(MS) Liara Begins Analysis

Liara woke up to a writhing Jane who seemed to be having a nightmare. She was twisting and turning with her red hair splayed everywhere.

"Jane. Jane. Jane!" yelled Liara as she shakes her love awake.

Jane pops up in a cold sweat and her heart racing.

"What Liara?" gasps Jane with a bewildered look on her face.

"You were having a nightmare, Jane. Mumbling something about 'saving him.'"

"Yeah, its a reoccurring dream. It's Virmire," confesses Jane with a sigh. Virmire was a battle against a corrupt Specter named Saren and his forces. Shepard had planted bombs in his compound but they were compromised by Saren's forces. Shepard had to chose between the lives of Lt. Kaidan Alenko and Lt. Ashley Williams.

"What happened to Kaidan was not your fault. He knew the risks of the job. He made the choice before you even did," assured Liara.

"What do you mean?" wondered Jane.

"Kaidan and Ashley were together. They had been for a few months before Virmire. They knew about the policy on relationships in the Alliance. They cared too much for each other to ruin their careers. They faked animosity towards each other to cover the fact that they were dating."

"But how did you know he made the decision?" asked Jane.

"They had opened their own channel on Virmire. Kaidan told Ashley that he couldn't live with out her and he needs her to live twice as much to make up for his sacrifice. She protested but he had already came to a decision to put her first. That's why she cried so hard on the shuttle back home," explained Liara as she got out of the bed and searched for her clothes.

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" asked Jane feeling like a heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"I thought you had put it behind you. You seemed unfazed by his **** and I didn't want you feeling guilty," said Liara as she latched her black lace bra and threw Jane's to her.

"Thank you for sharing, Liara. Now I realized that Kaidan's **** wasn't for nothing. He sacrificed himself for the woman he loved. That I can live with," finished Shepard as she put her sports bra in her dirty clothes hamper. "Why are you wearing the same clothes as yesterday?"

"Honestly Jane, I didn't think to pack any clothes."

"You don't have to wear the same clothes as yesterday. We're roughly the same size, you can borrow from my wardrobe until we go shopping on the Citadel."

Liara nods and peeks in to the closet. She found neatly folded bras and panties of assorted colors on the first shelf, crisply folded undershirts on the next shelf, and ironed uniform shirts and pants on the bottom shelf.

"Behind the shelves, you'll find my casual wear."

Liara pulls the shelves on its rollers to find a few dresses and a few Alliance Navy shirts and jogging pants. Grabbing a set of Alliance Navy clothes, Liara borrows a bra and some panties to wear.

"Wow, even in plain clothes, you still look stunning," comments Jane as she gets dressed in her traditional Cerberus garb.

"Its looser than I would like," says Liara as she looks for her lab coat. "Shouldn't we clean this mess up," asks Liara gesturing at the disarray of clothes strewn in both the shower and the room.

"Nah, we'll handle it tonight," answers Jane as she head to the bathroom to handle her hair. "You asari are really lucky to have no hair. You all just roll out of bed beautiful."

"We'll it sucks to be human doesn't it," teases Liara as she smacks Jane's ass as she walks out the room. "I'm headed to the mess hall. Do you want me to wait?"

"No, go ahead. Wouldn't want the crew getting any ideas about fraternization on the ship," jokes Jane.

Liara exits the room and requests the elevator. After a few seconds, the elevator arrives with Kelly inside.

"Hello, Liara. Is Shepard in there? Is she, um...presentable?" asks the timid yeoman.

"Yes Kelly, the Commander is in her room and yes she has clothes on," answered Liara as the two exchange places on the elevator.

"Thanks, Liara," chirps the nubile yeoman as she rings the doorbell to the cabin.

The elevator doors close and Liara smiled thinking back to when that was her and she was timid and fearful. Although she hasn't changed much, Liara is glad she isn't the same timid girl Jane picked up on Therum.

The elevator doors open to the mess hall which had medium foot traffic as engineers and soldiers finished their breakfast. Liara walked to the kitchen where the Mess Sergeant was cooking short order.

"Liara, welcome to Breakfast/Dinner aboard the Normandy," greeted Mess Sergeant Gardner. "What'll you have?"

"What's offered?" asked Liara as she had not had a meal from the Normandy in a long while.

"Well until we get to the Citadel, we have potatoes and rice. I dunno if you asari eat that sort of stuff," responds Gardner stirring his potatoes on the range.

"I'll have the rice," chose the asari as she preferred human Oriental cuisine over the potatoes. She got her rice and sat down with the remaining crewman still eating. The situation was a little awkward at first and then Crewman Patel sought to break the ice.

"So, Dr. T'Soni, you ran with Commander before she got iced right! Was she as uptight as she now?" asked Crewman Patel.

Crewman Sarah Patel was an Indian-American woman with raven hair and sparkling green eyes. She stood at 5' 7" giving her a medium height in human standards but on the shorter end in comparison to the rest of the galaxy. She had D-cup breasts that she hated because this always attracted the eyes of males, her equals and her superiors alike. But her main feature was her enormous ass. Her ass popped out from her back having a radius of nearly six inches which after Cerberus training had become firm and tight. This feature was the main reason she rarely got promoted as her superiors enjoyed the view too much.

"Well there was this time in Chora's Den..."

"That we agreed to never talk about again," cut in Jane as she walked in to the mess hall. "Gardner, you my meal."

"Yeah, potatoes topped with cheese," growled the Mess Sergeant as he grabbed the cheese from the top drawer. The cook finished preparing Shepard's dish and handed it to her.

Jane sat down next to her lover and began to eat her dish.

"Ma'am, I know you like your secrets but you must tell us about you time in Chora's Den," implored Crewman Rolston as Chora's Den was a famous gentleman's club on the Citadel.

Crewman Vadim Rolston hails from San Francisco but his family originated from Russia. But Vadim was a short man standing at 5' 5" and was looked down upon by most of the crew.

"That story and all other strange tales about my life will neither be shared by me or in my presence. And Chora's Den had nothing go do with nudity," hints Shepard as she finished her meal in haste. "I must leave you all to your gossip circle, I have to do real work."

"That's cold, Commander," heckled Crewman Patel. As Jane left the mess hall, the crewmen resumed their interrogation of Jane's lover.

"So, what happened with Chora's Den, Liara?" prodded Crewman Rolston **** for some dirt on the Commander.

"The only thing I will say about Chora's Den is that Shepard was not a saint before her mother got her into the academy. She was into some illegal activities before enlisting. Chora's Den was her past rearing its ugly head," explains Liara leaving much to the imagination of the crewman. Finishing her meal she exited the mess hall and entered the elevator. Riding the elevator up to the CIC deck, Liara made her way to the lab.

In the lab, Mordin was busy with a biotic amplifier for Jack and Liara's arrival did little to distract the salarian.

"EDI, what were the results of the spectral analysis?" asks Liara hoping to find something that would point her in the right direction.

"Dr. T'Soni, there are three alloys that could have contributed to this unique composition. The metal that makes up the original parts of the Citadel. Although the keepers integrate all types of metal in its construction, the oldest of the metals seems to have similar properties to this metal. Next, the core metals of Sovereign. Scientists postulated that Sovereign was made upon layer of layer of tough metal but the base layer was the weakest and most damaged. Last, the Prothean beacon on Ilos. Although much of its components are based in Prothean design, its base schematics were made of a special alloy. But there are no recorded matches and I do not have an atomic microscope so I cannot tell you is it is even able to fit on the periodic table," drones EDI in her synthesized voice.

"Thank you, EDI. Were you able to record all its markings?"

"Yes I was and I went she d and cross checked them with any linguistic algorithms but none fit. I suppose that is your battle."

"That it is EDI. That it is."

Liars pulled up the microscopic images of the writing on the Object. It seemed like gibberish to the untrained eye but Liara spent nearly 70 years reading ancient texts and was very adept at deciphering symbols.

After a few hours, Liara had translated two of the symbols, and those were tentative. Liara thought it best to study the Object in hand as it may provide a pattern relevant to the translation. After a few minutes tweaking the microscope, Mordin seemed to notice for the first time that he was not alone in the room.

"SorryLiara. IForgotToSayHello. IAmBusyUpgradingJacksBioticAmps. TheyShouldReduceHerPainAndHopefullyMakeHerLessIrritable. TookALookAtYourProtheanDevice. IHaveSomeIdeasIfYoudLikeToHearThem," droned Mordin as he listed his various ideas.

Liara tried to ignore him but it seemed impossible to ignore is chit-chat. Liara thought to herself, If only he would just leave for a few moments, I would be able to analyze the Object without all of his distractions.

The Salarian stood straight up and stiffened for a short moment.

"ExcuseMeLiara. NeedSomeTimeToStretchMyLegs. PerhapsIWillAcquireSomeNourishment. You'llBeFineWhileI'mGone. WillBeDownInTheMessHall," says Mordin as he walks out of the lab for the first time in 36 hours.

Liara was surprised at the least but counted her blessings and continued her work in blissful silence. That is until Jack walked through the door.

"Where's the doc, T'Soni? He said he had a new implant that would make me even more powerful," growled Jack impatient and nervous as growing up in a live of experimentation left her a little wary around scientists and scalpels.

"He said he went for a bite to eat. I said he should be back soon. You can wait for him but don't touch anything."

Jack takes a seat on a lab counter and grabbed one of Liara's microscopes.

"T'Soni, why the hell are you working so hard on that thing? You know that everything that you find out is just going back to Cerberus..." asked Jack in her rowdy tone. Subjected to **** by Cerberus, Jack is paranoid about all things to do with Cerberus including all activities aboard the Normandy.

“I don't believe that. I know that Jane would never betray my trust like that,” replied Liara defending her lover while trying to focus on deciphering the symbols.

"Man, you really are that fucking naive? It's not Shepard I'd be worried about; this ship is crawling with those Cerberus bastards. It wouldn't take any effort at all for them to take a peek in here and figure out what's going on...” warned Jack as she flipped the microscope in her hands.

Growing frustrated by both lack of results and the growing distractions, Liara lashed out.

“I am more worried right now at a certain intruder disrupting my work!” yelled Liara who shocked herself as she rarely loses control of her feelings and not over some crazed chick either.

Jack just gave a grin, dropping the microscope on the ground and shattering it.

“Oops, clumsy me. Sorry about that, Cerberus bitch...” Jack turned to exit, leaving Liara fuming as she was **** to clean up the mess.

I think it would do her a little good to learn some humility...and try and play nice with Cerberus...

Liara couldn't stay in the lab any longer as she was too agitated to continue with the focus needed to decipher the ancient text. Grabbing the Object and placing it back in its protective case, Liara headed to the bridge to walk of some steam. As she exited the lab, Liara was greeted with a sight she never would have considered in a million years.

Jack, using her strength, held Miranda with her wrists above her head. Jack pressed her lips against Miranda's locked in an kiss that surprised Miranda and the surrounding crew in the CIC. Other crewman gathered around to watch the spectacle and even Joker limp ran to see the new wonder of the world. Even as Miranda continued to struggle, Jack intensified her kiss by shoving her tongue into Miranda's mouth. Grunting and writhing, Miranda kicked Jack in the stomach releasing her from her captor's hold.

“What in the bloody hell are you doing?! Get off of me, you bitch!” yelled Miranda as she shrugged off Jack's hands. Miranda rushed to the elevator, trying to put as much distance between her and Jack while the rest of the crew began to murmur. The murmurs turned to a light giggle which evolved into raucous laughter much to the embarrassment of Jack. Her face flushed, Jack stormed off to the armory where a hatch allowed her privacy as she slinked back to her hideout underneath Engineering.

Jack looked back at the crowd and locked eyes with Liara just before she rushed through the door. Jack rushed through the Armory pushing a surprised Jacob out of the way and slid down the ladder to the bowels of the ship where she spied on the crew from underneath of above them.

Liara was still frozen in place after Jack stormed off as realization hit her. Mordin leaving the lab. Jack humiliating herself. Liara had thought all those things. She thought them into existence. She wanted them to happen. All while she was near the Object, Jack and Mordin followed her wishes, without Liara ever voicing them. Liara rushed back into the lab and tentatively touched the device. As inert and dull as ever, the device seemed unchanged. To test her theory, she devised an experiment.

Liara left the device on the lab counter and went out to the CIC to see Yeoman Chambers review some correspondence from the Illusive Man to the Commander.

Turn around and say 'Hello' to me.

Kelly did nothing but forward the message to Commander Jane and move on to the next correspondence. Liara got no reaction from Kelly, she didn't even notice her.

Keeping quiet as not to alert Kelly, Liara tiptoed back to the lab and retrieved the device.

Turn around and say 'Hello' to me.

This time, Kelly looked up from her terminal and turned around. Flashing her smile and flicking some stray hair out of her face, Kelly says,

“Oh, Liara, hello! I didn't see you there!”

Tell me where Jane is.

"If you're looking for Commander Shepard, she is with Crewman Hawthorne refitting the armor to make room for the Kassa Fabrications mod. They should be finished shortly."

Bend over

As she had expected, Kelly gave a quick bend forward, almost enough to reach her toes before rising again with the same smile. As Kelly rose up, Liara began to realize what she was holding in her hands. She could feel it inside her as well, she could fee the power surging through her. It was foreign and strange but it also felt natural and warm. Liara came to the conclusion that it is good, very good. Nodding to Kelly, Liara headed back to the lab with quite the breakthrough brewing in her head, having a much focused vision on what the device can be.

Fix that microscope

The broken microscope made no movement and stayed very much broken. Liara realized that the limitations of the Object is that it doesn't affect physical objects.

Wish it was smaller. I can't fit it in my pocket.

The device shrunk to handheld size and flattened out enough for Liara to slip it into her pants pocket. Liara began testing it on things in the lab including the testing rat; which she made run around in a figure eight, the Collector Seeker Swarm; making them line up in neat little rows and the residential toad; which she made ribbit an asari symphony. After few hours, Liara grew tired of experimenting and went to bed.