"We're wrapped up here, Captain," Kaidan called, striding to the top of the ramp, staring down at her.
Shepard grinned and popped the last bite of her peanut butter sandwich into her mouth. She hopped down off the crate she'd been using as her seat, working the peanut butter off the roof of her mouth before replying, "No you aren't, Sparky." She thumped the crate with her palm and strode up the ramp, leaning into the incline. "Forgot one." As she climbed, she scanned through the notes she'd made on the datapad while she waited for the loading to finish.
Once aboard, she looked up, searching for Wrex. She found him over in his corner, pulling krogan artifacts out of a crate, spinning tales about some of the pieces for an enraptured audience of crew members. Her smile warmed, the threads of connection glowing bright and strong between them. "Webs," she whispered to herself. "It's all webs. Some light and woven, some dark and tangled, but all webs just the same." Shepard shook her head as Wrex held up a dagger made out of a massive tooth, roaring as he enacted the titanic struggle to defeat what she thought might be a thresher maw.
"Hey, Battlemaster!" she called, brash and teasing as she swaggered up behind his audience. She stopped, hip cocked, arms crossed, the datapad held up where Wrex could see it. "Your crazy maneuver with the Mako today planted an even crazier idea inside my head." She gave the pad a jaunty little wave, then tossed it to Wrex and turned, striding for the elevator. "Think the krogan could find a way to collect and weaponize thresher acid?" she hollered over her shoulder.
She was still waiting for the lift when he roared, "Shepard! You've gotta be mad. This . . ." He held the datapad over his head, looking as though he might chuck it at her. ". . . is the craziest idea I've ever heard."
Grinning, she glanced back and nodded. "All the best ideas are completely mad. Think about it."
When she reached the crew deck, she headed for medbay. Grieco, Pakti, and Berrett had all been injured during the geth attack. "Hey, Doc," she called, walking in the door. "How are my people?"
"These three will all be fine in a couple of days, Shepard. The ones I'm concerned about are the two dozen who thought somehow I'd miss the long line of people sneaking in to raid the medi-gel dispenser." Chakwas sighed and strode over to scan Shepard. "How about you? Everything all right?" The doctor hummed with enough disapproval and dry humour to assure Shepard that she already knew the answer to that question. "Take a seat for a second."
Shepard did as she was told. "I'm fine, Doc. No issues at all today."
"You mean other than being hit by a very strong warp field?" The doctor keyed in information then scanned again.
"Am I coming apart at the atoms?" Shepard chuckled.
"No, but your body's electrical field is showing signs of severe disruption." She stepped away to prepare a syringe. "It should sort itself with some sleep and a neuro-chemical stabilizer."
"In that case, I'll make sure that Nihlus checks in with you. I just took a glancing blow; he took one full force." She shuddered remembering the horrible sensation of being pulled apart from the inside out. Nausea followed hot on the memory's heels. Jolts of imagined, electric agony seared down her limbs as she put herself in Nihlus's shoes for those moments. He'd screamed like Saren's warp was ripping his soul apart rather than his cells. That thought made her heartsick in a way she hadn't felt in a long time . . . or maybe a way she always felt.
Automatically, she tilted her head off to the side as the doctor moved in with her injection, but her mind remained fixed on Nihlus. Truly, over the weeks since they met, the Spectre had lived in a state of constant torture. The way he'd cried out in that warp field had spoken to the betrayal, not just of a friend and mentor but of his entire life. He'd told her weeks before that he lived for the work, not taking time for the indulgence of relationships. Then, when Saren claimed to have created Nihlus, the Spectre lashed back, saying he created himself through being a Spectre.
Shepard heard the doc talking to her and looked up, dragging herself out of her thoughts. Murmuring a noncommittal positive toned response, she smiled. "Thanks, Doc. I'll see you bright and early for our usual appointment." Without waiting for an answer, she raised her hand to her ear and opened a channel.
"Hey, Nihlus, get your butt to medbay." Shepard grinned as a rumbling groan vibrated through her ear. "She promises not to hold you prisoner, but you need to make sure that warp didn't pull apart any cells you actually need. You know, pretty much any cell except brain cells. We know those all turned moron the second you came aboard." A melodramatic gasp followed his very colourful reply. "Sweet baby Jesus, Kryik, watch your language. Get down here, and then get some rest. That's an order." She hung up without giving him any time to argue.
The rest of his life might have betrayed him, but her cause, her crew . . . she wouldn't.
After a few minutes spent chatting with her injured crew members, Shepard headed for her quarters. On her way across the mess, she typed out a message to the team going ashore on Illium. After Saren's little surprise on Tuntau, she decided to add Alenko to the roster. A big team might attract more attention, but if Saren knew about Aethyta, and she'd bet the Father of Light's diamond tentacle rings that he did, she wanted the extra gun.
Sending the message, she sighed. "Okay, shower and then the intel on Illium."
She'd just returned from the shower when someone knocked at her door. Leaving the towel draped over her head, she grinned and called out, "Yes?"
"It's Liara, may I speak with you for a moment, Captain?" a soft voice replied from the other side.
"Of course, come on in." Shepard stood and dragged the towel off. She'd expected her turian babysitter. Liara had never made any attempt to speak to her outside of missions or briefings. Granted, thanks to 'Embracing Eternity' with Liara's help, she wasn't all that eager to spend time in the same space. Liara had been given access to the Vault of Terrible Unmentionables. No one ever got access. Ever. For good reason.
The door opened, and Liara stepped through, giving Shepard a shy smile and slight nod. "Thank you for seeing me, Captain. It sounds like it turned into quite the fight down there."
Shepard smiled and gestured toward the table. "It was. Please sit. What can I help you with?" Once Liara perched on the edge of one of the chairs, Shepard sat.
The researcher leaned forward against the table, wringing her hands a little. "I guess I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed by everything. A few weeks ago, I expected to go from dig to dig in relative obscurity, struggling to find something my colleagues would call credible evidence of my theories. I thought my mother would live another two hundred cycles or so . . . plenty of time to reconcile." She slumped back in the chair, her hands folded primly in her lap.
Shepard nodded, ignoring the whispers from the past that leaked through.
Focus on Liara's mother, dammit, not your own.
"Benezia also regretted not getting that chance."
"I'm one hundred and six, Shepard. My people consider me little more than a child, and now . . .." A long, tremulous sigh whispered through her lips. "My mother wants me to manage her estate, run her businesses . . . take her place." She shook her head, then shifted in her seat, her hands hovering between her lap and the table as if even that decision proved too great.
"What usually happens in situations like this?" Shepard asked. Her knowledge of asari customs amounted to just slightly more than nil.
"It depends, of course, on the age of the child. In a case like mine, one of my family would hold the legacy in trust until they deemed me of age. However, Mother already made arrangements with my aunt to assist me in administering the estate so I could inherit now." She laughed, but it came out incredulous and almost bitter. "My mother took fewer than half her acolytes when she joined Saren. My aunt says the rest have already sworn themselves to me in obedience to my mother's wishes." Her hands gave a helpless little flip in her lap. "What do I know about leading acolytes? What do I have to teach them? What do I know about doing any of the things my mother wants me to do? I'm an one hundred and six year old researcher. I've spent my life alone, crawling through ruins."
Shepard said nothing for a long moment before she leaned forward on the table top, elbows braced, fingers steepled against her lips. "Your mother possessed a lot of resources to throw behind discovering what happened to the Protheans." She shrugged. "We've discovered how important your research is, Liara. You don't have to prove anything to anyone now. The proof is riding in on us hard and fast." She let her arms drop, folding a little as they settled to the cool polymer, and met Liara's eyes with a fierce, resolute stare. "What you need to do now is fill in the blanks. We need to know exactly what happened to the Prothean Empire, and of all the people I know, you are the best candidate for that job."
Liara straightened a little. "I have found several references, even in my mother's least encrypted files, that lead me to believe there may be one or more major sources of prothean data and technology on Thessia." She smiled, this time a spark of excitement glinting in her eyes. "I've also found highly encrypted partitions in her computer files."
"That sounds like a good start." Shepard turned in her chair a little and leaned back, crossing her legs. "What do you know about Aethyta?"
"Very little." Liara shrugged. "I spoke to her yesterday. She already knew of Mother's death. She's a matriarch, but she's a bartender at a bar called Eternity. I have never met her before, but if Mother trusted her with her legacy, she must have been someone of importance to her."
Shepard smiled. "Yeah, it's not the sort of thing you ask of some bartender at a watering hole several systems away. Well, I guess at least some of your questions will find answers in a few hours. You should get some sleep." When Liara didn't move, Shepard leaned forward, laying a hand over one of Liara's. "Where you go from here is your decision, Liara. You have a place on the Normandy for as long as I command her. If you decide to accept the charge your mother left, you can do so from here if that's feasible. And if you choose to leave us, you can always come back. Consider the Normandy your home until you find somewhere else you want to be, okay?"
The asari turned her hand over and squeezed Shepard's fingers. "Thank you." She smiled a little less tremulously than before. "Knowing that I can come back helps." Standing, she pulled her hand away. "Good night, Captain."
Shepard stood and followed Liara to the door. It opened to reveal Rael'Zorah pacing outside. "Blessed Enkindlers, haven't I been threaded through enough needles today?" She closed her eyes, letting out a long, grumbling breath to vent the steam before stepping into the fire. After a moment, she plastered a vague smile on her lips, squared her shoulders until her spine cracked, and stepped through the doorway. "Admiral, what can I do for you?"
The small male stopped pacing and spun to face her. "My people report that twenty six more of our pilgrims and . . . other quarians have gone missing." Angled toward her and holding himself puffed out like an angry cat, he stormed up to her, the reflective silver of his eyes flashing like tiny bolts of lightning as he blinked. "What you can do for me is either tell me how you intend to help me get our young people back, or let me go about finding a way to do it on my own." He leaned closer. "You have no authority to hold me prisoner on your vessel."
Shepard leaned back on her hip and crossed her arms. "Admiral, unfortunate things happen to people who crowd my space. Back up a bit and calm yourself." She stared at him until he drew his leading foot back, slowly and reluctantly enough that she needed to bite back a smartass grin. Ah, the back-breaking combination of good ol' military ego and bullheadedness.
"Thank you. Now, in just over two days we have to disable a VI on Luna that has killed a couple platoons of soldiers. The very next thing is heading for Virmire to get your people back." She straightened. "I am only human, so once I have the very tricky and complicated assault on our lunar base planned and executed, I'll call you, Tali, Legion, and everyone else involved into a planning meeting for the assault on Saren's base."
Despite giving her the extra space, Rael'Zorah's words lashed out, biting all the deeper. "How will we assault Saren's headquarters without council backing? You will make the quarian people terrorists as well as outcasts."
Shepard shook her head then glanced up as Garrus walked around the elevator. "I'll deal with all of that when I've successfully brought all my people back from Luna alive." She stared him down. "You're not a prisoner, Rael'Zorah. You're a guest." She let out a long breath and leaned against the wall. "You know, in certain ancient, Middle Eastern cultures on Earth, it was one's obligation to accept a guest in need of aid or a place to stay. It was a grave dishonour to refuse. However, a guest also had obligations to his host . . . to abide by the rules of the household . . . be considerate to others . . . that sort of thing. On this ship, your obligations are to help out as much as you can to offset your burden on my crew and resources, and allow me to do my job."
She turned away, walking back over the threshold into her quarters. "You are one piece of a very large puzzle, Admiral," she said, turning to look back. "One piece, each dealt with in its time. Goodnight. Rest well." She let the door close, leaving it to Garrus to enter when he felt comfortable. Probably after Rael'Zorah cleared out.
She sat back at her computer and brought up Benezia's files from the OSD. The evidence the matriarch collected against the council and Saren amounted to nothing less than damning. "You three are slimy bastards. The Father of Light could learn some lessons on screwing people over from you." She sighed, read a few more entries and another, longer sigh chased after the first. "Problem is, I can't use any of it. I have to let you pieces of worm-ridden filth get away with it. At least for now."
The door opened. "You'll need to play your cards a lot closer to your chest than that," Garrus said. Light steps crossed the decking, telling her that he'd already changed out of his armour. "If you're going to discuss things like the council's guilt with yourself, you're going to need to lower your voice." Large warm hands covered her shoulders, his thumbs massaging the knots in her levator scapulae. "This ship has thin bulkheads."
"I can't help it. They piss me off." She leaned back into the painful relief and closed her eyes. "If I use any of this, I get everyone I know killed." Tilting her head back, she opened her eyes to look up at him. "I've got to go to the council about Virmire. Rael'Zorah is right. If we just attack it, we'll be branded terrorists, the quarians will as well, the geth will still be public enemy number one, and it might even backlash on the Alliance."
He reached over her shoulder and turned off her display, then stepped to her side and held out his hands. Smiling, she took them, allowing him to pull her out of the chair and over to the bed. "You are," he said, sitting down on the edge, tugging her into a gentle embrace, "the single most clever person I've ever met. You'll find a way."
She sat on his thigh and looped an arm around his neck, nestling into his solid warmth. Brow resting against his jaw, she said, "Even if I just go to them with what I know about Saren, they're going to extrapolate that I know about their involvement as well. That'll paint a bullseye on me and on Nihlus . . . possibly the entire crew. That isn't acceptable." She laced the fingers of her left hand with his. "I don't know what to do."
He tightened his arm around her. "We'll figure it out. We have a few days and a lot to do before we need to worry on that." He nuzzled his face in against her neck, his breath soft and warm as it brushed her skin. "Like, where do you want me tomorrow on Illium?"
She smiled, grateful as he diverted her thoughts from their path down the wormhole of self-doubt. "You and Sparky can go in ahead so that you can use your superpowers of perception on the place, see if anything feels off. Then head for the bar and relax, get something innocuous to drink, and keep an eye on our backs."
"What about your backs on the way in? If Saren's going to ambush you, he probably won't choose the bar." His head turned, his tongue tickling the soft skin under her ear.
Shepard chuckled. "That's not helping me think, you know." She brushed her lips over the plate above his right eye. "Anyway, Brother Distraction . . . Wrex and Nihlus will follow us in. Breaking him and myself up should throw a little confusion into an ambush. Ashley, Shiala, Tali, Liara and I will go in together. Five ladies out for a drink won't draw any attention."
He nodded and pulled back. "Sound solid. If it were anywhere but Illium, especially Nos Astra, I'd suggest having Legion and Tali hack into the surveillance network, but that place is even more paranoid than Noveria." Clearing his throat, making it plain that he planned to change the subject, he asked, "Have you eaten?"
"Yeah, had a couple of peanut butter sandwiches while the crew was loading up." She stood, extricating herself from his arms to pull back the blankets. "I got an idea today when I saw the Thresher acid go straight through the shields on those colossi."
Garrus chuckled and stood. "Wrex showed me. Missiles filled with thresher acid that detonate right before impacting a ship's shields."
She looked over, studying his face to see what he thought of her idea, the pulse high in her throat hammering against the skin, hopeful but afraid he'd think it too crazy. When she saw no sign of ridicule in his expression, she sat on the side of the bed, dimming the light.
He shook his head. "If they can find a way to harvest the acid and then stabilize it inside a missile casing, I think the idea is brilliant. No way to tell if it will work against a Reaper, but still brilliant." He lay down on his side of the bed, propping himself up on his elbow to watch her. Those ice-blue eyes held an intensity and heat that set a pack of feral butterflies loose in her stomach. "Yes, you're the most intelligent person I've met, but you're also the most creative. It's incredibly sexy." His easy grin transformed the butterflies' virulent fluttering into a pulsing warmth that made her heart race from equal parts terror and want. "The Reapers had better watch themselves."
Shepard rolled over and leaned up to kiss him, her lips just grazing his mouth. He pressed into it, his hand lifting to cradle her jaw as the kiss deepened. She relaxed into him, their mouths speaking far more eloquently without words. After what felt like an impossibly long instant, she pulled away. "We'll never get any sleep if we keep that up." She lay down on her side, facing him.
Garrus settled in and pulled the blankets up over his shoulder. After a couple of moments, he stopped fussing and let out a long breath. "So, what happened with you, Saren, and Nihlus?" he asked. "If it's okay for me to ask."
Shepard shook her head. "You can ask, but I don't know what happened, exactly." Her fingers played over the small, rough patches of hide behind his jaw as she ran through what happened on Tuntau. "It sounded as though Saren told Nihlus a really huge lie a long time ago . . . something that amounts to the deepest cut . . . the most unforgivable breach of trust. I tried to get Nihlus to talk, but geth were still attacking, and that warp had just about disassembled him. Not a good combination for a heart to heart."
After a few breaths, she traced gentle fingertips along the lines of his face. "I'll get it out of him eventually." She grinned and ran her lower lip between her teeth as her touch provoked a gentle, rumbling purr deep in his throat. "Goodnight, Garrus."
"Wow, and I thought the music other places was bad." Shepard winced at the uneven bass cadence falling out the club doors to flop around on the floor like a . . . well, like a bass. She chuckled to herself, drawing a curious stare from Liara that she answered with a sheepish sort of grin before deflecting with, "My theory is that it's all part of a sinister plot by the Enkindlers to turn us into mindless slaves in preparation for their return. The Father of Light is behind it all."
Liara rolled her eyes. "Enkindlers, my backside. The Father of Light is the king of crazy-jelly-land, and you . . .." She stared into Shepard's eyes, a sparkle flashing through her gaze as she locked her lips down tight on a smile. ". . . are the queen."
Shiala gasped. "Heresy, Sisters Liara and Shepard." She aped a convincing swoon, stumbling into the wall.
Ashley laughed, jogging past them up the stairs two at a time. "Try living with three sisters who love this techno crap. Then add Dad and his ancient cowboy music." The chief shuddered, but she smiled. "I wore headphones a lot."
Shepard grinned, revelling in the unexpected camaraderie, yet again. "Well, at least it isn't turned up loud enough to make my teeth vibrate, glory hallelujah. Praise the Enkindlers' great shiny butt cheeks." Shepard palmed the door and stepped through, not missing that Liara lagged behind as the rest of them crossed the threshold.
The asari researcher took a deep breath then stepped through. "How disappointed are you going to be when my research proves that Protheans had neither shiny nor glowing backsides?" A smile returned to her lips, but it cost her an obvious premium.
Shepard took in the bar in one quick sweep, then wrapped a companionable arm around Liara's shoulders. "Devastated, Sister Liara. Just devastated." She spotted Garrus and Kaidan at the far end, conversing with one of the two bartenders, a turian. "Let's hit the bar, ladies," she called, guiding them toward the other bartender, an asari. "We deserve a drink."
Shepard guided Liara toward the bar. Thin, trembling, the asari felt like a frightened child looking for shelter. Shepard knew that feeling all too well. She pulled Liara in tight against her side, and looked up at the bartender. She hoped that Aethyta turned out to be someone who could truly help Liara come to terms with her mother's death and everything it meant. A warm smile crept up on her as she remembered the dark shadow crossing her hospital room door, the constant line of dealers refusing to sell her 17-year-old self drugs. Anderson. Hopefully Aethyta could step up and be Liara's Anderson before the young asari got a chance to lose her way.
"Welcome to Eternity, ladies. I'm Aethyta," the asari said, her voice warm and husky, "matriarch and bartender." She radiated a quiet authority and yet kindness, one of those people able to instantly set people at ease. "Let me know if there's anything I can get you."
"Thank you," Shepard replied. "We'd like something to drink. Being the designated transportation manager, I'll take a cranberry juice, please." She motioned to the others to place their order. "Everyone can just run on my tab." Activating her omnitool, she authorized the transaction, then raised her voice and added, "Include that sexy human-turian couple down at the end of the bar, too." She heard Kaidan's sigh even over the music and conversation.
"You ladies here on leave?" the bartender asked, pouring out four drinks.
Shepard shook her head, holding the matriarch's gaze, judging the reactions she saw there as she said, "No. Just stopping by to pay our respects to our friend's mother." Understanding and a deep kindness blossomed in the brown eyes that met Shepard's. Something else appeared there, but Aethyta shuttered it away before Shepard got more than a glimpse. It felt like some sort of tie, and a strong one.
The captain looked to Liara. "A drink to Benezia?" When Liara nodded, Shepard lifted her glass and stepped back so Shiala, Tali, and Ashley could join them. "To a brave lady who fought like hell for peace and to steer the galaxy out of harm's way. I knew her ten minutes, and she awed me. Rest in peace, Benezia."
Liara stepped closer into the circle, her back straightening as her glass raised. "To a mother who understood me far better than I ever gave her credit for, and who loved me enough to let me find my own way. I never realized how hard it must have been to just step back and trust that I'd come home one day until it occurred to me that now, when I do, she won't be there." Her lips worked for a moment, her eyes going a stormy blue as tears misted along the rim of her eyelids. "Goodbye, Mother, I'll miss you."
They touched glasses, then tossed back their drinks. Shepard gave Liara a one-armed hug. "All right, let's go find somewhere to sit." When she glanced back at the bartender, she saw Aethyta watching Liara with an intensity that set off her internal alarm. It died a half second later when she realized that the expression on the matriarch's face wavered back and forth between wonder and fear.
Aethyta shook herself, just a slight vibration that Shepard watched slither down the asari's spine. It lasted a fraction of a second before more than seven hundred years of living won out over the doubt. The matriarch recouped almost instantly, covering the reaction as she pointed toward a doorway on the far wall. "There's no one in the back room right now. Go ahead, I'll bring your next round and put up the 'occupied' barricade."
"Thank you, that's very kind. We'll do that." Shepard turned toward Garrus and Kaidan who stood at the far end of the bar, their backs to the wall. A quick wink acknowledged them and then she moved on, herding her ducklings through the thin, late morning crowd.
Nihlus and Wrex walked in as the five ladies crossed the bar. The Spectre said something to Wrex, and they parted ways, Wrex heading over to join Garrus and Kaidan while Nihlus followed Shepard's party into the back room. Shepard figured that he intended to join them, but when they sat at a long, oblong table, the Spectre took a seat at a smaller table off in a corner.
Shepard sat next to Liara and gave the maiden's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "That was really beautiful, Liara."
The asari glanced behind her at Nihlus, shifted in her seat, then focused back on Shepard, her spine and shoulders stiff. "Aethyta seems nice," she said, shrugging, her shoulders jerky and awkward. Glancing back toward the door, then Nihlus, Liara adjusted herself in the chair again. It was like watching someone try to get comfortable sitting on a handful of tacks.
"She does." A quick smile and secretive duck of Shepard's head accompanied a whispered, "Aethyta seems as nervous to meet you as you are her." Looking up at the other end of the table, Shepard chuckled at Ashley and Tali, trying to look completely absorbed in a discussion about flexible straws. "Wow. Remind me not to assign them to covert missions. They're both as subtle as an elcor pole dancer."
Liara frowned, the delicate markings on her brow pulling together. "Do you really think so?"
Shepard nodded. "Yeah, elcor pole dancers are terrible." She laughed and reached out to squeeze Liara's shoulder as the asari shot a glare at her. "Yes," she said, "I know you meant Aethyta, and yes, she seems nervous. She's keeping her emotions carefully masked."
Liara let out a musical, quizzical hum. "I wonder why?" Another glance shot over her shoulder toward Nihlus, and she shifted again.
"I guess we'll find out in a few minutes," Shepard replied. She turned in her chair, levelling Nihlus with a wide-eyed glare, then jerked her head toward the chair next to her. If he stayed there, Liara would never settle. He frowned and looked confused, eliciting a grumble and a more emphatic gesture for him to join them. Finally, just as Aethyta placed their drinks on the table, he moved up closer.
"What?" he whispered into her ear.
"You were making Liara even more twitchy. It was like you were some sort of government examiner or something. Sitting in the back of the classroom placing judgement on the rest of us." She chuckled at that, despite the truth of it. Then Aethyta closed the room and approached the table, drawing Shepard's attention back to the matter at hand.
"Well, I was judging you," Nihlus whispered in her ear. "Not Liara, or the others, just you."
"Hello again," Aethyta said, standing in front of the chair on Liara's other side. "I'm still Aethyta." She looked down at Liara. "I'm sorry about Benezia."
Liara dipped her head, a gracious if cool-appearing nod. "Please, sit down. I have so many questions."
"I'd be surprised if you didn't," the matriarch replied, taking the offered chair, her movements rougher, more abrupt than Shepard was accustomed to seeing from asari. Most flowed through the galaxy like water, ageless and above it all. Aethyta moved and felt like earth, solid and grounded, practical in a way that made Shepard comfortable immediately. She could see, however, that it threw Liara.
The matriarch settled, placing a glass in front of her. She took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. "Okay, shoot."
Liara let the missive hang in the air for a few moments, the rest of them nursing their drinks and trying not to add any more awkwardness to an already painful moment.
Shepard sensed admissions and old laundry waiting to be hung out to air in the fresh breeze of truth. Glory hallelujah, but she didn't envy the pair having to do so in front of an audience. Must feel like dancing naked with a bevy of curious pyjaks staring at them.
"Who are you?" Liara asked, a note of aggression souring the question. She folded her hands on the table, placing them precisely, her entire body vibrating with tension, an interrogator at work. "Why did my mother charge you with this?"
Aethyta dropped her hands into her lap and drew back. "In preparation for joining Saren, your mother came to me and asked if I'd help you secure your legacy if anything happened to her. She had enlisted your aunt's assistance as well, but her sister is well-connected with high levels of government on both Thessia and the Citadel. Benezia feared that her estate would be seized in order to keep information on Saren, the council, and other interested parties from coming to light." The matriarch leaned forward, hands folding on the table, wearing a mask of a special sort of ingenuous that must have required centuries to perfect. It promised that her explanation cleared everything up. However, an invisible but volatile high pressure system of truth snaked its way through the room, electrifying everything it touched. It begged to differ.
Despite Shepard's best attempts to keep her reactions hidden, a snort bucked in the back of her throat. Snapping her teeth shut, she managed to keep it from bullying its way through her lips.
To think I once believed the Father of Light was the biggest huckster in the galaxy. He needs to take lessons from the asari. He'd have the entire galaxy praising the Enkindlers and sending him all their cash in a week.
"But why you?" Liara's voice rose in pitch a little more with every word, but the short sentence stopped it from reaching a frequency only varren could hear. The invisible electricity in the room began to spiral in around the archeologist, a faint nimbus of biotic blue lifting the hair on Shepard's arm, warning of the tempest on the horizon. Shepard laid a comforting hand on the maiden's forearm, a silent encouragement to stay calm and listen. Liara cleared her throat, sinking back down onto the seat of her chair, and Shepard withdrew.
Aethyta's mask slipped a touch. "As I said, Benezia didn't trust your aunt to resist all the political pressure." Aethyta laughed, brittle and sharp, sparks crackling along a wire. "She knew that I left Thessia because I got sick of getting the blue laughed off my ass for making practical, intelligent arguments for asari advancement." A slight shrug tugged at her shoulders. "But she also knew that I've never backed away from a fight that needed fighting."
Liara's brow furrowed and her hands tucked under her thighs as she adjusted herself in the chair. They sprang back into position, fingers laced, as the archeologist shook her head. "No, I mean, who were you to Benezia? Why would she ask you to do this?"
The hair on the back of Shepard's neck stood up as the biotic field kept building around Liara. Her hand drifted back toward Liara's arm, but hesitated, unsure if it would calm Liara down or force them all to flee as the warps and singularities began to fly.
Aethyta smiled and the mask fell away. Leaning forward, she placed one hand on the table, extended toward Liara but not touching her. "Look babe, it's not like she had a lot of choices. The matriarchs were nervous about her joining Saren, and they're even more nervous about you joining up with your pretty little friend over there." She nodded toward Shepard. "I know Benezia suspected the council of working with Saren. I don't know the details, I didn't look, which is part of the reason she asked me. She knew I wouldn't."
The tempest settled around Liara, the blue aura glowing around Liara bright enough that Shepard eyed the door. Neither asari appeared to notice. "That's a lot of trust for some bartender she barely knew." She jumped up, her hands slamming down on the table with enough physical and biotic force that it jumped a hand's width into the air. "Who are you, and how did you know my mother?" Her voice lashed out, shrill and desperate, frightened and oh so very young.
Aethyta sighed and looked at the rest of them one at a time before her eyes returned to stare into Liara's. "Are you sure you want to have this chat in front of your friends?"
"Yes," Liara snapped, a jolt of biotics flaring along the tabletop. Tali and Ashley snatched their hands back from their drinks. "I don't have secrets from Shepard and the crew. They're . . . they're family."
The matriarch nodded. "Okay, if that's what you want." Another casual shrug flowed out from her neck to end in a small flip of her hands. "Benezia and I were involved a long time ago. I believed we'd be together for . . . ever, but her star was rising, and she didn't want the stigma of being bonded to another asari." Aethyta lowered her eyes to stare at Liara's hands pressed palm down against the table. Her expression loosened as if she'd been wearing her calm laced too tight. "She left, and it was a long time before I discovered that I had a daughter."
Liara's knees gave way, an avalanche slipping loose to crash into her chair. She stared, the biotic aura sparking out, her mouth working as if trying to form words without the aid of her brain. After a very long minute, during which Shepard held her breath, her heart aching for the both of them, Liara managed to whisper. "You're my father?"
Aethyta nodded. 'I am." She kept her posture neutral and inviting, everything about her saying it was all right for Liara to ask or say anything she needed to. The longer they sat there, the more sure Shepard became that the rest of them should wait outside.
"Why haven't you ever contacted me?" Liara asked, her voice and body contracting, drawing down toward a singularity at her core. "Weren't you curious? Or were you just embarrassed by your pureblood daughter?"
"Of course, I was curious. I went after you, but Benezia wouldn't let me see you." She activated her omnitool and brought up a folder that amounted to a scrapbook of Liara's life. "I always figured that I'd track you down one day, explain things, but Benezia didn't even give me that."
Aethyta shifted, but as though spikes prickled under her skin. Her smokey voice cracked, its warmth bleeding through the fault lines, sorrow leaching in to replace it. "She showed up at my door six months ago, told me that the council and Saren had discovered something terrifying. She hammered into me the importance of you being given full access to her intel, resources, and acolytes. I promised. What else could I do?"
Liara opened her mouth to answer, but Aethyta interrupted with a bitter sort of chuckle. "Well, one other thing." She glanced from Liara to Shepard and then Nihlus. "I promised her I'd help you stop the council and that turian bastard from laying waste to the galaxy." Closing her eyes, she sighed, her chest heaving a little melodramatically. "When I left, I swore I'd never set foot on Thessia again." When her eyelids lifted, her gaze fixed on Liara. "Oh well, somethings are worth taking a kick in the quad." She shrugged. "Sorry . . . my father's influence. Sometimes, it just slips out."
Shepard sat back, listening and sipping her cranberry juice as Aethyta told Liara what she could. Most of Benezia's files and information resided in heavily encrypted, secure databases back at her home on Thessia. What she did have amounted to Benezia's Last Will and Testament, asking Liara to travel back to the asari homeworld with Aethyta. Security in the form of acolytes with commando training and a private yacht awaited Liara's decision.
"Captain," Liara said, turning to face Shepard, "may I please have a moment with the matriarch and Shiala?" Her large blue eyes seemed to shimmer with the heady combination of both terror and excitement as they pleaded with Shepard for a little space.
"Of course. We'll be right outside the door." Shepard fought the angry nipping of her inner alarm for a moment, but its teeth proved too sharp, and she crooked a finger at Shiala. "Walk us to the door?" Pushing up out of her chair, she slipped her sidearm off her hip. Just before she walked out, she passed it to the asari, leaning up a little to whisper, "If you need to, slap Aethyta's ass with a singularity and fill her full of holes."
"Yes, ma'am." Shiala slipped the weapon into a side pocket, within easy reach, before returning to the table.