Chapter 11
Bioengineering Lab – Maxwell Compound
Stars were all she saw. Her ears rang as she pushed against the ground in an attempt to get to her knees. Shaking her head, the operative looked up and saw everyone in the room was on the ground. "Shit…" she groaned as she got to her feet and limped over to Garrus who was groaning himself. "Vakarian? Are you alright?"
"Yeah… I think that one evened my face out…" he said, letting out a heavy cough before slowly getting up as well.
Zaeed blasted through the door with his shoulder and looked around with his weapon drawn. "What the bloody hell was that!?" he shouted, the back of his armor scored from the explosion.
The asari was the next to rise. "Jedore's insurance, no doubt," she said as she held her head in pain, her face marred with numerous cuts.
"Damn…" said the turian as he looked around for the weapon that had flown from his back. "We have to go after Shepard. She might be in trouble."
"You lot finish up here, I'll get the spectre and be back in time for tea," growled Massani as he headed for the door at the far end of the room.
"Damn! No no no! Don't you dare!" snapped Rana as she leaned over Okeer's body. Miranda limped over to the elder and stared down at his wounds, grimacing as his arm was gone and his blood was filtering through the rubble below him.
"He's a goner. You need to get up and get out of here before Jedore finishes the job," ordered Miranda as she gripped the woman by the shoulder, being gentler than she anticipated.
But she stopped as Okeer's voice choked out his last words. "My… my work… don't… don't let… future of krogan… die…" The dim fire in his eyes died as his head slowly turned away from the asari. Rana let out a sigh of frustration before looking up to Miranda.
"Let's get the tank and get out of here," she snapped as she jumped to her feet and hurried towards the cracked unit near the doorway. The explosion had fractured the cover and the incubation fluid was slowly leaking onto the floor.
"Vakarian, let's get this thing out of here. We can help Shepard afterwards!" ordered the operative. Garrus eyed her sternly for a moment before nodding.
"Shepard and Massani should be able to handle her. She's just one woman…" the turian said before the door behind him slammed open with the mercenary shouting to them.
"Out of the way!" Zaeed bellowed as he sprinted through the door. His voice hit them all before something slammed into his back and sent him sprawling. Miranda gasped as Shepard's armored body landed in front of her.
"Fuck…" groaned the spectre as she got back to her feet slowly.
"Shepard! What happened?" asked Garrus as he helped the mercenary back to his feet.
"Suit…" groaned the spectre as she pointed at the far wall just as it collapsed. Miranda looked and her eyes widened as the wall separating the biolab from the incubation chamber collapsed and behind it stood Jedore Maxwell inside an Atlas class armored suit.
"Bullshit…" snapped Miranda as she recognized the armored exosuit. Seeing the gun arm rise, she dove to the side just as a rocket flew by and pulverized the wall behind her.
"This is MY compound! You'll die for opposing me!" shouted Jedore over the speaker as the chain gun on the other hand began firing into Okeer's corpse.
Zaeed ripped a grenade clean from his belt and armed it before sliding it between the suit's legs. But the explosion barely scratched the armored surface. Shepard reached out and trapped the suit with biotics, and Miranda jumped up and used her own to assist, slamming the machine into the ground and causing an explosion that sent debris flying.
Shepard reached up and opened her visor long enough to wipe blood from her mouth as she glared at the ominous smoke cloud where the machine stood. She knew the suit wasn't broken, but the explosion was more than powerful enough to take out Jedore inside it. "Keep your guard up," she ordered as she replaced her visor and readied her biotics again. Miranda and even Rana followed suit with their own as Garrus and Zaeed prepared their hardest hitting weapons.
But Shepard didn't have to wait long before she heard movement. Throwing up a biotic wave, a missile shot forward and began to slow as it travelled through her net. But Jedore must have remote detonated it midflight, sending her vaulting through the air and landing directly onto a flat surface.
Her ears were ringing and her vision blurry as she reached up and grabbed the cracked visor of her helmet and ripped the entire thing off, allowing blood to flow from her skull down her face. She saw her blood drip slowly onto the surface of whatever she had landed on, the slowing effect of her adrenaline finally kicking in. But her gaze turned away from the puddle as she saw another pair of eyes glaring back at her.
Another explosion hit the wall to her right, buckling the wall and opening the ceiling up to the sunlight while Miranda barely escaped in one piece. Rolling off of the leaking tank, she yanked the emergency release lever on the side, shooting the armored glass into the air and into her biotic grasp. The chain gun spun and spewed fire at the spectre. Each round smashed into the armored glass, creating cracks that spiderwebbed across its surface, but none penetrating fully with her biotics slowing their path.
Jedore growled angrily as her chain gun stopped to cool. Angrily, she swung the rocket arm around for another shot. Shepard, attempting to remember her training aboard the Normandy, threw her arm forward and hurled the broken shield directly at the weapon. As soon as the rocket emerged from the arm, the glass impacted it and caused an early explosion that mangled the launcher. "Garrus! Stun her!" shouted the spectre as she sprinted for the exosuit.
The turian leapt up and and unleashed a stunning shock with his omni-tool that penetrated the the armor's cyber warfare protection. The woman inside convulsed in pain as Zaeed took a whole belt of grenades and hurled them under the machine before Garrus began unloading on them with his assault rifle. Another explosion caused one of the legs to short, making the suit sink down onto its haunches. "Do you think that's going to stop me!?" shouted Jedore, angrier than ever as she pulled the chain gun up again.
"No," said Shepard from next to the machine. Jedore, surprised at seeing her there, tried to spin the suit to aim the machine gun at her. But a wave of biotics gripped the chain gun from her opposite side. Shepard smiled at Miranda for her quick thinking before she reached out with her own biotics and grabbed the rocket launcher, the two biotics pulling from opposite sides and keeping the woman from moving the suit anywhere. "But he will," said Shepard smartly as she nodded her head towards the open tank.
Rana slowly stepped up as the massive krogan inside pulled himself up to his feet, towering over everyone in the room and standing nearly as tall as the Atlas itself. Pointing at the woman, Rana spoke one word. "Enemy."
The krogan, whose head had yet to form a solid plate, looked over at her momentarily before his heated blue gaze turned back onto Jedore. The woman had an expression of sheer terror on her face as she tried to pull away from the biotics that had trapped her. But even if she were free, she wouldn't have gotten away.
The goliath krogan lurched forward faster than Shepard had ever seen one of his species move. The impact of him colliding with the suit ripped both of its arms off and sent the two biotics sprawling. As the mech suit crashed to the ground, the behemoth began headbutting the plasteel shield covering the cockpit with his broad, spiked head. One gargantuan slam caused it split down the middle. With another, it caved inwards.
Jedore shrieked as the krogan grabbed her leg and ripped her from the machine, the safety harnesses snapping at his brute strength. And in one seemingly effortless move, he slammed her into the ground so hard that she immediately stopped moving and blood began to pool out from her body.
Shepard glared at the woman, knowing that she was dead on impact. The brutality left her mind, however, as she turned back to the krogan who was smelling the air around him. To say she was intimidated would be an understatement. She didn't know anything about him. He was an unknown variable, something she didn't like at all. Despite her fear of the unknown, she stood straight and stared him directly in the eyes, knowing that krogan frowned on those who had weak posture.
Finally, he looked towards her as the others backed off and held their weapons up. She waved them to lower them as he approached her, his steps practically grinding the rubble beneath him into dust. As he stopped in front of her, he looked down into her matching eyes and simply growled, "Name."
"Jane Shepard, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance," she replied as she kept her eyes locked on his.
"Not your name; mine. I am trained, I know things, I've seen things, I've learned things. But Okeer never once spoke of my name," he said as he slouched slightly, shrinking down to her eye level.
Rana stepped forward and raised her hand to interrupt. "Perhaps I could…"
But her voice froze as his very serpent-like eyes shifted to her. "Tank mother. You taught me, but your usefulness is at its end. I am asking the warlord questions now," he said with absolute authority despite his voice not rising in the slightest. She simply put her hand down and backed away. Turning back to Shepard, he nodded. "Warlord Shepard. Your enemies are great. The batarian hegemony, the pirate king Elanos Haliat, the Spectre Saren Arterius, the Reaper Sovereign. You have killed mercenaries, pirates, geth, thresher maws, and a reaper. You will give me a name. The name of a warrior."
Shepard, thrown off a bit by his request, tilted her head curiously. "You wouldn't rather just take Okeer's name?"
"Okeer was a fool. He trained me for a purpose and expected me to follow his plans. I don't care for his plans or his enemies. I am myself, not Okeer; and I will do as I please," he said as he leaned forward into her face. "Perhaps I should kill you and take your name."
"Would you risk dying for that honor?" asked Shepard firmly as she glared back at him.
The krogan eyed her for a moment before smirking. "Heh heh heh, I like you," he chimed gleefully.
"I'm not your mother, and I'm not a warlord. I'm just a human grunt killing mercenaries. So, I don't understand why it's important that I give you a name," she responded with a shrug.
His eyes narrowed at her as he stood to his full height again. "Grunt. Simple, short, to the point. Outdated term for soldier," he said before looking down at her again. "It'll do."
"Okay…" said the woman as she planted her hands on her armored hips. "What are you going to do?"
He smirked again. "I'm going with you," he said as if the answer were obvious.
"Is that right?" asked the spectre, smirking back at him.
"You are Warlord Shepard. Your enemies span the galaxy. If anybody in this desolate corner of space could put my training to use, it's you," he said before getting in her face again. "And if I find your enemies weak and your command lacking, then perhaps I'll find you more of a challenge."
Rolling her eyes Shepard just pointed towards the exit. "Just get to the damn shuttle," she ordered before turning to Miranda. The operative had her arms crossed and the same expression on her face every time the spectre brought unauthorized personnel aboard. "Not a single word from you," she said as she pointed to the woman.
Miranda just shook her head and chuckled before reaching over and helping Garrus who was now limping back towards the shuttle. "We'll talk about this back on the ship."
Shepard turned to check on the others as they all filed towards the ship to make sure they weren't seriously injured before she gave one last look to Jedore. Her eyes saw the body, then looked up towards the now annihilated suit of armor. "Daddy's money it is…" she said as she shook her head, then turned and left herself.
Cargo Bay – SSV Normandy SR-2
"Alright, let's hear it," said Shepard with a tired expression on her face. She stood near the airlock to the hallway as she watched multiple crew members try and help pry Grunt out of the cargo truck they had to hijack in order to get him back on the ship.
Miranda stood next to her with a familiar glare. "Should I even bother?" asked the operative with a shrug. "I mean, I could try to tell you the dangers of having a gigantic unhinged krogan capable of killing a human in a single attack on board a star ship, but would anything I said sink in?"
Garrus walked up after dropping his stuff off at the armory. "Probably not. Besides, you've probably got nothing to worry about. Shepard has a history of wrestling krogan into shape."
Miranda glared at the turian. "There's a wide difference between a thousand-year-old krogan mercenary and a bioengineered krogan with the strength and bloodlust of two," she snapped back at him.
Garrus chuckled at her as he leaned against the wall next to Shepard. "You're only saying that because you've never met Wrex. The first mission the two of them went on she punched him in the face for insubordination."
Miranda's brows furrowed as she looked from him back to Shepard. "You punched him in the face after just meeting him?"
Garrus flexed his sore leg. "Human, asari, quarian, turian, krogan, they all fall in line when she puts her foot down. Hell, give it long enough and a geth will be on the squad. Maybe a rachni or two."
Jacob finally strolled up after locking the armory and chuckled at the operative. "That'd be a hell of a lot of paperwork."
"Oh please no," groaned the operative as she ran her hand through her hair.
Shepard smirked lightly as Garrus did the talking for her. She didn't let that happen often, but Lawson definitely needed to hear from someone with experience rather than relying on her own assurances. "If it makes you feel any better, Lawson, I'll ask pretty please before bringing any geth aboard."
Miranda groaned again as Lia'Vael exited the passage to the engine room and walked up to Shepard with her nose buried in a datapad. Looking up, the young quarian looked up and waved to Shepard before skipping over. "Captain!"
"I'm not a captain, Lia," reminded Shepard in a friendly tone.
"Apologies. I have to get used to being on a human ship. We call all ship leaders captain," she said slightly flustered.
"You can call me Shepard," said the redhead as she smiled at the girl. "Watcha got there?"
"Oh!" squeaked the quarian as she snapped to attention. "Engineer Gabby'Daniels gave me reports on the heat sink storage and their draw on…" Suddenly, she dropped all of the datapads and stood straight in fear as a loud bark sounded behind her.
"Get off, human," growled Grunt as he kicked the back doors off the cargo vehicle, causing them to clank to the ground and sending two Cerberus crew members tumbling backwards. Planting one foot on the cargo bay floor, he flexed his back and stood to his full height, his back spikes sheering clean through the truck's troop loading atmospheric cloth.
Lia spun around and stared at him, her knees practically shaking as she saw him approach. "K-Keelah… he… he's big," she said, trying to hide the stutter in her voice.
"Shepard!" snapped the krogan with a smile.
"Grunt," responded Shepard, returning his smile.
"Do I get my own room, or do we get bunkmates?" asked behemoth as he towered over them all.
"The only room that's gonna fit you is one of the spare cargo storage rooms down here," she said as she nodded her head in the same direction Zaeed was headed. "You and Massani can decide what works between the two of you."
"Heh heh heh, let's see if I can make him wet himself," he said as he turned and headed off in the direction of the cargo rooms.
Shepard watched him go and sighed to herself. "He's going to need armor."
"And clothing," responded Jacob as he shook his head.
"Spirits please…" groaned Garrus. "I think I've seen enough krogan testicles for a lifetime."
"A lot of crew gonna feel inadequate in more ways than one if he goes around like that," Jacob responded with a chuckle.
"Right," said Shepard as she finally stood up and helped the young quarian gather her datapads. "Jacob, find me an armorer that can do this. It's top priority. The faster he gets on the battlefield, the less I have to worry about him headbutting a hole in the Normandy's hull." The soldier saluted, then headed off to do as he was bid. "Miranda, gather Rana and meet me in the conference room."
"On it," said the operative with an exasperated sigh.
Conference Room – SSV Normandy SR-2
"What's the matter with you?" asked Miranda as she eyed the giant krogan.
Grunt sat at the conference table, his butt planted firmly on the floor as none of the chairs would support his size, shape, or weight. In addition, he also had a makeshift robe crafted from extra blankets and a bunch of handy clips that the new quarian engineer always kept in one of her many pockets. "You humans are a weird species."
"How so?" asked the operative curiously as she waited for Shepard to join them.
"The first two of you I meet and neither of you have been intimidated by me," he pouted as he looked away.
"Didn't you go after Massani? What happened?" she asked, bewildered by his response. Rana already had her head in her hand.
"I told him that storage area was mine now, and to get out of my room. He just told me to piss off, cracked a bottle of ryncol over my head, then shut the door in my face."
Miranda covered her mouth with her hand to keep her laugh hidden. Never in all of her predictions of how the future would go did she think that Massani would make her proud. "Well, if it's any consolation, Shepard, myself, and the rest of her team are all exceptional examples. The majority of humans would die of fright just by looking at you."
"Aww, you're just saying that," he said with a smirk. His head turned as the door at the far end of the room finally opened and in walked the spectre.
"Alright, Rana, tell me what the hell Grunt is and what Okeer was doing," ordered the woman as she plopped down in her seat.
Nodding, the asari began. "Okeer was one of the most brilliant people I've ever known. He was very much like his people. He was angry, violent, and demeaning. But I've also never seen someone so passionate and creative as he was about the krogan people. He saw them and was saddened. He didn't see them the way most of the galaxy, even his own people saw themselves. He saw their culture, their art, their songs, their very way of life dying."
"Not uncommon of a slowly dying species," remarked Miranda, who got a glare from Shepard. Holding up her hands defensively, she waved for Rana to continue.
Snorting in annoyance, the asari turned back to Shepard. "Most krogan see the genophage as their inhibiter. But he did not. As I spoke with him, he told me that his people had started dying long before the effects of the genophage took hold."
"Did he say what was killing his people?" asked the spectre curiously.
Nodding, the asari gave a small smile. "He said that back on their homeworld Tuchanka, the krogan had a purpose. They had to survive. They fought against the weather, the flora, the animals. They fought against everything. They worked together, they celebrated together, and they fought together. But, before the uplifting the krogan went to war with one another and ended up devastating their world. He said it was then that they lost their spirit."
"A nuclear hellscape can have that effect," said Shepard as she furrowed her brows.
"It wasn't so much what they had done to their world, but what they had done to each other," said Rana as she continued. "After the uplifting, the krogan felt some measure of purpose again with the Rachni Wars, but again they lost it once the war was over. They began fighting each other once more over territory, colonization rights, entire clans began marking their place in the galaxy causing other clans to spread more until the Council had to put an end to their rapid takeover." She gave a small shrug. "He wanted to return that purpose to his people."
"Okay…" started Miranda. "But how does that equal this?" she asked motioning towards Grunt.
Nodding, Rana looked to Grunt. "Aside from being the genetic progeny of all of the greatest known krogan warlords, making him one of if not the most formidable krogan in existence, he was also created with greater intelligence and memory."
"What about the genophage? Did Okeer figure out how to get around that?" asked Miranda firmly.
"He didn't bring it up often," she said in a very animated fashion. "The details were likely destroyed in Jedore's sabotage. But he made it a point to note that his goal was not to get rid of the genophage."
"I'll have to have Mordin look at him and see what's going on. But so far, all you've really told me is that we have the product of krogan eugenics sitting at my conference table," said Shepard with a grim look on her face.
Grunt looked between them all. "Why are you talking about me while I'm sitting right here?"
Shepard turned to him with a stern look. "Do you know why you were created?"
"I… uhhh…" he started, looking away as if thinking. Then he finally glared at her. "No."
"Then let her finish," ordered the spectre. The krogan turned away and grumbled to himself.
Rana chuckled to herself at his childish antics before she continued. "Essentially, Okeer wanted to create the future of the krogan. Not just a perfect krogan soldier, but a potential leader to guide them back to their original purpose."
"That being?" asked Miranda curiously. Thus far, the only purpose she had seen from the krogan was to be a galactic menace.
"As Okeer put it himself," said Rana as she cleared her throat in an attempt to mimic his tone. "To kill every nightmare, scourge, and reaper in the galaxy until we are as revered as an asari hooker."
"First eugenics, then misogyny," said Shepard as she stared blankly at Miranda. "The Illusive Man sure can pick 'em."
"I'd say anything willing to help fight the reapers is worthwhile to keep around," said Miranda thoughtfully. "But as far as being a leader, he's got a long way to go."
"Says you," growled Grunt as he glared at her before getting up. His head scraped the ceiling as he stared down at her. "I'll be a better leader than any humans in the history of your species."
"Grunt, sit down," groaned Shepard.
"But she said I couldn't-" he started, but Shepard's eyes locked onto his, stopping him mid-sentence. Miranda and Rana both stared between the two for a long moment as silence reigned. But grumbling once again, Grunt sat down.
"You will be a great leader, Grunt. But you have a lot to learn before that time comes," said the spectre as she nodded to him.
"Ha!" he said, pointing at Miranda. "Told you."
"In any case…" snapped Shepard as she turned back to Rana. "Tell me how Okeer used collector technology to do all this."
Nodding dutifully, the asari began a long explanation as Miranda sat unbelieving in her seat. She simply stared at the freckled woman across the table, the outrage and shock inside her spiraling out of control. For the life of here she couldn't figure out how this woman tamed an unhinged genetic krogan abomination with a stare. Her outrage at the sheer disbelief changed somehow inside her. She felt less outrage, and more of something else.
She had no idea what it was. She couldn't grasp it, and her first thought was that she was now afraid. She was terrified of a woman who, through sheer force of wills, ordered a krogan to sit down, and they did it even begrudgingly. This krogan was the genetic amalgamation of the strongest of his species and even he obeyed her. Miranda had no idea what was going on. Perhaps something was broken inside her. Maybe everyone working with Shepard got instinctual alert signals when she was angry that warned them to get in order, and hers were just broken.
She clenched her fists as she stared up at the terrifying woman in front of her who looked morbid at the asari's droning explanation. Perhaps it was this effect that the Illusive Man wanted back. Strong soldiers, stealthy infiltrators, intelligent cyber attackers, Cerberus had those in spades, and it wouldn't be hard to train someone with those exact skills. But no matter how hard they trained; they'd never be able to replicate someone like her. The operative now slightly understood the exorbitant costs of the Lazarus Project, and the Illusive Man's insistence that no control devices be used on her.
She rested her face in her hands as she realized the magnitude of person she was dealing with. "You alright, Lawson?" came the spectre's voice, startling her out of her own head.
"Apologies. It's… just been a long day and I need to check the next dossier. Would you mind continuing this without me?" she asked hopefully, her thoughts now weighing her down.
"Go ahead. I'll update you on anything relevant," said Shepard, allowing Miranda to get to her feet and exit the conference room. Her thoughts spun in her head as she made her way back to her office and cabin.
"The Illusive Man couldn't possibly…" she said to herself as she thought about the eventual clash that would come between them. She may not like Shepard's altruism towards every weak-kneed species in the galaxy, but she knew her will was as likely to break as the Citadel itself. But she also knew the Illusive Man. And as unbendable as she thought he once was, he had bent to Shepard when she put her foot down about surveillance as well as his involvement with her command. So, it was only reasonable to assume that should a war between the two come, only one of them had shown any sign of weakness.
Shaking her head at the intrusive thoughts, she opened her door and sat down behind the desk. She saw the next dossier was ready and waiting for her. Putting aside her thoughts of potential all out war between Cerberus and the spectre, she opened the message on her terminal and began reading silently. It was only moments before her outrage returned. "He can't be serious!"
Command Center – Pluto's Gate
"You have to be joking!" snapped Operative Lawson as she appeared in the QEC before him.
"I appreciate humor now and again, but I'm afraid you'll have to be specific," he said thoughtfully as he folded his hands together.
"Subject Zero? From the rogue Pragia wing you shut down!" she barked as she held up the data pad.
"She's an asset we can't ignore. Despite them going off the cuff, the Pragia facility managed to turn her into a powerful biotic. More powerful than you and Shepard combined," he said as he stared at her seriously. He saw her sigh to herself in frustration. "You've seen it now, haven't you?"
She looked up at him with a stern stare. "Seen what?"
"Shepard," he said simply.
Letting out an exasperated sigh, she nodded. "I have."
"Then you know that Shepard is more than capable of handling Subject Zero, and can utilize her to make her an effective weapon against the collectors and the reapers," he said as he took a cigarette from his gold case and lit it. Inhaling sharply, he let out a cloud of smoke before eyeing heer curiously. "Every time you speak to me you seem to be more and more on edge. Perhaps I should reassign you to something a bit closer to home."
"No, no, no. This is the most important mission our galaxy has seen in a thousand years. I'm not about to go on sabbatical just because everyone around me is losing their minds," she said as she placed a hand on her hip.
"Will there be anything else then?" he asked her as he ashed the cigarette.
"One more thing. When we went to Korlus to fetch Weyrloc Okeer, the woman running the mercenary groups there, Jedore Maxwell had an Atlas-class mech suit. I know those are restricted and thought you ought to be warned that someone either let the design slip out or outright gave one to her," she reported as she forwarded the information to him. "It's been destroyed, as well as the entire compound with her in it."
"Glad to hear we tied off one loose end. I'll handle the other," he said as he motioned towards her. "You should really see about taking your mind of things in between missions. I know working with Shepard can be frustrating and sometimes downright degrading, but it's necessary work and you need to make sure your mental health doesn't suffer from it."
"Degrading?" she asked him with a bewildered look on her face. But instead of continuing, she just nodded. "I could really use a spa day. As effective as she is, working for her is certainly backbreaking."
"Good. I'd hate to lose one of my best operatives to burnout," he said thoughtfully as she nodded and closed the communicator. He stared at her a long moment, analyzing their conversation for a moment. Lawson had been under his wing for two years and had been with Cerberus for longer. If anyone in the organization was both diplomatic enough to work for Shepard, but loyal enough to stay with Cerberus, it was her. Perhaps he was underestimating Shepard's ability to turn even his own people against him. He knew he'd have to keep a close eye on Lawson.
Reaching over, he tapped a button on the arm of his chair. Within seconds, the image of an Asian man popped up in front of him. "Thanatos speaking."
"We appear to have a leak somewhere in the armored division. An Atlas-class armored suit was in the possession of Jedore Maxwell before her untimely demise. Find out how she got it, and make sure it doesn't happen again."
"Understood. It'll be taken care of," said the mysterious man before his holographic image vanished and left him alone once more.
Cockpit – SSV Normandy SR-2
Shepard's brow rose curiously as she moved from the CIC into the cockpit up front and saw her quirky pilot swatting away the holographic eye of EDI that kept randomly popping up in a different spot. "Very funny EDI. Stop messing around on the controls. You're gonna make me crash the ship."
"We are in space, Lieutenant Moreau. The probability of you crashing into something…" started EDI as her holographic eye appeared upside down above him.
"Yeah yeah, one in a quadrillion or whatever. Doesn't matter. You're distracting me from doing my job," he said in annoyance as he swatted her away again.
"I was unaware that your job included watching an animated video series on your omni-tool," responded the AI as she beamed to another location.
"Of course it is. Shepard and the crew need me at the top of my game, and I can't fly with a level head while worrying about whether my favorite slowburn OTP has finally kissed yet," he said sarcastically to EDI.
"So, have they?" asked Shepard from behind him, causing him to toss a datapad by accident in an attempt to turn off his omni-tool.
Joker glared up at the eye on the console. "Couldn't have warned me about that?" he asked scathingly.
"Lieutenant Moreau, Spectre Shepard has arrived in the cockpit," replied the AI as her holographic form finally vanished.
Shepard wasn't sure if it was just sure, but she could have sworn she heard amusement in the AI's voice. The pilot growled to himself and turned his automatic chair towards the spectre. "Thanks EDI. For that one I'm greasing all your bridge cameras," he said before turning to Shepard. "Sorry, Shepard. Was there something you needed?"
She chuckled to herself and shook her head. "You two seem to be hitting it off."
He rolled his eyes. "If by hitting it off, you mean I'm afraid to even use the bathroom on the ship without thinking she's watching me, sure. We're real chummy," he said sarcastically. "Is there any way to get rid of it? I really prefer the old Normandy. She was big, beautiful, and most importantly, quiet. This one's got something though, like it contracted something from docking to a Cerberus station."
"Very funny, Joker. But EDI is a member of the crew too. You have to respect her like everyone else," said the spectre as she leaned against the door.
"Sorry mom," he growled as he turned back to the consoles. "By the way, I'm pretty sure that last crew member you brought aboard threw off the weight distribution throughout the ship."
"Wanna meet him?" asked Shepard, getting an alarmed look from the pilot.
"I'm… good, thanks. I've met my quota of krogan friends for one liftetime. Just make sure he doesn't eat the ship core down in engineering," he said giving her a friendly wave as he went back to piloting the ship.
Lu Lu Vis Custom Armors – Zakera Ward – Citadel
"So…" started Shepard as a group of volus attempted to measure Grunt's body using numerous stepladders and cranes. The krogan stood there in his makeshift robe with an annoyed expression on his face, his head nearly scraping the ceiling of the volus establishment as the pair of them watched. Turning to Jacob, she raised a brow. "You know this place well?"
"I've used it several times," he said as he leaned back against the counter. "Mostly for gifts and that type of stuff. I've always found Alliance and… uh, you know… their stuff always fits me pretty snug."
"Need a custom helmet for the Illusive Man's ego?" she asked with a smirk.
He cracked a grin at her. "Maybe the audacity. Besides, he reads as more the silver spoon type to me. Wouldn't be caught dead in combat armor. Maybe I can get them to make business suit space armor."
Shepard snorted as one of the volus literally climbed up Grunt's back using his spikes as hand holds. "Speaking of Alliance, you said you were with them before?" she asked curiously as one of the volus accidentally tumbled over in the scuffle.
"Yeah, but not really," he said with a shrug. "My heart wasn't in it. I joined when I was a kid because my dad was Alliance to the core. A lifer in the intel sector, similar to you."
She cocked an eyebrow. "Anyone I'd know?"
"Maybe. The Illusive Man did at least get me one of his files," he said as he brought up the file in question. Her eyes widened as she saw the face of Echo, her former compatriot from the deep space intel team.
"Wait," she said, slightly confused. "Why did he have to get it for you?"
"Like I said, my dad was in for life. His work was his worry, not so much kids. He did his best with me, but he was always at arm's length," said the soldier as he put the file away. "I remember a couple of times he would take me out to eat or we'd go to an arcade. He always had this look on his face like he was just putting in the hours required. Like he had better things to do."
"Sorry to hear that. Alliance dads can be like that sometimes. Mine wasn't so different," she said with a heavy sigh, remembering that her father did something similar.
"I recall one day we were playing video games at his place. He never took it easy on me. Whooped my ass a few times at Street Fighter. Then he gets this call on his omni-tool. He put down the game controller and walked right out the door without another word. Later, my mom came and picked me up from his place saying he got called out on a special operation," he said with a shrug. "So, while I knew my dad was a hard-nosed Alliance lifer, I never knew what he did until I asked them to look into it," he said with a sly head nod. "They got me a small file on his excursion to take out the leader of some pro-human extremist cult leader. The file showed he was deep, deep intel. Like, so deep that you and the Illusive Man together would have trouble digging him out."
"I see…" she said, wondering if she should tell him she had actually worked with his father on numerous occasions over the years.
"Anyway, like I said, my heart wasn't in it. Whatever he saw in the Alliance, I didn't," he said giving a single shoulder shrug. "All I saw was propaganda, please the Council at any cost, make the Alliance look good at any cost, cover up anything bad, yada yada," he said before giving her an amused smile. "I mean, look who I'm explaining this to."
She gave a very stern smile back to him. "Yeah, I've seen the Alliance for what it can be too."
His smile vanished and he turned to watch Grunt some more as the volus began testing fabrics on him. "How…. Does this feel?" asked a female volus who began rubbing linen against his leg, which was as high as she could reach.
"How does what feel? What are you doing down there?" asked the krogan as he lifted his arm to see the small attendant holding cloth.
"It's the liner for… the armor. Even krogan need some form of… padding or else things begin to… chafe," she responded as she took another section of cloth and rubbed it against his spikes. "How about… this?"
Shepard stepped forward and grabbed the cloth from the attendant. "Down here, Grunt," she ordered. He lowered his head and she rubbed the cloth against the scales of his face gently. "How's it feel?"
His lids sagged at the feeling, but then immediately snapped open again in realization. "It… uhh… feels fine. Whatever. I don't care, just make the damn armor!" he snapped before crossing his massive arms.
Shepard handed the cloth to the attendant. "That one will be fine," she said with a smile. The cheery volus thanked her and waddled off into the back.
Jacob narrowed his gaze at Shepard as she returned to his side. "Was he purring just now? Because he looked like he was purring," asked the soldier, getting a laugh from the spectre.
"I don't believe krogan purr," she said in response as she turned back to him. "Anyway, you were saying?"
"Right…" he said, taking a second to recall. "Anyway, I thought maybe I'd try out for some special ops like my dad. Maybe I'd find my calling there instead of the rank and file. They put me on the Corsairs."
"Not a bad gig if you can handle being disavowed," she said, her brow once again raised in curiosity.
"Same goes for you," he said nodding to her. "That was where I met my mentor. Man by the name of Ronald Taylor. No relation," he said with the wave of a hand. "He taught me a lot. He didn't help with my disillusionment of the Alliance. We did a couple missions together. Even a few blackbook classified ones that'd impress you. But then we both retired around the same time. He got tired of working for the military in general, wanted to go civilian. I wanted to find somewhere that didn't bullshit me and actually appreciated me."
"That's how you wound up with them?" she asked curiously, her focus now off the krogan.
"Yeah. You'll probably hear that a lot. Cerberus isn't all just racists and human supremacists. It's also got a lot of people burned by the Alliance, the supposed good guy," he said using heavy air quotes. "Dishonorable discharges that spoke out to command, people who already knew the dark side of the Alliance, stuff like that. The only reason I joined was because I saw more potential in them than just a terrorist organization," he said with a sigh.
She shook her head at the claim. "You may see potential, but you know what I see?" she asked, getting a curious look from him. "I see a dichotomy of death. One side is bad, so people join the other side assuming it's the opposite. But here's the reality of the situation, Jacob. Both things are more than capable of being bad," she said as she held up two fingers. "You may see regular humans spurned by the Alliance working for your group. But I see the experiments. I see humans so scarred from their scientists pumping thresher maw acid into their veins just to see what it does. I see beings and creatures not human being tortured and experimented on. I see humans terrified of failure, leading them to taking their own life."
"Yikes…" said Jacob with a sour expression.
"Yeah. It may seem like a YMCA club to you and other people angry at the Alliance. But you really only see what they let you see, same as the Alliance. They're two sides to a coin, but they're both on the same coin," she remarked bitterly as her eyes turned back to Grunt who was now swathed in cloth by frantic voluses.
"So… what can we do then? We don't have a lot of options," said the young man as he scratched his head.
"Stop giving them both power, and be the change you want to see in the galaxy. And if you can't, then find someone willing to change it," she said as she tapped him right above the heart. "It's gonna take a while, because they're both going to fight you tooth and nail. But as long as you keep working at it and get people behind you, you'll force things to change," she said, then gave him a glowing, toothy grin. "And besides, you've got the first human spectre behind you, so there's nothing you can't do."
He laughed at her claim and shook his head. "That's a hell of a reference to put on a resume."
"Don't let them underpay you. My time is expensive," she said jokingly as she finally decided to help the volus out. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get out of here before the Serpent Nebula creates a new star on top of us, so I'm gonna help them out."
"You got it, Spectre," he said and held up his fist. She looked at it for a moment and then bumped it with her own. "Thanks for the talk. Gave me a lot to think about."
"You're thinking, Jacob," she said as she finally turned away. "That means you're already too good for them."
OoOoo