- Location
- Brazil
While likely, we don't know for sure. Only Tali is mentioned in the future, not Wrex or Liara.
-
Going forward, links to content from Twitter (now X) will no longer be embedded. Pre-existing links should not be affected.
Each Star is a Point of Light-A Destiny/Mass Effect Fusion
- Thread starter MagicMan333
- Start date
While likely, we don't know for sure. Only Tali is mentioned in the future, not Wrex or Liara.
Cayde 6 remembers going to titan as a human and leaving as an exo.
MagicMan333
Post-apocalyptic Gonzo Journalist
- Location
- Washington
You hate us 'cuz you ain't us
He's jealous of our frabjous cloaks.
Tiypo
Forever Phone Posting
And tripmine grenades, seriously, best in the game by far.
MagicMan333
Post-apocalyptic Gonzo Journalist
- Location
- Washington
Another their delay this week. It's been a busy week for me ( in a good way) as I've been recently hired at a security firm near where I live and we've been going through the usual cavalcade of paperwork and tests. The next part of the story will be up on Saturday.
May I be the first to say congratulations on the new job! Given that reason, I doubt anyone will mind a delay.
Strunkriidiisk
THE LEGEND
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Well, some might, but they'd be wankers so fuck 'em.
Chapter 13: A Bow and a Blizzard pt 2
MagicMan333
Post-apocalyptic Gonzo Journalist
- Location
- Washington
Chapter 13: A Bow and a Blizzard pt 2
Garrus trudged through almost a foot of snow, his hands on the handles of his bike, thankful that his suit was temperature regulated. Snow cascading down from gray skies and Garrus could only see a few feet in front of him. He felt tired. Not tired like he used to get. Not like when he was…mortal. It was more of a psychological fatigue. The simple need to lie down and do or think about anything but the huge task ahead of him. But he knew if he lied down in the snow he wouldn't get out until spring.
"Spirits" he said gasping, "how much longer until we get out of the blizzard?
"I have no idea," his Ghost said sounding as tired as he was, "can't get any signals through the storm and it's not like I have weather software." Garrus sighed and kept plodding along. A part of him, the paranoid part operating a tradition of dread, wondered if this machine was leading him into some kind of trap. It had him at its mercy, after all, and one thing he'd been taught is that anyone who put their lives in the hands of an S.I. would come to ruin.
But whenever those thoughts intruded on his mind, Garrus' old detective instincts came in. The instincts that told him not to trust in unreliable impressions and to think through every facet of a situation. And what he came up with was this; the Ghost had shown no inclination to betray him whatsoever. She'd, and Garrus wondered when exactly he had started calling her "she", shown no effort to manipulate him into doing what she wanted. Hell, she was pretty open about when he was doing something she didn't like. She didn't have the ability to be violent towards him and didn't seem to have a proclivity for it anyway.
But the real reason Garrus had come to trust the Ghost was linked to the realization he'd had in the Cosmodrome. However irritatingly sarcastic she could be at times, the Ghost seemed so alarmingly happy with the very fact of Garrus' existence. Shepard had not told him what exactly Ghosts did before they found Guardians, and now Garrus realized how tight-lipped Shepard had always been on the subject of the Ghosts, but it occurred to him it must be an incredibly lonely existence for her to be so joyous in the fact that Garrus was with her. How long had she looked for him?
"How are you doing?" Garrus asked.
"I'm fine. But we really need to get you better armor soon. It's tight in here."
Garrus hmmm'd to himself as his hand brushed against the box hanging from his belt. It had taken him a week but he'd been able to pick up the trail the caravan had left behind. At one of the campsites he'd spotted a small dip in the ground. Before his resurrection, Garrus would never have noticed it but with Guardian perception he realized that it was sapient-made. Within, he'd found a box holding some dextro-food and an encrypted datapad. The encryption had confused him at first, being completely unlike any professional decryption he had seen throughout his career. It was only when he realized the encryption was similar to the programming for naval weaponry that he realized what he needed to do.
Garrus laughed to himself when he saw Tali appear on the datapad's screen. Only she would force him to calibrate his way through an encryption. He could already see her chuckling to herself as she wrote the code for it.
"Hey, Garrus," the message said, "if you found this message…" there was a halt and for a moment Garrus thought she might be winding up for a bit of teasing at his expense but those expectations were dashed when she said, "Then I will be the happiest I think I've ever been. I-Its been awful without you here with us and…Please, you have to catch up with us. I've stored map data in this datapad. It's got the current route we're taking along with multiple possible roads through the mountains. Make it back to us, Garrus. And please. Stay alive."
So, now he was here. Trudging through a snow-filled mountain pass. He'd put the datapad in the box with the food, which he had yet to touch. He didn't need to eat anymore. His "Light" was what sustained him now. At least that was what the Ghost said and the fact that he hadn't eaten in a little over two weeks was pretty substantial evidence that she was telling the truth. He chuckled when he thought of it.
Oh, thanks for the food, Tali. But I didn't need it. I'm immortal now.
Not for the first time, he wondered what everybody back home would think of everything he'd seen. He felt the Light inside. He wondered what they'd think of everything he'd become. In the distance, Garrus saw something. A faint wisp of outline someone without his eyesight wouldn't have seen. He began to march through the snow faster. Maybe, he thought, he'd run into the back of the caravan. Or at least, he'd found someone who could help him track them.
Soon he was close enough to see the figure. It was a human, wearing a gray helmet and a short gray robe that ended at the mid-thigh. What of the legs he could see were covered in what looked like the pants of an environment suit. They seemed to be walking in the same direction as Garrus and their arms looked like they were wrapped around them for that extra bit of warmth. The strange look of the traveler clicked in Garrus' head when he realized that he was looking at another Guardian. The bike fell out of his hands as he tried to half-run towards them. If this was a Guardian then they might have a ship. If they had a ship they could help him find the others.
Garrus almost fell in the snow before he finally took the risk to shout at the stranger. The stranger jumped before looking above them in panic. When they finally looked behind them at Garrus their arms went slack by their sides and stared at him. He ran forward, almost falling two more times, before standing before them. Garrus put his hands on…her? Her. Garrus put his hands on her shoulders.
"Hey, look. I know I look a bit strange but I'm…"
"Garrus."
Garrus' mouth dropped open when he heard her voice. It couldn't be…
She brought a pair of hands up to her helmet and released the latches holding onto her suit. She brought it over her head. It was then that Garrus found himself staring into Liara's sapphire blue eyes.
-----
It was the previous day when the Ghost found himself wandering through the frozen passages of the Himalayas. He groaned to himself. What he wouldn't do for a warm room and some decent company who had had a couple of drinks. Living vicariously being his only option after all. There had always been that small degree of jealousy to the people who could enjoy in such pleasures that he could only dream of but it was something you lived with after a couple of centuries.
The other Ghosts considered him a bit strange. A little too attached to people who weren't their Guardian. A little too enamored with various forms of vice. A little too cynical. He scoffed. People were interesting and so was vice. And he was just the right amount of cynical, thank you. The right amount after centuries of futile searching. He wanted to sigh to himself. He'd spend some time in the City after this. The trials would probably be another wash but at least he could catch the next round of Crucible tournaments. The fights and the partying that came with them would lighten his spirits. Might even be able to make some glimmer betting. He had a feeling that Fireteam Veerata would be sweeping the Clash tourneys this year. Despite their preponderance of Titans.
That was when he saw it. It was a large snow covered lump in the path before him. Around it were a number of pebble sized rocks. The Ghost looked around. Hmm, he thought, snow piled like this tended to be a sign of an avalanche. And a large lump after an avalanche tended to be a corpse. Well, he might as well take a look at the poor bastard. It took a bit of work for a lone Ghost to dig out a human, or awoken or exo, corpse from the snow. But what he saw made it worth it immediately.
It looked like a blue human, reminiscent of the awoken. But where the awoken had hair, this creature had a row of tentacle looking…things running along her scalp. Her face was covered in freckles and she seemed to be adorned in some traveling gear similar but not identical to the sort seen around Sol. He stared at…her. Yes, her, for a moment, trying to catalogue everything he could about what he was seeing. What was she? Some new kind of awoken? No, he admittedly didn't know much about what they got up to out in the Reef but he had a feeling something like her wouldn't fly in their society. She could be a Jovian. No one had seen a living denizen of the Jovian colonies ever since the Collapse. Not including Agents. It wouldn't have surprised him that a population ruled over by the Nine would produce something with tentacles instead of hair.
He started to scan its biology and… No. It wasn't possible. This creature may have looked like a human but her insides were like nothing he'd ever seen. It was…unlike anything in Sol. He was looking at a new kind of alien. Oh Traveler, he thought, the City needed to know about this. He began scanning her again when. Oh. Oh…
He'd heard the stories but he'd never expected it to be like this. He sighed, not as pleasing without lungs, and rested on the ground, leaning up against her body as he did so. Of course, he thought to himself, of course my Guardian would be some kind of unknown species. This, this would cause trouble. An almost-genocide, four invasions, and numerous wars had pretty much destroyed any of the goodwill the City had for aliens. And to have an alien become a Guardian would be unprecedented. And the Ghost was not foolish enough to think well of human thought processes when confronted with the unprecedented.
He could leave her there, he thought, no one would need to know. He could just go through the motions. It would be a tedious existence and he would never know the glory of his fellows but he had always felt more pragmatic over the concept of glory in comparison to his siblings. He turned over to look at her poor mangled form. She was such a small thing in death. He took a long look at her face and it was only then that he saw the soft smile and the streaks of frozen tears. She knew she was dying, it occurred to him, and had still smiled in the face of it.
His thoughts turned in another direction. It would be a strange Guardian for a strange Ghost. A possible match made in heaven. No, he thought, that wasn't his luck. But what if it was? Finally, someone to have all the conversations he'd always wanted to have with. He made his decision. His shell split from his core and he saw the skyey expanse of the world beyond the veil stretch out before him. On the horizon was a tell-tale spark of Light.
****
Okay, this chapter is done. I was going to have the Exo conflict continue in this chapter but I think it needs its own. Anyway, I'll see you guys next week.
Garrus trudged through almost a foot of snow, his hands on the handles of his bike, thankful that his suit was temperature regulated. Snow cascading down from gray skies and Garrus could only see a few feet in front of him. He felt tired. Not tired like he used to get. Not like when he was…mortal. It was more of a psychological fatigue. The simple need to lie down and do or think about anything but the huge task ahead of him. But he knew if he lied down in the snow he wouldn't get out until spring.
"Spirits" he said gasping, "how much longer until we get out of the blizzard?
"I have no idea," his Ghost said sounding as tired as he was, "can't get any signals through the storm and it's not like I have weather software." Garrus sighed and kept plodding along. A part of him, the paranoid part operating a tradition of dread, wondered if this machine was leading him into some kind of trap. It had him at its mercy, after all, and one thing he'd been taught is that anyone who put their lives in the hands of an S.I. would come to ruin.
But whenever those thoughts intruded on his mind, Garrus' old detective instincts came in. The instincts that told him not to trust in unreliable impressions and to think through every facet of a situation. And what he came up with was this; the Ghost had shown no inclination to betray him whatsoever. She'd, and Garrus wondered when exactly he had started calling her "she", shown no effort to manipulate him into doing what she wanted. Hell, she was pretty open about when he was doing something she didn't like. She didn't have the ability to be violent towards him and didn't seem to have a proclivity for it anyway.
But the real reason Garrus had come to trust the Ghost was linked to the realization he'd had in the Cosmodrome. However irritatingly sarcastic she could be at times, the Ghost seemed so alarmingly happy with the very fact of Garrus' existence. Shepard had not told him what exactly Ghosts did before they found Guardians, and now Garrus realized how tight-lipped Shepard had always been on the subject of the Ghosts, but it occurred to him it must be an incredibly lonely existence for her to be so joyous in the fact that Garrus was with her. How long had she looked for him?
"How are you doing?" Garrus asked.
"I'm fine. But we really need to get you better armor soon. It's tight in here."
Garrus hmmm'd to himself as his hand brushed against the box hanging from his belt. It had taken him a week but he'd been able to pick up the trail the caravan had left behind. At one of the campsites he'd spotted a small dip in the ground. Before his resurrection, Garrus would never have noticed it but with Guardian perception he realized that it was sapient-made. Within, he'd found a box holding some dextro-food and an encrypted datapad. The encryption had confused him at first, being completely unlike any professional decryption he had seen throughout his career. It was only when he realized the encryption was similar to the programming for naval weaponry that he realized what he needed to do.
Garrus laughed to himself when he saw Tali appear on the datapad's screen. Only she would force him to calibrate his way through an encryption. He could already see her chuckling to herself as she wrote the code for it.
"Hey, Garrus," the message said, "if you found this message…" there was a halt and for a moment Garrus thought she might be winding up for a bit of teasing at his expense but those expectations were dashed when she said, "Then I will be the happiest I think I've ever been. I-Its been awful without you here with us and…Please, you have to catch up with us. I've stored map data in this datapad. It's got the current route we're taking along with multiple possible roads through the mountains. Make it back to us, Garrus. And please. Stay alive."
So, now he was here. Trudging through a snow-filled mountain pass. He'd put the datapad in the box with the food, which he had yet to touch. He didn't need to eat anymore. His "Light" was what sustained him now. At least that was what the Ghost said and the fact that he hadn't eaten in a little over two weeks was pretty substantial evidence that she was telling the truth. He chuckled when he thought of it.
Oh, thanks for the food, Tali. But I didn't need it. I'm immortal now.
Not for the first time, he wondered what everybody back home would think of everything he'd seen. He felt the Light inside. He wondered what they'd think of everything he'd become. In the distance, Garrus saw something. A faint wisp of outline someone without his eyesight wouldn't have seen. He began to march through the snow faster. Maybe, he thought, he'd run into the back of the caravan. Or at least, he'd found someone who could help him track them.
Soon he was close enough to see the figure. It was a human, wearing a gray helmet and a short gray robe that ended at the mid-thigh. What of the legs he could see were covered in what looked like the pants of an environment suit. They seemed to be walking in the same direction as Garrus and their arms looked like they were wrapped around them for that extra bit of warmth. The strange look of the traveler clicked in Garrus' head when he realized that he was looking at another Guardian. The bike fell out of his hands as he tried to half-run towards them. If this was a Guardian then they might have a ship. If they had a ship they could help him find the others.
Garrus almost fell in the snow before he finally took the risk to shout at the stranger. The stranger jumped before looking above them in panic. When they finally looked behind them at Garrus their arms went slack by their sides and stared at him. He ran forward, almost falling two more times, before standing before them. Garrus put his hands on…her? Her. Garrus put his hands on her shoulders.
"Hey, look. I know I look a bit strange but I'm…"
"Garrus."
Garrus' mouth dropped open when he heard her voice. It couldn't be…
She brought a pair of hands up to her helmet and released the latches holding onto her suit. She brought it over her head. It was then that Garrus found himself staring into Liara's sapphire blue eyes.
-----
It was the previous day when the Ghost found himself wandering through the frozen passages of the Himalayas. He groaned to himself. What he wouldn't do for a warm room and some decent company who had had a couple of drinks. Living vicariously being his only option after all. There had always been that small degree of jealousy to the people who could enjoy in such pleasures that he could only dream of but it was something you lived with after a couple of centuries.
The other Ghosts considered him a bit strange. A little too attached to people who weren't their Guardian. A little too enamored with various forms of vice. A little too cynical. He scoffed. People were interesting and so was vice. And he was just the right amount of cynical, thank you. The right amount after centuries of futile searching. He wanted to sigh to himself. He'd spend some time in the City after this. The trials would probably be another wash but at least he could catch the next round of Crucible tournaments. The fights and the partying that came with them would lighten his spirits. Might even be able to make some glimmer betting. He had a feeling that Fireteam Veerata would be sweeping the Clash tourneys this year. Despite their preponderance of Titans.
That was when he saw it. It was a large snow covered lump in the path before him. Around it were a number of pebble sized rocks. The Ghost looked around. Hmm, he thought, snow piled like this tended to be a sign of an avalanche. And a large lump after an avalanche tended to be a corpse. Well, he might as well take a look at the poor bastard. It took a bit of work for a lone Ghost to dig out a human, or awoken or exo, corpse from the snow. But what he saw made it worth it immediately.
It looked like a blue human, reminiscent of the awoken. But where the awoken had hair, this creature had a row of tentacle looking…things running along her scalp. Her face was covered in freckles and she seemed to be adorned in some traveling gear similar but not identical to the sort seen around Sol. He stared at…her. Yes, her, for a moment, trying to catalogue everything he could about what he was seeing. What was she? Some new kind of awoken? No, he admittedly didn't know much about what they got up to out in the Reef but he had a feeling something like her wouldn't fly in their society. She could be a Jovian. No one had seen a living denizen of the Jovian colonies ever since the Collapse. Not including Agents. It wouldn't have surprised him that a population ruled over by the Nine would produce something with tentacles instead of hair.
He started to scan its biology and… No. It wasn't possible. This creature may have looked like a human but her insides were like nothing he'd ever seen. It was…unlike anything in Sol. He was looking at a new kind of alien. Oh Traveler, he thought, the City needed to know about this. He began scanning her again when. Oh. Oh…
He'd heard the stories but he'd never expected it to be like this. He sighed, not as pleasing without lungs, and rested on the ground, leaning up against her body as he did so. Of course, he thought to himself, of course my Guardian would be some kind of unknown species. This, this would cause trouble. An almost-genocide, four invasions, and numerous wars had pretty much destroyed any of the goodwill the City had for aliens. And to have an alien become a Guardian would be unprecedented. And the Ghost was not foolish enough to think well of human thought processes when confronted with the unprecedented.
He could leave her there, he thought, no one would need to know. He could just go through the motions. It would be a tedious existence and he would never know the glory of his fellows but he had always felt more pragmatic over the concept of glory in comparison to his siblings. He turned over to look at her poor mangled form. She was such a small thing in death. He took a long look at her face and it was only then that he saw the soft smile and the streaks of frozen tears. She knew she was dying, it occurred to him, and had still smiled in the face of it.
His thoughts turned in another direction. It would be a strange Guardian for a strange Ghost. A possible match made in heaven. No, he thought, that wasn't his luck. But what if it was? Finally, someone to have all the conversations he'd always wanted to have with. He made his decision. His shell split from his core and he saw the skyey expanse of the world beyond the veil stretch out before him. On the horizon was a tell-tale spark of Light.
****
Okay, this chapter is done. I was going to have the Exo conflict continue in this chapter but I think it needs its own. Anyway, I'll see you guys next week.
Strunkriidiisk
THE LEGEND
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Liara came back! And she's not a Hunter! Astounding!
Ultra Sonic 007
Trying to keep things simple~
- Location
- Colorado
Honestly, I would have been surprised if she didn't come back as a Warlock.
KleverKil'Vanya
Ortillery Operator
So wrex comes back as a titan?
Or tali?
Or tali?
Tiypo
Forever Phone Posting
Little Tali smashing face as a titan would be hilarious, I can only imagine her being always angry that no one not on her team takes her seriously and crushing things with Hammer of Sol like Vita from MGLN.
Tali: Rip and Tear!
MagicMan333
Post-apocalyptic Gonzo Journalist
- Location
- Washington
Ok, bad news. There's going to be another delay. My internet's been out since Sunday (I'm delivering this message using the super shitty 4G in my area) and while it was supposed to be fixed today, something happened and now it won't be fixed until Friday at least. So let's hope it gets fixed in time for the weekend when I'll upload the next part.
It helps that some of the most extraordinary people in the galaxy were on that ship.
Light congregates, apparently.
(Can I just say, I love the mental image of how much the Vex's oculars will shrink if Tali becomes a Titan?
"Hello, synthetic bosh'tets. You killed my homeworld. Prepare for recycling."
Of course, the Vex aren't truly synthetic so much as they are power armor for sentient plankton, but still).
- Pronouns
- He/Him
They aren't just important for personal qualities either. The traveler has just ensured the loyalty of the daughter of a matriarch and the son of one of the primarch's friends. Depending on how event's go, it may be able to snag an admiral's daughter and a respected battlemaster who has it in him to make a decent bid for the leadership of his species.
It's not just looking for warriors, it's looking for ambassadors. (Since my destiny knowledge is lacking, I don't know if it could actually put that level of forethought into this, but it's certainly working out for them well enough.)
- Location
- Spain
The Darkness does have that level of forethought if it's manipulations and plans and things are any indication. Maybe the Traveler has decided to up it's game since it's kinda stuck, either that or a desperation ploy to divide the attacking forces attention with a new target or several.
MagicMan333
Post-apocalyptic Gonzo Journalist
- Location
- Washington
Ok, bad news and good news. I got the Internet back but I'm probably going to delay the next piece until this Thursday. I'm having trouble writing it (I'm in that rough place where sympathetic characters have to be assholes without losing what makes them sympathetic) and there's also other stuff going on. Good news, instead of the usual half-a-chapter you guys have usually been getting lately, you're going to get a full chapter on Thursday to make up for it. I might even post an omake next weekend to make up for the long wait.
Book 2: Ch 14: A Question of Trust and Metal
MagicMan333
Post-apocalyptic Gonzo Journalist
- Location
- Washington
Chapter 14: A Question of Trust and Metal
"I don't believe this…"
"It's not a big deal, Captain."
"Not a big deal!" T'Bayla all but screamed. "How many S.Is are in the City, Shepard? How many?"
"Why is that important?"
"Because I don't want my people lined up against a wall and shot."
Shepard ground her teeth. It had been almost an hour since they'd returned to camp and fifty-five since this "emergency meeting" had started. Fifty-five minutes of accusations and arguments. She felt a headache coming on. She'd known the aliens would have a hard time coming to terms with the human stance on Artificial Intelligence. She and Anderson had done a quick read through of their Codex and had seen what was always going to be a big problem so they'd opted to keep the whole thing quiet until they were within sight of the City. Then Shepard and the rest of the fireteam would get together and have a nice long talk about things they would be exposed to in the City, mostly Exos and the other kinds of AI that called the City home.
But that's not what happened. And Shepard was wondering if it would have worked out even then. She was the only Guardian in the tent now. Edi had left within the first ten minutes. Edi had the patience of a saint, a prerequisite for dating Joker, but ten minutes arguing with the aliens had seen her storming out of the yurt in a huff. Ashley had followed her with a scowl on her face.
"Knew this was a bad idea," had been her parting shot.
Kaidan had left ten minutes ago, the stubbornness of T'Bayla and her officers finally forcing him to throw in the towel. The council of elders were still here but they were starting to shift around in their seats in a way that reminded Shepard of angry bees.
"Look," Shepard said, "I know your people have a bad history with AI. But we've never seen anything like the geth. Or the renegades you've seen."
"How can we trust that?" T'Bayla said, "You said you were hiding stuff from us but you made us think it was just weird shit. This is dangerous, Shepard. Your species has no idea…"
"We have no idea?" Shepard turned her attention to Amira, who everyone just kind of accepted had a nebulous place on the council, "Our people have lived with the metal-folk since the Golden Age." A wistful look came over her face as she continued speaking, "There was an Exo among my tribe when I was very young. His name was Aibek-8. He was the one my father appointed to teach me how to shoot and ride. I came to adore him and my father adopted him as his brother as reward for teaching me." She narrowed her eyes at the assembled aliens, "And I will not sit here and listen to you treat us like I'm foolish for the love and trust I gave him." She stood up and stormed out of the yurt.
Karluk stared after her before getting to his feet. "There have not been Exos among my tribe for many a year. But the ones we met, with few exceptions, were kind and honorable. While the history you have spoken of has filled you with a…" he paused before continuing, "a justifiable fear. But, you must come to understand this simple fact that I thought you had come to accept." He followed the same path he wife took out of the tent. "This is Earth. Not "Citadel Space." With that final remark he exited the yurt. He was soon followed by the other members of the tribal council. Soon, all there was were Shepard and the officers of the Long-Sight. Silence reigned in the tent until T'Bayla spoke.
"The drone. Your Ghost…it's an S.I isn't it."
Shepard took a deep breath before answering. "Yes, the Ghosts are sapient constructs created by the Traveler in its last moments."
"So the thing that gives you your power and keeps you alive is an S.I. You could've been that thing's slave this whole time?" T'Bayla said. Her eyes widened and her mouth shut close with a loud click.
Shepard shot a glare at T'Bayla that made everyone left in the tent flinch.
"I like you, T'Bayla. Liked you since I met you." Shepard shook her head, "Don't make me not like you." For a blessed minute, the yurt fell silent. Shepard felt her head pound. Light, she really wanted this to be over. Then T'Bayla spoke.
"How may synthetics live in the City, Shepard?"
"Hundreds of thousands!" Shepard yelled her patience having finally run out. "Hundreds of thousands of perfectly fine folk who get up, go to work, and go home like every other citizen. Folk who have families of their own who love them and would probably be heartbroken if some random asshole on the street call their loved one a soulless machine." Another deep silence came over the tent. Shepard looked around. Paranoia and fear marked the face of every person there. She had to get out of here.
She moved towards entrance of the tent. Opening the flap she looked at the sky. "We're staying here for the night," She said and from her tone she would brook argument from no one. She shot one last dirty look at the Captain and her officers. "You better look inside yourselves and see if you can tolerate living alongside the people I just talked about. You better hope you can," She turned her head back towards the sunlight, "or else I'll leave you out here to fend for your damn selves." With those words echoing through the tent, she walked out into the warm light of the afternoon.
Shepard made it about ten feet from the yurt when she saw Tali out of the corner of her eye. Shepard sighed to herself for what was probably the hundredth time that day.
-----
"Synthetics have no need for organics, Shepard! They'll always turn against us."
"Of course they turn against you when start killing them for asking questions!"
Tali threw up her hands. Why couldn't Shepard see the obvious? She could understand the creation of synthetics. Her own people had made the same mistake. But taming synthetic intelligence was like trying to tame a vicious animal. The second your hand left it, it turned around to devour your arm. And these people had made them citizens? Trusted them to protect their city? It was insanity, pure and simple.
"We had to, Shepard." Tali said, "They were made for menial labor. Their uprising would have been inevitable. What would you have expected us to do?"
"Find something that made them happy. Teach them about art and science. You don't kill someone because he starts wanting to do something with his life that doesn't involve digging ditches."
Tali ground her teeth. Shepard waved her off. "Doesn't matter. We didn't make Geth. We made Exos." She glared at Tali, 'Unless you can't figure out what the difference is?"
"It doesn't matter?" Tali shouted at the top of her lungs, "They took our world, Shepard. Destroyed our civilization. And you say it doesn't matter?" Tali could feel the tears in her eyes as her face began to get hotter and hotter. Shepard turned around and her emerald eyes met Tali.
"Because, I decided I liked you the moment I met you."
Tali felt like she'd had the ground dropped out from under her. In the back of her mind, a memory dislodged itself.
"When the Fallen burned your village to the ground they were just doing what people do?"
She wanted to say it was different but the words refused to come to her lips. She heard Shepard sigh.
"Go get some sleep, Tali. We're heading out in the morning." Tali tried to reach out but found her hand didn't move. So she stood there, silent, as Shepard walked away into the quiet night.
-----
Shepard growled to herself as she stormed away. Traveler, even Tali. She muttered curse words under her breath. She knew from what her Ghost dug out of their Codex that Tali's reaction was going to be bad but…
That was part of it, Shepard supposed. She always knew they were going to react with anger and fear. But seeing it and hearing what they said. It was unbelievable. Irrational. Reflective of an ignorant…It was going to be the exact way the City was going to react to them wasn't it? She put her face into her hands and groaned. She thought it was going to be so easy, hadn't she? Just talk to the Consensus and…
Shepard heard a large rumbling cough. She looked up from her hands and came face to face with a several hundred-pound krogan. She sighed. "What?" she said, "Are you going to try to kick my ass for fighting with Tali?"
Wrex shook his head. "Nah," he said, "she went looking for a fight. Besides, I think it might be good for her. Might knock you off that pedestal she's been keeping you on."
Shepard raised an eyebrow at that. She supposed that Tali had hero-worshiped her a little, but was it that bad?
"You come to bitch at me about synthetics, then?"
Wrex gave her the patented Urdnot Glare, "Any of them gonna hurt Tali?"
Shepard shrugged and said, "Not if she doesn't start the fight."
At this, Wrex nodded. "Well, then I couldn't less of a crap." Shepard stared silently at Wrex for a moment before flinging her arms around his midsection. She heard him make a small huff as she collided with his chest and squeezed. They stood there in a warm, although Wrex might call it awkward, silence.
After a moment, Shepard looked up at Wrex and said, "Thank you." She let out a sigh. A small sigh, a mark of relief when a safe place is found. "I was right," Shepard said, "you do give the best hugs."
Wrex chuckled before saying, "Couple of guys feel the same way I do. Couple more are curious. Wondering how you solved something nobody thought could be solved."
Shepard was silent for a minute before speaking again. "We didn't do anything special. Just gave them a bit of respect for their work and treated them decent. It's not some revolutionary thing."
Wrex chuckled again but it was rougher this time with a hint of bitterness to it. "Shepard," he said, "you'd be shocked." He gave her a pat on the shoulder and he was gone. If Shepard were to guess, he was going to talk to Tali. She rested her hands behind her head and looked up at the starry sky. In the silence, she felt her thoughts begin to collect.
Shepard wondered when she had last gotten some sleep. Probably Samarkand, she thought. Shepard found her new plan. Find an unclaimed tent. Get some sleep.
After that, hope everything looked better in the morning.
-----
In the morning, Shepard found Edi washing her hands in a small pond after she'd helped the nomads with their morning hunting. Her helmet was off as well, showing glowing blue eyes and her chassis that was two interlocking shades of silver.
"Hey," Shepard said.
"Hello, Shepard." Edi said. Her voice, instead of the jovial calm that was its natural tone, sounded tired. An awkward silence rose between them as Edi dried her hands on an old cloth.
"Edi…"
"I've talked to Kaidan." Edi said as she equipped her gauntlets. "He's mentioned that they have access to a level of technology we haven't had since Early Golden."
Shepard smiled to herself. Good old Kaidan. Edi had always been one of the more intellectual Hunters. Her smile faded into a frown.
"Edi, about what…"
"It doesn't matter, Shepard." Edi said, "We need everything we can get." She grabbed her helmet. "Even if it means I have to tolerate a bunch of…assholes."
Shepard snorted. "Oh sweetie," she said, "you are not a cusser."
Edi frowned. "Joker said it's charming when I curse."
"That's cause you are. But not in the cool way."
"Oh." Edi said perking up. After a moment she frowned again, "Ohhhh." She shook her head and put on her helmet.
Shepard smiled and wrapped Edi up into a hug. "It's a good thing Joker lives with me. It means I don't have to work to take you home."
"Shepard…"
"This hug's happening, Edi, and there's nothing you can do to stop it."
"I'd judge," said a voice behind them said, "but considering the things I've filmed myself doing while drunk, I don't really have a leg to stand on." Shepard turned around and saw T'Bayla standing behind them. She opened her mouth to speak only for T'Bayla to hold her hand up.
"Me and the rest of the boys talked it over. We… decided it would be best if all of us learned to accept it."
She didn't quite meet Shepard's eyes and she was reminded of a child apologizing to a parent and promising not to do something again without any understanding about why they were doing so. Shepard sighed.
"That go for the rest of the crew?"
"From what I could tell? They're willing to tolerate whatever keeps them alive. What other option do any of us have? Stay out here and get murdered by the Fallen?"
Shepard frowned. This was the best she could hope for, she supposed. M-maybe being around friendly A.I. in the City would help. It wasn't much but it would just have to be the best that could be hoped for.
"Fine," she said before pointing at Edi, "But the lot of you better show Edi respect from now on."
T'Bayla's eyes widened. "Is it…she coming with us?"
Edi glared at T'Bayla. "I am." T'Bayla opened her mouth to speak but Edi held her hand up. "Not for you." She pointed to the yurts, "There are others here who could use the protection of another Guardian." She slung her rifle over her shoulder, "And my honor as a Hunter demands that they make it to the City." She walked away, her head held high.
T'Bayla stared after her, her remaining arm rubbing the back of her head.
Shepard smirked. "You have no idea how lucky you are, Captain." she said, "Edi's one of the nicer ones."
T'Bayla sighed and looked at the ground. If Shepard hadn't known better, she would have sworn it was a look of submission.
-----
Liara closed one eye and focused on a small rock the size of her first, sat on a tree trunk. All around her, she could hear the wind rustle through the trees around her and the grass further down in the valley. She purged the distraction from her mind and centered her thoughts on her target like she had when she was young and tried to reach out to it. Nothing. No tingle in her head and along her spine. No reaction from her amp. No telltale glow of blue. Nothing.
She lowered her hand. She inhaled and felt the cool crisp air of the valley enter into her lungs and took a long look at her hands. To say it was confusion or worry would be simplifying it. The vast majority of Asari had access to biotics and Liara was considered considerably gifted with hers. Now, she couldn't access them. At least, not how she used to. She'd confronted her Ghost when they had made it through the mountain pass and he pleaded ignorance. Well, she thought, not pleaded. No pleading she had ever heard had been so sarcastic.
The way he'd explained it, when he had brought her back to life, and she still didn't know what she thought about that, he'd repaired her body to be as it was before she fell from the cliff. The only differences were the obvious physical improvements: she was faster and stronger than she used to be. Her amp was still there and according to her Ghosts scans it seemed to be working. Apparently, Ghosts made it a point to restore any cybernetics implanted into their Guardians. She brought her hands up to her face and groaned.
"Still nothing?"
Garrus sat on a large rock nearby, sharpening his knife. In the distance, they could hear the gentle buzzing of the Ghosts as they performed maintenance on Garrus' bike. Shaking her head, Liara sat down on the rock next to Garrus. They sat in silence for a few minutes.
"You know," Garrus said, "it's going to be fine. I mean…" He held out his hand and a glowing orange orb, like an ephemeral sun, rested in his hands. His point made the orb in his hand shrunk and disappeared.
"It's not that," Liara said, "Well, it's not just that." She looked at her hands again. They were covered in her new gloves, same shade of grey as her new robe. Her Ghost had told her that he had synthesized it using the clothes she'd already been wearing. "This isn't normal."
Garrus gave her a wry smile, "Well, dead people don't come back to life every day."
"I don't feel normal, Garrus!" Liara shouted at him. He flinched backwards and Liara's anger melted away to be replaced with guilt and frustration. "I'm sorry." She looked at her hands again. "You don't…" she trailed off, trying to make the words make sense in her head. "I don't have a single memory where I couldn't access my biotics." She felt the tears in her eyes as she met Garrus'. "Liara T'Soni is a biotic. Liara T'Soni had biotics… before she died. I don't have biotics." The last words came out in a sudden sob.
Garrus put his arms around her shoulder and held her through her crying bout. It was embarrassing, even with Garrus there, but Liara also felt a great weight she had shouldered since coming back to life drop away. She must have been holding in a lot, the rational part of her brain said. To her surprise, she felt a small piece of plastic rest against her cheek. She let go of Garrus and saw the Ghost, her Ghost, floating close to her cheek. She saw a glisten on its shell and it occurred to her that that must be some of her tears.
"I've heard some of the stories about how hard it is for some Guardians to adapt to being alive again," it began, "I should have spoken to you about it before. We did…have a lot of time in that blizzard." Liara stared at the little drone. It seemed so alive in that moment. "But I'm willing to change that now." It sunk towards the ground and Liara thought of ancient stories of oaths being made on one knee. "I'll help you carry your burdens should you wish me to."
"Liara." Garrus said and she was almost surprised that he was there. She felt his hand grip around hers. "Do you remember how we met?" Liara nodded. "Remember us taking down Longius?" Liara nodded again. "You remember Tali and Wrex?" Liara sniffed and smiled. She gave Garrus one last hug and got up.
"Thank you." She turned to look at her Ghost, "Both of you." Her Ghost blinked his eye and gave her a nod.
"Hey," a high voice sounded and Liara saw Garrus' Ghost floating a short distance away from them, "the bike's almost done. I can probably finish maintenance myself but…"
Liara looked at her Ghost. Soon the two drones scanned the bike as Liara and Garrus sat on the rock and watched them. "You know," Liara said in a low voice as she watched them, "I think they might be SI."
Garrus made a hmmm noise and said, "Yeah, I figured that out a while ago." He turned and gave her a long look, "Do you care?"
Liara thought about it and the answer surprised her. Her Ghost, for all of the weary sarcasm she'd seen out of him so far, seemed like a good…person. Trusting an S.I. would be insane in Citadel Space. But, she had long come to terms with the fact that sanity was not something present in Sol. And that was before coming back from the dead.
Besides, she thought thinking of a once broken body made whole again, a little bit of insanity could be a good thing in the right circumstances.
"No" she said, "I don't." Garrus nodded and laid back on the rock. After a few moments, the Ghosts came back and told them the bike was ready for them to keep going. The small rock sat before Liara. She stood up.
"Give me a second."
She focused her attention on the rock and reached within herself. Instead of centering her efforts in her brain she looked though her whole being. She felt something inside. It felt warm but it also felt strong. Like it was holding her together. She felt it fill her inside. It was both nothing like she'd felt before and eerily familiar and her arm snapped out. When she came back to herself, her eyes widened and she placed her hands over her mouth. She had thrown the rock and it had hit a tree a small distance away, leaving a small hole that Liara could see clear through. And through that hole she could see a hole in the next tree. And the next tree. She wondered how many trees her rock had gone through.
Behind her, the Ghosts looked completely shocked and Garrus was laughing.
****
NEW SUBCLASS TYPE UNLOCKED: BIOTIC
NEW MELEE ATTACK: THROW (a distance melee similar to an Amped Thunderstrike that throws an opponent at great velocity. Less effective against higher ranked enemies.)
Okay, I've now unveiled the first Biotic Subclass (Warlocks first. Hopefully that will calm Strunkriidiisk). Others will appear in time. I fully open any and all discussions on this subject (including class names, grenade and melee abilites, and supers) for floor discussion. While I have my own ideas for certain things I'm currently open to a lot of ideas in different areas. (Titans are getting Biotic Charge. That's non-negotiable)
Beyond that...I've grown to hate this chapter. I've worked on it for two weeks. It was a total slog the whole time. This is one of those times when a writer knows what he's got is crap (although hopefully you like it) but just wants to see the back of it so he can move on. The only thing I like is the Garrus+Liara bit and even then I think it needs a real looking at when the times comes for AO3/Fanfiction.net publishing. On that subject, there's still a scene that needs to be put in between the Wrex scene and the ending scene but I just can't do it right now. I'll probably have that written and edited in early next week. I'll have that Grimoire/Omake I promised sometime on Sunday probably. Right now, I'm going to go grind some bounties.
"I don't believe this…"
"It's not a big deal, Captain."
"Not a big deal!" T'Bayla all but screamed. "How many S.Is are in the City, Shepard? How many?"
"Why is that important?"
"Because I don't want my people lined up against a wall and shot."
Shepard ground her teeth. It had been almost an hour since they'd returned to camp and fifty-five since this "emergency meeting" had started. Fifty-five minutes of accusations and arguments. She felt a headache coming on. She'd known the aliens would have a hard time coming to terms with the human stance on Artificial Intelligence. She and Anderson had done a quick read through of their Codex and had seen what was always going to be a big problem so they'd opted to keep the whole thing quiet until they were within sight of the City. Then Shepard and the rest of the fireteam would get together and have a nice long talk about things they would be exposed to in the City, mostly Exos and the other kinds of AI that called the City home.
But that's not what happened. And Shepard was wondering if it would have worked out even then. She was the only Guardian in the tent now. Edi had left within the first ten minutes. Edi had the patience of a saint, a prerequisite for dating Joker, but ten minutes arguing with the aliens had seen her storming out of the yurt in a huff. Ashley had followed her with a scowl on her face.
"Knew this was a bad idea," had been her parting shot.
Kaidan had left ten minutes ago, the stubbornness of T'Bayla and her officers finally forcing him to throw in the towel. The council of elders were still here but they were starting to shift around in their seats in a way that reminded Shepard of angry bees.
"Look," Shepard said, "I know your people have a bad history with AI. But we've never seen anything like the geth. Or the renegades you've seen."
"How can we trust that?" T'Bayla said, "You said you were hiding stuff from us but you made us think it was just weird shit. This is dangerous, Shepard. Your species has no idea…"
"We have no idea?" Shepard turned her attention to Amira, who everyone just kind of accepted had a nebulous place on the council, "Our people have lived with the metal-folk since the Golden Age." A wistful look came over her face as she continued speaking, "There was an Exo among my tribe when I was very young. His name was Aibek-8. He was the one my father appointed to teach me how to shoot and ride. I came to adore him and my father adopted him as his brother as reward for teaching me." She narrowed her eyes at the assembled aliens, "And I will not sit here and listen to you treat us like I'm foolish for the love and trust I gave him." She stood up and stormed out of the yurt.
Karluk stared after her before getting to his feet. "There have not been Exos among my tribe for many a year. But the ones we met, with few exceptions, were kind and honorable. While the history you have spoken of has filled you with a…" he paused before continuing, "a justifiable fear. But, you must come to understand this simple fact that I thought you had come to accept." He followed the same path he wife took out of the tent. "This is Earth. Not "Citadel Space." With that final remark he exited the yurt. He was soon followed by the other members of the tribal council. Soon, all there was were Shepard and the officers of the Long-Sight. Silence reigned in the tent until T'Bayla spoke.
"The drone. Your Ghost…it's an S.I isn't it."
Shepard took a deep breath before answering. "Yes, the Ghosts are sapient constructs created by the Traveler in its last moments."
"So the thing that gives you your power and keeps you alive is an S.I. You could've been that thing's slave this whole time?" T'Bayla said. Her eyes widened and her mouth shut close with a loud click.
Shepard shot a glare at T'Bayla that made everyone left in the tent flinch.
"I like you, T'Bayla. Liked you since I met you." Shepard shook her head, "Don't make me not like you." For a blessed minute, the yurt fell silent. Shepard felt her head pound. Light, she really wanted this to be over. Then T'Bayla spoke.
"How may synthetics live in the City, Shepard?"
"Hundreds of thousands!" Shepard yelled her patience having finally run out. "Hundreds of thousands of perfectly fine folk who get up, go to work, and go home like every other citizen. Folk who have families of their own who love them and would probably be heartbroken if some random asshole on the street call their loved one a soulless machine." Another deep silence came over the tent. Shepard looked around. Paranoia and fear marked the face of every person there. She had to get out of here.
She moved towards entrance of the tent. Opening the flap she looked at the sky. "We're staying here for the night," She said and from her tone she would brook argument from no one. She shot one last dirty look at the Captain and her officers. "You better look inside yourselves and see if you can tolerate living alongside the people I just talked about. You better hope you can," She turned her head back towards the sunlight, "or else I'll leave you out here to fend for your damn selves." With those words echoing through the tent, she walked out into the warm light of the afternoon.
Shepard made it about ten feet from the yurt when she saw Tali out of the corner of her eye. Shepard sighed to herself for what was probably the hundredth time that day.
-----
"Synthetics have no need for organics, Shepard! They'll always turn against us."
"Of course they turn against you when start killing them for asking questions!"
Tali threw up her hands. Why couldn't Shepard see the obvious? She could understand the creation of synthetics. Her own people had made the same mistake. But taming synthetic intelligence was like trying to tame a vicious animal. The second your hand left it, it turned around to devour your arm. And these people had made them citizens? Trusted them to protect their city? It was insanity, pure and simple.
"We had to, Shepard." Tali said, "They were made for menial labor. Their uprising would have been inevitable. What would you have expected us to do?"
"Find something that made them happy. Teach them about art and science. You don't kill someone because he starts wanting to do something with his life that doesn't involve digging ditches."
Tali ground her teeth. Shepard waved her off. "Doesn't matter. We didn't make Geth. We made Exos." She glared at Tali, 'Unless you can't figure out what the difference is?"
"It doesn't matter?" Tali shouted at the top of her lungs, "They took our world, Shepard. Destroyed our civilization. And you say it doesn't matter?" Tali could feel the tears in her eyes as her face began to get hotter and hotter. Shepard turned around and her emerald eyes met Tali.
"Because, I decided I liked you the moment I met you."
Tali felt like she'd had the ground dropped out from under her. In the back of her mind, a memory dislodged itself.
"When the Fallen burned your village to the ground they were just doing what people do?"
She wanted to say it was different but the words refused to come to her lips. She heard Shepard sigh.
"Go get some sleep, Tali. We're heading out in the morning." Tali tried to reach out but found her hand didn't move. So she stood there, silent, as Shepard walked away into the quiet night.
-----
Shepard growled to herself as she stormed away. Traveler, even Tali. She muttered curse words under her breath. She knew from what her Ghost dug out of their Codex that Tali's reaction was going to be bad but…
That was part of it, Shepard supposed. She always knew they were going to react with anger and fear. But seeing it and hearing what they said. It was unbelievable. Irrational. Reflective of an ignorant…It was going to be the exact way the City was going to react to them wasn't it? She put her face into her hands and groaned. She thought it was going to be so easy, hadn't she? Just talk to the Consensus and…
Shepard heard a large rumbling cough. She looked up from her hands and came face to face with a several hundred-pound krogan. She sighed. "What?" she said, "Are you going to try to kick my ass for fighting with Tali?"
Wrex shook his head. "Nah," he said, "she went looking for a fight. Besides, I think it might be good for her. Might knock you off that pedestal she's been keeping you on."
Shepard raised an eyebrow at that. She supposed that Tali had hero-worshiped her a little, but was it that bad?
"You come to bitch at me about synthetics, then?"
Wrex gave her the patented Urdnot Glare, "Any of them gonna hurt Tali?"
Shepard shrugged and said, "Not if she doesn't start the fight."
At this, Wrex nodded. "Well, then I couldn't less of a crap." Shepard stared silently at Wrex for a moment before flinging her arms around his midsection. She heard him make a small huff as she collided with his chest and squeezed. They stood there in a warm, although Wrex might call it awkward, silence.
After a moment, Shepard looked up at Wrex and said, "Thank you." She let out a sigh. A small sigh, a mark of relief when a safe place is found. "I was right," Shepard said, "you do give the best hugs."
Wrex chuckled before saying, "Couple of guys feel the same way I do. Couple more are curious. Wondering how you solved something nobody thought could be solved."
Shepard was silent for a minute before speaking again. "We didn't do anything special. Just gave them a bit of respect for their work and treated them decent. It's not some revolutionary thing."
Wrex chuckled again but it was rougher this time with a hint of bitterness to it. "Shepard," he said, "you'd be shocked." He gave her a pat on the shoulder and he was gone. If Shepard were to guess, he was going to talk to Tali. She rested her hands behind her head and looked up at the starry sky. In the silence, she felt her thoughts begin to collect.
Shepard wondered when she had last gotten some sleep. Probably Samarkand, she thought. Shepard found her new plan. Find an unclaimed tent. Get some sleep.
After that, hope everything looked better in the morning.
-----
In the morning, Shepard found Edi washing her hands in a small pond after she'd helped the nomads with their morning hunting. Her helmet was off as well, showing glowing blue eyes and her chassis that was two interlocking shades of silver.
"Hey," Shepard said.
"Hello, Shepard." Edi said. Her voice, instead of the jovial calm that was its natural tone, sounded tired. An awkward silence rose between them as Edi dried her hands on an old cloth.
"Edi…"
"I've talked to Kaidan." Edi said as she equipped her gauntlets. "He's mentioned that they have access to a level of technology we haven't had since Early Golden."
Shepard smiled to herself. Good old Kaidan. Edi had always been one of the more intellectual Hunters. Her smile faded into a frown.
"Edi, about what…"
"It doesn't matter, Shepard." Edi said, "We need everything we can get." She grabbed her helmet. "Even if it means I have to tolerate a bunch of…assholes."
Shepard snorted. "Oh sweetie," she said, "you are not a cusser."
Edi frowned. "Joker said it's charming when I curse."
"That's cause you are. But not in the cool way."
"Oh." Edi said perking up. After a moment she frowned again, "Ohhhh." She shook her head and put on her helmet.
Shepard smiled and wrapped Edi up into a hug. "It's a good thing Joker lives with me. It means I don't have to work to take you home."
"Shepard…"
"This hug's happening, Edi, and there's nothing you can do to stop it."
"I'd judge," said a voice behind them said, "but considering the things I've filmed myself doing while drunk, I don't really have a leg to stand on." Shepard turned around and saw T'Bayla standing behind them. She opened her mouth to speak only for T'Bayla to hold her hand up.
"Me and the rest of the boys talked it over. We… decided it would be best if all of us learned to accept it."
She didn't quite meet Shepard's eyes and she was reminded of a child apologizing to a parent and promising not to do something again without any understanding about why they were doing so. Shepard sighed.
"That go for the rest of the crew?"
"From what I could tell? They're willing to tolerate whatever keeps them alive. What other option do any of us have? Stay out here and get murdered by the Fallen?"
Shepard frowned. This was the best she could hope for, she supposed. M-maybe being around friendly A.I. in the City would help. It wasn't much but it would just have to be the best that could be hoped for.
"Fine," she said before pointing at Edi, "But the lot of you better show Edi respect from now on."
T'Bayla's eyes widened. "Is it…she coming with us?"
Edi glared at T'Bayla. "I am." T'Bayla opened her mouth to speak but Edi held her hand up. "Not for you." She pointed to the yurts, "There are others here who could use the protection of another Guardian." She slung her rifle over her shoulder, "And my honor as a Hunter demands that they make it to the City." She walked away, her head held high.
T'Bayla stared after her, her remaining arm rubbing the back of her head.
Shepard smirked. "You have no idea how lucky you are, Captain." she said, "Edi's one of the nicer ones."
T'Bayla sighed and looked at the ground. If Shepard hadn't known better, she would have sworn it was a look of submission.
-----
Liara closed one eye and focused on a small rock the size of her first, sat on a tree trunk. All around her, she could hear the wind rustle through the trees around her and the grass further down in the valley. She purged the distraction from her mind and centered her thoughts on her target like she had when she was young and tried to reach out to it. Nothing. No tingle in her head and along her spine. No reaction from her amp. No telltale glow of blue. Nothing.
She lowered her hand. She inhaled and felt the cool crisp air of the valley enter into her lungs and took a long look at her hands. To say it was confusion or worry would be simplifying it. The vast majority of Asari had access to biotics and Liara was considered considerably gifted with hers. Now, she couldn't access them. At least, not how she used to. She'd confronted her Ghost when they had made it through the mountain pass and he pleaded ignorance. Well, she thought, not pleaded. No pleading she had ever heard had been so sarcastic.
The way he'd explained it, when he had brought her back to life, and she still didn't know what she thought about that, he'd repaired her body to be as it was before she fell from the cliff. The only differences were the obvious physical improvements: she was faster and stronger than she used to be. Her amp was still there and according to her Ghosts scans it seemed to be working. Apparently, Ghosts made it a point to restore any cybernetics implanted into their Guardians. She brought her hands up to her face and groaned.
"Still nothing?"
Garrus sat on a large rock nearby, sharpening his knife. In the distance, they could hear the gentle buzzing of the Ghosts as they performed maintenance on Garrus' bike. Shaking her head, Liara sat down on the rock next to Garrus. They sat in silence for a few minutes.
"You know," Garrus said, "it's going to be fine. I mean…" He held out his hand and a glowing orange orb, like an ephemeral sun, rested in his hands. His point made the orb in his hand shrunk and disappeared.
"It's not that," Liara said, "Well, it's not just that." She looked at her hands again. They were covered in her new gloves, same shade of grey as her new robe. Her Ghost had told her that he had synthesized it using the clothes she'd already been wearing. "This isn't normal."
Garrus gave her a wry smile, "Well, dead people don't come back to life every day."
"I don't feel normal, Garrus!" Liara shouted at him. He flinched backwards and Liara's anger melted away to be replaced with guilt and frustration. "I'm sorry." She looked at her hands again. "You don't…" she trailed off, trying to make the words make sense in her head. "I don't have a single memory where I couldn't access my biotics." She felt the tears in her eyes as she met Garrus'. "Liara T'Soni is a biotic. Liara T'Soni had biotics… before she died. I don't have biotics." The last words came out in a sudden sob.
Garrus put his arms around her shoulder and held her through her crying bout. It was embarrassing, even with Garrus there, but Liara also felt a great weight she had shouldered since coming back to life drop away. She must have been holding in a lot, the rational part of her brain said. To her surprise, she felt a small piece of plastic rest against her cheek. She let go of Garrus and saw the Ghost, her Ghost, floating close to her cheek. She saw a glisten on its shell and it occurred to her that that must be some of her tears.
"I've heard some of the stories about how hard it is for some Guardians to adapt to being alive again," it began, "I should have spoken to you about it before. We did…have a lot of time in that blizzard." Liara stared at the little drone. It seemed so alive in that moment. "But I'm willing to change that now." It sunk towards the ground and Liara thought of ancient stories of oaths being made on one knee. "I'll help you carry your burdens should you wish me to."
"Liara." Garrus said and she was almost surprised that he was there. She felt his hand grip around hers. "Do you remember how we met?" Liara nodded. "Remember us taking down Longius?" Liara nodded again. "You remember Tali and Wrex?" Liara sniffed and smiled. She gave Garrus one last hug and got up.
"Thank you." She turned to look at her Ghost, "Both of you." Her Ghost blinked his eye and gave her a nod.
"Hey," a high voice sounded and Liara saw Garrus' Ghost floating a short distance away from them, "the bike's almost done. I can probably finish maintenance myself but…"
Liara looked at her Ghost. Soon the two drones scanned the bike as Liara and Garrus sat on the rock and watched them. "You know," Liara said in a low voice as she watched them, "I think they might be SI."
Garrus made a hmmm noise and said, "Yeah, I figured that out a while ago." He turned and gave her a long look, "Do you care?"
Liara thought about it and the answer surprised her. Her Ghost, for all of the weary sarcasm she'd seen out of him so far, seemed like a good…person. Trusting an S.I. would be insane in Citadel Space. But, she had long come to terms with the fact that sanity was not something present in Sol. And that was before coming back from the dead.
Besides, she thought thinking of a once broken body made whole again, a little bit of insanity could be a good thing in the right circumstances.
"No" she said, "I don't." Garrus nodded and laid back on the rock. After a few moments, the Ghosts came back and told them the bike was ready for them to keep going. The small rock sat before Liara. She stood up.
"Give me a second."
She focused her attention on the rock and reached within herself. Instead of centering her efforts in her brain she looked though her whole being. She felt something inside. It felt warm but it also felt strong. Like it was holding her together. She felt it fill her inside. It was both nothing like she'd felt before and eerily familiar and her arm snapped out. When she came back to herself, her eyes widened and she placed her hands over her mouth. She had thrown the rock and it had hit a tree a small distance away, leaving a small hole that Liara could see clear through. And through that hole she could see a hole in the next tree. And the next tree. She wondered how many trees her rock had gone through.
Behind her, the Ghosts looked completely shocked and Garrus was laughing.
****
NEW SUBCLASS TYPE UNLOCKED: BIOTIC
NEW MELEE ATTACK: THROW (a distance melee similar to an Amped Thunderstrike that throws an opponent at great velocity. Less effective against higher ranked enemies.)
Okay, I've now unveiled the first Biotic Subclass (Warlocks first. Hopefully that will calm Strunkriidiisk). Others will appear in time. I fully open any and all discussions on this subject (including class names, grenade and melee abilites, and supers) for floor discussion. While I have my own ideas for certain things I'm currently open to a lot of ideas in different areas. (Titans are getting Biotic Charge. That's non-negotiable)
Beyond that...I've grown to hate this chapter. I've worked on it for two weeks. It was a total slog the whole time. This is one of those times when a writer knows what he's got is crap (although hopefully you like it) but just wants to see the back of it so he can move on. The only thing I like is the Garrus+Liara bit and even then I think it needs a real looking at when the times comes for AO3/Fanfiction.net publishing. On that subject, there's still a scene that needs to be put in between the Wrex scene and the ending scene but I just can't do it right now. I'll probably have that written and edited in early next week. I'll have that Grimoire/Omake I promised sometime on Sunday probably. Right now, I'm going to go grind some bounties.
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Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
*cough* To be fair Wrex, the Krogan weren't exactly saints about the whole thing either.