Disclaimer - I don't own anything in here relating to Mass Effect, Bioware gets to claim that. I do own the the things that aren't mentioned in the game however.
A/N - Thanks goes to AblatedCrayon for Beta Reading this for me and getting me off my lazy behind. Any mistakes left are my own stubborn ones.
I trudged slowly down the Normandy's stairs, trying to forget the look the human guard had given me at the door. As I walked, I tried to figure out what the crew did not like about me. I had been courteous to everybody I spoke with, did my best to not make any hurtful remarks, and offered to help whenever somebody needed assistance—though, to my surprise, my offers were shrugged off by the crewmembers with an 'I'm okay,' or 'I'm fine, I don't need help.' They treated me as a, well, a dumb animal; fit only to be fattened up all my life to provide food for them when I died. About halfway down the slowly curving stairs it struck me.
'Of course they don't trust you, Liara. Your mother is allied with a rogue Spectre who is trying to destroy the universe. What did you expect? Sympathy? Comfort? Did you expect them to care that you hadn't spoken to her in years? That you were horrified by the very notion that your mother was doing something against her very own ideals? They don't care that you wonder what reason she had to align herself with a person so horrific. They don't care that every night since you found out you have been praying to Athame for your mother to come to her senses and come home.'
I hummed softly, trying to block out the voice in my head, to no avail.
'They think you are her tool. The person whom she has trained since birth to take over her role and destroy the universe. But you are worthless. You are nothing. You disappointed her as a child and always fell short of her expectations! Your mother would be much better off if you had never been born. If you were smart and half the daughter you should have been you wouldn't have needed rescuing from the ruin. Even Shepard would be better off without you. You eat their food and breathe their air and yet you don't have any information about Saren, nor can you help Shepard with her vision. You don't even have any information that you can give to Shepard about your mother! But then, what can you expect from a pathetic pureblood?
As much as I hated to admit it, the voice was right. I always seemed to fall beneath what my mother thought I could achieve. Thinking about my mother brought back sad memories of my childhood; namely my education and the loneliness that accompanied it. Holding back tears as I arrived at the bottom of the stairs, I was greeted with the stares of the crewmembers seated around a table in the middle of the dark room. I walked over to the blue lit door marked 'MED BAY' and as I waited beside it while it opened; I tried not to meet anyone's stares. I did my best to ignore the looks from the crew and let my gaze wander over the area around me. Near the back were some sleeper pods, where a few crewmembers were chatting. To the left of that area was the entrance to the Commander's quarters. Something was odd about that area though. It seemed to be bathed in a fierce flickering orange light, with tongues of flames licking the doorway to the room almost like it was the entrance to hell itself. And then the devil suddenly appeared, a dark shadow cast on the walls. Turning my head sharply, I tried to see where it was, but I could not see it. I started to panic. How could the Commander's quarters be hell? She was so nice, so willing to stand up for me. She listened when others ignored me. I couldn't begin to describe how relieved I was when I realised that the flames were just the light cast on the walls from a flickering orange panel near the sleeper pods. The shadow was merely the man who had been working alongside Shepard on Therum, with tussled hair that looked more like horns with each passing moment. As I watched, he groaned softly and started fiddling with the omni-tool encompassing his lower left arm.
Curious as to what he was doing, I kept my gaze on him. But catching movement out of the corner of my eye brought me back to what I was here for. I slowly walked through the now open door, noting the medi-gel dispenser and beds on my left as the doctor finished typing something on her computer. As I sat down opposite her, she glanced up and blinked in surprise before speaking.
"Ah, Dr. T'Soni. It's a pleasure to meet you. Are you alright?"
"I can assure you that I am fine, but the Commander was insistent on me coming down for you to check up on me. I got a bit… lightheaded while she was debriefing the team."
"When was the last time you had something to drink?"
"Several days ago, on Therum." It had been a quite nice drink too. Something I had found in one of the crates at the dig site. Something called Oreng Juik? Oran Jud? It was some human drink anyway.
The doctor frowned slightly. "What was stopping you from drinking?"
Embarrassed, I looked at my hands and muttered, "I was trapped in a Prothean security device." I was certain that the doctor would chuckle-or at least grin-at my folly, but she didn't, or she kept it to herself.
"Interesting. I imagine that you didn't get any sleep either while you were trapped?"
"Ah, no, I didn't. It was not, perhaps, the best position to sleep in. Add the fact that every other minute an angry krogan came by with a new way to get past the barrier and I think it's safe to assume that I did not sleep." I responded.
Dr. Chakwas raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing about my comment.
"Do you have any access to your medical history, Doctor?" she inquired.
"They were on my computer at the dig site, but from the condition we left the site in; I would say that I don't have access to the files." I guessed that the ruins had probably caved in completely by now, and had taken the tent with my belongings inside down with it. I supposed I was lucky that I had saved my dig site reports to an extranet storage site a few hours before I was trapped inside the security device.
The doctor sighed quietly, and thought for a few moments. Pressing some buttons on her computer, she said, "I will need to run a few scans, then, to get your medical data onto our system. If you want, you can lie down on one of the beds as I scan you. You can even catch up on some sleep if you wish."
"I would like that." I said happily. I was already starting to feel tired.
Dr. Chakwas got up and walked over to a container on the wall, gesturing to me to get onto one of the beds. Obligingly, I walked over to the bed furthest from the door, and stretched myself out on its comfortable surface.
"So," Dr. Chakwas said, walking over to the bed, a scanner in one hand, a cup filled with what looked like water in the other, "what do you think of us humans?"
"Your race is… bewildering." I said slowly. "You move so quickly, so recklessly, some might say irrationally. And yet you humans managed to defend yourselves so easily against the turians, who were the most powerful military force at that time. Hardly any of your population volunteers to serve in your military, and yet your race is considered a leading force in Citadel military! However, humanity is hard to take seriously at times. You jump headfirst into difficult situations, often without a thought. You are too quick to judge and form your own opinions about other races. Many of you seem to believe that the asari are promiscuous, even though that is completely wrong."
"Surely we're not all bad," Dr. Chakwas joked, passing the cup to me. I drank from it slowly, fiddling with my coat with my free hand. I had not met humans before Therum, and knew hardly a thing about them. How could I tell her that the only humans that had actually been 'nice' to me were the Commander and herself? In the end, I decided to play it simple.
"That is true. The Commander is nice," I said hesitantly, "and although humanity is seen as an aggressive species, there are stories about influential non-violent humans. All in all, however, I haven't had much time around your race so I cannot give you a well backed opinion, I'm afraid. The few things I know about your race I have found out from news videos and the extranet, particularly around the time when you first came to the Citadel."
"What did they say about us?" the Doctor asked, her curiosity understandable, while running a handheld scanner over me.
"Along with the basic things about your species, such as how long you live for on average, they said that humanity is an impatient species, always trying to get something done immediately instead of later when it will be more beneficial. And unfortunately, a lot of people think that it is true. Many like to point out the fact that you are intent on having more authority in the Council and their decisions, and yet you flat out refuse to listen to them or wait for your turn. Most species would do anything to be able to have the privileges given to you, and yet no matter how much we give, you want more from us."
An awkward silence followed my answer, interrupted only by the sounds of buttons being pressed by Dr. Chakwas on the scanner. This always seemed to happen, me saying something without thinking it through, and either being embarrassed or feeling really awkward—although, to me, the two were the same. It was probably a blessing to my race that I didn't want to be a diplomat, as I would cause far more headaches across the galaxy than I would resolve.
"Excuse me for asking," I said the doctor nervously, trying to break the silence, "but who is the man by the flickering panel out there?"
"Lieutenant Alenko," she answered. "May I ask why?"
"He seemed to be in some pain when I passed him earlier."
"Ahh," she said. Seeing the confused look on my face, she continued, "The Lieutenant is an L2 biotic."
"Someone with the second version of implants made for your species?" I clarified.
Dr. Chakwas nodded. "The second implant gave a lot more diversity into the range of abilities a biotic had at hand. But, although the new implant expanded their abilities immensely, the symptoms were a lot more severe."
"The symptoms?" I asked, confused.
"L2's experienced severe medical complications, such as insanity, mental impairment, or extreme physical pain. The Lieutenant is lucky he only gets migraines, considering the fact that his abilities are comparable to an asari's."
"Really?" I said, amazed that a human could have abilities equal in power to my own.
"Yes, although I wouldn't worry too much. Few humans can peak that high. Only the L2's can, and of them, only a few. However, even though Commander Shepard is an L3, her powers do rival the Lieutenant's. She is the exception to the rule."
That was interesting. I had no idea that human biotics were so powerful, even if only a few of them were. I thought I had an idea of how to help the Lieutenant relieve the pain of his migraines though, so I told the Doctor.
"I might be able to help the Lieutenant with his migraines. There are some meditation exercises that all trained asari biotics have to learn that might ease his suffering somewhat."
Dr. Chakwas smiled. "I shall let him know once I'm finished here."
The room fell silent once more, albeit not as awkward as before. I sat my now empty cup on the edge of the bed, and the Doctor wrote some notes on her computer. As she continued to scan me, I closed my eyes and thought about what the Commander had told me. She had said that the Reapers were responsible for the genocide of the Protheans. At first I didn't believe her. How could I? There was no evidence of their existence. No reason for the Commander to even know about them, let alone know what they did. When she said she had stumbled across a Prothean beacon and received a somewhat jumbled message from it, my first thought was not about how it totally vindicated her claims, but about how remarkably strong this woman must be to have not been killed from the sheer mental overload it would have caused in a weaker mind. It would be fascinating to do a mind meld with the Commander to see the vision. It could reveal many secrets about Prothean life and their extinction.
The days without sleep were really starting to catch up to me. I raised a hand to my mouth to stifle a yawn and let it fall back down. Belatedly I decided I should have kept it there as it was followed by several more yawns in a row. I feebly tried to open my eyes, and managed to get a glimpse of Dr. Chakwas frowning at something on her computer screen. But I did not get the opportunity to ponder what it was, as my mind slipped into the dark, welcoming silence of sleep.
A/N - Yes, I'm allliiivvee!! I guess I have some explaining to do, don't I? Well firstly, sorry for the what, year long wait for this chapter? *cringes in corner* It's just I have had a really rough year at school last year and I don't really want to go into the details, so I'll just tell you that because of my experiences I really lost heart with all my writing and some other aspects of my life and so I didn't finish this till the beginning of this year. I promise to update quicker this year, so please don't get mad at me! :)
Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter. My grey friend down here really loves it when people click on it so why don't you do so and drop a few lines about this chapter?