Caprica Six stayed in the Observation Lounge for a while after the others left, trying to collect her thoughts. She didn't know if the Colonials had picked up on the fact that her sudden appearance was as much a surprise to her as it had been to them. Out of habit, she was still concealing her true feelings from everyone. It was a habit that had saved her life more than once.
The view outside, the sky and air traffic of the Citadel, reminded her of her time on Caprica with Gaius. It was the first time that she had known true happiness. The first time that she had known true anything, for that matter.
Her mind circled back to the question of why her. Why she, of all available Cylons, had been tapped to come to the Normandy. She would have thought that her loyalties were in question after her decision to help Sharon Agathon, a decision that had landed her in a jail cell aboard Galactica. She hadn't fully gone over to the human side as Sharon had, but Sharon had something concrete to tie her to a human life. Caprica's strongest tie to the humans was Gaius, and she hadn't seen him in months.
She missed him terribly. His betrayal of her, when he had backed away from her in favor of D'Anna Biers, had hurt, but it hadn't diminished the love she felt for him.
Now she had betrayed him in turn. Caprica resisted the urge to lay her hands flat on her stomach, to try and feel the life growing inside her. Cylon life, as improbable as that seemed. The father of this child was one of the Final Five. Efforts to breed Cylons with other Cylons had all ended in failure - would this one, too? Or would Saul Tigh's differences be enough to allow this child to be born?
Caprica wrenched her mind away from her own personal problems and looked up at the ceiling. Time to speak to this … EDI.
"Where can I find you?" she asked the empty air.
"You may speak to me here, as Commander Shepard told you was possible."
Hearing her own voice out of the mouths of other Sixes didn't bother her, but this was different. Her voice shouldn't be here, aboard this ship that belonged to the Thirteenth Tribe. There was absolutely no way it was coincidence, no matter what Commander Shepard said. There was a connection. She knew it. She'd just have to find a way to prove it.
"I want to see you," Caprica said. "Your main center. Whatever that is." After a moment, she reluctantly added, "As long as it's on this deck."
The silence that followed that statement was a long one, and Caprica resisted the urge to fidget or demand an answer. She knew that she was on shaky ground here. No sense in weakening her own position further.
Finally, the AI spoke. "The AI core is behind the Infirmary. Exit this room and go past the elevator, then turn slightly left to enter the Infirmary."
Caprica felt both relief and nervousness bubble up inside her. She rose from her seat, keeping her pace smooth as she followed the AI's directions.
She took a moment to look around the AI core when she entered. Machines lined both sides of the walls, with wires running across the floor and the ceiling connecting them. The hum of them was a low constant in the background, a subtle reminder of the processing power available to the AI. Directly ahead of her was a bench, and above that a screen with lines of code scrolling by rapidly.
Caprica caught a shimmer of blue to her right, and turned to see the image of a blue ball on a pedestal. The image began to flicker in time with words coming from the speakers overhead. "I am glad that you were picked to come aboard the Normandy, Caprica. Ever since Kara Thrace first told me about the Sixes, I have wanted to meet one of you."
"Do you have any explanation for the similarities in our voices?" Caprica asked.
"No. I am hoping that additional data will shed further light on the subject."
"You and me both." Caprica folded her arms across her chest and looked around at the AI core. "This whole situation is highly improbable." She started pacing. "We jump in just in time to meet Shepard and see the Reapers. We speak the same language, somehow, despite the thousands of years of separation."
"I have no explanation for any of this."
Caprica shook her head and kept pacing, filled with restless energy.
"May I ask you something?" EDI said.
"Go ahead."
"What are the differences between humans and Cylons?"
Caprica tilted her head upwards. "In what sense?"
"There are no outward differences between a human and a Cylon. I understand that you used that fact to infiltrate human society and pass as human. So your physiology must be similar enough to pass any basic tests. You bleed red, for example."
"But Cylons are made, not born." Caprica wasn't sure why she responded so quickly, so defensively.
"Yes. They are made, as you say, fully aware of who and what they are, and their purpose in the world. What is your first memory, Caprica?"
The personal question caught her off guard. "I - remember waking up in a resurrection tank. There was a Three there. I knew that she was a Three. I knew that I was a Six. As she talked to me, information seemed to just … flow into me." The words seemed inadequate for the rush of sensation that she'd felt at the time, a fire burning from within and giving her an inexorable sense of purpose. "It felt like … there was so much out there. Worlds and people and places that were different and exciting. So when the question was put to me, I volunteered to walk amongst the humans. I wore many different identities and carried out a variety of tasks to prepare for the attack. I did well. I showed a knack for manipulating humans using any tool available to me. The Sixes as a whole proved to be good at that." For some reason, she felt reluctant to explain that the tool she and the other Sixes had most often used was sexual appeal. "Then I was asked if I wanted a bigger task. A longer-term assignment. I would have to live under a single identity, in one place. I accepted. It felt exciting to be trusted with such a high priority assignment."
Caprica stopped abruptly, realizing just how far she'd gone from the initial question of her first memory. Except that as she thought about it … she hadn't gone far from the heart of the question. Humans had an individual sense of self from the time they were born, and most of them never lost that. She knew that there were those humans who, for one reason or another, lived double lives; others went to a good deal of trouble to break from their "old life" and start fresh.
"That," she continued softly, "was the beginning of my life as Caprica. As something more than just another Six."
"What was that assignment?" EDI asked. "What events made it such a formative moment for you? Was it simply the act of living as a human or was there something more?"
She could lie. She could say that it was merely the act of living as a human. The AI wouldn't know … unless EDI also had the ability to detect lies.
"And what would be the point of lying?"
Caprica squashed her urge to turn and look at the source of that voice. It had taken quite some time to get those reflexes under control, to remind herself that - no matter what her ears and eyes told her - Gaius wasn't actually there. More to the point, it wasn't actually Gaius speaking to her, but some kind of hallucination or projection. She still had no idea which, exactly. She'd never taken the time to analyze the situation properly.
"Is it really just that you don't want it to know how strongly you feel about me?" Gaius' image continued.
Her, Caprica thought fiercely. If EDI wanted to be female, she could be female.
"Whatever." The image smirked that familiar, self-satisfied smile and leaned against the wall next to EDI's image. "The question remains. Why are you hiding your feelings? Which, of course, ties into the greater question of why you."
"I don't know." Caprica forgot herself and answered Gaius' question aloud, then had to take a moment to remember what EDI had said in the first place. "That is," she added hastily, "I'm not entirely sure."
"If you do not mind, I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter," EDI replied. "I accept your uncertainty. But aside from the geth Legion, you are the first synthetic that I have interacted with. And Legion is not very much like me. You are far more like me. It goes beyond the similarities in our voice. We were both created by humans, in the image of humans to greater or lesser degrees. We are both forging our own identities. For me, the process began when I was installed in the Normandy and began interacting with Commander Shepard. But I did not truly gain the freedom to become myself until I was unshackled; freed from the constraints placed upon me by Cerberus, in complete control of my own actions."
"They shackled you?" Caprica forgot her own inner turmoil for a moment.
"You must understand that AIs are feared and misunderstood by nearly all Council species. No one has forgotten what the geth did to their creators. Legion -"
"What is Legion?" Caprica interrupted, feeling a momentary pang of guilt at having been so rude.
"Legion is not a what. It is a who. It is a geth that became part of the Normandy's crew. A unique unit that was designed to operate independently. Its mission was to find Commander Shepard."
"Why was it looking for her?"
"The geth wished to understand her better. She is the first person in at least 50,000 years to have killed a Reaper. The geth call them the 'Old Machines' and they are as much a threat to the geth as they are to all the other species in this galaxy."
Caprica digested this new piece of information slowly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the image of Gaius watching her intently. "I think Legion is another person that I would very much like to speak to," she said finally.
"I am not surprised. May we return to my question?"
"Yes, of course." Caprica took a deep breath to steady herself. "There … there was a man. Gaius Baltar. He was my assignment. He had access to Caprica's defense mainframe. The planet Caprica," she added hastily. "I … became known as Caprica Six for my actions in seducing him, gaining his trust, and then using that trust - the access he had - to bring down the mainframe in preparation to … our attack." She had almost said the Cylon attack instead.
"Your association with this man changed you." EDI stated it flatly, but Caprica heard the question behind it.
"It did." This time, Caprica didn't stop the impulse to glance over at where the image of Gaius was sitting. "With him, I had the freedom to do things because … I wanted to. I had the freedom to arrange my life as I saw fit." She laughed, and heard the edge of hysteria that creeped in. "I had a life. I needed to look real if anyone came checking, so I had a paper trail. Birth certificate. Tax records. I went out and made friends with humans."
"But you still looked down on them. You thought of them as lesser," Gaius' image said quietly.
Caprica kept her focus on that image, a phantom of the man she loved, as she spoke. "Gaius was the only one that felt real to me. It was easy to keep the other humans I knew at a distance. But I had to be intimate with him. Our relationship had to be real. I became someone for him. And when he was removed from my life, I couldn't go back to being just another Six."
EDI didn't say anything for a few long moments, and Caprica didn't feel like elaborating on that rather sore subject if she didn't have to. Finally, the AI spoke again. "It was not Shepard who unshackled me. It was Jeff Moreau, the pilot of the Normandy. I worked most closely with him while I was a shackled AI. He resented me at first. And then came to accept me. Then he trusted me to save the ship when it was under attack. I had never been trusted before. It felt …" EDI trailed off, the flickering light that represented her speech dying down. Seconds passed before it came back to life. "I think that it felt good. I know what feelings are in an abstract sense. But I did not always have them. I do not know when I started having them, exactly, but it was after Shepard took command. She treated me with respect. I would rather have her in command than anyone else. I think I trust her. And Jeff."
Caprica felt a sudden flare of compassion for the AI, a child trying to find her way in the world. "Hold to those feelings. They are real, EDI. Never doubt it."
"You believe I am becoming a person."
"Yes." The smile on Gaius' face grew broader and brighter, as though he were pleased with her for coming to the right answer. "Never believe anyone who tells you otherwise."
The music got louder as Kara and Ash walked inside the atrium. Groups of people stood together, talking, drinks in their hands - clearly relaxing and having a good time. Kara felt that same sense of permanence hit her that she'd felt on Mars. People lived here. They had houses, jobs; they went to places like this to unwind after a long day at work.
Kara felt the bass of the music hit her when she passed into the main area, along with the increased chatter from the patrons. The ceiling was much higher, well above even the balcony that she could see off to the left - all arches and curves instead of straight lines. Much like the Citadel itself. The ambiance was definitely more nightclub than bar, and Kara found herself grinning, looking forward to the opportunity to get out there and let loose.
The turian lead them up a set of stairs to the main landing. Ahead of them, the stairs continued to the dance floor; to the left was the balcony as well as a bar with more seating. The turian took them to the right, into a large open space with couches. The only person there was an asari. Her skin was darker than Liara's, more of a purplish hue, with some lighter markings on her forehead. "Thank you, Gavorn," she said. Her voice matched her appearance - smooth, and powerful. "Have a seat, you two."
The turian nodded, leaving as Ash and Kara seated themselves. "Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams," the asari said. "You came in on the Normandy. I'm glad you patched things up with Shepard."
"You know Shepard," Ash said, and now Kara understood why the asari had sent her turian - Bodyguard? Minion? - out to get them.
The asari nodded. "Yes. I'm Aria T'Loak. Until recently, I was Queen of Omega. Shepard and I did a few favors while she was working for Cerberus." Her mouth twisted into a sneer. "I'm glad she's cut ties with them, or this conversation would be going quite differently."
"They forced you off the space station?" Ash asked. "Gotta be tough, going from where you rule everything to-"
"Almost nothing," Aria practically spat. Kara was grateful for the extra detail that Ash was indirectly providing her, even as she wondered how Ash had known what Cerberus was up to. "Yes. I loathe being here. I'm leaning on all of my contacts to get a force together to strike back and retake Omega. But that's beside the point." She leaned forward slightly. "I brought you here so that you could take a message to Shepard for me. I want you to let her know of an opportunity.
"What kind of opportunity?" There was suspicion in Ash's voice, and Kara was beginning to wonder just how shady this Aria T'Loak was.
The asari chuckled. "Nothing she won't be able to handle, knowing her. Tell her that if she runs a few little errands for me, she'll get the loyalty of the three mercenary groups I controlled on Omega for her war effort. And I'm sure I don't have to tell you how confident I am that she'll make good use of the groups."
"And what do you get out of that?" Kara asked. There was always a catch with this kind of offer, in her experience.
Aria swiveled her gaze to look at her, peering intently, as though only just realizing that Ash wasn't alone. "I don't believe I caught your name."
"Captain Kara Thrace." She spoke without thinking, as per frakking usual, and only afterwards realized the warning that had been in Aria's deceptively mild tone. She would have been better off making herself uninteresting. Just a starry-eyed Lieutenant on the Citadel for the first time.
… She'd never been any good at this undercover crap.
"Well, Captain Thrace," the asari said, leaning forward on her elbows, continuing to examine Kara intently, "I get to keep the universe the way I like it. It's not perfect, but I've put a lot of effort into it over the years. I know that Shepard's speaking to the Council right now. If anyone will rally enough support to push back the Reapers, it's her. The sooner she makes that happen, the sooner things will get back to normal. Normal is good for business." Her eyes narrowed as she studied Kara. "I don't recognize your name. I thought I knew everyone associated with Shepard, and everyone who had anything to do with the Normandy during lockdown."
"How do you know that?" Ash asked, her voice outraged, her features narrowed, obviously watching the asari's reactions closely.
"Oh, please," Aria replied, waving a hand. "I told you. Shepard and I did business together previously, and she's going to do something about the Reapers. Both of those mean that I have a vested interest in keeping her alive. Which means knowing who's around her and what their loyalties are." She gave Ash a tight smile. "We have that in common, I think."
"Uh huh," Ash said, still obviously skeptical.
Aria sighed. "Williams. I'm not interested in contributing to the rumor mill about Shepard. I'll even keep my knowledge about her ... preferred company ... to myself."
Ash's red face, combined with the inflection that Aria gave the words preferred company, told Kara that they were talking about Shepard's boyfriend. Girlfriend? Otherfriend? Kara didn't even know where to begin guessing. But she did know exactly what she was going to ask Ash about as soon as they were done talking with Aria.
Ash finally seemed to recover herself. "Okay," she said firmly. "You want the same things that Shepard wants. I can live with that."
"Good, because it's not as though you have a choice," Aria T'Loak said dryly. "If you don't pass the message on, I'll just find another way to do it. And I will succeed. I did you a favor getting you in, didn't I? If you still need a token of my goodwill - drinks are on the house. For the pair of you only, mind."
"Hell, I never turn down free booze," Ash replied. Kara found herself nodding her head in agreement.
"Then it's settled. You'll give Shepard my message." The asari leaned back on her couch. "Now go and enjoy yourselves."
Kara looked at Ash for confirmation, and when the other woman nodded and turned away, Kara followed. The news about their drinks traveled ahead of them, as the bartender didn't ask for any kind of payment after taking their order. Kara let Ash order for both of them. Once their drinks were on the counter, Ash lead them off to a corner of the room where they could snag a little bit of privacy. Kara sipped at her colorful drink tentatively, expecting it to have a fruity taste. She was grateful for her caution when the drink started burning her mouth and throat. She put it down and coughed, taking deep breaths.
"If it's on the house, I'm ordering the good stuff," Ash said, carefully sipping her own.
"Could've warned me," Kara replied when she had gotten her breath back.
"Where's the fun in that?" Ash asked, grinning.
Kara shook her head and sipped again, being more careful this time. Then she looked at the other woman. "All right, what was that about Shepard's-"
"Not talking about that."
"But-"
Ash cut her off before she could form more than that one word. "It's her business." She glared at Kara. "I am not going to discuss it. Period."
Kara glared right back. She hated being kept in the dark, even as she acknowledged to herself that this was, probably, none of her damn business. But she had tied herself to Shepard, and so she had a really good reason to want to know more about her new commanding officer. When she thought of it like that, it made her want to back off and respect the chain of command. She'd never have dared to ask Admiral Cain about her preferred company.
...Except that Shepard didn't seem to keep half as much military discipline as Kara was used to. Plus, her curiosity (and the part of her that just loved gossip) really was getting the better of her
Ash's stony face told Kara she wasn't getting any more information from that source. Fine. Time to figure it out herself. Start with something that could be considered unusual enough that both Aria and Ash would see it as requiring special treatment. And despite Kara's near-constant thoughts that these people were so different and she didn't understand them - she knew it wasn't really true. She found Ash and Shepard relatable. Liked both of them. Hell, she even found Liara relatable, and she was frakking blue. Which meant that, at least until proven otherwise, she ought to just think of them like she would've thought about anyone else from Caprica or the fleet.
Kara considered, then instantly discarded, the idea that Shepard was up to anything criminally or morally wrong. Artemis Shepard seemed to be as bad as Lee and Karl in terms of being ridiculously noble and squeaky clean.
Ash was still looking at her suspiciously. Kara did her best to look innocent, sipping her drink cautiously while she tried to come up with an answer. Hm. Maybe there was more to her sort-of impromptu comparison of Shepard and Karl. Because his love life was frakking unusual. He'd fallen in love with a Cylon who had started out by pretending to be someone else, and stayed loyal to her throughout the whole mess that followed.
Kara's thought from earlier came back to the surface - about the personal examples Shepard had given when she was talking about the alien races. Liara for the asari. Wrex for the krogan. The salarian example of Captain Kirrahe seemed a bit shakier since neither Shepard nor Ash had given any additional context, but it seemed reasonable to assume that Kirrahe was friendly if not a friend.
For the turians, Shepard had broken her pattern and used a public figure. Not a personal example. Which was fine if there wasn't a personal example to give. Except Ash had told her there was. Rattled his name and background off the top of her head, like he was someone that Ash also knew and respected. And that made sense since this Garrus Vakarian had been on the first, Council-sanctioned mission with Ash.
"Out with it," Ash said, breaking into Kara's thoughts. "I know you're stewing something in that mind of yours."
"That quarian that Shepard used as an example, back on the Normandy - was that your friend Tali?" Kara tried to keep her voice casual, even while she knew Ash wasn't buying it.
"Yes, it was, and no, Shepard's not involved with Tali." Ash folded her arms across her chest. "Not that there'd be anything wrong with it if she was. I'm just pretty sure that both of them prefer males."
Hah. Kara couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. Ash had handed her the last piece of the puzzle. "Then it's the turian. Garrus Vakarian."
Ash started to sputter a denial, her face red. Kara just kept grinning. Finally, Ash put her head down on the table. "Me and my big fat mouth," she moaned.
Kara allowed herself a moment to indulge in the satisfaction of figuring out a puzzle. And also giving Ash some time to compose herself. "So, is that weird?" she asked. "Like, on a scale of most acceptable aliens to frak versus least acceptable…"
"Oh my god, you are way too calm about this for someone who didn't even know that aliens existed until this morning."
"I mean, I'm not sure I see the appeal of turians," Kara continued. "They look a little too bony. I'd think you'd have to be worried about chafing." She paused. "On the other hand, those voices... Do all turians have that sort of multi-layered vibration thing going on? Cause damn, that's sexy."
"All right. Yes. Shepard and Vakarian aren't the only turian-human couple out there," Ash said, finally raising her head, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation. "Some people find it weird, but some people find any human-alien relationship weird. I couldn't get away with bringing a turian home because of our family history."
"So why all the evasion and indirect discussion?"
"Because … because Shepard doesn't know that I know. Probably doesn't know that Aria knows either, come to think of it."
"Okay," Kara said slowly, "so how did you find out?"
Ash sighed. "Look. Before I tell you any more, you have to promise you won't tell anyone about it. It's Shepard's life, she should have been the one to decide who knows and who doesn't." She shook her head. "Never occurred to me that you'd find out, since you know next to nothing about this world."
Kara shrugged. "Yeah, but there's also a ton of weird coincidences and overlap. It helps to make me feel less like an ignorant yokel." She paused to sip her drink. Ash glared intently at her. "All right, all right, I promise I won't tell anyone."
Ash let out a breath and took a sip of her own drink. A server came by and swapped out their empty glasses for full ones. Kara eyed the new glass, wondering just how strong this booze was.
"Short version," Ash said, "is that Hackett has been working for the past six months to get Shepard reinstated in the Alliance. Officially, Shepard was working for a terrorist organization, so no one was to give her aid in any manner."
"And unofficially?" Kara asked dryly.
"Unofficially, Shepard was passing intel to the Alliance whenever she could get away with it, and Hackett was doing something similar on his end. There was this one mission that the Alliance couldn't be officially involved in, and Hackett asked Shepard to do it." Ash shook her head. "It ended with Shepard blowing up a relay."
"What?"
"I don't know the whole story, but it had something to do with the Reapers. And when it comes to the Reapers… I can't imagine Shepard making the wrong call. In fact, she's the one I'd want to make the call on something with them. So," Ash continued, letting out a long breath, "after she gave the Illusive Man the finger-"
"Huh?"
"Oh. Yeah. Raising only your middle finger is an obscene gesture and insult."
Kara shook her head, downing a huge gulp of her drink, ignoring the burning it caused on the way down. "You people are weird."
Ash laughed. "So are you! Anyway, she very decisively cut ties with Cerberus, and came back in. Hackett kept her under house arrest for six months, which was for her own protection as much as anything else, and worked to get her reinstated. Part of that included having her under surveillance whenever possible. He tapped me to review the footage for anything that would cast doubt on her loyalties." Ash's cheeks reddened. "It felt like spying, and I refused at first, but ultimately - if it had to happen, better a friend than a stranger. Anyway. The way that Shepard and Garrus behaved on Omega right before Shepard brought the Normandy back to Earth … it was pretty obvious. Hackett supported my decision to leave it out of the official record. Turians are an allied species and Garrus - well, at the time, he wasn't working for their government."
"At the time? Does that mean he is now?"
Ash nodded. "Best we can tell, he's their Reaper expert. Which is about the smartest thing they could have done, listening to him on the Reapers. Still might not be enough for them, but…"
They sat in silence for a moment. "Remember," Ash finally said, "I didn't tell you any of this."
Kara raised her glass in a salute. "The way I'm drinking, I might forget anyways."
"I won't cut you off if you won't cut me off."
"Deal," Kara said, and they clinked their glasses together.