Chapter 3: Captain's Dilemma
"Suppressing fire!" A voice on the monitor called out as captain Jar'kannath watched in mounting horror as the best troops he had on board were torn apart by the advancing giant and his rebel slaves.
"Grenade out!" Another soldier called as the storm of fire battered harmlessly against the giant's shield. Fast as a whip, the shield shot to the side and smacked the explosive disk back at the Batarian pirate marines. It exploded mid air killing a man and knocking two more out of cover. The giant leaned to the side allowing the men behind to unleashed their own hail of fire killing the two marines almost instantly.
"First rank fire till you overheat, drop to a knee and let the second rank fire." That Monster called back to his men as he advanced, "Don't give them a second free, keep their heads down!"
Firing by rank. A tactic as old as projectile weapons, largely abandoned in ages when the rate of fire per soldier was measured in hundreds of rounds per minute. But in those tight corridors with the giant's shield to provide cover, the tactic was proving remarkably effective. His men could hardly peak out from cover for more than a half second before their shields were torn to shreds and they either pulled back or died.
A half second should have been more than enough time to send the shots down range needed to kill their unshielded adversaries, but with that damn giant in the way every shot was intercepted and rendered harmless. Breaching shields like that were also an age old boarding tactic, the captain had a few ones in the armory equipped with their own energy shields for extra protection. They worked well enough until someone got a grenade behind them or ambushed the bearer from a side passage or the doorway to another room.
The grenades used by his men were the standard kind used throughout the galaxy. Small flat cylinders with magnetized sides to stick to most surfaces where they could be detonated remotely or by proximity. Thrown slow enough to not trigger most mass reactive shields or barriers, they should be able to either get behind the giant or explode against that hulking great hunk of steel he carried. The first would've shredded his flesh with shrapnel the second broken his arm with the impact. But the man just swatted them away like a zath ball.
That just shouldn't be possible. He must have struck them just on the side to avoid the magnetic effect. And he must of struck them with just enough force to destabilize the explosives inside but not enough to immediately detonate them. He wasn't just impossibly fast but also inhumanly precise and controlled. How by the pillars of damnation was he supposed to stop this monster?
The giant continued to press his advance. As he walked by a doorway to one of the smaller cargo holds, he lifted the claymore shotgun he carried to the side and unloaded it into the soldier that opened the door to try and flank him. Just one shot was all it took to deplete the poor pirates shields and drop him dead. The giant then fired another shot into the wall, blasting the second marine in the room breaking his shields and knocking him down. The sudden loss of his partners left the third would be ambusher stunned and speechless, easy prey for the quartet of humans who rushed into the room and finished the three off.
That was the third time such an attempted flanking maneuver had failed in such a spectacular way. It was as if the giant had seen through the walls. Effortlessly predicting and tracking their movements. It was as if their every act just played into his hands and further sealed their doom.
"If anyone has any suggestions," Jar'kannath called to the bridge crew at large, "I'm all ears."
The crew held silent. Most staring hopelessly at their own security monitors. A few men typed away furiously at their consoles trying to fight off the increasingly dangerous cyber attacks that threatened to cripple the ship. Only old Sul'darron held his true post, and kept the light cruiser flying in formation with the larger pirate fleet. Jar'kannath swore to himself and returned grimly to studying the monitor before him.
"Cyber attacks are getting worse," Harkon the ships second in command dryly commented. The man had concluded they were all doomed shortly after the Blood Pack had been defeated. His total lack of interest in their progressively worsening situation was really starting to get on the captain's nerve.
"We've lost most communication systems," the infuriating man continued. "We can still send internal radio broadcasts which should get the word out to crew members with omnitools on them. But intercom is inoperable and even the email server is down. I've got a tight beam transmitter disconnected from the rest of the network so we could call the other ships for help."
"We may as well paint a target on the ship," Jar'kannath replied in a weary voice, "The others have no reason to save us or our slaves, they'll just knock us out of the sky if they hear any sign of things going wrong here."
"They'll kill the giant as well." Harkon responded, "Sooner or later you have to come to terms with this. It's now just a question of how we will die-"
"I AM NOT DEAD YET!" The captain yelled back, "We just pulled off the greatest job of our lives! We've got the biggest payday imaginable coming to us! I won't just die like this!"
Harkon made no response. He just stared back at his captain, his eyes dead and emotionless. Jar'kannath couldn't match those eyes, he couldn't stand the thought this man who had stood alongside him through thick and thin, who had walked from the Fleet with him, who had saved his life a dozen times, who had climbed up from the very bottom of society with him, was now waiting to die. Jar'kannath pounded on one of the ship's consoles and went back to watching his men fall back from the giant's assault.
"Get on the radio," He ordered the men around him, "Tell everyone we can reach to make for the slave hold. If we can break inside and subdue the other slaves we can force that monster to surrender."
"They'll need breaching charges from the armory," Harkon pointed out, "Control of the hold's doors was one of the first thing that damn Quarian hacked from us."
"Just do it!" The captain shouted over him, "We have to do something! We can't just wait here to die!"
Before the captain could continue, one of the computer consoles in the corner of the room exploded. It had been overloaded by a sudden and violent surge of electricity that arced bolts of energy to the ceiling and walls around it. Luckily no one was hit by the blast or electrical burst, and soon the bridge crew had the fire under control as best they could.
"I think that fried the tight beam communicator." Harkon commented, "There goes our hope of getting any help."
"I told you," The captain said numbly as he considered just how badly their cyber defenses were being overwhelmed if the slaves could just blow up a console like, "They never would've helped us, just killed us all."
"I guess we'll just have to wait for the giant to do us in." Harkon answered with a shrug.
"Oh will you two just SHUT UP ALREADY!" Old Sul'daron called from the ship's helm, "Honestly it just makes me sick."
Both Batarians turned and stared at the man in disbelief. They had never heard the old man actually shout at someone before. He could out cuss a Krogan with a hangover, and often proved it to new stupid deckhands, but he never shouted at anyone.
"You two are pirates! Pillars damn it all." The old smuggler further berated them. "Did you honestly think you were going to live forever? Sooner or later, everyone lets their greed get the best of them and takes a job too good to be true. And then you bite the big one. Never thought I would get killed by a giant, but that's the galaxy for yuh. No matter how far you sail, there's always a new surprise waiting for you around the corner."
"You almost sound eager to face this." Harkon questioned in genuine confusion. "I know the work is dangerous, that doesn't mean I want to get my skull caved by some Alliance demon."
"Neither do I lad," The old man answered with a laugh. "No wants to die. But everyone does. No reason to get mad about it. We are going to die, there's nothing to do, nothing matters. So even the fact that nothing matters, actually matters. So why be sad about it?"
"I've seen so much in this life of mine." The old man continued sounding wistful, staring out into the darkness of space, into the abyss of the past. "I've got no regrets. So now all that's left is one final adventure. So are you two going to face the end like panicking sniveling cowards or are you going to meet its eyes, crest to crest and make it blink?"
"Uh sirs?" One of the men at the consoles called out to the captain, mate and pilot. "The uh slaves? They've reached the armory. And there's only like ten or twelve guys in there to stop them. I think the big one is pulling off another one the doors."
The captain and first mate mets eyes. Damn it if the old man wasn't right. Life had been a wild ride alright. The two had fought hand and tooth for everything they ever had. Two bastard sons of disgraced military caste families. Sent to the naval academies so their drunken old men could maybe get some laugh from watching them struggle. But they had never given up before. No matter how the school staff had tried to sabotage them. No matter how the other students had tried to beat them down. No matter how the navy itself had tried to sand bag them with dead end desk jobs. No matter how every upstart and wannabe in the galaxy's under belly had tried to take everything they had built for themselves in this cut throat private sector of galactic conflict. And they weren't going to give up now. And if it really was time to die, damn it if they wouldn't die with their boots on.
The captain went over to his main chair and opened a secret panel on the side. From the hidden compartment he withdrew a pair of shotguns and a bottle of absinthe. He threw one gun to Harkon as he took a long swig of the bottle. Then he threw the bottle to the old man who laughed as he downed a few gulps himself and passed it on to the deck crew.
"Get on the radio." The captain said after the alcohol stopped burning. "Tell everyone what's happening and to bunker down as best they can. The old gods willing, they can kill enough of the slaves to be left alone till the Alliance comes to arrest them."
Most of the crew took a step back and made a sign to ward off evil when the captain mentioned the old gods. Nonetheless they got to work after they got their swig from the absinthe. Even all the way out here the old superstitions held. Well let the brass god take his blood if he wants, brass veins might just block a few bullets when the time came.
"Are you with me Harkon?" The captain asked his old friend as the bottle at last came to him. "Do you want to give that giant something to remember?"
"At the very least," Harkon declared as he finished off the absinthe with one last long draw, then shattered the bottle on the floor, and grasped Jar'kannath's arm. "Let's take one of his eyes."
"That's the spirit!" Jar'kannath answered and pulled his old friend into a hug. "Old man hold the course for as long as you dare! Once that monster has choked on our bones crash us into Durrin's heavy cruiser. I always hated that man, it would be wonderful if in death we could kill him along with this demon in our hold."
"Aye aye sir." The Sul'daron answered as the bridge crew laughed and prepared for the worst.
Tali Zorah winced, as Shepherd threw the broken body of the armory's last defender casually to the side. The fight here had been brutal and short. The defenders had spread out inside the rather open room of the armory. Shepherd's boarding shield would've done him little good in there. So after he tore off the door to the room, he had thrown the door and his shield into two of the defenders before biotically charging a third. With that bit of chaos added to the room and all eyes turned to the rampaging giant in the middle of the room with a shotgun in one hand, and his other clenched into a body crushing fist. This meant that almost no one noticed when the other humans slid into the room, took cover behind the weapon racks and started picking off the distracted pirates while Shepherd all but danced around the room as a biotically shielded whirlwind of death. Tali had just about enough time to shoot one pirate before it was all over.
She had shot one pirate. She had shot him in the back as his shields fell. She had watched as her shot had put a hole right through the center of his chest and two of his vital organs. Just as she had been trained to do. She was doing her best not to think about it though. He was a pirate after all. He deserved it. He would've done the same to her. Shepherd would've killed him anyway so it didn't really matter. Really it didn't. Really. Yeah she was trying really hard not to think about it too much.
"Jenkins!" Shepherd called to the farmer he had given a claymore too, "Take half the men and all the guns you all can carry and get them back to the hold. Have Jack start sending us the new fire teams to get them equipped here. Everyone else, find some armor and a shield."
Shepherd took a seat in the corner of the room while everyone else got to work. Even seated on the floor, the man still seemed to tower over her. The only thing Tali could compare Shepherd too was the few images she had seen growing up of the geth primes that had torn their way through Quarian armies during the Morning War centuries ago. When she had been a child studying about The War in school, those machines had seemed like the most dreadful monster imaginable. They were supposedly as tough as most tanks and far more mobile, with electronic warfare systems that mimicked biotic powers, inhuman reflexes, perfect accuracy and had no morality to hold them back. But even her worst nightmares of such things didn't come close to what she had seen the flesh and blood man before her accomplish.
He was a bit taller than a prime, with more bulk and mass to his muscular frame. Even without biotics he was the fastest man here both in raw running speed, and the lightning like movements of his hands and arms. He didn't so much react to the pirates he was fighting against, as it seemed like their every move came according to his plan, as if he was waiting for them to act and had already prepared to how to counter and defeat them. She didn't doubt for a second that if it came to it, Shepherd could pull a geth prime apart with his bare hands. It was all just impossible to think off. In more ways than one.
"How's the hacking coming Tali?" Shepherd called to her, after she had attached a shield generator to her suit and added a pistol to her arsenal. She didn't recognize the model, but the grip felt comfortable enough in her hand, and the sights were well aligned. She pulled up Okeer's old omnitool and did a quick check of the systems she now had unrestricted access to.
"As well as it can." Tali answered after a short pause. "We've shut down their communications and are now knocking most of the security cameras offline. They've disconnected the navigation system and the whole engineering department from their network, so we don't have access to the big things and won't be getting them anytime soon. Though I could start opening airlocks in the crew quarters I think."
Why the hell had she said that?! She was having a hard enough time deal with shooting that one guy without volunteering to massacre the whole crew. What was wrong with her? Was she a bad person? Had killing that one guy awakened an inner and insatiable taste for blood?!
"That won't be necessary," Shepherd answered her with an easy smile. A DAMN SMILE, while she was freaking out in her head. "If you could seal off the second and third decks from the main elevator shafts, and stairwells. Just make sure to leave us access to the bridge on the main deck."
"Should be easy enough, they all have emergency bulkheads we can close and seal remotely." Tali affirmed, truly relieved that he hadn't taken up her offer. Which was a good thing she thinks.
"I'm almost surprised how easily you're breaking through their systems." Shepherd continued, "Your skills are very impressive."
Tali felt a surge of pride at his words. Which surprised her further. It felt like those times that her father had complimented her abilities and accomplishments. Was that what was affecting her? Did she see this giant as some sort of father figure she had to impress and live up to? The ratio of their respective size sort of enforced such a relationship. The last time she had had to deal with someone more than twice her size telling her what to do, had been when she was a child trying to measure up to the expectations of her parents and teachers.
There was also a strange kind of peace about the man. His abilities in combat, and attitude in command enforced this easy confidence he had about him. An unshakable conviction that things would work out as he expected, and if the world tried to defy him in that matter he would make the world itself regret it. It was similar to how her own father behaved in command situations or when dealing with the concerns and mounting panic of his ship's crew. Tali felt that in the end, she could trust this man to accomplish what he said. It was a dangerously uncritical way of thinking, one that could easily get her into trouble.
"Mostly it's all thanks to the security specialists they must've found back in the hold." Tali said mostly to deflect and suppress that feeling of pride he had so easily sparked in her. "They have almost two dozen people with at least some hacking knowledge helping me out now, and it seems like the Batarians only have one or two crew members who are trying to stop us. You really lucked out here Shepherd getting so many useful people to help you."
"Well," Shepherd answered head half cocked to the side as he scanned the room back and forth keeping an eye on the rest of the men. "Luck does help. Mostly it's that the Batarians were raiding neighborhoods around Elysium's main tech centers and research stations. So we were more likely to get computer security and other technically minded people in groups drawn from this area."
"Wait," Tali asked, slightly suspicious. "Did you choose this ship on purpose? Knowing it had such tech experts on board?"
"Everything is a choice." Shepherd responded slightly defensively, but also a bit distracted, "This ship was an optimal target, best chance to succeed at the mission."
"What mission?" Tali pressed, his language was too vague. It made sense to look for the best chance one had in a mission. But with his power, Shepherd shouldn't have had much trouble taking over any Batarian pirate ship, even without electronic warfare support. But it sounded more like this was some part of a larger goal.
"Carlson!" Shepherd suddenly yelled over Tali's head, "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!"
The man in question, a young gun nut who had seemed most determined to stand in the front ranks during the fighting over here, was standing over one of the downed Batarians. Amazingly, the pirate wasn't dead. He had been shot in the leg and fallen to the ground. Without any weapons and no one coming to help him, the pirate had pulled himself over to a wall, and was now holding a fist full of medigel inexpertly to his wound trying to halt the blood flow. Carlson stood over the pirate with a raised rifle and was quivering with anger.
"This is him boss." The young man answered, eyes never leaving the pirate on the ground. "I recognize the badge he was wearing. This is the four eyed bastard who KILLED SHASHA!
"You piece of scum! You killed my sister!" Carlson cried at the defenseless pirate and kicked him in rage.
"He's unarmed Carlson." Shepherd spoke capturing the young man's attention and pulling his gaze away from the pirate if only for a second. "The fight is over now, and he's out of it. You don't kill unarmed men Carlson."
"He did sir!" The boy yelled back. "Just stormed in and shot her point-"
"But you're not him son!" Shepherd interrupted, standing up and taking a step towards the pair. "You are not a murder, and your sister wouldn't want you to be one! Now lower the weapon."
The boy quivered in place for a second. Head and eyes darting back and forth between the man who had destroyed his life, and the man trying to save it. He stuttered to himself in confusion, cast one last look of pure contempt at the pirate on the floor, and let his gun slip to his side.
"I couldn't do anything…." The boy muttered to himself as he took a step back. "He just came in and shot her. I was so stunned I couldn't do anything before he knocked me down and out…."
"But you are doing something now." Shepherd said, closing the distance, going down to a knee, and meeting the young man eye to eye. "You are fighting to save everyone on this ship. Your sister's soul can rest easy knowing her brother has risen to the challenge in front of him. And one day, you will see this pirate hanged for what he did."
"Yes sir." Carlson responded, his voice shaky but growing in confidence. "You're right sir. I've got to focus on what's important."
"Good man." Shepherd concluded with a light encouraging shove to Carlson's shoulder. "Take a breather for a moment and get a drink."
The young man nodded and walked to the other side of the armory. Shepherd rose, looked down the corridor they had come up and saw another group of would be slaves coming from the hold to get weapons and armor to fight. The whole room had gone silent during the exchange, and now men noticed that a more than one of the Batarians the escapees had shot down were still moving, if only barely.
"Louise, John Boy, young Carl," Shepherd called out to three of the men who had stepped up to lead the impromptu fire teams, "Sort through the Batarians here, pile the bodies to the side and gather any of them still alive."
"You want us to treat their wounds?" John Boy asked as the other called over their men to help them, "Make sure they live to see the noose?"
"Don't waste any medigel on them," Shepherd responded with a nod, "We might need that later. Everyone else help the new guys get armed, we will be moving out soon."
"Just what the hell are you?" Tali demanded of Shepherd as he turned away from the others and resumed his seat.
"I am myself," Shepherd responded under his breath with slight melancholy, "There are no others."
"There's is no way the Alliance created you," Tali continued not sure what to make of that statement, "They wouldn't break the Citadel Accords so brazenly, and if they had there is no way they would just unleash you to be seen by so many people at once. There's going to be a thousand stories and rumors about you circulating after this, the Council is sure to find out about you shortly after."
"You're right of course," Shepherd answered laughing to himself, "I'm actually from the migrant fleet, I'm really just here to rescue you. The Admiralty Board realized the best way to hide their genetic experiments was to make them look like other races. Dozens of giants just like me have been sent throughout the galaxy to protect young Quarians on their pilgrimage."
Tali decided the best way to interrupt this nonsense was to shoot the wall next to the giant's shoulder. The man didn't even flinch. But he did stop talking and just grinned at her like an idiot.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't accuse my species of breaking the Accords again." Tali dead panned in as controlled a tone as she could muster, "We learned our lesson after we made the Geth, I don't need to hear you mocking us for it."
"I meant no offense." Shepherd apologize. "The truth is much less interesting unfortunately. No one knows where I come from, or who made me. My first memory is of waking up in the cargo hold of an Alliance cruiser after they pulled me out of a metal pod they found floating in the middle of space. Jack has the better story honestly. She got kidnapped as a child by the terrorist organization Cerberus and was experimented on to enhance her biotic powers. A Citadel Spectre rescued her a few years ago while looking for clues about where I might have come from."
"That's tragic." Tali said, not sure what else she could say in response to that.
"I think it would make for great television." Shepherd responded chuckling under his breath. "Oh don't give me that look. I've known Jack for years now, sooner or later you have to turn the tragedies you suffer into comedies or else it will drive you crazy."
"I was not giving you a look."
"You totally were. You had that set to your shoulders that Quarians get when someone tells a really bad pun or something."
"Regardless." Tali said changing the topic of conversation, how the hell did a human know how to read suit language anyway, "I wasn't just talking about her, you're fairly tragic yourself. I can't imagine what it was like to grow up without a family."
"Neither can I." Shepherd responded with a shrug.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Family is just the group you have the closest connection to." Shepherd explained scratching a series of circles around a small dot in the floor with a combat knife he pulled from a nearby shelf.
"I have no blood kin," He continued pointing at the circle closest to the dot before he scratched it out. "So the next set of connections I make becomes my new closest kin, my new family. The next circle out becomes the new closest. No matter what tragedy we might face in life, we will always have some kinship left to us. Even if all that's left is kinship with the whole of the galaxy itself."
"Huh," Tali considered, this was either surprisingly deep for a giant musclehead or…. "This kind of ability to process tragedy might be boarding on psychopathy."
"HA!" Shepherd cried, as Tali flushed beneath her helmet as she realized she had said that last part out loud. "I suppose it might at that. Oh well, I never thought I could go down in history as a sane man anyway."
"What was that?"
"Nothing important." Shepherd said waving off her questions with an easy smile. "You have a dangerously insightful mind little Tali Zorah."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"Good it was one. Mind if I ask your opinion on a certain matter I've never really understood?"
"I suppose it would only be fair."
"How come the Quarians have never allied with remaining Krogan?" Shepherd asked with perfect seriousness.
"Why would we ever do that?" Tali asked in shocked outrage, "Just because we're both outcasts of the Citadel?"
Shepherd didn't answer. His eyes were turned on her with their full force. Tali did her best to suppress the feeling that some great predator was sizing her up. But she was much too angry to feel either afraid or disturbed.
"My people made an honest mistake." Tali insisted, "We were reckless I admit, but no one could have foreseen that the Geth would just make the jump to sentience like that. The Krogan intentionally dragged the galaxy down to war and violence. We are nothing like them!"
"Do you think they will ever really help you?" Shepherd finally asked.
"Who?" Tali demanded slightly taken back by the sudden change in topic.
"The Citadel Council." Shepherd pressed, pulling the rug out from under her righteous fury. "Do you think that if you follow all the rules and act suitably ashamed they will reverse three hundred years of discrimination and forgive you?"
"I-I-" Tali stuttered unable to face the thought finally spoke aloud which had plagued her people for centuries. "What choice do we have?"
"Retake Rannoch from at least 2 billion Geth with less than a hundredth of their numbers," Shepherd stated simply, with almost clinical disinterest, "Or adapt your genes to survive on another planet. The Migrant fleet can no longer really grow in size. Every ship you add increases the demand on resources it takes to maintain all other ships. Every ship brought back from a successful pilgrimage merely replaces a ship on the verge of falling apart. Without the space needed for the population to actually expand, your people have to tightly regulate new birth rates. And every year where the government underestimates the number of people it needs to replace as accidents, age, conflict and disease takes it toll is another year where the species shrinks. Every net loss in numbers is a net loss in your ability to collect resources and materials, further straining your ability to maintain the fleet.
"Even the Alliance knows that the Quarian population has decreased by almost 27.5 percent since the conclusion of the Morning War." Shepherd continued pronouncing doom on Tali's people, "At the present rate in the next 300 years the population will decrease to the point where the gene pool itself will become dangerously constricted and homogeneous. Further exacerbating the growth rate with stillbirths, and birth defects brought on by inbreeding as an already sub optimal genome is denied the diversity it needs to thrive. If there are more than 10 thousand Quarians left in the galaxy in a millennia it will be a true miracle.
"The Citadel Council knows this." Shepherd concluded, "And they will do nothing. Just as they do nothing to save the Krogan from an equally slow but no less inevitable extinction. With them on your side you could…. Well, that's a thought for another day."
"What is?" Tali said, looking up at Shepherd, realizing that at some point during that diatribe she had fallen to her knees.
"Nothing important for right now." Shepherd said, taking Tali's hand to pull her up.
"This is my people's future you were talking about." Tali demanded. "I think it's really damn important!"
"They're not going to all die in the next day or two." Shepherd said, the unshakable confidence in his voice seeming to say that everything was still well in hand. "We have to deal with the Galaxy's problem one at a time. Can't let ourselves get to easily overwhelmed."
"Now!" Shepherd called out to the some hundred or so people who were now gathered in the armory fully armed, armored and bearing grim faces of determination. "I think we've given the man up stair enough time to stew in his own juices. What do you say lads? Shall we go take a tour of the bridge?"
The assembled men screamed a wild and worldless war cry. They shook their weapons above their heads and stamped their feet on the floor. All the while the dozen different team leaders stood silent awaiting orders. Amongst those men were the six soldiers who had been guarding the hold and one heavily tattooed girl.
"We're right behind big guy!" Jack called to Shepherd when the crying died down.
"How are things on the home front Jack?" Shepherd asked as he strapped another two shot guns to his back and took up his claymore and impromptu boarding shield.
"Locked down nice and safe." Jack explained, "According to the geek squad the pirates have pulled back to their quarters and are digging in for a seige. It's almost like they're scared of us or something."
"Typical bullies." One of the soldiers offered.
"They're not so tough when people might shoot back." Another marine declared.
"Even the most cowardly animals are dangerous when backed into a corner." The injured marine pointed out. "Digging them out of their quarters is going to be real fun."
"Let's them rot there if they want." Shepherd dismissed. "All we really need is the bridge. Still no reason to give them a free shot at our back."
"Jenkins! Kowalski!" Shepherd called to two men, "Take your teams and hold the entrances to the stairwells. The rest of us will put an end to this. Come on everyone, this fight is almost over now."
The assault had resumed. And it was quiet. The security cameras were off line, or had had their feeds rerouted to new network servers his men had no access to, and so the bridge crew waited in tense silence. Occasionally they heard the staccato roar of machine gun fire harmonizing with the screams of the dying and punctuated by the barks of shotguns. Some of the crew had apparently ignored the captain's orders and were trying to slow the giant down. Or the monster was cleaning out the side corridors and chambers as he advanced, purging the ship of it's crew.
Every time the silence returned one of the crew men offered up a prayer for the souls of the dead. The captain endured it all with grim sobriety. Sol'daron whistled a jaunty tune to himself occasionally as he held the ship's course. Harkon polished his gun or sharpened a knife by his side. The end was coming. They all knew. But they had made their peace, so they checked their weapons and held their ground.
The first sign of their guest's arrival was a light tapping on the sealed bulkhead to the bridge. Every eye turned their gaze towards the last barrier separating them all from death. The captain stood, extended his gun and leveled it's barrel at the door. Soon all the crew followed his example. The silence held for a moment.
"Men, what-" Jar'kannath started to say, but was interrupted by the first blow to the door.
With a great resounding crash, the bulkhead shook under the hit. With the second it's metal warped inward. With the third, it opened a gap between itself and the wall as its great hinges were bent from their holdings. With the fourth it was torn free and sent crashing into the room, flying past Harkon and embedding itself in the wrecked tight beam transmitter. It it's place only a single over sized fist remained.
The monster stepped onto the bridge. The command to open fire was left frozen in Jar'kannath's mouth. He knew the creature was massive from the security cameras but no reproduced recording could do justice to the thing standing before him. It didn't just tower over them, it loomed. The peak of a vengeful mountain it's black shadow smothering the room as it beat down on their wills with all the righteous fury it could muster against those arrogant and foolish enough to stand in it's way. The Giant set his boarding shield to the side and addressed the captain.
"Sorry about the mess and everything." The giant said, it's voice low and ominous. "Everything will be taken care of shortly. My name is Shepherd, and I am here to help you captain."
The captain stared at the giant speechless for a moment. Eventually his mind succeeded in it's hard reset. He was still alive. This was completely unexpected, but on the whole good. But the universe was stubbornly refusing to make any sense to him at all. Fortunately it seemed like this state was not unique to himself.
"Uh, are we going to help him to his grave?" One of the rebel slaves behind the giant asked in stunned confusion.
"No, why would you think that?" The giant asked his soldiers.
"Well we have been killing his men to get here." Another slave offered.
"An unfortunate necessity." Shepherd insisted. "We are pressed for time and tens of thousands of lives hang in the balance."
"I'm sorry." Jar'kannath finally spoke out, "By the pillars of damnation, what are you talking about? Who are you? Who are trying to save? The slaves?"
"I told you," Shepherd explained, "My name is Shepherd and I am trying to save your life and lives of everyone in this fleet, pirates and civilians."
"From who? From what?" The captain pressed.
"From the Hegemon of course." Shepherd declared as if it were totally obvious. "Come then, there is no need to make me kill you, put down your weapons and let us reason together and you will see clearly that you and your men have been betrayed and are being sent to your deaths."
"Captain," Sol'daron called to him, "I have a clear shot at Durrin's ship. Shall I set a collision course?"
The captain locked eyes with Shepherd. Or at least he tried to. Shepherd wasn't staring at any of his eyes in particular, but more at the center of his face. Most two eyes made that mistake. They were so used to looking people square in the face that they didn't know how to deal with Batarians, so they looked at only two eyes, while Shepherd was keeping at least half an eye on each of his. The captain wasn't sure why, but that made him feel slightly at ease. The arrogance of it really was impressive.
This giant two eyes was so certain of himself he thought he could over power Jar'kannath's gaze with half as many eyes. Everything about the man was arrogant. But not the overbearing arrogance of those old fools who tried to beat others down to protect their ego's. This was an easy going arrogance born from the simple knowledge that the man in question had never failed at anything and couldn't conceive of failing at anything else. The kind of arrogance that one day, with no prompting, would declare to a whole bar room it's intention to climb a mountain, or hunt some dangerous predator, or catch the biggest fish in the lake. And then would actually go do it. Not to one up anyone, just because the man could. Jar'kannath couldn't help but think that this giant might be fun if he could get him drunk.
"Hold course old man," The captain called back, "Everyone put your guns down. Let's hear what this man has to say."
The bridge crew followed orders. And after a nod from Shepherd, the humans follow suit and waited. The captain took a seat in his main command chair, Shepherd leaned back against a wall. Both men seemingly purly at ease. Jar'kannath however was anything but. He felt wound up like spring. He should be dead. He had been prepared to die, and now here he was talking politics. It was surreal, jarring almost.
"If you will permit me to assume the perspective of the Hegemon." Shepherd began and then continued at a nod from the captain. "The Batarian Hegemony has enjoyed the prestige of being the fourth greatest race in the galaxy for some time."
A few of the crew grumbled at that, but most nodded in agreement. The Hegemony's economy was about on par with the Salarian Union's thanks to their powerful industry, held back by their lagging service sector. They weren't as prosperous as the Asari Republics or the Volus clans but they were far more successful than the Hierarchy. Likewise their army was larger than Union or Republics, though the Asari navy would give them a real run for the money. The Destiny Ascension was a real monster of a ship. But they had no hope of going eye to eye with the Hierarchy and would be fools to underestimate the Volus bombing fleet. So fourth strongest was probably fair.
"But now mankind has joined the scene and did so by spitting in the Hierarchy's eyes and came out alive." Shepherd continued. "Humanity's grand ambition of gaining a council seat is well known, and by exposing weakness in the Council's power by defying them at Shanxi, may well have opened the way to such a goal, not just for themselves but others as well. I would say that if a fourth seat was given away the most likely recipients would be either Humanity, as a military asset, the Volus, as an economic asset, or the Batarian's for your connections to the Terminus systems and most of the galaxy's underground. One could easily say that these three races are in direct competition for this prestigious position.
"The Hegemon himself most likely sees things this way. Like any man in power, his goal first and foremost is to increase his power and the influence of his people. But direct confrontation with either of the other races is undesirable for Hegemony. The Volus economy is to strong to be easily damaged, and tied to the galactic monetary system as it is, any damage inflicted on it would reflect three fold back on the Hegemony. Any attack on the Volus directly could only earn the wrath of the Hierarchy which would be suicide. Humanity is more vulnerable than the Volus, but far less predictable. A species that seriously considered going to war with the whole Citadel Council is not a species to needlessly provoke. Ideally the Hegemon would've exploited the tension between the Council and Alliance over the Relay 314 Incident, and used that to gain economic support and better position itself to compete with the Alliance. But then the Alliance started settling in the Verge and all those plans went out the window."
"Humanity's expansion in the Verge was illegal." Jar'kannath insisted trying to see if he could get a rise out of Shepherd. "Those worlds had long been marked out for Batarian colonization."
"Irrelevant." Shepherd dismissed.
"The Council should've stopped them, this whole conflict is humanity's fault." The captain pressed.
"In a purely legal world yes." Shepherd conceded without argument. "But in the real world the Council would never have risked resuming the war with humanity. Not for a species that practices slavery. If a law will not, or can not be enforced, than that law does not exist."
"The Council has always hated us for our culture." Jar'kannath complained, "Who are they to judge us so? Who are you to call our old tradition immoral?"
"I am no god." The giant denied, "I make no claim to moral judgement. But I can measure efficacy. The practice of slavery has always been a thorn in the side of the Hegemony. It creates needless hostility between your people and the galaxy at large while offering no real benefit in turn. Most slaves are just used to gather raw materials in fields and mines, or as personal servants. Most of the Hegemony's wealth is produced by the workers of the artizen and urban castes, who work far harder and more efficiently motivated as they are by a fair wage and the prospect of improving their lives. Slaves will never work as well as free men."
"The slave system underpins our whole culture." the captain insisted, "Without it our people would be left to anarchy and division."
"True," Shepherd again conceded, "Without slavery the whole caste system would fall apart. But the caste system itself is the only thing even more disastrous for the Batarian people than the practice of slavery. So that's a bit like saying that tying your arm to your side makes it easier to hold a stab wound close by pressing a knife into it."
"How can you stand there and condemn our oldest and most sacred traditions like this?" The captain accused, "Are you so racist?"
"Your traditions are not sacred." Shepherd countered, "They were not given to you by god, they are not written into your genes. They were an innovation adopted at the dawn of the Hegemony to deal with a specific set of problems your society faced. Now your society faces new challenges and holding to the past is just holding you back. Tradition must always be challenged lest it grow stagnant and self destructive."
"You think you know better than all our people? How arrogant can you be?"
"You thought you knew better than all of your people. Last I checked there is no pirate caste, so why are you out here Captain?"
The captain could not answer that. Partially he was just impressed. Any one of those past statements was enough to make most human erupt in righteous fury. But this giant held to his purpose and responded to each charge against himself and his people with calm logic. If it wasn't for the fact that this discussion was likely to end with his death he would be quite enjoying all this. Mostly though he couldn't bring himself to meet the giant's eyes. He was casteless. He was the thing he had always been raised to feel superior to. The one thing in Batarian society lower than slaves, he had turned his back on his whole past and family just to pursue his own ambitions.
"You are out here," The giant supplied in the stretching silence, "Because to continue on as you were born to would've been a waste. Because that is all a caste system can ever do, waste talent. Every courageous warrior born a farmer, every genius dying in a trench somewhere, every artist toiling away in a factory, every technician chanting endlessly in some temple to confused by people to give them real advice, all of them are a thousand cuts across the Hegemony. Talent wasted in untold numbers. And that is to say nothing of all the inbred, incompetent, corrupt, and useless idiots who find themselves in positions of power and command for no other reasons than the circumstances of their birth.
"The Hegemon has done his best to carve some degree of power and influence out of the situation. Allowing the best and brightest of his people to bleed out into the terminus systems and verge as pirates, smugglers and enforcers. Assets he can call on as terrorists and raiders to bring military power against his enemies without directly defying the Citadel Accords. But in the process he has allowed the Hegemony itself to grow weak and anemic."
"The system works though." Jar'kannath interjected. "You admit the Hegemony is the fourth greatest race in the galaxy."
"Only because the Citadel Council is so determined to keep the galaxy quiet," Shepherd pressed, "That they refuse to bring pressure directly to the Hegemony itself. Any amount of force could bring the Hegemony to its knees. You say Humanity started this by expanding into the Verge? But why did humanity challenge the Hegemony so brazenly? It's because the Alliance knew the Hegemony could not directly oppose them. Mankind could call the Hegemon's bluff and he had no choice but to back down."
"And that justifies the Alliance's aggression?"
"That weakness does far worse than justify. Justifications are just excuses, and you can alway find one when you need it. The Hegemony enabled humanity to exploit them, their weakness was an invitation."
"You call us weak. But we have the Alliance on the back foot. Look at Elysium, and that's just the beginning."
"No." Shepherd interrupted, "Elysium will be the end of it. You pirates can challenge Alliance patrols, but you hold all the military talent the Hegemony has produced. The rest of its fleet is in no position to go eye to eye with the Alliance Fleet. Maybe if the Hegemon put you all in charge of the navy, but if you think the old men entrenched in fleet command will bend knee to you you've got another thing coming.
"Since the beginning the Hegemon had no hope of holding the Verge. If the Hegemony pushed mankind to the point that all out war breaks between the two races than the Hegemony is doomed."
"The Council would never allow-" Jar'kannath tried to argue.
"You think the Hierarchy will lift one talon to save the Hegemony?" Shepherd again brushed his arguments aside. "They may dislike humanity but they hate all of you pirates. And after a tragedy like Elysium the Union and Republics would openly revolt against the Council if it declared its intention to defend the Hegemony and slavery. A raid like Elysium is the absolute limit of what the Hegemon can dare to do against the Alliance. Anything more gives the Alliance the 'Just Cause' it needs to press an assault into the Hegemony itself.
"The Hegemon has already accomplished his goal anyway." Shepherd further explained. "The pirate raids have made it clear to the Alliance that it can't just steal territory from the Hegemony without consequences and has let the galaxy at large that the Hegemony has not bowed out of the running for that Council seat. Anything further just risks direct invasion. Of course the rage provoked by the raid of Elysium has to be spent on something. Some sacrificial lamb must be offered up to the Alliance to let them feel like they've won without having to burn Khar'shan to the ground.
"That lamb obviously," Shepherd declared ominously, "Is you all of course."
"You think the Hegemon is going to leave us to be slaughtered by the Alliance?" Jar'kannath said incredulously. "We are his main way of effecting political change according to you, why would he throw us away?"
"No the Hegemon isn't going to abandon you." Shepherd said as if nothing could be more obvious. "He is going to betray you. Lure you into a trap, and probably even help the Alliance hunt down any of you that get away. The power he's displayed in tweaking the Alliance's nose is more than enough to keep any other galactic power off his back while he rebuilds. He doesn't need you. And giving you any kind of shelter is just asking for the Alliance to come into the Hegemony looking for you. It's just good business sense to cut you off at this point. Nice and logical really."
"Logic is one thing." Jar'kannath dismissed, "Proof would be another. Do you have any that this whole mad idea of yours has any truth to it?"
"Just one word," Shepherd said with smug satisfaction, "Torfan."
"How do you know about Torfan?" Jar'kannath asked after a long pause.
"I was raised on a military base," Shepherd explained, "You hear a lot of things there. It would be a dangerous presumption to assume the Alliance didn't know about Torfan."
"Well congratulations to Alliance intelligence," Jar'kannath admitted sounding nervous. "But that doesn't prove the Hegemon betrayed us."
"True," Shepherd admitted, "But if I wanted to ensure your demise as the Hegemon, then it would also be a dangerous presumption to assume the Alliance knew about Torfan and would think you all would go there after the attack. The best way to ensure that happened would be to sabotage a ship or two and make sure they got left behind with a partially destroyed computer full of oh so convenient navigation data. So tell me, how many frigates made it off of Elysium?"
"Three ships were left behind," The captain admitted. "Engine trouble by last report, and Alliance marines were closing in."
"Were any of those ships transporting Special Intervention Units?" Shepherd asked simply enough, when the captain didn't respond Shepherd pressed on. "And I further guess that those SIU troops somehow managed to miraculously make it back to another landing zone just in time to escape?"
The captain's eyes widened as he considered the possibilities. Since the captain regularly dealt with people who considered murder to be a solution to any problem, he had honed his instinct to be on the lookout for anything the least bit suspicious. He had known those frigates must've been wiped out by official orders the moment he had heard about their engine troubles. But that wasn't necessarily unusual. All pirates and smugglers had to deal with officials from the priest, noble and scribe castes who more easily offended and twice as vengeful as any terminus warlord. It wasn't unthinkable that the fools had pissed someone high ranking off who had pulled the strings to get a little wet work done.
Now that he thought about it though the whole setup had been strange. The frigates had landed to raid Alliance military bases to hold off any counter attack while others raided nearby towns for slaves. But the whole region was only lightly populated and several captain's had suggested that the ships would have more profitable times elsewhere. The generals who helped them plan the raid, well really they had just stood in the corner and shouted orders at them while the pirates planned the raid, had insisted the attacks be carried out to show the humans not to underestimate Batarian military power. Could the whole thing had been a set up? It wasn't unthinkable, and the cold murderous logic of it was what Jar'kannath expected from the high castes who spent lives like coins.
"It could be a coincidence though," Shepherd admitted in a voice condescending enough to let them all know what he thought of such a possibility. "The real proof will come when you reach Torfan. First you will find the governor there has been replaced by a personal friend of the Hegemon. Then he will demand that you unload your cargo quickly and come to his home for a celebratory feast, and he won't even think of discussing payment until you meet with him in person. There he will tell you of his new genius plan to host a slave auction. How sure he is if he can bring the movers and shakers of Batarian society together he can make a ludicrous amount of money in the process. He will claim he can pay you three or four times what the slaves are worth if you stick around and wait for the big event.
"If you insist on being paid normally he will claim to have already spent his money on preparing the auction so he can only pay you a quarter of what they're all worth. If you try to walk away he will refuse to give you your cargo back and might just have you imprisoned outright. There will be a small private auction in a few days to sell your best stock to the Hegemon and his allies first, which will no doubt make good in his promises for great rewards and convince you all to wait for the real event in a week or two. Once the governor knows the Alliance fleet is on the move he will leave Torfan on urgent business, just as the first guests, all of them enemies of the Hegemon, arrive. Shortly thereafter the Alliance fleet will arrive and then it will all be over."
The captain sank back into his chair a defeated man. He already knew this plan. It had been worked out in advance by Torfan's new governor: Coulladin, a worm of a man whose silver tongue had convinced all of them they would all soon be filthy rich. They had all already agreed. They had sat there smiling to each other drunk on promises of unthinkable wealth while that little runt of a man had planned how to slit their throats. There was no way out. He had spent to much, on the cages, the weapons, the extra men, on the Blood Pack. If he ran his crew would kill him when he couldn't pay them what he promised. If he stayed the alliance would kill him. Even if he somehow survived the Alliance would never let him go, not a pirate who attacked Elysium and the Hegemony would sell him out at a drop of a hat. He would have to make a run for the Terminus systems, and no warlord there would risk bringing all of humanity down on their heads just to keep one Captain under their thumbs. He was a dead man walking. The giant could go back to his cage right now and just wait for it all to happen.
But the giant- no Shepherd had come for him. He had said he had come to save him. Maybe….. Dared he so hope?
"What do you want Shepherd?" Jar'kannath asked at last, his voice drained but still weary.
"From you?" Shepherd considered, "Weapons and armor mostly, though we already have all that so that's not really a demand. What would really help would be for you to transport us all down to Torfan, while we are armed, disguised as slaves, the authorities none the wiser."
"You're going to do this all again down there?" The captain surmised, "Free all the Elysians, all the other slaves too, and take over the whole station?"
"That's the plan." Shepherd said with that eternal unshakable confidence, "If you could put me in contact with the rest of the pirate captains as well once we get down there. I'll need their ships later. They need to know what's coming for them to."
"I can get you in contact with them now." Jar'kannath offered, "Might save you some hassle."
"And explain to them that this ship has been overrun by rampaging slaves? They'd shoot us out of the sky in a heartbeat." Shepherd dismissed, "I prefer to negotiate with men who can't blast me with ship cannons if they don't like what I say. On Torfan I'll have a few mile of stone between me and their temper tantrums."
The captain nodded, it made sense to him. "And then what? After you take Torfan I mean. Will we just cart all you back to Alliance territory and ask for forgiveness?"
"That would be a good way to get you all killed." Shepherd explained, "We will arrange for most of the Elysians and others to return to the Alliance. The kids, parents, elderly, and anyone else that needs to return to their family. But I will take as many of them as I can convince to join me and you pirates in a much greater mission."
"Which is?"
"To eliminate the practice of slavery and free the Batarian people from the tyranny of the caste system, by overthrowing the Hegemony." Shepherd declared, leaving his human compatriots stunned, the Batarians realing, and the captain laughing hysterically to himself. Outside the bridge Jack smiled to herself knowing they had made their first real step. And old Sul'darron raised a prayer of thanks to the old gods that he had lived so long, to see such strange things.
"What do you mean we're not going back yet?" A panicking voice cried from the back of the crowd of humans who had gathered to hear Shepherd's report about his meeting with the captain.
"Don't we control the ship now?" Another demanded
"Was all this for nothing?" Another wailed
"What's going to happen now?" One voice called that sounded somewhat hopeful. That took Tali Zorah off guard. After witnessing that totally bizarre, and weirdly friendly conversation between a slaver captain and the man who not five minutes before had been slaughtering his men, Tali had been certain the whole thing would fall apart when Shepherd tried to explain things to the rest of the escaped civilians. But at least half the face here weren't looking accusingly at Shepherd but expectantly, hopefully even. Could these people really be swayed so easily? Were they already so convinced that Shepherd had everything under control?
Shepherd waved down the myriad of questions from the front of the crowd. He towered over everyone, so it was all to easy for him to meet everyone's gaze. He smiled warmly at everyone and stood solid as a rock before them all. As the silence held, Tali could see more and more faces around her turn hopeful. Without even saying anything he was already bringing them around to his side just by standing there so firm and unmovable.
"This is nothing to be surprised over." He started down playing their panic and inviting them all to join his easy confidence. "If we just took the ship and ran the rest of the pirate fleet would shoot us down after a moment or two of hesitation as they figured out what was going on. We're not part of their paycheck, and they have nothing to lose from killing a rival pirate group."
That was true at least. Tali had known that from the beginning. Though it begged a question that someone soon called out.
"So what was the point of all this? What are we doing here?"
"No war is won with just one battle." Shepherd explained like a patient teacher, "No journey takes only a single step. But each step we take brings us all closer to our goal and makes the next fight easier. Now we have weapons, we have armor, we are organized and we are strong. Once we get down to the pirate base we just have to do this all over again, only this time with thousands of other people ready to help us. I've talked the captain around to our side, so the pirate authorities won't know what's coming at them. With the element of surprise and everything we've all learned from this fight, taking that base will be easy. Torfan is mostly underground, so once we control the spaceport and the access points we can either bunker down to wait for the Alliance to come get us, or convince the rest of the pirates to get us out of there."
"There's no need to panic and run." Shepherd continued pressing the point home. "And even if we could just escape from here, there's still the other people trapped in those pirate ships to think about. I know none of you would think of leaving them behind."
And that point cinched it. Truth be told everyone here wanted to just run away immediately and never look back. But no one here was going to say that to Shepherd. It would be like admitting to their parents that they enjoyed hitting small animals. And if no one would say it to Shepherd, then no one would say it to each other either. Not and risk being outed as the one coward in a group being so courageous and heroic.
"I know this whole business has been long and tiring." Shepherd continued, the sympathy in his voice felt truly genuine. "But we've now turned an impossible task into a fight that we can win! The road only stretches on a bit further. If we all come together and press on. We can pull through this. We can save everyone."
"Okay everyone!" Jack called out catching the group's attention. "That's enough of a pep talk for now. The pirate ship will reach Torfan in just twelve hours and we have a lot of work to do. We've got the guns and armor, but the plan gets a lot more complicated if the Batarians know we've got them. So we need rags, blankets, ponchos, ratty old towels. Anything we can get over people that looks baggy and pathetic. Make it seem like the Batarians stole everything we have and left us in rags. It will make it much easier to hide the hard ware people. We've got a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. So hop to it."
Just like that the crowd was dispersed and set to work. Tali lingered near to Shepherd along with the soldiers and team leaders. They were the only ones who knew of Shepherd's larger goal, and so far none of them had mentioned it to anyone else. They held silent for a time and Shepherd waited on them, they had something to say but he wasn't going to drag it out of them.
"Uh boss?" Jenkins finally spoke up, "Was all that you said about the Alliance knowing about this Torfan place true?"
"Probably." Shepherd answered.
"Probably?" Jenkins asked a little stunned, "But you said you were at a military base so you must've heard about it right?"
"The Alliance knows there is a pirate base there, but not much else." Shepherd explained, "The first I knew that the pirates were taking us there was when the one Batarian mentioned the name to one of the Krogan. But the Alliance does probably know by now at least, or will very soon. It makes the most sense for the Hegemon to betray the pirates like I said. But even if he isn't, the Citadel Council will do everything it can to stop a war from breaking out between the System Alliance and the Hegemony. So as soon as any Spectres or STG agents know where the pirates went they will forward that information to the Alliance in the hope that mankind's vengeance will be satisfied with the pirates."
"If that's so," Jenkins pressed, "Wouldn't it be safest to wait for rescue? I mean we were lucky fighting through this ship, and I imagine this Torfan place is pretty big, you can't be everywhere. People might get hurt or even killed."
"That's true." Shepherd admitted. "It would be safest to wait, but the problem is that the Hegemon won't wait for us. He knows what's coming, and he will want his share in the profits for this venture even as he sells the pirates out. If we wait to long, a lot of people might get sold off to him and his cronies, lost to us inside the Hegemony. Fighting is risky, but if it works than we save the most people possible."
The assembled men nodded at that. But Tali wasn't convinced. She suspected something deeper was going on. There was his real goal to consider and all that it meant.
"Boss," The injured marine asked next, "Could we really do it? Bring down the whole thing I mean."
"One thing at a time men." Shepherd dismissed. "First we save everyone, then we will deal with the Hegemony."
"But their just civilians boss, no offence Jenkins."
"Every soldier was a civilian until they decided not to be." Shepherd countered. "I don't lie, everyone who wants to go home will go home once this is over. I won't make anyone fight, and no one here owes the Hegemony anything except maybe a good kick to the groin. But I will go on. I will do what I have to, to set things right."
The men accepted that. His words were simple and honest and that was enough for them, so they moved on. The group quickly dispersing to help take command of the increasing chaos around them to get people working. As they left, Tali approached the giant. This moment terrified her in a way. But she would see it through.
"Do you want to ask me something Tali?" Shepherd said to her as she approached.
"When you told Carlson not to kill that pirate," She started, gathered her courage and pressed on, "Did you do it because it would help Carlson, or to avoid creating unnecessary hostility between the pirates and the Elysians?"
"I did it because it was the right thing to do." Shepherd answered.
"And what does that mean!?" Tali demanded, "That man killed his sister, doesn't he have the right to demand justice. You told him he would see the man hang, but you intend to use the pirates to reform the whole Hegemony! No doubt you will make them into its new military!"
"And doesn't that pirate's family deserve to have their father back?" Shepherd answered.
"You don't know he has a family!" Tali ridiculed,
"I do." Shepherd claimed, "I can smell it."
"What?" Tali asked confused.
"Batarian women mark their mates with a light pheromone scent to warn off other females from poaching their men. I can smell it. The smell gets stronger after each time a woman has given birth. I know how many children each and every Batarian I killed today has."
"Just like how I know that according to most statistics: at least forty percent of the Batarians on this ship are former slaves." Shepherd continued sounding weary and hard pressed, "Most of the rest from the peasant caste. Third and fourth sons who would get no inheritance and would have to work for half their lives to earn enough for their own farms or to pay a bride price. If they could even find the work they needed. More than five percent of all third born sons from the lower castes will die of starvation before they turn thirty. These men aren't evil, they are desperate, but in their desperation they do terrible things."
"Do you honestly think that anything they might have suffered could justify all of this?" Tali countered.
"I don't know." Shepherd explained, "Neither do you really, neither of us have every been so desperate we might think differently in their place."
"I would never stoop so low as this!" Tali insisted.
"How can you know?" Shepherd questioned, "Are you really a good person Tali Zorah or have you just never had a chance to be a bad person?"
"I-" She started, and then stopped as she remembered a man shot in the back and wondered if he had children who would never see their father again.
"Moral absolutes are such troubling things." Shepherd mused in the silence, "You can never say that one is more absolute than the others. I can't measure the weight of men's lives. But I can see how much they suffer. Carlson would never have forgiven himself if he had killed that man in cold blood. Every memory he has of his sister would be forever tainted by a bloody corpse on the floor. I stopped that. I helped him. If I also helped myself and others so much the better. I did the right thing, my reasons don't make it any less right."
"But your reasons drive what you do." Tali accused. "You are taking these people down to Torfan to make them fight. You could convince the other captains to turn back now. You could call for the Alliance, tell them where the pirates are going and get them to come now. You could turn that whole base into a mad house of terror while we defended the Elysians and waited for rescue. But instead you are going to make them fight and risk their lives, all so that you can make them into an army and lead them in some crusade against the Hegemony!"
"Yes I will." Shepherd accepted, "It is the right thing to do."
"You will spend their lives for the sake of your own selfish morality!" Tali condemned,
"I will let them arise to a greater challenge," Shepherd insisted, "And lead them to accomplish great things."
"You will manipulate them like children!"
"They are not children." Shepherd denied, "I will argue and inspire them. But I won't force anyone to follow me. All I will do is help them see what it is that they want to ignore. I will help them see the needless suffering that Batarian slaves, peasants, beggars and casteless outcasts suffer everyday. I will make them see how the galaxy is driving the Krogan and your people to extinction. I will make them see how the terminus has been left to rot and fester because the Council can't be bothered to deal with its people own ambitions. I will show them what I have seen every day of my life, how the broken and forgotten of the galaxy cry out for help and salvation."
"Why? Do you think the galaxy will sing your praises for this? Do you think they will welcome you as some great savior?"
"I will do it because I am the only one who can. I am myself, there are no others. There will never be anyone else like me, who can do what I can do, who will live as long as I can live, who can see all that I can see. So if I don't, no one will."
"I am not asking you to come with me Tali." Shepherd concluded. "This is not your fight, these aren't your people. But you are the best hacker we have here, and if you help us you can save so many lives. The galaxy has turned its back on your people, you have every right to do the same. But if you do, then nothing will ever change."
Then he left her there. For a long while she just stood and thought to herself. She thought for a time, that she should just return to her pilgrimage and be done with the whole thing. The pirates would not notice one departing shuttle. But then she considered something.
The purpose of the pilgrimage was to make a true contribution to the fleet. The Migrant fleet could not afford to take on anyone who wouldn't give more to the fleet then they took from it. At the end of it all, all that really mattered was the fleet itself. Not the prestige, appreciation, or even acceptance that might be earned from such a contribution. What mattered was for everyone to do everything they could to help the fleet.
She was not certain how much she like Shepherd. He seemed truly dangerous to her. A man of near limitless power and influence unshakable in his convictions. Truly such a man could inflict limitless damage upon the world. But right now, she had to admit, he was helping his fleet. Not the migrant fleet of course, but his people. Not humanity, but everyone he believed needed help. That was his fleet. Could she condemn a man who used others to help the migrant fleet? No, infact she would commend such a man.
"I still think this might be a bad idea." She said to herself at last. "But I guess I should make sure he doesn't get too many people killed in the damn fool idea of his."
AN: Well that turned out a bit longer than expected, and that's even with one scene I had planned pushed back to next chapter.
So yeah, first real good look at Primarch Shepherd. In the games I always played Shepherd as a kind of Mother Bear. I was always polite, friendly and encouraging to my crew members. Always there to back them up, though I also tried to challenge their beliefs to make them better people. Outside of the crew though, I liked Hacket for being too old for all this nonsense, Aria for just being bad ass in general, Anderson as an honorary crew member, and everyone else in the galaxy could go shove their heads up the south side of a north bound donkey. I never passed up an opportunity to mouth off to the council or insult the illusive man. Never passed up a renegade chance, and my plans in general gravitated towards shooting everyone and leaving God to recognize his own. But that was human Shepherd, this is Primarch Shepherd and Primarchs are very different beasts all together. They're not really human as they are human shaped sledge hammers the Emperor could use to collectively beat the galaxy back into some semblance of order.
It's kind of surprising to see how the character turned out so far. I hadn't really planned on him being so manipulative but it just seemed to make sense in the context. It will be fun to see how this all plays out in coming chapters.
Do forgive poor Tali if you can, she's still terribly naive at this point and struggling to keep her head above the water and not get pulled into Shepherd's rapidly growing cult of personality.
Thanks for reading and reviewing.