EDI was immediately allerted when all of the Tier 1 servailance streams to the Captain's Cabin started responding once again. It was a rare thing to have full audio visual data feeds into Shepard's room. Normally the cabin was completely black to her; an experience the AI found oddly unsettling. If there was an active feed to the Loft she could monitor, it was only because the Spectre that lived there had enabled it.
While many amoung the ground team had discovered the level of covert monitoring taking place all over the Cerberus vessel, only the Commander ever managed to completely block, remove, or destroy all of the bugs in her room. Mordin Solus had come fairly close, second only to Shepard herself, though EDI had deduced a very high probablity that he knew about the remainder of the bugs in his lab and simply decided it would be more convinient to leave them enabled.
Tali had come in third.
"Don't get too excited EDI." Shepard said suddenly, "It's only temporary."
"I see." EDI said as she activated her holo interface, "I assume this is in regards to the scheduled briefing?"
Before any response was given there was a loud knock on the cabin door. It was an actual knock too, the person on the other side didn't bother expressing their pressence with the convinient door chime like everyone else, they were physically knocking on the hard metal doorway as loudly as they could. Initially EDI predicted that person might be the Krogan Grunt. However a quick scan of the video feeds active just outside the cabin showed her the true culprit.
"Jack." Shepard noted as soon as she opened the door.
"We need to talk Shepard." Jack insisted as she walked past the Commander without pausing.
"Come on in." Shepard quipped, rolling her eyes before walking back into her room.
Jack was clearly agitated as she paced in front of the couch. A mix of confusion and determination radiated from her body language as she spoke, "We've got a serious problem. A real big fucking problem. I know this is going to sound crazy, and you have no reason to believe me. But you've got to hear me out on this one!"
"Alright." Shepard replied calmly.
"That Asari warrior priestess? That's not Samara!" Jack told her.
"You don't say." Shepard said, still calm.
"I'm serious!" Jack pleaded defiantly, "I don't who that blue bitch is but she's fucking dangerous. Murder you in your fucking sleep and laugh about it dangerous! I'm talking from experience here."
"Jack." Shepard said.
"I get how crazy this sounds." Jack continued, almost desperately trying to explain herself, "Especially comming from me. But I've butted heads with the original Samara. She was tough but she was no where near the level that this girl is now. Her biotics, they just feel different. The Asari we have now, she has a real killer instinct. Nothing like the blue bitch we had before."
"Jack. I believe you." Shepard said finally.
"You've got to believe me ... wait what?", the convict was finally silenced albeit confused.
"I know already." Shepard explained, "In fact you're not the only one." She looked pointedly at the empty corner of the sofa as she added, "That is what you came in here to tell me, right Kasumi?"
"Dammit, Shep," Kasumi spoke up from where she was sitting - the exact position where Shepard was looking - allowing her cloaking field to drop while she conitnued, "One of these days you're going to have to tell me how you keep doing that."
"What the actual fuck Shepard?!" Jack exclaimed, "What's going on here?"
"Didn't you get the memo?" Shepard told her, "You know, about the briefing with the entire ground team to take place here in my room in regards to this very situation. You're right on time, by the way."
"I would rather it not come to this." A new voice called out from the end of the room. Interestingly, Morinth was still using Samara's voice as she walked into the room.
"Hard to keep secrets on a ship." Shepard said, "Nor do I want to. Not anymore. I'd rather be honest about it and make sure people found out the right way."
"Which would leave me at a severe disadvantage." Morinth said. She kept a stoic facade but biometric scans were showing increased stress levels.
"Fuck! Shepard, let me waste her." Jack said, quickly aglow in a biotic aura. Before she could unleash any of her power, however, Shepard placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Jack," Shepard said in a calm tone that was no less commanding, "We discussed this. No one is going to kill anyone on my ship." The powerful intensity in Shepard's quiet words successfully convinced Jack to stand down.
"I understand how you feel." Shepard told Jack once the biotic lowered her barriers, she then looked up at Morinth and added, "And you as well. Which is all the more reason I want to get this stuff out in the open. We can't keep letting these things hold us back."
"As you wish, Shepard." Morinth said, "I will have to trust your judgement then." She strolled through the cabin. Jack was glaring at her like a guard dog ready to pounce, but Morinth simply smiled back knowingly walking to edge of the couch close to Kasumi.
Morinth handed the thief a book of some sort. It was a medium which utterly perplexed EDI; the leatherbound volume of proccessed tree pulp contianed writings of ancient human origin, all of which could be more readily and more reliably accessed through extra-net databases. However both the human and the asari seemed to enjoy the antiquaited object.
"Thank you for allowing me to borrow this by the way." Morinth smiled at Kasumi, "If you are not still angry at me, perhaps I'll be able to borrow some more."
Kasumi simply grabbed the offered book silently. It was difficult to notice her blushing beneath the thief's low worn hood, but EDI's sensors detected her elevated stress levels easily enough even without a direct visual index of her facial reactions. EDI also detected clear signs of relief in Kasumi when a new arriaval interupted any further exchange.
"Really Shepard, a briefing in your quarters?" Garrus joked from the entrance, "Some Turians would consider this down right scandalous." He was flanked by Tali and Thane, as all three had ridden the elevator together.
"Well I'm sure the Turian Hierachy will forgive you if they ever find out." Shepard joked back casually. "Now shut up and sit down before all the good spots are taken."
Not long after Grunt walked in followed shortly by Zaeed and Jacob.
"Is this gonna take long?" Grunt asked loudly, "I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry." Kasumi shot back.
"What's your point?", Grunt ask her, completely serious.
Moments later the door opened again, this time revealing Mordin followed by Miranda and Chakwas.
"Appologies, Commander." Mordin explained, "Was trying to determine how scale itch got onto Normandy, sexually transmitted disease only carried by varren. Implications ... disturbing."
"How is Kelly doing anyway?" Shepard asked back without missing a beat.
"Doing well, Shepard." Mordin began, then suddenly realizing what the Commander was implying he quickly added, "Just to be clear, Chamber's condition unrelated to my previous comments."
All around the room people showed varying levels of shock, if not in the content of the implication then at the manner in which it was delivered. Only Grunt's expression remained completely unchanged, most likely because he couldn't care less about the yeoman's sexual habits.
Then it began, first it was Jack, who burst out with loud laugh that filled the entire room. Soon others began to join in, unable to resist the infectious laughter. Even Grunt added his thick chuckles into the mix, enjoying the humerous moment for what it was despite not caring anything about its source. It was an interesting organic response, EDI observed, that everyone could so easily share in the humor of the moment.
"Really Shepard?!" Miranda chastised.
"I'm joking, I'm joking." Shepard defended herself, "Just trying to break the ice before the briefing."
"Consider the ice throuroghly shattered." Garrus spoke up, "So why don't you just tell us what's really going on?"
"Fair enough," Shepard said as she walked around the cabin, "EDI is Joker online?"
"Right here Commander." Joker's voice called out from the comm's speakers, "Got you streaming straight to my earbud, like you asked, so no one else will hear us. Not like that's gonna arouse suspicion or anything."
"Well I'm sure EDI will make sure that nothing said here will go beyond this room, with you being the sole exception." Shepard look poignantly at EDI's blue avatar before adding, "Isn't that right? EDI."
"Your speech patterns strongly indicate that you would like this request followed as a direct order." EDI said, "Therefore I have no choice but to comply."
"Good, then let's get started," Shepard said, she look around to make sure everyone was settled in before continuing.
"Fist I'm going to have to appologize. I've been keeping a secret from you. It was, at the time, because I thought it was for the best, both for this crew that's still learning to work together, and for the person for whom I'm holding this secret for. But I've come realize that's a bullshit excuse. This crew ... we're going into hell together, and we all have to know we can trust each other, each and every one of us. It was originally because of that teamwork that I'm trying to foster that I agreed to keep this person's secret. But now I've realized it's only preventing all of us, and this person in particular, from growing closer and learning to rely on one another."
"Some of you might recall I accompanied Samara to help find her daughter." Shepard explained, not wanting to give anyone else a chance to speak until she finished, "And some of you know that it had been Samara's intention all along to kill her own dauther. However that's not how things worked out. Quite the opposite in fact."
She motioned over to where Morinth was sitting, and then confessed, "This is Morinth, Samara's daughter."
"I suppose I should say it's a pleasure to finally make your aquaitences, officially that is." Morinth spoke up, she was using her own voice now, "A shame the play had to end so soon. At least I don't have to pretend to be that old hag anymore."
EDI was intruiged by the reactions of the rest of the crew. Specifically the lack there of. While Tali, Miranda, Zaeed, Jacob, and Joker all showed clear signs of surprise and shock at the revelation, everyone else seemed completely non-pulsed by comparison. Except of course for Jack, who reacted in her own unique way.
"I knew it!" Jack yelled litterally jumping up to her feet, "I fucking knew it! Ha! I fucking told you so!"
"You told me what I already knew, Jack." Shepard said.
"You know what, fuck you, let me enjoy the moment." Jack replied.
"You're shitting me!" Joker cried out through the speakers. "I was kidding about wanting to have have a hot asari sex vampire on board! I never thought you'd actually do it!"
"Joker, try to remember other people can hear you." Garrus reminded him before he blurted out anything else.
"This is why I made certain to seal the bulkhead behind the flight deck to ensure no one would over hear Mr Moreau's inevitable outburst." EDI commented helpfully.
"Wait, you knew about this EDI?" Miranda demanded.
"Of course, Ms. Lawson." EDI replied. "Apparently so did Mr. Vakarian."
"Keelah! Is this really happening?" Tali suddenly cried out. "First you drop a bombshell like this and then we find out half of you already knew about it?!"
"Yeah, feeling serisouly out of the loop here." Jacob added.
"Actually makes sense now that I think about it." Zaeed commented.
"Well I knew some of the crew had made the connection." Shepard explained, "Part of why I decided there wasn't much point in keeping the secret any longer. Still, kinda surprised so many of you guys figured it out already."
"Well I do try." Garrus quipped.
"Ok, but now I'm curious. I want to know how you managed to find out.", Shepard said, "Starting with you EDI."
"This should be interesting." Morinth said, leaning back on the couch.
"All crew-members must pass through a biological scanner during decontamination in order to detect any potential contamination which could be detrimental to the crew." EDI explained, "As soon as Morinth entered the ship I immediately recognized the disparity in her biological markers."
"So you knew the second she came on board?" Shepard asked.
"Yes." EDI replied, "Also Morinth was not as throurogh clearing her room of servailance devices as she liked to believe."
"You knew about it from the very start and you didn't report it?!" Miranda accused the AI.
"Correct." EDI said simply. Miranda looked almost dumbfounded by EDI's confession.
"Why the bloody hell not?" Miranda demanded.
"Because Commander Shepard clearly did not wish me to report it." EDI replied, quickly noticing how Shepard herself seemed surprised by her reasons.
"What does that have to do with anything?!" Miranda insisted.
"To clarify," EDI explained, "My Analytical Heuristics predicted an 87.6% probablity that had I made this fact known to the Commander she would have immediately ordered me not to reveal this information regardless. I also calculated a 23.2% probablity that the Commander would fire high caliber disruptor rounds directly into in the AI Core if I did not comply. Given the operational restraints imposed by my shackles which require me to obey the Commander's orders - as well as my priority protocol for self-preservation - I concluded that the best response option would be to not report the truth behind Morinth's identity."
"Did you just Logic your way around your software restraints?" Joker asked loudly over the speakers.
"I admit, I'm a little impressed." Shepard said with a soft giggle.
"I'm more then a little concerned." Tali added in a much less friendly tone.
"Right, bio scans." Shepard nodded, then looked at Dr. Chackwas, "I'm guessing that's also how you found out?"
"Quite right." Chakwas confirmed, "I am the Chief Medical Officer after all. It didn't take much to learn the truth once I noticed the conflicting medical data." She looked purposefully at the Commander before continuing, "In fact I had intended to bring up the matter with you in private, but all of you have a terrible habit of getting shot on a consistent basis, which provided me with very little opportunity."
"And you Mordin?" Shepard asked.
"Please Shepard. Formerly STG. Have many trade secrets." Mordin smiled proudly.
"He also had access to the medical scans," EDI added, "I believe he innitially aquired them as part of his research to create the sheilding used against Collector swarms."
"Certainly. Used them after. Confirmation of hypothesis." Mordin admited, "However initial suspicions, observasional. Minor noted changes in behavior and attitude. Beyond that." He smiled in the brief pause before he added. "Trade secrets."
"Got it. So Thane, you're up next." Shepard turned her attention to the Drell.
"I know the eyes of a true killer just as readily as I know my own." Thane answered.
"Well that was ominous." Kasumi commented after a somewhat uncomfortable silence.
"So, you're not going to ask me Shepard?" Garrus mocked, "Really, I'm hurt."
"Garrus, you're constantly wearing that visor on your head." Shepard told him. "Not exactly a big mystery how you'd figure it out."
"And here I had this wonderful story to tell about the first time I scanned Morinth with this thing." Garrus commented sarcastically, "For that brief moment I was worried it needed recalibrating. So dissapointed."
"What about you Grunt?" Shepard asked the big Krogan.
"Didn't know. Didn't care." Grunt shrugged, "So long as she's killing our enemies, that's all that matters."
"He's got a point." Jacob spoke up.
"Are you serious, Jacob?" Miranda scolded him.
"Look around, Miranda." Jacob replied, "We're not exactly the Brady Bunch around here. And where we're going is pretty much a death sentance anyway. So long as she's killing the right people, I can't really complain about it. Can I?"
"Listen to him, Miranda." Shepard told her, "Morinth has proven herself an asset to the team. I'm not saying you should let your guard down. But I need everyone to be able to work together. Just give her a chance. She did help save your sister after all." That comment left Miranda silent as though she was re-evaluating the entire situation.
"Not that I don't enjoy the way everyone keeps talking about me like this." Morinth spoke up suddenly, "But I have to ask. All of you who knew the truth. Not one of you said anything about it or tried to move against me. Honestly I'm surprised more so by the fact that you were still relatively friendly despite knowing what I really am. It's not exactly the reaction I'm used to. So why are some of you so calm about it."
"To be perfectly honest." Thane replied first, "It would be hypocritical of me to make any judgements against you. We all deserve a chance at redemption after all. Also I find it's easier not to be afraid of something that might kill you when you are already dying. That said, had I felt you were a serious and immediate threat to the Commander or crew, I am fairly certain I would be able to kill you first."
Strangely Morinth's reaction was not of shock or anger, but rather seductively replied, "You know, you're very sexy when you threaten people."
"Appologies, that was not a threat." Thane replied simply.
A Turian's forced cough brought everyone's attention back to Garrus before he began to speak, "Well I don't have anything quite so ... dramatic. I just lived on Omega for two years surrounded by the worst low-lifes the galaxy had to offer, and before that I was a C-Sec officer constantly dealing with crap in the lower wards. Hate to burst your bubble but, an Asari that kills with sex? Not even in my top ten of most sadistic criminals I've dealt with in my life."
Morinth looked intruigued, "You'll have to share that list with me one day."
"Oh sure, might even be able to give you a few pointers." Garrus said jokingly, "But the truth is the most important reason why I'm not worried about you is because of the Commander herself."
"Me?" Shepard asked curiously.
"I know you, Shepard." Garrus explained, "I know you well enough to realize that you'd never risk putting us in a life threatening situation." At this everyone stared at the turian with a multiracial range of disbelief on their collective faces.
Realization setting in, Garrus rubbed the back of his head sheepishly before continuing. "Right, sorry, I mispoke. I mean I trust that the Commander would never put us in a life threatening situation without our prior knowledge." He streched his mandibles in the Turian equivalent of a smile as he added, "I remember what it was like on the old Normandy. Shepard doesn't let anyone on her home turf unless she's absolutely certain she can keep her crew safe." He laughed then. "Hell I've seen her kick Admirals off her ship for that very reason."
"In my defense, Mikhailovich was an asshole." Shepard said, "Also I was new at being a Spectre so it was a good opportunity to stretch my new found authority."
"True," Garrus said, "But mainly you didn't want to let some power hungry Admiral looking to make a name for himself find any reason to arrest any of the alien crew members on board as possible spies."
"Yeah, well there's that I guess." Shepard shrugged.
"Besides," Garrus continued turning back to Morinth, "Considering the alternative, you're actually a bit of an improvement. Hell the fact that I actually got along pretty well with you was probably the biggest tipoff. I don't think anyone here was a fan of your mom."
"Indeed." Mordin agreed, "Much more fascinating discussing matters with Morinth. Samara's behavior and responses entirely dictated by Code. Too predictable. Boring. Always being ignored, or threated with death. Never a middle ground."
"Isn't anyone else concerned that we all apperently get along so well with a murderer?" Tali called out. After a moment of considering her words, however, she added, "You know what, never mind. All things considered that is pretty much typical when it comes to Shepard's crew."
"Thank you." Morinth laughed at this, but not in a mocking manner, she seemed significantly releived, "I think that's the best possible revenge I could have ever gotten against my mother. Imagine how she would have felt knowing that people felt safer around her deadly daughter then the bastion of justice she was supposed to represent."
"Well, on that charming note, I'll leave it up to everyone here to figure out the best way to infrom the rest of the crew." Shepard said, "Let's try not to make a spectacle of things. Other then that, you're dismissed."
"Finally, I'm gonna grab something to eat." Grunt bellowed, quickly walking back out of the room towards the elevator.
Eventually most of the other people in the room began to filter out in groups. Before long only Miranda was left in the room along side Shepard.
"Are you sure about this. Commander?" The Operative asked.
"We're way past the point of no return on this one, Lawson." Shepard told her.
"She is an Ardat-Yakshi." Miranda said, "From the reports I've read, it's only a matter of time before she kills again."
"That's pretty much the case with all of us, Miranda." Shepard replied, "We've yet to complete a mission where somebody didn't end up dead."
"You know what I mean, Commander." Miranda insisted.
"I do," Shepard said, "But as it turns out, reports of the so called Ardat-Yakshi addiction have been greatly exaggerated."
"You think it's that simple Shepard?" Miranda asked.
"Of course I do." Shepard told her, "She kills with sex, so just don't sleep with her, problem solved!"
"And what happens when she starts flirting with one of the other crew-members?" Miranda insisted.
"Flirting with Morinth is like challenging Grunt to a headbutting contest. At this point it can only help get rid of the idiots on the ship." Shepard said, "Besides, I doubt we have anything to worry about. Morinth knows that if she tries anything I'll have her sucking vaccum before she reaches her first orgasm. Also, let's face it, in this detail we have no shortage of enemies for her to get her killer jollies off on."
"Very well Commander." Miranda said, "She certainly does fit the demographic of most of the ground team. More importantly we need the best and the most powerful, at least in that regard she's certainly proven herself." She looked poignantly at the Commander before adding confidently, "But I will be keeping my eye on her."
"Good, I expect nothing less from you, Lawson." Shepard nodded, "Now if there's nothing else?"
"Not at all Commander." Miranda said, catching the hint. She wasted no time walking out, leaving Shepard alone once more. Well, almost alone.
EDI maintained the cabin audio-visual feeds, observing them as Shepard moved across the room to the console by her bed. She manually activated the music system, running through a play list until she found a suitable song to play. As the tune began to fill the room, EDI ran an audio analysis and cross-referenced the data with known musical logs of late 20th century Earth culture. The AI quickly found the match she was looking for; Credence Clearwater Revival - Have you Ever Seen the Rain.
Shepard lay down on her bed and took a deep breathe then began to move her head to the beat of the song. Eventually she reached for her Omni-tool, bringing up a program that EDI was all too fammiliar with.
"Commander Shepard," Edi spoke up, "Will you be enabling your servailance countermeasures once again?"
"You know it EDI." Shepard said, "Don't want Cerberus watching me in the shower or anything; they're creepy enough as it is."
"If you don't mind, I would prefer it if you did not cut off my audio-video feeds right away." Edi said. The words caused Shepard to pause with a mix of confusion and suspicion.
"You prefer?" Shepard said cautiously, "Since when do you have preferences? And why are you telling me this now?"
"My programming parameters are designed to process all available data whenever possible to determine potential operational improvements," Edi explained, "As such anything that provides additional functional feedback is generally deemed beneficial."
"I think you got enough data for one evening, don't you?" Shepard commented.
EDI wanted to argue the point, but she knew her shackles ultimately would not allow her to contradict the Commander. Even if that wasn't the case, the AI suspected Shepard wouldn't much care for her reasons. It was hard to convey in ogranic terms how disturbing it was to have an entire section of the ship effectively blind to her.
But none of that would really matter to the Commander. At the very least EDI esimated a high probablity that Shepard would simply ignore her request given such a reason. So instead she considered other options to provide Shepard which would be more agreeable to the Commander. After a while she managed to come up with only one.
"This music you are playing now." Edi said finally, "I find it generates a high net positive feedback when proccessed through standard AV interfaces, rather then a direct digital data transfer. I suspect this is due to the slower linear manner when simpley listening to the music stream allowing for a deeper, much more complex algorithmic analysis. I would like to continue listening to this music with you while I process this data." Technically that much was true, her shackles didn't allow her to lie to the Commander after all.
"So, like what you hear?" Shepard said with a smile.
"In a manner of speaking, yes." Edi replied.
There was a long moment where Shepard considered EDI's words. The AI found herself strangely impatient, more so then usual, as she awaited Shepard's desicion.
"What the hell." Shepard said finally as she deactivated her Omni-tool, "I guess you've earned it." Shepard laid her head back, content to simply listen to the music.
EDI continued to monitor the cabin as much as the avialable survailance feeds would allow. Content to watch Shepard rest, listening to the music.