"Hagalaz... the oceans boil during the day, then snap freeze ten minutes after sundown..." Liara mused almost to herself as the drop shuttle began to vibrate noticeably. They had entered the atmosphere of the planet and even with the state of the art shuttle's powerful mass effect field, the gale force winds outside were making their presence known.
"The Shadow Broker lives in this?" Sarah asked curiously as she glanced out of the shuttle window, all around them a massive storm system raged as they made their way along the twilight band of the planet.
"My scans have revealed a very well hidden transmission signal originating from your destination. You should have a visual of the location soon." EDI interjected herself smoothly as she always did.
"We're still not even in sight of the ground yet... oh, now I see." Sarah moved closer to the window and Garrus and Liara joined her.
"A ship! It's massive... it must move with the storm, completely undetectable unless you know where to look." Liara said with a hint of contempt in her voice.
"EDI, can you find us a place to land?" Sarah forced herself into business mode.
"I cannot, the shuttle bay is locked down, I would require a direct uplink in order to access the ship's network." EDI sounded almost apologetic.
"We'll have to land on the hull and work our way along it till we find a way inside." Liara intoned, putting on her hardsuit helmet and snapping the seal into place.
"That is inadvisable, there is a constant lightning storm where the hot and cold air collide." EDI warned.
Looking from Garrus to Liara Sarah nodded with a sigh as she put on her own hardsuit helmet, snapping it into place. After a moment of suit pressurization she put a hand on her hip and stood upright.
"Not like we have much choice" Sarah shrugged the words almost nonchalantly. "Guess we'll just have to move fast."
The Shadow Broker's vessel was at least a mile long, with four quarter mile wide panels protruding from the back of the ship like massive sails to keep the ship balanced in the endless storm, two above and two below. The elliptical hull was a mess of lightning rods and other equipment, with hardly any place visible to touch down the shuttle even for a moment. Sarah and her companions activated the magnetic soles of their hardsuits and waited patiently at the door. They braced themselves to leave the safety of the shuttle for the hostile environment that awaited them. After several long minutes that felt like hours, the shuttle alarm sounded, telling it's occupants it was time to get out. The door swung up and opened to a small space of clear metal that was almost a walkway near the front of the ship leading back along the top. The small mass effect field surrounding the shuttle kept the three passengers from immediately feeling the effects of the wind. As they gained footing on the larger vessel beneath them and watched their drop shuttle flying away back to the Normandy, they all realized just how powerful the windstorm was. Even their magnetic boots holding them to the hull did little to help them not fall forwards as they followed the walkway.
"I cannot pinpoint it in this lightning, but I am detecting the source of the signal from near the back of the ship." EDI advised them over their suit comm channel. "It appears there is nothing below but maintenance equipment, you will need to continue along the hull to find an entrance near the back shielding."
"Got it, thanks EDI." Sarah acknowledged, and motioned to her team to move forward. The hull of the ship was at least a quarter mile wide itself but on a progressively circular slope. The walkway they were forced to follow lead through and around flaps, solar panels, and two story tall lightning rods. As they moved deeper into the mass of equipment the force of the wind lessened, mainly due to the large flaps covering the hull that vibrated constantly in the strong wind. Even without the the force of the wind making every step a struggle not to fall over, progress was slow. They had only been advancing for minutes and already it seemed like longer. Then Sarah noticed movement ahead of them along their path as small circular coverings swung open from the ship.
"Maintenance Drones." Sarah warned her team through her suit comm channel. Several prefabricated drones came floating out of holes and onto the hull of the ship. There were at least five, each identical spherical constructs that typically performed menial duties like cleanup or repair. As the drones neared the three intruders, each of them extended a small rod like object that crackled with electricity. Not taking any chances, Sarah reached to her back and grabbed her pulse rifle from it's back mount. The gun smoothly uncompacted in her grip as she brought it to bear on the first of the drones and opened fire. Garrus and Liara followed suit and between the three of them, their path forward was clear in a matter of seconds. Sarah kept her gun drawn and ready as they advanced, scanning for more movement.
"Why are they attacking?" Sarah wondered aloud more to herself than to anyone in particular.
"They must think we're debris from the storm." Liara responded quickly.
"Well if they weren't onto us before then they will be wondering why their drones went offline, we better be ready for a welcoming party." Sarah mused as they continued ahead. Their path lead them back and forth across the sloping top of the massive ship, making their trip that much longer. After clearing another grouping of drones, Sarah proved herself right as she spotted the approaching heads of two Shadow Broker soldiers. The pair was moving towards them along the walkway. The three ducked into cover as best they could, waiting for clear shots on their approaching targets. The trap was over nearly before it began, as Garrus and Sarah opened fire and shattered the two surprised soldier's shields, Liara let out a grunt of exertion and used her biotics to send both of them flying straight up and into the storm. The last they saw of the two hapless bodies was each flailing helplessly as the gale force winds carried them up and away from the ship.
"That works." Sarah laughed as she motioned Garrus forward, the two advancing with Liara close behind.
Within a minute, their forward progress ground to a halt as more patrols began advancing on them and were joined by Loki security mechs. The mechs always reminded Sarah of life sized string puppets both in the way they looked and the way they moved. The mechs had no protection from Liara's biotics and she focused most of her attention on them as they seemed to spring out of storage compartments all along the pathway they were forced to follow. The fight wore on into long minutes as the three pressed back farther and farther along the top of the ship. The random soldier or two on patrol was rapidly becoming small teams and squads grouping up to put up better resistance. Eventually, the winding path lead them all the way across the ship and threatened to disappear off the side before Sarah spotted a small stairwell leading down to a narrow catwalk that ran along the side of the ship. The catwalk had no cover and barely any railing to speak of to prevent them from going off the edge out into open air. From here, Sarah could see large wings jutting up at periodic intervals along the ship's body and the endless storm raging around them.
"Okay... looking down was clearly a mistake." Liara said with fear tinging her voice as she pressed herself against the inner edge of the catwalk. The three moved as quickly as they could to avoid being trapped in such an exposed location. Ahead of them, the catwalk seemed to end abruptly and then Sarah noticed a small pressure door leading inside the ship. She motioned to Liara and Garrus and the three made their way inside. The doorway lead them to yet another suspended catwalk, but this one inside the ship. The sight before them was nothing short of impressive and all three paused. Before them and stretching along out of sight in both directions was an endless row of energy panels. Each one moved up and down in turn as if part of a wave in an ocean, distributing charges from the numerous lightning rods overhead towards the back of the ship. The hum of the energy and the moving panels was constant and audible even inside their hardsuits.
"This ship is incredible!" Liara marveled aloud. "It must have taken decades to build in secret."
"I wonder what happened to the contractors." Sarah mused with no small amount of sarcasm.
"I think we can guess." Liara replied pointedly.
The catwalk led them along the inner hull for a few hundred feet, following the countless energy panels and their endless cycle. There was no sign of any access point for the ship proper.
"Navigating this storm is brutal. If the ship's engines stop even for a moment... At least the Shadow Broker would go down with us." Liara finished her own thought, realizing that such an idea was too dangerous to consider at the moment.
"That's comforting." Sarah quipped teasingly.
"Look, motion dampeners!" Liara pointed below them. "I bet you can't even feel the storm inside the ship." Beneath the catwalk in both directions were numerous motion dampeners, their cylindrical casings giving off a bluish glow hinting at the element zero cores they housed. The catwalk lead them to another access hatch that would lead back outside and Sarah decided it was a better option than risking a firefight in such a sensitive area with no escape route available. Taking the lead, she lead her team outside and onto another catwalk, this one dipped low, passing along the underside of the rounded hull for a short distance before sloping upwards and leading them back up to the top. This far back along the ship, the wind was barely a concern anymore. Their route cut across the ship again, going towards the other side in a now almost predictable pattern. The three barely crested the sharp upward slope however, when rifle fire greeted them. Again their progress slowed dramatically as they were forced to advance carefully the along walkway, using the various flaps and equipment around them for cover when they could.
More long minutes passed as they traversed the ship back over to the other side, adding another six to their kill count along the way. The walkway cut back towards the back of the ship again just short of the steep slope of the outer edge and Sarah was silently thankful to not have to traverse another catwalk. Instead, five more Loki mechs and a pair of guards came around a grouping of large flaps ahead and opened fire. Clearing away the opposition quickly, the three pressed ahead. This far back along the ship, the flaps and solar panels gave way to large piping and support structures that made for useful cover. Again, the pathway cut back across the top of the ship but this time they were greeted by a squad of broker agents led by a pair of asari biotics. All too aware of the dangers a biotic posed in this environment Sarah and her team broke line of sight quickly and nodded to each other to confirm they all were sharing the same thought. Moving quickly, Sarah broke cover first for a short moment, not allowing her shield to broken by incoming fire as she focused the first biotic. Just behind her Garrus broke cover himself and moved to another postion while firing, finishing off the first asari's shield. Liara revealed herself, pushing the Asari up into the air forcefully. The tandem action was perfectly timed and took only seconds, leaving none of them exposed long enough to be at risk. The second Asari fell back into cover quickly, her confidence broken as she fired wildly around the corner of some piping she was using for cover. The rest of her team fell quickly as Sarah and Garrus advanced, Liara picking off their targets easily with her biotics.
The tactic of breaking a target's shielding to expose them to biotic energy became almost a game to the three and neither Sarah nor Garrus even bothered actually killing their targets. The sight of watching broker agents flying helplessly away from the massive ship into the deadly storm was much more gratifying for them. When the second asari finally worked up the courage to break cover for an attack, it was too late. Her calls for backup went unheeded as her team was already dead and she soon joined them under the concentrated fire of two assault rifles and a very powerful biotic. Their path clear for the moment, they continued up to the wide top of the ship, only to find their route was a dead end. The pathway they had followed lead them straight into a very large and very wide lightning capacitor that jutted out from the ship at an angle and went up almost two stories. Letting out a sigh of frustration, Sarah began to look back the way they came for something she had missed.
"This lightning rod is on a rail!" Liara pointed out with excitement. "Do you see a switch anywhere?"
The three looked around quickly and Sarah found just what they needed, a manual control lever in a depressed access panel next to the obstruction. With an application of strength, Sarah pulled the lever out until it clicked and retracted itself. A loud mechanical humming resounded next to them and the Lighting rod retracted itself in sections, finally revealing their way forward. A catwalk suspended above an exposed section of the energy panels they had seen earlier. To either side the energy panels moved in their endless wave and electricity crackled dangerously close to them.
"Not even a guard rail. I bet the Broker's agents love patrolling the hull." Sarah quipped dryly as the three moved at a quick pace towards the upwards slope that would lead them back to the relative safety of the hull.
"At least the view is nice." Liara replied with a bit of sarcasm.
Their progress finally bore fruit as they moved out of the depressed catwalk area and into an enclosed space several hundred feet across. There were several other maintenance paths leading further back along the hull on either side but directly ahead was a small ramp leading down to a large and wide pressure door.
"There!" Liara called excitedly. "That hatch should lead us into the ship." Sarah and Garrus took up covering positions as Liara made her way down the short ramp to the doorway. "It's locked... Hang on, I've got a bypass shunt program that can crack it." Liara activated her omnitool and began working the keypad display on her forearm while interfacing with the doorways holo display. A new holodisplay appeared on the doorway as Liara activated her program.
"Should've just brought Legion with us." Sarah said aloud but more to herself than anyone else. "How long will it take?" She asked Liara pointedly.
"I don't know Sarah, I've never broken into the Shadow Broker's base before! Well... not this one anyway." Liara's response was agitated as she kept her focus on starting up the program.
"Incoming!" Garrus called out as he moved to take cover on the rampway they had originally came from. Sarah held her position at the top of the ramp where Liara was as Broker agents came into view on both sides of them.
"You're sure that shunt will work?" Sarah called quickly, sparing a glance down at Liara while forcing the enemy back with bursts from her rifle.
"It's illegal even on Illium! It didn't come with a warranty." The sarcasm in Liara's voice was obvious.
"But you tested it right?" Sarah replied, changing out a thermal clip in her rifle as even more soldier's appeared. Liara moved away from the doorway to join the fighting, her program running automatically now.
"Here come more of them!" Liara replied, her response gave Sarah pause and she looked straight at Liara who was using the opposite side of the rampway as cover.
"Tell me you tested it!" It was Sarah's turn to let agitation creep into her voice.
"No time to talk!" Liara replied shortly as she let her biotics flare up. The pressing matter of incoming rifle fire forced Sarah to drop the issue for a moment.
The approaching broker agents were being forced to enter into the depressed area from small walkways on either side, making them easy targets for Sarah and Garrus. Between the two of them and Liara's biotics they were clear of immediate danger in under a minute. Sarah spared a glance down at the doorway and saw what she could only guess was the shunt program still running.
"Liara?" Sarah called, her question going unspoken but understood.
"I'm sure it won't be much longer!" The young asari replied even as she ducked a shot from more agents approaching from the other side.
"Remember the old days when you could just slap omnigel on everything?" Sarah almost laughed the question as she fired a few quick bursts of her rifle before popping back into cover.
"That security upgrade made alot of people unhappy." Liara quipped with amusement as even Garrus let out a short grunt of a laugh. "Look out! more on the way!" She called, pointing behind Sarah as two more agents came running into the open area.
The three were making quick work of the Broker's forces as the groupings of soldiers were interspersed and seemingly disorganized. They appeared to be frantic in their effort to get the intruders away from the doorway and it was making the job that much easier for Sarah and her team. In her gut, Sarah could feel the lack of combat sense in the broker agents. She guessed that the soldiers on this ship were hardly ever rotated and that lack of practical combat experience was now causing a haphazard response to their threat.
"Rocket drones! Front of the ship!" Liara called and Garrus broke cover, running for their position as two antipersonnel rockets impacted on the rampway he had been using seconds before. Sarah turned and sighted the targets, Several tripod like machines that were little more than a grouping of thrusters with a turret mounted on top. Sarah quickly recompacted her assault rifle and drew out her long rifle, using brief seconds to sight her targets and fire. The semi-automatic rifle sent rounds flying on the exact angle the drone Sarah targeted was firing it's rocket at, creating a double explosion while Liara forced up a quick barrier to deflect the rocket fire from the two other drones bearing down on them. Garrus joined Sarah and the two split their targets, shooting down the drones at nearly the same time.
"Their attacks are disorganized! They'd be more effective if they attacked all at once!" Liara summarized with an air of confidence.
"Please don't give the mercs ideas!" Groaned Sarah reproachfully as she immediately scanned the area for any more attackers. Re-compacting her sniper rifle in favor of her assault rifle and changing out to a fresh thermal clip. Using the break in combat, Garrus repositioned himself back near the opposite ramp while Liara moved back down to check the doorway.
"Shepard, this looks like a big one!" Garrus called out a warning as Broker agents came rushing into the area from both walkways.
"You just had to give them tactical advice!" The sarcasm is Sarah's voice was obvious as she pulled out a pair of fusion grenades from her belt clip, tossing each low along the ground to either side of her into the groupings of approaching soldiers.
"But now there will be fewer inside to deal with!" Liara replied almost apologetically as the small disc-like weapons exploded, sending several agents flying backwards.
"S'yeah.." Sarah snorted contemptuously, "Keep dreaming T'soni." The human spectre motioned to her right and both her and Garrus opened fire in that direction first before rapidly changing left, keeping both groupings of soldiers off balance while Liara rejoined Sarah, letting her biotics force back the agents not already caught by the explosions. Overhead, more rocket Drones were moving into view and Sarah swore quietly under her breath as her assault rifle clicked audibly. She had no more thermal clips and she re-compacted the weapon onto her backmount, drawing her Phalanx pistol smoothly. Liara gave Garrus cover as he ran again to their position, avoiding rocket fire and diving into a roll as his own shield shattered. From below, a loud blaring alarm sounded as the pressure door slid open.
"There! the hatch is open!" Liara called excitedly. Garrus was already standing in the open doorway shooting down incoming rockets. The pair rushed down the ramp and through the entryway. The heavy door slammed shut behind them, cutting off their pursuers.
************ Mouth of Hell ************
Now safely inside the massive ship, the three took a moment to take stock of their situation. Sarah was the first to remove her hardsuit helmet, noticing quickly that the heavy storm just outside was already virtually inaudible. The interior of the ship was clean and messy at the same time. While there was no garbage or visible clutter, there were wires, tubes, and piping that spilled out of access panels and patched into other panels further along. The hallway gave off an impression of many years of in house repair work done over the course of the ships history. The trio had only seconds to take stock of their surroundings as heavy boot falls echoed down the corridor ahead of them. At least five more soldiers appeared from deeper in the ship and took up defensive positions. They used the bulkhead and doorframes for cover while firing wildly towards the Specter and her team.
"Hold your positions no matter the cost!" The voice was a deep, rumbling bass masked by a heavy electronic filter. It had blared out over the ships Internal speakers.
"The Shadow Broker..." Liara almost whispered and Sarah could feel a swell of hate and anger building inside the asari's mind. Quickly and firmly, Sarah put a hand on Liara's shoulder and turned her so they were looking face to face, barely an inch apart using a door frame as cover from incoming accelerated rounds and an occasional rocket.
"T'soni you better stow the personal grudge right here and now before I radio for an early evac." Liara's eyes widened even as her biotics flared up in involuntary but angry protest. Sarah held up a hand and continued, stern mask firmly in place. "You said yourself this is a rescue mission at present, as such your priority and mine is to pursue and secure the hostage. We will NOT go chasing some half cocked revenge. If and when Liara... remember... if and when the oppurtunity arises, we won't hesitate." Without warning Sarah had slipped back into that all too familiar role of lover as she held Liara by the back of the head, letting their foreheads touch briefly. The contact gave Liara a shock as she felt Sarah's mind, the emptiness and fear inside the Specter's heart. She marveled at how well the human hid her pain behind the needs of command. Swallowing her protests and regaining her composure, Liara nodded while keeping her eyes locked with Sarah's.
"Good..." Sarah nodded and stepped back quickly, realizing how sudden the contact had been. "Garrus, go for the guys with rocket launchers... I'll advance first." In that moment she was back to being in command. The role of leading in a game of death was much easier than trying to face that burning question that was still tearing at Sarah's mind. She could not allow her fears or her wandering thoughts any room for consideration until the shooting stopped. Drawing a few steady breaths to get back into the rhythm of the firefight, Sarah gauged her opponents based on their shot patterns and firing intervals. Garrus was already trading quick volleys down the long corridor, streams of accelerated slugs driving him back each time he broke cover to fire. Nodding to Liara, the Specter broke cover herself just as the latest volley ended, making a quick dash for the next outcropping of bulkhead she could use as cover. Progress into the ship's interior was slow at best. After almost 10 minutes of carefully timed firing, ducking, and advancing down the narrow corridor, the gunfire ended. The last of 24 Shadow Broker soldiers that had been defending this particular area of the ship fell dead with little notice from the invading trio. With no gunfire present, the three took the chance to take in their surroundings closely. Several doorways and junctions of the ship were already sealed off however they appeared to be in a maintenance corridor which meant easy access overall to the ship. After a minute or two of walking the group came to a large alcove with a cable nearly the width of a body running overhead. Transparent portions of the cable revealed glowing white energy flowing inside the cable.
"A interface console... maybe I can get an uplink with EDI so we can figure out how the hell to get around this ship. Sarah moved into the alcove and accessed a holo interface then worked to link up with her omni-tool.
"Look at the energy running through these cables. The Shadow Broker must have threaded his entire information network through this ship. The power to run it must be tremendous." Liara commented almost in awe of the raw energy flowing inside the cable.
"Link established Commander," came EDI's acknowledgment of Sarah's efforts. "I have accessed the ship's layout, I will create a direct route to the detention block." The AI knew exactly what they wanted to hear and the three looked to their side as a doorway hissed open further along the dimly light corridor. With EDI's admittance to the ship network, their progression quickened greatly. All around them bulkhead doors sealed shut as others quickly hissed open, blocking off a large number of the mercenary forces from pursuit. After several minutes of rapid walking, the three fell into breaching formation outside a slightly larger door frame.
"Commander, I am detecting two guards positioned just inside the room, three others are rapidly approaching your location, I cannot delay them." EDI's smooth, firm voice had grown increasingly familiar to Sarah over the past months she had spent relying on the AI's abilities.
"Good work." Came the humans short, quiet reply. Sarah gripped her geth rifle tightly with one hand while using her other hand for signals to her team. She directed Liara to follow her into the guardroom before signaling Garrus to deal with the reinforcements.
Liara moved into position behind Sarah, placing a hand on the Spectre's shoulder in practiced fashion to signal readiness. Sarah took in several breaths, steadying her wandering thoughts. She would never admit it but the past several minutes without any combat had put her into an idle state, leaving her mind enough room to think dangerous thoughts again. The Specter gripped her assault rifle tightly with both hands and then held her breath for a moment as she willed her body into action. Slipping Liara's touch at her shoulder, she entered the room, immediately dropping to one knee and sliding left to avoid a pair of accelerated rifle rounds coming from opposite sides of a large security desk at the opposite end of the guardroom. Sarah didn't stop her momentum as she turned to kick off the ground and roll, using the movement to close distance as well as avoid the gunfire tracking her. Liara seized the opportunity to enter the room, using her biotics she had both soldiers in the air in less than three seconds. The two soldiers were caught off guard completely and dropped their guns as they flailed about helplessly, dying in another three seconds as both Sarah and Liara fired rounds into their heads with precision. Liara covered the distance across the room to the security station, and Sarah followed. Again, the Specter established an uplink to EDI via her omni-tool and the AI made quick work of opening up access to the Shadow Broker's personal prison.
A heavy pressure door just beyond the security desk slid open quietly, Liara and Sarah were just moving to step inside when an explosion erupted in the hallway followed by the heavy sound of rifle fire. The noise caused Liara to gasp involuntarily as she realized she was shaking in anticipation. Sarah herself had barely stirred but was watching the asari critically, carefully gauging her attitude and actions to try and understand Liara's feelings. The pair entered the doorway, to find themselves on a raised walkway that overlooked several small cells with transparent ceilings. None of the cells were occupied but at the end of the walkway was another room filled with monitors and tech equipment. In the center of the room was a full body restraint chair. In the chair itself was Feron, the drell 'stranger' that Liara had devoted two years of her life after losing Shepard to finding. The drell was held tightly in place in his chair by electrical cuffs around his neck, wrists and ankles. From the waist up he had no clothes, thanks to a single light positioned above the chair as if to display a work of art, the numerous bruises, cuts, and scars covering his chest and arms were plainly visible.
"Feron!" Liara gasped with pity plainly audible in her voice. This special room was not partitioned off from the observation area they were in and Liara's voice carried easily to the captive Drell. Stirring, Feron blinked his eyes as if wanting to rub them but kept his limbs still to avoid the electric cuffs sting.
"Liara?" Feron managed weakly in a raspy grating voice that betrayed his youth to Sarah. From his build and voice she thought that he seemed barely older Kolyat.
"Hold on we're getting you out of here!" Liara said almost as much for her own sake as for Feron's as she holstered her pistol. She ran quickly over to a command terminal that sat just outside the short flight of steps leading down into Feron's 'cell'. His room was positioned next to the largest energy cable Sarah had seen yet, the ghostly flow of white energy making up almost the entire wall of the room adding an eerie backdrop to the macabre scene.
"No! Wai- AGHHHH!" Feron's warning was cut short in a cry of pain as Liara's hurried attempt to release the captive set off some type of fail safe. The electric cuffs at his neck, wrists and ankles flared up brightly, biting into the dark green skin of Feron causing him to shut his eyes as he cried out.
"Feron!" Liara exclaimed again, full of remorse for her actions. Sarah moved up next to Liara apprehensively, summoning all of her concentration to avoid a loss of control that would have her acting like a spoiled brat in the middle of an enemy base. The captive drell recovered his wits as the cuffs restraining him subsided in their assault. He locked eyes first with Liara then with Sarah and the Specter could see clearly in that moment that despite two years of clearly arduous tortures, the spirit of this drell had not yet been broken.
"What the hell is the Broker trying to do to you?" Sarah asked, surprising herself at the barely concealed anger in her voice. It only took her a moment to realize that the powerful emotional energy building in Liara was influencing her own emotional state. This sudden closeness only caused her to feel even more alone and uncertain, a fact she processed and stowed away for later acknowledgment.
"The equipment is sensitive to tampering..." Feron admonished Liara weakly. "This chair is plugged into the Broker's information network. You'll have to shut off the power first. Pull me out now, and my brain cooks." His voice was gaining strength by the moment as if he had been quietly saving a secret reserver of willpower and physical strength for just this moment.
"EDI, what can you do for me." Sarah quickly queried, expecting nothing less than a positive response.
"I am sorry Commander, I do not have full control of the ship's systems at this time. You will need to access the controls from the primary control console.
"Feron, do you know where we can cut the power?" Liara asked with concern still tinging her voice.
"It wont be easy..." He breathed in deeply as if struggling to keep himself centered and lucid. "You'll have to go to central operations."
"Whats the point of this cage..." Sarah said more to herself than to the others.
"I don't- Agh!" Feron began to respond before a surge of energy from the large cable in the wall behind fed out along smaller cables into the chair then into him in the form of electrical shocks all over his body.
"It's a neural grounding rod." Liara turned to Sarah almost impatiently. "The medical equipment is to make sure he doesn't..." Her face contorted in a dark frown as she looked back at Feron, a quiet rage pooling her eyes, "Expire." Shutting her eyes quickly and drawing a silent breath before opening them, Liara quieted her own rage. "We have to shut this place down!" She stated with a finality after transferring Feron's medical data from the command station to her own omni-tool for a quick once over.
"What do you know about the Broker?" Sarah asked with curiosity growing as she realized that she would soon be in contact with an entity whose identity was one of the best kept secrets in the galaxy.
"He did this to me!" Feron replied bluntly, missing the point of the question in his desire to be set free.
"I was hoping you'd know what he is." Sarah replied calmly, reminding herself not to become short tempered with the torture victim.
"I never got a good look... but he's big." Feron relaxed as he realized the point of the question. "The guards are terrified of him." He locked eyes with Shepard pointedly.
"A Krogan?" Liara interjected herself smoothly, her mind already working at the possible species matching what little she had been given.
"I don't know, but I've heard that not everyone that visits his office comes back out." Feron replied, shifting his gaze. Sarah fought the urge to grab Liara and shield her from the eyes of the Drell that had stolen her away. Instead, she channeled her unstable emotions into her voice as she fell back into her role as a Council Specter.
"If the Broker left you alive for us to find then he has no idea how dangerous we are." Cool confidence oozed in Sarah's voice as she spoke loudly, hoping that her new adversary would be listening, wherever he was.
"Don't underestimate him! He prepares for everything!" Feron admonished. "Central operations is just down the hall. You know the Shadow Broker will be waiting for you, right?"
"I'm counting on it!" Sarah replied smoothly, her tomboyish grin of casual confidence squarely in place.
"We'll be back for you Feron!" Liara added quickly as the pair turned to head through the doorway, where Garrus now waited quietly.
"I'll try not to go anywhere..." Feron managed a weak smile at his own attempt at humor. Cutting into the levity, the Shadow Brokers Deep, electronically filtered voice rumled over the ships loudspeakers again.
"I want all teams to outpost C!" It was a short, concise command but it betrayed the desperate nature the information trader was in. He was amassing anything he had left for a final defensive stand against the oncoming storm of retribution Liara T'soni and her allies were about to visit upon him.
************ Circle Chase ************
Sarah nodded to Garrus and Liara, the two falling into formation behind her as they moved back out into the dimly lit corridors of the ship. With EDI's guidance and several short minutes, they found themselves negotiating a pair of short flights of stairs which in turn led to a small security checkpoint. Thanks to EDI's control over the ship's doorways, they encountered only a single guard taking position behind his desk with a pistol. Sarah fought down the brief moment of pity she felt for the hapless soldier as Liara flung him and his desk like toys into the air while Garrus made quick work of him. The trio moved past the dead soldier and through the open doorway beyond. The doorway led them to a long, well-lit corridor with a much cleaner feel to it than the rest of the ship, attributed mainly to the lack of cables snaking across the floor. At the end of the corridor was a final, simple pressure door which slid open quietly to reveal a very large, very open circular room. Large intricately carved support columns encircled the room at regular intervals creating a shadowed outer circle and a very bright inner circle lit by the same ghostly white energy seen throughout the ship swirling as if in a pool, visible through the thick transparent material of the ceiling.
Waiting calmly at the edge of the ring of light in between the support columns at the far end of the room was a dark, very bulky figure. The figure was seated in a very large high backed chair with it's arms calmly folded in front of it on a designer desk . The figure made several quick motions with it's hand and the holodisplays that had formed a horseshoe around the chair and desk vanished. Sarah, Liara, and Garrus stepped into the center of the room, spreading out to cover the seated figure from all three sides, Liara taking up the left side of the room as Garrus moved to the right. All three warriors had their weapons drawn and aimed directly at the head of the large figure before them. From Sarah's left, Liara's biotics flared and formed a constant aura encasing her body in it's own pool of ghostly energy. Sarah spared Liara a quick glance and focused all of her willpower towards the asari with a single word, wait. Liara blinked for a moment and drew in a quick breath before her biotic energy died away. Focusing her attention back on the seated figure Sarah realized what Liara had already decided. This was the Shadow Broker.
Taking advantage of her re-engineered eyesight, Sarah took stock of the entirely unknown species of alien seated before her. The being wore a loosely fitted business suit which almost reminded her of the gangsters seen in old vids of the 20th. While roughly humanoid in nature, the being was very large, easily almost six feet tall while seated. It's rough, leathery skin was a deep hue of red that reminded her of blood, traces of white tinged the outline of what she guessed was it's mouth. What passed for a mouth reminded her greatly of how a dog's mouth appeared except with more teeth. It was a vertical row of razor sharp fangs which diverged in two directions forming a chin of sorts before both sides closed along the lower jaw on either side of it's face. The being's eyes numbered at least eight. Black pools of midnight each set into a lidless partition of skin, four along either side of it's face. The Broker tilted it's head to the side slightly and in the reflected light Sarah saw that one of the eyes on either side of it's face were larger than the rest and actually did blink. Two ebony horns jutted out from the back of it's crested head, they curved slightly as they each reached almost two feet into the air. It's hands, resting calmly on the smooth table surface were closed into fists so she could not see if anything was being held or concealed. The creature made a slow sweep of the room with it's head, eyeballing first Garrus, then Liara, then Shepard.
"Here for the drell? Reckless... even for you Commander." The deep, rumbling grate of the calm, emotionless voice surprised Sarah for the space of a second as her curiosity grew. Drawing a quick breath to keep herself focused, Sarah allowed her mask of confidence to fall into place.
"That bombing on Illium wasn't exactly subtle." She appeared to relax, hoping to use a conversation to pull out anything she could use from this wholly unknown enemy before her. From her left, Sarah could feel the quiet burning rage building inside Liara
"Extreme, but necessary." The Broker replied flatly, the casual disregard for the situation before him evident in not only his voice but behavior.
"No it wasn't!" Liara shot back angrily, her face was contorted into a mask of rage for a moment before she willed herself to stay in control. "Neither was caging Feron for two years!" She finished icily, keeping her phalanx pistol aimed.
"Dr. T'soni," The Broker almost seemed to take a bemused tone to it's voice as it's bulky head turned to look at her. "Your interference caused all this." His voice became tinged with venom as the humor vanished. "Feron betrayed me when he handed you Shepard's body. The drell is simply paying the price." The Broker took on an air of finality as if his decision on the matter was clearly the proper decision for the situation.
"Someone was bound to come after you for working with the Collectors." Sarah's own hatred for the Broker rekindled itself as she was reminded of what had almost happened to her thanks to him.
"It was a mutually beneficial partnership." Again the Broker's response was short, concise, almost machine-like in nature. If not for the small inflections of emotion Sarah had heard when he addressed Liara, she would have thought this seated being may have been a puppet or a construct. "Fortunately, the Normandy's IFF will let me salvage the remains of the Collectors' base." Sarah knew the thinly veiled threat was meant to goad her into action as well and she checked herself, fighting the urge to appear shocked or ask how the Broker knew as much as he did.
"Be smart, let Feron walk out with us." Shepard suggested with calm confidence, not allowing any signs of her emotions to appear outwardly.
"You won't be walking out at all." The Broker replied, all pretense of civility vanished for a moment in the tone of it's voice. It's empty hollow eyes locked with Sarah's and for a moment she prepared for action.
"You're quite confident for someone with nowhere left to hide." Liara interjected herself as her pride took over for a moment. She had fallen for the Broker's verbal trap. Without even looking at her the Broker allowed it's gaze to fall on Garrus.
"You travel with fascinating companions Doctor." There was nothing in the rumbling bass of the Broker's grating voice anymore except casual indifference. "It's good you brought Archangel, T'soni. Your friend's bounty is still unclaimed." At this Garrus simply let what passed on turians as a grin crease his angular face, his mandibles revealing his own sharp teeth.
"You're not putting a hand on anyone!" Liara shot back hotly, a frown crossing her features briefly as she waited for her Commander's order to act.
"It's pointless to challenge me, asari. I know your every secret, while you fumble in the dark." The Broker's gaze shifted back to Liara and it's midnight black eyes stared at her.
"Is that right?" Liara's voice took on an air of cool superiority as it had on Illium. She seemed to relax as she looked up and down at the Shadow Broker for the space of several seconds. "You're a yahg, a pre-spaceflight species quarantined to your home world for massacring the Council's first contact teams." She made the statement with all the calm confidence she could manage to avoid betraying her true state of mind. "This base is older than your planet's discovery, which probably means you killed the original Shadow Broker sixty years ago, then took over." She continued, her mind working quickly to deconstruct the illusion of mystery the Shadow Broker had relied upon for so long. "I'm guessing," She paused just for a moment as if she had to consider the possibilities for dramatic effect. "you were taken from your world by a trophy hunter who wanted a slave... or a pet." She said the last part with her voice full of scornful disdain. "How am I doing?" She teased, a confident smile playing across her lips even as her eyes burned with seething hatred.
Wordlessly, the bulky mass of the Shadow Broker stiffened as it's arms unfolded and it's fists opened. Placing it's palms calmly on the desk the large figure stood up, straightening out to well over ten feet tall. Judging from the size of the creature Sarah guessed that a yahg, as Liara had named it, weighed at least a ton or more. Brief seconds passed as everyone tensed, waiting to see who would be the first to act. Then the Shadow Broker flew into a blur of motion that caught Liara and Garrus off guard. With a fluid motion the large alien creature brought it's right fist smashing into the center of it's stone desk, easily splitting it in two. Taking a step forward the Broker didn't stop it's motion as it reached out with it's left hand throwing half of the desk at Garrus with almost no effort even while using the motion to grab the other half of the desk with it's right hand. This second half was thrown at an unprepared Liara, a loud crash signaled that Garrus had been hit by the heavy office furniture.
Sarah pushed herself into action even as she saw the Broker's intent, sprinting to Liara she leapt into a diving grab and pulled the asari maiden to the ground narrowly avoiding the hurled missile of a desk. Sarah could already hear the heavy footfalls of the Shadow Broker as it siezed the moment like a true warrior, closing the distance between itself and it's prey. Liara and Sarah recovered themselves smartly and split up, moving to the outside of the ring of columns encircling the Broker. For a moment, Sarah heard the footfalls pause and then a deep rumbling roar came bellowing out of the large alien's now fully opened mouth. The Broker keyed in a command to it's omni-tool and the ground at it's feet opened to reveal a very large Revenant assault rifle, a weapon she was used to seeing held by geth primes. The rifle's twin barrels came to life, firing deadly rounds into the column Sarah was using for cover. Liara seized the chance and hit the Broker with all of the substantial biotic energy at her disposal, literally wanting to tear him in half. To her dismay a crackle of static electricity and a small series of backsteps from the Broker revealed to her that he was wearing an extremely powerful shield.
With the break in incoming fire, Sarah took the chance herself and broke cover, firing nearly an entire clip into the Broker's bulbous head. Virtually every round in the forty round clip found their mark but all it had accomplished was pushing the broker back several more steps before he regained his balance and silently took aim, opening fire again. The over sized rounds shot out of his rifle were tearing into the columns, slowly ripping them apart and negating their use as viable cover. Again, Liara broke cover, emptying the clip of her phalanx pistol into the Broker's back, causing him to shift his fire in her direction before the rifle gave an audible click. Grunting angrily the Broker was pushed forward again by more shots from Sarah's assault rifle. Not even bothering to look for cover the Broker kept himself near the center of the room, calmly and smoothly swapping out the thermal clip of his rifle before opening up with a fresh assault of accelerated rounds. Sarah swore under her breath as shrapnel torn out from the column she was using as cover flew over her head while several rounds tore into her shield. By this time Liara had positioned herself directly behind the Broker and assaulted him with a full biotic warp again, ignoring the strain it placed on her as she let the anger coursing through her drive her on.
The biotic attack encased the Massive figure for a moment before the broker's shield shattered. Smiling to themselves as they took aim for the killing blow, both Sarah and Liara paused in concern as the Broker stood motionless almost as if in a pose. Ghostly white energy from the ceiling was flowing down and encasing him in a protective shell. Swearing under her breath Sarah opened fire even as Liara did the same, their bullets bouncing ineffectively off the new kinetic barrier.
"The shield is kinetically sensitive!" Liara stated the obvious through their suit comm channel. "Energy and projectiles are bouncing right off! If this keeps up his shield will be fully regenerated and we cannot even touch him."
"Then we do this the hard way." Sarah replied grimly as she compacted her assult rifle, placing it smoothly on it's backmount. She broke cover and took stock of her motionless opponent for all of a second before breaking into a full run. She could see the Broker's primary eyes blink in what she hoped was some small measure of disbelief on the alien's part. Making full use of her enhanced muscles she leapt into the air and lashed out with as much force as she could manage in her fist. The impact shook Sarah as much as it did the Shadow Broker and both seemed to fall backwards. The broker's new kinetic barrier dissipated but Sarah could see that it's primary shields were already recovering and she pressed her physical attack. Moving swiftly she ducked the wide swing of her opponent and countered with a fierce uppercut that caught the massive alien square in it's jaw. Growling angrily the Broker fell back several more steps and dropped to one knee. Seeing her chance, Sarah rushed forward again, taking another leap meant to attach her to the Broker's large head. The next few moments seemed surreal as she sees a bright orange light flare up underneath her followed by a heavy force impacting her entire body as if she had hit a wall. She realizes the Broker had a personal riot shield in his bag of tricks even as she finds herself flying past her opponent and in between two columns, finally hitting the outer wall of the large chamber with her back. The impact forced the air of her lungs and she groans quietly in pain even as she rolled sideways, her instincts paying off as she dodged follow up gunfire.
Seeing Sarah tossed like a rag doll upset Liara further and she summoned her biotic energy to flare up around her, encasing her in an ever shifting shell of blue energy. She lashed out with her power to assault the Shadow Broker. Anticipating her action, the large orange shield he had just used to throw Sarah is already positioned to guard against the attack. Her biotic energy is broken like a wave on the glowing surface. The shield itself was essentially a projection of highly compressed energy in the shape of a shield. It was extremely durable and could withstand most attacks short of a vehicle mounted mass accelerator or high grade explosive. Liara ducked back into cover to avoid incoming rifle fire as the broker slowly advanced on her, using his shield to prevent her from retaliating. By this time, Sarah began to regain her breath and attacked, forcing the Broker to split it's attention once more under a renewed assault. Sarah could feel the growing frustration in the Shadow Broker's actions as he moved to cover himself and return fire at her. Clearly he had not planned on having the battle be two on one at this stage of his envisioned game.
With the Broker still near the center of the large circular room he again became easy prey for the recovered pair as they worked in unison to stab at him. He had started using the shield to advance on Sarah in an effort possibly to charge her or grab her. Not taking any chances, Sarah simply skirted the outside of the columns while Liara stalled the Broker with quick shots from her Phalanx pistol. Both Sarah and Liara were starting to plan their shots carefully in recognition of what was already a prolonged battle. After another minute, the Broker's body shield shattered again and immediately, the alien froze in place. As before, white ghostly energy poured out of the transparent ceiling and encased the ship's master in a shell of white energy.
Sarah didn't pause for a moment as she stowed her rifle, breaking into a full run while Liara did the same from the opposite side at a slower pace. The Broker's riot shield was still held up even though his body was motionless and Sarah was forced to use her first attack to knock it aside, immediately breaking the white shell encasing the Broker. The massive yahg lashed out using the assault rifle like a club, forcing Sarah to dodge. The rifle was followed closely by the riot shield and Sarah struck back using the full weight of her body in her shoulder. For several moments, Sarah and the hulking form of the Shadow Broker were deadlocked in a pushing contest with the orange glow of the riot shield between them. Then, the Shadow Broker smartly shifted his weight and threw Sarah into the approaching Liara, causing them both to skid back into the columns with a dull thud. Sarah mentally cried out in pain as she realized at least one rib was probably broken from the impact.
Liara brought up a barrier around them even as the Broker's assault rifle opened fire. The hastily erected barrier lasted for the seconds the pair needed to break line of sight. Noticing Sarah favoring her side in quiet pain, Liara's focus broke through her rage and allowed her to think.
"If you can get him to bring up that barrier again I've got an idea." Liara told Sarah quietly to avoid being overheard.
"Roger that." Sarah nodded in understanding and the third round of their prolonged gunfight with Shadow Broker began.
The pair split once more and attacked fiercely, not withholding ammunition anymore. The Broker seemed to also feel the end approaching as he took to charging at Sarah, destroying two of the columns in the room in the process. After another minute of battle, the Broker's body became motionless once more as his body shield broke and white energy moved to encase him. Sarah immediately rushed in, tensing herself for the unexpected. As if on cue, the Shadow Broker let out an angry roar, rushing at Sarah with his riot shield held out in front like a battering ram. Dropping into a quick sideways roll, the human Specter narrowly avoided the charge.
"Now!" Sarah shouted to Liara. The Broker shifted his weight while turning to bring himself to a stop, taking aim with his rifle.
Liara reached up with both arms, her biotic aura flared into a bright swirling aura of cyan and she let out a strained gasp of exertion. The transparent ceiling immediately cracked and Sarah wasted no time in getting out of way as the material shattered, allowing the ghostly white energy to pour down into the room, covering the large form of the motionless Shadow Broker. Letting out a final, angry roar of protest, the Broker's thick, leathery skin began peeling away as the cascade of energy consumed him. After several seconds his roar died away and a device at his waist flared brightly before exploding, breaking apart the both the gathered energy and the Broker's body in a shower of sparks. The explosion knocked Sarah off her feet and left her dazed against a column for the second of glowing smoke remained, floating eerily throughout the room, providing a gentle light in the absence of the ceiling. Emergency seals had fallen into place to prevent further overflow of the ghostly energy. Wasting little time, Liara crossed the room to where Sarah was and held out her hand silently. A weak, gentle smile played across the asari's face and in her dazed state, Sarah didn't even think to refuse the offered hand. Getting to her feet tiredly, Sarah quickly noticed the heavy breathing coming from Liara and the almost pained expression in the maiden's eyes. For several breaths, Sarah and Liara locked eyes with each other, unsure of what to do. Breaking the moment, a loud groan from a pile of rubble nearby signaled that Garrus was finally regaining consciousness. Sarah turned away, leaving Liara looking lost and almost stunned as the Specter walked over to her turian teammate offering him a helping hand. Numbly, Liara moved to follow them as she felt the exhaustion she was experiencing from nearly an hour and a half of combat setting in.
"How're you feeling Garrus?" Sarah tried to hide the amusement tinging her voice as she jogged up to the turian's side. He was still clearly dazed and she had to help him to his feet.
"I think my pride is more damaged than anything else Shepard, I really screwed up." Garrus' training allowed him to recover himself easily and he had already begun berating himself for a perceived mistake.
"Hey... listen..." Sarah took on an almost elder sisterly tone as she squared off with Garrus, looking him directly in the eyes. "You're still alive and according to you the damage is minimal. You should know by now that for me, staying alive is what matters not pride, not honorable tactics, just living period. Now... I need you to get into contact with EDI and begin a sweep of the ship on an optimal route to the hangar bay. I'll follow you soon with Liara after we retrieve Feron." Sarah slipped into her Spectre role easily and allowed her mind to work quickly.
Along the wall that had been behind the Shadow Broker's desk was a very large holodisplay with several dozen audio feeds shown. Without warning, one came to life, breaking Liara out of her musings.
"Shadow Broker, this is Operative Murat. We had a momentary connection failure. Can you confirm status?" The male voice sounded human but was cold and professional regardless of race. Within seconds, several more voices joined in adding their own requests of a status update due to connection loss. Sarah realized that the power must have been interrupted when the ceiling broke, she briefly wondered if Feron had been freed.
"Operative Shora requesting update. Are we still online?" An asari voice called out a request. Liara was now approaching the display of audio feeds as if in a trance, she stared at the large display for several seconds, breathing in a deep breath to clear her mind. Dropping her head, Liara closed her eyes and then took a step forward, reaching out and touching the control panel of the holo projection she entered a short series of commands.
"This is the Shadow Broker. The situation is under control." Through the command console her voice was heard throughout the galaxy as the same, filtered mechanical voice that the trio had heard resounding through the ship during their attack. Even on the ship's internal speakers, the voice rang out. "We experienced a power fluctuation while upgrading hardware." Liara kept her explanation simple and concise, making an effort to sound detached and calm. "It disrupted communications momentarily." The doorway they had used to enter the room hissed open causing both Sarah and Garrus to turn and draw weapons smartly. Feron appeared, a pistol in his had which he smoothly raised and pointed at Liara before freezing in stunned shock. Not noticing the interruption, Liara continued. "However, we are now back online. Resume standard procedures. I want a status report on all operations within the next solar day. Shadow Broker out." Liara finished, touching a few commands into the holo interface before turning back to face her companions and Feron.
"Goddes of oceans... it's you. You... how?" Feron was lost and confused from the turn of events as he tried to make sense of the situation. Letting his facade of strength fall away he holstered his pistol and limped weakly towards Liara.
"Well, everyone who's ever seen him in person is dead, so..." Liara looked directly at Sarah, her deep blue eyes seeming to plead with the human for support in this sudden decision.
"You're... the new Shadow Broker." Feron voiced everyone's thoughts with a slight reverence at the realization.
"Is taking over as the Shadow Broker really a good idea?" Sarah asked with concern as she realized the implications of Liaras new 'job'.
"It was either that or lose everything: his contacts, his trading sources. Those will really help us." Liara said with strain evident in her voice. Sarah could tell that the asari needed her to be ok with the decision. "With the Shadow Broker's information network. I can..." Liara faltered for a moment as she leaned back against the communications console for support. "I can give you... I can..." The asari broke down into silent tears as she covered her face with her hand briefly.
"I'll uh... check the power systems." Feron mumbled quickly as he turned and limped weakly back out of the doorway, followed closely by Garrus after a look and nod from his Commander. The turian and drell vanished from site as the pressure door hissed shut, leaving Sarah alone with Liara. The asari's eyes met with Sarah for only a moment before turning away, trying to hide the stream of tears flowing onto her sky blue skin.
"It'll be nice to have information I can trust... Broker" Sarah made an effort to lighten the mood, earning a brief laugh from Liara as she turned back to face Sarah.
"I'm not sure I'm ready for you to call me that. I'm not sure about any of this. But I had to do it." Liara's voice became serious, her eyes hardening, a look of determination masking her feelings. She managed to stay resolute for all of a few seconds before tears formed in her eyes. Turning away in shame, Liara tried to bury her face in her hands, fighting the urge to sob out loud. Moving towards her quickly, Sarah's own protective nature won out over any misgivings she had as she placed a gentle hand on Liara's shoulder, silently asking her to turn around. Liara turned while wiping tears away, her voice sounded exhausted. "It's over, it's finally... for two years..." Liara couldn't continue as a helpless look had come over her. Sarah pulled Liara close and embraced her, gently rocking back and forth as she did the only thing she could think of to help the asari.
"It's all right now Liara..." Sarah whispered softly, not allowing her hands to wander as she simply held her friend. After a few moments Liara pushed herself away gently just far enough to lock eyes with Sarah, her deep blue eyes searching for something. Without even a word, Liara leaned in close and kissed Sarah lightly, allowing their lips only a short touch. In that moment, everything else melted away and Liara felt Sarah's mind even as Sarah could feel Liara's. They could each see the lonliness, the fear, and the sadness that had filled their hearts. Stepping away, Liara frowned slightly and shook her head, her mind now full of self doubt as to wether or not she even deserved Sarah's attentions after everything she had been responsible for.
"It's been two years. I don't... we're different people. You have your mission, and..." Liara began fumbling for excuses lamely and Sarah caught herself smirking slightly as she realized why Liara was trying to do this. Without another word Sarah forcefully grabbed Liara to silence her before pulling her close gently, tenderly, and allowing her lips to explore Liara's. Their kiss stopped time, melted away the universe, and created an explosion of emotions in Sarah's mind.
With all notion of time lost, the kiss they shared finally ended once Liara needed to gasp for air. Pulling away just enough to look her human companion in the eyes, Liara nodded her head in acceptance. "Ok, Okay..." Liara's exhaustion evident in her voice as she stared at Sarah.
"Okay." Sarah replied, her voice slightly lustful from their kiss as she cupped Liara's cheek in her hand.
"But... let's focus. Let's see what the status of the ship is." Liara gracefully slipped out of Sarah's grasp before moving back to the communications console she had used earlier. Sarah waited patiently, content with watching the now engrossed asari work excitedly at the holo interface in front of her. Although fleeting, that single moment shared in the half light of the Shadow Broker's lair had quieted the fear and uncertainty hidden in Sarah's mind.
"No safeguards or user restrictions. It's like he never anticipated anyone but himself being here." Liara sounded slightly in awe as well as a little dissapointed. "And it's all ours." She added, glancing back towards Sarah with a gentle smile.
"What kind of information are we talking about?" Sarah asked, her curiosity piqued at the possibilities.
"I'm not sure, I'll have to go through his files. Maybe once I do I can give you a better answer." Liara sounded almost excited by the prospect of the task. "All I wanted was to rescue Feron. But... is it wrong that part of me wants this?" Uncertainty crept into her voice as she looked back towrads Sarah. "With the Shadow Broker's network, I can help you. Maybe I can turn this operation into something better." Liara sounded as if she was making the statement to reassure herself as much as to convince Sarah.
"You sure you want to stay here? I could use you on the Normandy." Sarah prodded, hopeful that Liara would realize the implications of the request.
"I have to stay here." Liara shook her head sadly. "We can't pass this up Sarah." Again her eyes pleaded for understanding from the human and Sarah gave in reluctantly with a nod of her head.
"Try not to be a stranger this time." She finally said, sadness in her own voice.
"Small chance of that.." Liara said wistfully as she touched a finger to her lips lightly.
"Look... as much as I'd like to... I can't stay here right now. I've got to get the Normandy back to dock and see about getting repairs for the hull and engines." Sarah took on the casual yet bussiness like tone that Liara knew as the human's mask to hide her feelings. Nodding her head in numbed acceptance Liara realized that she would once again be parting ways from the one being in the galaxy she wanted to spend more time with.
"How long will you be gone?" Liara asked distantly as she began to shift her attention to their newly accquired ship.
"Two solar weeks at least based on the ship's current status... she's still space-worthy but we've been delaying some major repairs for too long now." Letting out a sigh of frustration Sarah touched Liara's shoulder lightly. "I... we.. damnit Liara... we're going to have that talk... just not today." Sarah spoke plainly for a moment as she realized the futility of facing her inner turmoil at present. She realized that Liara was intent on burying herself in the Shadow Broker's network to allow herself time to process everything.
"I've taken care of the remaining guards on the ship, I've sent out a notice stating that you, Garrus, Feron, and myself are to be treated as personal 'guests' of the Shadow Broker." Liara proved Sarah's realization as she set to work, leaning into the large holodisplay and using her hands to input commands to browse through the system.
"Thank you, I'll leave you data for establishing an uplink with EDI so that we can keep in touch easily and share information." Sarah activated her omni-tool and keyed in a few commands which Liara recieved via her own omni-tool before nodding curtly.
"I'll see to it when I can Sarah... I'll take care of the docking hangar from here, come back soon." Nodding over her shoulder, Liara continued her work. Sarah turned smartly and left the room, radioing for a pickup then ordering Garrus to rendevous with her at the hangar. To her surpise and personal misgivings, Feron elected to stay aboard the Broker's ship with Liara.
"Thank you Shepard, for everything." Liara spoke quietly to herself as she allowed her personal facade of strength to fall away, leaving her seated on the floor with her back against the waist high console. Liara shut her eyes tightly as tears came out, doing her best to surpress the sobs.
************ Madness of a Sane Man ************
"Tell us, Commander, what part of 'keeping a low profile' did not register in your memory?" The image of the turian Councillor folded his arms across his chest in a display of annoyance.
"That is exactly the reason I initiated this contact Councillor." Sarah bowed her head slightly in a submissive gesture. "Quite a few major events have occured over the past several months. As I am once more a council Spectre I felt it was important that bring you all up to date regarding my current status.
"Before we get into that Shepard, we need some answers." Anderson held up a hand diplomatically but his voice was cold, detached. "According to the information we've recieved you were personally responsible for the death of Tela Vasir, a Spectre of some note." It was clear to Sarah even through the holoprojection that the Councillors were on guard with her due to her actions.
"I understand... in my defense allow me to submit a collection of audio files that were recorded during my encounters with this supposed Spectre." Shepard made a few motions on her omni-tool and played a key clip of Vasir's dying moments. In the clip the asari admitted to participating in the bombing of the trade center. "As you should be able to realize even from this clip, the actions I took were in the best interests of galactic peace. Tela Vasir was an assassin for the Shadow Broker when I encountered her. Her status as a Spectre became irrelevant when she threatened the lives of myself, my crew, and Doctor T'soni.
"Speaking of Doctor T'soni..." The asari Councillor interjected herself skillfully, changing the course of the conversation. "Were you able to secure her safety?"
"Doctor T'soni is now resting at a secure location." Sarah attempted to avoid having to lie outright.
"I see..." the asari councillor seemed to understand the deflection as she did not press the matter further. "What of your own mission then Commander?" Again she altered topics, keeping the conversation fluid.
"Councillors, I must regretfully report that peaceful dialogue with the Collectors could not be established. They are, as you will see from forwarded data, nothing more than drone slaves to a higher conciousness." Sarah did her best to avoid blurting out more Reaper warnings and stick solely to the hard facts. "After successfully activating and using the Omega 4 relay, I proceeded to board the Collector's space station, recover my captive crew, and subsequently escape. The space station itself was destroyed in the process along with the results of their abductions." Sarah paused, shuddering imperceptably as she thought about the partially 'grown' skeleton of the humanoid Reaper.
"What do you meant by 'the results'?" The salarian councillor asked, his interest growing.
"After engaging in direct combat with and retrieving data concerning a massive construct, it appears the Collectors were attempting to create a Reaper. The process required the reduction of human lives to genetic paste in order to be used as part of the base material a Reaper is constructed of.
"I see... so aside from bluntly stating that you have successfully navigated the Omega 4 relay, are you saying that the Collector's themselves are the creators of the Reaper ships?" The turian Councillor cut in harsly.
"No, from all the data we gathered the Collector's are in fact Protheans, genetically repurposed to be nothing more than puppet drones for the Reapers to control." Sarah attempted to be as clear as possible in her explanation, hoping against hope that this time the Council would listen to her.
"Well Commander let's start from the beginning..." The turian Councillor drew a long breath and sat down into a chair, followed closely by the other three Councillors. "We, 'request' that you provide a complete and detailed report regarding your activity and whereabouts since the destruction of the Normandy almost three years ago." Sarah knew that this request was in truth, an order, and she suddenly felt thankful that her ship would be grounded for several weeks while repairs were handled. Taking a deep breath, Sarah started to recount her experiences, explaining nearly everything while omitting certain more questionable details.
************ Ghosts of a time long past ************
For what seemed like the first time since awakening on the exam table of a Cerberus space station, Sarah felt at peace. Although she still had questions, she was content to wait. While she wanted so badly to ignore the Normandy and it's dire need for repairs, she did not. The electrifying kiss that Sarah and Liara had shared in the Shadow Broker's office lingered in Sarah's mind and had washed away nearly all of her doubt regarding the feelings of the young asari maiden. Everyone on the crew noticed the change in their commanding officer as Sarah became much more relaxed and casual in her demeanor. The only 'person' who still reserved judgement was EDI, who concluded that she would not have valid data to form a conclusion until actual combat took place.
Over the course of the two and a half weeks Normandy spent in drydock, Sarah divided her attention between her ship and the Council. Her superiors insistence on a complete debriefing had forced her to spend hours daily for the past two weeks defending herself and her actions from scrutiny. With her remaining time, Sarah devoted herself to ensuring that EDI was no longer transmitting surveillance information to the Illusiive man, Cerberus, or anyone else secretly monitoring them. She ordered Tali and to a small extent Legion to assist EDI in reviewing everything in her programming to ensure there were no failsafes, data blocks, or other triggers that could possibly lead to a hostile action on the part of the almost motherly AI. She had been very careful to omit the existince of the AI when relating information to the Council regarding her new vessel.
Of course there had been questions from several people regarding why Liara had been left on Hagalaz and Shepard did her best to smooth over the explanation. According to the testimony that Sarah had practically drilled into Garrus and EDI on their return shuttle trip, the base on Hagalaz was now a friendly installation under the supervision of Liara T'soni. Sarah had kept explanations of the function of the captured facility vague and most began to assume it was a top secret detention facility that would soon be put to use by the Spectre. What she had no one to talk to about however, was her misgivings at having left both Liara and Feron together once more for almost three full weeks. Liara had yet to establish a data uplink with EDI as they had discussed and there were currently no other ways of establishing communications.
The only freetime Sarah had during the day was the three hours of training she spent each morning. Taking full advantage of being in a major city, Sarah had rented out one of the largest combat gyms in Nos Astra, using it for wargames and training sessions to keep her remaining fire team in fighting trim. Sarah noticed more and more that Garrus began to retreat back into his shell and she tried everything she could think of to keep him connected to the team. After setting up a round of one on one matches to allow her fighters to establish dominance over one another, Garrus was put in command of her second fire team. Organized as Shepard, Grunt, and Miranda against Garrus, Thane, and Jacob, they held mock engagements every morning. Sarah also made a point to devote quite a bit of her team's attention to Thane's hand to hand techniques. She insisted that even Grunt take part in the martial training that Thane showed them. Sarah also made a point to have a portion of their oversized cargo bay repurposed as an onboard training area primarily to continue hand to hand exercises.
It was shortly following one of these training sessions that Sarah was making her rounds at the CiC when she spotted Joker in his usual seat at the ship's helm. Waving off several other crewmen that were attempting to get her input on apparent problems she walked briskly towards the secluded pilot.
"So... if you had to do it all again... would you have sent me after the Shadow Broker?" Sarah shot the question out of the dark and left Joker stunned for a few moments before he remembered to close his mouth and turn around smugly to look at his Commander.
"I don't know what you're talking about Commander." Joker was clearly making himself too casual to be normal as he attempted to fiegn ignorance.
"C'mon Jeff I know what I heard when I was down there neck deep in krogan guts. I just gotta know... were you trying to be nice by sending us that data or was it just for fun?" Sarah let a tinge of steel creep into her voice as she locked eyes with her pilot. Joker shifted slightly for a moment and finally answered.
"Look, it's not my fault ok? EDI is the one that wanted to know what she could do to help you improve your 'fighting performance.' Said you were getting pretty damn sloppy and needed a pick me up. So there I was gettin grilled by a toaster and what do I say? First thing that comes to mind.. 'Give her a reason to talk to Liara T'soni'. That is ALL I suggested!" Joker was now defending himself passionately as he got more involved in the retelling of his innocence.
"EDI?" Sarah lifted her eyes upward in a reflex manuver made when calling out to something unseen. As if on cue, EDI's light blue holographic image flicked to life next to Joker.
"Yes commander?" Her response was as polite as always.
"Is what Joker said true? You acted on your own conclusion that I needed... what... I needed 'help' getting back my killing edge?" Sarah was trying very hard now to maintain a serious composure while inwardly laughing to herself.
"Shepard, based on my calculations and collected data you would have further continued a downward spiral of degraded combat performance until such time as your life expired. As you are my Captain I consulted Mr. Moreau on an advisable course of action to accomplish changing your state of mind in a positive manner." EDI admitted casually to the actions she had taken, unaware of any reason for possible offense at her decision.
"Well... thank you, EDI, Joker..." Sarah nodded in understanding as she thought about how strange it felt to be thanking a machine for helping her to feel better.
"So, now that you're not angry think maybe you can fill me in on why we left your better half on a hellhole planet?" Joker became serious as well and the humerous facade he normally kept expertly in place fell away.
"I won't even ask how you know about Liara... as long as you understand I'll boil your eyeballs if you spy on me in my room." Sarah spoke in a sweet voice with hidden chill that forced Joker to shiver slightly as he nodded in understanding. "As for her current whereabouts... as I've mentioned before, she is resting safely at a secure location. As our pilot, you are one of only five people, including EDI, that knows where that location is. Understand soldier, for your own safety, it's better that you not know anything more about this." Sarah called Joker a soldier to remind him that sometimes it was a soldier's place to not ask too many questions.
"I understand Commander, I just needed to know that Liara's ok, or better yet if she pulled that stick out of her ass." The middle aged man flashed a boyish grin at his Commander as she faked a moment of extreme displeasure at the remark.
"Actually, MISTER Moreau, that's a very good question. How about you prep the ship for launch and we go find out first hand the status of said stick." Sarah couldn't help but laugh openly for a moment as she imagined Liara's confusion if someone were to ask her to remove the stick from her ass.
"Aye aye Commander we should be prepped for launch in thirty, flight time will be another several hours same as last time. That should give you just enough time to get yourself all butched up and ready for a hot night." Joker again poked fun at the captain, making light of what most humans would see as a lesbian relationship between Sarah and Liara.
"How do you know Liara's not the butch in the relationship?" Sarah allowed the moment of levity and teased back.
"Well..." the question brought pause to the usually witty pilot as he seemed to enter deep thought for a time. "Nah... there's no way in hell you'd be caught dead in a dress much less let yourself be tied down and spanked silly."
"Okay, little too much that time... and for your information Joker, I happen to like wearing a dress every now and then. I just keep expecting someone will show up to kill me wherever I go so I have to dress accordingly." With a measure of true nostalgia for a time long past, Sarah remembered her old life on MIndoir.
To say that Sarah had a normal childhood would be a lie, her father was a former member of the terran SAS while her mother was a descendant of the Shinkage-ryu school of martial combat. In an effort to get away from their former lives and jobs, her parents had opted to dissapear out on the fringes of known space. The pregnant wife and husband attracted very little attention settling on Mindoir as farmers and burying their past. When Sarah was born it was decided she would be the heir of the Shinkage-ryu style along with being trained in modern tactics by her father. From the moment Sarah could walk her mother devoted every waking moment to training her daughter. Naturally, the fact that Sarah was the heir to the shinkage-ryu school was a highly guarded secret, one that not even the alliance military were aware of.
Sarah's parents kept her isolated from outside influences until sending her to High School. She had first set foot in the small colonial learning facility and treated it as if it were hostile territory. That was the first time she had worn a dress as well. Her mother forced her to wear 'pretty clothes' and behave as a regular girl in order for her to experience and adapt to the harsh social environment that was human high school. It was during this time, in the single short year where she pretended to live a normal life, that she had enjoyed wearing dresses. After the extensive training her mother had subjected her to in order to prepare for social interaction, she was made all too aware of the nature of young males. With that knowledge firmly in place she had begun to enjoy wearing dresses as a way to tease her percieved opponents.
While Sarah excelled at 'fitting in' among the adolecensce of Mindoir, she had been very bored. For years she had trained with the sword because it was the tradition of her mother's family to pass on their style. For almost as long her father had taught her every facet of terrestial gun fighting that he knew, insisting that in the modern world sword fighting was useless. It was an ageless stab between her parents and as a compromise, they taught her hand to hand combat together. The result was that Sarah was very much, a fighter. The calm, confident exterior that her mother had spent countless hours helping her create slowly became her true self. She remembered and nearly felt sick once more at having first been thankful when the slavers attacked simply for the chance to use what she had been taught. Once more she felt a heavy ancient guilt fall over her as she remembered the loss of her parents.
"Shepard, you ok?" Joker broke the silence, he had respectfully remained quiet when Sarah did not continue their conversation. He spoke up now upon noticing that the woman appeared sick.
"Fine... must be something I ate." She put a hand over her mouth lightly and took a deep breath, regaining her composure. "At any rate, I'm retiring to my room, notify me when we are approaching Hagalaz."
"Roger that, EDI I need you to..." Joker snapped a rapid sideways salute before turning to face the flight controls.
"Status reports for all engines available under tab 4 Jeff." EDI cut him off by providing the information she calculated he would ask for.
"Uhh... right.. thanks" Joker was still trying to get used to having the AI anticipate his requests. "Oh! Commander! Although I did say that we CAN take off in thirty... what about the rest of the crew still on shore leave?"
"Send out the recall notice... I want to be wheel's up the minute the last person steps onboard. EDI, call Miranda up to CIC." Sarah gave one more nod to Joker and walked back along the neck of the ship into the CIC, going around the large holodisplay of the galaxy towards the elevator. For the space of several seconds Sarah allowed herself to feel guilty for trampling across whatever plans or activities her crew had been a part of. Closing her eyes and breathing evenly she let her mask of being a council Spectre fall into place. The first thing she noticed was that Yeoman Kelly Chambers was not at her usual post next to the CIC. Upon this realization Sarah allowed another concern to take root, had Kelly taken care of her fish during the past weeks? After some reflection Sarah realized that with no need to use the CIC she had no memory of seeing or speaking with the cute yet somewhat naive girl. Breaking her line of thought, the elevator doors swung open revealing Miranda Lawson wearing workmans attire of closefitting undershirt and coveralls. Upon seeing Sarah, Miranda allowed an almost pouty frown to play across her cherublike features. With long, relaxed steps she exited the elevator and approached her waiting Commander.
"Shepard, I was still making some final modifications to our new training area." MIranda was trying to get Sarah to let her go back to her project.
"Well those modifications can wait for a little while. Ms. Lawson. I have ordered that the recall notice be sent out to all crew and that we depart the moment our last crew member sets foot on the ship. As my XO I am ordering you to see to the rapid recovery of our crew, if any complications arise notify me immediately. Please let me remind you Miranda... rapid recovery does not neccessarrily mean 'by force'." Sarah took on a slightly tired tone by the end of her statement to imply she was retiring to her quarters.
"Aye aye Ma'am." Miranda dropped the pout and snapped off a crisp salute. Not waiting for Sarah to return the gesture, the raven haired woman moved to a console at the CIC to begin her work.
************ Bad Trip ************
With nearly three full weeks of time to waste and a virtually unlimited bank account, Garrus had willfully lost himself in the Nos Astra night life. It had started out as a group effort to educate the young krogan 'boy' in the ways of the world. Be it drinking, fighting, or women. After several nights of wild debauchery involving several employees of Hotel Azure, the turian had lost track of the naive but very belligerent krogan somewhere in their second nightclub. By that time he had been too drunk to really care much and finally found himself at a third nightclub dancing with a pair of asari. The pair had stuck to him for the remainder of the night and even showed him a memorable time afterwards. The next day, he awoke in between them with a terrible headache and only partial memories of what had happened.
It wasn't long before Garrus realized that the pair of asari he had slept with were scam artists slowly working to entrap him so that he would be forced to become an indentured servant. Their tactic was to gain the trust of their target then strip them of all possessions so that they had nowhere to go, then offer servitude as the only way out. After another series of mutual "manipulations", Garrus moved on, finding another nightclub and another adventure. This pattern of partying and random encounter continued, and when the recall order was sent, Garrus was in no condition to even notice. Having long ago lost anything of value, the turian was reduced to snoring soundly in an alleyway wearing a garbage bag. Garrus, along with Grunt and several other male crew members, soon became priority retrieval targets for a team lead by Miranda and Tali. Thanks to his subdermal communicator, the turian was easily located even in his deplorable state. Miranda was the first to set eyes on him and she recoiled in shock almost immediately.
"My god, are we sure this reading is accurate? The smell is outrageous!" Miranda was forced to cover her nose with her hand as Tali pushed her way through the piled up garbage in the vicinity in order to reach Garrus. The snoring turian had somehow ended up at the bottom of a garbage disposal chute with nothing but a large bag to cover him. Tali reached his side and gently began prodding him in the face, calling out his name. After a few minutes, the quarian gave up.
"Garrus Vakarian! On your feet soldier that's an order!" Tali suddenly shouted, increasing the volume control on her suit. Coughing loudly and flailing about in surprise, the drunken turian awoke.
"Wha' th'hell d'you want!" Garrus slurred his words angrily as he stumbled to his feet, his reptillian eyes dilated and unfocused.
"Garrus, this is an order from Shepard, all hands are to return to the ship for departure." Tali kept her tone serious as she tried to appeal to the turian's innate nature to follow orders.
"Departure t'where? S'not like ahm gonna be missing much if I just skip it." Garrus waved a hand dismissively and tried to turn away from the quarian.
"Garrus, this is not a discussion, it is an order." Miranda raised her voice to be heard in impatience.
"Garrus..." Tali touched the turian gently with her hand. "I think... I might understand a little of what you're going through." Tali's head drooped slightly as her mouthpeice continued to flash in time with her speech. "I've noticed that you care for our Captain deeply, as do I." She had lowered her suit volume and dropped her voice to a whisper. "Mourning your own happiness or celebrating the Captain's?" Tali tried to ask sagely.
"Neither..." Garrus grunted in annoyance. "Got no idea what'cher talkin'bout." He slurred dimly, turning and shoving at what he perceived to be Tali's general location.
"We've got no time for this... let's bring him in." Nodding to the two marines that accompanied them, Miranda took charge of the situation as her nose screamed for relief.
"Wait!" Tali held her hand up to stall the approaching soldiers. "He might kill you in the state he's in." The quarian let out a frustrated sigh. "Garrus," She started again, "It's Tali, Shepard is waiting for us."
"No she'snot!" Garrus shot back hotly, a fire of awareness creeping into his eyes. "She'sdead!" His words continued to slur together. "Sides... s'not me she needsh anyway... just that... that selfish asari bitch." Garrus blurted out the accusation and buried his fist into the pile of trash a single tear rolling down his leathery skin. Reaching out and hugging him gently, Tali did her best to calm the secretly heartbroken turian. After hearing the angry rant, even Miranda felt a small stab of pity for the turian. After several long minutes of Garrus staring into the distance while Tali hugged him and whispered reassurances, he finally seemed to become aware of his surroundings enough to realize the situation.
"Ms. Lawson... Tali..." Garrus seemed almost shy saying the quarian's name. "Sorry for the trouble, I'll help recover the krogan as a way of saying thanks." With little effort, Garrus was again the cool, detached killer that Miranda was familiar with. Only Tali knew that this was all an act. Giving Garrus a nod, Miranda quickly turned and left the garbage disposal, eager to finally breathe fresh air.
************ Butterfly ************
"Ah... Hagalaz base this is the Normandy on final approach requesting confirmatoin on those landing coordinates."
"Roger, Normandy, the coordinates are accurate." Came the impatient reply of a young male voice that Joker thought sounded distinctly like a drell's
"Copy that, Normandy on final approach, out." Joker ended the transmission and spared a glance at the holodisplay of his now inseprable co-pilot. "What d'you think EDI?"
"About what Jeff?" EDI queried.
"About what? About this! This whole... thing! I mean... Shepard comes down here with Liara and Garrus in a shuttle, then only Garrus and Shepard come back, both pretty banged up and neither one say anything about where Liara went. Finally Shepard tells everyone that Liara is now in charge of this 'facility'." He put a great emphasis on the word to stress the sarcasm. "Now here we are landing the Normandy somewhere on a planet with boiling oceans and flash freezing nights." Joker had come to greatly enjoy having EDI around to voice his opinions to.
"I have no relevant commentary to make Jeff." EDI deftly avoided discussing the topic Sarah had expressly forbid her from discussing.
"Yeah I guess you wouldn't would you." Joker let out a grunt of dissapointment as he manuvered the Normandy into the twilight stormband, letting out a gasp of surprise as he laid eyes on the massive ship now before him. Whatever Joker had been expecting, it had certainly not been to find a very unique, very large vessel navigating the endless storm of Hagalaz. Without another word, the ace pilot brought the Normandy safely to dock along the underside of the massive 'facility.' When the final docking arms locked into place and Joker's flight controls flashed green the still slightly awed pilot blinked free of his wonderment.
"Commander we are now docked at the facility on Hagalaz as per your request." He had brought up Shepard's personal communicator.
"I copy that Joker, Miranda will have the deck while I'm away." Came Sarah's short reply. Joker noticed the barely hidden excitement in Sarah's voice and let out a small laugh of anticipation himself as he wished Shepard good luck.
"EDI," Sarah waited expectantly for the AI's reply.
"Yes commander?" The female voice acknowledged.
"See to it that no one gets on or off the Normandy without my express permission. The location of this base and it's purpose must be kept secret." Sarah's voice was grim for a moment as she considered the possible ramifications of improperly wording her order to protect this secret. Sudden images of EDI taking drastic, inhuman measures to keep the information safe flashed into her mind. "If someone happens to discover the truth, I want to be notified, at that point I will decide on what measures to take."
"Understood Commander." EDI replied without a pause.
The roundup of the Normandy's crew had taken the better part of twenty four hours, giving Sarah plenty of time to sleep comfortably, shower, and panic. She had spent the majority of her time awake worrying over what to wear. As it turned out, she had nothing to wear outside of ship fatigues, several designs of hardsuits, and the single evening dress Kasumi had bought for her to wear during their infiltration of Donovan Hock's mansion. Time and again she had slipped in and out of the evening dress, she even asked EDI to place an order for a body mirror to be installed in her cabin. Finally, after taking off the tight fitting evening dress for the fifth time. Sarah accepted that it was simply too revealing of an outfit for a casual meeting and settled on wearing her standard ship fatigues. Like everyone else in the crew, Sarah's array of Cerberus issue fatigues and hardsuits had all had their logos screatched out. The slightly baggy, light grey, cargo pants suited her well. The military boots and personally tailored shirt also fit as comfortably as always.
Giving herself one final nervous glance as she stood fidgeting in the airlock, Sarah did her best to keep herself outwardly calm. After a small series of decontamination scans the inner doors of the airlock opened and revealed the dimly lit atmosphere of the Shadow Broker's base. Not wanting to appear nervous, Sarah stepped confidently off the Normandy, nodding a casual greeting to the pair of armed guards which waited for her as escort. Following her appointed escort, Sarah left the Normandy behind and navigated the slightly narrow winding hallways of the large ship. After a few minutes her escort signalled silently to the doorway ahead of them and turned away, leaving Sarah standing in front of a familiar pressure door.
"Shepard!" Liara's excited voice broke the silence as a small screen with her smiling face appeared to the right of the doorway. "It's so good to see you." Sarah was almost certain she heard relief in Liara's voice. Continuing to work off screen Liara keyed in a command to open the door. Sparing a brief glance to the empty hallway behind her Sarah stepped into the now familiar inner sanctum of the Shadow Broker. The large crack Liara had torn into the ceiling along with the columns destroyed by the Broker were already repaired. A new, complete set of furniture adorned the previously sparse interior including several large recliner seats positioned in front of holodisplays and a pair of designer couches facing eachother with a low coffee table between occupying the center of the room. Datapads and food trays covered the table and several other brand new desks positioned around the room.
"I've set up several different workstations to better organize the various categories of data available to us now. Feel free to take a look." Liara was clearly eager to show off the results of her efforts for the past three weeks. The asari herself was seated in a large synth-leather office chair facing the same wall she had used when Sarah had left. Liara had reworked the holodisplays to allow for a horseshoe style array which reached out from the back wall to either side of her chair. The scene immediately struck Sarah as being nearly identical to what she had seen when first entering this room prepared for combat. A faint hum caught Sarah's attention and she shifted her weight, turning in place to face the noise. To her surprise, she was now staring at a floating Sphere of glowing white energy.
"Welcome back Shadow Broker." The sphere spoke in a friendly, mechanical voice and Sarah realized she was looking at a holoprojection of some type.
"What's this?" Sarah called to Liara with a hint of amusement.
"That's the old Broker's VI assistant. It's actually been helpful with rebuilding the network." Liara was still working quickly at the array of displays all around her, her slender, elegant fingers moving rapidly.
"Please let me know if I can organize anything else for you Shadow Broker." The Sphere of white light floated away slowly and Sarah barely stifled a laugh at being called the Shadow Broker.
"It also seems to think anyone in the room is the Broker. I had been meaning to play around with the settings." Liara sighed as she waved her hand across the field of holodisplays, causing the entire horseshoe to vanish.
"Seems like a pretty basic projection for a personal VI assisstant." Shepard commented as she walked up Liara's chair.
"It is a default setting. I beleive the Shadow Broker had no interest in anything relating to well... adding a personal touch." Liara made a concious effort to use a human phrase as she stood and faced Sarah. The pair looked at eachother and neither could stop themselves from smiling unconciously. Although her clothes seemed to be in slight disarray, Liara appeared otherwise healthy, which Sarah was thankful for. Liara was wearing a large, dark green, longsleeved shirt clearly meant for warmth along with a pair of loosefitting grey pants. A small band of blue was visible at Liara's waist and it caught Sarah's attention. For a moment she thought she saw a flash of red before Liara shifted her profile and pulled down her shirt discreetly.
"How are you?" Sarah asked simply, allowing all pretenses to fall away as she stared at Liara with a gentle smile.
"I'm a bit overwhelmed to be honest." Liara said a bit sheepishly as she looked down briefly. "The Shadow Broker had more resources than you can imagine. Here, come on over." Liara regained a bit of confidence in her voice as she re-activated the holodisplays she had closed, keying in a few commands to consolidate the display into a single image. The display was a like a spider's web of names, locations, and organizations connected to eachother by lines and arrows. Sarah did not bother trying to read them all as she realized the sheer scope of the image before her.
"He had top level access to the turian and asari governments. What's more, at least one salarian dalatrass traded intel." Liara tapped a few more keys and several names were highlighted briefly."At least I get to share it with you." She paused and looked directly at Sarah, a quiet hunger in her eyes for a moment before her shy smile covered her face. Sarah smiled back even as she poked fun at Liara.
"You're not going to turn into a recluse with creepy information on everyone in the galaxy... are you?" She did her best to keep her amusement out of her voice with only marginal success.
"I can understand the temptation..." Liara frowned as she took on a serious tone. "I've got all the secrets of the galaxy at my fingertips. Give me ten minutes, and I could start a war." She reached out to either side with her palms open to accentuate her comment. "But I've got a purpose." Her tone lightened again as she locked eyes with Sarah. "Helping you stop the Reapers. That will keep me honest." Sarah raised an eyebrow and let a smirk of disbelief play across her face at Liara's statement "You know.. relatively speaking." Once more Liara was shyly innocent and Sarah realized just how inexperienced they both were with any kind of intimate conversation.
"If you're in over your head we could just crash this thing and walk away." Sarah allowed herself to slip into an authoritative tone for a moment as she stared pointedly at Liara. Silently showing Liara that there would be no guilt or blame placed if the decision to destory the facility was made.
"Thats just it." Liara shook her head in response. "In a way, I fell like I belong here." A mischevious smile played across Liara's face for a moment before being replaced by a flush of embarrassment. "Working on my own I was always hunting for leads." She added defensively. "With the Shadow Broker's resources it's about organizing, cataloguing. I've got everything Sarah... this is a dream job." Liara smiled happily for a moment before a slight frown crossed her features. "Although the location could be better." She added with a hint of annoyance.
"Have you found anything useful yet?" Sarah asked, shifting her attention back to the web of names displayed before her.
"The Shadow Broker knew about the Reapers!" Liara gushed excitedly, turning away from the console and motioning Sarah to follow her along the backwall to a short flight of steps which led to a lofted area behind what Sarah had thought was the back wall of the room. The lofted space overlooked the rest of the room and several waist high tables covered with food sat to either said of a large pressure door set into the actual back wall of the room. "I think that perhaps that's why he offered to help prove Saren's guilt to the council." Liara picked up a mug of liquid off of one table and took several sips.
"He didn't want Saren to succeed." Sarah nodded in understanding of Liara's thought process.
"He also knew the Collectors were Protheans repurposed to be Harbringer's puppets." Liara grimaced and shut her eyes as she finished the statement. Sarah reached out and put a hand on Liara's shoulder reassuringly. The knowledge of the Prothean's fate had incensed Liara and she had quietly vowed to ensure that no race would ever have to suffer such a terrible fate again. "There's even some data on the Protheans. I think he knew what was coming and was looking for a way to survive." Liara couldn't resist allowing a quick smirk of contempt to cross her features.
"Why would he still be looking at the Protheans? They gave us the warnings through the beacons and the conduit on Ilos, but we've used those." Sarah tried to consider possibilities even as she waited for Liara's response.
"The Shadow Broker seemed to think there was more out there." Liara seemed deep in thought herself as she answered. "Perhaps the Protheans had other plans." She shook her head to indicate the lack of evidence to support her idea. "Or maybe he was just grasping at anything that offered some hope." She sighed, trying to avoid the crushing weight of despair the topic of invasion brought.
"How'd you know what the Shadow Broker was?" Sarah smoothly changed topics, enjoying the conversation just because it allowed her to hear Liara's soothing, gentle voice.
"I didn't." Liara smirked "I had no idea what to expect when we finally found him. I had researched pre-spaceflight cultures during some of my Prothean studies though. I know a bit about the yahg..." She looked out into the large room below briefly then back to Sarah. "I'll put together some detailed files on them at one of the terminals later if you want to look. They're a fascinating culture, and a terrifying one."
"How's... Feron doing?" Sarah finally felt comfortable enough to broach the line of questioning that had quietly cut away at her for months.
"As well as you'd expect after two years of intermittent torture." Liara's face darkened in a frown.
"Is he going to be okay? It would have been a good idea to have him return to the Normandy for a checkup." Sarah admonished Liara.
"I don't know." Liara shook her head. "He insisted and still insists that he's fine. He wants to work so I'm letting him help. Maybe it takes his mind off of it." Liara looked at Sarah helplessly for a moment.
"So... you and Feron..." Sarah felt a massive rock suddenly clog her throat as she failed to properly voice the question she had been aching to ask for so long.
"Are just friends..." Liara quickly finished the statement with a small hint of exasperation before looking at Sarah more closely. "Why Commander Shepard, you' not... jealous are you?" Liara had taken on a mock dramatic tone as she teased the now blushing human woman. "If you're jealous perhaps you'd better... take action." Liara's thinly veiled invitation caused Sarah's pale cheeks to color slightly. "Besides, I believe you made it clear that I was, as you humans say, taken." She looked longingly into Sarah's emerald green eyes.
"You know... I didn't actually fly all the way here just to discuss your findings... Dr. T'soni." Sarah took a step towards Liara and lowered her voice.
"Look... about that kiss..." Liara took a step back and looked away, shifting nervously. "We'd just finished the fight." She was talking quickly to explain away one of the most memorable moments in Sarah's life. Liara was clearly struggling to hide her feelings and Sarah made a mental note to punish her later. "I miss you." Liara stated plainly. "But it's been two years. I don't... I don't want to put any pressure on you." She folded her arms resolutely as her back stiffened.
"I have fond memories of the last time you put pressure on me." Sarah teased Liara now, knowing that the asari was simply providing every oppurtunity for Sarah to back out as a show of respect.
"So do I." Liara couldn't hide a smile as she stared at Sarah.
"Look, why don't you come up to the Normandy for drinks? I'll have Joker take us on a tour of the galaxy." Sarah allowed her casual confidence to fall into place as she smiled.
"I'd like that." Liara admitted with a nod of her head. For a moment she allowed herself to forget all of the pressing jobs and data feeds that needed her attention..
"Good, get your things and come to the ship." Sarah pushed, not allowing Liara the chance to back out.
"I'll... I'll meet you there in half an hour." Liara said in a rush as she cast about quickly for a data pad, keying in a few quick commands before rushing through the pressure door set into the back wall. Smiling to herself, Sarah made her way back out of the inner sanctum and back to the Normandy, where she waited patiently for Liara to arrive.
************ The Promise ************
On a whim, Sarah rushed to her cabin and changed into her evening gown. The black, backless dress left little to imagination and Sarah felt very exposed standing by the Normandy's airlock in high heels. She had ordered her entire crew to remain silent to ensure no one made a comment about seeing her in a dress. After agonizingly long minutes that felt like hours, the airlock doors hissed open and Sarah was greeted with the sight of Liara T'soni in an elegant dress of her own. The young asari maiden wore a simple dress made of deep purple silk which hugged the curves of her body. The conservative neckline revealed nothing but the absence of sleeves allowed Sarah to admire Liara's elegant arms. The hem of the dress touched Liara's ankle's, the material wrapped tightly around her legs. This prevented her from moving any faster than a casual walking pace. Liara was gripping what appeared to be the same display stand of dog tags Sarah had seen her grab on Illium. Waving nervously, Sara smiled at Liara as she unconsiouly tried to smooth the hem of her own skirt which was several inches above the knee.
"Hello Liara, welcome aboard." She offered her hand to Liara as the asari walked toward her gingerly.
"Sarah, you look... beautiful." Liara stared openly at the provacatively clothed human woman before taking Sarah's hand tenderly in her own.
"Ah... um... Thanks." Sarah suddenly became very self concious and gripped Liara's hand tightly
"So!" Sarah almost squeaked in nervousness "I promesed Joker that you would stop by to say hello to him this time." She began guiding herself and Liara toward's the pilot's chair.
"Yeah sure fine just talk about me like I'm not even holy shit Shepard's in a dress." Joker was suddenly stunned speechless as he took in the sight of Sarah Shepard in a very revealing evening gown. With Liara standing next to her in a conservative but also very attractive gown, Joker almost thought he was looking at a pair of Fornax models.
"Right! Well Liara, you know Joker. Joker, you know Liara! Glad you two got to see eachother... moving on!" Sarah did her best to rush through the meeting.
"Hold it! Hold it! Hold it!" Joker exclaimed dramatically. "Liara! How you been girl? You know how much I've missed you?" Joker had spun his chair around and now held out his arms expecting a hug. Liara responded by reluctantly allowing the awkward embrace while looking to Sarah with a momentary frown.
"I'll have to get her to explain why she suddenly doesnt like Joker later." Sarah thought to herself.
"Listen," Joker started up happily. "I know you two kids will be up to all sorts of fun shenanigans later and all I ask is that you act out a few scenese of Vaenia for my sake." He did his best to avoid laughing as Sarah rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"Vaenia?" Liara tilted her head to the side and repeated the name in confusion.
"Oh wait you mean you don't... oh well then there's... ah forget it." Joker finally gave up, crestfallen. "Look.. all I really wanted to say is that if anyone's earned this it's you and the Commander so ahh... have a good time ok?" Suddenly the tension made sense to Sarah as she realized that there must have been a great deal of anger between Liara and Joker relating to wether or not he had been the cause of Sarah's death.
Several minutes of conversation rolled by between Liara and the bearded pilot, smiles planted firmly on both their faces. Finally, Sarah shifted impatiently and Liara brought the talk to a close.
"Well, Joker, I am relieved to see that you have found yourself again at the helm of Commander Shepard's vessel as I know there is no better pilot in the galaxy. Thank you... for bringing Sarah back to me this time." Liara hugged Joker once more as she fought back tears. Joker himself teared up for a moment as he nodded and saluted Liara smartly.
Liara and her human escort left the cockpit and made their way to the elevator, riding it up to the 'Loft'. The pair stepped into the cool air of Sarah's personal quarters and Liara looked around in surprise.
"Oh my, this is quite the room." Liara took in her surroundings in amazement. The entire left hand wall when entering the room was a fish tank providing a gentle blue glow to the room. The cabin consisted of a changing area near the entrance and a large enclosed office area along the right wall. This overlooked a small den and large king sized bed further in. A transparent divider wall filled with her collection of model starships divided the den from the office area of her cabin. A pair of steps led into the den and to the bed from the changing area. Overhead, Liara could see out into space through a very large viewport in the ceiling almost as large as the king sized bed beneath it.
"Yeah it's definetely an improvement over the original Normandy isn't it?" Sarah asked casually as she produced a small bottle of wine with two clear glasses . She set all three down on the coffee table situated in the den. The table was surrounded on two sides by couches, one pressed up against the divider wall and the other against the right wall. The bed took up the third side of the table. Sarah poured herself a glass of wine and then filled Liara's glass, leaving both on the table as she and Liara Sat down on the soft couches.
"I brought you something." Liara held out the display stand she had brought along. "It took some digging but I recovered your tags." She held out the display shyly, a hopeful look in her eyes.
"It seems like forever since I was an Alliance soldier." Sarah took the display frame form Liara and looked down at the badly worn and repolished tags. "First I get tapped for the Specres, then Cerberus..."
"You succeed against odds most people wouldn't even take on. It's no wonder everyone wants you on their side." Liara spoke in reverence as she stared at Sarah, taking in her every action. "But I know it wears on you." Liara frowned slightly, a hint of sympathy in her voice.
"You konw... I thought I'd lost these." Sarah sidestepped the subject, not wanting to sour the mood.
"You can't get back everything you've lost... but sometimes you get lucky." Liara seemed pleased that Sarah liked her gift.
"Yeah... that was the idea..." Sarah couldn't resist teasing Liara for her obvious metaphor but the asari maiden failed to understand the play on words. The smug grin from Sarah only ended up confusing Liara further and finally Sarah just laughed and shook her head.
"So how are you doing Sarah? I mean.. really... not what you're telling your squad to keep morale up." Liara's face became serious and she stared intently at Sarah.
"Honestly? I'm tired Liara..." Sarah shook her head and let out a deep sigh. "Tired of the council not listening to a word I say unless I have mountains of evidence to back it up. Tired of being strung along by groups like Cerberus. Worst of all... I'm tired of having my closest friends not believe me." She shook her head in frustration and Liara nodded in understanding.
"Yes, I heard about what Ashley said on Horizon, I'm sorry." Liara offered her sympathy. "But their shortsightedness doesn't diminish what you've accomplished." She pressed on with encouragement. "You and your team destroyed the Collectors and walked out alive." Liara didn't try to hide the amazement in her voice.
"The Collectors were just Harbinger's minions." Sarah growled angrily as she leaned back into the couch, staring out into space. "He's still out there, and he won't go down as easily."
"Give yourself some credit Sarah, without the Collectors the Reapers will have one less tool to use when they arrive." Liara put a hand on Sarah's thigh lightly to re-assure her.
"Between you and me?" I have no idea how I'm going to do this." Sarah shrugged her shoulders dejectedly and looked hopelessly at Liara. "I'm doing everything I can but..." She trailed off, lowering her gaze.
"You've done more than most." Liara interjected, refusing to give up on instilling a sense of hope in her human companion.
"At least they can't call us young or primitive anymore... we fought them in their own base and won." Sarah mused more to herself as memories of Harbringer's endless ridicule replayed in her mind.
"Young?" Liara tried to lighten the mood again. "You know I'm 108... 109 in a couple of months." a smile creased the sky blue skin of her face as she faked a pout for having to remind Sarah.
"I'll have to get you something nice." Sarah grinned playfully at Liara.
"You're alive again..." Liara paused and stared at Sarah, a reverence in her tone. "I've got everything I want." She drew in a long breath and then smiled softly. "That isn't what's really bothering you though is it? I can feel something deeper eating away at your thoughts." Stunned into silence, Sarah looked into Liara's deep blue eyes for long minutes before finally working up the courage to reply.
"I told you before that I'm basically no longer human right? I can't tell you how many times I've woken up afraid that that I'll find out I'm actually just some clone with imprinted memories or that I'm really a synthetic prototype for cerberus shock troopers." Sarah shuddered involuntarily. "I died Liara... and I remember dying... I cant describe how alone I was... the only thing that kept me together was..." Sarah paused, realizing that tears had formed in her eyes and and that Liara was staring at her intently. "The only thing I had to hold onto was you Liara... I don't know if I could have stayed sane without you." Sarah stared at Liara and waited for her to reply.
"I know..." Liara said finally, clearly suppressing an urge to break down into tears herself. "I have an idea of what you went through because... I felt everything that day."
"What do you mean?" Sarah asked, her curiosity raised.
"Through our bond I felt you die Sarah!" Liara blurted out in anguish. "You're wondering why I've been so cold to you. I was cruel, I know." She took a few breaths to regain her composure. "Although I wanted to protect you from the Shadow Broker that was only an excuse... I was afraid... and still am afraid... of losing you again." Liara swallowed hard and looked into Sarah's eyes helplessly, having laid bare herself and her fears. The pair stared at eachother for a time, neither one spoke.
"So tell me what you want." Liara changed the course of the conversation. "If this all were to end tomorrow, what would happen to us?" The question was straightforward but almost entirely off topic.
"I don't know..." Sarah had to blink a few times while processing the sudden question. Finally shrugging, she continued. "Marriage, old age, and alot of little blue children?" She allowed a teasing smirk to play across her features as she gave Liara an honest answer.
"You just... say these things..." Liara lightly shoved at Sarah's shoulder and looked away shyly, a deep blush of darker blue coloring her sky blue skin. Liara frowned and stood up, walking over to a small nightstand where the burned out remains of Sarah's old hardsuit helmet sat. The asari maiden touched the surface of the helmet hesitantly and then brought her hands up to her face, burying her sobs in the palms of her hands. "Goddess... you were dead!" She cried out, her whole body shuddering as she sobbed openly.
"I got better." Sarah reached out to place a hand on Liara's shoulder, silently asking her turn around. Liara turned, wrapping her arms around Sarah briefly before shaking her head and stepping away.
"This time... but you're going to leave again!" She began to pace the small room as she looked everywhere except at the human woman. "When the Reapers finally arrive... you'll dive into the fray." She lifted her gaze to stare out of the large window in the ceiling. Slowly, Sarah moved to stand behind Liara, waiting for her to turn around. After a minute, Liara turned and looked at Sarah, her face wet with tears. Both Liara and Sarah took eachother's hands, holding tight to the warmth flowing between them as they unconciously moved closer together.
"I spent two years mourning you..." Liara breathed heavily, keeping her eyes locked on Sarah's. "So if we're going to try this again... I need you promise me that you're always coming back."
"I dunno... that's a pretty big promise to make..." Sarah put all of her effort into making herself sound serious. "I'm going to need something worthwhile to come back to." She finally allowed a smile to cover her face as she teased Liara's nose with her lips.
"I'm... open to suggestions..." Liara had begun to breathe heavily as she became more agressive with her own mouth.
"Look on the bright side... I haven't stayed dead yet." Sarah smirked and traced her tongue up Liara's neck, leting go of her hands to pull Liara into a tight embrace.
"You make a compelling argument Sarah." Liara replied, suddenly locking her lips on Sarah's ear lobe, illiciting a pleasureable gasp from the human woman.
"Oh I'm just getting started." She grinned mischeviously and reached into a fold of Liara's silk dress. Within seconds Liara's eyes shifted from dark blue to jet black as she let out a moan of pleasure and dug her fingers into Sarah's back.