Alright everyone, here is the next installment and the next piece of Luke's past. I hope everyone is enjoying this. R&R please.
Claire and Mallory stood in front of the view screen and looked at the surveillance view of the planet below. Buried in the files they had acquired from Dr. Wayne's facility, were a few reports of a team of alliance marines that had been lured in by a distress beacon and killed by a thresher maw. Exactly how Tombs' unit had been ambushed and killed. On the screen, they could see the thresher nest with the beacon planted square in the middle and the destroyed vehicle surrounded by the bodies of a full platoon of marines.
"Have Joker come in low and destroy the beacon. You and I will take Liara and Ashley in the Mako to deal with the thresher maw and collect those marines' dog tags." Claire said turning off the screen and sitting down on her couch.
"Why would they run the same test over again?" Mallory asked sending the orders through her omni-tool. "It doesn't make sense."
"We don't need to know why. All we need to know is that they are. They were letting them die, now they are guiding entire units to their deaths. We take them down." Claire said glaring at the floor.
"There is something that is bothering me." Mallory said looking over at his sister. "Kaiden and Tali could not break that encryption together and then an hour after we get back to the ship, Luke broke the code. Does that seem odd to you?"
Claire looked up at her sister and considered the statement for a moment. "He did seem to decode the files very quickly. I'm a little scared. All of a sudden Luke can hack better than Tali, can kill without hesitation of remorse, and…I don't know. I'm worried about him."
The door slid open and Kaiden stepped in. "Sorry to intrude Commander, but there is something you need to see." The Shepard girls stood and watched as Kaiden started displaying file names in a long list on Claire's view screen.
"What is all this Alenko?" Claire asked stepping closer to the screen.
"They are all the files recovered from the Cerberus facility. The list on the right are what Luke decoded for us. The list on the left is the coded files." Kaiden said scrolling down to the end. Claire noticed what Kaiden was showing them. The list that Luke gave them was nearly fourteen files shorter than the other.
"There are several files missing. I'm still trying to crack the encryption myself, but I have no idea how long that will take." Kaiden turned to face the Shepards again. "I don't know what exactly was in those files but Luke is up to something."
"Thank you Lieutenant. Go ahead and return to your station." Claire said. Alenko saluted and made his way out.
"Why would Luke erase files? I thought he had told you everything." Mallory said looking over at her sister.
"He must still be hiding something." Claire sat down at her desk and started scanning through the files. She searched for Shepard, Luke, and Mindoir, but found nothing.
"Try searching for Lazarus." Mallory said. Claire nodded and typed it in, yet again, no matches. "Try Dr. Wayne."
Nearly every file pinged except for one. Claire looked at the file curiously and opened it. It was a journal. Notes from another doctor that called himself B.B. Claire started reading the first entry.
Day 47: I am very excited. The new project is showing some interesting results on human cells, but I am apprehensive about trying it on a volunteer. Although the results are promising, there is no way to tell what kind of effect the stimulants will have on the subject. I am hoping that the next round of tests will allow us to move to nerve tissue.
Day 54: The neural tissue showed marked improvement after the serum was administered. It even surpassed its original capability. We are even seeing some sensitivity to element zero. Could it be possible that Serum J-11 might have the capability to give people biotic abilities?
Day 56: There has been some kind of attack on the main colony. Half of our guards left to help repel the invaders but we have not heard anything from them in hours. The work continues but there is an air of nervousness through this place. I am afraid that if we are discovered, my work will have all been for nothing.
Day 59: An Alliance cruiser was able to drive off the batarian invaders, but I hear that most of the colony was wiped out or taken captive by the slavers. Thirty-one of the forty men we sent returned and told us that the colony has been virtually destroyed. The rest of the team and I are feeling a little more at ease knowing that we still remain undiscovered by both council and alliance forces.
Day 76: Eureka! We recovered some of the less damaged bodies from the colony and brought them back to use as samples for our experiments. Although we were not about to bring any person back to life, we have been able to get a heart beating and keep it that way for several days now. It even appears healthy enough to be used as a transplant.
Day 103: The heart is still hearting strong and we have been able to heal some of the wounds one some of the preserved bodies. I wish they would send us a living subject for testing and experimenting. I need more samples and a an opportunity to test the serum on living person to examine the effects.
Day 164: The extraction team has arrived and they have someone with them. We are calling him Subject Alpha. The scar tissue and fresh injuries that cover him are perfect for testing the serum. Once we have moved to the cruiser, I will seek the go ahead from our superiors to test J-11 on Alpha.
Day 166: Alpha has been compliant for the most part. He has agreed to allow us to help him get better, but her have not told him what we are planning on doing to him. I'm not sure how I feel about doing this to someone so young but he needs the serum just as much as I need a test subject. I think I will tell him exactly what we have done once we are done with the tests and taking samples.
Day 173: Alpha has responded perfectly to the serum. All the scar tissue and injuries has all but vanished. The only thing that the serum could not reverse was the large burn on his shoulder. Though his mental state shows extreme PTSD, his physical state is nearly restored. I would like to continue my work with Alpha more and try out our new muscle and skin weave ideas but He has become hostile. We promised that we would release him and despite the constant nagging by our superiors to hold onto him, I plan to keep my promise. We are headed to Arcturus Station to resupply and drop Alpha off to be placed in foster care. I hope I am doing the right thing.
Claire looked up at her sister as Mallory finished reading the same section. They stared at each other for a moment before saying one word. "Luke?"
"That must have been why he hid the files from us. They must have something to do with…wait, Project Lazarus was a research program?" Mallory said looking down at her sister.
Claire wet her lips and sat back. "That must be why Luke has no scars. This says that they were able to heal everything except the brand on his shoulder. It has to be Luke, right?"
"But that would mean that Cerberus used our brother as a test subject when he was 16 and Luke kept it hidden from us." Mallory snarled starting for the door.
"Luke told us that he did not want us involved with the people that ran Lazarus. Maybe it is because he thinks he owes them something or maybe he is trying to protect us from them. Either way, we know what happened now. We know everything except why Luke let them do this to him." Claire said stopping his sister short of the door.
"Commander, the beacon has been destroyed. We are ready to drop the Mako on your order." Claire opened her comm channel and stood up.
"Roger that Joker. Circle back and find us a drop zone that is close to the site but not near the thresher nest." Claire said as Mallory followed her out of her quarters.
"You got it commander." Joker replied.
"So what are we going to do about Luke? There might be information in those files that could lead us to Cerberus facilities." Mallory said as the elevator doors closed and the platform started to descend.
"We'll talk to him after the mission." Claire said shortly. Mallory nodded understanding that her sister was preparing mentally for the mission.
As the doors to the elevator opened, Luke could tell his sisters were upset with him. Claire refused to make eye contact and Mallory would not stop tossing him glares. Luke sighed and sat down on a crate next to Wrex.
"Shepard." Wrex greeted him shortly.
"Hey Wrex, I want to know something. I heard to tell Claire that you met Saren before. You got a weird feeling about him. I've never met the guy, I just know him by reputation and most reputations are exaggeration and talk. I guess my question is what kind of monster is this guy?" Luke said watching his sisters, Ashley, and Liara suit up for the mission.
"I saw him once. I didn't actually meet him. I just knew he was bad news. The way he walked and held himself was just bad news." Wrex ground his fist into his palm.
Luke nodded and sighed leaning forward and placing his elbows on his knees. He had been through all the files that mentioned Dr. Brexler and found only a few documents that mentioned Mindoir, Lazarus, or Luke himself. He wanted to turn them over to Claire but he didn't want them knowing that Cerberus had used him as a guinea pig for an experimental drug. Why would he? He let them do those things to him. He was the one that agreed to allow them to try and heal him. Of course they did not tell him exactly what they were going to be doing.
Wrex glanced at his human comrade and nudged him. "While they are gone, we should have some fun." Luke glanced over at the krogan.
"What do you have in mind?" Luke asked sitting up again.
"Krogan go shoot stuff and fight for fun. Isn't that what humans do too?" Luke laughed and patted his friend on the shoulder.
"Humans don't really do all of that for fun, especially not on board a ship. Although, I don't think Claire would mind us setting up a little sparring ring here in the cargo bay. A few punching bags over there, and as long as it does not block the Mako's entry it should be fine." Wrex laughed.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Luke smirked and started rounding up some volunteers to help set everything up.