Review reply: lordheistra222...oh, we will. ;)
Chapter 43: Ilium
There was nothing new under the moon
So we reached above it
For these stars are infinite
We could map these skies
We could see every sun rise, burn, and fall
But there will still be discoveries to be made
There will still be worlds to find
Terra had been to a lot of worlds, but Ilium was new to her. It was a border world, right on the edge of Council space and the Terminus Systems, colonized by the asari and run by corporations as much as Noveria. Their last two recruits were around here somewhere, but it was the horizon that drew her in when they landed. Amethyst skies stretched over a broad skyline, busy traffic skidding past hundreds of meters above the ground. It was wondrous.
But even that slipped her mind when the asari who greeted them at the docks informed them Liara T'Soni was there and wanted to see them. Liara was here! That got Terra racing through the trading floor to the office set aside for the asari in question.
She opened the door to find an asari information broker speaking to a contact over a holo-COMM. "Have you faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have."
Terra stilled. She knew that voice, it was clearly Liara, but using the words of her indoctrinated mother? That menacing tone? Something was wrong.
"I'll make it simple. Either you pay me or I flay you alive. With my mind!" Only with that said did she hang up.
Really wrong. But she was here and this was still her friend. She had to say something. "Liara?"
Liara jumped when she heard that voice. "Shepard!" She quickly dropped her things on the desk and turned to the door, calling to her assistant to hold her calls before rushing over to hug Terra. "…Shepard…" All the menace in her voice was gone, replaced by the relief of a friend in mourning reuniting with her lost companion.
Terra returned the embrace. Things were different, but this was proof enough that Liara was still her friend no matter how much either of them had changed. That was a comfort to know.
Liara sighed blissfully as she drew back. "My sources said you were alive again, but…I never dreamed…"
Terra smirked. "You have sources now?"
Liara shrugged. "Sources, contacts, some hired muscle. I've been working as an information broker. Not what I'm used to, but it's paid the bills since…you…well, for the past two years."
Oh. Terra hadn't realized just how long two years was. Garrus and Tali had moved on and even changed, but this was…quite the change to have missed. "…are you OK?"
Liara sighed. "Better now that you're here. I've missed you."
Terra smiled. "I've been hearing that a lot lately."
Liara smiled back. "It shows how much you meant to us all."
"I don't suppose you'd be willing to tag along again? I could use more friends on the Normandy right now."
"I wish I could. But I have responsibilities here. If it's information you need, though, I'm happy to provide."
Not what she wanted, but she'd take it. So Terra got what she needed to track down their last two recruits before preparing to head out. "Thanks for the help. And Liara? If you ever need me—if you want a door kicked down or just someone to talk to—I'm only a call away."
Liara nodded gratefully. "I appreciate that, Shepard. Stay safe."
That she couldn't promise, but she would certainly be trying. She was no good to the galaxy dead.
Clearly.
The first of their last two recruits was an assassin. Yippee. Liara had been able to identify his latest target, so it was a simple matter of infiltrating said target's tower and fighting their way to the top. Right away, Terra started to suspect this was no ordinary assassin. This target clearly deserved what was coming. They only made it as far as the front door when they saw one of the salarian workers the mechs had shot down. Terra wasn't letting this stand. She spared some medi-gel to get the salarian back on his feet, then she stormed the tower, taking out every merc and mech in her way and freeing every worker they found. Each of the salarians they found, though, was alive and safely locked away apparently by the assassin. By the time they reached the penthouse, Terra wasn't sure what to expect anymore.
She definitely wasn't expecting a drell to drop soundlessly from the vents, snap the necks of all the guards, then shoot the target in the stomach before she even realized he was there. Or for him to then lay her body down gently and fold his hands in penitence.
Terra looked at him in amazement. "Thane Krios, was it? You sure know how to make an entrance."
He didn't even look at her.
"I was kind of hoping to talk to you."
"I apologize," he spoke up, "but prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken."
Now she was stunned. "You really think she deserves it?"
He shook his head. "Not for her. For me."
Never mind. Now she was stunned.
The drell named Thane simply came around to speak to her directly. "I was curious to see how far you would go to find me. Well, here I am."
She would've questioned how he knew she was coming, but she hadn't exactly been subtle on the way up here. "I need your help. The Collectors are abducting entire human colonies. We need to shut them down."
Thane gave her a curious look. "Attacking the Collectors would require traveling through the Omega-4 relay. No ship has ever returned from doing so."
She shrugged. "I specialize in doing the impossible."
"So I've heard." He turned to consider the offer, glancing contemplatively out the window at the sunset. It was a thought-provoking sight to him, bringing him to breathe deep and confess "This was to be my last job. …I'm dying."
Of all the things he could've said, Terra was not expecting that. This whole meeting had been a string of surprises, but this news was regrettable, to say the least. "I…I hadn't heard that. Is there anything we can do?"
"Giving me this chance is enough. Low survival odds do not concern me. The abduction of your colonists does." So he turned to accept. "I will work for you, Shepard. No charge."
After bringing Thane back to the ship to get settled in the driest area of the ship, the life support deck, it was just a matter of collecting their final recruit. Samara, an asari justicar, was off investigating a crime scene.
More or less. Terra had only walked through a door before a merc suddenly went flying overhead to slam into the wall. Ten seconds later, another came tumbling out a window to crash on the ground nearby.
Then the justicar herself came down to break her neck. Once that business was concluded, she turned to Terra. "I am Samara, a servant of the justicar Code. My quarrel is with these Eclipse sisters, yet I see three well-armed people before me. Are we friend or foe?"
"Friend, I'm hoping," Terra answered, "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm putting a team together for a dangerous mission and I need the best. That means you."
"I am flattered, but I cannot. I seek a dangerous fugitive. I cornered her here, but the Eclipse sisters smuggled her off-world. I must find the name of the ship she left on before the trail goes cold."
A difficult problem with a simple solution. Terra headed straight for the Eclipse headquarters to track down the name of the ship for her. Even on their home turf, the Eclipse didn't stand a chance. When the captain was taken care of, it was just a matter of taking the datapad from her desk and bringing it back to Samara.
"Your fugitive left on the AML Demeter," Terra informed the justicar.
Samara smiled. "Shepard, you impress me. You have fulfilled your part of the bargain and I will fulfill mine."
And just like that, they had a full team. Once Samara was on the ship and settled into the observation deck opposite Kasumi's, they had a squad numbered 11. Well, 12 if you counted Terra, but Garrus had had some bad luck with that count and preferred not to think of it that way, especially considering the mission they were on. Terra even suggested they gather in the COMM room to discuss strategy and "break the ice" a little.
That went about as well as could be expected.
"I'm out," Jack said two seconds in, turning to head back for the cargo hold, "I got no interest in playing nice with Cerberus."
"Yeah, well, neither does Tali," Terra pointed out, "so you've got some common ground there. In fact, quite frankly, neither do I, but I'm trying to make a point to these two." She nodded to Jacob and Miranda.
"Hey," Jacob stepped back, "we're on your side."
"Cerberus is trying to do the right thing," Miranda pointed out, ignoring the few choice words Jack muttered in response, "Let's not turn on each other before we even get there."
"And here I thought playing peacemaker was my job," Terra remarked, "Is that why you took the XO position?"
"Fine, as long as we agree this is about doing what's best for humanity."
"No, it's about stopping the Reapers and doing what's best for the galaxy. You can avoid mentioning my background, but I can't just ignore it."
"What's she talking about now?" Zaeed questioned.
"Oh," Kasumi smirked, "the good commander's an adopted turian."
"She's what?" Grunt asked, clearly confused.
"Orphaned, brought to Palaven, developed sense of honor and duty that prompted enlistment—am I missing anything?"
"No, that sounds about right," Terra answered.
"Oh, and let's not forget deeply in love with our new gunnery chief."
"Wait, what?! I didn't tell you that!"
"You didn't have to, Shep."
Terra groaned. Was it that obvious or was the gossipmonger thief actually spying on her? She wasn't sure which was worse.
Garrus seemed to have the same response. "Uh, maybe I should go—"
"Oh, come on, you two!" Tali smirked, "You didn't exactly bother hiding it on the last Normandy."
Terra sighed. Right. It was that obvious. Fair enough. "Look, we're here to discuss our next move, not my personal life."
"But shouldn't we get to know you if we're gonna be following you around everywhere?" Kasumi smirked playfully.
"Thin ice, Goto!"
"Alright, we can stop picking on Shepard any minute now," Jacob shook his head.
Jack scoffed. "You're just saying that 'cause you don't like thinking about your golden girl as a bird-lover."
"Not making it better, Jack," Terra moaned.
Samara seemed to be considering the new information carefully. She finally noticed how Terra's necklace matched Garrus' markings and smiled. "I see. You consider each other family and the bond has deepened over time."
"Over 15 years, yeah. Now can we please talk about something else?"
"Ah!" Mordin spoke up, clearly having missed the pointed question, "Starting to understand now. Exposure to secondary culture at developmental age after great trauma. Deep emotional attachment to turian species prompting ideals of galactic unity, exploring cultural diversity, honor, courage, self-sacrifice. Remarkable!"
"Thanks, now can we—"
"In terms of interspecies relationship, can provide medical recommendations."
"OK, that's enough of that!" Garrus spoke up, turning to leave the room.
"What, you've known the girl 15 years and you haven't even tried to bang her yet?" Zaeed cut back in.
"Alright, that does it!" Terra snapped, "One more comment and I'm kicking you all off the ship and starting over!"
"What else are we supposed to talk about?" Kasumi retorted.
"Oh, I don't know, how about the fact that a race of giant machines out to obliterate all organic life in the galaxy sent an army of Collectors to abduct entire colonies and we don't know how to stop them yet?!"
"…fair enough."
"Not sure what you expect us to do about it," Jack cut back in, "None of us know how to get through that relay any more than you do."
"We can still be discussing how to prepare the ship for the assault," Tali suggested, "I have some ideas about the shielding, and it couldn't hurt to upgrade the plating and batteries while we're at it."
"Of course," Mordin nodded, "Can pool resources in tech lab, possibly apply to upgrading armor and weapons as well."
"Before or after you give those 'medical recommendations' to the lovebirds over there?" Kasumi sniggered.
"Is every conversation on the ship like this?" Thane finally asked.
Garrus groaned. "Starting to look that way, yeah."
Terra finally gave up. "On second thought, we can start this up again after we've gotten off of Ilium."
Miranda stepped in before she could move. "Um, actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about before we left the docks." She looked at the squad for a moment. "Alone."
Somehow, this time, they got the message. Jack tossing a sharp glance at Miranda on the way out, they all headed back to their stations, Mordin apparently getting started on arranging those upgrades with Garrus, Tali, and Jacob.
Once it was clear, Terra turned to Miranda. "What is it?"
Miranda sighed and explained the issue: her father had genetically engineered her but not cared about her, she'd run away and joined Cerberus at a young age, and she had a twin sister (genetically identical, at least) on Ilium who was still being hunted down by their father. "There's a chance he knows where she is. I was hoping we could go to the transport station while her family's being relocated to make sure she's safe."
Terra was amazed to hear all this. There was more to the operative than she had realized, apparently. And since she knew what it was like to lose a sister, she didn't see any reason they couldn't take care of this while they were there. "Of course. Grab your gear, I'll get Garrus, and we'll go."
To her credit, Miranda didn't have a problem with Garrus coming. She may have been Cerberus, but she didn't seem to have a problem with the aliens onboard. She especially didn't seem to have a problem with the fact Terra worked best with Garrus behind her and didn't go anywhere without him. Instead, she simply thanked the commander for agreeing to divert their attention for a while and headed for the armory.
Terra was starting to think she actually liked the operative. Maybe she really was on the path to winning over the Cerberus crew.
It was late in the night by the time they were headed in. Miranda's contact had warned them that her friend, Niket, was headed in ahead but that Eclipse was moving in on the terminal at the same time. Miranda's solution was to fly straight in to draw fire and bank on the fact that the mercs would have orders to take her in alive. Risky, but they'd had riskier, and it was the best shot at giving Miranda's sister, Oriana, time to get clear. Luckily, the mercs did eventually hold fire and let them land. Unluckily, they weren't actually interested in playing fair, so it still ended in a straight-up fight. Their loss. …literally.
Their path through was simple enough—shoot everything in their way. They had enough practice with Eclipse troops by now (seriously, these guys were everywhere on Ilium) to take them out easily, especially with Miranda there to quickly take down all their defenses. It took all of ten minutes for them to cross the entire terminal…and intercept an Eclipse COMM message that Niket was the one handing Oriana over to the mercs. Miranda was convinced this meant the Eclipse were onto them and leaking false information. Until they reached the cargo bay and saw Niket himself there with the Eclipse. Terra couldn't blame Miranda for wanting to shoot the guy, but she knew better than to let that happen; Miranda could write it off as protecting Oriana, but the truth was that it was vengeance, which Zaeed's debacle had proven never solves anything. Not that it mattered, since the Eclipse captain immediately turned around and shot him for them. Miranda proved Terra right by lashing out at the captain for gunning down the man she still cared for, tossing her across the entire bay with her biotics and sending them into one last firefight. Miranda was plainly devastated when the fight was over and the emotional weight of this mission crashed down on her, but Terra stepped up. A good commander supports their soldiers, after all. And a good friend is there to pick them up when they falter. So Miranda pulled herself together and led them to the last elevator, asking that they check the main terminal to make sure Oriana was clear of Eclipse completely.
When they reached the terminal and determined it was safe, Miranda caught sight of her sister across the way. "There she is."
Terra followed Miranda's gaze and saw a 19-year-old girl with Miranda's face talking to a pair of adults with a bright smile. The likeness was uncanny, but the innocence was new. This girl had no idea what Miranda had saved her from, and the capacity for a normal life had sent her on an entirely different path from her sister.
"She's safe," Miranda continued, seeming to follow Terra's line of thought for herself, "…with her family." She hesitated, falling into silence for a moment as she watched Oriana. Then she took a deep breath and steeled herself once more. "Come on. We should go."
Terra looked at her in shock. "You're not even gonna talk to her?"
"Shepard, she has a family, a life. I'd just complicate that for her."
This was one matter Terra was not budging on. "Miranda, if I had the chance to talk to my sister, I'd take a little complication. She doesn't need to know the details, but she deserves to know she has a sister who loves her."
Miranda didn't argue. She knew it was true. So she walked over before she could change her mind.
Terra watched from afar, smiling as the scene unfolded. This was a private moment, though, so she diverted her attention to the distant sunrise, as beautiful as the sunset and even more hopeful.
Garrus finally came up next to her. "She's really going to owe you for this."
Terra shook her head. "We're crewmates. And this was a family matter. It's on the house." She looked at him. "Speaking of which, when you were talking to Mordin about the guns, did he mention…?"
He nodded. "He talked to some STG contacts. They're working on upgrading the security clearance on the research group that's treating Corpalis. And I may have channeled some funds into the family account when no one was looking."
She smirked. "Wish we could see their faces when they check the balance."
"I'd probably be their last guess for where it came from."
"No, I'd be the last guess. You know, since they think I'm dead and all."
Oh, right. He watched her as she looked back over at the sunrise, clearly disheartened. "You know, I'm going to call them later and check in, let them know I'm OK and everything. If you want, you could talk to them—"
"No. I want to, but they're going through enough right now without me springing that on them, especially considering who did it. …and I don't wanna get their hopes up if we don't make it out of this."
"Terra, you can't think like that—"
"I know, but I have to. When this is over, we'll call them together, celebrate the Collectors going boom, and handle the salarians. In the meantime, we'll just have to keep supporting from afar and you can do all the talking."
"Without mentioning you or where I am?"
"Did they know you were on Omega?"
"…I see your point."
Terra smirked. "I'm insightful like that."
"Commander," EDI's voice suddenly came over the COMM, "The Illusive Man is asking to speak to you in the COMM room when you return to the ship."
Terra groaned. "This should be interesting."
Terra and Garrus waited by the elevator as Miranda spoke with Oriana. When Miranda finally hugged her sister and came back over to them to go, she was clearly holding back tears. Terra smiled. Whatever happened next, this had been worth the detour.