One of the best things I ever did to enable myself to weather long and difficult days, monstrous amounts of travel, broken hours and the pressure to always get things right was to ensure that I was physically fit, and that I stayed that way. I found enjoyment in lifting weights, hitting a heavy bag, and even running. As a young officer, I came to believe that a healthy body leads to a healthy mind, and I still believe this to be true.
Fitness activities ensured a break from endless routine - meetings, study, or preparations where muscles could become stiff, blood flow was interrupted and the brain was not properly supplied with oxygen to help me think. It was the best way to get out of my own head for a while and concentrate on my reps, or the way the bag swayed with every hit, and nothing else.
Conversely, I also had clearer thoughts about various issues during those workouts than I had at any other time. My mind was clear. I would run in a dissociative manner, that is, without thinking about running, so I could think about other things. Often when I had finished I had resolved conflicting priorities and had come to conclusions and made decisions I had been putting off.
After my encounter with Talitha, I found myself in the Normandy's cargo hold working over the swinging heavy bag, mulling over my next assignment, and driving unwanted thoughts out of my mind.
Agebinium was a seemingly straightforward task.
During the First Contact War, the Alliance wasted little time in deploying hundreds of espionage probes, capable of discretely gathering intelligence on enemy activity and quickly sending it back for analysis.
Communication across an entire galaxy was no simple matter. Ships could use mass effect drives to exceed the speed of light, but signals transmitted through the cold vacuum of space by conventional means would still take years to travel from one solar system to another. Transferring information, personal messages, or even raw data across thousands of light-years expediently could only be accomplished in one of two ways. Files could be transported by courier drones, unmanned ships programmed to travel through the mass relays network by the most direct routes possible. But courier drones weren't cheap to produce or operate: fuel was expensive. And if they had to pass through several relays it could take hours or days for them to arrive at their destination. The solution wasn't practical for back-and-forth communications, however it was suitable for a one-time insertion.
When a decades old probe armed with a twenty-kiloton tactical fusion nuclear warhead suddenly sent a mission complete burst from half way across the galaxy, twenty-six years later, it caused some concern. The situation had to be dealt with quickly and quietly so as not to cause a diplomatic or political crisis.
All I had to do was track the signal, land on the surface, and recover the probe and payload.
"Hey there, skipper." Ashley's commanding voice pulled me away from my solitude and I acknowledged her presence with a slight flick of my eyes.
She grabbed the punching bag, allowing me to continue my workout while she seized her opportunity.
"Got your message. I talked to requisitions and got her fitted like you asked. Also found her some personal weapons that will fit her. The Phalanx seemed to work best when we test fired, though she's going to need a lot of practice. I get the feeling she's not used to guns."
"Thanks," I panted as I continued to jab at the bag. Ashley planted her feet and adjusted her body to accommodate my rhythm, indicating to me she wasn't quite finished.
"Sir.." could feel her eyes gauging me for any push back, but she found none. "Sir, are you sure about this? She's not a soldier."
I stopped my routine and clutched the bag, "I know. We talked about it."
I can handle myself, she told me.
It's not just about you, I said. It's about the people next to you, too. They need to know the one next to them has their back.
Then let me prove it to you, she snapped. When we find my mother, I have to be there. She is a Matriarch, Shepard. Whatever you say will not interest her. I can help you.
In the end I acquiesced, agreeing with her assessment, considering it more than fair.
Not content with mineral scanning and examining relics in the med bay storage room, Liara had been eager to participate in any ground operations.
"I need to know what she's capable of." I explained, starting to unwrap my hands. "And the crew needs a reason to trust her."
I plunked myself down on a bench and just barely caught a hand towel before it struck me in the face.
Using the towel to wipe the sweat from my face, I spotted Kaidan assuming the vacancy in front of the heavy bag. "I think it's a good idea." He said, beginning a light jab routine.
Ashley scoffed and abandoned the bag to sit beside me.
"Hey!" Kaidan grinned as his arms gestured in confusion.
"I was holding it for him!"
"I'm still your superior, you know."
"Only in rank, LT." Her tone was playful and matched the crooked smile she made simultaneously.
Flicking my eyes between them, I wondered how close their friendship was becoming.
"Guess I could show her a thing or two about firearms." Ash capitulated.
"That would be nice of you." I breathed as I took a swig of water. "I'd certainly appreciate it."
"She's probably going to surprise you." Kaidan called as he dipped and dodged the swinging bag. "Asari are biotics by birth and she's a Matriarch's daughter. She could probably turn us all into fine mist."
I guess we'll see, I thought.
While I wasn't anticipating heavy resistance, or any resistance at all for that matter on Agebinium, it gave me a chance to standardize Liara to Alliance practices. I had never seen her in combat, and my intent was to slowly ease her into things. She might have been more than able to handle herself, but I wanted to get a handle on where she stood combatively before deploying her into more hostile situations where she would be with more of the crew, and certainly before we found her mother.
Reaching the cargo hold, my command mask now fully in place, I inspected both Tali and Liara before boarding the Mako for yet another drop.
"Little different from Commando leathers, I expect." I said quietly as I clicked her shoulder pad securely into place. "Not that I have anything against them…"
"Yes, well, this armour is heavier than I am used to."
"You actually own Commando leathers?" Tali asked, apparently just as surprised by the revelation as I was.
"Most asari have some form of combative training. Being the daughter of a Matriarch, it was something of a necessity." She answered coolly.
The asari were something of a paradox for me. On the one hand they were an aesthetically captivating species, comfortable in their sexuality and sensuality, exploiting that comfort for profit and power where opportunity struck. On the other hand, they were the most respected, admired, and powerful species in the galaxy. Renowned for their wisdom and foresight, the asari, by all accepted accounts, were the first species after the Prothean extinction to achieve interstellar flight. They were also the first to discover the Citadel, and they were a founding member species of the Council. The asari controlled more territory and wielded more influence than any other race. They were also exceptional warriors.
Instead of a large, standing army, each asari community organized their own units under a commander as they saw fit. Larger cities were well armed and equipped while smaller villages may have only consisted of a few women with small arms. Either way, an asari one-on-one was nearly unbeatable given her technical, tactical, and guerilla style strikes. Asari chose to be warriors at a young age, and their education from that point was dedicated to sharpening their mind and body for that sole purpose. When they retire, they possess an alarming proficiency for killing. The turians have a saying: "The asari are the finest warriors in the galaxy. Fortunately, there are not many of them."
Many humans often found it difficult to reconcile the asari's dominant role in galactic politics and their prowess on the battlefield with the enthralling performance of an asari on the stage. It was a product of human biases and ill-conceived expectations. But it went deeper than an impression formed by watching a few dancers: the asari looked female, so they were victims of stereotypical human anti- matriarchal tendencies. While I considered myself to have matured since I had joined the Alliance, I had trouble not picturing Liara wearing a set of Commando leathers.
On this particular assignment, I decided to pilot the small shuttle to the surface myself. This allowed for a speedy insertion and a quick extract with as much room for the missing probe as possible.
"So, Shepard." Tali began, "What's this probe doing in the Voyager cluster? That's the opposite side of the Alliance from turian space."
"I don't know." I answered honestly. "It could have been recovered and brought here, or it might have just been horribly lost. Either way, we've got to get it back."
"Probes can get lost in relay networks for years." Liara added. "Though..."
"Though?"
"Though it does seem unlikely. Given the Alliance's technology. And the value of the payload."
It was quite possible salvagers or even mercenaries had stumbled upon the probe and attempted to extract its nuclear device. But the way I had figured it, if someone wanted to use the nuke, they would have done so by now instead of risking it being tracked and found. But I couldn't see this as a trap or an ambush either. If in the off chance someone knew this probe belonged to the Alliance, they would know how quietly and discreetly the sitation would be handled. Why would you use a nuclear bomb to kill a small squad of soldiers when you could drop one on an unsuspecting planet?
"Well luckily I've brought along the Normandy's top technical and archeological experts to figure out exactly what happened."
The shuttle slowed sharply as we entered the atmosphere and bounced with the turbulence. I could faintly hear Liara and Tali discussing something about their upbringing and the military training forced on them because of their lineage. The conversation felt relatable to me in the way that I had also started my training at a young age, because of my father. Not my biological father but the one who had sort of adopted me and guided me when I was wandering astray. While it wasn't forced, it felt like I was being slotted into the correct place, following the path that was set for me by a loved one who just wanted to protect me.
Blinking away the thoughts distracting me from the task at hand, I ordered Tali to begin scanning the last known location of the probe as we hovered above it. I exited the cockpit and stood behind Tali, watching her manipulate the mineral scanners attached to the shuttle.
Much of the surface of Agebinium is coated with fine silicate dust, which easily penetrated the smallest cracks to foul machinery, armour, and weapons. It was a miserable planet with high winds and a cold climate. The sky was constantly dark, and the stars barely visible through the blowing red sand. The only visible feature in the sky was the massive red giant Amazon, looming down at us. It made searching for this probe all the more difficult.
"I'm not getting anything," Tali said stoically. "But that doesn't mean it wasn't here, I'm just not getting anything from the air filters. I recommend dismounting and collecting a sample."
Without speaking, I marched back to the cockpit and lowered the shuttle a few meters away from where the probe was supposed to be, but wasn't any longer.
As the shuttle doors opened, Liara and I were blasted with fine red sand stirred in the air by the strong winds, threatening to push us back into the shuttle. She quickly, and without thinking, grabbed at my arm to steady herself. My hand flew instinctively to her lower back in support and I guided our quick exit from the shuttle.
We stood there beside each other as we examined the area. I wasn't sure where to start.
"After you," I said, the helmet microphone distorting my voice.
Liara approached the site where the probe's GPS had first sent its signal and placed down her soil sample kit, doing her best to protect it from the blowing sand and dust.
"So this is archeology, huh?" I said through my comm. "Gotta tell you. So far, I hate it."
She bent down to examine the dust and laughed. "It is a profession which requires equal parts patience, diligence...and luck."
"A little luck in our favour for once would be a welcome change." I mumbled.
"The limitations of archaeology are galling." She said, now on her hands and knees collecting her soil sample. "It collects phenomena, but hardly ever can isolate them so as to interpret scientifically; it can frame any number of hypotheses, but rarely, if ever, scientifically prove."
"That sounds frustrating." I told her. "Never really finding the answers to your questions."
"Quite the contrary. The seeking is the best part. Each piece of the puzzle is important and gives us greater understanding of the whole, no matter how small." She held up the vial of sand and closed the kit. I could tell he was smiling under her helmet.
"Well it was here." Tali confirmed as she pointed to the screen showing me the lines of data indicating something radiological had been planted in that spot.
"We'll have to keep looking." Liara said as she tried to clean some of the dust from her helmet. "I suggest scanning for camp sights or other forms of shelter. If someone wants to disassemble this device, it would be best to do it away from the wind and dust."
"I'm way ahead of you." Tali said, bringing up a separate screen. "Got a lead on a mining facility a couple kilometers from here. Might be a good place to start."
"Good. Let's go."
And we took off in a low and slow hover once more.
On a mission, I was always careful not to expose my own doubts and I tried to project an image of absolute confidence and composure. But Liara and Tali were smart enough to figure things out on their own. They could put the pieces together, just as I had. There aren't many reasons for an individual, or a group of people for that matter, to bring a nuclear device into a deserted mine shaft.
"This is a trap. It's got to be." Tali stated.
I pulled out my weapon and made sure to send a message to the Normandy of my location and plan in case it all went to hell. "They might not know what they have in there. We've got to get in before they set it off."
After confirming the door wasn't booby trapped, we entered and began the slow decent beneath the planet's surface. The air became heavy, warm, and moist. I felt my ears pop, and I noticed a strange smell in the air, an unfamiliar stench I imagined was a mixture of sulphurous gases mingling with alien moulds and subterranean fungi.
I was sweating profusely beneath my body armor, and I kept reaching up with a free hand to wipe away the fog condensing on my visor. I did my best not to think about what would happen if the doors opened and the enemy was ready and waiting for us on the other side.
The doors at the end of the shaft opened into a large antechamber-a natural cave filled with stalagmites, stalactites, and thick limestone columns. The artificial lights strung across the ceiling illuminated the entire chamber, reflecting off thick veins of glistening metallic ore in the cavern's countless natural rock formations. At the far end was a passage that served as the cave's only other exit, a long tunnel that wound around a corner and out of sight. It was completely deserted, save for the probe, about two meters in length sitting in the exact center of the room.
There was a loud blast and the ground beneath me shook. I stopped in my tracks, afraid to breath.
The shaft had caved in, leaving us trapped inside. I closed my eyes and let out a heavy sigh. I had walked us right into this trap. I had no signal on my comm net, the heavy metals in the mine blocking any signal to the Normandy. I fully expected to be enveloped by a bright white light at any second.
This isn't good.
"The great Commander Shepard."
Instead I opened my eyes and came face to face with a projection of a turian, unfamiliar to me. The projection skewed certain features but I could tell he wore no face paint, a significant revelation declaring his untrustworthiness outside of even criminal organizations. He wore an eyepiece similar to the one worn by Garrus, and he held himself with an arrogance that made my fists clench.
"You seem to have me at a disadvantage."
His mandibles twitched in annoyance, as if to say how dare you not know who I am. "Haliat. Elanos Haliat."
The one behind the Blitz. At the time of the Skyllian Blitz, Elanos Haliat was the most prominent criminal figure in the Terminus systems. He brought together pirate bands, organized, planned, and executed the assault on Elysium in an attempt to solidify his status as leader of a consolidated pirate syndicate. The Alliance, however, repelled the attack and Haliat was blamed for the failure. He lost his position, status, and retreated.
My mind started racing with ideas to try to talk him down. But having lured me to him with a nuclear bomb, I was pretty certain of his intent. He was attempting to gain the favour of the Terminus pirate clans by killing me, humanity's first Spectre, using one of the Alliance's own weapons.
"It doesn't have to be this way, Haliat. We can talk this through." I said calmly.
"Empty words from a dead man." He activated his Omni-Tool in full view of the projection for my benefit. "Goodbye, Shepard." The projection went out, and the bomb suddenly came to life.
Ten seconds isn't a lot of time. But it can seem like an eternity.
All three of us sprang into action, Tali taking charge and using her technical expertise to guide Liara and I as we simultaneously deactivated three separate, completely different fail-safes.
Five.
It was an out-of-body experience.
Four.
Tali spat out directions faster than I've ever heard anyone speak and Liara moved with such composure you would have thought she'd been doing it her entire life.
Three.
I simply kept chanting in my head 'slow is smooth, smooth is fast'.
With a solid three seconds left to spare, the bomb was deactivated, and we all started breathing again.
I patted Tali on the back and shook the sweat from my forehead. "Nice work."
"Goddess. That man is insane."
"An absolute psychopath." I agreed. "And, like most psychopaths, a narcissist. He's here. On this planet. Probably just outside. He wants to see his work completed."
"If we follow that tunnel, we should find an escape tunnel that can take us out of here. Granted that seismic event didn't collapse the shaft." Liara said.
I was glad to see the blowing dust and darkened sky of Agebinium as we exited the mine and I stalked to the edge of a cliff.
I pulled the sniper rifle from my back and observed fifteen or so mercenaries mulling around a few vehicles and a makeshift camp, congratulating myself for my forethought in taking my entire arsenal – just in case.
Haliat emerged from my shuttle.
"Son of a bitch stole my shuttle." I snapped.
"Commander." Liara lay prone beside me observing through her own sights. "If you can provide a distraction, I can get down there."
"You mean flank them?" And she nodded her head in confirmation. "I was just thinking that. Take Tali. The only one who will make a run for it will be Haliat. He's our priority." She made a move to get up and I grabbed her wrist. "Be careful. No unnecessary risks. You get into shit you throw up a barrier. QRF is already on its way."
She only nodded in response and she and Tali disappeared.
I was a quick enough shot I knew I would be able to take out a fair share of Haliat's mercenary detachment before Liara and Tali began to flank. And I knew that once I started shooting, I would be able to ID him quickly. He would be the one running for a vehicle, closely guarded by two or three hired guns.
I scanned the area, noting placement, proximity to vehicles, and even weapon types before eventually settling on a sniper perched on top of a truck.
I took a deep breath, exhaled, took in a second deep breath and squeezed the trigger. Exhaled. Line switched to a mercenary running for cover behind crate. Inhaled, squeezed trigger. Exhaled. Line switched to three mercenaries running tight together, my target likely hidden behind them. Inhaled, squeezed trigger. Exhaled. Line switched. Target acquired. Inhaled. Aimed for center of visible mass. Squeezed the trigger. Exhaled.
Fairly confident Haliat was down; I simply continued selecting targets of opportunity as they were presented to me, dropping each with one shot, sometimes two if their armour was heavy. Every once and a while a shot would zing past me, but I lay motionless, unfazed, in total concentration.
I noticed their attention shift away from me as Liara and Tali hit the field. Liara was one of those rare individuals capable of manipulating dark energy, the imperceptible quantum force that pervaded all the so-called empty space in the universe. Normally too weak to have any noticeable effects on the physical world, dark energy could be concentrated into extremely dense fields by biotics through mental conditioning. Asari were such powerful natural biotics, some didn't even require amplifiers.
Liara had an amp and I noticed it when we made our first meeting and had seen her tinkering with Kaidan's old amp once in the mess.
Through my scope, I watched Liara thrust a clenched fist in the direction of a human mercenary, and the air rippled as a wave of invisible dark energy surged out and over her adversary. The unsuspecting human was picked up off his feet and thrown backwards several meters, crashing into a heap against some heavy crates. I noticed another human approaching her flank and lined up a shot in protection, but with her other hand, she compelled the space around her to bend to her will and disarm her opponent, tossing him into the air with as much ease as tossing an apple in her hand.
A krigan started to run towards Tali who opened fire with her shotgun, the bullets denting the kinetic shields but never quite breaking through. I lined up a shot and fired, but krogan do not go down that easily. I fired a second and third shot in quick succession, barreling past the gun's heat capacity to ignite the cool down klaxon on my HUD.
I swore and rose from my position, intent on getting into the fight as fast as I could.
As I slid down the hill, my eyes trained on Tali as she was about to be charged by a krogan, I watched the air shimmer and spark around him and he stopped in his tracks.
"Tali!" I heard Liara cry over the radio. "Tali shoot him now!"
Tali complied, firing as many times as her heat capacity would allow. The air around him continued to shimmer and wave for several seconds more. When the energy around him dissipated, the krogan finally fell.
Liara could certainly handle herself.
"Commander." Liara was standing over Haliat and breathing heavily. Her display of biotic prowess was impressive but no doubt had exhausted her.
As I examined the injured turian, I noticed my round had gone clean through and through. The wound was right above his heart and he was most certainly bleeding out.
I bent down and looked into his pale grey eyes under his helmet. Tali began stripping him of his side-arm and omni-tool as I bent to apply medi-gel to his wound, knowing full well the injury was too severe to for it to be helpful.
"Should have sprung for more expensive armour." I said quietly as I covered his wound with my hand, doing the minimal amount of first aid to an enemy combatant, but nothing more than required. I wasn't terribly interested in saving his life.
"You're all a blight." He choked, blood spattering the inside of his helmet as he coughed.
I pushed my hand a little further into his wound, maybe wanting to save him a little more, so I could watch him suffer the years of a galactic criminal trial.
He squirmed and tried to reach for the hand that was stuck inside his chest and Liara stopped him, worried for my safety. Haliat took a few more painfully laboured breaths and my HUD blared another klaxon alerting me to his failing vitals.
[APPLY MEDIGEL. ROLE THREE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE REQUIRED. PATIENT VSA]
"No." I spoke to the HUD. "Patient is priority four."
[PRIORITY FOUR REGISTERED.]
Haliat's time was up. I felt conflicting emotions. Relief that we had survived, that Liara was a skilled combatant, that Haliat had paid for his transgressions with his blood. And dismay. Dismay because he would never face justice, not truly, dismay that I had led us into a trap, and dismay that Liara would certainly be coming with me to confront her mother and I only really could see one resolution to her situation.
"Normandy this is Shepard. Ten enemy destroyed. All pers okay. Probe located, and being recovered. ETA to your location three-zero mikes."
With the probe loaded onto the shuttle we made our way back to the Normandy.
"Nice work out there today, Liara." I said sincerely, hiding the undercurrent of turmoil in my mind. "I hope you're getting used to that armour, because you'll be wearing it a lot more often."
"Thank you, Commander. I was happy to finally prove myself."
"Liara. I think from now on, people are going to be proving themselves to you."