Book I - Chapter 13: Race Against Time
While riding in the rapid transport cab back to the C-Sec Academy, Shepard couldn't help but notice the devastated expression on her two subordinates' faces. Not having to think too hard, she could already guess what had caused it.
"Seriously, enough with the kicked puppy look. None of this was your fault." Shepard said mildly. The entire situation was so completely within expectations, she couldn't even work up enough steam to get visibly upset.
Ashley was on the verge of tears from anger and frustration. "But it was. Udina took the Normandy away from you because I got mouthy!"
"The little rat made it personal. All he ever did was kiss the Council's asses when we were out there getting shot at. Now he stabbed the Commander in the back so he can take all the credits for himself!" Ever political minded, Kaidan was more aware of Udina's motivation than Ashley was.
Shepard shook her head. "Udina might have taken away my command, but he only did it with the Council's support. The Council wanted humanity's first Spectre to fail, if only to demonstrate that we were not ready to join the big boy's league. My success put a wrench in their plan, so they had to get rid of me one way or another. The Council didn't want to share power with humanity so soon. It's only been 26 years since the First Contact War. It took the turians hundreds of years of petition plus millions of dead soldiers during the Krogan Rebellion for them to finally be recognized. And that was largely due to the necessity of filling the power vacuum after the krogans were pounded back to the stone age. What made you think it would be so easy for us?"
The two were quiet for a while after hearing what Shepard had to say. "This is not fair." Ashley finally said.
Shepard gave the Chief a sideway glance. "Life's not fair."
"So this is it. I didn't think Virmire was going to be our last mission together. It's been a privilege serving with you, Commander. It's gonna be weird being under someone else's command." Kaidan said gloomily.
"Both of you are excellent marines. You two are going to be fine no matter where you go." The Commander said, meaning every word of it.
News proved to travel at a speed faster than the Citadel's rapid transport cab. By the time the three made it past the airlock and entered the Normandy's bridge, every single person on the ship already heard about what had transpired inside the Council Chamber.
Joker was especially torn up about the situation. "We all heard. I'm sorry. First it was Captain Anderson, now you. Udina had no right to do this. What does he think he is anyway? That little weasel is not even part of the Alliance military command chain! Damned politician."
"I appreciate the thought, Joker. But we all know that's what politicians do. Turn on the intercom, will you? I have a mandatory speech to make."
Joker flipped a few switches before nodding solemnly at the Commander.
"This is Commander Shepard. All of you had probably heard of the rumor that Ambassador Udina had ordered the Normandy to rejoin the Alliance's 63rd Scout Flotilla. I'm here to make it official. As of now, I am no longer the Commanding Officer of the Normandy. XO Pressly will be in temporary command until the Fifth Fleet sends over a replacement. Ambassador Udina has also ordered all non-Alliance personnel to vacate the vessel within one day. Me included." Shepard paused, just as a lopsided grin slowly split her face.
Joker's eyes went round when he saw that unmistakingly mischievous expression. A moment later, he began to mirror the same evil grin.
"There was one thing Ambassador Udina had forgotten when he stripped me of my command - I am a Spectre. I do not answer to him. The Council thinks everything will be fine now that they have Saren trapped inside the Terminus systems. They are wrong. As we speak, Saren's army is combing the Prothean ruin on Ilos to find the Conduit. Once he finds it, no blockade is going to stop his fleet from reaching the Citadel. It will be a massacre. We will not let him get away with this."
Shepard looked around her. Every single one of her crew had converged onto the command deck in the short span of time since she had began her speech. "I'm asking you all to mutiny. If we fail, court martial wouldn't be our biggest problem - the Reapers would. This would be a dangerous, and thankless mission. Now who's with me?"
x-x-x
Vasir sat in front of a terminal inside C-Sec aircontrol, watching security feeds monitoring several key strategic spots. One of them happened to be right in front of the docking bay elevator inside the C-Sec Academy hall.
The first person who left after Shepard returned to the Normandy to bid her farewell was Wrex. Without so much as a backward glance, the krogan merc summoned a cab and went straight for Chora's Den.
The next person was Garrus. The former C-Sec brought with him a few crates of personal belongs and left to visit his old buddies still serving in the force.
After that, about a dozen Alliance marines from the Normandy exited the elevator three at a time for their well-deserved shore leave after four months of active duty. Vasir had spent nine days trapped inside a small ship with all of them, so she recognized their faces. They congregated in the hall and then walked toward the human embassy as one big group, probably to relax and have a drink at the attached lounge. The Staff Lieutenant and the Gunnery Chief, Shepard's two loyal subordinates were both part of this group.
Vasir crossed her arms. Her instinct told her that something about this situation felt wrong. From what she knew of the stubborn human, Shepard should have fought harder. That insufferable woman would have slam her head against the Council's decision until her skull cracked open, not meekly accept whatever pyjak waste they tried to shove down her throat as nutrient paste. But there it was. Shepard's loyal crew were quietly leaving the ship one by one. The Commander had obeyed the Council's order to stand down without a fuss. Tevos' concern that Shepard might make a scene in her anger had not come to pass.
Humanity must have truly frightened the Council for them to put up such a fierce resistance to this newcomer's integration to the galactic community. Humans bred and expanded like krogans did before the genophage. Worse yet, they had the martial discipline of turians. If required, they could be as wily as asaris, and more underhanded than salarians. They might be short-lived and unsophisticated, but they sure were an adaptive species. 26 years ago, humans were fumbling in the dark, completely clueless that the rest of the galaxy was occupied. Now, they had Shepard. Udina might think himself a big player on the galactic stage, but he could not have been more misguided. The galaxy did not care for yet another snivelling politician, no matter how important he thought himself to be. All eyes were on Commander Shepard, Alliance N7, Hero of Elysium, humanity's first Spectre, Champion of the people.
And Shepard was a magnificent Spectre. Vasir thought herself more than competent, and she didn't care to contemplate even half of the stunts Shepard had managed to pull off.
Inducting her into the Spectre rank was the smartest thing the Council could have done regarding Shepard. This way, at least they retained a nominal control over this force of nature. Vasir could tell that while Tevos and Valern were weary of her, Sparatus was downright terrified. The old crusty bird saw what Shepard was capable of, and he feared this weapon would be set loose against the turians.
Having fought alongside Shepard, Vasir could have told the turian Councillor that his fear was completely unfounded. That insolent human might be hard to control, as long as they they steer clear the path of the tornado, no harm would come to them. In fact, by deliberately taunting Shepard, Sparatus had painted a giant target on his own back. Udina, that poor fool, was stupid enough to stab her in the back. Did he really believe Shepard to be the type to forgive a betrayal?
The slimy salarian Councillor was the one Vasir had to keep her eyes on the most, in her opinion. Valern was suspiciously quiet in that Council Chamber. It was always a bad sign when a salarian chose to remain silent on an issue. Most likely, he already had his own plans up and running in the background while the rest of the Council bickered with Shepard. Salarian military doctrine favoured preemptive strikes; they preferred their wars won before they started. The most important question was, whom was the enemy Valern had been plotting against?
Tevos, on the other hand, was hedging her bet in true asari fashion. The Councillor had asked Vasir to keep an eye on Shepard, but she didn't specifically ask her to stop the human if she stepped out of line, either. That, by itself, was telling. Vasir had not had the chance to speak with Tevos at length regarding Shepard yet, but she was keen to discover what the Councillor really thought of the upstart human.
Vasir's private musing was interrupted by the ping of her Omni-tool. It was a message from the very woman she was thinking about.
Shepard: Stay on Citadel for a few more days, will you? And please don't bother my crew too much. They'll give you the same answer they give to everyone else.
Vasir rolled her eyes at the cryptic message and typed a quick note.
Vasir: What is this supposed to mean?
A moment later, Shepard sent her a cheeky reply.
Shepard: Now you see me…
Her computer monitor flickered. The security camera aimed at the Normandy briefly went static before going back online. Except, when it did, the frigate had vanished.
"What the…?!" Vasir jumped up from her seat and grabbed a nearest turian C-Sec aircontrol officer. "You! Give me the status of SSV Normandy docked in the private Alliance docking bay, Dock 422."
The turian officer looked startled, but complied with the order immediately. "By Ambassador Udina's request, the ship has been grounded. We've locked up all the primary systems."
Vasir stabbed at the monitor screen with a finger. "Then explain that!"
The guy's mandible fell open in shock. "What?! That's impossible! Excuse me, I must go check on it immediately."
Vasir palmed her forehead. Now that explained Shepard's first message. Great. She would make sure to stand far away from Sparatus for the next little while. That nasty turian sprayed when he talked if he was in a bad mood. Better yet, she was going to request for a private audience with Tevos. She had a message to deliver.
x-x-x
Growing up with three younger sisters, Ashley had long mastered the wide-eyed innocent look since she was eight. Boot only served to further toughen up her poker face under stress. Getting yelled at (and sprayed on) by DI Ellison for months could tan the softest hide to leather.
Standing at attention along with Lieutenant Alenko and twelve other marines inside Udina's office, Ashley watched impassively as Udina worked himself up to a foaming frenzy. If a horde of acid spitting rachni couldn't faze her, a slimy rat bastard couldn't do so much as make her yawn. What could this little man possibly do to her? Give her a worse curse than the one she already suffered from? Not bloody likely.
"Then it's a fucking miracle. A whole ship just…" Udina's face went from a deep red to an alarming shade of prune as he struggled to stay intelligible. Moving his hands in wild gestures, it took him a moment to get the next word out. "...vanished all by its own. And none of you had any idea how it happened."
"No, Ambassador. We didn't even know the ship was gone until you told us just now." Kaidan said with complete honesty. Ashley had to hand it to the guy. Every word he said was true.
"This is a blatant derelict of duty! You left the ship unguarded, and now it's gone!" Udina shrieked at the Lieutenant's face.
Kaidan narrowed his eyes at the accusation. " We were given leave to go on a five day shore leave. I strongly advise you to check the shift schedule before you mount a baseless accusation against us. The Alliance military does not take kindly to this type of abuse from civilians, sir."
Before Udina could say anything stupid, Captain Anderson cut in. "Ambassador, I would give you the same suggestion. Derelict of duty is a major offense that warrants a court martial in front of a tribunal. This accusation would not be treated as a simple complaint. Admiral Hackett would be extremely displeased with you if you drag his men's reputation through the mud out of misplaced anger. You are civilian, sir. Admiral Hackett has been very accommodating to all of your requests because he thought they would assist the Commander in her mission to hunt down Saren. Speaking of which, have you consulted with the Admiral before you took the Normandy away from the Commander? I sincerely hope you have. Passing off military orders without having the proper approval is a serious lapse in judgement. Passing off military orders while pretending to have the proper approval is treason."
Ashley watched gleefully as all the colour rapidly drained from Udina's face.
"There, um, might have been a miscommunication… I'll… need to make some calls. You lot, dismissed." Udina stuttered, then quickly exited the room. Probably to run damage control to save his own ass, Ashley thought gleefully.
"That'll teach him." Anderson muttered. He turned around to look at all the marines inside the office and asked, "shore leave, eh?"
Kaidan replied with an easy smile. "Yes, sir. Five whole days."
Anderson raised an eyebrow. "Any plans for those five days, Lieutenant?"
"Just the usual. Walk around the Presidium, relax at the Wards. Enjoy the view."
"Hmm…" Anderson rubbed his chin. "That seems tame. Not one for drinking or clubbing at all?"
Kaidan maintained a perfect poker face. "No, sir. I never drink on the job."
Anderson gave him a sharp look. "I see. Carry on, then. Go and enjoy your shore leave."
x-x-x
"Aw, damn it. No sign of pursuit? I was hoping the Council would send some ships after us. I was looking forward to putting the Normandy through her paces. Figured I'd get to see what this ship can really do." Joker said with a fake pout.
Shepard raised an eyebrow at the Lieutenant's blasé comment. "They probably don't know the ship's gone yet. My associate is very good at liberating property without the owner's notice. So if you really want to play hide and seek with enemy ships, you'll have to wait 'till we run into Sovereign. I'm sure a Reaper is more than enough of a challenge, even for you."
Joker scrunched up his face in distaste. "You know, it doesn't seem like much fun when you say it like that, Commander."
"I'm sure it'll look great on your service record. 'Outran a Reaper.' The brass might even give you a shiny medal for that. And then there'll be speeches. You'll have to shave your scruffy beard and stand on your creaky legs for hours while they yak about duty and honour with very big words."
"No, thank you. They can keep their medal. In all honesty? I'll be happy if I don't get court martialed. I don't know if they've already put a giant black mark on my service record, but I, um, borrowed the Normandy prior to being assigned on the ship to demonstrate my superior piloting skill. I'm worried they might see a trend here." Joker looked a bit more nervous than he let on earlier.
Shepard reassured him, "nah, they won't do that. If anything goes wrong, I'll be the one on the hook. Even if I somehow avoid jail time, the media will roast me alive. The only thing that's more entertaining than watching a star rise is to watch it fall into disgrace. That's assuming if everyone's attention is not on the legion of scary sentient machines that are coming to exterminate us all."
"When you put it that way, my own concerns seem pretty darn unimportant in comparison."
"That's not true, either. I would never trivialize your own experience. Afterall, what's the point of saving the galaxy, if there is nothing for you to live for?" Shepard said, thinking back to the soul-numbing moment when she was made to witness her hopes and dreams dashing to pieces a lifetime ago.
It would have been so much easier if she had perished alongside Liara on that desolate London street. Duty and obligation kept her tethered to the world of living, and her thirst for vengeance kept her fighting 'till the bitter end. In hindsight, she was grateful she had persevered. Whatever deity that was looking out for her must have really believed in second chances. Cerberus might have raised her from the dead, but the Crucible had given her another shot at obtaining true happiness - marriage, old age, and little blue children.
"Commander?" Joker's tentative voice pulled her back from her own musing.
Cursing inwardly for the momentary slip of the tight control over her weightier thoughts, Shepard schooled her expression to a relaxed smile with practiced ease. "Anyways. Carry on." She said airily and headed back toward her cabin. She ached to see Liara.
With half of the crew gone, the ship was noticeably quieter than usual. From what the Commander could see, everyone that was left seemed optimistic, albeit a bit apprehensive for the upcoming mission. Last time she ordered all hands on deck, she had kept most of the crew together on the ship. This time she had to split her crew in half. Other than Tali, Liara, and herself, all the other crew members were designated non-combatants according to Alliance standards. They were navigators, data analysts, helmsmen, communication specialists, engineers, and one medical doctor. It wasn't to say they didn't know how to handle a firearm - far from it. It just meant all the marines trained to take groundside missions were assigned under Kaidan and Ashley to put to use where they were most effective.
This was going to be an even more dangerous mission than Virmire. There was a distinct possibility that any one of them would be killed.
When she walked into her cabin, Shepard found Liara sitting on the bed with her knees pulled up to her chest and her head bowed low. "Sweetie, are you alright?" Concern clear in her voice, she sat down next to the asari maiden and put a hand gently on her crest.
Liara looked up. With some alarm, Shepard noticed that there was a suspicious sheen in her strikingly blue eyes. While normally sweet and demure, right now those eyes were bright, if not a little wild. "I'm fine." Liara said in a rush.
Shepard frowned at her disapprovingly.
Liara changed her answer. "I mean, I will be fine." She chewed on her lower lip for a moment, and added, "it's just nerves. I will get over myself."
"Would you like to talk about it? You don't have to, but I'm here."
"It's pretty stupid..."
"Your concerns are not stupid." Shepard stressed sternly.
Liara cringed. "Believe me, they are exceedingly foolish. Saren is trying to bring about the extinction of all organic life, and I can't stop thinking about the mess his geth is going to leave on Ilos. By the Goddess! I have been so thoroughly desensitized, if geth launch rockets at me on Ilos, I'll be more concerned that they might damage the Prothean ruin I'm standing on. My priority is completely bungled. I am so looking forward to finally going to Ilos, the prospect of getting shot at only adds to the excitement! I should be terrified, but I'm really not. What is wrong with me?"
"There is absolutely nothing wrong with you." Shepard said with a wide grin. "It means Aethyta was right. You're gonna raise one hell of a storm with those little wings. Perhaps you've never noticed the many small changes over these past few months, but you have been thrown into combat situations consistently for a while. Now all of a sudden, you see this gun-totting tomb raider in the mirror, and you wonder what happened to the socially awkward archaeologist you've known your whole life."
Liara tilted her chin up like a challenge. "This is supposed to be a very dangerous mission. There is no guarantee we will succeed in stopping Saren in time."
"So you remember the risks just as I have informed everyone well before we stole the ship."
"We could die."
"It's a possibility, yes." Shepard nodded in acknowledgement.
"It disturbs me that I am not more afraid. I should be." Liara admitted, wrinkling her nose in a small grimace.
Shepard studied the maiden's freckled cheeks fondly. "My shy little Liara has finally grown up to be a tough commando. Congratulations, you're a war veteran now."
Liara gaped at her with a startled expression. "I am?"
"You are." Shepard confirmed with unwavering conviction. "In an ideal world, you would've never needed to know how to fight beyond basic self-defense. I've never wanted to endanger you, if I could help it, but since war is inevitable, I will settle for the next best thing - you being absolutely untouchable on the battlefield. I need you to be tough enough to endure whatever nightmares the Reapers can throw at us. We must survive this together because I want a future with you."
Liara's breath hitched. "You…"
Shepard took Liara's left hand with her own and wrapped her thumb and middle finger around Liara's wrist. "We haven't been together that long. Four months is a very short time even by human standards. It must be like a blink of an eye for an asari. With the Reaper threat looming over our heads, it might seem selfish to want some happiness for myself when the whole galaxy is falling apart around our ears. Despite everything, I have no doubt in my heart that I want a future with you. That is, if you will have me." Shepard's voice was soft as she held the blue arm in her hand up and kissed the delicate scales lining the inside of the wrist with her eyes closed.
"Shepard…"
She opened her eyes when she heard her name being spoken in such a tender way as to feel like a physical caress. Liara's sky blue eyes were shining with joy, and the way she looked at her… The way she looked at her made her feel so alive. It wasn't planned, but she could not resist asking the question she had been meaning to ask since a lifetime ago. "Liara T'Soni, I promise to respect you and love you forever. Will you bond wrists with me?"
"Yes!" Liara breathed. Tears of happiness rolled down her cheeks, leaving two glistening trails of wetness on either sides of her grinning purple lips. She lunged forward and tackled Shepard in a tight hug, before pulling back a little to shower kisses all over her face. "Yes, I will."
"This is embarrassing. I popped the question without having the bracelets ready. To be honest, I didn't plan on any of this. It just, sort of, came out. At least you agreed. It would have been tragic if you said no." Shepard started out all happy and excited, but then she began to freak out when she realized she had absolutely no clue what needed to happen for them to officially tie the knot. Extranet should have a lot of useful information regarding asari bonding customs, but she had never really looked into it. "Now I have to plan a wedding… no, a bonding ceremony. I have no idea how these things work. You know what? Let's elope. But I should probably tell my mom before I file the paperwork with the Alliance. Crap. I have to tell my mom..."
"Jane." Liara put a hand over Shepard's mouth to kept her from babbling. "Take a deep breath, relax, and kiss me."
"Aye, aye, ma'am." Grinning lazily at the maiden, Shepard mock saluted and proceeded to follow orders to the best of her ability. By the time they broke for air, Liara was a boneless heap of flushed and whimpering mess in her arms. "You are beautiful." And you are mine. Charging her hand with a thin wisp of biotic energy, she lightly brushed over the small dimple above Liara's hips, right where one sensitive nerve cluster for channeling biotics located. The wave of lust and affection rushing through the bond from Liara's end had her clutching at her lover's lab coat for support.
I am yours. As you are mine. Liara's mind yielded to the first stroke of Shepard's consciousness. Their thoughts wove together so seamlessly, they were one. Immersed in each other's spirit, their physical bodies moved as their shared pleasures guided them.
There was no hurry; Shepard took her time leisurely exploring every inch of her lover's skin with her lips and tongue, paying extra attention to the spots that forced out the wettest moans from Liara's throat. It was not until the maiden was in tears while begging to be filled, did she finally buried her fingers deep inside clenching, velvety heat. Kneeling between trembling thighs, she lapped ardently at the sensitive bud that crowned the azure. Liara's hips bucked in time with the tempo of Shepard's thrusts; her body writhing as if dancing to the music only the two of them could hear.
Shepard peered up at the rapturous expression on Liara's face as she drove her closer towards her peak, and decided to tease rather than to sate. Smirking fiendishly, she straightened up from her previous crouching position and gently extracted her digits. This break of physical contact had also muted the mental connection so the only clue she transmitted through the meld was that she was in a mischievous mood, but not what she was planning to do to her lover. Liara's incoherent protests only made her grin wider. With a deliberate tilt of her head, Shepard brought her hand up to her lips, and proceeded to lick her dripping fingers clean while locking her eyes with Liara's own glassy black.
A violent shudder rippled down Liara's sweat drenched frame as she stared up at Shepard with her mouth hanging open. Harsh puffs of air came out her throat as frustrated soft whines. The combination of Shepard's cruel teasing plus the mental withdrawal had her momentarily devolved into a primal state where words were lost to her.
Taking pity on the utterly vulnerable position Liara was in, Shepard reinforced the meld by stroking the maiden's hips fondly while urging her to move. Following the nonverbal command obediently, Liara rolled off her back and crawled up to Shepard for a fervent kiss. Very soon, her probing tongue had Liara grinding against her thigh. Grinning at the maiden's impatient display, Shepard squeezed at her lover's firm bottock to garner her attention before lying down on her back.
Blushing furiously, Liara allowed herself to be guided to half-sit on, half-kneel above Shepard's face. The first sweep of her tongue had Liara jump at the touch, but she had a steady grip on her hips, so Liara ended up staying exactly where she wanted her to be. With giddy anticipation, Shepard plunged into liquid heat and groaned approvingly at the burst of sweetness. The faint echo of pleasure from Liara's end of the meld intensified into an almost solid physical sensation that had her own hips jerking against thin air. Gazing up at Liara's writhing body, it was apparent that the maiden was torn between slouching forward to grip at Shepard's short hair and arching back in delirious ecstasy. The result was a hypnotic undulating dance Liara was locked in until her entire body seized in an infinite moment of perfection when Shepard's biotic charged thumb tipped her over the edge with one circling stroke.
"Goddess!" Was all Liara managed to gasp out after being released from the unrelenting grip of aftershocks. Slumping sideway to avoid collapsing on Shepard's head, she remained unmoving for a long minute, submerging in post-coitus bliss. While she was obviously too spent to move, Shepard wedged one hand underneath Liara's exhausted body and drew her into a possessive hug. Liara let out a content purr and nuzzled at Shepard's throat like a sleepy cat. "That was…"
"Awesome? Wonderful? Mind-blowing?" Sheppard supplied helpfully.
"Not civilized." Liara answered with humour in her airy voice.
Shepard chortled. "Ready for round two?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
Liara pulled back a bit to glare exasperatedly at Shepard's smug face. "Are you trying to kill me? No." She paused a moment and hedged, "well, at least give me some time to recover before you ask again. Are you completely certain you don't have krogan in your ancestry? That would explain so much about your stamina."
"I have no doubt you can keep up just fine. Between the two of us, you're the quarter-krogan in this relationship."
"Once again, that's not how asari physiology works." Shepard could hear Liara rolling her eyes as she protested.
"No? I bet you you would blame it on me every time our kids get into troubles by doing something impulsive."
"... Yeah, I would." Liara admitted sheepishly. She paused for a moment, before asking expectantly, "so you want children?"
"I want marriage, old age, and many little blue children with you, yes. Preferably, our daughters would inherit your intelligence and my good taste in bondmate. And freckles. They would look adorable with freckles."
Liara smiled lovingly at the hopeful twinkle in Shepard's eager green eyes, and replied, "with us as their DNA donors, our daughters would have no chance to escape a life of freckle-dom."
"Excellent." Shepard dropped a kiss on Liara's crest before she added somberly, "we will win this, Liara. We must. If not for ourselves, then for our daughters. No stinking machine is going to take our future away from us."
Liara propped herself up on one elbow to gaze deeply into Shepard's smoldering green eyes. "Agreed. They are in for a rude awakening if they think organics from this cycle are as easily quelled as all the previous ones." Combing through Shepard's short red hair with her fingers, she explained proudly, "they do not know what you obstinate humans are capable of yet. You are the embodiment of your species' indomitable will to survive, to unflinchingly challenge an insurmountable foe. With you leading the charge, the Reapers are the ones who shall learn to fear you."
Shepard gawked at Liara in astonishment. The young maiden had no idea how eerily prophetic her declaration was. Harbinger had specifically targeted herself, and humanity in general, because it was intrigued by her role in ruining Sovereign's plot to unlock the Citadel's hidden mass relay, thus delaying the Reapers' return for years.
Unaware of the shock her simple statement had invoked, Liara shifted her attention from Shepard's hair to her cheeks and used the tip of her fingers to trace her freckles as if they were constellations in the night sky. "In other words, you, my dear Commander, are going to lead the galaxy to victory by out-stubborn-ing these ancient machines that are extraordinarily set in their ways. So I am well within my rights to place the blame squarely on your head if our daughters turn out to be as willful as you."
Liara's turnabout was so unexpected, Shepard was stunned for a moment. When her brain finally caught up, she couldn't help but cackle at her lover's dry wit. "You are making fun of me again. If you have the energy to do that, would you be up for round two?"
"Let's see…" With one smooth flip, Liara nimbly straddled her hips while smiling sweetly down at her with a playful glint in her eyes. Her fingers rubbed enticingly at the muscular ridges of Shepard's abs. "I'm on top."
x-x-x
"Going through Mu relay in three, two, one..." Joker announced as the Normandy shot across the galaxy and landed with pinpoint accuracy within visual range of the lost world of Ilos.
Shepard, Tali, Liara, and Pressly had all been waiting anxiously at the bridge for this moment. When the image of the rust coloured planet fill the screen, Liara had to mentally pinch herself to stay focused so as to not give away the torrent of conflicting emotions that threatened to break her calm facade. It was time like this she was envious of her quarian friend that she could always hide behind her tinted faceplate.
"Um, Commander? We've got company." Liara couldn't help but notice the slight tremble in Joker's voice. On the monitor, geth ships lit up with red highlights. There must have been dozens of them in orbit, ready to defend the planet against any intruders like a swarm of angry wasps. Even without formal training in space naval warfare, Liara could tell that a fleet this size could overwhelm a simple blockade with one surgical strike.
Not for the last time, Liara inwardly cursed the Council's unwillingness to listen to the Commander. Instead of acknowledging their own error in judgement regarding the Virmire mission, the Council acted as if they had collective amnesia, conveniently forgetting that the mission had gone sideway precisely because they disregarded Shepard's warnings. They were making the same mistake again. It was as if they could not comprehend the prospect of an impending Reaper invasion, and therefore did everything they could to deny the reality of if.
"Have their sensors pick us up yet?" She asked, hoping the Normandy's stealth drive could once again fool the geth as it did on Virmire.
Joker double checked the system status. "Stealth systems are engaged. Unless we get close enough for a visual, they won't have any idea we are here."
"Lucky for us, geth dropships don't have windows." There was a hint of satisfaction in Shepard's smooth voice.
Pressly spoke up. "Picking up some strange readings from the planet's surface."
"Is that Sovereign?" Shepard asked.
Joker replied before Pressly could. "No, Commander. Good news! Sovereign is not here; it's not in orbit, it's not on the planet. We would've picked up its unique signal a long time ago otherwise. I bet you the signal is from the Conduit; that's where Saren is."
"Damn it, we need to hurry. Drop us in the Mako. I want the Normandy to be ready to GTFO at a moment's notice. If any of the geth ships see us, they'll swat her out of the sky like a fly." Shepard ordered. Liara didn't understand what GTFO meant, but she could guess. Human idioms did not always translate well, and they had so many of them.
"Negative on that, Commander. There isn't enough space. You need at least a hundred metres of open terrain to pull of a drop like that. The most I can find near Saren is twenty. We'll have to drop you at least two klicks away." Pressly objected.
"Even with the Mako that'll take too long. Saren's already found the Conduit. We need to stop him before he figures out how to use it. But the descent angle is too steep. Is it possible to drop us somewhere else?" Tali asked with clear dismay.
"There is no other landing zone! I've looked." Pressly sounded close to panic.
Liara was beginning to feel dread slithering up from the pit of her stomach like a snake rearing its head. "It's our only option."
"The fate of the galaxy is dependent on your piloting skill, Joker. Can you pull this off?" Shepard asked.
"I can do it." Joker stated with complete confidence as if it was a simple fact.
Shepard beamed at the reply. The familiar upward slant of her lips sent a boost of courage though Liara's body like a shot of adrenaline. "You hear him. Gear up and head down to the Mako. Joker, drop us right on top of that bastard!"
The twenty metre open terrain Joker dropped the Mako on turned out to be the main walkway leading towards the underground bunker. Through the Mako's onboard camera, they saw Saren entered the bunker before the gate slammed shut in front of them. They had been so close.
They hurried off the vehicle to examine the bunker gate. As expected, the door could not be easily hacked open from the outside since, well, it was a bunker designed to withstand a siege. "There has got to be a way to bypass this door... Look out! Geth behind us!" Shepard pulled out her pistol and erected a barrier in a split second as she whipped around to fire at the synthetics coming up from behind them like a swarm of ants.
Her biotics surged to life with a muted hum. Liara lashed out at a group of geth troopers charging at them while Shepard and Tali fired off a barrage of bullets. In the corner of her eyes, she noticed the HUD was showing several Armatures on standby mode at the far end of the open space. They would wake if the squad got within range.
"Scan is picking up a room most likely to be the security station of this facility. It's on the lower level, at the other side of the courtyard. We can unlock the bunker gate from there, but we'll have to fight our way through. This will take a while." Hiding behind a pillar while checking her Omni-tool, Tali shouted over the noise of gunfire and explosion all around them.
"Armatures ahead. We'll use the ramp." Shepard also spotted the group of geth that functioned as heavy duty gatekeepers. Their high damage, high defense build made it so fighting them head on would be dangerous, and more importantly, time consuming. It would be faster if they walked around them instead of through them.
Vasir's earlier prediction was proven correct - there were more geth crawling on the ground of Ilos than on Virmire. Liara felt her teeth clatter from the tremor as several rockets hit a wall close to where they were. She reinforced her barrier before poking her head out to pick out the best spot to form a singularity that could trap the three geth stalkers jumping around them like demented frogs. Unfortunately, she only manage to snag two while the third one lept away at the last second.
Meanwhile, a group of geth troopers, led by one Prime, charged at their direction. Liara sent off a warp at the towering synthetic, hoping to slow it down some how. Before it could clear the length of the open space, Shepard charged out from behind cover in a streak of cyan light and smashed them apart in one fantastic biotic explosion. Her follow-up biotic punch laid the Prime on its back. While she lifted the group of damaged geth off the ground to keep them off balance, Tali finished them off with a salvo of shotgun blasts. The one geth stalker she missed chose this moment to jump at Shepard, only to be sent flying off with a lightning fast biotic throw by the Commander herself.
More red dots appeared on the HUD from their flank. Out of reflexes honed from numerous battles with geth, they ducked behind a section of fallen pillar while waiting for their biotics to recharge. It was a prudent move since those enemies turned out to be rocket drones that were highly resistant to physics based biotic attacks. Tali's tech power truly shined when squaring off against synthetic foes. The talented machinist's fingers flew over her Omni-tool in a blur, hacking and overloading those drones as if they were simple toys. "Area secured." Tali announced after shooting the last drone out of the air.
Now that she wasn't fight for her life, Liara finally had a chance to look around the ruins she had been standing in. Based on the aesthetic of the architecture, this research facility could be dated to the very height of the Prothean empire, right before the Reapers invaded. None of the native vegetation was recognizable to her. The calamity this planet had suffered during the Reaper invasion must have dramatically altered its biosphere. Most fascinating of all were those rows of stone statues of imposing figures seated on tall back thrones, each of them wearing the somber expression of deep mourning. "They don't look Prothean." Liara muttered to herself, perplexed.
"That's because they're not. They are Inusannon. This used to be their world. The Protheans studied artifacts left by the Inusannon on Ilos and eventually developed mass effect technology. That was why this world was considered the pinnacle of research and innovation by the Protheans. Funny how that worked." Shepard said matter of factly as she scanned the area for a clear path since the overgrown vegetation had obscured their view. She paused when her Omni-tool's scanner swept over a geth console. "Tali, can you hack into this thing? It looks like a control station."
"There's some kind of signal… It's connected to the Armatures in the upper yard. Yes, I can shut them down from here! Just give me a second to bypass the firewalls and… done."
They went back up a different set of ramps to the upper yard, tiptoed past a horde of deactivated Armatures, and ran into more geth troopers while advancing across the vast courtyard. There seemed to be an endless supply of geth blocking their way, but they grit their teeth and pressed on. By the time they made it to the elevator located at the far end of the facility, Liara was out of breath from spamming biotics non-stop for so long. "At least they are not sending in more reinforcements via airdrop." She said, after sipping a few mouthful of energy drink from her canteen attached to her suit.
"Not a good sign. It means Saren needs them somewhere else." Shepard replied with a slight frown.
Liara could easily see past the thin veil of calm the Commander had put up for her squadmates' benefit. There was an unmistakable tang of fear mixed in with an earthy undertone of self-doubt in Shepard's aura. Having melded with her deeply (and frequently), Liara was intimately familiar with the subtle flavours of Shepard's life force. The further they went into the ruins, the more prominent the scent of impatience was, even though she had made no outward indication of it. Shepard must have been truly unnerved by what they had found on Ilos for her aura to fluctuate enough to slip through the containment of her hardsuit.
"The elevator works!" Tali marveled as they stepped inside, "this place still has power. It must be running off its own generator."
"I bet this is the command centre of the entire complex. Saren's troops must have sealed the doors from here after he went inside. We'll have to figure out how to disengage the security lockdown if we ever want to get inside that bunker." Liara pondered with growing apprehension. Time was not on their side. Judging by the amount of geth troops and additional security features installed in the facility, Saren must have been here for a while. What if they were too late?
"There's still time. Joker will let us know as soon as the fleet begins to move. Saren probably hasn't figured out how to use the Conduit yet." Shepard reassured her even though she was clearly perturbed as well. Liara only just realized she must have voiced her doubt outloud. Inwardly berating her own careless slip of tongue, she accepted Shepard's explanation with a relaxed nod while she was feeling anything but.
"That also means there will be a lot of geth guarding that security station. Better get ready." Shepard reinforced her barrier and holstered her pistol in exchange for her shotgun before she stepped off the elevator to confront a mob of geth shock troopers stationed inside the lower courtyard.
"Tali, Armature station to your left. Prime, Destroyers, Juggernauts ahead!" Shepard snarled viciously as she snapped out a slew of long range biotic attacks to impeded the advancing geth from overwhelming the squad. Recognizing the Prime charging at them to be the priority target, Liara hurled off a powerful warp at it. Her biotic attack reached the menacing synthetic almost at the same time as Shepard's own attack did. The two separate mass effect fields fed off each other and generated a volatile chain reaction that resulted in a violent explosion.
More geth troopers swarmed at the squad. Liara quickly fired off another singularity to keep them back, but the area of effect was only large enough to snare a few of them. By this point, Liara's biotics was mostly depleted and she had to wait for it to recharge. She dodged an incoming rocket and crouched behind a short wall, using the precious few seconds of reprieve to strengthen her barrier and ready her pistol. The scene that greeted her when she peeked over the stone pillar to provide cover fire was absolutely awe-inspiring.
The flat and open terrain of the courtyard was the perfect stage for Shepard to showcase her aggressive fighting style. Liara had wondered how the woman managed to keep an overwhelming number of opponents off-balance during the Virmire mission, and now she knew. One moment Shepard was on one side of the courtyard, the next moment she was right on top of her opponents, raining down carnage like a vengeful Goddess. It was all but impossible for the geth to pin down someone as fast as a trained vanguard. If this was how Vasir was like on the field, no wonder Shepard had chosen her to partner up on Virmire. Wrapped in the menacing red and black Colossus armor and cloaked in electric blue biotics, the Commander was a whirlwind of fire and steel to anything within shotgun range.
Jolting out of her momentary lapse in concentration, Liara pulled back her lips in a smile that was a touch on the savage side as she entered the fray with renewed vigor. Her biotics had recharged during the few seconds of rest. Shepard had wanted her to be untouchable on the battlefield, to be resilient enough to weather the coming war. And the only way for that to happen was for her to become a titan of her own right who could rival Shepard's prowess in battle. She might have spent the last fifty years as a scientist, but the commando training she had received in her youth at the insistence of her overprotective mother was more than a solid foundation she could build on. With enough experience, Liara was confident that she could fulfill Shepard's high expectation of her.
Practice makes perfect. Liara repeated the human idiom in her mind as she timed Shepard's movement and dropped a warp on a geth the Commander had been targeting a split second before her charge connected. The resulting biotic explosion from the tandem attacks not only shattered the shield of one Destroyer, it shredded the unfortunate geth's gun arm. Shepard pressed her advantage and followed up with a hard biotic punch that ripped right through its torso. Even from halfway across the yard, Liara could see the proud toothy smile on the Commander's face. Her heart fluttered joyously by the gesture of tacit approval before it lurched to her throat when she spotted an Armature shudder and whirl to life at their flank.
"That one's ours!" Tali proclaimed gleefully. Liara watched with her eyes wide as the four legged mechanical anti-tank unit fired off a pulse cannon shot at the group of geth troopers, wreaking havoc within its own ranks.
"Nicely done!" Shepard praised the young quarian, clearly impressed by the speedy hacking job. With an Armature's support, the two of them cackled maniacally while letting loose a storm of bullets with their favourite boomsticks. Grinning jovially at her squadmates' antics, Liara joined in with her biotics, herding geth into a tighter pack so they would be more vulnerable to shotgun sprays. When the exchange was finally over, the large open space was littered with so many destroyed geth, Liara had to pay extra attention to watch her footing to avoid tripping over random body parts, or slipping on viscous conductive fluid on the uneven stone floor.
They headed up a ramp leading toward the security office and found a functional console. A degraded holographic recording sprung up as soon as Shepard touched the interface. The recording mentioned the Conduit briefly, but the data file was too corrupted that the message was mostly incomprehensible.
"What did it say? It sounded like static." Tali wondered.
Liara gave Tali a bewildered look. "It was in Prothean. The data file is very damaged. It sounded like a distress call. A warning."
"Fortunately for us, the console itself is not too damaged to unlock the bunker gate." Shepard said in a deceptively light tone.
"Let's hurry. I am troubled by the lack of reinforcements." Liara urged.
Without saying another word, they began to run at a blistering pace.
x-x-x
A/N: Hopefully the sex scene wasn't too explicit? I only wrote that scene in details because this fic was rated M already. Besides, it was before Ilos. It was supposed to be special.