Out For Karma: Mass Effect

[Book Two] Chapter 2: Reunion

Chapter 2: Reunion

Bigger and Better. That was what Shepard thought of her new ship the Normandy SR-2. Given to her by the illusive man for her mission.

I’m not going to lie, this is awesome.

She wasn’t the only one thinking that. In fact Joker was over the moon with his leather seat. She had been surprised when after her talk with Cerberus boss she saw the man show his face. It seemed the Alliance discharged him after the first Normandy was destroyed as he didn’t want to serve under anyone but her. Blaming himself for her death he went into depression and went back to his family on the Trip Tree colony. It was only when Cerberus made contact and promised him that they were working on bridging her back that he broke out of the self-loathing circle he was stuck into. His father and little sister had been relieved to see him back bit by bit to his former self, unaware that it was thanks to the terrorist organization.

Joker was not the only one Cerberus took over to their side. Karin Chakwas left everything behind the moment she learned Shepard would be back and that Joker already joined their ranks when he had heard that. However both had been quite clear. They served Shepard, not Cerberus. The moment she would cut ties they would too and follow her wherever she went.

She felt quite touched by their loyalty when she heard them say that to her.

Some things were vastly different from the original Normandy though. She now had larger quarters at the top of the ship with her own shower and a very big aquarium. She wasn’t going to complain about that. It was a great contrast to the military cabin she had on the first one.

This Normandy had also an armory on the bridge and a laboratory, relaxing quarters where the crew could just watch the stars sitting on a leather couch and a small bar and card table. The SR-2 was more of a mobile base than just a frigate like the SSV had been.

 Rick would have loved the meeting room. No waste of space and a holographic table to work on. He would have complained about the lack of a chair though.

One last addition was an AI called EDI, for Enhanced Defence Intelligence. She was skeptical and wary of it, especially after the geths who were a collective AI but Miranda assured her that EDI was shackled and couldn’t do whatever she wanted and was just there for support. That reassured her a bit but not much. Joker wasn’t happy about it at all however. The AI had a terminal right next to him and was constantly reporting what he did wrong or didn’t do. Shepard found that amusing but didn’t say anything; she trusted Joker and would let him do his thing. He wasn’t the best pilot in the Alliance for nothing. She also felt that it would be good to have someone he could talk to as he was quite alone in the cockpit which he rarely left.

She tried to get to know her new crew, by simply talking with them. Three distinguished themselves. The first two were Kenneth Donelly and his best friend Gabriella Daniels. Both were engineers who were on the SSV Perugia during the geths assault on the Citadel. Kenneth’s openly voiced defense of her to his superior, borderlining insubordination, got him under the illusive man radar. Gabriella or Gaby as she preferred to be called, went with him because he needed someone to get him in line. When Kenneth was offered the possibility to kick the collectors in their ‘daddys-bags’ he immediately signed it.

The third member that stood out was Kelly Chambers. A quite pleasing to the eye Yeoman that surprisingly wasn’t pro human at all. In fact she was very open minded and friendly towards other species if what she told her was true. Beyond being her official secretary, she was also a psychological expert. She was a bit flirty but Shepard didn’t mind. She may not be into women but she did find it amusing.

I do wonder how and why she got into Cerberus in the first place.

Taking a look at the galactic map she saw her next destination. Omega, a space station mining eezo in the Terminus systems. The counterpart of the Citadel in the Terminus. The difference wa0,s it wasn’t a democratic government in place at the station. An asari by the name of Aria T’loak has been ruling alone for a few centuries with a firm hand. That was there that she would find the two new members that the illusive man recommended.

The first one was some kind of vigilante named Archangel, making life hell for the mercenary groups on Omega. Blue Suns, Eclipse, Blood Pack, he killed them without any distinction and hit their operations hard. His objective had been determined to be the purge of every scumbag in the station. A bold or perhaps foolish objective as Omega was the most wretched hive of scum and villainy. That explained why he was still working on it after a year.

The second recruit was a former STG agent. The salarian was currently working in a clinic in the lower part of Omega for the ones in need. Keeping on reading the report Shepard thought that Mordin Solus was the kind of person she could work well with.

Telling Joker to set sail to their destination. She went to the crew deck to  ask Miranda for some training in the biotics. She had a lot to learn and no time to waste.

____________________________________________________________

Counterpart of the citadel huh ? Not even close.

Omega was suffocating and dirty. Everything was too close to everything. It was hard to see between the darkness or badly working lights and the blinding neons. She didn’t like the place one bit. The atmosphere made her uneasy and on her guard.

She barely put one foot outside the Normandy that a batarian warned her, in quite a rude manner, to go see Aria if she knew what was good for her. She was tempted to exactly not do that but when the queen of the kingdom summons you, you get your ass in gear to go see her immediately. Especially one like Aria T’Loak, whose reputation almost put her on an equal stand with her own mother, the Butcher of Torfan, in terms of infamy. To be fair to Aria that has been centuries ago but many still fear her for that today, whether they were alive at the time or not.

She walked towards the nightclub where Aria was managing her empire, and bypassed the long queue of people who wished to enter and were stopped by an Elcor bouncer. Looking at the nightclub’s name she had a thought.

Afterlife? Really? I just got back from there. Is this a sign?

Refocusing on what she needed to do at hand. She entered the establishment and walked through the very long corridor. With every step she could hear the music getting louder and louder. When she opened the door to the actual club, her ears were assaulted by the real, insanely loud volume of the music. She looked around and except the almost nude asari dancing on tables, the bar and the music, it was nothing like Chora’s Den on the Citadel. That place had been small, intimate and reserved for ‘gentlemen’. The afterlife was the opposite, big, very public and for everyone. She noticed a big box presidenting over all the floor at the end of the room. Big windows, giving the ability to watch all and every corner of the place. She knew that was where Aria was. Followed closely by Miranda and Jacob she went there. The box had an access on each of its sides via ramp, guarded by a grunt well armed. At her sight, one of the guards just indicated for her to go up with a movement of his head and side stepping, freeing the way.

Entering the room she saw on her right a small flight of stairs leading to an asari looking down the window. She climbed them a few feet from Aria every guard in the room aimed their weapons at her and her team.

“That’s close enough.” said the Asari, still looking down the window.

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A batarian came to her side and began scanning her with her omni-tool.

“Is it really necessary?”

“A former spectre, supposed to be dead and now working for Cerberus visiting me? Yes.”

The batarian confirmed she and her teammates were clean and every guard lowered their gun, prompting the tension in the room to drop. Unfortunately it went back up when the turian guard on her right took a bullet from behind her, in the head and fell face first dead. Everyone turned around and pulled back out their weapon. The only one not worried or tense was Aria.

Shepard searched for the culprit and saw a man she knew well walking from the entrance of the room with a gun in hand to her. Only he passed her without any acknowledgement and stood beside Aria. The jaw part of his helmet opened and he gave the asari a gentle kiss on her cheek before closing back. He then gave her a datapad, which Aria read and threw at the dead Turian on the floor.

A traitor? Wait! What the hell is Rick doing here?!

Rick presented her next with a batarian head.

“He was poisoning humans at the bar. Too bad for him, I survived.” turning to a salarian down the steps he called out to him.

“Bepol, next time do a better background check when you hire personnel.”

Without even sparing her a glance he climbed down the stairs and exited the room.

“How come everyone in the room aimed their guns at me for nothing and he kills one of yours, brings you a decapitated head and gets a better treatment? And the kiss? How do you know him?”

“That’s between him and I.” Replied Aria, turning around and sitting on her couch. She signaled the redhead to do the same.

“Why are you here, commander?”

“I need answers and you may have them.”

“It depends on the question.”

“Aren’t you the one running Omega?”

Tha made Aria have a good laugh along with all her men and women in the room. Shepard felt like they were mocking her and not laughing at what she said.

“I. Am. Omega.” she said in all seriousness looking intently at shepard.

“But you need more. Everyone needs more something, and they all come to me. Because I’m the boss, the CEO, the queen if you’re feeling dramatic. Whichever, it doesn’t matter, Omega has no titled ruler, despite what many believe . It has one and only one rule however. Don’t. Fuck. With Aria. Don’t worry, if you ever forget, someone will remind you. You may not survive the reminder however, so my advice: don’t forget.”

Shepard nodded then began to ask questions about her potential recruit. Archangel was in a dire situation, he killed so many merc and blew up so many of their operations that the Blue Suns, Eclipse and the Blood Pack had coordinated a joint operation to take care of him once and for all. So big that they were in fact hiring freelancers for the job.

Mordin Solus was, like her report indicated, working in a clinic in the lower parts of Omega. What the report didn’t say was that the zone was on lockdown and quarantined as a plague was decimating anyone there that wasn’t human or a Vorcha. When she asked Aria why she wasn’t doing anything the asari simply answered that the blue suns were wreaking havoc there and that she would not send her people there to clean up the mess when she only had to wait for the plague to do it in her stead.

That’s one cold hearted bitch. Bet she’ll be all buddy buddy with mom. Or they would just kill each other.

She finally asked the question she already asked but wanted a straight answer.

“What’s your connection with Rick?”

“I told you Shepard, it’s between him and I.”

“Is he working for you?”

“He never touched one credit from me and since you want to know so badly why don’t you ask him?”

“Do you know where he went?”

“Check the lower floor, you’ll probably find him at the bar.”

Shepard nodded, thanked her and went to find her friend. She had a lot of questions for him. She wanted and needed answers.

____________________________________________________________

A few minutes was all it took for her to find him where Aria said she would. It hadn’t been a difficult task, quite the contrary it has been very easy to spot him. He was sitting alone on a stool right in the middle of the counter and people were giving him a wide breadth making him stand out like a sore thumb.

Considering he killed the bartender and separated his head from his shoulder without the guards doing anything… I would put some distance too.

She sat on the stool right next to him and started the conversation.

“I thought you didn’t drink.”

“...”

“I’m glad to see you, I mean it.”

“...”

“Not like I missed you but you know seeing a familiar face, or helmet in your case…”

“...”

“It’s complicated to have a conversation when the other party is not talking back. It’s also quite rude.”

“Why should I talk to you? She’s dead. Whatever you are, a clone, or someone who had her face rearranged to look like her, you’re not her.”

“I am her. Cerberus brought me back. It took two years but here I am.”

“... Let’s check your claim.”

“If that’s what you need to believe me, that’s fine. Go ahead, shoot your questions.”

“Where did we meet?”

“Eden Prime during Saren’s attack, you were gunning down geths.”

“What did I use to call you?”

“With a few nicknames. All related to my hair color, like Red, Gingey, Gingerbread and once or twice Carrot top.”

“What did you used to call me?”

“Rick, and sometimes when you pissed me off Asshole.”

“Wrong! The real Shepard called me glorious leader or master.”

“In your dreams perhaps.” she snorted at the simple notion she would call him any of those.

“What was the last thing I ever said to her?”

At that question Shepard froze and hesitated to answer.

“You don’t know, fake?”

“You said to take care of myself.”

“Wrong! Now buzz off, leave me in peace.”

“You said… you said… .” she babbled the last part so low it was only gibberish. Her face was becoming quite red.

“What?”

“...” she repeated louder but it was still gibberish.

“You got one last chance.”

She had enough and pulled out her gun threatening him.

“Is that proof enough for you?!”

“Yes. Only the real you would be so embarrassed that her face would be the same color as her hair and pull a gun on me. And if my memory is correct, which it is, I said that I wasn’t referring to you using…”

He didn’t finish his sentence as Shepard whipped his helmet with the cross of her gun.

“Fuck off!” she screamed, making him laugh.

“Yeah, that was the last thing you yelled at me. Quite rude as always.”

Shepard sheathed her gun and began to take big breaths to calm herself.

We talked for the first time in two years and in less than five minutes I already wanted to shoot him. One thing that didn’t change. I don’t know if I should be happy about it or not.

“So where are we going? What needs to be done? Who do we need to kill?”

“We?” she asked, surprised.

“You’re clearly on a mission, you wouldn’t be on omega otherwise. And since you can’t do shit without me… It’s only logical that you would want me in your team.”

“I don’t need you.” she said in protest with a frown.

“I left the crew and a month later you were dead. That’s proof enough.”

“I can perfectly do things without your help!”

“So you don't want me in your team, alright.”

“I didn’t say that! I may… have a use for you… in the new team I’m building to take down the Collectors.” she reluctantly said.

Who am I kidding? I need him to watch my back in that den of snakes and to make the mission easier.

“The Collectors, huh? Working on those human colonies going dark?”

“You know?”

“Yes. Humans are not that rare in the Terminus. Their disappearance has been noticed. So where do you want to begin?”

“Assembling a team. That’s why I’m here actually.”

“Mordin and Archangel?”

“How do… You know what nevermind.”

“Better to go recruit Mordin first. The raid against Archangel will not begin until a few days from now. On the other hand the plague is a real concern. And before you asked I just came back this morning to the station, when I left in the first place there was no plague.”

“I gather you know the way?”

“Of course.”

“Then let’s go, the faster…”

“Not so fast. I have questions about you and Cerberus.”

“They brought me back and want me to stop the collectors and actually fund me for it. Unlike the Alliance. They even gave me a new version of the Normandy.”

“So you’re Cerberus now?”

“Absolutely not. I’m working with them now but once I don’t need them anymore I’m cutting all ties.”

“If they don’t stab you in the back first.”

“Yes. That’s why I want you to watch my back.”

“What about the two stooges with you?” he asked, pointing at Miranda and Jacob with his head.

“Jacob is an alright guy. He’s in Cerberus because he was tired of the alliance’s indecisiveness; doesn’t share their human supremacy ideology.. Miranda though… Really competent but the boss lackey. She does believe that Cerberus is working for the betterment of humanity but I believe she’s not aware of everything the organization does.”

“If they get in the way…”

“I don’t think they will but I won’t stop you.”

Rick nodded, finished his drink and stood up from his stool. They had work to do.