Samara was meditating. She had been left alone in a small room of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. She was having the vision again. Again, she could see Shepard lying on the ground. The shadowy presences were still around her. If they would only move closer to her, she would be able to see them, to warn Shepard about the threat...
There was a knock on the door behind her, bringing her back to reality.
Samara breathed deeply to clear her head and called out. "It is open."
Master Oteg walked in, looking at the Asari. "I apologize for the interruption. You have been requested to talk to the Republic's council."
Samara rose to her feet, cocking her head in surprise. "Council?" she asked the small green alien.
"There's at least two important councils," Oteg told her. "You've met the council of the Jedi Masters. This is actually the other one, the council of the Supreme Chancellor, a collection of senators from a few of the planets in the Republic."
Samara looked at him in confusion. "They want to talk to me?"
"Yes, and they wouldn't tell me why," Oteg said. "That alone would be somewhat suspicious. But they asked for the Asari, Samara." He looked up at her. "We did not advise them of your presence by your request."
"Ah, so the question is: How did they learn about me," she stated. Oteg nodded. "Only one way to learn."
The chamber she was led to was not unlike, well, the Council Chamber of the citadel. If more, well, down to earth. There were three podiums There was a pair of tables in front of those podiums, and several seats in back of those tables.
Oteg pointed to the front table, as others filed into the room. Samara took one of the seats, Oteg looked like he was about to take the other, but instead climbed onto the table, sitting on top of it. It had the effect of making his head and Samara's roughly even.
Three people, two humans and a Twi'lek, walked into the room, and stood at the podiums. The quiet muttering that had been building in the room quieted.
"You are the Asari Samara, former crew member of Captain Shepard of the Normandy," the male human said. "Is that correct?"
Samara glanced at Oteg. "Can they understand me?" she asked.
"We can understand you perfectly, Samara," the Twi'lek told her.
Samara nodded. "Then, yes. That is correct. I was the companion of Commander Shepard, of the Alliance Navy."
The three councilors glanced at each other. "General Garza, where is the other?"
A grey haired woman, snappily dressed in a decorated military waled forward, taking a seat in the other table. "He is... there, actually."
Samara turned to take an open look over her shoulder. Many of the aliens of this universe were unfamiliar to her, but she knew a Batarian when see saw one.
"You are Captain Necklik, of the Batarian Hegemony, correct?" the female asked.
The Batarian affirmed this.
"You have testified to the destruction of a solar object known as a Mass Relay in the Batarian System of Bahak. You believe, and Shepard has confirmed by holo, that the crew of the Normandy was responsible for the destruction."
He affirmed that, too.
The councilors shifted their gaze to Samara. "Can you please explain what happened, in your own words, Padawan Samara?"
Samara gave as much detail as Shepard had given her. That she had gone to rescue a friend of hers, Dr. Kensen, who had been captured by the Batarians. Shepard had known she had been investigating a potential Reaper artifact. The truth was worse, they had discovered a potential entry point for the Reapers into the civilized galaxy."
"Excuse me," The male human asked. "What are Reapers?"
"Sentient Artificial Intelligences. They exist on platforms of Capital Ships. Every fifty thousand years, they come to harvest all sufficiently advanced organic life in our galaxy."
The Batarian gave an aggravated snort.
"Do you have evidence that these Reapers exist?" the Twi'lek asked.
"One attacked the citadel, about two and half years ago," Samara said. "Commander Shepard led a team that fought off the troops it deposited as ground forces. I watched as others fought through a derelict one. It was like no ship I had ever seen." Samara's eyes bored into the Twi'lek's as she spoke.
"But a fleet of them?" the Batarian protested. The councilors shot him a glance, and he stilled again.
"The ones who attempted to take over the citadel did so for a reason. The Collectors attacked us for a reason," Samara said, calmly without acknowledging the interruption. "I believe that, yes, there is a fleet of them. And they are coming, though maybe not here." She paused to gather her thoughts for a moment. "Shepard has my trust. She has earned it. If she says they are coming, then she has no doubt in her mind that they are coming. If she says that destroying the relay in Bahak was the only way, then it was the only way."
Samara turned to the Batarian. "No matter what you think of humans, or of the other council races, know this. Shepard would not throw a single life away needlessly. Let alone three hundred thousand."
The Batarian folded his arms, his four eyes appearing angry and sullen.
"We thank you for your testimony in this matter," the male human said. "There is another matter which we wish to show the both of you." He gave a signal of some kind, and the lights in the room darkened. On a video screen to one side, there was an image taken of a body on Voss.
Samara recognized it instantly. It was a husk. It may not have been the husk of a human, but it was still a husk. The implication was obvious. There was a Reaper – a living Reaper – somewhere in this galaxy.
"That is one of the things that fought alongside the Geth at the battle for the citadel. I believe," the Batarian said, still sullen. "The Asari would know more about that than I would."
"I would. That is a husk. Husks were human," she frowned and backed up. "They were organic once. They had their blood drained, replaced with a technology that I certainly do not understand. They serve the reapers. Where did it come from?"
"It was found on Voss. It is shaped like a Gormak." The councilor turned to the Batarian. "What do you say to this, Captain Necklick?"
"I admit... I am not sure," The Batarian sounded flustered. "I've never personally seen one of those. Not like this."
"A single Reaper is a nightmare," Samara said, quietly. "Just being near them, in contact with them, can make you hallucinate. You can hear things in your mind, and the end result is a madness. You look upon the Reapers as some sort of deity, and work to further their goals." Samara looked at the councilors, at the horrified looks in their faces. "The Reapers need to be stopped. At any cost."
"You can't actually believe that, Asari," Captain Necklik complained. "That's insane."
Samara's voice was tinged with frost when she replied. "I believe it, Batarian. Every single word."
The councilors looked at the military woman. The Twi'lek clearly looked upset. "Now, it's your turn. Just not in front of our guests. Garza."
Samara took the cue, stood, and walked toward the exit. Oteg jumped down to walk along side her. As they left, the Batarian tapped Samara on the shoulder. His four eyes bored into hers. "I will not forgive this. Three hundred thousand Batarians died for your Commander's lies and betrayals."
Samara took a deep breath. She could feel Oteg's grip on her hand. There was no passion... "Justicars do not lie, Captain." she told him, turning and walking back toward the exit of the government building.
Grunt looked up in his cage as two of the green, pig like humans came toward the cells. A third, actual human, had the prisoners covered with a rifle. He went for the furred one.
The furred one gave a howl that was nothing like Grunt had ever heard before. He stood, putting his hands casually behind his head, walking calmly for the exit.
A minute later, the two greenskins returned for another. This time, Grunt's cage was opened, and he was escorted, firmly, to the arena preparation room. The furred one was not there.
He was excited for the coming combat. There was some feelings of anger, since this combat was not real. However, he had decided there was purpose, if not the way his battlemaster wanted. He could prove Krogan superior to all comers. He retrieved the rifle he had used before, the side arm as a back up weapon. He would prove this to any who would bear witness.
The door opened to the arena. There were barriers this time. The arena had been set up with cover in mind. On the far side, he could make out the furred one, he held something that resembled a large crossbow in his powerful arms.
What? He was to be fighting a fellow combatant?
Grunt strode forward, then plastered himself behind cover. The crossbow was an energy weapon, and the furred thing was firing at him.
There was no glory in this. A thought struck him. There was still a way to find glory. He stood, drawing the rifle off his back, holding it in front of him. He dropped it to the ground below.
The furred one looked at him. He thought it looked curious. It definitely had stopped firing. The crowd around the arena was silent and unsure. They didn't know what was to come next, but it wasn't what they were expecting.
He pounded his right fist into his open palm three times.
The furred creature let out a roar, threw its crossbow on the ground, and charged Grunt.
Grunt released his own blood furious roar and charged to meet him.
The initial impact went Grunt's way. His armored forehead was built for such charges, and the furred creature's body was not designed to take it. Grunt gave him credit, though. He shook himself and grabbed for Grunts leg, pulling him down.
The ensuing tussle went on for several minutes. Grunt was dimly aware of the massive cheering of the crowd.
He was much more aware of the limbs and grappling moves by the furry creature. It was physically stronger than Grunt. He was willing to give him that. Krogan, on the other hand, knew how to be hurt. Krogan knew how to be hurt with the best of them. Grunt was the perfect Krogan.
Punches, kicks, throws. The fighting was vicious, and Grunt loved every moment of it.
When he finally was forced to disengage, both Grunt and the furred creature lay on the sands. Beaten. In pain. Alive.
There was a tension in the air. They were waiting.
Grunt clambered to his feet, looking around. Was there to be another fight?
Instantly, there was an extremely loud cheer. This confused him. He could here a pained chuckling from next to him.
He looked down, the furred thing was laughing. He was in pain, but looked pleased. Grunt reached down and helped the furred thing to his feet. More cheers and applause.
The guards came to escort them back to their cells.
When they returned, both Grunt and the furred thing were held in some kind of awe. Both were left to heal. Grunt appreciated the quiet. Both Grunt and the furred one were given a kind of respect from the other inmates.
The boredom would come. First he needed to heal.
Hyperspace took a lot longer than a true Mass Effect jump.
A lot longer.
Rather than simply sleep the time away, Shepard spent some time updating the record of the journey so far. The she went around, as she liked to do, to talk to the members of the crew that were not specialists.
The morale of the crew was surprisingly positive. Mess Sergeant Gardner summed up their feelings as this, "Ma'am. Commander, I mean. You have pulled us out of hell. Twice now, you have rescued us from certain death. We will all go home. We trust that."
It was hard to not be cheered by that.
That meant her next stop was Mordin. Maybe he would have some kind of update.
Tali was in there with him, and they were busily dissecting the laser pistol they'd gotten from the Imperials on Hoth.
"Hm. Understood. Unusual crystal formation. Ability to focus energy to small point. Tremendous power capability."
"Agreed," Tali told him. "I'm not sure how it holds up over distance though."
"No cure for physics," Mordin agreed. "But new designs for superconductors." He paused. "Ultraconductors! Stores heat. Releases energy instantaneously. Almost no waste. Fascinating!"
Tali's faceplate bobbed up and down excitedly. "These ultraconductors could make our own FTL more efficient, let us travel further without having to discharge the cores."
"Is this a good time?" Shepard asked, grinning.
"What's up, Shepard?" Tali asked, turning towards her.
"I'm glad we got something out of that frozen ball of ice," Shepard told them. "Has there been any progress about figuring out how we got here?" she asked.
"Afraid not," Tali told her. "We really don't have anything to go on. All of EDI's sensors were offline during the incident. The only readings we have is a sudden surge of power that overloaded almost all electronics on the ship simultaneous."
"So much power. Could have been a weapon," Mordin said. "Weapon could hit in Mass Effect Field?" He paused. "Trap? Mass effect paths: linear. Follow same path each time."
Shepard frowned. "That would suggest the Batarians."
Mordin looked thoughtful for a second. "Maybe. Knew trap was set, but not which fish?" He frowned. "Unlikely. Idea tech seems beyond anything seen. Would suggest Reapers. Way to get us out of system?"
That was an unpleasant thought. Soverign had been the only known Reaper in civilized space...
"You don't think Object Rho was a trap for you?" Tali asked. "The reapers seem almost irrationally scared of you. That with us kicked out of the Milky Way, they'd have a free run on Earth."
"I'm just one soldier. The Normandy's more special than I am."
Tali and Mordin exchanged a look.
"She actually believes that," Tali said.
Mordin smirked. "Consider: Personal acquaintance with Quarrian Admiralty board. Spectre, known by council. Personal friend of strongest Krogan Warlord. Initiated cordial contact with Geth Collective!" Mordin snorted. "Just one soldier. Hmph."
"Well," Shepard said, blushing slightly. "When you put it down like that."
"Took down Saren, took down Collectors. Things come in threes."
Shepard laughed. She had to. "Ok! Ok! I get it. The Reapers want me. Personally."
"And the Ultraconductors."
It appeared Mordin and Tali were chomping at the bit to go back to their research, so she let them on it.
"I'll let you work."
"Of course," Mordin told her. "Will be here if you need me."
Her next stop was the armory.
She passed the comm room, and stood in the doorway. She could see Jacob and Kelly standing in front of a target. It was a holographic copy of a collector. EDI's work, probably.
Shepard watched, as Jacob moved Kelly's hands slowly. The yeoman's body was still trembling. She could almost see the fear in her eyes. As Shepard watched, Kelly's entire body tensed and she fired five shots from the Pistol into the target wall. EDI helpfully marked where the bullets had struck with red highlights.
Shepard imagined it to be therapeutic. Shooter style games, some featuring actual guns, had been popular for centuries. It was considered a reasonable way to burn off anger. The military had even commissioned some simulations that included player interactions as a way to train young officers how to diffuse touchy simulations. And how to make sure they had cover when such negotiations went badly, but there you had it.
The technique was good, Kelly had too good of a teacher for it to be anything else. She took a deep breath, still holding it in her hand. After a few seconds, she removed the thermal clip, putting the now unloaded gun on the table to her side.
Only when she had done had all that, did she notice Shepard standing to the side. She froze momentarily, giving the holographic target a nervous glance.
Shepard walked fully into the room, "Good, obeying the first rule of gun safety. The weapon is always loaded. Even if you know it is unloaded." She pointed at the pistol, with the empty thermal clip holder. That is the only time a weapon is unloaded, when you do it yourself."
Kelly nodded. "I told you someone was watching us," she told Jacob quietly.
She walked over, and looked at the hologram. The clustering was passable, maybe even good. That wasn't really the point though."You're still seeing them, aren't you?" Shepard asked. It was a guess, but an educated guess.
Kelly flinched and closed her eyes. Shepard had apparently struck a nerve.
Jacob winced, and put his hand on Kelly's shoulder to reassure her.
Shepard felt uncomfortable, and looked around.
"I do. Still do. Not knowing their names. Just their faces. I was taught that one million was a statistic, but I see one million faces, all crying for help. Then melting away," Kelly said. She looked up, making eye contact. "One of those faces is my own. It's only been worse since we've come here. I swear they are trying to tell me something. That sounds crazy, doesn't it? I'm trying to tell myself something?"
Shepard studied at her. The collector base was Reaper technology. "You haven't been hearing any other kinds of voices, have you?" she asked, unable to keep the worry out of her voice.
"I... I don't think I've started being indoctrinated," she replied, though her eyes were wide. "But, how could I even tell? I'm not seeing anything, I'm not hearing voices. Just that one repeated dream."
"I don't know," admitted Shepard. "I'd been knocked out for days near Object Rho, a Reaper artifact that had clearly indoctrinated the rest of that Science Team. I think I'm safe too. I've not seen anything either." Even as she said that, she had the sudden feeling of being watched.
"I'm going to have to ask you to stop," Jacob put in. "You both are giving me the creeps."
She pushed past that. "The important question is, does this help?
Kelly nodded.
"I was thinking of what you said. Words are going to be important in fighting the Reapers. Our galaxy is filled with diverging interests. It is going to take words to get them all moving in the same direction."
"Words can't protect people from the Reapers," Kelly said in a small voice. "They cannot be explained, they cannot be reasoned with. That's what you keep saying. I don't want to do this. I have to."
Shepard nodded. "If you are sure. Have you tried anything other than a pistol yet? She asked.
"Not yet," Jacob told her. "I wanted her to establish at least a reasonable accuracy with the pistol first." He looked over to the holographic Collector. "I'd say that covers it."
Shepard looked at Kelly. She didn't want an impersonal weapon that dealt rapid death, she wasn't sure if she could handle it. It took a good amount of training to use a sniper rifle.
"I'd say so," Shepard agreed. "Let's see if she can handle a shotgun. Short range compared to the others, but it's the best way of discouraging a husk from gnawing on one's face." She turned back to Kelly. "I'll stay, help you practice."
She would tell Kasumi to stop spying on Jacob later.
Jack still held onto her light stick. Darth had either forgotten to take it from her, or considered her to broken to matter.
He was about to get a final lesson on that score.
As soon as she'd closed the door behind her she struck, drawing on that primal well of energy that she had been taught to use. She poured her fear, that fear of what was to become of the kids into that lightning. It flashed through the air with a purple tint, arcing its way toward Darth.
Darth must have felt it coming, for he rolled out of the way exactly as she started firing. He stared at her with his red pinprick eyes. His own light stick extended into life with a steady hum.
"That was a mistake," he told her. His voice was flat and emotionless, masking the tranquil fury she could feel inside the words. It reminded her of an Elcor. A very upset Elcor that she had just failed to take by surprise.
He leaped towards her, slashing down the air. With an instinct she didn't fully understand, Jack's extended her light sword, parrying the blade, forcing Darth to land awkwardly. The swords did not cut through each other, and gave off grating sparks, the heat threatening to overwhelm her.
He licked at the air, snake like, and stared at her again. "You still fear. It is even stronger now."
"I found something better to fear than you," Jack snarled, and slammed him with biotics. He flew backward the few feet it took for him to hit a wall. She charged, fully intent on putting an end to him with a single stab to the heart he might or might not have.
He dodged again, and lightning flew towards Jack.
Jack responded in kind, and red and purple lightning danced in the middle of the room in a sickeningly beautiful spectrum of death.
Hatred and disgust poured from both of them in waves. "Arrogant little girl. You will not live to respect your betters."
Jack did not respond. The mental image of the grey eyes had intruded on her vision. They were begging for help. It was time to deliver. "Come get some, then," she told him.
Enraged further, he leaped again, moving faster than Jack had seen anyone move. But she had felt it, again, on some instinctual level she did had tapped into. She spun, almost in place, elegantly avoiding Darth's laser blade. Her own narrowly missed passing through his leg.
He tumbled to the ground, and Jack pounced, her hands grappling his robes. She focused on the pain of Pragia, of the Cerberus "training", of the torture Darth inflicted on her, the future pain they would inflict on children, and she redirected it all towards him.
He screamed in mortal agony, convulsing on the ground.
As soon as the lightning stopped, Jack pierced his chest, sending it clean out the other side. The smell of burnt flesh was strong. The galaxy would be a cleaner place without this filth. With a hiss, his light stick fell from hand, extinguishing itself. Jack picked it up without a second thought, tucking both of them into her belt, the metal cool against her skin.
She had to act quickly. She pushed through the door into his personal chamber. She wanted to loot the place, but she did not have time for that. Her eyes lit on a familiar metal figure. "You. Geth," said.
"You? Here? Where is..." it said. The silver robotic eyes lit up, focused on Jack.
Jack fists began to glow with biotic energy, and it fell silent.
"He's dead. You work for me now," Jack said, her tone still simmering. "Or I compress you into a computer disk."
The robot's eyes brightened momentarily. "Ye... yes. Mistress," it simpered.
"Does Darth still have access to that personal ship he picked me up in?"
"I.." it sounded confused. "Rael? Yes."
"Retrieve anything needed to access it. And my shotgun, if it's still here" Jack ordered. "Then follow me."
"I... I get in by interfacing with the door directly."
Jack shot it a look that spoke volumes. It silenced its circuits, and went to a drawer. Opening it, it retrieved Jack's shotgun silently, handing it over to Jack meekly and obediently followed her. It looked at the mess that was Darth Rael and kept moving.
The children were still in the entrance corridor. The bald one with the pale white skin looked up a Jack, cringing.
Jack wanted to say something comforting, as weird as that felt to her. She could feel the child's fear, and it was almost palpable. Jack crouched, and met the child's eyes with her own. "It's going to be ok. Going to get you out of here."
The child flinched again, clearly expecting Jack to strike her. When Jack didn't, she stared back up at her a sign of incomprehension on her face.
Jack frowned. Fine. "Tell those kids that they're coming with us. Hope you can move quick."
The robot's eyelights flashed again, and it did as it was ordered. The children looked up to her, a mixture of fear and curiosity, mostly fear.
"Alright. Let's go. Before anyone realizes we're not sticking around."
It always kind of amazed Jack how much you could get away with if you looked like you knew exactly what you were doing. They made it through to the spaceport without anyone so much as batting an eye.
That came to an end as the robot was accessing the ship's hangar. Jack threw up a personal barrier, pulled out her shotgun and knelt to steady her aim. "Get those kids in the ship and get ready to take off!" she ordered.
There were screams of terror, she was used to those. She sighted down towards the entrance to the starport and fired. The shotgun spit out mass effect sped death towards the two uniforms, who were forced to seek cover. An energy blast tickled her barrier, and Jack grunted from the effort in keeping it from collapsing.
She felt something behind her. One of the kids, the blue skinned one with the red eyes and huddled against her, using her as cover against the energy blasts. "Blast it kid, go!" The rest of them were on board, so Jack did the only thing she could do. She focused her biotics in creating a bigger barrier, grabbed the kid, and took off to the ship.
She heard reinforcements coming, the unmistakable sound of energy swords powering up. "Shut the door and get us out of here!"
Jack's luck held. They'd gotten out of there fast enough that any starship defenses they had here weren't yet online, or at least didn't know to fire at them.
"Get us out of the atmosphere and jump us out of here, robot!" she shouted.
The acceleration threw her against a bulkhead. The children had found seats and were holding on for dear life. Each one of them had a face masked by pure terror.
Jack made her way up to the front of the ship, where the droid had parked itself in a pilot's chair. Joker he wasn't.
"Where do you want to go today, mistress?" it asked her.
Jack was fully aware they'd be scrambling ships to follow her. Any group willing to train followers by torturing them would not hesitate to fire on a ship full of kids. "Anywhere!" Jack shouted. Just get us out of here!"
Jack scanned the sky for signs of a mass relay, but was shocked to see stars lengthen to starlines, replaced by a mottled starscape. She had to grip hard onto the chair in front of her to keep her from being thrown again.
The robot must have seen Jack's surprised look. "Master Rael had a few emergency hyperspace routes programmed in case he had to get off planet quickly."
Actually, Jack wanted to ask how they hit this kind of faster than light speed without a Mass relay. But she wasn't choosy. She was safe, for the moment. So were the kids. When she woke up, she'd figure out what to do next. Right now, all she wanted was a place to sleep.
