Commander John Shepard

Before I went and subjected myself to what was certainly going to be some rather depressing reads, I talked with Feron, saw that little compilation, and saw a few other clips that were on the same video player. He's… recovering. As for the videos, sure, I got a chuckle out of seeing Khalisa being too aggressive for her own good, but I really enjoyed a clip of Anderson punching out a Cerberus operative who tried to meet with him. According to the timestamp, before I woke up. But also curiously, there was a clip of… right, Matriarch Aethyta, that bartender on Illium? Alone at home, drinking and looking sadly at a picture of Liara.

Then came time for reading. I left the ship and returned to the Normandy, giving a farewell to both Liara and Feron, the former asking to come up to the ship in a few hours for one last drink. I was happy to make that arrangement. Once I returned, I went straight to my quarters and began looking at the dossiers. Might as well read them in order, and they all had a brief evaluation following their names. Before any of the personal information. First on the list was Miranda. Surprisingly, and I believe short sighted, the Broker listed her as a candidate for recruitment after the death of TIM and Cerberus. Whether or not this is accounting for any of my influence, I've no clue. Almost what I would call lazily, or even shallow of the Broker, the first few entries were just copies of exchanges from that dating/hookup extranet site iPartner. I didn't read any of those, not my business, and very likely nothing remotely relevant to some problem she's having. There was an excerpt of a conversation she's had with Oriana, I didn't read it, but I did quickly scan it for any… troubling keywords. Nothing, so I left it alone. The only thing I did actually allow myself to read was some Medical Correspondence. Long story short, she's infertile, and almost certainly it's because of her modifications. Perhaps that's how Oriana is the perfected. Regardless, the fact she went through this test does say a good deal, but it's not anything I can work with or anything that I can or should bring up. Moving on.

Mordin. Well, the Broker caught that his work with me is an attempt at atonement. Suppose that is close to the truth. But I don't think I saw the number of the current Genophage death rate. 99.9%. Then again, of course it is, if it's everyone in a thousand that survive. First in the dossier was a mission report from the STG. They were looking for confirmation from Clan Weyrloc's supplies that the strengthened Genophage was working and dispersed properly. Mordin was on the mission with Commander Kirrahe and his team. Several times the mission report stated that Mordin said Kirrahe had something stuck up his 'cloaca,' apparently for not changing any of the plan. At one point, even saying it was Kirrahe's head stuck up there. Huh, there's the time he killed someone with farming equipment, a pitchfork into the eye of a Krogan. Ah, there's a kicker, the Krogan guards they were forced to kill were female. That stuck with Mordin. And Maelon was on the mission, he was anything but happy, but was wounded, and sedated.

Following that was a bibliography, not really anything interesting except what was classified, and that Mordin has apparently done quite a bit of theatre. I was actually pleased to see that he had published a report on Indoctrination Progression and Mental Degradation that the STG is keeping classified, though, I just hope it wasn't testing on anything Sapient, which, well, he's adamantly against anyways. So, the Salarians are taking it at least somewhat seriously. The Broker also had a surveillance transcript of when Mordin was on Omega, his clinic during the plague. But it honestly didn't tell me anything about Mordin that I didn't already know.

Jacob's file was next, and the Broker had surmised that the main reason Jacob was placed on my team was a 'stabilizing personality.' I see no reason to believe that's wrong. But everything else in Jacob's file was inconsequential and I could not be bothered to read. There was a message from his father, but I couldn't be stomached to even think of that man.

But Jack's file? Well… The summary was nothing new, there was a log of extranet searches that was inconsequential. There was a response to a poetry submission of all things, the name she used being 'Jacqueline Nought.' And the poem was turned down because of poetry rules I could never be bothered to learn or care about and is probably more often than not just a filter egotistical nitwits like to use for an air of sophistication. As for Jack's Poem? Well, by definition, it was rather edgy and dark. But considering the author, and what I know about her? Yeah, that both expected, and an outlet for her. Something she should probably be trying more often, but I bet that rejection didn't help this path. The poem itself read:

My soul

Burns

With a fire of darkness

Quenched only in the pain

Of loneliness

I hold my breath waiting

Until spots appear black as the past

And fill my lungs with lies of hope

I mark myself

Black and Jagged

To cover the scars

That make me a monster

A warning

This is not a place of honor

No esteemed dead are buried here.

She needs help. If that wasn't obvious enough before. The last file, however, was a surveillance transcript from a hospital on Eden Prime back in 2165. A "Doctor Castor" telling an unidentified woman that her child had died of Eezo exposure. The mother utterly distraught, as her baby, 'Jennifer' was completely fine and just in for a check-up earlier. The Doctor telling her that she wouldn't even want to see the body because of what the seizures did to the body. Asking if she'd be willing to allow them to keep the body for tests to prevent it from happening again, and also putting some blame on government inaction. He managed to convince her, and then made a secure private call. Telling whoever was on the other side they had the highest potential candidate they've ever seen. And to send a team from Pragia. Well. Shit.

Moving on, Zaeed's file was next, but it was nothing new and nothing important, so I just kept going, there was Garrus, but I decided I should leave him and Tali for last. And so, it was Samara. A few accounts of her 'adventures' so to speak, a list of what she gave up when she began her training, and a communication log between her and her daughters, all the way back in 1755. Where she told her daughters, Rila and Falere, the two Ardat-Yakshi of hers that chose Monastery life, of how she was becoming a Justicar to hunt down Mirala. Samara's reasoning being that she believes Mirala's crimes are hers, as she let her go. Considering part of the oath was that she would not contact or visit her daughters, they were hurt. Understandably. The communication did not end on the worst of terms, but there was clear pain on both sides.

Following that was Kasumi, with a Haiku that… I honestly couldn't help but laugh at once I finished.

Breathless, glinting skin

Muscles working in rhythm

Cloaked desire watches.

Looking at me now

His indifferent eyes smile

I am a puddle.

Beautiful and good

Punishing with his kindness

Jacob is perfect

Just… wow. Just spying on Jacob as he works out with her cloak. That's funny. Beyond that, a personal correspondence including a list of items she was willing to trade to a contact. Some were alien in origin, such as works from a Quarian poet, but two others stuck out massively. Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, and the Koh-I-Noor diamond, crown not included. Impressive.

Thane's file was an account of some of his assassinations, mention of his Kepral's, and his preferred methods for the different races. Including an alternate. The Krogan alternate however was much simpler. Bomb.

Grunt's was simple, and despite how I would have passed by this for anyone else, I was rather confident that he could not give less of a shit. Some extranet activity and some transactions. His spelling needs a bit of work but trying to get information on Krogans and then myself. Then learning about and becoming quite… interested by dinosaurs and Sharks. As for transactions, there was some food, some videos about vicious animals, porn, and a comical contrast, a Krogan action figure. That was it for the crew. Liara had sent a list of Broker files on Cerberus activity over the years, but I'm more inclined to go over that some other time. Probably with Miranda after I go through it the first time. But Liara had given me a file on Admiral Hackett. Well, a piece of correspondence between him and a Major in the navy.

Major Caleb Antella was informing the Admiral that they had confirmed sightings of myself on Omega, and had information leaked to them that I was working for Cerberus. Several Alliance officials were demanding that I be brought in for interrogation from an apparent desertion, and to do so right then and there to prevent being pressured to leak sensitive information. The Major was requesting that Hackett rescind his orders against Alliance contact with Shepard, and that the Admiral should rest assured that they were dedicated to my safety, provided I was cooperative in providing a detailed report, anticipating my release in five to seven months. Yeah, would not have gone along with that. Hackett's response brought a smile to my face.

"Request denied." Nothing more, nothing less. It's good to have this added certainty that I have his trust, especially since this was before I made contact myself. But that left the only two files as Tali and Garrus. I pulled up Tali's first, considering I was told that Garrus was the most important for me to look through. What was curious about Tali's evaluation was that the Broker describes her father's work as useful in widening the tensions between the Geth and Quarians. What does the Broker stand to gain from that? Have the Geth attempted to purchase information? Have the Quarians gone to the Broker for some reason for Geth intel? Something else entirely? One of the first files in the dossier was Tali's original contact with the Broker two years ago. The bastard planned to have her killed once the information was secure, as well as anyone else who had contact with the information. It wouldn't have mattered if Fist was compromised or not. As for what else was there, some old correspondence, recordings of her as part of the team, and the Broker had snagged somewhere that she and I were involved. But nothing that I was going to read through.

And so, Garrus. That evaluation stuck out to me. 'Former C-Sec officer. Exceptional tactical and team-building skills. Leadership potential overshadowed by Shepard. Unlikely to fully develop under Shepard's command.' I… huh. Maybe I am doing that to him. If anyone on this ship could take my place, it would be Garrus, without any shadow of doubt. Two of the files were flagged by Liara, a personal correspondence between him and his sister, Solana, and something between him and a medical firm. It was initiated by Garrus, having caught her before bed. He told her that he was with me, couldn't say where beyond that. She made a few guesses before Garrus asked her how mom was doing. The response: how the last round of treatments didn't go so well. I didn't know Garrus' mom was sick. They plan on using an off-world firm, a Salarian one, but it's not covered. Garrus offered to pay, Solana wasn't convinced he could, having lost his C-Sec job and been playing Vigilante. Then she… exploded on him.

"So don't give me more garbage about how you're going to help. You obviously can't help or won't bother. Damn it you haven't even bothered to sync up for video chat since you lost your damned job. If you're ashamed to look me in the eye, then why are we even talking? Go have your fun doing merc work or screwing around or whatever. Just don't act like you care." It took a few minutes for Garrus to respond. Saying she was right, that he was sorry. She apologized herself after, that things are rough with mom, the Salarians are expensive. My heart went out to the man I call brother. All this time, I had no idea. I followed up with the message to the Helos Medical Institute. They thanked him for his efforts and his donation of Collector tissue and extended a thanks to Dr. Solus for making some calls that upgraded their corporate security clearance. They addressed his concern with Corpalis Syndrome. A rare, but ugly disease. Neurological degeneration that is difficult to witness and nearly impossible to halt. They're doing test trials for new treatment, and with new STG clearance they believe they can waive all fees for trial members as a Government cooperation effort with the Hierarchy. And… he wanted it anonymous. His team on Omega had such an impact on him, I can't even begin to imagine how harshly he's handling this. If Liara is the one who pointed it out to me I'm sure she's going to try to help in some capacity.

I then sent messages to each of the crew individually. Attaching their respective file to the message. In a case such as Jacob's or Zaeed's, I told them the truth, that all I read was the overall evaluation by the Broker. In a case such as Miranda's or Samara's, where I read all but one file, I specified the file and how much I actually knew from it and a clarification that Liara insisted that some files contained information I should know in order to help the related crewmember. With Jack I emphasized how there was information she'd want to know regarding herself. And for Garrus?

I told him I was there for him to talk, whenever he needed. That if there's anything I can do to help, it's done.