Saren entered his lab on Virmire with haste, and ran promptly to the chamber where the first beacon was kept. This beacon was not the one that was found on Eden Prime: it was the first beacon Saren had ever encountered. He took a turn and descended to the artifact, raising his hand to touch it.
Sovereign's projection appeared on the comms, and a low, rumbling voice filled the room:
"The human you seek is here. She touched the beacon."
Darkness appeared on the turians face "She will not get away with this" he said, already turning around to exit the room, but Sovereign's response stopped him in his tracks.
"Turn that woman or eliminate her - but make sure you make no mistakes. I do not tolerante mistakes." and with that the reaper's silhouette vanished, leaving the chamber dark. Saren closed his eyes and contemplated his plan for a second. "No mistakes" he repeated with a dark expression on his face, his mandibles anxiously twitching. What a twat of a reaper.
He then quickly proceeded outside and jumped on a hovercraft to find that annoying woman, and after not long, just outside the AA tower, he has finally set his eyes on the prize. The commander could be seen from miles away: her red hair was a beacon of fire amidst all the geth and alliance soldiers. But it wasn't only her hair that stood out from the crowd that gathered at the tower: She had a pistol in one hand, relentlessly charging at the enemy, making closer contact with each step. She did not care about the gunfire or the hordes of geth soldiers, all she was interested in was going in for the kill. Her biotics flashed as the confused geth could not handle her proximity, and soon all of them came crashing to pieces. While getting closer and closer, readying his weapons, Saren noticed that her fighting style was less like actual fighting and more like dancing.. She flew between the geth with a grace he has never seen from a human before.
"What a sight" he thought to himself, when he landed on the platform as the last of the geth fell down. She was standing right there: her eyes beaming with anger, and with the heat of the battle. He had to admit it was a sight that amused him more than he wanted to admit.
Then their eyes met, and Jane had realised whose presence she was in. She stood straight up, looking at the turian who immediately started firing his weapons. Shepard jumped behind the frame of the door behind her, and shot Saren three times. All bullets bounced off from his shield.
"Nice diversion" he started "You convinced my geth that the salarians were the real threat. But I cannot let you destroy this facility. You have no idea what is at stake."
"I do know in fact" she replied, standing from her cover, facing the turian, pointing her gun towards him. "You destroying the galaxy is at stake…" she lingered "Why are you doing this?"
"You have seen the visions yourself, Jane" Jane twiched from hearing the turian calling her by her first name. Rarely anyone allows themselves this luxury from the first moment. "You of all people should understand what the reapers are capable of" his voice hummed through the air "Look what happened to the protheans - they rebelled and were utterly destroyed just for the sake of their pathetic freedom. We on the other hand..." he tilted his head "Do you really believe submission is not preferable to extinction?"
Jane sneakily glanced at the side and started stepping backwards, slowly. Garrus was just behind Saren, and was ready for a little push at the right moment.
"Do you really believe they will let us live?" she asked with doubt on her face.
"If we make ourselves useful, think about how many lives could be saved!" Saren explained, passionately, cornering Shepard, who was staying close enough not to alert Saren, but was slowly backing into the open door behind her. "But it comes with a price" he continued, his gaze fixated on Shepard "And I had hoped this facility would protect me. But for now, Sovereign needs me to find the Conduit."
"You're afraid he's taking over you" Jane cut his sentence "Your plan isn't working. You are already under his control, and when he no longer needs you, you'll become a mindless husk in his army!" her eyes gleamed with anger, stepping forward, now closing the distance between them.
Saren opened his mouth to reply, but was suddenly shot forward by a bright explosion. His shields overloaded, and he fell into the water, down to his knees.
"Now!" Shepard shouted, and Garrus - who was sneaking up behind them all this time - slammed his fist into the door controls. The doors slammed shut between them, leaving Saren and Shepard separated from the rest of the party and from the towers.
Saren rose up from his knee, and was promptly hit in the chest by the commander. His shields did not function anymore, so she pushed him to the door now behind him, and flew her fist into his face.
"JANE" he called again, grabbing the human by her shoulders. "You cannot win" he shouted and headbutted her. The commander fell into the water, but with a quick move she tripped him up. Saren also fell in the water, and by the time he moved his head to look up, the woman was on top of her. He caught her hands.
"Don't do this Saren, the reapers are going to kill everybody, including you! You cannot save anyone by the destroying the world!" she shouted passionately right into his face. Saren could not tell but her head was spinning - a turian headbutt is not a joke. Crimson blood was dripping down her face. Saren leaned in again and shot his forehead into hers - making him able to turn the tides and put the commander down into the water. Now he was on top of her.
"No!" he shouted, frustrated. This woman was strong. Any other human would have already gone down by now, but she was capable. She tried to move in every possible direction to escape his grip, but his weight was too much. She fought with a fierceness Saren admired - a fierceness that reminded him of his own weakness.
He was wondering again. Contemplating. If maybe..
"Saren, you said it yourself" she cried out, her expression changing from anger to disappointment "I have seen the visions… I see them every night in my sleep."
That did it.
His eyes were now fixated on hers. The turian stopped moving, not releasing his grip on her.
"You know what I'm talking about" she said with an all knowing glance.
He did know. The countless hours of not being able to sleep, to try and cope with the haziness and chaos of these visions. To try to forget the memories, the sight of a whole empire wiped from existence - to remember the pain, the screaming, the relentless hopelessness that took over his every waking hour.
Her words softened a bit, as she stared deep into his bright blue eyes.
"You cannot ally with them… they're going to enslave and harvest us like crops. They will claim your mind… You are going to be their first victory" she murmured softly, grieving.
"No!" he said, a new tone emerging in his speech - a tone of desperation - "Sovereign needs me!"
Jane had enough.
"No! You are destroying yourself and the whole fucking galaxy!" she cried, loud again, using the momentarily disturbance in Saren's coordination to get out of his grip and land a punch to his jaw. Saren stood and slammed his back to the door, surprised by the sudden force she introduced. She came violently towards him: firing her fists into his face in every second, letting out a battle cry, that left him baffled. Her face was dark, and full of emotions he had yet to discover on human faces. Her red hair flew around her, her arms crying in protest, red and blue blood mixing on their faces.
The door then suddenly opened behind them, making them fall again. Saren regained his footing and pushed the woman to the ground. He quickly reached out and grabbed her to throw her to the edge of the tower. Shepard tried to resist, but he was a lot stronger and grabbed her neck, lifting her up in the air. Their eyes just met, when the AA sirens went off, and the turian looked away in a moment of distraction.
Jane took this opportunity to land a punch, which released her from Saren's grip. The turian quickly proceeded to his hover and left the scene in haste.
"Shepard, we need to go!" shouted Garrus, helping Jane to stand up.
"Goddamnit this turian!" Shepard shouted, looking at the silhouette of the escaping Saren. Her blood was boiling with anger, her vision was cloudy. He got away again.
"Commander, what on Earth were you thinking..." asked Dr. Chakwas with a pale face while looking at the scanner results for Jane's head and hands. Her head was fine, a few scratches only. But she almost broke 7 of her fingers; 4 on her right, and 3 on her left hand. It was a miracle they did not break, which would have resulted in Jane not being able to fire her weapons - or fight - for weeks. "How hard were you hitting that turian?"
Shepard did not answer. She was just looking at the floor, silent. She was in no mood to talk.
"I am so sorry…. about Ashley" the doctor sat down next to her commander, burying her face in her hands. "I'm going to miss her.. And this ship will never be the same without her."
Right. Ashley was lost in action on Virmire.
"She could not be saved" whispered the commander "We need to make sure that will not be the case for the rest of us." and with that she stood up to leave the med-bay.
"Commander, your hands still need to be taken care of" the doctor said, but when she realized Shepard did not care about what she said, and will not let her bandage her hands, she shouted "At least try to rest them a bit if you want to fire any weapons on Ilos!"
And with that, the door shut and Jane was gone. She took the elevator and burst down to engineering. Garrus was sitting with his back to the rear wheel, looking at the crew lockers on the other side of the hangar, where Ash used to be.
"Hey" Jane called.
"Hey" the turian answered, looking up a his superior.
"Can I sit?"
"Sure" nooded Garrus, and the commander sat down. They just sat there for a silent minute, their minds loud with thoughts. "Shepard" Garrus broke the silence eventually "What do you plan to do with Saren once we got him?"
Jane looked at the turian, and lingered for a minute before answering.
.
"He's too dangerous to be left alive" she started. But Garrus saw through it all.
"But?" he interrupted. Jane looked at him scoldingly.
"But he could also be a valuable asset" she started "He knows more about the reapers than anyone else. If we would manage to keep him alive and somehow get him to join our side.. We might just have a chance against these damned bugs!"
"Ah spirits, you never seize to amaze me" Garrus took a deep breath and slowly stood up. This was the answer he expected to get from his commander.
Ever since they met on the Citadel in pursuit of Saren, he always thought this human was quite a special one. Men flocked after her (including Lt. Kaidan Alenko), but never reached her: the firearms on her side, some shooting in Chora's Den and punching a reporter in the face scared most of the men away, even though she was beautiful. Even by turian standards: the turians weren't used to squishy, short women like humans were, but there was something about her fiery red hair and bright blue eyes. Despite that humans were quite colourful, this combination was rarely seen, and it really elevated her from the masses of aliens on the Citadel.
She also picked up things quite fast, adapted really well and had a certain aura that made her very powerful. She always approached everyone with grace and clear intentions that he never really experienced with other humans. She was positive with everyone: never judged anyone from the beginning, and have given a chance to everyone to prove their worth.
Naturally, that applied here too, even if she wouldn't admit it.
""Remember, Shepard" he added before leaving "You cannot save everyone, no matter how hard you try."
The elevator door swooshed closed, and Shepard was alone yet again.
Why did she come down here again? She forgot, trying to find her place.
She waited for the elevator to drop Garrus off, then summoned it for herself. She drove it right up to her cabin. It was time to remove her armor and try and find some rest while they were en route to the Citadel to request reinforcements.
She quickly escaped from the heavy armor trapping her tired body, and went right to the bathroom. Cold water was soon pouring from the shower head, easing the pain in her hands. She looked down on them: they were bruised and a bit swollen too.
"Next time, only guns against turians" she thought to herself as she hissed from the pain.
Saren was not exactly how she thought he was. He was much bigger than she anticipated, a little taller than Garrus (not by much though), but wider, more muscular. His face was a lot paler, almost greyish and had no markings on it whatsoever. He was a bareface: something turians found untrustworthy. What a surprise…
But there was something in him that was very familiar to her. She had no idea what it was, but it was there, slowly creeping into her brain.
She fell into her bed and turned onto her back, looking at the ceiling. The fresh fragrant sheets slowly sucked her in as shell fell into a slumber, feeling her limbs getting heavier and heavier.
A familiar deep, rumbling sound took over her mind "Sovereign needs me!"
"No" she whispered, falling fast asleep.
The space around Saren was cold and empty, as dark as ever. The stars were distant and silent, barely flickering their light. He found a small spot on the ship that actually had a window of some sort - although not entirely clear and was hidden deep within the ventilation system. He looked through the glass into the emptiness, not an inch of his body moving.
Virmire's memory was hazy in his mind. The only thing he clearly remembered from the attack was a blue jewel, almost like a mirror reflecting his own eyes within itself. It reminded him of the silvery waters of Palaven. It was hard to grasp why something so familiar was found by him in someone so distant: his mortal enemy.
She was different than the other humans: she was a lot stronger and fearless, but also small and moved somewhat like water. Her words started coming back to him now, echoing in his brain, like a distant dream coming back to life.
"I have seen the visions… I see them every night in my sleep."Her blue eyes glistened with disappointment, sadness.
A heavy feeling took over him, as the fog in his mind started to evaporate. Suddenly his limbs started to tingle and a low growl escaped his throat. The Conduit.
He needs to find the Conduit, otherwise everyone will be doomed, starting with him.
Because Sovereign cannot find the Conduit on its own. Because it's not… organic. The prothean beacons were designed for organic beings.. Which he still is. Right?
Right?
His hands moved, and he looked at his talons. His vision started to fog up and he pushed his hands onto the ground beneath him. A thought emerged in him from deep within that fought the fog that took over his mind. He's already too far gone.. The indoctrination is a permanent process and cannot be reverted. The research facility was for nothing, it cannot be stopped.
But Jane… she had seen the visions from the beacon, she understood. It didn't break her. A simple human woman had more strength to withstand the fear and desperation of thousands of years than him. But what is he thinking now... it wasn't the beacon… it was Sovereign that was in his mind.
Sovereign was… doing all of this. It sucked him dry of reason.
The turian suddenly felt a wave of relief hitting him, and he somehow felt taller. His vision seemed to clear up and he looked out the window again. He ran to the thick glass and pressed his talon against it. His breath fell on the glass, his eyes in the distance. His forehead touched it, and he closed his eyes.
The beacons, the Citadel… The Conduit… it needs to be stopped. Sovereign is going to win!
"Jane-" he whispered, but suddenly an incredible pain pierced into his head. He tumbled away from the window as an unknown feeling surged through his body, shocking his limbs and burning his spine. The suffering concentrated in his chest as he lost control of his lungs, and started catching for breaths. He fell on his knees and fired his head into the cold metal floor of the room.
"My power is infinite" came a scorching sound rumbling in his head "And you are merely a tool of your own destruction!" The air snapped, and a thunderous scream escaped the ventilation area.
After the scream slowly and painfully died out, there were no more voices heard. The same quiet took over the ship that lingered here before. And with that, Saren's mind went silent.