It should have been easy.
Transfer money from Cerberus to the Blue Suns.
Transfer custody of a prisoner from the Blue Suns to the Normandy.
The hardest part should have been wrestling with her morality over the fact that, apparently, just about anybody could buy a hardened criminal to do whatever the hell they liked with. As long as they had enough money.
Unfortunately the Blue Suns' morality was a little looser. Not only endorsing the physical beating of prisoners, but renegading on deals and attempting to incarcerate paying customers.
Not only did that show a lack of common decency, but also a severe lack of common sense. Nikki honestly couldn't work out how they could possibly think trying to contain a spectre would end well.
She could understand if Garrus had been with her and the desire for revenge against Archangel's Omega crusade overrode their higher brain functions. Same with Zaeed and his history with the Blue Suns founder.
Neither male was with her though, Shepard only taking a small entourage with her for what was supposed to be a business arrangement, not a battle.
Miranda was representing Cerberus and handling the bank transfer, as the Illusive Man wisely didn't trust Shepard with unfettered access to the organisation's account details.
Meanwhile Samara's was representing justice. Kind of. Her original purpose had been backup if the highly volatile and powerful biotic prisoner tried anything, but that had morphed into backup against the highly corrupt and idiotic armed guards.
To say Shepard was fuming was something of an understatement. So much so that when they finally reached the control panel for Jack's cell she heard Miranda say: "That button will release Jack from cryo but-" and hit it before the cerberus operative could finish her sentence with "-every door on the cellblock will also open."
"I was about to suggest we hold this position while EDI hacks into their system and finds another option." Miranda added as the automatic systems sprung to life, unlocking Jack's container and starting the defrosting process.
"You couldn't have led with that?" The spectre muttered bitterly, but there was no real heat to her words. Her frustration aimed more at the situation than her teammates. "We should get down there and help..." She trailed off as the heavily tattooed woman biotically tore off her metal restraints and charged straight at the YMIR mechs standing sentinel in the cell. "her... Fuck!"
"Impressive display of power, but lacking in control, precision." Samara declared impassively.
"You want to tell her that?" Shepard shot over her shoulder, but the justicar merely gestured for her to lead on.
The prison was now in full revolt. Convicts turning on their guards armed with nothing but pent up fury and the occasional shiv.
Unfortunately they didn't seem to care who they unleashed their frustrations on. A rabble at the far end of the corridor surged towards the Normandy team and Nikki found herself turning to the justicar.
"Technically they're unarmed, your code?"
"Weaponry is irrelevant, any attempted assault against me must be met with lethal force."
"Any? So like, if a kid ran up and pushed you on a dare?"
"The code would be content." Samara stated in her normal, even tone.
"And you? Would you be content? I thought justicars were supposed to protect the innocent?"
"If they are attacking a justicar, they can not be innocent."
Shepard could see the logic, although it wasn't exactly the answer she was hoping for. Especially when she remembered the children at her wedding initiating a game of 'poke the krogan' with Wrex. The battlemaster chasing them several metres with a roar before stalking back to his spot with a badly hidden smile. Right now however she had more important things to worry about.
"Stand down or we will open fire." She issued the charging convicts an ultimatum. The asari wasn't the only one with a code of conduct after all.
Strangely enough the prisoners didn't listen. She gave them one last warning in the form of a short burst of gunfire aimed just in front of them. Sparks jumping off the metal grating around their feet.
Still they were undeterred. She could see the anger burning in their eyes and had no further qualms pressing the trigger.
Without armour they were shredded apart in seconds. Blown away as easily as the little pig's straw house.
It wasn't pretty but she'd given them a chance. Her conscience could live with that. In a way she guessed she wasn't that different from the justicar after all.
She just hoped Jack would be more open to listening than the rest of the prisoners. It would be a shame if all this slaughter was for nothing.
...
The Normady's elevator shuddered to a stop on deck three, Nikki stepping smartly out and heading towards the mess for food.
A sudden shriek had her instinctively break into a run. Barrelling around the corner in time to witness the mess break into pandemonium.
Jack was assaulting Chakwas. A litany of swearing interspersed with animalistic snarls tearing from the convict's throat.
Jacob and Garrus with their pistols raised, unable to fire for fear of hitting the doctor.
Various ship-side crew watching on in horrified fascination as they retreated to the far side of the room.
Her brain took it all in in a matter of seconds, but before she could act the scene changed. Jack yanked backwards in a flash of blue light, held in stasis in midair, a howl of rage as she was denied her victim.
Nikki felt the calm presence of the justicar step up behind her but didn't have time to convey her thanks, rushing to check on the gasping Chakwas on the floor.
"You okay doc?" She received a nod but blood was trickling down one side of her face and it was clear the older woman would be bruised later. Hopefully nothing was broken. Shepard immediately set to work on the cut as she asked: "What happened?"
"I introduced myself, tried to arrange a time for a preliminary checkup. It was like a switch flipped as soon as she realised I was a doctor."
"Fuck, just what we need." Nikki winced. She didn't know much about Jack's history beyond her criminal record, but with her unusually powerful biotics, The Illusive Man's high interest in her and the fact both Jack and T.I.M agreed Cerberus had some kind of interesting information about her mysterious past? The clues all pointed in the same direction and Shepard was cursing herself for not thinking about the possibility of doctors being a trigger.
"I'm sorry Karin, I should have warned you. In future make sure me or Garrus are with you when dealing with her, or maybe Samara. Actually, probably best we do that for your first introduction with any new recruits."
The doctor nodded her acceptance and the commander stood, noting the still gawping audience.
"Alright, show's over. Back to your posts." The mess rapidly emptied until only Garrus and Miranda were left alongside Shepard, Chakwas and Samara; the justicar still holding Jack in a powerful stasis.
Nikki was impressed, most biotics would be showing traces of fatigue by now, especially after the day's fighting on Purgatory, but the asari seemed completely fresh. Even so, she didn't want to drain her unnecessarily and signalled for Jack's release.
Samara lowered the convict until her feet touched the deck, then removed the stasis. The moment she regained control Jack lunged forward. Only to be immediately enveloped in blue light once more.
"You know where you are Jack?" Nikki checked, wanting to make sure she wasn't in the middle of some flashback.
"Your ship." Came the growled reply.
"Right, and who am I?"
"Commander Shepard, Cerberus bitch."
"I already told you I'm not with Cerberus."
"Whatever."
"I know Cerberus can be pretty evil-" The commander started, holding up a hand to stall Miranda's inevitable defence of the organisation before she could get started. "But your hatred seems personal. What'd they do to you?"
"They raised me in a research facility, I escaped when I was a kid. Been on the run ever since. And they've been chasing me ever since. But you'll have to kill me before I let their doctors near me again." Nikki's jaw clenched tight as her suspicions were confirmed.
She felt for the young woman, she really did. But she had a responsibility for all the lives on her ship.
"Listen closely Jack, because I'm only going to say this once. Doctor Chakwas is not, has not and never will be a member of Cerberus. She is on this ship as a personal favour to me because I wanted a doctor I could trust. I don't want a Cerberus doctor poking around inside me while I'm unconscious anymore than you do."
"Who says you'll be unconscious." Shepard ignored the quiet mutter despite the squirming in her gut at the connotations.
"If you still don't feel comfortable around Chakwas then we have another doctor onboard. A salarian. Male, rapid fire speech pattern, has an annoying tendency to think out-loud and never shuts up, but he's good at what he does. You can choose which one you'd rather deal with but if you're wounded or have any health issues, you will be getting qualified medical treatment. We clear?"
Shepard chose to interpret the convict's grunt as a yes.
"Now, I promise, Cerberus will have to kill me too before I let them cart you off to some science lab for experimentation." Jack sneered disbelievingly at the commander's vow. "But I will not allow you to instigate attacks against my crew. Self defence is fine, but you start something like this again and I will assume you are incapable of self control. If you act like a wild animal then I'll put you down like a rabid varren."
Shepard made a silent hand gesture and Samara released the stasis once more. This time there was no attack, the two human women staring each other down. Jack broke eye contact first, a biotic barrier surging defensively around her as she turned on her heel, storming towards the elevator.
"Keep your people off me Shepard. I'll be down in the hold, or somewhere near the bottom. I don't like a lot of through traffic."
Garrus holstered his weapon, vanishing to warn engineering. Miranda helped Chakwas into the medbay and Nikki closed her eyes with a deep sigh. Taking a moment to breath and recenter herself.
"That is a very troubled young woman." Samara quietly opined, reminding the spectre of her presence.
"I'm surprised you're not suggesting we kill her." Nikki admitted wearily.
"If I were not bound by my oath to you, she would already be dead." The justicar assured and Shepard swallowed thickly. "I would never have taken the time to hear her story.
...
"Just a sec." Nikki requested as she answered the vid call that evening. Trish kept quiet, watching her partner's eyes flicker left and right.
The spectre finally sat back, eyes stilling, but Trish recognised the look of concentration on her face and stayed silent until the other woman properly looked up with a sigh.
"Sorry."
"It's alright. What were you reading?"
"Justicar code. Well, kinda. I couldn't find an english copy on the extranet so I'm actually reading the STG's 'Guide to Operating in Proximity to a Justicar' that Mordin and EDI translated for me."
"I love the fact you have immunity and you're still looking that up anyway. You know you don't have to right?"
"Of course I have to. She said she'd kill me when her oath ends if I make her do anything dishonourable." Nikki whined. More importantly she needed to know if she'd be held accountable for the actions of others on her crew, but she wasn't going to mention that.
"You're the most honourable person I know Nick, you'll be fine." Trish tried to reassure, but her wife merely scoffed.
"Babe, the code is thousands of years old. You only have to go back two centuries on Earth and we'd have been imprisoned, maybe even killed, for loving each other. Who knows what weird laws an alien species would have millennia ago."
"Well, the asari are mono-gendered so I doubt we have to worry about anti-gay laws."
"Fine, but what if there's something like, I don't know... 'Thou shalt not consume spice on a Tuesday' or something?"
Trish smiled dutifully at the attempted humour. Personally she thought her wife was overreacting but knew there'd be no talking her out of her paranoia. Besides, she'd already lost Nikki once, she really didn't want it to happen again, especially over something so trivial.
"So what are the STG recommendations like?" She half changed topic. "Is it all 'don't eat spice on a Tuesday', or more like: 'call it a herb instead of a spice and you'll be fine'?"
It was Nikki's turn to chuckle.
"Bit of a mix really. There's this whole section on how to manipulate situations and make it so the only way the justicar can go after you is by breaking the code themselves. Devious little bastards, I'll give them that. Just wish there was a way to shake a pursuing justicar off that wasn't 'bluff with innocent lives' or 'dance your way through a gang war and hope she gets distracted'. Then again with STG it probably wouldn't be a bluff."
A frown marred the commander's face as her wife snorted.
"It's not funny Trish. Sure, in theory the code demands they protect the innocent, but you're still gambling with people's lives."
"No, not that." Trish waved her off, still smiling. "'Dancing through a gang war'? I just imagined a justicar popping up in the middle of West Side Story!"
"That would certainly spice the show up a bit." Nikki admitted, her own lips twitching. "When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way. Oh fuck there's a justicar, I guess we're dying today."
The impromptu song pushed Trish into helpless hysterics, Nikki following her over the edge.
The spectre wasn't convinced it was that funny, but after the day she'd had it felt good to laugh. Besides, every time she tried to pull herself together she caught sight of her partner's face and was overcome with another bout of mirth.
There were tears in Trish's eyes by the time she managed to wheeze out: "Gee, Justicar Krupke!"
"Bloody hell, they wouldn't make it past the second verse." Nikki opined. "Assuming they even make it to that song in the first place. The entire Act 2 is gonna need rewriting on account of half the cast being dead."
"Thanks sweetie, I really needed that laugh." Trish finally managed to compose herself.
"Tough day?" The spectre was immediately the picture of sympathetic support, her own problems pushed aside.
"Your son-" The civilian started in a weary voice, and despite her best efforts Nikki couldn't stop her lips curling into a giant grin as they always did at those two words. "Is a nightmare."
"Don't know why you're glaring at me like it's my fault. He's not still obsessed with the word ice cream is he?"
"Only when Ben reminds him. And it is your fault, it's your bloody DNA."
"What did he do this time?" Nikki tried to lace her voice with concern rather than eagerness. Tried being the operative word.
Despite her frustration, Trish couldn't help a slight smile as she thought back to the day's events and relayed her demon child's crimes to her laughing wife.
...
Author's note: Thank you so much to everybody who left a review on the last chapter. See how much quicker this update was with that extra motivation buzzing through me. Even with the stress of having to deal with multiple attempts at shoplifting and an actual arson attack at work (and people think working retail is easy).
Made a few slight tweaks this chapter. Mass Effect 2 is a wonderful, wonderful game that I really love playing but when you pay a little more attention to detail, some of it is a little stupid. (Hmm, a prison where you can space individual cells but only open the door to cryo-stasis by opening every door on the ship. What idiot designed that?)
I feel slightly guilty about beating up Chakwas but Jack has issues, she's going to take more time than most to acclimatise to the crew. Hell it took Nikki a while to get behind the whole working with Cerberus thing and she's not a borderline psychopath who was raised in a research lab.
Next update should hopefully be Samara's loyalty mission if I don't get distracted before then. I'm planning on handling it a bit different than in canon though.
As always, I hope you're all still enjoying and reviews are very welcome.