Beta: None
Bioware owns the ME and all (recognized) characters. Kate's family (besides Hackett) are my own creation.
"Hey," Kate said as she walked down the stairs from the Engineering deck.
Jack looked up from her bunk. "Hey yourself. Excellent ink, Shepard. Refreshing not to see the rainbows and unicorns that chicks usually get."
Kate smirked. "Rainbows and unicorns? Do I look like a girlie girl to you, Jack?"
"Fuck no." Jack quirked an eyebrow. "You don't have any girlie tats do you?"
"Only one that could qualify is the faerie on my left shoulder blade, and she's special." She turned so Jack could see the tattoo: the black outline of a Celtic faerie kneeling over a set of dates (2135-2154).
"Nice. You won't lose your kick-ass status over that one."
Kate laughed. "Thank you."
Jack looked intrigued. "Who are the dates for?"
Kate sat on the table across from Jack's bunk. "My mom. She was murdered when I was two months old."
"Harsh. They know who?"
"You ever hear of Marcus Dylan?"
"Christ, Shepard. Every human in the galaxy's heard of that sonofa-" Jack's eyes went wide with realization. "Oh my God. That was your family?"
Kate nodded. "Yup. Every last one of them except my uncle Jason and my dad. And me."
"Was she one of his sisters-in-law?"
Kate shook her head. "Worse. She was his twin sister."
"What? That's insane! How old were you when you found out?"
"Obviously, I'd known his name my whole life, but it wasn't until I was sixteen, when he escaped from prison, that I found out who he really was. I knew from a young age I wasn't getting any answers out of my dad or my uncle. Anytime I asked, they'd change the subject, so eventually I just quit asking. So all I knew were the basics of the family tree as it had been before June 2154: my mom had a twin brother and two older brothers, and that all except Mom's twin brother were married. She was the only one with a kid. It was Marcus himself who told me the whole story."
"That's intense, Shepard."
"Yeah."
Kate finally broke the silence that had descended on them when she looked towards the stairs and said, "You can stop standing in the shadows like a creeper. It's not like any of this is a secret to you."
Jack looked surprised when Garrus walked down the stairs in full armor.
"Come on, Kate. We're at Zorya. Massani's already in the shuttle and said if we're not down there in 30 seconds, he's going to go down there alone."
"Shit. I wouldn't put it past him," Kate said as she jumped from the table and followed Garrus up the stairs. "See ya, Jack!"
A factory worker screamed as he ran across a catwalk above them. He stopped and looked at them. "Help us! We're trapped! We can't get to the gas valves to shut them off! The whole place is going to blow!"
Garrus turned and glared at Zaeed. "See what you did? Now we have to go save them."
"No!" the mercenary shot back. "I've waited twenty long years for this. Vido dies today."
Both men turned and looked at Kate. She looked at Garrus, flicked her eyes towards the burning factory and raised an eyebrow, asking a silent question. He nodded and turned towards the factory entrance. She smiled to herself. Her father wondered why she took Garrus and Zaeed everywhere? This was why.
As soon as the turian was gone, Zaeed pulled Kate into his arms and kissed her fiercely.
"What was that for?" she asked a couple of minutes later as they took out a small squad of Vido's men.
"Do you need a reason, kitten?" he asked.
She laughed. "Of course not. I was just curious."
"Fine. It was for getting rid of Vakarian," he said gruffly. "I know he's your best friend and all, but he irritates the hell out of me."
"You idiots know I can still hear you, right?" Garrus growled over the comm. Kate suspected he was still a little angry at learning Zaeed's connection to the Blue Suns, one that she had known about for years.
"Your point?" Zaeed said with a wink in Kate's direction.
She suppressed a giggle. "Run into any trouble, big guy?"
"Nothing yet," Garrus said. "Just a lot of fire. I'm almost at the gas valves though. You?"
She shook her head and then realized he couldn't see her. "We've run into some of Vido's guys, but nothing we couldn't handle. Keep the comm channel open just in case. I think we're somewhere close to you anyway. If you can, meet up with us after you shut off the valves. I have the feeling Vido's not going to let us off the hook that easy."
Ten minutes later, her prediction came true. Garrus had just rejoined them, reporting that all the workers were out, when Kate opened the door to a large room. A bullet whizzed past her head and Zaeed yanked her out of way just as another followed closely behind.
"Oh what fresh hell is this?" she muttered as the trio ducked behind some metal piping.
"Fucking bastards. Kate, you're bleeding," he said, kneeling in front of her while Garrus covered them with his sniper rifle.
"What? No I'm not. That's my hair," she protested, swiping a hand across the side of her head. She saw the blood covering her gloved hand and cursed creatively under her breath. She looked at Zaeed. "I'll be fine, OK? Let's just finish these bastards and get to Vido."
He saw the determined look in her eyes and knew he couldn't dissuade her. Not that he wanted to. Now he had one more reason to want Vido dead.
Finally, the last man fell as a well-placed incineration blast from Kate caused the mercs' rocket-launching mech to explode, sending shrapnel in all directions.
"All right, let's go. Vido needs to be a lot less alive than he is right now," she said as she slowly got to her feet. She watched as Garrus and Zaeed looked at each other and knew she was in trouble. "Don't even think about it, you two. I swore I would see this through and that's exactly what I'm going to do."
Zaeed rolled his eyes but relented. "Fine. But if I get bitch-slapped by Dr. Chakwas, I'm coming after you."
Kate grinned. "I look forward to it. Now, let's go."
Kate and Garrus stood on the walkway above the beach, his arm wrapped protectively around her as she leaned against him. They watched Zaeed as he confronted his ex-partner.
"It was just business, Zaeed!" Vido said, wincing as he limped away.
Zaeed shot him in the leg.
"I did you a favor!" the Suns leader protested weakly as he fell to the ground, surrounded by fuel.
Zaeed looked at him for a moment, lying pathetically on the ground, no longer the arrogant leader he had appeared to be just an hour ago.
"Fry, you son of a bitch," the scarred mercenary growled as he ejected a spent thermal clip into the fuel and watched it ignite around Vido. Then he turned and walked up the steps to Kate and Garrus.
"Let's go. I need to be as far away from here as possible," he said as he wrapped an arm around Kate. "And thank you."
Garrus waved him off. "You'd have done the same for us."
"He has," Kate said quietly.