Book II - Chapter 5: Assassination
Shepard grinned wickedly underneath her helmet at the deer-in-the-headlight expression on Liara's face. From the way her knees locked, she could tell Liara wanted nothing more than to launch herself across the floor and tackle her in a bone-crushing embrace.
"Dr. T'Soni." Shepard gave her bondmate an aloof yet polite nod. Her voice warbled slightly after being process by the scrambler built into the helmet. Evidently, her distorted voice served as a good enough reminder to Liara that the maiden visibly calmed down after taking in a deep breath.
"Grey. Jack." Liara greeted. Her commando bodyguards relaxed slightly but largely stayed vigilant even after her acknowledgement. Shepard supposed Jack's elaborate tattoos and her own eccentric choice of armor did not make them seem like the most reputable sort. Glancing around at the bustling Nos Astra trading floor, Liara asked, "shall we take this to a more private setting?"
Before Shepard could open her mouth, the taller asari bodyguard cut in. "The Eternity lounge has private meeting rooms. I'm sure Matriarch Aethyta wouldn't mind."
The unspoken part was that the meeting would take place on their own turf, so they could better protect Liara if the two oddly dressed strangers had meant her harm. Shepard approved of her caution.
"What, it's not like we're gonna do anything to Blue. Chillax, sugar tits." Jack's exaggerated eye roll and crude language had the opposite effect on the two commandos. The short asari looked exceptionally offended while the tall one just shook her head in disgust.
"Play nice. I can leave you with Kasumi if you plan on being difficult." Shepard said.
Jack gave her a dirty look. "Alright, alright. It's not my fault they can taste the broom handles up their asses."
Shepard shook her head in exasperation.
The bodyguards must have called ahead because Shepard could feel several pairs of eyes fixed on their direction as soon as they walked into the lounge. Aethyta was standing behind the bar fixing drinks as per usual, but it was obvious that her heart wasn't into it. Great. The ill-tempered matriarch probably heard that her baby girl was accosted on the streets by a pair of scruffy looking human mercs and immediately jumped to the worst conclusion. Shepard suspected that if she were so much as to look at Liara funny, a full squad of commandos would descend on her and warp her head to a pulpy mess.
It really was unfair how Aethyta got to pull the protective father routine after they had bonded wrists.
"Upstairs. Last room to your left." Aethyta's gruff voice sounded several degrees colder than she remembered.
"I'll be fine. They were my bodyguards on Omega." Liara tried to reassure her father, but the result was less than stellar. Aethyta remained unimpressed.
Liara's commando bodyguards followed them into the meeting room and stood guard on either sides of their charge. Shepard would bet real money that the room was being monitored; Aethyta herself was probably watching the vid feed while getting ready to storm in at a moment's notice.
"I didn't think I would see you again so soon." Liara spoke softly, a slight wrinkle creasing her tattooed eyebrows as she attempted to puzzle out the purpose of this unscheduled meeting on her own.
She looked absolutely adorable, Shepard thought.
"I've come across critical information for you, Dr. T'Soni." Shepard said, and slowly began to remove her right gauntlet.
The two commandos exchanged a bewildered look with each other as she held up her bare hand and offered it to Liara.
For asaris, only families and very close friends would link minds as a mean to share information. Both parties must have trust in each other to respect boundaries. This was true even more so for non-asari who were not blessed with the same mental fortitude and would oftentimes enter into a meld without proper barriers in place. When emerged in a meld, it was impossible to disguise one's intention. Any ill will would be detected immediately.
Liara took her hand without hesitation. Her sky blue eyes flashed a solid obsidian the next instance.
Omega. Security footage of Aria killing Collectors and Blue Suns mercs alike. Data pad containing a list of human colonies and census information. The Shadow Broker's call to Liara after giving the body to Cerberus. A burly salarian dressed in a white hardsuit with the Broker's mark stamped across his chest. Vasir. STG stealth frigate. Hacked communication coordinates. All three were a perfect match. Hourglass Nebula. Require further triangulation.
Operation Cuckoo is a go.
"By the Goddess!" Liara exclaimed with barely restrained excitement. An elated grin stretched across her freckled cheeks; with the meld still in effect, Liara was probably mirroring the same expression on her own face.
Shepard chuckled as she pulled her hand back to put the gauntlet back on. "Know anybody with the skill to narrow it down?"
"Yes, I think I know just the person for the job. I have a contact at Baria Frontiers whom I have contracted to analyse fragmented Prothean navigation data recovered from Ilos." Liara paused for a moment, and her eyes almost pop out of her skull when she fully processed the information Shepard had just given her. "That ship… Goddess! Are you insane?!"
Shepard put her hands up to forestall an epic chew out. "No one got hurt. It was necessary."
"I'm sure it was necessary, but it was also reckless!" Liara folded her arms across her chest and leaned her weight on one foot; she looked every inch the annoyed bondmate when confronted by her spouse's more disagreeable exploits. "They will hunt you down to the end of the galaxy. Salarians are not the forgiving type. Ask the last people who crossed them - their entire species was neutered."
"I know, I know. But I do have a plan. It'll all work out."
Liara gave her a look.
Not so subtly, Jack mimicked the motion of cracking a whip; Shepard pretended not to see it.
"In any case," she took out an OSD from her suit compartment and handed it to Liara. "Here is a copy of the raw data. Be careful; people had killed for less." Her gaze flittered towards the two commandos briefly, and cautioned, "keep this under wraps. I fully expect them to send assassins after you if they catch wind of this."
"I understand. I will be careful." Liara promised solemnly. She slotted the OSD into her Omni-tool and activated the vid comm. A few rings later, a salarian in a green suit showed up on the holo screen. "Greetings, Sekat."
"Greetings, Dr. T'Soni." Sekat replied in a chipper voice. "Excellent timing. I was just going to send you the results on Pylos Nebula. The Prothean data was most fascinating."
"Good work, Sekat. I have another confidential assignment for you - high priority. I'll gladly pay double the rate. I've tracked down some peculiar comm signals through several relays. I'm hoping you will be able to narrow down the origin of this transmission to a system, at least."
Sekat blinked rapidly a few times, clearly surprised by the request. "Comm signals? Sure, I'll take a look."
Liara sent the data over.
After studying the data for a minute, Sekat scratched his chin and asked with some hesitation, "yes, I can definitely triangulate the originating source to a system, a planet, even. But Dr. T'Soni, this is highly irregular. The data you've provided looks a lot like the result of wiretapping. I'm not going to be in trouble over this, am I?"
Liara's soft blue eyes went cold and flinty in an instant. The expression gave Shepard a very acute sensation of deja vu back to the time when Liara threatened to flay someone alive with her mind. She had to admit, it was scary and sexy as hell at the same time. "Keep quiet about this, and no harm shall come to you."
In other words, you blab, you die.
Evidently, Sekat got the message loud and clear. The poor salarian blanched at the sight of Liara channeling Lady Benezia. "I understand. This shouldn't take long. Come see me in my office at Dracon Trade Center tomorrow evening at 1800. I'll have the result ready for you."
"Very well. I will see you tomorrow." Liara disconnected the call.
"Maybe it's a good idea to send someone to watch over him. You do want him to stay alive until the job is finished," Shepard suggested. She couldn't quite recall whether the Shadow Broker sent assassins after the salarian or not the last time around. Liara was pretty vague on how she took down the previous Broker; she only mentioned that she had personally led dozens of mercenaries and raided the Broker's ship. By the time the dust settled, she was the only one who had survived. An important friend named Feron was killed as well.
Shepard remembered being insanely jealous of this important friend and being secretly glad about his demise - not a highlight of her best moment, that. Of course, she felt downright shitty after learning that Feron was instrumental in keeping her body from Collector hands, that the drell was tortured for two long years for defying the yagh, and that there was absolutely nothing going on between him and Liara.
"That would be prudent. I'll arrange something." Liara agreed. "What about you? What's your plan?"
"I'll stick around. There are some upgrades I want to pick up on the trading floor. Jack here," Shepard pointed back at the heavily tattooed woman with a jab of her thumb, "made me promise to let her off the ship for fresh air and booze. I'll come with you to see Sekat tomorrow, and we'll go from there."
Liara nodded. "Alright. I'll see you soon. I have my own preparations to make."
Shepard lifted her eyebrows at that comment, but refrained from asking for more details.
If everything went according to plan, she would know soon enough.
x-x-x
It was raining outside.
Taking a sip of lukewarm coffee from her mug, Liara grimaced at the awful taste before promptly shifting her focus back to the data pad she had been pouring over for the past few hours.
From what she could see, the Shadow Broker had been keeping a careful eye on her mother long before her rise to prominence as a revered teacher of religion and philosophy. A few of Benezia's oldest associates had been known agents working for the Broker. Judging by the long lifespan, could this mean that the Broker is an asari or a krogan? Possibly, though not necessarily. Liara once again dismissed the line of thought. The Shadow Broker could be a group of unrelated people working together as a team. It could be an inherited title that was passed down through a specific bloodline, or through an apprenticeship. It could be anything, really.
Feeling a little cross eyed from hours of reading (comparing old records, looking up names, decoding data, digging out secrets - aka applied archaeology), Liara left the data pad on her bed and stood up for a stretch. Her eyes drew towards the nightstand and rested on the shiny new toy she had acquired not a week ago. A salarian researcher on Benezia's payroll had recently been hired by the Alliance as a consultant for small arms development. After some prompting, he had sent over the blueprint for a prototype heavy pistol - M-5 Phalanx, an upgraded version of the common M-3 Predator - as a repayment for favours rendered to his head of the family a couple generations back. Salarians might have short lives, but fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on who you ask) their recording-keeping was forever.
The Phalanx not only packed a serious punch, its laser sight was a feature Liara really appreciated; she had been pleasantly surprised by how well it worked when she had tested out the freshly assembled weapon at the shooting range that morning. She was so impressed, she planned to replicate a few more copies to give to Shepard to play with.
But before Liara's mind had the chance to drift too far towards the mundane, something interrupted her idle daydream and rudely dragged her back to reality.
Pop… Crack!
Liara grabbed the pistol from the nightstand and rolled behind the durasteel pillar next to her bed at the distinct sound of high caliber bullets hitting the bulletproof glass. The kinetic barrier she had installed around the panorama windows had saved her life. She had forked out the credits to ensure not even a modified anti-armor round could penetrate the defense around her apartment.
Her Omni-tool flashed red and buzzed urgently around her wrist. This specific frequency was set to her bodyguards. "Dr. T'Soni! Are you alright? I'm coming over." Aeian sounded slightly out of breath; she must have been running.
"I'm unharmed."
"Stay behind cover until I get there. Neaira is going after the sniper. Don't leave the building. There could be more of them out there."
"Give me the status on Sekat." Liara demanded. Their meeting was supposed to be in another three hours. She sincerely hoped he had not been killed before giving her the location of the Shadow Broker's lair.
"The unit that's been watching him hasn't reported anything wrong yet."
Liara let out a sigh of relief.
"... fast. I can't… Argh!"
Liara gripped the pistol in her hand. "Aeian? Where are you?" She spoke into her comm device but received no response. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest; she felt the familiar sensation of adrenaline pumping through her veins like liquid fire. It was as if she were running mission with Shepard again.
Her Omni-tool buzzed. "Dr. T'Soni, this is Neaira. The sniper got away! Is Aeian with you?"
"No, she isn't. I've lost contact with her."
"Leave the building immediately!" Neaira was shouting now. "It's a trap! I've been led away! The sniper must have gotten Aeian. Run!"
Liara lept over the ledge of the upper level balcony and bolted for the door.
"Oh, I don't think so."
A heavily armored asari stood in the middle of the hallway and blocked Liara's path as she reached the threshold. The assassin's body was shrouded in a cloak of thrumming biotic barrier that was so intense, so angry, it was like staring into the sun.
Liara recognized her immediately.
"Vasir."
Liara leveled her pistol at the Spectre, her own biotics wrapped tightly around herself in a protective shell. "The Shadow Broker sent you to kill me."
"They did." She didn't even try to deny it. Slowly, menacingly, Vasir advanced towards Liara while keeping her assault rifle loosely held to her side with one hand. It was insulting how she didn't regard Liara as a serious threat even while having a laser target pointed at her chest.
Vasir was right though. A few shots from her pistol won't put much of a dent in her impressive biotic barrier and they both knew it.
Liara scowled at the older asari as she backed into the apartment to maintain the distance between them. "The Broker sent you as their attack varren. You're a Spectre! This is low. Traitor!"
"Traitor?" Vasir visibly bristled. "You of all people calling me a traitor? How dare you!"
Faster than she could blink, Liara found herself smashed into the ground, hard. Evidently, the other asari had charged in and disarmed her with one smack, lifted her up in the air, and slammed her down all before she could even dream of defending herself. Her barrier wobbled feebly but it held. Is this what it's like, facing off against a vanguard? I need to stand up…
Vasir lifted her up again and threw her across the living room. Liara collided painfully with a wall and crumbled on the floor. What little was left of her barrier was now completely shattered.
Stand up! Liara internally screamed at herself.
Vasir charged at her again. Liara barely had enough time to snap off a singularity to drag the leather couch over as a shield while rolling away from the attack. She dove at the fallen pistol, but she was too slow. A gauntlet hand snatched the collar of her armored coat, and a split second later, Liara was bashed into the wall again. This time, she ended up with Vasir's hands closed around her throat, her feet a half foot off the ground. A mist of purple erupted at the edge of her vision. This is bad. Liara's fingers dug into the arms that immobilized her, clawing as hard as she could.
I'm going to die.
Vasir's face was only inches away. "You work for Cerberus, a pro-human terrorist group! You sold them your own bondmate's body! Do you have any idea what those sick bastards are doing to her corpse? You are the traitor here! How dare you!" Somehow, the expression on Vasir's face was at the same time terrifying and tortured. Despite the lack of oxygen, in a small corner of her brain, Liara couldn't help but find herself wondering whether Vasir was in love with her bondmate.
But before she could ruminate on the thought for any longer, the unyielding pressure at her throat tightened further, causing a series of sputtering chokes to escape from her mouth. She struggled futilely against the vise-like grip, but Vasir did not budge.
The Spectre was almost foaming at the mouth as she shouted at her. She looked angry enough to snap her neck any moment now. "I refused! When the Broker asked me to kill you, I told them no because you are her bondmate. And then they told me what you've done. How could you?! What did Cerberus promise you, huh? Credits? Power? Answer me, you pureblood bitch!"
The hands that were cutting off her air supply loosened a fraction to allow her to speak. Seizing the rare opportunity, Liara let out a painful gasp and said the only thing that could possibly sway Vasir to spare her life. "Shepard!"
"What?" Vasir's grip loosened a little more from shock.
"They promised me Shepard." Liara choked out.
Vasir dropped her and let her sag on the floor to take in much needed air. "Explain!" She spat.
Liara didn't need to explain anything to Vasir. The subject matter herself barrelled into the apartment in a streak of biotic fury and slammed into the Broker agent, knocking her away from Liara.
"Goddamn it, Vasir, you're a hot headed moron!" Shepard screamed at her.
"What?!" Vasir picked herself up and squinted at the newcomer like she could not believe her eyes. Even with every inch of her skin covered by the hardsuit, Shepard's presence was unmistakable. Her bondmate was so furious, her volatile aura had leaked out of the containment of her hardsuit in waves of writhing tendrils. "But! You…!"
"Shut up!" Shepard barked sharply. "This apartment is bugged."
The expression on Vasir's face suggested that she wanted to tell Shepard to get fucked by a thresher maw, but ultimately, she clicked her teeth together and settled for glaring daggers at them instead.
"Leave. Stay out of this." Shepard ordered. Her tone left no room for negotiation.
Vasir snarled at the fellow Spectre. "I am sorely tempted to rip your head off with my bare hands right now. You want me to shut up and walk away? Fine. But you owe me. There had better be a fucking good reason for everything!"
"That's more than fair." Shepard pointed at the door. "Go. I don't have time for this. You'll hear from me soon."
Vasir gave them one last dirty look before slinking away while cradling her side gingerly. Shepard must have cracked a rib or two in her previous attack.
As soon as Vasir left, Shepard was kneeling next to Liara, scanning for injuries. Her bondmate hissed like a territorial feline when she saw the vivid handprints around her throat. "I'm sorry. I should've been here sooner. This is going to bruise. I'm giving you a dose of medi-gel to reduce the swelling. The scan looks clean enough… no bone damage. If she had..." Her voice dropped off abruptly just as her body began to shake in suppressed rage.
"I'll be fine." Liara put a hand on Shepard's forearm in a comforting gesture. "Vasir… If she had really wanted to kill me, I would have been dead already."
It was a bitter wakeup call, to be defeated so handily while facing off against another skilled biotics in a one-on-one duel. The brief and pathetically one-sided exchange truly highlighted how much further Liara still had to go. She might have been a competent biotics, but all her battlefield experience was gained while under Shepard's command - meaning she did not know what to do when thrown in a situation that required split-second situational analysis to make life-or-death decisions. This was unacceptable. If she ever wished to stand next to her bondmate as an equal, she needed to be able to stand on her own instead of leaning on other people for support.
Shepard's chest rumbled in a deep, almost inaudible growl, but she kept her silence. Unhappy as she was, it seemed she had also noticed the inconsistency. Vasir might've been an excellent Spectre, but she was at best a middling marksman. The whole reason why she bothered to snipe Liara at her apartment was to draw away her bodyguards. Vasir had wanted to capture and interrogate Liara, not just to kill her. The Shadow Broker had ordered the assassination, but Vasir was here on her own agenda.
"Sekat! The Broker must have sent people after him, too!"
"I already sent Jack ahead." Shepard pulled her up by her arm and gestured at the door. "Let's hurry."
"Dr. T'Soni!" Neaira rushed into the apartment with her pistol raised, her normally calm aura rippling with distress. "Thank the Goddess! Are you alright?"
"Don't worry about me. We need to get to Saket before the Broker's agents do." Liara paused for a brief moment, and asked, "where is Aeian?"
Neaira's lips pressed into a thin frown. "Downstairs. Concussion. I've requested backup. She'll live."
They raced down the hallway, endured the long elevator ride in tense silence, passed by the unconscious Aeian sprawling on the lobby floor, and sprang towards the empty cab parked in front of the apartment complex.
Shepard was faster. By the time Liara realized her mistake, Shepard already took the pilot seat.
"Initiating manual override. Disengaging speed cap. Warning: as per the Nos Astra Traffic Bureau directive 432.3 section a-1, using the autopilot function is strongly recommended." The skycar's VI spoke in a polite, feminine voice.
Liara shot her bondmate a terrified glare as she deftly clipped the safety belt into place and grabbed on for dear life.
Shepard swiped the lever up and stepped on the accelerator. The cab vertically lifted off the ground like a rocket, suspended in midair for a split second, before charging forward like a deranged krogan in full bloodrage. Even with the inertia dampener activated, Liara could feel all the blood rushing towards her head when Shepard turned the cab sideways to take a shortcut between two buildings instead of following the normal traffic.
"Truck!" Liara yelled.
"I see it." Shepard said absentmindedly, jerking the wheel with her left hand while pushing down on the altitude lever. The cab rolled in a half spin and dodged under the truck before pulling up from the opposite side of the vehicle.
Liara was not pleased by the stunt. Neither was the skycar VI. "Warning: as per the Nos Astra Traffic Bureau directive 437.9 section c-8: deviating from established traffic lanes is strongly discouraged. Authorised routes are highlighted in green on the display with speed limits clearly labelled. Would you like to enable intelligent cruise control?"
"No. Plot the shortest route to Dracon Trade Center." Shepard barked.
At her command, a yellow zigzagging overlay appeared over the holo display of the city map. Of course, Shepard chose not to follow the VI's instructions. Instead, she took shortcuts whenever she could.
"Truck!" Liara shouted again when she saw the oncoming traffic when the cab emerged from a construction zone.
"Again?" Liara could hear the frown in Shepard's voice. This time, her infuriating bondmate pushed the lever up and stepped on the accelerator. The cab lept over the truck and dove into oncoming traffic. Shepard spun the wheel, pushed down the lever, and activated the emergency brake. The result was a dead stop-and-drop where the cab rotated in tight circles until she pulled up the lever and engaged full thruster to avoid the mass of vehicles coming at them. The much abused cab groaned under the strain of the sudden change in vector.
"Goddess!" Neaira screamed in the backseat.
"You're doing that on purpose!" Liara accused. Her stomach rolled in distress at the rough treatment.
"I did no such thing!" Shepard argued.
"How did you pass your road test if you drive like a blind pyjak?!"
"Technically…"
Neaira interrupted them with an uncharacteristic shriek. "Eyes front! Look where you're going!"
"Dracon Trade Centre is right there… Fuck!" Shepard cursed loudly as she whipped the car around to a screeching halt. A shockwave slammed into the vehicle like a tsunami, nearly toppled the cab to its side.
Liara looked up at the fire and smoke pouring out of the building in disbelief when she realized what had happened: the Shadow Broker's agents had bombed an entire building filled with innocent civilians in order to kill one target!
Static noises of incomplete transmission crackled through Neaira's communicator in broken fragments. "... unable… in the… secured… salarian..."
Liara perked up at the mention of Sekat.
The VI had one last thing to say. "Warning: as per the Nos Astra Traffic Bureau directive 421.2 section a-4: parking in a no parking zone is strictly prohibited. A fine of…"
"Goddammit, just shut up, VI! Jack! Do you copy?" Shepard asked urgently, but received no response. She punched the steering wheel in frustration before jumping out of the cab as soon as it touched the ground. Liara scrambled to follow her lead while Neaira tried to hold her back.
"Dr. T'Soni, this is dangerous..."
"No. I'm going in. You can watch my back if you want to keep me safe." Liara said sternly.
Neaira relented with a disapproving frown. "Very well."
"Widget lost Jack's signal. Her Omni-tool is either damaged, or disabled." Shepard pull out the blade strapped to her back and took a deep breath. She looked over her shoulder and stated calmly, even though Liara knew she was feeling anything but. "Priority is to recover Sekat's data. Expect armed Broker agents. We're going in hard, so keep up."
At that, Shepard took off in a mad dash, against a stream of the walking wounded stumbling out of the building. Already prepared for this, Liara matched her pace and stayed a few steps behind while scanning her surrounding, just like she was trained to do from her time running missions with Shepard's Normandy crew.
Inside the lobby, the air was thick with smoke and blood. A score of civilians lay dead on the ground. Most casualties showed trauma from the explosion, but some sported bullet wounds on their bodies. Liara fumed with righteous indignation; Broker agents had planted explosives in the building not just to assassinate one salarian, but to muddy the water so the authority could not figure out their motive. This sledgehammer approach was crude but effective. While Illium's emergency response was swamped with numerous injured civilians, curiously, law enforcement was nowhere to be found.
Liara bit her bottom lip when she finally came to the conclusion her bondmate had obviously deduced a while ago. Broker agents must have forestalled Illium's authority from interfering with one simple assassination. However, they had to resort to cruder methods when they encountered unexpected resistance, ie, the extra surveillance she had arranged, plus Jack.
That would explain Shepard's reckless driving, Liara thought, frowning at the implication. A strange feeling of unease churned in the pit of her stomach; Liara forced the stray thoughts away and willed herself to concentrate on the task at hand instead.
They waded through smoke, fire, and ice cold water raining down from the automatic sprinkler system. Liara inwardly reprimanded herself; if only she had thought to bring at least a breather mask, the task would have been significantly easier. Though the cold water felt like pin pricks on her crest, it rinsed off her eyes and dampened the dry heat brought on by the smoke and fire. She missed the HUD, too. Spotting organic enemies with her biotic was not exactly a hardship, but this ability did not help her locate mechs and drones - another reason why she should follow Shepard's example and keep a portable helmet on her person if she planned on getting into this kind of sticky situation again.
There were a few terrified office workers inside the building, but they didn't encounter any Broker agents on the first two floors. As soon as they pried open the safety airlock that served as a fire barrier on the third floor, they were greeted with a hail of bullets. Without needing to be prompted, Liara snapped out a singularity at the group of gunmen in white hardsuits. She was very familiar with Shepard's fighting style and had fully expected her to follow up with a biotic charge.
The vanguard didn't charge ahead. Shepard took a moment to focus her biotic down her blade and slashed at the group of trapped opponents from halfway down the hall. A visible pulse of biotics sailed across the distance in less than a blink of an eye, phasing through solid objects, and sliced into multiple hardsuit protected bodies in a wide arc like a hot knife through butter. Upon impact, the razor sharp biotic slash destabilized her own singularity and triggered a spectacular explosion on collision. Those who had a strong enough shield to stay in one piece after the attack, died instantly from warp-like biotic damage on the microscopic level.
Liara caught the stunned expression on Neaira's face; apparently the young commando had never seen anything like it before, either.
It made sense, Liara thought. This office building was filled with obstacles such as cubicles, furnitures, and computer stations. If Shepard had charged ahead as per her usual style, she would have had to leave her squad behind. Attacking from a safe distance away while flushing enemies from cover was the superior tactic. She supposed a couple well placed biotic shockwaves could accomplish a similar effect.
But that didn't explain how her bondmate knew how to pull off this strange biotic technique. She had thought Shepard would use the monomolecular blade for close-quarter hand-to-hand combat, not… this.
More enemies approached as the squad pressed onward. The red arrow symbol painted across their chestplate stood out sharply against the white of their hardsuits. Liara recognized the symbol - these mercs were the Broker's private army. Not only were they well equipped, they were well organized. Their troop makeup was similar to that of Eclipse, with a good mix of biotics, engineers, and heavily armored front line soldiers who dealt out flashbang grenades like mead-addled maidens flinging flower petals during Janiris jubilee.
"We're too late." Neaira muttered under her breath when they ran across a group of dead mercs in Eclipse colours on the floor right below the Nos Astra branch office of Baria Frontiers. They were temporary contractors specifically hired to watch over Sekat and make sure he did not double cross her until he was ready to hand over the result, not to lay down their lives protecting him. The fact that they were all gunned down meant that the danger had come so suddenly that they did not have a chance to retreat.
"Not quite." Shepard crouched over sprawling bodies and scanned them for info.
The Eclipse mercs were all dead, but most of their Omni-tools were still intact. Liara noted that while her bondmate might not be trained as a combat engineer, but she was competent enough to bypass most locked doors and hack through generic firewalls during non-combat situations. On top of that, Shepard had Widget the cyberwarfare VI to handle more complicated tasks. Hacking a few Omni-tools should be child's play.
Moments later, Shepard had results. "They put a tracker on Sekat. He is on this floor..." She looked around and gestured at an overturned file cabinet in the corner of the room.
Neaira lifted the reinforced metal container off the ground and shook it. A terrified salarian tumbled out of the swung open doors with a high-pitched screech and huddled into a tight ball with one arm wrapped around his head to protect his face. "Don't hurt me!"
"Sekat? You are safe now." Liara said in the most soothing voice she could managed. She approached Sekat slowly and kneeled down to put a hand gently on his arm. He twitched in fright but didn't flee.
Blinking rapidly in distress, Sekat peeked over his arm to confirm their identity. "Dr. T'Soni! Damn it! This is your fault!" The salaria stood up, looking equal parts angry and relieved. He roughly shoved a round disc into her hands and immediately jumped back as if the item were dripping venom. "Take it and go away!"
"Have you seen a female human biotics with a shaved head and lots of tattoos on her body?" Shepard asked.
"Yes, I have. She broke into my office and stuffed me into my own file cabinet before the gunfire and explosions started. That's all I know. I suppose she saved my life."
It was impossible to discern what kind of expression Shepard was wearing under her helmet, but Liara could tell her bondmate was upset by her body language alone. Shepard rarely display this, but the way she held her back rigidly straight while staying perfectly still reminded her of that one time at the Normandy's med bay when she overheard Shepard's private conversation with Dr. Chakwas.
Liara couldn't help but wonder why this woman seemed so important to Shepard. Her bondmate had never explained the criteria she used to find the most useful hired gun for her undercover sting. She simply trusted her judgement like the time Shepard elicited Kasumi's help. And to be honest, she was beginning to worry.
"We should go before NAPD gets here." Shepard said quietly. Liara almost believed her to be completely fine if she had not known her bondmate so well.
x-x-x
"Liara!" Tali greeted her with an enthusiastic hug as soon as she stepped off the Kodiak. It seemed her young quarian friend had been waiting anxiously in the ship's cargo bay for some time.
"Hello, Tali." Liara returned the hug with a somewhat subdued smile. "It's been a while." She looked around the cargo bay with obvious curiosity and commented, "I have been on salarian ships before, but this is… different."
"Salarian shipbuilders stole more than just the Normandy's Tantalus drive core and IES stealth system. The ship's hull is fitted with asari-designed Silaris heavy armor and quarian-invented CBT multicolor shielding. Even the interior space layout is more turian than salarian. Only the navigation system and the shell of the ship is of salarian design. Everything else is a hodge-podge of stolen tech. Of course, it's quite ingenious how they've managed to incorporate all the puzzle pieces together so well. If I weren't so angry about the fact that they've stolen the Normandy's design, I would say this frigate is a masterpiece of salarian engineering marvel."
"Which is why we couldn't dock the Enigma at Illium's spaceport and had to use the Kodiak for transport." Shepard added as she took off her helmet. Sweat drenched red hair clung to her freckled cheeks and the elegant curvature of her neck. Her short hair had grown out an inch or two longer, and her skin seemed a shade paler than Liara remembered. What was most startling was the faint bruises under her glowing green eyes. She had not noticed them when she had last seen her bondmate in her apartment, in the dark. Shepard looked like she hadn't slept in days.
Tali squeaked in surprise. "You-you're taking off your helmet? What about…"
"It's just us here." Shepard shrugged, put her helmet on a workstation, and seized Liara by her waist. "So I can finally do this." Her bondmate then proceeded to kiss her so hard, it felt like all the cartilages in her crests had gone limp like wet putty.
"... I'll leave you two to it." Tali promptly made herself scarce, giggling as she ran away.
Liara only just realized she had been lifted to sit on a workstation with her legs wrapped around Shepard's hips. She opened her mouth to speak, but whatever she was planning to say stalled in her brain when Shepard slipped her tongue between her parted lips again. The kiss was deep and lingering. Shepard took her time to explore, drinking in every little moan and gasp she could coax out of her. From the way her vision had taken on a dreamy quality, sharpened yet blurred at the same time, Liara knew her own eyes had most likely darkened from sky blue to a solid glassy black.
Shepard rested her forehead against her own and let out a sigh. "Ok, now I'm done being selfish, I should tell Kasumi where we're headed. There's no time to lose."
"Wait, Shepard." Liara cradled her pale cheeks with her hands, looking into her eyes with obvious concern. "I can feel your mind in turmoil. You are not well. We will be jumping to a different system, you can afford to take a break and talk to me. What's wrong?"
Shepard gave her a grateful look and squeezed tighter into the embrace. "You're right. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to shut you out. I just have a lot on my mind." She combed through her messy hair with a hand and conceded, "let me to talk to Kasumi quick. It'll be two minutes. After that, I'll jump into the shower quick, and then we can talk over dinner. Fair?"
When Shepard made the request with that apologetic look on her face, Liara couldn't really say no, even though she had really wanted to sit down and have a serious talk right away instead of letting her delay it further. This was how Liara found herself fidgeting with indecision in front of the closed door on the crew deck where Shepard had disappeared into. At the end, she made up her mind to slip into the communal bath when the faint sound of the shower started.
Of all the space-faring races, salarians had the most elaborate bathing culture. This physiology driven preference was not only prevalent in their architecture, but also reflected in their spaceship design. Even a small frigate such as the Enigma had a decent bath installed. The signature feature of a salarian bath, an oval-shaped heated pool, was sadly shrunken down to the size of a soaker tub. But still, it was incredible how a frigate would have a bathtub onboard. Liara took off her clothes and set them aside on a bench in the changing room. Quiet as a cat, she snuck into the bath while staring at the other woman in the room.
Shepard was standing still under the spray of steamy shower with a hand bracing the wall and her head down. Liara noted with dismay how much exhaustion her posture conveyed. Shepard always seemed so strong, so in control, it was disconcerting to catch her at a moment of weakness.
Without making a sound, Liara approached her bondmate from behind and softly put her hands on her narrow waist. Shepard jolted at the unexpected touch, but relaxed when Liara slowly began to massage her way up her muscular back.
Shepard let out a groan when she found a particularly tight knot on her right shoulder. Liara was pleased to discover how a few minutes of massage was able to transformed Shepard's posture from tired to relaxed.
"You're a miracle worker." Shepard mumbled, turning around in a slightly sluggish fashion before leaning forward to envelop Liara in a hug. Shepard's body temperature was higher than normal from the shower, and the sensation of her bondmate's hot, slippery body rubbing against her front sent her hormones into overdrive. Liara had to remind herself sternly that she had not come here to ambush Shepard for sex; she was supposed to corner her bondmate and make her talk. Pushing back to create a little distance between them, Liara studied Shepard's features with an unhappy frown as she took in the dark circles under her eyes and the sunken cheeks. The heat from the shower had returned some colour to her complexion, but she was noticeably thinner than Liara remembered.
"You look exhausted." Liara said, feeling her chest constrict with worry.
"I, um, have not been sleeping well." Shepard admitted. At Liara's questioning look, she added, "been having nightmares."
"Nightmares?" Liara couldn't help but recall the specific one she had witnessed in the past. No wonder she looked so drained. "About the Reapers?"
Shepard grimaced and nodded her confirmation, looking quite embarrassed to admit that the impending extinction of all advanced races had disturbed her sleep.
"You've lost weight, too." Liara pointed out quietly. "Should I ask Tali to babysit you?"
Shepard wrinkled her nose. "No, that won't be necessary. I just… I have a lot on my mind. Stress, I guess. I've been thinking of a way to stop the Collectors. If everything goes according to plan, a lot of that stress will be taken off my shoulders." She brushed a thumb over Liara's cheek, and said with a small grin, "I'm counting on you, actually. Even with Widget, I'm not that good with data analysis. You, on the other hand, I'm sure will be amazingly good at it."
"You really think so?" Liara asked, stunned by how well Shepard had thought of her own capabilities.
"Yeah, of course. You were able to put together the cycle of extinction from whatever little clues you could find. Imagine what you can do with the entire Shadow Broker network."
"Wait a second. What do you mean, network? I thought we were going to assassinate the Shadow Broker."
Shepard tilted her head in puzzlement. "Yes? And then we are going to steal their entire organization with you taking over as the new Shadow Broker. That's why I needed the best thief to pull off this heist. Have I not explained the details of Operation Cuckoo to you before? I thought I have."
"No, you have not!" Liara was aghast.
Shepard's jaw dropped open. "But I remember explaining everything to Kasumi when she first came on board… Oh, right. You weren't in the room. I just assumed I've told you everything already. Oops."
"I need to sit down." Liara muttered and climbed into the tub. The hot water was excellent, she thought to herself distractingly.
Shepard followed her into the tub. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I don't mean to dump this on you. I really thought we've talked about this. I suppose I've been keeping track of too many things all at once." Scratching her chin in a thoughtful gesture, she asked tentatively, "remind me again - have I told you why I thought the Collectors must be stopped other than the fact they work for the Reapers?"
Liara blinked owlishly at her bondmate. "Self preservation, I thought? If Kasumi had not recorded their dealings on Omega, you wouldn't have known they were hunting you. They would have killed you when they shot down the Normandy. They won't ever stop if they know you are still alive."
"I can't believe it. How can I fuck this up so much? I should've told you a long time ago. I thought I had, dammit! I told Hackett, but I didn't tell you. What a stupid mistake." Shepard looked so angry with herself, she was ready to tear her hair out. Rubbing her face with both hands, Shepard took a moment to calm herself down before she began. "The Collectors are the Reaper's indoctrinated servants. They have been heavily modified both on the genetic level, as well as with extensive cybernetic enhancements. The process of converting people into husks takes time. So is indoctrination. The Collectors are organic slaves manufactured in advance to be used as the initial wave of front line soldiers for ground assault when the Reapers come."
"Goddess!"
"If you think this is bad, you're not gonna like the next part. I know what they are because I've seen them in action. Take a wild guess where."
The Beacon. Liara put a hand over her mouth. "The Reapers used the Collectors to fight the Protheans."
"Sweetie," Shepard gave her a sympathetic look. "The Collectors were Protheans."
Liara was sure she was going to throw up.
"At least, they were Prothean in origin. After being so thoroughly mutilated by the Reapers for fifty thousand years, you can't really call them Protheans anymore." Shepard ran a hand through her wet hair tiredly and said, "so now you see why we must take down the Collectors. Without them serving as the Reaper's shock troop, our people will have an easier time surviving on the ground. There is a time limit to it, however. The Collectors have been hiding beyond the Omega 4 relay and waiting for their master's return since the last cycle. Strategically speaking, the best time to take them out from the war is to strike them now, before the Reapers come. And you know what this means."
"No, I don't! You can't possibly suggest that you're planning to go through the Omega 4 relay and attack their base. Other than the Collectors, no one has ever gone through that relay and lived to tell the tale. Even if you somehow find a way through, who knows what's waiting for you on the other side? You don't need me to remind you what happened the last time you ran into one Collector ship. You'll need a fleet to take on the Collectors in their homeworld. This is suicide!" Liara's voice rose steadily as she went. By the end of it, she was practically shouting.
Contrast to her own purple faced outburst over the outrageousness of the situation, Shepard remained resolute and calm. "This is the best chance we have to cripple the Reapers before their robotic tentacles touch the ground. We can figure out the logistics later, but you are smart enough to see that my analysis is sound. If we don't deal with them now, our people are going to pay for it a thousand times over when the war breaks out."
Liara's lips trembled. She hated how Shepard was right every time there was bad news. Every. Single. Time.
"Liara." Shepard took her hands and squeezed them in a comforting gesture. Liara looked down to stare at their intertwined hands, their matching red and purple bond bracelets dangled on their wrists, swaying with the bath water's gentle waves. "From past records, we know that the Collectors rarely venture out of their base. They are supposed to be in hiding beyond the Omega 4 relay. They have been using the Shadow Broker to keep tab on the outside world. Think for a moment what that means."
She didn't need to think, she knew already. Liara answered quietly, "I get it, Shepard. You don't have to break it down step by step for my benefit. I am not disagreeing with you, I am simply having... a hard time accepting it." Liara bit her bottom lip and swallowed the bitter taste of resentment bubbling in her chest.
To that, Shepard only had one thing to say. "I'm sorry."
Liara shook her head. "Don't. Because we both know you'll do whatever it takes to stop the Reapers." She retracted her hands from Shepard's grasp and put them on her cheeks, brushing the damp skin lovingly with a thumb. Her bondmate stared at her, her brows furrowed together in a mournful downward slant. "You've given me a lot to think about. Please, I need time."
"Of course. I didn't mean to dump all this on you. Again, I'm really sorry, Liara. I should've told you earlier."
Liara debated with herself whether she should bring up the topic of Jack. At the end, she decided it wasn't the best time. She trusted Shepard, she really did. This ugly feeling of unreasonable jealousy regarding the merc seemed extremely unattractive, Liara thought ruefully. She would deal with her own insecurity at a later date.
"Your hands are pruning. I didn't know humans can do that. Odd. Come on, that's enough bathing for you. Let's get you some food and sleep. You look like you need it. We only have two days to plan out the mission. You need to be at your best to break into the lair of the Shadow Broker."
x-x-x
A/N: Phew! That took a while. I hardly had any time to write during the past two months. I was distracted by real life issues, and a bout of writer's block didn't help, either. Update will continue to be slow because it takes longer to jump back in after a break. On a different note, Liara in 2184 in this AU is not the same Liara in 2185 in canon ME2. In this story, her growth will be more gradual because there is no two-year time skip.