A/N: Wow! A time-skip that makes sense for once, I'm shocked!
-Eddy
Chapter 13
After I left the Normandy, it had been months until I was done running from the Alliance. The shuttle I escaped with eventually had to be abandoned on a planet in the Hades Gamma Cluster. Thankfully, I wasn't alone for long. Along the way, I managed to pick up a team of rogues, like me. Together, we started jumping from station to station to do odd-jobs while we track down mercenary bands to stop. The mercenaries we were tracking down were the same ones selling information about me to the krogan.
The team I had put together are; Lorek the fifth, a batarian brawler, Thran Goh, a drell sharp-shooter, and Orchid, a volus biotic. We had a turian with us, Spike, but we were separated about a month ago during an excursion on a planet in the Atlas cluster.
Because of me having to stay hidden, and without Spike going on missions for me, I had to change the look of my armor. Instead of blue plates, I have black plates. And, instead of only wearing a helmet sometimes, I wear one all the time—while I'm outside the shuttle—in order to prevent someone from knowing my identity. The only people that know me now are my team.
"Where are we going to next?" Lorek asks as he sits behind me. "We've already hit the Eclipse Renegades, but it doesn't seem like they've stopped contacting Ranok Cain."
"They'll stop eventually." I say as I see something on the radar of the shuttle. "Hold on. Activating stealth drives." I say and slow the shuttle down.
"We're only using a shuttle." Orchid says, nervously. "Won't they see us?"
"This shuttle should be able to handle it, Orchid." Thran says as I start to see a ship. Faintly, I can see a name written on the side. It's the Normandy. "Isn't that the Normandy?"
"It is." I say and start typing in coordinates for the shuttle to go to a planet called 'Goal'. "Jumping to FTL in 5 seconds. Get in your seats." I say and hear them sit down, then buckle themselves into the secured seats.
As soon as we hit FTL, I notice that the Normandy has picked up the signal. "Damnit!" I shout and see that the Normandy is following us.
"What is it?" Thran asks and I sigh.
"We're going to be having some visitors pretty soon." I say and hear Lorek groan. "Once we reach Goal, we're going to make a stop."
"Where?" Orchid asks with a short whine.
"The Blue Suns Resurrection foothold." I say and hear Lorek laugh. "What's so funny?"
"You always seem to put us through it, is all." Lorek says and I give a small laugh.
"I told you it wouldn't be easy when you joined me, Lorek." I say and hear Thran sigh.
"I'm just hoping none of us get captured this time. Like Spike." Thran says.
"Me too." I say.
After minutes pass, we near Goal as I notice the Normandy stop next to us. "Shuttle 105, do you read? This is the Normandy." A transmission says and I wave to Lorek to answer.
"We read you." Lorek says and a com channel opens up.
"Suttle 105, this is Dr. T'Soni. We ask that you dock next to the Normandy immediately." Liara says and I look up at Lorek, shaking my head.
"What for?" Lorek asks. He knows about my past with Liara.
"The Normandy reads you as a rogue cruiser." Liara explains. "Unless you dock on the Normandy, we will pursue."
"Why?" Lorek asks and I shake my head in shame. He's doing this on purpose.
"The Normandy is tracking all rogue ships for a classified mission." Liara says. Could they be looking for me? "Until you dock, I will not disclose any more information."
"Dr. T'Soni, we will not dock on the Normandy." Lorek says as I prepare to type in the navigation to land on the planet. "Goodbye." He says and I cut all communications.
"Why did you do that, Lorek?" I ask as I type in the navigation points. "You know the Normandy is looking for me." I say and the shuttle makes its way down onto the planet, through its atmosphere.
"It's been months, kid." Lorek says. So far, he's the nicest batarian I've ever met. "They're your family."
"I thought you would be happy to see them again." Thran says and I sigh.
"No. It's too soon." I say as we reach closer to the land of Goal. This planet is covered in grass and mountains. It's almost like an inhabited Earth. This place even has breathable oxygen. "Let's just take care of business and leave. Hopefully we won't see the Normandy's crew."
"Right." Orchid says as I continue flying the shuttle closer to the Blue Suns Resurrection foothold.
Once we're close enough to not be seen by the Blue Suns Resurrection, I land the shuttle. Just before we leave the shuttle, I put my helmet on. Immediately after stepping off the shuttle, I notice one of the Normandy's shuttles flying above us. "Let's hurry." I say and we make our way into the foothold.
We fought through every Blue Suns mercenary we could see. While I stayed behind my team, telling them my strategies, I notice a team of three run in from behind my team. Quickly, I use my stealth skill to hide myself. All of the Blue Suns mercenaries were killed, as far as I could tell.
"The crew of the Normandy, I'm guessing." Lorek says as he, Thran, and Orchid walk up to the group. It's Kiera, Danial, and Liara. My team stops at a ways away from them.
"Are you the crew from Shuttle 105?" Danial asks. "Not the team I was expecting." He says as I notice a sniper from the second level of the building aiming at Liara. Quickly, I use my biotics to charge in front of Liara—shielding her from the shot with my body. The bullet hits the side of my suit—opening my armor just enough to reveal the tattoo of my branding number from the experiment—H-990. "Who are you?" Danial asks.
"Get that sniper!" I say as I turn around to face the direction of the sniper. Then, Thran uses his sniper rifle to take out the assailant. "Are you alright, Dr. T'Soni?" I ask as I turn back around to the group.
"Knight?" Liara asks and I reach for my helmet. "That is you, isn't it?"
"Wait, so we were right this time?" Danial asks as he looks at me. Then, I quickly take my helmet off.
"Knight!" Kiera shouts and hugs me.
"It's been a while. How have you been?" I ask with a nervous smile.
"I thought you didn't want to see these people." Orchid says as he and the other two walk up from behind me.
"Orchid…" I say with a sigh as I look back at him.
"I thought you would be happy to see us." Liara says and crosses her arms. She's angry.
"What's going on?" Kiera asks as she pulls away from me.
"Why should we tell you?" Thran asks as he steps next to me. "The Alliance turned their backs on Knight and sold her to a slave buyer."
"We weren't the ones who did that." Kiera says and Thran puts an arm in front of me—protecting me.
"Thran, calm down." I say and Thran glares at me.
"I never thought I'd see you with a batarian ally." Danial says with a smirk. "We almost mistook you for a batarian fleet."
"We're all space rats here. Old…friends." I say and Thran slowly lowers his arm. "These are some of the people I grew up with…minus Orchid. He's new."
"I'm just here to help." Orchid says and I look at him.
"Yeah. We're all friends here." Thran says sarcastically and looks at me. Then, he crosses his arms as he looks back to the group. "What do you want from Knight?"
"We just want to talk—" Liara says and is interrupted.
"There she is!" I hear a mercenary say and put my helmet back on.
"I think we should talk more later, don't you?" I ask and turn around to face the mercenaries.
"I'm with you." Thran says and steps in front of me.
"Us too." Lorek says with Orchid. What are these guys doing? It's like they're fighting over me. That's a first.
"We're here too!" Liara says and steps next to me.
"What's this? Did you bring your little friends, Knight?" The mercenary asks as I realize that it's Spike.
"Spike! What are you doing?" I ask and he jumps down from the upper level—with about six other soldiers.
"Repaying my debt to you." He says and I see Lorek charge at him.
"We saved your sorry ass months ago!" Lorek shouts and I run to a safer spot to analyze the battlefield.
"Knight nearly killed me!" Spike shouts as I see the six soldiers huddle together. They're biotics. "She left me to die!"
"Lorek, move!" I shout as I see Spike take out his omni-blade. Then, just before Spike raises his omni-blade to strike, I use my biotics to push Lorek out of the way. "Thran, now!" I say and see Thran raise his rifle to Spike. I see the soldiers break away and start charging at Thran.
"Danial, use a grenade!" I say and Danial quickly throws a grenade at Spike. Then, from within the smoke made from the explosion, I charge at the group of mercenaries.
"You won't get away this time." Spike says and I feel myself get stabbed in the back—literally.
"Knight!" I hear the group shout as the smoke starts clearing. Then, I hear gunfire hitting the soldiers still standing. And a single shot hits Spike's head—killing him instantly.
"Were we…taking bets?" I ask as I see Spike slide down the front of my body. Then, I fall to my knees.
"Knight!" I hear the group shout as I feel someone catch me before I fall over.
"That was too reckless of you." Thran says and picks me up.
"You two seem…close." Danial says as my vision start fading.
"Not now! She's…" Thran says as everything fades to black.
After some hours pass, I wake up in the med-bay. As I'm waking up, I hear arguing in the room. "Regardless of your beliefs, Knight is a part of this crew." I hear Liara say.
"You don't know her as well as I do." Thran says. We've been friends since Sera'na left me on that planet over sixteen years ago. He is the one who owned the home Sera'na and I lived in. He's been like a brother to me. Not only that, but he was also the information broker who helped me search for references on Commander Shepard. I even told him about Liara and me. Needless to say, he never really approved. "Even with your little love affair, she will never mean to you what she means to me. Dr. Liara T'Soni."
"Knight is special to me. I don't need your approval." Liara says, angrily.
"She nearly gave her life for you. You should be grateful!" Thran says.
"I am." Liara says. Then, as I feel the tension rising in the room, I open my eyes.
"Calm down, you two. I'm fine." I say and sit up. The slight sting from the stab wound makes me cringe.
"Don't you ever do that again." They both say at the same time.
"I won't. I promise." I say and smile at them. Two of the most important people in my life are in the same room, together, with me. And they're arguing over me. Literally. "You know, this seems kind of like a family reunion right now."
"This is not the time for jokes, Knight." Thran says. "I didn't raise you this way. Sera'na's mother? Really?"
"What's so wrong about me being Sera'na's mother?" Liara asks and crosses her arms.
"Sera'na and I practically raised Knight for nearly six years." Thran says and crosses his arms.
"I wouldn't put you so high up there, Thran. You're more like my brother." I say and he glares at me.
"I'll consider that when you stop throwing yourself in front of bullets and omni-blades." He says. At this rate, Liara will be convinced that Thran is actually my father—or a very over-protective boyfriend.
"I hate to say it, but he's right." Liara says and I look at her. She looks angry. "It's been nearly eight months since we've last seen each other, and you nearly get yourself killed. In front of me, even."
"What were you thinking?" They say at the same time. At this point, it seems like I'm being lectured by my parents—who are literally non-existent.
"Spike was about to charge at you, Thran." I say and he sighs. "The soldiers would have taken everyone out in a split second if I hadn't stepped in. Didn't you see them charging up their biotics?"
"You…have a point." Liara says and drops her arms down.
"I suppose…there wasn't much time to plan out a clear strategy." Thran says as he looks up at Liara. "I'm…sorry for getting all worked up."
"Me too." Liara says and they smile at each other.
Am I dreaming? Please, tell me this is just a dream.