Bioware owns all. Thanks to everyone who reviews, I can't explain how rewarding it is when you see other people like your work.
Ashley wakes in the medbay. She feels a dull pain in her side and back, but besides that it isn't nearly as bad as she thought it would be. As soon as she comes too, Doc is right there next to her.
"How are you feeling, Commander?"
"I've been better, but the worst of it is the dull pain on my side." Her hand reaches to point to where the worst of the pain is.
"Well your ribs haven't healed completely yet. I hated to wake you up at all, but we're almost to the citadel and counselor Lawson has requested your presence immediately upon arrival." Doc informs her.
Ashley looks around noticing both Diego and Shiala watching her from a safe distance. She smiles at Diego, and he smiles back at her. "How long until we've cleared security, Emily?"
"We've still got about an hour before we're at the station. So, we can probably be ready to dock in hour and a half or so." The pilot informs her.
"Good. I really want to get a shower if I have to meet the counselors." Ashley starts to get up clutching her side in pain as she tries to sit up. Both Diego and Shiala rush over to help her, but the Doc waves them both off. Lifting her shirt up over her rib cage, she scans the area. Then, she applies another medigel over her bruise.
"That should help with the pain but you're going to need help getting up to your quarters and will definitely need help getting showered and changed."
"I will help." Diego offers standing next to her.
She smiles up at him, reaching and taking his hand.
"Thanks, but sadly I need a mission report typed up and since both Doc and Lt. Draper have jobs to do that falls on you. I will have Shiala help me get ready, and I will meet you when we're docked OK, Diego? Besides, I need to speak with her since I'm not exactly sure whats going on."
"OK, Commander. Well, I better be going. I will see you when you're ready to depart." Diego tells her before walking off.
Looking over at the Asari Ashley says, "you don't mind, do you?"
"Not at all. I figured you would have questions, and I will be glad to answer anything I can." Shiala tells her nodding.
"Hey Lt." Ashley calls over to Diego. He stops at the medbay entrance and turns back to face her. "Come back here for one more second, will you?"
He walks back and stops right next to where she's sitting on the table. Reaching up, she grabs his shirt and pulls him down into a kiss. "Thank you for understanding."
He nods, blushing, and she smiles at him as he turns and hurriedly walks out of the medbay.
"OK, let's get me all cleaned up so I can tell the counsel that we are about to have another war. Hey Doc, how is Joria?" Ashley says struggling to her feet.
"She's fine. She said she wanted to make sure the Normandy's weapon systems were working."
Ashley sighs, thankful her friend is OK. She gets to her feet herself which by itself seems a much bigger accomplishment than it should be. Standing up straight hurts like a bitch. She grimaces in pain and slouches back over. Shiala walks over and stands next to her, offering to help her. She takes the assistance gratefully. Wrapping her arm around the Asari's waist, she tries to keep from putting any pressure on her hurt ribs.
Slowly they make their way to the elevator to take them up to her quarters.
"So what exactly did you do to me?" Ashley just comes out and asks. She feels more than sees Shiala smile at her.
"What do you remember from the meld?"
Ashley thinks for a minute trying to remember. "I remember your voice. I remember your weight on me." She blushes thinking about it, but she continues. "I remember this giant plant. It was like I was inside it. Then, I remember feeling a bunch of people in my mind. Then, it was just you. I've never felt something like that before, but before I knew what was going on, you were telling me all these things I didn't understand. After that I was just trying to save my ship." Ashley looks over at the Asari as they wait for the elevator to reach the crow's nest.
"When it was just us that was during the meld, I tried keeping everything but what I needed to show you blocked. I didn't want to overwhelm you since usually when Asari meld it's with a much deeper connection. The plant you remember is an organism we called the Thorian. It was ancient even older than the protheans. Most of the colonists on Feros before the Reaper War had contact with it. It used some kind of spore to dominate organics to do its will. For myself. I was given as a thrall by the matriarch I was serving at the time. Actually, your grandfather is the one who freed me when he killed the Thorian. Well, most of the colonists that had contact had some kind of neuro-link from the left over spores. Even their descendants have it to a lesser degree. As for me, it caused the change in my pigment and my erratic biotic powers. Not to mention I can maintain a bond to anyone I meld with which is what I did with you."
Shiala helps her get into the restroom. Sitting down on the toilet, Ashley starts unbuttoning her pants. Looking up at the asari as she stands there unsure of what to do. Ashley asks her if she will go to the dresser by her bed and grab some underwear for her to wear. Being a soldier makes public nudity a little easier. Besides, she has already seen her naked while she helped the doctor she's sure. Struggling out of her pants was harder than she expected though. She didn't want to think how bad it would hurt to try taking the shirt off by herself. Waiting for Shiala to get back, she continues their conversation.
"You said there are some side effects to what you did. What are they?"
She watches as the Asari comes back into the bathroom carrying a pair of panties and a bra. Looking at Ashley with the 'anything else' look, she sighs and points to her shirt. Ashley turns around and starts the shower. Then. she stands there with her back toward Shiala as she helps her with her shirt.
While she stands there waiting for the water to heat up, Shiala starts explaining the side effects. "Well mainly once I've bonded with someone we will always have that connection. The colonists maintained their connect as well, but what I have is much more personal. It goes much deeper."
Ashley frowns not understanding. "I don't feel you at all."
"Because I am actively blocking it. I didn't want to scare you until we had a chance to talk about things. It's an exhausting thing to do." Shiala explains.
"OK. Well, I think I'm ready. You might as well drop it." Ashley shrugs as she tells her.
She doesn't notice anything at first, but after a second it's like when they melded. She can feel Shiala's thoughts and feelings. She knows the Asari can feel the pain in her ribs, and she can feel her concern for it. She can feel the nervousness the asari has for the whole situation. It's a very unusual feeling, but it's not necessarily bad. "We will be connected like this even if were not close?"
"Yes. When I went off world, I could still feel the others still on feros. It does get somewhat more faint, but it's always there. The more you concentrate on the feeling, the stronger it will be. That's how I took your pain. I used every ounce of mental control I have to think of nothing but taking it away from you. When you have more than two people it can work like a hive mind. Sharing things is easy, but taking them requires much more concentration."
"Doesn't seem like such a bad thing to me." Ashley shrugs. Pulling her hand from under the water when its hot enough for her, she gently slides her panties down over her hips and lets them fall to the ground. Stepping out of them, she steps into the shower. Stopping half way in she looks back at the Asari when she feels her get aroused. It's like she could read her mind, and she says she has a nice ass. Looking back at her, she raises an eyebrow and waits.
"Sorry. I will be outside if you need me." She feels her embarrassment much better than she reads it on her face. Watching the Asari leave, she turns back and starts to run the water over her head and sighs at how good it feels. She goes about washing herself while trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of the Asari outside the door.
The mind searches for others to communicate with. It knows it's searching for something, but for the life of it it can't remember what it's looking for. It sees everything that happens within its senses, but it's just a soundless witness to the universe it's apart of. Countless worlds have been passed. Their many inhabitants cut off from the mind. It can't sense them at all. Just life beyond it's reach. It senses life on moons, millions of individual minds to read. Most of the time it's happy just to silently listen to them, but occasionally it does try to make contact with them. It's always the same thing. The mind it touches struggles to understand just what it's being communicated with, and then, the abject fear washes over them. The mind always retreats when it senses that fear. It doesn't want to cause harm but it has to find what it's looking for.
It keeps searching for something. More star systems pass by its awareness. As the mind gets more and more spread out, its memory of what its looking for seems to slip further from its grasp. The more it struggles to remember the further it goes out looking for it.
It senses lots of minds a bit further, and it hurries toward them. The closer it gets, the more minds it senses. For some reason it thinks it will find what it's looking for here.
Tessa sits next to her mother at the hospital. They are going over the hard drive she downloaded from Henderson's ship. They have been doing this for almost two days, and Tessa is getting really frustrated. She really wanted some kind of lead before heading off to Thessia to follow a trail that didn't exist. There was absolutely nothing to connect Wyneta or Steven or Matriarch Venence for that matter. He was pretty much a supplier for Venence, and the only places he went are the citadel, bekenstein, Thessia, Sur'Kesh and Illium.
"Do you have any idea what's going on because I'm so fucking lost?" Tessa asks frustrated.
"I can't see anything that would explain the behavior of Wyneta or that human you told me about. Honestly, when you told me what happened, it sounded like he was indoctrinated, but the reapers are long dead and the Leviathans haven't left their planet or made contact since the end of the war. I'm afraid we won't know until we get to Thessia, and we can't do that until Shepard gets back." Liara answers her.
Tessa sighs again in frustration. She gets out of her chair and walks over to look through the window watching the countless skycars pass by over head and all the people walking below them. Tessa can't help but think that any one of those people could be the one who ordered the hit on her mother. How is she suppose to find who's responsible when there's nothing to go on? The only two people who could help her are dead.
She feels her mother's hand on her shoulder as she stands next to her and pulls her into a one armed hug. Tessa looks over at her mother standing in her hospital gown.
"You know anyone who walks in the room right now is going to get a great look at your ass, right?" Tessa teases her.
"Well, you always did want me to be less of a prude." Liara looks back at her and smiles. Tessa wraps her arm around her mother's waist and leans her head against her shoulder. They stand there holding each other looking out their hospital room window. Their thoughts couldn't have been further apart though. Tessa was thinking just how she was going to kill the person responsible for almost killing her mother before she even got a chance to enjoy being with her. Liara was thinking about a man who is out there alone facing his fear. She's hoping that her feeling is wrong and he gets back to her soon.
The mind closes the distance. It sees the space station and all the minds on it. It picks one out randomly and makes contact. Gently it reads what he's thinking. Human, soldier, hoping to see a girl he met at a bar. It moves to the next one. Turian, Cop, thinking how much he hates paperwork. On and on it goes from person to person. Trying to get some clue as to what it's looking for. After countless tries it's no closer than what it was at the beginning. Frustrated it gets more aggressive, forcing itself into the next mind it looks for it. Human, Female, wishing her boss would get off her back. Not satisfied with the information at the forefront, the mind forces itself into her mind. It can tell she's screaming but dismisses it. It won't hurt her mind. It just needs to find what it's looking for. Once it has gone through all of her memories, it leaves the girl laying prone on the ground clutching her head and moaning. It goes searching for the next mind to touch.
Ashley struggles back down the elevator to find her crew waiting for her on the CIC. Grunt, Joria, Koran, Jack, Diego and of course Shiala were all there with her. Seeing them all dressed up in their officer uniforms she nods at them. She wonders for a second why Jack is in an officer's uniform with major bars none the less. Not wanting to ask now, she starts walking toward the air lock. Diego comes to take her from Shiala, but instead of helping her walk he just holds out a cane for her.
"Our great commanding officer should be able to walk of her own accord." He tells her.
She smiles at him and notices Shiala's curiosity about their relationship. Ashley dismisses that too not wanting to deal with it right now.
The walk up to the presidium is agonizingly slow thanks to her. They are all really patient with her, and she feels her pride bursting at how they are acting. The receptionist points them to Counselor Lawson's office, and they all file in after her.
"Commander, I heard you had a rough time, but I didn't realize you were so badly hurt." Counselor Lawson tells her.
"I will be OK, counselor. Thanks. I'm guessing you got the report Lieutenant Martinez sent then, correct?" Ashley asks.
"I did. I just wanted to verify it with you before I bring it to the other counselors. The reapers have been dead over 100 years, Commander. I wanted to make a hundred percent sure that it was really a reaper and not just some new form of geth."
"I wish it wasn't. But I saw the way it was being created, and I know from my grandfather that it was the same way at the collector base. It was a reaper, and since we saw two there's no way for sure to know there is only the one left."
Ashley watches her frown and starts to panic considering how much good the counsel was during the last reaper war.
"I won't make the same mistake we did last time. I will call an emergency meeting tonight, and we will present your findings. Since we don't know how long we have before they come through the relay, why don't Lieutenant Vakarian and Captain Utema give Primarch Vakarian and Admiral Zorah a heads up. If we're going to be attacked it will be nice having at least the Turian, Quarian and human armies ready to go."
Joria and Koran both nod and turn to leave. Koran takes a second to reach out and grab Jack's hand and squeeze it before leaving. Ashley feels like vomiting and she giggles herself when she feels Shiala giggle in her mind at her reaction.
"While you're here, Commander, I understand you took some losses during your battle. Since you won't be docked long, I reassigned an engineering team from the Monte Carlo and assigned them to the Normandy. I figured we could promote one of your crew to executive officer." Lawson tells her.
"But I only have junior officers on the Normandy now." Ashley points out. Then it dawns on her, and she looks over at Jack. Now it makes sense why she was wearing her uniform. "I didn't know you were an actual officer."
"I didn't want to, but they said if I was going to be leading troops I needed the rank to go with it. Since the little shits couldn't survive without me, I said OK. When they sent me my back pay and informed me I was posthumously promoted to major you can imagine I was sightly shocked. Also with 90 years back pay I'm fucking loaded. HA!" Jack informs her.
Ashley shakes her head and says to Lawson, "She's going to be my executive officer?"
"What? No. Who told you that. I will lead the boarding party and handle executions." Jack proclaims.
Ashley just lifts her good arm at Jack and looks at Counselor Lawson. Who just shrugs it off, sighing thinking she's totally fucked. Feeling Shiala's joy at her predicament she shoots the Asari a 'murder you where you stand' look. Smirking, the Asari looks down still way too happy over the whole thing.
One after another the mind searches every mind it comes across. None of them can help find what it is that it's looking for. It leaves most of them unconscious. Some of the stronger ones seem intrigued by its presence. One ship full of people thought it was their god. The mind just keeps looking. It didn't try to hurt anyone, but it didn't stop if it did. The mind is still not getting any closer to it's goal. Now it is getting mad. Why couldn't it find it. Realizing it wasn't working it decides to control all the minds at once. One of them knows what it is looking for. If the others are causalities in the process, so be it.
Liara is shocked when her agent reports an emergency meeting of the counselors. What could be so bad that it would cause those bureaucrats to actually do something. Sensing something was up, she decided it was time to get out of this hospital. She tells Tessa to pack up and that it was time for them to go. She sends for the doctor on duty. Once Tessa tells her that she changed her release orders, Liara waits patiently for the doctor to tell her it's OK to leave.
An hour later they are both going through all their available information feeds. Not finding anything that would explain what's going on, Liara decides to activate the bug she put in the conference room when they built it. Once she's sure the bug is in working order, she waits for the meeting to start.
Ashley is standing in the conference room while the politicians bicker about what to do about Ashley's mission report. As far as she can tell, everyone but the Asari and Salarians don't want to wait for the reaper to come here. Instead, wanting to attack them through the relay. At least they weren't arguing about whether the threat was real or not. She hopes Joria and Koran are having better luck on their end than she was on hers. That all changed in a flash though.
It started as just a small headache at the back of her skull like she was hearing a whisper. She feels that Shiala feels it too, and she looks over at the Asari in confirmation. The asari nods to her that she does. Ashley tries to ignore it, but in an instant it goes from a small headache into a pounding migraine. Getting lightheaded she feels herself start to faint. Then she realizes she's on the floor with Diego and Shiala looking at her from both sides. Through the static in her mind she feels Shiala ask her to meld. She tells her yes and reaches and takes both their hands. Looking at Diego she sees him frown while looking at Shiala. Looking over at the asari she sees her black eyes looking over at him.
"Something is trying to touch our minds. From what I can tell it's not just us but everyone." Shiala tells her in her mind. She feels her mind focus as Shiala takes some of her pain.
"The Thorian?" Ashley asks.
"No. I don't know what it is, but right now it's just lightly touching. If it tries to forcefully enter all our minds it will get really ugly really quick."
Ashley frowns trying to figure things out. Before long she didn't have to because what Shiala seemed to fear came true. Ashley having bonded with Shiala before knew what a willing bond felt like, but this wasn't willing. This was a more powerful mind trying to force its way into hers. It hurt like a bitch.
"Don't struggle. You can't stop it. Just relax your mind and let it in. Once its there, we can try to figure out who's doing it." Shiala recommends. Ashley has to forcefully make her mind calm but with Shiala's help she does.
Once Ashley felt it enter her mind, she recoiled at the invasion. Shutting her eyes against everything else she tries to concentrate on the being in her head.
There are only two beings in the galaxy that have melded with the mind before. Was it luck or fate that one of them was joined to her now? She doesn't want to know, but when Shiala recognizes it, she couldn't help but feel the same shock and recognition that she did. It couldn't possibly be who she thinks it is. Could it?
The other person who has melded with the mind was sitting in her chair on her ship when it started to try and enter her mind. She uses her mind more than most and as such knows that her mind is stronger than most. She is also the only one who has melded with it since the end of the reaper war. As soon as she let it enter her mind she knew who contacted her.
"Shepard?" She tentatively asks the mind.
The mind feels them all falling across the base. Some pass right out, and some struggle and lose. The smart ones just let it in. It starts looking through them all telling them all to give it what it wants. Most despair at not knowing what it wants. It doesn't hold back as it rips through their memories. It is about to stop caring about them at all when one small voice reaches through the volume.
"Shepard" she says.
The mind stops everything. That is what it was searching for. What does it mean?
"What is Shepard?" It asks the asari.
"You are Shepard." she says worry filling her being.
"I am Shepard." It repeats. Then, it remembers. Shepard. Matt. His name. His being.
Then, the mind known as Shepard screams to everyone who can hear.
"HELP ME!"