Chapter 30: The Sleeper
The screen on the wall beamed the delicate features of a human newscaster, her words entirely mute as she went through the motions of reporting domestic news from the human colonies and Earth. The latest from the war was due in a matter of minutes, but the Alliance wasn't in any hurry. The couch facing it was full, Garrus to one side and Kaidan to the other. Wrex was parked on the seat opposite, with Ashley grinning beside him. Elsewhere, other groups of the crew sat in similar formations of seating, socialising. But none of them were the centre of attention.
Liara watched Shepard as she laughed heartily at one of Garrus' bad jokes. The Commander's feet were crossed on top of the coffee table, her arms spread along the back of the couch, her head thrown back as the laugh bubbled out of her. The asari drank in the sight, the relief it gave her precious, a load off of her body and mind. It had been a long couple of weeks.
Her mother had shown no signs of improvement for much of it, and Shepard had went off on what was being described as the most daring and risky reconnaissance mission in the history of the galaxy. It looked as if Liara might lose them both to the geth and their Reaper gods.
Shepard had even assumed that Liara would have preferred to stay with her mother rather than venture to the Veil. The quiet, hopeful voice in her head said that the Commander had done so to protect her, that it was an expression of something deeper than lust, yet the idea had made her a little angry. Liara had no control over her mother's health, but could have helped Shepard. It was frustrating to remain behind.
It hadn't mattered in the end. Shepard returned to the Citadel in a blaze of glory, covered in fresh accolades for 'successfully navigating a relay in stealth' and getting one over the geth in a way no one had thought possible. Benezia's condition, having been static for a fortnight, suddenly improved. The news of both events, helped along by strategic leaks, had led to a couple of things.
First, unhealthy interest in Liara and Shepard from journalists, to which the Commander answered no questions save from Emily Wong. When asked if there was a relationship between them, Shepard gave a terse 'Yes' and nothing more. There were no questions on whether or not that compromised her ability to fight Saren's other disciples. Not after what she had just achieved.
Second, the mood of the crew had greatly improved. Kaidan and Garrus were healed for the most part, and had been moved to private rooms in the recovery ward. In the aftermath of the Veil mission, it had become home base for the entire Normandy crew, even Pressly dropped by daily if only for a few minutes. Many had come to express regret about Benezia, and some had tried to cheer Liara up in a strange human manner.
Shepard fell into the jocular atmosphere by nature, a born soldier. Liara did what she thought best; quietly watch. The Commander's glances invited her to join, but even as her confidence grew, the young asari didn't feel that she could just yet. One of those precious to her had returned, but another wasn't out of danger yet.
Liara's trance was broken when Ashley suddenly waved to someone out of view.
"Has it started yet?" Tali asked, entering the room, "Have we won?"
"Not yet," Shepard replied, "Pull up a seat, it's supposed to be any minute now."
Tali scurried to comply, dragging a spare out of a corner, not wanting to miss the news to come. Enthusiastic as always, Liara thought with a smile. At times, Tali seemed even younger even than she was, relative to their lifespans at least.
"So, Tali... how'd the interviews go?" Ashley said, "Did all the boys swoon in the presence of such a famous adventurer?"
A splutter erupted from the quarian, which put teasing grins on all faces present. Liara couldn't help but join in with this, and felt a little guilty. Tali rubbed her hands together nervously.
"T-they just wanted to know how it felt to be the first quarian back in the Veil for hundreds of years," Tali stuttered, "I got a little flustered, and they all seemed to like that. Especially the asari."
"I bet they thought you were adorable," Kaidan said.
"Never let it be said that our dear Tali is anything other than adorable," Shepard intoned with false graveness. Tali seemed to be ready to boil over, the hand wringing increasing in speed. Liara opened her mouth to rescue the girl, but someone beat her to it.
"You are terrifying enough for that to be a real threat, Shepard," Garrus joked, "Careful what you wish for. We wouldn't want batarians hitting on her now, would we?"
"I'd imagine that would be unpleasant," Shepard conceded, her tone sharper than before. As it always got sharp when mention was made of the batarians. Liara forgave her that particular prejudice.
"It would be more unpleasant if a turian started in on it," Wrex said, the couch groaning slightly under his shifting weight.
"You're not a looker yourself, Wrex," Garrus replied, crossing his leg.
"I'll have you know that I was top ladies material back on Tuchanka..." Wrex said, "Not that it matters..."
Liara's skin tingled with the realisation that they were edging closer to the topic of why Wrex had to leave his homeworld, a dangerous topic even for Shepard. Worse, everyone else seemed to have came to the same conclusion too. Time to divert course.
"Garrus, I see your injuries have not damaged your sense of humour," she said, "How long until you are back in action?"
There was a barely audible breath of relief from Shepard, which let Liara knew she had done the right thing. Garrus stopped avoiding Wrex's glare and looked her way with a wide, thankful look in his eyes.
"Docs say another few weeks," Garrus replied, "Wish I could have been there when you went to the Veil, but I guess the biggest battle is yet to come."
Liara swallowed the lump in her throat, the one that formed with the reminder that she hadn't been there either. She nodded.
"Saren will indeed be a formidable opponent," she said, "Especially if he has access to Prothean or Reaper technologies that we have not seen yet."
"Is that possible?" Shepard asked.
"He has that ship," Liara replied, "It is certainly within the realms of high probability."
"Speaking of technology," Wrex interrupted, "Why didn't you go permanently cybernetic on that leg, turian? You'd have been ready for action almost immediately if you had."
Liara shook her head. Of course Wrex objected to not getting back into the action as soon as possible.
"Easy for you to say Wrex, all you need to do is grow another leg," Garrus joked, "Cybernetics skimp on sensation, and if I waited too long, I'd never be able to get a cloned limb working properly."
"You wanted your real leg?" Kaidan summarised, "Is that what you are saying?"
Even Liara found that strange. "I thought you were determined to catch Saren at any cost," she said.
"It's a combat thing," Garrus replied, "I don't think I would be as effective with a cybernetic, because it wouldn't really be a part of me. I need to be able to move naturally."
"What about you lieutenant?" Ashley asked, "You in the same boat?"
"I just need to be kept for observation," Kaidan replied, "Make sure everything healed up properly, that I take it easy. I have to be extra careful because I'm a biotic."
Liara looked them over. They did seem much better. Garrus had been almost dead, the last time they had been in the same room. "I hope you are both healthy enough to rejoin us soon," she said.
Kaidan smiled. "Thanks, Doctor," he said, "It means a lot."
"What about your mother?" Garrus asked, "Any word there?"
"None," Shepard replied, before Liara could, "That part of the hospital is locked up tight. The matriarchs won't even let us in any more, moved their commandos in two nights ago before we could react."
"So?" Wrex said, "Just walk through them."
Liara winced. "I don't think killing my people's soldiers would help matters, Wrex."
"If you want to see your parent, that's what you gotta do," Wrex replied, "Assuming Shepard can't pull strings with those Council idiots."
Shepard shook her head. The Commander had tried, promising Liara to ask hourly until they let them through the cordon. Liara had told her to try once. Tevos wouldn't budge, and she had the backing of the salarians on the matter. The turians didn't care. Not a chance. To her embarrassment, she had sobbed for an hour into Shepard's shoulder before regaining her senses. It was strange how much she missed her mother, even though Benezia wasn't dead.
The doors to the room opened again, letting Joker rush in. He seemed to be in a great hurry, which for him was taxing. He waited until the doors closed, before speaking.
"Heads up, General Bitch is coming!" he warned, hobbling slightly.
No one had time to ask who that was, before the doors opened again, revealing the diminutive form of Major-General Haider, black leather coat and all. A shiver of apprehension went down Liara's back at the sight.
"Shepard, have you heard the news?" Haider said with a smirk, "We're getting close."
"Why do you think we're all here?" Shepard replied, turning back to the screen.
"Well, turn the volume on," she said, "I just got beeped that it's being announced."
Shepard found the remote, giving Liara an eyeroll that almost sent her giggling, before complying with the spymaster's order. Haider was dead on, as the news anchor's speech became audible once more. It was a different one to the one that had been speaking, Liara noticed. A man with lighter skin in a more restrained suit was now the centre of attention.
"We interrupt this programme to bring you breaking news from the Alliance Information Office," the anchor said, "Versailles Pact forces have declared victory in the Haestrom Cluster, bringing to an end all ..."
A cheer went up from much of the Normandy crew, interrupting the broadcast.
Liara followed Shepard's grinning eyes as congratulations were had between the humans, with crew members moving from their seats elsewhere to crowd their Commander.
A moment of elation that was itself immediately interrupted by a loud, whirring alarm. The entire crew looked to the screen or their omnitools for an answer, but none was forthcoming. Fearing the worst, Liara moved to Shepard, the crew parting way to allow her to pass.
"What is that?" she asked.
Shepard shrugged, having no clue, but the woman beside her had turned pale, an effect exaggerated by the glow of her own omnitool screen.
"Benezia is awake," Haider said, "She's breached the first quarantine zone."
Liara's heart clenched, assaulted by images of her mother tearing her friends apart, but it gave her a sharp focus. If it came to confrontation, the humans would have to kill her mother. But there was a hope for her to end it all without bloodshed. Without a word, she burst into a sprint, the doors barely opening enough to allow her to pass, and down the corridor where troops were rushing to cover the exits.
She wouldn't let her mother kill anyone else.
The monitoring ward was a shambles.
The glass partitions and screens were shattered across every floor space, overhead lights flickered or hung limply from their mounts, empty carts and beds were flung to the sides. The bodies of Alliance soldiers slumped against the walls and closed doors. An eerie quiet had descended after about fifteen minutes of smashing and gunfire.
The patient rooms seemed to be untouched, to Shepard's great relief, but the silence was unnerving. She worried about what that meant for Liara, but more immediate concerns nudged their way to the front of her mind.
Crouching over the nearest body and slinging her rifle, she found that the man was still alive.
"Still alive?" Ashley asked quietly, peeking around the corner with her own weapon.
Shepard nodded, before standing up. "Anyone alive down here!" she shouted, "We need medical assistance!"
A door on the left side of the corridor opened and a salarian looked out, blinking rapidly.
"Ah, more humans!" he said, running out, "You have to stop them!"
"Stop who?" Shepard asked.
"The two asari!" the salarian replied, "I've never seen either of them before, so they must not be on our staff, but..."
"We know who they are," Ashley interrupted, a storm on her face, "Can you help our people?" She indicated to the unconscious soldier at their feet.
The salarian seemed to recoil, as if the question were absurd. "Of course," he said, "I'm a trauma monitoring specialist."
"Then leave the asari to us," said Ashley, "Round up a few more doctors and do your damn job." A flourishing wave of her rifle around the room had the salarian's eyes looking even larger, if such a thing were possible. He scurried off to do as he was told, just as more heads began appearing out of doors, to see what was going on.
Shepard gave Ashley a pat of approval on the back, before noting the arrival of Haider through the doorway. With her were Garrus and Tali, who had gone to get some armour, and Haider's bodyguards, armed and armoured to the teeth. Wrex and Kaidan had stayed behind to protect the crew.
"What's the word?" Shepard asked, taking her torso armour from Tali.
"They're in storage now," Haider replied, "She overpowered the three commandos stationed at her room, came through here and fought our people until her daughter showed up. Security feeds have them throwing dark energy around and making their way to the warehouse at the far end."
"Can Benezia get out of the hospital through there?" Ashley asked.
"There is an access stairwell," Garrus replied, as a matter-of-fact, "Caught some smugglers using the same route before, couple of years back."
"Which we have covered with two assault walkers and a heavy machinegun," Haider interjected, "I don't know what the matriarch is thinking, the whole set up is visible from above."
"I don't think she's thinking at all," Shepard said, "Not straight, any way."
"Yes, having Saren screw with your head will make you violent and irrational," said Ashley, moving forwards, "Let's not wait around to find out what is rattling around in her skull."
"Lead on, Chief," Shepard added, doing up the final clasp on her side.
The group followed, threading their way through the injured and their attendants, glass crunching under foot as they moved. They waited through a long decontamination cycle to get to the trauma ward, until they realised it had glitched, probably as a result of Liara overriding it to chase after her mother. Tali gave it a hack, and got the doors open again.
The section was even worse than the previous. Doctors and patients had been flung around like ragdolls, bloody splashes painting the floor and walls. The commandos, or what remained of them, were little more than heaps of meat in the shape of a humanoid, even their clothing torn up by warpfire.
"God..." Ashley said, bringing her wrist up to cover her nose, "What a bloodbath."
"You'd think commandos would be able to handle one matriarch," Shepard remarked, "But this..."
"Actually, not all commandos are biotic specialists," Garrus said, "Most are highly skilled at one aspect of combat, to the point that anyone else looks like amateurs."
The turian picked up a weapon off the floor, more or less intact.
"These seem to have been suppression specialists," he said, "But that doesn't make any sense, not if their job was to keep Benezia in as well as keep anyone else out."
"Do you think Liara could face her mother and live?" Tali asked, clearly worried.
Shepard bit her lip, not sure what to say. It was a question that was beginning to worry her as well. The most knowledgeable person present could not help but expand on the topic, which didn't help matters.
"They're both very powerful biotics, even for asari," Haider said, "Benezia should win out, she has the benefit of age and experience... but she's just woken up from a severe injury..."
"Hey, didn't we get some anti-biotic serum from Cerberus?" Garrus asked, "You didn't use it?"
Haider cursed under her breath in German, not loud enough for the translators to pick up. Shepard didn't speak that language, but it wasn't hard to get the gist of the insults being thrown.
"The Asari Republics refused to allow us to use it," the Major-General replied, "It permanently weakens biotics, they said it was tantamount to mutilation."
Shepard recognised Haider's tone. It said that she would have used the serum any way, or even before the asari government could have found out, but it hadn't been her decision. A position the Commander herself couldn't help but sympathise with, especially now that everyone else had been put in danger. Not least Liara.
Ashley glanced at the bodies. "Their commandos paid the cost," she said.
"Perhaps that was the point," Haider replied.
Shepard looked at the General, finding a pensive look on her face as she stood watching one of the corpses. "What does that mean?" the Commander asked.
The smashing of metal and rumble of concrete echoed through the hospital, turning all heads towards the source; the far end of the hallway.
"We'll find out," Haider said, before pulling a shotgun out from under her coat.
Shepard creeped along the balcony of loading bay, rifle raised, the scene below just visible to her over the edge. The windows of the hospital continued along the balcony level, allowing the 'natural' light from the Presidium to flood in, but the lower sections were closed off entirely. The ghosts of neat rows of grey shipping crates lay scattered in patterns, the bottom ones remaining more or less in place, the rest thrown and smashed into irregular and jagged mounds.
Atop such a structure near the hospital-side entrance stood Liara, panting heavily, her pistol in her hand. Shepard felt weak for a moment with the relief that she was more or less unharmed. All the worse in that there was no way to speak to Liara without giving away the game. An effect that was short lived, as self-control reasserted itself quickly.
The absence of Benezia in any place she could see snapped Shepard back to concentrating on the task at hand. She glanced at Ashley and Garrus, whom had began sweeping their own rifle sights over the jumble of metal boxes below. Both gave small shakes of the head. They couldn't see Benezia either.
Cursing to herself in a manner that made Haider's previous efforts seem tame, she activated her comms.
"Major-General, do you have eyes on the matriarch?" Shepard whispered, "We have no eyes up here."
"The security feeds are dead, Commander," Haider replied, "In fact, something is wrong with the doors. Some sort of lockdown, an anti-theft measure. Ambassador Zorah is currently hacking the system."
"I'm not an Ambassador!" Tali complained in the background, followed by a counter-complaint by Haider that she didn't care.
Shepard groaned slightly. Of course there was a lockdown. C-Sec's natural inclination to any particular threat was to deal with it in as ham-fisted a manner as possible. "Minimise personnel needs, maximise blunt automated responses" was how Garrus once put it to her in the mess of the Normandy at breakfast. No doubt Benezia had triggered it when attempting to open the main doors without authorisation.
Liara suddenly flinched, and flared her biotics. With a wave of both hands, a crate the size of a car flew from a corner into the middle of the space, landing with ear-splitting screeches of metal-on-metal and barrelling through its fellows. In its path, a flash of purple-blue moved away.
"Contact," Ashley whispered, "Far corner, I think."
Shepard nodded, and began moving as quickly as stealth allowed to get a bead on that location, her fellow shooters with her. It helped that the target began to get chatty.
"You have grown aggressive beyond my wildest expectations, Liara," Benezia said, her voice carrying through the space.
"And you have done something unspeakably evil, mother!" Liara replied, before letting a few shots from her pistol loose in the approximate direction of her mother's voice. Shepard saw no further movement. The matriarch was far too smart to be drawn out by that.
"It is the human that has done this to you, is it not?" Benezia taunted, "You have melded with her."
"You say that as if I have committed some grave error," Liara said, jumping to the next debris pile, "Saren is far more of a monster than Shepard could ever be."
"So we both melded with monsters," Benezia snapped, "Even I have heard the stories. Does her bloodlust excite you? Do you thirst for it?"
Liara remained silent, but her face told what she thought of that. There was certainty there, that she had changed. Whether or not it was welcome, Shepard could not tell, but that was something for later. She was almost to the end of the balcony, where there was a stairway down.
Benezia did not wait. A half dozen containers burst forth from where the voice had emanated, flung like buckshot. The mother dearly wished to kill her daughter. Liara barely had time to throw up a barrier of her own, before three containers crashed about where she was standing. Her figure disappeared underneath the metal.
Shepard felt the cold anger in her stomach. She feared the worst, yet still needed desperately to protect. She placed her crosshairs on the matriarch, now standing triumphantly in the open.
Ashley and Garrus opened fire at the same time, joining Shepard's semi-automatic fire with the automatic stream of an Avenger and the heavy shot of a Mantis respectively.
Benezia protected herself, a biotic bubble raising around her for a moment, but Haider had been right. She had just fought a serious and protracted battle while recovering from an injury. Her barrier did not last long against the pinpoint accuracy of the Normandy's best shooters, the loud pinging of their shots' ricochets stopping. Wet purple wounds sprouted, and the matriarch fell backwards out of view.
"Liara!" Shepard shouted, sprinting down the stairs. She climbed the crates like a woman possessed, slipping on spilled meds and plasma, clawing her way to the top. Removing the debris was difficult, near impossible without biotics, but she didn't care, straining her muscles to move it.
A crate moved itself, the tell-tale purple glow lifting it away, and Liara emerged, bruised and shaking. The asari's head dropped. "Shepard," she said, "I couldn't stop her."
The sight sent Shepard's heart clenching. She refused to let Liara blame herself.
"You didn't have to do it alone," the Commander said, drawing her near.
"...Is she dead?" Liara asked, returning the embrace.
"I don't know," Shepard replied.
The comms were still open. "Benezia's still breathing," Ashley said, "Wounds to both legs and her arm. Applying medigel."
"Good," Haider cut in, assuming that the report was meant for her, "We're almost through the doors. Keep her alive."
"Copy," Ashley said.
Garrus approached, and together with him, Shepard helped Liara over the tossed crates and containers to her mother.
The Commander couldn't help but grimace at the sight of the woman. It was easy to tell what exactly had happened. Asari are taught essentially from birth to minimise strain and protect vital organs in the event of their barriers being overwhelmed. It was the reason why Alliance protocol on fighting commandos dictated the targeting of limbs and the lower torso; biotic barriers were reined in to protect the chest and head by instinct.
Benezia's left leg had a huge ragged hole in the side of it, filled with medigel. That was Garrus' shot. Her right had several through-and-through penetrations. That was Shepard's own work. Her left arm had long cuts along the exposed skin, Ashley's assault rifle doing the job there. Worse, she was still conscious, her head turning about and her eyes unfocused, but very much still awake.
Liara's reaction was far less clinical. She knelt down beside her mother and took the uninjured hand, as Ashley worked to keep the matriarch alive. That seemed to still Benezia's movement.
Shepard put her hand on Liara's shoulder and squeezed lightly. It was a terrible thing to have to watch such a scene. She was at a loss as to how she could do anything else to help. Ashley's calm and collected work seemed positively heroic, all of a sudden.
The doors beeped loudly, drawing the attention of all but the Chief.
Both sets opened at once, from the hospital side, the view to which was blocked by mangled and piled metal, and the street side, which was not only visible but close by. Figures began moving in, weapons raised.
"Zorah got the doors open," Haider said over the comms, "We're coming in."
"We have company," Shepard said.
What the Major-General began saying didn't register, as Shepard was confronted by no less than twenty asari commandos. They spread out, biotically-assisted jumps letting them surround her crew in no time at all.
Out of sheer force of habit, she stood up at once and reached for her weapon. The commandos didn't appreciate the gesture, and almost all of their gun barrels turned to train on her.
Realising the mistake, Shepard raised her hands slowly. "Alright, you got me," she said, "We surrender."
"We're not here for you," replied a deep voice.
Through the outer doors stepped another person.
Another matriarch, dressed in a long Thessian robe but carrying a pistol. She walked with haste to the group, the commandos standing down as she did so. Shepard took a step back and straightened up. The newcomer was someone important, and a faux-pas at this critical stage of the war wasn't on her to-do list. Liara joined her, taking her hand, equally worried about the arrival.
"General Aethyta T'saza," the commandos' leader said, "Asari Intelligence."
"Commander Shepard," replied Shepard, "Office of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance."
"I know," Aethyta replied, "T'jura, take over from Williams."
A commando nodded, stowed her shotgun, and stepped toward Benezia's broken body. Ashley glanced to Shepard, her eyes asking if she should comply. Shepard gave a small nod, allowing the commando to take up the Chief's position.
Curiously, Aethyta herself joined the commando at the other side, kneeling over.
"You..." Benezia rasped, the painkillers clearly affecting her, "How are you here?"
"Reinstated," Aethyta replied, "Your mess got the other blue bitches thinking my way."
"So in the end, you watch me fall," Benezia breathed, closing her eyes, "How ironic."
"The universe does that," Aethyta said, with a glance towards Liara and Shepard, "But you aren't falling. Not yet."
"You know her?" Liara asked.
Aethyta froze for a second, before rising with a sigh. The sharp eyes that the matriarch had walked in with softened as they regarded Liara, though they narrowed a little as the gaze turned to Shepard. The Commander couldn't get a read on it. It was plainly strange behaviour to her.
"I know her very well," said Aethyta, "Well enough not to be surprised that she took up with Saren."
"And why is that?" came Haider's voice from behind, "I'm intrigued."
Shepard looked over her shoulder, and found the Major-General making her way forwards at a casual pace, Tali and her bodyguards moving more cautiously as the commandos covered them. Evidently, Haider was not so worried about a diplomatic incident.
Aethyta rolled her eyes, and put her free hand on her hip. "Not your business," she said, "Consider this your official notification. We're taking Benezia T'soni to Thessia. Your incompetence in holding her here is obvious."
"It was your commandos doing the guarding," Haider shot back with maximum venom, "But of course, that was the point, wasn't it? Compromise our security through your demands, so you could take the matriarch out of our grasp."
Aethyta shrugged, waving her hand in the air. "Doesn't matter," she said, "Tevos was informed of the escape immediately, and won't take no for an answer."
"But we haven't even got anything out of Benezia yet!" Garrus interrupted, very much not pleased.
"Officer Vakarian is right," Shepard said, weighing in to support him, "We let you take her, we don't find Saren."
"She's going to be questioned when she gets to Thessia," Aethyta said, "We'll be sure to pass on any information." Or so she said. Shepard clearly detected the tone of someone who was speaking a platitude. Aethyta struck her as someone who wanted a chance at getting Saren herself.
Liara let go of Shepard's hand, and squared up to Aethyta, who was a little shorter but thoroughly failing to be intimidated.
"Not good enough," Liara growled, tears streaming down her face, "I am going to tear Saren to pieces for what he made my mother become. I do not know what your interest is in this, but I shall not let you leave with her."
Aethyta stared at Liara for a moment, sparing Shepard a glance, before speaking.
"You're all grown up, kid," she said finally, "But orders are orders. If you won't let me take her, I have to use force."
The commandos jerked their weapons up once more. Haider's personal guard did the same, moving in front to shield her with their bodies. Shepard's jaw tightened. The commandos had them all dead to rights. The air seemed heavier.
Benezia went into a fit of coughing, doubling over for a moment before sitting up, letting out a scream of pain as she moved. Hyperventilating, the matriarch looked at Liara and Aethyta with something approaching concern.
"Don't fight … I could not..." she said, with much greater clarity than before, "Virmire. Saren is on Virmire." She seemed to tilt her head in confusion, like she hadn't meant to say anything at all, before her eyes rolled back and she collapsed into the arms of the commando attending her once more.
Aethyta and Liara stood statue still, speechless.
"Eh, what just happened?" Shepard asked.
Haider crept out from behind her guards and looked at the matriarch closely. Benezia appeared to be having mild convulsions, until her attendant put her to sleep. "I think I know, but that just raises more questions," she said, glancing between Liara and Aethyta.
"Satisfied?" Aethyta snapped, with a ferocity that was out of place for a stranger.
"Very," Haider replied cheerily, "You can have her now, if you'd like. Make sure to run brain scans and send us the results."
Shepard frowned. No doubt even if the asari had chosen to hold onto the goods, Haider would have the information through her sources eventually. Indoctrination was a big deal to the DID. They were sparing neither hearts nor purses to get anything on it.
"That's it?" Aethyta said, "What will you do?"
Haider hummed to herself, ignoring the question and activating her omnitool. "Stevens, get me Rear-Admirals Shepard and Anderson please," she said into it, "I need a naval combat group. We have Saren's location."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story will be getting a two week spate of updates. I had hoped to see it completed by November 12th, in time for its two year anniversary, but some things got in the way. Regardless, I will work on this story alone until that time, and we'll see how far we get. Pretty far, I hope.