Chapter 15
After we docked with the Normandy and stored all of our gear, we took the elevator up to the CIC (Combat Information Center) on level 2. As soon as the doors opened it felt like coming home, the bridge of the Normandy SR-2 was (almost) exactly as I remembered it. The only differences were in the Alliance logos replacing the Cerberus ones, both on the walls and the uniforms of the crew. And, to my surprise, Dr. T'Soni was standing on the central dais where the galaxy map was located. The station that should have been reserved for the person in command of the ship.
"Where's John?" I asked as soon as I saw her. "Is he-?"
The, still young, Asari from Shepard's original crew turned around as soon as she heard me speak but it was Garrus that answered my question.
"Shepard's fine so far as we know. Though he did just let Aria T'Loak talk him into a private mission, so who knows? He could be calling us to pull his boots out of the fire any day now."
No prizes for guessing what that might be. No doubt the Queen had decided the time had come to get her throne back but that still left an obvious question.
"So why isn't the Normandy taking part in the campaign? I would have thought a ship like this would be a real benefit to her fleet."
"You're probably right, but apparently the Alliance brass wasn't too keen on the idea of using their state of the art warship to help settle a territorial dispute. Especially for someone who is still officially considered to be a Terminus warlord."
"Not to mention Aria wasn't particularly keen on having us around either. Probably a smart move too; I never stood a chance of taking her down during my time as Archangel, but now? If I saw a chance of setting up Omega with a different leader I might just have been tempted," added Garrus.
"In any event, Shepard will likely be out of contact for a few days while he deals with the Cerberus occupation so he's left myself and Liara in charge until he gets back."
"I'm sure the Alliance was thrilled about having aliens in charge of one of their ships."
"They weren't pleased, but right now they have much bigger things to worry about. Speaking of which..."
He jerked his head towards the front of the ship and I followed him down the long corridor to the cockpit, where as always Joker was sitting in the pilot seat (his brittle bone disease means that he tends not to move around the ship as much). I also noticed that apparently, EDI had claimed the copilot station with her new body. Somewhat ironic given that in many ways she was the ship but I guess she liked being stationed close to our pilot.
"Resume our course for the Citadel, we still need to pick up more supplies."
"Hi Joker, how you doing? Would you mind awfully putting us back on our original course? Geez Garrus, I know Shepard left you in charge but there's no need to go turning into-"
EDI nudged his arm (very, very gently I noticed) and guided him to turn round so he would notice that I was standing there.
"Oh hi Miranda, it's so good to see you're back. And you found us our first Batarian squadmate as well. Guess it had to happen sooner or later, but Shepard's gunna be disappointed. The crazy ideas are usually more his thing."
Oh yes, the wonderful acquired taste that was Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, or 'Joker' as he liked to be known. It was questionable if his flying skills were enough to make up for his penchant for bad jokes given his extreme proficiency for both. In this case, his remarks were an obvious reference to Shepard's willingness to recruit team members from virtually every species out there no matter how unlikely. Turian, Krogan, Quarian, Asari, Salarian, AI's, Drell, Geth, I suppose it really was just a matter of time until he recruited a Batarian too, though I still wasn't sure how I felt about having Nalar on board.
"Actually that was a topic I was hoping to discuss with you-" I began before being swiftly cut off by a knowing look.
"Nice try Miranda, but Nalar already warned us about your concerns."
"My 'concerns' are that he betrayed me, knocked me out, and served me up to Cerberus for execution," I stated vehemently, not feeling my issues with the Batarian were being given fair consideration.
"I think that's something you'll need to discuss with him in person. He's in the Starboard Observation room on Deck 3 if you want to talk to him, but you should probably know that he's the reason we were able to rescue you. When his former master escaped Korlus, he snuck away and warned us about his intentions."
I shook my head in confusion.
"His motivations are getting increasingly difficult to understand."
"As I said, I suggest you ask him about that. There's one more thing before you go, however."
"What's that?"
"Your friends seem pretty keen on staying with us for a while, but I didn't want to make any assumptions about your own plans."
"They're staying? Why?" I asked surprised.
"The Deceiver's stealth drive might not be as sophisticated as the Normandy's but they think she can still keep up with us. And I think they like the idea of supporting the war effort more directly when Shepard returns."
'Probably a fair bit of hero worship there,' I thought to myself. Cerberus had made some serious recruiting gains off the back of their brief relationship with the Commander. Out loud I said,
"I still have an investigation of my own to pursue."
"You're welcome to get off at the Citadel, but it sounds as if you might find yourself pursuing it alone. On the other hand, if you stay on board, I might know a certain information broker that could help expedite your search."
Right. Last year, in a brief interlude from taking down the Collectors, we had helped Dr. T'Soni take over the spy network of the infamous 'Shadow Broker' (long story). With all the resources of the greatest information broker in history now at her disposal, it was impossible to overstate how useful she could be in solving my missing person case.
More to the point if I was working on the Normandy I would at least be able to be more honest about my goals and intentions. My alliance with the former crew of the Hades had always been tenuous at best and based on getting intel about Cerberus, not on the true goal of finding my sister.
"Good point," I allowed, graciously. "I'll radio Jackson and ask him to transfer my gear from the Deceiver to my office aboard the Normandy."
"Ah yeah, this is awkward. I'm afraid Shepard gave your room away, Miranda," Joker put in, the jest in his voice present as always.
"Dr. T'Soni has claimed that space to set up all of the equipment she needs to stay in contact with her sources across the galaxy. Jeff finds the equipment excessive and speculated that it could be used to compute the answer to life the universe and everything, but that was a joke," explained EDI.
We all turned to look at her. It was disconcerting but somehow oddly reassuring to see that she still retained her interest in humor following her acquisition of the new body. As they say 'the more things change, the more they stay the same'.
"Finding a room for you has become more difficult given the number of additional guests the Normandy is now hosting from the crew of the Deceiver," she went on to say.
"As the Normandy was not designed with a brig, your prisoner has been secured within the area around the life support systems chosen as it has the strongest exterior doors. In addition, Nalar and a Turian gentlemen who asked to be referred to as the 'Colonel' have moved into the Port and Starboard observation rooms respectively. Given the situation, I will have to put you in the crew quarters on Deck 3."
Hmm, that meant a lot of other people around, mostly Alliance. They'd be questions asked about me, particularly as rumors about my former occupation spread through the ship. Not to mention all kinds of other distractions I would rather avoid, thankfully there was at least one space on the Normandy that was probably still free.
"Actually if it's all the same to you I'd rather claim Jack's old room. If there's nothing else available obviously."
"You sure you want to be down under the-"
"I need my own space," I answered quickly.
"Fine. Well at least everyone will be happy, at least until Shepard returns and recruits someone else, at which point we may have a problem."
"If anyone needs me in the meantime I'll be on Deck 3."
"I'll come with you. I was already planning on paying our guest a little visit."
I gave a nod of consent. Before his days as a vigilante or serving as a member of Shepard's crew, Garrus was an officer with C-Sec, the Citadel's police force. Certainly, he was the most qualified man we had on board to interrogate Cordanoy.
"By the way, who's the new guy?" I asked, still wondering about the strange green alien I'd seen on board.
Garrus smiled to himself briefly before answering.
"If you mean Javik, he's Prothean."
When I turned to look at him in confusion, I could see from the look on his face that he had been looking forward to catching my reaction.
"Seriously?"
"It's a long story. The simplest explanation is we found him in a stasis pod."
"Still functional after fifty thousand years? If this was any other ship I might find that difficult to believe."
"I'm sure you're curious but I'd advise giving him a wide birth for the moment. Javik can have some pretty extreme ideas about how to deal with turncoats. Not that I'm calling you one myself but technically you did betray your last employer," he said hastily adding the last remark after catching sight of my expression.
We took the elevator back down to level three which still served as the crew deck aboard the Normandy. As you exit the elevator you come out into a corridor with doors to the crew quarters and life support directly ahead of you and the observation rooms at the end of the corridor on your left and right. The rest of the deck is round behind the elevator and opens out into the ship's mess. Attached to that are the Med Bay, the XO's office (my old room), and the gun battery down the end.
As the Normandy was never designed to take prisoners (a design oversight in my opinion) it was never built with a proper brig. Still, they seemed to be taking the securing of my prisoner seriously. Two Alliance soldiers had been posted outside the door as guards and as EDI said, the exterior doors to the life support system were designed to be pretty impenetrable.
When we got inside I was relieved to see that the life support systems themselves were now protected behind a kinetic barrier that had presumably been set up to prevent tampering. Not that Cordanoy would ever see them, a block of screens had already been built around him, ensuring he couldn't see anything beyond them. Inside the Director was sitting on a seat in the middle of the room that was bolted to the floor.
"So, who do we have here?" Asked Garrus in his most confident drawl.
"Director Stephen Cordanoy. Forty years with Cerberus in primarily middle or senior management positions. Little to no field experience but generally reputed to be a precise and efficient leader on all of the projects he's been involved with. Among the employees I knew he was widely believed to have top-level clearance, including direct access to the Illusive Man himself."
"A big fish as some of my old C-Sec colleagues would have put it. Let's see if we can't-"
"Director Miranda Lawson," Cordanoy interrupted.
"Eighteen years in service to Cerberus, primarily in field agent positions where she carried out at least twenty six assassinations that I am aware of. Eventually granted director rank over project Lazarus, during which she recommended the installation of-"
"Enough," I demanded and the recital of my past career history ceased. Though from the smirk on Cordanoy's face it was clear that he would be happy to resume at any time.
"Isn't this the whole point of why I'm here, to share the intel I have on Cerberus?"
"I can see what you're trying to do director but it won't work. I spent months learning to trust Miranda, having her watch my back in firefights day after day. I won't allow what you have to say to erode that trust so you might as well avoid wasting your breath."
"I am certain that is your intention Detective Vakarian, but how can you know for sure? I think you may find that once you've learned what I know, you will have no choice in the matter."
"Probably because I have no reason to believe a single word you say. Credibility is something that has to be earned, so right now I would advise that you start coming up with some credible intel for us to use."
"Certainly. The first of her assassinations was a young Salarian that managed to get onto our radar by-"
And so it went. Every time we pushed the director to reveal some useful intel about Cerberus he would begin spewing another tale of my exploits within the organization and either myself or Garrus would be forced to shut him up again. What was worse was I couldn't truthfully dispute any of it. Cordanoy was deliberately painting the events in the worst light possible, but he wasn't lying.
After a while I could tell even Garrus was getting frustrated with this guy. He shook his head briefly to clear it and then took me by the arm and lead me out of the room.
"I think you should sit this one out for the time being," he said bluntly. "I know you're concerned about your sister, but I think we'll make faster progress without you, at least for the time being."
"Who will you use instead?" I asked, reluctantly accepting his logic (in no small part due to the fact I was getting tired of the interrogation myself).
"Vega. I'll let him get comfortable for twenty minutes and then we'll go in more aggressively next time."
"Think he can handle it?"
"The lieutenant's not exactly an interrogation specialist, but I think I can show him the ropes. He's carrying around a lot of anger, hopefully enough to knock Cordanoy off his stride, but he's professional enough to hold it in check when it matters."
"And if he's not?" I asked having noticed that Lieutenant Vega was something of a gorilla of a man.
"Then I'll drag him off the prisoner and give Chakwas a shot at playing the sympathetic doctor role."
I left him to it as he headed over to the gun battery muttering something about calibrations that were incomplete. Which left me with nothing better to do than to pay Nalar a visit and see how good his excuses were this time.
It wasn't far to the Starboard Observation Room. When I entered I was surprised to see how it had changed. In addition to the bar, there was now a poker table in the far corner. I found Nalar stood beside it, running his hand along the plush green felt on its surface.
"Is it true you used to work here?" he asked me as soon he saw me. Caught slightly off guard by the strange choice of topic I simply confirmed that it was true. He nodded to himself slightly and then said,
"You must have been important to Cerberus for them to spend so many credits building this incredible ship."
Well the Normandy SR-2 was a state of the art warship, but I sensed that wasn't quite what he meant. It wasn't the huge drive core or the stealth drive that had impressed, but the meager number of small luxuries that the Alliance had allowed to exist on board. Like most militaries, they'd hardly been lavish with creature comforts and yet he looked around the room as if it were some kind of paradise.
I couldn't help the small pang of pity I felt at that moment. All of the places I knew he had lived in the past, Korlus, Omega, Khar'shan were all dirty, violent, and horrible. It was possible he had never experienced life outside of such poverty. I found myself looking forward to seeing his reaction to what would be (possibly) his very first glimpse of the Citadel when we arrived. But then I remembered why I was there.
"You knocked me unconscious and let Vorlak hand me over to Cerberus," I said with increased hostility, assuming the last few minutes had been no more than a ploy to try and win my sympathy.
"I stopped you from getting yourself killed Jack, and not for the first time I might add. Attacking Vorlak unarmed could've gotten you a lot more badly hurt than anything I did. Besides it wouldn't have made a difference, the Salarian was down and we were about to be boarded."
So it was better to appear to be on the winning side once the battle was lost, I guessed. Opportunistic but smart, smarter than I had played it at the time, and afterward he had gone out of his way to protect me yet again.
"I still don't know how you managed to escape both Korlus and Vorlak, maybe you could fill me in?"
He explained the whole story, from fleeing the Hades, and surviving Korlus to his miraculous escape.
"...ship was on its last legs when I finally reached the spaceport. Luckily I had an old contact there, a guy I knew who did jobs for the Broker from time to time. It was pretty desperate, but I didn't have any other options and I figured we're all kinda on the same side now. So I went to see him, laid out the whole story. He didn't seem very impressed at the time, but the next day he comes back to me saying the Broker was grateful for the information and he'd contacted a ship that had paid to pick me up. Next thing I know I'm on board the Normandy and we've set course to rescue you."
"Quite a story. You could have gone anywhere after you escaped Vorlak. Why come back for me again?"
"You've questioned my loyalty before hu- uh I mean, Miranda," he protested.
"I don't recall ever getting a clear answer."
He paused, struggling to find the words,
"Do you remember the phrase I told you of before? Kwy Aldrar?"
I nodded.
"It's an old Batarian tradition. There's no direct translation in your language, but the closest I can find is 'life-debt'," he explained.
"I'd say we're at least even on that score," I commented dryly.
He shook his head, seemingly frustrated at my flippancy.
"That might be how humans see it but our culture is different. Kwy Aldrar is eternal. The person that saves your life owns it forever. Nothing can break that bond and I am honor-bound to serve you in any way I can."
Now that sounded more like the culture I'd heard of coming from Khar'shan, a license, and even an obligation into permanent slavery. It goes without saying that I wasn't interested in any such arrangement.
"I have no need of slaves," I told him as I walked away, leaving so quickly I almost missed the hurt look on his face.
Before heading down to my new 'room' I took the opportunity to pay a visit to the Med Bay. There was something I needed to ask of Dr. Chakwas.