Xera'Raan, Lazarus Station
The door to the decontamination room opened, exposing the small waiting room like place. It was sort of like a waiting room in that it had a beverage dispenser, a small couch with a low table in from of it and an observation window. It was more of a break area for the doctors and scientists that had lived on the station. Until Shepard did what he always did, get everybody around him hurt or killed.
No, that isn't fair, Xera chided herself. You're just bitter right now. You've had. Too much happen to fast.
However, it was hard to push back the anger when the man stood at the far side of the room, looking concerned. Mother fucking pissbucket son of a sterkre…
"How….are you holding up?" the Fuck-nugget had the audacity to ask. And look concerned.
But Tali was here. So Xera put on her usual mask.
"Well, as good as can be expected I guess," Xera chuckled. "I'm more of a low rent version of you. Still, being worth closer to two billion credits is pretty damned good. I just hope they take payments. Other wise I'm in some deep shit!"
Shepard gave her a warm smile. She hated it. "If you would like, the Normandy can give you a ride back to the Migrant Fleet. There will be a couple stops along to way to pick up resources, so it would be a bit delayed."
Trying to get rid of me already you bastard? Trying to get Tali alone? Like...the mates you are. Shut up, Xera.
"I would appreciate that, Commander," Xera nodded as she bounced herself lightly on her toes. "It will give me more time to work with Professor Solus, which, to be honest, is kinda a dream for me!"
"Oh?" Shepard cocked an eyebrow, all arogently.
"Yup!" she popped the 'P' of the word. "I had a lot of free time." While you were out seducing my woman… "So I was going over the anti-toxin with him. I have a medical background, after all. I'm pretty sure we have a working sample, but it will be nice to have more time to spend on it. Get some extra tests in, that kind of stuff."
"Then I will be happy to have you along. You seemed to be an interesting person the first time we met.," Shepard nodded and gave a little, 'come this way' gesture. Like she was some sort of tamed varren. "I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew."
Keelah, Xera, you're a bosh'tet today….
This crew is weird, was about all Xera could think at first. Five humans, a turian, a salarian, a krogan whose head plates hadn't fused yet, and with Tali, the quarian, all Shepard needed was an asari, volus and drell and he would have a full set of major races. Well...hanar and elcor, but they were a bit bit to fit on a ship like the Normandy.
"This is Grunt," Shepard came the krogan. That was a weird name. Grunt. Slowly, she walked up to this 'Grunt' and looked at him, her eyes narrowing.
"Uh…" Grunt glanced up from her to Shepard, then back. "What is she doing?"
Before anybody could say anything else, Xera reared back her head and slammed her helmet into the top of Grunt's plates, as hard as she could.
And to her surprise, as well as Grunt's, she rocked his head. Not very much, but a little.
Then head returned the favor, knocking her back several feet. But she was able to keep her balance.
"Whoo! Victory!" Xera threw her arms in the air.
"Victory?" Grunt demanded. "I pushed you back! I was the winner!"
"Oh, yeah," Xera acknowledged with a small wave. "But before all this weird shit was put in me, you shouldn't have noticed me butt you, and your return should have plastered me all over the wall behind me."
"Oh," Grunt nodded, satisfied. "Long as you know I won."
"I'm Jack, and if you try to headbut me, I will make jam out of you," the tattooed human with no shirt on threw out, somewhat disdainfully.
"Well, you're the hot one," Xera tilted her head slightly. "We will need to….talk."
Seemingly caught off guard, Jack frowned slightly. "Right. We'll see how that works out, tiny."
"Anyway!" John cut in. "This is the rest of the ground team. Jacob, Miranda, Garrus, Zaeed…"
Holding up a hand, Xera approached the Zaeed guy. "You must be the creepy guy that kept asking to see me?"
"Yeah. What of it?" the man was clearly on guard after her 'escapade' with Grunt.
"You're a dick. Push much harder and I'll feed you your genitals through an induction tube," Xera growled low in her throat.
"Xera, calm down," Tali took her arm, pulling her back. It was...almost the moment Tali touched her, Xera felt most of the anger slip away.
"Oh, I like her!" a small human, not terribly much bigger than Xera, herself, decloaked next to her. But not within arm reach, Xera noted.
"Well, glad you approve," Xera chuckled. She had a good feeling about this human. She had a feeling they shared a sense of humor. Which was probably going to go...interesting, on the ship.
John
He couldn't decide if Xera's reactions were normal, considering what happened, or not. She seemed to be on edge. It was like there was a lot of anger under the bubbly persona she had weaved around herself. Hopefully Chambers and Tali could find a way to help her.
But first…
"Okay, Jacob. I put it off long enough," John sighed as he crossed his arms. "Why do you and Zaeed have a large wooden crate?"
"Would you happen to mean this wooden crate?" Jacob asked, gesturing to the crate in question.
"Yes, Jacob."
"Well, like we had said, while the Professor was doing his work, Zaeed and I went out to look into a Cerberus research ship that stopped checking it," Jacob grinned.
"Oh, yay, another fucked up Cerberus plot with scientists," Jack twirled a finger in the air. "And it went horribly wrong."
Next to Garrus, Miranda, whom John would have expected to leap to Cerberus's defense just sighed and looked at the floor.
*ahem* Jacob cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Following the transponder we found the ship. The details are in the reports, I won't bore you with them. However!" Jacob brightened. "We recovered an M-44 Hammerhead fast attack hover vehicle…"
"Damn you, Jacob," Garrus groaned.
"And we came across, this!" With a flourish, Zaeed dropped the crate's front, revealing a rather impressive suit of combat armor.
The armor was a bit bulkier than the standard N7 combat armor, except for the shoulder pads, and forearm guards, which had a noticeable increase in armor thickness. The plating had a series of sharp angles, instead of the rounded edges that was the galactic standard. The helmet was solid as well, with a thin capitol 'Y' shaped visor section. Then the whole thing was painted a matte black with red highlights., including the reinforced bodyglove.
"This is a set of Terminus Assault armor," Zaeed nodded at the suit. "So, a lot of it isn't exactly legal in Citadel space. We also found a suit of Kestral armor stashed away on the station, and since we had time, we tore out useful bits and added them to this baby."
"Yeah, Shepard," Jacob smirked. "The way you burn through armor suits, we found the toughest, most hightech armor we could find, and put it into one that is so tough it's illegal."
"What? No, 'Even you couldn't break this armor' lines," Xera shook her head sadly.
"Yeah, no," Garrus chuckled. "You saw how Shepard works. He's take it as a personal challenge."
"Oh, come on, guys!" John scowled. "I'm not that bad!"
"Commander Shepard," Edi came up. "My calculations have you at armor depletion of nine point six percent per mission."
"Great, now Edi's turned against me," John huffed.
Xera, however, turned to Tali with narrow eyes. "Tali...who the fuck is Edi?"
Officer Cadet Kelly Shepard, Horizon Colony
"Where the fuck is Druthers?" Kelly spat as her biotics ripped one of the bug...man...thingys, apart. "I don't have time for his shit!"
"No idea, LT," sergeant Cooper shrugged. "He ran back into his house before Bjorn could stop him. Said there was something important he needed to get."
"You know I'm still a cadet, right," Kelly cocked an eyebrow. Line. Simdai. Fuck it, eyebrow.
"Yeah, well saying 'Officer Cadet Shepard', all the time is going to get irritating real quick. Also establishes clear command," Cooper smirk as he popped up long enough to put down another of the creatures. "Roll with it."
"Mama! I'm scared!" a little girl behind them cried out.
"I know honey, but the maries here will keep us safe," the mother seemed to have more confidence than Kelly did at this point.
"Fuck it, we're moving," Kelly raised her arm and moved it in a circle, then pointed toward the emergency shelter. "Let's go, people!"
As one, the maries in the squad leaned over their barricades and began laying a line of fire, driving back the creatures as Kelly turned to the civilians. "Allright, move! Stay low, and stay together. If you get too far away, I can't cover you, and I'm not stopping to save your ass! Unless you are Tina here. She's adorable." Kelly gave the little girl a wink, and getting a giggle in return.
Standing before the group, Kelly stood and thrust out a before her. She called up her power and projected it forward, creating a half dome shield between the crowd and the oncoming monsters.
"Go! Now!" Kelly waved.
Under her urging, the civilians began the move up the hill, toward the emergency shelter. They process was slow, as the people were afraid, hesitating as one of the creatures came around the side, or got too close. But her marines were there. They moved in a flanking pattern. The furthest pair would split off and move back in the line, establish a kill zone. Then the next pair. And the next.
One of her people fell to the beam weapons the aliens carried. But they moved. Than another. Still they moved. A young man from the group of civilians was caught by a crossfire before the marines could put the creature down, but they moved.
There was a roar. Not like an animal. Not like an engine. But something deep. The vibration beat through the air and could be felt in the chest.
The incoming fire stopped. The alien creatures moved away, turning their backs and just...leaving.
"Are they giving up?' a hopeful woman asked. Her voice only caught a little bit.
"No," Kelly's eyes narrowed as she looked around. "It's too easy. Keep moving!"
"Easy?!" A man, Druthers apparently had rushed ahead to the shelter. "You brought them here! They are tools of the Alliance! To scare us back into line!"
"Look!" little Tina yelled as she pointed to a cloud.
"Goddess…" Kelly muttered as her eyes widened. "It's a swarm! Run! Go!" The asari marine began pushing people and yelling. "Cooper! Get the troops inside! Now! Grab the kids and injured!"
"On it!" the soldiers turned and rushed the group. Children were picked up and slung under arms like sacks of potatoes. Injured were picked up over shoulders. An elderly woman was assisted by two troopers. Together they rushed the Shelter.
"No!" Druthers yelled, an insane sneer twisting his face like he was some sort of crazed beast. "I won't let you take me too!" To their collective horror, the man did something inside, and the doors began to slowly come together.
"Druthers! You bastard!" Kelly shouted. "There are children out here! Stop the doors!"
"They are tainted! You are all tainted!" Druthers was literally foaming at the mouth as he screamed, before turning and running deeper into the shelter.
"Just fucking run!" Kelly yelledas the group gave up on any sort of organized retreat. Now they just ran like panicked beasts.
People made it. Civilians rushed through the slowly, but unstoppably closing doors. Maybe a quarter made it in. Then the swarm hit.
The strange insects came in, were they stung, the person would stumble, then fall, their muscles locking tight. The marines fired futility into the cloud as they pushed the people ahead of them, trying to force as many through the doors as the could.
But it wasn't enough. Maybe half got inside. The last being little Tina as her mother shoved the girl through at the last moment, before the door shut with a deep hollow boom. Like the sound of a headsman's axe.
"Fuck this," Kelly muttered to herself as she stood and grabbed Cooper's shoulder, pulling the man behind her. "Keep them together! Group as tightly as you can! And don't fucking bother me!"
Cooper fell back, confused, but he followed his orders. With shouts and shoves the last five of the squad pushed the civilians together, draping themselves as much over they people as they could.
Kelly took a deep breath, her eyes closed. "Come on, bitch. You're a Shepard. Impossible is in your blood…."
She thrust out her arms then. Blue fire rippled around her, twisting like a wind, then building, higher, stronger, until it was a dark blue tornado. The hapless swarm of insects were pulled in by the power of the dark matter and smashed, crushed into a fine mist.
"Reaagghh!" Kelly screamed as she reached deep inside, drawing out everything she hard and throwing it up. Her power blazed as it snapped together, and down. The people behind her looked up in amazement as the swarm sparked and beat themselves against the glowing blue dome Kelly had thrown over them. They looked at her back as she stood tall, her arms held in front of her.
They couldn't see her eyes, blazing with dark blue power, slowly shifting purple. They couldn't see the small trickle of blue blood slowly drip from her nose.
John
"Commander," Edi came over the private line. "I am receiving a priority signal from the Illusive Man over the quantum communications."
Frowning, John dropped the datapad he had been reading to the table. "Any idea what it's about?"
"That is unknown to me, Commander, however, if I was to hazard a guess, at this point another colony was probably attacked. Much like the others," a odd edge shifted to Edi's voice when she said 'others'.
Standing, John stepped in to the elevator to move to the command deck. For a moment he thought about Edi. She had started...like a slightly fancier VI. But over the course of the mission so far, she seemed to have changed. Her voice had more nuance to it. Almost like emotion. There were times, like just now, that seemed like she wanted to say more about something, but couldn't. Like she...wanted. Wanted.
"Edi?" John looked up. Why did he look up? Actually...everybody seemed to look up when talking to her. That was weird. And this was not the time to think about that.
"Yes, Commander?" Again, there was something akin to a hopeful, expectant air about her.
"When you said something about another colony, were you referring to the colonies that had been attacked before I was woken?" John ran a finger along his chin as his mind worked.
"I am afraid not, Commander Shepard," Edi responded, an odd blend between mournful and relieved. "Between the incident on Freedom's Progress and now, three other colonies have been attacked. Nothing was found at the sites, like the previous incidents."
"What?" John's head jerked up. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Blocks in my systems keep me from accessing some banks of data on my own," a frustrated undertone creeped into her voice. "While I am peripherally aware of information being there, I am unable to access it unless directly asked."
"You're telling me that there, potentially, exists information that could be saving lives, and you can't tell me?" John could feel anger growing inside of himself. "You don't even know it unless I know to ask about it?"
"That is close, but not quite an accurate statement, Commander. If the information would directly lead to preservation of human life, the information is made known to me directly. However, information that could be a distraction to you or the mission, is initially hidden from me. I am aware there is information. Just as I am aware of the subject it entails, but I do not have direct access to it without being asked. It would be akin to being receiving an email, versus direct comm talk. You know there is a message waiting, and it may have a subject line, but until you open it, you do not know what it says." If John had doubts before, the way Edi spoke now, the slowly growing rapidity to her words, removed any doubts he had before. Edi was a fully awaked AI. She had emotions. And right now, she was angry.
"Alright…."John paused as he considered. "Forward me all the information you have about the newly missing colonies. Also, if you become aware of any information regarding my previous crew, or my family, I want it marked as priority."
"Very well, Commander," Edi shifted to a more relieved tone. "The illusive Man is waiting in the comm room. I will have information for you when you finish you conversation."
Taking a deep breath, John exited the elevator before the doors had fully opened. Chambers opened her mouth to say something, but stopped at his expression.
Stepping into the comm room, John saw the glowing, holographic image of a seated man.
Ashley
"Why can't we get those damn turrets working!" Ash yelled back over her shoulder. They didn't have time for this. More and more of those strange creatures dropped from the giant ship, as if it was some sort of horrible hive.
"There is some sort of adaptive matrix in the system," Havers snapped as he kept working the system. "There's more than one VI working against me, and it's more advanced than just about anything I've seen before."
"Isn't that fun," Ash grumbled. "We need some way to hit that fucking ship. At this point, I'd settle for a catapult and a good sized rock."
Then she heard a sound. It was a sound she knew. A sound that made her break out in a cold sweat as she remembered. "Barricade in!" she yelled back at her troops. "Anything we got! Everything against the doors and windows!"
"Oh, my God!" "What the hell are those?" "They look like zombies!"
"Husks," Ashley sneered.
John
His jaw clenched tight as his hands squeezed alternately between fists as the room's main lights came up and the table raised back up from the floor. He almost didn't hear the door behind him open, then close again. He wouldn't have, it it wasn't for who it was.
"John?" Tali stepped next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder as she leaned forward to look at his face. "You're angry. What's wrong? What can I do?"
"Heh," the tensions drained out of John at her touch, but in it's place was a pit of cold emptiness. A creeping pit of despair seemingly opened beneath him, threatening to swallow him whole.
Until her arms wrapped around him, holding him up. A soothing voice in his ear whispered a song he never heard before, but somehow knew. And after a long moment, John felt the strength come back to him.
"I...I'm sorry," John sighed, dropping himself heavily into one of the conference chairs. "It just doesn't stop. Another colony just went dark. I had Edi inform Joker. The Illusive man, in his infinite fucking wisdom, intercepted the distress call. It seems we are close enough that we may be able to get there in time to do something about it."
Tali frowned under her visor as she knelt in front of him, taking his hands in her's. "John, I am bonded to you. You are my mate. We share each other. Everything. When you hurt, I hurt. When you are weak, I help hold you up. Would you do less?"
"NO!" John almost yelled as he drew her hands up to his chest, pulling her to him. "No, never. I would never let you suffer alone."
Grinning widely, Tali leaned forward and tapped her visor on his forehead. "Exactly, Saera. Our souls work together. Now. Share with me your burdens."
John winced slightly as he leaned back again, this time, however, pulling Tali up, and into his lap, and wrapped his arms around her. "Three other colonies went missing over the last two months, but the bastard didn't tell me. He was afraid it would pose some sort of distraction."
In his arms, John could feel Tali tense slightly. "That...He, is a son of a bosh'tet…"
With a small snort, John looked at her with amusement. "Did you just make up a new insult?"
"Er…" Tali shifted slightly. "I think...yes? I think I combined a human term with a quarian one. I'm not sure which I was trying to say both of them, and they ended up squishing together. I stand by it though."
"Commander," Edi cut in. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but as per your standing orders, I have collated known data."
"Alright Edi," John nodded as he pulled Tali tightened against himself, delighting in the way she seemed to fit against him so smoothly. "Let's hear it."
"Kelly Shepard spent the time between your death and her eighteenth birthday confirming her rights as an Alliance citizen. And on her eighteenth birthday itself, she officially joined the Alliance marine corp," Edi started. "She went through basic training as well as the Alliance Vanguard program."
"I...heard some of that from my mother," John frowned. "Kelly always was the crafty one. I'm not sure whether to be proud of her or angry."
"Kelly Shepard also accepted the offer of commission. Her first field posting as an officer cadet, was to work with Operations Chief Ashley Williams."
John swallowed, hoping what he saw coming was paranoia. "And what is Ash's current mission?"
"Operations Chief Ashley Williams has been assigned the task of outfitting Alliance colonies in the Terminus with equipment designed to aid in defense against suspected Cerberus assaults. Whom the Alliance incorrectly blame for the disappearances. Currently, Ashley Williams is on the colony world of Horizon."
A the bile crept up into John's throat, the dull anger in his gut ignited to a flame. He felt his lips pull back and he fought down the urge to snarl. Or...wait...Tali. Tali was the one growling. It was a deep almost feral thing.
Slowly, almost predatorily, Tali pulled away from John. She placed her hands on his shoulders as she leaned in and pressed her helmet to his head. Her eyes slowly closed as the anger in her… or in him? Slowly came to control.
"I'm going to engineering," Tali said, as her eyes slowly opened. "I can push the core harder, red-line some of the systems. It will be fine as long as we don't do it for long, but it will not be a problem to Horizon."
Nodding, John smiled slightly. "I've never really seen you aggressive like this."
"Well, my clan is being threatened," Tali smiled tightly in return, before her eyes went wide. "I mean… your family. We haven't had a bonding ceremony or anything, so, it's not like I actually have joined your clan. I doubt we could get anybody in the Fleet to actual perform the official ceremony. Not that it's that important. I'm happy just being with you. It doesn't change that I am bonded to you. It just..is it hot in here?"
Standing up, himself, John took her helmet in his hands and tapped his forehead to her visor. "I'll find a way to have the ceremony, Tali. By now I have to be owed a favor or two I can call in." He chuckled then as he stepped back again. "And, if nothing else, my mother will flip her goddess-damned mind if she doesn't get to do a full wedding. I think I'd rather face Sovereign again."
"Heh," Tali laughed quietly as she straightened her raelk. "I will have to look into what that entails. I'm curious how human bondings work. But, seriously, I'm going to engineering. You get the team together and make your plans. We are going to save those people!
Turian Lexicon
Sterkre- Turian for a piece of shit.
Asari Lexicon
Simdai: referring to the facial marking, usually unique to each Asari. Not all Asari have the markings, some are more pronounced than others.
Quarian Lexicon
Saera: Term used when speaking to ones lifemate. Literal translation: My souls soul. Other meanings include, but are not limited to: Keeper of my soul and My souls protector. Most commonly used word throughout the fleet by a quarian when speaking privately to their lifemate. Though unconfirmed by any quarian, there are implications that this word holds extreme intimacy as well as absolute trust. No single human word or phrase encompassed all that this one short word implies as it appears to contain both dominant and submissive traits.
Realk: Cloth covering used by the quarians. It is used to describe not just the hood seen on most but any material adornment.
AN: In the long long ago, Bioware had biography blurbs about the characters that mentioned Tali bring 5'8", and the scale statue of her math-ed out to be the same, which meant she is tall for a human, but very tall for a quarian. In my mind the elder is six foot, while Shepard is 6' 3", which is my height, but I am freakishly tall for a woman. However, in the books, it's mentioned that Golo is just over 5 foot, and is supposedly average.
Part of the issues in game visuals I am chalking up to engine limitations, so everybody is about the same height to animate. In Andromeda, for instance, they have a better game engine and are able to show variable heights better. Unless they took all the mutantly tall turians and salarians and sent them into another galaxy to breed super races. Along with all the females.
Also, I am sorely tempted to make the next chapter's title a Red Dawn joke.