After returning to earth Ash, Miranda, Tali and Liara decided to go out onto the city for some shopping. Getting off a tram car the four exited the transport making Miranda sigh and rack her limbs with Liara wincing.
"I will never understand the human need to crack their limbs," she muttered.
"It eases the tension in the muscles," Miranda countered with a smile but Liara just shook her head.
"You human will always be an enigma," the asari said as the four walked into the city.
"It what makes us human," Ash smirked making the asari roll her eyes.
OOOOO
Still inside the cabin John sighed as he lay on the bed. While the girls were out on the town he decided to spend some time being a father. It was hard work to say the least. Sure, he helped out with taking care of them, but that was different from doing it alone. With others around, you had help to look after, change, feed and play with but on your own it was harder. He had a newfound respect for his mother and single parents now.
He may have been a hero, survived countless battles, but this was one battle that was taking its toll on him. If anything, he was glad for the experience. At the moment they were playing with each other on the floor with toys that were bought and made. Members of the crew did come up every now and again to either help out or inform John about something but so far it was all minor. The Normandy was on mandatory leave for all.
Granted they had to keep up to date with what they were doing, such as communication and situation updates, but that was about it. Only Kelly and Sam came up often to play while John needed to do something. The two were still debating what to do about having a child. The futa thing was always muttered about as it would add an interesting dynamic to their sex life, but they didn't want to drastically change things. It was a problematic situation for them.
Sara was playing around with a few blocks when her brother came to join her and play with her. He took one of the blocks and began to chew on it. Reaching over John took a hold of the block and pulled out of Leon's mouth.
"No Leon," he said gently. "You don't eat that,"
The children were about a year old each but they were still playful, quiet and starting to try and make words. It was adorable to say the least and the commander wondered if he was like this when he was their age. As he thought Jane entered and was about to speak before Benezia gurgled and touched her boot. Smiling she bent down and picked up the little asari.
"You look good like that," John said as he took another block from Leon's mouth.
"Well if I'm going to stick around I might as well be an aunt to these little ones," she said rocking the little asari.
"So, you are staying?" he asked.
"Yeah, I severed all ties with the guild and all. Got a nice bounty for it all but had to give half of that for expenses back to the guild. So, I now have less than I would have had but I think it's all worth it," she nodded her head a bit unsure about that. "Given everything I think it's time I found a place where I belong,"
John smiled and got off of the bed before walking up to his sister. "Well you are more than welcome to stay here," he said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "We may have had different father's but we had the same mother who was a badass. Let's make her proud if, nothing else, by sticking together,"
"You really know how to talk to people don't you?" Jane smiled.
"Well, watching a Captain at work does wonders,"
"I can imagine,"
OOOOO
Jack moaned as she woke up and cracked her limbs. Her human and asari lovers moaned as well cracking their own limbs as they got up. Thanks to the experiments she went through Jack was up and about quicker than the other two. She got dressed quickly while the other two were still in bed. Once she was clothed she turned to look at the two.
"Come on, time for morning meditation," she said before walking off.
"How does she do it?" asked the male student.
"No clue," the asari moaned.
Jack heard what they said and just smirked as she walked into the main temple and waited for the students. It took around 15 minutes for all of them to come in and sit cross legged in front of the goddess statue. Jack said nothing as she lit incense at the front of the temple before taking her place at the front of the group and began to meditate. Her mind cleared and her body relaxed as she focused on calming her thoughts.
The meditation lasted for an hour before they all stopped, bowed and left for training. Before Jack could do anything one of the senior workers walked up to her.
"Shina, one of the Xei wishes to speak to you. She's in your office,"
Jack nodded and walked to her office. Ever since the Xei landed they had contacted her on a semi regular basis. Mostly to inform her on what was happening and to ensure that they were not encroaching on her territory. It wasn't annoying, but some things they were checking on were. Walking into her office the Xei stood and bowed, Jack did the same before taking a seat.
"Talia, what bring you here?" she asked.
"We have communication with outside world, we have found something," she said before playing a recording.
"… earth….Wil….se…." there was a lot of static and the words were disjointed from each other.
Jack taped her finger on her desk as the message was repeated. It sounded like John's voice but it was somehow off. She didn't know how to place it but something was off.
"When did you hear this?" she asked.
"Previous day, worker heard it and told me,"
Jack nodded before stroking her chin. "Thank you for telling me,"
Talia nodded and left. When she did Jack activated her terminal, something felt wrong.
OOOOO
"NOOO PLEASE NOOOO!" yelled an Asari warlord as she was dragged from her palace.
A collar was around her neck preventing her from using her biotic powers. This only left her strength but given that she was being dragged by two krogan warriors made resistance impossible. She was dragged up onto a platform where a green skinned asari waited for her. She wore little and had tattoos in the shape of tentacles across her body. The asari walked up to her and cupped her chin with a seductive smile.
"Feel god within you," she said opening her mouth.
A small octopus like creature exited her mouth and jumped into the warlord's mouth. It was so fast she didn't have time to scream. Her eyes then became blank as it slid down her throat. The krogan let go of her letting her stand for a good few moments before she moved to the centre of the platform and held her arms out. Standing either side of her was two poles with cuffs hanging from them. The green skinned asari then cuffed the warlord's hands before pressing something on her omni tool. The chains then pulled the warlord until she was an inch off the floor.
A mass of people was gathered in front of the platform cheering out loud. The green skinned asari walked in front of the warlord and looked out at the crowd.
"We are all children of god, but we have turned out backs on god. We must atone for our sins and offer ourselves to his mercy!" she yelled out. "An offering," she looked to the warlord. "Limgata Avela, our warlord sought to rule over us which only god can do. She has seen the error in her ways and will be an offering to his rule!"
The crowd cheered as the asari walked up to the warlord and stripped her top off. The warlord did nothing but her mind was screaming for the asari not to do it. Taking a bone handled knife, the green skinned asari then drove it into the warlord's belly and slid the knife up as blood came gushing out. Her hand then slid in and ripped the warlords heart out killing her. The floor then opened up below the warlord and the cuffs released. Once it closed the green skinned asari then turned to look at the crowd.
"God is satisfied with our offering, and the warlord has joined with our lord, the THORIAN!" the crowd cheered even louder as the asari held up the asari's heart.
It took a while for the cheering to calm down and people to disperse allowing for the green skinned asari to claim the former warlord's palace only to find a human waiting for her.
"That was quite the show," he said as she walked over and looked out of a window.
"It was for god and to show the galaxy they will burn if they do not follow us,"
"Don't forget about out deal,"
"I won't, the woman you are looking for will be captured. As long as you provide the military forces,"
"Oh, I am well aware,"
OOOOO
Ashley just moaned as she tucked into her mint flavoured ice cream. As it turned out, Liara and Tali had never had an ice cream before which forced the two humans to fix that little problem. After finding a good place they all ordered something but the two non-humans just looked at the melting concoction before them with nervous looks at each other.
"Go on," Miranda said as she ate her own. "It will melt otherwise,"
Liara gulped before picking up the spoon and took a small amount of it and ate it. It was a strange cold sensation that filled her body as the ice cream melted in her mouth. The mix of fruit and sauces slid down her throat exciting her taste buds. She moaned with a satisfied moan making Tali look to her.
"Soo good," she said before tucking into the cold treat.
Tali did the same and eat it with the same glee as Liara. Soon all four of them finished their ice creams and smiled.
"Why do humans make the best food?" Liara asked with a smile.
Miranda and Ash just smiled before an explosion disrupted their meal. Getting up and out of the place they were eating they looked down the road were the explosion came from. Mercenaries wearing blue and red armour were attacking buildings looking for someone or something. The four looked to each other before grabbing their pistols and moving up.
The mercs all looked the same, same height, weight and build. Something was wrong here as they turned to look at the for who jumped into cover.
"Target detected," one of them said a metallic voice that made their skin crawl. "Shoot to wound,"
The gunfire turned onto them keeping them in cover. Thankfully they had their shields with them. One of the mercs then threw a grenade that released an electric shockwave knocking the four of them out.
Less than an hour later John, Jane, Garrus and Kasumi came running down to where the firefight was. It was long over before they arrived leaving only medical personnel helping out. Ashley came running up to him.
"John, Miranda has been taken," she said making eyes widen.
"What… how?" he asked as the other three moved up to try and help out.
"I don't know, one of the mercs used some kind of stun grenade that knocked us out. By the time we woke up Miranda was gone,"
Before John could say anything, EDI came on over the radio. "Commander we have a problem. Limgata Avela, one of the minor warlords has been killed but the replacement has refused to talk to Article. Several warlords are planning to discuss the matter, you have been invited,"
"Well this just got complicated,"