Sorry this took so long but I finally got it up. I tried to do a bit more character development in this chapter. Enjoy and let me know what you think.
Dr. T'soni was odd to say the least. She spent most of her time in the back lab behind the medbay. Claire had gone over to check on her a few times and Dr. Chawkwas was getting to know her fairly well too. Everyone else seemed to be steering clear. No one was really sure if they trusted her yet thanks to her family ties.
Luke sat in the mess hall across from Mallory sipping on coffee and munching on bagels. Mallory had made hers into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but it was becoming a bit of a mess. Luke laughed at some jelly landed in her lap.
"You know you are a lot different than how I remember you." Luke said handing her a napkin. She shook her head.
"That's what happens when you don't see someone for thirteen years and then show up." Luke hung his head, she was still mad…
I can't blame her for being angry with me, but Claire seems to have forgiven me. Why not Mal? "Look Mal, I told you I was sorry. I told you why I ran."
"What you didn't say is why not run with us? Why not take us with you? I know we are triplets but I always looked up to you and Claire. Now, I don't even know who you are. You told us about your life on the Citadel, but you never told us who you had become." Mallory set her bagel down wet her lips. A few of the other crew members were in the mess hall but they all seemed engrossed in their own conversations.
"Mal, I told you. I'm a cop. There's not much more to it." Luke said taking a bite of his bagel.
"Not good enough." Mallory got up, collected her bagel and stormed off toward the crew quarters. Luke sighed as he watch Mallory leave. He placed his head in his hands and his elbows on the table.
"Well that looked bad." Ashley said sitting down next to him.
"You know how close you are with your sisters?" Luke asked not looking up. Ashley smiled slightly.
"Yeah."
"Mallory and me are the exact opposite. I ran out on Claire and Mal right after our parents died and never contacted them again. I left them for thirteen years. If one of your sisters did that, do you think you could forgive them?" Luke looked up at Ashley as she bit her lip before sighing and shaking her head.
"I guess I would be pretty mad at them, but you're here now. That's something." Ashley placed her hand on his shoulder.
"She wants to know who I am now compared to who I was." Luke turned to face Ashley. "I don't even remember the kid I was before the attack on Mindoir. Everything about me changed. I guess the only thing that stayed the same about me is my name."
"Oh come on. There has got to be something else." Ashley took his hand. "Think about it. What did you and your sisters do together?"
Luke smiled slightly. He knew Ashley was trying to help, but every time he thought about those days on the colony with his family, he always started reliving their escape. Running… Blood… Death…
"Ash, I know you're trying to help, But there are some things that just need to stay buried. Mindoir is one of those things." Luke pushed his bagel away and stood up.
As he made his way for the elevator, Claire turned the corner. Ashley stood and saluted her commander but Claire shook her head.
"No need to be formal right now, Williams." Claire sat down across from her and relaxed stretching out her arms and legs.
"I don't get Luke, ma'am. He gets me to talk about everything but when I ask him about anything, he is evasive or talks without saying anything." Ash looked over her shoulder as she heard the door for the elevator open.
"He's always been that way. I'm his sister and I have never known what does on in that head of his. I think that is his way." Claire sighed and folded her hands interlacing her fingers.
"You and the lieutenant seem to be good at communicating. I know more about you two than I do about Luke and I've spent more time with him… I just wish he would trust me." Ashley looked back at where Luke had disappeared around the corner and sighed.
"It's not about trust." Someone said from behind them. Claire smiled as Garrus took a seat with a tray of food that looked absolutely revolting to the two humans, although judging from the way Garrus poked at the goop on his tray, it must not have looked very appetizing to him either.
"So you're saying he does trust me?" Ashley asked leaning forward in her chair.
"He trusts everyone on this ship with his life. I don't really know much about him either. Anytime I talked to him back at C-Sec, he always gave me just enough information to hold me back, but the only details he ever gave me could have been found in his personnel files. He never talked about Mindoir except when he mentioned you and Mallory." Garrus took a sip of his drink and looked over at Claire.
"He talked about us?"
"All the time. Anytime you two were on the news, he would announce to everyone that you two were his sisters. He was always proud of both of you."
"What do you know about Mindoir? About him on Mindoir?" Claire asked with her eyes on the table.
"That you three were pulled off the planet by an alliance cruiser but most of the rest of the colony was either taken or killed." Garrus said slowly as he watched Claire closely.
"All three of us were rescued…" Claire looked up at her two companions before wetting her lips and continuing. "But not at the same time." Claire stood up and briskly walked back to her cabin.
Garrus sighed and looked over at Ashley. "Well, we know that all the Shepards have one thing in common."
"What's that?" Ashley asked sharply.
"None of them like to go into detail about anything." Ashley let out a huff of frustration before storming of toward the elevator. "Maybe it's just a human thing." Garrus shrugged and took another sip of his drink.
The engine room was louder than the others with the hum of the drive core. That was probably why Tali found it so relaxing. The rest of the ship was just too quiet for her to get comfortable. She spotted Luke out of the corner of her eye as he slumped against the wall. She had not gotten the chance to talk to him much since he joined the ship but Garrus had told her about how he had helped in her rescue on the Citadel.
"I'm glad to see you're settling in, Tali." Luke said leaning against the wall.
"I'm still not use to all of this yet. The ship feels so empty and quiet." Tali plopped down next to him and hugged her knees. "I never thanked you for helping to save my life."
Luke wet his lips and sighed. "That was Claire with her squad and Garrus. I stayed behind to arrest Fist."
"But you were with Shepard when she went in after Fist,right?" Luke chuckled.
"Yeah, I was with her."
"You don't like talking very much do you?" Tali turned her head and laid it down on her arms.
"Not about the past…" Luke started but his words gave out. He brought up his omni-tool and started scrolling through the programs he had. "I heard that you know how to get into a Geth's systems and scramble them up."
Tali lifted her head. Even with the helmet, Luke could see she was slightly excited about discussing technical programming. "Yes, it doesn't last long but I can hack a geth's processing unit and make it think that other geth a hostile."
"Can you show me how?" Luke asked bringing up his omni-tool.
"Sure." Tali brought up her omni-tool and started bringing up images and code fragments on the view screen.
The tech lesson with Tali had helped to take his mind off his problems with his sisters but Luke was far from in a better mood. He could not help it if he couldn't talk about Mindoir. He had to condition himself. Face his fears and his past and conquer them. Claire and Mallory certainly seemed to have done that… but they had not gone through what he had.
Luke sat in a corner of the back room with a holo of Mindoir up on his omni-tool before it had been attacked. It had been the view out of his bedroom window in his family's old prefab. He could see the park where he had put sand down the back of Mallory's shirt and laughed as she cried and wiggled trying to get it out. There was the prefab of a little girl that Claire use to babysit named Tabitha, and just to the right was the prefab where the colony's sheriff lived. Luke had loved going and talking to the man. He had been an officer on Earth during the First Contact War and always had a story about his time there. Then, there was nothing but fire and blood. Luke closed his eyes as he tried to rebury the past.
The door opened and Luke heard a small gasp of surprise. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there." Dr. T'soni stood in the doorway her hands clasped and pressed against her chest.
"Sorry, I'll go." Luke said deactivating his omni-tool and standing.
"Oh, you don't have to. That is not necessary." Dr. T'soni seemed a little flustered by his presence. Luke smiled and slide back down the wall to rest on the floor.
"I didn't mean to intrude Doctor. I just wanted to find somewhere secluded and you were in the mess hall. Seemed as good a place as any." Luke put his arms around his knees and hugged them to his chest using his forearms as a chin rest.
"You can call me Liara. Doctor is a bit formal." Luke chuckled and smiled slightly.
"I'm Luke."
Liara nodded. "I know. Commander Shepard's brother. One of the Shepard triplets."
Luke chuckled and nodded. "That's me. Brother of the great Commander and lieutenant Shepard."
"I already thanked the commander, Garrus, and Wrex for coming and saving me from the Geth but I never got the chance to thank you." Liara lowered her gaze. Luke had been in the med-bay during the debrief after his injury and was sleeping when she was being examined by Dr. Chakwas.
"You're welcome, but I don't think we've been doing a very good job of welcoming you abroad." Luke said sitting up a little. He had seen the way the crew avoided her. He had seen the same behavior and avoidance at C-Sec with a dirty officer named Harkin.
"I know the crew does not trust me, but I am not my mother. But the only person that seems to believe that is the commander." Liara said sitting down in her desk chair.
"Well, I don't count for much but I believe you too and…" Before Luke could finish, his omni-tool flashed with a message from Claire. "Well, looks like we'll have to talk again later. Claire wants me on this next mission."
Liara's beeped as well. "Looks like she wants me down there too." Luke stood and jogged out the door followed closely by Liara. As they entered the elevator, they were met by Mallory and Alenko standing there.
"Where have you been?" Mallory asked as Luke stepped in.
"Just wanted to be alone for a while." Mallory rolled her eyes. Of course Luke wanted to be alone. He never talked to anyone, not even Claire or Garrus.
The four stood in awkward silence for the rest of the elevator ride. When the doors opened, they could not get out fast enough.
Claire stood next to the Mako dressed in her gear, ready to deploy. "We just got a message from Admiral Hackett. There is a Geth incursion in the this cluster. We need to clear them out system by system. Load armor piercing rounds and disrupter rounds." Luke noticed that everyone was grabbing their gear.
"The Mako might get a little cramped with everyone commander." Luke said as he made his way to his locker. Inside was a set of new, military grade armor and an upgrade for his omni-tool. He smirked as started strapping his new gear on.
"Everyone is getting ready because I don't know what size force we are going to be facing. I'm going to take a small scout group with me while the rest of you remain on standby just in case we need a bail out. Garrus and Luke will be the scout party with me. Alenko, I want you, Wrex, and Williams ready to deploy on spider lines. Mallory, you have Liara and Tali ready just in case we need a third wave." Claire climbed up into the Mako followed closely by Garrus. Luke slipped his pistol onto his belt and looked at the Mako.
"Is it too late to adjust the gravity field in the Mako to minimize the bumps, spins and hard landings?" Luke shouted. Claire's head appeared with a large grin across her face.
"Probably, but I can always turn off the inertia dampeners." Luke's eyes went wide for a moment.
"You touch those settings and you will be riding in the back to enjoy it." he hollered.