Ch.09: the Reunion

Riding to Liara T'Soni's place, Commander Jane Shepard experienced a mix of emotions. On the one hand, she was really excited to see her friend again; she felt fluttering both in her abdomen and cock when she recalled their past adventures and flings. On the other hand, she was nervous; the two-year break between the Spectre's 'death' and 'resurrection' took its toll on the doctor, so the Spectre couldn't be sure they still shared the same sympathy and passion.

When Jane got to Liara's apartment complex, Garrus Vakarian and Jacob Taylor were already waiting for her, together with her armor, which she quickly put on - after all, even if there was no danger now, they were about to go against the Shadow Broker pretty soon. Then, the trio entered the building and found T'Soni's apartment. However, they didn't meet

the

asari there - there was

an

asari instead. And the police.

"Tela Vasir. Special Tactics and Recon," the blue alien introduced herself after she chased the officers away. But before that, she dropped a real bomb on the commander: someone tried to shoot Liara!

"A Spectre?" Jane replied, her head dizzy from worry. If anything happened to Liara... She interrogated Vasir, trying to get as much information as possible but, sadly, Tela didn't find anything. Luckily, Jane had more luck with the search that followed their conversation. No wonder, since the tips that led her to a hidden recording were tied to the past she shared with the former archeologist.

"I know where the Dracon Trade Center is," Tela announced about the location whose name was dropped in the recording. "My car's outside."

Shepard followed the asari to the exit, but before they left the apartment, Jacob put his clawed hand on the soldier's shoulder.

"We'll find her," he said and Garrus confirmed with a nod. His expression was as serious as Jane's.

A few moments after Shepard's team left the car under Dracon Trade Center, there was a sudden explosion on one of the tower's many floors.

"Liara is in there!" Jane yelled right before more explosions had shaken the building. The shockwave hit the commander and the other people outside with force enough to throw almost everyone on the ground. Only because of her dominant strength was the Spectre able to stay on her feet.

"Fuck!" Garrus muttered when he stood up, observing the raging fire those explosions left in their wake.

"They just took out three floors to make sure she's dead!" Tela shouted. Luckily enough, the team's hearing was unimpacted. "I'll grab the skycar and seal off the building from the top!"

"I'll start down here and work my way up!" Jane shouted back. She was still worried as hell, but she finally could do something tangible and in her area of expertise.

Unlocking her assault rifle, the commander led her team into the building. But when they'd gotten to the Baria Frontiers office where Liara was supposed to be, they were attacked by heavily armed and well-trained mercenaries Vasir identified as the Shadow Broker's private army. Still, they were no match for the enraged Amazon.

"Liara T'Soni! The asari information broker," she yelled, gunning the opponents down. "Where is she?!" Her question was purely rhetorical as no one survived her assault. Garrus and Jacob - both experienced soldiers - together killed twice as few people as their leader, who was like the redhead goddess of war.

Fighting more enemies, the team finally got to the office where Liara was supposed to meet with her source.

"Damn it. If I'd been a few seconds faster, I could've stopped them," Tela Vasir, who had beaten Shepard there by a minute, said. A dead salarian was lying not far from her and the Spectres identified him as Sekat, Liara's contact.

"No sign of that data Liara talked about. Looks like a dead end," Jane said, looking around.

"Speaking of which, did you find your friend's body?" Vasir asked with a spike of curiosity in her voice. Before Shepard could answer, she heard the familiar voice.

"You mean this body?" Liara walked off the shadows with a gun pointing at the asari Spectre. She wore a form-fitting white-and-blue combat suit she looked incredible in, but Jane had no time to admire her now.

"Liara, she's a Spectre!" She walked in between the two asari. "Her name's Vasir and she..."

"This is a woman who tried to kill me!" Liara replied, walking around the commander with her gun locked on the other Spectre. Tela tried to smooth-talk T'Soni down, but the former archeologist replied that she saw her breaking into her apartment.

Between the two asari, Shepard knew who to believe. She pulled out the gun and pointed it at Vasir as well, her team following her example. But the rogue Spectre didn't plan on going down easy. Using the talk as a distraction, she biotically broke the window behind her and threw its fragments at Liara. The information broker immediately formed a biotic shield, but it was enough for Tela to make a retreat.

"Oh hell no!" Jane shouted and ran after the withdrawing enemy. Vasir thought that the space between them made her safe, but the commander was too fast on her 4-foot-long muscular legs. She quickly caught up and grabbed the enemy, but the momentum threw both Spectres out of the window. The asari tried to push the soldier back with her biotics, but not yet fully recovered after the previous throw, she couldn't muster enough strength to break Shepard's impressive hold. So when they fell on the ground, the commander ended up on top.

"YOU TRIED TO KILL MY FRIEND! HARM A PERSON I LOVE! AND THE OTHERS TOO! THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR IT!" She shouted, the emerald fire of vengeance burning in her eyes. With every sentence, she was punching Vasir in the face, her fist cutting her skin and breaking her teeth. Somehow, the asari managed to extract her helmet, but the headpiece couldn't withstand Shepard's Amazonian fury and was completely shattered with three hits. It gave Vasir a few seconds to raise a biotic barrier around her head, but it didn't endure even one punch. More of them followed, hitting the asari's unprotected face again and again.

Suddenly, though, Jane felt a gentle touch on her neck and heard softly spoken words.

"Jane, that's enough. She's dead." Liara's voice managed to pierce through the human Spectre's rage and she stopped hitting Vasir's face. Or rather, a mess of bones, muscles, and brain it turned into under Jane's melee assault. But she didn't feel remorse; her friend was alive and safe and it was the only thing that mattered. But when Jane cleaned the dead Spectre's blood from her fists and face, the former archeologist wasn't at her side. Instead, she was standing a few steps away, putting the disk she apparently recovered from Vasir's lifeless body into her omni-tool. The commander got on her feet and approached her friend.

"Eliminate T'Soni and retrieve the data. Civilian casualties not a concern." The Shadow Broker's distorted voice came from the device.

"I'm putting the data through to the Normandy's computers. We can be at the Shadow Broker's base in a few hours. He'll know about Vasir before long," Liara stated matter-of-factly, quickly walking toward the exit. "If he decides to kill Feron..."

"We won't give him time," Shepard assured her.

"We'll need the Normandy's stealth system to get us in close undetected," Liara continued as if she didn't hear. "The Shadow Broker's agents are still shooting their way through Illium. With luck, they won't notice we've left until it's too late."

"That's a little cold. They killed innocent people," Jane protested. He loved Liara as a dear friend, but she was kind of scaring her.

"You know what I mean." Liara sounded irritated.

"Do I?" The commander inquired. "When I killed Vasir in cold blood, you didn't even check on me."

"You're a seasoned soldier, another dead isn't going to break you," Liara replied but had the decency to look down. Next, she looked at Illium over the near balcony. "But Sekat... He had no idea what the stakes were. I put him in harm's way to get the data I needed. I got him killed. And I'd do it again."

"That's Vasir's fault, not yours," Shepard said, putting a hand on Liara's shoulder. For a moment they stood like that but the silence felt a little awkward. "What's the plan when we get to the Shadow Broker's base, then?"

"Get in, get Feron, get out," Liara replied, walking again at the same quick pace. Once again, she didn't wait for Shepard. "And kill anyone who tries to stop us."

"That's it?" Jane asked.

"That's it."

Hearing no emotion in Liara's voice when she was talking about killing people, the commander lost patience. Grabbing the asari's hand, she forced her to look at her.

"Will you stop for a second?" She said, her voice slightly raised. "We'll be jumping several light years. There's time to talk."

"About what?" Liara barked.

"You haven't been the same since I came back, Liara."

"What do you want me to say, Jane? That I mourned you? That I feel guilty because Feron got captured?" The former scientist was asking a question Jane didn't know how to answer. "I made mistakes. I lost people. I helped get you back and I want to do the same for Feron! I'll sit and talk once he's safe. Until then, enjoying the scenery is an insult to the man who saved both of us."

"Okay." Shepard nodded awkwardly. There was truth in Liara's words. "Let's go." She added and then followed her friend to the cab.

Back on the Normandy, namely in the med bay, Jane, Joker, Chakwas, Garrus, and Liara sat with snacks and drinks to catch up - they had some time until Hagalaz and they decided to use it on something other than brooding. In particular, the asari described how she recovered Shepard's body and delivered it to Cerberus, meeting Miranda and Jacob in the process. All agreed that as cooperating with the supremacist organization was the only way to bring Jane back, Liara did the right thing.

When the topic of Shepard's 'resurrection' surfaced, both Joker and Chakwas shot a glance at the commander's crotch. In fact, throughout the entire conversation and even before, Jane wanted to tell Liara about the dick Cerberus gave her and now, when the opportunity had arisen, she finally gathered the courage.

"Liara, I..." She began, but at the same moment, EDI's voice came from the loudspeakers and the topic of Shepard's cock had to be postponed again.

"We're approaching the Shadow Broker's ship. Combat team, report to the shuttle," AI said and Jane, Liara, and Garrus glanced at each other - it was already set that they would be the combat team for this mission. But when the Normandy was approaching their destination, almost the whole crew ran to the windows to observe Shadow Broker's flagships. The huge, magnificent vessel was like nothing they'd seen before, looking even more impressive with a raging storm behind it.

Ultimately though, the mission on the ship proved to be less demanding than what happened on Illium recently. Then, Shepard was constantly worried if Liara was still alive and later conversation with her wasn't easy as well. Here, the asari was safe at her and Garrus' side, the three of them fighting together like when they were chasing Saren. The only difference was that now T'Soni was much more capable in combat and Jane observed with awe how she was handling enemies with ease. All things considered, Shepard could even say that she had fun.

Until they met the Shadow Broker. Their talk with the enemy was short and despite the commander keeping her nerves in check, Liara was far more emotional - a natural thing, given that there was her friend's life at stake. But when the Broker shifted his attention from Jane to her, she didn't allow him to mess with her head.

"It's pointless to challenge me, asari," he said, his voice reeking with cold-blooded confidence. "I know your every secret, while you fumble in the dark."

"Is that right?" Liara managed to conjure a weak smile before she began throwing her own verbal punches. "You're a yagh, a pre-spaceflight species quarantined to their homeworld for massacring the Council's first contact teams. This base is older than your planet's discovery, which probably means you killed the original Shadow Broker sixty years ago, and then took over. I'm guessing you were taken from your world by a trophy hunter who wanted a slave... or a pet. How am I doing?" When she finished talking, her smile wasn't so weak anymore.

And then, the fight began when after slowly rising to his feet, the Shadow Broker at lightning speed broke his desk in two and threw the remnants at Jane's team. The commander managed to shield Liara and tumble with her but Garrus had no such luck and fell unconscious after being hit with heavy furniture.

"What an ugly bastard," Jane muttered when the Broker left the shadows and showed himself in the bright light - his species was ugly as hell, from a horned head to a teeth-filled mouth, to a huge, round body. At the same time, she took cover and began providing a suppression fire, which quickly depleted the Shadow Broker's shield and armor. For a moment, she thought that the fight was over, but then the yagh created some kind of high-technological barrier around himself.

"The shield's kinetically sensitive! Energy and projectiles are bouncing off!" Liara shouted when both her bullets and biotics did as she said.

"Then we do this the hard way," Shepard grinned, cracking her fists. The Shadow Broker was bigger than her, but as she was slimmer, she hoped she could at least beat him in agility.

The fight continued for long minutes when both sides used everything at their disposal to get the upper hand. Bullets, biotics, fists, and shields were utilized and although Jane and Liara landed a few good hits, so did the yagh. The half-monstrous humanoid was a terrible opponent thanks to his size, strength, cunning, and technology, and even a seasoned warrior like Shepard struggled to beat him down.

Ultimately, it was Liara who devised a plan of victory. Looking up, she spotted that the energy that fueled the Shadow Broker's special shield was visibly cracking, as if he was overloading it.

"If you can get him to bring up that shield again, I've got an idea," she told Jane and the commander attacked the enemy with renewed vigor until he had to raise his special barrier again. Then, she stood right under the energy field and provoked the yagh to charge, which she evaded at the last possible moment.

"Liara! Now!" She shouted, understanding what the asari meant. And Liara didn't miss a beat. She launched another warp, but instead of aiming it at the Shadow Broker, she hit the container the energy was stored in. The glass cracked under the force of impact and then the former archeologist pulled it down. The yagh was showered with sharp splinters, but much worse was the energy that followed. Unbound, it didn't form a shield, but instead fried him on the spot.

Exhausted but proud, Liara helped Jane to her feet and the commander ran to help Garrus. The asari wanted to join her, but then the screens nearby caught her attention. They showed an incredible amount of data the Shadow Broker collected and his agents were calling in, awaiting the instruction after a break caused by their boss fighting (and losing to) the two women.

It was then that Liara made a decision. She approached the control panel and pushed the proper buttons.

"This is the Shadow Broker. The situation is under control," she said to the mic, her artificially-changed voice carrying through the entire galaxy, explaining how the disturbance in communication was just caused by a hardware upgrade. "However, we are now back online. Resume standard procedures. I want a status report on all operations within the next solar day." She drew a deep breath. "Shadow Broker out."

"It's over. It's finally... for two years..." Liara said after Feron and Garrus left the room to give her and the commander some privacy. The asari's eyes were full of tears when emotions she'd been accumulating for two years were finally leaving her body.

"It's all right," Shepard said, tightly hugging her friend and caressing her back lovingly. She felt her eyes becoming as wet as hers.

It was Liara who pulled herself away from the hug. Slowly, as if she wasn't sure if she was doing right, she climbed on her toes and gave the commander a quick peck on the lips. Then, she looked at Jane with her big blue eyes.

"It's been two years. I don't... we're different people. You have your mission, and..." She babbled, and Shepard felt her heart warming and her belly fluttering. Those were the same thoughts she had! Since she came to Illium, she was unsure if Liara would want her back, but the asari had the same doubts. The commander felt a huge weight taken from her chest and a laugh forming in her throat.

But it wasn't time for a laugh. It was time to sneak her arm around Liara's waist and pull her into another kiss. This time, their lips met for a lot longer, and although the kiss started as a romantic one, bottled-up feelings weren't easy to contain.

And so, their kiss deepened until they began devouring each other's lips, their tongues sneaking into each other's mouths to dance familiar steps they hadn't been dancing for too long. At the same time, Shepard pulled Liara so close that she felt the asari's crotch against hers. Unlike during their hug on Illium a few days ago, the commander

wanted

her friend to feel her growing erection,

wanted

her to know how horny she was making her.

"I need you, Jane," Liara said when they pulled out for air. "I need you so much."

"I need you too, Liara," Shepard replied, her cock trembling against Liara's body. "And I need you now."

"Now? Here?" The asari asked playfully, her eyes - not so long wet with tears - sparkling with joy. "Where you can still smell the stench of burnt yagh meat?"

"Well, if you put it like that, I can wait till we get back to the Normandy," Jane said. Taking Liara's hand, she led her outside of the room and next through the base toward the shuttle. But quickly, she became too impatient and fastened her pace until they practically jogged.

"Where do we run to?" Garrus, who joined them on the way, asked. Seeing his friends jogging, he just assumed he should too.

"To the Normandy!" Shepard answered.

"Jane and I are gonna have sex!" Liara added. She felt as lightheaded as after a bottle of wine, so she didn't see anything wrong with telling him.

"Good for you!" The turian answered, feeling awkward, but he didn't slow down. He knew well that either he would enter the shuttle together with the girls, or he would have to wait for Liara's return - who knows how many hours later.

The flight to Normandy was torturous for Jane. She and Liara held hands and kept so close to each other that the Spectre could smell her verbena perfume. It was, however, much less than what she wanted and needed. For the entire time, her cock throbbed in anticipation, but she couldn't do anything about it. And she still didn't figure out how to tell Liara about her new appendage.

Finally, though, the shuttle landed on the Normandy and the moment it happened, Shepard was already on her feet. This time, instead of taking Liara's hand, she picked her up and carried her to the elevator, making her giggle cutely.

"I'm unavailable for

anyone

," Shepard managed to tell Garrus before the door closed and she and Liara could finally make out again.

"I really should've checked the equipment before we left," the asari said between kisses.

"Feron can do it well enough," the commander replied but then her lips refound Liara's and they didn't stop making out until the elevator took them to the top deck. There, they stepped into the captain's quarter and Jane carried the asari straight to the bedroom.