It was September third on Earth. Shepard had woken that morning knowing it before her omni tool had given her the annual reminder. Like she needed the reminder. She'd set it years ago for posterity's sake but her body always knew this day. It didn't matter what system she was in or what season it was there, she just knew. Outside the day was bright and clear, as nice here in Ventura as a spring day in Auckland. Her body was heavy. She wished she could just go back to sleep and wake up to find that it was some other day. But instead she rose, dressed silently and left Garrus sleeping in the bed. She walked for hours in the forests below the great house, a rightness in her solidarity among the trees.
As the sun died she made her way down into Venatura and the bar where she and Garrus had celebrated the Asking with his cousins. She slipped inside. It was dimly lit this evening and not too full. Trophies of turian hunts hung along one wall and Shepard recognized a cabathi among them. She made her way to the bar, slid onto a stool and waited, studying her hands.
"You look like you need a drink."
Shepard looked up to the bartender. The male turian looked young. The plates of his face were smooth and surprisingly unscarred and the crest of horns on his head were shorter than Garrus'.
"What do you want?" He asked gently, somehow tapping into the cosmic gift that allowed bartenders to read a soul.
"I don't think you have what I want."
"Try me." He said. "Everyone in town knows there's some big thing happening tomorrow. My boss got sent a box of krogan and asari booze, and I'm pretty sure I saw a couple bottles for humans." He blasted a glass in the heat cleaner and then placed it on the shelf behind him.
"What do you want?"
"Fernet." Shepard said softly.
He nodded and disappeared into the back. Shepard closed her eyes as she waited, listening to sounds of the bar; the clink of glasses as they were set down on tables, low voices, bursts of laughter. She could almost hear that unspoken agreement in the air; the understanding that people were here because they needed something. She heard a louder clink and opened her eyes to find a glass of bright clear liquid in front of her.
"Humans use ice sometimes. We have some if you need it."
"I'm good." Shepard said, lifting the drink and taking a long swig. He nodded to her and moved on down the bar. Shepard fiddled with the glass in her hands, feeling its cool sides against her palm. She sat there in silence for a long while and just drank.
/./././././././././././././
He had the nightmare this time. Earth was burning in the distance. Her home. Her Palaven. The dead drifting through space were becoming as numerous as the stars. Turian dreadnoughts he had carefully guarded, saved to be this last line of defense, being ripped to smithereens before his eyes. She was running from him, hair streaming behind her, brighter than any fire, explosion, or star. Her precious blood was still on his hands, her scent coiling around him. The scent of gunfire was lost in the smoke but the citrus cut through it like her omniblade.
How long would it last? Her scent on him? If he never washed his hands of her blood, never removed the armor it currently stained? Could he somehow keep this piece of her after she gave all of herself? It seemed like each of her bounding strides took an eternity. Strides that would eventually carry away the thing he loved most in the world. Never to return.
He heard Liara's voice whisper through the roar of flames… you were so willing… Each fall of Moria's boot shook the world like thunder… so willing to let her run in and save the day... The crucible's green light was painting Moria's hair with strands of emerald… to be the one to do everything…
Would you have stopped her?
He heard his own voice answer. "No." Felt the truth and weight of those words like an anchor. His words tore through his heart and mind like acid, dripping and eating away at him inside.
What do you need to do?
What do you want?
Go.
He hadn't fought. He had let her go. He would always let her go.
Her scent was fading. He brought his hands to his face. He could smell blood, human blood, but it was dull, empty, meaningless. She had not smelled like this. But he could no longer remember what she smelled like… I would have stopped her... He could still see her through the smoke. Her back was to him and… he could not call that face, those eyes, to his mind. He could feel her slipping away with each stride… I would not have waited... He could not remember the sound of his name on her lips. Could not remember her laugh. What color had her eyes been?
He started running, roaring her name over the thunderous destruction of the Citadel. But it could not reach her. He pressed harder. He could not tell if his chest burned from his straining lungs, the choking smoke or the crushing knowledge that she was about to be gone and he had allowed it to happen.
She had nearly reached the green light. He could see figures, faces shimmering in its radiance. The silver curved head of Legion, the light within the geth's head gleaming. To its right he saw Mordin, the salarian's eyes watching Shepard as she dashed towards them, a soft smile on his lips. And between them stood a turian. The strong blue of Vakarian tattoos on a face that bore eyes and a crest of horns that were a twin to Atala's. Atalanta was reaching for Moria, hand out in invitation, her turquoise eyes blazing through the green light as Moria's hand met her own.
"Moria." He whispered. And somehow she heard. Her head turned. Eyes of the most miraculous green meeting his piercing blue. He reached for her but she vanished from the world in a blaze of green light.
His hand met something cold. Something metal. He could hear the Normandy's engines, the dim lights of the ship's hall a welcome reprieve for his eyes after the blaze of fire and green light. He stood before a wall covered in the names of the lost. His fingers moved over the plaque his hand had found. The plaque that bore the most precious name.
Commander Shepard
The world was silent and empty and he stood staring at all he had left of her until the end of time.
/././././././././././././././././
It was late when Shepard returned to the house. Her steel toed boots were quiet on the grass. She had messaged Garrus hours earlier to not wait up or worry. He said that he could do the former but the latter was not exactly something he had control over. She opened the large ancient door and slipped inside as quietly as she could. She started towards the stairs when she heard the sound of breaking glass. Shepard whirled towards the sound, preparing a biotic blast with one hand and threw up a shield. The strands across her body and her eyes blazed to life. The main room of the house was bathed in green light falling on a figure sitting on the couch bearing an elegant fan of horns on either side of her head. Rafia held up a hand, shielding her face from the sudden brightness in the room, hissing slightly.
"Gods!" Shepard dropped her shields and the prepared blast, and the light of her strands and eyes faded quickly. "I... I'm sorry." There was broken glass on the ground before the turian. With effort, Rafia began pushing herself off the couch and onto the floor, reaching for the glass. "Let me!"
Shepard said, rushing forward to help pick up shards that had slid far from the couch. She neared where Rafia crouched but the turian reached out to snatch up the shard Shepard was reaching for, losing her balance in the process and catching herself on the hand full of glass. She winced as the shards cut into her skin and a few drops of blue blood fell to the floor.
"Shit!" Shepard said, "I'm sorry, give me the glass, I have medigel and I can-"
"No."
"I can help you back to your room. What are you doing out here? Did you need-"
"Do not ask me what I am doing in my house, human." Rafia snapped. "You should be asking yourself what you're doing in my house, and if you finally think of a good reason please feel free to share it because it baffles me."
Shepard bit her lip. "I am sorry I startled you." She sat back on her heels, "Can I get you another drink?"
"No." The Admiral's eyes roamed over Shepard's face, a cold calculation in them. "Was that one of Cerberus' new tricks? Enhancing your biotics?" Rafia sneared.
Shepard eyed Rafia for a moment. "No. The Crucible did it." She stared at Rafia. In the moonlight the lines of her cheekbones and jaw where her carapace was significantly lighter, where her Vakarian tattoos had been removed, gleamed brightly. After hearing Atalanta's bright voice, learning how she kept the blade that bore her and her sister's blood, Shepard's heart genuinely ached for the female who hated her for things she could not control and had not asked for. Her mind wandered to her mother, the other titan she had been dealing with, who had lectured Moria on how she wielded the new power she had not asked for. "You're human, remember?" Her mother had said. Moria had failed to correct her. It was strange to her that so much stock was currently set in something that had never mattered to her, something she had never really cared about. She never thought of herself as human. She was a soldier, a Lieutenant, then a Commander. She was a shield and a weapon who enjoyed the company of others based on who they were, not what they were. But now… she wished she was just human. She would gladly bear Rafia's hatred of her species if it meant she was really part of them once more.
"I understand," Shepard murmured, fiddling with the few shards of glass she had managed to pick up, "why you would feel how you do about Cerberus and humans." Rafia's piercing blue eyes, so like her sons, narrowed a fraction. "But your hatred is misplaced in me. I'm not the enhanced human who walked onto the Citadel." A browplate raised. "The computers of your dreadnaughts do not recognize my DNA as human. No one knows what I am now."
"You still did their bidding." She sneered.
"For a time...and to a degree, yes." Shepard said softly. "I made mistakes that cost thousands of lives, and I would give anything to be able to undo it."
"You'll get no pity from me." Rafia said quietly.
"I don't want your pity." Shepard said, holding Rafia's gaze. "I don't want anything from you." She sighed. "I would respectfully leave you to your hate and grief if I could, but I care about Garrus more than anything else in this world and he wants me here right now, and my work to keep him safe is here right now." She looked at the shards of glass in her hand, met Rafia's harsh stare again, and tightened her grip on the shards, holding her fist clenched till a few droplets of red blood joined the Admirals on the floor. "When it's done I will leave and you will not have to see me again if you wish it." She started to stand, saying "I am going to get something to clean the floor."
"You've fouled it enough already." Raia said in a low hiss, her nostrils flaring.
Shepard shrugged, crossed to the stairs and began walking up them, but then paused. She slowly turned to look at the turian sitting in the moonlight. She took a deep breath. "I lost a sibling, too," she fought to keep her heartbeat steady. "Thirteen years ago. And… I made poor choices because of the pain." Her grip tightened on the glass in her hand once again. "It was my job to keep him safe but I was young and stupid and I failed him and my family. And I can't ever undo it." Her chest should have ached at the words, at the loss she never spoke of. But she was numb, empty as the space between the stars. "I will leave and not remind you of your grief as soon as I can."
Rafia did not look at her, and Shepard quietly made her way upstairs.
/./././././././././././././././.
Shepard closed her eyes, leaning back against the wall, her head tilted towards the ceiling. "Can you do me a favor?" She asked.
Garrus frowned. "Possibly?"
"Can you just go in and start yelling about all the things I did to save everyone right away? Just get it out of the way so we don't have to do it later? I'm really tired of talking about myself."
He put one hand against the wall, leaning rakishly over her. "So you want me to go in there and brag about you, for you?"
"Yes, but like, scarily."
He nodded. "Gotcha. And this is your new chosen dignitary tactic?"
"Yes. I'm outsourcing my yelling. Victus gave me the idea."
Garrus chuckled and shook his head. "You make a dangerous pair."
A turian officer came to where they stood in the hall and said, "The Council will see you now." Instead of leading them to some fancy room in the Vena Center the turian officer walked them to the back of the building. They stepped through a doorway and into a courtyard lit with afternoon mountain light. There were elegant plantings, benches and seating areas tucked into quiet corners where business could be conducted in the comfort of the open air. And, because this was Venatura, there were sparkling water features and the soft song of water and gravity's entwined harmonies. A statue of a turian warrior bearing a stylized omniblade and holding a hand out to either halt or blast someone with biotics stood in the center of the courtyard.
On the other side was a delicately sculpted building with large arching windows, protected on all sides by the high walls of the Vena Center and the courtyard itself. "They're using the Paratus?" Garrus said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, sir. It was deemed the most appropriate to show Palaven's strength." Garrus snorted. Shepard looked at him in confusion. He bent towards her ear and whispered, "The Paratus is one of the oldest buildings here, it was the spiritual gathering place when Venatura was first settled and then just became a fancy hall for parties and trophy shows. They wanted to knock it down when the Vena Center was built but elders from local clans got pissy about it. If you ask me, Sparatus is trying to distract us from our current lack of military might by trying to make us look like our culture is as old as the asari and salarians."
"Is it?" Shepard asked.
"Not by a long shot."
They were halfway across the courtyard now and had drawn level with the statue. Shepard gave a cursory glance at another stoic turian piece with no embellishments other than the clan tattoos and then did a double take. Garrus and the officer were still walking but Shepard suddenly turned around and took several steps back, staring at the turian. Shepard knew her. Why did Shepard know her? Her eyes fell on the blue tattoos across her face. She felt Garrus come to her side and she tore her eyes away from the statue, looking to his scarred face and his tattoos, they were a twin to the statues. His eyes were drifting over the statues' face hungrily and he took a step forward.
"I forgot this was here…" he said, his voice a low tone Shepard had rarely heard him use. Shepard gazed at the statue. She was caught by its eyes. Every statue she had seen in her time on Palaven: the ones in the opera house, here in the Vena center, the few at the Vakarian residence and even in the garden that she had wrecked with gunfire and biotics, had all been of plain stone or metal except for their clan tattoos. All except for this one who gazed over Shepard towards the mountains with eyes of turquoise stone. Eyes just like Atala's. The crest of horns was familiar to Shepard, too, the spread a twin to Atala's own but a few inches longer.
"I know her." Shepard said softly.
Garrus looked at her and smiled. "No Moria, it's not Atala, she would be insufferable if someone made a statue this big of her. Spirits, you should have seen how she preened and flaunted when she told me she'd been awarded the Impact Badge - the medal we give turians with an impressively high kill count."
"No." Shepard insisted, "I know her…"
"This is Atala's namesake. Our Aunt Atalanta." He gave a soft, sad laugh. "Spirits, they could be twins." He looked to Shepard. "Where have you seen her?"
"Atala had a picture." She said softly. "Why is it here and not at your home?" Shepard could not tear her gaze away from those bright, piercing eyes.
"She died in combat -uh," Garrus' tone shifted and a brief look of horror crossed his face. "She… I guess she was taken in combat, doing something. I don't remember the details." He frowned. "And whatever I do remember is probably a lie. But… she loved Venatura. It was her favorite place. Mom said she used to even camp out here all winter - which is insane considering how cold it gets. Some nights you can start to freeze in minutes. Ice literally forms on your tongue when you open your mouth… but she was a wild one and she loved these mountains, so the empire put her statue here."
Shepard could start to see the differences in Atala and Atalanta's faces. Atalanta's was longer, her features were not as sharp and wicked as Atala's. There was something more youthful in the breadth of Atala's face that was not in Atalanta's, which held a solemnity that Shepard had seen in Rafia's last night. Had someone brought her here to see the statue when she arrived in Venatura? Or would that be too painful?
"I remember the day they unveiled it." Garrus said.
"You were there?" Shepard asked.
He nodded. "I was three when she died. I didn't understand what was happening. I'd been told she was going away for a really long time on a mission. I was excited to see her when she got back. I remember wanting her to help me climb on top of giant-Atalanta's shoulders one day." His expression became troubled.
"What is it?" Shepard asked, slipping a hand into his.
"Last night I…" He shook his head. "It's nothing. I just haven't seen her in a long time."'
"Commander, General." Said the turian officer that Garrus and Shepard had completely forgotten about. The young female had waited politely several yards away. "I do not mean to disturb you but we are late."
"Shit." Shepard said. She glanced at Garrus. "Sorry, my fault, your dad can yell at me later."
But Garrus' eyes were still lingering on his aunt's face. "I don't care."
He slowly tore himself away and he and Shepard followed the officer into the Paratus, leaving the lost Kabalim to guard her precious mountain home.
/./././././././././././././
Castus still looked displeased. The members of the summit were gathered in a sophisticated room with fifteen foot graceful windows on three sides overlooking the courtyard gardens and Atalanta's watchful statue. The ceiling looked like it was from the inside of a mountain cave. Gleaming stalactites of marbled stone stretched downward. Their tops had been painted white, and the whole thing created the effect of somehow standing on the sky and staring down at the mountain range below. A mosaic of the constellations above Palaven had been worked into the ground, outlines of silver depicting the beings of turian legend they represented. Shepard thought she recognized Aia who, according to Atalanta's story, had given the turians their collar. The silver figures' outline stood in flames and was pulling at the rise behind her shoulder and neck, reforging herself to protect her people.
Garrus and Shepard had been introduced to the gathered dignitaries, Shepard apologizing to them and saying she had received an urgent call from the team about the Ascendent were helping to build the quarians' new home on Rannoch. She saw Castus and her mother exchange exasperated glances at her words, but also caught the Primarch's lip twitch appreciatively. Ascendent, not Reapers. Helping, not destroying. Building and giving a race that had not had a terrestrial home in centuries a head start on the reconstruction efforts of all the races gathered in this room. These things were now in the air, and the Council was going to have to deal with it.
Shepard's heart had warmed as a slow smile full of terrifying teeth spread across the scarred face of Urdnot Wrex. The krogan laughed. "Thank the ancestors for Shepard." He growled appreciatively. "Now we can stop pissing around and actually get to work." She winked at him. Grunt, who sat next to him (the two of them taking up a significant portion of the table) nodded at Shepard eagerly. She could see that his top teeth were literally biting his bottom lip. Shepard did not understand, but it was Grunt, so she didn't bother trying too hard. Wrex looked to Victus. "We appreciate you actually extending a damn invitation to lesser species like us." Wrex said, nodding to the batarians as well. "And you don't have to worry - we didn't bring a bomb with us to hide on your planet. Krogan at least have manners."
One of the other turian Primarchs snorted, a female with red clan tattoos. "No wonder you appreciate the Commander's presence, you have similar levels of respect for proceedings such as these."
Wrex shrugged. "Doesn't matter if we respect them. I've sat through enough to know that at the end you're going to ask the krogan to do your dirty work for you." He glanced towards the Commander. "Or you'll ask Shepard."
"Shepard's as good as a krogan because she is very good at what krogan do best." Grunt said. He gave Shepard a smile full of vicious teeth, "Saving everyone else from giant monsters."
Wrex nodded approvingly. "I don't see why we can't just cut to the chase."
Primarch Victus sat at the head of the table, as the leader of the planet hosting the summit. Tevos, the asari Councilor and two of her aides were directly to his right in the place of honor. The withered Dalatrass Linron, and her salarian aids, on his left. Councilor Hannah Shepard was seated next to the salarians, though she had no aids accompanying her. It seemed she was a buffer as Wrex and Grunt were on her other side, and her position meant that the krogan were not directly next to any salarians or turians. Two batarians that Shepard did not know, but she presumed hated her, sat next to the krogan. The fire gleaming in each of their four eyes as she was introduced was confirmation enough. Councilor Sparatus sat next to the asari along with four other turians that Shepard presumed were the Primarchs of the turian systems' other largest planets. Castus sat beside them and there was one chair empty at the table to Castus' left. Atala stood easily at attention wearing a uniform that Shepard did not recognize. Zyan stood just behind her in the same uniform, though his did not have shoulders with decorative caps like Atala's or as many markers of merit pinned to it. A salarian male stood a few feet behind the Dalatrass as well, watching the room with bright eyes and a slight frown on his red and white reptilian face.
Linron looked up when Garrus was introduced. "General Vakarian. You command the Reaper Task Force for the turians, correct?" She called to him.
"Yes, Councilor." Garrus said, straightening.
"I was pleased to hear that you had been added to this summit as you have such experience in eliminating those things. Please take your seat." She said, nodding to the empty place next to Castus.
Shepard had not been invited to sit. And once Garrus did, no seats would remain. He caught Shepard's eyes and, rather than outwardly nodding, she simply gave a glance to tell him "yes". He then walked smoothly forward to sit at his father's side. "You are welcome to stand with us, Commander." Atala said in a reverent voice. "It would be an honor to share your company." Her voice made it sound like she and Shepard barely knew each other, that she was a decorated officer of another race awed by Shepard's presence.
"It would be an honor indeed, sir." Zyan saidvery formally, saluting Shepard as she looked towards them. She nodded and took a few steps to Atala's side, then looked back at the table.
Shepard and Victus' eyes met. What was he doing? He was hosting this summit. He was responsible for the arrangements. The representatives of the different races had been arranged carefully and shrewdly to minimize frictions. But he had asked her to join, so why did he insult her by not having a seat for her? His gray-green eyes were calm as he met her gaze. "You're not so different." Garrus had said. She studied the table as if it was terrain full of hostiles. The asari had the best position and arguably had the most power as the oldest race. The Dalatrass had the next best piece of terrain. Councilor Shepard provided cover for the krogan, turians and salarians from one another. Humans were so new and juvenile in the Council's eyes that they were just part of the terrain rather than players in the game. Atala and Zyan, it seemed, were flanking Shepard's opponents, hiding their association with Shepard so the Council would be surprised when they "opened fire" on Shepard's behalf. Garrus, who was Shepard's crew, had a decent position, but Shepard herself had been left without cover. The Council had a much more secure and defensible position and she was out in the open. But the Council was seated and she was standing. She would be talking down to them. They would have to literally look up to address her. Her lips twitched and Victus nodded a fraction of an inch in response. Victus had given her the higher ground and the Council had no idea. Oh, she liked this Primarch.
She settled in easily as the Dalatrass made snide comments about punctuality and Shepard taking them from the focus of this summit. Victus had invited Sparatus to share the updates on the marauders and brutes that were being held on Palaven as well as estimates of ones in the wild and accounts of larger Reapers spotted fleeing to the corners of their system. Tevos' aid said that most of the banshees in their homeworld had been eliminated, the remaining asari commandos having been dispatched to take them out. The salarians had never suffered a full scale attack by the Reapers though Linron spoke with great pride of the work done by their STG in assisting the asari with cleaning out the remaining Reapers in their system, as well as their work on studying how the Reapers had transformed and controlled the citizens of their galaxy. The male standing behind the Dalatrass must have been part of this effort for Linron gestured to him as she spoke. Councilor Shepard reported that the Alliance had largely pulled out of the large population centers that had been the prime target of the Reapers. Most of the remaining humans had retreated into rural areas where it was easier to go to ground. Most husks were still swarming through the deserted cities but the Alliance had been building settlements elsewhere. The abandoned cities were being patrolled to keep most of the Reapers' leftover minions in one place, but most of their effort had been focused on setting up infrastructure to protect their survivors. A few countries had chosen to detonate devastating explosives in their cities, deciding to destroy everything and then go back in and rebuild. Councilor's Shepard's voice was mild as she reported this practice but Shepard, who knew every one of her mother's micro expressions, could see the slight tensing at the corners of her mouth when she finished speaking. Good. Shepard thought. She cares we lost our people.
Shepard's head hurt. She wasn't sure if it was from the heavy drinking she had done the day before or her frustration at being here. Having to wait and stand and listen to everyone talk in circles before they even talked about doing something. The doing would come much later, if at all, and she hated that.
"Everything's dead." Wrex reported casually.
"What does that mean, exactly?" asked Tevos mildly.
"It means that the Reapers tried to take a bite out of Tuchanka and Tuchanka bit back."
"Harder." Added Grunt. Wrex gave him a look and the tank bred male held his bottom lip in his lower teeth again.
"We cleared out our cities that had been hit pretty quickly." Wrex continued. "And then the females decided to only breed with males who had taken out at least three of the Reaper freaks." He laughed. "The numbers dropped significantly after that. And, well, we've found a lot of leftovers lying around." He looked at Tevos. "We don't exactly need to call for help, Tachunka's cleaning house all on its own."
The salarian and asari Councilor did not look pleased.
"And what efforts have the batarians made?" Sparatus asked, looking to the batarian down the table from him.
The batarian scowled. "We have been focusing on connecting with our remaining people and gathering on Omega so that we can even have a people." All four of her eyes locked on Shepard. "Our greatest losses happened long before the Reaper War." she growled.
Shepard stared calmly back although her head was killing her. "The war started when Saren was on Eden Prime." She said quietly. "The other species all owe your people because you bought them time to be foolish and eventually listen and prepare. None of us would be here without your sacrifices."
The batarian stood and spat at Shepard's feet. "Do not protect yourself by calling the massacre you committed a sacrifice." Her eyes bore into Shepard's. "Your trial may have been interrupted on Earth, your people may have conveniently changed how they view what you did. But we remember. We will always remember."
"Warden Darva," Primarch Victus said. "I will ask that you remain civil while part of these discussions and during your time on Palaven."
Warden Darva scowled at him. "We are trying to gather our people. We have not wasted time on the mutants." The Primarch nodded to her.
Sparatus now spoke. "We have restrained as much of the population here that we could gather. However," he tapped something on the table and a projector displayed a hologram, "there has been a recent development that drastically changes our plans." The hologram showed two moving figures, the brute and the marauder that Shepard had shared the interrogation room with in Prometra. The marauder was clumsily, but clearly using two knives to carve a piece of meat, and the brute used a knife to pick something out of its teeth." There were murmurs from the other turian Primarchs and one of them was pointing to the turian dining utensils visible at the bottom of the hologram. Shepard felt smug as one of them whispered "carachi." "They have shown that they are still capable of advanced behavior and understand speech." He said. Major Vakarian of our Krogan Relations and Response Corps has more for us on this matter."
Atala stepped forward and saluted. "Counselors, honored guests," she said, nodding to the people at the table. She looked to Wrex. "It is an honor to speak before you, Chief Urdnot, sir."
Wrex laughed and looked down the table to Garrus. "I didn't realize there were this many of you. Does she think she's funny too?"
Garrus smiled easily, projecting comfort and poise. "No, she's actually funny. And sharp as hell. The two of you should get a drink later." He nodded to his sister.
"Due to our losses in the war and the krogan DNA contained in the brutes, my team was charged with containing the individuals on Palaven. We found them to be disorganized, and only violent when provoked. During their time in confinement we have run tests and found that their cognitive abilities and much of their memories are intact. Marauders can recognize the markings of their clan, the geographic regions where they are from and even family members." She said softly. "They struggle to communicate and their physiology has been drastically altered but they are still turian. The brutes also have active memories and cognition, however there is confusion when it comes to where they are from. They recognize the turian systems and Tuchunka equally and have referenced lives and events within both cultures. We believe they carry a mixed consciousness of at least two individuals who may have been harvested to create them."
There were murmurs in the room. "My team advises looking into resettlement and rehabilitation for these victims of the war. Since their captivity began we have only seen hostile behavior due to hunger, as it would with any living thing." The murmurs in the room were growing louder and a few comments of descent broke through. Atala lifted her chin a fraction. "Our scientists believe that the creatures forged from your races are likely still sentient as well and capable of recalling the consciousness of the individual that they were."
"So we have unknowingly been killing our own people?" Councilor Shepard said softly. "That is a great tragedy. I will be recommending to the Alliance that we immediately change our protocols for dealing with them accordingly."
Tevos' eyes were on Hannah. "Always so quick to change, Shepard." She said quietly.
Hannah Shepard met her gaze calmly. "Our dead are too numerous to accurately count. Our system was slowly torn apart while we waited for aid." Tevos' eyes narrowed. "I have no shame acting quickly to save whomever we still can."
"Admirable," Wrex growled. "I'd have done the same if I knew earlier. Shame. Well, just have to keep an eye out for stragglers."
Atala spoke again: "If the victims from your species have the cognition remaining in ours then we all have a problem." She looked around the room and said somberly. "They are dying."
"Not if we stop killing them." Said one of the batarians.
"Even if we do." Atala corrected. "The organic tissues and the mechanical implants no longer seem to be functioning together. The numbers we have in captivity are dropping rapidly. We do not have any way of estimating when they suffered their transformation, but we have not had one in captivity outlast five weeks. Our science and medical teams have not been able to slow the decay." She looked to the Dalatrass. "Dalatrass, permission to pose a question to your doctor, sir?"
Linron merely nodded, watching Atala carefully.
"I understand you have been studying the transformed for some time. Do you have any idea why this deterioration may be happening, Dr. Solus?"
Shepard felt her heart lurch. Her eyes flicked to the salarian standing behind the Dalatrass. In the corner of her eye she saw Garrus lean forward as well. "Yes. Several." the doctor said. His voice was not quite as bright as Mordin's. "The most likely reason is that given the extremely high rate of species collection and eradication, the Reapers did not construct these… individuals… for prolonged activity." His speech was smooth and sharp, not at all like Mordin's truncated, leaping thoughts. "Their construction was swift and their end was likely to be swift, so resources were preserved by only using what was necessary for baseline function."
He cleared his throat, his eyes shifting quickly as the room watched him. Shepard wondered if he was nervous; he did seem very young. "There may be two causalities active here, however; that they were not intended for prolonged function and that the mechanical implants are no longer in optimal operation as they are not receiving control signals from the Reapers." He blinked quickly a few times. "Our research showed that the Reapers broadcast a high volume of signals that were extremely difficult to detect in order to further the process of indoctrination. These signals also enabled the Reapers to control and communicate with each other and those they transformed. Many of the implants within the specimens my team have been working with are no longer functional. Implants that were directly connected with the specimen's organic regulatory systems do seem to be functioning, but the inactive implants likely had other key roles in supporting the transformed individual. The quick deterioration you describe may be due to these inactive implants."
"Could they be reactivated?" Victus asked.
"I cannot be sure. My team has not dedicated any research to that endeavor." Dr. Solus said.
"Are we really discussing this?" The Dalatrass asked incredulously. "Are we really bringing up the idea of devoting time and resources to prolonging the function of these things?" She stared around the table. "It is a tragedy that citizens of our galaxy were transformed, but perhaps the fact that they are dying quickly on their own is a mercy. We should be thankful for this development and devote resources to more important endeavors."
"That," Tevos said with surprising feeling, "Is easy to suggest when your homeworld was never hit by the Reapers. Your losses were minimal, and your people were not turned into monsters."
She took a deep breath. "The rest of us were not so fortunate."
"Palaven will be working to find a way to sustain them." Victus said quietly. "We do not abandon our own."
"Nor do the asari." Tevos said. "We will also be ceasing the hunting and begin to turn our scientists to halting this deterioration if we find it in our people.
"And what if they can be controlled?" Asked Linron quietly. There was silence. "Our reports suggest these inactive implants were vital to how they were controlled. What if activating them created a host of puppets and a way to make them dance?." Her eyes were locked on Tevos, who said nothing.
Dr. Solus coughed. "It is unlikely that would be the case. The Reapers' signaling systems are incredibly complex. Control is very, very unlikely."
"But not impossible." The Dalatrass said quietly. "The human terrorists already played at controlling the Reapers and used our refugees as fodder for their experiments. Who is to say that leftover zealots from their ranks may not try to take advantage of the continued existence of the changed?"
"I destroyed Cerberus." Shepard said. Her head was really pounding now. Bright pain behind her eyes like something was stabbing at her mind. She pushed it away and focused on the Dalatrass. "I destroyed their facilities. There is nothing left."
The Dalatrass snorted. "Discoveries cannot be unmade." She blinked slowly at Shepard. "Scientific progress cannot be undone, Commander." She glanced to the hulking mass of krogan easily visible past the slim human to her right. "My people would know."
Victus and Sparatus shared a look and the turian Councilor's jaw clenched. He shifted in his seat and said, "The turians took too many losses because we did not act on the information given to us," he nodded at Shepard, "with appropriate speed." He glanced towards the batarians. "There were catastrophic losses because we were too slow to guard the people we have. We will not make that mistake again. We will be working to keep them alive."
Linron raised an eyebrow. "And you are unconcerned about someone controlling the Reapers still drifting through our galaxy and using them to their own ends?"
"The Reapers are gone." Shepard said.
All eyes shifted to her. It was like being in the open and finding several red dots on your armor. Here we go again she thought in disgust. But Victus gave her a barely perceptible nod; she saw Atala widen her stance a smidge and caught the predatory gleam in Garrus' bright blue eyes. Maybe this would be different. Her team was here this time. Even her mother and Castus seemed to straighten, as if preparing for her signal.
"Really." Linron drawled. "We came across one and destroyed it on the way here."
Light flashed behind Shepard's eyes and she felt talons on her mind. Hurtling through space again, fear clenching at her heart. She could feel parts of her burning with searing heat. Further, she must flee, she must escape. Something slammed into her side, and the burning intensified.
"What?" Shepard asked, trying to blink back the pain and block out the images and sensations pouring into her mind. She slipped her hands behind her back, clutching them tightly.
The Dalatrass frowned. "We came across a Reaper and we fired on it and managed to wipe it out. My people are not going to wait around for them to become hostile again."
"The Reapers were not the ships that attacked our planets or the people they transformed." Shepard said quietly. She had the high ground. She had to remember that she had the high ground. You didn't have to work hard if you had the high ground. You let the enemy come to you. "The Reapers were an ancient program designed to cyclically exterminate advanced civilizations to prevent them from developing technologies that could wipe out all forms of life." Her green eyes held the Dalatrass' gaze. "I used the Crucible to destroy that program. The things you see now, the things you slaughtered, are the victims of past harvests, as the brutes and marauders are the victims of our harvest. For the first time they're consciousnesses are free. And we cannot be out hunting them."
"You're saying those ships are a bunch of dead protheans?" The Dalatrass' aid asked.
"They are species much, much older than the protheans." Shepard said.
"The Reaper program," Garrus added, "created the things we knew as the Collectors from the protheans, as they made the marauders from turian victims." Shepard could have kissed him for his precise phrasing, not that she should be surprised, coming from a sniper. Garrus' eyes flicked to Shepard . "Under Shepard's command, myself and a team including a relative of yours, Dr. Mordin Solus" he said, nodding to the salarian doctor, "and the Justicar Samara..." He said, nodding to Tevos. Their faces told Shepard that the sniper had hit his mark each time. "...destroyed their base and rescued personnel who had been taken by them. I have fought the machines you call Reapers, as well as every type of monster they created. I've also seen the living machines devoid of the Reaper program and how peaceful and different they are. They are completely different entities now and all the data I have seen supports this."
"They can no more control the brutes and marauders than I can." Shepard said. Her mother's eyes met hers at that comment, and the Dalatrass frowned.
"And do they need us to play nursemaid to them, too?" Warden Darva sneered.
"Unlikely." Said Dr. Solus. "They are almost entirely machine, and if they have existed for a plethora of cycles they were clearly designed for unimaginable longevity. They are likely self-sufficient."
"Then why are we talking about them?" Wrex asked.
Sparatus' jaw clenched again and he leaned forward. "Because I have received a message from the quarian Admiralty Board. These ancient ones have been helping to build on Rannoch and they have discovered that the geth and asari can communicate with them." Tevos straightened at these words, watching Sparatus carefully. "The reports confirm what General Vakarian shared. They are peaceful and intelligent. The quarians are... naturally very cautious about working with the geth and are intent on learning from their history to ensure a stable relationship with them. Palaven has sought their counsel because there are many of these non-Reapers still in our system and we do not seek, and cannot afford, to provoke them. Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay has advised that we change our way of viewing the geth and non-Reapers. They should be viewed as sentient synthetic life, as diverse and multifaceted as the great species sitting at this table, and as deserving of a voice." Shepard could feel the air in the room grow thick with tension. "They were eager to help when they were offered the opportunity to cohabitate with the quarians on Rannoch. It is likely they would be willing to help rebuild our worlds and exist peacefully in them if we were to offer to treat them like another race."
Tevos snorted. "I know you are all young and short lived, but have you forgotten your histories? AI or synthetic life or whatever you want to call them, have been allowed to live freely in the past and it has always led to war and slaughter. And now the quarians want us to give them free reign when organic militaries are decimated?"
"We have to start somewhere." Shepard said. "The geth are not too numerous and have genuine desire to work with the quarians. The lost species free of the Reaper programming want to work with organics. The Reaper program started in the first place because of the constant wars between the synthetics and organics. We have a chance to change those cycles. We know the price of not working peacefully with synthetics." She looked to Linron. "You're right. Discoveries cannot be unmade. Organic scientists are going to create artificial Intelligenceno matter what. We have seen it time and time again. We need to learn to live with what we create rather than trying to hold it back."
She could feel the eyes of the room on her. She felt the weight of them, her head pounded. She must flee, she must escape. She forced herself to take a deep breath. "If we can do that we have a chance at preventing war again, and we have a chance at living peacefully with these ancient races that were used to decimate our galaxy. We cannot afford to fight them. We have to make a change now, and our best chance at making that change is by going to them, offering them a place in our world." Her heart was racing with the pounding in her head. Garrus caught her eye, looking concerned. But Shepard didn't stop. "Synthetic life has not been the only cause of these wars. We have been, too. Organics have to change. We have to change so that we can exist with them."
"What makes you think this time can be any different?" Tevos asked.
"Because we have never offered them a voice before. Never really treated them as equals." Said Sparatus.
"You lot don't even treat other organic life as equals." Wrex said dryly. Warden Darva made a noise of agreement.
"Things might change if we invited them to be part of the galaxy. Part of the Council." said Sparatus
The room was silent for a moment and then Wrex roared with laughter. "Turians want to put murderous robots on the Council before krogan and batarians. I love it."
"You can't be serious." Said the Dalatrass.
"I think he is." Tevos snorted.
"It is something I believe we should consider." Sparatus said sternly. "The non-Reapers-"
"Are we really going to keep calling them that?" Tevos said irritably. "They are just Reapers."
Primarch Victus spoke softly. "They have asked to not be called the same name as those that destroyed them."
"And what would they like to be called?" Scoffed the Dalatrass.
"They have asked to be called 'the Ascendent,'" Castus said quietly, speaking for the first time. "Meaning 'ones who came before'."
"That seems reasonable." Councilor Shepard said to the Commander's surprise.
"It doesn't matter what they are called," Tevos said, "Adding synthetics to the Council is a ridiculous notion," she glared at Sparatus. "And not why we have gathered here. My people will work with the turians in understanding why this deterioration is happening to those changed by the war."
The Dalatrass stared across the table with disdain. "So you are both just going to wait to have them used against you?"
Sparatus gave her a hard look. "We will be vigilant, but we will address the issue of them being controlled if it presents itself."
"Probably by having krogan come kill them for you." Wrex grumbled.
Victus gave him an apologetic look and said, "Most of our losses were soldiers who fell in the line of duty. If they are still alive somehow we will not dishonor them by watching them die."
"And if you can keep them," the Dalatrass said softly. "You replenish your ranks with bigger, stronger, nastier turians. How convenient." She narrowed her eyes at Victus. "Are you going to open your arms to the change of all the species? Are you so generous?"
"No." The red tattooed Primarch said. "At least Ithios will not be." Victus frowned at her. "We can do what we can for the marauders but we do not have the time, resources or understanding of krogan physiology or culture to try and work with the brutes. They were likely formed from krogan and civilians, and it is a tragedy, but they are unlikely to be able to successfully rehabilitate like the soldiers who likely became marauders."
The Primarch with green tattoos looked at her. "Kavala does not speak for all of us." He said. "I for one would like to see these things as they are now before making a decision."
Victus looked to the Primarch. "We have a few individuals that have been brought to the center, if you wish to do so." Everyone in the room gazed at him.
"Impressive ambush, Victus." Primarch Kavala said with a glare in Victus' direction. "Are you trying to force our hands by surprising us with a visit to something pitiful? Just because you have already said that you are willing to look into rehabilitating brutes and marauders?"
"I am trying to ensure that we do not lose precious time." Victus said icily. "And more precious lives."
"We are turians. We were at war." Kavala sneered. "It has a cost and our soldiers and people understand that and are ready to pay it."
"Do not lecture me on the cost of the war, Kavala." Victus said with deadly quiet in his voice.
Well, this wasn't as disastrous as she had thought it would be. She felt awful though. Exhausted. The pressure in her skull would not dissipate. She wished she could step away for a few minutes and take something for it but there was no way she was showing weakness in front of those gathered before her.
"Well I'm done with talking and ready to do something." Wrex stood from the table and crossed towards Atala. "Show me where these brutes are, Girl-Garrus. I want to see for myself how krogan they are."
Atala nodded respectfully. "With the Primarch's leave I would be delighted to escort you there, sir."
Tevos stood. "I am curious to see how civilised they are." She said. She looked towards Linron. "I think it would be wise for the Council to observe so that we may make informed decisions."
"An excellent point, Tevos." Said Councilor Shepard. "I am very interested in accompanying you."
Warden Darva snorted. "If you are all going to view your freak show, we are done here." She stood, still glaring at Shepard. "This has been a waste of my time and my people's time. There aren't too many of us, so it has become rare and valuable." Her eyes flicked to the Council at the end of the table. "You all seem willing to listen to this human. To its claims of breaking the Reapers' program," Her eyes flicked back to Shepard, "but you are fools to listen. Her silver tongue and threats of coming war caused you to write off the slaughter of my people, and now Reapers are suddenly peaceful because of her, because of what she did." Her eyes drifted to the Dalatrass. "You are so worried about these things the Reapers left becoming someone's puppets." She glared at Shepard again. "You should be concerned about becoming her puppet. Come find me when you are ready to make her pay for her crimes. And don't look to us to save you from her." And Warden Davos turned her back on them all and left.
/./././././././././././
They had moved into the back room of the Paratus, an area that was much less ornamented and more secure. Shepard spotted the members of Atala's Cabal dispersed through the room, all wearing the same "Krogan Relations" uniforms. At one point she caught the eyes of Kiathi Vedeta and the turian gave her a small nod. There were four marauders and four brutes in the corners of the room. They were unrestrained and Atala explained that they were some of the more healthy and cooperative of the population kept in Prometra.
As they entered the room Grunt altered his path and passed behind Shepard, murmuring "Wrex told me to keep my trap shut and learn, and I follow my clan leader. But I'll crush these yapping varren's skulls if you want me to, Shepard. You're still my Battlemaster."
Shepard grinned and whispered "I just might take you up on that. You have to leave me a few, though."
Grunt laughed. "Only if you're fast enough."
Most of the Council and the others who had gathered for this summit stayed grouped together. However, Victus walked calmly towards the marauders and stood only a few feet from them, his expression somber. The marauders watched him with milky eyes. Shepard did not see the one with purple tattoos that she had used her strands to communicate with. She wondered if it was still alive.
"Can you understand me?" Victus said, staring at the marauders. One standing in the front of the group with pale green tattoos on its twisted face nodded slowly. "Can you recognize the krogan in this room?" The marauder blinked for a moment and then pointed toward Wrex and Grunt. "The asari? Humans? Salarians?" The marauder pointed to each of the species in turn.
"So you taught it tricks." Linron said coldly. "That doesn't mean they should be kept around."
"Do not speak to them that way." Garrus growled. He nodded to the group of marauders. "These are soldiers of the turian military. We have been able to identify them by their clan tattoos and they have been able to confirm details of their rank and service record." His gaze drifted to the marauder again. "They are all war heroes who gave more than we did."
Wrex was walking towards the brutes. "Reapers sure did a number on you, didn't they." He growled in a voice that Shepard thought was surprisingly gentle for the krogan. "Do you understand me?" The brute nodded. "Do you like to fight?" The brute gave a smaller nod. "If we gave you a place to live freely, would you obey my words and fight my enemies?" The brute drew one of its long metal claws along the floor and gave a vague sort of shrug. It seemed to be looking to Atala and the other members of the Cabal.
"I'm coming, Craterface." called Zyan. He began walking towards the brute, tapping on his omnitool.
"Craterface?" Said Tevos incredulously.
"Yeah," said Zyan tersely. Shepard felt she had gotten to know the Vakarian cousin a little on the night of her Asking. He was big, but he had a good heart. She didn't think he had appreciated the way the brutes and marauders had been discussed. Particularly since one of the dying marauders they had so cavalierly discussed had been part of his Cabal. His eyes were cold as he stared at Tevos. "I gave her a name."
"Not a particularly nice name." The Dalatrass said coldly.
Zyan merely stared back. "Her face looks like she took a biotic blast in the jaw. But she's still standing. Turians wear our scars with pride. We're not so fussy about our looks."
"And neither are krogan." Wrex rumbled, eyeing the young turian with grudging respect.
Garrus crossed towards the brutes as well, speaking to Wrex under his breath as he passed. "You know he's a Vakarian by marriage. I think you've got a soft spot in both your hearts for all my family."
Wrex snorted. "I would have let the Reapers kill me if I knew I'd have to spend more time listening to you think you're funny." He nodded to Shepard. "Why doesn't that one have blue ink yet? The two of you stink of each other." He said too quietly for the others to hear.
"We're working on it." Garrus said darkly.
Zyan had reached Craterface and activated his omnitool so that it projected a large square of light on the floor.
"What exactly is he doing?" The Dalatrass asked.
"This is our current method of communication." Atala said. "We are working on others, but they cannot speak or type on a keypad right now." Craterface was moving one long metal claw along the ground where the projected square was. The projection program tracked the path of her claw, allowing her to essentially write on the screen of light on the ground. In clumsy but legible letters she left three words: fight for food.
Wrex eyed Craterface appreciatively. "I can work with that."
"What percentage of krogan are they?" Primarch Kavala asked, watching the brutes from a distance.
"Our DNA studies show that it ranges from thirty to eighty percent." Atala said with a frown.
A pale Primarch with orange tattoos shook his head. "So they're not really turian, then." This remark earned him several concerned looks, and even Kavala seemed to disapprove. "They'd be too violent to join our society. We can't risk the instability."
"They're different." Shepard said hotly. "It doesn't make them unstable."
"I disagree, Commander." He said.
"The asari breed with krogan." Shepard said.
"They sure do." Wrex chuckled.
"Does that make their offspring unstable?"
Tevos raised her eyebrows, watching the turian. "Well, does it Primarch Viceroy?" She asked coldly.
Viceroy pursed his lips. "They aren't really our people anymore and that means that right now they cannot be our problem. Look at that thing. The marauders are nowhere near as mutated. The brutes are mostly synthetic at this point, how do we know they can be trusted?"
"I've been mostly synthetics for over a year." Shepard said coldly. "Does that mean I can't be trusted?"
Viceroy's gaze was full of disdain. "Possibly." He said. "I think the batarian Warden may have had a fair point about you."
"Viceroy." Sparatus snapped. "Commander Shepard has done more for this galaxy than any other individual." Primarch Viceroy snorted. "She has prevented my death twice." Sparatus continued. "And regardless of your opinions on the rest of her service, she at least deserves enough of your respect for you to keep them to yourself." The turians stared down one another for a long moment.
"Throw a damn punch already." Wrex said. His rough voice breaking the tension in the room.
"I don't believe that will be necessary." Said Victus smoothly.
"Dammit." Grumbled Grunt.
"I'm not surprised." Wrex said, his raised, rough voice echoing in the room. "They probably aren't good looking enough for you pretty turians. They're ugly fuckers for sure." he came to stand between the turians and brutes, facing the twisted mixes of the two species. "But so am I, and so is just about everything else of Tuchunka, so I think you'll fit right in." He walked along the brutes, making eye contact with each of them. "Tachunka doesn't give a shit who you are, how your look, or how you came to be." He nodded to Grunt. "My second is tank bred and has brought my clan great victories. Tachunka only cares about how well you can fight and how much of a mess you can make." He nodded towards Shepard, with a wink, "That's why we like this one so much." Shepard's lip twitched and Garrus raised his head in pride. Wrex continued. "You nasty sons a bitches look like you can make one hell of a mess, so you have a home with us." Garrus nodded supportively, gratitude in his eyes.
The brutes eyed Wrex for a moment and then many of them began nodding. Wrex crossed back to the other council members and as he passed Primarch Viceroy, he snarled "And we don't give a damn what percent turian they are."
"I'm sure they'll feel right at home." Viceroy sneered.
Garrus lost it. He crossed the space between them and brought his face half an inch from the Viceroy's and growled "If you were a fraction of the politician you think you are you would see what he just did and understand how monumental it is." His mandibles twitched in suppressed rage. "The turian people are dishonored by you. You endanger us and I will not accept that." He leaned in even closer and hissed. "You should know that I have a sniper rifle and I will be watching you."
"Garrus!" his father called disapprovingly. Garrus ignored him until he could smell fear on the Viceroy and then slowly backed away, moving to stand by Shepard. He brushed his hand along hers and whispered. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah," she said, squeezing his hand quickly and gently, "headache, that's all."
Garrus glared at the politicians in the room. "Wonder why." He breathed sarcastically.
/././././././././././././././././
Victus said that any of the brutes and marauders that chose to stay would be welcome on Palaven and they would do what they could to support them. Kavala begrudgingly said that she too would allow both on Ithios, although she was not willing to extend resources to the other species changed by the Reapers.
They began to trickle back into the room the meeting had originally been held in, still in deep argument regarding the Ascendent and the idea of offering medical support to the deteriorating victims.
"We will not be wasting our resources on such a pursuit." The Dalatrass said, waving off Sparatus' protests.
Victus frowned. "I think it is extremely-"
The corner of the table by the door vaporized. Shepard felt like all the air had been sucked from the room. A shockwave swept across it, slamming into its occupants, sending them flying into the air. Shepard heard a deafening crack and then nothing but ringing as she slammed into the wall. Then the ceiling caved in. The breathtaking stalactites were plummeting towards the room's occupants who lay sprawled upon the star-strewn floor, Garrus just beginning to lift his head. Green light erupted in the room as Shepard's shield exploded out of her. She was shaking, panting, but was aware of nothing except those blue eyes and the point of the stalactite hovering a few feet above his head, halted by a rippling vortex of green light. His head whipped to Shepard. She saw him mouth her name but her ears registered nothing.
The ground shook. Shepard watched as waves of fire washed across her shields, and her breath became ragged. There were two more bursts of blue light and Shepard saw Atala on her feet, hands outstretched, her shield pressing against Shepard's and the rocks. Garrus pressed himself to his feet and started towards Shepard but she shook her head, launching to her feet, her fists tight. She could tell by the shimmering reflections in the tiles beneath her feet that she had become a demon of green light. Garrus dashed to his father who was still unmoving on the floor. Atala's eyes met Shepard's and she merely nodded, the females' body shaking, unable to do anything other than sustain the shields helping to hold back the collapsed ceiling. Shepard sped across the room to her mother who was pushing herself off the wall, blood trickling from her nose. Hannah Shepard's eyes went wide for a moment as she stared at Moria. Moria pulled her mother to her feet and was about to begin physically checking her body when her mother took Moria's face in her hands, forcing her daughter to look at her mouth as it made the shape of the word "fine." Moria used Alliance short hand signs to indicate that they should begin assisting the others, and her mother nodded once before moving to the Dalatrass and the other salarians. The krogan were the only ones who had not been thrown, but they had been shoved into the floor by the force of the blast. They were now on their feet, pulling the turian primarchs from beneath pieces of stone and table.
Shepard's hearing returned just in time to hear more explosions from the building around them. Her mouth was full of the salty tang of blood, and the air was strangely cold as she breathed through her nose. Her cheek felt wet. She touched her face with her dust coated fingers; it came away coated in blood. She was bleeding. From her eyes. Shit.
She took deep breaths and stopped walking across the room, focusing on the shield supporting the shattered roof. It was too much. There was too much rock. She didn't understand why her shield hadn't simply buckled under the strain as she had experienced before, but she could feel the energy it was taking burning though her. And based on the blood, she was running out of fuel fast. She focused on the shield and began to bring it closer to the floor. Atala felt the shift. Her eyes flashed to Shepard who bellowed, "Down. Slow." over the roar of fire and the rumble of new explosions. Atala showed no sign of confirmation but the rubble on the other side of her shield slowly lowered with Shepard's. The strain of shifting the angle and placement of the stones as they landed was agony and Shepard bit through her lip as she ensured that nothing settled on top of the figures trying to free themselves from the rubble already on the ground. She nearly passed out as she let the shield finally vanish.
There was a flash of blue light and a pile of rubble in the corner was thrown back as Zyan forced an opening between this room and the one they had come from. He dashed forward, giving Atala a series of hand signals that Shepard did not understand. A few brutes and marauders followed him into the room. One of the brutes halted, staring at the floor. It clawed at the rubble before it and pulled the limp form of Primach Kavala from the dust and debris, placed her gently across a shoulder and headed back out the way it had come. The rest of Atala's Cabal rushed into the room just as a fresh explosion tore through the air, the biotics throwing up a series of shields that interlocked with one another, sparing those trying to pull themselves from the rubble from being hit by the wall of flame and the worst of the debris. Shepard could see her mother getting the Dalatrass out of the room, Grunt just behind her carrying two salarians and an unconscious Tevos. Wrex and a marauder were trying to shift a large section of the wall from which a blue arm protruded. Garrus had Victus' arm around his shoulder and the sniper was helping the Primarch towards the opening that Zyan had made. Shepard crossed to them.
"Get out of here!" Garrus yelled to her over the thunderous destruction around here.
"I can help." She yelled back, trying to take one of Victus' arms to move him faster.
"You helped!" Garrus shouted. His eyes were wild as he looked at her face, focusing on the red streaks beneath her eyes. "Blood, Moria." He yelled at her, his eyes full of panic and desperation.
"Fine." She yelled, shaking her head. The ground shook again and Shepard heard a crack somewhere above them. Her head snapped up in time to see a segment of the wall tumbling towards them from above.
"Mor-" She heard Garrus begin to yell, but without thinking she released a shockwave at Garrus and Victus, sending them flying backwards as the slab of stone slammed into where they had stood with her.
/././././././././././././.
His scream tore at his throat as she disappeared beneath the stone. Victus was on the ground next to him, panting, his eyes wide in horor. Garrus surged to his feet and threw himself towards the slab of stone that was easily twice his size, screaming in rage. He could see red hair in the dust, and red blood on the stones. The green light that had burned through the smoke choked air was gone. She was on her back. Pinned beneath the stone. Her arms splayed by her limp head, one bent at a sickening, inhuman angle. Everything rib cage and below was pinned beneath the stone save for a single foot that was turned the wrong way. Armor. Why wasn't she in armor? Why hadn't either of them worn armor? Why did he let her go anywhere without it? He had activated his comm before he reached her. He could hear static roaring in the Normandy thousands of miles from them.
"Chakwas," he choked.
She was breathing heavily as if she was running. "We're in the air!" She responded. "We took off as soon as the static started. Garrus, get her in stasis now. We will be there in an hour."
He didn't bother responding. He threw himself at the stone pinning her, pushing with all his might. Huge clawed hands joined him on either side and he was vaguely aware of the smell of krogan, and then a shoulder of flesh and circuitry was leaning onto the stone as well and it was moving. It tumbled from her and he fell to his knees, activating the stasis mode on his omnitool and holding it over her. He stared at her un-tattooed face, pale and covered in fresh slashes.
"Please, Moria." He whispered. "Don't you fucking dare…"
He was aware of Wrex staring at Shepard, the clenched set of the krogan's jaw making him want to tear something to pieces. Grunt looked slowly from Shepard to Wrex, a question on his face.
Light footsteps crunched across the ground and a high pitched voice said. "Stasis, excellent." The young Dr. Solus appeared by Garrus' side and squatted by Shepard. His dark eyes flicked over Shepard. "Humans shouldn't look like that." He said. Garrus was about to kill him. "There's a chance though. I can instruct you how to move her. The sooner we begin working the better." His eyes met Garrus. "Let me help. It's my job to help."
Under the salarian's instruction, Wrex and Garrus carefully gathered Shepard's body from the ground, Grunt hovering nervously at their side. They stepped across the rubble strewn ground as the explosions faded and only the roar of fire remained. There was wood and circuitry from the table strewn through the rubble as well as papers and broken glass. Garrus' whole being focused on the woman in his arms as he carefully placed his feet on the uneven terrain. He carried her out the crumbling remains of the building into what had once been a courtyard. Water sprayed from broken pipes and a tree had been devoured in roaring flames, the skeleton of its trunk and branches a dancing shadow in the blaze. The omniblade of the turian statue had been shattered by the blast. Debris had cut new scars into the fallen warrior's face and body. She stood, unarmed, hand raised in a warning from beyond the void.
