Normandy-War Room
Michael Ellison stood across from Faulkner who was pacing gently in the back ground across the table, he was looking in the air his eyes trying to focus, but another jolt of pain caused him to wince. Maybe they are right; it is so hard to think. The thought caused him to shiver dramatically.
"Hmm, could be, could be, need to test the process, hit one of the outer colonies? No too risky." Palin's muttering broke him out of his reverie.
"What was that?" Michael turned his head to the energetic Salarian scientist.
The Salarian swiveled around him and blinked. "Oh, thinking about deploying VI assisted swarmer bots deploying into the upper atmosphere of a target planet which will deploy white noise filters." He sniffed. "Problem is developing proper delivery system, can't be Normandy, too risky, too small, and lacking appropriate delivery methods."
"So you think that white noise will stop the indoctrination…ah!"
Palin inhaled sharply.
Michael's face fell, "It's just…hard to think…every time I think about…" his voice trailed off as a wince wracked his features.
"It's the same way for me," Keith said leaning on the war room master displays, "It's just so hard to think, and every time you get close it just…wipes the thought away."
"Fascinating." Palin muttered.
"If you say so." Michael said sharply.
"Any clue could make all the difference, mental blocks, pain against thinking, could be similar to Thorian control, conditioning the mind in any way."
"But how does that…ah…oh for crying out." Keith yelped.
"So what was the Thorian then? How did it control people?" Michael asked.
Palin blinked.
"What? It's been years since I have heard the news. I might've missed the whole thing on the Thorian taking control of anyone; I don't even know what that means."
"Not that, you are not in pain."
"So?" His eyes then widened "Oh."
"Exactly," Palin nodded.
"Uh the rich corporate executive is somewhat confused here." Keith muttered.
"He did not react to the mentioning of Throian mind control meaning…"
"Meaning that if we do not think about Reaper or Leviathan Mind…ah!"
"Yes, might be wise not to do that." Palin smirked.
"So the Thorian?"
"Created conditioned response from people, used parasitic spores which infected Alliance colony on Feros, manipulated them, used them, created a conditioned pain response when they thought about resistance, or informing the authorities. Used them as tools. Used them for its purposes."
"So this Thorian was able to convince people to become pawns via spores and…what…advanced telepathy?" Michael asked.
"Exact assimilation method unknown." Palin mused.
"But it could be a key." Keith said tentatively then looked skyward as if waiting for the plating to fall on his head.
"Could be." Michael shrugged. "But how does it help us?"
Palin hesitated, "Could indicate difference, Thorian Mind Control is like pain control, Reaper uses pain stimuli and hallucinations to effect conversion, Leviathan's seem to use different method. Instead of convincing people through methods to join them out of their own 'free will' they complete take over."
Michael and Keith both winced but didn't say anything.
"So the objective is to block or destroy the control signal." Palin muttered.
"Well the source of the Thorian's control, we need to find it then." Michael mused, then on the looks, "what, helps me think."
Palin smiled then shook his head, "no, too hard, too easy to not find the Leviathan control spheres. Too easy to have traps laid. Best system, is to neutralize it."
"So then we might want to find out how the Thorian communicated with its victims." Michael mused.
"Then apply those lessons to a larger scale." Palin agreed.
"Right, this is going to end well." Keith muttered.
Crew Deck
Cameron Shepard maneuvered his hand gently pouring the contents of the canister into a mug, as it steamed in it blazingly. He took it and moved over to the table blowing on it gently. He sipped it, and winced, still too hot.
A footstep caused him to look around as James entered the room, scowling, as he entered and headed over to the gallery.
"James." He muttered trying to gain the man's attention, break him out of a self-destructive course.
Vega's hand started slipping spilling the contents. After he steadied he moved to glare at the Commander behind him, Cameron glanced at him unfazed.
"Something wrong?" Cameron asked, not wanting to know if something is wrong, that is obvious, but what was going on in the head of the usually bright and chipper man.
He looked up and sighed, "Its Abby…we had a fight."
Cameron smirked, "I sympathize but I am sure that tends to happen with all couples every now and then."
James's glare deepened, "Actually the fight was about you, at least in a way."
"Oh?" Cameron's eyes decided to widen themselves despite his best efforts to keep his expression neutral.
"Well yeah…"James hesitate sighing, "I just think you are spending too much time around each other. I mean, I just wonder if her feelings for you are replacing her feelings for mine."
"Oh." Cameron smiled grimly. "Well if it's any consolation there is nothing between us. I am too wrapped up in my feelings about Miranda, and I am not really into the whole redhead thing, relax James. And I am quite sure I am not exactly her favorite person right now."
"Oh," James smiled wryly, "then why can't she say that?"
"I don't know maybe you have to ask her." Cameron suggested gently.
He grunted, and then looked at him. "I don't know even when we weren't together we could always talk to one another. We got each other, we may not have always liked it, but even at our first meeting, even when she was yelling at me, we respected one another, there was respect. I knew why she did what she wanted and was just frustrated at the situation. But now?"
Cameron waited on him urging him to continue with his mind.
"Now she is distant, now she is hardly here, now she is pushing me away, treating me like some nuisance. I mean I believe her, all she has to say, but she is just going around it in such a back handed manner."
"And it's frustrating?"
James's shoulder slumped, "Yeah, I just can't put my finger on it. And it's not just me she just seems tense, colder, colder than usual."
"Well I don't know, I don't know her, I don't know her background, there are still parts of her background I have not even the least idea on." Cameron pointed out.
James smirked, "Well this isn't like her, she has been known to push the bounds of proper decorum but not completely violate it. She has been known to do things with her squad and completely keep things on the up and up, even when it hasn't been easy."
"Yeah, similar to me."
James eyed him for a second, "So you haven't gone through any dark impulses and haven't completely kicked your crew to the curb because you were having issues?"
"Well, of course I did. When I lost my entire squad on Akuze, it took me a while to get back on track. Though I shut up and isolated myself in my quarters. And when…when I lost Miranda briefly…well I had a trial to worry about and all that time alone to just think about what had happened."
"And?" James pressed.
"And it's not worth taking your pain out on the universe." Cameron assured. "But people react to this sort of thing differently. And without knowing her history I do not know how to judge."
"That is something she has always been tight lipped about, I only know of a portion of it." James admitted his eyes fluttering. "Doesn't stop me from loving her though."
"No, it usually doesn't stop love." Cameron agreed.
James sighed, "Well maybe that is the answer, just apologize and beg her to take me back."
"If you did anything wrong, but I have been watching her since we started this mission and she does seem on edge, quick to take harmful action to others. Granted she is capable of that from everything I have heard, but I also heard that she can be surgical about the use of such things. Just surprising is all."
"Yeah, and what is up with her physically? She even looks off there."
Cameron nodded, "yeah, I caught her limping once. I just wonder…what happened on the roof top with Nathan, what she is putting herself through to try and win, physically and emotionally."
James nodded.
"So what is the deal on Torfan? It's a touchy subject, I've heard reference to it, but I cannot see her personal involvement, and personally just really haven't looked and dug since I've been here."
James blinked, "Well Torfan. It was a Batarian moon, or other Terminus pirates that used them to attack the human colony of Elysium."
"Oh right, the Skyllian Blitz, I remember that, in my universe, and now Torfan. It was bombed from orbit when the team who went in was ambushed and ripped apart."
"Right, the same here, except in this universe Abigail got them through the breach. Well more or less. People did accuse her of putting her squad intentionally through the meat grinder. And then she shot the Batarians which tried to surrender, killing them, wiping out most of her squad in the process. And some called her a hero and some called her to the carpet, even going as far as investigating it as possible war crimes. So I've heard anyways."
"Jesus."
"Yeah, and then who knows what happened after that," James shrugged, "She practically did the special forces thing after the battle, and disappeared, not until she was back on the Citadel and saved it from Saren did she reappear, a changed woman."
"So something happened to her in the mean time?"
The man shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine Loco."
"Hmm." Cameron stroked his chin which was beginning to look slightly stubble due to the growth of hair which was starting to come in. "I just wonder then, if there is only so much fight left in a person before…"
"Before?" James grunted.
"Well look at the events of her life, Torfan, the Reaper War, saving the Citadel, stopping the Collector abduction of humans. The list goes on."
"So, what, you think she is just doing a hissy fit because she has led a rough life and has had to fight? The woman I married wouldn't do that."
"I know James," Cameron nodded, "but I've been there. In the trenches. It looks frustrating on the outside all this happening to people, of no one believing you despite yelling out and confronting monsters in the face, but to actually live it? To actually be the lead and to take the brunt? I mean if you yelled out and said it they would cause you a crazy conspiracy theorist? But for us, it was personal, and it damn near destroyed the entire Galaxy."
"You think?" James pressed.
Cameron shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I don't know her well enough, but I know me, I know what is going on through my head."
"So what do we do about it?" James asked.
"Talk to her." Cameron said, getting up and heading for the elevator.
Normandy-War Room
Abigail Shepard walked down into the war room entrance and into the pit watching Palin turn to her. "Status?" She asked.
"Yes. A breakthrough has been made." Palin breathed.
"And?" Abigail sighed I hope they get on with it.
"And, well, we were looking at the Thorian for inspiration, trying to see the differences between it and our current situation."
"And in so doing hoping to come up with a counter measure." Keith supplanted.
"The Thorian why?"
"Short cut doesn't seem to cause the pain response when thinking of Reaper Indoctrination or that of the Leviathan."
As if on cue Abigail saw Keith and Michael wince. She arched her eyebrow over at them, interesting.
"In short, believe we have found a way. It involves countering the sphere's, by transmitting enough white noise to block out the Leviathan control signals." Palin explained.
"And how well this help?"
Palin sighed, "Believe that Reaper and Leviathan techniques work differently. Reapers convince someone to join them. The Leviathan's physically hijack a subject in most cases and then use them for their purposes. So if you disrupt that signal, like you did on the Garneu mission and at the dig sight, then theoretically we could stop them from controlling their subjects and set them free."
"Any ideas on how?"
"Yes." Palin smiled and his eyes twinkled as he turned to the control panel, he typed in a series of commands. The hologram in the center of the table changed and revolved to a primitive looking cylindrical device with cylinders along the edges and an antennae sticking up out of it and maybe a dish. "This, it's a device that can block Leviathan signals up to one thousand Kilometers. And anyone else that uses their technology, thus giving people a moment of freedom."
"And that freedom we can then use to hijack onto a larger system giving us time to organize a resistance?" Shepard smirked.
"At least it will give us time for some confusion as it sets in that people have been mind controlled." Michael shrugged.
"And," Palin continued, "We will need the Omega supply yards to begin construction of these devices."
"Do what you have to, use whatever resources, I am sure I can organize it with Rannoch Kurl later." Abigail said, and then she nodded at the three of them before beginning her march back to the tech labs.
She turned the corner her head spinning from the implications, another fifteen things to do, and very little time to accomplish them, where she ran head first into Cameron without really seeing him.
"Cameron." She winced and said by way of apology.
"Abigail, I need to talk to you."
"Can it wait for a bit? I'm in the middle of about ten different things. Palin just gave us a heads up; he has apparently come up with a technology that will allow us to block the Leviathan control signals." Abigail grunted jabbing her finger over her shoulder.
Cameron stiffened and moved to block her, she arched an eyebrow up at him and debated swinging her Omni-blade out, oh what the hell?
"Actually, this can't wait." He said firmly.
What? She debated bull rushing him now but there was something about him, his demeanor, the way he looked at her, the perfect presentation of Paragon and Renegade, it made her stop cold in her tracks. He was looking at her with eyes narrowed, the blue laser beams piercing her, but not with fear or suspicion, only holding his position firmly, yet there was sympathy too coloring his features. And that is what is making me stop.
"My quarters."
Cameron held out his arm and moved to the side letting her lead the way. She nodded and did so, glancing at Traynor as she passed. I am not used to this, being led. She entered the lift and the two of them quickly went down to deck 3, then even quicker to her quarters. No signs of James or any other crewmember at their posts the only one who was within reach at least was Chakwas, but Cameron was brokering no further conversation on the matter. So, resigned to her fate, they entered her office.
"You wanted to…" She let her voice trail away; I really do not like saying the obvious.
"Yeah," Cameron nodded, "In short you've been wild of late."
She smirked, and brought up an innocent sway to her hips, "Oh I have have I?"
"Stop it," Cameron scowled, "And that is not what I meant."
"I know," She sighed twirling around and saying in a petulant sing songy voice, "everyone is concerned by my wellbeing."
"And has it occurred to you everyone has a point?" Cameron pressed.
She snorted and crossed her arms over her chest, "Come on, really? People can be wrong, large groups of people can be even more wrong, just look at any of the recent political elections if you want evidence on the smarts of group think."
"But we aren't society, we are your friends, many of us have stuck with you from the beginning."
"So you are counting yourself in the Normandy crew now?"
"Why not? I have been here longer than most people in my position, and you got to know them and welcomed each and every one of them with open arms."
She sighed, "Alright, I'm sorry, that was unfair."
He returned the sigh, "Alright, I have seen your record, I know you, I am you to a certain extent."
"How sweet." She bit into him.
"See, was that really necessary? You have been pushing people away and you just have been getting bitterer towards everyone around you."
She opened her mouth, froze, and then closes it turning away from him again.
Cameron continued to hammer into her, "You have to admit you have been acting a little erratic lately."
She felt her shoulders slump, "Yeah, I know, but it's just me…it's always been just me…against the Galaxy who comes after me again and again."
"I know the feeling, I've been here. But how do you think you can handle this by doing it all by yourself? When you couldn't handle the Reapers?"
The human Captain met her accuser with silence, exercising all of her rights; her cat gave her a curious meow from the side.
She heard a sigh behind her, "Alright Abby, alright. I will leave, but I just have this question to ask: Are you sure this is the right thing to do? You forged your legend with others at your side. So, if you are right that the galaxy is at stake, and then you better be damn sure that you can handle it alone. And if you can't, you better be sure you can be prepared to face the consequences, alone."
Her shoulders slumped, and she felt the weight of the galaxy weighing on her. "It's just hard, after all we've been through. How can I get close to people? Mordin, Thane, Kaidan, and every conflict I just end up losing more people. Every conflict brings more pain. You have to be distant, I got too close."
"Look Abby, I know the thought, I've been there, I have lost people under my command too, but without that connection, what do the people under your command become? Pawns on the chess board? Pieces to be thrown away? And then what becomes of you? Because we won because of the connection, we are only the best because of the people around us. Yes, it hurts, but without that pain then we wouldn't try just as hard the next time."
His words pierced her, but instead of tears and angst, instead of hurt, a cool resolve began to settle into her, along with the sweeping purifying power of the realization she had acted irresponsibly.
But she turned, and smiled, and nodded, then began to head for the exit to her cabin, Cameron close in pursuit.
They arrived together into the CIC of the ship, and they looked around, Abigail nodded her thanks to Cameron.
"I suppose, I suppose I have been acting a little…odd…lately. Well that's going to change." She saw James shuffle on his side of the bridge. "And that is going to change, I still do not know what the future holds, or how much time we will have for our personal needs, and be the family we should always be, but my…attitude…will change. We are a family, we should act like one…but in the meantime we still have a long way to go, if we can't do it together, then we will fail.
"So tonight I renew my promise between both you and God, to be a good person, to connect with my crew, and to stand together as one.
Good luck." She shuddered and added in a whisper, "to all of us."
The crew nodded to them and got to work, Traynor smiled and handed her a report which she took and nodded glancing through it.
With that, it was really time to get to work, and meet with a Krogan warlord.