Chapter 05: Getting to know the crew more

The week of travel to the Artemis cluster ended without any major incident or rather without any other major incident. Shepard had taken the time to know her crew better. She learned that Garrus had a father and a sister living on Palaven, the Turians’ homeworld, and that he was considered to be tested for being a spectre but that his father shut everything down and pushed him to enlist in c-sec. Wrex was around when the krogan rebellions happened more than a thousand years ago. She had been shocked to hear that. Tali has been a gold mine of information on the geths; the way they operated, the fact they had a hive mind… She also learned about the quarian themselves like why they couldn’t leave outside their suit and more. Chief engineer Adams was very enthusiastic with Tali’s presence. Apparently she was a tech genius and took her under his wing. When the quarian heard that, she had been quite shy and embarrassed about it but also quite happy. Some members of the crew were disapproving of Shepard’s choice to bring aliens in with the argument that it was an alliance vessel, an human vessel and that aliens had no place here. But it was never stated out loud and they still followed her orders so she did nothing. She was hoping that by spending time together those xenophobic views would change and for the better. Something that Ashley could testify about.

 

She had not been a fan of aliens herself, not after what had been done to her grandfather. When the commander asked to elaborate she revealed that she was the granddaughter of THE general Williams who, to save humans lives, surrendered Shanxi to the turians in the first contact war. He had been disgraced for surrendering and ever since, any Williams in the military never went beyond the rank of Gunnery Chief. Between that and the xenophobic current that developed after the war, she has been resentful and blamed all aliens. It was only thanks to Analysse and Rick that she had left her prejudices behind and became more open minded. She still didn’t like turians very much though but had no problem with Garrus. Truth be told she still struggled a bit as she hasn’t been in contact with other species much but she wasn’t hostile and hateful, just distrustful.

 

The one thing she was the most glad about was Rick himself. While he didn’t socialize much with the human crew, something she put on the fact they were all part of the alliance, he was very open with the rest of the ground team. He asked plenty of advice from Garrus on how to handle a sniper rifle and exchanged plenty with Wrex about tricks with shotguns that they both share with Tali. Surprisingly, the young quarian was the one he talked to the most. They were constantly exchanging ideas on tech and he asked plenty of questions about quarian culture and she, about humanity. They got along quite well to the point he mercilessly teased her any chance he could.

 

He didn’t have another outburst but sometimes he went to Ashley and they spoke for a while quietly before laughter came from the both of them. She still wondered how he could deal with things the way he did. The extreme way of compartmentalizing things was way beyond her understanding. Regardless, she was hoping for the best, especially after she caught him giving Kaidan advice on biotics.

From what she understood of the conversation, Kaidan was fitted with L2 implants, which allowed a great deal of power to be used, but at a cost. Lots of migraines and down the line insanity. He was surprised to learn that Rick was fitted with L3, they were more stable and safe than the L2 but didn’t give as much “oomphf” and yet Rick’s biotic were stronger. When Kaidan asked how that was possible Rick explained that it was less about power and more about precision and a great deal of focus. Apparently when he used his biotics it was as a very short but very powerful burst at the right time. He theorized that with proper training Kaidan could do the same and would not suffer the L2 side effects as much if at all.

 

While the conversation was very technical, she didn’t fail to see that the troublemaker of her team, as she was referring to Rick now, had been uncharastically caring. Giving ideas on how to proceed for Kaidan to improve his situation instead of just letting him figure it out for himself. She thought she had a glimpse of the good man Ashley told her about and hoped to see more of that side of him. It would be a long road though as he was maintaining quite a bit of distance with her. While still sassy he wasn’t provocative anymore. One thing that didn’t change was his bluntness, he had almost no filter and seemed to have no shame. Wrex said it was as effective as a krogan headbutt.

 

Yeah, it has been a good week. She thought.

 

She was contacted by Joker, telling her that they were out of FTL and at their destination. When she made her way to the galactic map to select which System and planet to scan to find Dr. T’soni. Rick showed up to interrupt her.

 

“She’s on Therum in the Knossos system.”

“Are you sure?”

“100%”

 

She nodded and told Joker to go on course. It was a great deal of trust she was putting on him but she trusted Anderson and he trusted Rick’s analytical abilities so she went with it. Whether it was the right thing to do or not, time would tell but she had the feeling that she would not be disappointed.

 

“How did you find out?” she asked her troublemaker.

“Alliance’s database. The public one.” he specified to Shepard’s relief.

“There was mention of Dr. T’soni on the Alliance’s database?”

“No, there is no reason for her to be in there. What I searched for was any mentions of prothean ruins or mining sites and the corporation which owned them. I found nothing on the former but a lot on the later. There are six mining corporations in the Artemis Tau, operating currently. Only one,  Legacy Mining Group, was doing more money than they should have.”

“Meaning?”

“With the same equipment and number of workers that other companies or any of their digging sites, they were mining more heavy metals than anyone else on Therum and yet their manufacturing production didn’t increase, while making more money.”

“Now, that’s weird.”

“I thought so too. If I had to take a guess, they found protheans ruins, looted them then sold them.”

“That would explain the money increase and why Dr. T’soni would be there. It doesn’t answer how though.”

“Two possibilities. One, she found references to prothean ruins on the planet during her research. Two, LMG contacted her themselves to appraise the monetary value of those ruins with or without telling her what they would do with that information. The latter is more likely.”

“How so?”

“Probabilities are higher. LMG is doing this under the table so they needed an expert on prothean civilization. She is allegedly one but not the only one among the Asari. I guess since she’s the youngest in her field, they went with her because of that, making her possibly the cheapest and more naïve of them. More easy to fool.”

“Allegedly an expert? What do you mean by that?”

“I read some of her works. She puts the prothean on a pedestal because of their advanced technology. She thinks they were a wise and benevolent race, not unlike how the asari presents themselves.”

“You don’t agree with that?”

“Not in the least. Just because they could do great things means they were benevolent or wise. Nothing indicates that the protheans were like that. For all we know they could have very well been a tyrannic empire. Actually that would explain why there are traces of them everywhere in the galaxy.” He said, thoughtful at the idea.

“That’s a very dark view on the protheans.”

“I’d say a logical one. Humanity’s history has plenty of proof.”

“Really?!” Shepard said, clearly surprised at the link between prothean and humanity.

“Ever heard of the roman empire?”

“You really think I’m an idiot don’t you?” she stated with a deadpan face.

“Romans were at the top of the technology of their time. Aqueducts, concrete, bound books, the Gregorian calendar, battle surgery; those are many things that defined the rest of human civilization for two thousand years. Kinda the top of technology before technology. Yet they expanded their territory through military strength like mad. Subjugating entire populations to their rule. They are not the only ones. Every empire, every civilization that expanded to an already occupied territory did through the edge of a sword and the tip of a spear because the invaded population would every time refuse to submit to someone else and to renounce their own culture. The simple fact that there is no record of other civilizations than the protheans is proof enough for me that they were not benevolent. I mean, it’s unlikely that only one civilization was so advanced when 50 thousand years later more than half a dozen species are sailing through the stars at the same time.”

“You make a very compelling argument. I’m surprised that you’re that knowledgeable about human history being a tech expert and all.”

“What can I say? I like to know things.” he said with a shrug, making his way down the ship, probably towards the lower deck where he was residing; she thought.

 

That had made her do a double take when she had learned about it. Instead of sleeping in the crew quarters he had built a makeshift bed in a corner of the storage area. She knew he was asocial but not that much. When she asked Ashley about it she told her that it was not really a surprise. Rick didn’t like cramped space, especially with strangers around. She had been amazed when the brunette said that he built his own house on a remote location instead of living in a prefab home among the other colonists.

 

Seriously, who does that in this day and age?

 

Words from Joker pulled her out of her thoughts; they would be on Therum in less than an hour. It was time for her and the rest of the ground team to prepare for the mission. 

 

Exiting what she now called, elevator from hell, she saw everyone  gearing themselves up. Garrus, Wrex and Tali wore their armor on a daily basis so they were already ready for action. The former was doing some last minute calibration on the mako if she had to take a guess and the latters were discussing shotguns if the fact that they both had theirs in their hands, looking at them was any indication. She abruptly stopped walking when she was confronted with a sight she never in a million years expected. Ashley was helping Rick put on what looked like a light Onyx armor. It was so ridiculous to her that she couldn’t help it; she laughed.

 

“What’s so funny?” Rick asked, looking up at her.

“Nothing! Just…”

“Just what?”

“I never thought you’d need help to put an armor on. It’s so out of character for you.”

“Why should I not need help? I never wore one before.”

“Really?”  she asked astounded. A well trained man like him never puts on armor? Unlikely, but not impossible.

“Yes. I wore armored clothes but never armor since I had my biotics and my shields. It was enough. Never had any reason to wear one anyway.”

“You never went to an environmentally hazardous world?”

“Nope.”

 

Finally, after Ashley finished putting on his right pauldron, he was good to go. Shepard noticed the brunette had ditched her basic phoenix armor,  recognizable by her white and pink colors by a black one, which Shepard guessed was a hydra model.

 

“Dropping the pink, Ash?”

“Thank god yes! I never could stand it. When I saw this one among the others in the crate I snatched it up.”

“Why were you wearing a phoenix model to begin with then?”

“Honestly? Because it was the cheapest the garrison had. And because my superior officer in charge when I arrived at the colony was a misogynistic asshole. A woman’s color, he said. When his replacement took charge, after he disappeared, he was more of the practical kind and didn’t care. I had a functional armor that was all that mattered to him.”

“Never filed a complaint for his behavior?”

“I did, multiple times, but it went nowhere. Probably because I’m a Williams and because from what I learned later, he was the cousin of some big wig on Arcturus Station. The day he disappeared everyone was relieved.”

“Everyone? Must have been one hell of an ass.”

“He was the worst scum there is.” Rick said out loud without even realizing it.

“You knew him?” Ash asked. That was something she hadn’t known.

“In a way…” He replied in an evasive way, clearly trying badly to make up for his goof.

“What do you mean by that?” Shepard asked curiously. She had a hunch that there was more to it.

“He was sexually harassing my wife among others.”

“WHAT?! Why did she never say anything?!” Ash exclaimed.

“It was very personal and your friendship was new.”

“Please tell me you didn’t have anything to do with his disappearance.” the redhead asked, hoping that he didn’t but knew it was a vain hope.

“Hypothetically speaking, I could have hacked his personal terminal and found disturbing things.”

“What kind of things?” Ash asked.

“Child pornography, rape recordings of colonist girls and women, blackmail material and plenty of other disgusting shit.”

“Why not warn the alliance?” the commander inquired.

“Like Ashley said, he had a cousin in high places who would have swept everything under the rug. It would not have been the first time since it was how he ended up on Eden Prime in the first place.”

“So you just murdered him and got rid of the body?”

“Nah. Hypothetically still, I would have broken into his home during the night, knocked him out, loaded him into his personal vehicle trunk, then taken a ride to the nearby forest and dragged him in the middle of it. There I would have broken one of his legs, covered him in blood prepared in advance and let the nocturnal beasts of the area deal with him.”

“That’s brutal.” Tali commented.

“And still murder.” Garrus added.

“And well deserved. A krogan doing that to a female would have had his whole clan wiped out by the others.” concluded Wrex in agreement.

“He preyed on others. I thought it was fitting for him to die like a prey.”

“You do know we should arrest you?” Kaidan said, bringing his two credits.

“On what grounds? You only have my story. A hypothetical one at that. There is no proof and even if there ever was, after eighteen months and the attack on Eden Prime… Besides, do any of you really care about this guy's fate?” Rick asked in a challenging manner, to which no one raised up to it.

“Did she know?” wondered Ashley.

“Yes, although she never talked about it with me, she knew and was fine with it.”

 

Nobody said anything and instead went on to check their gear one last time. Shepard went to her locker and suited up, all the while thinking about it. In his position she would have reported the man and would have fought tooth and nail to have him pay legally but she knew he would have gotten away with it. She was personally well aware of how the system worked after Torfan.

 

She shook her head, not wanting to think about this moment of her life and career, and instead focused on the mission at hand. She approached Kaidan near the Mako to have a talk.

 

“Thank you for telling everyone to prepare.”

“I didn’t, commander.”

“You didn’t?” she was surprised at that bit of info.

“No, Rick told me when I met him as I was leaving the mess. He said we were to get ready to be deployed within the hour. We rode down the elevator together and told the same to the others.”

“I see.” was all she said as she looked pensively at her troublemaker.

 

He was being efficiently useful; she had to give him that, despite what she knew about him. Kaidan brought her out of her musing.

 

“What’s awaiting us down there?”

“We...” and then it hit her. She didn’t know squat. Rick had given her their target location and how he found it out, but nothing else. She didn’t have the time to study the field and didn't know what kind of terrain and infrastructure they would encounter. Still looking at Rick, she had the feeling he’d know if she asked, so she did.

 

“Rick, could you brief us on what on the ground?”

“The average temperature is 59°celsius. Since the dig site is near an active volcano, probably more.”

“So that’s why you put up an armor.”  Kaidan interjected.

“Yeah, why would I bother to wear that shit otherwise? Anyway, the gravity is a bit stronger than Earth’s but not by much, so we shouldn’t have any problem regarding movement. The terrain is very rocky. Plenty of cliffs and small roads. The Normandy would not be able to land us close so we’ll have to land somewhere else with the mako. For the infrastructure, there are plenty of checkpoints, tunnels and warehouses around the site. The place will probably be infested by geths.”

“How do you know that?” asked Tali.

“Dr. T’soni is a prothean expert and the daughter of the Matriarch working with Saren who’s looking for a prothean technology, the conduit. If she’s working with them, geths presence is obvious. If she’s not, they may attempt to capture her. She’s a young expert outside council space with no protection. Easy picking.” he replied making the quarian nod in understanding.

“Any workers out there?” Shepard inquired.

“None. The volcano awakening from his slumber made the LMG pull out its people.”

“Why is Dr. T’soni still there then?” Garrus questioned.

“Well… She’s either dead, trapped or trying to record as much as she could with the time she has left. Knowledge is difficult to resist to a person of science after all.”

 

Joker’s voice came in the speaker at that moment.

“Commander, we're at the coordinate.”

“Understood. Joker, bring us as close as you can.”