03/10/2017
Thank you to Pax Humana and Daisy Duck 39 for beta-ing.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, you are the greatest!
Warning There is a very nasty scene in this chapter. It involves children and huskification. If this is going to bother you, skip the chapter or the last scene. It's the scene after Shepard's conversation with the Council but is still from Shepard's point of view. You've been warned and there is no further warning in the chapter.
Part 2 The Fall of the Galaxy
Chapter 24: Ascended Recreation
-cfr-
Hyetiana, Asari Colony
"Shiala."
The voice was deferential and she looked over to see a young maiden. It was one of the girls assigned to ensure that they had what they need. "Yes, Isame?"
"I was," Isame seemed to tremble. "I was wondering..." she said but the rest of her sentence was lost to an inaudible whisper.
Shiala smiled gently. "You were wondering?" she prompted. It was quite pleasant on Hyetiana. Liara had other researchers to play with and she had been quick to show her superiority. It was only expected, given she was the daughter of Matriarch Benezia. She was presently in the lab below working on something round. Currently it was a little higher than herself and at the moment Liara was leaning into it, tweaking some of the electronics. It made Shiala's smile brighter. The Little Wing was so skilled.
"I was wondering," Isame began again, "why the Matriarchs have never spoken to you? Since you were..." Again the sentence trailed into silence.
It was not the question Shiala had been expecting. While most Asari were too polite to ask about her pigmentation, some of the younger were curious. She was after all, green, courtesy of the Thorian, not the usual blue or rarer purple. It was however, a much better question.
"I have spoken to them," Shiala reassured Isame. "And I have told Liara everything I know," she added, glancing towards the lab.
Isame seemed surprised with the answer but after she considered it, Shiala saw the expression of respect deepen. Young as she was, Isame was always impressed when an older Asari allowed a younger to take the spotlight. After a moment, the younger Asari bit her lip and Shiala knew she had another question.
"You can ask," she said. "Not seeking knowledge is the true crime," Shiala added the reassurance.
"Can you tell me about the Humans?" the question came in a rush and Shiala understood.
She smiled again, using the expression to hide her laughter. Isame was one of the silly ones, though she did have some discretion. Irissa's faction would never have assigned a pro-Human to them and so somehow Isame was keeping her belief from them. That was good. She did not need someone looking into things.
Still it displayed how little Isame knew that she called them Human. They were not Human. They were beyond that and soon everyone, even those who thought nothing of it would know. But for now, only the chosen knew. Which was why Shiala continued watching over Liara. They would want her. It was not something Shiala even questioned. She just knew it was true, so for now, kept Liara close, kept her safe against the manipulations of those who could not comprehend the glory of ascension.
"Of course," Shiala replied. She didn't need to tell the young girl that the information was confidential. "About seventy years ago, there was an incident around Relay 314…"
-cfr-
Omega Station, Omega Nebula
Aria looked at the data pads before her. Information from the Council forces was pathetically easy to obtain but it didn't help her. Rather it reinforced the hopelessness of her position. Of Omega's position. Of the galaxy's.
She could take her pick on which doom she wanted to contemplate. She shook her head, forcing herself to concentrate. "Averul?" she prompted.
"There is still no change," the Salarian responded quickly. "We've lost contact with the Pylos Nebula and the Phoenix Massing."
"And we were actually obeying the Council warnings to remain clear of all former Systems Alliance territory, including border systems," Tullia, one of the Turians on her payroll added.
That translated to remaining out of quite a long list of systems. Not that it had been difficult to obey the Council warnings. Even before they were issued, pirates and other groups had been pulling out ahead of the advancing fleets. Those few who had been unable to evacuate in time had been destroyed utterly.
"So where the hell are they?" Aria growled the question.
No one answered. A week ago, that fleet had been gathering in the Caleston Rift. Every bit of intelligence recognised that fact. And every bit of intelligence said that they would be coming for Omega next. Then the fleet had disappeared. Oh, the relay's were still closed and the Pylos Nebula had fallen silent but not a single attacking ship had appeared through the relay. Where had they gone? And what did she do about it? She had the largest mercenary fleet ever seen in the history of the galaxy gathered around the station but unless the enemy appeared, even with all her influence, Aria wasn't sure for how long she could hold it here. United, they had some chance. Scattered back in their bolt holes, they would be easy pickings for the attackers.
"Has there been any communication?"
"They are talking to the Council," Tullia supplied.
Yes, the entire galaxy knew that the invaders had been talking to the Council. Just like the entire galaxy knew they claimed to be Human. Aria wasn't sure what she thought of that. The Humans never had this much power but she was used to dealing with changing events. This was just another change.
"With us?" she snapped.
Averul shook his head. The Salarian was in charge of any communication efforts. "There's been a few odd replies," he said. "But they were for others."
"So we have been talking?"
"Of a sort," Averul replied.
"Either we are or we aren't!" Aria said.
"Every message I've sent has just had a stock standard reply," the Salarian explained. "It's like they'r-" he cut the sentence off abruptly and Aria turned to watch him with sharp eyes. Averul had thought of something.
The Salarian snorted. "We've had communication," he said a moment later. "Or rather, we've been receiving communication but it is intended for their spies."
"They have been dumb enough to send us the orders to their spies?" The flanging in Tullia's voice emphasised her disbelief.
Averul flicked a data pad in the Turian's direction. "It's not as if we can understand them," he said. "They are coded messages," he added.
"All right!" Aria cut through the budding argument. "They are talking to someone," she added. "Make them talk to me!"
"Ma'am, with respect, do you think they will listen?"
Aria considered it. "I think they will listen," she said finally. "If they really are Human, then they will know that we are not associated with the Council."
"That hasn't stopped them," someone muttered.
It hadn't, Aria admitted privately. "They have destroyed every pirate base in the territory they consider theirs," she pointed out.
"They haven't stopped," Tullia pointed out.
"I wouldn't either," Aria said. "Not while I had the power," she added. "But we are not their enemies. Omega never has and never will be allied with the Council and the Humans knew that. It should be enough to open communications." While she sounded confident when she said it, she was anything but. If the Humans hadn't responded to Averul's communications, then they had very little reason to. With the strength they had displayed, they probably meant to sweep through the entire galaxy, taking it for themselves. If anyone survived, they would be subservient to the Humans. However, no matter what, she would not run. She would not abandon Omega.
And surely, not even the Humans could expect to have a galaxy free of any underbelly? They were not that stupid. No, all she needed was an opportunity. She would make that enough!
-cfr-
Tikkun, Perseus Veil
"The pro-Human factions are working out even better than I thought they would."
"Are they?" Shepard asked Harper without turning his attention towards the other Ascended. The Geth were putting up quite a fight. It made sense, he supposed. Of all the galaxy, the Geth had had the best idea about Nazara's strengths and they were not as trusting as organics. They would have had some plan to fight.
Maybe not. They had trusted Nazara but they had also had at least a month to know the Human fleet was coming, and centuries to assume that the Quarian fleet or a Council fleet would attack. Rannoch was heavily defended by those who didn't need rest and who could build and build and build so long as there were resources. And with the Council being so lax in patrols and those in the Terminus Systems not caring unless they were attacked, the Geth had been able to gather many resources.
It was not enough to stop them, and Shepard's fleet was systematically cutting through them, but it was taking time. Shepard was philosophical about it. It was taking time but the Council wasn't going anywhere.
"They are," Harper replied. "I'm getting all sorts of useful information."
"Anything directly useful?"
"Not really," the former leader of Cerberus admitted.
"So why tell me now?" Shepard demanded, as he dispersed another set of oculi. The Geth had strewn the system with defences. The larger ones were easy to find and destroy. For the smaller ones, while they could not hurt any of the Ascended, they were annoying. They clogged their senses and thus had to be removed. That required clouds of oculi which further clogged their senses but which could be ignored as being part of themselves. The oculi had two tasks. The first was to destroy the smaller Geth defences and the second was to help the fleet triangulate where the central Geth servers were. Once they were found, it would be all over for the Geth.
"Because there is one situation that is similar," Harper replied, releasing more of his own oculi.
The small round ships immediately began firing on the small Geth defences as the fleet advanced through Tikkun.
"Oh, what is that?" Shepard asked.
"Magna."
"That's a Turian colony."
"It is," Harper said. "When they heard that Palaven fell, Magna's governor truly embraced any alternative to conventional fighting."
Shepard laughed. "What did they do?" While they had taken out Palaven, they really hadn't taken out that many Turian colonies. There were a few coming up in the Terminus Systems which would fall.
"They released self-replicating nanites to build defences."
"They did what?!"
"I know," Harper agreed with Shepard's disbelief. They were expecting the Turians to do something stupid, to break the bounds of the Citadel's conventions but this… The Geth might have been able to control self-replicating nanites because of their synthetic nature but for an organic race to try it? It would only take one tiny error in the command code.
"There's a few pro-Humans on Magna," Harper continued. "Not Turians, but then the locals didn't develop the nanites on their own."
"Salarians," Shepard guessed instantly.
"Yep," Harper replied quickly. "And through them I have a Turian."
"You do?"
"One of the researchers was not as careful with my messages as he should have been."
"They have been suitably chastised?" Shepard enquired.
"Definitely." The careless Salarian researcher Jozef had been taken out and unceremoniously shot, but the seed had been planted and it had eaten away at Naevius until the Turian had sent his own message. After that, it had only been a matter of time and Harper was patient.
"So what does our little Turian know?"
"Unfortunately he's not in a position to discover what any other colony has waiting for us," Harper said. Naevius could ask about that information but it would raise suspicions and there was no need to be so careless with their toys. "He is however a part of the team checking the nanite code."
Shepard instantly saw the possibilities in that. "So when will it all fall down?"
"I think about the time we hit the Crescent Nebula would be appropriate," Harper replied.
"Make it happen," Shepard instructed. It really didn't matter if it was sooner just so long as they arrived at Magna to find the colony dead.
"It will," Harper confirmed.
"You can stop it?" Shepard asked the follow up.
Harper mentally sighed. He had been hoping to hold on to that little bit of information. Not knowing wouldn't harm Shepard and Harper fully intended to use it at the appropriate time. "My little Turian knows the kill codes for the nanites," he replied, which translated to he knew the kill codes.
"Good," Shepard said before cutting the link as they continued scanning for the Geth's consciousnesses. As far as they were concerned now, Magna had already fallen and they needed to focus on Rannoch.
-cfr-
Serpent Nebula, Citadel
Shepard was… it was hard to define his feelings. There was a sense of happiness in the comms at the Citadel when he connected. It was not from the Catalyst but rather from the inhabitants and that worried him. They had no reason to be happy but he didn't have time to find out what it was from. The Council was in session which was too good an opportunity to pass up, even if for information gathering. One of the others could do it. There was however, time to listen in for a moment before he spoke to them.
"He missed a week," Schells was saying, "what makes you think he will be back?"
"This is Shepard," Quentius replied. "He'll be back, and probably annoyed that he missed that week." The Turian Councillor knew him so well.
"We still don't know why," Irissa said.
Now if that wasn't an opening, Shepard didn't know what was. "I was fixing the Council's three hundred year old mistake," he said allowing his hologram to materialise.
Schells had appeared to have finally worked out that he was a hologram and thus she couldn't be touched because she didn't yelp as she had in the past. Or perhaps the fact that she had survived the position as Councillor for the last few weeks despite the ongoing assassinations was making her feel more empowered. Either way, she was the first to speak.
"Mistake?"
Unfortunately, 'empowered' didn't translate to 'intelligent'.
"Yes," Shepard said pleasantly. "Your mistake. The Geth," he added with a snarl, "which you so kindly gave three hundred years to build their defenses." Sweeping Tikkun, Ma-at and Dholen had been a pain, even for the combined fleets they had used. The Geth had had a great deal of time to establish themselves in those systems and being synthetic, factors like economy or political will hadn't held them back. All they required was consensus and a decision on priority for a project to be done, and once projects were begun, they were completed.
Even though the Geth were not organic, Arshan had been pleased that they had been destroyed. After they cleared Rannoch, the elder Ascended had informed Shepard that his strategy confirmed Harbinger's decisions. While that news had been pleasing, the implications were not. Someone, one of the Human Ascended, had spoken to Harbinger and, while Shepard didn't know what had been said, he knew well enough that they had tried to usurp him. That meant it could only be one of the older Ascended. The list of who it could be was not that long and Shepard had already ruled out Harper. While the man wanted to lead, he was not one to complain to authority. Harper would want to take the position by his own strength. Still, that was not the issue for now.
"They are gone?" Quentius asked, his eyes wide as he stared at Shepard.
"It took a bit of effort, even for us, but yes, they are gone and since there are no comm buoys beyond the Perseus Veil, I couldn't join you for our weekly catch up."
"We were wondering why you had paused," Irissa said. "We thought perhaps that you had run out of steam," she added, using organic insinuation.
Shepard smiled at her. "Oh, don't worry, my dear," he purred. "I'm always ready for you." The look he directed towards the Councillor was not appropriate but seemed to do its job. Irissa took a half step backwards at the sheer lust in the Human's gaze. She probably would have complained except the ongoing effect was ruined by the Shepard's background.
When a hologramatic image was sent through the network there were two ways of doing it. The first was to stand on a projection disk. That method transmitted the image of the being speaking and nothing but that image. It was how Schells was represented. The other was to project the area the being was in. Since Shepard was just a digitally created image, albeit a very good one, he could use either method but he had always gone with the second method. He had almost always chosen to show the bridge of some Systems Alliance ship in the background. Today was different.
Today, there was a simple wall behind Shepard. Hung at a number of heights were various plaques. Quentius ground his teeth together when he realised one of them said Palaven. There was a large piscine attached to the wood. As he looked further, he saw that another said Khar'shan, but the wood was a darker colour than the others. There was one for Irune as well, and there, hanging just over Shepard's right shoulder was Rannoch. There were a lot of empty spaces on the wall and Quentius realised they would be for Sur'Kesh, Thessia and all the other colonies the Humans had yet to take. The wall was nothing more than an electronic construction but the metaphor showed how confident the Humans were.
In the air behind Shepard, Quentius could see the faint outline of a fish swimming. It was surreal and Quentius wasn't even sure if Shepard knew it was there.
"Anyway, the Geth are gone. There's probably a few running around in the Terminus Systems but I'll get to them soon enough." Shepard's image laughed. "I'll get to a lot of things soon," he added.
The fish behind Shepard were joined by some others. Quentius squinted at them. They wouldn't stay still but he could swear there was writing on their scales. What game was Shepard playing now?
"You mean you are going to attempt to enter Council territory," Irissa said.
Shepard cocked his head at her and then he grinned. "You won't be stopping me entering anywhere," he said with a leer and again Irissa took a step back.
Quentius couldn't help the laugh that burst out of him. He knew what the looks Shepard was giving Irissa meant but how could she be taking him seriously with that background? There was nothing remotely amorous, forced or otherwise, with swimming fish and plaques.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Irissa yelled.
"You mean you can't-" Quentius didn't finish the question when Shepard looked at him from the corner of his eye, and shook his head slightly. Well that answered two questions. One, Shepard was perfectly aware of what was on display behind him and two, the hologram was set to a spectrum only Turians could see. Briefly Quentius closed his eyes. "I am sorry," he said after taking a deep breath. "Shepard, you were never interested in Asari. I do not believe ascension would have changed that," he admonished the Human, turning to stare at him.
Shepard looked at him with a smirk, and made a small gesture with his hand. The fish stilled and Quentius felt his eyes widen when he saw that there were names on them. Thessia was the largest but on the smaller fish there were other names. Chalkhos, Selvos, Altakiril, Illium, Turvess, Kahje, Nevos. The names seemed change and they were all colonies he recognised but as he watched further he realised there were no Salarian colonies named. Did that mean that those traitorous lizards had actually made a deal? Or was Shepard merely trying to insinuate that?
"Dear Liara did so want me to be," Shepard replied before his expression became sad. "But my heart always belonged to another."
"And have you found them?" Irissa took the opportunity to taunt. They all knew he wouldn't find Tali but he would find her people.
"I have a far better idea of where the Quarians are than you do," Shepard said, as his hologram took a deep breath. Most of the younger Human Ascended were involved in the harvest. The older of those, those who were nearly fully trained were now hunting down the Quarians. Through the Catalyst, they knew which Relays had been activated, relays the Council didn't know about, and it was simply a matter of searching the systems until the Migrant Fleet was found. It probably wouldn't take that long and once they were found, then he would decide what to do. "But I have far bigger fish to fry," he added. The fish behind him scattered as a hook fell into their midst. Watching that, Quentius wondered what Irissa could see and resolved to delicately inquire later.
"Speaking of food, why are you sending it to us?" Quentius asked. With the fish swimming in the background, he just couldn't bring himself to be reticent.
"I don't want you to starve," Shepard replied easily allowing his expression to become slightly condescending. Inwardly, he was shocked. Food. He should have thought about it! He knew the Citadel wasn't self sufficient. Why hadn't he? The answer came quickly. Because he already knew food was being shipped to the Citadel. He'd known it in the way he knew all information. The answers were there when he thought about them but they had also impacted upon his thinking.
Something that Harbinger had told him soon after he had awoken in his new form ghosted through his memory now.
"You are no longer Human, Shepard. You are Ascended and you will come to understand what that means in time."
This was just part of being Ascended but it was a part that was going to take some getting used to.
"You don't want us to starve?" Irissa seemed incredulous, yet she relied on the shipments of food, just like the rest of them.
"Of course not," Shepard told her. "You are the witnesses. Of course, you are also the final battle, but that's not something you need to worry about yet."
"Witnesses to what?" Schells asked.
Shepard turned to the Salarian's hologram and Quentius watched as a fish with the word Sur'kesh finally appeared and immediately bit the hook that had been in the water. With an upward jerk the fish disappeared as if caught and he was forced to hold his mandibles still as he realised what Shepard was telling him. Agreement or not, Shepard was aware of how stupid the Salarian was, with how easily she was caught. Even Irissa had more sense. For a moment, Shepard's hologram just looked at Schells, making one long slow blink. After that he took a visible breath and looked at Irissa. "You explain," he said. "I'm busy."
And Shepard's hologram vanished.
"Shepard!" Irissa shouted. "Shepard!" she repeated. "I know you are there!" she added for good measure. There was no way he could always appear exactly on time without having some way of listening in. "Get back here!"
Quentius rose, holding his mandibles so still that they almost quivered. "He won't come," he said. "Even if he is here, he's not going to answer you, Irissa."
"Darn it, Shepard," she yelled into the air before turning on Schells. "You really don't understand?" Irissa growled as Quentius slipped out of the chamber and the door closed, sealing the room.
It was only then that he allowed himself to laugh.
And it was later, that the memory made him sick. Nothing Shepard did should ever amuse him. Nothing.
-cfr-
Batarian Colony, Grata, Sineus' Moon, Dirada System, Pylos Nebula
Shepard focused his senses on the colony below him. The last few signals were running through what territory remained, vainly seeking an escape as the husks hunted them down. If he had still been Human, his eyes would have been closed with a small satisfied smirk adorning his features. Playing cat and mouse with Batarians was fun, especially if you were a lion sized cat.
Grata was one of Sineus' many moons, a gas giant in the Pylos Nebula and it appeared to be the centre of what remained of Batarian culture. Trust them to settle in a region well known for piracy, though the settlement on Grata was far more than a mere pirate base. It had been an interlinked series of bunkers, which had been laboriously hewn out of the rock. It had to be, since Grata's only distinguishing feature was water, not atmosphere. None of Sineus' moons had anything but the thinnest of atmospheres. They had all lost it millions of years ago to the gas giant they orbited.
During the assault, he'd read the information available on the Batarian servers. It appeared that they had, slowly, been getting their act together. Turian records declared that the Batarians had fallen into an anarchic state after Harbinger had swept through their territory. Those Batarians lucky enough to be outside their space had maintained some hope when the Council funded the Expedition but they had been degenerating into warring colonies. The evidence the Ascended had found supported that. All through the former Systems Alliance territory, they had found small Batarian colonies and the ruins of others.
What the Turian information failed to mention, but was confirmed by Batarian files, was that slowly those warring colonies were consolidating. Or, Shepard reflected, it could be that they were more paranoid. Most of the settlements found so far showed signs of hasty evacuation. There had been a few Batarians left on each. The weak and the sick and dying and the Human Ascended had made short work of them, generally putting them out of their misery with a focused orbital bombardment before moving on.
Grata had been different. The colony had teemed with life, all of it in deep underground bunkers. There had even been a rudimentary fleet guarding the colony. The extensive colony on Grata, and in the growing unity of the Batarian colonies had shown only a small gain in reclaiming what they had lost with their homeworld but Shepard had felt a tiny stirring of admiration for the four eyed aliens. You could put them down, smash them into the ground and stomp on their remains but like cockroaches some always remained.
It was at that time he decided it was beyond time to remove any trace of admiration by reminding himself why he put the Batarian race in a special place, next to the Asari to hold in contempt.
The Batarians had cooperated perfectly.
While the fleet had been destroying the minor defences, a shuttle had attempted to flee. As if the Ascended wouldn't notice a shuttle! It had been summarily fired upon but had been allowed to limp back to the moon, revealing where at least one landing bay was. After that, it was a foregone conclusion. The Ascended had swarmed the place with husks. Shepard would like to say that the few defenders had fought well, but he was happier that they hadn't. Enemies who fought well meant lost husks, and while Shepard was very well adjusted to his new form, he still did not yet think of Human husks as expendable. It was probably a holdover from his training while an organic because he had so many military personnel enclosed within his being.
After the skirmish, Shepard had been surprised to find an old friend. Jath'Amon, the so-called Ambassador to the Council had been on the shuttle. They'd been about to drop him on a dragon tooth when analysis of the colonies files had shown he was the titular head of the new Hegemony. In reality, the leadership was still being viciously fought over. Still, it had made the decision easy. He had been dragged into the observation bay and forced to watch as the colony's inhabitants were dragged out of the labyrinthine bunkers and converted into more useful forms.
The slaves hadn't caused Jath'Amon any concern and most had been grateful for the release of death. The Batarian hadn't even flinched when the first Batarians were led out and impaled, not even when Shepard had decided to get creative, placing them carefully so that they did not die with the initial wound but lingered, moaning pathetically as their innards were turned into the building blocks of their new cybernetic enhancements.
It had not been until several children had been dragged out that the former ambassador displayed the slightest emotion. He hadn't been planning on turning them into husks, simply because they were too small, and the dragon's tooth was likely to split them in two but when their presence affected Jath'Amon, Shepard was only momentarily surprised at himself when he realised he felt nothing at the thought of impaling them. There was a part of him that was disgusted but another recognised that death came to all things, and that this was part of the cycle.
It had been a bit of a strain but he had focused his consciousness, pouring as much as he could into a husk. He had been Ascended knowing how to guide husks, but possessing one was a different matter. Even with the union of organic and cybernetics, they did not have the capacity to hold him but it had been worth the discomfort to speak.
"Yours, I presume?" His voice was unrecognisable through the husk but it the question startled the Batarian.
Jath'Amon had been allowed to stand freely at the bay window, while husks guarded the entrance. The controls had been ripped out, and the clear, glass-like substance was far too hard for the Batarian to break. His four eyes could see everything but he could do nothing about it. "What are you?" he demanded after a moment of silence.
Mentally, Shepard sighed. Why did everyone ask what he was? They couldn't comprehend the answer, though cheekily Joker suggested a few responses. "Your fate! No wait! Your doom!"
"Joker!" Pressly admonished.
"Does it matter?" Shepard replied, ignoring the chatter from within.
"Are you the ones who destroyed Khar'Shan?" Jath'Amon pressed on, his eyes wide as he stared at the husk which Shepard had moved to come to stand beside him.
"No," Shepard replied. "But I am the one about to kill them," he added, pushing the Batarian's attention back to the landing bay. The husks had manoeuvred the children over the closest teeth and were about to activate it.
"No!"
"So, Batarians can care for something beyond their position. I had wondered."
"Shepard you can't!" a chorus of voices screamed at him. "We can't!" Shepard found himself drawn inwards. His being was split, and for a moment he watched as the two sides argued. They argued not so much in words, but in feelings and emotion. The best analogy was that it was a swirling mass of thought.
The consciousness that was Shepard didn't have to reply but for another part pulled the memories of Batarian slavers to the fore. Some of those in his form had very intimate knowledge of slavers and right at the moment, they were only too happy to share that knowledge. The counter came immediately, that these Batarians were not guilty of anything. They hadn't even been alive when the crimes were committed. The truth of that could not be refuted, even by the most emotional and that was one change wrought by ascension that Shepard was pleased with. He did not discount the importance of feelings in making decisions but for some things only cold logic could suffice.
And the cold logic was that the children were going to die. It was only the means of their deaths that was in question. The internal argument continued, that this was not about guilt, though it was peripherally about vengeance and that with their deaths a certainty, why not use their small forms? The smaller husk forms would be able to go into places the adults would not. It was not desecration of their bodies, it could not be, when the same had happened to Humans. If the soul existed, it would have moved on with death and they would be placed such that death was instantaneous.
In words, in text, in print and heated discussion, in the way that organics argued, it would have taken weeks, perhaps months or years to reach a conclusion. For Shepard, it took barely any time at all before the final conclusion was reached that on some level it was just wrong to kill the younglings. But reality was also acknowledged with that conclusion, that they were organic, they would die anyway and today was that day. Not everyone was happy but not everyone could be happy with this.
This was the way of Ascension. Organics had to be preserved against their own creations. Age did not matter. All served Ascension. And he was Ascended. The Batarians were already Ascended. These were extras. In the end, any argument against that was simply organic memory, not Ascension.
"Why are you doing this?" Jath'Amon demanded. "We Batarians are the chosen ones! We are smarter, better, yet everyone is against us!"
The statement brought instant silence to Shepard's consciousness.
"He did not just say that?!" Joker spluttered, vocalising the sheer disbelief felt by most.
"How did they form that opinion?" Annie asked the more relevant question, though the modulations in her tone showed that she didn't quite believe what the Batarian had said.
The initial reasoning was easy. The Batarians had not been shy in sharing their beliefs with the galaxy. The damaged Prothean technology cache they had found, coupled with their morphological similarity and no doubt fuelled by their state had led to the belief that they were superior.
"History says otherwise," Shepard replied through the husk, making a gesture to those below.
The motion was for Jath'Amon's benefit, so that he knew to look. The dragon tooth activated. The child was impaled, dying instantly, while the others screamed but were held firm by the husks which had captured them.
"Why?" Jath'Amon demanded again though his voice trembled.
"You are just an organic species," Shepard said, "one that will fade in the memory of the galaxy."
"No, that can't be! We are the chosen ones!"
"Then where are you great works? Your accomplishments and achievements? Where is your legacy?"
"You are killing it!" The Batarian ambassador screamed, lunging towards the husk, his hands balled into fists as he attempted to fight.
Batarians were built the same as a Human. They had no extra leg joints, like a Salarian, and a differing number of fingers was not a difference which made an appreciable difference in close combat. The extra depth perception offered by their four eyes perhaps offered some small advantage but only if they were fast enough to capitalise on them. Jath'Amon might once have been a fit Batarian but he had not kept up his training in the intervening years. Even stuck in the body of a husk, Shepard was more than his match, catching the thrown fist in a grip that was immovable before twisting Jath'Amon's arm up behind his back, and pushing forward so that the Batarian was forced to stare out of the observation port.
"You are short-sighted," Shepard hissed, "and I am the end of you." Harbinger had always stated that to be effective Humans had to control their emotional drives but Shepard couldn't deny he felt a certain amount of satisfaction at Jath'Amon's pain.
The ambassador struggled for a moment but Shepard felt the moment when he went limp. It was about the same time that the last child was hoisted on to the dragon teeth. Shepard released the hold he had on Jath'Amon, allowing the Batarian to fall as the husk stepped back.
Scans from his senses showed that the last of Grata's colonists were being dragged in for processing now. As Shepard pulled back from the husk he made a decision. Jath'Amon could remain here, alone and unharmed with abundant supplies. One dragon tooth would be left in the bay and all comms and possible transport destroyed. It would be interesting to see what choice the Ambassador made.
-cfr-
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