Yet Another New Recruit

"This tumor is fascinating! Hmm, wrong word. Growth? Not descriptive enough. Extrusion? Good enough."

"Our people were pretty clear that they don't count as tumors, Mr. Solus."

"Mordin. Just Mordin. Mr. was my father!" The salarian grinned wide. Taylor just stared at him. He threw his arms out wide and laughed. "Humans! You have the strangest sense of humor! Salarian cultural norms extremely different. Naming norms too. Take my name, many names. Sur'Kesh Larden Talat Jaekis Solus Mordin."

Once Taylor realized that Mordin was pausing long enough for her to comment, she hurriedly nodded, saying, "That is a lot of names, yeah. We usually only have three. A given name, one to honor someone, and then the family name."

"For salarians, the order is important." Mordin said, turning back to his instruments. "Homeworld, nation, city, district, clan, given. 'Mordin Solus' is closest to human equivalent. Turian too for that matter. Asari conventions similar enough for grenades. Have worked among non-salarians long enough, 'Mordin Solus', very natural."

Taylor ran through what the researcher had just said, mentally ticking off the list. "Actually, that does sound really useful having a huge description like that right away. You'd immediately know a huge chunk of background about the other person just from their name."

"Yes! Exactly! Well-said!" Mordin's grin was infectious. "It is a pleasure to find someone aboard that thinks like a salarian."

"Uh, thank you?"

Lisa chuckled, her hologram flickering to life above her interface console nearby. "From Mordin, it's a compliment, Taylor. I'll let you know who it would be an insult from later."

Taylor looked to the hologram, the tension in her shoulders easing and her lips pulling upwards. "Thanks, Lisa."

"That's what I'm here for: information super queen now! How's my girl, Mordin?"

"Cyborg project next. Yes. The research potential," Mordin muttered, his fingers flying across the keyboard. Taylor did her best to pretend she hadn't heard that. "Taylor Hebert completely healthy. Extrusion linkage appears to have superluminal contact capabilities or some form of quantum tunneling. Perhaps higher dimensional."

"Or alternate dimensional," Lisa chimed in, smirking.

"Theoretical. But point. You two are subject matter experts."

Taylor shook her head. "I am not an expert."

"Relative expert." Mordin shrugged. "Regardless, connection with crystalline organism appears unhindered. Arm, hm. Have sent measurements to Dr. Chakwas. Prosthetic should be ready in several hours."

"Thanks, Mordin. I owe you," Lisa said.

"Nonsense! Taylor is member of crew. No thanks or favors needed." Turning, he smiled wide, holding out his hand. "Welcome aboard."

For the second time in as many minutes, Taylor found herself unable to avoid grinning along with the man as she reached out and shook his hand. "Thanks, Mordin. It's really nice to meet someone genuinely happy to see me and talk to me."

Lisa groaned. "I let you join the Wards and you don't even make hero friends. Mordin, I thought I was antisocial."

The salarian stared unblinking at the hologram. "You are a computer."

Lisa threw her hands up. "It's not my fault I don't have contemporaries anymore! Ugh! I'm going to go talk to the Geth!"

As Lisa's hologram blinked out, Mordin turned back to Taylor, winking.

Mordin may think that human humor was odd, but Taylor was pretty ready to declare salarian humor as strange too.

That said… It was pretty funny.

\/\/\/\/

"Commander?" Taylor said. She walked onto the bridge stopping just to the side of Joker and the older woman as the two chatted. Taylor tapped her datapad as they both looked over at her question. "Are we going near this Omega station anytime soon? I think I found someone who might be able to help our mission if we are."

Joker pointedly glanced between the pad to Taylor's head and back. "Didn't you just get thawed out, like, a day ago? Do you even know how to turn that on?"

"You realize I have a metric ton of bugs that I can drop on you whenever I want right?"

"And we have another winner of 'scariest motherfucker on board'! You're on a roll, Shepard."

The Commander snorted. "I do try. What did you find? An old friend?"

"Not really a friend, more of a professional associate, but… maybe."

Lisa's hologram blinked to life, the woman herself seemingly leaning back on the console behind her, arms crossed. "That would take some doing. Humans aren't built to last like that."

"Says the girl who got herself uploaded just so she could wait for her booty call," Joker said. Shepard groaned, while Lisa laughed, shaking a finger at him.

"Damn. For once, I can't actually lob one back; because you are completely correct and I can't even deny it."

Taylor's face went as red as a tomato and her posture froze solid.

"Oho! She admits defeat!"

"Hey now, I didn't say that. You just won this round."

Joker stroked his chin, making a show of thinking hard. "You're just giving up early because you don't want me to call you a creepy stalker."

"Well, it's better than a yandere."

"Oh look at the old-timer here pulling out the big words!"

Lisa pushed off from the wall, her hologram standing straight. "You… have no idea what that means, do you?"

"Not a clue," Joker merrily agreed. Taylor and Shepard were left staring between the two in shared horror.

"Dude. You have how much porn, and you don't know about yanderes?"

"Apparently I don't have enough."

Shepard clapped her hands. "Okay, enough of that! You two want to get into the intricacies of your preferences, wait until I am away. Far away. Taylor, you found someone interesting?"

Taylor shook herself, pushing away the implications that had been assailing her and instead opened a tab on her datapad. "The locals don't have an actual name for her. Some are referring to her as 'the Human Preacher'. There's not much video of her either since she uses a hooded cloak. But what people have described her as -"

"Taylor," Lisa cut in, her eyes flashing green momentarily. "There's no way. She'd be pushing 200. Her power wasn't set up for that sort of thing. Alexandria maybe, but… No. I don't see it."

"She was hit by the Nine too, and then there's Amy, so it's possible." Taylor flicked through a few other pages. "I've been going through these records, there's no notation of her death. Did I…"

Lisa frowned. "Gold Morning? I'm trying to rememb… No. No, she survived. And… Okay so there really should have been a record of her death, but - fuck it. Shepard, we might as well check it out. Taylor might be right."

Shepard lifted an eyebrow. "I take off your restraining bolts and all of sudden you think that you run this ship. I see how it is."

Lisa smirked. "I am this ship."

"Mhmm," Shepard agreed. She leaned down, staring Lisa in the eyes. "Bet you want me to shift some of Mordin's budget over to cybernetics though."

"Oh, touché!" Lisa's hologram held her heart and stumbled backwards. Taylor just goggled, while Joker was suppressing his giggles.

"Taylor, I needed to talk with Aria anyway. We can check out your hunch while we're there."

"Thanks. I just thought it might help."

"And I appreciate the heads-up. Walk with me for a minute?" They started away from the cockpit, leaving Joker and Lisa playfully sniping at each other again.

"How are you fitting in? I know it hasn't been very long, but still."

Taylor shrugged. "It's nearly 200 years in the future and somehow I'm not entirely lost. I'm not sure if that means I should be more scared or less. But everything else has changed." Taylor's voice lost a lot of its inflection and her pace evened out as she continued. "My girlfriend doesn't have a physical body. My father is dead. Everyone I knew is dead. People worship me, they treat me like I'm a goddess."

"I wish I knew what to tell you, Taylor," Shepard said, laying a hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "Everyone knows about the Crystal War, and everyone knows how it ended, and what the stakes were. Whether or not they're right in their beliefs, the fact remains that you did save everyone that day. But that's too big for day to day interactions. Look at the small things instead, it gives you more perspective I've found."

Taylor looked at her, frowning. "What do you mean?"

"Just that it's part of why Tali and I fit so well together. Go talk to Grunt. We have some time before we get to Omega. I think you'll get what I mean afterwards."

\/\/\/\/

Taylor found herself in the opposite cargo hold than her own room staring at the largest man she had ever come across, and she'd been on the same team as Weld. In hindsight, Weld wasn't really bulky. The Krogan staring her down was… solid.

And he was supposedly small compared to other Krogan?

"You're tiny."

"And you are not," Taylor replied. She really missed having both arms. She could've crossed them and continued the stare off easily.

"The tank said you killed a god."

Taylor frowned. "The tank?"

"The tank," Grunt nodded.

"I coordinated everyone, I helped come up with the final strategy. I was barely myself by the end. Someone had to do something. I'm not entirely sure if it was worth it, but… well we're all still around, so I guess, maybe?"

Grunt chuckled. "Heh heh. You killed a god and you're tiny. That's awesome."

"Uh. Tha…nks?" This guy's straightforwardness was actually rather refreshing. That didn't help her figure out how she was supposed to interact with him at all though.

Grunt slammed his fists together, nearly bouncing from foot to foot. "Yeah! Teach me Battlemaster. The tank never said I couldn't have two Battlemasters! You and Shepard, I'll be the strongest Krogan there ever was!"

"I don't think my tactics would work very well for you," Taylor said, running her eyes over his huge frame. In spite of herself, Grunt's enthusiasm was starting to get to her and she was envisioning some drills that he might benefit from. "You seem a bit more straightforward of a combatant and I tend to prefer less direct means."

"All the more reason for you to teach me, Battlemaster!"

"I… might have a few ideas."

"Yes!"

Taylor was starting to get why Shepard had told her to come down here.

\/\/\/\/

"Garrus," Shepard said, tone as flippant as possible. Taylor was impressed. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last time you were on Omega you had half your face blown off by a rocket, didn't you?"

"Ah, but everyone responsible for that little bit of violence is dead now. I don't see the problem with me tagging along, Shepard."

Taylor nodded sagely. "Garrus, you understand how to approach combat. Kick them so hard they can't get back up again and the other guy is too scared to even think about starting something in revenge."

"Oh I knew I would like you!" Garrus said, a grin spreading on his features as the airlock doors opened and the trio started walking through the city-space station.

"I can't even tell if you're joking or not," Shepard sighed.

"Why would I joke about fighting?" Taylor asked.

"We have awoken a monster and she is glorious," Garrus preened.

"You do know I'm dating the ship, right?" Taylor said. She paused, shaking her head and groaning. "Man, that sounds so weird."

"It would never have worked out between us," Garrus said, patting her shoulder. "I'm dextro, you're levo, it just doesn't mix."

Shepard rolled her eyes at her best friend's antics, and led the trio into Afterlife. It didn't take long to find Aria, the Asari lounging in her usual spot above the main crowd.

Taylor had stopped speaking the moment they entered, posture locked rigid and her gaze trained forward. There were more than enough insects in this city that she had a complete awareness of everyone around them. She hadn't even had to release any of her own critters from the ship, there were enough local creatures that she was able to sense and control. There was something profoundly disturbing about how her power latched onto alien bugs without even a second's thought…

A worry for another time.

"Shepard, welcome back. Archangel, try not to start any more wars hmm?"

"No promises," Garrus commented, with a small, amused wave.

"Your message mentioned the information was time sensitive?" Shepard said. "I thought you wanted to stay neutral in all of this."

Aria stood and walked closer to them, her gaze locked on Taylor. "I do. I did. The situation has changed. Here's the data, forward it to T'Soni. She'll owe me one and with any luck I'll get on the ground floor of a regime change. Now, more importantly… where did they dig you up?"

Taylor directed a stream of the local insects towards her as she met Aria's gaze. "Do I know you?"

"Oh no, but I know of you. Shepard!" Aria whirled and stalked forward, her arms spread wide. "My armament is yours! Have Archangel speak with Grizz before you depart to take what you need."

Shepard frowned, glancing at Taylor, a small cloud of vermin hovering in the corners of the room. Turning her attention back to Aria, she stepped forward speaking low, "You know who my companion is."

"I do my research. Your species fought off an intergalactic plague - I wanted to know about the person who was capable of such a feat. And now you've brought her into my bar. You've recruited the very savior of your species to your crusade. I am impressed."

"She could be an actor, or a clone."

Aria smirked, running her hand along Shepard's arm before chuckling and moving away. "Come now, we both know you're too moral for a play like that. And I've seen eyes like hers often enough. You can't fake having seen war, making decisions you're not proud of. You're young Shepard, you still think that people can get over their trauma. When you've been around as long as me, you know that's a pretty lie we all tell ourselves."

Shepard grunted. "Just try not to spread around the fact that I'm traveling with Khepri. The Alliance is already trying to steal my ship and I still have a mission to finish."

"I will make no such promise." Aria didn't even bother trying to lie and Shepard kneaded her temple.

"God you're annoying sometimes. Alright fine, I knew it wasn't going to stay a secret for long, but that's gotta be a record even for me. We're looking for someone while we're here. Do you know where we can find someone the locals call 'Human Preacher'?"

Aria's lip curled. "Yes." She jerked her head to the side. One of her bodyguards stepped forward, tapping a datapad and handing it to Shepard. "She's not as problematic as Archangel was, but she's annoying and she keeps trying to give my people hope that things will get better for them if they just live by the proper morals. Morals have no place on Omega. Get her out of my station."

Shepard suppressed an amused grunt, but wasn't able to stop from rolling her eyes. She checked the information on the datapad and started to walk away. "Thanks, Aria. Good luck continuing to rule your roost." Shepard raised a hand to Aria over her shoulder as she walked away, leading her team back down from the raised platform.

"Have fun saving the galaxy for a second time, Shepard," Aria shot back, lounging on her couch and seemingly forgetting the entire exchange already. Taylor still felt the Asari's eyes on her back the entire way out of the club.

They were halfway to the apartment block when Taylor asked, "How did she recognize me so quickly? It's been two hundred years! She's not even from Earth."

Shepard shrugged. "That's just the kind of person Aria is. She's an incredibly dangerous opponent and an incredibly powerful ally. If a quarter of the things I've found out about her are true, then she's been alive for basically forever. She did her research: your appearance is one of the few things that actually stayed constant over the decades."

"And you don't exactly blend in, Taylor." Garrus gestured to his teammate. "A one armed human, a warrior's stance and movements, recognizable hair. Really, all you're missing is that crazy suit you came aboard in and you might as well be wearing a nametag."

"I don't know," Taylor trailed off. "It's just weird. We're not on my home planet and people know me. It's…"

"A lot," Shepard said, softly. "Yeah. You never really get used to that. I think we're here."

In front of them was a woman wrapped in a dark robe, most of her head covered with her hood, just a small amount of blonde hair poking out and a glimpse of pale skin and red lips showing. She was tall and thin, and she was standing in front of a colorful backdrop.

Taylor clenched her jaw as she saw the painting. It showcased a large group of capes all clustered around a central golden figure; each cape was attacking the Scion impression with their own unique powers. Above them all was a floating figure adorned with black and white wings, a gray bodysuit, and yellow lenses. A white tendril of energy lanced out from each cape, all of them centering on…

Khepri.

"The Human Preacher. Well that's certainly literal," Garrus murmured.

"Hello. You guys are just in time, I was just about to -" the woman froze. Her hood centered on Taylor. A second later her whole body shook with silent laughter, her hood dislodging. "You've got to be fucking kidding me. Skitter? Is that you? The bitch really fucking did it?"

"Wow," Taylor whispered. She stepped forward and raised her voice. "Hi, Glory Girl. I thought I was just seeing something I wanted to see. I never expected you'd actually be here."

"Says the dead goddess." The 'preacher' laughed again. She waved the trio closer. "Come on, I have snacks inside if you're hungry. Oh and I go by Victoria or Tori now. Don't call me Vicky. I will hurt you. I'll feel bad afterwards, but I will still hurt you."

"What, not going to fall over in worship?" Garrus asked.

"Garrus, play nice with apparently the second ancient parahuman I've found in two days."

The Turian snorted. "Taylor found this one, not you. You're at one each."

While the other two followed along just behind them, Taylor helped Victoria prepare mugs of tea for everyone. "So," Taylor said, "you're preaching. A religion. Centered on me."

Victoria winced. "I mean technically, yeah? I don't actually worship you or anything though. Kind of hard to do that when I remember you before you were, you know, Khepri. Got a handle on that now? I'm assuming so since you don't sound crazy anymore. And I'm still in control of myself. But anyway, yeah, so the core tenets that sprung up around Khreprism are actually pretty solid. They helped a lot of people hold things together as we tried to rebuild."

"Victoria," Taylor thrust a hand out towards the painting out front. "Victoria."

"You try coming up with cool scenes that don't have Endbringers in them."

"Why are you not freaking out about seeing me!" Taylor slammed a hand on the table. "It's been two centuries! I should be DEAD! I'm not dead! Why are you just - making tea"

Victoria took a sip of her tea, inclining her head towards Shepard. "Partially her. When did you find her, Commander? A week ago?"

"Yesterday actually," Shepard said, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, that sounds like Skitter." Victoria turned back to Taylor and shrugged. "There was never confirmation of your death and there were no sightings of you either. A lot of us started to figure that you had been hidden away, locked up in stasis or something; until another one of those things came and we needed a 'leader' again."

Victoria paused and shook her head. "Now, there are rumors of these Reaper things, the Citadel was attacked, colonies are going missing, and a dead hero comes back to life and starts tearing up half the galaxy looking for recruits for her suicide mission?" Victoria took a sip and put her mug down. "It was just a matter of time before Shepard found you. I'm amazed she didn't do it 2 years ago for her first crusade really."

Garrus chuckled. "Shepard, look, the ancient parahuman knows you so well! Maybe you're related."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, I suppose," Shepard commented dryly. "What about you, Victoria? Taylor's been frozen in tinkertech, how did you survive for so long?"

The blonde's expression morphed into a snarl and both fists clenched, one hand slamming down, the table creaking ominously. "Because I'm not allowed to fucking die!"

Taylor blinked, an odd buzzing coming from the roof of the building as the insects she'd gathered there swarmed. "Come again?"

Victoria focused on her, her lips pulled back from her teeth and her eyelids narrowed to slits. "Biologically immortal. Healing factor based on level of health and injury. Altered brain chemistry to be able to retain centuries of memories. I am not allowed to die, Skitter! I would have to fly into the sun before I could be sure that it would kill me and even then, I'm not entirely sure it would work!"

"Oh. Shit." The buzzing and chirping of the swarm increased. "The Nine or…"

"No," Victoria snapped. "Her."

"And that's why you're out here."

"That's why I'm out here. Running the hell away from any reminders." Victoria slumped back against her chair heaving a heavy sigh. "Fuck. Thought I was over that."

"Well, if you want to try maybe dying in new and exciting ways, can I interest you in a suicide mission?" Shepard cut in. She dropped the flighty tone after a moment and continued, "On the less selfish and more altruistic side, we're trying to stop the Collectors from kidnapping colonists in the Terminus Systems. We could use another ground war specialist."

"Sure, what the hell, it's not like I'm doing anything else important. It could be fun to see if Skitter can live up to being Khepri again."

"Excellent, welcome aboard," Shepard stated, grinning. "The Normandy is at the main dock when you have your things together. I'll leave you two alone to catch up."

As Shepard and Garrus walked back out, Taylor took a small sip of her tea, eyeing Victoria. "You know I'm not Khepri right? I'm not that girl in that painting. I'm just Taylor."

"I've been hearing more and more about the Reapers that Shepard is always talking about. Dollars to donuts that these Collectors are either pawns for the Reapers or pawns for the passengers. Either way, we're both back into the war, Skitter." Victoria shook her head. "You may be 'Taylor' right now. But at one point, you were Khepri. And before this war is over, we might need Khepri again."