AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey everyone, I just want to take a moment to address a recent review on this story that I took some time to think about.
Lambo? You're right. And I'm going to take steps to fix this. I've been too concerned about having scenes with those miscellanious and rather inconsequential moments in the game. Rather than maybe just a passing moment in narration as to how this happened. Parasini? Shiala? The poetic Krogan? That's the method I need to take with them because I do still want to acknowledge them, because of the relation to the past for the two and the relation to the future for the Krogan, and the Asari to mention the Rachni I'm debating whether or not to include, (yet have quite brief and in passing) discussion with her or something else in narration. While I do feel like Shepard's actions make sense for him, considering his experience with slavers, I.E. Elysium as one main example, as well as other times from just being a Marine. And hey, Not everything is a black and white paragon and renegade. Is it genuinely justifiable? Yes and no. And that matters for characters.
Also even though the time to heal is as fast as it is and maybe stretching even what medicine in those days may be able to do, I may have bitten myself in the ass a bit by making it take as long as it is.
So. Here's the new game plan. I WANT to get things moving. And I'm going to do that. The only thing I still want to do before that happens, is to do what I mentioned in an earlier Author's note. Go around Illium for some actually new things and clubs and maybe a beach. Then we're going to actually do the Shadow Broker stuff. And don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Tali's loyalty or Overlord. However both are happening before we meet Legion.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy. And, Lambo? Please, leave more reviews like that to get me thinking on a set path. For a while something has felt lackluster but I couldn't quite place it. This helped me realize. And if you ever have any more concerns and such, and this goes to everyone, do not be afraid to leave a review or message me directly. I welcome it, genuinely and truly.
Commander John Shepard
The three of us met with Liara at her office, having wasted the time necessary as her office was closing. She just led us through the back exit to the carport and to Liara's skycar. A new and expensive model, I might add. It is just fortunate that it will still seat the four of us. The vehicle was all black, leather seats, seat warmers, and, of course, cupholders.
"It seems the life of an info-broker has some perks. This is a bit nicer than the shuttle," Garrus remarked.
"And drives smoother than the Mako," Liara added.
"Not the Mako's fault we only ever operated on shitty terrain," I butted in.
"Regardless, I have a new appreciation for the smooth flight of a skycar in civilization, is all," Liara defended. I didn't respond, just smirked and looked out across the city's high rises and the ground below. While Illium is far, far from being an Ecumeneopolis, no world is closer, major city centers are reminiscent of what that would look like. Where at the surface are just more complexes, an undercity. Whether for maintenance of all kinds or poor living, but still, at the very top of that surface complex are still the streets to walk around, not unlike where we just were at the trading center.
Eventually, we pulled in close to one of the skyscrapers, Liara raising the altitude by a few dozen and then coming to a stop alongside a large external door. She pressed a button on the roof of the skycar and it unsealed, then opened, a well-lit, clean garage. While it was mostly barren within, so that the opening of the door at this height doesn't suck out anything within, it seems the garage came with some built-in workbenches and such. But I figure Liara doesn't make use of them, she's a scientist, not a mechanic, and she has the credits to just take it into the shop. Liara turned the sky car around and backed it into the garage, setting it down gently before closing the garage door, only then were we able to disembark. The walls were all white and slightly reflective, with a door and single-step staircase at the corner to the back right of the skycar.
"My apartment is the one place on Illium where I can safely speak. I have my own security programs and made hardware security wherever I can, soundproofed every last inch, and the glass is not just bulletproof but blast-proof. No one gets in without my knowing, and even then, I search for bugs weekly," Liara explained as she led us to the door, revealing a narrow hallway that slowly lit up for us. "Bathroom, should you need it," she gestured at a door on her right. And at the far end of the hall was a display case, with… part of my old armor? It was a chunk of the torso and the left arm and shoulder, a piece of the right, through about half of the N7 and the right arm missing.
"That's part of what I need to talk with you all about. Please, come in." The hallway opened up into a large kitchen, living room, and dining room all together with a large curved window making up the length of the wall on the far side, providing a very nice view of the city. "Can I get anyone a drink? I made sure I had dextro, and filtered dextro, on hand after your first visit to Illium."
"I get the sense whatever we need to talk about we're going to need some booze for. Bourbon?"
"Sorry, John. Is Whiskey alright? I have an Earth brand, Jack Daniels?"
"Sure, neat."
"Brandy?" Garrus asked. "Whiskey, Brandy, Wine for me, and you, Tali?" Liara asked as she was getting the bottles out.
"I'll try some wine as well, if you have that."
"I do. Please, sit, get comfortable. I'll be right out." A few quiet moments passed as Liara came out, a serving plate in one hand to carry the three glasses for us and a bottle of Asari wine in the other hand, a bottle of dextro wine, sealed, stuffed between her arm and body securely, while the Turian Brandy and the Daniels were carried in front of her via biotics, gently placing the plate and the floating bottles down together, followed by the wine bottles. She also poured the first round into the glasses, while simply handing the bottle of dextro wine to Tali to attach to her mask's induction port. She mentioned once how it's different than the emergency port, for use when there's not a bottle of some kind. Wonder what that difference is. While Garrus, Tali, and I were sat on the couch, Liara turned a recliner to face us as I took my first swig, Liara, a sip before she began to speak.
"After the… event, two years ago, I went searching for you, your body. Originally with no intent more than to provide a proper burial, and out of the hands of profiteers in Terminus looking to pawn you off. Unfortunately, I was only following the trail longer than I'd like. I followed it to Omega and met with a Drell by the name of Feron. I didn't know it yet, but he was essentially a… triple agent of sorts. Having worked for the Broker before, hired by Cerberus for dirt on the Broker, and hired by me to help find you. We had to deal with some mercs at a few points," Garrus cut off Liara
"You're welcome for one group of those." Liara smiled,
"Hindsight told me that might have been you. It was shortly after that one that I ran into Operative Lawson, in fact. She explained who they were and that they wanted to recover your body as well. I even spoke with the Illusive Man. While of course there wasn't trust, we shared a goal." As Liara spoke, I could feel a pit in my stomach, not just because we're talking about people hauling around my corpse, but Cerberus' hunt for it. I poured more whiskey into my glass and took it all down in another large swig.
"When it was all said and done, they body-snatched me from you?"
Liara sighed and looked down.
"When it was all said and done, Feron sacrificed himself so that I could escape with you, I learned that the Collectors wanted your body and had hired the Broker. And I learned what Cerberus wanted with your body." She stared me in the eyes. "I gave you to them." The room was silent, and my grip on the armrest of the cough tightened. While in the silence, Tali stood, walked over to Liara, got down and hugged her close.
"Thank you," I heard her mutter, holding back tears.
"You ok, Shepard?" Garrus asked, glancing at me. Still preferring to use my last name for now, despite Liara and Tali have both used my first.
"Mixed emotions. Really mixed," I took another large swig of my whiskey. Straight from the bottle this time. Not caring about the burn as it went down. "I mean, I'm obviously glad the Collectors never got their claws on me, or that my body didn't get to be paraded around as a kind of trophy. And, yes, being alive beats being dead, I mean, I've gotten to see my mom, Anderson, all of you again. Not to mention uh, taking care of one of my regrets," I did manage a grin at Tali as she looked over from her new position. I could picture her own grin from the slight shifting of her eyes behind the mask.
"But the uh, the dog shit that's been dropped into this little fairy tale resurrection of mine? Cerberus. Fucking Cerberus. The faces of Akuze have been coming back to me again, accusing me again. My waking hours, my sleeping hours. Hell, even when I'm just taking a damned shit they come to me. Having you around helps, Tali, but you can't be there every last moment. I dread checking my messages in fear that I'll see that Toombs has learned. He probably knows I'm back, but you all know the efforts I'm taking to hide the link from all but a few." I took another swig. "It's dug up a lot of what I left buried." While Tali returned to the couch, taking a seat right beside me, leaning her head on my shoulder, I leaned my head on hers as Garrus and Liara both took another swig and sip respectively of their own drinks.
"I understand, John, I do, and I'm sorry they've been dug back up. If it helps, it wasn't a choice I made easily. Like I said at the beginning, I wanted to ensure you had a proper burial, and not paraded around like a trophy for merc bands. And then to ensure the Collectors couldn't do whatever they had planned for you. It took time for Lawson to convince me that Lazarus was the best course of action."
"How so?"
"I imagine some of the same reasoning Cerberus has already given you. The Collectors, likely with Geth assistance laid a trap for the Normandy, for you. The first known offensive action of the Collectors. Not just defensive or retaliation but going out of their way to eliminate someone. They didn't target the life pods or try to capture them. Simple revenge doesn't seem like something the Reapers would care about. They deemed it important to take you out before their invasion, whenever that is. Not even that but they wanted your body within their possession. We have no idea for what purpose. The Reapers want, maybe even need you dead, John. If there was even a chance Cerberus would have been able to bring you back… well, even if they couldn't, what would change?"
"Fair point."
"And, finally, I want to say this myself so that no one else can make the claim. Joker, in particular," she allowed a smirk. "I admit, some of the motivation might be considered selfish. In my naive self of two years ago, I revealed my affection and asked if it was mutual. Even though you told me it was not, a part of me I believe hoped I'd have had another chance," Liara chuckled, shaking her head. "But part of becoming a successful information broker means you need to understand people, and not be a borderline sociopath. In the two years, I did come to recognize and accept that I already had my chance, and that you were already Tali's, even if you didn't know it yourself yet. Any selfish hopes or expectations I held I released long ago. And I'm happy for the both of you."
"Thank you, Liara. That's very mature of you."
"And it only took a hundred and eight years for maturity to finally catch up," she teased herself.
"Still sooner than some humans ever find theirs."
"So, changing the topic, what was it about the information we gave you that made us need to have this talk tonight? Here?"
"One brief part of the information Cerberus did decode for me. Feron, the Drell who helped me, is alive. All this time I've owed it to him to rescue him and avenge him if I couldn't. Not only that, but the decoded portion indicates that he's being held in the same physical location as the Broker. I believe that once decoded, this information will have a lead. I've already delivered a copy to a trusted contact for decryption. We should have results in a few days. But I can't do this myself. Any team I could put together would be mercenaries, and none of them I could trust. And of course, it would be impossible for me to arrive undetected. I need my friends."
"Well," I set my drink down. "It's not like the Broker hasn't gotten himself put on my shit list. After all, I suppose I do owe you one. Or a few. You know, for being one of the reasons I'm alive again."
"And so do I," Tali added.
"Ah, what the hell?' Garrus remarked. "Besides, going after a shadowy and corrupt son of a bitch? It'll be just like old times. You know, before we learned of the galactic scale threat that Saren actually represented. I'm in. And imagine we bring the Broker in alive. I'd love to see the look on Pallin's face, seeing me after running off to play vigilante bringing in the Shadow Broker, alive. I'm in. On one condition."
"And what's that, Garrus?"
"I want the name and contact info of your new secretary."
Commander John Shepard
The three of us had spent the night at Liara's, as she offered the guest bedroom for Tali and I, and Garrus accepted the couch. In part so that we could continue to talk and drink. And as for food? Well, that's what delivery is for. In the morning, Liara still needed to work and I wanted to return to the Normandy to let the crew know what the plan is for now. Liara, after a laugh, agreed to fulfill Garrus' one condition, and breakfast on our way back was just a drive-thru. There's something funny about having a skyscraper with a fast food joint in it and a drive-thru, for flying cars.
Eventually, of course, we arrived back at the trading complex in the same lot, and the same parking space as the night before. We traded farewell's with Liara and briefly returned to the Normandy. I had already asked for the ground team and crew chief's for the various stations of the Normandy to meet in the mess hall. Though to save Tali some time for my sake and hers, Gabby and Ken would be present as well. Naturally, I made sure to schedule it for a little after we were due to return. When I arrived at the mess, about half of the request crew was already present, and just a few minutes later, everyone was present. Either sitting or standing and leaning against something, looking at me.
"Simply put, in a few days the Normandy is going to have a mission, but in the meantime, we'll be staying here in Nos Astra. We don't have an exact timetable, so I'm announcing a limited shore leave. I don't want any station to be less than half manned at all times and I want the Normandy ready to depart within half an hour of a recall. Ground team, I'm not limiting how many of you can be out at one time, but you all need to be able to return to the Normandy within one hour. Miranda, if you could work out an acceptable but comfortable allowance to all crewmembers heading out. Crew chiefs, I trust you all to work out the schedules with your own stations. Gabby, I believe I can trust you with that responsibility for Engineering."
"No problem, Shepard."
"Good. Finally, ground rules. Absolutely no trouble with the law or you'll be stuck on the ship when we have an actual shore leave before Omega-4. Second, don't. Sign. Anything. This is Illium after all. The receipt for your dinner is one thing, but I don't want the hassle of tearing up a slave contract you signed yourself into. Any questions?"
"What's the mission, Shepard?"
"I can't say until we're underway. People talk when they get drunk and this is something better kept under wraps for now. EDI, send a copy of that Nos Astra map to everyone on board. Limit it down to only what's in an hour cab drive." After speaking to the ceiling to address EDI, I returned my glance to the crew. "The map will highlight areas that are safe and areas that are shady and with a known merc presence. Eclipse is probably still looking for my head so they're probably not past using the crew to get to me. So, be careful, and at least stay in groups of two. But enough of that. Go on, go out and enjoy yourselves. Dismissed."
"John, before you go out again just yet," Chakwas stopped me.
"Yeah doc?"
"Your new lung is ready. You're coming with me."