I began my search for Liara by first looking through her grant requests. Most research funding comes from two major sources, corporations (through research and development departments) and government (primarily carried out through universities and specialized government agencies). Liara had tapped them all, or had at least attempted to at some point in her life. I had a small stack of grants set aside on my desk for exploration of the Artemis Tao cluster, but nothing overly specific.
I decided I should look through Liara's research papers, and the University of Serrice had sent her entire collection without any fuss. My inbox was instantly overwhelmed with an astronomical amount of data. At that point, Liara had personally authored over twenty published academic articles; many of them on her own and had written three books on the subject of the Protheans. By human standards, she had more then met expectations for tenure at any university on Earth, however it seemed she was still cutting her teeth in the asari world.
Waiting for my console to complete its filtering process, I tried to rub the weariness from my eyes. I had been Captain of the Normandy for nearly forty-eight hours and I was already totally exhausted. Command is lonely. No matter what I did, the responsibility I had as a leader always set me apart from those I led. If I ever became stressed, if I ever doubted what I was doing, if I ever needed to be overtly angry or sad, my responsibilities limited the support network I could build myself. I finally, truly understood why a CO had their own quarters on a ship that demanded every single inch be utilized; they needed a place where they could be with themselves. It was their support network.
My console chimed and showed three articles that contained my filter words and there it was, Newly restored frescoes reveal an unexpected refuge (Prothean Third Age, Knossos System).
In her paper, Liara argued there had once been a massive Prothean city that had thrived on Therum and she attempted to prove it through the multiple ruins that dotted the landscape and particularly underground. She hypothesized that the planet had been flourishing until an unknown event caused a mass extinction. While there had been evidence of their extinction, there was no evidence of how it had all happened.
I looked through the stack of grants and sure enough there was one that mentioned Therum and it had been denied. If she was there, Liara had gone out alone.
I could tell right away that Liara was remarkably intelligent and absolutely passionate about her field. Admittedly, her papers were a bit over my head in terms of scientific knowledge and understanding of the Protheans, but the fact that she could hold my interest as a reader, even while I had no real idea of what she was writing about, spoke volumes about her. I pictured her as a highly respected, sought after expert on Prothean culture and technology and I was anxious to meet her. If Anderson was right, though, it was likely that Saren was also pursuing Liara and she was very likely in danger if not already captured.
Knowing I had to work quickly, I delivered a quick set of orders to my crew (both alien and human), and we set off for our first real challenge.
I huddled in the commander's seat of the M35 Mako along with my driver Private Carlton Tucks, my gunner and Mako 2IC Sergeant Addison Chase along with my newly formed ground team.
Carlton Tucks was new to the Normandy and had recently received his N1 designation before being posted aboard. Addison Chase was a seasoned veteran and a long time N5 soldier.
Being a special operations vessel, all of Normandy's crew had N status. General N status meant being posted to a special operations unit; N1 was given upon the completion of the first Villa session; N2 was given following a successful deployment with a special operations unit; N3 was given after successful completion of an assaulter course; N4 after one deployment in an assault role; N5 was assigned after the N Leadership course at the Villa and rotation as an instructor; N6 was awarded after deployment in a leadership role of section or higher; and finally N7 was awarded following a merit board which sat once per year.
The Normandy was designed for reconnaissance and like most recce driven vessels it was equipped with a ground reconnaissance vehicle as well as a ship to surface shuttle. Normally, ground vehicles work in tandem, mutually supporting one another either by fire or by observation. The size of the Normandy, however, limited the number of vehicles that could be contained in the cargo bay. The Mako was only used when enemy presence was suspected and the shuttle could not be deployed.
Sitting at just over fourteen tons, the Mako was equipped with a 155mm mass accelerator cannon, one 25mm chain gun mounted coaxially and one .50 caliber machine gun pintle mounted on top of the turret. The Mako may not have been deployed to pick a fight, but it was definitely capable of handling one. It seated a crew of nine. Myself in the commander's seat, my driver forward left in the hull, my gunner to my left, and a crew of six humans could be seated comfortably in the back. Through some shuffling and experimenting, we were able to sit a quarian, a turian, two humans and a krogan inside the small crew hold.
Wrex had initially insisted on gunning, however after nearly requiring the Jaws of Life to pry him from the cramped gunner's hole, he had reconsidered.
I expected the Mako's firepower would come into use as a routine scan of the planet had revealed a large geth presence centered on a Prothean ruin. I selected a drop zone, a secondary drop zone and an alternate but it looked as if our primary was free of enemy presence. My plan was to take the Mako as far as it could get us safely, deploy on foot, find Dr. T'Soni, RV with the Mako, and make our way to the extraction point. But no plan survives contact with the enemy.
"We've cleared the mass relay. Engaging drive core. ETA to Therum two five minutes."
It was almost impossible to hear Joker's voice over the sound of the Mako's pre-drop checks.
"Thrusters nominal, values input, ready!" Tucks came over the Mako's intercom as he finished bringing the vehicle to action.
"Roger. Stand by."
My stomach was still churning from the jump through the mass relay. Scientifically, I knew motion sickness shouldn't happen. Travel between relays was an instantaneous event. It took no time to occur; therefore, it couldn't possibly have any physical effect on my body. But while I acknowledged that theoretical fact, in practice, I knew it wasn't true.
Maybe the tightness in my gut came from the fact this was my first mission as a Spectre, as commanding officer of the Normandy and we were going into this situation knowing we were severely outnumbered. At least we were going in heavy. Each one of us had custom fit armour equipped with fully charged kinetic shield barriers, as well as three-quarters visored headgear. We each had a dozen grenades and the Alliance's standard issue Elkoss Combine M-8 Avenger. The ammo clip on each weapon held over four thousand rounds; miniature pellets smaller than a grain of sand. Additionally, Wrex carried his custom made shotgun, as did Tali, and Garrus brought along his M-92 Mantis capable of reaching a target up to eight kilometers.
I carried the M-96 Mattock, which I acquired from Spectre requisitions. This custom-made rifle featured technology not widely available and was in prototype stag by sophisticated Fabrication Rights Management (FRM) technology.
If we were going to accomplish this mission, it wasn't going to be because of our equipment. It always came down to two things: training and leadership. I ducked down and made my way through the crew hold, checking their restraints and equipment before we dropped onto the volcanic planet.
"Everyone stay sharp. Dropping in five." Knowing they could hear me over the rumbling of the engines through the radios in their helmets.
I strapped myself into my own seat and watched the screen as the Normandy's cargo hold slowly opened.
"Three. Two. One. DROP!"
The Mako was released with a shudder and I was pressed firmly to the back of my seat by the force of the launch. This was my fifty seventh combat drop in a Mako and I knew there was little I could do to influence the flight or the landing other than to make sure the thrusters were still online. The drop was instrument based, so as long as the correct values were inputted and my drop zone wasn't in the middle of a volcano, I knew we would be fine.
The Mako creaked and shook and I felt a jolt as the thrusters kicked in and the ground was no longer hurling towards us at a rate that would turn us into a fine, red, paste. I let my body relax as I anticipated the landing.
We hit the ground with a resounding thud and my body tried to lurch out of its restraints. We bounced once, thrusters engaged again and the Mako had made it safely to Therum. I let myself out of my restraints, got a thumbs up from the crew and had Chase do a scan of the area while I looked at the map. We were about five kilometers from our objective with no enemy in sight.
"Ok, Tucks, let's go."
Therum has an average temperature of 59 degrees Celsius. Where we had been dropped, the temperature was closer to 80 degrees. The ground was scorching hot; the sky was covered by thick, black ash, which rained down on us covering our imagers and stifling the sunlight. It was what I imagined hell would be like and I was not looking forward to exiting the Mako's climate controlled environment.
"Getting some strange readings, sir. Like off the damn charts." Sergeant Chase glanced at me wearily as we continued on our course.
"We must be getting close." I said. "Tucks, we're going to adopt a position on the high feature about 500 meters to your front."
When conducting mounted reconnaissance, your best cover is the ground. I avoided open spaces as much as possible and stuck to the edges of a large mountain range, all while keeping an eye on the changing volcanic situation. We moved slowly up the crest, careful not to expose the hull as I scanned the field below.
That was the first time I had seen a geth armature, accompanied by several rocket troopers.
I felt Tali's hand on my shoulder as she looked at the screen, confirming exactly what we were seeing.
"Armatures are usually dropped directly from a Geth Dropship. They only employ them in high-risk areas. My guess, the geth are after the same thing we are."
"Then we better get there quick!" I said as I lay the gun onto the armature. "Laze, armature, On?"
"On! 1600!" Chase shouted back, confirming she had the thing in her sights.
"FIRE!"
"Firing now!"
It takes less than an eighth of a second for the mass accelerator cannon to reach its goal.
"Target!" The armature erupted in a burst of electricity and I shifted my attention to the rocket troopers, who were now alerted to our presence.
"Stop! Next target right! Coax, geth, on!"
"On!"
"FIRE!"
"Firing now!"
It went on like this for several minutes, firing, jockeying position and firing some more until the small threat was fully eliminated. Tali had been right, the geth were simply guarding the entrance to the Prothean ruin where I suspected Liara would be. It didn't seem right that they would leave such a small contingent behind and the feeling in my gut got a little worse.
Moving another five hundred meters behind a small ridge, I dropped the ramp and dismounted with the ground team. The Mako would cover our movement to the entrance, and once we were inside, it would remain in place unless they came under contact. A good contingency plan ensured that Sergeant Chase knew exactly what to do under any circumstance. I had also left Kaidan back on the Normandy as commander of the QRF (quick reaction force), on five minutes notice to move via shuttle insertion in case anything went horribly wrong.
Weapons drawn, we moved in arrow formation passing the bodies of the geth to the entrance of the ruin. The exterior looked eerily normal. A few dozen crates, a large ramp and an unprotected research facility that looked abandoned. I wanted to venture inside to look for survivors, but they would have to wait.
Using hand signals, I motioned my team across the deserted research base and up the ramp. The sliding blast doors were featureless and smooth, controlled by a simple security panel on the rail. The fact that they were locked didn't sit well with me.
I motioned for Tali to move forward to hack the door.
It was unbearably hot and I was already sweating profusely under the weight of my weapons and armour. It was difficult to breath, and it seemed that no matter how much water I took in, it was never enough.
"How are you mammals doing, Shepard? A few more degrees, and I might be uncomfortable." Wrex was smiling as he sensed my discomfort, watching me readjusting my position for better air circulation.
Weather is one of the biggest contributing factors to performance and can be an extreme hindrance. Under Alliance regulations, troops are supposed to exercise a 15/45-minute work-rest ratio in extreme heat. Of course, it was never applied in practice.
"Doing fine, Wrex." I blew a bead of sweat from out of my eyes.
"Speak for yourself, skipper. I feel like I'm in hell." Ashely said.
"At least it's a dry heat." Garrus added.
"Watch your arcs." I snapped. "Tali, where are we?"
"Unlocked, Commander."
"Stack left. Prepare to breach."
Tali hit the security panel and the door flew open to reveal…nothing. We walked cautiously through the long corridor towards the elevator and I checked the logbook. Doctor T'Soni had last signed into the facility three days earlier.
The elevator made a terrible screeching noise as it climbed towards us and swung in the shaft after coming to a crashing halt.
"If we're getting in that thing, I quit here and now." Garrus said immediately.
"We're getting in that thing." I took the first few steps into the swinging lift and once I had steadied myself, I jumped. "See?" I tilted my head towards Garrus. "Perfectly safe."
You have to do your best to hide your fears from those who are following you. I always shared in the risks. I had to.
I could swear no one made a move, a sound, or even breathed as the elevator descended into the ruin. It was…enormous. I never imagined it would actually be an entire city underground. Its size would definitely complicate things. I still had no idea where Dr. T'Soni was, if she was even still there, or even still alive.
Wrex cast a disapproving eye towards his surroundings. "White sterile walls, white sterile noise, white sterile chambers. The Protheans sure knew how to make things homey."
I was still in a sort of awe about the place but I shot Wrex a crooked smile as we continued downward.
"This is sterile even for me." Tali said. Even beneath her mask, I could see the glow of her eyes get a little smaller as her eyes examined the ruins. "I wonder if-"
Tali was cut off by a loud crunch. We all stopped in place. Then a snap.
We were in free fall.
It was another moment where I thought it was all over. I bent down, preparing my knees to brace the impact. I had enough time to process that no one was screaming, or saying anything at all, before the elevator ground to an excruciatingly earsplitting, shrieking halt as the emergency brakes kicked in. I opened my eyes and we had thankfully stopped, not two feet from the ground.
It was a few seconds before any of us were breathing again.
"Alright." I said, more to myself than anyone. "Let's find this scientist."
"I'm picking up footprints. Mostly geth, but there's a smaller set here that looks organic. Probably our scientist. The geth tracks can't be more than ten or eleven hours old." Garrus said.
"You mean that thing on your face actually does something? I thought it just made you look pretty." Wrex rumbled as we followed Garrus through a narrow passage.
"You hear that, Garrus? Wrex thinks you're pretty." Tali said quietly.
I smiled to myself that my extremely diverse crew was apparently getting along, but we had a job to do and we needed to focus.
"There are geth down here. Spread out into column, five meter spacing."
Garrus stopped and knelt down.
"Huh."
I signaled for the team to take a knee and took a position beside Garrus. "The tracks…stop. The geth ones, I mean. Like it disappeared."
I instinctually took a wide look around me. I never would have thought to look up.
Not until I heard Ash's voice full of alarm scream "HOPPER!"
I didn't have time to react before a red eye overloaded my rifle. Wrex was firing in all directions causing red/brown earth to rain down on us as two, while maybe three hoppers sprang around the corridor. I switched to my shotgun and tried to line up a shot while yelling to the others to adopt an all around defense. The things never stayed in one place long enough to shoot at.
"AH!" Wrex howled in frustration. "Slippery bastards! See if you can dodge this!" Wrex threw a singularity immediately above us catching two hoppers in the process, allowing Garrus and I to shoot them down with relative ease. Tali and Ash used their collective firepower to bring down the third.
Out of all the geth, I found hoppers had the closest resemblance to organic life. Mostly because of the springy, synthetic substance they were made of that largely resembled organic muscle tissue. Other than that, from a psychological standpoint, geth were extremely easy to kill. Most often, soldiers force themselves to dehumanize their enemy, in order to make killing bearable. With the geth, this process wasn't necessary. Not at that point, at least.
As the dust settled, the initial wave of fatigue hit me. I was running low on water already and I had brought nearly six liters with me. Like most life forms, asari also rely on water to live and I was growing more and more concerned about the state of doctor T'Soni. While being underground had reduced the temperature somewhat, if she didn't have enough water with her, we might have been too late.
As we continued further and further into the ruins, the more nervous I became.
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
The unfamiliar voice caused me to break into a jog. It was faint and weak, but echoing through the open space the corridor exited to. Reaching the end, I stopped and looked around, trying to pinpoint it's origin.
"I'm trapped. I need help!" My head flew to the right as my ears picked up the direction of the sound.
And there she was.
In the vids, this is where commander Shepard falls instantly in love with a beautiful asari actress and their lives are instantly changed forever.
In truth, there was no love at first sight. I saw her suspended in some kind of energy field, immobile, clearly distressed and in pain. My only thought was getting her out of that energy field and to get us all out of that ruin alive.
But I'll never forget the first thing I ever said to her.
"Are you Doctor T'Soni?"
What a stupid question. I almost answered it myself. No, you idiot. She's a geth built to look like the asari scientist you're looking for. I shook my head and asked another question before she could answer my first. "Are you alright?"
"Listen." Her voice was weak and strained, her tone bordering on panic. "This thing I'm in is a Prothean security device. I've been here for days. You need to get me out, alright?"
I took a few steps closer and looked up at her, trying to convey some sense of calm. "I need you to stay calm. I'll find a way to get you out."
She took a few breaths, closed her eyes and opened them slowly. "There is a control in here that should deactivate this thing. But…you'll need to find a way through the barrier curtain. I'm not sure how you'll do that."
Tali took a step towards me. "Shepard, there's a mining laser down there. Maybe it still works?"
"Take Garrus and check it out. I'll be right behind you."
"Be careful." She said quickly, her eyes snapping wide. "There's a krogan battlemaster moving with the geth. He's been trying to get past the barrier."
"Thanks for the heads up." I said.
Ashley stepped forward, her eyes narrowed at the asari. "Commander, how do we know this asari is on the level. Her mother's working with Saren. Can we trust her?" She had said that much too loud, and I could see Liara's face shift from shock to anger in a microsecond.
"I am not my mother." She looked directly at me, eyes watering from exhaustion and fury. "I don't even- I don't know why Benezia joined Saren. I do not have anything to do with, nor do I want anything to do with that turian bastard."
I gently grabbed Ash by the arm and pulled her aside. "If she were with Saren, the geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." She nodded in agreement and tried to pull away before I managed to whisper. "If you have an issue with something, you bring it up directly with me, in private."
"Sir." She yanked her arm away and I knew we would need to have a one way chat later.
"Commander!" Garrus was yelling from below. "I think you want to come check this out."
I turned to look at Liara who seemed to be a little weary about my leaving. "Don't go anywhere."
Heat stress can leave you confused, uncoordinated and feeling violently ill. The temperature of the ruins was more than high enough to cause heat illness, had we not been in our environmental suits. However, even with the cooling pads in our armour, I was moving slower, thinking slower and feeling the beginnings of heat exhaustion.
"I've already calibrated it. I figured you'd want to check it out first." Garrus stepped back from the mining laser so I could examine the console.
"Can't go around it, can't go through it, looks like our only option is to go under it." His mandibles twitched.
I double checked his targeting, inputted the distance required and had Tali hack the authorization and the laser hummed to life. A few moments later and the earth had been completely burned away and we cautiously made our way through our man made path, eventually reaching a large, circular platform.
"Another elevator?" Tali moaned.
"Yeah. This one's only 50,000 years old. What could go wrong?" Ashley chirped as she strolled over to the console and examined the controls. "I suppose it was too much to hope there would be one big red button that said 'up'."
I made my way to the console, punched in the code for the third level and the elevator lurched up. I didn't even notice the controls were written in Prothean. Or the looks the squad gave me as the elevator climbed.
"Thank the Goddess." Dr. T'Soni breathed as we emerged. "That button over there should release the containment field."
With the field shut down, Liara dropped to the ground with a thump. She was struggling to stand and I rushed over towards her.
Where I was sweating profusely, Liara's skin was bone dry, indicating extreme dehydration. Where I was breathing rapidly and my vitals showed I had a fast but weak pulse, I could feel Liara's heartbeat was strong and alarmingly slow. Clearly starved, stressed, overheated, dehydrated and panicked, I was surprised she was alive. Another few hours in that stasis field and she wouldn't have been.
I removed my helmet with the intent on giving her a drink from my built in hydration pack and I saw her eyes widen further. It was not an attractive first meeting. She was on the verge of dying of heat stroke and she was further repulsed by having to drink from the same sweaty straw that I had been drinking from.
"Not too much." I cautioned. "You're too dehydrated. Just little sips."
She looked at me like I had six heads and complied. "Thank you…uhm."
"Commander Shepard. John Shepard. Alliance Navy. There're a few more titles after that but first we need to get you out of here. Can you walk?"
"I can try. I- my name is Liara."
I hoisted her to her feet and allowed her to catch her balance.
When the ground started to shake and rumble and dust started filling the air, my own weak pulse got just a little stronger.
"What in the actual fuck was that?" Ashley cursed.
"The mining laser." Liara said feebly. "These ruins are not stable."
"Time to leave!" Wrex bellowed. "Shepard, how the hell do you work this thing?"
I clutched Liara to my side and half ran to the console, punching in a few more digits and bringing the elevator to the top floor, hoping it would lead to a way out of the dig site.
"Mako, this is Shepard!"
"Mako, send."
"Lock in on my signal and move in for a pick up. From there we'll move to the RV. Normandy acknowledge."
"Mako, roger. ETA eight mins."
"Normandy acknowledged."
"Shepard, out."
The elevator stopped suddenly causing us to lose our balance, but I could see an actual light at the end of the tunnel, not five hundred meters away.
As we started towards the exit, we were obstructed. A krogan battlemaster and a section of geth were blocking our path.
"Surrender. Or don't. That would be more fun." The krogan's yellow tinged skin contorted into a threatening smile.
"This place is coming down, we need to get out of here." Ashley yelled as she drew her weapon.
"Exhilarating, isn't it?" The krogan stepped closer and Wrex inched forward. "Thanks for getting rid of those energy fields. Now hand over the asari."
I looked at Liara, who was now trying to stand on her own. She didn't want the krogan to sense her weakness.
"Whatever it is you want, you're not getting it from me." She snapped.
I smiled and locked eyes with the krogan. They were blood red. "She'll stay with us, thanks."
The krogan never once raised his voice. "Saren wants her. And he always gets what he wants."
"You always were an idiot, Goro." Wrex drew his shotgun and advanced towards the krogan with purpose. "I'll enjoy finding out just how small your brain really is!"
Wrex fired his shotgun and suddenly we were in a severe contact. Liara instantly threw up a biotic barrier as I threw my body over her and yelled to find cover. Satisfied that she was protected, I turned my attention towards the geth.
They were focused on Wrex who had charged directly at Goro, a second battlemaster with equal biotic power. Before I could yell a single command, I saw a bright flash of light, and a microsecond later was blown back by a loud CRACK of pure energy. I slammed against the wall with another crack and crashed to the floor. I had sharp, intense pain in my back, neck and legs as I tried to stand and regain my footing.
My helmet was cracked and dented so I threw it off. My shoulder was definitely dislocated. Garrus was attempting to stand, as was Ash. Tali was ducking behind a console, overloading the geth reinforcements while Wrex and Goro continued their biotic war. I aimed my rifle and held down the trigger on Goro. His shields absorbed most of the impact before he threw me against the wall once again. But I had achieved my goal of distracting him long enough so Wrex could gain the advantage.
Slamming against the wall a second time without a helmet opened my head up and I felt the blood starting to drip down my back. I stood again, drew my shotgun and went back for more. Again, Goro's shield went down, but this time he kicked Wrex into three geth troopers before turning his attention to me.
The deafening sound of Garrus' sniper rifle filled the room. The krogan threw up a barrier in a split second.
He started charging. I started firing.
Garrus' rifle fired again.
Goro picked up speed.
It was like shooting at a tank with pellet guns.
I was again thrown back by a biotic slam. My head pounding with pain, Goro picked up speed and closed the distance.
Falling earth was raining all around us, signaling the ruins were about to completely collapse. I swung my shot gun towards the ceiling with my one good arm and fired rapidly at the earthen ceiling.
It was a long shot, but after 50,000 years of untouched preservation, that ruin had formed some pretty impressive stalactite.
Goro was now coming at me in a full-blown blood rage, only to be stopped by a formed deposit of mineralized water. The pillar came down with an earsplitting crash and dirt, geth and krogan parts were blown in all directions.
"Next time you're going to do that, warn me!" Wrex yelled as he hauled me to my feet. It was now difficult to hear over the sound of the ruining caving in on itself. "Let's get out of here!"
Tali was helping Liara to her feet. After using her biotics I knew she was now in even more danger. I grabbed her arm and started to run behind the rest of the squad, half pulling, half dragging Liara as we went.
I looked back and noticed the ramp we were using to escape was now being dragged into the collapsing ruin. "GO GO GO!"
Liara was managing to keep up and I noticed her starting to look back.
"Don't look back!"
"Why?"
"Because I just did! Run faster!"
The dust was choking out the light ahead and I hoped the exit hadn't been sealed. The adrenaline was coursing through my veins and I used every ounce of energy I had to throw Liara ahead of me and out of the ruin. She fell and I fell right behind her, glad to see the ashen sky above.
I could barely breath. Everything hurt. But the battle wasn't over. Everyone loaded into the Mako and I helped Liara inside.
I lay her down on the floor of the vehicle and quickly grabbed whatever cooling packs I could find, placing them under her arms, around her neck and on her groin. I poured water on her face and watched her eyes unable to focus.
"Thank you." she managed before losing consciousness.
"Hey!" I poured more water on her face and gently tapped her cheeks. "Liara! Wake up!"
"She's going into shock!" Ashley said as she climbed into the crew commander's seat. "We're five mikes from the RV, sir."
"Get us there, chief!" I looked back to Liara, her blue skin turning increasingly paler shades of white.
"Normandy. Have medical ready when we dock. Prep for multiple heat casualties." I looked around the crew.
"Everyone else alright?" They all nodded yes and I turned back to Liara, unconscious, her breathing shallow and weak.
The instant the Mako ramp dropped, I was rushing towards the stretcher with Liara in my arms. I placed her down gently and two crewmen whisked her off to the med bay. My tasks finally complete, and my adrenaline nearly worn off, I felt my legs start to wobble and used the bulkhead to ease my fall to the floor. Almost immediately, two more crewmen were stripping off my hardsuit, cutting my underarmour and working diligently to bring my body temperature back down.
I sipped on my electrolyte solution and did my best to glance around the room while the med techs took my vitals. Wrex was no worse for wear, minus the superficial wounds he had been given by Goro, Garrus was still standing, taking in water, and Tali was doing a spot check on her enviro suit. Ashley, however, was in the same boat I was, though she was constantly trying to wave off the crewmen Kaidan had tasked.
Feeling a little better I tried to stand and hissed in pain. Oh yeah. Dislocated shoulder.
I locked eyes with Kaidan who seemed to have the situation under control and rode the elevator up to the med bay with Ash, clad in nothing but our underwear and the various cooling packs strapped to our bodies.
She leaned back and grimaced. "Pretty nasty cut you got there."
"I'll live." I replied gruffly, taking a second to look her over. Her athletic, muscular frame was covered in fresh bruising from her ankles to her neck. "You don't look so good yourself, Chief."
She leaned against the railing and smiled. "There's a good reason you'll never see me in one of those tin foil skirts."
"That's what the thigh high boots are for."
"Yeah, well, you'll have to buy me dinner first." She joked.
The elevator doors opened and we both made our way to the med bay. Chakwas already had Liara stripped out of her lab clothes and she and two others were lowering her into a tub of cool water.
There is little room for modesty aboard a ship, especially in one as small as the Normand, and especially during times of medical emergencies, but I averted my eyes anyway out of both respect and embarrassment.
I lined up my right arm against the bulkhead, intent on knocking my shoulder back in myself.
"Don't you dare!" Chakwas' voice stopped me just before I slammed into the wall. "You'll wait patiently for your turn. I'm just getting her IV in. Sit down. Mandira, would you please start both Commander Shepard and Chief Williams on an electrolyte drip."
"Yes ma'am."
I sat down on the bed across from Liara who was now covered in cold compresses and hooked up to an IV and monitor. Satisfied with Liara's condition, Chakwas turned her attention to me. She helped me lay face down on the bed with my right arm dangling over the side.
"Hm. You might need one or two stitches." I felt her fingers graze over my head wound. "We'll get this shoulder back in place first."
She grasped my arm holding the inside of my elbow and wrist and gently pulled. I heard my shoulder pop back into place and I was immediately relieved of the pain. She rolled me onto my left side, putting my arm into a sling position and began cleaning my head. I was staring directly at Liara, her body covered with a thin paper sheet.
"She's stable now." Chakwas stated as if reading my mind.
"I guess turning blue is only good if you're asari." Ashley called from the other side of the room, now also dressed in a paper gown.
"I'm impressed with her resilience." Chakwas continued. "Few people can survive what she survived."
We had been on Therum for less than seven hours and Ash and I had succumbed to heat illness.
"She's a biotic." I mumbled stupidly as I watched her chest steadily rise and fall almost hypnotically. There was bruising around her eyes and her neck and her skin was slowly returning to its original, vibrant blue.
"Then her consumption of energy was nearly doubled. She'll be out for a while." I felt a cool, comforting sensation as Chakwas applied medigel to my head wound and covered it with a bandage. "It shouldn't scar. No heavy lifting, no sleeping on your right side or your stomach, or your back and take these pain meds with meals twice a day."
I tried to rise from the bed but Chakwas gentle pushed me back down, again on my side. "Let the IV work, then you can leave."
"Yes, ma'am." I sighed.
The rush of endorphins and adrenaline had completely worn off now and I felt myself drifting off to sleep, staring at Liara as I dozed off. Liara's features were small but well defined. Her facial markings above her eyes resembled thin eyebrows and her upper cheeks were dotted with facial markings that looked like freckles. Her nose, small and sloped upwards at the tip had a distinctly human, celestial quality to it. It's hard to imagine an instance where I didn't find Liara striking. Even lying there, pale and distressed, she was lovely.
I was jarred awake by the sound of Chakwas cleaning her med bay. I'd only been asleep for twenty minutes but I felt incredibly refreshed and I was eager to get back to my daily routine.
On an Alliance vessel, a "day" lasts 18 hours and is split into three six-hour shifts. So a crewman may work for six hours and train, maintain equipment or sleep for 12 hours. The crew constantly trained to handle various casualties and scenarios, such as fire or hull breach. Others performed routine preventive maintenance on the equipment that they were responsible for (e.g., a radioman periodically changes emergency batteries on some of their radio gear, an electrician periodically inspects the ship's wiring for problems, etc.). A wide variety of activities were available during free time. The ships carried external hard drives for entertainment that were updated at each port. Card games and various board games were also popular. There were also some athletic equipment on board, such as an exercise bike, versa climber, rowing machines and free weights. The cargo hold was often transformed into a combat room while Marines trained in hand-to-hand combat for fun and fitness.
Food was also an essential part of ship life. Most Alliance vessels have ongoing contests to determine which ship cooks the best meals. The fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs and milk usually don't last for more than a few weeks, but the creative cooks on ships work wonders with canned and frozen foods to supplement the meals they create. Crewmen have four meals per day - breakfast, lunch, dinner and midnight rations, commonly known as "midrats." Menus include eggs, hotcakes and cereal for breakfast; deli sandwiches, hamburgers and pizza for lunch; pasta, meat and various vegetarian or vegan dishes for dinner; and leftovers for midrats.
I kept myself busy with routine administration, research, reports, planning and info analysis. It was essential to always be thinking two or three moves ahead. It made it easier to prepare and deploy for most situations. While I wasn't on shift, Pressly, my XO, or Garrus, my new Combat executive was, so there was always an authority figure wandering around the deck. I never did a particularly good job of sticking to my shift, however.
Throwing on the uniform Dr. Chakwas had carefully laid out for me, I made my way to my quarters for a shower before heading down to the cargo hold to check on the rest of the crew. The non-humans aboard were adjusting well.
Tali had found her niche in engineering and Adams had been glad to have her technological input. The crew had also taken a shine to her bubbly personality and many of the humans aboard took opportunities in their downtime to educate themselves on quarian culture. Tali was always more than happy to oblige the crew. Her positivity and tenaciousness reminded me of my sister and made striking up a friendship with her very easy.
Garrus found solace in conducting maintenance on the gunnery systems. Having served in the turian military, he offered insightful input into the Normandy's weapon systems. Tucks in particular was often seen sitting with Garrus in the staging bay, discussing potential improvements to the Mako's weapon system. Once Chase had allowed it, they would spend hours tinkering with the targeting computer and making requests for purchasing of prototype improvements.
And then there was Wrex. Wrex spent most of his time in the cargo hold and had even opted to sleep there (it was also the only space on the ship large enough to accommodate him). He spent most of his time tinkering with personal weapons, upgrading them and even conducting dry ranges with some of the crew. While he seemed unfriendly at first, I got the feeling that he enjoyed regaling the crew with his stories of his young life on Tuchanka, his mercenary work and his opinions about the krogan people.
It had been several hours since we left Therum's orbit and we were making our way towards the Citadel. My report had included details about our operation on Therum, the destruction of a massive Prothean ruin and the rescue of Doctor Liara T'Soni. I still needed Liara to fill in the blanks about her mother's involvement in the situation. It didn't make sense that her mother would allow Saren to send geth forces to capture and/or kill her own daughter. Something wasn't right.
I often sought advice from Garrus, feeling his experience with C-Sec would help me structure my interview/interrogation with Liara.
"Best to start an interview with a light conversation. It lets you know their character. You can find their level of intelligence or nervousness, and adapt to it." He advised.
"Switch to the subject of questioning abruptly. This way you'll be able to notice her reaction. Remember that in nine out of ten cases the first impressions are the most correct. Go with your gut."
"My gut tells me to trust her." I said. "That krogan battlemaster didn't sound like he was too friendly."
"Just let her do most of the talking and you'll be fine. She hasn't exactly committed a crime."
"She hasn't committed a crime at all." I reminded him.
"You're right. It's not like she destroyed a major Prothean ruin or anything. I think the credit for that one goes to us."
I smiled and left Garrus to his work and made my way back to my cabin.
I was about to take my five hours of sleep I had allowed myself that day when my console chimed.
Commander. Our guest has been conscious for a few hours now. I've got her set up in the lab. She's expecting you.
-Dr. C
I once again put on my uniform and made my way to the medical bay.
"She's awake, tired and a little shaken but otherwise fine. She's eaten and showered and I gave her one of my lab uniforms."
"Understood."
"She's a little distraught. I told her you would fill her in. She was out for about twelve hours." She informed me.
I nodded in satisfaction and proceeded to the small laboratory situated in the back of the medical bay. Liara was sitting on a chair, her back to me, working busily at one of the consoles. A cot had been pulled from the back wall and the crates of medical supplies had been rearranged to accommodate a small living space.
She startled at the hiss of the door and turned to look at me.
Her eyes were vibrant, impossibly blue and trained on mine. Her expression shifted from surprise to calm to apprehension in less than a second.
"Doctor T'Soni. You're looking much better."
"Yes. Thank you. Your medical officer is quite skilled. I was impressed with her knowledge of asari physiology."
I sat down on the seat beside her and she seemed to relax a little.
The cargo area smelled faintly sterile which contrasted with the dusty scent of old metal boxes and unfiled medical documents. Sitting down, I caught the scent of fresh soap from Liara's skin and my senses were focused on the slightest fragrance of some exotic flower I didn't know.
In that split second, I found it difficult to concentrate on my task but quickly regained my focus.
"Yeah, Doctor Chakwas is the best."
There was an awkward pause as I forgot my next question, but remembering Garrus' advice, it's best to let the interviewee fill the silence.
"You are Commander Shepard?"
"I guess we were never properly introduced. I'm Commander Shepard, Captain of the Normandy, the vessel we're currently on. We're making our way for the Citadel now."
She shifted in her seat, clearly uncomfortable with either me or the confined space, or possibly both.
"I don't have a lot of experience dealing with your species, Commander. But I am grateful to you. If you hadn't shown up, those geth would have killed me. Or dragged me off to Saren."
"That's actually what I came here to talk about. I have a few questions regarding your mother and her connection to Saren."
Her eyes dropped to the floor. "I am not sure of Benezia's motivations. She and I have not spoken for some time."
When an asari uses a phrase like 'some time' one is advised to think big. Decades.
"Last I heard, she was Saren Arterius' executor and a fellow Binary Helix investor." She continued.
"How long has she been working with him?"
"I would say close to a decade now. She…lost some of her acolytes once her alliance with Saren was made public. She believed she could steer Saren towards a more peaceful path. Despite his nature, his talents are quite impressive. My mother believed she could correct his flaws. Many disagreed and left her influence."
"Do you know any of her followers? Where they might be?"
"Unfortunately, no. I was never particularly interested in following my mother's path." Her voice began to trail off. "For better or worse."
She paused for a second deep in thought before looking at me again. "I am not sure what triggered this change. She is not a violent person."
"Then this might come as a shock." I adjusted my position, placing my elbows on my knees and leaning forward towards her. "Four days ago, Saren and the geth attacked the human colony Eden Prime. The colonists had unearthed a Prothean beacon, and Saren managed to get his hands on it."
That got her attention and her eyes widened. "A Prothean beacon? A working Prothean beacon?"
"Yes. It downloaded a message of some kind before it was destroyed. Now according to a recording we discovered, he's looking for something called the conduit."
"Goddess, this is quite remarkable. The beacons were designed to transmit information directly into the mind of the user. Finding one that works is incredibly rare! But the beacons were only programmed to interact with Prothean physiology. Whatever Saren received would have been unclear. It would have left him confused more than anything."
"You're telling me." I laughed.
If it was possible, her eyes got even wider.
"You…you've seen the vision as well?"
I gave a small positive nod.
"Goddess! That is…incredible! What did you see?"
I waved my hand in dismissal, not really eager to review the images burned into my brain, and not really able to describe them even if I wanted to.
"I think you've just answered why Saren wanted you captured. He'd want to make sense of the visions and he figures you're his best shot. Judging from the amount of research you've conducted on the subject, I'd say he's right and we're lucky we got to you first."
"While I am an expert in the Protheans, my work is hardly considered so. My theories have mostly been dismissed due in part to my age and in larger part to the lack of evidence I can present." She said. "He must have wanted me to…make sense of his vision."
Now it was my turn to be confused. "How could you do that?"
"Asari posses the ability to share memories and thoughts. You would think of it more as a telepathic exchange. An asari with my knowledge could theoretically observe the images through a mental connection and attempt to make sense of them. That must have been his goal." I watched Liara actually shiver at the thought. That precluded my asking her to do the same for me.
"Your mother also mentioned the return of something called the Reapers."
"I have never heard the term."
"Which is strange because I feel like I have." I closed my eyes and reluctantly brought the images to the front of my mind. "I saw synthetics wiping out an organic race. Initially I thought it was the geth, but the more I see the vision…I think the Reapers are the ones who exterminated the Protheans."
She stood, suddenly unable to contain her excitement any longer. "This is…overwhelming. I've been working for more than fifty years. I've tracked down every scrap and shred of evidence indicating the Protheans were wiped out by a single, galactic event. It seems unbelievable, which explains why most do not believe it."
"The galactic wide extinction of a highly advance race is a little hard to fathom, never mind them being wiped out by a race of synthetic machines that the geth believe are gods." Saying it out loud made me really see how unreasonable it actually sounded.
She let out a quiet, contained laugh and sat back down.
"Liara, thank you for being so cooperative. We'll be docking at the Citadel shortly. If you need anything to secure passage to Thessia, or asari space please let me know."
Her brow furrowed as I stood to leave. "Wait. You rescue me from a geth attack, tell me that my mother is a galactic threat, turn a half-century of dedicated research upside-down and you're not even going to offer me a chance to find any answers?"
I was taken aback by her sudden onslaught of assertiveness.
"I uh - what did you have in mind?" I asked genuinely.
"Seems you have need of a Prothean expert on your crew." She said, suddenly retreating from her boldness.
"Alright." I smiled. "Perhaps I could work out a research expedition contract between the Alliance and your university."
"That would be fine." She said softly. "Seeing as you are trying to rewrite galactic history, I do not think they will object."
"History changes all the time." I told her while half hanging out the door.
I left her cramped lab space feeling a little better about our situation and a little better in general. I couldn't suppress the smile that tugged at my lips as I made my way back to my cabin to complete my report.