Shepard Stories - Chapter 7: The Mission
Main Characters – Liara and Red
Nos Astra, Illium. One month after Miranda took Shepard.
Red just landed his ship at port and made his way toward the main business area of Nos Astra. He leaned against the nearby wall as his eyes jumped from building to building then looked down at his omni tool when he felt it buzz.
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Msg from Unknown Source: I should be arriving in thirty. I've sent you the coordinates. Main office 1500 hours. -H
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He quickly tapped the coordinates into his Omni tool program then pinged the location. Ahh twenty meters northwest. He looked up and, in the direction, then at the time 1415 Plenty of time.
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Msg from Unknown Source: I'll meet you there. -A
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Red moved swiftly through the city and after several minutes he was close to Liara's office building. He looked around as he silenced his omni tool and activated his cloak then headed directly for Liara's building. Hmmm.. No name, no major security, no one manning the exterior admin desk... nothing. He checked the door. Locked. Basic security protocol on the door. He tapped at his omni tool as it began to glow a yellow color. That's easy to hack... and we're in. He walked in slowly as he looked around. This place is empty. Silently creeping through the lower level of the building he saw there was a light on in the second-floor manager's balcony office.
Red walked up the stairs to a balcony and an entrance to her main office and a set of huge glass windows. The other section that's walled off must be an admin room. He leaped to the balcony and crept along until he could see her through the glass. She was on a vid call discussing her plans for her new business. She ended the call with "Just get me what I need! I need to wrap this up, I have a meeting to prepare for."
Liara turned to Kirre, one of three asari commandos that were with her. "Head down to the docks to meet Hannah and escort her back here. Shandri, you stay with me."
"Hmm there's those two, now where is Teyr and Garrus?" He heard the door open as Kirre left but didn't hear it close. Well, how thoughtful of you to leave this wide open for me. He made his way back over the balcony, on to the stairs and into the office. Just as I assumed a waiting room/admin office. Damn, her door is closed. I'll just have to wait until she brings her back up.
Ten minutes passed when Liara got a chime on her omni tool.
"Mistress, Hannah's transport is docking now, and the Fire Breather is here as well." Said her commando.
Liara's head shot up as she looked around. "Thank you, Kirre." She snapped her finger to Shandri and said: "Check the other room."
As her commando came out of the office, Red slipped in and slowly made his way to the corner closest to her.
Shandri returned and said, "The door was wide open, but I didn't see anyone."
Liara placed her hands on her desk and dropped her head. "If he's docked then let's assume he's in here already or on his way here with or without Hannah. Be ready for anything!"
As she spoke her words to Shandri, he debated whether or not to appear before or after the meeting. He made up his mind just as she ended her last sentence. He appeared from the corner and said: "If I wanted to kill you then you'd be dead already."
Her eyes widened, and she whipped around to the sound of his voice. "By the Goddess Red!" She noticed that he was in a different type of gear than his normal Red Dragon set up but still had his mask on.
"Liara you really should have better security for this place." He suggested.
"Well Red, it's just an empty building as of now but I will in the future." She replied.
"Do these windows have any type of security?"
"Yes, they do. They can be opaque."
He nodded, "Then turn that feature on."
She slid her hand under the desk and hit the button that opaque the windows. After the windows opaque he pulled his hood back and let it drop to his back as he heard his mother talking in the distance.
Liara looked at him, and her heart skipped a beat when she could now see her Shepard's features through the translucent part of the mask.
Hannah walked into the office and directly to Liara. She looked at Alex, then Liara. "Liara, it's wonderful to see you again," she said as she hugged her.
"Same here, Hannah." She directed her hand to Red and said: "I'm assuming you know who this is?"
Hannah turned to him and smiled, "Yes, I know exactly who this is."
Red walked to his mother and hugged her tightly. He whispered into her ear. "I've missed you," then kissed her cheek. Then said aloud "Well, now that we're all here let's get on with it."
Liara told Hannah the entire story of what happened with Shepard and Red said nothing the whole time.
Hannah sat there trying to wrap her mind around what Liara had just told her with her fingers rubbing her temples as tears trickled down her face. Then she said with irritation. "Let me get this straight. You found my son, then you handed him over to the same Cerberus group that killed my husband?" She shook her head as she closed her eyes. "You just took it upon yourself without discussing it with the rest of his family before you made that decision? Is this correct?"
Liara swallowed hard. "Yes, that's correct."
Hannah's turned to Alex and screamed in his face, "I told you to bring HIM home to ME, and you JUST let her give him to CERBERUS! Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?!"
Alex looked down when she screamed at him then he looked at her when he responded. "It wasn't that easy. I was a hair-trigger away from killing her over it! I've also discussed this extensively with the head operative in charge of this project. She promised to give me continuous updates. She expects a full recovery. However long that will take they have no idea. All we can do now is hope for the best."
Liara shocked with the hearing of continuous updates. "Ugh, she's going to give you continuous updates?! How did you convince her to do that? She was pretty adamant when I asked her that there would be minimal if any at all."
He looked at her and smiled. "Well, it took quite a bit of convincing."
Hannah looked at both of them then said: "Jon better come back the same as he was before or so help me!" She pointed to Alex "I expect those updates the moment you receive them." She turned to Liara and glared at her then hissed "You…" she clenched her hand into a fist as her anger flowed over her. "If he is anything less, I will end you!" She let out a breath then turned on her heel and mumbled in anger as she left the room to take the next shuttle out.
As soon as she walked out of the office. Red said, "That went well... can't say I didn't say I told you so."
"Goddess, she hates me. You hate me. His sister I don't even know will probably hate me too."
"No one hates you, Liara. She's just emotional and upset. Just as I was that day on the ship. I know your intention is for the best. After talking to Miranda, I have a feeling deep down that he'll be back." As he said those last words, he pulled his hood back over his head and began to make his way through the door when Liara called him back.
"Red? I... I have other business I'd like to talk to you about."
He turned and walked back to her "What other business I believe we're done here."
"I'm starting an information brokerage firm, and the skills that you possess are the kind that I'm seeking."
He crossed his arms "My skills don't come cheap."
"I understand that, and I'm prepared to compensate you very well for the information that you gather." She returned to her desk to pull out a datapad then came back and presented it to him.
He looked it over and smiled. "I'm in!"
She smiled "Good now, let's get started!"
Three months after...
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Msg from Unknown Source: Damage is much worse than expected. We have absolutely no time frame for completion. May need you and her to come in for a scan to repair memories. I will inform you once we get further along. -ML
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Msg from Unknown Source: I appreciate the update. I know you're doing everything you can. If you need me, I'm here. -RD
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Msg from Unknown Source: L, Heard from M. Damage much worse than expected. May need us. Didn't say when. -RD
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Msg from Unknown Source: Thank you. Whatever he needs. I'm available. -L
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Msg from Unknown Source: H, I just received an update. Progress is moving along as expected. -A
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Msg from Kilimanjaro: Keep me posted. -H
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Six months later... at 0300 hours.
Red was enjoying his slumber until his omni tool began to ring. He grunted as he grabbed it off the bedside table then read the screen Unknown Caller. Then placed it back and turned to go back to sleep. As it continued to ring, he grunted again then mumbled, "Ok ok, Fuck!" Without his mask on, he disabled video. Irritated, he rubbed his face and answered angrily "This better be extremely important for waking me at this hour!"
He heard a soft woman's voice come across "Alex? I apologize for calling at such a late hour."
Red quickly tapped at the screen to engaged his video when he saw Miranda and said, "Miranda! I'm sorry for my tone. I didn't expect your call and…Holy hell you look tired."
Miranda tiredly rubbed her face then said, "Bloody hell, Alex… that's because I am tired! This project takes all of my time….. day and night. But enough about me. As I told you a few months back his condition is much worse than we expected. The extent of his injuries runs deep...very deep… We're having to technically regrow his tissue, organs, bones, etc. Even with this high level of organic technology we still don't know if his mind and body will accept it. To speed up the process we're going to have to use synthetic technology where we can. We may need to take a step even further, which I highly believe we need to do this - is to use nanotechnology. We acquired these nanites just last year but have yet to test its capabilities."
His temper rose instantly and snarled "Wait… Sooo you're going to experiment on my brother with these nanites!"
"Unfortunately, we are! They'll do their job to fix parts of his body that we can't get to or are having trouble getting to. The problem is we don't know the full extent of what they can do! The effect can be extreme. We… just don't know." She exclaimed.
He took a breath then rubbed his chin, "I see…"
"We've sent a crew to retrieve these nanites from one of our facilities. The next time we speak, I'll let you know how they're working."
"Miranda… What of his mind?"
She let out a breath. "Surprisingly, his head was completely intact. There was no need to repair the exterior portion of his brain at all. But… the interior portion of his brain… well, that's a different story. His mind… his memories… there seems to be a lot of …what we're calling "black holes". I'm thinking that once we use these nanites they may be able to repair the interior portion of his brain and fix those "holes". If not, then I'll let you know on our next call."
He pinched his brows, "And if they don't? What then?"
"We'll need to take brain scans of you and Liara to try and patch those holes. We won't get to pick and choose what we scan in your brain… we'll have everything."
He rose his eyebrows and grunted, "Wow, that could be a problem."
"I understand…but that's a choice you and Liara will need to make. I need to go. I'll update you when I can." The screen faded to black as she ended the call.
He closed his eyes as he shook his head, "Ugh there's no way I'm going to explain all this to Liara or my mother. It's hurting my brain just thinking about it. I'll just have to send them a highly encrypted recording of this vidcall with it deleting at the end. I just need to go back to sleep."
When he woke several hours later, he had two messages on his omni tool. One from his mother and one from Liara both requesting a return call. He decided to contact his mother first.
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Msg from Unknown Source: Ready when you are. -A
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Msg from Kilimanjaro: Ten minutes. -H
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When his omni tool beeped he answered quickly knowing it was a secure call from his mother.
"Hey, mom."
"Alex, I received your message. I understand the organic and synthetic technology because we use it already every day. But actual ground up regrowth of organic material is just amazing! As for this nanotechnology… I want you to call your sister and find out what she knows about it. Being that she is working in the scientific field of research and development she should know about it. Let me know what she says."
"Nice… I didn't even think to consider Kat. Thanks, I'll contact her about it. I've got to go."
"Ok. Keep me posted. Hannah out."
Message from Unknown Source: Hey, it's me. I need to talk to you ASAP. Secure connection needed.
-AS
Msg from Scientific Reach and Development: Ok, I'll call you. Give me thirty minutes. -KS
—-
Red smiled when he saw his sister appear on the screen.
"Hey, Alex! Oh, my goodness it's been ages since we last talked."
"I know Kat. Did mom tell you what happened with Jon?" he asked
She sighed "She did, and I'm still very upset that Liara just handed him over to Cerberus without consulting this with all of us first. I mean Cerberus… really ALEX!"
He nodded, "I know, but I believe that this whole thing is going to work out and we'll see him again."
She curled her lip "That's not the point! If you die and you're dead for days, then that's it. This whole thing is just WRONG! We should have honored him with a burial just as we did dad. I'm not saying that I won't be happy if I see him again. It's just… not right. What if they modify him to be some walking monster or control him to do …God knows what!"
"I know… and I feel the same way, but what's done is done. What I need to know from you is this…. biomolecular super nanotechnology. What can you tell me about it?"
With wide eyes, she responded. "How…. how do you know about that? That's a top-secret project. We've been working on it for years. The capabilities of this particular type of biomolecular nanotechnology are …astronomical. There's just no telling because it depends on the subject. I'm talking about rapid cellular repair, heightened strength, speed, biotics, mind, etc. This type of tech is a weapon. Pure and simple. But with the positives comes the negatives as well. In the old versions, there were severe ummm psychotic mood changes, different personalities, bodily malfunctions, random severe pain….GOD….some even ate away at them…. The…the list just goes on and on. There's no 100% perfect version of this and there probably never will be. We've modified it several times to reduce the negative effects that it caused on some of the test subjects. Our latest version BMSNT3481 is the most current, but we haven't done human test studies on it. Our facility was compromised last year, and several vials were taken, and everything came to a halt..…" She paused and said, "Oh my god Alex… are they going to use these on Jon?"
"If it comes down to it. Yes, they are. You said it depends on the subject. How do you mean?"
"How do I mean?! Ok, for example. If you're already physically fit and have an exceptional amount of strength compared to "x". Then once you receive these nanites, you'll be stronger. How much stronger… I don't know. This applies across the board. BUT not necessarily. Ok so now let's skip forward to application. The correct way to apply these nanites is through surgical injection, and they're literally sprayed within. Like you're physically painting a section of your insides with them. Then they spread everywhere and do whatever. It's not like you say HEY don't spread into my brain, please. Once they're there, that's it; there's no extracting them. They're apart of you. Then it depends on the quantities of nanites that were applied. Half a vial, one vial, two, five, ten… you see where I'm going. This is why everyone is different. Even if you had two of the exact same subjects and everything was done the same. That means NOTHING because there is no guarantee because we haven't finalized THIS! My scientific recommendation for this would just be NO. Absolutely NOT!"
"And if it was the ONLY way to bring his mind back after the rest of him was fixed. What then?"
She ran her hands through her hair, sighing. She shook her head lightly, opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. She wiped the tears that began to slowly flow from her eyes. "I….I don't know, and we won't know until it's done. Not that we have a choice on the matter. Right? The fault will be Liara's if this goes badly."
"So true sister... so true… Thank you. I must go now."
She just nodded her head then ended the call.
He let out a breath and let his lips flap as he thought for a moment then encrypted the recorded vidcall just as he did before then sent it off.
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Msg from Unknown Source: Thank you for the vidcall recordings. They've answered my questions and confirmed my worst nightmares. I'll do my own research on them. No need to call me. One other thing. I need a job completed. I've sent you the info. -L