For all those who were wanting to hear more about Luke's past. Here is your chapter. I've broken the whole back story into a few pieces and each piece will give a more detailed look at what Luke went through. Thanks to everyone for reading. Please review and comment. Enjoy!
Luke had his arm in a sling and was half listening to Dr. Chawkwas scold him about not immediately returning to the Normandy. Apparently the Krogan had hit him so hard that he had a hair-line fracture to his humerus right above his elbow. He would need injections and almost a week's worth of scans and vibration therapy to heal the injury to the point where he could be on the ground team again.
Claire was the luckiest of the group. The acid had only given her a second degree chemical burn on her back. With a few applications of medigel and a synthetic ointment, Claire was going to be completely healed in a day or two.
Garrus had minor burns to his neck and face that had already begun to heal by the time they came back on board. The cut on the top of his head required some extra medigel, but other than that was fine.
Liara, however, had to stay in the med bay for several days to nurse not only the gash in her side, but because it was delivered by a rachni, it had left some of the acid in the wound. Chawkwas had to cut away the dead flesh before she could close the wound and cleanse the area.
Luke nodded his understanding to Chawkwas although he had barely heard anything that she had told him. He made his way over to the crew quarters where Ashley put her arms around him gently.
"Hey Ash." Luke said using his good arm to return the embrace. "How were things here?"
"A lot more boring than out there apparently. Claire said that you got into a fight with a krogan and he knocked you cold." Luke laughed so hard that it hurt his arm. Ashley apparently did not get the joke.
"I got blindsided by a Krogan at full speed. He sent me into the wall and broke my arm. Garrus even has video of it." Luke stopped seeing Ashley's expression change. He knew she was not fond of aliens. It was not that she was predjudice, but she thought humans should handle human problems. "Look Ash, I want you to try and get to know Garrus and the other alien members of the crew. They could end up being your best friends if you let them. I promise you won't be betraying your beliefs or principles."
Ashley smiled and sighed. "I can't promise anything, but if you trust them enough to work with Garrus for several years, I guess I can give them a chance." Luke smiled and kissed her on the cheek. But they both turned red when they realized that Claire and Mallory were standing in the door way.
"Well, I see we are interrupting." Claire said playfully. Ashley held in a small giggle before nodding to the Shepards and taking her leave. Luke looked up at his sisters and smirked, sitting down on his bunk.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Luke asked leaning against the bed post.
"We wanted to talk to you about something that came up." Mallory said. The vagueness made Luke a little uneasy. Mallory was normally so direct and rigid in how she spoke that the difference made her seem like a completely separate person.
"Came up when?" Luke asked.
"When we were looking back into Mindoir." Claire said softly. Luke knew they were feeling ashamed for digging without his permission. If he had wanted them to know, he would have told them.
"Why are you two still pushing this? You already know I felt too ashamed and embarrassed to face you after I was rescued. You know I went to work for C-Sec and now I'm here. What else could you possibly want to know?"
"It's not what we want to know..." Claire said softly again. Luke clenched his fist.
"It's what you already found out." Luke growled.
"Luke, we just thought we might be able to help you." Mallory said taking a small step toward him.
"What did you find out during your deep investigation into your own brother?" Luke snarled.
The two girls lowered their eyes before glancing at each other. Claire was the one to look up at her brother. "There is a few military report attached to your personnel file that is classified to a point that not even a Spectre can get in. All that I was able to find was the date and location the operation took place and a codename. Not even how it is connected to you."
Luke stared at his sister waiting for her to continue. "And?"
Mallory was the one to continue. "The date was three months after the attack began on Mindoir. The location nearly 200 miles from the main settlement. Codename Lazarus?" Luke had to control his reaction. It was not the file that he thought they were looking for. They had found a much deeper buried file that he did not even realize existed anymore. He was glad that was not easy to access. "You know exactly what we are talking about don't you? You just don't want to talk about it." Mallory continued.
"Don't ask me about that. Claire, Mallory, this is not just because I don't want you to know or because I was ordered never to talk about it. You honestly do not want to know about codename Lazarus."
"Ordered? Who ordered you?" Mallory asked, but Claire held up her hand and pushed Mallory gently back. She stepped forward and knelt in front of her brother.
"Does this have anything to do with the brand?" She asked. Luke looked straight into her eyes. How could he answer that because even not answering was a type of answer?
"Don't ask me about it Claire. Promise me you won't dig into this anymore. Promise me." Luke was begging at this point. The last thing he wanted was for them to know what had been done to him or to get mixed with who had done it.
"Luke, if you are in danger, we will fight it together. Or if you're in trouble, I can get you out of it. You may have been on your own for the past few years but you are still my brother and I still love you." Luke could feel tears coming to his eyes. He didn't want to tell them because he didn't want them to feel sorry for him or treat him any different than anyone else on the crew. But he could not help but want to confide in his sisters, and even Ashley about what had happened to him.
"I…um… I want to tell you. I'm just afraid of what you will think of me when you know what happened…what I had to do to survive." Luke said as tears started to roll down his cheeks.
"We've all done things that we regret. I mean, I never wanted my unit to be sent to clear out the tunnels on Torfan but I did it. Some of my best friends died doing it." Mallory said sitting down on the bunk opposite Luke.
"And I lost a lot of people in the blitz, on Eden Prime, and several other places all across citadel space. But we got though them because we had people around us to talk to and to pock us back up if we ever stumbled." Claire sat down next to her brother and put an arm around him.
"Okay, but be patient with me. I still…have some trouble." Luke said running his hands over his buzz cut red hair. The girls nodded and sat quietly as Luke retold the part of the story that they were familiar with; their parents being gunned down. As Luke started to explain what happened after they had been separated, Claire and Mallory both leaned forward listening intently.
"I was alone for a day before I was caught by a band of slavers. I tried to fight but I was weak and exhausted from running with no food or water. They caught me and branded me." Luke slipped his arm out of the sling carefully and pulled off his shirt to show the brand on his shoulder. Mallory flinched upon seeing it. He turned around and replaced his shirt and sling.
"I… I didn't know." Mallory said softly.
"The next day, I was put in a cage and loaded onto a shuttle. I wasn't the only one either. Tabitha and Morris were there along with some of mom and dad's friends. They were all telling each other it was going to be okay, but we all knew that we were as good as dead." Luke rubbed his hands together and lowered his head.
"Wait, a shuttle? But I thought you were found on Mindoir?" Claire said.
"I was not there the whole time. I was actually on a slaver ship for almost three months… For the first week, they fed us next to nothing, and what food we got was rotten. If we spoke, we were beaten. If we tried to fight back we were wiped without mercy. If we tried to protect each other, we were tortured twice as much." Luke remembered the blood flowing freely down his arms from the gashes on his back when he had thrown himself in between a batarian and the little girl named Tabitha. He had been kicked, wiped, cut, and beaten for hours as the batarians laughed and joked with each other.
"That sounds like hell." Mallory started. Luke could not help but keep going.
"The next few weeks were nothing but behavior conditioning. We were put in shock collars and helmets. They would shock us if we stepped out of line or looked at them. I watched as the people we grew up with broke one at a time and folded to the masters' will. I just kept telling myself that they had killed mom and dad. Be patient and wait, but the days turned into weeks and I started to lose hope. I had no idea how long I had been on that ship or what I was holding on for, but I started to act like everyone else trying to hide in plain sight." Luke rubbed the outside of his arms remembering how cold it had been in the pens they were forced to sleep in, when they were allowed to sleep.
"Luke, we-" Claire started but joker's voice over the intercom stopped her.
"Sorry to interrupt Shepard but we have an urgent message from Admiral Hackett." Claire looked over at Luke and placed her hand on his.
"We'll talk some more later." Claire said kissing her brother on the top of his head. "I'm glad to have you with me."
Mallory managed to smile genuinely at her brother for the first time in years. She remembered when she and Claire were placed on a civilian shuttle to be sent to foster care. Claire had been screaming that she wanted to know what happened to Luke. It was not until a marine knelt in front of her and assured her that her brother would be right behind her on the next shuttle because they had gotten him out. It was obviously a lie to get her to comply and keep moving but it did the job. For weeks after they were placed with a foster family, Claire kept saying that maybe Luke would arrive that day, but slowly she said it less and less until three months had passed. They received word that their brother had fled and alliance officials were not able to find him.
"I know we are not on very good speaking terms with each other, but I am glad to be here with both of you." Luke said softly massaging his hand with his thumb and forefinger.
Mallory reached over and placed a hand on his. "Me too. I just have to get use to not having only Alliance personnel on the ship. Not everyone really follows orders." She said looking up at her brother.
"Dear Lord, did you just tell a joke!?" Luke sprung to his feet so suddenly that it startled her a bit. "I've got to tell Claire, mark the calendar, plan a party, and get some good liquor. This is even bigger than your birthday!" Luke said starting to pace. Mallory shook her head at her brother's sarcastic comments and simply stood and gave him a light, playful push.
"Shut your trap. I am a very fun and funny person when I want to be." Mallory said crossing her arms.
"Let me guess. You never really want to be." Luke responded. Mallroy scoffed and bumped her bother with her shoulder
"Come on, let's go see what that call was about." She said waving her brother on. Luke adjusted his arm in his sling wincing a little before following his sister up the stairs to the CIC.