Chapter 44 – Ophelia
March 30th, 2211, 0239 hours — New Thebes – Misthaven Maximum-Security Penitentiary – Security Room 3
Data Corruption… Automatic Reconstruction Failed…Data Corruption….Profile Reconstruction Required…
(Spectre Operative 04272182-Cloud)
The door opened to reveal a security room – one similar to the one I'd seen at the prison's entrance, maybe fifteen paces deep and ten wide. A number of security screens dotted one side of the wall, hung above a terminal with a chair in front of it. A small weapons locker was affixed in one corner. In another corner was a small table with a few more chairs and a tiny kitchenette. A woman sat in the chair in front of the terminal.
"Sarah?" I croaked. I blinked a few times, confused and more than a bit disoriented.
But it wasn't her. It wasn't Sarah. The woman in front of me wore a lab coat just like she had and looked approximately the same height and age that Sarah had been, but her hair was a lighter blonde and her eyes were brown, not green.
It wasn't Sarah. Sarah had died on the Hippocrates. I had seen the life leave her eyes. I had felt her blood on my hands and I had heard her gasp her last breath through her torn throat.
The woman got out of her chair and rushed towards me. "Thank god, it's you! I thought someone would come eventually but I can't believe it's you—"
I brandished my knife at her, stopping her in her tracks. "Not another step. Who are you?" I growled.
The woman took another tentative step forward, this time with her hands raised. "You're hurt. Come sit down, I have a first aid—"
I raised my knife a bit higher. "Who are you?" I repeated.
The woman paused, her eyes darting from my face to my knife, and then down to my empty pistol holster.
"My name is Astrid Svensdottir. I'm a trauma doctor with Project Transcendence. Look, you're bleeding. Let me—,"
"Project Transcendence?" I echoed.
"—Let me help you first," she finished. "Please I know you have a lot of questions, but let me take a look at you. I won't hurt you."
I hesitated for a moment. Project Transcendence? Was it something connected to the saboteurs? Either way, I had questions for her. Perhaps she was a lead—a string that I could finally pull on to maybe get some answers. We had been stumbling around in the dark for far too long, and deep down I sensed that we were running out of time. Terrible events, each one much more horrible than the one before, were now unfolding before us with increasing frequency.
"Take off your labcoat," I ordered.
The doctor cocked an eyebrow, but did as she was told. She removed her coat and draped it over the chair in front of the security terminal.
"Spin. Slowly, arms raised," I ordered.
She complied without a word, spinning around on the spot. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Nothing to indicate she had a weapon.
"Is that how you always treat people who want to help you?" she asked.
I didn't reply. She had no idea how many people I'd seen killed by assassins masquerading as first responders or doctors, and I didn't feel like educating her on the topic. Instead, I took a seat in one of the chairs by the table in the kitchenette. I kept my knife out and beckoned her towards me.
The doctor grabbed a first aid kid lying beside the terminal and brought it to the table, then took the seat next to me. I eyed it and her warily, and my pulse quickened a bit when she unzipped it and pulled something out, but I relaxed when I realized it was just a roll of gauze.
"What happened to you?" she asked.
"Minefield," I replied.
She scanned me with her omni-tool. "Three fractures, internal hemorrhage, major contusions along the kidneys. Has your urine had any blood in it?"
"Haven't had the chance to check yet, Doc."
She produced a flashlight, leaned in, and raised an eyelid with a finger. She shone it into my eyes.
"You've got a concussion as well," she muttered. The doctor then rifled through the first aid kid and pulled out two syringes. She held the first one up towards me.
"Here's a coagulant. It'll help stop the internal bleeding," she explained. "The second is a painkiller. I can't do anything about the fractures for now."
I eyed both the syringes. I recognized their trade names.
She passed them to me and I injected them through a med port on my armor. She then pulled out a plastic cylinder, unscrewed the top and handed me two pills.
"Take these, they'll help mitigate the effects of the concussion."
I took them and looked at them, and then I plucked the tube from her hand and studied that as well. She looked a bit offended as I did so, but she didn't say a word. Once I was satisfied that they were what they appeared to be, I took them.
She went to the fridge, opened it, and grabbed a sealed bottle of water and handed it to me. I took it from her and gulped it down greedily.
"Thanks doc."
"Please, call me Astrid. Are all Spectres so damn paranoid?" she asked.
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. "How do you know I'm a Spectre?"
Astrid gave a light laugh. The painkillers had started to kick in, numbing the pain, and the fog that my brain had found itself in ever since I had that vision after the crash had begun to lift as well. My mind was starting to clear up. I felt as if I were me again, back in control of my body and my thoughts.
She picked up the roll of gauze, sprayed some disinfectant onto the wound on top of my head and began to wrap the gauze around it. "Please, everyone in the Project knows who you are."
"And who am I?" I asked.
"You're a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To some you're a destroyer, here to wipe away all of our hopes and dreams. Others think you're just another trigger-happy Council lackey – just dumb muscle, a weapon that the Council sent to hunt us down. Everyone agrees that you're a threat to the Project's mission."
I stared into her eyes. "And what am I to you?"
Astrid averted her gaze. The smile disappeared from her face and she stopped talking. She did however continue to wrap my head. Once she was finished, she let her hands drop into her lap.
"Redemption," she whispered. "A chance to make things right. A chance to stop anyone else from getting hurt."
Even if she hadn't said all of that to me, her eyes if they could have spoken would have said the same thing. What had she done? What was Project Transcendence?
I sheathed my knife. "Astrid, what is the Project? Does it have something to do with what is happening here on Anhur?"
She withdrew and fell silent. I was in danger of losing her. I removed the gauze from her fingers and I gently cupped her hands in mine.
"Look Astrid," I began. "You know what I am. You know I'm a Spectre, but I'm not here because the Council told me to be here, but because terrible things are happening right now around the galaxy and I'm trying to stop them. I'm trying to stop them, Astrid. I don't want anyone else to get hurt, just like you."
She sat silently for a few more moments before nodding resolutely. "The Project… it's…. we're responsible for what's happening on the planet and for what happened on the Hippocrates. It's hard to explain…."
She pulled herself away and made her way back to the security terminal.
"I suppose I should start with this."
Astrid pulled a data disc from her pocket and slid it into the terminal. The security screens on the wall flickered and a video began to play.
I got up from the table and made my way over to stand beside her. I crossed my arms and watched.
"Entry Log 9, the year is 2291, March 1st, Galactic Calendar"
Wait. I had seen this video before, on the Hippocrates. Narrated by the woman in the black and white catsuit carrying one of Earth's native accents.
"Who is that?" I asked, nodding my head at the figure on the screen.
Astrid turned and looked at me incredulously. "That's Miranda Lawson. Ex-Cerberus operative, flew with Shepard during the Reaper War."
"My team and I have begun to analyze the Reaper Cores we've pulled from their deactivated starships. We've discovered something truly amazing."
I'd heard the name before but I hadn't realized it was her. Miranda Lawson had been a complete ghost before and even after the Reaper War, and it was understandable why people like Cade and I might not have recognized her, but it was highly unlikely that both the Council and the individuals they'd tasked with investigating the half of the video I had sent them would have failed to recognize her. For god sakes, Tevos had likely known her in person. Something was wrong there.
I filed that away in the back of my mind for now as the video continued to play.
"We know that each Reaper flagship is formed from genetic material created by captured and converted space-faring species. We surmised that if we were to directly analyze the DNA of the synthetic-organic composite used in the creation of their starships, chances are we can categorize Reaper starships not only via their structural differences, but also by the DNA of the captured species used to create them. And we have! Of the seven Reaper Cores we currently possess in this facility, three of them contain identical or near identical DNA. We are currently naming the species used in their creation the Cefaratti, seeing as how there is no way to speculate what the original species might have called itself…"
"Three of the other Reaper Cores are created from the DNA of other species that we are currently naming the Sahndori, the Kehldori and the Qualldori. But in the seventh… it possessed DNA like we had never seen before, DNA unlike any of the others. In each of the seven cores, much of the DNA of the originator species was heavily infused with what we have firmly identified as Reaper DNA. After the activation of the Crucible, this Reaper DNA was, for lack of a better word, rendered "inactive". The originator species of the other six cores are also inactive alongside the Reaper DNA. DNA transcription and translation have stopped, but in the seventh…
"Like I said… the DNA of the seventh is unlike anything we've ever seen. It is not inactive, it is not dead, it is alive. It's transcribing and replicating itself, creating new proteins that we don't have the slightest clue as to what they do. The process was slow, almost undetectable at first, but in the last few months we've noticed irrefutable signs of activity and life. We believe that this DNA isn't natural, but rather artificially created and inserted into the genome of the originator species."
"I've seen this video before. It was given to me by one of the more radical members of the Project, a doctor Olivia Flanagan. It cuts out after this," I said.
"Keep watching," Astrid replied. To my surprise, the video kept playing.
"Shepard told me what happened atop the Crucible. She told me what really happened and what the Crucible was capable of. If what she told me was right, then the remains of the Crucible could be reconstructed and potentially used to combine the DNA of all organic life with the DNA of this originator species. The effects are currently unknown, but they could potentially be disastrous, perhaps even catastrophic. We have no idea what this DNA will do to us once it is combined with ours. Shepard has asked me to discontinue the project and out of respect for her I will do so. She believes it is too dangerous to study. This means that we will be completely in the dark about this originator DNA and what it is trying to do. I pray that its effects are benign…"
On the screen, I watched as Miranda pursed her lips. Her eyes were alight with turmoil. In my own heart I could feel tiny seeds of horror slowly being sowed by her words, words spoken more than twenty years ago. Words so prophetic that I feared what else she might say, in case they too came to pass. The seeds of horror inside me quickly blossomed into long, icy-cold fingers – fingers that were now slowly wrapping themselves against my heart. With every beat, I could feel their grasp tightening.
"If the DNA were to manifest harmful, dangerous qualities and the Crucible was activated and allowed to merge that DNA with the DNA of all organic beings, then we could see its catastrophic effects exhibited and manifested in everyone, everywhere. The DNA is alive, we do not currently know what it does, only time will tell. We are currently calling this originator species the Cris'paii."
Beside me I could feel Astrid tense up. I felt her gaze on my face but I couldn't tear my eyes from the video. What was the Project trying to do?
"I have told my staff to stop all our research projects involving Cris'paii DNA. Alice disagrees with me, and while I sympathize with her I do not share her risk tolerance. I pray that nothing evil comes of this originator DNA, that this will be nothing but a scientific oddity, nothing but a benign occurrence."
"The Ancient Greeks on Earth used to tell a very curious story. They spoke of the titan Prometheus and how, in an attempt to spite the Gods, he had stolen fire from the heavens and had then given it to us mortals so that they could be elevated… so that we could transcend our ignorance. The Gods in their fury created a woman in whose possession was left a box… a box filled with all manners of misery and evil and death and war. Pandora's box."
"Pandora… she was curious… very curious, and she longed to see what was inside the box. Eventually she gave in to her curiosity. Pandora opened it and when she did, all that was in the box was let loose upon the world and though she closed it soon after, it was too late. What had been inside had already been let loose, never to be trapped again."
Miranda sighed. Her fine, porcelain features contracted and she turned her gaze downwards. "A part of me fears that we have opened a similar box. I don't know if it is the same one that the Ancient Greeks spoke of. I can only pray that it is not. Miranda Lawson, signing out."
The video cut out after that.
I stood there in utter shock as I tried to process what this video meant. Was Project Transcendence trying to merge this originator DNA – this Cris'paii DNA – with every being in the galaxy through the Crucible? Why would they do that? Why would they want to let loose such a nightmare upon the galaxy? The deaths wouldn't number in the millions or even billions but trillions.
I immediately turned to Astrid. "What is the Project planning? Is Miranda still alive? Where is she?" I growled.
It took every ounce of self-control I had not to strangle the doctor right now. Why had she been voluntarily complicit in this? How could anyone be voluntarily complicit in this? A whole Systems Alliance fleet and hundreds of asari and salarians had deserted to what, help enact the greatest genocidal act in the history of the galaxy?
Astrid eyed me nervously and took a step back. "No one has seen Miranda Lawson in over twenty years."
She raised her hands, and I couldn't help but notice that they were trembling.
"Look, I have no idea what the Project might be capable of. Creating monsters wasn't what the Project was about at all."
"Might?" I asked. "Start talking!"
Tears began to roll down Astrid's cheeks now. "Alice only showed us the first half of that video. I found the second half on her personal terminal accidentally, while I was trying to locate some lab data," she said.
"Who is Alice? What is the Project trying to do?"
"Alice Anders, an ex-Cerberus operative," Astrid replied. "We call her Mordred. She worked with Miranda before the war and after it. She's the one in charge of Project Transcendence."
Mordred. I'd heard Locke and the other saboteur leaders use that name while on the Hippocrates. These saboteurs... these defectors… they were part of Project Transcendence then. Transcendence… that was what the young female saboteur had called it, the one who had chosen to take her own life aboard the Hippocrates rather than surrender to us.
"We knew that the Cris'paii DNA was somehow active," Alice continued. "It was building something, we just didn't know what. Reaper constructs all had two kinds of DNA in them – Reaper DNA and the DNA of whatever species was harvested to create them, which we just simply called originator DNA."
The doctor swallowed. "The Cris'paii DNA was the first evidence we had of life surviving after being harvested by the Reapers. Alice had a plan. She had worked on Project Lazarus with Miranda Lawson. She had helped them design a serum – well, more accurately a gene sequence – that would accelerate…. that would essentially accelerate transcription and translation of DNA. Alice called it the Cerberus Revival Strain. It was used to create genetic clones of Commander Shepard during the war. Alice believed that if we could understand how Cris'paii DNA managed to remain 'alive' after being harvested, we might be able to use the serum to bring back everyone who the Reapers had harvested during the war."
When Astrid said those words It felt as if the floor had fallen out from beneath me. I felt as if I had just fallen headfirst into an icy pool, completely in shock and unable to respond. What? I thought. Bring back those that the Reapers had harvested? Was that even possible?
"What happened on the Hippocrates and on this planet were basically test runs," she continued. "Alice combined the serum with the Cris'paii DNA so that it could grow and we could see what might happen. We loaded the CPU on the ship with the serum and arranged it to be placed into the Reaper Core. When it turned on, it seemingly activated the Cris'paii DNA. The Hippocrates used an earlier version of the serum."
Astrid swallowed. Tears were streaming freely down her cheeks now. She wiped them on the back of her hand.
I remembered what had happened that day, aboard the Prometheus. When the scientists had turned the Reaper Core on, a bolt of energy had hit a centrifuge carrying what must have been Reaper genetic material. It must have had Cris'paii DNA mixed in it. It had caused the material to launch itself at the other people in the room, precipitating their transformation into the creatures.
"However… none of us ever imagined that the DNA in combination of the serum would create such horrific creatures – and creatures capable of reproducing no less. In many ways, the Cris'paii DNA – though in all honesty it seems almost inaccurate to even call it DNA anymore – codes for frighteningly parasitic behavior. For reasons we don't yet fully understand, it seeks to integrate itself into other life-forms and then changes them on a cellular level."
Astrid continued to talk but for some reason I couldn't focus on anything other than a single thought. Fear and disbelief had given way to a single question and a single emotion. It was hope. Could they bring back everyone the Reapers had taken?
"We didn't realize exactly how parasitic it was when we started the test on the Hippocrates. We suspected that it might be capable of jumping species when the Phenomenon started to occur on planets that saw significant combat with the Reapers. Members of all but the dextro species were getting ill and their autopsies showed signs that the Cris'paii DNA had entered their genomes and had begun to change them on a physiological level. The Phenomenon showed us that the Cris'paii DNA was capable of 'infecting' other species, and that's why it was so important that we get the data from Project Prometheus. We needed a greater understanding about the infectious properties of Cris'paii DNA, which you denied us when you destroyed the data."
Lost fathers and sons and daughters and even…no… stop it. Stop.
"In any event, many of the people who believed in Project Transcendence and in Alice saw what happened on the Hippocrates as a scientific victory, despite the nightmares they unleashed there. We proved that we could bring back a harvested species. We believed that, with enough time and research, we could use the serum and the Cris'paii DNA to revive harvested individuals. That is why Project members and believers around the galaxy have left their respective militaries and organizations and governments behind in a mass 'defection' as you call it. That is the Project is doubling down on what they view as incontrovertible proof that they can bring back the loved one they lost to the Reapers, even if that proof was purchased at a terrible cost. That's why we initiated an outbreak here, on Anhur. Alice tweaked the serum and we had to test it on a larger sample size."
I found myself utterly speechless at what I just heard. My knees and quads suddenly felt weak and I found myself struggling to stand. It was like my brain had shut itself down to spare itself from the shock. I took a seat in the chair beside the terminal. I waited as my mind tried to reconcile what Astrid has just told me. It was such a monumental task that I apparently couldn't do it and something as simple as standing at the same time.
"But…but even if somehow you managed to successfully use the serum to clone a harvested individual, you wouldn't be able to bring their minds back. Shepard's clone never managed to receive her memories or her personality. The Reapers stored their victim's consciousness in their ships, and those were all shut down when Shepard fired the Crucible," I said.
Astrid nodded. "That was the one problem the Project has always struggled with. Alice toyed with many ideas, from using Cerberus' AI technology to recreate the minds of a harvested individual to restarting the Reaper ships to try and see if we could extract their consciousness."
"However," she continued, "Something changed recently. After the Project tested the second iteration of the serum on Anhur, we began to notice that the creatures had begun evolving and showing a degree of sentience not shared by the creatures that were created aboard the Hippocrates. Alice began to make rapid adjustments to the serum and testing them on individual live subjects brought in from the city. I actually helped one of them escape about two and a half weeks ago."
I looked up. "A man named Dennis Baird?" I asked.
Astrid shrugged. "I didn't know his name, but he was thin and had blonde hair. I unlocked his door and he managed to escape through a maintenance shaft beside his cell that ran to the surface."
Baird hadn't mentioned anything about being in a prison, but I supposed that it could have been possible that the Project had taken pains to ensure that he wouldn't have had a clue where he had been kept and that he hadn't paid close attention to where he had been on the way out. Regardless, Astrid's story seemed to line up somewhat at least, lending her some credibility.
"Anyways, about ten days ago Alice told us she had made a significant breakthrough. I tried to find out what it was, but the ones directly working under Alice wouldn't say anything. All I know is that one of the subjects had apparently died. Last night, she told us to pack up all our equipment and prepare to head back to the Exeter, the Project's command ship. I was locating lab data when I came across the video file. I played it."
Astrid looked down towards the floor.
"I had already been having doubts about the Project. Their goal is a noble one. The Council and much of the galaxy was all too ready to give up and to let go of the ones we'd lost, but a lot of people out there aren't. Alice gave us a chance to bring them all back..."
She then shook her head. "…But after what's happened, I started to wonder how it could ever be worth all the pain that we have caused. I wondered if the people we were trying to bring back would have even wanted to be brought back if they had known what it would cost. I asked myself if that's what my father would have wanted. That's why I freed one of the subjects."
"Is that who you lost? Your father?" I asked.
Astrid nodded. "Yes. He was a doctor, like me. He stayed behind on Earth during the Reaper War to help survivors. I found out only after the war that his clinic had been hit and that he'd been captured by the Reapers. He was likely harvested."
She raised her head and when she spoke again, I could hear a bit of steel in her voice. There was determination in it.
"When I saw the video and I realized the full ramifications of what the Project might be capable of, I knew I couldn't go along with it anymore. I grabbed what data I could and I waited here, for whomever the Council would send to eventually arrive."
"Do you think that's what they're trying to do?" I asked. "Is the Project planning to use the Crucible to disseminate the Cris'paii DNA and turn everyone into those things?"
Astrid's eyes grew wide. "No, that wouldn't make any sense! The goal of the Project is to bring back our lost loved ones, not to enact galactic genocide. No, I do not believe that's what they're trying to do. Still... I cannot be a part of it anymore..."
I pondered all of it for a moment. As crazy as it all sounded, in some ways I felt a bit of relief. We now knew what the Project's goal was. We knew their motivations, their hopes… these weren't a bunch of crazed fanatics trying to wipe out all life in the galaxy as we knew it. These were just people doing what they believed was right. That made them dangerous. More dangerous than what we could have bargained for.
And If what Astrid was saying was true, then the people I'd been fighting... the people I'd been killing… they were just trying to bring back people that they had lost. Who wouldn't? What would I have done if Cade or Percival had died? How far would I have gone to bring them back?
Not what they did, right? You would have learned to let go… wouldn't you?
I stood up from my chair. "You need to testify before the Council. If you can testify as to what the Project has been up to, then that will give the Council the legitimacy they need to take appropriate action."
Astrid nodded. "Whatever you think is right. My hands are not clean in this. I will do whatever it takes to right my wrongs."
"Good. We need to leave. Are there any Project members still inside the prison?"
She shook her head. "I don't know. I don't think so. Most of the staff evacuated a few hours ago. They also disabled the feed to the cameras down in the labs. If any of the Project members are still here then they're probably there. There's also a landing pad down there that opens up to the surface, it's how they evacuated."
Then that's where I was headed next.
I headed over to the weapons locker and waved my omni-tool over it. The code-breaking program beeped and the locker opened. It was empty, damn it.
"Spectre, wait!"
I turned around. Astrid walked over to the kitchenette and opened one of the drawers. She removed a package wrapped in tinfoil.
She unwrapped it, revealing a standard-issue Predator pistol. No mods, nothing. She proffered it to me and I took it.
"When we were packing to leave, Locke had us clean out all the weapons in this place. That's the only one I managed to save."
I checked the ammunition block and the heatsink. It was fully loaded, with a big enough block for about six reloads. I didn't have any spare heatsinks on me so I'd have to wait for it to cool down.
"Thomas Locke?" I asked.
"Yes, the N7," she nodded. "He's a team commander for the Project, alongside Severus Tyrannus and Morder Zakiah. They're responsible for security and for the Project's direct-action missions."
I slid the Predator into my holster. It wasn't much but it was all I had. I had no grenades, none of my rifles – nothing but my biotics, two knives and a single pistol. Not exactly what I'd be hoping to take on the Project with, but hey.
"Stay here and barricade this room," I ordered. "Don't open this door for anyone but me. I'll be back once I've checked out the labs."
Astrid shook her head. "No way, I'm coming with you."
I gave a small laugh. "Like hell you are. You're a key witness. I'm not going to risk your well-being."
The doctor removed a chain around her neck with a small data drive attached to it. She walked up to me and looped it around my neck.
"Everything I could duplicate I downloaded into that drive, including that video we just watched. It's all there, everything that I would otherwise be testifying about. Now you have a back-up. I'm coming with you," she said emphatically.
I slipped the drive beneath my armor and sighed. "Astrid, don't do this. Stay here, where it's safe."
"No," she stubbornly refused. "I'm not going to sit and do nothing for another second longer. I didn't do anything when they killed everyone aboard the Hippocrates. I didn't do anything when they started the outbreak here. I'm coming with you. I don't care if it's safe or not. I'm not sitting this one out."
I sighed again and rubbed my eyes. If she tagged along I wouldn't be able to stay stealthed the entire time. If I left her here, she'd probably break out and follow me. I didn't have anything that could knock her out and I didn't have time to barricade her in.
"Fine. But you do what I say, when I say. You don't ask questions, you don't hesitate. You got it?"
"I got it," she nodded.
I moved towards the door. "You stay right behind me."
"You got it," she repeated. "You got a name, Spectre?"
"It's Cloud."
"You must not have had a very fun childhood."
March 30th, 2211, 0239 hours —Anhur, City of New Thebes
Data Corruption… Automatic Reconstruction Failed…Data Corruption….Profile Reconstruction Required…
(Spectre Operative – 10082181-Elektra)
Currently fighting towards the downed freighter TMV Harsa's Embrace, source of the Anhur Outbreak
"Two on your right!"
"I see them!"
"Spirits, they're everywhere!"
An explosion nearby brought Elektra to her knees, causing her ears to ring fiercely and the world to dim briefly around her. A stray grenade or a biotic detonation maybe.
She growled and pushed herself to her feet. A few meters away down the street to her left lay a pile of bloody meat and blue armor where a squad of Blue Suns troopers used to be.
A turian havoc trooper flew overhead, unleashing a stream of bullets down onto the creatures in the street below her, when suddenly two Chargers leapt from out of the windows of a nearby building towards the trooper. One grabbed onto her arm, and another onto her leg. Their combined weight brought the trooper down to the street below where a third Charger leapt out from a side-street and onto the doomed trooper.
Elektra yelled in frustration and emptied her shotgun at the creatures, blowing them them into chunks of metal and flesh. Once the grisly deed was done, she lowered her weapon and began to take deep breaths.
It was absolute pandemonium out here. Turian soldiers fired endlessly at wave after wave of the creatures. A nearby Jiris IFV fired its main cannon, erasing an entire line of the charging monstrosities. The streets of Anhur echoed with gunfire, barked orders, strangled shouts and cries of pain cut short.
A hand grabbed her pauldron. Elektra whirled around. It was Malan.
"Elektra, don't stop here. Keep pushing!" the batarian mercenary urged.
Elektra nodded. She shouldered her shotgun and blew apart a Corpser that was in the process of launching itself at another Blue Suns mercenary. The mercenary she saved flashed her a weak grin and a thumbs up.
Malan raised his flamethrower and unleashed yet another jet of flame up at the windows of the buildings above them, where several of the creatures had lined up to leap down on the attackers below. It was an ambush tactic that the creatures were using to terrible effect in the streets of Anhur. The flames struck the creatures, causing them to shriek in agony as their rotting flesh was melted off their synthetic frames.
Elektra never thought her first large-scale ground battle would be like this. In the war room, Garrus had laid out orderly troop movements, diagrams and plans and contingencies. Out here, she couldn't see any of it. She knew that turian troops were fighting down all the major streets leading to the downed freighter and that she and the Primarch were supposed to be in the center, but to her it just looked like an utter mess.
But this is where a Spectre is meant to be, right? Elbows-deep in the most dangerous parts of the galaxy, protecting people and fighting the good fight. This is where I can do the most good. This is what Cloud would do, where he would be, right?
Nearby a turian soldier howled as he was disemboweled by a Corpser. His fellow soldier grabbed him and tried to pull him back, firing one-handed at the snarling, advancing creature.
A large figure in bladed armor came out of nowhere and slammed his shoulder into the Corpser, sending it crashing into a nearby storefront, and even taking a few of the turian soldier's bullets in the process. The blades on his pauldron tore through the Corpser's head and the red light in its eyes dimmed instantly.
Revak Ghar'aran pushed the creature off of him in disgust. Another Corpser charged at him. He ducked its scything forearms and grabbed it by the throat with one big hand. With his other hand the batarian ripped one of its scythes off and drove it into the creature's skull.
He let it fall to the ground. The batarian grabbed the disemboweled soldier's fallen Phaeston, racked the charging handle, and continued down the street firing at targets Elektra couldn't see. The turian soldier he had saved stared incredulously up at his savior while his friend struggled to keep his intestines in his body.
Elektra called out for help. A turian with a medic patch was beside her in an instant, and she waved him towards the wounded soldier.
Malan tapped her again. "Come on, the Primarch is moving too fast. If we don't catch up he'll be cut off. Revak is already headed his way."
Elektra nodded. Together they pushed onward, backed by a number of Blue Suns troopers.
She wasn't the best at waging or planning a ground war, so she had to ask. "Malan, why are we attacking at night? Even with two moons in the sky it's hard to see much of anything."
"I do not know. Hubris maybe," Malan replied. "Vakarian has always been an over-confident one. Or perhaps he believes that time is of the essence when it comes to containing these creatures and stopping the defectors."
Elektra gritted her teeth. In addition to the moons, the turians had lamps and advanced armor that allowed them to see reasonably well at night, but the Suns didn't have such capabilities. Even with those advantages, the creatures were still using the darkness to terrible effect.
"The sun will be up soon, Elektra. Dawn will bring new hope. We just need to hold out until then." Malan promised.
Elektra and the Suns cut down dozens of the creatures as they pressed their way towards the Primarch. They passed wounded soldiers and more of the damned creatures than Elektra could count. The streets echoed with gunfire, shouting and screams of pain and always that damned, horrendous shrieking. It set a perpetual chill in her blood, raised the goosebumps on her arm, and triggered a primal fear within Elektra that she couldn't divest herself of.
Eventually, Elektra could spot him. Garrus was perched atop a Jiris IFV. Every two seconds he'd let out a shot with unerring accuracy from his Mantis and a creature would drop. He was a better snapshot than anyone Elektra knew, even Cade. He was likely also better than Cloud at range.
The Blackwatch that formed Garrus' personal guard were arranged around the Jiris. They too were putting down creatures with frightening precision. No bullet was wasted. If a target was too big, several soldiers would fire synchronously to put it down. They were the most dangerous soldiers that the Hierarchy had ever fielded and it showed.
Percival fought just ahead of the Jiris that Garrus was on. Beside him was Galen, Garm and Rayla. The young turian looked like he could give the Blackwatch a run for his money. He flitted between the creatures, quick as a ghost, putting short bursts into the back of their skulls. He always looked as if he were staying just inches ahead of their raking claws. Elektra swore that if she made it out alive, she'd train with the turian.
Rayla kept a careful eye on the turian. She put down creatures that attempted to flank Galen and used her biotics to create chokepoints and deny approach vectors. Garm was another matter. The krogan acted like a massive stationary turret. His Spitfire mowed down Corpsers by the score.
Garrus saw Elektra and the Ghar'arans and waved them over. The Primarch fired one more shot, nailing a Changer in the eye.
"Spectre. I've lost contact with one of my squads. They located a SAM site here and were supposed to take it down, but they haven't reported back in a while. I have to assume their lost."
Garrus forwarded map-data to her omni-tool. Elektra opened it up. A building was marked maybe a hundred meters away, down towards the right flank.
"I've already sent the Jaegers to take down another one. I need you and some of the Suns to go there and neutralize the SAM site. If you do, we can finally get some air support in from the Wrath."
Elektra showed the map to Revak and Malan. The older Ghar'aran chuckled. "Can't do your own dirty-work, Vakarian?". Revak looked over at the Blackwatch. "Your fancy soldiers scared?"
Garrus fired another shot, taking the head off of a Charger about to pounce on another Havoc trooper. "Well, I figured since you're getting billed for this I might as well get our money's worth."
Malan turned around and directed a squad of Blue Suns towards them. "We will go. Navarrian will have command while we're gone," Malan replied.
Revak gave a growl and started to head off towards the SAM site. Elektra caught Percival's eye as she left to follow him. The Spectre waved.
Elektra, the two brothers, and the Suns squad headed down a side-street towards the right flank. Bodies in terrible states of destruction littered the street. The turians had to be taking some heavy casualties.
The rally point the turians were fighting towards was a large square some distance away from the downed freighter. Once they were there they'd hunker down while another strike team brought the bomb to the freighter. If they could neutralize the SAMs, they could flying in gunships for air support and evac.
The group passed by the right flank towards the SAM site, trying not to draw too much attention. After a few close calls, they finally got to the building. It was a large office building. The glass doors were shattered, but it sounded quiet inside. The group stacked up outside the door.
"SAM site should be on the roof. I can stealth in and mark enemy positions, and then you can come in and mop up," Elektra whispered.
"A good plan," Malan agreed. He gestured for his troopers to hold position. Revak took his place at the head of the column.
Elektra slipped on her helmet, turned on her tactical cloak and slowly made her way through the broken doors, careful not to step on any broken glass that might give away her position.
A squad of turians lay dead in the lobby, their armor riddled with what looked like rounds from a heavy-caliber machine gun.
Elektra looked up. The lobby had a second floor to it. Elektra could see a gun placement above, aimed towards the front doors. A man in what looked like painted-over Systems Alliance armor manned it. An asari, two more humans, and a salarian took positions nearby. If the Suns came in they would undoubtedly be massacred, just like the turians.
She transmitted their positions to the Suns. It didn't look like they knew that the mercenaries were just outside.
"Wait for my signal" she ordered over the channel.
"Yes."
She spotted stairs leading up to the second level of the lobby. She climbed them, quiet as a mouse.
Elektra may not have had a lot of experience in an open ground war but she did have a lot of experience in stealth and wetwork, even if she did have a preference for chaotic close-quarters combat.
The three human marines were stationed around the turret, semi-alert, guns aimed at the front entrance. The asari and the salarian were hanging around on either side above the main entrance. They were positioned to catch whomever came through in a deadly cross-fire.
She made her way passed the humans and towards the asari first. Thankfully there was a battle still raging outside, and that helped to mask what little sound she made.
She positioned herself behind the unsuspecting asari and slowly drew her Predator pistol.
Elektra put three rounds into the back of the asari's head, causing a fine blue mist to erupt out onto the lobby below.
The humans jumped up in surprise, startled. Before they could react, however, Elektra primed and whipped a Lift grenade towards the trio. It detonated in a flash of blue light, sending them flying into the air, suspended.
Elektra leapt up onto the railing, balancing precariously over the edge, and initiated a biotic charge. She slammed into the group and the biotic powers intermingled and detonated, throwing them across the room with vicious force. One went headfirst onto the floor below and the other two slammed into the walls behind them, leaving oily red smears across the tattered wallpaper. There was no way they had survived that.
The surviving salarian gave a shout and raised a submachine gun. At that moment, the Blue Suns charged through the door.
The salarian defector hesitated for a single moment, and that proved fatal. Elektra watched as Revak picked up a brick or a broken chunk of metal from the ground and hurled it at the salarian.
It sailed through the air and slammed into the salarian's head with a sickening crack that echoed throughout the lobby. Green ichor painted the wall behind him.
Revak waved the Suns towards the elevators at the back of the lobby. "We have no time to waste. Split up, we'll take both elevators to the roof."
"Wait, let me see if they've been booby-trapped," Elektra said.
Revak nodded. Elektra moved to the elevators and scanned them with her omni-tool while the Blue Suns milled around. Some of them looked at the bodies of the defectors, and then back at Elektra with more than a hint of awe. She put on her mask again and flashed them a flirty wink.
While she was scanning the elevators, Revak moved to the gun turret. He studied the contraption for a moment, then unhooked it from its mount and pulled it off. The batarian shouldered the massive, tri-barreled weapon as if it weighed no more than an errant toddler and made his way over to wait with his fellow mercenaries. Elektra marveled at the batarian's strength. He could probably give a krogan a run for his money.
"The elevators are clear," Elektra reported. The doors slid open and she waved for the mercenaries to enter.
"Malan, take Jurgenson's fireteam up the first elevator. The rest of us will ascend in the second one. Give us visual cover with your flamer as soon as you exit. I'll lay down suppressive fire. As soon as we're up there, spread out!" Revak ordered.
The mercenaries divided up into their assigned groups. Elektra took her place in the elevator beside Revak.
The doors closed and the elevator began to ascend. For a moment she couldn't help but feel a bit awkward in that elevator. Though tall for a woman, she was the smallest individual and the only woman there, seeing as all the Blue Suns were either batarian or human males. Plus, someone hadn't disabled the damned muzak.
As the elevators passed the halfway point, Revak unslung the tri-barrelled machine-gun and pointed it towards the door.
Revak was a bit of an enigma to Elektra and her friends. The scarred batarian was an individual of few words. He was less approachable than his brother and had a much more menacing aura, which deterred most individuals from trying to speak to him. Elektra decided that she would nonetheless try. If she was going to fight beside him she might as well get to know him a bit.
"What happened to your rifle?" Elektra asked. If she could recall correctly, he'd been using a custom Revenant the last time she'd seen him fight. It had looked to have been modded, with ancient batarian script painstakingly hand-painted onto the barrel and the cowling. Everyone she knew loved talking about their guns, especially mercenaries.
"I don't have it anymore," Revak grunted.
"The boss used it to cave in a Changer's skull," one of the mercenaries replied. "He couldn't pull it back out so he left it."
"Wouldn't be the first time too," another batarian quipped.
Revak didn't weigh in. The batarian just stood there, watching the panel as it tracked their progress up the building.
Elektra decided not to try her luck any further. She already had rapport with one war criminal. She didn't need to try for another.
About two floors out, the rest of the mercenaries shouldered their weapons and braced themselves for whatever was about to meet them. Elektra did the same, bringing up her N7 Hurricane and preparing herself to meet a hail of weapons-fire.
The doors slid open. A crack echoed around the elevator and one of the mercenaries slumped backwards, a gaping hole in his helmet.
Revak roared and began to open up with his appropriated weapon. The tri-barrelled monstrosity thundered as it spat out hundreds of rounds per minute. At the same time curtains of flame billowed out from the other elevator to separate them from the attackers
"Move! Spread out!" Revak ordered.
Elektra darted out the door and towards the side. She activated her tactical cloak and began to appraise the situation.
Maybe a dozen armed fighters in blackened Systems Alliance armor were firing at the mercenaries, positioned behind makeshift barricades. The SAM site lay beyond them, at the other end of the rooftop. Though numerically the two sides were about equal, the saboteurs had a better defensive position. The rooftop was not terribly big, and the saboteurs had set up excellent firing lanes. The flames had caught them off-guard for now but the advantage wouldn't last forever.
Elektra decided to act immediately, before the mercenaries were cut down.
She dropped into a crouch and then threw herself into a biotic charge. She slammed into a pair of saboteurs at one end of the enemy position, knocking them down. She put them down with bursts from her Hurricane.
One of the saboteurs with lieutenant's bars shouted something and pointed at her. Several of the other saboteurs turned their weapons from the Blue Suns to her and began to fire.
Elektra rolled out of the way behind a nearby crate and blind-fired over it to buy herself some time. Her shields dropped precipitously with a whine.
A torrent of gunfire suddenly slashed into the saboteurs. Revak advanced out of the elevator, his weapon thundering. Two more saboteurs dropped with fist-sized holes in their armor from the heavy-caliber weapon. The other Suns followed close behind him. The saboteurs soon found themselves fighting on two fronts.
A jet of flame flew out and hit the saboteur closest to Elektra, turning him into a screaming, human torch. Elektra put him down mercifully with another burst from her Hurricane. The saboteurs soon found themselves both outmatched and outgunned. One by one they fell until only the lieutenant was left standing.
The lieutenant shot a Sun in the chest, killing him, but the rifle clicked empty. He was tackled to the ground by another mercenary.
Elektra got up from where she had been taking cover. She watched as Revak dropped his weapon to the ground and stormed his way over to the captive.
The scarred batarian pulled the soldier to his feet. He tore off the man's helmet and tossed it aside. The lieutenant looked like he was in his early thirties. His fingers clawed at the Revak's hands but the batarian's strength was too great.
Revak dragged the man and pushed him down so that he was seated on the ledge of the rooftop. He then grabbed the man's pauldrons and pushed him out so that he was hovering over the edge. The man peered over his shoulder at the drop below him and gave a shout of fear. His fingers went from prying at Revak's hands to clutching onto them for dear life.
It was then that Elektra noticed a series of names inscribed on the man's chest armor, similar to the saboteurs at the satellite facility.
"Wait!" Elektra asked. She pushed her way towards the duo. "Hey, you. The names on your armor, what do they mean?"
"W-What?" the man stammered.
Elektra grabbed the man by the collar and peered at the names. 'Sadie Singhal, Ganesh Singhal, Prasheed Delasaralla, Nila Delasaralla' they read.
She then looked at the soldier's nametag. Feroz Singhal.
"What do the names mean? Are they your family?" Elektra asked. "What are you guys planning to do? Why trigger an outbreak on Anhur?"
The marine didn't reply and he looked as if fear had rendered him near-catatonic. The man continued to hyperventilate while keeping a tight hold on Revak's hands.
"Answer the woman," Revak growled.
The defecting marine looked at the scarred batarian and then at Elektra. The fear slowly left his eyes, to be replaced by a sheen of determination and defiance.
"I'm not telling you anything," he hissed. The defector spat in Revak's face.
Revak didn't even flinch. Elektra knelt down in front of him and removed her helmet. "Hey, Feroz. Please, talk to me. A lot of people died because of what you and your people did. Now I know deep down you didn't want to be complicit in it. You're a good man, I can sense it. You didn't want to hurt these people. Talk to me, help me help you."
It was a risky gamble, one that banked on Feroz having even the slightest hint of doubt or remorse over what they had done, but it was all Elektra could think of right now.
Malan walked up to the group as well to stand menacingly beside his brother. Feroz's eyes flickered to the other massive batarian. In the moonlight and with their bladed armor, the two Ghar'arans looked like demons pulled straight from some mythical underworld.
But fear did not return to the marine's eyes. Instead, Elektra saw them now slowly filling with tears. The determination, however, remained.
He turned to her. "Do you have a family?" he asked Elektra.
"No," Elektra replied. She gestured at the names inscribed on his chestplate. "Is that who they are, Feroz? Are they your family?" she asked again.
The marine trembled. His tone wavered, tinged with sorrow. "You ever lose anyone you knew you could never live without? Someone that you'd do anything to see again?"
"Can't say that I have," she told him.
The lieutenant gave a sad laugh. "Then I envy you. And you wouldn't understand why we're here and what we're doing."
High above the city as they were, even with the wind howling like a caged creature, it still wasn't enough to drown out the sounds of fighting below. Every minute, people were dying – dying for a reason that Elektra and the others were no closer to understanding than when they had first stepped foot on this planet. Every minute they spent stumbling about in the dark and in ignorance meant more blood spilled, more lives shattered.
"Help me, help me understand," Elektra begged. "I don't know what you're trying to do here, but maybe there's another way – a way that doesn't involve so many people dying! Talk to us, maybe we can help you!"
The man's determined gaze faltered ever so slightly and for a brief moment Elektra felt hope, but the gates soon came down again and that spark in her chest died as quickly as it had been lit. He pressed his lips together and stared defiantly at the trio.
Revak suddenly lifted the man back into an upright position, seating him on the ledge. The marine looked at him, confused.
"Lieutenant, my name is Revak Ghar'aran," he began in a low rumble.
"I know who you are, murderer," Feroz growled.
Unperturbed, Revak continued. "I'm a simple soldier, Lieutenant. I have no stomach for torture and no patience for the games that a Systems Alliance interrogation team would undoubtedly put you through. We do not have the time. We have questions that need answering. Lives depend on it, and you look like you have answers."
The batarian raised a thumb and rubbed off at a bit of blood that had found its way onto the man's cheek. That act seemingly unnerved the captive marine more than the sight of two massive batarians before him.
"Like I said, I'm a simple soldier. You look like you're a soldier as well. I don't want us to waste time with one another. You either have the ability to help us or you do not, and if you do not then I do not see any reason why we should keep you here any longer. We have a war to fight, so we will turn you over to the proper authorities and continue on our way."
"So let me ask you this," Revak continued. "Are you going to answer the Spectre's question?"
"No."
"Hmm…Is there anything we can say or do to convince you otherwise?"
"No."
"You answered that rather quickly, lieutenant. I'll ask you one more time. Are you sure?"
Feroz spat for a second time at Revak. "Go to hell, butcher. I know what you did on Bahak. You think you scare me? You're just a fucking bully. One day, someone's going to make you pay for what you did. You're going to learn that not everyone is afraid of bullies like you."
Revak raised a hand and wiped away the spittle.
"Not before you learn how to fly, my dear lieutenant," Revak replied calmly.
Elektra realized too late what the mercenary intended to do. She watched in shock as Revak stood up and kicked the captive in the chest, sending him screaming over the edge of the building.
Malan shook his head, seemingly unperturbed by the older Ghar'aran's actions. "Brother, was that really necessary? You said you were going to turn him over to the proper authorities!"
Revak turned to his younger brother. "And I did. The laws of physics are the only authorities that must be obeyed. Everyone else is flesh and blood – fallible, corruptible, and prone to acts of self-serving. We do not know whose hands he might have ended up in. This way I removed him permanently from the board. This way, he most certainly will not be hurting anyone else."
Elektra had spent much of her younger life in gangs. She wasn't so much fazed by the brutal execution as she was by how easy it was for Revak himself to take a life in cold-blood. Hadn't Malan said that Revak was seeking redemption?
Elektra's blood was boiling at the batarian mercenary's callous savagery. She stood up and crossed her arms. "Is this how you intend to make amends for what you did on Bahak? By murdering prisoners of war? We didn't know for sure whether he would talk to us or not!"
Revak gave her a look of surprise. He then looked at Malan. "You talk too much, little brother," he chuckled.
The batarian moved towards the SAM battery, but Elektra wasn't finished yet.
The wind continued to blow across the rooftop, whipping her hair wildly behind her, but Elektra refused to back down. "What gave you the right to take his life?" she asked.
Revak gave a hearty chuckle. "You're a good fighter, Spectre, but you are still young and know little of the true ways of the world. You speak of a 'right' to take a life as if there existed a set of universal, morally-acceptable justifications for performing such an act, when the reality is that no such thing exists."
Revak raised an armored hand and peered at it. Elektra wondered what he could be looking at. "Nor should it, for it would allow cowards to hide their true motives and pretend that they have some sort of valid pretense for taking a life, when the truth is that they merely had the strength and power to do so and doing so would serve to further their goals. I did not have any right to take his life. I chose to."
"Then you're just a murderer, plain and simple," Elektra said flatly.
He then let out a laugh – a genuine, heartfelt laugh that rang across the rooftop. "Yes, Spectre, I am. Murderer… butcher… slaver… I have been called many things, and all of those things are true to some extent. My brother may have told you why I am here on this planet, but do not make the mistake of believing that I am a righteous man. I refuse to masquerade as someone I am not."
Revak stopped briefly beside the body of one of his fallen mercenaries and plucked something from the man's armor. Elektra couldn't see what he had taken, but it looked like a data disc of some sort – perhaps a diary that soldiers often kept with pre-recorded messages for their loved ones. The batarian slid it into a secured compartment on his belt.
"Thankfully, good deeds do not require a righteous heart, Spectre, just the power to make a choice. I made a choice here. I chose to take his life to stop him from being part of a grand genocide against the people of the galaxy. I did not have any right to do so. I chose to kill him to try and save lives, to stop him from helping start more outbreaks across the galaxy. I chose to do so to stop him from turning more innocent people into creatures who would without hesitation tear the hearts out of their own children."
He rose and turned to face her. "I am who I am, Spectre. I am not—nor will I ever be—a good man. I'm just a soldier, one who in the past has committed horrible deeds believing that they were the right choice to make and one who is now doing the same in the hopes that somehow, it will be enough to right the scales," Revak continued.
Elektra scoffed. "If that's the case then it sounds like you're the exact same person who made those terrible decisions. You want to make amends for what you've done and yet you proudly proclaim that you're not willing to change who you are! Don't you think that if you don't change, you'll just end up making the same mistakes you've made in the past? Don't you think that If you don't change you'll find yourself walking down the same path that led you to Bahak."
The mercenary chuckled again. "What a grand lie we tell ourselves, having ourselves believe that you somehow need to become someone different to do what we want to do in this universe. No, Spectre, you do not have to become someone you are not to do what you want. No one does. I most certainly won't. All you need is the will to make the correct choices. Our choices are what matter, not the person we think we have to be when we make them."
"You killed him in cold blood," she continued accusingly.
The scarred mercenary shrugged. "I've made such decisions before. I did it for what I believe to be a good cause – an act that would bring balance to the wrongs I've committed in the past. One day someone may very well decide that I should not live any longer because of the things I've done. It may very well be my life whom someone such as yourself chooses to take. Until then, as you must have heard from my brother, I have a few more debts to repay and I will be doing those as myself, not as anyone else."
Revak turned his back to her, indicating that he was clearly done with this particular conversation. He made his way to the SAM battery, removed one of the missiles and inspected it. "XM251 Typhon missiles," he read. "Enough to bring down two dozen shuttles and maybe even a small frigate. Vakarian will soon be able to provide air support for his forces. We saved a lot of lives tonight, even if they are turian."
He then directed his mercenaries to set up charges on the battery. Once they were all clear of the blast zone, Revak thumbed the detonation trigger on his omni-tool.
Elektra didn't say another word. She just watched as the SAM battery detonated in a brilliant flash of blue sparks and fire, illuminating the night sky. The sounds of fighting continued to drift through the air up from the street below but for now, Elektra couldn't hear them.
The batarian was mistaken surely. Everyone had to become someone they weren't. You couldn't remain yourself if you wanted to achieve anything or even survive in a galaxy such as this. She'd had to become a Spectre to protect her friend, and Elektra wouldn't have made it as a Spectre if she hadn't learned how to manipulate and flirt and lie until all of it was second nature to her. She'd had to cast aside who she had been as a child and become someone else.
A particularly loud scream coming from below tore her out of her reverie. Their task completed, Revak gathered the Suns and headed back towards the elevators. Elektra didn't immediately turn to follow. Instead, she spent a few more moments savoring the fresh air before she had to descend back down into those bloody, relentless streets. With a sigh, she looked out into the city below and prayed that her friend was still alive.
A figure silently came up behind her. It was Malan.
"Forgive him. He is stubborn and set in his ways," the batarian rumbled.
The batarian had acquired new patches of blood and a bit of fresh carbon scoring on his armor. The muzzle of his flamethrower was no longer cherry-red like it had been a few moments ago, but steam still billowed from its mouth, to be borne away by the wind.
"He's quite the character," Elektra replied. "It sounds like he doesn't believe there is anything wrong with who he is now. It sounds like he doesn't believe that he needs to change who he is to do what he wants to do."
"I suspect a part of him has to believe that. It is not that my brother refuses to change… I think Revak himself doesn't believe he can change. If he also believed that a person like him could never do the good he wishes to do… then it would break him."
She turned to him. "And what do you think?"
Malan gave a great sigh. "I think that Revak has been alone for most of his life, even if he has had me beside him for most of it. He's never had the luxury of help from anyone else. The only one he's ever been able to depend on is himself, and so he's reluctant to change who he is. He thinks that if he does, he will lose his strength – lose the strength that he needs to re-balance the scales."
"And what do you think?" Elektra repeated.
The batarian pondered the question for a moment before finally replying. "I think we change whether we want it to or not, but it doesn't mean we cannot remain true to ourselves. I will stand by my brother. I will do whatever it takes to help him unburden his soul and help him find peace."
The mercenary turned to her. "But tell me something, Elektra. You seem to take particular issues with my brother's philosophy. Why did you become a Spectre? It is not a position where you can retain clean hands and a clear heart… did it change you?"
Elektra thought about it for a while.
"I did it to be with a friend," she replied. "And it did."