[Book One] Chapter 13: Working pays off

Chapter 13: Working pays off

The two weeks of urgent missions Admiral Hackett had dumped on them were finally over. Should they never set foot in the Hades Gamma cluster it would be too soon. That was the shared thought from everyone on the ground team. First they had to take care of a hostage situation. L2 biotics terrorists had taken over a ship with the chairman of the parliament subcommittee for transhuman studies as a captive. Their demand was actually quite moderate, they just wanted a reasonable amount of money as insurance for every L2 biotics. Kaidan was quite torn as a L2 himself and a member of the alliance. Rick thought that they were right to fight for what they were fighting for, after all the L2 implants were given to them by the alliance and with all the nasty side effects of those implants life would be difficult. All they wanted was for the alliance to help them live better by giving them some kind of invalidity pension, except the people in charge didn’t care. Rick could rally behind the cause but not behind the means. In the end, they saved the chairman who promised to really do something about it, not having cared or understood what life was like for them. Before leaving Kaidan shared some advice on how to use their biotic better to  mitigate the side effects. To a L2 already too far gone it would have been useless but to the ones who sporadically use their biotics it would do a bit of good.

Their second mission was about finding what happened to a survey team that went missing. It was quite a large team, at least half a hundred people that were gone. When the ground team found their last location, a mining site, they had to fight for their lives as every single member of the missing survey team had been turned into husks.

Finally their last mission was to negotiate with a human warlord that killed alliance miners in what he claimed was his territory. The man had been a grade A asshole. To start with he insulted Shepard, saying she was sent there to use her assets on him, then began to make some outrageous demands, like money, weapons and even equipment to make red sand. Lastly the self proclaimed lord, which he ordered to be addressed as, ordered Shepard to swallow her alliance bravado, ask for his cooperation nicely and to say “please” with the mandatory ostentatious and condescending tone that all delusional megalomaniac of his kind had; let’s not forget.
The: “Why not a blowjob, 100 credits and a protein bar while you’re at it?” from Rick sent him in a terrifying fury that lasted all of two seconds as the former did a biotic charge right on his face which was instantly disintegrated by a shotgun blast. That started the biggest fight of the team yet as the warlord wannabe had plenty of minions from all races with him. Thankfully, while strong, they were not coordinated while the Normandy team was well oiled. It took some time and a few close calls but they were properly dealt with. Tha alliance could take possession of the territory themselves and get back into mining eezo.

“Hands up for never allowing Rick to negotiate ever again!” yelled an exhausted Tali sitting down her back against the wall panting heavily. Everyone but Wrex did.

“That’s it then. Rick, I forbid you to negotiate from now on.” Shepard announced.

“You’re kidding right? That was the best negotiation I’ve seen in years!” Wrex protested.

“We were supposed to come to an agreement, Wrex. Not kill them all.”

“They’re all dead now, they can’t do anything but agree.”

“Violence is not always the answer.”

“It’s always the answer, red. If it’s not, you just didn’t hit hard enough.”

Rick interjected, making Wrex laugh hard.

“That is the most krogan answer I ever heard!”

“Anyway, the alliance is free to continue their mining operation without problem now.”

When they went back to the Normandy, Shepard immediately contacted Hackett who congratulated her. She was bewildered and asked for an explanation.

“He killed alliance people and was making insane demands. From his psychological profile we expected you to kill him. You did and now the alliance got what it wanted without the inconvenience.”

“But I thought you wanted me to negotiate?!”

“We couldn’t openly get rid of him, not through an official channel, but you being a spectre gave us a golden opportunity.”

“What if I had succeeded in making a deal?”

“Honestly, we didn’t believe you would. Not you in particular but anyone in general. We would have respected the deal however. I’m glad we don’t have to.”

Hackett closed the call leaving behind a dumbfounded Shepard.

There is no way I’m telling him about this. He will never let me live it down.

Unfortunately for her, when she went down the stairs and entered her cabin she saw the last person she wanted to see. Sitting with his feet on the table, his hands on the top of his helmet with its lower part opened, showing a very satisfying, but very irritating to her, grin.

“NOT. A. WORD.” She threatened.

He did nothing but bit his lips, stopping himself from laughing at her.

“Is there something you need, that you’re in my quarters?”

“Yes actually. Three things.”

“One, to see your face. Two to show you my smug face so I can irritate you. Thr…”

“OUT!”

“-Ree, to tell you that Tali and I finished our shotgun prototype and that you’re needed in the cargo bay for a demonstration. Like right now if possible.”

His helmet closed and he stood up making his way out under the murderous gaze of the commander.

“Come on, shooting things will make you feel better.”

She pondered for a moment and admitted that yes, it would. Especially if she imagined the target being his smug face. As usual the elevator ride was long and quiet. Until for the first time Rick was the first to speak.

“It was too tempting. I’m so… Sooo.. Sorrrr.” he was trying to say something but had some difficulty doing so.

“Sorry?”

“Yes. That!”

“Is that difficult to say?”

“To you? Yes.”

“Why me ? What did I do that the others didn’t for such a privilege from you?”

To her surprise, he grew quiet. She was expecting a cutting retort or a stupid answer or much simpler a non answer but not silence. There was definitely something there. Her guts was telling her that it was the answer to everything, including his dislike for the alliance. But why? His dislike seemed to have been there before they ever met on Eden Prime from what Ashley said. She hadn’t even met him until then. Or not. She had never seen his face so maybe they had met before. Maybe that’s why he was keeping his face hidden.

I have to find out what he’s hiding under this helmet of his.

She thought of asking Ashley but she was almost certain she would not answer. Rick was her friend and it was an invasion of his privacy, so the gunnery chief was out. Did anyone else on the ship even know? Somehow she felt the answer was no. The elevator’s door opened and she filed those questions in the “later” part of her mind. Stepping out of the metallic cage. She saw Tali positioning some metal plates against the wall of the cargo bay.

“The shotgun is over there.” Rick indicated, leading her to the workbench.

On the table she saw what was a modified Katana model. The grip had been modified to be at the end of the weapon and not under it. She picked it up and naturally handled it.

“You changed the position of the grip because it was impractical otherwise, with the rest of the gun being too heavy it would have made an imbalance and it would not have rotated properly.”

“Correct. That changed the way of handling it. You somehow have to aim now instead of having it at the hip.”

“That way the whole body takes the recoil when I shoot with two hands instead of the arms and when I shoot with one hand there isn’t any strain already in the arm holding it. The weight is distributed better and as a result should rotate more easily.”

“I’m impressed you understood so much with only a glance.” was all Rick said and shoo her over Tali’s direction to start shooting. She received some padded pauldron that also covered the part where the weapon should rest on her.

The gun aficionados of the team, Ashley, Garrus and Wrex were behind waiting for the demonstration. Shepard put herself in position and tried the two handed way first. Shooting with accuracy and having no problem pumping until the shotgun overloaded.

“The recoil is strong but not that strong. And the accuracy is good. I had no problem with pumping the next shot.”

Tali gave her an arm protection that she put on as she handed the weapon to Rick.

“Normally you shouldn’t feel any strain on your arm from the recoil. Well no more than usual when you are using a shotgun at the hip.”

“Normally?”

“It hasn’t been tested yet.” Tali confessed and seeing Shepard’s doubtful face quickly reassured her. “ We would not let you try it if we were not confident you would not get hurt.”

At that the commander made a flat unimpressed face and looked at Rick.

“I.. I mean… I wouldn’t?” Tali tried.

“Just so you know, I don’t want you to get hurt. I’m not that kind of guy.” defended Rick.

Still doubtful, Shepard said nothing and followed the instructions Rick showed her to activate the new handle. It was very simple. She just had to push a button on the comb with her thumb and it appeared. She didn’t even have to move her hand. The visible part of the handle came from the comb, circled it and locked itself into another metal part of the comb.

Once again she took a stance.

“There are two tests. The two handed way of reloading and the one handed way. Start with whichever you want.” Tali explained.

Shepard went with the two handed way first which brought the same results but much more slower as she had the habit of pumping with her left hand, meaning the weapon didn’t overload. Next she tried the one handed way.

She adopted a news stance and fired. Quickly she rotated the shotgun and shot the gun without aiming. It worked. The accuracy was a bit worse but it did the job well enough. Her arm felt the recoil but she wasn’t in any pain meaning the gauntlet was working. Most importantly, the reloading had been swift. Sure a bit slower than pumping but it was her first time doing it so it wasn’t a surprise.

“I’d say it’s a success.” she said with a smile.

She handed the shotgun back to Rick and the armor parts back to Tali and went back to her cabin. Behind them, the trio were talking about the effectiveness of this new reloading method and how it could be useful or not depending on the situation. 

“Wait!” Tali exclaimed to the commander.

“We have a sniper rifle ready too.” 

At those words Garrus’ eyes lit up. He knew the duo were working on something shotgun related but didn’t know anything about a sniper rifle. Shepard turned around and backtracked, she was severely disappointed when she was denied the possibility to test the weapon.

“You’re good with a sniper rifle, but Garrus is an ace so… Garrus, want to give it a try?” Rick said, pulling the prototype from a case under the workbench.

“YES!  I mean.. Yes, of course.” he replied excitedly, before quickly calming himself down as if nothing ever happened making the others laugh.

Taking the modified look alike he waited for Tali to pile metal plates after metal plates in front of each other. Meanwhile, Garrus positioned himself at the other end of the cargo bay, in fact in front of the elevator, and everyone moved from their position to a more secure one.

“So I Just have to push down the handle with my hand and pull it back, no need to swing it around like an idiot?”

“Hey!” Shepard protested in indignation, to the hilarity of the others.

“Yes. Though it’s possible to do it too, but that would not be very useful unless your enemy got really close.”

Garrus nodded and aimed. Once ready he fired three consecutive shots in the time he usually makes two. The weapon overheated obviously. 

“Definitely better. I don’t break my line of sight and I’m faster. You really came up with something great. If the alliance isn’t interested the Turian hierarchy will.” he said, having one last look at the weapon in his hand before giving it back to Rick.

Rick and Tali high-fived or whatever it was since quarian only had three fingers on their hands and began to tidy the area they used. The latter sent the recording she took of the demonstration to the former for some editing and began to check the designs file they put up with. They only had to get the patent approved, which if she had to believe Rick would be done by tomorrow evening at best and at the end of the week at worst. She doubted it, she had heard that galactic patents like that took time but when she asked him he just said he had his ways.

The testing done Rick went to the bridge and used a terminal to edit the videos and put them in the file, once done he went back to the crew quarter towards Shepard’s cabin. Knocking on the door he waited for the permission to answer which came really quick. At his sight she was surprised.

“What?” he asked.

“You knocked.”

“Yes, as I do everytime I come here and I’m not sure if you're in or not.”” he replied not understanding her point.

“Really?! ”

“Yes. What? Did you think that I am ill-mannered? Ask around, people will tell you that I’m not.”

“No, no, I believe you, it’s just… It’s so out of character. You’re always doing whatever you want after all.”

“I have limits, anyway are you using your terminal?”

“Not currently, why?”

“Can I use it for a few minutes? I need to send a message.”

“Why mine and not one upstairs?”

“Sure, send a very private and important message while the whole crew is watching from behind my shoulders.”

Shepard pondered for a moment. She understood his reason for asking her since he didn’t nor like any members of the crew but was hesitant, she needed to know more.

“You’re not sending anything about our mission or the ship, are you?”

“No.”

“Nothing illegal?”

“No. It’s the file Tali and I made for our project. I’m sending it to someone who can get us a patent.”

She looked at him for a moment and nodded her agreement.  She was tempted to turn her head and have a look but refrain from doing so. She had worked hard to gain some of his trust, she wasn’t about to lose it out of curiosity.

Meanwhile Rick transferred the file from his omni-tool and began to write his message. Once done, he sent it and deleted any traces of it from the terminal. He stood up, thanked Shepard and left. She didn’t even bother to check her terminal to see if a trace of the mail was still there. She knew it wasn’t the case. Still, she would have to ask around to see if it could be recovered. She didn’t like it but she had orders to know more about him and that’s what she’ll do.

____________________________________________________________

Halfway through the galaxy a woman was reading a data pad she had in hand while drinking alcohol from what was her new favorite cup. A turian skull of an asshole slaver that did something he shouldn’t have done. Messing with her. It had been years, more than a decade, but she had time and knew how to hold a grudge. She was surprised when she received it , a small smile graced her lips when she saw who sent it and from whose skull it was made. Her son knew what she liked and what she needed if the cup and the couch that he gifted her for one of her birthdays, that she was sitting on, were any indication. Suddenly, a notification on her terminal brought her out of her reading. Rising up she went to open the message she had just received. To her surprise it was on the very secret account that only two people knew about.

Hi mom!

How are you doing? Not too bored I hope? And what about my big sister? Are you still not talking to each other?

I know I’ve not written in six months, and I’m sorry about that. There are lots of things I want to talk about but I’m not ready. It’s not the kind of things you discuss through mail but face to face anyway, so I’ll tell you when I’m back, which should be in a few months once I’m done hunting that one turian asshole down. Speaking of turian, did you get my present? At first I thought of plating his skull with gold but that’s not a color that suits you. Silver on the other hand is perfect.

In any case I’m writing to you because I am in need of your help. Worry not, you'll be plenty compensated, for years. As for what? Well a quarian friend  and I developed a new reloading method for shotguns and sniper rifles. We built prototypes, made some tests and everything is working perfectly. We know the Alliance and possibly the turian hierarchy are interested. What I need your help with is to get the patent approved as fast as you can, preferably within the week.

Now I know that you’re getting impatient so I’d be upfront. My friend and I are sharing the profit 50-50. Of my own fifty, you get 69% if you get the patent approved before tomorrow evening. Otherwise it’s 10% less of your share everyday. No, I will not renegotiate the shares with my friend as she’s doing her pilgrimage and she’s quite nice, so forget it.

You’ll find everything you need in the file attached.

Please be well and make up with her; for me?

Love you mom,

Rick

She was glad to hear from him properly and not just a notecard with “ It’s Elanos Haliat’s skull” written on it. She had been worried until then. She should have been a grandmother a couple months ago and while Rick is not very talkative, which she didn’t dislike, there was no way he would not have warned her of the birth with a picture attached.

Something had happened, that much was clear and considering he was chasing someone it probably was bad. She hoped that her daughter-in-law- and her granddaughter were alright. She still had to meet them for the first time after all, despite Rick being married for almost three years. Their relationship was a well guarded secret. Only two people outside of her knew. Her daughter who loved him to death and Anton her right arm.

She opened the file and looked at the work; design and vids. She had to say, she was impressed, she could see the benefits of such a method and if she could then the alliance and the hierarchy could too. Rolling her eyes at his apparent joke, 69% of his 50% would give her… 34.5% of the profits. Which was more than one third of the total profits and all she had to do was get the patent approved before tomorrow evening. That, she could do. She called for her henchman who appeared in less than half a minute. He noticed her small smile still on her lips.

“The little shit wrote again?”

“Yes. And with a business proposition at that.”

“Good?”

“Very good. That’s why I want you to contact Sanela and ask her to play her contacts to have these two patents approved before tomorrow evening.” the woman said, sending the file to his omni-tool.

“That soon?”

“To get one third of the profit from a contract with the Alliance and possibly the hierarchy? Yes.”

“Damn! What the fuck did he come up with this time?”

“You’ll see. Now get to it, Anton.”

The batarian nodded and left to do his task leaving his boss alone back to her work.

Always thinking of something Rick, you never change. Thought the woman, the smile still on her face.

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