MASS EFFECT: CHASM
CHAPTER 13
Dratin wasn't surprised by Miranda's and Jacob's confrontation. He turned around slowly and held up his hands for a brief moment to reveal that he was unarmed. "I'm impressed."
"EDI detected your block. You failed to remember about the ship's AI," Miranda smugly responded with her pistol still aimed directly at his bulbous head.
The batarian scoffed, "Heh. On the contrary, I was well aware of it. I figured my program would get around any firewalls."
"You are not authorized to send any transmissions from this ship."
"Is that what Shepard said or you?" He countered.
Some of their selected squadmates' defiance was starting to piss off Lawson. This was why she didn't like the Illusive Man approving the alien dossiers. She trusted him, but this was a huge backfire. Then again, Subject Zero was here and she was a bitter mistake as well. Jacob piped in to avoid any gunfire exchange if possible. He still had his weapon trained on the batarian as well. "We know it went to Aria T'Loak. What was the content of that message?"
Miranda huffed back at him for a brief second. "Like he bloody well would tell you."
"Aria wants to know what's going on with the Collectors," Dratin coolly replied.
"Bullshit," Miranda spat out distastefully. "She wants intel about Cerberus."
This aroused a chuckle from him. "You're wrong there."
Jacob sighed hard and lowered his weapon despite the dangerous glare he received from his counterpart by his action. "Look, the encounters with your kind over the past few years have not been…. pleasant. Maybe, if we knew more about you…."
"I'd rather not talk about it," Dratin cut him off sharply. "Shepard knows just the gist of it. That's all she needs to know and I'm here to take out the Collectors."
"And spy on us," Lawson pointed out. A blue aurora engulfed her as she charged up her biotics.
Fearing what may take place next, Jacob lunged forward and placed himself between her and Dratin. His hand up to make her stop. "Wait, Miranda!" His voice was elevated by the impending assault that was about to take place. He could see Dratin tensing up. He had no idea if the four-eyed bipedal was concealing a weapon of his own or not. He snapped his head back towards Dratin in frustration. "How can we trust you?"
Dratin shrugged. "Guess you can't."
"Why all the secrecy? We know you work for Aria." Jacob was becoming edgy. "What else are you hiding?"
Dratin mulled over Jacob's logical argument and tilted his head in the show of respect by his culture. "I know Cerberus is not a fan of aliens including the Hegemony. I'll tell you the same thing I told Shepard. I defected from the Hegemony and I just want to get back to my family on Aratoht."
Miranda rolled her eyes. "Pfft, I don't believe that story for a second. You could have fooled Shepard with that, but not me."
Her counterpart had a different tune. Jacob relaxed his posture and shook his head at her. "I kind of do. At least he's not one of them."
Lawson gaped at him incredulously and narrowed her eyes. She heard enough of the fabrications! The deception! "You are showing your true colors, Jacob." Her menacingly smirk remained on her face. Things changed with the man in front of her. The man that she slept with. The man that she almost developed feelings for.
Taylor turned on her with his jaw clenched. "Yeah? What the hell does that mean, Miranda?"
"Hey!" Another female voice busted their meeting. "Cerberus cheerleader. What the hell are you doing down here?"
A sigh slipped through Miranda's lips. It was Jack. The one person she tried to avoid on the ship ever since Zalena picked up the prisoner. This day was just getting better.
Kelly sprung into action as soon as she saw Zalena stepping back onboard the Normandy. Her pulse was still elevated ever since EDI informed her of the hack. "Commander Shepard! I have an urgent matter to discuss with you."
Zalena, still in her battle-worn armor, stopped at her station to address her. "Yes?"
"While you were away, EDI detected a security breach in our network."
"Um, Commander," Joker called to her from the intercom.
Puzzled, Shepard glanced towards the cockpit then awkwardly looked up at the ceiling to where the sound of the voice came from. "Uh, yes, Joker?"
"I think we have a problem…" The pilot's voice trailed off as if he was trying to figure out a way to tactfully define the term.
Zalena looked at Kelly in confusion then back at the cockpit. "Joker, why didn't you just flag me when I arrived?" Are two separate incidents so sudden on the ship? This couldn't be a coincidence.
"Hello," Moreau seemed irked by her ridicule. "Brittle Bone disease? I can't just spring up from my chair and you walk way too damn fast." His raised voice grabbed the attention of a few crewmates who paused at their stations to listen in.
Scratching her head in nervousness, Zalena felt a bit guilty. Joker was right and she shouldn't have called him out on it even if her comment was innocent. "Er, sorry, Joker. Can it wait? I need to address this issue with Miss Chambers first."
"Um, sure," Joker snapped back in sarcasm. "I'll just tell Miranda and Jack nicely not to break the Normandy's hull or anything."
His wittiness caught her off-guard. "What?!"
"I'm not going to tell you again," Miranda hissed at the shaven head woman in front of her. "This is a Cerberus security matter and doesn't concern you."
"I'll make it my damn business if I want to," Jack growled as she stepped closer. Kenneth and Gabby shied away from their stations to back themselves further away from the confrontation. "It looks like you are shaking down the batarian here. If I remember correctly, he's part of Shepard's team. Not yours."
Miranda crossed her arms with satisfaction. "I'm Shepard's second-in-command while she's away. That makes me in charge and this batarian hacked Shepard's private terminal to send a message to T'Loak."
Jack was unmoved by the allegation and stared down at the woman she despised in front of her. "You afraid of all your dirty secrets coming out?"
Dratin chuckled under his breath by their hostility towards one another. Fuming by the batarian's reaction, she spun around to confront him. "What's going on down here?" Zalena spoke out, interrupting her next action. The scene in front of her was a bit disturbing in front of Shepard. Dratin was in the middle of it. She knew that Miranda and Jacob were not fond of her choice, but why was Jack there?
"Shepard, he bypassed EDI's firewalls and sent an unauthorized to Aria T' Loak," Miranda answered first after taking a slow breath to calm herself. "Jack has no business being down here. This is a Cerberus matter." The bald woman in front of her flipped her off by the curt remark.
Zalena diverted her gaze over to Dratin who remained suspiciously silent. He wasn't defending any type of innocence to the crime. She needed to speak to him about the matter, and him alone. Keeping Miranda and Jack apart was working until this. Bringing them along on missions together seemed to keep everything at bay. They both knew that when they were ground side that they had to remain focused. They did just that. Their animosity had to cease. For everyone's sake including the Normandy. An all-out biotic entanglement would not be good. Despite Joker's twisted sarcasm, the surly helmsman was right. Dead right. She wasn't about to die aboard the SR-2. "Dratin, I need to speak with you in my cabin…in private."
"Want someone to stand outside for backup?" Jacob tossed out suggestively. This slant was not projected to be offensive. Logically, Miranda was truthful and there was no telling how Dratin may react by the confession. He was cornered. Still, she couldn't risk their mission being undermined by Omega.
Sighing, Zalena shook her head in response. "No, Jacob. I don't think that will be necessary. I don't think our friend here wants to take on a Spectre." Her dark eyes held both sets of the batarian's eyes or at least the best that they could.
Miranda was not satisfied. "Very well, Commander." The tone of her voice razor-sharp. She lost. The brunette moved towards the other door to avoid any contact with them to exit engineering. Mr. Taylor was right behind her.
"Bye, bye, precious," Jack taunted. A glare from Zalena made her move along herself back to her game with Zaeed.
Motioning Dratin to follow her, Zalena led him to the elevator to take him to her cabin. She remained silent as she mused over what she just saw and learned. The batarian beside her also remained tight-lipped. Finally, when they reached the level of her private quarters, he broke the silence ironically first. "You going to court-marshal me?" A crack at the militaristic structure.
"I should jettison you out of the airlock," Zalena grumbled as she stepped inside her room first with him in tow. "I don't need you upsetting my crew and altering anything that I have worked on. Understand?" Not allowing a response, she finally turned around to face him once the door to her room was closed. They had their privacy. "Did you honestly think you could get a message out to Aria without being noticed on here?" She threw up her hands in exasperation. "I thought you were smarter than that or so Aria claims."
"I'm one of her best techs," He shot back. "Aria doesn't like to wait and I was behind on updating her. I had to risk it. I knew that most likely your ship's advanced AI would detect the hack."
"You're going to tell me the contents of that message." When he didn't answer right away, this frustrated her. "Is your life worth this? What about your family? Or did you say that crap to get on here?" She was beginning to almost believe Miranda's and Jacob's argument. What if she made a dreadful mistake? She hated to be forceful. That wasn't her MO, but she was damn sure to go that route if she had to. Aria didn't have it out for her…or so she thought. Shepard knew there was a catch to bringing Dratin onboard. The asari was looking for something. A war between her allies and Omega was not what she needed right now.
"Look, all she wanted was intel on the Collectors. What they wanted and what you were doing to stop them."
"The Omega 4 Relay is in the same system as her station. Why would be so concerned just now?" She countered.
Dratin groaned and rubbed his head as he struggled from within on rather he should divulge all that he knew to Shepard or not. He began to pace as he contemplated his next choice. Zalena crossed her arms as she watched on. "I'd rather not say…."
"But you are or you're off this ship and Aria doesn't get anything else from me." Shepard pressed. "I hate being used."
"Fine!" Dratin stopped in midstride. She got to him. He was deeply conflicted. "There's more to this than you know. Your presence on Omega and the mention of the Collectors have spooked Aria. It's like that human saying...," He paused as he struggled to find the key phrase for her. "Vehita Tu."
"Déjà vu?" Shepard corrected him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Two years ago, the Collectors were on the station…twice. Normally, they are looking for something odd like a turian with a cut-off fringe or a salarian with a missing horn. No one blinks an eye and their encounters are non-violent." A beat and he shook his head as he silently remembered the events he was describing. "Though, the last two times were not like that at all. Their methods changed. Who they wanted changed. The first time, the Suns were gathering humans for the exchange, only humans. Aria didn't like the merc involvement. The Suns were trying to cash in without her standard transaction fee. A few of us busted up the meeting. We were ordered to slaughter everyone, including the prisoners."
"That's sickening…." Zalena cut in softly. A knot formed in her stomach. "How could she just kill innocent lives like that?!" This pirate queen was becoming less and less likable.
Dratin shrugged. "The warning to the Suns was what she wanted. She didn't care about the casualties."
"I should talk with Aria," Zalena growled through clenched teeth.
He smirked from hearing this. "Be my guest, human; you wouldn't leave the station alive. Heard that she's a strong commando. I wouldn't cross her."
"Anything else to enlighten me with?" Shepard sarcastically asked, getting back to the subject.
"Yeah, turns out the Collectors were keeping tabs on populations on various places: Feros, Omega, Earth, and Horizon. Human populations only. Heh, didn't shock me that we went to Horizon after the colony went dark."
Zalena narrowed her eyes at him. "You mean to tell me that you had all this information when we first met and you kept it to yourself?! You bastard…the Collectors captured all the colonists and I almost lost Kaidan along with them. I could have prevented it!"
"Heard Cerberus knew it too," Dratin argued. "Your Illusive Man didn't bother to tell you. That intel was slipped to the Collectors."
She just about heard enough. "Are we done here?" She didn't know who was worse right now. The Illusive Man, him or Aria.
"Sure, I guess you don't want to know how you play into this then," His words trailed off in a cliffhanger.
"Me?" She blinked.
"As I said, Aria was spooked when you came on the station and stated you need help against the Collectors. She thought you were dead."
"So, did everyone else in the galaxy. Nothing new for that."
"Correct. However, your body was on Omega."
"What?"
"The Shadow Broker was looking for your body for the Collectors. They wanted you. Unclear why. The Broker contracted out the Suns to secure the body. It seems that they weren't the only interested party: Cerberus wanted it too along with your friend, Liara T'Soni. The Suns were going to make the delivery and Aria knew the exact location of the transfer. Though, Aria had no idea that the Shadow Broker was working for the Collectors. This alarmed her. She disclosed the meeting place to your friend. Eventually, the Broker's men fled the station along with your friend. I guess she was working for Cerberus as well.
"Liara?" Zalena remained frazzled by all of this. She reunited with her Prothean expert on Ilium. The asari almost seemed to mature and was an information broker at the port. She insisted to Shepard that she couldn't join her until she hunted down the Broker and dealt with him. She was very reclusive about any other details than that. Something about her was dark. Shepard was hurt. Liara never mentioned any of this. Was Liara really in on handing her over to Cerberus? Why would she? None of this was making her sense! Zalena's head spun. "How…how do you know all this?"
"I'm on Aria's payroll remember? I was there when it all went down. Glad I survived the firefight."
There were so many questions now. Questions that only Liara could answer. That led back to the intel that the Illusive Man slipped to her regarding the Broker's location. Intel that Liara was desperately wanting to get blue hands on. She contemplated using this as leverage of finding out the truth of her past. She felt hurt and betrayed. She thought she knew everyone on her old team pretty well. Ever since her resurrection, everything was altered like a mirror universe. Friends were enemies and enemies were allies. Darkness crept within the souls of the righteous. This was beyond the Collectors or the Reapers. They were all facing their devils; coiled and twisted like a leviathan in the abyss.
