Out For Karma: Mass Effect

[Book Two] Chapter 4: Flipping the bird

Chapter 4: Flipping the bird

After waking up, taking a shower and dressing himself Rick gave a quick goodbye kiss to his sleeping mother and left the way he came in. It was quite early on the station and not many were up yet which suited him just fine. The less people saw of him the better, that was how he had stayed under the radar of everyone for the last two years.

Making his way to the dock he found the new Normandy in all his splendor.

At least Cerberus is not stingy. I wonder if they corrected the flaw of the SSV?

As he approached the ship, its hatch opened for him. Considering it an invitation he walked inside without a second thought.

“Welcome aboard the Normandy SR-2, Mister Wald.” he heard a very sensual voice say. It reminded him of his own voice with his helmet on but from a female.

“Don’t pay attention to EDI.”

Turning his head to the left he saw Joker in the pilot seat with a mug, possibly of coffee, in his hand.

“Joker. Good to see you again.”

“Likewise, Rick.”

“Working for Cerberus now?”

“They offered me to fly; I joined the Commander.”

“And a bigger Normandy didn’t play in making your decision?”

“I wasn’t even aware. But yeah, mayyybe it would have played a bit.”

“Good morning guys, getting reacquainted?” Said Shepard who had just joined them in the cockpit.

“Yeah, I was asking Joker since when did his leather fetish take over his professional life.”

That prompted Joker to choke on his coffee.

“What?!”

“I saw what kind of porn you watch.”

“Too much information!” Shepard said, not wanting what her helmsman was up to in his free time.

“You win that one, Daft Punk!” Joker replied half amused, half upset.

“Oh?! I’m surprised you know the reference. Two points for that one.”

“Okay, could one of you explain?” Shepard interjected.

“Daft punk is an electro music duo who revolutionized electro and dance music in the late 20th century. I believe Mister Wald’s helmet is based on one of the members.” said EDI and before Rick could ask more about the ‘voice’ Joker went further.

“They really made good music. Lots of variety. Their second album and the animated movie that came with it was visionary.” Joker added.

“So you looked them up?” the helmet man said, putting aside his question for later.

“Of course, I did. It was a respite for the usual generic music you hear nowadays. I’m glad you shared some of their tracks.”

“Okayyyy. So.. want a tour?” Shepard said, promising herself to ask Joker more about it. Anything that interests Rick is something she had to look into.

“Is there lots of change?”

“The Normandy SR-2 is bigger than its predecessor the SSV Normandy. The interior has been mostly revised to make it a mobile base instead of a simple frigate. Many improvements had been made to better reflect that change.” Edi said.

“Sadly, it is not one of them.” grumbled Joker.

Turning to Shepard Rick simply said.

“AI?”

“Yes, shackled though.” replied the redhead.

“I’m the Enhanced Defense Intelligence of the Normandy.”

“EDI for short.” simplify Shepard.

“Am I allowed to take a look at her? Forget it, I will take a look at her.”

“As long as you don’t free her.” she shrugged and invited him to follow her.

“Just so you know, I know nothing about Joker’s porn. I was just joking.”

“Didn’t you hack the personal terminal of the whole crew?”

“Joker was an exception.”

She led him through the bridge and entered the armory where despite the early hour Jacob was already working.

“This is the armory, you’ll find Jacob here most of the time.”

“Jacob.” Rick saluted the man.

“Wald, welcome to the Normandy.”

“Rick; Wald is only for the pompous asses who think themselves better than me.”

“Rick it is then.” Jacob replied with a grin.

“I’m surprised the armory was put here instead of the cargo bay.”

“That’s because it’s also used as a weapon lab.” explained the man.

“You’ll have all the fun you want in here.” Shepard said with a smile.

Saying bye to Jacob, she dragged Rick through a door and showed him the meeting room.

“Finally a room that makes sense.” he commented.

“The meeting room is also used as a com room. The holographic table is accessible to any kind of work by anyone.” EDI explained.

“Thank you, EDI.” he replied.

“I knew you’d like it.” Shepard said, somewhat proud to have guessed right his reaction.

“I’d like anything better than the old one.”

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“It wasn’t really well designed, true.”

The tour continued and she showed him every room on the ship with EDI commenting on them. He had been glad to see Karin again and talked with her for a bit before Shepard dragged him somewhere else. He had chosen the room on the right of the engineering area as it was secluded, big and quiet. The place she showed him last was her quarters.

“An aquarium really?”

“What? It’s nice! Never had an aquarium before.”

“An aquarium without fish.”

“I’ll get some.”

Rick began to fumble with his omni-tool and suddenly sparks appeared all over the room.

“What did.. Bugs?” Shepard asked and got a nod of affirmation in answer.

“Should have known…”

“You should have. It’s temporary, I’m sure they will replace them soon enough with new ones. I’ll think of something more permanent.”

“Thank you.”

“So, what’s your plan?”

“Right now? Except recruiting the people the Illusive man gave me files about, I have no idea. I hoped you would have one actually.” she said sitting on the couch followed by Rick who did the same.

“Hmm… We’re going to need to pimp the ship. I saw the report of the attack, two years ago. You got nailed hard.”

“The attack happened so fast. Their weapon cut through the ship like it was made of butter.”

“Then new coating for the hull, new shield which also means new weapons… There is a lot to do.”

“...”

“...”

An uncomfortable silence settled itself between the two. Uncomfortable because Shepard was looking intently at him.

“What?” He asked.

“It’s been two years! I heard you went off the grid after I died, what have you been up to?”

“I prepared.”

“For what?”

“Survival.”

“The reapers? The illusive man told me the council pushed under the rug their involvement in the Citadel’s attack.”

“Along the Alliance discrediting you anyway they could.”

“Figures.” she said dejectedly.

“But yes, the reapers. I knew I couldn’t make any preparations, military speaking. Governments are on high alert about those kinds of things. Especially in the Terminus. So instead I went the other way. Build bunkers deep underground. Designing them in the way that life could be sustained for centuries. The planets I targeted for that were to be inhospitable or primitive. That way the reapers would overlook them.”

“How many?”

“For now? Only two are complete. Six more are in the works and would be operational during the year. It was difficult at first because I went at it alone and my funds were limited so I went to Anderson. He quickly brought in Tevos and Valern who were immediately in the project. Secretly of course. Each has their own task. Tevos is gathering money, Valern is using a discreet contact in the STG to get a list of competent people from every species that would be useful in post defeat but also to preserve our cultures. Anderson is helping them both as he’s not been long on the job and his contacts were rather limited to the navy. Right now the objective is to have at least two bunkers in each part of the galaxy. Only the traverse and the Skyllian verge have none but it could change.

“How many people can a bunker welcome?”

“Half a million.”

“It’s… a lot.”

“And yet so few.”

“It’s better than nothing.”

“The secrecy of the project is what is delaying it. We could do more if we had more resources but that would expose it. We can’t have that. Imagine one of the workers got indoctrinated? I still wish we could save more. Four million… It would take thousands of years for the species to recuperate. Thankfully they would have fifty of them but still…”

“It gives us a second chance.”

“The protheans tried that and it failed, so I’m not so sure.”

She took his hand in hers and squeezed it.

“It’s better than nothing.” she said with reassurance.

____________________________________________________________

They still had time before the beginning of the raid against Archangel so Shepard had asked Rick for a tour of the station which he reluctantly agreed. By a tour of the station she meant the market to see if there was some equipment worth buying. They did. Upgrades for weapons and new armor parts among other things. Joker’s face had been priceless when Shepard showed him with a very gleeful smile, a big transparent box with fish inside in one hand and a box for building-it-yourself model of a Turian cruiser in the other. Next to her was Rick, who seemed to be done with life, carrying a big bag of whatever they, or rather she, had bought with Rick’s money. Watching them go further inside the ship he had only one thought.

I’m so glad to be single. It’s just me, my beautiful ship and no woman to spend my money dragging me on a shopping spree or getting on my back for something.

“Are you alright Mister Moreau? Your face shows pain. Should I warn Doctor Chakwas?” EDI said.

“...”

____________________________________________________________

Back in the captain's quarters, Rick dropped on the floor the armor parts he had bought as she was putting the fish in her aquarium, giggling happily to herself.

“What are you? Five?”

“Shut up! I found fish! Now I can watch them swim whenever! I heard it’s relaxing.”

“You’ll quickly get bored of it once you feed them.”

“...” she quickly went silent.

“What?”

“...”

“... You forgot to buy them some food.” he stated in an unimpressed tone.

“Yes…” she whispered in embarrassment.

“That I’m not surprised is worrying.”

“I was too excited, okay?! And there was this turian model winking at me from the corner of my eyes and…” she tried to defend herself.

“Alright, we’re buying fish food when we get back from the raid. It’s almost time.” he said as he exited her room.

“And glue! I forgot the glue for the model!”

With a sigh he chose the engineering deck on the elevator’s display.

I think I prefer when she was just a bitch.

____________________________________________________________

Rick had been an obvious and the first choice as a teammate for the raid, Mordin was the second, as he could act as a medic if it was required and she wanted to see what the ex-STG could do. The last member was Miranda as she estimated that with Rick on the team Jacob’s skills were a bit redundant and was more familiar with the former than the latter.

Arriving on site she had been impressed by the resources the mercs groups had put into the operation. They went all out.

“They must really want him dead.” she said aloud.

“They lost at least 50% of their money on Omega thanks to him. The blue suns even more. That’s why they’re leading the operation, they’re paying more than eclipse or the blood pack to make sure Archangel dies.”

“It’s impressive that one guy alone could do so much damage.” She said as a turian, right before her, died from a shot to the head. She made a roll forward when another shot hit her shield.

“He wasn’t alone. He had a whole team. They were ambushed when he wasn’t there. All of them are dead.” Rick explained not bothered one bit that she got shot at.

“He shot me!”

“At you.” he corrected her as he looked through his own rifle scope.

“I’m not sure I want to recruit him anymore.” she said getting up.

“It was just a greeting. He would have killed you otherwise. He never misses after all.”

“You know who that guy is?!”

“ I didn't until now. And so do you by the way.”

“Who is he?”

“I won’t spoil the surprise.” he replied, walking ahead.

Grumbling, she followed him through the multiple mercs and rooms.

“That’s a lot of mercs.” Said Miranda.

“Extraction problematic.” Mordin chimed in.

“I guess we’ll have to deal with all of them.”

“Or we let something else take care of them.” Rick replied to the redhead.

He pointed towards an Ymir and some Mechas in the corner of a room. Walking towards the console he began using it in silence.

“I like the way you think.” she said with a smile.

“Reversing IFF. Excellent plan. Could give break between waves.”

“That will create chaos in their rank and with a bit of luck that will diminish their numbers.”

The hacking of the mechas done, they went further inside the mercs makeshift camp. Shepard was directed towards a room to talk with the leader of the raid, a batarian named Tarak. He was fairly pissed off to be interrupted in his planning and simply told her to fuck off.

“Rude.” she commented.

“Shepard, I have analyzed the area. The only way in and out is through the bridge on your right.” said EDi into the com.

“Ugh.. Figures it couldn’t have been simple. Alright let’s get it over with.”

“Rick missing.” said Mordin.

At that point she wasn’t surprised anymore, too used to it. Miranda however was not and voiced her displeasure.

“Where is he?”

“Being efficient, probably.” Shepard answered cryptically.

“What?”

“Over there.” Mordin pointed out.

Rick came from the otherside of the field, walking at his own pace nonchalantly, right through the no man's land. When he got shot at and his shield failed he just raised his finger at Archangel.

“What were you doing?” Miranda asked with a frown.

“Being efficient.” he replied simply, making Shepard fight to not grin as she heard her own words coming out of his mouth.

He had bought her a new omni-tool during their shopping trip to replace the bugged one Cerberus gave her. She had been under no illusion that he had not bugged hers too but for himself. But she knew he eavesdropped on her responsibly and was used to it so she didn’t say anything. She quite liked it in fact as it brought her a sense of normalcy, as if two years hadn’t passed by. She still had trouble with that and the many changes that came with it.

“Surprise for the merc?” She asked, trying to know more.

“Big surprise.”

That was all he said before taking the lead and going over the barricades along other freelancers. Shepard pulled out her assault rifle and followed him with Mordin and Miranda who also had their weapons in hand.

They didn’t even discuss the plan. There was no need as it was obvious. Rick had biotically charged a grunt at the other end of the bridge, killed him and began to shoot at the other freelancers crossing. The rest of the team used the diversion for a pincer attack and everything was over in less than half a minute. The fact that the freelancers were poorly equipped helped a lot.

Going inside the building they shot a merc trying to arm a big bomb and made their way to the upper floor where Archangel was. Entering the room Shepard called out his name making Rick snort. Archangel for his part signaled her to give him a moment with his support hand before putting it back on his rifle. A second later he shot dead a freelancer trying to be sneaky.

Getting up from his position he turned around to face the team and removed his helmet showing Shepard a familiar face.

“Garrus!”

“Shepard. I thought you were dead.”

“I… One moment.” She said, stopping her explanation by lifting a finger at the turian before turning to Rick and kicking him in the shin.”

“You could have told me! Ass!”

Then turning back to Garrus she explained.

“Long story short I was brought back. Been awake for a  few week, so I’m still trying to adapt to the changes that have happened in two years. Glad to see a familiar face. And I mean actual face. Because I met Tali and Rick and I’m a bit tired of speaking to opaque visors.”

“That’s your face that should be hidden by a visor, you could make children cry.” mumbled Rick not low enough to not be heard. Seeing Shepard punch the man’s helmet head made the turian laugh.

“Time may pass, but some things never change.”

“Fortunately for me, that’s true. What are you doing on Omega, anyway?”

“Not much, fighting crime, killing mercs. Plenty to go around if you’re interested.”

“But why Omega?”

“I… got fed up with all the bureaucratic bullshit on the Citadel. I figured I could do more good on my own like we did together and Omega is a nest of criminals. All I have to do is point my gun and shoot.”

“Smart of you to leave Aria alone.” Rick said, taking position with his own rifle securing the bridge.

“Aria is alright. Ruthless but alright, she doesn’t meddle in anyone's business as long as no one meddles with hers.”

“Well, you dodged a bullet because Rick is her Boogeyman.” Shepard filled him in.

“You’re the little shit of Omega?!” Garrus turned around looking at his former teammate in shock.

“Not much of a secret as you think it was.” Miranda stated.

“Then there is a leak that needs to be plugged.” replied Rick.

“Can’t believe we never met during the year I’ve been here.”

“I was seldom on the station.”

“Now that I think about it, how did you know it was Garrus?”

““The rifle.”” both males answered at the same time.

“Tali and I made it. There are no other ones like it. I’m surprised you’re still using it. There is better on the market.”

“It was a gift, I quite like it and it’s still working. No reasons to change.” answered the turian, handing his weapon to Shepard to have a look.

“You may have to, now.” Rick replied.

“We’re going after the collector. They’re the ones responsible for human colonies going dark in the Terminus systems.” Shepard explained to her friend giving him his rifle back.

“I’m building a team. This is Mordin Solus and Miranda Lawson.”

“Cerberus?” Garrus asked, seeing the logo of the terrorist organization on the woman’s chest.

“Q&A later. Wave incoming.” Rick warned.

Everyone picked up their weapons and got into position. With the high ground they had a huge advantage against the eclipse mercs making crossing the bridge with their mechs.

“Didn’t you hack the mechs to attack them instead of us?” Miranda asked, hiding behind a pillar avoiding a shot.

“Yes but once I send a signal.”

“Not now?” Mordin inquired.

“The Ymir is not there. If I send the signal now they may not bring it out and leave it in the closed room. Lokis are armless anyway.” explained Rick as he shot one in the head with his Mantis.

When the bridge was cleared a new wave came in. The Ymir was brought out and was accompanied by three eclipse mercs including their leader Jaroth. Immediately, the heavy mech turned around and began to fire at its former owner. The mercs held on for quite a while as they were well equipped, but fell nonetheless. The Ymir was quite damaged however.

“That was oddly satisfying.” Garrus said.

“Anyone you knew?” the redhead asked.

“The salarian, Jaroth. Most of the tainted eezo of the citadel came from him.”

“Good riddance then.”

“You know if they all attacked en masse, they would have done you in a long time ago. Thank god they are stupid and don’t work together.” Rick remarked.

“Yes but thankfully, they’re also prideful idio….”

At that moment a loud muffled explosion was heard and the building shook.

“What was that?” Miranda asked.

“Not good, they must have breached the lower level. Shepard, you need to go there, I’ll handle the bridge.”

“Fine, but I’m not leaving you alone. Mordin stay with him.” she ordered.

The Salarian nodded and both Rick and Miranda made their way downstairs.

“Wait! Take this.” Garrus said, tossing her an assault rifle. “Better than the one you have.”

“Thanks. I’ll be back soon.” she said leaving the room while looking at her new weapon.

Getting downstairs she saw Rick and Miranda carrying the bomb one of the merc was trying to arm earlier. When they noticed her and her confused look they stopped walking.

“Don’t look at me, his idea.”

“It would be bad to not use it when they gave it to us in the first place.” Rick explained.

Shepard just blinked for a moment and led the way to their location. Behind her Miranda and Rick were the bomb and were walking slowly as it was quite heavy. The latter suddenly stopped making the former lose her grip and drop her side of it.

“What is it?” she asked, not happy he didn’t warn her.

Rick activated his biotic and lifted the bomb off the ground.

“Much better.”

Now with almost no mass, thanks to the mass effect, he just pushed the bomb forward effortlessly leaving a dumb expression on the brunette’s face. Quickly they put the bomb at the intersection of three passages and armed it.

“15 seconds would be good.” the commander said.

“I can remotely activate it, you know.”

“Yes, but if we go back and we have to fight you may be too busy.”

“Fair.”

Rick set the timer as instructed and ran behind the two women who got a small headstart. They just arrived back into the building when the bomb exploded. Getting back upstairs they saw both Mordin and Garrus, failing to push back the group of Blood Pack crossing the bridge as their number was too high. Shepard went into position and finally tested her new assault rifle. The recoil was low but the shots were stronger than her Avenger. The better accuracy was great for the fire burst it displayed.

“I like it, Garrus. Thanks again.” she said gunning down a vorcha.

The turian just let out a simple ‘you’re welcome ’ before killing another. Meanwhile Rick went back downstairs and took down the Krogan that made it pass the bridge. Instead of going back up he went to the entrance to block any mercs getting through the bridge but that wasn’t necessary his four teammates were doing a pretty nice job.

When the wave was over, only then did he go back up. Shepard was talking with Garrus about the battlemaster they took down. Some kind of freak of nature who could regenerate very fast, faster than any Korgan Garrus had met. As they were discussing the plan to take care of the blue suns, since they were the only mec groups left Rick crossed the room and tackled Shepard to the ground yelling as he did so.

“DOWN!”

Garrus had been a tad too late and got shot multiple times by the airship machine gun from behind the window at the other side of the room. Still with Shepard under him he flared his omni-tool and activated a sequence. Immediately, the airship blew up in pieces. Getting up from the commander he went to his turian friend to check on his wounds.

“Mordin!” Shepard yelled and the Salarian jumped into action as the team medic.

“They're coming through the bridge.” warned Miranda as she began firing with her SMG.

Shepard tossed her, her Avenger, which she didn’t need anymore and took position next to the brunette. For his part Rick simply used his usual method of attack and picked the farthest mercenary on the other side of the bridge to charge on. As usual in this situation their opponents died quickly. He went back in a hurry to the top floor, Shepard had already warned Joker to prepare the med-bay as things were not looking good. Mordin could only do so much in this situation and already had used all the medi-gel available. Thankfully Rick had some and shared it. Lifting Garrus with his biotic, the team hurried back to the Normandy hoping to make it in time.