The trip was quiet. Too quiet. Kacey sat on the shuttle next to Garrus and opposite Liara, waiting for that asari to start talking. She wanted to know what was going on. Something that she wanted to know since she woke up.
The past month or so had flown by quickly; Kacey didn't even have the time to process what the hell was going on. And while Garrus and Joker tried to fill in the gaps, it seemed that Kaidan and Liara had little interest in doing so; Kaidan made his position clear, he didn't believe her, and she wanted so desperately to prove him wrong. And as for Liara, she had some of those missing pieces, but seemed reluctant to share.
Kacey then remembered something Kaidan had mentioned a while back; before things between them got more complicated. Apparently, there were 'lower deck' rumours that Liara had some…romantic interests in Kacey. And while Kacey usually avoided believing in rumours, it wasn't just Kaidan who mentioned it; Ashley, Joker and Garrus mentioned it as well, with Ashley finding it suspicious and Joker finding it hilarious. The asari hadn't mentioned anything along those lines to her directly, however. Nor did she voice any type of concern or upset when Kacey and Kaidan's relationship was eventually revealed to the group. But still the thought lingered.
Liara and Kaidan weren't hostile to each other; unlike Ashley and Liara who had their fair share of issues. Kaidan mostly stayed out of Liara's way and vice versa, only really talking if needed. On the rare occasions that they were on missions together, either part as a trio with Kacey or as a big group, they seemed to get on well enough. There didn't appear to be any animosity between them.
As for Kacey, she didn't have any romantic feelings for that asari; she viewed Liara as a close friend, nothing more. And if that was the reason for Liara's attitude, Kacey didn't how she would be able to respond to that.
"So, Liara." Kacey said, finally breaking the silence, "What's going on?"
"What do you mean?" Liara asked.
"You're acting pretty cold towards us." Kacey said, "And it looks like something is bothering you."
"What do you want me to say, Shepard?" Liara replied, "That I mourned you? It's been two years, I've come to terms with it, and I already said what I needed to back at my office."
"Are you sure? Because it seems to me like there's something else going on that you haven't told me about."
"There isn't."
"Liara, I think you should come clean." Garrus said, startling both Kacey and Liara, "Shepard's probably heard the rumours, you might as well get your side in now."
"So, as it turns out," Kacey said, "those lower deck rumours were actually true."
"They were?" Kaidan replied, surprised.
"Yeah, I didn't believe it either." Kacey said, "I don't usually put much stock in rumours anyway, not mention that I didn't think it could be true."
"You mean those lower deck rumours?" Kacey asked.
"You heard about them?" Liara asked.
"Yeah, I heard, but I don't put too much stock in rumours, Liara." Kacey replied, "So can one of you explain this, please? Because I am confused."
Liara sighed, "Those rumours…weren't entirely inaccurate. I did start to develop some…feelings towards you. But then the news about you and Kaidan came out and…well…"
"I didn't know." Kacey said, a little flustered, "I'm sorry, Liara."
"There's no need for that, Commander." Liara replied, "I imagined that it was only fair that you'd prefer someone of your own species."
"Species had nothing to do with it." Kacey replied, "I'm not that narrow-minded. I just see you more as a…sister, Liara. That's all."
"You do?"
"Yeah, I do." Kacey said.
"I'm flattered you think that." Liara said.
"And I'm your best friend who keeps pulling your ass out of the fire." Garrus quipped.
"In your dreams, Vakarian." Kacey teased.
Laughter filled the shuttle as it entered the planet's atmosphere. Kacey the nudged Garrus, gesturing for him to apologise.
"Oh, and Liara?" Garrus said.
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier." Garrus apologised, "I shouldn't have done that."
"It's okay. You were just looking out for your other best friend."
"Who I definitely keep pulling their ass out of the fire." Garrus replied, causing Kacey to laugh.
"Excuse me?" Kaidan laughed, "I'm pretty sure it was the other way around, Vakarian."
"No, no. My memory is perfectly intact, and I clearly remember saving your ass from all of those geth." Garrus laughed.
"And who was saving your ass from all those husks?"
"Touché, Alenko, touché."
"We're here." Liara said, "Hagalaz. The oceans boil during the day, then snap-freeze ten minutes after sundown."
"Holy shit." Kacey said, looking out the window, "The Shadow Broker lives in this?"
"His ship follows the sunset. Completely undetectable in the storm unless you know where to look."
"So how do we get inside?"
"The shuttle bay is locked down." Liara explained, "We'll need to land on the ship and hunt for a hatch. But we can't stay outside for long. There's a constant lightning storm where hot and cold air collide."
"Wonderful." Kacey sighed.
…
Once they had landed on the outside of the ship, Kacey understood what Liara meant by not staying out too long; the wind was so strong that it could send her flying away with one misstep.
"It's hard to pinpoint in this lighting, but I'm picking up signals from a communications array near the back of the ship." Liara explained, "There's nothing below but maintenance equipment. We have to find an entrance near the back shielding."
"What happened to this being simple?" Garrus mused as Kacey led the trio forward.
As they carefully navigated through the outside of the ship, picking off the maintenance drones that tried to dispose of them, Kacey tried to process their previous conversation; the rumours were indeed true. And she felt a bit stupid for not realising it sooner. She should've cleared things up with Liara beforehand. That much was obvious to her.
Kacey carefully moved down a catwalk, where two big metal poles with lighting running through them were placed.
"Careful!" Liara warned, "These capacitors discharge built up lighting!"
"Thanks for the tip!" Kacey said as she shot them.
Liara and Garrus looked at her briefly confused before seeing the now zapped mercenaries. As they darted past the dead mercenaries, they turned at corner to encounter LOKI mechs, which were disposed of quickly by the experienced trio. Kacey tried her best to conserve her ammo; who knows what they were going to face once they were inside.
As they moved through the area, disposing of mercs left, right and centre, they eventually ended up on one of the ship's outer railings.
"Okay, looking down was clearly a mistake." Liara said with a hint of fear.
Kacey had to agree; they were extremely high up and it was clear that falling off the ship was an incredibly easy thing to do. Kacey then came across a door that led inside to what appeared to be the ship's engine room. It was clear from looking at it that it was, in part, powered by lightning.
"This ship is incredible." Liara said, amazed, "It must have taken decades to build in secret."
"I wonder what happened to the contractors." Kacey mused.
"I think we can guess." Liara replied, "Navigating this storm is brutal. If the ship's engines stop for even a moment...At least the Shadow Broker would go down with us."
"That's confronting." Kacey replied sarcastic.
They eventually ended up back outside in the storm, working their way back up on top of the ship with little resistance, leaving Kacey wondering where the bulk of the Shadow Broker's army was.
…
"Not even a guardrail. I bet the Broker's agents love patrolling the hull." Kacey quipped as they walked through the hull, which was filled with lightning.
"At least the view is nice." Liara replied, "There! That hatch leads directly to the communication signals."
"Finally!" Kacey said as Liara ran towards the door.
"It's locked." Liara said, "Hang on, I've got a bypass shunt program that can crack it."
"How long will it take?" Kacey asked.
"I don't know, Shepard." Liara said, "I've never broken into the Shadow Broker's base before. Well, not this one, anyway."
"You sure that shunt is working?" Kacey asked.
"Its illegal, even on Illium." Liara said, "It didn't come with a warranty."
"But you tested it, right?"
"Here come more mercenaries!" Liara shouted as the area was flooded by mercenaries.
"Tell me you tested it!"
"No time to talk!"
"Oh, we are so screwed." Kacey muttered.
The trio had taken up defensive positions around the door, opening fire on each of the mercs that came into their line of fire. Liara's singularity was a lifesaver, as was the lighting capacitors that both Garrus and Kacey shot each time they were charged with lightning, as it killed the mercs hit by it, outright.
Despite this, however, the mercenaries were tenacious. For each one that went down, another two appeared, which caused Kacey to question how many people were actually stationed on this ship. As Kacey dodged rocket after rocket, Garrus was keeping all the mercs on his end at a far distance, so at least Kacey was reassured that she wasn't getting sneaked up upon while she shot another capacitor.
"Liara?" Kacey shouted.
"I'm sure it won't be much longer!" Liara shouted back.
"It's only at one bar!" Garrus shouted.
"Remember the old days when you could just slap omni-gel on everything?" Kacey mused.
"That security upgrade made a lot of people unhappy." Liara said.
The next wave of mercenaries included rocket drones, Kacey's least favourite thing to shoot at. They were far too mobile, and Kacey had a hard time trying to hit them.
"Their attacks are disorganised." Liara mused, "They'd be more effective if they all attacked at once."
"Please don't give the mercs ideas." Kacey replied.
"The next wave looks like a big one!" Liara shouted.
"You just had to give them tactical advice." Kacey groaned.
"But now there'll be fewer left to deal with inside."
Kacey scoffed, "Keep dreaming, T'Soni."
The final wave used up a fair amount of Kacey's grenades and more shots aimed at the capacitors. Once the last of the mercs was dead, Liara shouted that the hatch was open. And not a moment too soon either.