Crap, I Was Rifted

I put my Cerebus Armor and was waiting in the loading bay. The plan was simple, find out the info on the Geth and pass it to the Council. Easy as pie.

"Serious, Lynx put some armor on!" I said to Miranda for the umpteen time. "God your killing me here."

"Aww the Commander cant focus over little old me?" Miranda said to me striking a pose. "You will do fine. With the upgrades you did, I am just as durable as you are in that armor." Slowly she was becoming less stiff. Actually relaxing and enjoying life.

"Hehehe, I think you have the right idea. Maybe I should get one." Sophia said coming over. Her armor was the same as mine, except a dark steel grey. "What do you think Mileena?"

"I agree. We should all get one like Miranda's." Mileena eyes twinkle in a mischievous way. "Except I want pink and red."

"Sauron help a brother out here?" I looked towards the man hoping for help. His face was very strange. then I realized he was imagining the Catsuit armor on himself. Glad he came back to stay a bit. It was unusual, to say the least why.

"I want one. Silver and blue preferably. Not to tight around the groin and b.u.t.t." I waited for him to laugh he was serious.

"Ugh, fine." I pulled to the side for a few moments. Trying to catch a breather. A slight vision start to happen before I shook it off. These women will be the death of me. But I want Sophia and Mileena to get the experience as well as Sauron. Strapping in the shuttle I leaned back against the headrest. A Gladiator by the name of Tibalt was piloting. His co-pilot was Terex the Arwing pilot who went into the Mawlocs mouth.

"Taking off," Tibalt said over the comms. He did a damn good job as I felt the shuttle pulled then drift out into the vastness of space. "ETA 33 minutes for clean entry."

"Commander," Miranda said to me as she sat next to me. "I want you to take a look at this chart." As she passed the datapad over to me, I watched as the cells mutated wildly. "The Reaper Infection has grown stronger. Cells with biotics tend to change faster. Almost undetected."

"Ughh, we have to think of a better way to stop it. We have a few plans to slow it down but... we cant use that. It will give the Reapers a chance to override the work. What are our options?"

"I dont know," Miranda said. Her biotics surging with disappointment in herself. "We could try.. a whitewash with biotics. Or.."

"Or what?"

"Or you take this world over."

"No. Just no," I said seriously. "Miranda that will not end well. I would not do good ruling over this place or with it for that matter. All the candidates for this place I can think of are I'll fit."

"That is why you should do it," Miranda said drawing my attention.

"A scared leader is a terrible leader. Look I will find a way to make it work." I watched her for a moment. 'Galtea ideas.'

"Fine!" Miranda looked away by turning her body from me and reading over the data again.

Galtea: Take over this place. You love it. The technology level is just perfect.

'Ughh useless.' The rest of the shuttle ride was quiet. Docking and going through the checkpoint didnt require any real effort. Especially with Lunabella checking to make sure no errors or any other crap could be pulled on me.

"Ok, I am going to get all the information from the Council. as for everyone else try not to blow anything up. Or in your case, Azul, try not to get into another kidnapping or kill attempt on the consort." Maldova said to me. I still could

Me and Mia were walking around to the market, just looking at the weapon mods. She took treating me as a brother really seriously. Which was not bad I guess. The other me defintely did something positive. Her biotic strands were happy and that was alright. It made me fill better as well. Just needed to make sure she becomes strong enough mentally to deal with her being a clone later. Well, so far she is ok with it. But she is not really a clone just genetically engineered. Like Miranda.. and her sister.

"Hey, what about this?" Mia asked me as she saw a new sniper barrel. The barrel looked longer and, made from a lighter material.

"I dont know. Do you think it will work well if someone sneaks up on you?" I didnt do snipers myself. To much .. well everything. I like getting close and personal. "If someone gets close and you have to defend yourself with your gun, it might break from the less durability." I picked up the barrel. I bent it a little bit with my hands some. "Strong but... actually you know what? Let's get it. We can put it through the paces next mission. Better yet, get four. One for me. Since I know you want me to get into sniping a little. One for R&D. The others for you."

"Thanks. I defintely will have the perfect sniper ready for you." Mia said smiling. She did the talking with the merchant will I just browsed. A nice submachine gun mod caught my eye.

"Hey, let's get two of these to," I said pointing at them. Leaving with our purchases we stopped to watch the shuttles pass by down below.

"Hey wait right there." I look back to see a woman in an Alliance uniform run up to me. She stopped right at me looking me up in down. Her body language and her biotic strands let me know she was not dangerous. "It really is you!" Wrapping her hands around me I intuitively hugged back. The knowledge poured in my head when I smelt a whiff of her hair.

"Jane.. is it you?" Releasing the hug I stepped back. Light reddish-brown hair and stunning green eyes. Yup, it was Jane Shepard alright.

"I hear you were on the Citadel. So I made haste to get here. I missed you last time you were here. How have you been?" Jane kept looking me over. Her biotics were something else. She was defintely happy I was not dead.

"Good... but busy," I said neutrally stepping back and folding my arms. Jane was dangerous. Defintely different since I knew John Shepard already was here. Why does she exist to I wondered. She was not at the orphanage. Did not know how to broach the subject. Something to check on when I get back. "Eating my Wheaties and trying to live healthily. So far... well I am alive anyway."

We talked for a bit. I introduced Mia as my younger adoptive sister. Surprisingly the two got along well. Jane was really happy for some reason.

"Jane, are you ok? It cant be the Alliance is doing you dirty as well?" I asked as lightly as I could. I didnt want her getting all defensive on me.

"No, everything is fine. Just spending time with my brother and his crew. Special mission. Hush-hush." Jane said moving around. She looked unhappy. "Just miss the old team. My first team. I miss your crazy a.s.s. Your lack of morals made everything funny. Vega has been pushing himself really hard. Hopefully, the new special team he is on will go well. I dont know what happened to Falcon. Have you hear anything about him?"

"I dont know. But... I will look into it. I may not have your contacts but I can reach out." I said thinking about it for a second.

"That is good. Listen. You ever thought about coming back. You have friends still in the Alliance. I can pull a few strings as well to help it along." Jane said this all hopefully.

"I can't sorry." Leaning closer I whispered in her ear while I touched my Omni-tool to send a signal to block any recording devices. "This is a way to contact me securely. Be safe out their Jane."

"I still haven't forgotten the time you saved me during the attack. I will repay it someday." Jane turned to look at the man who came up behind her side. "You need to learn patience Alenko. You work with my brother, not me."

"Sorry about the threat," Alenko said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "You know how he gets when you run late."

"Fine. Later Sunstrider. Stay safe out there."

"You to Jane," I said as she walked away. "Nice a.s.s well, let's finish shopping. And check with the Intel. Bad enough shore leave has been postponed for a bit for most of us."

"You right, she does," Mia said squinting.

"Want me to set you up with her?" I asked grinning at her. "You to hit it off from what I saw," I asked as we walked.

"Uhh, no. Not interested. I am mean I am. But.." Mia was a little tongue-tied. "Ugh, you suck." She said punching my shoulder. "Don't be that brother. Just.. if you meet up with her again, take me along."

"Heh, no problem," I said throwing my arm around her shoulder. Come on let's go to my apartment and get something to drink. I want to try cooking something I remembered."

-Over with Jane.-

"How do you know him?" Alenko asked.

"We served togethor at one time. Why the sudden interest Alenko?" Jane asked back. Her eyes narrowing.

"He is on your brother's watch list. High-level asset. As well as a high-level threat and all." Alenko looked at Jane with the corner of his eye. "Just saying be careful."

"He is a friend. My brother is one to talk. His crowd is dangerous. Just because he is a Specter doesn't give him the right to dictate what I do." Jane stopped and stared at the man. "You know what.. after today stay away from me. I will use force if necessary. You have a hard time remembering I outrank you. Just because I am not a specter dont think I cant kick your a.s.s up down the presidium." Finishing her rant, Jane got in the shuttle. When Alenko tried to get in she shoved him back with her biotics.

"Vroom," The shuttle took off.

Jane rode quietly her thoughts to herself. 'Tch wish I knew more about this Universe.' She looked at her Omni-Tool and a blank out section to the left. "If I could only repair my System and get in touch with my Operator more. I have been stuck here since my rebirth. If I knew more about this place, it would have not been that bad. But with a brother like Shepard I am glad, I can take it relatively easy.'

Musing to herself Jane continued to think hard about her next course of action. 'I could just kill myself.. but that will cause me to drop in levels. I cant afford to fall any lower. Arghh! I should make friends with more users instead of being a bitch to them. Its not like its my fault though. My Operator is the one who suggested it at the time. Speaking of that lazy s.o.b. Operator.. I need help. Take me off the no User Contact list. I am ready to make nice with people.' Her voice came out painful.

Operator: Oh how finally willing to see the light. Very well I will commence the search. Oh, there is only one User besides your self here. Ahh, I will have to get in contact with his Operator first. He has my colleague set to handle logistics and communication. I will send a message and wait for a response.

'Huff, thank you.' Jane continued to drive. 'Ugh, next time I am going someplace I know. Like Magic the Gathering or maybe Yu-gi-oh. Definitely, need to go to Duel Masters. I had so much fun playing that on my Ps2.'

The shuttle landed and Jane got off. Walking onboard the Normandy she couldn't help but marvel at it.

"Still a nice ship every time I see it." Once she passed the checks she stepped on board. "Ok brother what is so important?" Jane asked as she saw Shepard by the Yeoman. 'He may not be a User like me, but he is defintely more powerful than the rest. As one of the pillars for this Universe, I guess he would have to be. But then again.. I have all my other powers at my disposal.' Jane smiled once Shepard looked at her.

"Glad you could make it little sis." His eyes scanned her over then looked to the side. "Where is Alenko?"

"I left him behind. He should be here shortly." Jane saw the look on Shepard's face. "Do not give me that look. He was giving me crap about someone who saved my life a few years ago."

"I.. will talk to him about that. Wait who was the person?"

"If you must know. It was former Alliance Operative Sunstrider. He was removed from the Alliance a few years ago. I lost touch a good while back." Jane picked up the manifesto Shepard placed down. It was heavily encrypted. Her eyes scanned it quickly before Shepard grab it back.

"Hands off." He said playfully. 'Glad it was encrypted I dont need her knowing what I am working on.'

"Testy testy. So what is going on now? You find a lead on Saren yet?"

"We did." Pointing to the map he pulled up a planet and its coordinates. "He is here. From this location, he has control of some Krogan. Well, makeshift Krogan anyway."

"So let's get there and get the bastard," Jane said angrily. "He will pay for what he did to us."

"Right!" Shepard said smiling He went back to work on his datapad. 'Having a sister is nice. So many things are different this time. But she said Azul.. why does that name sound familiar?' As he worked he finally remembered. 'Its the name of the boy who was in the orphanage with me.' A small flux of biotic energy circled around him. He calmed his self quickly and gave his sister a warm smile. 'So he knows me as we were both raised in the slums. He knows my sister from the time in the Alliance they served. From what I know from my spies, he is acquaintances with Miranda in Cerebus. I need to make contact with him myself. But how?'

-Back with Azul.-

"Its just an omelet. Come on try it." I said to Mia. I myself had an omelet and some cut sausage and hotdogs. I was getting ready to add a grilled cheese to it when I saw her face. "Do you think I would poison you or something?"

"Hmmm, no but still," Mia said moving the egg over. "It just looks unhealthy... I have not heard of anyone saying you cooked for them."

"Hmm," I pondered a little as I was thinking about it. "I have not cooked for the others yet actually. Riku has eaten from our history in Mortal Kombat. But me as the whole has not... so you are the first."

"Chish," I dropped the butter into the skillet. It felt good making this meal actually. I defintely had to get back into what I use to do more.

"It is good," Mia said behind me. "I cant be the first person to not eat your cooking."

"Haha, it is ok. But thanks." I was happy. Little small things always make it better. I turned over to grab the stuff for the grilled cheese and stopped. "Hey! you ate my omelet."

"I said it was good," Mia said smiling.

"Chish," the door opened.

"Hey, whats cooking?" Asked Miranda walking in. The others came in as well.

"You better have some for us," Sophia said moving over next to me. "What are you making now?"

"A grilled cheese," I said looking at her. "Doop," my Omni-Tool went off. "Go ahead."

"We have confirmation on our next objective. As well as additional intel. Something weird is going on Noveria." Maldova said. Her voice sounded afraid if anything. "Some of our people are there. The Vorcha hive is there. Do you want to head there now?"

"Hmm, yeah just to be safe. We would arrive in a few days." I turned the stove off and started to clean up. "Come on, lunch is over for now."

"Glad I ate your omelet then," Mia said getting up. "Actually hit the spot."

"Wait did you cook?" Miranda asked eyebrow raised. She looked unsure about something. "You cook?" I felt a little insulted.

"Yeah, I did." Just as I was putting the rest of the stuff away. "I wanted to be a cook once. But, finances made that not happen. The habit stuck with me though. The weirdest thing, I cook food I dont even eat. Culinary school jacked me up a little in that department."

"She got to eat your food.. not fair," Sophia said smirking. "Defintely getting a meal from you later." She grabbed my ear and whispered, "I am so going to tell the others."

"Ahh, it was just a meal?" Walking out the door I felt a little odd. "There shouldn't be anything bad associated with that."

"Oh, brother you are in trouble," Mia said behind me. "But you will cook again right?"

"Yeah if I dont have something crazy going on anyway," I said as we made our way out of the apartment building. Getting into the shuttles, we took off. I was looking at the mission parameters the same as everyone else. Good quiet ride.

Galtea: Azul can we talk for a bit.

'Alright, what do you need? Everything ok with you?'

Galtea: No.. but I want to discuss something important.

'Well tough shit. Tell me whats going on with you first. Then we can talk about what is important.' I remember she has been going through a bit lately. Kind of been pushing here through the paces. Just like she has for me. 'We can talk about the important right after. You have my word.'

Galtea: Verywell then.

For the remainder of the shuttle ride, we talked. Mostly about what I had her doing and how the crew had been acting. Even once back on the ship, the conversation carried on. I made my way to the Captain's quarters to ask her help on this. For some reason, I thought she would know what to do.