[Book Two] Chapter 1: Awakening

[Book Two] Chapter 1: Awakening Announcement

This is the begining of book two. Despite being better written than my One Piece fic, this one is not receiving the popularity that I excepted.

Is it because Mass effect is not as popular as OP? Perhaps.

Is it because my post schedule is not good and the updates are drowning in a sea of other stories updates? Perhaps too.

I can't do anything for the former but I can do something for the latter. I have to think about it.

Regardless I'm still posting chapters until the end of Book Two. I'm currently working on another fic and I also need to finish Book Three. Perhaps when I'm done posting Book two I would be done with both and no break would be necessary. Who knows?

If you enjoyed Book One, I hope you'll enjoy Book Two.

Small spoiler: You'll see how Rick and Jane change as people along with the new crewmates they make. You'll also know more about Rick past and many question about him will be answered. Not all of them though.

Don't forget to rate and share the story please! Thank you!

PS: No editor for this one, I'll die like man!

Chapter 1: Awakening

Two years.

She had been dead for two years. It felt like two days for her. Two days since the Normandy was destroyed by an unknown enemy ship leading to her getting spaced. Two days since she had woken up in an unknown place, an unknown station, in the middle of a crisis. Two days since she had to fight her way out to a shuttle to get out of there.

Two days.

Shepard had a lot going on in her mind. With all that happened while she was gone, it wasn’t really a surprise. First was that she had been brought back to life. She had no memory of her time on the other side, only her burning lungs trying to fill themselves with non-existing oxygen before everything went dark. The second thing she thought about was that it was Cerberus that brought her back. Not the alliance but Cerberus.

The pro human supremacy terrorist cell that secretly wreaked havoc in the galaxy. She had some dealings with them resulting in a lot of bad blood. Their experiment with thresher maws on Alliance’s marines, a lost ship full of rachnis, a lab overrun by thorian’s creeper and the assassination of Admiral Kahoku.

Everything that Cerberus represented, everything they did; she was against. Yet they were the ones who spent nearly two years and more than four BILLIONS credits to bring her back to life. She didn’t know how and what to feel about that. Clearly they needed something from her, other than investigating some human colonies turning dark in the Terminus systems. She couldn’t find out what though.

Rick would have known, or at least have several ideas.

Thinking of her former crew member and dare she say, friend, she thought about the rest of her team, scattered across the galaxy. The illusive man had told her their whereabouts when she asked. For the ones he could get intel on.

Kaidan had entered the N program and was making his way up. Ashley has been on a secret mission which the leader of Cerberus knew nothing about. Liara was on Illium as a broker, living with her mother. Wrex was on his homeworld, Tunchanka. Ruling the Urdnot clan and the smaller clans that swore their allegiance. Tali was with the fleet somewhere. The only ones she didn’t know about were Garrus who had quit his job at c-sec and left for the terminus and Rick who had been seen last on Thessia a few days after her death.

She wondered what had happened to Anderson and if the council and every species had taken her warnings of the reapers seriously. She hoped they did but knew it was in vain. She thought of her mother. They had begun to repair their damaged relationship just before she died abruptly. Had she been stricken with grief at the loss of her only child left or did she went straight to the geth space to slaughter them all in her rage?

Knowing mom, it’s probably the latter.

So many questions and no one trustworthy enough around to give her answers.

She opened her eyes and looked at the two cerberus agents with her on the shuttle. One was a tall black man with a military posture. Jacob Taylor. He was the first person she had met since she had woken up on that station and had been honest and upfront with her, advocating to the other agent by his side to do the same as they would not gain their trust and cooperation by keeping her in the dark or lying to her. She had appreciated that and her opinion of him went into the positive. Not much, he was still from cerberus after all but she was ready to give him a chance. When questioned about why he was with them he told her that he was a former corsaire, wanting to make a difference and act instead of waiting around for the green light from some higher up more interested in politics. He lasted a few years before being fed up with the paperwork and quit. When Cerberus knocked on his door to recruit him, he accepted as he was promised the ability to act immediately. He may not share most views his boss had but he could act and that was enough for him. In the end, she believed him to be a good man wanting to do some good. She respected that.

The other agent was a woman.

‘One hell of a woman’ Joker would have said. He probably would have whistled too.

If she had to choose one word to describe Miranda Lawson it would be: perfection. The woman was a bit taller than her, perhaps 6”. Shoulder length hair, black as the night and vivid blue eyes. The cerberus suit she was wearing left nothing to the imagination. A bubble butt which would turn any straight man’s head and a few ladies, and a very well proportioned pair of breasts.

Mine are bigger.

Miranda had been the one that spent the last two years trying to resurrect her. She was also the one who woke her up at the station. She was efficient that’s for sure otherwise she would not be the leader of one of Cerberus sub-division. She was also ruthless and very focused. She oozed confidence or perhaps was it arrogance?

She’s like a female version of Rick. Except she’s an extravert, is arrogant and is the illusive man’s loyal pet and... She’s nothing like Rick, actually. Their only similarities are their ruthlessness, their efficiency and that they’re both biotics.

Biotics. That was something new for her. Miranda didn’t just rebuild her, she also enhanced her, making her stronger, faster. Just better in general. She also unlocked her latent biotic potential she didn’t know she had. Biotics were rare when she was born and it wasn’t a standard procedure to check at the time, not until a few years later when John was born.

I wonder what mom would say if she knew. She said she was wrong to treat John the way she did because he was a biotic but did she really mean it?

She was quite glad actually to be a biotic. She had seen Kaidan, Wrex, Liara and Rick in action. It was very versatile and useful in battle. Wondering what type of biotic fighting style would fit her the most, she didn’t notice the shuttle had landed on Freedom’s Progress. The colony the illusive man told her to check before making her decision to work with Cerberus or not.

“Shepard, we’ve arrived.” Miranda said to the redhead lost in her thoughts.

The commander nodded then exited the shuttle. Drawing out her pistol she smiled seeing it was fitted with the thermal clip system Rick and Tali invented. When she had asked Jacob about it he told her that it was now the standard in the galaxy. There was quite a story behind it.

Apparently six months after the battle of the Citadel the turians made a big announcement about a revolution in the weapon business, presenting their own thermal clip prototype and all its advantages over the cooling system. One day later the Alliance made a similar announcement but going further by saying that they made that discovery even before the geths invasion and that their weapons were already ready to use and available for sale. The turians were furious, the Alliance was smug and raked a ton of money as predicted. A galactic lawsuit was issued against the Alliance by the turians for technology appropriation but got quickly shut down when the records showed that the former were telling the truth. The patents they were using had been issued long before and were different from the turian’s ones. That created a huge scandal because the turians should not have been able to patent their own technology when the technology already existed and was patented. In the end the turians retracted their lawsuit quite humiliated. It was said that the old ones from the Alliance who participated in the first contact war and still bore a grudge against the turian partied for days on Arcturus station and Earth.

When she heard the story from Jacob, she actually laughed. After giving an explanation as to why she did so, the former Corsaire had his jaw unhinged. This wasn’t the only thing that happened that Rick foresaw. His fast reload system became so popular in the alliance that it became a standard. All thanks to the N7 soldiers who were very efficient with it and showed it off. It wasn’t limited to humanity but to the other species also. The option for the sniper rifle was in fact the most appreciated especially with the turian, like Garrus said it would, and surprisingly the Salarian.

Shepard set her head back in the present, she had work to do. Leading the small team she went through the colony. No trace of humans was left as if they just vanished into thin air. Going through a prefab she met a team of quarian who were less than friendly and aimed their weapons at them. Thankfully among them was a very familiar visor who de-escalated the situation.

Questioning him gently, he showed them a video of what happened. The colonists had been kidnapped by the Collectors. A mysterious species sometimes seen in the Terminus system and who came from beyond the Omega 4 relay. A Mass relay in the Terminus that no one knew where it led as anyone who ever used it never came back.

As Miranda suggested sending Veetor to Cerberus, Tali joined them at that moment vehemently protesting.

“Veetor is hurt and needs both medical and psychological help.”

“She’s right Miranda, besides I don’t think Veetor has anything more to say to us. We already know that the collectors are responsible for the colonies going dark, it’s more than enough. Take care of him, Tali.”

“Thank you, Shepard.”

Everyone exited the warehouse with Veetor supported by Tali who brought him to the medic of her team. Before leaving, the two had a moment to talk privately.

“Human colonies are being targeted and the Alliance can’t or don’t want to do anything. That’s why I’m working with them for now, Tali. Not because they brought me back but because something needs to be done and they are the only ones who are willing to help me.”

“Shepard, it’s Cerberus...”

“I know. I don’t trust them one bit, in fact I expect them to stab me in the back the moment I’m not useful to them any more. That’s why I want you to come with me, so I’ll have someone I can trust to watch my back.”

“I’m sorry Shepard but I can’t. I have duties towards the fleet now, I can’t ignore them. I wish I could but...”

“That’s alright, I understand. You got a galaxy to conquer after all.” the redhead jested.

“Ha! That plan is on pause for a while.”

“Oh? How so?”

“My return to the fleet was well received by most. I had money, a new ship, plenty of new ship parts to help, I was a hero of the galaxy but...”

“But jealousy?”

“Yes. Supposedly I was too young to be the captain of my ship and they took it away from me. The admiral board voted 3 to 2 in favor of that. My own father voted against me!”

“Wow.”

“He agreed that I was too young to have my own ship and that someone more experienced would be better, especially when the ship was brand new.”

“It must not have been easy for you.”

“No but I understand his reasoning. He may be distant but I know he loves me and just wants me safe in a bigger ship. It’s just... It was my ship, Shepard... At least they’re not aware that the credits I had with me when I got back was just a drop in my annual income. So there.”she said with a hint of vindictiveness in her voice.

“How did Rick take the news?”

“I’m not mad Shepard; I didn’t tell him.”

“Probably for the best.”

“He would have stormed in the fleet to negotiate my ship back. We both know how that would have gone.”

“Either the fleet ended up royally fuck or lots of bodies.”

“Yes. His loyalty is really sweet but sometimes it’s too irrational.”

“Any news on him? On the others?”

“Not much. I spoke to Ashley for a few months until she was assigned a secret mission eighteen months ago. I have had no news since then. Liara and I exchange messages at least once a month to see how we’re doing. We wished we could communicate more but we’re so busy we don’t have much time for it. Wrex played the tough guy and did not answer anything I sent so I stopped after a while. Kaidan sent a message saying he had been accepted into the N program and that he wouldn’t be able to contact anyone. Garrus sometimes talked about his job. He was venting mostly, until he said that he was quitting c-sec. That was a year ago and he didn’t contact me. Rick... Rick disappeared shortly after your death was announced. He was staying with Liara and her mother when one morning he told them he had things to do and left.”

“That’s the hardest part of being back, you know.” she said with a sigh before explaining herself.

“For me, I last saw everyone a couple months ago. For all of you, it’s been two years. I feel.. Left behind, so out of place. I missed so many things.”

Tali closed the distance between them and hugged her in support.

“For now. You feel like that for now but with time you’ll be okay. Back into our fold.”

“I know. But that doesn’t make me feel differently about it.”

They said their goodbyes and Shepard went back to the shuttle along Jacob and Miranda. She needed to have a talk with the Illusive man. Despite every fiber of her being screaming at her to not work with Cerberus, she didn’t have much of an alternative.

I can live with that.