Out For Karma: Mass Effect

[Book One] Chapter 24: Aftermath of victory

Chapter 24: Aftermath of victory

Three days had passed since the battle ended with the victory of the organics. Thanks to a really good organization and the Alliance quickly taking the lead the death toll was relatively small compared to the eleven millions of people on the station. Still a bit more than eight thousand people was still a lot. Half of them were civilians, the other half a combination of Alliance soldiers, c-sec agents and mercs, the alliance having the greatest loss with around three thousand geths. It was not a surprise as they were the first to have engaged the geths and on the front line. The reason the number of civilian casualties was so high was in fact due to the geths ships that had some time to fire on the arms before the council fleet engaged them.

Currently Anderson, Shepard, Rick and Udina were waiting in a gid room at the embassies. They were invited by the council for a meeting there who were running late. The youngest of the three was still recuperating for the fight and was not allowed to do anything strenuous as long as his ribs were still damaged. Shepard had a few cuts and bruises here and there, the most noticeable one being just under her left eye. Anderson was impeccable in his captain of the Alliance’s uniform. He did keep the colossus armor and the spectre weapons that Rick had given him. That was quality equipment whose worth in total reached a million credit. He certainly wasn’t going to give them back. Udina for his parts was wearing a nice bump on the side of his head and was very irritated by the presence of the helmeted man.

Finally the council entered the room. It was weird for Shepard to only see two of them but she certainly felt better without the anti-human turian present.

“Our apologies for our lateness.” Tevos said.

“No need, we understand that you’re busy, especially now.” Anderson replied diplomatically.

“Still, we were the ones to invite you, it’s rather rude.” chimed in Valern.

“We invited you here to personally thank the three of you.”

“Among other things.”

“Without you pursuing Saren and reacting quickly, the Citadel would have fallen and with it her entire population.”

“The Alliance’s help was crucial in that.”

“Being the fleet or the men and women on the ground. We’ll never be able to repay the sacrifice that each one of them made.”

“You have proven that you were ready diplomatically and militarily to be part of something greater.”

“Your species is rather young and you came out of nowhere. Many council species were wary of you especially with the way you revealed yourself to the galaxy.”

“Even though what you call the First Contact War was not your fault…”

“And your dealings with the Batarian, there was still mistrust.”

“But you have proven by your actions that you were willing to cooperate with the rest of the galaxy and that your intentions were good. That you were capable of making the ultimate sacrifice to protect the galaxy. To be its protector. That is why we took the decision to offer a seat of the council to humanity at the side of the Asari, Salarian and turian.” announced Tevos.

“Councilor, on behalf of humanity and the alliance, we thank you for this prestigious honor and humbly accept.” said Udina.

“We will need a list of potential candidates to fill humanity’s seat.” stated Valern.

“Commander Shepard, Mister Wald, considering what you did for the galaxy your recommendation will carry a great deal of weight. Do you have a candidate in mind?” Tevos asked.

Before Shepard could answer Rick bumped Anderson from the back making him stumble forward.

“Here’s your candidate.”

“Me?”

“Him? That must be a joke! He knows nothing about politics.” Udina protested.

“We do not need another politician. We need a military leader. We may have defeated Sovereign, but the rest of the reapers are still out there. Captain Anderson is a good choice.”

“That brings us to a more important decision actually.” announced Rick.

“More important than choosing humanity’s representative?” the ambassador spoke but was ignored.

“I know that you don’t believe the reapers are still a threat. That Sovereign was a vestige or just a highly advanced ship created by the geths. I get it, it’s difficult to believe, and even if you do, your respective government won’t. But ask yourself what’s better? Being prepared for a threat that won’t come or unprepared for a threat that came? I have prepared a very complete file with every proof of the reaper's threat I could find. There are a lot. I'm even ready for a meld to share the vision with you, Gorgeous. You’ll see that the threat is real.”

Looking at each other the councilors had a brief silent conversation.

“Officially, the reaper threat is something we do not believe in.” Valern began.

“Unofficially, from what Captain Anderson reported of your findings, we do.”

“We may be the representative of our respective species but we’re not all powerful. We will help any way we can but it will be limited. We will review your file and share it with our governments. I hope they will see reason.”

“I agree to the meld at a later time. No matter what your vision shows it’s still prothean information and I’m sure the matriarchs will be interested.”

“Now, there is one last thing to talk about, other than offering humanity a seat on the council.”

“Rick Wald, just like commander Shepard you have proven to have many interesting qualities.”

“You uncovered Saren’s plan when anyone could not…”

“You were quick and efficient in creating an excellent strategy to defend the Citadel, bringing the casualties to a very low number and displayed really good leadership.”

“You have proven to be an excellent fighter if the reports of what was found in the council chamber are any indication.”

“But most of all you showed that you were decisive in taking the right actions regardless of the consequences.”

“Like killing the turian councilor?” Shepard asked, an eyebrow raised.

“What?!” exclaimed Udina.

“It was the geths, Gingerbread. The geths!” defended Rick.

“You have all the qualities necessary to be a spectre. Do you accept it?” asked Tevos.

“No, thanks.”

Udina choked on his spit when he heard Rick’s answer. Spectre was one of the most coveted status in the galaxy and that man had just turned it down.

“Are you out of your mind?!” the ambassador yelled

“Are you sure? You would be free to act any way you want, only reporting to the council.” Valern asked in confirmation.

“Hmm… Now that I think about it…”

“No…” began Shepard.

“The do whatever you want card is pretty interesting…” Rick began to talk to himself aloud.

“No, no, no …”

“I could screw with the alliance, start a war of conquest in the Terminus and go kill Palaven’s primarc and all with impunity. Fine! I acc…”

““We’re rescinding our offer.”” the councilors said in unison. After killing their colleague they were not ready to test if he was currently joking or not.

“Thank god!” Shepard exclaimed.

“Ugh… I’m still putting it on my resume and I’ll let the news know that I turned down the job. It’s not like I don’t do whatever I want with impunity already anyway.” he said leaving the room. There was nothing concerning him anymore here.

“You were right, Captain.” said Valern.

“He would have been uncontrollable.” Tevos added.

“I told you so. I still don’t know how the commander got him in line.”

“I didn’t? I just met him halfway. I mean he wouldn’t do the things he said if that wasn’t necessary. I wasn’t there but I believe that’s why he killed the Turian councilor. He wouldn’t go out of his way just for the laughs.”

“Then we will keep an eye on him. If his actions are beneficial to the galaxy we may overlook some things.” declared Tevos.

“This is the second time that I hear of Wald killing councilor Sparatus. Is this true?” Udina asked.

“It was the geths, ambassador. The geths.” she replied with a knowing smile, exiting the room followed by Valern.

____________________________________________________________

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Anderson was sitting in his new office that he acquired with the new post four days ago, working on his terminal, trying to organize his new duties, when Admiral Hackett entered.

“Enjoying your new position?” the newcomer asked with a smirk.

“As if! So much to do, so little time in a day, sir!”

“You’ll get used to it. And it’s not sir anymore. Just Steven.”

“Sir?”

“You’ve been promoted Anderson. To admiral at that. For your exemplary years of service, the part you play in humanity getting a spectre, the support you gave Shepard in her mission and your role in the Citadel’s defense; the Alliance are promoting you. Also it wouldn’t be good to have the human councilor not of the highest rank of the military as a military man. Congratulations Anderson, you deserved it.”

“Please tell me I don’t get new duties.” he replied with fright on his face not even thanking Hackett.

“No, you’ve already had enough on your plate as it is.” 

“Thank you!”

“This is not the only news I bring you.”

“Good?”

“And bad.”

“Let’s get to it then.”

Taking a seat Hackett was direct.

“The alliance reviewed Wald’s file on the reapers, and dismissed it. Conjectures, they called it. They believed Sovereign was a creation of the geths. That’s why they are sending Shepard and the Normandy back into the traverse to pursue them as soon as her R&R is over. She has time, two weeks I believe.”

“So he was right on that too.” lamented Anderson.

“I’m not surprised he foresaw their reactions. Onto the good news, Wald and Tali’Zorah informed me by a message that they were ready for a demonstration of the new cooling system they had come up with. It’s in one hour.”

“He won’t play games this time.”

“I agree. But we’re prepared.”

“Who will be there?”

“The same people as last time.”

“I see…” Anderson replied in a pensive voice.

He suddenly got up and went to the small cabinet on the side, opened it and took a bottle of bourbon and two glasses. Going back to his desk he put the glass in front of Hackett and served him before going back to his seat and making his own drink.

“It’s a little early for a drink. Even if we have a lot to celebrate.”

“After what I’m about to share with you, you’ll need it.”

Leaning on his left he entered the sixteen numbers code in the panel of the small vault he had installed after removing the drawers of the desk, and picked up a datapad.

“I found out who Rick Wald is.”

“You did?!” exclaimed Hackett suddenly focused.

Anderson took a sip of his drink before he began talking.

“We talked a bit before the invasion. He shared a bit of his past. Not many details but reading between the lines I learned a lot. He’s a spacer, the result of an affair on his mother's side. His father is unknown. He has an older half-sister that enlisted in the navy at sixteen following in her parents footsteps.”

“I don’t like where this is going.”

“His mother was neglectful. In part because he was a biotic, in part maybe, because he was an unwanted child born from an affair. From what he said, his mother was more interested in her career than him and was not averse to sleeping around to get favors or promotions.”

“Now we know why he doesn’t like the alliance. Why not get help? There are institutions to help with children in situations like that. With how smart he is he could have contacted the right people.”

“He couldn’t.”

“Oh.”

A military child that couldn’t get help meant two things. One he physically couldn’t get help. Since Wald left it was clearly not that option. Two, his parents were high enough on the hierarchy to make anything disappear if they wished. Hackett didn’t need Anderson to spell it out for him, it was number two and that brought out a new lot of problems.

“Who is he?”

Anderson gave him the datapad he had retrieved from his vault. Hacket read the report and his eyes grew as big as saucers. Reaching for his glass he picked it up and downed it in one go.

“HOLY. SHIT. Is this real?! Are you sure?!”

“I took some of his blood after the battle. Went to a private clinic in the wards belonging to a friend of mine. The test was done four times.”

“This… This is a shit storm if this gets out.”

“An even bigger scandal than the prime minister's daughter joining a gang in 67.”

“It’s way beyond! The image… the reputation of the Alliance, of humanity, in front of the rest of the galaxy will crumble! It would take years to clean up the mess! If not generations!”

“What worries me the most is what they will do if they come to know the truth.”

Hackett's face blanched at the idea. They would stop at nothing to find him. Even if it meant starting a war with the Terminus systems. Especially her.

“Nobody must know. Every trace of that information must be purged.”

“Already done. What you have in your hands is the only trace left.”

Without wasting a moment, Hackett deleted the information from the datapad and put it on the desk.

“Forget about keeping an eye on him, let alone recruit him. We need to leave him alone.” Hackett suggested.

“I agree.”

“God… We’re meeting him in forty five minutes what…”

“We?”

“Oh yes, we. Don’t think you can get me in the loop and let me deal with it by myself. Besides, you need a break.”

“What a break…”

____________________________________________________________

Rick and Tali were back into the shooting range they had used the last time. Five cases were laying side by side on the top of two long tables against the wall. They had outdone themselves and were exhausted, especially Tali who had picked up Rick’s slack because of his injuries. They had modified a shotgun, sniper rifle and assault rifle to conform to their new system. Rick’s pistol was redone too. That had been easier, since they were on the citadel, they had access to everything they needed. Rick created even more thermal clips, the now official name given by Shepard, and worked on a prototype of the cooling device. Once again he got their patents approved within a day under the same condition.

“How are you?” he asked his friend.

“Tired.” she replied with a yawn.

“You should go and rest, I can do it by myself.”

“Not a chance. We started this together and we'll finish it together.”

“Don’t trust me with this new step towards your new empire?” he joked, making her laugh.

“Of course I do! I just want to see how you will bleed them dry.”

The door opened and Shepard entered in her Alliance uniform. She was followed soon after by familiar faces, in fact the same ones as last time with Anderson and Hackett closing the march. Tali bumped Rick with her hip.

“Go make me the richest in the galaxy, my little minion!”

“Minion? Really? Not even Head minion or Chief minion?”

“When I’ll be empress you’ll be the High minion.”

“Sometimes, I think you deserve a good spanking.”

“Keep dreaming!”

“Of your ass? If you insist, I have no problem with that.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“That’s because I love you.” he said, pulling her to him with one arm. The only reason she didn’t hit him was because he was hurt.

“Well, less love, more focus. They’re ready.”

Their audience reached them and exchanged their greetings. It was Hackett who took the lead.

“Your message told me that the cooling system was ready; unlike last time no files were provided but the commander guaranteed it worked and I trust her so here we are. What is this new cooling system?”

“There is no new cooling system.” answered Rick

“Why are we here then?” Rear Admiral Shepard with a frown.

“To buy the new system dealing with heat production. It allows a greater fire rate and more power in the shots and more importantly, soldiers will not wait to get killed while their weapons cool down anymore.”

“You had my curiosity, now you have my attention.” replied Hackett.

Rick went to one of the tables behind him before turning around and tossing a small bottle to the Admiral who catched it.

“You’ll need it.”

It was a bottle of lube.

Tali smacked him in the head, while Shepard junior facepalmed wishing she was anywhere but here. For his part Hackett felt a sense of dread.

Rick went to pick up the two smallest cases and brought them back. He put one in Shepard’s hands, the other in Tali’s and opened them.

“This is a joke, and a waste of time.” said Shepard Senior, seeing the content of both cases.

“During my studies and analysis of the geths I found out why they were using ammunition. Because it bypasses the need to wait for the weapon to cool down. Now the geths don’t feel recoil so they can power up the shot a lot so I couldn’t adapt their tech and had to find another way. Another reason is that the one with the greatest fire rate win the fight. You’ll see what I mean during the demonstration.”

Picking up one thermal clip he presented it to his audience.

“This is a thermal clip. All the heat a weapon produces when fired is absorbed by it.”

He then picked the ammo gun and put the clip in it then removed it.

“It’s done in less than a second. No waiting time like an idiot for your weapon to cool down.”

“Limited number of shots compared to unlimited means nothing.” said the Rear Admiral.

“Let me prove to you how wrong you are.”

He picked up the second gun in Shepard’s case, a normal one.

“This is the same gun, same model, same everything. The exception being, it still has its cooling system.”

He gave the gun to the Butcher of Torfan and the one he made to the N7 representative. 

“We’ll use two identical shields and see who breaks first.”

Shepard senior looked at Hackett who nodded. The man was puzzled, Wald was presenting him with an obsolete technology. He couldn’t see how it could give all those advantages he spoke about when a more advanced technology couldn’t.

Rick gave Anderson two shields and asked him to verify their authenticity then put one on each target. The new Admiral did as instructed and went back standing by the commander’s side. Meanwhile Tali was instructing the N7 agent, Helena Müller, how to use and reload the gun.

“Are you ready?” Rick asked the two women, who nodded in affirmation.

“On my mark fire until the shield breaks.

“3…”

“2…”

“1…”

“GO!

Both women fire shots after shots at roughly the same speed. When Shepard senior’s gun overheated she patiently waited but in the meantime Müller just discarded the clip, loaded a new one in less than a second and fired again. Her shield broke after fourteen shots, using three clips.

The Rear Admiral did it in 28 shots and after four overheat a good 33 seconds after Müller.

“Is it proof enough?” Rick asked Hackett.

“How is it possible? Did you tweak Müller’s gun?”

“Yes.”

“Ha!” came from Shepard’s senior mouth.

“I toned down the power so it could be identical to the normal one.”

“Toned down?!”

“Yes. A normal gun has a limit imposed on its power because of the heat. A one shot gun is useless after all or worse it could explode in your hand. It’s a balance between heat and power. With our system since there is no need to pay attention to the heat the power is greater. I toned down Miss Müller’s gun’s power because power wasn’t the point of the demonstration. The point was to show you the flaw of the kinetic barrier.

“What flaw?”

“A kinetic barrier fails faster the faster the consecutive hits it takes.”

“In other words, the higher the fire rate the faster it fails, but instead of increasing the fire rate of the gun you increased the fire rate of… the person shooting.”

“Correct, under constant fire the kinetic barrier sees his energy drastically drained.”

“But with a gun with a cooling system it needs to cool down so the energy consumption of the barrier has time to lower and stabilize.” Hackett explained what he had understood to which Rick nodded.

“What’s the point in unlimited shots if you are killed faster?”

“None.”

“Yes. That's what the geths, then me, understood. The cooling system, while advanced, is a dead end. Sure technology could get to a point where the cold down is one second but it wouldn’t be as fast as reloading a clip.

“Still the production of those clips… The cost will be consequential.”

“Not at all.” Tali chimed in.

“The components are cheap, it’s mostly copper and aluminum inside. The container is made of simple stainless steel. Furthermore the clip is universal, it can be used on every type of weapon. Be it a pistol, shotgun, sniper rifle or assault rifle.”

At that moment Rick appeared with a shotgun and an assault rifle that he picked up from their respective case. He gave one to Müller who put one of the clips she hadn’t used inside, went back to her shooting position and fired without any problem.

Hackett was seriously impressed. That was way beyond the fast reloading they had presented him a month prior. What they had discovered and made, was a game changer. He wasn’t done being surprised however, as Tali showed what looked like a small device and put the still hot thermal clip that Müller had just ejected inside of it for two seconds. She then tossed back the clip to Müller and told her to shoot again, which the N7 did.

“A portable cooling device. Smart. That way you can use a discarded clip again and double your amount of ammo.”

“Triple to quadruple actually. After four, the copper and the alluminium degraded too much to properly absorb the heat.” Tali corrected him.

Hackett felt a chill run down his spine. Turning around he saw Rick looking at him.

Lube huh?

He understood that he was going to get fucked and could do nothing about it.

____________________________________________________________

“Any more of those inventions from them and I would be in trouble with the Alliance for exceeding the annual budget I’m given…” Hackett said with a hand on his face and a drink in the other.

“It wasn’t that bad of a deal, honestly.” Anderson answered.

“And it’s not like the Alliance cannot win the money back quickly. We would be the only manufacturer for a couple years at least, sir.” Shepard junior added.

“Still. Ten million each a year for the next ten years, then five million each for the next twenty...”

“Considering it will change warfare and that the Alliance would be the one leading that change, it’s a small price.”  remarked Shepard Senior.

“At least you got a bottle of lube out of it.” Anderson joked, making Hackett groan in frustration and both Shepard try their hardest not to laugh.

“If there is a next time, I’ll leave it to someone else.”

“Times.” Junior noted.

“What?”

“Not time, singular, sir, but times. His mind is always full of ideas, he won’t stop at just one.”

“Ugh!” Hackett groaned and finished his drink.

“What will he do with all this money anyway? I mean Miss Zorah will invest it in the quarian fleet but him? Your reports indicated that he wasn’t interested in it.”

“Yet, he’s getting paid 10.2M a year.” chimed in Senior.

“69% of those 10.2M is going to someone else actually.”

““What?!”” exclaimed Senior and Hackett.

“Apparently, he got the patents approved within a day and those 69% are the price for it.” Anderson explained.

“A day?! How?!”

“He knows people.” answered Junior.

“I asked if the Alliance could be in relation to his contact and he said that he would ask but that it would be a backroom deal.” added Anderson

“From someone in the Terminus I gather?”

“He never specified, but considering his ties I think so.”

“I’ll have to take that information higher. Anyway, we got a relatively good deal, won a battle and a seat on the council. I say it’s time to celebrate; I have reserved an entire bar on the presidium for every officer who participated, let’s go.” he said putting his glass down and standing up making his way to the doors followed by Anderson.

Shepard junior had a sense of déjà-vu and hoped it would not go like the last time. Her hopes were quickly dashed when her mother took her arm in hers.

“I’m proud of you.”

“Had I known I needed to save the galaxy for that to happen I would have done it sooner.”

“I always have been.”

“Right.”

Senior used her free hand to catch her daughter’s chin and made her look at her.

“I’m proud of you and always have been. I’m sorry I never took the time to say it more often, Jane.”

She looked at her mother’s eyes and saw she was genuine. She couldn’t understand that change.

“Why? Why, now after all this time? Are you dying? Is that why you’re… acting that way instead of how you usually are.”

“I’m not dying and… because of Torfan.”

“How could the greatest slaughter in the history of the Alliance, the one that made your name across the entire galaxy make you change like that?”

Senior sighed a bit. She wasn’t the kind of woman to expose her feelings. She considered it a weakness but she had understood that if she didn’t do it from time to time she would lose her daughter for good.

“I don’t regret doing it, what I do regret is that I had to do it.”

“You didn’t have to!”

“Yes, I had. It was to send two messages. One, that you don’t mess with the Alliance. We couldn’t let Elysium slide, not after the first contact war. Torfan needed to be an example. Two, was to warn anyone in the galaxy what would happen to them if they messed with my daughter again.”

Jane had no answer to that.

“Torfan changed things between us for the worse. I don’t blame you for reporting me, you did the right thing. I wasn’t upset either, I was proud if anything. But I was also heartbroken because you distanced yourself even more. Jane, we didn’t see each other or even talk once in five years. I understood that I had to change, to be more open with my feelings with you or I would lose you forever. I failed this family enough as it is, you’re all that I have left.”

“You should have understood that more than twenty years ago.” she replied, looking down at the ground.

“I know. I wished I did. I would not feel so miserable today otherwise. Our family would be complete. I want to try to patch things up. I don’t want to go to my grave knowing that I didn’t do my best to fix things but I can’t do it if you’re not willing too.”

“Alright… but…” She looked up at her mother dead in the eye.

“I’ll never forgive you for John. I don’t have it in me to do it.”

“I don’t expect you to and neither will I forgive myself.” Hanna replied with a sad smile pulling an unruly lock of hair behind her daughter’s ear.

“Would you be willing to…”

“To what?”

“Tell me about him?”

Jane, still looking in her mother’s eyes, saw the pain and pleas in them.

“John has always been the most hyperactive kid I ever met. He…”

____________________________________________________________

Outside of his office, Anderson and Hackett were eavesdropping.

“Maybe there is a chance for them.” said the latter.

“I hope so. I almost feel sorry for the reapers when they’ll face the Shepard family united.” replied the former.

“When? United? Getting a bit ahead of yourself there.”

“What can I say? I’m an optimist.”