Out For Karma: Mass Effect

[Book Two] Chapter 1: Awakening

 

 

Chapter 1: Awakening

Two years.

She had been dead for two years. It felt like two days for her. Two days since the Normandy was destroyed by an unknown enemy ship leading to her getting spaced. Two days since she had woken up in an unknown place, an unknown station, in the middle of a crisis. Two days since she had to fight her way out to a shuttle to get out of there.

Two days.

Shepard had a lot going on in her mind. With all that happened while she was gone, it wasn’t really a surprise. First was that she had been brought back to life. She had no memory of her time on the other side, only her burning lungs trying to fill themselves with non-existing oxygen before everything went dark. The second thing she thought about was that it was Cerberus that brought her back. Not the alliance but Cerberus. 

The pro human supremacy terrorist cell that secretly wreaked havoc in the galaxy. She had some dealings with them resulting in a lot of bad blood. Their experiment with thresher maws on Alliance’s marines, a lost ship full of rachnis, a lab overrun by thorian’s creeper and the assassination of Admiral Kahoku.

Everything that Cerberus represented, everything they did; she was against. Yet they were the ones who spent nearly two years and more than four BILLIONS credits to bring her back to life. She didn’t know how and what to feel about that. Clearly they needed something from her, other than investigating some human colonies turning dark in the Terminus systems. She couldn’t find out what though.

Rick would have known, or at least have several ideas.

Thinking of her former crew member and dare she say, friend, she thought about the rest of her team, scattered across the galaxy. The illusive man had told her their whereabouts when she asked. For the ones he could get intel on.

Kaidan had entered the N program and was making his way up. Ashley has been on a secret mission which the leader of Cerberus knew nothing about. Liara was on Illium as a broker, living with her mother. Wrex was on his homeworld, Tunchanka. Ruling the Urdnot clan and the smaller clans that swore their allegiance. Tali was with the fleet somewhere. The only ones she didn’t know about were Garrus who had quit his job at c-sec and left for the terminus and Rick who had been seen last on Thessia a few days after her death.

She wondered what had happened to Anderson and if the council and every species had taken her warnings of the reapers seriously. She hoped they did but knew it was in vain. She thought of her mother. They had begun to repair their damaged relationship just before she died abruptly. Had she been stricken with grief at the loss of her only child left or did she went straight to the geth space to slaughter them all in her rage?

Knowing mom, it’s probably the latter.

So many questions and no one trustworthy enough around to give her answers.

She opened her eyes and looked at the two cerberus agents with her on the shuttle. One was a tall black man with a military posture. Jacob Taylor. He was the first person she had met since she had woken up on that station and had been honest and upfront with her, advocating to the other agent by his side to do the same as they would not gain their trust and cooperation by keeping her in the dark or lying to her. She had appreciated that and her opinion of him went into the positive. Not much, he was still from cerberus after all but she was ready to give him a chance. When questioned about why he was with them he told her that he was a former corsaire, wanting to make a difference and act instead of waiting around for the green light from some higher up more interested in politics. He lasted a few years before being fed up with the paperwork and quit. When Cerberus knocked on his door to recruit him, he accepted as he was promised the ability to act immediately. He may not share most views his boss had but he could act and that was enough for him. In the end, she believed him to be a good man wanting to do some good. She respected that.

The other agent was a woman.

‘One hell of a woman’ Joker would have said. He probably would have whistled too.

If she had to choose one word to describe Miranda Lawson it would be: perfection. The woman was a bit taller than her, perhaps 6”. Shoulder length hair, black as the night and vivid blue eyes. The cerberus suit she was wearing left nothing to the imagination. A bubble butt which would turn any straight man’s head and a few ladies, and a very well proportioned pair of breasts.

Mine are bigger.

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Miranda had been the one that spent the last two years trying to resurrect her. She was also the one who woke her up at the station. She was efficient that’s for sure otherwise she would not be the leader of one of Cerberus sub-division. She was also ruthless and very focused. She oozed confidence or perhaps was it arrogance?

She’s like a female version of Rick. Except she’s an extravert, is arrogant and is the illusive man’s loyal pet and… She’s nothing like Rick, actually. Their only similarities are their ruthlessness, their efficiency and that they’re both biotics.

Biotics. That was something new for her. Miranda didn’t just rebuild her, she also enhanced her, making her stronger, faster. Just better in general. She also unlocked her latent biotic potential she didn’t know she had. Biotics were rare when she was born and it wasn’t a standard procedure to check at the time, not until a few years later when John was born.

I wonder what mom would say if she knew. She said she was wrong to treat John the way she did because he was a biotic but did she really mean it?

She was quite glad actually to be a biotic. She had seen Kaidan, Wrex, Liara and Rick in action. It was very versatile and useful in battle. Wondering what type of biotic fighting style would fit her the most, she didn’t notice the shuttle had landed on Freedom’s Progress. The colony the illusive man told her to check before making her decision to work with Cerberus or not.

“Shepard, we’ve arrived.” Miranda said to the redhead lost in her thoughts.

The commander nodded then exited the shuttle. Drawing out her pistol she smiled seeing it was fitted with the thermal clip system Rick and Tali invented. When she had asked Jacob about it he told her that it was now the standard in the galaxy. There was quite a story behind it.

Apparently six months after the battle of the Citadel the turians made a big announcement about a revolution in the weapon business, presenting their own thermal clip prototype and all its advantages over the cooling system. One day later the Alliance made a similar announcement but going further by saying that they made that discovery even before the geths invasion and that their weapons were already ready to use and available for sale. The turians were furious, the Alliance was smug and raked a ton of money as predicted. A galactic lawsuit was issued against the Alliance by the turians for technology appropriation but got quickly shut down when the records showed that the former were telling the truth. The patents they were using had been issued long before and were different from the turian’s ones. That created a huge scandal because the turians should not have been able to patent their own technology when the technology already existed and was patented. In the end the turians retracted their lawsuit quite humiliated. It was said that the old ones from the Alliance who participated in the first contact war and still bore a grudge against the turian partied for days on Arcturus station and Earth.

When she heard the story from Jacob, she actually laughed. After giving an explanation as to why she did so, the former Corsaire had his jaw unhinged. This wasn’t the only thing that happened that Rick foresaw. His fast reload system became so popular in the alliance that it became a standard. All thanks to the N7 soldiers who were very efficient with it and showed it off. It wasn’t limited to humanity but to the other species also. The option for the sniper rifle was in fact the most appreciated especially with the turian, like Garrus said it would, and surprisingly the Salarian.

Shepard set her head back in the present, she had work to do. Leading the small team she went through the colony. No trace of humans was left as if they just vanished into thin air. Going through a prefab she met a team of quarian who were less than friendly and aimed their weapons at them. Thankfully among them was a very familiar visor who de-escalated the situation.

“Shepard? You’re… alive?”

“Apparently I was brought back. I woke up two days ago.”

“Is it really… you?”

“I gave you that data on the geths we got on Solcrum and if it’s not enough, I know who left that kiss mark on your visor.”

“Okay, it’s you! It’s you, I believed it.”

“It’s good to see you again Tali but what are you doing here in a human colony?”

“What are you doing with Cerberus?”

“They were the one to rebuild me and asked me to investigate this place.” she replied, knowing that if she wanted answers she’d have to talk first.

“You’ll pardon us for not taking you at your word, Cerberus.” said what seemed to be the leader of the quarians that aimed their gun at her.

“As humans, we’re well within our rights to investigate attacks on a human colony. However as quarians… I wonder what you’re doing here.” Miranda said.

Okay, Miranda sucks at diplomacy. Yet again, Rick would have probably shot the guy in the head or already knew why they were here and used it to put them down.

Tali signaled the guy, whose name was Prazza, to lower their weapons. It was clear Cerberus, Shepard or not, wasn’t responsible for what was going on here. Turning towards the commander she explained their presence in the colony. One of their own, Veetor, was on his pilgrimage here. He had wanted to help a small settlement develop and didn’t like crowds much explaining why he ended up here on Freedom’s Progress. Her quarian team was trying to find him. When they landed he ran away into a warehouse at the other side of the colony and activated the defense mechs. They speculated that he was not in his right state of mind, probably because of a damaged enviro-suit and because he was unstable to begin with.

Shepard wanted to cooperate, the quarian did not and went ahead. Wishing she could have some time talking with Tali, she resigned herself and signaled Miranda and Jacob to follow her. After going through one prefab she got a warning that turret drones were in the area just as the said turrets flew over their heads. She couldn’t take them on with only her standard gun. The Predator may have been a nice weapon; it wasn't powerful or fast enough to break their shield quickly. That was alright as she used this opportunity to learn how to use a wrap from Miranda. After a few failed attempts she succeeded in doing it, though her power was not that great.

I guess biotics are like everything, the more you practice the more proficient you become at it.

They were fortunate to have good cover to protect themselves. Shepard could experiment as long as she could. Not too long however as she had a feeling that the quarians, despite Tali’s presence, would not play ball. That was why after a few minutes and two consecutive acceptable warps, she signaled her teammates to go all out.

“You’re getting the hang of it.” commented Miranda.

“At an alarming rate at that. It usually takes more time, commander.”

“I listened to enough biotic talk on the Normandy to understand how it works. I just have to adapt to the feeling. It’s quite…”

“Exhilarating.” the brunette gave her the word she was looking for.

“Yes. I do have a slight headache and am very hungry though.”

“That’s normal. You’re using your amps for the first time, it will go away once your brain is used to it. The hunger…”

“Is because it consumes more stamina than simple muscle work. I saw the amount of food my biotic teammates took in. I guess I’ll have to adapt my training regimen now. Don’t want to get fat.” she joked, making Jacob laugh, as there was no way a biotic could get fat if they used their abilities regularly.

They went ahead through another prefab home when Shepard found a M-8 Avenger, with a few thermal clips. Glad she finally had something else than just her Predator, she quickly equipped it. Exiting the home, the opportunity to test it immediately presented itself; a few turret drones dropped down and began to fire at the team. Quickly taking cover she waited for the drones machine gun to overheat to aim and shoot. The fire rate was decent, the recoil not too strong and the precision of the shots were rather good. Its only flaw was a small lack of power in the shots but she had enough ammo to get the job done. The area cleared, Tali contacted Shepard in panic. That Prazza guy wanted to do things his way and rushed ahead without a plan with the rest of the team. That proved to be fatal as the quarian were currently getting slaughtered by an Ymir mecha. Some kind of mini bipedal tank armed with rockets and a machine gun. Cherry on the cake it was equipped with a tough shield above already being armored. That wasn’t the kind of opponent you’d battle without some thoughts.

The Cerberus team hurried up and opened the gigantic gate leading to the fight location. They arrived just in time to see the mecha stomp to death a poor quarian woman. Immediately springing into action, they spread around the mecha to attack him from all sides. With Miranda, she sent warp after warp to bring its shield down while Jacob supported them with his pistol, all the while taking cover when the Ymir targeted one of them. Once the shield was down they fired everything they had at it. It wasn’t enough however and they were soon out of ammo. The mecha fired a rocket towards Jacob’s cover; the blast sent him backwards a few feet and knocked him out. Changing its target, the machine picked on Miranda next, firing his machine gun as its rocket launcher was in an overheated state. Shepard felt powerless until she saw fifteen feet away a shotgun on the ground next to the corpse of a quarian. Making a run for it she had no difficulty grabbing it. Sadly it would not help her much. The Ymir was now thirty feet away making her new weapon useless. Raising its arm containing the rocket launcher, she began running towards it despite knowing she would not get in range in time to save Miranda. That was until she felt a surge of power within her and the next thing she knew she had percuted her opponent hard enough to make it miss its shot. Not paying any thought to how she did that she just unloaded her shotgun into its guts. After all they shot at it, this was one of the parts which was not protected by armor anymore. That did the trick as the Ymir fell down on its knees. However it wasn’t yet over as a familiar beeping was heard. She quickly got away and avoided being taken into the mecha’s destruction blast.

The battle over she caught her breath before checking on Miranda who was fine and on Jacob who just needed a good dose of medi-gel.

“Your biotic charge was impressive, Shepard.” praised the woman.

“So that’s what happened.”

“You did a biotic charge without knowing?” Jacob asked bewildered.

“Well, I just wanted to reach the mech before he killed Miranda, next thing I knew I was impacting him sooo…. Yes?”

Jacob let out a growl of exasperation as he raised his head and his arms into the air before walking away. Shepard looked at Miranda with a puzzled face.

“A biotic charge is not an easy feat, especially for a new biotic. It requires a lot of training, a lot of talent and a lot of innate biotic power. Jacob isn’t able to do it so I guess he’s a bit jealous that you could just like that.”

“Can you?”

“In theory, yes. I have the talent and the innate power but it doesn’t fit my fighting style so I never trained in it. I’m more of a shoot thing so it can’t get close type.”

“It didn’t feel difficult. I saw Rick charging around the battlefield like it was a breeze.”

“Then he must be a very powerful biotic.”

Shepard nodded at that and went to check on Tali and her team, to see if they needed any help. Her gesture was appreciated but the wounded were already being taken care of and so was declined.

“We’re good here, Shepard. Despite Prazza's stupidity and its consequences none of us here are critically injured. You should go see Veetor.” Tali told her.

And that’s what she did. Entering the warehouse where the young quarian was, she found him sitting behind multiple monitors, babbling incoherently. Using her Cerberus provided omni-tool she disabled them.

Questioning him gently, he showed them a video of what happened. The colonists had been kidnapped by the Collectors. A mysterious species sometimes seen in the Terminus system and who came from beyond the Omega 4 relay. A Mass relay in the Terminus that no one knew where it led as anyone who ever used it never came back. 

As Miranda suggested sending Veetor to Cerberus, Tali joined them at that moment vehemently protesting. 

“Veetor is hurt and needs both medical and psychological help.”

“She’s right Miranda, besides I don’t think Veetor has anything more to say to us. We already know that the collectors are responsible for the colonies going dark, it’s more than enough. Take care of him, Tali.”

“Thank you, Shepard.”

Everyone exited the warehouse with Veetor supported by Tali who brought him to the medic of her team. Before leaving, the two had a moment to talk privately.

“Human colonies are being targeted and the Alliance can’t or don’t want to do anything. That’s why I’m working with them for now, Tali. Not because they brought me back but because something needs to be done and they are the only ones who are willing to help me.”

“Shepard, it’s Cerberus…”

“I know. I don’t trust them one bit, in fact I expect them to stab me in the back the moment I’m not useful to them any more. That’s why I want you to come with me, so I’ll have someone I can trust to watch my back.”

“I’m sorry Shepard but I can’t. I have duties towards the fleet now, I can’t ignore them. I wish I could but…”

“That’s alright, I understand. You got a galaxy to conquer after all.” the redhead jested.

“Ha! That plan is on pause for a while.”

“Oh? How so?”

“My return to the fleet was well received by most. I had money, a new ship, plenty of new ship parts to help, I was a hero of the galaxy but…”

“But jealousy?”

“Yes. Supposedly I was too young to be the captain of my ship and they took it away from me. The admiral board voted 3 to 2 in favor of that. My own father voted against me!”

“Wow.”

“He agreed that I was too young to have my own ship and that someone more experienced would be better, especially when the ship was brand new.”

“It must not have been easy for you.”

“No but I understand his reasoning. He may be distant but I know he loves me and just wants me safe in a bigger ship. It’s just… It was my ship, Shepard… At least they’re not aware that the credits I had with me when I got back was just a drop in my annual income. So there.”she said with a hint of vindictiveness in her voice.

“How did Rick take the news?”

“I’m not mad Shepard; I didn’t tell him.”

“Probably for the best.”

“He would have stormed in the fleet to negotiate my ship back. We both know how that would have gone.”

“Either the fleet ended up royally fuck or lots of bodies.”

“Yes. His loyalty is really sweet but sometimes it’s too irrational.”

“Any news on him? On the others?”

“Not much. I spoke to Ashley for a few months until she was assigned a secret mission eighteen months ago. I have had no news since then. Liara and I exchange messages at least once a month to see how we’re doing. We wished we could communicate more but we’re so busy we don’t have much time for it. Wrex played the tough guy and did not answer anything I sent so I stopped after a while. Kaidan sent a message saying he had been accepted into the N program and that he wouldn’t be able to contact anyone. Garrus sometimes talked about his job. He was venting mostly, until he said that he was quitting c-sec. That was a year ago and he didn’t contact me. Rick… Rick disappeared shortly after your death was announced. He was staying with Liara and her mother when one morning he told them he had things to do and left.”

“That’s the hardest part of being back, you know.” she said with a sigh before explaining herself.

“For me, I last saw everyone a couple months ago. For all of you, it’s been two years. I feel.. Left behind, so out of place. I missed so many things.”

Tali closed the distance between them and hugged her in support.

“For now. You feel like that for now but with time you’ll be okay. Back into our fold.”

“I know. But that doesn’t make me feel differently about it.”

They said their goodbyes and Shepard went back to the shuttle along Jacob and Miranda. She needed to have a talk with the Illusive man. Despite every fiber of her being screaming at her to not work with Cerberus, she didn’t have much of an alternative.

I can live with that.