Chapter Thirty-two – Shrike

"So… that's the story. That's why Aethyta wasn't around for you," Kyla finished, her eyes fixed on the empty mug she was fiddling with as she concluded her story. Opposite her, Liara blinked.

"That's it?"

Kyla's head snapped up, incredulity marring her features, "Yeah that's it!" she snapped, "What's with you and Shepard? The lowest point of my life not make for a dramatic enough story for the two of you?"

"No!" Liara said quickly, "Of course not. I didn't mean to be insensitive, it's just… I don't understand why you feel guilty."

Kyla bristled, heckles raising like an indignant feline, "Who says I feel guilty?" Liara raised her brow and the sullen asari grunted begrudgingly, "Alright, maybe I do a little. Why wouldn't I? I was an idiot who got in way over her head and you lost a father because of it."

Liara looked away, gazing thoughtfully out at the stars as she considered. She found that, even as she thought about it, Kyla's revelation didn't make much impact on her at all. She had never been one to live her life in retrospect, it wasn't a productive use of her time to wonder about roads not taken, she preferred facts over fiction anyway.

"Do you really think my life would have been more fulfilled with Aethyta in it?" she asked, eventually.

"Humph," Kyla snorted, "it would definitely have been more interesting," Liara smiled faintly and Kyla sighed, "maybe she missed out more than you did."

"Well," Liara shrugged, "she clearly thought you were worth it."

"Shit," Kyla grimaced, "are you trying to make me feel even worse."

"Not deliberately. If it helps, you've actually made me feel better. I always thought the reason Aethyta left was because she was ashamed of having a pure blood child."

Kyla made a face, "You did meet my mother, didn't you?"

Liara hesitated, "I… admit, it did seem less likely after I got to know her. But I grew up with so many stares and whispers, it was hard not to think that was the reason. Being the daughter of Benezia made it impossible to hide my heritage. Everyone knew."

"Humph," Kyla dismissed, "Aethyta didn't give a shit about short-sighted prejudices like that. I'm telling you, babe, if we had been in your life, we'd have kicked the ass of anyone who so much as looked at you the wrong way."

"We?"

Kyla faltered, momentarily caught out, "Sure. You know Aethyta didn't take crap from anyone, I've got a mouth the size of the Athena Nebula and Nell? She would have had your back no matter what."

"Your other sister?" Liara queried, hiding her piqued interest as best she could, "What was she like?"

"Nell? You'd have loved her. Best commando the galaxy ever saw, but she never lost her sense of fun like the rest of them," from the way she rolled her eyes, it wasn't hard to guess she was thinking of Maia, "Nell used to play the best pranks, there was this one time, she hacked into the early warning system of a turian colony and convinced them that an asteroid was about to crash into the planet! They were halfway through evacuating before they realised!"

Liara stared, slightly bemused as Kyla descended into cackling guffaws of laughter, eventually resulting in a mild coughing fit.

"She did that… as a prank?" Liara queried.

"Yeah," Kyla sighed, wiping tears from the corners of her eye, "course, then the authorities got involved and they didn't exactly see the funny side. I never asked what Aethyta had to do to bail her out of that one, all I know is she still owed Tevos favours over a century later," she sighed wistfully, "I guess I wasn't the only one who's problems she had to fix. I bet you would have been lower maintenance than us."

"I'm not so sure," Liara smiled, "she did spend two years near stalking me on Illium just to make sure I didn't get in over my head with the Shadow Broker and then she followed me to the Citadel."

"Humph," Kyla nodded, "Sounds like her alright. How'd you find out who she was?"

"She wasn't exactly being subtle. I nearly ordered a hit on her actually, when I first realised she was spying on me. Then I did some digging and I soon suspected who she was, a suspicion I could confirm once I had the Shadow Broker's resources."

"Wait! Wait!" Kyla exclaimed, waving her quiet, "You were going to put a hit out on my mother?"

Liara smiled wryly, "Does that put us back on bad terms?"

She never got an answer as the conversation was abruptly cut short by the sharp ding of everyone's omni-tools before Jules' strained voice broke over the comm, "All squad members to the med bay!" she shouted, urgently, "We have a minor situation unfolding with-" it was followed by a sharp thud and a yelp, "Ah! You've got some fucking nerve, kid!" she said to someone else, before finishing with, "A little help would be appreciated! Now!"

At the other table, Egret and Barbet stood as Liara and Kyla exchanged a look, or in Kyla's case more like a glower, "This isn't over, T'Soni," she declared, before bolting towards the door.

…

They entered the med bay to find chaos. Samara was on the ground by the door, seemingly thrown there by a biotic attack. Falere was nearby, barrier raised and fist charged with energy. In the far corner, Maia was shielding Rhys with her own barrier as the quarian cowered behind her, his hands grasping at the leather of her armour as he peered over her shoulder, golden eyes wide with fear.

Over by one of the beds, Jules was wrestling with the young salarian. She had the girl pinned down against the bed but Liara wasn't convinced she was winning the battle. She turned to look at them as they entered and Liara saw blood was streaming from her nose, "A little help?" she managed through gritted teeth just before the salarian hit her with a biotic blast, tossing her across the room like a rag doll.

"Where's that fucking doctor?" the girl screamed, causing Rhys to yelp and duck fully behind Maia. Liara and Barbet reacted instantly, moving in to grab the girl and shove her back down on the bed while she yelled in frustration. Egret and Kyla moved between the bed and Maia, giving Rhys an extra line of defence.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" Kyla asked, tossing a glance over her shoulder.

"He stopped her from killing me," Maia shot back, "she won't touch you, Rhys, you have my word."

Liara wasn't so confident about that. She was struggling to keep her grip on the girl who was wriggling and lashing out like a rabid varren, snarling and spitting, Liara half expected her to start foaming at the mouth.

"Relax!" Barbet demanded, only to be rewarded by the girl breaking out of his grasp and hitting out with her talon-like fingers, scratching right through one of his good eyes. He yelled and staggered away, swiftly replaced by Samara.

As Liara struggled to maintain her grip, the justicar clamped a biotically charged arm down on the salarian's chest to hold her in place, "It would be advisable to stop struggling," she stated matter-of-factly, "you will only injure yourself."

"I'll fucking injure you, bitch!" the girl screamed back ineloquently as she tried to lash out again but Samara's hold was too strong.

"Calm down!" Jules appeared on the other side of the bed, bloodied, dishevelled and – if Liara had to guess – thoroughly pissed off.

"Fuck you!" the salarian responded.

"Is that your answer to everything?" Jules challenged, "If you would just stop trying to fight us, maybe we could have a proper conversation!"

The girl responded with a furious snarl that quickly turned into a biotic wave. The blast of energy caught Liara off guard and both she and Samara staggered backwards. She was caught by Falere and recovered just in time to see Kyla striding forwards.

"I've had enough of this," she muttered irritably, brazenly walking up to the girl who had managed to slip the grasp of everyone else so far. The salarian barely had time to blink before Kyla's fist connected with her jaw, snapping her head back and sending her toppling down onto the bed, too dazed to retaliate.

For a second, everyone in the room just stared as Kyla slapped her hands together and looked around. Seeing their bewildered faces, she just shrugged, "When you lose your biotics, you have find other ways of getting shit done."

"Hold her down," Jules stated, as the salarian began to groan. She resisted as between them, Liara, Jules, Samara, Kyla, Ereba, Barbet and Falere began to wrestle her fully onto the bed. Liara caught the shimmer of biotics rippling across the salarian's skin but before she could react, Jules slapped a stasis field around the girl, sharply locking her in place.

"Don't even think about it," she advised, giving the girl a tight smile as her eyes flashed dangerously, gleaming turquoise like gemstones in the sun.

"Let me go," she snarled, struggling uselessly against the mass effect field holding her.

"If I do that, you'll attack my crew again. Calm down and agree to be civil and then I'll free you."

"Fuck you!"

Jules sighed, licking a trickle of blood that was running from her nose before crouching beside the girl's head, "What's your name?"

The girl snarled and spat but said nothing. Jules' glare hardened, Liara could see she was keeping a tight hold of her temper but her patience wore thin quickly these days.

"Why did Eisheth send you to my ship?" she asked through gritted teeth.

This time the only response was a cold, hard glare but Liara could see the salarian's quick mind running through every potential outcome. Few salarians were stupid, no matter how young or angry they might be. Still, she strengthened her barrier and readied herself for another fight, just in case.

"Are you loyal to her?" Jules pressed.

Wide black eyes narrowed sharply and the girl sneered as best as a salarian could, "She kills anyone who betrays her. So, if that counts, yeah, I guess you could say I'm loyal to her."

Jules looked up briefly, catching Samara's eye. Something unspoken passed between them, all Liara could tell for sure was that Samara didn't seem at all surprised by the girl's description of her boss.

"Have I betrayed her?" Jules asked, carefully.

"How the fuck should I know? She wanted you alive, but that probably just means she wants to kill you herself."

"Why?"

The girl snorted but remained quiet.

"Look," Jules sighed, "if half of what I've heard about your boss is true, I think we can both agree that she's not coming for you. So you may as well talk to me."

For a mere second, the girl's feverish struggling stopped and she held Jules' gaze, "Eisheth doesn't need a reason to want someone dead. Hell, sometimes she kills people just for being too pretty?"

Jules' bright eyes narrowed sceptically, "She kills people for being pretty? Why?"

"She likes things that are pretty."

A ripple of unease passed through the room as glances were exchanged. Jules, however, didn't flinch.

"What does she want with me?"

"I dunno, are you pretty?" she looked Jules up and down, apparently unable to tell how she would rank by human or asari standards, "Something about you excites her. She gets hungry when she talks about you."

"Hungry?"

"Yeah. She gets this little glint in her eye. We call it her hungry look. It means someone's about to die, painfully. Usually someone pretty. Get the feeling it's more than that with you though, ever since you fought that arena match, everyone's got their knickers in a knot over Commander Shepard. They're even saying you're the real one."

Jules folded her arms, unmoved, "You're suddenly being very cooperative."

"Why not? You're about to throw me out the nearest airlock, aren't you? Eisheth can't kill me if I'm dead and I've got no reason to take her secrets to my grave. Fucking psychopath."

"If you hate her so much, why do you follow her?"

She gave a quick, sharp shrug, "Thought she'd be better than the Thessian slave maidens, guess I was wrong."

Liara frowned sharply, "I'm sorry, the what?"

The girl's eyes flitted towards her in a cursory glance but an arrogant snort was the only answer she got.

Jules apparently decided not to press the issue, "I'm not going to throw you out of an airlock."

"You into torture then?" the girl shrugged, "Fair enough, don't expect me to scream for you."

Jules let out a weary sigh, "I'm not going to hurt you at all."

The salarian smirked, clearly not believing her but as Jules' face remained straight, she began to eye her suspiciously, "What do you want then?"

Jules sniffed, looking around at the others, "I could do with a guide to this area of space. Someone who knows how things work around here."

Liara made sure not to react but she noticed Egret shifting uncomfortably and Barbet looked equally sceptical. She couldn't pretend she felt any better about keeping this girl on board than the rest of them, but if there was one thing Jules couldn't resist it was a troublesome stray.

"You really are from the other side of the relay then?" the girl asked, "You've got no reason to trust me."

"I'm willing to anyway," Jules said, "to a point."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not going to give you free reign of my ship when you've already tried to kill half my crew. But I don't want to keep you locked up either. We want to stop Eisheth taking over Piares, I want your help."

"You want a lot," the girl paused eyed Jules with a condescending air that even some matriarchs never mastered, "you really think you can pull this off, don't you? Kill the queen bitch? Just like that?"

Jules held her gaze, the corners of her mouth twitching, "If that's what it takes to stop her. I've handled worse."

The girl snorted, "You think you have. What if I don't want to help you?"

"We'll send you back to your friends."

"It'd be kinder to kill me," she snapped, Jules said nothing but continued to stare, awaiting the girl's answer. Like all young salarians, she had limited patience and soon broke Jules' gaze, fidgeting as much as the stasis field would allow, "Fuck!" she declared to the room, "Fine. I'll help you. But don't expect loyalty from me Shepard, whoever the fuck you are. I won't die for you or your fucking cause."

Jules blinked, "Understood," the stasis field shimmered and dissipated and in a heartbeat the salarian was on her feet, fist charged and braced as though expecting attack. The rest of the room reacted immediately, barriers sprung into place and weapons were drawn but no one made any further move. Jules remained static, her hands thrust deep into her pockets. For an agonising moment, silence hung in the air.

Surprisingly, the salarian was the first to relax, chuckling as she glanced around at them all before her eyes fell squarely on Jules, "Shrike," she stated.

Jules frowned, "What?"

"They call me Shrike."

An uncomfortable chill seemed to creep into the room, though Liara couldn't quite determine why. Jules' face remained stoic.

"Maia," she said after a moment and Liara glanced over to where the matriarch was still shielding Rhys, the quarian having become little more than a pair of golden eyes peeking up above her shoulder, "find our new guest somewhere to sleep, make sure she has food and anything else she needs but don't let her out of your sight."

"Yes, Shepard," the matriarch stated as Shrike snorted and turned to eye her.

"I'll come with you," Barbet said, the batarian was standing with one thumb hooked into his belt and his rifle resting on his shoulder as he eyed the salarian suspiciously. His apparent distrust of her only seemed to amuse Shrike even more but she let herself be led out of the room with little fuss.

As they left, it seemed as though everyone in the room relaxed a little. It seemed irrational that a room full of experienced fighters – most of whom were several centuries old at least – could be so easily unnerved by an adolescent salarian. Yet, for some reason Liara couldn't rationalise, the girl had unsettled her too. It wasn't just her biotic prowess, which was impressive to say the least; it was more to do with the feverish way her eyes had darted around the room and her fists had remained clenched, ready to summon a shockwave at a moment's notice. Liara didn't want to think what kind of life she had lived through to be so certain that the next threat was only a heartbeat away. There was no doubt in her mind that the girl was a victim of horrors. That didn't stop her from being dangerous.

"She'll betray us the moment she gets the chance," Kyla muttered, arms folded.

"Maybe," Jules agreed, "but I'm willing to give her a chance. What's the alternative?"

"There's always the airlock," Falere stated darkly, prompting a range of raised brows as everyone looked at her. She remained indignant under the scrutiny, however, "Eisheth's people are as demented as she is," her eyes flitted to Jules, "it's a mistake letting that girl stay on board."

"We can handle one salarian," Jules told her, "besides, she knows things about this region of space."

"So do we," Falere countered, gesturing to herself and Samara, "and we can tell you not to trust anyone who works for Eisheth."

"We don't have to trust her, but I won't kill her either. She deserves a chance."

"No," Falere stated flatly, "she doesn't. She's a threat and an unacceptable risk."

"I disagree," Jules countered without hesitation.

Falere folded her arms, from the look on her face she seemed to be struggling to believe what she was hearing, "You're wrong," she declared at last.

"Falere…" Samara said warningly but Jules dismissed it with a wave.

"Your opinion is duly noted, and if my decisions offend you that much, you're free to leave my ship any time," though Jules smiled as she said it, Liara saw Falere bristle, perhaps unaccustomed to being challenged. After a moment, she turned on her heel and left.

An awkward silence followed, before Samara gave Jules an indecipherable look and, without a word, swiftly left too.

With the pair of them gone, Kyla let out an exaggerated sigh of relief, "Just how long are those two going to be hitchhiking? They give me the creeps."

Jules didn't answer her, instead looking over at Rhys. Without his asari body-shield he looked almost naked, still pressed back against the wall as though held there by some invisible force. His immediate fear seemed to have faded, at least, and he was gazing absently into the distance.

"Rhys?" Jules queried, snapping her fingers to get his attention. When he looked at her, still half-dazed, she raised her eyebrows, "You okay?"

"Hm? Oh, yes. I was just thinking about my nice safe classroom back on Rannoch. The one I left because I felt the call of adventure. No one ever tried to kill me there. They put a lot of money into the medical department, you know; we even had adjustable seats…"

As he trailed off, Jules frowned quizzically, "You'll… be fine, Doc," she told him encouragingly, "why don't you go and have some tea and sit down for a while?"

"Yes," he muttered distractedly, "yes, tea does always help, doesn't it?"

"I'll go with you," Egret said, walking over to take his arm, not unlike a doting granddaughter, "you can tell me all about the university you worked at."

"Oh it was lovely," he started, "the staff all got free lunches and we had the most marvellous turian cook, the things she could do with dextro foods…" as they reached the door, Egret glanced back at them and made a face that was halfway between amused and concerned before they disappeared from view.

"He'll be fine," Jules decided dismissively, "it's just the shock."

"Humph," Kyla muttered, "so in addition to the creepy justicar, the mind-rapist and the psycho salarian, we also have to deal with a quarian who wets his knickers every time someone points a gun at him. I don't remember this being what I signed up for."

Liara sighed, "I should never have told you about Falere, you're never going to shut up about it are you?"

"About having an ardat-yakshi aboard who murders people with her mind? No, of course I'm not !"

"How many times, Falere hasn't murdered anyone!"

"And how the hell do you know that?" rather than waiting for an answer, however, she abruptly turned on Jules, her eyes flashing angrily, "While we're on the topic of murder, did you know she tried to put a hit out on my mother?"

Liara rolled her eyes, "So you are angry about that? I believe I said I considered putting a hit out on her, before I knew who she was."

"Yeah?" Kyla challenged, "And just how long did you know who she was before you bothered going to speak to her? I heard it was years."

"She hardly made the effort to introduce herself," Liara countered.

"Probably scared of being rejected by the daughter who had clearly inherited her mother's sense of entitlement!"

"What in Goddess' name is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're a snob! Just like Benezia!"

Before Liara could respond, Jules interjected with a cough, cutting them both off and leaving the argument abruptly dead in the water, "I see you two are on speaking terms now?" she asked, pleasantly.

"Humph," Kyla folded her arms, "we've talked. I still say she's a snob."

Liara narrowed her eyes, "I'm sure I could pick a few choice words for you as well."

"Well, at least we're making progress," Jules smiled, "though can I suggest we take a break? Before you start wrestling on the med beds or something."

For a second, Kyla glared at her, then gave a begrudging: "Humph," before folding her arms and changing the subject, "so, we're really keeping the salarian, huh?"

"Problem?" Jules enquired.

Kyla shrugged, "No. But, I am allowed to shoot her if she goes psycho on us, right?"

Jules sighed, "We'll deal with the situation as it evolves."

Kyla didn't seem wholly convinced by that but she gave a half-satisfied grunt, lingered awkwardly for a second and finally left without another word.

Jules immediately relaxed, her 'Commander Shepard' façade slipping as she slouched against one of the beds and rubbed her eyes wearily. It was funny, Liara remembered a time when it wasn't a façade.

"Did people always used to question my orders this much?" she asked. When Liara didn't reply she looked up, then grimaced, "Oh, you're about to do it too, aren't you?"

Liara moved closer, propping herself against the bed next to her, "Not everyone can be redeemed, Jules. This girl may be more trouble than she is worth."

"What are you suggesting?" Jules challenged, "The airlock?"

Liara sighed and looked away, "Just don't get too attached, I know what you're like with strays."

"Why change the habit of a lifetime?" Jules shrugged, "Besides, some of you turned out alright."

"Was that supposed to be flattering?"

Jules smiled but didn't reply, "So, things went well with Kyla?"

The underlying amusement in Jules' voice made Liara glower, "She's infuriating. She seems determined to pick fights no matter what I say."

"Yeah, but part of you likes her anyway."

Liara looked round sharply but Jules held up a hand to stop her from speaking, "No, you don't have to admit it, just don't deny it and I'll be satisfied."

Liara narrowed her eyes, fighting to keep her smile hidden, "You're infuriating too."

"Yeah," Jules agreed, leaning in to peck her on the cheek, "and you love me so, Kyla's chances are looking good, right?" Liara knew better than to try and argue and Jules grinned in triumph, "Thought as much. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a stray to check up on."

Liara watched her saunter out of the med bay, pausing in the doorway to flash her a grin before the asari was left alone. She sat there for a long while, thoughts and concerns flitting in and out of her mind. Kyla's repressed anger and guilt that was likely to spill over sooner or later. The revelations about Aethyta and Benezia. Falere's brazen questioning of Jules' decisions. Samara's unsettling presence on board. The salarian who may well murder them all in their beds. The crazed merc leader who wanted Jules brought to her alive for reasons they could only guess at right now. The Thessian slave maidens – whoever or whatever they may be.

Her mind was too tired and chaotic to give any of these thoughts the attention they deserved and her brooding brought her no peace of mind. It didn't help that the boy she had melded with on Piares was still haunting the back of her mind, his thoughts echoing through her own like a macabre symphony.

The only thing she could be irrefutably sure of at that moment was Jules' uncanny ability to find trouble. Whatever was about to unfold on Piares – or indeed the Janiri – she was sure it would make history in this murky region of space.