A/N: Hey people, no big AN today. What I do have is some recommendations of some new stories I have been reading, they are in no particular order. These stories are new and still young, very well written, and interesting. Obviously go read the guys who wrote the SI characters that are in this book, but these guys deserve recognition just as much as the guys in the big leagues.
Mass Transitions by: Spiritstrike
Reduced Mass by: DavidJ647
Transcendent Humanity by: Solaris242
Multiverse Effect - The Silent War by: RosoMC
Early Discovery by: V-rcingetorix
So go check these out, I like them and you should too.
Chapter 24
-This Thing Normal People Call Doubt-
Everyone is hanging around in the vehicle bay, talking about the mission as they remove their armor save for Wrex. I'm pretty sure he sleeps in that armor, it baffles me that he doesn't smell like a locker room. The table clears up after Ian packs away his things and I take advantage of the free space, unclipping buckles on my vest as I walk over.
I start taking off the plates of my armor, laying them out on the table until I'm down to my 'soft' armor. I quickly dig around a small box and pull out a rag which I use to wipe the dirt of my armor, but more importantly, the blood. This is my least favorite part of putting away my armor, cleaning up what's left of other people. I don't think I'll ever get used to it, if I'm lucky I won't.
Once my plated sections of armor are clean and the Icarus logos are a glowing white, I pack it away with my soft armor and quickly put on the clothes I left in my locker. I straighten my jacket just as Ashley sets down her things next to me, I give her a slight nod and head up to the crew quarters.
I head into the locker room and reach into my locker, grabbing a glass and pouring myself a bit of scotch. I set the glass on the inside of the locker and grab my auto needle, firing the drugs into my arm and setting it back in its case. I grab my scotch and head out of the room, making my way into the kitchen area and sitting down at the table.
I start nursing my scotch and looking over Saylems new take on my Wingstick, as much as I hate to admit it, he did fix it. Hell he made the thing fucking awesome but at least mine was cheaper, about 30,000 credits cheaper. He replaced all of the simple metal blades with high density monomolecular blades, which raise the price staggeringly, and in the center lock is a gyrating weight with a VI attached to it. The VI controls the weight so it can slow the blade as it spins and times it right so I can catch the blade without it slicing off my hand. I also need a special set of gloves for that, all of this is apparently going to be in my care package waiting at warehouse 01. Or at least it should be, it depends how fast I get there.
As I look over the design Kaidan sits across from me with a plate of food and a drink. He nods and starts to eat his food so I nod back and continue looking at Saylems overhaul of my Wingstick, each of us sitting quietly and doing our own thing. I don't mind not talking to Kaidan, I like the guy but sometimes guys can bond without talking, just being within a close proximity is enough. Eventually though, Kaidan speaks up in between forkfuls of food.
"So I heard Shepard ran you over with the Mako." He smirks before taking a gulp of his drink.
"Yeah, right after I fell three hundred and fifty meters out of a building too." I nod. "Shepard's got some great fucking timing, I hit the ground and she doesn't even give me half a second before turning me into road stew."
Kaidan laughs as he takes a big mouthful of food, once he swallows he keeps talking. "If it makes you feel better you're not the first person Shepard's run over."
"You know," I laugh. "it doesn't man, it still sucks! It wasn't as bad as whatever the hell that asari clone hit me with." I sigh, growing quiet and stretching my muscles as I remember the pain I was in.
"I wondered where the clone went." Kaidan muses. "They just kept coming then suddenly they just stopped, at least it helped us take down the thorian faster. Something like that, something that can do what it did, I'm not sure it has a place in this universe you know?"
"You're probably right." I nod. "Those colonists were messed up, I don't even want to think about who the creepers used to be. I hope everyone there gets better, well, maybe one of those colonists could suffer a bit." I say twisting my face at the thought of that annoying bitch, Nicky.
"I heard about your little friend." he smiles, making me scowl and wave him off. After a few seconds he seems to think about something and then looks back at me. "What did you say the asari clone did to you?"
"I have no idea." I tell him. "It felt like I had thousands of metal shards in my body and they were being pulled out with a magnet, I've never been in that much pain in my life."
"It was a reave." He nods. "I've been trying to learn that one for a while now, I'm getting close."
"Reave or not, it sucked ass." I say as I take another drink from my glass.
"I don't doubt it, a reave trips every single nerve ending in the body so you can't fight back. I'm surprised she didn't kill you right away."
"Yeah I guess flinging me around the room seemed more appealing." I chuckle. "I just got a lucky shot in, my biotics might have been as good as hers, maybe better, but she has centuries of training behind her."
"You could have died, pretty easily at that." Kaidan says. "Most people don't walk away from a fight with an asari commandoes."
"Huh." I shrug. "I guess I could have died, I never really thought about it that way."
"You're not bothered by that?" Kaidan asks.
"Not really, I tend not to dwell on things." I smile. "I could have died but I didn't, I'm ok with that."
"A lot of near death experiences happen on this ship." he says, looking around at the Normandy.
"Surprisingly most of mine aren't on this ship." I mutter to myself.
"You aren't the only one, Art apparently just got off a stimulant trip when we found him." Kaidan says, scowling slightly. "I'm not sure I believe him though, just something about his story doesn't add up."
"Yeah, he's lying." I say without thinking, freezing when I realize what I said. My mind scrambles for a second until I find an acceptable answer. "I mean, most people don't just try a bunch of stims, especially a guy like Art."
"That's what I thought." Kaidan nods. "He seems nice but if he's lying then can we really trust him?"
"Yeah, probably." I smirk. "You trust me right? If you trust me then you should have no problem trusting Art, I mean I lie about everything."
"Is that so?" Kaidan chuckles.
"Oh yeah." I grin. "I'm actually a dimensional traveler, I'm really from the twenty first century."
"Sure." Kaidan nods with a smile. "And I'm the admiral of the fifth fleet."
"Can't say I didn't tell you." I shrug as I take another drink of scotch. "Speaking of not telling people things, what's up with you and Shepard man?"
"The commander?" Kaidan says, stiffening slightly.
"No, not the commander." I smile. "I mean Jane Shepard. I don't mean to pry and to be honest I don't really care about your business, but it bugs me that the two of you like each other and instead of doing anything about it you skirt around each other."
"How do you know we like each other?" he asks after thinking about what I said. "Did Shepard say anything to you?"
"Well she almost broke my arm over you, so yeah I'd say it's pretty obvious." I say, rubbing my elbow subconsciously. "I'm not telling you what to do though, I'm just saying don't not do anything. I'm sure it'll work it's self out."
"Not doing anything is our only option, The Alliance has a fraternization laws about this sort of thing." Kaidan says regretfully.
"Shepard's a Spectre man." I smirk. "She can do whatever she wants, or in your case who ever she wants. So chin up cowboy, the council approves of your preteen relationship." I say as I tip my glass to him, a shit eating grin on my face.
Kaidan shakes his head at me albeit with a grin on his face. "I've been hearing some rumors below decks about you too."
"Is that so?" I ask curiously, slouching back in my chair. "Enlighten me Alenko."
"Now these are just rumors," he shrugs with a sly smirk. "don't jump to any conclusions, but a certain Prothean expert has been asking about you."
"Is that so?" I muse curiously as I swirl my drink. "Well I'll talk to you later Alenko, you enjoy your meal." I say as I stand up from my chair.
"Where are you going?" he asks, tilting his head at my sudden departure from the conversation.
"I'm going to go jump to conclusions." I wave as I start to walk away from the table, but a beep goes over the ships intercoms and it makes me stop and look around.
"-Garrus Vakarian and James Matticks, report to the com room immediately.-" Shepard's voice cracks through a speaker in the corner of the room, drawing my eye until the click of the channel closing make me scowl.
"I guess that will have to wait." I say with an annoyed tone, looking to Kaidan to see him looking at me curiously.
"What's going on?" he asks.
"I'm in trouble I guess." I sigh with a forced smile, looking at the last mouthful of scotch in my glass. I pull the glass to my lips and drain the amber liquor into my mouth and give my head a shake as I swallow it in one big gulp. "Talk to you later Kaidan." I wave again as I walk away uninterrupted.
I stop off in the locker room before I go up the stairs, refilling my glass to help me bear through sitting in a room with Garrus. I walk out of the locker room and hear the whir of the elevator rising up the shaft slowly but I don't wait to see who it is, it's probably Garrus anyway. I trot up the stairs, nodding to the armored soldier standing at the top.
I walk into the com room and see Shepard leaning on the railing between the two semicircles of chairs, she looks up and acknowledges me before motioning for me to sit on the closest to her right. I sit on the chair and sigh, looking at Shepard with an I-don't-want-to-be-here look. She shoots back a tough-shit look.
Garrus walks in the door and looks just as happy to be here as I am, so not happy. At all. He sits in the seat to Shepard's left and we both look at her, waiting for her to speak.
"Alright." She sighs, crossing her arms as she looks at us. "I want to know what is wrong with you two," she starts. Garrus and I both take a breath and sit up straight, eager to tear into each other but Shepard's stops us when she speaks up. "one at a time!" she stresses. "Garrus, you're first."
"Shepard, Matticks is a criminal plain and simple." Garrus states, causing me to scowl at him. "Yes he's killed people who've done wrong, but they didn't deserve to die for what they did. He got off on a technicality and is walking around freely when he should be in jail, where he belongs. I don't know how you can stand to work with him."
"Is that all?" Shepard asks.
"Is that all?" Garrus repeats with a sneer of disbelief. "How could you need any more?"
"Yes." Shepard says blankly. "Wrex was a mercenary for centuries, killing for money for anyone who gave it to him. Yet for the most part you two get along, as well as a turian and krogan can anyway. You also grouped Alex in with Maverick, labeled him a murderer too. But now you get along with him, even though he admitted to being involved in the warehouse explosion and killing the turians that were inside. But you and Maverick can't seem to be in the same room without coming to blows, what's different about him?"
"Shepard I told you about Saleon." Garrus starts, getting a nod from Shepard. "Matticks is involved with him somehow, I caught him at his clinic and found records of transactions between the clinic and Icarus."
"Is that true?" Shepard's asks, turning to me.
"Yeah, it's true." I nod, feeling a bit of pressure from the way Shepard's looking at me.
"Did you know what he was doing?" she questions further, hopeful that I didn't know.
"Yes." I nod again. "I knew what he was doing to people, using them as little organ grow ops."
Shepard seems disappointed and a spark of anger flares across her face for a moment. "How could you get involved in that Maverick?"
"I had to." I tell her. "I needed his help and if there was any way I could have avoided it I would have, but there wasn't so I didn't. Once we were done with him we cut ties."
"We?"
"Yeah, me and my friends." I say, taking a pause for a drink. "Without that slimy fucks help Icarus wouldn't exist and I wouldn't be here, I would be working for Haynes for the rest of my life for shit pay and in shit conditions."
"So you killed your boss to take the company." Garrus says quietly, piecing the puzzle together. "How did you get him to do it? There was almost no evidence of murder, everything pointed to suicide and the only reason it wasn't closed immediately is because I saw your name on the file. Spirits they wouldn't even let me look at the body, they said his will demanded he was cremated and sent back to Elysium where he was born as soon as possible."
"Saylem." I chuckle quietly. "You clever bastard. And that wasn't Haynes, it was a clone we had Saleon cook up for us."
"Then what did you do with Haynes?" Shepard asks. "Did you kill him?"
"Worse, I did what he deserved." I say grimly, remembering dragging Haynes through the warehouse and shoving him in the crate. "I packed him up in a crate—alive—and sent him to Omega."
"Omegas a three day trip." Garrus says slowly. "And that if it's express, it's normally five days."
"He didn't have that luxury." I mutter. "I let him rot in a box of own piss and shit, thinking about everything he did until he withered and died."
"That's harsh." Shepard says grimly. "Did he deserve it?"
"He deserved it." I say sternly. "You don't know what he did to people, the lives he ruined just for personal gain. Blackmail, extortion, manipulation and worse in one case, tearing apart a family in the worst way. But those aren't stories I can tell you, they aren't mine to tell. All you need to know is I did what I had to do to help people, and I'd do it again."
"Nobody deserves that." Garrus say, staring at me intently. "I should call C-Sec and tell them to bring Icarus down, throw all of your conniving friends in jail with you."
"Haynes was an animal!" I snap. "He deserved what he got, and didn't deserve what he had. We took it and made it better, into something that could help people! I worked to try to give them back what they had, and for the most part it worked. Do not threaten to take it away again or you will regret it." I threaten in a low voice.
"What are you going to do about it?" Garrus asks with a slight smile, trying to draw me out. "are you going to kill me too?"
I think about his question, I think back to the stories I had heard about Haynes. I think about how certain everyone was that he couldn't be stopped, there was no hope in any of them. Then when we worked together, and Haynes was off the Citadel. I remembered how happy everyone was. Everyone was smiling constantly, hell Aila was bouncing around the apartment. If Garrus thinks he can try to take that away from them he has another think coming. I lean forward and take a long sip from my glass, pausing to swallow before answering him.
"Yes."
"Nobody is killing anyone." Shepard says sternly, but her words fall on deaf ears.
"Of course you would." Garrus sneers. "You'd do it without thinking and then exploit every flaw in the system to get out of it."
"Yeah, I would!" I snarl back. "If you threaten me or my friends I will not hesitate to take you down, do you hear me?"
"Oh I hear you." He says back. "What, are you going to make a clone of me too? Go running back to your friend Saleon for help?"
"He is not my friend!" I yell as I point at him. "Just because I talked to him once doesn't mean I want anything to do with him!"
"You're all the same!" he shouts. "Getting off on technicalities, you have no idea how many murders went free and how many people weren't saved because of these broken laws! I've watched people die when I could have saved them, but the bureaucrats above me wouldn't let me! So they died for nothing! We could have stopped Saleon that day, but someone said no, so he got away! He took Ian's girlfriend, she's probably dead because someone didn't want to take a risk to do what's right!"
"What the fuck does that have to do with me?!" I come back.
"You are a constant reminder of everything that is wrong with C-Sec!" he shouts as he stands up. "Hundreds of people don't get to see their families again because of protocol." He says, distain and disgust in his voice when he says protocol. "Every time I see you I think about everyone who's ever gotten away or died because protocol wouldn't let me stop them!"
The room goes quiet and Garrus's words hang in the air like a fog, he stands there pointing at me and breathing heavy. It clicks in my mind as the silence continues. Garrus isn't mad at me, he's mad at what I am. I'm just someone else who got through the half assed laws of the Citadel, someone who probably should have gone away for longer than I did but I didn't, I got away scot-free. Because I did it reminds him of everyone else who did, that's why he left for Omega after the Battle of the Citadel.
"Garrus." Shepard says quietly, causing him to look at her. "You can't do anything about what's happened in the past, and you can't change the way the system works. It's not fair for you to blame Maverick for it."
I stand up and Garrus looks back at me. "I'm sorry about everything that's happened, everything that you saw or had to go through but I can promise you I had nothing to do with what Saleon was doing to people. I didn't help him with that and I didn't help him get away."
"I…" Garrus hesitates. "I know, I just hate that I can't do anything about it. It's not justice."
"You said you had found out where his ship was." Shepard points out.
"Commander we have more important things to be dealing with-" Garrus says, but Shepard cuts him off.
"If it's important to you then it's important to me Garrus." Shepard says kindly. "We are on our way to help Wrex, we can stop by the coordinates and stop Saleon."
"I'll help." I speak up.
"Thank you." Garrus says, nodding his head at both of us. Shepard smiles back and I give him a quick nod back. Garrus leaves the room and I sit back down on my chair, slouching and taking a drink of scotch. Shepard walks over and sits down next to me, I turn and see she's just staring at me as I drink.
"Can I help you?" I ask as my lips leave the glass.
"Tell me about yourself." Shepard says as she leans on one knee.
"Well I'm a Pisces." I say with a straight face, crossing my legs and leaning over the back of my chair. "I love romantic dinners and moonlit walks on the beach, what about you sweetheart?" I smile as I rest my chin in my hand. "I want to hear about you."
"Calm down slick." Shepard rolls her eyes and I laugh. "I just want to get to know my squad, I've been getting to know everybody and it's taken me a while to get to you."
"Well I'm glad you decided to finally think about me." I smirk. "Not much to tell, what do you want to know?"
Shepard looks up at the ceiling and thinks for a second, and I start imagining a little conversation circle under her with a bunch of options. Hell I wouldn't be shocked if she says 'Nothing for now' and just stands up and walks away.
"Do you have any family?" she asks.
"Nope." I shake my head.
"You don't have anyone?"
"No." I deadpan, clearly getting across that I don't want to talk about it.
"Sorry." She says. "I was just curious, I didn't mean to bring up anything."
"It's fine." I say.
"Ok, where'd you grow up?" she asks.
"Freedoms Progress." I recite, avoiding saying Canada.
"Being a colony kid must have been tough." she says sympathetically. "What was that like?"
Jesus, I hope she stops asking me about my past. I haven't really worked on an in depth backstory for myself. "It was fine, nothing really exciting happened there."
"How'd you end up on the Citadel?"
"Slavers attacked the colony." I tell her. "I was being taken away by a slave barge, I wasn't having any of that so I broke free and made my way to the engine room. When I got there the drive core went critical and gave me magic powers." I chuckle as I wrap my hands in biotics. "The SSV Expedition saved me, patched me up and sent me on my way with a half a million credit bill for all the surgery."
"How nice of them." Shepard smirks dryly. "How'd you manage to pay that?"
"Icarus." I say. "Once we founded Icarus all of our problems were solved."
"I can't say I've heard of Icarus until I met you." She says. "I looked into it and you've got yourselves a nice little company, you're making wakes in the corporate universe. You seem to have more armor and weapons then most business men, what do you do?"
"I'm the Contractor CEO, I run the Contracting division of the company." I tell her, even though I've had no responsibilities yet thanks to Pac helping me out. "We handle unique problems that plague the company, you know, something that requires a more… shooting stuff approach."
"Then why are you here?" she asks suspiciously. "Is the Normandy a problem?"
"No, but you're solving a problem that's one of our problems." I say. "Mutual interests and whatnot, from what I've seen and from what's going to come I can tell you you have Icarus's support."
"It's always nice to have friends, the council isn't much help so the more the merrier." She says, rolling her eyes when she mentions the council.
"Yeah they're a willing bunch." I smile. "Anything else you need to know? I have places to be and people to see."
"Where are you going?" Shepard snorts, as if I have nowhere to go.
"I've got to talk to Liara." I tell her.
"Oh." She says as she raises her brow and smiles mischievously. "What are you going to talk to her about?"
"She's been asking people about me, I assume she is intrigued by the enigma that is James Matticks." I say, raising my arms as if to showcase myself. "So I'm going to see what's going on."
"Do you like her?" she asks childishly.
"Like, like like her?" I say in an exaggerated teenage girl voice. "I don't know! Maybe!" I giggle as I flick my hand at Shepard, who is not amused by my mocking antics.
"You're no fun." Shepard pouts angrily. "It was a simple question."
"Do you want to make sweet love with Kaidan?" I ask suddenly and bluntly.
Shepard freezes and her eyes stare at me as if looking for an answer, her lips moving to say something but her brain is in shutdown mode so nothing comes out. I raise my brown and lean forward, trying to prompt her to answer my question but her cheeks go red.
"Oh, what's the matter Shepard? Eh?" I laugh as I stand up. "It was just a simple question!" I laugh as I leave her in the com room.
I jog down the stairs, careful not to spill my drink as I bounce down the steps. I round the corner and see Liara talking to Kaidan and am about to make my way over to her but my Omni-tool blinks, I look down and see it's a message from Aila. Shit, I should probably check to see what she wants, besides Liara isn't going anywhere.
I take a seat at the table and open my Omni-tools message app and click the top message from Aila.
Hi Maverick,
You are the CEO of the Contracting division so I figure you might as well have something to do with the running of the branch. It's nothing too serious, a lot of your things are taken care of by Pac so you're just left with looking over salaries, hires, fires and other stuff running along those lines. I'm sure you can handle it!
Aila
I see a link set on the bottom of the message and it takes me to the Icarus extranet site. I click on 'Log In' and enter in my name ID and password, there are a bunch of options on the side and I click overview. Another list pops up and it's surprisingly small and surprisingly foreign to me.
-Employee List-
James Matticks-CEO/Operative ID_A-01-C
Weekly Salary-12,000 Credits
Status-Active
Operations-2
Squad:
Lorin'Nazza nar Shellen-Operative ID_D-02-C
Weekly Salary-6,500 Credits
Status-Active
Operations-4
John Murphy- Operative ID_F-03-C
Weekly Salary-6,000
Status-Active
Operations-2
Mhosas Kreen-Operative ID_G-04-C
Weekly Salary-5,750 Credits
Status-Active
Operations-2
Neil McCray-Operative ID_E-05-C
Weekly Salary-6,250 Credits (Upon Start Date)
Status-Under Evaluation
Operations-0
I stare at the list, confused at the fact that I only know two of the five people on the list, and one of them is me. Pac probably hired the other three but I have no idea who they are, but if Pac hired them I trust him.
I start to click around and find that some of the Contractors are linked together, myself and Lorin are on the same squad. I'm the Commanding Officer ranked as Captain of the squad and Lorin is Executive Officer ranked Commander. There are a few other people on our squad but they seem to come and go rather quick, it looks like there aren't any permanent members yet and they're all just barrowed from the Military division. I click the other names and find that John Murphy and Mhosas Kreen are on the same squad, Johns the CO and Mhosas is the XO. Whoever Neil McCray is he's decided to work alone, whenever he starts working.
I continue to look around for a moment and decide that everything looks in order, though I suppose I'll have to build up a team. I have no idea when I'll find the time but I'm sure it'll all work out. I close my Omni-tool and get up from the table, grabbing my drink and almost finishing it off. I look to see Kaidan talking to Ashley in the kitchen, Liara nowhere to be seen. Huh, I guess Liara went somewhere.
I take a guess that Liara went into her room so I walk into the med bay and nod to Chakwas as I walk by her. I hit the green button next to Liaras door and walk in to see her sitting at her desk, feverishly typing away in her terminal. As I walk up to her I can't help but look over her shoulder at her terminal screen and I cock my head when I see an Icarus logo on the screen. What is Liara doing on the Icarus site?
Curious to see how she'll react I decide to speak up. "Hey Liara, got a minute?"
Liara stops moving for a spit second and then her terminal closes, leaving nothing but a blank screen with a Normandy SR1 wallpaper. She turns her chair around and faces me as I pull a small crate out from another desk and sit down on it. "Of course, what did you want to talk about?" she asks cautiously.
"What were you working on there?" I ask curiously with a smirk.
"It's nothing." She says quickly.
"You sure?" I grin.
"Yes, why are you smiling?" she asks.
"Because of you." I chuckle. "You make me laugh Liara."
"Alright." She says slowly, sounding very uneasy. "You said you wanted something?"
"Yes!" I exclaim, clapping my hands together and sitting forward. "I've heard you've been asking around about me, you know you could just ask right?"
"Oh goddess." Liara whispers, rubbing her temples and turning a slightly deeper shade of blue. "I thought I was discreet."
I can't help but don a huge shit eating grin at the embarrassment flowing through Liara, I don't know why but it's just cute the way she blushes and hides her face. "Not as discreet as you thought, eh?"
"Apparently not." She says, shaking her head. "Please, let me explain."
"I'm all ears." I say, motioning with my hand for her to continue.
"I've studied the protheans for most of my life, therefor I enjoy researching and searching for information." She explains. "I don't like not knowing things so I tend to research things I'm involved in or around to familiarize myself with common knowledge, when I found out I was boarding the Normandy I spent hours researching human military doctrine because I knew I would be around human military personnel. I also spent time looking up human behavior patterns so I wouldn't made any social blunders or offend anyone. I just… when something interests me I tend to go overboard and… and… goddess I'm babbling on like fool." She says, once again turning a deep blue and burying her face in her hand.
"So you were learning more about me." I conclude with a smirk. "Because you're interested in me."
"Well, yes." She admits shyly. "I can't say I've met someone like you before, granted I haven't spent much time around your kind but I find you… intriguing."
"So why not ask me directly?"
"I'm not sure, I'm not the most outgoing person in the galaxy and you seem to have no problem talking to people." She says, pointing to herself and me. "I was trying to gather topics to discuss to avoid making thing awkward but it didn't work out."
Now I have to think, I have to weigh my options in the short window I have to respond before the silence gets awkward. I could be straight up with Liara and just ask if she wants to go out somewhere on our next leave, letting her know I'm interested in her too, which I am. But I could also just leave things where they are, leaving this whole conversation up in the air for contemplation. Liara is curious by nature, it's one of the qualities I like about her, and so if I left right now there would be questions without answers. Answers which she will seek out because she can't help herself. The asari might say they aren't female, but they sure share a lot of traits. Such as if something is left as a 'what if' or a 'why' instead of a hard 'yes' or 'no' it will drive them fucking bananas and if it doesn't then it wasn't going to happen in the first place so there's no harm done.
"Alright Liara, thanks for clearing that up." I smile as I stand up. "Talk to you later?"
"I… " she hesitates, blinking at me dumbly and confused. "Yes."
I walk out of her room without looking back, and just like that I have laid my relationship trap. But one thing is sticking in my brain as I leave, did it work? It's worked in the past, more than once. It's tried and tested, proven method. But what if it doesn't work? I want it to work, it has to work.
I stop in the middle of the crew quarters, staring down at the ground deep in thought. Why am I doubting myself, I don't doubt myself. Ever. I scowl and my lips tighten as I grow increasingly annoyed at this new feeling, this thing normal people call doubt. Why is my brain doing this to me, it's never done this before.
"Mmm…" I mumble angrily. "Fuck you doubt." I whisper to myself as I walk to my cot for the night.
[I]
ICARUS
-PERSONNEL DATABASE-
ID Code_D-02-C
Name: Lorin'Nazza nar Shellen
Position: Contractor
Call Sign: Captain Swallow Bottom [EDITED BY_A-01-C, PREVIOUS ENTRY: SHOAL]
Status: Active
Species: Quarian
Height: 185cm
Weight: 87kg
Primary Suit Color: Matte Black
Secondary Suit Color: White
Visor Color: Black
Combat Proficiencies
Ranged: D-02-C Preforms well with mid to short range weapons, exceling with assault rifles and handguns. D-02-C also has experience with long range rifles, but prefers to keep combat within mid-range exchanges.
Infiltration: D-02-C thrives when placed behind enemy lines, breaking through electronic obstacles with ease and eliminating hostiles quickly and quietly. D-02-C also has a surprising knowledge of explosives, and credits it to his time spent in the Migrant Fleet Marines.
Psychiatric Evaluation
Work Relations: D-02-C tends to drive away all Icarus personnel with rude remarks and lack of empathy to their problems and emotions. The only Icarus employee who D-02-C gets along with is A-01-C, despite constant arguing, and refers to A ranked employees as "Mavs friends" and other Icarus employees as "those beneath me". Despite this, Icarus employees put up with D-02-C's attitude because of his combat record and relationship with A-01-C.
Personal Mental State: [Entry Modified by A-01-C] Icarus employee D-02-C's is sarcastic and uncooperative, something that is contributed to his time in the Migrant Fleet Marines but refuses to talk about what had happened. We theorize that his anger is because of a failed sex change operation, being stuck to live life with a penis-vagina hybrid must be hard on him and it doesn't help that he has the attitude of a spoiled child. Any attempts to talk about D-02-C's tours are met with verbal hostility and rejection, displaying PTSD symptoms. D-02-C is very confident, something stemming from time spent as a mercenary on Omega and an already inflamed ego. Luckily D-02-C possesses skill to back his words, though it is presumed his attitude wouldn't change with a decrease in skill. We have also deduced by scientific reasoning and tests that D-02-C is categorized as a bitch, all modern science and theories point to this, therefor it is fact.
R/R
[DavidJ647: Yeah I got a message saying you updated a few hours after I put this up! I'm glad you liked it, it took a hell of a long time to write. Well Garrus and Mav sort of worked it out, time will tell if it lasts. Glad you like it, I've been replaying ME1 along with this story (to help with dialogue) and the Mako is so goddamn bouncy I understand why everyone makes fun of it.
Trust me, I want expecting a 16k chapter either. I thought it would be on par with my Therum chapter but I was wrong. I keep thinking about Novaria and I can honestly say it will probably be as long, if not longer, then Feros. At least it's not a bunch of fluff in there, I try to put in relevant things or things that will be relevant later. Really? I like the all caps yelling, mainly because when I read something in all caps my mental reading voice screams at the top of his lungs and that's what I'm trying to portray. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you like this chapter.
[SeizedChief: Thanks man. I don't mind long chapters either, as long as there is content and it's not a bunch of over detailed unimportant scenes. I have a lot of stuff to do with Novaria, I haven't thought of the rachni queen yet though. I should probably do that.
[Spiritstrike: Yeah it was, took a hell of a long time to write! Glad you liked it, I liked writing the part where Shepard's squad all stuck up for Shepard and each other. It made me smile when I read it over. What do you mean tempers rising isn't a good thing? It's great! It's like a fire, the bigger it is the more you want to watch it or like a train wreck, you know it's bad but you can't not look.
Yeah as I was playing through the Feros mission while writing this I saw the three krogan guarding the transmitter in a small room and just said, perfect! I also read the codex entry about a krogans blood rage and decided to put that in there, I think it worked out pretty well!
Nicky was someone I put in to make exploring the ExoGeni less lonely, not to mention the assassins. And as to who, what, why of the assassins… you will have to wait! Yeah the clone was a bitch to fight in the game. The biotic attack wasn't as serious as you thought, I was looking up biotic attacks and I came across the reave and thought I'd put it in.
Happy that you liked Saylems profile, the guys a quiet little mystery. Pac will probably be after this one, once I finished Lorin's I had to put it up.
[OBSERVER01: Thanks man, and Garrus has his reasons.
[V-rcingetorix: Not really, nobody likes annoying people but Mav has a special place in his heart for em! I wouldn't say it too much of a switch, this is Mavs first interaction with a truly irritating person. He also killed Haynes, so you know… yeah. Garrus and Mav are always fighting each other though, at this point it's got to be getting on his nerves. I see what you're saying though, I just thought I'd explain what I might not have made clear.
I hope this chapter cleared up your Garrus problem a little, again you make a good point and made me go back and reread chapters. I thank you for that, it helps me make this gathering of words a bit more coherent.
You would think Mav would have done business with them before, but if he has why would they try to kill him? A little food for thought.
[ZAZ-19: Thanks man, glad you liked all of the action and character interaction. The Mav/Garrus problem was somewhat dealt with, flushed out might have been a better term for it. Thanks, one of the things I worry about is getting canon characters right.
That is a super weird thought to have, you have quite the imagination. But I won't lie, it made me smile too! Wrex and Mav fighting over the controls and laughing as the out of place tank romps around the presidium! Plus I love WW2, learning about it that is. WW2 itself was horrible but I love learning about it. And the review wasn't too long, in fact the longer the better because I love reading them.
[Dragonfire781: Thanks, and wouldn't you like to know? It could be anyone, I could have even made them up. Glad you don't think the chapters too long, thanks for letting me know!
[PoSR: I love Nirvana, they aren't my favorite band but by god they've got some great songs!
[PoseidonN7: Yeah those mystery people are, well, a mystery. Glad you liked the chapter, I will try!
[masterdude94: Thanks! Really? You're in the minority there, Nicky's sole purpose is to be irritating and make Mav mad. I liked Jacks romance too, it was different you know? If you want to know more you will have to keep reading friend!
[DelVarO: Don't worry about it man, and I'll probably send you some more stuff soon, it's been a while since Mav and Alex talked. Alright man, talk to you later.
[general-joseph-dickson: Shepard's driving is pretty bad, I tried driving the Mako in ME1 normally and its almost impossible.
[DelVarO: Hey man! God it feels like it's been ages, how've you been? Glad you liked the chapter, it took some time but the general reception is it was good so that makes me feel good about it. You're absolutely right, Shepard's driving is canon!
A reasonable concern, but I don't think it's too fast. They have roughly 200 soldiers which is basically nothing compared to other military/merc groups. I also think that most of the tech has already existed within absorbed companies and it was accelerated because of the sudden access of resources, I mean, car companies make a new model every goddamn year, if there's a dedicated group of gear heads and techies I think they could cook shit up pretty quick. The tech they have is going to be OP, I plan on having that to be their thing you know? But in the end you can't build up an Alliance size army, even in three or four years so they make up for that by having the best equipped soldiers you can have. And I decided to answer you in the next chapter, obviously.
[Ice92: Thanks, and really? I honestly didn't expect someone to want a Mav/Nicky relationship.
[BIGRTFAN001: I've seen grown men cry on rollercoasters, the Mako seems a lot scarier than a rollercoaster so it could happen. Mainly just put it in cause I thought it was funny. Well I put in Garrus's POV this chapter, hope you liked it and thought it was believable.
That's how I see it, I do have a rough length in might though (5k) so when I go over sit back and go wow. Glad you liked the action, I love writing it so it's nice to hear people like it. And yeah, Nicky's a good and bad character but fun to write nonetheless.
I'm happy you enjoyed I, and don't worry about the length, I liked reading it.
[ForgottenPrince: Thanks man, you are welcome!
[toprichie97: I felt like Novaria could have been spookier, but then again horror games weren't popular in that time.
[CrimsonKnight117: Yup, she's a bitch. I hated talking to her when I played through Feros again. Oh man, I love that movie! Your vote is Shadow Broker eh? Interesting.
[Lanilen: Woo! No deaths or injuries! Movie quotes are great, me and my buds are always testing each other with out of context quotes.
Hope you liked how the Garrus/Mav thing worked out.
[NoOneInParticular17: Well it's about damn time you showed up, I've been waiting for an actual negative review! One that has valid points at that! I thought I was doing something wrong here, I mean nobody likes everything right? Lots of people had your concern and I thought I did an ok job spreading them out, but sometimes I do feel like there are a lot of people to talk to on the Normandy. Still, I wouldn't change how I did things. I am glad you liked the first 16 chapters though, maybe you'll come back when Mass Anomalies 2 comes around and it's all Icarus all the time. See you man, thanks for reading!
[Nas4a2: Eventually he'll learn, all in good time right? I will try man, glad you're liking it so far!