A/N Alright folks, I want to apologize for not getting this out yesterday like I had planned. Crap came up and I got distracted. Also, I am happy to see people enjoyed the Raloi, I'm always nervous about making cultures for some of these races.

Adjuster- The Raloi were an amalgamation of things but largely, I drew inspiration from their avian description and decided to play with how I might imagine a predatorial species evolving. I also looked at the Na'vi from Avatar and Bioware's Dalish for some inspiration. As for appearance, that I largely got from Guild Wars's Tengu. I hope that answer's that question.


Normandy

Kayla walked into the med bay and headed towards where Chakwas was sitting, "Hello Doc." she said, "How is our guest?"

Chakwas looked up towards Kayla, "She is doing much better, just needed some food, water, and rest." she explained.

Kayla grinned, "Great." she said, "So would now be a good time to talk with her?"

Chakwas nodded, "Of course." she said while motioning towards the door behind her, "I've allowed her to utilize my quarters for the time being, you keep me too busy for a room of my own."

Kayla chuckled and walked towards the door. As she entered the room she saw Liara sitting at a desk, studying a data pad. Kayla walked up behind Liara, "Are we feeling better?"

Liara jumped slightly at the sound of Kayla's voice, "Oh, um, yes Shepard, though I'm not sure how you are feeling." she stammered, "Your Doctor is surprisingly learned in Asari physiology, I didn't expect that from an Imperial Doctor."

Kayla chuckled at Liara's nervousness, "Please, call me Kayla, it will avoid future confusion." she said, "As for Chakwas, ya she is special amongst the Imperial Military, we are lucky to have her on board."

Liara looked at Kayla in confusion, "Why would using your last name cause confusion?" she asked before her eyes widened in shock at the statement, "Oh, not that using the name you prefer is bad!"

Kayla smiled, "Calm down Liara, it's just that my brother serves aboard the Normandy as well, so using our family name can get confusing." she explained, "Is there a reason your so jumpy?"

Liara blushed, "I, don't spend much time around people, other than my few contacts outside of my research teams." she said, "I always manage to say something stupid or offensive."

Kayla nodded, "Well, don't worry so much about that here, if you have any questions myself, or Doctor Chakwas would be more than happy to answer."

Liara nodded and smiled, "Thank you Shep.. Kayla."

Kayla smiled and left to head back towards the CIC. As she reached the stairs, she heard Joker's voice over the intercom, "We are approaching Noveria now Commander, they are asking what are business here is."

Kayla sighed and walked up towards the cockpit. As she arrived, she noticed Vasir standing behind Joker.

"Docking security, this is Spectre Tela Vasir, requesting permission to dock, we have business on Noveria." Kayla heard her say through the Normandy's communications system in the cockpit.

"Roger that Normandy, you are authorized to dock, but we will be checking your credentials when you land." replied the docking security.

Kayla looked over towards Vasir with an eyebrow raised as Vasir grinned back at her, "It seems that I'm not needed after all."

Joker glanced back at Kayla, "Ya, sorry Commander, Vasir volunteered to help with the docking procedure when she heard me on the intercom." he explained, "Good to see having a Spectre is paying off."

Kayla sighed, "Well, you're coming this time Vasir, considering they need to check your credentials." she said, "We should probably bring Wrex along as well, don't want him getting too bored on the ship."

Vasir nodded, "A Krogan would definitely help our bargaining position on Noveria."

Kayla looked at Vasir in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Noveria is a business planet, that is all they deal in." Vasir began to explain, "Everything can be bought or sold and the only rules are to not get caught screwing the Board of Directors that controls the planet, in a place like that, muscle can help convince others to work with us."

Kayla nodded, "I see your point." she said as she left to gear up and inform Wrex that he might get to bash some heads.

Noveria

Port Hanshan

Kayla, Vasir, and Wrex exited the Normandy's docking corridor. As they walked down the walkway, Kayla heard someone running towards them from behind, "Wait Kayla!" she heard Liara shout.

Kayla's eyes widened in surprise as she saw an armed Liara dressed in an Imperial uniform, "Liara?" she asked, "Is something wrong?"

Liara shook her head, "No, its just..." she began taking a deep breath, "Beneziah is my mother and if she has betrayed the Council, then I have a right to be there to find out why."

Kayla thought to herself for a moment before nodding, "Very well, Liara you have made your case." she said, "Though I have to ask, where did you get the uniform?"

Liara blushed and looked down for a moment, "Well, I didn't have any kind of armor, it wasn't necessary for my line of work." she explained, "So, Chakwas offered me this uniform that she had in storage, she didn't say who it belonged to."

Kayla looked down, sadness flashing over her face for a second, "Jenkins." she muttered, "Well, let's get moving then, just be sure to keep up Liara."

Kayla and her squad made it through docking security with minimal difficulty, thanks to Vasir's Spectre status. Upon Anoleis' secretary's suggestion to speak to the administrator about continuing her investigation into Beneziah, Kayla lead her squad to meet with the Administrator.

As they entered Anoleis' office, the Salarian stood up, "Ah, good to finally meet you Commander." he said, "We don't do much business with your Empire, I don't suppose you are here to rectify that."

Kayla shook her head, "No such luck Administrator, we are here to talk about Beneziah."

Anoleis nodded, "Well, I can confirm that she is here but traditional methods of travel are currently blocked off." he said, "And we have a duty to protect our customer's privacy while they are on Noveria, so I can't tell you where she is."

Kayla glared at the Administrator as Wrex started to growl, "B...but, because you are with Ms. Vasir, I will make an exception." he said cowering before the angry Krogan, "She and her escort took the Tram to Peak 15 right before the blizzard set in, they should still be there, you can use one of the Makos in the garage." Anoleis finished as he handed Kayla a pass card.

Kayla grinned as they left the Administrator's office, "Yep, angry Krogan are definitely good bargaining chips." she said causing Wrex to chuckle.

Kayla and her squad made there way into the garage, but as they approached a Mako near the garage door, they found themselves under attack by Geth. With the help of the Port's security forces they quickly dispatched the Geth.

One of the security guards approached Kayla, "What the hell was that?!" she asked.

Kayla shook her head, "If I had to guess, it was a present left by Beneziah, you might want to look around the facility and make sure there aren't any more surprises."

The security guard nodded and left to start getting her men to search the facility. Kayla lead her squad into the Mako and they left the garage, into a mountain pass leading to Peak 15.

Peak 15

The squad slowly exited the Mako and entered the Peak 15 facility. As they walked in Vasir grinned, "Must be a family trait." she said to Kayla.

Kayla looked at her in curiosity, "What?" she asked.

Vasir chuckled, "Oh, trying to kill your squad when driving."

Kayla glared in mock anger, "Hey now, I'm no where near as bad as Chiron, only a few bones will be broken, he will break all of them."

Liara looked between the two women in confusion, "I don't mean to question you Spectre, but what do you mean?" she asked, "Kayla was a perfectly safe driver while we were coming here."

Kayla laughed as Vasir tried to explain, "I'm joking with her Liara, we really should get you out of the lab more."

Liara blushed as she nodded, "Oh, that make sense." she said.

Kayla chuckled, "Don't worry Liara, you'll get the hang of this in no time."

The team continued into the facility, noticing that the staff appeared to have disappeared in a hurry. Kayla and her squad walked into a decontamination chamber, leading further into the facility and noticed that there were turrets in position, facing towards the rest of the facility.

"Trying to keep something in?" Wrex offered.

Vasir nodded, "A contamination leak would explain why this place is abandoned and they wouldn't want a contagion getting out of the facility."

As the team walked out of the decontamination room, they found themselves in a darkened room, that appeared to be some kind of research area for staff members. They walked through room. Kayla began to hear a scurrying sound around them. She flashed a light towards where she heard the sound coming from but she found nothing there. As she turned back towards the direction she was heading, she felt something slam into her from the side, "Crap." she yelped as she was thrown onto the ground with a large insect looking creature attacking her.

Kayla tried to kick the insect off of her but found it too heavy. As she tried to think of what to do, she saw two tentacle like appendages, tipped with sharp spikes, being raised above the creatures head. Kayla quickly moved her head away from the first appendage's thrust. As the second one was about to descend, Kayla was able to activate her stealth cloak, momentarily surprising the creature. In the moment that Kayla bought her self, she managed to free her knife and began to wildly stab into the creatures eyes.

The creature finally collapsed and Kayla was able to stand up. After she managed to recover her breath, she contacted the rest of the investigating squad, "We've got bug like hostiles, stay alert and regroup near the exit, we need to go further in." she said.

As she headed towards the door, she heard Wrex over the comm. ,"Bug like?" he muttered, "Couldn't be."

The team entered the security portion of another decontamination room, leading into the tram station. The squad looked into the decontamination room, through a window and saw a couple of the large insect creatures and a swarm of smaller ones flooding the room.

Wrex charged up to the glass, "No!" he said loudly, "They can't be alive."

Kayla grabbed Wrex's shoulder, "Slow down Wrex," she said, "What are you talking about?"

Kayla noticed Vasir looking at the creatures in surprise as Wrex explained, "Your people weren't around yet Commander, but these monsters are called Rachni." he said, "Centuries ago, they threatened the entire Galaxy with war and almost ended the Council, until the Salarians brought my people into the fight."

Wrex glared at the creatures in confusion before pressing in a decontamination protocol in the terminal nearby, setting all of the creatures within on fire, "We wiped them out, we thought they were all dead." he said.

Kayla thought to herself, "Hmmm, I could see why Saren would want to have these creatures brought back." she muttered.

The team entered the now cleansed room and continued into the tram.

Kayla and her squad departed from the tram when it arrived at the other side of the facility, as the exited they found themselves facing armed Turians, the one in charge looked at Kayla in shock, "Imperials?" he said, "Spirits, why are your people here?"

Kayla looked at the Turian suspiciously, "We are tracking Matriarch Beneziah, are you working for her?"

The Turian shook his head, "No, we are security placed here by the Board." he said.

Kayla nodded, "Do you know where she went?"

"Ya, down into the Hot Labs, but she is probably dead with these things on the loose." he replied.

Liara shook her head, "No, my mother would still be alive, even for a Matriarch she is quite strong."

As Kayla was about to respond, she heard the scurrying sound again, followed by a loud crash behind them as two large Rachni popped up from the grates behind them. Liara caught the two Rachni in a singularity, allowing the rest of the soldiers to pick off the Rachni as they flailed wildly in the air.

As the Rachni fell to the ground, dead, the Turian lowered his weapon, "Thanks for the help." he said, "Look, I can't send you any help if you really want to keep tracking the Matriarch, but I can give you a pass that will let you get through security and down into the labs."

Kayla nodded her head in thanks as she took the pass. The team continued passed the security guards and the little camp that was set up with the rest of the survivors. As they approached the elevator Liara stopped them, "Shouldn't we try to help these people?" she said, "We can't just leave them."

Kayla slowly shook her head, "We don't have time to," she explained, "the longer we delay the greater the chance that Beneziah has to escape."

"Besides, if she is behind this, then the best way we can help these people is by finding her and seeing if there is a way to purge the facility of these Rachni." Kayla finished.

Liara nodded sadly in understanding, "Very well, Kayla." she said as they entered the elevator.

The squad found a large number of Rachni infesting the Hot Labs. Luckily the colder temperatures of the Hot Labs appeared to be slowing the Rachni's movement, allowing the team to kill the creatures with little difficulty.

Kayla led her team into a room that appeared to be a central experimentation room for the facility, "So, you bring my child in an attempt to make me falter." said a voice.

Kayla looked towards where the voice came from and saw an elderly looking Asari in a black dress standing in front of them, "Mother!" Kayla heard Liara cry.

Beneziah looked at her daughter with contempt, "What have you told them about me Liara, what secrets have you shared?"

Liara glared back at her mother in despair, "What could I tell them Mother?" she lamented, "we haven't spoken in years, you ignore my messages, again, what could I tell them?"

Beneziah sniffed at her daughter in dismissal before turning towards Kayla, "Tell me human, have you ever faced an Asari Commando unit before?" she asked, "Few survive to tell the tale."

As if on queue a large number of Asari Commandos appeared around Kayla and her team and began shooting at them, "Under cover!" she shouted as they began returning fire.

Kayla looked over towards Liara, "Did Chakwas show you how to use our favorite toy?" she asked.

Liara looked at her in confusion for a second before understanding dawned on her and she quickly nodded, "Good" Kayla said, "With me."

Kayla turned towards Wrex, "Show the group on the right why Krogan are to be feared." she ordered as he grinned and stood to carry out his orders.

"I. Am. Krogan!" he shouted as he charged the surprised Asari.

Kayla chuckled at the Krogan and turned towards Vasir, "Keep the left group occupied, while we sneak by and take them out from behind."

Vasir nodded and tried to warp the Commando group on the left, shredding one of their barriers and wounding another.

Kayla activated her cloak and made sure Liara did as well, and made there way behind the distracted Commandos. The Commandos began to throw a number of Biotic attacks at Vasir while firing their weapons. When they all seemed completely focused on the Spectre, Sheppard muttered towards Liara, "Now." and fired point blank at the back of one of the commando's head's.

Kayla and Liara made short work of the surprised Asari and Kayla had enough time to see Wrex throw his last opponent against the edge of a corner, breaking her spine. Before they had a chance to celebrate, Liara's body was surrounded by blue energy and she was thrown against a wall. Kayla had enough time to disappear before everyone else was forced into a stasis by the Matriarch, "You are a traitor, Daughter!" she shouted, "And now you will pay."

Liara shook her head violently, "I didn't betray the Council, Mother!" she screamed back as she tried to throw her mother, only to have her Biotics waved off, "That was you!"

"Fool," Beneziah replied, "The Council wont give the Asari what we need, only Saren, only Sovereign can give us Eter..." Beneziah stopped as she felt a sharp object enter into her throat. She turned around and saw Kayla de-cloak in front of her.

Beneziah had enough energy to throw Kayla against a nearby console, momentarily stunning her. Beneziah began to collapse from blood loss and clutched at her throat. Liara was released from her mother's Biotics and fell to the ground, as everyone else was released from stasis, "Mother!" Liara shouted again, rushing over to her dying mother.

Beneziah tried to say something as her child held her, "L...Little.. Wing... I... I..." Beneziah struggled as she bled out.

Kayla slowly recovered and found Liara crying over her mother's body. Wrex walked up to where she was standing and appeared to be glaring intently at the tank behind them, "Kayla, you should see this." he said.

As she turned around she saw a large, purple Rachni in the tank. Before she could do anything she heard Liara screech behind her. Kayla turned back around to see Beneziah slowly walking towards the tank, her eyes milky white and black veins popping out around her body, where her skin was exposed.

"Please." a hollow, echo-like voice said, using Beneziah's mouth. Kayla brought up her pistol.

"Who are you?" she asked, pointing the gun at Beneziah's head.

"We are the last queen of the Rachni." it said, "They stole our children from uss, cut them off from our song!"

Kayla looked back towards the Rachni in the tank incredulously, "You mean that you didn't cause all of this?" she asked.

"No, our children have gone feral, without our song." she said, "They must be purged, their maddened note ended!"

"Further in the labss, you will find a way to purge the facility." the Queen continued, "We have seen it, in this one's mind."

Kayla looked at the Queen closely, "And what about you?" she asked.

"Free us." the Queen responded, "We will disappear, not to bother you again."

Wrex turned towards Kayla, "You can't consider trusting this thing Kayla!" he shouted, "Purge the last of these monsters, before they threaten us again."

Kayla shook her head, "No, to both of you." she said as she turned towards Wrex, "I will not commit Genocide on the basis that they might become a threat, you of all people should understand that Wrex, or are we defending the Genofage now?"

Wrex look at her in surprise, "How do you know about that?"

"The Imperial Military teaches about it along with other atrocities as part of a program meant to teach officers what not to do." she explained before turning back towards the Queen.

"As for you, if I let you live, you will rebuild your people correct?" she asked.

The Queen made Beneziah's head nod in the affirmative, "Good." Kayla said, "Then when you have rebuilt, you will remember that you owe me and join the might of the Rachni, with that of the Empire."

The Queen appeared to stop moving for a moment, "You would except our song?" she asked quietly.

As Kayla nodded, the Queen screech from within her tank, "Agreed." she said.

Before Kayla could hit the release button, Liara stepped forward, "First you will release my mother!" she all but shouted, recovering from the shock of her dead mother getting up and talking in a different voice.

The Queen reflected sadness through Beneziah, "We cannot, she is too useful to us, we are weak without her." she said.

Vasir glared at Kayla, "I do not agree with this decision Kayla" she said, "But, if your Empire wants to play with the Rachni, just make sure that the rest of the Galaxy doesn't pay the price."

Vasir then turned towards Liara, placing a hand on her shoulder, "The body is no longer your Mother, Liara." she said, "You know this, do not start something over a husk, when the best of her lives in you."

Liara slowly nodded, "Very well."

As Kayla pressed the release button, she noticed several other black veined Asari getting up and leaving with Beneziah's body, "Alright, let's move on down to where the hostile Rachni are and purge this facility."

The squad entered the elevator and descended further into the Hot Labs. As the elevator opened they found themselves in a corridor leading into a large open room with a Salarian lying on the floor dead, a Rachni standing over his corpse.

Kayla fired on the Rachni, killing it quickly as Vasir went over to inspect the corpse.

Vasir stood up with a card in her hand, "Kayla, these appear to be codes for a neutron purge." she said, handing Kayla a list of numbers. Kayla and her squad went into a nearby room, looking for a terminal where they could use the codes.

When they entered through a pair of doors, they found themselves in a small room, surrounded by glass, with a terminal in the middle of the room. When they looked out of the glass, they found a large swarm of Rachni around an even larger number of un-hatched eggs.

"By the Goddess." Liara muttered.

Kayla approached the terminal and a female VI popped up, "Hello, I am Mira, how can I be of assistance?" the VI asked.

Kayla held up the activation codes, "I want to activate the Neutron Purge." she said as she rattled off the codes."

"Activation code, accepted." the VI said, "Purge commencing in fifty seconds...alert, multiple contagions detected in adjoining room."

"Damn." Kayla muttered, "We have to hurry."

As the team exited the room, they found Rachni swarming into the adjoining room blocking their escape. Vasir threw a shockwave of Biotic energy, in a line towards the corridor as Liara and Kayla threw singularity to the left and right of the masses of Rachni. Wrex charged threw the line with the three women following after.

Kayla felt herself getting slashed by the Rachni as they reached the other end of the room. The squad rushed through the corridor and into the elevator. As the elevator rose, the felt a large tremor shake the elevator when they were halfway up, "Glad to see the Purge only affected the lower labs," Vasir muttered.

Kayla nodded in agreement, "Well, lets go pick up the other survivors and return the Port, the Administrator will probably want to know what happened."

Noveria

Port Hanshan

Kayla arrived at the Administrator's office with her squad in time to see him being escorted by security in handcuffs, "Spectre." he pleaded, "arrest this woman, she is trying to take over the Port!"

Vasir raised her brow towards the secretary, "Oh, shut up Anoleis." she said before turning towards Vasir, "I'm Gianna Parasini, an agent of Internal Affairs, Anoleis here broke Noveria's one rule, he got caught taking the Board's money." she explained, "Was there something you all needed?"

Kayla nodded, "We just wanted to inform you that we brought the survivors from Peak 15 back, Rachni were released and destroyed the facility, we had to utilize a neutron purge to stop them." she reported as summarily as she could, while omitting the Queen.

Gianna shook her head, "Damn, stocks are going to drop when that news hits the fan." she said, "The Board wont be happy."

Kayla and her squad left the administrator's office and returned to the Normandy. As they neared the docking port, she pulled Vasir aside as the other went in, "We need to talk." she said.

"What about Kayla?" she asked.

"I know you will be making your report to the Council about this mission." she said, "I'm not blind to everyone's reaction about the Queen, and I think it would be bad if the Council learned about my deal with the Rachni."

Vasir sighed deeply, "Look Kayla, for a human, you have proved to be a decent and capable person." she said, "I trust you and because of that, I'll leave out your deal."

"But, the Spectres will be watching the Rachni's movements closely, I trust you, but I don't trust them." Vasir continued, "Besides, if the Council found out, they might try to go to war again and no one wants that, except maybe the Turians, there still a little sore."

Kayla nodded, "Thanks Vasir, so any leads on your end?"

Vasir shook her head, "None yet, but the Council might have found something while we were away."

Kayla perked up, "Well then, let's get into contact so I can promptly hang up on that Turian moron again!" she said with excitement as Vasir chuckled.


A/N Ok bit of an end note, I want to say that I absolutely hated the Noveria mission in game, as such I skipped some of the parts in the story that I felt either made no sense or were put in to make the thing take longer. I also took a few liberties with Asari culture (I don't remember how they deal with their dead being mentioned) and Noveria's government.

I have a few ideas for how Indoctrination will work in this story and have made a few other decisions that I hope you all will enjoy, so until next time!