AN: Thank you all for reading this far into my story! I wanted to warn people about the following chapter. This one is rather dark, and ends with Shepard's memories of her rape at the hands of the raiders that attacked Mindoir. I did not explicitly detail any of it. In fact I did my best to make sure it was as clean as possible given the subject matter. I know I marked this story 'M' but I want the explicit details to be ones of life and joy.
AN2: I also wanted to point out that chapters 6 and 7 are meant to be read in one sitting. This chapter is dark and the beginning of the next chapter is the resolution to that. I would have put the resolution as part of chapter six but that would have made the chapter entirely too long.
...
Shepard woke to the sound of a quiet choked sob from Liara. Placing a hand on her shoulder, Shepard gently rolled her over onto her back, Liara moving her hand to cover her face. As Shepard whispered her name, Liara rolled over again, burying her face in Shepard's chest, a wailing cry passing her lips. Shepard was unused to dealing with such raw emotion and found herself at a loss for what to do. Settling for rubbing slow soothing circles across the asari's back, she resumed whispering sentimental nonsense into her ear. Between sobs, Liara's broken voice cried into her chest. "What am I going to do Elizabeth?"
Shepard was relieved to hear words from Liara after so long, but found herself in unfamiliar territory. Everyone dealt with loss differently. For herself, losing her father and sister to batarians had been easy to deal with. She had a target she could hate. One that she could hunt and kill. One that she had killed. Dozens of times, she had killed, seeing the same faces on every batarian she ended. Their deaths had been therapeutic. She had taken that which had been taken from her. In her limited experience, this was the only we she could deal with the loss. How she could make this work to Liara's advantage was something else entirely though. Chalking this line of thought up as a loss, Shepard moved on.
"I don't know, Liara," Shepard said softly as she hugged the asari tight against her chest. "I guess… I guess you just find what joy you can in life. There are going to be dark days, some so dark you can't imagine ever seeing the light again. This may be one of them. But you have to trust that the light is still there." Shepard thought back to her last visit to the Citadel. Sha'ira's words echoed in her mind. 'Love found for love lost. A lifeline to cling to.' "Liara… meld with me," Shepard whispered into the asari's ear.
Liara sobbed harder into her chest but Shepard could feel the intrusion of another mind in her own. Shepard opened up her mind and allow Liara access. Instantly she was overtaken by a sense of loss so profound, she found herself wanting to curl up and die. Summoning up all the willpower she normally used for blocking out pain on the battlefield, she dove deeper into the asari's mind. She dove until she found the shining light, now significantly dimmed, that was Liara's being. There she erected a great wall between them and the pain, filling this space with all of the love she could bring herself to feel for the asari. Here, in the depths of Liara's mind, Shepard built a shrine to her.
Liara was surrounded by the powerful ethereal light that was Elizabeth Shepard. A beacon in the dark, she clung to it with all she was worth. They stayed in this realm for hours, and when Liara began to tire from the exertion of maintaining the meld, Shepard tapped into her own reserves, allowing the asari to draw from her essence to sustain it. So long had they been hiding in this place of refuge, that they could no longer tell where one of them ended and the other began.
Finally, there came a time when even Shepard's endurance began to wane. Liara could sense it as easily as she could sense her own exhaustion. 'Thank you, Ellie. For showing me I am not so alone as I thought.' Shepard withdrew slowly from Liara's mind and retreated into her own. Once Shepard was gone, Liara let the meld fade away, causing a sense of loss in both of them. Shepard felt the familiar pang of loneliness after a meld faded and squeezed Liara closer instinctively.
Liara was surprised to find herself chuckling, and scooted up on the bed so that they were face to face. Shepard voiced her confusion at the sound of mirth coming from the asari. "You okay, Li? I didn't expect to hear laughter for quite a long time…" Liara smiled softly, her voice a whisper. "I will be fine, Ellie. Thanks to you. I am… I am sorry. I should not find amusement in your discomfort. The end of a meld is not something anyone enjoys, though you learn to endure it better. Your reaction reminded me of a memory. My mother acting much the same way after the end of a meld. She was comforting me when I was a child. A storm was rolling through and woke me up in the middle of the night. In fear, I ran into Benezia's room and jumped into her mind and arms. She had much the same reaction upon my withdrawal from her mind once she had successfully calmed me down."
Shepard was relieved to see Liara smiling, hoping she was on the road to recovery. She knew it would be a long one, but was growing more certain that Liara would recover. She had been fearful in the med bay that Liara might give up. It was with this in mind that Shepard spoke. "Liara… I am so sorry. I can't imagine what you must be going through. It gladdens me to see you smile again. I wish I could change how today happened. I wish I could have been faster. I wish I could have seen it coming. Mostly, I wish I could have spared you such pain."
Liara frowned as she remembered the events of the past day, and closed her eyes to center herself. She no longer felt like she was alone in the galaxy without her mother, but she was having a hard time accepting all of the things her mother would never see her accomplish. "It was not your fault, Ellie. My mother was no fool. She knew exactly what she was doing. She bided her time, waited until she could regain control. And when she felt her control slipping, she chose to go out on her own terms. I do not like it, but I can understand it. The blame for her death does not fall at your feet, Elizabeth. Her blood may stain your knife, but it is not on your soul. The blame lies with Saren and I will spill his blood for blood spilled. And you, my love, will help me do it."
Shepard smiled inwardly. 'Liara has her target,' she thought to herself. 'Now I just have to find Saren and make sure she survives an encounter with a highly trained ex-Spectre with years of combat training and powerful biotics, along with an army of geth followers.' "Alright, Li, I will help you get your revenge. Just… don't let it consume you. I have been down this road before. It can take up all of your thoughts, drive all of your actions, if you let it. Let it bring you strength, but do not let it take anything in return. Do not let it turn you into a killer," Shepard finished with a hint of knowing sadness in her voice.
Liara kissed Shepard softly before settling into the crook of her neck. "I will have you to guide me down the right path, Ellie. How could I be consumed by revenge, when I am already consumed by another passion? Now, go to sleep. We have much to do when we awaken, and I am eager to get started. And… Thank you, Ellie. For everything you have done for me tonight. I love you." "Love you too, Li," Shepard replied, her eyes already closing in exhaustion. Sleep claimed them in moments.
…
Shepard stripped herself of her armor with practiced ease, the rest of the ground squad following suit as they made their way through the hangar bay. The last three hours had been hellish for the ground squad but nobody she cared about was in need of any medical attention.
The Normandy had been in the Asgard system chasing down a lead on Cerberus when a comms tech picked up chatter coming from an asteroid near the planet of Terra Nova. The chatter told a grim tale. A group of batarians were going to throw the asteroid into the nearby planet, killing millions. Shepard had everyone suit up and pile into the mako, doing a hot drop onto the asteroid. Shepard's blood was boiling as the mako hurtled down towards the planet. Batarians. Just thinking the word sent her into a rage. It seemed that batarians were dead set on making a name for themselves as the galaxy's biggest pieces of shit. From slavery, to pirate raids, and now dropping asteroids on human colonies, the batarians were never shown in a good light.
As they made landfall, they received more comm chatter. The woman on the other end explaining that there were three massive thrusters that were being used to propel the asteroid into the planet. They would all be guarded and needed shut down within the next four hours or it would be too late to stop the impact. Shepard stomped on the gas and the mako surged towards the first of the massive torches. As they pulled closer, they noticed a station next to it, likely where the controls were housed. She brought the mako to a stop outside of the control station and everyone poured out of the back, taking up position behind Shepard as she moved to open the door.
Liara stayed one step behind Shepard, seeing cracks in her aura as Shepard struggled to rein in her seething hatred. Once the doors opened, a squad of batarians immediately opened fire on the ground team. Liara watched as the mirror smooth surface of Shepard's aura cracked and exploded outwards. She suddenly regretted wondering on Noveria what it would be like if this ever happened. Shepard attacked like a woman possessed. She was slinging biotics faster than any human had right to and her pistol was constantly on the verge of burning through her gauntlet as the heatsink screamed in it's housing.
Seven batarians were on the ground in a matter of seconds, the ground team unable to get a shot off before Shepard had single-handedly slaughtered the lot of them. Her attacks were fatal, but sloppy, and the team could see that it was not the normal calculated attack pattern that Shepard utilized. Liara suggested that the team spread out and look for the control system for the thruster and went to check on Shepard. Arriving at Shepard's side, she noticed the human's chest was heaving, whether due to exertion or emotion was not yet known. Her biotics were still flaring across her body and her pistol was still shaking in a vice like grip. Liara's voice was a concerned whisper as she spoke Shepard's name. "Elizabeth…"
After several seconds, Shepard finally docked her pistol and let her biotics fade, a ragged breath escaping her lips. Shepard nearly jumped when Liara placed a hand on her shoulder, her whole body tensing at the contact. "Liara… maybe it is for the best if you head back to the mako. I don't… I don't want you to see what I become around batarians. I thought I could control myself for a single mission, but I can't." Liara frowned. Having read about some of what happened to Shepard at the hands of batarians, she understood that Shepard had a deep seated hatred for the species. "Elizabeth, we all have flaws. Weaknesses. I will not abandon you because of something that was forced upon you. Do not push me away. Please?"
Shepard was about to reply when the roar of the thruster outside suddenly stopped, Garrus having found the control panel. Instead, she placed her hand on Liara's and gave it a brief squeeze before walking off to meet the returning ground team. "Alright, We have two more thrusters to turn off. Kaidan, stay here and keep this control station secure. I don't know if there are more of these bastards coming to reinforce the area. Lock yourself in the control room and kill anything that tries to open the door. Got it?" Kaidan nodded and ran back the way he had come, the control room door shutting behind him. "Everyone else back to the mako."
As Shepard guided the team back to the mako, a figure stepped from the shadows and fired off a round at Shepard. Her shields flared, knocking the round aside. Shepard glared at the human who had fired at her, the second time in recent memory that a frightened civilian had done so. "Shit. Sorry, thought you were batarians," the man said. "Well, we clearly aren't," Shepard replied in a biting tone. The man apologized again and gave them a run down of the situation as he knew it. He also warned them of the blasting caps he had just placed near another thruster station. "Damn it, we won't be able to maneuver the mako through mines. We will have to go in on foot. Everyone get to the mako, we will take it as far as we can. You," Shepard said, pointing at the human who had shot at her, "will find a place to hide until this is all over. You will also check your targets before you open fire." The man nodded and slid back into the shadows.
The drive to the next station had been short, the team hopping out of the mako as they neared the edge of the minefield. As soon as they were free of the vehicle, they came under fire from batarian snipers positioned beyond the mines near the entrance to the station. Everyone hid behind the mako to limit their exposure to the enemy. Shepard turned to Garrus and made a quick hand motion. Garrus nodded and pulled out his favored rifle. As he peered out over the top of the mako, a rather large projectile bounced off of the armored vehicle mere inches from his head. He tried several more times to get a position set up, but the enemy snipers were determined to keep him from firing a shot. Garrus docked his weapon back onto his hard suit and gave Shepard a shake of his head. "Can't get a shot off, commander. Too many of them, with too many angles."
Shepard nodded and looked to Tali. "Any way you can disable this minefield from back here?" Tali pulled up her omnitool and fiddled around with it for several seconds before shaking her head. "They are all encrypted, Shepard. I could turn them off one at a time if I were closer, but I doubt they would give me the time to turn each one off." Shepard nodded again, accepting Tali's answer. The young quarian was a genius with an omnitool. If she said it couldn't be done, Shepard believed her. "Alright, so we can't shoot them, and we can't get clear of the mines. The mako is at a bad angle and we can't use the cannon to take them out. Any ideas, people?" Everyone looked around, hoping to hear a plan they could use.
Finally, Liara spoke up. "Depending on how many there are, and what they are firing… it is possible that I could maintain a barrier to shield us from incoming fire for a time. I would not know how long I could maintain it until we got out of cover though… it is not a good idea, now that I say it out loud." Garrus thought about it for a bit, but was forced to shoot the idea down. "I don't think you could block these, Liara. I don't doubt your strength, but they are using Kishock harpoon guns. They launch massive spikes, I wouldn't want to trust any biotic with resisting those for longer than one or two shots.
Shepard sighed. She had come up with a plan of her own, but didn't like it. She needed more information first, and had not had time to contact someone more knowledgeable since Noveria. "Liara, I have an idea, and you are not going to like it. I think I am going to have to charge them. I think I will be moving fast enough to not get hit by the mines, and I don't think the snipers will be able to track me until I am in their midst. Take your concern out of the equation. Is it possible to charge…" Shepard peered over the mako, gauging the distance as another large projectile bounced off of the vehicle, "fifty meters?" Liara visibly paled, and was searching her mind furiously for any alternative that would not place Shepard at such risk. Finding nothing, she found herself wanting to lie to Shepard. To tell her it could not be done.
"Shepard… that is too far. You have not been trained… if you fall short you are in the middle of a minefield with snipers aiming at you with no cover." Shepard interrupted her with a wave of her hand. "Liara. Can it be done? We are running out of time, and there is no other way." Liara nodded, biting her bottom lip to stop the tears she knew were coming. After several calming breaths, she responded. "Yes, in theory, it can be done." Shepard took off her right gauntlet and offered her bare hand to Liara. Liara recognized the request for what it was and took off her own glove, laying her hand across Shepard's, and initiated a shallow meld. 'Shepard, please do not do this. I could not bear to lose you too.' Shepard sent a wave of love and confidence over the meld, seeking to lessen the worry she was feeling from Liara. 'Liara, trust me. I will always come back to you. I promise.'
Liara nodded and ended the meld, pulling her hand back and reapplying her armor as Shepard did the same. To the rest of the ground team it had appeared as if they had just touched each other's hands for a second. No one knew of the private conversation they had just had. "Alright people. I need a distraction for about two seconds. Anybody up for playing bait?" Liara raised her hand with a determined look. "I will show myself for a brief moment. I am confident my barriers will hold for that long." Shepard cursed, knowing she couldn't take a risk then ask Liara not to take one in turn. "Alright, but as soon as I am gone, you get back to cover, no matter where I end up. Understood?"
Liara looked about ready to argue but thought better of it, instead she settled for nodding her head. Shepard nodded in return and held up three fingers. Counting down, she walked out of cover as her last finger went down, searching for a target. As she walked out, Liara bolted to the other end of the mako and ran out from behind it, looking to the snipers as if she was going to make a run for it. As Shepard's body began to radiate the familiar blue-white glow of biotics, the first round impacted Liara's barriers. Even with her barrier stopping the shot, it still impacted against her chestplate with jarring force, knocking the wind from her lungs. Shepard found her target, a batarian in the center of the group that had just fired his rifle. It would allow her to arrive in the middle of the group and knock them all out with shotgun fire.
Shepard repeated the process from Noveria and found herself hurtling across the mindfield in the blink of an eye, nailing her target in the chest with a lowered shoulder. This time she was more prepared for the impact, and the ensuing exhaustion. Pulling her shotgun out, she began pulling the trigger as fast as the heat sink would cool, blasting batarian after batarian in the gut. As Shepard warped across the battlefield, Liara was quick to retreat back to the mako. Before she was back behind cover, another shot nailed her in her shoulder, knocking her to the ground, though her barriers still held. She scrambled to cover and nursed her aching shoulder while the rest of the ground team watched Shepard in awe. Shepard was a blue-white blur in the distance, muzzle flash and biotic attacks lighting up her position in the dark cover of shade.
For Shepard, the battle was over in a matter of seconds. Her shotgun was back on it's dock and her biotics were fading from her hands as the last batarian fell to the ground, screaming as the burning shrapnel tore through his intestines. Shepard took great pleasure in his screams of pain. In fact, she had taken great pleasure in making sure each of her shots were to the gut. Four batarian snipers were writhing on the ground, cradling their stomachs as blood poured from their wounds. She allowed them to continue breathing as long as they could while she looked for the master control for the mines. Finding it, she pressed the button and signalled the team to move to her position.
The group arrived to the chorus of wounded and dying batarians. Liara looked angry as she pulled out her pistol and shot each of them in the head, ending their suffering. She would talk to Shepard back on the ship, away from the rest of the ground team. She had to know what would cause Shepard to torture four people after promising not to do so. Liara docked her pistol and smoothed the frown from her face. Shepard motioned for the squad to form up and opened the door to the second compound. As they entered into the main room of the building, they heard faint growling somewhere in the distance. Wrex whispered next to Shepard. "Varren. Sounds like six or seven of them. Shouldn't be a problem if they are alone. Want me to scout ahead?"
Shepard had to fight to stifle a laugh, a grin breaking out across her face. "Krogan don't scout, Wrex. You just want to kill shit." Wrex chuckled softly. "You wound me, Shepard." Shepard motioned for the team to move up and carefully led them forward into the main room, towards the control room. They had made it about half way into the room when the varren attacked. Two singularities snapped into existence in the middle of the pack, tearing them apart at a molecular level. The room was silent after the pack of fish-dogs was dispatched. The squad made it's way to the control room and turned the second thruster off, leaving only one remaining.
"Ashley, same as Kaidan. I want you here in case enemy reinforcements come. Lock yourself in this room, shoot anything that opens that door unless I give the all clear." Ashley nodded her head and made busy stacking some nearby supply crates into a defensible position in the control room. Shepard turned and left her to her work, confident that she would have the room set up into a proper fortress by the time she returned. "Everyone else, to the mako. We have one more torch to deal with and we are running low on time."
The group made the quick run back to the mako across the deactivated minefield and piled into the mako, making sure to grab the weapons from the fallen snipers. Once everyone was safely within the mako, Shepard punched it, racing towards the third and final thruster. Outside of the third control building, they were assaulted by rocket turrets. The stationary weapons were barely a threat to the mako, the 155 mm cannon making short work of them, while the shields managed to deflect the one rocket that made it close to the vehicle. Shepard had to admire Wrex's ability to use the mako's cannon while the vehicle was rocketing and jumping across the battlefield.
Jumping out of the mako as it was still grinding to a halt, Shepard jogged to the door of the compound, pulling her pistol from it's dock and preparing to open the door. The squad was quick to join her and they entered in unison into an antechamber. Clearing her corners, Shepard advanced through the small room and made her way to the second doorway, waiting for the rest of the group before keying open the doors. Shepard saw a group of three batarians talking in a corner and docked her pistol, pulling out one of the pilfered Kishock rifles. Setting her sights on one of the ugly four-eyed creeps, she pulled the trigger.
Shepard was pleased to see the spike nail a batarian to the wall through his shoulder, a ragged wail of pain escaping the beasts lips. The other two crouched low, looking for the source of the shot when another spike launched across the room, ripping another batarian from his feet and pegging him to the wall, the glowing rod centered through his neck. The third batarian was pulling his own rifle from his back when he felt white hot heat searing through his guts and impacted the wall behind him. He looked down in shock, a large dart piercing his stomach and connecting him solidly to the wall behind him. The shots had only taken three seconds, but to Shepard it had taken minutes. Every shot triggering flashbacks to Mindoir and strengthening her desire to see these freaks suffer.
Liara on the other hand was torn between feeling livid and concerned. She knew Shepard possessed the skill to handle the rifle properly. She knew she could have made clean kills at this distance with her pistol, but actively chose to inflict pain and suffering. Something was wrong with Shepard, but to willfully inflict pain like this was beyond her understanding. Liara was starting to understand why Shepard wanted her to return to the mako at the first station. 'She didn't want me to see her torture batarians,' Liara realized rather late. She felt like she should say something, perhaps try to sway Shepard from her current actions, but decided against it. The rest of the squad did not need to be present for this argument.
Shepard abandoned her stealthy approach, largely due to the noise being generated by the skewered batarians on the far side of the room. She docked the rifle on her back and pulled out her favored pistol, entering the room with quick, careful steps. Two more batarians had emerged from the control room in the back and fired at Shepard, the rounds bouncing off of her shields. Shepard flung a weak warp field at the pair. The batarians lit up in blue-white warpfire and screamed as it ate away slowly at their flesh. Shepard watched the pair of monsters dance in pain, trying to extinguish her biotic fire for a few minutes before they finally fell over dead.
Shepard turned to her squad to order them to secure the control room, and found them all staring at her with mixed emotions. Tali was holding her stomach, the young quarian sickened by Shepard's barbarism, her face hidden behind her purple mask. Garrus had a calming hand on Tali's shoulder, his face set in a grim mask. Wrex seemed to approve of the carnage, though made no mention of it. Lastly, Shepard's eyes fell on Liara, and her heart sank. Liara was fuming, tears rolling down her face as she struggled to find the woman she loved in the person standing before her. She was still there, Liara was confident of that, but she was somewhere deep in the ball of hatred that was Shepard.
Shepard snapped out of her rage fueled rampage and stepped towards Liara, who held up a hand and shook her head. "We will talk about this later, Shepard. There is no time for this now." Shepard nodded sharply and turned on her heel, making her way to the control room to shut the torch off herself. Shepard disappeared for a few moments in the control room before stepping back out, the thruster outside going silent. The three batarians pinned to the wall were still clinging to life, and Liara was about to pull out her weapon to end their suffering when a group of fifteen more of them came walking in the front door.
The leader of the group stared at the carnage in the room, all four of his eyes widened as he saw the three pinned to the wall, still groaning in agony. The leader called out into the room. "We know you are in here humans, this does not need to end in bloodshed. Come out and we may speak." Shepard peered around a stack of crates and saw the enemy forces spread out before her. Shepard snarled and turned back to her own group, battling down a feeling of revulsion she felt every time she caught a glimpse of this particular race of scum. "Garrus. He wants to talk, let him talk. Get up on top of these crates and cover me. I'll go out there. Alone. I will leave my comms open. He makes an excuse for his actions, I want a round in his mouth before it closes. The rest of you, if you hear gunfire, come out hot. I want them on the floor before they can even think about a defense."
Shepard turned to Liara, a sad look on her face. "I will explain everything to you on the ship, I promise. Just… do not judge me until you see them through my eyes. Please." With that, Shepard turned and marched out from behind a wall of crates, pistol in hand as she approached the batarian squad. As Shepard stepped into the light, the lead batarian spat out her name as if it were a curse. "Shepard. Explains why Balak's plan has gone to shit. I am Charn, second in command of the batarian forces on this asteroid. I know of you, Shepard. I am under orders to bring you to Balak alive, if at all possible. No doubt the Hegemony would give him a command placement if he delivered you alive to answer for your crimes. Before you speak, know that I will not follow these orders. This was supposed to be a simple slave grab, not an act of war. I want no part in this plan of Balak's."
Shepard's free hand was balled into a fist, and she was struggling to suppress the urge to light it up with biotic power. After a brief pause, she spoke, her voice was filled with malice. "Charn, you and your forces will drop your weapons on the floor and surrender. You will be taken into custody and tried for crimes against the Systems Alliance. You will give me all information regarding Balak's remaining forces. You will cooperate, or I will summarily execute you all for attempted slavery. You have ten seconds to decide. Your time starts now."
Charn laughed dismissively, tilting his head to the right. "Slavery is no crime, human. It is the life-blood of my species. It is the duty of the strong to take what they want from the weak. I will not surrender myself or my men to be tried under your discriminatory laws against my people. I will also not give you any information on Balak's forces without a promise of safety for me and my men. I recommend you think hard about your response human, unless I change my mind about taking you alive. To be my personal servant. I see one of you, and fifteen of us."
Shepard made a show of holding up three fingers, dropping one with each passing second. When she reached zero she raised her pistol and started to unload on Charn, the Spectre's weapon quickly overloading his shields and planting a round in the center of his face, between all four eyes. Another batarian's head exploded as Garrus opened fire with his rifle, the turian sniper as accurate as ever. The remaining batarians raised their weapons to fire at Shepard but were thwarted by their weapons suddenly overheating.
Behind cover, Tali had been silently working on her omnitool. The second Shepard opened fire she activated a routine she had been working on, sending an overheat signal to all of the batarian weapons. By the time they were able to react, it would be too late, their weapons would be useless.
The batarians were struggling to come up with a plan, their leader dead and their firearms useless. One got the bright idea to pull out a wicked looking barbed dagger. Several other batarians followed suit and soon Shepard found herself on the defensive, bobbing and weaving between the encroaching batarians in an effort to avoid being impaled by one of the barbaric looking instruments.
Garrus was in his element. A target rich environment with nobody returning fire. He picked off the batarians that were closest to Shepard one at a time as the ground team moved in to assist her. The battle quickly shifted to Shepard's favor, as sometime in her retreat she had found time to pick up one of the fallen batarian knives. She was now using it against the distracted batarians, burying the blade to the hilt and yanking it out, blood flowing rapidly from the ragged wounds. Wrex's massive shotgun was booming intermittently as he waded into the fray. Liara set to work picking off the batarians that were left to bleed to death by Shepard's newest act of ferocity. Liara made sure to end the suffering of the three still pinned to the wall as well.
As the last batarian fell, a massive hole in the back of his head from Garrus' well placed shot, Shepard set to work searching the fallen for clues as to the strength of the enemy left under Balak's command. Coming to Charn's corpse, she searched through his omnitool for any recent messages. She was lucky to find an access code to a fourth compound, this one far larger than the other three, where nearly thirty batarians were holed up. She was not pleased to find out that they enemy had littered the area with explosives and had a group of hostages. Shepard would need to be careful. No batarian could escape alive, and no hostage would be taken with them if she could help it. Better to be dead than a batarian slave.
Having found what she needed, she made her way back to the mako, the rest of the squad following her lead, each loaded with batarian weapons that they threw into the cargo hold of the mako. Shepard oriented the mako to face the final complex and the vehicle surged forward on it's six massive tires. The trip to their destination was silent, the passengers all staring at each other with concern written on their faces. They could all tell Shepard was suffering the longer they were on this asteroid. Wrex was the only one who wasn't engaged with the others, as he was trying to sleep on the way to the next battle. He seemed to be aware of their concerns however as he opened one eye and spoke.
"You are all making my plates itch. Either voice your concerns and face the consequences or let them go. Staring at each other is going to do nothing but agitate me. If you don't have the stomach for this, stay in the mako. Far as I'm concerned, slavers deserve what they get. You all wanted to follow her when the work was pretty. We get a little bloody and you have reservations? After all she has done for each of you? Maybe you should all take a long look at where your loyalties lie and decide if this trip is right for you. As for me, you'll find me at Shepard's side. She has earned that much."
Shepard pretended she had not heard the hushed whispers in the back of the mako over the roar of the engines. She couldn't help but wonder if Liara was one of the ones questioning if they wanted to stick around. The thought hurt her heart more than she cared to think about. Steeling her resolve, she pushed the mako faster towards the final bastion of enemy forces. She would have to show Liara everything if she wanted to keep her. Shepard couldn't decide if that scared her more than losing Liara.
They finally reached their destination and Shepard was once again first out of the mako. Wrex was hot on her heels. Shepard was relieved to see Liara step out of the mako. 'At least she trusts me this far,' Shepard thought. Next came Garrus. After a few moments, Tali hesitantly stepped out of the mako. Shepard nodded her head, thankful to see everyone was still with her. "Right, so this is the last stop. Tali, they have set up bombs here to wipe out civilians. You are going to disarm them. Stay low, keep out of the firefights and stick to the shadows. Once we clear a room, you search it for explosives and clear them out. Garrus, you stay on overwatch, somewhere near the door if at all possible. I don't want a single batarian escaping. We end this here. Liara, Wrex, you are with me. We go in fast and hard. Let's go, people."
The team stormed to the entrance of the building, the door opening to allow them inside. As instructed, Tali stayed back, waiting for the room to be cleared. Stepping into the antechamber, they were met with silence, all of the batarian forces deeper in the building. Shepard gave the all clear to Tali and the quarian moved into the antechamber with them, her omnitool sweeping the room for explosives. Shepard made her way to the only other door in the room and braced her shoulder on the wall to the right of the door. She palmed open the door with her omnitool, using the access code from Charn. The door swept open to reveal a massive hall, a pair of rooms dotting the wall to the right. All the way at the end of the hall, she could see a batarian ordering troops to defensive positions.
Shepard slipped into the room, staying low in an effort to stay hidden as long as possible. The rest of the team followed her in, save Tali, low and quiet. Garrus saw a perch to the left and began climbing, settling in on his stomach as he sighted downrange. Shepard led her group to the right, intent on clearing the rooms that dotted that side of the hall. The first one proved to be empty save for a single batarian guarding a bomb. Shepard unsheathed her knife and crept up behind him, the rest of the squad hanging back. Shepard grabbed the batarian, covering his mouth and slit his throat, taking great pleasure in the pained gurgling she heard. She let his body drop, the batarian clutching his throat in an effort to stop the bleeding. He opened his mouth to scream for help, but his breath rushed from the hole in his throat.
When the batarian finally died, the ground covered in a pool of red blood, she keyed her mic, letting Tali know she could move up. Tali showed up moments later and began working on the bomb. Shepard left the room, turning to the right to search the other room. The second room appeared to be a library of sorts, several bombs decorated the wall. Luckily, there were no batarians to be found. At the end of the room, there was a ramp down to the lower level. Shepard motioned the squad forward, and they followed the ramp down. Three batarians occupied the lower room, all facing each other discussing something of little importance to Shepard. Shepard motioned Liara forward. As she arrived at Shepard's side, Shepard spoke in a quiet voice. "Can you trap all three in a stasis? It is not something I think I can do."
Liara nodded. "Should be easier to maintain than that prime on Feros. I can handle it Shepard. Make it quick though." Shepard nodded back and motioned for her to continue. Liara's body glowed blue as she flung a stasis field at the trio, catching them all off guard. Shepard leapt from the ramp and slashed across the first batarian's throat, the other two batarian's eyes bulged in fear as they saw Shepard materialize from the shadows. Shepard slit the other two across the throat with surgical precision and the three fell to the ground as Liara let the stasis field fall.
Shepard keyed her comms again, signalling Tali to move up when she was ready. Out of rooms to search, Shepard knew it was time to light up the rest of the batarian forces. As she stepped out of the lower floor of the library area, she found some cover and motioned for the asari and krogan to follow her. Shepard pulled out her stolen Kishock rifle and sighted down the scope. She counted twenty-four batarians spread out in defensive positions before her. Settling into a more comfortable position, she pressed the butt of the rifle to her shoulder and breathed out, gently squeezing the trigger. She was pleased to see the batarian in her scope tumble to the ground, a massive spike protruding from his head right above the ear.
As soon as Shepard had pulled the trigger, Garrus had done the same, targeting a batarian wielding a Kishock rifle. Taking that one out, he turned, looking for the other sniper he had seen. He found the batarian had moved a bit, looking through his own scope, searching for Shepard's position. Garrus put another round downrange, another batarian falling to the floor. Shepard and Garrus took out half of the batarian forces before they found Shepard's position, forcing her to give up her rifle. Pulling out her pistol, she focused on her biotics and launched a warp across the battlefield, catching a batarian with it and burning through his armor.
Liara was pleased to see that Shepard was going for kills this time, her usual precision back in place as she engaged the slavers. Shepard motioned for her team to move up, having run out of targets from her angle. Wrex led the way towards the remaining enemies, his shotgun barking as he poured shrapnel over the enemy positions, keeping them suppressed. Garrus had run out of visible targets and settled in to wait as Shepard asked, keeping anyone from escaping.
As the last batarian fell, Balak stepped into the open, a detonator in his hand. Shepard pointed her pistol at his head and was followed by her team training their weapons on the leader of the now dead batarian forces. Balak spoke, his guttural speech wearing on Shepard's nerves the moment he began speaking. "Fucking humans. Almost not worth the trouble. Almost. Here's the deal, bitch. I leave here alive, or I blow up the hostages. I live, the hostages are yours." Shepard didn't even bother with a response. She dropped her pistol from her hand and grabbed her knife before she charged across the open space in a blue blur. Her knife sunk through the batarians wrist, severing his hand as her charge sent him hurtling through the air to crash into the far wall.
Shepard slowly walked up to the dazed batarian as he started to stir, trying to sit up. He spit out a mouthful of blood between razor sharp needle like teeth. "You spiteful bitch. What's the problem, been too long since you got a good fuck? Ask me nice and I might scratch your itch. Been a while since I had a human fuck doll." Before he could spit out another sentence, Shepard kicked him in the mouth, her armored boot cracking several of his thin teeth. The batarian fell to the ground in a heap, choking on his own teeth as Shepard raised her foot, stomping on his head. Shepard stomped on his head over and over, her face a mask of fury.
Liara put a hand on Shepard's arm, causing the human to stop her frenzied assault. The batarian was somehow still alive, his face a deformed mass of swollen and broken tissue. Shepard turned and faced Liara, her emotions close to the breaking point. Liara placed a soothing hand on Shepard's face, stroking her cheek lovingly. Shepard turned to Wrex. "Pick him up. I want him alive. We take him back to the Citadel where the Alliance can pick him up and try him for his crimes." Shepard walked over to retrieve her pistol, crushing the detonator the batarian had held as she walked by it. Shepard keyed her comms and gave the all clear, Garrus jumping down from his post to meet up with her.
Tali had finished clearing out the explosives and was on her way to meet Shepard when she saw a door open, and a group of survivors come walking out. She quickly alerted Shepard and went to work, checking them for wounds. Shepard arrived a moment later and began talking with the woman in charge. It looked like everyone was accounted for aside from a few technicians. After making sure everyone was alright, and that nothing more was needed from her, she left the compound, heading for the mako.
Everyone was quick to join her and she made the quick trip back to the first two compounds to pick up Ashley and Kaidan. The colony on Terra Nova was secure, and Shepard had killed most everyone responsible for the attack. There only remained one loose end, and he would be off of Shepard's hands as soon as they could make it to the Citadel.
As everyone poured out of the mako back in the hangar bay, they peeled off their armor, save for Wrex, who was carrying a beaten and broken Balak to the brig. Shepard dismissed everyone and made her way to the showers. Once inside, she locked the door and collapsed on the floor under the sonic scrubbers crying. She cried for what felt like ages, her fears of losing Liara due to her actions on the asteroid consuming her whole.
Liara stood on the other side of the door, listening as Shepard broke down. Her heart ached for the human, but she was still disturbed by what she had seen down on the asteroid. She resolved to get to the bottom of what was going on tonight, whether Shepard wanted to discuss it or not. Liara made her way back to their shared quarters and changed into some sleepwear while she had the room to herself.
It took a while, but finally Shepard appeared in the room, her eyes red from crying. Liara waited, sitting on the bed until Shepard approached, sitting on her side of the bed and curling up into a ball, burying her face in her knees. She was exhausted, but knew that Liara was not going to sleep until she understood what had happened on the asteroid. "Liara, what I am about to share with you, I have never told anyone. Not even the navy shrinks with the Alliance. Not even my own mother. Meld with me, and I will show you what really happened on Mindoir."
Liara hesitantly scooted across the bed, wrapping a protective arm around Shepard and pulling her into her chest. Instead of rushing into the meld, she stroked Shepard's face gently, trying to ease the human's troubled emotions. After a few minutes of loving attention, Shepard uncurled slowly, wrapping her arms around Liara's middle, her grip nearly crushing the asari. Eventually she relaxed a little more, her grip loosening a bit around Liara. Liara finally felt out with her mind, latching on to Shepard's and diving into a shallow meld. Shepard started off with showing images of her life on Mindoir, her little sister and her father growing up on the frontier world. The images showed a wonderful life, in a happy home as she grew through the years.
The images slowly changed, the sky growing dark with the shadow of a ship passing overhead. People were screaming, running to their homes. Shepard's father hid his two daughters under the sink in a cabinet. Batarians came bursting through the door, her father being held at gunpoint. The batarians were barking in their guttural tongue. As they struck her father, her younger sibling let out a soft sob. The batarians had heard it, sweeping the room they eventually found the pair.
The images became darker, more evil as Shepard's mind replayed events in a level of detail that deeply troubled Liara. Suddenly her sister and father had knives to their throats. The batarians used Shepard as a plaything, passing her around. Once each batarian had their turn, Shepard was dropped to the floor, a sobbing mess as she curled up in the fetal position. She watched in horror as the batarians slit her father's throat after forcing him to watch what they did to his oldest daughter. Shepard had let out a mournful wail, her younger sister suffering the same fate as her father.
Shepard was filled with a terrible rage as she watched her family die, her latent biotic power sparking to life as her emotions surged through her body. With a great rush of power, the batarians were thrown across the house, their broken bodies sliding to a halt on the ground. Shepard picked up a pistol left abandoned on the floor and walked out of her house, the pistol spitting out round after round as she killed the retreating batarians. The batarians mounted a sloppy defense, turning to slay the younger Shepard. Her biotics were running rampant, her body arcing against the ground in blue bolts. Five batarians had formed up to kill her, and five bodies hit the ground, twisted and deformed by raw biotic power. Shepard saw no more of the monsters and sat on the ground.
It was hours later that the Alliance navy showed up. The first ship to arrive was the SSV Einstein, the ship her mother served on. The navy doctors had treated her wounds and fitted her with an implant to control her biotics. The doctors listed off a number of injuries to her, laceration this, bruising that. Shepard could barely hear them speaking, withdrawn into her own mind as she was, where it was safe. The doctors asked for permission to inform her mother. Shepard refused, and the doctors were bound by law to keep quiet when questioned by the woman.
Very slowly, Liara withdrew from Shepard's mind only to find herself quietly crying. Her heart felt like it was being crushed within her chest and she could barely breathe. Shepard was softly shaking, and Liara hugged her closer, crushing her to her chest. She slowly pulled the covers over Shepard and did her best to soothe her. After what seemed like hours, Shepard drifted off to sleep, completely exhausted, both physically and emotionally. Shepard didn't wake when Liara slipped out of bed and left the room. In the morning, she would discover that Balak was more wounded than he had appeared on the asteroid. He had not survived the night.