Out For Karma: Mass Effect

[Book Two] Chapter 13: Trailblazing

Chapter 13: Trailblazing

“How long do you think you’ll need to build the system?” Rick asked.
“I don’t know. A few days at least for the Carniflex only.” Tali answered.
“Would it be faster if you designed a new gun from scratch with it integrated?”
“You wish to build a new gun model?”
“No, I wish you’d build a new gun model. Otherwise yes. I started to realize more and more that unless the system is something that can be added on the gun like a mod it will be difficult to apply it to every model already in existence. Instead, I think it would be better to create our own model, our own brand and be the only one for a while who could deliver something like that.”
“You’re talking about a monopoly.” the quarian understood as she turned her head from the terminal’s display to look at him.
“Yes. It’s even more lucrative that way. We’re going to be rich.”
“We already are.”
“Filthy rich then.” he corrected, making his friend shake her head in bemusement.
“There is a lot more work to do though. We need to determine the fire power and incidentally the recoil, the fire rate, the heat production and then the design. The shape of the gun, of the cross, the ejection of the thermal clip, the aim…”

Flashing his omni-tool, Rick sent a data package to her terminal. Opening it Tali saw that everything related to numbers was already there, for a gun and a shotgun.

“The assault rifle, SMG and Sniper rifle are still work in progress. I should be done with them by tonight at the earliest and tomorrow night at the latest.”

Looking back at him again, she observed him for a moment.

“Sometimes, I wonder if you’re for real and not just a figment to my imagination.”
“Oh?”
“Then I feel you poking my ass every morning and am reassured that you exist for good.”
“Okaaaayyy… What brought that on?”
“Rick, those numbers… People take time to calculate them. And I mean in a way that they are in balance with each other. You took half a day.”
“What, can I say? They just suck.” he replied with a shrug as he exited their room for lunch.

He didn’t contradict Tali but it wasn’t entirely true, he took more time than she thought. Since he was up very late in the night he had at least six more hours to work on his projects. As for why he was up so early, the reason was simple; the nightmares have been back again ever since the day he slept with Miranda. The two were not correlated as he knew where they came from. However he wondered why after the first night and from the two following nights he didn’t have any. The second night he understood, he vented everything with Miranda, but the previous one? He had no clue. Or rather he had but he refused to believe that Shepard was the reason for it.

Taking the elevator then arriving on the crew deck he got his lunch from Rupert, the mess officer, and joined Samara, Garrus and Shepard at the table. He greeted everyone and sat at his usual seat that was free, right next to the asari. It was Shepard that started the conversation as if the incident of two days ago never happened. Rick didn’t seem to make a big deal out of it anymore so she didn’t either even though it would come back on the table later.

“So, Rick… How is your anti-recoil system going?”
“An anti-recoil system? That’d be nice on my sniper rifle.”
“Oh, you have no idea, Birdie. I’m going to revolutionize the weapon industry. Again.”
“And take a lot of money from the Alliance I gather?”

“A lot of money? Carrot top, I’m going to bankrupt the Alliance this time.”
“Years may have passed but you’re still a good businessman.” said Samara with an amused smile.
“I don’t really have a talent for business, just for sticking it real deep and real hard where it hurts the most.”
“I can confirm that.” said Shepard chewing on her food and pointing her fork at him.
“Me too. I still laugh every time I remember the way you dealt with the council when they offered you the status of spectre. I saw the holo-vid of Udina’s reaction at your refusal. Always bring a smile to my face.”
“You refused to be a spectre?” the asari exclaimed in surprise.
“Unlike gingerbread over there, I’m no one’s bitch.”
“Hey!” Shepard interjected in outrage.
“It’s true and you know it.”
“You don’t have to add salt to the wound.”

“Point proven.”

That made Garrus laugh heartily while shepard threw a french fry to his helmet.

“Anyway… I’ve been meaning to ask, how did the two of you get acquainted?” the commander asked, looking alternatively at Rick and Samara.
“I’m curious too. Aren’t justicar supposed to work alone?” added Garrus.
“Mostly yes, but sometimes we work with the authorities if our goal is aligned.” answered Samara.
“As for how we met… well. I had a ship and wanted to explore the galaxy, Samara was traveling all over the place and needed a ship. We bonded over our sense of justice by killing scum.”
“That’s a very shortened version but not incorrect.” agreed the justicar.
“Come on, details! I’m sure there is a juicy story here.” Shepard insisted.


Samara looked at Rick who just sighed in defeat.

“I was sixteen, I had just borrowed a ship from some blue suns mercs…”
“You mean stole, right?” interrupted Shepard but was ignored.
“A couple weeks earlier when I reached an asari world to sightsee and play tourist. When I was done with the visit I went back and saw some assholes trying to take my means of travel away. Naturally I took offense to that…”
“Really can’t imagine why.” snorted Garrus.
“Once the clean up was done…”
“I arrived on the scene…”  Samara began, taking over that part of the story. “I was searching for information about slavers operating in asari space, close to the border with the Terminus system. When I saw Rick standing among corpses, I thought at first the group had a fallout and he was the only survivor.”
“Ooohhh. I don’t see things going well.” Shepard commented.
“They didn’t.” Samara smiled at the memory. “ I asked him to give me the location of the slavers’ base and he refused.”
“I didn’t know what she was talking about but on principle I rebuffed her. I had just fought for my ship and was really pissed. I certainly wasn’t going to get annoyed by some demanding Asari, no matter how pretty.”
“I tried to ask nicely a second time before being denied again, so I attacked. To me, while quite young, he was just another slaver. I intended to subdue him at best and at worst try to find the data I was looking for from the group corpses or the ship’s computer. I was surprised when he used his own biotics and we ended in a biotic lock. I was really surprised to see a human biotic and that could equal the power I was using almost effortlessly.”
“Surprised?” asked the Turian.
“At the time I had encountered very few humans, saw plenty, yes, but never interacted with them much and even less saw some fight. Biotic humans being rather unconventional, I couldn’t help but be shocked. In the end he blew up.”
“I didn’t.” Rick protested.
“ ‘First those assholes slavers trying to steal my ship, now a murdering psychobitch; what’s next? A volus whore?’ were your words. Don’t deny it, I remember that day perfectly.”
“Yeah, I’m going to side with Samara on that one.” Shepard stated almost laughing and was supported by Garrus’.
“Fine!”
“I understood then that I had made a mistake, so I pulled back and apologized. When I explained in detail this time, what I was doing here and who and what I was, he hacked the information out of their omni-tool and gave it to me. When I began to leave he called out to me and invited me on his ship. It turned out he was quite knowledgeable about justicars and knew I didn’t have a ship to go to the slavers’ base.”
“We found them, killed them, freed the slaves and brought them to the asari authorities so they could take care of them, along the head of some slavers as some had bounties on their heads.”
“So that’s how you got that much money? Bounty hunting?” Shepard asked.
“No. It was a start but that’s not how I made my money.”
“In the end, we struck a deal. I would travel within asari space for my job and he would give me a lift and help me.”
“Third best deal of my life.” Rick replied with satisfaction.
“I have to say, that was the most interesting years I had in a long time.”
“How long did you partner up?” wondered aloud Garrus.
“Four years, give or take.” answered the masked man to which Samara nodded in agreement.
“That must have been one hell of an adventure. From what I gathered some asari would have killed to be in your position, Rick.” Garrus said.
“Then they are delusional.”
“Really? I thought you enjoyed our time together.” the asari said in a surprised and a bit hurt tone.
“Don’t misunderstand, I love it, but I was a virgin teenage boy full of hormones with one of the prettiest asari I have ever met, in really tight armor showing a lot of skin.”
“That makes sense, now.” laughed loudly at the redhead, to her alien friends' confusion. “Young human male when they transition from childhood to adulthood go under a biological change. Their voices deepen, they grow hair in other places than the head but the most notable is that they are horny almost all the time. Especially when a pretty female is around.” the commander explained trying her best to not laugh again.
Samara and Garrus understood then the situation Rick has been in and felt sympathetic, their own species had their own moment of horniness and it was quite awkward too however each had their way to deal with it.

“I had a boner almost all the time!” Rick said in defeat as he let push his place away and rested his head on the table.
“That reminds me of my maiden years. Kill pirates then drink and fuck with no moderation as a celebration.” confessed Samara with a fond smile on her face at the memory.
“I find it difficult to imagine that. You’re so… composed.”
“Centuries of life would do that to anyone but I was quite the wild maiden. I even posed nude for a magazine.”
“SAY WHAT?!” Rick yelled as he raised in quick motion his head from the table.
“I had saved an editorial crew from slavery. The photographer took a picture of me naked during the celebration and published it.”

Rick immediately stood up and left, to the others’ puzzlement.

“Where are you going?!” shepard yelled.
“Doing some important research!” he yelled back making everyone at the table burst into laughter.
“You shouldn’t have told him that Samara. Now won’t see him again until he finds that picture.” said Garrus.
“If that picture exists in the first place.”
“It does, but that was more than 600 years ago and the magazine had long been gone.” Samara replied with a knowing smirk.

____________________________________________________________

Once again Rick woke up drenched in sweat from a nightmare. Looking at the time he saw how early it was.

2 am… At least I’m consistent.

Every time he had a nightmare, which was every night now, he was up about that time. Not being able to go back to sleep, which was usual, he got out of bed as stealthily as he could to not wake up Tali, casually dressed for sport and exiting the room.

Tali was actually awake but didn’t let him know. She was really worried for her best friend. It’s been a week now that he woke her up unintentionally. He may have hidden how tired he was and how bad he felt with his helmet, but she knew better. She didn’t know what to do. She knew that she couldn’t help him directly, he would just clamp up and she didn’t knew anyone who could help with the exception of Ashley perhaps but the woman was not here making it a moot point. Sighing to herself she got out of bed too and went to sit at her desk. She, too, couldn’t go back to sleep and really wished those nightmares would stop for his well being and hers. The idea of changing quarters for a while was tempting but in her mind it was letting him down in his time of need. There was no way she would do so. So Tali just bared it.
Accessing the file she was looking for, she continued the design of the new gun she had started.

____________________________________________________________

Down the cargo bay, Rick was training his biotics or rather was training for a new method to use them. He got the idea from Shepard the day before during one of her training sessions. The redhead had insisted on learning how to do a biotic charge and Rick reluctantly agreed. They started with working on her enhancement of her legs. That was the base of the charge after all. Bursting the biotics at the sole of her feet to move forward.
That's when he got the idea he was testing now. The idea was so simple that he felt stupid to not have thought about it earlier.

Using his biotics with his feet instead of his hands. For someone like him, often in close quarters and always moving around and dodging, that would be a real advantage to have both his hands free while literally kicking ass with biotics at the same time.

He understood why no one had that idea before. After all, legs are the most important part of the body in battle. You can escape a fight with a missing arm, not a missing leg. And the warfare being done with distance weapons and not swords of fists, using biotics with the feet would not be something natural, especially when the dominant limb for doing things are the hands.

Channeling his power towards his feet, he tried to get a feel of it. It was just like with his hands. The energy was there and accumulated ready to be unleashed. Raising his leg backward a bit he kicked forward towards a makeshift dummy he had put there. The Throw missed by a large margin but it showed that what he was thinking was actually possible.

Taking a deep breath he began to train in earnest.

____________________________________________________

“Tali?”
“Hmm?”

The quarian was brought out of her wandering mind by Shepard who apparently was speaking to her until now.

“Is everything alright? You were spacing out.”
“I’m just… tired.”
“Is Rick giving you too much work? Want me to ask him to tone it down?”
“No, no that’s fine.” replied Tali denying Shepard's statement with her hands. “I’m just lacking sleep.”
“So you joined Ashely and Miranda in their little group of ladies that Rick’s sleep with?” the redhead teased, knowing perfectly well that it was impossible for Tali as she was a quarian and would probably die if she were to remove her envirosuit.
“Miranda? When did that happen?”
“The day we saved her sister.”
“Wow, that’s.. Anyway…” she shook her head as she stopped her train of thought about her best friend having sex with the “perfect” woman. “It’s not Rick’s fault… Well, it is but he’s not doing it on purpose.”

Samara who had been silent until now spoke up. “Not on purpose? That’s not like him.”
“No, it’s not.” confirmed Shepard.

“He’s not sleeping well either. He wakes up in the middle of the night, waking me up but he doesn’t know that, and just leaves the room to do who knows what. I just can’t get back to sleep knowing he’s out.”
“What do you mean?” the redhead asked, intrigued by Rick doing something in the middle of the night and worried that he was not sleeping well.

Tali hesitated to answer, that was Rick’s private life they were talking about and talking about what was going on with him felt like betraying him but she didn’t know what to do and was at the end of her rope. So she made her decision and looked around to see if any member of Cerberus was listening, bent forward and whispered.

“Ever since Illum he's been having nightmares every night.” she confessed.

“Nightmares?” repeated Shepard.
“I don’t know what they are about but they must be awful if the way his body moves is any indication.”
“And you said it began when you arrived on Illum?” Samara asked and got a nod from the quarian. “Then something happened there, that's the source of it.”
“Like what? Liara?” speculated the redhead.
“No, they made up and they said their goodbyes in excellent terms. They’re still together.” announced Tali.
“Wait, he’s sleeping with Miranda and is in a relationship with another woman?” Samara asked, surprised. “That’s not like him.”
“They have an agreement between them. Apparently Rick is still not ready to enter a serious relationship so he’s gallivanting.” Shepard explained. “ So not Liara. What else? Miranda? He was acting weird, and I mean real weird for him when we saved Miranda’s sister.”
“That’s not it either as he had his first bad dream the first night and slept with Miranda the third.”
“Well, here goes my lead.” sigh the commander in disappointment.
“So whatever happened, happened the first day of your stay on Illum, but what?”
“We met you.” replied Tali.
“Me? I don’t see how being reunited would be nightmare inducing.”

“Did you go your own ways on good terms?”
“Yes. Our last stunt together wasn’t pleasant, but we left as close friends wishing the best for the other.”

“No fight or anything like that?”

“None, in fact we exchanged messages from time to time over the years. The last time he contacted me was about….Oh.” Samara said in realization, her eyes wide.”
““Oh?””
“That would explain things…”
“What is it?” Shepard asked.
“The last message I received was for my blessing, he wanted to name his daughter after me. He was hoping she’d grow up to be like me.” the asari answered in a sad voice.

That small revelation brought forth an uncomfortable silence at the table.

“Keelah…No wonder he…” Tali couldn’t even finish voicing her thoughts.
“That’s not something we can resolve right now. I think it’s best if you either change your sleep schedule or elsewhere, Tali.”
“The couches are really comfortable in the starboard observation room.” Samara offered.
“I… Thank you Samara. I’ll keep that in mind. For now I think I’ll just wait and see.”
“Tali… You need proper rest.” Shepard said.
“I know but… I feel like I’m betraying him if I leave him alone.”
“You’re not and you know he won’t see it that way. Not for you at least.”
“I… you’re right, Shepard.”

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