Past: 15 Years Post War
Like a ghost materializing out of the ether, the holographic image coalesced only a few feet in front of Shepard. Kenneth Vasquez's physical resemblance to his father was uncanny, right down to the impeccable and inescapably expensive suit. For a moment, Shepard could almost believe it actually was Donovan Hock standing in front of her.
Then he spoke, and shattered the illusion. Unlike Hock, Vasquez had not been raised in South Africa, and lacked the accent. He also lacked his father's stoic expression. Hock had possessed a very well trained and finely tuned poker face, giving away nothing. In contrast, his son was emotive, gesturing expansively with his hands, his face expressive without hindrance.
"Captain Shepard- oh…do forgive me, it's Colonel now, isn't it? It is quite the honor to be standing face to face with you-technically speaking."
"Be glad several light-years separate us at the moment, Vasquez," she replied. "Where's Tali?"
He smirked, gesturing at her loosely with his hand. She noticed that he held the stump of a cigar between his fingers. Not the gold-labels that she preferred. This one was almost obscenely large, the kind that always made the smoker look like they were sucking on a small tree branch. Even rendered only in projected light, Del could see the texture of the paper it was wrapped in, and her eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.
"Right to business," he said as he gestured, beaming a grin. He nodded toward Liara, who lingered stiff and silent a few feet away, and winked. "Not even going to introduce us?"
"Hello, Mr. Vasquez," Liara said before Shepard could speak. "I am the one who will be biotically tearing you apart later, if you have harmed Tali."
"Whoa, she's a feisty one isn't she?" Vasquez asked. "Hello to you too, Dr. T'Soni. I'll be the one caving in a quarian skull if you speak to me that way again."
Liara and Del's expressions both darkened a bit. "Brave men do not hide behind hostages," Del told him.
"Indeed, but no one said I was a brave man," he replied. "In all honesty, Colonel…you are a juggernaut of pain-dealing determination and I am just a businessman. I'm a bit outmatched in a physical confrontation, don't you think? In such unique circumstances as ours, you cannot begrudge me some insurance-"
Shepard was in no mood. "Where is Tali? I want to speak to Tali."
"No," he said with a smile, as if he'd just offered some kind of gift. Glaring, Del was intent.
"You attacked my family. My children. You have stolen my friend from her home. You haven't got yourself insurance, Vasquez. You've only guaranteed that a hell beyond reasoning is about to land squarely on your head."
"Hmm," he said, bemused, before he turned and walked away a few paces, taking a draw on his cigar. "You know, my father wasn't just a collector of fine and rare arts…or a black market arms dealer. He had in his possession some very special and very rare little items. The kind of weapons that don't need thermal clips, if you catch my drift. He had a particular interest in biological warfare, and he had samples of nasties that have been considered extinct on Earth for quite some time. Tell me, Colonel. Do you know what happens when a quarian is infected with smallpox? The virus cannot act on their physiology in the traditional way but the allergic reaction is spectacular. Their body literally starts to eat itself. Within an hour you can almost pull flesh off bone with your bare hands…of course, they don't generally live past four minutes, but trust me…the pain they suffer before they expire is exquisite."
He glanced at her. If he recognized the pure, unadulterated murder in her eyes, he did not show it. He still seemed only amused. "Listen, I am not an unreasonable man. I really don't want to hurt anyone. Sometimes it becomes necessary in the course of business but if I could avoid it…"
"What do you want?" Del asked, her voice low and threatening.
"Two things," he told her. "Two very small things, you'll find…a mere pittance when compared to dear Admiral Tali'Shideh's life- a trifle-"
"Cao, chun! Spit it out!"
"Colonel Shepard, we both know that there isn't a soul among the major governing bodies in this galaxy that wouldn't immediately scream 'how high' if you told them to jump. The krogan clan chiefs, the quarian Admirals, the asari Matriarchs…as few of them as are left. Even the Alliance and Earth Parliament as well as every single sad soul on the Galactic Council- if you gave the word, they would obey it…every single one."
"I think you vastly overestimate the scope of my influence."
"Oh? I don't think I do. The Alliance was willing to make you Fleet Master fifteen years ago. Had you asked it when you came out of retirement, you'd be the Fleet Master right now. You could have had a position on the Galactic Council. You could have chaired the Council if you had wished." For the first time, his expression became less amused and more pure malice. "My goodness, Shepard, I do believe if you had asked, they'd have handed you your own planet to rule and a harem of nubile asari virgins of your very own- no offense, Dr. T'Soni."
"Every offense taken, Mr. Vasquez."
"In comparison to those requests you'll find they will be more than happy to accommodate you when you ask for a much simpler boon to be bestowed- that is, that the petition for the mineral rights of six unimportant, uninhabited, utterly worthless worlds near the galactic rim be hastened with all speed through the bureaucratic process. Cut the red tape as it were."
"And I suppose the petitioning company for these mineral rights is yours."
"No use quibbling over details and trivialities."
Del narrowed her eyes again. "You said you had two requests."
"Indeed. The last one is actually several all rolled into one. Once the mineral rights are expedited and Admiral Shideh has been returned completely unscathed to the loving arms of her family…no retribution whatsoever will come upon me or my organization. Not at your hands, not at the hands of Aria's various syndicates, not from that spitfire of a biotic wunderkind Dr. T'Soni calls 'sister'…no one. I will be allowed to run my operations as I see fit…with complete immunity."
"Cao," Del said, the word almost lost in a growl under her breath. "You are goddamn insane. Firstly, I can't control Eír, Aria, or every goddamn merc gang or police force out there. I can ask, if I were ever so fucking inclined, but they do not have to listen. In fact, I can hear Aria laughing in my face right now just thinking about it. Secondly, when you let Tali go, what's stopping me from tracking your ass down and turning you inside fucking out myself?"
"Oh, a few things I think. Firstly, there's the smallpox. It would certainly be an unfortunate turn of events should it find itself in Rannoch's atmosphere…or released in the middle of one of their more populous little towns? I admit, genocide is a bit overly dramatic but it certainly gets the point across, and it is a tool with which you are intimately familiar."
"Fuck you."
"Secondly, there's the little secret I know about your lovely asari wife. There are many, many in the galaxy- Aria T'Loak included- who would give their teeth to know the name of the Shadow Broker. Her name, and even your name, would not keep her safe from a thousand different knives aching for her blood. I doubt even you could protect her from the sheer scope of contracts that would be put onto her head. If I spice that with a little tidbit that the Broker has run-times in T'Loak's networks, Aria might even slit the throats of your two lovely daughters to drive the magnitude of her displeasure home."
Shepard felt furiously hot and frighteningly cold at the same time. It was known to the majority of the galaxy that Liara was an information broker- she'd made that reputation for herself during the two years Shepard had been in the Lazarus Project. Only a few trusted knew her true role. That information in the hands of a man like Vasquez…
He had that information, and yet he took Tali? For a moment she was silent, dark eyes shifting as she carefully thought.
"I need time."
"You have two hours to give me my answer and convince me that you're doing as I ask," he replied. "If I suspect your pretty Broker wife is seeking out my location, or that you are trying to become clever, I will kill the Admiral. I will also make sure to record it and have it sent to her husband and child…not to mention to you, so you can appreciate exactly what you have done. If you do not contact me again in exactly two hours, I will assume I have your answer."
The call ended and Del shook her head.
"He doesn't have Tali."
"No," Liara agreed, already heading to her console. "He also does not have the smallpox virus."
"I'll be surprised if he has a fucking pulse. We're being fucked with, Li. Get me Miranda again."
Striding to the door of the office she stuck her head out and lifted her voice. "Lane! Get your tun in here!"
A moment later the small combat pilot appeared in the door. "Yes, sir?"
"Contact Admiral Hackett. Have him get ahold of the Normandy. We're going to need a ride."
"Yes, sir."
She stepped out to make the call and Del looked to Liara, already hard at work on her console. Vasquez was involved, yes, but he was not the driving force behind what was happening. The entire exchange had simply been a test. Tali was still in very real danger, but not from Vasquez…not directly. He was the money-man. He was taking orders from someone else.
Vasquez alone could not have found out about Liara's status as the Shadow Broker. Anyone who already had that kind of leverage for blackmail would not have bothered two risky kidnapping attempts –one under Shepard's own nose. Irie and Tali need never have been threatened.
And for what? To expedite mineral rights for a few otherwise useless worlds? For some illusion of galactic-wide immunity? Shepard had an enormous and varied amount of pull, yes…but that meant she also had an enormous number of allies. Why risk the wrath of not only the Hero of the Galaxy but the entire galaxy itself? Certainly not just for mineral rights? Even if those six planets were made of nothing but eezo, the risk was ridiculous.
"Li, those cigars of his were laced with Grease."
"You are certain?" Liara asked, drawing up another display.
"Positive. The paper needs to be specially treated or it sweats through. If he's hooked on Grease, he'd do anything and everything possible to make his supplier happy."
Grease was a highly addictive psychotropic that was incredibly expensive and difficult to make. Not to mention getting caught with the stuff could get you executed for murder anywhere in Council space…as Grease could only be made with extremely fresh glands extracted from young salarians. There was a reason slave busts never recovered salarian slaves, though the slavers took salarians as often as any of the other species.
"There are only four known suppliers of Grease," Liara told her. "I will isolate our most likely suspect. Miranda is answering."
Del turned around as Miranda's holograph appeared. "Vasquez is a ruse," she said to her friend without preamble. "Someone, the real power behind Orthrus, has him hooked on Grease…no doubt to squeeze him of every last possible ounce of credits. All they have to do is threaten his supply and he'd do anything they asked."
"Grease? What demands did he make?" Miranda asked.
"He wanted me to use my pull with the Council to expedite mineral rights on six worlds at the rim, and then he wanted the insurance to know that no one in the galaxy would ever come after him for what he's doing or might decide to do in the future."
Miranda stared at her. "Did he tattoo 'Loon' on his forehead or did you have to guess?"
"Exactly," Shepard said. "We're being played with. Someone thinks this is fucking funny. I might laugh more if Tali weren't still in danger. You have any luck with those samples you were sent?"
"Yes," Miranda told her. "I just verified my findings. Several of those mercs at the recital were definitely Cerberus formers. They had obvious traces of Shiva's cybernetic alterations."
"So Orthrus and Cerberus are linked."
"There's more. The gentleman that Eír liquefied was not a former Cerberus agent. The DNA samples were drell. I'm forwarding the genetic map to Liara for verification, but if my findings are correct, he was Jevenar Kurat."
Liara paused in her work to turn. "Dr. Jevenar Kurat? The astrophysicist?"
"Exactly."
"What's an astrophysicist doing moonlighting as a merc?" Del asked with a blink.
"The last I was aware, Dr. Kurat was heading up a research group, studying the Anadius Phenomenon."
Del looked at her wife. "The Anadius… you mean, the black hole?"
"The black hole you created, Del," Miranda said with amusement.
Though no one would ever say it to her face, Del had unfortunately heard the popular joke that had started circulating about her after the war…the one about her loving big explosions so much she'd blown up not one, but two solar systems.
Anadius had been an accident, and fortunately the system was uninhabited. Bahak had sadly been intentional, though she had done her best to save as many lives as she could. Though the system's star had not gone supernova in Bahak as it did in Anadius, thousands of batarians had lost their lives and the system had been rendered uninhabitable.
Both systems had become the subject of scientific scrutiny after the War. Apparently, this Kurat had been the one in charge of investigating the ongoing phenomenon at Anadius.
"We need to find out why an astrophysicist would leave his research post and decide to become a merc," Shepard said. At that moment, Lane poked her head back in.
"Sir, we have confirmation on the Normandy. She'll be here within four hours."
"Good, by then I'll have a destination for her. Miranda-"
"Way ahead of you. I'll trace Kurat's steps and pull what I can about his research. I'll be back to you as soon as I'm able."
As she vanished, Del looked at her wife. "Li, I'm going to need a cosmetologist."
"A…cosmetologist?"
"Best one you can find that can be here within an hour. Also, I need a VI-"
"What is your plan?"
"I'm going to do exactly what Aria suggested," Del said. "I'm going to keep Tali safe, and at the same time, I'm going to lure these bastards right to me."
Present: 217 Years Post War
Liara's protests had been weak and brief, and in the end, she only really put her foot down about the coat.
Though the day had been comfortably warm and had not cooled much with the onset of evening, Shepard's body temperature regulation was as weary and sluggish as the rest of her. During the warmest part of the day it was not unusual for her to want to go sit in the back garden and enjoy the fresh air, but this was a different request…one she had not made in a long time.
With Liara under her right arm and Melara under her left, Del Shepard walked from her front door to the edge of the slope leading to the sea. The coat Liara had insisted on was long, the edges wavering around the back of her knees and making her look smaller than she was.
The tree nearby waved slightly in the breeze. The sea was fairly calm, the regular and soothing rhythm of the waves on the rocks below a gentle whisper. The sun was setting, the sky a vast smear of brilliant crimsons, electric golds, stunning pinks.
Irie had brought out and set up a small bench and as they reached it, Del and Liara sat down, Melara helping hold her father steady as she did so. When Shepard was settled, she looked at her mother, giving her a silent nod.
She and Irie retreated back into the house to make supper. Though Athena had departed a couple of hours ago, the tension she'd left in her wake hadn't completely disappeared. Everyone was doing their best to put the lingering unpleasantness aside, to focus on the now, and the here.
Del could still feel the faint bruised ache around her left eye, but her vision was clear enough as she looked at the sunset, her arm around Liara's shoulders. High above, the first faint stars were starting to appear.
"You think Mel will ever settle down?" Del asked at last.
"She loves Daenys," Liara said.
"Yeah, and yet she still changes the subject whenever the idea of marriage is suggested."
"They are both still young, Shepard," Liara said with a faint smile. "Most asari are not in a hurry to settle down and start families…however Irie and I may have behaved."
Shepard smiled a moment, before her look turned to concern, her brows faintly knitting. "Is it my fault, do you think?"
"Your fault?" Liara asked.
"You know how I encouraged her crush on that girl from the Academy…Bethayla? Look how horribly that turned out…"
"Shepard, you could not have known. That was not anyone's fault-"
"And then Athena-"
"Also hardly your fault. You had nothing to do with that…"
"I just…I love her, Li. God knows she and Irie are the two things I've done right in this life. The two best things I've ever done. I want her to be happy. I don't…I don't want them to face what we had to face."
That was what this was really about. The ideas that Athena had brought with her were not leaving Del be. Some danger, a threat-however vague- that might be heading toward the galaxy and her family, and with her utterly helpless against it. This was a battle that, for once, Shepard would have no part in. A fight that would commence without her. Her time upon this stage was done, and she was frightened for those who would take up the fight in her place.
Liara hugged her, holding her close, feeling the tears threatening but refusing to give in to them. How did she explain that Shepard was not leaving them alone and unprepared? Shepard had spent her life arming them for whatever they might face in their lives. She'd taught them the perseverance, the nobility, the courage, and the sheer stubborn will that would see them through any trial. Perhaps the lessons had not been conscious, but from the moment of their births she had shown them by example. You took care of those weaker than you. You did anything for your family, regardless of if they had the title by blood or by choice. You spoke for those who couldn't. You fought for those who were afraid. Caring was not weakness. Loyalty was not foolishness. Tears were never ever shameful.
Del Shepard's life had been a long battlefield filled with a million different types of conflict. Even when they had peace, there were challenges to overcome, things to be done, problems to solve. Now she was laying down arms, fading from the stage, and her children had to take up those arms in her stead.
They didn't speak for a while. They just sat and held each other like that, until the sky had gone more deeply red…until more stars had begun to shine. After a time Del regarded the sinking sun again, her expression softer, a hint of a smile on her face.
"It is beautiful," Liara said, resting her head against her love's.
"Yeah," Del said. "Still pales beside you, Tianlán."
"Flatterer," Liara whispered, and kissed her cheek. Del smiled at her, and looked in her eyes, and in the distance, the sun slipped quietly below the horizon as the seabirds called in sleepy carelessness to one another.