Fallout New Vegas Mass Effect

Disclaimer: I once more state that I do not own Mass Effect or Fallout so stop hounding me already you fee hungry lawyers!

Intermission

…

In the Normandy's Medical Bay…

Chakwas was very busy trying to do all she could to help patch up Garrus' current condition for the past few hours and much to her surprise, she was not alone as Travis had been there the whole time. Apparently Travis' talents also included a good deal of medical training though he had to play catch up with Turian Physiology since he technically never had to deal with non-human patients. Still to see him in action was a good thing and to know that he could use those same skills in the field would really save her on headaches.

It had been touch and go to be sure, but finally Garrus was stable though they had to use some level of cybernetics to make sure he did not bleed to death. When she heard that Archangel was actually Garrus and he was in critical shape, she wasted no time getting ready for the worst possible scenario, and a missile to the face was REALLY cutting very close to the whole worst case scenario routine. Once he was cleared she relaxed and turned to Travis and spoke to him.

"Thanks for your help Travis, for someone who is not a licensed doctor, you are surprisingly adept in medicine."

The man grinned as he was out of his armor and had switched to using some Wasteland Doctor fatigues…minus the blood there, though the red was now blue with Garrus' blood from earlier.

"Thanks there Doc, I was always a quick learner, and if you live in the Wasteland."

Travis did not grin this time and looked tired and recalling past events.

"If you live there, having medical knowledge, no matter how simple or mundane can be the difference between being alive or not. So yeah, I had to learn pretty quick, even more so since it's my first time patching up a real live alien."

Chakwas nodded in understanding at Travis' words as she had no problem imagining the kind of horrors the man had gone through to live in such a world like that alternate Earth. As a medical professional, Karin had to admit that the idea of surviving in such a land was a daunting task…even more so with such rampant areas of highly toxic chemicals, pools of highly potent radiation, and of course the animal and human dangers as well as the mutations.

"Well, it is good to know that you have such a skill set, bringing you here at first to fight the Collectors was…an unorthodox move, but after seeing the records and seeing you work on healing Garrus, I can safely say that having you here was a good move. And I must admit that despite not being trained in our…reality's medical advances, tools, and medical supplies you adapted very quickly which is quite a feat."

Travis smiled and replied.

"I guess it is, though I got to be honest Doc, if you ever managed to somehow go to my world and give even a sliver of this tech you have in this Medical Bay alone back in the Mojave. Then you would really do a great deal of good."

The doctor nodded as she had been told of the harshness and brutality of the world Travis grew up in, and she was impressed at how one like him grew up…and thrived in such a world gone mad.

"True…at any rate, how are you doing?"

"Feeling all right, but I guess a medical check up won't hurt."

Chakwas raised an eyebrow at that one and for good reason. Usually when tending to patients in a military ship she had to order them to the Medical Bay for their own good. She lost count of the number of cases she had to help and the number of bone headed people she had to deal with afterwards. Even she had to order Shepard more than once to come to the Medical Bay for a proper medical evaluation when she saw that Angela was running herself ragged.

This was the first time ANYONE willingly came in for a medical checkup. But the doctor was more than willing to take advantage of the whole thing and she made that very clear to Travis.

'All right, let's see how you are doing shall we?"

"Yes Ma'am."

Travis was more than willing to let Chakwas do her thing and even allow her to take a blood sample for medical purposes. Once he was done with the full scan from the Alliance Doctor, he was given the green light to be dismissed from the room, and when he asked when was Garrus going to be given the all clear, Chakwas looked over the scans and replied that it would not be long since Garrus was a tough Turian and had been through a lot of things with them two years ago when he first joined the Normandy. It was still touch and go however even with the cybernetics and medical gear, as well as his help.

…

In his quarters…

Travis soon got to his place and decided to get himself bathed once more to make sure that any trace of the stench of Omega was no longer on him

As he got himself cleaned up and switched to wearing a regular set of Leather Armor, he moved out of the room which was his own and decided to drop by Miranda's office for a bit of a chat. It was not like there was a law against that sort of thing though he made sure to knock on the door on the off chance she was doing something. As he got there, he also made it a point to try and get something to help him in the battles ahead. One thing he learned and kept close to him was to always have an ally who was his long range eyes and ears.

ED-E did that in the past but that plucky Eye-bot obviously was not by his side anymore so he had to make due for himself. Since he would usually travel with Rex, Raul, Cass Boone, or Veronica if ED-E was not around to help him with the sensors as the others were very capable themselves. But seeing as there were indeed robots here, then perhaps…he could try building himself a backup companion, one that had the same functionality as ED-E but with far greater options. And possibly better weapons and armor. His time in the Sink as well as with ED-E and at the Divide made him more familiar with Robotics as well as A.I though he made sure to chat with EDI and Mordin first as well as possibly some of the engineers here, namely Ken and Gabby.

For now though, he decided to chat with Miranda on the matters that were cooking in his noggin. As he got to the door, he was about to knock when the door opened and there was Miranda typing away and she looked at him with some level of surprise. She seemed to have switched to a different but no less eye catching uniform of black and gold along with sections of armor there as well as a visor of sorts. One thing was certain, even in whatever outfit she had on her right now…Miranda Lawson was very beautiful, and Travis made sure not to do something dim witted like drool and be slack jawed like an idiot.

Miranda looked at him and raised an eyebrow as she had not expected him to visit her of all things.

"Is there something you need Mr. Marlowe?"

Travis then decided to answer her, no time to make comments on her choice of outfit, there would be time for that later anyway.

"I came here to ask if you still plan to ask me those schematics for my energy weapons."

"Perhaps, why do you ask?"

"Well, don't ask me anymore since I figured giving you some schematics may help in the long run."

Miranda was a bit surprised as she had planned to ask Travis once more about his energy weapons since they had proven their worth once more in the field. The raven haired beauty was keen to try and get on Travis' good side since he had so far proven himself to be a man of his word even though he was never meant to be part of Shepard's crew in the dossiers.

"You will?"

"Yep, I have a feeling that when the time comes having more weapons in the arsenal will be helpful plus I already plan to give Shepard some of the schematics to be used by the Alliance. You might have issues about that Miranda, but when the Reapers arrive, everyone will need a chance to fight back…and since I'm technically a wild card right now, I think it's better to have these weapons ready for combat, besides, right now you're the only ones who can help make spare weapons in case some get broken and out of action."

Miranda was surprised but pleased to some extent as this was a chance that could indeed tip the scales in their favor in the battle with the Reapers as well as the Collectors. Though she also kept in mind that Travis had given the same offer to Shepard apparently from what he had just said and all she could hope for was that this would indeed be helpful if the Alliance finally admitted that Shepard was right all along about the Reapers and the fact that they were coming to invade this galaxy soon.

"That sounds like a fair deal, though you did give Shepard the same offer I take it?"

"Yeah, and so far I still feel it's a wise move."

Miranda had some doubts about that, but if Shepard could manage it, the feat of convincing the Alliance and the Citadel of the legitimacy of the Reapers, then they were going to need it. Even if the Illusive Man said otherwise and that the technology should be used by Cerberus as Cerberus were the ones who were better able to defend and bring Humanity's potential to the highest level possible, she felt personally that despite it's flaws the Alliance could still help. Miranda's reasons for joining Cerberus were not merely because she was accepting of the mission of Cerberus, but to serve as a way to protect her sister Orianna from her father, who once worked with Cerberus for the same goals but had cut ties when she worked with them.

She was pleased to use whatever resources and assets that Cerberus provided her for the mission that was needed, but she was also rather careful in what would happen in the long run. Namely with Wilson as she had long suspected that something was up with his recent behavior before he betrayed them. The failure of not being able to discover until it was too late that he betrayed them grated at her at times. And unlike what some would think of her behind her back…they did not know that while she was considered the top agent thus far by the Illusive Man, this also meant she was able to see and learn things that would have made unaware recruits balk at the way Cerberus did things.

She was driven and dedicated to the mission, but she was hardly a full blown fanatic as some of the things Cerberus had done were not the least bit acceptable in her eyes. Not to mention she was familiar with how far Cerberus had gone before she became part of it. As well as the numerous times that certain Cerberus cells went rogue, namely the ones that killed Kahoku, took the Rachni, and also the Thorian Creepers as she knew how all of then turned out due to her reading the reports on Shepard's actions in the past prior to her dying and then brought back by Project Lazarus . And of course she was well aware that despite being part of it, Jacob still distrusted Cerberus and naturally had good reason to as well.

But she balanced her unease with the facts that in there were groups that could do worse, and had. There were slavers who preyed on human colonies, alien gangs who attacked humans, the willingness of the Citadel to not help human colonies under attack such as when the first Reaper appeared. And now the icing on the cake as it were was the fact that none of them were willing to either admit to the fact that the Reapers were indeed real or do something about it to at least assure the public that they were ready for this threat, and she was well aware of what the Turians did to Shanxi.

She had no doubt that no matter how much the Citadel tried to ease things up with the Alliance and how the Alliance tried to make peace with the Citadel, there would always be those who hated the Turians for what they did. And some Turians who rubbed it into the faces of humans for how they were bested only helped to fuel the fires of animosity between their races. These were undeniable facts despite how many peaceful overtures were made on either side and would not be wiped away even if it had been a number of years since the First Contact War.

And she knew some members of Cerberus had been there themselves and thus had very good incentive to join Cerberus. In fact a number of some of the operatives she met had lost members of their family to the Turians who attacked Shanxi, thus they had more than ample reason to hate the Turians, others were disgruntled colonists who for one reason or another hated the Citadel and distrusted the Alliance, though attacks by slavers and pirates were factors as well.

But with the Reapers coming, then the animosity had to be put aside…it had to be for the survival of life itself in this galaxy, or at least that was how she saw it in her own private mind's eye. But for now they had to focus on protecting human colonies from further attacks by the Collectors before they gathered enough evidence to finally convince the Citadel and the Alliance to do something…even if in her own view they could already be out of time.

"Fair enough I suppose, if you truly wish to do this then, I can't exactly say no since these can make a difference."

Travis grinned and looked at the desk she had and whistled in appreciation for the looks.

"Back in the Mojave…only time I ever saw pristine desks were back in those buildings that were never looted or blown up. Just how much money did they pour into this ship Miss Lawson."

"Quite a tidy sum actually, only thing coming close was the amount we spent on Shepard."

"I can imagine…nothing like what happened to me when I got shot in the head."

Miranda nodded but also was impressed at how Travis survived such trauma.

"I recall you spoke of that…it's hard to imagine having to be shot twice and buried alive…sorry I guess bringing that up is not something you wish to hear."

Travis nodded solemnly.

"Yeah, it is, anyway, I guess you want to see what other toys in the energy weapons department I have?"

"Yes, though I must confess that strange rocket launcher you have used before was interesting."

"You mean Ol' Red Glare? Yeah, interesting piece of hardware that one, first time I got my hands on that was something. But I gotta tell ya Miss Lawson, nothing was more entertaining than firing Hive rockets right into a Legion camp without any slaves in the firing line to worry about to cause all manner of hurt. And when you use the heavy explosive rounds…heh it is fun."

…

In the Comm. Room…

Garrus normally would have gone to the Normandy's weapons bay to see the armaments on the ship, after he heard the Normandy being lost and Shepard dead, he had made a silent promise to hunt down those responsible when he could. And if he had the chance to use a ship, he was going to make sure that the new ship, even if was not the Normandy had the meanest guns it could get to make sure that what happened to the Normandy would not happen on his watch.

But now he held that off for three reasons.

First the fact that Shepard was alive before him was something he was still trying to wrap his head around. Not that he was troubled in the least, it was good to have her back among the living. The only question was…was this REALLY Shepard or something else who was wearing Shepard's face and form? She had been gone for two years so he had no idea if this was indeed Shepard even with the gear she had on her when he saw her. Part of him wanted desperately to believe without question that this was indeed Shepard, but he had to be careful either way.

The second was the fact that she was with Cerberus, he recalled full well those sick experiments that he had seen with Rachni and Thorian Creepers. Not to mention all the time rumors he personally dug up in his time as a C-Sec detective and as a vigilante. That was not even counting the anger he had personally seen from Shepard when she found out that Cerberus had killed Admiral Kahoku, sacrificed many good Marines, and of course Toombs. So the idea of Shepard being in with Cerberus was completely insane it was almost heretical. But here she was so he had to know what was going on.

And of course…number three…

The Kaiden Alenko lookalike who was now possibly walking around the Normandy and giving both Joker and Chakwas, apart from Shepard serious problems since they all knew, him included that Kaiden was dead, died a hero on Vrmire. Who was this person? Was he just some merc who had been altered to resemble Kaiden to allow Cerberus to better control Angela? The very second he saw this…Travis Marlowe, if that was indeed was his name, he felt like someone had punched him in the gut and then kicked him in the gizzards for good measure.

That was why he decided to speak to Shepard.

"We need to talk."

Angela KNEW that this was going to happen and she wished that Garrus had chosen a better time to grill her about all this. But she knew that he deserved to know, apart from Chakwas, and Joker, Garrus was one of her closest friends right now and she really needed to talk to him. She just wished the Illusive Man did not have so many damned bugs in this ship. Had he ever heard of the term privacy?!

Hell, even if he would deny it if she asked him point blank in the face, she suspected that paranoid maniac might have even cameras in areas that were technically off limits. She did not fully trust EDI's comment that there were no cameras in the showers, either her own or that of the female crew, even Miranda's might be bugged by that guy with cameras he might have personally had installed without anyone else knowing about it.

(He might be getting his jollies from it too!)

She knew that she was really going off the deep end if she was thinking that TIM might be a closet pervert and she MIGHT be turning a tad too paranoid herself to think like this. But considering Cerberus, that might not be too far from the truth. She soon shelved that idea and decided to hell with it, if the Illusive Man wants to listen in then let him. But she made a mental note to one day scan her room VERY carefully and remove anything out of place.

"Yeah, I figured that Garrus."

"I heard you were dead Shepard…hell I literally spent half the first week trying to find out if it was true. After I did get word that it was true I decided to spend some time trying to honor you by doing what you told me in C-Sec…but I still left…not my choice this time though."

"I'm sorry…"

"I…guess I am too…not that I missed the red tape and all the procedures and the political BS I had to wade through mind you. But I tried to make it work for your sake since you were right, if I don't have the people's trust at all, I'm just a thug with a badge. But when they shoved all your hard work out the window by denying what you and I know to be true, I had it and left even if I know I was letting it all go to waste. But I have to know something."

"What?"

"Is…that…really you Shepard?"

"Come again?"

"Look…I know that did not come out right or anything, but…"

Angela glared at Garrus briefly for the question, but then recalled her own questions to Jacob when she woke up way back at Lazarus Station, she asked him point blank if she was a clone and not the original, and Jacob replied that he was very sure that she was who she was and not a clone. Not to mention that Miranda had grilled her on her memories which were all very much intact as she recalled it clearly. In that regard, Garrus' question was both expected and very much welcome. But that did not lessen the sting as she had hoped that he would welcome her back, without having to ask questions like this one.

"It's me Garrus, remember that time back on Noveria where you and I have to share a seat since the Mako was cramped? I recall the time one Geth Rocket Trooper fired a missile at us, the cannon overheated and the barriers were down. I made it jump to avoid the blow and fired the mass accelerator to shred that Geth but you did not strap in and then you ended up facing me and you have your hand on..."

Garrus began to shake his head and spoke.

"Okay…Okay I'm convinced it's you…please don't tell anyone else about it! Bloody embarrassing that one."

"Oh? If memory serves you left your hand there a lot longer than normal."

"Stop!"

Angela laughed and finally Garrus laughed though groaned in pain again as his scars were not fully healed.

"Ow! I thought I said not to make me laugh. It's good to see you Shepard."

"Likewise Garrus, I know that you don't like the fact I am on a Cerberus vessel and a crew, but I have good reason for it."

Garrus nodded in agreement.

"I know you do Shepard, you've never made any decision until you've seen all the pros and cons of it all, so if you are here then it's for a good reason. Though you can bet we should never forget all the sick things that Cerberus did when we found out about them and when we decided to avenge Kahoku and his men, we can't trust the Illusive Man or any of his lackeys right off the bat until we know just where we stand with them."

"I know, that's why I'm glad you're here Garrus, If I am going to hell at least I've got you to watch my back and yank my ass out of the fire."

"You realize that this plan naturally involves me going into hell with you right? Just like old times then…now, we got to talk about…him."

"I know…Travis."

"Who the heck is he Shepard? Was he some creation of Cerberus or something to make you more accepting of the mission? I SAW Kaiden die on Vrmire so I know that he is not coming back…I know this sounds painful and believe me I wish I never brought it up, but now I see him. What's going on Shepard?"

Angela sighed once more and rubbed the bridge of her nose to try and find a possible explanation to give to Garrus. He was one of her oldest friends ever since she became a Spectre so he deserved to be told what was going on.

"All right…but sit down, I can bet that after this is over, you and me are going to need a drink."

…

Elsewhere…

After Travis had spent some time chatting with Miranda and giving her more of the weapon schematics, Travis headed down to the lower floors of the Normandy to get a feel of the ship once more, sure he did that before, but somehow doing it again calmed his nerves. As he got there, he turned to see none other than the recently added Zaeed Massani currently walking in his direction. The man stopped and spoke once more to the Courier.

"Well, what brings you down here?"

"Just getting a feel of the place, not to mention planning on chatting up with the engineers here on something that's on my mind recently, the usual sort of thing, plus I think I try to get them to play my kind of card game, not that Skyllian Five poker stuff. You look like you've been through hell though."

Zaeed laughed and replied.

"Been to hell plenty of times, you have the look too yourself."

"Huh?"

"I've seen my fair share of vets kid, they all have something that tells me they've seen hell. You've got it, fact that you're still alive means you're tougher and meaner than most. And if this mission is what they say it is, then you're right at home here."

"Suppose so."

"So…how'd you get drafted into this mission kid?"

"Let's just say that I'm something of a Good Samaritan, though I'm called the Scourge by my enemies, I guess my codename of Warbringer can say that much."

Zaeed looked at him with a raised eyebrow and laughed a bit more.

"Warbringer huh? After seeing your little performance and your guns in action, I'd say the name fits. As for this…let's just say that a certain bastard gave this to me, shot me here and left me to die. Thing is…rage is a hell of an anesthetic."

Travis nodded in agreement.

"I get that…so some guy shot you in the face eh? Same thing with me too…only in my case, the bastard who shot me, shot me in the head…twice if I might add and buried me too."

Zaeed was a bit wide eyed at that and was soon intrigued.

"He shot you twice...in the head...and buried you? That's tough news kid but if you're here he apparently didn't finish you off properly, you ever found him?"

Travis nodded and gave a sadistic grin.

"I found him all right, didn't kill him right away…oh no I had plans for that little shit in the suit."

"Oh? Do tell."

Zaeed listened to Travis as he recounted how he fought his way out from the literal grave, tracked down evidence to nail Benny to the wall with his own crew. And when Benny's former mate Swank gave him the go ahead, he covertly stole Benny's gun…the SAME one he was shot with and then without further ado after making Benny squirm forced him to fight. He told Zaeed how happy he was to see the sneer of confidence on Benny's mug drop faster than a sack of potatoes thrown over the side of the building when he saw his gun was no longer with him. Only to see Travis take out said gun…and then pump him full of lead.

Needless to say Zaeed was smiling like mad at the story, and when he was done, the mercenary laughed.

"Now THAT is poetic justice kid! Heh, I guess he regretted not ever making sure you really were dead huh?"

"Yeah he did, at any rate, I've got some things to take care of down here, you want to trade stories?"

Zaeed grinned and replied to that.

"After that tale you gave me, I think I can rustle up some stories of my own. Not as interesting in my view, but I think it will be worth your while."

Travis nodded and soon headed off to meet up with Gabby and Ken to see if they could help him understand just how this e-zero stuff worked and how he could try what he had in mind as something of an experiment which was far off into the future. Once he was done with that part of the whole thing. He also had an idea to try but needed the parts for said plan to actually work in the long term, and that meant taking a trip down…or in this case of location, up the Armory and see if he could talk to Jacob and get that order up and running.

…

Shepard's room…

Shepard thought about the events leading up to having Garrus back up on his feet and it was good to know that one more familiar face was there with her. Garrus was always a good friend to her and while he was rough around the edges due to the red tape he dealt with back on the Citadel, he had his heart in the right place. She recalled the times she had done his best to remind him to never take the easy route…and not become a thug with a badge because if he did, he would wind up no different than the criminals he fought with.

She recalled that he said about his feelings getting in the way that got his team killed, what it was, she could tell that it was eating Garrus and she did not want to lose him to whatever vendetta he had. He also told her about his still lingering doubts about Travis, all of which were fairly logical and very much truthful in her POV.

In fact, after he was done listening to what she had to tell him about Travis, his origins, and whatnot, he pretty much gave her the Turian equivalent of the 'Are you Shitting me?!' look on his face. To which she replied that she was NOT shitting him in the slightest. Garrus was not happy with such a story and asked if she really bought it and she showed him the medical records of Travis. Needless to say when he saw just what the medical reports said about Travis Marlowe made him look like he had just decided to eat his words. Which in hindsight he was doing just that and he looked at her for assurance that this was not some elaborate joke since there was no way anyone could be alive with what Travis had in him.

She gave him a nod and naturally Garrus shook his head and replied to her.

She could not help but recall what exactly he said.

"Okay…so now I am inside a ship that resembled the old Normandy, with one of my most respected friends who had somehow been brought back to life, to go after the most reclusive and obviously dangerous race in the Terminus, the Collectors who up to now were considered myths. We're both on a suicide mission in all respects to go through the Omega 4 Relay which mind you has NOT been mapped for who knows how long, so for all we know is going to let to either dark space or hell to wipe out the Collectors and their Reaper masters. And now to top it all off, we have with us a guy who not ONLY looks and sounds like Kaiden Alenko, but has enough augmentations, implants, and…mutations from living in an alternate Earth which has been literally lasted to kingdom come as you Humans would call, to classify him as a cross between a human super soldier and a Krogan. Did I miss anything?"

Shepard chuckled at that and recalled her response and his afterwards.

"Nope, that pretty much sums it up Garrus."

"Heh…just like old times…I have your back Shepard, count on it."

She sighed as she recalled that answer and decided to take a break and make the most of it before she went back into the grind of things. Plus she planned to check up on what else they could work on before they tangled with the Collectors, she still owed them for not only her first death, but the deaths of good people on the old Normandy and the ship itself. She also had to work on dealing with the nightmares coming in every now and then. One would think that dying removes the memory of the trauma…but apparently being brought back to life had allowed those memories to stay in her.

She recalled everything and the emotions that hit her at times was too much to deal with and she was thankful that the crew she was with kept her focused. Even Miranda at the very least helped her from zoning out and recalling those memories. She sighed and then reached for a nearby cabinet and took out something that made her relax.

It was a simple white board that was used for sketching with charcoal easels. She had her own stock of the charcoal material and was something she enjoyed doing and it helped calm her nerves. Kaiden….her Kaiden once found out about it and actually was impressed when she made a picture of him using his Biotics. That plus a few other incidents of working with the Biotic Lieutenant had eventually led to them being romantically inclined to one another…but then.

(No…I can't dwell on it…he would not want me to, he made his choice and knew that it was the right…)

(Damn it…)

Angela felt her tears come and she decided not to deny it anymore and let them flow. Most people who did not know her very well would have been shocked to see the Heroine of Elysium bawl like a baby, but she was not some superhuman being despite whatever gene therapy she had as an N7 and whatever cybernetics Cerberus stuffed into her to bring her back from the dead, she was a woman who had lost so much ever since she was brought back to life literally. And in some ways, it relieved her to know that she could still cry since if she could not do so and feel such emotions flow through her tears, then she really was not Angela Shepard anymore and was nothing but a machine.

She carried on for a while longer and then managed to wipe away her tears and recover some of her energy as she decided to work on the board. She thought of a subject that could be used as a drawing and then she recalled something that might help. It was the memory of Niagara Falls that she had seen before on Earth once…it was a long time ago but seeing it in her mind helped her regain her focus and also cleared her mind of the doubt and worries in her mind.

She needed that a lot.

And she also began to wonder on how she would break the news to Hackett and the others on the new tech she planned to bring them. There was also the need to make sure that the tech in Travis' energy weapons would be made up to scale for ships and more besides. These weapons if made into ship grade sized gear would help even the odds in all respects if they were going to one day fight the Reapers. Plus if they could make those weapons mass production friendly, she might ask for them to make them more…presentable in the long run since she had to admit the look of those guns was a bit too retro.

She wondered briefly in amusement on how Garrus would react to owning his very own Laser Sniper Rifle. And as for her, owning a Plasma Rifle sounded very promising and could be a major edge in a fight with the Collectors. Though naturally those weapons would need to work with their technology and be less…retro in appearance in her view. Looks aside though she hoped that once she had done all she could she would go and establish a personal connection with Hackett and give him the data. Apart from Anderson, Hackett and a few others were the only ones she trusted in the Alliance right now.

…

Normandy Armory…

Jacob looked at the request for parts and supplies given to him by Travis and spoke with a raised eyebrow.

"You want me to get you all these…plus a LOKI Mech?"

Travis grinned and nodded.

"Yep…got me a very interesting idea for a fighting partner."

"No offense meant, but what's wrong with having us as partners? We already have quite the team here right now even if we're still a bit short."

"I'm not complaining at all actually, it's just that…well even if I've been on the receiving end of weapons on robots, I do know that there are some I trust, my ED-E and Rex being the ones in question."

"Yeah well, if you plan to do this, you better make sure not to accidentally make an A.I unit, even in Cerberus, A.I's are not exactly well received."

"Even EDI?"

"EDI's a special case, but we do have shackles on her data code to prevent anything she might do to the crew and the ship that can be a threat. Not that I distrust EDI personally but the Geth war with the Alliance doesn't exactly make me feel comfortable, the fact that the Reapers are literally A.I in massive ships that make even the Destiny Ascension look small doesn't help."

"I hear that, still having some extra backup is nice, plus I can try stuffing some tech into the mech I have in mind that may very well up the firepower and armor. Besides that, I will make sure to do things right and let's be honest, at least EDI is a legitimate A.I and not like the ones I've seen like those Robo-brains of those Brain Bots…even if I lived there and dealt with them, it still creeps me out to know that they have actual brains in them."

Jacob frowned a bit that and replied.

"Good point…so let's see what we can do with this plan of yours."

…

A few days later…

Travis was busy working once more on his arsenal and also was happy to finally get some of his new guns that now had mass accelerator technology in them. This tech should at the very least allow him to use his guns again and he could feel a lot more comfortable. The weapons were made to be a bit larger than they were to accommodate the new technology, but he could still make the most of the technology. He then looked over his data-pad on the new LOKI mech that he had been working on with Jacob.

So far he had been able to work on improving the overall armor of the mech while working on lessening the weight at the same time. He also went as far as to use a new fabricated set of Microfusion cells to act as a power source for the mech and it could support a good Kinetic Barrier system to give it added protection. He also went on programming it with a custom made V.I interface he and Jacob had developed alongside Mordin, even EDI expressed interest in the project and helped to some extent on the procurement of the tech.

He even joked to EDI that she could be the mother of the little bot if she liked…to which she replied in her usual fashion, though Travis merely laughed at that. The custom V.I was made to allow the mech to move to cover and could fire well. Not to the point of being a full fledged A.I but enough to be tactical in combat

The mech was nothing like the LOKI that it was based on and was armed not with a pistol like before, but was armed with a procured M-8 Avenger Assault Rifle, a M-3 Predator Pistol, and was armed with a hidden arm blade that was actually made from the blade of one of his Katana swords. It also had a spare armored pack on the back to carry spare thermal clips and was armed with a strong IFF system.

The finished mech was something that Travis was proud of and hoped that he could be able to make it a worthy add on to the crew. Plus on the safe side, he did install a kill switch package into the software that could not be tampered with and only he knew of the phrase to activate it. Once he was done admiring the new tech, he decided to crack open a few of the books that Joshua left him and see if he could brush up on being a learned man as it were.

…

Later…

Shepard called in a meeting for the team hours later and soon they all trooped to the communications room. Garrus was all read and raring to go, along with Mordin, Jacob, Miranda, Zaeed, and of course Travis. She nodded to all of them and decided to get things underway since there was a lot of things to handle…one of them included going back to the Citadel to hire a new squad member as well as make some supply runs, it was high time she got some things for the crew…along with a change in the larder for the rest of the troops and a chance to rest a bit since the last two dossiers were going to be a real pain in the neck.

"Okay…we did well here on Omega and right now we have three no dossiers to deal with. But right now the last two are going to take us all in the proverbial shit storm so I would like everyone to get some R&R however brief it may be. Do what you like for a bit before coming back to the Normandy because I have no doubt that the two or rather three new squad recruits will be hard to deal with."

Jacob nodded and spoke.

"Where to Commander?"

Angela sighed and replied.

"Back to the Citadel, one of our recruits happens to be the well known thief Kasumi Goto."

That particular announcement on the new team member's identity and occupation made the ground team raise their respective eyebrows a bit though Garrus was the first to speak.

"Kasumi Goto? She's well known enough though I can bet that having a thief of her caliber onboard might raise some eyebrows and lead to some rapid changing of passwords."

Angela smirked a bit and spoke.

"Speaking from experience Garrus?"

"Yep…a LOT of C-Sec guys wanted to make it the high point of their career to catch her when she became as well known as she is now. Not really my thing so I never went after her since I was on different cases."

Angela nodded and saw Miranda's look and considering she was in Cerberus there was bound to be a different reason on how she knew Kasumi.

"What about you Miranda?"

"I am well aware of Miss Goto's reputation Shepard, though while I admire her talents and skill set, she has stolen Cerberus data and resources in the past. Needless to say I have some level of doubts that bringing her here would be a wise idea, even with her skill set. Nevertheless she has the talents and skills this mission needs so I am willing to let her past antics slide."

Travis then spoke with a smile.

"Though I hardly doubt that you are not going to just let her waltz into the Normandy without warning her on remembering the sanctity of private property as well as the house rules on the Normandy right Miranda?"

Miranda merely raised an eyebrow at that but it was clear that she actually found that true and amusing. Angela then turned to Travis and spoke to him, hoping to get his view on the new crew member soon to join them in this one way trip of a mission.

"What about you Travis? Are there going to be any problems with having a thief of galactic reputation onboard on your end?"

"Not really, I have slit a few purses and swiped a few items in my day back in the Mojave. So technically I am a thief myself so it hardly bothers me to have another with us. Might even see if I can pick up a few tips and tricks from her if I can do so. Still, I'll make sure to have my gear in lockdown on the off chance she decides to get the sticky fingers syndrome."

Angela laughed a bit at that and afterwards got back to being serious.

"Well then, consider us picking up Miss Goto to be healthy distractions from the rest of our merry band Travis. The next two…are not exactly what you consider…social people. I can wager a guess that Miranda is in the know on this one so I think it's best she handles this part of the briefing for now."

Miranda nodded and began the process.

"First, one of our potential recruits is a Krogan Warlord named Okeer, and he is no ordinary Warlord either as he happens to be among the few Krogan who survived not just the Rachni Wars but the Krogan Rebellions as well. We however won't find him on Tuchanka, he is currently being held on the planet Korlus by a faction of the Blue Suns."

The others in the team were none too happy about this and Mordin who was in the briefing was none too happy about it either. But so far no one was saying anything so Miranda continued with the briefing.

"Okeer is a very dangerous Krogan Warlord and forgive me for being blunt Commander, but he's nothing like Wrex. We have gathered enough data to show that even among the Krogan he is considered a very dangerous, ruthless, amoral, and brutal warlord who dabbled in genetics in a way that also seemed to utterly make his people disgusted towards him. So much so that he was personally exiled by the Krogan from Tuchanka. The reason however that he is a viable recruit is obviously his centuries of warfare experience and the fact that he has a number of dealings with the Collectors and may know a great deal of their secrets, one of which may include why they have been launching attacks on human colonies."

"Currently he is being held by the Blue Suns on the planet Korlus as I mentioned before, the Graveyard of Ships in the Galaxy, no one knows just what they are doing there or why with Okeer being under their hold, but if what we know of Okeer is true, whatever it may be can't be good. We're to extract him out of the planet quickly though one can bet that the Blue Suns will not make it easy as Korlus is at times used as a training ground for boarding crews due to the numerous hulks there that have already been stripped of anything of value. Thus we can bet that Blue Suns opposition will be considerable in that area and no doubt they will have heavy weapons place to protect their base from orbital assault. But since we're not exactly regular forces, they will not be expecting being hit by veritable commando units."

…

Miranda then turned to their next subject, but it was clear to anyone that the next person on the recruitment list was going to be someone who was REALLY going to be another dangerous felon. And they were very much right on the money on this one as soon as the dossier file came up.

"Next is Subject Zero…or rather Jack, a very powerful Biotic who has caused massive amounts of damage to various government locations for the past few years. Not to mention numerous acts of murder, grand larceny, arson, theft, and has a number of triple digit life sentences for all of those. Plus enough bounties on her head that would come close to what you'd expect from a ship building project. While known to be psychopathic, violent, and highly anti-social, Jack's powers as a Biotic are not to be underestimated as she has proven herself more than able to fight on the field."

"I'm well aware that this is highly unorthodox to be putting it mildly but despite all of this, Jack has the power we need to fight the Collectors on their home ground. We have no clue on their numbers, technology and firepower, let alone what sort of skill their forces have if any of them are Biotics as well. Both Jack and Okeer are powerful assets here, risky to be sure but worth the risk if the Collectors are the enemy."

"That's putting it mildly."

Garrus said with annoyance at the idea of bringing a fully psychotic Biotic onto the Normandy. Travis sighed and rubbed his forehead, recalling the time he had to deal with Dean Domino and Dog/God back in the Sierra Madre…Christie he could accept but those two were a whole new league all together. And now he felt like he was going to be dealing with another version of the two combined. The only things he could hope for could be summed up in three things.

Jack was not schizophrenic since the last thing he needed was to be in a situation mirroring Dog and God.

Jack had the common sense not to start something outrageously stupid.

And that Jack did not start random fights with people as well as underestimate the crew or overestimate herself.

However, considering the situation he was in, he doubted that he was going to have it easy along with the others right now.

"Cerberus has already send a sizable amount of credits to pay for the release of Jack into our custody to Warden Kuril, the head of the station holding Jack. Once we get to where her cryo-cell is, we can leave the station and go on with the mission."

That got Garrus' attention quickly and he growled a bit.

"Kuril? That bare faced bastard is in charge?! Great, this complicates things."

Angela spoke to that.

"You know him?"

"Not personally and for which I am thankful Shepard. The guy was a law enforcement officer on Palaven for a number of years, but in that time frame he has a track record as long as the criminals he arrested. Bribery, extortion, blackmail, murder, and even a few accusations of rape followed that guy. He had however managed to get away because despite being a greedy as hell bastard he is thorough. It was my father who eventually busted him but by the time he was to be arrested, he had already left Palaven and joined the Blue Suns. He might have been an effective cop if one ignored just HOW he got that far but he's dirtier than a restroom in Omega. My father told me all there is know about him and I personally read his rap sheet, so I know this much, we cannot trust him."

Travis then raised his hand.

"Garrus, care to explain the bare face thing you used to describe this Kuril guy?"

Garrus nodded and then pointed to his markings on his facial bone plates.

"It's an old term during my people's Unification War prior to joining the Citadel, Turians like me have colonial markings as a source of pride and solidarity with the colony were either born in or descended from. Even after the war all Turians recognize the symbolism and cultural ties to the markings so anyone who does not have them is not to be trusted. It's also a slang for politicians and you can guess that even with his facial markings, Sparatus, the Councilor of my people is someone I call bare faced…even more so since he always tried to shoot down anything Shepard brought forward or did. How she managed to stomach his words every time he spoke I will always consider a miracle in itself."

That made Shepard smirk in amusement while the others nodded well enough as Jacob spoke.

"So basically this guy's the untrustworthy sort?"

"Right…so I suggest we be very careful around this guy, Kuril's a greedy bastard and I can wager a guess that if he sees a chance to earn more creds off of us. Then I don't need to be the one to tell you he is going to take it."

Miranda then replied.

"Maybe, but the bounty payment for Jack should be enough to convince Kuril not to betray I do agree we will need to take precautions. Even more so since the station Jack is housed in is Purgatory. I'll send you all the data now so you can have an idea on just what we are dealing with."

It did not take long for Miranda to do just that and everyone got in all the details on their next destination once they got to dealing with Kasumi Goto. Purgatory was essentially a converted Ark ship, once used to house animals and more for colonization efforts and re-purposed for holding prisoners. The cells could house a fairly large number of inmates and the staff in the place would no doubt be armed to the teeth with a number of GARDIAN Laser turrets and also a fleet of fighter craft for defense. In a sense it would be an ideal prison since the only way off the station was with a ship and since not many ships were nearby to do just that, the prisoners were easier to manage in a sense.

However, considering who they were dealing with along with who they were to pick up, the crew of the Normandy were willing to bet that it was going to be anything but normal.

…

Travis summed it up however very nicely.

"So let me see if I get this right…we're going to recruit a Warlord who has such a bad reputation that even his own people, paragons of violence and mayhem mind you exiled him. And he is on a planet that according to the data is universally known as the Galactic graveyard for ships surrounded by Blue Sun mercs who we tangled with to save Garrus."

"And then we're going to go into a floating maximum security prison filled to the brim with the galaxy's worst criminals, and by the way is run by an army of Blue Sun mercs under the command of a Turian who might very well fuck with us the very second he gets the chance, to recruit a Biotic with a SERIOUS amount of issues who might very well kill us if we're not careful, did I miss anything?"

Miranda nodded.

"No, that pretty much sums up the agenda after recruiting Miss Goto."

Travis sighed and replied.

"Yep…just another day in the office then. Let's get this over with."

Garrus was surprised at that and replied.

"Another day in the office? You've seen your fair share of crazy I take it?"

Travis merely grinned and replied.

"If Shepard told you about me then you can pretty much guess that I have seen a fairly high amount of crazy. Plus this is not going to be the first time I went into some very crazy situations and faced all manner of crazies and nuts."

"Really? Care to give me an idea on what you've been in before you joined us?"

"Oh I don't know…I had myself lobotomized once and technically should have been a stark raving mad brain dead fool wandering in a massive crater facility full to the forehead with mad robots, escaped bio-weapons, lobotomized humans, cybernetic attack dogs, and more. The place by the way was run by a collection of robots controlled by floating brains of living people who obviously called themselves the Think Tank. But somehow due to the injuries to my brain which I got after being shot in the head…twice I might add, I managed to somehow be myself and eventually got not just my brain back into my head, after having one REALLY disturbing conversation with said brain mind you, but also my heart AND my spine since both said organs were replaced with cybernetic parts before I got them back and all three organs had gotten a heck of an upgrade while I was still on said operating table."

"So trust me Garrus…I got a TON of stories to tell that you would only believe if you were blind drunk and also high on drugs to the point reality is relative."

Travis did all that and then looked at Garrus who was looking at him as if he was trying to process all that he heard.

He naturally grinned at that look on the Turian's face and then spoke in a very amused tone.

"So in answer to said question Garrus, I have been in some really WEIRD messes, tell ya all about it when this is all over."

Angela looked at Garrus and smirked a bit as she coughed to get their attention.

"All right you two, you all can trade stories later, namely when we all can get a chance to relax in the Citadel for the time being after recruiting Kasumi Goto. I also plan to drop by the Human Councilor's office to send some data to the Alliance. I have to make some much needed runs and also get me some brand new clothes. These clothes might be comfortable but I doubt people are going to like it if anyone is seen wearing Cerberus icons and colors in the Citadel grounds of all places. Make sure to check in with Chakwas before you all go for your own plans in the Citadel, and please…NO Cerberus icons. Let's get to it people."

…

To be continued…

…

Author's Notes:

Well, we now have a new chapter out and at least this story is maturing along nicely. The idea of Travis making a custom made LOKI mech was something that was passed to me by a reader. Basically there should be an A.I companion with the Courier and so I decided to create this custom LOKI Mech for Travis to call in. Now it's not a fully advanced model and it's nothing like EDI just yet…but we will get there soon enough.

It will see action soon enough and will be very useful in the long run for the rest of the team. As of now though the mech will not be deployed since I have yet to find the right place for the little bugger to be deployed in the field with the rest of the team..

So it seems that they will be recruiting Kasumi Goto back at the Citadel, just how will Travis deal with being in the Citadel? You can bet that for a guy like him who is not used to being in space, he will be in for quite an experience being in the place. And just what will happen in the Citadel?

You will just have to wait and see now won't you?

But you can bet that we can move next to the mission that Kasumi has in mind and this will be the part where Travis will play along with Shepard and Kasumi. How will Kasumi and Travis get along with one another once they meet? Will they work well together?

That will have to be seen to be believed, and you can bet that the Courier will be proving himself to be a bag full of surprises once they get the mission underway and get into Hock's mansion.

…

Afterwards we can choose on who's next in the recruitment list…Jack or Grunt.

Who do you want?