Alright, folks, time for a bit of an announcement. I just finished ME3 - bullshit, by the way - which means you can expect more fic (and higher-quality! I just reread Five Stars, and ugh!) about Mass Effect from me, since it's going to be the flavor du jour for a while now, I imagine.
Unfortunately, given the release of the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, this fic is entirely obsolete and I will not be continuing it. I know it's been a long time, but here's what I had of Chapter 4 before I stopped writing. It's unpolished and wandering, with no direction and little plot relevance, but hopefully you'll still enjoy it. Please look forward to my new stuff, once I have time to write it in school.
I'll even let you folks decide what I should work on first - here's a list of my prospective ideas. Just leave a review with your thoughts. Note that you're also free to suggest ideas and comment on these.
Jack's first days at Grissom (will require me to replay to the Grissom mission and complete it this time; not preferred due to time constraints)
Independence Day, one year later - a reunion of Normandy crew is interrupted by a Cerberus holdout group
Shepard and Liara shop for a houseship
A new relay is discovered, and the Normandy is the best choice to scout the far side
Fornax' publisher is implicated in a red sand smuggling ring, and Liara and Tali - much to Shepard and Garrus' chagrin - volunteer to infiltrate
The brother of the private from Bay D24 returns home
A science lab outpost on an ice world goes dark
Let me know what you think!
"Commander, it is 0545 hours. I believe you wanted to inspect the crew's quarters this morning?" Alex sighed and pulled her pillow over her head. She'd been just about ready to drop off, too.
"All right, EDI, thanks," she called, sitting up. Little more than an hour had passed since they had returned to the Normandy, and she was sharply feeling the sleep she hadn't gotten; but the crew had come to expect quarters inspections on Tuesdays, and it wouldn't do to deprive them of something to half-jokingly grumble about.
"I had forgotten what life aboard a military vessel was like," Liara mumbled beside her. "And I was happy that way." Alex looked over at her lover; they had both almost literally fallen into bed from exhaustion, and Liara's dress was rather rumpled. And for maybe the first time since Shepard's… reawakening, her face was once again almost childlike, lacking the severity and steel the past two years had inlaid into her eyes and the lines of her lips. Shepard hated to disturb her like this.
"I've got inspections to do," she murmured, laying a hand on Liara's shoulder. "You can stay here." The gentle pressure of Liara's shoulder against her palm caused the steam burn to sting a little; but it was better than it had been even an hour ago. Mordin did good work.
The Normandy SR-2's interior lights worked on a twenty-four hour schedule when not on alert; at 0530 hours in the 'morning', crew cabin and deck lights turned on at half-strength, brightening to full lighting by 0600. Likewise, a half-hour period of 'twilight' was enforced at 2300. Many crewmembers held their own timetables, especially the nonhuman crew (and Jack); but the fact remained that after midnight, the ship was dark save for the guide lights along the centers of the walkways. Or it was supposed to be.
"Quite nice to meet you, Dr. T'Soni," Mordin said again, waving Alex and Liara into the medical bay, which was brightly lit as usual. Out of curiosity, Shepard keyed up the clock on EDI's wall-mounted terminal. Emerald digits blinked '0424' at her, and she had to fight back a yawn. "Professor Mordin Solus, Normandy resident geneticist, medical doctor, surgeon."
"It is my pleasure, Professor," Liara replied politely. She took a seat by the door. "Please forgive my brevity, but I need to… to think."
Mordin nodded, motioning Alex over to the wetwork counter. Though it had served every function from diagnostic bay to operating table over its monthof service, the surface was polished to a surgical shine, like everything else in the lab. Alex laid her hand on the table, and Mordin circled around to take a look at it.
On the other side of the room, Liara mused. Few organizations on Illium had been aware of her job as an information broker; fewer still of her real name or connection with Commander Alexandra Shepard. Her hunt for the Shadow Broker had been discreet – when time had allowed it to be so – and nothing she had done was worth such a clumsy assassination attempt. That meant one of two things: either the Shadow Broker was making beginner's errors, reacting to mere suspicions with unsubtle and ineffective force… or someone else had ordered the attempt.
"Liara," Alex said, with an air of patience. Liara looked up, surprised. "You need to lower your biotic field," Shepard reminded her, smiling.
Liara nodded, sighing. "Of course. I apologize." The purple-blue field around Alex's hand shimmered away, and Mordin set to wrapping the injured limb with gauze.
"There," he said after a few minutes, tying the bandage off around Shepard's wrist. "Medi-gel infused into bandage will accelerate healing. Remove in twenty-four hours." He blinked at Alex before stooping to put the roll of bandages away. "Wonder, however, how sustainment of first-degree burns possible during covert meeting."
"It wasn't as covert as we hoped," Alex answered distractedly, giving her hand a flex. The bandages fit well, and pulled only a little at her knuckles. Across the counter, Mordin made a studiously noncommittal noise, and Alex felt her face warm. "We were attacked by a krogan mercenary," she protested, trying hard not to look at Liara.
"Not judging your recreational activities, Shepard," Mordin replied, deadpan. His eyes sparkled in his scarred face, though, and Alex took a mock swat at him as she stood. He dodged it easily, returning to a pile of equipment already set up at the bacterial/viral station.
"Excuse me, Commander. Should likely return to work," he said, bending to look through the eyepiece of a microscope. "Peculiar strain of bacteria – abnormal reproduction rate. Need another Petri dish," he muttered, looking up to fetch one. "Good night, Shepard. Sleep is best medicine – remember medi-gel only accelerates healing."
"We'll leave you to your work, Mordin," Alex said. She offered Liara a hand, and they stepped out onto the dimly lit main deck.
Alex rolled out of bed, running a comb haphazardly through her hair. Liara sat up as Shepard stripped out of her day-old shore clothes, rubbing sleep out of her eyes as she did so. "No, I'll come with you on the inspections," she offered, joining Alex by her locker. "Do you have spare clothes?"
"Anything you like in there," Alex replied, pulling on her science-team uniform. Liara raised an eyebrow, and Alex shrugged. "Dr. Chakwas suggested I try one on back when we were just getting started assembling the specialists. I didn't like it very well, but she insisted… and it's grown on me," she admitted. "Oh, that's right. I was going to surprise you," she added ruefully, catching Liara's expression.
"How is she?" Liara asked, donning an identical uniform. "Ah, I have your name on me, Shepard." She pulled the shoulder patch around to look at it more clearly.
"She's doing well. A little shaken up still, after the Jump," Alex replied, her voice darkening somewhat. "I can't blame her."
There was a moment of silence, not long enough to be awkward, but long enough to be noticeable. Fortunately, EDI's voice piped through the speakers, breaking the unintentionally delicate atmosphere. "Commander, you are coming, right?" the AI asked, a hint of something just this side of irritation in her voice.
Alex ran the comb through her hair one more time, then jogged over to the elevator. "We're coming, EDI," she said, thumbing the call button. The elevator doors pinged open, and they were soon on their way down.
"You know, Commander, I joined up with Cerberus so I could stop following Alliance regs," Hawthorne said, standing at attention beside his neatly-made bunk. Matthews, who had the bunk above, nudged his shoulder.
"Liar. You're always the first one up on inspection days, making sure everything's perfect," the dark-haired sailor said, smiling. Hawthorne winced, rubbing his arm.
"Careful, John, I'm still a little sore," he chided his friend. Alex nodded respectfully to him and turned to Liara, who stood by the crew quarters' door.
"Hawthorne charged a husk Scion when the Normandy was attacked, to buy Joker some time to get the defenses back up," she explained. "He's been in the medical bay since a few days ago."
"Yeah, and a damn sight more modest about it than he deserves to be," Hadley put in from his bunk near the viewport. "Broke what, Hawthorne, five ribs and both legs?"
"And my arm, in two places," Hawthorne finished, not without a certain pride.
Alex smiled. "Carry on, men." She snapped them a quick left-handed salute, which they returned as one, and exited. "Most of the crew are ex-Alliance," she explained to Liara as they headed to the fore. "Throw them a salute, and they just react to it."
"Cerberus can pick them," Liara agreed quietly. Alex's smile grew wider, and she gave a small laugh.
"Given the Illusive Man's reaction when I told him where he could stick his cigarette, he doubtless thought so, too," she chuckled. Liara looked at her, surprised, and Alex shrugged, serious again.
"He wanted to keep the Collector base we found past the Omega 4 Relay," she explained. "Keep the Reaper technology, 'to secure human dominance in the galaxy'." She snorted. "I saw enough of what humanity's capable of growing up on Earth," she said. "We're no better suited to run this place than anyone else out there, and I figured it was about time he learned that."
Shepard cleared her throat, embarrassed. "Sorry. I, uh… let's move on." She keyed open the door to the forward batteries control, stepping into the dimly lit room as the panels slid apart. Garrus sat on a pile of metal boxes, sighting calmly down the length of his rifle's elongated barrel toward the hulking cylinders of the Normandy's formidable teeth. "Hey, Garrus," Alex said, leaning against the doorframe. "I knew I wouldn't have to bother checking your bunk. How are things in here?"
"Same as always, Commander," the lanky turian replied, setting his gun down. "I recalibrated the Thanix Cannon yesterday, so –" he broke off as he turned around. "Well, well, I don't believe it. Liara?"
"Garrus? Garrus Vakarian?" Liara asked, stepping fully into the room. "I almost didn't recognize you."
"Well, there's a story behind that," Garrus replied, running a hand across the rippled scars that bisected his right cheek. "I'll tell you sometime later. So, the Commander finally got you back, huh?"
"She's not coming with us," Alex replied, speaking up before Liara could. "Personal matters to deal with. I'm just showing her the SR2."
"I see," Garrus replied thoughtfully. "Well, we certainly could use another familiar face around here. The SR2 is nice, but it feels empty without the rest of the old crew around." He scratched idly at his faceplates. "I even miss Chief Williams… a bit."
"Now that we've severed ties with Cerberus, maybe we can talk her back around," Alex suggested. Garrus shrugged noncommittally.
"Well, Commander, I should get back to work," he said, picking up the rifle again. "Good seeing you, Liara."
"You too," Liara replied, following Alex from the room. As the door hissed closed behind them, she turned to Shepard, opening her mouth.
"I don't want to talk about it," Alex said tightly, heading aft. "Ash thought we – either Cerberus or us personally – were behind the attacks on the colonies. She probably still does," she sighed, after a moment. "I've been trying to get a message through to her, but either she's not answering or the Alliance is filtering her mail."
She shook her head, visibly dropping the subject. "Come on. I'll introduce you to our Head Engineers."
The Engineering Deck was the quietest on the Normandy aside from the captain's cabin, despite the constant low hum of the drive core. Samara greeted Liara with polite interest; even Jack made a brief appearance at the foot of the stairs into the lower storage deck, peering upward at Alex and Liara from the dim red depths of her preferred habitat. She studied Liara for a moment and pointed straight at Alex. "Called it," she said, disappearing back below the deck.
"Good mornin', Commander," Ken Donnelly began as they stepped into the main Engineering cabin. "I know it's early, but I was wond'rin' if I could – oh, no, not another woman," he cried in mock dismay, catching sight of Liara. "Commander, I'm outnumbered as i'tis."
"Ignore him," Gabby Daniels recommended, stepping forward to shake Liara's hand. "It's what I do. Gabby Daniels."
"Hang on just a second, I'll fetch Tali," Ken said, walking over to the center of the room. "She's cleanin' out the ducts." He grabbed hold of a length of cord bobbing gently around from the maintenance shaft in the ceiling, giving it a quick tug. "She should be back soon," he assured Alex, returning to his post.