The Ninth Fleet. The newest fleet of the Systems Alliance. It had the latest and greatest in equipment, it had the youngest crew of all the fleets, and it had the most important job for the future of the Systems Alliance.
Our job. It was to act as the shield of the Council inside their borders. It was an interesting mission, that. The Council relied a lot on their military to keep law and order in their borders. It had a lot to do with the turians, of course. There was no formal separation between police and military in the Hierarchy, it was a matter of rank and assignments. As the turians went, so did the Council in matters of military and security matters.
I was no expert, but I could guess it was going to prove a point of friction with the Systems Alliance at some point. On the surface it might all look like one big happy family, but I knew better. In space we were the ones who chased after ships, raiders, pirates, and assorted bottom-feeders. When it came to the colonies themselves, the people were a lot more precious about independence. Police forces, in their different forms, were kept zealously separate from the military, and while many of the larger colonies did have military garrisons, they were not there to keep the peace. They were there just for the next "First Contact War", nothing more. Most of the garrisons were manned with army engineers, training personnel, and personnel for the planetary defense materiel.
So far, all we had had to do was deal with the usual assortment of space jackals and their ilk. We kept running into turian patrols with a frequency that made me wonder whether they really had retreated from the sectors we were patrolling, as they claimed. Although really, I couldn't blame them. We were not even at a quarter strength. It would be another month before the next batch of carriers joined us.
But all that was above my paygrade. In a manner of speaking. Much of this had come about thanks to Benezia, I was sure, but I hadn't heard much from her in the last month. Shiala had shared shared a couple of missions she had been part of during that time – she seemed to always find herself in close proximity to where we were on patrol, for some reason – and it was worrying. They were still trying to figure out a way to replicate the prothean VIs' ability to detect indoctrination, but so far they hadn't been successful. So they were having to do old school cloak-and-dagger searches, and she had been in the thick of it. Two deep space, middle-of-nowhere missions where they had found reaper artifacts and indoctrinated people. She had been there for the cleanup, and passing information to the Spectres for them to find everyone who might have been in contact with the reaper tech.
Disguised as people who might have information on the "illegal activies" carried out there.
Regardless, for now, I was where I was supposed to be. With the Ninth, training up the greenest of the green.
Like I was doing right now, after having booked the firing range for the twenty-five kids that were supposed to prove my idea right.
"Listen up!" I called, getting the attention of the twenty-five marines. "What you have in the cases in front of you are these. The Hahne-Kedar guys call it the Mamba. Sighted for a thousand yards, it can do eight shots at full auto mode, and with enough punching power to give you one hit kills when necessary. This is not a gun to lay down-"
"Aww," Goldie interrupted.
"That'll be twenty-five, Goldie!" I snapped.
She was already on her face before I had finished. I was equal parts amazed at how many push-ups she could do, and how little it seemed to do to deter her antics. I was starting to regret having chosen her for the squad, because she was about the only one who didn't have the bootcamp-induced reaction to loud voices the rest of the young marines had. Maybe I should have chosen Shepard after all, but she was so much better at being the close range hammer it would have been a waste.
"I think this turns her on," someone muttered from the back.
"Cass! You can join her for fifty!" I snapped. "Anyone for a hundred?" I waited, but nobody stirred. "Good. As I was saying, this is not a gun to lay down and wait for the perfect chance to shoot, this is a gun for quick and precise shooting. This is the gun you'll be carrying as part of a team. Your job will be to think ahead of everyone else. To be your team's eyes. And when necessary, to eliminate the enemy before they come close enough to be a threat. You'll get the pick of the crop. Every shot must be a kill. Every kill a priority target. With this gun, you can extend the effective range of your unit to a thousand yards and make sure it's them and not you who's on the back foot."
One of the marines raised his hand, and I had to restrain myself not to facepalm. I get he didn't want to interrupt, but I swear he looked like a high schooler in class.
"Sir," he said. "I thought the specs for the Mamba were twelve hundred yards and twelve shots in full auto?"
"They are," I replied. I pulled my Black Mamba off my back, and unfolded it with a shake. "For mine. This is the prototype and, for what I've heard, the one spec ops get when they request one. You don't get one until you get an N with a very high number next to it on your service record."
"Can we borrow it?" Goldie said. "Sir?" she added as an after thought. Without asking, she got down on her face again and started doing pushups.
I looked around, and realized that the excitement for the new guns had been somewhat dampened by the fact that they weren't as good as they had hoped. Despite the fact that they were objectively pretty damn fine rifles.
"For the next four weeks I will be training you. None of you have been snipers during your rotations, and your scores range from mediocre to decent with the sniper rifle." I paused for effect. "You're all a bunch of slackers! By the time I'm done with you, you're going to be getting scores that'll turn the goddess' blue ass green with envy, or you'll be part of the next marines' shooting drills as the targets! Is that clear?"
"Yes sir!" the twenty-five marines replied in unison. Even Goldie, she didn't seem to lose her voice while doing push-ups at all.
"And to make things more interesting," I said, "in four weeks time we will be running a final test. All twenty-six of us. Whoever gets the highest score, gets to keep the Black Mamba. Everyone else gets standard issue. Everyone who doesn't beat my score gets to spit and shine the hull of the Einstein, by hand. First order of business, get to know your gun. Take one case each, assembly and disassembly instructions are in the datapads. Move it!"
The marines scrambled in an orderly fashion to grab their guns and get started, while I patiently waited for Goldie to finish her push-ups. Once she did and jumped to her feet, I gestured with my head for her to follow me.
"Sir?" she said once we were clear of the rest.
"Goldie," I said, looking at her in the eye. "I am tired of your little quips or you complete lack of respect. I am your superior officer, and while I don't care whether you respect me or not, you will show the proper respect for the chain of command. Is that clear?"
"But…"
"I said is that clear?!"
"Yes sir!" she snapped. "But I do have the greatest respect for you, sir!"
"You have an odd way of showing it."
"I can't help it sir. Every time I say something you yell orders at me and it makes my head go whoozy."
"Get back in line Goldie, before I lose my patience," I said, trying my hardest not to laugh. I managed, but I probably looked like I was sucking a lemon in the process.
"Yes sir! I wouldn't want Sheppy to get jealous!" She looked at me and sighed, although she was smiling. "How many?"
"Ten. Laps. Start running."
"Now?"
"Now!" I snapped.
She did a little jump and took off at a run, and I could swear she giggled as she did. I wondered what the hell was her little quip about Shepard about until I realized she was one of the curious onlookers watching my team.
I would have liked to clear the deck out, but I couldn't really blame them. We had taken over the practice range – one of the two, at least – and many of the people watching were actually in the same units my twenty-five were part of. The latter was the main reason I was happy to let them watch. They had to know what their teammates were getting themselves into.
Shepard saw me look at her, and I didn't even have to say a word or do a thing, she just stepped out and came to my side.
"Something wrong?" Shepard said.
"I don't know Sheppy. You tell me," I replied.
"Shep… What has Goldie told you?"
"She hasn't said much, other than saying she didn't want you to get jealous, and that apparently she likes it when I yell at her. So?"
Shepard facepalmed, but didn't reply at first. That's when I noticed a lot of people were looking at us, and it wasn't just idle interest.
"Roy…"
"What have you been telling everyone?" I said.
"It wasn't me! Honest!" Shepard replied. "It's- Look, she thinks it's funny, or not I don't know. Half the time I don't know what's going through her head! And it's not like I can tell her to stop, that only encourages her!"
I sighed and looked at the crowd again. Yeah. I knew exactly what was going on, because I was just as much a marine as they were. When you're out in patrol with nothing else to do, the rumor mill spun faster than a class 3 pulsar.
Then, something unexpected caught my eye. There was a marine standing on the side by himself, someone I didn't recognize at first. He looked familiar, but he wasn't part of the marine detail. My examination caught his attention, and he straightened up when he looked at me. Then recognition hit me.
"What is it?" Shepard said.
The marine walked in and came to stand in front of me, saluting.
"Sir," he said. "Private Second Class, Kaidan Alenko. I assume you don't recognize me, I just transferred from bootcamp."
"I was wondering," I replied, saluting back. "Service Chief Roy Morgan. At ease, don't overdo it."
I remembered; a few marines had been transferred back to Arcturus and we had gotten some new kids. Most of the people leaving had one or two years under their belts, much like me. I hadn't really thought about it. I had had my hands full choosing the marines to train.
"Yes sir," he said.
"And that's Aliana Shepard," I added, pointing at her with my thumb.
"I know, sir," he said.
I heard Shepard snigger behind me, and I sighed and shook my head. Freaking hell, just what was going 'round the rumor mill exactly?
"Are… you a biotic, private?" I said.
"Yes sir, Sentinel training. How could you tell?"
"He hangs out a lot with asari," Shepard piped up. "If you know what I mean."
"Lana…" I warned her.
"Shutting up, sir," she replied, a shit-eating grin on her face.
"So where did you train? I remember Greyhound Camp didn't have any biotics," I said.
"I did my training in Suffield, sir." He paused for a moment, and I saw his jaw working. "Before that, I trained biotics in Jump Zero."
"I thought that closed down," I replied.
"It did, sir. I was in the last group of trainees."
"Well, welcome to the Einstein then. Better strap in because I have a feeling it's going to be a hell of a ride." I looked at my marines and chuckled. A couple of them were puzzling over some of the pieces, probably confused by the double assembly of heatsinks. "I better go before they break them."
"Yes sir!" Alenko replied.
He saluted and walked off, and I took a moment to signal Shepard to follow me.
"Lana, keep an eye on him will you? I have a feeling he's going to need some help fitting in."
"Sure thing," she said.
"And go tell Goldie to stop running and come here already, she's done enough laps for now."
"Yes sir," she said, and ran off after the marine.
"This is Emily Wong, GNN. Today we have a special announcement. As of midnight today, the geth have officially become an allied race to the Systems Alliance. This announcement came after weeks of rumors regarding talks between the Systems Alliance and the quarian Admiralty. Prime Minister Amul Shastri will be addressing the press in less than an hour, but in the meantime, we have a panel of experts here to discuss this bombshell!"
Sparatus closed the holoprojector with an angry gesture. He couldn't stand that human's chirp, happy voice. And ever since she had conducted that interview with Benezia's daughter, she had had her face plastered over every newscast all through the Citadel.
He was starting to go insane. Humans, humans everywhere.
"So," he said, turning to the turian Spectre standing in front of his desk. The striking white paint on his face stood in contrast to his dark plates, and the red armor he liked to wear. "It's finally out. What did you find?"
"It's true," Nihlus said. "The system's empty, and the quarian fleet is moving to occupy Rannoch."
"And the humans are just going to let the geth take over ten systems in their territory," Sparatus said.
"Seems that way."
Sparatus grunted in annoyance. "You were gone for two weeks, that's all you've found out?"
"It wasn't easy. The Systems Alliance kept a tight rope around the relays. Once I managed to slip by, all I could do was sit there and watch. The geth finished clearing the system three days ago. The quarians sent their first scout ship yesterday. Once I saw that, I left. Once the quarian fleet moved in, the chances of being discovered would be too high."
"Yes, yes, I was the one who told you to keep it secret. How big is the geth fleet?"
"I missed most of it, but it is big. As big as you can imagine. I can see why the quarians never tried to take Rannoch back by force, even with the size of their fleet they wouldn't have stood a chance."
"And now they're allies with the humans," Sparatus said.
"It is a bit late to complain now, councillor. As I understand it, it was the Council's idea."
For a moment, Sparatus' thoughts came to a standstill. The Council? No, not the Council. At least, not him. The asari. That damn Tevos, she distracted them with the new fleets, and in the meantime... The salarians? Those batrachians had to know what was happening. They always knew. And they hadn't said a word. Were they in league with the asari?
"Is this news to you?" Nihlus said.
"This wasn't the desired outcome," Sparatus lied easily. "The surprising thing is that you knew. How did you find out?"
"You left your best Spectre sitting at home with nothing but time," Nihlus retorted. When Sparatus didn't react, he continued. "Saren did."
Saren. He never did find out why the Spectre had been put on notice. Maybe that was the reason. The asari scheming behind his back. They had to keep the best Spectre off the arena.
"You're going to keep working on this," Sparatus said. "Get back to Rannoch as soon as it's feasible, and keep an eye on the quarians. If they keep to themselves, good. If they start working with the humans, we might have a problem."
For a moment, Sparatus thought that Nihlus looked far too pleased with what amounted to an extremely boring assignment, but he recovered quickly.
"Not the geth?"
"No. The geth issue is more complicated. We need more assets than a lone Spectre. Remember, you report to me directly."
Nihlus was not stupid, he knew exactly what those words meant. And he could see his brain firing up already, thinking and planning. Smart turian, that. Young, but he'd go far.
"Very well councilor," Nihlus said.
He gave a turian salute and left, leaving Sparatus to muse. The geth. That had come out of nowhere. The Systems Alliance having them as allies was almost unthinkable. It was a direct challenge to Council Law. AIs were illegal, research was banned. The geth had already nearly destroyed the quarians. And now the humans were simply ignoring all that. He couldn't even fathom how an AI could make a deal of any kind with an organic race, but they had managed.
And what could they do? Between the geth and the quarians, they'd pose as big a threat as the Terminus Systems. Even higher, perhaps. He had always agreed that bringing the humans into the fold of the Citadel was the right thing to do, to keep them under control. Now? Who knew. Humans were ambitious. They wouldn't just settle for just being a client race. They had already tried to take a Council seat, even getting into the Spectres. That particular exercise had only proven how far from ready they were, but instead of learning from it, they had only become even more of a pain on his side.
He needed more information.
"Pala," he called, hitting the comms on the table.
"Yes councilor?" his assistant replied.
"Schedule a meeting with the salarian councilor, please. We need to talk."
"Yes councilor. Councilor Tevos called while you were busy, she wishes to organize a meeting of the Council."
"Of course she does. Meeting with the salarians is more urgent," Sparatus said.
"As you wish," she replied.
Batarians.
It wasn't supposed to be batarians. The Ninth fleet operated inside Council space. It was in charge of internal security, protecting trade routes and rendering assistance to colonies where needed. Batarians were supposed to be in the Traverse.
Not that I mind, Shepard thought. Four-eyed bastards.
There was something off about the whole thing, though. There were humans in the mix with the batarians, and the captured people were not the usual mix.
She came out of cover and rushed forward, bullets pinging off her shields but not breaking through before she managed to get into cover again. The facility was much too deep inside Council territory, and it was well armed too. The Einstein could have laid waste to the entire place if it weren't for a couple of details. For one, orbital bombardment on garden worlds was very restricted. For another, the defenses would probably inflict substantial damage on whatever ships they sent to bombard from inside the atmosphere.
So, instead, they had to do it the hard way.
"Cover me!" Shepard called.
She jumped over the low barrier and rushed towards the entrance. They had taken most of the outer structure, an open courtyard where the batarians were keeping their "acquisitions".
"Sheppy! Don't go too far!" Goldie said over the comms.
A grenade took care of the two most entrenched enemies, and in the aftermath, she saw markers disappearing off her radar as the rest of her team did as she asked. The door had been blown to smithereens a good while ago, and rushed to the side and took a peek inside.
A hail of bullets hit her shields and she had to duck back in a hurry. She swapped frequencies and raised the command channel.
"Eight hostiles in the ground level, with turrets," Shepard said. "No sign of prisoners inside. What's the status on those bombers? It's going to be a pain to clean it by hand."
"The static defenses are still operational," the response came from the Einstein. She didn't recognize the voice, but it didn't surprise her. The channel was there for updates from whoever had the latest requested information. "Clean-up might take a while."
"ETA?"
"Unknown."
"Goddammit, they're trapped. If we wait too long there's no telling what they might try!"
"Ground team," another command channel voice. "What's the status on that tower? A small fleet has arrived, shuttles are inbound. This might be an evacuation."
Oh no, you're not fucking getting away you four-eyed bastards.
"Understood," Shepard replied. "Have the airstrike ready, I'll place a beacon once I confirm there's no civvies."
Without another word, she took a deep breath, primed her shotgun, and rushed inside, heading for the only cover she had seen in her short survey. Bullets hit her shields as she ran, and her response had to wait until she was in position. Shields half-full, she was out of cover long enough for her shotgun to take care of the nearest turret.
One, two, three shots, on the third she dove down for cover as the low shields alarm went off, accompanied by the explosion of the automated turret.
"Sheppy!" her comms barked. "We have more uglies, you're getting cutoff! Get out!"
"I'm fine!" she retorted.
She pulled another grenade and threw it blindly overhead. Just buying enough time for her shields to recharge, but to her satisfaction, the shouts let her know it had landed in a good spot. As soon as her shields were up, she got out of cover, firing shot after shot.
Hit, hit, find your next target the moment the one in your sight is down. During those moments there was nothing to think about. No complications. Aim, shoot, survive. One good shot is worth ten blind ones. Two enemies went down, then a whole lot got out of cover at once, and fried her shields before she could make it to cover. Her hardsuit held, and she got to safety. She hadn't made it more than five meters into the structure, but the resistance was fierce. She shot repeatedly at enemies trying to get to her, until rather suddenly one went down as his head let a shower of gore escape through its back.
"Sheppy, get out now!" she heard Goldie call over the comms.
"Cover me, we can't let them escape!" she replied.
"I don't have a good angle!"
"Now!"
She rushed out, taking one of the batarians down with her sudden charge and shooting him at point blank range. Shots flew over her head, hitting any enemy that got into view. Sniper support. Goldie was worth her weight in eezo. A second grenade opened a path for her, and she legged it at top speed to the back of the room. She hit the lift call button right as she dove into cover.
Come on, come on, come on!
The comms were silent, now that she had muted them. She felt a little bad, but she had to stay focused. That facility was going down. The fire on her position hadn't slowed down, but the batarians were keeping their distance. Nobody was daring to show their faces to the snipers, or to her, for the matter.
After far too long, the lift behind her dinged to announce its arrival, and without even thinking, Shepard turned around and unloaded her shotgun. Two batarians were in the lift, and all they left were two batarian bodies behind.
Correction. Red blood. One of them had been human.
Not that she cared, at that point. They had thrown their lot with the wrong assholes.
She rushed into the lift under enemy fire, her shields teetering on the brink of collapse but holding long enough until she tucked herself in cover. The lift had three levels, and Shepard hit the first floor without even stopping to consider it was a little odd how few levels there were for such a tall tower.
Instead, she spent her time opening the access hatch on the top, and climbing up and out of view. It was pretty clear what was going to happen, and she didn't want to be in the line of fire.
Less than half a minute later, the door opened, and a thick barrage of fire hit the lift, bullet after bullet drilling through the reinforced back plate. The firing continued for several seconds, while Shepard watched in amusement. Amateurs. Something like that, they had to be scared. They were firing blindly. When the shots finally ended, she waited. Counted to three, then jumped down the opening, shotgin in hand and ready.
She opened fire as soon as she landed, three shots leaving her shotgun almost instantly and hitting targets as they flew off. She used a split second to throw a grenade, and pressed on until she found cover. In the moments she spent fighting, she took stock of the entire floor and her opposition. More batarians and humans, these more lightly armed than the others, with only three she could see that were heavily armed. The room was lavishly decorated, with comfortable seats, rich curtains, and erotic paintings and sculptures all over the walls and all corners.
And the furniture didn't offer much in terms of cover. It was bad for her, but it was much worse for them. She swapped guns on the fly as she moved, only stopping to dive behind whatever flimsy cover she could find to buy herself time. Bullets went through, but still kept her out of view. Assault rifle in hand, she started spraying, every burst bringing chaos into the mix. It wasn't a room built for firefights.
She pushed forward as small arms fire kept pinging her shields, taking small but still noticeable chunks off them. The ones she worried about where the properly armed guards, but they were keeping their distance.
They're protecting something back there.
With a burst of speed, she closed up on one of her enemies – a human, as it turned out – and tackled him down to the ground. He seemed so surprised he didn't even try to defend himself. She tackled him over one of the seats, crashed on the ground, and took cover with one arm firmly under his chin, and the other holding her rifle to his head.
"Shut up!" Shepard shouted.
"I… I didn't…" the man muttered.
"I said shut up!" Shepard insisted. "You only have to answer one thing. Are there any slaves here?"
"W-What?"
"Are there any slaves here?!" Shepard snapped.
"N-No! No, of course not!" the man replied.
"Good."
With that, Shepard gave him a hard whack on the head, and stood up, firing with her rifle as she ran. Most of the batarians and the humans had made their way to the back, hiding behind the two surviving guards. Well, that was fine with her. It wouldn't do them much good. She made her way back to the lift slowly, her assault rifle spitting rounds aimed more at keeping her enemies at bay than really hurt them, and after she got in, she hid behind the corner as she hit the next level.
It took an eternity for the door to finally close, but when it did, she sighed in relief and relaxed. One down, three to go. The next floor was only a short distance, and she was out of view when the door of the lift opened.
Not a single bullet was shot.
She waited, and checked her proximity radar. Not a blip. Eventually, she jumped down into the lift, assault rifle at the ready. Nothing. The entire floor seemed deserted. It looked much like the floor she had left, but the décor was even more lavish, and the place was a mess. Not the kind of mess one makes with bullets, one that is made when leaving in a hurry.
After a quick check to make sure the place was empty, she headed for the lift and it the top floor. This time, the ride was a lot longer. As she waited, she checked her comms, and saw several channels were vying for her attention. Command was one of them.
"Shepard here," she said, opening the channel.
"Serviceman, we have reports that you're trapped in the tower," the voice replied. Whoever it was didn't sound happy at all.
"I'm not trapped," Shepard replied. "I said I'd have it cleared for bombing. What's the status on those shuttles?"
"Shuttles are inbound less than a minute away."
"Can you bomb this place before they get here?"
"Yes. Is it confirmed clear?"
"I'll confirm with the beacon. Shepard out."
This time, she couldn't hide on top of the lift. The cab rode all the way to the top of the shaft, leaving no space for anyone to hide. She ducked behind the corner, assault rifle ready, and tried to steady her nerves. Less than a minute, or those bastards would get away. They were not getting away. She opened the comms and got through to Goldie.
"Sheppy! What the hell are you doing it's chaos out here!" the crazy woman shouted immediately. "Where were you!"
"I'm on the top floor, and busy," Shepard replied. "Is Alenko around?"
"A- Yes? No? I don't know!"
The lift arrived at the destination, announcing the arrival with a short ding.
"Find him, and tell him to count to thirty and catch!" Shepard shouted.
That was all the time she had. The door opened and she rushed out like a bat out of hell, her shields already deflecting heat from the enemy. As she expected, they were all up there. All of them. There had to be fifty of them. The whole place was open on three of the four walls. An open hangar.
"Lana!" her comms barked. Roy. "What the hell are you doing, get out of there!"
"Not yet!" she snapped back. She sprayed with her assault rifle, moving from cover to cover. She was doing no damage to speak of, and she was getting showered. "I have to confirm there's no friendlies!"
"Goddamit Lana!" Roy replied. "I can't cover you from here, I can barely see you!"
She stopped for a moment to open her omni-tool, and her hand flew over the controls, entering the necessary code. With a few lines, the VI linked her combat sensors with Roy's, painting enemy targets for him to follow. The downside being that it'd take up pretty much all the available bandwidth, which made talking through the comms impossible.
No sooner that she had done that, she saw two markers disappear from her proximity radar. Right at the edge of the hangar.
Even after all that time, she still felt a warm tingle in her chest whenever Roy came to her help. She never took him for granted, but always counted on his reliability.
Twenty seconds.
She rushed out again, her shields taking a beating and breaking before she could get down. She slid into cover, feeling impacts against the plates of her hardsuit. A crack and a sharp jolt made her yelp in pain when one of the shots broke through the hardsuit and lodged itself in her leg.
More enemy targets.
Ten seconds.
There was no time. She threw two grenades blindly overhead, and got out even with her shields being only half-charged. More markers, red everywhere. She ran along the edge of the hangar, trying to complete her scan. Five more seconds. Four. Three. Bullets broke her shields, one of them hitting her leg.
Clear!
Without second thought, she pulled the beacon off her harsuit's webbing and threw it towards the center of the room. She didn't have time to wait around. She cut all the comms as she ran to the edge of the hangar, biting her lip hard to take the edge off her leg's pain. Right before she jumped, she hit the comms and rose Goldie.
"Goldie, I'm jumping!"
"You're insane!" Goldie shouted back.
The planet was pulling a healthy 0.8 g, so the jump would be a very short one. She felt the gravity pull her along, air rushing as her stomach twisted into knots. Then, a blue glow started to surround her, and she felt the air resistance slow her down as her mass decreased more and more. Even so, she landed with a jarring thud, and yelled in pain as her wounded leg failed to cushion her fall.
Alliance boots all around her, and two pairs of hands pulled her to her feet. They ran at top speed, moments before the tower exploded into pieces.
"Got 'em," Shepard muttered.
The medbay was busy, but it didn't look too bad. No chaos, no panic, no raised voices. There were several wounded, and Shepard herself hadn't fared too well. The doctors had removed several bullets from her, more than she had realized. The advantages of adrenalin, she guessed.
As she mused, she saw Alenko walking through the infirmary, heading for the exit.
"Hey, Alenko!" she called.
The marine stopped, looked at her, and before she could say another word, he walked off. And he looked pissed.
"What the…"
She saw him walk off, and when the door opened, he came to a stop. Roy was on the other side. She couldn't hear what they were saying, and the door closed before she could even begin to guess.
Why am I nervous anyway? I kicked their asses, and they didn't get away.
The lieutenant had already given her a lecture, although Shepard knew she had kept it short for the time being. Well, in her experience, it was a fine line between praise and getting her ass kicked, and often it went hand in hand.
It didn't matter. What mattered was getting those sons of bitches before they could escape.
After a couple of minutes, the door of the medbay opened again, and Roy walked in. He didn't look pissed, per se, but he didn't look happy. They looked at each other right in the eye as he walked closer, and for what seemed like a very long time they didn't say anything.
"Feeling better?" Roy said in a flat tone.
"Yeah," Shepard replied in kind. Inside, she was starting to get annoyed. And confused.
"Good," Roy said. He opened his omni-tool, and linked to the medical interface on her bed. He nodded to himself. "Seems like you're all patched up. Let's go."
"Go where?"
"To the shooting range," Roy replied, turning around and walking off. "Move it."
That was the first time Shepard had heard Roy talking to her like… Like just another marine, really. She grunted as she stood up, her freshly patches muscles protesting. She wondered whether she really was all patched up, the doctor had told her to stay put, but then again, Roy was a certified E1. He probably knew what he was doing.
Medical certification. Anything but N-school. Really, what the hell Roy?
She knew what she was doing, she was trying to get pissed at him. She hated when he went all broody on her. They walked for a few minutes, gathering some attention but not much. Most people were more preoccupied with the cleanup of the op than whatever was going on with her. Finally, they made it to the lift, and as the door closed, she turned to Roy.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" she said.
"What can I say Shepard? That it was stupid and reckless? Want me to ask if you have a deathwish? What can I possibly say?"
Shepard.
She was so shocked she couldn't even reply. She had never heard him call her Shepard. Everyone else did, but not him. And what was his problem anyway?
"Well I couldn't just let them get away, now could I?"
"Because they're batarians," Roy said.
"Well, yeah! Should I just let them get away and keep being assholes to everyone else?"
"And getting yourself killed is going to make it all better," Roy said.
"I didn't get myself killed."
"You jumped off a goddamn building!" Roy snapped. "With no parachute!"
"I didn't need a parachute, I had Alenko!"
They had been yelling for a while now, and Shepard was expecting Roy to yell back. He didn't. He just looked at her, and spoke in a low voice.
"You didn't even ask him, did you?" he said.
"… ask him?"
The lift pinged as they arrived, and Roy turned and walked off without another word. A bit confused, Shepard started to follow him. He was going towards the shooting range, which was mostly deserted at the time. Most of the marines were grabbing some grub.
"So what are we doing?" Shepard said.
Without answering, Roy went for the range console, and started working on the controls. Shepard came closer to look under his arm – she was too short to look over his shoulder, sadly – and watched him fumble with the interface. He really was hopeless with tech.
"Need any help?" she said.
"If you have time to be a smartass, you have time to do laps."
"Laps?"
"Now, serviceman!" he snapped.
Freaking…
He was her superior, after all. She was still feeling quite stiff, so hopefully the run would loosen her muscles. Or break them again, who knew. At least she wasn't going while in full gear, that was always a riot. She kept a steady pace, and only tested Roy once by slowing down – he yelled at her almost immediately.
Still, she had to admit she was a little curious as to what Roy was thinking. Hopefully he'd be done soon, if she had to wait for him to figure the console out while doing laps all the time she'd probably die of exhaustion.
"Shepard!" Roy called.
Finally!
"What!" she replied.
"Get your ass over here."
She did as ordered, coming to square off in front of him.
"Serviceman Shepard and her ass reporting as ordered, sir," she said.
Roy didn't even smile. Instead, he reached to his back, and pulled out his favourite gun. The Black Mamba. He unfolded it with a shake, and tossed it at her.
She managed to catch it without dropping it. He might have never forgiven her.
"Congratulations, you're the designated marksman for this exercise," he said. "Get to the range. Your mission is to cover the blue drone."
"Okay," she said.
She hadn't done much shooting with that particular gun, but Goldie had let her give it a try. She wasn't sure if she liked it. Sure, it had punch, but it lacked something. It just wasn't as rewarding as a good shotgun. Nonetheless, she put the gun to her shoulder, got down on one knee, and waited. The holographic range came to life, and she found her target. A regular blue marker, being shot at by red markers. Nothing too special about that. The special thing is that it was at about five hundred yards, and there were all kinds of obstacles in the way.
The first target went down almost immediately. She followed with two more. The drone kept moving around erratically, getting in and out of view behind the virtual obstacles. She cursed repeatedly, missed several shots, and less than a minute into the exercise, the drone was shot and exploded in a shower of holographic particles.
"Bullshit!" she shouted.
"Congratulations Lana, you're dead."
"Oh come on!" she protested. "You wouldn't miss like that."
"And what happens when I do?" Roy said. "Again!"
"But-"
"Now!"
Shit.
He really was pissed. She raised the gun again, and the scenario reset. The drone appeared once again, and the chase was on. To her surprise, the actual patch had changed. The obstacles weren't in the same places, and neither were the enemies. This time it took even less time until she failed.
"For f-!"
"You're dead again."
She bit back another curse and looked at Roy. "Fine, I get it, can we stop now?"
"No."
Well fine! If that's what you want, that's what we'll do!
The third time went better. She kept her trigger hot, trying her best to react as soon as any enemy came into view. As the exercise progressed, the drone kept getting further away, making every shot more difficult as the window of opportunity to shoot between the obstacles narrowed more and more. After about two minutes, an enemy drone shot her charge without even giving her a chance to shoot it down.
"Oh that's bullshit!" she shouted. "I didn't even get a chance to shoot it!"
"Life's not fair, Lana."
She didn't give him the satisfaction of an answer. Again. And again. They spent far too long with that stupid exercise. She was pretty sure he had designed it to be impossible to win, just to make the point. And yeah, she got it. She had to admit, she could imagine what it'd be like to be shooting from her position while someone else was ahead and alone.
"Got- Shit!"
She pressed the trigger only to find she had overshot the gun, and the heatsink had to vent. And just as she did, the blue drone was shot down.
Roy didn't say anything.
"I get it, okay? I get it," Shepard said.
"You haven't cleared the course," Roy said.
"How many times do I have to do this? Are you even going to talk to me?" she protested in exasperation.
"I think that's enough."
The two of them turned to the newcomer's voice, and saw Kim standing behind them.
"Kim?" Roy said.
"Chief," she replied. "Commander Garret wants you down in the medbay, they could use the help."
"Anything happened?" Roy said.
"Nothing major, just processing the liberated prisoners." She paused, and as Roy gave Shepard a glance, her voice rose a smidge. "That's now, Chief."
"Yes sir," Roy replied.
He looked at Shepard again, and just turned around and headed for the lift. Both Shepard and Kim waited until he was out of view before saying a word.
"He's pissed," Kim said.
"Tell me about it," Shepard replied.
"Can't say I blame him. What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that the batarians were about to get away."
"You do know this is a carrier, right?" Kim said. "It has a whole mess of ships that could have intercepted those shuttles."
"And I'm supposed to have someone else deal with my problems?"
"Instead, you had someone else trying to clean up your mess. Two marines were injured when we tried to push inside the tower to cover you. And you may not know this, but Roy was left with his ass hanging trying to get an angle to shoot at the top while you were running around like a headless chicken."
"I didn't ask-"
"You're not acting alone!" Kim snapped, shutting Shepard up. "You're part of a unit! When you act, your unit acts with you. And if you want to get yourself killed, you do it in your own time, not when your unit has to deal with the mess you make for them!"
Shepard gulped, trying to find something to say. Kim didn't look like she was waiting for an answer, and she couldn't think of one either.
"Now, back to the range," Kim said.
"But…"
"… but?"
"It's pointless," Shepard said. "The thing's unwinnable. I think Roy messed up the program. He's not very good with tech."
"Is it?"
She took the Mamba off Shepard's hands and went for the range. With a gesture of her omni-tool she reset the exercise, put the gun to her shoulder, and began shooting.
It was amazing.
She didn't stay rooted in one spot, she constantly moved between the lanes, and for the life of her, Shepard could swear she was shooting enemies even before they appeared. Every shot was placed with uncanny accuracy, and she often threaded the needle between two, three, even four of the randomly generated obstacles.
The exercise finished with Kim shooting two enemies in a single shot the instant they poked their virtual heads through the narrowest opening Shepard had ever seen a shot go through. Kim folded the gun, turned around, and gave Shepard a cheeky grin.
"Okay, that's just bullshit," Shepard said. "How can you even shoot things you don't know are there?"
"I don't," Kim said. "It's all about anticipation. I don't know where they will be, but I can guess where they're more likely to appear if they want to shoot at the drone. After that, it's a matter of quick reflexes."
"And what if you guess wrong?" Shepard said.
"Then," Kim replied, pausing for emphasis. "You die."
She offered the rifle back to Shepard, who could only sigh and take it.
"Back from the top," Shepard said in a defeated tone.
"Back from the top," Kim agreed.
"Liara..."
The touch of her lips sent a shiver through her crest, each droplet of sweat hitting her skin feeling like a hammer of pleasure on her skin. She thought she'd never get used to it, how humans covered themselves in salty water whenever they exerted themselves.
You know you love it, Eva's thoughts echoed though the meld.
You humans are so... physical.
Reflections of Eva's feelings, the warmth of her touch mirrored on Liara's touch, and once again on her lover's skin. Like parallel mirrors, they got lost in each other as they reached climax, a moment suspended in time until they finally dropped on the bed, their energy spent, and their naked bodies quivering in pleasure and exhaustion.
Melding and humans, it was like nothing she had ever experienced.
"You told me you didn't have much experience," Eva muttered, dropping her head on Liara's chest.
The asari laughed softly, and ran her fingers through the human's hair. She loved the texture, it was intoxicating.
"At this rate I'm going to go bald," Eva said.
"Sorry," Liara muttered, letting go.
"Ah Liara..." Eva said. She reached for Liara's hand, and placed it on her head again, running her fingers through her hair again. "I was only trying to make you laugh."
"Oh."
"Something is bothering you. I could feel it," Eva said. She took Liara's other hand, kissed the palm, and crossed the arm over her naked chest. "What is it?"
"Nothing."
She didn't say anything, but Liara felt the wave of disappointment from Eva. They weren't melding, not anymore, but for an asari, there was always a lingering connection to those with whom they had melded deeply. Eventually, Eva would be able to feel it too. Or so Liara hoped, that they would be together, like that, for a very long time.
"It's just..." she hesitated.
"Don't worry," Eva said. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"It's not that. I am simply confused.'
"Confused?'
"I... received a message from my mother."
Eva reacted quickly, sitting up and turning to look at Liara. Surprise, concern, she didn't need the meld to see the emotions etched on her face. She knew about Benezia. She hadn't heard from her since she got Morgan that interview with the matriarch. And even then, it had been a very short and very cold discussion. Not even after meeting Aethyta had Benezia bothered to make a single holocall.
"And what did she say? Really, after all that time, what right does she-"
"Eva, please," Liara said, raising one hand to stop her tirade. "She wants to meet. She says it's important."
"Important? What does she want?'
"I do not know."
She looked away, thinking. She really didn't know whether she wanted to meet with the matriarch or not. For years she had dreamed of that moment. Hope had been long lost, after she had been disowned by the family. Was that what she wanted? Discuss her family standing now that she had found success?
Thanks to her. Or not. She might think that, but it was Morgan. And father.
"Liara?"
She blinked and looked up. She had spaced out and hadn't even noticed.
"Hm?"
Without warning, Eva crawled in close, and embraced her, cradling the asari's head against her breasts.
"You want to meet her, don't you?" Eva said.
"I... L don't know," Liara replied.
She closed her eyes and sighed. It felt so good to be so close. Eva's fingers traced the edges of her crest, slowly, lovingly. It wasn't the sensual feeling of their sexual melds, it felt intimate, reassuring.
They spent several minutes in silence, just laying in bed in each other's embrace.
"Liara?" Eva finally said, her voice soft.
"Hm?"
"I think you should meet with her."
"Really?"
"Yes. You're so strong, Liara. You've accomplished so much. This would be, like, the cherry on top."
"Cherry?"" Liara said, pulling away and looking at Eva in confusion.
"On top," Eva insisted, smiling.
"I don't understand. You humans have so many weird idioms..."
"This one is easy! And I know exactly how to show you."
"Do you?' Liara said, her voice playful.
"I do! You need some icecream in your life."
Liara looked at Eva, and the human just started laughing. Yeah, she really didn't get it. Humans were so weird sometimes.
Given the tasks assigned to the ninth fleet, I had expected we would spend a lot of time in deep space without venturing into nice friendly places very often. As in, shore leave. For the most part this was true, we didn't really get many chances to decompress properly. But we did get a lot of chances to spend a day or two in many of our destinations. With a crew of two thousand, we rarely needed to all be on duty during the cleanup of most of the ops.
Case in point, today. We had thirty-six hours to enjoy the wonders of the citadel while admiral Kishi debriefed the Council on the latest op. Why she felt the need for that was anyone's guess. Rumor had it that the facility we had raided (and which Shepard had bombed to hell) was not the typical batarian slaver gig and, instead, it was a gang running high-profile kidnappings. And it wasn't just for ransom, if the rumor mill was to be believed. Manhunts, torture, you name it.
I had asked Kim about it, since she was usually the one doing the post-op data retrieval and whatnot, but she had been very tight-lipped about it. That usually meant either trouble, or that she was pissed off. And I was leaning towards the latter.
"I like this place!" Shepard exclaimed, making me chuckle.
"Really?' I replied, "I've always had a bad feeling about this place."
"Paranoid much?" Shepard said.
"You know me, always positive." For more reason than I was willing to share, at least with Shepard.
The Citadel was as huge and awe-inspiring as always. In theory I hadn't been there more than a couple of times, so I made a point to gawk and look around. Shepard herself was taking in the view like someone who had seen the sky for the first time after a lifetime in solitary confinement. The purple haze that surrounded the citadel was almost as striking as the enormous city floating in the middle of space.
We moved along with the rest of the Alliance troops, heading for the transports. Even with the size of that place, several hundred people arriving at the same time did make a bit of a mess. Specially if a good bunch of them were rowdy marines itching for a good time.
"I wonder if there's a Relay Rob's around here somewhere," she said.
"You can always ask Avina," I replied. "She's the VI that runs most of this place."
"I'll do that! What about- hey! Alenko!" she called, waving.
The biotic turned to look at her, gave her a nod, and kept walking towards the shuttles. And did Shepard look disappointed.
"He's still mad at you?"
"I dunno, he's been pretty broody. I thought I'd give him some space, but it isn't doing much."
"Maybe get some ribs into him and see where that goes," I said.
"Very funny. What are you going to do in here?"
"I'll figure something out," I replied. "Plenty of stuff to do here."
"Wanna come help me find ribs?" Shepard said.
"Just go talk to Alenko," I replied. "Before he goes hide."
"All righty then, and you go find yourself some blue titties, will ya?" Shepard said, and laughed as she ducked away from the smack I had aimed at her head. Cheeky sod.
I let her get ahead as she ran off after Alenko, and took a left to follow a different bunch of marines. Most of them were as lost as Shepard probably was, so they were aimlessly looking around, chatting and laughing, and in general not really going anywhere. In my case, I just wanted to get out of the way and see if Shiala was around somewhere. She usually showed up whenever I got shore leave anywhere, and the Citadel was a very likely place to have a surprise visit.
We hadn't done much in terms of planning or anything. It was weird. It almost felt like I was expecting something to go wrong and break, but it was just never happening. Shiala had been going around half the galaxy chasing possible leads on reaper shit, but hadn't found much. A couple of those black spheres had shown up, and both times she had ended up with a massive bloody mess in her hands.
That was a little worrying. And not something I had expected. I wasn't sure how indoctrinated people would act in real life, so to speak, so I wasn't sure if that was normal or not. It wasn't subtle at all, for what Shiala had shared. Or maybe she was just finding the crazies.
And I had to confess, I was starting to feel more comfortable around her. Maybe because she had finally backed off and stopped constantly trying to take the piss out of me.
"Roy!"
And there she- wait.
Since I was thinking about Shiala, and the voice was familiar, that's what had come to mind. But a second later my brain finally kicked in, and I realized it wasn't her.
"Marie?"
"Well, yes!" Marie said, making her way through the fast thinning crowd. Without warning, she jumped at me and gave me a hug. "It's so good to see you!"
"I… guess? Hi," I said, returning the hug.
"What?" she said. She let go and looked up at me, hands on her hips. "You don't look too happy to see me."
"Just… surprised. Did you know I was coming?"
"As a matter of fact!" she replied, raising one finger with a smile on her face. "I got a notice from the admiral's office, so I decided to wait for you before leaving. You've been busy!"
"Kind of."
"Come on, tell me about it." She wrapped her arm around mine and gave it a gentle pull. "And stop looking so suspicious," she added with a chuckle.
"Fine, fine. Where are we going?"
"Somewhere private," she replied.
She made a point to look around, and I realized the audience was checking us out. Great. More fodder for the rumour mill. I caught Shepard being mentioned here and there, which was not as funny as they probably thought it was.
At the end of the day, I didn't care much. Marie pulled at my arm, and we made our way towards the rapid transit shuttles.
Those fucking crazy things. Of all the things I was supposed to know, the fact that the goddamn shuttles were so insane hadn't been one of them.
"I hate these things," Marie said.
"You and me both," I replied. "Where are we going anyway?"
"Well…" she hesitated, and gave me a coy smile. "I have an apartment here. The company does, I'm just borrowing it."
I looked at her and she started laughing, tightening her hold on my arm. She pulled ahead as a shuttle arrived, and took our seats with about a dozen other people. With all the civilians the shuttles had to move, they were on fixed routes, and this one was going to the second arm, Yarka ward. Somehow, I shouldn't have been surprised we weren't heading for the presidium, but that was about the place I knew best.
"I just want to have some takeout and talk about work, Roy," Marie said, tightening the belts on the chair.
"Oh. Right."
A thousand questions popped into my head, but I had to bite my tongue. Something about the quarians? Or the geth? Both? What the hell? I looked at Marie, but all she was doing was smiling at me. A Cheshire cat smile, really. What a tease.
The shuttle took off, and the smile disappeared from Marie's face. I hated the fucking things too, but looking at Marie's face was just pure gold. She had her eyes closed, lips plucked in and biting hard as she held onto the straps for dear life.
"It's not so bad!" I yelled after a particular sharp turn. "Marie!"
"Shut up!" she replied, right before letting a squeal out and going back to biting her lips.
Damn but it was funny.
The shuttle finally landed after… I wasn't even sure how long it had been. Shuttle rides were just surreal like that. People filed out, some more uneasily than others, while Marie stayed put in her seat, still holding onto the harness with her eyes shut hard.
"We're here," I prompted.
"Just a minute…" she replied.
"Oh sure. If you're just gonna sit there, there's this place I wanted to check. AVINA, could you take us to-"
"WAIT!" Marie yelled. "I'm ready! I'm leaving!"
She jumped out of the seat with an alacrity that made me doubt whether she had left an afterimage or not. I undid my restrains and followed her at a more normal pace, and as soon as I set foot outside, Marie punched me right on the arm.
"Oi! What's that for?" I protested.
"You're a jerk," she replied.
The shuttle took off and shot into the sky at its usual crazy speed, and I have to admit, looking at it from the outside, it made me wonder whose insane idea had been to program them like that.
"That actually hurt, you know," I said, rubbing my arm.
"I was in the marines, remember?" Marie replied, flexing her right arm. "I still have my gene mods. I hate those things."
"Yeah. C-Sec has nicer shuttles, they have actual pilots in them."
"Really," Marie deadpanned. "When have you been in a C-Sec shuttle?"
"I... A while ago?"
"And here I was thinking you were a sweet little angel," she said.
"Yeah, an angel with a sniper rifle."
"I'm sure there's one like that somewhere. Come on, let's go!"
She grabbed my arm and pulled me away towards the wards. We walked up a ramp, turned a corner… and arrived.
Holy shit!
The place was almost claustrophobic, with narrow corridors and packed with people. Signs, noise, shops, it was too much. Marie was chatting up a storm about everyone and everything around us, but I wasn't really paying attention. The crowds were bothering me. Maybe I had spent a little too much time shooting people. Non-humans, at least. That couldn't be good.
"So?"
"Eh?" I replied.
"Did you hear a word I said?" Marie said, giving me a look.
"Sorry, a bit-" I stopped talking to squeeze back as a rowdy group of drunken-looking turians rushed through at an unsteady pace. "A bit distracted."
"When did you start disliking crowds? I thought you'd like this place!"
"I don't know doctor, you tell me," I replied.
"Oh Roy... So as I said, what do you want to eat? We've got all sorts of places." She pointed over her shoulder with her thumb. "Asari?"
"If you like some food in your salt, sure." I said. "I don't know, pick whatever. I'll eat it."
"Geez, way to make it special," she said. "Fine. I hope you like spicy."
It took about half an hour until we finally got our food, and another half to get to the apartment Marie had. Well, the company had. I had asked about them, but she seemed rather vague about it. Other than giving me the name and their extranet address, apparently she didn't really care about them as long as they paid her bills and let her do her work. I guess I couldn't blame her for that, I had had jobs like that before.
The apartment felt almost like a hotel room. Clean, orderly, and mostly empty, with no real personality to it. I set the spread on the table while she went hunting for cutlery in the kitchen, and soon we were having ourselves a feast of brain-melting spicy food.
"You need some water?" Marie said.
"No, that'll only make it worse," I replied, and took another chilli sauce prawn. Damn they were spic, but so freaking good.
"That's the idea!" she said, laughing.
"I didn't think you'd like spicy food like this."
"I'm full of surprises!" Marie said. She made the point by taking a nice chunk of pork well covered in Sichuan pepper and sauce. "Cohort was rather puzzled as to why humans would intentionally inflict pain on themselves."
"Cohort?"
"Oh, right! It's- no, wait."
She stood up and headed for her room, which left me very confused. A moment later she came back with a gizmo of some sort in her hand, and started waving it around the room.
"What are you-"
"Shhh!"
Okay?
After a few minutes of this she threw the gizmo on the sofa and sighed in relied.
"Thank goodness, there are no bugs."
"Why would anyone bug your apartment?"
"Who- Hello?" she replied, waving around. "Because I'm involved in the most secret mission, like, ever!"
"It's not secret," I said.
"Well, yes! And no! Like, people know we're friends with the geth, and with the quarians, but they don't know the details, and I can tell some people, but everyone I can speak to already knows except you!"
"Freaking hell Marie," I said, a little taken aback by the sudden tirade.
"I'm sorry it's driving me nuts! I can finally talk to someone!" She sat down, and put a chopstick through a piece of pork. "So, where do you want to start?"
"Who's Cohort?"
"A geth! They liked the success with Legion so much they made several more. You know, one platform with a thousand programs that doesn't need the consensus? Yeah, so Cohort is the one who's working with Drescher. It's so weird talking to them!"
"Well, it's because they don't think as individuals, even if it's just a platform."
"No, that's not it. They... I'm good at talking with people, but with the geth, I can never read them. They never change their tone or anything, and they really don't have any body language either. If someone has to make up something on the spot, or doesn't want to tell you something, at least you can figure out there's something going on. They only ever pause to think if you confuse them."
"It's really bothering you, isn't it?"
"Well yeah!" she retorted, and gave me a fake pout when I laughed. "Why doesn't it bother you? Why aren't you even with us anyway? You're the only one who even understands the geth!"
I didn't have a mirror, but I could feel the face that I was pulling. Marie sighed and, elbows on the table, buried her face in her hands. After a vigorous rub, she dropped and looked at me.
"Sorry, I'm just frustrated. I've been at this for months and I don't feel I'm making any progress."
"The geth have moved out of Rannoch, the quarians are back there, and for what I read on the news there's some human corporations already invested?"
"Yeah, don't pay much attention to that last one. The quarians are still very guarded about Rannoch. They're sending lots of people to the docks though. It's their new pilgrimage."
"They're sending kids?"
"Still better than what we had! But yea. The geth, I just don't know what else to do. Everything they've done is just what you and Drescher asked. They're constantly asking about you by the way."
"Me?"
"Yeah. Legion at least. Maybe you should come and visit."
"Huh. Maybe I will. What's he planning to do?"
"He says. No, wait." She coughed, and when she spoke again, her voice came in a low monotone. "Our mission was to establish contact with the Systems Alliance and evaluate their consensus. Consensus has been achieved." She smiled and took a sip of water before speaking again, now in her regular voice. "I tried that with him once, he didn't even pick up on the fact that I was imitating his voice. I'm useless."
"Nah, you're not. Patience, grasshopper."
"Grasshopper?"
I sighed. Why do I even bother?
"It's an old TV series," I said in a defeated tone.
We talked some more about that, mostly with Marie telling me what had been happening. The quarians had been more open about working together, specially with the construction of the new fleets. We would be at full strength by the end of the month, and more to follow. The Second fleet was currently split between their regular duties and guarding the primary relay heading towards the Veil. It made the quarians feel better now that their own fleet was severely undermanned, but it was largely unnecessary. Nobody had tried to break past the second fleet patrols. The docks were also finally at full strength, and spitting ships at ridiculous speed too. I had no idea they could put together a carrier in less than a month.
The geth were what was driving her crazy. They had moved to their corner of Alliance space, and only Drescher really knew what was happening on the opposite end of the relay. And whoever she chose to share with. Some people seemed nervous about that, but I personally wasn't particularly worried. Maybe I should ask Benezia about it, I didn't really know what Drescher knew. Maybe I should pay Legion a visit after all. What would be the point of having the geth out of their hole if they didn't know about the reapers?
Then again, would their keep it secret?
Would it matter? The main reason forkeeping the whole shebang secret was that we just didn't know enough. We didn't know who was indoctrinated. We didn't know where Nazara was. We didn't even know what else the reapers had up their sleeves as a safety for the cycle. They had to have more safeguards.
Also, Benezia seemed to have most of the plans, so it wouldn't do to step on them.
"I don't actually know what I'm doing, Marie. I just like to pretend I do."
"If you say so," she replied.
She handed me a wet tea towel, and I started wiping the table clean. It's funny how the chores around eating and meals hadn't changed much in a couple of centuries. Except that the dishwashers finished in then minutes. Now that's progress.
"Anyway, I should go, it's getting late."
"Or..." She walked in close, and without much of a warning, put her arms around me from behind. "You could stay."
I raised my arm to look behind, and she took the chance to sneak under it and come face to face. I was still taller than her, and from up there, she looked pretty damn cute.
Smelled nice too.
What the hell am I doing?
"Marie..."
"I'm serious," she said. "Aaaaand you're off."
"... I'm off what."
"Thinking," she replied. She still wasn't letting go. "I just want you, here, is that so terrible?"
"Fuck's sake that's not what I said."
"I know, I know. Look." She let go, only to put her arms around my neck. "But you're thinking too much."
She pressed closer, raising on tiptoes, and our lips touched. She smelled of flowers, and tasted of strawberry toothpaste. She pulled back after a long kiss, and looked me in the eye. And whatever I was thinking was lost in that look. My body was firmly going one way, and my head another.
"I don't have a toothbrush," I said. Yes, I really said that. Brain function was at an all-time low.
"I have a spare," she replied, and kissed me again.
We spent a long time kissing, going from standing in the kitchen, to the living room sofa, to the bed. And somewhere along the way we left a trail of clothes. She felt firm under my hands, her skin soft and creamy. There were scars, too. Same as me. I stopped on every one, exploring them with my fingers, feeling all the details. Every one of them had a story, a wordless story that I could see in her eyes, and on her face. It was all slow, so slow, like taking my time before jumping into a pool of cold water. There was no dipping one's toe, or walking in slowly. I had to take the plunge.
And when I did, all the anticipation, all the waiting, it felt electrical. There were no thoughts, no worries, it was pure instinct. Pure, raw animal instinct. I don't know how long we spent, I didn't care, and neither did she. We kept going until we were both exhausted, laying on the sheets in complete silence. After a while, she crawled up to lay her head on my chest, and throw her arm around me.
"You're such a liar," she muttered.
"What did I do this time?" I said. I reached up and ran my fingers through her hair. It was wet and matted now, we were both covered in sweat.
"This wasn't your first time," she replied. Her hand traced the contour of my abs down towards my crotch, but there was no energy left there.
"Never said it was."
"Yeah, didn't say it, but you were acting like you had never done this."
"Probably some deep seated issues," I said. "What's your diagnosis?"
"I'm naked in bed with you," she said, or rather, muttered. "Work hours are done till tomorrow."
That was the last thing she said for the night. She fell asleep shortly after, and while I was exhausted, I couldn't fall asleep. I couldn't stop wondering whether this had been a bad idea or not. Maybe I was just paranoid.
I looked down at Marie. She was muttering something unintelligible, so I put my arm across her abck, and she reacted by crawling in a bit closer. Yeah, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
To: Morgan, Roy.
Subject: General Recall Order.
All personnel is to report to their stations immediately. All shore leave and special permissions are cancelled.
Rear Admiral Aino Kishi.
Author's Notes: Ye gods this chapter. I actually threw the whole thing away and started again twice, and the second time it was actually finished. Several things here I want to explain:
Conflict: As many of you have pointed out, it seemed like the whole thing was going a little bit too well with the asari in charge. To elaborate, my original plan revolved around the period between the "reveal" and the ME1 timeline being the preparation part, with some conflicts thrown in as scenes, really (and of course, the ME1 timeline would be looking very different, with it mostly being "the reaper finally makes a move"). BUT as I wrote in, I realized all those factions weren't going to simply sit by quietly while the asari ran the show. I did have an advantage, and it was that Benezia had pretty much caught the entire galaxy by surprise. It was fitting that people would go to ground and start plotting.
Next, well, the fleet. As you can tell by the last message, I'm teasing the next chapter. It's something I've been planning for a while, and the shape and composition of the particular incident has changed a couple of times. Anyway, shit should go down, and I'm hoping it'll make waves.
Last, Roy and Marie. I had three versions of that, first one was nothing happened, second one was a full-on blowup between the two of them, third one was this. Of course, you and I have the advantage of outside perspective and knowing Marie's with Cerberus. Just trying not to lay it on too thick. Want to know a secret? Originally, Roy wasn't meant to get laid at all. No, I'm serious. I had a big scene planned out much later on about that, but I guess that's in the past now. Even someone as dense and socially inept as Roy can get laid, even if it's by accident, or by design with some further deep design.
And how does all this relate to Liara anyway? That should be made clear soon.
So this was the whole mess I had to sort out while trying to write this chapter, and what goes where and when, and if it even makes sense. Anyway, hope it was good enough!
And now, reviews! Thanks everyone for all the support. Not to sound like a broken record, but I really do appreciate it.
RadioPoisoning: Krogan diplomacy could be a lot of fun, I might actually get around it just for a laugh.
BJ Hansen: Regarding ship design, I'm trying to go for the burally efficient yet crazy dangerous route. One big spinal mounted gun based n the Reaper "particle beam" design, with all the drawbacks it implies. It kind of plays a role later on :)
general-joseph-dickson: That's a good comparison! Aethyta would have totally kicked Darth Maul's ass though. IMO of course :D
Zeru'Xil: I've tried to go for an inexperienced quarian admiralty board to have someone manipulate them. As far as messing up, I bet it's not going to go as they expect, but what does ever do? :)
Wolfund: You know it!
5 Coloured Walker: Thanks for that! Yeah, you're absolutely right about the saying! Thing is, it might be a Mass Effect thing, or it might be just me, but it seems like all aliens talk in a very "earth-like" dialect. I made an excuse for it with the idea that humans are contagious with the way they talk, but you're absolutely right about the saying being wrongly used. I have been misusing English-language sayings for a while, but I might have actually oversold it, and I should use3 them properly if aliens are going to use them. At the end of the day, people like Benezia and the other matriarchs aren't exactly uneducated idiots :)
BTW, your reviews are always great. You always seem to hit the nail right on the head, you've made me review the main plot more than once. Thanks!
ThemyThink: Haha! Maybe he did, krogan who're not just meathead idiots can be very attractive to asari! :D
R3dRaven: Thanks for the in-depth review! Yeah, I did take some liberties with the impact the SI makes in the world, specially when it comes to Benezia. One has to believe that she'll follow the expected path even when being skeptical of the SI, but I felt I had to throw him a lifeline at some point. At the very least, I can't just have tthe entire galaxy following him when he doesn't even know what the plan should be. You're not wrong about putting the entire hand on the table. That'll come... eventually, in a different way (that might ruin the fanfic for most of my audience, if you're wondering; still some time away, a few years in the timeline at least). I'm trying to balance two things here, mostly. On the one hand, the galaxy getting ready for the reapers, whether they know it or not. On the other hand, the fact that no plan ever survives contact with the enemy, and that one cannot lead people blindly to the desired outcome whlie concealing one's true objectives forever. You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time :)
BlackRevenant: Thanks a lot for all the reviews! It might very well have been moving a little too slow, but I'm trying to fix that. As I said, Benezia caught the entire galaxy by surprise. They had to get their shit together to react. At some point I have to change the pacing, and I think it will be happening sooner rather than later.
Almost a Shadow: Regarding Marie and Cerberus, I'm going off the theory that Cerberus knows how to put a nice front when needs be (see: them recruiting Jacob). I'll expand on it, and it might come across as silly, but I can say this: When people are really down, they'll hold onto the flimsiest lifeline when they see it. Anyway, thanks for the review!
MoonBurner, TheYatted, BrotherCaptainSheperd, Toothless is best, Marc962, hordac85, wars apprentice, JulesLiason, bdrivermp, ji4ming, wman243, thanks a lot! I really appreciate the reviews and the support!
Next chapter we'll see some shit going down, and the Ninth fleet flexing its muscles. Not all will be sunshine and rainbows. Stay tuned, and thanks everyone for the reads, follows, support, and your general awesomeness!