A/N My apologies for the delay getting the next chapter out to you but I was ill with a nasty virus. But all fine now and hopefully will get another chapter out before the weekend.
Thank you for your continued support and comments
Chapter 25
The trip to Thessia took half a day and she spent the time speaking with each member of the squad she had put together. They had come highly recommended and all their security clearances had been triple checked which meant she didn't have any part time mercs or pirates to worry about.
A few of the Asari commando's Shepard had worked with before and one was even a survivor from the Normandy. Shepard had only revealed her identity once they had been hired and it hadn't seemed to put anyone off, on the contrary, Shepard's reputation had even calmed the unease about the secrecy of the 'job'.
She had hired a commercial long haul shuttle, more suited to carrying cargo, but it was all she could get hold of at short notice, it was fast but naked, it had no firepower. The plan was to see what ship Liara might have available or find something more suitable for hire on Thessia.
Shepard's private OT channel bleeped into life just as they were making their approach to the Larisa space port for her meeting with Vaninnth T'Joan.
"Commander," it was Vaninnth and she looked and sounded extremely worried, "I have just had a conversation with my sister and it appears Doctor T'Soni has just set off with her troops to confront the Shadow Broker, but she refused to tell anyone the destination until they were secure en-route with a comms blackout."
"Dammit, this is exactly what I was worried about," Shepard began to make her way to the cockpit to speak to her pilot, "I'm going to head for the T'Soni estate and find out what I can, I won't mention that you and I have been talking if that would make things difficult with your sister?" Shepard's mind was racing everywhere and particularly to scenario's where Liara was walking into a diverse range of ambush situations.
"Thank you for you discretion Commander but I just alerted Seninnth that you were on your way to Thessia she seemed pleased, I will let her know you're on your way to the estate."
Shepard had made it to the pilot's side and gave the order to head for the T'Soni estate and to put the shuttle down as close to the main house as possible. Shepard was cold with fear for her young, brave but reckless love.
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Before the shuttle had properly landed Shepard had jumped from the doorway and was heading at a jog across the lawn towards the house where an Asari Matriarch, who she assumed was Seninnth T'Joan, and Doctor Kasumi Goto were waiting.
"Matriarch, Kasumi what happened and why don't you know where she went," Shepard wasted no time as she got within speaking distance but noticed the look of shock on both their faces. 'I'm going to have to remember they all thought I was dead,' Shepard thought ruefully.
"Sorry Commander it's just a bit of a shock… well Liara had a private contact through her own secure channel that gave her the current location of the Shadow Broker, but given the recent security breaches she decided to have a comms blackout and so I, we have no idea where they were headed," Kasumi sounded anxious and continued, "I tried, Garrus tried and the Matriarch tried to persuade her that this was a bit to coincidental… but she said it was an absolutely trustworthy source."
"We have been trying to track the ship, I have asked for help from Councillor Tevos, and Doctor Goto has been trying to hack into Liara's secure feed in her office, I'm not sure what else we can do." The Matriarch was much harder to read, but Shepard did see worry and an edge of fear in her eyes.
"I have a tech expert who can help, Kasumi meet Veetor'Nara, Veetor go with Kasumi and get access to that message… anything that will tell us where she's headed."
"Matriarch as you can see my transport leaves a little to be desired do you have anything that would match what Liara is using, I presume she has a frigate of some description?"
"Yes Commander, under the circumstances I see no reason why you shouldn't use the second frigate, I will get it ready and get your squad set up on board, I will be coming with you." As she finished talking Matriarch T'Joan began walking towards Shepard's squad who had now disembarked the shuttle.
Shepard was left in no doubt that the Matriarch would be coming whatever Shepard's opinion may have been.
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It had been over three hours, Shepard had wandered around the house waiting… waiting… waiting. She was fit to explode, cold with fear for Liara's safety, frustrated she couldn't just get on with doing what she did best.
She found herself once again standing outside Liara's office looking in at Kasumi and Veetor who were trying to work their tech magic to find something… anything that would give them a clue as to where the trap had been set.
Looking to her right once again at what she knew was Liara's bedroom door, this time she walked towards it and went inside.
She couldn't really 'feel' Liara here, it was clearly her room, but not truly inhabited, Liara's apartment on the Citadel gave a much better insight into its resident's personality. This was sumptuous by comparison, elegant, with Liara's possessions and art scattered around but it didn't feel 'personal'.
Her thoughts came to an abrupt stop as she found herself standing at the bottom of a large an unmade bed; she saw the indent in the pillow from Liara's head.
Shepard was trying hard to keep an image from her mind but it crashed its way in with a force that almost physically rocked her. Liara and Shiala together, in that bed, having sex, making love, joining… whatever they named it Shepard saw something in her mind's eye that ripped her heart out.
She was surprised that she hadn't been thrown into her usual murderous rage when she thought about Shiala, but this was, a deep, deep sadness, it was hollow, painful and raw. Shepard moved to the side of the bed and sat on its edge, she picked up the indented pillow and brought it to her face and breathed in that familiar scent.
She buried her face in the pillow and let the feeling of despair and loss and hurt wash through her, deep sobs shook her body, but no tears, the feelings seemed to powerful even for tears.
Shepard had no idea how long she sat there but she became aware of someone in the room, it was Matriarch T'Joan who had walked in and stood facing Shepard's hunched form on the bed.
"You must not judge her until you know everything Commander," the Matriarch's voice was gentle but with an edge of steel.
"I know, I can't imagine… I've seen reports and vid footage and… I know what happened had a terrible impact on her… and with Asari relationships… well losing a partner… inevitable… in the end people move on… I'm trying to be glad that she found someone…" the Matriarch stepped forward and held up a hand to cut Shepard off and said.
"You much not think that what happened with Shiala is anything of consequence for Liara. And I am not sure that Liara was truly aware of how much she was being manipulated, Commander Liara was and I believe is still joined with you in love to the depth of a bondmate.
But she had to find a way to cope and she has constructed a version of herself using her mother as a template. This is truly worrying, Mr Vakarian and I are probably the only people who can see what this is doing to her, you must help her, and I believe you are the only one who can." Seninnth T'Joan was unable to hide her worry and fear from Shepard this time.
"We have to find her and keep her alive first," Shepard said her words weighing heavy on her heart.
"Commander," it was Kasumi's voice from the office, "Commander I've got something."
Shepard stood immediately, throwing the pillow back onto the bed, and followed the Matriarch out of the room.
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The frigate had run at the limits of its FTL drive for the entire trip and as soon as it emerged from the relay in the Osun system Shepard cranked up the speed again for the run to the Faryar system the planet of Alingon.
Shepard was once again in the debt of her friend Garrus Vakarian as without his short, coded message to Kasumi they would probably never have found the destination of what, Shepard was convinced, was the ambush. Somehow he had circumvented Liara's comms shut down, and he had sent the short burst directly to Kasumi's private channel.
"So what's the deal with the interference," Shepard asked her pilot and Kasumi as they stood in the cockpit watching the planet loom larger and larger as they approached.
"Only our environmental scanner is operational and it indicates high concentrations of active periclase in both the core and the crust of the planet which is interfering with scans and broadcasts, in effect Shepard there are no communications in or out, and scans are inoperative." Kasumi said as she checked more reports from the science console.
"So we go in completely blind, but they can't see us either?" Shepard asked and Kasumi nodded. Shepard opened a ship wide comm link.
"Ground teams make ready in the cargo bay, we are on approach and will hit groundside in T minus seven minutes," Shepard placed a hand on her pilots shoulder, she had worked with the young Asari before and trusted her skill and judgement. "Get us as close as possible Malania then keep the ship safe, move to another location if you need to but keep your eyes peeled for our return."
"Aye, aye Commander," Shepard smiled inwardly at the young Asari's use of Alliance language, picked up when she served on the Normandy; she was one of the survivors of the attack.
When she got to the cargo bay they were under a minute before touchdown and her squad of just over thirty were all 'locked and loaded for bear', she thought smiling to herself asanother of her father's mashed up sayings came to mind.
"Commander, I need to tell you that I have called in some help from a friend and I will wait here for those troops to arrive so that we can coordinate a little better," Matriarch T'Joan said, "I alerted them before we left Thessia and their ETA should be within an hour."
"Ah, the shadow protection," Shepard said quietly almost to herself and when the Matriarch looked questioningly at her she continued, "I'll explain later, but this isn't the first time you've called in help is it Matriarch.
Who should I be looking out for so I don't confuse them with the Shadow Brokers men?" Shepard asked.
"They are all Asari commandos' their commander is Liselle Lidanya and suggest I link her through on our secure channel?" The Matriarch had given nothing away about whom the commando's belonged to but Shepard had no time to think about anything other than finding Liara right now.
"Yes we're using that as the mission channel, let's hope we won't need the help but if we do I'll take anything that's on offer," with that Shepard turned to face the doors and felt a bump as the frigate hit the ground, with a swoosh the door was open and she led her team towards the only obvious entrance to the facility they could see.
They had had no time to prepare in any real way for the mission, Shepard had intended to do some training with the squad, split them into teams and make sure they functioned as a cohesive unit, but she would have to rely on their experience and ability to adapt on the battlefield.
She had split them into three teams, and a mix of commandos, Turian Special Forces and Krogan hunters. Shepard would lead one, and she would have Kasumi with her, Evictus the highest ranking Turian ex-officer on the team would lead another with Senna V'Siere, a very experienced Asari commando Captain taking the last team.
When they discussed the mission plan on the flight over they realised it was very simple, find the fighting, they would have to try to hack into systems to get some working knowledge of the complex they were walking into, and be prepared to meet high resistance from well trained and experienced troops.
Shepard speculated and the other agreed, that the most likely plan for the ambush would allow only light resistance when Liara and her team 'forced' their way into the complex; a breadcrumb trail would lead them deep inside to where the Shadow Broker was 'waiting'.
Once beyond the point of no return and in a well-planned kill zone they would face a prepared and heavily defended position whilst the trap would snap closed behind them when the force of troops Liara's team would have passed without interference mobilised.
So the plan was… simple… find out where all the noise and fighting was as quickly as possible. But on the way pick up as much intel as possible and lay some ordinance to protect their escape route.
They would use stealth as far as they could to give them the element of surprise at least until they jumped into the fight.
They had no resistance on entering the complex but found a handful of what looked like dead Shadow Broker troops, enough to make it feel real, 'certainly real enough for these poor bastards sacrificed as window dressing, Shepard thought coldly as they moved further inside.
"Evictus you check out the this section secure and hold, protect our extraction area, and make sure it's only friends who get past you" Shepard received a nod of agreement from Evictus, they needed all the firepower they could get but it would be pointless if they had no way to get out.
"Senna with me, Kasumi as soon as you see a likely comms or security console let me know and we'll wait while you hack into it, sure wish I knew what the layout of this place was."
They has moved from the entrance and began working their way up a long corridor which curved in a gently bend. It was carved out of the rock of the mountain the facility was set into giving it a tunnel like appearance although it was fully lit and with air units hanging from the ceiling.
Shepard led her team along one wall on one side of the corridor while Senna led hers on the other, it was Senna who raised a hand to indicate they should hold position and an instant later Shepard heard what had prompted her caution.
From somewhere around the bend ahead they could hear voices in conversation, two, sounded Turian, relaxed, stationary.
Shepard motioned to Senna to move up a couple of her commandoes who could take the two guards out using stealth but Shepard made it clear she wanted at least one of them alive.
Three minutes later they received the all clear from the two Asari's who had been sent to deal with the Guards and when Shepard got to the scene she saw both were alive but unconscious.
Shepard started slapping the nearest Guard around the face until he came around and although he was still groggy she got him standing up and stood toe to toe, her eyes hard, cold, and determined.
"You don't want to fuck with me soldier, this will go well for you if you answer my questions quick and honest… if not I will take the time to hurt you now despite my obvious need for speed." She could see in his eyes his attempts at working out if there was an angle and whether he could find a chance of surviving.
"Wake the other one up," she said over her shoulder, and one of the team got the other Turian on his feet. Shepard pulled her pistol out, took a step back and pointed it at the head of the first Turian.
"So which one of you is going to answer my questions and which one is going to get a face full of hot metal?" Shepard looked hard into the eyes of both men to ram home the point, but neither one said anything.
"Ok have it your way, cut their throats let's not risk giving away that we're here with too much noise," Shepard stepped back and two of the Turian's on her team stepped forward, she turned and began walking away when, as she expected, both her prisoners spoke almost in unison.
"Alright… but the Broker will kill us if he finds out we helped", "What do you want to know".
"Draw me a map of the complex, show me where the ambush is, how many troops and where they are deployed, and where the Broker will be." Shepard waited while they gave her and Senna as they answered the questions.
The complex had two entrances, there was another that mirrored this one coming in from the left, they both lead into a large working area giving access to offices, living accommodation and a central comms room which is where the Guards said visitors went to speak to the Shadow Broker.
The trap had closed on Liara's team as soon as they reached the main area, with Shadow Broker troops taking cover in the rooms leading off the main area leaving little protection or cover for those caught in the ambush.
"What about those two," Senna asked as they prepared to move out.
"Knock them out with a heavy sedative we can't spare anyone to babysit them," Shepard said, she had never had any intention of killing them but sometimes the fear of instant death was the only thing that loosened a stubborn tongue.
Shepard and Senna formulated a plan as they moved, now with more certainty towards the fire fight; Shepard would punch a hole through the outer ring and link up with Liara's team and Senna would take up position behind the ambush line and try to keep the escape route open.
They were now approaching the edge of the fighting and directly in front of them were a line of Shadow Broker troops behind a makeshift barrier that had been pulled across the end of the corridor.
"This is the position you need to hold Senna, this will be out route out, take them out quietly and continue to fire so that it looks as if this position is still intact," Shepard watched as a mix of commando and special forces troops moved forward and in one movement killed the ten troops firing from the barrier.
They seamlessly took up position on the barrier and started firing well over the heads of Liara's team.
"You three, sniper rifles and take out enemy troops, the rest keep firing over the top." Shepard heard Senna give out her instructions as she and her team moved passed through a gap in the barrier and began working their way towards the main fight.
The deception wouldn't last long but it would give Shepard's extraction team a chance to get as close as possible to Liara's position leaving as short a run as possible. From the barrier she could see they had barricaded themselves as best they could towards the far end of the area.
Then she saw Liara and another Asari at a door within the area they were holding it looked as if they were trying to get in the room and if the intel from her prisoners was accurate that would be the main comms room where the Shadow Broker would be found.
The level of noise was ear piercing, the sound reverberating off the rock walls that formed the huge cavern, even though Shepard had put her helmet back on. Senna was spotting Broker troops for Shepard and her team which had enabled them so far to take down two groups using grenades thrown into their positions.
Flashing of plasma weapons, shimmering of biotics, zipping and pinging of hot metal from a multitude of weapons all adding to the confusion and frenetic activity that was a full blown fire fight. The smell, the noise, the heat, stress, excitement, adrenaline… all so familiar to Shepard and she no longer had any fear that she would freeze in battle.
This was as familiar as breathing and she dropped into her familiar state of total concentration, every part of her, every atom in her body was now tuned to being just one thing… marine, with an objective, nothing would stop her except death itself, and she had even beaten that once.
They were now on the edge of the open space and the only thing between them and Liara's team was a fifty yard dash, but they needed to get contact otherwise they would be seen as the enemy and most likely get cut to pieces from both sides.
Kasumi had been trying all combinations without success and then the Shepard spotted Garrus who had taken a slightly elevated position and was picking off enemy troops with his trusted M-98 Widow.
Shepard took off her helmet and then fired a shot to get Garrus's attention and as she saw him taking up a line of sight on her, she prayed he took a proper look before squeezing the trigger.
She saw him stop look over his scope, back into the scope and then he lowered his rifle. Shepard made a hand gesture to her OT and again waited, watching Garrus work his own OT.
"Shepard… is that really you… what the fuck are you… never mind dumb question… what do you need me to do," Garrus's voice loud and clear into her comm link and she smiled.
"We have a path out, for the moment, and they don't know we're here yet, but we need to get across to you, so we can start blasting our way out together." Shepard said and continued, "Senna on my mark start to take out the Brokers troops," Shepard knew that as soon as her other team gave away their position they would become a target but there was nothing else for it, they needed the cover and the distraction.
"Garrus are your team ready to cover our arse?" Shepard said looking across to his position.
"On your mark Shepard."
She counted everyone in and on 'Go' her team ran for the relative safety of the defensive position, which also meant into kill zone that was the ambush.
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Liara had known it was a risk, known in all certainty it was a trap when they met little resistance on the way in, but that rational part of her held no sway with the rage and pain that seemed to control all her decisions since Shiala had been captured.
As her team did their best to fortify their position she would still not give up the hope that Shiala and the Shadow Broker were here within her reach. She left Garrus to organise the defence while she forced her way into the room she had been told would hold all she sought.
She entered the room alone, they needed every gun they had to protect their position, and without giving the sound of the door locking behind her a second thought she moved swiftly towards the imposing figure rising out of a large console at the very end of the room.
A deep, synthesised voice greeted her as she drew closer to the console.
"Congratulations Doctor T'Soni for following my instructions so well. You have been a small problem but the game is over and you lose." Now that Liara was close she could see the 'figure' before her was merely a holographic interface.
"Where is Shiala what have you done with her?" Liara's voice was filled with rage and venom her body glowed blue with biotic energy.
"She is proving to be an amusing pet, it is not comfortable for her, but she tolerates pain very well Doctor and you can take full responsibility for her situation. You are going to die here but her pain and suffering will go on, well how long do you Asari live, please take that as my gift to you." The mechanical voice was unable to relay any sense of his feeling but Liara could hear his malice and the taunting through his words.
"I am not finished Broker I will find you and…." He cut her off and said.
"Oh I think not Doctor T'Soni, even if you troops can break out of my little trap you will die in this room, when I am finished with you I will set off the explosives I have planted, I will make absolutely sure you will be no further threat to me.
But perhaps there is time to send you on your way with some good news, perhaps it will make your passing easier to know that Commander Shepard is alive and has been for some time. Strange that she did not bother to thank you for saving her from the Collectors, perhaps she has been too busy with her family, perhaps knowing that you had found someone else she was able to do the same."
As he was speaking images flashed up on the screen behind him and all the rage and hatred and focus Liara had been feeling melted away as she saw Shepard walking along some street with a very attractive woman who was obviously pregnant.
Then more images of Shepard inside what looked like a hospital bedroom reaching over and holding the woman and then holding a baby.
"Lies these are lies, you have faked the images, this… no…" Liara felt a rush of nausea, pain, despair; she was no longer in control, her mind frozen.
"And why would I bother Doctor T'Soni, but it makes no difference, you will never know but you will take those images with you into death. You really should not have…." He continued speaking but Liara was no longer listening.
A deep survival instinct took control and she began to run back to the exit door, when she couldn't get it open she looked for cover moving towards one of the many work consoles that lined the walls, then realised she had no idea where explosive devices might be placed.
It all seemed to happen at once a flash of light, out of the corner of her eye she saw the door crashing off its hinges; her biotics threw up a barrier and then blackness.
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Shepard had enough time to see where Liara was standing before the explosion knocked her backwards and the wall of dust, smoke and vaporised rock blew out of the doorway.
The Krogan and Asari who had been standing next to her held their feet and continued as long as they could to throw a biotic barrier around the disappearing figure of Liara T'Soni. As quickly as she had been knocked down Shepard was once again on her feet, and with her two companions made their way into the room.
"Get her out of here", Shepard was already picking up chunks of rock and pieces of shattered equipment.
"Stand back Commander we can use our biotics it will be quicker and safer," the big Krogan battlemaster said as he reached her side.
Reluctantly Shepard moved back and as she did her OT flashed into life.
"Commander we are now taking heavy fire, one dead and three wounded," it was Senna and Shepard could hear just the edge of stress in her voice.
"Evictus move down to support Senna's squad at the barrier we will be evacuating our position shortly."
"Affirmative Commander," Evictus's voice came loud and clear over the comms.
Shepard focussed her attention on the battle still raging outside the room and ducked behind cover to find Garrus.
"As soon as we get Liara out, we make a run for the barrier, we'll assign our most powerful biotics to give us some protection and we take our chances." Shepard said to Garrus as they fired around the cover that was being continually eaten away by round after round fired from almost every direction in front and to the sides of them.
"Agreed, " Garrus responded, flinching as a piece of metal hit his barrier at eye level, he focussed his attention on where the shot had come from lined up the shot and waited a split second until his target popped out to take another shot. Garrus squeezed the trigger and his Widow did the rest blowing a huge hole in the head of the Turian in his sights.
"Commander two shuttles have landed to the side of the mountain, it looks like you have more company," Malania's anxious voice sounded in Shepard's suit comm.
"Copy that," Shepard said and then turned to Garrus "more Broker troops on the way, looks like they are going to come in through the other entrance, down that corridor." Shepard indicated the only other entrance into the heart of the complex.
"And just when I thought our day couldn't get any worse," Garrus said still lining up shots with his rifle.
"I need three powerful biotics to me now" Shepard called through her OT, the noise of the battle made it impossible to hear what anyone was saying from anything more than a couple of feet.
Within a minute she had been joined by two commandos and one battlemaster from her team and two commandos from Liara's team. Not wanting to weaken their position any more than she had to she picked the battlemaster and one commando from each team.
"Right, one of you will give us barrier protection while we fight our way to the entrance of that corridor, we'll work our way around this back wall, once we get there I need you to bring the ceiling or walls down to block it, any questions." Shepard got nods of understanding from her squad and she turned to Garrus.
"Whatever happens Garrus I need you to..." Garrus turned and smiled at her as he cut her off.
"Yes Shepard I will do everything in my power to get her out and keep her safe," Shepard returned the smile and gripped his shoulder briefly before snapping on her helmet and moving out her squad following close behind her.