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For all the determination that had brought her into the communications room, Shepard couldn't seem to bring herself to answer the insistent beep of the incoming call. She didn't want to face the asari councilor. She didn't want to tell her they'd lost Thessia. She didn't want to have to have a conversation with someone who had withheld key information until it was too late and have to apologize for her own shortcomings.
But that kind of petty thinking wasn't going to help anyone, she told herself. The asari were the asari—and the secrets they had been hiding in that temple were big ones. It made sense that they would only want to let those secrets out under the greatest possible provocation.
With an effort, Shepard pushed herself off the wall and approached the comm stand, hitting the button that would accept the asari councilor's hologram. She stood waiting while it appeared, wavery and crackling with static. They still weren't far enough from Thessia to be out of Reaper interference with the comms.
The asari councilor frowned. "Commander Shepard? Is that you?"
Shepard wanted to speak, she really did, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out.
"Commander?" the councilor asked again.
"Councilor," Shepard began, but her voice was husky and cracked with emotion. She cleared her throat. "Councilor, the mission …" She couldn't go on.
"We've lost all contact with Thessia, Commander! The planet has gone dark." There was fear in the councilor's voice, fear and a terrible grief, as well as the sharpness of her usual impatience. "How soon will the Crucible be ready to deploy?" she demanded.
Ready to deploy? Shepard stared at her in shock before remembering that the councilor had no way of knowing how completely the mission had failed. "I … I wish the news was better. We didn't get the information."
"What happened?"
Oh, it stung to have to admit the truth to this woman who had never truly trusted her anyway. "Cerberus was there. We were … We were defeated. We don't know how to finish the Crucible."
"Goddess." The councilor buried her face in her hands. "I don't know what to say." She looked up at Shepard. "What was the situation on Thessia?"
"Deteriorating fast. The Reapers are there in strength."
The councilor took that blow staunchly, her brow furrowing as she considered what to do next. "You'll excuse me, Commander. There are … preparations to make … continuity of civilization to consider. I … I never thought this day would come."
"None of us did. I'm …" But the councilor cut off the call before Shepard could finish the apology. And for the best—she was very afraid it wouldn't have sounded sincere. Earth, Palaven, the homeworlds of the elcor and the volus, countless worlds and colonies under attack, for months now, and the asari stalled and waited and delayed and mouthed platitudes at all the other races, and only now, when it was too late and Thessia was bowing under the weight of the Reaper attack, now it was "continuity of civilization"? As though somehow the war only mattered when the asari homeworld was attacked.
Shepard was sorry, terribly sorry, for the asari on Thessia, and on all the other colony worlds currently under attack. But she had little sympathy to spare for the asari councilor, sitting there in comfort and relative safety on the Citadel.
Behind her, she heard EDI's quiet voice. "Commander. We have something you may wish to hear."
"What's that, EDI?" She followed the robot into the central hub of the war room, where Liara, Kaidan, Vega, and Traynor were waiting.
Liara turned to her, stricken. "Shepard, I … Nobody could have predicted Cerberus would reach Thessia before us."
Shepard shook her head. "No. I should have. It's my job to be prepared—for whatever comes. And now Thessia's lost, as is the data on the Catalyst." She pounded a fist on the metal railing in front of her. "I'm sick of Cerberus beating us to the punch."
"Then let's kick them in the balls first for a change," Vega growled.
"Sounds good, James. Anyone have any ideas as to how we do that?" She looked around at the assembled group. "Anyone?" Her gaze settled on EDI and Traynor, who were having a conversation in silence.
Traynor's face twisted uncomfortably. She was clearly reluctant to speak. But if EDI thought she had something, then Shepard was willing to listen.
"Specialist?" she asked.
"Well … there is something."
"Let's hear it."
Traynor's fingers tapped on the keyboard in front of her as she spoke. "I was able to track Kai Leng's shuttle through the relay and extrapolate its destination." On the screen, the trajectory of the shuttle appeared. "But … the signal disappeared in the Iera system."
Shepard sighed. Nothing could ever be easy. "Naturally."
"It's not just gone, though," Traynor explained. "The signal is being actively blocked."
"How?"
"I'm not sure, but something appears to be interfering with all signal activity in that region of space."
EDI turned to look at Shepard. "Commander, the Iera system is home to Sanctuary and little else. Sanctuary is a supposed safe haven for war refugees."
"You think it's worth checking out?"
Traynor, her confidence restored, nodded crisply. "Yes, Commander, I do."
"If Specialist Traynor had not examined the data so astutely, the interference would have been undetectable," EDI pointed out.
"Nice work, Traynor. You've given us a shot. EDI, give Joker the coordinates. Let's head for the Iera system and see what we find there."
Kaidan frowned. "I was stationed in the Iera system. You were the only Cerberus presence while I was there."
"That you know of," Shepard snapped. "They're very good at hiding when they want to."
"That they are," he agreed.
"It's a slim lead, Shepard," Liara said. "Do you think it's the right one?"
"We've come too far to let Cerberus stop us. I don't care how slim the leads are, I'm going to follow this one until it leads me to that bastard Kai Leng. I want that Prothean data. I want the Catalyst. No more delays, no more excuses, no more bargains. I want this damned war ended."
The others glanced worriedly at each other. Shepard pretended not to notice. Probably they should be worried … but not as worried as Kai Leng should be. The next time she saw him, she was going to kill him. She made that promise to Thane and to all his gods, and she was not going to break it.