Chapter 9
Shepard and her crew had approached the Normandy, already being greeted by Captain Anderson. "Before you all come aboard, I have some simple ground rules." Anderson announced once the group got close enough. He stood tall, arms behind his back, but he seemed a lot less fired up than when he and Shepard had butted heads in front of the council.
Wrex grumbled, but Shepard quickly held up one hand to silence him, willing to hear Anderson out. "I told my crew the same thing." Anderson said as he eyed the small merc band in front of him. "I don't want any fighting. No disruptions. The more our crews can get along together the easier this mission will be." Anderson. Shepard nodded finding those easy enough rules.
He wasn't quite as done as she thought though, "This is completely unorthodox, we normally do not work with mercenaries." He went on. Shepard eyed him a moment, not sure where he was going with this. "As this is a military vessel some areas of the ship will be restricted to your crew." Anderson explained.
"Can I just... interrupt a little?" Shepard asked as Anderson eyed her, looking and feeling weary. He honestly hoped she was not about to argue with him. "My crew, we're apparently being paid by the Council, you may as well put their money to good use." Shepard said, actually sounding rather diplomatic. Anderson looked at her questioningly.
He sighed. "What do you have in mind?" He questioned. He just wanted to get this out of the way. He wondered how crazy of a suggestion the young woman before him was about to make. Shepard looked behind herself at her crew, who all looked to her. She tried to give them an assuring nod, unsure if they were feeling as awkward about this arrangement as she was.
Liara in particular seemed to look a little lost.
The merc turned her head back in Anderson's direction. "Put them to work. Put us to work." She said as Anderson perked a questioning brow. She shrugged some. "If you stuff us in a corner somewhere they're going to get bored. That never fairs well, trust me. Mischief will occur and I don't think you or I want to deal with the consequences of that." Shepard said with a smirk.
Anderson actually chuckled at that. Perhaps Shepard had a point, he thought. He didn't want to know what kind of trouble would occur from a bunch of bored mercs. "It may also help our two crews... acclimate." Shepard suggested. Anderson sighed again as he let his stiff stance loosen.
He made a noise of thought before nodding some. "I will consider it. We will have to discuss this more at a later time, we need to get underway." Anderson said as he motioned for the group of six to follow him.
Tali trotted up next to Shepard as they all walked towards the Normandy airlock. "I wanted to poke around their engineering section." She pouted as Nicole snorted, but patted the young quarian on the shoulder.
Shepard gave Tali a small smile as they all piled into the airlock, the door shutting behind them. "I'll see what I can do, Tali." Shepard said as Tali seemed to perk up a bit over that, standing taller than she had been before.
It took some time to get everyone on Shepard's crew settled onto the Normandy. They were assigned empty lockers to stow their gear, and had their armor and weapons checked for anything illegal. Of course Wrex tried to put up a fight, almost already causing a problem, but Shepard managed to get the old krogan to cooperate. Ashley Williams had to admit that was an impressive feat. Not many were able to control the krogan like that aside from other krogan. Even that seemed a rarity.
For now most of Shepard's crew were sort of sprawled out along the ship's cargo hold, all sort of looking like they felt out of place. Shepard had to admit she was feeling the same effect. Kaidan was actually assigned the only open bunk with the rest of the Normandy crew. Tali, Wrex, and Garrus were basically given a section of the cargo bay to... well set up camp in a manner of speaking.
Anderson was kind enough to offer Liara her own room... Or well sort of like a room. Really it was a storage room connected to the med bay, but she was given a cot and some bedding. Shepard oddly felt thankful for that much. It also took a bit of convincing, but Shepard would be set up in the med bay itself. She wanted to be close by if Liara needed something.
Right now though Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley were in the mess hall, each of them eating a meager meal. "I have to ask, Shepard." Ashley finally spoke up, breaking the silence. Shepard cocked a brow at Ashley who sat across from her and Kaidan. "How the hell did you make Wrex settle down like that? I thought he was about to go nuclear." Ashley admitted with a bit of an amused grin.
Shepard chuckled as she reached for her mug of coffee. It wasn't the best coffee she ever tasted, but it would do she figured. "He's a bit of a story honestly." Shepard replied. Even Kaidan seemed to be interested now though. But that really piqued Ashley's interest. Shepard could see it in her eyes as she took a drink from her coffee.
Shepard sat her mug back down as she messed with her meal with a fork. "God what's it been..? seven years?" Shepard questioned herself, trying to recall the story. She grinned some and shrugged. "I was running solo and someone contracted a bunch of mercs to guard some cargo he had from possible pirates."
She chuckled to herself a bit. "Well, of course being in the Terminus you run into that risk. And low and behold, pirates showed up at the site where the guy was hiding his cargo before he could get it moved." Shepard went on before she took a bite of her food. She should have known military food would be bland in taste, but she wouldn't complain when it was a free meal.
She swallowed her food as she noticed Liara finally coming out of hiding from the med bay. Shepard waved Liara to come join them, who looked a little shy in the moment. The asari went to the food storage and grabbed a sandwich before sitting at the table by Ashley. "Hey Liara, you're just in time. I'm telling the story about my first job with Wrex." Shepard said to the prothean expert with a lopsided smile. Liara smiled as she opened up the sandwich's packaging.
Shepard cleared her throat, "Where was I?" She asked before taking another bite of her food.
Kaidan chuckled some. "Pirates showed up for the cargo." He said as Shepard snapped her fingers a couple times, quickly swallowing what was in her mouth.
"Right, so anyway, they were a bunch of krogans, Bloodpack I think." Shepard went on as Liara's eyebrows rose some in surprise for how easy Shepard sounded about this story. "So there we were, in a firefight with a bunch of krogan. Wrex was just having a good ol' time, you know how he is, Kaidan." Shepard said as she regarded the man who could only chuckle himself but nodded.
"Unfortunately, I do." he replied, but he sounded amused anyway.
Liara and Ashley listened on with interest. "I guess Wrex saw the whole thing. Anyway, a krogan came running at me full on beast mode, just crazy in his eyes as he yelling at me." Shepard said, now motioning with her hands as if to emphasize her point. "Here I am, freaking the hell out, my gun's overheated and I don't know what on earth got into me." She suddenly lifts her her hands over her head as if making some sort of panicked motion. "Here I was, young and stupid, just started running, screaming top of my lungs, right at the krogan who was running at me." She says, making hushed noises of said screaming, waving her arms around.
"And then I go to hit this guy, I don't even know, I try to head butt him, god knows why. Just WHACK!" She exclaimed as she made a head butting motion with Liara just looking at her like she was absolutely crazy. Ashley just lost it all together. Probably trying to picture this younger version of Shepard trying to head butt a giant krogan. Kaidan just sighed and shook his head. "Anyway, I knocked myself stupid and the krogan decided to show me how it was really done, so he head butted me back full force. Knocked my ass out cold." Shepard said with a chuckle as Ashley couldn't help herself but laugh her fool head off.
Liara looked shocked still as she watched Shepard. She had the kind of look as if she had just witnessed a train wreck. "Anyway, apparently Wrex got a kick out of it, he's liked me ever since." she concluded with a big grin before she took another drink from her coffee.
"Goddess, Shepard, were you not scared?" Liara questioned, just so surprised Shepard would be so reckless. Shepard laughed though as she waved her hand about a bit.
She was still grinning. "Hell ya, I was out of my mind terrified." Shepard admitted. "Apparently I thought it was a good idea in the moment though." She snorted as Ashley chuckled a little at the story. Kaidan picked at his food, brows raised, but perhaps looking amused himself.
Shepard pushed her tray aside, having finished most of the contents. "Anyway, three years later Wrex and I had run a number jobs together by pure coincidence, and we decided to just work together." Shepard then added before she nudged Kaidan with her elbow jokingly. "We started picking up strays along the way." She teased as his cheeks turned a little red as he looked at her almost amused.
"Hey, I'm not a stray." he then chuckled.
"Good lord, Shepard. Please tell me you're still not that crazy." Ashley joked as Shepard stood, putting her tray in the sink and moving to refill her coffee.
She looked to Ashley, trying to give her an innocent look and a shrug. "Me? Nah." She replied.
Kaidan scoffed. "No, she's still crazy." He said with his own grin. Shepard laughed, but slapped her hand over her chest trying to mock an offended look.
She gave a joking stutter, as if he had hurt her feelings. "Rude." She then said with a smirk. He laughed as Ashley gave her own amused smile and shook her head, standing herself.
Liara just watched the whole exchange as she ate at her sandwich. "As funny as you guys are I need to hit the rack." Ashley said as she tossed her own dishes into the sink before turning on her heel. "Have a good night guys." She said with a chuckle and walked out of sight, probably towards the crew bunks.
Shepard returned to her seat, sipping on her coffee as Kaidan stood up himself. "I should get some sleep as well. It's been a long day." He commented as Shepard nodded in her agreement, but she had planned to stay up with a new book since she lost her last one.
She waved to the man as he wandered away. Which just left Liara and Shepard alone in the mess hall. Liara took another small bite from her sandwich as Shepard pulled her book out of her rather large pocket on her cargo pant leg. Liara carefully watched Shepard as the other woman opened her book to the front page. "Are all of your jobs like that?" Liara finally asked with curiosity.
Shepard looked up to the asari, who took another small bite from her sandwich. Shepard gave her a lopsided grin. "Curious are we?" Shepard teased. Liara flushed at the question but nodded her head some.
Shepard decided she could always read later as she set her book aside. "Alright... I already told a story, how about you tell me one." Shepard said, folding her arms on the table as she leaned forward, batting her eyes mocking a pleading look. She was of course playing around but the asari flushed even deeper.
Liara chewed her bottom lip for a split moment. "I am afraid I do not have any stories concerning head butting krogan." Liara said. She wasn't trying joke, she was being honest. She thought perhaps any story she told Shepard wouldn't be so exciting. But Nicole apparently took it as humorous as she laughed a bit.
Shepard then settled down after a moment. "Sorry, that was funny... I would hope you haven't tried to head butt a krogan, let me tell you it smarts a bit." Shepard said teasingly, but it wasn't really a lie either.
Liara smiled, finding herself relaxed again. "When I was little, I would try to find hidden ruins in my mother's estate yard." Liara started her story, Shepard giving her a little smirk. Somehow that sounded adorable to her. "My mother was always very busy when I was growing up. I would try to find ways to entertain myself, but I would sometimes cause unintentional trouble exploring." Liara continued. Liara flushed again though, perhaps looking a bit embarrassed. "I once tried to dig for ancient artifacts in my mother's prized flower garden." Liara then said.
Shepard actually gave her a warm smile, encouraging Liara to go on. "My mother used to love gardening. And the garden I dug in was her favorite. She caught me in the act. The lecture she gave me." Liara said, touching her hand to her forehead, looking lost in the memory, but amused with herself.
"That's actually kinda cute." Shepard said as Liara looked to Shepard with bashful eyes.
Liara cleared her throat a little. "My mother did not think so." Liara said with a light chuckle. Shepard snorted in amusement. "She did give me my first history book soon after, however." Liara concluded as Shepard gave her a lopsided smile.
Liara's brows then furrowed, looking a little sad suddenly. Shepard suddenly felt a bit guilty, remembering who it was they were now after. "Hey, sorry I didn't mean to..." Shepard said but trailed off feeling a bit like crap. Shepard reached out, putting her hand over Liara's on the table.
Liara gave her a very small smile and shook her head some. "No, it is fine. I know you did not mean to upset me. I just wonder how my mother got into this situation." Liara admitted. Shepard nodded as she squeezed Liara's hand once before letting it go.
Shepard took a deep breath. "We'll get to the bottom of this. Maybe it's against her will?" Shepard tried to suggest, tried to give the asari hope that her mother wasn't completely lost to her. Liara gave her a more earnest smile with a nod.
"Thank you, Nicole. I hope you are right." Liara said. But with that they both fell silent, both lost in their thoughts.
Anderson and his XO Charles Pressly were in Anderson's cabin, going over their mission reports together, discussing the day's events and what lied ahead. "I must admit, Captain I don't like having so many mercs on board. And most of them are aliens." He said. Anderson tutted at the older nearly bald man across from his little table.
"Come now, Charles," Anderson started, "I might not like this much more than you but it's not because most of them are aliens." Anderson finished as he scrolled through his mission report for the Alliance. He would admit he didn't trust the mercenaries, but he knew it wasn't because they were mostly non-human. He just didn't know how well the two crews would get along. Nor did he know how trust worthy this Shepard was. Her background check came back with some scrapes on her record, such as bar fights, and suspicion of petty thefts, but nothing entirely criminal either. She had warned him about that, but he didn't know if there were any crimes that had gone unnoticed in her public record.
Anderson leaned back in his chair. "I'm sorry, sir." Pressly said, perhaps looking embarrassed that he did hold some xenophobic thoughts. Anderson lifted his hand and shook his head, dismissing the apology.
Anderson adjusted his t-shirt having removed his officers jacket, being off duty now. "Don't worry about it." Anderson said. "I'm not saying we have to trust them, but for the crew's sake... For our mission's sake we should all try to get along. Shepard seemed willing to agree to that before I let them on the ship.
Pressly nodded his head some. Perhaps the Captain was right. This was no longer just a human concern after all. A rogue Council Spectre and Asari threatened not just humans, but perhaps a whole lot more. They weren't sure what they were planning or after entirely, but who knows what they would do if someone, human or not, got in their way.
Anderson gave a look of thought. "Shepard suggested I put her crew to work." He then said. Pressly looked back to the Captain from his own data pad, a brow perked. Anderson shrugged some. "She said there may be... mischief, if her crew gets bored. I could see her point, but..." he trailed off as in thought.
Pressly spoke up, "But you're unsure of what to do with them." He finished for the Captain. Anderson nodded as he sat his data pad down, before standing, putting his hands behind his back as he wandered his cabin slowly.
"I will have to speak with her more about it in the morning. Perhaps giving them assignments would be for the best." Anderson said as he tried to sort everything out. "They are mercenaries, perhaps allowing them in on ground missions wouldn't be such a bad idea." Anderson then said as he stopped, seeing that Pressly had been watching him.
Pressly nodded his head, thinking this over as well. "As harsh as it sounds, sir, but it may keep our crew from harm?" He tried to question and yet suggest. Anderson frowned. He did not like the way that was said.
He shook his head. "No, I won't use people like that. Not to save face and keep my crew out of danger. We all swore the oath, we all knew the risks signing up for this line of work. It wouldn't be entirely right." Anderson said. Pressly nodded his head again as he sighed.
"Perhaps you're right." He agreed.
The ship was apparently going to reach Feros by morning. Most of the ship's crew had gone to bed. Even Liara was asleep in her room. Shepard laid on the medical bed she had claimed for herself in the med bay, reading her book in silence. She liked to read every night if she could help it. She felt like it helped her unwind.
But the peace did not last as suddenly Liara was shouting in her room, her voice panicked. Shepard had never flown out of bed faster in her life as she rushed for the storage room door, opening it up as quickly as she was able. The doors slid open, light from the med bay pouring into the otherwise dark room as Shepard darted inside.
Liara was sitting up in her bed, clutching at a borrowed Alliance t-shirt, breathing heavily, her face panic stricken. Shepard looked around the room for any possible threats. She was unsure of what she would find, no one came into the med bay since Chakwas had left for the night. When she saw nothing obvious Shepard quickly turned to Liara, the asari's face pale as she tried to regain control of her breathing.
Nicole squatted next to the bed, her face full of concern. "Liara? What's wrong, what happened?" She questioned, her worry obvious.
Liara swallowed hard as she shook her head. "I... I do not know. Those visions from the beacon, I had terrible dreams again, like before." Liara admitted, as she looked to Shepard, completely vulnerable and perhaps a bit terrified. "It was like those images from the beacon were replaying in my dreams, but they... They were so much more real, filled with terror and screams." Liara tried to describe.
She suddenly felt so overwhelmed, the images lingering in her mind. "I am parched..." She suddenly realized as she tried to wet her mouth with her tongue.
Shepard stood, looking around. "I'll be back, I'll find you some water." Shepard said. Liara reached out, however, grabbing hold of Shepard's arm, almost tightly. As though she were desperate for something.
Blue eyes met green. Liara's eyes almost pleading with Shepard's. Shepard looked at her with such concern. Yet Liara released her grip as she nodded, looking away. "I would appreciate it." She said quietly. Shepard was torn between leaving for the water and staying with Liara.
But she knew she wouldn't be gone long so she nodded at Liara. "I'll be right back." Shepard said, as though it were a promise. Liara nodded back as Nicole quickly walked out of the small storage room. Liara almost wanted to beg Shepard to stay, but did not want to seem helpless either. So she waited for Shepard's return instead. Thinking perhaps the human would sit with her for a while after she came back.
Well look at me, posting yet another chapter lol.
I just want to take a moment to give a shout out to jerseydanielgibson. You have been a big help with my story, and I appreciate you allowing me to bounce things off you here and there. =D I truly thank you for the support.
Also a forewarning, I will be starting a new job soon. Apparently a lot of overtime is involved. I don't know how exhausted I might feel, it is a pretty big job. And I will have to start planning a move soon as well, so if my updates are slow I apologize ahead of time. I will try to stick this story out, I swear.
Until next time.
