The atmosphere in the shuttle was tense as the turbulence jostled those inside. Between the borrowed armor that adhered to her body and the suffocating silence, to say that Niali was uncomfortable would have been a vast understatement. She could feel Kaidan staring at her as she fiddled with her gloves, but she refused to meet his gaze as Shepard and Liara stared off into the distance, both lost in their own respective thoughts.
She wanted to ask them what they were thinking but instead she sat back to squirm in her seat, throwing a hand out to brace herself against the nearest wall as the Kodiak pitched violently. In all of her years living in space, never before had she felt her stomach churn as much as it was doing during their descent to Thessia. All it did was remind her that she never should have volunteered to go along with them and she sighed audibly, earning herself a curious look from Shepard.
The commander was the first to break the silence and it was almost too loud in the confined interior. "What do you know about this artifact, Liara?" She asked, reaching overhead to hold on to the handlebar as her feet shifted with the rocking of the shuttle.
"These coordinates are for the Temple of Athame," she began, turning her attention away from the vid feed. There was a brief pause as her gaze became unfocused, but the solemn faraway look was gone as quickly as it had come. "My mother took me there once. For some reason, it has government funding."
Niali glanced up and furrowed her brow. "You mean you had no idea about the beacon?" The question was out before she could stop herself. Her mother had only glossed over the fall of Thessia and the beacon, but Niali knew that it had existed. It had been difficult for Liara to talk about her home world, even long after the Reapers had been pushed back into dark space. Eventually Niali had learned to stop asking, but now she was about to witness the destruction firsthand while Shepard charged in blindly, looking for an artifact that she knew nothing about.
"Beacon?" Jane and Liara exchanged uncertain looks and Niali finally stole a glance at Kaidan, his expression unreadable. Her eyes shifted away quickly and she swallowed down the lump in her throat. "What beacon?"
"I―" She wished she could loosen the chest plate on her armor to catch her breath and she licked at her lips nervously. Thankfully, the asari was spared from having to explain herself as Cortez interrupted.
"Approaching the LZ, Commander. Looks like the asari could use some help." Shepard nodded in understanding and punched the control to open the shuttle door, sliding her assault rifle from its holster in one fluid motion as Kaidan and Liara did the same. Realizing that she was expected to follow suit, Niali sent up a silent prayer before getting to her feet and drawing her own weapon with trembling hands. She was no marksman despite knowing her way around a gun and she had never once seen combat. If she didn't wind up dead, it would be nothing short of a miracle and she followed the other three out of the shuttle and into the fray.
Her boots slid over the rubble, but she managed to keep pace. The thundering of guns and the tremors from explosions made her grit her teeth hard enough that she feared they might crack. Her first instinct was to turn tail and run, but she kept close and turned her attention to the burning horizon as Shepard approached one of the other asari. Before the pair could exchange more than a handful of words, another explosion rocked her and Niali ducked, raising an arm to shield herself from flying debris as the barrier was blown apart. Shouts of alarm mixed with the wails of the wounded and dying and she blinked, trying to ignore the ringing in her ears. It was difficult to focus on anything other than the erratic pounding of her own heart in her chest, even as Kaidan and Liara sprang into action to help defend the breach.
The barrage of gunfire and the shrieks of the Reaper abominations made her skin crawl. All around her was pure pandemonium and while she knew that she needed to act ― to help ― it was impossible to make her body obey her silent commands. No amount of stories could have prepared her for what she saw and her attention shifted to the Reapers that rained down endlessly from the sky. They were far more massive than she had imagined them to be and Niali felt her breath catch in her throat as panic seized her. Even despite knowing the outcome of this brutal war, she was overcome with a sense of dread and hopelessness. Was that what her parents had felt while they fought tirelessly to save the galaxy? It made her chest ache and she wanted to double over, or curl up and weep. But someone was shouting her name and she turned abruptly to look at Kaidan.
There was something in his intense stare that made her snap out of her state of dissociation and refocus on the present. Was her face as colorless as it felt? The grip on her weapon was almost painful and she exhaled the breath she had been holding while trying to steady her trembling shoulders. "You alright?" He seemed to know the answer before even asking the question and she shook her head.
"I never―" The asari choked on the words and he pursed his lips.
"I know," was his only response. Without having time to register what those words truly meant, Niali was being coaxed forward as Shepard finished her discussion with the lieutenant. They were making a push to the next outpost and Niali shook her head.
"Commander, I don't think I can―" Her words were feeble and her voice wavered with each word, but Kaidan settled a hand on her shoulder as Shepard turned away from her with a look of mild annoyance.
"Stay by me. Just watch my back," his touch had been light, even through her armor, and she fixed him with a wide-eyed stare before nodding mutely. She would do her best and with another prayer to the goddess, she trudged along behind Kaidan.
Her aim was true enough to help, though her overall contribution was minimal. Kaidan did most of the heavy lifting for her and with each new wave that met them, she became more focused. The tremors in her hands all but faded and she responded to each command from Shepard with less hesitation. When the commander said to take cover, she dove behind the nearest piece of rubble. When Shepard ordered them to push forward, Niali pushed forward on the heels of Major Alenko; everything he did was calculated and precise and not once did he falter. The same could be said for Shepard and Liara, and Niali had to remind herself that they were all three grizzled veterans and well-acquainted with the dangers of combat. She had lost count of the number of times they had defied death itself and Niali watched them move in almost perfect synchronization while she peered out from behind the remnants of what had once been a building.
Her awe soon gave way to horror as a horde of husks crawled up from the depths of the debris, making for Kaidan and Liara as they engaged several marauders at once. Her shouts of warning were drowned out by the thunder of gunfire and she sucked in a breath from between her teeth. Pushing herself to her feet with a sudden surge of adrenaline, she darted out from behind cover and aimed down sights. Remember the recoil. Don't overcompensate, she mused to herself as she pressed down on the trigger, firing into the cluster of mutated bodies. A few of them turned to double back towards the source of the gunfire and she backed up, turning her attention to them as Liara spun around to finish off the ones converging on Kaidan and herself. It only took a few moments for them to turn into a pile of twitching corpses and Niali doubled over to suck in several deep breaths of relief.
The look of gratitude Liara gave her was thin and Kaidan was pulling her upright again as Shepard rushed forward, nearly in range of the outpost. "Nice shooting," he muttered under his breath, and Niali released a nervous laugh as she jogged alongside him, her unsteady legs surprising her as they managed to keep her upright. Scrambling over more rubble, she looked up as a Reaper passed overhead.
"What the―" She stumbled over her own two feet and nearly slid back down the slope they'd been climbing, her only saving grace being the hand that wrapped around her forearm to catch her. His firm grip remained as he dragged her towards the asari snipers. Like everything else on Thessia, Outpost Tykis had also been decimated and Niali could feel that hopelessness returning as she watched Jane's frustration mounting. The beacon at the temple was a key component in ending this war, but they needed help to reach it and the asari were reluctant to budge. War required sacrifice and with a single sweeping glance, all Niali saw was needless sacrifice. She couldn't blame her people for wanting to cling to what little chance of self-preservation they had left. She would have done the same in their shoes and she reached up to touch a gash along her cheek with a wince. She wasn't even sure where it had come from and she could feel Kaidan watching her again. "What?"
"You're bleeding," he commented.
"I didn't realize..." She looked down at the blood on the fingertips of her gloves. "I suppose if that's what worst that happens to me, I should count myself lucky." The blast of another gun had her jumping and she looked up once more, focusing on the ricochet of each rapidly fired round. It was never-ending and chunks of rubble showered down from a round that made a connection just above their heads. Kaidan crouched and she followed, chewing on the inside of her cheek as Shepard convinced the asari to call in the few gunships that remained operational. Expecting to see a modest fleet at the very least, Niali was surprised that only two gunships appeared overhead, targeting the Reaper forces on the ground that blocked their path.
Within minutes, one of the ships was spiraling downward, spouting a thick plume of fire and smoke. The impact made the ground shudder and her muscles tensed. Those sounds ― those images ― were going to haunt her for an eternity. There was so much death...
"Time to move," Kaidan was nudging her with his elbow and she slipped out behind him to make their final bloody push to the temple and the scientists.
Duck, dodge, shoot, run... The pattern repeated itself for what felt like hours before they stumbled to the entrance of the temple, all four of them looking worse for wear but otherwise unharmed. Alone now and without reinforcements, Liara made quick work of overriding the encryption and her pronouncement that military grade security was unusual for such a place had both Kaidan and Jane eyeing Niali warily. The asari met their gaze with a grimace, but said nothing as they proceeded inside.
They were greeted with nothing more than eerie silence, even as Liara called out. It just felt wrong and she suppressed a shudder as they split apart to wander through the artifacts. There was a beacon there, somewhere. But Niali had never been told just how the beacon had been accessed. She was as clueless as the rest of them. It was a guessing game ― a puzzle ― and she had never been very good at solving either. She dealt with facts and numbers, all things that could be backed up by evidence and absolute proof. The method of trial and error could be catastrophic and she paused as she neared the statue of the Goddess Athame. "I... think I found the scientists," her quiet voice carried in the empty temple and she breathed out slowly through her nose. "They look... murdered," the observation was met with an uncomfortable silence and Jane took a deep breath of what could have been interpreted as defeat before turning to the statue.
Niali swore she could feel the air itself shift as the woman extended her hand slowly, her eyes closing as if answering to a call that no one else could hear. Kaidan continued to wander through the artifacts, but Liara stood nearby, watching the commander curiously. Dropping her hand suddenly, Shepard opened her eyes and took a small step back before turning to study both asari. "There's a Prothean beacon here," she announced, almost reluctantly.
"Are you sure?" Liara still sounded skeptical, but Jane gave a solemn nod. "I find it hard to believe that my people would keep something like this a secret."
"Asari are pretty advanced in comparison to other races," Niali spoke up. "My mother... My mother said that having the beacon may have been the reason why."
"Your mother? How does she―"
"We can discuss that later," Shepard said, shaking her head as she stepped away from the statue of the goddess. "We need to activate this beacon." But Liara was still narrowing her eyes suspiciously at Niali and the younger asari shuddered. She had never known her mother to look quite like that and after a moment, she was forced to look away. She would leave the activation discussion to her parents and she slipped off to wander around the temple, trying to process the events that had transpired that lead them there. To witness so much death firsthand was disorienting and she struggled against the urge to mourn for asari that she had never met. It was her hope that they found peace in the embrace of the goddess, but even that hope felt hollow.
As Jane and Liara moved around the temple, Niali did her best to skirt around them and stay out of their way. She was reluctant to touch anything for fear that it might somehow alter the course of events. Just being there was already bad enough and when the final data stream was activated, she watched as Athame crumbled to give way to the shimmering beacon. Kaidan materialized from somewhere in the shadows behind her and Niali glanced over at him as Jane approached the beacon once more, triggering something within the Prothean relic.
"What's that?" Kaidan murmured.
"Not sure... a Prothean memory, I think. My mother never liked to talk much about what happened here," Niali said quietly. "Now I can understand why."
"It's like this everywhere," Kaidan told her. "Earth, Palaven... Every planet ― every home world ― is burning and the Reapers just keep coming."
"Hearing the stories and watching the footage is nothing like the real thing," she said with a quiet sigh. "Does this mean that you believe me now?"
She noticed the corner of his lips twitch as he focused his attention on Shepard while she questioned the Prothean for information. "The jury's still out but you've built a pretty convincing case so far."
"They're going to have questions now," she said, sighing as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, frowning. "Convincing them is going to be a lot more work."
"You might be surprised," he responded with a shrug of a single shoulder. Niali gave a quiet snort under her breath and turned her attention towards the entrance of the temple as the Prothean relic suddenly activated it's security protocol and retreated, leaving the four of them to shield their eyes at the sudden flash of bright white light. A silhouette cut through the blinding light and as it faded, Niali found herself rapidly blinking away the bursts of color to clear her vision.
"Is that...?"
"Kai Leng," Kaidan confirmed as he raised his weapon along with Shepard and Liara.
"You," Shepard's voice dripped with contempt and Niali felt a shiver snake down her spine, causing her to grip her own weapon with more stability. The tension was palpable and it made her chest tighten as she fought the urge to squirm on the spot.
"And the Illusive Man," Kaidan added under his breath as a hologram flickered to life before Shepard.
"That's the Illusive Man? He always sounded a lot more..." Terrifying. But he really was just a man ― a deranged man. History had depicted him as a monster and something much larger than life, but that was so far from the truth that Niali almost wanted to laugh.
Shepard's sordid history with Cerberus was no secret, but it was a necessary evil. Stopping the Collectors had been just another hurdle to overcome in an effort to stop the Reapers. A suicide mission through the Omega 4 relay and back seemed like child's play compared to what they were undertaking now, but a small part of the asari wished she had been there to experience that excitement too. Reliving history ― literally ― was not something that just happened to come about often. But she would have fared worse there than she was now.
Before she could refocus and process the exchange between Jane and the Illusive Man, Kaidan was rushing forward and Niali watched his body collide with Liara as she was effortlessly tossed aside. They fell in a heap and tangle of limbs, both too stunned to quickly pull themselves and aid Shepard. Rather than bring attention to herself, Niali ducked for cover and clutched her gun to her heaving breast, listening as Kai Leng gave the command to target the temple supports. "Oh, fuck..." The whistle of the missiles were shrill and she looked up as they struck, causing the entire temple to shudder ominously beneath her. The structure groaned loudly ― a sound that reverberated in her very bones ― as pieces began to crumble and fall away.
She barely had a moment to find her footing before the floor was breaking apart beneath her boots and she sprinted forward, leaping to safety and scrambling on all fours as her rifle went skidding to the side and sliding down into the gaping hole beneath them. Catching her breath, she frantically searched the ruined temple for the others and was only met with a heavy cloud of settling dust. "Kaidan?" Her call was met with a distant, "Over here!" But Liara and Shepard were nowhere to be found. Of course they survived, at least... they had survived in the version of the tale that didn't include her and she staggered to her feet.
"Shepard!" The cry of alarm had her spinning around fast enough to twist her ankle and she winced, but watched as the asari dove for the woman, catching her hand as her grasp began to slip. There had been no exaggeration when her mother had told her that they had had a good number of 'close calls'. It really was a wonder how any of them had survived other than by pure dumb luck and she braced a hand against her knee as she doubled over.
Not wasting a single beat, Shepard was rushing after the retreating gunship and her shots rang hollow and empty as she fired into the air. Just like that, it was over and Niali straightened up as Kaidan appeared at her side, appraising her for any obvious wounds. She shook her head and placed a hand on his bicep to steady herself as her attention returned to the skyline beyond Shepard. A voice broke through their comm and Niali gripped Kaidan's arm as Jane answered, though it was lost in the bedlam. The connection wasn't stable enough to carry Shepard's response and Niali's breath left her in a harsh exhale as the asari's final screams and pleas for salvation echoed in her head.
"Niali, we need to go..." Kaidan was shaking her gently and Niali gave a nod in understanding, though it took a gentle shove to get her moving as Thessia burned behind them.