A/N: I find that I must make an apology at the beginning of this chapter. Dear Legion, I am so very sorry I stole your damn best line in the entire game and gave it to Miranda of all people! Can you ever find it in your synthetic equivalent of a heart to forgive me? :(
Also, I must turn your attention to the fact that this is actually going to be a REAL chapter of a story, and not a petition of some sort. Hah! Go me.
As always, thank you for the favs/alerts and especially reviews!
Chapter 12 - From Graveyard to Purgatory
The thick clouds of methane and ammonia over the frozen crust of Alchera feel unwelcoming, angry at being disturbed in their attempts to hide and preserve the last remains of SSV Normandy. Their heavy boots make scratching noises against the crystallized surface, as they circle around Normandy's wreckage.
Shepard and Garrus walk closely up front, Taylor and Lawson remaining behind at the shuttle, displaying much appreciated decency by not intruding in the memories that surface from seeing the ship that for a few months had been their home. This also gives Morgan and Garrus an opportunity to converse without the fear of being overheard.
"That was a very prompt reply by Hackett," she says, dropping down on one knee to pick up another shiny dog tag, half-buried in the snow. "And a good suggestion to come here. Perhaps we can pick up a few more personal items like this, help give some of those families proper closure."
Garrus nods, also rummaging in the rubble. "Takes you all the way back, doesn't it Shepard?" he says. "I don't know about you, but these memories beat anything I can recall from my days at C-Sec. Damn it, Shepard, I even miss Wrex."
"I miss them all," Shepard replies as they move on, the stash of recovered items slowly growing larger. "So, he's approving of my plan? We have green light to proceed?"
"Yeah," Garrus nods. "Anything we learn about Cerberus operations, location of another cell, we drop the intel to Alliance and Hackett will send in a squad to wipe them out. But those bastards are crafty, Shepard. I hear the different cells are very isolated and we might not learn much. Besides, they might have a mole close to Hackett. We could be just getting more of your marines killed without putting a dent into Cerberus."
Shepard quietly curses at herself, acknowledging the truth behind Garrus' words. "Did he at least say something about what the Alliance is doing to take on the Collectors?" she asks, desperately wanting to hear something positive, hoping that The Illusive Man has been lying to her about Cerberus being the only ones who care about the colonists.
"He was very evasive," Garrus shrugs. "You can't blame him for being careful, Shepard. He's probably working frantically to confirm your identity right now." Shepard nods at that. "But yeah, he didn't deny having a plan, either. I think they have something in mind, he just wasn't willing to give more details at this point."
"Hopefully communication will be easier once we get back to the Council space," Shepard mutters, walking through the nearly collapsed carcass of the old Normandy. "Anderson probably thought someone was pulling a prank on him when he got the message. At some point we'll need to make a stop at the Citadel, then I can get in touch with him, too. Cerberus," she points back to where Miranda and Jacob are waiting, "can't really keep tabs on me on the Citadel. Besides, we need to go back there soon, one of the specialists we're picking up is stationed there."
"After we're done here?" Garrus asks.
Shepard shrugs. "I haven't really looked closely at where the other leads take us," she confesses. "I'm sure that EDI can calculate the most optimal course of travel once we return to the ship."
"No news from your mother yet?" Garrus speaks, pulling back a fallen metal crossbeam so that Shepard can squeeze through.
"She'll probably place a direct comm call to the Normandy soon enough," Morgan replies, sounding hopeful. "The message to her was not encrypted, we never discuss anything work related anyway." She looks at the debris filled room they have ended in, recognizing the mess hall and the corridor behind it, leading to the captain's quarters. "Let's see if some of my stuff is still here," she says hurriedly, rushing forward, then nimbly jumping aside as a falling metal plate nearly crushes her. Behind her, she can hear Garrus quietly admonishing her.
There are a few sizeable holes in the hull, through which snow and ice has been blown in, filling the once comfortable, small cabin. There is nothing to salvage, the wall compartments are empty and whatever little personal memorabilia she had hoped to collect is all gone. "Damn, even my medals have gone missing," she laments, searching along the wall, where they had been prominently and securely fastened.
"Hackett can probably pull the strings and get them remade for you," Garrus suggests helpfully.
"Eh, it's not worth the bother," Shepard replies, trying to sound cheerful, but feeling anything but. Screw the rest of the medals, but the Star of Terra, the most important of them, handed to the lone survivor of the Skyllian Blitz... she really had wanted to have that one back.
"Feels odd to just be... standing here, doesn't it?" Garrus asks quietly.
"Yeah. Tell me about it," she replies, deep in thought, looking at the snowed in remains of her bed. Where it all started for us, that one night before Ilos. Stolen moments became stolen hours of joy untold, she thinks, feeling her chest becoming tight from the memories. I said I would crawl back from the world of the dead to be with you, Liara. Turns out I didn't lie about that. Now I just need to find you again...
"Let's just get back to the shuttle," she says eventually. "Miranda and Jacob are probably starting to get restless."
Back on Normandy, Yeoman Chambers informs Shepard that a private message is waiting for her. She decides to read it back at her quarters, realizing it's from her mother, but before she does so, a new course is plotted for the Normandy. A relay jump to the relatively nearby Hourglass Nebula, housing the gigantic prison ship Purgatory, where undesirables of all species are locked away safely by their respective leaders and governments. Tim has secured the release of one of these undesirables, a powerful human biotic, believing them to be of great asset for the upcoming mission. Shepard wishes Tim had spent more time tracking down Kaidan Alenko, if a powerful and trusted biotic was required.
The message from her mother is full with relief and the expected admonishment. Morgan has failed to mention the whole being dead for two years part, instead choosing to lie that her Spectre work has forced her to go underground for so long, causing even the Alliance to declare her dead. "Just stay safe out there, and keep doing your mom proud," her mother writes. They have always had a very... proper, formal relationship, both of them feeling awkward at displays of emotion. But beneath that all, there is a great bond, a strong bond of love and trust that they are both aware of, something that does not need daily reminders in a way of tacky sweetness and virtual hugs.
There is time for only a brief nap before they arrive at the Purgatory. Little is known about the convict that they will be recruiting, only his name, Jack. The prison ship is run by the turian Blue Suns mercenary organization, and things become heated from the very moment Shepard leads her team off the Normandy and onto the Purgatory's docking bay. The turians demand that they surrender their weapons, Shepard refuses to do so. In the end, they strike a compromise. They will be allowed to retain their weapons, but Shepard will be able to take only two teammates with her. Garrus is an easy choice, and she chooses Lawson as second, partly because of her obvious skill with biotics, partly to make Miranda believe she is slowly coming to trust Cerberus and their motives.
The reason for wanting them relinquish their weapons becomes apparent very quickly, as the Blue Suns decide that Shepard would be more valuable to them as prisoner than a customer. "Why do they always insist on doing it the hard way?" Shepard grumbles, slipping the rifle off her back and melding into cover, getting ready to annihilate the security forces heading their way.
"They just don't know you very well, Commander," Garrus quips, looking as if he's rather pleased for the opportunity for more violence, as if he hadn't slaughtered enough of the Blue Suns back on Omega.
"Something tells me they're about to realize they've made a big mistake," Miranda agrees, before ducking out from the cover to quickly overload the Fenris mechs, charging their way.
They fight their way to the ship's security consoles, where a new problem presents itself. To release Jack from the cryogenic imprisonment, they will have to open every cell block on the Purgatory, which means that the entire ship will be overrun by dangerous and unstable prisoners, killing everything in their way. "That seems like a really crappy idea," Shepard ponders, her hand resting on the console button.
"So, of course we'll do it," Garrus adds with a chuckle.
"Of course!" Shepard agrees, pushing the button. In a matter of seconds, all hell breaks loose around them. They watch the cryo chamber holding Jack slowly opening, surprised at who or what emerges from the cell. Jack is actually a she, bald, slim and of small stature, her entire body covered with tattoos and scars, as well as tiny strings of leather that could hardly be described as clothing. Three mechs guarding her chamber immediately turn on her, but she tosses them aside like broken toys with a massive shockwave before blowing away a piece of the wall with a warp field and then disappearing from their view.
"Quickly!" Miranda urges. "We must hurry after her!"
"Suddenly, that seems like an even crappier idea," Morgan shakes her head, but for once listening to Miranda. They've come too far to give up on Jack now, no matter how insane she might be.
As the fighting grows fiercer, entire sectors of the ship are taken over by flames, some sections losing life support killing every guard and prisoner inside, but they stubbornly pursue Jack, following the path of death and destruction left in her wake. When the firefight ahead appears particularly deadly, Shepard slows her squad down, allowing the Blue Suns and the imprisoned maniacs to soften each other up before moving in and picking off the weakened survivors. The tactic might be somewhat underhanded, but her overall goal is still to defeat the Collectors, not to get herself stupidly killed in crossfire between two equally despicable factions.
When they finally track down Jack, she is near the Normandy's docking bay, screaming obscenities at their ship. "You're Cerberus," she looks threateningly at Shepard, her hands starting to glow blue as she charges up another biotic attack.
"Hey, would you look at that, more people who hate Cerberus. Who'd have thought that?" Shepard laughs, amused at the absurdity of the situation. "Look, girl, that might be a Cerberus ship, but I'm not with Cerberus. Nor is he," she points at Garrus. "They're kind of big on the 'No Aliens Allowed' policy."
"She's with Cerberus, though," Garrus helpfully nods at Miranda. "You can be mad at her if you want."
"What do you want with me?" Jack spits, but at least she does not attack. "You show up in a Cerberus frigate and expect me to... what, go with you?"
"Yeah, I do," Shepard says simply, tired after all this chasing around. "I just released every prisoner on this ship just to get to you, and most of them and the guards are now likely dead. That's a few hundred dead bastards. So, I'll be damned if I just let you walk away after all that. You could try to run, but there is a high statistical probability of death by gunshot."
"A punch to the face is also likely," Miranda comments, making Shepard stare at her with incredulity. Did the Ice Queen just crack a joke?
"You want something from me? Well, my help will have a price tag attached to it," Jack still stares them down threateningly. It's probably the only way she can stare, anyway.
"What do you want?" Shepard sighs.
"I want to see the Cerberus databases," Jack says. "I want full access. I want to see what those bastards have on me."
Shepard suddenly feels intrigued at the chance of getting closer to some of the Cerberus secrets. "Miranda?" she turns to look at Lawson. "Can you guarantee that?"
Miranda looks displeased, but also helpless to refuse. "I will... see what I can do. As long as Jack's interest is confined to the information related only to her, I think we can work something out."
After a moment of thought, Jack nods, satisfied. They quickly escape the burning ship and Normandy breaks off from the docking bay, as Shepard wonders if anyone else might manage to get off the burning wreck before the entire vessel loses life support.
Back on Normandy, Jack settles into a distant hidey-hole below the ship's engines, place where nobody except the engineers have a reason to visit. While Yeoman Chambers is having a field day exploring Jack's psych profile, Shepard stops by the lab to confer with Mordin, checking up on the progress of the seeker swarm countermeasure. Mordin claims he's well on the way to the big breakthrough, but still appreciates the distraction that the conversation with Shepard provides.
"About my time with the STG. Wasn't entirely honest with you earlier, Commander," he says. "Lie of omission. Need to clear the air. This mission too big to have personal issues as distraction. Work on genophage more than just study."
Shepard motions him to explain further. "Studied genophage at first. Discovered surprising data. Krogan adapting to the genophage! Reproduction rates exceeding the calculated parameters."
"That's... good, right?" Shepard tries to make a guess. "Ninety-nine percent stillborn is a... fate too dreadful to inflict on entire species."
Mordin becomes animated, defensive. "Naive viewpoint," he exclaims. "Would eventually lead to another Krogan Rebellion. Personally lead a science team to prevent this. Created new version of genophage. Released it on Tuchanka. Re-stabilized krogan population." Seeing Shepard shaking her head in disbelief, he hastily adds. "Considered multiple different choices, Shepard! Modified genophage offered best outcome for the whole galaxy! Good for us, good for the krogan!"
Shepard can't agree with Mordin's cold arithmetic, but she knows that the salarian won't be swayed by any emotional, ethical arguments that she might provide. Instead, she spends some time telling Mordin about Virmire, Saren's development of the genophage cure and the actions of Urdnot Wrex. "A krogan who agreed to destroy the genophage cure?" Mordin blinks. He is clearly surprised, even stunned. "An... unexpected viewpoint to consider."
"They're not all the same, Mordin," Shepard says quietly. "They don't all want to conquer the whole galaxy."
"Aware of that, Shepard," Mordin replies. He still sounds confident, but more thoughtful. "Still, thank you for the story, Commander. Always appreciate our talks."
Shepard leaves the salarian scientist to continue on his work, feeling pleased. Despite having major issues with some of the things Mordin has confessed of doing, she cannot help but liking the mad scientist. There is a shred of decency and goodness deep within him, buried deep under layers of science and mathematics, and she likes to hope she has managed to get some seeds of doubt past the cold logic.
There are some disagreements when Shepard decides to plot course towards the Citadel, instead of the relatively nearby Eagle Nebula, residence of the krogan warlord Okeer, their next targeted recruit. Miranda argues Morgan's reasoning of needing to restock, claiming that the ship's inventories are in perfect shape, but Shepard deflects all her arguments.
Commander Morgan Shepard has had enough skulking around these backwater systems of the Traverse. It's about time she truly returned to the world of the living, announcing her return in the heart of the galactic civilization.