Commander John Shepard
We were closing in on the Shadow Sea. Should arrive this evening, but, there's still no guarantee we'll be on the move right away. There has yet to be any updates from TIM. I spent a good portion of yesterday… meditating. As weird as that still sounds. And feels. And I was making progress. Grunt was showing himself to the rest of the crew, and then devouring quadruple of what a human would eat in a single meal. And Jack was still a rare sight. Meanwhile, I was in the cockpit. Just starting a chat with Joker.
"What a motley little crew you've been picking up, Shepard. You collect stray cats as a kid?" he joked. "A mega Krogan, an insane and dangerous biotic who's definitely been on murder sprees, a possibly equally insane Salarian doctor?"
"It's definitely… interesting," I remarked. "What did you think of your little present of Omega?"
"Tore out the Krogan, Hanar, Elcor, and Volus pages right away. Might still be able to find the Krogan ones and hand them off to Grunt. Kinda hard to get anything going with the eye of god here always watching, though." I chuckled in response. "Any chance we can shut it off? I don't need it in my day-to-day."
"Best I can do is tell you to use the mute button," I shrugged. "But it's still watching. Like some creepy kid staring at the back of your head in comp sci. You want to punch him… but he's 'special' and sets fires or something," Joker groaned.
"That's specific."
"Look, you know what I mean. Anyways, here goes." Joker raised his hand over a button, and slammed it down. At least, as much of a slam a he can manage. The mute, obviously. "Ow," he murmured.
"Made your point?"
"Made my point."
"Well, I'm going to leave before you break something else. And before you get comfortable enough for the Fornax. Try not to be too loud, there are crewmembers just over there," I warned with a smirk. Joker just raised a middle finger behind him, leaving me chuckling. Hm, maybe I should go down to engineering. Check in on Kenn, see how he's getting on with Ken and Gabby, and I hear Jack found a little hidey hole in the sub-level just beneath the three of them. So, that's where I went. Got to the elevator, and made my way down to deck four. I went to engineering, and the three were working on their consoles.
"Gentlemen. Lady. I trust everything's going well down here?" I asked, also announcing my presence. Gabby and Ken turned and saluted. Gabby's salute different than Kenn's. Gabby's was, of course, the regular human salute, hand over the forehead. Kenn's was both arms crossed over his chest in an X form. "Hey, none of that. At ease, both of you." Ken was a bit slow at the process and hadn't yet saluted. "You three can all safely be informal."
"Thanks Shepard," Ken answered.
"So, everything fine and dandy down here?"
"Yes si- Shepard," Kenn spoke. "Green across the board."
"I already expected that. I meant the three of you," I smirked.
"Kenn's a great help. Even with the new couplings, Gabby and I would have still had a hefty workload. Splitting it across the three of us? I daresay our job's easy. Been getting to know each other. Kenn's a good lad," Ken stated.
"But we are of course still working as hard as ever," Gabby elbowed Ken. "We're just also being stuck with a bit more down time is all."
"So long as it doesn't make you lazy, down time is a great thing. Keep you rested, relaxed, time to de-stress," I remarked. "Kenn, what do you think of your time here so far?"
"Surprising, to say the least, Shepard. The… AI, still leaves me uneasy, but I rarely interact with it. And the crew has been surprisingly hospitable. Especially Gabby and Ken. But… What's with the… almost naked woman below deck?"
"Wait, wot?" Ken's eyes went wide, and I think he was about to stick his tongue out and wag it. "Oh, oh. Right. Jack. No longer excited," Ken whispered.
"Should have been here after she first found a home down there," Gabby remarked. "Asked him if he heard about the half-naked woman covered in tattoos. Got an even better reaction. Then I told him about the dangerous convict part, and he settled right down."
"Would have liked to see that. To answer you, Kenn, I don't know why she's so undressed, but she's a recruit. One I'm still trying to figure out. Good news is that she shouldn't bother you, just wants to be left alone down there. Speaking of, I was about to go down and talk to her."
"Do try to come back in one piece, aye?" Ken suggested.
"Will do." I left the engineers to their work and made my way down to the sub-level. Jack was reading a data pad on a cot she had brought down here. A few other data pads scattered across a table down here. The only thing covering her chest was those same leather straps she had on purgatory. She heard my footsteps and looked up, the hand holding a data pad now dangling.
"What?" she asked, casually. Not even threatening.
"Came down here to talk, and I like to know my crew. Don't know much of anything about you."
"If you want to fuck just say it. Answer's still no. Not in the mood. Not right now."
"Not interested, Jack. I've got my eyes on a different woman. One who's not on the ship. Not yet. So…" I gestured.
"Whatever," Jack murmured, hiding a very slight hint of surprise. And suspicion. "Well, if you're going to push, I'm still finding out about me. Thanks for forcing the cheerleader to let me look at these files."
"They're helping you?" I said. Jack nodded in reply. "Good."
"Don't be my buddy, Shepard," Jack glared. "You need me to kill for you. I need you for these files. Let's leave it there. Your friends at Cerberus are into some nasty things."
"Like I said before. Only reason I'm not hunting down every last member of that organization right now, is that I need them. They killed forty-eight of my men by luring us there right to a massive Thresher nest. They killed another through sick experiments, and I only learned one survived back when I was chasing down Saren. Injected them with Thresher Maw acid. Among other things. Not to mention a lot of other horrendous shit we found. What I want to know, to add to my list of grievances, is what did they do to you?" Jack sat up, leaned back.
"They raised me in a research facility. I escaped when I was a kid. Been on the run ever since." She stood and walked to the dim light at the back of the sub-level. "And they've been chasing me ever since. But soon… I'm going to chase them," she lifted up a pistol and stared at it.
"You think about it a lot, I take it?"
"I go to sleep with this," Jack began, obviously meaning the pistol. "I wake up with it. Everyone I kill, I pretend it's the ones that did this to me." Just what exactly did they do though? What research were they running on her? As a kid? She'd have said the first time I asked if she wanted to tell me. Shouldn't ask again. Not yet.
"You know if you want better quarters, you just have to ask," I offered.
"It's dark, quiet, hard to find. That means it's safe." she came out of the dim light and onto the table. She launched herself up on it, got on a knee, looking right at me.
"You know, this ship is a powerhouse. Could go pirate. Live like a king. I could help…" she offered. And with a look in her eyes.
"The offer's appreciated, but credits don't mean much to me."
"Then do it for the glory. The fun."
"First human Spectre has quite a bit of glory to it," I remarked. "And I even had fun last time around. Besides, if the Collectors keep going about their shit, we'll all be dead anyway. That piracy wouldn't matter."
"Fine, but when it's done, we'll either be dead, or out here, in space. With this ship." Jack got off the table. "Think about it. Freedom to go and do whatever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want. And all the mayhem and fighting I could want."
"Why is killing so important to you?" Jack frowned, taking that as me turning down the offer.
"I figure every time someone dies and it's not me, my chances of survival go up," she shrugged. "Simple." Hm, bit uncomfortable now. Exit strategy…
"I should go."
Commander John Shepard
We're in the Shadow Sea, and not just that, but the Normandy has been waiting by the relay, watching and waiting, for any sign of the Collector ship. It's been two days so far. We hadn't gotten any word from TIM yet about a loss of contact, and we have confirmation that all colonies are still in contact. I'm starting to wonder if they judged the cluster wrong. At least we should still be close to wherever the Collector's hit. Currently, I was in Miranda's quarters. Making progress with my biotics. We spent the last fifteen minutes meditating, and I was able to… activate my biotics almost instantly. The aura was consistent.
"You learn quickly, Shepard. Now, let's manipulate an object," Miranda began. I opened my eyes, and she held out an antique coin. Picture it in my hand. Now that your mind has begun to form a connection with your biotic abilities, where you can bring it out with a single thought, it'll be easier to begin simple manipulations. If you think about lifting an object up, it will be easier for your mind to more quickly do just that with your biotics. And if you think about forcing an object down…" I nodded. "Now, close your eyes, and be careful to not move your body. Picture the coin," she continued, and I did just that. "Picture it in my hand, exactly where it was when you closed your eyes. No closer, no further." I focused.
"Good, the biotics are there, if unfocused. Excellent. Only skilled biotics can successfully, and efficiently manipulate objects without their sight. Now, open your eyes, and put all of your focus into the coin." I opened my eyes, breathing, staring at the coin. The blue aura that surrounded me surrounded Miranda's hand, and now, closed in around just the coin. "Now, shall you try to raise it? Decreasing its mass, or try to lower it, increasing its mass?" Let's raise it, try and make it float around. My brows furrowed as I stared at it, picturing it rising, and forcing myself not to move. "No, no. Don't strain yourself. That's a bad habit to form. You must be able to do this while relaxed. If you can do it relaxed, you can do it tense, if you can do it tense, you can do it stressed. But if you start doing it stressed, you won't be able to do it unless you're stressed," Miranda cautioned.
I took another deep breath. The coin began to shake in her hand. I kept picturing it rising, again, and again. Slowly, the coin began to float into the air. My mind immediately put The Force theme in my head. I couldn't help but chuckle, and the coin fell back into Miranda's palm. I felt, feel, like a Jedi.
"Very good, Commander. Like before, do some practice in your quarters. Here, you can keep the coin," Miranda offered.
"Thanks. I'm already eager to learn whatever party trick you have in store next."
"Please, Commander, I must start you off on the basics. I can't-" she began. In spite of myself, I chuckled again.
"I was kidding. I meant party trick in the best of ways. It's the kind of thing I'm going to do in mundane ways all the time just to entertain myself."
"Oh… of course. My apologies."
"No need to apologize. I'll just ask that you'll consider answering this question…" It had been on my mind a bit. "What was it about what Jacob said while we were debating waking up Grunt?"
"I suppose you deserve to know," Miranda sighed. "I assume you had it figured out he meant my father. He created me with all of my genetic modifications. He's a very influential man and extremely controlling. He didn't want a daughter. He wanted a dynasty."
"I think I have an idea where this is going, so I assume your last name isn't your original? Lawson isn't a name ringing any bells. Still, he could easily just be nameless megalomaniac behind some mega corporation or other," I remarked.
"You're correct on the former. Respectfully, I'd rather not drop the true name. I don't like being associated with it. So much that I ran away as soon as I was old and brave enough. I went to Cerberus because I knew they could protect me."
"Protect you?"
"My father invested a great deal in his dynasty," Miranda said the word with disgust. "It wasn't a matter of just leaving. I knew he would continue to pursue his… investments."
"Are those his own words?" Miranda, for a second, glanced down.
"Yes."
"You probably already figured this, but, some real shitty parenting there," I muttered. "Anyways, I imagine Cerberus was only too happy to do so with your abilities?"
"Of course. Cerberus endorses anything that advances the cause of humanity. Genetic alterations included. But unlike my father and his own selfish reasons, Cerberus and the Illusive Man believe in a greater good." Bullshit, but I'm starting to see the heart of Miranda's conviction to them. In her mind, I suspect anything is a saint compared to her father. "It's ironic, and even a bit humorous. My father believed deeply in a human-positive agenda. He was a generous benefactor to Cerberus for years. Until I joined them. And it was only through my father that I heard of them in the first place."
"Was there a mother involved?"
"I… never had one. Most of my genetic material is based on my father's tissue. His Y chromosome was altered with an amalgam of desired traits from various sources." She sighed again and leaned back against the wall. "How arrogant can you be? The man is completely egomaniacal. Just another reason I had to get away from him."
You know… her father and TIM sound like twins. And yet, one she reveres, the other, despises. There was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Miranda answered. Chakwas stepped in.
"Shepard, would you come to my office for a moment?" She gave me a look hinting it was urgent. I had a few ideas. I nodded.
"Excuse me, Miranda." I left with Chakwas, straight towards the med-bay. Grunt was in the mess, shoving food in his face, and Jack had apparently just come up to snag some food and bring it right back to her… room. "Did she respond?"
"Yes. Apparently, her ship has been out of comm range for some time. Her answer to your question… was in a heartbeat." I took a deep breath. Time to make a call.
"Is she ready for a call?"
"I asked that she remain ready for a call soon."
"Well, no time to waste then… I swear, if the Collectors choose now to attack," I grumbled. I immediately went towards the elevators, and my quarters. Once I arrived, I sat right down at my computer, and linked my Omni-tool. I typed down her number, and just as I was about to call, I hesitated. It was a vid-call. It would only make the raw emotion that much more powerful. But… it needs to happen. I pressed the button, and I waited. It took some time, but as I nervously watched the dots of the waiting call move, they came to an end, and the feed changed.
"This is Captain Hannah She-" She froze. Eyes wide, gazing all over my own features. Her hair was starting to grey, but was the same cleanly cut length. "J-John?"
"Hi mom," I answered awkwardly, scratching the back of my neck.
"How… What? Who are…?" she started breaking, tears starting to stream. "You've been alive all this time?!" she cried out.
"Not exactly…"
"Not exactly?! I've mourned my only son for two fucking years! How does one 'not exactly' be alive for two fucking years?!" Yeah… the stages of grief. Can't blame her for this response.
"Because I was dead. Over the last two years my body was apparently being found, and rebuilt."
"How…" mother paused again, struggling with herself, with… this.
"I don't really know how. I just know who. And why."
"W-Well?" she asked. The door to her quarters opened.
"Ma'am. There's a-"
"Out! Get out! Whatever it is, I'll deal with it later!" mom exclaimed. The door immediately shut, and mom returned her focus to me. "Explain. Everything."
"Well… the who, believe it or not… Cerberus."
"The same organization you were on the verge of crusading against?" Mom asked, surprised.
"Yeah. Weird decision on their part. When I found out, I nearly killed the one who told me. As for why, remember the Reapers?"
"Of course, Anderson and Hackett have done what they can to keep them on the forefront, so have I, but they're only two voices, and I'm only a Captain. Is it something to do with them?"
"Everything, more like. Only thing Cerberus and I agree on is that they're a threat and need to be stopped. That's why they spent so much time and money bringing me back. Cerberus apparently thinks quite a lot of me. They offered credits, a ship, intel, and dossiers for recruits. And they have no illusions about me taking orders from those scumbags. As for the Reapers, have you heard about the missing colonies?"
"I have… troubling."
"It's the Collectors. I've seen proof. I've been putting a team together to eventually go through the Omega 4. That's… why I didn't call sooner."
"I… I see." Mom looked down, sadly. "I take it Karin is with you then. It explains the message…"
"She is. She accepted Cerberus' offer only because of me. So did Joker. I've already stumbled upon Garrus and Tali. Only thing keeping me sane with these bastards."
"It's… good you have friends around. I'm sorry. This is just, a lot."
"How couldn't it be? It's still a lot for me too." The intercom came to life.
"Commander, The Illusive Man is making contact. It's listed as urgent," Miranda informed.
"Shit, that's the cue we've been waiting for," I murmured. "Look, mom, I'm sorry but I have to go. Can you… do me a favor, and tell David? Maybe pass it along to Hackett too? I'll be making my way to the Citadel soon after this mission to talk to the Council. I want Hackett to be there too."
"I'll send the message right away. Whatever's going on, John, good luck. And… you don't know how glad I am to have you back," she managed to smile.
"It's good to be back."