Who Saves the Hero – Chapter 28

By Kudara

Disclaimer: The Mass Effect universe is the property of Bioware/Electronic Arts. No infringement of these copyrights is intended as this is a not for profit fan fiction work.

Warning: Sexual Content - Sexual Domination

Notes: This is an Alternate Universe story, and is inspired by the Beyonce song "Save the Hero," from the album I am…Sasha Fierce. The portrayal of Cerberus in my story is heavily influenced by the contents of the second and third Mass Effect books, Ascension and Retribution. The Prothean language I'm using is a mixture of Quenyanna and Sindarin, languages originally created by Tolkien.

Chapter Notes: Sources of inspiration for Mistress Leonora Myers are Lady Heather from CSI, and Mistress Janeway as characterized in NovaD's The Secret Logs of Mistress Janeway. (Now available on Amazon if you're interested.)

Rating: Mature

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Errors and Corrections: Yes, please let me know about any errors you see so that I can correct them. This is un-beta'ed so it probably has a few.

Correction Note: Chapter 23 has been undergone a minor rewrite to flesh out the character of Tela Vasir more thoroughly.

Revision History: 01/04/2011; 02/20/2011


Illium - Nos Astra Main Trading Floor

Spectre Tela Vasir had put off meeting with Liara T'Soni for several days. Shortly after she had traded information on Shepard and her team with the salarian STG unit, she had come across a solid lead on her primary mission, tracking down the members of a group calling itself TruthHax and discovering who they were, why they had broken into the Citadel's Ministry of Finance, stolen classified data and then published it on the extranet. TruthHax claimed to be an activist group who thought that all information collected by the government should be freely available to its citizens, but Citadel Intelligence believed whoever was behind the break in at the Citadel had other motives that had nothing to do with the groups stated manifesto and a lot more to do with a certain volus clan's business interests.

Tela now knew that both things were in a way true, the TruthHax cell which had broken into the Ministry of Finance was composed of ten individuals who fell into two distinct groups. Six were young and seemingly naive hackers, two humans and four salarians, all males, who seemed to actually believe TruthHax's manifesto. The other four cell members were volus and were different matter entirely. They had ties to a rather powerful financial company which was majority owned by the Nao Clan and had profited greatly from the public release of the stolen data.

The asari Spectre had already made up her mind how to deal with them, the hackers she would give a second chance to learn some wisdom during their stay in prison. Their volus backers however, were a different matter. Right after the break in and data theft at the Ministry of Finance, Citadel Intelligence had immediately started looking into the possibility that the Volus Protectorate and the Nao Clan in particular were behind it as they had been the most outspoken critics of the Council keeping their economic statistical sources secret. In response to Citadel Intelligence's investigations, the Nao Clan had very publicly declared that they had nothing to do with the break in, were indignant and offended that the Council would suspect them of such a thing, and condemned the actions of those who perpetrated it. Now she had proof of what Citadel Intelligence had suspected all along, that their claims of innocence were outright lies.

Unfortunately the evidence she had was not enough to conclusively prove Nao Clan's involvement. If she brought her evidence to the attention of the Council and they acted on it, she was almost certain that the Nao Clan would proclaim that the Council was unfairly accusing them yet again and would promptly produce evidence and witnesses to prove their unquestionable innocence. And then they would probably be insolently arrogant enough to suggest the Council and she owed them an apology for making the accusation. No, openly was not the way to handle this situation. That didn't mean however there wasn't a way to punish them for their actions against the Council. Executing their representatives would send Nao Clan a clear message, especially if the four volus in their pay were pointedly singled out. Yet another reason to let the two human and four salarian hackers live.

Right now though, two of the four volus were off-world and not due to return for a few days. She needed to take the group down all together, otherwise the other two would try to disappear and it would take her weeks to track them down. She wasn't interested in doing that, thus it seemed a perfect time to follow up on the STG Lieutenant's suggestion, which was why she was currently back in her business suit and on her way to T'Soni's office. She took the stairs up to the Administration level and turned to the right, the receptionist's desk immediately outside T'Soni's office was unmanned. Apparently the maiden hadn't replaced the Shadow Broker agent who had been posing as her receptionist yet. Tela waved her hand across the door sensor and waited.

After a few seconds there was a response, "Spectre Vasir, may I inquire as to the purpose of this visit?"

Tela was reluctantly impressed at T'Soni's knowledge, "Spectre Shepard." There was silence for several seconds and then the door opened, revealing a relatively spacious office with an excellent view of the main trading floor and Nos Astra skyline. Liara T'Soni was seated at a large and expensive looking desk directly opposite the doorway. The maiden didn't rise when she entered, and Tela was suddenly certain that the other asari had a weapon pointed at her underneath the desk. The asari Spectre's brown eyes narrowed on the maiden, her expression foreboding. Playing on her hunch she said, "You should know from having fought with Shepard that it can be detrimental to your health to point a weapon at a Spectre."

T'Soni didn't deny it, nor did she look particularly intimidated, "I know that some Spectre's go to the Shadow Broker for information, for all I know you could be here on his behalf to kill me," the pureblooded asari maiden responded coolly.

Tela stiffened at the almost accusation. Still...it didn't sound as if T'Soni knew for certain that she dealt with the Shadow Broker. The other asari was probably trying to see if she could provoke a betraying reaction. Therefore her best course of action would be to simply ignore the attempt, "I'm here at the request of the Council."

The two of them stared at one another for a long moment before T'Soni, raised her hand and placed a very deadly looking pistol on her desk. Vasir noticed that the other asari kept her hand nearby it, if needed the maiden could grab it very quickly. Paranoid but smart, Tela mused, technically the other asari had just complied, but she was still prepared for betrayal.

"And what does the Council want?" T'Soni's tone was no warmer than it had been before; if anything it seemed as if mentioning the Council chilled the already cool tenor of the conversation even further.

Well this conversation was certainly starting off well, the asari Spectre thought to herself sarcastically. "The Council is concerned about Spectre Shepard's mental state…"

That was as far as Vasir got before T'Soni interrupted her with an angry snarl, "The Council is concerned about Shepard! The Council and Alliance were so concerned about her that they didn't even attempt to recover her body. They barely waited for her funeral to finish before tearing apart her reputation so that they could portray her as unstable and misguided."

Tela's eyes narrowed at the interruption, she hadn't been expecting such a hostile reaction to her inquiry and she was belatedly aware that perhaps she should have expected it. After all, everything T'Soni had just said was the truth, it made sense that if the maiden and Shepard had been lovers that T'Soni would be angry at how the Council and Alliance had acted after the human Spectre's reported death. The thing that truly caught her attention, however, was the level of certainty with which T'Soni had just spoken about Shepard dying during the attack on the Normandy SR1. Thinking over the information Councilor Tevos had shared with her after she had left the Citadel on her mission had made Tela realize a few things that had to be true in order for Cerberus to have found Shepard in time to place her into stasis and then resuscitate her. "Shepard was in your office a little over a week ago, you know that she is alive. I suspect she told you that Cerberus found her right after the attack, probably before Alliance ships even arrived to rescue you. In fact, given how quickly Cerberus was there after the attack, I wouldn't be surprised to find out they might have had something to do with it."

T'Soni's brow rose and an expression of scornful disbelief crossed her face, "I doubt that was what Shepard told the Council."

The asari Spectre fought the impulse to grind her teeth together in aggravation at T'Soni's general attitude and the fact that the maiden was entirely correct. On the other hand, it certainly seemed as if T'Soni might know quite a bit about the circumstances surrounding Shepard's reappearance and what had happened in the past two years since Shepard's death. Now she just needed to bring this conversation back under control and ensure that she got that information from the maiden. Tela chose her next words carefully, "Shepard didn't say very much about what happened to her when she spoke to the Council. Only that Cerberus found her very badly injured, resuscitated her and then kept her in a coma while they repaired the damage to her body." She certainly wasn't going to mention that they had gotten far more information about what had happened to Shepard a few weeks later via Chief Williams than they had gotten directly from Shepard. The maiden's blue eyes narrowed on her as if the other asari suspected something was being held back from her. "The Council is trying to figure out exactly what happened to her and what Cerberus's true motives are in this. I certainly wouldn't put it past them to have lied to her about what they did to her and how long it actually took them to heal her to make her feel indebted to them."

T'Soni's blue eyes briefly narrowed even further before returning to a more normal width. The maiden stared at her with a thoughtful expression on her face for a long moment before replying, "Your supposition about them having something do with the attack would be a logical one had Cerberus found Shepard before or shortly after she died, however Cerberus did not find Shepard's body. The Blue Suns found her on the surface of Alchera among the wreckage of the Normandy. Where the Alliance would have found her had they made even a single attempt to recover her body," the maiden added bitterly.

Tela frowned, on the surface of the planet? That would have meant that Shepard had survived entering the atmosphere and landing on the planet's surface. That seemed impossible. "How do you know this?" Had Shepard told her that was what happened?

The asari maiden's expression hardened, "I know what happened because I was the one Cerberus contacted about the bounty the Shadow Broker had put on her body so that he could turn it over to the Collectors in exchange for money and technology. I know because I was the one who took her body from the Shadow Broker's agents and gave it to Cerberus."

Shocked enough by what she had just heard for her expression to betray her emotions, the asari Spectre stared at the maiden across from her in disbelief and dismay, her mind scrambling to make sense of the completely unexpected information she had just gained. Two years ago Collectors had tried to acquire Shepard and the Shadow Broker had brokered the transaction for them? Tela knew he was involved in some highly illegal transactions, but putting a bounty on a Spectre for the purpose of trading them to the Collectors was beyond even what she had thought the Broker would do, and left her feeling very uneasy considering her own dealings with the mysterious information dealer. As important and surprising as that information was however, she was more interested in finding out something else, something that absolutely did not make any sense to her. "Why would you give her to Cerberus instead of bringing her back to the Citadel?" T'Soni was reportedly Shepard's lover, why would she do such a thing?

T'Soni stared silently at her for several seconds, her expression oddly grim and serious for one so young. Finally she replied, "Because they said they could bring her back to life instead of placing her body in a casket." What the other asari had just said seemed so preposterous that Tela just stared at the younger asari in disbelief. "The Cerberus project to bring back Shepard was named Project Lazarus for a very good reason, Spectre Vasir," T'Soni continued, "Shepard was dead when I gave her to them."

The maiden wasn't sounding as if she meant that the human had been clinically dead but rather more than that. "What?" Spectre Vasir asked faintly.

What twisted T'Soni's mouth then was not a smile, and Tela recoiled from the expression on the other asari's face. "She was frozen solid, had third and second degree burns over most of her body, and her right side was so shattered from falling onto the surface of the planet that scans of her body only picked up pulverized bone in her right arm and shoulder. Not that the rest of her was in much better shape, there wasn't a bone in her body that wasn't broken or at least fractured. Thankfully her helmet saved her skull from severe damage otherwise there would have been no hope of bringing her back." The words and the grim reality of them hung in the air between them. T'Soni looked her straight in the eye, "She was dead. If I had taken her body back to the Citadel, the Alliance would have buried her."

Their conversation didn't last for very much longer, T'Soni wasn't interested in sharing the details of how exactly she had gotten Shepard's body away from the Shadow Broker, and she didn't know anything about how Cerberus had managed to bring Shepard back. Nor would she answer Tela when then the asari Spectre asked why the maiden was still on Illium instead of with Shepard after going through so much to bring the human back. In fact that question had led to T'Soni becoming completely uncooperative and all but threatening to forcibly remove Vasir from her office. Realizing that her question had touched on a very sensitive nerve, Tela decided her best course of action was to simply leave. After all, if she needed more information from T'Soni in the future, it would be difficult to obtain it if the pureblooded maiden was dead. Though apparently bring dead was slightly less permanent than she had believed earlier in the day.

As soon as she was away from the main Trading Floor, Tela stopped at a small cafe and ordered some tea. She needed to think about the information she had just obtained and what exactly to do with it. Without a doubt, Councilor Tevos would be very interested in this information and would want to receive it as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Tela felt that it was also sensitive enough that she wasn't comfortable with the idea of trusting it to their possibly compromised intelligence channels. That meant delivering it in person, and that would have to wait until after she resolved her current mission. Fortunately, finishing up with the TruthHax cell shouldn't take very long once the two volus returned in a few days; with any luck she would be on her way back to the Citadel in less than a week.

Her mind made up that she would deliver the information after her current mission was completed, Tela's thoughts turned towards the implications of what she had just learned. Shepard's neural pathways had been preserved by being frozen so quickly after she died, Cerberus had only needed to repair her body and then resuscitate her. Tela shook her head that was a rather big 'only' and left unanswered questions of exactly how Cerberus had not only managed to keep those neural pathways intact after they had thawed Shepard out but also been able to repair what had been, from T'Soni's brief description of the state of the human's body when the maiden recovered it, some very extensive damage.

The asari Spectre stared out at the view of Nos Astra before her as she sipped her delicately spiced tea. If T'Soni had told her the truth, then Cerberus had succeeded in bringing someone back to life after they had been dead, and not just clinically dead, but with no brain activity or any other sign of life. T'Soni had made it very clear that she had given a body to Cerberus, and now, two years later, Shepard was alive again. Tela shook her head in disbelief, Goddess, that shouldn't be possible. Why hadn't Shepard informed the Council of any of this when she spoke to them?

Why would she? The counter question popped immediately into Tela's mind, reminding her of the way Councilor Metellus and the other Councilors had spoken to Shepard when the human Spectre came to them for help. Shepard knew they didn't believe her about the Reapers, why would she think they would believe her if she told them she had been dead and Cerberus had brought her back to life? And once the meeting was underway and it was clear that the Council wasn't inclined to either believe her or give her much in the way of assistance, why would Shepard think they would do anything other than believe the turian Councilor was right, that she was crazy, and lock her up somewhere if she told them? In Shepard's place, Tela couldn't say she wouldn't have made the same choice to keep silent. Especially if she were convinced as the human Spectre appeared to be that the Reapers were real and that she was the only one along with Councilor Anderson who was not dismissing the threat of them.

Also what of Councilor Valern and Tevos' suspicions that Cerberus was ultimately behind the Collector attacks? If that were true, then why had the human terrorist organization intervened with the Shadow Broker's transaction with the Collectors? Why inform T'Soni and bring her in to prevent Shepard's body from being turned over to the Collectors if Cerberus would have ended up with it anyway? The corners of Tela's lips turned slightly downward in a small frown, while the information she had gained from T'Soni was important and would be of great interest to Councilor Tevos, none of it seemed to support the Councilors' theory that Cerberus was working with the Collectors.

The asari Spectre's frown deepened; it seemed that, although she had gathered quite a lot of data on Shepard and on Cerberus's activities during her time here, she would leave Illium with more questions than when she had arrived. She took another sip of her tea; at least her meeting with T'Soni had resulted in her learning enough information to answer one of her own questions. She now had a good idea of why the asari maiden had left her archeological digs to become an information broker and work against the Shadow Broker.

Speaking of what she had learned while gathering information about Shepard, Tela mused, she still had the information Lt. Aerlan Maleis had given her on the communications they had intercepted between the now deceased Eclipse Captains Wasea and Enyla and the local politicians they had paid off. She was certain she had at least two days before the two volus involved in her TruthHax investigation returned to Illium, she might as well take advantage of that time to take care of some of the local governmental corruption. The asari Spectre had few illusions about how permanent anything she did here would be. She had no doubt that things would return to the way they had been before she or Shepard had come here within a very short period of time. The only thing she would really be doing was leaving them with an example of what happened to those who drew too much attention to themselves with their actions.


Liara stared down at the bustling figures moving about on the Trading Floor and nibbled uncertainly at her lower lip. She hoped she had just done the right thing, that what she had just done would help Amanda instead of making things more difficult for her. From what Spectre Vasir had said to her, it had sounded as if the Council had just enough information about what had happened to Shepard that, given the conclusions they had reached in the past, they would come to an incorrect one and decide that Shepard was working with Cerberus willingly and had been for some time. Why though had Shepard not told them the truth already? Or had she and they had not believed her?

The asari scowled, that would not surprise her. She would have to keep in touch with her sources on the Citadel, find out what was being said about Amanda's return. See if anyone had heard anything about the Council's reaction to it. Spectre Vasir had said that she had been sent by the Council, but Liara honestly doubted that was entirely true. However she would believe that at least one Councilor was seeking out more information on Shepard's activities, and Liara would bet on it having been Councilor Tevos. Both because of the asari Councilor's past willingness to at least hear Shepard out and the fact that it was Tela Vasir who had been sent on the information gathering mission.

The asari's gaze moved to where, until a few days ago, the Normandy SR2 had been docked. Amanda hadn't returned to see her after the last time the human had been in her office. That had been a very hard day and part of her cried out in anguish against the finality of what had been said between them, that she had essentially told the person she had wanted to be her bondmate that she didn't want her any longer. Her blue lips twisted into a deep frown, two days afterward she had spotted Amanda walking with the asari Justicar she had recruited, the two of them walking side by side, their matching strides purposeful. Part of Liara had wanted to storm down and shove the older asari aside, tell the matron that was her rightful place by Shepard's side. Yet she had done nothing, simply stood by the window looking down with her fists clenched, and Amanda hadn't even looked up toward her office.

Normandy – Third Deck – in stationary orbit around Tuchanka late afternoon of the third day

Maelon was now safely stowed away in one of the medical bay stasis tubes. They were meant to preserve the life of an ill crew member whose needed treatment exceeded the ships medical facilities. In a pinch, they also served nicely as a way of ensuring that troublesome prisoners couldn't escape or commit sabotage of the ships systems. In this case, it also ensured their prisoner didn't become aware of the fact that there was an AI on board and then share that fact with anyone else. That would be a disaster given that the Council's standing orders concerning AI's were to destroy them as soon as they were found.

Dr. Chakwas looked up as Shepard entered the medical bay, "Our guest doing well?" There had been some question earlier when the salarian had been brought aboard unconscious.

The older woman gave her a reassuring smile, "He looks fine. As you know, I was a little worried about putting him under before he had recovered from the anesthetic Dr. Solus had given him, but it's completely out of his system now and all his vitals look normal for a salarian of his age."

"That's good," Shepard was relieved. She would have felt...well honestly she would have felt equally aggravated and regretful if Maleon had died due to her order that he be kept in stasis until she could turn him over to C-Sec. After stopping Mordin from killing him and then going through the trouble of getting the unconscious salarian safely back through the Urdnot compound and up to the ship, that would have been a stupid way for him to die. Shepard talked a few more minutes with the doctor and then made her excuses; she had another stop to make before calling it a night.

She was...well honestly she was feeling a bit uncomfortable with her earlier anger at Samara's comment about the varren pit fights. The asari was a Justicar through and through, which meant that Samara followed her Code to the letter. That apparently included forbidding the pitting of varren against one another for entertainment. It wasn't that Shepard disagreed, she thought it was barbaric as well, it was just that when she thought Samara going back to Tuchanka by herself and starting a battle with Clan Urdnot, and by extension it's Clanleader, she wanted beat her head against a wall in frustration at the idea of the asari and krogan trying to kill one another.

Shepard paused outside the door to the Starboard Observation Lounge; she needed to think about what she wanted to say to the asari before she went in there. She wanted to not only make sure things were alright between the two of them, but also talk Samara out of the idea of going back to Tuchanka if it were at all possible. She was still standing there over a minute later when the door in front of her opened, startling her into looking sharply up from her abstracted staring at the floor. Samara stood in the opening looking back at her, slightly bemusement apparent on her regal features.

"Shepard," the asari tilted her head inquiringly, "did you wish to speak to me?"

"Umm…yes." She actually wasn't ready yet, but she was hardly going to admit that, she had no doubt she looked silly enough already.

The justicar nodded, "If you would give me a few minutes."

Shepard looked at her puzzled and then realized what the asari meant, "Oh, of course," she said, embarrassed as she hastily stepped out of the way so that Samara could pass by her. Space aboard any ship was limited, thus only Amanda and Miranda actually had their own shower and toilets inside their quarters. The remainder of the crew used the general female or male shower facilities and restrooms on this level. Thankfully, no one passed by or noticed her as Shepard waited outside the Observation Room for Samara to return; doubtless they would have stared at her curiously wondering what she was doing just standing there. When the asari stepped back out into the hallway, she motioned for Samara to go first and then followed her into the Observation Room.

When the justicar reached the spot where she usually sat to meditate, the asari turned to face Shepard, "I suspect you wish to discuss my comment earlier today about the pitting living beings against one another for the entertainment." Shepard nodded, but before she could respond Samara continued, her tone turning sterner, "The code is quite clear upon this subject, such a thing is unjust and those engaging in it must be punished."

Amanda merely nodded her agreement once again; she did understand that, "Actually I wanted to apologize for my earlier reaction. I do understand that your Code requires you to condemn such behavior."

"Even before I was a Justicar, I would have condemned such a thing," Samara immediately countered.

"It is barbaric and they shouldn't do it," Shepard readily agreed. "But I'll be truthful here; I would feel more strongly about it if it were a species other than varren. One which needed a bit more goading to fight each other than just their owner's permission to attack." That was true; she'd have already had a serious discussion with Wrex if his clan had been pit fighting dogs from Earth. Varren however were barely domesticated and would readily attack and kill anyone or anything they hadn't been raised to recognize as members of their pack. Light grey eyes met pale blue as human and asari stared at one another. Samara didn't look particularly pleased by Amanda's statement, but she did incline her head in acknowledgement of it. Shepard drew in a breath, that was the easy part over, what she had to say next probably wouldn't be as well received. "I was more bothered by the fact that Wrex would be forced to fight you if you attacked Clan Urdnot, and then one of the other of you would be dead, if not both of you."

Samara straightened, her posture stiffening, "You object because you fear for the life of your friend?"

Shepard had expected the justicar to disapprove of her initial statement and had her response ready, "More than that," she replied. Before she could say anything more however, the door to the Observation Lounge opened revealing an angry looking Grunt.

The young krogan stomped into the room, "Shepard," the young male said as soon as he crossed the threshold, "You have the cure for the genophage?"

This scenario Shepard hadn't expected, and it took her a moment to decide how to reply. "No," she responded briefly meeting his determined gaze, "I have research data on a possible genophage cure, but it's still a ways from being completed." Samara, who was standing behind Grunt, glanced sharply over toward her. The justicar was undoubtedly wondering why she was making such an admission.

"Is the salarian working on it?" Grunt sounded and looked as if he were just as wary of that idea as eager. Considering what Mordin had worked on in the past, Shepard grimly thought to herself, the young krogan had more reason to be distrustful of that idea than he would hopefully ever know.

"Mordin's still working on the Collector data we've gathered," Shepard responded to his question before turning and walking over to the observation window. She looked down upon the swirling shroud maintained by the battle stations in orbit around the planet below. She turned her head far enough so that her face was in profile to the young krogan standing behind her, "And I fear that curing the genophage would start a chain of events that would end with the final demise of the Krogan race."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the confused expression that crossed his face. "Curing the genophage would save the krogan," he argued.

Shepard didn't reply to that, she suspected that it would do her little good to dispute his statement before she explained her thinking. "Come here and tell me what you see Grunt," she indicated the view in front of her.

He strode over, his every stride betraying his rising agitation with her. "I see Tuchanka, the home planet of the Krogan," he replied impatiently.

She suppressed a sigh at his answer, "What you do see between us and the planet." She would swear he was being deliberately obtuse.

"Battle stations and the shroud," he responded curtly as he gave her an irritated glance.

Finally, Shepard thought, "And the shroud's purpose?"

He frowned as he turned back to look out the observation window, "To make part of Tuchanka habitable."

"What is given can also be taken away," she said softly. She activated her communications node in her omni tool, "EDI."

The A.I.'s holographic representation popped up next to the door, "Yes commander?"

"What would happen on Tuchanka if the CDEM Battlestations stopped powering the shroud?" Samara's gaze sharpened briefly upon her before the justicar turned to gaze out the window as well, a slight frown creasing the asari's brow. Evidently Samara had not considered this possibility before either. Shepard grimaced; that meant that out of the three of them she had been the only one to consider the shroud's possible tactical value in the case of a second Krogan uprising.

"That would be catastrophic for the krogan living there," EDI replied. "The nuclear wars the Krogan carried out against one another four thousand ago left the planet barely habitable. The extensive damage caused by the bombardment of the planet's surface by the Turian Hierarchy at the end of the Krogan Rebellions further damaged the planets already fragile ecosystem and albedo. The shroud is now necessary for continued habitation of the planet." The A.I.'s response to her question was short and to the point, she could see from Samara and Grunt's expressions that they now understood just how dependent the two billion krogan living on the planet's surface were on the shroud that the CDEM maintained.

"Do you know of any other worlds with any population of fertile krogan females?" Shepard asked EDI next, wanting to make it very clear to Grunt what the krogan would be risking by provoking the Council into making such a decision.

"No Commander," Normandy's A.I. responded, "both extranet and Cerberus data sources indicate that all krogan females currently reside on Tuchanka." There was a moment's pause before EDI added, "If the CDEM ceased powering the shroud then the effective result would be the genocide of the krogan race unless the krogan females were evacuated and resettled elsewhere."

Grunt's hands clenched into fists as he stared out the window and then the young krogan whirled around to face her, "Then the krogan must take the battle stations, ensure that the Citadel's forces cannot do that to us."

Shepard stared at him nonplused, not really having expected this response. After a moment she replied, "I suspect those battlestations wouldn't be very easy to take over. They're in perfect position to prevent ships from both leaving and reinforcing Tuchanka and the main bulk of the Citadel fleet is within one or two relays away from here, meaning that they can easily reinforce the CDEM's forces if needed." Before Grunt could argue the krogan's ability to take over the stations despite the forces arrayed against them, she continued, "And even if you could defeat the CDEM forces on them and the Citadel forces didn't come in and take them back, how would the krogan maintain several battlestations? You saw the state of things down there, the krogan barely have the skilled personnel necessary to maintain what technology remains on the planet's surface."

"We…" Grunt began fiercely and then abruptly fell silent an expression of frustration crossing his face as he turned to stare out the observation window. He abruptly swung back around to face her, "We have to do something," he protested, "You saw how it was on Tuchanka." He flung out his arms, "The krogan used to be a mighty race, feared by our enemies…" His arms dropped to his sides and his blue eyes focused on her, "And now because of the genophage we are only focused on our survival."

"You're right," Shepard agreed, meeting his angry gaze unwaveringly, "and Wrex is doing something about that. But the answer, as much as I wish it was not so, is not to cure the genophage. Not right now. Not when doing so has such a high chance of provoking the Council into doing something drastic in response." He didn't look as if that answer satisfied him, and honestly Amanda would have been surprised it if had. "Trust in your Clanleader Grunt," she advised him. "Wrex is smart, forward thinking and has the best interests of the krogan race at heart; he knows what he is doing."

"Why do you say that?" He stared at her, his gaze intense as he waited for her answer. His manner and the tenseness of his body betrayed how important her reply was to him.

He wanted to be persuaded that she and Wrex knew what they were doing, Shepard realized, that would make convincing him to let this go for now so much easier. "Wrex knew that Maelon wanted to work on curing the genophage, because Maelon came to Urdnot first, only Wrex refused to support Maelon's research when he found out that the salarian wanted to use human captives and infertile krogan females as research subjects." She brought up those two facts first, knowing that they would make the most impact. "Wrex was the one who told us where Maelon was located. He either knew or guessed that Weyrloc Guld was planning to cure only his Clan of the genophage and then use Clan Weyrloc's superior numbers to destroy all the other Clans." Grunt now looked more thoughtful than angry, something Shepard was pleased to see, it meant he was listening and thinking about what she was telling him. "I suspect that it would be political suicide for Wrex and Clan Urdnot to stop research on a genophage cure. When I asked about Maelon, Wrex must have seen the perfect opportunity to stop Clan Weyrloc from succeeding in their plans…by sending us." She paused for just a moment to let that sink into Grunt's mind before making her final arguments, "Our actions today removed a threat to Urdnot and made their position on Tuchanka stronger. If that isn't enough proof for you that Wrex understands that curing the genophage isn't the right answer for the krogan at this time, then consider that he knew where we had been, he knew we had Maelon with us, and still he let us proceed unhindered through the length of the Urdnot Clan compound and take Maelon with us back to the Normandy."

"He let you take the salarian," Grunt repeated, sounding somewhat incredulous. "He knew you had the information on the cure?"

"Wrex has been on enough missions with me to know that I wouldn't have destroyed that data," Shepard replied firmly. Now she was exaggerating, Wrex probably hadn't known whether she had kept the data or judged it too dangerous, but she didn't need share that particular fact with her young krogan crewmember.

Grunt twisted his upper body to look out the observation window, "Does he know that the shroud could be used as a weapon against the krogan?"

Shepard snorted and crossed her arms over her chest, drawing the young krogan's attention back to her. "Wrex is a canny and intelligent fighter as well as being a very good tactician," she responded dryly. "Honestly, I would be surprised and disappointed in him if he hasn't thought about it." Grunt didn't say anything in response; instead he stared at her for a long moment and then turned again to look out the observation window.

Shepard gazed at the young krogan; he looked lost in thought and more than a little uncertain. This wasn't the type of problem that hitting it hard and killing it would work as a solution and Grunt didn't appear to know quite how to deal with that realization. "Wrex once told me that the genophage was only part of what was killing the Krogan," she shared, causing her young krogan crewmember to turn back around and focus his full attention on her. "The other part was themselves and the fact that almost all krogan would rather hire out as mercenaries and fight than do what was needed to rebuild the Krogan race. Wrex is trying to change that, to get your people to care once again about their race and about being more than they are now. Change like that won't happen overnight. It may even take a few decades or centuries to happen, but I have faith that if anyone can do it Wrex can do it."

Grunt nodded slowly, "I will think about what you have told me battlemaster."

"That's all that I ask," Shepard responded solemnly, inside she was quite frankly relieved that things had ended this way. She knew that it could have gone so much worse and was glad that Grunt had barged in on her and Samara instead of her and nearly anyone else. The asari had remained silent and let her handle the confrontation instead of jumping in and perhaps worsening the situation.

"Commander," EDI's electronic voice drew all their attention to the console near the door where EDI's blue globe representation had just formed, "I have received several messages from Clan Urdnot. Your actions on Tuchanka seem to have caught the attention of the female Clans allied with Urdnot. Urdnot Grunt has received four breeding requests." Grunt just stared at the holographic globe, his expression showing his surprise at this unexpected turn of events. Shepard smirked in amusement at him, before she could say anything however, EDI continued, "I also received one breeding request for you Commander."

Amanda's mind went completely blank… "What?"

"Ha!" Grunt barked out a laugh at her.

"Krogan females admire strong warriors," Samara commented, drawing Shepard's attention. To her surprise she noticed that the justicar's countenance, though still serene, nonetheless conveyed a distinct air of amusement. "In killing both the Harvester and Thresher Maw you seem to have won yourself an admirer among them Shepard."

Amanda felt her jaw drop a little at the realization that Samara was unbending enough to tease her. That was the second time the asari had joked with her today, she was setting a record. "Since you seem to know more about this than I do, maybe you can help me with drafting a polite rejection of the offer," she retorted with an amused smile before turning her head to look back at the blue globe, "Thank you for the messages EDI."

"You are welcome Commander. Signing you out," the A.I. responded before ending the communication.

As the blue holographic globe disappeared, Shepard looked back over at her two crewmembers. Samara was still watching her, a slight smile gracing her lips. The asari inclined her head to Shepard, "If you were serious about your request, I will be pleased to assist you." The justicar's expression turned more solemn, "Also, you should know that you have made your case to me." The slight smile returned to the asari's plum colored lips, "Quite well, in fact," she added, her tone complimentary. "For as long as the circumstances which you described remain, I will not return to Tuchanka unless it is by your side." Grunt looked back and forth between them confused, but Amanda knew exactly what Samara was telling her and was relieved at it.

Normandy - Captain's Cabin - en route to the Citadel, near midnight

Dreams

Four touch lamps, their light settings turned down, softly illuminated the room. The flickering flames of the fire in massive fireplace, which dominated one wall, further lit the scene. Thick dark blue carpet covered the floor, rich cream-colored fleur-de-lis embossed wallpaper with dark cherry wainscot the walls. The room was relatively empty except for the executive desk and chair placed in one corner, and the leather armchair with accompanying end table next to the fireplace. There was one other piece of furniture in the room, if that's what it could be called, a slanting beam from floor to ceiling with thick padded cushions at various heights along its length. At its base was another beam, about four feet in length, which was bolted to the floor. It would have been relatively innocuous seeming, if strange, piece of architecture if it hadn't been for the black leather cuffs fastened mid-length along the length of the beam and near the ends of the short beam at its base.

"Undress for me Amanda," Leonora's voice was low toned, sensual, and undeniably commanding.

Her light grey eyes locking with the older woman's dark ones Amanda complied, raising her hands and beginning with the top button of her shirt. Leonora leaned back in her armchair, the warm cream color of the dyed leather emphasizing the dark red of her shirt. The older woman's legs were crossed, and she held a glass of burgundy hued wine in her right hand. As Amanda was watching, she lifted the glass to her lips and sipped a small amount of wine from it with an expression of appreciation before placing upon the end table beside her chair.

Amanda kept her movements slow and steady as she unbuttoned each button in turn until the last and then with a shrug let it slip from her shoulders and fall to the floor. This was hardly the first time she had undressed in front of someone else, but usually they were either doing the same or would be shortly. Leonora's unwavering gaze and manner offered her no respite from the knowledge that she was disrobing at this woman's command and for this woman's pleasure.

She stepped out of her shoes, unbuttoned her black jeans and then pushed them downward exposing royal blue silk panties. Amanda understood this was all part of setting the scene, that didn't stop her from feeling a confusing mixture of nervousness and anticipation. She was twenty years old, she had been with a few women since becoming sexually active a few years earlier, but she had never been involved in any type of sexual domination scene before now. In truth, she had never even considered it before meeting Mistress Leonora. While she didn't know exactly what was going to happen tonight, the idea of being bound to that post, of being helpless while Leonora touched her as the dominatrix wished made her feel excited, aroused…and slightly fearful. What if she liked this too much? What would that mean for her and for her future?

She slipped her legs out of her jeans and then let them drop to the floor with her shirt, now she was clad only her matching panties and bra. She hesitated; now that it came down to it she was feeling oddly shy about removing her two last pieces of clothing. Leonora didn't move from her chair, the dominatrix merely continued watching her, waiting with apparent patience as the younger woman gathered her courage. Amanda lifted her chin, met the older woman's dark eyes and reached up behind her, undoing the clasp of her bra.

Moments later the two royal blue bra and panties joined the rest of her clothing on the floor. Amanda forced herself to stand there without trying to hide herself, knowing that the effort would look rather silly to the older woman. It wasn't as if she wasn't doing this of her own free will. Leonora had made it quite clear that she had no interest playing 'unwilling submissive' games. While other dominants might relish the challenge and opportunity to prove their ability to bend their submissive to their will, Leonora did not, she expected all her submissive's to be willing and ready to obey her. To Amanda, the knowledge that Leonora would never force her in any way to do something she did not want to do was reassuring and the primary reason she felt safe enough to allow what was happening tonight to happen. She was here because she wanted Leonora to do this. She would not act as if she were some reluctant maiden.

Leonora rose from the armchair and approached her, "Stand still and let me appreciate you," the dominatrix instructed her. The older woman walked slowly around Amanda, making no effort to hide the fact that she was appraising the younger woman's nude body. Leonora paused beside her, reaching up and placing her hand on Amanda's shoulder. She trailed her fingers across Amanda's collarbone to the center of her chest before tracing downward between her breasts.

Amanda was more than aware that her body was reacting in a very visible manner to the light caress and that the older woman had most certainly noticed it.

"You have a beautiful body," Leonora said softly as her hand trailed further downward and across Amanda's bare stomach, pausing for a moment as the muscles underneath clenched in reaction. "I can tell you work hard to keep it in this condition. You should be proud of it."

"Thank you Mistress," Amanda responded softly. The praise did make her feel a little more confident. She had expected to feel the power inequity between them; bondage and dominance/submission were about that after all. She just hadn't expected it to feel so different from anything she had experienced before, or herself to feel so unsure.

Leonora's hand came to a halt on Amanda's waist, and she pulled the younger woman closer to her. Amanda looked up at her surprised by the action. That was what Leonora had wanted; she bent her head and claimed the younger woman's lips with her own. For a second Amanda didn't react and then she relaxed and leaned into the kiss, bringing around her free arm to hold the other woman. She was surprised when Leonora pulled away from the kiss at her touch.

"I did not invite you to touch me," the older woman said, her voice firm but not unkind.

Amanda flushed, "Sorry Mistress," she apologized as she let her hand drop back to her side.

Leonora's fingers stroked along her side, "Do not try and rush things, you can say volumes to a lover or potential lover by how you kiss. Stop thinking about what may come next and focus on the sensations of the moment." The older woman bent her head again and when their lips met Amanda tried to do as she asked. She kept her hands to her sides and attempted to focus her thoughts only on how Leonora's lips felt as they brushed and then pressed more firmly against her own. Time passed as they kissed, their mouths opened to one another, their tongues met and caressed against each other. Amanda moaned as Leonora tilted her head a little more and deepened the kiss, the older woman's arm around her tightening, pulling her closer. It felt as if Leonora was claiming her with her kiss. When the older woman pulled away once again, Amanda couldn't tell exactly how much time had passed.

"Very good," Leonora said her voice slightly husky. Feeling a bit dazed and very aroused, Amanda certainly agreed. "Move over to the desk." The command surprised Amanda; she had been expecting Leonora to direct her to the beam in the middle of the room.

Amanda dipped her head, "Mistress," she acknowledged the command and pulled away from the older woman's body to obey. She stopped in front of the desk, there was only one object resting upon it and her eyes widened as soon as she saw it. Made of thick black dyed leather, it was two and a half inches wide and perhaps fifteen inches long.

"Some dominants prefer specialized furniture for their submissive's to rest upon while being paddled," Leonora said as she came up beside her. "I prefer this," she reached out trailing her fingers over the glossy surface of the wood. "It's become a very potent symbol of authority in our culture hasn't it?"

"Yes Mistress," Amanda agreed thinking more of the symbolism of the leather paddle placed so prominently to one side of the desk's surface than the symbolism of the desk itself.


Amanda woke at the sound of her morning chime, the dream, or rather the recalled memory, clear within her mind. She hadn't thought about her first experience with Mistress Leonora in awhile and the fact that it had surfaced now was probably due to her discussion with Miranda the other day. Amanda smiled wryly as she sat up and then rested her back against the headboard behind her. She had been so certain at twenty that she understood herself and her sexuality. Ah, the arrogant confidence of youth. Mistress Leonora must have been terribly amused by her the entire time the older woman had been skillfully seducing her into agreeing to be her submissive. She had been filled with sexual curiosity and overconfident in her ability to please a woman, making it ridiculously easy for Leonora to reel her in. She might have well as delivered herself gift wrapped and with a bow to the dominatrix.

After that night, fascinated both with the woman and with the intensity of sensation she could experience at her hands, Amanda had been the Mistress' willing slave her remaining two years at the Academy and then whenever she had the time to visit the woman. She had taken a hiatus during the time she had been with Sharon and then gone back to Mistress Leonora after the relationship ended. Only her realization that she could not both be a Marine Officer and continue to be a part of the D/S scene had ended her willing submission to the older woman.

During her time with the dominatrix, Leonora had insisted that she learn how to master herself, explaining that a good submissive could not give their dominants control until they had it over themselves. Once Leonora was satisfied in her level of mastery over herself, the older woman had begun teaching her how to be a Mistress. In doing so, the older woman provided the answer to the question Amanda had first asked her. How to project an aura of command and sensuality, and taught her what she needed to know to do the same.

Shepard rose from the bed, passed by the fish tanks and went up the stairs. The idea that had just begun to percolate in her mind was probably foolish, and it was definitely an indulgence. She wasn't even certain why she was thinking about it except for the fact that part of her was insisting that she go back and pull out parts of her past before deciding the shape of her future. She sat down at her desk, her gaze falling upon the drawer where she had placed Liara's picture as she did so and felt an impulse to take it out and look at it.

'I can't do this again,' Liara's words during their last meeting ran though her mind.

Shepard shook her head and turned instead to her terminal. Tali had submitted a request for the ship to go into dry-dock to upgrade Normandy's kinetic barriers with a Quarian developed technology she called Cyclonic Barriers. The upgrade would greatly increase the rate of oscillation of the ship's kinetic obstructions, hopefully allowing them to stand up to the Collector ships fire. Tali estimated that the shield refits would take almost a week to complete and test. The work involved wasn't that technically difficult, it was just extensive and some of the components they needed to replace were in difficult to get at places.

Shepard activated the terminal and began typing in a request for docking and repair facilities on Terra Nova. She had scanned midway down the list before she found the name of the company she had hoped to see, Crossroads Engineering, owner: James Thornton. Ten years ago she had known him better as Master Thornton, a close friend of her Mistress. He had been much more into the Dominant/Submissive lifestyle than Mistress Leonora, having two live in submissives. He had always treated them very well from what she had seen and the two women had appeared to be quite happy with the arrangement.

That had been his private life however, publicly he was known as an excellent engineer and his company was well respected in the Alliance shipbuilding industry. She hoped that both were still true because it would solve a delicate issue for her. Even though she had submitted the engineering request Tali was understandably reluctant to hand quarian developed technology over to Cerberus. As for Shepard, she would rather have the work done by someone she could trust to share the profits of further development of the technology with the Flotilla.

If the work was done on Terra Nova by Crossroads Engineering, Shepard had no doubt she could work something out with James Thornton and give the crew a week's liberty at the same time. She knew that some of the Cerberus crewmembers had personal business they needed to take care of; a week's leave would give them the chance they needed to take care of such things and get back to the ship. Given that she had been helping out everyone she had personally recruited to settle their outstanding business, it only seemed fair to give the Cerberus crew that chance as well.

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This section was censored for publication on Fanfic, for adult readers the entire chapter is up on my AO3 site.
Please see my author page for the link since Fanfic deletes anything that looks like a url.