Missing Piece
Chapter one: Despair.
Hello! First of all this is my first work in english, so there might be some errors and mispells so be patient while I get comfy. I will include art, minimum one artscene per chapter. Important note here, I am not an artist, I barely know how to draw and I use picrew me and a lot of references to do my art. This doesn't mean it's easier, I have to change a lot of things and edit them a lot. I will be switching povs between Shepard and Liara, but I think I'll be using mostly Shepard. In my mind, Shepard likes to joke around a lot and has a dark edge too, but she knows when to get serious and she cares a lot for her friends. In general, there will be a bit of humor here and there but also serious matters. Without further ado, enjoy my story. This story is on ao3 too.
Summary: The crucible is almost finished, but there's a missing piece! No one was expecting this, so the council sends Normandy's crew to find this artifact. The crew is surprised when instead of finding an object, they find a human! Shepard was Cerberu's prisioner for months and is finally rescued. But who is really Jane Shepard? Why was she on an abandoned Cerberus base? Will Liara find a way to earn her trust and her heart? Will they survive?
Log/Zhu’s Hope; 10:42 am/Alert: life signs detected; unstable weather.
Zhu’s Hope. A human colony supposedly deserted. Except it really wasn't, and there were no humans. Husks, creatures that once had dreams, hopes, families, were now simply echoes. Monstrous beings that sought only blood and destruction.
In the end that's all the reapers brought to this universe. When an Alliance admiral, Hackett he called himself, contacted me, I knew he was serious. Humans are not famous for working with other aliens, but they were desperate. We all are.
The Crucible, a large weapon supposedly capable of destroying the Reapers, was almost complete. Except for one piece. No one noticed this detail until the last instant. We call it a 'piece' because it's easier to refer to it that way. But it really could be anything. An energy beam, a base, a star, a sun... . The possibilities are endless, but our time is not. Everyone started blaming each other, until they decided to take action and contact the 'best in the galaxy' to carry out this seemingly impossible mission.
And here we were, five completely different individuals. We had known each other for a few weeks, but we were already forced to put our lives in each other's hands. This blind trust had created tensions. It's like walking down a dark hallway and jumping blindly to the void when you reach the end, waiting for someone to rescue you. We were all terrified. Some admitted it, some got angry and lashed out at everyone, and some said nothing. But that doesn't matter now, nothing matters. When an alien race that’s millenniums old threatens to destroy everything you know, you must bury the hatchet. It was easier said than done though.
Our mission on this planet is to retrieve this ‘mysterious artifact'. A few hours ago, on the ship, I found a radar signal on a planet that was supposed to be deserted; Feros. Everyone was hesitant at first, coming here was a big gamble. With enough conviction, I managed to persuade most of them and got our pilot, Joker, to land despite the weather conditions, which were not in our favor either. Doubts remained in the air, until after a few minutes of walking and killing husks that appeared seemingly out of nowhere, a large base began to loom through the sandstorm. We all assumed it was the source of the signal, and the mutants.
I checked the omni-tool on my wrist to confirm that we were indeed in the right place. I shifted uncomfortably from the cold sweat running down my temple to the base of my neck and disappearing into my tight armor.
"I feared I was right, but at the same time I wasn’t. After so long being empty-handed, we finally found something. But... what does this entail?"
I turned to my companions. The same question plastered on their faces. Was this just another random base? There was no doubt that Cerberus had numerous hidden facilities on the various planets of the galaxy. And the husks only confirmed their presence.
"Well, we've come this far, I guess we have no choice but to go in there and destroy everything." Vega approached towards the door of the base while cracking his knuckles, until Tali stepped in his way.
"I think we'd better find a cliff and jump off; it'll be a more pleasant death" we couldn't make out Tali's facial features very well through her helmet, but we all caught a glimpse of her rolling her eyes.
"We can't leave empty-handed either. We've spent a lot of resources and time finding this planet." Garrus interjected. "But Tali is right, we can't go in blind. I can't use my sniper well in close quarters."
"Sorry, Mr. Perfect Aim, but you're not the only one capable here. Besides, you could use the stick up your ass-"
"Enough" Ashely separated the two men who had come face to face. "I don't care how fragile your macho pride is. I don't care what weapon you use to get in, but the point is, we're going to do it-" Vega's eyes lit up at the thought of being able to enter the base and cause the destruction he fantasized about "-stealthily."
The two deflated, still having things to say to each other. They pulled themselves together the next second, looking into each other's eyes in what seemed to be a silent agreement to continue this absurd conversation later.
"Aye Aye, captain" James gave Ashley a military salute.
"I'm not the boss this time, James." Ashley looked at me in disgust. Hackett and Anderson had agreed that I would be the leader of this mission, and she didn't take it well at all, used to always being the one running the operations.
"Do you really care about that? There are more important things than your pride, Ashley." The lieutenant tensed even more, pointing a finger at me.
"Watch your tone Liara, you don't even know me."
I bit my tongue to stop the potential argument. The soldier must have sensed it, as her shoulders slumped and she turned away from me, putting her professional mask back on.
The lieutenant sighed and looked at me tentatively "Are you sure this is it? We can't waste any more time."
"I'm sure, the scanners don't lie. We're lucky. The signal seems to be coming from one floor above. We won't have to go too far in, but we must be careful. That means no shotguns, grenades, c4, drones-" I started listing off with my fingers until Tali interrupted me.
"Liara! How can you exclude Chatika like that!" the quarian ran her fingers through her omni-tool and a small pink drone started floating in front of our faces.
"Chati... Tali, it makes too much noise." I tried to reason with her "It's just a drone."
Tali gasped dramatically and put a hand on her chest, turning towards the base and stomping the ground loudly "How dare you talk about Chatika vas Paus like that!"
"But it's just a drone... isn't it?" they all shook their heads no, following Tali.
"So much for being quiet" the soldier sighed again.
"Liara, I wish you luck fixing this problem." Garrus squeezed my shoulder lightly. "It's been a pleasure meeting you."
"But it's only a drone!" I said desperately, a little louder than I wanted to.
"Keep digging your grave, blue!" James laughed, followed by an 'Ouch' when Ashley punched his arm for being so outrageous.
This is going to be harder than I expected....
I thought resignedly, following my companions.
__________________________________
"So... instead of destroying a Cerberus base that's probably causing our main problem, we're going to kidnap this one..."
James gestured vaguely to the redhead who was looking at us curiously from the floor where she was sitting on.
We arrived at some sort of control room, probably designated for Cerberus higher-ups. Resistance was weak, surely all the husks had fled through a large hole we found in one of the walls, probably produced by one of the soldiers that tried to escape the base. Something definitely went wrong. But to our surprise, there was a cell and a person in the same room.
"That way we won't get her to cooperate! Keelah, some people, and even drones, have feelings!" - Tali scolded James and looked over her shoulder at me, turning her head with a small 'mmf' when she realized she caught my attention.
"Tali, I'm sorry! But it's still a drone. If you'd let me open it up, you could see that it's just a set of circuits and-"
This time Tali didn't make a sound. She turned to me with both hands on her chest and walked a few steps away from me, approaching the control panel and starting to hack it so she could open the cells door. "Don't talk to me or Chatika ever again!"
James let out a loud laugh as he slapped Garrus a little too hard on the back, causing him to lose his balance and almost fall flat on his face.
"Wow, you turians don't seem to have much balance. Seems normal to me, you're practically like a plucked chicken."
"Say that again asshole!" Garrus stood up quickly, invading Vega's personal space.
"That's enough you idiots, what do you think you're doing!" Ashley grabbed the two by the collars of their armor, trying to pull them apart as if they were two small children.
'Clank!'
I opened my mouth to try to stop the fight, but the bickering of my companions became a faint murmur in the back of my mind as the cell door opened, revealing the redhead much better.
Her intense green eyes suddenly met mine. I felt her gaze analyzing me up and down, not even trying to hide it. I couldn't help the faint blush that rose to my cheeks, even in this violent situation. As quickly as it started, it ended.
"You call your partner 'chicken' but you're the one with the Chicken Little hairstyle. Who cut your hair, a pyjak?"
We were all surprised by the sound of her voice, kind of low and husky, surely she hadn't spoken in a long time. Perhaps she hadn't been fed or given anything to drink either.
Garrus was the first to react to the absurd comment, letting out a big laugh. James released the turian from the collar of his armor and stalked angrily over to the cell, locking his eyes on the mysterious woman’s.
"You're in no position to joke, ketchup head! I could blow your head off with one move and we could get on with our mission."
"Uh-huh, I knew it. That hairstyle goes hand in hand with a lack of wit." - She grinned mischievously, spitting at Vega's feet.
"We need her alive." In one swift movement I grabbed James' arm, who was about to pull his gun out of the holster.
"We don't need another asshole on our ship!" he jerked his arm roughly to free himself from my grip.
"Be careful who you’re referring to!" Garrus protested.
"ENOUGH!" my voice echoed throughout the room. A pulse of biotics burst from my body, throwing a chair near me into the air and forcing Tali to duck to dodge it. Everyone froze, wide-eyed and gawking at me.
"James, you can't just blow everything in front of you out of the air, some missions require stealth! And stop provoking Garrus!" The turian started nodding his head, proud that I was defending him.
"And you!" he was surprised that I was suddenly addressing him. "Stop being offended by everything! When we were introduced, I thought you were the most capable of us, but it seems I was wrong!" I turned to Tali.
"I've worked most of my life with dead beings, studying their culture with almost no contact from anyone else! I'm sorry if I can't see your drone as anything more than... a drone!"
"And Ashley!" the lieutenant was surprised to get her turn, assuming she'd done nothing wrong. But all the times we'd fought over simply not accepting me being in command for once had worn me down quite a bit.
"I know you think you're the only one capable of being in charge, but you're not! You have to trust us more, we're a team, it doesn't matter who leads the mission, but that we come out victorious!" I lost my breath, my whole body shaking from the accumulated anger and frustration.
A few seconds of silence passed; everyone absorbing the information I had said. I thanked the goddess that none of them had the courage to argue with me, accepting my words with more maturity than they had shown these past few weeks. Still, I sensed it was going to be a long road.
"Well, that was hot." Again, the stranger interrupted everyone's thoughts. I blushed again at her boldness but recomposed myself swiftly.
"What's your name?" I approached her gently, though there was an edge to my voice from my recent outburst.
"And why should I tell you? I remind you that your friend almost killed me." She pointed her chin toward James, and I realized her hands were tied behind her back.
"We're all at our limit. There's a war going on and our planets are being destroyed, including Earth." I stopped James with one hand before he responded. He snorted but obeyed my command.
To our surprise, the redhead chuckled, completely disinterested in the information I had just given her. I was a little surprised, but quickly regained my composure. It was hard to read her.
"And what am I supposed to do- cry? Get angry?" throughout the conversation there was a dangerous smile plastered on her face, but suddenly she became serious. "This world- this universe, it's rotten. The sooner it ends, the better."
"We're offering you a fighting chance, so you can change it and survive-" Tali interjected.
"You are here because something has brought you to me." She cut the engineer off with a cold tone. I could feel Tali shift uncomfortably in her seat by the look she was giving her. "You're here for your own fucking self-interest, don't play hero on me. Who assures me you won't dissect me on your ship? No thanks, I'd rather die here." She turned her head, losing what little intrigue she felt towards us. We all flinched at her harsh words, but nobody dared to talk, too taken aback to handle this situation.
"You're right. We have been lured by a signal here; to you. And I wondered why a ‘human’ could emit a signal on a radar that supposedly detects electrical fields." This time I got close enough to touch her. I bent down and put my hand on her shoulder, noticing how she instantly tensed and snapped her head in my direction, looking surprised by my touch or words, I wasn’t sure. "Our intentions are good. I can't begin to imagine the nightmare you've been through here. Maybe you have something we're interested in, yes, I admit that. But we also want to save you. We all deserve a chance. This galaxy too, don't you think?"
Silence fell again in the room. I smiled softly, looking deep into her eyes. She looked like a fish out of water, until her expression hardened again. I thought I had failed, until her voice came one more time, very faintly.
"My name is Shepard." Her eyes moistened slightly, but her expression remained serious. "Jane Shepard." We all let out a small sigh of relief.
"Jane, we want to help you-" The question died in my mouth as Shepard nodded and began to stand up. We were surprised by her sudden cooperation. I mimicked her movement and was surprised when she fell forward, crushing her body into mine.
"Keelah!" Tali was at my side in a moment, putting a hand on my shoulder to steady me so I wouldn't fall to the ground with Shepard in my arms.
"She has a fever and is malnourished and dehydrated. Shepard, how long have you been here?" The orange light from Ashley's scanner briefly flashed across the redhead's body.
“I think… a few months? I can’t really remember.” Her breath was hot against my neck. I felt her weak muscles tense when she tried to stand again, failing miserably. "We have to get out of here, a patrol is on its way."
"And you're telling us now?!" James exclaimed and walked over to Shepard, surprised when he realized she was unconscious.
"Vega, Garrus, take the lead and eliminate any threats. Tali and Ashley with me, in case we get ambushed from behind." I adjusted my grip on Jane, grimacing as when I felt her ribs as I slipped my arm around her waist.
Everyone nodded and started moving. The guys took the lead, but Ashley put a hand on my shoulder before I could move forward. I looked at her with annoyance.
"I can carry her on my back, if you drag her that way you can damage her and it will only slow us down." She held up her hands in a sign of peace, showing she just wanted to help.
"Okay, thank you." I nodded regretfully. Shepard was slightly taller than me, and although her weight was worryingly light, it was a bit tricky to manage her body.
Ashley grabbed her in a swift movement, putting her on her back like a sack of potatoes and gripping her arms and legs so she wouldn't fall off her shoulders.
Once we were ready, we quickly headed out the door. Tali already had her drone ready, which flew over our heads. Ashley grabbed her handgun, unable to get a proper grip on her assault rifle.
James and Garrus were not far up ahead. I saw a pile of dead husks, smoke still billowing from their bodies. Seeing us, they waved at us, and we continued on our way to the ship, wary of our surroundings.
"There they are, kill them, but watch out for the Lazarus Project!"
"What do they mean by 'Project Lazarus'!" Garrus shouted so that his voice could be heard above the gunfire.
"Maybe you should stop and ask them!" James shouted back.
"Now is not the time!" Tali, Ashley and I screamed at the same time, fed up with their childish behavior.
Finally, the Cerberus squadron caught up with us, firing blindly in our direction.
"Good thing they want her alive!" James said, running towards us to cover our backs.
We started running as fast as we could. I could feel my leg muscles on fire, screaming from the extreme exertion. My companions were in a similar situation, grunting and maneuvering awkwardly to get some covering fire. Cerberus was on our heels, they had special helmets for sandstorms, while we were going blindly stumbling over corpses and rocks. At the last moment, just when we thought this was as far as our mission had gone, a cheerful voice rang out over our comm channel.
"Need me to save your asses again?" Joker laughed mischievously.
A combat shuttle appeared over our heads, firing at the enemy behind us and successfully annihilating them within seconds. I grimaced a bit, hearing the flesh explode and the screams of pain. We stopped running, all breathing heavily. We looked back to confirm they were dead, their lifeless corpses on the ground with a pool of blood around them. The shuttle landed next to us, kicking up more and more dust and dirt the closer it got to the ground. EDI stepped out the door, her expressionless face a relief to behold.
"Technically I saved their asses, Jeff." EDI scolded Joker, waving at us and gesturing for us to enter the shuttle.
“I love it when you are on charge.” Joker made kiss noises and we all cringed.
“Well, you are pretty useless since you sometimes ask me to wipe your-“
“EDI!” Joker shrieked, cutting the call abruptly and leaving EDI clueless of what she did wrong.
“I think I need a raise.” Garrus facepalmed and put his sniper rifle away.
“Oh, they pay you? Good to know because I think I will ask for both James and your paycheck since you like to act like children.” Tali told them off.
Garrus and James blushed slightly, the soldier quickly changing the subject.
"It was about time you got here, a little more and the Normandy would have been left with just the two of you." James said.
"We would have been able to handle them." Ashley shifted uncomfortably, adjusting Jane in her lap, and comically failing.
"Yeah, you still could have killed them by swinging Shepard's body violently. I would have at least freaked out." James scoffed at her as he realized her effort.
"Or I could have shot you in the leg, so you'd be bait, at least then you'd be useful for something." The lieutenant gave him a hard look as he looked away, suddenly finding the shuttle wall very interesting.
I put a hand on Ashley's shoulder, indicating her to let me carry Shepard since I had less heavy armor and it was going to be less awkward. She gently placed her in my lap, her head resting like dead weight on my shoulder. I secured my hands on her bony waist to keep her from flying off in the turbulence of flight. I touched her forehead and frowned. The fever was worse, we didn't have much time.
"EDI, tell Karin Chawkas to prepare the med bay, it's an emergency." My companions looked at me, a look of concern plastered on their faces.
“Of course.” EDI was still a bit taken aback for the sudden reaction of Joker a few minutes ago.
“EDI, he was just a bit… surprised. You don’t usually tell anyone about your private time in the bathroom.” I tried to soothe her worries, and my companions chuckled.
“I see. I will ask you further questions about this topic when we are secure if you don’t mind, doctor.”
“I-“ Her eyes began to glow, communicating with Karin at the ship and completely shutting my answer off. I noticed Garrus switching uncomfortably on his seat and looked at him, giving him a chance to speak his mind.
"Why would Cerberus do that to her? I hope when she recovers, she gives us answers." Garrus looked at Jane's face, as if by magic she was going to wake up and unveil all the doubts we had.
"They called her 'Project Lazarus' - do you think it has something to do with the piece we're missing?" Tali commented.
"Cerberus may create armies of the undead, but they don’t act without purpose. She may be the key, or she may be another mystery we don't have time to solve. We should communicate our discovery to Hackett. The council is still panicking and if we continue without answers, they will stop supplying us with resources." I replied.
“They panic over a fly but yeah, you are right.” James assured, laying his head on the shuttle wall, and closing his eyes.
The rest nodded, agreeing with me for the first time in a long time. A comfortable silence fell between us, only interrupted by the soft sound of the wind hitting the shuttle.
I looked out the window and saw the Normandy looming over the horizon with the door open, ready for our landing. I sighed and looked back at Jane, she was looking paler with each passing second.
"The sooner this rotten world is gone, the better."
Her words echoed in my head. A dark part of me agreed with her. Is a universe that is ruled by wars and death worth saving?
Only time will tell.
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