Sorry about the multiple postings; something's been wonky about the document for this chapter.
"What's up, babe?"
Shepard looked up from her terminal at the tattooed biotic lying naked in her bed. She was getting used to Jack sticking around after sex, and even though her lover hadn't made a big deal about the change, the commander still felt like it meant something that she wasn't so quick to grab for her clothes after they finished. Of course, right now what it meant was that Jack was there for what might prove to be an awkward revelation.
"It's a message from the Illusive Man," she told the convict.
She snorted. "What's that asshole want?"
"He's giving me something, actually. Intel to help find the Shadow Broker."
Jack shook her head derisively. "Why? What's in it for him?"
"Not sure." Though she shared the convict's suspicions, Shepard hadn't considered the question yet. Instead, her first thought had been that perhaps the intelligence could serve as a peace offering to Liara. She still felt lousy about having hurt the asari the last time they met, and though the Spectre couldn't give her former lover what they both wanted, she could at least help her out. "Liara's been looking for the Broker," she added by way of explanation to Jack.
"Your ex, the intel dealer? What's she want with the Shadow Broker?"
"Not sure about that either." Jack rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. I'm a really great Spectre, aren't I?", Shepard said with a laugh. "Always on top of everything."
The biotic shrugged. "You do okay."
Shepard put on her best offended voice. "Gee, thanks a lot for the vote of confidence, Jack."
"Aw, you hurt?" Jack sprang to her feet, crossing the room and wrapping her arms around the Spectre's back. "Want me to apologize, girl scout?"
Her hands started over down the baggy t-shirt Shepard had thrown on after sex, cupping the Spectre's full breasts and roughly tweaking her nipples through the thin fabric. They stiffened and Jack laughed, a smug smile on her pretty face. "Aw, turned on again already?", she teased her. "You really can't get enough of me, can you?"
Shepard might have protested, but Jack's fingers were already wandering down to her boxers and when they brushed over her stiffening cock, she knew there was no sense in denying it. "I guess not," she confessed. "This thing really does give me away, doesn't it?"
Jack's hand slid inside her shorts, gripping the warm flesh she found there. The commander was still sensitive from her earlier climax and it was almost painful when she throbbed against Jack's palm. "Or was it thinking about your little blue ex-girlfriend that got you all hot?", the convict asked. Her voice was hard to read, superficially playful but with a note of something that could've been jealousy beneath it. Either way though, Shepard's powers of observation weren't exactly at their best, not with Jack starting to jerk her off while they conversed.
"Listen," she told the biotic, biting her lip as she tried her best to concentrate on talking, "We're not together anymore, but I do still have feeling for Liara. Is that a problem?"
Jack stopped what her hand had been doing, instead bending down to nip the commander's ear. "You don't owe me anything, Shep. Just don't bullshit me."
"I'm not."
"I know," Jack agreed. "Otherwise, I'd leave you blue-balled." Her hand started pumping Shepard's erection once more, and the commander was rapidly finding it hard to think about anything else. The biotic definitely knew what she was doing, and when she pulled Shepard's chair away from the desk and circled around it, the Spectre's breath caught in her throat.
Jack dropped to her knees in front of her, yanking Shepard's boxers off in a rough motion and exposing her cock to the cool air of the cabin. Full lips enveloped the head and Jack gave it a hard little suck, making the commander jerk in her mouth. "Shit," the commander groaned, "You really don't mess around, do you?"
"You complaining?" Jack had pulled her mouth off enough to answer, but to compensate, she started jerking the her lover once more, her strong fingers heavenly on Shepard's sensitive flesh.
"No," was all Shepard could manage to reply, sinking down into the chair as she gave herself over to the pleasure she was feeling.
"Good." Jack's mouth swallowed her up once more and the commander stopped talking entirely. The convict was as relentless as always, her head bobbing up and down on Shepard's dick while staring up at her lover with a devilish gleam in her brown eyes.
Shepard didn't try to hold off her climax, and Jack wasn't trying to help her do so. A few minutes of vigorous sucking were enough to push the Spectre close to the edge, but even as her cock started twitching in Jack's mouth, the convict suddenly pulled back. The commander was confused; Jack had never been shy about swallowing before, but then her partner took her erection and pointed it at her tattooed chest. At the realization of what the biotic wanted her to do, Shepard pulsed with excitement and when Jack gave her one more firm stroke, she lost control completely.
Waves of pleasure ran through her whole body as she came, spurts of her release flying out to cover Jack's pert breasts with sticky trails of the thick liquid. The biotic let her pulse several more times in her hand before covering the commander's cock head with her mouth once more, sucking the last of her orgasm out with a force that left Shepard seeing stars. "Jesus, Jack," she mumbled, "That was… unexpected."
"Yeah, but you kind of dug it, right?", the convict replied, swallowing down Shepard's come. Shepard could only manage a nod as her lover got back up. "Besides," Jack laughed, "So what if you made a mess? That's why that Illusive asshole gave you this sweet shower, right?"
Shepard laughed along with her lover, shaking her head at Jack's words. She wasn't sure she'd want to share the biotic's cavalier outlook on life, but she couldn't deny it had done her a world of good.
This time, Liara was ready to see her. At least, that's what the asari had been trying to convince herself ever since she got the message informing her that her former lover was on her way back to Ilium. Still, when Commander Shepard actually walked into her office, the information broker's heart caught in her chest. The powerful Spectre carried herself better than she had the last time they spoke, Liara thought, looking more like her old self again. She didn't seem as tense as she had before, and though she still looked uneasy, the fear that the asari had seen after their last kiss was absent.
"It's good to see you again, Shepard." The information broker was trying her best to keep her anxieties out of her voice, not wanting to spook the Spectre once more. "Where is the rest of your crew?"
"Shore leave. We're almost ready to take the fight to the Collectors, and I wanted to give everybody a chance to blow off a little steam first." She reached into her pocket, pulling out an OSD. "I had something else to do. This is for you."
Liara took the drive. "What is on it?"
"Intelligence on the Shadow Broker. I know you've been trying to find him, and this might help."
"That's wonderful." Liara paused, a suspicious thought occurring to her. "Where did you come across this information?"
"Cerberus, actually. I'm not sure why the Illusive Man wants to help you out, but we're not really in a position to turn down aid these days." She laughed. "At least I'm not."
Liara turned the gift over in her hand. Unlike Shepard, she did have an idea of why the Illusive Man was doing this. He must have gotten wind of her investigation and wanted to divert her from it. The intelligence was a ploy, and yet, that didn't mean she could ignore it. The Broker really was a threat, especially since he was apparently allied with the Collectors that her love was going to be facing soon.
"Thank you," she told the commander, slipping the drive into her pocket. "I'll need some time to check this out and make sure the intelligence is reliable. Do you think you will be on Ilium long enough to help me follow up if I need your help?"
"I'd love to." Shepard smiled as she said the words, but Liara knew her ex well enough to detect some ambivalence in her voice. The human wasn't the only one feeling that way. Being so close to the woman she wanted without being able to have her was going to be exceedingly difficult for Liara, but this had to be done. Closer observation would give her a chance to find out what was really behind Shepard's behavior, a puzzle that seemed to be acquiring more layers by the day.
Leaving Liara's office, Shepard's cheerful front collapsed, the Spectre tangling a hand in her red hair and yanking on it as she growled in frustration. It wasn't quite as hard to see Liara without the incredible frustration she'd been carrying the last time, but that didn't make it easy. Seeing the beautiful asari again made her heart ache with how much she missed her.
Things like this didn't used to happen to Shepard. Before she'd met the archeologist two years ago, she'd been a heartbreaker, someone who was a lot better at inspiring love than reciprocating it. She'd enjoyed the string of one-night stands and short relationships that went with the special-ops lifestyle, not too worried about finding something deeper.
Liara had changed all that. Her kindness, her intelligence, and her hidden strength had inspired a passion that the Spectre had never felt until then. Before the Collector attack, Shepard had started imagining things with her: a real relationship, a future together, maybe even children some day. Those dreams had been interrupted by her death and unwanted transformation, but being around the asari once more had left Shepard with no doubt that a part of her still wanted them to come true.
And yet, the commander had to admit that she'd started having feelings for Jack as well. The two women had nothing in common aside from powerful biotics and, she noted with a rueful smile, very pretty eyes, but the convict was special all the same. Shepard was finding herself falling for Jack's reckless determination and her surprising tenderness, and really, she wasn't sure what to do about any of this.
Plopping herself down on a bench in the Nos Astra market-place, the Spectre shook her head at her own situation. Here she was on a mission to save the galaxy and her heart decided that getting her into a love triangle was a good idea. Inevitably, someone was going to end up hurt, possibly more than one person, and it was probably going to be her fault. Christ, but she was starting to feel that a suicide mission might really be the easier way out.
"Hello, Ms. Vasir."
The asari Spectre had good reason to be suspicious of the face on the screen in front of her. For one thing, it wasn't exactly a face, the features of the person she was talking to digitally obscured, the call coming from a blocked extra-net address. The only reason Tela Vasir had answered it at all was that it had come in on her private line and that number was difficult to come by.
"Who am I talking to?" She didn't really expect an straight answer, but the type of evasion she got back might be revealing.
"Someone with whom you share a common problem. Liara T'Soni has been looking into your employer." The caller's voice had been altered too, even their species hard to discern. Whoever this was, secrecy was clearly paramount to them.
The Spectre kept her response formal. "Like any citizen, Doctor T'Soni is free to enquire into the Council's business."
"Not the Council. Your other employer."
Tela Vasir felt a twinge of worry at that. She'd worked with the Shadow Broker several times in the past. His intelligence had helped her to safeguard Council interests, and the money he paid went a long way towards funding her operations. If he demanded the occasional favor in return, it was all for the greater good. Still, she wasn't keen to have the fact that she'd worked for him come out into the open. The galaxy seldom wanted to know what it took for Spectres to protect it properly.
Sensing her concern, the person at the other end of the call reassured her, "Don't worry, I have no interest it exposing you. Doctor T'Soni, on the other hand, may not feel the same way."
"What does she know? That pureblood is an inconvenience, nothing more. She's been pursuing dead ends."
"I wouldn't be so certain. I have reason to believe she's recently come into possession of intelligence that could compromise the Broker's location. I'm sending you a file with the details of her new contacts. Verify them yourself if you don't believe me."
"I will," she assured the caller. "But I still want to know your interest in this matter."
"Let's just say that the Doctor is an impediment to my employer as well, and they wouldn't mind seeing her interference ended for good."
Miranda Lawson ended the call and turned off her system's scramblers. The trap was set. She was confident the information she'd sent Tela Vasir would check out; after all, it was Cerberus who'd given Liara the leads on the Broker in the first place. The doctor would soon be dead, her investigation into the Lazarus Project would be over, and Shepard might well turn to Cerberus for help in tracking down the Broker to exact revenge. Miranda couldn't help but admire the Illusive Man's efficiency. This would all be tied up with a nice little bow in time for them to hit the Collector base, and no one would be the wiser.
And now we head into a particularly messed up version of Lair of the Shadow Broker. Hope you're looking forward to it.