Chapter 49

Ward Markets – Zakera Ward – Citadel

The young quarian walked through the markets, looking around at the people milling and meandering about as they moved from one vendor to the next, staring at odd trinkets or steaming grills with food sizzling over a fire. As she saw their fascination and annoyance at loud merchants shouting for them to come over, she recalled the few days she had spent here prior to meeting Shepard.

She was lost, unsure of where to go as she kept the information she had close to her. Her senses were in disarray as the antibiotics swimming through her blood tried to fight off the infection caused by the suit puncture given to her by one of Saren's men. She faintly remembered stumbling into someone and causing them to drop their food, a stream of curses spilling from their mouths that she didn't understand. They complained about her being drunk and turned back towards the food vendor, presumably to reorder more food. But their suffering was inconsequential to her. She was holding back vomit as a fever shook her entire body.

Then, she felt herself lifted from the ground as the friendly face of a woman spoke to her. The next thing she knew, she woke up in a clinic and was feeling vastly better than she had before. Thinking back on that time, she remembered how terrified she was of everything. Crowds, which she should have been comfortable with given she grew up on the Migrant Fleet, scared her because of all the peering and disapproving looks she got. The massive amount of space on the Citadel scared her. She looked up, seeing an actual sky above her and it spooked her as well, feeling as if she were going to fall upwards should the gravity give out. Then there was the frosty reception she had from literally everyone she talked to. Stores asked her to leave, C-Sec followed her constantly through the markets, acting as if they were scanning products. But she knew when she was being tailed.

Letting go of the bad memories, she enjoyed the fact that she no longer cared. The human that had been following her with his C-Sec approved firearm on his side and his C-Sec work boots still on didn't bother her anymore, for multiple reasons. First, because if C-Sec was here, it likely meant that she had backup should Saren's men try to make an attempt on her life. Second, she knew that regardless of what C-Sec tried to accuse her of, Shepard would have her back. So, she didn't bother worrying about them, the looks, the refusals, any of it anymore. For the first time since she had left the fleet, she felt free.

As she finally made it to the meeting point outside of a club that catered to mostly quarians and volus, she looked down at the message again. [Respected Tali'Zorah, please meet me at Shrouded around 0300 Citadel Standard Time. I have a message from the Fleet of great importance!] She looked back to see the same human now kneeling to tie his shoes at the corner of the club. She rolled her eyes at his attempts to be inconspicuous and entered the club, nodding to the krogan bouncer.

When she looked inside, she almost felt like she was home again. The ceilings were low, given that it made most quarians comfortable and the volus didn't need much headroom to begin with. And all the drinks were pumped through filters and directly into tubes so that they could be drank through the emergency induction port built into their helmets. Many quarians danced on the dance floor, some with their bare suits, and some with the fancier robes that were currently fashionable.

She made her way inside the club and sat at a table, waiting for her messenger to arrive. She didn't have any interest in drinking or dancing at the moment, and the music wasn't really her style. After visiting the club Flux with Shepard, she really began to enjoy human jazz, and she found herself falling in love with the saxophone.

Luckily, she didn't have to wait long as a young quarian with a patchwork of grey and light pink stepped up to her table. She approached with the same shy nervousness that Tali had when she first boarded the Normandy, which the quarian now found adorable. She found herself wondering if Kaidan saw her as adorable when she fidgeted with herself.

Finally, the young quarian spoke. "Tali'Zorah! It's good to see you!" she said nervously.

"You as well…" started Tali as she looked back down at the message. "Lia'Vael." The engineer looked back up at her curiously. "You said you had a message from the Migrant Fleet?"

Nodding frantically, the young quarian finally took her seat next to Tali. "I do!"

"Why didn't they send it to me directly?" asked Tali curiously.

Looking around to make sure nobody was listening, the young quarian reached up and tapped the side of her helmet. On the fleet, this was code for going to a private comm where nobody else could hear. Tali activated her omni-tool and switched to a private channel before allowing Lia to link to it as well. "Keelah, it's sooo good to see you again!"

"Again?" asked Tali, who was unsure why the girl was so fascinated with her.

But her answers came quickly. "We met before you left! You told me to wait until I was back from my pilgrimage to pursue love!"

"O-Ohh…" said the quarian with startled realization. She knew her voice sounded familiar, but she had changed suits, which made her nearly unrecognizable. "I… I see."

"Now you're working with a Spectre! And you've set up a trade route with the Citadel! You're a celebrity now! Keelah and I'm meeting you in person again! It's like the Ancestors willed-" started the girl as she began to gush.

Tali raised her arms defensively. "Okay Lia, you need to slow down."

"Oh… sorry," said the younger quarian as she placed her hands on the table and measured each breath for a few moments. "I apologize, Tali. It's just… you've done so much for the Fleet just by being affiliated with this Spectre Shepard! I was so excited!"

Tali nodded; her face tinged a little behind her face shield in embarrassment. "I understand. But first, why couldn't the Fleet send this message directly to me?"

"Right! Business!" shouted the girl with a firm nod. "They told me that it was top secret and had to do with the geth! They didn't want the information getting to the Council because they could potentially use this against us in any future negotiations."

Tali immediately sat up in her seat. "What about the geth?"

"Apparently the geth are moving in large numbers towards an Alliance controlled cluster called Att…ican Beta," said the girl as she looked at her omni-tool for confirmation. "We were tracking them, but we don't know why they're there. And obviously we can't follow them, as that's Alliance controlled territory. We wanted you to bring this news to your Spectre friend, hoping that they could investigate."

"I see…" said Tali, slightly annoyed that the Fleet was using her to get to Shepard. Though she wasn't really surprised. "I'll inform the Spectre of the situation. Given the geth's ties to Saren, she'll definitely want to see what's going on." Tali looked at the quarian girl curiously. "Is there anything else?"

The young quarian looked at the table, showing her embarrassment. "Oh… nothing from the Fleet. I was just… hoping that I could ask you to have a drink… maybe," she said, her voice getting quieter as she began to fidget.

Tali sighed to herself. "Look, Lia, you're a nice girl. And I'm sure that someday you'll meet someone to make you very happy. But…" she said, wondering how to word her next response. She didn't want to say it, as imagining Kaidan saying it to her at this point would shatter her heart into millions of pieces. But it needed to be said. "I can't be that person. Right now, I'm working with a spectre, and you are on your pilgrimage. We would almost never see each other given my schedule, and after your pilgrimage is finished, you will go back to the Migrant Fleet and undoubtedly meet someone that can make you happier than me."

With each word spoken, Tali could see the young quarian practically deflating. "Oh… I see."

Tali got up from her seat and stood next to Lia, her hand on her shoulder. "However, I would like to continue to be friends, if you don't mind."

Her eyes widening, Lia stood from her seat and nodded. "O-Of course!" Tali opened her arms wide, and the girl gasped gently before reaching forward and hugging her. The gesture was a great sign of friendship for quarians. "Thank you, Tali'Zorah," said the young woman as she sniffled slightly. "I will remember your words, and when we are back on the Fleet again, I hope to work with you!"

The two pulled away from the hug and Tali nodded. "Me too, Lia. Now, I have to go inform Shepard about this geth issue…" she said as she turned her head slightly. "And… your tab here is on me tonight. So please, have fun while you can. Because sometimes a pilgrimage is a lot more unwelcoming than anyone could anticipate." With that, Tali turned and left the club, her thoughts jumbled together in her head. Realizing that she had become a kind of icon for the Migrant Fleet, finding out that someone of her own species had actually been attracted to her, and now this geth problem in the Attican Beta. As she closed the comm, she shook her head. "Keelah, what a day…"

Presidium Prothean Tribute – Presidium – Citadel

Shepard stared up at the mock relay in frustration. She and Liara had been in meetings almost from the moment they stepped off the ship. They needed to assist the Citadel Zoology Research Department in recollecting the rachni specimens who used acid to eat their way out of their cages. She had a meeting with the Alliance, and that went about as well as she expected. Many heated glares and demands of both respect and an explanation. They only got the explanation, as she ignored their attempts to pull rank on her. Then there was the transportation of the rifle and the briefing she had to give to the R&D team.

She shook her head in annoyance at having to actually threaten these men and women to make sure they didn't try and steal the plasma weapon. Then she had to go into a meeting with Liara and hear a droll report of their findings from the object obtained from the Feros. Overall, today had been her worst nightmare. Endless meetings with angry admirals and boring scientists who made prothean study seem as fun as throwing rocks at a wall.

As she stood there staring at the marvel of prothean technology, Liara came up behind her. "I know my work may seem boring to some. But if you give it a chance, I assure you it can be fun and exciting."

Shepard smirked and turned to the asari. "When I work with you, it is fun. You have a way of making even the most mundane things exciting, Liara. So, you don't have to convince me," she said as she crossed her arms. "I just wish everyone had your enthusiasm."

The asari smiled gently. "Thank you, Jane. Your praise is highly appreciated," she said as she too looked up at the statue. "I wonder how long it will be before we are able to make our own."

Shepard shrugged lightly. "Not to be a downer, but we won't be making anything if Saren gets his way."

"Then we will have to stop him so that we can make marvels together," said the asari optimistically. "I believe in you, Shepard. You will stop Saren."

In contrast to her abrasive outward demeanor, Liara's words melted her insides. Despite her threats towards the former spectre, she had always wondered if she was actually capable of stopping someone of his magnitude. And after learning his capabilities, the power to warp people's minds to his desire, that feeling of anxiety had increased. To hear her confidence was a great weight off the spectre's shoulders. "Thank you, Liara."

"Of course, Jane," said the asari as she stepped closer, her blue, ocean-like eyes telling that she hungered for more than just a thank you.

Shepard stepped forward as well, her hands reaching for the asari's hips and pulling her closer. Leaning into her, the human closed her eyes as she went in for a kiss but was stopped as her omni-tool pinged. Sighing heavily, she pulled away from the disappointed asari and opened the message. "I wonder if spectres get mandatory vacation days," she said with a smirk.

"Something you should definitely look into," said Liara as she caressed Shepard's freckled face gently.

But as Shepard read the message, her expression soured. "Dammit, we've got geth infiltrating Alliance territory. We'll have to leave immediately."

"Do you think this is related to Saren?" asked the asari curiously as the pair began walking together towards C-Sec.

"I don't have any choice but to believe it is. The geth are tied to Saren at this point, so we have to investigate," she said as she closed her omni-tool.

"Well, I guess vacation will have to wait then," said the asari cheekily as she followed the spectre across the presidium.

Hercules System – Attican Beta Cluster

Shepard stood and stared at the galaxy map curiously. The information that the Migrant Fleet provided allowed them to track the geth movements in the cluster to the Hercules System, but they weren't seeing any kind of movement whatsoever on the surface of the only hospitable planet in the system.

"They could be underground…" offered Kaidan from his position at his terminal.

"An Alliance satellite was taken down here. I don't know what they would be doing underground if they were just after Alliance tech," responded Ash from the opposite side of the map.

Liara was staring at the system on the map, deep in thought. Shepard looked down at her curiously. "A penny for your thoughts, Liara?"

The asari snapped out of her trance and stared up at Shepard in surprise. "Oh… apologies! I was just thinking that this system seems awfully familiar."

Ash stared at it for a long moment before she too nodded. "Now that you mention it, I think we have seen it before."

Kaidan looked between the doctor and gunnery chief in confusion. "Does someone want to fill me in? Because unless you visited here while I was gone, I'm pretty sure we've never traveled here together."

"While you were gone…" said Liara thoughtfully as she turned away from her console. Suddenly, her eyes snapped wide open, and she turned to Shepard excitedly. "Your gift from the Consort! The prothean orb!" she exclaimed, getting surprised looks from both Shepard and Ash.

Looking at the system again, Shepard nodded. "It's a match! Same number of planets, and Eletania fits the planet we saw!" she shouted as she turned to the asari. "Go get the orb now!" Nodding, the asari sprinted for the stairs as Shepard turned to the navigation team. "Pressly! Negulesco! Give us a map of the surface!"

"On it, Spectre!" snapped Pressly as the pair began working frantically. In seconds, the surface of the world appeared in the galaxy map holograph, showing the green surface and jagged, toothy mountains.

"This is it…" claimed Ash as she stared in shock. "But what does it mean?"

"Our theory before was that there's a prothean ruin on the surface of the planet. We'll have the Normandy find it while we're tracking down the satellite," she ordered sharply. Suddenly, the communications officer sounded off from near the cockpit.

"Spectre! We have an incoming call from the Fifth Fleet!" shouted Lowe.

"Oh great…" grumbled Shepard as she turned away from the galaxy map. "I'll take it in the comm room."

She stepped inside the communication room and immediately found the holographic form of Admiral Hackett staring at her. "Spectre."

"Admiral," she said politely enough. "You here to tell me off as well?"

He chuckled dryly and shook his head. "I've had plenty of requests to give you an earful, and even people asking me to remove the Star of Terra from your record. But their anger over this situation is emotionally driven, and I don't make a habit of issuing commands out of anger."

"Well, that's good to know. But you still don't approve?" she asked curiously.

"You're a spectre now, Shepard. You don't work for the Alliance, so my approval is irrelevant," he said with a stony smile. "I will, however, say that the reason I asked you specifically to do the job, and not a special ops team, is because I figured you'd do the right thing. You're the first human spectre, and me and the Fifth Fleet will have your back, regardless of whether High Command is in a good mood or not."

"I'm… happy to hear that," she said, even more confused than before. "So, what's this call about then?"

"You registered with C-Sec that you were headed out to Attican Beta, correct?" he asked curiously.

"Yes, we did. We found in the Hercules System that some geth knocked out an Alliance satellite," she said as she crossed her arms.

"That's exactly what I wanted to ask about. The satellite has nothing like the last one you found. It was just a checkpoint satellite. It marked the registration of any ship that entered the system from the Traverse. We used it to make sure that nothing was entering Alliance space from that sector without the Alliance knowing about it," he said as he held his arms behind his back.

"So, them knocking it out means there may be more coming?" she asked as she raised a curious eyebrow.

"I fear that may be an understatement. Before it went dark, there were a number of unregistered ships moving through the system and presumably into the Armstrong Cluster nearby where more of our satellites went dark. We're looking at a potential invasion here from the Traverse, Shepard," he said stoically as he eyed her with his steel grey eyes.

"So, this system is connected to the Traverse, and you think that the geth knocked out the satellite to keep the Alliance from knowing they're heading for the Armstrong Cluster?" she asked with a serious tone in her voice.

"That's exactly what I think. Sentry Omega, the cluster that is linked to Attican Beta is at the edge of the Terminus Systems. If an invasion were to start, that'd be the easiest way in," he responded, his stance rigid.

"Greeeeat…" groaned Shepard as she reached up and rubbed her head in frustration. "Just out of curiosity, will I be getting Alliance assistance with this potential invasion?" she asked with a stern stare.

"You're good with special forces, Shepard. I'll send in the 23rd Hellfire Division with you into Armstrong in case you find any sizable resistance," he said with a smirk.

Her eyes widened. "You're sending N7 special forces to assist me?"

"Well, you trained most of them, Shepard. So, they should be more than enough to assist you," he responded. "I have things to do, so I'll let you get back to your work, Spectre." Shepard's eyebrows shot upwards as the man put on his hat, then fully saluted her. "And again, keep up the good work."

The call cut off and she was left there startled by the man's words. Turning around, she shook her head with a smirk and headed back to the CIC. "Good to know I've still got some Alliance on my side."

Surface of Eletania – Eletania – Hercules System

"Oh yeah, we're in the right place…" said Ash as she looked at the atmosphere through the plasteel windows of the shuttle.

Shepard, who was currently piloting the shuttle, nodded as small green pollen-like organisms wooshed past the windshield. "It wasn't listed as inhabitable because the atmosphere is full of microorganisms that cause anaphylactic shock to oxygen breathing species."

"Odd how the Council doesn't allow the quarians to colonize the world. It'd be perfect for them given that they constantly live inside their suits," remarked Liara as she scanned the landscape as well.

Shepard looked back at her a moment before turning to the controls again. "You've got a point…" She swerved the shuttle off to the left and landed neatly next to the broken body of the satellite at the edge of a wooded area that they spotted from orbit. Grabbing her brand-new Hierarchy created pistol, she opened the hatch and exited the vehicle. As soon as she did, she noticed that she wasn't stepping onto grass like other oxygenated worlds. Instead, the entire ground was covered in a moss-like growth that made it feel like they were walking on a mattress.

Ash, Liara, and Wrex followed her out and they all surrounded the satellite and began examining it. Ash was the first to kneel down and tap at one end that looked like it had been burned off. "This definitely looks like geth work. The circuitry is all burned to hell and the outer layer is melted off."

"Are we sure that isn't from reentry?" asked Liara curiously.

"No. Atmospheric burn markings leave a specific pattern like this," said Shepard as she ran her hands across the scoring on the outside of the satellite. "Alliance use tech that protects against atmospheric entry heat, so there's no way it would have gotten to the inside of the satellite without assistance. These are plasma burns."

"Geth it is then. They sure know how to make a mess of things," said Wrex as he hefted his shotgun in his arms. Liara looked at him accusingly, making him roll his shoulders. "What?"

"In any case, it looks like the data card from it is missing. It's where the information from the satellite was stored and is our only way of finding out for sure who shot it down," said Shepard as she stood up and looked around.

"You think the geth already got it?" asked Ash curiously as she stood up as well.

"Why would they bother? The Alliance didn't know the satellite was down until days later, and they'd have already moved into Armstrong if their goal was invasion. So, taking the card would be pointless," said the spectre as she turned and spied a curious sight nearby. In the shadow of a large hill stood a small forest, and on the branches of one of the trees was a small creature with large, round ears, large black eyes, and what looked like the snout of an anteater. "What is that?" she asked curiously, causing them all to look over at the snooper.

"That's a pyjak. Annoying little creatures who like to steal shiny things, steal food when you aren't looking, and shit all over the place," responded the krogan as he tightened his grip on his shotgun.

"So, wait… that's what you've been comparing me to this whole time?" asked the spectre incredulously.

"You punched me in the face when we first met. I think you can handle being called a pyjak," he said firmly.

Shepard just shrugged at the comment. "Fair enough. But right now, I need to know if it's a possibility that one of them may have taken the data card."

"It's more than a possibility. Personally, I'm surprised they haven't already taken the entire thing apart and built a giant nest with it," said Wrex as he gently kicked the satellite.

"Well, then we've got our work cut out for us," she said as she raised her arm and motioned towards the small, wooded area. "Search around, see if you can find the card."

"This is not how I saw my day going…" complained Ash as she sighed and headed into the wooded area.

Shepard and Liara didn't stray far from each other as they inspected the trees of the forest. There were many more of the creatures in here than she first anticipated, a sentiment echoed by Ash as she contacted them over the comm. "Hey, Shepard, you remember that old movie series "Planet of the Apes?"" asked the gunnery chief.

Shepard chuckled to herself. "Yes, Williams, I remember it. And I highly doubt these creatures are that intelligent," she responded as she used the enhancing feature on her helmet to get a closer look at them.

Wrex plodded through the trees and shook his head. "Humans have weird movies. On the one hand you have some really good ones, especially one with that-a… whatshisname, Niro?"

Ash stopped for a moment. "Nero? The Roman Emperor?" she asked incredulously.

"No no no, his name is longer, but I forget the rest. Anyway, he has this really convincing moment in this movie where he's practicing drawing his weapon while trash talking an imaginary person…" said the krogan as he looked around through the trees.

"Oh my god… you're talking about Robert DeNiro," said Shepard as her and Liara finally went separate directions to cover more ground.

"Ha! Yeah, that's him. Anyway, you got movies with him in it. Really good character, really convincing, and really raw and visceral. But then you got this Diznoo stuff that makes me wanna vomit out my redundant organs," Wrex responded as he shooed off a pyjak hanging on a branch nearby.

"Hard to believe that the krogan would be attracted to gangster movies," said Ash as she shook her head.

"You talkin' ta me?" responded the krogan in nearly perfect English.

Ash groaned at the phrase as she pressed into an even thicker wooded area. "Please, nobody show him Godfather…"

Shepard snorted as she stopped, the entire conversation nearly making her shake in amusement. "What's Godfather?" asked Wrex curiously.

"Probably your favorite movie yet," said Shepard as she chuckled at the pair.

"Yeah. Humans are weird. In my lifespan alone your entire species went from forging iron plated armor to making holographic movies," he remarked with amusement.

Liara stopped in her tracks at the statement. "Shepard… is this true? Your medieval ages only lasted a thousand years?"

"Sorta. From the end of the Stone Age, which is when we started using metal tools to now has only been just over ten thousand years. The vast majority of our technological advances fit into that window," she replied as she sighed to herself, feeling as if their task was fruitless. She had yet to see a single pyjack nest, let alone something as small as a satellite data card.

"By the Goddess, perhaps humans are more innovative than I realized," said the asari in shock.

"What does that mean?" asked Ash as she finally spotted a small group of the creature's nests.

"Compared to the asari, that time span is very small. On Thessia, it took use approximately thirty-five thousand years to progress technology that far. Almost triple the time span humans did," replied Liara as she stumbled into the same nesting ground as Ash. "We first discovered electricity five thousand years ago,"

"Holy shit…" said the gunnery chief incredulously, a small hint of pride in her voice as she did. "So, wait, when did the asari… become the asari?"

"I presume you mean through evolutionary means," said the asari as she looked around in the nests. Getting a nod from the chief, she continued. "Well, we were primarily an aquatic species, so unfortunately the ruins of our ancestors, if there were any civilizations at all, didn't last as long as we'd like. But through archaeological work, we can trace our species back at least fifty-two thousand years. Presumably, most of our ancestral forerunners are either still at the bottom of the ocean somewhere or were erased by the waters themselves."

"That kinda sucks. Erosion over time happens regardless, but it'd happen a lot faster underwater," said Shepard as she looked up at another pyjak that was staring at her. But she stopped in her tracks with her eyes wide as she saw a small, plasteel-looking disk in its hands. "Guys, I found the disk," she said as she stepped forward and reached out with her own hand. "Easy little guy, just hand me the disk and we'll be out of your-" she cooed gently, but the creature immediately darted across the branch and leapt into another tree. "Son of a bitch! It's headed east in the treetops!"

"On it, Commander!" shouted Ash as she looked up and spotted the critter as it bounced from branch to branch. Raising her weapon, she aimed it carefully and fired. The branch that the creature was about to land on fell, causing the pyjack to fall out of the tree and directly in front of the gunnery chief. "Now give it here!" she snapped as she dove for the disk. But she gasped in surprise as the creature grabbed a handful of mud and splattered it directly onto her visor, blocking her view. "You antsy cheating little bastard!" shouted Ash as she tried to scrape away the offensive sludge.

"Coming your way, Chief!" shouted Wrex as his feet pounded the mossy, leaf-covered floor. The pyjack sprinted away and climbed another tree, but the krogan charged like a mad beast and slammed shoulder first into the trunk, splintering it and causing a loud groaning as the tree began to fall. "I'll bring this whole forest down you little… pyjak…" he yelled, realizing his insult was actually just a descriptor.

Shepard and Liara joined the fray and the spectre dove into the leafy growths where she had seen the creature fall, only to have it jump on her head and sprint for another tree. Wrex was about to raise his shotgun again. But the asari grabbed it and lowered it, getting a confused look from the krogan.

Turning, Liara raised her hands and the elusive pyjack began floating off the ground as it was caught in her biotic field. Growling, Shepard stormed over to it and held out her hand impatiently as the others surrounded the monkey-like creature. "Give!" she ordered.

Much to her surprise, the pyjak handed the disk to her as if it understood her. She stared at it for a long moment before Liara released her biotic hold, and the pyjak sprinted off into the trees again. "Well, that was weird…" commented Ash as she watched it go.

Turning away from the others, Shepard secured the disk inside her armor and opened her comm to the Normandy. "Ground party to Normandy. Do you read?"

"We've got you, Spectre," responded Pressly from the comm.

"The disk is secured, and we'll be coming back up shortly," she said as she went to close the comm again.

But Liara gripped her by the shoulder. "The ruins?"

Shepard nodded gently. "Pressly, did you ever spot the prothean facility we were looking for?"

"I'm afraid not, Shepard. If they're on the surface, we haven't spotted them yet," he said firmly. Shepard could feel the disappointment in Liara as her grip loosened.

Shepard turned to Liara and shrugged. "Sorry, Liara. We can come back later and give it another look."

The asari nodded in frustration. "I understand, Shepard."

"What if you used the orb again?" asked Ash from behind them. They both turned to look at her curiously. "If the orb is advanced enough to recognize your DNA, then maybe it recognizes what planet it's on."

Shepard and Liara looked at one another before nodding. Shepard reached down and removed her armored gauntlet as Liara extracted the prothean artifact from a compartment of her own armor. Handing it over, the spectre grasped it in her palm again, her eyes widening as she seemingly jumped out of her own body. Her vision blurred as she sped over the fields of green growth and into the mountains themselves, over the jagged peaks and deep into the heart of the nearby range. When she was released again, she stared at them wide-eyed. "I know where it is…"

Unknown Prothean Facility – Surface of Eletania – Eletania

It took a flight of twenty minutes in the shuttle, and the spectre's sharp eyes to finally spot the entrance. But once they did, they flew down into the cave with the shuttle and landed. As they stepped outside of the vehicle, everyone but Wrex marveled at the door that stood in front of them. As if preserved by time itself, there was a large wall blocking off the rest of the cave with a large door directly in the center.

Immediately, Liara rushed over to the console and activated it. "Please please please…" she asked desperately. "Yes!" she squealed in joy as it finally lit up. Shepard stepped forward and grinned as she watched the doctor work on the panel, her fingers sliding and pressing over the holographic surface. "It says here that this is some kind of laboratory, and… access is restricted?" she asked as her smile fell.

"So, it needs some kind of key?" asked Shepard curiously, getting a nod from the asari. Shepard then held up the prothean orb in front of the asari woman, who stared at it for a long second before snatching it.

"Of course!" she snapped as she rapidly began attacking the console again. Shepard just chuckled to herself at the excitement exuding from the woman. Finally, Liara placed the orb on the console itself, which began reading the small object. Its liquid-like surface began to change and morph into different shapes as it was scanned, then finally the door hissed loudly, causing Ash and Wrex to jump back in surprise. Grabbing the orb again, Liara stepped back as the grinding of gears was heard loudly.

Slowly the door began to slide upwards, the wear and age on the machinery likely causing most of the groaning they heard. When it finally hit the top, it stopped, showing them little more than pitch black darkness within. "Wrex, you go first…" said Ash comically.

Shepard activated her omni-tool light and shined it inside, moving in with Liara assisting her with her own light. Ash and Wrex followed them in as the omni-tools illuminated a large, single room inner facility with what looked like doors all around the walls. As Shepard and Liara stepped towards the middle of the room, they caught the reflection of their lights in something above them. Looking upwards, Shepard aimed her light up and her eyes widened incredulously. "Holy shit…" she said in surprise as the surface of a much larger orb reflected her light back. All four of them turned their lights on and aimed them up at the object, which appeared to be a much larger version of the key that brought them to this world, one big enough to fit in the entire cargo bay of the Normandy.

"Maybe this is a stupid question, but what is it?" asked Ash curiously as she scanned as much of the surface of the chrome, liquid-like orb as she could.

Liara fell to her knees staring up at it as if she had seen a living deity. "It's a database…" she gasped in awe as she slowly looked around the room. "This place, whatever it was, it was used to store vast archives of memory, much too large for the simple data journals we've seen thus far." Getting to her feet, the asari rushed to the nearest console and tried to get it to spark to life again.

Ash watched her curiously, but nothing the asari did worked. "Having trouble, Doc?" asked the gunnery chief as she stepped up to the console that was refusing the asari.

"It won't respond…" said Liara in frustration as she stared down at it. Suddenly, her head snapped up to the woman next to her. "Chief Williams…"

"Yeah?" asked the woman suspiciously as she saw a glint in the asari's eyes.

"Could I ask you to unarmor your hand and place it on this console?" asked the scientist curiously.

Ash's eyes narrowed in her visor. "You're not trying to get me to trigger a trap, are you? Because if I have to run from a boulder…" But Shepard stepped up in her place and planted her bare palm on the console. Immediately it lit up. As soon as it did, every console around them lit up, and the lights overhead turned on, shining bright fluorescence throughout the large room. Ash looked around in awe. "Woah…"

After a few moments, every door on the outside of the room slid open, revealing what looked like blank holoscreens. Suddenly, the platform beneath Shepard and Liara lifted into the air. They held onto each other for stabilization as it gently floated into the air, putting them both in reach of the practically glowing chrome orb above them.

The pair looked at one another, and Liara took off her own gloves quickly. Reaching out, she gripped Shepard's hand, her eyes now black as they had been many times during their connections. Looking up at the object, they raised their hands together, fingers interlaced, and touched its surface. As soon as they did, they were both ripped from reality.

? - ? - ?

Two minds linked together and fought through the darkness and blur of colors until finally they opened their eyes. Snorting heavily, they placed a hand against the ground, then pushed themselves up, the feeling of dirt caked against their skin from the sleep almost nostalgic. Getting to their knees, the figure reached up and wiped their mouth clean with the back of their hand.

Once they did, they looked at the back of their hand in surprise, seeing thick, course hair growing there and odd, misshapen knuckles and joints. Suddenly, they were startled be a throbbing pain in the back of their neck. Reaching up, they felt a small lump, as if a chip of flint had dug under the skin and burrowed its way into their skull. Looking around at the surroundings, they saw caves down below where their people were gathering for the celebration of the hunt.

Groaning in slight pain, the figure saw a bone-tipped spear nearby and grabbed it before using it to get to their wobbly feet. They were on a hill next to a vast lake, the sun shining brightly on its surface. But it wasn't the only thing on the surface. In the reflection, there was something else, a shadow. Raising the spear tip first in the air, the figure looked up and let out a grunting battle call as it saw a mysterious object in the air, flying like a bird, but sitting still. No wings, no head, nothing like any bird they had ever seen. Like the lake, the sun gleamed off its surface.

Letting out another grunt, the figure tried to intimidate it. However, the creature turned, the reflection from the sun being directed into their eyes. The armed, hairy person covered their eyes, then looked back to find it missing from the sky. Reaching up, they used their large, knuckled hands to scratch their shaggy head of hair, wondering where it had gone as they looked around.

They returned to their village, the scenes going by as if years passed in minutes, finding a mate, hunting food, fighting for territory and sovereignty, the sun rising later every day, taking the kills and making fur and tools from their bodies, having children, growing older, becoming the elder, celebrating, mourning, laughing, crying. Suddenly, they were pulling their furs tighter to their bodies as they trekked through a snowy tundra, their tribe on the move in search of new sources of food. The wind picked up, and it was a night full of darkness with the moon barely showing.

But, looking up, they were surprised again to see a bright silver object hanging in the sky. Recognizing it for what it was, they held their spear aloft and barked out a threatening shout to scare it off again. This time, however, it got closer. They took a step back, thrusting their spear forward at whatever this beast was. Instead of being intimidated, it blew out a gust of warm wind that nearly knocked them off their feet. Looking up again, they saw it getting closer and closer, causing them to turn towards their tribe and yell out the command to run. The warm air got closer and would have felt comforting were it not the harbinger of such a terrifying monster.

Suddenly, they spun around as they felt its presence closer and decided to sacrifice themselves for their tribe, gripping the spear and aiming it at the creature. But a glowing red eye stopped them in their tracks. For moments, all that existed was this eye as it burned into their mind. Finally, the red turned to black as darkness swallowed them. In the darkness, there was a small voice, almost fatherly in tone. "Welcome back," they said. Moments later, another voice entered with a very clinical tone. "End memory file for subject Adammah of Species 68."