Prologue
The sterile white walls of the hallway echoed with a faint tapping sound. Sharp tones, filling all corners of the empty corridor. The only other noise contaminating the floor was the window, which allowed the odd gust of wind inside. The evening sun coming through the windows was an unfeeling red, offering no warmth.
The sound was emanating from the incessant rapping of a shoe against the floor. The owner of the shoe, a tall asari woman, sat otherwise perfectly still on the bench. She had composed herself with her legs crossed, and her left hand sitting in her lap. Her chin rested on the free arm, keeping her gaze level with the window across from her. Apart from her eyes occasionally darting about, there was no emotion on her face.
Since she had arrived at the hospital almost an hour before, she had been asked to wait outside the door next to her. Aside from the bench next to it, there was nothing differentiating this room from any of the others down the hallway. Staying in the confines of such an environment had made her restless, and to do so for so long was testing her patience. Still, she had little choice but to wait.
And for quite some time, she continued. Only until the sun had nearly set did the door next to her open. Quickly getting up, she came face to face with another asari. She was wearing a white lab coat, with the name Doctor Nita O'Phel engraved into a name tag just below her neck. It was difficult for Nita to look the taller woman in the eye, but she still spoke with a calm and professional demeanour.
"Immali Eodis? My colleagues and I agree that it would be better if both you and her father were in the same room when we inform you."
Immalli stared at the doctor, coldly. Carefully considering her words, she responded, "Informed us of what?"
The doctor said nothing as she escorted Immali into the office, which had a considerable number of working areas in the room. Five, by Immali's count, and those were just the desks. The operating areas were in a room located past this workspace, through a large checkpoint, into a quarantine area. Standing by the quarantine observation window, the rest of Doctor O'Phel's colleagues, all asari, stood as they quietly consulted with one another. A single gangly salarian was talking to a massive brute of a creature, almost too big for the large chair they had provided. A krogan.
Upon Immali's entrance, the krogan stood up, quickly and quietly speaking, hoping that none of the other occupants of the room could hear.
"They blame her. I don't know how they're justifying it, but they're saying it's her fault. I know it isn't true, but they're hiding something."
His ramblings were quickly cut short by doctor O'Phel.
"Mr. Skaith, it is not your place to inform Ms. Eodis of any information discussed in this room."
Skaith wheeled on her, almost knocking her out, but Immali quickly stopped her. Instead, he raised his voice, not caring about who heard anymore.
"This our daughter we 'discussed'," he made a gesture imitating quotation marks as he spoke, "so I think that the mother has a right to know."
Not remotely phased, Nita simply gestured for the pair to sit down on chairs next to the observation window. As they proceeded over, the other asari doctors sat at their respective desks. The salarian stood next to Nita, as she began reading information off a datapad. Immali calmly waited for one of them to speak, but Skaith could do nothing but stare into the quarantine room.
After a moment of uncomfortable silence, the salarian spoke, mostly summarizing the information on the pad.
"Given that your daughter has had no history of criminal interaction, as well as certain," he paused, looking to Nita for a moment. She nodded head, and he continued, "evidence found during the autopsy, we have no reason to believe that the death was caused by anything premeditated. What we've found is that the victim had a damaged nervous system, as well as tissue damage, similar to that caused by unprotected exposure to element zero. Your daughter claimed that she had no intention of killing the man. Given all evidence, that seemed like the truth. But his death was not caused of a simple anomaly of his internal systems. The damage must have occurred due to an exterior source."
Aggravated, Skaith turned from the window. His voice was laced with anger, yet he kept it quiet and collected. "Just get to the point. Why exactly did you put her in a quarantine bay instead of just a checkup room?"
The salarian answered the question calmly. Angering a krogan, especially one in a volatile state, was a death wish. "We believe your daughter is an Ardat Yakshi."
Immali took a single deep breathe through her nose, quickly closing her eyes, as if she had just been struck. Noticing, Skaith turned to her, and began speaking quickly again.
"Immali, what is that? Is that bad? Can it be cured? Why can't you..." He trailed off as he began noticing tears start to fall down her cheeks. "No..."
The salarian kept talking in an emotionless, professional voice as he explained. "Ardat Yakshi is a rare asari condition, in which an asari will overload the partner's nervous system during mating, killing them moments later. By maturity, when it manifests, it is untreatable. As is the case here."
Nita took over, and be "When an asari is diagnosed, she's given a choice. We have a... You would say monastery, for asari to live out their days. They are given comfort, and solitude. They can live a quiet life. Or," Nita took a deep breath, trying very carefully not to upset the krogan. "they are quietly expunged."
Immali had stopped crying by this point. She was now standing by the window. "She won't want to live a life of solitude."
Skaith turned on her. "So you would allow her to be sentenced to death? You would deprive our daughter any chance to have a normal life, simply because of a birth defect?"
The salarian spoke up once again, attempting to calm Skaith down. "Many children are born with irregularities, and live lives that try to circumvent it. As a krogan, you would know quite a bit about that." This had the opposite effect the salarian had intended. A fire started to burn behind Skaith's eyes.
"You don't know what's it's like to be attached to children, salarian! It doesn't surprise me that you're approaching something like this so coldly. We krogan actually value our young! And I'm not about to have my daughter ripped away from me!"
Immali loudly interjected, and shouted, "This is the way asari have always conducted themselves, Skaith! You cannot simply avoid this!"
" You would willingly give her up? You don't feel a thing?"
"I cannot allow something this dangerous to be allowed to run free, Skaith! And you know as well as I do that she won't choose a life of solitude. Just let go!"
"Like hell I will! Open this door, now! I need to speak with her! Let me speak with her!" The krogan was now furiously pounding on the quarantine entrance.
The salarian turned to Nita and quietly whispered to her, "There's nothing we can do. If he starts attacking, we won't stand a chance. Maybe we should just give him what he wants."
Nita eased her colleagues' concerns, "We have more than enough biotic power in here to deal with him. He doesn't pose too much of a threat." She sighed before continuing, pitifully watching Skaith banging on the door. "Though, I don't suppose it would hurt if we let him inside."
Eager to ending the pounding of fists against the metal door, Nita slid her identification card through a reader left of the window. The sound of air flowing out of the airlock was enough to stop the krogan, who briskly marched through, awaiting the opening of the second door. As soon as he was behind the door, a sigh of relief fell over everyone in the room, with the exception of Immali, who watching intently as Skaith walked up to their daughter, who sat on a small table in the middle of the empty, sterile room.
Immali carefully watched her as Skaith came in. She had been pacing around until the point where her father had come in, at which time she had turned to him. She couldn't see out of the room, as the glass Immali and the doctors had been looking through was a one-way mirror. Still, Immali knew her daughter well, and she would know that someone was still watching. Even as she was embraced by her father, she glanced back at the window, with a cold stare on her face.
"Please don't die hating me, Carilla." Immali said, mostly as a prayer.
Within the sealed chamber, Skaith brought his arms around his daughter, dwarfing her, with him being almost twice her height. Carilla said nothing to him until he let her go. They stared at each other in a short, awkward pause until she summoned the courage to speak.
"They told you."
Skaith didn't bother dancing around the point, instead pressing towards the question which had been nagging at him since he had snapped at the salarian. "You're not going to choose a solitary life, are you?" His tone was deep and melancholy, as, deep down, he knew the answer.
Carilla put her hand on the top of her father's large faceplate, her eyes now looking at her own feet. "I can't live my entire life trapped. It would be a life of constant pain, even if I knew that I was safe. I just can't do it, dad. I'm sorry."
Trying with all his might, Skaith managed to hold back the tears from his eyes. In the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter. He'd never see his little girl again, regardless of either outcome. He couldn't bring himself to say it. "How long do you have?"
"I already told them what I decided. They'll let me stay here for the night, and then..." Her voice cracked slightly, the tears welling up in her eyes. Still, as the daughter of a krogan, she was stubborn enough not to show it.
Immali watched as the two of them spoke, watching their faces intently. Her throat hardened when she saw the two of them holding back the despair, but she didn't give in to it. She had long ago embraced the way of her people, and understood that situations like these were facts of life, and just needed to be accepted. Her old mate, Skaith, didn't share that belief, and that disconnect had led to their separation almost sixty years ago.
Carilla was eleven at the time. She had grown up being nurtured by both parents separately, as they made time for her and her alone. Though, given Immali's high stature among the Serrice Council, Carilla generally came second in the big picture of her mother's life, a fact that she had eventually resented Immali for. She had stopped talking to Immali a decade prior, a meltdown finally occurring when she moved into her own house, and out of joint custody between the parents.
Her head against the glass, watching, she remembered the last words her daughter had said to her: "Someone who puts a species above their own family is no mother of mine." It confirmed that Carilla cared more for Skaith than she ever would for Immali, but she never scolded her daughter for it. She had said that Carilla was welcome back to her home at any time, but Carilla merely slammed the door and walked out, effectively ending their relationship. Even when Carilla was in this hospital, she hadn't seen or spoken to her mother. Even when Carilla knew she wouldn't have another chance to repair things, she decided to pass. Immali knew from that fact that accepting her daughter's loss was the right thing to do. It may have been viewed as unfeeling, but it was the only thing that she could that wouldn't be self-destructive.
Skaith came back through the airlock and into the office. He was still teary-eyed, but there was no signs of crying. He simply walked to the door back into the hallway. Glaring about the empty room, the anger and anguish was clear as day on his face. He savoured a single, long, hateful glare at Immali before stepping out into the hallway. As the door began to slide shut, only then was the sound of sobbing heard, before the metal shut it out.
Carilla sat, unflinching, on the table, staring at the mirror. Eventually, she would fall asleep, but until then, she would try and drive some guilt into the hearts of those who kept her locked up.
A sudden noise startled her awake. As her eyes opened, everything was pitch black. The bright lights on the ceiling were now lifeless. Unusual, because for the two days they had kept her prior, the lights were constantly powered on. Hopeful, she sat up, and blindly made her way over to the entrance, fiddling with the handle. Miraculously, she heard a click, as the first door slid open. Smiling slyly, she tried the latch on the exterior airlock door. It, too, opened. She was now standing in a darkened room, brightened by some floor lights that led out the door. Emergency illumination. The building was on alert, and someone had cut primary power. People would probably be wary of her escape by now, but this was her one chance to slip out.
Before she had time to do anything, the sliding door was forced open, tearing the metal components completely out of the hinges. Without thinking, Carilla dived into the corner as she heard the feet of the newcomer walk about the inside of the room, and then stop. She then heard a quiet beep. The signal of a communication channel being opened.
"Power seems to be cut completely from the quarantine bay. The rest of the building is under auxiliary, but the doors in here should be out. No contingency lock down for the room?" The owner of the deep krogan's voice was unmistakable.
"Daddy!" Carilla said, standing up from behind her cover.
The large figure in the doorway let out a relieved laugh. "Cari! I brought an entire squad, we're getting you out of here!" He quickly took her by the hand pulled her into the hallway. She could now see through the window that the dark clouds were raining heavily, meaning the only thing illuminating the corridor were the emergency lights running along the floor.
As she stared into the night sky, a small piece of metal was shoved into her hands. She didn't need good lighting to tell that it was a pistol, warm from being carried around by her father. "Just point and shoot. Stay close." He said, breaking into a brisk pace to the right away from the elevators. She quickly followed, turning periodically to make sure they weren't being followed.
As they moved throughout the hospital, alarms started triggering around them. Not medical emergency alarms, as normally heard in places such as these. The alerts being tripped were military-grade security warnings, most likely pointing security details to their area. Even so, it would be at least five minutes before the police could be in the upper levels of the building. Skaith began ascending a flight of stairs, and Carilla stopped for a moment, her eyes darting around as she did.
"Up?" She asked, not looking away from the possible entrances.
"We have a shuttle on the roof and a ship waiting to take us off world. Eclipse mercenaries also have a gunship circling the building, so we're going to meet with them on the way out." He responded as he gestured for her to keep moving.
Carilla kept moving, though another question quickly crept into her head. "Eclipse? Gunships? In a hospital? How much resistance are we expecting?"
Another alarm was audible just above, and Skaith changed direction by crossing into the hallways, instead of continuing the ascent. "The mercs are for the new security the authorities put up around the building for you. The gunship is for when we have to blow out a wall or two."
The information was hardly enlightening. "What kind of people put security this heavy into a hospital?" Carilla inquired, quickly becoming flustered.
Skaith chucked as they moved around the offices, hearing gunfire a floor above. "Your kind, actually. During the Krogan Rebellions, they started heavily fortifying hospitals. After all the fighting Lusia sees these days, they just maintain them." The unique beep or Skaith's communicator signified someone contacting him. After the message was relayed, the krogan responded quickly before entering the new stairwell. "Got it. We're four down from the roof. Cari! We've got a security detail just above and I doubt we'll be able to avoid 'em. Get ready to do some shooting!"
Just before they reached the highest level the stairs led to, Skaith quickly turned and started running back down, barking at Carilla to run. Not sure why he made the sudden turnaround, she stopped long enough to see a large, quadruped security mech slowly moving towards the door. A horrifying and ostentatious missile launcher was mounted just above its 'head', and her pistol wasn't likely to dent its plating, let along slow it down.
"Oh, that's just not fair!" She said as she hastily ran down the stairs after her father, who was screaming loudly into the small device in his helmet.
"There ISN'T anyone! Just fire!" He screamed, shortly before the entire floor below them collapsed. The result of an explosion caused by a large gunship now landing in the remains of three stories worth of debris. The supports for the upper levels were just barely holding the rest of the roof up. Just as the ground gave way, Skaith threw his gun aside, grabbing his daughter with both arms, protecting her from the long fall to the floor.
Using all of his concentration, Skaith managed to keep himself upright as he fell onto his legs. As they landed, Skaith shrugged off the three-story drop, completely ignoring the many fractures that was the skeletal structure of his lower body, his redundant nervous system helping him bear the pain. With the two of them climbing over the piles of rubble, the security forces were opening fire into the newly-created chamber. A small turret on the top of the gunship brought down suppressing fire, but as it waiting for its two passengers, it had little manoeuvrability.
When the two were right underneath the ship, a pair of asari wearing bright yellow armour pulled Skaith into the gunship, who's legs were finally giving out. Carilla jumped on herself, as it started to pull out of the building, and into the sky.
Breathing heavily, Skaith turned to one of the mercs, and nodded. Another one of the armoured accomplices grabbed Carilla by the shoulders and shouted in her ear, "We're not free yet. Ready?"
Before she even had time to ask what the mercenary meant, the woman holding her arms jumped out of the ship and into free fall, followed by the other two asari and the krogan. Not a second after they cleared it, the gunship exploded into a ball of fire, shrapnel flying in all directions.
Though her eyes were firmly shut, horrified of the drop, Carilla would have seen a small, inconspicuous vehicle hovering a few feet below. After two seconds in free fall, the Eclipses' boosters activated, slowing their fall considerably. A short moment later, all five landed abruptly inside small landing shuttle.
Panting, Carilla tried to speak, but the adrenaline in her system barely allowed for comprehending her situation, let alone saying anything. Instead, she waited it off as she watched the mercs remove their helmets and heavier gear, placing them on the floor.
As Skaith's panting abated, it was quickly replaced by his deep, booming laughter. His eyes were warm and cheery, and a massive smile was across his face as he looked across the seat to Carilla, who couldn't help but smile in return.
Unable to find the words to thank him, Carilla only asked, "So, why exactly did you scuttle the gunship?"