Title: Dark Effect between the years - chapter 01
Author: written and translated by Servala, corrected by InuDran
Game: Mass Effect
characters: Liara T´Soni, Aria T´Loak, Tali´Zorah, Matriarch Aethyta, Samara, Morinth, Falere
Disclaimer: Mass Effect and its assets belong to Electronic Arts and BioWare.
No copyright infringement intended.

a mirror universe FanFiction based upon the Mass Effect Universe

*****

Some time had passed since her defeat. Two months ago Benezia had attacked and defeated her on the Citadel. This could only be defended through the help of the Human and the Quarian and the mood in the galaxy was tilted. Not to her side. Liara T'Soni walked through the dark corridors of her base. Her goal was far below the surface and corridor for corridor she went deeper. She had salvaged the dead body of Shepard and brought her here. Then she had contacted Miranda Lawson to change to her side and to take care for Shepard. Lawson was a mercenary and one that liked an exquisite life. Such people were easily to convince.
Her partner Kasumi Goto had disappeared, however. Liara was looking for her, but she did not believe that one could find her. Not, if she didn´t want that. Aria and Saren were also at the base. Samara looked after the questioning of former Spectre. Often his shrill screams echo through the halls, but Liara did not care. Samara would deliver results. She always did.

Liara stopped in front of a door. She was nearly two hundred feet underground, surrounded by thick walls made of palladium, traversed by e-Zero and a biotic barrier. Liara put in a code, followed by a voice analysis and an eye scan. Only she had access. Nobody else even knew that this place existed. She entered the airlock and underwent a sonic shower. Then she put on a sterile suit and a respirator before she passed the next door.
Liara walked into a room which looked like the hallway to an apartment. There were four rooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a special guest. Tali Zorah was in which Liara thought of as the living room. She sat on the sofa and was surrounded by an energy barrier, which always was around her when Liara visited her. Their eyes met. Liara looked at the Quarian. Without her suit, only dressed in a white, floor-length dress, she looked strange. Her skin was milky and was intervened by iridescent, multicolored glowing lines. After two months without a helmet her face was surrounded by a wealth of brown hair. Her brown eyes flashed angrily, as their eyes met. Liara looked at her. "How long are you going to keep me here?"
Liara went around her and looked close at the room. It did not contain much. There was no connection to the extra-net and no nearby lines. There were no terminal and Tali did not even have her Omni tool. "I'm still alive, that is what you wanted?" Liara scanned the area and was satisfied. "Liara?" Tali almost pleaded. She was going mad down here. The Asari turned her attention to her. "How long will you hold me down here?" Liara folded her arms in front of her chest and just looked at her. "I cannot give you more information. I do not know what you want!" Tali stood up, but the energy field held her in position.
Liara turned and walked away. She had seen what she wanted. "Liara?" She stopped. "How long?" whispered the Quarianerin. "My mother had Aria held here for fifty years." She said to her softly. "You're not like your mother." Tali almost pleaded. "No Tali, I'm worse." Then she went and left the Quarian again to herself. She took off her clothes and locked the door again. Actually, it was unnecessary; Tali would not be able to survive outside of their cell. Not without her environmental suit and that was in Liara's quarters. As a special exhibit.

Liara walked back toward the surface. She could also take the elevator, but she needed a little time for herself. Halfway under the ground there was the medical facility in which Shepard was being rebuilt by Miranda Lawson. Liara entered the room, and the Human looked up as she heard the clicking sound of her high heels. "Nothing new," Miranda said cutting off Liara. The atmosphere between them was irritated, but Miranda was now loyal to her. Without Benezia's protection, she had no other place where she could go. Not without her partner. Miranda suffered from the loss of Kasumi, but this couldn´t stand to work for the new broker.
Liara nodded. "If you need anything Miranda, you´ll get it." Liara wanted Shepard restored. She did not question this desire and not even think about it, but she only had Saren and Shepard that could survive contact with a beacon. And Saren was not willing to cooperate. Liara looked at Shepard as a backup plan.
"As always, Liara. It does not help if you appear here every day. It could take years." Liara watched in the young woman's eyes, blue she recognized. She nodded and left Miranda and Shepard. She would still come back the next day.

She went on. Two floors up, there was Samara's space. Liara was rarely there because it was scary even by her standards. Samara lived there, along with her daughters. This is where the constant threat, Morinth was.
She found Samara before Sarens cell. The Turian hang unconscious in a chain and the Asari smiled coldly. Liara was just fascinated by her, but out of respect and maybe a little bit of fear why she never approached her.

"I am more and more beginning to believe he really knows nothing." Liara stood next to the leader of her killer team and watched Saren. Blood ran from countless cuts and Liara knew Samara did not use any weapons.
The broker sighed. "Then he is useless?" Samara nodded. She did not even blink. "I will again search his brain, but if there was something, I would have already found it."

Liara ran her hand across her forehead; she really hoped her mother had confided in him. That he knew something would at least be a little useful or would be willing to cooperate. Yet the Turian was broken. "Give him to one of your daughters to play with," she just said and turned around. Their eyes met with Morinth's. The Ardat-Yakshi gave her a warm smile before she stood next to her mother. She put an arm around Samara and let her head rest on her mother's shoulder, as she eyed the Turian.

"Rila would deserve it," she said in her typically gentle voice and Samara nodded. "I'll send her to him tonight.", then her eyes turn black and she went to a recent survey on the Turian. Liara watched her still for a moment, but looked up when she felt Morinth's interested glances. She gave the Ardat-Yakshi a cold smile and turned slowly to leave the other Asari alone.

Liara left this floor and returned to her private quarters. In front of a small room, she stopped. She almost had to overcome to enter it, because she was trying to get distance. If she wouldn´t have had an emotional connection, if she would not have hesitated to make her decision for Aria, Benezia would have never escaped her. But her concern had let her soften.

"Then let's see how cool you really are!" Liara heard this phrase over and over again. Since she tried to distance herself, but something drew her back again and again to Aria. Good thing that the Asari could soon return to Omega. This closeness, tormented Liara, reminded her of what she had nearly lost.

She entered the room quietly. Aria had been hurt worse than it had seemed at first glance. Benezia had hit her several times and the kick to the head had caused a nasty crack in the skull. Fortunately, no damage would remain. Liara had provided for it.

She looked at the other Asari, who seemed a little pale on the white sheets. "Liara," asked Aria softly as their eyes met. "The doctor says you're as good as healthy." Aria sat up and nodded. "That's good, and then you can," Liara hesitated almost imperceptibly, "in a few days return to Omega." Arias' eyes widened. She had not counted on that, not after Liara had let Benezia escape because of her. Aria had expected anger, which Liara would vent her frustrations against her, but not with a withdrawal. She did not understand it. Liara did not provoke her, did not tease her. She was friendly, but something was wrong with the young Asari.
"I need you on Omega, as soon as possible." Their eyes met briefly and Aria frowned. "If you want me there, my lady?" Liara laughed briefly and gave her a smile. "Yes, I do." She turned to leave the room. "Liara?" She did not turn around. She could not, because Aria would otherwise see her deep feelings in her blue eyes. Sometimes she hated the fact that one could read every emotion in them, like in a book. "I know you have let Benezia escape to rescue me." Liara let her head hang a little. "I will not disappoint you." She nodded. "And", Aria had to steel herself. "Thank you,"

Liara said nothing, just left Aria. The door closed behind her and she had to lean her forehead against the cool metal as she trembled for a moment. But she could not afford feelings, emotions let her show vulnerability. That was what Benezia tried to show her. Just why was it so difficult then?

Liara gathered herself and left her private quarters again, for one thing, she had too long pushed away. She walked quickly toward Benezias old rooms.

There was one thing left which had Liara worried so much. She opened the door and walked through the luxurious rooms to the rear area. There was, as well as in high security prisons, a cryo - cell. Liara logged on to the controller and started the thawing process, and while she waited impatiently, she looked around the small room.
The cell was dropped. Liara saw an Asari, who was kept in large metal buckles inside. She was tall, more she could not see at first glance. Liara knew that she was her father, and that this Asari was half Krogan. Therefore she prepared herself for a hot temper. Liara thought, why Benezia did not just have killed her, but left her frozen beside her bedroom. She could not explain it.
The Asari opened her eyes and looked around the room. They were brown, darker than Tali's.

The eyes of Quarian gleamed almost as soft as dark honey. Liara folded her arms in front of her chest and waited. "Hey little," the Asari called her with a deep, husky voice. "You will have had a reason to unfreeze me. Will you just stand there, or do you let me go?" Liara laughed. "I want to know first if you plan to attack me." The Asari frowned. "Nah, you're not that bitch. I do not even know you. So let's say no, I do not plan on attacking you." Liara pushed the button and unlocked the shackles.
The Asari rose from the podium and walked toward Liara, which did not move. "So where is this bitch?" Aethyta asked, looking around.

"Disappeared." - "Oh, and you're" Liara gave her a warm smile, even when she was inwardly amused. "Benezias daughter." The head of the other Asari jerked around. "How long was I in there?" She asked softly, lowering her voice to a hiss. "How old are you?" Liara cocked her head. "One hundred and six," she replied simply. "I'll kill her." Liara shrugged. "Then you are in a long line. We could help each other." She felt the skeptical look of the Asari on her, but did not move from the spot.
"Benezias daughter, huh? We'll see, "she replied softly. "You can have her old rooms, I do not need them." With this Liara turned around and left her father. She would not be left without guards, but Liara had the impression that Aethyta would rather work with her. If not... she had always been without a father. A condition that could be quickly set up again.