The Spartan Effect

Lazarus

     Freighter en route to Omega. November 30th 04:00

     Liara explained more of the problem in detail when he arrived at the trade station. Liara chartered a flight to Omega, and they boarded together. She looked like she had not slept in many nights. Dark circles were under her eyes, and her movements were sluggish, but she still gave him the information he sought. 

     She had initially been working on getting approval from the council to look for Johns's killers and had gotten nowhere. They had deemed it a closed case. In their minds, the geth caught them because the stealth systems had failed, forming a rift between turians and humans and causing the stealth program the alliance had dreamed up to be scrapped. The Illusive man approached her to bring Shepard back from the dead. She was still grieving, and they gave her the promise of holding him again. She regretted it now, but that didn't absolve her.

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     The ride on the Freighter was long, allowing the two to talk more. The only time they had spoken was when they buried Shepard, which wasn't much. Liara told him they had met and that he had saved her from a Prothein structure she had accidentally activated. Thomas explained Shepard had shared with him how serious the threat was and had set the spartan on this path to prepare for their arrival. Liara had dug into the reapers but hadn't found much of anything other than conspiracy theories. References to ancient technologies that wouldn't activate and powerful energy signatures that disappeared when ships approached led to dead ends. Thomas had avoided being antagonistic towards her over Shepard's burial out of respect for the man. He wouldn't want anyone harassing his partner after his death, either.

     That line of thought was gunned down before it could take hold of his mind. Spartans didn't have romantic relationships. At least he had never heard about it aside from a rumor about the spartan team black, but he was pretty sure that was just a rumor. That and they were Oni last he heard. He was getting off track. He knew they were headed to Omega, which meant running into Aria again. He had kept an eye on Omega, and they had reported that the slavery business had been snuffed out pretty quickly after the UNSC talked with the king of Omega. As they approached the station, Thomas turned to Liara and asked her what had been bothering him the whole time.

     "Why do you believe Cerberus can bring him back?"

     Liara turned towards Thomas before she replied.

     "They may be the only people in the galaxy who see him for what he truly is. He is a beacon for the entire galaxy. One way or another, he got a group of people who could not be more different together, and yet they were like my family. I can't explain it, and I don't trust Cerberus for a second that they're doing this out of the kindness of their heart... But we all need him, Thomas. It is not just for me. I know he's right about the reapers. I've seen the memories he's been given by the Protheins. They're real, and the galaxy needs him to unite us against them. It's our only chance."

     Thomas didn't expect a heartfelt speech from her, and he didn't have a reply for her. Nevertheless, he knew some of what she was talking about. Shepard gave off the same feeling as another man he had met long ago. John 117. The chief turned the tide of a losing war on his own. He was the sole reason humanity survived the war. Thomas didn't know if things would have been the same had he died midway through. 

     "You know, Liara, I think you're not wrong. I'm still not sticking all my eggs in one basket, though. I don't trust Cerberus as far as I can throw them, so we'll get him out of there the first chance we get. Agreed?"

     Liara held back tears as she nodded her head. Finally, someone had her back. She knew Shepard deserved a rest, but he wasnt done saving the galaxy, and he wouldn't have wanted to leave the job half done.