Spectre Bk 02 Ch 19

A/N - Australian / British standard English. There is a good chance of reading the following: lots of profanity, characters drinking, typos, and bad grammar at times.

Proofreading and editing suggestions provided by OhDave1. Any mistakes are still mine.

Comments are appreciated as always.

Feedback by email is always welcome. Enjoy chatting with anyone who likes my work.

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Shepard helps two crew members deal with batarian bastards.

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It's fair to say that Tali was now wandering about the ship whenever she wasn't busy in engineering completely loved up. The rest of the crew found it rather amusing and rather endearing. Chakwas was looking after her health as Tali was feeling the effects of our time together for several days afterwards. She was running a fever though it was nothing that Tali didn't expect. She assured me that she certainly wasn't going to drop dead on me.

Thankfully, she stated that with humour, so my heart didn't exactly leap out of my chest when he mentioned that.

I thought things would have been difficult for her in the days afterwards, but Tali took everything in her stride, aware that things would go back to normal. I knew Kasumi was full of questions about our time being intimate. Kasumi still gave no interest in wanting that herself. I knew she was still going over everything in her mind after the mission to retrieve the graybox.

Waking up alone a couple of days later, the

Normandy

floating through space without any clear objective as I was waiting for further information from the Illusive Man about a way of getting through the Omega Four relay, I smiled to myself as I planned on restarting something that had stopped for the past few weeks.

Stepping off the elevator on the crew deck, I walked towards Miranda's door. It was unlocked as always, slowly strolling in I found she was already awake. Her eyes met mine and she smiled as I quickly disrobed and joined her on the bed. She spread her legs for me, her pussy glistening as she had been lying back and masturbating.

"Been a while, Miranda," I stated, "I thought that it would be fun to restart having fun in the mornings."

"I'll be on my knees tomorrow morning, ready and waiting for you, Shepard."

Pleasuring Miranda would always make me smile. I loved the sounds that escaped her while my tongue was busy at work. Moans and whimpers spoke volumes about how much she was enjoying it. I wrapped my hands around her toned thighs and buried my tongue. She was playing with her breasts at the same time, gently pulling at her nipples and that only aroused herself further.

"Shepard," she whimpered.

Her eyes gazed down at me as I smiled up at her. Moving my tongue up to touch her clit, her back immediately arched and I knew an orgasm was imminent. She released a longer moan as she pressed her pussy into my mouth. I worked her clit exactly how she loved it, and that sent her over the edge.

"Oh fuck!" she moaned softly, "Oh fuck, Shepard... I love it... So much..."

If she thought that I would stop there, she already knew that I was relentless. And she also knew how much I enjoyed going down on her. I slid a pair of fingers inside her and found that special spot all my lovers had. Miranda gazed down at me; her eyes filled with unadulterated lust. I teased her by bringing her to the brink of orgasm more than once. Some would find that frustrating. I knew she loved it.

But when I did finally make her climax again, she had to cry enough as it was more powerful than I expected. I removed my fingers and slowly kissed up her body until we were meeting eye to eye. The smile that appeared on her face had me grinning like an idiot in return.

"I love you, Shepard," she whispered, caressing my cheek at the same time.

"You doing okay?" I asked once she was spooned back against me.

"It's difficult keeping up the act with him," she replied, "I'm still slightly torn. He has done so much for me, Shepard. Turning my back... Despite everything, I still feel some personal loyalty to him."

"And I understand. I'm still loyal to the Alliance yet I know they'd probably prefer it if I just went away."

"You want to wear the uniform again?"

"It was the first place where I truly felt at home." I pulled Miranda tighter to my chest. "You can stay with me as long as you want and need. You will always be under my protection."

"I know that. And to be honest, there are few places in the galaxy where I'd feel safer. Kelly won't leave your side. I'm sure you've figured that out already."

"Considering the reaction that I expect once I tell him to fuck off, I would hope that you would all feel the same way and want to remain by my side."

Walking out of her quarters when the rest of the crew was already sitting for breakfast wasn't any real surprise. Most of the women always looked on and approved. I found myself sitting between Georgia and Miranda, the former immediately leaning up to my ear and wondering when I was going to come and give her another service. The way she said that made me chuckle.

"All I've ever wanted is for you to fuck me, Shepard," she added, "We're good together, honey. We both know that."

She wasn't wrong. And I invited her to join me in bed that night. What amused me was that she followed me downstairs the next morning after we spent hours the previous night fucking each other senseless. Georgia had always proven insatiable. Miranda's face broke out into a grin when Georgia followed me into her quarters. When her lips wrapped around my cock again, Miranda tasted Georgia on it and moaned.

"He fucked me all night, Miri," Georgia told her, "I lost count of how many times he dumped a massive load in my pussy. And you will definitely taste my pussy on his cock this morning."

Miranda moaned again, her eyes focused on me, earning a groan of satisfaction as I felt my cock slide down her throat. Georgia joined Miranda on her knees, sitting behind her and immediately started to fondle her breasts.

"You want to worship him, don't you?" Georgia teased. Miranda nodded eagerly as her head continued to bob up and down. "And you should worship him. I certainly did last night when I was down on my knees, savouring his big cock down my throat. I swallowed every drop of cum he rewarded me with. You're a good girl..." Miranda shuddered and that made Georgia laugh. "I knew it... You are completely devoted to him. You know I'm gone when this is done, Miranda. And I think you are too. You're going to follow him like we all are."

After my orgasm, Miranda turned to kiss Georgia. It was incredibly arousing and given they were both naked, I was left wondering if they would have a little fun together. They didn't as Georgia noticed my cock hadn't gone soft and wanted her own fun. Miranda remained on her knees, gazing up at me and whenever I cupped her cheek, her eyes closed, and her smile only broadened.

"I've never seen her so happy," Georgia stated while pleasuring me, "The Ice Queen is dead."

Garrus was laughing away when I walked out with Miranda and Georgia cuddling to either side of me. I tried my best not to look too smug as I eventually took a seat. After we finished eating, I was ready to just head upstairs to the CIC though Leliana cleared her throat and asked if I could speak to her later. When Aela mentioned that she would be part of the conversation, I was left wondering what they could both want. Maybe they had similar matters that needed sorting out.

I sat with them later that afternoon in one of the lounges. Leliana sat to my left, Aela to my right. There was attraction between the three of us though they understood like all my lovers that I was only one man. When I thought about it, I had only been intimate with some of the women a handful of times. Whether any of the women were fooling around with each other, I didn't know, and it was none of my business.

"Leliana and I have been talking about what we'd been doing before we joined up with you, Shepard," Aela started explaining, "Before I joined up, I told you about a contract that I had taken on about a batarian slaving operation that people in power wanted dealt with. When I was telling Leliana about it, we figured out that we could kill two birds with one stone."

"I received a contract to eliminate a batarian by the name of Solas," Leliana added, "And I've figured out with Aela that he is the one running the slaving operation that she's undertaken to wipe out."

"Where are we heading?" I asked.

"The batarian home cluster," Aela replied, "Specifically, the Vular System and the planet of Erszbat. It's a batarian colony world, one of their richest. But its riches come from all their usual slaving operations. But it's also one of their worlds which produces food, minerals and is a home of manufacturing."

"You know how I feel about batarians and slavery, so we'll head there straight away. The good news is that since we are a civilian craft and have no allegiance to the Alliance, any attack won't cause any sort of diplomatic incident as the Alliance will just disavow any knowledge of this operation. At the moment, I'm acting independently.'

"We'll send you everything that we have," Leliana suggested, "And we'll leave it to you to form a plan of attack. All I want is to find and deal with Solas."

"My benefactors want this slaving operation ended. And if we kill a lot of batarians doing it," Aela added, "Then it can only be a good thing, right?"

"The only concern is that we will have to pass through the Harsa System, which is where the batarian home world is," Leliana explained, "It's possible that the batarians will be watching the mass relay closely before we travel by FTL towards the Vular System."

"We can avoid them by arriving silent," I suggested, "We'll arrive, fly silent until we're clear, and then we'll engage FTL and get to Valur and then Erszbat as soon as possible."

I had everything that Leliana and Aela had within the hour, and I was soon putting a plan in place. If the planet was anything like I'd faced on Torfan, I would have rather arrived with a fleet of Alliance ships and thousands of soldiers. And being this far behind enemy lines was also incredibly dangerous. We'd have to attack, take care of business, and then somehow get back to the mass relay without being noticed.

EDI could at least send me plenty of information about Erszbat and what we might expect to face. Despite how militarised the Hegemony was, the slaving operation we were looking for was in an isolated region of the planet. Wealthy batarians didn't want to see such things from the windows of their mansions.

I pulled all my ground crew into the mess and explained what we would be doing. Once everything was gathered, I stood before them.

"We're currently heading towards Kite's Nest, the batarian home cluster. Leliana and Aela both have contracts that require us to head there. Our target is a major batarian slaving operation that is based on the planet of Erszbat. Due to the nature of this mission, all of you will be joining us on the ground. I won't lie to you, this will be perilous. We will be deep behind enemy lines.

There is a dual purpose to this mission. First is that we are after the head of the slaving operation, a batarian by the name of Solas. The mission parameter is to take him out. Second is that we end the slaving operation, kill as many batarians as we can, and rescue any slaves that we might come across.

As soon as we're through the relay, we run silently until we are well clear of batarian patrols and then head towards the required system. I will have EDI survey the slaving site before we hit the ground. While we're working on the ground, EDI will run interference, knocking out their communications and interrupting any technology that might be used against us.

Any questions?"

"Does the Illusive Man know?" Miranda asked.

"He would know about the contracts though is probably unaware of where this mission is taking place. Then again, I don't really care. You should all know me well enough by now. I'm called the Butcher for a reason. Pretty much based on an operation such as this one."

"Are we taking prisoners?" Garrus wondered.

"No. If you see a batarian with a weapon, kill them. Any non-batarians? If they're not wearing armour and not carrying a weapon, they are a non-combatant. If we can free even just a few slaves, I'll take it as a win."

There were a few more basic questions about the operation before I called the meeting to a close. I could feel the nervous tension now that everyone was informed about the operation. Heading towards the batarian home cluster in a Cerberus-registered vessel probably wasn't the smartest thing that I'd ever done. Better than an Alliance-registered vessel though...

Everyone was ready to go as I stood behind Joker as we approached the relay that would take us into Kite's Nest.

"Remember, Joker. As soon as we're through, engage the silent driver and we'll hopefully avoid batarian patrols until we're out of the system. EDI, can you tell if the batarians are monitoring the relay on the other side?"

"I have no doubt they are, Shepard. As long as we go silent immediately, we should be safe. If we are noticed, I can interrupt their radar and other sensors to ensure we can slip away."

"Good. Take her in, Joker."

As soon as we were through, alarms started to go off. A batarian patrol was in the distance, EDI reporting in that they would have noticed our arrival. But they were far enough away that they wouldn't eyeball us. The

Normandy

went silent as Joker took us away from the batarian patrol, EDI using all her capabilities to confuse the batarian patrol.

By the time we made it into the Valur System, we were down in the hangar bay, waiting for EDI to do her thing and we'd take the shuttle to the ground. Joker reported in that there were no batarian ships in the area. Given how deep were in batarian space, I didn't think they'd be keeping ships in the area.

"All clear, Shepard," EDI reported, "Batarian communications have been knocked out though they won't be aware. Nothing will be leaving the systems. I am routing through the Normandy and faking responses."

Our fly past had allowed EDI to gather the lay of the land. Due to the slaving operation being where it was, the batarians had not kept everything underground away from prying eyes. There were a number of facilities and EDI made sure to point out on a map where she assumed the slave pens were. When it came to the enemy, she could only provide a guesstimate.

There were no air defences either, and the shuttle made it to the ground without a problem. But we were taking gunfire as soon as the door opened.

We knew that we'd be facing a large force of batarians. We split into smaller groups. I had Jack and Tali with me. I was all about brute force, Jack had her biotics, Tali would cause havoc with her technical skills and Leliana with her dual SMGs. Miranda ran her small team with Grunt, Amelie, Triss and Mordin. Then Garrus with Aela, Georgia, Samara and Kasumi.

Each team had its target. Garrus would escort Aela around to wipe out any batarians they could find. Miranda would be acting as support while looking for evidence of further slaving operations. Leliana and Aela both suggested that there were a number of black ops mercenary companies, primarily made up of humans, who loved taking out batarian operations.

EDI had indicated on the schematic I had on my Omni-tool the main facility where we would likely find Solas. It was deep within the slaving compound, the five of us working as a well-drilled unit as we made our way forward. EDI reported in that the batarians were desperately trying to send messages both to other areas around the planet and also off-world. She was intercepting every communication and continuing to play havoc with her cyber warfare. She was leaving the batarians completely in the dark.

"Slave pens," Jack muttered, gesturing to a nearby building. The door was open and we could see batarians flooding out.

"Miranda. At your four o'clock. Empty that place out and get any prisoners you can. Make sure the batarians don't start shooting them."

It was something they were notorious for doing. They'd done the same thing on Torfan. If they couldn't take them as slaves, they would kill them without a second thought. We held a line and waited for Miranda and her small team to hit the prison. Garrus and his team were further back, mopping up any batarians who might be trying to flank us.

The building we were aiming for was ahead and batarians were starting to dig in. I didn't usually carry heavy weapons on a mission as they were a bitch to carry on my back most of the time, and I was someone who relied on my agility. I carried a grenade launcher while Grunt was carrying something even better. It was an experimental weapon that Mordin had designed, built and tested. It was called the M-920 Cain. The damage the weapon causes is unreal. Almost like a mini tactical nuke. The reason Grunt carried it was due to the weight of it. Only a krogan was capable of carrying such a weapon with ease.

I wasn't the only one laughing when I had batarians flying through the air as I used my grenade launcher. They had their own heavy weapons, barriers, shields and armour taking a battering though we were all wise enough to remain in cover. Miranda and her team made their way to join our line, Grunt asking if he could use the heavy weapon he had.

"Fuck it," I stated, "Take out the front of the building with it."

Grunt was very eager to fire the weapon, all of us taking cover as he fired. The explosion was deafening. There were cries of dying batarians and the sounds of a building collapsing. Taking a look over the barrier that I was crouched behind, I started to laugh as at least half the building had collapsed in on itself.

"Garrus, what's your status?"

"

Mopping up a few pockets of resistance. Was that the new weapon?"

"Affirmative. We're hitting the main facility now. When you're done, come take position at the entrance and watch our backs."

"Copy that, Shepard. We're also guiding any prisoners back to the shuttle. Looks like we're rescuing quite a few of them."

We entered the facility to find it was still infested with batarians. We knew there would be some sort of command centre. EDI was watching for any sign of retreat, Joker under instruction to blast any ship out of orbit should anyone attempt an escape. Leliana was now by my side as I knew she was eager to share words with Solas. She hadn't explained why just yet, but I was left thinking that this was personal.

Then again, I found any fight with a batarian personal. Ever since humanity had arrived on the galactic stage, they'd been a thorn in our side. The only reason we hadn't gone to war with the batarians is that we knew it would be costly in terms of credits, lives, ships and our standing in the galaxy.

Corridors were leading every which way, breaking up into smaller teams to start clearing rooms. Leliana remained with me and Jack, and the schematic I had suggested we head forward and upstairs. We kept in contact with the other groups, hearing them clearing out the enemy room by room. It wasn't easy and we were taking hits. My armour was scuffed to hell as my shields had failed more than once. Leliana had a fierce look of determination in her eyes and a new red scar on her cheek. Jack glistened with sweat from her heavy use of biotics.

"Shepard... Remember how I told you that I get horny when I fight," she joked.

Leliana giggled despite the situation. "Are you being rude?"

"I'm always rude. You should know that by now!"

There was no missing the ferocity with which Leliana was fighting. Her usual choice of weapons might have been wielding a couple of SMGs, but when she got in close, I didn't miss the use of a blade. Triss did the same thing though her weapon was usually her biotics. But I hadn't missed the delight she took in gutting the enemy.