HANGAR BAY, CRONOS STATION, SEPTEMBER 3
Natasha stated down in surprise at the other her as her Cerberus counterpart stared back.
"What ..."
She raised her Omnitool and scanned the paralysed body beneath her, data rolling across her arm. Tapping on another program she remotely hacked into the control implant in her cerebellum, shutting it down and corrupting its programming to the point where it was useless to whoever put it there. As she did so, her doppelgänger slumped her head to the floor, tears flowing freely down her face.
"Are you going to kill me?"
Seeing herself distraught, crying on the ground like one of the victims of Torfan, Natasha did the only thing that made sense. She gathered her double up in her arms and hugged her. Seeing herself, but not herself - she didn't know what to think so she followed her instincts and comforted her.
Beta wasn't entirely sure what was going on. After all, the concept of hugging had never been implanted into her brain. All she knew was that whatever Alpha was doing, it made her feel safe and warm, feelings she had never experienced before. She didn't know how to react to her situation. The voice in her head was gone, leaving her without purpose for the first time in her very short life thus far.
Eventually she spoke again.
"What do I do now?"
Alpha tapped at her Omnitool, unlocking her armour and helping her to her feet.
"Whatever you want."
She thought about that. What did she want?
"I want to live."
Alpha took a step back.
"Woah. I'm not going to kill you."
"No. I didn't mean I want to stay alive. I want to live. Have a life, learn about the galaxy ... fall in love ..."
Alpha smiled and rubbed her clone's shoulder.
"Well then, we'd best get started."
CENTRAL COMMAND, CRONUS STATION, SEPTEMBER 3
The Civilian Fleet had just completed their jump into the system and the Quarian Admiralty Board made their way into the control room, looking around before directing their attention to Natasha, who was sitting in the chair formerly occupied by the Illusive Man.
"Commander. You wished to see us?"
She nodded.
"Yes I did. This station is now under the command of the Migrant Fleet. If you play your cards right this could be the best thing that's happened to you in a good long while."
She tapped a button and a galaxy map appeared in the centre of the room, the Admirals spreading out and encircling it.
"Cerberus control no less than twelve custom built space stations, each one loaded with all sorts of goodies. I did a bit of digging in the Cerberus network and figured out all these stations were designed so that they could be towed through Relays in case their positions were ever made."
She tapped at the galaxy map, bringing up a view of a small three-system star cluster.
"This is the Meridian Nebula. Unclaimed territory on the very edge of the Terminus Systems, five relays from the nearest official government. Two of these Cerberus bases are three relays away from the cluster."
She gestured at the diagram of the cluster.
"The relay system really doesn't have anything of note. About twelve light-years away we have the Satrisa system which has a highly energetic binary star system ideal for Helium-3 fuel extraction. Pretty much linearly another sixteen light years is the Azbakar system which has four planets of note and a dense triple asteroid belt. 2114-Alpha and 2114-Beta are twinned rocky planets that are pretty much skimming the star's edge, they really aren't of much use. 2114-Delta is a large gas giant at the very edge of the system, again not much of note. The kicker is 2114-Gamma. A moderately sized garden world with a dextro-amino biosphere, slap bang in the middle of the star's life zone. If it wasn't at the edge of the Terminus Systems you can bet your air filters it'd be crawling with Turians."
Admiral Raan looked sharply up at Natasha.
"Commander, are you suggesting ..."
"A nice isolated system with a dextro garden world and abundant mineral resource asteroids, so far away from everything that not even slavers would use it as a stopover? What could I possibly be suggesting?"
Koris examined her, eyes roving over her features.
"Why are you doing this, Commander? You could have simply taken all this for yourself."
In response she glanced over at Tali, who had her nose buried in a console as she examined the station's subsystems.
"Let's just say a certain young girl on her Pilgrimage opened my eyes to the plight of your people. You've paid for your mistakes with the Geth long enough. You all deserve better than what you've been given."
Rael'Zorah stepped up to her.
"Commander, a word in private."
Nodding, she walked out into the corridor with Tali's father, closing the door on the other Admirals who were bickering about the proposal presented to them.
"I had this long speech prepared in which I would try to scare you off from my daughter. I never really approved of her ... errant sexual preferences. But back there, you did more for our people than anyone else has done in three hundred years, and for that I owe you my thanks and my blessing. Keep her safe, keep her happy and know that for what you did back there, there will always be a place for you on my ship. Keelah Se'lai, Natasha'Shepard vas Normandy."
She nodded at the older Quarian, the flicker of understanding passing between them.
"Keelah Se'lai, Rael'Zorah vas Rayya."
CAPTAIN'S CABIN, NORMANDY SR2, SEPTEMBER 4
Natasha looked over the datapad she was holding, the detailed list of Cerberus operations and operatives slowly being sorted into three lists - those that could remain as is, those that would require replacement with Quarians or humans loyal to the Migrant Fleet and those that would require immediate termination. The third list was far longer than the other two. She felt Tali stir beside her and glanced downwards, feeling a surge of desire at her little Quarian wrapped only in a bedsheet. Tali rolled over and fell back into her deep sleep, Natasha settling lower in the bed as she returned her attention to the datapad. There were a good deal of projects she felt could use her personal attention - Overlord in particular rang alarm bells in her head.
She put down the datapad and rubbed her eyes, snuggling into the warm body of her girlfriend. Tali meant more to her than she could ever say. Of everyone on the original Normandy Tali was the only one who saw through her Invincible Commander Shepard persona and really looked at the person beneath. The others only saw the ideal of their mighty leader, the sense of calm strength she projected. Of everyone on the Normandy who had tried to get in her pants, of which there were many, Tali was the only one who truly loved her. Liara had a childish crush, Kaidan spent too much time wallowing in self pity to consider anyone else and Joker was just taking advantage of the fact people weren't allowed to punch him to be an insufferable if adorable lech.
She gently pressed her lips to the back of Tali's shoulder, making her Quarian girl mumble something in her sleep as Natasha slipped her arms round her lover's body. She quickly drifted off to sleep, lulled by the slow, rhythmic breathing of her partner.
XO'S CABIN, NORMANDY SR2, SEPTEMBER 4
Tatiana Shepard liked her new name. The first thing she liked about it was that it was a real name, unlike Beta which was simply a designation. It made her feel less like a walking talking plan B and more like a person. The second thing she liked about it was that it implied she and the Commander were twin sisters. Considering the circumstances of Natasha's childhood, there weren't exactly any census records to show that she wasn't a long lost twin.
To make things slightly easier on everyone Tatiana had received a makeover from Dr. Chakwas. She had dyed her hair platinum white and had the pigment in her eyes altered from the rich brown of Natasha's to a very pale grey, almost silver appearance. She had stripped naked and lay in a UV wash for three hours, darkening her skin, then as an afterthought put a blood red streak in her hair and an intricate tattooed pattern in the same shade of red that curled itself around the outer corner of her right eye. By the time she was done she looked cosmetically different enough to pass herself off as an identical twin.
She had settled herself into the XO's suite, chucking the stuff belonging to the room's former occupant into the disposal chute including several absurdly tight catsuits that had her trying to fathom who might possibly find them fashionable. She had spoke at length with the pilot, Joker, about how she should decorate her space and for her troubles had received a long lecture on the merits of having a Bedroom. Being a clone, she had never had a bedroom before. She had held several illuminating discussions with the rest of the crew about Bedrooms and how to properly furnish one, leading to her current activities.
The speakers she had set up were blasting 20th century classic rock as she used Omnigel adhesive to attach a number of magnetic strips to the ceiling above her bed. Her friend Annabel had helped her install an armour locker in the wall and she had greatly enjoyed playing with the various sets of armour Natasha had recovered from the Cerberus HQ, mixing and matching parts and painting them in a bewildering array of colours. Right now, her intention was to mount a proper big television on the ceiling above her bed, so she could lie back and enjoy whatever it was people watched on televisions without even having to get out of bed. After browsing a number of DIY forums on the extranet she had decided to use magnetic rails on the ceiling to make it easy to swap out the TV for a different model if she felt like upgrading, then some physical clamps in the corners in case the magnetic strips failed. She had printed some posters off the extranet and plastered the glass partition between the desk area and the bed area with them, mostly of various Urban Combat League teams and old Earth movies.
Satisfied, she looked around at her bedroom. Hers. Her own place.
She was very, very aware of how lucky she had been.
A/N: Poll for future pairings now up on my profile. Please go vote.