A/N: This is the last chapter describing the "war years" of Syrila's life. I have planned at least two more chapters from this time period, but they will be told later, non-chronologically, when appropriate.
At this point, I'd like to thank all the people who've read this story so far and especially those who reviewed.
I did not have any experience with writing a story this long and knowing that you guys read it (and hopefully enjoyed it) is a huge reward and motivation for me to keep it going.
Thanks! :-)
Aru System, 1321 CE
The rest of the turian second fleet finished its relay transit and assumed a battle formation against the asari forces. Their weapons were online, but not firing. The turian captain obviously honored the ultimatum given to Syrila, but they were not going to back down either.
To that end, the turian ships blockaded the system's mass relay, preventing Syrila's ships from escaping and any reinforcements from safely coming to them.
Syrila had confidence in the people under her command, but against a whole turian fleet, she did not like their chances too much and she kept nervously eyeing the communications console for any reply from the asari high-command.
It has been about an hour and a half into the ultimatum when a first significant development occurred.
"General, we are detecting volus defense ships leaving the perimeter of the Irune… heading this way!" one of her officers reported.
Syrila looked at the display and saw it herself. The volus did not possess a large fleet, but it was powerful enough to protect their home system and the few colonies they maintained.
Within a minute their ships began popping out of FTL right behind the systems mass relay and massing into a formation.
Syrila cursed internally. She was afraid that the turians might request assistance from their volus allies and it seemed that this was exactly what happened.
If the odds were against them before, the situation was outright hopeless now.
"Change our formation to match the new forces, now!" Syrila quickly gave orders. "And send a new message to Thessia about this. Tell them that we are about to be overrun by…"
She did not finish that sentence as her first officer, colonel Noius, pointed at the tactical display in excitement.
"General, look! The volus are assuming a formation against the turian ships!"
"What?" Syrila asked in surprise as she looked at the display herself, but the colonel was right. The volus had their line of fire pointed at the turian fleet.
She did not have to ponder the mystery for long because at that moment, they received a transmission from the lead volus vessel.
"This is first minister Var of the Vol Protectorate…" the transmitted voice of the volus echoed on the bridge of Athame's shield.
Syrila's navigation officer, lieutenant Suane Dante, visibly jerked at hearing it.
"… in accordance with the interstellar agreements, we come to assist our Citadel allies against these deserters" he announced.
Syrila was curious on how they arrived at such interpretation of the situation, but she was certainly not going to complain. Besides, the turian fleet was currently acting in violation of the treaties signed by their own government which technically made them deserters.
"This is general T'Vani… thank you first minister, the assistance of the Vol Protectorate is greatly appreciated" she returned the official greeting.
"What is your status, general T'Vani? Are all your officers at full health?" he asked her with a worry audible in his voice.
The question caused confusion among some of Syrila's officers who did not catch its hidden meaning, but Syrila and lieutenant Dante shared a knowing look.
"We are fine for the moment, minister. My entire senior staff is well and present" she informed him in reassuring voice.
"Oh… good" he said with relief before closing the channel.
Afterwards, Syrila ordered her fleet to coordinate with the volus vessels.
The arrival of these unexpected reinforcements forced the turians into a more defensive formation, driving them away from the mass relay and ending their blockade. They were still blocking her escape vectors though.
Syrila advised the high-command of the new situation and repeated her request for immediate assistance. She also tried contacting the now outnumbered turian captain so she could urge him to withdraw his forces peacefully, but no answer came. Neither did they power down their weapons.
Instead, the turians called for their own reinforcements.
The relief she felt after the arrival of the volus was short-lived, because now the situation threatened to spill into an even larger blood bath the moment their respective reinforcements would arrive and clash together…
Total war with the turians would then be inevitable.
Fortunately, after Syrila reported the new development to her superiors, it has been merely an hour until her communications officer reported an incoming live transmission from Thessia.
"Ma'am… it has a zero-one level classification" she reported. "Commander-in-chief only"
Syrila knew what that meant. Matriarch's assembly. She nodded and went in the direction of her office, praying that the transmission would present her with a solution to their current situation, preferably in the form of an asari fleet or two.
Once in her office, she activated her private terminal, indicating her communications officer to patch the transmission to her.
A face of an asari matriarch appeared on the display. The one matriarch that Syrila has been thinking the most of ever since this crisis began.
"Matriarch T'Soni" Syrila said in acknowledgement, bowing her head slightly.
"Is the channel secure on your end, general T'Vani?" her mother asked her in business-like voice.
Syrila knew that her mother did not refer to a standard level of military security and so she pushed few buttons on her terminal, activating the security protocols specifically designed for the purpose of hiding her identity.
"It is, matriarch… she said when she was done. "What about your end?"
"Naturally…" her mother answered. "Although there is no need for secrecy among family"
Syrila smiled as they successfully exchanged their secret passphrases.
"Hello mother"
"It is good to hear your voice again, my daughter" Amalia T'Soni said in much gentler voice now. "I just wish it was under better circumstances" she said.
At that moment, she looked more tired than how Syrila ever saw her before.
"What is your current status? Did the volus intervention defuse the situation?" her mother asked her.
Syrila had her suspicions that the sudden appearance of the volus was the work of the matriarchs and she smiled as that suspicion was now confirmed.
"Yes… the turians regrouped in a defensive formation and we detected their calls for reinforcements" Syrila informed her.
"They did not withdraw their ultimatum though"
Her mother frowned. "Then it seems we have no time to loose"
"The matriarch assembly has been discussing your report without pause for over 12 hours. Longest continuous session in our history. You just made a record" she informed her daughter, although there was no trace of humor in her voice.
"What have you decided?" Syrila asked.
"In the short term… we are sending the sixth fleet to cover you against the turians"
Syrila smiled. The asari sixth fleet contained several dreadnoughts. As a result, it had the most firepower in the entire asari navy. Knowing that it was coming to their aid was a huge relieve for Syrila.
"That said…" her mother continued. "We have decided that we are not ready, or willing, to go to a new war with the turians"
Syrila was silent for a moment.
"You want me to let them go, don't you?" Syrila said in quiet voice, barely containing emotions.
"We do…"
"Damn it mother! Haven't you read what they did? They screwed up everything we thought for! We can't just let this go!" she protested.
Her mother had a sympathetic expression. "Please Syrila. I understand how you feel, but let me explain our position" she pleaded with her.
Syrila was fuming with anger, but she obeyed. "I am listening"
Her mother sighed. "If it were only turians, we would have more options open to us… but unfortunately, this conspiracy goes far beyond the Hierarchy"
"What do you mean?" Syrila asked.
"We have been betrayed on multiple fronts. The turian second fleet did the work, but they had help. Elements all over the council space were involved… for example, it seems that an entire salarian clan secretly cooperated with the turian agents on this"
"Let me guess… clan Linron" Syrila sneered. The dalatrass of their clan has been advocating similar extreme solution to the krogan problem from the day one.
"Indeed" her mother confirmed ominously. "But it goes deeper… I am ashamed to admit that even our own people were involved" she said and grew furious.
"Even a matriarch from our inner circle heard of this some time ago. But instead of alerting us, she was sympathetic to their cause. She used her influence to enable the turians to silently deploy the bioweapon on Thessia and our colonies" her mother recounted.
Syrila was in shock. "I don't believe this? Which one?" she asked.
Her mother turned her head. "It doesn't matter. She won't be alive for much longer" her mother said in deadly serious voice and Syrila nodded in grim understanding.
"In time, we can deal with all the traitors… but I am afraid that still leaves the effects of their treachery" the matriarch said. "That is something we may never be able to heal"
Syrila was about to protest that they had to try, but her mother interrupted her.
"Let's examine our options…" she said.
"Let's say that we take the turians to the citadel and accuse them of committing genocide…"
Syrila nodded. "Yes, let's do that!"
"Then our alliance with the turians will be ruined…" her mother told her. "We can be certain that majority of their military leadership will actually agree with what happened… they did not want the armistice treaty in the first place. They might even go to war with us if we make a big issue of it"
"As for the krogan… after they'll learn of this, the armistice will be dead. They will attack us with all they have left. The truth is that we need the turians as friendly as possible to survive the next few years"
"But we can help them! Undo the genetic damage!" Syrila offered an option.
"Yes, we can…" her mother conceded. "But to what an end? After this, they will never trust as again. Even if they allow us to cure them, they will still go to war with us afterwards.
"So what will happen? The war is going to start again?" Syrila asked in resignation.
"After they learn of this? Definitely. But first their population will murder their current leaders for allowing this to happen in the first place"
Syrila knew that her mother was probably right. The krogan had a history of violently deposing the leaders who have failed them. The current krogan government who negotiated the armistice will probably not survive the night. Not after the genophage becomes a public knowledge.
"The sad truth is…" her mother began to say. "…while the genophage was unnecessary before, now that it was deployed, it has become vital to our survival"
Syrila hated it with every fiber of her being, but she sensed she was right.
It was a bloody self-fulfilling prophecy. The krogan would never trust the citadel races again. She still remembered what happened on the Asteroid R47. How their enemy honored their word even when it meant their capture.
A given word was everything to them…
By violating the conventions and deploying the genophage on them, the other races would have lost all the credibility in the krogan eyes. It won't matter to them that there was conspiracy, plotting and elements playing against each other… they will not care about such fine details.
"But even if we do nothing… the council will still be implicated for this, won't it?" Syrila asked afterwards. She doubted that the average citizen would believe their innocence.
"Officially, the council is going to condemn the hierarchy's actions" her mother replied. "We will then convince the turians to write this off as an independent action done by a few malcontents in their military"
Syrila was not so sure of that. "Do you really think that they will throw their own people overboard for this?"
Amalia shrugged. "They will if they still want the seat on the council" she said and Syrila nodded in understanding. "I see… so we are going to present this as some sort of unfortunate accident?" she asked sarcastically.
"Precisely" Amalia said, ignoring her daughter's sarcasm. "We will then publically offer our full assistance to the krogan… but only if they still agree to follow the armistice terms"
Syrila snorted. "Which they will refuse, of course… they will attack us immediately"
"Yes, but we will then be able to transfer some of the blame over to them" Amalia explained. "Show the public that even under the horrible circumstances, we did maximum to maintain the peace"
Syrila looked at her in astonishment. She was half tempted to close the channel in anger and order that fire be opened on the turian fleet while they still held the upper ground over them.
Then the council would have another war on their hands, whether they wanted it or not.
But she was also painfully aware that they really could not afford another war. Not so soon. Not after the last one nearly broke the asari alliance with the salarians.
The other member of the council would probably not let themselves be dragged into a war with the turians. Certainly not over the genocide of the krogan.
No. They would make the pragmatic decision and withdraw from the council, leaving the asari to deal with their own mess.
There really was no way out of this other than let the turians get away with genocide and the krogan to take the fall for it.
Still, it didn't mean that she had to like it.
"I suppose that it is pointless to remind you that the Matriarch's Assembly has no official authority to give me instructions" Syrila pointed out half-jokingly.
Her mother smiled. "Please, Syrila… you know how things work with us. You will receive these exact orders from the high-command immediately after this conversation"
Syrila snorted in resignation. "Right"
Seeing that she could not do anything to punish the turians for their actions, she switched to a topic that weighted on her mind much more than the fate of the krogan.
"Mother… have you and your friends considered what the krogan will do to the asari and salarian POWs once they learn that we betrayed them?"
Her mother's face turned even more serious than before.
"They will kill them all… they will kill Atala!" Syrila told her, using a sheer willpower to stop herself from crying at what she just said.
Like her younger sister, Atala T'Soni joined the war all those years ago right after it started. However, unlike Syrila, she opted for a non-combatant work, using her law degree to work as a filing clerk, taking responsibility for shipping of supplies all over the theatre of war.
She worked far behind the frontlines and everyone thought that that would keep her save…
They were wrong.
Two years ago, the krogan conducted a surprise raid on a supply depo where she just happened to be located at the time.
Atala T'Soni, along with number of other asari was captured and became a prisoner of war. As far as Syrila knew, her sister was detained in one of the POW camps on Tuchanka.
Syrila was deeply worried about her ever since. She would secretly write her letters and sent her packages as often as was permitted. She knew that her mother and her oldest sister did the same.
If she was worried for her in the past, in light of the recent development, she was practically desperate.
"I will use all my remaining contacts on Tuchanka to make sure that she is protected and extracted if need be" her mother tried to calm her.
"But you are right… we have discussed the fate of our POWs" she confirmed.
"In fact, that shall be your main goal from now on, Syrila… get them out" her mother told her.
"Get them out as fast as you can"
Syrila immediately agreed. She thought that the reasons she joined this war were completely twisted in the last few hours, but when it really came down to it, they were still the same – protect Thessia, protect her people.
It was too late to save the krogan, but goddess be her witness, she would protect her people.
Right after finishing the conversation with her mother, Syrila received her official orders from the asari high-command just as expected.
She was not in habit of disobeying orders and so she went straight for the bridge.
"Inform the turian captain that we will be releasing the cargo ship and its crew in 30 minutes" she instructed them, much to everyone's shock that was perhaps mixed with relief at the possibility of avoiding the space combat. Despite their surprise, they all obeyed none the less.
After giving the orders to her crew, she went in the direction of the prison cells to personally arrange the release of the turians.
As she walked into the corridor outside their cells, she saw major Edatari dutifully guarding them.
Syrila remembered her pain at what they have done to her krogan bondmate. Her heart broke at the thought that she now had to release those responsible… unpunished.
As soon as they met each other's eyes, the captain knew something was wrong.
"They ordered you to let them go, didn't they?" she asked, her voice full of angst.
Syrila grimly nodded at her, unsurprised that she already knew. Word travelled fast even on a ship as big as Athame's shield.
"I am so sorry, Visema. There is nothing else I can do" Syrila tried to say in apology even though she knew that nothing she could say to her would make her feel any better.
"This is wrong, ma'am!" she exclaimed in anger.
Syrila smiled bitterly. "Utterly, completely wrong… but those are our orders"
Syrila moved to walk into the cell of the turian commander.
"You don't have to see this…" Syrila told her when she saw major Edatari dutifully following her inside.
"No, general. I think I need to look that bastard in his eyes one last time" she insisted and Syrila reluctantly nodded.
When they walked into the room, the turian general greeted them with the same cocky arrogant expression he always displayed in front of them.
"Coming to bore me once again, general T'Vani?" he asked her mockingly.
Syrila ignored his taunts. "You are being released. So are the members of your crew with the exception of one who requested an asylum on this ship" she informed him in a bureaucratic tone of voice.
He looked surprised for a moment but only for a moment. "So you have finally seen reason, general?" he smirked at her.
"The decision to release you was not of my will" she told him.
"Ah, so your superiors are making you do something you disagree with… I know that feeling all too well" he told her with a faked sympathy in his voice.
After that, he went into another rant how he believed that the eradication of the krogan would benefit Syrila's people as well as his.
At that major Edatari clenched her fist, her biotics flaring so wildly that for a moment, Syrila thought that she was really going to kill him for good this time.
She wouldn't blame her, but she could not let it happen.
Fortunately, the major did not attack him. She merely exchanged glances with Syrila and after receiving her silent permission she turned on the spot and stormed out of the room in anger.
This left Syrila and the turian alone in the room.
"Seems that she cannot handle the truth… or her emotions" he made a snide remark at major Edatari's behavior.
Syrila looked over to his gloating form. Then, she calmly walked over to the single camera and microphone that were monitoring the room and turned them off.
He was about to make another remark, but it died in his mouth because at that moment, Syrila made biotic flash step to him and grabbed him by his throat.
"Oh, how easy it would be…" she thought. One meld with her and he would never show his damn smug face to anyone ever again.
She knew that she could not do that for more reasons than one, but she was not about to just let him go unpunished.
There was a fear on his face for the first time since their capture as he watched Syrila's eyes turning black.
"Look into my eyes…" she commanded him through her Ardat-Yakshi powers of mental domination. He did look into her eyes and was captivated.
"You have done a great evil and you don't even see it… you are clouded by your hate and racism"
"I want you to see it…" she commanded him. "I want you to truly see what you have done and regret it!"
She repeatedly burned the order into his mind until she was certain that he would not be able to just shrug it off.
Then she let go of his mind, purposefully confusing his short term memory in the process. From his perspective, it would be like lights went out for a few seconds. He would have no recollection of general Dalia T'Vani using some strange asari meld on him.
After that, she ordered the guards to one by one escort the turians back to their ship before releasing its docking clamps.
That was the last time Syrila saw general Octanus Saldara.
In the end, he was punished for his crimes after all. Few months later, he was hunted down and brutally murdered by vengeful krogan clans.
Syrila thought it was a fitting end for him. Unfortunately, the turian propaganda also used the image of his brutal death to further its own goals and to justify the genophage.
They painted him as a martyr who died for his people and as a result, Octanus Saldara was actually remembered as a hero and not the mass murderer that he really was. A man of the people who saved the galaxy from the evil krogan…
Syrila did not know whether he regretted any of his actions as she commanded him to do.
Back when he boarded the krogan cargo vessel and left Syrila's ship, he was not displaying much difference after her mental domination of his mind. Still, in the following centuries, Syrila liked to remember that he looked perhaps a little less smug after the experience.
The asari sixth fleet arrived within few hours, but by that point they were no longer needed.
After Syrila let the turians go, their fleet immediately departed the system.
She was still unhappy about having to let the turian bastard go, but she could not to afford to dwell on it even for a minute.
A monumental problem was before her.
Namely, after nearly 30 years of war, there were over sixty million POWs from the citadel races interned on the krogan worlds.
So far, the krogan abode by the citadel conventions and the mortality rate among the prisoners was minimal. However, that was about to change. As soon as the krogan would catch the wind of what has been done to them, all of the citadel POWs would be executed in retaliation.
Therefore, an immediate action was necessary even though it would not be easy.
The main problem was that evacuating 60 millions of people to another planet within few days was nigh impossible.
According to the original armistice text, the repatriation of POWs was to take place over the period of six months. But now, they had to squeeze it into several weeks at best.
To accomplish this monumental task, a sizable task force was established and general Dalia T'Vani placed in its command.
Syrila was pleased to see that the leadership was giving her operation the utmost priority. Whatever she would ask for, she immediately received.
One of the first issues Syrila's task force had to deal with was the ships.
Virtually all vessels capable of transporting any significant amount of personnel were assigned to this operation. Troop ships, freighters… all spaceships capable of safe landing on a planet and transporting people were used. In an unprecedented move, Syrila also ordered that all usable civilian ships be drafted as well.
Seeing that it still wasn't enough, they proceeded to hire or buy every available ship from the neutral worlds like Dekuuna, Irune or Kahje.
Equipped for transporting entire herds, the elcor ships proved to be particularly useful. So did the hanar vessels once the water was drained out of them…
The second problem was keeping the krogan in the dark as long as possible. The krogan were not stupid and after seeing the massing of ships and their hasty effort, they immediately suspect something was going on.
To quell their suspicions, the council released an official statement saying that they were unwilling to let their people remain in captivity any longer than necessary.
Curiously, this simple statement largely calmed the krogan down because such idea was exactly according to their mentality.
In addition to the official statement, Syrila's team released a carefully manufactured rumor that a high-ranking asari matriarch recently made a bet with the dalatrass of the salarian union that the citadel POWs would be repatriated before the asari holiday of Janiris… which was in one month.
In this way, the asari ensured that those krogans who were smart enough not to believe the official statement fell for the gossip instead. At worst, they would laugh at the stupidity and pettiness of the citadel races, but they would not suspect any foul play… at least not immediately.
The third and most important factor was the coordinated effort of asari and salarian intelligences and the Citadel Spectres.
Together, their teams hacked virtually all krogan networks and communications channels. Naturally, after a while, there were many reports of suspicious activity going around the krogan channels, but they were all meticulously filtered out by these agents. Any report even remotely pointing to the truth was removed by them and replaced with lies and disinformation instead…
As a result of their hard work, the krogan were kept in the dark for over three weeks before the information about the genophage inevitably slipped onto the net.
By then, all the citadel POWs were just about evacuated with only few prisoner remaining. However, in their final push, teams of Citadel Specters caused massive energy blackouts on the krogan worlds, creating enough chaos that in the end these stragglers were successfully evacuated as well.
After that, all hell broke loose, but by that point the asari were ready. Their people were safely evacuated and their borders were secure.
During the entire evacuation, the Turian Hierarchy kept an information silence about their actions. Syrila was worried that they were going to blabber about what they have done, destroying their entire operation in the process.
But fortunately that didn't happen, and in later years, Syrila learned that her government exercised some horrendous pressure on the turians to keep it from happening.
In the end, the entire evacuation was a massive success and when it became a public knowledge, the people involved in it galactic heroes.
Syrila herself received Heart of Thessia – the highest award of the Asari Republics.
However, as far as she was concerned, she has already received her greatest reward during the evacuations…
Earlier.
Syrila T'Soni was standing in her cabin on the Athame's shield. The dreadnought was hanging in the vicinity of the mass relay of the Aralakh system.
Standing near the window, she was looking out towards the relay which was continuously flaring as their evacuation ships from Tuchanka would pass through it practically non-stop.
As she looked at it, she was very much aware of the krogan fleets which were still holding position in another part of the system. So far, they suspected nothing and, being grateful to have 60 million hungry mouths off their hands, they did not impede the evacuation efforts at all.
While the krogan navy was decimated by the war, they could still easily evict the asari ships from their home system if they wanted to and all their people remaining on Tuchanka would be as good as dead.
Syrila was not a terribly religious asari (being considered a demon by ones religion tended to have that effect), but right now, she was literally praying for every second of time they could get.
Every time the mass relay came to live and a ship went through, it meant hundreds or even thousands of lives were saved.
Of course, there was one life that mattered to her more than the others…
A door chime sounded in her quarters and Syrila turned to face the door.
"Come in"
The door opened and colonel Noius walked in and saluted.
"At ease, colonel. What is it?"
"Ma'am… the T'Soni maiden is here, as ordered" she informed her superior.
Syrila closed her eyes and slowly massaged her temples, feigning a most terrible annoyance. "Right…" she said tiredly.
Valisha looked at her sympathetically. "Matriarch T'Soni is pulling favors from you?"
Syrila nodded, looking tired. "Yes… she asked me to verify that her daughter is alright and to ensure that she has everything she needs" Syrila said the last part in an ironic voice before she paced over room.
"So instead of coordinating the evacuation, I am going to be babysitting some spoiled brat for the rest of the day, making sure that she ate her supper" she exclaimed in exasperation.
Valisha chuckled. "I am so sorry, ma'am… you know how the matriarchs are"
"Yeah" Syrila said in resignation.
"Although… didn't you once say that the T'Sonis were your distant relatives, ma'am?" her first officer asked in amused voice.
Syrila looked tired as she shook her head. "Not distant enough… sent her in. Let's get this over with"
Valisha acknowledged her command and left the room to fetch Atala T'Soni.
As soon as she left, Syrila leaned against her desk to banish sudden weakness in her knees.
She was finally going to see her again.
When she heard the door chime again, she used her omni-tool to activate the security protocols within her quarters that would ensure a total privacy for anyone inside.
Afterwards, she called them in and watched as colonel Noius escorted a young asari inside.
The young asari gave her a sloppy civilian salute when she saw her. "General…" she said and made a slight bow.
"Good afternoon miss T'Soni" Syrila answered her with her own salute and a bow.
Syrila began an official greeting that one would use to greet member of such a noble family while secretly keeping her eye on colonel Noius.
As soon as her first officer left the room, Syrila surged forward and practically tackled her sister with her hug. Needless to say that Atala was not far behind as she firmly pressed her in return.
"Atala… I though I lost you" she said with tears in her eyes.
"My baby sister… I am fine now. Everything will be alright"
After they finally separated, Syrila offered her a seat on a couch and immediately sat next to her.
"Let me look at you…" Syrila said as she examined her sister in detail.
Unlike her other two sisters who possessed a sky-blue skin typical of the T'Soni clan, Atala had a naturally darker blue complexion. Few decades ago, she further augmented that look by then popular crest tattoo consisting of multiple red straps that gave her a slightly menacing look of an asari mercenary.
However, that impression could not be farther from the truth as her middle sister was the most kind-hearted person Syrila ever met.
Looking at her, Atala seemed relatively healthy as far as Syrila could tell. She wasn't malnourished either and still had her trademark easy going smile on her face that was simply so infectious that Syrila felt better just by looking at it.
"I am alright, sis… just glad to be finally free" she said when she saw her sister looking at her with concern.
Syrila nodded happily.
"How did they treat you?" she asked.
Atala waved her hand. "It was fine, considering the circumstances…" she said and smiled.
"Food was horrible though. We often got these food packages from Hanar charities… and let's just say that if I never see fish from Kahje again in my life it will be still too much" she laughed.
Syrila smiled happily. It was so good to hear her laughter again.
"A bunch of us usually ended up trading the packages with the krogan in exchange for varren steaks"
"For real?"
"Yeah… krogan love them some fish" she smiled at her sister.
Syrila laughed this time too.
"So they didn't mistreat you?" she asked her after a while.
"Nah. Nothing like that" Atala assured her, much to Syrila's relief.
According to her sister, there were still many asari legally living on Tuchanka with their krogan partners. Some of them were married to influential warlords. Using their influence, these asari usually made sure that any problems in the POW camps were swiftly dealt with.
Many individual krogans also admired Syrila's species, making the situation in their camps comparatively better than in the Salarian camps.
"The worst part was probably the krogan youngsters constantly, well… wooing us" Atala told her, sounding embarrassed.
"Don't know which was worse. Listening to their poetry or watching some of the girls actually take them up on their offer…"
Their shared laughter echoed through Syrila's cabin as they talked for many more hours… catching up on the events that occurred since Atala's capture, but also just sharing an ordinary sisterly talk.
"Have to say… you are looking good, baby sister" Atala complemented her at one point, making Syrila blush. "The general's pips really suit you…"
"Thank you" Syrila said and Atala nodded.
"But make no mistake…" Atala suddenly told her and smirked.
"You may be a big shot general to the people outside, but to me, you will always be the little nose-picking nipper whom I always got into trouble" she said while bursting out with laughter.
Syrila had her head in her palms as she laughed too.
"It is good to have you back, Atala… it is good to have you back"
At the end of the day and with heavy heart, Syrila had to say goodbye to her sister again.
Atala would continue on to the asari homeworld and to the T'Soni mansion where her mother would chain her inside her bedroom so that nothing bad could happen to her ever again (or so Atala jokingly suggested).
In reality, their mother was planning a big welcome home party in the T'Soni mansion for her.
Even though Syrila felt a pang of regret at not being allowed to be there, she could not possibly attend even if she wasn't a banished Ardat-Yakshi.
The evacuation of the POWs had to continue and she still had so much work to do…
Present.
She did. Against all the odds, she did it. All asari citizens who wished to evacuate were safely back in the asari space.
By this point, the krogan knew that something was wrong. Their fleets were on high-alert and they demanded an immediate explanation from the Council, giving them a one day ultimatum.
Syrila's fleet withdrew from the Aralakh system and, along with rest of asari fleets was newly positioned to defend their space against the inevitable retaliatory attack.
It was at that time that Syrila did something that would have earned her a court-martial if her superiors ever learned of it, but what she felt was the right thing to do. While it may have hastened the krogan attack by few hours, ultimately that did not matter as the asari were ready.
There were some among the krogans who honestly believed in the peace treaty and they all deserved better than this.
Most of them were beyond help, but as Syrila looked at the reports, she saw that there was still hope for at least one of them.
From the privacy of her office, she opened a secret communication channel through a relay that was normally used for untraceable communication with her mother. There were multiple levels of encryption and it was virtually impossible to make an official record out of it.
However, instead of contacting Thessia, she chose a different destination of her call.
It took several minutes to connect, but when it did, she immediately recognized the face on the display.
"Shiagur…"
The face of the massive looking krogan female stared at her from the display with an expression of mild shock.
"Colonel T'Vani… that's certainly a surprise"
"Actually, it's general T'Vani now…" Syrila corrected her.
"Oh? I would congratulate you, but I now that for your people, promotion just means more paperwork and less combat" Shiagur snorted.
Syrila would have loved to debate this with her, but she had no time.
"Is this channel secure on your end?" she asked.
Shiagur turned to look somewhere behind her. "Get out! Now!" she barked the orders. After few moments, she turned back to Syrila. "It's secure now…" she said, indicating Syrila to speak.
"Shiagur… have you recently visited any planets or space stations?"
Shiagur raised an eyebrow at her, curious where this was heading. "I assume that the asari intelligence is still keeping their tabs on me… in which case, you know that I have not"
"I was in space for months… just returning to Tuchanka though" she said and Syrila made an internal sigh of relief.
She was glad that she wasn't too late yet, but in a way, she would have preferred that she was. It would absolve her of her moral duty to warn this krogan.
"Incidentally… you mind telling me just what the hell is the council up to these days?" Shiagur asked in impatient voice. "I am receiving the most confusing reports imaginable over here"
"That's why I am calling… please listen because it is important" Syrila told her in a deadly serious voice.
"I am listening…" she said while Syrila thought about how to best say the following words.
"You have to stay away from Tuchanka…" she finally told her.
"What?!"
"In fact, stay away from any krogan inhabited planet… you have to isolate yourself and the female krogans who are currently with you"
Shiagur stared at her in disbelief. "Why?"
Syrila turned her head. "I can't tell you that… you'll have to trust me"
"Damn it, Dalia! That's not good enough!" she protested. "If something is happening to my people then I should be on Tuchanka"
"Shiagur… there is nothing you can do for them. It's too late" she said in sad voice.
"And just what kind of isolation are we talking about?" Shiagur asked in deadly voice.
"Biological quarantine…" Syrila eventually said.
There was a loud dull noise as the female warlord seemingly punched the panel in front of her. "Fuck! It was those bloody turians, wasn't it? They did something to us…"
Syrila did not confirm or deny that, but her silence spoke volumes.
"And what about you, T'Vani… why should I trusted you? For all I know, you are on it with them" she accused her.
Syrila sighed. "Shiagur… you once told me that I was a huntress among peasants… a predator among prey"
"You were right… my kind are demons to my people. My condition is known as…"
She was about to name her condition, but Shiagur interrupted her.
"I know what you speak of… I heard about it long ago" the krogan said, deep in thought. "Suddenly, I am glad that we did not get together back then…" she forced a small smile even thought she was still fuming with anger.
"Well now you know my secret… I trust you with it" Syrila said. "And I beg you to trust me and to listen to me now… if you don't, you will regret it"
They debated this for a while more, but in the end, the female krogan did trust her.
She shook her big head in resignation. "And here I thought that something better than this war was possible for us… funny how sometimes things get totally fucked up beyond your worst nightmares, isn't it?" she asked a rhetorical question before bringing their discussion to a close.
"Goodbye, general Dalia T'Vani or whatever the fuck your name is… better hope we never meet again" the krogan eventually said her warning.
"If we do, I will have to kill you… and I don't want that" she said and closed the channel, leaving Syrila alone in a silent empty room.
That was the day that Syrila T'Soni lost one of the best and strangest friends she ever had… and the only time she ever trusted someone enough to even come close to revealing her big secret.
Thessia, 2197 CE
"For a long time, my people wondered how Shiagur managed to remain fertile after the genophage" Garrus mused as he listened to Syrila's story.
The asari nodded. "I just could not let it happen to her. She was among the krogan females who first approached us with the offer of peace…"
"I first met her on a secret diplomatic conference on Dekuuna… and against all odds, we became friends" Syrila remembered.
"I am sorry" Garrus said in honest voice. "Thank you…" replied as she thought about her long dead friend.
After learning of the genophage, the krogan immediately restarted the attack on the alien races, but at that point, it was uncoordinated effort doomed to failure as their government and military leadership disintegrated in the riots and mass hysteria that followed.
Eventually, the turians totally defeated them and the harsh conditions imposed afterwards broke what was left of their spirit.
The krogan lost all their colony worlds and their navy was confiscated or destroyed, locking all remaining krogan population onto their desolate homeworld.
Over the following century, a massive suicide wave occurred among the krogan survivors as many of them lost a reason to live.
Those that remained grew bitter and nihilistic, creating the stereotypical krogan image that would be seen by all the new species that would emerge in the galaxy. Their former glory and greatness forgotten. Eventually, only Syrila's people remembered the krogans of old.
As for Shiagur, she and Syrila never met again. The female warlord tried bargaining her rare fertility to assemble a great fighting force around her, but ultimately she failed and was killed in her now famous last stand over the planet Canrum by the turian strike forces in what would be universally considered as the last great battle of the Krogan Rebellions.
Syrila was devastated to hear about her brutal end at the hands of the turians, but it gave her a comfort that at least it was her choice and that she died fighting, instead of getting murdered by her own people like many of her colleagues from the krogan government did.
Syrila was unable to change her ultimate fate, but thanks to her warning, the female warlord ended up being remembered by her people as a great strong warlord and not a traitor that indirectly brought the genophage on them…
She openly admitted to Garrus that she did hate the turians for some time after the war, but not for long.
"At least general Saldara got what he deserved…" she said. "I almost felt sorry for the bastard when I read what the krogans did with his head" she said and shuddered at the memory.
Garrus looked at her and shook his head. "Then you don't know, do you?" he asked in surprise.
"What do you mean?"
"His brutal murder by the krogans was just a propaganda… designed to justify harsher actions against them" Garrus told her.
It was actually a close guarded secret of the Hierarchy, but after the secrets that Syrila told him, he felt like she deserved to know.
"What do you mean?" Syrila asked in confusion.
"After you released him, general Saldara never reached Palaven again… he committed suicide" he finally told her the truth.
"What?!" Syrila gasped in shock as she made a few paces and then stared ahead in the darkness of the night for a moment.
Suddenly, an important part of her life that she believed to be entirely closed and shelved deep within her mind became tangled up again.
She remembered the smug arrogant turian and could not fathom why he would take his life.
Except maybe…
"I think it may have been my fault…" she eventually whispered. "I used my powers to make him feel regrets… perhaps he really did. So much that he could not take it"
She and Garrus looked at the stars in the direction of Palaven.
"I suppose that we will never know…"
Flagship of the turian Second fleet, on route to Palaven, 1321 CE
Inside his cabin, general Octanus Saldara was standing at attention in front of a communication console.
"You have done well, general. No matter what anyone says to the contrary" the face of the Valluvian priest spoke to him from the monitor in the secret language of their order.
"Thank you, priest" Octanus Saldara replied in the same strange language.
"For your actions, you have been deemed worthy to finally join our order" the priest told him. "We will be expecting you in the Temple as soon as you arrive" he said and cut the transmission.
As soon as the image of the priest disappeared from the display, the turian general fell down to his knees and clutched his head in his hands.
Shortly after he left the asari's ship his mind turned into turmoil and all his thoughts became surrounded by an impenetrable fog.
And yet despite all that, at the moment, he could see more clearly than he did in decades…
It all started during his youth. Ever since he was little, he kept hearing stories about Temple Palaven and the order of the Valluvian priests.
In the past, the order and its priests were a very influential force in the turian society. At the peak of their power, there wasn't a turian who would not visit the Temple at one point of his or her life.
However, as the turians grew in technological knowledge and began to colonize other worlds, they gradually abandoned their faith as an obsolete thing of the past.
Even the famed power of the Valluvian priests became a mere legend. Most turians thought their order no longer existed, believing the Temple to be unoccupied.
There were many who knew that some monks were still living in the Temple's main building. However, they simply believed these monks to be ordinary turians – crazy fools dressing up in purple robes and pretending to be Valluvian priests of the past. A cheap entertainment for the sporadic visitors interested in their ridiculous charade.
By the time of the general's birth, the Temple Palaven was practically empty abandoned building, virtually ignored by the mainstream turian society. A curiosity of the past, interesting for only few devoted enthusiasts…
The family of Octanus Saldara was among these enthusiasts and as a result, the young Octanus grew up on the old tales. When he reached puberty, his father took him to visit the Temple Palaven and to see the famous "Valluvian priests" just as his father did with him.
As they walked around the temple, three priests directly approached and spoke to them – something that apparently never happened to any turian for centuries.
They claimed that they found the young Octanus worthy to be allowed to see their most legendary artifact – the Arca Monolith.
His father was ecstatic and urged his son to go with them. The priests then took him into the caverns underneath the temple… and then he saw it.
The obelisk was glowing in light, so ethereal and beautiful… he could not help but meditate in front of it for hours.
When he walked out of the Temple that day, he was a changed man. In the past, he was not sure what he wanted to do with his life, but suddenly it was all clear. His future path was completely clear to him ever since.
Or so he thought…
He clutched his head harder as his entire body shook. "Stop… leave me alone" he weakly moaned.
Ever since the asari general attacked him in his interrogation cell, lifetime of convictions that he held sacred above all else were gradually disintegrating inside him.
He could still hear her voice in his head… she wanted him to feel regret for his recent actions. However, something unexpected happened.
Instead of attacking his mind directly, her voice encountered something that he did not even know existed – a second voice.
A voice that he heard for so long that he was no longer aware of its existence, but which drove him forward for his entire life… ever since he visited the Temple and gazed on the Arca Monolith.
A few days ago, he was so certain of his purpose – the krogan were a threat to the ultimate ascension of his species and they had to be stopped… at any cost.
But now he saw that these thoughts were just as alien to him as the ones of regret that the asari tried to force into his mind.
Few months ago, when the opportunity to use the genophage presented itself, the voice inside him was ecstatic. "Make the krogan defenseless, but otherwise leave them alive…"
For some reason, this idea was absolutely divine to the voice and it subsequently drove him to any lengths to make it a reality. He would skirt his own orders, lie, cheat, and do many more things unworthy of a turian general. He would even use the other people's hatred and fear to seduce them into his plan.
At the time, he believed this voice and his actions to be his own, but anymore…
Suddenly, his entire life felt like he was a sleeping passenger inside his body that only now woke up.
The asari general ultimately failed in her goal as he still felt no emotions over the fate of the krogan, but she unknowingly accomplished something equally miraculous – her voice drowned out the other voice which has controlled him for so long.
After so many years, he was finally free…
But somehow, he knew that it could not possibly last. Even now, he could feel the two alien influences fighting for dominance inside his mind.
The asari was surprisingly strong but already, her presence was slowly slipping from his sundered mind. He knew the other voice would ultimately prevail… and then he would be a slave again.
He would go to the Temple Palaven where the monsters whom he considered as saints all his life would finish their job and forever make him one of them…
But he refused to let that happen! He would rather die than let that happen!
His shaking hand reached to his belt and drew his sidearm. As he moved the end of the barrel under his chin, he was silently thanking the asari for what she did to him.
Ironically, even though she loathed him and wanted him to suffer for his actions, in the end, she was the one who saved him…
He pulled the trigger.
A/N: For those of you who are confused by the last part about the Valluvian priests and the Temple Palaven… it references events and places shown in the Mass Effect comic "Evolution".