Chapter X
It was morning when Kaidan woke up. His clothes were neatly folded on top of the drawer. As usual, Shepard had woken up much earlier. She had readied herself and was now at the kitchen table drinking tea and reading her notes. Kaidan took a quick shower, dressed and followed his nose to the smell of freshly brewed coffee.
"Morning!" said Kaidan, kissing her on the cheek.
"Morning, sleepy head," said Shepard before smooching him back.
"What can I say? You wore me out," replied Kaidan, amusingly, "and it's barely passed 8am, Liv."
"You know me! The perpetual early riser."
"Thanks for making coffee", said Kaidan while pouring himself a cup. "How's your investigation?" inquired Kaidan, guessing the content of her datapad.
"Not as good as I would want," she announced. "The ship that attacked the Orizaba was found abandoned and stripped on Doldit in the Aru System. I've got nothing solid to go on, just bits and pieces. I've asked Aria to keep an ear to the ground for me. "
"It's like your mother disappeared into thin air."
"Hmm..." pondered Shepard, "It can't be a coincidence."
"What can't?"
"Your dad..." she replied as a light bulb went off in her head. "Your dad was taken...taken by the same people who took my mom."
"What? Do you have any evidence to back that up?"
"No," confessed Shepard, "but I know I'm right. Think about it. The parents from the only two human Spectres go missing without a trace, and the Illusive man's body was never found either. It's just too conspicuous."
"But what would anybody want with our parents."
"I don't know? A bargaining chip, a ransom, a trap, revenge," she suggested.
"If we are looking for the same people, this must be a big operation," replied Kaidan, slowly being convinced.
"Yeah, no kidding!"
"Liv, do you know what this means?"
"Yes! That Cerberus might be behind this. I'm going to see Liara: she might have seen some chatter about their activities."
"I was going to Earth tomorrow, but I think I'm going to go today to question my father's squadmates," stated Kaidan.
While Shepard messaged Liara, Kaidan contacted Steve. They all agreed to meet in the mess hall of the Normandy in thirty minutes. Shepard gave Kaidan an energy bar and they left.
Once on the Normandy, Shepard had a nostalgic air about her. Walking through the hallways of her ship again felt like seeing an old friend. She examined it attentively. When Shepard thought Kaidan wasn't looking, she gently caressed the counter around the galaxy map of the CIC.
"I promise I took good care of her," Kaidan vowed.
"Who told you the Normandy is a she?" she winked at him.
The ship was scheduled for a retrofit, and engineers were already on board assessing the work to be done. It was still in good shape considering the makeshift repairs the crew had to do to get it back in the air. Shepard was proud to call it her ship and proud of her crew's dedication to it.
Thank you!
Shepard was thankful that it had safely brought her crew-and Kaidan-back to her.
Liara was already in the mess hall when Shepard and Kaidan arrived. They filled her in on the circumstances surrounding their respective parents and on their suspicions about Cerberus. Steve had arrived in the middle of the accounts.
"Actually, now that you mention it, I have been getting hits about a new organization. They call themselves Praxidikai. Let me check something," said Liara. She went to her quarters and brought back her drone. "Glyph, please cross-reference all known Cerberus networks with the entity named Praxidikai."
"Dr. T'soni, it seems that there is a direct correlation between Cerberus and Praxidikai. Most of their connections are identical."
"They just won't let up, will they?" retorted Kaidan.
Without hesitation, Steve agreed to take Kaidan down to Earth to follow up on this lead. Kaidan and Steve immediately headed to the shuttle bay, while Shepard stayed with Liara to dig deeper into the data she had.