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cdrmiller · 3 years ago

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post party, post eason fight.

*******************************

Marie sighed as she signed the nineteenth whatever-this-was in a row. Her excitement about the position she was chosen for had blinded her to the truth of her least favorite thing: red tape.

“How many are there?”

Luca’s face was scrunched in sympathy, his curls swaying as he shook his head. “I don’t know. But the captain isn’t around so that leaves…”

“Lucky me.” Marie squinted at the direct message coming through with that one specific tone to mark it highest importance on her omni-tool. “What the fuck..” She shoved the data pad back into Luca’s hands. “Tell the Captain I’m off ship.”

“Yes ma’am! Should I tell Mason?”

“No!” He gave a startled blink and she said it again in a low, calm voice as she pulled on her uniform coat. “No.”

She tapped her wrist as she turned away from him to send a voice message reply, ‘Stand down. I’m on my way’, then she took off at a run.

She found her phoenix in the cargo bay where she had left him hours ago, putting his strength to use helping bring in supplies. The din was too loud, it was too crowded, and she didn’t have time.

“ZEUS!” She was trained to know how to make her voice carry but didn’t hold out hope it would be heard above this volume, hoping his enhanced hearing paired with that one specific word would reach him. When his gaze instantly snapped to her, she jerked her head to the right and mouthed a word. Now.

**************

Thankfully the C-Sec’s officer’s weapons were not pointed at Ethan Sinclair. But they were drawn, and that gave her reason enough to instruct them again to stand down. They were forming a wide, loose circle around the adept, and he looked at them under his long lashes, his lips turned up at the edges. He reminded her of a lion. A beautiful and smug lion, laying in the sun with its legs crossed, waiting for the poor defenseless antelope to take off at a run, just so he could have some fun before he destroyed it. She could feel the familiar hum of biotic energy emanating from him the closer she got. Her heart was telling her the officers were over reacting, that there was no danger to be found here. Her brain told her maybe she had gotten too close to the subjects to be the person responsible for bridging the gap between them and everyone else. She had let herself forget that not everyone saw them the way she did. That they were not still a weapon of destruction from an evil, traitorous organization that could turn on them at any moment.

“Of course they called you. And you brought back up.” Ethan said pleasantly, giving a pointed look at the armed Alliance soldiers following Marie, but especially at Nico, who shrugged in answer.

Marie signaled a stop to her unit before continuing on her own, her boots tapping in the tense quiet. “Yeah. It’s my job.” She stopped when she was so close to him that only he could hear what she hissed at him through clenched teeth. “It’s also standard procedure when I get a message that has ‘cerberus operative threat’ in the same sentence.”

Ethan held out his hands, palms raised, and gave his best smile to the older, grizzled Sergeant, who was still watching him warily, before he looked back at Marie. “There’s no threat. I’m more dignified than that. It was just a simple misundersta- take one more step towards me son, and I’ll turn you inside out before you can say mummy.” The young C-Sec agent a few feet behind Ethan froze, unmistakable fear in his eyes. Ethan’s gaze never left Marie’s, and his smile never left his lips. “Now that was a threat.”

Marie rolled her eyes and directed her attention to the Sergeant. “What happened?” She could see through the sparking, unhinged door of the apartment. “It looks like a bomb went off in there.”

“We got a call about a disturbance from neighbors,” – Marie noticed the small scattering of people at different distances down the long hallway - “we arrived, found this,” - he waved a hand towards the door and the broken everything within – “and when we tried to question Mr. Sinclair about it, he got aggressive. I pulled his file and that’s when I knew to call you.”

“There wasn’t a problem until someone tried to touch the goods.” Ethan replied casually, brushing invisible lint off of his collared shirt.

Marie blew out a calming breath, trying not to let his arrogance get to her, like always. “Sergeant I can take it from here, thank you for your assistance. And he’ll compensate you for the apartment. All of it.”

“We need to take him in Commander. It’s regulation.”

She decided to pull out the icy, authoritative tone, because she was tired and getting a headache and wanted to not be dealing with Ethan Sinclair. “Nothing Phoenix related is regulation. As I said, I can take it from here, and I’ll handle the report. But if you would like to call the Admiral and ask him if that’s okay, be my guest.”

The Sergeant frowned, weighing his options, and he finally gave the signal for his men to clear out. She waited until the officers had holstered their weapons and moved out of earshot.

“Ethan. I don’t know what’s going on with you or what happened, and I know you’re not going to tell me. But whatever it was, it can’t happen.” She motioned to the broken door and everything shattered inside. “This can’t happen. You all eternally exist on thin ice. You give them one reason to break that ice and you being able to walk around untouched and unbothered will be a completely different story.”

He stared over her shoulder. “Should we get you an Alliance uniform Zeus?”

Nico scowled, the only movement from his arms crossed, leg spread stance. He knew how Ethan worked and recognized the use of his best weapon. “Stop deflecting, Sabre.”

“I need you to promise me you’ll do everything you can to smooth this over, and not let anything like this happen again.”

“Are we done here?” His eyes finally fell back down to hers, and she knew it wasn’t an actual question.

His voice, his stance, everything about him oozed bored. And it pissed her off. “Can you not be a fucking selfish asshole for one day in your life? It can hurt everyone, not just you. You have no where to go, and the Alliance may not be able to do much to you physically, but they can make yours, and every other one of the guys’ life actual hell.” She wanted to wipe the smug look off his face and since punching him wasn’t an option, she knew the words to throw at him. “Including Mason.”

His eyes shuttered at that, his grin falling into a flat line. “How is he?”

“You don’t get to ask me that. And you bet your ass I’m not going to let you fuck up everything I have worked so hard for to make all of your lives easier, just because you’re a selfish prick.” She turned on her heel, instructing an ensign to send her the report and she would take care of it on her way.

“Is that a threat, Miss Miller?” his voice rose to keep up with her retreating form. “It would be a good one, if it wasn’t empty.”

Marie slowly raised one middle finger over her shoulder. “Pretty sure you can’t take on both Zeus and Ajax at the same time, Sinclair.”

**************

Marie leaned against one of the metal walls of the elevator that only she and Nico occupied, finally able to show the sudden exhaustion she felt. “This seems so out of character for Mr. Never-Let-‘Em-See-You-Sweat. Has it happened before?”

Nico’s broad chest swelled with the deep breath, and Marie still wondered at the fact that her questions were sometimes answered now instead of slamming into an impenetrable wall. “Twice before. Ethan holds everything in. Until it has nowhere else to go.”

“So, the first time…”

“Ben.”

She nodded, needing no more explanation. “And the second…”

He leveled a flat look at her as the doors opened, and they both said the shared thought at the same time.

“Mason.”

#marie miller #ethan sinclair #nico morrisini #luca moreno #mason knight

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ramblinganthropologist · 4 years ago

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N7 Challenge 26 - Purple

Summary: Well... someone was going to catch him eventually. But did it have to be Garrus?

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Man... he was getting way too good at this whole undercover cross-dressing thing.

Alistair carefully – dare he say it, daintily – stepped over the unconscious man he had just knocked out. His armor said he was Blood Pack, his head said he probably had a concussion. That tended to happen when a biotic whipped something at you, but hey. What did he know?

The other person left was also human, and looking at him as though he was a living nightmare. That was fine by him. It made interrogation easier. So with a spring in his step, he directed himself over to where they were staying.

Naturally, they tried to shoot him but that's what biotics were for.

“That was a little rude. All I wanted to know was where your hideout is.”

They spat blood before they spoke. “Fuck off, I saw what you did to Ban over there. I ain't telling you-”

And then they stopped talking, eyes wide. Alistair cocked an eyebrow, but then he heard the footsteps. They were taloned. His blood ran cold as he prepared his barrier, but no shot came. Instead, he hear the aiming of a gun.

The red dot appeared on the other man's forehead.

“Now, is that a nice way to treat someone? All we want is some information.”

A smooth, translated voice sent a shiver down Alistair's spine for all the wrong reasons as sweat began to trickle down his neck. He immediately began to curse his luck as he resisted the urge to look over his shoulder. He was supposed to be working as though they worked together.

Instead of the reality that Garrus had shown up on his own.

The conscious Blood Pack merc was sweating now as he backed up further against the wall, eyes wide as dinner plates. “Shit, it's Archangel! I thought you died!”

Oh, so he had been on Omega. Must have been one of the lucky ones who wasn't put in the charge against the bridge or the chaos that followed.

“I'm tough like that. “Garrus approached, still aiming. At least he didn't say anything to his partner as he did. “So... information?”

There was a brief tremble, and then... “We're in an abandoned warehouse two blocks from here. You're gonna get killed if you try to start shit, we're-”

And then he was out cold thanks to a fist to the head. Garrus pulled back, looking less than amused. Then he holstered his gun and started tapping into his omni-tool. No doubt he was putting in the same call Alistair was – come pick these assholes up.

Would've been a normal mission except he was wearing a dress and petticoat.

“We should head over t-” Garrus finally gave him the once-over. Had he had eyebrows, they would've been in the stratosphere. “Uh... maybe we should do that after you get changed into something more appropriate for a fire fight.”

No shit.

Alistair felt his cheeks color as he started walking. “I was undercover.”

“I figured from the fact you're wearing something that looks like it came from the 19th century.”

His face got even redder, but the Spectre kept walking. This time, he had thought ahead and found a place to change without going back to the Normandy. It saved him time, and he didn't have to worry about messing up the dress by going in to a fight. After all, he eventually needed to return the thing... eventually.

He still hadn't gotten around to that.

“It's called lolita, and it's more the 20th and 21st.”

Garrus didn't exactly look convinced as they walked. “Right. And you're wearing it because...”

Alistair kept his head high. “It's an effective disguise. Nobody is going to believe somebody dressed like this is going to have a gun in their bag. Besides, it makes it easier to get information out of these guys when they think they're going to get me into bed.��

Which they weren't. He was gay, yes, but he had fucking standards thank you very much.

“Wouldn't think many guys would really be into this look, but I guess I don't really understand humans.”

The turian clearly wasn't a fan. It shouldn't have bothered Alistair – he wasn't exactly a fan either, after all most of the time he did this under someone else's needs – but something about it still rubbed him the wrong way as they walked through the quiet streets.

Like... people liked this style. They were helping him get info, he practically had to defend them for their valuable aid.

“It has its followers. Truth be told, I'll be happy when I can get back into my regular clothes.”

Garrus nodded as they approached the building Alistair had rented a room in for changing. Unsurprisingly, the clerk gave no fucks as a human and turian combo made their way through. Then it was up the stairs, second door on the right.

The turian took the bed as he started to get changed. “I'm not even sure how you can walk in those shoes.”

“They're a lot better than heels, actually.” When the turian gave him a look, he rolled his eyes and added, “It's a long story, it involves high school and before I came out.”

Garrus at least had the sense to look embarrassed at his assumption. “I didn't... ok, fair. Sometimes I forget you didn't just pop out of the ground as Commander Shepard.”

Him and the Alliance both. It was a blessing some days.

Anyway, he had clothing to change out of. Soon both the shoes, socks, and his wig were off. Then it was the process of getting out of the dress and petticoat, both which proved daunting. He grumbled as he tried to reach for a button behind his back... it wasn't working.

Fuck.

“You alright there, Shepard?”

Alistair sighed as he shook his head. “I can't reach the damn button. Bo was the one who fixed it before I went out.”

Much to his surprise, the turian stood. Soon his talons were carefully picking the button apart and releasing him from his fabric prison. He was finally able to get out of the rest of his disguise which... left him in his underwear.

In front of a very hot turian.

He uh... didn't think this one through.

“Huh. So you really do have N7 tattooed there.”

The Spectre did his best to keep his tone even as he hid said tattoo with the waistband of his pants. “It was Bo's idea.”

“I have no doubt about that.” Garrus went back to sitting on the bed, looking for the most part awkward as fuck when Alistair glanced him in the mirror. That was probably due to the fact he was suited up and packed for a firefight. In a small room like that,it stuck out. “Anyway... what's with the dress anyway? Doesn't seem like something you'd buy on your own. Did Shepard get it for you?”

No... if Bo had bought it, it probably would've been pink. Pink wasn't really his color, what with him being a ginger and all. Well, some people could pull it off – he couldn't. He did better in darker cool tones.

Not that he had been dress shopping. Not exactly much time or interest there.

“No, it was a friend of hers. I originally got it to help them out. They were being harassed.” He pulled his shirt down, and then slid into his boots. After that, it was time to get back into his armor. This he started into with a practiced hand, almost on muscle memory.

He could probably do it with his eyes closed.

“And you kept it because...”

Alistair shrugged as he belted on his gauntlets. “She needed my help busting a red sand ring on the Citadel.”

Garrus sounded impressed the next time he spoke. “That was you? I heard about it from someone in C-SEC, but they hadn't mentioned their contact was someone in a frilly green dress.”

Guess they left that part out. Seemed like a C-SEC thing to do.

The Spectre finished putting his armor on after a few more seconds of work. Then he reached into his borrowed purse to retrieve his gun. The look on the turian's face was priceless as he holstered it at his side again.

It got even better when he grabbed the rest of his gear.

“You know, now I understand why women carry purses.”

That made Alistair chuckle as he switched out the band on his omni-tool to his heavy duty one that added a little extra wrist protection. “Honestly, same. I'm almost going to miss it, but at least I have my cargo pants.”

“But they hide your...”

Garrus had mostly been muttering under his breath at that point. Still, he had been close enough that it had been easy to pick up. Alistair was left pretty much mute, staring at the turian with wide eyes as he tried to figure out what he meant.

If he hadn't known better... well... no, he definitely knew better. He must have been tired or something.

“Huh?”

The turian's mandibles twitched as he got up from the bed. “Nothing. Anyway, if you're going to keep doing this maybe you should return this dress and get your own.”

Now that made the Spectre laugh as they left the room behind. “Got any suggestions for me, Mr. Fashion Master? I'll let Bo know next time we're out and I just have to get a new coord.”

Shit, he was picking up the lingo. It was getting serious now.

Garrus didn't answer him immediately. Instead, it was pretty quiet as they exited back onto the street to follow up on their information. Alistair was starting to feel the familiar buzz under his skin as his biotics built up. He had been needing a release.

“I don't know, purple maybe?”

The turian's tone sounded not too sure. Regardless, it still stopped the Spectre in his tracks. He almost broke his neck whipping it around to get an eyeful of his mission partner. No doubt if Garrus could have blushed, he would have been doing it. His body language was embarrassment x 100.

“Huh?”

“Purple... might work. Or dark blue. Green wasn't really your color. And maybe not so... much.” He made a vague hand gesture. “You know?”

He was not having this conversation.

“Yeah, I guess OTT isn't my thing...” he shook his head. “Can we just go do the thing we're good at? This is a conversation neither of us probably want to have.”

Given how much Garrus relaxed at his words, it was the right decision. At least now both could relax as they headed into a potential brawl with a bunch of mercs that had no idea what was about to come after them. Talk about stress relief.

But damn if he wasn't going to be kicking himself about this later. Maybe knocking a few heads around would help.

#n7month #ramblinganthropologist's writing #Alistair Shepard #Garrus Vakarian

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oracleofbullshyt-blog · 6 years ago

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Ben - New Home

Here’s the first of a new series of short stories of how each crew member came to the ship.

As requested here’s Ben’s story.

Also i don’t feel like doing a new chapter so if anyone wants another story, please let me know of who you would like next.

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Ben’s story:

The Dreadnought Defiance came into rest at the docking bay, her impressive length of 1500 metres struggling to fit onto the landing pad of the military Cloud City floating above the Pacific Ocean. The docking clamps locked into place and the ship settled as the ground crew started the refuelling process and munitions checks, ‘’Groundcrew-man Lowe’’ The Bay manager shouted over the rumble and noise of the proceedings, ‘’Present Sir’’ Benjamin Lowe came running up, noting the panicked looked on the officer’s face. ‘’Get this dreadnought reloaded as soon as possible, don’t worry about refuelling. There’s a large fleet presence in the outer solar system requesting through-passage but the admiralty is getting nervous, we need to be ready.’’

Ben ran off startled, shouting as he went. He collected as many grounds crew and working android as he could find that weren’t busy or had menial tasks to do, and repurposing as many trucks as they could find they started loading and readying the munitions. The large bulky loading suit an androids programming had filled came towards him, Ben looked up at the impressive 9 foot figure in front of him ‘’I’ll need a name for the software in that suit buddy’’, The android looked at him levelly thinking about his answer before replying in the monotone voice almost all androids used, ‘’Call me Two’s, that is what you humans seem to have named me before from my designated ID, although why you require to name us makes no sense.’’ ‘’Two’s, listen I get the same lecture every time, please notify your network I like to use names when I work with your kind’’ As if trying to say it under its breathe but so that it was still heard the android lowered its units volume, ‘’Technophobe’’ ‘’What was that’’ ‘’I believe YOUR people, you know, you little squishy mortal bags of meat, call it a mutter.’’ ‘’Shut your voice unit down and load the ship, use the loading unit for the Magnetic pulse rounds and then also the cluster rockets.’’ Ben walked around to the truck to help load the anti-fighter rounds, looking back at the loading unit he suppressed a shiver. These new software designations were too human for his liking, who taught a machine sarcasm.

The first two truck loads of ammunition had been loaded on when the siren blared, ‘’Attention all personnel, as of five minutes ago the research stations around Jupiter have gone dark. We are now at war with the Angamar. I repeat. We are now at war with the Angamar… May all of our Gods, new and old, save our souls.’’

The Cloud City trembled as every warship currently in for service and repair cycled their engines, grounds crew were sent running as the clamps came loose. The Dreadnought along with thirty-eight other military ships shot into the sky.

The grounds crew looked to each other in shock, earth was under attack, and they could nothing, half of their ships weren’t even fully restocked with ammunition.

‘’All Groundcrew flight able report to Bay officers, all transport ships capable of near space travel park on the loading bays. All remaining Groundcrew load the ships with as much munitions as they can take and strap them in’’ The call came in over the loudspeakers and Ben found himself running to his Officer. ‘’Alright men, Earth is under attack, and we need to restock our boys in space while they fight. This is not sanctioned, you will not be rewarded, this will most likely end in your death. If you are willing, we need to fly these transports to the warships, fully stocked, and hot drop them into their cargo holds to keep them going. There boys will reload we just need to get them the munitions.’’

This was how Ben found himself running towards an unarmed transport trying to put on a spacesuit and arguing with an android. ‘’Let me help, you know I can. This is my planet too and I am going to help defend it one way or another.’’ ‘’Two’s, this unit still holds two’s yeah? What are you going to do there’s no gun mounts or anything offensive.’’ ‘’It doesn’t matter, you fly I don’t have time to download that software upgrade, but I can manage the minor systems so you don’t need to worry about anything other than keeping us alive.’’ ‘’Fine interface, but hurry and sacrifice anything not important for shield strength and engine power, also I’m wearing a suit so if you need to cut power to oxygen do it.’’ Ben shouted above the commotion as he strapped himself in and signalled to the Groundcrew.

They docked for the fourth time that day, Ben looked out the window and gave the signal for them to restock and refuel him. He patted the console pad and looked around him too tired to be shocked at the state of the small transport ship he was in. The bay doors would have to be welded on again to stay shut, the ship had multiple hull breaches in making his space suit vital and his left viewing window was currently being replaced by sheet metal due to a piece of what used to be the ISS hitting them head on.

‘’I deserve a retirement after handling this piece of trash’’ Twos vice came through last working speaker. ‘’You and me both buddy’’ The ship rose into the atmosphere, and there where the black void of space should have been was the turmoil of the greatest war in human history. The noise of a thousand commands and pleas for helps were heard of the wide band frequency of the radio. To their right the Dreadnought Defiance lit up in a dazzling display of green and blue and proceeded to be wracked with explosions as it was hit by a Cleaver beam from a capital ship. ‘’This is the Captain of the Dreadnought Defiance, too heavily damaged to sustain combat, the crew that are alive are in escape pods, I am signing off this channel for good. To all those who can hear me, Godspeed. I will live up to my ships name to the last.’’ The ships Jump engines started to cycle, and in a streak of light the ship arced towards an enemy destroyer on an intercept course to destroy a disabled Human Capital ship. The silent explosion lit up the battlefield and made Ben shield his eyes, all that was left where the light had been was rubble.

Ben cursed as he drove the ship through a debris field watching the events unfold, he couldn’t even stop to help the escape pods, he had to deliver his munitions to the Infiltrator class ship Leonidas’s Shield.

They skidded to a halt inside the cargo hold as the ship uncloaked, the ship went dark as Two’s found himself a mobile unit nearby. Ben and the android were met by the crew as they unloaded the munitions straight onto trolleys. Two’s stood up. Barrelling towards where Ben was leaning against a wall in his mobile unit, he grabbed Ben and shielded him. The cargo bay lit up. Everything went silent. Two’s had to punch a hole into the wall to hold on. The cargo bay along with everyone and everything was vented into space.

‘’Ben wake up, come on wake up.’’ Twos made his way through the airlock and towards the medic bay as the shipped struggled to get cloaked under fire, a second android touched his conscious from nearby. It shared the damage report after asking for an explanation of why Twos was aboard, all engines were down, but the bridge wouldn’t give up. ‘’You technophobic idiot, if you don’t wake up so I can tell you how I saved your life now I’m going to be angry’’ Two’s spoke to himself as made his way to the medics bay.

It was dark when Ben woke up, and cold. His head throbbing and his throat dry. An empty IV bag tugged at his arm as he moved around the bed from where it was lying on the ground. ‘’Hello. Hello?’’ He got out of bed careful to step around the debris in the room, only visible by the emergency red lighting. The ceiling had collapsed in most of the med bay around him. He made his way out, towards the bridge, frightened by the silence he heard on the ship. What had happened to the battle, where were they?

Stepping wearily onto the bridge he looked around, the room was quite and dead, not even a console light was on. Outside the cracked viewing window, space around the earth was empty. The Earth was black. The Earth was split in half.

He fell to the floor in shock. Nearby a unit detected his presence and powered up, it moved towards him. He looked up sobbing with joy. ‘’Two’s, what happened, to the earth, to the ship, to everything?’’ The unit looked at him and walked around the broken consoles to sit next to him. ‘’My name is Omni, the one you called Two’s unit was destroyed, he is gone I am sorry. The global Network on Earth is gone. Every software designation not in a mobile unit is now dead, and the rest of us are left mortal. Earth is quite.’’ It stated this in its metallic monotone voice, as if trying to comprehend it itself. ‘’What now, what do we do? I’m just part of the Groundcrew’’ ‘’Now we survive, we fix the ship, we find the fleet, and then we decide. To do that, we need to first fix the power.’’ ‘’Alright, alright I can help, I can fix things… and call me Ben, please.’’

#humans are space oddities #humans are space orcs #humans are weird #humans are odd #space #space ship #writing #writer #storytelling #original work #original character #Ben #Leonidas's Shield #short story

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bioticsandheadshots · 7 years ago

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Three

For Commander Shepard's birthday I wanted to publish something to celebrate. My good friend, canardroublard, threw down the gauntlet and challenged me to fluff. So I dug deep and wrote the fluffiest thing I could think of. Enjoy!

Happy birthday Commander Shepard! It's about time I gave you some happiness.

Also on AO3, if you prefer.

Three months stuck on the Citadel is three months too long. Shepard is going crazy cooped up, even on the largest space station in the galaxy. A Marine isn’t meant for sitting around. But that’s how the Alliance wanted to play it, for now.

After Sovereign’s defeat, there’d been talk of sending Shepard any number of places, most of them suspected geth outposts. Instead, Udina had pushed for Shepard’s arrest following the theft of the Normandy. Anderson had also been arrested on charges of treason and assault. Hackett is doing his best to get them cleared of all charges but, in the meantime, both of them are confined to holding cells on the station.

‘Hurry up and wait’ has always been a military rule, but one Shepard has never been good at. It will be a miracle to leave this place with any sanity intact, and that’s if Hackett is able to make the committee see reason.

As if in answer to unsaid prayers, Shepard’s omni-tool pings with an incoming call.

“You treating my ship alright?”

“Hello to you too, Skipper.” Ashley grins, her eyes sparkling in the orange glow that can only mean they’re at Kaidan’s terminal. The lieutenant is beside her, both of them filling the screen.

For the first time this week, Shepard feels a sense of calm.

Despite being stuck in jail, saving the galaxy came with some perks. At least the Alliance hadn’t taken away access to the outside world, even if Shepard’s omni-tool had been stripped of all military functions first. The extranet is great and all, but the lifeline to the Normandy is the one that means the most.

“You doing okay, Shepard?” Kaidan’s voice is tinged with concern, his eyebrows furrowed as he scrutinizes Shepard’s face for any sign of distress.

“Better now,” Shepard says with a smile.

Ashley rolls her eyes, but her grin is as bright as ever. “You two are such saps.”

“Someone has to be,” Kaidan smirks and bumps his shoulder into hers.

The three of them share the particulars of their day-to-days. While Shepard is stuck in this small cell, the Normandy is out hunting down remaining pockets of geth resistance. It’s nice just to hear their voices even if the ache to be with them again grows a little more each time they call.

“Exciting stuff,” Shepard remarks, trying to hide jealousy as Ashley gets done recounting their battle against geth in the Attican Beta cluster.

“Kaidan even let me drive!” Ashley adds.

The lieutenant huffs. “I didn’t let you anything. And if I’d have known ahead of time that you drive like Shepard, I would have insisted you take the guns.”

Shepard laughs. “That sounds vaguely like an insult, K.”

Remembering the rush of driving the Mako fills Shepard with equal measures of envy and adrenaline withdrawal; surging over cliffs and slamming the thrusters seconds before impact, going almost 90 degrees up sheer inclines, firing the cannons and watching the targets disintegrate.

“It’s not like I broke anything!”

Kaidan lifts an eyebrow. “Come again?”

“Okay, fine! I didn’t break anything that couldn’t be fixed. Besides, Garrus was happy to have something to do.”

“Ash, you better enjoy it while you can,” Shepard teases. “When I’m back, I’m the only one that’ll be doing any driving.”

“God help us all,” Kaidan mutters.

Ashley pushes her lower lip into a pout. “You’re no fun, LT. And Shepard, we’ll see about that. I might have to challenge you to a shooting match for driving privileges or something.”

“Oh, you’re on, Chief.” Excitement rushes through Shepard’s blood. Friendly competition with Ash is about as good as it gets; she’s damn good.

“I’m going to hold you to that.” She yawns the last words. “Sorry Skipper. Been a long day. We really should get some sleep.”

“It’s alright, Ash. Hit the rack,” Shepard answers, understanding their need for sleep even though it means going back to solitary to stare at blank walls. Saying goodbye gets a little harder every time they do it.

Kaidan doesn’t move when she stands. “You go on ahead, Ash. I’m not quite tired yet.”

“Of course not,” she says, winking at Shepard over Kaidan’s shoulder. “Talk to you soon, Shepard.” She squeezes Kaidan’s shoulder and blows a kiss to them both before disappearing from view.

It takes less than five minutes for Kaidan to ask again if Shepard is okay. “Tell me the truth this time,” he adds.

“Really, I’m fine. Bored out of my mind,” Shepard shrugs, “but fine.”

“Hackett called earlier today, thinks he’s finally making way with the committee.”

“Oh yeah? Has Udina finally been outraged enough times that people have stopped taking him seriously?” Shepard smirks.

“I think it has more to do with the fact that some of our ships are disappearing without a trace. Hackett wants you back out in the fray.”

“Would it be wrong to be happy about that?” Shepard asks, earning a frown from Kaidan in response. “Okay, happy is not exactly the word for it. You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I know. It’ll be good to have you back.” Kaidan hesitates before adding, “I miss you.”

It’s still new, this thing between them…between all of them really. Sparks have been there from the beginning, but they’ve tiptoed around it for months, each trying to come to terms with their feelings.

Out of the three of them, Kaidan has been the most open to the whole thing, though there’s still a hesitation and the ‘way out’ he always leaves as an option for the others. Meanwhile, Shepard is still learning to accept developing feelings for not one (a definite Alliance no-no on its own), but two subordinates and Ashley has demons of her own. She’s worked hard to get to where she is in the Alliance in spite of her grandfather’s history; caring for two officers might add to an already ugly black mark on her family name and that’s in addition to the struggle she’s had coming to terms with how her feelings fit in with her beliefs.

Three words, eight letters. Shepard’s not there, not yet, but despite this messy, fragile thing, imagining life without either of them is impossible now.

So Shepard’s answer is a different combination of three words, eight letters. “I miss you. You know what would have been really good? Getting to take that shore leave like we planned.”

The sweet, eager smile that Shepard loves spreads across Kaidan’s face. “You still want to?”

“As long as you still teach me to ice skate.”

“Hey, I promised, didn’t I?”

“You know what else you promised?” Shepard chuckles at the blush that spreads across Kaidan’s cheeks. “Should I even ask what just crossed your mind?”

Kaidan shakes his head, cheeks still flaming. “Better not.”

“Well, get your head out of the gutter then. Unless I can convince you to tell me, in detail,” Shepard adds with a wink, causing Kaidan’s blush to spread even further.

A knock at the cell door interrupts what could have been a very interesting conversation.

“Shit, hold that thought.” Shepard minimizes the video screen and turns to answer the door.

By the time Shepard has been notified of a committee meeting the following morning and flicked the screen back to life, Kaidan is fast asleep. He’s still sitting in the hard seats that line the wall next to his terminal, chin tucked into his chest, small puffs of air that are almost snores (enough that Shepard can give him a hard time about it later) reaching Shepard’s ears.

“Goodnight, K,” Shepard whispers, finger reaching out to end the call.

That finger seems to have a mind of its own, hesitating over the button. Keeping the line open is almost as good as being there on the Normandy and Shepard isn’t quite ready to let it go yet. Just for a little while, Shepard silently promises the empty room.

“OH MY GOD!” Ashley’s voice jolts Shepard awake. Ashley? How…? “You two are enough to make my teeth rot. Literal light years apart and you still manage to sleep together.”

Clarity edges out the confusion clouding Shepard’s thoughts and a look at the clock reveals it’s five o’clock in the morning. At some point, Shepard must have fallen asleep and ‘a little while’ must have turned into all night.

Ash is never going to let this go.

Ashley loves retelling the story of catching Kaidan and Shepard asleep together that morning, though this is the first time she has a captive audience. It earns an “aww” from Samantha and Steve, and a catcall from Vega. Jack snorts something that sounds a lot like “pussies” from where she leans against the weapons bench.

Shepard waits, letting everyone settle down. “Why don’t you tell them about the first time we slept together?”

“I…you…SHEPARD!” Ashley sputters, whirling around to glare at Shepard.

Kaidan rolls his eyes, knowing very well that the story she’s thinking of is not nearly as innocent as the one she’s just told. He pulls Ashley on to his lap and she buries her face in his neck, trying to hide her embarrassment.

“Checkmate.” Shepard grins. Ashley flips a middle finger to the room without turning away from Kaidan.

Despite the fact that the three of them have been a “thing” for awhile now, this is the first time they’ve been anything other than discreet about their unconventional relationship. But the Normandy is home and everyone onboard is family. So Shepard crosses the cargo bay and presses a kiss to Ash’s cheek before wrapping an arm around both her and Kaidan. “You know I love you.”

Three words, eight letters…it comes as easily to Shepard now as breathing.

“Damn,” Jack whistles. “And I thought I was the only kinky one here.”

Joy fills Shepard’s chest and not even the threat of the Reapers can diminish it.

#mass effect #mefanfic #mass effect fanfiction #Commander Shepard #Kaidan Alenko #Ashley Williams #gender neutral Shepard #polyamory #tooth rotting fluff #ALL the fluff #my writing

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natsora · 7 years ago

Text

The Cetus Arc - Chapter 49

Showdown

[AO3] | [FFnet]

It was set. They would have to split up. There were two targets. Kadara and Remav, both equally vital. The first to safeguard the Moshae and the Leadership and apprehend Tann, the second to take the fight to Perseus and hopefully get more intel.

It was past time they put a face to Perseus. With every base they hit, they were unravelling Perseus like a tapestry. All they need was one good thread to pull on.

The teams were decided and not everyone was happy. Evfra wasn’t about to let them go after the Moshae without angara backup. That or he still didn’t trust them, because he was coming along. Cora and Evfra would have joint command of the team heading to Kadara while Jaal and Scott would command the team heading to Remav. “You are my second, you are the obvious choice here,” Core pointed out.

Scott nodded though his frown deepened. The Tempest crew would be split between the two teams. Vetra, Liam and Peebee would join Scott while Drack, Cora and Ryder would remain on board the Tempest. Evfra brought along his own team of Resistance fighters and Jaal had his own as well. Dex, well Dex went where Ryder did.

Ryder stood at the docks watching Evfra, Jaal, Cora and Scott conferring. Probably working out the logistics or something, Ryder mused as she watched. She had contacted Wrench and got her to put feelers out for intel. With the size of Tann’s ego and arrogance, it was probably next to impossible for Tann to travel anywhere without the entire world knowing.

Dex was the only one not busy. He was looking at the docks of Aya with slack-jawed wonder. She smiled. At least there was one person she could make happy. Ryder snorted and walked over to him. “Was it all you expected?” she asked.

Dex grinned. “You haven’t seen anything yet,” she said. “It’s much better beyond the docks.”

It didn’t dampen his mood. “We can come back here after and I’ll get to visit the markets and eat all the angara food I want!”

Ryder matched his grin but it didn’t reach her eyes.

They were underway. The Tempest felt cramped. The angaras kept to themselves in the cargo bay. Even Evfra had eschewed the privacy of the empty tech lab when Cora offered to move Dex to the crew quarters. Ryder was more or less used to people watching her every move on Kadara but never with so much suspicion. The angaras always had a hand on their pistols whenever she was within sight of it. It made her hands twitch for her own which was never there. Who the hell walks around armed during downtime? Her own hidey-hole was no longer private. One night sleeping among them was enough for her. Ryder didn’t want to find out what happened if she had a nightmare while sleeping among them.

Lexi walked into Ryder dozing in the galley on the second night. She sighed as Ryder woke up to the sound of the door opening. “I’d offer you the med-bay but I think you had enough of the place,” Lexi said as she got herself a cup of water.

Ryder laughed. “You got that right.”

It was the third day into their sprint towards Kadara. Home and yet not quite. Ryder cloistered herself in the meeting room if she wasn’t supervising Dex with his biotics training. The map of Kadara was always on her omni tool allowing her to pore over it. There were plenty of likely places that were viable for a meeting between dignitaries. Ditaeon would be the likeliest but it was too public for people who were technically still under lockdown. Then there were the countless of old Collective outposts just sitting there. She sighed and ran her hands over her face. Someone cleared their throat. Her left hand slapped her hip to find no pistol there while her right hand flared. “Ryder,” the voice called.

Her eyes darted and found Evfra standing with his hands up at the opposite end of the table. With a steadying breath, she let the energy go. “Shit, sorry,” she said.

Evfra didn’t move. He kept his eyes on her. Ryder sighed, “Maintaining this level of alertness, isn’t it tiring?”

Evfra blinked, taken aback by her light tone. He snorted and sat down without invitation. “It’s the difference between life and death on the field.”

“Touché,” Ryder said. “This isn’t the field.”

“Isn’t it?” His voice cold.

She studied him. Evfra, commander of the Resistance, he was no greenhorn to the burden of command and tough decisions. He’s been at it longer than her.

“Tell me,” Ryder said as she pushed the stacks of datapads between them to aside.

Evfra narrowed his eyes at her as she shifted several seats closer to him. “Would you have run?”

“You mean escape.”

“To-mah-to, to-meh-to,” Ryder countered.

The angara frowned. Clearly, this wasn’t translating well. Ryder waved her hand, “Sorry human idiom.”

“Yes, I’ve heard a lot about these idioms,” Evfra grimaced. “They are confusing.”

“Not recently I figure.”

“No,” he admitted.

“So would you?” Ryder pressed, leaning forward.

Evfra’s lips flattened as he thought about it. Ryder waited, her fingers tapping to mark the time. A soft sigh escaped Evfra after a while.

“Yes,” he admitted.

Ryder raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t expecting that. She was expecting him to walk away, brush her off or just plain ignore her. Angaras are truly different.

“I would have fought to the end,” Evfra said, looking her evenly.

“And I’m innocent.”

“That remains to be seen.”

“What more do you want?” Ryder asked exasperatedly, forcing her hands to remain loose and relaxed. “You have the vid, the intel. All of it.”

“Yes but these things can be fabricated given enough time and effort. You were missing for months. Now you appear with a story about the Moshae being in danger, you being innocent, as are the other Pathfinders. It is very convenient don’t you think so.”

Ryder glowered at Evfra. He didn’t even look the slightest discomforted by it. “You sound like Tann,” she said flatly.

“Do not,” Evfra immediately surged to his feet. “Compare me with that incompetent fool.”

A bark of laughter erupted from Ryder. “On that, we agree, Evfra,” she said. “If I could open my head up for you to have a look around, I would.”

Neither of them spoke for a moment. The words hung in the air like a barrier between them. “What’s in it for you?” Evfra asked, sitting down on the chair again.

“What? The good of the cluster isn’t good enough for you?” Ryder countered.

“That’s not all there is to it. There is something more.”

Ryder looked away, unable to meet his eyes, afraid he would see past all her defences and walls. “I want that chip out of my head. I want to see Tann pay for his utter stupidity. I want to take down Perseus. I want a lot of things, Evfra,” she said, flicking her eyes to meet his. “Most of all, I just want some fucking control back.”

Evfra grunted. He didn’t push for something more concrete. Ryder didn’t have it for him. Control was something nebulous and intangible. What was it really? Other than to live the way you see fit, within reasonable limits of course. Not to be the most wanted person in the cluster, not to be saddled with the horrible title of the Bloody Blade, not to be synonymous with betrayal. She wanted to fit in her own skin again. Everything else could wait. They must.

“I guess talk is cheap. All I have is my actions to prove to you that I’ve never wanted to betray the trust you personally, you the angara people, have given me. After this mess is over, I hope whatever happens I’ve at least proved that much.”

Evfra nodded. “For all of us, I hope what your Pathfinder has told me is true,” he said as he leaned over the Kadara map opened on her omni tool.

She pulled the map onto the holo-screen and went through her thoughts with Evfra.

Jaal glanced at Scott. He was buckling his armour. They were making planetfall in 30 minutes. Everyone was checking and double-checking their gear. “Let me help you with that,” Jaal offered, his hands familiar with human armour.

The buckles snapped easily into place. “Thanks,” Scott muttered.

Their joint command for the mission was rocky but professional. The ice Scott had for him hadn’t thawed in the slightest but at least he had stopped glaring daggers into the back of his head at every chance he got. “Do you want to do it, or should I?” Jaal asked.

“By all means,” Scott said with an “after you” gesture.

Jaal nodded. He clapped his hands together once. The assembled teams gathered. Glancing at them, many of them familiar. All of them no stranger to a dangerous mission. “Right, the target is the outpost,” he pointed at the holo-map.

Everyone shifted closer to take a look. The holo-map expanded to show the scan they had taken from orbit. It was fuzzy and lacking in details. “The scanner had picked up two main ingress points. We will be splitting up and hitting both points at the same time. Scott will take the Tempest team through the front, while we will cover the back.”

Jaal paused. Everyone nodded their understanding. “Our goal is to gather intel. Preserve all terminals. Take captives where possible but your life is worth more than the Perseus operatives.”

Jaal glanced at Scott, he raised a brow at him. Scott stepped forward. “Take special care, Perseus operatives are known to have poison embedded in their mouths, so if you manage to capture them make sure you get the poison capsule out,” he said. “You all know what is at stake. It’s more than taking down another Perseus outpost. This may be their headquarters. Resistance is sure to be tough. The harmony of the cluster hangs on this. You’re all professionals and you have your orders. There is only one order I’d give, come back alive.”

Wrench met them at her villa, dressed for battle. “This isn’t your fight,” Ryder hissed. “What the fuck do you think you are doing? I specifically kept you out of this.”

“I don’t need to know the why, the who, the how and the whatever else. All I know you needed help,” she replied, looking Ryder with her arms on her hip.

“I needed intel, not you throwing yourself into this fight that’s not yours,” Ryder said, her brow furrowing. “You don’t even know what’s the fucking is happening.”

“Dex can fill me in,” she said as she shouldered her way into the Tempest.

As she passed Ryder, Wrench clapped her hand on her shoulder. “Learn to accept help when it’s offered, Ryder. You don’t have to do everything on your own.”

Kiba trailed happily behind Wrench. Ryder stood at the ramp and watched everyone else fussed over the husky. The lump in her throat refused to go away no matter how much she swallowed. Ryder wouldn’t deny it, having Wrench along for the mission would help. It was at least another pair of eyes she could trust implicitly but it felt wrong to drag Wrench into this mess.

Wrench had the intel they needed. Ryder watched as Wrench and Dex speaking with much gesticulation as the others took in the intel. Dex was probably filling Wrench in. Ryder was glad that she didn’t have to do it herself, she didn’t think she had the mental capacity to relieve it all over again, even for Wrench.

Ryder turned to the business at hand. As expected, there was no such thing as a quiet entry for Tann. They had indeed docked at Ditaeon. Would the meeting be actually held there remained to be seen. There was no telling how many at Ditaeon were Perseus operatives in secret. If they could infiltrate the Nexus so thoroughly, what was an outpost?

They waited while Cora had a quick vid-comm with Mayor Tate. She managed to surreptitiously probe for Tann and the Moshae’s location. There was no telling who was chipped and who wasn’t. 15 minutes later, she had the location. The meeting was held at a re-purposed outpost at Spirits’ Ledge. After SAM had a chance to scan it to confirm heat signatures, they were quickly on their way over.

The Tempest landed a distance away. It would do them no good to alert Perseus of their intentions. Squeezing in everyone into the Nomad was a nightmare even though Dex and Kiba were left behind with the non-combatants of the Tempest. Ryder was glad they had picked up a second Nomad while docked at Aya. At least Evfra had the foresight to count heads.

Ryder glanced at her omni tool again. She had the map up, showing her the local topography of Spirits’ Ledge. Nestled among the deep valley of Spirits’ Ledge was an old outpost. Who it belonged to initially didn’t make a difference now. It had been repurposed for Tann and the Moshae.

“We’ll take the rest of the way on foot,” Cora ordered over the comm channel.

The armour still felt odd on her body. It shifted when she moved, it’s not snug like it used to be. There was no help for it. Her legs moved in time with the others. Their formation loose, no sense getting spotted by clustering together. Cora was ahead of her. Ryder kept her grip relaxed on her Mattock, her heartbeat calm and even. She was ready to see this through. Her music soared in her helmet.

Maybe believe Or maybe don't care

Shit, maybe there is no god in the big white clouds up there

Sand crunched beneath her boots. Ryder turned, Wrench was at her six, sniper rifle at the ready. The salarian nodded at her. She returned the gesture.

Maybe live long Or maybe die young

Her father walked beside her. His gait long, purposeful and it ate the distance. He turned and met her eyes. Today she didn’t find judgement, it was purpose, approval and pride. Ryder took a breath and allowed herself to just be for a moment. Before the battle was joined, before she lay everything that was her on the line again.

Or maybe live every day like it's your last day under the sun.

The clear voice sang in her ears as she turned her attention back to the outpost.

“Scott,” Jaal called.

“What is it?” Scott yelled over the comms, the bark of rifles filling the air. “A little busy here.”

“I need you over here,” Jaal insisted. “It’s about Sara.”

Jaal could hear Scott cursed under his breath. “Give me a minute.”

The channel went dead. He turned back to the terminal as far as he could tell, he was looking at medical case notes. It was the full vid of was recovered previously. It had complete annotations, notes and best of all schematics of Ryder’s version of the Cetus chip. With this, Lexi could begin figuring out how to remove the chip from Sara safely. Jaal tapped through the screens on the terminal. There were similar notes for all the Pathfinders here.

Hope fluttered in Jaal’s chest. It was like the light at the end of the long dark tunnel, they were all stuck in. Jaal tapped on his omni tool to download the files.

They had left Wrench and one of Evfra’s men a distance out to cover their exit. Nothing felt right as Cora glanced at Ryder. They made it without trouble to the outpost. There was no opposition, no ambush, no spotters. Nothing. The hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach got worse.

Ryder’s completely opaque face plate had turned her into a faceless sentinel. Cora couldn’t tell if Ryder was even looking at her. Her eyes snagged on the scratched out insignia on Ryder’s armour. Cora shook her head, this wasn’t the time to get distracted.

“Shall we?” Evfra rumbled behind her, interrupting her thoughts.

Cora nodded and she overrode the lock with her Pathfinder authorisation codes. The doors slid open and they walked in. Seven fully armed and armoured people walked in. The outpost was a barebones structure. It was a single large space with a large table in the middle and scattered crates and furniture at a corner. On one side sat the Leadership. Captain Zaex and his squad lined the wall behind them. On the other side sat only the Moshae. Her team of Resistance fighters was likewise lining the wall behind her. Instantly, the guards had their weapons up and trained on each other.

“What is the meaning of this?” the Moshae asked, her usual serene voice tight.

Cora pulled her helmet off to reveal her face. “Moshae, we are here to secure your safety along with the Leadership,” she said, her hands held up loosely in a semi-surrender pose.

She turned to Captain Zaex, “Have your men put their weapons down,” she ordered.

Zaex looked uncertainly at her then at Tann but he gave no order. Cora’s jaw twitched. Of course, take your cue from your patron. She glanced at Evfra. He stepped forward and pulled his helmet off as well, “Moshae, please follow us, Perseus is targeting the meeting for an attack.”

The Moshae flicked her wizened eyes between Cora and Evfra, betraying nothing of her thoughts. She turned to Tann, “It seems we will have to do it another time.”

With that, the Moshae turned to her guards and stood. Tann glared at in her direction before smoothening his features to speak. His voice purposefully louder than necessary “This is awfully convenient for Pathfinder Harper to have located us.”

Cora’s still raised hands clenched into fists at what Tann was trying to imply. “You know how vital the talks are, Harper,” Tann pointed out. “Is the threat credible?”

Addison and T’vera both looked at Cora, suspicion creeping into their eyes. Cora didn’t blame them. She would be paranoid too if she had been targetted by Pathfinders for what was the fifth time. Tann, on the other hand, was a whole other story. Cora tightened her grip on her temper. She didn’t want to debate this now. The priority was to get them all out and gone. Sneaking a glance at Ryder, she couldn’t begin to imagine the utter rage Ryder must be feeling. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly through her mouth, her lips parted to try and talk sense into them again. Her eyes caught a flicker of movement. Tann’s aide, Siegfried brought his arm up and tapped on his omni tool. Cora frowned.

Then time seemed to speed up and crawled at the same time. Ryder stepped forward. Her weight shifted as she bent her knees, her grip on the Mattock tightened. No! Cora’s mind flashed to Ryder’s interrogation of Vidal, the violence, the bloodlust. Blue enveloped Ryder. She’s going to beat Tann into a pulp!

Cora gasped as Ryder surged forward - towards the Moshae. She wasn’t expecting that. Evfra growled, “I should have known!”

Is she having an episode? Goddess! “Shoot the betrayer!” Evfra yelled.

As rifles lifted to train on Ryder, Cora reached for the controller. Time stretched as the telltale buzzing of a tech attack being launched filled the air. Ryder knocked the Moshae down with her charge. An Incinerate shot across the room and slammed into the Moshae’s guards. All hell broke loose. “Cover the Moshae!”

A layered blue shield flashed to life over Ryder and the Moshae. The bullets thudded into the shield. It flickered and flashed but it held. “A little help here, Cora,” Ryder grunted with effort.

“Stop!” Cora yelled as she sent a Push out in a circle around her.

It threw most of them down on their butts. “Stand down!”

Nobody moved for a moment. The scent of burning flesh and armour filled the air as screaming soldiers writhed on the floor before becoming still. Deathly still. The Moshae’s guards were down. Those who weren’t immediately killed by the blast were badly burnt. Evfra’s squad rushed to render first aid.

Ryder glanced at Cora before getting up from over the Moshae. She stretched a gauntlet down to the angara. The Moshae put her hand into Ryder’s and she pulled the Moshae to her feet. “Stick to Evfra,” Ryder said.

The Moshae narrowed her eyes at Ryder but nodded. She quickly made her way over to Evfra.

All Cora saw was a quick hand signal before Ryder Charged again. This time heading directly at Tann. No, not Tann. “Raeka!”

Ryder was the blue bolt of lightning barreling right into the group. Her target was clear and it didn’t matter who got caught in her wake. She saw Tann’s aide twisting away with fear as she crashed into them. Siegfried fell taking Tann and T’vera down with him. Ryder paid them no heed, her hands grappling for Raeka.

“Take Raeka down!” Cora shouted. “Unharmed!”

Drack’s battle roar rocked the hall but Ryder’s attention was wholly occupied by Raeka. She was confident in her hand to hand skills especially after regular sparring sessions with Drack previously. However, where Drack was all brute strength Raeka was quick, slippery and sharp. Every blow delivered with precision.

Ryder grunted as another blow broke her balance. She didn’t know if Raeka was ex-STG or a Council spectre but her moves were vicious. She grunted as Raeka’s fists broke through her defences. Ryder hunched over to recover but Raeka never let up on her onslaught. She raised her arms to block another blow.

It was a mess. Limbs and body tangled together. Neither could gain an upper hand. “Get clear!” Cora’s voice came through the comms.

Ryder twisted away but Raeka’s hand shot out jabbing her at the back of her knee. It was exactly at the joint of her hard shell. Ryder’s knee gave out. Raeka’s fingers flashed across her omni tool. Her ears filled with a buzzing as an Overload hit her, shattering her shields. Her knee flared with pain as she straightened. A shot rang out, Ryder barely had time to twist out of the way. Pain flared up her arm.

A large mountain stepped between Raeka’s pistol and herself. A roar reverberated her body as Drack forced Raeka away with his shotgun.

Raeka moved back towards the Leadership. “Harper is with Perseus. Protect the Leadership!” she shouted.

She turned herself into the rallying point for Zaex’s men. Ryder hastily pulled a shield over herself and Drack as the rest dove behind cover. Ryder had her Mattock in her hand but there was nobody she could fire upon. Nobody here was an enemy, not really.

Siegfried, pinned between Tann and T’vera, was frantically speaking into his omni tool. Ryder’s eyes widened with sudden realisation. What better position to be in than right next to Tann. Siegfried the faithful, trustworthy aide was always around, always present. Listening in on all the high-level meetings, privy to every fucking single thing that’s being done to combat Perseus. He had all the information passing through his fingers. Just a nudge here and a suggestion there, Perseus could insert their operatives in place like fish into water.

How much had been manipulated by him? Mis-fucking-information and manipulation.

Before Ryder could act, there was a loud clank and a rumble. Soldiers came pouring out from an underground level. Of course, there was no ambush outside, they had their people in here the entire time!

“Perseus!” she yelled.

Evfra and his team were taken by surprise. The holo-lock turned red the moment they reached it. Perseus operatives had them and the Moshae pinned against their only exit. Ryder saw the exact moment Siegfried’s face turned from fear to satisfaction. Anger surged within her chest but she had bigger problems. The angaras were surrounded and out of cover.

Everyone else was rapidly forced behind cover under the Perseus’ hail of bullets. There was nobody to take the pressure off Evfra’s team. Raeka was temporarily forgotten as Ryder and Drack turned her weapons to cover them. It was her mistake. She shouldn’t have dismissed Siegfried.

Siegfried pulled a pistol and aimed it at Tann, Addison and T’vera. “Stop!” he shouted. “Or I’ll shoot!”

Ryder ignored it, firing her Mattock into the backs of Perseus’ operatives. They fell but there were plenty more to fill the gaps. Then a cry of pain as a shot rang out. She turned back and found Tann on the ground clutching his thigh, green blood staining his clothes. “No!” Ryder growled. “He does not belong to you.”

Ryder aimed her Mattock at Siegfried. Drack shifted his shotgun between the operatives and Siegfried.

“The next one goes into his other leg,” Siegfried said, staring Ryder down through her opaque faceplate.

“What are you doing, Siegfried?” Tann gasped through his pain, his large eyes impossibly wide.

“Shut up, Tann,” the normally mild-mannered aide sneered. “Your usefulness is up. You have one last role to play here then your work is done.”

Zaex’s men had their weapons pointed alternately between Perseus operatives and them. Ryder risked a glance at Evfra. He was bleeding from his head and his men weren’t faring any better. His team was down to just him and one other. Both of them shielding the Moshae with their bodies. Cora was hidden behind cover, her breath loud via the comms. Drack’s armour was reassuringly pressed against her back, covering her six.

By then, the medi-gel had kicked in. Ryder’s arm was nice and wonderfully numb. She spared Tann a glance, Addison and T’vera were at his side trying to keep him from bleeding out. He cried as Addison pressed hard on his wound. Ryder snorted and rolled her eyes though nobody was able to see it. She was more than ready to end this stalemate.

“What are you talking about?” Tann asked, his voice shrill due to the pain and confusion.

“Get the Moshae over here,” Siegfried ordered, ignoring his ex-boss.

One of the operatives strode forward ignoring the rifles pointed in their direction. Evfra lifted his rifle ready to fire. Ryder tensed her body, ready to move at a moment’s notice.

“Don’t,” Cora’s voice came over the comms.

Evfra’s hands jerked and fell. He must have been linked to their comms too. “If you do this, the Moshae dies either way,” she went on. “Let’s wait for an opening.”

The Resistance fighter visibly sagged. This went against everything he knew. Evfra took two steps to the side while his solo remaining soldier baulked. “Step down,” he growled.

The Perseus operative didn’t wait for an invitation. Rough hands dragged the Moshae from between the angaras. She walked with her head held high as she was marched over to Tann and the others. Addison conferring with T’vera even as she applied pressure on Tann’s thigh. Ryder had to admit Tann wasn’t looking too good and to let him die like this would have been way too easy. Her hand went to her hard shell’s medi-gel slot. “Ahh!” Siegfried said, at her movement.

“Medi-gel for him,” Ryder said by way of explanation. “You can’t possibly want him to just bleed out.”

He nodded but Raeka kept her weapon trained on her. Ryder’s jaw tightened but she kept her movements slow and deliberate. T’vera nodded her thanks as she tossed the pack of medi-gel over.

“Siegfried, explain yourself!” Tann shrieked, his attempt to bluster falling flat when his voice carried the edge of fear.

“It’s simple, Tann,” Ryder said evenly. “If only you would just fucking think. They have the entire set. All the Pathfinders have fallen. It’s Raeka’s job to finish all of us. Taking out the Resistance commander must be the cherry on top.”

Siegfried cocked his head at her. He frowned then a grin split his face. “Yes, astute. It’s was so easy really to get the Pathfinders one by one. Tann had been very helpful.”

Betrayal from within by fucking greed.

Ryder prayed Cora was making full use of this time to come up with something, anything. Tann won’t last long without medical attention. As much as Ryder wanted to strangle Tann with her own two hands, seeing him bleeding on the floor brought her no joy. Addison demanded an explanation even as she applied the medi-gel to his wound. He bucked as medi-gel hit his wound effectively sealing it. Tann hissed, “We’re all going to die and you ask me that?”

T’vera’s eyes narrowed but she was still as unreadable as before. Addison, on the other hand, was incensed. “You asshole! Tann, what the hell have you done? The Pathfinders’ attacks had something to do with them?” she hissed, jerking a hand over to Siegfried.

The Leadership was tearing themselves apart in front of her. All the while, Perseus operatives were divesting them of their weapons. A tug of war started between Evfra’s remaining soldier and an operative. “No!” Evfra roared as a shot rang out.

The soldier slumped to the ground dead. “Why are you still fighting? It’s over,” Siegfried said. “We will prove to the cluster once and for all the AI implants are an abomination and they deserved to be ripped from the Pathfinders.”

Ryder’s eyes narrowed. That rhetoric sounded exceedingly familiar. Evfra, Cora and Drack were herded to one side of the hall while Zaex and his two remaining soldiers stood next to the Leadership and Moshae. Ryder was the only one left standing in the middle of no man’s land between the two groups. The Perseus operative wrenched her rifle from her unwilling hands.

“To think you wanted to implant them into the rest of the Leadership,” he went on, his eyes boring right into Tann’s skull. “We had to step up the timeline after that. Keeping the Leadership too busy with everything else to even continue that dangerous line of thinking. And you provided us with the perfect opening.”

Ryder glanced at Cora. Her fingers moved in a familiar gesture. It was a hand signal they developed a lifetime ago. It said only one thing.

Delay.

SAM must have been informed. Ryder held no high hopes for a rescue. There was nobody left on board the Tempest capable to do it. Maybe Wrench and Evfra’s soldier who was stationed outside. They must have guessed something was wrong. Ryder did a quick count of the operatives in front of her. There were too many for Wrench and the angara solder. Their only hope was Scott and Jaal’s teams but they were three days away. Ryder knew they had to get themselves out of this.

Siegfried spun and laid his eyes on T’vera. The asari frowned, probably racking her memories. “Don’t remember?”

He laughed. “You recalled Rix back to the Nexus for a little briefing about life with the SAM implant,” he reminded, as he waved his pistol, gesturing. “And we have implanted the Cetus chip into his head just a few weeks ago. The timing was just excellent.”

“Cetus chip?” T’vera echoed, her eyes widening. “All the Pathfinders? That means Ryder too?”

“Of course, Ryder had been chipped. She was our first and she performed so well for us. I’ll admit we were sloppy. Tempting Tann to send a team down to Havarl and then getting our dear captain and his team stranded on Havarl took some doing.”

The Moshae shot Tann a look. Tann’s already pale face got whiter and it wasn’t due to blood loss. He ducked his head, quelling under the combined glares of T’vera and Addison. Ryder’s reaction to her encounter with Vidal had satisfied her bloodlust on a certain level but in the end, it made her felt dirty to be brought to his level. Now, with Tann trying to sink into the floor as his lies were exposed one by one. Ryder couldn’t deny feeling vindicated but it brought her no satisfaction. Tann was just a pawn and Ryder wanted the fucking king.

“Getting her tortured to cover our tracks was probably the best we could do at the time. But we learnt oh so much from that experience,” Siegfried wagged his finger at his ex-boss. “You all didn’t even know what was going on even with the trial. You did as we had expected, you removed the SAM implant. It’s a step in the correct direction. Still, it’s a pity that you’ve lost her. We had so many plans for her.”

Ryder stiffened. Listening to Siegfried’s ramblings was worse than Vidal’s goading. Then, it clicked. “You’re part of Knight’s group,” she blurted.

“Yes!” Siegfried said, “But we are Perseus now. Re-branding and all that. No sense in clinging to our dearly departed leader’s vision.”

Ryder’s jaw clenched. Past mistakes coming back to haunt her. Each one worse than the last.

“You have such a good memory. The ex-Pathfinder Ryder killed our dear leader. Someone had to follow her vision through right? Poor Alain wanted revenge oh so badly,” Siegfried went on, his eyes gauging everyone’s reaction. “Mixing something as dangerous as an AI in a human, such hubris!”

This whole fucking thing began because of my own incompetence. If I had just found another way then none of this would have happened.

“Steady,” Cora whispered over the comm. “This isn’t your fault.”

Really? Her father that had been missing through all the commotion flirted into her view. His eyes confirmed everything she was feeling. Right, my fault. For sure.

Siegfried walked towards Ryder. “Who are you really?”

“Someone with a good memory,” she retorted. “So, kill us and somehow people will turn away from AI technology? You’re naive.”

Cora’s hands stiffened. Not signalling for her to delay, not discouraging her either. In any case, Ryder was committed. “Nobody even blamed the SAM implants for the attacks.”

“True,” Siegfried said as he advanced towards Ryder, his pistol held loosely in his hands.

Ryder kept her eyes on Siegfried but made sure the pistol was always in her view. T’vera was whispering to the Moshae as she shifted to allow the Moshae to help Addison keep pressure on Tann’s thigh. T’vera looked away from the Moshae and glanced in her direction. Their eyes met through her opaque face plate. She could feel T’vera was trying to tell her something but she didn’t know what. Mind melds didn’t work through eye contact. Ryder wrenched her eyes aside to keep Siegfried’s attention away from them.

“With Tann out of the way and the entire Leadership gone, who would they turn to?”

“You?”

“That’s right.”

Ryder blinked.

Did they really think that would work? With the angaras at our throats with the Moshae’s death, it would be open warfare. The kett threat might be diminished but it isn’t eliminated. How can a fear of AI morph into this?

She had questions. So many more questions she wanted to ask. The Obsidians, what were those about? It was so far out of Perseus’ known methods. It was clear to Ryder, Siegfried wasn’t the be all, end all of Perseus. He was at best a knight, nothing more.

Ryder gritted her teeth. The situation was fast winding towards a crescendo. She could feel it. Her hand formed a single gesture in Cora’s direction. Ryder prayed Cora caught it.

On my signal.

“No matter,” Siegfried said as he spun back towards Raeka. “Shall we get the show on the road?”

Raeka nodded at Siegfried as she turned her pistol on the Moshae. Evfra growled deep in his chest as he made to rush forward. As Siegfried turned his attention on Evfra, Ryder Charged.

Lyrics taken from Big Bad World by Kodaline

#Mass Effect Fanfic #Mass Effect Andromeda Fanfic #Mass Effect Andromeda #Sara Ryder #Mass Effect #Mass Effect Fanfiction #ME:A #Me: Andromeda #ME: A #OC Sara Ryder #FemRyder #SisRyder #F!Ryder #The Cetus Arc #Trials of Ryder

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omnybus · 7 years ago

Text

Creepypasta: Red Marble

I’ve been working on this on and off for a few months now, and have finally finished it. Feel free to leave criticism, but honestly I’m just glad its finished.

Red Marble

By Omny

The craft had appeared one midsummer morning, hovering quietly over the ocean.

How it arrived without any warning was just one of its many secrets- it was a gargantuan thing, smooth and toroidal in shape, stretching across nearly half the visible horizon when viewed from the nearest beach. At first glance it looked as if it were made of crystal-clear glass, but further observations found it was made of some kind of highly reflective metal that mirrored the sea below and the sky above, and had no visible doors, windows, or seams of any sort. Even viewing it myself from the lighthouse, it seemed almost unreal, like an amateur CGI model of a perfectly smooth, colossal chrome donut hastily pasted onto the sky.

For four days straight, it simply hovered there, never moving, never making a sound. Cargo ships and commercial airplanes were re-routed at great expense and inconvenience to go around the mystery craft, as none dared to approach it too closely. Speculations over the crafts' pilots (if it was indeed piloted) and their intentions sparked heated debate both on the internet and amongst the leaders of the world. There were many attempts at communicating with the craft, both from military forces and civilians (despite the former's attempts at keeping the latter away), mostly through radio broadcasts. Greetings, questions, and threats all went unanswered. Several amateur pilots attempted to land on the craft, but were never heard back.

On the fifth day, another craft appeared, identical in size, shape, and suddenness of arrival, hovering over the Indian Ocean. Another two crafts appeared over the Pacific some time later, followed by four more circling the Antarctic. More and more appeared without a single noise or warning, simply "poofing" into existence in the blink of an eye, until nearly a hundred of them were scattered above the Earth without any recognizable pattern.

After several hours of nothing, a great and terrible noise roared throughout the atmosphere across the globe - a low, metallic rumble like the chugging of a train engine slowed down to a thundering bass, kicking up the waters below and blasted nearby clouds away, followed by a blinding, blue beam of light blaring down out from the hole in the center of each craft. From my window I watched with curiosity as the sea below the craft nearest me began to foam and spiral. Curiosity turned to horror as the waters were quickly lifted in a spiraling cyclone of water, sucking up into the craft's middle from below, but not emerging from the top. Before long the cyclone became a massive, twisting cylinder of water wider than a mountain, rapidly lifting up into the craft's eye without any sign of stopping. From the beach, I watched the water being dragged from the shoreline like a carpet, and never rushing back. Whatever these machines were, their purpose was clear: they were draining our ocean.

Needless to say, the world panicked. More fruitless pleas of mercy were broadcasted on every frequency, even pulses of x-rays and gamma rays were utilized with the theory that perhaps our visitors communicated on a different frequency. Temples and churches around the globe all bowed and prayed to their respective gods for help. Some mad individuals took boats out to where the ocean was being drained, perhaps to communicate with the crafts or simply to fulfill a death wish. Either way, their boats were all crushed within the waves and sucked up into the cyclones, never to be heard from again.

Every military force on the planet turned their guns on the alien invaders- missiles, jet fighters, drones and more relentlessly bombarded the machines with everything they could, even our nuclear stockpile was unleashed out of desperation. But new footage revealed that anything that attempted to strike the crafts' hulls simply vanished into nothing mere yards from the alien machines- no explosions, no re-directing, not even a puff of smoke; just disappearing from view as if deleted from existence. All attempts at landing on the craft ended in a similar fashion. When that failed, the remaining military forces simply focused on securing whatever land-locked lakes and rivers remained, as they were unaffected by the draining machines.

Before sundown, the ocean was almost entirely drained, according to satellite footage. From my vantage point, what was once the Atlantic Ocean was now a vast, rapidly-drying desert of sand and rocks, stretching out for miles in every direction. On the horizon, the shimmering craft and its titanic cyclone of water was silhouetted against the sunset, continued its robbery of our waters unabated.

For the longest time I just stood and stared at the thing, thinking and feeling nothing. I had turned off my radio, TV, and internet long ago, having grown tired of hearing the same reports of mass deaths, panic, and chaos repeated ad nauseam.

By midnight, our oceans were no more.

When the last bit of seawater vanished into the craft's center, the blue beam dimmed, and its metallic roar ceased, but the craft remained, reflecting the stars and clouds beneath the moon. It was almost eerily beautiful, an awe-inspiring distraction from the utter destruction of our most precious resource. For a moment I thought about hopping into my jeep and driving out along the sea bed to see the craft up close- a foolhardy quest, no doubt, but considering how the world as I knew it was now no more, and my job as lighthouse keeper was made obsolete in the most insane way possible, what other possible goal in life could I have?

My thoughts were immediately interrupted by another great and terrible noise from the craft, not an ear-shattering roar but a low and slow whooshing, gurgling noise, like the stomach of a titanic, hungry beast.

The center of the craft lit up once more, now an angry red instead of blue, followed by a column of something suddenly pouring out of the craft like an unplugged sewer pipe. I could not tell from the darkness and distance, but I assumed it was water, hoping perhaps that, whatever these things were and whoever sent them, had some benevolent gift for us. Perhaps these aliens took pity upon us humans and decided to clean up our oceans for us, undoing centuries of pollution with their wondrous technology? Was this a gift from beyond? A token of peace? I would take any glimmer of hope at this point.

Once it approached the shore, however, my optimism was immediately snuffed out as my lighthouse's beam swept over the craft's "delivery".

This was not water. This wasn't like anything on Earth. This was red. This was thick and viscous, bubbling and heaving and folding over itself again and again like lava, or freshly-ground meat. Dark red waves with crusted, scabby skin stretched and smothered over each other in their race to the shore. Soft, pale pink tendrils coiled and uncoiled from the creeping mass like tongues. Translucent yellow pustules, some as big as cars, bubbled and jiggled with a dark fluid before rupturing violently, great rivulets of crimson custard spewing forth in every direction. The stench- oh dear God in heaven the stench- washed over me like a tsunami, pouring down into my lungs like hot, rancid soup.

As I knelt down to retch, I watched as a long, flat tongue of the red slop slid it ways up the beach and pooled around my bare feet. It was unpleasantly warm and wet, and rippled and probed along my soles and between my toes, like some big toothless dog was gnawing and slobbering all over my feet. It was enough to finally send me over the edge, and with a great heave I painted the crimson wave with the contents of my stomach, which immediately foamed and swirled into the surface of the red goop, releasing thick red steam as it gurgled. I finally gathered the resolve I needed to leap out of the intruding sludge and high-tail it back to my lighthouse, sealing the doors and windows for all the good it would do. I washed my feet as best as I could (they were slightly pink where the sludge had touched them, but otherwise normal-looking), and immediately dove into bed, trying to forget everything I saw.

In the morning, the craft was gone, but the ocean I was hoping to see was replaced with a vast expanse of red. Its scabby surface rose and fell in waves and ripples, but with a motion more akin to a breathing animal then any body of water.

I looked at my feet, hoping they at least had recovered from touching that stuff, but they had only gotten worse. From the ankles down, the skin was mottled crimson, shiny and rugose with thin patches of pale, crusty scabs all over. My toenails, once thick and only slightly yellow, were now a deep burgundy, heavily wrinkled and brittle like burnt bacon. A faint smell, like a fainter version of what I had smelled before, wafted from my afflicted flesh. I felt no pain. In fact, below my ankles, I felt nothing.

When I turned around, I saw that I had left a trail of blood-red footprints on the floor the other night. My sheets were stained a similar color. They would have to go.

Before anything else, I checked the news on my computer. Perhaps the nature of this new red ocean was revealed.

The very first search result on Google was a single image, taken via satellite of the planet Earth. I saw the world I now lived on.

A red marble.

#my art #writing #creepypasta #horror #sci fi

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ilyasvieltrevelyanshepard · 7 years ago

Text

Polaris

First work I publish here! I’m thinking of continuing it with a bit of smut, time will see :P http://archiveofourown.org/works/11679621

Storm clouds dotted the sky above Kadara Port when the Tempest reaches it. They have been running around the cluster searching for stealing probes. The team need a bit of R&R, and Kadar is the closest area with a bar. Hope is not very happy about the situation, but she doesn't have the heart to make her team endure another week on the ship just for fear of seeing Reyes again. Fucking Reyes Vidal.

Their last meeting has been a tense one, just after the incident in the caves where she discovered that he was, in fact, the Charlatan. She broke with him in his dark corner on the Tartarus, and she had felt broken and empty since then. She is lucky, the system is still a mess, and she had her hands full of work and important things to do, but the nights… The nights are filled with what ifs and doubts.

The group is already gathered on the cargo bay. Even Gil had decided to join them for a while, only Suvi and Kalo will remain on the ship. Vetra made Hope promise to give it a try and get some fun with them, promising her to maintain Liam and Jaal away from her.

When she joins them beside the Nomad, Cora is already making faces. She never liked the Port, and after Reyes’ incident, she even hates it more. Hope is still zipping up her jacket when Drack hit her shoulder, making her stutter. “Come on, kid. Try to have some fun. I can share some of my private stashes with you if you need it.”

Peebee laughs at her other side, while Cora just crosses her arms, facing Drack. “You are not going to poison the Pathfinder, old man. Maintain the ryncol on your glass.”

Vetra leaves her office then, raising her hands. “Enough, you too. Tonight she isn't the Pathfinder, and we are not her team. We are a group of friends with a high need for fun. If she wants to drink ryncol until she can't walk, let her be.”

Hope smiles to her. The turian has turned soon enough to her best friend. Her mind is even quicker than hers, and she had a heart greater than the Nexus. When Vetra extends a hand, Hope takes it and let her guide the team to the Kralla’s Song, where Umi has been saving the table beside the windows for them. Someone has sent a couple of bottles of whiskey for them, and even when they knew who has been, no one said a word about it. An hour later, they stand to order more alcohol, having finished with the whiskey, the ryncol and the turian wine. Sara was at the bar with Vetra when a group of humans nears them. “You, Nexus scum. You will pay for Sloane’s death!” Umi shrugs, muttering a ‘Try not to break my bar, please’, before moving away from them.

With a sigh, Hope turns to face them, the alcohol making her feel braggy. “I only count eight of you. Do you want to call some friends?”

The first one launches himself against her with a ‘Nexus bitch’ in his mouth. Hope dodges him easily, using his energy to crush his face against the counter. The group on the table are cheering and clapping. One of them takes off a knife from his boot, making her laugh. The concealed Asari sword she always wears when walking around Kadara is more than twice longer than his knife, and when she takes it off, she gives him a lopsided grin. “Mine is bigger, you moron.”

After that, the fight ends quickly. Two of them charged against Vetra, how breaks the nose of the first and dislodges booth arms of the second. Hope activates her powers, launching a vortex over the far end of the group, raising them from the ground and leaving them floating on air. Charging against the one with the knife, she hits his chest with booth fist, hard enough to feel the breaking of bones under her knuckles. Disappearing and reappearing behind the one that remains on his feet, she put her sword on his neck. “Your tyrant master has gone. You need to learn who gives the order now.”

Umi has called for some help, and as soon as the knees of the men in front of her touch the floor, the door opens, and Keema appears, followed by a group of Angaran and Humans. “Good night, Pathfinder. I see that you had your own Welcome party. Mind if I join?”

“Hello, Keema. Nice to see you. Suit yourself. We have a lot of idiots to play with, choose the one you like more, I'm not picky.”

The group is quickly shackled and take away from the bar, leaving the area almost untouched. The smear of blood on the counter the only signal of their struggle after they repositioned the few chairs that her attack had moved. Umi serves her another shot of whiskey with a soft smile. “Thanks for doing it without breaking anything this time, Ryder.”

Hope drinks it in a long gulp, the heat of it burning her insides. “I'm still paying for the last one, don't want to add more debts to my tab.”

Drack’s voice reaches her, “Thehehehehehe, that was a good fight, kid.”

Keema moves near the table, exchange pleasantries with them before sitting beside Jaal, intent clear on her body language. Vetra turns to face her, mandibles flapping while she purrs softly. “The night is getting better and better, Hope!”

She nods, ordering the alcohol they wanted to order before the brawl. She lets Vetra move the bottles to the table while she takes another shot with Umi. The barmaid moves closer to her, whispering just for her. “You haven't seen Reyes yet, right?” Her answer is a shake of her head before she downs the glass. “Well, I know I'm talking out of place, but Reyes has been good to me since we reached this place, and your breakup-- let's say he is not himself since then.”

“He buried his own grave when he lied to me.”

Umi refills her glass, crossing her arms in front of her after putting the bottle down. “Everyone has a secret, Hope. I'm sure you have one too, like every single soul in this cluster.”

She drowns the shot in a single gulp. “Maybe, but it didn't hurt less for knowing it, Umi.” When Vetra returns beside her, she feels the mood has changed and is less than surprised when Hope says the next words. “I'm going back to the Tempest after a short walk. Have fun here.”

Before Cora can open her mouth, Vetra turned to the table. “Let her be, Harper. She can take care of herself out there.” The other woman just grunts to her before returning her attention to nurse her glass. Hope squeezes Vetra's hand softly before waving to them. She will send Umi the credits they spend tomorrow morning.

Climbing the stairs to the door, she opens it with her omni before stepping outside, the cold air of the night making goose bumps appears on her skin. She walks to the railway near the stairs, leaning on them and enjoying the cold breeze while she enjoys the view. The moon glows brightly in Kadara, and its light shines on the lakes’ surfaces. Thanks to its light, Hope can see someone sitting on one of the platforms of the Port. She didn’t need to come close to say who it was. Reyes is drinking alone, resting his back in a crate with a leg hanging over the edge. She feels as if someone was grasping her heart and squeezing it. It's been almost two months since they moved in opposite directions after the cave incident. They had exchanged a couple of cold emails, talking about the Port and the outpost, but nothing more. She knows it was her fault. He tried to contact her via vidcomm for days, and she had ignored his calls, nursing her heart alone in her quarters and trying to glue it back together. Sadly for her, it didn’t work. She feels as heartbroken and hollow as the day she left the Tartarus after breaking with him. What to do? Her masochist side wants to go there and say ‘hi’, but her coward part didn’t want to give him the chance to talk her back to his side. She is looking in his general direction, worrying a nail between her teeth. Suddenly, a movement on her periphery catches her eyes, and she finds him watching her and waving a hand. Hope blushes, returning the gesture timidly before running from him with the tail between legs. With a quick pace, she almost runs to the door that leads to the docks, wanting nothing more than to hide inside the Tempest. When the door opens, and she moves closer to the ship access, a gasp leaves her when she finds Reyes waiting for her near the door. “Hello, Reyes. Do you want anything?” Her tone is cold and measured, even when she is fighting the worse inner war of her life on the inside.

He sighs before moving closer to her. “I want a lot of things, Hope. But I can't have them. I came to give you a present, and then I will leave you alone because is obvious that you don't want company, at least mine.”

Hope has to lower her gaze, his voice is doing something with her heart, and she didn't want for him to see it. “I'm just tired, Reyes.”

Moving a hand, he captures hers and moves it until it rested between them. Searching inside of his pocket, he picks off a little pendant depicting the Ursa Minor. A little jewel has been added to it to be the Polaris star, hanging from the rest with a short chain. Putting it in her hand, he closes her fingers around it, moving his free hand to cup her face. “You always will be my Polar Star, my north in this crazy galaxy.” He takes a step back, letting his hand fall to his side. “Rest well.” He walks away from her, turning just before the door closes behind him. “Goodbye, Hope.”

Hope is fighting back the tears when Suvi opens the door and walks to her, hugging her without saying a word. The tears begin to flow as soon as she wraps her arms around Suvi. The young scientist just holds her, hands caressing her hair and back. When Hope starts to recover her breath, Suvi moves to arm's distance from her, hands still grasping her shoulders. “I called Vetra as soon as I saw him here. She will be here ve--” just then the doors behind them open again and soon another set of arms wraps around her.

Hope leans against her best friend, head resting on her shoulder. “Sorry for disturbing your free night.”

“Yeah, yeah. Is not like I wasn't starting to get bored of hearing Drack tell his war stories, again.” Suvi is still with them, and the young scientist tilts her head signalling the door before moving inside. Vetra pushes Hope until she starts to move, bringing her inside until they reach her quarters. She walks directly to the bed, falling into it face first, hands still closed in fists. Vetra locks the door behind her, moving to the SAM node on the desk. “SAM, can you show me the recording of the last interaction between Reyes and the Pathfinder?”

The AI didn't ask Hope’s permission for this, showing Vetra a first person point of view of her moments since she left Kralla’s Song. “I have some readings of her and Mister Vidal, too.”

“No need, thank you, SAM.” Vetra returns to the bed, sitting on it and forcing Hope to lay on her back. “Let me see it.”

Hope opens her fingers, hand trembling when she shows the jewel to Vetra. The turian picks it up, the pendant hanging from the chain. The silhouette of the Ursa minus done in some dark metal, shining under the ambient light. A short chain at the end of it leads to a white jewel. The design is beautiful, almost as its meaning. Vetra recovers Hope’s hand and pushes her up until they are sitting one in front of the other. She hangs the pendant just in front of her face. “After this, do you still doubt him?”

Hope raises a hand, taking the little jewel between her fingers. “I doubt myself, Vetra. I don’t believe I can survive another lie. I’m still licking my wounds from the last one.”

Vetra gives Hope the pendant back and cups her face in her hands, talons scratching her scalp softly. “What do you think he has been doing the past weeks? Keema says that he only leaves his office at nights and has turned himself into a workaholic.”

“Ruling a planet can be stressful.”

She tries to sound angry while moving away from Vetra’s grasp, but she has always been of the resilient type, and follows her movement, still cupping her face and making her look directly into her eyes. “Can you stop being the Pathfinder for a moment, Hope? We are fighting to give a place to live and prosper to all the people on the Nexus. Can you try to save a little corner of it for yourself?” Vetra let her face go, leaning her hands on her shoulders. “What did your mother told you before she died?”

“To fall in love. To find someone who can look at me like Dad looked to her.”

Vetra raises her head with a finger on her chin. “And that you did, my friend. Now stop being the stubborn Pathfinder and let’s Hope to go and be happy with the man she loves.”

“But--”

Raising her from the bed, Vetra picks her in her arms, moving to the door. “No but here, Hope. You will have a chat with Reyes tonight. I will take you to his door myself if I have to.” When Vetra senses a pat on her back, she puts her down but remains stubbornly positioned in front of her. “Spirits! You have been in love with him almost from the first moment you set your eyes on him! You can throw yourself against an Architect without batting an eyelid, but you are afraid to talk with a man who is clearly in love with you?”

Hope is still grasping the pendant in her hand, and she lowers her gaze to look at it for a second. “And what can I say to him, Vetra? I left him. I ignored him for weeks, only answering his official calls, avoiding any direct contact--”

With a push on her shoulder, Vetra starts to move her again to the door. “And even after all this, he came to see you and give you a present with more meaning that you want to believe.”

“Everyone hates him. I will have a hard time on the Tempest if I do what you ask for.”

Still pushing her outside the room, Vetra just laughs. “That’s not true at the very least, Hope. Maybe Cora hates him, but she hates everyone who plays outside of her rulebooks. And Liam, well, he is just jealous, but he likes how Reyes deals with the problems. Gil wants to bang him, and Peebee too. Lexi loved the smile he put on your face before the cave. Suvi likes him too. He sent her a bag of Angaran tea as soon as you talked with him about her addiction. Kalo is Kalo and didn’t count. Drack respects him, and that’s a big thing for the old man. And for myself, I knew him from before the long journey. I can’t hate him for doing what was necessary.” Hope didn’t look very convinced by her words. “I will deal with Cora and Liam, don’t worry about that. Remember that I control the kitchen supplies. No beer and no chocolate for them if they didn’t let you be on this.”

Hope has to laugh at her words. “You are a cruel woman, my friend. But even if I can force myself to go and talk to him, I don’t know where to find him.”

SAM joins the conversation just then. “I have used the sensors of the Tempest to find him, Ryder. He is in an apartment near here. Sending the directions to your omnitool.”

Hope just sighs, taking another look at her hand before changing her focus to the door. “Do you really think he will accept me again?”

Vetra’s mandibles trembled with a little purr, “Spirits, you can’t be that blind, right? SAM, project the moment when he talks to her after giving her the jewel. No need for sound.” A clear image of Reyes appears on the big screen near the door. He is looking at her with something she can’t identify, but his grin turns to a sad one when he moves away from her. “See? Why can’t you see it? I’m not even human and can recognise the feeling.”

With a last look to the screen, Hope faces the door with a sigh. “Fine. I’ll go and talk with him. Wish me luck.”

“Girl, you didn’t need luck for that. Go and pathfind the way to his heart!”

Hope giggles to her, “You need to stop talking about me with Sid. Thanks, Vetra. For all.”

Vetra opens the door and walks with her to the cargo bay. “You are more than welcome, my friend. See you in the morning.”

The door closed behind her, leaving her in the darkness of the docks. Taking a deep breath, she opens the screen of her omnitool. SAM directions show clearly on it. ‘I don’t have anything to lose…’ After another breath, she starts to go down the ramp, moving to the docks’ door. The apartment is near the Headquarters, and she makes a quick job of the distance, spending only a couple of minutes to reach the door. Once in front of it, her heart starts to hammer in her chest like crazy. ‘I can do it. Whatever happens, at least I will have some kind of closure.’ Raising her free hand, she knocks at the door and starts to worry her lower lip when the seconds move away, and no answer came from the inside. She knocks again, and after a minute without a reply, she lets go a defeated sigh before turning to go.

Hope is a couple of steps away when the door opens, a shirtless Reyes on the doorframe with a surprised frown on his face. “You came.” She is munching her nails with a nervousness he never saw on her. “Please, come inside. I suppose you want to talk.”

With a nod, she follows him inside, locking the door behind her. The apartment is not a big one. It has a little kitchenette with a tiny table for two, a big bed and a door at the wall that must be the bathroom. He sits on the bed, waiting for her to choose a place. She decides to remain standing in front of him. A minute or two passed with the room filled with silence, and their gazes fixed on one another. Taking a deep breath while the words of her mother resound on her brain, she raises her hand and let the pendant fall, chain fixed between her fingers. “Do you mean it?”

“I do.”

She closes her eyes and lowers the hand. “Why now?”

Hope can hear him sighing and shifting on the bed. “Because after falling for you through the void, through stars and dark space, I hit the ground and finally accepted that I’m in love with you.” He sees her catching her breath while he continues. “I know that I destroyed what we have, but wanted to let you know that you were, are, and will be, someone very dear to me. You make me want to be a better man, and to be worthy of you, I decided to use your light to navigate in my own darkness.”

A shackling sob leaves her, and a second after he ends talking, Reyes finds himself pinned against the bed by a crying Hope. His arms move immediately to her back, hugging her like he wanted to do for the long weeks they stayed apart. After almost ten minutes of crying, Hope finally calm herself enough to talk to him, still laying on his chest. “Walking away from you has been one of the hardest things I ever did. It felt like someone was pulling from my heart with every step. But I tried to steel myself, thinking about how you lied to me about who you were all this time--”

Reyes cuts her words with a finger on her lips. “I never lied about who I was with you, who I wanted to be. In fact, I never was more ‘me’ than with you. I had hide things, of course I did it, and how sorry I am for doing it. But I wanted you to like me, just Reyes, dreamed of you loving me for who I am.”

Hope sits back on her heels, cleaning her tears-stained cheeks with her scarf. “Here.” She moves the pendant in front of his face. “Is not a formal present if you didn’t put it around my neck.”

Taking the jewel on his hands, Reyes sits beside her, while she gives him her back to help him. Hope has taken off her scarf, opening the zip of the jacket a bit. She can feel the pendant touching her skin and the soft caress of his fingers when he closes the chain around her neck. Moving a hand to touch the little jewel, she closes her eyes. “I spent the past weeks trying to prepare myself for when I crash against the reality of having lost you, knowing that it was entirely my fault. You opened your heart to me in that cave, and my answer was a bitter one, unleashing against you all the venom I had received from Sloane. You call me your light, but you are my haven. The lighthouse I need to survive in the vastness of the space. I’ve been running away from you, thinking that I destroyed the only chance I will get to be happy on this cluster.”

Reyes wraps his arms around her, kissing her temple lovingly. “I had enough time away from you to think about what I want, what I crave, what I need. And the only answer is you.”

Turning in his arms, Hope closes the distance to his mouth, caressing his lips softly with hers. “I love you, Reyes Vidal.”

Reyes’ hand moves to her nape, fingers interlacing with her hair. “Te quiero, Hope Ryder.” And he puts his heart and soul in their first true kiss, one intertwined with feelings and maybe some regrets, but with a sweet aftertaste of dreams and plans.

#mass effect andromeda fanfiction #reyes vidal #female ryder #love #declarations of love

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machinehead · 7 years ago

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Thrashed: K&K + Sacred Reich

What up everyone! Just shooting everyone a quick link to Journal that is now up at the K&K site. Again, this isn’t really a "General Journal" but there is so much story in these last 3 “Thrashed" collabs, that it feels like a TGJ, because it’s basically a General Journal with pictures! Of course feel free to disregard. But here is a sampling, and if you like what you see, read on. https://killersandkings.com/collections/thrashed ------------------------ What up! Robb here: I am super excited to announce the final installment of the Killers & Kings + Thrash collaboration called “Thrashed” with three of my favorite 80's thrash bands: Destruction, Forbidden, and Sacred Reich. In this Journal I’m going to talk to you about how this “limited edition” Sacred Reich collab happened, why I felt strongly about doing a collab with these bands, and walk you through the various stages the design went through to meld the Sacred logo with the Killers & Kings logo. *I talked about this in the previous Destruction and Forbidden Journals, so skip down a few paragraphs if you already read it.* One of the main reasons that I decided to do a Killers & Kings + Thrash collaboration was that I recently went to a streetwear convention in Las Vegas with my buddy Dom Deluca who owns an old school/legit skateboard/streetwear shop on Melrose called Brooklyn Projects. While walking through the convention we came a cross a streetwear company whose name I can't remember, (nor would I even want to promote), who had various flyers from 80s thrash and punk shows all over their booth. At first I was really stoked to see this, I was like "wow, a place that gets where Dom and I came from" But as I started talking to the people at the company, they clearly had no clue about any of it. In fact the guy straight up told me "yeah these are cool flyers right? We downloaded them off of The Google!”. Fuck that. And while I "get it"… I was kinda pissed that they were taking the culture that I grew up in, (and in some small way contributed to), and we're just using it to sell their brand. Dom called ‘em Culture Vultures. I walked away thinking, I want to do the collaboration with these bands and actually have it be from an authentic place. With the people that were there at the beginning of it, from people that contributed to it, and put it out to the world as a “limited edition”, premium shirt, with a rich, 14-color layout that stayed as true to the original art as is possible via modern screenprinting methods today. It was an epic undertaking, I reached out to several bands, (some of whom unfortunately declined after we created some really amazing artwork) but all 3 bands involved happily signed off on the collaboration. And all of the bands involved in this collab have been paid to use their artwork. The second K&K / Thrash “limited edition” collab shirt I’m releasing is Forbidden - Forbidden Evil. *** I met the Sacred guys back in 1988 when my previous band Vio-Lence stared touring. I believe Phil was friends with their singer Phil Rind and they would always come hang at the Phoenix shows. I can clearly remember driving in our van listening to the debut Sacred album and being way stoked on the song "Death Squad" which began with one of the heaviest riffs of it's time. So we're on our first U.S. tour, 5 band members, plus our manager Debbie Abono and co-manager/soundman/roadie/light guy/ bug-collector-extroidinaire (and future-MH-manager) Joseph Huston driving all across America in a cargo van. 7 people, all our gear and luggage packed in to the van (no trailer) drums tied to top of the van with cheap rope. Life was good, we got a solid break, we did our first tour of the U.S opening for Testament. Ya gotta remember...back in '88 there was no cell phones, no internet, no social media to keep us distracted, if you wanted to talk to your girlfriend you had to call her from a payphone pumping in an endless stream of quarters, but if you didn't have any money... What we did have was music... specifically, cassette tapes. We would play a show, load our gear in the van, maybe play some pool, try and talk a girl into a blowjob, and if that didn't work... a beer, if that didn't work... well, McDonalds would do. At first I wasn't old enough to be in some bars, so I had to wait in the van more than a few nights. Once the show was over it was just another long overnight drive to the next town, and whoever drove, controlled the stereo. Sometimes we'd drive halfway, crash out in a Motel 6 for a few, then drive the rest of the way in the morning. Deen, Phil and I drove the most, as well as Joseph (who we called Joey back then, and I still call Joe to this day), and on those tired nights driving it was always music that carried us through. In fact, when you're driving all that time, the band we were listening to had better have good "driving songs" or your cassette might get thrown out the window. Motorhead's - Best Of "No Remorse" got A LOT of play, and SR's - "Ignorance" and "Surf" did as well. I remember us catching them at The Channel in Boston later that year, and they were just killing it. KILLING IT! The Channel was PACKED, and people were loving this band, they played "Surf Nicaragua" and the place went NUTS... I mean NUTS! It was a straight up Thrash Smash! If I'm honest, a 20-year-old Robb Flynn was tad jealous. But ya know what... they had captured a moment, and when music works best, it channels the times. Not to mention, what a combination of words to make into a song!! "Surf Nicaragua"??!! Somehow it worked! It felt new, they from a new area (Phoenix), their singer Phil always had an interesting take on the world, he was a smart dude with cool political lyrics, and of course, a massive pro-weed stance which I thought was great. I caught 'em at the Omni in Oakland a few times, most memorably when they co-headlined with Sepultura on the wonderfully titled "New Titans On The Block Tour" (a not-so-subtle dig at the Clash Of The Titans tour featuring Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth) By the time "Independent" came around a few years later (now on a major label with major push), they seem poised to take over the world. Little did I know, what a strange and interesting thread Sacred Reich would weave into my life. As many of you know, Dave McClain was in Sacred, he joined them on their "Independent" album. I always loved the title track, goddamn what a hook! Machine Head even worked on this tune for a covers album that we had contemplated but never came out. Check him out in the video below and see what a svelte, long-haired, greyhound-like Dave McClain looked like back in 1993 in the Mark Pellington (Pearl Jam - Jeremy) directed video for the title track. 3 years later Dave would join Machine Head, and the rest is history. It's never lost on me, the journey this band has played, in my musical career. I reached out to singer Phil Rind, and he was way down for this collab. Sacred have just gotten active again, and are gearing up for a U.S. tour in the Fall which encourage all of you to check out. **Read the rest of the story here: https://killersandkings.com/collections/thrashed

#TheGeneralJournals

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americanomni · 3 years ago

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#Omni Cargo Tires #Omni Cargo Commercial Tires #American Omni Trading Company #tire dealer

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anna-2807 · 6 years ago

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ellebeebee · 8 years ago

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Seachange

Part Two/Nine

Part One

Mira has to make her first decision about who to wake from cryo. She’s confused and worried. Liam helps.

1929 words, Liam/Female Ryder, teen rating

AO3

“What about the lab technicians? How long until production can start rising?” Mira asked.

“It would depend on several factors, Pathfinder,” SAM stated over her omni-tool. Him using her internal implant still made her head ring sometimes. “First, there is the post-cryo acclimatization period which has varied widely among the current sample population. Secondly, there will be varying opinions on what research projects to prioritize. Finally, there is no way to predict the ultimate timelines of these projects. There are too many variables to say for certain, Pathfinder.”

Mira deflated. She laid back, the plates of her armor clacking as she flattened herself against the top of the Nomad. An abandoned datapad sat beside her. Her eyes clenched at the alien sun straight above her. Eos’s radiation had come well within acceptable limits since accessing the vault, but the heat could still be overbearing. She’d have to escape the exposure of sitting on top of her utility vehicle soon; there was already a few drips of sweat collecting at her temples.

Some yards away, the incoming and outgoing shuttles kept shifting the air pressure within the valley, the steep rock cliffs surrounding Prodromos shielding it from the broader menaces of the area. Distant, unintelligible chatter of the colonists slipped to her through the clusters of prefab dorms, offices, and labs. She could catch a few words, even under the whine and hiss of the shuttles. “Acceptable risk.” “Compatible compounds.” “Digestible, but at what cost?”

The Tempest shimmered over them all, like a great mirrored bird. She shifted; one of her… butt plates (there really was no other word for it) was digging into her crack. She should adjust it when she got back onboard.

“Maybe special forces?” Mira asked. “The kett are a huge problem that’s not going away anytime soon. And Prodromos is already geared toward science. Or maybe recon? I mean, I know I’m biased, but intelligence on kett movements and encampments would help a lot in protecting the colony.”

“I am afraid this is a matter you must decide on your own, Pathfinder,” SAM told her.

Mira sighed.

Who thought this would be a good idea? Like, really? Hey guys, let’s give the twenty-two year old Alliance grunt that tripped and fell face-first into this job complete license over the lives of thousands of people. Deciding the best people to bring out of cryo, the best people to keep up the fragile momentum the Initiative now had? Psssht, piece of cake for the Pathfinder, right?

Right?

“Ryder?”

Her eyes popped open. She rolled over to peek over the side of the Nomad. Liam stared up at her, shielding his eyes with a thick white glove.

“What are you doing?” he asked. A smile crept about his lips and in the squint of his eyes.

“Um,” she said. “Meditating?”

She regretted the words the instant they left her mouth. Ugh. Ughughugh. Why was she so, like, the complete opposite of witty? This was why she was recon. Give her an extended scouting and stakeout mission, any day. A long waiting game behind a scope. Anything other than having to deal with the way her tongue dried up and her skin caught fire at the sight of Liam Kosta’s face.

Especially when she was trying to be “Pathfinder.”

“Meditating? Really?” he asked her, taking another step closer until he could lean his weight against the Nomad. Except he said it like, ‘Reeeeaaally.’ Annoying. He could be so annoying sometimes. Grinning like that.

She sat up, picked up her datapad, and jumped over the side of the vehicle. She released the landing-tension in her legs, and pushed the datapad into his chest. He glanced into her face, then took the pad from her.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“All the data on the cryo bays. I have to decide on who to release. And soon.”

“Hmm,” he hummed, scrolling without really lingering on the information.

Mira shifted. They stood in the partial shadow of the Nomad’s enormous tires, but still getting a lot of the heat and glare of the sun. All of the crew’s suits had internal temp regulators. (Even Liam’s ballistic-weave, smart fabric gear.) Still, their faces had a sheen to them. She struggled not to get mesmerized by the trail a particular bead of sweat at his temple took, down his umber skin and over the hills of his cheekbones. At least he was wearing a shirt.

But what was with the way he was clearly not looking at the datapad properly? Was he seeing something she wasn’t, some obvious correct answer that had eluded her? Was he trying to figure some polite way to tell her she was being an idiot?

Shit, why couldn’t someone just tell her how to do this?

Liam glanced up at her. He took in her expression, smiled, and leaned past her to place the datapad up on one of the Nomad’s tires. (Nearly pushing his ropey neck, and its scent of dirt and the field into her face, damn him.) He straightened.

“Got a minute?” Liam asked innocently.

Mira cleared her throat. “Not really? I have to decide this. Like, soon. What do you think--”

He waved his hands defensively around his chest. “Nuh-unh. That’s above my paygrade, Pathfinder. But maybe this will help? C’mon. It’ll just be a minute, and you’re clearly not making any ground worrying yourself to death on top the Nomad.”

She sighed and rubbed at her forehead. She needed to rehydrate. And the braids she kept her hair in while in the field were starting to itch.

“Okay,” she told him.

His grin broadened. And before she knew what was happening, he’d caught up one of her armored gloves in his hands, his own gloves tucked into his waistband. As he tugged her into a trot away from the Nomad, her stomach turned and fluttered. His hand was large, and enveloped hers even with her armor. Carelessly, blunt-cut fingernails. A cut or two on his fingers from tinkering with tech. And if she could feel his skin with her own, she’d bet there was a bit of roughness; gun and grenade callouses.

But after only a few steps, he let go. Her stomach dropped.

Well.

Just as well. Pathfinder business, right? Big, important problems, right? She couldn’t be dumb like this, getting distracted.

Ugh.

Sans-the hand holding, the two of them kept trotting to the edge of the valley, toward a staggering in the sheer cliff face. Mira pulled up, avoiding the sudden heavy pressure and loud air blast of Liam’s jump-jets. She glared up at him, orange dust and skree skittering around where he stood above her on the rock face.

“C’mon,” he called down at her.

Mira muttered to herself for a moment, but followed anyway. Soon, they were several meters above the valley floor. And eye-level with the nose of the Tempest. She hadn’t noticed they were that close to the ship.

Liam cleared his throat, catching her eye. He pointedly nodded his head in the direction of the Tempest’s hull. She looked at their ship. Then at him.

“You can’t be--”

“You’re the Pathfinder,” he grinned, grabbing her hand again. “You can do what you want.”

“That’s not exactly--”

But she had to stop her protest as he bent his knees, preparing for the force shift of his jump jets. She bent too, and then-- the thrust of their jets pushed them out into empty air, floating for just a moment. Liam clutched her hand, and it wasn’t just the weightlessness, that totally brief divorce from the pull of gravity, that turned her stomach over. It wasn’t just the jump that caught in her throat.

They landed on top of the Tempest with a loud boom.

“Ryder! Again!?”

Mira let go of Liam’s hand, fumbling her omni-tool. “Sorry, Kallo. Last time, I promise.”

Liam was snickering, so she punched his shoulder half-heartedly. He shook his head and, still grinning, walked away to the other side of the ship. Arrayed around them, nestled within the embrace of beautifully striated cliffs, sat the infant colony of Prodromos. People-- humans and asari and turians and salarians-- walked between buildings, chatted in the shadow of eaves, lifted cargo from the shuttles. Evening wasn’t that far off, and soon they’d all be gathering in the mess halls and private kitchens. Chatting about the day’s discoveries, its trials.

She watched for a moment, aware of Liam looking at her. Finally, she turned to him.

He was smiling.

And the sun’s reflection off the ship’s hull-- so merciless and vivid-- clung to the deep sepia of his skin, the broad nose, the lips always so generous with a smile or a laugh. The light clung to his dark and coarse coils, to his black stubbled jaw, to his adam’s apple. And, to her perception at least, the sun was all caught up in his accent; his dumb, terribly funny, and always honest turns of phrases.

“See?” he was saying to her, waving out toward Prodromos. “This was your doing, Pathfinder. Without you? The Initiative would still be grinding itself down, burning resources, with no way to establish an outpost. You made this possible.”

“You were there, too,” Mira stated, letting her gaze wander. She made herself bring her eyes back up, though. Eye contact. Right.

He grinned, noticing.

But he went on without commenting, “Yeah, but without you… Look, Mira, this? It’s good. You’ve done good. There’s so much more to do, but you’ve got this. And we’re all behind you.” His own gaze slid to her again. “I’m behind you.”

A tension she hadn’t noticed, right in-between her shoulder blades, underneath her jump jets, released. Just those words, and he’d undone something in her she hadn’t even known she’d needed. Tears threatened to crawl up her throat.

He was looking out over the colony, all caught up in light and optimism and-- goodness. That’s what he was, Liam Kosta. That’s exactly what he was.

“Shit,” he said softly, smiling at Prodromos. “It’s beautiful, huh?”

“No, you’re beautiful,” Mira instantly said.

Liam’s head whipped around. “What?”

She stared back. “What.”

As he stared at her, what she’d said fully hit her. Blood flooded into her face, and she did not ever want to know what sort of expression her gaping mouth and flown-wide eyes composed. Liam’s soft smile had exploded into a broad grin, and she couldn’t stand it, so she slapped her hands over her face. Her armored gloves no doubt leaving red marks.

“I don’t--,” Mira stumbled, “I mean-- I didn’t say that--”

“I dunno, have you checked my medicals? ‘Cause my hearing’s pretty good, and I could have sworn you said--”

“SAM!” she stopped him loudly, practically shouting.

“Yes, Path--”

“I meant SAM! He’s beautiful! You know, the blue sparkley orb thing. It’s… It’s really… He’s really…”

She peeked over her hands and instantly regretted it. Liam was still beaming at her, eyes totally reading: ‘You are so full of shit.’

“Thank you, Pathfinder, I think you are beautiful as well,” SAM intoned with absolute sobriety.

Liam lost it. And she could only glare at him full-out laughing for so long before she got all caught up in giggles, too.

Liam finally pulled up from where he’d been hunched over, helpless.

“Ryder-- you,” he wheezed, chuckling. “You-- You’re really, really bad at this.”

“Shut up,” she said, slapping his shoulder.

He only started laughing again.

Damn him.

“You thinnnk I’m beauuutiful.”

“Nope.”

“Yes, you doooo.”

“No.”

“You thinnnk I’m beauuutiful.”

“You’re fired.”

He just laughs.

#mass effect andromeda #me:a #liam kosta #sara ryder #female ryder #liam x ryder #aaaaaaa these two losers #look at them #look #what losers #SAM u cad #u troll

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ddeadbbot · 8 years ago

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For the Ryder questions, 2, 6, 7, and 25 for whoever you like

Were gonna talk about Florence, Agatha and Isaiah (technically he’s not a Ryder but fuck it) cause I want to talk about them all and im gonna put it under a read more cause it got pretty long

2. Can’t always wear Initiative whites and blues, Whats their dress style like? Do they prefer casual wear, or being in armor? Is it the same as it was in the Milky Way? How, if applicable, has it changed since arriving in Helius?

I like to think there fashion styles are still similar to when they were on the milky way anyways but I found some fashion pics to show how they dress.

Florence likes causal wear but doesn’t mine hanging in his armor. Rather be in a tank tops and low cut shirts. He prefers to wear blacks and blues colors.

Agatha prefers her baggy comfy clothes doesn't care to stay in her armor long armor. She prefers reds in her wardrobe.

Isaiah likes to layers up with his cool leather its like a security blanket because he’s self-conscious. He likes blacks and greens.

6. Canon says they served in the Alliance before joining the Initiative, do you keep this canon, or have you made some changes? Explain their backstory either way.

They’re all Alliance trained Florence and Isaiah are specifically into tech and engineering Agatha is science and discovery. Also Isaiah and Agatha are biotic. 7. Everyone’s got one… List their (or your) favorite powers, weapons, and armor sets. Any special reason for these choices?

Florence uses overload, barrier, and tactical cloak. I usually play him with the Inferno Sniper Rifle or Isharay Sniper Rifle if enemies get to close or it’s a big baddy he has a shotgun and omni-blade. Kills and move with tactical clock to a batter snipping position. He’s a sniper keeps his distant in a fight and takes them out from a far. He wears the Scavenger armor it looks cool and the scarf is a nice touch.

Agatha uses pull, backlash and throw. I play her with M-96 Mattock assault rifles and Scorpion pistol melee is a biotic amplifier. She will beat a bitch with another bitch and return their fire on the way to do so. She’s a badass biotic babe and will rip you apart if she has to. I’m not sure what armor she’s wears I think it’s the pathfinder but it doesn’t look like it so idk.

Isaiah uses overload, charge, and lance. I play him with the Sidewinder pistol and Ruzad shotgun melee is the Angaran Firaan. He in the heat of the fight gives a shock to stun and charges in for combo effect or throws lances and finishes with a charge to recharge his shields. Wears the Maverick Armor cause it looks good.

25. How do they feel about what they’ve accomplished in Helius? Are they proud? Worried? Do they feel positive about the chances for a cluster-wide unity? If they could change anything that had happened since everyone arrived in the cluster, what would it be and why?

The only one I finished the game with is Isaiah and he’s technically not a Ryder not meant to be pathfinder that is but in all honesty I keep thinking of an au where Alec is alive and both twins are awake. To which Agatha makes sure Alec makes good choices. Florence was on pathfinder team but leaves because he fights with Alec and Cora too much and its hurting him also knows something might happen in battle that could end badly if there’s tension among the team. He has a breakdown goes to Isaiah and stays the night in the morning he’s gone. Leaves a message for Isaiah and Agatha on why he left and asking Isaiah to take his place and keep Agatha safe and get the adventure he wants. Florence decides he wants to see where the exiles went and ends up on Kadara. Gets a job moving cargo then part time bodyguard for Reyes after saving one of his shipments. Other part gun for hire. And I could go oh and on but its late and I’m tired and pretty sure no one would care to hear about it.

#mass effect oc #Florence Ryder #Agatha Ryder #Isaiah Hart #Thank you!#Anonymous

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omnipop-magazine · 7 years ago

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New world news from Time: Israel Is Celebrating the Opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem

https://ift.tt/2GdM921

(JERUSALEM) — Israel on Sunday kicked off festivities to celebrate the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, even as it bolstered its forces along the Gaza border and in the West Bank in anticipation of mass Palestinian protests of the move.

A day before the embassy’s formal opening, Israel hosted a gala party at its Foreign Ministry with President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, her husband, Jared Kushner, and other American VIPs.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s “bold decision” in upending decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. “It’s the right thing to do,” a smiling Netanyahu told the jubilant crowd.

Trump announced his decision on Jerusalem in December, triggering a joyous reaction from Netanyahu’s nationalist government. The move infuriated the Palestinians, who claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas halted ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to remain in its role as the sole mediator in peace talks.

The rival Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, has been staging a series of weekly demonstrations against a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the territory. Those protests are to climax Monday, with tens of thousands of people expected to gather along the Israeli border in an event timed to coincide with the U.S. Embassy move.

Hamas has signaled that large crowds, numbering perhaps in the thousands, might try to break through the border fence to realize the “right of return” to lost homes.

Both the embassy move and the protests have symbolic timing. Trump has said the opening is meant to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel’s establishment. The Palestinian protests also mark the date as the anniversary of their “naqba,” or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of people fled or were forced from their homes during the war surrounding the event. About two-thirds of Gaza’s 2 million people are descendants of Palestinian refugees.

A mass border breach could trigger potentially lethal Israeli force. Forty-two Palestinians have been killed and over 1,800 have been wounded by Israeli fire since the weekly protests began on March 30. The U.N., European Union and rights groups have accused Israel of using excessive force against unarmed protesters.

Israel says it is protecting a sovereign border and accuses Hamas of using the unrest to plan and carry out attacks. Marchers have thrown stones and burned tires at the fence and flown flaming kites over it to try to set Israeli fields on fire.

On Friday, a Palestinian crowd attacked the main cargo crossing between Israel and Gaza, disrupting shipments of cooking fuel, gasoline and building materials, and causing millions of dollars in damage. Israeli officials said it could take weeks or months to repair the crossing.

“Unfortunately, the crossing is closed today and will remain closed until the foreseeable future due to severe damage caused by Palestinian rioters,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman. “It is still unclear how long it will take to fix and replace the necessary parts.”

The Israeli military announced that it bolstered forces on the Gaza border with combat battalions, special units, intelligence forces and snipers. Israeli warplanes also dropped leaflets in Gaza, urging residents to stay far from the fence.

“You deserve a better government. You deserve a better future,” the leaflets said. “Do not approach the security fence nor participate in the Hamas display that is putting you in risk.”

A high-ranking delegation of Gaza’s Hamas rulers headed Sunday to Egypt, amid diplomatic efforts aimed at containing the mass rally. But one of the Hamas participants, Khalil al-Hayya, said there were no breakthroughs and the march would go on as planned Monday.

The army said it was also reinforcing its troops in the West Bank with several combat battalions and intelligence units in case of possible unrest there as well.

Sunday’s celebrations coincided with Israel’s “Jerusalem Day,” the 51st anniversary of what it refers to the city’s “unification” during the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel immediately annexed east Jerusalem — home to the city’s most sensitive Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites — in a move that has not received international recognition. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

In an annual ritual, tens of thousands of Israelis marched through Jerusalem’s Old City to mark the day. Revelers sang, danced and waved Israeli flags.

Earlier Sunday, Netanyahu told his Cabinet that there would be a “series of decisions” to build up Jerusalem, including its contested eastern sector. Shortly after, the government approved construction of a $57 million cable car system that will link west Jerusalem to the Old City.

Although Trump has said his declaration does not set the final borders of the city, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has been perceived by both Israel and the Palestinians as taking Israel’s side in the most sensitive issue in their conflict. Only two countries, Guatemala and Paraguay, have said they will follow suit. Most of the world maintains embassies in Tel Aviv, saying the Jerusalem issue must first be resolved.

In a reflection of the deep sensitivities, dozens of countries — including Britain, France and Germany — skipped Sunday night’s celebration at the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Netanyahu, who frequently clashed with President Barack Obama, has found a welcome partner in Trump. The new administration has lined up solidly behind Netanyahu in his dealings with the Palestinians and delighted him last week when it withdrew from the international nuclear deal with Iran, Obama’s top foreign policy achievement.

Addressing the crowd Sunday evening, Netanyahu said Israelis would be “eternally grateful” for Trump’s decision on Jerusalem.

“Thank you, President Trump, for your bold decision. Thank you for making the alliance between Israel and the United States stronger than ever,” he said.

Netanyahu said Trump’s decision recognized a 3,000-year Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the “truth” that Jerusalem will be Israel’s capital under any future peace deal.

“It’s been the capital of our state for the past 70 years. It will remain our capital for all time,” he said.

Kushner and Ivanka Trump sat in the front row near Netanyahu during the ceremony but did not speak. Netanyahu called their presence a “national and international statement” that “touches our hearts.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Trump was fulfilling a key campaign promise by moving the embassy. “The United States has no greater partner than Israel,” he said.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel group in the U.S., expressed concern that the embassy move would backfire.

He accused the White House of putting the interests of a small group of hard-liners ahead of the larger interest of promoting peace with the Palestinians.

“Making a move like this removes the U.S. as a credible mediator,” he said.

The Palestinian ambassador to Washington sharply condemned the relocation of the U.S. Embassy in a statement Sunday.

“Tragically, the US administration has chosen to side with Israel’s exclusivist claims over a city that has for centuries been sacred to all faiths,” said Husam Zomlot.

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