[Book Four] Chapter 51: New member

Chapter 51: New member

Silence reigned at the kitchen table among four people. Rick seemed amused, Sandra amused and proud of herself and her sister and Tali amused and proud of her daughter. The only one not amused was Leeha. She was blushing like made giving her skin a dark purple shade and was trying to hide behind her hands. Her embarrassment wasn’t the only thing she tried to hide, her guilt too. For sweet, sweet Leeha had shown a side of she didn’t know she had, to the member of her family present the previous night.

When Sandra, dressed to kill in a very alluring little black dress, showing a lot of legs, a lot of ass and a lot of cleavage, entered her room uninvited and dragged her out of it… She didn’t know what was going on. It didn’t help that Leeha was in her underwear and trying to change into her pajamas. Being pushed into her mother’s and fathers room with both of them naked in bed and the former sucking on the latter’s cock with everything she got, the not so little quarian thought that she had stepped into another dimension. The explanations that followed, had hurt her deeply. To know that her own sister was having sex with the man she loved more than any one and for the past fifteen years all the while everyone knew about her own feelings had been quite humiliating and felt like the biggest fool that has ever been. Until she saw Sandra joined Tali, worshiping their father’s dick with her mother and being taunted that she didn’t have the courage to do the same and get what she always wanted. The sight made her explode. Before anyone understood what happened, Leeha had pushed her sister and mother out of the bed and was impaled on Rick’s baby maker, riding it with everything she got like there was no tomorrow. Any attempt of the other two womens in participating was violently rebuked and so were any attempts by Rick to calm her down. If anything Leeha keep fucking her father and using him as long as she could, yelling profanities, that even Rick had not used much in his life. She didn’t stop there and used Sandra and Tali too and never let them rest until she was completely tapped out and fell asleep out of exhaustion in the middle of a pile of hot and sticky flesh.

When morning came and she realized the situation she was in, along remembering the previous night, she wanted to crawl into a hole and never get out of it. Unfortunately for her, the three others in the bedroom didn’t agree and dragged her out for breakfast.

“Well… Like mother, like daughter.” Rick commented with a smirk, looking at his sweetest and kindest child, who’s only thought was to disappear. Until she registered what he had said.
“What?” she exclaimed, raising her head from her hands.
“You heard me.”
“If anything, you’re even more domineering than Auntie.” added Sandra and Tali nodded in agreement.
“You mean…”
“That you got that from me, yes.”
“You’re…”
“Yes. It’s like a switch flipped and the only thing you can think of is making your partner yours. Or in this case partnerS.” Tali explained.
“So I’m not…”
“A weirdo?”
“A pervert?”
“A degenerate?”
“...Yes?”
“““You are.”””
“But so are we.” added Rick as he took her hand in his. “Blame your Grandma Hannah; God knows I do. I mean… I’m having sex with my own biological mother, my own half sister that I knocked up twice and I’m also having sex with one of my daughters. Well two now.”
“I fucked my Dad, two of my sisters, my grandmother, both my mothers, and with the current exception of Aunt Jane all my aunts.”
“I fucked my niece, my daughter and absolutely love watching my husband fucking his blood relatives.” finished Tali.
“So you see, princess, there is nothing to feel ashamed of or guilty about when you’re with us.”
“... I- I don’t know what to say.”
“Hmm… How about? ‘When is my next turn?’ ” joked Sandra.
“Nuh-huh. I don’t need to, my next turn is tonight. I have more than a decade to catch up.” retorted Leeha, sharply, so out of character.
“Absolutely not. You only have yourself to blame. Had you not been so dense and had a bit of courage you’d have enjoyed Dad’s pussy pleaser long ago. It’s on you.” the ravenette refuted.
“That’s not…”
“It is. We have a whole schedule that we need to respect. Mainly so dad wouldn’t drop dead out of exhaustion and so we can have order in our relationships.”
“Sweetie, you can join during my turn for a while.” Tali offered and got a smile and a ‘thank you’ in return.
“So… you’re having sex with Grandma too? And Sandra… Which other sisters?”

And from there, they all told of the behind the scene dynamics in the family to Leeha, who felt like she had entered a brand new world. A brand new world that she was eager to explore.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

“Ah! Commander, perfect.”
“Sir?” answered Jane with a puzzled look. She had just entered the Commande Room to start her day, when Hackett called out to her. She had barely walked two feet into the room.
“We have a minor problem.” the man confessed as he invited her to the meeting room out of prying ears. Something that made her even puzzled. “I just received words from Ryder. The colony. There has been a small situation involving Wald and your daughter in law.
“...I’m already not liking it, sir. What did they do?”
“From the reports of the law officers, they went into a bar yesterday night. One hour later almost half the law enforcements were there after a call from one of the bartenders. The details were not specified but they were accosted by turians and from there it devolved into a brawl.”
“... Are there any casualties?”
“None. But the turians got a severe beating, along with all the… customers of the bar and most of the law officers that came to calm things down.”
“Let me guess… He beat them all up?”
“With the help of Sara Shepard. They were the only ones left standing and the only reason they were arrested was because they were so drunk they passed out.”
“I supposed, I’m to go there, pick them up and smooth things out discreetly?”
“That would be appreciated, yes.”
“I’m on my way.”

Jane nodded after letting out a sigh. She went to prepare for an outing while she asked EDI to tell Arianna of the situation. Her daughter was not happy at all at the news of her wife being arrested. Not one bit. Taking a shuttle in less than ten minutes they were landing on Ryder. Ten minutes later they were in the law enforcement’s headquarters and five minutes afterwards after talking with a not amused head honcho were in front of the cell.
Sara had at least the decency to look a bit ashamed. Rick on the other hand was meditating. That nearly infuriated her.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” Arianna asked her wife.
“I… We…”
“Well?”
“Your father and I were spending some time together, planning for your birthday…”
“My birthday is in six months.” cut Arianna clearly not believing it.
“I know! But your dad sent me a message telling me to meet him at that bar. When I got there, he began talking about this project for your birthday and needed my input. We drank a bit and just talked when the turian and his friends came up to us. They weren’t happy about your father’s speech the other day and your father…
“Being who he is, put him down with words, the turian and his friends didn’t like it, more words exchanged and they hit first and dad…”
“Yeah…”
“What about the law enforcement?”
“That… Eh… We were a bit… drunk and with the adrenaline we just… Kinda… put them in the same bag as the others.”
“A bit drunk… You both passed out!”

Sara looked even more sheepish at that and simply shut up, not daring to say anything anymore that would worsen her situation. On the side. Jane was looking intently at her brother. Turning around, she signaled the officer to open the cell. Immediately, Rick stopped meditating and stood up.

“One reason as to why I shouldn’t kick your ass for this?” asked Jane.
“This? Are you referring to Sara and I testing the competence of the law, here? How is that a bad thing?”
“...Really, this is what you’re going with? An unexpected inspection of the state of the security of the colony?” she answered flatly, unimpressed and unamused.
“Why would I come on Ryder when I already have everything I need on the Cassiopeia? It’s war, Jane and most people are busy with it, meanwhile, nobody spared a thought for the colonies as we’re keeping the Ketts out of the cluster. Between the mercs, the rowdy soldiers on shore leave, the criminals… Could have taken advantage of the situation as the law would relax since the war is the bigger problem and far away. This is the very first colony of Andromeda, we can’t let it fall to outlaws and chaos. Speaking of, your subordinates did a rather good job, chief. You can be proud. They were very quick to answer the call and appropriately. They still need a bit of training regarding how to apprehend powerful biotics but again I’m a monster on my own and while Sara is not as strong she’s strong enough to give a lot of trouble. You just need more non-lethal means to quickly subdue individuals like us. Fortunately, I may have something in mind. You will be equipped promptly, within a month or two. As the one who’s at the origin of this colony It’s my duty to see that it is protected adequately with the best tech available.”

That was the explaining speech he gave and walked out nonchalantly out of the cell and left outside leaving behind a slack-jawed audience. Jane didn’t believe his bullshit for a second but had to admit that the way he delivered it, from the tone of his voice to his body language would make anyone acknowledge it as truth or shave strong doubt of what really happened the previous night if she didn’t know him any better. Unfortunately for him she did know better, fortunately, she just wanted to go back home so kept her mouth shut. Turning around to the chief, it was clear he half bought it.

“...I don’t know if I should be impressed or not by the balls he has to say that. The worst is… it could very well be the truth and any jury could fall for it. Probably won’t even be convicted just by his good reputation alone.. Nothing new to you I suppose, Commander?”
“Sadly, No.”
“Well… my officers only have bruises and sore muscles and would get new tech to help with maintaining order… In the end, those shenanigans may have been a blessing in disguise. Anyway, they’re all yours, ma’am. Just… keep them away from Ryder for a while, please?”
“I’ll do my best, chief. Thank you for overlooking this.”

With that, the group left the headquarters where they saw Rick waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

“I can’t believe we got out just like that.”
“Ah! Never saw your father bullshitting his way out whiter than when he entered the scene?” said Jane.
“Saw, yes. I watched Mass Effect, you know that but experiencing it…”
“Not the same.” added Sara.
“Yes, though… Just because dad busted your ass out of jail doesn’t mean you won’t get some kind of punishment.”
“Awwww.” replied Sara with a pout.
“And it starts now. We’re parked at the LZ 13, go with dad there and be ready to depart, mom and I have a quick errand to make.”

Sara nodded and walked down to Rick. After a small conversation they left for the Landing Zone.

“Is it me or never leaving those two alone together a good idea?”
“It’s not you. I’m surprised they haven’t been doing shit like this for years.”
“You think… Is it dad… you know…”
“... No, I don’t think so. I’ll keep an eye on him, just to be sure. Is he… acting differently with you or with others?”
“A bit. Mainly he’s not as patient anymore when he deals with people and a bit more cynical than usual or sometimes he’s just… quieter. I don’t know what you two did when you were away but it really brought him back. Most of him.”
“We just lived.”
“Lived?”
“For three years he did only three things: fight, die, resurrect then repeat. So I thought that by removing everything, he could focus on learning to live again. Gardening, hunting, building things. It was more survival than anything but a different kind. As time passed… well he began to live again I suppose.”
“I see…”
“He’s not… there is no cure, Arianna.”
“I know, but it’s fine. He’s different but not so much that I don’t recognize him, mom. I’ll never thank you enough for that.” replied the blue eyed redhead with a smile.
“Now, can you tell me what’s this errand about?”

Arianna simply smiled at her mother, mischievously.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

After coming up with small stasis grenades, testing them and giving them for free to Ryder’s security, Rick began working on adding a cylinder on a gun to increase even further the ammo capacity of any weapon. He had thought to have put behind the thermal clip for good after the last upgrade a decade ago but he was bored. The principle was easy to understand. A simple cylinder could hold six bullets normally and so here instead of bullets it would be thermal clips. Once the first thermal clip is empty the cylinder would rotate and replace it by the next, leaving the first one to cool down naturally. Once all the clips were useless, the cylinder could be removed and replaced by another. That was already the case a bit with the current version but this time instead of changing the thermal clip it would be the cylinder. Less time reloading. That was not all he came up with however. Of course it was possible to replace a used clip directly.

“Alright, what do you have this time?” Jane asked, as she stood right next to Hackett in the family private firing stand.
“Well, I thought the thermal clip needed another upgrade.” he said as he walked toward a table and put a weapon case and invited them to open it up.

It revealed a gun she was familiar with. It was the same gun he had offered her for her birthday back in 90 or 91. Lion’s roar. There was a difference this time however. A cylinder was mounted on it.

“A cylinder?” she said as she picked the gun to have a better look.
“Yes. All guns are more or less rotating the two clips. One in use, one in cool down. From there, I thought ‘ why not just go with a normal cylinder making it a revolver?’. The cylinder can be discarded once it’s useless and replaced by a new one.”
“Making the fire rate last even longer. There is space for six clips.” she observed as she took out the cylinder from the gun.
“Yes. And you don’t have to reload clip by clip anymore though it’s still possible to reload. Even during shooting.”
“Does it still have…”
“The ammo mods, yes it does. Well, not this one but the model that will be sold.”
“What’s different about this one that it doesn’t?” Hackett asked from the side as Jane handed the weapon.
“This one is a prototype for a new model. I succeeded in adding the GR-Canon system in it.”

The admiral almost dropped the gun after hearing that.

“You’re kidding?!”
“No. It’s been a bit complicated because of the shape and the limited space of the gun, but I worked it out, somehow. I got an increase in speed of the projectile and firepower of 1.5 times at best. The most difficult part was to adapt it to the anti-recoil equation. Since the distance the projectile goes through is constant I had to adjust the power and in consequence all the other variables and materials. Basically, an old Predator could pack almost as much punch as a Phalanx.” Picking up noise cancellers and reinforcing gloves he handed them to Jane who put them on. She then took the gun, three cylinders and went to the firing area.

Shield and metal plate appeared out of the ground in her line of fire and she quickly fired. As expected the time before a reload was drastically increased and changing the cylinder was done flawlessly in less than a second. Not bothering to shoot anymore, she came back to give her opinion.

“Even with the gloves I could feel the power. It was a bit too much for me. Otherwise it’s perfect.”
“I’ll see if I can work on better gloves or just adjust its power for you. Regardless, it’s just for you. The normal model will not have that problem. The only problem is that six clips take less space than a cylinder.”
“Meaning overwall, a soldier would carry less clip on him but would fire for way longer. Not a bad trade… It doesn’t make the previous version obsolete, so I guess it would be to each their preference.” noted Hackett.
“Precisely. It’s more useful for a shotgun as you don’t have much time to reload since you’re rather close to the enemy with this type of weapon. For the sniper rifle it’s a bit of the same. You spend less time reloading which can be devastating. An Assault Rifle too depending on the model. In any case, that’s not why I invited you here.” he said as he turned around and picked another weapon case under the table.
“No?”
“No, that was just a spur of the moment, since I finished it yesterday though it’s the one thing I’m showing you today that took the most time.”

He opened the case and pulled out a long barrel gun. There was a big hole on the side of it. Reaching back into the case he picked up a blue and put it in the hole.

“There. A blue powered gun.” he said as he handed the gun to Jane.
“But I thought you wanted BLUE to be used mostly…”
“I know. Realistically, it’s not possible. BLUE is in everything, now. Ships, tanks, shuttle. I was hopeful but deluded. Anyway, this has two modes. Non-lethal one and lethal one. Non-lethal, it simply fires a burst of energy, knocking out most people.”
“Most?” asked Hackett.
“I couldn’t test it on a very enraged person or a krogan. I don’t particularly want to try that. If you have a disposable idiot on hand however… The lethal mode… is… a bit overkill.” he said that and lit up his omni-tool, activating as many shields and steel plates as possible in the fire range. He even asked EDI to shield the wall of the room.

“It packs that much punch?” Jane inquired in both awe, disbelief and surprise.
“Yes.”

Jane nodded and took position and so did Rick just behind her, firmly holding her. Long ago she would have wondered if this was necessary but now she didn’t even bother. If Rick was holding her, that was because it was needed. Taking a firing stance, she counted at loud.

“3, 2, 1…”
“Wait!”
“What?!”
“I forgot to tell you how to activate lethal mode. Just say ‘Killabitch’”
“... Whatever.” she replied not even trying to formulate something to say to the stupid activation code.

When she spoke the activation code, the gun separated in two. The lower part, lowered and expanded, while the upper part went up and expanded too. Blue light coursed through the gun in a pulsatile manner.

“That’s… kinda cool. Anyway, 3, 2, 1…”

A huge burst of energy shot from the gun and went straight to Jan’s target. Or rather through. The recoil was so massive that she nearly dropped the gun and was pulled backward. Thankfully Rick was there and he held her straight however not easily.

“Holy shit.”

Hackett’s words pulled back Jane from wherever her mind went at the sudden burst of insane power she had unleashed and felt. Looking forward, her jaw dropped to the ground as she saw all the steel plates sporting a ten inch hole, the rim still bright red, almost white from the heat. The blast had broken all shields except the one of opposite wall, which was expected as it was powered by a DRED.

“For now, I can’t do better than that in reducing the fire power and it’s only using 0.0001% of the BLUE. As you can see, it’s not really practical. I’m still trying to come up with a smaller version than BLUE. There isn’t any recoil system either. Still trying to think of something for that.”
“Wait, how come there is a non-lethal mode then?” asked his sister.
“That’s because the energy is powering the non-lethal mode which worked thanks to a device. It’s not a direct blast of it.”

“I see.”
“It’s… maybe not for a gun but for something bigger and smaller than a GR-Canon, it could be useful.” Hackett commented.
“That’s what I thought, the problem is, do we want that kind of fire power out there? Even if we’re at war, I’m not sure it’s a smart idea Especially when we have little to defend against it for now.”
“Probably, not.” said Jane.
“Lastly, what I have to show you is the actual reason as to why you’re here.” Rick announced.

Walking to one of the lockers, he opened it and revealed a complete armor.

“A new armor?”
“It’s more than that. It’s…” he began but stopped trying to find his words. “I suppose you’ll have to put it on to understand.

He used a pull to make the armor’s weight null resulting in it floating a bit above the ground. Punishing it delicately, he brought it near the fire stand. It’s back facing them. He used his omni-tool  and the metal plate of the armor rescinded, making it possible for someone to get inside. One thing that caught the eye of Jane and Hackett was that the armor was really heavy. There was no way that someone could move around with it with just their strength.

“Go on. Get inside.” said Rick inviting Hackett to get inside. The man looked at Jane who simply shrugged her shoulders.

His curiosity winning over his worry, the Admiral walked to the armor. He put one foot in the leg part then the other, the rest of his body following naturally. Once in position the armor closed on itself on its own.

“Nothing is happening.” the man said.
“I know, one moment.” answered Rick.

He pulled the BLUE from the gun Jane had used earlier and signaled her to join him in front of Hackett.

“It’s working with a BLUE.” was all he said as he put the small battery in the hole placed on the chest of the armor. Immediately, the armor came to life, indicated by the eyes lighting up in a pale blue, almost cyan.

“What the… Hugh…” was all the man said, confusing Jane.
“Sir?”
“That’s… If what I’m seeing on the display is right… It’s not an armor but a tank.”
“Pretty much.” grabbing Jane to the side, he spoke to the man. “Try palm weapon, at low power.”

“The palm… Ha! The hand with a projectile symbol.”

The armor raised its arm, palm facing forward. After a second or two, a burst of energy shot toward the new target that Rick had brought up and bent it backward a bit.

“I didn’t put up a shield because it would have been useless at low power but at max it would destroy both. I intend to create weapons adapted for the bigger hands as sometimes solid projectiles are more useful. I can also put some under the armor’s plate that would be brought up. Now try flying.”
““Flying?!””

“Yes, flying. Just like the PatLabor and the EVA there are thrusters in the palms and under the feet.”

Hackett stayed silent for a moment, looking at the interface and finally opened his hands, palms facing down. After a second or two he began to leave the ground tentatively, a few inches above the ground.

“Prodigious.” the old man said.
“With training someone could fly better than any shuttle or ship. And that’s without the use of the Mass Effect and the nanobots. The latter would make its use instinctive. And not nearly as burdensome on the brain as a PatLabor would. That’s why I didn’t ask you to get in, Jane. Not first.”

Understanding what he meant, Hackett landed on the ground and moved the armor like he would his body. Satisfied, he got out of the armor and was replaced by Jane.

“Your nanobots are synchronized to it. It’s just like your test with the Labor.”
“Okay.” she said as the armor closed.

Immediately, Jane connected her mind to it then began to move around to see how flexible it was. Afterwards, she walked easily towards the firing range and began to test the palm thrusters. Low powered, high powered, one hand, two hands, rapid fire, she tried everything she could. Content with the responses to her thoughts, she took a few steps back and took off.

“Go to the range you’d have more space. Once you think you’re good enough with flying, try with your biotics.”
“On it.”

She hovered to the middle of range and began, small movement. Front and back first, then sideways.

“It’s really like a Labor.” she exclaimed.

Familiar with the controls, she began to fly naturally, doing movements that could only be matched with a ship in robot mode. Barely at that since the armor was smaller and more flexible. She had tried standing still and shooting a beam with one of the thrusters of her feet and succeeded, next she used her biotics and had no problem with them.

“Jane! I think that’s enough!” shouted her brother and she came back towards the two men, landing delicately on the floor. Immediately, Rick shot at her with her Lion’s roar and the armor integrated shield stopped the projectile flat out.
“Hey!”
“I had to. Can’t very well be an armor if it doesn’t protect you. I would have warned you but you were lost in your own world.”

“Sorry. I got carried away. It’s really fun.” she said as she exited the armor.

“And I consider it a prototype. I mean, it’s finished, but there is so much more I can add to make it better.”
“The question is, what is the price?” asked Hackett.
“For this one? 17 million credits.”
“I figured as much…” the admiral replied with a sigh of disappointment.
“Rest assured, even if the price was one credit, I wouldn’t sell it to anyone. To the Alliance? Only the best of N7 and only to people that you and Helena recommend. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s powered by a BLUE, its capabilities are off the charts compared to what is currently available out there. Four of those during the Skyllian Blitz would have been enough.”

That was no small feat, considering the Skyllian Blitz pitted Elysium against ten thousand slavers and pirates.

“I’ll wait for you to complete it, I think.”
“Understandable. In any case, I’m done. With the big project anyway. I have functional and cheap-to-make plasma swords too but it’s not that glamorous and interesting. Oh, there are also stasis grenades.”

The demonstration of the sword was a quick affair and Hackett was interested, as it was more useful than a simple omni-blade. Once the man left. Rick put back the armor into its locker while Jane stayed behind.

“Yes, you’ll get your own.” he said without looking at her.
“I wasn’t going to ask.”
“Suuuuure.”
“I wasn’t! I knew you'd give me one to begin with, from there, there was no need to ask.”
“Why are you standing there in silence, staring then?”
“I worry. You were never that… well… all over the place. You presented four projects today. Four. You always work on one project at a time.”
“I want that war to be over soon, Jane. I don’t want our children and grand-children to know it more than necessary. One day, they will have their own war to fight because there always is one, whether we know it or not but I want that day to be as far away as possible. It’s the third for us, if you count the Geth/Quarian one. It’s three too many. I’m done being involved directly so I have to make sure they have everything they need to end that conflict quickly while surviving it and at the same time not put out there weapons that could be turned against them.”
“I understand but you can’t go on like this.”
“Of course I…”
“Wrong words, I meant that you shouldn’t.” she replied as she embraced him from behind, resting her head against his back. “Do I have to limit your working time like I did back then?”
“... Probably. You know I never stop until I crumble.”
“Then I shall. No more than four hours a day. Training doesn’t count.”
“Alright. I wonder how I’m going to use my new found free time though.”
“I may have an idea ~” she said in a teasing tone.
“Jane, I’m not a fuck machine.”
“Thanks to the nanobots, you are. But I agree that it would be too much everyday. No, I was talking about just spending time together.  And by not I don’t necessarily mean me, but the others too. The free ones at least.”
“I’ll try.”