Chapter 5
C-Sec Lobby – Zakera Ward – Citadel
It had been a long day. Talking to the Council, talking to Anderson and the new ambassador, finding out that her face, or a likeness thereof, was now on every movie poster in the galaxy, and having to hassle with the C-Sec Spectre Requisitions Officer who happened to be a massive fan of hers ever since she helped fight Sovereign. He had apparently been there during the cleanup when her cloaked and unconscious body was found.
After he heaped whatever she needed onto her, she stepped out of the C-Sec main building and into the lobby where she saw a small group arguing with each other. A human in a C-Sec uniform, a volus in a black and red suit, and a quarian female that was taller than even the human. She hadn't intended to get involved until a piece of their conversation caught her attention.
"Damn junkrat needs to be thrown in jail!" snapped the volus as the human sighed to himself.
"Sir, I'm going to need you to calm down…" said the C-Sec officer as he placed himself between the pair.
Shepard's fist clenched at the word, her eyes snapped open, and she felt a fire flare inside her once more. Turning around, she beelined straight for the trio. "Sorry, what's going on here?"
The human groaned again as if he had better things to do. "Ma'am, I'm gonna ask you not to get involved."
"That junkrat stole my credit chit and this racist… C-Sec officer doesn't want to do anything about it because I'm a volus…" snapped the short figure angrily.
Shepard gave an almost eerie smile as she crossed her arms over her chest. "What's your name?" she asked curiously.
"Toma Nupta. Why?" he asked impatiently.
Looking up to the quarian, she reiterated the question. "And you?"
Looking incredibly uncomfortable, the quarian began to fidget wildly as Tali used to do when she first came aboard the Normandy. "Lia'Vael."
"Alright Lia'Vael, did you take the credit chit?" asked Shepard gently.
"Of course not!" snapped the girl as she clenched both of her fists. "I was simply walking through the markets, and this bumbling idiot ran into me!"
"Hey!" snapped the volus, but he went ignored.
"He didn't apologize, but I brushed it off, and then later he comes up to me with a C-Sec officer and accuses me of stealing from him!" she finished before crossing her arms. "Just another day…" she said with a huff.
Nodding, Shepard opened her omni-tool and began tapping away furiously. "What store did he run into you outside of?"
"Sirta Foundation," she grumbled angrily.
"What are you doing?" asked the volus as he looked up at her curiously.
"Ma'am, I asked you not to get involved…" muttered the officer.
Shepard's eyes snapped up to him, before looking down at his badge number. "I'll take your advice into consideration," she said before turning back to her omni-tool. Finally, she smirked and tapped a few of the holo-light keys. They all heard the sound of a comm call ringing before a high-pitched tone answered.
"Synthetic Insights Ltd, Zakera Branch. Sidon Niva speaking," came the chirpy voice of a salarian.
"Excuse me, Sidon. This is Spectre Jane Shepard with the Citadel Council speaking," she said, allowing the following moments of silence to impress upon both the human and volus.
"Shepard! The Spectre!? You're alive!? I mean… I'd heard you were, but you don't wanna believe extranet rumors…" he said as he began to ramble.
"I'll stop by later and introduce myself. Right now, I have a question for you," she said with a smirk as the human's face soured and the quarian perked up at the name.
"What can I do to help?" asked Sidon excitedly.
"Recently you had a volus customer inside your store. I was wondering if he dropped something inside your store," she asked as her green eyes looked down at the short figure.
"Of course! He dropped his credit chit in the store. I tried to contact him using his customer information, but every time I tried, his line was busy," responded the salarian.
"Thank you, Sidon. That's all I needed," she said as she ended the call, her eyes narrowing at the volus.
"How did you do that!?" asked Toma incredulously.
"I used the security cameras here in the wards and retraced your steps back to the store where you dropped the chip. You'd already have it by now if you weren't so busy trying to call C-Sec on an innocent bystander," she said, her tone beginning to ice over.
"Well… she could have stolen it," he said as he looked away in embarrassment.
Finally, the human decided to speak up again. "I'm glad we've finally gotten this resolved. I'll close the report. Now," he said turning to the quarian. "You need to get a permanent residence or I'll run you in for vagrancy." Suddenly, everyone present gasped in awe as Shepard lunged forward and grabbed the man by his shirt. Not realizing her own strength, she lifted him fully off the ground and glared up at him with a heated stare. "W-What the hell are you doing!?" he asked, gasping in air as his shirt nearly strangled him.
"This volus harasses her, accuses her of theft, and uses multiple racial slurs against her and all you do is end the report and threaten her with arrest?" growled the spectre.
"I'll have you hauled in for assaulting an officer!" growled the man angrily as he gripped her arm.
She threw him backwards, making him fall on his ass none too gently. "See how far your badge gets you against a spectre you lazy ass, check-cashing, waste of taxpayers' money," she snapped as she stepped towards him. He immediately began crawling backwards, fear etched on every inch of his face. "Get your ass out of here and do your job before I use every ounce of my pull to have you homeless on the streets by tomorrow!"
Finally, the man rose to his feet and snorted, trying to save some dignity before he turned and left back into the C-Sec building. Then, Shepard turned towards the volus. Immediately, the short figure turned and ran as fast as his waddling gait could take him from her. Finally, her fiery attitude dropped, and she turned back to the quarian. The young woman had her head tilted curiously. "Your face…"
"My face?" she asked curiously.
"You have red glowing in your eyes, and along your cheek," said Lia as she put her hands together once more but didn't fidget again.
"Oh…" said Shepard as she reached up and touched the scars that remained from the Lazarus Project. "Sorry… did I scare you?"
"Of course not," said the young woman. "You're Shepard. You're talked about among quarians everywhere. But… I thought…"
"I was dead?" she asked, getting a nod. "Yeah, I've been getting that a lot."
"A-Anyway… thank you," said Lia as she looked at the ground awkwardly. "I get that a lot. Dirty looks, not being allowed in certain places, being followed by C-Sec. It's… refreshing when someone so influential stands up for you."
Sighing to herself, the spectre stepped up to the girl. "Are you going to be okay?"
"I guess. I mean, most nights I eat nutrient paste from the turian shelter. It's… not ideal. But I'm surviving," said the young woman.
Shepard stared at her for a long moment before letting out a heavy sigh. She felt her insides softening again as she did when she first began showing Tali around the Presidium. "Lia'Vael?"
The quarian looked up at her curiously. "Y-Yes, Spectre?"
"You're an engineer, right?" she asked curiously.
"Of course. We're trained in engineering from the time we can walk. But I mostly specialize in engine core mechanics," she said before giving the spectre an inquisitive look. "Why?" she asked, getting a bright grin in response.
Combat Information Center – SSV Normandy SR-2
"Shepard, may I have a word?" asked Miranda as she stood at the base of the galaxy map.
Shepard looked over at the operative in her nearly skin-tight suit and sighed to herself. "You can have a few. Just make it brief. I've already had a long day."
"The quarian you just brought onto the ship was not in the dossiers. You can't just…" she started, but then stopped as Shepard put her datapad down and slammed both hands on the railing right above Miranda.
"I don't think you understand how this works, Lawson. This ship," she started, pointing to the deck. "Is mine. I say who comes and goes on it," she said in an annoyed tone. "The dossiers are recommendations from the Illusive Man. I'll probably recruit those people. But every pair of boots on this ship is here because I allow it. Including yours." Miranda's perfect brows furrowed in return annoyance. "Keep that in mind before you start questioning my decisions. Lia'Vael stays and is to be respected as a member of the crew."
The operative inhaled slowly before giving her well known fake smile. "As you say, Shepard." Finally, she turned and left, leaving Shepard to shake her head.
"Everything alright, Spectre?" asked the yeoman next to her.
Thinking back to her time previously on the Citadel, she smirked. "I think I need a massage," she said, getting a giggle from Kelly. "I'm going down to engineering to set our new crew member up. Upload the current dossiers to my terminal and tell Joker to take us to the Omega system.
Shepard could see Kelly actively stop herself from saluting before she nodded. "Understood, sir."
Waving the young woman off, Shepard took the elevator down to the mess hall where the new recruit was supposed to be waiting for her. When she stepped out of the elevator, the young quarian looked up to her, the fidgeting in full force. "Shepard! Er… Spectre! I… I don't think this is a good idea! I mean, I appreciate your offer and all, but I've never worked on an advanced ship like this, and I might mess things up and I…"
"Shhhh…" said Shepard with a smile as she pressed a finger to Lia's glowing mouthpiece. "You're going to do great. Trust me, I've been in this scenario before. Now," she said as she kept her hands to herself in case the quarian had personal space requirements. "This is the mess hall. Sergeant Gardner here will be able to serve you food… right?"
The balding man nodded but had a concerned expression on his face. "We have the capabilities, Spectre. But if we could get some better groceries, I'd be able to do a lot more for both the levo and dextro crew members."
"Noted, I'll get on that," she said as she led the young woman around the ship and showed her what she needed to know.
Combat Information Center – SSV Normandy SR-2
As she stood staring through the visual ports at the former mining colony, Miranda and Jacob both stood on either side of her. Lawson held a set of datapads in her hand as she began reading off the information available.
"Our best bets for recruiting thus far are these two. Doctor Mordin Solus, a salarian virologist, biologist, and medical doctor. He's currently working in a clinic in Omega's quarantine zone."
Shepard eyed her curiously. "Quarantine zone?"
Jacob nodded and pointed the area out through the viewport. "There's a bit of a nasty plague spreading on Omega at the moment. It's hitting some of the poorest areas, and Aria's response to it was to just close off the entire section and let nobody in, nobody out."
"Of course it's the poor people…" grumbled Shepard as she eyed the sector. "If he's in the quarantine zone, how are we going to get to him. I really don't think gunning down the pirate queen's guards is going to end well."
Miranda shrugged and set the datapads aside. "You'll have to negotiate with her, I'm afraid. But I'm sure your diplomatic side will come in handy here," she said with a snide smile.
Shepard glared at her for a moment, then nodded. "We'll have to."
Miranda cleared her throat before continuing. "The Illusive Man also put special privilege on finding another of your crewmates. It appears Garrus Vakarian is somewhere here on Omega."
Immediately, Shepard's eyes widened and snapped over to the operative. "Garrus? Here? Why?"
"We can't say for sure. He's extremely careful about burning any trails he leaves behind. But from what we've found, he's a member of the Blue Suns and is currently working with them to take down a known instigator of the three gangs on Omega," she said as she read from the pad.
"Joined the Blue Suns?" asked the woman as she scratched her head in confusion. "That doesn't sound like Garrus at all…"
Miranda shrugged in response. "That's all we could gather. The pirate gangs on Omega are extremely paranoid, so getting someone on the inside has been hell. At this point, it'd be more effective to just walk up to him and ask."
Turning her gaze back to the viewport, Shepard stared at the colony as it buzzed with life. The place was a harbor for some of the ugliest kinds of people in the galaxy. Their only bright spots were that they were blatant about their disregard for morality. Trafficking of drugs, slaves, illegal technological practices, murder, kidnapping… it was all a game on Omega, similar to the Alliance world of Trident. And now, she had to go there. The only difference this time was that she didn't have an insider on the world to help her.
Sighing to herself, she turned away from the galaxy map and headed towards the elevator. "Taylor, Lawson, suit up and meet me at the Kodiak," she said, turning her gaze to them sternly. "Fully armed."
Omega Landing Dock 073 – Omega Station
She knew as soon as she stepped off the ship that there was going to be power play after power play aimed directly at her. Aria was well connected enough to know she was alive, and well informed enough to already know she was here. In all her years working throughout the Traverse and even with her foray into the Terminus as a spectre, she had never had to intentionally cross paths with the asari pirate queen. She had been thankful for that before, but she found herself wondering if perhaps a bit of friendly competition wouldn't help grease the wheel she was about to try and turn.
Either way, she needed to work fast if she wanted to get to Garrus before they killed whatever this nuisance was, and he moved on with the Suns. And to do that, she needed to know where to start. She could hijack communications to and from the queen's club, Afterlife and filter through information that way. But given how short the clock may be, a direct approach was necessary.
She strode across the dock, fully armored and ready for war when she was stopped by a pathetic looking salarian. He had a forced smile across his face, an unusual sight for the usually unexpressive species. "Ah! You're new here! I can tell!" he said eagerly as he got into her personal bubble way too quickly for her liking. "Please, allow me to…" he began again. But immediately his wide, relaxed eyes snapped open and he spun around at two words.
"Back off," came the voice of a gruff batarian. Shepard's eyes drifted up to him and she saw that he was armored as well. Not as well as her, but well-armed enough that he could put down a group of attackers if the need rose.
"Oh!" said the salarian as he immediately backed away from the two. "M-Moklan! I was just helping…"
"She doesn't need your help, Fargut. Get out of here before I throw you off the docks," said the batarian with an authoritative tone. The salarian, practically shivering in fear, ducked his head and fled from the scene, leaving the batarian to turn to her. "Welcome to Omega, Shepard."
"Power play is it?" she asked curiously, getting an unphased look from him. "Get a scavenger on the docks, then strut around commandingly and he runs off with his metaphorical tail between his legs to show how powerful and badass you are, am I right?"
The batarian chuckled dryly. "Not a bad idea, but you're incorrect. Aria sent me here to bring you straight to her, that's all. Fargut being here was irrelevant. If she wanted to show you her power, you wouldn't have set a single foot on this rock."
She tilted her head to the left in response. "An escort helps cut down on traffic. Good," she said as she waved her arm towards the docks.
"And your compliance definitely helps," he said as he eyed her curiously, no doubt wondering if her body language was intentional. "Follow me."
They strode together into the main gates of the asteroid colony. Shepard's brows furrowed as she looked up and saw a mass of flying vehicles that were seemingly flying unrestricted around the colony itself. "No rules for air traffic?"
"Oh, there're rules alright. Don't die," said Moklan with a snicker. "There are nearly eight million people on this rock, most of whom are here because they're rule breakers. Trying to control them with anything would require police, and we don't do police."
Shepard gave him the side eye. "Unless Aria gets pissed."
"Those aren't police. They're garbage disposal," he said as he opened the hood to a vehicle nearby. "Get in. It's a short trip."
Shepard grumbled to herself as she hopped in, wondering if she would be safer strapped into the vehicle or free from restraint. Miranda and Jacob followed, and the three of them took a short trip in a surprisingly empty airspace all the way to the front lot of a large building. As she stepped out of the aircar, she ignored Moklan tossing the keys to a volus valet and looked up at the giant, glowing, red sign on the front. "Afterlife?" she asked as the thumping beat from inside finally hit her ears. "She stays in a club?"
"In a manner of speaking. It's where she takes her business meetings. The building has shield generators built into it, the walls are fully capable of standing up to a barrage from the Citadel's best frigates, and even if they could get past the shields and the walls, you'd never be able to punch through the crust of this rock to get to Aria herself. So don't even think about it," he said, giving her a stern look.
"I wasn't thinking about it until you said it," she said, returning his glare.
"Oh… well, forget about it then," he said, waving his hand as he led them up to the front door. Stemming from the massive door was two multi-file lines of people waiting to get inside. She could easily see heated glares aimed at her as she was led past them all and through the first door. It slid open and she could see a long hallway leading down to a second door which was currently open as well, allowing a flood of people inside, and letting others out.
Shepard eyed the door ahead momentarily before turning back and looking at the one they just came through. "Hmmm…"
"Problem?" asked Moklan as he eyed her.
"No, it's nothing," she said as she continued to follow him inside the club proper. Once the second door opened, her eyes widened, and she wanted to slam her hands over her ears. Instead, she opted to activate sound dampeners for her helmet as the waves of sound crashed over them all. Looking around inside, she was slightly disappointed with how normal it looked for a seedy club. "I guess even the Pirate Queen knows what works, huh?"
"That she does. This place may seem grimy to your perfect Citadel standards. But it's the best of the best here, and people pay handsomely just to be let in the front door," said the batarian as he waved them over to a set of stairs at the far back of the room.
Finally, one of the two behind her spoke up. Jacob shook his head as he walked along. "Well, I guess when your choices are mud or moldy bread, you gotta eat the bread."
"Whatever you say, human," said the batarian as he shrugged carelessly. "You two stay down here. Aria only wants to see the spectre."
Shepard waved them off and followed him up until finally she stood before the mythical figure herself. The woman was seated on a long scarlet couch that matched the motif of the rest of the club. Surprisingly, there was very little around her. No weapons, no terminals, no guards. Just her on the couch with her back to a large window that showed down into the main floor of the club.
"Always dancing around one another. I had always assumed we'd meet sooner, but then you went and died," said the asari woman as she looked up to Shepard with a smug grin on her face.
"I guess you could call it dancing," said Shepard with a shrug. She'd never had cause to face off against the woman, so she wouldn't exactly call it dancing around one another as much as having conveniently avoided one another.
"Have a seat," said the woman as she motioned towards the perpendicular section of the couch.
"You're not afraid I might try something?" asked Shepard curiously as she stepped over, her silent omni-tool reading that there weren't any known chemical or electronic traps in the area she was about to sit.
Aria scoffed momentarily before shaking her head. "We're not enemies. If you were going to try and kill me, you wouldn't walk through the front door of a heavily reinforced building, trap yourself behind a wall of armed guards without your weapon drawn, and attempt to do it right here as if you're taking out a court witness," she said as she opened a small holographic interface and pressed a button on its surface.
Shepard nodded, noting that the emptiness she saw was because the woman was rich enough to have all of her stuff made of holotech. Nobody would need a computer terminal at all if you could simply summon one out of thin air. "Noted."
"I've seen your track record, Shepard. If you were trying to kill me, you wouldn't be walking through the door. In fact, it's more likely I wouldn't see you coming at all," she said as an asari woman in full combat gear walked up the stairs and delivered Aria's drink to her.
"You're not wrong. Up front isn't really my style," said Shepard as she leaned back in a more relaxed pose. Despite her demeanor, she never turned her omni-tool off.
"So, care to tell me why a dead spectre has come to my doorstep?" asked the asari woman as she turned her head towards Shepard, her look saying that she wasn't thrilled about someone with her title being on Omega.
"Two things for now, at least. I understand how things work here, so I was intending to come to you even without the escort," said the spectre as she leaned back in the seat. "I've come to make a deal with you."
"I like deals, especially with your kind," said Aria as her gorgeous face curled into an enticing smile.
"I figured. The thing is, normally I'd come here, make friends with someone lower on the ladder, give them the tech and skills to be able to give me information when I need it, and then pay them handsomely whenever I need have use of their services on Omega. But this time around, I don't really have the time to do that," said Shepard with a sigh as she leaned her head against her fist. "So, instead, I'd like to just deal with you directly. I need information, I pay you for it, we both walk away happy."
Aria nodded thoughtfully. "I'm in no real need of money, Spectre. So, if you want to deal with me, you'll have to offer something more beneficial to me."
"We'll measure that out as we go. Right now, I need information on Garrus Vakarian and his current relationship with the Blue Suns," said the woman as she showed her a holograph of her old turian crewmate.
"And in return?" asked Aria who didn't even look at the holograph.
Shepard smirked back at the woman almost playfully. "I'll tell you how I'd kill you."
Aria's eyes widened and both of her guards posted at the stairs looked at her incredulously. "Bold words. But you must have been told how heavily fortified this place is."
"I have heard, yes," said Shepard, causing Aria's gaze to melt into a heated glare.
"Tell me and I'll decide if that's worth the information," said the pirate queen as she sat back in her seat. Shepard moved to open her omni-tool when the two guards raised their weapons. But Aria waved them off. "Let her. She's of no threat to me right now."
As the guards dropped their guard again, Shepard brought up a blueprint of Omega that she had taken since she had landed. "Your club is here, near the edge of the entire colony and facing outward into the edge of space," said Shepard as she highlighted the area in front of the club. "There's nothing in front of this door except a landing zone for vehicles to be taken elsewhere by the valet."
"It makes it harder for them to lay siege to you if they have their backs wide open," said the asari with a small grin.
"True, but it also presents a problem," said the spectre as she zoomed in slightly. "From what I've mapped of the club so far, you have one very exploitable weakspot." Raising her finger, Shepard pointed to the holographic form of the window that Aria was currently sitting in front of, then drew a perfectly straight line through both of the large doors, over the landing zone, and out into space.
"Are you implying a sniper could hit me from outside the club?" asked the woman, intrigued at the development.
"I could," said Shepard with a smirk. "But you should be less worried about snipers, and more about ships." Shepard added in the holographic form of a frigate, a similar size to the original Normandy. "Even small ships can have huge guns if that's their sole purpose. An unpowered ship could be brought out into this empty zone, use an AI to aim directly through the doors, and then fire a weapon slow enough to get through the shields, but powerful enough to erase the inside of the club and anyone in it."
"And… how would I remedy this?" asked Aria curiously.
"Set the doors at the entrance to open and close in intervals. One cannot open until the other is closed. That way they never have a clear view of you, and even if they fired the weapon, it'd never make it inside before you were able to escape. If you're vigilant, keep motion trackers outside of that area and weapons specifically designed to take out unauthorized movement," said the spectre as she sat back in the chair once more, the holo disappearing entirely. "You're right about one thing. If I had wanted you dead, I could have taken you out with the weapons on my ship without ever having stepped on the colony."
Aria's gaze lingered on her a moment before she turned to a nearby turian. "Get Hermes in here."
Shepard's brow cocked curiously. "A human? Or are you just fascinated with Greek mythology?"
"A specialist," said the queen as she eyed Shepard. "So, about the turian. We've had him pegged as soon as he arrived a few months ago when he arrived alone. It wasn't long before his name got him into the Blue Suns. A pretty prominent role as well," said the woman as she activated her own omni-tool and passed information to Shepard. "Currently, he and his squad are helping two other gangs handle a nuisance that's cropped up on the station."
"A nuisance?" asked Shepard as she tilted her head.
"Someone who goes by the moniker Archangel. He's spent the last year pissing off all three of the main gangs here on Omega. Ransacking shipments, blowing up safe houses, taking out important members. He's a regular fucking Batman," said the asari with a smirk.
"Interesting," said Shepard as she reached up and scratched her head again. "The Blue Suns?" She still couldn't wrap her head around how he became involved with them after everything they had gone through together. Then again, she wasn't really sure of his motive. He could very well be infiltrating them in order to get info. She wouldn't know until she found him. "In any case, I better get going if I wanna find… him…"
She looked up as a human man walked up the stairs and gave Aria a small bow. "What can I do for you, my queen?"
Shepard's training immediately kicked in. Through sheer will, she forced her face to remain placid as she saw his face. She had only ever seen him with a shorn head, so seeing him standing here, his arms tattooed, his hair grown out to nearly his chin with a punk rock streak in it almost startled her. "This must be Hermes." Instead of showing any kind of surprise, she held out her hand and smiled.
The man looked to her, and she could see the same internal struggle that she had just gone through. But like her, the man simply smiled and shook her hand. "You must be Spectre Shepard, I've heard so much about you."
"All of it good, I hope," she said before turning back to the woman. "Anyway, as I said, I should go before they finish their business and take off. I'll get back to you when I'm done. And you'll have to figure out what it is you want in return for the exact location and situation behind Mordin Solus." The asari smirked at her, but she knew who was actually listening. Turning from Aria, Shepard nodded to Hermes, then Moklan, then left the upper room of the club. Waving down the Cerberus agents, she continued heading towards the door. "I've got his location. Let's go scope things out and see what the hell is going on."
Retaliation Staging Grounds – Omega
"So, how do we play this?" asked Jacob as the trio stepped out of the vehicle and looked over the entire scope of the operation. Shepard's eyes widened as she saw the sheer number of mercenaries that were here.
"Holy shit… whoever this guy is, he reeeeally pissed them off," said Shepard as she saw thousands of mercenaries, both group members of the Big Three on Omega and freelancers milling about as they prepared for war. Then she realized a question had been asked. "Oh, right. Well, there are freelancers here helping to fight this Archangel guy. So as long as we enlist and act like one of them, we shouldn't get too many funny looks. In the meantime, we need to figure out where the Blue Suns are housed."
Miranda looked over the crowd as well and shrugged lightly. "Well, if their color scheming is an indicator, they're over there."
Shepard's brow cocked at where she was pointing. "Well, at least their need for flair makes our job easier," she said as she eyed the entrypoint into the grounds. "Looks like they're enlisting down there."
The walk was short and the three of them found themselves in a short line. Jacod stepped up to Shepard as he eyed the people in front of them. "Looks like we're with the stragglers. Nothing serious back here," he said as his eyes locked onto a figure directly in front of them. "Is he even old enough to join?"
Shepard looked at the young man and she immediately had to agree. He stood barely under her own height, was scrawny with scraggly hair tucked under a messy hat, and armor that looked like it was fashioned from scrap metal around the station. As the young figure stepped up to the enlistment officer, he began speaking and she heard in his voice how young he actually was.
Stepping forward, she raised a hand and cut off the officer's speech. "What are you doing here?" she asked, her focused green eyes locked on the young lad.
"W-Wha? Me?" he stuttered briefly before reaching back and pulling up a gun that looked older than she was. "I'm gonna make some scratch and a name for myself. I'm gonna join-"
"Signing on as a freelancer does NOT make you a member of the Gowthra, the Blue Suns, or the Eclipse. You are a freelancer, period," snapped the enlistment officer.
Shepard sighed to herself before eyeing the gun. "Where'd you get that?"
"I bought it for 50 creds," he said giving her a suspicious look. "Why?"
Opening her omni-tool, her fingers moved rapidly before she pulled up a small datacard. "Here. This is 500 credits. Go do something else," she said before she reached up and gripped the young man's gun. Her grip tightened and the entire thing buckled underneath, deforming until it finally snapped in half.
"Hey! What the hell!?" squeaked the young man as he held the remnants in his hands.
Stepping up to the enlistment officer, she gave the batarian a firm stare. "Singing up the three of us."
Jacob patted the boy on the back and shooed him away from the battlegrounds before turning back towards the irate batarian. The officer sighed and nodded. "You've got your own weapons and armor, so no need to cover that. As I told the brat, you-"
"I am a freelancer, and am not a member of any of the gangs here," said Shepard, trying to speed the process up.
"Right," said the batarian as he forwarded the information to her. "This number will alert you as soon as the attack begins. You'll be given instructions on what to do, where to go, and how to get there once a strategy has been formed. You're free to walk around the grounds, but I'd avoid the main alley if you don't want Archangel putting you down," he said, then stopped and looked up at them. "Oh… and try not to annoy the gang leaders. They're already pissed off as it is."
"Noted," said the spectre as she nodded.
"Good. Get your asses inside and wait for the call," he said as he gave her the number in question.
She stashed it away and entered as Jacob and Miranda followed her example. Once inside the grounds, she immediately turned to Miranda. "So, how much of that was me, and how much was what Cerberus did to me?"
Lawson eyed her for a moment. "You mean the gun? To be fair it looked pretty ancient."
"No kidding. I'm pretty sure I've seen planets younger than that thing," said Jacob with a chuckle.
Shepard eyed them both, showing that she wasn't joking, and Miranda just shrugged. "I'm sorry, but I can't say for sure. You have had cybernetic enhancements installed into your body, but nothing incredibly extensive. You should be stronger, faster, and more capable than the average soldier. But enough to crush a modern gun? I'm not sure. And I won't be until we start doing some more physical exams on you."
Shepard eyed her curiously. "Like strength tests?"
"We still have a whole host of tests we should go through," said Miranda as she donned her serious face once more. "Shepard, you have a new ability that your brain was never trained to use. We haven't tested your biotics, we haven't tested your physicality, and after you got off the table at Lazerus Station, we've been unable to check your vitals at all. We need to see how your body is reacting to the stimulus of being alive."
"Not for nothing, but I feel like I've had my fill of medical procedures," said Shepard, knowing the better part of two years was basically one big surgical experiment on her.
Miranda sighed and placed her hands on her wide hips. "Be that as it may, Shepard, we don't know much of anything about how you've been functioning. There could be any number of things going wrong inside you and we'd never know because of your stubbornness."
Jacob nodded. "I've gotta say, I'm with Miri on this one, Shep. It wouldn't hurt to have Doctor Chakwas check on you to make sure you aren't being eaten from the inside out by the new tech."
Letting out an annoyed sigh, Shepard nodded begrudgingly. "Fine. But only through Karin, and I'm going to peruse your reports heading back to the Illusive Man should we find anything unusual."
"Duly noted," said Miranda in her icy tone.
"One more thing before we go get ourselves killed," said Shepard as she pulled her helmet up from her hip. "How the hell did you turn me into a biotic?"
"We… didn't," said Miranda, her expression changing to one of concern for the first time since they had met on the exploding station. "Look, it's a long story. I'd be happy to tell you later, but now isn't really the time or place."
Shepard's brow cocked. "Is it really that complicated?"
"Yes," was her simple, but firm answer. "There are some things you may not want to hear, and right now we're about to walk into the middle of a mercenary group who potentially wants you dead for past transgressions."
"Fine, but this conversation isn't over," said Shepard as she slapped on her helmet and turned to the large crowd before them. "Now then, let's go find us a turian."
CODEX ENTRIES
Junkrat | Derogatory Linguistics | Galactic Common
The most common prejudice against quarians is that they are scavengers who pick through the remains or trash of others. The term junkrat was used to describe this perception, in which they are pests who live in junkyards and steal or take whatever they can get their hands on.
Head Tilt | Body Language | Batarian
Head movement and eye contact is important to language in Batarian culture. Breaking eye contact for any reason is commonly seen as suspicious and can turn a casual conversation into something more serious. Due to the restricting nature of always holding eye contact, tilting of the head became a way of expressing further. Tilting to the head is a sign of admiration or respect, while tilting to the right is a sign of disdain, or an air of authority over another. Many batarians who commonly work with other species have had to unlearn these signs given the constant head movements of other species.