-Chapter 9-
Old Endings and New Beginnings
Note: Sorry for the long wait on this update guys, just got moved into my new place which took a lot more effort then it should have. Finally all settled in though so updates should be coming relatively consistently, I'm aiming for one chapter a week while also making the chapters longer than normal. Also, Among The Stars is now available on Archive Of Our Own so for those that prefer that site, it is now there. Enjoy the chapter!
Jared slowly followed behind the rest of the group as they walked the Citadel's upper halls known as the Presidium, this was where the higher echelons of society came to mingle, do business, and relax. The clothing of each person they passed was much more refined and elegant, even the way they carried themselves exuded a sense of grace. The architectural style was much different compared to the lower levels as well, the main materials were much lighter being an off white color rather than the dingy gray below, it was also much more open, allowing rooms to span greater lengths, for those that could afford it. Each room seemed to have a large view of the base level of the Presidium, which contained many parks filled with the nature of various alien homeworlds as well as a vast reflecting pool which seemed to reach end to end. Across the ceiling was a large screen that simulated a blue sky with clouds lazily floating by, an attempt to mask the artificial nature of the station. At the moment, the screen was simulating daytime, though Jared knew that at some points the screen would darken and allow for some nighttime.
The group meandered through the Presidium, now taking a much more relaxed demeanor than they had before, it was clear whatever enemies they were fleeing would not dare attack them here. As they walked, Jared could not help but gawk at every individual detail of the environment, the pristine floors, the sweeping artificial landscapes, every bit caught and kept his attention for long periods of time.
Shepard, noticing his behavior, spoke up. "It's beautiful isn't it?" He motioned out towards nature. "I saw it for the first time just a couple of hours ago, couldn't help but stare either."
"Yeah." Jared exhaled, still physically and mentally exhausted. "It's definitely something."
"Quarians rarely come to the Citadel, let alone the Presidium." Tali said. "I must be one of the few who have." Despite the facial covering, it was easy to tell she was also impressed by the area.
"Artificial junk." Wrex uttered then began to point at a Krogan statue that was positioned in the middle of one of the reflecting pools. "There's that eyesore, the Council gave us that as thanks for the war, and then gave us the genophage. Some gift that was." Wrex said while glaring at Garrus.
The Turian was clearly uncomfortable in the sight of the Krogan, but chose to face forward and remain silent rather than retort. After the comment, the group grew uncomfortably quiet and stayed that way until they reached the entrance to what appeared to be the human embassy.
"Here we are." Shepard announced. "Tali, make sure to have the data ready. Udina isn't one for small talk." Shepard put his hand on the door panel and motioned for the group to enter as it opened.
"This is outrageous! The council refuses to believe any claims brought forth against their precious Spectres." A man in a white suit was yelling from within, his voice raspy and strained supposedly from years of arguing and yelling. The man was slightly balding with gray hair, his age combined with his stern features gave him an intimidating presence.
"Give it time. Shepard will find something, I know he will." A second man in a blue suit retorted calmly. The African American man was bald and younger than the other but it was clear his age was beginning to show. His features were more soft but his body told otherwise, even under the suit, it was clear the man was physically honed in combat and his rigid stance was an indicator of his military background.
The second man turned to see the group enter the room. "See? I told you he would be back soon."
"Good to see you again Anderson." Shepard said, nodding towards the man. "Ambassador Udina." He simply stated towards the other.
"You better have something good Shepard." Udina said, rising from his desk in the center of the room. "The Council are fairly adamant their 'best agent' hasn't done anything wrong."
"This should be enough to convince them." Shepard motioned over toward Tali. "Play it."
The Quarian brought up the same holographic interface that she did previously. The orange hologram started circular around her hand and reached up toward her elbow. After a few small taps on the device, a voice began to emanate from it.
"Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit." One voice said, which had the unique voice effect Turians had.
"That's certainly Saren's voice, this has to be enough to prove he was part of the Eden Prime attack!" Anderson said.
"Hold on. There's more." Tali said before resuming the recording.
"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." A female voice said.
"I'm not sure whose voice that is. The one talking about the Reapers." Udina pointed out.
"The Reapers? What are they even referring to?" Shepard asked.
Oh shit, here we go.
"According to the Geth's memory core I extracted the data from. The Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago." Tali tapped the interface and turned it off. "The Geth believed they hunted the Protheans to total extinction and then vanished. And they revere them as some sort of gods."
The Reapers. The thought of them sent a shiver down Jared's spine. A machine race that returns every 50,000 years to wipe out all advanced life in the galaxy. Now he was in the same universe as them, and they were coming, soon.
"Sounds a little far-fetched." Udina said as he walked back over to his desk and turned on his holographic terminal.
"No. No, she's right!" Shepard suddenly blurted out. "That's what the vision from the beacon meant! It was the Reapers wiping out the Protheans, they must have sent that as a warning!"
"Whatever it is." Udina started using the terminal. "We need to get the recording to the council at once! I'll call for a meeting." Udina glanced up from the terminal. "I'm sure you will be willing to testify, Miss?"
"Tali. Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya." Tali stated plainly.
"Thank you." Udina looked back down and began tapping on the interface frantically. "It'll be a little bit before the Council will be able to meet again. Please stay nearby, Shepard, and try not to get into any more firefights."
Shepard rolled his eyes. "Fine. We'll wait outside, just let us know whenever the council is ready."
Shepard quickly departed from the room as did the rest of the group, while Jared was still left standing there.
The Reapers. I can help stop them right? I could tell others, use my knowledge of the games to at least prepare them more. But, if they don't believe Shepard, who are they to believe me? I would just seem crazy and it would take years, I need to get back no-
Suddenly, Jared felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Anderson staring him in the eye.
"You alright son?" Anderson said with genuine sincerity. "You don't look so good."
"Oh yeah! I'm fine, just a lot's happened recently you know?" Jared said, remembering where he was.
"Yeah, I hear that." Anderson let out a slight chuckle. "You're with Shepard right?"
"Yes I am, and, speaking of that." Jared slowly began making his way to the door. "I actually need his help with something so I'm going to go, do that." Abruptly, Jared exited the room.
"Huh, weird kid." Anderson muttered to himself.
Jared stepped out of the office into a neat hallway with stairs leading down to a small sitting area that overlooked the parks. As Jared made his way down the stairs, he saw the rest of the team sitting and waiting, none of them speaking.
Man, that's weird. In the game everyone was fine talking with each other and they made friends, or enemies in some cases, pretty quickly, guess this shows that this is a lot more real than the game.
Jared walked over toward the group, as he did, Shepard quickly rose from his seat.
"Jared! You said you needed my help right?" Shepard quickly stated. "Let's go to the lounge and you can tell me all about it." It was clear he was looking for a way out of the awkward situation he had found himself in.
"Uh, yeah sure." Jared uttered before being dragged by the arm.
Jared followed Shepard up stairs opposite of the ones he came down; instead of embassies, these stairs led to a small lounge area frequented by different politicians and ambassadors. Various different people dotted the interior of the lounge, some sipping drinks, others simply chatting about their day to day activities. Shepard made his way to an empty corner table adjacent to a view of one of the parks.
"Here's good." Shepard said as he sat down and Jared did the same.
"Sorry about dragging you here all of a sudden." Shepard moved to a more relaxed position as he sat. "It's just, I'm still not 100% comfortable talking to aliens, it just feels slightly different from talking to a human you know?"
"Yeah, no, I mean, I see where you're coming from." Jared explained. "Not been around too many?"
Shepard began looking out toward the park. "Not really, I grew up in a small colony out in the Traverse. Not many aliens out there." He looked back over towards Jared. "And I've only really had to talk to them in passing, never really full blown conversations. What about you? Where are you from?"
Jared was caught off guard, he didn't know what to say to this. "Uh, I'm from Earth! You know, born and raised I guess."
"Yeah, I've been to Earth a few times, even though I didn't live there, I still get this nostalgic feeling every time I go, like it's still home you know?" Shepard gestured as he tried to explain.
"Yeah I would know, it is my home." Jared tried to give out a light chuckle, Shepard only stared blankly.
"So, it's weird that you grew up on Earth but you didn't have a translator." Shepard began eyeing him. "And your clothes are pretty different too. Where are you specifically from?"
Shit! I have no clue what Earth is like now, the games only offered some vague descriptions and I have no clue what places are called now, or if states even exist.
"Um." Jared frantically searched his mind for the words. "Okay, you got me." He put his hands up in a playful manner. "I'm not actually from Earth and, that's actually what I need your help with."
Shepard leaned back in his chair, his body language told Jared that he didn't find his lie amusing. "Okay, then." Shepard deliberated with each word. "What do you need my help for?"
Okay, you've already made him dislike you, that's great, and now, you have to lie to him more. Which will most likely bite you in the ass later. But, it's not like I can just say I'm from a different universe. Jared remembered what the Ulzo said about his explanations. Fuck those damn Ulzo, they were exactly right.
"The thing is." Jared quickly came up with a lie. "I'm not sure where I'm from, I just assumed Earth because I'm human. I just woke up about an hour ago and I genuinely can't remember anything before that. I have my general knowledge and I know who I am, but I can't seem to recall where I'm from or how I got here." Jared tried his best to sound helplessly confused.
"And what," Shepard gestured with his hand. "You need help from me to get your memory back? I'm sorry but your best bet is with a doctor, I can't do anything about that."
Shit, okay I have to convince him that I need his help specifically.
"No, I actually do need YOUR help." Jared was reaching his wits end. "Because I saw that you were the one to help me!"
SAW?! What does that mean?
"Saw? What does that mean?" Shepard said, perfectly mimicking his thoughts.
"I saw that you were going to be able to help me," His mind latched onto the first thing it could think of. "In the future!"
"Let me get this straight." Shepard began to sit up. "You saw me help you in the future? Are you insinuating you're psychic or something?"
Jared was about to say something before he stopped himself.
Psychic? Wait a minute, with my knowledge, I could maybe get away with that!
"Yes, I am psychic." Jared said, folding his arms and nodding his head, not knowing what trouble this could lead to.
Shepard sat up from his chair. "Listen, I would love to help you but," He leaned in closer to Jared. "I think you need to see a doctor, you do realize you're claiming to be an amnesic physic right? Those two things completely contradict each other"
Okay, this is my last chance, I have to convince him now or I'll have no hope of ever getting home. My best hopes do rest with this man after all, he can do the impossible.
"Please, give me a chance to prove myself at least." Jared said, trying to remain calm as possible.
Shepard stayed standing for a moment, clearly thinking about his options. After several seconds, he slowly began to sit back down.
"Okay, I'll do it. But only because I need you to see that you need professional help." Shepard quickly added.
"Thank you." Jared inhaled deeply. "Now, I'll tell you what I can sense from you."
Jared quickly closed his eyes and put a hand to his head, making it seem like he was attempting to conjure something from his brain. Meanwhile, he was dragging all of his knowledge about Commander Shepard to the front of his mind.
Last chance, I have to nail this now or I'm a goner.
Keeping his eyes closed, Jared began to speak. "You are Commander Jared Shepard of the Alliance Military." he slowly rattled off each fact to feign being in a trance of some sort. "You were born on April 11th, 2154, on a small colony on the planet Mindoir, unfortunately, at the age of sixteen, slavers raided your colony killing your friends and family. You, however, survived and were saved by an Alliance patrol. Several years later you joined the military."
Jared slightly opened his right eye and glanced at Commander's face eyebrows had risen ever so slightly..
Hopefully that means he's buying it.
Jared shut his right eye quickly and continued. "Once in the military, you rose through the ranks fairly quickly and even graduated from the N7 program. While on shore leave on the planet Elysium, you single handedly held off a Batarian attack as the Alliance rallied its forces. Many believed you saved the colony by doing this and you were awarded the Star of Terra, the Alliance's highest honor."
Jared inhaled once more and slowly opened his eyes, praying that Shepard believed him.
"Okay sure." Shepard began to speak, his breath slightly shaky. "That was impressive, but a lot of that can be found publicly." Shepard quickly pointed out.
"Alright." Jared said, closing his eyes once more.
What more do I have to say? I'm actually kind of running out of things here.
"Your latest mission was on Eden Prime where ambushed by the Geth. You were assisted by Nihlus Kryik on the mission, who ended up being betrayed by fellow Spectre Saren Arterius. You encountered a Prothean Beacon there as well that gave you a vision of their destruction." Jared opened his eyes again.
Shepard's face was not that of shock, but that of understanding. "You gleamed that from the conversation with Anderson and Udina didn't you?"
Godamnit!
"Okay fine!" Jared quickly closed his eyes, for hopefully the final time. "There, you rescued Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams and, unfortunately, Richard L. Jenkins died. You also found out about Saren from a dock worker named Powell who was sleeping behind a crate and that's how he survived the initial attack." Jared opened his eyes. "Happy now?"
Shepard's face finally showed what Jared had been hoping for, surprise.
"You're either very well connected." Shepard scanned Jared up and down. "Or you are really what you say you are."
There was an awkward silence between the two as the ambience of the lounge filled the air. Neither Shepard nor Jared knew what to do now, they both sat and stared.
Shepard stood up from the chair, putting his hands on the table. "So, how am I supposed to help you, or, how did you see me help you?" The latter being asked in a disbelieving tone.
I really didn't think I would get this far but now that I have, how is he supposed to help me? He can't give me a transporter device to another universe and send me on my way, but I really don't have any other ideas honestly. Being with him will probably be the most likely thing that brings me a solution.
"Well," Jared cleared his throat. "Although I don't really remember my home, I can sense it's far away, more distance than an ordinary person could travel. But, if we travel together, I am sure the answer will come across our path soon enough." A slight smile crossed his face, he was really trying to sell the lie.
"Travel together?" Shepard asked. "What do you mean? I can't really go off and follow a feeling that you're having, I do have a duty as an Alliance soldier."
Man I forgot he hasn't turned in the evidence yet and hasn't been given the go ahead or anything to go after Saren.
"That leads me to the other vision I've had." Jared quickly added. "Once you turn in this evidence, well, I don't want to give everything away but you'll certainly be put on an unavoidable path toward Saren."
After he had finished speaking, Garrus walked into the lounge and toward the table as Shepard waved him over.
"The council's ready Shepard. Are you good to go?" Garrus asked.
Shepard gave Jared one final suspicious look . "Yeah.." Shepard sat up from his chair. "Well, let's go see if this vision of yours is correct."