A SPOT OF SHOPPING
"This is the CIC- Combat Information Centre. The elevator will take you to the Crew Quarters, Engineering, and the Observation Decks. On your left is the Lab, on your right, the Armoury. Jacob Taylor is our residential gunman, so, if you get stuck on the paralysis cure, you could always ask him if a weapon mod could be designed for us. I know you're a man of many talents, Doctor. EDI, introduce yourself." Yara explained the basics, but left the AI to explain her existence and their mission briefings.
The Yeoman, Kelly Chambers- a pretty little thing if ever I saw one, Yara thought- brought her up to speed on her role in the ship. Psychiatrist-come-personal assistant… Useful. See how she copes with Cole, though. Yara made her way through the ship, talking to everybody, keeping up the morale, letting them know she saw them as people, not just sacks of expendable meat. To say they were shocked at her caring, would be an understatement. They were resigned to being fodder in the Cerberus ranks, for the common good of mankind.
Yara was determined to change that. And, while she was waiting for Jacob, Tali and Miranda to retrieve Archangel, she did as much as she could. She made a list- the cook needed some proper space rations and food, rather than ship's biscuit, the engineer wanted an eezo-core cooling pipe or something, and the doctor- ah. The doctor. Doctor Chakwas. She wanted a bottle of Serice Ice Brandy from the Citadel for a nice, nostalgic drink.
"Commander Shepard, Alpha Team have arrived back on board, shall I arrange them to meet with you in the conference room?"
"Yes, please, EDI. Thanks." As an AI, EDI technically could take offence if the normal etiquette of speech wasn't observed. It still felt weird talking to a strip on the wall or a hologram above a projector. Just plain weird.
Shepard watched as Jacob, Miranda and Tali walked into the conference room, and waited for Cole to make his entrance. A moment later, he did. No longer clad in what he called his 'Reaper Killer' outfit, he now wore the gold-coloured overcoat over his yellow exercise shirt, black khakis and Two-Toes. He wore a strange metal gauntlet on his right arm. Yara wondered briefly about the tattoo on his face, the one that looked vaguely like lightning.
"Right, now we're all here, what's your mission status, Alpha?"
"We recovered Archangel, but he was injured in the fight. Took a minigun round to the face. Slight carapace damage, but that can be fixed with surgery. I take it you know him? Garrus Vakarian?"
"Garrus?! Garrus was Archangel? I- no. Actually that makes perfect sense. Fighting for justice, a team, killing mercs, sounds like something Garrus would do. I'm glad he'll be alright. I heard somewhere that chicks dig scars." Yara was so relieved he was alright. She was getting her old crew back. That made her so much happier about the situation. She could trust them, for when the time came for them to break Cerberus up, it would be the breaking point.
"On the other hand, Mordin Solus was happy to come with us, once Cole told him he could run some tests on him. We delivered the plague cure to the life support systems, tackled a lot of vorcha and krogan, spread the word about the vorcha spreading the plague, and hopped out of there. We skipped the market because you, y'know, took your time."
Miranda looked insulted, but hid it quite well. Jacob just took it like a good grunt, and Tali just twirled a spanner.
"I'll have you know we had to take out an YMIR the hard way!" Miranda glared a bit at Cole, but it was all in jest. "That, and we had to get ourselves recruited by the Blue Suns. I hope you're not angry, but we took the time to get as much information from them. For some reason, they refused to go ahead with their original plan, something about lack of funds?"
Cole butted in here, glad he had his ten shillings.
"Oh, yeah, that was me, sorry. I kinda stole all of their cash and gave it to the Citadel. Perks of controlling electricity, my friends!"
"Drama queen. Of course you'd do something like that. Why not?"
"Oh, and I kept some for myself, obviously. I want some armour, even if I don't need it- looks weird when I'm walking through a storm of gunfire and I'm not getting hurt."
Miranda struggled through that one.
"You- you don't get hurt by thermal fire?"
"Nope. I'll show you."
Cole whipped out Yara's Talon, and fired at his hand. Before anyone could stop him. Instead of a meaty mass of pulp, they saw a brief flash of white where the shot would have hit, and then nothing. Not even a burn.
"How?" Tali asked.
"I can make a localised electromagnetic shield anywhere I want. That's why I wasn't worried when we were outnumbered by those batarians, Yara. I could protect us, and pick them off at the same time. I can do other things besides."
The team just stood there, awed at the power of the Prime Conduit. The humans had grown up, hearing tales of how Cole had saved Earth, at the cost of himself, and his sub-species. Attempts to get a hold of Conduit's bodies were aggressively repulsed, until his body was discovered in the ruins of Old Empire City.
You could say he was pretty much a god to humankind. And Cerberus had made him all the more powerful. Each metal stud on his bones was a miniaturised battery, much like the one powering the Lazarus Station. These, however, were semi-organic. They grew as he did. Learned to absorb more power as his own increased. He'd been reading up on the technology of the future, and he was impressed. He was no Zeke- he didn't have a way with machines- but he did have an almost instinctual understanding of anything that used electricity once he'd come into contact with it. Hence his success with the FTL gun mass drive. He knew he could take pretty much anything the galaxy could throw at him right now, but it never hurt to have a bigger core, right?
"Anyway, back to the meeting… Our next objective is a bit wider. Cross-galaxy kind of wider. We need to make contact with a krogan warlord called 'Okeer', supposedly he's their equivalent of a genetic scientist and genius. There is also a convict on a Blue Suns prison ship known as 'Jack', or 'Subject Zero'. Meant to be the most powerful Biotic alive. Kept in cryo for her own safety. Then, a thief named Kasumi Goto, and an assassin called Thane Krios- a Drell. There is a possible squad member, a member of the asari Justicars, but I think we'll wait and see if that becomes available. Dismissed."
The team filed out, now knowing what was going to happen. It was time to hit the market!
In all the time Cole had been running around Empire City, and then New Marais, he'd never had the time to shop for food, or new clothes. Zeke had had to do it, running to Archer's Square, or bootlegging supplies in through the swamp. Cole'd also never had much money- he was a bike courier for crying out loud! And then, he was a vigilante, for want of a better word. Rescuing the people. If they saw him in a shopping mall, they'd crowd him for autographs and photos like they did most of the time.
The Omega Market was like no other, supposedly. Something to do with the amount of illegal firearms, armour pieces and vehicle parts available. And the ramen. Somehow that was a galaxy favourite. There were stalls selling armour, with a space hamster on offer on orders over 50,000 credits. Yara made sure to get the engineer's special order thing. Made no sense to Cole.
He wandered around, looking at the armour suits on offer. There were Armax Arsenal, an old N7 model, and a weird medieval suit of armour. It had spikes all along the arms, and a jointed carapace that evidently allowed completely free movement. The right pauldron (shoulder guard) had a skull not unlike the Reapers' back in Empire City. It was blue, gold and a kind of matte silver, and the helmet allowed complete viewing of the surroundings through a sort of T-shaped visor in the matte silver and blue plating.
Cole kept glancing at it as he walked past. Unlike the N7 armour Yara was wearing, the description said it was metal plating reinforced with Kevlar underneath. It linked to a special bodysleeve that responded to bio-feedback from nerve endings. Interesting. The micro-servos in the joints would help his mobility, too. Maximum armour, minimum weight gain.
He wouldn't find a suit of armour better than that! Wandering over to the elcor selling it, he inquired about the price.
"Respectfully: I do not think you have enough credits. Good day." Stupid elcor. He'd prove him (her? It?) wrong. Cole swiped his omni-tool on the credit-reader. Infinity. A neat little '8' on its side, prompted the most emotional outburst from an elcor anyone had ever heard.
"In anguish: My sincere apologies, my Lord. I had no idea. Your current style does not reflect your immense wealth. Please, enjoy a 50% discount in all my stores. Hopeful: Am I forgiven?"
"You may rest assured, elcor, that Aria will hear of this. But yes, I will still buy your products. Now, I'd like that Reckoner-Knight Armour, the bodysleeve that goes with it, and the instruction manual on how to put it on and maintain it. Next, I want a list of your best weapons, amour upgrades, weapon mods, things like that."
Cole stood in front of the ten-foot-tall, mountainous alien, as it pretty much cowered in fear. Cole wouldn't say anything to Aria, there'd be no point. The elcor went to his terminal, and collected everything Cole asked for. He received notifications on his omni-tool saying he had received the Reckoner-Knight Armour at the Normandy, plus the bodysleeve and bonus accessories. An email also relayed the lists of Harrrot's wares. Weapons, Weapon Upgrades, Armour Suits & Pieces, Armour Upgrades. Ooh. Bonus! Ship Upgrades (with things like illegally-souped up Thanix Cannons).
"Thank you, uh, Harrot, was it? I'll be sending you an email for what to invoice me for. Next time, be more… nice, to your prospective customers." As Cole walked away, Yara stormed past him with a scowl blessing her features. He briefly heard her yelling at the elcor for cruelty, and suppressing opposition.
Cole waited outside until she'd finished.
"So, Yara… what'd Harrot do to earn your ire?" The woman scowled at him. She hated injustice.
"He's been forcing this quarian around the corner to elevate his prices so high, he can't afford a ticket off this rock! So, I helped him out a little bit."
Ah. Classic 'Hero' actions. Yara was such a nice person! She reminded him of Trish some days, the willingness to spring into action for the helpless, the red hair and feisty attitude, even her eyes.
"Cole? You OK? You zoned out there for a second." Yara had stopped on her rampage to look Cole in the eye, looking slightly troubled. From this tiny distance, Cole could see her eyes had a funny sheen to them, and her forehead was covered in a light covering of sweat. He felt her forehead.
"Oh my God! Yara you're ice cold! I thought you said you felt better!"
"I am! I feel fine! Really!"
She wasn't lying, he could tell. But, still. When they got back to the Normandy, Chakwas would be waiting.
"OK, but when we get back, Chakwas will check you up. Got it?"
"Urgh. OK. I don't even know why I'm letting you order me around, anyway…"
It took another two hours, but the team had finally finished their shopping. Cole trawled through the lists that Harrot had sent him, buying the upgrades that the team would need. A megi-gel container that compressed the substance into a semi-grenade form (to be thrown on or broken over the patient). All the weapon upgrades, because Cole didn't know shit from shat. He bought several different types of each weapon type, namely assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, SMGs, heavy weapons, and pistols.
He bought enough weapons for the entire team. M-37 Falcons, M-7 Lancers, Geth Spitfires, Geth Pulse Rifles, Collector Assault Rifles (these were bloody expensive!), Adas Anti-Synthetic Rifles and Chakram Luanchers. Geth Plasma Shotguns, Disciples, AT-12s, Graal Spike Throwers, M-11 Wraiths, N7 Crusaders, N7 Piranhas, Reegar Carbines and Venom Shotguns. Black Widows, Collector Sniper Rifles, Javelins, Kishock Harpoon Guns, Krysae Sniper Rifles and N7 Valiants. M-12 Locusts, Blood Pack Punishers, Collector SMGs, Geth Plasma SMGs and N7 Hurricanes.
M-490 Blackstorms, M-622 Avalanches, M-920 Cains, Collector Particle Beams, Cobra Missile Launchers, Geth Combat Software (some sort of shoulder-mounted cannon-thing), M-560 Hydras, M-597 Ladons, Sync Lasers and M-333 Particle Beams (stolen from a Cerberus lab, along with Harriers, Talons, Hornets and Raptors). M-3 Predators, M-5 Phalanxes, M-6 Carifexes, Executioner Pistols, M-11 Suppressors, M-77 Paladins, N7 Eagles and Arc Pistols.
It was a long list, which made the elcor all too happy. Little did he know that the credits weren't permanent. They had a half-life of just over two days. Enough to ensure they didn't make it back into Council Space, where it would damage the innocent people's economies.
Back on the Normandy, Yara sat and stared in shock at the sheer quantity of outlawed, illegal, stolen and experimental weaponry there was in the hold. Suits of the best armour, weapon modifiers of the highest calibre, armour upgrades and colour modules of every variety, hell, even servicing kits for each! Cole had outdone anything the Cerberus funding could have acquired.
The Commander grinned in anticipation, at the sheer awesomeness that would be their arrival on the battlefield. It was time to collect 'Jack'.
While hurtling through space at several times the speed of light, Cole dragged the Commander to the Med-bay. As the door slid open, Doctor Chakwas swivelled in her incredibly awesome swivelly chair that swivelled to view the people entering her domain of swivellingness.
Surprised to see Shepard and Cole there so early on into their adventure, she enquired further.
"Basically, ever since we left that Cerberus Station, I've been feeling kinda off. A bit peaky, slightly like a cold. Cole said I felt like ice, but I've been overheating since I first woke up. Any ideas, Doctor?"
Yara finally showed how worried she actually was, with a tiny frown line slitting her eyebrows.
"Come over here, and I'll scan you. Shouldn't take too long. Cole, take a step outside if you please- I'm sure the Commander doesn't want you spreading tales of her naked."
Embarrassed, Cole quickly left the room.
Once he had, Chakwas let a small snigger through her normally professional façade.
"I think you've found a good one there, Yara. It's nice to see you again, even if you aren't in the best of health. Now, I want you down to the bare essentials, and then we'll see what's wrong."
Shepard quickly shucked her clothes, leaving her in her somewhat rarefied cloth underwear. She slid herself onto the bodily scanner in the corner of the room. The ring slid up her petite frame, scanning every inch.
Ping!
Chakwas read the results on her terminal, confusion spreading across her features. Somehow, certain areas of Yara's genetic code were activating, areas that, by all known research and experimentation, should not even exist! Maybe Cole knew something about this. She'd have to ask. Screw doctor-patient confidentiality. This could put her life in danger. Again.
"Well, Commander, you can get dressed, and then I have to speak to Cole. I assume he knows what's wrong, and I want to consult him first."
"Oh, OK. It's nothing bad, is it?" Shepard was worried, albeit understandably, about her combat readiness.
"Fine, for now. You may need regular screening, but you can still fight at near-peak efficiency. Go and get Cole, please."
It took three seconds before Cole re-entered the room. Anyone would've thought he'd been listening in. Chakwas told Cole the deal, the Commander's genetic code activating in certain non-existent places.
Cole sighed. So, the Commander had the Conduit gene, and it was activating. Slower than his, of course, but maybe because she wasn't reacting to any outside stimuli, her power hadn't shown itself.
"Yeah, I know what this is. I'd like to find out some more, though, before I tell anyone anything, OK? Just to be sure?"
He needed to talk to Miranda.