Sihra, Melara, Dae, EDI, and the Pio chassis joined the others in the prefab where the anchor was being held, the rest remaining outside to avoid overcrowding. Irie almost immediately dropped into discussion with the Pio, she and Red demonstrating what they had done to try and fine-tune the anchor to Ashley's reality.
As they talked, Liara brought Mel, Dae, and Sihra up to speed, with Ashley lingering nearby. Ash knew everything they were doing was in good part to help get her home, but she felt like a bit of a fifth wheel. Other than examining records to make sure they tuned in to the right reality she had little to offer in the way of help.
"We are ready to try again," Irie said, remarkably quickly. The others looked toward her.
"Are you certain?"
"We are confident that we can tune the anchor to the needed volume," Pio said calmly. "Our kind was developed not only as an interface between the gavoom and the brasa but also for several other functions, including activating and directing the Folds properly. It would be easier with known coordinates, however the atomic scans that were done should allow us to match vibrational frequencies. It will take slightly longer than it would otherwise."
"How much longer?" Mel asked.
"With already provided coordinates we could open an accurate Fold within .0002 milliseconds," Pio said. "Using the atomic scans instead, it will take precisely 7.93 milliseconds."
"Gosh, I don't know if I can wait that long," Ashley said with an astonished grin.
"We will test it first, of course," Irie said. "We will open the micro-fold as we did before, same procedure. We can receive data and send a signal through if we find an appropriate link."
"You mean, I can talk to home?" Ashley said, already activating her omni-tool. "I can give you my Liara's omni-tool information. You should be able to hit her directly."
"There will be a time delay," Pio said. "It would take far more energy than is provided in these pylons to return you to the same moment which you departed."
Ashley looked at him. "What? How long of a time delay?"
"I should be able to assess once the Fold is open, but it should not be significant. A few weeks at most."
"Shit. Are you sure?"
"Unfortunately, yes. We are operating under less than ideal conditions."
"A few weeks isn't that bad, Ashley," Daenys said.
"It is when you consider the state of things when I left," Ashley replied. "For good or bad, a 'few weeks' after I left will either see my galaxy completely eradicated if Osco won, or the fight long over."
Liara put her hand on Ashley's shoulder. "You are afraid if Osco won, that you being there may have made a difference."
"Don't," Melara said, shaking her head. "Thinking that way will tear you apart in the end. Have faith in your cousin, your captain. I don't know them but I do know their counterparts, and if your crew are anything like them, they've kicked Osco's ass into oblivion."
"That…thank you, Mel," Sam said, drawing the asari's attention. Mel smiled and nodded.
"Yeah. Fretting about it isn't going to change anything now," Ashley replied. "I just hope I have somewhere to go home to."
"As do we," Irie said. "From what we have heard about your 'Doc', we could really use her help on this. And I am not just saying that because she is my father."
"My home's in just as much danger if yours collapses because of dark energy," Ashley nodded. "Believe me, Doc will do anything she can to help, as will the captain."
"That is what we are counting on. All right, we are ready I think. Mama, same plan as before. I will open a micro-fold to the proper coordinates while you secure the rest of the anchor with a barrier. Sam, you are back-up."
They took their positions. Ashley folded her arms to keep her hands from shaking as she joined Red over at the console. Liara secured the anchor, Sihra joining the guards covering the opening. In the inch of free space left, a tiny black dot appeared as the micro-fold was opened.
"Verified," Pio said. "Time differential suggests sixteen standard days after your departure."
"Sixteen days…that's not bad. I can deal with that," Ashley said.
"I'm going to find an extranet feed first," Red said, fingers flying. "Just to verify we've likely got the right place before we go pinging random Liaras. Got it, pulling intel now."
Ashley's eyes scanned the scrolling information intently, before she suddenly pointed. "There, stop there. Yes! This is talking about the bio-attack on San Francisco. I think we've got the right place. Can we get into Alliance secure servers using my clearance code?"
"So long as they haven't yet wiped your codes as MIA."
"I'm counting on that. If I'm listed as MIA and get flagged then it's another clue we got the right universe."
"I get ya. Get ready to send it," Red said, adjusting her target as Ashley set up her omni-tool.
"Ready."
"Go for it."
Ashley sent over her secure code, and the Alliance logo appeared before it suddenly flashed red, a message scrolling informing her that her ident and codes had been suspended due to being reported MIA.
Then, Red blinked. "We have an incoming signal. Seems you set off more than Alliance alarms," she said.
"That's Liara's ident," Ashley said. "I'm answering."
A breath later, Liara heard her own voice fill the air as Ashley opened the communication.
{This is Captain Liara T'soni of Special Tactics and Recon. You have attempted to access a flagged Alliance account for an MIA N7 commander. Identify yourself immediately.}
"Monitoring my clearance, Cap?" Ashley said with a grin.
{Ashley? Thank the Goddess. Yes. It was our hope if you found some way back that you might attempt to access Alliance records to determine how much time had passed. Forgive me, but I must verify that you are you. Can we go to visual?}
She looked at Red and Irie, the latter of whom nodded. "We can get full projection."
"I'm not exactly back, Captain- not yet. I'm switching you to full projection now," Ashley said. "Hold on to your blue butt, this is going to be a bit surreal."
She switched the transmission over to the main console and the holographic projectors lit up. In the middle of the room, a soft light image of Ashley's Liara appeared.
"It certainly appears to be you," Liara said as she saw Ashley standing by Red. Behind her, out of her line of sight, the native Liara nodded to Sam, who took over the biotic barrier.
"You have no idea how good it is to see you, Captain," Ashley said.
"It is very good to see you as well," Liara said. "We had hoped you survived but we had no way of re-establishing the link to the proper volume to retrieve you. You said you are 'not back yet'. Are you transmitting through a Fold?"
"We are. Take a look to your right, Captain. Someone wants to meet you."
The holographic Liara looked to the right. To her credit, her brows only lifted slightly as she caught sight of her older self, standing there a few feet away.
"Hello, Captain," native Liara said.
"This is…as was said, a bit surreal," holographic Liara replied, then caught sight of Sam over Liara's shoulder. "Your cousin as well?"
"Not…exactly," Ashley replied. "Actually, in this volume, she's my several times great-granddaughter."
"From what we can determine," native Liara said as Ashley moved over to stand beside her, "our two volumes are many centuries out of sync. You should be about one hundred and six?"
"One hundred and seven," Liara replied. "You?"
"I am four hundred and thirty one."
"Over three centuries departed," the captain said.
"Yeah, which presents its own problems," Ashley said.
The holographs eyes shifted to her. "I do not understand. Are you not able to return home?"
"I am, now that we're sure we've pinpointed where home is," Ashley said. "However, there's one big problem and a few smaller ones. I'm guessing you managed to defeat Osco?"
"Osco is dead," came the reply. "We were able to stop her at Permiatic though it came at a high cost. The Aswa was lost…as were Jura and Helen."
Ashley looked stricken, though she schooled it well. "I'm…I'm so sorry to hear that. Jura and Helen…damn it."
"What about the doctor?" native Liara asked. "She…survived?"
"She was badly injured but yes, she has recovered and is alive," the other one replied.
"Good, that's good," Ashley replied. "We badly need her help."
"You mentioned a 'big problem?' Is Osco an issue there as well?"
"Our Osco died centuries ago," Liara told her counterpart. Briefly, sticking only to the barest and most essential facts, she outlined the Reaper War and the problem they faced now. "We are now under threat from not only the brasa and possibly the Senate, but also from the saturation of biotic energy which resulted in our quarantine to begin with. We need to find a way to stop or reverse this damage before criticality is reached, otherwise not only our own volume will be destroyed, but potentially millions of others."
"Including ours," Ashley said. "I'm told sending ships or troops back and forth between the volumes is impossible…something about things can't exist in a separate volume where they already exist, or something. Doc probably would get it. But information, digital resources, those can be transmitted."
"We will do whatever we can to help," the other Liara said confidently. "I can put you in contact with our best minds and strategists."
"That includes the Doc, right?" Ashley replied. Liara looked at her.
"I have no doubt Merah will want to help as much as possible," she said. "But she is a geneticist, Ashley. Quantum physics, the study of dark energy and biotics, these things are outside of her area of expertise."
"I know, but she's the smartest person I know," Ashley replied. "And…not to get all weird or anything, but she seems to be pretty pivotal, not only at home but in other volumes as well, including this one."
Captain Liara looked at her counterpart for a moment. "I think I am sensing the other part of the problem," she said softly. "That asari that Del saved after Ashley was lost through the Fold-"
"I am that asari," Melara said, stepping into view and going over to join her mother. "She saved my life."
"Captain, this…this is my second eldest daughter, Melara," Liara said.
"We thought so," her alternate replied quietly. "Helen was able to tell us what 'Bába' meant. Shepard will be very happy to know you are all right. She was very worried about you. Your injuries seemed severe."
"They were," Melara said. "Without her, I would have died that day. I nearly did. I would like to have a chance to thank her, however-"
"However, the woman you knew as a father…she has long been gone."
Silence reigned a moment before Ashley nodded. "Now you see. Shepard's a hero here, Cap. A legend. More, her family buried her a long time ago. Seeing her again…"
"Saving both of our realities is far more important than emotional discomfort," native Liara said. "If necessary, communications can all go through you or another intermediary."
"I will leave that up to her, and the same decision is in your hands on that side," the other Liara said. "If you and your family find it too painful to speak with my Del, communications can be received by those more neutral."
"For now, we need to get Ashley back to your volume," Melara said. "Clearly there is a working anchor on your end or we never would have gotten this transmission through- however we do not know where it is."
"I can trace the transmission signal and find it," alternate Liara said, lighting her omni-tool. "It could take some time, if the anchor is in a remote or hostile location- but we will find it. We will get you back home, Ashley."
"Thank you, Captain. That means a lot."
"With luck, you will be back in time for Sam's wedding."
She blinked. "Sam's getting married? Already?"
"They decided to move things forward in light of what happened," alternate Liara told her, then looked at the other Liara. "I have the signal locked. Until we find the anchor we will not be able to initiate contact on our end, however I will keep my omni-tool tuned to receive any communication with you. If your volume is anything like ours it takes a tremendous amount of energy to generate a Fold. I know you cannot leave yours open indefinitely."
"No, we cannot. We will open the Fold again and open communications in…six hours' time?" native Liara said, glancing at Irie, who nodded.
"Good," the captain said. "That will give me enough time to try and track down this anchor and get a location…and bring Del and Sam up to speed on what I have learned. I will start making some contacts to those I believe may be qualified to help on the problem of dark energy in your volume."
"We greatly appreciate anything you are able to do. Thank you Captain."
"We will speak to you soon. Ashley, I hope in your case it is face to face. T'Soni out."
The image faded and Irie closed the micro-fold. As the barrier switched back on, Sam let her oddly colored biotics die.
"All right, good news for once," Melara said. "Mama, are you going to be ok?"
"I will be fine," Liara said. "I know that while they may be the same person on an existential level, they are…not the same person. Keeping that in mind should make things easier. Regardless, getting Ashley home and finding a way through the dilemma we face takes priority over my personal feelings."
"If you like, Pio and I can handle communications between their Shepard and us," EDI said. "As you said, you do not need to subject yourselves to such painful emotional stimulus."
"I appreciate the offer, EDI, but I doubt I shall take you up on it," Liara said.
"I won't either," Melara said. "I want to tell her thank you as much in person as I can-"
She was interrupted as her omni-tool suddenly lit up. Lifting it, she accessed the communication with a frown. "What…it's from Eír?"
Liara's flashed almost the same moment, and she too accessed it. As the two read the message, they both paled.
"Oh…by the Goddess!"
"What? What is it?" Irie, alarmed, hurried over.
Mel's jaw had gone tight. "The Fleets are returning from dark space," she said in a low, shaky voice. "Eír's ship encountered the brasa on the way here. They are…they are bringing a superweapon capable of destroying the entire galaxy if detonated in the core."
There was a general exclamation of alarm as the others gathered around Liara and Mel and their omni-tools.
"They can't do that!"
"Does Eír think we can stop them? If all our fleets attack-"
"She does not think we will be able to stop them," Liara said, her posture stiff. "Apparently they have given us a deadline. If we do not solve the problem of dark energy in the next two weeks, they will destroy the Milky Way before a cataclysmic event can cause a chain reaction and destroy our volume."
"Two weeks?" Ashley blanched. "We can't solve this in two weeks, even if we had the geniuses of a dozen volumes helping us out!"
An Alliance private entered the prefab but no one looked at her, too preoccupied with what they had just learned.
"We will have to arrange evacuations, get as many of our ships and people out into dark space as swiftly as possible," Melara said.
"We cannot possibly evacuate enough people to prevent extinction levels," Daenys said. "And where would they go?"
"According to Eír they found a link to the Andromeda galaxy," Liara said. "However, ships entering their quarantine zone will set off the Reapers. If they were not decimated it would at least trigger the next Cycle, to say nothing of potential hostilities of native Andromedan species-"
"Detrak!"
The entire group startled as Sihra suddenly snarled, tensing to leap. While she, too, had been preoccupied by the news some new smell was niggling at her, and within a few moments demanded her attention. When she looked up to figure out what was out of place, she noticed the new private that had entered was glowing strangely with some kind of energy field that looked like a human detrak overlaying an asari one. The smell of deception was thick.
As Sihra sprang to the attack, biotics were suddenly swelling through the room, a bubble expanding with incredible speed. It slammed into everyone, throwing the entire group back off their feet, or forcefully into the walls.
Melara hit the ground hard enough to bark her air out and send pain rippling through her healing wounds. Coughing, she shoved it all into the back of her mind, her soldier's reflexes demanding she act and act now.
Time had seemed to slow to glacial levels. She braced herself, drawing in a thin breath of air that seemed to take a millennium to expand her lungs again as she surged to her feet molecule by molecule. In front of her, she could see the Alliance private dissolve into Athena- a revelation that came as no surprise given the force of the biotic slam.
She saw the flash of light as barrier generator nearby, damaged by the same slam, shorted out. The blue shimmer around the anchor vanished. She had risen only two or three inches off the ground and as many forward, her legs still uncoiling with the intent to go lunging at Athena before she could do any more harm.
Athena's hand slammed into the side of the anchor almost the same moment the barrier snapped off. As it drew back Mel could see something had been attached to it but whatever it was, it was as flat and gloss and black as the anchor itself.
Recoiling from the slap, the hand shifted and flared blue as Athena's body rotated toward Melara.
Mel saw the biotics flare toward her and shifted her momentum in a desperate bid to avoid it. She felt her side pull and yank with hot licks as she twisted the muscles. She half fell onto her stomach, hands catching herself, as the biotics rippled away overhead, barely missing her.
It was clear the other asari hadn't really aimed, just sent the wave to buy more time. As Mel hit the ground she saw the archway fill with perfect black.
Whatever it was that Athena had slapped onto the anchor had opened a Fold.
Time removed with a rush of speed. The black appeared and Athena darted, vanishing into it. Mel's hand closed on a rifle one of the slammed guard's had dropped when he'd been hit as she leapt back to her feet and ran after her, disappearing through the Fold after her.
Liara and Daenys had been the closest to Melara. Like her daughter, Liara dodged the misaimed flare and followed her instincts. Seeing her child lunge into the Fold and vanish, Liara grit her teeth and ran toward the Fold as well, Daenys a breath behind her.
Liara was swallowed into the perfect black. Just before Dae hit it, the black vanished, and she ran through the empty archway. Immediately skidding to a halt she whipped around and gaped backward.
The Fold had closed. Athena, Liara, and Melara were gone.
