spoke up again: "Docking in half a minute. Enemy troops rushing to our docking position, but won't be in place in time. Incoming enemy troops mostly from the right side.
"Very good," Shepard answered. "Excellently done, EDI and Joker." He turned to Lawson. "That works out perfectly. We have to go towards the left anyway, according to the ship plans. Your team will cover the right then." The Cerberus operative nodded.
Shepard could not see what was happening at the outside of the ship, but he could imagine it. The Akuze was already decelerating and came to a stop right at one of Purgatory's docking port. Shepard could imagine nothing less than a perfect manoeuvre from Joker. Meanwhile, said docking port was opening against the will of its own crew, compelled by EDI's overwhelming computing power. Finally, the two ships were docked... and the Akuze's doors opened. [1]
Immediately, the squad ran in and took up defensive positions. As Shepard had ordered, Lawson's team took up positions to the right. This time it consisted of her, Taylor, Massani, Tisiphone, Shiala and Grunt – the heavy hitters mostly, in other words. Its job was to cover the other team and create confusion by sowing as much destruction as possible while remaining relatively close to the Akuze's docking position. Shepard hoped that Lawson and Tisiphone would be able to cooperate at least in this relatively uncomplicated task. That team's activities would allow Shepard's team to actually go retrieve Jack – at least, that was the plan. Tali would take care of technical support, Garrus of far-range support if necessary, Samara was probably the best biotic aboard, Purgatory's corridors and isolated areas were a perfect terrain for Kasumi and Mordin had to come along to check upon Jack's health if necessary.
The surprise element in the Akuze's attack had evidently worked. The Blue Suns were highly uncoordinated. Shepard's team encountered some isolated mercenaries, mostly turians and some humans, but no major resistance. The Spectre heard gunfire at his back, but he trusted Lawson would be able to handle this. His job was to find Jack.
If on cue, EDI reported in: "I've located Jack. According to the ship's files, he's held in Outprocessing. I'll mark your way."
"They were already preparing to hand him over," Garrus commented. "If these weren't Blue Suns I'd almost feel bad."
The team walked through an elevated gangway surrounded by glass, which led through a giant ship bay. Outside the gangway were several cubicles on multiple levels, and some huge gigantic robot arms, which were currently inactive. In the middle of it all was a small control tower.
Without prompting, EDI explained: "The cells are self-contained modular units that can be moved around within the block. This allows for transferring prisoners without the need to get them out of their cells. Jack has been moved to Outprocessing the same way. The cells can also be easily jettisoned into space."
Just lovely.
Tali pointed towards a machine outside the gangway. "Looks like a dark energy generator," she explained. "They're able to replicate biotic effects. We should be careful. If we encounter such machines on the way, they could be used against us."
The gangway was elevated above most cells, but right now it passed some cubicles, some of them with people inside. Shepard illuminated the interior of one of them with his armour's flashlight. Inside, he could see a purple-skinned asari which was just waking up due to the light. Even taking that into account, she looked disorientated... and bloodied. Her entire body was full of bruises, and her lips covered in dried up, blue blood.
"Fuck," Shepard cursed.
"Victim of severe beating," Mordin stated. "Very recently."
"This is how the Suns treated slaves on Omega," Garrus commented. "This so-called prison doesn't seem to be any better."
"It is a pity that Justicars usually do not operate outside of asari space," Samara added. "And I'm currently bound to this mission."
Shepard made a grimace. Officially, there were over 4,000 prisoners on Purgatory. Unofficially, it was about three times that number, if rumours could be believed. The Akuze crew could not help all of them, and besides, the large majority of them probably were criminals in fact. There was no telling what this asari had done. It was possible she had simply pissed off some local Terminus warlord, but more likely she was a criminal Still, better to let a hundred guilty persons go free, then to wrongfully 'punish' one innocent. That was the entire logic behind "innocent until proven guilty". But even if I wanted to free everyone here, I couldn't. 12,000 people... multiple times the number of Cerberus' victims. But there's nowhere for them to go.
With a stony face he turned around and continued walking.
The gangway ended at a round door. According to EDI's alerts on Shepard's omni-tool, this was the entrance to Outprocessing. The prisoner at the last cell before the door was awake. When the team passed by, a turian woman hissed: "Blood for the blood spirit! And skulls..."
Lovely. People muttering such gibberish were mentally unhealthy. Those people should be in mental hospitals, not in a prison. They had no control over their own actions, so it was not possible to judge them for it. But in the Terminus, the most underdeveloped region of the galaxy, this was a highly idealistic notion. There was hardly any psychological help for average citizens here, let alone criminals.
Outprocessing consisted of a waiting area and three cells behind it. According to the files EDI had found in Purgatory's systems, Jack was in the middle one.
"Be careful," Shepard told his team. "According to all reports, we're dealing with a hardened mass-murderer here, and a powerful biotic. We're here to free him, but he won't know that. Expect violent reactions. He may take us for guards, or see this as an opportunity to break out by himself." After he saw everybody nodding, he told EDI: "EDI, open the door."
The door did open... and revealed an empty cell behind.
"Did you open the right door, EDI?" Shepard asked.
"This is the right cell according to the ship files," EDI justified herself. "A moment, Captain. I'm rechecking the records."
Mordin looked back at the door through which they had come from and spoke to EDI. "Uncomfortable position. Also, limited time window. Know your professionalism, capacities, but would appreciate hurry."
"I've found a discrepancy," EDI spoke up again after only a few seconds. "The files were changed yesterday to mark this cell as being occupied by Jack. However, I checked yesterday's video files. No cell from cryo was moved to this room. Instead, an empty cell was moved into place."
"Was moved into place?" Shepard echoed. "Tampering with files, okay, but why would they move an empty cell?"
"Maybe they wanted to still prepare it," Garrus offered. "Place explosives in it, for example. It would be a convenient way to collect Cerberus' money, take us out and still keep Jack here."
"I've learned not to deal with the Blue Suns," Kasumi added. "Most local cells are untrustworthy."
"That's one possible explanation," Shepard agreed. "Or maybe it was just a technical fuck-up. But the question now is, where's Jack?"
"If Jack hasn't been moved, he's still in his old place," EDI told him. "A special holding cell in the block's cryo facility. I've marked a way to the control unit for it on your map, Captain."
Even though the gangway had multiple crossings, side-paths and dead ends, each of them looked unique, so with the help of EDI's markings it was very easy to find the way. The only resistance the team encountered was a bunch of FENRIS mechs and a single batarian in heavy Blue Suns armour.
The control unit was in a room with a large glass front at the opposite side of the entrance, which showed a larger room beneath it. Shepard instinctively raised his shotgun when he saw three YMIR mechs in that room, but then realized they were all deactivated. Behind them was a ramp up to what looked like some sort of mechanical apparatus.
Shepard looked at the terminal in front of him and asked via comm: "Is this the control unit, EDI?"
"Confirmed," EDI answered. "The room below you houses Jack's special cryo cell. The cell is currently locked into the ground."
"So Jack is in cryo, locked into a cell, which is itself locked away, and there are three YMIR mechs standing guard?" Kasumi commented in a hushed voice. "Just who is this Jack?"
"There are powerful dampening fields filling out the entire room, too," Shepard added. He finally realized what this tingling was he had felt at parts of his body.
"This might be problematic," Tali spoke up. As usual, she had already begun taking a look at the terminal. "Somebody here thought quickly enough to entirely wipe the terminal. I can still communicate with it using basic machine language, but the programs are all gone. There is no command anymore to let Jack go free."
This stumped Shepard. "Is there... anything you can do? Or we? Can we manually lift up Jack's cell? Is there another control unit?"
"The cell can't be raised manually," Tali explained. "This requires too much force. And as far as I know there is no other control unit. I might be able to simply rewrite the necessary programs, but this will take at least an hour. But... there might be another way."
"I'm listening," Shepard told her.
"There are some hardwired commands," Tali continued. "I could get let Jack go free by simply opening all doors on this cell block, shutting down all dampening fields and freeing all prisoners here."
"Given the nature of most prisoners, this would probably complicate the mission," Samara judged. "They'd pose a threat to us."
"Not a large one," Shepard disagreed. "We grab Jack, get back to the Akuze and are out of here again. But... what happens to the prisoners then?"
That was what concerned him. Even if their cell doors were opened, the prisoners had nowhere to go. Was he willing to incite a prison riot, which would probably turn rather deadly, just for the sake of getting one prisoner out, just for his own personal aims? Then he thought of the badly bruised asari. Actually, I think I am willing to do that.
"Do it," he ordered Tali. Maybe the inmates can catch some guards at least.
The first thing Shepard noticed was that the tingling sensation he felt was gone. The dampening fields had shut down. At the same time, one of those large robotic arms was grabbing the mechanical apparatus up the ramp. Air was pressed out from it; it seemed a hydraulic seal was being opened. The robot arm lifted up a transparent cylinder. Inside it was a person in cryo. That person was secured at wrists, ankles and even the neck, was covered in tattoos all over and was wearing only boots, orange-brown trousers and some minimal leather straps over her small breasts. It was a woman, and a rather small woman of thin stature at that.
"That's Jack?" Kasumi commented, surprised.
So was Shepard, and everyone else in the team. Of course the prisoner's name had suggested a man, but beyond just that Shepard realized he had subconsciously assumed some sort of bulky, muscular giant - the sort of person you expect a mass murderer in a violent prison to be. Yet, apparently even so Jack required all these security features around her.
Jack's fingers began to move. She was coming back to life. After a moment, she was gasping for air and conscious again. With some quick movement she got rid of her loosened restraints. This seemed to have cost her some energy: She had to stop in order to catch her breath, and was rubbing her head as if she had a headache.
At the same time, the YMIR mechs were coming to life, and turning around to face the awakened prisoner.
Shit. They're gonna kill her. Shepard had assumed Tali's general command would also keep the mechs deactivated. Going by her surprised body stance, apparently so was she. Let's see how bullet proof this glass is. "Open fire!" he YMIR was not easy to down, but maybe the team could draw away the mechs' attention. They certainly stood much more a chance against the mechs than Jack on her own and unarmed.
The glass did prove to be very resilient. It took several shots from the entire team until it broke. And by that time, it appeared Jack did not even need help.
It was difficult for Shepard to see amidst the gunfire around him and with the shattered glass in front of him, but there was a blinding flash of blue in the room below him, which rammed into one of the mechs, and then hopped around between them. It then simply disappeared.
By the time Shepard could get a clear picture of the scene in front of him, he saw that one YMIR mech had been all but destroyed. Its upper body was basically torn apart. The other two were heavily damaged; smoke rose from them and they were moving erratically. Only a small part of that damage could have come from the team's bullets. And there was a large hole in the wall, opened up as if by some explosive force from the inside.
"We have to follow her!" Shepard told the team. "The mechs are no danger anymore. Let's go down!"
Indeed, the last two mechs were put down basically in passing, as the team walked through the lower room, and then stepped out of the newly created hole in the wall. Outside, there was chaos. The team was now outside the elevated gangway, down on the bottom of the large rooms they had seen earlier. Shepard could hear shouting from everywhere, metal clattering on metal and even some shots. The prisoners were free, and as he had though, a riot was going on. But what was worse, he could spot several fires. The wall and several machines were torn asunder at multiple places. It appeared Jack was leaving behind a trail of destruction.
"At least it will be easy to figure out where she went," Garrus muttered.
The situation was general mayhem. Following Jack turned out to be more difficult than anticipated. The freed prisoners attacked everybody else in sight, no matter if prison guard or members of Shepard's squad, and sometimes also each other. Where possible, Shepard tried to knock the prisoners unconscious, but some of them had already captured weapons from the guards. It seemed everyone was an enemy.
"Warning!" A loud synthetic voice could be heard through loudspeakers. "Life support systems have been damaged. Degradation of air circulation in sector Seven. Total loss of air circulation in sector Nine. Total loss of heating system in sector Eleven." [2]
Goddamn, what has Jack done now?
Soon afterwards, another voice could be heard from the loudspeakers. Its angry tone made it clear this one was not synthetic: "All prisoners, return to your cells immediately or I'll open every airlock on this ship!"
"They won't kill their entire blackmail scheme out of sheer spite," Garrus commented.
Shepard had to agree. He knew that sometimes it was important for gangs to maintain an image of toughness, even more important than mundane profits. He had witnessed that himself in his youth. But even though the Blue Suns sometimes behaved like a gang, this scheme was a bit more sophisticated than street level. Other rules applied here.
The team passed by a pile of corpses. Specifically, two Blue Suns corpses surrounded by nearly two dozen corpses of prisoners. The mercenaries had been stripped of their weapons and of parts of their armour. They must have been really hated, if the prisoners were ready to just so throw away their lives to get them.
"Warning! Life support systems have been damaged. Degradation of radiation protection in sector Twelve. Immediate evacuation recommended."
It seemed on her tour of destruction Jack generally did not bother with using doors. Just as before, there was a hole in the wall that looked like an explosion had caused it. It led straight to the neighbouring sector. The first thing Shepard noticed there was an YMIR mech shooting in all directions.
An YMIR for prison control? This goes beyond running a blackmail racket. That's straight up psychotic!
Fortunately, the squad had less trouble dealing with the mech than the prisoners. The ground was littered with their corpses. Goddamn. Maybe I should've let Tali rewrite the programs. But there was no telling if EDI could hold up her control of Purgatory's systems for that long. Curiously, the vast majority of corpses seemed to be human.
"Warning! Decompressive hull breaches in sections fourteen and thirty. No survivors expected."
Shepard passed a series of cells when he heard sounds from one them. Instantly he swirled around, shotgun raised. But inside it was only a human man, cowering in a corner and whimpering. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" he shouted hastily. "I won't leave the cell!"
"Don't worry, we aren't wardens," Shepard reassured him.
He was about to turn around again when the prisoner spoke up again: "It's... Jonathan Shepard! The Spectre who saved the Citadel!" Shepard did not stop. People recognizing him or even only his voice was inevitable. But now the prisoner came to his feet and shouted after him: "Please, you have to get me out of here! Or tell the people in the Alliance!"
Shepard stopped. "Tell them what?"
The prisoner snorted bitterly. "That this is part of our prison system."
Now Shepard turned around again. "What? Are you telling me the Alliance outsources..."
"Bekenstein does[3]," the prisoner interrupted him. "I... after I lost my job... I just wanted revenge on the directors of the company. I don't deny I deserve prison. But it's easier for the colonial government to ship me here. It's out of sight, so nobody needs to keep minimum standards."
"Sounds just like Bekenstein," Kasumi commented.
"But it isn't like Bekenstein is a sovereign country," Shepard picked up the thought. Maybe he was overly eager to blame the Alliance, but Bekenstein was an Alliance colony in fact. "You know how often this happens?"
"I think... for all of their high security prisoners," the prisoner answered. "At least, it was like this when I was sentenced two years back. There have been talks of expanding the 'program'. Who knows how it is now. It isn't like this hole allows for much contact with anybody else, except if the guards come around to beat you again."
Shepard growled silently. That was really not something he could care about right now, but he would hate to simply let this drop. "Can you run?"
"Of course!" As if wanting to demonstrate it, the prisoner jumped outside his cell. "I'm still fit, I wouldn't..."
He did not get to finish this sentence. He fell down dead, a bullet hole on his head.
"Sniper!" Shepard shouted. The team dispersed, trying to look for cover.
"Shepard!" This was Lawson via the comm system.
"Bit busy right now," Shepard answered, while spending most his attention on finding out the enemy sniper's location.
"We've encountered Jack," Lawson reported. "At least we think so. Can you confirm Jack is female?"
"Confirmed," Shepard answered. There that bastard is.
"She's attacking us," Lawson continued. "So far we've managed to repel her without killing her. She's unwilling to talk, especially since she identified me as Cerberus. I can't clear the situation peacefully. Maybe you have a shot."
Damn. "Understood," Shepard replied. "But this might take a while."
The rest of the squad soon had found the enemy sniper's location as well, and with that it was only a matter of time until she went down. The team quickly resumed chasing Jack, staying along her path of destruction.
Eventually, they made a full circuit of the prison ship. Where they once had started to go left from the Akuze's dock place, they now arrived from the right side. They found Lawson's team bunkered in behind a makeshift barricade.
"Sir!" Lawson greeted Shepard. "Jack is injured and has withdrawn for now, but I don't think this will last. She seems to have an intense hatred for Cerberus."
Sounds sympathetic. "And you and Taylor are still wearing those insignia," Shepard answered. "Do you think she is still in the area?"
"If she had gone back to other ship areas we'd have heard more damage warnings by now," Lawson concluded.
Shepard nodded. Then he swung over the barricade and took some steps forwards. He also took off his helmet and attached it to his armour. He could hear sounds of surprise and warnings from behind, but he ignored them.
"I'm not Cerberus!" he shouted into the gangway. "I'm the Spectre who fought them two years back."
Out of nowhere, Shepard was hit by a biotic shockwave. Pain ran through his body while he staggered back. He came to his senses again rather quickly, but by that time the small, tattooed woman they had chased all the time stood directly in front of him, a pistol in hand.
"I always wanted to get a closer look at a hero before I kill him," Jack said. Her voice was surprisingly low for her small mass. At least she recognizes me. "Even if it's a fallen hero, apparently."
She smirked and raised her pistol. But this gave Shepard enough time to ask: "And how do you want to get off Purgatory?" Jack hesitated. "We're docked with a ship here. We came to free you. We're your ticket to get off here."
"On a Cerberus ship," Jack spat out. "You think I'm stupid?" But she did not shoot, and did not launch further biotic attacks.
It would have been easy to just answer yes, considering how Jack would be trapped on Purgatory if she did not accept help. But Shepard could understand her attitude, at least in this: Cerberus was perfectly capable of offering even worse fates than Purgatory. One just had to look at poor Corporal Toombs for an example.
"If you know me, you know my reputation," Shepard told her. "I risked my whole mission two years back in order to do the right thing. You think I'd let Cerberus imprison you? We're getting you out of here, and then you can either consider our offer and join us... or you're free to go." The last part was not strictly speaking true, as far as Shepard's plans went, but he was not about to tell her that.
Jack scoffed. "Right. Shepard, the good boy scout. But hell, this might give me a chance. Just keep me away from those Cerberus bastards. I suppose you won't want me to kill them."
"Not yet, anyway," Shepard confirmed matter-of-factly.
Several guns were aimed at Jack as she walked back to the barricade together with Shepard. She merely grinned dismissively, especially at Lawson, even though the Cerberus officer had her gun lowered. "Back off, Cerberus bitch," Jack told her.
Despite his own dislike for Cerberus, Shepard became slightly annoyed at the provocation. "What's the deal with you and Cerberus?" he asked Jack.
"They've been on my ass for years," Jack explained. "Anytime I get free, they put a huge bounty on my ass. That's why the Purgatory boys figured they'd struck gold when they got me."
"She's destroyed Cerberus property and killed Cerberus people," Lawson intervened. "Hence the bounty."
"Nice to know that now," Shepard snapped at her. "You didn't think this was information vital to this mission?"
"It wouldn't have mattered if we had followed the original plan," Lawson coolly defended herself.
"It would've mattered even more then!" Shepard protested. "Unless you really had keeping her as a slave in mind."
"She'd die first," Jack commented.
"Uh, guys... now that this all is settled, shouldn't we get the hell out of here?" Kasumi suggested. "The Suns will eventually solve their little technical problems."
"You're right of course," Shepard conceded. "Let's hop back into the ship."
Getting away from Purgatory was easy as expected. EDI managed to keep Purgatory's defence systems under her control long enough for the Akuze to get away. By that time, Shepard, Lawson and Jack had gathered in the conference room in order to brief the freed prisoner.
"Welcome aboard the Akuze. On this ship, we follow orders," Lawson told her.
Jack merely grinned. "Akuze?"
"If you lack the necessary discipline, you'll find yourself in the brig," Lawson continued.
This needlessly hostile introduction annoyed Shepard. Yes, Jack had attacked Lawson's team – but he would do the same if he were to run into a group appearing to consist of heavily armed Cerberus members. And given the insignia on Lawson's and Taylor's uniform, while they were part of a coherent unit, Jack had had to assume that unit was Cerberus.
"Here's an order for you, Lawson: Lay off her," he intervened. "Your behaviour isn't exactly conductive to cooperation."
"You think I'll cooperate with Cerberus?" Jack asked in a "Are you mad?" tone.
"Reports about you say you're a mass criminal, but if you're unwilling to cooperate with Cerberus you must have at least some moral backbone," Shepard commented.
"That Cerberus bitch here is right in one thing," Jack replied.
"I don't think I need to let myself get insulted," Lawson protested. But even now her voice was calm and even.
"Cerberus is a dog. You're a female Cerberus member. Draw your own fucking conclusion," Jack told her. "But you were right: I've been killing a lot of you bastards. Have been for a decade."
"A decade? You seem young for that," Shepard judged.
"So? Gave me enough time to kill dozens of them," Jack answered.
"I wiped out nearly their entire military wing two years back, if you want to make a contest out of this," Shepard told her. "But then, I had my reasons."
"So do I," Jack insisted. "They're my reasons. They aren't anybody else's business."
Shepard realized there was something there, something hidden. But this was not the time or the place to bring it up. But he would definitely ask later. "Okay, okay. As long as you're an enemy of Cerberus', you're okay in my book."
"And yet you work with them," Jack pointed out. "Fucking hypocrite."
"We have a common enemy," Shepard explained to her. "For the moment being."
"Right. And you want my biotic powers to fight them," Jack concluded. "Just like everybody else."
"We offer you something in return," Shepard stated.
"We'll roll up your disease as a sign up bonus," Lawson specified. "And once the mission is finished, we'll cure it."
"Like I'll trust Cerberus promises," Jack sneered.
"What's your alternative?" Lawson argued calmly. "Without us, you couldn't even afford the roll-up. You'll get that here for a certainty."
"Fine. Sign me up then," Jack agreed. "But you better watch your back. I don't like Cerberus fangirls."
Well, that's done. Now that she had agreed to join up, Shepard tried to get to mundane practicalities. "We're currently a bit short on living space here, as our squad is overstaffed. I can show you some possible..."
"I'll find something," Jack interrupted him. "Best something dark and out of the way." She turned and walked out of the conference room.
Lawson shook her head. "We shouldn't let her wander around on the ship like that."
"Get used to it," Shepard told her. "Remember, we didn't buy a slave. We freed a voluntary soldier for our army. She is free to walk around the ship."
…...
In the end, Jack's tour of the ship did cause some concern. Or rather, its end did. Engineering had raised some concern about the biotic suddenly staying in the area below them, so Shepard thought it best to go see her himself.
He did not think he ever had been in this part of the ship before. It did not even look properly finished, as if during internal construction the workers one day just decided the job was finished and left. Shepard could certainly not see any purpose this section had for the ship. At least not until now.
Surprisingly, there was a flat metal berth fixed to the wall. Jack sat on it, apparently feeling almost at home. Shepard still found her to be an odd sight: Bald shaved and basically half nude, wearing only her prison pants, small leather straps and, unfittingly to such light clothing, heavy boots. Her skin was wrapped in tattoos.
Shepard decided to come straight to the topic. Jack did not seem to be a small talk kind of person. "This is where you want to bunk?"
Jack looked up. She did not use any greeting, either. "I told you my preferences. Dark, lots of corners, out of the way. There's the engine's hum, but apart from that, it's quiet. I can hear everybody approaching. You know what that means? It's safe here."
There it was again, the hint of something unpleasant in her past. Shepard had run with gangs as a kid, but even he did not lurk in the shadows in order to find safety. For Jack, this concern seemed to be paramount.
"Safety is important to you?" he asked.
"I'd be dead already if it weren't," Jack claimed.
"Dead?" Shepard pressed on.
"You picked me up on Purgatory," Jack pointed out. "I haven't exactly had a safe life."
She seemed unwilling to say more, so Shepard dropped his questions. "I should inform you this area might not be quite as safe as you make it out to be. The whole ship's bugged. Probably even this hole here. Cerberus will be able to listen in to everything here."
"Not much different than it was on Purgatory," Jack claimed.
"With one difference: The bugs are operated by an AI," Shepard informed her. "All bugs are constantly monitored, she has enough capacity to do so."
"An AI? Fuck, Cerberus has really outdone itself this time then." Jack grinned. "Imagine this piece of information spreading. Could hurt them quite a bit."
"The AI as well," Shepard cautioned.
"So? Why the fuck should I care?" Jack asked. Maybe Tali should talk to her. They can bond over not caring for EDI. "What the fuck do you even want here?"
"The people in Engineering noticed you," Shepard explained. "I just wanted to make sure you won't cause problems down here."
"If I wanted to tear up this ship I could do it from anywhere," Jack claimed. "Don't worry, I'll play nice. For now. Hell, I like the ship. It's a powerhouse. Use it for raids, you could live like a king."
"I suppose that would still put it to better use than leaving it with Cerberus," Shepard agreed with a smirk.
"And why not go rogue?" Jack pressed the point. "Heard you don't like the Council anyway, and the Alliance even less."
"Not after what they did on Gagarin Station. But..." Shepard began.
"Hah. Yeah," Jack interrupted him. "I heard about that stuff. 'Biotic Acclimation and Temperance'. Fucked up name. But you whine about that? Small time stuff. Hang around long enough with Cerberus and you'll see."
Shepard saw another opportunity. "Is that why you fight them? Did they do something to you?"
"Hey, fuck you, Shepard. I'm not a victim," Jack told him. "I fight whoever the fuck I want."
Ah damn. Shepard was well acquainted with that attitude. That need to always appear tough and dominant had been rampant among the gangs of New York, and probably still was. People wanted to maintain an image of strength, and so they could not 'admit' that something emasculating happened to them, that some people might have done something to them – because that meant admitting those people had held power over them.
As far as Shepard was concerned, it was an irrational, self-destructive attitude, but lamenting that fact would not help. Pushing on simply would not yield results.
"Right," Shepard thus concluded the topic, at least for the moment being. "Just don't start fights on the ship. I don't think you could tear it up faster than we could react."
"Wanna test that?" Jack asked with a smirk.
"I don't think either of us wants to," Shepard stated. "We both stand to lose."
"Pussy. But whatever. I'll just stay here," Jack promised. "No threat of me causing trouble here. As long as the others stay far away. Anybody Cerberus gets here... I'll kill them."
This was of course problematic, but Shepard was not in a good position to judge her for this. After all, his order to kill everybody found planting bugs on sight still stood. And if Cerberus really had done something bad to Jack, then she deserved some isolation from them, by any means necessary.
"I'll make sure to spread the word," Shepard responded. But he would not be completely compliant. "You do anything funny with my people, I'll kill you." Ideally, he would not like to make death threats to Jack, but her attitude really reminded him of New York. He had to fight fire with fire.
Jack smiled. "Not that you'd succeed. But you got your point across. As for bugs, I don't care. Let that AI listen in to everything I do, if that's what gets it off. The AI can't be worse than the Cerberus bitch. If I were you I'd have already blown her head off."
"I will. Once the Collectors, our common enemy, are defeated," Shepard stated matter-of-factly. "And we both once that happens a showdown is inevitable."
"Better make damn sure you draw first then," Jack advised. She grinned. "Or let me do it."
"We'll see," Shepard answered. He paused. Well, maybe this is another opportunity. "Maybe you have a good claim. If you decide you want to tell me your story with Cerberus, well, you can do so at any time."
"I don't need a 'good claim' to kill people," Jack told him.
"You'll need one for me to let you do so," Shepard disagreed. "And if Cerberus committed a crime, not telling only helps them, not you."
"That isn't how the galaxy works," Jack sneered. "Nobody gives a shit about "crimes". People only care if they get hurt. That's how I ended up in Purgatory."
No getting through there for the moment being. "Well, the offer stands," Shepard promised. "You want to talk, tell me. Oh, and one more thing. I don't want slaves. I only take volunteers. That means, you can just up and leave at any port we dock, if you so want. Even after you got your treatment. You won't get the cure then, of course, but it's your choice. You want to leave, I'll even give you some pointers I've gathered where Cerberus resources may be. That you're an enemy of theirs makes this easy for me." The Akuze did not have the means to house a criminal long term, and simply letting somebody like Jack go free would potentially endanger lives. But her hatred for Cerberus did offer another possible venue, should she decide to walk away: Shepard would very much welcome Cerberus lives being put at risk. If he could sic Jack on Cerberus, that would be a viable alternative to her staying aboard. "Or you stay here and take up your chances that there might be a cure after all. But thing is, it's your choice."
For a moment, a hint of confusion was added to Jack's sneering face. "You're weird, Shepard. Get the fuck outta here."
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[1] You know, this does make me wonder: How the hell did Kuril plan to capture Shepard in the game, while Shepard's ultramodern warship was just outside? With Purgatory's massive overpopulation as per the codex, I don't imagine it has much space left for weapons. I figure the Normandy could make short work of it. Of course, forgetting you have a warship nearby is a common theme in the ME series. Just look at the several times orbital support would have been highly useful.
[2]Yeah, no, game, you can't tell me everyone dies to loss of life support within two minutes or less of Jack getting free. She'd need more time to do such damage, and even then the result of everybody dying would only happen some minutes or even hours later.
[3]I mean, there are suspiciously many human prisoners in the game. In fact, all prisoners we see are human. Probably because that's the race with the most models for it, but it's still also an in-game fact, and they have to come from somewhere. Human presence in the Terminus is not all that large yet, what with them being newcomers on the scene, and also gradually plummeting due to the Collector attacks. So, obviously, at least a good portion of them has to somehow come from Alliance space. That scrupulous politicians outsource prison duty to Purgatoy is part of the ship's codex entry. And even I do think it makes more sense that it's down to some ruthless local colonial politicians than the Alliance government itself... but still, IMO it also makes sense to conclude there might be something amiss in Alliance space (again)...
