Sarah opened her eyes, to see Miranda resting in her arms. The Commander smiled at the sight of the usually serious woman peacefully resting. As she shifted a bit to get up without waking the sleeping Operative, Miranda pulled closer to her.
It slightly widened the soldier's smile, but she knew she needed to get up. It was nearly seven in the morning. They needed to be leaving for Akuze in less than an hour. So, Sarah sighed, and said, "Miri, we need to get up."
Miranda opened her eyes, and said, "Really? What time is it?"
"Seven." Sarah said, "We're supposed to leave in forty minutes. So, we should probably get ready. I don't think they'd let me build another Crucible just to go back in time fifteen minutes so we aren't late for a mission."
"I don't know, you're very persuasive. Sometimes to a point where it's frightening." Miranda said.
Sarah grinned, and said, "Are you saying that you're scared of me, Ms. Lawson? I'm hurt."
Miranda laughed softly, and said, "Sarah, I'm not scared of you. After everything you've done, it would take a drastic change in your personality and behavior for you to frighten me. But, the idea of what you could make people do if you felt like it... you could get them to do some horrible things."
"Such as?" Sarah asked, her tone almost saying, "I'm open to ideas."
Miranda laughed, and said, "I am not going to give you ideas on how to misuse your talents."
"Oh come on, Miri. What's the worst that I could do?"
"Cause the end of the world."
"What's the worst that I would do?"
"Cause the deaths of the entire batarian species."
"Would anyone other than the batarians care if they were gone? They're a bunch of whiny troublemakers." Sarah replied.
"I'm sure that a few people would mind. Admittedly people who would be interested in studying the batarian culture, but a few would care."
"Alright, you got me there, but, we also need to get ready. You know as well as I do that Wrex won't like the idea of having to wait all day to kill things because we were busy chatting."
Miranda chuckled, and said, "True. But what says we can't talk and get ready?"
"I don't know..." Sarah said, a small smirk on her face as she looked at Miranda, who had stripped down to her underwear, "If we aren't focused, I might start getting ideas that aren't exactly professional."
"Really?" Miranda asked, her tone of voice only half irritated.
"What can I say," Sarah replied, "when I see the woman I love in her underwear, I get ideas."
Miranda shook her head, and said, "I'll be dressed in two."
Sarah nodded, and said, "Alright." Before stepping towards the armor locker, and opening it. She pulled out an ornate set of silver armor with red highlights. "Not quite as helpful as some Kestrel armor, or as incredible looking as a set of Blood Dragon armor, but it'll do."
Miranda laughed, and said, "Missing some tech from back before the mission which shall not be mentioned in Alliance facilities?"
"Yeah. Those heat sinks were amazing."
Miranda laughed, "I'm still not sure how they managed to mess those up so that they couldn't vent heat at all."
"Yeah, it was really inconvenient. Would have made running out of ammo less problematic. Maybe include a special venting system that you could drop them into on your armor. A bit slower than conventional methods, but still maintianing that 'infinite ammo' solution."
"They'd have to make so that the clips vented heat." Miranda replied, as she finished zipping up her tight fitting black combat suit. "Then, that wouldn't be too hard. Other than making sure that it was only away from the soldier who's armor it's attached to. We were actually working on that technology before we got distracted by having to bring you back."
"Sorry about dying." Sarah said, laughing as she finished putting the armor on, and grabbed her rifle from the weapons rack. She tossed Miranda a pistol and a shotgun.
The Operative expertly caught the weapons, and attached them to the magnetic locks on her outfit. She said, "What made you think that I used shotguns, before the clips made smgs make a comeback?"
"As your girlfriend it's my job to know absolutely everything about you." Sarah said, as she gave Miranda a quick kiss on the cheek. "That, and it was a lucky guess."
"Figures." Miranda replied, "So, let's go find the others. And some breakfast."
"Sounds like a plan." Sarah replied, as she opened the door. To be greeted by a very tired looking Jacob. She said, "Jacob, you look like shit. What's the problem?"
He laughed, and said, "Damn, Shepard. You know how to make a guy feel bad about staying up all night just to get to Alliance HQ in order to help you."
"Surely there was someone else who could have flown your ship." Sarah replied.
"In the Corsairs the ships aren't always big enough for more than one person." Jacob replied. "And, I wouldn't trust the VI to get me more than a kilometer without crashing into something."
"Space isn't that cluttered." Miranda said, "But, I do remember you complaining about the VI on that ship. Why don't you try to pull some strings to get a better one?"
"Because I'm still a rookie, Miranda." Jacob replied. "Not all of us have the ability to use sex appeal to get our way."
"I'd be kinda upset if Miranda were sleeping her way to the top." Sarah said. "And she's been doing just fine while not cheating on me. And, if Miranda did cheat on me... the corpse of whoever she slept with would never be found."
"Good to see you're just as jealous as ever." Jacob said.
"Yeah, good thing you and I were never a thing. Seeing how you cheated on that girl who worked the engineering night shift with Brynn."
Jacob nervously scratched the back of his head, and said, "Yeah... I have no idea what you're talking about. But, I'm guessing that's something from after the Suicide Mission."
"Yeah." Sarah said. "But seriously, if you do end up sleeping with that girl again, if you cheat on her, they will never find your corpse."
"What's with the hostility?" Jacob asked, looking terrified.
"Mr. Taylor, that girl was through enough trauma when she was abducted by the Collectors. The last thing she needs is to then be cheated on. I care for my crew. And while the ground team normally takes priority, I watch the back of every soul who serves under my command. If there was an issue between two of them, I would side with the one who had been wronged. Even if they weren't a member of the ground team."
"Well, some could argue that you typically find a middle path. Get them to just get along."
"That's when it isn't a basic black and white situation. Such as, someone cheated on someone else." Sarah replied, shaking her head.
Miranda then added, "And Jacob, I thought you said that you weren't like your father? Are you really going to let his DNA control you?"
He sighed, and said, "No. Now, can you two please stop berating me for things that were done after a period in time which I've experienced?"
"Fine." Sarah said, sounding slightly sad. "Also, we never did spill drinks on the Citadel after the Suicide Mission."
"I'm guessing that neither of the times we've finished that mission you were really interested in going out on the town. Wasn't Miranda dead the first time?"
Sarah sighed, and said, "Yes. That did happen the first time we did the Suicide Mission. I was a nanosecond too slow, and lost her for what I thought would be the rest of my life. Fortunately it turns out everything we thought we knew about the universe was wrong, and there is supernatural shit out there that can do who knows what to time.
"And, in all honesty, who gives a fuck about the universe making complete and total sense? I mean, isn't a universe with Miranda in it better than one where she's dead? Even if it means that how we thought the universe works is actually wrong?"
"To you, certainly." Jacob said, "But, I don't know. Know everything makes even less sense than before. This whole time travel and drawing in people from parts of the timeline that already happened, yet haven't already happened due to the time travel. It just gives me a massive headache."
"You're thinking about it too hard, Jacob." Sarah said, shaking her head, "Just look at it this way Miranda's alive, and your boss is happy because of it. That's how you're affected by it."
Miranda nodded, and said, "Sarah has a point, despite her ignoring how bloody terrifying it is to know that there are supernatural entities out there who could do who knows what to mess with society just because they feel like it."
"Eh, they've got rules against messing with people. Would make normal people aware they exist. They're more interested in just doing their own thing which doesn't really bother us. Since they have eternity to figure out what they need to." Sarah said.
Miranda said, "That's a relief. I was worried that they'd be thinking, 'Well, the secret's out. Open season for messing with the mortals!' or some other nonsense that would make life more difficult. I mean, keeping Oriana safe from my father is hard enough without having to worry about them telling him where she is, just because it would amuse them."
Sarah nodded, and said, "Yeah, that would be a major dick move. If someone did that, I'd have to talk to them about boundaries. There's a bit of a, boundaries thing. Where you don't interfere with the life/work of another Lucis Entia unless it's putting everyone in danger."
"Why did they tell you, a new one, so much important shit?" Jacob asked.
"Orientation. That and because I needed to know as much as possible in order to be ready for whatever Halthas has planned to force me to initiate synthesis."
"You'd think that after you tricked him that last time he'd have given up."
"He just saw it as a minor setback. Nothing worth actually abandoning his madness."
Jacob nodded, as Miranda said, "And it would be too bloody convenient if he gave up."
"True." Sarah replied. "But what has me worried is the fact that he's keeping such a low profile. He has to be planning something. Something he thinks will force synthesis on the galaxy."
Jacob sighed, and said, "Are you ever going to just have a boring, ordinary life that doesn't drag other people into crazy wars? You know, settle down, work an easy job, not have to worry about horrors from before the dawn of the human race."
"Once I've killed those horrors from long before the dawn of the human race it'll be an option."
"Fair enough." Jacob replied.
-=0=-
Meanwhile, Halthas stood silent on the peak of a pillar. His eyes closed, and mouth hanging open. The air around him fluctuated in temperature from absolute zero to hotter than a blue star. As he stood there in absolute silence, in the calm amongst a storm of temperatures fluctuating at a rate that no science could explain, he let his mind wander.
He often came to this hellish place, a landscape where the ground shifted from frozen rock to molten lava millions of times in the course of a day, to think. He stood on the one pillar of stability in the entire dimension. While those who had failed him would spend their days roaming amongst the lethal temperature changes. Only sheltered from demise by the fact that he wanted them to live, to suffer.
And once he believed they had suffered enough, he would release them. Return them to their homes. But depending on their incompetence, that would not happen for many millenia. Halthas opened his eyes, and closed his mouth, as he looked at the few still trying to reach the pillar. None had ever gotten close enough to be worthy of his attention before. But now a single man walked ever closer. He seemed to know when the changes to liquid lava would come, and managed to stay above it, by using some strange sort of shoe. He walked, ever closer to the pillar. Ever closer to stability.
But, as he drew near, almost within the range of its protection, Halthas dropped from his pillar, and said, "What do you think you are doing? This is no place for murderers such as yourself."
"I've never killed anyone." the man replied, "I'm a pacifist."
"Yes, and because of your cowardice your family was killed by pirates. Your inaction has put their blood on your hands."
"Why do you think that harsh words will affect me? They are simply sounds."
Halthas laughed, and said, "Here my word is the law of nature. And I say that you are not welcome near this place of peace. I send you to the farthest reaches of this world. If you somehow manage to reach this place a second time you will have proven yourself absolved of your sins." as the words left his mouth, the man vanished.
The ancient traitor laughed softly to himself, before returning to the pillar, and his meditative stance.
-=0=-
A/N: Well here's the latest chapter. I hope you enjoy it. I know I had a fair amount of fun writing it. And, if you did enjoy it please leave a review, every review makes my day a hell of a lot better. Until next time, thanks for reading.