Chapter Twenty-three – The Champion
Samara's face flickered at the sight of Jules, creasing in mild alarm. At least, she looked as alarmed as Jules had ever seen her. For a split-second they just stared at each other, then Samara snapped her head round towards Cadeyrn and the expectant crowd. When she turned back her face was set and her pale eyes steeled with cold determination.
"Defend yourself, Commander," she instructed curtly.
"What?" Jules demanded but she had no time to question further as Samara pounced. The justicar charged at her, forcing her to dodge swiftly to the side.
Justicar. She remembered the word grimly as she wondered how many rules of the code Samara had broken in this arena. There had to be another explanation, she wouldn't be doing this willingly; then again, the idea that she could be forced into it seemed just as unlikely.
Questions and theories spun around her head in a flurry, blurring her instincts as Samara aimed another blow. This time Jules didn't react in time and found her feet kicked out from under her, she hit the ground hard, spraying dirt and sand into her own eyes. Samara was on top of her in an instant, pinning her firmly by the throat.
"You must fight back," she muttered beneath the roar of the crowd as her hand clenched around Jules' neck, "Cadeyrn will make me kill you if you don't entertain him."
Jules glared at her in disbelief. The last time she had seen Samara, it had been a few months after the war; the justicar had fought on Earth in the final battle and had stayed in the aftermath to help the survivors. As soon as the first ships had been restored to FTL flight, however, she had jumped on one of the few headed for asari space with the intention of finding Falere – her last surviving daughter.
None of those ships had ever returned and when Jules had heard nothing more, she had feared the worst. The old asari had been knocking on the door of a-thousand-years-old even back then and as the centuries passed Jules had assumed she would never see her again. She'd certainly never expected to find her fighting for a crime lord in a place like this.
"What the hell has happened to you?" she managed to snarl through the choke hold. A flicker of something passed through those wide, calm eyes. Shame? Pain? Regret? Samara had always been hard to read.
"Please," she implored, Jules had never seen her plead before but she did as the old justicar wanted.
She grabbed at Samara's wrist and snatched it away from her throat, following up with a punch to the gut that knocked her off-balance long enough for Jules to spring back to her feet. She re-raised her barrier and spun to face Samara. It was then the fight really began.
Jules remembered the first time she had seen Samara fight, she had almost been in awe – and Jules wasn't the awe-struck type generally. She had always been one of the strongest biotics in the Alliance, but seeing Samara – all the power and the control she wielded – had shown Jules how much she still had to learn.
She and Samara had spent hours down in the Normandy's cargo hold, turning it into their own biotic training ground as Samara steadily taught her all she knew. Jules was more grateful for it than ever now, as she soon realised she was going to have to dig deep into every scrap of skill she had to come out of this one unscathed.
Samara wasn't holding back – at least Jules sure as hell hoped she wasn't, because if this was her holding back then she really was outmatched. Samara pirouetted and spun with the grace of a dancer and the force of a krogan, her attacks fast and fluid and unrelenting, leaving Jules no time to think or breathe or strategize any kind of plan.
She gave as good as she got, ducking and dodging and retaliating at every opportunity but she was relying on pure instinct to keep her ahead of Samara's moves. This fight wasn't within her control and she could feel it slipping further from her grasp as Samara continued her onslaught with no let up. It was as mentally exhausting as it was physically as Jules' brain struggled to keep up with the asari, let alone predict her next moves.
She deflected a biotic pull that was meant to knock her off her feet and rolled out of the way of a shockwave. Samara was giving her no pause for breath, she just needed a second or two to think. She saw another shockwave headed for her, twice as strong as the last and in a moment of pure recklessness she decided to stand her ground.
Instead of diving aside she channelled her own biotics and unleashed a shockwave of her own. The two forces met in the arena's centre but there was no explosion. Jules felt the impact through every nerve and staggered but held fast, pouring more power forwards in an attempt to push Samara back. Around her the crowd were hysterical, screaming and cheering as though they had never seen a fight like it. Perhaps they hadn't.
Samara's shockwave held, stopped in its tracks but unwavering. Jules sent more power into it until she could feel her implant burning and her nerves screaming and when she reached the limits she knew she was capable of she went further, finding reserves buried deep within herself that she had barely known were there.
With a yell, she poured every ounce of energy she had into the shockwave until the power could no longer be contained and an explosion erupted across the room. Biotic energy rippled through the arena, shaking the ground as dust rained down from the rafters.
Jules staggered in relief and as the blue-white haze faded she saw Samara hurtling backwards through the air, high into the crowd until she hit the back wall and crumpled to the floor. Jules breathed heavily, vaguely aware that something seemed to be missing. It took her a moment to realise it was the crowd. They were silent.
The cheering and yelling that had been filling her ears and confusing her thoughts had abruptly stopped as people stared open-mouthed. Some of them were still out of their seats, their hands half-raised in unfinished cheers. Some looked shocked, some scared, or excited, but all were silent as they watched to see what their champion would do next. Jules flexed her shoulders and waited.
Slowly, and with the kind of regal composure that Cadeyrn was so sorely lacking, Samara got nimbly to her feet and dusted down her armour. She met Jules' gaze squarely across the room and calmly began to make her way back down through the seats, the slightest limp the only evidence of the impact she'd endured. The audience members parted for her as she passed, scrabbling to get out of her way as they stared at her.
She reached the railing that separated the audience from the arena and swung neatly over it. She clenched both fists and held Jules' gaze, her expression blank as a barrier shimmered into life around her. Jules erected her own barrier again and slowly they circled one another.
The sudden quiet of the arena was more tense and unsettling that the noise had ever been, "GO ON SHEPARD!" someone yelled out, prompting a few laughs and cheers of agreement. Jules resisted the urge to find whoever it was and punch them for it; she would take no pleasure in winning this fight. She had expected to be taking on a heatless thug, not a friend. Or at least, someone who used to be a friend.
The slightest twitch of Samara's shoulder warned Jules that she was going to strike first, biotic energy radiated around her and she charged. Jules could have dived out of the way, but she knew she could never match Samara's endurance and she had to wrap this up quickly so she stood her ground, strengthening her barrier to take the brunt of the impact.
Samara hit her and she staggered but didn't fall, before the justicar could react Jules grabbed her and punched her squarely in the jaw. Samara retaliated in kind and the match turned swiftly into a brutal fist-fight, punches flew at speed and the crowd got right back into it, shouting and yelling with even more vigour than before.
Jules had the advantage here and it was her turn to run rings around the asari as she combined every move she knew without pausing to let Samara get a look in.
The asari was limping at her left side and Jules aimed a blow to her hip there, resulting in an uncharacteristic cry of pain. Jules took her chance and kicked Samara's feet from under her before wrestling her face-first into the sand. She pinned both hands behind Samara's back and leaned on top of her to keep her down.
"I won't kill you!" she said close to Samara's head, hoping it would prompt the asari to surrender. That, as it turned out, was a mistake.
A biotic force knocked Jules back, followed up with a move so swift her brain barely registered it before Samara was back on her feet and her dragging Jules up with her, throwing her back against the railing. Samara's hand was at her throat, she could hear the roar of the crowd right by her ear but as she made to fight back she found her limbs wouldn't respond.
Biotic energy was creeping up her body, tightening around her muscles until they ached under the pressure. The stasis field locked her in place, gently crushing her lungs and trapping her jaw so she couldn't even speak, she could only stare into Samara's wide, pale eyes.
The justicar blinked at her for a second and then turned to look high up into the crowd. In a sickening instant Jules realised she was looking at Cadeyrn, awaiting his order. The moment dragged on until eventually, the crime lord's voice boomed out over the crowd again.
"I DECLARE THE CHAMPION VICTORIUS! Commander Shepard… will be allowed to live," he was smirking as he said it, Jules could tell by the smug tone of his voice.
The stasis field vanished and Jules gasped as air flooded back to her; her legs gave out but she didn't fall, it took her a moment to realise that Samara was holding her upright. Around them, the crowd were beside themselves and the cheering had turned into excited chatter but Jules ignored it; Samara was staring at her, her eyes drowning out the noise as she tried to communicate something that Jules couldn't begin to decipher. Was she apologetic? Regretful? Begging for help? It was impossible to tell.
Cadeyrn emerged through the crowd, pausing by the railings to regard Jules with a small smile, "You did well, Shepard," he stated, the way he said her name suggested he still didn't believe who she was, "I may have use for you yet," he turned to two of his guards behind him, "take her to the fighters' quarters."
Jules spat blood and glared at him, "You said you'd answer my questions!"
He paused and snorted at her, "Only if you won."
…
Navigating the mining tunnels turned out to be more complicated than Liara had hoped. The centuries had taken their toll and numerous cave-ins blocked their way, forcing them to backtrack more than once.
Eventually, they had to use biotics to clear a small crawl space in one blocked tunnel, just big enough for them to get through. Liara didn't let on how uncomfortable she was in tight spaces as she shuffled through on her stomach, hoping she wasn't about to be crushed alive.
She emerged unscathed on the other side and stumbled to her feet. The tunnel she found herself in was different to the others, as she flashed her torch around she saw it had been built up, the floor beneath her was metal, as were the walls and ceiling and the sound of running water echoed all around.
She brought up her omni-tool as she waited for the others to join her and did a quick scan; there seemed to be no one down here but it was obviously in use for something.
Behind her, she heard a few stones being dislodged and turned to see Egret's head appear through the hole, muttering and grumbled as she wriggled free and rolled onto her back.
"Fuck," she gasped as she lay there, regaining her breath, "it's a good thing Grunt's not here, he'd never fit through there."
"He would just head-butt the rocks until they moved for him," Liara said with a smile.
Egret chuckled, "True."
Maia crawled out with more grace than either of them had managed and jumped nimbly back to her feet, "Where are we?" she asked, flashing her torch around the dark tunnel.
"Beneath the main dome," Liara told her, "these tunnels seem to have been kept in good condition but I don't think they're lived in. Let's look ahead."
The answer to what these tunnels were being used for was found a few feet ahead when they jumped down from the metal grating into a perfectly circular tunnel – like a pipe – and found themselves thigh-deep in murky brown liquid.
"Ah," Liara muttered as she realised what they were standing in, "sewers."
"Urgh," Egret grimaced, "I'm glad we're wearing breathing masks."
"On the plus side," Maia said, "sewers do tend to connect to every part of a city, it shouldn't be hard finding an exit."
"Mm," Liara agreed, "I've got a fix on Kyla and Barbet's position, let's get as close to them as we can."
…
Jules was dragged from the arena though a door that led to a staircase; they descended beneath the arena and arrived in what was presumably the fighters' quarters. It was a large, open-plan space akin to a locker room with benches and equipment racks. Thin sleeping mats were scattered about the floor along with piles of clothing and other items – cutlery, datapads, a half-finished game of cards, everything that suggested this place was a permanent living area.
There were a few other rooms that led off from this main one and through the open doorways Jules saw more of the same, though at least one looked like a training room while another had proper tables and chairs. In that one she saw screens showing a live view of the arena and realised the others fighters must have seen the match.
They were milling around the rooms as she was led through them, huddled in groups or sitting alone. Most of them looked strong and lean – suggesting they were well-fed at the very least – and covered in scars and bruises, as many old as recent. She wondered how long some of them had been here.
Conversations hushed and eyes turned as she was led past. At first she thought it was a reaction to her until she realised they were actually looking behind her. She cast a glance over her shoulder and saw Samara had followed her down. The justicar had her hands clasped behind her back and her eyes fixed ahead as she walked, ignoring the attention she was getting. The look of fear in some of their eyes was tempered by the hatred in others' and Jules began to wonder just how much Samara might have changed since the war.
She was led into a smaller, empty room at the far end that contained a long bench and a few scattered items. The floor sloped down into the middle slightly where there was a grated drain, stained with dark, dried liquid that looked disturbingly like blood. More blood stained the floor, making it look disturbingly like a slaughterhouse.
The guards dumped her down on the bench and left her without a word. She could hear the quiet murmuring of the other fighters through the open door as Samara appeared silently in her eye-line. After a second, Jules tentatively looked up.
In many ways, Samara looked no different to the asari Jules had once known. She stood tall and straight, clad in neat-fitting, blue-green armour that was fashioned not unlike fish scales and glimmered translucently in the light. Her expression, as always, appeared blank; but Jules had learned that there was always a trace of emotion there if you knew how to spot it, usually hidden behind those wide eyes. Right now they looked… relieved.
"You fought well, my friend," she stated gently after a moment of silence, "it is good to see you again."
Jules glared at her sharply, "Is it? Would you have killed me if Cadeyrn had told you to?"
She looked away, glancing out into the main room as though judging if any of the fighters could hear her, "No," she admitted, "but it would have… complicated things."
For a moment Jules just blinked, expecting her to elaborate. She didn't.
"What the hell is going on, Samara? The justicar I knew would have torn this place down with her bare hands, or died trying. She wouldn't fight prisoners and slaves for other people's entertainment."
A small frown creased Samara's brow and she didn't answer at once, instead wandering over to a workbench by the wall. There was a collection of items there including bandages, syringes and other bloodied instruments and Jules realised this must be a medical room, of sorts. It was so filthy she would probably pick up an infection just from sitting there and there was nothing so advanced as medi-gel, but Samara returned with a cloth and a bowl of liquid that smelled strongly of antiseptic.
Samara sat beside her, soaked the cloth in the liquid and offered it to her. Jules honestly had no idea how many cuts and bruises she had sustained but she could taste blood so she pressed the cloth to her lip and winced as the antiseptic stung.
"Many people have taken the name 'Shepard' in the arena," Samara began absently, "they brandish it as though they have a right to it, the name of a hero from legend that anyone can claim. When Cadeyrn told me that another Shepard had challenged me, I didn't for one moment think it would be you. How is this possible?"
Samara was looking right at her now, her wide eyes as piercing as a blade. Jules sighed heavily, she supposed Samara had as much right to answers as she had.
"You remember after the war? When I got out of the wreckage of the Citadel and my implants went into overdrive trying to regenerate my cells after all the injuries I'd got?" Samara responded with a single nod, "Well, they never stopped. Not only did I heal, I lost the ability to age."
Jules let that sink in and Samara blinked, "How long will you live?"
Jules shrugged, "As long as the implants keep working. And knowing Miranda, she'll have built them to last. I might be as old as you one day, provided no one puts a bullet in me first."
Samara squinted thoughtfully, "And why are you here?"
"Would you believe I came with Tevos? She recruited me for a mission to reclaim Thessia for the asari."
"Reclaim it from whom?"
Jules shrugged, "Whoever's living there now I guess," Samara's eyes narrowed and she went quiet. Jules waited but she seemed unwilling to comment further. Eventually, Jules cleared her throat, "your turn."
Samara's frown deepened and she looked at the floor, "When I returned to the Athena Nebula after the war, I found it scattered and chaotic. There were pockets of survivors on every habitable world with no way of communicating with each other or knowing what had happened. The reapers had ravaged this part of space and supplies were scarce, there was a lot of suffering."
"What about Falere? Did you find her?"
"Yes. I planned on bringing her back to Earth but she refused, she said the people here needed us more, that we had a responsibility to help wherever we could. So that's what we did. For decades we moved from planet to planet, helping to rebuild and to keep order. But there was only so much we could do. Factions and gangs started to spring up, fighting over food and power."
"Mm," Jules nodded, "we had the same problems until the HTA was formed," Samara cocked her head inquisitively, "the Human Turian Alliance," Jules explained, "what was left of the human and turian governments came together in a kind of new version of the council. We rationed supplies, built settlements, tried to keep people safe. They're still in power today, although they might have… lost their way a bit," she had a feeling that was an understatement but she didn't want to get into a long explanation.
"Things were not so organised here," Samara stated, "it took many years before the settlements could even communicate with each other but Falere and I did what we could."
"What about Thessia?"
"Thessia was more cut off than most of the planets. We heard nothing from it for years. Many of the people on the surface when the Crucible fired would have been rescue teams or squads sent to find survivors and fight off the last of the reaper armies. Many of them would have been aliens and we assumed that few had survived."
"Because of the eezo levels," Jules agreed.
"The reapers left few asari alive in their assault on Thessia, we had no reason to think enough were left to have formed a society. We learned years later that we had been wrong."
Jules frowned thoughtfully, "Cadeyrn told me that no one here has a biotic implant, not even non-asari biotics."
"I cannot explain it," Samara agreed, "but I can tell you what I know. A few decades after the war ended – perhaps a generation in your terms – non-asari started emerging from Thessia, all of them biotic but with no implants."
"But they could still use their powers?" Jules asked. Samara gave a nod, "Is everyone in asari space a biotic?"
"Not all, but many. The children of those first biotics seemed to inherit biotic abilities from their parents and non-biotics are becoming less and less common."
"Well that doesn't make sense," Jules muttered, "biotic abilities have never been passed on genetically. I suppose any alien born on Thessia would be a biotic but I don't understand how they could even survive long enough to be born; they'd be exposed to constant levels of eezo throughout the entire pregnancy. My mother was exposed for twenty minutes when she was standing downwind of an eezo fuelled power plant that developed a leak and she was told I only had a forty percent chance of survival."
"As I said," Samara agreed, "I cannot explain it. Thessia is a secretive place shrouded in mystery. I have not set foot on its surface since the war ended and I can offer you little more than rumours."
"Alright, I'll take rumours. Who are the Thessian Order?"
A smile flickered vaguely on Samara's lips, "They are said to rule Thessia now and control the eezo being shipped out from it. They may well be a myth."
"Cadeyrn doesn't think so, and someone's mining the eezo, just like someone built all those satellites to keep us from seeing what's going on."
"Indeed," Samara agreed with a tilt of her head, "I'm afraid I have few answers for you."
"Well," Jules shrugged, "you could always answer my original question: why the hell are you working for Cadeyrn? He says you fight for him willingly."
"Willingly?" Samara repeated, "Perhaps he and I have different definitions of the word. Let us say, I chose the better of two bad options."
"You're saying you're being forced into this somehow? You'll understand if I find that hard to believe."
Samara looked away again, out through the door towards the other fighters. When she did speak, it was so quietly that Jules barely heard her.
"He has Falere."
…
It took a while but Liara and her team eventually found a rusty, metal ladder that led up to the streets above the sewers. She gratefully turned off her torch as she pushed a metal grate aside and hauled herself out. She removed her helmet and looked around.
It looked like any number of back alleys in numerous cities she had visited – dank and gloomy and the smell probably wasn't much better than the sewers. As she looked up she saw the underside of other streets running above them and she could hear the distant echoes of hundreds of people. Down here it was quieter though.
As she studied the buildings around her in more detail, she realised she recognised their design. They looked like the sort of prefab structures that were used on colonies before the war. It was possible that these alleyways were the original mining settlement and the main city had been built on top of them.
Maia and Egret had both followed her out and were in the process of removing their own helmets when a shadow moved nearby. Liara reached for her gun, then saw that it was Kyla and Barbet walking towards them. Kyla eyed them suspiciously.
"What the hell are you covered in," she asked, gazing down at their environmental suits.
"You don't want to know," Liara told her, "where's Shepard?"
Barbet nodded behind him, "She's being held in a base a few blocks away. We've scouted the place out and it looks like there's two ways in: the main entrance she was taken through and a side door, they seem to use it as a kind of public entrance."
Liara frowned, "A criminal hideout with a public entrance?"
He shrugged, "We saw a crowd of people being let in that way, they were talking about some kind of fight? I got the impression there's an arena in there," he hesitated, seeming to weigh up whether to continue, "Shepard's name was mentioned."
Liara sighed inwardly, can't keep yourself out of trouble for five minutes, can you Jules?
"Okay," she decided, "is there any way we can get in?"
Barbet grimaced, "Both doors have guards and turrets on them and there's patrols in all the surrounding streets making sure no one gets too close. We could try a full on frontal assault but…"
"We'd be about as fucked as a whore in a brothel," Kyla finished for him with her usual level of tact.
The batarian blinked at her for a moment and then shrugged, "Exactly."
"Have you taken scans of the building?" Liara asked. Barbet nodded and brought up a basic floor plan of the base on his omni-tool. Liara frowned and brought up her own scans of the sewers, she moved her arm so that the two interfaces overlaid each other and glanced back at Maia, "What do you think?"
The older asari tilted her head as she peered at the scans and then nodded decisively, "There may be a way in from underneath, though I doubt it will be undefended."
"Worth a look though," Liara said. She unzipped her environmental suit – revealing her light combat armour underneath – and wriggled out of it, "I want you to take Kyla and Egret back down there," she told Maia, "see what you can find. Barbet and I will do some digging up here," she handed her suit to Kyla, "here."
Kyla folded her arms and scrunched her nose, "What's that for?"
Liara smiled, "Trust me, you'll want it."
…
Jules flinched as Samara pressed the antiseptic-soaked cloth against her back; she'd removed her leather jacket to find bloodied tears across the back of it and now had her tattered shirt rolled up to reveal the wounds.
"I don't remember you cutting my back open," Jules said through gritted teeth as Samara cleaned her up.
"They're friction burns," Samara said matter-of-factly, "from the biotic attacks."
Jules made a face, "You really went to town on me, didn't you?"
There was a pause and then another sting of the cloth, "I apologise, Commander, I did not intend to hurt you," Jules turned at that, throwing Samara a look over her shoulder; the asari met her eye and then raised her shoulders in a slight shrug, "permanently."
"Mm," Jules muttered, "whatever you say. And I'm not your commander, not anymore."
"As you wish, Shepard."
Samara fell silent, she had avoided elaborating about Falere and Jules knew she wouldn't until she was prompted. She was itching for an explanation but Samara preferred to take her own time so she waited. At least, until waiting became boring.
"Doesn't Cadeyrn hire doctors for his fighters?" she finally asked when the silence began to grate. She cast a glance around the filthy medical room and shuddered. It looked like more people died here than got healed.
"Not the ones down here," Samara replied, "those who impress him enough and move up in the rankings get better quarters and are better treated."
"Is that what you did?"
The question was answered with more silence as Samara finished treating the burns and swung her leg back over the bench so they were sitting side-by-side again. Jules straightened out her shirt and turned to face her, "C'mon Samara, give me something to work with here. I'm your friend… aren't I?"
The corner of Samara's mouth twitched, it might have been a smile, "Perhaps the only one I have," she agreed softly, then she settled both hands on her thighs and sighed, "Falere and I came to Piares almost ten years ago, back then Cadeyrn was in competition with two other gangs for control of the city. Those gangs still exist, but Cadeyrn ultimately gained more influence than them and is now far more powerful."
"Is he in charge?" Jules asked.
"In a manner of speaking," Samara agreed, "he is the wealthiest person here and that gives him influence, though he has little interest in politics or the running of the city. Still, there were far worse people who could have gained power."
"Really?" Jules grimaced, "Who the hell was he up against?"
Samara blinked, "He may be ruthless, Shepard, but he isn't as cruel as some. His arena isn't the only one on Piares, this city was built on gambling. It began with street fighting, then cage fighting, now there is an arena on every street with a betting shop right next door. When Falere and I first came here, Cadeyrn and the other gangs were competing to build the biggest arenas with the best fighters. There were rumours that any ship that passed too close to the planet was being attacked and the crew enslaved and forced to fight. More and more people were disappearing each day."
"So you came here to stop it," Jules assumed, this sounded more like the Samara she knew.
"And we did," Samara agreed, "it took several years but we helped those who were being held, we sabotaged the gangs and smuggled thousands of people to safety. Cadeyrn was not as bad as the others, he didn't raid ships or kidnap people. We knew not all of his fighters fought willingly, but most of them were people who had crossed him and many were criminals themselves. He was not our main focus."
"So… that's how he gained power?" Jules asked, "Because you sabotaged his rivals?"
"Yes. It was not our intention to help him, but it was the outcome. Of course, once the other gangs were no longer a threat to him, we became his problem too. He may not have been as bad as the others, but he was far from righteous. But he is not stupid, he realised that we would be a threat to him and he acted. He laid a trap for me and the team that I had built up over the years. They were all killed and Falere and I were captured. I think Cadeyrn liked the idea of having me as his champion, the woman who had defeated his rivals now under his control. It was a show of his power. I am his trophy, Shepard; a prize he flaunts in front of all. I fight for him or Falere suffers the consequences."
Samara looked away, her eyes fixed firmly of the floor and Jules watched her, letting her words sink in. After a moment she stood and paced, she made to say something but then thought better of it and paced again. Samara's story twirled around her head, rerunning over and over as Jules tried to link it with the justicar she had once fought beside.
"No," she decided eventually, "I'm not buying it. You wouldn't let Cadeyrn bully you into this, you would get Falere back and tear this place down."
"Shepard," Samara looked up at her wearily, "I do not even know where she is."
"Then find out!" Jules snapped, "Fight your way to his fucking throne room, throw him against the wall and make him tell you!"
"And risk Falere being tortured or killed by him as a punishment?"
"The Samara I knew would rather risk losing a daughter than sinking to this!"
"I have lost two already," Samara stood sharply and Jules couldn't help but flinch back a step. Samara wasn't angry, but there was a firmness in her tone that stopped dead the lecture Jules had been about to unleash on her and a chill seemed to creep into the air, "one died by my hand and the other because I did not reach her in time to save her. I have been failing my daughters since before they were even born, when I chose an asari as their father despite knowing the gene I carried. I failed them when I let Morinth escape. I failed them when I left them to hunt her down and didn't return even when she was dead. Falere is all I have left that is worth living for, I will not put her at risk."
Jules swallowed. She sometimes forgot how old Samara was, and that she was child in comparison. Despite all the stories Samara had told her on the Normandy, she still knew so little of everything that she had been through in her life. She had always felt like she knew only a fraction of who the asari was, that the real Samara was buried somewhere deep that no one could reach.
"What about the code?" she asked quietly.
Samara's eyes flickered with brief emotion that was quickly covered, "The justicars all died defending Thessia, the code has little meaning now."
"You're still here. You lived your life by that code, and by the sounds of it you still were before Falere was captured."
She hesitated, then moved to sit back on the bench, "I once told you that following the code left me with no regrets. I believed it when I said it but I have since realised it was a lie," Samara's wide eyes met hers and Jules had to force herself to hold her gaze, "I have killed people because they made mistakes, people who may have deserved a second chance but the code would not allow it. I have let innocents die because there was a greater threat that deserved my attention and the code demanded I chose for the greater good. You would have done none of this and you are more just than I ever was."
Jules raised an eyebrow, "C'mon, Samara, you know I've made tough choices too, and they don't always end well."
"Indeed," Samara agreed, "surrendering to Cadeyrn was one of the most difficult choices of my life, but Falere is more important to me. I will not risk her safety for anything, not the code, not the people of Piares, and not you, Shepard."
Jules nodded slowly, "You've changed since the war, haven't you?"
Samara's shoulders relaxed and her eyes softened, "As have you, my friend."
…
Kyla's boots squelched as the sewage pooled around her thighs and she grimaced. The environmental suit was keeping her clean and dry and the helmet ensured she couldn't smell anything but that didn't mean she wasn't painfully aware of what she was wading through.
"I'm going to kill her," she muttered as she walked, "the moment we're back on the ship I am going to fucking kill her!"
"I think you may be overreacting," Maia said patiently from beside her, the matriarch was busy tapping at her omni-tool as she studied the layout of the sewers, "at least she gave you her environmental suit."
"Yeah," Kyla agreed sarcastically, "so that she could go sight-seeing with Barbet! She's all heart that T'Soni!"
"They are trying to find out who is holding Shepard hostage and what is happening to her, they're not up there to have fun."
Kyla huffed grumpily, "If I know Barbet, the first place he'll look for information is the nearest bar."
"A very sensible place to gather local intel," Maia said calmly.
"Yeah, much better than being down here covered in-"
"Shh!" Egret cut in sharply. They all stopped dead, sending ripples splashing through the sewage.
"What is it?" Kyla muttered.
"Energy signatures up ahead," Maia said, looking at her omni-tool, "we're nearing the section under the base, I suspected it would be defended."
"There can't be guards down here," Kyla said.
"Not guards," Maia agreed, "it looks more like…"
"Turrets!" Egret exclaimed just as a bleep and an ominous click told them that something had locked onto them. Egret erected a barrier around all three of them as an explosion of gunfire rang out and a hail of bullets bounced off the shimmering biotic field.
"Fall back!" Maia commanded and they backed hurriedly down the tunnel, their movements were slowed by the sewage – and their attempts not to trip and fall head-first into it – but Egret's barrier held until Maia pulled them into the shelter of an alcove. Egret let the barrier fade and Kyla let out a long breath.
"Well. They can't be that advanced if it took them that long to lock onto us, how many are there?"
Maia checked her scans, "At least eight."
"Fuck."
"I can handle them," Maia decided, rather over-confidently, Kyla thought, "while they're targeting me, you two slip past into this tunnel," she indicated on the scans, "there's a complex network of tunnels under the base, split up and find Shepard. Your omni-tools should pick up her implants when you're close enough to her so she'll be easy to spot. And stay in contact with me."
"Oh sure," Kyla muttered, "provided you don't get your head blown off," she nodded down the tunnel towards the turrets, "I don't care how fucking brilliant you think you are, going up against eight turrets on your own is madness."
Maia graced her with the gentlest of smiles, "Have a little faith, Kyla. And take these," she handed both Kyla and Egret a small, rectangular box. Kyla squinted at it and realised what it was.
"Explosive charges?"
Maia smiled, "In case you need to blow a hole in anything."
…
Jules paced back and forth in front of Samara, deep in thought as the asari watched on in silence, "You have no idea where she is?" she paused to ask.
"None," Samara agreed, resulting in a deeper frown and the pacing resuming, "I know she's not in this base and I doubt she's in the city."
Jules looked round, "Then you must have some idea."
"There are some space stations in orbit that Cadeyrn controls, he could be keeping her on one of those, or on a ship. There are also other domes on Piares, none of them are cities but some are in use, I believe Cadeyrn owns two of them."
"Have you ever tried to find her?"
"Of course. I've recruited several allies in the past among Cadeyrn's guards or even the other fighters. Some of them betrayed me, others were caught and killed."
"Mm," Jules mused, "he runs a tight ship then."
"Indeed."
Jules sighed in frustration and rubbed at her eyes with her palms, "It seems like a lot of trouble to go to just to get you to fight for him. Are you really that important to him?"
"No. I'm just the added bonus, it's Falere he wants."
Jules looked round sharply, "Why?"
"He knows what she is."
That took Jules aback and she straightened up, "He knows she's an ardat-yakshi?"
Samara nodded, "The name is little more than a myth in this area of space now, Falere is likely the only one alive. All the others were killed or corrupted during the war and if there have been any born since, I have not encountered them."
"How does he even know what an ardat-yakshi is?"
"He has an interest in Thessian history, he enjoys collecting relics from our past."
"Mm," Jules agreed distastefully as she thought of the sculptures in his throne room, "I've noticed. Where does he get them from?"
"Thessia, mostly. He has freighters that can get past the satellite network somehow, he uses them to steal eezo from the surface and to smuggle whatever treasures his people can find."
"I was on one of those freighters when I was captured," Jules agreed thoughtfully, "it had been high-jacked and the eezo had been stolen back off him."
Samara quirked her brow, "Stealing from a thief? Enterprising."
"Any idea who could have done it?"
Samara shrugged wearily, "He has any number of enemies, and as I said, the gangs who opposed him still exist, they are simply weakened."
Jules thought back to what Kyla had said about a gang war, but she shook the thought off in favour of more pressing ones.
"I still don't get why he wants Falere."
"He is a collector," Samara replied simply, "and she is unique."
"You're saying he's keeping her like some sort of display piece? On show in a cabinet somewhere?"
"Perhaps," Samara agreed, "he may also wish to exploit her power. He has… hinted that he wants to unlock her abilities, he believes he could have an ardat-yakshi assassin at his command. He is a fool. But if he coerces Falere into killing, even just once, she won't be able to stop."
Jules grimaced at the idea and memories of Morinth flashed into her mind. Morinth had been clever and bold, she had known who she was and what she wanted and she had never apologised for it. It was admirable, in a way, but she hadn't been in control. From the moment Jules had looked into her bright, feverish eyes she had realised that Morinth wasn't embracing her nature, she was a slave to it. It was hard to imagine Falere in the same way.
She shook her head, "From what I remember of Falere, she's pretty strong-willed. She'd die before she let him use her."
"I hope so," Samara said, "but I would rather neither happened."
Jules sighed, "Then we have to do something, don't we?"
Samara might have been about to reply, but she was cut off by another, hushed voice that echoed up from somewhere, "Psst! Shepard! HOI!" Jules frowned, trying to work out where it was coming from, "Down here!" Samara touched her arm and she followed the asari's gaze to the round grate on the floor. Jules frowned, checked none of the other fighters were paying attention in the next room and then moved over to kneel by the grate.
As she peered through, she saw a figure crouched in the darkness below, her face lit up in an environmental suit, "Kyla?" she hissed as the asari waved and flashed her a grin, "Where the hell are you? And how did you get there?"
"Sewers," she replied, "run under the whole city, fucking maze down here, I've spent ages going in circles."
Jules shook her head, "Why?"
Even through the shadows she saw Kyla's face drop, "Er, cos I really fancied a swim? I'm breaking you out, you idiot. You know, for being a galaxy-renowned hero you're a bit slow on the fucking uptake sometimes! Gimme a sec, I reckon I can blow a big enough hole in this floor to get you out."
Jules hesitated, glancing back at Samara whose face was unreadable, "No," she said.
"Eh?" Kyla asked, she already had an explosive charge in her hand and was about to place it on the grate.
"Change of plan, go back to Liara and tell her that I'm staying for now."
Kyla's eyes widened incredulously. She almost looked scared, it was quite comical actually, "You want me to tell your girlfriend that I left you in here? She's already nearly bitten my head off when I told her we'd lost you!"
"Shepard," Samara interjected calmly, "you don't have to do this."
"I'm not leaving you in here Samara, and taking you out isn't much of an option yet, is it?"
Samara waited for a second and then nodded, "Thank you."
"Samara?" Kyla questioned, peering up through the grate to try and get a look at her, "The Samara?"
Jules ignored her, "Tell Liara that Cadeyrn is keeping an asari called Falere hostage and he's trying to exploit her… unique talents. She'll understand. Tell her to find out where he's holding her and then to get word to me."
"Who the fuck is Cadeyrn? And what 'unique talents'?"
"Just do it, Kyla."
Kyla looked like she was about to argue, but then she relented, sighing as she rolled her eyes and reached inside one of her pocket, "You better take this then," she said, passing her a spare communicator up through the bars, "I'm not wading through waist high sewage again just to pass notes between you and lover girl."
With that she squelched off into the shadows, sarcastically muttering something about her and Liara. Jules doubted it was complimentary.
She tucked the communicator into her pocket and looked back at Samara. The asari was scrutinising her quietly, "Do you have a plan?" she asked softly.
"Course," Jules lied, "I always have a plan. I just don't quite know what it is yet."