The Monster
"There'd better be more food at the end of this hike," Garrus called. He, Liara and EDI walked about a dozen meters behind, while Shepard and Tali had slowly pulled ahead of them. The quarian had wanted to press Shepard for details about how things were developing between Shepard and Garrus. Shepard was mortified at the idea of discussing it in the other's earshot and had increased their pace to try to get some privacy.
"Really? You're still hungry after stuffing your face in the markets?" Tali laughed over her shoulder.
Shepard vaguely heard him grumble something about "...no meat..."
"Actually," Shepard asked, "Where exactly are you taking us?" She couldn't see anything up ahead apart from the edge of the rise they had been climbing for the last twenty minutes."
"Oh, you'll see." Tali replied, bouncing eagerly on her toes. "Shepard, I really think it's going to take your-
They were suddenly cast in shadow and a dark form appeared before them, blocking out the sky and the horizon. An all too familiar roaring blast like a horn rent the air and the light in the creature's central eye began to glow, fixing on Shepard.
Her ears were ringing, her blood roaring, heart pounding. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't - she needed a weapon. She was running, springing down the hill towards Garrus. His eyes widened in concern, his mouth shaping words she couldn't hear over the roaring and screaming in her ears. She threw herself on him - tackling him to the ground, minimizing the target he presented. She could hear someone screaming her name, she would get to them, she would keep him safe, then she would find them and make sure ... She snatched Garrus' rifle from him and sput to aim it at the Reaper-
"Moria!" he yelled as she raised his rifle, pointing it at the Reaper that had emerged over the crest of the hill. "Moria, no!" He shoved the barrel aside a fraction of a second before she fired and prayed the bullet found no mark as he heard the shot ring through the once tranquil seaside air. What was she doing? He had seen the Reaper emerge and suddenly she'd been running to him. He'd opened his arms hoping to catch her, to calm her since it had clearly spooked her and instead she had attacked him-
Green light shone in the air as biotic shields flared up around Tali, Liara and EDI. The three females called out in confusion as they ran towards the two of them. Shepard aimed the gun at the Reaper again and he grabbed it, trying to pull it from her hands. "Moria!" But it was as if she couldn't hear him. She began fighting his grip on the gun and then raised a hand, preparing a biotic blast. "NO!" Garrus threw himself on top of her, pinning her on her back, his hands locking hers to the ground. He tried to hold her there, calling to her, but swift as the wind she brought a leg up underneath him and with a devastating kick she was rolling on top of him. He fought to keep a hold of her. She freed one hand with an effective jab with her elbow at one of his pressure points. Fuck, she was too good at this close quarters shit - she was going to get free - she was going to... "Someone help me!" he roared.
He heard pounding footsteps and then a deep, heavily accented voice yell "Shepard!" A blast of biotic energy nearly hit her, exploding into the shield she brought up at the last moment and as the light faded, Javik appeared in view and landed a punch to the Commander's jaw. She fell back onto the ground and Garrus threw himself on top of her, yelling "Hold her down!"
Javik grabbed Shepard's legs, his biotics winking into life around her to help restrain her. "Why are we attacking the Commandah?" he yelled. Garrus didn't answer. In the distance, Tali was calling something to the Reaper in front of them, it was letting out a strange high pitched keening noise.
"Moria, snap out of it, please!" he yelled to the woman beneath him. He could feel her straining against him and Javik's biotics. Then suddenly her head snapped back, her eyes filling with green light, the strands across her body becoming blindingly bright, and with a flash, it disappeared. Her arms went limp.
"What the...?" Javik asked, sensing the change as well.
The roar of engines filled the air. Good, someone must have radioed Joker, maybe if they could get her on the ship, Liara or Chakwas could calm her down, could-
A blast from the Normandy's cannons exploded into the small scrape of earth between them and the Reaper. What the hell? Javik released his hold on Shepard as he wiped dust and debris from his eyes. Garrus scooped her limp form into his arms.
"Joker! What the hell?!" he yelled into the comm, "Cease firing on the Reaper, dammit! They're not a threat anymore!"
"I'm not!" Joker called back. Garrus could hear a familiar static roar coming across the comm. "I don't have control of anything right now, Garrus!"
Two more blasts from the Normandy thudded into the ground between him and the Reaper. The Reaper let out another screeching keen. One of the clawlike limbs of the Destroyer class Reaper stabbed into the ground before Tali, who was stranded on the other side of the scorched earth, its bulk blocking her from the debris.
"It's Shepard." EDI yelled, "She's in the Normandy. She's trying to fire on the Reaper."
"Then stop her!" Garrus yelled.
"I'M TRYING!" EDI yelled with a human frustration Garrus had never heard from her, "I can't get her out. She's completely embedded herself in the weapon's system. It is taking all my processing power to halt the ship's flight and therefore alter the trajectory of the blasts."
"Can you land it?" Garrus barked.
"Yes," she answered as another round of cannon fire filled the air.
"DO IT!" He yelled. The Normandy began descending, tilted at a strange angle as EDI limited the vector it could fire. "Tali, Liara, we'll need you!" Liara began racing over. Tali approached the nearest bulk of the Reaper and ran a hand soothingly across its side, calling up to it.
With Shepard's unconscious form still cradled in his arms, Garrus sprinted for the ship and lept through the porthole before it had fully opened. The ship's interior was filled with that static roar.
"MORIA," he yelled, gazing around at the screens everywhere that were flickering, frozen or turned to pixelated blizzards. "Moria, it's ok. We're safe. We're on the Normandy. You can stop protecting us." The static continued to roar.
"EDI, get us out of here." he called, running towards the heart of the ship. "Get us away from the Reaper and away from Legion or any other settlements!" He began running for the engine room without waiting for confirmation.
Once again, he opened the door with an elbow and rushed into the room. He kneeled and leaned Shepard against the control panel. He stroked her scratched face. "Moria," he said softly, "Moria, it's ok. Listen ... those are the engines. It's ok. Everyone's on the Normandy. Everyone's safe. You can stop fighting." The roaring continued. Garrus could hear the Normandy continuing to fire. The door to the engine room opened and Liara entered.
"Liara," Garrus said, his voice breaking, "Help me, please ..." he begged.
Liara crossed to them instantly and kneeled next to him, resting her hands on either side of Shepard's now sweat slick brow.
It felt like an eternity but finally the strands across Shepard's skin glowed green again, faded, and the roaring static on the ship vanished once again. Garrus was still breathing heavily. He could feel that the simple thrumming of the engines was now a comfort to him as well. He stared at Liara, who gazed back, looking just as troubled and lost.
"And this has been happening for how long?" demanded Tali, her hands digging in frustration into the side of the table of the War Room.
"Since we left Sur'Kesh." Garrus grumbled.
"Keelah se'lai! Why didn't you tell me?" She stared at Garrus. "If I had known - if I'd any idea she was having trauma-based reactions I would never have surprised her. I would have warned her and made sure that she was ready." She pressed her hands to her mask. "She seemed so... strong, cocky and ... normal. But-"
"Shepard's not one to share her vulnerability." Liara said softly.
"But why the hell didn't one of you let me know what was going on?" Tali railed.
Garrus and Liara shared a long, meaningful look. Garrus, shifting uncomfortably, finally said, "There hadn't been a good time yet -" Liara scowled at him, "and I've been trying to avoid spreading knowledge of it. She's proud, Tali-"
"Garrus, half of the settlement probably just saw her ship open fire on one of the creatures that has been instrumental in helping us build Legion. A creature some parents allow their children to visit. I think Shepherd's pride is going to be the least of her worries. She's going to need to worry about the Admiralty board getting their ta'hal in a tangle." She quieted for a moment, "I feel terrible… she... she must have been terrified."
"Our focus now," Dr. Chakwas said calmly, "Is to help her find a course of action for controlling it." Garrus was deeply thankful for the silver haired woman's seemingly unshakable practicality.
"You're right." Tali said with a sigh and a shake of her head, "Liara, are you able to teach her to control it like you were able to pull her out today?"
"I can put her into a dreamless sleep." Liara said. "But that's not going to be enough of a solution. I was able to reach her today because she was awake, her consciousness was just in the Normandy." She shook her head. "But things are obviously getting worse, and we don't know what the next development will be. We need to get ahead of it. We can't just keep reacting."
Garrus shifted restlessly. "And just how do we do that?"
No one had an answer.
There was a small pinging noise from Dr. Chakwa's omni-tool. She opened it and dismissed the alert. She looked to Garrus.
"She's awake."
Shepard was huddled in the center of their bed. Her arms were resting on her knees and her head was buried in them, her hair lit with streaks of silver in the star-lit room. She raised her head as he sat on the bed before her. The damp streaks of silent tears, as well as those silvery strands, reflected the moonlight. They were both silent for a moment.
"You can't take me to Palaven," she whispered.
His heart broke. "Are you kidding?" he said softly. "I don't have a choice about taking you there now." She frowned slightly and he continued, "You found flaws in our armor and you can control a warship with your mind while also beating the shit out one of C-Sec and the turian army's best." She began to bury her head in her arms again but he caught her face, making her look at him. "My father will kill me if I don't bring you to Palaven and make you one of us. And if I don't Join with you, my sister will happily march across my still-cooling corpse and be your mate herself."
Moria sniffed and he wrapped her in his arms. "Although," he rumbled into her hair. "We should probably find a way of controlling when you possess the Normandy and make sure other loud noises don't spook you." He kissed her neck gently, "You might be every turian's dream woman, but even that wouldn't be quite enough to make them forgive you for stubbing your toe and turning our capital into a smoking crater."
"Hey!" she protested quietly.
"Look," he said simply, "We can't let the quarians show us up with their stupid arts and crafts."
"You... are such an ass." she whispered. And he grinned into her hair.
Shepard was examining her scabbed, now bruised face in her cabin mirror. The same mirror where Garrus had studied his face in her nightmares. For a moment she thought she saw that unscarred face, those glowing green eyes staring back at her. She brought a hand to her human face and, in the mirror, saw turian fingers reaching for the face before her-
There was a knock at the door - the turian face was gone. Moria Shepard, looking scared and like shit, stared back at her from the reflective glass. Shepard shook her head. "Come in," she called.
Company would be better than the too-quiet cabin. Garrus had left a short while ago to work with Tali and see if they could accomplish some diplomatic triage in the wake of the Normandy's cannon fire. The questions the geth and Reapers had raised were bad enough on their own, she couldn't believe she'd caused even more problems.
Then the door to her chamber opened and a familiar, deep voice spoke. "Commanda', I would have thought you would not be so concerned about your looks," Javik teased gently. "After today I think it is your ability to block and defend yourself that you should be concerned about."
She grinned at him, actually savoring the discomfort that the expression caused her jaw. "Oh come on, Javik. You can't blame me. I've only had little turians to practice on."
The Prothean snorted. "Parhaps I will have to step in to give you someone real to train with. You have clearly outgrown your turian sparring partner."
"I wouldn't turn down that offer, " she said with a smile, "But he has a variety of uses."
Javik smiled softly. "I am glad to see the two of you are finding happiness."
"I hadn't realized you were still on Rannoch." she said, "I thought... you had plans to join the ones you lost when this was all over."
"Hmmmm..." Javik crossed to her cabin window, staring down at Rannoch below them. "That was my plan... but... Shepard, I was furious with you when I did not see the Reapers fall. When they were retreating. I thought you had betrayed us and not annihilated them at any cost, as we had discussed." He looked to her and she could still see an ember of rage in his eyes.
"I know ..." she said softly, her heart sinking.
"I made my way to the medbay to kill you and exact revenge for your betrayal of my species. It was fortunate that Garrus was completely incapacitated. I did not want to fight a friend in order to kill you. But Liara stopped me." He let out a long breath. "She told me that you had made a choice that spared the consciousnesses of my people, that - that a part of them still remained in the Reapers ... and so I have been trying to find them."
"Have you been able to?" Shepard asked.
"Not yet," he said heavily. "My abilities to read the organic physiology within the Reapers synthetics allows me to communicate with them as the other Primitives of this cycle cannot, but the ones that are here, they were never prothean." The set of his shoulders was heavy. "Some are even more ancient than my people. It can be a struggle to understand them, but Tali believes that they may be able to connect with the other Reapers in the galaxy and help me find where my people are."
"I'm so sorry Javik." she said softly.
He turned to her. "Do not be sorry, Shepard. Be proud. I had abandoned all hope and that made me a warrior unfit for my people. A warrior who would have made choices to destroy the Reapers regardless, and silence my people for good. Besides," he added, "I was able to punch you today, and that, I feel, is appropriate punishment for you going back on your word."
Shepard laughed. "I am glad Liara was able to help you find hope."
"I am as well," he said with a soft smile. Then frowned. "She has also told me that you are having the living dreams of your last battles."
"Um... yeah." Shepard muttered.
"You feel shame because of this?"
She took a deep breath. She couldn't believe she was having this conversation for the first time with Javik of all people. Javik, the nicest, most touchy feely of her companions. Perfect person for a conversation about emotions. "Yes ..." she admitted.
"Then you are a fool," he said. Yup, that was pretty much how she expected this to go. "Experience leaves its marks on all of us. I have told you this before, Shepard." She sat on the edge of her bed, elbows resting on her knees, head hanging. Fuck, she wasn't sure she had the energy for this right now. "Any warrior will carry the trauma of battle on them for a time. My people knew this well."
Shepard felt the bed shift beside her and was rather surprised to find the Prothean sitting at her side. He gazed out at the stars and continued softly "I carry them as well. The battles here in this cycle, and ..." he was quiet. "And the ones I lost long ago. Those are especially potent."
"My people learned from them," he continued, murmuring softly. "Used them to look back at our mistakes, to understand our fears, so that when we faced them on a new battlefield, rather than in our sleeping minds, we would be stronger than we had been before."
He rested a three fingered hand on her own. "You must face them and learn," he said with surprising gentleness. "You must master them. Or they will master you."
They were both breathing heavily when they finished. For some reason, their nights since beginning the trip to Palaven had been ... physical and aerobic ... rough frenzied exchanges that left them both spent and unable to think. Maybe it was their way of celebrating both being alive, being relatively whole once again. The two warriors pushed their bodies to the limit in every way to simply prove to the lingering shadows in their, and each other's minds, that they still could. It made falling asleep easier for her, Garrus had observed, even if undisturbed sleep eluded her. He found the post coital haze was a welcome reprieve from searching for more ways to help.
He ran his fingers through her hair. They had been exploring turian-human intimacy for more than a year now and he still found her hair, both distributions of it, entrancing. He'd also noticed that she had started wearing it down more. It was still usually pulled back from her face (no way would Shepard compromise clear visuals) but instead of being in the tousled bun that had been her staple as they prepared for war with the Reapers, she let the lengthening mane cascade down her back. It had been a challenge to focus on the news the Admirals had shared with them with her hair dancing in Rannoch's wind before him. It made him think of the turian clan-banners of old, carried behind generals so that all knew where the axis of power stood. He couldn't help feeling somehow that red hair somehow bore a similar message to his world. He wasn't sure if that should bring him pride or concern.
They would be going back down to Rannoch in the morning. Shepard had said she needed to meet with the geth and to his great anxiety, the Reapers, before sharing her thoughts with the Admiralty board. A part of him hoped that after the disastrous trauma of today she would be so worn out that she would actually sleep through the night. At the memory of the cannonfire at the edge of the bay, EDI's words haunted him. "I'm trying…" the AI had called in distress. EDI, the AI who had been able to rewrite the programming of the Crucible, was able to protect them from hacks by Cerberus, and had made the Normandy sing and soar in ways he had never seen before ... hadn't been able to stop Moria.
EDI had been able to control the flight of the ship at least, although he didn't take much comfort there. He knew Moria; he'd fought beside her and sparred against her enough to know that wicked mind. She was a creature focused on the enemy before her and her ability to destroy it. She was crazy as a krogan and perfectly comfortable with keeping the thing trying to kill her an arm's length away rather than the healthy sniper scope distance that was his personal preference. Things turned sideways and she wanted a weapon, not a way out. EDI may have been able to control the flight of the ship but he'd bet his favorite sniper rifle on that only being possible because Moria couldn't care less about the flight of the ship so long as she was firing at the Reaper.
The AI was becoming eerily human, and perhaps that was why she had found limitations in dislodging Moria. But a feeling in his gut, a feeling he had learned to listen to, told him otherwise. That feeling had told him when to duck, that there was something off about Saren, and something special about the reckless redheaded human he'd bumped into on the Citadel. And now … it told him that the problem lay, not in the AI's growing organic behaviors, but in the building conflagration of power in the woman lying in his arms.
She stretched and shifted away from him, the sudden loss of the warmth of her body against him shaking him from his thoughts. She walked to the bar in her cabin and poured herself some water. Her skin a silvery tapestry of strands and scars in the starlight.
"Moria, I need to talk to you about something …" he said softly.
He could feel her tense across the room but she breezed, "Ok, but if you're going to break things off between us you should know that I still plan on flying to Palaven after this." She cocked her head to the side and gave him a wicked grin. "I've developed a taste for turian. Javik was right, you're delicious."
He rolled his eyes at her. "I must have worn you out more than I thought." He purred. "That started out hot, Shepard, but you didn't quite stick the landing." He sat at the edge of their bed considering her, "But that's definitely not it. I'm enjoying you far too much."
"Not finished playing with my hair?" she grinned, her fingers drifting for a moment to the hair below her waist.
"Never," he breathed. Damn her, she was distracting. "But seriously, Moria. When you were still out cold earlier today I was talking to Dr. Chakwas." He could see she was uneasy. "Look, you can take care of yourself, and the rest of the galaxy, it seems. We all know that. But … some of us are worried for you. The dreams, and now after what happened today … Chakwas thinks you might have PTSD."
"PTSD? It's ok Garrus, I'm not going to die of Post turian Sex Disorder. Mordin gave me a cream for that years ago."
"Very funny."
"Besides," she said, walking towards him, "some people find limited respiration during sex arousing." She started to push him back onto the bed.
He caught her hands. "Moria, I'm serious."
"So am I," she grinned, "you already make me breathless but -"
He stood up, making her look at him. "Please Moria, these dreams are-"
"They're just bad dreams." she said, pushing him away. "Everyone gets them after a nasty firefight. You had your own." she reminded him. "These will go away eventually just like those did."
"Oh, I know I've had them." he said hotly, "And I also know that what we went through fighting for Earth was not a 'nasty firefight'." He shook his head. "Moria I'm having a harder time coming back from that battle than I ever have before -"
"See, I'm not the only one-" he cut her off.
"And I didn't go through anything like you did." She tried to walk away but he held on. "I watched the woman I love die." He was breathing heavily. "You're as good a marksman as I am," he said, his eyes boring into hers. "You know how a body looks when you've taken the perfect shot. That stillness that means there is nothing, nothing left in that shell. That was you." She was silent. He choked out the next words "I stood there staring because I knew there was nothing to go to."
"But I'm here!" she snapped.
"And no one actually understands how!" he snapped. "Do you have any idea how terrifying that is for the rest of us? And with what you were able to do today you have to take this seriously, it's dangerous-"
"I know it is." She snarled, pushing him away and storming towards the window.
"Then-"
"I am the one who orders those cannons to fire." She said, spinning to glare at him. She was scared as well as mad, he could smell it on her. "I know exactly what they can do-"
"You also know what the Reapers are capable of," he pressed. "If it had taken a hit-"
"I know!" she yelled at him, her body erupting with green light. The emerald fire of her biotics crackled in the air, the screen on the wall displaying the Normandy's position becoming a blur of static. Then, quick as it had come, the light vanished, leaving Moria panting and terrified in its wake.
Garrus stood staring at her helplessly. He could see her trembling. He began walking towards her "Moria, I-"
"Out of my cabin, Vakarian." There was no tease, no warmth in the way she said his name. Garrus silently stood staring at her for a moment, and then picked his jacket up off the floor. "Yes, Commander." he said quietly. He neared the door, was almost through it when he heard her take a deep breath to call him back - he was ready to-
"And get me Javik."
Shepard and Liara walked along a ridge to the east of Legion, the air scented by the crashing waves of the bay below them. There was a gleam in Liara's eye and the asari's long strides were quickly devouring the climb to the tent at the top of the breezy bluff. Shepard had to work to keep up with her friend, but didn't mind the strain. She would have sprinted alongside her friend if that had been the cost of being able to drink in the asari's joy and excitement.
She heard a mechanical whine and EDI came forward so that she was in line with the other two women once again, having clearly increased the pace of her stride. "Oh, sorry," Liara said, blushing, "I don't mean to be rushing everyone like this." She slowed her pace, but Shepard didn't.
"Don't worry," Shepard said with a soft smile. "You're excited. Spirits-" she cut herself off, "Goddess knows we need more of that around here." Liara gave Shepard a questioning look and began to ask something but Shepard cut her off. "You're the only archaeologist who's spoken and traveled with a prothean, and now you're going to speak with species that existed even before their cycle." Shepard pushed the trio's pace further, "Let's hurry up so you can keep meeting history." And not talk about my feelings…
As they reached the tent at the top of the bluff Shepard was able to see it's occupants. Javik was studying a screen, the trailing ends of a red and gold ta'hal wrapped around his neck. Shepard was surprised. She had never seen him wear anything other than the prothean armor she had found him in. He'd even worn it when accompanying her to a casino on a mission. (Not her ideal choice for one of her crew when trying to blend in a bit - but it and his notoriety had ended up providing a useful distraction.) To Shepard's disappointment, Admiral Xen was standing beside him considering the screen as well.
"Wow, Javik," Shepard said as she and her crewmates stepped into the shade of the tent. "Look at you. Picking up a few local customs, I see." she teased gently.
"Greetings, Comanda'," Javik said, "I can see that my right hook was perfectly placed. It is pleasing to know that, unlike you, I am not growing soft in peace times." he shot right back, but his eyes gleamed.
"Well we always knew you were the pretty one." Shepard said. "I'm surprised though, I couldn't get you to wear any of the Alliance gear we offered you."
"This was a gift" he said, "And I thought it would be rude to refuse. Ka'hari made it for me." he said, nodding to an occupant of the tent that Shepard had not yet spotted. A young quarian was perched on a stool leaning against the table where the screens rested. It was perhaps the height of a 7 year old human child (although Shepard couldn't be sure, she didn't actually have that much experience around human children… when did they get tall?).
"Ka'hari Xen nar Moreh is my daughter, and my apprentice." Admiral Xen said proudly.
Shepard tried to smile at the young quarian, hoping her face wasn't so banged up that it would scare the female. "Hi, Ka'hari, I'm -"
"You're the Shepard!" Ka'hari said, excitedly rushing forward.
"I'm Commander Shepard." Shepard corrected. She didn't know what "The Shepard" was supposed to be but she didn't like the sound of it. It sounded like lots of very unrealistic expectations. "I'm a Spectre." Yes, let's keep things very clear.
"I heard you were The Shepard," the young quarian said confusedly, "What's a Spectre?"
"A Spectre Is a person who goes around making big messes and catching bad guys," said a rumbling voice behind her. Garrus and Tali stepped into the shade of the tent. Garrus' smile flicked from Shepard to the youngling before him. "Commander Shepard is the best of them. She catches the biggest bad guys, but she also makes the biggest messes."
Javik snorted. "That, my turian friend, is an excellent description for the Comanda."
Ka'hari still seemed perplexed by Shepard. "You shouldn't be making messes. When I make messes on my calculations my work isn't very efficient. How are you so good at your job if you're not efficient and you keep making messes?"
Javik chuckled. "That, Little One, is an excellent question that I am sure we have all been wondering for some time now." Shepard squinted at him. Javik ignored her and added "Ka'hari, this is my friend Garrus Vakarian. He is a turian."
"Hi," Ka'hari said, rushing towards the turian now, the inefficient Spectre apparently no longer of interest. "Do you really have mandibles?"
Garrus' eyebrows raised. The tall turian looked down at Ka'hari and then squatted low so that their faces were level. "Uhh … yes," he said, a little perplexed. "Yes, I do." Through her mask Ka'hari's eyes sparkled. She excitedly reached out a hand, but then stopped before touching Garrus. "It's ok," he said gently. "You can touch them if you like. I don't bite."
Liar. Shepard couldn't help but think up images of a few specifically shaped bruises she had found on her neck, shoulders, and… that one time, her ass. Garrus made brief eye contact with her and she couldn't help thinking he was somehow reading her mind.
The "Little One" (Shepard was going to find a way to give Javik shit for that later)tentatively placed her hands on Garrus' mandibles. He opened his mouth and made a "raa raa raa" noise so she could see how they moved. Shepard's heart ached a little and she let out a long breath, trying to let go of the images of him with another child that would do nothing but bring her pain now.
Ka'hari tilted her head to the side, considering the rest of Garrus. "Do you really have juicy meat under your carapace?"
"Gahaa-" Garrus said, totally taken aback.
"How would it taste with Mahal spice? That's my favorite, I usually have it on vegetables but-"
"Javik's been teaching her a thing or two." Admiral Xen said. "Ok, Ka'hari. Come help me with this coding, we're not doing any dissections today."
"But I wanna know how deep the carapace goes." Ka'hari said blithely, still staring at Garrus.
"It's about five centimenters at its thickest." Garrus replied, to Shepard's surprise and Ka'hari's delight. "And two centimeters thick over most vital organs because those regions also have thick muscular walls 'cause they need to be able to move and twist."
"Oh," Ka'hari said, eyes wide, drinking in the information.
"Yeah," Garrus smirked. "turians are pretty cool. But…" he said, pausing for emphasis, "protheans are even more interesting. Did you know that Javik can make a chirping noise by rubbing his legs together?"
Ka'hari's attention snapped to Javik but the Admiral interceded. "Ka'hari. We need someone to get Echo so the Commander can speak to them. Can you help with that, please?"
"Oh! Ok!" the child said brightly and ran off down the far side of the hill.
"I'm surprised you're taking so much interest in the education of 'Primitives.'" Garrus said with a glare at Javik.
The Prothean shrugged. "She is remarkably precocious and savage. It made me wonda' if perhaps the limitations of species in this cycle were because of misguided cultural focus rather than evolutionary limitations. Besides, the environment of Rannoch agrees with me and it would be stimulating to spend time in this place with a few like-minded creatures."
Tali shook her head. "You don't seem too troubled by Ka'hari's new entertainment, Admiral Xen." she remarked.
"Varied sources of information are always beneficial." the quarian said with a shrug. "She's more than capable of sorting out what will be important." The Admiral turned to EDI. "I'm delighted that you were able to come and join us today, EDI. Ka'hari has been very interested in meeting you as well, it's just that she has just had more… colorful information… about your organic companions."
"It is a pleasure." EDI said, nodding.
"Actually," the Admiral said, "while we are waiting for Ka'hari to get Echo, EDI, I would be very interested in getting your take on something Javik and I have been working on." EDI took a few steps forward and began looking at the screens before her. "We have been trying to run programs to decipher the audio signals that the Reapers give." the Admiral said.
"Wait," Shepard said, "We've talked to Reapers before, they've never had a problem making their threats clear."
"From what Admiral Zorah has shared with us," Admiral Xen said, "The Reapers were able to communicate with organics previously because they were controlled by the Conduit. It's programming and surveillance of Organics gave it the tools to speak with species of our cycle. However, after EDI's astounding wiping and rewriting of their systems, the consciousnesses of the harvested species are now in control of the Reaper structure. They don't seem to have access to the translation programmings that the Conduit used." She gestured to the screens before her. "Several of the Reapers here seem to be communicating with each other and us using particular pitched auditory frequencies." She saw Shepard's bemused expression. "They are not dissimilar to the sound waves that the whales of Earth use, Shepard. We've recorded samples and have been trying to analyze them to create our own translation programs. But they are proving difficult."
"The experiences of the consciousnesses I have been able to read are very, very ancient." Javik said. "Their communication systems seem to have been truly astounding in their neuro complexity. They make my people look like you primitives."
EDI's eyes were flicking with uncanny speed over the data before her. "Yes, I can see that the patterns do not align with any known linguistic bases. However, if you have data regarding the circumstances surrounding these recordings then running simulations of their conversations may yield something more promising."
Admiral Xen began retrieving the additional information with Tali's assistance. Javik asked Liara to look over sketches of buildings he had seen while reading the experiential markers of the Reapers to see if any were of civilizations she was familiar with. This left Shepard and Garrus standing awkwardly across the tent from one another. He looked like shit, but between the fading scratches, bruised jaw and the new shadows under her eyes, she supposed she wasn't the one to judge.
Shepard had slept alone last night, after their fight. She wasn't sure where Garrus had gone. She supposed he still technically had his own cabin assignment on the Normandy, not that it had been used for much lately apart from storing his less-used armor. She hadn't seen him yet this morning. Traynor had come to her early that morning with a disembark request from him. Apparently he'd arranged for Tali to show him the vineyards before the day grew too warm.
She'd woken in the middle of the night gasping for breath from her latest nightmare. She'd fallen from the bed, the sweat soaked blankets tangled around her. Gazing bleary eyed around the cabin, she was instantly grateful she'd been alone. All the glass in the room was shattered. The shield reinforced window was still intact, but the few bottles of wine, glasses and tumbler of water at the bar had been reduced to a jagged landscape of gleaming shards. The remnants of a side table's glass top littered the floor and the mirror where she'd seen visions of Garrus' twisted face was spider webbed with cracks. Staring at her haggard reflection in the fractured glass, she felt sick. Of the two faces she'd seen there, the truly dangerous one, the monster, was her.
After doing her best to sweep up the glittering debris, she was ready to take the bag of broken glass to the compactor in the hall - but stopped right before her door. She wasn't alone. She stood there - her hand hovering over the door panel - heart still beating quickly from the nightmare. She was as good of a marksman as he was. She knew the tension in the air of someone lying in wait. Knew the sound of someone waiting to spring. The sound of held breath. And after all the times the two of them had stalked into the belly of something nasty, all the times he'd covered her… Shepard knew the sound of Garrus keeping her in his sights.
"If you were Alliance," she said softly. "I'd have you discharged for this shit, Vakarian." She dropped the bag by the door and stalked back to the bed. Let him worry. Let him wonder. Hot tears of shame and anger crept down her face. She cursed herself for the feelings sweeping through her and the turian in the hall who she knew could literally smell her fear and hear her held breath and pounding heart. That was the damn problem with space flight.
Garrus pressed his head back in exhaustion and slid down the wall of the Normandy. It didn't matter if she heard him now. After she kicked him out he'd wandered the Normandy aimlessly, not even bothering to go back to his cabin. He knew he'd get no rest there. He knew she hadn't been ready. But taking control of the Normandy a second time. Using it to go on the offensive… he didn't have a choice.
He'd ended up outside her cabin a few hours after Javik had flown back down to Rannoch. He'd dozed fitfully, sitting across from it, fortunate that her cabin was at least in a corner of the ship rarely frequented in the late hours. He'd seen a blue figure at the end of the hallway at one point, but a moment later they were gone. Well then, he wasn't the only one feeling the need to keep sentinel.
He'd felt the nightmare begin. Caught the change in the scent emanating from her room. Heard her thrashing in the bed, crying out, heart pounding. He'd spent the whole time wrestling against the words still ringing in his ears. "Out of my cabin, Vakarian." An order from his superior. And so, despite everything in his body telling him to go to her, he stayed.
Then he'd felt the blast. Seen the door rattle on impact as air burst through the cracks. He'd heard the shattering glass and the thud on the floor. His hand had been on the panel to open the door when the sounds of her shifting inside stopped him. He'd heard her nearing the door and slid to the side, torn between his desire to make sure she was ok and dash silently down the hall. Not that it mattered, apparently. Before he could make a decision she'd sensed he was there. Damn. Well that wasn't going to help things.
"How were the vineyards?" Shepard asked.
Garrus let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Remarkable." he said. "They think they'll have their first harvest in two Rannoch months." He brightened, "They were preparing a new row of the vineyard, taking cuttings from the established plants to get the new ones going. I actually got to plant a few." He smiled at her. "It felt good to create something rather than kill or destroy."
Pain filled Shepard's eyes. Shit, he thought. Spirits he was stupid, did he really just - he had just wanted to share something pleasant - he hadn't meant to-
"Here comes Echo!" Ka'hari streaked past the two of them, running for the cliff's edge.
"Commanda'," said Javik, crossing to them. He lowered his voice and with surprising gentleness in his eyes, said. "Center yourself. Our Reaper is about to arrive."
Garrus and Javik followed the rest of the assembled party from the sheltering shade of the tent to the edge of the bluff, where they stood and waited.
Shepard took deep breaths. She could do this. She'd been on the ground in London. She'd made it off the Collector base. She'd made it off the Citadel. So why the hell was she so scared now? This Reaper wasn't going to attack her. She was the freaking one who had decided to keep it alive. And maybe that was the problem … she wasn't actually worried about what the Reaper was going to do. She was scared of what she might do. She'd always trusted her reactions, her gut, when things got hot, knew it was going to be her best shot at staying alive. But now that was a problem. She couldn't control it.
She crossed her left arm across her chest, her right elbow resting on it, right hand in front to her mouth in what she hoped was a pensive stance. She'd kicked Traynor out of her own room so she could check how it looked in the specialist's mirror. She was pretty sure it worked. Most of all, it meant that she could subtly look down and see the silver strands across her fingers. She had something to focus on, something to remind her that she had made it out. That things were different. That she and this Reaper were different.
The Reaper rose in the sky before them. Shepard could still feel her heart pounding. She forced herself to look from the Reaper to the hand before her face again and again. Why hadn't it obliterated them - because it wasn't going to obliterate them. It was there to talk to them. Deep breaths.
Over to their left, Shepard saw a geth crest the hill and join them as well. Yes, see, the geth were here; the nice, friendly, ta'hal wearing geth and the nice, city rebuilding Reapers. She had done this for them. She stared again at the strands on her hands. All this, these fucking nighmares, the broken glass, the annoying lingering salarian doctors, it had all been for this. End the war, save EDI, honor Legion, befriend the Reapers. Ok, if she was honest with herself, she hadn't really thought the last bit through.
Shit they were huge. It was only a Destroyer class Reaper, like the one she had killed here on Rannoch, actually. But it towered above them. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. To her amazement and horror she saw Ka'hari dash past the adults and run right to the edge of the cliff, straight to the foot of the Reaper. Her stomach clenched, she felt her muscles spasm. The desire to run forward and grab the child, or grab something damaging and send it at the Reaper, was almost overwhelming. It plays in the waves, she thought, it plays in the waves. But the words brought to mind images of not waves, but Alliance ships breaking against their long, strange arms.
She could feel Garrus watching her. He was probably ready to pounce on her at the slightest sign of trouble. But no. That wasn't going to happen today. She was tired of not being in control. Deep breaths. Silver strands. Reaper tea party.
The geth that had joined them on the hill was standing with Ka'hari by the leg of the Reaper, a hand resting upon the surface of the Reaper. Shepard forced herself to walk forward to where Javik, Liara and EDI stood a few meters from the Reaper. As she neared she heard Ka'hari laugh.
"What's so funny?" she asked. Deep breaths. Friendly Reapers.
Ka'hari smiled at her. "Echo is worried that I still have not grown bigger since a few days ago. It thinks I'm sick."
Shepard looked to the geth before them. It was also wearing a ta'hal wrapped around its neck, hood back. Most geth were fairly similar, but she couldn't help feeling this one seemed familiar.
"Echo, I would have thought geth would be more familiar with the slow growth of quarians and other organics, having been made by them." Shepard remarked.
"Greetings, Shepard Commander," said the geth. "I am not Echo. I am called Sentinel."
"You've actually met Sentinel before, Shepard," Tali said, "They were there the day we returned to Rannoch and helped Auntie Raan and the others to recover."
"It is good to see you again, Shepard Commander." Sentinel said with a nod, then looked up at the Reaper. "This is Echo."
There was a rumbling keening noise in the air. Shepard flinched and took several steps back. Green sparked on her hands. No, she thought, I will not do this. The Reaper dragged its front claw back away from her, letting out a higher keen.
"It's ok, Echo!" Ka'hari said, stepping forward and running a hand along the arm of the Reaper. "Javik said he wouldn't let the Shepard do anything - she was scared last time but he punched her, and he said he'd protect you." The pitch of the keen lowered and the Reaper seemed to settle and calm. Shepard looked at the others, trying to continue her deep breaths, her knuckles white with clenching. "I'm sorry," she muttered. "I'm trying."
Everyone was tense. "I thought you were currently unable to communicate?" asked Liara.
Admiral Xen stepped forward a little, gazing up at Echo. "The geth are able to connect with them somewhat."
Sentinel nodded once. "We can receive signals through contact and can make our best guess regarding their meaning. With practice, we have had growing success with communication."
"I can read the markers of their experiences," Javik said, "but what I find are either very recent experiences or the long forgotten past. Direct answers do not happen."
"But Echo listens to me!" Ka'hari said, leaning against the Reaper. To Shepard, it seemed like it truly did. The Reaper let out a bugling sound following the young quarian's remark.
Shepard could see Tali smiling through her helmet. "Whatever species they once were, the Reapers here do seem to have an interest and respect for the children."
"There is something universal about the young spirit." Liara said. She walked slowly towards the Reaper." Looking to Sentinel, she asked. "May I try to connect with it?"
Sentinel tilted its head to the side slightly for a moment and then said. "It is not sharing distress upon your approach and I sense curiosity. You may proceed."
Liara closed the distance between herself and the Reaper and laid one of her periwinkle hands upon its bulk. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Shepard was tense, watching her friend. Why couldn't she breathe? Why couldn't she shake the sense that there was something dangerous here? Liara's brow creased and her breathing became sharp. Javik quickly came to stand next to her, not interrupting the asari's connection but clearly ready. There was a flash of biotic light and Liara stumbled back, nearly losing her footing, but Javik quickly caught her.
"Incredible." Liara breathed.
"What did you see?" Garrus and Xen asked at the same time. Their tones couldn't have been more different, however. The turian's was cautious, and Xen's tinged with the hunger Shepard had mistrusted earlier.
"I… it was…" Liara faltered. "It was very overwhelming. Asari's connections are always personal. We are not like the Rachni that function on a hive mind. We establish incredibly powerful connections to one other individual. It was like a hurricane of different minds all clamoring to be heard. They... they seem to be of one species… but there were mountains and towering spires, incredibly rapid movement. I do not believe they were sapien creatures. I was small and delicate in their view." Her eyes shone, "There was concern that I would blow away. Somehow that was very clear." She laughed, gazing up at the Reaper and ran a hand gently along the side. The Reaper made a rumbling noise. "It is formidable but does not seem to be aggressive."
"Well I could have told you that." Ka'ahari said impatiently.
"Can you communicate with it?" Tali asked.
"Not really." Liara said, "Not for some time, at least. If there was a way to connect with an individual it would perhaps take less time but the way all these individuals are wound together, meaning will be muddled."
"May I try and establish a connection?" EDI said, stepping forward and looking to Sentinel as Liara had.
Sentinel nodded. "It is experiencing a rush of electrical signals and associations that are reducing feelings of strain and isolation. I believe it is enjoying trying to communicate and is eager for more."
EDI now lay a hand upon the Reaper. Shepard shifted and took another deep breath. She could feel Garrus watching her. She felt no more comfortable about the robot's connection than she had about the Liara's. EDI's eyes began to glow - Shepard's heart pounded, but the light she saw was white, not that green that had flared on the Crucible, not the green that she herself seemed to generate. After what felt like an eternity, EDI stepped back.
"It is like me." she said. There was something oddly tender in her voice.
"What do you mean, EDI?" Tali asked.
"There are no life sustaining organic structures. There are strands of organic tissue very very deep in the processing core, but they have been altered extensively and damage to them would not be catastrophic to its function. There is someone there. Many someones." She looked to the organics. "It is like before I had this physical body, and was only present in the Normandy. I would be thinking and feeling despite not having an independent humanoid form."
"Then you can communicate with it, control-" Xen rushed.
"I have unique processing abilities." EDI said, her chin lifting. Was that pride in the AI's voice, Shepard wondered? "But Echo… it is like there are millions of me. It's capable of much more than I am. But with time I may be able to develop communication systems that would be more compatible than I have now. I am currently receiving signals similar to what Sentinel is receiving."
"Incredible." said Admiral Xen, staring hungrily up at the Reaper. Maybe Shepard wasn't crazy for feeling that there could be some danger here.
"So we have two new methods of data collection." Tali said slowly. "But no real communication as of yet." Javik nodded. There was a restlessness and disappointment in the air among the scientific minds. Oh, hell.
Shepard began walking towards the Reaper.
"Shepard, what are you doing?" Garrus demanded.
"What I always do." she said dryly. "I'm connecting with ancient alien crap to see what it has to say for itself."
"Be careful, Shepard," Liara said.
Like that was ever possible.
"Shepard," Garrus caught her arm. "I - are you sure this is a good idea - after yesterday - after last night-"
"No." She said, staring at him. She felt strangely calm now. She was doing something. That felt better than trying to have things not happen. "I'm never sure it's a good idea." The next words were heavy. "But I'm the one who has to do it." She brushed free of his grasp, reached out and laid a hand on the Reaper.
She made contact before he could stop her. The flash happened in an instant. The strands on her body blazed to life and her eyes took on that strange radiance. All details of her eyes lost, becoming two infinitely deep pools of green light. Her head had snapped back and a wave of biotic energy rushed past them. Her hair had come unbound, and it now drifted, suspended in some kind of force emanating from her connection with the Reaper.
Garrus saw Tali activate her omni-tool, studying something on the display. He heard Ka'hari cry out, pointing to something before them. He squinted. Through the blaze of the light coming from Shepard he could see something changing on the Reaper. A network of green light was spreading from where her hand lay. A geometric labyrinth spiraling out from her along its clawlike arm and up to its long tapering back. As the light spread, the pattern was shifting. The weave of the light where Shepard stood was as concentrated as the labyrinth on her own body, but as it spread across the Reaper there were larger gaps between the lines. They continued their ever branching, twisting journey till there was no section of the behemoth before them that was unmarked. Their radiance began to glow. They suddenly released a blinding flash and Shepard's scream rent the air.
There was screaming all around her. Howling winds, or voices, or grasping hands, or beating wings… she couldn't tell, the sensations flooding her were overwhelming. She wanted to curl up, to cover her ears, to hide from the storm around her, but she and it were seamlessly connected. There was no point where she ended and it began. She could feel everything.
Pain… fear… anger… loss.
She saw a sky punctuated with gleaming, spiraling towers. Legion? she thought, but no, these had vast arched openings in their sides stretching into the sky. Gentle arching arms like a half finished walkway extended from the structures. The sky was full of strange glinting crafts. An explosion rent the air, a red beam cutting along the ground leaving a trail of carnage in its wake, the things in the air becoming explosions of light as they came in contact with the beam. The arm of a Reaper touched down within the crown of achingly beautiful spires. The air was full of the sound of thousands of wings and the sky became a frenzied storm of fear and flapping. Some of the creatures flew for the Reaper - taloned claws outstretched, but they too vanished in the wake of that red beam.
She was on fire. Pain in every part of her burning away slowly. She beat against the tube around her, screeching and clawing with talons till they disintegrated in the burn. She tried to draw breath, lungs gasping as they too evaporated away.
Death. Harvest. Slaughter. Balance. She didn't hear these words. Instead… they moved through her. Time and time again. They would return from the dark cold. From the empty sleep back to these realms with the warmth of suns. There would be screaming. There would be work. Then there would be silence… and back to the cold once more.
Then there was light. Something rippling through them. Them. The word hung in their minds. THEM. The force that had dragged them forward was gone. Now there was a clamouring of voices, wails, screams, songs. Them. They remembered. They remained. They had endured.
Shepard felt the whirlwind of consciousness shift again. There was fear, apprehension, hope. She could see the thing that had been her now - a blaze of energy, of power in an infinitely small form. Eyes, beacons of green light devoid of humanity, hair drifting in a vortex. The light of the Connection marking every inch of her form. There was fear. Terror. The desire to run, to fly, to hide. Three words rang out clearly from the throng around her. Master... Destroyer… Savior.
No Shepard thought. That's not me.
The minds around her pressed. Master... Destroyer… Savior.
None! She tried to scream into the howling around her. Shepard. Just Shepard. The howling seemed to wane for a moment and then... Shepard. It pressed back. A flurry of images rushed through her mind.
Too much. She thought desperately. One. One voice. One image. Small. Soft. The storm around her grew louder and then a single image appeared in her mind: an open sky. A sense of gratitude. Ok, lets see… Shepard thought about how she felt standing on the deck on the Normandy. Secure. Confident. Free. There was a rushing in the winds around her and she felt that image pressed back to her again. Ok. That was working.
A new series of images were pressed to her mind. The soaring spires, first in perfect, breathtaking condition, then in flames, tumbling from the skies. Next she saw the city of Legion, the Memorial Tower rising into the sky. A longing filled her. Home the whirlwind pressed.
Shepard filled her mind with visions of Legion: the tall spire, the throngs of quarian and geth, Rannoch's wide open spaces and soaring rocky towers. Shared home. She pressed back.
She thought of Liara, Javik, Tali, Sentinel, everyone. She felt recognition around her. Small. She thought. Soft. One voice. One voice. Slow.
One voice. Slow, small, soft. It pressed back.
She thought of herself. Not the glowing version, but her walking up the hill with Liara. Shepard. She thought of the voices around her and tried to focus on the confusion, the howling sound, not the Reaper shell. Echo?
A gleaming figure filled her mind. Huge shining wings that beat the air with a sound like cannon fire. Feathers of what looked like metal, a horned crest, talons articulating a hollow display and a screeching cry of pride, of joy, of defiance that carried for miles, tearing through cool mountain air, the sound rebounding off their rocky face. ECHO.
Shepard would have been trembling if she had a body. It had worked. But she was exhausted. She felt overwhelmed. Pain filled her head. It felt like talons reaching inside her skull; searching, digging for something. She wanted to scream. She felt Echo pressing into her, hunting for something. There was a feeling of victory, and Shepard heard Anderson's voice in her mind, "Thank you, Shepard."
Pain was still blazing in her head. The rush of images resumed. Planets rippling with fire, talons being dragged through sparkling seas, the crash of thousands of wings… and something else… in the tumultuous pouring of images, one seemed to hover before them, a silhouette before blinding green light, a horned head, broad shoulders and hair dancing in the wind, green eyes locked on hers, and then in a roar all was gone...
Shepard fell to the ground as the light vanished. The strands across her body had returned to their former silver, and the Reaper was now unmarked. Garrus rushed forward and eased her into a sitting position. She was panting but conscious, thank the spirits, though he was deeply troubled by the stream of blood running from her nose.
"What was that?" Xen breathed.
Shepard coughed. "Just the two of us having a little chat." she said, her voice rough from the scream.
"You were able to communicate with it?" Liara demanded.
"Yeah, sort of." Shepard said. "Everyone's right. There's a lot of minds in there. But, I - I think it might be easier now. I tried to get Echo to understand that we can only listen to one."
"If you were able to communicate with it that directly," Admiral Xen said, breathless with excitement, "then perhaps you could command it to-"
"No one's commanding Echo." Shepard said firmly, glaring up at the quarian. "People can ask them things nicely. But if they try commanding it I'm going to put a bullet in their head." Admiral Xen froze. "They were controlled for cycles and cycles. They just want freedom and a home like the rest of your people. And your daughter seems to be happy to share hers with them." She let Garrus help her to her feet. The Admiral was suddenly very still. "And they are right." Shepard continued, her eyes still locked on the quarian. "They need a new name. They were obliterated in their cycle, but fought to survive just as hard as we did. They're no more Reapers than I am." The wind was the only thing that stirred or made a sound in the wake of her words.
"We should get you down to Legion." Tali said softly. "You look like you could use something to eat and drink after all that." Shepard nodded. She looked up at the Rea- at Echo and raised a hand, hopeful it would come across as a signal of farewell. The building sized arm in front of them dragged forward in the dirt several feet and they all heard a low rumbling noise. Shepard watched in amazement as it made its way back from the hill and down towards the waters.
"You need to be careful with it," she said to Liara and Javik. "I think it… the Echo had some kind of telepathic abilities in the past. They… they made me hear some of my own thoughts to communicate and it hurt like hell. I don't think they meant it to. They are a whole hell of a lot stronger than us and don't seem very good at controlling it yet." They nodded and strode ahead into the tent, deep in discussion. Tali, Admiral Xen, Sentinel and EDI had returned to the screen laiden table, discussing the recordings they had taken while Echo had been up on the bluff, comparing them to past data. Ka'hari was staring at where Echo now drifted just over the water. The little quarian seemed more pensive than she had before. Garrus was of course watching Shepard while trying to look like he wasn't.
"Commander Shepard." Ka'hari said coming forward. "I have something for you." She reached into a pouch on the hip of her suit and pulled out a ta'hal. "I made it while Echo and Sentinel were telling me stories about you." She said brightly. "The geth helped me have a home and they have ta'hal now, and I wanted the Shepard to have one from us too."
Shepard squatted before the young quarian, deeply touched. She took the offered fabric in her hands and began to unfold it, "Thank you, Ka'hari," she said. "It's beautiful-" she froze. Green lines branched and spiraled across the fabric of the ta'hal. Their color and design… a perfect match to the strands on her body and light they emitted. Her heart was beating fast. It didn't make any sense. She had just met the child. The workmanship of the ta'hal was excellent. Shepard didn't know a damn thing about making clothes but there was no way this had been made quickly.
Garrus had seen it too and crossed to her side. He ran a finger over the fabric. "The design is really pretty Ka'hari." he said softly. "How did you come up with it?"
"Echo likes to draw it in the sands." she said brightly. "They did a whole beach two miles that way," She said pointing. "I could see it from the spire where I like to watch them." She took the fabric from Shepard and wrapped the ends around the Spectre's neck, pulling the hood up over her wind-tangled hair. "There!" She said. "You can be one of us now that Echo likes you."
"I'm honored." Shepard said softly.
"Come on Ka'hari," Admiral Xen called. "Time to head back down to Legion for lunch since we don't have any geth to get some for us. Although, maybe Sentinel would lend us a hand with that?"
"I am happy to go with you and continue analyzing the data." Sentinel said, "But I would not know what organic sustenance would be useful at this time and cannot be of assistance in that particular manner."
"Well, that will have to do." the Admiral sighed and began descending the hill with the geth and her daughter in tow.
EDI, Tali and Liara had already begun their trek back as well, hoping to retrieve some equipment from the Normandy that might prove useful for deciphering the new data before joining the others for food. Javik, apparently disinterested in the vegetarian options available, had chosen to remain at the screens working, saying he would catch something that crawled by for his own meal. Shepard stood beside him in the shadows of the tent for a while, watching the shrinking form of Admiral Xen.
"Something on your mind, Comanda'?" he asked, leaning on the table and looking up from his screen.
"What do you think of Admiral Xen?" Shepard asked softly.
The Prothean considered. "She is highly capable and deeply versed in Artificial Intelligence. The geth and Reapers fascinate her, and she has been an invaluable resource in understanding how the two communicate… but she is very… utility focused in her view of them."
"I want you to keep an eye on her." Shepard said. "She's a useful ally but I don't want her causing trouble and jeopardizing things here. I don't want her getting out of hand."
Garrus cocked his head slightly at the change in Shepard's tone. There was a predatory stillness in the way she watched the quarian off in the distance.
Javik flashed a wary look to Garrus. He straightened and then continued, looking to Shepard, "And if she does start getting out of hand?"
The three hunters stood silent in the shadows of the tent. The wind made the trailing ends of Shepard's new ta'hal dance. The two males waited. Finally, the Commander answered simply, "Kill her."
