Welcome to chapter 3 of the Betrayal, thank you to those who Reviewed, it gives me the motivation to get shit done!
For those who have not guessed yet I will be splitting most chapters between Shepard and Williams to give a more understanding view of story progression.
Also note that this story is completely unplanned, so you guys have as much an ideas as to where this is going as I do.
And as always:
~ I don't own mass effect, Bioware does 'has aneurysm' ~
26.02.0005 PRW
TUCHUNKA
Zaire Stadium - In Construction
"You bastard, we had a deal not to do anything like this!" Exclaimed Zaire.
The old Krogan Chief simply laughed at the annoyed look on the humans face, it was one of the things they use to joke about on the SR1, they both agreed that they would prevent statues of themselves or other crap from being built, but the old warlord couldn't resist when they asked for the second name for the stadium.
Wrex turned to look at the work in progress, anything Krogan engineered was built to take on nukes and made to last an Asari lifetime, so it was taking time to move the rock and metal necessary to complete the project. The end result would be a rectangular stadium 400 meters long and 200 meters wide, with seats for a crowed of over 400,000 Krogan.
Also, the design used called for four arches to come out to meet in the middle, where Holographic projectors imbedded into the stone would project close up shots of the action as well as other information.
The seats themselves would be raised off of the ground, as walls of stone and steel ran around the entire field, keeping the battles in as well as separating the spectators from the battlefield... hopefully.
Kinetic barriers would be stationed at every entrance and exit to the battlefield to keep the animals in, if the thick mass condensed, steel bars failed, that is.
Put out at the front entrance would be a large plaza for people to gather, and for stalls to sell their wears. In the center of the plaza was a stone plinth, which would depict Shepard, in full spectre battle armour and wielding her duel katana.
That little detail had really pissed her off and Wrex was rather proud of the amount of multi-species curses that particular detail had pulled out of her.
Walking through the plaza in relative silence after that particular incident, most of the workers had gone home for the day, leaving Wrex and Shepard to have the place to themselves.
"You've done good work here Wrex, the Krogan stepped up and are moving forward" commented Shepard, admiring the stone work in detail.
Walking through the main entrance, Shepard took in the open space and tall ceilings, the walls had alcoves with statues of warriors in armour, leaning on a veritaty of weapons, from swords and axes to war hammers and what appeared to be heavy spears.
The orange Sun caused to make the stone appear to be brighter and for the steel to glow in yellows and oranges, the red painted highlights on the stone framed the spectacle.
Taking a quick step through a hidden door behind a stone and steel rimmed pillar, they walked through some staff corridors wide enough for Krogan, they emerged in a waiting room that would be used to prepare warriors for battle. Taking the exit onto the field beyond gave Zaire some scale of the battles that were intending to be fought.
Wrex was planning to make full use of the space he had, as fighting would happen every month, however, the pitches were perfect for the Krogan game of Crunch, where 2 teams of Krogan fought to both take their opponents stone balls while keeping their own.
Walking through the plain flat land that would become the battle field, Zaire stopped and stared at the small blurs at one end of the construction site, it took her a few seconds to focus to realise that she was watching Krogan children climbing the stone blocks and construction equipment.
She wondered if she would ever see little children of her own running and playing.
Wrex stopped walking when he realised that Shepard had fallen behind, turning, he watched her. She was staring off to the more completed section of the stadium, and he could see movement on the blocks, no doubt that those dam kids were playing on the equipment again.
The look on his friends face however, was one of desperate hope, something he was both familiar to feeling and seeing.
He let her think for a few moments, before realizing something, and walking up to her.
"It was worth it Shepard, everything we did, everything you did, was worth it." he grunted.
Shepard simply shaked her head, "maybe Wrex, but tell me this? When can I stop?" She asked, "when do I say, 'its not my problem anymore' when issues keep showing up?"
Wrex gave a small grin, "that's just life Shepard, I've lived for over 600 years, and the problems will always keep coming."
"Then what do I do Wrex?" She asked angrily.
He laughed at that, "simple" he said "you find someone else to do it for you."
"Really?" She asked sarcastically.
"Yep" he replied happily, "Grunt does most of the shouting and bashing, Bakara does the talking, I just sit here and look menacing most days." He thought about it for a second before adding "plan stadiums too apparently".
Shepard looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, that and the breeding requests" he finished.
Shepard smiled and turned back to watch the kids, 'find someone else to do shouting and bashing' she thought, 'not a bad idea Wrex, not a bad idea at all'.
17.02.0005 PRW
SSV NORMANDY SR2
IN ORBIT AROUND EARTH
Joker was bored, sure he was alive and well, he was still flying and he and EDI were happy. But, nothing really interesting had happened in years, and his job was to basically ferry people around, perhaps he was just too used to the missions that Shepard had done, but nothing really came close to what happened during the Reaper war.
He had been talking to EDI about possible retirement from active duty, teaching recruits how to fly was becoming more and more of a good idea as he wouldn't be able to fly forever.
His day dreaming was interrupted as EDI subtly flashed a light on his control screen to notify him someone was approaching.
Spinning around he grinned "Vega!" He greeted, "forgive me if I don't stand up and hug you, but you know" he said, waving his arm for emphasis.
Vega just laughed, "Joker, man I've missed you" turning to EDI he added "good to see you as well Circuito".
Turning in her seat EDI replied "thank you, it is good to see you as well Commander Vega."
"Commander?" Asked Joker, "since when did you get bumped up the chain?" He questioned.
"Commander Vega completed N7 training 2 weeks ago, Joker, he is now leading a small team of 2 other N7 graduates" stated EDI.
Vega grinned "nothing gets past you on the Normandy."
"Joker, set course for the Charon relay, all combat teams meet me in the war room in 10 minutes." Came Ashley's voice over the comm.
"Yes ma'am" replied Joker.
Nodding once to Vega, Joker turned back round in his seat to set course.
Vega returned the nod, even though the pilot couldn't have seen it before leaving the cockpit and making his way to the war room.
WAR ROOM
Ten minutes later
Williams looked at both her own team and Vega's, and couldn't help but think as to what her reaction to this could have been 5 years ago.
With her was their Turian weapons specialist Lucieus Genenis, who had once been part of the Blue Suns, after the reaper war he had seen the destruction of his home world he felt he could do more with his life. Ashley had found him after he helped save a salarian STG team from IR forces.
Their designated Geth sniper Enigma, took after it's names sake, as it had been part of the Geths security detail to the Citadel after the war, when it had met with Williams afterwards it had requested to work for her. When she had asked why, it simply stated that it would learn far more on the Normandy than anywhere else.
The teams explosives expert, a salarian named Merbon Hiral had come from the STG, he apparently had been on the same base as Shepard when she had come to gain the Krogan female. Inspired by her overwhelming victory against Cerberus he wanted to be a part of a team that dedicated, so when he heard that Wlliams was recruiting, he jumped at the chance.
Initially wary of STG spies, Ashley had asked Garrus for advice, who then pulled contacts and gained Merbons complete file, Ash didn't ask him how.
And finally their biotic specialist, an Asari ex-commando called Tellisa V'mona. Her bondmate, a Turian, had been killed in the opening days of the Reaper war. She had left with other like minded Commandos soon after, going to help when it became obvious that the Republics would refuse to enter the war.
After it ended she had continued to fight the IR for several months, when she had personally identified and tracked a IR, who attempted to kill as many Normandy crew as possible during a stop off on Terra Nova.
Saving 20 crew members, including Ashley herself, she earned herself a spot on the team, and now scuttle butt is saying that she and Specialist Tranor are sleeping together.
Ashley had personally done background checks on all of them and she had ran the team for almost 2 years, she had asked EDI to help out on some occasions but EDI mostly stayed on board with Joker, incase of a boarding attempt apparently.
Vega had his own team of 2:
A infiltration expert and swordsman named, Lieutenant Yul Banks who was a just over 1.5 meters tall and in his 40's, with combat experience in fighting slavers, Pirates and Reaper cybernetic forces.
And a Japanese woman in her 30's called Lieutenant Minako Nizshia, who specialised in tech, both hardware and software based. She had grown up on the Colony New Tokyo, a predominantly Japanese centered colony that was populated originally by the people of Japan when overcrowding became extreme. The colony is still the premier provider of humanities bladed weapons.
Williams thought of the ground team from the SR1 and the people Joker said Shepard recruited on the SR2, the Normandy appeared to be a magnet for the best and the strange.
The only combat personnel not to have been on the Normandy were Hannar, Volus, Batarians and Vorcha. Though, with the way the Volus were going that may change in the next decade, they had taken a rather big liking to Humanities Assault Walkers.
"Right, let's get this thing over with as Vega's team still need to unpack their gear and get some sleep." Started Williams.
"As you no doubt all heard on the news for the last couple weeks, there was a escape in Vancouver, a IR got loose and injured over 10 personnel before disappearing into the local ruins." She continued.
"The IR's name was given to us 2 days ago and we have been given the task of tracking her down." Added Vega.
The Holo table in front of the group lit up, depicting a human woman in full battle armour, wielding a sword in a two handed grip, and she appeared to be coming out of a biotic charge above a Brute.
The atmosphere of the meeting dropped as the respective races in the room realised who the person in front of them was, the Geth, naturally was the first to recover, stating: "identity of target - Shepard, Commander."
The Geths head flaps shifted to that of question "Query: Shepard, Commander has been declared Killed in Action, was this data false or has Shepard, Commander been revived again?"
Vega cleared his throat, "The Alliance lied, Shepard was apparently found 2 weeks after the Crucible self-destructed."
"Then why?" asked Tellisa "are we being asked to hunt her down, when she has obviously grown tired of being held by the Alliance?"
The Asari's reaction was partly understandable and Ashley Williams sighed, "the initial reason, apparently, was that Shepard was not too badly hurt, and that when she woke up she could choose to retire quietly or not." She started, "however, the doctors in charge of her care noticed anomalous objects and did a full body scan, this is what they found."
The Holo projector shifted, showing the medical data of Shepard's new implants, most of the team winced, and Enigma's singular 'eye' rotated as its head flaps went straight up.
"The data suggests that extensive cybernetics have been added" stated Enigma, "enhancements in offensive and defensive capabilities and unknown implants embedded into the Hippocampus and Cerebellum sections of the brain." It finished.
Ashley nodded before stating quietly "the Alliance also found evidence of nano-bots in her blood stream, however, they were hard to pinpoint."
"I don't think that we need to tell anyone who put them there" stated Vega.
"Reaper tech" sighed Genenis.
Their salarian explosives expert spoke for the first time, "Shepard has connections to all major allied races, access to dark secrets, if indoctrinated, will cause damage sooner or later."
"Agreed" spoke up Lt. Nizshia.
"Our mission is to track down Shepard, capture her, and bring her to the Council, the Alliance can argue for her release to their authority there." Ashley brought the teams back on track.
"We will go over her ideals, her motives, her abilities before and after the war, and find any weaknesses we can use." She continued, she turned to the Geth, "Enigma, can you see if the Geth collective will let us have access to Shepard's combat analysis records?"
"authorising" stated the Geth.
Data appeared on the screen next to Shepard's a SPECTRE file, it would be a long time before the team was ready to face the ex-commander. But they would face her, the Galaxy had enough to deal with at the moment without a loose Shepard causing destruction.
26.02.0005 PRW
Unknown Location
Miranda Lawson sat at the desk of the Shadow Broker network, over viewing data and compiling orders.
It was a step up, she decided, she was sharing control with 3 people she trusted the most powerful network of spies and information in the Galaxy, she spoke and met with her sister more often than she thought possible, and the only issues were of the grieving friend kind.
Before she could go down that train of thought, a priority message flashed at her from one of the orange screens in front of her.
The message was from Urnot Wrex, and it was marked as urgent, opening it she read the request: a secure private communication as soon as possible.
"Nikola" Miranda commanded.
Her personal information drone appeared, and stated "yes, Miss Lawson?"
"Open a private communication line with Urnot Wrex, security status - Black 2." She ordered.
"Right away, Miss Lawson" Nikola replied.
The channel was created through several secure servers before being transferred through a QEC connection to her location, and opened. She got a physical 3D model projected in front of the desk of the Krogan warlord.
Of course, all Wrex saw on his end was a shadowy figure behind a dark desk, it always payed to be careful.
"About time", the Krogan grunted.
"I am a very busy man Urnot Wrex, what is it you wished to speak about?" Miranda asked.
The scarred Krogan grinned before asking "Asari, Human or Drell?"
"Human" she replied, answering the question of who he was really talking to.
"Then you're going to love this, a dead Spectre showed up at my front door yesterday," he leaned forwards, "the reoccurring kind."
Miranda froze, surely he was incorrect.
The Warlord gave out a bark of laughter at the stunned silence and continued talking, "I'd go tell Light Blue that her 'Knight in Shinning Armour' is alive and kicking."
Finally getting her head in order she snapped out a quick "understood" before cutting the connection halfway through the Krogan's second laugh.
"Nikola I want the closest combat team and our quickest ship heading to Tuchunka as soon as possible" already getting other information up on screen.
After a moment to think of something she added, "And notify Glyph 'that Shepard is alive,' she's going to want to hear this."
And that's the end of this chapter!
Again thank you for reading and please review if you enjoyed it, or hated it, just tell me why so I can fix stuff.
Also a quick note: Shepard is not really indoctrinated ... maybe, I haven't thought too far ahead.
But the story will generally be about Shepard trying to prove she's not and how the war effected everyone. I think.
Anyway leave a review, as I'm always hungry for more.
Seriously they are tasty!
~ JunkMail