The limited air inside the small glass cube was filled with electricity. Both women could feel it shifting through the air. They didn’t look at each other of course, yet both had the feeling like the other was.
Liara sighed, settling down on one of the miniature couches provided inside their prison. Gunnery sergeant Williams did the same, crossing her legs and arm while looking at the blue woman with a scrunched face.
“I can’t believe I am locked in here with you.” She growled, looking towards the giant room just outside of their small glass prison. “You were the one who provoked me, and yet I am being sent to the brig!?”
The space on alliance crafts was already highly limited, with components having to be squeezed together. This was especially true on Normandy, with the experimental technology taking up a good portion of the vessel’s volume. From this, there came the need for an easier way to store the prisoner onboard. Turian for a long time employed the elegant method of shrinking their passengers, with platoons of miniature soldiers traveling aboard the cupboards of their small freighters. Similar technology was employed in the construction of Normandy, this time used for storing prisoners.
Nobody really knew about this feature. There never before was a need to access the brig. The crew was a tightly knit band of soldiers who respected each other, and violence was extremly rare and almost always immediately resolved. This was until the little incident involving Ashley and Liara turning their rivalry over the commander’s attention into a full-blowing sparring contest. Now, they were both paying for it by being reduced to mere 2 inches in height and stored in a glass cupboard in his quarters.
“If I recall correctly, you were the one to throw the first blow.” Liara spoke, keeping a calm voice as she did. It wasn’t because she was actually calm - far from it. It was a tool for asserting her superiority over the sergeant.
“Shut the fuck up, bitch!” Ashely snapped, looking as if she was ready to jump at the asari before settling down. “I can’t believe that the commander even needs time to think about it. Hello? I am literally his own species!”
“Human females are known to be emotional.” Liara smirked, picking up a book from the table.
“Oh, like you would know anything about it. Your entire culture was built on sucking off other races.” Ashely made a dick-sucking gesture with her hand. “Well, if you think that you are going to conquer humans like that, think again bitch! Nobody wants your three-eyed vagina.”
“If you ever read a book you would know that we do not have that.” The first hint of anger appeared on Liara’s face, creating a small crack in her mask. “And besides, calling me a bitch? You are the one wearing skimpy outfits around the commander.”
“Skimpy outfits?” Ashley pointed towards her black sports bra bearing the Alliance Systems insignia. “If you ever moved your fat ass from the lab and exercised a little, maybe you would know that this is a perfectly normal sports bra.”
“I've had enough of your disingenuous assertions.” Liara stood up, walking across the table. She extended her arm, placing a crisp slap across the sergeant’s face. A bright red mark soon appeared on her cheek, sending a burning sensation throughout her body. Silence washed over the room as the two just stared at each other.
“I am going to kill you!” Before Ashley could respond, there was another feeling that disturbed her attack. She felt herself sinking deeper. It was the same feeling she experienced when the two were first shrunk. “What the fuck?” She looked up at Liara, finding her to be slightly taller. It wasn’t a big difference, yet still noticeable enough to alert both of them.
“You look to be about 1.9 inches right now…” Liara asserted, tapping her cheek. “The distribution of your skin tissue and sudden release of pain receptors must have affected the mass effect field related to the shrinking process. Interesting…”
Taking the opportunity, Ashley used her foot to kick the woman’s shin. She shouted, bending down. “Why!?” Liara cried out between sharp gasps of pain. Just as the doctor had expected, she soon herself whittled down to a mere 1.7 inches. The sergeant was now about a head taller than her victim.
“Now, we are even.” She crossed her arms and swung her hips.
“Oh, we soon will be!” Standing up, Liara reached up. Despite her height advantage, the sergeant could not stop the woman from grabbing her black hair, pulling on it tightly.
“Ow! Ow! OW!” Ashley tried escaping the grasp, only making the pain worse. She reached for Liara’s head, just to suddenly be hit with the realization that the asari didn’t have any hair. And even if she could have reached before, the woman was quickly losing height.
“I can finally help you by removing that ponytail of yours. Shepard needs a real woman. Wearing the same style you had since you were 8 really isn’t mature, honey.”
“At least I have hair!” Ashley squeezed out, currently only 1.4 inches in height. The tables have turned, with the asari now being a head taller than her human counterpart.
“Don’t lecture me with your 30-credit haircut!” Liara tightened her grasp, moving her hand from left to right.
Using her lower center of mass, Ashley raised her knee and drove it into Liara’s stomach. The air was knocked out of the asari as she collapsed to the ground, assuming a fetal position while moaning in pain.
“Bullseye!” She gloated, looming above the rapidly shrinking woman. The sergeant raised her boot for good measure, pressing its black leather sole against the side of her skull. “Aww, the little bimbo can’t stand up?” With a wide grin, she rubbed her boot’s sole against the Liara's head, pressing its heel against her face. By now, she was only half her size - standing at mere 0.7 inches. “Maybe I should keep going? Torture you until you turn into a fucking microbe?”
“Good idea…” Drawing on the last of her strengths, Liara formed an orb of biotic energy in her left hand, using it to fling the sergeant across the room. She came crashing down, hitting her head against the glass wall.
Dusting herself off, Ashley quickly stood up, running towards the biotic asair. The sight of the amazonian woman charging at her - still a head taller, even after the little exchange - sent fears through Liara’s mind. Thinking quickly, she used her abilities to slam the now car-sized bench into the side of her body, knocking Ashley down yet again. She now stood at a mere 0.4 inches, once again giving the her a size advantage.
“Oh, I am going to enjoy this.” Liara walked towards her human opponent, reaching down and grabbing her chest. Ashley cried out in pain as she was being held up by her sports bra, with her breasts now neatly fitting into the asari's hand like a tennis ball. “Maybe I should tear your tits off as well, huh? Yeah, I’ve seen you taking those placebo breast growth supplements.” Ashley continued screaming as Liara squeezed, her breast getting smaller and smaller as she shrunk. “You can’t compete with the natural asari beauty, honey.”
Using her free hands, Ashley reached out. She couldn’t try punching the woman, as that would not achieve anything at this size. Instead, she used a smarter approach, driving her nails into the “natural asari beauty.” Liara winced in pain, dropping the human as both shrunk - she from the sensation of nails being driven into her chest and Ashley from falling like a bag of potatoes.
After all was said and done, there was still a size difference between them. Liara was about twice the height of the resilient human 0.2-inch human, with her soon using it to her advantage as she used her boots to kick Ashley's crotch.
“You said something about me not being athletic? I would consider it to be a proper kick.” Ashley was on the verge of tearing up as she once again looked up at the blue woman from a fetal position. Sitting down on one of the collapsed books, Liara took off her tall leather size 9 boot, wiggling the toes of her pristine blue feet. They appeared slightly paler around the sole, yet still kept the familiar blue glow Ashley hated. The asari wore a collection of simple silver toe rings that complemented the hue of her skin.
“Oh, you would be the type of bitch to wear toe rings, you blue bimbo.” Ashley coughed up, her hatred of Liara giving her a second wind.
“Maybe I can convince Shepard to keep you shrunken like this forever.” She bit her purple lips. “You can clean my feet while watching me fuck your precious commander. How does that sound?”
“Keep dreaming.” She spat, aiming at her face yet hitting her foot.
“I will make you lick this up, you filthy animal!” Lifting her foot, Liara pressed it firmly against Ashley’s face. Already winded, she had no choice but to inhale the odor while pinned. The larger woman scrunched her big toe to squeeze the human’s nose. “How do you like this? You’re going to be getting mouthfuls of my goddess's feet from today until the end of your miserable fucking life.”
The two continued the scuffle for some time, leaving both bruised and battered. The fighters, now both standing at a mere 0.1 inch in height, were thrown on the opposite sides of the glass prison. They were readying to once again clash in the middle, until…
THUMP.
There came a heavy sound of flesh slapping against glass as a pulsating wall formed of warm, musky flesh separated the two. It had the unmistakable aroma of their commander, with both of their mouths watering at its smell.
"Goddess…" Liara swallowed, her knees feeling weak. She already knew what was coming, even if her human companion still had difficulty putting it all together.
“THAT IS ENOUGH.” A booming voice came from above. Looking up, the two minuscule women saw the god-like figure of Shepard. At this size, his features were amplified to the extreme. His powerful arms looked as if they could pop both of the disobedient prisoners like small grapes, with his stern, strong masculine face paralyzing them. The realization that a single throb of his cock could put the end to both of their lives was enough to keep them in line.
“You are an embarrassment to this crew.” The two women instinctively got on their knees, bowing their heads low and looking at the floor. “Maybe after spending a week cleaning my cock daily, you will learn a thing or two about the chain of command.”
Two Weeks Later…
Liara was walking towards the ship’s bridge, absentmindedly tapping away at her data pad. She soon found herself crossing paths with gunnery sergeant Ashley Williams at the ship’s elevator, with the asari accidentally bumping into the soldier.
“Oh, I am sorry.” She said in a nervous voice, looking down.
“Oh no, it was completely my fault! Please, go ahead Liara!” Ashley laughed as the two secretly glanced at Commander Shepard. He stood out in the distance, crossing his hands and nodding in agreement with a smirk on his face.
Another crew dispute is solved.