Nexus Effect

Ch.57

“They can’t do this!” I wailed as I paced in the meeting room of the Normandy with the whole ground crew and several other important members of the crew in attendance. “We’re right at the finish line and we’re being tripped up because of mandatory vacation time?!”

“Yes.” Penny said from where she was seated with her face in her hands.

“I get that in this universe, Saren is both trustworthy and just as capable as he was in canon, but he doesn’t have the Cipher!” He didn’t even touch a beacon! He can’t comprehend the Conduit!

“I know!” Penny moaned into her hands.

“Fuck the Council! We need to go to Virmire now and-!”

“No!” Commander Shepard growled as she stood up and looked into my visor. “Nora, I would love nothing more than to do that, but I can’t! Politics be damned I can’t because if I do, we lose everything! We’ll all be arrested. Each of us. We can’t save the galaxy if we’re Renegades!”

“The fucking irony of that statement is disgusting.” I snarled to myself and paced some more. “Then what are we going to do? Wait for the Council to call us, begging for us to save them when Sovereign is literally on their fucking doorstep about to call the rest of it’s kind to begin the purge?”

“Isn’t it only really Shepard getting a vacation? Can’t she transfer the Cipher to Liara too, like that other Asari did?” Wrex asked, working his mind to see a loophole like the rest of us.

“I wouldn’t know where to begin with that. We’d need to go back to Feros for Shiara to share the Cipher instead and I’d need a non-political or military reason for being there. How could we justify going to Feros?” Shepard asked as she sighed, but Wrex shook his head.

“I meant have Liara Meld with you, Shepard. You have the beacon and the Cipher in your head. You could even have Benezia do it too. I know Asari exchange info in Melding. I’m not downplaying your role Shepard, you’re an amazing Battle Maiden, but we can handle Virmire.” Wrex finished and everyone looked at Liara and Benezia, who both looked at Penny.

“I...wouldn’t mind Melding with you…” Liara admitted with a shy smile.

“I may be a Matriarch, but I don’t mind if this happens to conceive a child...especially not if I get a granddaughter out of it.” Benezia pinched Liara’s sides and the younger asari giggled.

“But we’d be interfering with Saren’s mission.” Ashley commented, bringing to light the fact that they, as known affiliates of Shepard, were interfering with Spectre business.

“With my new status as leader of the Krogan Protectorate, I could say I’m there on Imperial business and Saren would have to suck it up.” Wrex explained-wait, that’s finalized already?

“But we couldn’t use the Normandy then. It’s an Alliance ship, under Shepard’s command.” Kaidan brought up another good point and I gasped when I remembered.

“Did I say I wanted to take the Normandy?” Wrex said with a devilish smile.

“Hey Nora, Yola, want to share a bed tonight?” I heard a very familiar voice that made me excited.

“Right to the sex, my friend.” An even more crotchety voice groaned as Yola and I looked at the entrance of the meeting room to see Paretia and Krarek~!

“I called in some mercenaries I knew.” Wrex said with the biggest grin I have ever seen on a krogan and they have huge mouths.

“Par!” Yola and I squealed as we rushed her to pile the middle-aged turian woman with hugs and kisses while Krarek rolled his four eyes, the older batarian seeming to have gotten paler in his teal skin tone as he aged.

“Thank Malysa and her team, they were the ones who recommended it.” Wrex pointed towards the ONI dragons. Ever since Shepard made the decision to keep them around, the three unnamed operatives have slowly opened up to us about themselves. Lieutenant Malysa, Sergeant Terrus and Sergeant Gholux.

All direct children of the Wargod Berserker, whom they refuse to speak of on a personal level. It’s not that they hate him, but more of a ‘if you want to know him, let him tell you about himself’ sort of deal. The only thing we know of is his deeds and each one is either great, terrifying or both. They also warned us that he and his people are independent, meaning first contact protocol must be carried out should they decide to arrive within the Milky Way.

“Uh, Wrex how long have you been working on this?” Garrus asked in bemusement.

“Since I was named the official leader of the krogan by the Empire a few weeks ago, I had a feeling the Council would do something to fuck this up.” Wrex told him, then shuffled uneasily. “Well, tentative leader. Technically my betrothed, a female named Bakara is holding the title while I’m away, but I can still speak with her authority since I’ve confirmed this plan with her.”

“Isn’t Tuchanka still a wasteland of war?” Ashely asked in confusion and Wrex leered at her.

“Yeah, and?” Wrex asked with a growl and Ashley dropped the subject. “Look, right now Clan Urdnot, or rather the Urdnot Nation, is holding the most land on my homeworld and almost all of the females are rushing to Bakara’s side. My nation has the most power at the moment and the backing of a galactic power, so I have authority for this. What I’m worried about is the krogan following the Reapers. They claim to be a functioning government and so far they are the one’s Urdnot is having the most trouble with quelling.”

“Well, that’s all well and good, but it seems we have work to do before this can all be put into motion. Liara, Benezia. I, uh, I’m not one to just leap for something this serious unless the other person is just as committed. Since it might result in you bearing my child, are you alright with the risks involved with Melding with me?” Penny asked them directly and the answer was for the two blue-skinned beauties to grasp her hands and gently pull her away.

“Well, if they’re going to get intimate, I’m damn well getting my turn.” Paretia growled hungrily as she hefted us over her shoulders, causing Yola and I to yelp and then squeal as she somehow managed to carry us and grope our asses at the same time. Holy hell has she been working out!

Paretia carried us out of the Normandy, down to the neighboring dock, then up into the White-Out, which seems to have seen her fair share of action in the past 20-odd years if the battle scars were any tell.

However, our excitement tempered when she brought us to the familiar old Drive Core and set us down to pant and gasp for breath. “Uh, Paretia? Are you okay?” I asked my old girlfriend worriedly. She stood up and put her hands on her lower back before bending backwards and popping ensued. Whoa did she have a bad series of kinks in her spine.

“I’m fine. Just getting older. I’m in my fifties, ladies. Turians may live to 150, but I’ve been through more shit than most grunts tend to these days. Now then, what’s this about you giving out genetic modifications like candy?” Paretia purred and we smirked. “Aw, hell, I bet I'm getting some tonight anyway. So, uh. I brought you here to quickly check on the old M.E.H drive before we get down and dirty.”

“Well, couldn’t we do that tonight, then have fun with you most of the trip to Virmire?” Yola asked and Paretia winced, causing it to click with us. “Y-you’re leaving us behind?”

“You’re well known as people very close to Commander Shepard. You may not have noticed, but Shepard has very fast become a celebrity. The fact she isn’t single is one of the first things the journalists pounced on.” Paretia informed us and I fumed.

“Damn that spunky cute journalist girl! Of course Penny couldn’t lie to her earnest pep!” Oh~ I was going to have words with her! Sure, I’m happy she says she’s spoken for, but not when it compromises operational security!

“Yeah, the tabloids had a hit with the fact Shepard is not only dating a non-human, but a quarian. Or rather, in a polyamorous relationship with three quarians. Y’know, since society is cool and all about open relationships compared to centuries ago. Sorry you had to find out from me. I figured Wrex had spilled his grand plan to everyone from the get-go.” Paretia shrugged and I sighed in defeat.

“So who is going?” I asked as Yola sluggishly went to the panel containing the M.E.H drive.

“Wrex, of course. Those Imperials Martra, Garble and Chrysanthemum in her natural form. Then from the rest of the crew; Garrus, HK-47, Edryn who likes to be called EDI, then of course Doctor T’soni and Matriarch Benezia.”

“So it's us quarians and humans who get left behind.” Yola muttered as she crawled into the wall to get at the M.E.H drive. “Holy-who fucked with the coolant?! You’re lucky you haven’t shaken yourselves apart!” I groaned and approached the panel to see what could be done.

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“Sorry we couldn’t spend more time together.” Paretia sadly said as she bid us farewell at the bottom of the ramp the next morning. We’d rocked her universe last night as best we could without hurting her or knocking her up. That said, her metallic carapace seemed to have regained luster that we hadn’t noticed had faded. We also gave her several jugs of milk.

“Sorry we still can’t keep our promise to give you a retirement on beachfront property yet.” I said and nuzzled her cheek with my helmet before moving aside and letting Yola do the same. “It’s there, we just have to buy it, which we’re sure nobody would have an issue with.”

“Then there’s the fact the Reapers won’t let us retire, not for a few more years. We could get you that house as soon as we get there though. We’ll probably be stuck sitting on our asses on Rannoch for a month anyway.” Yola suggested and I nodded in agreement.

“Eh...yeah. Sounds good. I’m not at risk of being replaced as the leader of the Talon Mercenaries yet. To be honest I’m considering stepping down within a few years either way. I’ve got my eye on a potential replacement, I’ll let you know how it pans out.” Paretia looked around and then cupped our groins. “You are fucking knocking me up as soon as I’m done being an adventure-seeking bitch. Got it?”

“Yes ma’am~!” We chirped excitedly and she nodded before going up the ramp and we journeyed back to the Normandy, which felt emptier with so much of the crew off on a potential suicide mission to stop Avitus’ krogan cloning program. Hopefully Wrex understands that completely reversing the Genophage is folly, even in this dire situation. At least the Empire with Mordin’s help are about to release a partial cure that will allow krogans to have regular clutches of 10 to 20 instead of 1000.

“I can’t believe Wrex thought of this.” Ashley said as we entered the ship.

“He’s surprisingly devious. He was always meant to lead his people. He just went about it sooner than expected.” I sighed in my reply and hugged Ashley, who hesitantly returned the motion...then drifted her hands down to my ass and I smirked. “Someone is learning.”

“Sh-shut up…” Ashley muttered and kissed my mouthpiece. “Well, we’re all going on vacation to Rannoch. They have Levo food there? Dextro gives me gas.”

“Yep, they also have protein-neutral food, but considering you’ve been modded, you don’t have to worry about the dextro-levo bullshit.” I replied as I turned and we entered the ship proper, with me putting a hand on Ash’s ass with her doing the same, while Yola flanked her and they did the same for each other. Heh, we’re a trio of grab-asses!

“Good.” Ashely told me. “Um, can you treat me as a pet? Since we’re going to be spending a lot of time together specifically on vacation, I figured I might as well, uh, experiment.”

“Aw, is my little girl getting bold? Don’t worry, I’ll give you a bone tonight whether you’ve been good or bad.” I cooed before we entered the meeting room, which only had Kaidan and Penny. Everyone else was gone already.

“It feels wrong. Not having them here.” Penny commented as we sat down on the sofa opposite her.

“I grabbed food.” Tali called out when she entered the room and brought in a snack tray. “I wanted to have some Levo food while we could without wasting the Normandy’s stock of it when we’re on Rannoch.” Tali set the tray down before she boldly tossed her helmet off to shake out her hair and grabbed what looked like a taquito. Wait, this is mexican food!

“There’s a mexican restaurant on the Citadel?! Why didn’t anybody tell me?!” I wailed as I reached for a chimichanga and bit into the fried burrito with relish the moment I had my helmet off.

“Because mexican isn’t mainstream? Ethnic food is so out-of-date for humanity. Most of us are lucky to have racial traits as strong as mine, otherwise we all tend to look Brazilian like the geneticists thought we might.” Penny said while pointing at Kaidan and Ashley as perfect examples of how most humans tend to look. In fact, Penny has a similar facial structure as Ashley, but her darker skin and almond-shaped eyes are a big contrast to Ash’s pale-tan tone and round eyes.

“She is correct. Ash and I are a perfect example of your typical human. The Commander is an especially rare outlier like Captain Anderson.” Kaidan reaffirmed as he took a very meat-heavy quesadilla.

“Um...this looks very...greasy.” Yola said with hesitation and I gasped as I pointed at her.

“My sister doesn’t like mexican food?! What horror! The travesty~!” I dramatically hammed, even falling backward onto the next cushion as I put my forearm over my eyes at the shame.

“I-I don’t know if I like it or not yet! I just don’t think it’s wise to be eating something with enough lubricant to oil a droid’s shoulders.” Yola muttered as she took off her helmet and went for a plain tortilla, literally the only thing that had the least grease out of the platter.

“Uh, Yola. You’re supposed to put the fajita or other meats on the tortilla first.” Ashley commented as Yola ate the tortilla with relish after the first taste.

“If my sister wishes to be a heathen and only eat what is literally mexican bread then she shall have to settle for being different.” I sniffed snootily and grabbed a handful of taquitos like a civilized person.

The rest of the meal passed in an awkward silence until Kaidan announced he was going to tell Joker to set a destination for Rannoch.

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“So, this mansion?” Zann, the Geth realtor who was the one Van set me up with asked.

“Yep.” I popped the P as I looked at what seemed like a science-fiction version of Tony Stark’s coastal mansion. It even had enough space on the flat land that came with it to land the Normandy.

“Not in any city?” Zann stressed urgently, as if he could dissuade me.

“Yes.” It is too perfect. It’s big, it has a beautiful view from up on a cliff, I think I see fruit-bearing trees in the nearby forest and there’s a beach at the bottom of the cliff with both stairs and elevator access.

“Far away from anything?” Zann tried again, because indeed the nearest town was about an hour’s flight up the coast with a civilian vehicle.

“Positive.” Seriously, dude, it’s Iron Man’s Mansion. I want it.

“...Alright, it’s yours.” Zann sighed and transferred the rights to the property to me via omni-tool, paid for by the Geth Collective for my services rendered to the species. “Enjoy your new home Nora’Feell. It was a pleasure to meet you.” Zann bid me farewell and he left out the front door so I followed to wave goodbye.

“Thanks for being so patient.” I smiled beautifically after him before calling my sister. “Hey, I got the house. There’s enough space to land the Normandy on the property.” I entered my new home-sorry, our new home and looked about the empty space with ideas for the future, a future I hoped would come true. “Fair warning though; it’s from before the quarians left and it’s been rebuilt. Apparently it was owned by some mad inventor.”

“Really?” Yola asked as I walked into the lower levels, noticing the resemblances to Iron Man’s home was not just on the outside.

“Huh, wouldn’t it be funny if this guy had been making power armor?” I chuckled, fiddling with recently repaired computers. I clicked a random button before the sound of gears on rusted metal screeched behind me and I looked at the floor opening up to see a suit of armor rise up. It...didn’t look anything like Iron Man’s armor. I was disappointed, but it was a suit of power armor! “Uh...I have something for you guys to see when you get here.”

Gosh, this thing is covered in rust, it doesn’t even look complete! Did the morning war start just when this guy started on this suit?

“We’ll check it out when we get there.” Yola hung up, likely after getting my coordinates.

Well, time to explore the whole property rather than the majority I went on the tour with. Like that beach down there! I found a stairwell down to the white sandy beach at the bottom of the cliff. Once there, I kicked off my shoes and socks and sighed as I walked across the sand and let the waves wash over my feet.

This...please don’t let it just be a moment. Let this be my future. I could see myself living here with my loved ones, away from the hustle and bustle. The politics and the adventures.

Sure, they could be fun, but I’ve been at it for decades now. I don’t care if people live on average 120+ years up to 150 unless you’re short-lived or even longer-lived. I’m just spent. Hell, I might even get work as a factory! Spend a month producing Omni-gel, Argent, Milk, what have you. Then spend a month off, repeat. Sounds like a great way to retire.

But first the Reapers need to fucking die. I will be the only true Reaper left in this galaxy if I must!

My resolve was interrupted by my omni-tool ringing and I answered. “Hey, we’re here. Where are you?” Oh? I didn’t hear them arrive. The cliff probably shielded me from the noise.

“I’m down on the beach. You should come down, get a feel for it.” I hung up and sat down, not caring that I was getting sand on my shorts.

Shortly, Yola, Penny, Tali, and Ashley had arrived and all joined me looking out at the ocean as the sun shined brightly overhead.

“It feels like Earth, oddly enough.” Penny commented wistfully.

“Yeah.” I tried not to cry, but a few tears wouldn’t obey.