The pale humanoid went for Richmond first. Richmond's defensive stance saved her from the brunt of the first blow. She deflected the second with her forearms. A cry of pain accompanied her being thrown back by the blow until she slammed into the wall.

The being did not continue his attack on her. He seemed to sense Angel's incoming punch as she threw it. He grabbed her wrist and turned her arm painfully, eliciting a pained growl from Angel. His left arm came up and blocked a punch from Julia. When his leg snapped up and struck her, Julia felt like someone had smashed a sledgehammer against her ribs with enough force to crack them. She gave a short, strangled cry from the pain. This debilitated her long enough that the creature was able to block Angel's punch with her other arm. He used a knee block to stop her follow-up kick, all while maintaining his grip on Angel's right hand. There was a cracking sound and Angel's face paled slightly. Her hand limped a little from the broken wrist their attacker's grip inflicted.

He's so fast, Julia thought. Her next move was a diving tackle. The grip of their attacker on Angel's wrist did not give way, so Angel was dragged with him as they all went to the floor. Julia felt a momentary surge of triumph at the tackle's success; wherever this thing's strength came from, it didn't come with mass. She could still potentially get leverage for a pin.

And then the creature's elbow smashed into her face, or more specifically, her cheek. She felt the bone fracture from the impact. Another inch over and her nose would have been completely smashed in. The strength of the blow dazed her enough that Julia lost the leverage she'd gained. Her opponent twisted out from under her and delivered a kick to Angel's shoulder that dislocated it. He regained his footing and twisted Angel's arm around, resisting her attempt to break free. With a look of triumph he completed the twist with an audible snap. Angel screamed.

Richmond was back on her feet and went for a tackle of her own, at his legs. She nearly knocked the man back down and forced him to let go of Angel for the moment. He responded by driving his elbows into Richmond's shoulders. She didn't let go with the first blow, but the second finally forced her to pull her arms back. Richmond had no chance to stop the next blow, a solid knee to her belly that hit with such force she crumbled to the floor.

Broken ribs and broken cheekbone aside, Julia jumped back in and swung at the pale man. With inhuman speed he caught her hand with his own and sneered. "You have spirit, Dawn-Bringer," the man rasped. "But you are not a Forceful nor a psion. You are mortal. You are prey." As he gloated Julia brought her other hand up, trying to land a punch, but he intercepted that fist too. The grip he had on her knuckles and fingers was crushing. She cried out as one of her knuckles finally broke under the strain. With desperation she tried to knee him between the legs, but he intercepted her knee with his own.

Suddenly he was pushing her away with enough force to launch her a foot into the air. She felt an impact behind her. When she landed, she realized Angel was underneath her.

Their attacker, pale face shining with smug triumph, raised his foot and prepared to bring it down on Richmond's skull.

There was a blur of movement. Suddenly their attacker was being slammed into the far wall. Standing over RIchmond now was their unnamed ally, the man with the sallow complexion, his eyes obscured under the aviator's Ray-Bans. He clenched a fist. "You shouldn't play with your food," he taunted.

The pale attacker hissed in anger. He charged the well-dressed man with hatred on his face. His blows were met with blocks and deflections. Julia and Angel watched with stunned silence at what seemed to be a martial arts duel in fast-forward mode. Within the space of a second it seemed two or three blows were exchanged between the two fighters, and the same in the next second, and the next. Punches and kicks in rapid motion, such that it wasn't clear which blows were landing and which weren't.

Given the stalemate, and their likely fate if their unnamed ally lost, Julia knew they had to act. She scrambled over to Sergeant Stirling's body and retrieved her sidearm. A quick check of her omnitool confirmed the weapon's ID software and her own internal software quickly linked with it and provided her access. Julia leveled the gun toward the two combatants and focused. They were moving so fast that she couldn't be sure she'd hit her target.

Then their ally stumbled backward from the fight. Whether or not he did it intentionally or not, Julia was not going to miss her opportunity. She pulled the trigger and heard the particular low thundercrack of a mass effect field instant-accelerating a sliver of metal to high velocity. She didn't bother waiting to see the effect of this on her foe. She pulled the trigger again. And again. And again. Dark blood erupted from the wounds she was inflicting. But with little visible effect.

But even little visible effect was something. Their foe seemed to relent just a bit, just a tiny bit, from his fight. Given the opening, their ally reached in and grabbed the creature's head. A loud snap filled the room and the attacker fell, his neck broken as Stirling's was.

Julia started to stand. "What was…?" Before she could finish, their ally pulled a glinting metal blade, almost a dagger instead of a knife, and plunged it into the pale figure's heart. "What… why…?!"

"To make sure," said the finely-dressed man. "Eliminating blood flow is the only guaranteed way to kill a Pretender."

Julia's first thought was that he was referring to Jarod. It was Angel, now cradling her broken right arm with her left, who said, "It was like that damned thing on Corwin."

"Yes. I am aware of the attack on yourself and Commander Jarod several months ago. And that was a lesser assassin. This one was an older Pretender. Stronger, smarter. Mostly. They are arrogant as hell, though."

"I want an explanation," Julia said. "Who are you? What is your stake in this?"

"Business," said the man. "As for my name, you may call me Mister Black, if you must. I am the personal agent of one of the investors in Noveria sent to uphold my employer's business interests." He looked down and glowered at the corpse of the dead man. "And those interests include dealing with the corruption of Anoleis. That he has made you an enemy allowed for a mutually beneficial alliance between us."

Julia and Angel exchanged glances. There was more to this than they were being told. But the pain in her face and chest and left hand reminded Julia she had other concerns. "I need to get medical attention to my people," she said. "But we're going to make a scene if we take them to the Irrawaddy."

"Then do not." Black stepped over to the railing looking down on the first floor. Julia heard the lift doors open a moment later. She walked up in time to see Gianna Parasini enter. "Miss Parasini, we have people in need of medical attention and need for a clean-up unit. I am afraid there was an unexpected complication."

"I understand, Mister Black." Parasini looked to Julia. "It looks like you had quite the fight, Captain. I'm sorry it came to this. Give me a few minutes and I'll have a medical team here to treat your people. We have the finest medtech in the Multiverse available in our infirmary, so I assure you that you won't be needing a return to your ship to seek full treatment." With that she walked away.

Julia looked at him suspiciously. "Anoleis' secretary? You're working with her? Are you really trying to stop Anoleis?"

"Yes. Miss Parasini is also in an alliance of mutual benefit with myself and my employer. You have just helped her immensely. You do have Qui'in's evidence, do you not?"

Julia knelt down by Richmond, whom Angel was scanning. "She's got internal bleeding and blunt force trauma to her internal organs," Angel said. "She needs help soon."

"It's on the way, apparently," Julia replied, still not very satisfied with what she was being told. She reached into Richmond's pocket and pulled out the M4P2verse OSD. "Here's the hard copy of the evidence," she said to Black. "We've already made partial copies on our omnitools."

"Good thinking, although not nearly as convincing as the hard copy. Give it to Qui'in when we leave here."

"He's working with you too? Another 'mutually beneficial' alliance?"

"Yes, quite." Black turned away from her and walked over to the fallen "Pretender". He picked it up and slung the corpse over his shoulder. "This thing's remains cannot be left for others to take in. I will go dispose of it. Miss Parasini and her medics should be here shortly. Cooperate and everything will be fine." With that said, he walked off toward the direction of the smaller offices.

"This entire thing is just… utterly screwed up." Angel grimaced. "And ugh. Fighting those things is ridiculous. They're not Human."

"Neither is Black." Julia watched him disappear around a corner. "Strange, isn't it?'

"What?"

"That he resembles it a little? I mean, not just the enhanced physical power, but wearing sunglasses in an interior location on an arctic planet? Didn't your rescuer on Corwin wear sunglasses?"

Angel considered the question for a moment, searching her memory. "Yeah," she answered. "She did."

"I want to find out more about Black," Julia said. "I get the feeling we're being used, and I'm not comfortable with that." Left unsaid was other questions. The way the Pretender had referred to them, for one, and how it made them think of that old Gersallian prophecy that caused so much trouble for them the prior year.

But those thoughts and questions had to wait, just as they did for the medical attention that would tend to them and their wounded comrades.

The exam room under the glacier of Peak 15 was alive with blue light. The blue light of Lucy's lightsaber. The darker blue, almost violet light of the biotics of Liara t'Soni and Matriarch Benezia. The light white-blue of the pulses from Talara's pistol.

Lucy's senses were alive with how powerful Benezia's biotics were. She could sense, through the Flow of Life, the twisting of space from the dark matter Benezia was generating. She brought her lightsaber down toward Benezia's dark matter-wreathed hands simply to be denied again by the dark matter field protecting Benezia. It took everything she had to absorb Benezia's retaliatory blast of biotic power, and even then she still skidded backward across the platform.

"Mother, stop it!" Liara's own biotics surged to life. A surge of raw kinetic force slammed into Benezia's defenses. But they still held. "Please! Saren's mad, you have to see that!"

"I have seen the light, his light. The light of our survival." Benezia's retort was followed by a fresh surge of dark matter. This expanded into a gravity singularity in mid-air. Lucy felt its pull down to the nerves in her body, the cells, and gritted her teeth to resist that pull.

Liara and Talara, as close as they were, could not. It drew them off their feet. Liara reached out and grabbed the handrail beside her, using that to hold herself away. Talara couldn't grab anything where she was, however, and was pulled toward the middle. The Falaen woman desperately tried to center herself as she spun helplessly in the middle of the air. She knew that she could use her new abilities to throw herself free. But the concentration that required was beyond her at the moment.

Lucy nearly went after Benezia again, but she knew just what the singularity was going to do in a few seconds. She could feel its power was building toward an explosion. So she held her lightsaber away and readied herself for what her senses told her was coming.

When the singularity finally ended with a burst of raw force, it sent Talara tumbling wildly in mid-air straight for a nasty collision with one of the chamber's support walls. Lucy reached for her with her power and grabbed Talara from mid-air. She pulled her back toward herself, and a much safer landing on the ground.

A sense of warning filled her. Even as she continued to direct Talara's return to the floor, Lucy focused her will, her power, before her. This caught the tremendous blast of power Benezia sent after her. Dark blue light crackled angrily against an invisible force shield powered by Lucy's life.

Generating both the protective field and the force drawing Talara told her was taxing on Lucy. It took a lot of power, a lot of her connection to the Flow of Life, to maintain. Benezia noted that strain and threw another biotic blast. It too failed to break Lucy's shield, but it increased the strain on her. Then there was another blast… and another…

...which Liara intercepted with her own biotic field. "Please!" she pleaded. "Listen to yourself! You speak as if Saren were a prophet!"

"He is one, Liara. A prophet of what is coming." Benezia's voice was cold. "You should have joined us when you had the chance. That is why we came for you on Therum."

"You sent Geth after me, you mean!" Liara retorted. Beside her, Talara landed. Lucy stepped up, weapon again drawn. "You didn't come yourself! Why?!"

"Because I had other duties."

"More important than me?!"

"More important than anything," Benezia insisted. Dark matter accumulated around her. "If our galaxy is to survive, Saren must prevail. He must, Liara! No other life is important compared to that!" Benezia was becoming wreathed in the dark matter, with power that Lucy and Talara sensed and knew to be a great danger. "Not even yours!"

Lucy moved forward, lightsaber in hand, to strike. But it wasn't soon enough. A massive wave of dark matter poured over her, over Liara, over Talara. She gasped at the feeling it caused, as if something inside of her wanted to rip her in half bit by bit.

Then there was another wave, and all three went flying.

"I am sorry, Liara." Benezia's power continued to surge. "But you leave me no choice. If you will not serve Saren with me, you must die."

For Ashley and the Salarians who survived, one sight among many would always come fresh to their minds when they thought of their desperate fight on Virmire. It was the sight of the Normandy moving overhead, her engines a high pitched roar in the air. The cargo bay opened and from it Shepard and her team jumped onto the tower, firing as they descended. Robert moved ahead of them, the emerald blade of his lightsaber shining in his hand, deflecting plasma fire from the Geth while his free hand moved about, directing metaphysical force to slam Geth about the tower. Shepard shot forward in a streak of biotic fury and sent a heavy Geth biped flying backward toward the edge of the roof. Kaidan and Wrex directed their own biotic talents at it, and two bolts of dark matter struck the platform and sent it flying to a destructive crash in the jungle below.

Ashley, isolated with a wounded Salarian at one end of the tower, looked up from her cover and opened fire on her opponents. A Geth collapsed in a shower of sparks from all of the damage her gun inflicted. She brought her rifle over to bear on another Geth just as it opened fire on her. Her personal barrier absorbed the first shots that struck her. Her weapon fired in retort.

But it was the blast from behind the Geth that brought it down. Tali moved up to join her in cover, firing her shotgun at a third Geth coming at Ashley's blind side. Across the roof Garrus rushed ahead to shelter behind an air cooling unit. He peered out of his protective cover long enough to fire off a shot with his sniper rifle that shattered the light of a Geth's head.

"Get to the Normandy!" Shepard shouted. "Move! Move!"

"All units, fall in!" Kirrahe's order filled the comm line. Across the wide roof Salarian survivors started a cautious, then a not-so-cautious, advance on the Normandy's open cargo bay door. Kirrahe helped a wounded compatriot along toward the ship. "Commander, thank you, your timing was most impeccable. But what about the bomb?"

Shepard gestured to the bay. A couple of Normandy crew in gray combat armor were already carrying the bomb out. "We're setting it here and now. It'll still destroy the base completely."

"I see. Excellent adaptation to the situation, Commander. I…"

"Get down!" Shepard saw the Geth unit direct its attention toward them a moment too late, regardless of her warning. She grabbed Kirrahe, knowing they'd never drop in time…

And then Wrex slammed into the Geth, throwing its aim off, and the plasma fire that resulted played against the Normandy's hull with little visible effect. Wrex's shotgun boomed. Sparks and metal flew from the wound the shot caused in the big Geth unit. Before it could turn its attention to Wrex Robert moved in. There was a flash of green light and the Geth's forearms and hands fell away, along with its weapon. Wrex fired again, a blast that smashed the Geth's head and brought it down.

"Get your people aboard now!" Shepard shouted. Wordlessly Kirrahe obeyed.

Everyone fell back on the Normandy cargo bay, the uninjured providing cover fire for the wounded. Robert and the biotics provided further cover with their abilities, projecting fields and, in Robert's case, reflecting fire with his weapon. Return fire attrited the Geth forces down. Behind them the last Salarians boarded, with Shepard's team following and helping to secure the wounded. Shepard and Robert backed toward the cargo bay door to be the last to board.

From above there was a bright flaring of light. "We're under fire from the Geth ships in orbit!" Joker reported over the comm line. "Barriers holding, but not for much longer! We'd better amscray!"

"We're almost done." Shepard turned her head to Kaidan and nodded. "Set the bomb."

Kaidan's omnitool lit up. "One minute count, starting now."

"Good, now get back aboard. We're getting out of here."

Robert felt the surge of despair and hopelessness. He realized the source and dashed ahead, leaving Shepard behind. "We've left someone!" he shouted.

"Get back here, we don't have time…!" Shepard demanded.

Robert heard the order, but he felt he didn't have far to go. He found the source of the feeling behind cover at the edge of the roof. A wounded Salarian soldier, of white and rust-coloring, looked up at him with big, desperate black eyes. "Help me," he cried. Green blood was seeping from a wound in the Salarian's shoulder and more on each legs. "I can't move."

"I've got you." Robert knelt down and got his shoulder and neck under the Salarian's armpit. "Here we go!" The Salarian cried in pain as he lifted the soldier up. Robert felt that pain vaguely but ignored the sensation. Better pain than getting vaporized. He turned to carry the soldier to the Normandy.

Shepard tackled both a moment later, and in doing so, she saved their lives.

A mere half-second after she carried the two forward, a ripple of weapons fire ripped through the air in the space they had been occupying. Overhead a motor whine was barely perceptible over the continued high roar of the Normandy's station-keeping engines. A gray platform soared overhead and moved downward.

Robert and Shepard stood up in time to see the gray-clad figure on the platform.

Saren.

The platform soared over to the bomb. Robert sensed what Saren was about to do and lashed out with a blast of force, wild and powerful. Saren generated a field of dark matter that absorbed the hit, barely, while the same force wreathed around his arm. In a single sweep he threw it outward.

But not toward them.

In a burst of dark blue light, the nuclear device that Tali and Kaidan had assembled so carefully was torn apart, leaving it nothing but a pile of fissile material and debris; utterly harmless.

"The moment my forces faced the STG, I knew you'd come, Shepard." Saren moved his platform across the roof and faced them. Dark matter glowed around his arms. "My Geth were convinced the Salarians were the greater threat, but I knew better. I couldn't obviously say so in front of the Council, but I actually respect you for your performance on Elysium and Akuze. You've proven yourself a survivor, Shepard. So you, of all people, should appreciate my efforts."

"You've sold out the galaxy to a Reaper, Saren!" Shepard retorted from cover. She had her gun up and ready. Robert's hand gripped his lightsaber.

Above them there was another burst of weapons fire. "Commander, our barriers are failing!" shouted Joker. "We need to move now."

"Joker, get the Normandy flying again, come back for us when we're done," Shepard ordered. "Take off now."

"But we're still…"

Ashley's protest went unheeded. The Normandy's cargo bay door closed before she or any of the other team members could disembark, leaving Shepard, Robert, and the unfortunate wounded Salarian they'd nearly left behind The ship lifted in the air and flew away even as another shot played against its failing protective field.

"There is no stopping the Reapers, Shepard," Saren said. "You've seen the visions. You must understand that. The Protheans tried to fight back and were annihilated. I will not make the same mistake. I will serve. So I cannot let you continue to disrupt my plans."

"You really think the Reapers will let us live? We spoke to Sovereign, Saren! That thing doesn't care about you, it doesn't care about any of us! It's using you as a tool!"

"I know about the indoctrination. That is why this place is so important to me," Saren replied. "It will provide the means to protect me."

"Can any of us be protected?" Robert asked. "From something as insidious as that?" He peeked around the corner of their cover to see Saren keeping his distance, still standing on his platform. "We saw the subjects, Saren."

"You don't even understand it yourself, what makes you think you can protect yourself from it?" Shepard's voice was thick with disbelief. "Why would Sovereign even let you?"

"I've studied the effects for years," Saren replied. "The more control exerted by Sovereign, the less capable the subject. That is my saving grace. He needs me to be fully capable, not a puppet."

Shepard shook her head. "Why? What's so special about you that Sovereign won't indoctrinate you?"

"Sovereign needs me to find the Conduit. If I succeed, I will win reprieve from the inevitable. This is my, this is our, only hope!"

"It's a fool's hope," Shepard spat. "You can't trust that thing! We're just tools to it! Nothing more!"

"Listen to us," Robert pleaded. "I can sense what Sovereign truly is, Saren. It's malicious, contemptful of life… it has no reason to give you any promises or to keep them, and it won't. Our only hope is to fight these things."

"And we can do it, together!" Shepard urged. "Come back with me to the Council. Admit to them what you've found out, what Sovereign is. We can defeat it together!"

"You are not listening," raged Saren. "This is why I didn't go to the Council! We organics, we don't approach things logically, we follow emotions! We'll fight even when there's no hope in it, no chance to succeed! Our only hope is to serve! Otherwise the Reapers will destroy us!"

As he raved Robert quieted his mind and focused on his being. His energy and the Flow of Life met. It was growing cold and dark from the approach of Sovereign. He shook off that feeling of dread the Reaper was causing him and focused on what he felt from Saren. Certainty flooded that connection, a certainty born from being convinced his way was the only way, that he was right, everyone else wrong. Frustration tinged it. Even with the nuke destroyed, the attack on his base had caused major damage to his efforts and distracted him from his pursuit of his objective. The Conduit dominated that thought. It was the key to everything. He had to find it.

It was when Robert probed deeper that he felt it. Beneath Saren's certainty was… fear. Fear of losing himself. Fear that he was wrong. That Sovereign was controlling him, that Sovereign was lying to him, that he and the galaxy he'd sworn to defend were doomed. That he could do nothing to save them from the inevitable destruction of the Reapers.

There was an instinctive resistance to this inside of Saren. He didn't like these thoughts. He didn't want them. They were unwelcome, they interfered with his purpose, they…

...they were right.

It was barely perceptible to Robert, such that he nearly missed it. The twisting of purpose. The sliver of corruption, smaller, more subtle, than that he'd felt in Avot and the other indoctrinated Salarians. But it was there.

"I sense it in you, Saren," Robert called out. "I can feel it inside of your being, your mind. Sovereign's twisting your thoughts to his needs. It's too late for you to stop it. It's got you."

"No!" insisted Saren. "You're wrong!"

"When you were on the Aurora last year, I sensed there was something off about you, but I didn't have the ability then to understand what I was sensing. I couldn't have known." Robert rose from his place and stepped around it. Shepard eyed him warily while rising, her weapon at the ready. "But I know it now. It's buried inside of you, like a cancer on your spirit. Making you think Sovereign is right. That this is your only hope. Twisting all of your thoughts…"

"You don't know that."

"Deep down you know it already," Robert continued. "I can feel the fear inside of you, just as much as I feel that corruption in your being. You know Sovereign's using you. You just won't accept it."

"You are the ones who won't accept the truth! That we cannot fight the Reapers!" At that, the hovering platform rushed toward them again. Robert and Commander Shepard dove for cover just as Saren's bolts of dark matter flew for them. The attack barely missed them, dispersing against the solid cover they were employing.

"This resistance is pointless!" Saren declared. "If we do not serve, the Reapers will destroy us all!"

"This is insanity, Saren!" Shepard shouted.

"No," he answered coldly. "This is survival."

Since the contact with M4P2 opened up, stories about Asari Matriarchs had begun a silent spread across the Multiverse. Their great age and wisdom, their practiced grace and poise, their sheer capacity for handling the tumult of the e-democracies that governed the Asari Republics, these were the primary focus of such stories.

But there were a few about their power. How the centuries of learning and exercise had turned them into biotic powerhouses capable of immense feats of biotic strength, up until the time their bodies' aging process finally overcame their strength.

Lucy now reflected those stories didn't do justice to the facts. Or at least the facts regarding Benezia.

Biotic energy glowed so brightly around her to nearly become white. With a wave of her hand Benezia sent dark matter bolts that it took much of Lucy's strength to disperse. Liara strugged equally to resist her mother's power. Openings came, at least for Lucy, but they did her little good. For every attempted blow, her lightsaber met dark matter so concentrated that it couldn't break through. With repeated strikes she might succeed, but Benezia inevitably sent her flying or falling backward with a biotic strike.

Talara was having the worst time of it. She squeezed off shots where she was able, but they met the biotic field around Benezia with no better result that Lucy's weapon.

Undaunted, Lucy went after Benezia again. This time she started off by willing Benezia herself fall backward. Her power bypassed Benezia's shield in that respect. But the impact - against the support frame beside the Rachni Queen - could not break the dark matter field protecting Benezia's body. When Lucy rushed in and brought her lightsaber down on Benezia's shoulder, the field caught the blow. Benezia's arm came up and dark matter shot out at Lucy. With concentration she stopped the dark matter from striking her, causing it to crackle and dissipate before her. Another bolt from Benezia had the same effect. She focused on Lucy while ignoring the shots from Talara's pulse pistol with contempt.

Liara was not so easily ignored. She recognized an opening and took it… by charging her mother with her own biotic field gathered around her. She didn't let go of it until she was in literal point blank range, after which she forced it forward in a single burst of biotic power.

For the first time, a direct attack caused Benezia to stumble. She fell backward again, this time genuinely affected by an attack. The older Asari hissed inarticulately when she slammed into the pod containing the Rachni Queen. The hiss turned into a howl, after which dark matter surged from her and struck Liara. The blow caught Liara before she could recover from the effort of her attack. The dark matter enveloped her, a warp field that felt like it was trying to tear her apart. She cried out in pain and fell back for the moment.

Lucy thought she had an opening. There was a weakness in the field, or so her senses told her, and she struck at it with her lightsaber. But the bright light of the gathered dark matter surged back into place the second before her blade hit home and again the weapon was thwarted. Benezia snarled and summoned more of her power, a near stream of dark matter that seemed to be almost alive in its eagerness to tear Lucy apart. Lucy's face froze in an expression of pure effort. Everything she had went into the energy she needed to hold Benezia back.

Talara, kneeling at the wall she'd been batted against earlier in the fight, continued to fire without effect. Her eyes widened as the sheer energy in the room hit her senses. She remembered the feeling of energy when the Castle of Lions was drawing from both Princess Allura and Lucy, but this… this seemed even greater. Everything seemed to twist from the sheer power of Benezia's biotics and the dark matter it was generating. She never imagined biotics might be this powerful. And her pistol, now low on charges, was doing nothing.

With a deep breath Talara holstered the weapon and focused on her own power. Weeks of training with Lucy had taught her basic fundamentals of control and focus. She knew she couldn't hope to match what Lucy was managing, but if she could help distract Benezia… then maybe Lucy could overpower her. Maybe… With a grunt of effort Talara reached with the life energy within her, willing the universe to throw Benezia back.

And Benezia did indeed fall partly backward, as if knocked off-balance. Her attack on Lucy slackened slightly. Lucy, with determination glistening in her blue eyes, advanced on the Asari Matriarch, dark matter crackling around the empty air a step ahead of her, drawing closer and closer with each step. Talara desperately maintained her own attack on Benezia to try and contain her.

A cry of rage came from Benezia. For the second time a powerful burst of biotic power lashed out in a wave. Talara was thrown back into the wall by the impact. Lucy's defenses nearly fell, forcing her onto her back foot and off-balance. She redoubled her efforts, groaning with effort as she did.

Liara picked herself up from the ground. The dissipation of the warp field didn't bring an end to the pain. She felt terrible and, from teaching and experience, could expect possible microhemorrhages in her body from the warp field's effects. She looked to Talara, dazed and trying to stand back up, and to a desperate Lucy fighting her mother's power, and knew she had to act. Biotic power surged around her and she prepared to…

Liara stopped when Benezia's head turned toward her. There was a glint in her mother's eye at complete odds with her circumstances. Liara noticed her mother's biotic field seem to weaken at the section facing her. Presumably fatigue…

But that look in her eye…

And then she heard Benezia's voice speak, without a hint of the cold tone she'd used before. "I am proud of you, Liara."

"Doctor, a little help?!" Lucy called out, her voice strained from effort.

Liara's face betrayed her frustration with the situation, and her knowledge that regardless of anything she wanted… she did indeed have to act. And so she did, gathering dark matter and throwing it out in the strongest bolt she could create. The dark blue blast took barely a half-second to reach her mother. When it struck Benezia's defenses, the pure force behind the attack broke through the field of dark matter and impacted Benezia directly. There was a cry of surprise and pain at the force of the impact. It threw Benezia off her feet and into the air. She flew until she hit the handrail of the elevated platform. She flipped over it and fell to the platform below.

"Mother!" Liara ran to the railing. She looked down to see her mother sprawled out. She was not moving. Liara ignored Lucy's call of "Liara, wait!" and jumped over the railing. She concentrated dark matter sufficient to slow her fall and let her land on her feet beside her mother. "Mother, I'm here!" She bent down next to her. WIth a movement her omnitool came to life, amber light that she used to scan her mother. "Goddess no," she breathed at seeing the extent of her mother's injuries. The holographic image showed the blood seeping through what looked like multiple burst blood vessels in Benezia's brain, not to mention other damage.

"So proud of you, Little Wing," Benezia's voice said softly. "So proud…"

And she did not speak again.

A last exhalation of air came from Benezia's open mouth. Liara's scans told her the bitter truth, but she defied it for the moment, instead grabbing a medi-gel dispenser and pressing it to her mother. "No!" she cried. "Mother, please, no."

Above them, Lucy was helping Talara stand up. Both felt the same thing. They walked over to the railing and looked down. "Doctor… Liara… I'm sorry," Lucy said, even though she knew from her own bitter experience that nothing said could ease the pain of what just happened.

Liara's hands reached for Benezia and took her face. "I didn't mean it," Liara wept. Her tears fell from her face and onto her mother. "I didn't want this. Why?" With the expected lack of a reply, Liara pulled her mother into her arms and wept bitterly.

With discomfort written over her face, Talara looked to her teacher. The lavender of her irises reflected the pain they both sensed from Liara. "What shall we do?"

"There's nothing we can do." In sympathy with Liara's new pain, an old wound in Lucy's heart flared up. She felt that familiar hollowness, first experienced the day Isabela Lucero breathed her last. "Your parents are still alive, right?"

"Yes," Talara said.

"Good. I wouldn't wish this pain on anyone."

The air filled with biotic power and again Saren's bolts of force descended upon Robert and Shepard. They projected their own defenses to absorb the attack, requiring effort. Frustrated, Saren flew on to come in for another attack.

"Commander, we're staying just a step ahead of these guys," Joker said over their comms. "I can't get an opening to swing in and pick you up. And that big ship is getting closer…"

"Do not engage Sovereign, Joker!" Shepard shouted. "Retreat from Virmire if you have to!"

"But what about…"

"That is a direct order, Lieutenant Moreau," Shepard insisted. "Keep the ship safe! Shepard out!"

"When Sovereign arrives, you will understand the futility of this," Saren declared. He flew in toward them. Shepard fired off a few shots that Saren absorbed with a charged biotic field. "You will see I am right!"

They ignored Saren. "It'd be a good time for you to use all of those powers you've got," Shepard said to Robert.

"He's got us running so much I'm not sure I can control them enough," he replied.

Another bolt of biotic energy lashed out at them. Robert projected force ahead of them to disperse it. Shepard fired off another few rounds that had no effect. "Well, we have to do something. What about that platform? If you can knock him off…"

It was a good idea, and it ignored Saren's biotic barrier. But it wouldn't be easy. "I need a moment," he said.

Saren came in for another attack run. Shepard met his dark matter bolts with a barrier of her own that dispersed it. As she did, Robert reached out with his power. Force gripped Saren's platform. Slightly more force than Robert had intended, but that helped do the job, sending the platform flying upward and twisting violently, throwing Saren off.

Whether Saren saw it coming or not, he acted quickly in adjusting. In the seconds he had before he'd fall below the level of the roof, Saren channeled biotic power until he, like Shepard often did, shot forward on a trail of biotic force. He landed closely enough to throw them both off balance with the resulting biotic shockwave.

Shepard regained her footing quickly and raised her shotgun. The solid slugs it fired failed to break through Saren's biotic field. With his attention directed to Shepard, Robert attempted a direct attack with his lightsaber, aiming to remove Saren's arm. He found, quickly, that his green blade could not break the dark matter gathered around Saren. Saren threw an arm out at him and hit Robert with a biotic shot. The blow hit him hard, hard enough that he felt the impact through his armor. He went flying back toward the end of the roof. Instinct took over. He dropped the lightsaber and let it roll away so he could grip the edge with both hands. It strained his shoulders, but it kept him from flying off completely.

Saren grabbed Shepard by the neck and lifted her above his head. She struggled to breathe while reaching for his arm to try and break loose, even as his grip tightened. Robert sensed desperation and instinctive panic build up in Shepard as she tried to break free.

Robert pulled himself back up onto the roof and, motivated by his fear for Shepard, threw out a bolt of force.

It was a mistake. He threw the power out so swiftly that he failed to control it. Instead of a directed blow that would have hit just Saren, a wave of wild kinetic force struck both Shepard and Saren. They went flying through the air…

...and toward the other edge of the roof.

Robert immediately recognized his error. Cursing himself for not thinking his action through, he was already in motion when Shepard and Saren went over the side. Energy from his being filled his body and moved him beyond normal Human speed. He reached the other end of the roof in time to see Shepard spinning down toward the rocks and water below. His arms shot out and his power with it, gripping Shepard in mid-air. She looked back up at him, bewilderment and fear giving way to realization and profound irritation, while Robert pulled her back toward him. "What the hell was that?!" Shepard demanded as soon as her feet reached the ground.

"I'm sorry," was all Robert managed.

"You nearly killed me, dammit. If you can't control these powers you shouldn't…" Shepard stopped herself. "Where is Saren?"

They looked about. Saren was gone. "I don't suppose it was that easy?" she asked.

Robert shook his head. He felt out with his senses. He didn't feel Saren nearby, but he was certain he didn't feel death either. Not a fresh one. "He's gone." With a moment of insight Robert checked his omnitool. "A transport signature. It looks like he's beamed away."

"Damn." Shepard shook her head. She triggered her comms. "Shepard to Normandy. Saren's gone. We need extraction."

Shepard's request for extraction filled the cockpit area of the Normandy, where Joker was busy keeping the Normandy moving in sub-orbit. The flashes of Geth weapon fire filled space around them. Above them, in orbit, several Geth cruisers and lighter ships were firing down at them. "I'm a bit busy, Commander," Joker replied.

Beside him, Kaidan was working on his station. "This thing's not built to shoot at anything not ahead of it, Joker. I can't get a torpedo lock unless you give me an attack run."

"Any attack run and whoever we shoot at, their buddies pick us off," Joker retorted.

Far behind him, at the command station, Pressly overheard their argument over the ship's internal comms and asked, "What about our barriers? Can they hold long enough for us to make a pick up?"

From engineering, Engineer Adams replied, "I'm not sure. We took a few hits during the evac. I might be able to keep enough power going to them for five, maybe ten seconds of intense fire."

"Joker, bring us in," said Pressly. "We're not leaving anyone behind."

Robert picked his lightsaber up while Shepard helped the wounded Salarian over to his location. Joker's voice came over the line. "This has to be quick, Commander. The Geth have a visual and hard lock on us, if we stop for more than ten seconds our barriers won't hold off their fire."

"Understood." Shepard brought the Salarian toward the same edge of the roof where Normandy had previously hovered. "Give me a mark."

"Sixty seconds, starting now."

"I just hope we have it," Robert muttered.

Shepard almost asked why, but stopped when the first Geth platform slammed into the roof, a heavy model. "Damn." She raised her shotgun. The solid slug met a particle barrier, degrading it but not breaking it. She fired again and again.

The Geth was already returning fire, but Robert intercepted the shots with his weapon. Whatever his relative lack of skill with the weapon compared to Meridina or Lucy, the energy within him took over his arms and used the weapon's defensive capability with the same speed and efficiency as they would, sending plasma fire back at the Geth and, now, the other Geth landing behind it.

Shepard's shotgun was steaming hot as a sixth shot rang out. This one smashed the chest of the big Geth, causing it to collapse. "Overheated," Shepard said, explaining the lack of repeating fire. Instead she gathered her failing energy and threw, one-handed, a bolt toward another of the attacking Geth. The bolt struck the Geth and projected a field that sent it, and a second, floating upward into the air.

"Thirty seconds," Joker told them.

With the incoming fire increasing Robert blanked out any thought of counting the seconds. He let the life energy within him guide his arms and the blade in his hands, sending the bolts of plasma fire from the Geth right back into their midst. After several seconds Shepard's shotgun started thundering again. Another Geth went down with a crushed chest. Three more shots and a second had its head explode. The relaxing of fire helped Robert keep up with the rest, protecting himself, Shepard, and the Salarian she was still holding up with her left shoulder.

"Fifteen seconds."

In the air there was a distant engine roar. Robert dared not glance to see if it was Normandy flying in. He was too busy deflecting shots. As more Geth arrived the fire was becoming too much for him to deflect. He managed to deflect one shot into the flashlight head of a Geth platform, but another bolt struck him along the right side. Pain flared in his hip. Nothing serious, as his armor had absorbed most of the shot, but the next hit was more successful, striking his upper left arm almost directly. Pain filled the limb and without his focus, he would have been left with one hand on his lightsaber, a critical loss of control given the circumstance.

"Ten… nine… eight…"

As Joker counted down, the Normandy appeared overhead, flying toward Robert and Shepard from the direction they were facing. It began to turn overhead, spinning on a dime under the control of a pilot Robert was increasingly convinced was a contender for the title "Best in the Multiverse". Behind them the cargo bay door slid open.

Immediately gunfire covered the air above and around the, courtesy of the rest of the team and Kirrahe's remaining forces. "Come on, Commander!" shouted Ashley. Ahead of Robert and Shepard, another big Geth lost its head to a sniper shot from Garrus.

"Geth locking on! We've got ten seconds!" Joker reported.

The bay door was barely touching the roof, but it did enough for Shepard to back her way into it, shotgun thundering. Tali helped her with the Salarian. "Robert!" she shouted.

Robert continued backing himself up toward the bay door. The fire coming toward them was so heavy he knew he couldn't stop blocking, as tired as he felt. "Five seconds!" Joker shouted through the comm line.

No choice… now!

Robert turned and jumped, instinctively calling on his life force to do so as he did. It propelled him into the cargo bay and up beside the secured Mako. "He's in!" Robert heard Shepard cry out. "Punch it Joker!"

The Normandy shot forward even before the cargo bay door started to close. Shepard dashed for the elevator at the back of the cargo bay. Robert watched her go and slumped himself against the Mako. He felt dead tired and his wounds hurt.

"Captain Dale, allow me." Kirrahe motioned to one of his men, currently helping to treat the wounded Salarian they pulled aboard. "You went back for Specialist Lajan. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Captain Kirrahe," Robert answered, allowing the Salarian medic Kirrahe summoned to give first aid to his wounds. He felt a bitter feeling in his stomach. For all they'd learned, all they'd fought, and all of the Salarians killed in the fight… they'd failed. Saren's base was intact.

Even worse, he felt a cold sense in the Flow of Life, and his stomach twisted. "Damn," he muttered.

"What?' asked Garrus.

"Sovereign," Robert replied. "He's here."

As the Normandy rose into orbit, Geth weapons fire surrounding it, Shepard rushed into the cockpit area. Her eyes widened in recognition, and some fear, as Sovereign loomed ahead among the Geth. "Damn."

"I'm trying to break us from orbit. If we try to go FTL here…"

The Normandy nearly came out from under Shepard's feet at the extreme maneuver Joker pushed the ship into in order to avoid the beam of ruby light that came from one of Sovereign's tentacles. "Some kind of particle weapon," Kaidan said. "But sensors can't make sense of it."

The ship shuddered around them as more weapons fire converged on them. "I'm trying to keep them off, but there's so many!" Despite his protest Joker kept his attention on his controls.

"Pick a Geth and make an attack run," Shepard ordered.

"Aye ma'am." Joker did so. A lighter Geth ship filled the screen.

"Disruptor torpedoes locking on," Kaidan added. "I'm about to…" Something appeared on Kaidan's screen. "Wait, I'm getting a…"

Ahead of them, bolts of amber energy crashed into the Geth ship. As flame and debris erupted from along the tail of the ship, twin sparks of blue-white light struck home and the entire Geth vessel disintegrated in a massive burst of light.

"New ship on sensors," Kaidan said. "It's the Koenig."

"Patch me through," Shepard said. An intent look crossed her face. They weren't done yet.

On the bridge of the Koenig, Will Atreiad watched the Geth ship blow apart. Almost immediately the Koenig twisted and turned. A thick beam of ruby light speared the space they would have otherwise occupied.

"Whatever that ship is, it's… I've seen nothing like it," Magda insisted from Ops. "It's power signature is through the roof! And the weapons fire… it's some kind of magnetohydrodynamic weapon."

"Maintain evasive maneuvers," Will said. He tapped a button on his chair. "Koenig to Normandy. We'll buy you time to make a jump to FTL."

"This is Normandy," replied Shepard. "Before we go, Saren's base is still intact. One of your solar torpedoes should do the job."

"Right." As Apley kept the Koenig maneuvering around the Geth fire, Will turned his attention to April at Tactical. "April, a torpedo spread on that site."

"Target identified. If we don't want our torpedoes intercepted…"

"I'm on it," Apley pledged.

The Koenig twisted and turned away from the Geth ships and toward Virmire. The beautiful planet looked like a lush garden world, certainly not the world they should be firing torpedoes at. But Will knew enough from the reports that necessity trumped beauty in this mission. "Fire when ready!" he ordered.

The ship shuddered as a shot from one of the Geth cruisers hit hard enough to degrade their deflectors. But it didn't stop April from getting the shot off. On the holo-viewer Will watched the two torpedoes descend like bolts of wrath from one of the Lords of Kobol. They hit Saren's base dead-center. It disappeared under the resulting white light that scoured the entire area.

"Direct hit. No energy signatures, no life signs," Magda reported. "Reading complete destruction of the facility and much of the surrounding area."

"We've done our job. Apley, get us out of here!"

The Koenig twisted away and toward the hard-maneuvering Normandy. The Geth pursued, as did Sovereign. The old machine's fury lashed out at the two light ships, one ruby beam after another, but Joker and Apley kept their vessels maneuvering too tightly, too quickly, for the Reaper to get a hit in the seconds he had left. With nothing ahead of them, both vessels zipped away at superluminal velocity. With their respective stealth systems, there would be no pursuit.

Apley breathed a sigh of relief when Magda confirmed no pursuit. "That thing looks more like a monster than a starship," he said. "Did you see it?"

"Saw it, scanned it," Magda confirmed.

"Commander Shepard, please tell me you found out more about that monstrosity," Will said into the comm link with Normandy.

"You could say that," she replied. "And believe me, it's not good news."

"I'm not surprised. Lords preserve us." Will let out a sigh and laid back into his command chair, relaxing slightly. "Stand us down from Code Red. And get a signal to the Aurora. Mission accomplished."

The Marines entered the chamber a few minutes after Benezia fell. Anders walked up to join them. "How many did we lose?" asked Lucy.

"Two dead. Somers and Jhrik," Anders replied tightly. "One of those biotics, she just…" He stopped. "Even the heavy armor didn't stop her."

Lucy nodded grimly. "I know."

Anders looked over the railing and down to where Liara was still weeping over her mother's body. "I'm guessing she did the deed?"

"She did. Her mother let her, I think." Lucy shook her head. "Benezia was fighting the indoctrination, or whatever it is. I'm sure of that."

"We'll get the remains secured." Anders motioned to a couple of his Marines. "And get her back up here."

Lucy sighed. "I was hoping we could capture her. Maybe find out how Saren influences people."

"And what this was all for," Talara added. "Why would Benezia have come? Simply due to the Rachni outbreak? Was getting more soldiers so important?"

Lucy shook her head. She sensed it wasn't and was satisfied, as a teacher, that Talara sensed the same. "No. No, this was about more…"

She sensed a tug at her senses. A mental poke of sorts, not enough to break into her mind, but enough to get her attention. Lucy's head turned until she faced the clear cylinder suspended by the central raised platform. The Rachni Queen inside was facing her directly. Lucy approached it. She raised a hand and put it on the cylinder. Inside the Queen did the same, using one of its long tentacle appendages to press the cylinder on the same spot Lucy did.

"Lieutenant, what are you doing?" Anders asked.

A moment passed before Lucy felt the alien presence in her mind. It came as a mournful song, singing of loneliness and loss and pain. Through it she sensed memories from long ago. A harmony of singing between minds. Cities on a world otherwise hostile to life, teeming with the singing minds, all directed by the mothers underground.

Then shadows came. A sour discord came to the song. Peaceful singing died, replaced by rage and chaos. Other life forms came, without songs, and the singers attacked in madness. Cities fell. Planets burned. Blood flowed.

Then more aliens came. Lucy recognized them immediately for their humped backs and large bodies. Krogan, she thought. The blood and death continued, but the singers died with their new foes, who kept coming. Planet by planet, the singers died.

At this point the memories grew faint. Only distant whispers… and silence.

Lucy felt a revulsion for this outcome that was not hers. A desire to sing in peace. For the children to come. A resignation that silence was more likely to come.

You think I'm going to kill you, thought Lucy.

Surprise. You sing?

No. Not like you.

I hear your song. So bright. So pure. I hear you sing mercy. I will understand if you bring silence instead.

Immediately Lucy knew what she meant. Her eyes went over to the controls and up to the tubes that would, with a button press, fill the cylinder with powerful acid. She gasped involuntarily at the thought of that kind of death.

Anders was looking over them too. He faced the Queen. "So this is the Queen Tartakovsky talked about? What did Benezia want with it?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out," Lucy replied hoarsely, trying to focus on the mental connection. "I'm speaking telepathically with the Queen."

So many died, the Queen sang. We did not want this. We never… the shadows in the song. We know not where they came from. I know not. Our song was corrupted.

I know, Lucy thought. I sense that.

You what?

For a moment Lucy thought nothing. She felt. She felt within for the life-fueled force that made what she did possible. She felt for the Flow of Life and the gold warmth within, imagining how strong it could be among the greater concentrations of the living.

Such a song! I hear it. You sing of Life, of a golden warmth. It makes me ache with hope.

Lucy nodded. It would. It is the Flow of Life. It permits me to speak to you, to 'sing', as if I were a telepath. I am sworn to keep it strong. She took in a breath. You mean no ill will toward the species of this galaxy?

I wish only to sing in peace with my children.

Immediately Lucy felt the sincerity in the Queen. She was not being deceitful. Again, all she wanted was the peaceful singing in her deep memory.

Behind her, Anders was still watching intently. Talara undoubtedly sensed some of the conversation, but only some. The mental element of her abilities was still being honed.

What did Benezia want from you?

The one called Benezia sang with madness. I felt a shadow in her song, much as my mother felt. She demanded I sing of stars. Of a great gateway… The image of a Mass Relay flashed in Lucy's mind. It was lost long ago. The image of an exploding star, a supernova, came to Lucy.

A Mass Relay flung into deep space by a supernova. Your people know where it is? The moment Lucy thought that, stars came into her mind. They moved around and through her into a void, a deep void where a Mass Relay continued a lone, solitary voyage through the lightless void of interstellar space.

Her shadow sang of a 'Conduit'. I know not of this.

Lucy nodded once more. It all made sense now. The Conduit, spoken of in the record Tali found. The key to awakening the Reapers. Thank you, Lucy thought.

Will I know silence?

No. Lucy shook her head. I am a Knight of Life. I will not destroy you. Go and sing again, Queen, have children and sing of Light and Hope. With that Lucy's finger found a different control.

The cylinder containing the Queen lifted from its place. A mechanical arm pulled it up to a port. An internal airlock slid open, a route to freedom.

"Lieutenant, what are you doing?" Anders asked. It was just short of a demand.

Thank you, sang the Queen. My children will sing of your forgiveness. We will sing of your Light, Lucy Lucero.

The Rachni Queen went through the port and on to freedom.

Lucy watched her go. What she'd just done was sure to anger powerful people. Two thousand years had not diminished the memories of the galaxy when it came to the Rachni. In a moment of doubt she wondered if the Citadel Council might push charges of some kind, or if this would undermine the relationship between the Alliance and the Citadel.

Behind her Major Anders asked, "Lieutenant, why did you do that?"

"Do what?" Lucy asked. "Release her from imprisonment?"

"The Rachni once threatened this galaxy so badly they had to be hunted to extinction," Anders said. "Do you understand the ramifications of just letting that Queen go?"

"Yeah." Lucy nodded. "She doesn't want violence, Lieutenant. She wants peace. Any new Rachni she births will be taught to be peaceful toward other species." Sensing Anders' irritation with her, Lucy frowned. "Are you really saying I should have committed genocide?"

"No, I'm not," Anders said. "I'd never open that acid tank. But we could have brought the Queen with us to the Aurora and let our superiors handle the situation this is going to create with the Citadel. And that decision should have been mine. I'm in charge of this operation and that means I'm the responsible officer. I'm the one who's going to be held responsible for this, for everything that's happened."

Lucy let out a hoarse breath. "Major, I'm… I was trying to do the right thing."

"And you didn't trust me to?" he asked pointedly.

"I didn't say that. I just… acted. On my own."

"And that's not your place, Lieutenant. That's not your responsibility."

Given all of the fighting, not to mention the persistent pain in her hand, Lucy didn't feel like arguing the point. She could understand Anders' viewpoint. He was the officer in charge, and he'd be the one facing repercussions if Command took issue with what happened here. Her acting on her own wasn't enough of a defense from that. It made it clear he couldn't control her.

Anders sighed and turned away, clearly spent as well and not interested in continuing the argument. After taking several steps he looked over his shoulder. "I know your heart is in the right place, Lieutenant. But the chain of command exists for a reason, and if you can't follow it, you've got no place on my strike teams. I don't care how powerful or skilled you are." With that parting comment he walked away.

She was pulled from her thoughts by Talara's hand resting on her shoulder. "I think you did the right thing, Lucy," said her student. "I can feel it."

"Yeah," agreed Lucy. Briefly a smile came to her face at the thought of what she felt. At the Rachni given a new lease on life, a chance to join the Multiverse in all of its glorious diversity of life and thought. Inside she knew that, politics aside, she'd done the right thing.