From Ashes
Chapter Thirty Five: Awakening
A/N: It's hard to believe I am at this point in this stoy. I didn't expect this pairing to take off as it did, and I am more than happy to seeME2's events just around the corner. Here we go!
The entire project had been a failure. Lazarus was a joke. Those were the two things that had gone through her mind as Operator Lawson left the wing of the facility that housed all of the tech labs. Incompetence will out. She had seen what the project lead had tried to do, and it had been a whopping disappointment. There was too much at stake to piss around with samples and hope to accomplish anything. Her temper was on the verge of flaring, and she still had to report back to the Illusive Man. Today had started off as normal: He had given her a task , and she had set off to do it. Now however, she wasn't so sure that was possible.
"Operator Lawson," A scientist that she had only met for five minutes today ran to catch up with her. "Wait!"
"What?" She turned so suddenly that the older man nearly crashed into her. He stepped back just enough to stop himself.
"What else did you expect from this?" He demanded. "I warned him that there wasn't enough left to actually go through with this project."
"I expected there to have been less wasted." She snapped. He had done the wrong thing by asking her this question. "I expected some competence with materials. Instead, I found pieces of highly valuable genetic material sitting around and degrading."
"I told him that this was a shitshow from the start." The man wrung his hands as he spoke.
"Well, he took your opinion into consideration. You've been removed from the project." She turned again and strode back to the lift.
There was a lot that would need to be done.
She would have to reconstruct this woman from the ground up.
It didn't sit well with her.
She had gone through with the initial contact with Liara T'Soni. It had surprised her just how different from the reports the asari was. While she was a matriarch's daughter, awkward, and even considered out of touch with the greater galaxy by some, Liara had proven that she couldn't be defined by that alone. Miranda had her doubts, but, coupled with Feron, Liara had proven quite resourceful and dangerous. The last time she had met her, Miranda had made no promises. There was no guarantee that Cerbeus could do what the Illusive Man wanted. He had the money to throw at the project, but Lazarus, from what she had seen today, was well-equipped but lacking in other areas. The Illusive Man had assured her that it would succeed, but Miranda's opinion stayed where it had on that last day she'd spoken with Liara.
They would lose Shepard.
She sat down at her desk in her newly assigned quarters. It was a sterile room with a bed, a desk, a shower, and all of the usual necessities. Her terminal hadn't even been opened for the first time. It still showed the Cerberus logo on its holo display. Watching it slowly rotate back and forth, Miranda thought back on that last conversation. It had happened just over a week ago.
They had stood in a private hangar at this very station. She had been flanked by two armed Cerberus guards, but they had been waved away immediately. The only other person in the hangar was Liara T'Soni, but another should have been. As it tuned out, Feron, the drell turncoat, had been captured by Tazzik while Liara was forced to flee with Shepard's body. It had stood beside the asari like a long, and well-secured footlocker.
"Those are her remains, then." It had been in an indifferent tone that Miranda had asked that question. She knew the importance of all of this, but it was a way of making things less personal. Loara had simply nodded. "I can appreciate how difficult this must have been." She had then tried for a little less frost. Liara seemed to brush it off.
"I need to know that all efforts will be made." She had said stiffly. Her eyes were boring into Miranda's. "My bringing her to you goes against everything she stood for."
"I can make no promises." And she couldn't have then; certainly not now.
"It was foolish to trust Cerberus." Liara hadn't given any warning that was going to be her next statement. Normally, Miranda could read people rather well, but it seemed that he asari had been good at keeping a neutral expression… Until that moment. "Everything in me told me ot to go through with this."
"Think of where she would be if you didn't." It hadn't been the best point to make, in hindsight. "Here, she stands a chance of being restored. Had ou returned to Earth or Arcturus with her remains, she would have simply been buried." And though she didn't often do such things, Miranda offered her honest opinion. "We both know she deserves better than that."
"We've seen what Cerberus is capable of before." Liara had finally said after a few seconds' silence. "I will not see her turned into some gruesome experimental drone to be controlled."
"Then at least we agree on a few things."
Miranda had her own thoughts on that, but she hadn't dared to voice them. Not even the Illusive Man knew everything. She had seen the reports on the rachni, husks, thorian creepers, and work with thresher maws. None of it made her appreciate the organization that she worked for, but Cerberus had its good points. They just weren't well-known. Specifically, she had thought back to when she and an Alliance Corsair, Jacob Taylor, had worked together to keep batarian separatists from poisoning and killing the Citadel Council.
"I cannot tell you that the project will be a guaranteed success, but I can assure you that no stone will be left unturned."
"I suppose that will have to be enough." It hadn't been long after that that Liara had departed the station. She had turned away, preparing to board the ship she had arrived on, when a team of lab techs had come through the nearby airlock and had sterilized the area. They had opened the crate right there. Though it was still sealed, there was a clear panel that showed the contents; in the event that there was a buyer that needed proof of wha they were getting. That was all well and good, but the asari had made the mistake of looking back.
Miranda would never forget the look that had crossed her face.
"Test subject was recovered, but the damage was much worse than we initially feared."
Miranda stood in the very laboratory that she had nearly thrown people out of the previous day. She was looking at all that remained of a woman who had gone beyond the call of duty on many occasions. The worst part of it was the thought that was n her head right at this moment.
She may as well have been a poor, pulverized, street sod who had been at the wrong place at the wrong time on Earth.
Had she seen this when she was in her quarters earlier, she would have allowed it to turn her stomach. There was no time for that now.
"Aside from the expected burns and internal injuries from collision with the planet's surface, subject has suffered extensive cellular breakdown from excessive exposure to vacuum and sub-zero temperatures."
She was making verbal notes as she went along. As a precaution, she as alone. Miranda had expressly forbade that anyone enter the room while she did her initial analysis. She had spoken to the people that had been chosen for the reboot of the project, though. Wilson was one of them. He would be her primary tech throughout the process.
"Despite the massive amounts of trauma and obvious failure from the initial team, Wilson assures me that the subject is salvageable."
Wilson. Her first impressions of him were that he was smart, but he thought a little too highly of himself whtiout having earned the right to do so. Was he good enough to sort this mess and work in tandem with her? It seemed so. Was he prepared to do what was necessary to bring a dead spectre back? Absolutey. He had actually gone through and done an nitial intake of their remaining resources earlier. His notes were the first thing she had read when she had come through the door.
What she was seeing at the moment was a mass of burned or otherwise degraded tissue. The bone that remained wasn't enough to reconstruct anything. Pieces varied from half-amounts to fragments in many areas. The only thing that had been fully intact had been the skull. That in itself had been a miracle, pure and simple. Anythng like eyes, teeth, and the like were gone. Some hair remained, but it was badly damaged or useless. From where she stood, she leaned more toward the latter.
"The fact that the brain is more or less physically intact suggests that we might have a microscopic shot in the dark." Miranda made a more personal note now.. She'd seen all that she needed to. "Our orders, while astronomically tall, are clear. We are to restore this woman to who she was at the time of the explosion: the same mind, morals, and the same personality. If we alter her in any way, if Seryna Shepard is even slightly different from the woman she used to be, the Lazarus project will have failed." She stopped the recording and placed her hand on the sterile table where what was unmistakably the remains of a right hand lay. While she dared not touch it, she added one final, unofficial note.
"I refuse to let that happen."
t we discussed before, I still have my concerns."
"I read your initial report." The Illusive Man sat in his chair, flicking a lighter to ignite the tip of a newly rolled cigarette. "A bit pessimistic, but it's thorough."
"Alright, I'll be more clear." Miranda Lawson's tone sharpened slightly. "We cannot do this with only human samples."
"What would you suggest?"
"I'm not sure." She raised a hand to her forehead. It had been a long few months. Initial progress had seemed uplifting, but there were still all the hurdles to get through yet. "What I am mostly worried about is her personality, memories, and identity."
"Go on."
"Even if we could restore the body, there is no guarantee that everything else will just fall into place. We need something to preserve her brain, so that when we are ready to utilize it, all the woman that she was will still be in there."
"You'll find a prototype substance that I've had our bioengineering teams working on in a case that should arrive later in the day." The Illusive Man said dismissively. "It should prove to be quite promising."
"Before I go off and soak her brain in anything, I'd prefer to know what I'm working with." She didn't care that the comment sounded a bit harsh. This was more important than personal feelings.
"Synthetic drell neurochemicals." He waved her comment off with the hand that held his cigarette; a smoke trail left behind in its wake. "Literally the life juice that allows for such vivid recall."
"And this was just something you had them working on?"
"I didn't pull it out of a hat, if that's what you're asking."
"What aren't you telling me?" She asked outright. One thing about this conversation she didn't like was that he hadn't bothered to face her. He had kept his back turned. Normally, he would be looking her in the eye.
"All you need to know is that I've prepared for this possibility." He began. "Anything else is irrelevant to your work."
"You know that I am at my best when I have all of the answers." She kept her temper in check. It would do no good to los it now.
"Hmmm." He hummed as he finally stood from his chair. Still not facing her, he blew out a puff of smoke after taking a long drag on his cigarette. "I suppose that you have the fortitude necessary to know what I am about to say." He took another pull and turned toward her finally.
"The Collector ship was lured to that sector when the Alliance frigate was scheduled to be there. It was no accident."
"What?" This bit of information had been the last thing she had expected to hear. Miranda had to work to keep her expression neutral as she found her words. "You mean to say that you orchestrated the attack?"
"You'll remember our conversation about Shepard and her achievements." The Illusive Man said sharply.
"The Council will never trust Cerberus. That much is clear." She could remember herself saying those words while standing just beyond his chair. As she thought of it, 2183 seemed so distant now. "But Shepard… They will follow her. She is a war hero, a bloody icon."
"She is." He had not looked up at her then either. "She has done more than most to build up the Council's trust in humanity. Despite our differences in method, I will admit that she has done well for herself."
"They sent he off to search for geth. We all know that they aren't the real enemy."
"Of course, they're not." He had said it in such a way that it was almost humourous.
"The reapers are still out there-"
"And it's up to us to stop them." He had interrupted her thought and finished it with his own.
"Still, there could be enough of a geth presence to cause a problem." Miranda offered with a shrug. "In that event, if we lose Shepard, humanity might well follow."
His final comment, at the time, hadn't made any sense to her. It had been like receiving an order without any guidelines. She was good at thinking on her feet, but there had been nothing to build on at the time. Now however, it all seemed to form a disturbing and clear picture.
"Then see to it that we don't lose her."
"I should get back to it." She said abruptly. Without waiting for his reply, she turned on her heel and stepped off of the platform she had been standing on. The QEC console behind her dimmed, and she was left in darkness. Her thoughts were a mess, and it infuriated her. This was a time where she needed absolute concentration, and that last bit of news was gong to serve as a distraction.
Damn her curiosity.
She returned to the laboratory and began processing some samples. She had worked a little with reconstruction today. Small things, at first. What she could find and piece back together naturally. It had been idle work, but it had been a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, that was th last of that. There were no more parts, and she hated thinking of them as such, that she could puzzle back together. It was time for the next step in the process.
"In order to accelerate the process, we have moved from simple organic reconstruction of the subject to biosynthetic fusion." It had been over a year since she had taken over Project Lazarus. They had gone from the most basic of reconstruction to this. "Initial results show promise." She added to her notes.
They had. Experimental med tech, such as bone weaves and advanced dermal overlays were being constructed to repair what they themselves could not. The bone weave had been a suggestion of Wilson's and Miranda had to grudgingly acknowledge that. Wilson, of course, had spent the rest of the day strutting about the room as if he'd been awarded a gold star. She'd wanted to deck him. While her thoughts lingered on the man, she noticed that he was making notes on the project himself. At times, he would look up to see if she was watching, but those were few and far between. Once she had heard him mention how much the project had cost. The numbers were still climbing, but they didn't matter.
Cost was no object when dealing with something as important as this. That was what the Illusive Man had said, anyway.
What the Cerberus leader had suggested using to preserve Shepard's mind, was now being tested. The skull, while not being used for anything at the moment, was fully submerged in pale teal liquid. She had her qualms with testing them on the actual brain, but Miranda had to agree that there was nothing else to test it on. She had, on a few occasions, entertained the thought of giving Wilson head trauma and submerging his thick head in a tank full of the stuff, but it would have been a waste of resources and would have slowed their progress. Even now, as she thought about it, a thin smirk pulled at her lips.
It wasn't much, but it offered her the stress relief she needed to get through the hours she spent in here.
Sometimes, her thoughts would drift to the woman that she was working to bring back from the grave. Miranda had never met Shepard in person. There had been far too much to do in the background to focus on what was happening on the front lines. She had heard of all of the advances the woman had made along the way. Vids depicting a rising legend in the Systems Alliance Military faded over to a striking image of the first human Spectre. That had been something that had intrigued Miranda. It showed that there were some who were ready and willing to step away from Earth and its needs to address the galaxy as a whole. While Cerberus' work to better and strengthen humanity was important, she could appreciate what Shepard had accomplished with the other races.
Still, that was only one side of her. The War Hero that had played a large role in saving Elysium during the Blitz, the N7 operative that had managed to become a spectre, those were just the glamour shots. As Miranda looked down at the body that was slowly looking more human, she wondered what other stories it had to tell. Who was she when the galaxy wasn't watching?
This was a hard day. It had been a year and a half to the day since they had been rescued from escape shuttles that had been set adrift after their thrusters had gone down. Still, if she closed her eyes, she could feel the shockwaves hitting as if it were still happening.
Ashley Williams, Karin Chakwas, and Charles Pressly sat at a table outside a small café that had just opened up on the presidium. They were meant to meet others here, but so far, it was just them. Adams had been held up while working on a joint project with C-Sec, and no one had heard a word from Joker in a while. Karin siped at her coffee idly. She had been here for a while now. A position had opened up in the presidium clinic, and she had taken it. Working in partnership with Doctor Michel had been a welcome distraction from everything else that had been going on.
She found herselflf thinking more and more about the woman that was certainly on their minds today. She wondered how things would have been, had she lived. Would they all be here reflecting as they'd done every half a year? Would they be off searching for some forgotten piece of galactic history? Or, perhaps, there might have been some matter of importance to the Citadel Council that they would ave all attended to. Any would have sufficed compared to this. As she watched the two other people sitting nerby, Karin saw what this last year and a half had done to them. Ashley, while still serving with the Alliance as well, had lost that sense of adventure she had when she had first joined the Normandy's crew after Eden Prime. She waa a walking definition of a hardened soldier. Still, the signs of grief lingered with her. She hadn't slept recently. The dark circles under her eyes proved that. Worst still was the Normandy's former XO.
Charles Pressly had been a little too confined to his duties when they had first started off after that shakedown run, but as time had gone by, he had loosened up. He had broken the ice with Garrus Vakarian finally, and the to had shared many a joke about the First Contact War. Pressly had even spent a little time with Tali, when she wasn't in engineering with Adams. The quarian's expertise with ship tech had amazed him. Now, he looked as though that spark that had ony just started to crackle into life had been put out. He'd taken a leave of absence for a while after the Normandy's destruction, and Karin knew why. Pressly had spoken with her many times. He was still dealing with survivor's guilt. Not only had he seen Shepard get blasted backwards, but he had been helpless to do anything about it. The doctor was brought out of her musings by the arrival of Greg Adams.
"Sorry I'm late." He apologized as he sat down across from her. "Damned repair drones don't know that they're working on a shuttle. They were calibrated to work on starships." He spoke to a passing volus about getting a cup of coffee before addressing his former shipmates again. "Days like this, I really miss Tali. Anyone heard from her lately?"
"Not since last month." Ashley spoke up finally. "I talked to her for a little while. Her fleet is having her lead a team to investigate something. She couldn't tell me anything about it, but she mentioned something about dark energy."
"I heard that the Alliance is sending some people to take some readings and scan stars." Adams nodded. "That was the last thing Tali and I discussed too." He thanked the volus who had brought him his coffee. "I've also heard that there have been a few colonies not reporting in lately."
"A friend in Colonial Affairs said the same thing." Pressly joined in. "Said that one had literally gone dark. There were no residents when they sent a scouting ship by to check on them."
"And they don't know what was behind it?" Ashley wondered aloud.
"As far as I've heard, there was nothing to find. People literally look like they just disappeared." Pressly shrugged. "There were prefabs that looked like their owners just got up in the middle of dinner and never came back."
"That is strange." Karin said simply. She found it best to simply observe sometimes. It helped to give her an idea on how well her former crew were holding up. While some of this was simply idle conversation, it was showing signs of rudimentary normalcy; something she hadn't seen in quite some time.
"So Pressly, how are things going with the Misses?" Ashley asked' her lips upturned in a knowing smirk.
"Going well, I think." He shrugged. "She's back in asari space at the moment; something to do with fulfilling her role in the exchange program. I think she'll be back in a few weeks."
"So you are seeing her then." Adams reached out and cuffed Pressly on the shoulder. "It's about time."
"Hey, we all can't get away with dating machine parts like you." Pressly quipped in mock offense.
"Those were well-oiled machine parts, thanks." Adams went along with it.
"I did not need to know that." Ashley's comment had them all grinning.
"So, when can we expect a wedding announcement?" Greg asked, taking a sip of his coffee after adding a little more creamer to it.
"Not quite there yet."
"What's the matter, Pressly?" Ashley teased.
"Just taking our time with it." He offered innocently.
"He's procrastinating." Adams quipped.
"I most certainly am not." Still obviously playing up the moment, Pressly smiled in earnest. "You would if you knew her father was."
"So that little rumor is true." Karin finally joined in. "in all seriousness though, it's good to take your time with these things. Enjoy it."
"-Hold on, Chellick. I've got to check something out." A voice cut in after Chakwas had finished her thought. When she looked up, she saw one turian stepping away from another. When he spoke again, his voice was full of sarcasm. "Suspicious activity over here."
"Kiss my ass, Garrus." Ashley offered as she turned to face him as well.
"What an offer." Garrus quipped lazily as he made his way over. "For a second, I'd think that was a marriage proposal, if you were a krogan."
"Dick."
"What are you doing here, Garrus?" Karin looked him over as she asked. He had a few recently-healed injuries. She could tell that by his posture. "Last we heard, you had lef the Citadel."
"I'm here to settle a few things." Garrus answered evasively. "A lot has been going on, and it's kept me busy."
"You went back to Palaven, didn't you?" Pressly asked then. "I remember you saying your father and sister were there."
"I did for a bit. Dad was thankful that I'd gone back to C-Sec, but I didn't stay there long."
"Haven't been back to Earth yet." The former XO shrugged. "I've been asked to report to Vancouver for something or another, so I'll be heading there next month."
"I've been offered a position at a medical center on Mars." Karin admitted. She'd been thinking about it the entire time she'd been here. Her work on the Citadel had been a wonderful experience, and she was seriously considering turning the mars job down. "It's a respectable position, but I'm not sure I want it."
"I've been asked to report to Arcturus." Greg added to the list. "With my work on the SR1, they are looking into ways to improve current ships and future ones that are less costly. The IES stealth system was a boon, but the drive core was what has people fidgeting." He lowered his coffee mug. "Honestly, I don't feel like I was the expert."
"Chasing Tali's coattails." Ashley supplied.
"For lack of better term, yeah."
"I'm being offered the chance to lead a security detail." Ashley had received a message in the time that Adams had made that comment. Reading it quickly on her omni tool's mini display, she frowned. "Looks like that colony going dark has the Alliance worried. There have apparently been more than just that one." She finally closed the display and shook her head. "Defense towers are already in development, and they want a security team to assist in their deployment."
"Duty calls, I guess." Pressly sighed. "It feels strange for us to all be pulled away from here."
"Yeah, it does." Ashley's gaze went over each and every one of her former crewmates. "It almost feels like that day all over again."
It was a sobering fact, and no one could deny it. That day was the reason they met here every time. Those events had kept them strung together for the most part. Karin watched as the somewhat cheery atmosphere that had been around for just a shot time turned stone cold.
She would miss them all
"Physical reconstruction of the subject is complete, but we are still in the process of reintroducing organs and blood into the body. Any sign of rejection will have to be addressed immediately."
They were close now. The last months had been highly promising. The shell of the body was as it should be, and organs were in place. While still in a form of stasis, they would not be damaged while the first start up procedures began. That would take place this morning. Wilson would arrive in a few minutes' time, and they would proceed to restart vital systems as they would have been had the subject been in a coma
Outwardly, Miranda let nothing slip through. She had been just as hard on her staff as she had on day one of this project. Keeping them on edge meant that they would be obligated to put in their best work. Otherwise, she could have just terfed them ages ago. Inwardly, there was an interest that couldn't be denied. They had literally managed to reconstruct someone from the worst of circumstances, and she was recognizable. It was still a hard sell to call this woman Commander Shepard, however.
Muscle tone still in development, she looked far too thin to be the woman that had been all over the extranet. There were still places where incisions had been made or IV tubes had been connected that hadn't healed. Those littered her body from top to bottom. There were also facial scars where they had worked with what skin had remained and grafted what had been missing. Lastly, there was the fact that, for now, she was bald. Because the body wasn't really working on its own, hair growth hadn't started.
"Wilson." Miranda acknowledged as the man walked past her. "Those results?"
"Yeah, I've got them." He dropped a datapad onto the table that she was standing eside. He then went over to his station.
"Good." She had run tests on the level of bone density after the weaves had been placed and allowed to integrate. So far, there was no sign of a deficiency. Casting an eye back toward Wilson, Miranda frowned. He was recording another log, but he kept casting an eye back toward her. She waited until he had finished before addressing him.
"Something the matter?"
"No, just thinking out loud." He shrugged it off. "There seems to be an endless credit sink where Lazarus is concerned. I know the boss is well-funded, but…"
"It doesn't matter." She dismissed his thought. Miranda knew full-well where that was going. He was nosing into things that he had no business even looking at. "Focus on-"
"The task at hand. Yeah, I know."
The greatest risk they would take in this project began a fw short minutes later. With the last of IVs connected that needed to be, Miranda gave the go-ahead to start the process. Blood, synthetic in composure, had been warmed to proper temperature, and was being introduced into the body at key locations. When levels had risen to the point that was preferable, she triggered the next step. Simultaneously, the brain and heart were stimulated by micro pulses that would give them just enough of a jump to begin functioning. The first several beats of the heart had to be provoked. It wasn't unexpected, but Miranda had hoped for less mechanical work. The sooner the body returned to any sort of self-sustenance, the better.
"Miranda, we've got a heartbeat!" Wilson reported a little more enthusiastically than she expected. He was watching the monitor closely, and when she joined him, she saw it. The heart was beating on its own.
Her heart was beating.
"Good, progress." It was all she allowed herself to say. Wilson seemed to be put off by the short response, but she didn't care. It was all she would show him. For now, it was good enough to know that this was happening. Her boy was responding.
Now, it was up to Shepard to do the rest. Body and mind had to work for Lazarus to succeed.
She had never been one to celebrate them. They came once a year, and there had been so many. Ageless, that was what they were called, but they had no idea. To a species that was shorter-lived, they mattered more. It was one thing that the asari and krogan had in common. She never knew that one day out of a year could be such a crushing reminder… Not until last year.
By Earth's calendar, it was the eleventh of April. Last year, it had come as a complete shock. People were talking, news reels were going, and it was as if the destruction of the SSV Normandy SR1 had just happened. This year, she had been a bit more prepared for it.
Tevos stood on the presidium, near the still dormant relay monument. She had chosen not to be in her office if she could help it. The embassies as a whole were buzzing with the special reports that had been compiled nearly two years ago. She had seen the announcement in the morning's bulletin that the series Distinction: The Woman Behind the Legend would be airing again. She herself had been one of those spoken to during its filming. Looking back on the setment, she couldn't believe she'd kept her composure so well.
"I see you're avoiding the embassy."
"You are avoiding the camera drones." Tevos remarked flatly as she turned from the relay and faced the newcomer. "Just as well. You look worse for wear, Lidanya."
"Look at you, giving a straight answer." The older asari's lips turned upwards in amusement. "I thought that was against a politician's code of ethics."
"You missed the fine print where that only applies during an in-person interview."
"Given the day, I'm surprised to see you out at all."
"I couldn't look at the walls anymore." She left it there. The answer was partially true. She had been in her apartment all morning, and she'd gone from room to room. Each view was different from the rest, and for a while it had kept her mind off of things. Unfortunately for her, Lidanya saw right through it.
"It's tearing at you."
Tevos could only nod mutely.
"Reminders are always hell." The Ascension's CO stepped forward, so that they were standing side by side. She focused on the relay monument while the other turned to face it again.
"Is there ever a point where you just…" The words were held back as she tried to speak them. Get over it felt so impersonal and cold. Finally, she settled for the two words she didn't really want. "Move on?"
"There's a simple answer to that." Lidanya offered stiffly. "If you're the type of person to find it within yourself not to care, then yes; if you can't bring yourself to that point, then no."
"Have you ever reached that point?"
"No, but I've come close."
"Alana."
"The situation with her is complex, but yes." Lidanya finally nodded. "She is as close as I've come to that point."
"She is everywhere." Tevos focused on the relay again. "A shadow against a wall, whisper on the wind, stranger in a crowd; I cannot avoid it."
"And part of you doesn't want to." Lidanya pointed out. "I suppose that is the difference between us. I had seen my relationship with Alana through to the end, bitter though it was. Yours with Shepard had only just begun."
"I've seen her remains." The words came away easily, but they left a bitter taste.
"What?"
"I have seen her remains." Tevos said it again. This time, she didn't make the mistake of closing her eyes. The last time she had, and the images had swam briefly out of the depths where she had hoped to leave them. "It was what I had Palin look into."
"That's what he was working on?" She was on the edge of disbelief. Tevos could hear it in her tone. "You're telling me that you saw… But how? And who in their righ mind would…"
"A message came through with what I believe to be a warning." The words were easily remembered. "A friendly reminder of what happens to those that find themselves chasing shadows. What I saw after…"
"I'm assuming that C-Sec never found anything."
"Nothing. Untraceable." Had it been anyone else to ask that, Tevos would have wondered if they were being indifferent. She knew how this woman worked in terms of revelations and other situations. She was processing it in her head while continuing th conversation. "I had a word with Doctor T'Soni, however."
"She left the station for a while." Lidanya thought aloud. "I remember the rumors flying."
"She wanted to retrieve her remains." It was said flatly, and she knew it. Their talk hadn't been difficult, but it hadn't sat well with her. "The Alliance couldn't, the Council cannot enter the Terminus Systems without some sizeable conflict; she went on her own."
"She found something."
"Publicly no."
"She didn't say anything."
"Not definitively, but I could see it." And she had. Liara had seemed colder when she had returned to the Citadel. When they'd talked, she hadn't said she found anything, but she deflected when it came down to admitting she hadn't. There had been something in her face that had said she had at least learned something. It was a trait that her mother had. Benezia had always had a tell when she knew something ground-shattering; at least for those who knew where to look. Finally, Tevos shrugged.
"Forgive me. This subject isn't exactly uplifting."
"Mine isn't much better." Lidanya shook her head in understanding. "I take it you know why I am avoiding the press."
"Yes, I saw the statement. It was quite impressive." The change of topic was both a good and bad thing, but Tevos decided to take the high ground. "You were against it last year as well."
"A victory cruise doesn't sit well with me." Lidanya admitted darkly. "Obviously it is good for morale, or that's what people keep saying; it's why I'm going through with it."
"I can see how it doesn't feel like a victory."
"At the end of the day, it was, but I'm worried about the future."
"How so?"
"Rumor has it that there have been talks of denying the reaper threat." Lidanya turned her head toward the Citadel Tower behnd them. "Many people fought and died believing that Sovereign was a reaper. Now, that is about to be-"
"Labeled a geth creation, I know."
"That thing wasn't created by the Geth."
Tevos knew better than to challenge this. She knew that the matriarch beside her had a history with the synthetic lifeforms that the quarians had created. She also knew that Lidanya kept tabs on what went on beyond the Veil. She didn't know how, and it was probably for the best.
"The others want to believe that."
"Of course, they do." Lidanya scoffed. "It makes it easier for them to sleep at night. How does David Anderson feel about this?"
"He is highly frustrated, but he is being told to just accept it." Tevos had, not long ago, had a conversation with the man about it. It seemed that the people on Arcturus were reading the writing on the wall and wanted their representative to remain in good standing with the rest. She was pleased to see that he wasn't backing down. "He is losing clout because of his beliefs, but he is standing by them."
"I see that you are as well. Some of the other matriarchs aren't pleased, but there are those that applaud your efforts."
"Those that aren't pleased can go back to tending and showing off their water gardens." That made the other asari laugh. It wasn't something that had been heard very often over the last year and a half.
"While we are milling around the subject, the other embassies have checked in." Lidanya cast an eye toward the distant embassy atrium. "Councilors Anderson and Sparatus will be taking part in the Ascension's victory cruise. Valern has decided to have Dalatrass Esheel step in for him; he says he can accomplish a lot more aboard the station."
"Understandable, given the time he has left." Tevos reflected on that for a moment. Valern was nearly thirty-nine years old. "I hope that the answer from our embassy was obvious: I will be joining them."
"I already knew."
"Actually, there is one meeting I must attend to before we depart."
"That will be in five hours, and final preparations are in three."
"And I'm sure you simply cannot wait."
After another laugh and a shake of the head, Lidanya replied. "I should be up there overseeing things now, but I'm meant to meet my daughter here within the next fifteen minutes." There was almost a grim undertone colouring her words.
"Irissa did mention that you two were going to attempt to talk again." Tevos knew a fraction of what had kept the two apart for the last century or more. She had her suspicions, but she hadn't confirmed them.
"Yeah."
"Whatever it is that you are holding back," Tevos offered in a lower voice; one she reserved for matters of significant importance. "Don't. I needn't remind you that she was aboard the Normandy when it was destroyed."
"Believe me, I know." Lidanya muttered tersely. "Normally, I would say that you had no idea what went through my head that day, but you do; probably better than anyone."
"It's time she knew that." Tevos managed to say this before movement caught her eye. She had to marvel at just how similar this father and daughter were. Selyna was approaching from one of the Wards' access corridors. Wearing her huntress-grade armor, she could have passed for her father, had time been reversed. It seemed that Lidanya had spotted her as well.
"One last piece of advice." Tevos added before she turned toward the pathway that led to the embassies. "If she is meant to resent you for anything, let her make that choice with eyes wide open. The truth will be what either breaks down that barrier or what solidifies it, but you will never know if it isn't revealed."
"When did you become a matriarch?" The question was not asked in an ill tone; it was one of approval.
"I still have a few centuries to go before I can claim that title," Tevos began to walk away. "But I have had good examples to follow." Lidanya's next words made her pause for a few seconds.
"Benezia taught you well."
"She did, but I wasn't only referring to her."
The meeting she saw to shortly after that was with Nihlus. While he was still on Illium, he had managed toputa call through. His report was troubling. In the time that Doctor T'Soni had been in Nos Astra, she had built up quite a reputation as an information broker. It had been over a year since she had returned to the Citadel from her search for Seryna's body. Nihlus noted that Liara had been working with contacts that had ties to the Shadow Broker. He also had a bit to say about his fellow spectre. Tela had found evidence of leaked information from the Ministry of Finance, but she was also meeting with people that mysteriously wound up dead afterwards. While killing contacts wasn't completely abnormal, this was an odd occurrence for the asari. Tela normally went by the book.
Once that call had ended, Tevos ensured everything was squared away before she left for the shuttlepad that would be her way aboard the Ascension. Reaching it, she found David Anderson waiting for the shuttle to return. Not long after, the salarian dalatrass, Esheel joined them. She knew Esheel well, having been through a few negotiations with her. Not ten minutes later, the shuttle returned, and they were off.
It took another two hours for everything to be sorted, but as the Destiny Ascension left its holding pattern and prepared to hit the Widow relay, Tevos looked back at the Citadel as it was swallowed by the clouds of dust in the Serpent Nebula. When it had faded from view completely, she turned away; the thought that had been wrapped up in her chest muscles all day finally escaping her.
"Happy birthday, Seryna."
"Progress is slow, but subject shows signs of recovery. All organs are, once again, functional, and there is evidence of rudimentary neurological activity."
Miranda playedback the log entry she had recorded just one week ago. It had been a bloody miracle that they had made it this far. From the first heartbeat to the first time a muscle ticked, she had kept her eyes peeled for any sign of a failure. So far, everything was working smoothly. Miranda ran a hand through her hair. It had been a long day, and the meeting she had just had with the Illusive Man had only made it worse.
He had asked that she check in with every milestone, and she had. This last time, he ha proposed that they speed up the process a bit more, but she had shut that idea down. There was no way to move Lazarus along any faster than it was going. Biosynthetic fusion had been the biggest time-reducer, but even it had been a risk. What had really gotten her attention was when the Illusive Man had suggested a final security precaution. While ot active, he wanted a control chip implanted. It would remain dormant and inactive until a time came when and if it was needed. At first, Miranda had considered it. Early on, Shepard was an unknown. While the extranet had a wealth of information on who and what the woman was and stood for, it wasn't enough to alleviate their concerns. Seryna Shepard would have to, at least, work with Cerberus. Given her history with the organization, that was highly unlikely. Miranda wouldn't have called it impossible, but improbable.
When she really stopped to think about it however, a thought rise within her that made her chest tighten and stomach clench. While a control chip would reuce the likelihood of Shepard turning, it was something that he would have suggested. In the end, that was what made Miranda ultimately refuse.
She had just managed to reflect on this when she heard something she shouldn' have. Looking up sharply, she saw one of the monitors increasing in its readout.
Brain activity, a lot of brain activity.
"Miranda!" Wilson's call came after she had already risen from her chair. She was half-way back into the lab when she saw him hurrying forward. He already had a scanner going as he approached the gurney. "That's a lot of brain activity. It's too soon-"
"Damnit, I told you to run the numbers again!" She was already looking at the diagnostics. They weren't good. Scans were showing that the brain was lighting up in ways that were dangerous.
"Pupils are reactive to stimuli-"
"Put the torch down, damnit!" Miranda cut across him. He was leaning over Shepard's body; the light from the torch shning right ove her were open. "I just told ou to run the numbers again. I don't want signs of cognitive function yet, we've only just managed to finish stitching her body back together after removing the IVs!"
"Miranda, look!" He pointed, but she had already seen it.
A hand was slowly moving, along with the arm, and it was rising from the mattress. Part of Miranda was wholly furious, but another was amazed. This shouldn't have been happening. They were at least a month away…
She mentally slapped herself. She couldn't be thinking like this. Not now.
"Put her down, Wilson! I've come too far to lose her to a fuck up."
"Miranda-"
"Fine, if you can't admit to fouling this up, then move." She went to the station that housed the sedatives. They would need to be carefully introduced, so that the body wasn't overwhelmed, more than it already was, anyway. She was preparing the injector when a sound that wasn't the abrasive beeping from the systems assaulted her eardrums.
An incoherent sound, one resembling speech after a severe stroke, was coming from behind her. When she wheeled around again, she nearly froze. Shepard was moving, in a convulsive nature, and trying to rise from the mattress. Her arm was still extended, and Miranda could see the body trying to deal with the pain this was all causing.
Again, she mentally slapped herself. She had to move, to stop this.
She crossed to the bedside and began the dialed injection. While able to see the results, she heard Wilson reading them off.
"Heartrate is increasing, stats are pushing into the red zone… it's not working!"
Another one, she had to administer a second injection. Miranda dialed another dose of the sedative. Preparing to inject it, she saw medium blue eyes, that had been previously unfocused, land on her. Administering the sedative, she watched carefully.
"Stats are dropping; levels are stabilizing."
"Shepard," Miranda ignored Wilson. "I need you to lie still." She laid a hand on the other woman's arm to gently ease it back down. "Try not to move and remain calm." Regardless of her anger at the situation, her voice was oddly soft. "It will be over soon." That last even surprised her. After a few tense seconds, Shepard's eyes began to slide out of focus again, and her head turned more to one side. The arm that Miranda was applying gentle pressure to stopped resisting as well.
"That was too close." The senior tech breathed a sigh of relief.
"Do you realize what could have just happened?" Rounding on Wilson, she saw him standing there with his arms crossed. Her frustration tripled. "You planned this, didn't you, you smug bastard? You deliberately falsified the readings… "
"I didn't plan it, but it did ensure that she would regain consciousness." Wilson looked over toward Shepard. "She was becoming aware of her surroundings."
"If I didn't need you to ensure that this project succeeds, I'd end your involvement right now." She ground out.
"Unfortunately for you, you do need me." Wilson shot back.
As much as she didn't want to admit it, he was right. Also, there was something good that came of this: Shepard had actually reacted to stimuli. She had fought through a probable wall of pain to try and establish contact.
Shepard had successfully awakened.
It was only a matter of time until they would truly know if Lazarus had failed or not. One thing was certain, however. She would have to keep a close eye on Wilson.
Accident or not, he was becoming a liability… and a problem.
