A/N: First of all, thank you Kirabaros, SerenityFalconNormandy, Impslave, and Jules Hawk for your reviews. They made my day! Also thank you to my awesome beta reader, Vorcha Girl, and to any new followers. You rock! I apologize for the needing so long for this update and thank you for sticking with me through my inspirational drought. Now, enjoy.
Chapter 52
Smiling to herself, Nick walked through the hallway of Huerta Memorial Hospital's ICU towards the exit. It felt good seeing Kaidan again, talking to him, being in one room. It just felt right, and it left her aching for more than holding hands.
A pang of guilt swept through her at the sight of refugees and soldiers waiting to be treated, but she felt happier than she had in a long time and she had distinct feeling she would need this elevated mood for her upcoming meeting with Aria T'Loak. Nick stepped to the nearest rapid transport terminal, wondering what exactly Aria wanted and why she was on the Citadel.
The bass pounded relentlessly when she reached Purgatory. Nick swept the room, her gaze falling on a large couch to the right. She recognized Aria's second in command, Bray, and walked his way. He nodded a greeting and stepped aside, letting her walk straight up to the asari.
"Shepard," Aria said coolly, sparing her a short glance.
"Aria," Nick replied in a similar tone and sat down on the couch without further invitation. Aria raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Nick leaned back. "You wanted to see me."
"I did. And you came. How very obedient of you."
Nick snorted, crossing her arms in front of her. "What do you want, Aria? I doubt you called me because you missed my company."
The asari flicked a speck of dust off of her suit. "I have a proposition. You need troops to fight the Reapers, and I can help you get them."
"And you want me to do what in exchange?" Nick asked warily. There was no way in hell Aria would make an offer like this without expecting something in return.
"I need you to speak to the leaders of the Blue Suns, Eclipse, and Blood Pack. Get them to join me in retaking Omega and in return we will join the fight against the Reapers."
Scum, Nick thought, but she was willing to take all the help she could get against the Reapers. She pursed her lips. "Not my first choice, but we can't be picky at the moment," she finally said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice before asking, "Retake Omega? From whom?"
"Cerberus," Aria hissed, looking furious. "The Illusive Man is now squarely at the top of my shit list."
"Ah. I was wondering what you were doing on the Citadel. How did that happen?"
Aria's eyes flashed at the memory. "Deceit, distraction, and a big fucking army. By the time I realized what was happening they were too entrenched and all I could do was retreat here." She swept her arm in a wide circle, contempt dripping from her words.
Nick let her gaze wander through the dark room, illuminated mostly by flashing strobe lights. "I'd want to kick Cerberus in the balls if I were you."
"That's why I almost like you, Shepard," the asari said drily. "I'm going to slap Omega right out of the Illusive Man's greedy little hands."
"You have a plan?"
Omega's self-appointed leader gazed at her lazily. "Oh yes. I think I'm going to employ violence."
Shepard smirked and got up. "Sounds like fun. I'll see what I can do about the mercs."
Oddly enough she trusted Aria. They didn't like each other, but there was mutual respect. The asari wasn't stupid; she knew exactly that if the Reapers weren't taken care of Omega would fall as well, and if she was willing to supply troops such as these, then Nick would help her get them aboard. The Alliance and the Council would just have to deal with the possible fallout later.
Several hours later Nick returned to the Normandy. After talking to the leaders of the three largest mercenary bands she felt filthy. Not so much the Blood Pack, but Darner Vosk and Jona Sederis made her skin crawl. They were vile. She shivered as she stepped into the airlock and waited for the decontamination cycle to finish; she could still feel Vosk's leering gaze on her. She wondered where she could find the rare artifacts needed to get the Blue Suns to join Aria and with that the war effort, because she wasn't going to order a hit on the turian general. At least the other two groups had already been taken care of.
The hatch to the CIC opened and she stepped inside.
"Is everyone aboard?" she asked, walking into the helm.
"The crew is complete, Commander," EDI answered. "There's also an incoming transmission from Admiral Hackett."
Nick forced a smile. Almost a week had passed since EDI had taken over the Dr. Coré's gynoid body, but it was still strange seeing it sitting next to Joker in the helm. He didn't seem to mind. Quite the contrary, he'd been thrilled.
He didn't see Kaidan getting smashed against the shuttle either. And, he's not in love with him.
She didn't want to admit it, but Mars haunted her dreams almost every night. She trusted EDI, but she needed more time to get comfortable with the AI's new platform.
"Thank you, EDI," she answered after a short pause. "Put it through to the QEC. Joker, take us aweigh."
Shepard strode through the CIC to the war room, nodding to Westmoreland and Campbell as she waited to pass through security. The atmosphere in the war room was strained, but both Wrex and Victus had their people under control. Everyone was content with eying the other suspiciously.
Nick ground her teeth. The sooner the krogan and the turian delegation were off the ship the better.
She stepped to the QEC and tapped the console. Hackett's image appeared in front of her flickering slightly.
"Commander," the admiral said, "it's good to see you."
"And you, sir," she answered. "Do we have any news from Earth?"
Hackett smiled. "As a matter of fact I do. I'm patching in Anderson." He pushed a button and Anderson's image flickered into appearance. He looked weary, but his expression brightened at her sight.
"Veronika, good to see you!" Anderson said, repeating Hackett's words.
"Thank you, sir. Same here."
Anderson tsked. "I call you by your first name, and you go all formal on me. That's never happened before."
Nick smiled. "Sorry, Uncle Dave. It won't happen again. How are things on Earth?"
He ran a hand through his hair. "Tough, but we're not out of the game yet. Reaper forces usually target large cities so we try to avoid those. As long as we don't stay in one place too long we're fine." He hesitated. "Not sure how long this is going to work though."
Nodding slowly Nick asked, "Can you give me an estimate on how long you can hold out?"
"Several months at least, a year if all goes well, maybe more," Anderson replied. "Supplies are the biggest problem. Weapons, ammo, we all know that. But we also know getting stuff to Earth will be increasingly difficult." He paused. "Something else. You know the apartment I have on the Silversun Strip? I want you to have it."
Nick looked at the admiral in surprise. "What? But … what about Kahlee? I know she has her own place, but she practically lived at your apartment."
Anderson waived her objections aside. "You don't have an apartment anymore and you'll need a place to recharge when there's a chance, someplace that isn't the Normandy. Kahlee would be the first to agree."
She mumbled her thanks, well aware that she couldn't turn the gift down. Anderson glanced to the side. When he looked back he was smiling.
"I have another surprise for you." He stepped away from the QEC without further warning. The projection of another Alliance officer appeared in his place.
"Dad!" Nick exclaimed. "I thought -"
"I was dead? Not yet, kid. How're you holding up?" John Shepard looked at his daughter critically.
"Holding," Nick replied. "Things have slowed down for the moment. I just had a few days to rest while we were in transit. We're on our way again after a short stop at the Citadel, so that's a few more days shipside." She hesitated briefly, looking over to Hackett. "I wanted to check on Major Alenko. He's doing better and hopes to be able to return to duty soon. I could use him on my team."
"I've received a report from Huerta concerning his status," Hackett informed her. "We'll consider where he's to be posted as soon as we have the all-clear from the doctors at Huerta."
"Of course, sir." She wasn't sure but she thought she saw the three men smirk. Swallowing she turned back toward her father. "Have you heard from mom? Is she okay?"
"Not yet," he let her know, shaking his head. Father and daughter looked at each other solemnly. A noise in the background caught both his and Anderson's attention. "We have to get back to it. I'm proud of you, Nick. Stay strong."
They said their good-byes. For a moment Nick remained staring at the empty QEC. It was good to know her father was alive, and she hoped her mother was as well. Why hadn't she reported to Hackett? Had her ship encountered Reaper forces and succumbed? Had the ship crashed? Memories of colonists and marines transformed to husks on Eden Prime bubbled up.
She took a deep breath, turned on her heel, and walked slowly back to the CIC.
While waiting for the elevator to take her to the crew level her thoughts wandered to Kaidan, wondering if he had heard from his family too; she hoped he had, especially considering they lived in Vancouver.
She made her way to Liara's office only to find it empty apart from Glyph. The door closed behind her while she walked into the almost empty mess. She nodded at the crew members seated at the table and walked past the crew sleeping pods towards the forward battery. It was empty.
"Okay," she muttered under her breath, hands on her hips as she gazed into the empty room. She raised her voice slightly. "EDI, where are Liara and Garrus?"
"Dr. T'Soni and Garrus are on the port observation deck," EDI replied.
"Thank you," Nick said, heading that way.
Before she had gone very far Wrex called out to her, ambling toward her from the med bay. She waited for him to walk over.
"Where are we off to, Shepard?" he rumbled.
"Bahak system. Why?" Shepard replied.
The krogan pulled out his omnitool. "Because I'd like you to check in on something. One of my scouting teams has gone silent. They missed their last two routine check-ins. I've sent Aralakh company to investigate, but I'd like you to help them."
Shepard ran a hand over her chin. "Where was this scouting team when they last reported in?"
Wrex informed her they had been investigating rumors of increased activity around the rachni relay and sent the available data to her omnitool. "They were on Utukku in the Ninmah cluster."
"And why do you want me to go there?"
"Because the scouts reported rachni presence," Wrex replied. "And I thought you might find that interesting considering your decision back on Noveria."
Her eyes widened in surprise. "Rachni? Are you sure?"
He scoffed. "We're krogan. We know rachni when we find them."
She held up her hand, and began reading the reports. Her expression grew serious. "Okay, Wrex. We'll check it out right after our little salvage tour."
He rumbled his thanks while she continued to the port observation deck.
"How's Kaidan?" Garrus asked without preamble as she stepped into the room, the pneumatic door closing behind her with a hiss.
"He's doing better," Nick answered, walking to the bar. She scanned it briefly before taking a bottle off the shelf. She added some ice to a glass and poured the liqueur over it. She took a sip, enjoying the smooth, burning sensation of the drink.
"And?" Garrus pushed carefully. "Judging from the smile on your face things went pretty good. You were gone quite a long time."
"We talked, that was all," Nick replied innocently, unable to stop the smile on her face. She took a swallow of her drink ignoring the knowing smirks her friends exchanged. "Afterwards I met with Aria, did a bunch of running around to recruit people for the war, and when I got back Hackett and Anderson were on the QEC, and so was my dad. He's on Earth with Anderson together with his ICT students. So, yeah, it all took some time."
Garrus placed a hand on her shoulder. "It must be a relief knowing at least one of your parents is alive. And knowing Kaidan is on the mend," he added.
"Yeah, I'll take all the good news I can get," she replied quietly, glancing at her friend. "Any news from your family?"
Garrus shook his head, and she looked at the glass in her hand, turning it slowly back and forth.
"I'm sure they made it off Palaven in time," Nick said after a short pause and winced inwardly. It sounded hollow even to her ears.
Clicking his mandibles softly, Garrus gave her shoulder a squeeze. "I appreciate the thought."
Nick nodded, and for a moment they sat in silence. She looked at Liara. "Liara, we need to find some special artefacts. Can you use your intel as the the Shadow broker to find a lead for us? Aria made me an offer to join our forces against the Reapers, but she wants my help first."
"Of course," Liara replied, immediately typing something into her omnitool.
"Perfect." Nick paused. She leaned forward, perching her elbows on the counter as she watched the asari work, and finally decided to ask another question that had been bubbling away for a while. "So Liara, you and Ash. When did that happen?"
Garrus' head whipped around to look at Liara.
The asari blushed. "How did you know?"
"Just something you said to Kaidan on Mars," Nick replied with a small shrug. "I've been meaning to ask ever since."
"I can't believe you never told me anything about this, T'Soni. And here I thought we were friends." Garrus shook his head in mock indignation.
Liara blushed even more. "We met several times on the Citadel before I moved to Illium, and every time we seemed to get closer and closer. Things kind of developed from there."
"Well, I'm happy for you both," Nick told her. A thought occurred to her and she paused, considering how to phrase her next question. "Did you start seeing each other before or after the Lazarus project started? Does Ash know of your business with Cerberus concerning … my body?"
"No," Liara whispered and hung her head. "She doesn't."
Nick and Garrus shared a surprised look.
"You might want to change that."
More than a week later the Normandy reached the Mulla Xul system. They had stopped at the Citadel on the way back from the Bahak system, but Kaidan had been in therapy at the time so Nick hadn't been able to visit him. At least they had talked several times on vid call. He was hoping to get out of the hospital soon. She had seen Thane at the hospital, though, and taken care of a number of errands.
Now they were preparing to meet with Aralakh company on Utukku. Nick stepped into the cargo bay followed by Garrus and Liara, and headed towards James to pick up their weapons for the mission.
"James, give me all the incendiary ammo we can spare. And grenades. Lots of grenades," Shepard said, checking her weapons with practiced ease.
He set a box on the weapons bench and Shepard filled up the pouches on her belt while Garrus stocked up on armor-piercing ammo.
"Good thing Cortez ordered more incendiary ammo before we got to the Citadel, " James commented.
There was a sharp laugh from the other side of the shuttle bay where Cortez was busy finishing inspections on the shuttle. "I wouldn't be a good procurement officer, if I didn't know what my CO needs to be happy on a mission. And when we're down to one crate of incendiary ammo then I'm sure to order more."
"You're the best, Steve," Shepard called back, blowing him a playful kiss.
Hours later, Nick stepped into her quarters. She felt incredibly weary and everything reeked of rachni. James had taken her weapons as soon as she got off the shuttle, and she had dragged Grunt to the med bay, leaving the krogan in Dr. Chakwas' and Mordin's loving care.
It had been a tough fight against the Rachi forces. Reaper-controlled Rachni forces. The amount of corruption the Reapers were capable of was terrifying. She also hadn't expected to encounter the Rachni queen again, and she hoped she had made the right decision in letting the queen go.
Speaking to the Rachni queen had reminded her of Noveria. Kaidan had backed her decision back then and she couldn't help wonder if he would've agreed with her today.
She stepped into the shower, still wearing her armor, and turned on the water; she wanted at least some of the goo and blood rinsed off before she sat down and cleaned every piece by hand. She slowly stripped down, dropping each armor piece onto the floor next to her before peeling herself out of her underarmor.
Once she had finished cleaning the armor of the last bit of rachni residue she stretched with a groan.
"What a stench," she mumbled as she began writing her mission report. "EDI, please recycle the air in my quarters. I'm sick of smelling rachni blood and guts."
"Of course, Shepard."
"Thanks."
Silence fell, interrupted only by the whirring of the air filters and the clicking of the keys on the keyboard. Filing reports had to be one of Nick's least favorite parts of her job, but it had to be done. She rubbed her hands over her face and sat back, reading over her report a final time before sending it to Hackett.
"Shepard," EDI's voice sounded loud in the quiet room. "Mordin wishes to speak to you."
Nick stood up, grateful for the interruption. Grabbing her hoodie she walked towards the door. "Tell him I'm on my way."
Mordin was already waiting for her. "Shepard. Tests verified. Results promising. Can synthesize cure for universal krogan immunity," he let her know before she had taken two steps into the med bay.
Shepard stopped short in surprise. "The cure is ready to deploy?"
Mordin continued talking at a great pace. "No. Only effective if distributed to all krogan. Transmission vector is problem. Groundwater? No, too slow. Voluntary inoculation risky."
"Mordin, you infected the krogan before, you can do it again," Nick said, glancing at Grunt and Eve at the far end of the med bay. Grunt appeared to be sleeping, but Eve nodded at her. Nick wasn't quite sure if it was a greeting or Eve agreeing with her statement.
"Population to scattered for airborne," he went on, ignoring her comment. "Unless, yes! The Shroud."
"The Shroud?" Nick repeated. "What is that?"
"Constant dispersion of air particles to repair atmosphere of Tuchanka. Built by salarians, and used by turians -."
"Let me guess, to spread the genophage?" she asked, certain her suspicions would be confirmed.
"Precisely. Also original strain in storage at Shroud. Can use it as carrier for cure."
Nick considered the information for a moment. She waved for Mordin to accompany her and walked towards the door. "Let's inform the others."
A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews and feedback are always welcome! :)
