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Breeder	By : Larania Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 9432 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Mass Effect belongs to Bioware and EA, not me, and I make no money from this work of fanfiction.

Chapter List
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Breeder
Chapter Sixteen
Disclaimer: Mass Effect belongs to Bioware and EA Games. This is a work of fanfiction, and I make no money from this fan work at all.
Warnings: adult language, sexual situations, slash, dub/non-con, threesomes, gender bending and mpreg. If I have missed something, please inform me and I will add it.
Characters/pairings: Colonist/War Hero paragade ManShep/Kaidan, ManShep/Garrus and a little ManShep/Zaeed.
Summary: Mindoir's strategy for survival was one that was not well-known to the greater galactic community. Derek Shepard carried this legacy with him, dormant, through the Skyllian Blitz and through the battle with Sovereign. However, after his death at the hands of the Collectors and revival due to the machinations of Cerberus, he must cope with his body no longer being his own.
~*~*~*~*~
Two weeks later, the Normandy docked at the Nos Astra space port. Nine days before, Garrus had departed the Normandy and the Citadel with little more than a short note and a promise to come back.
Derek figured he had taken the news rather well. He had indulged in paralyzing terror and grief for only ten seconds, when he felt he would have been justified in taking a full minute. Then he had called Liara to find out any details she could give him, and Kaidan had been in the background before explaining his conversation with the turian.
Derek hadn't drawn his pistol. Granted, he was naked at the time, but he hadn't drawn his pistol, or punched Kaidan. Instead he had asked, calmly, why they hadn't told him what was going on. He was a grown man. He understood that the universe Wasn't About Him. He would have respected Garrus' wishes. If anyone understood letting go, it was him.
Kaidan managed to placate him, asked him if he was okay. There was a look of shock on his face that Shepard had never seen before; then Kaidan had touched Shepard's face.
Derek had been crying.
He hadn't cried since Mindoir.
"Been to Illium before?" Derek asked, shaking himself out of his reverie. He was flanked by Kaidan and Legion, the rest of the crew going on shore leave while they headed towards Liara's office above the Nos Astra Exchange.
"Never," Kaidan said, rubber-necking as he took in the massive towers of ceramic, steel alloy and plastic. The sunset slanted through the buildings, glinting off windows and warm on their skin. The air, so high above the surface of the planet, was dry and parched and soon Derek was, too. "It's beautiful. Makes me miss Vancouver, though."
"We have never been here either, Shepard-Commander," the geth responded. They were getting more comfortable in joining conversations. "We judge these buildings to be adequate structures."
"Do geth have concepts of beauty?" Derek asked, looking back towards their mobile platform, before glancing about for vending machines. Maybe he could get a drink on the way? "I've noticed a very specific aesthetic in heretic's ships."
"We use the most efficient geometry for our purposes," Legion answered, before flexing their face plate. "However, that does not mean we cannot... appreciate... their appearance."
Derek's lips quirked on one side, smiling at the sight of Legion waffling. He had gotten a similar answer when he had asked about the N7 armor. For all their supposed lack of emotions, it never ceased to amuse him that this particular (collection? gaggle? of) geth acted like a smitten fan. He found it endearing.
"A geth that likes art," Kaidan muttered, and Derek's smile widened. They had taken the first turn after exiting customs, through the markets and on their way towards administration. Shepard licked dry lips. Still no vending machines. He checked his omni-tool. Did they have time to stop at Eternity?
A cramp stopped Derek cold, knotting itself and snapping behind his navel. He grunted in surprise, stumbled, and almost hit the ground when Legion walked into his back.
"Derek?"
"Shepard-Commander?"
He had braced himself against the wall, grunted again. "I'm fine. Just," he rubbed his abdomen. A pretty useless gesture through his armor, but the leftover ache lingered. The cramps had felt even more vicious than normal, this time."The geneticist who developed the Mindoir mods were sadists. Or hated everyone with testicles."
"Or some really weird kinks," Kaidan muttered. "What happened?"
"Cramps. I really hate the cramps," Derek said, swallowing another grunt. He pushed off the wall. They had started six days ago, and the bleeding followed that by a day. A bit early this time, but still. Ugh.
"Cramps covers a wide range of medical conditions. Please specify." Legion was standing at attention.
"Menstrual cramps." Derek rubbed his face. "I'm, I'm intersexed, Legion. I take it you've hacked my medical records?"
Legion nodded. "Right. Human females sometimes have a host of unpleasant or even painful symptoms that go along with being female-sexed. Due to my genetic tailoring, I get them too."
The geth's face plates flexed several times, flashlight tilting right and left. "We understand there to be various pharmaceuticals and other remedies taken by human females to alleviate those symptoms?"
"Right. Those don't work too well on me." Derek muttered a few curses before continuing. "Nothing standard seems to work on me." He sighed, gestured, and they headed up the stairs, pausing as they finally found a convenient vending machine on a landing. It only sold Tupari, but beggars weren't choosers, were they?
"That really sucks," Kaidan said. He put his hand on the small of Derek's back, and Derek sighed. He enjoyed the gesture.
"You're telling me," Derek answered, opening the top of the Tupari and downing half in a long swig. At least it didn't smell as obnoxious as Anderson's coffee, even if it tasted just like sugar and water. "If there is an afterlife, my sister is laughing her ass off. I used to give her hell."
Legion continued to watch them, and Derek got the impression that the geth platform and all of its sundry programs were laughing at him.
They reached the top of the stairs to find that Liara had not yet hired a new secretary. The door to Liara's office rolled open, revealing the asari herself.
She looked the worse for wear. His impression of her when they had first arrived on Illium had been of her growing into her mother's shadow. Now she really did resemble a shadow: hunter green robes, dark circles under her eyes and hollowed out cheekbones. Whatever demons she hunted or fought still plagued her.
Derek finished off his drink, tossing it in the recycle bin just inside her door.
"Shepard," Liara acknowledged, eyes flickering up and then back to her screens, though her tone warm. "It's good to see you again." Her eyes lit to Shepard's two companions. There was a hint of confusion on her face as she saw Legion, but it turned odd as she took in Kaidan. "Staff Commander Alenko. I haven't seen you in years. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine." The handsome biotic smiled. "A little surprised at how things have turned out, but fine."
"I heard you were back on the Normandy." Her eyes were hooded. "Given your previous opinions on Cerberus, I'm surprised you even boarded." She tapped her chin with one finger.
"To be honest, I kept wondering about that myself." Kaidan's expression hardened. "I take it you heard about Horizon?"
"Not all of the details, no. I heard about your collapse, Shepard, but none of the causes." She leaned back, folding her hands in her lap as she looked up at Derek. "Doctor Chakwas and your AI have done an adequate job of keeping your current medical records private."
"I'm glad to hear that, actually." Derek found himself shifting. The idea of his personal information, especially something that personal, being up for sale made him queasy. "Nice to know the Normandy is bugged only by Cerberus."
Liara frowned when Shepard did not fill in that gap for her. Derek remained impassive; he kept that mental box closed. While Liara was a friend, reliving that particular memory was not something he was going to do any time soon.
"At any rate, seeing Derek collapse... I reacted without thinking. Next thing I knew I was on the new Normandy." Kaidan shrugged, and bumped his shoulder against Derek's. "I only left because Shepard asked me to."
Liara tried to smile. There were too many teeth. "I'm glad you got the chance. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"We came to help you, actually," Derek said, licking dry lips, regretting that he had already finished his drink. He offered Liara a PDA. "Cerberus sources gave me data on where to find to find the Shadow Broker. Interested?" Liara's eyes widened as she snatched the datapad out of Derek's hand, her fingers trembling as they danced over the datapad's surface to open the files. "I would have given it to you sooner but this arrived just before we hit the Omega Four relay. Then we had repairs. I didn't want to risk sending this through the com-buoys."
"Let's see," she said, before the stony mask she wore burned in a blaze of hope and anger. "It's a leaked transmission between Shadow Broker operatives," her brow furrowed. "Hints to the location and," she stopped, lips drawing out in a thin line. "And Feron." Her voice grew husky. "He's still alive."
"Who's Feron?"
"He was a friend." She swayed, briefly, putting her hand on her desk to regain her balance. "He helped me recover your body from the Shadow Broker."
Derek's jaw went slack. "Why did the Shadow Broker want my corpse?" Unnerving, that, and more fuel for his nightmares. He had known that Cerberus wasn't telling him everything. As far as he had known, his body had been found on Alchera, by Cerberus.
"He was going to sell you to the Collectors, but Feron and I stopped him." She turned her back to Shepard, looking out at the flickering signs over the Nos Astra Exchange. "He sacrificed himself to save me."
"So... you rescued me?" Derek blinked, rubbed his gut through his armor. The cramps were returning. "Then how did I wind up with Cerberus?" That made no sense at all. He should have been buried, on Mindoir, per his will. Did they dig him up?
"Cerberus gave me the intel to find you." She rocked back and forth, crossing her arms. "Put Feron with me to begin with. When I... got out, I gave you to them." She turned back towards her audience, but didn't meet Derek's eyes. "They said they could bring you back."
"What? You were the one who- who-" Kaidan sputtered, stepping forward and glowing with a biotic corona. Derek caught him, shaking his head.
"Thank you for keeping me out of the Collectors' hands," Derek said, stilted. The idea of being turned into goo for their new Reaper, even after his death, made him queasy. "But why Cerberus?"
"Should I have left a friend to die when there was they offered some sliver of hope?" Desperation, and mourning, colored her voice. "Aren't you happy to be alive again?"
Derek grimaced. The queasiness was mixing with the pain from the cramps. "Yes. I've got a lot to finish." Liara didn't need the truth. What that was, he wasn't sure himself, but to hear that might break her. There was no way for Liara to know what would have come of her attempt to deal with her grief. He could forgive that. "Thank you."
She rocked back and forth, hugging her chest. "I didn't know how you'd feel when Cerberus restored you. If you'd feel betrayed, or..." she bit her bottom lip, swallowing and returning to look at the datapad. "They brought you back, and now they're giving me the chance to find Feron. After two years, I hadn't even dreamed."
Shepard put his hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "Were you close?"
"It's funny," she glanced down at a frame on her desk. "He betrayed me more than once. He was double dealing, for Cerberus, for the Shadow Broker. But in the end, he sacrificed himself for me. I owe him."
He peered into her sky blue eyes, saw the anger she held on to. She needed this. "Any friend of yours is a friend of mine. What's our next step?"
"I, I don't know." She exhaled. "I need to prepare, to think. I'm going home." She grabbed a satchel, dumped a few things (Derek eyed a Carnifex) into it, along with the frame on her desk. She seemed energized, more her old self.
"You okay?"
She headed towards the door. "I've spent the last two years plotting revenge." The sheer hope in her voice was painful to hear. "Now I have the chance to make it a rescue."
"Let me help." She had done what she had done to save him, after all. She was still his friend. "I'll come by your apartment?"
"Okay. Hopefully I'll have a plan by then." She smiled at Derek, brushing past Kaidan, who had crossed his arms and was frowning.
"Can I use your restroom?" Derek asked, just as she walked out. He was starting to regret the Tupari. Not to mention having an irrational worry about changing his, um, sanitary supplies out in the men's room.
"Sure!" Liara called, disappearing around the corner.
There was a moment of silence as the two humans and one geth platform looked at each other. "That went... strangely," Kaidan said, rubbing his chin. "I didn't know it was Liara who recovered your body."
"I didn't, either," Derek answered, then paused. "She's changed."
"Losing someone you love will do that." Kaidan smiled at Derek, not quite meeting his eyes. "But you're back, and we're all better for it. I still don't like the Illusive Man, or the extremes he's gone to, but you're here and," he took a deep, sobbing breath. "I'm so happy." He gripped Derek's hand. They leaned towards each other.
The moment was ruined by a loud gurgling coming from Derek's midsection.
"Shepard-Commander, I believe you require a visit to-"
"Restroom," Derek said, with a long suffering groan.
"Yeah." Kaidan started to laugh. "Restroom."
~*~*~*~*~
The storm had whipped up out of nowhere, laid out in scattered cells over the city of Nos Astra. Liara's apartment building was underneath an ugly little squall, lashing their taxi with buffeting winds and heavy rains.
They had arrived about an hour after they had departed Liara's office; Shepard had stopped for more Tupari after his trip to the restroom, and the storm had caused accidents, slowing traffic to a crawl.
"What the hell?" Kaidan asked as they landed on one of the sky-car pads, noticing the flashing lights through the mosaic of the rain, the symbol of the Illium police blazoned on the five sky-cars.
"We have a bad feeling about this," Legion intoned.
Derek nodded and shifted, perceptibly, into Commander Shepard. All animation and humor drained from his face as he opened the door and strode, unheeding, into the rain. "Let's find the person in charge."
Kaidan followed Shepard in through the main entrance to the police line, listening to the detectives call out their findings to each other as they scurried about like worker bees.
"Commander Shepard?" A voice called, and Kaidan looked up to see a cobalt-skinned asari stride towards them, through the police line. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Detective Anaya?" Shepard asked, taking her hand for a firm shake. "I'm here to visit an old friend, Liara T'Soni."
The detective grimaced. "Well, if that's why you're here, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. We're still sealing off trace evidence. There were multiple shots fired, and-"
"When did this happen?" Shepard interrupted. "We saw her barely an hour ago. Is she here?"
"About twenty-five, near as we tell. And no, she's not. Best we can tell, she's not dead." Anaya crossed her arms as the investigators continued chattering. "We've got the area sealed off. Mind giving us some time to finish processing the scene, and then answering some questions?"
"If there is anything we can do to assist," Shepard began, before a different voice interrupted.
"Your services are no needed, Detective. Your people are dismissed," a new asari said, walking down the stairs from the second floor.
Kaidan's first impression was that damn, her armor was good. White on blue, he didn't recognize the manufacturer, but it was bleeding edge tech. She moved like a well trained commando, with none of the coyness of a former dancing girl, comfortable and experienced. He guessed her to be an older maiden, or a very young matron (sometimes hard to tell) and she stared at them with the gaze of a huntress.
Anaya's jaw went slack, her eyes narrowing. "You can't do that!" she snarled, leaning forward.
"Already done," the huntress said, just as Derek caught Anaya's arm, shaking his head then nodding towards the exit. The detective frowned, but Shepard patted her arm, and gestured towards the door again. He gave her a humorless smile, before turning back towards the huntress.
The detective shook her head, stomping out of Liara's apartment.
"What's a Spectre doing here?" Shepard asked, and Kaidan did a double take, noting the symbol on her shoulder-guard as she turned towards the men.
"Your friend has some powerful enemies," the asari answered, before pursing her lips. "Name's Tela Vasir. I heard your status was reinstated. Good. You're one of our most famous operatives." Her head was tilted to the side. "I might even have you sign my chest plate later. So I assume you had some business with your friend this evening, Commander?"
"Answer my question first," Shepard said, tone saccharine. "And I might answer yours."
Tela blinked, then lifted an eyebrow of her own. "I thought I did. But your friend has made herself the target of the Shadow Broker. My own investigation crossed her path. So, here I am, and I'm willing to offer my help."
Shepard didn't answer immediately, taking a slow walk around the first floor. "We know that whatever happened, happened about twenty-five minutes ago, and there were shots fired. Hence the bullet holes." He nodded towards the fractured glass, streaked with rain blowing in from the outside. "Anaya told me that there's no body. Anything else?"
"She stuck around for almost four minutes before leaving the building. Whatever she was doing was important," Vasir said, and Kaidan could see the wheels turning in her head as well as Shepard's.
"Any idea where Liara might have gone?" Shepard asked, absently typing on his omni-tool. "Wherever it was, it was more important than finding safety."
"How do you know that?" Vasir's eyes reminded Kaidan of a cat's, as she watched Shepard pace back and forth.
"If she had wanted safety, she would have gone to the Normandy. Or she would have contacted me as soon as this happened." Shepard continued pacing. "Any ideas?"
"No. If I knew where she was, I wouldn't be here, sifting through her crap," Vasir snapped, crossing her arms. "She got away clean; the sniper wasn't counting on her kinetic barrier." Her voice warmed with grudging respect. "Clever. Paranoid, but clever."
"The police figured most of this out when they arrived, which wasn't much," Shepard countered. "Why send them out?"
"Two Spectres would have an easier time finding clues." Vasir turned her back towards them, looking out the window. "And I told them about when T'Soni left. I gave them a gold star for finding the bullet holes."
"Fine. We'll help you finish sifting." Shepard's eyes were covered by his visor, making it impossible for Kaidan to tell his expression, but his lips were flat and drawn. "What should we be looking for?"
Vasir's eyes narrowed as she turned back around. "She took those four minutes for a reason, Commander. She was expecting you."
"Ah. Was she? Liara is a good information broker. We were on our way to surprise her. Left the wine in the taxi when we saw the police lights." Derek turned away. "All right. Kaidan, Legion, spread out. Look for anything," he paused. "Anything, that doesn't fit."
Kaidan nodded, trying to keep his face straight. What the hell was Shepard playing at, with that lie? He glanced at Legion, who was already starting to scan things with their omni-tool. Kaidan did the same, bringing up the sensor suite. There was a text message from Shepard.
-something fishy about Vasir. Stay sharp.
Kaidan swallowed. He had only met a handful of Spectres. One had tried to destroy all advanced organic life, another had saved it, and the third was Blasto. What was Tela Vasir doing out here in the Terminus Systems? He tried to not watch her, instead pacing through Liara's apartment, making his own observations on the palatial loft.
Liara had done quite well for herself in the past two years. The place was huge. It was also neat, the sofas as plush and clean as if they had just come from the showroom. Tasteful pieces of art and expensive relics lined the walls.
His eyes traced the sinuous lines of the Prothean carvings, flowing up to the painting of the trench on Ilos. He had to tear them away as memories of the root-choked ruins floated up before his eyes.
There was a pattern to what he found there, teasing at his memory, as he continued around. More Prothean artifacts in display cases. It was when his gaze dropped on to the broken remnants of Shepard's Onyx N7 armor that Kaidan realized what he was looking at.
The only mess was from bullet holes. There were no dishes in the sink, nothing beyond coffee supplies in the cupboards. Everything that had meant anything to her was on display, under glass, where it could remain safe and untouched.
Liara didn't have any pictures of her friends, her mother, or her time on the Normandy. No gaudy knick knacks. The more Kaidan looked around, the more unnerved he felt. No pets outside of some fish, pretty but untouchable. Her bathroom was just as sterile. Just one toothbrush. She had lived her life completely alone since the Normandy had been destroyed; her only connection to other people was the shattered remains of Derek's old armor.
Liara didn't come back here to live. Her apartment was a museum, or maybe a mausoleum. All she did here was remember. And apparently, all she remembered was Derek's death.
Kaidan shuddered.
Shepard had followed Kaidan upstairs, humming to himself as he took in the bed, the massive glass tanks and the empty nightstands. Empty, except for one picture of the original Normandy. He picked up the frame, more memories flooding up through his mind.
The humming stopped. Kaidan glanced over; Shepard's face had gone gray, one hand splayed over his belly. Kaidan grimaced. He had seen Shepard use that gesture, repeatedly, both before and after his return to the new Normandy. While Shepard's expression was blank, Kaidan had learned it meant he was in pain or distressed. Maybe both.
Kaidan handed the picture over. The image of the Normandy faded, to be replaced with an image of a Prothean dig site.
Kaidan opened his mouth to comment. Shepard placed a finger over his lips. Shook his head, examined the picture, and went towards the nearest glass case, filled with Prothean stone carvings.
Whatever message Liara had sent was apparently keyed to Shepard, and Shepard only. Kaidan frowned, but it made sense. She knew Shepard was coming and would come after her; that was just what Shepard did. It was also make sense that if someone knew about her leaving a message, to find out what it was.
Tela Vasir was not really looking around. She had started going through Liara's hard files; the obvious place to leave a message would be on or around her desk. The exact opposite of a place to hide it.
Kaidan stood, shadowing Shepard as he went to the relics, trying to find whatever it was Liara had left behind without alerting the other Spectre.
Shepard's shoulders remained loose, first moving towards the case holding his battered armor and then to different artifact cases. He was smooth enough that, if Kaidan hadn't been looking, he wouldn't have noticed Shepard pull a disk from underneath the case of one of the stone carvings. He felt a soft bump and a brush as Shepard walked past him, the disk dropped into a utility pouch in Kaidan's armor before the other man went on to investigate another case.
There was a flash, a pop of displaced air, and Kaidan's heart was in his throat as he draw his gun. He heard Legion do the same in the background.
Tela Vasir had her muscular arm wrapped around Derek's throat, the muzzle of her Predator pistol digging into the skin above his ear.
"Stand down. Weapons, heavy weapons, on the ground now, or your Commander buys it."
~*~*~*~*~
"How long has the Shadow Broker owned you, Vasir?" Shepard asked, somehow relaxed despite the situation. "When did you betray the Council?"
Kaidan, on other hand, was anything but. His vision throbbed with his heart, tinged in red and his chest clenched. He couldn't get enough air. Derek was going to die again and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it.
"You think I would betray the Council? Like Saren?" the other Spectre yowled, her arm tightening around Derek's neck. "Go to hell!" Her gaze flickered back towards Legion and himself. "Weapons, ground, now."
Kaidan bared his teeth, glancing over at Legion who was looking back. Together, they knelt, placing pistols on the floor.
His mind raced. Both Legion and himself had a second weapon, out of reach. Kaidan was a biotic; but he needed an opening to use those biotics. His HUD told him that Tela Vasir's armor and barriers were good; getting rid of those, and getting her off Derek were the priority.
"What was your plan? Going to leave the message where it was and come back after I left? Do you think I'm an amateur?" The muzzle of her pistol dug further into Derek's face. "Now, you are going to tell your boy-toy over there where it is, and he is going to hand it over, nice and slow, while your mech stays over there," she gestured with her chin towards the corner by the window. "Out of the way."
"Is that it?" Derek asked, soft, silky, and edged in steel. "Is that the best you can do? Vasir, I nearly bled out trying to save my brothers when I was sixteen." Beat. Derek's smile was mocking. "I went on a suicide mission to defeat the Collectors. I did die saving my pilot. If you really think I'm afraid of being shot then you are stupid, incompetent, or just insane."
Kaidan's stomach dropped to his feet when Vasir scoffed. "It's not your fear I'm banking on," she said, voice dropping to a whisper. "You've forgotten who, or what, you're dealing with. I give your boyfriend and your toy until the count of five or I rip the information from your brain." Her lips brushed Derek's ear, making the other man shiver and Kaidan almost gag. "One." Her eyes turned black. "Three-"
"Now, Legion!"
Legion's combat drone formed behind the asari, zipping forward and sapping half her barrier.
Kaidan had to give Vasir credit: her reflexes are good, keeping her arm locked around Derek's throat as her pistol sprayed covering fire in the drone's direction. In response, Kaidan snarled, mind blanking as he flung out his arm, using a technique he had only seen but never tried.
The reave collapsed the rest of Vasir's barrier and weakened her armor, the force of it knocking her grip loose from around Derek's throat.
Derek yanked her arm off, following it up with an explosive punch. A punch that was a biotic attack, using the energy of his own barrier and detonating the reave, frying Vasir's protections. Vasir grunted, flung backwards and into the case holding Derek's old armor.
Legion followed this up with a shot to the head. With their Widow.
Purple asari blood, shards of bone and blue skin painted the wall as Vasir slumped, eyes open and glassy as her body twitched in death. The reinforced glass had barely cracked, the entire case tumbled to the side.
There was silence, nothing more than the sound of rain pattering on glass and the faint growl of sky-cars as they passed by for several moments.
Derek cleared his throat. "Good work," he offered, giving Kaidan and Legion a smile. "Ordinarily, Legion, I would be worried that someone had hacked my armor." He tapped his Archon visor. "But thanks. Not sure how that would have worked out otherwise."
Kaidan found a hysterical chuckle forcing its way out of his throat. "That's why you kept talking? God, Shepard, I thought she was going to shoot you for sure." He exhaled raggedly. "Are you okay? She was about to-"
"I know." That was when Kaidan noticed Derek's tense jaw and pinched lips. "I'm trying to not think about it." He made an odd burp, covering his mouth before rubbing his throat. Kaidan saw the bruises already forming. "Makes me queasy." He took a deep, slow breath, blowing it back out. Kaidan saw he had one arm pressed against his belly. "Can either of you tell if we're being monitored? We need to find out what Liara was up to."
Legion was already scanning the apartment with his omni-tool, and Kaidan shook his head, looking down at the body. "What gave her away?"
"Surely you've heard of 'beware Greeks bearing gifts'?" Derek asked, reaching into Kaidan's utility pocket to pull out the message disk. He walked into Liara's office space, putting the disk in her terminal. "A Spectre, of all things, shows up and offers her help without asking for any reward? Yeah, I'm suspicious."
Silence. Kaidan's eyebrows were crawling up his forehead. Legion had also stopped, still.
Derek turned back to them when no one followed him. "What?"
"We think that Shepard-Commander has forgotten that this also describes himself," Legion said, using the perfect deadpan only a machine could manage. "You have often performed actions considered altruistic towards other sapients, even those considered non-sapient, without asking for reward beyond goodwill."
"I couldn't have said it better myself." Kaidan was staring. "And you consider that suspicious?"
"Of course I do. Other Spectres aren't me," Derek answered. He stood back, watching as the recording on the disk was brought up.
"It appears to be a recording of a call," Legion filled in, as a well dressed salarian appeared on the terminal, Liara's voice offscreen. They watched the conversation, before Shepard nodded to himself.
"Right. We need to get a ride and head to the Dracon Trade Center. Let's go."
To be continued.
Comments, questions and criticism appreciated.
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