Book I - Chapter 4: Hades' Dogs

"Liara, you are here." Tali paused her work on the latest diagnosis for the stealth system. With clear caution in her body language, the quarian gave her friend a quick once over. "You don't seem too upset. I assume you are satisfied with the Commander's explanations?"

Liara smiled at her friend's show of concern. She thought Tali was being really sweet. "Tali, it's alright. Shepard has done nothing wrong. There is no need to be cross with her."

Tali planted her hands on her waist in a show of disbelief. "Uh hum, I've heard that one before. 'Something got caught on my suit, she was only checking for a breach.' 'I tripped over a spanner and accidentally landed on top of your sister.' Liara, are you sure? The Commander can be very persuasive."

Liara put a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle at Tali's antics. "Yes, I'm sure. Shepard showed me her memories, and I felt what she felt through the meld. She was actually quite exasperated with Shiala for taking such liberty."

"Oh, alright then." Tali deflated. "I suppose I own Shepard an apology. I was rude to her over nothing."

"I wouldn't say it's nothing. You were looking out for me." Liara said.

"You are my friend, of course I would look out for you. I just wish I hadn't been so hasty to judge. I wanted to punch them both when I saw that woman pawing at Shepard. At least I didn't go through with that impulse."

Liara made a vague gesture. "Asaris are generally very comfortable with touch. What Shiala did was definitely pushing the boundary, but it would not be considered a gross misconduct. Casual touching amongst friends is the norm in asari culture. This is one of many reasons people believe all asaris are promiscuous."

Tali seemed fascinated by Liara's explanation. "How wonderful! Physical acts of affection are difficult for us quarians, for obvious reasons. I am truly envious, Liara. That's why I was so mad at Shepard for letting another woman touch her when she already has you."

Liara shook her head. "Shiala only did it to tease Shepard. She wanted to perpetuate the rumor regarding Shepard's sexual prowess because she thought it was hilarious."

Tali snorted. "Yeah, some of the stuff people say about Shepard are pretty absurd. I don't believe for a second that she can use her biotics alone to 'send an asari's azure all aflutter'." She mocked with an exaggerated air quote using her long middle fingers.

Liara choked on her spit.

"No way!" Tali exclaimed, but quickly lowered her voice. "Really? What about the thing with her ton..." She asked conspirically.

"In-in any case," Liara interrupted whatever Tali was trying to say and completely changed the topic. "Shepard asked us to show her the project we've been working on."

"You're no fun." Tali complained with a pout.

The two rode up the elevator and went back to the med bay office and found Shepard waiting for them inside.

"Tali." Shepard gave the quarian a polite nod.

"Shepard." Tali replied with a hint of mirth in her voice. "Relax. I'm not mad at you anymore. Liara explained." She paused for a second, and added, "I've heard you can do some interesting thing with your biotics…"

"Tali!" Liara was scandalized.

"Yeah, it's a Prothean technique." Shepard said innocently. Obviously she had no clue what Tali was insinuating.

"Shepard!" The heat on Liara's face told her that her cheeks must be showing a dark shade of lilac.

"Ooh, Prothean technique. No wonder Liara liked it so much." Tali purred.

"Please, just stop." Liara covered her face with her hands.

Shepard's lightly freckled face scrunched up into a confused frown. "Ok? I have no idea what's going on, but I'll stop. So Tali, you said earlier there's something you want to show me about that VI?"

"I did. I think you'll find this enlightening." Tali turned on the display attached to the VI hard drive and typed in a few commands to pull up a log. "I have taken a very close look at the VI program. It is a very sophisticated, very versatile battle logistic management software. With some modifications, this VI can be linked to manage anything from one drone to a battle station plus the entire fleet."

"Wow. The amount of information this VI can analyze must be truly phenomenal." Shepard looked very impressed.

"That is not all." Liara added. "I could tell by its basic framework that this VI was inspired by volus financial software commonly used for investing in the stock market. It can not only analyze a great deal of data with astonishing speed, it is capable of making 98% accurate predictions on complicated maneuvers, such as projecting enemy troop movements and supply logistics. It can also update its algorithms to increase its efficiency to deploy on-the-fly cyber-warfare. Do you see the implication of this?"

The slight frown on Shepard's face deepen into a scowl. "Yes. The functionalities of this VI is skirting awfully close to an AI."

The quarian agreed. "Exactly. Which is why we suspect it was picked as a prime target to be sabotaged. However advanced this VI is, it's still a ways away from being considered full AI. I've meticulously picked through every line with Liara, and there is no indication that the software has developing any sense of self, nor was there any error that would cause a malfunction. There is absolutely no reason why the VI would refuse to shut down. I can state with full confidence that the AI in that blue box was the true culprit." Tali pointed at the quantum computer sitting in the corner of the office.

Shepard slowly sat down in one of the empty chair. Judging by the way her green eyes became unfocused, Liara could tell the woman was thinking fast.

A couple minutes of silence later, the Commander spoke with a determined lit. "Two things. One, I want the blue box completely wiped. We already know that the lunar base was a sabotage job, we don't need to take on more risk by poking at an AI. Two, I want the VI to be incorporated to my Omni-tool. Set the VI's visual display to sync with my cortical implants so it can run on stealth mode."

"Cort… Oh." Liara leaned in to examine Shepard's eyes closely. They looked completely natural. There was no telltale signs that would suggest those beautiful green eyes were even partially cybernetic; at least not without using a medical scanner. Whoever designed them must have been obsessed with perfection. "Was it Elysium?" She asked softly while her heart clenched painfully in her chest. The thought that Shepard had been so injured to require cortical implants to restore her sight was making it hard to breathe.

"Part of it was. It's complicated." Was all Shepard would divulged at this time. Liara decided not to push.

While Liara and Shepard were having a moment, Tali left them alone to kept flipping through the VI log. "Let's see... If I strip all the non-essential functions, I can compress the program into an add-on for your Omni-tool. It'll still take up a lot of space, but yes, I can do it." Tali said, staring at the screen thoughtfully. "I can't say I understand why the Alliance felt the need to design seven different sets of avatars - each came with a complete wardrobe and dance moves - for one battle logistic VI though. Must be a human thing."

Shepard chuckled at that bit of information. "Yeah, it's a human thing. You're right about it being non-essential too. Just set the avatar to something simple."

"I need some time to do the compression, but I can get it done before we reach the Citadel. As for the blue box, I can't do a complete wipe until the next Mako drop. There is too much risk if we turn it on inside a ship or on a space station."

Shepard grinned widely at Tali's answer. "The timing is perfect. I need that VI functional to run analyses for me. It'll take me forever to go through all the paperwork on my own."

Liara hummed thoughtfully as she noticed a slight problem. "The VI would need a new name. You can't keep calling it 'the VI', and you can't call it Hannibal either. You don't want to advertise to the world where it came from."

"Widget." Shepard said without delay. "My grandma was an accountant on Earth before she changed careers and moved out to the colonies to be a farmer. She used that term a lot when she told me stories about her old job. I always thought it would make a cute name for a pet."

Liara felt her heart flutter happily at the sight of the fond smile adoring Shepard's handsome face when she spoke of her family. When she remembered with a jolt how Shepard's grandma was butchered by batarian slavers in front of a young Shepard's very eyes, her heart started clenching painfully again. "I like it. Widget it is." She said, and felt her heart soar when Shepard grinned proudly at her approval.

It should have frightened her how Shepard could effortlessly pluck at her heartstrings, but she was not afraid. Shepard made her feel safe.

At that moment, without a doubt, Liara realized what she felt toward this odd human was not a simple sexual attraction, nor a fleeting infatuation. She was in love.

x-x-x

Shepard could practically smell the smoke coming out of her back from being charred by Ashley's laser eyes. She had a very good idea as to why the Gunnery Chief was giving her the death glare, too. Her original plan was to have Ashley and Garrus accompany her to pick out new licenses and equipment, but her plan was changed when she got a message on her Omni-tool. Consort Sha'ira requested her presence at her earliest convenience.

Dropping by the embassy lounge to pick up a bottle of spiced rum as a gift for Sha'ira, Shepard told her squadmates that they could go back to the Normandy first if they didn't want to wait outside the Consort chamber. Both insisted they didn't mind the waiting, but Ashley said so with clear disapproval in her voice while Garrus said so with envy.

"Commander Shepard! It's good to see you again." Acolyte Nelyna greeted her with her usual enthusiasm. "Sha'ira has been waiting for you."

Shepard gave the woman a quick nod and went straight into Sha'ira's chamber.

Sha'ira seemed very pleased to see the Spectre. She greeted her warmly like an old friend, and treated her with Thessian tea and confections like a mother hen fussing over her chick.

Although a bit in shock by the way Sha'ira behaved toward her from last time, Shepard really appreciated the gesture. Her confusion must have shown on her face, however, because Sha'ira regarded her indulgently and explained, "Shepard, I am a very good consort, I know what my clients need. You, Commander, need a confidant. Therefore, that is the role I choose to assume for your benefit. Now, regale me of the progress you've made for your grand quest."

Shepard grinned happily, and extended a hand toward the Consort. "I've learnt something incredibly useful. Though I was told I was lacking in basic etiquette the first few times I've used it. I don't think that would be a problem this time."

Sha'ira gave Shepard a quizzical look before taking her hand. When she did, her eyes went round in surprise.

Greetings, Sha'ira.

"This is unheard of." Sha'ira whispered in awe before she reinforced the mental connection from her end to form a stable communication meld.

A desolate planet. An ancient old growth. Enthralled slaves. Rejoice of a freed mind. Cipher. Being watched by predators. A greedy spider sitting in a centre of a web. A rabid three headed hound. The Doom of the Gods is neigh. We are Ragnarok.

Shepard exhaled, and gently withdrew from the meld. Like a student anxiously waiting for her teacher's evaluation on an important assignment, she asked Sha'ira, "So what do you think?"

"I think," Sha'ira spoke dryly, "I should have learnt that anything is possible with you by now. They are powerful enemies, Shepard. For an entire month I wondered about the content in the letter to Aethyta. She was extremely agitated by it. Nonetheless, I trusted in your judgement enough to persuade her to cooperate. Mind you, that was not an easy task. Now I finally understand."

Shepard chuckled humorlessly at the mention of her enemies. "Those vermin are everywhere. I can't open a comm channel on my own ship without being overheard."

"Hence the precaution." Sha'ira sighed. With a flourish, she took out an OSD tucked between her ample breasts and handed the item to Shepard. "This is from Aethyta. The password is your beloved's pet name."

"Thank you." Shepard slid the OSD into her Omni-tool and typed 'Little Wing' to un-encrypt it. As she read through the content of the disc, her eyes grew steadily rounder in astonishment. "Aethyta did what?!"

Sha'ira looked at the human curiously. "I don't know what's on that disc, but I remember Aethyta mentioned something about 'being too old for a pony'."

Shepard let out a bark of laughter. "I asked for one ship, and she gave me a whole fleet."

A look of comprehension dawned on the Consort's face. "So that's why she was suddenly into ships. She got them for you."

"With mostly her own credits." Shepard added. "I only gave her one million. That's nowhere near what she gave me back in return. She is too generous."

Sha'ira disagreed. "No, I do not believe Aethyta did that out of generosity. She must have her reasons to invest heavily in you. I can think of a few."

Shepard was quiet for a moment. "I will try my best, but I can't promise her Little Wing's safety. Very soon, no one will be safe."

"Aethyta never would have asked for your guarantee. She gave you all that resources to improve your odds at this game."

"For that, she has my gratitude. The same goes for you." Shepard said with a bow.

Sha'ira smiled graciously at the Spectre. "There is no need to thank me, Shepard. I've already pledged my unlimited support to you. Out of curiosity though, I wonder why you would have need for any other ships. You already have the most advanced warship in the Alliance under your command."

Instead of answering the question, Shepard passed the Consort the bottle of spiced rum she bought earlier with a conspiratorial smirk. "Rum is the traditional naval drink for humans. I thought it would be appropriate."

Sha'ira examined the bottle with a slight tilt of her head. This plain bottle of dark amber liquor had become quite a common sight in the Citadel since humans joined the galactic community. It was so common, it was not considered a high class drink. Unsurprisingly, that was probably why no one thought to bring the Consort of all people a bottle.

"Duty calls. I must go. Thank you for your time." Shepard extended a hand toward Sha'ira. The matriarch shook her hand without a moment's hesitation and established a mental link at the slightest prompt.

My best estimate - Saren will attack the Citadel in about three months. This might change. Be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice. We should avoid meeting in private again. I fear I have already endangered you by putting you on their radar. They have a strong grip here in the Citadel, and the Normandy's communication channel is also compromised. From now on the only important messages from me will be sent through a pseudonym "Janiri". The password for my next message to you is "yohoho". Any un-encrypted messages with my name as the sender will only serve to misdirect my enemies.

Shepard let go of the Consort's hand with a rueful smile. "I may not be able to see you again in a long time. I will sorely miss your company, Sha'ira."

"As I shall miss you." The Consort said and kissed the Commander tenderly. "For luck." She murmured.

Shepard gave the matriarch a grateful nod, and left without looking back.

Outside of Sha'ira's chamber, Shepard found Ashley and Garrus having a vocal disagreement. The two stopped arguing as soon as they saw their Commander.

"That was quick. I thought it might take longer." Ashley commented.

Garrus jumped in and protested on Shepard's behalf. "The Commander can take as long as she wants. It's between her and the Consort."

"Whoa, you two. What's going on?" Shepard frowned at her squadmates. Inwardly, she cursed herself for not seeing this sooner. What was she thinking anyway? Leaving a Williams and a turian alone for more than ten minutes was asking for trouble. She just hoped Shanxi or the First Contact War were not brought up in any shape or form.

"Nothing. Just… difference in opinions, ma'am." Ashley replied stiffly.

Shepard looked at the former C-Sec. "Well?"

Garrus' mandibles flared in agitation. "Chief Williams seems to have formed an opinion that's based on misinformation, Commander. I corrected her."

"Speak plain. What is this about?" Shepard was rapidly losing her patience.

"Permission to speak freely, ma'am." Ashley asked.

"Granted. Now hurry up. Don't make me guess."

Ashley hesitated. "I might have mentioned that it would not be appropriate for you to visit the Consort when you are already in a committed relationship. Officer Vakarian here disagreed."

Garrus defended his position. "I disagreed because I found Chief Williams' insinuation of the Consort's role to be ignorant and insulting."

Shepard found it very difficult to resist the urge to sigh. Great. At least they were fighting over a woman's reputation. Not about deep-rooted racial hatred.

"Williams, the word 'consort' does not translate well from asari to human because there is no equivalent. If I get to rewrite the dictionary, I would translate it to 'councillor' instead. A consort is like a life consultant, a therapist, a guru, and a mind healer all rolled into one. Depending on a client's need, touch may be required to fulfill a person's psychological need. And yes, in some cases, sex might be involved, but that is not the norm. At the most fundamental level, they provide a service to ease someone's soul. To compare them to a common prostitute is a great insult. If you want an analogy in human terms, it's like calling a pastor a sheep herder because they both lead a flock."

Shepard turned to the turian. "Garrus, many human religions have a very restrictive view on sexuality. Williams is a believer of one such religion. The word 'consort' in human language came with a lot of negative connotations. She might be misinformed, but getting angry at her won't make her understand. Next time, try asking her to elaborate. You might find it informative."

"Sorry, skipper. I really didn't know." Ashley began.

Shepard stopped her. "Don't apologize to me. I wasn't the one you were arguing with."

So then the Commander was treated to the rare sight of a Williams and a turian apologizing to each other profusely for starting a pointless fight in the first place. It was as close to "kiss and make up" as it could be. Seeing this filled Shepard with hope that she might really be able to unite all the races together and defeat the Reapers for good.

x-x-x

Tali's idea of a simple avatar for Widget was a translucent pale blue hamster ball that looked a great deal like Glyph. This coincident made Shepard wonder if the original Shadow Broker had commissioned a quarian to build his info drone.

Shepard fed Widget all the shipping logs to and from Binthu for the last three years. Two hours later, the VI spit out a set of coordinates that was most likely to be the location of Cerberus' secret labs. Four days later, Shepard was sitting inside the Mako with Ashley and Kaidan, ready to be dropped within driving distance of said labs.

"Remind me to do something nice for Tali after this." Shepard said with a toothy grin that was a tad on the feral side.

"Um, Commander, you haven't really explained why we are here. You only told us to suit up and get in." Kaidan said, a bit spooked by the bloodthirsty expression on Shepard's face.

"Right, I haven't said anything yet. You'll just have to find out for yourselves."

Sure enough, the first lab they burst into told them all they needed to know. "Thorian creepers!" Ashley snarled as she blasted through a group of human troopers wearing black and white uniforms with a yellow diamond insignia on their shoulders. "Those bastards are doing illegal genetic experiments on aliens!"

"See that logo? They are Hades' Dogs - they are Cerberus. They will do anything in the name of human ascension. They call themselves pro-human, I call them space age Nazis." Shepard said with a flat voice. She signaled her squad to get ready as she turned off the force field containing the creepers. A hail of bullets later, those mindless creatures were put out of their misery.

The next two labs contained more Cerberus troopers and strange alien bugs. Shepard knew those were Rachnis, but she didn't say anything. Ashley and Kaidan would find out soon enough after their visit to Noveria.

They took the time to go through all the terminals in those labs, collecting any scrap of data they could salvage before they left the place. Shepard also had her team strip the most intact bodies and collect a few sets of Cerberus armors. "Take the ones that would fit you. We might need them for later." The Commander ordered, and saw comprehension light up on her squad's faces.

Ashley look both excited and a little scared. "We are not just collecting evidence, are we?"

"No." Shepard confirmed Ashley's suspicion, but did not elaborate.

"So what are we going to tell the brass?" Kaidan asked, looking very stressed.

"The truth." Shepard gestured at the lab equipment around the room. "We followed a lead collected from Feros and found this location where illegal experiments were being conducted. Upon entry, we were met with heavy resistance. Based on the insignia on their uniform, they were identified as a pro-human paramilitary terrorist group Cerberus. This organization might have infiltrated the Alliance, but they do not represent humanity. I am a Council Spectre. My report will be filed to both the Alliance and the Council. People need to be aware what's going on, and I want Cerberus to own up. Those vermin thrive in shadow and secrecy. I will drag them out to stink under the sun. I refuse to let the Alliance, let humanity, take the blame for their wrongdoings."

Both Ashley and Kaidan gave her a fierce grin at that statement.

"Well said, Commander. I'm with you all the way." Kaidan pledged.

"Good. Now let's hurry up and get back to the Normandy. I need to get through all the data and write a very long report."

Widget's ability to process data was invaluable to Shepard. Within an hour of feeding all the data they got from the labs, Widget was able to spit out two more sets of coordinates of possible Cerberus facilities. One of them was only a day's trip away.

Shepard had a vague recollection of this place. When she recalled more details on what was in that particular facility, she had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from breaking up into loud cheers.

For this mission, Shepard specifically picked Tali and Liara as her squadmates. This Cerberus underground facility on Nepheron was well defended, so having Liara with her for the crowd control made things easier. After they carefully advanced through the facility and picked off Cerberus troopers one by one, they found a particularly important looking terminal at the very depth of the building.

"I think whatever is in that terminal will make for a very interesting horror flick." Shepard commented snarkily. "Tali, do you think Widget can handle the data extraction?"

"Hmm… Not really, no. Widget is very capable when it comes to counter-hacking, but it prioritizes on causing damage, not on preserving data integrity. We will have to do it manually. I can give it a try. No promises, though." Tali explained and started typing away furiously into her Omni-tool. Twenty minutes later, smoke and spark began to pour out the top of the terminal as Tali yelled, "got it!"

Shepard barely had enough time to throw a stasis on Tali before she found herself lying on her back on the other end of the room, her ears ringing. According to the HUD, her shield was completely gone, and she could feel stabbing pain shooting up her left arm. At least her stasis had saved Tali from a very painful explosion to the face, seeing how she was right next to the terminal when it self-destructed.

Liara burst into the room. "Shepard!" She knelt down to check her injury. "You're hurt!"

"Getting blown up sucks." Shepard grumbled as she got back on her feet with Liara's help. By sheer coincidence, Liara had wandered outside of the room to check on a weapon locker for extra supplies when the terminal exploded. Her left arm suffered the most damage and was now hanging uselessly against her side. She could feel blood seeping out of the cracked armor and began to drip on the floor. "Medi-gel." Shepard slurred, unable to lift her arm to use her Omni-tool to dispense medi-gel herself. The blood loss was making her feel faint. She could tell from experience that an artery must have been nicked.

Liara quickly dispensed a dose of medi-gel for the Commander with shaky hands.

Shepard let out a sigh of relief when she felt the familiar sensation of cool goo sliding down her arm. A wave of numb followed, and the stabbing pain was muffled into a dull ache.

The stasis covering Tali finally wore off. She fell backward in shock. "Keelah!" Tali exclaimed shrilly, looking around the charred room in a panic. She recoiled at the sight of Shepard slumping against Liara while a puddle of red steadily grew bigger on the floor.

"Joker, lock in on the Mako. Pick us up asap. Have Dr. Chakwas on standby at pickup." Shepard ordered through her helmet comm calmly.

"Copy that. ETA five minutes. Joker out."

"Hey, don't freak out. This is not as bad as it looks. Trust me, give me two days and I'll be good as new." Shepard said to her squadmates, hoping to make them feel better.

It didn't work. Liara and Tali both still looked close to tears.

"Do you have the file?" Shepard asked.

"Yes. I got everything." Tali confirmed.

"Then let's get out of here."

During the five minute wait inside the Mako, Shepard was given another dose of medi-gel when Liara noticed her eyes were starting to lose focus.

"I'll be fine." Shepard insisted. "Before humans invented artificial blood, people used to donate blood for medical purpose. This is nothing. Dr. Chakwas will patch me up in no time."

Neither Liara nor Tali looked convinced.

x-x-x

The Normandy landed right on time for the pickup. The crew was already a bit on edge when they heard Shepard requesting Dr. Chakwas to be on stand by. It got worse when they saw Shepard had to be biotic lifted out of the Mako.

"How many medi-gel has she received?" Dr. Chakwas asked while scanning Shepard's vitals.

"Two in the last five minutes." Liara answered quickly.

"Liara, lift her to the med bay and help me get her armor off." Dr. Chakwas ordered.

Shepard was proven to be a very uncooperative patient. "I'm fine. I can walk."

Liara glared at her. "Shut up and stay still, or I'll make you."

Shepard quailed.

The three moved into the elevator and headed toward the med bay, leaving the rest of the crew in the cargo bay.

Garrus was the first to notice the blood on Tali's armor. "Are you injured? Is there a suit breach?"

"Ah, no. That's Shepard's." Tali replied in a subdued voice. She looked back at the Mako and her shoulders slumped. "There is more blood inside the Mako."

"What happened?" Ashley asked.

Tali made a sound of dismay. "Everything went well, and then we found a terminal with all the Cerberus files. Shepard asked me to extract them. I got the files, but I also tripped the security feature. The terminal self-destructed. Shepard only had enough time to put me under stasis. The explosion destroyed the entire room and ripped right through her shield. She saved my life."

The room was quiet at that. It sounded exactly like something Shepard would do.

"Wait, hang on a sec." Kaidan spoke up, looking quite confused. "You said she used stasis on you?"

Tali nodded. "Yes. I don't think I would have survived otherwise. I was right next to the terminal when it exploded in my face."

"I thought the Commander was trained as a vanguard. Isn't stasis a high level biotic technique?" Ashley asked.

"It is. I've seen her use singularity too. That's another biotic technique she could use. Damn, she's got to be the strongest human biotics I've seen. I'm an L2 and I can't contemplate throwing biotic around like she does. I never would have believed an L3 could be this strong." Kaidan said.

"Shepard is special. I've fought my fair share of asari commandos. If we throw them all in a ring, I would still put credits down on Shepard to be the last person standing." Wrex said with a chuckle. "She got a small scratch and made a mess bleeding on stuff. You are all worked up over nothing. It will take a hell of a lot more to keep her down. That woman is tough. In any case, someone should grab a mop and clean up before I slip on her blood." He drawled, and walked away.

"I suppose he does have a point." Garrus grumbled, eyeing the half congealed bright red puddles with some trepidation. "Is human blood supposed to be this red?" He asked the Gunnery Chief.

Ashley swallowed. "That's arterial blood."

"I don't know what that means. I guess it's not good?" Garrus asked.

Ashley shook her head. "No."

x-x-x

"It's really not that bad," Shepard insisted. A small part of her felt perturbed to be biotically manhandled as such, but for the most part she was extremely embarrassed by the whole situation. "It was only a cut, it's not like I'm missing bits."

After stripping the wounded N7 of her armor with Liara's help, Dr. Chakwas immediately pull out the blood transfusion kit and hooked it into Shepard's non-injured right elbow to replenish her lost blood. She then took out a pair of scissors and began cutting open Shepard's bloodsoaked undershirt.

Shepard sat on a med bed and frowned at her injured left arm. From the look of it, bits of shrapnel had sliced into the inside of her elbow, tearing open an artery in the process. The medi-gel would have fused the bloody ruin together, had the sharp edges of her cracked armor not kept digging into the wound.

Dr. Chakwas set up a tourniquet above the wound before she moved the mechanical arm of the medi-tool and aimed it at the centre of the cut. "Hold still," she said, and set the machine to diffusion frequency. Hardened medi-gel liquified in an instance at the blast, and blood started flowing faster out of Shepard's wound. The next instant, the doctor was working at full speed with her medi-tool, sewing and rebuilding broken tissue together with synthetic weaves.

Shepard looked up at the distressed sound coming from Liara's direction. "Sorry, Liara. This is not pretty to look at. You don't have to be here."

Liara tried to speak, but all she managed was another distressed noise in the back of her throat. She did not move from the spot.

"Commander, move your fingers." Dr. Chakwas said.

Shepard did.

"Make a fist."

Shepard did that too.

Dr. Chakwas let out a breath. "That's good."

Shepard grinned charmingly at the doctor. "You're the best. See? Like I said. It's just a scratch."

Dr. Chakwas slapped the Commander upside the head. "That's not just a scratch. You are lucky I'm this good." She stated sternly before she went back to her task.

"Aww." Shepard pouted and tried to rub the back of her head. She stopped mid motion when she remembered the transfusion kit attached to her right arm. "How long is this gonna take?" She asked, trying not to sound too whiny.

"Another thirty minutes at least." Dr. Chakwas said curtly.

Shepard sighed. She turned to Liara, and noticed the red stood out vividly against the white of her light Titan armor. "Liara, this is going to take a while. You really should go clean up."

Liara looked down and blanched at sight of Shepard's blood on herself. She made a faint noise of agreement and left the room in a daze.

The next thirty minutes went by slowly for the Commander. She was very used to being patched up, so the procedure was nothing new to her. Afterall, she had been under Dr. Chakwas' tender care during her fight against the Collectors plus the entirety of the Reaper War.

It was not until she noticed how upset Dr. Chakwas seemed did Shepard realized she might have made a mistake.

"You're done, right? Is everything ok? Why are you upset?" Shepard asked cautiously.

"I am upset because I am your doctor." Dr. Chakwas said quietly. "I notice signs on your body only a doctor would know. Every injury leaves a scar, though not every one of them is visible. Your reaction, or I should say, your lack thereof, gave you away. You've been injured too many times to count, you've become completely desensitized to the process. You didn't even flinch from pain when I reattached severed nerves. This injury should have alarmed anyone because of the feeling of weakness that comes with blood loss, but you were not worried because you knew it would take another ten minutes for it to be life threatening. You are a veteran of your own pain and suffering. This distresses me."

"Doc…"

"You didn't make light of your own injury merely to reassure your squadmates. You did it because you honestly believed it was not a big deal. You said so yourself, Commander. 'It's not like you're missing bits.' That statement alone is worrisome. Essentially what you were saying was that if you were not injured to the point of requiring cybernetic replacement, the injury was considered minor. If it were Liara who got injured the same way you did, would you make the same statement? Would you tell Liara to suck it up because it's not like she's missing bits? I think not. What happened to you, Shepard? What have they done to you?"

Shepard sat there, stunned. "I don't… I-I can't. I can't talk about it."

Dr. Chakwas looked frustrated. "The explosion should have caused more damage to your body. Your arm should have been fractured, your ribs should have been bruised. You are not as injured because your entire skeleton has been reinforced. Others who have suffered the same injury as you would need at least two weeks to fully recover. By my estimate, you would only need two days judging by the accelerated rate your cells regenerate. Your cybernetic implants are so integrated, I suspect they were trying to turn you into a perfect blend of organic and synthetic. I am upset, because you are a good person, you are my friend, and they've cut you open and experimented on you."

The doctor's words sent a jolt of self-loathing through her. Shepard did not like to dwell on it, but sometimes she didn't feel completely human because of what Cerberus did to resurrect her. With a grimace, Shepard looked into Dr. Chakwas' eyes and admitted to the woman, "yeah, they did."

A loud clatter coming from the direction of the door interrupted the conversation. Shepard whipped her head around, ready to snap at the intruder for eavesdropping, but she stopped when she saw Liara standing rigidly at the door. Shepard's heart started hammering loudly in her ears. "How long have you been here?" She asked slowly.

Liara's lips trembled. "... I'm sorry."

Shepard flinched.

"I-I should go. Here." Liara picked up the items she had dropped and left it on a desk. It was a fresh set of uniform and a datapad. She then promptly fled.

Shepard succinctly summarized all the complicated emotions she was feeling regarding this situation into one word. "Fuck."

x-x-x

Shepard spent the next five days doing paperwork while the Normandy was on route to Nodacrux in the Maroon Sea cluster. The data Tali recovered from the Cerberus underground facility was a proverbial gold mine. Through Widget, Shepard had located a least a dozen more Cerberus facilities in the Voyager cluster alone. One of which was the top secret shipyard where the Normandy SR-2 was currently being constructed, judging by the sheer amount of resources being transported into the facility.

With great care and much deliberation, Shepard manually picked through the raw data and compiled a much smaller list for her next move.

Even though Shepard was absorbed in her work, it was still impossible to not take notice just how awkward it was on the ship. Liara was avoiding her, while the rest of her crew (everyone except Wrex) was stepping on eggshells around her. The entire situation greatly annoyed her, and she had absolutely no clue how to make it better.

The raid at an ExoGeni facility on Nodacrux was a welcomed break. In Shepard's opinion, blasting Thorian creepers with a shotgun was very therapeutic, albeit a bit smelly and messy. Having Wrex and Garrus on her squad helped. The krogan was his usual cheerful self while dealing out mindless violence, and Garrus respected her too much to stick his beak into her personal business.

Following another piece of intel gathered from Feros, Shepard led her team to Chasca and found an entire human colony turned into husks due to Cerberus action. Apparently humans were not off the menu when it came to illegal experimentation for this allegedly pro-human group. Shepard made sure to write a very detailed report to be sent off to both the Alliance and the Council that highlighted the dangerous nature of dragon's teeth, and the crimes Cerberus had committed on Chasca.

Meanwhile, Shepard had stalled on the primary mission given to her by the Council. She had been keeping a very close eye on Noveria, but other than unreliable rumors regarding possible geth interest in the general area, there had been no other news. Lorik Qui'in was still in charge of Synthetic Insights in the Noveria branch, and there was still a steady stream of regular communication chatter coming out of Peak 15. (Han Olar was an avid poetry lover, and he had the habit of posting one haiku a day on the Daily Haiku section on the Galactic Poetry Club extranet forum during lunch hour.)

It seemed Saren had not yet realized that the best way to locate the missing Mu Relay was to extract it from the Rachni Queen's mind. Shepard would have to be patient and wait.

Shepard briefly wondered what the Illusive Man must think of her extranet search keywords. Sexy asari in a pinstripe suit. Most successful turian businessmen. Introspective volus. Poetry daily. Asari commando leather. Toughest bitch in Omega. Biotic cuffs.

Yeah, it was pretty bad. But it was also the only way to search the extranet without rousing people's suspicion. Without Widget, she would have had to manually sort through all the fetish porn to get to the real information. Now that would have been more awkward than having Liara avoid her.

With a defeated sigh, Shepard turned off her work computer and left her cabin. She had been very patient with Liara; now she had had enough. Two weeks was a very long time to avoid someone, especially when they were both stuck on board a tiny spaceship.

Shepard walked resolutely toward the med bay, gave Dr. Chakwas a nod on the way, and finally entered the med bay office for the first time in two weeks.

Liara sensed her immediately. She quickly stood up and stared at Shepard with wide, frightened eyes.

Shepard tried very hard to not feel hurt by the reception she was getting. She failed. "I can leave if you don't want me here." She said quietly, and turned to leave the room. She only got as far as taking one step before Liara bolted forward and seized her wrist.

"Please, stay." Liara pleaded.

Shepard looked down on the blue hand on her wrist, and looked back up to Liara's distraught expression. "Does that mean you are not avoiding me anymore?" She asked.

"What? No! I'm not avoiding you. You are the one who has been avoiding me." Liara exclaimed.

"You are the one who would not look me in the eyes. Even just now, you looked afraid. You didn't want me around, so I gave you space."

Liara grimaced at the accusation. "I'm not afraid of you. I thought you were angry at me for having wronged you."

Shepard was beginning to wonder if she had suffered silently for two weeks over a stupid misunderstanding. "I wasn't angry at you. I just..." she took a deep breath, and admitted in a hushed whisper, "I didn't want you to find out so soon. I didn't want your pity."

"I felt sadness, righteous anger, and even a thirst for cold vengeance, but never pity." Liara said earnestly.

Shepard pulled the maiden into a tight hug. Breathing in the familiar scent of her beloved with a approving hum, she felt all the accumulated stress from the past two weeks steadily drain out of her. She was perfectly content to stay exactly where she was until she felt Liara nuzzling and nipping at her neck.

"I've missed you." Liara murmured next to her ear before pulling a sensitive earlobe between her lips. This particular human anatomy seemed to fascinate her.

"I've missed you, too." Shepard said, moving her hands from Liara's torso down toward her hips. She felt a brief sting of teeth when she took a firm grip, but immediately afterward she felt Liara redoubled her effort at lavishing attention on her earlobe.

Shepard let Liara explore as she wished until she could not stay still anymore. Her lips curved into a smug smirk when she pulled back to take a better look at the maiden's lovely face. Liara's eyes were dark and glossed over, her lips were slightly parted, and the softest shade of lilac was adoring her cheeks. The mere sight of her made Shepard forget to move slow. With a groan, she drove her tongue pass Liara's lips and pushed her into a demanding kiss.

Liara's fingers were in Shepard's short hair, gripping for support as she reciprocated enthusiastically, pushing forward to press her front flush against Shepard's body. But the Commander was physically stronger, so very soon Liara was forced back until the back of her legs were touching the edge of the desk.

Still, Shepard pushed. With a growl, she gripped Liara's bottom with both hands and lifted her up to sit on the desk while her own body settled between Liara's legs. The asari responded to Shepard's advance with a full body shudder before she tilted her head to the side and bared her neck.

None too gently, Shepard ripped open the high collar of Liara's science uniform with one smooth tug. This action earned her a throaty moan from the maiden. She could already taste the sweet pheromone in the air, the distinct scent of arousal that was uniquely Liara's. She traced along the ridge of a delicate neck fold with the tip of her tongue and listened with rapt attention. The sounds she coaxed out of Liara's throat had Shepard panting helplessly for a second before she locked onto the blue flesh with her lips and kissed it hard enough for a purple bruise to form at the spot.

"Joker to Commander Shepard. Admiral Hackett is on the line. Please report to CIC asap."

Shepard tore her lips away from Liara's neck with a curse. After taking a few calming breaths, she briefly turned on the comm device embedded in her uniform and replied, "on my way" in a frosty tone.

"Sorry, Liara. I should go." Shepard said with her eyes closed. She knew if she saw what Liara looked like right now, she would never leave the room.

Liara made a faint noise of agreement and disentangled herself from the Commander. "Joker has the worse timing." She complained breathlessly.

Shepard shook her head as she left the room. "You have no idea."

x-x-x

A/N: This chapter is a little shorter, but I really want to split out the next scene to a different chapter instead of tacking it on here. So there.