Shepard Likes Rocket Launchers

~Chapter 4~

At the noise of feet shuffling against the facility's metallic floors, Shepard quickly turned, pistol held at the ready. The Matriarch was standing, staggering slowly towards the three of them.

"Lady Benezia?" Shepard said, uncertainly.

Liara rushed forward and caught her mother's arm. "Mother? Are you alright?"

"Careful," grumbled Wrex, shotgun raised. "Saren might have control over her again, or whatever."

Then, in a deep, layered voice that was not entirely her own, the Matriarch began to speak.

"This one… serves as our voice. We cannot sing. Not in these low spaces. Your musics are colorless."

"Musics?" Shepard frowned. "What are you talking about? What's with your voice?"

Liara quickly realized what was going on. "The queen! She's taken control of her!" she hissed. She glowed with biotic rage. "Release her at once, or I will see to your end myself!"

Benezia's form shuddered, and then continued. "Your way of communication is strange. Flat. It does not color the air. When we speak, one moves all. We are using this one so that we may communicate. She will not be harmed."

Wrex sighed, lowering his weapon. "This is going to be a fun conversation."

Liara, placated for now, continued to steady the form of her mother. Shepard turned back to the glass and gazed at the creature within as it spoke to them. "We are the mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced. We… are rachni."

Shepard spoke up. "How are you talking through her?"

"Our kind sings through touchings of thought. We pluck the strings, and the other understands. She is strong, but embattled. Her own voice fights those that are soured for control of her mind. She is open to our urging."

Benezia's form took a deep, shaky breath. Liara, arm under her shoulder, slowly lowered her back down to a sitting position.

The queen continued. "She… has colors we have no names for. But she is losing her battle. Her music is sweet, and strong, but those that are soured are too numerous, too persistent. Yet she does not go lightly. It… is beautiful."

"What do you mean?" demanded Liara. "Saren's mind control is winning?"

"Yes."

Shepard looked somberly at a newly distressed Liara. "We need to know why she was here. What Saren sent her here for."

Benezia's form paused. "That… we know. The soured… they sought the location of the Mu relay. It was lost thousands of years ago, pushed into the depths of space by a supernova. My ancestors sought it for centuries. This one… took the information from our mind. She now has that knowledge within her."

"A relay?" Shepard's face wrinkled in frustration. "One relay could link to dozens of systems. We need something more specific."

"The location of the relay was all that she sought from us. Everything else, the soured must already know."

Liara stalked over to the glass. "Do you know any way we could reverse this… souring? Help her win the battle within her mind?"

"We do not. The same sour note came to my ancestors thousands of years ago, and not even their voices, their songs, could overcome it. One by one, it hushed their voices. Forced their singers to resonate with its own sour, yellow, note." The form of Benezia took another breath. "We were only an egg, hearing our mother cry in our dreams, fighting the same battle that this one does now."

"Wait." Shepard raised a hand. "You're saying that during the rachni wars, your ancestors were under the same kind of mind control that Saren is using now? How does that even make sense? Saren hadn't even been born back then."

"We… we do not know. But we remember the songs of our ancestors, disturbed by discordance, songs the color of oily shadows. And the sour note that we hear in this one now is one in the same."

The form of Benezia lowered her head. Liara crouched by her side again. "The children we birthed were stolen before they could learn to sing. They… were lost to silence. Thank you for ending their suffering. They could not have been saved. They would only have caused harm as they were."

"Now… we ourselves stand before you. The last echo of those who came out from the Singing Planet. What will you sing? Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more?"

Wrex shot Shepard a look. "Warning you again, Shepard. Millions of my ancestors died to put these things down. Don't let them come back."

Liara glanced worriedly at her mother, and then turned to Wrex. "There are many old grudges in this galaxy. Perhaps… it is time to let go of some of them."

"I won't destroy your entire race," Shepard asserted. "You'll go free."

Wrex grumbled and stormed off, pacing back and forth on one of the room's catwalks. Shepard crossed his arms and spoke in an admonishing tone. "Wrex… who would we be if we killed her now? Certainly not any better than they were back then. Perhaps not even better than Saren is now. Everyone deserves a chance, Wrex."

"Bah," Wrex muttered. "Do what you want. Like I said, it's your call. But if we have to clean up this mess later, I'm blaming you for it."

"Duly noted," Shepard replied. "But I'm reasonably certain you won't have to."

The Matriarch's form pushed Liara away and stood. "You… will give us the chance to compose anew? We will remember. We will sing of your forgiveness to our children."

"Great," Wrex grumbled. "Bugs are writing songs about you. Yay."

Shepard stepped over to the console and triggered the door override. As the chamber rose into position and the gate opened to the outside, the creature within once again opened her mouth and screeched. But, this time, it seemed less threatening and more… thankful? If that was possible coming from a giant arachnid. Benezia's eyes slid closed. She went limp once again, and Liara lowered her gently back to the ground. The rachni queen rapidly disappeared into the maelstrom of white.

The three squadmates stood there in silence for a few moments, contemplating all that had just occurred. Finally, Shepard put away his pistol and tossed his rocket launcher back to Wrex.

"Okay, enough dilly-dallying. Back to the Normandy, and we'll debrief. If you're still upset by then, Wrex, I'll let you choose first."

Liara, casting a mild Lift field to make carrying the Matriarch easier, frowned in confusion. "Choose what?"

Shepard grinned. "Which piece he wants to be in Monopoly, of course. He always gets pissed when I take the car."

Wrex grunted in protest. "Hey. It's just not fair when you leave me with the shoe. I feel insulted."

The three friends, and their unconscious acquaintance, made their way back to their ship. Their home.


Author's Note: The Monopoly gag comes from youtuber Squee913's Mass Effect Let's Play. It's pretty funny ;) Also, yaay for heartwarming ending :D To the chapter of course. The story is just beginning...