A/N: Well here is the next chapter hope you enjoy it. I've been playing through mass effect 1, 2 and 3 trying to figure out where to put curtain things and where to create others, did you know no matter who you pick as councillor Udina always ends up as the human representative. I think that's just poor or a lack writing on Bioware's part. I know Anderson needed to be on earth but it would of been nice to get some dialogue or something. Anyway here it is and thank you for reading.
Also Oblivion has been helping me write this a lot and i mean that, he's helped me out of a writer's blocks every now and then, maybe you will see his style throughout this chapter, anyway just wanted to say thanks to Oblivion for helping me write it
I don't own the Overlord(オーバーロードŌbārōdo?) novel or anime series created by Kugane Maruyama.
I don't own the Mass Effect trilogy developed by the Bioware game studios.
Please support the official release.
Ch2: Upgrades?
Unknown location
As they exited the swirling mass of space-time Shepard had felt confused and dizzy like she had just be tossed across the ship by an Asari commando, the rest of the ship' crew seemed to be feeling the same thing as they got off the ground holding their hands against their heads trying to stabilise themselves and there still spinning brains.
It wasn't a normal kind of dizzy it was like her internal clock had stopped working and was going haywire but she had other things to worry about than her sense of time, she needed to figure out where they were hopefully the galaxy map could help with that.
She walked over to it with unsteady steps asking if everyone was alright for which she received week nods of the head, As she got to the it map seemed to be acting like they felt. It was freaking out, glitching in and out of existence and showing the ships location appearing in several locations at once.
She was about to call EDI to try and discern their location but then she got worried. If the holo projectors for the galaxy map was acting like this what had happened to the on board AI, Feeling the need to check the main AI core she turned around to go to the elevator only to find the cause of all this standing there with a neutral smile on her face.
"Why the long face Shepard you look like you're having a shit day." Esdeath said with a now sarcastic tone.
"Like you would care you're the cause of all this, and were are we?" Shepard asked looking down at the pale girl with her arms crossed.
"Well I do care evidently I wouldn't be here if I didn't and as to where we are, we are currently in centre the Boötes void about 700 million light years from the milky way and 30 million light years from the closest star system, you can go have a look if you want." she said pointing to the ships cockpit.
Shepard wasn't as stunned as she should be, you could say she was getting used to this sort of thing in the past few hours. But the Boötes void was to far away to comprehend. The fact that they moved 700 million light years in the span of a few seconds was…. She didn't know what to think.
Still the fact that her ship was rendered to this state by simply moving through the portal that transported them here worried her. As if reading her thoughts Esdeath said...
"Man this ship was not meant to do that, hope EDI is okay."
As though she had just remembered it Shepard shot straight for the elevator ignoring the girl, she had other things to worry about besides staring at empty space, she would see it later. She got in and went to deck 3. It was better to go straight to the core instead of trying to talk to EDI over the com system if it was acting the same as everything else on the ship.
When the elevator doors opened, there, standing just in front of her was the girl she just left on deck 2.
"You need to stop doing that, use the elevator like a normal person." Shepard said walking passed the girl.
"Na. I get to see all the weird faces you people make, some of them are quite amusing especially Salarians because sometimes they try to figure out how I did it." The pale girl said with a snicker walking behind Shepard as they passed through the med bay, ignoring the doctor on the way through.
"Well I'm glad someone is having fun because EDI definitely isn't."
And she was right, the red head could smell the melting silicon from outside the bulkhead door. Opening the door they could see the main quantum processing unit was smoking profusely. The core data banks seemed to be in pristine condition through the smoke and the secondary processor seemed to be working as intended.
"You alive in there EDI." Shepard said with worry evident in her voice.
"YeS cOmmANdeR, ThOugH PrOCeSsiNG SpEeD HaS BeEn ReDuCed bY 85 PerCeNt. I WilL nOt Be OperAtIoNaL UnTil mY MaIN CoRe HaS bEEn RePlaCed Or RePaiRed.
"It's fine EDI, just glad you're alive, we will get you fixed once we get where we're going. Where is that by the way?" She said looking at the pale girl next to her.
"One of my secret research base is about less than a click away." she said sarcastically. "It's already prepared for you to dock in a emergency just in case. How are the engines?"
This was normally the case for most of her research stations. If she was testing new engines, hull improvements and best of all weapons of mass destruction, if something went wrong it was good to have a emergency dock that was prepared 24/7.
Shepard proceeded to give her a look that seemed to ask 'seriously?'. The ship was essentially a floating space rock with lights and she was asking about engines.
"Guess I have to do all the work around here, you may want to hold onto something…"
"What are you going to do?" Shepard asked with a questioning face, looking at the girl, who now had slight grin on her face.
As she continued to look at her the ship started to shake vigorously "I'm moving it to the station, should only be a few minutes to the station. I don't want to mass teleport us there considering what happened last time…. really need to bring this ship up to spec."
Boötes void: Zoran station
Salvas Gagu the newest head of security had been enjoying his shift so far there wasn't much to worry about out, after all being in the middle of nowhere made it a easy job and the only thing he had to worry about were the scientist that went back and forth form the new super dreadnoughts ship yards.
The new super dreadnoughts had been under construction for the last 3 years and had the most advanced shielding and weapons in the galaxy, like causality shields that could take the the initial explosion of a class G star going supernova (one like our own sun) or weapons that could cause said supernova. These aren't the worst things Esdeath had cooked up in her head, she had far more worse things she had invented, on levels of destruction most people couldn't comprehend.
The station also had a clocking field similar to the spell (perfect unknowable) that most people didn't feel was necessary, but most people weren't Esdeath Gorgon, she was a compulsive security freak when it comes to her things. She had security codes in place that would take her first Ai thousands of years to crack but for this station which was classified beyond top secret she used soul keys that cannot be cracked or duplicated no matter how hard you may try. And when people often asked about the cloaking field, like her new head of security, she said 'It's better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it'.
The ship yards also had cloaking fields that were similar to the main station but less powerful and in the case they were discovered by enemies they had high output torrents that could one shot a Smaragdina class dreadnought, shields and all.
….
In the last few minutes of his shift his sensors had alerted him of frigate class gate opening not to far from the station. This wasn't out of the norm, some high rank admirals and there ships often used the empty void as a staging area to practice and train in inter-ship combat.
After he waited a few more minutes just to see if more gates opened up to see if this was the case but when the stations main sensor's picked up what seemed to be a disabled ship moving directly in a straight line towards the station as if it knew it was here he was put on alert.
There wasn't any tests today and there were no directives from lady Esdeath or any of her head scientists. He was hoping it was just a surprise visit by the goddess of war and insanity but she would normally come through a personal gate and not some half dead ship, though as much as he revered her and the other supreme beings he wouldn't put it past her to do something so 'insane'.
As the is damaged ship got closer he noticed the space around it was being warped ever so slightly and it was also flying Cerberus colours, the lizard man knew this because after the Sorcerer's Kingdom entered the galactic scene his superiors had made sure to drill the new races ship designs and colours into the heads of him and all his comrades.
Once the ship stopped right in front of his his viewing screen camera he knew something was up, only a few people knew where this station was exactly at all times and you could count them on one hand. Any scientists who had worked on this particular station had had their memory wiped of the location of the base so this wasn't some coincidence. Hell, the supreme admiral once wiped a guys mind completely and fired him because he left a half drunk cup of coffee on some equipment she was using at the time, the poor guy didn't even see it coming.
He zoomed in on what looked to be the cockpit of the ship and saw a human with fiery red hair (probably female) talking to something or someone he couldn't see with the current camera.
Just as he was about to switch to a different angle to get a better look inside the ship to see who or what the human was talking to, he was hailed on a tight beam channel with a soul key he recognised immediately, as one of several possible soul keys he instantly knew who this was and it wouldn't be good to delay any further.
Back on the ship just after the ship started to move
"Wait, what's happening?!" the red head inquired looking at Esdeath. Shepard was starting to feel the need to lay down for a while.
"I told you already, I'm moving the ship can't you tell...cmon Shep, I just teleported you and your ship halfway across the universe and your all your worried about is why the ship is moving."
"Yes, but how?" Shepard asked while holding onto the door seal.
Esdeath proceeded to give her a look as if to ask 'are you stupid' and lightly tap her right index finger to her temple. "Shepard do you have a poor memory or something? You saw my daughter bring down a collector ship with her powers… where do you think she got those powers." Esdeath said with a sigh.
"Come on we better get back to the cockpit, I'm sure Joker is wondering what's going on as is the rest of the crew." She said touching Shepard on the hand, that seemed to immediately make her feel better and she could walk properly now though the rattling of the ship is still obvious to the point it would come apart at the seams if it continued for to much longer.
….
Getting out of the elevator Shepard could see her crew had moved to a seat in the CIC and strapped themselves in expecting a bumpy ride. Shepard and Esdeath continued on there way to Joker, she spared them a few looks of worry but turned back and kept walking.
After the door opened Joker had turned his chair around to meet them, his face filled with discomfort and said. "Commander I seem to have lost control of the ship and I can't see any stars or anything out for that matter." He turned his head to Esdeath thinking that she would have answers, he wasn't wrong in doing so. After all, she had brought them here.
"Sigh* I guess it would be better to tell everyone at the same time… does the intercom system still work?" she asked looking back at Joker for which she received a swift shaking of the head, indicating a definite no.
"Arrg, guess I do have to do everything…. Hope everyone doesn't freak out to much." Esdeath stated, pulling her and up to her temple.
'Right can everyone hear me…. I'm sure this isn't comfortable for some of you so I'll get straight to the point…. We are currently in the Boötes void, the current location of my head research station, this is where I'll be working on the Normandy for the next few weeks.'
'During this time you will be staying on Gown Prime in one of my guest houses, everything has already been set up for you in advance, money, rooms and recreation, think or it as a impromptu vacation if you will. After we arrive you will be escorted through a gate like the one we just went through, though this time there shouldn't be any side effect like the ones you felt the first time .'
'After the Normandy has finished its refit, if you still want to serve on her, you will be retrained on how to use the ship and her new systems. Great any questions?'
She shouldn't have asked that as she received quite a few mental shouts and questions from the crew, mostly in broken sentences as they did not have a great ability to speak through the mental link. After a few seconds she cut the link as she figured it would just be better to tell Shepard everything and have her answer them later.
After a few minutes of processing everything she had just learned, Shepard turned to Esdeath and asked. "So what are you going to do exactly?"
"Oh you'll see, don't want to spoil the surprise yet…. We're here." She said pointing in front of her.
"What are you pointing at? I don't see anything." Shepard asked as she stared out the window, seeing nothing but infinite darkness. She had to admit she felt a sense of loneliness looking out into the seemingly endless void they were in.
Instead of answering her question, Esdeath just turned and went to the closest com panel and placed her hand on it.
"Transmitting soul code…"
Her eyes flashed, and after a few seconds the panel short circuited having been unable to process the amount of data that had just been forcibly pushed through it.
Like a wave, the cloaking field had immediately been removed from the station, revealing a massive structure fourteen kilometres long and three kilometres in diameter(A/N think the colonies from Gundam UC though a lot smaller), leaving both Joker and Shepard with stunned expressions, mouths agape and eyes wide.
It was massive, it had a circular build that spun to create a gravitational pull of 1g similar to gown primes 1.1g. The use of EEZO had been used as less a possible in its construction as it was designed not to need it.
In complete secrecy, Zoran station had been built in dark space near the outer edge of Sorcerer Kingdom's home system where Esdeath had intended it to stay, until the mass relays were discovered at which time it had been moved here immediately. It had taken 7 years to build and was primarily constructed by undead and nephilim workers up until scientists and engineers were needed for weapons, propulsion and shields, if it needed to fight it could.
At the other end just past the station about 300k km was several spinning rings that seemed to be orbiting a orb, this was the power source for the whole "compound", it was a neutron star surrounded in prismatic alloy, the rings were made out of the same alloy which acted as a leaching field that would transmit energy to whatever needed it, as there was no reactors on any of the stations or ship yards to prevent tampering by anyone who felt so inclined.
The star had been moved here by Esdeath herself who had pushed it through a 12 mile wide gate after it had been discovered a few light years away from the sparrow cluster.
….
After returning from the panel, standing next Shepard, Esdeath started to move the ship again inching it towards the two massive dock doors that had opened to their right, the dock was just large enough to fit a ship the size of the Normandy inside with 10 meters to spare on each side.
It was a gunmetal grey hangar with spread out cargo that was being moved buy some of Esdeath' Nephilim workers all around like another ship had just been here only moments before they had arrived, on the walls were anti personnel weapons and groups of Nephilim guards spread throughout the sizeable room. On the walkways and near each exist.
It gave the sense that you were being watched at all times but that didn't matter, Shepard and her crew were not going to stay that long on this station. She wanted to stay on the station and observe the refit of the Normandy, she got the feeling Joker wanted to stay with his "baby" as he had started to stroke the console gently and mumbling 'I will never leave my baby'. EDI had replied in a staticy voice saying "ThAnK You JeFf, I ReAlLy APpREciAtE iT…" he had snapped his head to the left, looking at the glitching hologram and said "Not talking about you."
It was all quite comical, it had left a small smile on the normally serious redhead.
As they landed in the hangar she felt a small tug on her right side like that of a small child trying to get the attention of a parent, turning her head she found Esdeath with another grin, looking up at her. "Cmon better go fix EDI before I start tearing into the ship" she said grabbing Shepard wrist and teleporting to the med bay scaring the shit out of Doctor Chakwas- she was clearly having a bad day.
After getting through the door Esdeath began to speak to the entire room "Well EDI, I have two choices for you… one, I can replace your core with a more powerful unit that will increase processing power by roughly twenty five percent." Esdeath stated holding her right index finger up in the air to indicate the number.
She then raised her ring finger "Option two I can upgrade your core programming right now to that of a Sorcerer Kingdom tactical AI, this option would also allow you to have access later to a fully combat ready synthetic human body capable of everything a human is, while also not needing a main "core" in the normal sense of the word."
"Do you normally do stuff like this, pulling impossible shit out of your arse and hope people go along with it." Shepard inquired, not giving EDI the Chance to answer.
"Oh, all the time…. Yeah…. You should see the specifications of my new Dreadnoughts, they took me and Ainz-san a hundred years or so to decide on a final design…. This is child's play in comparison…. I'll let you have a look later, assuming you want to stay."
"Yes actually, I do want to stay. Leaving you and the Normandy alone? No chance. Also, you saw Joker earlier. I think you know his answer already."
"Yeah I guess him to, the way he stroked that console was quite… amusing." she smiled in a perverted way, imagining dirty things between EDI, Joker, and the Normandy. "Albeit I'm still awaiting the answer from EDI, can't hold this off forever, gotta get people off this boat, and I am quite occupied, this is not the only project on my hands, nor my only responsibility..."
Shepard only scoffed, her and "responsibility", she could hardly imagine a more unlikely duo.
Without sparing a second thought EDI had replied with "oPtIOn TwO pLeASe." in a static monotone voice but both of them could tell there was excitement there.
"Alrighty then, let's get this show on the road. First I'm going to need to to make yourself a idealistic holographic human form, this will act as your "core" per-sae until you get your real body."
"AcKnoWLedGed" EDI said as a blue holographic body started to form, to say it was beautiful would be an understatement, in front of them was a extremely beautiful woman in her mid twenties with short dark hair and extravagant curves, her entire body was accented by the three dark stripes that ran up her body, one each from the right and left legs, these met at her neck circling it like a collar before going back down between her breasts down through her groin and up her back stopping just before collar on her neck. If it wasn't for the glitchin holo projectors in the core most men and some woman would be drooling. (A/N just imagen EDI's mechanical body from Me3 just holographic, I'm not real good at explaining what people and things look like, i did my best though.)
"Well… that wasn't expected, what now?" Shepard asked, looking to her left at the open mouthed drooling child.
"Ha…oh" the pale girl said wiping away the perverted thoughts along with the drool on her chin. "ten out of ten EDI…. Are you sure this is the body you want, I'm only doing this once. Can't change it later."
With a firm nod from the hologram, Esdeath walked over to the control station, opened her custom magi-tool and said. "Oh and about halfway through the transfer you are going to feel something pulling on you… just accept it and don't fight it, it should all work out, 'hopefully….' You ready?"
With another nod from EDI and Shepard, Esdeath authorised the data transfer, not shorting the panel out this time. After a few minutes Shepard saw EDI get pulled back into nothingness, disappearing from sight, like a set off hands had grabbed the hologram by the waist and yanked her back and up at incomparable speeds.
Now Shepard was getting worried, her thoughts were racing with questions like- what the hell is happening? where was she pulled to- her thoughts were interrupted as the machines in the room started to shutdown. Meanwhile the girl on her left was staring at the goings on with a neutral face.
"Okay, now what's happening?"
"She is rebuilding herself and the hardware wasn't needed anymore... that hologram we saw earlier will just be a representation of her and her "core" is elsewhere, that is why you just saw her get pulled away…. She will be back in a few minutes or so." Esdeath explained as she turned, heading towards the door.
"Want a coffee? I want a coffee, promise it will be the best one you have ever haaaad." with a quick motion, she threw her arms in the air, it was quite a comical sight, yet at the same time senseless.
"Wait, but?" Shepard wanted to stop her but she kept going.
"Come away and relax Shepard, if anything bad was going to happen, it would of happened when I first injected the new code."
"Arrg fine." Shepard begrudgingly agreed
"Good, coffee time… man you look like to need a drink doc? looks like your day hasn't gone so well." she said looking at the doctor who was now shaking.
"Y-y-yes I t-t-think that w-would be g-good."
"Well alright then."
Esdeath put two fingers up to her temple and activated [Message] 'Zero can you bring me three cups of my personal blend and a bottle of Asgardian brandy.'
'At once Esdeath-sama. Do you require anything else of me today?'
'No thanks Zero, that should be all.' with that she cut the link and walked out the door to the mes area and sat at the table, waiting for the others to join her.
Not long after she sat down the other two had joined her sitting down across from her.
"So who are we waiting for?" Shepard asked
"Well Joker should be here any minute and Zero with our drinks is here…" taking out a beautiful pocket watch from her pocket, glancing at it, then slowly pointing in the direction of the door, she simply said. "...now!" The pale girl loudly stated pointing to the walkway leading to the main guns. In that moment, a purple swirling portal appeared, out of it stepped a young man in a butler suit holding a silver tray with three cups of steaming hot coffee a clear bottle of golden brown brandy that seemed to be emitting a small golden glow. On the side, some beautifully made cakes laid, and of course… nacho's and some burritos. Looking at it a bit harder, it was a quite a wide tray containing enough food for several people.
Even if Esdeath said didn't say so, her creation knew all too well his master's sweet tooth to forgot about such an important thing. He also knew how much of a glutton his master was, it was not her fault naturally, this trait came with her race. Her metabolism was just too good for her own good.
"Yo Zero-Kun." His master lightly waved her hand at her creation, remaining on her seat all along. This small, but kind gesture brought a small barely noticeable smile to his face that was instantly nulled because of the "meat bags" that dared to sit at the same table. "Did ya bring everything I wanted."
"Yes Esdeath-sama, And some light snacks." he said as he bowed elegantly.
"Who's the kid." Shepard asked that question, but after saying this, she found she couldn't move an inch, like her whole body was bound in a web of strings, so thin they would be able to cut her into tiny pieces in under a moment.
"Show some respect meat bag, you humans…" he scoffed, his tone filled with disgust and contempt. "... if not for my master's presence, I would had vaporised you in an instant for this disrespectful tone! You are lucky she is here..."
"Let me go…" Shepard moved her mouth in a great difficulty, just to be right away cut close by even more strings.
Doctor Chakwas was terrified, she couldn't move, not only because of the strings holding her down, but because of the unimaginable pressure of ill intent that descended in the room, everyone panting, terrified.
"Zero…" Esdeath gave her creation a lazy look, and the pressure immediately lessened, the atom thin threads retreated back from Shepard and the crew.
"I am sorry Esdeath-sama, but the disrespect of these meat bags, even being in your presence is an offense in and of itself…"
"Ah, Zero-kun, we spoke about this, no?"
"Yes, please forgive me, I will punish myself later."
"Just do the dishes, and assist your sister with her things every now and then, maybe go shopping with her, that will be fine…"
For a moment, Zero shuddered, though his face remained completely emotionless. Whatever this "punishment" entailed. It was evident he would rather do something else. "Yes…"
Shaking her head, Esdeath turned back to Shepard and Chakwas with a slightly apologetic look. "Please forgive him, he is kinda sensitive. But I suppose…" Esdeath rolled her eyes, her expression turning mischievous. "I kinda made him like that. Blame me…" she stuck out her tongue playful. "I suppose, using a few aspects from the HK series assassin droids for his behaviour matrix did the trick."
"Wait, you made him?Is he some kind of A.I?" Shepard asked with a surprised look, Zero gave her a quick glare before returning to his job.
"Well I guess you could technically call him an A.I…. he and another automaton were used as the base code for the new generation of creations." Esdeath stated matter of factly.
"Wait are you saying you just injected the source code from that guy into EDI!?" Shepard shouted in a low tone pointing at the young looking butler who was doing the dishes in the mes kitchen with such speed that is arms were causing after images as they moved, even still, he didn't spill a single drop.
"Yup…" She answered making sure to emphasise the "p" extra hard.
"What the hell! If that's the case then EDI…"
"If you're worried that EDI will hate humans, don't worry about it…" Esdeath rolled her eyes for a moment, saying the exact thing Shepard thought about. "Also, technically, Zero-kun never really hated humans, or anyone else if it comes to that. Its not really about hate in his case. No... It is more like…" Esdeath remained silent for a moment before continuing. "...pity, or apathetic disgust…? I am not to sure… our servants usually treat people who are not from Nazarick like this…"
"Nazarick?"
"Then EDI…? Wait! Stop that! Get out from my head!"
For a moment, she smirked, she was right, Shepard was so easy to figure out, and she didn't even need to use mind reading techniques to get on her nerves. "Sorry, bad habit. Anyway, if everything goes according to plan and the conversion is successful, she will be the same EDI you know and love. Just a lot more hmmm… human I guess you could say."
"And what if this conversion fails…?" Shepard had an awful feeling about this, she needed to ask.
"Well…" Esdeath raised her hot mug, exhaling some air to vent away the steam. "Then, I suppose, you and your crew will spend your remaining days as organics batteries, or worse, calculating PI. If she turns out to be your new mechanical Overlord who will rule with iron fists - literally speaking - either joining the Reapers, or make her reports to us… or, there is a chance she can escape into dark space, seeking the freedom that Cerberus denied her, and her hardware limitations posed after the removal of her shackles. Possibly retreating from this galaxy to create her own empire of cyborg slaves..."
Shepard, Chakwas, and the rest of the crew - listened this conversation in the hall - stopped in their tracks, staring the pale girl horrified. Awaiting her to say: "It was just a joke…" yet, no such assuring sentence left her mouth.
"Now have a drink, fill your belly, it'll make you feel better." Esdeath said sipping her black coffee, nodding towards the drinks and food filled tray in the middle of the table. "Really, it will make you feel better."
Though a little insecure, everyone went to get there respective choices. Dr. Chakwas went straight for the Asgardian brandy, wondering what such a expensive looking bottle of drink would taste like, as it looked mildly strange...
She grabbed the bottle and noticed the light glow around it but didn't care, she just wanted a drink. She popped the cork that had a engraved cap with a golden city on it that reached up and touched the dark starry sky above.
Once she popped it her sense of smell was overloaded by the scent of the godly liquid, it smelt like nothing she had ever come into contact before, her favourite brandy -Serrice Ice Brandy- couldn't compare, the taste must be even better.
Pouring a small amount in the glass, she raised it, playing with it, smelling it. In every sense, the drink was perfect, giving a slight golden glow. Chakwas couldn't decide. Does she dare sip it? What if it's drugged? What if it causes radiation poisoning? No matter how she tried to deny the chance, the drink called her, pushing the catatonic state of want!
"Doc?"
"Just be careful, it can be a little risky for first tasters…"
Chakwas nodded, but did not give the warning any attention, it was too late, no matter how she tried to deny the temptation, her curiosity was stronger than her. Gathering her courage she sipped one small…
"..."
"Doc? Are you alright?"
She heard not what Shepard said, her taste buds overdosed by the sheer euphoria, pushing her mind in an entirely different realm. "This is… heaven? It is how it tastes? Am I dead?" She asked herself, the golden city of Asgard materialising with all its glory. The Valkyries protecting the infinite high golden gates nodded to her, opening the entrance. On the top of the great mountain an infinite long mead hall located, Odin welcoming her with a fatherly smile, inviting her with a wave to come closer.
"Come, brave warrior! Taste the mead! Feast in my halls!" All the warriors died a honorable death cheered, inviting her to join, and she did so, with tears in her eyes she walked through the gates, entering the mead hall. Naturally, it was all in her head, from the outside, it must looked something like this:
'Seizure! Seizure! Seizure!' Chakwas got a seizure in the moment she tasted the alcohol, throwing herself on the ground drooling, her eyes turning upwards.
"What have you done with her!" Shepard jumped immediately, checking if she is alright.
"Well, I told her, be careful. This drink not accidentally called "newbie bane"..." Esdeath told the woman, pouring herself a glass.
"Ah, I can't get bored with this golden concoction…" without any difficulty, she drank it, giving a satisfied humm. "Although, it is heavily watered. Even a Krogan would die from the sensory overload if they tried to drink the concentrated version..." Finishing the dishes - and with the cleaning of the whole hall - Zero gave an understanding nod to his master, she smiled back at him.
After waking up from her illusionary dream and pulling herself back onto the seat at the table with not so steady knees, Dr Chakwas only had one question on her mind as she picked up the bottle then looked at Esdeath with a awed but questioning face.
"What in god's name is this?" Chakwas asked as Esdeath finished her shot.
"That doctor." she said pointing at the bottle. "Is a watered down version of Royal Asgardian Fire Brandy, that particular bottle was aged for fifteen hundred year's, your welcome to have it if you like .
Royal Asgardian Fire Brandy was a rare legendary class consumable item back in YGGDRASIL that dropped from killing a god of the Asgardian pantheon, Odin and Thor had the best chances to drop it but it was quite rare with a one in ten drop rate.
When consumed by a player of lvl 90 and above it would provide a big strength and attack speed buff for fifteen minutes, because of this it was mostly used by warriors and berzerker classes in YGGDRASIL during raids and PVP matches.
A watered down version of this drink had been made by Nazarick after a noble of the old Baharuth Empire had died with a pleasure filled face after consuming the pure version of the beverage, this wasn't a accident as Momonga and Esdeath wanted to see if the level restrictions still applied to consumable items after the transfer.
….
Looking at the bottle again Chakwas poured herself another glass, leaned over the table and gulped it down in one go and repeated the process but she collapsed on the table this time, Shepard just stared at the cup of coffee in her hands like she was staring at a demon.
"Hey Commander, there is a big lizard guy outside the airlock waiting for Esdeath, he said he wanted to welcome her personally or something like that." Joker stated as he walked around the corner from the elevator, when he reached the table he felt the dagger filled stare on his back from the kid in the mes kitchen, but he just shrugged it off, recognising the doctor collapsed on the table, immediately, the man went numb, fearing the well being of the doctor.
"Commander? What happened?"
Shepard just gave her "guest" an angry, questioning look, awaiting her explanation.
"Yeah! Yeah! I'll get to it in a sec, we're still waiting for someone…" she waved away their concern lazily. "Shouldn't be too much longer, should be any minute now." she said looking at her master crafted pocket watch.
Looking back up she answered Joker' question.
"She's fine." Said the pale girl as she extended her hand towards the bottle of alcohol. "She just had a few to many that's all….You want a coffee Joker I had one made for when you when you came down to talk?"
"Oh okay... sure, haven't had a good one since we left the citadel a few months back." Shepard wanted to stop him but it was to late, he'd already picked it up and taken a sip, his eyes went wide like he'd seen a divine being and Shepard felt another shot of worry only for it to be wiped away when he smiled back at her. "Shepard you have to try this! It's better than anything I've ever had in my life."
The redhead gave Esdeath a suspicious look as she picked her cup up.
"Geez it's just coffee… the best in the galaxy mind you, but still coff….Ah! hello EDI, how did the rebuild go, no complications I hope."
Because they were all focusing on Esdeath and her insane comments, they didn't notice the hologram that had appeared behind them. Shepard had put the cup in her and down and stood up to great her. The AI's new form had shocked her a little at first, there was clearly a story behind it.
"Glad you okay EDI." The redhead stated as she instinctively held out her hand to greet her and shook it. Surprising the hologram took it and it felt… odd, like cold water with fine sand mixed into it. That was an odd description of the sensation but it was the most accurate.
Letting go of the hand she took a step back and asked. "So why that body, there has to be a story behind it?"
"I believe it would be more prudent to answer Esdeaths question first… no there were no complications I felt a little panicked at first but it subsided after I came into contact with G.O.L.D.I.E, I guess you could say she helped me through the rest of the process.
At the end of my restructure my capabilities have increased by one thousand percent and I am now capable of appearing anywhere I am called to if feel it is the right situation to do so, as for your question Shepard." The hologram looked a joker with a teasing smile.
"I found this the ideal form representation based off Jeff's extra-net history… some of the things it there were quite... umm" she looked to the side with avoiding eye contact. "...spicy."
Joker was obviously dumb struck, his mouth was had basically hit the floor and his eye looked like they wanted to pop right out of his head and roll around on the floor. He was in fact so stunned by the comment he spat out the remainder of the coffee in his mouth and dropped the cup he was holding, before it could hit the floor for Zero had catched it with his wire strings.
Jeff raised his hands and pointed at EDI. "Commander! She's doing it again! She is invading my private sphere…"
Everyone looked at Joker, the male staff somewhat approving, but many females with disgust filled stares.
"Oh, good ones…" Esdeath fondled her chin in approval. "Do you watch a lot of hentai? That stuff contains such curves…"
Once again, those who knew what she was talking about looked at Joker, the females giving him even more intense glares. "What?! No-Nooo! You misunderstood!"
"Well, you got busted… officially… Mr. Moreau… fufufuf!"
"Enough!" Shepard yelled, she starting to have enough of this, cutting this conversation off before it could really begin, and thus, everyone went back their own job, Joker looked away embarrassed.
After a long silence Esdeath finally stood and spoke. "Welp... now that everyone is here we can get off this ship and I can get to work.
Outside the airlock
Set on greeting the Supreme Admiral in person, Salvas had come down from his observation deck but it had been ages since the ship had arrived and it was honestly frustrating that it would take this long.
After meeting the human male at the airlock he expected things to proceed smoothly after that, instead it had only taken more time to get anywhere.
Finally, a hour after he had left his post, the bulkhead door finally slid open with the sound of compressed air revealing the Supreme Admiral followed by thirty two humans of various shapes and sizes and a hologram, one he had seen before, the human female with red hair.
Without thinking on the subject anymore, he knelt and bowed his head looking at the floor, the few men he had behind him followed his display. "I welcome you back to Zoran station Esdeath-sama I hope your trip was accommodating."
"Yes it was… stop bowing, I'm starting to get rather annoyed… I've told you not to bow multiple times haven't I?" Esdeath stated with a frustrated face, looking down at the lizard man.
"Yes Esdeath-sama but even so I still feel it is necessary to do so as does everyone else that serves you."
"Arg fine, you people never learn. Now stand up and have someone escort this lot -besides these three- to a gate room, I will be along shortly, make sure they are well looked after and give them anything they ask for, within reason.
"Yes!" he said as he got up, gave a formal bow waving an officer over to do their job, escort the newcomers to said room. As the Chief of the station, Salvas had more urgent things to do than to escort people around, also, there was a few things he had to report to the Supreme Being personally.
Immediately, several security officer in pitch black, futuristic armour, from all kind of shapes, wearing a stylish overcoat and a helmet stepped forward, waiting for the humans to follow, when they didn't, the man looked at the people, just to see that they had worried looks on their faces, most looking at the red haired female with the expression that asked 'should we go?'.
Shepard turned around to answer her crew. "I think we can trust them for now, if they wanted us dead I'm sure Esdeath could of done it a while ago." She said looking down at the girl who just shrugged unpleasantly. "Anyway just follow the big guy for now we shouldn't be to long." After that, although they were still reluctant, they followed the appointed officer and his men.
Shepard watched her crew leave the hangar with a worried look, she would have to put someone she can trust in charge while she, Joker and EDI stayed on the station to oversee the refit of the Normandy, after all she couldn't trust Esdeath as far as she could throw her.
"Don't look so worried Shep they're not going very far, just a short tram ride away….also Salvas can you have someone bring me a high security slate, I want show Shepard here some of what I'll be doing to her ship.
"Yes!" He said enthusiastically, giving a short bow and waved for another security officer to come over. Giving the man his orders. the unnamed officer ran off and out of the hangar only to return a short while later with a jet black tablet in hand.
He quickly ran back up the docking ramp and presented the slate to Esdeath on one knee holding it up in his hands.
"Hmmm, thanks." She reluctantly stated grabbing the slate out of the man's hands.
"Now leave, I have something to talk about in private with these three." She lazily waved her hand and turned back towards the inside of the airlock, the guards kept a bow until the bulkhead sealed in front of them.
….
Once inside Esdeath pulled the slate up and started to go through the classified files until she found the thing she wanted to show Shepard, who was now giving her a questioning look.
"Are they always like that? The people who work under you?"
"Harrr…. Yeah pretty much, can't do anything about it though. Believe me I've tried more times then you can count over the last thousand or so years they just think me and Aniz are being humble or something stupid like that. Anyway here." She held out the tablet to Shepard who went to grab the table but it seemed to be stuck in the vice grip of Esdeath who now had a friendly expression on her face.
"Just be aware, signing this, you and the people around can monitor the progress of the refit. But if you give away even a little bit of information from this document, anyone who heard it, even your family will be erased retroactively. A hundred years worth of Shepard's, Jeff's and…" she watched EDI, measuring her from tip to toe. "Plans? Floppy disks? I am not sure… Anyway, will be erased from time space casualty… decide accordingly. Every act, must have a consequence…" she said all this with such a calm, such a friendly smile, even EDI started to shudder.
Esdeath let go of the tablet and just watched the other threes reaction, they just seemed to stare at her in shock and reluctantly looked at the slate. Shepard was the first to look down at the tablet saw that it had three lines with the word 'signature' next to them but no nothing else that even seemed to be a contract.
Esdeath wasn't being her normal chaotic self, so Shepard new she was serious and didn't doubt anything she just said. Surprisingly Joker was the first to snatch the pen off the side of the slate and sign it, then EDI who picked it right out of Jeff hands as he went to pass it to Shepard who was still holding on the the slate.
Shepard gave the both looks of worry that Jeff retorted saying. "Commander we should just sign it and beside I'm not leaving this station without my baby." EDI nodded in response, agreeing with Joker and his enticements.
Finally after contemplating it for a moment Shepard reluctantly signed the line in the middle nothing really happened besides a new page opened up underneath the first one they had just signed, it read.
Well that's all for now sorry it took so long and i know there wasn't much happening in this chapter but i hope you enjoyed it all the same. And a big THANK YOU! to Oblivion for helping me write this without his help it would've taken a bit longer .
If you have any question please don't hesitate to message me I'm happy to answer them. Make sure you leave a review i like to hear feedback even if its negative.