Chapter 59: Reflections.
"It looks like EDI extracted some interesting data before the Collector ship came back on line." The Illusive Man said as soon as Shepard's hologram appeared in his office.
Shepard leaned back on one foot her arms folded in front of her, her eyes burning with frozen rage. Her voice just as cool. *Cut the act! EDI said the distress call came from the Collectors.* She said ignoring TIMmy's earlier preamble. *You betrayed us! Just like I knew you would.*
The Illusive Man's own expression mirrored the Spectre's. "We're at war! The Collectors are taking humans and a minute we waste is one more we give the enemy to prepare! We needed information on the Omega Four relay and that required direct access to Collector data. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up."
Arms now unfolded Shepard leaned in, had it been a real man standing in front of her rather than a holographic projection she might very well have grabbed him by the lapels of his very expensive suit. *I know the stakes! But we're supposed to be on the same side! And I can't trust you. I don't like surprises especially when my ass is on the line.*
"I put you at risk yes. But without that information we don't reach the Collector homeworld..."
*WE? There is no We here TIMmy. There is my crew, my ship and me! You are tucked safely away in your bunker, very very far from danger.*
"Yes...safe... a relative term if the Collectors win. Then you and every other human may as well be dead." He stood as well matching her glare. "It was a trap, but I was confident in your abilities. And don't forget EDI. The Collectors could not have anticipated her."
The left-handed praise was waved away even as the cigarette smoke coiled around the Illusive Man's head. *You could have told me your plan. You say I'm important but you sure as hell try to get me killed. Horizon-now here?*
Her words were dismissed with a lazy excuse. "I needed the Collectors to believe they had the upper hand. Telling you could have tipped them off in any number of ways." the last words growled. He took a drag off his cigarette-his tone became eel slime coated in honey. "Besides, I wouldn't have sent you in if I didn't think you could succeed."
*Pft. These transmissions of ours cannot be traced. Unless you have one of those bugs standing in the room where you are now, they could not have known. And those abilities of mine you seem to be are so fond of, are honed enough not to give way intel while behind enemy lines or in the theatre of combat. In case you've forgotten, I was an N7 before I became a Spectre. We get special training the other grunts don't. You have one job. Information! If I can't trust your intel you're useless to me.*
"It's never that simple. You of all people should know that."
*I know I'll be a lot more careful from now on with the Collectors and with you!*
"This is no time for petty grudges." Illusive Man was back to growling. His words meant to be the switch to her backside: to punish Shepard for her perceived insolence and indifference. "Things are about to get a lot tougher. EDI confirmed our suspicions." The cigarette went into the mouth and he sucked in the smoke allowing it to fill his lungs before he exhaled as if he meant to drag out the hold he had on his information to punish Shepard further for 'insubordination.'
"The Reapers and the Collectors ships are using an advanced Identifying Friend Foe system that the relays recognize. All we need to do is to get our hands on one of those IFFs."
Shepard arched her hand back as if to indicate the point in space where they eluded the Collector ship. *I was just on a Collector ship. Why didn't you say anything about finding their IFF!*
"As I said EDI just confirmed it." Another lazy excuse. "Besides you wouldn't have known where to look nor had the time find and extract it."
*You underestimate my people.* Shepard retorted.
"We still have options." The Illusive Man continued as if he hadn't heard Shepard's outburst. He moved to his chair and reclaimed his 'throne.' On the arm of the chair he tapped in a few commands and the sun behind him that was on the cusp of a supernova changed and a new display of a star map came up. "An Alliance team recently determined the Great Rift in the plant Klendagon is actually an impact crater from a mass accelerator weapon." he drained the contents of his brandy snifter. "A very old mass accelerator. I sent a team to find either the weapon or its target: they found both. The weapon was defunct but helped us trace the flight path of the intended target—a 37-million-year-old derelict Reaper ship. We found it in the orbit of a decaying brown dwarf."
*I saw what Sovereign did to the Citadel fleet. Hard to imagine a weapon that can stop something that powerful.*
The Illusive Man stubbed out his cigarette. "This vessel is a relic from a battle waged while mammals took their first steps on Earth. There is no trace of the species that took the shot, perhaps it was their one moment of defiance before being wiped out."
Shepard considered for a moment the other factor in the equation. She looked at the projection behind the Illusive Man's head. *Aren't brown dwarfs just basically stars that didn't quite make it.*
"Simply put but accurate. They're gas giants that don't quite have the masses required of stars. Expect gale force winds and extremely high temperatures. The Reaper has a mass effect field that keeps it in orbit, likely an automatic response to external threats. It's stable but I wouldn't call it safe."
*I only believe you because I doubt you'd repeat yourself so soon.* Shepard's voice dropped an octave.
"It's no less a risk Shepard. We lost contact with Dr. Chandana's team shortly after they boarded. Initial reconnaissance revealed no clues and it was too risky to commit more resources. But now we need that IFF. I'll forward the coordinates to Joker, in the meantime you tell your crew I didn't risk their lives unnecessarily." he shook his head. "It will make things easier going forward." It was a command. One to which he expected obedience.
Shepard turned behind her, her gaze drawn to someone 'off camera' *EDI tell the crew to assemble, we've got a lot to talk about.*
*Of course, Shepard. * EDI's disembodied voice came over the comm-system.
Behind her The Illusive Man watched as the Spectre left the QEC. It was so much easier when he had them leashed. Kia Leng could have easily pulled off much of what Shepard had, but he did not have the leadership skills or connections the Spectre did. Of course the fallen N7 was a Ronin and since the episode at Grissom Academy and his run-in with Anderson not only on the Alliance's most wanted lists, he was undergoing cybernetic surgery to replace his shattered kneecaps from where Anderson had shot him in both legs.
As long as Shepard remained useful and the best possible weapon against the Collectors. After all, it was not Kai Leng's name that they called out in torment or fear.
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"Still don't buy that asshole didn't sell us out, Shepard." Zaeed groused. "You let us hear the meeting, fair enough but he's shovelling a whole lot of bullshit."
"I didn't say I believed him. Half of what he says is a lie the other half is misinformation covered in half-truths. But this thing with the IFF...I do believe." Shepard said evenly. After the call for a meet she had EDI replay the conference call with TIMmy so that her team understood the full scope of what was going on. She needed their trust and faith in her and their mission.
Ash already proved that even knowing that Shepard's supposed alliance with Cerberus was more of a farce to get the 411 on the Illusive Man to put him and his clandestine operations in check was not something to bank on. Back on Horizon the younger woman all but called Shepard a traitor. The Spectre could not afford to alienate the rest of her crew both old and new because they mistrusted her liaisons with the Illusive Man.
"Lied to us. Used us. Needed access to Collector data banks. Necessary risk." Mordin commented pacing back and forth in the small confines of the War-Room.
"Necessary my ass!" Jack sneered. "He sold us out!"
Behind them all was a strangely mute Miranda. She after all had been in the room with Shepard during the call to The Illusive Man. She had heard everything. Though her boss hadn't known she was in the room as she was directly off the projection's camera. It had been a tactic Shepard used before when confirming with whom she considered the enemy. It was a tactic the Spectre had used while interrogating Lawson when the loyalist was 'brought on board. Her own sister Oriana had been disguised as one of the asari commandos on guard, listening to all of Miranda's excuses for Cerberus action.
It was only later when Shepard decided the time was right did Oriana reveal herself and the fact she had seen Shepard's little horror-flick of the many crimes that lay at the organisation's feet. Crimes that Miranda could not excuse with 'they went rogue.' Doubts started to seep in. Whenever that thing crept up on Lawson's conscience she had at one time repeated Cerberus's axiom.
'Obedience breeds discipline. Discipline breeds unity. Unity breeds Power. Power is life. Life is Humanity's survival. Survival is Cerberus. Cerberus breeds Obedience.'
But no longer. Blind faith in the Illusive Man, in Cerberus was something she no longer afforded herself. Her doubts over took her willingness to be a good obedient loyalist.
Shepard shook her head. "He tries something like that again and the Collectors will be the least of his worries." Her voice brought Miranda back to the present. "EDI are you sure this IFF is going to work?"
In the centre of the oblong table was holo-image, the data lines running through her blue body. "My analysis is accurate, Shepard. I have also determined the approximate location of the Collector homeworld based on navigational data from their vessel.
A very familiar image of the galaxy map replaced EDI's image. A targeting scanner zeroed in on the direct centre of the galaxy.
Mordin and Samara were astonished
Miranda who had been silent now walked up to the table. "That can't be right."
"Perhaps Joker should run the diagnostics. It looks like the AI has a bug in the software." Tali agreed with Lawson.
"My calculations are correct." EDI said affronted by the suggestion she was anything but perfection. "The Collector homeworld is located within the galactic core."
"Can't be." Zaeed shook his head.
"The core is just black holes and floating suns." Garrus added. "There are no habitat planets there."
Mordin stopped his pacing and looked deeply into the spiral arms of the galaxy core more specifically at its heart. "Could be an artificial construction. Space station protected by powerful mass effect fields and radiation shields."
"Even the Collectors don't have that kind of technology." Miranda debunked that theory.
Shepard shook her head. "The Collectors are just servants of the real enemy." she turned her back on the table and looked to each of the faces gathered in the room. "And we've all seen what the Reapers are capable of. They built the mass relays and the Citadel!" she turned back to the table and pointed at the core with her right hand. "Who's to say they can't build a space station surrounded by black holes? Pft. No wonder nobody's ever returned from the Omega Four mass relay." Again, she shook her head.
EDI's small humanoid projection reappeared at the head of the briefing table. "The logical conclusion is that a small safe zone exists on the far side of the relay. A region where ships can survive."
Miranda picked up the pacing bug and moved back and forth at the other end of the table looking at the map, listening to EDI's theory forming one of her own.
"Standard relay transit protocols would not allow safe transport. Drift of several thousand kilometres is common and would be fatal in the galactic core. The Reaper IFF must trigger the relay to use more advanced encrypted protocols."
Shepard's arms crossed over her chest. "Just because we can follow the Collectors through the relay doesn't mean we can take them out. I don't want to go after them until I know we are ready."
"Sooner or later we need that IFF." Zaeed was not in agreement. "Hell, we're ready now, why piss around? Why wait?"
Miranda took a step forward towards the Commander. "It's a derelict Reaper. What if the Collectors are waiting for us? Shepard's right we need to be stronger, build up the team."
Jack was loath to admit the Cheerleader was right. She didn't feel ready to go zooming into almost certain death...not before she put a couple of things behind her. TIMmy's fucking stunt with the Collector ship, his open denial of betrayal stirred up a lot of ghosts that needed to be put down if she was going to be of any use to the Queen of the Girl Scouts.
"We're not going for the derelict Reaper. Not yet." Shepard said. What she didn't voice was that going now to the ship was exactly what TIMmy wanted her to do which was why she wasn't.
They all needed to process what happened on the Collector ship in more ways than one. There were two more calls Shepard had to make: one to her bondmate and have Liara find out if there is anything more about this derelict ship, Chandana, Klendagon that either by deliberation or dereliction that The Illusive Man failed to mention.
The other call was to Anderson and Hackett and given a mission report on recent events and up coming plans. Not that she needed either officer's permission to go ahead but she wanted them informed. Ash and Horizon had taught a bitter lesson to the Spectre. Never fully trust old friendship to last beyond the bulkheads of the ship.
"Dismissed." Shepard said and watched as one by one her team filed out of the war room. Only Garrus lingered, Tali placed a knowing and grateful hand on his arm before she too departed.
"Might be out of line here, but your 'Archangel' would be remiss if he didn't tell you, you gotta get some rest Shepard." he said once they were all alone.
She looked at him grateful for the concern even more grateful for his timing. You didn't need to be an asari telepath to pick up when a friend was hurting.
"Finding out what the Collectors meant for your race wasn't easy. Top that with TIMmy's games and that tsunami thing-there's bit of fraying around the edges."
She gave a dry chuckle and slowly nodded. "Yeah probably. Bit of chow and shuteye couldn't hurt." she rubbed the back of her neck. The tension of it all rose in her spine as a rebar through concrete and settled upon her shoulders. There was indeed a bit of fraying around the edges.
"As your XO and Trusted I'm officially saying take some rest Commander. I'll have Joker set a course for Illium."
"Illium?" she graced her best friend with a half smile.
"Thinking a bit of dry-dock to check the Normandy's hull integrity. The Collector's weapons got close. Like you said you building to team up in strength. Normandy is massive part of our team, isn't she? Just want to make sure she's sound after that last chase. Illium is as good as place as any to make it happen."
Shepard gave a small knowing smile to the turian. "And this has nothing to do with a certain holiday coming up."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Shepard. Besides how would I know anything of human holidays?"
"How indeed." She gently body checked his arm with her shoulder.
"I just thought maybe you might benefit from a visit to a doctor's office."
"Ah-hah." her lips curled into a half smile. "I'll take my XOs recommendation under advisement." the doors opened, she turned and nodded her head, "set the course."
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"You know I was trying to remember how many Cerberus agents I've killed during some of my jobs. Lost track around fifty. Since your Illusive Man tried to tap me before Shepard did I'm guessing he's big on forgiveness." Zaeed sat down in the empty seat across from her with his own tray of food.
Miranda looked up from her plate with a heavy sigh. She was a fool to think she'd get a bit of respite after the events on the Collector ship. Her mind still reeling over the blatant denial spewing from her boss's lips. How he had used them. She wanted to believe his words, desperate to. But hearing his excuses first hand- like Shepard said she wasn't buying his act. Not anymore.
What she knew of Messer's involvement with Conley on Phel Prime. She didn't have the details but The Illusive Man had convinced Lawson in order to stop the Collectors - to stop the Reapers some sacrifices were absolutely critical and more than necessary. With Cerberus leading the charge, humanity would prevail over the enemy and would dominate.
"The Illusive Man is many things, forgiving isn't one of them," Miranda said, her voice detached, "but he appreciates talent as much as Shepard does. He doesn't toss away what he can use."
"Only he's not paying my fee, luv. Even if he were gonna pay my bill...Shepard got there first. Don't know how she's able to afford my 'bring 'em back alive' fee on an officer's pay or hell even a Spectre's but she is. I owe nothing to your boss. He pulled a Veto on Shepard.
"I let it go. Twenty years waiting, hungering for vengeance I know what it can do to a person. We got more important things to do than putting down mad dog. But what your Illusive Man, that's something else. A bigger picture, and that cocksucker forgets aint none of us here under his fucking thumb. None of us owe that bastard a goddamm thing."
But I do. Came Miranda's thought. She thought of Oriana, the escape from her father's estate and the baby she had dashed a way with. Her sister she had saved, Oriana meant absolutely everything to Miranda. Ensuring she was safe even more. At first the Illusive Man and Cerberus offered protection but at the price of Miranda's soul.
Shepard insured Oriana's safety, more than that she gave the sisters to each other. All Shepard required in payment was honesty. Honesty to the self, honestly to the mission, honesty to the cause to fight against the Reapers. A much lighter payment. One Lawson was far more willing to pay than the blind loyalty 'TIMmy' required. Shepard never asked a soul's price: never demanded more than she asked of herself, never more than devotion to the mission to finally stop the Reapers. Her asking price was freedom—for all. Miranda could stand behind that.
Miranda clutched her hand as she realized she had just scratched the space under her collarbone. Not saying anything to anyone she rose from the table and stormed out of the mess hall. The team had gathered as per Shepard's decree that they always eat their meals together. The only exception was if you were in the med-bay.
"I think you offended our dear Cerberus loyalist." Garrus said.
"I am not so certain that Operative Lawson is as much of a loyalist to Cerberus anymore." Samara said pushing her fork into her lasagne.
"If that's so should we call her 'operative'?" asked Kasumi doing the same.
"She isn't fully turned. Not yet. She will be. But she is battling against much." Samara looked over to where the young human woman had vanished.
"This whole thing with the Collector ship, The Illusive Man using us, using Shep is all kinds of messed up." Kasumi said. "You'd think TIMmy wants us to fail despite all his bluster to the contrary."
"He plays a dangerous game," Samara said "baiting the Collectors...baiting Shepard."
"What does he hope to gain?" Garrus pondered.
"Isn't it obvious?" Samara cocked her head. "Power. Power over Shepard. Power over the Collectors and..."
"Power over the Reapers." Tali finished.
"Indeed. Consider..." Samara pointed her fork to the others. "Cerberus via Miss Lawson claimed they were not creating super soldiers by using certain specimens but shock troopers to land on occupied worlds.
"But what experiments were the Cerberus cells truly testing back when Shepard and the two of you shut them down? How far the thorian can exert control over its thralls, over the creepers. When Shepard destroyed the thorian the creepers light-years away went rogue.
"Then came the rachni children. It was already proven that if separated from the Queen the offspring go quite mad with rage and fear. In short, they are remotely controlled by a central unit via a complex telepathic link. And then there are the husks. Created by dragon's teeth, utilized by the geth, supposedly created by Sovereign—a Reaper.
"Cerberus recreated the dragon's teeth in that 'colony of the damned'. It is quite obvious that Cerberus hoped to control the husk and the other specimens by remote access. There is a theme at play here, one must be blind not to see it."
"Cerberus wants what the Collectors have. Reaper technology to control remote soldiers preconditioned to obey Cerberus." Garrus finished.
"Not Cerberus. The Illusive Man." Jack said. "He wants full control."
"Over what the Reapers? Impossible!" Kasumi shook her head. "That's insane."
"Yeah well TIMmy never struck me as the fully sane sort of man. Mad genius maybe. but nutty as they come. Come on: a guy who thinks using husks, thorian creepers and rachni as shocktroopers is a good thing, is all kinds of fucked up in the head. More than Sarren ever wwas." Garrus shook his head.
Lawson lingered for a moment near the lift, listening to the others. She closed her eyes, she knew the programs Cerberus developed not simply to understand indoctrination but harness it.
There were two programs that could have done this to Lawson: The WNISCE—(White Noise Indoctrination Stimulus Control Experimentation.) derived from studies of thorin, husks and Reaper victims. And then there was the HAARP- High Frequency Active Aural Research Program unlike the WNISCE this technology however was not Reaper based but based on work by one of Earth's greatest scientists, Nicola Tesla.
The HAARP was carried on extremely low frequency (ELF) radio waves. Cerberus scientists studying extensively the plant-based life forms called 'creepers' had discovered this was how the Thorian controlled its thralls. The Illusive Man ordered Chandana's team create countermeasures to employ against possible Reaper influence and now Chandana had gone missing. Apparently, his countermeasures for HAAP-ELF were ineffective. Miranda kept asking herself would whatever gadget Mordin come up with be any more affective than Chandana's?
"Maybe we should ask the Cheerleader her thoughts on this." Jack glared to were the other woman had vanished. "I mean we all heard his shit excuses and this whole thing 'bout him wanting Reaper tech to protect humanity. Fucking bullshite!"
"Wanting to harvest Reaper tech to understand it. Necessary. It's not just in Cerberus best interests its in all of ours. We have to understand it to defeat them. Their greatest weapon is indoctrination. The ability to turn the dead in to husks that is an incredible weapon." Mordin commented.
"You agree with it." Tali's voice was filled with accusation.
"Agree with it? No. Admire it. Yes." The professor said cynically.
Garrus nodded in agreement. "Yeah husk creation is a ruthless weapon and I have to agree with Mordin. It's an effective weapon, you have to admire it and how it's deployed. Decimate a colony and turn the victims into front line foot soldiers. Foot soldiers that are utterly obedient, low maintenance: they don't need to eat, sleep and are completely disposable."
Mordin looked at the turian and nodded "The perfect soldier. They don't need to be the strongest. Or the fastest and certainly not the smartest. If they have overwhelming numbers."
"Effective as it is affective." Samara was in agreement. "When you know, your people are now the minions of the enemy it can have very destructive effects not only on morale but on the soul of the society. It crushes it."
"Or you get pissed off and shoot every Reaper-husk buggy Collector mother fucker there is. Anger is one hell of a motivator." Jack pointed to the others with her knife before she stabbed it into her steak and started to saw through it.
"Works for me." Grunt added. He had been mute for most of the conversation as he was too busy eating. "What about those Colonists already taken? We kill 'em or save 'em."
"That is not a serious question." Tali pinned the krogan with a glare.
"Valid question." Mordin responded. "If compromised by the Collectors, best option to destroy them. Before they become the swarm. Numbers."
Samara nodded. She once destroyed a whole village because Morinth had contaminated all the minds of the villagers. She had them in her thrall, so much so none of the villagers questioned the sacrificing of their daughters to a Demon of the Night Winds.
"A harsh and brutal measure but one we cannot discount however distasteful it is. The Code would demand such a measure to be taken. We can not allow the enemy ranks to swell.
"Imagine the havoc the Collectors...or hell their masters could wreak if they were able to send in swarms of husks. First place they hit-Omega. If they're smart they take the station over and make it a stronghold. More than that. Omega a launching platform for further attacks within the system, the nebula and further." Garrus said
"Omega as a staging point for any offensive operation would be very bad. The Queen of Omega keeps all the systems within the nebula in check. Keeps Omega stable. If she doesn't sit on the throne, not good."
"Then the key is to get beyond the Omega Four Relay and wipe out every mother fucker there. If the colonists are all peachy we save 'em, if they're becoming those husk mother fuckers we waste 'em. Be doing 'em a favour anyway. "Jack rose from the table, not bothering to bus her tray. There wasn't a person in the mess hall that found themselves disagreeing with the ex-con.
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"Presumably sirs they've been taken beyond the Omega Four Relay. To what end I cannot say. Not yet. But I will find it." Shepard said reassuring both Anderson and Hackett.
*And this information you have on the Reaper IFF do you actually trust the Illusive Man's Intel?* Hackett was sceptical.
"Not for a moment. But playing the same gambit twice is unlikely and frankly sir at this moment we don't have much of a choice. I have to pass through the Omega Four relay and this is the only solid lead we have. I hate to admit it but I need that IFF and so far, this is the only way we have open to us."
*Shepard, I don't have to tell you to watch yourself.* Anderson couldn't disguise his worry even if he tried. Oddly it was a father's tone coming from him.
"No sir." Shepard said quietly. "I won't be caught with my pants down this time."
Hackett cleared his throat. *Shepard...*
"Sir?" She turned to him It might have been her imagination but for a second—a micro second, she saw her father in those same blue eyes she saw every day in the mirror. No not father, she never had one of those. Not even John Sheppard who stepped in to take the job he hated was that man. But she did see the eyes of the man her mother loved. She saw the man who had her back same as Anderson.
If he had any intentions of speaking to Shepard as anything by as her superior officer he stopped. *Good hunting.*
"Thank you sir."
The comms went dark and Shepard left the War-Room, she was tired and hungry. She walked out and hit the button to summon the lift. The ride down...her mind circled around the proverbial drain until she hit the mess hall and smiled when she saw her team minus Miranda and Jack were all eating together.
Jack's absence was reasonable. Shepard understood, there was nothing more than she right now more than even food was to drop in her rack and sleep. Miranda...well her absence...was as equally understandable. She had just learned her boss more or less had sold them out yet claimed it was for the better.
Taking her meal from Mess Sergeant Garner the Spectre sat down in the chair Jack had only recently vacated. All heads turned to her. Not a word was spoken. Well maybe a few.
Tali passed the salt shaker to her Commander. "I think your two-day old lasagne leftovers need a bit of this. Well at least Samara seemed to think so"
Shepard smiled and took the offered shaker. "Hey 'Leftover Saturdays' who doesn't love. it? Oh, and pass the tabasco sauce." She nodded her head to the red bottle in the middle of the table next to Zaeed, who did as asked. "You know there is a big reason they put tiny versions of these miracle working bottles in the MREs. It's to make them burn your tongue so you don't taste the processed shit you're shovelling down."
After swallowing several mouthfuls of food, Grunt turned to his battlemaster and asked: "What shit?"
"Still prefer the green to the red, but meh." Shepard shrugged digging into her dinner.
And at the rate she was eating just as Jack had been, she didn't taste the food she was devouring. Normally a biotic need to consume 5,500 calories a day, when using the tsunami they needed to at least twice that amount if not triple. Both Jack and Shepard packed that much away: four servings of lasagne, three steaks with green beans and baked potatoes, a bowl of a dozen pot-stickers and a full cake—each.
Then they slept for nearly fourteen hours. When they woke the Normandy was docked at Nos Austra.
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As chance would have it the landing was coincidental to a particular romantic Earth holiday. A holiday Sam shared with her beloved Liara. The day after it, it was almost business as usual.
Well not quite usual.
Sam leaned on the balustrade of the balcony, her elbows resting upon the railing, her naked body soaking in the essence of Illium's atmosphere. The air was clean, not filtered as it was on ships for space stations. The hum of a ship's engines, the creak of bulkheads was the sound of familiarly. The smell of night air, the hum of traffic, the life of the world was alien but not at unpleasant.
The contented look became a deeper warm smile when she felt her wife's hand upon the small of her back. And the world went soft.
Liara rested her chin upon her bondmate's shoulder; her purple-blue lips placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. "I've missed this." She whispered
"Oh, me too." Sam leaned back into Liara's body her right arm went around her neck and she kissed the folds. Her fingers teased the flesh under the crest causing her lover to purr. Her eyes went instantly black. Sam turned in the arms that held her, placed her own hands upon Liara's hips and pulled her closer. "It's good to be home." She nuzzled Liara's neck, nibbling her way up to the asari's jaw line to her lips. She softly bit Liara's bottom lip, "I love the taste of home."
"Do you now?" Liara's hand moved to back of Sam's neck.
Sam gently pushed Liara backwards towards the lounge. "Let me show you just how much."
A deep cooing moan slipped out of purple lips. Eyes black from the pleasure washing over her body. Another moan. "Ahhh... Samantha…." Liara crooned. "That feels marvelous."
A proud half smile – smirk tugged at ruby lips before they tasted blue skin. Knowing fingers pressed against tender flesh with just the right amount of pressure to bring release. Her thumbs stroked upwards gaining another gasp of delight. And another smirk. Sam knelt before her wife, holding Liara's right ankle in her left hand while massaging the ball of the foot with her right.
"I'm glad you're enjoying it." Sam uttered smugly. Her left fingers tenderly stroking the tendons in her lover's ankle which was now no longer swollen. Liara's answer to the touches was another contented sigh.
"Very much so." Liara's voice was heady. Her breath hitched when she felt her bondmate's lips upon the bone in her ankle. "You're not…not disappointed we are not going out?"
Sam rubbed small circles upon her beloved's leg. "You're kidding me? I get to spend quality time with my three best girls. Of course I'm not disappointed." Deep blue eyes gazed into cerulean. Slowly the Spectre moved up her wife's body and placed twin kisses upon the rounded swell of Liara's belly. Almost as if the babes growing within their mother's womb felt their Arda's presence kicked allowing Sam to know they were there.
"Hey there Squirrels." Sam rubbed her hand against the tiny imperceptible kicks "Mamma loves you, Zia." a tiny kiss. She moved to the second tiny kick. "Mamma loves you Han. She loves you very much. I am so proud of you both."
Liara giggled feeling the flash of light coming from her womb. Though her daughters were not fully developed, this late in their second trimester their essence was. Not enough to send comprehensive thought but emotions passed though the maternal joining. Liara passed those emotions along the Bond she shared with Samantha.
Sam felt the flood of love Liara continuously poured into their daughters. Love Liara made sure was Samantha was part of-always. Little Benezia and Hanna knew the love of both their parents as a constant flow.
Tears seeped from Sam's eyes as she looked to her wife in wonderment.
"The Squirrels will always know your touch Melethril."
"Best Valentine's present ever." The Spectre smiled feeling her heart swell. "Best Janiris Day every."
Liara snickered. "We're a little early for Janiris Day, my love. I believe my people's spring festival of new birth falls around your Green Holiday."
"St. Patrick's Day. Yeah, I know. But…. I might not get furlough in time to celebrate with you, babe, so yeah Happy Janiris." Sam leaned down and kissed Liara's belly, she moved cat like to take her wife's lips. They pressed their foreheads together
"You are right…. having you here now. Best Janiris Day ever. And as Valentine's Day presents go this 'the best ever'." Liara stoked her bondmate's dark locks. "I've always loved your mane. The colour of night…but I have to say when you played Alison Gunn and you turned your mane to red and allowed your freckles to show…. you were…"
"Cute."
"Cute is a word reserved for infants, baby animals and plush toys" Liara chided softly. "I don't know with that disguise you are more…sexier" Liara blushed a bit and looked down almost shamed by her arrant thoughts.
Sam actually giggled. "Don't worry Angel Eyes. I don't mind you find me with red hair dangerously sexy. As long as it's me you're ogling like that."
"Only you."
Another kiss.
"Good." A very toothy grin. "Of course,…if you wanted me dye my hair red for you, or let my freckles show more, I'll do it in a heartbeat."
Liara looked as if she might consider the offer and then shook her head. "Maybe if we ever get into role-playing 'Miss Allison Gunn and her captured asari heiress…'
"Heiress is fine but I was thinking coy soft-spoken heiress by day: wicked scary-powerful Shadow Broker by night…. sounds much more fun! Fiery maned gun-toting bad ass biotic Alison Gunn sneaks into the Lair of the Shadow Broker only to find her mild-mannered lover who 'doesn't like explosions' heiress behind the curtain, delicate long tapered fingers tapping on the controls.
"And sweet voiced beloved was the scary-assed Shadow Broker all along…" Dark eyebrows shot up as an idea curled around Sam's imagination. "Ohhh we could do a whole graphic novel or a sim / vid spin-off…. a whole new franchise, opens up! Pretty soon there'll be fanfiction and fanart for it. Think of all the possibilities! Alison Gunn secret agent of the Shadow Broker. 'His' top gun or is it Gunn?"
They both chuckled.
"I'm not the Shadow Broker..." Liara playfully batted at her bondmate's arm.
"Not yet." the Spectre half jokingly-half seriously shrugged. "With your tenaciousness that prospect will no doubt become a reality."
"Only if you help me take him down."
There was a bit of silence.
"Not today honey, it's my day off." Sam said breaking the sudden stillness before she stole another kiss from the soft purple lips she loved so.
When Sam pulled back she felt Liara's knowing fingertips trace the faint dusting of her freckles that ran across her upper cheeks and forehead. "But as for the freckles… that might be something to consider. I mean you did deliberately cosmetically make them blend in more with your duskier skin tone…I do find them…cute."
"I thought cute was a word reserved for 'infants, baby animals and plush toys'." Sam teased.
"Well bondmate's freckles too." Liara waved the matter aside as if wafting away an insect.
"I can concede to that." ruby lips kissed the bridge of blue skin before softly placing small kisses under ocean blue eyes where Liara's own freckles were concentrated the heaviest. "Bondmate freckles definitely high on the cute meter." a wicked smile. "And I think I just got a load of cavities."
"It did just get cloying sweet there, didn't it?" Liara tilted her head a little.
Sam pinched the air between her thumb and forefinger. "Just a bit." She crawled up the bed to lay beside her wife. "So how you feeling, anyway. Really baby?"
"Well…" Liara drew out a long demure smile she knew kindled Samantha's heart. "They move around a lot. Your daughters also enjoy sitting on my sciatic nerve and sending shocks down my legs, giving me swollen ankles and the frequent water-cramps which I think you have termed 'charlie horses'." Another smile. "Which to say I absolutely adore you for the massages." she awarded Sam with a kiss to the cheek. "I love the Squirrels immensely for lightening up on the nausea, though. That's been a goddess send, by half. But you'll have to sleep on the other side of the bed Melethril. They don't let me sleep on my left side anymore."
"Hey if I get to sleep next to you I don't care what side of the bed I sleep on. I just want to cuddle to my wife."
Liara's smile was warm and full of life. "You are such a tease."
"Of course, how else would I keep you interested?"
"Oh, you have your wily wily ways, my Spectre."
"Yeah, I do have my moments." Sam's smirk was full of teeth. "And the cravings? Still hunger for jalapeño peppers?"
A nod. "And since you've introduced me to chicken…I have to say your daughters have taken a likening to that as well, especially the tandoori style. And now apparently, pomegranate seeds with fresh spinach leaves especially when I pour the jalapeño juice on them."
Sam blanched but wisely kept her thoughts on the tart taste of pomegranates swimming in spicy - hot jalapeño juice to herself. Instead she said: "Why do I get the sense that the Squirrels are mine when they make you have to pee all the time, cave into weird-ass cravings or can't sleep?"
"Considering their Mamma has given me several sleepless nights worrying about her it's only natural they take after her."
"Oh ha ha T'Soni." Sam traced the lines of Liara's crest, completely mesmerized by the swooping curves, the soft texture of the tiny scales. So very similar yet so very different. So very beautiful.
Liara's eyes fluttered closed, completely besotted by Samantha's touch. a deep sigh slipped out. "Are you sure you're not disappointed we're not going out?"
Sam was so engrossed in memorizing every curve every line of her wife's body she didn't respond right away, but thorough their Bond Liara knew without a doubt that her bondmate wanted nothing more than to spend their evening in, just holding one another.
"I'm sure." Sam whispered.
Purple lips curled into a smile. "Then you are fortunate I feel the same way." She gasped as she felt ruby lips trail down to the delicate folds of her neck, tenderly kissing and nibbling. Blue eyes turned solid black.
Sam muttered as her mouth continued their worship of Liara's neck. "Best Janiris – Valentine's Day ever." Her hand went southward inching its way towards azure to give her beloved bondmate the pleasurable release they both desired and longed for.
Sam was always an early riser, but today she allowed herself to bask in the warmth of her wife's bed, soaking in the closeness of Liara's body. Her hand rested upon the swell that was her daughters. And she felt blessed. At peace—a feeling she hadn't felt in a very long time.
But in that peace came the seeds of a new anxiety. After what happened with Secura, her beloved little Sparrow, Sam became obsessively protective of Liara and their children. As the mission against the Collectors progressed Sam was becoming increasingly inclined to insist that Liara flee to one of the Vaults. She might have suggested the asari Ark that was embarking to the Andromeda galaxy at the very least Liara and the girls would be safe from the inevitable Reaper invasion.
"That is out of the question." Liara murmured as she rose to full wakefulness. "Completely out of the question! Safe or not I will not be parted from you Samantha Secura Shepard! And our daughters will know their Arda."
"I know, I know. I just think too much."
"Or not enough. You worry too much Melethril."
"Maybe. But considering everything I think I'm validated. Sure the Collectors are only targeting human colonies. But they are after me. They went after Horizon not just because it was a human colony but specifically because Ash was stationed there. Mercs already targeted you because of me…" Sam stopped speaking as blue fingers rested upon her lips.
"No. And this is the end of it. After our girls are born we can send them with Aethyta to one of Illium's Vaults or on Thessia. But I will never ever entertain the idea of being so separated from you."
Neither spoke of Sam's shorter life span, even if cybernetic upgrades and synthetic enhancements allowed her to live half again as long the average human's century and a half. The gestalt may even have stretched her life span another century possibly two. She could see her girls grow, reach the cusp of their matronhood as they reached their third century. But Liara and the Squirrels would still be alive even as the Andromeda Initiative reached their new galaxy and Sam would long be dead.
"Speaking of the Andromeda Initiative I once gave Alec Ryder then still a Captain in the Alliance information on how to decipher ancient alien languages. He grew very interested after he read my works on the Protheans. You know just before I went to Therum I had Sara Ryder in a few of my lectures on the Protheans.
"She was so very passionate about learning everything she could on them. She reminded me of when I first started my quest to understand them, to learn all there was to learn about them." Liara grinned. "I fear however that my 'wild' theories of the Protheans even she slightly dismissed as conjecture."
"I wonder what she would say now knowing that the Prothean became the Collectors and did not build the mass effect relays or the Citadel." Sam lazily said
"As devastated as I when I learned the truth and driven to uncover more just as I am. It is no wonder she followed her father to a new galaxy? The chance to discover new races, new civilizations or at least new to us. Or better yet very ancient ones…the remnants of what was. Glorious."
"You sound envious."
"Part of me is." Liara shifted in the bed and took Sam's face between her hands and placed a very tender kiss upon rosy lips. "But I am where I truly want to be…in a life married to you." Another sweet kiss. "What was it you said? Marriage, old age and a lot of little blue children."
Sam's lips curled into a half smile. Her hind brain thought back to when she first saw her wife on Therum. Her first thought when she saw Liara trapped in that bubble, that the asari looked like Christmas morning. Every time they made love it was Christmas morning all over again.
"I would never trade such a life for a new galaxy no matter what opportunities it offered." Liara whispered. Her hand stroked the human's caramel cheek.
Sam blinked as it suddenly dawned on her that that was exactly what had happened. "You were given the offer?"
A nod. "The Matriarchy thought to entice me with new challenges, opportunities. And in no uncertain terms I told them to take a hike."
The Spectre chuckled. "You actually told them to take a hike?"
"Indeed. I said and I quote. 'You offer me this opportunity on a silver platter. Do you also pay me in thirty silver coins to betray my love? No! As my Samantha, might say 'take a hike.' It means exactly as it sounds: leave me and do not think to tempt me again. I am Benezia T'Soni's daughter. She fell to the darkness of Reaper indoctrination. That is not my fate. I will not be judged or held to my mother's legacy light or dark. I mark my own path. And that path I travel with my bondmate and our daughters.'"
"Man, what I wouldn't give to see the look on their faces when you told them that."
"It was memorable." Liara admitted. "Nearly as memorable as it was for the Matriarchy to agree to the Vaults."
Sam always placed the agreement to the construction squarely at Aria T'Loak's influence with Councilor Tevos. But the way Liara spoke there was more to it. It wasn't until much later that the Spectre learned the wisdom of The Tenth Matriarch.
If nine matriarchs look at the same information and arrive at the exact same conclusion, it's the duty of the tenth matriarch to disagree. No matter how improbable it may seem, the tenth matriarch has to start digging on the assumption that the other nine are wrong.
During the battle against Saren's aggression, Matriarch Benezia Grand Priestess of Temples of Sari and Athame was that Tenth Matriarch. It did not end as she had foreseen.
Whoever the Tenth Matriarch was on the subject of the Reaper invasion she may well be the only reason the Council races stood a chance of surviving machine devils from beyond Dark Space, as it was her voice to motivate the construction of the Vaults. Along with Councilor Tevos those efforts were put into rapid motion. The Tenth Matriarch may even be quite responsible with agreeing with the Nexus and the Arks… or at least the asari's involvement behind the Andromeda Initiative.
"Your fear isn't the only thing burring in your blood. There is hate and fury as well. Hate for Cerberus and the Collectors, Melethril."
"Then let it burn, Angel Eyes. the calm of your center will not help me destroy the Collectors, Cerberus or the Reapers. I need that rage."
"Why?" Liara placed a tender hand upon her bondmate's chest. "Why harvest this fury?"
Sam closed her eyes. "Because I afraid that maybe Ash was right about me being indoctrinated. Li when I was on the Collector ship and Harbinger was calling us…me out, it called me by name, but no one seemed to react to it.
'Shepard if I must destroy you I will' It echoed through out the ship but no one…not Garrus, not Tali…Samara or anyone else said one damn thing about it calling me out like that. Calling me by name, Garrus and Tali would have said something if they heard it. But they didn't. Makes me think maybe they only heard only the chittering of bug-speak and I'm the only one that heard it clearly."
"Maybe they only heard the clicks of insectoid speak but Samantha you hold the cipher…"
Sam shoved the blankets aside and rose from the bed; heedless of her nakedness she paced the floor. "That only lets me into the Prothean mind-set Liara! Not the Reapers, not the Collectors. But I heard the Collectors…or Harbinger…both…clear as I am hearing you now. Something is wrong Liara…very wrong."
Liara placed both hands upon her bondmate's shoulders, "Then we will figure it out together. I won't let you linger in the dark. Nothing is set in stone Samantha. My mother sought to change the tide and was swept up in the currents. Don't follow her path. I can't lose you too, my sweet beloved. I am not strong enough to let you go." Her fingers were so strongly gripping upon Sam's shoulders that they left bruises
"Don't let me go." It was so softly spoke it might not have been words spoke aloud but through the bond the two lovers shared.
"We will find away to fight this Melethril. First assay your fears. We'll speak with Garrus and Tali. They are our Trusted for a reason. Ash was only your Maiden of honour, Samantha. She was never your true Trusted.
"In your heart you know this. It is why you call Garrus, Archangel, is it not? Now we give our Trusted our full undivided trust by telling them this fear. If true they will keep you on the true path. If false they will keep you safe. Either way you, I and our children will be safe."
Sam didn't even hesitate. "Let's call them in."