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Post by spiritwolf71 on Oct 6, 2012 18:41:48 GMT 1
Chapter 16
To say she was angry was an understatement. It had taken every ounce of her willpower to not go after her lover; she was no longer used to trusting others. She had to rely on herself for so long. Miranda had assured her she had a plan and Liara needed to trust in that. Shepard had been taken to Lazarus Station and no one knew that station better then Miranda Lawson. She had designed it, had a hand in building it; she used it to save Cayle after her first “death”. She had to have a little bit of faith.
Kai Leng’s meeting and the device took president. It was important that she keep whatever it was out of Cerberus hands. It was important to keep it out of everyone’s hands until she could figure out what it did. Last thing she wanted was a rise of the Reapers. She would destroy it before she allowed that to happen again.
Liara had just over a day until the last of the auction would take place and she actually took the time to wander the streets her lover grew up in. It was depressing and dirty, and a shame that the Government did nothing to help these people. Seeing Cayle’s home did a lot to help Liara understand the drive and ambition that Commander Shepard possessed.
Her mother had been killed when she was only five or six, Cayle could never remember. What she did remember was her mother singing to her. The young Shepard had been riding a bicycle she had found and fell and scraped her knee. She had run home and her mother had bandaged it for her, and then soothed her by singing her favorite song. They were on the couch together when the robbery happened.
The murderers had been looking for some drugs but Cayle contested to this day her mother had none. Liara would never argue this point as Cayle still had a five-year-old's perspective of her mother. She had sat holding her mother’s hand, covered in her blood for over a day and a half when a neighbour finally came to check up on her.
From there Shepard went to numerous different foster homes. Some she liked, some she didn’t. More often than not they could not handle her. The first couple of years after she had been found Cayle didn’t talk, and then when she did she had a speech impediment. Eventually she found her way into the home of a teacher; the woman taught her how to read and helped her with the accent Shepard had developed. She did not last long there as the teacher’s oldest son had developed an infatuation with the girl and behaved inappropriately. When this had come out into the open Cayle was sent back to an orphanage.
From there she finally gave in and joined the gangs. Cayle had done well in the Bloods, climbing the ranks quickly with every kill she made. Liara did not even need to read her lover to know how much she abhorred this time in her life. She had become a weapon wielded by people she hated. It was a necessity; her only other option was becoming a drug-addled hooker and she refused that. She didn’t want anyone touching her at that point in her life. She had still done many things she had not been proud of.
Liara knew Cayle’s life as much as Cayle knew hers. They had shared both throughout several melds. She knew how Shepard had ended up joining the Alliance. How she had a target that she simply could not kill. She had been tasked to eliminate an Alliance officer that had been fighting the Bloods drug trade. Shepard had never known his name, nor had she ever run into him after this.
She had followed him for days, learning his patterns and habits. When she had finally found a spot to set up on him she had not been able to pull the trigger. She had watched him through her scope, playing with his children, pushing them on swings. She watched him from pretty much the whole day. It was when she packed up, never taking the shot that she had run into Anderson.
He had spotted her on his way to visit the Officer and was closing in to stop her. Instead of arresting her, he took her under his wing and the rest was pretty much history.
Thinking of her lover's past, Liara could not help but notice all the children that would not make it; all the children that had already fallen into a life of destitute. No wonder Shepard hating coming back to Earth; at least, to this part of Earth.
Liara had been working on getting Cayle to bring her to a beach on Earth. She had seen them in vids and read about them and had always wanted to visit one. She had actually planned on doing such last time she had come to Earth, but circumstances had gotten in the way. She had also wanted to hike through Plitvice Lakes National Park with the Spectre. It was rumoured to have a number of beautiful natural waterfalls. Someday, hopefully, she would be able to.
Spadina was the Eastern border of the slums. A wall had already been built separating the street in half. On the West side was poverty, and on the East side was the exact opposite. As a matter of fact it was quite glamorous. It was amazing how many people paid to be so close to the slum. There were several tall hotels along the streets that overlooked the wall. It was sickening to Liara.
It was in the largest of these hotels that Kai Leng had decided to have his auction. He would be in one room and the prospective clients would all be in separate rooms on the same floor. Liara looked at the key and the bidding number she had received as she made her way up to the eighth floor. She really did not have a good feeling about this. Neither did Javik, who liked to tell her this every few minutes.
“I do not like this,” he said, as if he had read her mind. Liara smiled slightly.
“Yes, you have mentioned that before; several times,” Liara commented.
“I would like it slightly more if my arm was not broken.” He accused; the Asari was uncertain if that was meant to be playful. Javik’s humour was dry, period.
“I’m sorry,” Liara looked at him, “It was reflex, I could not control my anger and you opened the door at a bad moment.”
“Perhaps you need to work on your self control.”
She had no argument for that; she had almost thrown him through a wall. She simply nodded as the elevator stopped and she stepped out to the eighth floor. It seemed empty and she figured everyone had probably been given a different arrival time so they would not know who they were betting against. Liara was not sure if she liked these arrangements. It also meant she didn’t know who she would be up against if everything went south. She could imagine who was here, who had the money for something like this.
She herself, as the Shadow Broker, would be there. As would Cerberus, but she doubted Leng would have invited them. The Eclipse sisters, Blue Sun and the Blood Pack were all distinct possibilities. As for races, she could very well see the Salarians and perhaps the Volus; the Turians, Humans and Asari were still deep in debt. Either way there was going to be a lot of fire power on this floor.
The odd couple moved into their room and closed the door behind them, locking it securely. They both set their bags on the beds.
“I do not like this,” Javik repeated once more. “We will not know who are in the rooms on either side of us, or what they have planned. We are trapped.”
Liara moved to the balcony and opened the door. “That is why we brought the rope with us. If worse comes to worse, we go down. I don’t want to do that without the device, though.”
“I understand.” Javik said as he began to go over his weapons. He still favoured his particle rifle, which was nice since he was the only one who had one. It had been in his stasis pod with him and it never left his side. Liara did not rely heavily on weapons and as such, she carried a much smaller shuriken. They both had their biotics to rely on as well, but Liara was much stronger than Javik in that regard.
As they loaded and prepared, Liara could not help but feel a lot of people were going to die today. She just hoped Javik or herself would manage to come out alive. She had Mouse and Kolyat two floors down in case of emergency. If everything went wrong they would use the ropes to go down to that floor and come up from that direction.
She smiled as she holstered her weapon.
“I do not see anything humorous, Liara T’Soni.”
“I was just thinking, if Shepard were here she would have started firing as soon as she got off the elevator. Everyone would know she was here.”
Javik nodded. “She was not one to be subtle.”
“I remember after a mission once, we called for Steven to pick us up and he mentioned just following the smoke,” Liara trailed off.
“I am sure that ex-Cerberus agent has rescued Shepard,” Javik said after Liara grew quiet.
“If anyone could, it would be Miranda,” Liara said, trying to convince herself. She should have known that Cerberus would have come for their “toy”. As much as she wanted to pin all of the blame on Miranda she couldn’t.
“Mouse could not get in the individual room to set up the cameras, but he did get quite a few in the hallway.” Javik explained and he handed Liara an ear piece. “You can hear him through this. He will be able to tell us who comes in.”
Liara turned her equipment on. “Mouse, are you there?” she looked to Javik, “don’t you think they would have some plan against this? I mean, if not, I am sure everyone is probably doing this.”
Javik merely shrugged.
“Boss, good to hear you,” Mouse replied. “Well, got some bad news for you. On one side of you are Krogans and on the other side a group of Turians; I’m going to guess Blue Suns, but they are not in uniform.”
“Krogans, which side?” Javik asked.
“If you’re looking at the door they would be on your right.”
Both Liara and Javik turned in that direction. “That wall is not going to hold them back,” Liara said. Javik simply nodded.
“I would think the bathroom would be the most secure place. The Krogan would charge through the wall in the middle and shots usually go centre mass. If anyone is in the hall they will shoot through the door.”
Liara nodded. “Any sign of Leng?”
“None,” Mouse said. “I saw him go in last night but not to the eighth floor. Kolyat is trying to hack into the hotel's computer to see if he can find him.”
“He has a half hour, tell him to hurry,” Liara moved into the bathroom and sat on the closed lid of the toilet, Javik leaned against the counter.
“If he is not on this floor, then perhaps we can get off this floor and move to another.”
There was a knock on the door. Javik and Liara looked at each other.
“Mouse?” Liara asked.
“It looks like a hotel employee, human, female,” there was another knock. Javik held up a finger and moved to the doorway of the bathroom. He reached out with his long hand and covered the peep hole with his fingertip. As he did the door almost exploded as if it was hit with a shot gun at close range.
That was when it all went to hell. Someone crashed into their room through the wall. As predicted, it was like paper to the Krogan. There was gun fire from down the hall as other factions sprang into action. Liara could not help but think that Kai Leng had planned this. This was not an auction but a survival of the fittest.
“Mouse, where is he?” Liara growled. Javik stepped out of the bathroom and shot the woman who had been at the door. Liara stepped out the other way and threw out a singularity at the Krogan. They were three doors away from the stairs. There was an explosion somewhere down at the other end of hall. The hotel was going to get torn apart.
“He’s in the penthouse. He signed in under the last name Surebrec,” Mouse finally reported; Liara rolled her eyes. Liara and Javik left the room running for the stairs. “Barricade,” Mouse shouted. Liara turned and did so as a barrage of bullets slammed into the invisible wall. Javik returned fire as two Turians dove for cover. The other end of the hall was merely a flaming, gaping maw. The fire alarm started going off.
Liara turned and pushed herself through the door to the stairwell. “Javik!” She called. The Prothean joined her. “We’re going up.”
“That’s 15 flights.” Javik said. Liara smiled at him slightly and began to run. She knew they would not be able to run up all 15 flights and the fact that people were now coming down did not help.
“That bastard is probably up there laughing at the chaos he started,” Liara said with a scowl. Javik did not answer as he struggled to go up through the people. Occasionally someone would tell them they were going the wrong way. It took them the better part of ten minutes to make it up to the penthouse. Liara was out of breath and stopped. She could hear screaming from below and the sound of gunshots. They had not been the only ones to figure out where the device was. As a matter of fact, the destroyed door told her they were not the first and they entered together, almost back to back only to find themselves in the middle of some sort of standoff. Kai Leng and a Phantom were standing by the doors to the balcony. There were three Cerberus troops, two Krogans (though not Blood Pack), three Eclipse sisters and two other Humans Liara didn’t know. The elevators opened and all eyes went there as Ashley and two Alliance officers stepped through.
“Liara, surprised to see you here.” Ashley said calmly. Liara nodded to her. In the middle of all of them was a black bag. It was the only thing out of sorts in the room and Liara guessed it was the device.
“So what do we do now?” Liara said, looking at Leng.
“Well, we can all put down our weapons.” Leng said. It was obvious he had not expected this either.
“You first, Human,” one of the Krogans said. Liara could still hear the chaos from down below. Liara looked at Leng.
“This is my party, I think I’ll keep my weapons,” he said calmly. It was quiet as everyone looked around at everyone. Liara began to wonder if she was going to get out of this alive. Then she heard her, somewhere behind her whispering in her ear.
“When I say the word you get Ashley and all three of you jump out of the window,” It was Cayle, obviously cloaked. Liara almost smiled.
“I think you should all put your weapons down and surrender,” Ashley demanded. “This is obviously Alliance territory and you are trespassing.”
Liara knew the Spectre would make a demand like that. A demand that went ignored. Everyone in the room wanted the device and they were all willing to kill for it. At this point Liara just wanted to get her and Javik out. Suddenly a shot rang out and one of the Eclipse Sisters fell to the ground.
That ended the stand-off as Shepard suddenly appeared; she was no longer blonde but she still had the short hair. Liara moved for Ashley and set up a barricade around all of them. Ashley looked at Cayle as if she had seen a ghost.
“Go.” Shepard screamed at them. Liara moved towards the balcony pushing Ashley as she did. As they got closer to the balcony Shepard and Javik lay down. Shepard went into cloak again. Liara almost called for her to stop. Bullets rained through the room and people fell and fought for the device. Liara looked over the balcony as a shuttle suddenly appeared. Miranda stood in it.
“Come on.” She yelled. Javik did not need to be told twice as he jumped across. Ashley and Liara followed suit. Liara stood at the edge looking for Cayle.
“Go,” She heard Shepard call to them from somewhere in the room of death. There was a Krogan, a Human and a Turian left in the fight and they were all behind cover. The Cerberus agents were gone, as was Kai Leng and the package.
Shepard was nowhere to be seen.
“We have to go.” Miranda said. “The Alliance will be all over this place and we need to get out of here,” She looked at Ashley.
“That was Shepard,” Ashley said looking at Liara. Liara wanted to smile but she was worried for her lover.
“Let me go back,” Liara said as the shuttle moved away. “Miranda, stop!” She moved to jump out but Javik grabbed her.
“Do not be foolish, Asari.” He said, fighting with her. He was forced to take her to the ground as she struggled.
“No, I can’t leave her behind again!” Liara was hysterical, she couldn’t help it. Every time she left Shepard behind someone declared her dead. “Let me go!”
Miranda closed the door and Liara went limp as it clicked shut. She could not help but feel like she had five years ago when Shepard made her return to the Normandy. Javik let her go and she sprung up quickly, punching Miranda in the jaw.
“Go back, we can’t leave her there!” Liara demanded, her biotics flaring. Miranda’s crackled to life.
“Stand down, T’Soni, there was a plan. If we did not get the package in the pent house she was going to get it. She will meet us,” She looked at Ashley, “Somewhere later.”
Liara was breathing deeply trying to calm her anger, her chest heaving, but her eyes locked on Miranda’s. Everyone seemed to hold their breath. “She'd better,” was all Liara could spit out as she brought herself back under control.
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Kai Leng walked up Spadina to where his car would be waiting. He had lost his last Phantom but he had survived. Unfortunately, he had also lost the device. He was not completely certain but he thought he saw Cerberus leaving with it. It would seem as though the Ambassador would get his way again.
He was just happy he had survived. The fact that Lissa looked a lot like Commander Shepard was intriguing. He had never really thought of it before, as Lissa had no qualms about killing anyone and Shepard was a bleeding heart. He hated Shepard, but he did like Lissa. What a quandary that was, for him and probably for the woman herself. He wondered if the Ambassador was aware he had lost her yet. Not that it would matter; he got the device.
Leng was a survivor, but he had been hoping to make enough credits that he could go somewhere and retire. Somewhere no one would find him. He had always wanted a cabin out in the middle of nowhere. Not that he thought he would retire completely, sometimes he just had too much fun playing with people’s lives. Maybe he would have started up his own little band of mercenaries. He’d never know now.
He smiled to himself as he realized just how close to death he had come. His smile turned into a smirk as his walk returned to his usual cocky swagger. He was almost to his car, and then he would get off this planet.
“Hello Kai,” he felt an arm wrap around his chest and before he could do anything, he lost his breath. He was confused at first, struggling to get a breath. As he turned and spotted Lissa/Cayle holding a knife in her hand, he understood. She had cut his throat; his vocal chords and windpipe was gone. He fell to his knees and somewhere, someone screamed. Cayle walked calmly up to him, pistol drawn. “There will be no coming back this time,” she said; then fired. His world went black as the bullet smashed through his skull and slid through his brain.
Cayle looked down at the man as he died and waited until his heart stopped completely. The only regret she had was he had did not have the device. People were running from her, but she didn’t care. She dropped the gun down beside his head. It would have her prints on it but she didn’t care. Shepard was back and sooner or later, everyone would know. Right now though, there was only one person on her mind.
“Liara,” she said with a slight smile and a tear in her eyes. She wanted her lover more than anything. She tucked her knife away and cloaked.
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Post by spiritwolf71 on Oct 15, 2012 13:20:03 GMT 1
If anyone is interested I have a fluff peice to the shower scene, just let me know and I can send the link.
Chapter 17
She had developed a pattern. Twenty paces one way, twenty paces back, look at the time for a minute or two, then resume pacing.
Liara had never been good at waiting, especially now when she waited for a miracle to walk back into her life. Again she had been forced to leave Shepard behind and in a potentially deadly situation; held back by her friends as the doors to the shuttle closed tightly. They all promised her Shepard would be here but it had been over an hour. Liara would wait forever if she had to.
“She’s survived worse.” Javik said, trying to be comforting. He was terrible at it, but at least he tried. She did not acknowledge him. There were so many things that could go wrong. She could have been hurt in the original battle, or she could have been in the building when it collapsed. Anyone one of the people in the battle could have taken her hostage or prisoner. She could have been arrested. It was too much and Liara was weak with speculation.
Nothing had gone the way Liara had planned and now everything could be ruined. She wanted to blame Miranda or Ashley, or maybe even Javik. The truth was she had fallen in love with a hero, with a woman that would always put everyone else before herself, a woman that was willing to die for a cause. It was no one’s fault but her own, and she would not change it for the world.
“I know,” Liara finally answered. She tried to be calm as her heart tumbled into her stomach and played with the butterflies there. She squatted down and rested her elbows on her knees. She prayed silently to the Goddess to bring her lover back to her. As she did, Miranda and Ashley began to argue yet again.
“She’s an Alliance soldier, and as such needs to be brought back into the fold!” Ashley argued.
“Why? So they can arrest her, and ground her indefinitely?” Miranda retorted. “I will not allow that to happen.”
“You think I would?”
“Yes! You would do whatever you are told, because you are an Alliance soldier first, and a Spectre second. You should never have gotten the title.” Miranda crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the shuttle. Liara said nothing but she agreed with Miranda, she always had.
Not that Ashley was a bad person, but she was a xenophobe and she would always do exactly what she was told by the Alliance brass. Liara had no doubt that was why Udina had picked her. Personally Liara had always wanted to see Garrus with that honour, but being the next in line for the Primarch of Palaven kept him out of the running.
She could feel Ashley looking at her. She looked back at her. “Think about it Ashley: they might welcome Shepard back with open arms, but they would have to make her responsible for her actions as the Cerberus Agent.”
“But she had no control over that,” Ashley countered.
“We all know that,” Miranda explained. “But she was still the one who assassinated the Dalatrass. Best case scenario is an honorable discharge, but more likely she will have to answer for her actions. Look at what happened with the Batarians, and they trusted her then; or supposedly trusted her.”
“We all want a happy ending, Ash,” Liara continued. “But that rarely happens in the real world. The Salarians will want her punished.”
“No they wouldn’t,” Ashley argued, “Most of them were not happy with their Dalatrass, they moved behind her back! They were in the process of having her removed.”
“Without killing her, though.” Miranda said. “I still have some surgery left to do, get rid of those scars, revert some pigmentation back to normal, but then I think it best that she simply disappears with Liara.”
Liara liked this idea, but she knew Shepard. She had been unable to convince her not to turn herself in after the Batarian incident. Cayle would always do the honourable action, it was almost a curse. This time though she would not leave her side.
“Personally, I think we should do whatever Shepard wants.” It was Cayle, coming out of cloak in front of Liara. Tears instantly filled the Asari’s eyes as she looked up at the woman she loved. Shepard held a hand out for her and Liara took it. Shepard helped her to stand and they were face to face.
Cayle’s hair was still short, but it was black again, and her eyes were still emerald green. It didn’t matter, the human’s intensity was back and she could see the love in them. The colour meant nothing, but she did hope Miranda could revert them to the steely grey blue they had been.
It was quiet for a long moment as Shepard and Liara looked into each other’s eyes. Cayle gave her that slight sideways smile that was always reserved just for her and Liara knew that everything would be all right. The human’s hands moved to the Asari’s waist and pulled her close. She reached up and wiped away the tears from Liara’s cheeks.
For a few brief seconds there were only two people in the whole world, the rest was just background. There was no noise except their breathing, nothing except the two of them. “I missed you,” Liara whispered. “I knew you were alive but no one believed me.”
“Shhh,” Cayle cooed, “I love you, Liara T’Soni, and I will always come back for you.”
Shepard leaned down and Liara tilted her head to accommodate her and their lips met, softly at first, Cayle pulling her closer as if wanting to make them one. Liara was hers, it didn’t need to be spoken, and she would always belong to Cayle Shepard. When they parted Liara panicked slightly as she remembered the night she had lost Cayle. She took a deep breath and tried to stop herself from shaking.
The last reunion she had with Shepard, when she had died on the Normandy, Liara had been cold and distant, afraid to open up again. She felt none of that this time. Her love for this woman was an open book, written in every language possible. “I love you Cayle Shepard, and I will always be here for you. I am yours.”
“I know.” Shepard whispered back and kissed her again. Liara could not help but think she was in heaven. Cayle smile at her when they parted.
“Commander?” this came from Ashley. Cayle reluctant untangled herself from her lover and looked over at the solider.
“Ashley?” She mimicked. Ashley smiled and stepped forward. Cayle hugged her and then stepped away. “You are looking good.”
Ashley chuckled. “You too, for a dead woman.”
“I got better,” Cayle smiled. Javik held out his hand for her and she took it.
“I knew you were special, Human,” He said as Cayle chuckled.
“And I knew you were sentimental, Prothean.”
Cayle nodded to Miranda, they had already had their reunion and Shepard knew Miranda well enough to know that it would remain a private thing. Miranda was not practised at letting her emotions through. The smile she had gotten from Miranda was enough to know the woman was happy she was back. That, and Miranda finally admitting that she admired her was more then she expected.
She looked at the small group now and took a breath. “Leng is dead but I did not get the device,” she reported.
“Just what is the device?” Ashley asked.
“I don’t know a lot about it, just that they need it to activate Harbinger and I really do not find that to be a good idea,” Cayle explained. “I did a quick head count before I had to leave the hotel, Leng and Cerberus were the only ones to escape and Leng did not have the device.”
“Where would they take it?” Javik asked.
“Omega,” Miranda and Cayle stated at the same time. Cayle smiled slightly.
“They control the Omega 4 relay and they use Omega station as a launching base for their fighters to protect it,” Miranda explained.
“We can’t do this alone,” Shepard said and wrapped an arm around Liara, wanting her to remain close. The Asari could not help but smile. “But I know the perfect person to help us.”
“Do you think Aria will help us?” Liara asked, she and the older Asari really never got along.
“She wanted her station back,” Cayle said. “One of the first things Aria ever said to me was to not fuck with her, and Cerberus seems to have made that mistake.” Cayle grew quiet; she'd had dealings with Aria since becoming a Cerberus robot; she wondered if the woman would put two and two together. It might be awkward if she did.
“Are you ok?” Liara asked, concerned.
“We will probably need the Alliance's help,” She said. “I will eventually have to go back to them and let them decide my fate.”
“Why?” This, surprisingly, was from Miranda. “I know you were their poster child but really, they are just going to screw it all up and you’ll end up under house arrest again. You don’t need to do this, Shepard. Not again.”
“I don’t want to cross the Omega 4 relay without firepower either. We need them.”
“Miranda is right,” Ashley said, “You go to the Alliance, and they will send me to the relay, not you.”
Cayle ran a hand through her short hair and moved away from the group. The Alliance would arrest her; Shepard had to hope they would understand. What Lissa did was not her, Cayle Shepard. She had always done everything for the good of the galaxy. She had never just stood for Humanity, she had stood as a united front of every being. She had sacrificed herself for all of them, would they be so quick to turn their backs on her? They had once before.
“I have to,” She said finally, “Even if it means being arrested and jailed.” She turned back and looked at them. “Harbinger was the first and probably the biggest threat. We don’t know what Cerberus has planned for him and I personally do not want to find out, so it needs to be stopped. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I let Cerberus destroy everything we fought so hard for, everything we sacrificed, because I was afraid of what might happen to me.”
Liara looked to the ground; yes, this was definitely the Shepard they all loved. She would never admit it to anyone, but Cayle under house arrest on Earth was safer then Cayle leading yet another army into a potentially deadly situation. She hated the fact that they would do that to her, but felt secure in that she would not have to live in the fear of never seeing the woman again.
“I won’t let them keep you out of the fight.” Ashley said, surprising everyone. “Without you, Saren would have destroyed the Citadel; without you, the Collectors would have destroyed the Terminus System. Without you, we would all be dead. You brought peace to the Krogans and the Turians; you did the same with the Quarians and the Geth. I might be the Commanding Officer of the Normandy, but Shepard, you are the Normandy. I’m a Spectre and I can pull strings.”
Shepard smiled. “Well, let’s not make any plans until we get Aria on board. No one knows Omega like she does. We are going to need her to get us into a back door. Last I checked she was on the Citadel.”
“Well she was, but she inherited some large establishment on Tortuga.” Liara explained.
“Of course she did,” Shepard said. She hated that planet. “Well then we will head there. When we have Aria secured, we will come back to Earth and plan our next move.” She paused. “I’ll go with Liara.”
Liara smiled. “Until then, everyone stay safe and tell no one.” It would be hard; she was dying to tell Tali and Garrus already.
They boarded the shuttle, leaving Ashley by herself. When the doors closed, Cayle took a deep breath and leaned against a bulkhead.
“Are you ok?” Liara asked, concerned.
“No, not really,” Cayle admitted. “I need to work a few things out in my head. I have two sets of memories and they are clashing.”
“What can I do to help?”
“Nothing Liara, I just need some time alone to think,” She whispered, “Just some time.”
Shepard leaned, her hand pressed against the wall, head slightly bent, letting the hot water of the shower tumble over her hair and down over her face. Two lives merged and tangled into one another as she tried her best to separate them.
She wondered again, for the millionth time, if she should have had the Doctor eliminate the false memories, the false life.
She had done so much during her time as a Cerberus agent that she was not proud of. “Lissa” had been able to justify them because that was all she knew. Shepard was different. Killing was a necessary defense. Life was precious and all life had meaning. That included the Salarian Dalatrass.
Shepard had disliked the woman and her backstabbing ways, but she understood where she had come from. She understood the fear the woman actually felt. She truly believed the Krogan would become an uncontrollable menace. She failed to see the bigger picture. She didn’t know Wrex, and therefore could not trust him like Shepard did. She did not deserve to die like she had; she did not need to be made an example of.
Shepard lowered her head, still feeling the shame in letting Cerberus control her the way she had. She wondered if she would ever be able to come to terms with what had happened. She wondered if she would ever be able to trust herself again.
She heard the door to the shower open and felt a hand on her side. She knew that touch, even as Lissa she had dreamt of Liara’s gentle caring touch. The Asari kissed her shoulder and Cayle shut her eyes. She could only imagine what her lover had gone through while she was “away”. Shepard had died once before for two years and the Asari had changed.
She had become independent, which Shepard had actually liked. Liara had developed an inner strength that made her a leader in her own right. She had found her talent in information brokering and it suited her. Liara had also developed a slight dark side, one that she had become frighteningly close to giving in to. When they had first reunited, Cayle had honestly thought she had lost her. Liara had pushed her away and kept her at a distance as if blaming her for dying. For a while Cayle had thought Liara would never forgive her and Shepard had never felt so close to bottom in her life, except now.
“Liara...” She started; she felt tears in her eyes and fought them back.
“Shh,” Liara said and kissed her shoulder. Using both hands, she drew Cayle back until the Spectre was leaning against her. She held her firmly in one had while the other went for the shampoo. “This is whatever you want it to be, or not to be, Cayle.”
Cayle leaned completely against Liara as the Asari placed the shampoo in her hair, slowly massaging it in. Shepard closed her eyes and let the woman she loved take care of her. She wanted this and she knew Liara needed it. Liara needed to feel in control of something and Cayle needed to know the Asari still loved her.
Slowly and gently Liara continued to bathe the woman she loved, the woman she had fought so hard for over the last five years. She could feel her heart beat in her chest as she touched Shepard, as she massaged the shampoo into her hair and then rinsed it. It was hard, feeling her breast pressed against the Spectre back’s, not to fully embrace her. When she was done with the shampoo she repeated with the conditioner.
Cayle was so quiet Liara could only wonder what she was thinking. She had been through so much in the last five years. She did not have to meld with Shepard to know she was struggling. She knew her lover too well, even if five years had passed since she actually held her.
When Liara finished with Cayle’s hair, her hands moved the human closer, letting her head rest on her shoulder. She ran her hands through Cayle's hair. She was not used to it being short, but it was a small difference. Cayle handed her the sponge after lathering it in body soap and the Asari cleansed her body as she had done her hair. She started at her shoulders then moved down each arm.
She let Cayle stand on her own as she continued, lathering her back and over her buttocks. Her fingers would stop and trail the new scars the Spectre had gained since her last near death experience. She could only imagine how painful and terrifying it had been to wake up under all that debris alone, unable to call for help.
“I am sorry we did not find you first,” Liara whispered and moved in front of the Human, using the sponge to lather her chest and over each breast, resisting the urge to linger. She did, however, let her fingertip trail over the large scar on her stomach. She watched as Shepard twitched, she had always been sensitive there. Liara could not help but smile slightly.
“It’s not your fault, Liara,” Shepard said, looking down as the woman moved to one knee and continued her cleaning. The Asari was quiet as she moved down Cayle’s long legs and to her feet. She bit her lip as she felt the tears threatening.
“I left you twice, Cayle. You died alone, twice, because I left you.” Liara looked up to her and Shepard instantly melted in those big blue eyes. She moved down to her knees to be level with the other woman.
“I didn’t die, Liara, not really; and you were always there to get me back.” Cayle reached out and cupped the Asari’s cheek with her hand, her thumb gently caressing. “And I sent you away, both times. I just,” She paused, unable to look away from her lover. “I would not have been able to,” She took a deep breath. “I don’t know what I would have done knowing that you had died when I could have prevented it. That would have killed me inside.” She tapped her chest.
“I don’t know if I can handle it again.”
Shepard smiled and took a hand in her free one. “I don’t know if I can either. Dying’s not all it’s cracked up to be.” They both laughed. “I don’t think I want to try it again.”
“I would be very happy if you did not.” Liara smiled. Cayle leaned in and kissed her deeply, and Liara responded in kind. She did not need to be melded to know just how much Shepard loved her. It was always more than evident in her soft and warm lips.
They parted and Shepard stood up and held a hand down for Liara. “I’m really tired and I don’t want to be alone.” She helped the Asari to her feet and placed her hands on her waist, pulling her close. Closing her eyes at the sensations their body’s touching sent through her, she spoke softly. “Will you stay with me?”
“Forever,” Liara whispered, “And a day.”
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Post by spiritwolf71 on Oct 28, 2012 22:35:48 GMT 1
Chapter 18
Chapter 18
The beat was steady and loud and tended to drown out whatever other music accompanied it. It was an unusual sound for the sordid dark streets of Tortuga’s capitol Port Moresby. When settlers had first come to Tortuga, this pleasant almost oasis-type area had been a thick forested area with a river running through it that led to a large lake. A small villa had been built on the Eastern shore of the river which then spread to the West. The town continued to grow until it reached the lake.
The area had stopped growing, but people did not stop coming. Human, Salarians, Krogan, Asari and Turian alike crammed themselves into the city. Other cities began to pop up around the surface of Tortuga but none of them as large or overly populated as Port Moresby. None of them as lawless either.
Last time Shepard had come to Tortuga she had gone to La Guardia; it was bad. It was run by the Blood Pack and they ran it like terrorists, but it had laws. Granted, they were laws written by the Blood Pack, but they were laws and they were upheld. In La Guardia you paid your homage to the pack, grew your fields and drank yourself into a stupor and life went on.
Port Moresby had more deaths in a day than the rest of the planet had in a week. There was no old age, there was no jail, and you lived in the darkness and hoped that no one would ever find you.
Until now, Shepard had never heard music in the streets of the city. Sure there were several establishments of drinking and whoring, but never dance and music. Leave it to Aria to make her mark in a dismal hole in the ground. Shepard was not happy to be back here. She hated Tortuga.
Shepard and Liara moved into Aria’s newest establishment, called Elusian, which Liara explained to her was an old ritual used in the days before Siari and maybe even as old as the Goddess Athame. It was considered a cleansing ritual the maidens would perform before they were paired up with their mates. It was forgotten for some time, but then rose again as Siari became more popular. It changed slightly, becoming a word used for finding oneself in a sensual sort of way. Humans had an equivalent; it was called puberty, the discovery of sexual desire. Either way, Shepard found it an odd name for a bar.
Shepard smiled as Liara blushed her way through the explanation and Liara knew she was going to get teased. She smiled as she finished and looked at Cayle.
“You know I have to say something, don’t you?” The Human said, taking her lover's hand. “You just looked so damn cute, blushing like that.”
Liara smiled. “I am sure you do.”
“You will have to tell me later how you went through your Elusian ritual,” Shepard smiled widely.
“It wasn’t a ritual, per se,” Liara explained. “It’s more like a time just before one reaches the Maiden phase. It is not something that is generally talked about, as I am sure that Humans do not talk about their own sexual curiosity as, basically, young adults.”
Shepard raised a brow and smiled again. “I wouldn’t mind.”
“I bet you wouldn’t,” Liara leaned into her slightly. “Maybe you can share as well.”
Shepard chuckled and squeezed the Asari’s hand. “I didn’t get a chance to go through anything like that Liara,” She admitted, “but maybe we can make something up.”
They walked through the line up to the main doors and were stopped by two large Krogans and a Turian.
“Do you usually just walk to the front of the line and cut in front of everyone?” the Turian asked.
“Usually,” Shepard answered. She handed the Turian a data pad, “give this to Aria and let her decide.”
The Turian looked at it for a long time. Shepard shrugged, “Or not, but I would not want to be in your shoes if Aria ever found out you turned me away.”
“Why? Who are you?” The man could not help but ask, his curiosity piqued.
“That’s for Aria to know, not you,” Shepard glared at the man. It was not a long showdown as the Turian finally turned away.
“If you're messing with me, Human, I’ll make sure you pay for it.” He said moving off. Cayle laughed then closed her eyes.
If anything, Aria’s music was catchy. Not that Cayle danced by any stretch of the imagination, but she could not help tapping her foot to the beat. Last time she danced was with Jack on the Citadel, and the young biotic had never let her live it down. Old woman dancing was what she had called it.
She found herself wondering what Jack was doing now. She had been more than happy when she had learned that the young biotic had started teaching. Jack had a sassy mouth, but deep down she had a big heart. She had become so used to being disrespected that she did her level best to throw people away from her before she could be disappointed. It had taken some work to get Jack to trust her, and more importantly, to trust others. She knew how hard it had been; one only needed to be kicked in the face so many times before they covered their head when people approached. Jack had overcome that though, and become so much more than even she expected she could be.
She loved working with the younger biotics, she loved having them look up to her and make her feel like she was someone special. Jack had never told her that. She didn’t have to; she just had to watch Jack with “her kids”. Jack had finally found her home. Shepard could only hope she would get to see Jack sometime soon. She had always thought of Jack as a little sister.
The Turian returned looking a little bit pale. He gestured for them to enter the club. “Aria is in the office,” he pointed to a room that overlooked the club. The widows were darkened but Shepard imagined that on the other side they had a clear view of the bar. Aria always needed to know exactly what was happening.
Shepard nodded and held Liara’s hand tighter. She did not want to bring her lover with her for several reasons. The first was the simple fact that this was Tortuga, and anything bad could happen here. As Lissa she had always done very well, but then, she had never had to come to Port Moresby. Still though, the Cerberus Assassin was more suited to this atmosphere the Alliance Soldier. Even so, both hated the way women were treated on this rock.
Aria’s place was not bad. There were no restrictions on her here but for the ones that she made for herself. Sure, her dancing girls were naked and her serving girls were half dressed, but no one was touching or abusing them, not like all the other places. She imagined a lot of the woman wanted to work here. Aria would only have hired the best. There was absolutely no fighting; signs were up all over stating as such. Knowing Aria she would have had to kill quite a few people before her rules were firmly established.
Regardless, Shepard watched Liara like a hawk as they made their way through the club, moving herself between the Asari and anyone who dared approach.
They approached the office and Shepard could not help but think of the second reason. She had visited Aria before, as Lissa. Actually, she had been to Aria’s several times as the Asari seemed to be a bit of an information broker herself. Lissa had never minded trading away some Cerberus information in exchange for information she was looking for; besides, she had never thought of betraying the Illusive Man as betraying Cerberus. The Illusive Man still had a few hold-outs, and she had given Aria a lot of information on them and let her take them out. Aria hated the man and anyone who dealt with him.
Aria also liked Lissa, not that the Asari had ever come out and said it, of course, but she had flirted and Lissa had flirted right back. Lissa had always had an unexplained affection for the Asari. Shepard now knew where that came from. It was from her love for Liara, deep down being with an Asari was right; it was the way it was supposed to be.
One night, she and Aria had even come very close to stepping over that line between friends and more. They had both been venting their frustration over men and their lack of use for them. It had been entertaining at first, and they shared a laugh or two, and then they were kissing and exploring and it had taken everything in Lissa’s power to finally pull away from the Asari before things went beyond the point of no return. She liked Aria, but she wasn’t able to take that step. That had been the last time Lissa had been to Aria’s. If Shepard was lucky, Aria would not figure it out. She had her black hair back and Miranda had returned her eyes to their original colour, but her hair style was still short.
As they made their way up the steps to Aria’s office, Shepard prayed that none of her past with Aria would come out. She had been too embarrassed to tell her lover herself, and she was not sure how Liara would take it.
Cayle stopped and looked around the establishment. Like all of Aria’s clubs, there was a slight red glow in the dim light. Several stages littered the main floor at all different levels, with dancers moving their bodies to the beat. Most of the girls here were human, but there was a smattering of Asari as well. There were two bars at each end of the dance floor with bar tenders and a few bouncers at each.
The club was packed with the younger crowd, not the worn out, gnarled hands, gnarled hearted regulars. People were here to actually dance, not drink themselves into oblivion. It was not something she expected in this town. It was almost as if the music and the dance gave them some semblance of hope. That was Aria’s gift.
The two guards outside of the office moved out of her way as she approached. She looked at Liara for a second before opening the door and stepping inside.
In contrast to the dimly lit club, the room was bright and did not have that red glow. It reminded her more of an office and she was not used to that. Aria usually preferred a comfortable couch in the middle of her establishment. Tortuga, however, was not a normal place and one needed to protect themselves. As requested on the pad Aria was present with just one guard, one that she trusted.
“So, it seems as though you just can’t stay dead, Shepard,” Aria said, looking up from her red couch. That was a mainstay it seemed. Cayle could not help but wonder if she dragged it with her from establishment to establishment.
“Yes, it would seem as though Death and I have established an equitable working relationship."
Aria laughed as Shepard moved to the couch and sat down. Liara followed but remained standing. Aria focused on her. “So, has your girlfriend learned how to speak?”
Shepard looked at Liara, having no idea what Aria was talking about.
“Last time I visited Aria, Feron insisted on doing the talking,” Liara explained. Shepard still really did not understand. Judging Liara’s body language she was not happy with the way the conversation was going.
“And how are you doing?” Shepard changed the subject. “Every time I meet you, you’re in a different place.”
“Yes, because picking up and moving my life is always fun,” Aria commented dryly.
“I’m happy to see you too,” Shepard smiled.
Aria looked at her for a very long time and Cayle found herself getting uncomfortable. Aria was trying to figure something out, she could tell in how the Asari lowered one brow.
“So how did you escape death this time?”
“That is a story for another day,” Shepard stated firmly, letting the proprietor know that particular was not on the table for discussion. “However, I would just like for you to know, Kai Leng is finally deceased.”
It was quiet for a long time. As Lissa, Shepard had found out what happened to Aria’s daughter. She knew that Aria had wanted Leng dead for some time. Cayle kicked herself for mentioning it. She as Shepard had never known. She looked at Aria to see if she would pick up on it.
She had, she could see it in the way Aria looked to her now. The quiet in the room grew deafening. Cayle went through all sorts of things she would say to Liara if Aria spoke up. Not that Cayle would ever have had a relationship with the older Asari, but Lissa was not Cayle. Would Liara even see it that way?
“It is good that he is dead. It’s just too bad I was not the one to do it,” Aria said, her eyes not leaving Cayle’s. She knew, and she was not going to mention it. Shepard let out the breath she had been holding.
“This is a nice place you have here in Tortuga.” Shepard immediately changed the subject.
“Yes, one built on a lot of blood. It seems the people of Tortuga were used to taking what they wanted, and their manners were... well, non-existent.”
“Looks like you have it under control.”
“Yes,” Aria picked up a glass and took a drink, still eyeing Shepard. “We had to teach several lessons when we arrived. Apparently a few people did not know my rule.”
Cayle chuckled. “What about Omega?”
“Omega is mine. One day, I will take it back.”
Shepard knew how much the woman loved Omega. She had left because of that love. Had she stayed, it would have been destroyed. It was like that story she had heard once, the one about the two women, both claiming a child to be their own. When the magistrate declared that the baby would be cut in two and each woman given half, the real mother backed down and allowed the other woman to have the child.
“What if I said that day could be now?”
Again, that deafening silence as Aria looked from Shepard to Liara. “Are you playing with me, Shepard? You know I do not like to be toyed with.”
“I would never do that,” Shepard said honestly. “But we need access to the Omega 4 relay, and the only way to do that is to control Omega. I figure, who better to help us with its weakness and get us in undetected if needs be, than you?”
“Who are we?” Aria asked. It was a fair question.
“The Alliance and whatever Allies that come along.”
Aria stood and moved over to the window, looking down at the dancing locals below. “And if I take part in this, who gets control of Omega?”
“Well, from all that I know, Omega has an owner; she’s just been gone for a bit. You would have to allow the Alliance to use it as a launching ground for their forces though.”
“And the Alliance will just hand it over to me when they are done?”
Shepard could not really guarantee that. She could not even guarantee she’d be anything but arrested, placed under house arrest, and giving a dishonourable discharge. She just wanted to have a plan in motion for when she returned to the Alliance. Something to make her worth something other than arrested to them.
“What do you think?” Aria looked directly at Liara. “Will they go along with Shepard or arrest her?”
Liara looked to Cayle, who hung her head. “You know?” the younger Asari asked.
“I knew Lissa and Lissa knew about my daughter, I don’t think I ever told Shepard.” Aria took another drink.
“When I was Lissa I had made some deals with Aria, she was an informant.” Cayle explained and prayed that Aria would leave it at that.
Aria turned to her, looking her straight in the eyes. “Yes, a very good informant.”
“And a friend,” Cayle added and looked at Liara, who was starting to make assumptions of her own. She could see the Shadow Broker coming out in Liara, the tensing and the stern face and the slight blue flare of her biotics.
“Nothing ever happened,” Cayle didn’t want to do this, not now, not in front of Aria. She should have told Liara.
“Unfortunately,” Aria added. Liara still had her back up, but thankfully she was not pressing the issue. Not here anyway.
Again that silence hit the room. She needed to get Liara out of there before things went bad. “Are you in?” she asked finally.
“I still have the three mercenary groups under my control. If we go for the station they have to be a part of it, and the station comes back under my control.”
They were fair demands. “That was my plan.”
“Ok, count me in.”
“Aria. You had a fling with Aria.” Liara said, too calmly, as they entered the shuttle. Shepard knew the Asari was anything but calm, her biotics were flaring now. Cayle had no idea what to say. The last two days had been wonderful, with Liara by her side almost all the time. She had loved having Liara there to laugh with and to touch but they - she - had avoided a lot of things.
Cayle had not been ready to breech the subject of Lissa. Not that she did not trust her lover; she was just ashamed of what she had done as the Assassin, ashamed that Cerberus had been able to do what they had done to her.
“I did not,” Cayle defended. “It was Lissa,” she paused for a long time. “Aria was pretty much the only Asari Lissa knew, and it felt right for her to have feelings. Just... deep down, having an Asari at her side was right, and she could never explain it, she was Cerberus after all. It was just that, one night, Aria opened up to Lissa about a lot of things, and vice versa. They tried the whole intimate thing but Lissa stopped it, it felt wrong.”
“I’d say,” Liara was still tense, with blue wisps slightly outlining her body. Cayle took a deep breath. “You could have told me, trusted me.”
“I do trust you,” Shepard countered and sat down. “I trust you completely, it’s not about that.”
“Cayle, you can talk to me.” Liara sat beside the Human, calming down. “I’m sorry; I should not have gotten angry.”
“No, I would have,” Shepard smiled slightly. “Lissa was not me, Liara. She did things that I would never have done. It was not my life, but I still feel responsible.”
“Shepard, you had no control,” Liara placed a hand on her shoulder but Cayle shook it off and stood.
“They got to me Liara, they made me something I did not want to be, I did things I did not want to do. They gave me a name, and... Jesus, Liara! I don’t even know how to describe it. They controlled me, Liara, and I was helpless, I let it happen. How do you get over something like that? How do I trust that it never happens again? If I can’t trust in that, how do I expect others to?” She paced, her own fist completely clenched, fingernails digging into her palms.
“Lissa did a lot of things that Cayle, that I, would never do,” Her voice became a whisper, “Things that I am ashamed of and that I can never take back.”
“And I over reacted, Cayle, I am so sorry,” Liara moved to her side, “I know you and Lissa are two different people.”
“I know I have been distant the last couple days, and we have not had the reunion that either of us had dreamt of, but...”
“That is not important,” Liara said, taking the woman she loved into her arms and comforting her. “All that is important is that you are Cayle, and you are back. We can work on everything else.”
Cayle released her fist and held Liara, letting the Asari comfort her. There was nothing she needed more than to be in her lover’s arms.
“You were always so hard on yourself, Cayle,” Liara whispered into her ear, “I know millions of people who trust you and will understand what happened. What Lissa did was not you and you do not have to be ashamed, it was Cerberus. They might have controlled you, but you were too strong for them to keep you controlled. You broke free; you rescued me and Kolyat, and then immediately set yourself to save the galaxy once again, even knowing they might turn their back on you. You are Shepard the unstoppable force, you have always stood strong, and you are still standing strong! You have nothing to be ashamed of.”
Cayle held Liara tightly, fighting to get her emotions under control. She buried her face in the Asari’s neck.
“I love you, Cayle Shepard, and there is nothing that Lissa did that could break that.” Liara pulled back slightly so she could look in Cayle’s eyes.
“I love you too, Blue, more than anything,” Shepard said and rested her forehead against Liara’s. “I think nothing happened with Aria, because deep down, the only Asari for me is you, no matter who I am.”
Liara smiled and tilted her head up, pressing her lips against Shepard's. “You're right about that,” she brought her hand up and tangled it in Cayle’s hair. She always loved the feel of the Human's hair in her fingers, so soft.
Cayle reached down and pulled Liara tightly to her, letting her tongue explore and play with Liara’s. The Asari’s moan was enough to awaken deep desires in the Human. The shuttle was not the ideal place, but Cayle did not care. She needed Liara now more than ever.
They could not stop touching each other as their clothes became nothing but a pile on the floor. Cayle smiled as she ran her fingers over Liara’s crest, remembering how much the Asari loved that. Her other hand traveled downward, past the small of her back to her buttocks, and she squeezed lightly.
Cayle had struggled since she got her memory back, the two worlds colliding, but she knew beyond anything that Liara was the centre of her soul and they were one. She had held back for days and could hold back no longer. She lifted Liara’s leg up as she pressed her against the wall, her lips exploring that spot at the edge of the crest where her ear would be. Liara could only moan as she gripped Cayle’s hair in one hand, arm in the other.
“Goddess,” She whispered. She could not control herself; she was putty in the Human’s hands. “Embrace Eternity,” She continued as she and Shepard became one.
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Post by spiritwolf71 on Dec 4, 2012 5:27:30 GMT 1
Chapter 19
The screaming seemed to never stop. She tried to cover her ears with a pillow or plug them with her fingers, but the sound always found a way to get through. It would last until she figured she could not take it, then it would be quiet, but it never lasted long.
She was fourteen when she had her first trip to the hospital, and she had been forced to stay for almost a week. A broken jaw, three broken ribs, and a world of hurt kept her there. When one had no money to pay, there was no children’s ward. She had been placed in a ward with eleven other women. It was the one in the corner that would wake up screaming and never stop. She figured she would get used to it, but she always jumped when it started.
She was the youngest in the ward, and the other women all looked like they were ancient. All used up and left to rot. Some of them just as beaten as she was, some much more broken than she was; but they all had the same sad story. They were women in a gang’s world. Cayle learned that lesson the hard way when a group of “the boys” found her on her own. She still had no idea of how she had ended up in the hospital.
It was on her second day in the ward that she met Alice. A wonderful older girl, barely thirty but she looked like she was fifty, and getting older every day. Rough-looking would be considered an understatement and when the crone started talking to her, Cayle had almost run away; probably would have if it had not been painful to even walk.
“You’re quiet, like a mouse with no squeak.” The woman said. Half her teeth were missing, and the other half were like little rotten stumps. She took a long drag of her cigarette. Cayle looked up from her bed as the woman came closer. “Still clean and fresh,” she looked her over. “Well almost clean; them men got to you, was bound to happen sooner or later. Not too big in the breasts but you have nice hips. Men like nice hips.”
Cayle said nothing, pulling her blanket up to her neck.
“You got a fire to you,” the crone went on, “you know, if you have something they need - more than your sex - this won’t happen to you.”
Cayle jumped as the screaming started again, tears threatening to pour out of her eyes.
“Oh now, don’t start them water works, you go and learn a skill; a knife or a gun, or information. Something they need, and you won’t ever come back here.” A dirty hand reached out and patted her on the shoulder. “And if you don’t find a skill, well then, you’re lucky too, 'cause it’s the first time that’s the worst and now you have that under your belt.”
It had been the first and last time the gangs had ever used her like that. She was sure the old crone had never really expected her to heed her words, but she had. Cayle really had no skill at anything; she had pretty much lived off just stealing food and running from the law.
Once she had escaped the hospital she had begun to train herself; getting into shape, stealing a gun and then finding a place to learn how to use it. Finding ammunition for the pistol had been a little harder, but she was talented at breaking and entering and over a small period of time, she realized she was talented at shooting as well. Less than six months after her attack she was able to hit a target with a pistol at 400 yards. Eight months after her attack she broke into a house to steal food and happened upon an M-92 Mantis and enough ammunition to carry her for a long while. It had been the jackpot she had been waiting for. By the time she turned fifteen, she was taking on contracts for the Bloods. She never ended up in the hospital again. She worked for the Bloods until she was seventeen.
To say Admiral David Anderson had influenced Shepard's life would the understatement of a lifetime. He was the one who found her, brought her out of that life of hell, and gave her a reason to go on. She owed everything she had become to him. She never had a father, and he was the closest she ever got to finding one.
He found her a place to stay with people who wanted to help her. She learned how to read and write and some of the other basics one needed to keep themselves out of the slums. When she was eighteen, she joined the marines and the rest was history. She owed everything to Anderson. She had been there when he died, but she never had a chance to mourn him. Cerberus had taken that from her.
The smell of the lilies tickled her nose as she looked down at them, then beyond. It was a cold stone, laying on a cold and wet ground that looked back up to her with her mentor's name on it. For some reason she wanted more. He had saved the galaxy and all he got was his name, birthday and date of death etched into some stone. Liara had assured her that no one had forgotten the Admiral, that schools and hospitals had been named after him, but it still didn’t feel right.
Cayle reached up and scratched an imaginary itch on her neck, and then looked up, letting the rain fall over her face. She wondered if Anderson was looking down at her now. Would he still be proud of her? She would never know. She could only hope that he was with those that loved him.
“Well, I’m sorry I’m late,” She said finally. She looked up at Liara who was waiting at the car. Shepard had wanted to do this alone. “For quite a few things. I just want you to know though, if it wasn’t for you I just might have ended up like Lissa. You were there for me when no one else was, and you showed me what I could be; for that, I owe you everything.” She smiled slightly. “One day, hopefully, I will marry Liara and we will have children. Although I don’t think David is an appropriate name for small girls, I will make sure they know who you are and what you did for their father. That in more ways than one, you were the true hero, 'cause if it wasn’t for you... there would be no me.”
Shepard looked at the lilies she held in the crook of her arm then bent down and placed them in front of the tombstone. She then placed a rock on it. She remained kneeling as she kissed her fingertips, then touched them to the rock. She had never been affectionate with the Admiral, not in the hugging and kissing sort of way, but she did love him like she would have loved a father.
As she knelt, she felt a presence behind her. “He was always very proud of you, Commander.”
Shepard stood and faced the other man she admired. Admiral Hackett, although older now, was still imposing. She stood to attention and saluted him even though neither of them was in uniform.
“I think I should be the one saluting you Shepard; none of us would be here if it was not for you. For the record, I’m glad you’re not dead.”
“Me too,” Cayle smiled and looked back over at Liara who was pretending to be surprised the Admiral was here.
“Don’t be too upset with Doctor T’Soni. I think this was a good idea; if you came to me at headquarters we would not be able to just talk. T’Soni said you were going to turn yourself in. I don’t think that’s a good idea, but I don’t think I can talk you out of it.”
“No Admiral, it’s the right thing to do.”
“Nobody knows, except a handful of your loyal friends, that you were this blonde Cerberus Assassin. The Alliance has no idea who she is and I am certain they would never suspect it was Commander Shepard. We could bury this, Cayle.” Until now they had been walking, but as he spoke her name he stopped and turned to her. “No one ever needs to know.”
Cayle was silent for a long time. Liara and Hackett had obviously already gone over this to some degree, and no doubt the Asari probably supported what Hackett offered. It was a nice dream, but that was all it was. “I couldn’t live with that, Sir.”
“No, I didn’t think so. We were just hoping.”
“I appreciate the gesture, but after everything everyone has been through they don’t need a leader who lies to save herself. They either accept what happened or they do not, but the truth needs to be known. I need the truth to be known. It’s hard enough to live knowing what happened. I don’t think I could live with covering it up.”
“I understand, Commander, and I guess I expected that. It’s who you are and that’s why you’re a hero,” he looked past her to the Asari waiting at the hover car. He was silent for a long while. “If you need this all to come out in the open, then I have a suggestion for you.”
“I’m listening.”
“If you go to the Alliance they will hang you out to dry. I suggest, instead, that you surrender yourself to the Council.”
“Wouldn’t that be worse?”
“Not at all,” He said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back slightly. Shepard was already doing the same. “First off, even though Humanity likes to think of you as their hero, the Galaxy has not forgotten what Shepard has done. You might be human, but you always treated every race as equals. You brought peace between the Turians and the Krogan as well as the Quarians and the Geth.”
“But it’s the Salarians I really have to worry about.”
“Not really, they go through emotional cycles quite quickly and are logical beings. They were upset the first week or so after the assassination, but things went back to normal. The Dalatrass was not well liked; she turned her back on the allies because you would not bend to her will, which angered everyone, including her own people. The Quarian and Turian council members will be on your side, though the Asari might need a little convincing. Your problem will be the Human representative. She’s a bit of a problem, no military background, a pure politician. She will want to hang you out to dry, thinking it as a good will gesture to the Salarians, which I don’t think is something they want.”
“The Alliance will hang you, Shepard. They grounded you for the Batarian incident, they will give you a dishonourable discharge for this if you are lucky, possibly jail if you are not. Either way, it is not something you deserve. They will think they need to make up for the assassination, and they will do that through crucifying you and not even give it a second thought.”
“What about the device? I know how to get it,” Shepard said. “Couldn’t I use that to my advantage?”
“They would send Williams, and we all know you would not let her go in blind.” He paused, “They know that as well.”
Cayle ran her hand through her hair and looked back at Anderson’s grave. “I didn’t ask for this to happen to me, Sir.”
“Do you trust that it will never happen again?”
“I am clean. I mean, it could happen to anyone of us. They worked on me for a year before they were able to break me; that programming is gone. Miranda made sure of that. There is as much a risk of me being programmed as there is of anyone being programmed.”
“Well that’s good to know,” Hackett stared at her as she looked at the ground, “You’re a hero, Shepard, don’t ever think different. None of us would even be here right now if not for you.”
“I sometimes get the impression that being a hero doesn’t mean much, Admiral. Particularly when your own people want you strung up. I am starting to wonder if it was better when I was a dead hero.”
“You know that’s not true, Commander. You will always be there for those that can’t be. You will stand on a wall holding a gun so that others can sleep well at night. It’s what you do and it’s what you do better than anyone. This will all work out, you just need to change course and go to the Council, not the Alliance. I think what you find there just may surprise you.”
“What about you, Admiral? Do you trust me?” Shepard looked into his eyes. He never faltered.
“With my life, Commander. With my life.” They looked at each other for a very long time. Shepard finally gave him a little nod, then turned and headed back to the hover car. With each step she rolled over the information and advice the Admiral had given her, and with each step she felt more confident that things just might turn out. By the time she reached Liara she felt much better.
“Wow! Admiral Hackett!” Liara said innocently, “Must have been weird running into him.”
“Yeah, kind of odd we would run into each other like that,” Shepard raised an eyebrow as she got into the hover car. “'Cause a graveyard is such a busy meeting place.”
Liara continued to feign innocence. “What did he say?”
Shepard looked out the back window to watch the aging Admiral place a stone on Anderson’s grave beside her own. “Hackett advised that I should go to the Citadel Council and not the Alliance. He thinks I would find more friends there.”
“The Admiral is a very wise man,” Liara smiled. Shepard looked at her.
“I might get crucified either way,” She smiled. “You’d still come and visit me in jail, wouldn’t you?”
“Only on conjugal visit days.” Liara smiled back.
Shepard let her head settle on the headrest, then turned to look at Liara. “When this settles, I think we should... well... get married.”
“Shepard! Is that a proposal?” Liara looked to her lover stunned. Shepard smiled back.
“Not yet, Liara; this is just me putting out feelers so that I don’t get embarrassed when I finally come round to it.” She smiled as Liara hit her. It was quiet for a while. “Well?”
“Well, what?” Liara looked over at her. Shepard smiled.
“Would you marry me?”
“I... uh...” Liara looked at her, not knowing if she was still joking or not.
“That was a proposal, Blue,” Shepard smiled. “Except I don’t have a ring or a-mmmphh!” She was cut off as Liara twisted in her own seat and kissed her deeply. Cayle smiled and returned the kiss. When they separated Liara’s grin was from ear to ear.
“Was that a yes?”
“Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes,” Liara repeated over and over, each repetition followed with a kiss. Shepard chuckled. “Did you and Hackett talk about that as well?” She asked.
“No, Anderson told me to hurry up and stop stalling, he wants Grandkids.” Shepard’s smile grew for a few seconds and then she sobered. “I just wanted to do something right, you know? To have something go right for once. I don’t know what’s going to happen with the Council, but good or bad...” She trailed off.
“Good or bad, Shepard, I will always be there for you.”
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Post by spiritwolf71 on Dec 13, 2012 13:24:20 GMT 1
Shepard remembered the council chambers, at least the public one. Like everything related to the Citadel it was large and grandiose. Being human of course she thought the floor was made of marble but over time she had learned that it was called lapis and it was a rock found on Thessius. She had always remembered this little fact because it made her realise that no matter how different all the races were that they shared a lot in common.
Life, death; love, loss, the circle of life, every race lived that, granted some longer than others. They were all so very different but in the basics of life, they were exactly the same. It was funny how each one of the races could have their own role, every one of them but the Humans. The Asari were the counselors, the Turians the tacticians, the Salarians the scientist, Quarians the Engineers, Krogan the warriors, the list went on but Shepard could never figure what the Humans role was.
As she walked into the chambers now she looked to the floor. She could only wonder if the stone was lapis or marble or even a similar stone from a different world. She promised herself she would look into it later.
She hid behind a hoodie and dark pants, she was not ready to be seen. Not that anyone was in the chambers except a few of the cleaning staff. She had needed to come and just get familiar with the layout. She was pleasantly surprised to find that it was rebuilt exactly like the old one. A fact that did surprise her since the chamber was in the shape of a Reaper, or at least she always thought it was. Perhaps they had decided that by leaving it alone that it showed they were not frightened of the massive machines anymore. It didn’t matter, they as a Galactic community had defeated the imposing machines. They as a Galactic community had helped each other rebuild. It had been an amazing occurrence that had brought them all so much closer. It had not mended everything but it was a great start in the right direction. She had never expected them to become a Utopian society but at least they had learned how strong they could be together.
Shepard walked slowly and found herself standing in the exact spot she had stood eight years ago. She closed her eyes and could hear the echoes in the room.
“It is the decision of the council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of Special tactic and reconnaissance branch of the citadel,” the Asari councillor, Tevos had started. Cayle could not help but remember how proud she was at that moment. The first Human Spectre, she had not really wanted the honour, not when Udina had mentioned it to her but when it happened it was like a wave and she was helpless. Anderson had been at her side then, like he had always been. Ashley and Kaidan had been there as well.
She remembered how quickly the chambers had filled when Tevos had started speaking, no one really certain what was happening or what it would mean.
It was Valern, the Salarian councillor, who spoke next, she could hear his voice as if it also echoed, “Spectre are not trained but chosen, individuals forged in the fires of service and battle, those who actions elevate them above the rank and file.” It had almost been like a well-rehearsed speech. The Turian, Sparatus continued the formalities, “Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defence, the safety of the galaxy theirs to uphold.”
This was the responsibility that Shepard upheld herself to, the first and last line of defence. That was her duty as well as her burden. It was the guidelines she had set for herself, the defender of galactic peace. She knew that secretly Udina had hoped for more power for the Humans but Shepard had never viewed her appointment as a Human thing, she was not a Spectre to help humanity, she was a Spectre to help everyone equally. She was more than certain that she had been a huge disappointment to the Human councillor, especially when she had originally backed Anderson for the job.
That was the day everything had changed for her. It was the day she had realized that things were so much bigger then Earth and humanity. It was also the day she had realized she would never be able to live a normal life.
Shepard leaned against a podium that faced the area where the councillors stood. She had many battles with them in the past, mostly regarding the Reapers. For the longest time they had refused her claim that the large “beast” was anything but a myth. Even after defeating Saren and Sovereign they denied her claim of a Reaper invasion. They refused assistance to the Humans in the traverse when the Collectors started to harvest them, acting on behalf of Harbinger. They even turned their back on her when she had been forced to destroy the relay in the Behak system killing over three hundred thousand Batarians in order to delay the Reaper Invasion.
It wasn’t until the Reapers had appeared in their front yards that they realized that she had been speaking the truth and by then it was almost too late. Even then they refused to listen to her when she called for a united front to oppose the Reapers. She knew deep in her heart that united together as a galaxy nothing could oppose them but they were only interested in protecting their own people.
She had very little faith they would help her now. She had very little faith that anyone would do anything but jail her.
“Commander Shepard?” someone approached from behind, she knew that voice. Shepard could not help but wonder if that was still who she was. She had been pronounced dead by the Alliance, was she still a Commander?
“Councillor Tevos,” Cayle turned and faced the beautiful Asari. Tevos was a mix of grace, serenity and the characteristics of royalty, or at least Shepard has always thought of her like that, almost like a Queen.
“By the Goddess, you are alive,” She said and to Cayle’s surprise, hugged her. When they parted she placed her hand on Shepard cheek. “When Aria told me you were alive and wanted to speak to me, I, well, I really didn’t believe her.”
Shepard raised a brow. She had always wondered what the connection was between the two. She remembered Aria calling on Tevos before to help her out of a situation. She also remembered Aria and herself almost having a one night stand, sisters’ maybe? Shepard figured she would never know. She just knew that Aria had something on the Councillor and maybe it would be enough to get Tevos to help her.
“Yeah, I’m still figuring it out myself,” Cayle said.
“Aria also told me that you had been working for Cerberus, but that they had been controlling you, making you think you were someone else.”
Shepard turned away and wince, Aria had talked too much. “They had a Doctor that specialized in hypnosis; apparently Cerberus found me first on the Citadel and they snuck me to one of their facilities. It started when I was still injured and weak, the ideal situation they said, to rebuild the mind.”
“And you had no idea you were Shepard?”
Cayle shook her head slowly as her arms crossed defensively over her chest. “They cleverly mixed reality with make belief, from what I understand it took the just over a year to program me.”
The councillor looked to Shepard for long moment before speaking again, “And you have come here to…”
“To turn myself in, I have committed crimes against the Council races, crimes I need to answer for,” Shepard turned away, gripping the podium with both hands, “I was the Assassin that killed Linron.”
It was quiet for a very long time before Tevos finally stepped up to stand beside Shepard. “We have not seen eye to eye on a lot of things in the past, Commander. We, as a council have treated you badly, not believed you and shunned you. We even went as far too once call you a traitor. Through that all you remained steadfast in your goal, strong in your beliefs and loyal Spectre member. When we first made you a Spectre most thought it was to placate the Humans. I cannot speak for Sparatus or Valern but I can tell you what I saw when we appointed you as a Spectre.”
She continued when Shepard did not answer, “I saw a woman, a being who was willing to put everyone else before herself, not just her race, but everyone. I saw a woman who was brave, strong and mighty, I also saw a woman who was caring and selfless. I saw in you the best of all of us and you have never let me down Commander Shepard. The fact that you are here now, torn up over what your body did when your mind was not in control is proof of just what kind of a person you are,” She placed her hand on Cayle’s back for support. “I imagine the audience with Liara T’Soni is really an audience with you and that you plan on turning yourself in.”
Shepard nodded and turned to her, “That and some other pretty important things. Cerberus has Harbinger and I think we should get it back before they do any harm with it. I know that I have to answer to all that has happened and that I might be condemning myself by returning but if it means stopping Cerberus then I have to do it.”
“And that is why you are a Spectre, Commander.”
“Are?”
“Even if you were stripped of the title, you are the very model on which the foundation was built. A title is just that, anyone can wear them, not everyone can be them,” Tevos turned to leave. “Go and be with Liara now, the council will convene shortly and we will continue this discussion there,” She smiled slightly as she moved away, “I think you will be surprised at the outcome.”
“The council chambers are full,” Liara said as she returned the room, “It’s almost as if they are all expecting something big. Are you nervous?” She asked raising a brow.
“If I said no, would you believe me?” Cayle said and she looked at herself in the mirror. It had been a long time since she had worn her dress blues and she felt extremely uncomfortable in them. She tugged at her collar. “Is there usually that many people at the council meeting.
“Usually it is empty, maybe a few political representative, people who brought support for their problems but never a full house, rarely half a house.” Liara explained. “Mind you until recently the council had been sitting in the Ascension. They just moved back to the Citadel a few months ago.”
“Did you have something to do with the full house?” Shepard’s eyes narrowed.
Liara smiled, “No and not that I would admit it either with you looking at me like that.” She reached up and tended to Shepard’s epaulet.
“There are some strange Quarian and Turian waiting to speak to Shepard,” Falere said coming into the room.
“I figured you would want your friends with you,” Liara whispered, Cayle smiled and turned as Garrus and Tali entered the room. Falere left to give them privacy. She wasted no time and bringing them into a big hug.
“Oh god, I have missed you.” Cayle said to them. When they parted Tali was crying and Garrus was smiling.
“How dare you go and come back from the dead and not tell us.” Tali said. Cayle focused on her for a long time. She looked at her slightly yellowish skin, she knew Tali was young, perhaps the youngest of them all but because of the mask she had never realized just how beautiful the Quarian was. It was fitting though, that Tali was as beautiful on the outside as she was inside.
She was surprised that the thick mane of long black hair that flowed from the Quarian. Until now she had only ever seen humans with hair. Well Lissa had come across a few suit less Quarians in her time, this was the first for Cayle. “Tali, I,” She reached out and took the Quarians hand. Her skin was soft like humans as well. Shepard smiled. “You are beautiful.” She hugged the young Quarian again. When she parted she looked to Garrus, her smile grew.
“You, however, still look like you took a missile in the face,” this cause Garrus to laugh.
“It’s good to see you both,” Cayle said holding her own emotions in check. “I’m going to guess Liara called you.”
“She said you might need some support,” Garrus said and smiled to the Asari who moved over to Sheppard and took her hand. “Of course, I had to figure that out on my own since it was Tali who answered the call and she kind of forgot how to speak after she heard the news.”
Tali smiled, “It was quite shocking,” She defended, “I mean coming back from the dead once was, amazing but to beat death a second time.”
“Unfortunately I didn’t beat it this time,” Shepard said and looked to the floor.
“Liara told us about that as well,” Garrus said, “But I knew, or had a feeling since the Assassination that something was not adding up. I only knew one other person who could make a shot like that and then when the blonde came running out of the building. I didn’t get the best look but enough to know that something was up.”
“Liara never thought you were dead,” Tali said with a smile as she wiped her eyes, “She always said she would know, she would have felt it.”
Shepard smiled to her lover. “Well, I’m putting my life into the hands of people that have never listened to me before.”
“Well, the Quarian Councillor, Adayia will be an ally,” Tali said. “You know her father, Zaal’Koris. Most Quarians see you as the one that Untied the Quarian and the Geth anyway. They even named a city after you on Rannoch, or it’s in the process.”
“And you won just as many points with the Turians when you ended the feud with the Krogan, I don’t think you have to worry about Sparatus.” Garrus added.
Shepard looked from Tali to Garrus then to her side at Liara. She moved off to a spot by herself. “I admit I am happy and flattered but I don’t think any of us are looking at the big picture.” She turned back to them. “I let Cerberus get to me, use me, people died because of that. I mean do I deserve to be just let free?”
“Shepard,” This was from Garrus, he moved until he was directly behind her. “Cerberus used you against your will. Had you been in your right mind you would never have done what this Assassin did. Cerberus attacked you when you were weak and unable to defend yourself. None of us have the right to judge that, hell the only one that is judging that is you.” He paused for a long moment and spoke lowly so only she could hear, “I don’t think you are even blaming yourself for what she did, you blame yourself for Cerberus being able to control you.” “I thought I was stronger.” Cayle said, barely above a whisper. Garrus chuckled slightly.
“You are stronger, you broke their hold, most probably never would have, you need to focus on that. Shepard you are the strongest person I know.”
Cayle looked to him, “But the Dalatrass?”
“That was Cerberus, not Commander Shepard. I know you didn’t like the woman but you would never have killed her, least of all like that. If she needed to be taken care of you would have done so face to face and you would have made sure she knew why. You need to stop punishing yourself for something you had no control over. Save that blame for where it belong, Cerberus.”
Shepard turned and looked to Garrus for a long time. They had been best friends for a very long time and new each other very well. Both Garrus and Tali had been at her side through everything, good and bad. She was thankful they were here now. Garrus always seemed to know what to say.
“Cerberus,” She echoed and smiled slightly, “What would I do without you Garrus.”
“Well, you probably would not have save the galaxy without me covering you back,” he joked and they laughed.
They were interrupted by a knock at the door and Falere entered the room. “Your next,” she said to Liara. The room became quiet Shepard looked to Liara.
“We’ll all wait for you on the chambers,” Tali said taking Garrus’ hand and leaving, the others followed suit.
“I have a good feeling about this, Cayle,” Liara said with a smile. She reached up and kissed her. “We’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, I hope so,” Shepard said looking at the door, “If not there is always the conjugal visits.” --- As Liara and Shepard walked up the podium she could feel everyone’s eyes resting on her. There were some surprise gasps and an overall murmur to be heard throughout the chambers as people began to realize who she was. Even before she reached the podium the audience was giving her a standing ovation. Liara squeezed her hand and smiled at her slightly as she felt the temperature rise in the Spectre. She had never felt Shepard so tense.
By the time Cayle stopped she was at a complete loss of words. The speech she had planned in her head had disappeared. She looked around as people continued and she spotted Admiral Hackett smiling to her and clapping. She could only wonder who had filled chambers, was it Hackett? Would he see this as an advantage, was it an advantage? Again she thought of Garrus words, did she feel guilty about the death of the Dalatrass or the fact that Cerberus had controlled her? Did she feel like she had to be punished because she was weak? She waited, gripping the podium tightly as the council calmed the crowd down. Once they were quiet she looked up to the council. As usual they were a hard bunch to read.
“Commander Shepard,” Sparatus started talking first, “I must admit that this is a surprise and an honour.” He was quiet for a few seconds. “May I be the first to welcome you back from where ever it is you came from?”
“Well, that was why I came here, to explain what had happened, I just didn’t expect it to be, so public,” She admitted.
“Well then, I am sure everyone here is waiting to find out,” the Turian continued to speak for the council.
“Well,” Shepard looked to Liara who smiled gently back, “First of all I am glad I am back and I am happy to see most of the council survived the attack. I imagine that the question you all want to ask is where I have been,” She paused again and then straightened out. “Five years ago I sacrificed myself right here to end the Reaper war.” She paused as she thought back to that time, the choice she was forced to make, the choice no one would ever know about except Liara. “I thought my life was over and I guess for a little while it was. Apparently I was wrong. I was found in the rubble by Cerberus and whisked away to a lab.”
This time she looked to Garrus, he was right; she was more ashamed that they had taken control of her then what she did when she was controlled. She remembered the night when she was fourteen and the gangs had gotten a hold of her, it was the same feeling. She had been used and had no control over it. Hopefully, like then, she would make sure it would never happen again.
“Cerberus used hypnosis to control me, used my weaken state to allow it to take hold. For the next four years I believed I was someone else, a Cerberus Assassin. As this Assassin they used my skill to commit crimes that I would never have committed.” She looked around the room as everyone was listening intently. She looked to the Human councillor whom she did not know. “It pains me to realize, as this assassin I was the one tasked with the assassination of Dalatrass Linron.”
She paused as she heard a slight murmur from the people in attendance. “At this time I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the Salarian people and I would hope that they know that I would never have done that of my own free will. It was shortly after this attack that I was found and Cerberus’ control broken. “
Shepard took a deep breath, “I have come here today to make this confession and to surrender myself to the Council. I will abide by whatever reparation they deem necessary.” It was quiet, quieter then Cayle expected it to be as everyone seemed to be holding their breath. She certainly knew she was. Liara reached out and took her hand as they watched the council. Tevos looked from one councillor to the other and then began to speak.
“Commander Shepard, I would like to be first to say that there are no words that could express our happiness at seeing you alive. It was a sad day when you were finally declared dead and the search ended. The Galaxy was a poorer place when we all believed you were no longer in it. I believe I speak for the council in saying that what Cerberus did to you was a travesty and a crime, one that will not go unpunished.”
She paused, “In the time that I have known you, you have been petulant, demanding and hard headed but you have always been so with the best of all of us in mind. We have disagreed on a great many things and you have even hung up on us a couple times out of frustration. I have found over time that you are emotional because you care, because you wanted to protect us from harm. I have also found that every time we have not listened to you, disaster struck.”
Again she paused, Shepard would have crossed her arms over her chest had Liara not been holding her hand. “There is not one person in this room that does not owe you their life and I think I speak for all of them when I say that it was Cerberus that killed the Dalatrass not Commander Shepard and there will be no reparations. If anyone thinks differently, they can come forward now.”
Again the room was quiet. The Asari councillor waited a moment before speaking again. “Well Commander Shepard, I believe you have your answer. Welcome back.”
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Post by spiritwolf71 on Dec 18, 2012 4:12:27 GMT 1
Chapter 21
Shepard paced with her arms crossed over her chest. She had almost left the chambers on a successful note when the Human counsellor had requested that she meet her in her office. Request was putting it mildly, Cayle had the distinct impression that if she did not meet the councillor that bad things would happen. She really did not want to think about what type of bad things, she just knew she did not have a good feeling about this meeting.
She had come alone and now paced in the woman’s office alone. She could not help but notice it was in the exact same spot as Udina’s office had been in, built a bit differently but in the spot. She could only wonder if that was a bad omen.
She paused in front of the large fish tank that adorned the wall. She watched as two Thessian porier eels glided by. They were so graceful and elegant, much like the Asari themselves. The tank also contained a school of millet seed butterfly fish and three jelly fish. It was almost as big as the one Shepard had enjoyed on the Normandy, except with less dead fish. She remember how happy she had been when she had purchased that fish feeder on the Citadel prior to the war, she had been getting sick of spending thousands of credits on the things. She found herself wondering how her fish were doing now. The middle of the room was decorated with a circular rug with definite Asian designs on it; on the rug sat a desk and three chairs.
When Udina had his office here had a straight desk, made of some metal and nothing really special stuck in Cayle mind. This councillor had an antique maple president’s desk and it was in impeccable shape. Shepard could smell the old wood; it was always one of her favorite smells.
The Spectre took a second to look around the room. The woman seemed to have good taste. The room was sparsely decorated that being one thing the two of them had in common. Cayle did not like a lot of clutter either. The councillor had a fondness for abstract as Cayle noticed she had a few Salvador Dali reprints as well as the more modern Visions of Ilos series painting. Other than that the room had an abundance of plants, something the councillor and Shepard did not have in common. Green things tended to die when the Shepard touched them.
Chuckling to her herself she moved over to the imposing older woman’s desk and picked up her name plate, Councillor Vicky Burnett.
“Well Vicky,” Shepard said lowly, “Is this going to be a love, love relationship or are you going to throw me to the wolves.” Udina would have been furious. He hated not being in the loop and not because he really needed to be in it, he was just a controlling bastard. She knew that was the reason he had hated her being a Spectre was that he had no control over her. That was also why he had named Williams as a Spectre. It was the same reason he eventually turned to Cerberus, he had no control over the council.
Ashley would have some day made a brilliant Spectre, but, at present, she was a soldier and she followed orders, Alliance orders. Ashley would always look out for others but Humanity would always come first, the marine was slowly changing and Cayle had faith that she would be the Spectre the council was looking for someday; it was just not right now.
She had, after all, been the one that had killed Udina when he tried to backstab the council. Shepard had almost taken the shot then. Her finger had twitched more than once on the trigger but in the end she trusted Ashley to the right thing and her friend had, that was all that mattered.
Shepard gently placed the name plate back on the desk and looked to a picture; she smiled as it was obviously a wedding picture. The woman was pretty, Shepard guess maybe fifty, fifty five years of age. It was her skin that gave her age away, the slight wrinkle around the eyes. She still had that ginger coloured hair with no signs of white. The councillor didn’t seem to wear any makeup but obviously did not need any; she was that natural sort of pretty. In the picture she was smiling and when she smiled her whole face smiled, Cayle had always liked that. In the council chambers though, there had been no such smile on her face.
Shepard was surprised to find that the Councillor was married to a Turian, she thought of Garrus and Tali. The councillor was much younger in the photo, maybe ten or fifteen years younger. “We were married a couple years before the war,” the Councillor stepped into the room from her private hallway. “He returned to Palavin in the first wave, I was lucky though, he came home after the war.”
“I’m glad that worked out for you Councillor, a lot of families were destroyed during the invasion,” Cayle said in earnest. “Yes, lucky, that and he is a fine warrior,” Burnett said. Cayle was surprised that her husband would not have been a politician as well.
Shepard looked up to the woman not having anything to add to the conversation. She had no idea of who the councillor was or what she was thinking. Cayle imagined she was probably angry, the Spectre had gone behind her back and approached the council without her knowledge. She had no idea of what to expect. Instead of moving behind her desk Councillor Burnett stood directly in front of her.
Shepard noted she looked taller from far away. Standing in front of her like this Cayle realised how short the woman actually was. She could actually see the top of her medium length ginger hair and she note she had green eyes which usually denoted temper.
“You made a fool of us today,” The woman said glaring up at her. “Imagine how it looked that the Human Councillor was the last person to know that the most famous human ever was alive. You by passed me and the Human government in favour of grand standing in front of the council.”
“I wasn’t trying to grandstand anyone, honest,” Cayle said, not grandstanding per say anyway. Councillor Burnett looked at her for a few moments before sitting down at her desk. Shepard turned to watch her.
“You figured by turning yourself into the council you would escape persecution by the Alliance parliament and military.”
“I wasn’t really thinking,” Shepard paused, “Persecution is a big scary word. Do you think I deserve persecution?”
The politician leaned back in her seat. “I don’t know, do you think you deserve persecution, that was what you expected when you came here, was it not?”
“I came to make a confession, my crime was…”
“You worked with Cerberus for five years regardless of who was in control of you. I am not saying we would not have come to the same conclusions the Council did but we deserved a right to be trusted, we are you people Shepard,” The woman argued.
“I humbly disagree Councillor, Yes I am Human and yes I am part of the Alliance, but first and foremost I am a Spectre. My people are all the races and those in this galaxy we don’t know about yet. The Alliance Parliament and the military knew this when they allowed me to be appointed Spectre. I did not come here without the intention of going back to Earth, this was my first stop.”
“And you did not think to come to me?”
“I don’t know you. I figured you would have stopped me.”
“Perhaps,” the woman said, “But it would have been the respectful thing to do.”
“If Commander Shepard had come to you she would have already be tried and hung.” This came from Hackett who had slipped in the room undetected. Shepard let out a breath, glad to have an ally.
“The Salarians blamed us for the death of their Dalatrass,” The councillor stated simply.
“They blamed us for the lack of security; they blamed Cerberus for the Assassination. I blame the Alliance for their lack of information on Cerberus. Shepard was not responsible for her actions at the time. I doubt you would be able to find anyone who would not see it that way, especially now.” Hackett sat down across from the Councillor, leaving Shepard as the only one standing. He lifted one leg up onto the other and made himself comfortable. Cayle had a hard time not smiling seeing how angry this made Burnett. “You’re just angry she didn’t come to you first and give you control over what happened.”
“We both know if Shepard had gone to Earth first she would never have made it here.” The Admiral continued. She was amazed at how smoothly political he could be. That was one area she was not the best at. “They would have locked her up and interrogated her. Then they would have kept her locked up thinking that it would placate the Salarians. No one would win in that situation. This was the best way out for everyone.”
As Shepard watch the two she could not help but think of the arguments Udina and Anderson would get into, most of the time over her as well. It was too bad that things had ended the way they had, with both men dead.
Unlike most people, Shepard didn’t think Udina was completely unredeemable. She honestly thought he was pushed into siding with Cerberus when the Council repeatedly ignore Humanities pleas for assistance, first in the Traverse then when Earth was attacked. Cayle doubted that Udina had been in Cerberus circle for very long. He was just easy to recruit given his frustrations. Udina truly wanted what was good for humanity; he was just blinded in the end.
She had been with Anderson when he died but she had never had a chance to mourn him. She had tried, after opening the arms, to be with him, but as she rested beside him she had been called upon again because nothing was happening. Then she thought she had died, she had sacrificed herself to destroy the Reapers, the Catalyst has said she would die. She remembered pain like she had never felt before, then calmness, then vaguely waking up and more pain, then Cerberus found her. She never had the chance to go through the mourning process. She was not even sure where to start it now.
“She had an obligation to the Alliance,” Burnett stated banging her finger against her desk, “And while I understand the whole Spectre thing she moved behind my back and the back of her people.” The woman sighed. “What’s done is done; we can’t go back and change it now.”
“My point exactly,” Hackett said threw tight lips. Shepard realized that it had been Hackett that had filled up the chambers. He would probably never admit to it but he didn’t have to.
“So what happens now?” Shepard asked.
“Now we discuss this device and your plan on getting it back. I will go and talk to the Alliance Brass about reinstating you and seeing that you are granted amnesty for the crime that Cerberus committed while in control of you. I am sure Councillor Burnett will be able to assist you with anything you might need.”
“Reinstate me?” Cayle said slowly, she obviously did not have a choice the matter. “What does mean, exactly?”
“Well Shepard, the SSV Vigil has now completed construction and its first Commanding officer will be Ashley Williams. That leaves a spot for a Commander open on the Normandy,” Hackett said looking up to her; both the Councillor and Shepard looked at him in shock. Shepard bit her lip and spun around. She wanted to be back on the Normandy, she had always felt as though it was an extension of her, almost as much, if not more, than Joker did. In thinking that there was one thing she did want more and that was Liara. Things were going far too fast at the moment. She was not sure what she had expected from this day but being thrust back into her old life in one fell swoop was not it.
She wanted the Normandy, she wasn’t going to be able to hide that, she just was not sure how Liara and children fit into that. She would never want a family on a ship like that. She did not see Liara as a stay at home mother either, she was the Shadow Broker and she was a very successful Shadow Broker. She twisted her fingers together as she struggled with herself . “It’s not printed in stone,” Hackett said sensing her internal discord, “Shepard I still have to go back to the Alliance Brass and see what they have to say in the matter.”
“I think you’re pushing things along a little too eagerly Admiral,” Burnett said. “Before we give the Commander a ship, especially one as essential as the Normandy we need to do some test. Figure out what Cerberus did to her and be damn sure it can’t be done again.”
The small woman stood and moved over to her, “I understand who you are, Commander,” she started, “and I respect and appreciate the sacrifices you have made for everyone. I even think you are a hero despite what it may look like, but you just admitted that Cerberus had control over you for five years. I am not saying I do not trust you, because I trust and admire Commander Shepard very much, even though you went behind my back, but we really need to make sure Cerberus can’t speak a word and control you again.”
“They can’t, Miranda Lawson made sure of this,” Cayle argued. “Miranda Lawson is an Ex-Cerberus agent herself,” Burnett started but Shepard held up her hand.
“I trust Miranda with my life, Councillor.”
“Miranda Lawson has been a valuable and loyal asset to the Alliance since she defected from Cerberus,” Hackett surprised Cayle by adding.
“What I am saying is that Shepard has pretty much not even been back a day. There are hoops we all have to jump through to figure out exactly what that means. We need to slow down,” the older woman said.
“I wish we had time,” Shepard said turning, “Cerberus is on the move and they have Harbinger and they have some device that was extracted from Harbinger that is supposed to be powerful. I’m not sure anyone knows exactly why but I do know they wanted it back pretty badly. The rumours alone, about it, warrant us taking it out of their hands and destroying it.”
“Destroy, is a pretty strong word,” the Councillor said after a few moments of silence. She was obviously calculating some sort of plot in her head.
“Councillor, with all due respect, you have no idea of how close we all were, of being completely annihilated. I don’t know what this device does but it’s Reaper technology,” Shepard could not help but think of the warning the catalyst had given, that someday the cycle will be restarted. Maybe not in her life time but it would come to pass. She hoped in her heart that it was wrong. This device scared her. “I don’t think that it’s wise to just give it to one race, if we go to get it we should be destroyed it. It could have, well it could do anything.”
“What about if we re-open a joint task force on it with all the races taking part,” Hackett added. “There are actually quite a few since the crucible; Cru Tech is a joint interspecies government funded research foundation. It is maintained by the Council and as said, funded by each race.”
“I still don’t know. We don’t even know what it does or what it means. What if it wakes up the reapers, what if it restores Harbinger? We cannot duplicate what I did to stop the invasion,” she said, nor was she sure she wanted to, not if it could all be avoided.
“I think it would be a shame to destroy it before we even figured out what it did. Cerberus must have some idea, it must be documented somewhere. They took out a large part of the Eclipse to get at it,” the Councillor said. Shepard looked from Hackett to the small woman.
“We need to stop Cerberus first and foremost. They have this technology and they have a bad habit of being careless with stuff like that. They seem to believe in the test first, consequences later theory. I know, I still have Lissa’s memories. We need to confront them and hit them hard,” Shepard looked to Hackett. “I have already contacted Aria; with her aid we could probably take Omega right out from underneath the Ambassador.” She stopped and for the first time thought about the man, she turned away from the other two. The Ambassador…
Becoming Lissa had been his project. He had been present since the day she had been found. She saw him in her first real memories after the explosion. She remembered the pain she endured and he would simply watch and she could hear him talk to others how her pain made her weak and susceptible to the hypnosis.
He had created Lissa’s background and helped feed it to her. He had been the one that created the relationship the two of them had. He had used her in ways she never dreamed she would ever be used and it hit her in that second like a sudden slap in the face. She shook it off the best she could.
“Commander?” Hackett was concerned about her sudden quiet.
“The Ambassador,” Cayle continued, “is the Head of Cerberus. He killed off their council and took over the operations himself. He is Cerberus in more respects then the Illusive Man ever was. The Illusive Man headed the largest branch of Cerberus, mostly the Military and weapons research. The Ambassador had taken over when he was killed but then Mr. Ambition decided it was not enough. He wiped out the Board that over looked the day to day operations of all the branches. I don’t know if that was the top of the ladder or not, but that is where he controls.”
Cayle turned and looked to Hackett. “I will go with Aria and a small team to Omega; she already has several of her people on the inside and had her mercenary groups ready to attack. If we can get in we can rally the populace and Cerberus would not stand a chance. It would look like Aria planned the attack and they would not suspect that the Allies are involved.”
“That’s a bold plan, Omega four is protected by an IFF interface,” Hackett said.
“True, the Normandy is already fitted with one of those, we can replicate it or we can take the IFF off the Cerberus ships that would be stranded on Omega.”
“You mentioned the allies; do you think they will join in?” Burnett asked, Cayle could see she was actually considering her idea. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all.
“They will have to; I don’t think we can take on Cerberus alone. While we were healing and using our funds to rebuild they grew. I can tell you that beyond that relay is a sizeable force. With most of the council races still not even close to rebuilding their military they would wipe out any one of us, but together we have already proven how strong we can be,” Shepard said turning to Burnett. “You need to get them on board.”
The councillor seemed to think about this as she moved slowly to her desk, “I will do what I can,” she said finally. “However that does not mean we are done addressing the assassination. I will need to talk to the Salarian Ambassador about that.”
“I understand,” Shepard said earnestly. She truly did, she knew had a Salarian killed a Human diplomat that the Humans would want someone to answer for that. They might have even mistaken it as an act of war. Salarians were different than humans, perhaps the most different of all the races, save maybe the Hanar. They lived short lives and as such they tended to go through emotional cycles much quicker than most. They were also scientist and analytical thinkers and as such would be able to see who the real enemy was much clearer than humans ever could. Even knowing that, Shepard still found herself worried about confronting the Salarians. This was a race that condoned genocide.
“Sounds like the beginnings of a plan, Shepard,” Hackett stood and allowed himself a slight smile. “It is good to have you back, Commander.” He held his hand out and Shepard took it.
“I’m glad to be back.” She said with a smile, now she just needed to figure out what she was going to do with herself.
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Post by spiritwolf71 on Dec 21, 2012 19:50:36 GMT 1
Akuze was a terrible experience for many reasons that Cayle had never spoke of. She remembered when she had joined the Alliance that she thought she had elevated herself from being a killer that she would actually be fighting for those that could not, for a cause that would always be worthy. She knew it would never be that perfect, but she never believed that the Alliance would have actually recruited her to do much the same as she had been doing with the Bloods. Sneaking around, infiltrating, and killing people when they didn’t even have a chance to fight back.
With every squeeze of the trigger she felt a part of herself die. She had no friends, nor did she want any. She went through spotters more than people went through clothing. People did not want to work with her because she never talked, at least not above and beyond gathering the information she needed for the shot. She was beginning to think that life was not worth the hype she kept hearing about.
One thing about the Alliance though, they had toys. The new infiltration kit that had been programmed into her omni tool was something else. Add to that a nice cyro freeze defence and she had decided that she no longer needed a spotter and the Alliance had agreed; or rather they had run out of people to pair her with.
When she had not been working she would stay at home and watch vids of normal families doing normal things, living a life she had been denied. She watched them because she had to believe what she was doing was worthwhile. She would never live that life, but she would fight to make sure everyone else could.
She had been assigned to a squad for her mission to Akuze. They were going to find some missing pilgrims; she was going to kill one of them. The leader of the colony on Akuze had been in contact with Cerberus and the Alliance had learned that Cerberus just might be involved with the disappearance of the colonist. The Alliance wanted the leader killed, and they wanted to pin it on Cerberus. Cayle did not care about the particulars she just wanted to take the shot and leave.
She had left camp using her cloak shortly after night had fallen. While the squad she was with was heading to the colonies main sight Shepard was actually going to their last known location. While she moved through the darkness, dressed all in black, she thought about her assignment. She would kill this man that the Alliance wanted dead and then she would locate any survivors if she could. It was not a part of her orders but she desperately needed to do something to make everything feel right.
She had not even been gone twenty minutes when she felt the ground shake roughly around her. She had never heard of a thresher maw before, so she had no idea of what it was. She just knew something was moving under her at a quick rate. She looked behind her as she realized it was heading straight for the location of the squad that she had just left. She stood completely still for a few seconds as she wondered what it could be. Maybe Cerberus had a secret weapon and they knew the Alliance was present on the planet. She got a bad feeling. She began to run, a light jog at first to conserve her energy, which turned into a sprint as she heard the sounds of gun fire. The squad was under attack. She ran as fast as she could and as she got closer she noticed the gun fire was accompanied by screaming. She broke out into the clearing of the camp and froze.
With eyes wide she looked up at the giant worm like creature, she had never seen anything like it before. She released her black widow from her back and aimed at the creatures head, it was dark so she could not get a good shot. It took a moment to realize there was more than one of these things. She took a shot anyway but did not stay to admire her aim. She holstered her rifle and sprinted into the camp.
When they had arrived there were more than thirty members of the squad. Now there was only a handful. She grabbed a young kid as he backed into her firing up at the giant creature. “Get into the Mako,” She ordered him. He wasn’t listening. When his clip was empty he continued to dry fire. “Dammit.” She could not help but noticed that the boy look barely old enough to be here, his face still lined with acne. She growled and grabbed around the neck and dragged him to the Mako.
“Get in Marine,” she ordered. He nodded wordlessly and climbed up and into the Mako.
Cayle calmly moved around the camp as the sound of gun fire subsided. She found only one other alive, but injured. She winced as she noticed it was a gunshot wound to the stomach. “Can you walk?” She asked the girl. She could not have been much older than Cayle herself.
“Can’t feel my legs,” the woman responded. Cayle nodded, the bullet must have lodged itself into her spine. Shepard held her assault rifle in one hand and hauled the woman up and over her shoulders.
“I’ll walk for you,” Cayle answered. She moved a little bit slower back to the Mako and placed the woman inside. She looked to the kid. “You keep an eye on her and don’t let her lose consciousness.”
The kid looked at her with wild eyes. Cayle bit her lip. “Yeah ok,” she hauled herself up and into the driver’s seat. There were still at least three of the giant worms out there. They were all in front of her, she took a moment too looked around. The ground here was soft but she knew she had just come from the beginnings of a rocky area. She would head there and hopefully the worms would not be able to follow.
“Hold on,” She called back to the two that were with her. She bit her lip and spurred the truck forward. She knew she was not the best driver and the Mako’s were not the most stable of vehicles. They were made for rough terrain and had the most horrible shock system ever. Every little hole or bump you hit caused the machine to jerk in a new direction. It did not bode well either that she had almost failed her driving course, the third time through.
She raced as fast as she could fight the controls as she split her focus between the hills and the three creatures behind her. They seemed none too interested in the vehicle as it continued to pick up speed.
“She’s not breathing,” The kid finally spoke from behind. It startled Shepard enough that she turned around to look. Sure enough the young woman was unconscious.
“Oh my god,” The kid shouted and as Cayle turned back to the front a large worm appeared in front of her and sent the mako flying…
“Excuse me,” Said an older rough looking man as he ran past Shepard, bringing her out of her horrible memories. Both the Kid and the woman had died that night, how she had survived she never knew. It had been four days before she woke up in an Alliance hospital room. The whole squad had been wiped out.
Shepard moved out of his way as he passed her on the running track. She continued to run around the track at her own speed as the decision to Command the Normandy weighed heavily on her. She had decided to run at the track at the Human Embassy to avoid crowds. Not too many people worked out there, one had to be a work in the Embassy or be a ranking officer to work out here.
When Anderson had visited her in the Hospital, Shepard had been suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, or that was what she was told. She simply wanted out. She could not and would not just kill people any more. She felt responsible for the deaths of the Marines on Akuze and she almost had a fit when she was told she was getting an award for her courage. She had certainly not felt courageous. The only reason she had lived was because she had not been there, and had she been, maybe she would have been able to make a difference, maybe some more of the Marines would have made it out alive. They would never know.
As always Anderson took care of everything and next thing she knew she was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and brought to the Normandy to be Andersons First Officer. By all rights the Normandy was her saviour. It was within the crew of the Normandy she had become a completely new person. She had been allowed to get to know people and care, and she treasured every moment of it.
She had made good friends, Jeff Moreau being the first. She had been pretty much the only person who enjoyed his sense of humour. They had become quite close friends and always had each other’s back, keeping each other out of trouble, or maybe more of her keeping him out of trouble. He had a bad habit of always speaking exactly what was on his mind. Keeping him out of trouble was a small price to pay since he was always timely with the picking her up when she was in dire need.
Then she had made friends with Kaidan Alenko. It had been a bit harder to make friends with him since neither of them were the most outgoing people. It wasn’t until they both realized they were from Canada that they hit it off. She remembered staying up late one night with him just going over all of the Canadian clichés. Not that she knew many of them but he had kept her laughing as he made fun of most of them.
He had a crush on her and she knew it. He had never acted on it and she was fine with that. She enjoyed his company way too much as a friend to ever want to push it further. There were times though she felt guilty about not having the same feelings back.
She sighed as she felt the windows rumble slightly. The alliance docking platforms were just outside of the embassy and down a couple levels. The gym she was working out in had a good view of the platforms and usually it was comforting to watch ships docking and departing. As the window shook and grabbed her attention she noticed the slick aerodynamic shape of the Normandy. She did not need to see the name of the ship to know it. She could close her eyes and just recognize its landing pattern and sounds.
She jogged to the edge of the window and watched as it effortlessly docked and powered down. Her eyes narrowed as she knew it was here for her. She had not accepted Hackett’s offer but he was trying to lure her to the dark side. She had not even told Liara about the offer, she was terrified to. She wanted to be back on the Normandy, it was her home and she felt a deep obligation to be there, but she wanted to marry Liara and have a family as well. She had never felt so torn in her entire life. She took a deep breath and turned and walked towards the shower. She no longer felt like running.
Liara found Shepard leaning against a rail in a hallway that had a wonderful view of the Normandy. She moved behind her lover and wrapped her arms around the beautiful Spectre. She loved it when Shepard was dressed in short and her oversized sweat shirt; it allowed her to marvel at her lovers shapely long legs. As she pushed herself against Cayle she inhaled deeply saving that fragrance of strawberries that she always smelt like. When Shepard was gone Liara had never been able to find anything close to that smell.
“You just had a shower,” Liara kissed her neck. She could see the human smile through her reflection on the glass.
“Uh huh,” was all she said, if that could even be saying anything, but it made Liara smile more knowing that Cayle was playing with her.
“Without me?” the Asari pouted. Cayle smiled more.
“Yeah, it was hard, I couldn’t figure out which was the shampoo and which was the conditioner without you.” Shepard smiled and turned to face her kissing her deeply. “I also realized how much shorter a shower is when I’m alone.”
“You missed me?” Liara smiled coyly. Shepard let her fingers slide over Liara’s skin, her thumb tracing her lips.
“I did, more then you’ll ever know,”
“Show me,”
Cayle could not help feel a little fire start deep within her as she heard Liara say those two words, every time the Asari said them exciting things tended to happen. Shepard slid her thumb from Liara’s lips and pulled her close she tilted her head slight and pressed her lips against Liara soft ones. She always felt like she was floating when she kissed her lover. If the Normandy had not been docked right outside the window Shepard would have found the closest closet and dragged Liara in. They parted and Cayle smiled looking deep into Liara’s eyes.
“I love you Liara T’Soni, I don’t think I can say that enough,” Shepard said, she looked back to the ship as her options weighed heavily.
“I love you to Cayle,” Liara sensed the shifting in the conversation. Shepard had stiffened slightly and her shoulder hunched that millimeter forward like they always did when she had to face a problem she didn’t want to. Shepard brought Liara into her and held her in a deep hug, resting her face into Liara’s neck.
“What’s wrong?” Liara began to panic.
Cayle took a deep breath as they parted and faced the Normandy again, resting her forehead against the window. “Cayle, I’m getting worried.”
Cayle took a breath and let it out on a huff, “Ashley is going to Command a brand new ship, which left an opening on the Normandy, and Hackett offered me the spot,” she let it all out. She let the information fully hit Liara before she turned around.
“Do you want to go back to the Normandy?” Liara asked.
“I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” Shepard defended.
“That is not what I asked.”
“I don’t know,” She answered honestly, “I feel torn.”
“You’ve served your time for the Alliance, above and beyond what anyone could even expect from you,” Liara said taking her hands, pulling her away from the window. “You don’t owe them anything Cayle.”
“No, not them,” Shepard said in a whisper. She sighed and bit her lip as she leaned her forehead against Liara’s
“Not them? What is it Cayle, what is it that drives you to constantly sacrifice yourself and your happiness?”
Shepard moved away and twisted her fingers together. “When I was just a kid, maybe fourteen, a bunch of guys from the gangs got a hold of me and they, they assault me.” She said letting Liara read between the lines.
“Shepard, I’m sorry,” Liara winced; Shepard never really talked about her past.
“No, it was a long time ago, but I was in the hospital for a long time afterwards and I met this woman. She was old and used up but I remember her telling me that I needed to get used to it, that I was just property to them unless I had a skill they needed.”
“I didn’t know Earth could be so rough,” Liara admitted. She had heard stories from time to time and she had seen how degraded the slums were but other than Cayle saying she hated it there she really had no clue. She suddenly felt slightly guilty, all of her musing about her mother. Shepard had only known hers for five years and then spent the rest of her childhood fending for herself.
“After I got out of the hospital I stole myself a gun and I practised with that gun every day, for hours. I was a natural at it but I still crafted my skill,” She paused for a long time. “I killed my first person before I turned 15 and I did it so well that I got noticed.”
“Cayle, I,” Liara started but Shepard reached up and placed a finger over her lips.
“By the time Anderson found me and convinced me to join the Alliance I had killed eighty nine people,” Cayle turned and looked out the window, “When I was in basic training I had an Admiral come and see me. He put me through some test privately and I guessed I passed because he pulled me out of basic training and right into special ops training. My first years in the Alliance I did exactly the same thing I was doing before I joined the Alliance, except I was for working for a different company,” She paused for a long time.
I remember listening to Thane talk about being an assassin. How he went on about him being the weapon and his employer being the one that pulled the trigger, it was never like that for me. For me every time I pulled the trigger a part of me died,” she paused for another moment. “Then I went to Akuze and things didn’t work out to well.”
“That was when you lost your squad,” Liara said, but it was more of a question.
“They were not my squad. I was there for a hit and got caught in the middle of the mess. I tried to save,” She bit her lip remembering the face of the young kid whose name she had never known. “I tried to save them but I was too far away when the attack took place.”
“And you think you owe those Marines?”
“No Liara,” Shepard turned to her again. “I killed all those people from safety in the distance; they didn’t even have a fighting chance. They didn’t have a chance to be told why they were dying whether it was righteous or not. On earth, I just lined them up and pulled a trigger so that I would not be used by the gangs. Eighty nine people Liara, eighty nine people are dead for my own selfish purpose. If you ever wanted to know my motivation it was every single one of them.”
“So, the Alliance was your punishment?” Liara said not fully understanding. Shepard smile slightly.
“No, the Alliance was my atonement. Having the ability to save lives that came when I joined the Normandy, that’s when I truly lived Liara. Until the Normandy I was dead. All I ever wanted was to make a difference, make a difference or die trying. Making things better was, is important to me, I have to do it, it drives me.”
“And your happiness?”
“It didn’t matter, until I met you. It still doesn’t matter, but your happiness means everything to me.”
Liara looked to her lover for a long moment, loving her even more if it was possible. She always knew Cayle was selfless but she had never understood her motivation until now. They both turned and leaned on the railing as they looked to the Normandy.
“Well that little side room made a very good office the last time I made the Normandy my home,” Liara said, reaching out for Cayle’s hand. “I mean I could use it as a satellite site and Falere and Feron are more than capable of taking care of my main ship.”
“You’re not going to live in that side room,” Cayle said, taking Liara’s offered hand and holding it tightly. “I would have a perfectly sized bed in my quarters with more than enough room for two people.”
“Well then we would have to make sure we covered every inch of it.” Liara turned and smiled to her.
“Oh I am sure we would not have a problem with that,” Shepard spun quickly, pulling Liara into her and wrapping her arms around her. “I love you Liara,” She whispered.
“Show me,” Liara smiled and pulled away walking seductively to the lift. It would take about five minutes to get to her ship. Shepard looked at the Normandy one last time before she smiled wantonly and chased after her lover.
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Post by spiritwolf71 on Dec 21, 2012 20:05:12 GMT 1
Chapter 23
“Sir, I don’t have what you would call people skills,” Cayle argued, trying to convince Anderson of anything once he made up his mind was next to impossible. “I appreciate the promotion and the chance to serve on a crew, but you want me to lead them?”
“I have all the faith in the world in you kid,” Anderson had said as they moved down the hallway to the Normandy. “You have paid your dues and it’s time the Alliance can see what you can do.”
“But I haven’t, Captain,” She argued. “Akuze,” She trailed off. Anderson stopped his walk and turned to her, placing a hand on either shoulder, he looked her in the eye.
“Akuze is the past, Shepard, you either dwell in it and get lost, or you step out and let yourself feel the sun. You have shown me traits in a soldier that are not easily come by Shepard. Now you need to shake Akuze off and have a little bit of faith in yourself.” He paused. “Listen, I’d be more worried if you didn’t feel remorse, but you take the loss and you learn from it so next time you do better.”
Anderson waited a second then turned back and continued his walk to the Normandy. “In the meantime welcome to the Normandy Shepard.” He said with a smile as he guided her inside…
“Commander on Deck,” came Jokers voice. It had been so long since she had heard it she had not realized how much she missed him. She could not help but smile slightly. She had been a nervous wreck as she got prepared to go aboard the Normandy for the first time since the Reaper invasion was ended.
For a while she thought she had been driving Liara insane as she paced and mumbled and constantly asked if she looked all right but then she realized that the beautiful Asari was just as nervous as she was. The last time Liara was on the Normandy they had wanted her to place a memorial plaque on the wall for Cayle.
She thought of Anderson and her first walk to the Normandy as she boarded and felt a sudden sadness, she was not sad that she was returning, the butterflies in her stomach told her she was slightly excited, but she was sad that Anderson was not here. He had been the first person that had ever cared about her and had become somewhat of a father to her. She missed him dearly.
She felt tears in her eyes as she looked to Joker, standing at attention and saluting. She saluted him back then couldn’t help it as she hugged him. He was her oldest friend.
“Yeah Commander, I really missed you too, but bone, brittle,” He said, but smiled. He had met them in the airlock and no one else was present yet. As she looked to his face she knew why. She knew they must have had to pry him away from the Citadel when it was blowing up. She knew Joker well enough that it would have killed him to leave her behind. He had always been there for her. It was quiet as Liara hugged Jeff as well.
“Commander I,” Jeff started and paused.
“No, it’s over, Jeff,” Cayle said. “You had a crew to save, you did the right thing. End of discussion.”
Jeff nodded then looked up to her. “Well,” Jeff looked around, “I, for one am certainly glad you are back. You know I think Ashley is great and all but, wow, not so easy go lucky when she’s in command.”
“And you’re saying I am?” Shepard raised a brow and smiled slightly.
“Well no, I didn’t mean it like that, I just,” he smiled, “Never mind, were just all glad to see that your back, and alive too, cause coming back and being dead would have sucked.”
“Yeah I can see how that would have sucked,” Cayle laughed and looked back to Liara who had not said anything. She could not really tell what the Asari was thinking. “Ready?”
“Not really, I don’t exactly have the best memories from last time I was here,” Liara said a frown crossing her face. Shepard turned to her and took both her hands.
“Then we start making good memories, together,” Cayle said, kissing Liara on the forehead and turning back around.
“And maybe a video?” Jeff added.
“Some things never change,” Shepard chuckled. She inhaled sharply and let it out in a huff as she headed into the ship. After Jeff, Edi was the next person she saw, Shepard smiled as the AI smiled to her. She knew Edi would have no idea of how glad Shepard was to see her up and around. When Shepard had made her sacrifice, Edi and the Geth had been a part of the sacrifice. Had not been for the Quarians they would have lost both.
Beside Edi stood Garrus, Shepard raised a brow as she looked to him; she had not expected him to be here. She stopped at the two of them.
“Edi,” She said and placed a hand on the AI’s shoulder, “I am glad to see you; I have missed our little talks.”
“Has have I Commander, but there are always questions I can think to ask if you like.”
“Anytime, Edi,” she turned slightly. “Garrus, what are you doing here?”
Garrus laughed, “There is no Shepard without Vakarian, were a team Commander.”
“That we are Garrus, but Tali?”
“Said that I was supposed to stop you from getting yourself killed this time and then she said that if you did go and get yourself killed, she was going to kill you, and possibly me as well,” he explained, Shepard chuckled. She missed Tali.
“Garrus, it’s would not be the Normandy without you,” Shepard said.
“Yeah and I am sure that our main battery needs to be calibrated,” Joker piped up. They all laughed.
“Well Shepard, here we are again, and there’s a CIC full of people waiting to meet the new, old commanding officer,” Garrus stepped out of her way. Cayle nodded and adjusted her uniform. She hated her blues at the best of times but when she was nervous it tended to itch around her neck.
She stepped into the long hallway that that lead to CIC, as she walked down she was overwhelmed by the memories that crossed through her mind. She had grown so much on this ship. She had found the woman she loved and died on the original Normandy. She had meet her friends and learned to love. She remembered every one of the crew members she had served with, especially those that she lost. As she walked into the CIC she took a deep breath as the entire crew was on hand and they started clapping. She looked back to Jeff who shrugged.
She had briefly contacted him before boarding the ship telling him she did not want anything special, she wanted it to be like another day at the office, she should have known better.
“This isn’t exactly an office,” Joker said moving up behind her as she had stopped. “Regardless of the last five years, this is your crew; there have been very few changes since you left.” Shepard spotted Engineering Adams and Doctor Chakwas by lift and smiled. Joker was correct, as Shepard looked around most of the crew that she had left on the Normandy were still here. Donnelly and Daniels, Patel and Rolston, Mathews and that crewman whose name she could never remember, the one that had a crush on Kasumi, they were all still here. She smiled as she steeped further into the CIC and the clapping stopped.
“Well,” She said, “I just want to let you all know that I’m still alive.”
There was a round of laughter but no one left. Shepard had kind of hoped that they would all think that was all she had to say. She nodded, “Well, we have all been through a hell of a lot together,” she paused; she had not really prepared a speech. “Commander Williams has left the Normandy to move on to a new and shiny ship. It’s slightly bigger, not quite as fast, has a lot more firepower, but it is certainly missing a few things. It doesn’t have the battle scars that we have,” There was a slight cheer as a response, it help to spur her on. “It’s doesn’t have the defence system we have, it doesn’t have Edi,” Another cheer, Shepard smiled fully now, “And it most certainly does not have the best crew ever, because that honour belongs right here on the Normandy. This is my ship and you are my crew and I am damn glad to be back.”
“Boo- yah,” The crew shouted in unison.
“Now, let’s get to work and show them why the Normandy will go down in the books as a legend,” there was a last cheer before everyone moved out to go back to duty.
“Well played,” Garrus said moving up to her. She stood looking into the CIC with Liara on one side of her and Garrus on the other. Behind her Jeff and Edi moved back to the cockpit. Cayle felt a stab of emotion rage through her and she fought it back. She said nothing but she could not help but feel like she was truly home.
With James Vega no longer living in the shuttle bay a fully stocked workout room had been built. It was fitting given how much time James had dedicated to working out. What had also surprised her was someone had set up a small boxing ring. She did not condone her crew beating the crap out of each other, but living in such a small condensed area for some times weeks at a time could sometimes foster bad feelings. A boxing ring was a prefect, safe place to get out frustration. She had used that concept on Vega once.
Cayle had always been able to throw a punch or get through hand to hand combat well. She had always been much better shooting things though. Lissa had pretty much been the same; however the Assassin had been learning to fight and had studied several forms of martial arts over the four to five years she was with Cerberus. Cayle had retained those skills. They were heading back to Tortuga; again, it seemed that both she and Lissa really hated the place mostly for the same reasons. There were no laws and barely even a code. Slavery was the common trade and women were treated no better than dogs. If there was one planet she had hoped would have been decimated by the Reapers it was Tortuga. Unfortunately the hordes had not even gone near the planet.
There were very few people in the shuttle bay as Cayle took out frustration on a punching bag. Cortez was still on board and as always diligently working on the shuttles. There were a few other technicians wandering around and the Normandy was still home to Kel-9 who was pacing the length of the deck. She had never become attached to the small robot but she knew Cortes had. She had actually considered getting a real dog a few times, but a ship was no place for something like that. Perhaps someday when she and Liara settled, they’d have lots of little blue babies and a dog.
She punched the bag harder as she thought of the five years they had lost. Five years the Cerberus had stolen from her. She could only imagine what Liara had gone through. Knowing her lover she probably cocooned into her Shadow Broker role. She began to use her knees as well as kick the bag as she had been taught. The sounds of the impacts echoing in the shuttle bay as she breathed out with every strike. Sweat was trickling down her forehead and over her cheeks.
She could only wonder if she would have had children by now had Cerberus not interfered. She remembered the last conversation she had Anderson had, talking about settling down and starting a family. It was a nice dream but she had told him then that she did not think she would be good at settling down, she was still uncertain, but one thing she did know, deep in her heart; was she and Liara would make it work, somehow.
She punched the bag one last time and stepped away, leaving it to sway behind her as she looked over to her locker where her armour was stored. They just needed to stop the end of the galaxy once again before she and Liara could even talk about it. She smiled slightly at the thought as Garrus suddenly appeared from the lift. She nodded, removing her gloves as he approached.
“Found a new past time?” He asked looking at the swinging bag.
“Well one thing I can be thankful to Lissa for is the martial arts training she took. I think she took them to fend of Leng, he had a bit of a crush on her.”
“That’s actually a vision I don’t want to think about,” he said, “Good thing he’s dead.”
Shepard could only nod; she had made sure of that herself. Not that she felt guilty about taking him out; she felt slightly disturbed at how she had done it and the fact that she had enjoyed it slightly. A reminisce of her time as being Lissa. One that she hoped never repeated itself.
“Good thing,” She echoed, now pulling the tape off her hands. Garrus leaned against a shuttle.
“We are at Tortuga, Aria is waiting for us.”
“Good. You me and Liara will head down and pick her up. I’m sure she will have an entourage with her. She sent a message and said some Krogan by the name of Ren insisted on coming.”
Shepard smiled, “He’s an informant for the Blood Pack, used to be high up in the organization until he retired on Tortuga. He reminds me quite a bit of Wrex when we first met him. The only difference is I don’t think he’s quite as diplomatic. He is a hell of a fighter though, undefeated for as long as Lissa knew him.” “Hmm, not too sure I want a loose cannon Krogan on board,” Garrus said, this caused Cayle to smile.
“I wouldn’t say Wrex wasn’t a loose cannon when he was aboard,” she said, “Virmir was pretty close call.”
“Yes but then Wrex is, well, Wrex,” Garrus smiled.
“We will just make sure to keep an eye on him, we’ll let him have Javik’s old quarters and Aria can have Ashley’s.”
“This pan of yours is about as crazy as my Archangel plan was,” Garrus said as they made their way to the lift.
“Not really we have Aria; she knows the station better than anyone. We will get using the Cerberus shuttle that the Alliance commandeered. Once inside Aria knows a route to get us to the atmosphere controls for the base. She also has the contacts to keep us safe. Cerberus houses their trooped in the Gozu district so we hit there, wipe out most of them immediately. Aria is a hundred percent certain that the civilians aboard the station will side with her and when the majority of Cerberus forces are taken out the remaining, policing elements of Cerberus will be overrun.”
“And this all hinges on us not being spotted, that’s huge risk Shepard. ” “It’s a big risk b\ut we’ve taken worse. Aria’s unified forces will be attacking from outside so that will cause a major distraction as well and when we have control of the station the Allies will show up to cement the deal and cut the relay off from the station.”
They had reached the crew quarters and froze the lift. “That’s not exactly the most solid plan I have ever heard.”
“We’ve worked on less,” Cayle said and smiled again, “hell most of the time we never even had a plan. Most of the time we just barge in and shoot everything; I think this is one of the better plans we’ve had in a while.”
Garrus laughed, “Well I can’t argue with that.” “Nope, no arguing allowed, Ill meet you back in the shuttle bay in a half hour, I need a shower.”
“So Commander Shepard,” Ren walked around her slowly, “I guess I should have known. Lissa was one tuff son of a bitch” he grunted his approval, “the blood pack doesn’t much like Commander Shepard.”
“You don’t have to come with us Ren,” Cayle replied coldly. Lissa and Ren were friends, but that did not mean that Lissa trusted him. He had done some minor backstabbing in the past, but then he had also had Lissa’s back on occasion. Cayle did not hate him, but she certainly was not going to trust him, nor would she let him get away with anything. He was like most Krogan; you lay down the law firmly and quickly.
“I said the Blood Pack doesn’t like Commander Shepard, I however think she’s fleshy in all the right places and packs one hell of wicked punch.” This comment elicited a glare from Liara who was already on edge knowing Lissa and Aria had a past.
“And if you don’t want to experience it I suggest you behave. If you come aboard my ship, you play by my rules, understand?” Shepard said dryly. Ren smiled.
“Sure do, Commander Shepard.” It was obvious that Ren found Cayle being Lissa a little bit humorous.
“I’m serious Ren, I won’t play games, and I’ll blow you right out the airlock if you step out of line.”
“Relax Shepard; you’re the boss, good nuff.”
“Good, Come with me, you’re staying in Port Cargo hold, Aria Liara will take you to the Star board observation room.”
Aria looked from Shepard to Liara who smiled at her. Liara turned and nodded to Shepard. She was truly not happy that Aria was on board the ship but the Asari was needed. She was a big part of Shepard’s plans. Liara watched as Shepard moved off with the large Krogan in tow. She turned and still smiled at Aria as she picked up one of her bags.
“Please, I’ll show you to your room,” Liara said and moved to the lift. Aria followed her.
“Well you do speak,” Aria said as they stepped on the lift. “You know I thought the Shadow Broker would have more balls.” Liara said nothing as the lift took them to the crew quarters, the doors opened and they both stepped inside.
Liara placed the bag on the ground. “There is a full kitchen just down the hall and we have a very good cook. Meals are made at seven, twelve and six sharp. Lefts overs are left in the fridge but usually there are none. On the other end of the hall is a lounge and occasionally a poker game. There is a fully stock bar but alas no stripper or dancers.”
“That’s too bad, nothing said ambiance like women dancing.” Liara ignored this comment and stepped closer to make sure she was in the Matrons face. “And for the record, my room is in the Captain quarters with my fiancé Commander Shepard.” She stayed there for a second eye to eye with Aria for a moment then she smiled. “Enjoy your stay,” she said and turned and left Aria standing alone.
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Post by spiritwolf71 on Dec 25, 2012 17:50:52 GMT 1
Chapter 24
Shepard sat in the Cerberus shuttle, wearing the Cerberus armour and felt uncomfortably comfortable. In her mind, even though she had never truly worn it before, she had been trained in it. In some made up world she had spent three years in it, eating, fighting and sometimes sleeping. She could not help but wish this had not been part of the plan.
She looked back to Liara who was also wearing Heavy armour and although she and the Asari were almost the same height and Liara was older than her, she looked like child in her parents armour. Cayle had never seen her in heavy armour before and it was more than obvious that she was almost as uncomfortable as she was. She did look pretty cute though. Shepard smiled to herself and looked to Aria who had every right to be the most ill at ease. She was the prisoner in this scenario. Ren and Liara were the bounty hunters that had captured Aria; Cayle was the Cerberus officers bringing her to the prison area on Omega.
They had set everything up a few days ago and even captured a female Cerberus agent and took her identity. They had made sure she was a high enough ranking so Shepard would not be question. They had managed to find Lieutenant Commander Barrius who was now taking a break in an Alliance jail.
Many decision had to be made on who would go with Cayle and who would not. She had wanted to bring Garrus with her but she needed someone to Command the Normandy. Garrus was not a commissioned Alliance officer but Shepard knew everyone on that ship would listen to him as if he was. He was a good leader and expert tactician. It would not have been the same if she had left Liara behind. She loved the woman dearly but she was not military, at all.
The Allied armada would be led by the new jointly built ship Vigil which Ashley now controlled. Shepard had to admit she was impressed. In her absence several things had changed. The council had realized the need for the races to learn to work together and several joint ventures had been started. Most notable was the rebuilding of the Krogan.
Since the cure for the genophage had been introduced the Krogan had needed to rebuild their entire planet. The females still did not have litters like they once had, but they have short pregnancies. As much as the Allies needed to work on their own planets they had all sent workers to the Krogan home worlds to aid them there, except the Salarians who were not yet willing to be part of the Allies and still protested the cure of the genophage.
Things were still far from perfect in their little galaxy but they were well on their way to being a better place and Shepard was proud to be a part of that. Now she just needed to make sure Cerberus did not upset the balance the galaxy had found. “Once we get on the lift we stop it and climb out the hatch.” Shepard said making sure everyone was aware what the plan was. “We will wait until the mercenary groups start attacking the station and demanding a release of Aria. Once the confusion hit we head to the main engineering bay and Aria will shut down life support for the Cerberus areas of the station. They will be too busy trying to save their own to put up much of a fight. By the time they realize Aria did not make it to the prison cell the Allies will have joined the Mercenaries and cut the relay off from the station and start boarding.”
Aria looked to Ren, “You make sure you get those orders to my contacts,” she said. “They will make sure the place is in a riot so that the remanding Cerberus troops are tied up.”
“Did I mention yet this is a terrible plan,” Ren spoke up, looking to Shepard.
“Lots of fighting and killing, though you wouldn’t care,” Cayle said.
“I don’t but I thought I would like to come out alive,” he said and laughed, “You’re just as crazy as Lissa.”
“Don’t,” Shepard turned on him, probably more forcibly than she needed to, “don’t ever compare me to her again.”
Ren held up both his hand, “Sorry, my bad, won’t happen again.”
Liara moved over and placed a hand on Shepard’s shoulder. She looked out the view screen as Cayle brought the ship into the lower level shuttle bay. “We’ll be ok.”
Shepard nodded as she landed the shuttle. She then stood and helped Liara with her helmet. They could not hide the fact that she was Asari, but they needed to hide the fact that she was Liara. Liara was well known to most Cerberus agents as being one of the most wanted Asari. She knew the Ambassador had her on the top of his list, mostly because he wanted someone he controlled as the Shadow Broker. She put her own helmet on and turned to the other taking Ren’s shot gun. She placed it on her own person, knowing the Cerberus guards would just take it away.
“Ok, the first thing they will do is give you guys the bounty, they won’t let you come with us to the cells. You have Aria’s orders and the list of people to get them to.” Liara nodded and made her way to the door. Cayle grabbed Ren’s arm before he could follow.
“If anything goes wrong, you get her the hell out of here, got that,” She said.
“I’ll take care of her,” He said with a nod. Shepard could not help but wish that the Krogan was Wrex or Grunt. Lissa liked Ren but never fully trusted him, Cayle felt the same. She looked to Aria then followed Ren and Liara out the shuttle door. They were greeted by two Cerberus soldier.
“Welcome back, Aria, the Ambassador is on his way over here to talk to you. I am sure he has a lot to say,” The taller one said. Shepard raised a brow. They would have to get things started before he got here.
“I’m glad he cares,” Aria said simply.
Shepard stepped forward. “These are the two bounty hunters that caught her on Tortuga. You want to make sure they get their money while I take her to the holding cells.”
“Yes Commander, they are expecting you,” the same soldier said and turned to Ren “We just need you to hand over your weapons and come with us.”
Ren looked to her as he handed over a pistol, Liara did the same. Shepard nodded to him as she and Aria moved off a different direction.
“I guess I owe you a thanks Shepard,” Aria said, when they were alone, shifting her hand in the cuffs.
“Oh my, that must have been hard to say,” Cayle said with a smile.
“You know Lissa might have been Cerberus, but she was a friend.”
Cayle nodded, “I know, I have her memories, but I also have mine. It’s hard to try and figure out if I should have my feelings regarding you, or hers. She certainly trusted you a lot more than I do, but then she saw a side of you I never saw, except I did. Besides, I, as me always liked you Aria. You are hard core, abrupt and strong most of the time abrasive and I have admired that about you. In saying that, Lissa is gone and I think it’s better we act like Shepard and Aria.”
“I was just saying thanks Shepard, I wasn’t purposing marriage,” Aria said and Cayle smiled. They reached the lift and stepped inside. The doors closed and Aria shrugged off the cuffs and pulled open the panel. “I’m going to send it half way down and then freeze it. Once they noticed we haven’t arrived they will look for it, then they will have to get it working again, it will buy us at least half an hour, maybe forty five minutes.”
As she worked Cayle reached up and opened the panel, pulling herself to the top of the box. “By that time the riots will have started.”
“Once we reach the power relays I’ll have no problem tapping into them and Cerberus will have no troops left for back up.” Cayle removed her helmet and left it on the lift as she took her grappling gun and fired it. “You get a hold of some great toys,” she said, hooking the gun to her waist. Aria climbed up to join her and Cayle clipped them together then handed Aria her pistol. Cayle pulled the Asari closed and grabbed the wire.
“This doesn’t mean we’re married,” She said as the lift moved out from under them. She pressed a button on the side of the gun and it started to pull them up.
When they reached the end of the wire they forced opened the lift doors and climbed out. Cayle removed the grapple gun from her waist and threw it down the shaft. She looked to her watch. “Fifteen minutes left.”
“This way,” Aria moved quickly and Cayle followed. She could not help but think of Liara as they made their way through the station. They made it to the end of the first hall before they ran into two Cerberus officers. Cayle moved out first and approached them. Still wearing the Cerberus armour the soldiers did not give her a second look. She smiled at them slightly before removing her own pistol with a silencer and shot them. She felt a pang of guilt with each shot and stared at the surprised look on their faces.
She shook her head trying to get the feeling of guilt out. She was the woman that created storms wherever she went when she had a purpose. She had always done what she had to. This was no different.
“This isn’t art Shepard, stop staring at your handy work,” Aria said moving past her. Shepard looked away and followed the Asari to what appeared to be some sort of a control room. They slipped inside and Aria moved quickly to a row of computers and switches.
“Jeez, I’m glad you know what you are doing,” Cayle commented.
“I’m not just a pretty face, I took control of this station once because I knew what I was doing,” Aria smiled to herself more than Shepard as she began to enter several commands. Alarms began going off as Aria activated the monitors. The riots had begun and the she had locked out the lower Cerberus housing areas. Cayle watched as the Cerberus officer were trying to find ways to get out. “Life support removed.”
Shepard looked from her to the screen. It would take the area a while to lose what air they had left then the panic would set in. Again Shepard could not help but feel slightly guilty. “Check, see if the attack on the station as started” She said. Aria changed the monitors and sure enough a battle was raging outside of the station.
“Well, that was smooth,” Aria said and straighten.
“It just, I don’t know, it felt way too easy,” Cayle said. Something felt off to her.
“I suggest we get out of here and not dwell on it.” Aria said and moved past her.
Shepard nodded and turned to follow Aria only to find that their exit was cut off. Several Cerberus soldier were coming into the room, followed by the Ambassador himself.
“Cayle, really, you would think you, of all people knew just how far my reach was,” He said as he moved closer.
“How?” Aria asked the look on her face told Cayle she was equally surprised by this.
“Oh come now, really, you work with mercenaries and you ask me how I got one of them to back stab you. It’s not hard, just flash credit and they line up. Loyalty is only as deep as your pocket.” The Ambassador said. He focused on Aria. “Now, if you could please, turn the life support back on and release my men.”
Aria looked to Shepard and in a split second Cayle made up her mind. “Make sure she’s safe,” she said knowing Aria knew damn well who she was talking about. Shepard removed two grenades from her belt, one went towards the Ambassador and the Cerberus soldiers, who dove for cover, and the other went to the console where Aria had been working. She dove for cover herself.
“Catch her,” The Ambassador yelled. Cayle threw another grenade in that direction. She then removed her pistol and started firing taking down a Cerberus soldier that had almost grabbed Aria as she made her way out the door. Cayle ran deeper into the room. She needed to find a vantage point. She was not going to do much damage to heavy armoured Cerberus troops with her pistol. She removed her black widow from her back and held it in off hand as she fired at a trooper with the pistol.
“That was really stupid of you Cayle. This is an engineering room, not enough of an area for your widow.” The Ambassador shouted as if reading her mind. Her eyes darted about the room as she tried to stay in the shadows, which was impossible in the white Cerberus armour. She began to pull it off and let it fall to the floor, keeping only her omni tool, belt and weapons. She quietly moved on to find herself a decent size console to hide behind.
“Cayle don’t make this difficult. I would rather take you alive. I can still salvage you.”
That was alarming. Miranda had convinced the Doctor to switch sides and work for the Alliance; they had been told he was the only one who knew all the secrets of the hypnosis. She closed her eyes and listened. She counted the foot falls and recorded the movements in her head. She was out numbered, horribly outnumbered. She had limited options; none of them included her walking out the door on her own.
She closed her eyes and thought of the last while with Liara, they had spent every spare moment they had together, almost as if they were afraid it would get taken away again. She typed six words into her omni tool and sent them away. Smiling slightly she hefted her black widow to her shoulder and raised herself to a kneeling position. She took her three shots and was satisfied with three surprised soldiers dropping to the ground. Pulling out her and Liara’s pistols she jumped over the console and opened fire at any one that moved.
She walked slowly as she felt a bullet hit her in the shoulder and she stepped back, her hand reflectively dropping the gun in it. She raised the other arm to shoot the man that had hit her but someone charged into her back. She grabbed the man around the neck and dropped to a knee, bringing him over her head and activating her omni blade. She sunk it deep into him and spun, hearing the footfalls behind her.
She fought them as hard as she could, all the while thinking of the time she and Liara had shared, thinking of how much she loved the woman she wanted to have as a wife. There were so many of them and she knew the outcome of this battle but she fought any way.
She would not be Commander Shepard if she just gave up.
Liara and Ren had made sure the docking platform for the Normandy was secure. When it landed Garrus was the first one out followed by the small compliment of marines. Thus far Liara had been amazed that everything had gone so well. Other than the fact the Ambassador might be aboard, everything had gone according to plan, at least on their end.
They had managed to get the message out to all the people Aria had wanted it go out to and they had even help incite some of the riots. The Cerberus soldiers were unprepared and overwhelmed quickly. No backup troops arrived so they had figured Shepard and Aria had been successful. They had taken control of the upper shuttle bays and most of the docking rings and allied forces and mercenaries were landing to help take control of the rest of the station. All and all Liara was quite happy.
She smiled as Garrus joined her and Ren in the hallway. “Things are in control here, how bout out there?” Liara asked.
“It was rough, I’m not going to lie,” Garrus said. “There was an armada of ship already on the way to the station, almost as if they knew what was happening, I don’t think they expected us though. There was enough take out the mercenaries but when we came in they obviously did not expect it.”
“They must have known,” Ren said, “At least about the mercenaries, which means there was a leak on that end. I don’t think Aria told the groups about the Allies joining the battle.”
“That was a good thing then.” Garrus said.
“If they knew about the attack,” Liara said, her stomach knotted instantly, “Then they probably knew about Shepard.” Without saying anything Liara turned and started to run.
“Liara!” Garrus took off after her. He stopped her before she got too far. “You’re not going to help anyone running off half cocked.”
~Garrus,~ Jokers voice filled the air, ~Cerberus is retreating.~
“Garrus,” Liara looked to him but he was already looking past her. She turned to see what had attracted his attention. Liara’s omni was beeping but she was ignoring it.
“Aria,” She noticed the Asari was injured immediately. Garrus and Ren moved quickly to the Asari’s side. Aria had obviously been in one hell of battle. She has several cuts about her head and was limping. There was a deep cut on her left shoulder. Liara could only stare, not able to move.
“Where’s Shepard?” Garrus asked since Liara was too frightened to speak.
“She made me leave,” Aria said, Liara felt anger surge through her.
“What do you mean she made you leave, you abandoned her?” She shouted moving face to face with the elder Asari.
“We were trapped in the engineering bay, so told me to make sure you were safe and made a distraction so I could get out.”
“And you left her,” Blue wisps of smoke flared from her body as her hands formed into fist.
“Liara,” Garrus said and pulled Liara away.
“I went back to help her but there were a lot of them. When they left, they took her alive.” Aria explained. Liara paced as she listened, her biotics dancing angrily, threatening. “I got spotted and couldn’t get to her. I tried but there were a lot of them. I barely made it out.”
Liara continued to pace, afraid that if she stopped she would damage some thing or someone. She wanted to be furious at Aria but the woman had obviously tried to help Shepard and she looked like hell. She ran her hands over her crest and realized for the first time that her omni was still beeping. She paused and activated it.
“It’s a message from Cayle,” She said looking up to Garrus. With a shaking hand she opened the message.
I love you, come get me, she read.
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