A Dalatrass and Her Poison

I was in the med bay having my leg wound treated while Tali paced back and forward nearby. She had already gone though the stages of relief that I was alive, and frustration that I had put myself in such a dangerous situation. Now, my wife was calmer and just wanted to be there for me. The deep laceration on my leg had been bad, and I had lost a fair amount of blood.

"Wouldn't be surprised if every shark within a thousand-mile radius turned up to see what was on the menu," I chuckled, right before I let out a loud hiss as another shard of glass was removed from my flesh. I looked over at Mace as he stood off to the side in silence.

"Thanks again, for coming back for me," I told him.

"And thank you from me too," Tali added. "I can't ever lose him."

Tali and I met each other's gaze and smiled. Mace looked between us curiously, before politely averting his eyes from our little moment.

"There's nothing else I could have done, Sir. Spartans don't leave each other behind," he said dutifully. I laughed and shook my head at his unceasing professionalism.

"Regardless," I told him, "we won't forget it."

Lying back as my leg was attended to, EDI called over the comm,

"Commander, Admiral Hackett is placing a call to the QEC."

"Fuck," I said as I instinctively tried to jump off the bed, only for my leg to painfully scream out in protest and I went light-headed from the blood-loss. "Tell him he'll have to wait a minute. I'm not at my fastest."

"I'm sure he'll understand," EDI replied. I hobbled my way up to the War Room with Tali at my side.

"Commander Gardner, this takes me back a few years," Admiral Hackett grinned when I finally answered his call.

"You mean me reporting in after a mission, looking a complete state?" I managed a half-smile.

"Exactly," Hackett said before returning to business. "I've been keeping up to date with your campaign in shutting down the Blades of Retribution and tracking down Tolan. I'm glad to see you've been successful. The last thing the galaxy needs is more death and destruction, while we're still trying to rebuild civilisation."

"Couldn't agree more, Sir," I said. "But we were only partially successful in regard to stopping Tolan. We took him out, but the ship, the Entorro, sank with whatever weapon they had created on board. I was hoping to obtain a sample so we could determine what exactly they were planning to inflict upon Delhi."

"I've commissioned a salvage operation. According to the Intel I've been receiving, Dalatrass Linron is the one responsible for all of this. Major Kirrihe and his STG operatives have taken her into custody, where she will remain until we discover how deadly this weapon is. The duration of her sentence will directly correlate to its lethality."

"I say, keep her in prison for the rest of her short life," Tali hissed. I nodded in agreement. Admiral Hackett was right when he said that he was reminded of my reporting to him during the Reaper War. My mind was taken back to that time as well, and I felt tired. So tired, and sick of finding myself in this spot. I longed to be back on Rannoch, just Tali and I, and enjoy my life.

"How much does the public know of this… incident?" I asked the Admiral.

"There were a couple of witnesses, and civilian traffic controllers in cities and spaceports will have seen the event unfold on scanners. It'll be on the extranet by now. There will be a public announcement that a rogue crew were using the Entorro to smuggle Red Sand and had to be eliminated when they resisted our attempts to take them into custody."

"That might be enough to placate some," I mused. Admiral Hackett shrugged,

"That's the explanation they're going to get. Whether they believe it or not, is up to them. As for when we recover the weapon, the investigation and results will be kept top secret. If this was made known to the galaxy, many would blame the Salarian Union for allowing such a thing to happen under their noses. We can't let a bunch of malcontent renegades ruin the unity we've strived so hard to build."

Admiral Hackett, Tali and I talked for a short while longer before he finished the call and left us on the Normandy to our own devices. I contacted Garrus to get an update on how things had gone with Linron's arrest. My Turian friend informed us that they had caught the Dalatrass as she tried to slip the net the STG had covertly created around her residence. With a smug grin, Garrus told me how Linron had gone to her private transport, expecting her driver and security guards to greet her, only to find Garrus, Kirrihe and a couple more STG operatives casually waiting for her. I wished I could have seen the look on her face.

Garrus, aboard the Tibmius, was heading to the Citadel with Dalatrass Linron in literal chains, so Ashley ordered the Normandy to meet them there. The STG had been ruthlessly thorough in their pursuit of evidence to prove Linron's involvement with the Blades and the attempted terrorist attack on Earth. Her personal computer, naturally protected by the most advanced software available, would be given to EDI and SAM to data-mine. The Dalatrass would appear in front of a combined court representing the Council, the Salarian Union and the Systems Alliance. Closely followed by anyone else involved. This included the two Asari, Leena S'Cal and Lia T'Rae, whom we had captured on Yaseera.

As much as I wanted to see these scum judged guilty and sent to prison for all time, I just wanted to wash my hands of all of it. I wanted to go back to Rannoch and repair the damage to our home. Let the big players of the galaxy dish out their justice, I was done with it all. Of course, the public were led to believe that Dalatrass Linron and her cohorts were being tried for being the leaders of the Blades of Retribution. However, as the trial was held in private, away from prying eyes, they were to be found guilty of far more.

All of our friends and allies, such as Ludwig Von Engel and his unit, returned to whatever they had been doing before they had all clamoured to help me find Tali. Liara and Samantha would devote a few more agents to make absolutely sure that everything Dalatrass Linron had put in motion had been stopped.

The Spartans returned with Miranda to her secret base to perform more tests and training. She was over-joyed at their performance on their missions and, with a startling endorsement from me, decided that she could move the Spartan project on to the next stage, refining and optimising their gear, rather than their bodies. Small adjustments could still be made to improve their physiology, but that was now secondary to weapons, armour and sending them out on active deployment. Sending a squad to work with certain Spectres, in the form of Ashley Williams and Garrus Vakarian, was a promising place to start.

Tali and I chartered a private transport back to Rannoch, where we were met by an extremely worried Shala'Raan, who almost crushed Tali in a bearhug. The last time she had seen Tali had been before she was kidnapped by the Blades, and she had been on the verge of a nervous breakdown ever since. For my part, Shala gave me a slap across the face for letting the Blades take Tali, then a grateful hug for getting her back again.

Admiral Gerrel was present as well, still feeling ashamed of letting the Blades members get past him to the Mass Relay with Tali on one of their shuttles. He apologised to my wife, even though it was entirely unnecessary. He could not be blamed for falling prey to a shuttle loaded with disruptors smashing into his warship. The Blades of Retribution had proven devious in their activities.

With the help of a few Quarian builders and Geth volunteers, our home was soon cleaned up and back to its original form. It was a sad affair to return to see our Geth friend, Churchill, still lying upon the floor of our bedroom. A stab of guilt pricked at my heart. Leaving him there seemed disrespectful, but I was in such a frenzied state at the time I found him, Tali having just been taken, that I had simply carried on past him. I said he should be given a proper burial, as thanks for giving his life to try and help Tali and I. But, according to the other Geth present, Churchill's chassis could be reused, and only the memory core need be buried. They still did not quite understand some of our "non-sensical" organic ways, but they stayed quiet out of respect.

And so, we did just that. Churchill's memory core was buried with respect by Tali and I, at a spot looking over the bay from the top of the cliff. He was a friend who had fallen fighting for us. He deserved to be remembered in the fondest light.

Finally, over four weeks after the Blades had originally attacked us, Tali and I fell back into the couch and snuggled up, our home fixed and lives back to normal.

"I'm glad all that is over," Tali hummed, "it certainly wasn't part of our future plans."

"That's for sure," I said as rested my head on hers and placed a hand over her stomach. "I dared to hope I was done firing my gun at other living things. Anyway, all that matters now is us, and our baby. We should make an appointment with the Doctor, make sure everything is still ok after what you went through."

Tali laughed and stroked my cheek,

"I'm fine, Scott. I promise. You did have four Human super-soldiers protecting me, remember? There won't be any lasting damage."

"Still," I gave her a pleading look. "You were a prisoner for a while. Do it for peace of mind? If nothing else."

"Ok," she relented, "if it'll stop you worrying."

Tali's gaze passed around our comfortable home and came to rest on one of the end tables where a holo of Garrus and Wrex stood together. It had been taken in 2185 when we went to Tuchanka to find Mordin's assistant Maelon, and I ended up fighting a fucking Thresher Maw with Grunt. I had taken the holo on the sly while our Turian and Krogan friends had a quick catch-up. My wife looked at it and cocked her head a little.

"I was thinking of sending all our friends a picture of my face," she said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. With everything we've all been through together, from Saren all the way to what just happened, I want to show them how much I appreciate them. I know it might not mean much to them, but…"

"I think it's a great idea," I told her. "They'll understand the meaning behind you showing them your face. Just… be prepared for James to make some lewd comments. Probably Joker too. Just as long as it's only me that gets to see the rest of you," I winked.

"You, and only you," she said, taking off her mask and touching her luscious lips to mine.

As I predicted, Tali's face reveal to our most trusted and loyal friends garnered much attention. While Tali was bombarded with messages of thanks and well-wishes, I received a few of my own on the side. The first response I got was, as expected, from James. I could not help but laugh at his message.

"Damn! You scored big, Loco. I can see why she's got you wrapped around her finger. But hey, I'd bend over backwards for a hot chica like that too. Good on you man!"

Next was Grunt.

"Looks better than the images of Quarians from Okeer's imprints. Still small and squishy like Humans."

Then his boss, Wrex. His message was surprisingly meaningful. Then again, Tali had come to refer to the ancient Krogan as a sort of mad uncle.

"You know I was around before the Quarians got kicked off their world, right? I've seen them without the suits before. But, for Humans and Asari anyway, I'm guessing she's definitely one of the pretty ones. She's a bright spark in this galaxy, Scott, make sure it never goes out."

I gazed at my wife as Wrex's words replayed themselves over and over. She was smiling at a lovely message she had gotten from Liara, and I saw that bright spark, plain as day. It had always been there, in truth. It was a part of who Tali was and what had attracted me to her in the first place. Nothing was going to diminish that bright spark of life and vitality while I had anything to say about it.

Tali and I had just arrived back home after an appointment at the Doctor's. Tali was now almost three months pregnant, and her tummy bump was now noticeable. I found it adorable and any time we were cuddling or snuggled up on the couch or bed, my hands always found their way to her stomach. Tali was exactly the same, always stroking a hand over her slightly enlarged abdomen. According to the Doctor, Tali's experiences at the hands of the Blades had done nothing to jeopardise the baby's life.

To the surprise of us both, as soon as the good news left the Doctor's mouth, I broke down crying out of pure relief. I had been even more terrified than I expected about there being negative after-affects on our child. But Tali did not get embarrassed, chastise me, or tell me she "told me so". She just held me there until I calmed down and could do nothing but smile at her. She understood. My beautiful wife understood that all I ever wanted was the best for her and the child, and that they were both completely fine meant the world to me.

When we got back home, I received a notification that Admiral Hackett would like to speak to me regarding "confidential matters". I knew this had to do with the Alliance's findings on the biological weapon that Talon had tried to unleash on Delhi. I had done my best to put the vile thing to the back of my mind since Tali and I had returned to Rannoch. It had been pretty easy, given how much work there was to get everything back to normal, but as our lives settled down, the issue started to creep into my thoughts more and more.

"Scott, pleasure to see you again," the aging Admiral said when his face flickered onto the screen. "I'll keep this brief. I find it a… distasteful topic to discuss and I'd rather forget about it and leave it in the past."

"I feel like I'm going to lose my appetite for dinner after this," I grimaced. A brief smile of amusement flashed across Hackett's face, but was gone as quick as it appeared. "Ok, give me the details."

"In short, it was an altered strain of the Krogan Genophage. Adapted for Humans with one significant difference. It was deliberately tweaked to cause the complete cellular degeneration after a number of hours. And, it was contagious. Transferred through the air. So as an infected person's body broke down, it would disperse into the air and continue on and on. Scott, if containment couldn't be achieved quickly enough, it could have spread right across Earth."

"Not to mention the Citadel with the amount of traffic to and fro," I added, feeling numb as the full weight of what could have happened hit me.

"Like the Genophage," Hackett said, "it primarily attacks hormone production sites. Main organs are affected via the blood after approximately two hours and start to fail at an accelerated rate. After roughly three hours, blood vessels and skin split and rupture, causing profuse bleeding. Naturally, it's about this point the victim dies, but the body continues to fall to pieces. The bones lose a lot of their flexibility and become very brittle. Meaning that if the victim falls while suffering the effects of the Genophage, it's almost a guaranteed break. It's a gruesome sight. I can't imagine the pain those poor people went through during Tolan's experiments at Site Zeta."

A memory of Mordin came to mind and I could not help but speak it out loud to Admiral Hackett.

"Mordin Solus, the head of the Genophage modification project before… anyway, once told me how difficult it was to alter the Genophage to counter the natural Krogan adaption without killing them. They spent more time on the project figuring out how to not end up exterminating the whole Krogan race by accident."

"Obviously Tolan didn't have the same M.O," Hackett stated. "This was a deliberate attempt to kill millions of Humans on Earth. You and your team have done an incredible thing, again."

This time, the smile that emerged on Steven's face remained a little longer.

"And, on a personal note, I was very happy to hear that Tali'Zorah was rescued safely. She's an amazing woman. The galaxy needs more like her."

"Agreed, Sir. I… I don't know how I would cope if the worst happened," I said, my mind drifting to a dark place.

"Well, it didn't," Steven dragged me back from the gloom, "and that's what's important."

A silence hung in the air for a few moments before I shook my head and said,

"I just don't get it. Why go through the bother of obtaining a strain of the Genophage, changing it to affect Humans and configure it specifically to kill them after a certain number of hours? Why not just deploy a big fucking bomb and have it done with?"

Hackett stroked his neatly trimmed beard in thought. I groaned as I said,

"I wished I could've captured that bastard! But he left us no choice, Sir."

"I read your report about what happened on the Entorro," Hackett said. "Someone like him was never going to come quietly. As for why he chose that course of action? No idea. I don't profess to know the minds of maniacs. Maybe it was about making a statement? He held a deeply ingrained prejudice against Krogan, who you played a big part in curing."

"So all of this bullshit was just Tolan saying "fuck you" to Humanity? Because of my actions saving an entire species from a slow extinction?" I said incredulously.

"Another concern is that he found backers to support his cause. High-level backers," Hackett stated. "A Dalatrass of Linron's status colluding with scum like that is deeply unsettling. If there are more dissenters in the Salarian government, or any of the other species' governments, then we'll have to increase our alert level. It'll be the first time since the Reaper War we've done that."

"That's a slippery slope, Admiral," I told him. "The Alliance ups its alert level, then the Turians do, then the Asari, then the Salarians et cetera, et cetera."

"Hopefully it would only be temporary as we run some… clandestine investigations."

"Liara would help," I told the Admiral confidently, "she's devoted to maintaining the peace that exists between the species now. Anyone has plans to ruin it, she'll find them."

Admiral Hackett was thankful that I suggested the Shadow Broker and told me he would contact Liara privately. He shifted a little uncomfortably then.

"Scott, if you want to see the full effect of the Human Genophage virus, to see for yourself how terrible a death it causes, there's footage of the experiments Tolan performed on the Human captives. I felt I needed to see it to fully understand the depravity to which Tolan and his cohorts were willing to sink. I… I wish I hadn't."

It was a rare thing to see Admiral Hackett with an expression that bordered on horrified on his face. He was always so composed and in control. Yet, now, his eyes were unfocused and distant. The images playing in his mind over and over.

"The Reapers unleashed plenty of horrors against us," the Admiral continued, "but knowing that what I saw was not committed by them, but by another sapient species that fought with us, is the worst part. Alliance soldiers died defending Salarian colony worlds. You know?"

I struggled to decide whether or not I wanted to watch the footage from the experiments. Admiral Hackett's explanation of the effects of the virus would more than suffice. And yet, like Hackett said himself, there was a desire to know exactly what it was that we had prevented from happening. What about Tali? Would she want to see such a disgusting sight? While she was a strong woman who had proven she could hold her emotions in check when needed, I feared that it would affect her negatively for a while. Given all that she had been through, adding to the fact that she was pregnant, perhaps this was a case of ignorance being blissful.

In the end, it would be her decision. I thanked Admiral Hackett for the update and let him return to his duties. The Alliance was engaging in a joined reconstruction effort on the Turian colony world of Epsus, which resided almost right on the border between Human and Turian space. Admiral Hackett and a Turian Fleet Admiral, Belarix, were still nailing down the final details, but it was always heartening to hear that the species of the galaxy were working so closely together.

I was still sitting quietly at my computer, my finger poised over the icon for the footage from Tolan's experiments. My tumultuous mind was constantly arguing the pros and cons of watching it. So engrossed was I in my mental battle that I failed to notice the door opening behind me.

"Hey," a kind voice said, "is everything alright? You've been in here for a while."

Tali came to stand behind me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, resting her chin on my head. Sighing, I indicated towards the vid icon,

"Admiral Hackett just briefed me on what the Human Genophage would have done. And… there's footage recovered from the Dalatrass' computer, of the experiments done on the captives. I'm not sure if I want to see it or not. What do you think? Would you watch it?"

I leaned my head back so I was looking in her eyes. Her lilac eyes met my blue ones, and she brushed her nose against mine.

"we've seen enough horrors in our lifetime, Scott. Let's leave it behind."

As always, my beautiful wife was right. I had witnessed enough by now. There were plenty of memories locked away in my head to keep me awake at night as it was. No need to add to it. With Tali watching, I selected the vid file and erased it.

"There," I breathed a sigh of relief. "It's gone. I hope to god that that's the last time we need to fight. I… I'm done shooting people."

I tried to think back across my career. How many people had I killed over all those years? From the minor skirmishes in my very early days, the Battle on Elysium, all the way through to Tolan on the Entorro. The Reaper creatures and Collectors did not count. The people, the individuals from whom the monstrosities had been created, were already dead.

Did the Heretic Geth count? Before they were brought to sapience during the Battle for Rannoch? I chose not to count them. Yet, even with those enemies deducted from the equation, my kill-count must still be in the hundreds. A thousand? Maybe not. But the fact I even had to wonder about that was enough to know that I killed a great many people in my life. Pirates, slavers, drug-dealers, gang members, extremists and terrorists. Unless my life and the lives those I care about the most are in danger, I decided that I would never kill again, if I could help it. Tali and I had a baby on the way. It was time to cultivate life, rather than end it.