[Book Two] Chapter 22: White as snow

[Book Two] Chapter 22: White as snowChapter 22: White as snow

Getting back on the Normandy after blowing up the facility, Jack wished to be left alone but knew that if she was, stupid thoughts would plague her mind so she followed the advice Shepard had given her weeks earlier and asked Rick to teach her the way he used his biotics. She had to promise to keep it to herself and not teach anyone else, which she did (and that was a promise she intended to keep).

They quickly realized that Jack had been using her biotics for too long to properly do his control exercises. It was not impossible but she would have to spend years practicing and she wasn’t interested in that. The curve shot however showed a lot of promise as it was more about timing and proper movement of the wrist than biotics. When he showed her the basic kicks of Taekwondo (along with a lesson on why he chose those kicks) she found herself enjoying the training very much. It was a more flexible and elegant way of fighting that she saw as beautiful. She wasn’t even mad that he didn’t broach the subject of using her biotics with her feet. She knew that if he was teaching her kicking first it was because it was more important. All in all it was a very enjoyable time that she didn’t expect when she woke up in the morning knowing the day she would have.

When she had had enough they went to the Crew Deck to eat and simply talked about biotics in general like two old friends. After dinner, both went down to their floor then to their respective quarters. Rick sat at the desk and began to work on the corrupted data for Miranda. He hoped that he could recover the information he needed to finally get the woman to defect to his side.

____________________________________________________________

At the same time Rick and Jack were training in the Cargo Bay, Tali came to Shepard’s cabin to talk to her.

“What are we going to do, Jane?” the quarian said in a worried voice.

“I don’t know. But we got time. We have a week to find a solution.”

“We can’t just find one once we arrive.”

“What do you want me to do? Asked EDI to lock him up in his quarters?”

“That’s a great idea!”

“Tali!”

“Not locking him up! Asking EDI!”

“Yes?” came the voice of the AI.

“Any idea how to occupy Rick for an entire day? Preferably in the same, isolated spot?”

“I may know of a way but I’m not sure I should speak about it.”

“Why not?” Jane asked.

“I believe Rick intends to make a gift for Tali, commander.”

“A gift for me? What is it?”

“Telling would spoil the surprise but from what I uncovered it would at least take a day or two to prepare and would require you to be away from your quarters during that time.”

“That’s perfect! EDI, if you could nudge him in that direction that would be great. And just to be sure, I’ll brief the team to keep their mouth shut and to divert him away if needed. Could you also keep an eye on him?”

“I would require an order to spy on his intimacy.” replied the AI, implicitly telling Shepard that if she didn’t order it she wouldn’t do it.

“Nothing like that! Just alert the others if you see him moving outside his room, that’s all I’m asking.”

“I will do so, Shepard.”

____________________________________________________________

It took him two days but he recovered most of the corrupted data. And he hit the jackpot. Well not really the jackpot but enough to pile on what he already had on Cerberus. The Illusive Man knew what was going on at the Teltin facility and approved. At least the basics of the project. He knew that the children had been kidnapped, knew about Jack’s potential and knew that the other kids were used as test dummies for Jack. He also was aware of the rough treatment the scientist inflicted on the children and that sometimes it was too much and one of them died. He wasn’t aware however of what they did when they started to lose it and the experiments became barbaric. At least from the data he had. Rick suspected TIM knew everything as he was a man with an obsessive need to be in control. He didn’t see the man pouring a lot of resources on projects without keeping a very close eye on them even unbeknownst to the people working on it. Point being proven by the fact that Miranda had bugs in her quarters.

Exiting his room, he took the elevator and went to see Miranda who was working on some report.

“I recovered most of the corrupted data that I got.”

“And?”

“It’s not a smoking gun but for most, it would be enough.” he said, handing her the datapad he had brought with him.

Miranda took it and began reading. There was much to cover, mostly most of the reports of the experiments separated sometimes by messages. She took half an hour to read everything and one half more to be sure she didn’t miss anything. During all this time Rick waited on her bed, laying on his back in silence as there was no chair to sit on and didn’t feel like sitting on the small couch.

“I... I can’t believe it. He knew! Maybe not the worst but he knew!” she exclaimed.

She dropped the datapad on her desk to which she put her elbow on and put her head in her hands. Rick got up and came behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them in support.

“Experimenting on children! I mean training children, do some non-invasive tests? Sure! But experimenting like they did then going as far as they did. That’s not why I joined Cerberus! How can he say that Cerberus’s goal is the advancement and preservation of humanity when he condoned what happened there!”

“That’s because it isn’t the organization’s goal. From the methods he uses he’s after power and power is used to control and rule.”

“You mean... His goal is humanity's supremacy?”

“I believe so, yes. He’s a control freak, controlling the entire galaxy is not far-fetched for someone like him.”

“God... I have worked for that man for nearly two decades! The things I had to do for... Everything was a lie.” she said dejectedly.

“Not all. Bringing back Red really was the best for humanity. And I’m sure, if you look here and there in your past missions you’ll see other good things you did in that vein.”

“That would be just incidental results.”

“Perhaps but it still served humanity.”

“So much for being perfect, he played me...”

“You were what? Sixteen? Seventeen? Out of a very controlled and sheltered life. No matter how perfectly smart you are, you were not experienced enough. You needed help with Oriana, you needed help for yourself and he sold you his idealistic speech and praised you and your skills when not long before your father deemed you, his perfect creation, a failure. Of course he played you but there is no need to be ashamed of it. Fool me once? Shame on you, fool me twice? Shame on me.”

“He fooled me more than once.”

“No, he fooled you once for twenty years. The question now is: will you let him fool you a second time?”

“No. This is not going to happen. Once this mission is over with, I’m leaving Cerberus.”

“He might not let you go easily.”

“I’m a big girl, I know how to take care of myself.”

“I know you can, doesn’t mean you have to.”

“You... have something in mind.” Miranda stated.

“I do. Would you be interested in being a Vice-president?”

“Vice-president of what?” she asked curiously.

“The company I’ve been thinking of making for a few months now. It’s just an idea for now with the current objective being to create new tech, make it a monopoly and sell it to everyone.”

“You don’t expect me to answer now, do you? There is very little to make an informed decision on and that doesn’t answer how I would be protected from Cerberus.”

“I do not but I’d rather put my hat in the ring first before anyone else does.”

Releasing her shoulders he went around the desk to exit the room when Miranda stopped him with a ‘wait’. Turning around he saw her stand up and go to the back of the room. She went to the nightstand near her bed and picked up something he could make out from the top drawer. Coming back she stood in front of him and put what he now recognized as the collar he had gifted her with the word ‘PET’ written in capital and bold silver letters, on her neck and locked it.

“Could you... Please?” she asked in a small voice.

“Here? On the Normandy, in your quarters?”

If her expectant eyes were not indicative enough, the small nod she gave him definitely was.

“Very well, pet.”

____________________________________________________________

Shepard arrived in the Cargo Bay to train early in the morning. As usual she saw Grunt on the gym side pumping iron along Jacob. The ex-corsaire came by from time to time to keep in shape and Shepard wondered if she shouldn’t take him on the next mission. He was a fairly good element but the sad reality was his set of skills were redundant with Rick’s for the most part and well subpar. That wasn’t a fair comparison; it was like comparing a corvette to a dreadnought. Rick was just a monstrous beast and Jacob a fairly good soldier. Filling that thought in a corner of her mind, she saw Jack on the other side practicing too but not her biotics to her surprise. The ex-convict was paying attention to the position of her feet and did some sets of kicks.

Did she ask Rick to teach her? I’m surprised he agreed.

____________________________________________________________

The trio had just arrived back on the quarian’s ship where the trial was happening after cleaning the Aralei. Shepard couldn’t help but think that Tali’s father had been a stupid fool that should have spent more time with his daughter rather than trying to keep his promise. It wouldn’t have killed his whole crew, endangered his people and hurt Tali deeply. She was amazed that her quarian friend asked her to not use the data and records of her father’s wrongdoings. Had she been in Tali’s situation, she wouldn’t have hesitated to present the evidence against her mother to save herself for a guilty verdict. Even if their relationship had been mended a fair bit, her mother would have been dead and she would have been alive. There was no way she would have sacrificed herself for someone dead or perhaps not her mother.

I guess we still have a long way to go before we’re mostly right again.

As she passed the decontamination room to enter the ship for good, Joker contacted her.

“Commander, we have a problem.”

“What proble...”

“Come on, Wald, get away from the sass and go back to your room before you get yourself hurt.” She heard Zaeed say.

OH SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! She thought as she heard something impact loudly something metallic.

“EDI, open that fucking sass right now or I swear I’ll do it manually the krogan way!” She recognized Rick's voice.

HOW?! Everything was perfect! He shouldn’t have been aware!

“We had a code Rick, commander. He’s gone. EDI didn’t want to risk him messing with the sass’ control panel.”

“Thanks for warning us, Joker.”

“Commander, he’s really pissed, but he’s not armed.”

“Understood.”

Turning to her teammates she was succinct with her words.

“Rick is on his way, hurry!” she said as she began to run.

“Keelah!” Tali exclaimed following her. That day was beginning to look like the worst day of her life.

They made it before Rick and the admirals, surprised to see them back after being gone for hours, quickly resumed the trial. Unfortunately they didn’t get to go far into it as an alarm began to ring. As the armed quarians around began to draw their weapons and take position at the entrance they had come from the first time, and for some to have her team at gunpoint, Shepard tried to defuse the situation.

“Wait! He’s one of mine! That’s my XO, he doesn’t mean any arm!”

“Your XO is knocking out the guards!” said one of the male admirals.

“That’s because they are stopping him! Let him pass and he won’t hurt anyone!”

“And we should believe you, when you come here on a ship wearing Cerberus colors because...?” said the one female admiral that was on the jury.

“Keelah, this is hopeless.” Tali lamented.

“Don’t be that way. It’s not the first negotiation or diplomatic incident Rick had caused to go to hell. He always came out as white as snow.” replied Garrus trying to cheer her up. Honestly, after hanging around Shepard and Rick for months, he considered it just another Tuesday.

One of the admirals was about to say something when a quarian came flying through the entrance and landed hard on the ground. None had the time to react when a blue blur persecuted another guard and was sent flying into another. It was as if Rick dansed, moving around in a rotating motion, sending Throw with his hands and feet to anyone with their weapons locked and loaded. In no time the trio was free to move as they wished.

“What do you...” began admiral Raan.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Rick yelled, cutting her off. “You’ll speak when I will allow it.”

And we’re doomed. Doomed, doomed, doomed. Great. Shepard thought sarcastically.

“YOU, should be ashamed of yourselves! You are the admirals of the Migrant’s fleet. Their leaders! Your people looked up to you to do what’s best for them and yet you’re bickering like fucking children! This trial is not about Tali! It’s about you not agreeing on how to deal with the geths and if and how to take back your homeworld. The incident with the Aralei was just a pretext to further your agenda over the others! Don’t bother denying it, it’s the truth. You wouldn’t have revealed her father’s likely death during the trial otherwise, nor would you have stripped her of her ship name. You wanted her as a scapegoat. SHAME ON YOU! Because Tali’Zorah is the quarian that did the most for her people in the last two years than anyone else did since your exile.”

While his entrance had scared many of the civilians in the room, it had been spectacular. That got everyone's attention and when he shut admiral Raan up, they were ready to listen to what he had to say. And as he listed cold hard facts, listen they did.

“What do you mean by that?” Aske admiral Xen, the other woman in the admiralty.

“It was Tali who, during her own pilgrimage brought, at the risk of her life, information that allowed the alliance to prove to the council that Saren Arterius was a traitor. It was Tali that roamed the galaxy to stop him. It was Tali that joined a suicide mission to destroy Saren’s facility creating his army of krogan clones! It was Talu, who braved the deep unknown of space to reach the forgotten world of Ilos chasing Saren. It was Tali again, who used a prothean mass relay prototype to reach the Citadel and stop the geths invasion of the station. It was Tali that fought and put an end to Saren. Her actions alone, raised the quarians’ reputation in the eye of humanity. She made friends, she made connections with important people from other species! She can walk in the presidium and no c-sec agent would ever arrest her just because ‘she may have stolen something.’. No one would ever dare to tell her to leave one of the most expensive restaurants there. No-fucking-body in his right mind recognizing her would ever call her a thief, a rats, a pariah or others of the many derogatory words used for your people. She even started a fashion trend! In other words, she has been shedding, sweat, tears and blood to bring back the quarians on the galactic stage so one day they would be able to take back Rannoch alone or with help!” He stopped there and looked around, appealing to his captivated audience.

“How many of you were on a pilgrimage those last two years? How many of you found out that the treatment of your people on the citadel was not as bad as you were told? That’s all thanks to her! And your admirals, what did they do? They took her newly bought ship and dismantled it for parts instead of using it to spearhead the change that your species desperately needs! They accused her of treason for their own political games.” turning back to look at the admirals he did his closing statement.

“You don’t deserve Tali’Zorah. She’s too good for you and you’re to stupid to appreciate her. But I’m not. You don’t want her? Fine, go ahead, I'll gladly take her in.”

As he finished talking he got right in front of a gobsmacked Tali, picked her up and put her on his shoulder, her head looking at his lower back and her ass right next to his face. When she tried to protest and to get him to let her down, he simply spanked her ass hard.

“SHH. We’re going home and that’s final.”

After that, her body went limp in defeat and both of them went back to the Normandy, leaving behind a stunned audience.

“I wouldn’t have been so colorful in my speech but I would have said the same.” Said Jane to the admirals.

____________________________________________________________

It was all over for Tali. She had no strength left. She lost her father and she lost her people. The former to his own stupidity, the latter to her bestfriend’s. She really appreciated his loyalty and in any other situation she would have loved it and cherished it. But this time... This time she resented it. It has cost her everything she had left. She didn’t know if she could ever forgive him, despite their friendship, despite everything they went through together. Despite her love for him.

When the door to their quarters closed she heard a sound she knew well, a sound that wasn’t supposed to be here and the simple fact it was, brought her out of her thoughts. She was being sprayed with sterilizing liquid. She didn’t understand why and for a moment thought he had brought her elsewhere but she recognized the door so discarded the thought immediately. Soon the spraying stopped and came some hot air which for a lack of a better word, dried her. Afterwards Rick started to walk again and passed a transparent curtain. After a few steps he dropped her gently on her side of the bed and he laid beside her in silence.

Tali didn’t say anything, she just looked at the entrance and saw the makeshift decontamination room. She turned her head and let her eyes roam around, noticing the many changes he had done, the most notable one being the revetment on every surface of the room. Walls, ceiling, ground.

Surely... he didn’t.

Just at that moment the door opened and Shepard entered, she was quickly decontaminated to her shock but didn’t react negatively. Once dry, she entered the room for good and told Tali the results of the trial.

“You’ve been exonerated.” the redhead said with a smile.

“WHAT?!”

“They found you not guilty. Didn’t have much of a choice really, not unless they wanted a riot on their hands.”

“But.. how?!”

“Easy...” said Rick from the side. ”From the moment I made my entrance I was in control of the trial. I just had to state facts, appeal to the public’s sense of pride, belonging and hopes for the future by putting you on a pedestal and describing you as a paragon of virtue and a role model while spitting on the jury, judge and the ones who wanted you convicted.”

“You... You...” Tali was too dumbfounded to articulate a proper sentence.

“You planned everything?!” Shepard however was not.

“Not really, it’s just basic manipulation. I just went with the flow.”

“How did you know all that? Some of the information you knew, you weren’t even there to hear it! And how did you find out?!” the quarian asked in a rapid fire.

“I’m me, centerfold. What did you expect, really?” he joked and was smacked in the head by both women.

“Ugh.. Alright. I took a break and noticed the crew behaving strangely. When I asked EDI, she denied things being odd. So I knew that whatever was happening she was on it. For a moment I thought I had made a mistake with... well it doesn’t matter. Anyway, I went to check the tank for the fluid which fortunately was placed in an area where EDI can’t see. Jack’s lair. From there I climbed the ladder and went through the vent stealthily, which was a pain in the ass I tell you, then listening to the crew talk about what was going on. Inside the vent, I used my omni-tool to hack the fleet security system through the connection between the two ships and could spy on the quarians. What I learned was very informative and made me a tiny bit angry.”

“Rick, you knocked Mordin out, sent both Zaeed and Jacob to the med-bay and threatened to manhandle my body.” EDI’s voice cut it.

“You also walked over all the quarians guards.” added the commander.

“Alright, I was utterly pissed, happy?” he admitted.

“Yes.” Tali said as she jumped on him and hugged him tight.

Keelah, I was stupid to hide things from him.

“Thank you.”

“Meh, next time trust me a bit okay? I think after all this time I deserved it.”

“I can’t believe the plan went to hell because you took a break. You never take a break when you’re working! Not unless someone makes you!” exclaimed Jane.

“You know what they said about plans and first contact with the enemies.”

She didn’t even bother to answer and just growl in frustration before asking the question she had on her lips.

“What’s with the decontamination chamber?”

“Well... It’s Tali and I’s quarters but if you look around, there are only my things, as if ...”

“I was a guest.”

“So I thought, despite you telling me no, that maybe you’ll feel more at home if the room was completely sterile. That it would really feel like it’s our quarters.”

He was assaulted again by a 5”8 quarian who was all over him in an instant. Shepard smiled at the sight but felt a bit jealous of her friend. Feeling like she was intruding, she discreetly left the room leaving the tow of them alone.