His childhood home was cold and dark as Rex stepped into the shadows and let the dark wrap around him like blanket. He looked over his shoulder at the last embers of the sun being snuffed out by the horizon and closed his eyes. The last beams of sunlight shrank until there was only a memory of the warmth as he opened his eyes and swung open the metal door to his father's clinic. Though it was probably just his memory bleeding into reality Rex could still smell the harsh scent of antiseptics and linens on the air.
He stared into the shadows of the clinic for several long minutes just letting the cold stale air slip past him. The orangish tint of his pip-boy light cast a few inches into the dark outlining a toppled cart and a moss choked medical exam table. Every few seconds Rex tried to step into the room, but his feet wouldn't leave the floor and his legs ignored his commands. An eternity passed before he managed to bite his lip hard enough to shock his legs forward and into the cold black space of the clinic.
Orange light illuminated the room and banished the dark into the shadowy corners of the burnt out cabinets and shelves. Rex took in a breath and the coiling scents of ash and antiseptic brought the taste of bile to his tongue sending a tremor through his body. He clapped his hand over his nose and gritted his teeth against as his body betrayed his tenuous emotional control. Then he saw the blackened metal door to the supply cellar and he lowered his hand to force a deep breath of cold stale air into his lungs. The tremors stopped and he shook out the tension from his muscles before taking a step toward the cellar door.
"If only you had such an ability to self cope as a child,"
Rex turned to see his father standing in the doorway leading to the garage with his sharp eyes leveled on Rex. He stared at the maybe delusion of his father for a moment before flipping him the bird and turning to limp over to the cellar door. It had been blackened by the fire, but the sturdy padlock that kept it lock was still intact.
"Thanks I picked it up on sale at the shitty adolescence store," Rex pulled out his lock pick set and set to work on the padlock with silent determination.
"Your mother say hello," His father said as he stepped into the clinic "Roslyn too."
Rex looked up from his work for a moment and his grey eyes met his father's.
"I'm working here," Rex said as he went back to coaxing the lock's mechanisms.
"You must be wondering if we're..."
"No," Rex's voice broke as he half growled half sobbed "I don't need that on my head, if you're just schizophrenic delusions brought on by trauma then that's fine, but if...if...if you're real then all of you've seen everything I've done. Everyone I've killed or hurt, every black sin on my soul, and I really don't need that on my shoulders right now."
His father stared at him for a moment and his hard features melted ever so slightly into a look of deep sadness. Then he shook his head and took a breath and once again Rex's father assumed his typical look of cold examination. Rex shook his own head and told himself that it was some internal process of his mind putting on a show.
"Take some comfort in the fact you're not the only Craster with black on his soul, my beautiful broken son," His father dissolved into the shadows just as the words reached Rex's ears and with a click the lock finally opened.
Rex closed his eyes and steadied himself with a breath and when he opened them he tossed the charred lock to the side and lifted the cellar door. A blast of freezing air greeted him and Rex detected the scent of ozone and sterile metal as the cold dug into his skin like a thousand tiny daggers. He cocked his ear towards the opening and listened to the deafening silence for several long seconds until he heard it. It was almost silent, but Rex heard the distinct sound of a vent cycling air and the whir of a motorized valve activating.
"It seems that Dust isn't quite as dead as I thought," Rex muttered to himself as he gripped the edges of the cellar door and dropped down into the cold blackness.
The cold hit him like a punch and Rex coughed as his lungs burned as he inhaled the freezing air. He brought his pip-boy up and looked around the room, the Astrolge had looted it over a decade before so the shelves stood empty of his father's neatly organized supplies. In their place was a layer of ice that creeped out from behind a wooden cabinet at the back of the cellar like a fungus coating everything in thick frost. Rex took out a bandanna from his pocket and wrapped it around his mouth before stepping over to the cabinet.
It was a massive black oak monster that seemed too large to have ever been lowered down into the cellar. Spikes of ice coated almost every inch of the dark wood and Rex looked down to the frost covered floor. Squatting down, he lowered his pip-boy light and scraped some of the frost away revealing a thin line of wear in the stone floor. Rex stood up and slipped his metal fingers behind the cabinet and pulled and after nearly exhausting himself managed to pull the cabinet free from the wall with a loud crack as the ice shattered.
The cabinet was on a hinge and as it swung free Rex saw a black metal door and a large vent on the wall that had been hidden by the bulk of the cabinet. With a puff of icy air the vent released a blast of frigid air into the open space that Rex had to step back from to avoid frosting over the fuzz of hair on his head. Standing a few feet back, Rex looked at the door and noticed a twenty six letter keyboard and three small screens built into the door.
"Three passwords," Rex muttered to himself as he stepped closer to the panel and ignored the cold raining down on him.
He pressed a key on the keyboard and the first screen lit up before going dark after a few seconds of inactivity.
"Now what would you use as a password old man?" Rex asked the empty room as he considered the options "Never were sentimental, but..."
He typed in: Roslyn
The first screen flashed a green outline and Rex heard the tell tale sound of a magnetic lock disengaging.
"Oh, turns out you were a softy after all," Rex said bitterly.
He entered: Reximus
The second screen flashed with a green outline and again Rex heard a magnetic lock disengage.
"That's all of your kids old man," Rex muttered to himself before cocking his head and running his tongue over his top teeth "Maybe you weren't quite written out entirely, eh Roxanne?"
He typed in: Roxsia
The third and final screen blinked with a green outline and the sound of the final magnetic lock disengaged causing the door to slide into the wall. Cool blue light shined out from the doorway and Rex looked in to a wide hallway leading towards an archway into another room. At the sides of the hallway were chillers and small generators feeding into blue light bulbs and a line of wiring that led deeper into the space.
"Ooh joy, another secret bunker," Rex muttered to himself as he stepped into the blue light of the hallway "This always turns out well."
?
Alyssa sat in her office going over reports of the progress in activating the small specialized factory coming on line just outside the town. Rex was on a trip out of town so her people were following the orders of one his head engineers, a ghoul named Raul, as they got the equipment working and the production lines situated. Without any hiccups they were on track to start producing product within the next few weeks and after that then New Columbia Aeronautics would be the sole private provider of void craft and flight technologies in the wastes. Naturally, Alyssa wondered exactly why Rex had partnered with her to create a company separate from the Mojave government, but she'd learned early on in their relationship to stay out of his personal plans.
"Miss Alyssa?" her secretary's voice buzzed in through the speaker on her desk "I know it's late but Miss Roxanne is here to see you."
"Oh," Alyssa couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face "Send her up please."
"Um, ma'am she's.."
The door opened and Roxanne stepped through in a rain drenched duster with her red hair tangled into wet knots. Alyssa looked at her for a moment and noted that she looked incredibly tired with red eyes and pale clammy skin. Her trip home had apparently taken a lot of her, and the moment Alyssa stood she found herself locked in a vice like hug before she could react.
"God, I missed holding you," Roxanne muttered into Alyssa's hair.
"Not that I mind being smooshed into you," Alyssa said as the close contact transferred water onto he clothes "But I don't have a dry set of clothes here."
"Oh," Roxanne let her go and stepped backward with uncharacteristic bashfulness "Sorry, just teleported in from a storm, and I just wanted to hug you."
"It's alright," Alyssa laughed as she tried to wipe the excess water from her skin "How was your trip?"
"Oh it was nice," Roxanne carefully slipped her duster off and laid it out on an open window sill and looked at Alyssa "Alyssa, I'm going to be honest with you right now, is that alright?"
"Of course," Alyssa crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.
"Good, I'm at the end of a stupid little game I've been playing and there's no room for lies anymore," Roxanne looked out the window and sighed "There's a lot you don't know about me, the only thing you need to believe is that I love you more than any single thing in all of existence. All the rest you can hate me for, call me a liar, but I want you to know that is the truth."
"Uh..." Alyssa said as the other eyebrow went up and she blinked several times at the admission "What...what...are you implying? Why would I hate you for anything."
"Because I made a mistake and in trying to fix it I only showed how inadequate I am," Roxanne seemed to deflate as she slumped against a wall "A long time ago I abandoned this city, this country, after I lost you to the cruelty of random chance. Where I went there was no way home besides years of travel that took me through places that were both beautiful and terrifying, but when I returned here to my home everything was different. In my grief and selfishness I'd rewritten the story and cursed my brother to a harsh life and my little sister to a living nightmare."
"Roxanne, what are you talking about?" Alyssa stepped forward reaching out a hand "You're not making any sense, I'm right here alive and well. How could you have lost me?"
"Oh my sweet little lady," Roxanne reached forward and pressed her hand against the side of Alyssa's face and gave her a sad smile "This isn't the first time we've danced together."
Roxanne appeared to shimmer for a moment and Alyssa had to blink back tears as a flash of memory erupted in her mind. For a moment she lived another life, a life with Roxanne filled with adventure and passion alongside quiet moments spent alone in the dark. Alyssa clutched her head as the memories showed her the life she never lived and all she did beside the broken woman standing before her. Then they were gone, the memory of a life she never lived gone, but not the emotions nor the sudden understanding.
"What..." Alyssa murmured as she leaned into Roxanne's hand.
"I just used the last of the tear energy I had stored up to show you why I hurt you," Roxanne said withdrawing her hand and stepping back "To break what I fixed I tried to enact a plan to help this world stay on track for a victory. To get the good ending so to speak, but this isn't the story I came from, and all of my clever little tricks like stealing Reximus' immortality drug or skulking around New Vegas amounted to nothing. Worst of all in some vein attempt to write my wrongs and keep you safe, I hurt you in the worst way possible."
"What are you talking about?" Alyssa asked her mind snapping back to attention as she took a step back from Roxanne "What did you do to me?"
Roxanne didn't speak for a moment but when she did her voice cracked.
"I made the only person I've ever truly loved into a pawn in a chess game," Roxanne's lip quivered as she spoke "Just after the final battle against the second Legion I injected you with a special serum that would infect your mind with a kind of mental doppelganger of myself. I told myself that it was to protect you and help guide the rest of the Mojave, but it was all moot in the end. You didnt need me and neither did the rest of this world. You would have voted the way you did anyway and all I accomplished was making a pawn of the only person I've ever truly loved. In trying to play the schemer I warped that beautiful mind of yours into nothing but a tool, and I'll go to the grave regretting it."
"Are you...are you still in control?" Alyssa asked as a sick feeling oozed from her mind and on some instinctual level she knew Roxanne spoke the truth as flashes of delusion spliced her memory "Was the last month you playing with me like a fucking toy?"
"No, when I realized exactly how different things were, when I realized that I couldn't change things, I slipped the cure into your coffee a month before you met me face to face this time," Roxanne reached forward and winced when Alyssa cringed from her hand "Any initial attraction you felt the first time we met was genuine, you need to understand why I'm here..."
"Get out." Alyssa growled as anger burned in her stomach.
"Alyssa please let me..."
"GET OUT!" Alyssa screamed as she clutched her head.
Roxanne clenched her fists and nodded before she collected her duster and walked to the door.
"I'll be in New Vegas staying with my brother," She said as Alyssa turned her back on Roxanne "I know I'll never deserve it, but if you ever want to talk to me again you can find me under my real name, Roxanne Craster."
Alyssa's eyes went wide and she turned only to watch Roxanne disappear into a burst of white flame leaving behind a cloud of white smoke. She didn't know what was worse, the sick feeling gripping every nerve or the realization of Roxanne's last words. Her stomach churned and she had her answer as more snippets of the delusions she hadn't been able to remember came back to her. The dream on Zeta after the battle with the New Legion and the strange presence that pushed her towards supporting Rex even when her own opinion aligned with his became true solid memories. Alyssa collapsed against her desk and sobbed into her hands as she realized just how deep a hold Roxanne had hooked into her. With a sob and shallow breaths she felt the world begin to come crashing down around her.
/
His world was darkness and the smell of urine. Arthur Maxson sat in the corner of his cell and glared at where he knew the door was and batted the clinging rats off his legs. He gritted his teeth against the stinging bite of a rat on his foot and with a grunt crushed the hateful creature's skull with a satisfying crack. That was his tenth success in a row, at first he'd barely managed to clip the hungry rodents but as he grew accustomed to the blackness of his cell his ability to end the hateful creatures had been honed to near perfection. As he bit into the rat and chewed the tough meat Arthur imagined that he'd be doing the same to the soldiers who had captured him soon enough.
Any thoughts of revenge or savoring his meal were erased by blinding light as the door opened. Before he could even react to the light, Arthur was grabbed and felt a collar click around his neck. Then he was thrown out onto a cold stone floor and as his eyes adjusted he saw that a young woman stood over him. She was blond with cold blue eyes and a smirk that sent a chill down Arthur's back as he glared up at her.
"Hello Mr. Maxson," The woman said as she lightly tossed a small metal remote up and down "I see you've helped yourself to the rats. Need a Kola to wash that down?"
"Where are my brothers and sisters?" Arthur croaked.
"Oh we're actually on the way to see them right now," The woman smiled and nodded to two soldiers to pick Arthur up "Before we go see them, I'd like to offer you another chance to tell us why you're here and all you know about the Mojave."
"As I told you NCR drones before, I have nothing to tell you beyond where to stick your bayonets," Arthur spat as he shook off the soldier's hands "Now where are my brothers and sisters?"
"Oh look at this boys," The woman stepped forward and exhaled minty breath into Arthur's face "He expects us to tell us where his people are and dosent tell us something in return. A bit rude don't you think?"
"Very rude, Miss Voorhees," one of the soldiers agreed.
"Glad you agree," The woman said and pressed a button on the remote.
Pain crackled through his muscles as electricity arced outward from the collar.
"I wont abide rude guests Mr. Maxson," the woman chided as Arthur gasped through the burning pain in his body.
The soldiers picked him up and with another cold smile the woman led them through an open doorway out onto a prison yard. Bright sunlight blinded him again, but when Arthur's vision returned the sight before him chilled him to the core. Each of his brothers and sisters stood naked with their hands forced behind their backs and chained to a metal pole. Their bodies were sun burnt and bruised and their faces were cracked from the heat and apparent beatings. His stomach turned as he noticed that the women's bodies had more bruises and cuts on their sun burnt skin than the men.
"You bitch we'll kill you for this!" Arthur yelled and some of his people raised their heads before they suddenly screamed as electricity arced off the poles they were bound to.
"Careful now," the woman said as his people screamed and writhed in pain against their bindings before the energy ceased and they went limp "I'd hate to break the women before the troops get one last turn with them, and my father's boys like when they have just a little fight left in them. Now, tell me why you're merry little caravan is in the NCR and all you know of the Mojave's inner workings."
"I'll never..."
The woman raised her hand and pointed her remote at his people but held her finger just over the button.
"All I will tell you is that we were going to join the true brotherhood in Lost Hills," Arthur's eyes darted from the woman's face to the remote "That's all, we had no intention of starting a conflict with you, and I know nothing that will help you against the Mojave."
"Oh, little Maxson running home to great grandpa's house are we?" the woman said as examined Arthur closely "Now what makes you think that you'd be able to cross the NCR and slip into their territory unmolested?"
"Your country is blind and bloated, if we hadnt been held up fixing a truck you'd have never known we were passing through," Arthur growled "Our brothers and sisters in Lost hills will hear about this and then you'll be strapped to one of those poles."
"My goodness gracious you're a confident one aren't you?" the woman giggled and tapped her temple "Do you know why the west coast faction of the Brotherhood has been so quiet in recent years, Mr. Maxson? Why it was so easy to trick a stupid try hard of a kid into loading up and heading into enemy territory?"
"What are you talking about?" Arthur felt a chill enter his blood.
"Codes are such a fickle thing, they're wonderful ways to keep communications private until they're cracked that is," the woman leaned down and brought her face inches from his "We send one message using a decently old school brotherhood language, and who answers but Roger Maxson's great grandson himself. In trying to join with the "true Brotherhood" as you call it you've just handed the NCR a loaded gun."
Arthur looked at the woman for several long seconds as her words registered.
"I...I did this," He muttered as he slumped to his knees.
"Of course you did Arthur, I want you to remember till the day you die the mistake you made by coming into my country uninvited," the woman patted his head and giggled again "Now Arthur, let's discuss whether or not you're going to be useful enough to keep your brothers and sisters alive shall we?"
/
Rex limped down the freezing hallway and passed between the whirring generators and softly shaking chillers. The sound of his steps seemed to be swallowed by the cold and the ambient noise of the machinery as he walked towards the curved archway. As he walked Rex marveled at the technology on full display just in the entryway, and as he considered that he didnt know whether to marvel that this bunker was hidden beneath his childhood home or at the apparent lack of automated security. Memories of hidden turrets and crazed old men knocking him out in bunkers like this kept him on edge as he walked through the hallway and under the archway.
He stepped into a wide lab space with several tables of equipment under thick plastic sheets that had long been coated in a layer of thick frost. At the back of the room was a bank of eight black computer mainframes with a single terminal linking them with ice coated cables into a cohesive matrix as the terminal blinked green in stand by. Sitting on the floor in front of the terminal was a metal crate around the size of a steamer trunk coated in a thin layer of frost.
"Okay, hidden bunker with a massive computer system and a fully kitted out lab still running over a decade after anyone who knew it existed died," Rex said to the frigid room "Honestly par for the course at this point."
Rex reached into his pocket and looked over the path to the terminal and container letting his breathing slow. He forced all other thoughts out of his mind and just absorbed the details of the space before him, and digested the sensory input until he saw the whole picture in his mind's eye. A pressure plate in the floor down the shortest path to the terminal and as the icy air blew ice crystals around Rex spotted a web of laser lights wrapped around the terminal's approach. A quick look at the seaming in the walls to either side of the terminals indicated hidden compartments for what ever traps the plate and lasers activated.
"Couldn't have made this easy could you, old man?" Rex took out a few Cap coins and jingled the shiny metal in his right hand for a moment as he traced the source of each independent laser tripwire "Lucky for me I'm adept at pulling solutions out of my ass."
Rex tapped a small slider on his left wrist and his arm began to whir as thin coils of red energy began spiraling out from his palm. With a flick of his wrist he sent a coin from his right hand into his left and then threw the coin as if he was skipping a stone across water. It burst from his hand with a loud pop as the mini mass effect field amplified his throw sending the coin spinning into the base of one of the tripwires and ricocheting up to hit the one directly above it destroying both. Rex waited for a response or alarm and when nothing happened he smiled and went to work systematically destroying the eight other tripwires.
With a single coin to spare, Rex flipped it through his metal fingers as the last dregs of dark energy coiled off his hand and he stepped forward over the pressure plate. When he made it to the container and the terminal he pocketed the coin and inspected the container for traps before opening it slowly. When nothing tried to melt and or stab him peered into container and saw that it was filled neat rows of holotapes and vacuum sealed journals save for a foam insert with three phials of black liquid and an empty slot for a fourth. Beneath each slot was a label:
Subject: Nimrod
RP lot 101: Blank Alteration Medium
RP lot 102: Base Activation Agent.
The empty slot was labeled:
Subject: Andraste
"The thick plottens," Rex said as he stood and closed the container and stood to access the terminal.
It was password protected but Rex had been cutting his teeth on far more refined security over the last year and in less than a minute had broken through. The computer began to boot up and the massive black mainframes behind it rumbled as their power was called upon. Small green text danced down the screen as whatever registry the mainframes held was accessed and systems were activated. When the boot finally finished Rex stared at the terminal's list of system options:
Security Control Options
Genetic Analyzer and Compiler controls
Genetic Sequencer controls
Fabrication and Production controls
Research Logs
Personal Logs
To our children
Rex looked over the list and moved the selection highlight over the final option and after a moment's hesitation selected it.
"This is James and Violet Craster date October sixteenth 2267," his father's voice played over a set speakers hidden in the matrix of frozen cables "Say hello to the children Violet."
"Hey my sweet little sprockets," Rex stepped back as his mother's voice joined his father's "Let's cut to the chase, if you're listening to this the both of us are gone."
"Hopefully we both lived long boring lives and you're only finding this tape from a death bed confession," His father continued with a surprising amount of levity in his voice for a man Rex had never actually seen laugh "I'm sure you probably have a million questions, you have no idea what we've kept hidden from you three..."
"The editor definitely missed somethings in your little rewrite Roxanne," Rex muttered as he leaned against a table and let the recording continue.
"...but that changes here. When you asked us how we met we told you a mostly true story of a young NCR medic falling in love with a grease monkey from the engineering corps, but the context was a fantasy. Sixteen years ago your mother and I met while we both worked as project heads for top secret projects for the NCR's R&D division. Your mother was working on a method to create new stable fusion cells en mass while I was heading up a gene manipulation program. Her father favored my work and so I was often a fixture and we met at a cocktail party and things escalated from there."
"What he means is that I practically assaulted him and he was kind enough to take me back to the garage to sober up," Rex winced as he heard his mother's laugh, intensely warm with a slight hitch of instability mixed in "To make a long story short your father eventually married me and we set work to starting a family only..."
There was a pause that went on so long that Rex thought the recording had been stopped until his mother's voice came back.
"I couldn't have a child without a miscarrying," There was a twinge of sadness in his mother's voice that cut deeper than any blade as Rex listened "We lost three babies before I gave up and had to take a long term hiatus from work."
"Thus my work enters into the story," His father's voice replaced his mother's "God, I hope you can find it within your hearts to forgive me for this, but I used my work to create you, Rex and Roxanne. The secret project I led was called the Raptor Project, we were using the surviving notes of a pre-war geneticist, a man by the name Cory Covus, who was working with F.E.V independent of Mariposa's research. Where they wanted to create super soldiers immune to biological attack and radiation Covus wanted to elevate base humanity with F.E.V. Though he didn't accomplish much more than creating a strain of F.E.V that could be easily tailored to any genetic profile it was his philosophy that the Raptor Project was based on."
"It was our mission to alter the genes of the baseline human genome to improve them without transforming the subject into a monster," His father explained as his voice into the cool technical tone he used when lecturing "Well some of the alterations when expressed certainly look a little crazy, but if they worked they worked. Over time, with countless hours of research and sacrificed embryos, we finally developed a selection of genes that we believed would imbue a whole new generation of humanity with abilities of savants and prodigies. Intense balance and perception expressed alongside resistances to cancer and incredible enhancements to musculature alongside sub-dermal armor. In addition to a host of other alterations and enhancements we were essentially creating a super human worthy of inheriting the Post war world."
"That might explain why I could smoke three packs a day," Rex considered as he processed his father's words.
"But we hit a roadblock as soon as we began knitting these alterations together into a single genome," His father continued "As we added or replaced more and more of the enhanced genes into a single embryo the inherent stability of the embryo would degrade. It became apparent that my team and I would never be able to give the NCR there complete super soldiers and so most of my team and resources were moved to other departments and I was the lone man tinkering with genomes in the basement. It was after the third miscarriage and long after the higher ups that I discovered how to make a majority of the alterations work. You see, as I turned my sights to using my research to give your mother a child that I stumbled across an idea to solve the degradation problem."
"Twins," Rex muttered as he cracked a smile and ran his tongue over his upper teeth "You split the alterations between twins."
"Rex, Roxanne you two are that solution," His father repeated Rex's revelation "When a normal embryo is created it happens because two set of chromosomes come together as an egg is fertilized by a sperm cell creating a zygote. In your case I used the Raptor serum to introduce a third set of chromosomes that merged with and altered the existing chromosomes from your mother and I. At the same time I created an alteration that would essentially force the zygote to split into two embryos thus dividing the most intensive alterations between the two of you. Though your true potential is unexpressed the both of you possess altered genes that give you an amazing amount of natural talent."
"Unfortunately with success comes notoriety," his father continued "Forces within the NCR, namely a young up and comer name Voorhees were pushing behind the scenes to snatch this research away..."
Rex's blood went cold and he stood up straight at the mention of Voorhees.
"Voorhees was involved..." Rex muttered before his mother interrupted his thoughts.
"They wanted to take you two and turn you into soldiers," Rex's mother interrupted with pure anger in her voice "They wanted to twist my babies into killers, so we had to leave the NCR."
"Yes, we had to flee the NCR when the two of you were barely a month old," His father said "Luckily, I learned of Dust from a merchant friend of mine and had used some of my connections to set up a small backup lab here. I destroyed every scrap of my research save for the back ups in the container next to this terminal along with samples of the base alteration medium and the base activation agent. Here in the Dust, your mother and I worked improve the lives of Dust's people. In fact the only time I touched anything related to the Raptor project was to allow your mother to carry Roslyn to term, before you get any ideas she has only basic alterations."
"Though that's another lie," His father's voice sounded strained "Though most of the more severe alterations are unexpressed there is a way to activate them. There are two specialized serums in the container beside the activating agent and base medium that will express your individual enhancements. Rex yours is the Nimrod Serum while Roxanne yours is the Andraste Serum, but I beg of you to never use them. The process could kill you or radically alter your physical appearances beyond normal human standards. In truth my work was a success, I finally had the children I always needed and wanted to give to your mother, so if you will honor an old medic's last wish please never use those serums."
Rex looked down at the container and thought of the missing phial.
"You'll find all the information about the project, our past, and everything you need to know about yourselves in the holotapes and records on this terminal," His mother said "There's a chance that some of the individual alterations will transfer genetically into your children, so read up for my grand babies sake, eh?"
"There's a chance that you're listening to this after something besides old age has killed us," His father's voice said with a slight tremor "There's a reason we left the NCR, and one day the powers that lusted after my work may find us again. If that's the case I want all three of you to know that what makes you special isn't my twisting of your genomes, or your mother and I's genetics. What makes you special is how Rex can draw or build almost anything, or how Roxanne loves and comforts her siblings when we cant, and of course how Rose can so unconditionally love everything from Radroaches to Drunk Carl."
"We're blessed to be your parents," Rex bit back a sob as his mother's voice came through the speakers "No matter what happens to us, just know that you were made out of our love and that even if we're gone we will always be with you. You're our gift to the world and we know that you will bring light and love where ever you go, because that's what you've given us every day we get to watch you grow."
"We have no wealth to give you," His father's voice said "So this is your inheritance. Take this knowledge and do what you will with it. Change the world with it or burn it, but know that our last gift is the greatest gift a parent can give their child. We give you the choice to forge your own future whether you accept my work or not. To forsake all of my bloody work or if you find it worthy use it to help the world."
"Goodbye my loves," his mother and father said in unison as the recording ended and Rex slumped to the floor.
"Mama..." he sobbed as tears froze on his cheek and emotions he'd long since banished came screaming to the forefront "Papa..."
There in the second cradle of his creation and buried beneath his childhood home that Rex let the emotional storm of an angry fourteen year old boy finally come screaming out of his blackened heart. He sobbed for a father who he knew loved him despite his cold nature and shed freezing tears for a mother's whose unstable mind turned her love to anger at the drop of a hat. Rex screamed and raged against the unfairness of their deaths and at the waste of potential in Dust's death. In the forge where the casting of the Courier began he finally mourned for his lost home and let the cold of the lab seep into his muscles until it ceased to burn and numbed the tempest in his chest.
"I accept," Rex said to the room as he stood and looked to the container and terminal.
Two ghosts appeared before the terminal, one his mother and the other his father. They stood arm in arm and as he looked at them Rex nodded and walked forward letting them place their hands on his shoulders only to dissipate as he retrieved the holotape containing his parents' message and hefted the container up with his metal arms whirring. Ignoring the pain in his knees and back, Rex walked back towards the entrance to the bunker where the world waited. Where the light and those he loved waited.
As he stepped back into the shadows of the cellar he sealed the door to the lab behind him. He'd send a team to secure the sight and equipment when he could, but for now he left the freezing lab to its silent peace. The moment his transporter connected to the network again Rex allowed himself one last look at the ruined town through a window and with the press of a button left Dust behind for the last time.
/
The lights of New Vegas blazed outside Jack's window as she watched the glittering neon flash and blink against the dark of the Mojave night. She'd spent most of the day helping Shepard work through merchants in competition to supply the Normandy crew's food and general supply as most had moved to the Normandy SR-3's construction site. Jack was surprisingly good as a foil to the often rough and rude merchants who had assumed control of the Mojaves merchant unions. Turns out when you're facing down two women who didn't take bullshit it was hard to swindle them. Who knew?
Jack sipped her drink and considered calling to ask Tali if she wanted to meet up for a bit when she felt the familiar surge of static energy as something teleported in behind her. She turned and saw Rex placing a container on the floor before he just stood there barely aware of his surroundings. His duster was coated in thin frost and his face was drawn with dark circles around his eyes. He looked fatigued beyond even the weakest she'd ever seen him and when their eyes met he stumbled forward and wrapped his metal arms around her.
"Welcome back," Jack said as she returned the hug and pulling him close despite the frost "You look like shit."
"I feel like shit," Rex muttered into her shoulder "I have a lot to tell you about, and a lot to do, but for right now I'm just going to hold you close."
"Well, I wouldn't mind but you smell like a sweaty sausage that someone dropped in a fire pit," Jack said as she kissed the top of his head "Go get yourself cleaned up and then you can tell me everything."
Rex drew back a little and sniffed his shoulder only to wince the smell.
"Oh you're probably right," Rex said with a laugh as he looked into her eyes "Though when did you start using insults that didnt involve curse words?"
"Kind of a personal challenge to improve my shit talking skill," Jack patted him on the cheek "Now go and get yourself cleaned up before I hit you with the hose."
"Careful now, wouldn't want to give me a cold," Rex said as he turned towards the bathroom "My weak health may never recover."
"You've survived worse than a cold, now go before I really do turn the hose on you," Jack gave him a smile as he disappeared into the bathroom and waited for the sound of the shower before she turned and looked at the container on the floor.
Kneeling down, Jack ran her hands over the smooth metal top and tapped her knuckles against the metal. Knowing Rex, it could be carrying an old super weapon forgotten by time or just some knick knacks he'd taken from Dust. She knew why he'd gone to Dust of course, he had to lay his sister to rest and seek any answers about his past, so the container probably had something to do with that. For a moment she considered that the container might have Rose's body in it but she knew Rex wasn't that fucked up. Well she at least liked to believe that he wasn't.
"Evening Jack," a voice said as a boot clacked against the metal lid of the container.
Jack looked up into two deep gray eyes and a sharp edged face rimmed in dark red curls.
"The mysterious red head appears again," Jack said as she whipped around and planted a kick in the woman's stomach with a thud before rolling back and drawing a single shot pistol out of a back holster.
"Ooh borrowing moves from Shepard are we?," The woman said as she patted her unaffected stomach "Don't waste the bullet sweetie or I might just get cross with you."
"What the hell are you doing in my house?" Jack stood up and aimed the gun at the woman's head.
"Rex invited me to stay awhile," The woman said as she stepped back and plonked down onto the couch "I'm Roxanne, Rex's twin sister and your house guest for a bit."
"Oh in that case let me get the fresh linens out of the hamper," Jack kept the gun trained on Roxanne as she backed towards the bathroom before yelling "Rex, did you invite your freaky chick doppelganger to stay with us?"
"Uh yeah," Rex yelled from the shower "One of the things I was going to tell you about, she is actually my twin sister, but it's a very complicated story."
"So should I shoot her or not?" Jack asked as Roxanne gave her a little wave.
"No, I invited her to stay here for awhile since we have the room," Rex popped his sudsy head out the door and looked at Roxanne then at Jack "I'll be out in a minute."
He retreated back into the bathroom leaving Jack to stare down the red head from across the room. Jack lowered the gun and took a seat in an armchair across from Roxanne with the gun still in her hand. The two women looked at each other for several long minutes with Jack offering a cool glare and Roxanne returning it with a smirk.
"So, you actually are his twin sister," Jack queried "Been hiding in the attic for the last few years?"
"More lost on a trans omniversal walkabout," Roxanne explained as she leaned back "Finally made it home and decided to try and rectify a few mistakes."
"Oh, how'd that turn out for you?" Jack asked as she heard Rex dart from the bathroom to the master bedroom behind her.
"I..." Roxanne's expression darkened and her lips tightened into a thin line "I managed to fuck it all up, so Rex is helping me out and letting me stay here."
"Honestly, I don't know who's better at collecting strays," Jack said with a wry chuckle "Shepard or Rex?"
"One more and I hear he gets a free sandwich,"
Jack looked past Roxanne to see Penelope stepping up the spiral stairway with Alena silently following behind her. Roxanne turned and raised an eyebrow at the pair before letting out a deep laugh. Penelope stepped forward shot Roxanne a look as Alena followed close behind making sure to keep Penelope between her and Roxanne.
"Who might you be?" Penelope asked as her eyes flicked between the gun on Jack's lap and Roxanne.
"I'm your Aunt," Roxanne said as she stood to face the girl down "I'm Rex's twin sister Roxanne, but you can call me Auntie Roxy."
"Auntie Roxy is it?" Penelope stepped forward and poked Roxanne in the stomach "I'd say you're a clone, but you appear to be a bit more filled out than the Courier."
"Um, we probably shouldn't start a fight with someone who might be father's sister," Alena interjected from behind Penelope.
"Not that I wouldn't mind watching a fist fight between you two," Jack interrupted "But the kid's right, both of you sit down and wait for Rex. Seems like he's got information that involves all of you, so just park your asses in a seat and play nice."
"Oh Jack I don't remember you playing the mother hen so well," Roxanne teased as she sat back down on the couch "Is my brother domesticating you?"
"This is the first time we've met bitch," Jack growled "So kindly shut the fuck up before I make a necklace out of your teeth."
"There's the Jack I knew," Roxanne's eyes twinkled "And I do know you Jack, or well I knew you, but that's neither here nor there."
"You know, keeping up the cryptic tease shtick wont win her over right?" Rex asked as he walked out into the living room in a pair of bunny slippers and a faded bathrobe that hung off him.
"But I have so few delights in my life I have to take what I can get," Roxanne said with a smirk at Jack.
"Father," Alena said before thumping into Rex as she wrapped his mid section in a hug "I, uh, was wondering when you'd be back."
"Well I cant stay away from home for long," Rex said as he returned the hug and gave the girl a warm smile "What would I do without my favorite people eh?"
"Probably become even more emotionally unstable," Penelope quipped as she leaned against a wall and struggled to keep a smile off her lips "Was your outing a success Courier?"
"My name isn't Courier, if you insist on calling me that I'll start calling you Persephone," Rex said with a surprising amount of venom in his voice.
"Oh I..." Penelope winced and looked down at the floor.
"Listen Penelope," Rex stepped forward and gently lifted her face to look into his softened eyes "Call me Rex or whatever else you like, but that name is a title that's followed me for longer than I'd like and despite everything I consider you family. We have no need for stupid code names in this house."
"Yes you're right…" Penelope blinked and shook her head away from Rex's hand "You're right...Rex, I'll make sure to use your name from now on."
"Good, now that we have that out of the way," Rex said as he patted her on the shoulder "I have a crate full of research data and logs that's all yours."
"Is this regarding your genetic alterations?" Penelope's eyes lit up and she hungrily stared at the container "How much material will I be working off of exactly?"
"Dozens of high capacity holotapes and samples of both the base medium and the activator used in infusion and activation of the altered genes," Rex popped open the container and took out the Nimrod phial "If you can, I'd like you to take a look and decipher everything you can about my father's research and what it means for you and Alena."
"A cipher for the genetic coding even my father couldn't crack," Penelope murmured as she stared at the container "The best he could do was force the activation of a handful of genes in Rose."
"And now," Rex said as he placed the Nimrod phial in silver cylinder from his pack "You'll surpass him, I'll have some of my trusted techs retrieve my father's equipment from Dust and set you up a space in the workshop. Once Mordin is finished with the Memory Visor I'll see if he can spare the time to assist you, but besides him and some of my trusted guys from Big Mt. No one is to be informed of this."
"Of course of course," Penelope mumbled as she took out and opened a vacuum packed journal "Discretion is a specialty of mine."
"Good, I've always been more into motor oil and circuits then genomes and heredity," Rex smiled as Penelope seemed to lose her self in the journal and turned to Roxanne "You, I hate to break it to you, but you're not quite as erased as you thought."
He tossed her a holotape, and pointed to a missing slot on the container's foam insert.
"What are you getting at?" She asked before her eyes fell on the empty slot and she looked at the holotape "Is this…?"
"Our parents last will and testament," Rex said with a sigh "You seem to have taken you're part of the inheritance Roxanne."
"Every other aspect of my existence is wiped out save for here eh?" Roxanne palmed the holotape "Dad...said my name?"
"Yes," Rex limped forward and patted Roxanne on the shoulder "Listen to it when you want to, but for now just know that you weren't truly forgotten."
"Th...thank you Rex," Roxanne said as she grimaced and stood "I'm going to lie down for a bit, kind of had a day so I'll just take one of the empty rooms and reflect."
"Okay," Jack said as Roxanne slipped down the stairs and out of sight "Explain to me exactly what the hell is going on."
"Well gather around and I'll tell you everything I've learned in the last few days," Rex said as he plopped down on the couch and waited for Alena to get comfortable and the distracted Penelope to cock an ear "It started when I walked into Dust..."
/
Thought Seeker Wrail watched as the planet steadily grew larger as her ship, the Mother's Will, slipped closer and closer. Three of her acolytes accompanied her to witness first contact and along with them came Vice Captain Zoli and three of the ship's security personnel woken from stasis. The Qaurian was busy checking over a display that monitored the three Geth whisper ships circling the Mother's Will as they projected the stealth field hiding their approach from prying eyes. Wrail found it strangely amusing as the Qaurian had a habit of mussing her short cut hair when she was absorbed in the data on the screens.
"Vice Captain, is there something in that hair of yours or do you just like the feel?" Wrail asked drawing an annoyed glance from the Qaurian.
"It's a habit I learned from my mother constantly rubbing my head when I was a child," Zoli's attention went back to her display as it lit up with new data "We've established a connection with the Zetan Ship through a backdoor and when we come closer to the planet we will hail them for an initial communique."
"Nothing quite like following standard procedures, eh?" Wrail considered as she sat back in her seat "What are your thoughts on seeing Shard races mixed among the population of the waste land?"
"The captain has a theory that they're prisoners woken from cryo sleep," Zoli answered not looking up from her display "The Zetans were known for their habit of freezing anything and everything they could get their hands on after all."
"Yet, even with access to a star ship full of equipment none of them have even attempted to send out a message beyond the initial distress signal," Wrail said as she scratched her chin "You'd think at least one would make an attempt to warn us of the orbiting defense cannons."
"Perhaps the local species has marooned them on the surface," Zoli offered "Though it seems like the members of the Shard Races we've seen have full freedom, maybe they're simply marooned on the surface far out of reach of the ship."
"Possible," Wrail said with a nod "Well, all will be revealed in time. You are planning on hailing them at a reasonable hour, correct?"
"We've timed our arrival with the planetary equivalent of midday," Zoli said "From our reconnaissance we've determined that most of the species is generally the most active during the day."
"The species calls themselves humanity Zoli," Wrail chided "Regardless of titles, I find that contact and negotiations go better when leaders are well rested. Especially Turians, you do not want to begin negotiations with a grumpy Turian let me tell you."
"The Captain does enjoy her sleep," Zoli smiled before her display turned bright red and she began rapidly tapping commands into the display.
"Zoli, what's wrong?" Wrail asked.
"A transmission from the Shard's Approach," Zoli said as her face went slack and she looked up at Wrail "Four energy signatures matching Asari scout craft entered the system three hours ago and our sensors only just confirmed their presence."
"Scout craft, eh?" Wrail pondered as she stroked her chin "I suppose they wouldn't be able to resist such an interesting relic as an intact Zetan ship. Which side of the schism are they affiliated with?"
"Nothing concrete but considering they're actively attempting to avoid our sensors and hails it appears they're from the Ascendancy," Zoli explained as four small holographic ships appeared above her display "The Captain has ordered us to continue with our mission. It is imperative that we reach the species before the Ascendancy can cause us any unneeded discord."
"I agree," Wrail said as she reached a hand forward and the displays in front of her blazed to life "Symetrus, drives to full and route power from all unnecessary systems into the void actuators."
"Command accepted Thought Seeker Wrail," The ship's A.I responded as Wrail felt the ship lurch forward.
"Zoli, open your communique as soon as we reach middle distance," Wrail ordered "Request docking permissions aboard the Zetan ship and the we come on a diplomatic mission."
"That's against standard procedure," Zoli said as she grabbed onto her seat to brace against the sudden acceleration "What if they set a trap for us?"
"Well as the revelations of Mother Tuchanka teach us," Wrail paused as she drew a large hand cannon from her robes "Speak with the softness of a wise mind but carry a big stick."
/
Rex opened his eyes and blinked away sleep as he unconsciously tried to cuddle deeper into Jack who's arms were wrapped around him. Rex cocked his head and saw Jack's dark black hair wrapped around her head as she softly snored. Alena was asleep on the couch opposite them, somehow upside down with her toes wriggling in the air as the girl twitched and snored loudly apparently deep in sleep. There were no signs of Penelope, save for the container of his father's work missing, or Roxanne.
For a moment Rex allowed himself to enjoy the moment. He listened to Alena's snores and felt Jack's chest rise and fall against his head, and all was right in the world. This was what had been missing for so long, the tender moments of peace that were ultimately silly and didn't really matter in the grand scheme of his life. In that peaceful little moment as he watched his daughter sleep and felt the woman he loved breathing against him Rex felt something like contentment. He felt whole.
So of course it had to be ruined. His pip-boy lit up and with a silent curse he checked it to find a message notification from the new messenger function he'd installed. Unsurprisingly, he had a very small pool of contacts, and he'd already guessed who the message was from before he opened his inbox.
FROM: Veronica Renata Santangelo
To: Rex [redacted] Craster
Hey buddy, I heard from a little birdy that you're back in town. I want you to know that if you need to talk I'm here, and I actually want to show you around your new office on Zeta. So, if you feel up to it I'd love it if you could meet me up there in an hour. If you want to spend the day with Jack and your thoughts I totally understand, but if you'll indulge me I think we have a lot to talk about. Teleport coordinates for your office are included in the attachment to the message, and I'll be there all morning.
-V
"The wonders of modern technology," Rex muttered to himself as he untangled himself from Jack's arms and stood up to stretch.
He bit back a yelp as his back and knees decided to join together in a chorus of sharp aches. Rex fell against one of the couch's arms and took a deep breath before pushing himself back up right. Gritting his teeth and wobbling slightly, Rex silently cursed himself for over exerting himself the day before and didn't notice the thin arms wrapping around his mid section steadying him. With a grunt of surprise he looked down to see Alena supporting his weight.
"You're knees aren't getting any better are they?" She whispered.
"No, it seems they have not, and I didn't do my self any favors yesterday with all the heavy lifting I did," Rex whispered back "Some day's I'm glad I could keep my actual legs, but sometimes I'd wish I'd opted for the upgrade package."
"Oh," Alena said before she cocked her head and said "Uh father I have a gift for you that I uh made in the workshop."
"Ooh, I like gifts," Rex raised an eyebrow as Alena helped him walk over to the kitchen counter and sat him down "What is it?"
"Let me go get it," Alena said before disappearing down the spiral staircase before returning a few minutes later with something behind her back "I uh noticed that you need to use a cane to get around, at least until you get better, so I made you this."
Alena presented a long cane that was half finely sanded and finished red wood and a coiled black metal that coiled into a flat point at the cane's tip. At the top of the cane was a stylized carving of what looked like a hawk with its wings folded who's eyes were two tiger's eye marbles. Rex gently took the cane from Alena's hands and twirled it around as he tested its balance. The size of it was exactly right and it was weighted perfectly, and as he examined the cane he couldn't stop a smile from crossing his face.
"Alena this is beautifully made," Rex said as he ran his metal fingers over the smooth wood "You made this for me?"
"Uh of course," Alena blushed and looked away "You need a cane and I wanted to give you a gift for your birthday."
"My birthday?" Rex looked at Alena with a raised eyebrow.
"Uh uh yes, but I don't actually know when your birthday is, so I didn't know when to give it to you," Alena said looking at her father before looking at the ground "I'm so...sorry."
"Alena," Rex reached forward and placed his hand on her head making her jump a little before she looked up at him "This is one of the best birthday gifts I've ever gotten, and for the record my birthday is on November 23rd a few days off from yours if I recall."
"You really like it?" Alena said as her father mussed her copper hair.
"Like it? Alena, I love it," Rex said with a smile as he stood and leaned on the cane "Not only do I have an exclusive piece from the immensely talented Alena Craster all to myself, but I also get to show it off to the whole world. How could I not love it?"
"Father..." Alena's eyes went a little moist but she shook them away and tapped the bird "That's Aquila, he's the star beast that carried the first people on his back and Momma always said that he would have been your guardian if you came to stay with the Astrolge."
"Well if I have him and you in my corner than I never have to worry about my safety ever again," Rex chuckled and twirled the cane for a moment before he stopped and looked at Alena "There's mechanics in this isn't there?"
"Oh you noticed," Alena said reaching forward and pressing a small indention just beneath the carving and with a spring sound the cane extended by at least two feet into a walking stick "I used some of your metal snakes for parts and made it extend and redistribute the weight at the same time."
"Alena," Rex said as he ran his hands down the now extended staff with a warm smile on his face "This is amazing, you adapted my work into something entirely new and I had no idea that you were even working on this. Keep this up and you'll have your old man beat someday soon."
"Oh no no no," Alena waved her hands in front of her frantically "You make robots and reactors, this is just a trick cane that only has one trick. I could never do half of what you do."
"Alena, you're still young and you have a lot to learn," Rex said as he pressed the indention again and the staff folded back into a cane "But that's the big secret that no one tells kids, because you've got so much to learn it means you get to take what I or Mrs. Smiley teach and change the world with it in ways we adults can never think of. You've got a spark in you that you can feed until it becomes a firestorm, and with that fire you can reforge the old into something entirely new."
"Like this cane, I never would have thought that my robo snakes could be used to make a coil that could compact this tight, but you did because you saw it differently," Rex looked his daughter in the eyes "You saw a way to use my design in an entirely new way and in turn inspired me with a lot of new ideas. So, dont you ever say that you'll never be better than me or anyone, because you just taught your old man something new and you weren't even trying. You never have to worry about being inferior to anyone because you're Alena Craster and I'm proud that I have the privilege to watch you learn and grow into a woman who's going to change the world."
"Fa..father," Alena blinked rapidly and Rex chuckled as her expression shifted into a look of pure determination "Thank you father."
"You know," Rex said as he scratched his chin "I have to go up to Zeta and I'm wondering if you'd like to come along. I haven't taken you up yet, and the view is to die for."
"You mean the star ship?" Alena asked as wonder filled her eyes "The one that floats in the kingdom of the stars?"
"The very same," Rex said as he stood up using the cane for support and finding it perfect for supporting him "I'm a little embarrassed for not showing you until now, what kind of father has access to a spaceship and dosent show it off to his kid?"
"Can I really walk where the stars live?" Alena asked "Wont the light of the sun burn?"
"Hence the ship my love," Rex said as he tapped her side with the cane "Now I think you're game for a little day trip, so go brush your teeth and we'll teleport up there."
"Okay father!" Alena happily chirped before disappearing down the spiral staircase.
"You know, I think you make a half decent dad,"
Rex turned to find Jack standing a few feet behind him in the threshold to the living room.
"Who knew, eh?" Rex said as she walked over to him and sat at the counter beside him.
"I kind of always knew you'd be good at it," Jack planted a kiss on his lips "You're just a big softy under all the Courier Machismo after all."
"Oh I am?" Rex asked playfully pulling her closer.
"Of course, hard for a guy who likes being the little spoon to be anything but a softy at heart," Jack said as she wrapped her arm around his waist and kissed his cheek "So, you're heading up to Zeta today for what exactly?"
"Veronica wants to show me the new office and have a talk," Rex explained "You know how it is, you're best friends with someone and they expect you to dish out all the important developments in your life."
"Oh poor baby," Jack pinched his cheek "You get to go up to a spaceship for a talk you can have right down here, while I get to go putting around the Mojave keeping Normandy crewmen from fighting your nut job scientists."
"We're an odd breed us mad scientists," Rex said "Just consider yourself lucky that you don't have to deal with the Think Tank, actually, I probably should check on them before they release radioactive night stalkers or something."
"No rest for the wicked," Jack kissed his cheek and stood up as Alena came bounding up the stairs "Have fun you two, and Rex try to keep out of trouble."
"Why did you single me out?" Rex said as he stood up.
Jack cocked her head and raised an eyebrow.
"I really don't try to attract trouble it just that the die of fate always comes up one for some reason," Rex said as Jack rolled her eyes and walked off towards the bathroom.
"You believe that fate rolls dice?" Alena asked "I didn't think you believe in any kind of god or fate father."
"Oh I believe in a god," Rex said as he walked over to his duster and fished a transportalponder from it "I just don't agree with her policies most of the time."
"Her?" Alena asked as Rex queued in the coordinates.
"A story for another time," Rex said as the transportalponder charged up and he stepped closer to wrap an arm around Alena's shoulders "Ready?"
"Uh...Yes father," Alena said clinging to Rex's side.
"Good, then let's go see some stars," Rex said as he pulled the trigger and they disappeared in a burst of orange light.
/
Shepard sat in a junction of support beams as she stared out into the void of space lost in thought as the crew of Zeta moved up and down the hall behind her. Ever since she witnessed the activation of the Mag cannons with Veronica, Shepard had developed a habit of spending at least an hour or two wondering through Zeta's labyrinth of hallways and rooms. Some part of her knew it was mostly home sickness for space, like a sailor married to the sea, but she also had a morbid curiosity as to how the people of the Mojave were practically inventing their own version of void warfare.
It was an interesting thing to watch a people who had three years before had been barely functioning on junk technology slowly become a competent space faring society. With Zeta at its core, the Mojave Space Agency was slowly deciphering the intricate complexities of the void, and thanks to entire libraries on Orbital mechanics and Aerospace engineering provided by Edi they'd soon be building their own ships. Of course, knowing the Mojave and her leaders they were probably already working on some kind of super ship in secret just because they could.
Her Omni-tool beeped and she activated the display to see Jack's face.
"Shepard, I'm at the construction sight and we have a bit of a problem," Jack said her expression a familiar mix of anger and bemusement "Kenneth decided to have a bit much to drink last night and ended up locked up in a drunk tank with Gabby."
"Wait, was Gabby drinking too?" Shepard asked raising an eyebrow.
"No, she just got grabbed by a Securitron because Kenneth spilled his drink on her and the stupid thing detected alcohol on her," Jack explained "I'm on my way out to the jail now to get them out, but that's the least of our issues."
"There's other problems besides my two head engineers locked up in a drunk tank?"
"Yeah, because god likes to piss in our cheerios," Jack said in annoyed tone "Apparently one of the Mojave team leaders and one of our crew leaders had a sordid romance and well we've got a baby shower to plan for."
"Pregnancy," Shepard sighed and rubbed a temple "Was I the only person who read Cerberus' shore leave protocols for Christ's sake?"
"Wait, why did you read Cerberus' shore leave protocols?" Jack asked.
"I didn't have any good reading material when I took command of the SR-2 and the Extra net link was on the fritz," Shepard insisted before sighing "Anyway, we've been here for almost a year now and this was bound to happen eventually, so I'll have a sit down with our crewmen and get Arcade or Veronica to handle the Mojave tech. We need to work this out before it becomes a major issue and opens up another can of worms."
"Tell me about it," Jack said with a wry chuckle "I hope this puts the fear of god into all the crew that have been acting like tourists on vacation and encourages the use of some fucking protection."
"Jack," Shepard said as a thought slipped into her mind "You and Rex are using protection right?"
"Did you really just ask me that?" Jack stared dumbfounded at Shepard through the video display.
"I dont mean anything by it Jack," Shepard waved a hand in a placating gesture "It's just that the possibility exists and..."
"Shut the fuck up!" Jack snapped and gritted her teeth "Not that it's any of your business but we always…we always use protection."
"Okay Jack, I'm sorry," Shepard noted the pause in Jack's response and continued "I shouldn't have insinuated anything. Listen, I'll be down there as soon as I can, so get Gabby and Kenneth out and we'll handle everything else together."
"Yeah, I'll get it done Shepard," Jack said before abruptly disconnecting.
"I swear I'm a fucking house mother sometimes," Shepard said as she rubbed her temples and stood up only notice Rex walking down the hallway past her with Alena at his side.
"Oh Shepard," Rex said with a smile "What brings you up to Zeta?"
"Taking in the view," Shepard looked down at Alena who had shunned her goggles as she stared out of the window at the distant stars and the earth below "It seems I'm not alone, first time in space Alena?"
"Yeah," Alena said her eyes flicking between Shepard and the window for only a moment to continue staring out in the cosmos.
"Always fun seeing a terrestrial's first view of space," Shepard chuckled as she looked to Rex "What brings you up here Rex?"
"Oh Veronica's showing me my new offices and wants to spend a little time with me," Rex explained as he lightly used an ornate cane to pull Alena out of the way of a cart pushing tech "Decided to bring Alena along as a little treat for the birthday gift she gave me."
"Birthday gift?" Shepard looked at the cane in Rex's hand "Oh is that it? That looks like it was professionally made."
"Oh yes it does dosent it?" Rex grinned ear to ear as he showed off the cane "My girl is quite the skilled little craftswoman, and I got the honor of her first exclusive piece."
"Father...it really isn't that great," Alena broke from her transfixed state to blush and shoot her father an embarrassed look.
"I dont know Alena," Shepard said offering the girl an understanding smile "I think you're dad's right, this really is a beautiful piece, so I'd just let him gush if I were you."
"Th...thank you Miss Shepard," Alena blushed a little deeper and nodded at Shepard.
"Well, I should be..." Shepard said before an alarm went off cutting her words short.
"What's happening?" Alena asked as she slipped her goggles back over her eyes.
"I dont know," Rex said as he pulled her close to him and twitched before looking down the hall as Veronica appeared running towards them.
"Rex," She said breathlessly when she reached them "We just received a communique from a ship heading our way."
"Is it hostile?" Rex asked as his metal fingers gripped the cane tighter.
"They claim to be on a diplomatic mission," Veronica explained after nodding to both Alena and Shepard "They've requested docking permission and their envoy's requested to speak with you personally."
"Because of course she did," Rex said with a frown as he turned to Shepard "Shepard, can I trouble you to take Alena back to New Vegas, and come back to back me up with these Aliens?"
"Of course," Shepard said before another alarm rang out through the halls "What was that?"
"Greetings newborns," a voice colder than ice came to them from the ship's intercom "It would seem that the barbarians of the Shard have come to fill your head with lies, but fear not my precious newborns. For the Ascendancy has come to spare you their lies, and bless you with the Goddess' love."
"Miss Veronica," A voice crackled over a transceiver on Veronica's hip "We've detected four more ships approaching perpendicular to the craft that hailed us. All of our teleportation terminals have been jammed and any communication to the surface has been cut off."
"Father, what does that mean?" Alena asked as she pressed closer to her father.
"I dont know Alena," Rex said wrapping an arm around her shoulders "But it's going to be alright, we're going to find you a safe place to hide, and when this is all over we'll go home okay?"
Then the lights went out and in the dull illumination of the cosmos beyond the windows Shepard saw fear pass over Rex's face.