AN: Told mostly from Jack's pov. Expect heavy language from the onset. Liberal reference of graphic novel ME Foundation: issue 7
MEMEMEMEMEMEME
Purgatory: it wasn't the most conventional of prison stations. For one it wasn't a station but a ship, a large repurposed slave transport purchased by the Blue Suns from the Batarian Hegemony. Though symmetrical it was an ungainly construct. How such a starship could fly had Joker ranting for hours. It looked more like the fossilized bones of some space faring prehistoric beast than a starship.
Joker made the sly comment that the engineers at the batarian shipyard must have forgotten they were building a ship and not a space station. It looked like a piece of shit.
All Shepard retorted was 'batarian'
The second odd thing about the ship was that it wasn't run by any recognized law enforcement agency or private security firm, it was held by the Blue Suns. An odd occupation for a mercenary guild to uphold, but apparently it'd been functional for the past decade so they must have been doing something right. The convicts sentenced to Purgatory were hardened criminals with multiple felonies in their jackets. Murder, serial killing, aggravated rape and torture to name but a few. White collar criminals, your basic car-jacking thug, drug runners and dealers never made it here, they were too small-time.
The Blue Suns only bothered with high profile targets with the highest bounties to be brought back to Purgatory. The criminal known as Jack, or Subject Zero, was one such criminal. Oddly enough, Cerberus was willing to fit the bill for this recruit's acquisition just as they would have had Shepard truly joined The Illusive Man's 'Project Lazarus'. It was for this reason that Shepard had Lawson wear her old white and black Cerberus issued uniform.
Shepard couldn't help but wonder how much of a grudge the Blue Suns held for what happened on Omega. If so, things were going to be very difficult from here on out. It might prove to be a repeat of the case on Nos Austra with the Eclipse, but then again Shepard had made it out of that scrape just fine, so hopefully this would be no different.
At least the team was well chosen if, and more predictably when, things went south. She needed someone with a law enforcement background and one might have suspected Garrus as a first choice since he was one of Shepard most trusted, valued and accomplished companions. But it was Samara that she chose instead. With the Justicar was Zaeed, picked because of his knowledge and personal experience not only with mercenary guilds but with the Blue Suns specifically. He didn't have that tattoo inked billboard-wide on his neck just for show. At some time in his life he had been one of them. The last member of the ground team, of course, was a representative of the cooperation fitting the bill. It seemed only fair.
Besides, Shepard needed to know how the three would fight as a team. And if things progressed as they tended to do in the past few months-shots were going to be fired.
MEMEMEMEMEMEME
Guards everywhere. All turian, all scowling as Shepard's team walked the length of the umbilical connection between the two ships.
"Welcome to Purgatory, Shepard," a turian voice greeted the group. A lieutenant, by the markings on his custom made Blue Sun's armor. "Your package is being prepped and you can claim it shortly. As this is a high security vessel I need you to relinquish your weapons before we can proceed." The demand was issued as if he expected it to be obeyed.
Shepard shook her head decisively. "I can't do that."
"I say we relinquish one bullet," Zaeed popped his mouth off. "Where do you want it?" he said as he reached for the butt of his riffle. Shepard had no intention of chastising him for his actions or words, though. Hell, she almost wished she had said them first. There were times the haughty, superior attitudes of turians riled under her skin.
The guards took an immediate stance against the Commander's party. All six drew their weapons—M-13 Raptors. Zaeed answered the show of force with his own: an M-76 Reverent Machine gun; less accurate then the turians firearms but it dealt a hell of a lot of damage and with his mods it would have no problem breaking into the shields of enemy armor.
Shepard, Samara and Miranda's bodies flared with dark energy. Hands on their guns but they remained holstered, in the confined space their biotics were a far more deadly weapon and less likely to cause a hull breach.
"Everyone stand down!" a turian in a paler shade of blue armor said as he descended the stairs. "Commander Shepard I am Warden Kuril. And this is my ship. Your weapons will be returned to you on your way out. You must realize this is just a standard procedure."
"And it is standard procedure that Spectres keep their weapons," Shepard's voice was chilled, demanding and unmovable. "I am keeping my guns. Period. Same goes for the Justicar." She nodded her heard towards Samara. "I'm sure even in this remote region of space you've heard of them, what they are capable of? A Justicar and a Spectre... you willing to risk those odds? You do and things suddenly become...difficult. Also very dead."
"The Spectre is correct." Samara inclined her head. "Should any attempt be made to disarm me, I will be forced by the Code to insure that does not happen. You will not survive the altercation. I advise against taking such actions."
Spectre and Warden stared at one another until the turian looked away knowing who had the upper hand for the moment. "Let them proceed. Our facility is more than secure enough to handle four armed guests. We're brining Jack out of cryo; as soon as the funds clear you can be on your way. If you will, follow me to out processing for pick up, Commander." The Warden seemed to be struggling with keeping his a diplomatic tone when addressing Shepard. Only after a beat did he acknowledge Samara by title. He did not, however, speak of the others.
"Let's go." Shepard's voice was filled with the chill of command.
The Warden started the tour by leading the Spectre and her team past several cells. Large cranes shifted moving individual cells from one point to another location, funneling them like lab rats.
"Cell Block Two. As you can see keep we a tight control over the population. Each prisoner's cell is a self contained modular unit. I've blown a few out the airlock as an example. The ship has thirty cell blocks identical to this one. We house thousands of criminals." He was rather smug about this fact. It was more like he was talking of chattel and not prisoners. "We can place the whole facility in lock down on a moments notice. Nothing goes wrong here."
Shepard couldn't help but wonder how much of that was true and how much was propaganda.
"What can you tell me about Jack?" Shepard pressed. There was the vague information Liara found that hadn't been redacted by The Illusive Man, but there had been very little of it. She knew Jack identified as Subject Zero and that she was a very powerful biotic but what Shepard wanted was not to be found in documents—a person's reactions and impressions were what she was looking for. Getting them from a jailer wasn't impartial but it was useful.
The Warden was taken aback. "You mean Cerberus hasn't told you?"
Shepard shook her head. TIMmy was ever reluctant to reveal anything of value. And everything thing she had learned of the team he wanted assembled came from her wife, not him. He was always skirting around details, leaving vital information in the dark. If this mission was dependent upon Cerberus Intelligence it would be sorely crippled. She did not like this game TIMmy was playing at.
"Jack is the meanest handful of violence and hatred I've ever encountered. Dangerous, crazy and very powerful. You'll see soon enough." Was there a laugh in his tone?
"How did you end up running this ship?" Shepard asked as the tour went on.
The man shrugged. "I was in law enforcement on Palaven. I got sick of seeing criminals escaping out into the sea of the galaxy to carry on with their crimes and bounty hunters aren't dependable."
"Speak for yourself," Zaeed snapped. "You're a Blue Sun, bounty hunting is no different then merc work."
The warden ignored the aged male. "Eventually I hit upon this idea. Keep the criminals in space and make the galaxy a safer place."
"You do this because you think it's necessary?" Shepard inquired.
"Everyday I see the worse that sapient life has to offer. With governments gone soft and unwilling to make the hard choices, someone had to step up and make the galaxy safe. You Spectres and Justicars only haul them in, maybe a few executions. But what then? A place like this is necessary. "
"How do you maintain the cost?" Samara asked. "Running such a facility cannot be cheap."
"We can cut corners government contractors can't. Each prisoner brings in a fee from his homeworld. These individuals are violent and planets pay well to keep them locked up."
Shepard frowned. "What happens if the homeworld doesn't want to pay?"
"We explain we can't maintain the cost without their help so we'll be forced to release the criminal on his homeworld at an unspecified place and tine,"
"So it's an extortion racket," Miranda jibbed.
"You don't have to agree with my ways but don't question my motives. I'm responsible for keeping dangerous people and I'm keeping them locked up."
"Let's get on with this," Shepard redirected the conversation.
"Have there been escape attempts?" asked the Justicar.
The Warden shook his head. "We're in space. They have no place to go. But still we exercise extreme caution. These are dangerous criminals..." Once more the Warden repeated that particular phrase. Just as he said it, down below on another catwalk there were two inmates getting into a tussle. Two pylons rose out of the floor, encasing the two in security bubbles, much like the one that had held Liara way back on Therum. "We have many ways to control the population."
He turned looking at the four-reading them. "I'm going to go check on the progress of the Cerberus funds. Out processing is further along this corridor. Just past the super-max wing." He paused and cocked his head. "I'll catch up with you later... Shepard."
The four companions waited until the man had gone before the Spectre turned back to her people. "So... anyone catch that these are dangerous people?"
Samara smiled at the jest. "What I caught was his tone after. The way he said your name, it was unsettling."
"Yeah I caught that too. Trap?"
"Trap," the three echoed.
"So how do you want to precede, Commander?" the Justicar asked.
"They want us in out-processing. Bet there are turrets in there, possibly those holding fields we saw in action."
"Which I believe was a show done for our benefit," Miranda pointed out.
"No doubt," Shepard agreed. "We play along but I want weapons at the ready. Take a measure of the room, how many guards, clankers and shield generators. Zaeed at first sign of treachery take out the generators and any mounted turrets.
"We can expect guards to take the room and try and pin us in. Samara, Miranda, flank the entryway, I'll take point." After receiving acknowledgments from her team, the Spectre drew in a breath. "Okay let's do this."
On their way to the obvious trap the Warden had set up, they passed some interrogation cells, though 'interrogation cell' was a loose term or perhaps an archaic one. It was more like torture chambers... and one was in use. The guards inside had taken to beating one of the inmates.
"That is atrocious. Were I not bound by my Oath to you, Shepard, these guards would already be dead."
The guard overseeing the 'interrogation' turned to the asari and it was impossible to see their faces through the closed visors of their helmets but they gave off the vibe of glaring.
"No one walks away from torture unchanged, not the victim, not the torture himself." Zaeed followed. "Never found torture worth the price myself."
"Nor I," Shepard said, marching up to the guard on the outside of the cell. "You will cease this immediately."
Miranda knew the value of interrogation; sometimes it was absolutely necessary. Her own interrogation by Shepard was proof of such. But this was going too far. Cerberus were not the only ones to produce monsters like Kai Leng.
"We have orders to get information out of him about an incident in the showers," the guard said ignoring the Spectre. "What do you care, the man is a serial rapist."
"Any information you want will be invalid, he'll make up anything to get out of the torture. You should know this," Shepard said. "The Justicar stays her hand only because she waits at my orders. You heard her words. What should my orders be?"
That guard gave pause then hit the intercom. "Stop," after a moment he added. "For now."
The screams of the man abated into simpering moans as the inmate curled his bloody, broken body into a ball.
"I was getting tired anyway," the torturer murmured. "I was ready to tag you in."
Samara's hand went to the butt of her pistol yet she stayed her hand. The Code demanded their deaths but the Oath forbade her from taking them. "If you are to kill a criminal then do so cleanly," she said to the turian, her voice as commanding as that of any matriarch.
"I think you're giving them both too much credit to know what is morally right," Miranda commented dryly. "Apparently they are too dim-witted to know what that is." Was she trying to deliberately provoke them into a confrontation or merely making an observation? Not that it mattered. Shepard raised her hand to issue the silent command that it was time for the team to move on.
Once they were they were out of earshot, she said: "Five credits says those two will be amongst the first to storm out processing."
"That'd be a smart wager to take." Zaeed snorted jovially. "If I lay a bet I want a sure thing."
"Come on we have a trap to avoid and a convict to free," Shepard said moving towards the out processing center.
MEMEMEMEMEMEME
The first thing Jack was aware of was that she was no longer in cryo. Rage filled her, fuelled her. Adrenaline roared in her heart, flooding her veins. Her biotics flared to life. She ripped her hands free of the locks on her wrists that bound her to the table she was pinned upon like some damned bug. She reached up with freed hands and tore away the collar around her neck. She didn't care how she got out of cryo, or who let her out or why. Nothing would hold her now.
Two massive god-damn-fucking clankers rose to stop her. They were scrap before they were fully primed. A flare shot into their chaises. Metal screeched and popped as Jack tore into them, using her biotics to tear into the clankers and rip out their mechanical guts.
A powerful WHOOOMPH reverberated through the floors of the ship. It's like god herself had an orgasm. Jack never felt more alive. She had no plan but to get out. There was a shipping bay past cell block two. That fucker Warden would have a short range shuttle. She'd kill that skull-face, take his ship and get the hell out. Navigating the way out of Purgatory was child's play.
Turians didn't have much of an imagination. Why change something if it worked? Only thing they did the old slaver ship was to add more turrets and force shields and security containment. The convict had been on a few slave transports before selling red sand to the four-eyes when she was part of god damned cult. It had been part of their 'fundraising campaign' and they needed a 'heavy' to make sure those scuzz-ugly, four-eyed freaks upheld their end of the bargain when the trading went down. Course the cult bought a few low end slaves as well. Ya know to 'rehabilitate' on the farms and all. Course when Jack found out the truth she put the 'masters' down. Slaves too. Cuz you don't come back from being brain-fucked like that. Better that way. Death was their freedom.
Pay back time for another bunch of lowlife scum suckers. The Blue Suns tagged her on that Cerberus training facility, stopped her from killing those bastards. That fracking wiry asshole with the sword-his dark haired little sidekick. Jack nearly had that station! If it hadn't been for that Blue Sun shell-back that whole place would have gone down in flames. She couldn't bring that biotic farm down but she sure as hell could blow this damn place apart. Aint nobody to mourn the shits when they die.
Claxons tore though the air, ripping in the scull with infuriating precision. Whoever opened her cryo chamber opened the whole damned cell block. Every fracked up mother-licking shit was now free. At least the fuckers were good for something—cannon fodder. The asswipes were distracting the guards and they were just as dead if any got in her way.
Like a rabid hound on the loose the tattooed woman screamed down the halls. Her body hummed with dark energy. The power coursed through every cell, down to the marrow of her bones. It excited her-made her feel warm—better than sex.
She could hear the sound of gunfire. It wasn't just the sharp rat-tat-tat she recognized as bursts from assault riffles but the heavy thunk-thunk-thunk of turrets-the meaty thack of bullets striking flesh and the screams of the dying. She sprinted through the corridors, taking every advantage of the guard's distraction with the other escaping inmates, especially when they had their back turned to her.
Jack shaped the energy necessary to create a singularity and willed it into existence. She flung it with precision into the host of turians that stood before her and her path. The effect was fracking spectacular. Bodies and debris and dead inmates slammed into each other as they were sucked into the graviton ring. Their bones snapped and cracked with a satisfactory crunch.
As the armored guards floated, tumbling helplessly in the air, they were cut down by the fire from their own turrets. Blood sprinkled down like April showers. No May flowers here, only corpses... Better that way. Flowers were for pussies.
She sent shockwaves into the line of turrets as she had no intention of following the dead meat into hell.
WHOOFBOOM!
Fire erupted down the line and spread like dragon's breath along the power lines. Suddenly the whole station was rocked by explosions. Bulkheads warped, the flooring beneath her feet trembled and shuddered nearly causing her to lose her footing. God it felt good. The smell of burning flesh was intoxicating. Thrilling. Cerberus trained her with drugs; she had been conditioned since infancy to take pleasure in death, in the destruction of her enemies. And she did. She glorified in it! It was pure ecstasy.
Jack continued to run; adrenaline fueled her, rage inspired her, death excited her. She propelled herself through the fiery corridors, her body streaming with dark energy. Nothing could stop her now. She saw a host of guards barring her path thinking they were safe behind their walls and assault riffles. They were wrong. Jack reveled in the deaths to come. Destruction at every turn, fire and eruptions, smoke and explosions ricocheted off the bulkheads - it was enough to make a girl get all tingly. She smiled when she heard the ship's VI call out warnings about the failing functionality of the ship's integrity. God it felt good. Won't be long before the whole shitty place went down in a glorious ball of flames.
Using a biotic lift she propelled her body ten feet over debris and the barricades. As she vaulted over the detritus she used to her biotics to slam into the guards, crushing them into the flooring with the sheer force of gravity. Bones shattered, organs ruptured, their cries of death exploded out of their throats like fireworks.
Somersaulting back to her feet she sprinted forward. More guards, more weapons fire, more turrets. Every move, every action, she anticipated, felt and retaliated. Ten fold. The Blue Suns were ripped from their posts with pulls and strategically timed biotic explosions tore into the opposition cleaving meat from bone.
The direct route was out of bounds. Some unknown group of mercs were in battle with the Warden and his fucking lackeys. Not her concern. Not her battle. If they killed each other all the better, it'd just up her chances of survival. A swift shift to the left took her up a flight of stairs and another which exited to the transparent catwalks the guards used. It led directly to the shuttle bays.
Jack dropped down to slide feet first past the blast doors. They were waiting for her. The turians spun leveled their weapons.
One of them was foolish enough to order her to stop. With a roar, Jack lifted the man off his feet and slammed her fist into the center of his torso. Empowered by dark energy she had enough kinetic force to send him flying against the bulkhead severing his spine. A round house 'punch', or rather biotic push, slammed the other into the ship's duct-works. He was dead before he hit the floor.
She saw it-a way out. Her body only now cooling from the summoned power of biotics. The ship was a human design that she was sure of. Then she saw the distinctive embalm. White wings on blue.
"Spectre!" Rage flooded her brain. So close, so goddamn fucking close. Furry billowed in her gut causing her scream out her frustrations. Pacing back and forth her anger claiming her senses. She didn't see the batarian bastard behind her. It was the 'pop-zing' of gunfire that got her attention.
She spun and saw what she once thought was a mech. The leader was tall, five-foot nine, black haired, blue eyed. Hard eyes of a soldier. She wore the same distinctive blue and white armor as the colors of the ship. Etched on the pauldrons of the armor were the iconic wings of the Spectres. Almost causally the Spectre holstered her N7 Eagle. The same simple was marked over her lest breast. A god damn N7 Spectre. Her own body hummed with dark energy, it was a show of force—like the display of peacock feathers. Jack got the message.
On her left was another tall brunette that had the frilly body of a cheerleader complete with big tits. To the Spectre's right stood an asari in red armor with strange facial adornments. Both were biotics as well, another obvious display of power, as dark energy flared around their bodies before they dimmed the summoned power.
Bringing up the rear was a human male whose face had seen more battles than years Jack had lived. Hell, his face was a fracking road map of skirmishes that looked like half of it was shot off then sown back on by some asshole named Frankenstein.
"What the hell do you what?!" Jack spat, taking measure of how she was going to get out this one. Stealing a Spectre's ship wasn't impossible but damn near so.
"I just saved your ass," the Spectre shot back in the same tone of voice Jack had used.
Pacing back and forth like a caged panther, Jack never dropped gaze from the four. "He was already dead; he just didn't know it yet. Now what the hell do you want?"
"My name is Shepard and I'm here to get you off this ship."
"I'm not going anywhere with you. You're a Spectre. And that bitch is with Cerberus," the tattooed woman nodded towards the cunt in the white and black suit. Jack spotted the concentric yellow and black diamonds just above the bimbo's left breast as soon as she came into sight.
The Spectre didn't even blink. "I'm offering to be your friend. You don't want to be my enemy."
It was the asari who spoke up on the tail of this. "It is a dangerous and short lived existence."
But following her was the old man. "Listen to Shepard; it will save your life."
"You show up in a Spectre frigate to take me away somewhere. You think I'm stupid?"
Shepard gave her a look that said: 'yes.' "This ship is going down in flames. I've got the only way out." She took a look out the window to her ship causing Jack to look as well. "I'm offering to take you with me. And you're arguing." She looked back to Jack.
"Time is short," the asari said. "Perhaps we should knock her out and take her?"
"I'd like to see you try," Jack snapped.
"We're not going to knock her out." Shepard dismissed the suggestion as if rejecting the offer of dessert choices at a restaurant.
"Good move." Jack swaggered up to the Spectre. "Look, you want me to come with you, make it worth my while."
Shepard took a step forward. "Tell me what you're thinking?"
"I bet your Spectre status gets you lots of access. Like access to Cerberus databases. I want to look at those files. See what Cerberus has on me." Jack folded her arms over her chest. "You want me on your team let me go through those databases."
"I'll give you full access." There was no hesitation in Shepard's voice.
The Cerberus bitch rushed forward. "Shepard! You're not authorized to do that!"
Jack grinned. "O-o-oh it upsets the Cheerleader-even better!" Jack pointed a finger at the Spectre as if she was holding a handgun. "You better be straight up with me."
Shepard only nodded.
"So why hell are we standing around here for?"
The Spectre looked over her shoulder to her crew then back to Jack saying only two words. "Move out."
MEMEMEMEMEMEME
Behind her, Shepard could feel the absolute freezing glare radiating off of Miranda. She'd have to settle that score swiftly before her discontent festered into belligerent disobedience and possibly mutiny. Such things would need to be quashed before they even took root. However more pressing matters needed to be attended to, such as inducting the newest recruit as a full member of the crew.
Finding quarters for the convict was also going to be a bit of a challenge. Maybe the port-side observation lounge or cargohold? Making space for her on the shuttle deck might be an option. What a bloody headache, it felt like the early days when she was trying to get the human, asari and turian crewmates to function as a cohesive unit or the scientists and military to corporate without bickering. Shit, that was a hell of a lot easier. It seemed like such a long time ago, another lifetime.
Garrus's face was a welcome sight as the Commander escorted Jack and Miranda back to war room.
"Another turian guard, huh?" Jack snipped as soon as she clapped eyes on man.
"Former C-Sec," he clarified.
"Aint much difference," she scoffed.
"Only here I'm the Normandy's XO. Her second in command. " He used the authoritative voice, once employed when dealing with the criminal element on the Citadel. "There is a chain of command you will be expected to follow and orders you must comply to. My job is to see it done."
"Shepard tell your lapdog to back off. I'm here because of our deal," Jack said as she leaned causally against the bulkhead. She then turned her attention to Miranda. "So start coughing it up, Cheerleader."
"That's right you do work for me now." Shepard looked into the brown eyes of the convict "It means you tow the line same as everyone else. No more, no less. And I will insure Miranda let's you into the system. Tell me what you find."
Jack smirked. "Hear that, precious." Her voice took on a classic schoolyard bully's sing song mocking tone. "We're going to be friends. You me and every dirty rotten embarrassing little secret." Her gaze shifted back to the Commander. "I'll be reading down in the hold. Somewhere near the bottom." Without asking permission to be dismissed the tattooed woman sauntered out of the war room, throwing over her shoulder, "I don't like a lot of through traffic. Keep your people off me. Better that way."
After she left Garrus chuckled dryly. "Well isn't she a container full of sunshine."
"Yeah, isn't she just?" Shepard signed. "Keep me apprised of her actions. If she's going down to the hold make sure she has at least a cot.
The turian nodded. "Good thing we left the inner-ship's monitoring systems intact but dismantled the link to our friend's boss here."
"Agreed. I don't want her feeling tracked or trapped. An unstable biotic in a pressurized tin can isn't exactly a great combination. Keep things amicable with her." Shepard returned the man's humorless chuckle with a thin smile. "Garrus, give us the room."
"You got it." He gave his friend a sympathetic look and departed.
Before Miranda could open her mouth to protest, Shepard held her hand up forestalling any words. "I want you to think for a moment. Consider if TIMmy were calling most the shots on this mission. He'd know what Jack's price would be, wouldn't he? Now knowing him as you do, and wanting someone like Subject Zero, he'd make a deal, wouldn't he? You don't think for one moment he wouldn't have anticipated her demands? Like baiting me with this ship? Didn't he authorize you to give me the location of where it was, to seize it? Hell he even made sure EDI obeyed my commands."
Miranda didn't answer right away, no doubt balancing the Commander's words over her ingrained duty to Cerberus. Shepard was correct. The convict's demands would have been anticipated—files would have been scrubbed for anything overly sensitive.
Miranda knew something else as well. The Illusive Man viewed the entire team as expendable once the Collector base was neutralized and under Cerberus control. Anything Subject Zero discovered in her hunt though the classified files could easily be contained with a well placed bullet to that scrawny convict's head if needs be. Barring that, Kai Leng would be sent back out and finish what he and Rasa had failed to do back at the Phoenix training facility.
"I'll get her the files," Lawson relented.
"Thought you'd see it my way. And Lawson thank you." Confidence echoed in the other woman's voice. Having won the moment she headed for the door.
"Shepard," Miranda called causing the younger woman to pause mid-step, "don't trust her."
The Spectre smirked. "Says the agent from Cerberus." Then she stepped out.
MEMEMEMEMEMEME
As soon as she stepped out of the war room, Jack was confronted with a perky red head.
Great a Barbie doll. Where in hell does Shepard find these people? "Yeah? What?" Jack barked.
The red head looked absolutely panicked but she recovered quickly. "I...I have orders ma'am to escort you along a tour of the Normandy."
"'Ma'am'?" Jack raised an eyebrow. She aint never been called ma'am before. She wasn't so sure she liked it. Felt weird.
"Yes, ma'am. You're a part of the flagship team, ma'am. Mr. Garrus requested I give you the tour and insure you are satisfied with your quarters."
"And just who in the hell are you."
Barbie doll instantly snapped off a salute "Yeoman Kelly Chambers, ma'am."
"Stop 'ma'am'-ing me. I'm not Alliance."
"There are several on this ship who aren't, but most are. Being a member of Commander Shepard's team will cause the crew to address you with that salutation out of habit"
"Fucking great. Whatever. Show me around this tub."
"The Normandy is the most advanced stealth warship..."
"Look, Red, save the tourist speeches, not interested."
"Of course..."
"So she has a turian for an XO... what next, is her security chief a krogan?" Jack asked almost flippantly as she was lead through the CIC deck.
Chamber shook her head. "That would be Chief Petty Officer Peeks. As of yet we don't have a krogan onboard though I believe Dr. Okeer will be the next individual we are due to pick up.
That got the convict's attention. A krogan doctor? "Right, suppose he's going to be put in charge of the med bay? Maybe the science division."
Chambers grinned a little. "I know it sounds very implausible, but it is true. And the head of Sciences is Professor Mordin Solus, a salarian. Dr. Chakwas has medicine."
"What the hell does Shepard need a krogan doctor for? A tank would be better, one that can plough though the enemy line, get the shit kicked out of them and get back up and charge back into the fray. Krogan doctors are about as useful as tits on a hanar."
"I believe the Commander is of the same opinion. She worked closely with a battle master before. As I understand it they are very good friends."
"Bet the Cheerleader loves that, eh? Having to work with all these aliens: bet it just tickles her pink."
Red Barbie gave a strange expression. "Cheerleader?"
"Yeah that Cerberus bimbo who's poured into that cat-suit she snatched from some stripper."
"Oh. Operative Lawson." Chambers blushed. A dozen different expressions crossed her face. As if she were internally debating very carefully her next words. "She understands the value of their individual talents they bring with them. It was the reason why they-you were all carefully chosen..."
The two of them were now near the mess hall.
Jack scoffed, folded her arms over her small bare chest. "You telling me that Shepard, a Spectre, chose me?"
"Not specifically, no." Chambers took a meager step back and then another. "Cerberus did actually."
"WHAT?" The outburst caused several heads to turn.
Chambers took another step back. "Um, maybe the Commander can explain."
"She's Cerberus?!"
"No." Chambers shook her head frantically. "Oh no. No, no. She, ah... well it's complicated. The Commander um... confiscated this ship from Cerberus."
Jack tossed back her head and belted out a laugh. "You're telling me a Spectre hijacked this ship right out of the Illusive Man's clutches."
Chambers nodded. "More or less... But there -"
"Oh that's perfect! So she steal the Cheerleader, too?"
"I wouldn't actually have used that verb necessarily. She was...we were already assigned to the ship."
"You're Cerberus too? How many of you assholes are there?"
"Just Operative Lawson and I."
Jack stared at the insipid little twit for several uncomfortable minutes. "I get why Cheerleader's here. Why you here?" Jack got nose to nose with Chambers causing the redhead to back up again. "You're a snitch, aint'cha?"
Chambers shook her head frantically.
"I've been in enough pens to know a snitch when I see one." Jack looked the redhead up and down. "Oh, I got your number. Ya think shaking that ass of yours, trading up your pussy will buy you protection and dirt to trade to yer Boss."
"I assure you that is not my role. I'm the Commander's personal assistant. The Illusive Man may have intended me to be used in that capacity initially, but I made a choice not to do so. I made the choice not to serve Cerberus. I work for Shepard. And further more she is a married woman."
"Lemme guess, she's hooked up with that turian guy."
"Oh, no. Mr. Garrus is married to our chief engineer, Tali'Zorah Vas Normandy. The Commander is married to Dr. Liara T'Soni."
"Sound's like an asari name."
"That's because it is."
"Shepard's into banging blue, eh?" Chambers shifted uncomfortably making Jack chortle. "That asari on Purgatory."
"No that was Justicar Samara. The Commander's wife lives..." Chambers started to explain but Jack was already leaving for the hold "...on Illium." she said finished lamely to an empty corridor. Kelly shook her head. Just in the short time she'd spent around the new recruit, she could tell this one was going to be a real handful.