Author's notes:
So I started to write the chapter after this one first, but realized that (narratively) I needed at least one more chapter before ending Part I. So this week I'm updating a bit early with a shorter chapter, and then Chapter 14 will be posted on Sunday to give us the end of Part I. I have four "arcs" planned, just to give you an idea of how long this story will go.
*Also*: If you want to find out what happened on Luna, please keep your eye out for a companion fic that I will be posting in the next couple of weeks. It will feature Miranda, Jacob, and Garrus, and another surprise ME universe character. I will also be covering Liara & Javik's discovery on Mars separately. There will be several companion fics that tie into the larger "Taproot" story, so if you care to read them a user follow might be helpful so you can receive the updates. Thanks for reading ~
CHAPTER 13: Phorophyte/Epiphyte*
10 months after the Reaper War
Vancouver, Earth
Alliance Headquarters
As the display at the terminal faded, Admiral Mikhailovich stood in the middle of the comm room. He paced back and forth, hands behind his back, keeping his eyes on Kaidan the entire time.
"Do you have any idea what you may have exposed us to, General Alenko?" A scowl engulfed the Admiral's face.
Kaidan was standing at attention near the terminal's console. "I'm not sure what you mean, sir." He worried that he had gotten Miranda into more trouble than she was prepared for, but there wasn't much to be done about that now. All he could do was defend her and be steadfast in his support.
"Miranda Lawson is a 'former' Cerberus operative. And a very powerful one at that. While some others in the Alliance have been foolish enough to rely on her, I will not be so easily swayed. Cerberus is a terrorist organization, first and foremost. They'll use any means necessary to achieve their goal, including planting agents within government agencies."
Kaidan—normally reticent with his senior officers—scoffed. "Sir, have you forgotten that Commander Shepard also worked alongside Cerberus for a time?"
"Don't get lippy with me, Alenko. Commander Shepard came back as Alliance—relieved of duty—with intelligence on Cerberus, the Reapers, and the Normandy in hand. She turned the tide of the war." Admiral Mikhailovich curled his lip in disgust. "What has Ms. Lawson done, hmm? Have perfect genes? Her father was a monster."
"Admiral, sir, Ms. Lawson is the reason we were able to launch this mission in the first place. Placing blame on her is senseless. She was simply missing a piece of information. They were taken by surprise—"
Admiral Mikhailovich gesticulated grandly to emphasize his point. "And look at the result! Needless causalities. One of the turians' generals was nearly killed! What a disaster that could have been! Just what we need, to be on the turians' bad side." The Admiral's cheeks had gone red and splotchy, like a hanar with scale itch.
The two officers heard the sound of heels clicking with a brisk, steady cadence and turned to see who was approaching. Admiral Bhatt entered the room.
Admiral Bhatt stood tall, taking the scene in with her hawk-like eyes. She walked to Kaidan's side. "What's going on here, gentleman?" she asked.
"I was just admonishing General Alenko here. He seems to think that getting Miranda Lawson involved in our operation on Luna was a good idea."
"Admonishing?" Admiral Bhatt asked, astonished. "Miranda Lawson is the one who provided us with the intelligence, is she not?"
"Yes, but..."
"Then what exactly is the problem, Admiral Mikhailovich?" Touching her fingertips to her temple, Admiral Bhatt slicked a few runaway strands against the side of her sleek, dark hair.
"She's not Alliance, Admiral. How can we really trust her?"
Admiral Bhatt cracked a tight-lipped smile at Admiral Mikhailovich. "Why don't we discuss this matter between the two of us...privately." She turned to Kaidan. "Thank you, General Alenko, you are dismissed. We will hold a debrief when our team returns from Luna."
"Yes, sir!" Kaidan saluted both admirals and left them alone in the comm room.
Luna
First Defense Building
Garrus sat on a bench in the lobby of First Defense, cradling his forearm. A blistering graze wound, but nothing he couldn't handle. The dull pain in his shoulder, however, had erupted into painful spasms. Dislocation by biotic throw was not pleasant.
The lobby's revolving door swung open in a dramatic whorl. Wrex stormed in, armor clanking against his thick hide, late to the party again.
"You know, I'm beginning to take this personally, Vakarian," he needled.
"Oh Wrex, don't pout. There's plenty of violence to go around." Garrus hissed at the spasm seizing his upper arm.
"Like hell there is!" Wrex said brashly. "Ugh, this place is so boring."
"Well you didn't miss much. Thanks to Miranda and Jacob my team made it out alive. We have a few injured turians and two Alliance soldiers with mild concussions, but overall a clean job."
"So, did you catch 'em?"
"Uh huh. She's dead. And the rest of her thrall with her. I don't know how many more of them there are out there, but she was definitely the brains of the operation." Garrus shifted to lean back against the wall behind him. "You wanna know the messed up part? The Reaper parts….they don't even work," he mocked. "They tried to indoctrinate their test subjects, they even tried to reconstruct a Reaper core—none of it worked. It's like the Crucible made it impossible. Or the Catalyst? I don't know, Shepard's explanation was a bit out there."
Wrex shrugged. "Space magic?"
Garrus looked at Wrex without blinking then kept talking. "In any case, Miranda's already putting together a report. But I might ask Tali what she makes of it—its not like anything we've seen before." Garrus winced as the ache in his shoulder rolled into another spasm.
Wrex watched as Garrus strained to keep the pain from showing on his face. "That looks like a nasty one. I think your arm's 'bout to fall off, Garrus."
"When you've been shot in the face with a rocket, a dislocated shoulder is a walk in the park. Besides, I got that bastard back good. One concussive round and then a clean shot between the eyes with a pistol."
Wrex walloped the wall behind Garrus with a fist, sending crumbs of concrete raining down to the floor. "That's it. When I get back to Tuchanka, we're starting a gladiator tournament. All my men on their best behavior for almost a year? It's killing us, Garrus! It's killing us!"
Garrus snickered, then winced again from the movement.
The bench bowed slightly as Wrex sat, then balanced on its edge next to Garrus. "Speaking of Tuchanka...have you heard from Liara?" Wrex asked.
"Liara? Not in a while. Why?"
"She sent me a message yesterday." Wrex leaned in closer and lowered his voice. "She hinted that the relay would be working soon."
Garrus flicked his mandibles involuntarily. "I thought they hit a roadblock?"
"I don't know, but Liara–she's got...Shadowbroker level intel. I trust her to have good information."
"It's not going to do any good without the partner relay," Garrus reminded him.
"One thing at a time, my friend. One thing at a time."
Garrus heard the rhythmic thump of the door and glanced over to see who was there. Quidros stood in the vestibule and raised his voice at the general. "Evac shuttle is here, sir! Would you like some help?"
"Yes, thank you, Sargent." Garrus held his arm and stood up gingerly.
Wrex sighed. "Time to get back to patrols and politics, I suppose."
"See you on the other side, Wrex?"
"Mmmhmm."
Vancouver, Earth
Yessss, a run, finally. This feels right. A monolithic brushstroke of gray—it was overcast again. The mountains were barely visible below the line of clouds that shrouded their peaks. The sky was spitting too, but nothing a good hoodie couldn't overcome. Shepard estimated she had run a good ten kilometers by looping west along the water—past False Creek and Granville Island, along English Bay, and then north to the Stanley Park District. If she crossed the bridge, she could get an even longer tour in. It had been the first time in weeks that she had run this long without any pain or injury. Hesitant to push her luck too far, Shepard stopped for a stretch near an information terminal at the foot of the bridge.
With so many humans and non-humans alike converging in Vancouver, the city had wisely redistributed what remained of its VIs to its most frequented areas. The spherical hologram materialized as it detected motion in its periphery. "Hello, welcome to the City of Vancouver Information Terminal. I can provide information or assistance in the following areas: geography, history, services, and tourism."
"Tell me about the Stanley Park District," Shepard said as she sent her arms up and out for a forward bend.
"The Stanley Park District is a bustling business corridor, home to some of Earth's foremost leaders in the medical and creative industries. Its main thoroughfare features sleek high-rise spires, as well as many midrise apartment towers and shopping complexes. The Stanley Park District is named after Stanley Park, a large public park once located on the same tract of land."
Shepard surveyed the jagged, battle-scarred cityscape and snorted. While the city had had the wisdom to redistribute its VIs, it had forgotten to update their codex entries for post-war reality. "So this whole district was a public park?" she asked the VI.
"Stanley Park was comprised of 405 hectares of densely forested park land. It was said to have contained up to half a million trees, some as tall as 75 meters. Once inhabited by the Indigenous peoples of British Columbia, Stanley Park was incorporated into the city of Vancouver in the late 1800s CE by non-Indigenous settlers. Unlike other urban parks, Stanley Park was not designed by a single architect, but was the product of forest and urban evolution."
Shepard eyes scoured the land once more, searching for any tree or remnant of what had once been a natural treasure. Nothing. "Damn, that's a shame. Why would they do something like that?"
"In 2126 CE, it was determined that the city would need more commercial and residential space to accommodate for a sudden spike in population growth. Their first consideration, however, was the economic improvement and vitality of the city."
Reaching her hands together over her head, Shepard arced her arms to the right to stretch her side. "Cramming more people into a city with zero green space sounds like a recipe for misery, don't you think?" It was strange thing for her to say, considering how much of her adult life had been spent in space, flying in a fancy metal can with guns. But maybe that's why she felt qualified to have such an opinion. Shepard recalled her carefree childhood on Mindoir, rooted in the land—bounding from rock to rock, scaling trees, helping out with farm chores, catching native initsee flies. That kind of upbringing was a luxury now.
"I apologize, I am not able provide an opinion on that topic. As an informational VI, I may only provide you with objective facts and statements."
"Hmm, fair enough," Shepard replied. Shepard stopped herself from saying anything more. She didn't know why she was trying to debate axiology with a computer, but she couldn't help it. Old habits die hard. If EDI were here, she might be able to come up with a nuanced reply. She'd probably read Walden, Hegel's work on Naturphilosophie, and peruse ancient Taoist texts in between the time Shepard had said the words "cramming" and "space", then quoted a line from a Walt Whitman poem to make her point. All that knowledge at her disposal, yet she never just spat out facts. EDI found ways to synthesize the countless pieces of knowledge and experience she had gained, even rewriting her own code to accommodate them if necessary. She lived and she learned. And in that regard, Legion wasn't that different either.
Shepard put her arms down and stared at the anemic VI hovering listlessly above its projection platform. Her eyes began to well up as it repeated itself: "Hello, welcome to the City of Vancouver Information Terminal. I can provide information or assistance in the following areas: geography, history, services, and tourism." A laugh sputtered from her lips. She put her hand over her mouth as the laugh distorted into a soft sob. I had the choice. I could have saved her. I could have saved them all.
Shepard had nearly begun to weep when her omnitool pinged. It was Garrus. She wiped the tears away with her sleeve and sniffed, hopelessly collecting herself as best she could before answering his call.
"Hey, everything ok on Luna?" she asked, painting her voice with a sunny inflection.
Garrus huffed. "Yeah. Got a bad graze on my arm and a dislocated shoulder, but we made it out. I just wanted to let you know."
"Not the worst, then. I'm happy you're ok. Sounds like I missed the fun again though." Shepard swiped at her eye with her fingertips.
"Heh, second time I've heard that today." Garrus paused. "Hey, you ok Shepard? You...you sound like you've been crying."
"Oh no, no, I'm just out for a run. It's raining out, so it's a bit cold—it's making my nose run." Another white lie. There had been a lot of those since she had woken up on the Osaka.
"Hmmm, ok. Then I'll let you know when I'm in Vancouver next. Primarch Victus will want to see me after I'm treated, before I head to Alliance Headquarters for a debrief. See you then?"
"Yeah, of course. Love you, G."
"I love you too, Circe."
2 days later
Vancouver, Earth
Miranda's wavy, sable hair flew out behind her as she strode out of the Alliance Headquarters lobby, the belt hanging down from her hip tapping at her upper thigh. She had worn her signature poker face throughout the debriefing; now it was beginning to come undone. Miranda pinched her lips together and frowned.
Kaidan—who had tried to speak with Miranda after the meeting—chased after her as she stepped out onto the busy street. "Miranda! Miranda! Wait up!" He waved enthusiastically.
Miranda looked over her shoulder and let out an abrupt sigh. She wasn't upset with Kaidan, but she didn't feel like rehashing the same talking points or defending her actions to anyone.
"Miranda, thanks for stopping. I just wanted to speak with you alone," said Kaidan.
"Yes?" she replied tersely. Miranda was not feeling particularly charitable at the moment.
"Um, can we take a little walk, maybe? I'd rather not be near the building."
"You and me both," panned Miranda.
Kaidan rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry about what happened back there. Admiral Mikhailovich has always been a short-sighted hardass—as far back as I can remember anyway. He's not someone who likes to do things...differently."
"I surmised as much." She clasped her hands behind her back and pivoted on her heel. They strolled side by side, not having any particular destination in mind.
"I hope you don't take it personally." Kaidan's shoulders tensed as he dug his hands into his pockets. "Admiral Bhatt was impressed by your work. She said you remind her of herself in her younger days..."
"Well, she didn't express any of that to me," Miranda replied.
She heard the sweet little twitter of birds and peered up to see where it was coming from. The small birds—a pair of song sparrows—hopped down from the ledge they were perched on. They observed Kaidan and Miranda, then hurriedly pecked at the ground before flying away.
"No, of course, I know. But you know how it is, she needed to let the Admiral save face," explained Kaidan.
"Sure."
Kaidan thought carefully before offering his next words. He didn't want to come off as dense or dismissive; he genuinely respected Miranda and wanted to show her as much. "Miranda—have you ever thought about joining the Alliance, like, officially? I think you'd make a fantastic officer. With your leadership skills and tactical knowledge, you could do a lot of good there."
Miranda's steps slowed as she cast her eyes down. "While I appreciate your vote of confidence, there's no way I'd consider joining the Alliance. There are too many of the old guard like Admiral Mikhailovich still in power. And even if there weren't, the Alliance operates with too much red tape for my liking. I'd much rather work on my own terms."
"Ok, I'll grant you that." Kaidan narrowed his eyes and tilted his head at Miranda. "You know, now that I think about it, the Normandy was a magnet for people like you—Garrus, Thane, Mordin, Legion, Zaeed, Kasumi, Wrex, Jack, Grunt...heck, even Shepard, a bit. Every one of them playing outside of some boundary."
"What does that say about you then, Kaidan?" Miranda asked.
"What do you mean?"
Miranda lifted her chin toward the sky. "Well, you became a Spectre for one. Two, you rejoined Shepard on the Normandy even after you were promoted. It seems to me that you too enjoyed having a bit of freedom to bend the rules."
"Stranger things have happened, I suppose." Kaidan shook his head. "And they always teased me for being uptight..."
Miranda laughed quietly. "You know, they said the same thing about me."
"Hey, do you have somewhere to be right now?" Kaidan stopped at the street corner.
"No, why?"
"Wanna grab a bite to eat? I skipped breakfast, I'm starving."
Miranda smiled softly. "Yeah, sure, why not."
Song: "The Underdog" - Spoon
You got no fear of the underdog / That's why you will not survive, right!
* Epiphyte - a plant that grows on the surface of another plant for physical support only (non-parasitic). It has no attachment to the ground; it gets its moisture and nutrients from the air or water around it.
* Phorophyte - a plant on which an epiphyte grows.