Nexus Effect

Ch.71

“This is unprecedented. It is practically a declaration of war. We were content to simply let it be, now look what has happened.” Valern bemoaned as he went over reports as usual.

“What does the Empire have to say about this separatist declaration? They have essentially laid claim to a fairly large portion of the Empire’s holdings in the Terminus.” Laiel asked his mate as she calmly went over her reports. After she finished egging Messana, who was immobile and absolutely sex-obsessed in their master suite, Medulla was back to perfect form. If anything, she seemed to have a radiant glow to her chitin.

“We have to say: okay. It was planned for, anticipated and we’ve mobilized as previously instructed by Empress Urta and advised by Princess Twilight. We are going to help the Omega Systems Alliance get their feet on the ground. They had too much infrastructure to completely rewrite, more so than the hegemony did. The Hegemony was basically just a bully piggybacking off of the system Omega had established for themselves. Princess Twilight insisted that letting them go independent was for the best.” Medulla announced and Councilor Avetora nodded.

“Yes, like how the Asari Republics work independently and yet together?” Avetora questioned and Medulla made a so-so gesture with her hand.

“I was thinking more along the lines of the Argentine Alliance.” Ah, yes, how could they forget about them? The Argentine Alliance’s ongoing campaign against Hell and Cerberus have certainly built themselves a reputation, one not without infamy. Some within the Citadel have voiced their concerns, regarding the ‘ultra-violent’ group as too dangerous to be left alone.

“They are a force to be reckoned with. You can see why others fear them.” Laiel had reviewed the footage of the lastest missions of the Doom Legion. Their average foot soldier could rival most Spectres, so he could understand why people are afraid. However, so long as they kept their propensity for violence aimed away from the innocent, it was more than acceptable.

“I understand, but they won’t care. They have a job to do and if you get in their way you won’t live to regret it.” Medulla warned the others, really wishing they could just ignore the Marines like most of the Empire was able to. All the Argentines want is to be left alone. That said, what was said in this forum did not have any bearing on them, so she wouldn’t bother passing word along.

“I had thought the Empire ruled everything in its domain directly.” Avetora commented.

“Although we are an empire, we’re a Representative Oligarchy with provisions for colonies and outlier governments to essentially govern themselves so long as they do not violate the laws of the Empire. Aria T’Loak’s chief law of ‘Don’t Fuck With Aria’ melds perfectly with the laws preventing meddling with government affairs anyway.” Medulla shrugged and let it drop.

“So we simply continue business as usual?” Valern asked for confirmation and Medulla nodded. “Hm, that is rather worrisome. How is it that they are not violating Imperial law by merely existing as a nation of pirates and other lawbreakers?”

“Believe it or not, crime is important. It’s unpleasant, but it’s important. Slaving is outright not allowed and the pirates of Omega learned a good while ago that slaving is not lucrative. Then there’s the fact that, apparently, most of the largely amoral and monstrous groups calling Omega home were just culled by Garrus Vakarian with help from Nola and Yola of Clan Feell. Aria T’loak is more than willing to finish culling the unsavory fat from her budding nation.” Medulla declared, as if a mass genocide of criminals was perfectly fine.

Damn did that no-nonsense side of her get him excited. “Well then, I suppose it’s time we move on to other news.” Laiel brought up a recording provided to him through some unsavory sorts, that was beyond disturbing. “It’s time we move on the Collectors and we’re going to need plenty of help. Even with Spectre Shepard already at work on the matter.”

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

He had to wake him. He had to wake his son. Jedore was going to destroy everything, all his work for naught. He would not let his son perish with him!

Okeer coughed as he staggered into his private lab. The gas wasn’t reaching this far. He’d noticed the out-of-place vents that didn’t correspond with his scans of the structure and knew they were a trap, so he’d sealed them over with fake vent facades so Jedore and her goons wouldn’t think anything was amiss. Fools. Any skilled hand with an omni-tool and omni-gel can do something like that.

Still, this gutshot wound courtesy of Jedore was bleeding him out. She’d gotten him good. Both his skin and subdermal layer were penetrated, she got him in his second liver. Then there was the toxin he had inhaled and definitely got in his wound on the way through the main lab.

He was going to die or at least, nearly. He had to wake his magnum opus, his son. “*Grunt*, I’m going to get you up. Then you need to escape. If you can hear me, I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for you.” Okeer winced when the door to the lab slammed open and he turned slightly, expecting Jedore or at least a squad of her flunkies, only to blink at the sight of several fully-suited krogan soldiers. “W-who?”

“Doctor Okeer?” The one in the lead questioned as he approached, his voice digitally distorted as his men used flamethrowers to burn out the toxic gasses that were leaking into the lab.

“Yes?” Okeer wasn’t sure what to think. He hadn’t seen fully armored krogan in centuries. These krogan were also big, easily trumping the average male by half a head, like his son, his creation was supposed to be when fully developed.

“We’re Aralakh Company, the first batch of super-soldiers created in the Kaminoan Process.” The unnamed leader looked to Okeer’s creation. “I see you were already working on something similar or perhaps even superior to us.”

“W-what? Who? My attempts to return our species to greatness were rebuffed, considered pointless or wasteful. Who has taken up the mantle in my exile?” Okeer demanded with a mixture of insult and relief, that he wasn’t the only one trying to restore the krogan.

“You’ve been away for decades with no way to find you until now. The ones helping us are another government, because they don’t want us to wither away. They also need our help to fight a war greater than any war before. We can still use your help.” He turned his head to look at his creation. “And Grunt there can help the one leading the charge.”

“What?”

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“Do we even need this...person?” Jacob asked uneasily as he re-read the dossier.

“Why are we not picking up Okeer if he’s already secured?” Miranda asked as well.

“In that order: she’s a powerful biotic and Okeer is being cared for on an Imperial Hospital ship. He’s chosen instead to join the project team overseeing the Kaminoan Process, but instead we have a very deadly krogan supersoldier to collect when we stop by Korlus. The Empire has claimed the planet by the way, since it was a haven of lawless goons and junk. They bought it from Omega for a sum.” Yola informed them as she went over her omni.

“Also. Purgatory is on Aria’s shitlist since it’s owned and operated by the Blue Suns. We need to get in there and get our new friend now, not later.” I continued as we approached the infamous prison station, which was already on the verge of destruction with ships nearby in combat. Thankfully the Normandy’s stealth systems made it nearly impossible to pick her out among the chaos.

“So this place is going up in smoke?” Penny asked rhetorically as Joker flew us through the growing amounts of space debris with deft ease.

“What info do we have on this Jack person?” Garrus asked curiously while trying not to stare at Tali and Tali made no attempt to stop staring at him with a gentle smile. Oo~ so those two do have good chemistry. They must’ve kindled a flame while Yola and I were senseless broodmothers.

“She hates Cerberus and I’m guessing for a very good reason. I can’t find her profile, so I ran a DNA match search on her and compared it to what we do have compiled. I found a match that ties her to the birth records on Eden Prime, but that’s it. Aside from her litany of crimes, she hasn’t existed before. She’s also known as Subject Zero.” I informed everyone.

“Swell, so we need to be ready to go in guns blazing to free someone who by all rights should hate us for breathing.” Penny sighed and readied her kit. “Alright, who wants to go in with me? We’re going to be fighting harried Blue Suns, convicted criminals even criminals want locked up and possibly have to subdue Jack before she’ll cooperate.”

“I will go with you. It sounds like she may be mentally disturbed. She could use a telepath in that case.” Hunter announced when he stood near Penny and I didn’t miss the pout on Berserker’s face. Uh, I hope Penny didn’t double the size of our romantic unit...

“I’m not about to miss out on a chance to fight alongside Penny.” Garrus got up and put on his helmet. I was about to speak up when Zaeed stood up.

“Well, I’m not going to be earning my pay sitting on my ass. I’m with you.” With that decided, they trooped out of the meeting room and I pouted in my seat. I finally get to go adventuring and I don’t get to be on the first team with Penny? Boo! At least I helped Garrus kick ass.

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“Go, go, go!” Penny shouted while she led her chosen team through the incredible violence that was a max-pen space prison in full riot. What Blue Suns were left were decidedly too busy trying to survive to be in the way and the prisoners didn’t see her team as guards since they were ignoring the prisoners, so they tended to keep distance.

“This is a lot more frantic than I was expecting!” Garrus admitted before he had to shove away a prisoner who had been tossed out of the throng of criminals tearing apart a Blue Sun guard.

“Nah, this is about average for a max-pen that just had it’s systems shut down.” Zaeed commented before he casually sprayed his assault rifle at a line of prisoners that had been about to charge their group.

“Less talking, more gun ‘n’ run.” Hunter casually commented, completely unbothered by the ultraviolence happening around them.

This was the norm until they reached Cell Block D, where someone was screaming obscenities that would make any ye-olde sailor blush as biotic flares tossed Blue Sun guards and prisoners alike through the air. “That must be her. I like her moxy, but she could watch her tongue a bit.” Penny commented as they stood and watched the woman fight her way out of the throng of people assaulting her.

Eventually she was clear of attackers and stood panting as she looked around, pausing when she saw the group who were simply waiting. “The fuck do you want?” Demanded the woman who was fit and slim with most of her body covered in tattoos and her head shaved.

“Are you Jack?” Penny questioned rhetorically. She matched the images Nora got for them.

“Who’s asking, bitch?” Jack huffed as she warily approached.

“An actual bitch, but that’s aside from the point. I’m Penny Inoue Shepard, I’m kinda being forced to work for Cerberus and now they’ve decided they aren’t done with you and expect me to ask you to help me find and kill tons of assholes abducting humans.” Penny glibly replied and the woman scrunched her shaven brows together.

“The absolute fuck? They torture me, then fucking expect me to work for them? They sound crazier than I am!” Jack spat to the side and cracked her neck. “Fuck them, will working for you get me out of here?”

“Oh, yes. Also, we’re fucking over Cerberus after this is over.” Garrus told her with amusement.

“Then what are we doing standing around jilling ourselves for? Let’s go.” Jack approached and gestured for them to lead. “Well? I just woke up, I have no fucking clue where to go.”

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“Well, that was fast.” I commented when Penny and the others returned. We’d had to fend off inmates trying to storm the Normandy to escape, so it felt like it took longer, but in all it took less than an hour for them to rush in and back with Jack. “I see they put you in cryosleep. You lost all your hair when you woke up, huh?”

“That fucking obvious?” Jack snorted as she rubbed her smooth head with a snarl. “I had it all nice and long too, braided so I could choke someone out with it if I had to.”

“Or whip them in the face with it if your hands were occupied.” I nodded in understanding.

“...I like you. I won’t kill you first.” Jack replied and I playfully punched her in the bicep, which she returned with a feral grin. “So, where’s the food? And the showers?” Jack shouted at a poor crewmember and proceeded to harass them for things.

“She’s quite the character…” Yola muttered uneasily and I patted her back as the ramp raised.

“She’s also sexy and knows how to flaunt it.” I replied and ignored the shoe that smacked into my helmet. Said shoe belonged to someone else, since Jack was barefoot.

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“Why am I here?” Jack demanded from where she took up most of a couch to herself, sprawled over it like a drunken wastrel even though she was both sober and awake. She was also freshly showered and fed on top of that with an unzipped bodysuit on. Which was worse than her prison pants and chest strap because it showed off her lower body along with leaving her torso from her lower stomach up exposed in a V that barely covered her nips.

“Because you’re part of the team now, Jack. You have just as much say as anyone and you need to be kept in the loop.” Penny stated with a gentle expression and Jack huffed as she closed her eyes.

“Whatever, wake me when you’re done.” Jack turned to face the back of the couch and everyone shook their heads besides Hunter, Penny and I. Berserker and Runner weren’t here at the moment, having to take care of some private matters on their own ship still docked to the Normandy.

“Okay, so now that we have Jack, we’re going to go pick up Grunt, who is being put through his paces aboard the Krogan Protectorate ship in orbit around Korlus.” Penny continued, only for Jack to blow a raspberry. So much for her not wanting to be involved.

“Who names their kid Grunt?” Jack asked incredulously towards the seat cushion.

“It's the name he took.” Penny replied and Jack shook her head.

“So I can take a name other than Jack and not be Jack? Sounds stupid.” Jack bit back, but Penny looked surprisingly conflicted for a moment before she steeled herself.

“If you want to change your name to anything that’s up to you, Jack.” Penny gently replied with a knowing tone and Jack seemed to deflate a bit.

“Jack is fine.” Oh? I see. Penny is killing her with kindness. Maybe she’ll become gentler from Penny’s influence like how in canon she becomes more mature.

“So, after we pick up Grunt, where to?” Penny asked the group, but pointedly was looking at Miranda, who seemed to stand a little straighter at the attention.

“Well, we have pretty much the essentials. Skilled long-range operatives, a few tech experts, a bunch of biotics, our scientist. Hm…” Miranda hummed as she considered the options.

“Any heavy hitters to go along with this Grunt. I was running with HK and Martra for a couple of months before I ended up on Omega. Since then I’ve found it hard not to work with at least one tough between me and my targets.” Garrus suggested and I did notice that aside from this Grunt person, we’re rather lacking in a tanky middle-of-everything fighter. None of the biotics count in that department unfortunately. Wait…

“I just realized: where’s Kaidan?” I asked worriedly and Miranda checked.

“Kaidan Alenko got a transfer and promotion like Ashley Williams. He’s on Earth, well out of the way of what we’re doing and he’s busy training budding biotics. That said, we may...Martra was last seen on Rannoch, which is closer than Korlus. The droid HK-47 was last seen on Tuchanka, which is well out of the way.” Miranda informed us and Penny huffed.

“Rannoch won’t let us land and Tuchanka is too far off the beaten path right now. We’ll just have to pick up Grunt and go from there.” Penny then focused on Jack. “Also, Jack. I hope you don’t mind, but this ship does not supress libidoes, but we only condone consensual intimacy.”

“Wait, you mean you official-sounding jarheads fuck like dogs?” Jack sat up quickly in surprise and curiosity as she looked everyone over.

“Pretty much. I’m in a relationship with f-three people in this room. If you find yourself with someone you like and they reciprocate, just find somewhere private at a reasonable time to have your fun.” Penny declared and Jack immediately looked at Jacob, who nervously gulped.

“...This ship is cool.” Jack then plopped back on the couch.

“That said, the meeting is adjourned. Nora, please escort Jack to her room so she knows where she can sleep in peace. Yola, a moment?” I pouted at Yola getting Penny’s attention and I got stuck escorting the pirate. Well, Krarek was a pirate…

“Come along Jack, I’ll show you your room. Also, no, you are not sleeping in the bowels of the ship.” I picked her up in a bridal carry without warning her and she cussed and hit me, which I ignored and carried her out until she wised up and jumped to her feet.

“The fuck are you made of, bitch? It was like hitting a soft-padded training dummy.” Jack rubbed her arms where she’d hit against my back and head as she followed.

“I’m a Geth. My body is a mostly anatomically correct organic-simulating chassis.” I replied as we got into the elevator, which is still a dumb idea for a ship this small.

“So you're a robot with tits. Big whoop.” Jack huffed as we got off on the crew quarters.

“Tits, a functioning female reproductive system and a functioning male reproductive system all thanks to the work of a perverted unicorn.” I informed her and she looked at me incredulously.

“Wait, you have a dick?” Jack demanded as we reached the room across from the one I share with Yola and Tali.

“Yep. Wanna see?” I smirked salaciously.

“You’re bullshitting me, yeah I wanna see. I’ve been fucking dry for months! Not even counting however fucking long I’ve been on ice.” Jack grabbed my wrist and pulled me into her new room with a manic gleam to her eyes.