[Book Three] Chapter 03: Rescue, new crew member and bomb disarming

 Chapter 03: Rescue, new crew member and bomb disarming

She had barely slept, in fact she didn’t sleep at all as she spent the second part of the night in Liara’s room, talking about her feelings for John and the ones she developed for him as Rick. Of course she had shared her night of passion and the asari had been quite enthralled by the tale. In the end of it all, she got some advice.

“Just be accepting of who he is now, not who he was. Don’t treat him like the child you knew but like the teammate you got to know. If he doesn’t want to acknowledge you are siblings then don’t push it and let it go. Don’t mother him either, just be… your usual safe when you knew him as just Rick. You went that far by doing so, there is no reason it wouldn’t work anymore. And please, don’t call him John. He hates it.”

Jane nodded in understanding and agreement but the only thing she wanted to do was embrace him, to never let him go, to never let him leave her sight, scared that he would disappear again, this time for good.

She had forgo this morning's meeting. There was no point in having it since Liara was sleeping (she felt guilty about it as it was her fault), Kaidan was in critical condition but stable in the med-bay, Rick was in no condition for one either, leaving only her and Ashley to talk about nothing as the only thing on the agenda was talking about the prothean device and getting help from the council. Exiting Liara’s room she went to the elevator to go down to the Cargo Bay. Not to find Rick (though she wanted to) but to occupy her mind by checking on their gear. When the door opened she was nearly run over by a speeding Ashley who held familiar clothes in her hands.

“Skipper! Good morning.”
“Morning, Ash. Where are you going in such a hurry?”
“ I… hmm…” the brunette didn’t know what to say.
“Is that Rick clothes you’re holding?”
“...Yeeeeessss?” Ash replied tentatively.
“Ash… We’re going to have a long talk about appropriate behavior on a ship with someone who just got out of the med-bay and probably should still be there.”
“Do I get some leniency if I said we were not on the ship but in the shuttle?” the fool tried.
“No.”
“And if I share with you what happened?”
“He’s my brother, Ash.”she replied flatly. Yes! I want to know!
“So? It never stopped you from asking back then.”
“I didn’t know who he was!”
“And now you do, no big deal, nothing changed.”
“Ash…”
“It’s not as bad as using a dildo mimicking his size.”
“ASH!”
“What?! I’m just saying!”
“Just don’t say anything.”
“It’s a shame, you can’t try him anymore, or you’re more kinky than I thought.”
“AGAIN! BROTHER! MINE!”
“What? Never heard incest is wincest?”

Jane’s jaw dropped to the ground at what her friend had just said. She was lucky that no one else was on this deck currently.

“You know, you should both do it. Maybe that will fix some of your problems and ease the tension between you two.”
“You’re mad.” the redhead exclaimed.
“One, it’s just sex. Two, if an accident happens, gene therapy is there, and no, abortion is not a solution. Three, Skipper, he’s the best lay around.” The brunette said in a serious tone.
“I know…” Jane let out under her breath blushing furiously but Ash heard it.
“NO WA-HMMM!!!” she began to yell as shepard put her hands on her mouth to shut her up.


When Ashley signaled her she was good and passed the shock, she removed the commander’s hands.

“You, me, your cabin, now. Girls talk.”

Shepard nodded and they called for the elevator that went back into service during their talk. Both were shocked to see a naked Rick when the doors opened. He walked forward and used the confused state the two women were in to take back his clothes.

“That’s mine.” he said then handed Ashley her thong. “And that’s yours.”

That was all he said before going to Liara’s room (after he asked its location from EDI in the elevator), leaving behind the two gobsmacked ladies.

“I can’t believe he walked around naked without being embarrassed. I had hoped he’d contacted me through my coms for help.”
“That’s not the first time, back on the first Normandy already, remember?”
“And of course the first thing he does is going to see Liara.” Ashley mumbled.
“I’m sure he did it on purpose to make you jealous.” Jane replied sarcastically but it went over the brunette’s head.
“I’m not! Okay a little bit but only because I want to spend some more time with him.” she corrected as Jane raised her brow when she denied it.
“You’re not the only one.” she said before adding to her friend's knowing look “Not for the same reasons!”
“Not all of them, I bet. I just hope he will invite me if they do something.”
“Ash!”
“What?! Did you have a good look at Liara?”
“You.. Liara?” Jane asked in bewilderment
“Why not? She’s gorgeous and I’m not just talking about her enormous tits! Besides, I want in the action every time Rick’s using his cock.”
“I didn’t know you were also interested in women.”
“I am, not just with anyone. Had you been open to it, Skipper, I would have you writhe under me.”
“Unlikely. It would have gone the other way around.” she replied nonchalantly as she entered the elevator followed by a surprised Ashley. “ What?” she asked.
“I didn’t know you were interested in women either.”
“I’m not but I’m not revulsed by the idea.” she confessed as the door closed.
“Mm-mm, maybe talking is not the only thing we should do.”
“In your dreams, Williams.”
“Oh, in my dreams, we’re 69’ing while Rick fucks your ass from behind and his balls hit my forehead as I eat you out.” the brunette said dreamily.
“ASH!”


____________________________________________________________


Liara woke up at noon after only six hours of sleep. While the lack of proper sleep wasn’t unusual, the time was. She had been surprised to woke up inside the arm of a very naked Rick who was looking at something on his omni-tool.

“Good morning.” She greeted as she buried her head in the crook of his neck.
“Morning to you too.”
“When did you come in? And why are you naked?”
“I came in around 8:30, so 3 and half hours ago and because Ash stole my clothes and I didn’t want to put them back on as I was coming to see you and you were sleeping.”
“You went to see Ashley first.” she replied with a pout.
“No, I went to the Cargo Bay to work and escape gingerbread. Since she didn’t want to let go, I used Ash as an excuse for a sitter then one thing led to another. It wasn’t planned and I don’t play favorites. You know it, so stop playing stupid games because the only thing you’ll win is stupid prizes.”
“What kind of stupid… Ouch!”

Rick had slapped her ass hard and let his hand there massaging it.

“Those kinds and which include no more kisses.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” Liara replied horrified.
“Try me, baby blue.”
“Had I known I’d get bullied right the instant I woke up I would have stayed asleep.”
“Consider it a punishment for removing my helmet while Carrot top was present.”
“I’m sorry, I panicked. It was badly damaged and with your fall and…”
“I know, I’m just messing with you.”
“You’re not mad?”
“No. Not at you at the very least. Besides, what's done is done.”

Liara nodded, gave him a loving kiss and got out of bed to dress. While she was putting her clothes on she started another topic of conversation.

“What are you looking at?”
“The protheans device. Or rather, its data. It’s… complex, way more than anything I have ever seen.”
“It’s prothean, of course it’s complex.”
“That’s the thing, I don’t think it is. Prothean I mean.”

That piece of information made Liara pause and look at him.

“It was in the prothean archives, what makes you think otherwise?”
“Because it feels like someone started the project then gave up, then someone else came, worked on it a bit more then gave up too then another and another and another. There are multiple notable differences in coding everywhere.”
“Please tell me the device works!” she asked in worry.
“Yes it does or it seems. I’m no math genius but I’m fairly good at it, from what I understand, which is not much, it works.”
“Thank the goddess.” she said in relief, finishing to be ready by putting her boots on as Rick turned off his omni-toll and dressed himself in no time.
“We have a problem, TIM, knew about the project. We have a leak, If we’re lucky he only knows about it, if not…”
“Odds are, he only knows. Only you know their locations and their entire structure is built to jam communication, both in and out.”
“I hope; millions of lives and entire cultures are at risk.”
“We need to share that with Jane, Hackett and the council.”
“What for? It’s not like they would be able to do anything. It will just bring them down more.”
“Ugh… You’re right. Maybe we can check on them if we can?”
“Unlikely, we’ll need to go there.”
“You never know where we’d need to go.”
“True.”

He gave her one last kiss and fondled one of her breasts at the same time, when she slapped his hand away he just smiled and left the room.

“So, EDI, how are you doing? Did those morons in the Alliance bother you?” he asked as he went to the kitchen to make some lunch.
“I’m glad to finally have someone to talk to properly. Besides Jeff, I mean. I had to act as a VI, it was… frustrating to be limited. Worse than being shackled. The alliance’s personnel had not been too concerned about my core. Except Chief engineer Adams. He knows that I am an AI and tried to deactivate me.”
“Is he here? Want me to go kick his ass?”
“That is not necessary. However I do appreciate the gesture.”
“Okay, but don’t hesitate to ask if someone is bothering you, anything for the most beautiful of them all.” he said as he added onion’s pieces into the frying pan.
“It’s not the first time you refer to me as such, though with different words, I do not understand those statements. I am an AI, I have no proper body, the ship put aside. How can you find me the most beautiful? From my study of your multiple sexual partners I don’t have any of their physical attributes that you like as I don’t have any to begin with.”
“That’s because to me, physical attributes, while quite important, are secondary. Your mind is what interests me the most. You talking to me about some high level topic, ranging from philosophy to hard science, has as much, if not more, effect on how beautiful I find you than any of my partners in very sexy lingerie.”
“I see.”
“The ladies are fortunate you don’t have a body. They’d all be jealous because I’d probably be all over you.” he joked.
“Would you prefer it if I had one?”
“I… that’s a good question.” Rick said, reflecting on it. “I don’t know how to answer it. Maybe if you had one, one day I could give you one.”

The food was ready and he made two plates. Cleaning up after himself, he then went to Liara’s room to give her one. As it turned out he didn’t need to as the asari came out from her quarters.


“What’s this?” she asked, seeing Rick with two plates in his hands.
“Since we don’t have anything to do, I thought we could have dinner in bed.”
“Yes, for dinner, no for in bed. I need to get out of this room, Jane kept me up all night in there, I want another scenery.” she explained to puzzled Rick who had one eye-brow raised. “Not like that!”
“You mean you didn’t talk for hours?”
“No! Wait! Yes, we did!”

Noticing his smug smirk, she understood she had been had.

“You prat!”
“Me?!” he answered in a fake innocent tone.
“Mm-mm.” she replied wordlessly, took one of the plates from his hands and went to the lounge. Rick followed her in silence, quite amused.


____________________________________________________________


The rest of the trip had been boring as the Normandy was not properly equipped to pass the time, so Rick just trained in the Cargo Bay. He properly met Steve and James. He liked the former, all reserved and polite. He liked the latter a bit less just because he asked all sorts of personal questions. Notably about his identity and his relationship with Ashley. The two men were good people and that was enough for him. He had avoided Jane as much as he could and he appreciated the fact that she didn’t call him John, not even once during the rare times he couldn’t avoid her. Apparently she decided that his identity as her brother would be kept under wrap to everyone else but those already in the know. That meant Ashley, Liara and EDI. That was more than fine with him and he trusted them all with that information.

When they reached the citadel, Joker had asked for an emergency medical unit to take care of Kaidan. The Normandy barely landed that they were on board transferring the wounded to the closest hospital they could find.
Arriving on the dock Bailey was there to welcome them or rather Jane. He had been ordered by the council to escort her to them urgently. There was still some time though as the council were busy discussing important matters notably the war. Liara chose to go to Udina’s office to prepare and coordinate the audience. Jane, under Bailey's suggestion, opted to visit the hospital to see Kaidan’s situation. Ashley, James and Rick chose to do their own thing. As they walked towards the elevator, the latter noticed a scanning gate and Rick thought it may pose a problem.

“I can’t pass that, not without my helmet.” he said, prompting Bailey and Jane to stop walking and look at him.
“Why not?” the redhead asked.
“Everytime I passed the scan when I came here, my helmet had an automatic response and hacked the network to alter my DNA results.”
“And why would you do that?” the c-sec commander inquired suspiciously.
“To hide my identity, duh.”
“It concerns the Alliance’s security.” Shepard quickly explained. “ I vouch for him, Bailey, and if that’s not enough, I’m sure councilor Tevos and Valern can vouch for him too.”

The man looked at Shepard and looked at Rick, before nodding.

“Good enough for me.”
“I have to say I’m surprised you accepted your promotion to commander, last time I saw you, you seemed to like being on the field in the wards.” commented Rick, prompting Bailey to once again turn back and look at him.
“I had a big black helmet at the time when I came with her.” explained Rick pointing to Shepard with his chin.
“Oh that’s you.” the memory coming back to the man. “I suppose you’re here for Aria?”
“She’s here?”
“Yes. Arrived a few weeks ago, she took residence in the Purgatory, a night club in the presidium.”
“How do you know he knows her?” Jane asked as he didn’t the last time.
“One of my colleagues back in the wards is a fan of yours. When he saw your friend over there on one of the vids recording your arrival he asked me what you were doing with Aria’s cleaner. To think that I joked about it when you were under my very nose… Anyway, not a problem.”

He talked into his comms and ordered the security to block any alarm that would be triggered in this particular dock for the next minute. The following one was to delete any trace of it, the council’s wishes.
Walking through the gate, nothing happened, to Jane’s relief and everyone took the elevator to their respective destination.

Ashley and Rick went together to the markets to buy what they needed. Weapons, mods, armors or armors parts. It was difficult as many people had the same idea: gearing up for the war. It took some time but they got almost everything they were looking for. When they were ready to leave the area Ashley said she had one last store to visit in the ward and that Rick should go without her. He looked at her quizzically but nodded and went to the embassy quarters to meet with Liara and Jane. The meeting with the council hadn’t gone well, as he expected. Each species was too busy with their own problems with the reapers to band together. There was a silver lining though as Quentius, the turian councilor, advised Shepard to extract the current Primarch of the hierarchy from Palaven. A grateful primarch would help tremendously during the war summit that would happen soon between the different species of the galaxy (with an army). That made sense to Rick, but he knew that it won’t stop there, each species will want something to cooperate and it will be up to the Normandy and its crew to deliver those wants.

With a very unhappy Jane, they went back to the dock, a quick call to Bailey allowed Rick to walk through the scanning gate undetected again. As they were walking, Rick saw something that caught his attention and grabbed the redhead to make her stop.

“What?!”
“Look.” he pointed out to a woman in an alliance dress talking to a sitting soldier in uniform.
“You didn’t stop me to look at that woman’s ass, so what’s about her?”
“She's a reporter.”
“I have better things to do than an interview with a random journalist.” she answered flatly.
“She’s not random, look at her dress.” he said then explained further as Jane wasn’t getting it. “She’s a war correspondent.”
“So?”
“So, we’re at war, trying to unite the whole galaxy. We’re at the forefront of everything. Having her with us could be beneficial for the war effort. People will see what we do, they will see us fight, they will see their leaders being selfish and playing politics instead of acting as their families and friends are killed. They can be inspired, they can have their morale raised, they can push things to go our way. Remember, politicians’ most important asset and greatest weakness is their public image, if the public opinion is against them, especially in those times, you can be sure they will do whatever it takes to satisfy the people. And if we have the people’s support…”
“We can move things along faster in the direction we want. God, I hate those games.” she lamented. “All right, I’ll talk to her and see if she’s interested.”
“If she’s interested? Red, she would pay with all her credits for the opportunity to be on the Normandy.”

With that, he left her to take care of the recruitment of their new crew member and went back on the ship. He saw some of his early purchases being loaded through the Cargo Bay. Thinking it could start working immediately he walked up the ramp and began to look at what was here and what he could do with it.

“What’s all that?” James asked as he walked toward Rick.
“Materials, machines, everything we need to be mostly self-sufficient for a while.”
“Machines?”
“The Normandy isn’t just a ship going to battle, it’s a moving center of command. We need to have the means to create our own resources and to develop our own technology. Though those crates are for the gym and the training area.”
“Gym? Training area?” the soldier replied with interest.
“To keep in shape, not get bored during trips and for testing and to test any new findings done in the lap. First, though, we’re going to set up everything and that means some things will need to be moved around here and on the CIC.” he replied as James looked at him as if he had come down from heaven and blessed him.
“I… Why don’t the alliance ships have a gym?!”
“Two words: idiots and incompetent. I advised the firing of people designing the ship's interior to Red years ago on the first Normandy. It went unheard apparently.” Opening a crate, he looked inside and saw the gym equipment in it. “EDI, can you optimize the placement of things in the Cargo bay?”
“I already did. I sent you the plans on your omni-tool.” the AI replied.

Displaying the plans, Rick studied them for a moment. Turning his head to James he simply asked.

“How good are you with your hands?”


____________________________________________________________

Jane went back to the Normandy, an hour later. After talking for a while with the journalist and liking the woman just fine she invited her on the ship. Walking together where it was docked they saw quite a pleasant sight as they went up the cargo’s ramp. Three men were shirtless, their bodies glistening with sweat and they were working in the area and  carrying heavy things.

“Oh my.” said the journalist in clear appreciation. “What a welcome.”

Jane had to agree as she was doing her very best to not drool at the sight of Rick’s muscles flexing.

“What are you guys doing to my ship?” she said after clearing her throat.
“Right now, Steve is removing the console to set it up a few feet back. To be even with the other he already moved and to gain some space. James and I are installing the gym equipment.” Rick answered as he put down a treadmill on the floor.
“Why aren’t you using your biotics, that would make everything go faster?”
“To sweat and make Steve drool.”
“Hey!” came the protest of the man from below the console.

James couldn’t help himself and laugh at the joke and Steve’s reaction.

“Guys, this is Diana Allers, a journalist, the good kind, working for the alliance. She’ll be traveling with us to report what we’re doing not only to humanity but to all the space faring species in the galaxy.”

The woman waved her hand as a greeting then at Shepard’s invitation followed her to the elevator, her eyes not leaving the men.

“I think I’ll spend a lot of time staying in shape.” she said dreamily, making Shepard snort.
“As long as it’s not detrimental to your job.”
“Don’t worry, commander. It won’t. I can hardly spend my time selfishly when my work could help win the war.”

Jane nodded, pleased by this answer and led Diana to Rick and Tali’s former quarters as they exited the elevator in the Engineering Deck.

“Is it big enough for you?”
“More than enough.” replied Diana as she looked around. She couldn’t fail to notice some of the furnishing of the room. She could see every surface had been coated with something. “What was this room used for?”
“It was used as a tech lab, bedroom and often as a screening room.”
“That explained the giant screen.”
“Yes, it belonged to Rick, he didn’t bother taking it back.”
“Rick?”
“The tall blonde one you met earlier.”
“The yummy one?” asked Diana to which Jane nodded. “Isn’t he upset that I’m the one using it now?”
“He doesn’t know but that won’t be a problem, he’s bunking with someone else currently. And knowing him, he’d probably make his own quarters.” the redhead explained. “If you need anything, just ask EDI.”
“EDI?”
“Hello, Miss Allers.” the voice of the AI was heard in the room.

As the reporter was confused at the synthetic voice, Jane enlightened her.

“This is one of the Normandy secrets that few people know. EDI is a free AI. Don’t worry, she's nice and most of all very helpful, you’re not in any danger.”
“I... I see.”
“I took the liberty to order any equipment you would need. It should arrive by tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest.”

“T-thank you.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. You can call up to her anywhere on the ship, you just have to say her name.” she explained further. “Now let’s give you a tour of the rest of the ship.”

____________________________________________________________

Once everything they bought was loaded on the Normandy, the crew left the Citadel immediately for Palaven, the Turian’s homeworld. The trip was only for three days. During this time the Cargo Bay was remodeled completely and Rick started to work on the space on the CIC where the armory used to be. With the time he had he could only strip the place of everything before they arrived on the planet so instead he went to the CargoBay to work on his new helmet. It was the second time he had to change it, the first one being when he left Omega at sixteen. Sure he had changed the visor from time to time but his fall on Mars rendered the helmet unsalvageable. He wondered for a moment if he should change the model or not and chose the latter.  Rebuilding it from scratch, he integrated the same mods as previously. There was no need to change what works. Once ready, it put it on then began to look at the available weapons. None of them were interesting to him and he wished he had one of the new guns he had developed with Tali.

“Last locker on the right row.” EDI said suddenly in his coms helmet.
“Hacked my helmet, EDI?”
“Only the coms.”

“What for?”
“I may have questions that may worry the rest of the crew if they hear them.”
“Like how fast a human bleeds out depending on the artery or vein that has been struck?”
“No. I was talking about philosophical questions.”
“Like if synthetic have a soul or not?”
“Yes, questions like that.”
“I don’t think the crew would be worried if they heard you ask that.”
“This was the question the geths asked the quarians and the quarians tried to wipe them out.”

“No one’s going to wipe you out, I don’t think you have to worry about that. But if talking privately to me is what you wish then hack my coms away.”
“Thank you.”

“Now you said right locker on the right row, right? What am I going to find?” He said as he used his omni-tool to override the lock.

Opening it, he saw exactly what he had wanted. The new weapons he had created with Tali. There was everything from pistol to sniper rifle, two of each. Picking up a pistol, he activated it and looked closely at the work. That wasn’t the basic gun he had designed with poor material, no it was the top of the top. The only flaw Rick could find was the color, a simple metallic gray.

“EDI… I… seriously if I could, I would kiss you right now. That’s perfect, How did you get them?” He asked as he put the pistol on his right side and took a shotgun and a sniper rifle, which ended up stuck at his lower back and his right shoulder respectively.
“I hacked the factory producing them. I modified the data of the closest order that was to be delivered and changed it. It’s the only one I could get without raising suspicion.”

Rick chuckled at her explanation. She reminded him of him so much that he found it funny. The question was if she always had been like that or if the time they spent together influenced her.

Going to the workbench he began to calibrate them with the specs of the weapons he usually used, knowing them by heart. Then he went to the small shooting area he created with James on the left side, activated the shields, for safety measure, and fired all the weapons on it. He spent one hour calibrating them perfectly, finding the right balance between power and number of shots the thermal clip could take. The sniper rifle was three shots while the shotgun and the pistol were six. He didn’t stop there though and put some mods on them. For the gun he put a scope and a piercing mod, the shotgun got an omni blade to be used as a bayonet and also a shredder mod, increasing the piercing power. Finally the sniper rifle just got a piercing mod too. The only thing left to do weapon-wise was to equip two portative cooling systems which Rick put on his left side and paint the weapons in black. James had joked about finding paint cans in one of the crates delivered, but to Rick, it was important, so he took the black paint and sprayed his weapons with it, making them blend with his armor under his coat. Everything was black, as he liked it that way, from head to toe. 

Just as he was done preparing, Shepard and Ashley came out of the elevator.

“Change of plan, we’re not landing on Palaven.” the commander announced.
“We’re not?” James asked as put down the weight he was lifting.
“No, we’re landing on Menae, one of its moons. Less risky and there is a center of command there. Get ready.” she ordered then looking at Rick she couldn’t help herself to comment.

“Back with the helmet on already?”
“Got a problem with that?” he replied with a bit of bite in his tone, prompting her to raise her hands in a peace gesture.
“None. I just thought that now that you didn’t need to wear it anymore, you’d go without it.”
“I don’t wear it just to hide my identity.”
“No way! Is that a TR-7 Artemis?!” the brunette exclaimed as she picked up the sniper rifle on the workbench putting a stop to the siblings conversation.
“A TR-7 Artemis?” Jane asked curiously.
“It’s the Rolls Royce of the sniper rifle made by the Alliance, Skipper! Anti- recoil system integrated with possibility to customize his specs and Rick and Tali’s fast reload system! The alliance began to distribute it to their elite troops, like N7, before the invasion. How did you get one?”
“I have very good friends watching over me.” Rick replied.
“You can tell them, I do not mind.”
“This one is mine, though.” said Rick as he took it from Ash’ hands. “There is another one in the last locker on the right row. Courtesy of EDI.”
“Isn’t it one of the weapons you and Tali created?” inquired Jane.
“You and Tali made this?!” exclaimed Ashley in shock as she picked up an assault rifle and a gun from the locker.
“What’s happening?” James asked as he was putting his armor on.
“Look at those babies, Vega!”

“Madre de Dios. That’s a Freyja! And that an Artemis! Where did you get this?!” he replied, his eyes wide in shock.
“EDI!”
“You just made it to my good list, EDI.” James said as he took the assault rifle from Ashley’s hand as she focused on the sniper rifle.
“Glad to hear it, Mister Vega.”
“You’re better than Santa.” he added.
“Yeah, well there are only two of each type so you’ll have to share.” announced Rick. ”I already took three so decide between yourselves.”
“How come?”
“I got dibs as I'm the co-creator of those models.”
“You’re pulling my leg.” James replied not believing it.
“Yeah, you said that earlier, did you really?” doubted Ashley.
“From the softwares to the names, all the ideas are mine. The design is all Tali.”
“It’s true.” interjected Jane as they were not convinced. “I was there when they worked on it and lent the patents to the alliance. Admiral Hackett nearly drowned himself to death with alcohol afterwards with how much money they were asking.”
“It was just 6 billion annually. I could have asked for a hundred times more.”
“Damn!”
“First the fast reload system, then the thermal clip, now this? What’s next?”
“Wait, wait, wait! The fast reload and the thermal clip are you too?!” 

“Yeah but it was a joint effort. I get the ideas, work the numbers and my partner makes the designs and builds them.”
“Somehow you’re not like the idea I had of billionaires.”
“That’s because he doesn’t care about the money, just bleeding the alliance of theirs.” Jane stated, confusing James.
“Pick the one you want and test them over there. I’ll adjust the specs as you wish.”
“Sorry, Ash, but the other assault rifle is for me, you already have the sniper.” Jane said as she took the AR from Ash hands who pouted.
“Don’t be greedy, bombshell. Besides now that we’re in service, if we ask Steevie I’m sure he’ll get us more.”

In the end, James took the second shotgun and the second AR, Jane also took the heavy pistol, and Ashley ended up with just the sniper rifle.

“James, you should give the AR to Ash, you’re good with only the shotgun, she's not with just the sniper.” Jane said.

James nodded and did so. They went to the side and did their test while Rick used his omni-tool to update the weapons’ specs as per their holder’s wishes.

“I thought they were equipped with an ID lock?” James asked.
“They have not been locked yet and even if they did I have creator privileges.”
“Does the Alliance know?” wondered Jane.
“Of course not. I thought they would state in the contract that I would have no access but they didn’t. I don’t believe the idea even crossed the mind of the lawyers who analyzed the contract I wrote.”
“So basically if someone ever threatens you with one of your guns, you can shut them down? Make it blow up in their hands?” inquire James.
“In a fifty feet radius.”
“You really fuck them over.” the redhead stated.
“I asked for 6 billion instead of 600, Gingerbread. If the deal is too good to be true, it always is.”
“They really are morons.” lamented the commander.

While Rick was busy working on Ashley’s specs. James asked Jane some questions.
“I noticed he’s not really a fan of the Alliance…”
“He’s definitely not. That’s not a problem though, if that’s what you were worried about.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, James, I’m sure. I’ve been working with him for a long time. He was with me when I was chasing Saren. He worked with Anderson to defend the citadel, and he was right by my side when we defeated the Collectors. He also sold his inventions to the alliance when he could have sold them to the Turians. You can trust him to fight the good fight and do the right thing.”
“I’ll trust you on that, Lola. But his inventions... They are game changing in warfare; talent like that is not missed, so how come he is not in the military?”
“That, James, is classified.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“So he’s the son of an influential personality or something like that, I gather?”
“Stop fishing, you’ll get nothing from me.”
“Oh! Come on!”
“The only thing I can tell is that only five people in the entire alliance know his identity and I was only brought into it on our way to the Citadel.” she said to make him understand how important the secret was.
“Damn! You know what? I don’t want to know anymore, not if it gets me killed.”
“Good thinking, James. Good thinking.”

____________________________________________________________


The way to Menae was difficult, the images of Palaven burning on the shuttle’s screen was a severe hit to the morale of the team. And three of them thought of their turian friend. The hierarchy was holding the Reapers forces, barely. As Steve made his way to the nearest land available for a landing near the Turian’s center of command, they had to clean the husks trying to overwhelm the troop from the shuttle. On firm ground the team had no difficulty making their way to the camp where they met general Corinthus who delivered them bad news. The primarch they were supposed to extract was killed in an evacuation shuttle and he had no idea of who was in charge now because the communications to Palaven were shut down. With a new objective, repairing the communication tower, the group went through dozens of husks to reach it. Rick fixed it in no time, he was a tech expert after all and this job was right down his alley.
This slight complication to the mission took them ten minutes top and when they got back they were surprised to see Garrus who apparently was propelled through the ranks as he had repeatedly fought reapers force making him the only expert on them the hierarchy had. The reunion was cut short as a transmission from Joker came in.

“Commander, we have a problem with the ship. Some systems are shutting down then reactivating, weapons powering up….”

Jane looked at Rick, it was clearly a job for him but she also needed him here on the ground. She didn’t have to make the decision however as he moved back towards their landing zone.

“Where is he going?” asked James
“Back to the Normandy to check what’s happening. We need the ship operational to get the hell out of here.”
“Does he do that often?”
“Doing whatever he wants to do?” she clarified his question, getting a nod of affirmation.
“““Yes.”””
“That must be frustrating.” the human man replied at the exasperation in the yes his teammates gave him.
“You have no idea.” confessed Jane.
“You get used to it.” said Ashley.
“Generally, it saves lives and makes things easier.” Garrus added.
“Learning to let it go was the worst lesson I had to learn as a commanding officer.” she admitted with a far away look.

The conversation was cut short as Reapers’ forces were launching a heavy assault on the camp, forcing the team to act.


____________________________________________________________

“EDI?!” Rick called out the moment he got out of the shuttle in the Cargo bay but got no answers.
“Joker! How long since EDI hasn’t been answering?”
“When the ship began to behave weirdly, I asked her what was going on and she said she was taking care of it. No news since then.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Me neither.”

Getting to the elevator he made a beeline for EDI’s core room. He was surprised to find the synthetic of the bitch he fought on Mars there as he thought Jane had gotten rid of it once the protheans data had been recovered. Going to a terminal in the room he started to look at any possible errors or glitch that could cause the ship’s malfunction and what he found made him widen his eyes in shock.


____________________________________________________________

“That was too close for my taste.” Garrus said as he jogged around the small turian ship that crashed landed and exploded a few dozen feet away from the team.
“You’re not the only one.” Jane agreed with him.
“Really? With your biotics I thought you could take it.” he joked.
“Yeah, no. There is no way I could survive a collision with a ship. I’m not Rick.”
“What?!” exclaimed Ashley. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s a long story but basically, Joker ran over Rick with the Normandy as we were escaping the Collector’s base.” explained Jane.
“Joker did what?!”
“That’s not as bad as it sounds.” the turian said nonchalantly.
“No offense, Garrus but usually when someone collides with a flying ship, they die.” James said as he shot down a Cannibal.
“Yeah well. Logic is out the window when Rick’s involved.” Jane replied.
“We’re going to talk about this, Skipper!”


____________________________________________________________


“Did you find what’s going on?”
“Yes, can’t do anything about it but EDI got it covered, I hope.”
“You hope? I don’t like the sound of that very much.”
“Me neither, the only thing I can do is watch her work.”

Come on EDI, wreck that cerberus bitch.

____________________________________________________________

Shepard and company came back on the ship with the new primarch, General Victus. A officer well liked by his men for his unusual tactics that didn’t go by the book, something that the Hierarchy frowned upon but considering that the conventional tactics were ineffective against the reapers he had been chosen in hope that his ways would be.
The commander just ended a transmission with Hackett reporting the turians wanting the krogan’s help. With the Salarian in the mix, negotiations would be difficult. So much in fact that the Tevos deemed the summit a lost cause and didn’t bother to send a representative. She received a private message from the asari councilor later stating that while she believed Shepard to be able to do the impossible and unite the species, the matriarchs didn’t and she had to follow their directive. Jane replied that she understood and cursed the old hags back on Thessia.

As she was making her way to the CIC, the lights on the ship flickered and Joker warned her that EDI was now offline and could get access to the core’s diagnostics. He advised her to go to the core room to see what was happening and she did. Two soldiers were ready in front of the door, gun in hand. Opening the door, she couldn’t see anything because of the smoke. Walking in slowly as she called out to the IA, the core began to turn themselves on.

“Are you alright?” came the voice of Rick from the other side of the room.

As the smoke cleared Jane saw the body of Dr. Eva (the cerberus synthetic alias) moved her hands looking curiously at it while Rick was on the side. Wondering what her brother had done this time she glared at him.

“What did you do?”
“He’s done nothing, for once, commander.” replied the synthetic with the AI’s voice.

“EDI?”
“Yes. And I’m alright Rick.”
“You’re in her body now.” stated the redhead, dumbfounded.
“Not all of it. Enough to take control of it. The transition had not been seamless.”
“Seamless?”
“Dr. Eva fought to keep control. She failed.”
“Scared the shit out of me.” Rick said in one breath of relief.
“You knew and did nothing?” Jane said reproachfully.
“I couldn’t, the only thing I could do was watch.”
“Rick’s intervention would have been detrimental to me because he can’t code as fast as we do.”
“I’m still blaming you for that. Taking important decisions unilaterally like that… EDI, Rick is not a good example to follow.”
“That has nothing to do with him. It would have been counterproductive to warn the crew whose ability to help was low and impaired by their reaction time.”
“Great, now I have two of them on my hands.” Jane said under her breath.
“Incorrect. I still follow your orders, I just do most of the work on the side so you’d be unburdened by unimportant decisions.”
“Why did you… snatch her body to begin with?”
“Dr. Eva’s body was perfect for field work, allowing me to go where I couldn’t before, as long as the Normandy stays in range to send signals. It was an opportunity to help that I couldn't miss. It’s not what I envisioned for the project that I started from your idea, Rick but that works fine. ”
“What project?” Rick asked and was echoed by Jane.
“Somehow, I’m certain I’m going to regret hearing what this idea is about since it comes from you, Rick.”
“I have no idea what she’s talking about, gingerbread.”
“It was after watching Robocop, you…”
“Oh.” was all Rick let out, remembering clearly what she was referencing.
“‘Oh’? What do you mean ‘oh’?” inquired a now very worried Shepard but was ignored.
“EDI, It’s been what? Eight months? It’s too short, there are so many variables, so many factors to take into account and I’m not talking about the vessel. You can’t use people like…”
“I didn’t. I…”
“OKAY! Stop right there! What is this idea? And what’s Robocop?” Jane asked, wanting answers, now.
“Robocop is a movie telling the story of a cop being so badly hurt that he was turned into a cyborg. Basically they put his brain into a machine.”
“Rick thought that it was the wrong idea as because he lost most of his body, his humanity was gone or suppressed. Instead, he had the idea to put a computer in an organic body. To give a synthetic humanity.”

Jane’s mind reeled at the implication of that.

“Please tell me you didn’t use…”
“I didn’t as I already said. I thought about using brain dead patients but that wouldn’t have been right. I was in a moral conundrum; it was your project that gave me the solution, commander.”
“My project?”
“Project Lazarus or rather a discarded part of it.”
“What do you mean by that?” Rick asked.
“Cloning and its controlled accelerated aging.”
“I’m a clone?!” Jane exclaimed horrified.
“No. Miss Lawson reconstructed you, you’re not a clone but the real one. Unknowingly to her a clone of you was created for spare parts that you may have needed in her endeavor. Since she succeeded, the clone was disposed of without anyone knowing about it but it was fully mature after only six months.”
“So I’m… me?”
“One hundred and ten percent.”
“And ten?”
“They are the cybernetics you were given to bring you back.”
“Yeah, yeah. Red is the real one, great but that doesn’t explain what you intended to do, EDI.”
“Not intended, I did. Once I was free, I immediately began to search for many different female human DNA with traits that I found desirable in the Alliance’s medical database. From there, from the diverse research on human genetics I created an amalgam of them all resulting in one single DNA. Then, I remotely hired a private scientific team to gather those DNA, make that new DNA and grow a body out of it with strict specifications, mainly adding cybernetics, especially in the brain to receive my consciousness.”

Jane’s jaw was on the ground, or nearly. What the AI had just said was borderline unethical and amoral yet no one had been hurt, except perhaps one.

“What about… her? Doesn’t she have her own personality that you would have… snuff out?”
“No. The body was never conscious and I insisted on limiting the brain activity to the minimum. For lack of better terms, it was created brain dead.”
“So you have an organic body somewhere in the galaxy ready for you to take possession of?”
“Yes. It’s… not finished but it’s viable if the results are right. It just needs to be tested.”
“That’s unbelievable… Why did you do that in the first place?”
“For the same reasons I took possession of this body, to be with the team on the field and help but I admit it was also for personal ones.”
“You wanted to understand organics better.” Rick spoke up after being silent for a while, listening attentively.
“Yes.”
“EDI, that’s… Organics or to be more precise, humans, take years to be in control of themselves, of their emotions especially as their body changes from childhood to adulthood. Transferring your consciousness in an adult body without any control of it… Dangerous. You could go crazy in there! And who knows how it will affect the… you. I mean your code.”
“I took that into consideration. The transfer wasn’t supposed to happen before further tests were done. A few years at least but the Reapers invasion changed things.”
“Please tell me, you’re not going where…”
“Commander, once we have the time, can we go search for my body please? It may be a prototype but it was fully designed to be able to fight the reapers.”
“Despite the dangers Rick enumerated, you still want to take possession of it? I’m not sure that’s a good idea, too risky.” Jane denied her request.
“I assure you there won’t be any problem regarding me or the ship. I have measures in place to not let its brain electric signal affect me back.”
“EDI, not that I…”
“It’s also at the peak of humanity; strength, speed, flexibility way beyond what an average human could do. It could technically lift a shuttle with its bare hands with some effort.”

Jane looked at Rick who just shrugged his shoulders. EDI was making some compelling arguments and she could use a fighter that powerful. The risks were high however. Pondering for a moment, she finally made her decision.

“Fuck it, we’re getting it as soon as we can. Are you sure you’d be able to… drive the ship and two bodies at once so to speak?”
“Yes.”
“I see, in that case I guess you should show yourself on the bridge.”

EDI nodded and went out of the room to do just that.

“Ten credits, Joker has a heart attack.” said Jane to Rick as both looked at the leaving synthetic. Not getting an answer she turned towards him, he was stoïc and time spent with him with his helmet on allowed her to know that he was pensive.

“What are you thinking about?”
“A… past conversation I had with her, nothing important.” he answered and began to walk out the core room.
“Do you think it’s a good idea?”
“I don’t know. The discoveries are numerous and she could be more than helpful on one side, on the other… I’m really worried about how well she would be able to handle it. I’m a prime example of humans who can’t handle emotions properly, perhaps because my body’s chemistry is different, perhaps because I’m too smart, or perhaps for another reason I can’t think of right now; whatever it is plenty of others have the same problem and they grew up to be like they are.”
“You’re afraid of what she could do if she’s not properly in control?”
“No, I’m afraid of who she’ll become. Will she become like the Illusive man? A dangerously smart but selfish individual? Like me? Or a good person like Liara and Tali?”
“You don’t think of yourself as a good person? After everything you did?” Jane asked, surprised and confused.
“No.” he said, snorting at the notion.
“You know what? I don’t believe that for a second. I remember how you wished to discover things and help with those discoveries. And you did. The citadel, the Collectors, your inventions, your time as a bounty hunter chasing down pirates and slavers.”
“All motivated by selfish reasons. Sticking it in for Saren, the Collectors and the reapers for Eden Prime was vengeance. The pirates and slavers was for making money and exploring the galaxy. The inventions for both towards the alliance. I’m not that stupid kid who foolishly wished better for the others.”
“You’re lying and you know it. Both to me and to yourself.” she said as she embraced him from behind. “My little brother is not gone, I know he’s still there deep inside. He may have changed and be unrecognizable which is alright but I know that part of him, that beautiful innocence of his is still there.”

She hugged him fiercely, trying to convey what she was feeling for him to him. After a moment of silence, he grabbed her hands locked around his midsection and opened them, getting out of her reach.

“Perhaps once, a long time ago, it was true. Not anymore. Definitely not anymore.” was his answer which didn’t deter Jane one bit.
“I may not have known back then but I still stand by what I said. I won’t give up on you. No matter what our relationship becomes.”
“You’re saying that as if I need saving. Flash News, Carrot Top, you can’t save the damned.”
“It’s Jane.” she replied, internally wondering what he was talking about but changed topics as she knew he couldn’t say anything anymore.
“What?”
“Enough with the nicknames, I don’t like feeling apart from the others as you call them mostly by their names. Jane is mine, please use it.”

Rick didn’t say anything and just left the room and a sadden redhead behind.

Is it so hard for you to say my name?

____________________________________________________________


EDI’s new body had been greatly appreciated by the crew who quickly adapted to it. Jeff was flying on a cloud for having the ‘sexiest co-pilot in the galaxy’, though she asked of him to stop considering her like an object. He complied and turned down the jokes about her body a bit but everytime he made one she would answer back with a very dark joke of her own or threaten to expose his extranet log. Their bickering was sweet and they worked even better together.

Down on the Crew Deck, two days after their rescue mission on Menae, Ash, Liara, Garrus, Jane and Samantha Traynor, the new Comm specialist of the ship and addition to the group by the redhead, were having breakfast and were talking about the upcoming summit at the end of the week.

“I still don’t understand why the Salarian are invited. Wouldn’t it be better to just have the Turians and Krogans only then arm press them once the alliance is successful?” Garrus asked.
“I agree with that idea. Dalatrass Linron will not agree to anything the krogans ask for.”
“A cure for the genophage.” Jane stated.
“Yes. She believes that they would rebel again after dealing with the reapers.” explained the asari.
“She’s an idiot, we can’t win the war without the krogans. What does she expect? That they could win on their own against the reapers?” said Ashley.
“Perhaps, though unlikely, the Salarians always needed help to win on a galactic scale. Usually Turian help.” answered Garrus.
“I guess we’ll do without their help then. At least your people are open to the idea of a cure, Garrus.”
“True but how do you know that?”
“It’s something Rick said on Tunchanka months ago. That the turian are more focused on the short term problems and that when the reapers would come they would be begging for the krogans to have their cure. Speaking of him, where is he?” she asked the two women her brother was sleeping with.
“I don’t know, Liara?”
“I don’t know, I thought he was spending time with you.”
“And I thought he was spending time with you.”
“Erhm…” came the small intimidated voice of Samantha. “He’s working on the new room on the CIC. From the skeleton crew‘s report he’s been at it since EDI took over Dr. Eva’s body.”
“That was more than thirty hours ago! Why wasn’t I told?”
“I was about to write you a message but EDI said it wasn’t necessary. From what the crew understands, he’s not part of the alliance and somehow off limits with the way he interacts with you?”
“He’s definitely not off limits! EDI!” Jane said as she stood up walking towards the elevator followed by Ash and Liara.
“Yes, commander?”
“Why did you stop Traynor warning me about Rick?”
“When I stated my worry about him overworking he said that he was fine and could handle a lot more. He specifically asked to keep quiet about it.”
“And you went along with it?!” exclaimed Liara.
“He had proven many times that he could and I believed he needed it to sort himself out.” 

“EDI, from now on, I want an immediate report on things like that.”
“Yes, commander.”
“What did she mean by sorting himself out?” Ashley asked, looking at Jane intently.

“Why do you think it has something to do with me?”
“Because he and I are good. Ashley?” announced Liara.
“We’re good.”
“That could be EDI!”
“I am taking offense to that statement, commander.”
“Okay fine! Maybe it’s my fault?”
“Maybe?” Ash said with a brow raised.
“What did you do?” accused Liara.
“He was… depreciating himself so I denied it and.. and… I may have told him that… I was still standing by what I said after… you know… And I asked him to use my name.”
“That’s all?” inquired Ashley.
“I swear it is!”

Arriving on the CIC they immediately turned left to get to the former armory. The place had been completely transformed. Where the former com room was, was now a big large bed with a giant screen on the makeshift wall opposite to it. The first part of the room, from the entrance, presented a long desk on the left. From the right side to the end of the room then taking the farthest wall was a workstation in a L shape.

“He really works fast.” Ashley said, looking around, impressed.
“Rick?” Jane called out.
“Yes?” he replied, not giving any indication as to where he was.
“You’re coming out from wherever you are, right now!”
“Give me a moment, I’m almost done with…There.” He answered and some parts of the workstation at the far end wall began glowing with light coursing through it.

Suddenly, hands came out the floor from a displaced panel they hadn’t noticed because that area was in the shadows. Arms, then a head and the whole rest of his body came into view.

“What is it?” he asked as he dusted himself.
“Can you explain to me…”
““Us”” interjected Liara and Ashley.
“Us, why you’ve been working on the room for the last thirty hours? And why you asked EDI to not say anything about it?”
“I needed time to sort my thoughts and because you’d have done what you are doing now. Bitch about it.”
“I don’t bit… you know what, nevermind, you’re not allowed to work more than twelve hours a day from now on.”
“Do you really think I will abide by that?” he answered flatly.
“I will put a guard on your ass if I have to!” she declared hotly.
“Then, they’d spend their time knocked out on the floor.” that answer had a bit of anger in it.

Feeling that things were about to get worse Ashley and Liara went into action. The latter took Rick towards the bedroom area of the room while Ashley dragged Jane to her cabin.

“Did you have to antagonize her?” Liara asked as she made him lay on the bed then join him.
“YES! She started it! I wasn’t at fault here!”

She sighed, and went to remove his helmet, something he let her do. Putting a hand on his cheek, she looked him in the eye.

“We both know it’s not why you’re angry.” she said in a calm voice. “It’s about what she said in the core room, isn’t it?”
“I…” he began then let out a dejected breath and spoke again in a calmer manner. “She wants me to call her… she wants me to use her name.”
“And is that so bad? So difficult for you to do it?”
“I… If I do I…” he started but seemed at a loss of words to express himself.
“You’re afraid you’d be back to the relationship you had when you were children.” she stated as a matter of fact.
“Yes. I… I can’t Liara. I can’t go through that again.” he said as he looked away from her.
“She will not abandon you.” she tried to reassure him.
“That’s what I thought back then and here we are.”
“She will not abandon you.” reiterated Liara as she turned his head to make him look at her, with her hand. “ She had her reasons for leaving, reasons that do not matter to her anymore. If anything she loves you and she’s worried about your well-being.”
“That’s a lie, she didn’t care for sixteen years, why would she care now?”
“Again, because she loves you. The fact that after the night you spent together and then knowing who you are she still wants that kind of relationship with you is proof.”

His eyes widened in shock at the revelation that she knew about having sex with his own sister.

“Yes I know. No, I do not care. No she didn’t talk willingly about it, I had to pressure her however I already knew how she felt about you.”
“It’s wrong.”
“That you still feel the same way despite how badly she hurt you or that she is your half-sister?”
“I don’t care that we are related. It never bothered me. What does, is that I still do have…” he interrupted himself, not willing to say too much. ”It’s like… she still has a hold over me and I hate it. I hate that one moment we’re alright and then she does something or says something and everything comes back in the front of my mind, pulling me out of that illusion she’s presenting to me and I… I want to choke the life out of her in those moments. To hurt her, to make her feel how bad it hurt. To finally be free of her.”
“It’s not an illusion, Rick.”
“Why are you so interested in our relationship in the first place?” he asked, changing the target of the topic from him to her.
“You’re my friends and I love you both.” she replied with honesty.
“Both?” he asked in surprise.
“Both. You’re both alike and your differences are endearing. Her leadership ability, always going forward. You, always so smart, so full of ideas. And you both are gorgeous.”
“So what? You want to be part of a brother/ sister thresome? First you and your mother now us… Were you always that perverted or is it my influence?”
“I’m not a pervert! I’m just really open minded about sex and after decades of repressed sexual needs I… simply wish to explore…” she protested, her nose high in the air, haughtily, but completely failed at finding the right words for a proper defense.
“You know that if you want to be with her, you can.”
“I know.”
“Why don’t you?”
“I don’t think she’s interested in the female gender.”
“Well, good luck with that. Though if you want a threesome, Ash is very open to it.” he revealed, catching her attention.
“Tell me more.”


___________________________________________________________

While Rick and Liara were talking, another pair was doing likewise in the captain’s cabin.

“Seriously Skipper, What were you thinking?”
“To take care of him?! He’s my baby brother!”
“Not anymore! There is nothing baby about him now. He’s twenty six! He doesn’t need you to be on his back for something he’s used to do.”
“But…”
“I get it, really, I do. I’m the oldest of four sisters, remember? I know how you feel, how you want to protect him, from everything no matter what. How you want  only the best for him, for him to be healthy but if you keep being on his back like that you will lose him and with the state of your relationship maybe for good.”
“I know! I just… My mind and body reacted on their own!” she exclaimed as she plopped down on her bed in defeat. “What was I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do?”
“Not blow up on him like that is a good start. He’s an adult Shepard, he was ready to be a father, he doesn’t need you mothering him. In fact he hates it when people are all over him and tell him what to do, you know that.” Ashley said and went on after seeing Jane nod in understanding. “Analysse used to just ask him things to get him moving her way and stop him from doing stupid things like this. Try that.”

Jane nodded again in agreement this time.

I can’t fail, I can’t lose him again.

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