AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys! Sorry if the beginning is iffy, but that's just kinda the problem to dal with when you end last chapter, on what's narratively a pretty nice spot, but, inconvienient otherwise. Still worth it though. Hope you enjoy! And also, the reason for the end stuff? River's idea. And yeah it means a good part of next chapter is gonna be free-hand too
Commander John Shepard
So, that had been a bombshell. Thane had gone on to explain, and reassure, why he was dying. He simply dropped the name, Kepral's Syndrome, and stated that it wasn't contagious, nor was it at a stage that would affect his work. Right, it's not quite common knowledge, given how few Drell are out there, and how it's also only a real problem for Drell who spend significant enough portions of their lives on Kahje. But it's still common enough amongst Drell themselves to make it noteworthy in N7 training. Mostly, in case you're ever fighting a Drell.
More relevant, and more important, Thane wasn't concerned with suicidal odds, but he was concerned about the lives of the colonists. "The universe is a dark place. I'm trying to make it brighter before I die," he said. Noble. He also said that he must atone for not being fast or strong enough to save the other innocents killed by Nassana today. I can understand why he takes that blame, even if it's not his. Thane had offered his hand.
He'd join us, free of charge.
With the recruitment complete, and the Eclipse bugging out without a client, we called the shuttle, taking a slight detour to Thane's safe-house so he could retrieve all of his gear, then back to the ship. It was getting late, but that only meant the sky lanes of Nos Astra would be getting more crowded as the night-life began. I took this time as a chance to explain to Thane the… complications of the current situation. Meaning, Cerberus. He calmly accepted everything he was told. When we did return to the ship, Miranda quickly got him logged, and he requested to use life-support as his room. Warm and dry after all. And after two combat missions today, Garrus, Tali, and myself were exhausted. The others who had seen action today? Tired. Introductions for Thane were just going to wait until the morning. So, I got a good night's sleep, but… something felt like it was missing. I had a pretty decent idea what that missing component was, or rather, who it was, but I opted not to dwell on that overnight. When I woke, I requested that all the ground team meet in the briefing room. Jack and Grunt were the last to arrive. I gestured for Thane to join me at the back of the room, facing the door.
"Everyone, meet Thane Krios. Our final recruit. Thane, your dossier described you as also being a skilled marksman in addition to your hand-to-hand, correct?"
"Correct, Shepard. Several of my contracts have been fulfilled from long distances. In addition," he glowed blue for a brief moment. A biotic as well. "My abilities are mild in their… manifestation, but I can use what I have well."
"Given the Collectors use barriers themselves, I'll happily take all the biotics I can get," I remarked. "So, going through with introductions. Thane, the ugly bastard of a Turian right there you might recognize is Garrus Vakarian. A good, old friend, my right-hand man, and a skilled marksman. Ex C-Sec as well.
"Why thank you, Shepard," Garrus smirked, and Thane nodded.
"Tali'Zorah, another good, old friend. Among other things," I added quickly, relatively quietly. Garrus snorted, and I noticed another… unsure, brow raise from Miranda. Tali just looked down, no doubt blushing, and wrung her hands. "Our tech expert and best hacker I've seen."
"I want to say you haven't seen me in action yet, but I don't want to ruin the moment either," Kasumi teased.
"But you did say it," Grunt responded, not following.
"Exactly," the thief giggled. Thane just nodded again, his hands together behind his back.
"Little Ms. Giggles is Kasumi Goto. Thief by trade, and infiltration specialist on this mission."
"Hi," Kasumi added, gleefully.
"The Krogan is Grunt. A few things still get over his head, and he's always looking to test himself. Don't be surprised if he wants to spar."
"Nothing gets over my head," Grunt grumbled. "I'm too fast. I'd catch it." I struggled to not let my grin turn into laughter.
"Whatever you say, Drax." Kasumi giggled again, getting the reference. Everyone else either looked confused or just ignored it.
"I would be happy to train with you, Grunt. I don't often get to practice with Krogan, not unless my life depends on it," Thane spoke.
"We've also got Jack, the other human you saw with us. A powerful biotic." She just huffed, arms crossed over her chest. "And real talkative. The Asari is Justicar Samara, another powerful biotic.
"Do you serve the Hanar Primacy with your actions?" she asked.
"They trained me under the terms of the Compact and I served them for a time, yes. I left to start a family, but eventually, found I knew nothing but. I returned to the skills I knew, sometimes for the Primacy, sometimes in contracts. However, the morals of my faith and those taught to me by the Primacy did join me," he explained.
He has a family? If he's not concerned with dying on them in this mission, maybe something happened to it.
"I see." Samara answered. I returned to the introductions.
"The Salarian is professor Mordin Solus. Former STG, skilled in combat, and a brilliant scientist, I believe specifically in genetics."
"Rasp in voice slightly deeper than most Drell. If most of life spent with Hanar primacy, must ask. Kepral's Syndrome?"
"The middle stages, yes. I assure you, it will not affect my work."
"Is that shit contagious?" Zaeed questioned, cautious.
"No, no," Mordin shook his head. "Affects Drell only. Drell native to arid environments. Kahje very humid, wet. Higher risk in Drell living on Kahje." The doc returned his attention to Thane. "Will still provide medications to ease and slow process."
"That is appreciated, Professor."
"Thanks for helping, Mordin. Thane, Mr. Germaphobe there is Zaeed Massani. I'm sure you're familiar with his name."
"I am."
"Yeah and I've heard yours before," the merc added.
"Closing up, we have Miranda the XO you met last night, and finally, Jacob Taylor, armory chief, biotic, soldier."
"I've heard plenty of stories, Krios," Jacob crossed his arms over his chest. "Sounds like you'll be an asset," he huffed. Hostility? "Can't say I'm comfortable having an assassin watch your back."
"I have accepted a contract. My arm is Shepard's," Thane stated calmly.
"Uh-huh. Until someone offers a bigger paycheck, right?"
"He's doing this for free, Jacob. He's not being paid a single chit. He wants to help the Colonists," I intervened. He still didn't look convinced.
"I don't like mercs. An assassin is just a precise merc."
"Oi, the fuck that's supposed to mean? I make my bullets count," Zaeed exclaimed.
"All right, all right, lock it up. Now that everyone knows everyone, I've got one more thing before I release you all for breakfast. We've finished our recruitments. That means regarding the Collectors, we're waiting to hear from TIM about any intel regarding safe passage through Omega-4, or the Collectors making a move. As it stands, I know that Zaeed and Kasumi both have business that, as part of their signing agreement, need to be completed before we go through that relay. If any of you have some other unfinished business, some loose ends you'd like tied, tell me, and I'll see what I can do. I want everyone focused with a clear head when we go through, whenever that might be. If all you want is some last party or night on the town, you just want to sneak away from the ship for a while to get laid, anything like that, no need to worry about letting me know. Before we do go through, I've got… leads on some hardware the Normandy could most certainly use. That'll require shore leave in a drydock while the Normandy gets worked on. That'll be your time for anything like that. Does anyone have anything they know of yet?" I asked. I've no doubt Miranda wants to hear more about those leads, but I suppose she's deciding against interrupting me.
"Yeah, I got something," Jack stated. "But like fuck am I telling where Cheerleader can hear. Or anyone else." Miranda glared at her. I nodded at Jack.
"Anyone else?" No one spoke. "Alright. If something crops up along the way, it's still fair game to bring up. We'll be on Illium for another day or two, maybe three, to help out our old friend Liara for some business, and a little bit of R&R for getting the whole team together. Miranda, arrange a limited shore leave set up for the general crew, some extra liberties thrown at Chakwas and Joker. I want everyone who leaves the ship to be ready to come back at a moment's notice. Ground team gets the whole time off unless I call for them on a mission. The main rule for everyone, don't go too far from the ship."
"Understood, Shepard," Miranda answered.
"Everyone but Jack, dismissed." They cleared out, Jack stayed.
"You know how far back my history with Cerberus goes?"
"All I know is that it goes back pretty far."
"To the beginning. They raised me. My first memory? My cell door in a Cerberus base." She looked down, angry. Cerberus screwing with kids, I saw the same during the Saren campaign.
"Two years ago, my team and I investigated the colony on Chasca. We found Cerberus turning the Colonists, even the children, into those Husk monstrosities. They had problems containing the husks. In one of the kid's blocks, the husks… broke out."
"Fucked up experiments. That's what they did to me. Minus the space zombie. It was torture. Tried to turn me into some… super-biotic." She huffed. "Guess they did. The doctors, other kids. They all hated me. Let me suffer." There was a hot fury rising, just barely contained.
"There were other kids?"
"Yeah, but I don't really know shit about them. They kept us separate. I know they hated me though, like everyone else there. When I broke out, I had to fight through them all." Oh. That's… not a pleasant image. But it also doesn't make sense. If other kids were at this facility, why would they try to keep another subject from escaping? "Killed all the kids, killed all the guards in my way. Got a shuttle off the ground, drifted until a freighter found me. They used me, sold me. Same shitty cycle for years."
Jesus.
"What is it that you want to do?" I asked.
"Those files? Found that facility. It's called Teltin, on Pragia. I want to go to the center, my cell and put down a big fucking bomb, and watch from orbit when it goes to hell. And I want cheerleader to see it all."
"Done," I didn't hesitate. Pragia isn't inhabited by civilians anyway. "It'll be tricky to get our hands on a bomb like what you want, but I've an idea. I promise you it'll be done before the relay, but if there's any time-sensitive requests, it'll have to be moved back in the queue."
"Define time sensitive."
"Like if we get a lead on the criminal Samara is hunting, or someone close to a crewmember is in danger."
"Fine. I'll take it."
Commander John Shepard
After breakfast, Tali and Garrus joined me in my quarters. Tali because she'd get the hacks done faster than the rest of us, and Garrus I offered just in case he wanted to tag along. Of course, he was curious about what was going on with Liara. Once we were all sat down on my sofa, I started a vid-call with her. She answered just a few seconds later. Her blue and freckled face appearing on the screen of my omni-tool.
"Shepard, good morning. I trust the recruitments went well?" she asked.
"They did. We'll be here another couple of days. To help you and for some R&R. Also," I moved my arm so Liara could see Garrus and Tali. The latter waved while the former gave a nod.
"Good morning to both of you as well. Thanks for helping, So, I take it you want to know what I need from you?" she asked.
"That'll be it, yeah," I answered.
"Good. Just a moment," she looked away from the display, likely typing. She waited for a moment. "The line is secure, at least, as secure as I can make it. And your own systems, that is. So, the Shadow Broker's network on Illium has made several of the public extranet terminals in this tower double as security nodes to some of their servers. What I'm looking for are information caches from his agents."
"Wait, hold up," Garrus began. "I know last time you laughed at the notion of even working for the Broker, but this sounds like you're going after him."
"Because I am," she answered calmly. "Hm, I see the surprise," she smirked. "Shepard, I crossed paths with the Broker not long after… you know. We made enemies of one another. Ever since, I've been working to take him down."
"Why?" Liara glanced to the side, some bad memory or other.
"I was on a mission with a friend. We got caught, and my friend didn't escape. I don't know if he's dead or being interrogated, but I need to find him. I owe him my life."
"I… understand," I sighed.
"As I was saying, the Broker's most important agent on Illium is someone called the Observer. Taking them down will put me closer to the Broker. In the servers, there should be logs kept by the Broker's other agents. I'm hoping that the logs you find will point me in their direction. The agents will only be referred to by title and race. Inquiries from Nyxeris has narrowed down the identity to one of five races among the agents. Turian, Salarian, Krogan, Batarian, and, as ridiculous as it sounds, a Vorcha."
"Nyxeris? Your secretary?" Tali asked.
"Yes, she has less suspicion drawn to her compared to my other employees. She's actually my best," Liara explained. "I know of five terminals the broker uses here. Go to each, pull whatever logs you can, and please, tell me what you find."
Commander John Shepard
That's strange. I went through the logs again. All five of the suspects are mentioned, but these logs also describe them as male. The observer is only mentioned once. "Observer recommends a kill, but she may have a grudge." She. Female. I called Liara.
"Shepard?" she asked.
"Something's not adding up, Liara. Your suspects are all male, but the Observer is referred to as female. Who did you say gave you this intel?"
"What? It was Nyxeris, she-" Liara paused. "She gave me the information," she whispered, emphasizing 'gave.' "Shepard, I'll talk to you later," she ended the call immediately. Well. I'd hate to be Nyxeris right about now.
"Should we… go check on her?" Tali questioned.
"Yeah, we probably should," I murmured. We made our way, quickly, back to the main trading floor. Outside the entrance to her Brokerage, there was a "help wanted" sign. And the secretary was staffed with a human woman. Likely one of Liara's other employees temporarily taking the position. The red-haired young woman just nodded, knowing who we were, and allowed us up. Everything appeared to be business as usual. Even when we entered Liara's office. Everything was neat and tidy. Completely unchanged. Except Liara had a black eye. She smiled.
"I'm not surprised, and I am grateful, that you came to check up on me so quickly."
"You ok?" Garrus asked.
"I'm fine, thank you. Nyxeris was skilled, but her barriers needed practice. And she had some very interesting information hidden away."
"It was really over that quickly? And everyone's just… unfazed?" Tali was surprised.
"I pay my employees very well. In fact, here," she activated her Omni-tool as mine was pinged. "Her salary for the rest of the year, and the bonus. This is a lucrative business... when you play it right." I checked the transfer. Jesus, over 100k?"
"This is… very generous, Liara. But, Cerberus funds us well enough," I warned.
"Shepard, please. I prefer practicality to elegance, that alone on Illium has saved me more credits than I can count. Add in my inheritance, some wise investing, and while this certainly isn't pocket change, it's more than affordable. I won't accept it back."
"All right, all right, fine," I relented.
"And I have one last thing for you. Don't worry, this one took nothing but a few moments of my time." Her omni-tool lit up again with another transfer. "A map of Nos Astra with places of interest for you and your crew. Price ranges, quality, who they do and don't serve, as well as areas to avoid because of merc activity. It should help make your stay enjoyable."
"Thanks, Liara."
"You have nothing to thank me for, Shepard. Now, I must apologize, I need to look through the information Nyxeris had on her. Maybe sometime before you leave, I can spare an hour or so for a meal with you three."
"That would be nice, Liara," Tali added. The Asari smiled at the Quarian. We began to take our leave, while I thought of what to do next. Hm, there's an idea. I pulled up the map and searched for nice restaurants. Obviously, ones that would serve Quarians as well. Hm, that last part narrows down most of the high-quality ones. And most of the remaining restaurants list a limited, and cheap, menu of nutrient pastes for 'indentured servants.' The three exceptions are pricey, but reviews are nice. Might just be that they think they can afford those kinds of menus to look nice. The more moderate quality places, hm, more variety. Some with slave menus for Quarians, some with actual food for them, all ranging in quality and priceyness. Double checking: Higher end all requires reservations, and suit and tie. Neither I can get today. Quarians just have to look nice. Tali definitely has that one under control. I chuckled under my breath.
"What is it, John?" Tali asked. Hm, comfortable enough to say my name around Garrus.
"Hm? Oh, planning."
"Planning what?"
"Lunch. I-"
"Oh no, I'm not third-wheeling again," Garrus interrupted.
"Damn right you're not. I wasn't inviting you," I chuckled.
"Oh, well now I just feel insulted," he feigned.
"You'll get over it. What do you think, Tali?"
"It sounds… nice, John," I'm certain she grinned. "I suppose I am feeling a little hungry. It has been a while since breakfast."
"Good! I actually think I have a place figured out," I remarked. "Shall we?"
"Don't mind me, I'll just go find a local dive bar," Garrus again feigned disappointment. We just ignored him.
"We shall." I called a cab, and Garrus wandered off. I checked the outside of my right thigh. Phalanx pistol concealed and comfortably secure. Shield generator secured under my shirt, inconspicuous. For Tali, the same goods were all built into her suit anyway. When the cab arrived, and we entered, it was an older, greasy, slightly overweight human male. One who fortunately kept quiet. The restaurant we were going to was located in one of the mega-mall dome constructs that frequent the city's surface. If one found themselves in one of the skyscrapers, it's either for business, a high-end restaurant, high-end apartments, or something like Nos Astra's trading floor. Our destination, Athenalis, was at the higher side of the medium end. Asari-owned, as is damn near everything on this planet.
It was about a fifteen-minute drive before we arrived outside the one housing our destination. And this place was doing well enough to afford an external entrance with a landing pad, closer to the top of the dome. It seemed a bit busy, but what day is it again? Right, it's a Monday afternoon. Probably one of their slower moments.
The cabbie dropped us off just outside the entrance, and I left behind the standard tip, plus the fare. He wasn't anything special, but he didn't try to take the long way. Besides, that's harder to do nowadays with a bird's eye view of everything. Unless those in the back are… distracted.
"John, are you sure?" I chuckled in response.
"Tsk, I think an N7 trained operative and tactician would know to check and see if his girlfriend can eat on their date," I joked. Tali stood rigid and was no doubt blushing.
"R-right." I just smiled and led her inside. An Asari hostess with three maybe four, other parties sitting and waiting. One a Turian couple, another Human, three Asari, and another Human male.
"Welcome to Athenalis. Table for two?"
"Table for two," I confirmed.
"There should be about…" she checked the terminal at the stand. "A twenty-minute wait. Will that be alright?" I glanced at Tali, she shrugged.
"Yeah, that's fine."
"Great! Name for the table?"
"J-" Wait, I shouldn't-heh, that'll work. "John Doe."
"Great!" she answered, being unfazed, either by not understanding, or just knowing not to react. "Here, this will buzz to alert you when your table is ready. Would you like to go over the menu while you wait?"
"More time chatting at the table or make this quick?" I asked Tali.
"Talking would be nice."
"Then we'll just take the menus at the table, thanks." Wow. I'm realizing that right now, I'm not much else than a yes-man. Garrus would say I was henpecked. Or the Turian equivalent.
He might be right.
Tali'Zorah vas Neema
That was… nice. Almost surprisingly. Between John and I just talking, about… just little things. Like him growing up in the Alliance, myself in classes on the fleet, the twenty minutes went by very quickly.
Our server, another Asari led us to our table, there was a portion of bread with a small dish containing some… herbs? A green liquid, and a brown liquid below that. He later explained the liquids were a mix of olive oil being the green liquid, and… balsamic vinegar. The server explained that they have a dextro equivalent available, but given the necessary sterilization for me, it would cost an additional five credits, rather than complimentary. The same extra would be applied to any meals that weren't nutrient paste. Shepard accepted before I could even argue. At least the water for me was already sterilized, free of charge. And at least the bread tasted good. When it came time to order, Shepard decided against an appetizer for himself, and so did I. What he did order, was something called… a steak. It was very obviously meat. He asked if it could be cooked rare, that must be expensive, getting rare kinds of meat. He also asked that it have some kind of colored cheese, blue, and a reduced form of that balsamic. Which, when the meals came out, he used a spoon to carefully take the syrupy goo onto the meat. He clearly enjoyed the flavor immensely.
As for myself, more of a mixed meal. While I suppose it's not financially smart for this restaurant to source ingredients from the fleet, preserved from Rannoch, Turian versions can still be quite satisfactory. Long explanation short, I ordered Louza, a Turian poultry, with a salad. It was a good meal and it was… really nice, having this time alone with John. John never even let me see the bill before he paid with a "twenty percent tip." I ask a lot of questions.
"So, anything else you'd want to do?" John asked.
"Why don't we walk around a bit?" I suggested.
"Window shopping? Sure thing."
"What's window shopping?" John chuckled as he began to respond.
"Just walking by stores, seeing what they have in their front windows. Anything catches an interest, go in, maybe buy something."
"Well, just to look, then."
"Tali? Cerberus. Credits," he reminded.
"...True." With the meal paid, we left via the megamall's entrance, rather than the exit to the outside, and got walking. It was crowded, but not by the fleet's standards. And I'd doubt by any standards this place has on the weekends. So, just what is it that we're passing by? A men's clothing store, a store for footwear, a toy store for children, tech stores for Omni-tools and other appliances. Oh… a store for women's undergarments. The posters along its windows featuring Asari who are all but nude.
"This is turning out to be less fun than I thought it could be."
"Nothing's striking your fancy either, huh? I've never really been much for commercial shit," John remarked.
"The only things I've seen so far that would interest the fleet and those in it at all would be the children's toys. Maybe those undergarments between bondmates."
"What? The lingerie?" he chuckled. "Figure that's probably more trouble than it's worth. I doubt your clean rooms have much privacy within them."
"Not the ones I've ever been in, but none of those have been cleanrooms for… er… bondmates." Awkward topic of conversation. One making me think of… things. With John. On one hand, I should really stop thinking about such, vulgar, things. On the other?
I really don't want to.
"Hm, well, regardless. By the time either partner gets those suits off, I'd bet they've lost the patience to put anything back on afterwards." I couldn't really answer him. Just trying to control my blushing, calm myself down. John stopped, hand going by his thigh.
"Tali, how many clips you got?"
I snapped to focus.
"One in, three spares. Why?" I questioned.
"Look around. It's empty. Even the stores," he pointed out. He's right. Suddenly, there's no one around.
"Shepard to Normandy, requesting armed backup. Suspecting ambush."
"I'm nearby, Shepard. I'll get there as soon as I can," Garrus answered.
"A fight? Count me in. Huh? Oh, Zaeed too," Grunt chuckled eagerly.
"I shall arrive presently, Commander, as well as Thane," Samara spoke.
"Jacob and I are en-route as well, Commander. Grunt, Zaeed, Samara, Thane, Jacob and I are still aboard. We'll take a shuttle and be right there," Miranda stated. That leaves every name but Jack. Wouldn't expect her to turn down a fight, must be in the middle of something.
"Sounds good. We'll be taking cover in…" he glanced around. "A jewelry store, name of Careen's."
"Why there?" I asked, we were already moving in.
"Cases are bulletproof, everything's wired to an alarm. Only store where our cover will actually be effective. Besides, a tech store or clothing store ain't gonna draw the same attention from cops as expensive gems." Makes sense to me. We hopped over the back counter and got our pistols out. A few seconds later, the gunfire began,
"Not only do we bag the bounty, but we get a big ass score too! Let's get em, ladies!" A woman's voice shouted. I took Chatika from her spot on my belt and threw her over the counter. Shepard and I shared another look, and stood, aiming. Leading the group was an Asari, and her fist was held back, glowing blue, she punched it forward, a blast of energy pulsing out.
Shit.
I was launched back, spun around. I saw nothing but a wall as I impacted, and everything went black.