Location: Observation deck four, SSV Dublin, en-route to Ontarom.
Year: 2182
The observation deck was so silent that you could hear your heartbeat. It also wasn't the most inviting of places. The freezing temperature didn't make the cold steel benches any easier to sit on. He tried to get comfortable but soon gave up and just listened to the exciting news of Citadel High taking home first place in a dodgeball tournament.
"It was awesome!" Michael exclaimed over holo-channel linked to his omni-tool, his green eyes lit up in triumph as he rode the post-game high. "I'm MVP and Mr. Davos says I can make captain next year."
"That's great news, Mikey," Liam said, with a small laugh. The kid was just twelve years old and already set on kicking ass and taking names. Definitely a Shepard.
Something constricted in Liam's chest and ached in regret. Four years ago an eight year old boy stood with a wide-eyed salute as Liam escorted the Alliance big-wigs aboard a shuttle bound for X-19. That boy had grown. He tried to keep in touch, but two shore leaves a year on the citadel didn't cut it when it came to spending time with his son. Mikey was growing, next year it was junior high for the kid and in a few years he'd be old enough to drive. Where the heck did time go?
"Dad. You listening?" Michael's words burst his thought bubble. Imploring green eyes narrowed in a grumpy posture that turned him back into an eight year old. Liam suppressed his laugh, trying not to annoy the kid. They had mere minutes left.
"Right here, buddy." Liam wished he could reach out and ruffle Mikey's auburn hair, remembering how much that made the kid smile back in the day. "I heard," Liam replied, recalling the email notifying all parents of a career fair trip to Arcturus station. "Just don't get tunnel vision okay? The military is one of many options. You have lots of time to decide."
"Okay," Mikey resigned, but the grip of excitement was well alive in his jittery motions as he handled a dodgeball like a hot potato.
Liam sighed and watched the boy, secretly praying to whatever deity would listen that Michael would break the casual chain and do something more rewarding. He was a smart kid and it wouldn't be fair to waste that in this bureaucratic sink hole. "How's your mother?"
"Ask her." Before Liam could stop him, Mikey turned and yelled off camera, "Mom! Dad wants to talk to you!"
Great...
It's not that he didn't want to see Sasha, quite the opposite. But he was not in the right frame of mind to answer any of her questions. So much had changed in the past twelve hours, a new promotion, new assignment, second chance...freedom. It was a lot to process and until the time was right he resolved to keep a cool head and focus.
"See you later, dad," Mikey said before running off, probably to continue whatever party his friends were throwing for their win.
Within moments Sasha appeared and Liam felt his lungs deflate. She just sat there politely, like always, taking him in with those vibrant green eyes their son shared. Sasha was still the poster child of natural Russian beauty. Her wavy dark brown hair and perfect make-up was one of the few things he loved about taking her out. Yet despite her calm veneer, he could see the concern in her eyes as she searched his.
"Hey," her voice came out in a soft whisper. "You okay?"
Liam slumped in his uncomfortable chair, not knowing what to do. Here she was after all they've been through and still worried about him. "I'm fine, Sash."
"We thought you'd never get off X-19..." she began, then paused, wincing at her choice of words. "By 'we' I meant Mikey and I."
"I know." Liam clenched his jaw but the anger didn't live. There was no place for it when she looked this good. "How are you?" he tried, hoping to steer clear of unpleasant topics. Flores would be here any minute so they had to keep it short.
"Good." She nodded awkwardly. He didn't miss her downcast eyes or the sudden way she hugged herself tighter. Something was wrong.
"Sash? What's up?" Liam asked, feeling his own protectiveness resurface. It didn't matter that they were divorced, she was still the mother of his son and a very good friend. If that idiot laid a hand on her...
She jumped at his assumption before quickly correcting. "No, no...everything's fine, Liam." With a short huff, she ran a hand through her hair and smiled at him. That same warm smile she used totell the world how in love they were.
If that smile hadn't fooled him once, he would've believed it again. "You can talk to me. Did he hurt you?"
"Jesus!" Sasha exploded, all earlier traces of shyness faded to make room for anger. This version of his ex-wife he recognized very well. "Who do you think I am? Of course not. Dillon wouldn't lay a hand on me and do you really think I'd stay if he did?"
His momentary relief evaporated when her anger surfaced. Sasha was agreeable and calm to a point, but once she blew her top they would argueall day. "That's not what I was implying and you know it." Liam replied.
"Then what? You were hoping it was true so you would come here, thump him and we'd get back together?" She crossed her arms in a protective gesture and gave him a scathing glare. "Stop thinking like that!"
"So now you're an expert on what I'm thinking?" Liam asked hotly. The headache behind his eyes began to take root. This wasn't good before a meeting with the captain.
"Okay, stop" she said, holding one hand up and running another through her dark-brown locks. "I don't want to do this over holo-com."
Liam felt his heart drumming against his chest as burning blood caroused through his system. This woman drove him insane, but at the same time she was one of his best friends. Their tenuous relationship didn't make sense to him.
He opened his mouth, but closed it when a strange look of guilt crossed her eyes. Sasha didn't feel guilt, in fact he was convinced she wasn't capable of the emotion. But there it was, plain as day. Her pain was in hiding, and instead of being pissed he found himself more than willing to empathize with her.
"I'm sorry, Liam. I should go," she said, quickly, moving awkwardly slow as she turned from the camera.
"Wait!" he called out, wanting to reach out and stop her. "How much does Mikey know?"
Liam remembered the flimsy cover story they told eight year old, Mikey. 'Daddy is going on a special mission but he'll be back for your birthdays.' Four years later and he was still on a 'birthday only' basis with his one and only son. He hated lying to the boy, but at the time, eight year old Mikey waved this stuff aside. The twelve year old was a few years shy of being a man ...it felt wrong to lie to him of all people.
Sasha stilled, her breath pulled in sharply as if she were ready to lash out but thought better of it. Liam could practically hear the gears turning in her head, but decided to not to push her. She was already on the precipice and if he had any hope of getting an answer, it was important to give her some leeway.
Eventually Sasha turned back to him with an exhausted look of disdain. "The divorce came first," she said softly. "I told him you and I weren't married anymore and introduced him to Dillon."
"How did he take it?" Liam asked, more interested in how this hadaffected his son.
She was silent for a moment. Then a chortle of disbelief left her lips as she shook her head slowly. "How do you think?"
And here we are, ladies and gentlemen, round three hundred and fifty-two in the on-going passive-aggressive battle between Liam 'Lion' Shepard and Sasha 'Snake' Olegovna. Or was it Parker now?
Screw it.
She was looking at him like their fallout was entirely his fault. Not once considering that maybe some of her choices contributed to this mess. Mentally counting to ten, Liam tried to form a more diplomatic sentencebut once again she beat him to the punch. "Look he wasn't thrilled about it, but I think he'll come around to Dillon. As for the other stuff, it's not my place to say. He should hear that from his father, God knows there are enough rumors flying around."
Liam deflated at the mention of rumors. Back when the Alliance chose to seal the Skyllian Blitz incident report they received backlash from many freelance journalists. Some of which started their own conspiracy theories claiming the Alliance engineered the attack in an effort to sway public opinion in favor of an invasion of Torfan. Others thought Shepard went crazy and somehow performed those atrocities. Even thinking about that day brought images of butchered civilians torn in half. He had seen a lot of horror on the battlefield, but none towards civilians, never like this.
Rapidly approaching bootsteps sounded from the other side, perhaps a hallway out based on the echo.
Sasha perked up, hearing them too. "I guess you have to go now."
"Yeah, I do," Liam replied, wishing he'd had more time. Heck he didn't know if this kind of encrypted transmission was even allowed, but the thought of waiting two more months to see Mikey was too much. "Thanks for keeping it together, Sash."
A small shy smile played on her lips, before her eyes softened to those vibrant greens he missed waking up to. "Hey..." Sasha began before he could disconnect. His finger hovered over the logout holo-key, "for what it's worth. You did the right thing back then."
Sasha was probably the only civilian who knew the whole truth of what happened on the Blitz. Yet despite that she never once doubted his side of the story and was the only one showing up for closed court for moral support aside from his family. It meant a lot to hear her stay true to those convictions despite the supposed abundance of crazy stories.
"Thank you," Liam said, feeling safe enough for a genuine smile to form. "It means a lot to hear you still believe that."
"Of course I do." Sasha waved away his gratitude and smiled back. "You may be a selfish workaholic, duty-drone who neglects his family. But you're not the monster they secretly branded you."
The display flickered then turned black, dissolving the last trace of Sasha's sensuous features, bringing him back to the hum-drum of the empty observation deck. The boot steps were nowhere to be heard and Liam began to breathe easy. It had been good to see and talk to Sasha and Michael again, even for a brief moment.
But at the same time Sasha's last sentence stuck with him. There was comfort in knowing that someone else out there believed in him, truly believed, and not because they were your blood family. Though at the time she was practically a part of it. Before their marriage was dissolved they both agreed to remain a family, not just for Mikey's sake but because at the time, despite all the pain and craziness some part of them felt comfortable with each other.
Now she had secrets.
Which were none of his business of course, but at the same time they were. She was smart enough to leave if things got rough, he knew that, but that didn't stop the seed of worry from planting itself in his heart.
The bootsteps returned before he could get too lost in his thoughts. A knock sounded and a slim confident woman with sly eyes beneath short red bangs that losely framed her foreheadpoked her head in. "Didn't think I'd find you here, Commander. Now I owe Glen twenty."
Shepard tilted his head in confusion as he studied the rank on her shoulders. "Flight Lieutenant..."
"Eliza Donnelly." Leaning against the doorframe she regarded him for a long moment, as if trying to read his mind. "But you can call me Ellie."
"Who's flying the ship, Ellie?" he asked, voice crossed between amusement and caution as he felt the worn leather of his Paladin pistol at his thigh. Something about her careful approach perked his senses. There was something odd in the way she kept her hands hidden, the way she measured her steps and stole glances at the door. Soldiers who were jittery aboard their own ship were either breaking regs or up to no good. Where the heck was the Captain?
"Captain autopilot," she replied, stepping forward while seemingly balancing something behind her. "I'll introduce you..." His grip tightened on the hilt of his pistol as she continued, "I've heard the stories but never thought I'd see you in person."
"You want an autograph?" He asked with a coy smile.
Her eyes narrowed playfully, framed by bangs that gave her a feisty edge. Liam's finger hovered over the button that would extend his pistol, but Donnelly's burst of laughter caught him off guard. He stared dumbfounded as she relaxed and slowly brought her hand out to reveal a bottle.
"Jumpy, aren't ya?" She glanced to his holster as she offered the bottle. "Batarian ale! So we can drink their tears. The least I can do since you kicked those Batarians in the daddy-bags and saved my baby brother."
Vowing to stop overreacting Liam reached for it with a smile. "Thank you. Who's your brother?"
"A royal pain in the ass." She sat down next to him as he surveyed the label with widening eyes. It was black label, rare and expensive. "But thanks for saving Kenneth."
"It's my job." He caught her eye. "I can't take this it costs a fortune." He offered the bottle back but she shook her head stubbornly. "Plus, we can't drink on duty anyways."
The elegant rogue bangs framing her face swayed in defiance. "Afraid I can't do that, Commander. Besides its considered rude not to get completely hammered whenever you decide to open one of these," she said with a joking wink.
Arguing wouldn't work on this one. And if he was honest with himself, holding onto real alcohol felt amazing.
She nestled back and looked out to space. "How are you settling in?" she asked.
If I had a penny...
"It's a good ship with a solid crew," he replied, turning the bottle in his hands. Its chilling condensation begged him to take a sip, but honed instincts fought the impulse.
He could feel her gaze leave the stars and return to him. Something in her relaxed posture tempted him to do the same, to let loose and fall into the easy pace of the team. But if he remembered a single thing from his posting at X-19, it's that nothing is easy and everyone has an agenda. Eyes narrowing at the bottle, he forced himself to erect the barriers and figure her out.
"I think you'll like it here," she said, with a hint of wistfulness mixed to go with the muted mirth.
"Yeah?" Liam set the bottle down and rubbed the moisture from his hands. "What makes you say that?" He asked.
"Because you have no choice." The voice behind them didn't surprise either marine. In fact, Eliza looked pretty impressed when he maintained eye contact before casually breaking off to rise. "At ease. You know not to salute me outside the service sections," Captain Flores said, leaning against the door as she chided the flight lieutenant.
Eliza ignored her and pulled a smart salute with a mischievous smile. "Just following my commander's example, ma'am," she said, looking past her right at his hand mid-salute.
Captain Flores turned to him and he felt like an idiot. The regs seemed to change in each room, he was gonna have to start using flashcards soon.
"Sorry ma'am, I'm still learning the ropes," Liam said in a last ditch effort to appease her before ripping into him for the alcohol. Great.
But her sharp eyes stayed on his as she nodded in understanding. "Donnelly, go make sure Grinkov remembers to breathe," she said, eyes never leaving his.
Ellie took one look between them before brushing past Liam, taking the bottle with a discreet wink as she left. He was just happy to avoid reprimands on his first day.
When the doors closed Captain Flores circled him and came to stand at the window.
Unsure of what to do, Liam remained standing as he watched her profile. Vega wasn't kidding when he said she was capable, her mission dossier had a 92% success rate and from what he observed she had a solid crew. But the fact that she stayed at the rank of Captain for the past four years told him she too was on the Alliance shit list, that or the stupid glass ceiling that kept competent officers from rising ended her career. Whatever the case, he was looking forward to serving with someone who actually knew what they were doing.
"I read your dossier," The Captain said, keeping her back to him as she watched the blur of stars pass their window. "I'm sorry about what happened during the Blitz."
He could feel the icicles of dread cutting into his guts, spiking the adrenaline that often accompanied the nervous jolt.
"Ma'am?" he asked, trying to clarify. There was no way she'd have known. There was enough red tape around the Skyllian Blitz aftermath that no regular Captain would have access to.
Captain Flores turned to him with a neutral expression or careful poker face depending on how you looked at it. But both said the same thing, there was no sense playing dumb. "Your PTSD, Commander—"
"—won't be a problem," Liam replied quickly before he could stop himself. If she was fishing based on rumors then she now had confirmation. He wanted to kick himself for the stupid rookie mistake.
If Flores didn't like being interrupted she sure didn't show it or maybe she just didn't want to reprimand the damaged goods. Whatever the case, she crossed her arms casually and sized him up.
"Good," She replied. He could feel the heat on his forehead but didn't dare move a muscle as she continued, "But I have to be honest with you, Shepard. When I requested Alliance aide I needed more than an Infiltrator and another Chief." Shaking her head lightly she muttered almost to herself, "I guess this confirms the Alliance's attitude towards their assets."
"With all due respect ma'am, the extraction of a deep cover operative is usually handled by a team of infiltrators, not a heavy cruiser," Liam explained, even though she likely knew this. "I don't know what else to tell you except that I'll try my best to get her out of there."
The Captain studied him with an unreadable look, but somehow Liam sensed she didn't fully trust him just yet. He couldn't exactly blame her if she read the classified part of his dossier, that and the fact that infiltrators were the lone wolves of most military branches and it was easy to see why reg forces were cautious. "I don't know you and I'm trusting you with some serious sensitive intel, Shepard. Don't let me down."
The hidden or you'll regret it, wasn't lost on him.
"I don't plan to," Shepard replied with a small but confident smile. "Are you afraid the others will think less of you if you told them the true objective of this patrol mission?"
"It is the true objective," Flores warned, punctuated with a deadly gaze. "Extracting Elena is a career killer if the Alliance ever finds out. I'd rather not risk my team. You and I however, we're already dead to them."
Liam couldn't help but agree with half of that. Although he held 'War Hero' status on every recruiting poster in the galaxy, the Alliance officially buried him shortly after. But he wasn't bitter. If anything it proved that Alliance Command, just like any other organization, was prone to bureaucracy. But at the end of the day, their ultimate goal of defending the galaxy was met every day with honest marines. As long as those remained in the ranks, he could rest easy and have some faith.
"You should get some rest. We land in twelve hours." She said dismissively, moving from the window and heading for the door.
"Ma'am?" Liam asked, before she could pass him, "I'm keeping your secret..."
She stopped in her tracks, giving him a sidelong glance. "And I'm keeping yours, don't worry. Let's just get this done and return to being dead to the Alliance."
She kept dangling that thread like a test. But this wasn't the time to pry so he didn't, confident in the fact that he passed. Liam smiled despite himself as he watched her walk away. This would be a very interesting posting indeed.