Chapter 57
"You know, I just got settled in here. I got my desk all organized, my office is decorated, and now you're taking me away from this paradise and putting me in charge of a giant gun... You alliance types are jerks." Garrus said struggling to hide the grin.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were so happy in your current role. That's fine, we can go find another candidate, I mean it's just the main battery, right? Point, shoot, reload and repeat, no maintenance required..." Shepard said.
"I see you've met the Turian ambassador..." Garrus said his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"He might have given me a few ideas on how to recruit you." Shepard said smiling innocently. Garrus sighed.
"I'll be packed and ready to ship out in thirty minutes. Damn that was a nice desk too." Garrus said.
"We'll get you a better one for the Normandy. Welcome to the crew, Lieutenant." Shepard said, reaching to shake his hand. He returned the gesture.
"Thank you Commander." He said before turning back to gather his things. Tali, reading a data pad beside gasped in surprise.
"Tuuv's going to have competition. Have you read Garrus' service record? His marksmanship skill is off the charts... Keelah the his mother is the Demon!" Tali said.
"Demon?" Shepard asked.
"The Batarians gave her that name. Garrus' mother is a war hero, a living legend. She single handedly waged a terror campaign against an invading force Batarians on one of their colonies. In one engagement she racked up a body count of other a thousand." Tali said.
"She shot a thousand Batarians..." Shepard said skeptically.
"No, she shot a few dozen of them, then she blew up a dam and flooded their forward base, then she secretly boarded a frigate full of survivors and sabotaged the engine, escaping minutes before every compartment was flooded with gamma radiation. When reinforcements arrived they found her bleeding out from a leg injury beating one Batarian to death with another Batarian's severed arm." Tali said, reading further.
"Jesus Christ..." Shepard said, bringing up his record on her omnitool. She scrolled down towards Garrus' service record.
"When the Turian reinforcements arrived the Batarians were already in full retreat, they abandoned their intention of annexing the colony, saving the lives of a million Turian colonists." Tali said.
"Looks like he has quite a few reprimands for questioning his superiors, all of them contradicted by commendations for acts of heroism." Tali said.
"Good. I don't want mindless drones on my crew, if I'm making a bad move I want to hear about it." Shepard said, nodding in approval.
Meanwhile on Earth Liara was preparing to head to Thessia when she received an urgent call on her omnitool. When she brought it up she was surprised to see her mother and an alliance Admiral both on the same call.
"Hello Mother, Forgive me Admiral, I don't know your name." Liara said.
"I'm Steven Hackett, commander of the Fifth Fleet." He said.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Admiral Hackett." Liara said.
"The pleasure is all mine. I apologize for being abrupt but time is of the essence. I understand you're heading to Thessia?" He asked
"Yes, to meet with the matriarchs regarding a Prothean artifact." She said.
"I was hoping to see if you would be willing to postpone that meeting. We have a situation brewing on one of our colony worlds and you are the leading scholar in your field." He said.
"Of course, the Matriarchs never gave me a time frame to work within, but I'm struggling to see why you would need an archaeologist so urgently." She said.
"Liara, the beacon you found in Egypt. The Alliance have discovered another, this one on Eden Prime, a garden planet on the frontier of Alliance space. Unfortunately it's dangerously close to Batarian territory, and their ships have been Harassing the planetary defense fleet. They don't stand a chance of taking the planet in its entirety, but we are led to believe they are specifically interested in this beacon. We can't explain how we know, for obvious reasons, but suffice it to say it is vital that we not let such a treasure trove of knowledge fall into the hands of those who would either sell it or would consider it blasphemous and destroy it." Benezia said.
"Of course. I am ready to leave whenever you need me Admiral." She said.
"Thank you Dr. T'soni. Forgive me, I have taken the liberty of arranging a transport for you. We have a shuttle waiting for you at the Cairo spaceport." Hackett said. Liara nodded
"I'll head over there immediately." Liara said.
"Thanks again. Hackett out." He said, disconnecting his feed.
"That admiral is a handsome young man." Benezia remarked.
"You're incorrigible, mother." Liara scolded. Benezia laughed while disconnecting the call. Liara rolled her eyes and gathered her things. Minutes later she was in the transport to the spaceport when her omnitool went off, a message and several pages of documents from Admiral Hackett. She was thankful for the human tendency to be concise. Because Asari were so long-lived and valued patience so greatly they tended to be extremely long-winded even on paper. What would take a skilled Asari military analyst the length of a short novel, a human one could achieve in five or six pages including images. She marveled at the excavation site, the beacon was barely sticking out of the ground, as though the humans had stopped immediately when they discovered the value of what they'd found.
"A dig then. Excellent." Liara said.
"What's that, ma'am?" The driver, a middle-aged human woman asked.
"Nothing, sorry, I tend to talk to myself... I assure you I am not insane." She said, adding that last after realizing how she must have sounded. The driver chuckled.
"I don't trust anyone that doesn't talk to themselves, it helps you work your thoughts out. Besides you're only crazy if you start hearing responses." She said. Liara grinned at this.
"Well so far I think I'm good." She said.
"Excellent, well we're here." The driver said.
"Ok, how much do I owe for the ride?" Liara asked.
"Nothing Ma'am. Your fare has been paid for by an... Admiral Steven Hackett? Damn that explains the huge tip!" She said smiling even brighter.
"Oh, ok. Thank you for the ride." Liara said, gathering her things from the storage bay and loading them onto a hovering wagon.
"It was a pleasure. Ciao!" She said, waving before pulling out of the drop-off point.
"What does Ciao mean?" She asked seemingly nobody.
"It's Italian, an Earth Language, it means goodbye." A child's voice from behind her said. She turned and looked down to see the most adorable creature she'd ever laid eyes on, was standing a few meters away holding her mother's hand.
"Oh, thank you. Are you Italian?" Liara asked.
"No, we're from Egypt, our family has been here for Centuries. I like studying languages though. And history." The girl said grinning up at the Asari.
"Me too, I'm an archaeologist." Liara said.
"That's awesome! Wait a minute... Are you Liara T'soni?" she asked.
"Um, yes actually I am." Liara admitted, curious as to how this girl knew her.
"Oh my god I've read some of your books! My favorite is the one on Prothean religious iconography!" the girl gushed, then rummaged in her bag and pulled the very book out. Printed and leather bound by a company on Earth.
"Ah I loved doing the research work on that one in particular, of course except for the cave in." Liara said.
"I read about that! You spent a week stuck in an old Prothean bunker? I'd have gone mad!" The girl said.
"I almost did, but thankfully there was a lot of reading material, and after I'd been trapped for an hour I was able to get ahold of my college, and they dispatched a rescue crew. It was scary, but it was the first time in years I'd been able to just sit down and read." She said, remembering what should have been a traumatic nightmare fondly.
"Um.. Miss T'Soni... Could you... Sign my book?" The girl asked, suddenly timid.
"Oh, of course. I'd be honored! Nobody's asked for an autograph before." Liara said, scrawling her name on the inner cover in neat Asari script, then remembering the girl is Human, she translated it in English characters underneath.
"What's that?" The girl said, pointing at the first one.
"That's my name in Asari Script. I'm so used to writing in my own language and relying on translators." Liara said.
"That looks so beautiful! Thank you!" the girl said, running up and hugging Liara. Liara returned the hug and bid the girl goodbye, only realizing she forgot to get her name after it was too late. She was too busy struggling not to cry. She felt immense grattitude every day she spent amongst Humans because they unlike her own people appreciated her work, considered her opinions and valued her insight. Her inner thought process was interrupted when her omnitool went off with a notification that her flight was ready.
Bakara wanted to cry. She stood in the nursery in one of Tuchanka's hospitals, a room that until recently had always been designed to cater to the needs of three or four infants at a time, now it was over capacity to the point where four adjacent trauma wards were repurposed as makeshift neonate wards. There had been a moderate amount of grumbling after the Krogan joined the alliance, however the majority of that ceased when the first waves of babies started being born strong and healthy. Earth celebrated by sending swarms of medical support ships full of Human, Quarian and Geth medical personnel trained in obstetrics and pediatric medicine, along with a frigate full of children's clothing specially modified to accommodate Krogan physiology, toys and books in Human, Quarian and Krogan languages. The whole of the Alliance had rejoiced with the proof of the Krogan's freedom from the genophage.
The hardline conservative factions of Krogan were convinced that throwing in their lot with Humans and Quarians (many of them didn't recognize Rothschild or the Geth) would weaken the Krogan race, they were proven wrong when the keening wail of hundreds of healthy, strong Krogan babies filled the air. This new generation of Krogan would grow stronger and healthier than any before it due in no small part to the help of their new friends. Bakara subconsciously clutched her own swelling belly, anxiously anticipating her own due date. Strong, old arms closed around her from behind.
"You ok, Bakara?" Wrex asked. She leaned her head back against his shoulder and sighed.
"Yeah, just looking forward to the future." She said.
"Let's just hope they inherit my smouldering good looks." Wrex joked.
"Of course, dear. Of course." Bakara replied, patting his head condescendingly. Wrex growled in feigned offense. Both were startled by the chuckling they suddenly heard behind them. They turned to see Uvenk standing there leaning against the doorway smirking.
"What are you laughing at, pyjak?" Wrex asked.
"Definitely not you, Battlemaster." He said with sarcasm dripping from that last one. Wrex rolled his eyes and Bakara chuckled.
"Hopefully they'll inherit ther uncle Uvenk's sense of humor." Bakara said.
"Uncle Uvenk, eh? I like the sound of that." He said.
"It was Wrex's idea." Bakara said. Uvenk looked over at Wrex with a shocked expression.
"It was. You have stood with us dragging our people into this new era. Without your help we would not be celebrating the birth of our child later this year. I'd consider it an honor if'd accept, Uvenk." Wrex said, with uncharacteristic sincerity.
"The honor would be mine, old friend." Uvenk said.
"I thought I was supposed to be the woman here." Bakara said, smirking.
"See what I have to deal with Uvenk? It never ends with this one." Wrex said.
"Oh I'm sure it's worth it. So not to change the subject, but have you read the briefing from Admiral Hackett this morning?" Uvenk asked. Both nodded.
" I think it's a fantastic opportunity for our people. Do you have any candidates in mind?" Wrex asked.
"Two come to mind now. One of them you're probably not going to like." Uvenk said.
"Tell me." Wrex said.
"Urdnot Dagg has reliably shown an aptitude for leadership and adaptibility and I think he would be an excellent candidate." Uvenk said.
"I agree." Wrex said.
"The other... Gatatog Charr." Uvenk said.
"Gatatog Charr... The lovesick poet chasing his Asari girlfriend all over Illium?" Wrex asked, incredulously.
"Hear me out Wrex. It's true he doesn't behave like a typical Krogan, but his mind is sharp, and he has what most of us lack. Patience. Alliance command staff are often sought out for their patience and ability to keep a cool head." Uvenk said.
"I'll defer to your judgement on this, Uvenk. Is he still on Illium?" Wrex said.
"Yes, but I've chartered passage off world for him in case you agreed, crewed by the Geth of course." Uvenk said
"Why is that important?" Bakara asked.
"The alliance has a... dim view of slavery. Despite It being consensual and called 'indentured servitude' the humans find it atrocious and would probably lay siege to the planet. The video of the first human group landing on Illium was hilarious. Their captain walked down the gang plank, was greeted by the concierge on the landing pad, and given the standard disclaimer. Don't sign anything, slavery and drugs are illegal etc. The human just looked at her, said 'Nope.' And got back on her ship and left." Uvenk said with a grin on his face.
"Humans are great." Bakara said laughing.
Shepard stood in the Cockpit of the Normandy finalizing their pre-flight checklist with Joker.
"So I hear you met our new gunnery officer. Ash said she couldn't tell you whether you were hitting it off or becoming mortal enemies." Shepard said. Joker chuckled.
"Garrus is awesome. Great to find someone that isn't afraid to pull his punches verbally." Joker said.
"Goddamnit now I have two of you on this ship." Shepard grumped, rolling her eyes. Joker cackled evilly. A beep on his console alerted him that they were now clear to depart.
"Take her out, Joker. Port speed please." She said.
"Yes Ma'am." Joker said, executing her order. She nodded at him and headed back to the CIC, where she found Tali and Ash.
"So yeah, after we talked it out we ended up meeting Huulen in the cafe on Ellis and we hit it off immediately. We're all attracted to each other, and for right now we're just having fun and seeing where it goes." Ash said.
"I see. I don't know if I could ever be with anyone other than Jane though." Tali said.
"It's not for everyone, plus the two of you are head over heels in love with each other, I don't think either of you would spare a glance at anyone else." Ash said. Tali blushed.
"Well I;m not going to pretend I don't find other women attractive, but compared to Jane, it's like trying to appreciate a candle in front of a supernova." Tali said.
"You're such a dork it's adorable." Ash said.
"I choose to take that as a compliment." Tali said, fixing Ash with a skeptical look.
"You're the most adorable dork in the universe." Shepard said, walking close at the end of their exchange.
"See with her I know it's a compliment." Tali said to Ash, giving Shepard a quick peck on the cheek.
"Ugh, I'm going to go talk to Dr. Chakwas and Dr. D'inan, I'm pretty sure that little display just gave me diabetes." Ash said, theatrically feigning nausea.
"Eat a dick." Shepard said.
"Already did right before we left Ellis." Ash said, smirking lasciviously. Shepard and Tali rolled their eyes as she walked off.
"So what's next on the agenda?" Tali asked.
"Well we're headed to Omega, those medics we picked up on Ellis are needed there urgently.
"I've never been there, I heard it's a dump." Tali said.
"We won't be there long. We're just dropping off the medics and meeting quickly with the station's 'pirate queen' Aria T'Loak.
"Pirate Queen? Someone has an awfully high opinion of themselves." tali said.
"I just hope she has an eye patch and a peg leg." Shepard said, grinning.