Shepard had thought her research into Justicars had given her some preparation for dealing with one and, oh boy, was she ever wrong.
Almost all the races had some kind of fighting force. The elcor, for example- Calyn the Citadel's elcor ambassador had been happy to tell her -had a defense force on their home planet of Dekuuna. Their warriors could carry cannons and such on their back any other race would need a heavy vehicle to use.
But the most famous ones were, inarguably, the ones among the Council's races. The salarians had the Salarian Task Force, the turians had…everybody, and the asari had their famous- or infamous, depended on how you looked at it –asari commandos, who were not ladies you wanted to fuck around with. They were trained warriors equally adept at biotics and weapons. Shepard would frankly rather pull her own teeth out than have to face down a squad of them.
That didn't happen often at all, thankfully. Most of her dealings with real asari commandos had been friendly. With limited information for outsiders to be found regarding them, Shepard had been assuming in the back of her mind that a Justicar was basically an asari commando, just with advanced training and a more religious focus.
Garrus had not been exaggerating when he said the officer in charge of holding Justicar Samara was in awe of her, which should have been her first tipoff she had no real idea what she was getting into.
The fact she mentioned the Justicar actually had an oath in their code that swore they wouldn't try to overthrow an existing government should have been another.
Coming face to face with Samara for the first time, even when they had what she wanted, was an unnerving experience.
For one thing, she was definitely a Matriarch of considerable age. Physically, the asari looked youthful no matter what age they were. Shepard didn't recall ever seeing an asari with a wrinkle on her face. No, it was little things that clued you in that an asari was in her Matriarch stage. The way they held themselves, the way they seemed to regard the world with eyes full of secret knowledge. Up until that moment, Shepard would have said Matriarch Benezia, Liara's mother, stood as an example of that kind of reverence inducing aura. This was the woman who had the strength to hold a tiny bit of herself against Sovereign's indoctrination, after all.
But she had never met anyone who was Samara's like and she never would. She was one of the most beautiful asari she'd ever come across, with the kind of face you saw carved into the likeness of a goddess. She didn't just have that aura around her; it seemed to permeate the air in every direction throughout the whole room.
When they entered the police station so they could tell her that her target had left two days ago on the AML Demeter (getting that name had not been as simple a task as it sounded) she was sitting crosslegged in a meditative pose. Floating two feet above the floor. Even Jack's eyes widened at that.
Shepard pondered this as Samara lowered to the floor, the dark energy dancing around her slowly fading. She opened her eyes and they lifted unerringly to lock with Shepard's.
She could kill me and not give it a second thought. She felt surprisingly calm at the idea. Samara's eyes were crystal blue and held depths one couldn't even begin to fathom. Her first thought was they were the eyes of a fanatic, but that wasn't quite right. Samara was completely sane, an utterly dedicated warrior but absolutely clear in her thinking. It made her all the more frightening because such a woman couldn't be truly reasoned with and she would never take action without being absolutely certain she was in the right. That made her dangerous in a way few others could match.
Somehow that made it even more unnerving when Samara knelt in front of her, dark energy flaring, and swore fealty to her. She had to, she said, to ensure that there was no conflict between her Code and Shepard's orders. "By the Code I will serve you, Shepard." Her low, rich voice seemed to vibrate through the room. "Your choices are my choices. Your morals are my morals. Your wishes are my code."
Ooooo-kay. The detective was gaping and Shepard didn't blame her. The asari gave her a wide eyed look that was similar enough to the one she gave the Justicar it made Shepard even more uncomfortable. "I never thought I'd ever see a Justicar make an oath like that," she said, her voice hushed.
Samara rose to her feet. "If you force me to do something very dishonorable, I may have to kill you after my oath is fulfilled," she informed Shepard, her voice matter-of-fact.
Perversely, that made Shepard feel a great deal less awkward. She wondered if that meant people threatening her life had become commonplace for her. "Naturally."
The detective said she was free to go since her superiors preferred to have Samara gone rather than have to deal with her. She fell into step beside Shepard once the commander introduced the others, who nodded respectfully. Even Jack was a bit more subdued in the Justicar's presence. Garrus, though, cocked his head at Shepard when Samara's back was turned, not making any effort to hide his amusement. Forgetting her awkwardness toward him, she scowled back, daring him to say anything. The turian's mandibles flared in a grin and he looked away.
"I admit, a Justicar's existence is a lonely one," Samara commented as they left the station. "I think I will enjoy working with an honorable crew."
Jack snorted behind them.
Shepard eyed her over her shoulder. "We'll head back to the ship and…"
"Commander." EDI's voice came from her omni-tool.
Shepard paused. "I'm here, EDI, what's up?"
"I have some information regarding Officer Lawson that I believe you will want to know."
"Miranda? What's wrong?" Jacob's voice was sharp.
"Officer Lawson left the ship not long after you did on personal business. She met a contact at the Eternity bar and then proceeded to a cargo terminal. That cargo terminal is currently on security lockdown. As you asked me to monitor gang activity, I picked up messages from several Eclipse gunships in the area, an unusually high number of them. The troops they have been dropping off are centered solely on the warehouse Officer Lawson is in."
Jacob started swearing. Shepard went completely still, her mind racing. "Shit, Miranda, what the hell did you do?"
"I have lost track of her immediate position, Commander."
Could have nothing to do with anything. Miranda had her own agenda behind every action. But Shepard's instincts told her otherwise and there were too many coincidences for her to ignore it. She glanced at the others, her face going hard. "Where is the terminal?"
She was only human. Miranda had never been more aware of this as she looked down the barrel of a pistol at her oldest friend.
There were only two people on Illium she had been willing to trust with relocating Oriana and the family who had adopted her. Lanteia, her asari contact, was one but Miranda had kept the details from her. Theirs was a close but strictly professional relationship. She'd saved the details for Niket alone because he'd grown up with her and knew what her father was like. He was the only tie to her past life she had bothered to keep. He'd been the only person to help her when she ran from her father all those years ago, putting his life on the line so she could start a life of her own.
Of course, she hadn't told him at the time she was taking Oriana, then an infant, along with her. She'd had to come clean with that fact just recently.
When Lanteia had informed her that Niket had been in contact, stating that Henry Lawson had hired Eclipse mercenaries to come take Oriana, she had not doubted it for a moment. It had seemed perfectly reasonable to her that her father might be watching for her, waiting to grab Oriana. She would draw the mercenaries away and Niket would escort Oriana and her family to the shuttle that would take them away from Illium…and out of her father's reach.
It had never occurred to her, not once, that Niket might betray her. She'd told herself over and over he wouldn't even as she made her way through the cargo terminals, desperate to get to Oriana before the Eclipse mercenaries did.
She'd believed it right up until the moment she'd seen Niket standing beside the Eclipse Captain.
Miranda was barely aware of the mercenary aiming a rifle at her, all her focus on Niket. The overwhelming sense of betrayal shook her to the core.
She, who prided herself on keeping her emotions firmly in check, had let sentiment blind her and now Oriana might have to pay the price.
That thought hardened her, sent ice coursing through her veins. She let Niket babble on about how she'd stolen Oriana from a life of wealth and happiness and wondered if he actually believed that bullshit or if he was just trying to excuse finally giving over to her father. She listened, quietly urged him on because she needed to know one thing. "I knew you had spy programs in your father's system, Miri, so I kept it private," he finally said, giving it to her and sealing his fate as far as she was concerned.
"He doesn't know about Oriana?" Her voice was quiet. If she'd bothered to look, she would have seen the Eclipse captain, Enayla, smirking in anticipation. She knew what was coming.
Generally Niket was an intelligent man, but he was oblivious this time around. "I'm the only one who knows."
The only loose end. Miranda nodded once. "This isn't how I wanted it to end, Niket. I'm going to miss you."
It took him a moment to realize what she meant. Probably he thought only he had a right to betrayal. His eyes widened and he took a step back. Miranda shot him point blank in the chest, sending him flying backward. "Figuratively speaking."
Captain Enayla started laughing. "That was nicely done. Too bad recruiting you isn't an option, Lawson. Unfortunately, your father is the one that hired me and I have a shipment to deliver, so…"
Miranda managed to lash out with her biotics a second before the asari did. Enayla went flying backward but Miranda managed to keep her feet. Eclipse mercenaries started to appear around crates and she could make out others moving on the walkways above. Enayla stumbled to her feet, glaring at her. "You're a dead woman. Didn't you wonder why there were so few mercenaries trying to stop you on the way in here? They were waiting for my signal." She held up her omni-tool and grinned. "They're coming in now."
"They were," a cold voice said from behind her.
Miranda had never thought she would be so glad to hear Shepard's voice. Enayla faltered for a moment then her face tightened in grim lines. "This is Eclipse business." Her gaze was fixed on the main entrance to the terminal where the commander stood. Garrus was standing directly to her right with Jacob, Tali, and Jack standing around her. A tall asari woman in red armor Miranda assumed was the Justicar they'd been sent to recruit was on Shepard's left, her head turning slowly as she took everyone in.
"Kindly point your fucking guns away from my XO and we can all just go home, sugar," Shepard said implacably. Miranda took the opportunity to knock several of the mercs close to her away with her biotics and dodge toward Shepard and the other crew members. She heard a shot ricochet off the floor right beside her. The mercs above them never even had a chance to fire. The asari flicked a hand upward in an almost casual gesture and every merc directly above her- every single one –flew upward so violently they crashed into the ceiling and came tumbling down.
For a moment, everyone in the room just stared. The asari focused on Enayla with a serene expression. Miranda actually saw the captain shudder and didn't blame her a bit. A wave of biotic power the likes of which she had never felt before rolled out from the red armored figure and Enayla's entire frame seemed to fold in on itself. She screamed, a sound echoed by her minions as the wave hit them as well, and tried to bring her rifle up. Garrus Vakarian stepped up and started firing at her, bullets slamming against her shields one right after the other. Miranda wasn't certain whether it was the Justicar's powers or the turian's bullets that took her life but either way she ended up flying backward again and this time she didn't get back up.
The rest of the mercenaries, already under assault by the rest of them, didn't last much longer.
Shepard cast a glance around at all the dead bodies around her glanced up at the walkway above, studying a body that was dangling over the railing. She scratched her head and then twisted in place to look at the Justicar. "Samara? If I do anything that makes you violate your code, I would like to humbly request you give me a chance to make up for it before your oath is done." The dangling body slipped over the railing and crashed to the ground as if to punctuate her statement. "Please."
"You going to talk to her?" Shepard stood beside Miranda, watching Oriana and her family. They were waiting for their shuttle to finish prepping. In a few minutes she would be gone and, hopefully, safe.
Miranda couldn't make herself look away from her sister. At nineteen, she was almost a woman now, and so beautiful. That wasn't vanity. She didn't find Oriana beautiful because her face was the same as her own. It was the ease and happiness that was so clear on her face. If Niket hadn't been clearly trying to justify himself with that bullshit about the wealth and happiness she'd taken Oriana from, she would have been happy to show him this.
The fact her closest friend had sold her out while the woman she didn't trust at all had saved her was not lost on her. "I apologize, Commander." Her voice was quiet. "I thought I could handle this myself, I trusted the wrong person, I let my emotions get in the way of my judgment. I put the mission at risk."
Shepard turned her head and raised an eyebrow. "Miranda, I realize we don't get along, but I don't want you dead. Not because it would put the mission at risk but because you're part of my crew, and I get cranky when anyone on my crew is at risk. So, yeah, don't do that shit again. Also, that does not answer my question. Are you going to talk to her? You don't have much time left." She looked back at Oriana. "You should at least introduce yourself."
"I worked so hard to give her a normal life. I don't want to interfere." Even Miranda could hear the hesitation in her own voice.
"Right, because staring at her creepily across the terminal isn't going to rouse her curiosity at all." As if on cue, Oriana glanced up and her eyes met Miranda's for a moment. "See? She's going to know something's up anyway and if she's as smart as you…"
Miranda rolled her eyes. "Point taken, Commander." She took a deep breath, irritated to find herself nervous, and crossed the terminal.
Oriana watched her coming, her eyes, exactly like her own, taking in every detail. She paused and smiled slowly. "Hello, Oriana. I'm your sister."
"I always knew you were a sentimentalist," Garrus commented from behind her.
Shepard didn't glance back. "Shut up, Vakarian."
He just chuckled. She turned to give Miranda and her sister a moment. Garrus was looking down at his omni-tool, keeping his eyes on it even as he spoke: "We going after the assassin today? We might as well, we're on a roll."
"We'll stop by the ship first, I'll decide then. Samara seems more than happy to…Garrus?"
The turian had gone stiff, staring at some message on his omni-tool.
Shepard took a step toward him, alarmed. "Garrus, what's wrong?"
He looked over at her and his eyes were strangely blank for a moment before he blinked, his posture relaxing a bit. "Nothing big, Commander." He just needed to get back to the ship as soon as possible and get one of his contacts on the line. His heart was already pounding and while he reminded himself not to get his hopes up, some instinct told him his waiting had paid off.
They'd found Sidonis.
AN: I probably should have brought Shepard in to Paragon Miranda there but, come on, that line was epic. Sorry it's been a bit, I reached a point in my DA story where I was in a fugue state of obsessive writing...and I should be falling into another one for the upcoming chapters of this story now XD