Sorry it's been a little while since the last update, but I've been busy with other projects. Enjoy.
"So that's the mission? Really?"
Liara could hardly blame Ashley for being incredulous. "I know," she agreed, "It is not exactly what I want to be doing either."
"Then why?", Ashley asked. "Shepard left you for this Jack and now you want me to help you rescue her."
"Because Shepard needs me," she answered, and before Ashley could object, she continued, "And I know how that sounds but I'm not just a lovesick maiden. Cerberus is going to use Jack to extort Shepard into serving them. Neither of them deserves that. Whatever Shepard has done, she's also been through a tremendous ordeal. She was killed, resurrected by a terrorist group, and had her body altered in an extraordinarily personal way. She deserves some leeway."
She hadn't appreciated just how personal until they'd melded. Liara had told Ashley that she wasn't equipped to understand what Cerberus did to Shepard and she'd been right. The shame and self-loathing that she'd seen in meld were far worse than she'd expected.
"You're more charitable then I might be in your position," Ashley told her from across the comm link, "But I guess if you can forgive the skipper, I can do the same."
"I'm not sure I have," Liara admitted, "But I can see past my anger now. Cerberus has to be stopped. As for Shepard and I… We will figure our situation out eventually, after this is over."
She wasn't ready to confess the sex to Ashley, but at the same time, she couldn't bring herself to regret it. What she and Shepard had done earlier that afternoon hadn't been prudent, and perhaps had even been wrong, but it was what she'd needed. The relief she'd received, not only from the pleasure, but from the realization that Shepard still loved her, had at last moved Liara's emotions past the frozen place they'd been trapped in for months.
"If you say so," Ashley agreed, thankfully willing to table the subject for another time. "Fortunately, things have been pretty quiet here, so I shouldn't have a problem getting some leave. Where should I head to? Ilium?"
"I am still working on that," Liara told her. "Make your way to the nearest space-port. I can have a ship meet you there."
"Any other players joining our little show", Ashley asked, "Or is it just you and me this time?"
That question brought a small smile to Liara's lips. "No," she told Ashley, "We'll have help. People we can trust." There were so few of those these days, but the two she had in mind would do anything for Shepard, even if they were probably pretty upset with her right about then.
"I'm sorry to have to do this," Shepard told them, forcing the words out one after another. She'd spent all afternoon dismissing the non-human members of her crew, but she'd put off this conversation until last, knowing it would be the hardest.
"I don't understand, Shepard," Tali protested. "Why are you making us leave now?"
Shepard couldn't tell her the truth. The Illusive Man had made sure of that, insisting in his follow-up instructions that she turn back on the Normandy's security feeds and stream the video to him. He didn't want anyone else to know what was really going on, and so she'd been forced to pedal one lie after another. This one though, deceiving two of her best friends, made her sick to her stomach.
"I don't want to." She looked out the observation lounge's window at the docking bay on Nos Astra, unable to look them in the eye. "It's just that after what happened with the batarians, I'm not a safe person to be around any more."
"Since when have you ever been?", Garrus asked.
She forced out a laugh she didn't feel. "Never. But this is different. It's going to be the Alliance coming after me this time, and maybe other groups too."
Garrus was not so easily convinced. "We kicked the Collectors' asses together," he told her. "I think we can handle whatever the Alliance throws at us."
"Maybe, but I'm not trying to start a war with them," she explained. "There's a good chance I'm going to end up in their custody and with the Reapers on the way, you can't all be in lock-up with me."
She could tell Garrus wanted to protest further, but Tali stood up from the couch and put a hand on his shoulder, letting him know he should stand down. "All right, Shepard," she asked, "What do you want us to do now?"
"Get people ready," she told them. If she was going to make her crew leave, she might as well have them doing something useful while they were gone. "Your governments especially, but anybody else you think can help is good too. Try to convince them that the Reaper threat is real and that it's coming. It's the best shot we have."
A constructive suggestion seemed to placate Garrus, even though he still didn't sound happy. "Okay, will do," he agreed. "I've got some old friends in the turian military I can work with and a few contacts from my Archangel days that aren't dead yet."
"And I'll talk to the Admiralty Board," Tali added. "If they listen to me half as well as they did to you, maybe I'll get somewhere." Her voice chocked up as she talked about going back home and Shepard's guilt receded a little bit. It was her speech to the board, after all, that had made sure Tali could return to the fleet after she was accused of treason.
"You'll do great," she assured them, "Both of you." Before they could reply, she rose, catching both of her friends in a hug that she was reluctant to relinquish. She didn't have any idea when she'd see either of them again and even if she did, they might not like her very much by then. This was only the first demand the Illusive Man had made of her, and she suspected it was going to be far from the worst.
Jack awoke, but it was to a nightmare. She couldn't move. Her neck, wrists and legs were all in restraints, binding her to a slab of a bed that sat in the center of a horribly sterile hospital room. Her head still swam and her body felt weak, but she still wasn't going to stay in a place like that a second longer than she had to.
With a growl, she reached within herself for her biotics and the response was instantaneous. A red wave of pain like nothing she'd ever experienced ripped through her nervous system and her powers fell away as she screamed herself hoarse, bucking helplessly against the cuffs that held her in place.
She slumped down onto her table, gasping with fear as much as pain. This couldn't be real, she told herself. Any second now, she'd be back in bed on the Normandy with Shepard stroking her head, worrying over her in that girl scout way that Jack had secretly started to appreciate. She couldn't really be back in the same kind of Cerberus prison that had stolen her childhood.
But she was. Instead of Shepard's reassuring voice, she heard the sound of an automatic door sliding open to reveal a slim woman with brown skin and darker brown hair. Under other circumstances, Jack might have found her attractive, but she was in far too much pain for that, not to mention that she had a rule against being turned on by anyone in a Cerberus body-suit.
"I wouldn't do that again if I were you," the woman cautioned her, her voice all false concern as she added, "The biotic restraint collar won't kill you, but I'm told it's excruciating."
The fucking bitch was right. Even if she could take the pain, there was no way she could focus enough to use her biotics through it. For now, she had no choice but to lie there and listen.
"Welcome back, Subject Zero," the woman told her, stalking across the room like a panther closing in on a meal.
"It's Jack, bitch," she corrected her, "And what should I call you? Skinny Miranda?"
The woman laughed at that. Evidently, she and the fucking cheerleader knew each other. They probably liked to polish each other's jackboots and make fun of all the people they'd screwed over. "Brooks will do fine, I think. Maya Brooks."
"Well, what the fuck do you want with me, Maya Brooks?" She was trying to keep up a defiant front but her heart was pounding hard enough to crack her ribs and her nails were digging into her palms. She hadn't been this helpless since the Purgatory and there was nothing for her to do with her rage.
"Cerberus," Brooks told her nonchalantly, coming to stand at the head of the gurney Jack was bound to, "Requires your services once more."
"Fuck you," she spat, unfortunately missing the woman. "I'd rather die then help you assholes."
"I rather suspected you'd say that. Fortunately, we don't need your activate participation for this particular assignment. No, you're here as more of a motivational tool. You see, your girlfriend has been a very naughty little commander, no thanks to your bad influence. Now that you're under our care, however, I'm confident you'll provide a useful inducement to good behavior."
She ran a gloved hand over Jack's forehead and the biotic's skin crawled at the touch. She wanted to offer another viscous insult in return, but all the ones she could think of died unsaid in her throat. That stupid girl scout wouldn't let her die. It wasn't who she was. Under other circumstances, Jack might have been touched by the thought, but now, all it meant was that Cerberus had Shepard by the short hairs while Jack was trapped in her own personal hell.
"I still don't think it adds up," Garrus complained. Sensing his dark mood, the crowds of mostly-asari travelers who filled the Nos Astra spaceport were giving him a wide berth. Tali, on the other hand, was doing her best to calm him down.
"It was really sudden," she agreed, "But Shepard must have had her reasons."
"Maybe. But I'm not convinced by the ones she gave us. If she's not turning herself in right now, isn't she still going to need a crew? And where's Jack been? I haven't seen her in days."
"Do you they had a fight? They seemed pretty happy before Shepard left to rescue that doctor from the batarians."
"Maybe. But a fight still wouldn't explain why she…"
Just then, Garrus' omni-tool buzzed. He looked down at the incoming message. The name of the sender was blocked and all it said was: Check your extranet news feeds. Keyword, "Shepard."
Curious, he followed the suggestion. A streaming video was the most topical search result and when he opened it, his jaw almost fell off. An image of Shepard appeared on his omni-tool, standing in the middle of the broadcast room of the Normandy, delivering a speech.
These rumors are true, she said. I am alive and for the past several months, I've been working with the human patriotic organization Cerberus in order to counter the approaching menace of the Reapers. The Council and the Alliance have told you that Cerberus is a terrorist group, but that's because they're threatened by them. They want to hide the truth about the Reapers…
Next to him, Tali gasped. "Cerberus is a human patriotic organization? Shepard would never say that."
"I told you there was something wrong," Garrus replied as his omni-tool rang once more.
I assume you're watching the video, the message said, and that you're shocked by it. None of it is what it seems, but Shepard needs our help. If you're interested, go to Docking Bay 214 and board the transport waiting there.
-The Shadow Broker
Tali turned to him. "I guess the Migrant Fleet can wait."
"So can Omega." Gathering allies was all good and well, but if there was one thing the galaxy would need in order to be ready for the Reapers, it was a Commander Shepard in her right mind.