AN: Liara and Jane story line begins! Just one thing about what the ginger Shepard is saying in this chapter: Not all of it is justified. Remember that she's grieving, the woman is quite a bit unhinged by her loss so she puts blame on anything and anyone she can. It's not all logical, not all fair, but it's very human. Jane is in a very dark place right now and it will be hard for her to get out into the light again.
Regarding the characters that haven't made an appearance yet: Most of ME characters will be featured in one way or the other, certainly all the prominent ones. Some will appear as main supporting cast, some will be mentioned. It would ruin the mystery if I addressed any of them at this point. Figuring out just how different this universe is from the original one, what drastic or very subtle changes had occurred is part of the fun.
Chapter 3. Liara: The Meeting, Part 1
This tucked away office in the docking district had proven to be very handy. Just like the operative said it would. Half-abandoned building had a distinctly shady vibe to it. Patchy electrical work, rust on metal walls, mountains of boxes and broken equipment spread throughout the large main hall only separated by non functional conveyor lines for loading and unloading of imaginary goods. There was a dime a dozen buildings like this in Gozu district. Bankrupt offices, abandoned fronts for Blue Suns or Eclipse, unlucky storage vaults turned into battlefields by one lazy wave of Aria's hand. It was Omega, no one batted an eyelash at the state of things.
Hidden behind all the chaos of the main hall was a unremarkable room build into the corner of the structure. A steel box was propped on a complicated support structure of metal bars that were connected together with a series of beams. Somewhere within that web were left rusting several malfunctioned industrial mechs. The box itself, that some time ago would have been used by the manager for administrative purposes, presented a sorry picture. It was covered with rust and dents, the windows were not symmetrical and covered with thick layers of dust and oil making it impossible to oversee the immense hall from the inside. But so was spying on what was happening inside.
Liara sited herself on a swinging chair in front of several monitors witch diligently displayed the feeds from multiple security cameras hidden about the facility. This time she managed to stay still for more then a second. Then again, two seconds became too much for her: the asari jumped up to her feet and started pacing across the small room from one wall to the other. Finding Jane on Omega was an incredible and totally unforeseen coincidence. The Doctor had to stifle her excitement as the redhead did not agreed to help her yet and by the way their conversation gone she surmised that it will not be easy to convince the Major. Former Major, Liara corrected herself. This tidbit of information may have been playing in her favor.
It wasn't easy to find Jane Shepard. Alliance service records Liara could access were not updated as attentively as she would have wished. The last details on Jane were dated several months ago, barely a week after the Normandy had been destroyed. Major Shepard was reassigned to Black Ops, given command of several covert units and everything after that was classified at the top level.
The official thread stopped there, but Liara was not about to give up. If Jane did not contacted her, then maybe some of the other former squad-mates had heard something? Doctor could not believe her luck when her very first choice – Garrus Vakarian, currently back at C-Sec preparing for his Spectre training – had all the information she needed! Jane had contacted him a couple weeks ago to catch up on what had been going on with the rest of the crew. As a Black Ops operative she was cut off from the usual communication sources most of the time during missions.
Vakarian mirrored Liara's own opinions when he told Jane about all that had been happening in regards to John. How the Council was starting to suppress all information regarding the Reapers, how Alliance did not even revealed to the public that the first human Spectre was indeed dead. All the things that showed the ugly underbelly of the galaxy John not wanted to believe in so much.
Liara could somewhat understand the rash reaction the redhead came to. Quitting, telling the Alliance to go to hell, leaving the Council space. The digital paper trail Liara followed unbelievably lead her back to Omega where she started her search in the first place. Jane had been hold up in a shady motel rarely getting out of her room.
However, that whole ordeal seemed like child's play compared to seemingly insurmountable task of convincing her to take on Liara's mission. Aside from the dangerous and untrustworthy allies they will have to work with, there was the little problem of completely insane goal of this whole enterprise. Yeah, the asari could not simply came out and say, "Hey, Jane, I have not seen you for a while, but how about we go on a trip to bring your dead brother back to life?"
Liara shook her head. She hardly believed herself that those people managed to convince her that such a thing was possible. All she wanted before the mess on the ice planet was to find John's body. Liara owed the man that much. To make sure all the proper mourning rituals were preformed. He saved her and countless others, touched so many lives. John deserved a proper send off and everyone else deserved to say goodbye and maybe even get some closure. Jane most of all.
The scientist stopped to look with unseeing eyes at one of the muddy windows. She thought back to the way this crazy quest had started. After confirming that neither Alliance nor the Council would send a retrieval expedition to the Normandy crash site, she had to do something.
So she hired a freighter, a team of guides and harsh environment experts, plus some mercenaries for security just in case. It took them two weeks to reach Alchera as stealthy as a simple ship not equipped with heat emissions blocking systems like the Normandy could manage. They had to evade the salvers and weapon traders, not to mention all the Blue Suns traffic in the area.
The icy planet greeted them with the same attitude as the last time – uncaring and unapologetic at the tragedy that had occurred in the orbit high above it. Calculating the coordinates of the last battle the Normandy had lost had been an easy task thanks to the data from the on-board computers the Doctor kept on her Omni-tool.
They landed right in the middle of the crash site. The location was not that hard to find from orbit. The Normandy had been split in several main chunks that still reminded of the proud ship. The whole field was littered with the smaller pieces. The first thing Liara saw upon exiting the shuttle was the upturned and split down the middle Mako. She smiled a sad smile. At least there there was no more danger of being trapped in the belly of that beast anymore. It would have been funny that neither of the twins could drive worth a damn, if only this vehicle did not existed.
She ordered her expedition to spread out and look for any traces of a body, any body. There were several of the crew presumed mission in action, but Liara knew better. If they could find their bodies as well, then maybe some poor human parents can bury their children, too. They have been searching for no longer then six hours when it happened.
The air was filled with roaring of engines coming from several unmarked shuttles that were descending upon their camp in the middle of the crash site. The only significant detail about them were black and gray colors with red accents. The shuttles started landing between the bigger pieces of the broken up ship effectively blocking off any escape route. The doors opened releasing groups of heavily armored soldiers.
They all wore black-gray unmarked armors and closed off helmets with red stripes. The groups immediately fell into straight rows and readied their automatic weapons. The speed and efficiency of their actions screamed of military precision and discipline. But which military? Who would be conducting operations in this forgotten corner of Terminus?
The last pair to step off the shuttle encapsulated intimidation. In the front stood up the tallest salarian Liara ever saw, not that she saw many salarians, but this one looked overly muscled, trained; he wore batarian styled heavy armor and holding a monstrous looking mini-gun. He was only a head and a half shorter then his companion witch followed the salarian like a shadow. Enormous krogan wearing heavy warlord armor and playing with his as giant of a battle hammer as the krogan was himself.
The salarian scanned the small group of people gathering in the middle of the blocked off area. He frowned at the sight of the mercenaries that Liara hired picking up their weapons. He gestured to his men and bend down wounding up his mini-gun. The krogan next to him reached to the segmented belt he was wearing that inspired unpleasant associations with an overgrown centipede. He grabbed one of the cylindrical segments and detached it from the belt. The armored fingers pressed a button, release mechanism of some sort, the device in his hand began to blink and beep. The krogan swung his arm in a wide circular motion and send the cylinder flying towards the Mako.
It ricocheted off the broken vehicle with a metallic clunk, flew over the crowd of the searching party and exploded in mid-air showering them all with burning incendiary powder. The researchers and guides screamed running around in panic, the guards rushed for cover, the krogan roared with laughter brandishing his powered up hammer.
"Open fire!" barked the salarian unleashing a hellstorm of armor piercing bullets with his mini-gun.
The rows of unknown soldiers started to advance through the makeshift camp gunning down any moving target they could find. Liara hid behind one of the smaller chunks of the Normandy trying to fire from cover with her SMG. But the unrelenting stream of gunfire from all directions made it almost impossible to get out of cover for a moment longer to see anything to shoot at. The asari could hear the methodical steps of the men, their shots getting closer. She could hear the screams of the people she brought to this planet.
"Don't think of them right now! One wrong move and you will stay on this icy rock forever, T'Soni! Remember your training!"
Doctor sprinted over to the larger piece of wreckage, the chaotic amalgamation of outer hull panels and melted together parts from all over the ship. It presented a good spot for cover as it was in a ditch at the foot of the largest piece of the Normandy that remained intact surrounding her chosen spot with several inches of best turian plating. She threw a warp in the direction of the gunfire on the run not bothering to confirm if she hit anything.
An explosion of another incendiary grenade send Liara flying over the piece of outer hull. She rolled downhill on the other side of it falling down the crack between the Normandy and the icy ground below. The frozen slide took her to the underbelly of the ship, swinging and wounding among the bend out of shape support beams. Liara came to a halt abruptly crashing into a metal wall.
She got off mostly unscaled thanks to the immediately put up barrier, but the explosion had blown it out and for the moment her only protection was the light armor she was wearing. It won't fare well under fire from armor piercing rounds from that mini-gun the salarian was tirelessly wounding up. Still disoriented from the blast and the tumble down the icy slide Liara tried to shake off the ringing in her head and crawled very slowly and carefully through the labyrinth consisting of frozen chunks of the Normandy outer hull. The remains of the ship above her screeched and creaked making it hard to concentrate on the task at hand.
"Doc! T'Soni!"
The whisper came from the right. She shifted her weight around lightening her fingers on the SMG, but the figure laying flat in the snow below the sharp edges of jagged metal was familiar. Feron, one of the retrieval specialists she hired for this expedition. The drell shivered even in his formfitting green armor. Amphibian race he belonged to did not fare well in cold conditions. He gestured for her to follow, turned to his right. Feron crawled through the hole leading them away from the battle. He was moving surprisingly well in such a confined space.
Liara had no other choice but to follow. She could not take on whoever these people were on her own. Asari closed her eyes for a moment trying to push the screams and gunfire out of her mind. Liara lowered her body to lay flat on her stomach and crawled through the hole in the metal wall being careful not to cut herself on the sharp edges. It was like being willingly swallowed by some ancient enormous beast. She shivered not only from the coldness of the wind.
The narrow passageways led them further and further away from the fight. Liara thought how even after being blown to pieces and buried among the snow the Normandy was still protecting her. The silly thought had a reassuring effect on the scientist. The Normandy was the closest place she had to a home. All the dig sites she spend so much time in had never made her feel at home. The life of a secluded archeologist was simple, uncomplicated by people and intricacy's of social interactions. All she had to deal with were artifacts and old, forgotten records.
But then one day those two had to drag her out of that damned prothean dig and into the light. Liara had gotten used to the subtle hum of the engines, the smells of the medbay, that pull below the naval when the ship accelerated through the Mass Relay. But most of all, she gotten used to be surrounded by people. Liara found out how rewarding it is to make friends, build social connections with actual people instead of old recollections of the dead. The asari would have never guessed a military ship would become her home.
Liara shook her head. This was not the time to travel down the memory lane. The sound of gunfire had already become quieter, much further away. She wondered how the drell could be choosing the right direction: all the walls in this labyrinth, all the pyjak holes be they right or left seemed exactly the same to her. The greenish armor in front of her disappeared behind another wall, Liara made to follow and felt a bit better finally being able to stand. For some unknown to her reason Feron had plastered himself on the metal surface of the hull trailing upwards to dazzling height. She mirrored his movements hoping the drell knew what he was doing.
Slowly they made their was to the other side of the broken off chunk of the ship. The sounds of the firefight had completely died down. The asari was afraid to guess if it was because of the amount of snow, ice and broken ship parts or because the mercenaries in unmarked armor had already killed all other members of her expedition and were hunting them down. Feron hoped over a long steel rail sticking out of the frozen ground and started climbing up another piece of the ship wreck.
Several minutes of climbing were filled with dangerous silence only interrupted by their own muffled huffing and the swishing of the wind. Sometime on her way to the top Liara felt her barrier being restored to full strength. And just in time! She was beginning to feel frostbite creeping up her face. Asari rarely wore helmets, their biotic barriers served far better protection against bullets and elements.
Still, the doctor thought it took forever to reach a small unobstructed by hardened snow platform. Once she stood next to Feron looking on the landscape that opened up before them, she could not suppress a helpless moan. The frozen whiteness stretched out to the horizon in every direction the eye could see. Mountains of hardened snow and endless waves of white dunes were only separated by frozen over lakes and what seemed like bottomless canyons.
One such pit was right in front of them. The piece of the ship they were standing on was perched at the very edge of the cliff. The enormous plain where what was left of the Normandy was spread in uneven pieces was cut off at this point as if by a giant hand holding an even more monumental sword. As they looked down into the abyss both got the unmistakable feeling of a snarling mouth. The endless pit snarled at them showing its sharp icy teeth. Somewhere far, far away down the throat of the terrifying beast swirled white fog concealing what could be awaiting a person that might have the misfortune of falling in.
There was none, could not possibly be any escape route anywhere.
"We can't go down there." she said just to say something seeking reassurance in the sound of her own voice.
"No, we can't." the drell echoed her sentiment. "Our only hope is to hide and try to wait them out. "
Feron paused observing the terrain, nodded to himself and started to the left apparently seeing something that satisfied his search. Or maybe the drell was grasping at straws as the humans say. Liara couldn't tell either way.
"Come on, Doctor!" he called after her.
What happened next played out in slow motion searing the images into her mind. First she heard a tiny squeaking noise similar to one space hamsters make. It quickly rose to high pitched screeching. Then she saw the masses snow that were swept up on top of the wreckage beginning to move: trails of white were flowing indifferent directions, chunks of pressed snow were falling off. The high pitched noise stopped abruptly. There was another sound of piping cork and the ice mountain behind them exploded in millions of small pieces raining all over the place. Liara felt the surface she was standing upon shaking, contorting... and then it was gone! The hill was collapsing on itself surrounding them in cacophony of breaking, screeching frozen metal and plastic.
Liara fell and slid down the shaking slope spinning uncontrollably. The snarling icy mouth was greeting her with a hungry grown of the collapse. This was the end. But just as this panicky thought entered her mind her body flipped around and she landed hard on a small edge. The fall kicked all the air out of the Doctor. She could not even cry out in pain. Liara tried to get up from laying flat on her back ignoring the sharp pain surging up her spine, but that proven to be a challenge. The tiny ledge was covered generously with ice, thin layers intermingled with big, cracking under her weight, chunks. Liara almost slid off to her doom several times before she managed to find her balance.
"Doc!"
The muffled call came from below the ledge. The asari moved gingerly on her hands and knees to the edge. The gaping chasm in all of its terrifying glory made her dizzy. But the sight of the drell hanging on directly below her had made her forget all about the hungrily awaiting death. Now she knew exactly were they were. Or what part of the ship they were clinging to. This was an upper section of the Normandy outer hull. The ledge that saved her life usually would be covering the escape pod below. There was no escape pod now through: all shuttles were discharged during the attack. Protective plate remained in the same position it was left.
Feron was holding on to the edge of the empty launch shaft. The asari planted herself on the plate trying to find some way to hold on with her legs. She finally wiggled her feet behind one of the ice formations. Hoping it will suffice Liara lowered her upper body over the ledge. Surprisingly it was enough to reach the hand Feron had extended up. Their palms locked on each others forearms.
"Feron, you'll have to climb up on your own! I can not pull you up!" Liara shouted praying he could do it.
The drell nodded and fixed his other hand more firmly on the half-broken off piece of railing. He then pulled one of his legs up putting it on the edge of the opening. He proceeded to do the same with his other leg obviously intending on standing up. Balancing his trained frame against the opening was a good enough idea, but what happened was the opposite. His foot slipped on the ice throwing his whole body out of balance. The next moment the drell was hanging above the endless pit, his only support being Liara's hand. Suddenly being weighted down by a whole another body Liara slid a few inches further down the edge. Feron tried to swing back towards the escape shaft, but his every movement only made Liara slid more, the ice underneath her armor was cracking. Finally the drell looked with with acceptance written across his amphibian face.
"Just let go." he said calmly. "There is no reason for both of us to die in this frozen hellhole."
"No!" exclaimed Liara trying desperately to pull him up.
She will not let another person die because of her mission! These people followed her here, and what did they get in return? If she can only save one person out of all the members of her expedition! Her desperate attempts had only worsened the situation. The asari could feel the strain in her already bruised back muscles, the sharp pain in her shoulder and ankles. I was inevitable: sooner or later her body would simply not be able to hold onto Feron's arm anymore. She will either let him go or follow the drell into the jaws of the ice beast patiently awaiting for the meal below.
Tears swelled at her eyes. Pain and desperation fought for control on her strained, going ever deeper shade of purple from the rush of blood face.
Several black ropes fell untangling past them on the left. Those are the unknown mercenaries, here to finish the job, thought Liara in despair. Then she registered the look of extreme surprise on Feron's face. Maybe that were not the black armored soldiers after all. Why would they use ropes anyway? They had no qualms about using bullets as a greeting before. Whoever that was, Liara herself was in no position to look up or to try to locate her discarded during the fall SMG. She was not going to give up on Feron until the very last moment.
Two figures clad in white-gold armors descended the wreckage. One proceeded lower swinging towards thew drell. Liara felt the other one step on the ledge next to her. Two strong hands grasped at her shoulders giving the asari a measure of much needed support. The voice she heard next to her crest was that of a woman. She had one of those odd Earth accents Liara found fascinating.
"Doctor T'Soni, there is no need to panic, we are here to help. My partner will help to secure your friend and we will be able to get out of here."
Liara could not even nod her understanding, all of her strength was spend keeping Feron from falling. The man in white armor wrapped a harness around the drell's shoulders pulling harshly at the locks to make sure they will hold. Then his reflective helmet angled up and he gave a thumbs up to the woman.
"Doctor, you can let go now." seeing as Liara could not release her iron grip on Feron's forearm, the woman slid down and relaxed her fingers gently. "It is alright. He will not fall."
Finally Liara managed to release her hold and both men swung freely on the rope. As soon as they could grab onto the ship's surface they started climbing up helping each other along. Liara rolled off the edge and onto her back feeling relieved, but also exhausted. The woman busied herself with fixing the harness on Liara, giving her medi-gel and some kind of stimulant that invigorated the Doctor in minutes – all without asking the asari for permission. Once that all was done she pulled Liara up to her legs forcefully.
"I know you are tired and hurt, Doctor, but we have to move now. The medi-gel and stimulants will have to suffice for the moment."
"Who... Who are you?" asked the scientist.
Suspicion rose like an icky disease inside of her. Liara was not used to evaluating people for trust, it seemed barbaric to the Doctor, but she saw enough of the galaxy to lower her expectations of the goodness in the hearts of the larger portion of its populace. Although, seeing how she had no other choice, the asari stepped forward to start their climb regardless.
"Let's get out of danger first and I will explain. It would be ill-advised to start long conversations on a side of a crumbling wreckage of a ship."
Liara could see her point. They started the climb in silence catching up to the two figures already half-way to the top.
. . .
The dirty-white and gold Kodiak shuttle was hidden about fifty meters away from the crash site. Another man in black-gold armor was waiting for them there. Everyone had entered the shuttle with the new man closing the door behind them.
Suddenly Liara felt trapped. These people saved her life, but she still had no idea who they were or what they wanted. As if in answer to her panicky thoughts the latest addition to their party produced a pistol pointing in the direction where Liara and Feron stood.
"Do not make any sudden movements," he said in a flat, monotone voice that still carried a sharp threat.
Doctor tensed up wishing she had the foresight to pick up her SMG after the "rescue", genuine intent of witch seemed dubious right about now. No matter, her best weapon were always her biotics. Training aboard the Normandy with Jane had molded the previously shy asari into a very capable fighter. Her preparations for a fight were interrupted by the woman.
"Doctor T'Soni, please move behind me."
Only now the asari realized that the pistol was pointing at the center of Feron's chest, not at her! Reluctantly she complied, but exclaimed right away hoping against reason this could be resolved peacefully:
"What is happening? Why have you saved our lives if you wanted to kill us later?"
"You are in no danger, Doctor." answered the woman not taking her eyes off the drell. Apparently she was the one in charge. "In any case not from us. You lack several key pieces of information. The expedition you have brought here was attacked by the Shadow Broker's Retrieval Team. The Broker is after the same thing you are – Shepard's body, but for different reasons. However, he did not have exact location of the attack on the Normandy to extrapolate the crash site. Not until very recently. Can you venture a guess as to how his elite enforcing team had found you?"
"The same way you people did?" suggested Liara frowning her brow ironically. She was no longer that shy, babbling asari scientist that got trapped in the same prothean device she was supposed to be studying. Liara had survived a lot, learned what life was outside of remote digs.
"Not exactly." continued the woman unperturbed by the quip. "But we will discuss our side later, there is one more pressing issue to deal with first. Him." she pointed at the drell. "How about you save us the time and start talking? T'Soni almost gave her life trying to save yours, the least you can do is tell her the truth."
The drell shrugged.
"Judging by the fact that I'm still alive, I'll take it you want something from me. Well, so be it." he turned his head towards Liara. "Doctor, I am – or was, depending on the point of view – an agent of the Shadow Broker. He gave me the task of spying on you. The Broker wants Commander Shepard's body. For what purpose, I don't know. I have transmitted your calculations on the Normandy's last location sixteen hours before we reached Alchera. I will not apologize for doing my job, more so since I was not aware of the Brokers intentions concerning the rest of the expedition. I do want to thank you for saving my life."
He turned back to the woman surveying her posture with wrapped attention as he could not see her face through the tinted vizor of the helmet.
"I assume you want to either interrogate or recruit me. Otherwise I would already be dead. Both options are negotiable at this point. I do not hold on to any uncompromising loyalty to the Shadow Broker. Tazzik, the salarian with the mini-gun," he added glancing at Liara, "opened fire straight up, although he saw me being in his line of fire. The intent was obvious. There is no point in being loyal to an employer who wants to kill you."
The woman stayed silent for a while contemplating what to do. After coming to some kind of decision, she addressed the drell.
"It is not my place to make a call on the matter. I will have to inform someone who has the authority to make it."
"You mean the Illusive Man," said the drell matter-of-factly.
"Those are some deduction skills, drell!" commented one of the men.
"Not really. Firstly, you had to have the resources to track us down and get here undetected. Secondly, you are all human. Cerberus becomes the obvious choice. And, thirdly, you just confirmed it." Feron shrugged again. "It was a well informed, educated guess, nothing more."
The woman stepped up to his taking something out of her pocket.
"Regardless of your deduction skills or lack there of, we can not allow you to interfere or to be in a position to access any information from this point on."
"Drugs?" he asked raising a brow. There was a flicker of understanding in his amphibian eyes.
She pulled out a portable injector and had an impression of looking him straight in the eyes from the other side of the tinted vizor.
"Hyctechlorostephan. 36 hours of dreamless sleep. No side effects for any of the Council species. Very humane outcome considering the situation, don't you think?"
The drell did not answer turning his head to give her access to his neck instead. The operative moved with incredible speed. Liara only had the time to blink once and Feron was already slumped in a chair while the woman was packing the injector back in her pocket. She addressed Liara.
"It is regrettable you had to witness such a scene, Doctor. It was unavoidable. However, now we can answer any questions you have."
All three started to remove their helmets. Liara watched with reserved interest on the people she was not sure were allies or enemies.
The man in black-gold armor had light skin with yellowish sheen and straight black hair. His brown eyes were shaped differently then Liara saw on humans before. They were longer, more oval as if the owner was squinting a bit all the time. The other man in white-gold armor had dark skin like the Normandy's former CO David Anderson. His eyes were darker and he had a buzz-cut and a stubble just like John indicating a military man.
The last one to reveal her face was the woman. As soon as the helmet left her head spectacular waterfall of silky black hair rained on her shoulders. She has icy blue eyes ready to match in their cold splendor the frozen lakes outside, high well-sculpted cheekbones that found the precisely right place on an oval shaped face. It was oddly harmonic in it's symmetry, a trait not many natural faces, not touched by surgical equipment, shared. Her skin glowed with that special inner light of a living specimen at the top of its form and impeccable health.
It was most likely the most beautiful human she had ever met, thought Liara to herself. It was taking all of her concentration to keep her features relaxed. Asari hoped she had made the impression of polite interest instead of the jumbled bag of mixed emotions that was jumping up and down inside of her.
"I am Miranda Lawson." introduced herself the brunette in her strange accent first, then she nodded to the other one: "This is Jacob Taylor and the man that went into the forward section is Kai Leng. Since our drell companion has already correctly deduced our affiliation I will simply confirm his guess. Yes, we are with Cerberus."
"The human-centric terrorist group? Why would you help me of all people? Why do you want John's body? I was with the Major and Commander Shepard. I remember the missions involving Cerberus. We have seen your experiments. Is that the reason you want something form me?"
The two agents exchanged blank, unreadable looks.
"Doctor T'Soni," started Operative Lawson again. It was clearly evident that she was carefully choosing her words. "I can not deny that some of Cerberus negative reputation is well earned. However, right now we are the best and, frankly, the only hope you have of getting John Shepard back. All that we ask is that you come with us and hear out the man in charge."
"What if I don't want to go with you? Or is it a single option proposition."
"First of all, you can not stay here. The Shadow Broker men will have this system under control in a few hours. Your freighter had already been boarded. No ship will be able to leave this quadrant without the Broker knowing about it. If you stay on the planet you'll have two choices: either get captured or freeze to death." Seeing an alarmed expression flooding to the surface despite Liara's best efforts, Miranda continued more openly. "We won't hold you against your will. As soon as we get to our destination and hand over Feron to Cerberus interrogators you are free to leave. But I strongly recommend that you speak with the Illusive Man before you make your final decision, Doctor."
Liara looked them up and down visually appearing deep in thought. Were it not for the time spend on the Normandy, her training with Jane, all that they have been through together, the asari would have been scared, distraught and at a loss about what to do. But all of it happened leaving it's trace on her, shaping her character, her will. Liara had reinforced her resolve to go through with what she set out to do. No matter what.
"What about Shepard's body?" asked she after a prolonged silence. "We haven't had much time to search for it..."
"It wouldn't have mattered." The black man – Taylor, was it? – had addressed her for the first time. "I'm sorry you have lost so many members of your expedition, Doctor. It will sound harsh, but your search and their deaths have been irrelevant. The Shadow Broker people had picked up Shepard's body about 20 miles from here over five hours ago."
"We intend to get it back." interjected Miranda.
"Why?"
"That you will have to ask the Illusive Man."
"Very well then. Where are we going?"
Liara had to ask the question mid motion. The shuttle had started up and was already rising off the frozen surface. She hurried to seat down and strap up in the usual harness. Liara knew how much turbulence such a small ship could get during an atmospheric exit. Miranda was busy securing herself and the drell prisoner next to her so the asari got the answer form Operative Taylor.
"According to our inside sources, the Broker's men will need additional equipment to preserve the body and very specific transporting conditions as well. We are going to Omega. The station is the hottest transit port in the Terminus. One way or the other, we will either catch up to them there or get a tip on the location of their transport vessel. See, Doctor, we will not hide anything important form you."
Liara did not answer. The turbulence started in serious and she had chosen to table all the questions until later. Whether or not the Illusive Man can convince her of his good intentions, Liara knew she did not really have a choice if she wanted to get to the bottom of this. She sighed and closed her eyes hoping that the ride would go by quickly.
Her second visit to the icy planet had demanded a price in blood. Again. As an archeologist she knew that the old civilizations often held beliefs in evil gods and demons inhabiting certain physical locations. The asari could never quite understand such superstition, the beliefs of her own people always leaned towards metaphysical, ephemeral entities.
That is until now. Alchera made her understand. Such an unfeeling, unforgiving place. Almost like it had a mind of its own. A cruel, malevolent mind.
The asari that opened her eyes was looking at the dusty window. Reminiscing of that frozen planet made her feel cold even in the dry, ever recycled air of Omega. Liara shivered and wrapped her arms around the shoulders looking unsure all of a sudden. She kept pushing all her insecurities, all the loss and morning, her guilt and hurt away into the furthest corner of her mind. As long as the Doctor kept busy she did not have time to dwell upon the truly dark thoughts so unfamiliar to her. However, she did not get an opportunity to allow depression to set in.
The monitors released a quiet melodic sound. Perimeter alarm. Liara sprung into action. She moved back to her equipment to check the cameras. Outside the main entrance to the facility stood a figure obscured by shadows and poor camera angle. Liara haven't seen the woman in months, but it would be impossible not to recognize her. Even dressed in average civil clothing Jane had a certain aura about her.
Asari unlocked the door remotely and send a line of simple directions to Shepard's Omni-tool. The Doctor did not move away from her monitors tracking her guest through the surveillance instead. When Jane was on her way to the abandoned looking office Liara stood up, ran her hands over her simple white-blue light armor that served as a lab coat at the same time. It was unobtrusive and comfortable to wear, but most importantly it did not look completely out of place on Omega. The asari exhaled slowly trying to calm her nerves. She had maybe one chance to convince Jane to help and she was not about to waste it.
Liara listened to the firm steps up the ladder and stepped forward herself when the door swung open. Jane entered the room, had a quick look around letting the door close on its own. There was a small smile that appeared on her in reaction to the bouncing on her toes asari figure in front of her. Liara was fiddling with her tightly clasped hands. It vividly reminded both of them of the first few weeks the Doctor spend on the Normandy.
"Hey, Blue, long time no see," greeted her Jane taking off the hood of her black battered hoody. "Love what you've done with the place."
Bright scarlet locks spread about her shoulders looking as messed up as always. Liara noticed how the ends of her hair hanged a few inches below the shoulders. Jane obviously stopped following the military regulations. The scientist took in her friend as a whole. Black civilian clothes and army boots were a bit out of character, but, truth be told, Liara rarely ever saw Jane out of uniform so that change hardly could tell her much. More worrying was the former Major's posture – relaxed, only kept straight by the persistent habit earned through the years of training.
Jane's face used to split in broad smiles and shine with unsuppressed laughter. Her freckles used to remind of little burning sparks complementing the blazing hair. Used to. Now she was somber, overtaken by exhaustion and deeply seeded grief. The tiny smile Jane gave Liara as a greeting was no more then a pale imitation of the redhead's previously spry, brimming with energy self. Her fire had dimmed, hiding away, but hopefully not yet completely extinguished.
The asari was reflectively reminded of some ancient legends that postulated that twins shared one life. If one of them were to be injured or died so would the other. It seemed like the death of her brother had drained all the joy and the will to live out of Jane. Former Major was by no means broken, not completely swallowed by the tragedy, but something was definitely off about her.
"Ahm... It's good to see you, Jane." said Liara making a tentative step towards her.
Next moment the asari was pulled in a tight hug. The redhead swept her off her feet and spun them around. Jane sniggered into the blue neck at the audibly surprised gasps Liara let out. Shepard let her go and proceeded to walk around the room looking at things. The asari felt her cheeks going a deep shade of purple.
"Blue, you really need to get more used to socializing with people." Jane chuckled, some of the glow returned to her face. "How about we find you some friends, maybe a boyfriend... or a girlfriend, here on Omega?"
Liara spluttered at the suggestion. She cleared her throat staring wide-eyed at the sniggering human.
"N-no, Shepard. I think I can survive without a bunch of mercenaries and weapon smugglers in my life. And I don't need a boyfriend, thank you very much."
"Girlfriend it is." nodded the redhead with an overly serious tone. "It's not so bad here. Not everyone is a piece of scum, although there are a lot of that, too. But there are people living here, just people. At the very least, they do mix a damn good blasteria about these parts."
Slowly the shadow moved back across her face. Jane moved across the room and perched herself on the wide window border. She was back to her somber expression like the display of affection had tired her out.
"I don't suppose you have something to drink in here, huh, Blue?"
"No, I'm afraid not." Liara took a seat on her swivel chair. "That might have been a good idea. How are you doing, Jane?"
"Fine, whatever. I'm getting along swimmingly."
"Jane..." The asari looked at her with genuine concern. "I would never have guessed I'd find you on Omega. What are you doing here?"
The redhead raised her head preparing a defiant retort about how Liara should mind her own business, but her emerald eyes were met with no judgment or disapproval; she could only see concern and worry on her behalf. Liara smiled reassuringly offering to hear her out like she had done many times before.
Jane sighed and slumped down shifting her weight on her elbows parked on her knees. All the defiance left her as swiftly as it had appeared. She lowered her head and buried the palms of her hands in the scarlet hair.
"I... I don't know, Blue." The redhead stared at the rusty, dirty floor with unseeing eyes. "I thought I could just barrel through this shit, you know? Threw myself back into work. Could not stand to be alone with my thoughts. Anything to get away from... It was nice, actually. Getting back together with some of my old unit, running simple, straight forward missions outside of Council jurisdiction, not bogged down by Alliance regs. Well," she smiled sadly, "simple in comparison. After the shit we did running circles after Saren the usual Black Ops seemed like a walk in the park. No nightmarish outer space monsters, just the usual monsters. No brain-frying prothean Beacons. Just a goal and a lot of hard work."
"Have you had any more visions?" interjected Liara.
Jane let her hands fall between her knees and shook her head. Liara knew better then to press the subject. If Shepard had a problem with the prothean data locked in her mind, she would have told her. Instead the asari tried asking about something else. Anything to pry Jane open, to shake her out of this downer, almost apathetic mood.
"So why did you quit then? If it was going so well. I only managed to track you down through the digital trail. You withdrew all of your and John's savings. For a former undercover operative your transactions were surprisingly easy to trace."
Jane got up abruptly. She turned to face the wall and put her hands on it. The pose screamed of desperation, something that Jane was trying to hide.
"That's because I wasn't hiding, dum-dum. What would be the point?"
"But why Omega, Jane? Why not go back to Earth or your home planet?"
"Omega felt like a natural fit, is all. It's in the Terminus. No one gives a shit what you do here as long as you've got the credits. And, by the way," she glanced back at Liara with a dark ironic smirk. "I was not kidding about the blasteria."
"Jane!" exclaimed Liara slightly scandalized by the her attitude. Did Jane really not care about anything anymore aside form wallowing in her fuming mood and drowning her grief in intoxicants?
"WHAT?!" Finally exploded the redhead rounding up on Liara. "Was I supposed to play the good soldier? Fight on for this galaxy that doesn't seem to give a flying fuck? Retire to Santa Monica and enjoy some of those cute cocktails with a tiny umbrella? Have you seen what they have done, huh?!"
Seeing a puzzled expression on the asari's face Jane put her arms in the air and growled in helpless rage. She started to pace slicing the air with vicious movements of her arms. Her usually unimposing body was boiling with pent up anger and resentment.
"The bastards kept his vids in circulation! The first human Spectre, Hero of The Citadel! Of course, they just could not pass up on such a spectacular enlisting incentive! The Normandy's last mission is classified and still appears to be active! Sounds so much fucking better then 'we don't know who blew up our best stealth ship and killed Commander Shepard', doesn't it?! I can not believe I gave most of my life to the Alliance only to be rewarded with fucking goddamned THIS kind of shit!"
"Jane, calm down! I'm sure people in charge had good reasons to keep the attack a secret."
"No!" The freckled face contorted in a nasty snarl. "I know how the Admiralty operates! They denied my requests for a covert retrieval operation seven times! Seven motherfucking times! The fuckers would not even allow me to bury him! How could I follow their orders after that?!"
"Jane..." whispered the asari. She knew something was wrong, but did not expect such an outburst.
The human woman was unexpectedly still opposite the dirty window. She looked dangerously concentrated like a predator about to strike.
"Have you been to the Citadel since Alchera, Blue?" asked the former Major in a low, seething voice.
"Um... No. I was... busy. Garrus told me you stopped by. One of the reasons I managed to find you."
"Did he now..." slowly drawled Jane full of venom. "The moron ran back to the Council at the first opportunity! Wants to be a Spectre, the damned fool. All that talk about turian honor and duty... What a bunch of steaming crap! Wasn't he supposed to be John's..." she stumbled at the name inhaling deeply. "Wasn't he supposed to be his friend? Just look at him now – another Council lackey wannabe!"
Jane stopped in her tracks to face Liara. Her features were contorted in a violent snarl. The redhead projected hatred and disgust like rays of radiation. Liara could swear she could feel the heat coming from her friend on her skin. When Jane spoke it came out as if she was spitting out toxic waste.
"My dear prothean expert, do you know what the Council had done with our warnings? Shoved them up our collective asses, that's what! They have contained the remnants of Sovereign. Labeled it the newest geth invention. Ha! The Citadel networks are probably still screaming about the 'geth attack'! Or Saren's attempt to conquer the Citadel. All mentions of the Reapers have been scrubbed off the Citadel's terminals. How about a kicker, huh? What was left of Saren's cybernetic body was conveniently destroyed in transit! He had asked me to save those blind, stubborn, arrogant fuckers and what do they do now? Hide their heads up each others asses! Sixty seven ships! Is that the thank you those men and women deserve?! Is that the thank you I get for almost having my brain scrambled into gray mush just so that the potheans could deliver a fucking message?!"
Jane inhaled heavily apparently not finished with her speech.
"No! No-no, no! I am so done with all of this bullshit! No one listened to me, to him!" Jane gestured to Liara, pointing at her with brutal motions. "No one listened to you! The expert, goddamned prothean scientist! This fucking galaxy can go straight up the Reapers throats! Let them choke on it! Agrgaaagh!"
Jane screamed brandishing her fists at the ceiling. Then she stumbled backwards to the wall and slid down to the floor. She was changing moods from anger to depression at a flip of a switch somewhere inside of her. Witch was being flipped with worrying frequency. The redhead sighed sitting up in an exhausted pile against the wall. She spoke again in a hollow, broken voice:
"John... He did not deserve his memory to be treated this way. I... I wanted to go there, get his body. I don't know, bring it back to Mindoir, spread the ashes in the forests where we hid and survived as kids. But... I couldn't. The mere thought of going back to that place..."
She groaned and hid her face in her hands. Jane did not hear the quiet, soft steps. She winced as the gentle blue hands slowly took her own away from her face. Liara was kneeling in front of her. The asari was smiling, but her eyes remained serious.
"I was there. Got a small ship, expedition crew. I went to Alchera to retrieve John's and whoever else' bodies."
"You did?" All the hurt and anger that dominated Jane's features so much were replaced with an incredulous frown.
"I did." confirmed Liara.
"So... Did you get him?" Jane could not bring herself to utter the word "body" out loud.
The asari averted her eyes.
"No. It did not go well. We were ambushed. Someone else was after his body as well. They took it away. I'm sorry, Jane. That is one of the reasons I need your help."
The redhead straightened up, there was a small flicker of renewed fire deep within her emerald eyes. She leaned forward and gripped tightly at Liara's arms.
"Tell me everything!" she demeaned fervently.