Mass Effect Abridged

Chapter Thirty Seven: Death Of A Matriarch

Having no interest in a hand to hand battle, especially after seeing what Matriarch Benezia had done to both Liara and Presley's entire A Team, Commander Shepard raised her pistol and started shooting as the Asari ran toward her. However, Benezia was incredibly fast, and Shepard only got two shots off before she was on her. The Asari had easily avoided her shots, and then gave Shepard a chop to the wrist which sent the pistol flying out of her hands. Benezia then spun around and kicked her in the chest so hard that she was sent sliding across the floor once she landed.

"Holy crap." Shepard gasped after coming to a stop against the wall.

"Holy crap is right, human." Benezia replied as she cracked her knuckles. "Not only are you about to die at my hands, but then Saren will find the Conduit, and all will rejoice when the Reapers return - of course you won't - since you're about to die - but, you know."

Shepard had been pulling herself to her feet during this little rant, but hadn't quite made it before the Asari rushed forward. Benezia let out a fierce battle cry as she punched with all of her strength, but the dazed Shepard lost her grip on the wall, causing her to fall down at the last second as the Asari's fist rammed into the electrical junction box that she had been supporting herself with instead.

Benezia screamed as the crackling blue light began to flow up and down her body for several seconds, and then the power surge ended as she was thrown back across the room. She hit the floor hard, and slid to a stop against the tank that she had been viewing when they walked into the room, giving Shepard the time she needed to get to her feet. Benezia was also starting to get up, but her body was smoldering, and she had just gotten up to her knees when Shepard was able to retrieve her pistol.

"Don't move!" She ordered as she aimed at the Asari. "As I said, you're under arrest, now get back down and put your hands behind your head!"

"It's gone." Benezia replied as she shook her head. "It's gone - that music - Shepard, that music is gone!"

Shepard kept the pistol aimed at Benezia as she got to her feet, and she was about to shoot her for not following orders, but suddenly the Asari seemed different. Her eyes had softened, and she no longer resembled someone from Heaven's Gate who wanted to drink the Kool-Aid.

"What are you talking about, Benezia?" Shepard asked. "What music?"

"You must listen to me." The Asari replied urgently. "Saren has this ship - he calls is Sovereign - this thing has the best sound system to ever exist, and when he cranks the sub-woofer, everyone who hears Sovereign's beat starts to do what Saren tells them. It's like, the longer you listen, the more sense he makes - like when you do Extacy at a Sting concert - it shouldn't make sense, but it does!"

Shepard no longer felt threatened by the Asari, so she holstered her pistol, and slowly started walking toward her. At first she thought it was some kind of a trick as Benezia pulled herself to her feet, but her behavior was so radically different now that it just had to be genuine. Well, this would certainly make it easier to get information.

"Where did he get this ship?" She continued. "What is Saren planning, and more importantly, where is he?"

"I'll tell you everything." The Asari replied. "First, the most important thing that you absolutely must remember is-

"I'll save you, Shepard!" Wrex interrupted as he suddenly shoved Shepard out of the way. "Eat buckshot, crack-baby!"

He then fired his shotgun, hitting Benezia in the chest and throwing her backwards so hard that she put cracks across the tank where the strange insectoid creature from before was kept. The Asari's eyes rolled into the back of her head as she slid to the floor, and then her blood pooled around her after she fell on her face.

"Good job, Wrex." Presley said proudly as he and the others joined them. "Give him a biscuit."

Garrus was in the middle of putting his clothes back on, but he stopped to reach into his pocket and take out a dog-treat, which he tossed, and the Krogan caught it in the air with his mouth.

"Mmmm - peanut butter." Wrex said to himself as he ate it.

"Are you guys fucking kidding me?" Shepard demanded once her mind was able to process what had just happened. "She was better! She was - she was about to tell me where Saren was going! We might have actually gained an advantage on this stupid God damn mission, but no, we don't want that, now do we?!"

The Krogan just stood there for a second, and then the crumbs from his dog treat fell out of his mouth as he burst into tears before running out of the room.

"Great job, Shepard, now you made him cry." Presley said.

"Yeah, score one for the PMS Avenger." Kaiden added, resulting in a high-five from Garrus. "I mean, how cold and heartless can you be?"

Oh no, not this time, Shepard thought as they all glared at her. There was no way that they were going to turn this around on her, and she was about to give them a piece of her mind, when she stopped as she saw what was happening behind her. The creature in the large storage tank was no longer sleeping, but now standing up and looking at them. This thing was a lot bigger than the other insects that they had seen, and then all thoughts were stopped as it threw itself against the cracked glass, shattering it as the creature gained its freedom.

Presley and the others dove for cover as the shaking of the ground from the creature's landing made her fall onto her rear, and then a long tentacle shot out of its back. Well, she had certainly seen enough Anime to know that this was not a good thing, but instead of coming after her, the tentacle shot down until it broke it stabbed its way into Benezia's back. It moved around for a second as more and more of the tentacle was put in, and then Shepard gasped as the dead Asari began to move.

"Please, no violence." Benezia said as she stood up. "I am the last of my kind, and ask a peaceful resolution."

Benezia's arms hung limp and her head was tilted to the side, making it take Shepard a few seconds to realize that this creature was using the dead Asari as some kind of ventriloquist dummy.

"Who are you?" Shepard finally asked as she stood up. "What do you want?"

"I am Queen of the Rachni." Benezia's dead lips said. "I cannot risk death in a confrontation with you - as low as the probability of that is - so I am willing to take my children and leave, if one condition is met."

"What condition?" Liara asked. "Is your life and freedom not enough?"

The creature made a low growling sound, and then its compound insectoid eyes passed over each of them. Benezia's body just kind of hung limp during this process, but then it reanimated again once the Queen's attention was refocused on Shepard. Then it started to say something, but stopped and did a kind of stumbling walk over to Liara, where it palm struck her in the forehead hard enough to make her fall down.

"Be healed." The dead Asari spoke as her body walked back to Shepard. "My life and freedom are appreciated, certainly. However, for life to continue, I must mate furiously and mercilessly with a member of another sentient species. The process will be long and degrading, while probably leaving my victim scarred for life. So, eenie, meeny, miney, you."

Suddenly another tentacle shot out of the Queen's back, and Shepard screamed as it came flying toward her, but then it kept going, and wrapped itself around Presley's ankles. The man gasped in surprise as he was pulled off his feet, and then he screamed while clawing at the floor to stop himself as he was dragged toward the Queen. Now, Shepard could've probably stopped this with her people and weapons, but instead she took out her phone and started to record video as the others stared at what was happening.

"It's payback time, Presley." Shepard said to herself as she kept recording. "Let's see how you like having a sex video uploaded to the net."

The others continued to stare as Presley's clothes were thrown around the room, with his pants landing on Liara's head while Garrus covered Kaiden's eyes. Their eyes all widened as Presley's screams continued, and then Wrex walked back into the room just in time to take in the vision before fainting.

About an hour later.

Everyone had to move out of the way to avoid the splash from Presley's landing as he was thrown to the floor, and the creature sighed happily as it casually walked out of the room. As for him, he was laying there naked, and his whole body was covered with green insect yuck. Shepard meanwhile had finished recording, so she pressed the button to upload the video, and it was done a few seconds later. It sucked what happened to him, but now Presley would know the kind of pain and humiliation that she felt when all of her videos had been posted.

"Well, it looks like we fucked up a bit." Garrus said as Shepard put her phone away. "Benezia died before she could tell us where Saren went, but the good news is that we stopped her part in his plan, and saved Peak 15 - although I think we also just let one of the most dangerous creatures in the galaxy escape, but we're still alive, so yay for that."

"Let's just get out of here." Shepard replied. "I am so sick of this planet, so let's go back to the Normandy, and um - could one of you guys hose down Presley before you bring him back onboard?"

Admiral Hackett wasn't going to be very happy about all this, of course he was never happy about anything she did that didn't involve silk stockings and a riding crop, so she would just have to deal with that when it came up. For now, she was just happy that they didn't have to spend any more time on this frozen wasteland, and maybe now they could visit a more pleasant planet. So she walked out of the room so that the A Team could tend to Presley, and by the way, she was going to have a little talk with him about that once he woke up.