Thinking back, I was never really someone who'd get into fights. The majority of the fighting I saw when I was younger tended to be one-sided beatdowns at the hands of my siblings, and even after I made it out of there I never really got into any fights. Yet, for some reason, I found the act of beating the tar out of a punching bag incredibly satisfying. Misguided aggression, perhaps, but whenever I needed to clear my head, or disconnect for a while, a punching bag was a great way to do it.
It wasn't even like I was thinking of anyone in particular when hitting the punching bag. It was an absolutely mindless act. Hit, hit, hit again, and keep up with the sway of the bag. Hit too hard and you might lose the rhythm. Too soft and you'd lose the momentum. Don't it it right, and you might hurt yourself, specially when the rhythm you've set for yourself is a hard hitting one.
Then there was the burn. The burning sensation when going all out which usually lasted as long as my breath did. Ever since I got the gene mods and the bootcamp training, it lasted a hell of a lot longer than it used to. I could dive in, and punch and punch until my shoulders fell off.
"Catch!"
The call caught me by surprise, and in the rush of the moment, being high on adrenalin and cortisol, my implants kicked in even before I had a chance to control the reaction.
The reflex package was an… interesting piece of kit. It worked by overclocking my neural pathways for an extremely short period of time, which made it feel like time had literally stopped for a moment. During that time, I could take stock of the environment and make decisions about what I wanted to do, and as soon as the "frozen time" moment ended, the implanted VI would take over and guide my actions for several seconds while my neuronal system recovered. It didn't turn me into an automaton, it was more akin to being along for the ride, and able to nudge the resulting actions consciously if I chose to.
It took me quite a while to get used to it. In the beginning, all that happened was that it'd kick in, and I wouldn't really do anything in response, meaning I'd have these micro-freeze moments where it seemed as if I just stopped dead on my tracks for a fraction of a second without doing anything.
I had still a ways to go towards controlling it when I was caught by surprise – thought the fact that it kicked in unconsciously whenever I was surprised was by design, for obvious reasons – but I was a lot better when it came to taking advantage of the frozen moment.
In this case, I snapped around and punched the bottle of water flying towards me with all my might. The result was the plastic exploding in pieces, and water spraying all over the place.
"Kyaa!" Marie yelled, ducking down and covering her head as shit went flying all over.
"What the hell!"
"What the hell yourself!" Marie replied, looking up at me from her crouching position. "What was that?"
"Don't throw shit at me like that! Freaking hell…"
"I thought you could use the break!" She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath to calm down, then laughed. "I really didn't expect that. Yah, you've been at this for two hours, you need to give it a break."
"I'm fine," I replied, turning my back to her and starting on the punching bag again.
"You should trademark that," Marie said with a chuckle, which died when a particularly vigorous punch sent my bag flying back on a wide pendulum arch. "Okay, you're not fine. Stop that."
"I said-"
"Roy, you're not fine! I have the same gene mods, remember? You think you're fine, but as soon as you stop, you'll realize you've probably buggered your shoulder or your arm or something." She paused for a moment, and insisted as soon as I punched the bag again. "Stop!"
"Fuck's sake, what do you want?" I snapped.
"What do I... You came down here as soon as Drescher let you go, and you've been punching that bag ever since. I don't care what you say, you're not fine. What's going on?"
"You need to ask…" I muttered.
"Apparently I do," she replied. "So what did I do? I thought I was helping when-"
"Helping? Helping?! Airing my dirty laundry in front of everyone is helping? You made me the goddamn laughing stock of the entire team!"
By the looks of it, Marie had to take a moment to process what I had said. Technically, I hadn't really talked about my parents to her. Not really, though during conversation the topic came up once or twice. Other than not having much to say about them, I hadn't actually said much about them – if that makes sense. But Marie had taken the ball and run with it, and I have to say, she had hit the proverbial nail on the equally proverbial head.
"Roy," she said, her voice soft. "You just got the geth to agree to a peace treaty. The geth. Everybody said it couldn't be done, and it took you less than a day! Who do you think would have the nerve to laugh at you?"
"It didn't take a day. It took weeks," I replied, turning to hit the bag again.
It was a pretty weak reply, made only worse when a bad form punch made my left hand give a snap. The momentary sharp jab of a broken bone dulled rather quick, thanks to the gene mods, but it wouldn't be long before it started to burn, and then to hurt.
My next hit didn't get much momentum, as Marie got herself behind the bag and put her weight into it, stopping any swinging.
"You just broke a finger, didn't you?" she said.
I didn't answer, I just grabbed the chain with my unhurt hand and leaned on it, breathing deeply. I was definitely feeling tired, though I probably could go on. And Marie wasn't half wrong when she said I was probably going to start feeling it as soon as I stopped. With the interruptions just then, I was already starting to feel the pain on the shoulders and wrists.
"Look," she said, leaning down to look me in the eye from below. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable. But look at it from my point of view. There you were, the geth and you, both dancing around the same issue, and you weren't saying a word. It was so… so… frustrating!"
"Well geez, I'm sorry," I said.
"You better be! You're lucky I didn't just go over and bang both your heads together."
I breathed deeply and took a step back, nursing my injured hand. Without saying a word, Marie reached over and took my hand, exploring the knuckles carefully until she found the broken bone under the thick handwraps.
And gave the finger a good healthy yank to put it back in place.
"SONOFA-"
"There, all better," she said, giggling in amusement. "Let's go get you patched up."
"Fraking… You enjoyed that, didn't you?"
"Maybe a little," she said. "Come on."
We made our way to the lift, all the while getting looks from everyone we came across. I chafed under all that scrutiny, but Marie rather enjoyed it. When we got to the lift, she hit the medbay level and turned to me again.
"All those looks? Everyone's still shocked about what happened. That's a good thing, you know."
"Doesn't feel like it," I replied.
"I know. Why don't you tell me about it?" I gave her a look, and she just shrugged. "It's not like you're going to have anything else to do for the next, oh, six hours or so?"
Right, that's how long it takes for bone weave to set.
"How many bones have you broken before?"
"A few. And I've broken my own a few times too," she said with a grin.
Taking a step back from who she was dealing with, Marie had to admit the mission was easy. Roy's issues with his family were something straight out of a textbook, and circumstances couldn't be better. The fact that his family was no longer in the picture was a plus. Not objectively, of course; as Roy had said, he had lost his chance to work things out with them. But from the point of view of her mission to recruit him, it was an opportunity. Displacing part of that anger in a positive way, made to feel like part of a close knit group.
Given that, from certain point of view, Cerberus could be considered a bunch of traitors, she had to be careful. But in the end she believed it was the right thing. They were there to protect humanity, and goodness knew there were threats out there. She had spent her tours in the Traverse, and had seen what was out there. Nevermind Mindoir.
She wasn't too keen on bringing that up with Roy. Not yet, at least.
In the end, they had given her a chance, something the army hadn't done. She wasn't without her share of blame, of course, but she still was somewhat resentful for the way she had been shown the back door. And they looked like they were genuine in their desire to protect humanity.
Not that they didn't have their failings. Case in point, horrible sense of timing. And she wasn't too fond of the young woman who acted as her liaison either.
The corner of the screen blinked three times and turned a green pilot on, and the image of the black-haired woman appeared a moment later. Miranda Lawson.
"Miss Lawson," Marie said. "What was so urgent you had me contacting you from the ship?"
"Can you talk?"
"I'm alone," Marie replied, "but I don't want to spend too long with this line open. So?"
"So," Miranda said. "What was the outcome? There has been no official report, but Drescher is already asking the diplomatic corps to organize a meeting with the quarians. Either you crashed and burned, or-"
"It went swimmingly," Marie interrupted. She knew Miranda dragging things out on purpose. "The geth have agreed to the whole thing."
"And what did Drescher concede?" Miranda said. If she was surprised, she didn't show.
"Territories from Hades Gamma to the Voyager Cluster. I haven't been able to see the entire list of terms, they were sent over a secure line to the geth."
"You weren't able to intercept any of the exchanges?"
"There were no exchanges," Marie said, a little snappish. "Drescher sent her full proposal, and the geth simply accepted the whole thing."
This time, Miranda did react. She sat back, hands to her chin with the fingers interlaced. Thinking. After a few silent seconds, she spoke again, but her voice was as even as ever.
"How did Drescher manage such a thing? No, let me guess. Morgan."
"With a small helping hand," Marie replied.
"And how is your assignment progressing?"
"Good, I've established a good rapport with him already. In fact, was in the medbay with him before you interrupted us."
"Not the worst thing I could have interrupted," Miranda said, completely unmoved.
Sometimes, Marie thought Miranda went out of her way to be a bitch just for the sake of reminding everyone that she could be a bitch. During the time they had been working together, Marie had realized she had the skills to back up her voluminous ego. The more confusing part was how she seemed to regard her ability to get thing doe as almost a negative trait. Not exactly, though; she enjoyed being so capable – her bitchiness being part of it – but there was something else there. Perhaps something to do with her father.
No point spending more time analyzing her. It wasn't like she was going to break through the icy exterior, whether she could or not was secondary to the fact that she didn't care for it.
"So what was the emergency?"
"The emergency is that the geth are moving into Alliance space. For what we know, they're nothing if not efficient. We have to move any assets we have in the region before they arrive in force. We don't have time to sit around, and with we I am including you."
"I can't rush things if we want results," Marie said.
"If you're not up for it, I can find some other way. As it is, we have enough to charge him with treason and take it from there."
"What? He's not a traitor!" Marie snapped.
"So you say. But while we've been sitting here, the Asari have mysteriously hit the jackpot with the Protheans, the Council has strong-armed us into dealing with the quarians and the geth, despite us having nothing to win, we're on our way to bankruptcy with the new fleets, and now we've started to give away territory to aliens."
"What, is Drescher a traitor now, too?"
"Spare me the flippancy," Miranda said. "This is all coming from the top of the Asari, and Morgan has been working with them."
"How do you know? You can't prove that."
"I don't need to prove anything, I only have to make it stick for a while," Miranda said. "And how do I know? Only one person in the entire galaxy thought this was not only possible, but easy, to make a deal with the geth. And he was right. I don't believe in coincidences. Get a move on, or I'll have to finish the assignment for you."
With that, Miranda cut the line, leaving Marie with the thought that seemed to repeat most often when dealing with the younger woman.
What a bitch.
The last few days had been very, very strange for Shepard. The trip had been, by all accounts, a success. They were now on their way back to the colony, with a roommate and a precious egg stashed safely away. While they had left with some hopes of finding other queens, the truth is that they all knew it was a long shot. The Mu Relay had remained hidden and dormant since the end of the Rachni wars, which on itself was quite significant. If any of the ships that made it to the other side had been successful, they would have rebuilt, and possibly resumed the war.
Then again, she didn't know what started the war to begin with. And her new roommate hadn't been too helpful in that respect. Little-Singer. Shepard had called her little one because she was a newborn baby, but the queen had taken a liking to it.
It was a little embarrassing for Shepard.
The two of them had spent a whole lot of time inside Shepard's room. With two queens and a queen egg in there, her crew was extremely skittish. Nobody was allowed near the door, and they kept bringing food. So much food. There were literally bags of food hanging in the corners. Though she had to admit, the queen ate a lot. Just a few days and she was almost double the size she was when she hatched.
To pass time, they had been doing nothing but talk. Well, sing, if Little-Singer was the one to describe it. Shepard had an unending curiosity about the Rachni, and the queen was only too happy to satisfy her in that respect. The only thing she didn't much want to talk about was the Rachni wars, and Shepard hadn't pressed. How could she? The parallels were too close to Shepard's own past. When the queen had sung the first notes of her memories of the war – the last memories her mother had imprinted on the egg – it had resonated so strongly with Shepard's that she had felt like she had been placed back on Mindoir. Too vivid. The entire little hive had been in turmoil until she got her thoughts under control.
They hadn't touched the subject since. Instead, they talked about their hives. Shepard only really knew one planet, Mindoir. The queen knew a hundred. Shepard now knew about the planet where the Rachni originated; how there were crystal spires that resonated with colours to the voices of the queens; how they started to explore the galaxy to look for melodies different from their own.
"It's a shame we didn't bring Roy," Shepard said. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor, with the queen in her nest at arm's length and a very busy hive skittering all over the place. "He can actually play pretty well. I'm not sure why he's so obsessed with 20th Century music, I hadn't even heard of most of the singers he likes."
The queen's song flashed a light blue, almost shy.
"Your song has painted your favored brood-warrior in many colours. We would not take him from your hive into ours…"
"That… No!" Shepard said, laughing softly. "That's not what I mean! We don't look at music that way, it's just something we do."
"Your song is not a melody?" the queen sang, confused.
"No, no! Wait, let me show you…"
She started searching through her omni-tool, going through her music collection. She could swear she had one of the pieces Roy had shown her. What was the name again? Something bad. No bad, bad, just bad something.
There we go!
Bad Company – Shooting Star.
The first guitar chords of the song rang out, and Shepard looked up at the queen. She was listening attentively, but it didn't seem like she was making much of it. After about a minute, she sang out again, her melody once more pale and somewhat subdued.
For a queen, she was shy, more than Shepard would have expected. Maybe it was her fault, gave her the wrong song when she hatched or something?
The though made Little-Singer's song go a shade paler again.
"We apologize, Warrior-Princess."
"Ah, don't say that, there's no need," Shepard said. "It loses a lot when it's not live anyway. I think this is the first song I heard Roy play, he was trying to set up his new guitar and was making a mess of the sync."
She smiled as she thought of the day. Shortly after Mindoir, not even three days in Arcturus. That she could smile at all about it today was a bit of a shocker, once she realized what she was doing. She felt all the pain of those days all too keenly, the memories raw and vivid like they hadn't been in a long time. But Roy's presence was soothing. An anchor for her. Did she always feel like that? She was pretty sure she didn't have a single positive thing in her head about anyone, Roy included, back then.
"The life-song of your hive is ever changing, time cannot stop their melodies from becoming yours, or yours from becoming theirs," Little-Singer said.
"I can't trust my own memory?" Shepard said. "Is that a Rachni thing?"
"It is the song of life, Warrior-Princess."
"Speaking from memory, aren't we? I… guess that makes sense for you. So you don't actually remember things as they happened?"
"Our memories of the hive are as living as we are. Memories of the melody are as unchanging as the spires of the Singing Planet."
Shepard had to think about it, remembering that day, remembering herself sitting on her bed, curled up, angry and morose, not giving Roy much more than monosyllabic answers. The song was still playing in her omni-tool, but in her head, it was Roy playing his guitar. Technically, he wasn't as good, neither playing, nor singing. But the feeling behind the singing, that was so different.
Maybe that's what the queen meant. She remembered the facts, but how she felt about it, that was still changing. Maybe it would always keep changing.
"Your brood-warrior's song has more colour than the mechanical voice," Little-Queen said.
"I told you, it loses a lot when it's not live," Shepard replied, smiling.
The music session was cut shot when her omni-tool chimed, a call from the cockpit.
"Yes?" Shepard replied, opening the comms.
"Shepard, we're about to enter orbit," Lulan, the pilot, answered. "Are you ready?"
"Yes, we don't have much to pack," Shepard replied. "Erm, but you might want to clear the deck, I'm not going to wear armor and it's three queens walking out."
"Of course, your highness," Lulan said, her voice airy and amused. "You're clear to go to the shuttle."
"On our way!" Shepard said, and closed the comms.
She stood up and stretched, her legs grateful for the change of position. The queen observed her with curiosity as she twisted and pulled, bringing relief to her muscles. When she was finished, she looked at the queen and laughed.
"It's a human thing," she said. "Shall we go?"
The workers immediately set to work, clearing the nest and collecting food and bits from all over the room. The warriors, too, started to stir, heading for the door to be at the front of the queens. Shepard took a moment to head for the small nest where the egg was resting, and took it carefully with both hands. It was warm, and she could feel the life stirring inside. It was still early for it to hatch, so there was no danger there. Still, she felt incredibly protective of that little egg, the small, helpless little rachni growing inside. She wrapped it with both her hands lovingly, resting it against her chest.
She wasn't going to wear armor, the idea of having a hard surface like that between her and the egg didn't sit well with her. Ideally, a brood warrior would be carrying it, but there were none aboard. Besides, she was the Warrior-Princess, after all. And after the trip down to the surface, she was off back to Arcturus. Bringing a rachni-made suit of body armor was bound to raise some questions. She couldn't even pass it off as Spectre gear like Roy could have.
Not sure why he didn't. Given how much he kept getting shot up, he could do with an upgrade. She made a mental note to bring it up next time she saw him.
"Let's go guys!"
The door opened to an empty gallery, and from there, Shepard guided her crew towards the shuttle bay. The warriors were on high alert, darting here and there following every single blink of light or minuscule noise. Shepard tried to stay calm and collected, there was absolutely nothing in that ship that would harm them. But she couldn't help hugging the egg a little closer as her steps echoed through the empty ship.
At least they really cleared out.
The shuttle was waiting with the door open, and Shepard let Little-Queen climb in first. The rest of the crew didn't waste any time, and they got into the ship to the last leg without delays or stragglers. Good, but Shepard felt a little upset at their efficiency. When she was on her own, it took her sweat and tears to gather them all.
As usual, the second the thought crossed her mind, the entire crew sensed her unrest, and the reaction was immediate. Green and orange, apologies, the poor guys were distraught about their queen saying something like that.
"Ah, it's fine guys," she said, taking a deep breath. "We're all learning, I'm a very odd queen."
One of the workers climbed to her shoulder and started nibbling at her hair, making her laugh. He was totally doing it on purpose.
The flight to the surface was rather smooth. The planet had a very boring and stable atmosphere, little in the way of turbulence even during re-entry. She gripped the egg a little tighter nonetheless, and didn't really loosen her grip until the shuttle hit the ground and the door opened.
She never trusted automated landings. They were fine when things went as planned, but in her experience things rarely went as planned.
Occupational hazard.
She heard the song from Singer-of-Dawn even before she stepped out of the shuttle. Loud. Powerful. And warm. A song to welcome the new queens. Little-Queen looked at Shepard almost like she was asking for permission, too nervous to interrupt the song of the adult queen with any of her own notes.
"Go ahead, it's your welcoming party!" Shepard said.
The young queen chirped in delight, and walked out of the ship to wake an even greater song from the hive. The queen sang from the entrance to the hive, not setting foot on the hangar, but several brood warriors were there, their songs subdued compared to that of the queen. Shepard's crew stayed behind until she stepped out, only then following while singing along with her. They returned to the hive, and brought their queen safe and sound, together with a new queen. It was a happy day for the hive. And much like aboard the ship, the landing bay was completely devoid of any non-Rachni activity. Even with Singer-of-Dawn there, it was just easier to keep the peace.
"We sing our welcome to you, Little-Queen," Singer-of-Dawn called. "Our song is greater today, and our colours move vivid. We will paint a bright future together."
"We sing in gratitude, Singer-of-Dawn," Little-Queen sang back, the colours of her song brighter than Shepard had ever seen them.
She squashed any bitterness in her thoughts back with extreme prejudice. Of course she would be happier and brighter coming back to a real hive. She was a poor substitute for a real queen.
"We sing in joy, Warrior-Princess. Your safe return brightens our hive."
"It's good to see you too," Shepard replied. Despite all that, she was grinning like an idiot. The songs of the Rachni had that effect on her.
One of the brood warriors approached her, and by instinct, Shepard recoiled slightly, pressing the egg closer to her chest.
"It is time to part with her, Warrior-Princess," Singer-of-Dawn called. "Her song will bloom in our hive."
Why is it so hard to let go? Shepard wondered.
It was still hard to do, but the brood warrior let her take all the time she needed, taking the egg with his tendrils only when Shepard was ready to let it go. He quickly tucked it away in his abdomen, a part of his carapace opening to reveal a perfect little nest to carry the egg. As soon as the egg was safe, all the brood warriors disappeared into the hive, and after some hesitation, Shepard's crew made to follow them.
But they stopped to wait for her orders.
"Come on, go ahead," she said, waving them towards the entrance to the hive. "I'll see you again, don't you worry."
Another moment, and with a welcoming song from the adult queen, the rachni left her and made their way into the hive. She couldn't help but feel a little sad to part with them, but as she said, she would see them again. She knew where to find them.
"Will you sing welcoming songs with us?" Singer-of-Dawn sang.
"No. No, I'd love to, but I have a deadline. I have the orders for my next assignment, I just had enough time to bring Little-Queen home."
The two queens sang almost in unison, a warm melody full of colour, thanking her. Wishing for her safety and safe travels. It wasn't just words, it came with images, too. The image of a ship leaving the Singing Planet – the first one that ever did. It shouldn't have surprised her that the Rachni had their own little traditions for things like that. Bon voyage wasn't unique to humans, it seemed.
"And I wish your hive well," Shepard said. She leaned forward, hands on her knees to look at Little-Queen. "Next time you'll be the one having to look down to see me. I look forward to it!"
"We will sing together with our hive," the young queen said. "Will your favoured brood-warrior paint melodies with us?"
"He better, he's going to be a dad!" Shepard replied, laughing. When the young queen leaned forward to look at Shepard's belly, she laughed even more. "No, no, ask Singer-of-Dawn. She-" Her omni-tool chimed at her, warning her she was out of time. "Crap. I really have to go. Let me know how it goes!"
With another colorful display of melodies, the queens said their goodbyes, and Shepard was left alone as they disappeared into the caves. She made her way to the shuttle, and the VI took over as soon as she strapped herself in, launching back to the stratosphere to meet with the Azure. It was a good thing they had offered her a ride to Glain station, or she'd be too damn late. She had the pass from the Office to Citadel Affairs, but even then, she'd rather not have to pull that one to explain that she was late.
The trip back to the Azure was incredibly uncomfortable. And it wasn't until she docked that she realized what the problem was.
It was too damn quiet without her crew. Lonely. She hadn't felt that alone in a very long time.
And she didn't like it one bit.
Hello Roy.
How is your super-secret diplomatic assignment going? Are you done soon? I'm reporting to Arcturus tomorrow for a new assignment, I was hoping you'd be around!
…
I just realized how silly these messages are when neither of us can talk about what we're doing. How ridiculous is this?
Lana.
Of all the forgotten, useless dustballs Liara had had to work on, she had to admit Mars was probably her least favourite. It wasn't the worst she had been on – she didn't even need a pressure suit, all she needed was a breather – but the security issues around the work were quite a nuisance. It probably said a lot about the importance of the work she was doing, and even more about how unimportant all the work of her last twenty years was.
But I was right about the Prothean extinction! Hah! Or… I wish I hadn't been. Goddess, I still can't believe this is real.
She made her way to the secure room where the VI was being kept, only to find Doctor Eva Coré was already inside, sitting at the holoprojector and looking at the plans of that strange, enormous construction they had found at the bottom of the beacon. The only reason she had found it was that she knew to look for it – she had Morgan to thank for that, or so her father claimed – and it was a mess. There were gaps, and the data structure had been corrupted. it wasn't because of the age of the beacon, rather due to how the data had been stored. Whoever had put it there had been sloppy. Either he didn't know what he was doing, or he was in quite a hurry. Sections of the holocrystals had been crudely erased, and others hadn't even been deleted, and simply overwritten with the new data.
It took a lot of digging to see it wasn't just corrupted trash.
"You're going to wear the console out, together with your eyes," Liara said.
Eva turned to look at her and smiled, and seeing that, Liara had to admit Mars did have its perks, after all.
"Just trying to practice my Prothean," Eva said. "This thing is fascinating."
"Have you memorized all the parts yet?" Liara said. She walked closer, and leaned over Eva's shoulder to look at the projection.
"No, not yet," Eva replied, teasing. Liara couldn't imagine anyone memorizing that particular mess of data, it was broken, gigantic, and they still had no idea what it was or what it did. "What's this?"
"Let's see," Liara said. She leaned even closer, and Eva used the chance to lean back on her, her head resting on Liara's chest. Her pulse sped up a little, and her smile warmed. "Ma'kaliren… That's a waste disposal unit."
"… I've been studying a toilet?" Eva said.
"Maybe," Liara said with a laugh. "Prothean is a very pragmatic language. In English, I translate it as waste because that's all they used. It could be biological waste, reactor waste, or even dead people. They referred to dead bodies as waste, too."
"Really? That's crazy! They had disposal units for bodies?"
"Haha, no, not likely. They're not that type, they were a very enlightened culture," Liara replied. Her hand stole to rest on Eva's shoulder, and the human reciprocated by grabbing Liara's other hand and coaxing it over her shoulder.
For one, Liara didn't mind the fact that this was going to be a very long term assignment.
"You should spend more time writing that book of yours on the Protheans," Eva said. "Just to show everyone at the University how wrong they were."
"I still need more data," Liara replied. "And we have so much to do here."
"Well, leave this to me then, I'll help ya!"
Eva looked up to Liara, and the asari didn't quite dare reply with what she was thinking – that she was so very much not qualified enough to run that op. Not that she needed to, Eva huffed in annoyance and looked away again.
"You're so mean, you know," Eva said. Her annoyance was so over-the-top intentionally fake that the both of them started laughing less than a heartbeat later.
Liara squeezed Eva's hand, and let a thought through.
You're already helping.
It took the approaching end of the galaxy as they knew it to find it, but Liara had to wonder about how lucky she was. After all the crap she had gone through at the University, and with her mother, and everything else, she had landed feet first into one hell of a job, and even better company.
Life sure was looking up.
Hey Lana,
I should be back to Arcturus soon, actually. Great timing! Things have gone surprisingly well this time around, I wish I could tell you more, but yeah. It might hit the news soon though, can't think they'll keep this one a secret for long. I'm surprised it hasn't leaked yet, given how many people were involved.
What have you been up to though? Super-secret stuff? Really?!
Not sure if I'll have much of a chance to meet though. I have an assignment waiting for me, but I'll try to make time.
See you soon!
Roy.
That was it. The Makalu had arrived to Arcturus at last, just ten minutes before I was scheduled to report to my new CO. Aino Kishi.
To be honest, I hadn't expected I'd be serving under her. The carriers tend to be space-bound in their assignments, and I was a groundpounder. A lot had changed, including the fact that there was a new, soon to be deployed fleet. I was still rather curious about that little nugget, but it didn't steal any sleep from me. I'd ask Shiala next time I saw her. An extra fleet seemed like a rather small step towards preparing for the reapers, if this was all higher-up planning. I still remembered how Hackett sacrificed entire fleets just to delay the Reapers while the rest of the Systems Alliance navy escaped them.
Maybe I hadn't really explained how serious the threat the Reapers represented was to benezia.
But that aside, I was looking forward to it. Captain Kishi had come to my aid not once, but twice, and the second for very little reason I could discern (I found out that her quip about giving the crew shore leave was actually true; while I was battling Shepard's adoptive family for her custody, the crew was just enjoying some downtime planet-side). And she had treated me really well, even when she had her range master chew me up to whip me into shape. I wondered if anyone in her old crew had made the transit too, Captain Edwards hadn't been very clear about whether the Einstein had moved fleets or not.
Well, I'd find out soon enough. A shuttle was waiting, together with half a dozen people who were heading to Arcturus with me.
"Chief," a familiar voice called.
I turned around and snapped a salute. "Sir!"
"At ease," Admiral Drescher replied, returning the salute with an easy gesture. "Just came to see you off. I'd love to have you with me for the next round with the quarians, but I don't want to keep Kishi waiting."
"You know Captain Kishi, sir?" I said, surprised.
"Cap- Yes, indeed. She served under me when she was just Lieutenant-Commander. You met her during the Mindor raid I assume?"
"Yes sir. She's also helped me with other matters, I've… I'm quite in debt with her, I'd say."
"Well, just do your job and don't let it show. She can get a big head," the Admiral added with a grin. "I asked you to take care of the geth, and you definitely came through. Damn good job you did, Chief."
"Yes sir, Thank you sir," I replied. Inside, all I could think was DAMN!
"I'll make sure the SAI sends you a copy of the report on the quarian negotiations," she said, and the smug, self-satisfied smile on her face almost made me laugh. "If they get problematic, I'll be recalling you for a while."
"The SAI or the quarians, sir?"
"Yes," Drescher replied. "Although I doubt the SAI will open their mouths after the schooling you gave them."
More like the dressing down you gave them, I thought, but kept my mouth shut. It had been glorious.
"Regardless, we will be talking again about the geth," she added. "Good luck Chief."
"Sir!"
We exchanged salutes, and I left for the shuttle almost in a daze. Damn. Admiral Kastanie fucking Drescher came down to the shuttle bay just to see me off. I had a lot of eyes on me as I walked off, and a lot more looks when I got into the shuttle. None of the others in the shuttle outranked me, so they didn't dare make any cheeky comments.
The flight was enough to set all that aside. I had to report in less than no time to the logistics office on deck C, and looking at how close I was cutting it, I didn't think I'd have time to get to my apartment and drop my shit. Well, that's life. I bet I wasn't the only one who'd show up with a bag full of gear.
And so, as soon as we landed, I thanked the pilot and hightailed out towards deck C. As I had expected, the place was fucking chaos. The crew of the new ships wouldn't all report at once, or to the same place, but even so, four carriers worth of crew made for a hell of a lot of people.
I squeezed through to the front desk and waited patiently for my turn.
"Name?" the young man behind the desk called. Clipped and to the point, and I could see why. There wasn't a free inch of floor in the whole room, nevermind the rest of the deck. I saw the markings of an ensign on his uniform.
"Service Chief Roy Morgan, SSN 5742-AB-2814."
The ensign entered the info and scrolled through the list on his omni-tool.
"Ah yes. You're assigned to the Einstein. Lieutenant Chu is organizing the ground crew, report to Hangar 41-C."
"Chu? As in Kim Chu?"
"That's her. Now move it, there's people waiting."
"Ah, yes. Thanks."
Damn. Again. So Kim had made it through officer school. Well, good for her; if she did, she definitely earned it. The hangar had me going all the way back to the core of the station then along the opposite arm, but it was faster than waiting for one of the automated shuttles for transfer. The queues were too damn long. Shit, how fucking lazy were these people? It was a bit of a walk, but totally doable. I mean, everyone had gene mods there, it was an easy run for anyone who was current with their PT.
Even if I was lugging my baggage along with me.
The hangar was as crazy as the rest of deck C. There were shuttles coming and going, carrying cratefuls of supplies – to the Einstein, I assumed. Kim was in the middle of it, datapad in hand, barking orders left, right, and center.
"Service Chief Roy Morgan, reporting for duty sir!" I called, squaring off and saluting.
Kin stopped what she was doing to turn around, a smile appearing on her face. For about a second.
"About damn time!" she snapped. "What the hell took you so long, I have no help here!"
It was a good thing that I knew her well enough to see her outrage was just for show. Oh, she looked stressed all right, and I could see why, but she wasn't pissed at me. It was more for the benefit of others watching.
"Just single-handedly making galactic peace, sir! It won't happen again!" I replied.
"It better, you're here to shoot shit, not make peace," Kim said. She brought up her datapad, and after a few commands, my omni-tool pinged. "The gunny hasn't showed up yet, so you're up. I want a full inventory of our armory, and get the groundpounders ready." She pointed to the side, where at least fifty marines were already at work with the armory supplies.
"Right away sir," I said. I saluted, and was about to walk off when Kim stopped me.
"Oh, and Jinx?"
"Sir?"
"Welcome back," she said, giving me a contagious smirk. "Go whip them into shape, they're a bunch of kids."
"Yes sir," I replied.
I left her to her job and made my way to the marines. To be honest, they looked busy, but a closer look showed they were killing time and not really hustling. Sure, checking crates was all fine and good, but it was more like they were on a shopping trip. Everybody likes new gear, but we had work to do.
"What the hell is going on here!" I yelled.
The entire crew stopped dead on their tracks, turned in surprise, and very quickly dropped what they were doing and squared off. Holy shit, they really were a bunch of kids. Hell, there were at least six I wasn't even sure had gone through fucking bootcamp, they couldn't be old enough.
"Sir!" they all replied. Good voices, at least. Yeah, fresh out of bootcamp. Still had their outdoors voice on.
"We have work to do!" I snapped, bringing up my list of orders. "We have gear for three hundred marines to review, we don't have time to drool over the shiny new shit!"
Wait, three fucking hundred? Since when do carriers have that many actual marines?
"Yes sir!"
No time to think about it. "Now scan the boxcodes, verify the contents match, and then send me the verifications. I'm not going to have us be the last ones to finish the report for the Captain. Move!"
"Yes sir!"
They scrambled to follow the order, stumbling over each other in complete, unorganized chaos. I suppressed a sigh and the urge to yell at them again, and waited. They had to find a way to organize themselves without me having to babysit them every step of the way. Hell, we trained in small units and platoons in bootcamp, they should be able to do that much at least.
It occurred to me that they probably hadn't trained together. If it was anything like Kim and I, they were probably some randoms plucked from their respective duties by themselves. I decided to cut them some slack, for a minute or two.
Then again, we're supposed to be the brightest of the youngest, right?
"Sir!" I heard a female voice calling behind me. Wait, it couldn't- "Serviceman Second Class Shepard reporting for duty s- Roy?! Err, sir!"
Yep, Shepard. Holy shit. I managed not to gape as she snapped off a crisp salute, the hint of a grin forming on her lips. Shepard was on my ship? Under my command?
"Okay, that's just weird," I said, my mouth running before my brain could catch up
Shepard stared at me with a cocked eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Oh fuck it, I was going to be paying for that one for a long time. Next to her I recognized her friend from bootcamp. What was her name again?
"And I'm Goldie," the blonde said, giving me a salute too. "Reporting for duty, sir."
"At ease, we have shit to do," I replied. I swiped my omni-tool, and their own omni-tools pinged in acknowledgement of the info package. "We have gear here for three hundred marines. Scan, verify, and make sure we have everything." I pointed over my shoulder with my thumb. "And make sure you organize those damn monkeys."
"Aye aye, sir!" they both replied in unison, rushing to follow the orders.
The word of the day was damn.
Author's Notes: Aaaand we're off to the races! The ninth fleet is about to take off, and what a trip is going to be. They're the first of the bunch, the first fleet to-
Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Next chapter! I don't want to steal Kishi's lines. You'll hear all about it when she addresses her troops! In the meantime, Cerberus is getting their tendrils everywhere, and Shepard's getting a wee bit too attached to the Rachni. Good? Bad? We shall see!
If you've been paying attention, that little moment with Shepard at the end was shamelessly stolen from a review by Archer83 done back in the day, for chapter 3. So that was a moment almost two years in the making!
Totally worth it.
Anyway, seems like we're back on track here. Whee! Until the next spanner jams up the works that is. What shoe will fall first? We shall see.
Comments! Reviews! And lots of them too, thank you so much! Nearly two pages worth, which is a LOT. Freaking amazing y'all, thanks!
War-Torn Hero: Born in 1994 :)
Toothless is best: We must find a way to clone them, then everyone can have a pet Rachni! Camera's always on recording, but not always broadcasting.
BJ Hanssen: Ooh, who'll that be? Inquiring minds want to know! (But I bet I'll have to wait until it happens, a dose of my own medicine!).
McDouggal: Haha no, no, it's not a gun. Think N!
5 Coloured Walker: That, and the fact that the quarian flotilla is falling apart. By all rights they should have gone extinct a long time ago (which is what the Council had in mind), but they're a resilient bunch. Still, what can't go on forever won't go on forever.
Mizuki00: If you're pissed, just wait until Roy finds out! :D
Lfan8: Scary thought!
Mercsenary: You're not wrong :D
Zealswordsmen, Hiei-Uchiha, Annony Mouse, general-joseph-dickson, eurodox59, AlsoKnownAsMatt, DarkChampion, pieslinger, Guest, rfpizzle, FluxBlade, Aquos dragon, Mr Beaver, OBSERVER01, bdrivermp, TheYatted, Tactus501st, Abysmal Shadows, Guest again!, DarkStrider, mest450, thank you all for the support and positive thoughts!
Next chapter? Well, tying some ends, changing some things, a few conversations, and guns. There's always guns.