Wow I got a lot of hate in that last chapter. Let me start this by saying Plague did not create an AI. If you guys would have paid attention in the chapter you would have saw that I made it clear that Plague had collected a number of things. I left a hint about who the AI was but I don't think anyone noticed it. Ok now let's continue.
The Wildcard
Chapter 17
"Cerberus saw footage of you in action, Tali'Zorah." Jacob started as the three walked into the meeting. Shepard could tell Tali highly despised being on a Cerberus ship. Hell, she felt the same way since this whole thing started. The quarian looked at him as he spoke. Body language telling her that her friend wanted to do anything but be in the same room as the operative, along with everyone she met on the ship who she was unfamiliar with. "We're looking forward to having you on the team. Your engineering expertise will really benefit the mission." he finished on the other side of the conference room.
"I don't know who you are, but Cerberus threatened the security of the Migrant Fleet." Tali said back sounding as if talking to the Cerberus member put a bad taste in her mouth. "Don't make nice." she warned as she walked to stand to Shepard's right.
She heard about the attack on the fleet the last time she saw Tali. People died. May not have been many lives in the eyes of any other race, but you had to take into account the quarians small numbers. In addition, severely damaging any ship in the Migrant Fleet could have jeopardized the safety of the whole population. One well timed attack and the right numbers and the quarian race would be wiped out of existence. She did not know all of the details, but she hated Cerberus even more just for the things she did know.
Even so… she knew when to put her anger aside.
"I'm the one in charge no matter who paid for the ship, Tali. I hate it as much as you do, but we need some cooperation to deal with the Reapers."
The tone used against her made her mentally cringe. "I assumed that you were undercover, Shepard." she started as she started to walk to her. "Maybe even planning to blow Cerberus up." she stopped right in front of Shepard, allowing her the ability to barely make out the orbs that formed her eyes through her mask. "If that's the case. I'll lone you a grenade. Otherwise, I'm here for you. Not for them"
She could not help but let out a sigh as she noticed Tali was not angry with her. She did not want what happened with Ash to happen again. "Thanks, Tali." an almost invisible smirk formed on her lips as she thought of something that could cheer her friend up. At least make her a little more at ease. "I'm assuming you want to be where you can see how the ship ticks?"
"I'll get Tali'Zorah the necessary security clearance to access our systems." Jacob announced. It looked like a way for him to try building a bridge between them.
Sadly, the bridge came falling down.
"Please do. I can't be part of your team if I don't know how the ship works." she countered, sounding like the man had just insulted her skills. She started to walk out of the room, but stopped right next to her old, and in this case, new Commander. "Remember, Shepard, these people thought enslaving Thorian creepers and rachni was a good idea." she warned as she started walking again. "I'll be in engineering."
'Well... That could have been worse.' she thought to herself.
Almost as if she had angered someone's religious deity, Jacob had to be his "Helpful" self. "Don't forget to introduce yourself to EDI, the ship's new artificial intelligence."
'Shit.' Shepard wanted to voice as she saw the quarian stop dead in her tracks in the doorway. She wished her biotics worked so she could have put Mr. Taylor in a stasis field if she had been able to see it coming. She wanted to tell Tali gently. Instead, here comes Jacob with the blunt force of a krogan in a blood rage.
She felt some guilt as the quarian woman looked over her shoulder to Jacob, and then took a quick glance to Shepard.
The few second long silence felt like years to her under her friends disapproving gaze.
Finally, she looked forward and walked on as the doors closed behind her. She wanted to sit down for a few seconds before going to have her amp looked at, but she was let down by the lack of seats.
Thirty minutes later.
"Ow!"
"Stop moving around and it won't hurt." Chakwas scolded as she made the next incision with her scalpel.
Shepard was laying on one of the med bay's beds face down with her arms and legs restrained so her implant could be replaced. Doing so was similar to a brain surgery, but with smaller risks. Therefore, she had to be awake during the procedure to be safe.
She was already out of her armor and had taken a much needed hot shower before coming down to the Crew Deck. She now wore her brown civvies.
"You hold still while I cut open the back of YOU'ER head!" she almost yelled.
"I would have given you the painkillers, but you wanted to remain lucid later." she reminded, sounding annoyed as she removed the amp at the base of her skull.
"Whatever happened to the nice amps that went in the back of your neck, or shoulder blade?" she mumbled as she felt her biotic strength nosedive.
"The normal amps like the L2 through 4 still work that way, and L3s and L4s are still commonly used." the doctor explained as Shepard felt something being inserted under her skin. "The L5 you use is far more advanced."
"Wait." Shepard jumped in as she fought to hold still. "There was an L4?"
Chakwas let out a chuckle as she worked. "A lot of things happened in the time you were away, Shepard."
"Tell me about it." she grumbled in reply as her mood went south.
"I'm sorry, Shepard." Chakwas apologized as she hesitated for a second once she realized what she had said.
"It's fine Helen." she said before the conversation went any farther. "I know what you meant to say. Already have Kelly trying to get me to "Open Up" in her random sessions. I am actually considering just saying I had daddy issues just for the hell of it."
Finally, she felt the cool sensation of megi-gel being applied to the opening just under where her hair began.
"Finished." she announced to her patient and smiled when she bolted out of the bad to stand once the final restraint was removed.
Following what she had learned at the academy, Shepad slowly sent biotic power into the amp and slowly increased the flow until she felt the focused power going through her whole body until she saw the telltale blue glow. Showing a smile, she stopped feeding the amp power, making the glow vanish.
"Thanks, Chakwas." she thanked as she moved her head a little to get the stiffness out.
"I would say anytime, but Ms Lawson made it clear that we only have a few more spare L5 amps." she explained as she took off her gloves and washed her hands. "Let me just say, she was not pleased."
"To be expected I guess." Shepard agreed as she started to leave the room. "I'll come back if there are any problems."
Tali'Zorah POV
'What is Shepard thinking?' she thought to herself as she walked around engineering trying to familiarize her surroundings. 'An AI!'
Sure she trusted Shepard, but this was pushing it. Shepard knew the dangers in having an AI around. They had fought the geth together, had seen the bodies.
She was expecting another surprise from her friend like her sisterly hugs, but being asked to live on a ship with an AI in the systems? It sounded insane.
And working with Cerberus was extremely risky. Every time she turned around, she was expecting to be ambushed by any xenophobes within the ship's crew and being interrogated on ways for them to get into the Flotilla.
Sure, she knew how to take care of herself, and would die rather than threaten the Fleet. What got her was the sense of paranoia she had quickly developed.
"There's a new face… so to speak." a man's voice announced as she opened a door. "Welcome."
She thought someone had walked up to her, but it was she who walked upon the owner of the voice. "Sorry. Must have gone the wrong…" she stopped when she saw what was within the room.
The man was, to be expected, human. He was laying on his back on a cot on the other side of the room, wearing a blue jumpsuit with one leg over the other, messing with his Omni-tool.
She was not really looking at him. What had received her undivided attention were the walls covered in weaponry. The weapons looked ancient. She had seen a few holos of old human weapons before, but these looked still functional. And what she looked at next was, what had to be, mechs lined along the far wall.
Surprisingly she saw a helmet that she at first thought was a quarian mask. That triggered something she wanted to remember, but Keelah help her, she just could not find out what it was. A rumor she had heard back in the Migrant Fleet before she left for Haestrom?
"Keelah…" she managed to get out before she collected herself. "… I'm sorry to intrude like this."
"Don't be." the man replied as he motioned to sit on the bunk. "I hardly get any visitors." he then got up and walked to her and held out his hand. "101."
"One hundred and one what?" she asked as she just looked at the hand, not wanting to interact with the member of Cerberus.
She understood the human hand gesture, but why was he telling her numbers? Did he want something from her?
The first part of his features she took in was the collection of scars on the man's forehead. They were a little hard to see since the almost white tissue was well camouflaged against his pale skin. His hair was short and almost looked like it was white, but she had a feeling he was not that old by both quarian and human standards. He had no facial hair, but she did not really see the purpose of hair on a human's face anyway. The last thing she saw was his eyes. They were a light blue and seemed to be empty as they looked at her. She felt like she was going to be pulled in for a second. It was a slightly eerie feeling, but she had to admit he still looked attractive in a way.
He seemed to not react to her not returning the gesture and faced the other way so she could see the human numbers on his back he was pointing at over his shoulder as he looked at her at the corner of his eye.
"Not one hundred and one. 1-O-1." he corrected as he turned to face her again, not sounding the least bit annoyed. "You can call me Plague if you'd like."
He then left her at the doorway so he could lean against the wall next to the door. "Please. Do come in."
Her mind told her to turn away and leave this strange man, but her curiosity made her want to look at the machines along the wall. So she accepted his invitation and stood in the center of the room as she looked around.
"Not much, but its home… for now." he corrected himself as he moved one of the small crates in the room near her. "Have a seat."
Not seeing if she accepted his hospitality, he turned away from her so that he could sit at the workbench next to the cot.
Tali considered sitting, but she still did not know if this man was in any way a threat.
"I am to assume you are the quarian the Boss picked up?" he asked as he started organizing some tools on the bench with care.
"Boss?" she asked as she looked at the mechs.
"Shepard." he answered as she heard him organizing.
"Oh… yes." she confirmed. "I am Tali'Zorah vas Neema." she introduced as she turned to him for a moment to give him a nod before going back to what had peaked her interest.
She heard a low whistle from him, and the first thing she thought of was how some bosh'tets seemed to at first make some racial remark, and then for some reason continue to talk to her about her curves. She was wrong however when she looked back at him and saw he was not looking at her, thus not acting like some pervert.
"Do all quarians have such long names?" he asked as he leaned back in his seat. "I have only met one other of your kind, and back then I just thought he was pulling my leg."
Tali raised a questioning eyebrow that went unnoticed before speaking. "Why would he want to take your legs?" her question earned her a fit of laughter that bounced around the small room. 'Did I say something funny?' she asked herself as she tilted her head while she waited for him to calm down.
"If he was hungry I don't think he has to worry about cooking the meat." he said as he rolled up his jumpsuits leg a little to reveal some old burn marks that had to have been painful to receive. Once he noticed her confused look, he cleared his throat as he showed an apologetic look. "Sorry… I thought you made a joke…" he apologized as he sat straight in his seat. "I meant to say, I thought he was using a fake name to pull a small prank."
"Oh…" she said for the second time since she had entered the room. "…The first two names are our first name, and our family name. The last is the name of the ship we live on in the Migrant Fleet."
"That makes sense… I guess." he said back as he picked up a combat knife and started tossing it from hand to hand. "Are all quarians named after a ship?"
His question left her speechless. The way he had asked the question made her think, he did not know anything about her people. Sure, there were those who did not understand most of the traditions or culture, but at least they would know the history to some degree.
"Yes they are." she answered as she looked at the man.
His next question was what made her see him in a new light. "Are any named after a home planet? I think it would be a little strange to be named after my shitty world. Hell. You're people's homeworld must look way better than the radioactive cesspool I am from."
At first, she had thought he was slowly working to get some information, or using what he said in some way to act as some kind of low blow, but at this point, she was extremely confused. His tone of voice told her he was sincere about his lack of knowledge.
Finally finding her voice after he gave her a worried look, she answered. "No… we can't go back to our homeworld." she watched as her sad words made his expression change before her eyes. "After living in a sterile environment for so long, we have to stay in these suits. It would take hundreds of years for us to acclimatize to a new world. And that's even if we are able to find a world we can start anew on."
101 was now looking at his feet with what she thought was understanding before he took up the saddened expression he had gained while she answered the question.
"I'm sorry… again." he apologized as he looked at the floor. "I honestly didn't know it was a sore subject."
"No. It is alright… I am just a little surprised you didn't already know." she said back as she started messing with her hands. "I am the one who should be sorry for thinking you were using my people's homeworld as a cruel joke." she admitted.
She saw his eyes widen in shock as he slowly got out of his seat. "Why would someone do that? As far as I could tell, you and the quarian I met before seem to be alright."
Tali was not sure how to answer his question at first until she just blurted it out. "My people built the geth." this time she saw some reaction, which told her he knew what she was talking about, but she was expecting a lot more shock from the confession.
"The machines that worked for the Reapers when the Citadel was attacked?" he asked, taking her by surprise. "From what I read, that happened two years ago. Why does everyone hate your kind from that? Sure it was a rather large attack, but it was that Spectre that caused it at the time."
What she would say next would make him hate her people. She had thought the last thing she said would, but if anything it had the opposite result. He would find out eventually. Might as well have him hear it from her instead of some xenophobic bosh'tet.
"The geth are what drove my people off of the quarian homeworld, and made us without a planet to return to." she let that sink in before continuing. "We built a synthetic race that turned on us and have been hostile towards organics for centuries."
"So what?" he asked after a short pause. She just didn't know how to reply to that, so 101 took the silence as a sign to continue. "That was a long time ago. Now, unless a quarian lives as long as an asari, you and those from your Fleet were in no way involved with what happened back then."
She was frozen. She didn't know what to do. This man still had nothing against her people after all that? His tone still sounded worried, he looked at her with no hatred of any kind once so ever. What she saw was curiosity, pity, sadness, and like before... understanding.
"Thank you…" she finally said after the shock had left her system. She could feel her eyes watering a little as she spoke again. "I… should probably get back to engineering. It was… nice talking to you, 101."
Before she could leave, she held out her hand to shake his. It seemed like a good thing to do since she didn't do so earlier.
He smiled a little as he started to shake her hand. At first she thought something was odd about the handshake, but she couldn't quite tell what it was until he pulled his hand away when the handshake ended.
Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the two robotic digits on his hand.
He followed her line of sight and held up his hand and started flexing the two metallic fingers. "Story for another time maybe?"
She couldn't do anything but nod nervously as she started walking out of the room.
"Let me know if you have any problems on the ship." he said as she heard him start messing with his tools again. There was also a bright flash behind her that seemed to come out of nowhere. "Hold the door please."
She turned back to see he had quickly put on a leather jacket she had not seen any human wear before except when she was asked to watch an old western with Shepard before she had died. He also had a medium sized box in his arms. It looked heavy to her, but 101 didn't seem to have a problem with the weight.
Doing as he asked, she placed her arm in the doorway to prevent it from closing until the man passed her. "Thank you, Ms. Zorah."
She simply nodded to him and started walking back to engineering. Before she could leave the door way though, she saw something that did not make any sense to her once so ever. She turned back to the man to see he had already gotten into the elevator.
She looked back to the room and seemed to do a second set of double takes, but her eyes insisted upon what they saw. All the weapons, machines, cases… they were all gone except for the cot, shelves, and a workbench.
Kasumi Goto POV
She was miserable. She had been for days. Kasumi had avoided the crew as much as possible fearing they would notice her changed attitude.
She knew she couldn't stay in the room forever. It was only a matter of time until Shepard would hear about her not showing up to eat. To avoid people, she cloaked whenever she left her room leaving no one the wiser.
Right now she was sitting in her favorite spot on the couch trying to read a romance novel, but no matter what she read it would always mention or at least hint to some kind of betrayal.
She set the book down on top of her growing pile of failed reading attempts and got up to walk to her bar.
Kasumi was not a heavy drinker. She would only drink a glass or two of the alcoholic beverage of her choice and not any more. She hated getting drunk and was more entertained watching others act like idiots.
She looked at the small glass of green liquid in her hand.
"Ms. Goto. There is a package for you in front of your door." EDI informed before Kasumi could even think of tilting the glass that was at her lips.
"What is it?" she asked as she put the glass down and got off her stool.
She was not expecting to receive anything. Did Shepard think she was starving herself in her room and had someone deliver her meals? The thief hoped not. Starvation was the least of her worries. At any time she could cloak and swipe something from Gardner's fridge. It was not that hard, even after the man had put a lock on it to keep Grunt out… not that it worked anyway.
"I was informed not to give away any information about the subject." the AI answered.
The door opened and emotions flooded her as she looked upon the crate she had left within Plague's room. For a few seconds she stood there and looked at the box with tearing eyes.
'He didn't want his duster back?' she asked herself. 'Did he even open it?'
She had spent days restoring that duster. The damaged leather, replacing the patchwork, fixing the holes in the pockets. And that was just the beginning. Part of her job as a thief was maintaining what she stole until she could find a buyer. Never had she seen someone throw her hard work back into her face as if it was pure garbage.
With trembling hands, she reached down and picked up the box. At first she thought she was going to just start sobbing, but once she noticed the crate was a little heavier then when she left it her despair and sadness was replaced by her curiosity. Her inner thief wanted to desperately know what was inside.
She took it over to her spot on the couch and hesitantly pushed open on the holographic display. With a hiss it opened to show the duster no longer resided within. What she did see confused her a little.
She reached in and pulled out an almost all black outfit with a white stripe going down each limb. A smile graced her lips as she realized Plague had made the outfit himself.
It was a cat-suit that looked similar to what she was wearing. The deference's were small lightly blue tinted arm and shin guards along with a form fitting breastplate.
She felt her cheeks get warm as she noticed the breastplate was vary… accurate with her measurements.
There was a hood on it as well and looked like it could cover her head well. On the waist were a number of pouches with self-sealing flaps to keep what she would put in from falling out. In one pouch she found some soft gloves made from the same fabric as the whole suit.
Then she pulled out a pair of matching black boots.
She put the boots down next to the outfit and noticed there was something else in the box.
It was a folded piece of paper like the ones she had left for Plague. She was expecting a poem like she had written. Why she was expecting that she did not know, but what it said had an effect on her. Kasumi was not expecting it to have only one word written on it. None the less, that single word made her do as it asked. A five letter word that did far more for her then any poem she could have thought of.
Smile.
Plague POV
"Kasumi Goto is now reading the note." EDI informed the man in the elevator. "Will you need any more assistance, Wildcard?"
"No EDI." Plague answered as he put his hands in his duster's pockets. "Thanks for the assist."
"Logging you out." EDI said before the elevator went quiet.
The doors opened and Plague stepped onto the CIC. He usually avoided the deck. So much activity. Everyone had something to do.
"Hello Mr. 101" a cheerful redhead said as he walked in the direction of the tech lab.
Plague let out a silent groan when he realized who it was. Ever since he first got on the ship, Kelly had been wanting to speak with him so she could find out how "Stable" he was. She was another reason why he avoided the deck.
"What… can I do for you?" he asked with a fake sense of enthusiasm. He wanted get out of there. The longer he looked at the yeoman's bubbly attitude the more he felt uncomfortable. Involuntarily a smile showed itself. 'This woman is infectious.'
"I was hoping you had some free time so I could ask you a few questions?" she explained as she walked up to him with her data pad.
"I would love to but…" he trailed off as he fought to find a reasonable excuse. Finally when he saw a door open in the distance he saw his salvation. "Jacob!" he called as he intercepted the man on the way to the elevator.
"Plague?" the man asked quizzically as he gave him a confused look when Plague's arm was slung over his shoulder like an old war buddy.
"I would love to Ms. Chambers, but sadly I already have plans to help Jacob with…" he made eye contact that if anyone else noticed they would have thought it looked pleading. "… you know… that THING?"
The man seemed to slowly grasp what was going on and looked as if he remembered something. "Oh man I almost forgot." he acknowledged as he lightly scratched the back of his head. "Sorry Kelly, but I asked Plague earlier to help me down on deck five."
"That so?" the woman asked as her bright smile fell a little. "Well I don't want to keep you. Maybe we could set up a meeting, 101. When will you be unoccupied?"
'Shit!' he shouted in his head as his brain started scrambling for something to say. "I have to take a rain check. I'll tell the AI when I am free. Bye."
Before she could say anything back, Plague guided his savior into the elevator.
The facade was dropped once the door closed. "Oh thank God." Plague groaned as he retracted his arm from Jacob. "That woman's been trying to get me to look at inkblots since I got on this ship." he explained as he rubbed his temples.
Jacob gave him an amused look as he folded his arms. "She's not that bad is she?" he asked as he watched the man next to him. "Not like she would put you in a padded room or something?"
"I'm not saying she is not a good person." he started as he leaned against the elevators interior. "It's just odd how she's so cheery. Like she carries around some kind of happy pill she has to take every two seconds. No one is that happy."
The explanation made the second man start laughing as he shook his head a little.
"You know she's going to get you at some point right?" he asked.
"Maybe if there was a different reason for her to be hunting me down, like say she just wanted to grab a few drinks and have a good time…" Jacob gave him a slightly disapproving look that made Plague straighten himself out a little. "What? I'm joking. Not like I am going to drop something and pull my pants down after I ask her to pick it up. I'm a gentlemen."
"Right…" Jacob mouthed as he rolled his eyes.
Taylor Shepard POV
"Shepard." Tali greeted when she noticed the human was walking up to her. "What can I do for you?"
Shepard smiled a little when she noticed Tali's tone was a little better than earlier.
"How's the ship treating you Tali?" she asked as she crossed her arms. "Any trouble?"
"Please, Shepard." Tali started as she put a hand on her hip. "I'm a quarian. Give me a chunk of scrap metal…" (At this point Shepard had sadly drifted off as she thought of other things she would rather be talking about.) "…have it making precision jumps."
"L.. let's hope we don't need to do that at some point." Shepard said as she got back into the conversation. 'Have to admit. That would be one hell of a good diversion.'
Plague POV
"Quizzically dismayed: I do not understand." an elcor voice spoke from Plague's Omni tool while he sat against a wall near where Jacob was taking care of some repairs to the shuttle in the cargo hold.
In a desperate attempt to kill time, Plague had found some interesting things on his Omni tool. One of which was an alien soap opera.
On the holographic display a purple skinned asari entered the cameras view in a red dress and looked as if she had far too many eye drops.
"Please understand that I cannot be with you any longer! For my mind has graced another's!" the asari confessed a little too dramatically.
The whole time, Plague was desperately trying to contain himself.
"Shocked realization and disbelief: How can you do this to me?" the elcor… yelled? "I thought we had something special."
The asari took a step forward as if she was about to comfort the larger being, only then to spin around to face the opposite direction with an arm going back as if to hold the elcor at bay while the other arm went to her head.
"I cannot dream, nor comprehend the misery I have inflicted upon you, my former bondmate!" she recited.
"Barely contained anguish: Who is it? Who has smitten my violet flower? Who has taken you from me?" It was at this point a second asari entered the room in a green dress and ran over to the first asari and threw her arms around her. "Utter shock: You left me for this asari?"
The second asari looked to the camera and it showed that both of them were almost identical.
"No I have not my beloved!" the second asari corrected as the two asari started wrestling. "The wool has been cast over your eyes by Netosha! My evil twin sister!"
"HA!" Plague shouted, almost making Jacob jump from the surprise loud noise. "I KNEW IT!" he yelled followed by a fit of laughter.
Jacob was about to make an annoyed comment, but was silenced when Plague turned up the volume.
Before the elcor could give his two cents, a second elcor entered the room, making the three other occupants gasp in shock… Well… two of them. The elcor just said gasp.
"Shock and fear laced with confusion: Gasp. Salivon. What are you doing her, my evil twin brother?"
To answer any question, the suit Plague made for Kasumi was the Stealth Suit Mk ll. it just has been altered to be a little more formfitting and has a hood and differently shaped breast plate. I hope you all liked the chapter.
The next chapter is not hard to guess. Jacob's mission.