Chapter 25: Power

Kahje

The enemy's torpedoes came at the submersible Liara and Quoyle were riding. The drell turned swiftly and the torpedoes missed, hitting the canyon below. Quoyle opened the com.

"This is Quoyle Salios, assistant representative Quina, we are under attack!" the drell said. "We are under attack!" Liara looked through the systems, looking for any weapons the sub may have, to her disappointment the sub they was not military grade but civilian grade. They had no weapons, and their enemy was armed to the teeth, they would have to rely on the shrine's defenses. Out of the ground around the shrine were several turrets, they were saved and just in time as the enemy sub locked on them. The alarm rang loudly, more than before.

"What's happening?!" Liara asked.

"No…the shrine's defenses are targeting us…" Liara's eyes went wide, as the turrets around the shrine fired their torpedoes at them from the front and the enemy's torpedo fired from the back. "Hang on!" the drell punched it and the sub climbed sharply as the torpedoes collided, some of the torpedoes came through and hit the enemy sub. The sub was destroyed soon afterwards, and sunk to the bottom.

"Salios to control room cease all attacks!" the drell said.

"They're not listening, something's wrong" Liara said. The alarms lit up again, they were being targeted again. The automated turrets fired on them and the drell tried to dodge it, but one of the torpedos hit the side of the sub. The sub was out of control, it took all of Quoyle abilities to not careen into the canyon walls below. The drell activated the subs emergency thrusters to keep the craft stabilized, barely missing the walls. Soon the sub was back under control; however that was not the end of their troubles as they heard splashing behind them. Liara looked behind her to see that they were taking on water, that last hit blew a hole in the sub. The drell went to auto-pilot and got out a mask designed for his people, their bodies were not made for the wet world of the hanar and that incapability led to diseases like Kepral's Syndrome. Liara went to the hole and used her biotics to block the water; she focused her mind and extended her barrier to the sub separating it from the water.

"Impressive, Ms. T'soni, your biotic abilities are exceptional" Quoyle said.

Liara chuckled a little. "It helps when you're the daughter of a Matriarch…" she said. Though as powerful as she was, creating a barrier this large would sap her energy very quickly. She became serious. "So what now?"

"Something's wrong at the shrine, I want to know what" Quolye said.

"But how do we get past the turrets?"

"The automated systems have a blind spot, if we hug the canyons long enough we should be able to get past the turrets" He said.

Liara raised a brow. "Should?"

"The canyon is also a dead zone, one small slip and the pressure will suck us in and crush us" the drell said. "Your barrier should help, creating a buffer zone for safe passage, so please hold on for now…" Liara nodded, as Quoyle guided the sub along the canyon, one wrong drift and they would be at the mercy of the pressure. So far it was quiet, the turret hadn't looked on them yet, however Liara hoped they would get there soon as the asari was starting to feel the strain of keeping the barrier up. The sub climbed slowly underneath the shrine, and entered through the emergency shaft at the bottom. The water drained revealing a path into the shrine; Liara released her barrier, and fell to one knee, exhausted. "Are you okay? We can rest if you want"

Liara shook her head and stood up. "No, we need to get find out what's wrong…" They went through the shrine, the asari wanted to admire the architecture of the shrine, but now wasn't the time as they discovered the bodies of the staff. "Now we know why the shrine's defenses attacked us"

Quoyle frowned. "How did this happen? The shrine guards are some of the most dangerous people in the galaxy" he said. "Most of them are former assassins for the Primacy" Liara went down and analyzed the bodies; all of them had their throats cut. Before she got up, Liara heard a grunt from behind; she looked behind to see a sword sticking out of the drell. Behind him was a soldier reappearing, in familiar silver and black armor, Cerberus.

The Cerberus solder, took out her sword and the drell dropped to the floor. She then aimed for Liara, swinging her sword for Liara's head; the asari dodged and pushed the soldier against the wall. Before the she could recover, Liara impaled the soldier with a shard of debris through her head. After the battle, she heard groaning coming from her side, Quoyle was alive; the soldier's sword missed his vitals by a bit.

The asari went to his side. "Quoyle, are you alright?" Liara asked.

Quoyle groaned. "Yes, though I'll be remembering the pain for years to come" he said. Liara was getting out medi-gel to heal the drell's wounds, but Quoyle stopped her. "No, you'll need it, for when you encounter more of those soldiers…"

"But your wounds…" Liara said concerned.

"I'll be fine, I can take it from that soldier you killed" Quoyle said. "You must hurry to the center, protect the shrine" Liara nodded, she went to the dead guards and took their weapons. The shrine was full of Cerberus troops, Liara frowned, what were they after? Whatever the case, she could allow this to continue.

"Intruder!"

"Damn it…" The Cerberus trooper opened fired on the asari, as she went to cover. She shot the first trooper in the head; in the fallen trooper's place was a much more heavily armored trooper. He threw a smoke grenade that obscured her vision, Liara moved out of the smoke only to be flanked by more troopers. They opened fired on her, as Liara created a barrier to block the bullets, she then expand the barrier and knocked them down. She then gunned each and every one of them. After dealing with the Cerberus troops, she made it to the center of the archives. From the looks of it, Cerberus had a hard time trying to unlock the data cache inside, luckily for her she could get through easily.

"Well done, Dr. T'soni…" Liara quickly turned around and aimed her gun to find the Illusive Man via hologram. The asari scoffed, it figures he wouldn't show himself in person. "I should thank you for dealing with our mess, I'm grateful"

Liara frowned. "Don't be, I know you were the one who sent them"

"Not at all, this was the action of a rogue faction nothing more and nothing less" he said. "Do you really think I would waste resources on something as sloppy as this?"

The asari narrowed her eyes. "I wouldn't put it pass you"

"Please Dr. T'soni, we're ultimately on the same side, I want what you want" The Illusive Man said. "A way to stop the Reapers, we should work together…"

Liara calmed down. "I agree, why don't you share your information on defeating the Reapers first…" The Illusive Man didn't answer. "Why so quiet, Illusive Man? Didn't you say we were on the same side?" When he continued to be silent, Liara guessed he either didn't have it or he was keeping it to himself, either way she had what she came for. She began to walk away until the Illusive Man spoke up.

"Such a shame…" Liara looked back. "With all the resources you have at your disposal, it's such a shame this is the best you can do as the Shadow Broker…." He said. "It's no wonder the black market is starting to see you as soft and primed for usurption"

Liara narrowed her eyes. "Taunts? Is this the best the leader of Cerberus can do? I'm disappointed…"

"Whether, you think so or not…you need me, Shadow Broker"

Liara scoffed. "Really? I seem to remember that you are the one trying to make deals" She said walking away. "Oh the next time you try to kill me, bring an army"

"Noted, Broker…" The hologram faded. Liara went back to Quoyle and helps the drell to the shuttle bay and they left the shrine where the hanar official was thankful for protecting the "Enkindler's gift". Afterwards Liara left Kahje, and analyzed the data, first was the location of the super weapon, and a second information was missing, most likely taken by Cerberus which was why the Illusive Man came to her. She contacted Admiral Hackett.

"Dr. T'soni, good to see you"

"You too, Admiral, how goes the data mine?"

"The scientists have hit a breakthrough, they found some blueprints, and they're now working to translate them" Hackett said. "What about your end?"

"I found the location of the weapon, come to these coordinates, and bring only people you trust…"

Two chapters left until the war begins!

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