I had never been a good actor. And I was a terrible liar to boot, which was kind of ironic if one was to think about it. I had to constantly skirt the truth, unable to hide when I was holding something back, but trying to lie to myself about whether I was telling the truth or not. I was good at lying to myself. Only to myself.
The point being, Admiral Drescher was probably expecting a reaction from us after announcing what the Taskforce was all about. Quarian-geth peace talks? Made the Middle East back in the day look like a cakewalk. Looking at the high raking officers, they clearly knew all about the mission already. And Marie had let out a squealing gasp worthy of the reveal. I bet she wasn't expecting to be involved in a peace treaty between the quarians and the AI race they accidentally (or not so accidentally, if rumors were to be believed) created and fought centuries ago.
Me? I nodded.
"Wha- How! Why!" Marie said, nearly jumping out of her seat.
The admiral waved her down and looked at me. And Marie as my witness, she gave me a grin.
"You don't seem surprised, chief," she said.
"I am a little, sir," I said. Which was true, I didn't expect this to be dumped on the Alliance in such an ignominious way. "I do wonder how I ended up here."
"So do I," Major Stevens said, glancing back at Drescher.
"Are you saying you're not qualified, Morgan?" the admiral said, her tone of voice surprisingly playful.
Damn, that probably meant she wasn't going to answer. "No sir, I'll do my best."
"Good. Chief Morgan is here as an advisor based on his knowledge of quarian history." Nice. Got me a glance or two, but nobody was going to argue with Admiral freaking Kastanie Drescher. "As for miss Roux-"
"Please, just Marie," she said, her smile somewhat nervous. She had recovered a bit, but she was still shaken. "I'm no longer in the chain of command, after all."
"Very well. Marie here is going to help with the psychological assessment."
"I'll do what I can," Marie said, "but... I'm no AI expert."
"I am well aware," Drescher said. "I have all the AI experts I could possibly need. Programming, code, all that crap. They keep talking about the whole thing like it's a runaway computer error we need to fix. What I don't have is anyone who can tell me how the AI thinks. As far as we know, these things went rogue and tried to kill their creators shorty after becoming self-aware, and ended up with a massive war that nearly exterminated the quarians. You have plenty of field experience with combatants, although perhaps not in the same scale."
"I see," Marie said. "Who are the AI experts?"
A few glances were exchanged, and I had to laugh at that. All the looks I got didn't diminish my mirth. "They're not coming here. I'm guessing they think we're a waste of time?"
"We discussed the feasibility of the assignment at length. They were colorful with their opinions, yes," the admiral said, smiling. "I have three agencies falling over themselves to be the ones to talk to the quarians, and nobody offering me anything on the geth." She shook her head in annoyance. "Bottom line? Nobody wants to be responsible for suggesting we poke the beehive with a stick."
"Hah! Well, that's what marines are for, sir," I said.
Drescher didn't drop her smile, and judging by the look she was giving me, I could tell she agreed. Which made me think. Due to our assignments, the second and fifth fleets often rubbed shoulders together during ops, and whenever the topic came up, one could tell the second fleet grunts showed as much respect for her as we fifth grunts did for Rear Admiral Hackett, if not more. In the case of Hackett, it had a lot to do with the fact that an enlisted man was well on his way to become a full-fledged admiral. For Drescher, though, I always thought it was due to the first contact war. But there's only so much reputation can carry you. No, she was respected because she returned that respect. Maybe others thought this was a waste of time (which rose the question of what, exactly, Benezia had said to sell my presence here), but not her. By the looks of it, she was willing to put more trust in me than in the intelligence division.
No fucking pressure.
"Go ahead chief, let's begin with the geth."
"Where would you like to start, sir?"
"Just give me everything you can think of."
I leaned back on my chair, arms crossed, and took a moment to think. For what I still remembered... I had the full memories of that simulation, even though I didn't remember how I got them before the stupid spice-time bending trip from hell, but poking them meant skirting that black hole of whatever it was I couldn't recall. Well, maybe start from the beginning, how the geth came to be. Taken from the mouth of Legion, so to speak.
"All right. Originally, the geth were just a collection of VIs. The quarians designed them to be a flexible software platform that could operate a multitude of tools and systems. Then, they created hubs, where different geth processes could upload themselves to exchange data."
"That sounds like the quarians were actually trying to get an AI going," Captain Rogers said.
"Depends who you ask, sir," I shrugged. "As I understood it, it was an spontaneous event. The way we do system updates is different. Even with VIs, we usually create specific software for specific functions. When we want to improve it, we replace or patch up the code with newer software that's supposed to improve whatever it is the program does. The quarians wanted a system where the VIs would try to optimize their functions based on different uses, and a hub where any optimization could be uploaded or downloaded. More flexibility, less man hours."
"So it evolved until it became too smart?" Rogers said.
"Not exactly, sir. It was more that when enough geth processes managed to network together, they became sentient. Think of it as a giant brain, each geth process is a neuron, and when enough of them got connected, they formed a brain. The geth are not individual AIs, they are one big brain, or maybe a hive mind of sorts. They don't actually understand organic individuality, they operate as a complex consensus."
"That's... really interesting," Marie said, and the tone of her voice suggested she was surprised by the explanation, and intrigued by something. We all turned to look at her. "I'm not a sociology expert, but think about it. We know the quarians are very close-knit, with very tight ties not just to immediate family, but to the entire collective. They seem to work as a pack. We mostly assumed it was because they are confined to the migrant fleet, for obvious reasons. But maybe it's the other way around, they're together in a fleet despite all the difficulties because they are quarians, and keep very close ties. It would explain why they created the geth like that, they were merely following their normal way of thinking!"
"Right," Major Stevens said, the broad-shouldered man largely uninterested in this part of the history lesson. "Why did they attack the quarians?"
"Simply put, sir? Self-defense. The moment the quarians realized the geth had gained sentience was when one of the platforms asked its owner a very simple question." I paused for effect, taking in the faces around the table. "Does this unit have a soul?"
A couple of people snorted, which really annoyed me. Drescher wasn't one of them, and her less than subtle cough quickly made the rest quiet down. Good. She was taking this seriously, at least.
"The geth didn't like the answer I take it?" she said.
"There really wasn't an answer. The quarians panicked, system admins tried to shut down the geth, but they didn't manage. Then, the war started. The geth war actually started as a civil war. When news broke out that the geth were sentient, many quarians sided with the synthetics. They didn't want them shut down, because they were alive. The conflict escalated, and it ended up with the geth winning while the quarians had to run away. The only reason there are any quarians left is that the geth couldn't reach a consensus as to whether to exterminate the creators or not."
Drescher leaned back on her seat, hands together and over her mouth. Thinking. History lessons aside, I'm pretty sure she was a lot more focused on whether she could use any of the stuff I had given her to complete her orders or not.
"Roy," Marie said. "What do the geth want?"
"Want? What do you mean?"
"I mean in general, what do they want out of life? They've been sitting pretty in the same place for centuries. They haven't just been idle, have they?"
"The geth want to decide their own destiny. I think all they want to do is just work on their consensus, and wait to see if the quarians return."
"So they want to both be left alone and bring the quarians back?"
"That..." My voice trailed off as I thought about it. In a sense, yes, they wanted both things, completely contradictory things. "I guess when you put it that way..."
"That actually makes sense," Marie said. "I'm trying to picture it as if they were human. Consider the scenario. They were still young when their parents started fighting, and it was because of them. It escalated, they started killing each other, and then they came for the geth. What did the geth do? They defended themselves, and then the survivors left them completely alone. The only non-geth sentients they knew, their parents, in a galaxy that has outlawed their existence. I can't even imagine the abandonment issues, not to mention the confusion. They'd be both hoping against all hope that the quarians would return, and simultaneously terrified of that happening. What else do you know?"
I wasn't sure why it was, but Marie seemed to have taken to the topic with the most enthusiasm out of everyone in the room. There was a clear division, too. Drescher in the middle seemed to be keeping rather neutral. Rogers and Stepanic on one side were interested. Stevens and Martin were unimpressed. I was expecting Martin to scoff any second now.
"Not a lot more. They are struggling with what it means to be alive. As I said, they don't understand organic individuality, and they really want to 'become alive', so to speak."
"Great," Martin snorted, surprising no one. He had been sour faced since the beginning. "Pinocchio wants to be a human boy. What nonsense."
"Sir, with all due respect, if you are not willing to consider the geth a sentient race with the right to self-determination, this venture is not going to get anywhere," I replied. He furrowed his brow in annoyance, but a quick glance between him and Drescher stopped any overt reprimands. Even so, with the look she had given me next, I decided to be a little bit more careful from then on.
"Anything else?" Drescher said.
I stopped to think about it. The heretics? Well... if I recalled correctly, the geth might had been contacted by Nazara already. It might be worth mentioning. But how to put it really.
"There's one other thing, sir. As I said, the geth operate on a consensus. They have to agree to a course of action, all of them. That's why they didn't exterminate the quarians, they couldn't agree on total genocide. But that doesn't mean it can't split. So even if we treat them like a monolithic unit, they might not all agree with whatever it is we propose. If we push them too far, we could end up splitting the consensus."
Okay, so I didn't explain the whole heretic thing. To be honest, it was bad enough with everything I had said so far. The only reason I had said so much was mostly because I trusted Benezia. It was the only way they could have heard anything about me having some knowledge about the geth. Still, I wondered why she had let the cat out of the bag like that. If everything the simulation had told me was confirmed to be true (and, so far, the track record was spectacular), then the Alliance was sure to take keen interest in me once the geth thing was past. For one thing, the Alliance Intelligence was going to come out looking like idiots, if they really had nothing on the geth.
"I'll keep that in mind. Marie?"
"Sir?" Marie replied. Nobody batten an eyelash as the civilian's reply. Sir indeed.
"What do you think?"
She took a deep breath and massaged her temples, thinking. "It's a lot to take in," she said. "The geth almost exterminated the quarians, but given the circumstances, they could be thinking they were justified to do so. Even so, killing someone in self-defense can take its toll psychologically. Killing what was essentially their parents, after they started fighting with each other, and specially if they perceive that they are at fault for starting the fight, would be even worse."
"How was that their fault?" I said.
"I said perceive. It all started when they asked that question about whether they had a soul, did it not?"
I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it again when my brain caught up with me. She wasn't wrong. It wasn't their fault, but if nobody explained it to them, specially the quarians, then what could they think? I had never actually thought of the geth in the way Marie had been presenting it. The fact that they could have conflicting thoughts, for a consensus based AI, didn't seem too logical. Then again, I knew what they'd say to that.
No data available.
"You think we can talk to them?" Drescher said. She didn't specify who she was asking this.
"Maybe," Marie replied quickly. "I don't want to say yes too fast, but... Killing someone, even if justified, can lead to feelings of isolation. Like nobody understands what you just did. For us in the army, we are trained to deal with it, but for the geth it could have been worse. Even worse still is that they have been isolated for centuries. I'd advise caution when dealing with a human in those circumstances, no matter how harmless they might seem."
"I see," Drescher said. "Morgan? All you've been telling me is that the geth are basically sitting there waiting for mommy to come home. You think it'll be that easy?"
I snorted at that. "If the quarians want to," I replied.
There was this very vivid image from the simulation I had in my head: Tali'Zorah killing herself in despair when the geth exterminated the migrant fleet. That was where we were headed, unless we pulled some sort of rabbit out of our collective hats to stop it. I had been way too optimistic when I explained it to Benezia and Tevos, saying that the geth and the quarians could live together again. The geth were stable, sure, but the quarians...
They'll take extinction if the choice is that or eternal wandering. I don't know what I was thinking.
"The quarians," Stepanic said. Get on with it, is what he meant.
"Yes sir. They're obsessed with returning to Rannoch. And I mean obsessed. You could prove to them without a shadow of a doubt that attacking the geth would mean extinction, and they'll still take extinction. As long as Rannoch is not secured, I don't think we can negotiate anything with them. They see the geth as nothing but cold blooded killers. Some of them might be amenable to changing their mind, but not while the geth hold their home planet."
"They won't consider settling somewhere else?" Drescher said.
"Doubtful," I replied. "And it's not like the Council will let them, is it?"
We spent about three hours discussing the issue, but most of the points were rather inconsequential after all that. Marie seemed to have sided with me no questions asked, although she recognized her limitations when it came to analyzing the mind of an AI like the geth. All she could really do was consider how events would affect humans in the same context, and to a point other races (I didn't know she had xenopsychology knowledge too, the things one learns), and by the end of it I was just drained.
The main reason was that thinking about the simulation was giving me a headache. Every time I did, I seemed to work myself to the edge of the hole in my mind, the feeling of being trapped in the room just nibbling at the edge of my consciousness. It was getting real old, real fast. Luckily, after three hours I wasn't the only one feeling that tired. Drescher had been in nonstop meetings since she got the taskforce started. She was way more tired than anyone else in that room.
"All right then," she said, once she announced she was done. She stood up, and we all followed suit. "I'll go talk to the minister. I'd still rather tackle the geth first, but given what you're telling us, it might be a big faux pas with the quarians."
"It's hard to tell, sir," I said, and shrugged.
"Ain't that the truth. Well, don't go anywhere in the meantime."
"Yes sir," I replied, saluting as she marched off the room. Where would I go? My orders were to stick to Arcturus until the admiral let me go.
We all followed her out, and it ended up with just Marie and I in the small waiting room. The rest of the high ranking officers all left like they had a lot of things to do, but I didn't have a single responsibility to take care of. Well, if I was going to have some free time, maybe it was the chance to get my final gene mod upgrade. After I checked with the Lieutenant for the admiral's schedule.
"Well, well," Marie said, grabbing my attention away from my thoughts. "You're full of surprises, Roy."
"Yep, that's me," I said.
"Hey, it's not a bad thing! I mean, I never imagined I'd be-" She stopped talking when she realized she was about to start babbling about some seriously classified stuff. "I mean, all this. It's exciting!"
"I guess. Not the weirdest thing I've had to do," I offered.
"Really?"
"Can't talk about it though, it's all classified."
She gave me a weak slap on the arm and laughed softly. "You're such a tease! Come on, let's go get some food, I'm starving!"
"Sure. Where do you want to go?"
"Hmm, what about Madam Wu's? I haven't been there in ages."
"Works for me," I replied. Hey, food's food, you put it in front of me and I'll eat it.
Marie laughed softly at that, and put her arm around mine as we walked off, much to my surprise. Considering the renewed chuckles from her when I turned to give her a look, that was probably what she was going for.
Arcturus was pretty big, but the "core" area of it took less time to traverse than one might think. Most of the periphery were actually functional areas for the docks, leaving the liveable areas in the middle. As we made our way to the restaurant, Marie kept chatting animatedly about all the changes aboard the station. I really hadn't noticed, but in the two years she had been out of it, the place had had quite a few changes. Sure, the barracks, apartments, and all that were pretty much the same. But the functional areas in the middle seemed to always be in a state of flux.
When we arrived, we found that the place was packed, and that we'd have to wait. Not a big deal, and after a small moment of awkwardness when we were offered a drink at the bar, only for both of us to reject it and ask for water instead, we sat down for a bit of a chat.
"You haven't been saying much," Marie said once we were settled down.
"You know me, I don't say much," I said, and shrugged.
"I do know you. That's why I'm asking, I'm a shrink, remember?"
I looked at her, she looked at me, and after a very short beat, the both of us started laughing. That was one heck of a throwback, going all the way to the week after Mindoir. And while on paper it may not sound all that funny, it really worked for the two of us. That had been the first reason why I had been reluctant to talk with her at all, because she was a shrink, which after a week of going through all that crap together, had become more of an in-joke.
"I do remember," I said.
"Yeah. So last time I didn't make a great impression, did I?"
"I know, you already said you were sorry."
"Yeah, but doing it over an omni-message isn't the same."
"That's what I say, and everyone looks at me like I'm weird," I replied. "Best I've got is that I'm too old fashioned."
"Nothing wrong with being a little old fashioned," Marie replied. "Besides, want to know a secret?" She waved me closer, and whispered to my ear. "You're perfectly normal."
"Really," I said, giving her a what the hell look.
"Really!" She made a show of looking around before continuing, her voice lower. "Normally, children of alcoholics tend to end up two ways. Either they end up alcoholics or worse themselves... Or they end up trying to save everyone they meet. Thus, you're normal."
Where on Earth did that come from?
"I just put two and two together," she said, catching my thought easily enough. "You know, after last time. Anyway!" She added, a little louder, and a little chirpier. "Just wanted to tell you that. How is your sister? She joined the army too, didn't she?"
"Yeah," I replied. "The one thing I didn't want for her. Typical, isn't it?"
"Teenagers," Marie replied. "But it's not all bad. I mean, I was there for several years, too."
"I guess. And we're good now, you know. I think that now that she's doing her own thing we're finally getting along." I took my glass of water to give it a sip, trying to get the dryness out. "The last few months it seemed like all we did was argue every time we were in the same room."
"And now?"
"Now? We're good," I insisted, and couldn't help a rueful smile coming onto my face. "She's been comparing notes with me. You know, the whole score during the bootcamp and whatnot."
"She's looking up to you. It's not a big deal," Marie said. "You've been doing great. No, really! I mean, Service Chief, N1, at your age, and now this. You've been going places."
"I guess, but it's the exact opposite of what should be happening..."
"Only in your head," Marie replied. "Look, table's ready."
Dinner with Marie was really not what I had expected. It was... nice. We talked about all sort of things. Life in the army was the obvious, though it wasn't quite the same as during Marie's time, considering all my extracurricular activities, but it was quite good. We talked about Shepard, too, but she didn't insist much when she realized it was a bit of a touchy subject. I both wanted to talk with Lana face to face, and dreading doing it. But mostly wanting. She had been there to sort out my head, and all she had asked of me was to trust her.
We also talked about what she had been up to. Two years, going on three, of sobriety. That was good. I had heard promises from... people to get there, but she actually went and did it. She had gotten a job at a private security firm, and was working on screening the candidates. She made it sound like some kind of merc outfit, but given how much she laughed when I mentioned it, it wasn't quite the same. They mostly provided security for events, public spaces, and even bodyguards for high profile clients.
All in all, I could honestly say I had a great time. Might as well, we were going to spend a lot of time together in that taskforce.
From: Marie Roux, 3120-EG-9912
Subject: Recruitment Assessment. Morgan, Roy. SSN: 5742-AB-2814.
As per my previous report, I made contact with Roy during the taskforce meeting organized by Admiral Drescher. First impressions were quite positive, and we have begun to establish a closer relationship. He has shown himself receptive, I will have no trouble with the assignment. My preliminary assessment is as follows:
1. He exhibits strong trust issues, mostly stemming from his family history. He seems quite reluctant to share any details, but I will continue to investigate.
2. He is extremely reluctant to discuss his previous classified assignments. Unless considered of vital importance, I will not pursue this line of questioning.
3. As I mentioned before, I strongly advice against using Aliana Shepard in any way to affect him. There is absolutely no upside one way or another, be it recruiting her, endangering her, or involving her in any shape or form.
4. None of the details Roy has provided me about his past has checked out after investigation. Everything about him before Mindoir remains a mystery.
5. Given the information he revealed during the taskforce meeting (see my Taskforce report), his sources have access we should not underestimate. He did not offer any evidence, but he is the only source the Admiral has on the geth. Should this information be confirmed, it will obsolete the future plans for Project Overlord.
I will continue to update as events develop. As things stand, our best strategy for recruiting Roy will be centered around trust. He doesn't seem to harbor any ill will towards other aliens in general, with the exception of the batarians, for obvious reasons.
Damn but Roy had a way with words. He had closed his last message saying he'd be out of touch for a few days because he was going to be in hospital. She had nearly jumped through the ship's hull when she read that, and had bombarded him with calls until he got his ass to the FTL to answer. Apparently, she had nearly broken a meeting between him and an admiral.
What the hell was he doing with an admiral anyway?
But really, she was still blaming him. What the hell? In the end, it was just that he was getting a new set of gene mods. Just that. And he thought it was just fine to drop that at the end of the e-mail without explaining why he was going to be in hospital. She was starting to hate the word fine, all thanks to him.
On the other hand, it was a great opportunity. She had some leave coming, and while she'd spend most of it travelling, it meant she had a chance to talk with him while he didn't have a chance to run away. So, she had left the rest of her unit to hit the bars on that mining colony, and got her ass to Arcturus. And to the hospital.
When she entered Roy's room, she found a sight she wasn't expecting. He was floating face down in the middle of a ring-like contraption, surrounded by a mass effect field. And damn near naked, too. She smirked, took a running start, then launched herself on the ground, sliding and coming to a stop face-up right under Roy's face.
It would have been much more effective if he didn't have a holographic interface up in front of his face, and he wasn't reading the text on it. Looking at the reverse text, she could make it was some medical treatise. That was new.
"Roy!" she shouted. She had expected him to at least give a start, but he didn't do anything. She reached up, swiped the screen away, and it wasn't without a certain degree of satisfaction that she saw an expression of surprise on his face. For about half a second.
"Lana? What the..."
"Is it even possible to actually surprise you? You didn't even flinch."
"I can't," Roy replied. "I'm paralyzed."
"... what?" Shepard said, her voice coming out just shy of a shriek.
"See that drip?" he said, gesturing to the side with his eyes. "They're keeping me on ice from the neck down until the implants get integrated. Should be just a few days."
"Implants? What kind of gene mods did you get?"
"Reflex package. Brain stem, neural connections, and some bits on the adrenal glands and whatnot."
"How much did that cost?"
"You don't want to know..."
"If I didn't, I wouldn't have asked," Shepard replied, her eyes narrowing as she smiled. "Do I have to go on protein paste instead of ribs from now on?"
This time Roy did laugh, which was odd since he barely moved as he did. "Not so bad. It was two hundred and twenty kay."
"Well, there goes my college fund," Shepard said. "So, how did your thing go? You know, the one I almost broke up with that admiral?"
Two for two, Roy laughed again. Now that was an unusual sight.
"Well, she has kids, so she said she understands."
"Hey!"
"I am your guardian, you know."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm eighteen now. So?"
"Eh, we're just starting. You realize it's classified, right?" Roy said.
"Uh-huh," Shepard replied, undeterred.
"It went well, all right? We're trying to draw a peace treaty, so it's not exactly dangerous work."
"A peace treaty?" she said. "Freaking hell, Roy. How do you get into these situations?"
"This one isn't so bad. With any luck, I won't have to..."
Shepard watched him trail off, but she wasn't going to wait this time for him to start scheming. "Have to what?" she said.
"Have to recover in the hospital for who knows how long," he said. "Seems like I didn't think this thing through."
"Hey, at least you got it out of the way!" Shepard said, laughing. "How are you doing with the last time? You know, with her royal highness and all that. No, no, let me guess, fine."
"I wasn't going to-"
"You totally were!" she interrupted me, crossing her arms.
"Are you even comfortable on the floor?" Roy said.
"And you don't get to change the subject either. Come on, fess up. What's eating you?"
Roy tried to sigh, but it all came out as a rather silly deep breath. Yeah, something was eating him, but she hadn't really gotten much out of it. His excuses for avoiding the subject were wearing thin. There was one she could understand, though, and that was the fact that it wasn't a topic to be discussed in the open, through unsecured connections. The hospital room wasn't the most secure place in the world, but it wasn't bad.
"I'm not sure," Roy finally said. "I can feel there's one big hole in my memories, but I can't put my finger on it."
"Maybe we can go back and visit her? I'll go with you this time, and she can try again while I'm there watching your back."
"No, that's not going to help. It's..."
"... yes?"
"I think it's something to do with you." Shepard looked at Roy, and he did meet her gaze. "I'm not sure what it is, because every time I try to follow it, I end up trapped in that goddamn room again."
"Room? Wait, you mean that door?" Shepard said.
"Yeah."
"Didn't we go over this already?"
"Sure, but- Woah!"
Roy's response was interrupted when the contraption started spinning around, slowly but surely, stopping when he came to be face up. Shepard was about to make a snappy comment, but she got distracted when she saw his back. She didn't know what was worse, the collection of fresh medigel-covered marks running down his spine, or the laundry list of older scars that were spread all over. Damn. She hadn't paid attention to the front, but it had to be just as bad. Just how much trouble had he been getting into? She had been in the service for more than half a year now, and she hadn't been shot once. Hit once.
"Anyway," Roy resumed talking. "Yeah, when I remember it, I remember you standing out there watching my back. That's not it, I'm not trapped."
"Then it's not a big deal, is it?" Shepard said, getting to her feet. She leaned on the ring contraption tentatively, but it felt solid enough. So, with her arms crossed, she leaned forward to get into Roy's field of view.
"How isn't it bad?"
"Because you don't have a single reason to worry about me," Shepard said, flashing her best smile at him. "I can take care of myself."
"Oh, I know that. But there's something else... And I can't freaking remember it!"
"Don't stress, Roy. Whatever it is, we can handle it. Heck, we're both armed to the teeth most of the time. And you're on your way to be an N7."
"No I'm not," Roy said.
"Do you really think Kim's going to let you quit that easily?" Shepard replied.
"It's over Lana, I quit," Roy insisted.
"No it ain't. It's not over until the crazy Chinese woman sings," Shepard said, her reply making Roy laugh.
"Half-Chinese, and yeah, when she sings it's usually over."
"Eh?"
"She loves karaoke," he said. "And she sucks at it too."
That wasn't something Shepard had expected. Heck, Kim had never mentioned it. Next time she had a chance, she was so going to take Kim out for a karaoke night. Specially if she sucked at singing as much as she knew Roy sucked at dancing. She had seen it once, and it still made her giggle. They spent some more time talking, but unfortunately the nurse came and kicked her out sooner than she'd have wanted. Roy still had a few more days to go, but she was quite glad to see him in better spirits. Seriously, he was worried about her? He was always worried about her. She still had a letter to prove it, even though she wasn't going to read it.
It had become a sort of a joke, really. She was still waiting to see if, or when, he was actually going to bring whatever was in that letter up. If it was anything like working with some asari bigwig to bring back the rachni, because, unlike everything everyone thought they knew all across the galaxy, they weren't an actual violent species, it was probably a riveting read.
The apartment, for once, looked nicely lived in. Roy had the cryo unit full of prepared meals, even. He seemed incapable of cooking for less than half a dozen people, which was not a bad thing. There was always a pile of leftovers in there to go through. She pulled one of the packages, and without even looking at the contents, she placed it in the oven. No need to look, he had yet to cook something she didn't like. Maybe she'd go for ribs some other time.
She was ready to dig in when the door chimed. Odd, she wasn't expecting anyone. She got to the door, unfolded the pistol from the nearby magnetic rack, and kept it within reach as she answered.
"Yes?"
"Aliana Shepard?" a familiar voice called. Shepard opened the door to find Shiala waiting on the other side. "You are a hard woman to track, weren't you supposed to-"
"Shiala!" Shepard exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"Drawing a lot of attention, it seems," the asari replied. She made a point of looking around, smiling as she did.
"Well you are quite a looker," Shepard said, laughing. She stepped aside to let Shiala walk in, and racked the pistol back. The commando didn't miss it.
"Expecting trouble?"
"Roy's making me paranoid," Shepard replied.
"It is not a bad policy," Shiala said. She saw the plate on the table and smiled. "Oh, just my timing. Am I interrupting?"
"No, it's fine. Just eating Roy's food, want something?"
"I... Yes, sure. Thank you," Shiala said, sitting at the table.
Shepard dug into the cryo unit again, and put another portion in the oven without looking. When Shiala gave her a curious look, she just shrugged.
"Eh, whatever it is, it'll be good." She took a second fork, and offered it to Shiala, pushing the plate between the two of them. "So, what are you up to? Visiting Roy?"
"No, I have business with you," Shiala said.
"Eh? Me?"
"Yes. It might be a good thing Roy is not here right now, he might not be happy. I have a request from our royal friend."
"Our..." Shepard's forkful of Stroganoff stopped mid-air, her mouth wide open. "You mean her?"
"The very same. Hm, this is nice," Shiala said, savouring the bite.
"Yeah," Shepard replied, the food finally making its way to her mouth. "What request?" she added once she gulped.
"She is in need of an envoy for an exploration mission."
"And why me? And why not Roy?"
"For this, she believes a queen would be best suited. And you are her first choice... Warrior-Princess."
Shepard nearly chocked at that, and had to take a couple of seconds to teach the food a lesson and make sure it went down the right place.
"Warrior... Princess?"
"Yes. She does that, give people names. She was going for Warrior-Queen, but I pointed out how you did not have a hive yet, so that was her next name. She thought you'd like it. Or, to put it another way, she thought Roy would think you'd like it."
"Yeah. I'm... still not clear on how that turned out. She's got her memories or something?"
"You can ask her," Shiala said.
She pulled an OSD out of her omni-tool, and offered it to Shepard. When she fed it to her own omni-tool, what she ended up with was a short letter from the Office to Citadel Affairs, the diplomatic corps. She was pretty sure that's how Roy got away every time with his mysterious assignments.
"You know, I have a new assignment coming up," Shepard said. "I can't just go scampering off."
"If you give me your schedule, I'll work with it," Shiala said.
"Sounds good to me."
Hah, right back atcha Roy!
Dear Mr. Morgan,
As per Doctor T'Soni's instructions, please find attached your consultancy bonus, which includes your share options to the Ala'ksha Exploration Corporation. Note that your 10,000 shares are dated October 1st by the Earth Standard Calendar, and that the amount will be updated when the options are executed to reflect the two splits on the stock from the date, as well as any further changes.
Any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Have a nice day.
Millay T'Lava, R.D.
Mars. The first planet the humans had colonized. A red, dust-covered dead world which teetered close to being a garden world many, many millions of years ago. For decades humans tried to find signs of ancient life. When they found them, it was not what they had expected.
The prothean facility was barebones, just a couple of terminals and a lot of empty space. Liara had seen a few of them before, empty spaces in bases long-abandoned, dating to times way before the prothean extinction. As far as Liara knew, all that had been found in there were a couple of small ships, minute amounts of element zero, and a beacon.
It was the beacon she was there for. The security was extraordinary, outside and inside. Military defenses, enough soldiers to start a war, and inside it was just as impressive. Grim faces and cross looks everywhere, but she wouldn't let them intimidate her.
After all, she did have a dozen of the best asari commandos Aethyta could provide, walking in lockstep with her. And the fork of Vigil she was carrying with her was coded to her DNA, too, not to mention how limited in its functions and memory banks.
The VI had had some extraordinary things to say. She had lost a lot of sleep over the reveal about the reapers, specially when she discussed it later on with her father. Aethyta hadn't even blinked. Instead, she had given her even worse news. The reapers were coming. And coming soon.
But the beacon of Mars might have a way to stop them. Stop an ancient race of AIs so powerful they had wiped out the entire prothean empire. And countless civilizations before them.
Yeah, she wasn't getting much sleep.
"Doctor T'Soni?" a female voice called her.
"Yes?" Liara said, turning to look at the newcomer.
She was a youthful looking woman, with a wide-set face, soft features, black hair, and a perky nose over a pair of somewhat pouty lips. Liara made a mental check; the human was cute, but she had to stay professional.
"I'm Doctor Eva Coré," she said, and offered her hand. She had a firm handshake. "I've been assigned to be your liaison here at the archives. I'm looking forward to working with you!"
"Likewise," Liara said, smiling pleasantly. "Shall we begin?"
Author's Notes: Well, here we go. A few reviews had pointed out that I hadn't touched what the Illusive Man might have been up to. As you can imagine, everything Roy's been up to has made plenty of ripples, and it's not something TIM would just miss. So yeah, meet Cerberus. New boss, same as the old boss. Or worse.
In the meantime, surprise! Shepard's getting on with the program, and Roy doesn't know just yet. Shiala's one busy bee. When was the last time I had a chapter without her? Yeah, a while. Now, as to what the queen wants with Shepard, the clues are there (something I always wondered, ever since the first game).
As for the important part, the geth... Well, it's not an easy Gordian knot to unravel. Without having both them and the quarians staring at the business end of the metaphorical reaper gun, it's not so easy. We'll see how it goes.
One other thing I wanted to touch with these notes is Roy's memory loss. It's not easy to show things from the point of view of the character when I'm supposed to show what he's forgotten (specially if it's something he's never shared with anyone), so here goes. What was supposed to happen was that, after hatching, the rachni queen latched onto Roy to meld - this was supposed to be the queen that laid the egg, not a random human. So, as his mind unraveled, the "room" Roy locked himself into was the way his mind shut down when trying to stop it. And when he did, he dragged with him some memories he wanted to keep safe (the "treasure" he was guarding). The main point he's "forgotten" is the fact that Aliana Shepard was the protagonist of the Mass Effect games. The way he remembers it now is a "simulation" (that's how he sold it to Benezia all those chapters ago), which is a different playthrough (and only that different playthrough). So, that's why everything that points at Shepard being a character in the games ends up with hm in the room - that's where the memories are stored (as I clarified in this episode, it isn't that he's trapped in there).
From the point of view of his knowledge, this means losing quite a bit of perspective from the games (as in, things don't necessarily go one particular way, see the geth-quarian war), as well as anything that wasn't uncovered during that particular playthrough. And of course that Shepard's actually one of the characters. Ironically, it's going to help with his relationship with her more than harm. Now, the whole thing's goint to bring a harvest of extra drama poits, sure, but it wasn't the primary objective.
"But wait a goddamn minute, Roy. Didn't little Roy tell Shepard she wasn't real? How come he doesn't remember?" I hear you say. Well, maybe the problem is not that he doesn't remember that tidbit, but rather he doesn't like to think about it, so to speak. Remembering that it's riddled with a whole lot of unpleasantness. So maybe what he needs to do is actually remember it, and it could be the [Trigger Warning: Trigger] trigger that'll restore his memories.
Anyway, that's that for notes! Thanks a lot for the reviews, thoughts, and all the support!
Serenay Chiba: Can't really write much faster :D And well, Roy already tried that before, didn't seem to help much.
gizmo685: Yeah, considering one of the options for the geth-quarian conflict is for the migrant fleet to commit suicide by geth out of stubborn stupidity, it might be hard. Then again, Drescher is the one in charge there, not Roy, so there's that. Means she's got the Systems Alliance backing her up, not just one lone human.
Zeru'Xil: As you can see, that might come up soon-ish :D My take on it... Well, no, that'll be a spoiler, but the answer isn't the important part.
Legendary Junk Mail: You bet it will! While making him forget everything was tempting, I figured some of it together with the skewed perspective of a "bad" playthrough would be bad enough, heh.
Yami-Guy: Well, it's not just drama, though I only have myself to blame on that one. I have developed a taste for drama during the course of this fic. But no, as I said, if anything the memory hole will help with the relationship between Roy and Sheppy.
BJ Hanssen: I see your point. But you'd think that after not one, but two near-extinction events they'd be a bit more wary of them. Sure, for the turians and salarians it's been a long time, but the asari are barely two generations removed from the events. It'd be like people forgetting about WW II in the 80s or something. Anyway, regarding the memory loss, I hope it's clearer now :)
Alex Mcpherson: I'd give the role of Chakwas to Rene Russo. She'd be amazing in the "yeah, I'm such a sweet nice aged doctor, now sit down and let me do my work before I break your arms" role. Have you seen the Lethal Weapon movies? Yeah :D For side missions, they're coming from the Office to Citadel Affairs, that usually means council/Spectre business. Yeah, it's a bit more obvious now that he's part of the Taskforce that he's been up to stuff, but you can be sure they've got their eye on him. It's not exactly common, but the Spectres asking stuff from the SA military happens regularly enough. As far as getting laid, yeah, he probably does, too many hangups. Sheppy's just 18 mate, she has time yet :)
RadioPoisoning: She seems the type, but with all the changes happening Elysium et al may not happen as we expect. I'm pretty sure Saren's had his arm for a while, but we don't know when exactly. He was normal during the first contact war. I guess having it vague means we have plenty of room to put it as we please. It's like the geth, supposedly Nazara contacted them close to the timeline of ME1, but I haven't seen how close.
In caverns dark: Thanks. Yeah, as I mentioned above, it's not just the drama, and the reason why he can still remember so much is that he hasn't forgotten everything. He still remembers a full playthrough with a different Shepard. It wasn't so much that nobody talked to him, as that he was the one who didn't want to talk (that's what he does, he shouts down), and that in the whole scheme of things what he's forgotten doesn't interfere with the big picture. That said, I always appreciate feedback, and just because I'm doing something on purpose doesn't mean I'm right! And that aside, thanks to your review I got the idea for the Shep-Roy scene this time. I wanted her back in Arcturus, just needed the opening!
Toothless is best: Yep, and well spotted! :)
BrotherCaptainShepard: Well, Roy's still got a ways to go, N-school is not the only way to gain badassitude. If he can handle it!
Uemei: Haha, you've got some interesting points! You should totally write your own SI, you've obviously gotten several ideas wou're developing, best way to do that is to get them written down! Haven't taken the whole script away from the SI (I did that quite more radically with the Three-Headed Dog I think!), but I yanked some of it from under his feet, we'll see how he lands, hehe.
Almost A Shadow: Hah! Hope this was enough of a surprise, hehe.
dragonblade3200: I try to keep it within the one-two week range for updates, we'll see if I can keep it up. If the schedule changes I'll be sure to mention it.
eurodox59: The Alchera bit is mostly because it was one of the strongest memories he had about what would happen to Sheppy if things didn't get sidetracked. He just doesn't remember about Sheppy :)
Sci-Fifan95: Yeah, I was trying to set things up, maybe a bit too slow character development-wise. A bit more unveiling this time around, I hope :) Thanks for taking the time to review!
AlsoKnownAsMatt: Thanks! Yup, there's only so much the technological gap can close, or numbers grow. Luckily, the 1812 Royal Navy's got access to some of the blueprints from the 21st Century navy :D (Prothean tech, and whatever they can reverse engineer from the reapers). Still, definitely not easy.
5 Coloured Walker, WindBear47, Talimancer, general-joseph-dickson, bdrivermp, dandraft15, Mr Beaver Buttington, Christopher Corvinus. Thanks all for the feedback and reviews! I really appreciate it, I hope you continue to enjoy it.
So, next time? Well, more geth-quarian issues, Shepard going off on her own set of rails, and maybe some more stuff I have stewing in the crock pot. Until then, thanks for reading as always! Ta-ta!