-o-O-o-
Chapter Eleven
Shepard's head was cloudy as she emerged groggily into consciousness, her system still struggling against the sedative they'd given her since they'd gotten her on their ship, and had kept dosing her with every time she'd woke. As such, she remembered little: the feeling of cold metal beneath her cheek that vibrated – a ship in flight; scrape marks across the floor of the empty room where heavy things had been dragged – a cargo hold; a smirking batarian.
She lay on her side now, her wrists tied too tight behind her so her hands throbbed, and from the grey concrete-like floor and walls that surrounded her, Shepard ascertained she was no longer on a ship.
How long had she been out? Hours? Days? It was disorienting, and with no windows it was impossible to determine what time of day it was, let alone where she was. She strained to hear something that might give her a clue, but asides from the low indecipherable murmurs of batarians talking, there was nothing. She knew what she was doing: focusing on anything except what might await her. It was preferable to letting her mind run through a slew of sickening possibilities.
Then came the sound of boots. Four, maybe five approaching, and Shepard tensed as they stopped outside the door. There was no need for so many when she was bound, and that meant something bad for her.
When the door slid open, three batarians stalked in and stood over her, while a fourth simply stepped in then moved to the side of the doorway. Their leader remained in the entrance, arms folded and staring back at her with undisguised hatred. Beyond him, all Shepard could see was more grey walls.
"Good. I didn't want to start until I had your full attention."
Not intimidated, Shepard opted to meet the lower pair of eyes, holding the gaze. "Who are you?"
He glared back a while longer. "I was Captain of the Batarian External Forces, before the Reapers decimated Khar'shan. Now I'm the highest ranking member of what little remains of our Hegemony. You thought you'd gotten away with murdering hundreds of thousands of my people, but I have not forgot, and today we finally begin our reckoning."
Even now, Shepard still felt that wrench in her gut at the thought of what she and Thane had been forced to do to stop the Reapers arrival. Forced. "You know why I had to do that. None of us would be here now if I hadn't."
The batarian slammed his fist into the door jamb in his rage. "I don't believe you! How could six months have made that much difference? And the Reapers were defeated. My people would have had a fighting chance of surviving. I think you saw an opportunity while you flew under that terrorist banner, and you took it. You really expect me to believe it wasn't payback for my attempt to destroy Terra Nova? An attempt foiled by the man you bed?"
Shepard knew about the batarian plot to fly an asteroid into Terra Nova. Kaidan had spoken of it. It was a mission he and his first biotic squad had undertaken while she'd still been laid out on Cerberus' lab table. This batarian was Balak.
Frustration and fury rushed forth like a dam released. This bastard had spat out the term 'terrorist' like he was something better. "No matter how you want to twist it, everything I've done was through necessity. Tell me, what 'greater good' did you serve by ordering my baby son's death?"
Suddenly, he was in her face, digging a hand into her hair and using it to yank her face up to his. "You killed mine! I have the right to take yours! I detested you humans before – taking what was due to us, cosying up to the Council with your practiced diplomacy, joining in their protest of our culture – but now… now you've become vermin, spreading into every crevice. You sit on the Council and dictate, and all the while Admiral Shepard is lauded as a hero, while they ignore the blood on her hands. I. Want. Justice."
Throughout the tirade, Shepard could see a crazed look to his eyes as they blazed at her. He was so filled with hate that it had driven him beyond reasoning. "And what's your justice? You could have killed me back on the Citadel. You've gone to a lot of trouble."
Releasing her, he visibly calmed himself, then went to lean casually against the wall beside his unmoving associate. "It's true. We didn't have the resources to get access to you. You were beyond our reach. Until someone offered me this chance for retribution. He gave me the means to do it, with one proviso: I just had to play his game first. Make Shepard appear unstable; tarnish her name with a murder charge; turn her into a wanted criminal. Oh, and play with Alenko at the same time. I'd have happily done more to teach him a lesson for getting in my way."
The revelation that they'd framed her for someone's murder was put to the bottom of her concerns as she worried about Kaidan. "What have you done to him?"
"Your question should be what's he done to you? But you'll see soon enough."
Shepard didn't understand what that meant but it filled her with unease, which was what he wanted, so she covered it with more questions. "Who exactly is behind all this?"
Balak shrugged. "Someone with plenty of credits and information to make him powerful. Beyond that, you don't need to know." With a jerk of his head, his men pushed her onto her front, one holding down her legs, another her torso, while the third removed something small and metallic from his pocket while releasing his blade from its holster at his hip.
Shepard had seen enough of the atrocities used by batarians slavers to know what was coming. It was a control device. It would attach itself to her nervous system, ready to deliver a crippling current throughout her body. Strangely, it was the fourth batarian stepping forward with his omnitool open, recording what was about to happen, that sent her a chilling streak through her.
Her head was forced face-down so her forehead was pressed into the hard floor, her hair yanked out of the way to expose her nape. Gritting her teeth as the blade sliced through skin and flesh, she didn't make a sound. Then the cold metal of the device was pushed mercilessly into her wound, sending tears of agony into her eyes. There was a beep as it was activated, and the device sent numerous tiny jagged barbs deeper into her flesh where she could feel them seeking her neural pathways and latching on. She fought back her body's attempt to heave, instead focusing on the feel of the blood flowing down and around her neck, and the warmth it brought to her skin before it dripped onto the floor.
Her wrists were then released from the cuffs and the weight lifted from her as the batarians stood and left, their job done. Only the one recording, and Balak remained, both confident enough in the device that they didn't feel the need to arm themselves now she was unrestrained, and the door was wide open.
Balak just stood there, relaxed. "I'm going to break you."
Shepard got to her feet, adopting a strong, proud military stance, knowing her defiance would earn her a ton of pain. "You can try."
He just chuckled back, tapped his omnitool, and Shepard keeled over instantly as the current travelled through her with shocking intensity, messing with her equilibrium and causing her jaw to clench along with every other muscle in her body. It was unrelenting. Her lungs seized, her heart stuttered in her chest, unable to maintain a rhythm. And then it stopped, and she was left gasping and shivering as her body tried to recover from the shock.
"You will kneel before me and beg to serve."
"Fuck you," she exhaled, putting as much vehemence behind it as she could manage. As anticipated, it induced another wave of excruciating pain, but even as she was left to once again gasp life back into her tormented body, Shepard felt a familiar tingle at her nape. The spores. They lined her nervous system. Could they help against a physical invasion too? It was something to hope for.
"I've set it to frequent intervals. You will learn that I am your only means of relief. You'll come to yearn my presence. You'll beg for it. And you'll do whatever I ask of you to keep me happy."
"Keep dreaming." She bit back the scream as she was subjected to another. He would not hear her pain. Again, when it finished, she was acutely aware of the spores reacting.
Balak crouched down to where she lay on the floor, her chest still heaving, and his mouth turned to a cruel twist. "My people are all but wiped out, and for those left, I will see them witness some justice before they join their dead families. I'm Ka'hairal Balak. But you will call me Master."
They left as the next current took her, but this time, when it ceased, Shepard was certain it had been less intense. Only time would tell.
When sections of the walls slid away to reveal large vid-screens protected by clear barriers, Shepard prepared herself for some form of psychological assault to accompany the pain which wracked her every minute – footage of them torturing other humans maybe, to show her own fate.
What she could never have expected to see was a news broadcast of Kaidan so intimate with another woman. It dealt a heart-crushing pain that sliced through her more savagely than anything they had done to her so far, before her common sense regained control. If someone had told her he'd betrayed her, she would never believe them. Not Kaidan. Seeing this should have proven it, but she'd been at the end of these people's tricks already. Nothing was as it seemed when they had a race that could look like anyone they chose. That wasn't him.
Closing her eyes to refuse the horrid lie, she then had to endure the device's punishment again, only to find that image of Kaidan lingered at the back of her mind when it ceased, like it had been seared there the moment she'd looked. She didn't believe, but it wouldn't leave her, and she could feel it tainting her regardless, as she worked to ready her already exhausted body for the next wave.
Anger flared. She wouldn't let them poison her feelings for Kaidan. She wouldn't go down without a fight.
-o-O-o-
Kaidan came to Garrus' cell first, the viewing window revealing the turian pacing restlessly. Then Garrus spotted him, freezing in place as those sharp eyes pierced Kaidan with unquestionable antipathy. Awkward. It's not like he could wave to the imprisoned turian. He could already imagine the responding gesture if he did. … Was Garrus even able to give him the finger?
Raking his hand over his head at the bizarre direction his thoughts had gone, Kaidan let his feet carry him on to the end, his gaze suddenly rooted to the next window, and his heart pounding.
And then he could see her.
Kaidan stopped dead, staring in at the beautiful woman inside who made his heart ache. She was sat on a mattress atop a pull-down platform that served as a bed, her back flush against the wall, her arms hugging her legs to her chest, and her cheek resting atop her knees. She looked as alone as Kaidan felt. Surely Rorie had gotten it wrong somehow. But his gut said no.
Steeling himself, Kaidan moved to the door, his hand hesitating only briefly over the door release before he pressed it. The doors slid open, and the first thing Kaidan noticed was the absence of that unique scent his wife possessed.
His throat was so dry he could barely swallow as he stepped in. Despite everything that was wrong here, he still saw her. "You're not my wife." The words came as though from a strangled man.
Her head jerked up, and she stared back at him like he was her salvation. It wasn't a look Kaidan was expecting, and when she stood with her hand extending towards him, Kaidan took a cautious step back.
"I am sorry." The voice was like a whisper, and then Terra's face changed, her skin paling until it was almost white with its translucence, and her hair appearing to dissolve into nothing.
This being standing in Terra's uniform wasn't a race they'd ever encountered before, and Kaidan was left open-mouthed in astonishment. Only his concern for Terra brought back the anger. "What have you done with my wife?"
"I will show you." The female offered her hand, and Kaidan stared between it and her face.
"They won't let you walk out of here. You have to tell me."
"Yes." Again with the hand.
Without understanding what this woman was hoping to achieve, Kaidan slowly touched his fingers to her fused ones.
The second he felt her touch his mind, Kaidan snatched back his hand, breathing heavily from whatever the hell that was.
"I must go." There was melody in the overly soft tone of this woman's voice. "But I wait. For you. To show you."
He sensed an intense desperation, but no malevolence. Was this race able to communicate like the protheans? If so, she was offering to give him some answers….
HIs body taut with unease, Kaidan placed his hand in hers.
She faces the door wearing the face of another, about to open it, but she really doesn't want to. She's touched this human's mind; seen the person inside. It isn't fair. But she has to. The Master will hurt her children if she doesn't. No choice!
The Master and his men are waiting. They hunt the human. Shepard. She's winning. The Master won't like that. He doesn't like defiance. He will beat it away and threaten the young. And he does. The baby! Shepard surrenders. Protect the baby.
Kaidan could feel what…Zaliesh…felt as he saw it all through her eyes. What haunted him was Terra's tortured face as they used Nate against her after she fought so hard to stop them - an impossible task in that environment. Then he had flashes of Terra's broken face up close, before Zaliesh put her mind at ease over their son. When the batarians left with Terra, Zaliesh had run back up to Nate's bedroom, retrieved him from the closet and returned him to the comfort of his cot. She'd cared for him until she'd had to go.
She does as she was instructed. She watches the screen that plays images. She sees one of her kin posing as Shepard's soulmate, involved in an act of intimacy with another. She's looks away. It's meant to hurt these people. Now she has to leave. She doesn't want to. She has no choice.
There were more flashes of memory, joined with fear, as she traversed the strange 'Citadel'.
She goes to where she was shown. A master is there with one of her kin, Vasha. He nods it is time. She takes the pill, looking at Vasha, who now looks like a human female.
Rissa. Kaidan doesn't have a chance to consider that more as the memory continues.
She feels the poison inside her, changing her, creating a feeling she does not know or understand. It's red, fire, driving forward, devouring everything in its path, blinding her brain with its intense desire to burn without reason. She can't control it and it frightens her.
Kaidan knew it was anger, a feeling so common in every other race he'd encountered, including his own, yet astoundingly unknown to this one.
Vasha is walking out into the open, amongst the people, and she knows she has to follow. She has to perform. She remembers the words she had to learn, the tone she had to use: so savage, like the beasts that try to prey on her kin. The burn accompanies her until she's sure she has become a beast herself. She shouts at Vasha, the words spilling out as she's been taught, her hands clutching at Vasha with a harshness that shocks her. She has no control.
She pushes Vasha, and her hands meet hers. She connects. 'Now, sister.' It is a deadened thought from Vasha, with no life behind it. Vasha is an empty shell following orders. Just like her…?
She has no choice. She drags Vasha into the corridor. It's hidden away; never used. No-one can see. A master is here, a human female on her knees, dazed by another poison put within her. This is the face Vasha wears.
The master approves and she feels worse. He makes her stand in front of him as he kills the female. The human's head bursts a circle of red that splatters her clothes and face. She doesn't want to wear the dripping life of this woman.
Seeing Rissa murdered like that…. And simply to sully Terra?
The master puts something on her wrist that belonged to Shepard – she remembers the human speaking into it – and then she's told to hold the metal that kills. The master hurries out of sight with Vasha who wears a different face now.
The people appear, shouting, threatening, but she feels no fear. They will not be as cruel as the masters. The metal – the 'gun' - is knocked from her hand. She's forced to the ground. Her wrists are bound. She's made to walk out amongst the people. They see Shepard. It's not fair. But she has no choice.
There should be no hope, but she has read Shepard's mind and these people share the traits of she and her kin. They love, they care. But there is more within them. They seek to protect even those they do not know, with their ability to stand strong against the cruel things, where she and her kin could not. Could she make contact? Shepard's soulmate will come. Dare she wait?
The connection broke and Kaidan was left stunned. Terra had been left alone to face all that, believing for a time that their son was dead. "Where is she? Where have they taken Shepard?" Kaidan kept his tone as gentle as he could. Zaliesh didn't deserve the harsh words of a demand.
"Away from here. I am sorry. That is all I know. I must go. I have waited too long." Zaliesh started to remove her clothes, and Kaidan would have looked away had she not begun to fade out.
No, she wasn't fading, she was blending into the surroundings, her skin changing and reflecting until she seemed to disappear. It was as effective as Terra's cloak. Zaliesh was a humanoid chameleon. One who could also reach a mind through touch. Now Terra's 'hallucinations' had a whole new, astounding explanation.
"Forgive me." This time her voice came from behind him.
She was just walking out, and despite her hand in Terra's abduction, Kaidan felt no compulsion to raise the alarm. Through her memories he had picked up the base fear of the batarians that had tried to stamp out her own will so they could control her. Saving Nate and lingering long enough to communicate this all to him... those were the last remains of who she was, surviving despite the psychological damage that was meant to leash her. Preventing her escape would doubtless bring about some horrible reprisal that he wouldn't be responsible for. Zaliesh was a hostage in need of rescue.
Moving back into the corridor, but unable to see any sign of her, Kaidan knew there was no way for him to track Zaliesh. Her camouflage was perfect. He just hoped that she would be okay until he found out where they were. And he would.
"Everything okay, Sir?" asked the asari officer guarding the open doorway at the opposite end of the corridor that Zaliesh had probably already escaped through.
With a start, Kaidan realised he was standing outside an empty cell. A cell where C-Sec believed they held Terra. This was going to look bad…. The enormity of the situation he was in instantly doubled.
"Uh, yeah. As well as it can be." Making a show of closing the cell door with a forced calm, Kaidan then walked out, not glancing at Garrus as he passed his cell again. He needed to get away from here.
As he exited, Kaidan saw Joker, Wrex and the others tensing with anticipation when they saw him, and he kept his gaze forward as he walked by the detective.
"Spectre Alenko."
Freezing, Kaidan turned to Tavitus.
"Did your wife say anything?"
"It was like you said: I'm not her favourite person right now. She wouldn't speak to me." Kaidan cleared his throat around the lie. "Excuse me, Detective, but I need to arrange some kind of legal representation for her and the others."
"Sound move."
"In the meantime, I'll ask you to refrain from questioning any of them until then."
Hoping that would buy him some time before they found out their prisoner had disappeared, Kaidan walked swiftly out, inclining his head to indicate the others follow him as he picked up Rorie in one swift move. "Teryck could I have a word with you as we walk?" Thankfully, Garrus' father acquiesced, and Kaidan moved closer to Wrex, keeping his voice low. "I need you to take your guards elsewhere."
Wrex gave him an appraising stare in response. "Causing your own trouble, Alenko?"
"Something like that."
"Hey! What's going on?" pressed Joker, his voice raised to be heard as he struggled to keep up, and clearly getting angrier by the second.
Without needing further explanation, Wrex peeled away from them, taking his C-Sec followers and the intrigued-looking salarian duo with them.
"Kaidan?" questioned Chakwas, but unlike Joker, she was the picture of worry.
Slowing slightly so Joker could catch up, Kaidan couldn't believe what he was about to say. "We're taking Normandy."
"What!? Where!?" Joker nearly stopped, but Kaidan urged him on with a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Anywhere that's away from here," was all he could answer.
"Any other time I'd be cheering you on," said Jack, "but all I see is a cheating ass-" she stopped herself completing that slur when Kaidan flashed a warning look that flicked briefly to Rorie who was watching them intently. "You're running away," charged Jack.
"Nuh uh. Daddy's going to get mommy. Because he's lost her. Haven't you, daddy?" Rorie tilted her head right in front of his, ensuring she had his full attention. "She can't tell you where she is, can she?"
Sometimes, his daughter's ability to piece things together to get close to the truth, scared the hell out of him, and he hugged her tighter. "No, she can't, but you're not to worry, because we'll find her."
"I know."
Christ, if only he had as much faith in himself. "Joker, get a message to the rest of the crew. They have to get there a-sap." Then he passed Rorie to Chakwas with a look she understood, falling back to the rear while he made a call. "Steven, I've got to leave the Citadel," he said the second Hackett answered. "I don't have time to explain right now, and this is going to sound crazy, but that wasn't Terra they arrested. She's been taken off the station by batarians."
Beside him, Joker and Jack looked stunned, while Teryck frowned at the knowledge that Garrus' fears had been right.
"I'm going to take you at your word on that, because I can confirm you're running out of time. I had to hand my data over to Internal Affairs, and as a result the fleets have been removed from my command. They're recalling all ships, including those I just sent to find your squads. I told them everything we believe, but they'll investigate at their own speed, and I'm not holding my breath. We know from experience they like to act first and think about the sense of it all after."
Kaidan silently cursed. A net was closing in, one that would tie his hands completely if he didn't evade it, and it was coming from his own allies. How the hell had these batarians accomplished it? He finally had a chance to address Garrus' father. "Teryck. I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do for Garrus right now." Kaidan winced with guilt. "But I wanted you to know that Garrus was right, and I won't forget about him."
"Don't worry about Garrus," said Hackett, reminding them all he was still there. "I've been in touch with Dr T'Soni and filled her in on what little we know and what position we're in. She assures me she can get Garrus out. Don't ask me how."
"It's good enough for me," answered Teryck. "I should go update Garrus. Good luck, Alenko."
As Teryck turned to go back, Kaidan's stomach dropped as he saw Dr T'Esana passing by them, too distracted with her omnitool to notice him as she headed towards C-Sec. "Oh shit." He took back Rorie from Chakwas and picked up the pace, aiming towards the elevator, feeling that countdown nearing its end. "Steven, we're not going to make it. C-Sec are going to find an empty cell and they're going to suspect I had a hand in it."
"Do what you can to get on that ship. With Terra out there somewhere, it's more paramount than ever that we have Normandy and you. I have to go. With luck, I'll see you soon."
Barrelling into the elevator with the others, Kaidan was feeling the pressure. Never had he imagined he'd have the threat of C-Sec hanging over him.
By time they'd made it out and began heading for Normandy's bay, a station-wide alert sounded. Shortly after, his omnitool delivered a message from the Council and he didn't need to open it to know what it would say, though he almost laughed when he saw he'd only warranted three succinct words.
Spectre status: revoked.
From where he was, Kaidan could see Normandy in place, just waiting for them. Now it would be placed in lockdown. Security teams were already moving to guard the bay's entrance.
He was too late.
-o-O-o-
A.N. I didn't use the 'Bring Down the Sky' DLC in 'Struggle', so Shepard never met Balak, and hence I gave that pleasure to Kaidan.