Etched next to the 212 sign is "Remember Ashley Williams and all those who died to give us hope and victory. Underscore by initals, S-N7. Faithful even in death."
A rather curious sight greeted the Alliance officals comming into work this day. A Krogan family of all things left the docking bay in the company of one Col. Kaidan Alenko, 2ed Human Specter and former crewmate of the colony's somewhat reckless hero General Shepard. It was kind of funny. Nobody would dare call Shepard by her first name. That was left to friends and family and even then it was still strange to do so. Well for anyone but Wrex. In the way of Korgan naming...Shepard was just Urgnot Shepard and one of his adopted children had the honor of being named after the honorary clanmate. Urgnot Bakura was next. As the chieftess of all Krogans, she held even more sway then an Asari Matriarch in thier society. Plus she was a mean shot with that Graal Spike Thower of hers. She named it Queenie. Along with the quad to knock down any bosterious males that decided being guided by females was silly. Oh yes...they tried that route before and with the genophage it nearly destroyed them. Wrex didnt care about power or influence for himself, he just wanted the Krogan to survive into the twilight of Galatic civilization. Even if he and Bakura had to headbutt all of them into sensable goals.
Grunt was next, followed by the holy triad of terror for Urgnot. Mordin and Shepard were the females and of the 3 got into the most trouble. Secretly Wrex hoped that the General would teach them a trick or 10 with some Cains. Then came Urth, the solitary male cub of the group. All at about 30 standard years old. Techically 8 or so in human terms. This would be an interesting visit indeed. Urz, General Shepard's stalwart Varren companion, exited next followed by Kei-9. The mech dog had taken an instant liking to the varren when Shepard and the Normandy did a victory cruise around the known Galaxy after the R-day. Of all the planetary visits, the victorious specter stayed on Tuchunka the longest, not only for the Rancol but to see all the newly born krogans. It was the stuff of legends. Shepard managed to out headbutt everyone barring Grunt and Wrex. Liara was abit preturbed when in honor of such a feat many female clans promoted proxy breeding rights with the specter. If she was a Krogan with the ability to do so Wrex would have had Shepard sire the entire planet. The look on the Shadow Brokers face at that remark remained etched in the Battlemaster's memories as his most fondest.
For his part Kaidan looked restful, relaxed even until Wrex trotted over and said, ""These are my newest kids, freshly adopted into clan Urgnot, Mordin, Shepard and the lonely male cub over there is Urth. Poor boy. Better watch out for this Shepard's biotics too Alenko. Those L2 implants wont save you if there's chocolate or pyjack sammiches within a 1 mile radius of that cub."
Kaidan thought his old crewmate might have been joking but Sheppers gave alittle krogan roar and nearly tackled the mocha coffee vender across from the landing pad. Her little stub of a tail was abuzz with delight. "MISTER!! 4 CHOCOLATE THINGS!....PLEASE!!" The vendor just grinned delightedly and forked over the delicious chocolate morsals. Funny how nearly every morning on the way to the EDF training facility Gen.Shepard herself would stop by and load up on the caffinated goodness. Half the time she would react nearly the same depending on her current level of wakefulness. Doc. T'soni Shepard would smile and get a latte. Her husband would smirk and say, "Are you sure thats all you want?" The vendor had no clue on why T'soni would turn an interesting shade of purple but by the way Shepard glanced at her bondmate he knew there was more to this coffee business but out of respect could only speculate. "No charge little Shep, Ill add this to big Shep's account, they have more then enough credit here." He smiled as Wrex picked the cub up over his shoulder for a ride. "HA! I knew Shepard was addicted. T'soni owes me more credits!"
Sheppers waved bye to the vendor and the whole family made thier way out to the causeway of the spaceport plaza. It would be good to see Shepard and the others again.
EDF training Facility
Hannah and her daughter had similar looks plastered on thier faces. Hannah was merely suprised but her daughter was slightly more shocked. Liara and Thomas didnt even bat an eyelash at the sight. For different reasons of course but T'soni aways liked to suprise her bondmate in different ways. Shepard might win abit more in the bedroom but outside that the Shadow Broker usually held the reigns as far as tricks and such went. Thomas on the other hand had been notified by the Geth in question about his arrival.
A huge Geth Prime stood patiently at the entrance. His armor was Blue with Red highlights with a white Alliance Logo depicting the N7 Weapons Division on his Chestpiece. "Shepard-Admiral, LG-GP0017 reporting for duty." He fired off a textbook salute that made both Shepards fire off returning honors in response. The specter realized this was one of the Primes that defected during her Rannoch missions. She was glad to see Geth relations were doing well after R-day. Some part of her was afraid that the Quarians might return to war but with Tail and Vas Quib Quib as a rallying point many Quarians had begun to heal old wounds.
"Luggy! Hot damn! Its good to see ya alive and computing!" Hannah strode over and gave the Geth a good natured slap on the back. Lugnut's lens flared in welcome and he held out his hand to the younger Shepard. "Shepard-General!"
She grasped it in welcome and turned to her mother. "So how did you two meet anyway?" Thomas started laughing then said, "Well it all started when a certain kiddo of ours recruited some rachni and scared the heeby jeebies out of the brain trust......"
Crucible Project. 1 1/2 Years ago. 2200 hours. Admiral Hannah Shepard's Personal Cabin.
Thomas groaned as Hannah's omni tool bared out a signal that was loud enough to wake the dead but in his wife's case it merely made her grunt and pull the covers over herself. One good thing about the end of the universe was the amount of rack time his wife was piledriving onto him. Having one's seriously devoted wife taking absolute husbandly advantage was glorious in every sense of the word, Made him feel heartened that Birth Control was so simple nowadays. Otherwise the unvierse would have been repopulated by clan Shepard alone. He grinned smuggly into the darked room. "Dear..." He poked his wife repeatedly in the ribs...."Hackett...end of the world...our kid probably saved the citidel again....or crashed more Makos into the sun..." He kept on poking until her slightly foggy eyes narrowed on him.
"Smexy scientist husband....the poking only works in foreplay...." He grinned and kissed his wife on the forehead. "Just go see what the problem is huh? They wouldnt call if it wasnt truly important you know." She sighed in agreement and pulled her causal uniform on. Simple alliance grey tee with standard black pants and boots. "Meh...If its over the Raid Bugs again. Ill kick those other eggheads in the face...barring David. He's the best one of the bunch. Although Kas is my kinda kid. Where in the hell did my baby find all these wonderful frackers anyway?"
"Admiral on Deck!!" The Master At Arms saluted then guided Hannah to the entryway to the docking section. Kasumi and David nodded from thier stations and the master thief grinned knowingly. The Admiral barked, "Chief? Why the hell is this door on lockdown? Did the husketeers move thru and no one notify me??!
The MA responded crisply, " No ma'am, per Hacketts' orders, new arrivals will be quartered off from gen pop until reviewed by you ma'am.!" She grunted in response then biotically charged through the door. She was too drunk to play this kind of game. Fraking civvies.....
Once on the other side and one partially demolished doorway later....a most interesting sight greeted her. "Thats one huge frucking Grade A geth...."
"Shepard-Admiral, LG-GP0017 reporting for duty. Consensus suggests that you have a 58.8 % chance of demolishing that door in your current disheveled state. Recommend immediate decontamination of all foriegn fluids. Detecting abnormal levels of Terran Wiskey in your system....do you require reboot?"
Hannah looked up at the Geth Prime with bemusement...."My daughter is gonna be the death of these poor eggheads...first rachni now......Lugnut Geth units?"
"Lugnut....complying data: a fastener that secures a wheel to a vehicle....searching...Animated Childrens Vid....Earth Year 1980s to 2040s peroid ...Lugnut is the strongest of the five main Decepticons, with a sense of absolute loyalty to Megatron to the point of religious fanaticism. Unfortunately, his devotion annoys even Megatron, and is often mocked by the other Decepticons. He also has a rival in Shockwave, who also has loyalty to Megatron equaled and compared to Lugnut's. Though he carries a payload of mega-bombs and can spew liquid napalm with laser-like accuracy, Lugnut much prefers to rip things apart with his bare hands. His trademark attack is called the "Punch of Kill Everything", where he retracts his hand, replacing it with a pressure-sensitive pad before smashing it into the ground to unleash a shock wave with the power of a small nuclear bomb. Source Wikipedia Extranet site....Agreeable callsign...redesignated Lugnut."
Hannah smiled, "Well well....lets go find you some Reapers to punch shall we?"
Kasumi startted to laugh at the shocked looks on everyone's face except David. His eyes light up and he greeted the new arrival with a series of sounds and notes to fast to follow. Lugnut greeted him warmly in response. Hannah grinned and slapped them both on the back. "Lets get to work killing some Reaper bastards shall we??"
"Affirmative Shepard-Admiral...optimizing weapons suite for melee re-enforcement and close combat techniques...addendum....lack of biotics dissapointing...reconfiguring.....New line of Cain series highly sought after by this unit...aggreeable trade of information and schematics requested...."
Shepard laughed uproarishly and Kasumi suddenly relized exactly where her former CO got her quirky side from. If those 2 women were ever in the same room the master thief would stay at a safe distance then grab all the delicious tech left in thier wake. "This Shepard unit is highly aggreeable to reaper slaughter....Ill req those Cains for you Luggy. Just hit me up with anything else you need."
Kas stared at her updates from the SB contact,"Oh....well well...looks like Sheppy just foiled another Reaper issue.....oh lord...Admiral...your daughter just took out a reaper mid class....on foot? With the Quarian fleet and geth help...with a CAIN??? No wonder we all survived the Omega 4 relay adventure...."
Lugnut and Hannah looked at one another, "Get this geth as many Cains as we can spare....!"
EDF Facility, 1 Hr Before Attack.
Liara smiled as Thomas finished his somewhat colorful retelling. For her part Hannah merely nodded sagely and gave Lug another thumbs up. "Many Reapers got KOed by this lovely tank of a geth here. It was a blast working with him...literally!"
Shepard grinned, "Well its good to know WeapDiv has such an ethusiastic memeber...well besides you mum. The way I hear it the Rio Cadre is still pissed that they stole you from them. They kinda felt the same when the Citidel shangi'ed me for Specter too. Still its nice to know you'll have this big Lug with you while we get everyone from the Spaceport. Ready for more Adventures with Suicidal Mako Driving doc??"
Liara rolled her eyes and replied, " Only if you dont stop to run over more Pyjacks this time. Goddess you, Garrus and Wrex can be so childish at times." Shepard concidered this with some seriousness and reponded good naturedly, "Good thing I have my lovely blue angel here to keep me sane then." She winked at Liara then spied a certain Turian and Quarian walking up the main throughfair of the plaza.
"Time to test out another theory Li, our advanced party has arrived. Ill see you later glorious parents...we have more havok to weak upon poor Elysium."
Elysium National Park: 10 mins after the Attack
"I wish seeing all of you again was under better circumstances but it seems the galaxy has poor sense of timing."
Shepard's normally relaxed demeanor was gone, in its place was a battlescar'd vet ready to get down into the trenches once more to defend a colony and home she loved, along with the knowledge that Lugnut probably KO'd many Cerberus mooks at the EDF facility. Wrex and Bakura safely escorted the cubs and dogs to the Mako. The look in his eyes was frightening enough but mamma Krogan was even worse....and the resolute command of "Stay put!" in her gaze rivited them to the spot. A subdued and somewhat slient Jack took up parameter watch while General Shepard laid out a battleplan.
Shepards' POV:
"Alright as of this moment there are 4 bombs to disarm and dispose of. Each team will have a technical expert..."
My mother's voice sounded somewhat strained over the channel: "EDF facility secure, Lug, Thomas and I are inbound, eta 3 minutes. Thomas will coordinate with docs on the gruond."
I glanced around: "Jack, Kaidan, you will take the west. Garrus, Tali, East. Lug and Admiral, will take northern path. While Liara, Wrex and I will enter the main complex and disarm the final trigger. Clear?"
Everyone nodded and Hannah spoke up, "Understood, rerouting now," It looked like Thomas would be along for the ride afterall.
I turned to Bakura, "Ma'am Ill need you and the rest of EDF to stage yourselves along the park at checkpoints. Kill any Cerberus operatives you encounter. Specter Authority granted. The Broker has already updated your Omi-tools on all current mooks." She nodded and grinned savagely, "Queenie needs some target practice." A grim smile blooms on my face. "Indeed, I think we all will get ample time for that." I look once more to all my old comrades, "Alright people, lets move out and end this mess once and for all." The look in Liara's eyes was determined and she smiled sending a wave of reassurance along the Bond. I glance at Wrex and we both have a similar look on our faces, a look born from shared battles and sorrows, but like a duck to water we both dive back into the fray.
"Hey Shepard? Whos gonna count this time?"
I laugh at the smirk in his tone. "Well Wrex, If I remember correctly, we were counting Maws last time and how much the Mako could jump. Lets see how we do this time."
Main Complex:
I hold up my hand, signaling for a stop, the main building looked deserted but the signs of battle were clear. Broken glass and stains littlered the ground and the surrounding area. Advancing with caution we enter the main foyer and stare. Strange symbols were etched into the walls all around the complex. Suddenly my Cypher kicked in and blasted my senses with data and memory. "Eyeless Horde....the walking dead.....Indroctrinated slaves....We are mere puppets for thier pleasure..." Liara laid a hand upon my shoulder, "What did you see?" I shake my head. "I think there might be some Collectors here but how would they remember any language? Didnt Mordin mention that all that knowledge was dead to them? At the vary least its Prothean but what the hell is an Eyeless Horde. Javik never mentioned anything like that."
Wrex just grunted and continued to scan the area. Meanwhile Liara went over and used her Omi-tool to hack the feeds. I gingerly step over the broken seats and various framework. I wouldnt put it past Cerby to place IEDs in the wreakage. "Shepard..." The tone of her voice stops me dead in my tracks. I make my way over to the monitor. All the missing civilans were gathered in the main hall. They had similar markings all over thier bodies. Many were only in thier undergarments, with blank lifeless gazes, they were chanting something over and over. At the apex of thier singing they all pulled out sharpened objects, turned to the others next to them and as one grotesque unit, slit thier throats. Even though Liara wasnt a stranger to violent actions she still turned away. I put my hand on her shoulder. "Come on Doc, we have a job to do." She looked at me, gathered her wits, then nodded.
Even Wrex looked disturbed by the footage, "Damn...and here I thought Reapers were the worst of it." He rolled his massive shoulders made a low rumbling growl at his surroundings. "Lets find out where this bomb is and blow this place back to hell."
We ventured further into the complex. Some animal part of me was screaming in the back of my head. Everything here was unreal and had even more outragious elements then our battle with the Reapers. Wasnt that it to the galatic threat? What kind of weapon did TIM aquire to turn people into those sad souls on the monitor. The oppressive atmoshpere was getting to all of us. Once we got to the elevator there was only one option. Down.
"You know Shepard," his deep baritone held an edge of amusement, "I'm really beginning to hate these damned things. They always lead to awkward conversations or death."
"All aboard for more fun and adventure. Next stop: Zombies."
I used whatever levity I had left to attempt to shake this horrid sensation I had but it didnt have too much of an effect. As we decended Liara threw any social reservations to the wind and embraced me. She was content enough to stay wrapped up in my arms. If I was going to die...again.... or get blasted..... again or whatever the hell else the universe decided would be hilarious to throw at me at least I would die happy. Well relatively, with a certain future uncle krogan looking on it kinda killed the mood to live out one last moment of Eternity Bliss but the look in his eyes promised more ribbing in the future. Well if we had one. With him here that was getting more likely.
Whatever.....like any lovesick dumbass in my family I decided Id rather get my fair share of kisses in before we had to step into the thick of it. For once Wrex didnt even make a peep. That was either a blessing or a curse. Either way getting the Shadow Brokers' eyes to turn black again cheered me up emmensely. Even if it would lead to a week or 10 on the couch.
More writing covered the walls as we advanced. The cypher was going nuts. I eventually had to put my helmet on to avoid getting an information overload. My head felt like it was going to explode. It was errie, like being deaf and blind, with only your nose to guide you. Imagine the worst kind of hellish landscape and that would be like paradise compared to what was in this lower level. Even the ruins of London at the time were more reconizable then this nonsense. Wrex kept his head on a swivle. Even I nearly pulled the trigger a few times at the plants for heaven's sake. As we rounded the last corner we came into the main hall littered with bodies. The bomb was situated in the middle of the room but that wasnt the horrid thing....we could hear it....the blood pounding in the room. Suddenly voices were heard. They spewed forth from the dead like locusts.....
"We see you....ohh yesss.........like moths to a flame...we cultivate.....what a wonderious creature you are....you bathe in blood...destroyed our pets with escasty....the pain formed your cruible...we shall drink from your cup and be enriched by humanity and those who stand with you will be as gods in our comming.....as the collectors bowed to the Reapers they too bowed to us....on your knees...."
They started keening. It didnt matter that Wrex was a 1200 lb badass or I was an elite soildier or even Liara's amazing biotics, we all fell to the floor in pain then the Cypher went insane again and I could feel my body seizing up. The images came fast and brutal. I couldnt stop the words from spilling from my mouth.
"Eyeless...they watch...wait....to be indoctrinated was a blessing....the Reapers....darkspace hid them....the Eyeless beyond the twilight spaces....the first shall be the last....unending. Ascend....Beyond darkspace....its all a lie..."
Liara and Wrex managed to crawl over to me and take turns draging me from the room. Then Liara pulled out a crudely fashioned EMP. It's yellow hued hud blinked slowly. She planted it at the base of the door and then they pulled me further back. I still couldnt control the gibberish comming out of me. It terrified me....what the hell did those protheans discover or rather was it even prothean at all? Did I somehow gain some of Javik's sensory ability? All I knew was if I didnt get away from those voices my brain would burst and there would be no Miranda to pull me back from the dead. There would be nothing left. It was the longest 10 mins of our lives. I could feel Liara's tears hitting my cheek as she pulled me along. By the time we got to the elevator Wrex had just enough streghth to push the access keys to make the metal fucker move and we asended out of the abyss. I finally stopped muttering and screaming...I just curled up in Liara's warm embrace and decided that later we would drink ourselves senseless then sleep for 5 days strait....that would do it.
She was the first one to speak, "Shepard....what was that language you were speaking? It wasnt Prothean....please....why....werent the Reapers enough? Damnit...." Using what sense I had left I managed to make myself sit up. I rested my forehead on hers. She caught on quick enough and the whole world faded away. Two minds blended together then one word formed......"I'shallan"
We looked at one another...."Lovely....good thing your Indiana Jones on crack...which dead world would that be doc?"
She smiled slightly, " I dont know yet but Ill send out an inquiry on the SB net. See what sticks." I just nodded and closed my eyes. Wrex came over and slumped down next to us and he rested his chin on the top of my head. "Well my friend...I have 3 years worth of ranchol in my luggage. We shall get shitfaced then blow whatever monstrosity that was in the brains with shotguns and Kalross." I nodded most agreeablely. "Sounds like a plan....plus the ranchol sounds about right at the moment. My head feels like its gonna split any second."
Liara planted a tender kiss upon my brow. She whispered in my mind, "Plus showers..." I laugh abit at that. Water is most definately my newest favorite element. Amen!
Liara pulled out the transmitter for the EMP just as we got to the top. After the doors opened she fired it off and the bomb signal dissipated from our Omi-readings. It seemed the others had found and deactivated thiers as well. For now one mini crisis was over but what to tell everyone about the class A clusterfuck found below? For once I dreaded giving an afteraction report.
As we exited the building a warning blared over the comms: "DOWN!" None of us hesitated. We all dove for the ground. Liara gasped as I threw myself forward, completely covering her from head to toe, all the while sniper fire rained overhead. She growled in my ear, "Dont break your promise to me Specter." Damn....she was upset to say the least. I recipocated in kind, "I love you Broker. If you die we are all screwed." Her eyes were still hard and unyeilding. Here was the spark of Benezia in her. I could feel her trembling in outrage. She still hated it when I put her safety above my own. Then she grasped my hand, the one that had our bonding braclet on, and she whispered some sort of prayer. I could feel my wedding ring bite into my flesh. Her biotics flared. The ground began to quake and heave and Wrex shouted.
"Shepard! Liara!" The world became a grey wasteland as the building colapsed around us. I opened my eyes slowly. Our biotic barriers were enterwined. Shimmering like waves cresting upon the shore. Time slowed and I released Liara had formed a bubble of emmense size around all of us. Wrex gasped in wonder. Half the building had caved in on us but Liara had managed through sheer rage and determination to prevent it from crushing us whole. Slowly the rescue crews dug us out. All the while Wrex and I fed our own biotic energies into the field. Never once did she let go of my hand. When we finally were able to exit, she whispered, "No one messes with my Specter and lives...."
Wrex grinned like a shark, barring his teeth at Liara, then said, "So there's steel under all that velvet eh? We might make an Urgnot out of you yet Doctor."
3 Hours Later: Shepard Family Estate, Moave Coastline
Hannah looked at Thomas and her daughter with some concern. She was still dazed from the ordeal. He was rechecking her vitals and feeding more fluids into the IV. Liara and Wrex were finishing in the kitchen with all the foods and drinks everyone would need to recouperate. Her daughter in law still looked haggard but a calculating gleam was in her eyes. It would seem Cerberus had the full attention of the Broker and heads would roll. Hannah smiled at T'soni, "Call me if you find anything dear. I can make things rather interesting for our gallant 3 headed dogs." Her blue eyes glinted with some irony. "Oh I plan to Admiral. You can count on that." She walked over to her bondmate and wiped her brow. The tension left Shepard's body and she releaxed.
Thomas smiled and proclaimed, "Now all she needs is a day or 2 of bed rest. No more adventuring for you for the moment. On a lighter note at least we are all here huh?"
Urgnot Sheppy ran up to Thomas with some childlike trepidation."Uncle Doctor! Is Big Thresher Shep gonna be ok? She said she'd show us how the Mako runs over things!" Garrus nearly choaked on his dextro lemonade. Tali descretely patted his back. Thomas just put his hand on her head and replied, "Sure thing kiddo, in just awhile my girl will show you all the best there is in this universe." His eye's misted over abit. The Shepard family was a sucker for small bite sized packages and it showed in the gentle way Thomas treated all the Normandy children. One of these days Hannah hoped small blue bundles would make thier way into the world but for now watching over the budding Urgnot clan would suffice.
Kaidan and Jack looked across the room at one another and smiled. The day those kids learned how to drive would be an interesting one indeed. Jack walked over to Liara and motioned her away from the common room. Once alone she handed over a data pad. Liara nodded and thanked the biotic. "As promised Jennifer....the rest of the information on your family."
Subject Zero was agitated over showning much weakness or needs but still this was one thing that suprisingly ment alot to her. Ever since Grissom Academy and seeing her kids in action she wanted to know what her full past was. She was still a rebel but now she had things to care about beyond herself and fuck everyone who got in her way of protecting them. She would find TIM, smash that smug burbon drinking ass into dust, drink herself silly and then maybe celebrate with that delicious looking Alliance Brown Eyed babe over there. In all what counted the most that it was now complete open season on Cerberus bastards everywhere and they would know just how deadly and just plain fucked up she truely was. No need to hold back now that the playing feild was so clear again. Liara turned to walk back into the room but a word from Jack stopped her.
"Hey Blue...when Shepard wakes up, take her down to that beach, punch her for being a selfish self serving paragon of virtue and then frack her silly girlscout ass into literal dust. I think this time you'd win best position."
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