A/N - Back with another new chapter... I'm now well ahead writing-wise and headed towards the end. Once the story is full drafted, I'll post chapters more frequently :-) Thanks to all still reading... As a reminder, you can get updates faster at arinskye dot wordpress dot com, plus new/exclusive content!
All things Mass Effect belong to Bioware, all credit is due them.
Since they now had stable and reliable QEC communication with both Alliance command and the Resistance HQ on Earth, Shepard kept the Normandy in orbit over Rannoch for two days following the ceasefire. The only exception to this were short trips to nearby systems to retrieve items and resources that a seemingly never-ending list of refugees on the Citadel had requested. Shepard knew that other warship commanders may take issue with playing messenger service, but she understood the value of morale in a war effort and figured that if finding someone's long lost unit flag increased it, then it was worth her effort. She tried to fulfill all requests, as long as she didn't waste fuel and resources to do so.
Her delay above Rannoch was another strategic move based on morale. Although she had every expectation that the quarians and geth would set aside their differences and work together, she figured the Normandy's presence in orbit wouldn't hurt to ensure that the peace she had worked so hard to broker would persist. On a more personal level, she figured that if the rest of the crew was feeling even a tenth as tired as she, they deserved a short break. Her final reason was to give Tali a short time to adjust to her change in circumstances before she took her traipsing through the galaxy (again.)
She left the com room on the afternoon of the second day, having just coordinated with Hackett on the Crucible project, and receiving word from Anderson that the situation on Earth was dire but unchanged (including the safety of her family), and Liara intercepted her in the War Room.
"Shepard? I know this may not be the time, but I have something," Liara began. "A contact within Asari High Command was insistent I pass on a distress signal to you."
"Something they can't handle?" Shepard asked, motioning Liara to walk with her towards the CIC.
"From what I can tell, they sent several commando squads to investigate. None of them returned. They didn't ask me directly, but I think High Command's hoping you might help."
Shepard stopped and turned to her friend.
"What's your take on this, Liara?" she asked.
"That they wouldn't ask for help if it wasn't important," Liara replied, much as Shepard had expected. She wasn't sure the asari were asking for help - certainly not her help - but she didn't doubt the situation was dire if anyone outside the High Command knew about it.
"The colony's coordinates are on the galaxy map. I'll try to figure out what's going on," Liara added.
Shepard sighed and brought her hand to her forehead to try to rub away the headache she could feel forming. She mentally rearranged her planned trip to the Citadel to meet with the researcher as Hackett had requested, and decided that although the asari had remained fairly aloof and unhelpful thus far in the war effort, they were potentially a valuable resource. She could afford to take the high road in the hopes that her efforts would garner their support. She sent mental apologies to Hackett and his researcher and met Liara's gaze again.
"Ok, I'll set a course. But do your best to see what's up, please? I don't want to go in blind," she told Liara.
Her friend nodded in reply and they parted ways to put their plans in action.
#-#-#
In the shuttle on the way to the Lessus colony, Shepard questioned her friend further.
"Dig up any information on the mission, Liara?"
"I did," Liara replied. "And I now understand why High Command wanted to hide it. We're headed to an Ardat-Yakshi monastery."
Shepard shared a look of alarm with Kaidan. The shared look told her that they both remembered, not fondly, their first encounter with an Ardat-Yakshi during the fight with the Collectors. That it had come at a particularly trying time in their relationship – immediately after she had told them about their son and was reeling from his reaction to her withholding the information as long as she had – did not diminish the very real danger that she had faced at the hands of the creature. She shook off the chill that ran up her spine and turned back to Liara.
"Like Morinth?" she asked in confirmation, giving the monster the name it had carried.
Liara nodded slightly.
"Morinth chose to be a killer. These Ardat-Yakshi isolated themselves to avoid that," she explained. "But it doesn't mean they're harmless. Their urge to feed can be powerful. That's why High Command sent in commandos to investigate the monastery's distress signal."
"Great," Kaidan replied in a tone that indicated he thought it was anything but. "What's our strategy?"
"If there was a chance the Ardat-Yakshi could break loose, the commandos were to purge the monastery," Liara told them.
"Purge? As in destroy?" Shepard asked.
"They would have brought heavy explosives with them, yes," Liara confirmed.
"We know how dangerous these creatures can be thanks to Morinth," Kaidan said. "But we're not the shoot first, ask questions later types."
"Morinth was just hitting her stride," Liara said with a grimace. "Ardat-Yakshi who kill leave behind astronomical body counts. It's why they can never be free, and why they're such a great source of shame to the asari. That's why High Command won't rest until this place is destroyed. They'd never risk a single Ardat-Yakshi getting loose."
"Let's not assume anything," Shepard said. "Maybe the Ardat-Yakshi sent out the distress call. Either way, I need to know what happened before I take any... drastic... action."
"Agreed," Liara returned. "Once we give a report to High Command, they'll stop wasting lives here."
#-#-#
They set down moments later on the small landing pad outside the monastery. Shepard stepped out and immediately noticed two things. It was quiet, almost too quiet, and there was another shuttle – a civilian one – parked on the landing pad.
"It's warm. Someone just used it," Kaidan reported after touching his gloved hand to the small craft.
Shepard nodded and motioned the team forward to the door. When it swooshed open, she noticed the gap between the entry and a small platform across from them.
"Elevator disabled," Liara summarized. "To prevent entry or escape, I wonder..."
Shepard leapt across the gap and turned to watch her team perform the same maneuver. They slid down a ladder and into the darkness below. They were welcomed by the sound of a distant inhuman scream.
"Listen," Kaidan said softly. "There's a lot more than one."
They descended into the black maw of what was once likely a cheerful entryway, and discovered clues about the austere life that the 'students' of the monastery had led. The inky darkness and the still air punctuated only by the distant wails were oppressive and Shepard could feel the paranoia and unease rising in the team. It reached a breaking point when a soft thud to her left caused her to whirl around, shotgun raised, only to find her husband's face illuminated in her light. She lowered the gun and raised her brow at the same time.
"Sorry. I, uh, tripped," Kaidan explained with a self-deprecating grin.
Shepard heard Liara's chuckle beside them and joined her and took a moment to smile gratefully at Kaidan. Whether his trip was intentional or not, he had cut the rising tension and Shepard felt relieved that the weight of the air had lessened. She turned back to her search.
They found the entry to the facility gruesomely decorated with the corpses of asari commandos.
"This was the commando's captain," Liara reported. "It seems they gave their lives fighting the Reapers."
"This monastery's out of the way. What do the Reapers want with Ardat-Yakshi?" Shepard wondered aloud. She turned to Kaidan who had completed his examination of the datapads near the corpses. "Anything useful?"
"A floor plan marked with the NavPoint location of the bomb. It's inside the Great Hall," he reported.
"So the commandos started the purge after all," Liara commented.
"Ardat-Yakshi or not, evacuating this place would've saved a lot of lives," Shepard said, a little surprised to feel herself coming down on the side of the monsters. "If there's no survivors, let's get to the Great Hall and set off that bomb."
"Am I the only one who heard the 'have Kaidan set off that bomb' in that sentence?" Kaidan asked with a wry grin.
Shepard met his eyes over her shoulder and grinned back. Single moment of shared humor done, she sobered and motioned her team through the doors.
#-#-#
They made their way through the facility as stealthily as possible, searching for and not finding any survivors as they went. Thankfully, this part of the monastery was well lit and open and the heavy mood didn't return. Kaidan bypassed the security of a door at the end of a corridor and they walked out onto a mezzanine overlooking a large chamber flanked by large windows on the back wall. Under other less grim circumstances, Shepard might have stopped to appreciate the beauty of the room, but instead, she silently and carefully led her team forward. She stopped dead in her tracks when the sound of flaring biotics and a corpse hitting the ground below reached her, followed immediately by a soft dulcet voice that was familiar if not out of place.
"Very good. I almost didn't hear you," Samara purred below them.
"Samara?" Shepard questioned, her surprise showing in her voice.
"It has been some time, Shepard. You are a most welcome sight," Samara said. "And Kaidan as well. Hello."
"Samara," Kaidan greeted with a nod of his head.
"The corruption here runs deep," Samara told them sadly, indicating the Reaper corpse on the ground at her feet.
"I assume you're here on your own, Justicar," Liara gave her own greeting. "Perhaps for something special."
"You are correct. Two of my daughters live here, and I have come for them." Samara told them. She paused and lowered her head in a rare show of emotion. "Unfortunately, the Reapers had already infested this place by the time I arrived."
Shepard and Kaidan shared a look, understanding all the things Samara wasn't saying. Shepard knew that they were on the same page – that they couldn't imagine the amount of pain a parent would feel at having not just one, but all three children lost to the same horrible circumstance. They could, however, fully emphasize with a parent wanting to save her children and would do whatever they could to help their old friend.
"Both your other daughters are Ardat-Yakshi?" Shepard questioned softly. "Like Morinth?"
"Falere and Rila have followed the monastery's rules ever since they arrived," Samara answered. "They've shown no inclination toward violence. I came after I heard the rumors in High Command. My daughters are my responsibility, and it is one that cannot be abandoned even as our galaxy crumbles."
"Then let's go together," Shepard replied. "Maybe your daughters can tell us why the Reapers hit this place."
"I suspect they will have much to tell us," Samara confirmed. "It has been centuries since I last saw them."
Another – louder – wail pierced the air and drew the justicar's attention.
"We're out of time," she said. She flared her biotics in a blue glow around herself and began to stride to the door below them. "We will meet again. I will draw these creatures off."
Shepard nodded to the now empty room and waved her team forward.
#-#-#
They made their way down a ramp and into an open air auditorium. Once again Shepard noted but filed away the breathtaking beauty of the vista before them and tried to ignore the hair rising on the back of her neck. They reached the ground and her suspicions were confirmed as one of the wails they had been hearing since they arrived shattered the silence of the space. This time, the wail was deafening, and long, and had obviously originated from within the large room. Shepard crouched behind the nearest half wall near the podium end of the room and searched the surroundings. Mere seconds later, on the heels of another piercing cry, she located the source of the sound. A Reaper of a variation she had never seen before stood menacing and angry at the back of the room.
"What's that?" Kaidan exclaimed in surprise.
Shepard studied the unknown enemy for a moment while maintaining cover. The creature was huge, taller than any of the other Reaper ground troops she had seen, and very obviously female, with sagging breasts prominently displayed on its naked torso. As she took in its sinister form, she began to form awful suspicion that was confirmed when the creature turned its head slightly and revealed the fringed tentacles that covered its head. She swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat and then nearly choked on it as the Reaper let out another wail, one that reminded her of a long-ago human folk tale.
"That must be what banshees sounded like," she muttered to no one in particular.
She gritted her teeth and hoped that the old Gaelic legend that she had recalled wouldn't apply – that hearing this cry wouldn't prophesy a death. She studied the newly-christened banshee for another second and then directed her squad on what she had determined were the best tactics to defeat it.
#-#-#
They made their way through another pocket of Reaper troops and bypassed the door into the next chamber. There, they were once again surprised, this time by a young asari wearing the monastery uniform under attack by several Reapers. They moved to dispatch them, but were beat to the punch by Samara who swooped in, biotics flaring, and made quick work of the enemies.
"Mother! You came!" the young asari exclaimed, shock and joy evident in her demeanor.
"As soon as I was able," Samara confirmed gently. She turned to them to perform introductions. "This is Falere, my youngest. She and her sister Rila are Ardat-Yakshi. They-"
"Mother!" Falere cut her mother off sharply. "They have Rila."
"What?" Samara asked in alarm.
"I saw some of those creatures take her into the Great Hall. I've been trying to get there."
"What are the Reapers doing here?" Shepard asked, though she realized that she already knew the answer.
"Harvesting us," Falere answered in a trembling voice. "They're turning us into... into those monsters."
Shepard heard Liara gasp as her suspicions were confirmed. She put a hand on her friend's shoulder to steady her. She knew Liara had seen what she had, and had formed the same conclusion about the Reaper's presence, but having it stated in bald fact was still a shock.
"Please," Falere pleaded. "You can't let that happen to Rila."
"Then we have to find Rila fast," Shepard said. "There's a bomb in the Great Hall."
"A bomb?" Falere echoed. "This is our home. Ardat-Yakshi come here to achieve peace. We haven't hurt anyone."
"I can vouch for the truth of her words – with pride," Samara added.
"Didn't you come here to rescue us?" Falere asked.
"We did, and we will still try to save your sister," Shepard replied with a nod. She gritted her teeth and let the other shoe fall. "But we can't leave this place standing, Falere. Not after the Reapers have found it."
"You sound like the commandos," Falere accused. "They didn't stop to help anyone."
"Falere...," Samara warned in a tone that Shepard suspected was universal to mothers of all species.
"I'm sorry," Falere said, looking suitably chastised. So saying, she moved past Shepard and over the railing behind her.
Shepard watched as the asari glowed blue and floated to the ground in an impressive show of biotics.
"The Great Hall. She's looking for Rila," Samara stated before she copied the maneuver.
"We'll meet you there," Shepard called after her and once again led her team out.
"Please be swift," she heard Samara say from below them.
They headed to the door indicated by the NavPoint only to discover that it had been sabotaged.
"That elevator's broken," Kaidan said. "We'll have to take the long route. Unless you've picked up the knack of using biotics to float?"
"I think we're all out of luck on that one," Shepard replied with a grin.
She rerouted and headed back the way they had come.
#-#-#
They made their way through the facility, encountering several skirmishes along the way, including more banshees, until they finally reached the Great Hall.
"It doesn't seem right seeing dead soldiers in a monastery," Kaidan remarked as he stepped over another commando corpse.
"Asari High Command couldn't take a chance with Ardat-Yakshi. Something had to be done," Liara replied, a little defensively.
"Sending commandos with explosives is more damage control than a real plan, Liara," Kaidan replied.
While Shepard understood and agreed with Kaidan's opinion, she needed them all on point now.
"Speaking of explosives," she said sharply and pointed to the large bomb in the room ahead. "Let's find Rila and do something with that."
They moved further into the room and saw that Samara and Falere were crouched near the bomb and over the body of an inert asari.
"Rila, wake up," Falere pleaded with tears in her voice.
"Falere, Rila cannot hear us," Samara tried to soothe her daughter and reason with her at the same time.
"Look – she's still alive," the girl replied.
"I know," Samara confirmed softly. "But I am afraid Rila is not well."
Shepard moved her team close to the asari and saw what Samara meant. Rila was still recognizable and wearing the monastery robes, but her eyes were pitch black and staring vacantly ahead. It was clear that her transformation had begun.
"Rila's not one of them yet. She can't be. She just needs to wake up!" Falere protested. She tried to shake her sister. "Rila? Rila, can you hear me?"
Rila stood, turned her black vacant gaze to her sister, and in one swift motion she clasped her hands around Falere's throat and began to squeeze.
Shepard stepped in and pulled Rila off her sister, and the infected asari fell to the ground again.
"Ugh," Falere exclaimed, touching her tender throat and coughing. "Why did she do that?"
"Because they've begun to turn her into one of the Reaper's creatures," Samara explained gently.
"I'm sorry," Shepard added softly, keeping an eye on Rila and motioning Kaidan to the bomb.
He nodded and crouched over the explosive, then stood mere seconds later.
"The detonator is missing," he told them.
"Commandos would have had one," Shepard replied. "We've got to find it."
They began to search the room and were quickly interrupted by the unwelcome cry of a banshee. They turned to see a force of Reapers led by several banshees attacking. They fell into formation and fought them off, with Samara and her daughter providing an extremely helpful biotic barrier to shield them.
"Wonder where she learned that trick?" Kaidan chuckled under his breath between shots.
"It's good to have friends with long memories," Shepard agreed as she prepared to charge a nearby husk.
Once all the enemies lay dead, they turned back to issue at hand, to see that Rila had regained her feet and her eyes were once again clear and blue.
"Falere, you need to get to the elevator," Rila said softly. "All of you, you need to save yourselves."
"Rila? What are you doing?" Falere cried.
Her sister took her hands in hers and indicated the missing detonater that she held.
"It's too late for me," Rila answered sadly. "There are hundreds coming. Just go!"
Samara inclined her head once to her elder daughter and then turned toward the elevator. Shepard motioned her team to follow and then realized Falere would need more incentive.
"Move!" she called sharply, grabbing the girl's arm and manhandling her toward the elevator.
"No! Rila!" Falere cried, protesting and struggling the whole way.
"I love you," Rila said softly as she watched them go.
The elevator doors closed just in time as the sound of banshee screams began to reach them.
#-#-#
The elevator was very near the surface when the explosion rocked the facility, indicating that Rila's heroic last efforts had succeeded. Falere collapsed in sorrow and Samara wrapped her arms around her only remaining daughter for the last few seconds of the trip. They stepped out onto the landing pad, everyone walking with heads down and slowly in sorrow.
"Rila... There wasn't even time to say goodbye," Falere mourned softly, breaking the silence.
"Few can break the Reaper's hold," Samara replied quietly. "Rila's will was extraordinary, as was her love for you."
"We left her to die!" Falere replied.
Samara nodded slightly.
"Rila made her choice, and it has reminded me of what is truly important, and why I swore I would lay down my life."
"What is that?" Falere asked her mother.
"Falere... the Code demands an Ardat-Yakshi cannot live outside a monastery. And the monastery no longer exists."
Shepard was lulled out of her sorrow and passive observation when Samara drew her pistol.
"What are you doing?" she asked sharply, hand on her own weapon.
"I am sorry, Shepard," Samara said, turning to her. "By the justicar's code... there is only one way to save Falere."
"Mother, no!" the girl cried.
"My daughters. You were all so much stronger than I believed," Samara said and brought her pistol to her own head.
"Wait!" Shepard cried, moving quickly to restrain the asari justicar's arms behind her back.
"Let... go," Samara gritted out.
"What are you doing?" Shepard replied in the same tone.
"Fulfilling the Code."
"You once told me the duty of a mother to her child is a Code of its own," Shepard said softly. "Do you remember that? Did you mean it?"
"I do," Samara replied to both questions.
"Do you believe that Falere is a danger if she stays here, isolated?" Shepard pressed.
"Yes!" Falere cried, picking up on the idea. "I'll stay here – home – no matter what's become of it."
"Without a proper monastery..." Samara began but Falere cut her off.
"I could have left at any time. I don't need a building to honor my own code. And if the Reaper's return, they won't take me alive, I promise."
Samara thought for a moment, staring off into the distance.
"Then... the Code permits you to stay, as you are," she said finally. "Once this war is over, and if I am able, I will visit. As a justicar should."
Falere wrapped her arms around her mother and after a few seconds of stiffness, Samara returned the embrace.
"I'd understand if you wanted to stay and help Falere rebuild a home here," Shepard suggested softly.
Samara disentangled herself from her daughter and turned to face Shepard.
"It must wait now that I can help oppose the Reapers," she said. "I am ready to join your forces, if you will have me, of course."
"We'll wait aboard while you say goodbye," Shepard confirmed with a nod and headed to their shuttle.
#-#-#
Hours later, back on the Normandy, Kaidan caught up with Shepard outside the elevator on Deck 3 as she had requested. When he approached her, he noted the newly forged memorial plaque she was holding and her defensive posture. When he got close enough, she turned to piece of metal so that he could read the name on it, and it didn't surprise him at all.
"Thank you for doing this with me," Shepard said softly. "I didn't want to make it a crew thing – I wasn't sure everyone would understand."
She stepped close to the memorial wall and affixed the plate with Legion's name on it there. She traced his name slowly before she stepped back. As was her routine, she stopped and read every single name on the list, giving each person their due. When she had completed the ritual, she turned back to Kaidan and was surprised to see that Tali, Garrus, and Liara had joined him.
"He was our shipmate, our ally, and your friend," Garrus said quietly, speaking for the group. "We'll honor him as we would any of our dead."
Shepard blinked back tears and gave her dearest friend a sharp salute.
"Thank you," she told them all, then took Kaidan's hand and headed to the elevator.
Once the doors closed around them and they had some semblance of privacy, she walked into his waiting arms.
"We're headed to the Citadel to drop off Samara and meet with Hackett's researcher," she told him.
"Hmm," Kaidan replied, happy to just hold and comfort her.
"This one hit a little close to home," Shepard said with a shudder, referring not just to Legion's demise, but also their mission on Lessus. "I know this is war, and there are always losses in a war, but I'm tired of doing everything right and still losing people. And I can't watch another mother lose her child. I just can't, Kaidan."
"Ssshhh," he said softly into her hair. "We'll keep fighting, because that's what we do, and we'll find a way to wake up tomorrow and do it again. It's not fair, and it's not nice, but we'll do it. Because if we save just one child, it's worth it. And if we win, and end this threat, we'll save our child, and that's ultimately why we're doing this."
"How'd you get so smart?" Shepard asked with a sigh, allowing herself the comfort he was offering.
"Cerberus upgrade," Kaidan joked as they stepped off the elevator into their cabin.
Shepard was still laughing as the door swooshed shut behind them.