She can make a warp field around a knife that'll slice through shields but she has trouble picking up a crate. Kaidan thought.
He admitted he was getting curious about Shepard's biotics. She'd gone through training with the Alliance...it was a requirement when she enlisted...but there was nothing in her records that really showed how out of balance she was. She could do one or two things really well but was barely able to do things that were a snap to him.
He and Liara had started discussing and practicing biotics here and there. Nothing big- you couldn't exactly go around the ship tossing warp fields around -but it was enjoyable to have someone so knowledgeable to talk and debate tactics and uses with. Shepard had overheard and started joining them lately.
"What, the layer thing?" Shepard looked at him now, surprised. They were in the science lab where Liara had taken up residence. Kaidan was leaning against the wall facing both women. Liara was sitting at the desk, the chair turned around all the way so she could face them. Shepard had been painting her nails black when he'd come in and now had a hold of Liara's hand so she could paint hers. Why, Kaidan had no idea, but Liara didn't seem to mind, studying her already painted right hand with bemusement. "I learned it from an asari when I was out on the Traverse. Learned a lot of stuff from the asari over the years, haven't you?"
"Not really, I think a couple officers I've served under would have had a real problem with that."
Liara blinked. "Why?"
Both she and Shepard were looking at him with almost identical looks of bafflement. Kaidan shrugged. "I guess they don't want any more information about our biotics getting outside the Alliance than necessary."
"Anything we can do biotically the asari could do two thousand years ago," Shepard pointed out. Liara glanced away, too polite to agree out loud. Shepard capped the polish and blew on Liara's nails to dry them. Kaidan thought he saw the asari shiver a bit but Shepard didn't seem to notice.
"I'm guessing that's one of those things no one in the ranks likes to talk about, Commander."
Case in point, it had never occurred to him to learn biotic tricks from the asari. He supposed it came from refining what he knew to be exactly what he needed and he'd never thought of adapting it further unless he had to.
He'd never had much of a chance to discuss such things, either. Having one biotic on an Alliance ship was becoming increasingly common as humanity adjusted to having them, but having two was rare, and having four on one ship was unheard of. Not that Wrex was interested in joining in. Kaidan supposed with his career the krogan had also refined his abilities to be exactly what he needed, and Wrex had been doing it a lot longer than he had.
Shepard shrugged. In the lab's bright light, her face looked more drawn and pale than usual. Kaidan found himself wondering if she was getting enough sleep. She didn't seem worse for wear after Liara had tried to meld with her.
But something had happened after that meeting that he couldn't put his finger on; a subtle shift in her demeanor. Shepard had always been good at hiding what she was thinking but there was a sense of...balance, for lack of a better word...with her now, as if things that had been up in the air had settled. It showed in little ways with her appearance, like the fact she didn't wear an Alliance uniform anymore.
That itself wasn't enough to make him uneasy. He trusted Shepard, but there was a growing sense of animosity between her and Ambassador Udina that he didn't like at all. He also didn't like that she wasn't going through the Alliance for armor and weapons anymore, despite the fact it gave them more options and access to pieces they never would have otherwise.
Everyone on the ship except for Garrus, Liara, Wrex, and Tali were Alliance members, many of them had been in the Alliance military all their lives. They'd fought for the Alliance, shed blood for the Alliance, had watched friends and loved ones die for the Alliance. And it was starting to sink in that they were no longer led by an Alliance captain; they were led by a Spectre. This was an entirely unique situation.
If it came down to a conflict between Shepard and the Alliance, who were they supposed to listen to?
Kaidan shook the thought off. She wouldn't let it come to that...
"The way I've seen it done is to simply split the barrier into two smaller layers," Liara was saying as he tuned back into the conversation.
Shepard nodded. "Exactly. It's not hard. Hell, the asari I learned it from could build up several on top of each other. It's just taking what you know and finding new ways to use it. Cleo...that's Cleo Thelwis, she's the other Sentinel that graduated with me...is a wiz at it. Any biotic that serves under her will come away knowing all kinds of new shit. And she learned most of it from asari."
"Many asari would think it was their duty to teach humanity how to use biotics responsibly," Liara said.
"Well, I don't know about that, but the ones that don't want to show you just for the hell of it are usually willing to trade their knowledge for information or something else."
"It's the basics you have trouble with." Kaidan didn't realize he'd spoken aloud until Liara stared at him.
Rather than getting angry, Shepard looked down sheepishly. "Yeah, I had trouble with it during training."
"At least they don't break your arm if you screw up anymore," Kaidan half joked.
Liara's eyes widened and Shepard looked up, shocked. "Jesus, did they do that to you?"
"Not them..." Kaidan hesitated. "Brain Camp. Ah, sorry, 'Biotic Acclimation and Temperance training.'"
"Was that an Alliance training program? I've never heard of it." Shepard frowned.
"They don't talk about it, I wouldn't be surprised if they wiped all the records."
He realized there was no way he was getting out of explaining now. Both women were staring at him. He was used to staying quiet about it because it wasn't something for the Alliance to crow about. "It was an early program. They came in and hauled us out to this space station...excuse me 'encouraged us to commit to an evaluation of our abilities, so an understanding of biotics could be compiled'. That was back when the kids affected by the 'accidental' exposure to eezo were just showing potential- or dying of brain tumors -and no one knew a damn thing about biotics or how to use them. They took us away from our families and friends out to the edge of nowhere. Actually, Commander, I'm surprised you didn't get dragged up there. I knew a lot of kids that came from colonies."
Shepard shook her head. "I didn't start showing anything until I got hit with a secondary exposure...I was around twelve at the time. It was an actual starship accident. And then a few months later, you know..." She made a vague gesture with her hand, looking pained. Kaidan nodded, understanding; the colony had been destroyed. Around thirteen when her world had been torn apart in a different way than his had been.
Liara looked very confused. Shepard leaned over and explained quietly. "Most human biotics were exposed to element zero in the womb. Most you see now were exposed because of a series of starship...well they call them accidents."
"Only because no one has been able to find solid poof otherwise," Kaidan said darkly.
Liara frowned. "By the time you were training, Lieutenant, the Alliance was part of the galactic community, why didn't they do research with the asari or others that have been using them for a long time before they tried training children?"
"They did. They hired turian mercenaries led by this commander who was an expert in biotics."
Shepard stared at him. "Mercs? Are you fucking serious?"
"I couldn't make this up, Commander. It was Conatix Industries we had to thank for that idea, though the Alliance allowed it." Kaidan thought he could feel the ghosts of bruises long healed. Even after all these years he could see Vyrnnus clear in his mind's eye. It was funny the kinds of things you remembered.
He realized with a painful jolt that he couldn't picture Rahna's face anywhere near as clearly.
"Why would they hire mercenaries instead of turning to a lawful group, surely they could have done so with the Citadel's help?" Liara was shaking her head, utterly confused.
"I guess they thought trying to get help from the Citadel would make us look weak."
Shepard scoffed. "Better weak than stupid."
"I agree and wish they had too, Commander. The leader's name was Vyrnnus and he did speed things up and get results. Of course, no one seemed to care he was torturing us to do it. With his methods, you either came out a superman or a wreck. A lot of kids snapped, a few died."
"God..." Shepard looked sick.
"Was he the one that broke your arm?" Liara asked, her voice hushed.
"No...no, not mine..." Kaidan looked away, not ready to talk about that particular day.
Shepard jerked upright as a jarring note came to her omni tool before she could speak. It sounded like some kind of punk rock guitar riff accompanied by a man shrieking. "Whoops, sorry, forgot to turn the sound off."
For the first time, Kaidan was actually grateful for her VI. Shepard had, in Kaidan's considered opinion, the most annoying personal VI in the universe. So, naturally, she'd designed it herself. Every single alert was a variation of that stupid punk rock noise and the hologram for it was a big guy with big hair and a skintight jumpsuit playing a guitar that Shepard had introduced as 'Herman'. She usually remembered to turn the sound off for all their sakes.
She slid off the counter. "We've got a confirmed sighting on Saren."
Why don't you head back to the Normandy, kid? If you stay out here in the real world, you might have to learn something.
Almost a week since he'd said it and Wrex's words still made annoyance rise up in Garrus. His conversation- if you could call it that -with Tali seemed to punctuate the mocking words. Tali had mentioned on the Citadel how people thought less of the quarians, which was true. People didn't trust wanderers, people without roots. Scavengers, honestly. If the quarians settled on a planet instead of endlessly circling the galaxy, people would accept them more readily. At the time, it had seemed that simple. Today, his offhand comment about her limited armor had provoked a snapped response he had not been prepared for. He hadn't known until now why the quarians always wore environmental suits and helmets. Admittedly, he'd never given it much thought. He'd had no idea that their immune systems were shot. It made sense now why they had to be careful where they settled on a planet, which made him feel bad about his cavalier attitude toward her people earlier on.
He'd apologized, hadn't he? It didn't make him ignorant, just not...knowledgeable...about other species like the quarians...and the krogan. Tali wasn't what he'd been raised to expect from the quarians and Wrex was nothing at all like what he'd been raised to think about the krogan.
Well, he'd wanted off the Citadel to learn...he just hadn't expected everything to be different from what he'd known.
Not that he regretted it, especially as he got to know the Normandy and her crew better. It had taken the humans a while but most of them had adjusted to him. He'd even found he liked many of them and enjoyed their company. Sgt. Kell and the people who worked with him. The engineers. Kaidan Alenko. Joker...well, kind of. Sometimes. And Shepard, of course...
In fact, at this point only Chief Williams and the Navigator kept looking at him and the others with any form of suspicion. Navigator Pressley he could deal with since they seldom crossed paths. Also, he'd found out Pressley was a veteran of the Relay 314 Incident and his suspicion seemed more angled toward the fact he didn't want to rely on non-Alliance people. Garrus didn't agree but he could understand that attitude. A lot of turians felt the same way toward humans.
Williams was another matter. Wrex had been more than happy to repeat what he'd overheard between her and the Commander since Williams had specifically voiced concerns about letting the two of them wander freely around the ship. He didn't mind giving people time to adjust to his presence but he resented suspicion when he hadn't done anything to earn it. They weren't at war. Did she really think he was going to hack into the ship's systems and steal information? At least Shepard didn't share her views.
As if summoned by the thought, the commander and Alenko came swinging through the doorway onto the command deck, hurrying up beside Pressley as he looked over the star map. Her omni tool was activated and she was looking at it while she walked, stumbling over her own feet a bit. She ordered the map up and gave Pressley a series of coordinates. Garrus came around the map to join Alenko. "What's going on?"
"Saren. Somewhere in the Theseus System."
"Feros," Shepard confirmed, not looking up from her omni tool.
Navigator Pressley tapped out a few commands on his console. "Barren place. The only real colony there is called Zhu's Hope. Founded by the ExoGeni Corporation." He looked up at the commander pointedly. "There's a huge Prothean ruin there."
Shepard tapped the comm. "Joker, set a course for Feros. Pressley, try to contact the colony as soon as we get in range of a comm buoy."
"Aye, Commander."
"Keep me informed." Shepard turned toward them, stepping down from the map. "There must be something in those ruins Saren is interested in. We'll see what the situation is there but I want everyone ready to go at a moment's notice."
"Yes, Commander." Shepard gave him one of those odd looks again at the formal tone. She passed him to head out of the command deck.
The formality was for his own sake because he didn't know what else to do. He was glad to be after Saren with so much at stake and no regulations to hold him back. He was glad to be part of this mission and didn't want to unbalance things...but he was having a hard time reconciling what he'd found out from her files with the woman commanding them now.
He'd been wrapped up in his thoughts he hadn't noticed Kaidan coming up beside him. "You read her public files, didn't you?" The lieutenant's voice startled him and he turned his head. Kaidan nodded, almost to himself. "Can I offer you a bit of advice, Garrus? As someone who had those same kinds of questions when I read it for the first time?"
Garrus just looked at him, wondering how the hell he'd known.
Kaidan gave him a slight smile. "Ask her."