Chapter 32: Prayers for the Lost
Unna'Karis: So, this is where you meant Saint Krios?
Tali'Zorah: Yes it is, though at the time he not only wasn't beautified by a dozen religions, I half thought he was some sort of blood thirsty contract killer.
Unna'karis: You thought Saint Krios, the Angel of Death, was a blood thirsty contract killer?
Tali'Zorah: As I said, I had never met him, and I had no image of what he would be like. The reality as usual, was far different from my preconceptions.
After their "date" Tali and John parted to attend to their duties. John and Garrus worked on getting the Cerberus crews started on the Thranx cannon, while Tali went down to engineering to show Ken and Gabby how to install the cyclonic barrier shields. Once she was certain they would be able to supervise the initial installation of the new tech, Tali took a quick power nap and ate a bar of nutrient paste.
At the appointed time, she met up with John and Jack at the cargo transfer station.
"Were looking for Serya." John told the secretary.
The secretary turned a light shade of blue and reached into her desk. "Goddess, you're from Nassanna!"
"Woah slow down there! We're not from Nassanna." John assured her.
"Really?" The secretary asked, her small pistol visible in her lap.
"Really sweet cheeks. And if we were, a piss poor excuse for a pistol like that ain't gonna do sh- anything against Commander Shepard." Jack sneered.
"Oh! You should have said so." The secretary sighed, visibly relaxing. "Liara called ahead and told me you would be here. Go right on in, Serya is just inside."
A tired looking asari met them at the threshold. "Hey Delia, now might be a good time to go home early."
"You got it." The secretary said, taking her pistol and hurrying off.
"Glad you got here before Nassanna's goons. I'm Serya." The asari told them, offering her hand to John.
"You have information on Thane Krios?" John asked.
Serya shrugged. "If you mean the scary as hell drell, then yes. All I really know is what I told Liara. He's going after Nassanna in her little hidey hole tonight."
"Can you take us there?" Tali asked.
Serya nodded. "You three like you could take over half the planet, let alone take out the mercs Nassanna's got guarding her place. If you can ensure she isn't looking to put a singularity up my ass anymore I'll be glad to help. Plus Liara already paid for my services."
"Let's go then." John ordered, and the squad followed Serya over to a air car.
"Is Nassanna as bad as people are making her out to be?" Tali asked as they settled in, "I know she tricked Shepard into hunting down her sister, but she was a ruthless pirate and slaver."
"Honey, if the other Dantius was only a murderer and slaver, she was a much better person then Nassanna is." Serya assured Tali. "Nassanna has murdered her way up the corporate ladder, and she's bribed, blackmailed and assassinated anyone who even came close to threatening her. Just for telling a drell where she was, she threatened to have a hit squad visit me and my sister."
"I guess she really does deserve to be assassinated then." Tali admitted.
"Any ideas as to who could have sent the assassin?" John asked.
Serya snorted. "Do you want me to get you a comm listing for Illium? If I had known the drell was going after the blue bitch, I would have tipped him."
"Point taken."
The ride didn't take long, and Serya parked the car in front of a massive, half finished sky scrapper. "This is as far as I go! Good luck!" She shouted as the squad disembarked.
"Thanks." John waved her off, and the squad quickly moved into cover.
Almost before they had reached a pile of building materials, automatic fire erupted and tracer rounds went over their heads. John peaked around the side of the heap and swore.
"Son of a bitch!" He fired a few snap shots and charged. "The mercs are shooting civilians!"
Hurrying around, Tali saw Eclipse mercs and mechs gunning down fleeing salarians in construction uniforms. She activated her drone and began hacking the mechs, ordering them to turn their fire onto their own masters. Combined with Jack's biotics and John's own deadly fire they quickly reduced the ranks of the mercenaries.
"Shit, he's got reinforcements, fall back, fall back!" Ordered the eclipse captain, and the surviving members of his squad scrambled back into the relative cover of the building.
"Get down!" John ordered, drawing his missile launcher and sending a deadly rocket into the mercenaries hiding place. The remaining glass in the building blew out in a roar of flames that consumed the hiding mercenaries.
"Get those workers some medical attention." John ordered as he raced forward to secure the building's entrance.
"Are you alright?" Tali asked as she approached a salarian who was clutching his chest as he lay on the ground panting.
"I'm fine, see to the others." He assured her, waving her away.
Turning to a salarian clutching a ruined shoulder joint, Tali administered medi-gel and scanned for other injuries.
"What happened?" She asked as she worked.
"Nassanna, she went crazy, screaming that an assassin was after her. She told everyone to get out, but when we didn't move fast enough she had her men start shooting anyone who wasn't one of her team." The salarian groaned.
"You have to stop her, some of my cousins are still trapped in the building!" The first salarian wheezed, crawling over to Tali.
"Dont' worry, Nassanna isn't going to survive the night." Tali assured him. She realized after she said it she wasn't talking about the assassin. After seeing the senseless slaughter Nassanna had ordered, Tali was ready to kill the asari herself.
"Good." Moaned the injured worker, who lay back and closed his eyes as the medi-gel went to work.
"Let's move, Jack." Tali ordered, standing up.
"I've got your back." Jack assured her as she finished binding the wounds of another worker.
They hurried up to John who was watching the elevator. "They've got some sort of trigger beam across the room there."
"So as soon as we cross it the elevator opens and they shoot us?" Jack asked.
"Sounds like an easy fix." Tali assured him, activating her drone and loading it down with explosives."I'll have Chikita break the beam, when the door opens she'll explode and take out the mercs."
"Sounds like a plan." John replied, resting his assault rifle on a crate and lining up his shot.
Chikita did her part flawlessly, and the merc's opened the elevator door to the roar of explosions and full auto fire. None of them made it out alive, and Jack used a singularity to clear the bodies out so they could board.
"Going up." Tali stated after a quick hack removed the security locks on the elevator.
"Jack, put up a barrier for us. They're probably waiting." John ordered.
"You got it boss man." As the doors dinged opened, Jack thrust her hands out and a thick blue biotic barrier appeared between them and the hallway.
All that was waiting for them were two Eclipse mercs slumped up against the wall, each with a neatly slit throat and a growing pool of blood at their feet.
"Looks like Thane got here first." Tali observed.
"And like he's helping us." John mused, "He obviously didn't have to take these guys out if he didn't come up the way we did."
"More power to him, makes my job easier." Jack said with a shrug.
They moved out, creeping down the hallway to where a frantic Eclipse merc was talking into his comm.
"Look, he came out of now here, got Derek and Olgus before they even knew he was here. I didn't even have time to draw my fucking weapon!" He shouted, turning just in time to stare down the barrel of John's Lancer.
"Sounds like a habit of yours." He observed, then pulled the trigger and splattered the merc's brains across the wall.
"Was that necessary?" Tali asked.
John shrugged. "He made his choice. Come on."
The element of surprise lost, they charged down the hallway, stopping when John held up a closed fist.
"You hear that?" He asked.
There was a tapping sound from a nearby door and hushed voices, and Tali nodded.
Stepping forward, John put his hand out for the handle and drew his carnefex, holding up three fingers, which he slowly dropped as Tali and Jack took up positions to the left and right.
Jerking the door open John poked his hand cannon into the clearly terrified face of a salarian holding a shaking pistol of his own.
"Stay back! I'll use this, I swear by the dalatress I will!" He babbled.
"Woah, hold on Theron, I think these are the good guys." Another salarian piped up.
"Stay back human!" The first salarian shrieked, the gun now rattling so hard he wasn't likely to hit anything other than his own feet.
"I'm Commander Shepard, what's going on here?" John demanded.
"We were saved, by the drell." The second salarian explained, "One of the mercs broke in and shot Del, but before he could finish the rest of us a drell appeared out of nowhere and snapped his neck." The salarian gestured to a dead merc and worker in the corner. "The drell gave us the mercs gun after muttering something about 'Huntress guide his soul' and then took off. He told us to 'wait for the Shepard of the Lost.' That's you right?"
"But how do we know he's working with the drell?" The first salarian pleaded, finally lowering his pistol slightly.
"That was Thane Krios. We're here looking for him." Tali explained. "The way back is clear, get out of here."
"Thank you lady quarian!" The second salarian bowed, then grabbed his still shuddering friend by the elbow. "Come on, let's get out of here."
"That was well done Tali." John assured her after the salarians had headed for the elevator. "Come on, it can't be much farther."
The hallway ended in an open area where the eclipse mercs had set up and ambush with at Atlas mech. They were dug in and had several clear field of fire, but they hadn't counted on just how deadly their opponents were.
Tali opened up by hacking the Atlas's IFF programs, and it immediately went wild, spraying machine gun fire and rockets into the backs of the center of the Eclipse formation. Jack charged straight through their barriers with a biotic leap and scattered their left flank, while John's missile launcher devastated the right. The few survivors of the initial assault were unable to put up any effective resistance, and were quickly gunned down by John's squad.
"I thought Eclipse was supposed to specialize in advanced tactics and technology." Jack said with a snort as she hurled the twitching Atlas off the building with biotic fueled strength.
"They are."John answered as he slapped in a fresh thermal clip. "It's just that we're the best in the galaxy. Even Eclipse mercs don't have the technical chops to prepare for us."
"I knew I loved you for your humility." Tali joked.
John bowed. "As you say, Black Hand."
"Black Hand?" Jack asked.
"Apparently my nickname on the fleet." Tali explained.
"Huh. Always figured it would be 'Wonder Virgin' or 'Princess-'"
"Jack." John quietly said, but was so layered with venom that Jack clacked her mouth shut so fast Tali wondered if she had chipped a tooth.
"Right. Not in front of the boyfriend." Jack muttered as they moved off again.
"He's a little high strung right now." Tali whispered to Jack, "I don't mind the ribbing too much."
"No fucking shit." Jack muttered.
"He's also tapped into your comm beads." John whispered in their ears, and the two women laughed.
They made their way to an unfinished section of the building, and as they made their way onto the girders the door behind them slammed shut.
"Wow, a trap." Jack drawled. "Ten creds says they have a barricade on the other side and some sort of gunship waiting to circle around the side of that building."
"No bet. Jack, take the barricade." John ordered, "Tali, when the gunship shows up hack the shields and I'll drop it with a missile."
The mercs were surely patting themselves on the back for their own cleverness, right up until Jack literally flew across the gap separating the mercs barricade from the bare girders, launching biotic spheres of destruction as she descended.
"Get the gun ship in here!" The sergeant screamed as Jack ripped the captain's arms off and proceeded to beat his subordinates to death with them.
The Eclipse gunship roared around the building, but just as it came in range it's shields suddenly failed, and a rocket to its port engines sent it careening down six stories.
The mercs managed to get away from Jack, only to have the door in front of them slam shut and seal itself. They mounted a desperate defense, but now John's squad had the cover. When the last merc was cut down, Tali opened the door and hacked the final elevator control panel.
"Nassanna has to be in the executive suit." Tali said.
"Then that's where Thane is." John agreed.
When the elevator doors opened, they found Nassanna and two guards hiding behind a propped up desk.
"Goddess damn you Shepard!" Nassanna howled, blindly firing a pistol in the general direction of the elevator "If it wasn't for you I could have held off that damned assassin."
As she spoke, a silent shape dropped to the floor behind her. It slide across the floor behind the first merc, snapping his neck without a sound. The next merc met his end when a blade appeared through his chest, and he dropped with a gurgle. Nassanna had time to whirl as she was neatly disarmed; her head cradled by the drell as he flowed past the slumping corpse of her bodyguard.
"O Huntress, guide this lost one to your endless domain that they may find peace." The drell whispered as he swiftly snapped Nassanna's neck.
He stood, bowing his head and pressing the palms of his hands together as he let Nassanna's lifeless form drop.
"O Shepard, give the sinful your peace as you guide them in fields of plenty. May your gentle hands caress in the darkness of this night."
"Well I don't know about gentle hands, but I've given a few sinful people peace tonight." John growled, folding his arms as a dark expression came over his face.
The drell did not look up. "I was not referring to you."
"I think Nassanna might need more than one prayer fish lips." Jack snarked.
"I was not referring to the asari either, I have already said my prayers for her. I pray for all of my targets before I move." The drell answered. "Please, give me a moment."
"The who are you praying for?" Tali asked before she could stop herself.
"Myself." The drell stated without looking.
John's face lightened, a shocked expression coming over his face. "We'll wait."
"Thank you." The drell stood for a few moments longer, silently swaying.
When he looked up, he blinked twice and nodded. "You are Commander Shepard."
"I am. This is Jack, and Tali'Zorah." John answered, gesturing to his companions.
"They are known to me. As I am to you." Thane answered nodding. "I accept your offer. The Seeder spoke to me before I set out that I would find a new growth to guide my path. "
"But we haven't even told you why you are here!" Tali exclaimed.
Thane shrugged. "Your reasons are of no consequence. If the Seeder wills me to join you, join you I shall. The Mother of All will gather me into her arms in her own good time."
"We're going after the Collectors. They're working for the Reapers. The mission is pure suicide. You still want in?"John asked.
"If the mission is suicide, then it will be most equitable to my needs." Thane answered, his nictating membrane flickering over his eyes. "If you are fighting the Collectors, then the Seeder has sown well for me. Your cause is just."
"Wait, not even I was in just like that." Jack interjected, "I'm only in this so I can get revenge on Cerberus. You got a death wish or something?"
"Yes." Thane replied with a node. "I am already terminally ill, and I wish to die in service to my debt." He turned his black gaze to John. "Do not fear. My infirmity is not catching, as an evaluation by your physician should prove. Nor will it impact my performance for another year. I assume you will lead me to the Shepard's embrace long before then."
"You weren't talking about me when you spoke to those salarians." John observed.
"I was. The Seeder said he had planted a harvest for me, and that I would be lead by the Shepard of the Lost. That one who was lost would lead me to my rich reward, and that I would let him grow upon his path in turn."
John stumbled back as if struck by a physical blow, his face paling.
"Well, let's get back to the ship then." Tali quickly said, "We've got to find that asari justicar tomorrow."
"A wise plan." Thane nodded in agreement.
"And I thought Shepard was weird about religion." Jack muttered, "All this loony is missing is a rosary."
As they walked to the elevator, Thane drew out a chain of multi-colored beads and began to run his fingers over then, silently mouthing prayers. Jack slapped her hand onto her forehead and groaned. Tali watched as Thane's fingers quickly worked their way around the chain, and started again. She glanced at John, who was staring off into nothing with a fixed neutral expression on his face, though a twitching near his left eye told Tali he was under a great deal of stress.
"Oh Ancestor's, please don't let him break again." Tali whispered, "I don't know how to pick him back up."
Unna'Karis: That sounds more like Saint Krios of legend.
Tali'Zorah: Be careful, he did not live up to the legends that surround him. The truth was that he was just as deeply troubled of a man as John. He was a good man, but he was not the flawless legend that has been passed down to you.
Unna'Karis: I am starting to think that every person aboard the Normandy was not who history remembers.
Tali'Zorah: Then you are finally beginning to hear what I am telling you.
Authors Note:
Right. So, a few things. First off, I've started my student teaching (YAY!) so the demands on my time will be more then what they were during December when I posted a ton of chapters. However, I think I will still be updating far more regularly then I was last semester, so I will still promise at minimum one chapter every week (to be posted whenever it's done).
Second, if you have a problem with religion, now is going to be a good time to stop reading. Thane is the most spiritual person by far in the ME Canon, and he's going to be very important to the plot from here on out specifically because of that. If I haven't made it painfully obvious by now, this fic is not going to descend into religious bashing of any form, nor is it going to state that any religion is superior. I am going to explore the religions of many species, especially in ME3 as it relates to Tali.
I've tried to allude to this before, but I am going to come out and say it now: The final chapter of Tali's journey is going to be about the struggle between the dark gods that are the reapers, and the faith of those who oppose them, especially Tali and Shepard. One big thing I am going to play around with is indoctrination, which never has an explanation in the games for exactly how it actually works. My line is that it is "spiritual" in nature, and the reapers have more or less religious motivations for their "conversion" process. Tali and Shepard's struggle with faith is going to be what ultimately decides the fate of the galaxy, which leads me to my last point...
I have written an ending for this fic. It is NOT cannon. It incorporates some fan theories with the possible cannon endings, but it will not be something that can actually take place in the games and it is uniquely my own. Why? Because the endings in the games not only don't fit my vision for this fic, the cannon endings were ! #$ing stupid. I hate the endings. I hate the clip show. I hate the magical space lasers. I REALLY hate the "WTF is this" jungle planet that makes no sense. Some of the elements of the ending will still be present, and I will not say if Shepard lives or dies on the citadel because I haven't made my mind up about that yet. This fic will however, continue for a good while AFTER the crucible, and will include how Tali has her children, the rebuilding of Rannoch and the galaxy, and several conflicts that come about as part of the fallout from the Reaper War.
And before you ask, yes, I will finish this. It's looking longer and longer every time I update my outline, but it's going to be a fun ride for me and I hope you come along. Whew, that was lengthy! As always, thanks for reading and reviewing.