The Red Moon Collection - 5 - The Empty Night

Chapter 36

Foothills of the Coraltian Range, Palaven

The rain had been kind enough to disperse just before the Kodiak touched down. The hatch slid open as Shansa put the engines to idle and jumped up from her seat to join Tyrixis and Will in the cabin. Waiting beside the landing pad was a pair of armed soldiers, a nurse, and a recently suited-up raloi. Sai was slightly hunched over, but was at least well enough to stand on his own two feet. Will, Shansa, and Tyrixis dropped to the ground as Sai and the nurse approached the waiting shuttle.

"He's only been conscious for about an hour," the nurse informed them. "Where should I forward the medical records?"

"You can send them to me," Will replied, holding up his omnitool.

Tyrixis raised her hand and inspected the raloi with her medical scanner. "Fascinating."

"What's that?" Shansa asked.

"His vital signs and brain activity are nothing like they were just a few hours ago when he fell into the coma," Tyrixis muttered.

"I feel like my head was crushed by a boulder," Sai grumbled. "It's still throbbing."

The doctor placed her hand on his shoulder and looked to Will. "If his condition deteriorates do not hesitate to contact me."

"He seems to be doing exponentially better," Will said. "Do you think it will deteriorate?"

Tyrixis shook her head. "We have no way of knowing." She nodded to his omnitool. "You should look at Sai's medical records and… ask him about what happened when he lost consciousness. I only skimmed the report, but you all may find it interesting."

"Perhaps after I get some rest," Sai said quickly.

Will nodded. "Of course. Let's get you back to the ship."

Shansa and Will helped the raloi into the cabin of the Kodiak before returning to Tyrixis and shaking her hand.

"I know we've said it a million times now, but thank you," Shansa said earnestly. "You have gone above and beyond what I would expect given the circumstances."

The turian looked to the side and let out a soft sigh. "Of course. And… do keep in touch. These are dangerous times, my friends."

Will smiled softly. "Same to you, Tyrixis."

She stepped back and held her arms behind her back at ease. "Indeed." The turian locked eyes with Shansa and nodded. "Captain Fischer." She glanced to Will. "Captain Hume."

Will and Shansa lingered for a brief moment before turning and jumping up into the Kodiak. They waved a quick goodbye as Will tapped the control panel to close the hatch behind them.

Sai received a warm reception on the Aberrant. The raloi was clearly embarrassed by the outpouring of concern from the crew and soon excused himself to get some rest in his bunk. Before long the ship was underway, with Shansa at the helm and Seltara monitoring the navigation systems to ensure a safe retreat from one of the most Reaper-infested systems in the galaxy. Once they were in FTL and en route to the relay the crew set to killing time as effectively as they could. Seltara, Vayren, and Fynnis began the preliminary work on sorting through their intel while Kay pulled a reluctant Shansa to the cargo bay to finally teach her sister her "famous" workout routine. Eleena giddily returned to work on calibrating the Thanix cannon for optimal combat capacity as Will and Kallux found themselves in the mess.

"That stuff is disgusting," Kallux said.

Will cocked a brow as he took a seat at the table with his coffee thermos in hand. "What is?"

"That drink." He scoffed. "Shansa sucks it down like a madwoman. The stench is… ugh."

"Most humans like the smell and taste of coffee," Will noted. "Well, the smell at least." He laughed and took a sip. "You're a krogan. Don't you drink acid?"

"We don't drink acid. And just because I can stomach something doesn't mean I have to like it," Kallux replied indignantly. "I left Tuchanka for a reason."

Will sat back in his seat. "I just realized we didn't get to see your brother on Palaven. Shit, Kallux, I'm sorry."

The krogan shook his head. "I'll catch up with him eventually. We'll have plenty of time while the techies are cracking that Reaper code." He shrugged. "Hell, maybe I'll catch him on Tuchanka… he's probably due for some R and R I've been thinking about paying a visit.."

"Oh yeah?" Will tilted his head curiously. "Because of… the cure?"

"It would be nice to walk on a cleansed homeworld for the first time in my life," Kallux admitted. "And it would be nice to go back one more time just in case things don't work out."

"I've been thinking about that too," Will admitted. "It's been years since I've seen Earth."

"Never seen it in person," Kallux said. "Looks nice in the vids, though."

Will smiled and nodded. "It was pretty beautiful. But now… I don't know if I want to see it like Palaven." He let out a sigh and sat back in his chair. "It's strange, really. Shansa and I left Earth when we were pretty young. We lived on Arvuna for a few years before leaving and just becoming spacers, so Earth doesn't really feel like home. Far from it, actually. I don't even have much lingering reverence for it, but there's something in me that feels personally attacked when I think about the birthplace of humanity being ravaged."

Kallux stood and stepped around the table toward the door. "I think we're all feeling that right now, kid." He placed his hand on Will's shoulder and gave him a reassuring pat. "Let's talk about this when we've hit the ground. I haven't slept in days."

Will took another sip of his drink and nodded. "Sure. You've earned some rest."

The krogan stomped out of the room, leaving Will alone with only this thermos and the gentle hum of the ship for company. He drank slowly for a few minutes before the door opened up behind him and a hand found its way to his head, sliding through his hair lovingly before coming to rest cradling his chin.

"You okay?" Eleena asked.

He glanced over to her and smiled. "I'm fine. Just enjoying the peace and quiet."

"Oh," she retracted her hand and rounded the table to prepare a glass of water. "Do you want me to leave?"

Will finished the last of his coffee and followed her with his eyes "The only thing nicer than silence right now is your voice in my ear."

The asari smirked and returned to slide into the chair beside him. "It's been nearly a decade and you still haven't grown out of that hopeless romantic phase."

"I don't think it's 'hopeless' at this point," he pointed out. "I think I'm just a romantic."

"Excellent point," she commended. "That main battery is driving me crazy," Eleena said, drastically changing this subject.

"Trouble integrating the systems?" Will inquired.

"No, I think it's good to go," she answered. "I just need some damn data to work with before I can really start dialing in the specifics. Every armament needs to be carefully calibrated to the ship that holds it for a dozen different reasons."

"So you want to get into another space battle," Will clarified.

Eleena raised a brow. "Another?"

"Have you not looked at the logs from Shansa's action over Illium?"

The asari's eyes widened with glee. "No. No one told me about that! Augh, I can't believe I missed that! And that Shansa didn't tell me about it!" She slumped back irritably.

He laughed. "Damn, Eleena, relax. We've had a lot going on lately."

"True," she conceded. "I guess I'll dig into those later."

"I watched the VI's holo-render of the battle. It was pretty incredible," Will said. "You should check it out of you ever need to feel better about who is steering us through troubled water every day."

"I just might do that…" Eleena placed her elbow on the table and propped her chin up on her palm. "You sure you're okay? You seem a little… off."

Will shook his head. "I know, I know… I'm just shaken from Palaven, to be honest. All that death, destruction, and whatever happened to Sai…"

"I am curious about how quickly he seemed to recover," Eleena noted.

"Me too," Will agreed.

The two of them fell into a short silence. They leaned together, simply enjoying the feeling of their bodies against one another.

"You know, I've been thinking about my mom and sister a lot," Eleena mentioned.

"Yeah?"

She nodded. "Hard not to given how they just appeared out of nowhere a week ago."

Will wrapped his arm around her waist. "Thinking about anything in particular?"

The asari thought for a moment before speaking. "Only how strange it is to have family in my life again. A year ago I didn't have anyone. My mother may as well have been dead, and my sister… well she didn't exist, as far as I knew. But now I've got two people to worry about making it through this shit."

"Just two?" Will asked with a small smirk.

"Obviously I'm not counting you or anyone else on this ship," Eleena said with a nudge. "I guess I just wasn't ready for this pressure… the pressure that I might fail them."

"You won't, Eleena," Will said firmly.

She pulled away slightly and raised a brow. "Oh? You sound sure of yourself."

"You're one of the most intensely passionate and protective people I've ever met. You're going to do just fine keeping them safe." Will chuckled and shrugged. "And if you get that from your mother, well, she'll probably be far from helpless if and when the time comes."

Eleena turned her eyes away. "I guess. It's… weird having people to care after. I mean, for so long it's just been you and me. And you sure as hell can handle yourself."

"And now you know how I felt after we finished off the Blue Suns," Will said. "That burden… it was just too much. At least the burden of a whole crew. I can handle just worrying about your safety."

"So you don't worry about anyone else?" She asked.

"Of course I worry about everyone," he said. "I'm just thankful that I'm not directly responsible for giving the orders."

"Will…" Eleena looked to his eyes and waited for him to notice her gaze and return it before speaking.

He raised a brow and waited for her to continue.

"Have…" She bit her lip as she searched for words. "I know you don't want that burden, but have you thought about… you know, if we... "

"If we…?"

Eleena sighed irritably. "If we were to bring someone else into the equation."

He blinked in surprise and turned his head suspiciously. "Are you talking about a kid?"

"Well, yes," she said with a small grin. "Though I was trying to see if you could pick up on my meaning a little more gracefully."

Will sat back and raised his brows in surprise. "Eleena I don't even know how to respond. Whenever we've talked about it in the past we always decided on waiting until we were more settled."

"That's assuming we ever were going to settle down," Eleena pointed out.

"Right, but now things are completely different," Will said. "I'm stressed enough thinking about our own survival. I can't imagine how Kay and T'Lees are feeling." He glanced over to her and raised a brow. "What makes you bring it up?"

The asari shrugged. "Honestly, I couldn't fuckin' tell you. Maybe it was seeing my mother and meeting my sister, or maybe it was all that time I spent sitting around on the Citadel with nothing to do while my foot healed up." Eleena looked to him. "Maybe this whole situation has really reinforced how much I need you in my life."

"Now that's just downright romantic," Will teased.

"I'm serious, Will," she said with a frown. "I've never had a need for a child. And, don't worry, I don't have that need now. But the morbid side of me can't help but think about what would happen if you, or I, or both of us don't make it through all of this." The asari locked her eyes on his. "I don't want either one of us to be left alone with regrets, wishing that they had done or said something when they had the chance."

Will reached up and cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand. "If this is something that you want…"

"I don't know if it is," Eleena interjected. "I don't even know if it would be fair or even possible to bring a kid into this galaxy right now. But it's something I think about, and I just wanted you to know that."

He nodded slowly. "Please, don't ever hesitate to tell me something like this."

"I don't, and I won't," she said before smirking lightly. "It's kind of hard to hide these feelings when we're joined anyway."

"Speaking of which, we've got a lot of time on our hands… we could maybe get through a couple of practice sessions if this kid stuff is on your mind," he said with a sly grin.

She rolled her eyes. "You're lucky I'm in the mood."

"It's not luck, babe," Will said. "I can read you like a book."

Eleena stood and glanced over her shoulder. "Oh? Let's see about that."

They still had a few hours of travel left when Sai woke and summoned Will, Shansa, and Vayren to the command deck. Will groggily rolled out of bed and dressed himself to the minimum of the social contract before making his way to the elevator and up to the main deck. Shansa and Sai were already waiting for him, both talking quietly as they stood beside the meeting table. Shansa gave Will a smile and nod as he entered before turning her gaze back to Sai.

"You're sure you're okay?" She asked.

The raloi nodded. "Yes. I am quite well, actually."

Will furrowed his brow as he came to stand beside Shansa. "Ten hours ago you could barely hold yourself upright."

"It is quite strange," Sai agreed. "But since I regained consciousness on Palaven I have felt better with each passing hour."

The door at the end of the room opened once more to allow Vayren to come marching onto the bridge. The salarian had undoubtedly been working with Seltara and Fynnis on the Reaper code since the moment they had set foot on the Aberrant.

"Ah, I needed a break to stretch my legs," the Spectre said thankfully.

"So nice of Sai to think of you and call for this meeting," Shasna teased with a grin.

Vayren smirked and crossed his arms as he came to stand at the end of the table. "I understand you wish to debrief us on what happened to you on Palaven?"

"That is correct," Sai replied.

"I read the medical notes that Tyrixis sent along," Shansa said. "But… I couldn't make heads or tails of 'em."

"Me neither," Will added. "But she seemed to suggest that your personal account might be more interesting."

Vayren eyed the raloi curiously. "I have not had a chance to read through the notes, myself. Captain Alaanti, would you care to relay this experience to us?"

The raloi crossed his arms behind his back. "Yes, of course." He glanced to Will. "As Captain Hume has undoubtedly told you, we were venturing into the depths of what we had thought was a derelict Reaper."

"It was definitely dead," Will corrected. "But we theorize that it had some kind of redundancies still operating inside its… body."

"A theory that is almost certainly true, given what happened," Vayren noted. "Once we get into Seltara's data we should be able to verify it for certain."

Will looked to Sai. "Sorry, Sai, please continue."

The raloi chattered his beak. "We had reached what seemed like the core. Some sort of central hub. As Seltara was working on accessing the Reaper's memory banks everything went dark… for a short moment, at least."

"What do you mean?" Will asked. "When the lights turned off… they never came back on."

"It wasn't actual light that I saw," Sai clarified. "In fact I explicitly remember my eyes closing or rolling back… I cannot remember. That is when I felt it in my mind."

Shansa shifted uneasily. "Felt what?"

"A presence," he answered. "It was nothing so… malicious, as you might expect. It simply spoke to me."

Vayren stared the raloi down. "What did it say?"

"It did not speak, exactly," Sai clarified. "I felt its thoughts pouring over my mind. It said to me, 'Your kind is rare, but your potential is extraordinary. Are you the being that killed me?'" The raloi sighed. "I am paraphrasing, of course. As I said, it did not speak so much as I simply understood what it was attempting to communicate."

"'Your potential is extraordinary?'" Vayren repeated. "Your potential as what? A weapon?"

"I do not know. I told it that I was not the one who had killed it and that I honestly did not know who could truly make that claim," Sai said. "Then I asked the same question as you did, Vayren: if he wanted me as a weapon. To which it said, 'No, you are so much more.'"

Vayren glanced to Will. "No one else in your team experienced anything similar?"

He shook his head. "No."

"What happened after that?" Vayren asked.

"We 'talked,'" Sai answered. "It asked why I was there. Why I was attempting to fight it. What I wanted."

Shansa was staring at him with wide eyes. "And?"

"It wanted to… show me things. I felt something else. Many more of them," Sai said.

"More Reapers?" Will asked.

"Reapers. Their soldiers. Their thoughts, But it was all very distant. All unclear." The raloi clicked his beak. "But I could feel them all… feel their movements and aggression."

Vayren narrowed his eyes. "When did this stop?"

"After I told it to leave me," Sai answered. "After a little resistance it gave up."

"We also pulled him out of the wreckage," Will pointed out. "It's possible the Reaper lost its 'connection' with him."

The raloi nodded. "That is possible," he conceded.

"This is interesting to say the very least," Vayren declared. "Perhaps we should examine the available records on indoctrination and compare them to your experience."

"Of course," Sai agreed. "I will assist however I am able."

"Why don't you head down to the crew's quarters and I will find you there," Vayren suggested. "Take a little time to relax before we really dig into this."

The raloi bowed his head thankfully before turning and making his way to the door. As it shut behind him, Vayren glanced to Shansa and Will and shook his head.

"We must be extremely careful and vigilant with Captain Alaanti," the salarian said.

"'Vigilant?'" Shansa asked. "You don't believe him?"

Vayren shook his head. "Quite the opposite. I worry that he is telling the truth, but perhaps not the entirety of it... whether he knows it or not."

Will and Shansa shared a quick glance.

"I am not saying he was… indoctrinated," Vayren clarified. "All of our intelligence seems to indicate that it requires prolonged exposure to Reaper tech before taking effect." He paused momentarily. "But we do not have data on subjects physically entering a Reaper. It is possible their methods of indoctrination can be heavily focused when so close to the source. I must comb through our intelligence for experiences that correlate with Sai's testimony."

"And then?" Will asked.

Vayren shook his head in frustration. "I just don't know. Either way we will need to keep an eye on him. And… Shansa, make sure he does not have access to essential security items on the ship. Whether that be tech or engineering hardware… we have dozens of reports of sabotage by indoctrination victims."

"So you do think he is indoctrinated," Shansa said.

"No. But it is a very real possibility," Vayren said quite gravely.

Will sighed. "Let me know when you're done working with him and I'll take a turn… keeping an eye on him."

Shansa crossed her arms. "This feels wrong."

"I know it does," Vayren replied. "And that is why indoctrination is so effective. But vigilance is our only hope if we are to see this through."

"Yeah," Shansa said with a defeated sigh. "Yeah… I'll check his security clearance."

Vayren nodded slowly. "Good. I will be in touch with our findings."

The salarian stood for a moment before turning and walking swiftly to the door. Shansa reached over and put her hand on Will's arm. He stepped closer to her and pulled her into a small hug.

"This is… messed up," Shansa muttered.

"Very," Will agreed. "But there's no way Sai could just get brainwashed. He's too damn strong for that."

"I hope you're right," Shansa said. "Because if you're not…" She took a deep breath and stepped away to activate her omnitool. "The indoctrination thing has been bothering me since I first read about it. It didn't seem like it could happen to me or anyone else on the crew."

"Sai is going to be fine," Will reiterated.

Shansa looked over to him and smiled softly. "I can tell that you really believe that. And it helps."