"Doctor T'Soni-"
"No... What part of this is still being misunderstood?" The isolated—not for long—scientist laments, burrowing her face closer and closer to her book on the table. "I must rectify this immediately."
Oh, Jane understands, alright.
She's just too excited to give a shit.
"Did you hear where we're going?" Jane sits down, a grin erupting at the poor sight of the asari reluctantly lifting her head. "I've just been debriefed! We're going to the hanar's homeworld, imagine that? So there's going to be some underwater artifact, then? How do you study that?"
"Kahje still has many islands and domed cities," Doctor T'Soni chuckles. "They may have already extracted the artifact and brought it into a research facility."
"So... We're not going diving?" Jane slumps in her seat. "Fuck..."
"Well, I could be wrong. Perhaps ours will be the team that needs to figure out how to extract the artifact and bring it in safely. As far as the reports sent to my team, all we have is a location."
"So we could be diving?" Jane sits straight again, her blood buzzing. "I'll be on security detail for this too, then. How cool is that?" She looks up dreamily. "Underwater combat."
"And what do you expect to be combating, exactly?"
"Who cares? Fish, even."
"My Goddess, you are bored," the asari smiles sympathetically. "In any case, you will have to wait and see."
"Aren't you excited? Or is underwater archaeology a whole different level? What are your tools like, then, to extract artifacts embedded in... Ocean floors, or whatever?"
"Give me a chance to answer a question," Doctor T'Soni laughs, and it's a very nice laugh, and it's a little bit of a problem. "Unfortunately, I will be sitting this one out, but-"
"What?"
"-I am excited to see what my team yields." She cocks her head in confusion. "What?"
"What do you mean you're sitting this one out? How can you sit this one out? You'll get to go diving, Doctor T'Soni. How cool is that?! Underwater archaeology! Your artifact's probably a fish, by the way."
"Goddess," the scientist smiles away, but it turns sheepish with her shrug. "I may have found myself in a precarious situation with the hanar, once, on the matter of exploring prothean ruins. Their homeworld is 90% covered by ocean, and a lot of that ocean has a lot of ruins. Let us just say they did not appreciate me poking around in some of them."
"So... You're not allowed to come?"
"I could, but there is a high likelihood it will cause a diplomatic incident. The whole purpose of our mission is to avoid that and encourage the mending of relations, yes? I do not desire to be the cause of strife and add more hurdles for your Alliance to overcome."
"So you're not coming."
They stare.
Doctor T'Soni's brow pinches with worry. "Are you okay?"
"I just want a straight answer," Jane groans, resting her chin on her palm as she looks out the port window. "That sucks, doc. You shouldn't have to hold yourself back. Besides, they said that this artifact gives a glimpse into drell and hanar history. Has nothing to do with protheans. Surely they can make an exception and trust you not to go poking about if we're working on what we're allowed to work on." Her gaze slides back with a devious smirk. "Unless you plan to go incognito and steal a shuttle to explore some prothean ruins."
"Oh, Goddess, no, I am not that daring."
So what she's saying is that she's not opposed to the plan itself.
"I am," Jane shrugs. "I could totally do it. You just say the word and I can make it happen."
"Are you not worried about your superiors?"
At that, a sleazy smile sparks, born of bravado with confidence she doesn't actually have. "Not if they don't find out."
There's contemplation. Yes, there's contemplation! There's temptation, and this is shaping up to be the best assignment ever—underwater archaeology and combat mixed together.
They'll be excavating and fighting prothean fish.
The highlight of her career.
"I find it difficult to imagine pulling this off without consequences," Doctor T'Soni chuckles. "I would not want you to be the next one banned on Kahje, with how excited you seem to dive." She opens up her book again, her finger having been a temporary bookmark, diving in there instead. "I appreciate the thought, but I will be okay here. I am sure I will be hearing a lot from my team and-" her eyes flick up with mischief "-from you."
Jane deflates. This doesn't sit right with her. The scientist is going to be condemned to the same shit the marine has been going through, sitting and staring, counting imperfections in structure or furniture. With how far she seems to be in her book after a couple of days of reading, she'll finish it—then what? Does she have more books?
Sensing perhaps the turmoil brewing within, the asari's gaze comes up, and there seems to be a thoughtfulness enrapturing her. She smiles for some reason.
"You are not personally responsible for my entertainment either."
Jane drops her chin on her palm again, frowning. "There needs to be more asari like you, doc."
"Your current expression is contradicting that," the scientist smirks timidly. "Are you teasing me again?"
"Nah. I mean it."
There's doubt screaming in those eyes.
"I do," Jane laughs. "It's just, I feel like there wouldn't be as many problems that exist right now, if there were more people like you. There's something about you—I can't put my finger on it—but it's cool, you know? You're cool."
"Is that... A reference to my skin color?"
"What?" Jane is stumped, wondering where the misunderstanding lies. She looks down and zeroes in on the scientist's blue hands. "Oh. No, cool as in, like... You're neat, you know? Hm... I don't mean it as tidy. Just—fuck, this is making me realize we got a lot of sayings that aren't literally meaning what they are." She shrugs. "Well, you've got something special. I can tell." She gives a cheesy wink, shamelessly flexing her latest achievement. "They don't teach officers to sleep on talent."
There's a blush, and the asari seems to take her ticket right out of her sheepishness as she perks up with curiosity.
"You are an officer?"
"Well, I'm still in training as an Ensign, the most junior of officers. It's like a probationary rank, kind of—I only just completed officer candidate school. I'm hoping the Brass will keep their promise and I'll be promoted to Junior Lieutenant at the end of this assignment. Then I'll have a chance of getting to serve on a warship like a carrier or a dreadnought, if there are any open postings. I hope I'll get to serve on a carrier. More chances to be boots on the ground and see some action, then."
It seems it's the asari's turn to be stumped, needing less verbal barrage and more of a straight answer this time.
"But you are an officer?"
Jane leans forward with a grin. "What's with the strong you there, huh? Is it that hard to believe?"
"Yes," Doctor T'Soni breathes incredulously. Her face flames with embarrassment when they goad annoyed looks from the other mess tables, as the marine's laughter roars. The scientist is frantically fanning her hand as a signal to shush. Jane leans back, her cheeks aching, unable to wipe the grin off her face as she crosses her arms.
"You'll find it equally hard to believe that I grew up in a very traditional military family, then."
It seems to throw the poor scientist in for a puzzle she can't hope to solve. She's struggling, and it's obvious, and it's delightful. She's trying so hard to be polite and diplomatic. The disbelief is permanently engraved on her face and it's screaming everything she's failing to contain. Then there's panic. So many emotions are worn right on her sleeve, and she hides her face in her hands for some reason.
"Uh..." Jane reaches across the table, squeezing the asari's shoulder. "Are you okay, Doctor T'Soni?"
"No. I am so embarrassed. I am just now realizing I insulted the human representative that came to meet me at our last dig site."
"Who, the Commander?"
Oh no. Doctor T'Soni's shrinking. She doesn't make a peep, only reluctantly nodding her head. Jane isn't quite sure she wants to ask.
Who is she kidding, with her shit-eating grin?
"I thought each bar represents what class you are in," the asari explains. "So I thought he was that... Third class officer rank. Something preceded officer."
"P..Petty Officer Third Class?"
"Yes, that's it!" The scientist's head shoots up, and she immediately judges how big of a mistake she's made when Jane doesn't wipe her face blank in time. "Oh no... Is it that bad?"
"Not at all," Jane lies.
She's only insulted the Commander as not being an officer rank to begin with, but rather throwing him almost at the bottom of the ladder with the enlisted ranks, the lowest non-commissioned officer. Just what the hell kind of rank did Jane have, prior to this revelation? Doctor T'Soni knew enough that she didn't have clearance to the dig site, but with the bar logic, she'd be higher ranking than the Commander as Petty Officer First Class. This time, she's pretty damn sure she doesn't want to ask.
"You got the officer part right," she continues to reassure, squeezing the shoulder again.
Whatever her face says is enough to send T'Soni seeking the safety of her hands, groaning. "Will I ever learn your ranks? There are so many of them..."
"It's fine, Doctor T'Soni. I'm sure the Commander didn't take it as a personal insult. You're not human, and you're not military either. It would be unreasonable to expect all the species in the galaxy to adhere to our military structure and start saluting our ranks." She pats, smiling when the blue orbs reluctantly swivel up to meet hers. "You're pretty worried that you're destroying all kinds of cross-species relations, huh? Well, I disagree. You're doing a pretty damn good job cementing them." She checks her omni-tool for the time and glances out the port window, her blood set ablaze upon seeing the blanket of clouds as they orbited Kahje, probably waiting for clearance until they can go down to port.
Hopefully they have some books she can buy, as soon as she's off-duty. She rises from her seat and collects their empty plates, giving a casual salute.
"I have to go to the quartermaster to grab my gear. I'll see you later, yeah?"
"N-no. I will have to stay on board the frigate."
"Oh yeah..."
What a damn shame. Jane feels a little awkward, is probably smiling that way too, when she turns to leave. It's just not right. But what can the marine do? It was just bluster, all that talk about stealing a shuttle. She doesn't really have the guts to do it and risk her whole career for just a bit of fun. It's not like she can enlist a scientist on security detail either, without actual authority—that will cause just as many problems if her superiors find out. She sighs, muttering on her walk to the armory.
"What a damn shame..."
Doom is fast approaching. Liara hides her head in her book.
How on Thessia has this human still not caught onto this hint? It is as obvious as it gets, without telling her that solitude is much appreciated.
What's worse, is that Liara's grabbed and dragged out of her seat. "Hey, what's the meaning of this?!"
"You are not sitting here for a whole week," the officer huffs. "You're going to go insane before our next stop."
"I cannot leave the frigate, the hanar will not take kindly to my intrusion if-"
"We're not leaving the ship. Come on. This way, I just found a ladder that takes us outside on the maintenance ramps."
What is this human doing, spending her off-duty hours traipsing around the frigate? Isn't she excited to go diving, and suck one of the other scientists into allowing her in the lab?
Curiosity compels Liara to see this through, but at the same time...
"We're not breaking any rules, are we?"
"Hm? Nah. Would be if we weren't undergoing maintenance to vent our core, but there's no chance this frigate will be going up in the air any time soon. We've got lots of time." Auburn hair flips over the shoulder, the officer's bun coming undone as if winds have been teasing it apart. Her youthfulness always exuberant, beaming that easygoing smile. "You're gonna enjoy the water."
"What? Diving is-"
"Not diving," the human laughs, pulling harder. "C'mon, c'mon. Here, up this ladder. Push on the hatch."
"Why are you not going first?"
The officer rolls her eyes, handily climbing up the ladder with deft speed. Light breaks through when she pushes the hatch up and disappears—but she closes the hatch. Liara groans. This must just be mischief to tease or frustrate her. That had to be it. She's a whole lot slower climbing the ladder, taking many moments to look down and ensure each foot is safely on the rung. There's a moment where the hatch opens a sliver, a glimpse of an impatient face peeking through.
"I am coming," Liara groans.
The hatch closes on her again.
It is definitely mischief.
Upon reaching the top, she holds on tightly to the rung as another hand braces on the center of the hatch. Biotics thrum in her palm as she channels energy to manipulate the weight of the heavy hatch, pushing it up with ease. She has trouble climbing out without anything to grab onto, until a hand hovers in front of her face. For some reason the human appears surprised. Water thunders and roars, crashing down around them, and Liara has to raise her voice as she raises a hand to her brow, shielding her eyes from the pebbles splashing on her.
"What?" Liara asks, watching as the marine circles around to close the hatch. "Oh, is it regulation of sorts to keep it closed?"
"Yeah, but... Did you not have any trouble with that? Looked like it was easy to push."
"...Yes?" Liara isn't sure why this line of questioning, but her suspicion about mischief is confirmed with the way the officer deflates, and she smirks. "You were hoping it would give me trouble?"
"Wanted to tease a little, hear some banging or huffing and cursing," the human groans. "I should've remembered about your biotics."
How thoughtful she is, expending energy to concoct plans to give Liara a hard time. Humans are a strange species indeed—but she thinks she's starting to grasp their mannerisms.
One look around is proof of that, her throat tightening at the gorgeous view surrounding them. They are in the maw of a vast ocean, where waterfalls rumble in the distance, where domed cities stay fixed even while buoyant. She meanders over to the railing, absorbing the sights, closing her eyes as she sucks in a deep breath. It smells like the rainforest sanctuary on Armali. A pang sparks in her heart, and she finds herself missing home—missing all the wonderful aromas of mother's garden as they sit on the sun-kissed bench, debating ideals and politics.
A bony prominence nestles beside her elbow, and she feels the presence settling in beside her. She steals a glance, watching the watcher marvel the ocean.
"Beautiful, isn't it? More than that, though. Wish I had the words to describe this. I'm not regretting this assignment one bit, anymore. Kahje is... The hanar are... Well the hanar are fucking weird."
Liara chuckles, earning a grin from the rude human.
"Don't say you haven't thought the same, Doctor T'Soni."
"They are an eclectic species," she settles diplomatically. "But I imagine we all are, to one another." She bumps shoulders, smiling mischievously. "Humans are weird too."
"Asari are weirder."
"I see persuasive debate is not a required skill in officer school."
Laughter rumbles as loudly as the waterfalls, a playful shove of the shoulder almost toppling her over. "Ass!"
Every time they indulge this, Liara finds herself struggling not to smirk, to remain polite and professional. Mending relations won't be resolved through barbs, yet oddly enough this human seems to entertain them. She observes as the officer grabs hold of the railing and pushes herself up for an extra few inches, her feet hovering off the deck. Her hair loosens from it's bun as the breeze laps at it, and the archaeologist finds herself shrinking with embarrassment over curious thoughts—like what does it feel like? It's all for the sake of science, of course.
"I don't want this assignment to end," the marine suddenly confesses. Her boots slam on the grate, holding out her arms with less shame than the asari had, feeling foolish over the notion she had wanted to embrace her dig site, before. "I hope I'll always get to travel around the galaxy, be witness to things like this." She grins over at the scientist. "Meet more weirdos."
"You are the 'weirdo'," Liara protests, sensing she's being singled out here.
Chuckles dance, some muted by the thundering water in the background. The human's eyes light up as they snap back to the falls. There's thought, and meditation, and resolve. Her mouth crooks in a wicked grin. It doesn't seem like it's something she's inclined to share, as she pushes off from the railing and heads over to the other side of the deck, waving her hand to beckon the scientist to follow.
"Take a look on this side. You can see one of their cities, sticking out the falls. You think humans will be allowed to settle down here, someday? Would be sweet to have an apartment here."
"You would trust it not to crumble beneath your feet?" Liara asks, immediately casting out the thought from her own mind when she comes over to see. "You would plummet into the ocean."
"I don't think they'd build that there, then. The hanar would be screwed too."
"They can survive in the water—they need technology to breathe outside of it."
"Oh yeah..." The marine shrugs carelessly. "Oh well."
"You certainly enjoy playing with fire," Liara chuckles.
A smug grin is shot at her. "I am the fire. And you'll see, someday. You'll read the reports, or see it in the news." She looks out at the ocean, then up at the blanket of clouds as she stretches her hand to them. "I'm going to light everything up, going to be a living legend. I'm going to make a difference in this galaxy and make my mark, keep on the family tradition and blaze the path. I'm a Shepard, after all. People will have to get used to my name being next to number one."
Oh, thank the Goddess, she finally has a name to work with! These things have been going on for so long that Liara has felt utterly foolish to ask now.
Liara chuckles as the marine gets carried away with her hopes and dreams, remembering such thoughts and feelings herself when she'd graduated from her program. It feels so far away. It's been 40 years, now. She's been determined to be the archaeologist that finally solves the mystery behind the protheans.
She doesn't feel like she's gotten any closer than she was, day one.
She keeps it to herself, though, smiling away as she listens on. She leans on the railing beside Shepard and closes her eyes, trying not to tune the human out by focusing on the comforting sounds of water, to ease away the frustrations broiling under the surface. The attention she never wants is flipped back onto her, and she needs to take time to soothe her knee-jerk reaction of just stuttering and stammering in protest.
"What about you, Doctor T'Soni? What do you dream of? What do you want to accomplish?"
At this point, she will accept any tidbit that reveals even the slightest notion of what could have happened to the protheans. She chuckles a little over her own naive audacity, 40 years ago. "I used to think I would be the one to solve the disappearance of the protheans."
"Used to? You don't believe it anymore?"
"No, not really. At least, perhaps not any time soon, but... I have been searching for any scrap of evidence for 40 years, now. It is as if they do not want to be found. All that is left behind is their technology, but even with all this wonderful technology, helping advance so many civilizations... There is nothing that has recorded them. No audio logs. No photos, no videos. Not a single documentary, which is strange. Even without meaning to, just take a look at any species today? We all are making our mark, leaving proof without need to search so hard for it. Yet no matter how much I swim, I cannot turn the tides themselves. Perhaps I am not meant to-"
"Load of shit."
Liara lifts her head and looks over with surprise, shrinking a bit more from the heated glare. "Wh-what?"
"You're going to solve it, Doctor T'Soni. I know you can. You're going to be a legend yourself, someday—and I'll pay attention to the news, I will. I'll be pointing at the channel to say hey, I got to work with her. I knew she could do it! And then I'll call you up next." She smirks obnoxiously. "And I get to say I told you so."
Ah, what a refreshing pace it is, for such youthful energy to think it can command destiny itself.
"And if I do not give you my personal frequency?"
"I know some hackers," Shepard shrugs as if there's nothing wrong with what she's saying. That must be a jest, or such ambiguous morals will be a terror, partnered up with a tenacious spirit.
"Hopefully not from your school?"
There's a terrifying grin, then.
"There's a reason you seem to be surprised that I'm an officer, Doctor T'Soni. How do you think I'm really here?"
By the Goddess.
Evil laughter bubbles in Jane's chest as she hits her bed, unlacing her boots. The scientist has bought every word. She truly thinks the marine cheated her way through school.
Glorious.
She listens with half a mind as the marine—that she relieved from the post earlier—asks what the strange asari did to her.
"Nothing, why? She do something to you?"
"No, man, that's why I'm nervous. Why would she just sit there and say nothing? They say asari are sex fiends-"
Jane snorts with laughter at the ridiculous imagery of Doctor T'Soni salivating and purring vulgar things. Bet her face would melt from the heat if she tried.
"-why are you laughing? It's true! Every marine I know has told the stories. And they say some asari can even kill you during sex, if they, you know, fuck your mind too. They can fuck your mind, man, can you believe it? What the fuck have we gotten ourselves into? The hanar are just as fucked up. Did you know they have skulls? Jellyfish! With skulls! Sergeant Praith said to never let one get a hold of you, either."
"What are they going to do?" Jane huffs. "They'll rip their own limbs out if they try to lift anything."
"Nah, but the sarge said they can strangle ya. Grip real tight, they can."
"So you grab their limb and rip it out. Should be like twisting the legs off a shrimp."
"Oh. I guess so. Still, that's fucked, isn't it? So that asari really didn't try anything with you either? What do you think she's watching us for? Do you think she wants to fuck our minds?"
This poor guy really needs to watch out for the one most likely to fuck with minds.
"Yeah, probably," Jane struggles to say seriously, dropping her voice when some of the other marines turn over in their beds to tune into their conversation. "She's going to suck our souls out too."
The marine flips her a middle finger and they're deduced to playful shoves of the shoulders, her mischief alight. The barracks officer snaps for them to stop fooling around, and soon after the lights shut off. Jane is still buzzing with energy, her mind racing with dreams and all the things she's going to do when she gets promoted. She curls in her bed and tries to ignore her thoughts, focusing on the memories of the waterfalls thundering around her.
There was a lot of staring involved at another blue thing in her proximity, at the time.
Jane smiles and lightly scoffs as she reflects on the matter of asari being sex fiends—trying to ignore the heat collecting at the base of her throat over the raunchy thought. She tries to ignore the questions circulating in the maelstrom of curiosity, like how old Doctor T'Soni really is if she's been an archaeologist for at least 40 years, and if she is even attracted to other species—species like, say, perhaps, humans, now that they were doing this whole cross-species mending thing.
What is Jane thinking? She's being foolish, now. She's only 19, just finished school, has absolutely no establishment or clue of what she's really doing with her life, mouth firing off all sorts of ideals that have no foundation or planning as to how she means to achieve them all. Become the best marine? What does that even entail? It's so ambiguous, and even she is not audacious enough to believe she will ever attain the rank of Admiral. She's seen how hard dad has been working for it—seen little of her dad in her life for it. He's still nowhere close, almost 20 years later.
Doubt creeps in, snaking around to corrupt and kill off dreams.
She holds on tight to them, though, too stubborn to believe that this assignment is really the highlight of her budding career. She hasn't even gone diving yet.
It just doesn't feel right, when she knows there's someone left behind.
"Am I allowed to finish my book?" Liara teases, not needing to lift her gaze when a shadow falls over her, a presence parked at the corner of the table.
A nervous presence, which makes her nervous.
"Here." Shepard slides a datapad over as she invites herself to sit, as usual. "One of your colleagues asked me to pass this on to you. It's a video recording of the artifact."
Eagerness snatches up the datapad as Liara rushes to press play, her eyes lighting up at the marvels—and undoubtedly the challenges—of the artifact buried in bedrock. She hums, numbers racing through her brain as she speculates the age when the recording shows how many layers have been carefully peeled away to expose the base of the artifact.
Why is this speculated to be a glimpse of drell and hanar history, though? Something of this nature would be much older, indicating it comes from a time before the Compact—and the hanar opening up their homeworld to save the remaining drell from the dehydration of their own now-barren planet. And on a hanar homeworld, that implies prothean.
Oh, what a tragedy this is. If that truly is of prothean nature instead, then soon the hanar's extremist religion cults will protest and blockade the site.
"They're saying the artifact is strictly of drell nature," Shepard whispers lowly, leaning forward for some reason. "So it's okay for you to come down to the site, because it's definitely not prothean."
What? Even they would be able to deduce that it is definitely—
Oh.
...Oh.
"I see, yes." Liara nods, a thrill buzzing in her veins like electricity. "Definitely not prothean at all."
"I'm also to be your personal escort. It's important to dive in pairs, you see, for safety. So I've requested access from your team leader."
"And because it's definitely not prothean, thereby not of immediate intrigue nor importance, your superiors wouldn't think anything of the matter either."
Shepard smiles slyly. "Why don't we go excavate some fish, Doctor T'Soni?"
Liara laughs. She gets up and follows after the marine who enthusiastically takes the lead, mouth spouting off all the dreams and hopes again about what she wants to see on their dive. The scientist can't help but wonder how big of a part Shepard has played in taking advantage of all these loopholes. The team already knew why Liara has had to stay behind. Somewhere along the way, though, a moment has been seized so that she can come down to the site—and she's certain the diving pairs part is a part of the ploy.
They won't be the only ones in the water, after all.
There's another piece of evidence to factor into all of this as well.
Shepard was nervous when she sat down.
"You are now the team lead, Doctor T'Soni."
And this was why.
Upon such an announcement, the marine has suddenly made her presence scarce, as if distance can eliminate her from a conversation carried out entirely through a shared frequency they are all tuned into. She's swimming about with a light, obnoxiously poking and pulling rocks to see what's underneath them—thankfully not within the dig site area itself.
"What would you suggest we do first?" Doctor Dasum Elan, the salarian, swims to turn one of the lights so that it beams down at the artifact. "You have experience with the hanar. How do we continue research without getting shut down?"
Liara frowns a little, not liking the possibility she suggests. "We will have to fabricate the nature behind the artifact and offer evidence so that they do not send a representative here." She looks down at the artifact, then her gaze swivels to the audacious marine nearby. Is it truly alright, to take away what she can from this project, without caring of the ramifications? It just doesn't sit right with her. But if they declare what this artifact truly is, then all the teams that are to come after them will be forced to standby and do nothing. The hanars will shut the entire site down.
"What evidence would make them complacent?" The turian archaeologist asks. "They seem to rely on oral history. We would have to be careful not to tell anything that opposes that history so that they will not be upset and come to discover this 'drell' artifact then."
"I do not feel comfortable with lying to them just to study," Liara mumbles.
It goes unheard as the rest of her team embarks on a brainstorming discussion to circumvent it all. She sighs, turning her attention back to the marine below. She blushes when she notices that Shepard's aimlessly swimming upside down, seemingly looking at her. It's difficult to tell even with the lights around them, illuminating the deep dark blue ocean, but it's centered on the artifact. She eschews the duty she doesn't want to have as she kicks her feet, the fins easing her glide further down. As she reaches Shepard, she opens her mouth, but the marine shakes her head for some reason.
A flashlight is shined on a rock, and Liara smiles that her lesson on streaks has been put to the test in a practical manner. Numerous streaks and scratches line the rock. She turns away so that her back faces the group, shielding her omni-tool as she inputs the numbers scratched on the rock. A personal frequency. There's a temptation to tease that, by calling and thereby exposing her own frequency, the hackers wouldn't be needed.
Upon hearing the bleep that she's split from the team's frequency and connected to this one, she smirks. "I am afraid your request to access the dig site will be denied."
"Bummer." Shepard grins wickedly. "Your final act before you transfer leadership back to the salarian, huh?"
"Not quite my final act." Liara looks up at the team, hovering over the artifact. They appear to be arguing. "Am I foolish? This artifact may very well be the answer I need. Even if I am not comfortable with lying, they seem to be. They can handle the fallout with the hanar if they fail in their fabrications. I cannot help but feel as though it is wrong even to turn a blind eye, however. I do not know what to do... Should I stop this?"
"I think you should just do what you feel is right—whether that's lying or telling the truth."
"I should have known better than to consult a liar herself," Liara teases, smirking when the breathy chuckles dance on their line.
It is meditative, in a way. No other sounds come through, except the sounds of their breathing, a slightly ragged rhythm as they mindlessly swim about. She smiles whenever the marine attempts acrobatics of sorts, gripping and pulling off rocks to launch herself in a spiral. Her fingers seem to be skirting the planes of water fully submerging them.
"It's a shame our suits prevent us from feeling this," Shepard murmurs, after a time.
"We can dive into the ocean and pray the current does not suck us into a whirlpool, and thereby, our deaths," Liara suggests cheekily. She laughs when upon the next spiral, she catches sight of middle fingers hiding behind hamstrings. "Rude, as always."
"Oh? You understand what that means, huh? No error of communication there."
"I have learned that one very quickly, with how often you humans enjoy employing that method of communication."
"Yeah," mirth bubbles, "I'll bet. Anyway, thanks for letting me have a few more minutes of this, Doctor T'Soni. I'm ready to go back to the frigate whenever you are."
What an intriguing observation.
"What makes you think that is my decision?"
"Easy. You consulted a liar. That there already says you want to tell the truth."
That... Barely makes sense. She has a feeling that not even Shepard can really explain it—maybe it is luck of the draw, where hope placed bets on the answer she wants. Or maybe her gut instinct is more accurate than she's yet aware of. Liara hums, giving a neutral answer herself, and begins the reluctant swim back for the dive pod, to reel its cable and shoot them up for the surface. She's stopped and almost yelps, gasping instead when the marine suddenly swims in front of her, twisting with a serious look in her eyes. The scientist thinks it's to stop her before she reveals to the hanar the true nature of the artifact discovered here.
"Before you do, can I please buy some books from the port? We'll probably be grounded for a couple days while the politicians battle it out. I'm seriously going to lose my mind because then I'll just be staring at water instead of stalactites and walls. Not a game changing trade off, exactly."
Liara chuckles, nodding. "Bring me something too, would you? I only have 2 books left."
"You got it, doc." Shepard holds out her hand. Her complexion appears as though its darkening—her teeth brighten her visor in a toothy grin, when the asari accepts the offer of... Help.
Yes.
Help. That's it, exactly.
...It's a shame their suits prevent them from feeling this.