Chapter 19: Information To Die For
Shepard woke up to an annoying beeping coming from her omni-tool. It was the last day of their short stay at Omega, so Shepard shouldn't have been surprised to have been woken up by the notification on her device.
As carefully as shep could, Shepard slipped out of the embrace that she and Garrus had been sleeping in. She couldn't help but smile a little at the small sound of protest her lover made at the loss of contact. Shepard quietly padded over to her discarded omni-tool, that was laying in a pile of discarded clothes and armor pieces, and slipped the device on.
The soft orange glow of the device flared into the room when Shepard brought up the message she'd received. Rah had sent her a message at some point during the night and flagged it as urgent. Shepard was puzzled about what it was that would cause the N7 to send her a message that was flagged this way, until she opened it.
Shepard quickly scanned the contents of the message and froze at what she read. It was an intel briefing on a potential high profile assassination. The target, her friend Liara. Rah had sent her the message saying that Liara was getting too close to the Shadow Broker, while it was good for everyone for the Broker to fall, Liara had been found out.
Shepard glanced over her shoulder to see that Garrus was still sleeping. She quickly sent Joker a message with orders to get them to Ilium as soon as the last of the crew returned to the ship.
Shepard powered off her omni-tool and slipped back into bed, slithering back in next to Garrus. She buried her face in his leathery neck and tried to let his soothing smell calm her nerves.
"What's wrong Kate?" Garrus asked, stirring slightly.
"Nothing, go back to sleep." Shepard smiled to him, placing a light kiss on his neck.
"I know when you're lying. Whatever it is, you can tell me." Garrus spoke to her soothingly, his talons beginning to trace aimless patterns on her back.
"Liara's in trouble." Shepard told him. Garrus made a rumble in his chest, urging her to continue.
"She's been tracking the Shadow Broker, hunting him down. Until now, she hasn't been in danger, but somehow she got some information that has made the Broker turn his attention to her." Shepard told him, beginning to trace the lines of the plates ong Garrus' chest.
"Liara's a smart one. She will be safe until we get there." Garrus told her, pulling back slightly and meeting his gaze with hers.
"As long as we have anything to say about it, our friends are always safe." Garrus told her soothingly and touched his forehead to hers.
"This is why I love you Garrus." Shepard smiled to him. Shepard mentally kicked herself when he froze up. Neither of them had actually said the words even though they both knew they felt it. They thought that something horribly wrong would go wrong the moment they said those words.
"I love you too Kate." Garrus replied after his body relaxed. Shepard met his gaze and saw that they held nothing but the love he spoke of.
"Never thought the galaxy would survive the great Commander Shepard admitting that she loves a failed cop and Turian vigilante." Garrus chuckled before nuzzling her neck.
"It won't when you tell your parents." Shepard grinned back to him. Garrus pulled away and gave her a pleading look.
"I don't really have to do I?" Garrus asked, and Shepard gave him a hurt look.
"Ashamed of your girlfriend being a human now are you?" Shepard asked, her gaze dropping from his.
Garrus gently made her look back up at him, his eyes apologetic. "I will never be ashamed of what it is we have." Garrus told her as lovingly as he could.
"But I'd like to wait until we're done with suicide missions before we start that one." Garrus told her, a half smile coming to his face.
"You don't think your family would like me do you?" Shepard asked, pulling herself as close to him as she could.
"My father will never approve of any choice I make." Garrus chuckled, his subvocals sending a rumble through both their bodies.
"My sister and mother are a different story." Garrus told her softly.
Shepard felt her heart sink. She had never realized just how little she knew the man she loved. She had told Garrus everything about her that she could, some things she wouldn't be able to tell her mother or even the Prime Minister of the Alliance. Garrus however hadn't told her much about his past. She supposed that she had never really asked and he had always paid more attention to what it was that made her the person she was than sharing his own story.
"Tell me about your family Garrus." Shepard told him, asked really.
"Well, you already know that my father is the poster boy for what a Turian should be." Garrus mussed.
He had indeed told her that. On the first Normandy, Garrus had finally come to grips with the fact that he wouldn't live up to his father's expectations of him. When she found him on Omega, she learn that he stopped caring altogether about what his father thought of him.
"My sister is a 'normal' Turian, unlike me. She does what she's told, but when our father wasn't around, she could be quite the free spirit." Garrus told her, smiling wistfully.
"You'd like her. Strong headed when she wants to be, but she's got her head on straight." Garrus told her. "Has a knack for tech, not like Tali does, but damn close."
"What about your mother?" Shepard asked and Garrus paused.
"She's like me. Not a very good Turian, but good person. She's the one that taught me how to shoot." Garrus told her. Shepard could tell however that there was something that he wasn't telling her. If there was something that he didn't want to tell her, Shepard was sure that he eventually would, when he was ready.
"It's been a while since you've seen them, hasn't it?" Shepard asked, her voice small. Garrus nodded.
"Last time I saw them was shortly after your death." GArrus told her, choking out the last word. While Shepard may be fine with having died and come back, Garrus still wasn't.
Shepard silenced Garrus by pressing her lips to his mouth plates. WHen they parted, Shepard smiled to her lover.
"When this is all over, we should go and see them." Shepard told him softly.
"I'd like that." Garrus smiled back.
Shepard smiled slightly when she felt the mass effect fields power up around the ship. It seems that every had come back sooner than expected. Shepard and Garrus watched through the window above their bed when the stars began moving. While at first the view was unnerving, with Garrus next to her she quickly got used to the view.
Rah rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands. Between killing Samara's daughter and needing to repay a few favours for Aria, mostly killing people that she couldn't kill herself, it had been a long night. When he got back to the Normandy Fox alerted him to a priority message from Admiral Hackett. It seemed that the high ranking intelligence agents in the Alliance had found evidence of heavy movement from the Shadow Broker and his agents. All of the movement was directed at Nos Astros on Ilium, and at one individual in particular.
Rah had quickly forwarded the message to Shepard. He knew just as well as anyone how much her friends ment to her. He also knew what happened when they were taken from her.
Rah sighed and lay down on his hammock. If it weren't for his mind being distracted, he would probably ponder just where it was that Hackett had gained this information. Even he was still surprised at where the Alliance had positioned agents, it almost reminded him of the book Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Rah's mind however refused to stop cursing himself over his mistakes. The most recent one dealing with a bald headed biotic woman. When Rah had told her about what he had done after he had escaped the Cerberus lab, he had crossed a line. There was no need for anyone to know about what horrible things he had done other than himself. Jack certainly didn't need to know it, and didn't ask to know about it. He didn't know why he confided his dark secret in her, but he did it. He had likely destroyed any chance of friendship with the woman then and he would suffer for his choice until the chance to leave the ship presented itself.
Rah felt an unexplainable weariness settle over him. He let himself be pulled into the dark abyss that was sleep. He was out cold however, when the lift doors opened and a nervous pair of eyes settled onto him. He never knew about the eyes watching him for several moments before the lift doors sealed once more.
"Shepard." Samara's cool voice filled Shepard's cabin after the Asari stepped in. Shepard smiled up at Samara from her desk. She had asked the Matriarch to come and see her after the crew was told that they were on the way to Ilium.
"What is it that you need of me Commander?" Samara asked and Shepard stood up, thinking it disrespectful to talk to a justicar while seated.
"I would like to ask two things of you, one is business and the other you don't need to answer if you don't want to." Shepard told the other woman gently. Samara nodded after a few moments of silence.
"I remember you saying something about having contacts on Illium that might be able to help us a while ago. What kind of help would they be able to give?" Shepard asked.
"They would be able to give the Normandy some needed upgrades. From what I remember of the reports from your death, the Collectors cut through your old ship with ease. My contacts would be able to help in that aspect." Samara told her evenly, not betraying any emotion.
"If you wouldn't mind, please get them in touch with me. With what we're going up against, we'll need all the help we can get." Shepard told her, a thankful look on her face.
Samara nodded. "What else was it that you wished to ask?" Samara asked her. For once, Shepard thought she saw a flash of emotion, what it was Shepard couldn't tell.
"I was wondering why it is that you have been more withdrawn than usual. Since the second day on Omega, you've seemed more distant. Is something wrong?" Shepard asked, letting her concern for the older woman show in her voice and face.
"It would be best for me to tell you this Shepard." Samara sighed out, a look of almost defeat in her eyes.
"Major Carmine asked to go to Omega to help me with a family matter. You remember that fugitive I was tracking when you found me on Illium?" Samara asked and Shepard nodded.
"I tracked her down to Omega. And that fugitive was my daughter." Samara told shepard. Shepard felt her heart break at the words.
"Oh my God Samara, what happened?" Shepard asked, pleading the other woman to confide in her.
"My daughter was an Ardat-Yakshi. In place of living a peaceful life in seclusion, she decided to run, killing as she desired." Samara told Shepard. Shepard had heard of Ardat-Yakshi's before, everyone in the Ghosts had.
"I asked Major Carmine to help me lure out my daughter so that….. so that I could kill her." Samara sighed out. "Major Carmine killed her before I even had the chance to do so."
Shepard looked at the matriarch with a puzzled expression. "Why is this bothering you so much? Wouldn't being spared needing to kill your own daughter put you at ease?"
"No." Samara told her, looking up to meet Shepard's eyes. "It was my duty to kill her, my feelings on the matter do not matter."
"Samara." Shepard spoke softly, gently placing a hand on the other woman's arm. "It may not matter to you if you need to live with something, but to people like Rah and I, it does."
Samara raised an eyebrow and Shepard gave her a sad smile.
"Both of us have blood on our hands that we should never have had put there, but it is. Rah knows better than anyone what it's like to kill a family member. He did what he thought was best." Shepard told Samara, holding in a shudder.
Rah had told Shepard about what had happened to him as a kid after Jane had been killed. Shepard was a mess after that, and somehow, knowing that someone had it worse and was pulling her back up had helped her to move on. As far as Shepard knew, she was the only person Rah had told about that. As far as the alliance was concerned, the person that broke into his family's home had killed them, not him.
"Trust me when I say this Samara, Rah did what he did to keep you from feeling the guilt he lives with every day. Had I been there, I would have done the same thing." Shepard told the other woman as warmly as she could.
"Thank you Shepard. This…. this is eye opening." Samara sighed. Shepard nodded and the Justicar left her cabin.
Shepard smiled to herself and sat back down. She was glad to know that her friend was still the one that would hold the burdens of others for them, whether that asked for it or not. She just hoped that he wouldn't be crushed under that weight while holding it alone.
"Shepard! Garrus! Tali!" Liara's voice filled her office when the doors hissed open. Liara beamed up to her three friends that had walked into her office.
"This is unexpected, but not in the least unpleasant." Liara grinned to the three standing up from her desk and stepping around it.
"We were in the neighborhood." Garrus shrugged, grinning at the Asari.
Liara rushed forward and quickly pulled Garrus into a hug. The Turian looked at her awkwardly before returning it. Liara quickly did the same to both Shepard and Tali.
"How've you been Liara?" Tali asked after she had hugged her friend.
"I've been doing well." Liara beamed at the three of them. "I just wished I had more time is all."
"I'm really busy right now. If the three of you wouldn't mind, why don't we catch up over dinner later?" Liara asked, her voice told them that everything was fine and dandy in the world, but her eyes told them that it wasn't safe to talk here.
"We'd love to." Shepard grinned to her, giving her a slight nod.
"Great! I'll send you the address for my appartment, meet me there around 1900?" Liara asked and all three of them nodded.
"We'll see you then Liara." Tali smiled to her friend, hugging her again before the three of them left.
Once her door slid shut again, Liara shank down into her chair. She needed someone to talk to about everything that she had found, about what she needed to do. She needed her friends now more than ever before, she was just glad that they had stopped by before she had the chance to ask them here.
Rah readjusted the shoulder strap to a gym bag that he'd found in a supply crate on the Normandy. The heavy bag was now filled with a few of his favored weapons and a few tools to maintain them with. Once they had docked at Nos Astros, Rah had sent out a message to one of the Asari that ran a smaller gun shop at the port. HE had gone to her everytime he had come to Ilium and he'd yet to leave it without some sort of upgrades to his weapons.
The Asari who ran the shop always had something there that would be able to give him just a bit more of an improvement to any weapon he brought to her. She was even nice enough to let him do his modifications in the back room of the store, while she tried flirting with him as he worked.
He figured he would take the time now to drop by and see if he could get any more improvements done, and also had a few parts replaced.
Rah caught himself grinning about all the various things he might be able to do when the doors to the elevator opened up on the crew deck. A smiling Kelly CHambers stepped in and noticed the button for the CIC already lit up.
"Heading somewhere Rah?" Kelly asked once the doors closed. Rah had to keep himself from rolling his eyes at seeing that CHambers saw eyeing his form through the light material of his shirt.
"Going to go and see a friend of mine. See if she can't help me with a few... problems." Rah told her, hoping that the emphasis on the last word would stop the bubbly woman from flirting with him. He would be lying if he said that he hadn't acted on the Asari's advances a few times.
"Oh." CHambers muttered, a look of almost disappointment on her face. They rode the rest of the way up in silence.
"See ya around CHambers." Rah smiled to the red head when the doors opened and they both stepped out.
Kelly gave him a nod before he headed to the airlock. Rah gave a nod to Joker when he passed by the cockpit. The doors ot the contamination chamber sealed around him and he quickly checked the time.
1800, plenty of time to grab a quick bite before I head over. Rah thought to himself.
Moments later, the doors to the port opened and Rah stepped out to the crisp air of Ilium.
Maybe I'll even get to do this without needing to shoot someone this time. Rah chuckled to himself. The last few times he had been to Ilium, someone thought themselves good enough to try and steal from him in plain sight. Needless to say, they hadn't gotten very far.
A/N: So as you can see, doing the Shadow Broker stuffs before I go and do the final couple missions. If anyone can guess it, there will be some changes to the first bit of the DLC that I've hinted at in here.
Once more, thank you all so much for continuing to follow and read this story, I hope you all are still enjoying it.
Please, let me know what you think, especially if you see me doing something that you don't like. I am always open to feedback of all kinds!
Until next time!
