Author's Disclaimer: I don't own a thing belonging to "Mass Effect 2." They all belong to BioWare.

Author's notes: and the Shadow Broker goes down! It was fun putting Jack in here. Enjoy, lovelies.

"Attachments"

Chapter seven "Long live the Shadow Broker"

Shepard sat across from Liara as their shuttle made its way through the Hagalaz atmosphere. It skimmed toward the behemoth ship in the distance. The Shadow Broker's ship. No one but him would make an inhospitable world like Hagalaz their home. Freezing cold temperature at night colliding with spiked humidity throughout the day made fierce thunderstorms that rioted across the clouds above them.

The journey here had been more than alittle strained. Liara kept away from the Cerberus operatives, but Joker had called to her happily from the cockpit. Garrus and Tali tried to soothe the rising mood between Liara and Shepard, and Liara had let them. They'd all sat in the mess, the human operatives giving them a wide and curious berth.

Shepard wanted desperately to rehash what it was between them. She'd seen scraps of Liara's feelings in her looks and words. But after her outburst, Shepard had backed off, mentally and physically. She ached for her. But Liara knew and she was not happy. Shepard knew it had nothing to do with what was done to her, at least she didn't think so, but her actions of appeasing her new appetites had been observed. Shepard couldn't say she was proud of it when the object of her heart's desire sat beside her, not looking at her.

Focus. Mission first. Talk later. If they survived this. Shepard crossed her arms across her breastplate and rolled her neck slowly. Jack had been selected to come with as their third squad mate and the ex-convict had given her a mock salute in response. Jack was new; she didn't know Liara and that might help their fight ahead. Liara wouldn't have to worry about an old squad mate's thoughts of her in this new light. And Jack was better in the biotic department than she was, Shepard was loath to admit to herself. She was just a force to behold.

Jack glanced between the two women, raising an eyebrow as their shuttle descended onto the side of the ship. There were walkways meant for maintenance drones they could use, and the shuttle door slide open. "Come on, ladies, let's get to it already," Jack snapped. Liara gave her a neutral look but hopped out. Shepard followed. A grunt beside her and clang of boots told her Jack had followed.

All three drew weapons and followed the arching sunset along the side of the ship. The wind whipped at them hard, and they all ducked down on reflex.

"Up ahead! Drones!" Liara called. All three took cover behind waist-high areas of the ship. Shepard let a singularity fly, one of the drones darting away from the ship with the strike, flailing out into the abyss. She saw Jack pin off two more drones with carefully lobbed throws of her biotics. They careened over the edge and below.

"Careful!" Liara called as they rounded a corner. An open stretch of paneling extended beneath the storm and long rods sizzled with electricity, powered by the lightning arching overhead. "Those capacitors discharge built-up lightning."

Shepard and Jack aimed for the rods, sending a large bolt crackling across the paneling. Two LOKI mechs had been making their way up the aisle and were struck down by the lightning.

"Good to know!" Jack called. Shepard was glad she was helping out. Tali or Garrus were too concerned for Liara. Miranda would have loved to have come; Shepard was certain she wanted close eyes on anything she did with Liara. But the tattooed biotic helped where needed and didn't ask questions. It was needed right now.

"Got 'em," Shepard agreed. The three made their way up the aisle, past the twitching burnt-out rod capacitors, and down a side aisle. The wind whipped crazily, tugging at their boots. They ducked around large pieces of machinery, and almost ran smack into three Shadow Broker operatives. A turian, who took aim with his rifle, and two salarians who had been working on one of the maintenance shafts. Shepard flung a singularity into the turian's face, knocking him back twenty feet. The salarians were taken out with a few rounds of carefully aimed bullets by Shepard and Liara. Jack kicked one of the salarians as she ran past.

"Ha! Surprise!" she laughed. The three climbed up on an outer berth, and Shepard was startled to see an open area over several bridges. No handrails and a few side areas for operatives to hide. Which they were. The three dispatched them, weaving around the pillars toward the open bridge. The wind whipped crazily at them.

"Okay, looking down was a mistake," Liara fretted. There was a side corridor into a large engine room. Metal rods moved against each other, garnering the lightning outside. "This ship is incredible. It must have taken decades to build in secret!"

"I wonder what happened to the contractors," Shepard said.

"I think we can guess," Liara answered. Jack sprinted behind him.

"Yeah, it's impressive and all, but there's gotta be a lot more of these guys inside."

The three shot their way to the end of the ship, where an important door waited. It screamed "inside the ship here" and Shepard watched Liara open up her omni-tool on the lock.

"I'll need a few minutes to hack it," she said when the hue was raised, and operatives still outside moved to flank the three.

Shepard ducked down behind a piece of the ship, Jack opposite her. Blue biotic energy wreathed her body. "Hurry it up, T'Soni, we'll hold em off!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Jack called. She let loose a few throws, neatly knocking off two operatives over the side of the ship. Shepard ducked as a singularity from a Shadow Broker asari vanguard ripped past her head. She popped up and aimed her pistol at the woman. The asari screamed as her incendiary ammo lit her armor on fire.

"Liara!" Shepard shouted warningly. An exasperated grunt sounded from the door.

"Their attacks are disorganized. They'd be more effective if they all attacked at once."

"Please don't give the mercs ideas!" Shepard groaned. She ducked as a few enemy combat drones fired at her. Jack lobbed off a powerful biotic wave that swept them away. She and Jack sped up to duck down on either side of the pathway to the door. Liara cast a look over her shoulder.

"The next wave looks like a big one!"

"You just had to give them tactical advice!" Shepard growled. She fired at one of the nearby lightning rods and discharged the electricity inside. A few soldiers were zapped, their screams loud against the wind.

Finally, the soldiers were dispatched, and the door was hacked. Shepard and Jack filed up behind Liara as it irised open and they piled in. They took a moment to breath before turning the corner into several long corridors. They all seemed to lead to one place; the Shadow Broker's office.

Shepard ducked behind the corner as a few more operatives filed in opposite them. She turned the corner and picked off a turian with a well-placed throw. He hit the wall and slid to the floor, out cold. A few more claustrophobic halls arching onward and Liara craned her head toward a side door. A few vanguards were guarding it, but Shepard led the charge around the corner and their way clear.

Inside, a few desks and monitors held sentry in front of a lower antechamber of the room. In that room was a chair and in it, restrained at the wrists and ankles, was a drell. Shepard knew who it had to be before Liara's cry of "Feron!" erupted from her lips.

The three clambered into the antechamber toward the chair and Shepard reached the ankle restraints, looking for a way to free the man. Feron was not in good shape, half healed burns and cuts littering his torso that Shepard could see through a half open tunic. The drell's large dark eyes blinked open and lit up at the sight of Liara.

"Liara?" Feron croaked. Then, "No, wait," he said too late, and Shepard leaped back from the restraints as a surge of electricity primed the chair. Feron arched up on his shoulders, crying out in pain. Liara wrung her wrists, wanting to free him, but they couldn't. That charge couldn't have made that more clear.

"I thought this was too easy…." Shepard mumbled.

"This chair….plugs into the Broker's info network," Feron panted. "You have to shut off the power. Pull me out now, and my brain cooks."

"Do you know where we can cut the power?" Liara asked, already scanning him with her omni-tool.

"It won't be easy," Feron moaned. "You'll have to go to central operations."

"What's the point of this cage?" Shepard shook her head.

"I don't….ughhhhn!" Feron's back arched as another shock ripped through him. He fell back, breathing harshly.

"It's a neural grounding rod. The medical equipment is to make sure he doesn't….expire," Liara fretted. "We have to shut this place down!"

Jack kept an eye on the door they'd come in from. "Where did the Broker get all the mercs?"

"Raised his own private force," Feron said. "They're completely loy…..uhn!" Another shock. Shepard wanted to turn this all off, immediately. But they'd have to face the Shadow Broker first.

"Shepard, we really don't have the time!" Liara directed to her. Shepard nodded.

"Easy or not, we're all getting out of here."

The look Feron blinked at her was one of utter exhaustion. "Good. Central operations is down the hall. You know the Shadow Broker's waiting for you, right?"

"I'm counting on it!" Shepard said.

"We'll be back for you, Feron!" Liara promised.

"I'll try not to go anywhere," Feron muttered.

The three clambered out and into the main hallway.

"All roads lead to Rome," Shepard muttered as they filed up. With all the ruckus of killing the Shadow Broker's forces coming up to this point, she knew surprise had been thrown bodily out the window.

"What?" Liara asked.

Jack gave a cackle of laughter. "Means we're headed to one location only. Boss man."

Shepard held her pistol at the ready as they stopped at the big double doors waiting at the end of the ominous corridors.

"Ready," she said. They pushed open the doors.

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Shepard stayed at Liara's side as they entered the room. The hallways and corridors all led to this place and the….whoever it was, on the other side. Jack uttered a curse behind them when they saw beady large eyes regarding them in the shadows across the cavernous room. The creature in the over-sized chair was massive. He was half-hidden in the shadows of the room and seemed none too concerned at having three weapons trained on him.

"Your operatives are dead," Shepard announced. "Step down."

"Reckless. Even for you, Commander," the Shadow Broker murmured. His voice was deep, impossibly so, and sent shivers of dread down Shepard's spine.

"That bombing on Ilium wasn't exactly subtle," Shepard spat.

"Extreme. But necessary," the Shadow Broker intoned.

"No, it wasn't! Neither was caging Feron for two years!" Liara snarled.

Shepard kept her pistol raised, trained on the creature. He shifted in his chair, and abit more light shone on his large face. Shepard noted long curved horns sweeping back from his head. Aside from the edges of a massive shape, she couldn't see much else in the shadows.

"Dr. T'Soni; your interference caused all this," the creature murmured. "Feron betrayed me when he handed you Shepard's body. The drell is simply paying the price."

"Someone was bound to come after you for working with the Collectors," Shepard pointed out. She couldn't forget or forgive that.

The creature folded large hands across his thighs. "It was a mutually beneficial partnership. Your arrival is convenient; the Collector's offer still stands."

Shepard kept her pistol trained on the creature. "Yeah, well it'll be pretty hard to run a base this size with no crew." Her words were picked this way deliberately. Your crew is all dead. We killed them.

The creature shrugged. "They're replaceable. Your arrival is barely an interruption. Enough talk. My operations are too crucial to be compromised by a traitor."

Liara spoke up. "You're quite confident for someone with nowhere left to hide!"

"You travel with fascinating companions, Doctor. Thank you for bringing me Subject Zero, T'Soni. Her body will net almost as much as Shepard's." The Shadow Broker chuckled. Jack and Shepard shared a look, both knocking the safeties off their pistols. They were done with talking.

"You're not putting a hand on anyone!" Liara snarled.

"Damned straight," Jack muttered beside Shepard. The Commander could almost hear her teammate's thoughts. That she'd faced bigger and better than him.

"It's pointless to challenge me, asari. I know your every secret, while you fumble in the dark….."

"Is that right?" Liara's voice grew soft and very cold. "You're a yahg. A pre-space flight species quarantined to their home world from massacring the Council's first contact teams. This base is older than your planet's discovery. Which probably means you killed the original Shadow Broker sixty years ago, then took over. I'm guessing you were taken from your world by a trophy hunter who wanted a slave. Or a pet. How'm I doing?"

Finally, palpable anger seared from the creature's posture. He put large hands on the arms of his over-sized chair and merely stood. Shepard took an involuntary step back as the three of them gaped at their opponent. He was huge! At least ten, maybe twelve feet tall. His body was massive as well; he must have weight a few good tons.

The yahg roared, slamming a hand down on his desk. He broke it apart in three large chunks from just one slam down with a fist and hurled a piece toward Liara. Shepard tackled her to the side, both barely escaping impact. They slammed down onto the ground in a heap. Shepard swept a look to the left; one of the desk's pieces had made contact with Jack. She lay in an unconscious heap beneath the chunk of wood. Shepard couldn't even begin to see if she was alright; the yahg stomped closer to them, roaring his displeasure.

Shepard and Liara split ways, both taking cover behind pillars in the large room.

"Liara! Stay down!" Shepard called across the way. She peered up to see the yahg trailing his gaze on her position. She darted around the pillar, firing off a few shots with her pistol, and diving for another pillar.

After emptying an entire clip against the yahg's armor, the Shadow Broker touched something on his shoulder, activating an outer-suit of armor. It glowed, mocking their bullets.

"The shield's kinetically sensitive!" Liara said to Shepard. Shepard ducked beside her. "Energy and projectiles are bouncing off!"

Shepard flashed her ex-lover a grin, striding out from cover and cracking her knuckles. "Then we do this the hard way!"

Shepard used a biotic charge to hastily close in on the startled yahg, her fists driving into his unprotected face. The Shadow Broker roared, head rearing back, then slapped at Shepard. His force drove her to her back five feet away. The Shadow Broker activated a massive energy shield that was as tall as he was. Shepard sped away, diving behind a low pillar for cover. She and Liara swapped positions, ducking for cover across the way to get behind the yahg's shield, firing into his unprotected side.

His shield went down and Liara called out behind her. "Quick, while he's vulnerable!" Shepard sped out from her pillar and slammed into the yahg's shield. She managed to knock him back a step or two but he planted his feet and slammed his shield back into Shepard. She went flying backwards, and unfortunately into Liara. Both crashed into a pile on the floor.

Both gaped at each other then up at the ceiling as energy crackled in the skylight overhead. Obviously the Shadow Broker used it for….some purpose. Shepard's mind was racing too fast to think about what.

"If you can get him to bring up that shield again, I've got an idea!" Liara said. Shepard nodded. After dodging a few shots, she charged and ducked for cover behind another pillar. Liara fired off her pistol to distract him and Shepard charged at the Shadow Broker again, grappling with his shield. Once it was brought up, she jumped back.

"Liara! Now!" Shepard called. Liara fired off her biotic charge into the skylight and directed all the lightning down. Toward the blinking yahg. He roared as he was fired with biotics as well as electricity. His body crumpled to the floor, smoking.

Shepard jogged up to the broker's corpse, nudging it with her boot to make sure. When she was certain he was dead, she holstered her weapon and turned to Liara. The asari was standing there, staring at the yahg, panting with clear exhaustion. Jack was rising to her feet; Shepard couldn't focus on her when Liara turned her head toward the wall of monitors behind where the Shadow Broker's desk had stood. Operatives were calling in on every line, it seemed, asking for instruction, if the feed had been compromised. Liara touched a key on the monitor nearest her, then spoke through all the channels.

"This is the Shadow Broker. The situation is under control. We experienced a power fluctuation while upgrading hardware. It disrupted communications momentarily. However, we are now back online. Resume standard procedures. I want a status report on all operations within the next solar day. Shadow Broker out."

Shepard stared at her ex-lover in amazement. Jack was looking at her with newfound respect and the doors at the end of the room banged open as Feron charged in, a gun held up in what he thought was defense for them.

"Goddess of oceans!" Feron limped forward, lowering his gun. "It's you!...How?"

Liara clicked a few more buttons, no doubt muting them from the operative channels. When she turned from the monitors, flickers of uncertainty were across her face. Shepard ached to see it.

"Well, everyone who's ever seen him in person is dead, so….."

"You're the new Shadow Broker," Feron said. Jack crossed her arms.

"Wow, great upgrade, Blue," she offered. Shepard turned to Liara.

"Is taking over as the Shadow Broker really a good idea?"

"It was either that or lose everything. His contacts, his trading sources… those will really help us. With the Shadow Broker's information network I can give you…I can…."

Feron gave himself an out to excuse Liara. "I'll, uh, check the power systems." As he limped away, Jack made to follow. When they left, Liara buried her face in her hands. Shepard was startled to see she was crying. She touched her shoulder, nudging her.

Shepard wrapped her arms around the asari. She clutched Liara close, face ducked against her shoulder.

'No…don't refuse us, Liara.'

"It's alright," Shepard murmured. Liara leaned up and caught her lips in a short kiss. Shepard stared, surprised.

"It's over…..two years….." Liara whispered. She tried to talk through her tears and Shepard knew her feelings were all over her face. She couldn't help it. "We're different people now, you have your mission and…."

Shepard wrapped her arms around Liara's waist, pulling her close. When Shepard lifted her face, Liara was leaning in close. Her eyes were closed, her beautiful lips parted. Shepard leaned in and kissed her, their arms twining around each other. She needed this, she needed her and the assurance they'd be alright, they'd be together. Liara clutched to the back of her armor, pressing close and Shepard was smiling when their lips parted.

"Okay….." Liara breathed, panting alittle. The kiss had thrown her, it was all over her face, but her ex-lover was fine with it. "Okay…."

"Okay," Shepard agreed. She pressed her brow to Liara's and couldn't stop the grin splitting across her face. Liara smiled up at her.

And all was right in the galaxy.

"I hate to interrupt," a gravelly voice rang out from the side. The two women turned to watch Feron support himself against one of the staircases past the monitors. "But we really should get a grasp of what we're handling here."

"Can I help? Bet there's a secret or two I could use," Jack crowed. Liara raised an eyebrow at Shepard who laughed.

"Let's get to it…..Shadow Broker," Shepard said. Liara smiled at her.

End for now

End notes: I left the Shadow Broker's body there instead of it disintegrating like in the game. Any thoughts, feel free to drop a review ^_^

Pen 5/29/2021