Mass Effect - A Hero Rises Ch. 39

So, once I was rock hard again, Chakwas lifted herself up and slowly slid down my cock. And we made love, the kissing constant and endlessly passionate, sitting forward so our hands could caress each other. I let her control the tempo and rhythm, though eventually I rolled her onto her back and started to take control, positioning her in a manner I knew would help make her orgasm as much as myself.

"Shepard," she breathed.

"You're wonderful, Karin," I whispered back, earning a smile.

"Not bad yourself, Shepard."

"We'll have to do this again, if you want."

"I'll think about it. Let's just focus on the now."

We must have made love for... a while. Long enough that she enjoyed two orgasms, the first one taking her by surprise, the second one she definitely enjoyed, feeling her squeeze my cock as she dug her fingers into my back, legs now wrapped around the back of mine as she quietly moaned my name. Burying my head into her neck, she urged me onto finish myself, and only then did I really up the tempo and say I truly did fuck her, and after I'd cum too, we lay moulded together on the lounge until we'd caught our collective breath.

"Enough to make me feel twenty years younger, Shepard."

I lifted myself up onto a forearm, my cock still relatively hard inside her. "I don't know what you're talking about, Karin. The only thing that would even suggest you're older is the silver hair."

That earned me a soft, grateful kiss. "You are a real charmer when you want to be, Shepard." She moved, moaning slightly, "And I really don't want this to end, but three in one night is exhausting. I usually just make myself orgasm once before going to sleep."

I pulled out and sat back as Chakwas sat up, no doubt leaking cum but neither of us really cared at that moment, feeling her curl up into my side, wrapping an arm around her in good measure. The bottle was sitting on the ground nearby, so I picked it up and took a sip, offering it to her. She laughed, but drank straight from the bottle as well. "Well, I think this helped lower the inhibitions at least," she said with a chuckle.

"No complaints from me."

"Me either, Shepard. Tonight has been wonderful. The sex was great, but just having your undivided attention for a few hours as well."

We did eventually have to get up and dressed, as Kasumi did have to sleep that evening. After dressing helped clean up, wiping down the lounge at the same time, Chakwas not even bothering to put on her underwear. Opening the door, we found Kasumi in the mess, thanking her for understanding. Chakwas about to walk off after a kiss when I took her hand, and without a word, led her to the elevator. When I pushed the button for the cabin, she was about to ask a question when I simply kissed her and assured that it would be okay.

Kelly was lying back in bed when Chakwas and I walked in. She already knew what I'd been up to, of course, and knew why I'd invited Chakwas upstairs. To sleep, nothing else. I wasn't going to sleep with her then part ways. I invited Chakwas to join me for a shower, which she certainly leapt at the chance of doing, Kelly joining in at the same time. Nothing overtly sexual, plenty of compliments from Kelly directed at Chakwas, while the latter simply understood why I found Kelly irresistible.

Heading to bed, there was no clothing required as I lay down, Kelly to one side, Chakwas to the other. And it was no surprise that Chakwas couldn't resist one last chance with me, eventually climbing into my lap and sliding down my cock again. And not wanting Kelly to be left out, she sat on my face. It was certainly a lot of fun, each of us enjoyed at least one orgasm, and then we lay back again, definitely satisfied with life.

"Ever been with a woman, Karin?" Kelly asked.

"Of course. I've certainly done my fair share of experimentation."

"Any time you want to have some fun up here, I won't say no."

"I'll certainly take that under consideration."

I think we'd worn her out, as Chakwas was soon fast asleep, curled up next to me, her head nestled on my shoulder, her hand resting on my chest. Kelly did the same thing on the other side. "Banging body for her age," she whispered.

"Definitely."

"Want to do it again?"

"We'll see. Good chance it was a one time, get it out of the way, kind of thing. I'll leave the ball in her court in regards to any future liaisons. If we just end up close friends, I can live with that."

Kelly wished me goodnight and got herself comfortable at the same time, falling asleep herself. I could only lie there for a little longer and think about my life so far, particularly since my return. One could only shake their head and almost laugh at their good fortune.

*****

Jacob could only wonder how his life had come to this, sitting in the shuttle alongside Shepard, Miranda, Garrus, Grunt, Samara and Kasumi, descending to what had been described a possible garden world, with a beacon on the planet stating that his father was possibly alive. EDI had also noted a wreckage, which they would land near, that was like the Hugo Gernsback.

Shepard seemed relatively unperturbed by it all, seeming to take a wait and see approach. He still wondered who had even sent him the datapad. It had simply been lying on the workbench one morning. He figured it was probably Miranda, though he hadn't questioned her about it yet, not particularly wanting to get into an argument with her about it.

"The man's a ghost. Why now?" he muttered, earning more than one glance in his direction, "It still doesn't make sense in my head. That's all," he added.

No-one asked him any questions, perhaps warned by Shepard not to delve too much into what was obviously a touchy subject. Feeling the shuttle touch down, Shepard opened the door as usual and stepped out. He carried his shotgun, though it was obvious he was relaxed, a quick survey of the area before he gestured for everyone to follow. Stepping out, he looked around and had to admit to surprise. The air was more than breathable, considering there would be next to no pollution due to it being uninhabited. It was warm but comfortable. The fauna on display shared many similarities with those on Earth and other colony worlds. It looked like paradise.

Once everyone had disembarked, the shuttle ascended and the group moved off, Shepard using his omni-tool to track the location of the beacon. That lay only five minutes away, the wreckage of the Hugo Gernsback looking ahead in the distance. He was expecting it to be nothing but a wreck, spread across a large region in numerous small parts. But it seemed to be in rather good condition, considering it had plummeted to the ground at a rate of knots, and had been little more than a wreck for the best part of a decade.

It was clear that people had survived, as even a cursory inspection showed it had been stripped of parts. Finding the beacon, it was the ship VI, so perhaps this could give an explanation of what happened on the fateful day.

"What happened to the ship?" Shepard asked.

"Captain Harris Fairchild reported killed during unscheduled suborbital descent."

"Who took command?" Jacob asked.

"First Officer Ronald Taylor was promoted under emergency command protocols. Other flagged issues include unsafe decelerations, local food and neural decay and beacon activation protocols."

Jacob was already suspicious of the entire thing. Now a very bad feelings started to settle in his stomach. Shepard looked at him and gestured, leaving him to investigate the details. It was his mission, after all. "What's wrong with the local food? What sort of neural decay are they suffering?"

"Impairment of mental function due to chemical imbalance begins with seven days of ingesting local flora, regardless of decontamination or preparation. Impact of cognitive abilities and long-term memory significant within a standard month. It is unknown if neural decay is permanent."

"Seven days? They must all be dead by now then," he muttered, glancing at Shepard, "So how has this beacon suddenly been activated then?"

"That's a rather good question, Jacob."

Jacob nodded. "VI, explain why you have only recently been activated? Why has it been ten years since the crash?"

"This emergency beacon became functional after 358 days, 12 hours, following the unscheduled suborbital descent of the Hugo Gernsback." All seven of them shared more than a glance. That bad feeling he was experiencing was likely creeping up the back of everyone now. "Activation was triggered remotely after eight years, 237 days, seven hours on the authority of Acting Captain Ronald Taylor."

They immediately split up, searching the ship again for any sign of what happened to the other survivors, crew members that would have reported to Taylor, anything that would suggest where the survivors were. Six of them had gathered outside when Garrus trudged towards them. He found turian faces inscrutable most of the time, but the way he walked suggested he'd found something that shocked him, handing a datapad to Shepard. "Listen to this, Shepard. It's... grim."

The seven of them listened in stunned silence. The confession lasted less than a minute, but it was enough. Paradise was immediately ruined. Instead, it sounded like a version of hell few could really imagine. Shepard had seen and heard enough by now. "Okay, this is what we're doing. We looked for survivors. If they've been living off anything on this planet, they're going to be pretty fucked up. We go looking for any officers. If they've survived, we question them about what has happened since the first day they arrived here. And we find your father, Jacob, because I'm sure you have plenty of questions for him."

They found a lone survivor within five minutes of leaving the ship behind. A clearly terrified woman and one who had clearly been subjected to the local fauna for years. They could barely understand her at times, and whenever she did speak, it was like talking to a small child. And the way she spoke about 'the leader' sent a shiver down their spines. It was clear she had been kept around as some sort of slave.

Then they ran into the 'hunters', who appeared to be male survivors, likely also suffering neural decay, and they were aggressive. Shepard stated before opening fire that he would prefer to capture one or more of them, but the hunters wouldn't go down without a fight, and they didn't seem to know what surrender meant. Even when injured, they would keep trying to fight. They knocked at least a couple of them out but it appeared unlikely they'd make any sense when they woke up.

Moving on after tying up the two men who still lived, patching their injuries as best they could, and taking the woman with them, Kasumi taking her hand and leading them on, they followed what looked like a well worn path. What they discovered next definitely surprised them as they entered an encampment, every single one of them women. Shepard gestured for them to store weapons immediately, the women nothing but docile. Though when they saw his face, there was a mixture of curiosity and fear as they approached him, and what they had to say soon had his stomach doing flips.

Shepard made a decision immediately, calling the Normandy and asking Chakwas to head planet-side immediately. Miranda offered to remain with the females once Chakwas arrived, which he thanked her for, and Kasumi offered to stay as well, clearly upset by what they had discovered. Jacob simply had to walk away, as it was obvious to him that his face was unsettling them.

Just as they were about to leave, a lone female approached them. She seemed to be with it more than the rest. "Please. Wait. You look familiar... But you are not him. I saw you before, with the others. You... helped. He does not help. He has made many promises. We... try to please. But he angers quickly. But you... You could stop this." She turned around, bending down and grabbing something from what appeared to be a rucksack, standing back up holding a set of datapads, handing them to him. "I forget what these are called... But this will have... what you need. To know what he has done. What happened.... before. Can you take us to the sky? He promised us the sky."

"We're from the sky," he heard Shepard state gently as he started to read over the information, "Why don't you go join the others? We're here to help. We will take you to the sky." The woman looked on the verge of tears at the news, before she simply meekly nodded her head and hurried over to where Miranda was currently helping. From reports in their ear-pieces, Chakwas had already arrived, alongside other female crew members willing to help out.

The small group read the datapads. Looking at it dispassionately, objectively, you could almost... almost see the reasoning. But while it would have made sense ten years ago, whatever happened after that beggared belief. Whatever the case, it seemed Acting Commander Ronald Taylor would be facing some serious questions in regards to his conduct. But when it came to what was explained in regards to the women, that's when hearts definitely hardened. Hell, people made jokes about Shepard and all his women, but he didn't need to feed women drugs and keep them as pets to have them fall for him.

They moved on, running into a few more of the hunters, but they mostly dealt with mechs, which were easy for all of them to deal with. Shepard spent half his time charging around, smashing mechs to bits upon colliding with them, and those that didn't received a shotgun blast to the chest. He lost count of how many mechs they must have taken down, but it appeared his father had kept a small army of them, no doubt to keep him safe from everyone else. While there might have been a cabal of officers to begin with, it seemed that there was now only one person in charge of the colony.

"This is Captain Ronald Taylor. Thank god you're here! My crew went insane. I only just got free!"

Everyone shared a glance and shook their head. "Well, that's bullshit," Shepard muttered.

"We've got all the evidence we need, Shepard. If we arrest him, he gets the book thrown at him. Or you can judge this in your role as a Spectre."

"And you would be okay with that?"

"The man we're looking for right now? Don't know him. My father died ten years ago."

The group moved on, continuing to find mechs and put them down. The five worked as methodically as always. Mechs were never going to pose a serious challenge. Even their number wasn't really a concern, but it would be annoying to get shot by one. More embarrassing than anything else.

"Careful! I automated my defences after the crew turned violent. They keep attacking! I had no choice. I had to do it to protect myself."

There was no doubt the revelations had pissed everyone off in their small group. Miranda reported the initial findings of what Chakwas had found, left wondering if any of the women would actually recover from their ordeal. Would their brains recover from ten years of poisonous food? And not just that, it had been noted on the datapads that the women had been used a little more than sex slaves. That was a polite way of saying they'd been raped by the officers for god knows how long.

He was fairly sure they were approaching some sort of encampment when the voice of Taylor echoed around again. "It took years to train my guards. I'm afraid you'll have to fight them to rescue me."

Now he heard Shepard laugh. It was the sort of laugh that would send a chill down the spine of the enemy. "This fuckwit thinks we're here to rescue him? He's delusional. I mean totally off the fucking deep end. Bat-shit fucking insane. Oh, we end him here."

Jacob was left thinking he was going to put a bullet in him, and he wasn't going to stop him, because he was left believing he'd do it himself. No trial. No judge. No jury. Just one bullet into the head, end it here. The guards flooded forward, but while they might have been crazy, they were not talented. Frontal attacks never work, so they were put on the ground with ease, Shepard taking delight in charging around the field, colliding and shooting as he did. The only pause for concern was a giant mech, which the group hacked and blew up after a few seconds. They'd worked together for so long now, even the strongest of mechs couldn't stop them for very long.

The encampment had high walls, made from all the boxes and crates taken from the vessel. The door leading into it was taken from the ship as well. It didn't open for them, so Garrus stepped forward to hack into it. Once it opened, Shepard strode through, storing his shotgun but taking out his pistol. What they could see is that whoever lived in the small camp did so in comfort. If you forgot about everything they'd just witnessed, there was enough to suggest this would have been a lovely place to live.

Then he saw him. The man who had once been his father. The resemblance was uncanny. There were more lines on the face than he remembered. Hair a little greyer. And he was slimmer, though that would be understandable. But the distinct, deep voice had been the same. As were the eyes. There was no sign of him having ingested any of the food. No, he was crazy for other reasons. He looked around, noticing a comfortable bed, desk and chair with a working terminal on it, a refrigeration unit, and various other things that would have made life tolerable, at least.

"You're here! Sorry if the mechs caused you any issue. As I said, I had to program them to keep everyone at bay." He paused, obviously looking them over, five heavily armed individuals. "You appear to have had little problem, though." No-one said a word. Shepard looked on the verge of shooting him straight away, but no doubt would want to hear a confession before doing so. "I tell you what, I'll have a load of back-pay coming once we get back home. I'll make sure I get you all something as a way of saying thank you for saving my life."

Shepard growled and strode forward, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him to the desk, throwing him into the chair. "You have questions to answer, Acting Commander Taylor. And by god, you had better answer them."

Now their eyes met and there was at least a question in his eyes. No doubt he saw himself in the face and eyes, though he doubted that the Acting Commander would truly believe his son had come all this way. "I take it you mean the crew?" Taylor asked, looking around to receive at least a couple of nods. "The food here... It's toxic. Turns them... wild, I guess. But there was little that could be done. And they treated me like some sort of deity, propped me up here, rituals and all that."

Shepard burst into laughter. Jacob could only scoff at the response. "That's your excuse, your reasoning for everything that happened here." He threw the datapads they'd gathered along the way. "Read those, Acting Commander, and tell us the same story again. If we were to take you back to Alliance space, they'd throw you in jail and lock away the key. Shepard, do whatever you want with this man. My father died ten years ago. This man in front of me is nothing but a ghost."

Now the eyes met his again. "Jacob?"

"Operative Jacob Taylor. You've been dead to me for at least ten years. You should have stayed a ghost, Ronald. It would have worked out better for us."

"What do you mean?"

Jacob looked at Shepard. "Your choice, Commander. I will hold no grudge no matter what you choose to do."

Shepard had already made his choice, hauling Ronald to his feet. Grabbing his collar, he dragged him so they were face to face. "I will give you one choice, Ronald. You can either see it coming. Or not."

"You can't..."

"I'm a Council Spectre. You probably don't know that because of the life you've been living here. Trust me, no-one is going to argue about the summary justice about to be handed out. All those women deserve to know you are dead, and trust me, part of me would love to get medieval on your arse, really inflict some pain before I send you to hell. But no, a bullet will be enough to satisfy what I want. So, I ask again, do you want to see it coming or not."