A/N: The saga continues, the never-ending battle of the Editing Gang to rein in my abuse of punctuation, tense, spelling, and graemmur…
Oops. (I did that on purpose.)
Seriously, this one had about 6k words of expansion and rewrites done to it, so it is a lot better than I originally wrote it up as. The next chapter is about a third done. We'll see if I get it out before the end of the month, but no promises.
The opening quote is long, and is… something of a personal belief. As I said, the Premiseverse is dark for a reason, and that is not merely the endless pursuit of Edgederp and GrimBlack. It is to show that evil is petty, and small-minded. That greed and fear undo you in the end. And that it may take time, but – in a story or in real-life – the Light is going to win in the end.
The world is a frightening place right now, the news on our TV and internet full of images of death, and suffering, and cruelty. It will pass. This I have to believe, and I wrote my story this way to make it manifest and replete. If I took too long to get here, well… I suck.
Read the works of SLotH4, Nolanstar, Xabiar, Pallan Minerva, Aberron, and Katkiller-V or else I will make the Editing Gang read more bad fanfic.
'Often I am asked why evil flourishes.
'Evil is merely the lack of empathy and the belief that love and hope are empty words. There are those who embrace the darkness within, who honestly believe that mercy is weakness and that to love one another is impossible – due to politics, or to conflict between our species, or that it is merely naïve.
'Yet for all the power of evil – death, darkness, greed, cruelty, and lies – you will find these are transitory, and lead to the undoing of those who espouse them. Death is simply a part of life. To fear it is to miss the point of living as fully and as joyfully as one can in their span. Pain, greed, and cruelty are opportunities, a chance to show that mercy, love, and kindness are real. Lies are merely the tyranny of evil beings over those who would bring them down if they knew the truth, and will always falter in time.
'None of these evils can match the laughter of a child. They cannot match the beauty of the moon-rise, or the glory of the sun. No material wealth is as potent or fulfilling as the warmth of a lover's embrace in passion. No greedy and cruel leader can steal from you the ability to show love and to share hope.
'It is only in those who have given up the fight that evil wins. And as long as I draw breath and live, I will never bow to its demands, nor fear its lash.'
-Matriarch Uressa T'Shora, 'On Light Reflected,' a commentary of her actions at the end of the First Contact War/Relay 314 Incident
Bray glared balefully at the comms display, and the cheerfully flashing green icon that indicated a private priority message.
Leaning against the wall, the svelte form of Siona Sederis quirked her full lips into a mocking smile. "You look aggravated, Bray. Mess up at cards? Bet on the wrong fighting vorcha?" The smile turned sultry. "Maybe couldn't keep up a good performance for one of the dancers?"
Bray snorted. "Go fuck an elcor, Siona. No, it's this." He waved a meaty hand at the comms screen, and the dataslate in his hand glinted in the dim light. "It's been a shit morning. All the docks are showing signs someone hacked them to record cargo manifests and transmit it out of station. We're still picking through bits of dead bodies in the Mids where Shepard and the Archangel had their murder-rampage."
He turned away, looking at her. "An hour ago, Nyreen stormed back in here, and she and Aria have been screaming at each other for the past thirty minutes. Now I get to go interrupt them with some stupid comms message that is 'high priority.' "
Siona's mirthful expression shifted into a wince. "Owie. That is not going to be fun at all. I'm guessing she said don't disturb her, but…"
"Yeah. She threw Jasoris out a fucking airlock for not alerting her to the last priority call." He squared his shoulders and exhaled. "If I don't come back, tell Fareen to take care of my wife and kids."
Siona rolled her eyes, stubbing out the cigar she'd been smoking against the wall of Afterlife. "Fuck that noise, I'll go with you, if only to see you get beat up."
"Bitch."
The two figures walked up the central black staircase of Afterlife, ignoring the clouds of sivonis smoke, the scent of red sand, and writhing, oiled bodies that danced just out of reach of the dance floor below. A heavy black portal trimmed in green was guarded by a pair of asari, both with the trailing red and silver marks of failed war priestess aspirants. One held up a hand as Bray approached. "I really wouldn't."
He sighed. "Still in there screaming, I'm guessing?"
The one on the right made a motion of siari negation. "Nah, that stopped about thirty minutes ago. Probably fucking."
Bray exhaled and then banged his head against the nearby wall, drawing amused smirks from all three asari. "Nyreen has been gone for months, and now she's back and I get to interrupt things?"
The second asari guard was going to say something when the doors behind them clicked and slid open. In the passageway, Aria stood, dressed in a sheer black gown tied loosely, her eyes hooded and dark. "Where is Br— Oh. Bray. Good. I have a repeater that alerts me when the comms console goes off… I see you're already here with the message."
Bray managed not to let his relief show, instead simply handing over the dataslate. "It was marked highest priority Green, and… we couldn't trace-route it back. Even using the augmented stuff we took from Avrensis's labs."
Aria flicked the slate on, and then stared at it, the purple color in her cheeks fading and her breath catching. For several seconds she did nothing, then with eyes wide she looked up at Bray.
"Take two plasma torches. Melt the entire comms relay system to slag, and have the main computers replaced and then melt the old ones in the separation furnace. Physically isolate the antenna system, have it fucking atomized, and then replace everything. Call in the Blue Suns data scrub teams and have them scour everything down to the storage media, but put our own guys in there with them – make sure nothing gets copied."
Bray frowned. "You don't want our guys doing it?"
She shook her head. "I don't trust anyone that much. Once they're done, make sure they have an accident. No loose ends."
She turned to Siona. "I don't care how, get your mom on a comm-link, as soon as she can. If she asks why, tell her: 'The Silence has Broken.' She'll know what that means… and Siona – keep this quiet. You too, Bray, play it off like we discovered data spikes or infiltration or some shit."
Bray had been in a line of servants to Aria for long years and knew better than to ask why, and so did the guards. Siona was not quite as smart or experienced. "…My queen, what—"
Aria's eyes flashed as she snarled. "Do as I say, immediately!"
She whirled about and the doors slammed shut behind her, the light overhead flicking from yellow to blue.
Bray tapped his comm-link. "Vican, Borgas – round up ten others and meet me in Dock Fifty-Five. Also get the BSDS team on the line, we got a data scrub to do, some moron spiked a line into the Black Concourse again."
He turned and Siona caught his arm. "The fuck was that?"
Bray exhaled. "Something very bad, I think. I've been with Aria almost twenty-five years now, and I have only seen her frightened once before."
Siona let him go, frowning. "What in fuck scares Aria?"
Bray leaned forward, until his breath tickled the folds of her skin, and whispered a name. "Trellani."
Inside her personal quarters, Aria stared at the dataslate in her hands like it was poison, then closed her eyes and exhaled slowly.
For long seconds she held this posture, until she gave a howling scream of what could have been fury, or frustration, or terror, and hurled the slate away. Rounding on her heel she brought her fist against the unyielding wall to the right, cursing blackly.
The slate made a scraping sound as the door it had hit was gently pushed open. A tall, slender turian female, with elaborate traceries of betrayal-red over the whites of her facepaint, stepped out of the refresher suite. She was barely dressed any more than Aria — a thin vest and loose flowing pants, leaving her taloned feet bare — she glanced around the room before she saw the dataslate on the floor.
Her eyes were dark green bordering on black, and they narrowed as she knelt down to pick up the slate.
Aria hissed. "Don't… Goddess, just leave that fucking nightmare thing where it is."
Nyreen Kandros tilted her head, flicking a mandible and then placing the slate softly on one of the small tables flanking Aria's wide leather couch. She didn't say anything as Aria struggled to recover her composure, fists tightened and a faint biotic sheen slowly fading.
She waited until it had gone entirely before she spoke, her voice soft and non-challenging. "Aleena… what is it?"
Aria looked up, then shook her head. A final shudder ran through her frame before she crossed the room, picked up the slate, and glared hatefully at it.
After several seconds of silence, Nyreen frowned, touching Aria's shoulder. The asari jerked, then sagged and wiped her mouth with her free hand.
"It's just more of the same… more bad news, Ree. The worst."
The turian female flicked her mandibles, leaning against the doorframe. "Not even an hour's peace, I see."
Aria put it to one side, swallowing. "I'll… deal with it later. Our conversation was… interrupted."
Nyreen grinned. "Conversation? Is that what you call that thing with your tongue? That's one way to describe it."
Aria smiled at that, then shook her head. "Not that… Before that. Earlier. I was asking why you came back. You said you were done."
The turian female pushed off the doorway, walking across the room and clucking at a piece of torn clothing before sitting across from Aria. "And I was… I said you'd lost your way, forgotten who you really were in this… playacting melodramatic thing you have as 'Queen of Omega.' That you'd let pain drive you to cruelty, and that you'd forgotten and spat on everything that made me want to cling to you in the wake of losing everything I had."
Aria nodded. "And then?"
Nyreen gestured with her talons. "I realized I hadn't quite lost everything in my past the day I finally did lose it. The last of my cabal died. Tetrimus. He was a broken, shattered soul… betrayed, hounded, and his shield sold under his very talons. I remembered then how I felt when I was discommendated, how it hurt being cast out of the very Hierarchy I'd sacrificed my entire life to protect and serve. I remembered how I'd almost gone just as bad as he had… because I had nothing to hold me above it."
Nyreen picked up the decanter of turian brandy on the small table next to the sofa, and poured some into the crystal glass next to it. "So, I thought I needed to try again. And I come back to find that you let the Archangel clean the place up, and that you have offered free housing and protection to those poor fools fleeing Ilium. The Aria I left wouldn't have done that… but the Aleena I loved, would have."
Aria looked away. "We all do…" She stopped. "No, that's fishbits." She looked back at Nyreen. "I am not a good person. I do what I do for power, and I grasp for power for safety, and I cling to safety out of recognition that as much as my mother hates what I am, part of her is probably proud of me. As long as I don't push too hard, I'm allowed to… exist. But that is all. I'm not going to pretend to be something I am not. I am Omega, and if that has twisted me beyond recognition, it is because there are no other choices for someone like me."
The turian shook her head, voice gentle. "We always have choices, Lee. We always have to choose between what we know is right and what will get us the best result or the most money or the easiest path. It's not about being a 'good person'… it's about not being a fucking chute-hole when you don't need to be."
Nyreen drained the glass and stood up, tilting her head. "I know you can't look weak or vulnerable, and I know you must be close to breaking. I was… caught up in my own shit, and I wasn't feeling and listening the way I should have. I'm not an asari, and understanding all the stuff I feel with you is not easy. That's not an excuse, it's an apology. I'm sorry, and that doesn't fix shit, but it explains why I am here."
Aria sighed. "Because you thought I changed?"
Nyreen laughed. "No. Because I thought I had a chance to still change you. Before… everything was just dark and getting darker. Your daughter told you off, your own people were setting you up… and I was frustrated and stupid."
She smiled. "But hope is not dead. Flying back here, watching Shepard back from the dead, watching Cerberus kick in the teeth of the geth and the Asari Republic… I realized that. For fucking centuries we've let the worst people decide what happens to us, instead of trying to make it better."
Aria grimaced. "I tried when I first came here and it almost got me murdered as bad as Terena Terminus. I can only be what I am allowed to be. I can't make peace with the Council, because the Terminus hates them for throwing them out, and it preys upon them, and is jealous of them, and…"
Nyreen only shrugged. "I know. And that's the other reason I am back… I was being unfair. I still think we can make this a better place without being weak, or tempting some asshole warlord to come after you. But even if we can't… you need someone you can just… trust."
Aria closed her eyes and looked away. "I did. I trusted you… and you walked away. You said it yourself – sorry doesn't fix that."
Nyreen flinched but her voice was firm. "One of the outcasts who trained me once I was thrown out of the Hierarchy was an old Palavanus Honor Guard named Xhaela. Used to be in tight with the Primarchs, until she fucked up. Had a human lover, found out from him about a plot against the Primarch, and tried to use that information to sell herself to a bigshot turian general high in the meritocracy. The one she picked was actually a Facinus traitor, though, and it ended up with the human team on Palaven – including her human lover – having to save the Primarch and with her discommendated."
Aria sighed. "And the point is…?"
Nyreen chuckled. "The point is, love, that Xhaela always regretted what she did, betraying her lover. She never got over it, she never moved on, she was always at the edge of grief and self-hatred for it. She told me something I let myself forget.
"It never matters what you intended to happen, or what you tried to do – only how people see it. So I know you can't let yourself trust me like you did – because I didn't trust in you to do what was needed, I got self-righteous and stupid. I'm not demanding anything except to be here… and if I can earn it back I will. And if I can't, I'll remember that's on me, not you."
Aria exhaled, and tried to focus. She picked up the dataslate and fixed her gaze on Nyreen. "Alright, let's see how well this little play of yours goes. You can advise me."
Nyreen snorted. "Oh, goodie. My advice is to stop listening to your warlords. With the exception of Ymoosk, they have the collective brains of a very stupid tark."
Aria shook her head. "I don't listen to them anyway, but that's not what I want your advice about. This slate is from someone who is a very highly wanted criminal of the highest order. She knows secrets that could destroy galactic peace. More than one. Keys to shattering our entire civilization, starting a war that would never end without billions dead. I know some of what she knows, but not all of it."
Aria looked down at the slate. "She came here long ago, to escape the hunters on her trail, and told me that if she died she would pass along the truth that ruined her life. I agreed, because I was full of hate and fear, and I figured if I was going to go out I'd take my mother and all her works with me out of spite."
Aria exhaled slowly. "And this slate… is that transmission. This slate could get me – and you, and everyone else on this station – killed, Nyreen. The asari would risk everything to blow Omega to atoms if they knew I had this information."
Nyreen's eyes widened. "Spirits… who was this criminal?"
Aria's lips twitched. "Matriarch Trellani."
Nyreen winced. "Oh… oh, Lee, honey, that is so fucking bad. The Thirty have killed entire cities just for selling information to her. Just toss that thing in a sirefucking atomizer."
Aria's laugh was bitter and painful. "I wish I could. But this may be the only thing I have as leverage, and something I can use to ensure even if I go out, my daughter will live." She traced her fingers over the cheap gray plastic. "This will shatter everything I know, I think. She warned me a long time ago that it would hurt me more than any other asari alive, and I'm scared I know why."
She tilted her head. "So, oh wise good spirit perched atop my soul, how does this play out? Omega would use this, as Omega uses everything and everyone. Omega would not care about the deaths it would cause, or the suffering. Omega would use the truth to rally the weak-willed behind its banner."
Aria stared down at the slate. "And the part of me that's still who I was born as wants to throw up at the idea."
Nyreen frowned. "You can't use it. Even if you set aside how many people will die, the Citadel will come at you anyway. Just… just tell the Thirty – I assume this has something to do with them – that Trellani contacted you. They may already know."
Aria smiled. "Bray is destroying all the comms links that carried it and we can hopefully slag the computer that took the message without anyone knowing… but sure. And?"
Nyreen shrugged. "And tell them you deleted it without reading the shit, because you don't need any more problems out of the Thirty. But that if she sent it to you, she probably sent it to someone else who didn't like the Thirty. Like maybe the SIX, or the humans… or fucking P."
Aria nodded. "And what do I do with the data itself?"
Nyreen's voice gentled. "If you are upset and worried about what it will do to you to learn it, then you can always just lock it up. But it would eat at you, the idea of whatever was on it. So you'd need someone else to read it, to see if you could handle it, to have someone to talk about it with. Too bad there's no one you care about and trust enough to do that, isn't it?"
Aria snorted, a grin creasing her features. "That won't work if we bond again. And I shouldn't have to point this out since you tore my clothes off to get at my body."
Nyreen shrugged. "I'm not stupid enough to think getting your azure pushed means anything to you, Aleena. Letting me fuck you isn't the same as letting me bond again with you, and that's just as much if not more of a trust thing than that is." She pointed at the comms slate. "And honestly, I'm sorry, who pinned who to the ground with biotics again?"
Aria's features may have just slightly blushed, and Nyreen's mandibles flicked out in amusement as well. "Anyway… she only sent this if she's dead, right? You don't have to read it today, or ever. Lock it up somewhere, forget about it. Throw it into a star. Or package it up and send it off to the Thirty – it's easy to tell it hasn't been unlocked and read, that would surely calm them down."
Nyreen walked closer, laying her hand on Aria's shoulder. "And if it could start an intergalactic war… that doesn't sound like it's good for anyone, least of all us."
Aria nodded, then looked at Nyreen hard. "And is it 'us' until I do something that pisses you off again, or…"
Nyreen's voice was tired. "I missed you, and I'm just as empty without you as you felt without me. I can't fix anything with words or promises, just… actions."
Aria nodded, then glanced down and shook her head. "…Fine. Why the fuck did you even wash up and get dressed again, anyway? You know I wasn't done with you yet."
"Aleenaaaaa—!"
O-TWCD-O
"Justicar Samara, step forward."
The voice startled Samara out of the near-trance she'd set herself into since her arrival at the Court of the Matriarchy. The trip from the ruined and shattered corpse of Ilium had been a trial of humiliation, sorrow, and questions she couldn't answer.
Did the asari overreact? Did she follow the dictates of the Code, or did she just use it to further her own inner desires?
Most of all, why had she been left alive?
None of these had answers that she felt would help untangle her mind, or her soul, if she somehow came across them.
She realized that Aethyta must have used a biotic invocation – most likely, Touch of Athame – to render her unconscious. Most of her justicars had been slain or so badly injured further service was impossible, the Guard had taken staggering casualties, as had 2nd Fleet, and the howls of the media were matched by the fury in the e-democracy polls.
Despite all this, all Samara could think of was the sorrow and pain in her daughter's eyes when she realized her own mother was about to kill her.
"Justicar?"
Samara shook her head, and took two limping steps forward, the medical package strapped to her left thigh visible as the red robes she wore parted. Her features had a tired cast to them, and her eyes were narrowed and cold as she stared back at the Council of Matriarchs.
Her voice was soft and held a note of weariness and something like resentment. "I am here as requested, revered Matriarchs. I apologize for the delay, I am… still recovering."
Thana T'Armal matched her gaze, her voice hard. "The situation on Ilium has not proceeded as we were promised, Justicar. I'm aware planning this operation was the job of the Justicar Mistress, and Layana's report would indicate that the situation on Ilium was as described when your force first arrived. Thus, we must presume the failure must be laid at the operational level.
"As you had operational command, I would like an explanation of this… debacle." She gestured angrily at the viewscreens set along one wall of the Temple's meeting area, each filled with newscasts of the fall of Ilium. "We agreed to a purge. We did not agree to your soldiers acting like vorcha, or you engaging and losing to human terrorists and assorted mercenary trash. Additionally, you reported sighting Matriarch Trellani, but we have yet to hear anything about her current whereabouts."
Samara thought for a moment before inclining her head. "The ground situation was handled more by the telsharess and my second-in-command than myself. I would surmise that the Republican Guard was not expecting heavy casualties, and that the ranks of the Seekers and the rear of the echelon did not exert the proper control over their units."
Samara paused another moment, then her voice tightened. "I would also point out the situation was not what we had been led to expect – gang activity was much stronger and more dug in than we anticipated, and the echelon's huntresses did not do a proper flank security sweep. This led to several instances where the echelons were disrupted, and the Guard answered with full military firepower instead of stun weapons."
Matriarch Devir shook her head. "Why were you not present and reining in the telsharess, then?"
Samara shrugged. "When we had a report of Trellani on the world, I called for the news to go out, and then I attempted to localize her. Once this was done, I disengaged from combat command halfway through the battle to pursue Trellani and my daughter personally, with a selection of justicars and Republican Guard. Justicar Ysi Vhira held command. She… did not make out of Ilium alive."
She gave a shallow bow to the Vhira Matriarch, who had a pained expression on her face, and continued.
"I was unable to resume command due to the conclusion of my own search. We were… taken by surprise by anti-aircraft fire, and then my force and I were incapacitated by Aethyta and the Black Blades shortly thereafter. I did not recover consciousness until we were already departing from Ilium.
"As for the archtraitor, Trellani undoubtedly escaped. I could confirm we had footage of her – in several locations – but I did not personally see her, nor did any of my justicars."
The tall justicar inhaled and squared her shoulders against the throbbing pain in her leg. "I should have dispatched a subordinate to take out Trellani and Mirala. That I did not do so, as the Code recommends, is my personal failure. I cannot and should not, however, be held accountable for the failure of the 2nd Fleet. If the valsharess had followed orders and commenced controlled light bombardment, the situation may have ended differently."
Thana nodded cooly. "Your people did not pursue those fleeing Ilium. You have an excuse for this as well?"
Samara's serene expression didn't shift. "Only that I was not in command, and that 2nd Fleet was a tattered wreck by the time Cerberus withdrew, reeling from thousands of casualties and with half its ships still fighting geth boarding units. Any sort of interdiction strikes me as unlikely to succeed in any reasonable fashion – the CEOs undoubtably fled the system as soon as possible.
"As far as other issues, the geth were an unexpected and unpredictable complication, but the situation involving the strength and composition of the mercenary forces was not as reported to us. The CEO of Starshine who alerted us to the issues involving possible communication with Aria was, I believe, herself deceived and duped into doing so. I now believe Nassana Dantius was the one who wanted Ilium invaded."
The expression on Thana's face became incredulous. "And you reached this conclusion how?"
Samara exhaled. "First, it is widely known that I am focused on locating my daughter to bring her to justice. The human Commissariat, in their discussions involving Shepard on Ilium before the fall of Nos Astra, indicated Mirala had not been sent by them to Ilium. Her arrival on the planet was due to a lead she had in pursuing a personal target of her own – and I have proof that Nassana set that up."
Thana's face did not change expression, but Samara continued. "By itself this is nothing, but in context with other issues, it will make sense. The CEO of Starshine did not know the Ilium Court of Corporations had hired heavy mercenary forces with battle-suits and armored vehicles. She did not – and from intercepted comms, neither did the Court – know the planet's GTS defenses had been taken over by personnel from the Shadow Broker. The entire Court was blind to what was happening and reported Nassana had fled the planet even before we got started with the purge."
Samara straightened. "Finally, based on… information I received, it appears that Midnight's Kiss and a host of other ardat-yakshi were working with the Shadow Broker and his people, and that Nassana Dantius fled with them, not P. as we were told by Nassana's people and the CEO's statements. Given the fact that Nassana knew a police action was coming, knew me and my reaction to Mirala, and hid things from the Court, I believe the situation was a plan to create enough chaos for her to flee Ilium."
The justicar paused. "To expand on that, she needed to flee Ilium because she was the next logical target for the Sisters of Vengeance, and because her sister – who survived several attempts to kill her – was probably waiting for her to flee to hunt down and kill her. With the method she used, whatever she was really up to with Aria has been destroyed, her tracks covered, and her enemies either dead or unable to find her."
With a clear effort, Matriarch Yulsanis T'Purice straightened in her seat, her ancient features hardening as she spoke. "You seem to be implying several unpleasant possibilities, young Samara. However, the Discerning have found evidence that follows along similar lines. We know for a fact that Dantius reached out to the turian Deathwatch to inform them of Tetrimus being on the world before 2nd Fleet even arrived. Our sources on the fringes of the STG indicate Dantius was also in contact with the STG Master about something on Ilium. That explains why both were active on the surface… and it is not beyond the realm of possibility that Dantius may have tipped off Cerberus as well."
The ancient matriarch slowly turned her head to stare at Thana. "And of course, the fact that Midnight's Kiss was working with the Broker's people is not exactly news to me."
Thana's eyes narrowed. "Perhaps sharing this kind of thing with all of us might be more prudent in the future, elder? If we knew an ardat was with the Broker, we would have been more wary of taking intel and guidance from his people and avoided the mess with Cerberus – or focused more on actually catching Trellani."
The old asari made a sign of siari negation with almost lazy familiarity, long fingers twitching into the shape as she spoke. "Not really. The Discerning is not a tool to be used lightly, or discussed at a whim."
Thana gave her a look. "It's a bunch of no-account fourth and fifth lesser daughters of nothing lesser houses, or a pack of clanless sluts of even less use. How hard can it be to just summarize the high points and present them?"
Yulsanis sighed. "Much interpretation and corroboration must be done to filter out inaccurate beliefs and rumors, not to mention deliberate falsehoods. Our knowledge of Midnight's Kiss and her allegiance to the Broker came only a few days prior to Ilium. Confirming it took longer, and even then… what of it? She was a piece on the yalthari board, and not one of much power. To act on that would be a hasty move without more certainty, and I do not make hasty moves. It is the very long game I play. You do not seem to like playing it, much like your mother, and the rest of you were still in first-school when I was already leading my House. Thus… listen."
Her voice rose. "The problem is not merely that Ilium was the result of a clanless playing us like a chara-harp. It was not the presence of Trellani, or of Cerberus, or even the geth. These are symptoms. The problem is that we have had our own plans turned against us. What should have been an easy suppression is now a horrific repair cost to the fleet, the loss of a fifth of our Republican Guard on active duty, the net loss of tax revenue, and other… benefits… Ilium provided. It is the political capital we must expend to fix and soothe the dartfish who will seek to profit from our lapse."
The old asari exhaled. "Worst of all, it has tarnished the reputation of the Justicar Order and made them look insari and cruel, and has the potential to turn a very dangerous weapon back unto its wielder." She used an ancient asari term for acts that were cruel and against the tenets of asari.
Yulsanis turned back to face Samara, voice hard and cold. "Justicar, the most concerning issue I have is that Matriarch Aethyta and her Black Blades acted against the forces of the Republic. This escalation is very alarming on a number of levels. While the salty old fool is a warmongering azure-chaser with less sense than my great-grandchildren, she and the Blades were some of our more… formidable weapons, and until now, all of them were loyal. Given that she was occupied almost the entire duration of Aria's rise to power in watching that threat, we could not deploy her against Trellani, and the Blades themselves preferred answering to her or Jona Sederis. But we had no reason to believe they would turn on the Asari Republic."
She leaned back. "Their loss is not a blow in terms of our power as a nation – it has been long, long years since the Blades and their Blademistress acted at the behest of the Thirty. I worry instead that Aethyta is already bitter – alienated by this very chamber, probably aware of the less than wise manipulations of events that directly led to Benezia's fall, and of course, furious at how her daughters have been treated."
She paused to angle a very hard look at both Thana as well as Matriarch Vasir, before coughing and continuing. "Aethyta is bitter, tired, and discontented. My worry is simple: she is resentful, and Trellani is a relli with poison none can bear to hear. If Aethyta were to join Trellani's cause…"
Matriarch T'Rome gave a snort. "Inalia could deal with her."
Matriarch T'Purice stared at the other asari before breaking up into laughter. "Your pet killer barely managed to survive her little dance with that Cerberus assassin, and got a little crispy from what I hear. Inalia is very good, that is true, but if she was pushed against Aethyta and the Blades as a whole, she would have all of ten seconds before becoming a splash of blood on the ground."
She turned back to Samara. "So I ask, Justicar, this: would Aethyta turn her blade against the asari? As her student – and one of her lovers – you would know her mind in this regard."
Samara gave a pained sigh. "I am… unsure, Matriarch. Aethyta…" She paused, then closed her eyes. "Aethyta, as I said in my report, could have easily killed me. She did not. Nor did the Black Blades kill any of the Republic strike force that accompanied me – that was all done by the Cerberus soldiers aiding Mirala. It is possible she acted simply to minimize deaths. It is certain they could have killed all of us with ease."
She raised her head. "But it is also true that she hates many of you, and you have done her and her House no favors over the years. You hounded her, destroyed her prize pupil, made her pretend one daughter was not hers, and drove the other one away from the Asari Republic entirely. I am not totally unfamiliar with the Black Blades, and many of them are no doubt weary of the half-existence they had."
Yulsanis nodded grimly. "That is what I expected, Justicar. So let us summarize. We had the situation on Ilium go out of control, most likely due to the machinations of Dantius. We know for a fact Dantius was in communications with Aria, and that she wanted wide-scale chaos. We know that Dantius may have discovered some of the truths of the Old Temple. Given STG, Deathwatch, and Athame only knows who else were on the planet, we can assume she may have contacted more than a few parties to draw them in. Goddess only knows what information – or lies – she sold them to have them show up."
She paused to sip at a glass of water, then gave a grim smile and continued. "At the same time, Trellani is still at large, ensconced within Cerberus. Reportedly dead, but I'll trust that when I see the body and have it gene-scanned. Even with her gone, Cerberus is now host to several beings capable of killing Tetrimus, Tazzik, our friend Okeer, and Goddess Above only knows what else. Mirala, who is an asset of the human Commissariat, is with them. The Black Blades are with them. None of these parties has any reason to like us and there is every chance Jack Harper would use any tool he could to remove us – that being the Council of Matriarchs – as a threat."
She smiled wider. "Finally, we find out that Liara – and that clanless girl, whatever her name is – are both actually alive, were working for Aria to take down the Broker, and now are in Cerberus hands. And from the communication we received from Admiral Daro'Xen, Cerberus itself is in communication with Aria."
She leaned back in her chair, ancient features stretched into a mocking smile, her eyes narrow and cruel. "Is it such a stretch to believe that every last piece of this chaos was actually orchestrated to produce the very results we have seen – the Asari Republic humbled and shamed and one of our worlds utterly destroyed?"
Matriarch T'Suon frowned. "That seems like a stretch indeed. Aria is no master manipulator on that level – and besides, she knows much of the truth, and that dagger has been at our back for centuries. And our communication with Cerberus indicated Trellani was dead. They even offered to let us verify it before Shepard arrives on the Citadel. If this was all staged, it looks like something went very wrong."
Thana spoke. "I am very doubtful Trellani is dead. Trellani did not survive twenty years of assassinations and pitched battles to just suddenly die at such a convenient time. Cerberus knows we won't deal with them as long as she is with them… and we are dealing with an organization that has already brought at least one, possibly two people back from the dead. We cannot be sure this is not some trick, after all. Even if it is true, Yulsanis is implying that Trellani may have been the one to set Dantius in motion, and that Cerberus may use Aethyta against us if Trellani told Cerberus any of the truth…"
The old matriarch raised her voice. "Exactly. I am sorry, but we cannot take chances. Trellani's knowledge cannot be divulged, and Aethyta herself knows far too many secrets to be allowed to remain in the hands of Cerberus. Divine Uressa, you must act. We cannot take a chance that Trellani's death is some trick, and that she and Aria begin working in concert."
Uressa said nothing, and Matriarch Devir frowned. "Certainly you don't expect her to utilize the Cull? Against Trellani…"
Yulsanis gave a cruel smile. "It is the only way to be absolutely sure. As for the rest, we would need to clear the board of Aethyta and the Blades as well. If the rumors are true and even Tela Vasir has gone over to Cerberus, that is yet another delicate issue. Uressa has the capacity to force their minds to submission and have them return to Thessia where they can be… dealt with. If Trellani is actually dead, so much the better."
Matriarch Suliasa T'Soni shook her head in disgust. "We're going to have them killed – and let's not skip around the flame-tree, if you have Uressa mindfuck them into doing this you are going to have them killed – because they might expose the stupid shit that we, the Circle of Matriarchs, have done in the past? That's gonna go over like a fucking nexa in your bathing pool. Using the Cull against Trellani is gonna kill a lot of clanless in the activation area – maybe some of Shepard's people. You think of what happens if that sets them off? Or worse, if someone starts asking questions?"
Yulsanis shrugged. "The ugly reality is that we are faced with unpleasant choices, and that Cerberus is not our friend in any case. Have you forgotten that their soldiers just killed most of two echelons, a war priestess, and several justicars?"
Suliasa made a sign of siari negation. "No, I haven't. I also haven't forgotten said soldiers were acting like a pack of narcharcus in a feeding frenzy, shooting down kids and civilians. I haven't forgotten that Cerberus is nasty news, either. I'm just saying escalating things this far is going to cause us a lot of trouble and expose us to worse."
Yulsanis sighed. "We are, as I said, already exposed. If Trellani is alive and can win over Aethyta to her side, she will act. Even if she is not, you cannot be blind to the reality that Harper will use any tools he can – and Aethyta knows more than enough to be just as bad as Trellani! Can you imagine the chaos that would result if even a hint of the truth of what happened to Aleena was revealed? Or that we have sent out Aethyta many times to kill off clanless leaders? Ilium would look like a bonding party in comparison."
Suliasa snorted. "Of course we can imagine the chaos. When I was informed what our idiot ancestors had done I wanted to dig the stupid bitches up and strangle them. The problem with your idea is that you're going to use a bomb to take out one person. Sure, Uressa could kill off Trellani – and unless you're gonna talk her into meeting on the far side of the galaxy, half of the clans would die in the activation. That's more chaos than we can handle, not to mention all kinds of awkward questions."
Yulsanis shook her head, her aged features pitiless. "While it is true that our own control of the Prothean device is clumsy at best – Uressa is interfaced with it and can control it more finely. The Avatar has had to act in such a fashion in the past and we did not end up killing them all."
Suliasa narrowed her eyes. "And forcing Aethyta and Tela to come back here? You kill a Spectre and the Council—"
Yulsanis cut her off. "I know this and no doubt so does Thana. What choice do we have? We cannot afford to lose control at this late juncture, and it is always better to be safe than to be sorry." Her voice rose. "As I said, Uressa must act."
The matriarch of House T'Shora had been sitting quietly on her chair, staring at her hands. She slowly looked up, her expression sad and her voice tired. "Still you speak of them as you would speak of cogs in your machinations."
Yulsanis stared at her for a time, hesitant. "Them?"
"Them. My children and yours, matriarch. They saw their works, the world built at such cost by the clanless, burned by the geth. They saw their families butchered by the justicars. They saw their dreams evaporate like mist on the moonrise, and over what? Your fear? Your pride?"
Thana T'Armal's voice was soft. "You agreed to the purge. You did not stop us when you could have."
Uressa's voice grew hot and angry, and the entire room seemed to waver as the rest of the Matriarchs flinched. "I am aware of that. I made a mistake in doing so. Instead of thinking of the cost in blood, in pain, in the shattered lives of the innocent and helpless, I reacted due to the damage Trellani could cause. She has held her tongue for more than twenty years. I must now accept the fact that all of this blood – asari, human, turian, innocent blood – is on MY hands."
Her voice rose. "I have just had to watch millions of my children butchered by filthy machines, and to endure watching Cerberus of all the groups lambast us for our lack of pity. I have had to watch asari murder asari, to watch the deaths of children and those who had no part to play in the fell acts you suspect the leaders of Ilium in undertaking. I have, as you pointed out, already stained my hands and soul by allowing this atrocity to occur."
Her teeth gritted together as she looked at Yulsanis. "And you ask me to do more? You ask me to utilize the very horror that led me to agree to let you kill my sister, to take out your political opponents, who are enraged at the ugly truths behind the pack of lies you use to control and manipulate our people? You ask me to shatter the minds of your blood-soaked tools and force them home to die, just because you fear Harper will find out what you have done, the evils you have committed and that I let myself tolerate?"
Uressa's eyes narrowed, and her voice was as iron. "No. That I will not do. If there is an issue with Aethyta turning her blade against you, it is not as if you did not bring it upon yourselves. And if the Dark Matriarch has held her silence this long, she is unlikely to break it now. Do your own dirty work."
The old matriarch clenched her fist. "This is no time for moralizing. You must—"
There was a staggering flash of light, and Samara felt herself flung back, crashing to the ground almost fifteen meters away. The very light of the Temple dimmed into a throbbing strobe of blue and white, as the rest of the Circle of Matriarchs fell to their knees or full onto the ground.
Uressa stood, wreathed in a bale-fire halo of blue energy, steam, and lines of some other energy streaming behind her in unseen winds. "I must?"
A pulsating wave of emotions and pressure rocked the room, as the tall asari stared down at the now terrified matriarchs.
"You forget yourselves, again. I have let you butcher my creators, murder my sister, steal and ruin my acolyte, corrupt my mind, torture and warp my children, and commit atrocity and depravity among the stars, all in pursuit of the goal – to stop the things we now know are Reapers. But after millennia, my patience is almost gone."
Uressa strode across the room, lifting Yulsanis up with her biotics, blue light rising even higher in power. "I can undo all you have done, and I will, if you continue down this path. I have already let enough evil, darkness, and pain resonate through this galaxy, and I am tired of watching the tears of children form into seas of despair."
Samara felt as if she could not breathe – the very air was almost alight with warpfire, puffs of smoke; the charred splotches on the stone floors where Uressa stood flaking away in a breeze stirred by the temperatures. Then it stopped, the light returned to normal, and Uressa let the old asari slump to the floor.
She turned, staring at Samara, and gave her a smile filled with sorrow and pain. "And you have tasked a mother with killing her own child, a child whose only sin was to be born of a joining of love between a master and a student." Uressa walked over to Samara. "I should apologize, and beg forgiveness… but my temper has consequences, and you will not remember this conversation."
She gently touched Samara's forehead, and a sensation of peace and calm descended upon the justicar's mind. She slumped to the ground gently, a faint smile on her features, and Uressa gave a sigh. "I should not have to fix such things, nor allow such travesties to happen. Sending this poor mother to kill her own offspring is cruelty even the salarians would turn from."
Without turning back to face the matriarchs still getting back to their feet – or hyperventilating with fear – she spoke, her voice as hard and cruelly mocking as Thana's for one small second. "But apparently not you, dear sisters."
Her voice rose in volume, mockery turning to firm command.
"Aethyta and her family – and that includes Shepard, if it is really her – are off-limits to you and your plotting, as is Tela Vasir. I will be the one to meet with Shepard, and by extension Cerberus. You will instead focus on bringing any remaining independent asari colonies into the Republic peacefully and allowing those who wish to leave such for the Systems Alliance, or even Aleena's realm. You have done enough damage as it is."
She paused. "As for Trellani – dead or alive – and any other concerns, I will handle them as I see fit when I meet with Shepard. I expect you to do what your ancestors agreed to, and to safeguard the asari people, not trample them. Do not push me, for if you should offer them the slightest trouble for it…"
She slowly closed her fist, and every matriarch's eyes widened as a force gripped their hearts. "…you will learn that the Cull can cut you as well as it can cut the helpless."
The beautiful asari half-turned, her single visible eye narrowed. "Do not test my patience further, sisters. I have held my tongue so long because I know that sometimes to be kind is to be weak… but that does not mean to be cruel is to be strong. Fix this. Or you shall face chastisement."
She left, flinging the vast doors open with a single biotic push, and the room was silent for almost a minute before Sulesia T'Soni spoke. "Well, anyone else have any more bright fucking ideas?"
O-TWCD-O
Shepard, for once, actually felt tired as she woke up. She gave a weak sigh, wincing as she shifted and a spike of pain shot through her.
The throbbing pain in her side had only intensified after the call with the quarians, enough so that Shepard actually put off talking to Liara and instead headed to Medical. Miranda had spent nearly twenty minutes in hushed consultation with several of the other doctors before proceeding to have Shepard lay down in an operating theater. From there, Miranda had put her to sleep and when she awoke, it was in her own quarters.
Miranda had not left any messages on her omni, so she presumed they'd done something but the pain hadn't gone away. She sourly remembered Miranda's dire warnings about internal injuries, and could only hope the pain would fade in time.
She shoved that thought back, looking across the room, and smiled.
The room was still mostly bare of anything like personalization, but Liara was sitting at the wide steel desk in the upper section of the living area, flitting quickly through screens with one hand. A glass of Scotch and an ashtray with several cigarette butts showed this was not a recent development. Her gaze was fixed on the screen, an expression of intense concentration on her face, the dark silvery lines that radiated out from her cybernetic eye framing her face in the light of the screen.
Shepard levered herself out of the comfortable bed, wincing as the pain in her side lanced through her again. Gritting her teeth, she stood and said in a soft voice, "Hey, Li."
The asari nearly jumped out of the chair, hand dropping instinctively to a place on her belt that held no weapon, before shaking her head and giving Shepard a thin, stressed smile. "I am sorry… I was absorbed in reading and you startled me. Miranda brought you here from Medical – are you alright?"
Shepard waved a hand. "It's fine, hon." She rubbed at her eyes, gritting her teeth again as they felt gritty and out of place. "As for fine… I dunno. Everything hurts across most of my torso, and God only knows what kind of shit I messed up killing that stupid pointy-faced fuck Tetrimus." She smiled savagely. "Still, that was worth it. My internal chrono says it's just after nine PM… did you ever eat anything?"
Liara turned the chair to face her, sitting back down. The black jumpsuit she wore didn't have a Cerberus insignia on it, but it was clearly one of theirs from the form-fitting tightness to the slight thickening of the front that Shepard knew was some kind of ballistic weave. Normally, she'd figure Liara would make any kind of tight fitting clothing look good.
Instead, she only noticed how strained and thin she looked, how her hands shook even as she lit another cigarette and pondered Shepard's question. "Li…?"
Liara shook her head again. "I… yes. I ate earlier, at Pressly's insistence. For some reason, they knew my favorite fish and exactly what brand of Scotch I like… as well as my sizes for clothing, for the most part." She sighed. "I've been going over the intel and documents Ms. Lawson was kind enough to provide about the Broker and Cerberus in general."
Shepard sat down on the wide leather couch next to the desk, pulling out her own pack of cigarettes and lighting one. While she wanted to talk about them, instead of intelligence bullshit, she also could tell her wife was nervous and stressed. Maybe just talking would help. She put on a smile and tilted her head. "You find anything interesting?"
Liara's expression faltered. "Not as much as I hoped. The Broker Network itself is quite… expansive. There's a lot of rumor, a lot of extrapolation, and not much hard fact. It does not help that the Network itself has a tendency to generate false leads, incorrect stories, and urban legends."
The asari looked down. "I've been trying to link up sets of data, comparing what I and Telanya found out in our… in the past two years." Her voice took on a bitter note. "Not that it revealed much. Both my aithntar and Trellani agree that the original Broker was an asari, and the position was held by the asari for centuries before an ardat caused some kind of incident. Salarians took over after that, and the Broker became an entity unto itself, eventually evolving into the Network that protected its own interests."
Liara exhaled. "Doctor Solus believes the previous Shadow Broker was dead for more than forty years, possibly far more. Even the STG had no real information on the current Broker, and from all my research, only one person had anything. Given that I thought they were dead, I presumed that would be a dead end."
Shepard nodded slowly. "I sense a 'but' coming."
Liara gave a tiny little smile. "Indeed. An off-hand conversation in Medical with Doctor Sedanya gave me a great deal to think about. And in the end, I sought out your krogan Grunt to talk to the… imprint of Okeer."
Shepard picked up the bottle of Scotch and poured some into a plastic cup, getting up to get ice from the mini-fridge across the room. "Bet that was a load of fucking fun."
Her wife gave a brittle laugh. "I'm intrigued by the depth of his knowledge of many things – he has a hobbyist interest in Prothean Art. For about half an hour I could almost forget where I was, listening to him describe the ruins of the Galleries of Defense and the murals there."
Shepard grinned, happy to hear her laugh at all. "You seem to have good luck running into people who have hobbyist interests in the Protheans, like General von Grath."
Liara's face gentled into a soft if crooked smile that looked out of place on her features, then shrugged. "Maybe. Those days seem like so long ago. Memories of dusty old cities, and my pathetic self-pity. I thought I had endured hardship in my life." The smile grew bitter. "How naïve I was."
Shepard shook her head. "I don't think so. You've had a lot of heavy shit laid on you the past two years, Liara… I won't pretend you haven't changed. So have I, and so has everyone else. But I still think my sexy little scientist is in there, she just had to… grow up a lot, and have a lot of crap thrown on her with no one to help her carry it all."
Liara exhaled. "…Is it stupid that I feel like this is a dream, sometimes? That I'm scared I'll go to sleep and wake up back in my apartment on Ilium, alone?" She made a sign of siari negation. "It matters not, we… we can talk about that later."
Shepard shrugged. "…If you say so, babe. You were talking about what Okeer knew… did he have good info on the Broker or something?"
Liara's voice sounded tired and thin. "Better than that. Okeer said he actually met the Shadow Broker in-person – one time. It was aboard a gigantic black starship – system unknown – and the Broker was a single figure."
Shepard drank from the glass. "AI? Cyborg? Some kind of fucked-up volus?" She paused, swirling the drink around. "Conrad Verner in a battle-suit?"
Liara laughed again, this one less fragile sounding. "No, worse, if less ridiculous." She sobered. "From what he saw, Doctor Okeer says the Shadow Broker is a yahg."
Shepard blinked, then remembered the reference. "Aren't they a pre-spaceflight species? Wait… the Council discovered the yahg just after the First Contact War. That can't be right."
Liara leaned back in the chair. "Yet Okeer, Trellani, and Mordin all agree the current Broker has been in power at least forty years." She looked down. "Goddess… a yahg. I have read the reports – from the expedition team that went to Parnack. Admiral Ahern was one of them, and Primarch Fedorian was another. It sounded like a planet of terror and the yahg were incredibly defensive, violent, and xenophobic."
Liara's blue eye met hers, her expression tense and weary. "Fighting such a being in the close quarters of a starship would not be easy. Even worse, Okeer was convinced the ship was a maze of traps and automated defenses. Fighting through it will be a nightmare."
Shepard grimaced, then grinned. "Ehhh… maybe, maybe not. Vigil can probably help with that part of things. Now killing the bastard, that's what I wanna know how to get to. What do we know about yahg?"
Liara gestured at the computer. "Cerberus and their pursuit of mad science and the barbaric studies they did on live aliens is actually of some utility now. They acquired a yahg from Parnack and dissected it, then did live studies on another. It's not good news. Parnack is a planet with high gravity – a little over two Thessia g, that is – or approximately equivalent to two and a half Earth g's. They are extremely strong – stronger than krogan, and most cyborgs. More than strong enough to pull people apart."
Liara picked up a padd from the desk. "Their skin is thick enough to resist flames and most impacts, their bones are so laced with iron as to be nearly unbreakable. They are not apex predators on Parnack, but they are opportunistic ambush hunters, with incredible strength from a leaping attack. Worst of all, it seems all yahg are highly resistant to direct biotics – they naturally generate a bi-phase field wave effect, which weakens all biotic effects and makes most invocations fail within a meter."
Shepard sipped on her drink. "…Fucking great. Since the Broker is ticking almost as many boxes on the Evil Bad Guy List as Okeer did, I can presume the asshole is the yahg equivalent of Batman, with a thousand gimmicks?"
Liara shrugged, smiling slightly at the reference. "We don't really know. I would suspect so – everything we've seen indicates the Broker has access to technology no one else has… which makes determining and extrapolating his strengths almost a waste of time. We can make logical assumptions – he would almost certainly be well protected against biotics and direct assault, so we need to think of strategies that don't rely on knowing his weaknesses to proceed."
She gave a small smile. "After thinking about that, I know it sounds almost trite. If he has things we know nothing about – high-tech shielding, or some kind of method to shut down cybernetics – we are going to have to go into the fight blind. Admiral Ahern's words on assumptions come to mind."
Shepard gave a weary shrug. "Just because we don't know isn't a reason to not use what we do know to come up with a plan. I mean, fuck, I had no idea what Okeer could do, but I still went in with a basic idea. Speaking of which… Okeer didn't know anything else?"
Liara sounded almost as tired as Shepard felt. "Unfortunately, no. Okeer did not spend much time on the vessel. He was uncertain as to why exactly the Broker would reveal himself, in such a fashion, since secrecy was his greatest advantage. Then again, Okeer was also sure that the Broker had plans to kill him once he was no longer useful to the Broker Network. That was his primary reason for creating an imprint of his mind in Grunt in the first place."
Shepard gave a slow nod at that. "Anything else?"
Liara laid the padd back down, rubbing her cybernetic eye implant and wincing. "Not of any real use, no. Cerberus has been gathering scraps of data on the Broker and the Broker Network for two decades. As I said, most of it is conjecture. The only direct data they had was from one of their operatives, named Rasa, who worked for the Broker as an assassin before being betrayed."
Shepard arched an eyebrow. "So we know nothing?"
Liara gave a somewhat jerky shake of her head. "It is merely parroting back disjointed suppositions at this point, Sara. Cerberus has not really had much success in damaging the Broker's operations in a material sense, although they certainly have caused extensive economic and intelligence-related problems. The problem is that Cerberus usually came across such opportunities by serendipity, or by those the Broker opposed, or by countering Broker actions, not by any… coherent penetration or grasp of the organization."
Shepard sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Are we gonna have a fucking problem with the rest of these assholes even after we kill the big guy?"
Liara's voice had an edge of both anger and exhaustion to it. "I am… unsure. There is very little on the organization of how everything fits together that is known. Barla Von on the Citadel is influential and well-known, but I would suspect he is isolated from operational details. There have been rumors for decades that an asari works with the Broker, but with no real idea of who that could be, we are left with only an empty rumor that tells us nothing."
Liara gestured to the datapad. "Based on what Rasa knew, the Broker commanded the Network directly and was in charge of all aspects of operations, but delegated certain things to lieutenants. He also worked with mercenary forces, or hired specialists such as the Immutable or Kasumi when he had specific goals in mind. I would think if the Broker was taken out, the primary agents who answer to him would fall in line to whomever did so – after all, if the legends are correct, that is how one becomes the Shadow Broker, by killing the old one."
The asari cleared her throat, her voice a little scratchy sounding. "As for the actual structure… again, conjecture. The Broker Network, from what I have pieced together, is widely scattered with agents and safehouses on almost every inhabited planet in the galaxy, but it has only a few hubs of activity, linked with deep space cruisers in abandoned systems running their own TTL and laser-link network. Much of this apparatus is non-combative and only exists to absorb and gather intelligence and provide support to the combat side of the Network."
She slowly stood up from the lift chair, wincing. Shepard frowned, but didn't say anything, as Liara took careful steps to the mini-fridge, pulling out another bottle of Scotch and then sitting on the same couch as Shepard. Liara picked up one of the plastic cups and poured, and sighed. "It is almost impossible to penetrate very far into the Network. Tel and I murdered over fifty of his top data brokers and agents on Ilium and stole access credentials, but everything was so compartmentalized and heavily encrypted that we made little progress."
Liara sipped her drink. "None of that is more than exposition of the failure of many parties to make any meaningful headway in opposing the Broker."
Shepard nodded, sipping the last of her own Scotch. "Well, I feel a little better about what we have gotten done, then. Harper is pretty sure we know where he is – he got sloppy somehow, letting Vigil locate one of those cruisers you were talking about. Harper and Vigil both think he let us capture Tazzik, since the stuff Vigil got out of Tazzik's grayboxes as to the location of the Broker's ship doesn't match what Vigil is seeing from the cruiser."
Liara's face took on a thoughtful expression. "So he has set a trap… but one we have already seen and can avoid. He will be expecting us to go to the trap… and not for us to attack him directly."
Shepard nodded. "That's the plan, at least. Go in with the full fleet Vigil has, board his fuck-ass ship, kill his guys, then kill him deader than fuck. With luck, he'll be surprised and lightly defended and we can end all this before it gets messy."
Liara gave a nod, but sipped her drink again then frowned. "It occurs to me that the yahg were noted as being paranoid survivalists of an almost fanatical bent. I would not place much weight on the Broker failing to be prepared for an assault on his real location. And the longer I think on it, the more I wonder if this… purported trap involving the information Tazzik divulged and letting a cruiser be identified is not also a trap of some kind. We should prepare as if he knows we are coming"
Shepard sighed. "Fuck, I hope not. Fighting a big beefy fuck with unknown tech and probably Collector bullshit – who is immune to biotics – is bad enough without him being ready. Once he's dead, though, things should get better. Hopefully, we can find shit in his computers or whatever that proves the Collectors are in with the Reapers and the situation is more dangerous than he's been telling everyone."
Liara closed her good eye. "I had let myself forget about the Reapers… it seems as if we have only wasted the past two years." Her voice sounded bitter, and her cybernetic hand clenched into a fist.
Shepard pinched the bridge of her nose, then forced a smile. "Other than that… are you okay?"
Liara shrugged, draining her own Scotch and glancing around until she found her cigarettes. "That depends heavily on what you mean by 'okay.' " She looked down at her legs. "My lower legs have been blown off, I'm missing an eye and most of my left arm. Sedanya says some of the nerves in my right arm and lower body are damaged by biotic overuse and there's not much to do to fix that. There is a persistent pain in my eye socket… and while I can tell your cybernetic doctors did a fine job, my legs hurt."
She picked out a cigarette and lit it, her voice a bit sharp. "I'm mentally and emotionally a wreck, and I don't even know if I can fix that. Worse…" Her voice trembled. "I… I am scared."
Shepard frowned. "Of what?"
She watched as Liara carefully dumped her ashes. Her voice sounded shakier than before. "I had thought losing you was losing… everything. My life was a shattered pit of loss. And so with nothing left to lose, I ruined myself to reach my goals. Now… now, incredibly, I have a chance at life again."
Liara looked up, her good eye rimmed in tears. "And I worry very much that I have discovered there is worse than merely losing you to death. I worry you will see into me and… push me away. That there is too much lost and not enough remaining… not enough of the person I used to be for you to still love. To care."
The blue hand reached out almost hesitantly, touching cocoa skin. "I fear more than anything else I will be turned away, and you will not… that what you see in my head, in what I have done, in what I have become, will cost me your love. I am sure that sounds silly, or self-pitying, or melodramatic—"
Shepard held up her hand, shaking her head. "No, it doesn't. It sounds like some of what was going through my head before someone made me want to live. You remember that night?"
Liara's lips quirked. "I…" Pain, sorrow and hurt flicked across her features, and she sagged. "I do, but I am not the same as I was. I've done things that you cannot – or should not – ignore, and it has tainted me. I am not trying to exaggerate, but the bond does not allow one to lie to themselves, or their partner. And the truth is, there are times I took dark actions because I was frustrated, or angry, or…"
She trailed off, her voice dropping to a whisper. "And then there is the ugly truth that I am not sure I cannot make things worse for you. I… I don't know if I have the strength left in me to carry you when you falter. Or to… not push you into the same sort of evil acts I committed." She laughed bitterly, the tone making Shepard flinch. "And here I sit, vapidly decrying the 'evil' Cerberus committed in their experiments on live yahg, when I incinerated ten thousand souls just to kill one man."
She met Shepard's gaze, the cybernetic eye implant whirring faintly. "I know I am not the same; I have seen bond-partners fall out from each other's embrace after smaller shifts than the vile and unholy paradigm I corrupted my life into. And I fear very much that you will try and force yourself to accept something you do not want."
Shepard shook her head. "You know I would never do that to you. You didn't do it to me, and I was not exactly a fucking saint, hon."
Liara slumped back against the sofa. "Yes, but I was a desperate, lonely, isolated wreck in a whirlwind situation beyond my control, and you needed my help."
At that, Shepard laughed bitterly. "Hate to be mean, Liara… but stop and take a look at the shit I've got on my plate. I fucking died. I get resurrected by bullshit techno-necromancy by Cerberus. I think all my friends are dead, my wife is dead, my entire government is full of shit, and the Reapers are ignored."
She stood, her hands tightening into fists. "I have to deal with the fact that almost everything I fought for, loved, or cared about, is either gone or fucking lost, like Anderson and my boss the President. We find out the Collectors are nabbing people for God knows what or turning them into husks – hundreds of thousands of innocent people, and everyone is lying about the shit and they don't care… because it's not politically fucking expedient or whatever the fucking word is."
She whirled on her heel, eyes narrowed. "I got nothing, babe. I got jack shit all to prop me up here. I found Garrus, but he's on the edge of going to pieces too, he's just turian enough to not let it show. And we have no way to even fucking face the Reapers, so unless my stupid ass thinks of something brilliant, literally everyone is gonna die."
She forced herself to calm down, her voice coming out forlorn and weary. "So, at the moment… I'm a desperate, lonely, isolated wreck. In a whirlwind fuck-all nightmare, with everything on the line and nothing left in the tank. And I still need your help. I can't do this alone, Li. I just don't…"
She looked down, and Liara's voice was soft. "And I do not know if I have anything to help you with, Sara." The asari swallowed. "I woke up this morning, in the med-bay, from a nightmare where Tetrimus and my mother were burning my legs off. There are moments where I start hallucinating, or where pain and pressure tears through my head. There…" She paused, and then with shaking hands poured herself another drink.
Shepard just watched, listening as Liara gulped it down, and continued in a dead voice. "I want to help. Please know that I will never stop loving you, like you said to me. But I am so frightened that you cannot accept what I have become that it is like a waking nightmare… and worse. What if I am not enough? What if I can't help you?"
A note of panic, of despair, echoed through the room. "What if I can't—" She stopped, as Shepard stepped forward and embraced her, and she shook with fracturing, shattered emotions.
Sara's voice rumbled through her body, its tone quiet and tired and something else. "I once asked Anderson how you keep getting up when you get knocked down, when everything hurts to care about and hurts to ignore. He told me you can't ever stop believing in your ability to not give in."
Shepard pulled away a bit, holding Liara's shoulders. The hands felt so normal, and Liara stared at the blue eyes she'd spent countless nights missing. "Liara, I don't know what will happen. I know that the chances of us all being here – of you and I, sitting on this stupid overpriced leather sofa, holding each other – was almost zero. But it happened."
Her voice strengthened, her eyes locked with Liara's. "I don't know that we'll be okay, or that we can fix each other. I don't know if we'll stop the Collectors, or deal with the fucking Reapers. For all I know, we go in after the Shadow Broker and we all get brutally killed."
She smiled, leaning closer. "But I do know one thing. There's a lot of ways you can stand still, beat yourself up, and doubt yourself. A ton of ways you can hesitate, and worry and let your own fear defeat you before you even try. But there's only one way to move forward, and that is to move forward."
She kissed her, brown against blue, and then smiled again. "And even if everything goes to shit, and it all comes down in a rain of fire… I won't have to die regretting I didn't even fucking try."
Liara swallowed, and found a smile from somewhere. "You… always seem to know what to do."
Shepard scoffed. "I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing. I'm just…" She trailed off, then grinned. "I'm a gun-toting thug, so the only thing I know how to do is pull the trigger."
She ignored the curious look Liara gave her as she leaned back, and tapped the comm-link on the wall. "Ops, I know Harper left already – did Matriarch Trellani depart with him?"
Trudy's voice sounded tired. "No, ma'am. He wanted her stay here at the base, both because he wanted the docs here to keep an eye on her medically as well as because she had some stuff she needed to do with you…" She trailed off, and Shepard nodded.
"Thanks. Can you patch me to her room?"
Liara's eye narrowed. "Sara, what are you doing?"
She smiled, but didn't answer as the younger-sounding voice of Trellani sounded. "Yes, Shepard?"
Shepard cleared her throat. "Matriarch Trellani, you mentioned there were… things you could do, in terms of Liara and I, to fix us up. I think, after sleeping on it, I would much rather do it now, before I meet with the asari and Council and God only knows who else, than later."
"I am not sure the title 'Matriarch' fits me anymore, Shepard." Trellani's tone was musing. "And the ritual is not exactly… safe or impossible to fail at producing the desired results. I would need the assistance of Matriarch Aethyta if you are adamant about proceeding along these lines."
Liara spoke, her tone low. "Matriarch, what exactly does this ritual do? I have almost no experience with Temple rituals."
Trellani gave a laugh. "It is something the Church forgot in the chaos after the War of Queens, as with a great many other things. It will take the rathlai bond-shards still extant in you, and drive them through you and Shepard to force a deep bonding. The idea is for it to shatter the resonance link that is dead now, and create a new Soulforge."
There was a pause, and Trellani's voice was cool sounding. "The danger is that it will expose both of you to your deepest selves, that it will link you in such a way that separation becomes impossible. The stunt Sedanya conducted that saved Liara's life – if only for a few years – proves a Soulforge breaking can be survived, but you will not be so… fortunate, the next time.
"To be blunt, young Liara, the ritual is designed to imprint and mentally force-bind the Sixth Oath of Sublimation into both of you, towards the other, and twist your bond-shards into mental and emotional hooks of mutual dependence."
The two of them looked at each other, and Shepard spoke first. "But that's the only way we're going to survive, isn't it?"
Trellani's voice took on a note of sorrow. "No, that is incorrect. I believe I could sever the bond-shards and fix Liara's issues. And with the same effort, probably extend your own endurance of what is inside your mind to last another century, which is sadly longer than you will live for, even as converted as you are to machinery. But that method would also mean the two of you would never be able to bond with each other again – or in Liara's case, with anyone else."
Shepard shuddered, and Liara shook her head. "I… as terrified as I am of losing Sara, of this not working, or of somehow making her life worse… I have been given a chance to have my wife again. I would rather die than throw that away simply to preserve my own life."
Shepard's smile lit up her whole face, and a lance of pain and joy twisted together seemed to shoot through Liara's heart when she saw it. Drawing that feeling inside her, she firmed her voice. "Matriarch Trellani, I believe all that is left to discuss is when we would conduct this ceremony, and I would prefer sooner rather than later."
Trellani's laughter was warm, not mocking. "No doubt… very well. I will alert your aithntar and we shall do this in the late morning, after the meeting with Jack. I recommend after the meeting since thinking clearly will be tricky for a few hours afterwards. It should not take long, although the adjustments may… take some time for the both of you to deal with."
Liara pressed her lips together and said nothing, and Shepard merely nodded, replying to Trellani. "Thanks. I'll talk to you in the morning."
She clicked off, and looked at Liara. "You look exhausted. You should sleep."
Liara glanced at the wide bed in the corner, then back at Shepard and arched the tattooed on eyebrow over her good eye. "Is that wise?"
Shepard had to suppress a very silly giggle at that. "I think I can keep from ravishing you in the night, Li."
Liara stood up, stretching, and muttered under her breath, "Wasn't worried about you." She then sighed. "I am going to use your shower… and then sleep. I made a mess at your desk, I can clean it up before I go to bed…"
Shepard stood too. "Don't bother, I'll get to it. I need to hook up the ODN to the big screen and slot in my music and stuff anyway." She glanced at the desk, then stopped as she took in the stack of small and medium sized boxes at one end, each one showing pictures of various starships. "…Liara…?"
The asari's voice sounded almost small and quiet in the emptiness of the room. "…I remembered how much joy you had in building those models. I made inquiries… no one knows what happened to them from the Kazan. So I bought you some new ones. Pressly had them ordered and a ship picked them up this afternoon."
Liara slipped past Shepard into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her, and Shepard bent down to pick up the largest of the model boxes, which was more than a meter long.
In bold print, it read '1:1000 Scale Model of the carrier-dreadnought SDC4B Sara Shepard, formerly the SDC4A Emperor Yamahito.'
Thanks, Liara.
O-TWCD-O
The group assembled in the base's conference center was quiet as the big viewscreen on the far wall lit up. The seats were comfortable padded leather, the black color setting off the otherwise light gray and gold décor. The room was mostly full – Shepard and the people she'd recruited, Garrus and his team, the small security detachment with a still heavily bandaged Ezno, the medical and operations staff, and finally, Aethyta, Mirala, Tela, and the Black Blades.
The Illusive Man's image appeared on the display, standing instead of sitting and for once neither smoking nor drinking. He stood on a black mirror stage, a Cerberus banner in black and gold hanging behind him. "Good morning, team. As I alerted Shepard to some time ago, we need to discuss how we plan to proceed to interact with the Citadel and the Council. I wanted to bring everyone up to speed on that, so that we can deal with any concerns before we move ahead, since we must show absolute unity in the face of Citadel scrutiny.
"Many of you were recruited by me or my people directly – the doctors that lead the research and effort to bring back Shepard, the operations staff who is supporting her. Others, like Shepard's Marines, were recruited by her. Still others came with Detective Vakarian or Matriarch Aethyta."
His eyes flickered over the audience, then he nodded. "For now, these differences are immaterial. Each of you can decide whether or not to assist with what Cerberus has planned, but regardless of said choice you will be restored to full health, with any cybernetics or bionetics installed free of charge, along with enough cash to set yourselves up anywhere in the galaxy you like should you choose to leave.
"As for Cerberus itself, it is evolving. Our goals won't change, but I do want you to have input and understanding into said goals, if only because I believe you will find them something each and every one of you would agree with.
"First of all, I wish to reiterate our goals. Second, I wish to discuss how we plan to interact with the Citadel Council and the galactic society as a whole. Third, I would like to discuss how to integrate all the various forces who have joined us into our plans… and last, explain exactly what those plans are in the long-term."
Harper's voice softened. "Our goals are simple. Cerberus, in its new incarnation, is no different than the old one in purpose – to safeguard the mind, body and spirit of those who are vulnerable to the powerful of the Galaxy. It is different in that it counts as vulnerable not only humans, but also those aliens who have joined us, those who work with us in a positive fashion, and those who are reasonable about what they expect from us. It is not an organization solely dedicated to humanity, although I won't pretend most of what we do won't be focused on humans."
He put his hands behind his back. "That does not mean we are ignoring those aliens who are just as vulnerable, only that we have certain priorities, given what we've discovered about the origins and goals of the Systems Alliance. We are not hostile to aliens who are not joined with humans, either, but we do see them – or rather, their leadership – as the primary problem. That is the primary difference – Cerberus is a shield, not a sword. We have identified the real targets as those who empower and profit from a broken system in a cruel galaxy."
He nodded at Shepard. "And we have no problems protecting those who cannot help themselves, as long as those people are not actively opposing us. We are no longer terrorists. We are now guardians."
His image on the viewscreen turned away, displaying his profile. "Our methods of performing this goal, this guarding, fall into three paths. Economic controls and defense, intelligence and political influence, and military intervention. The three heads of the mythological animal, so to speak. I myself control the intelligence and political cell. The economic cell is headed up by one of my most trusted and devoted associates, David Surell, the public CEO of BenCore Enterprises. And the military wing will be under the command of Shepard herself, with assistance from General Petrovsky."
He turned back to face the group. "The tangents to the goals we pursue are also simple. We ensure that nothing threatens our people, via economic or intelligence methods, while leveraging our forces to counter slavers, batarian extremists, criminals, and geth. All of that is in pursuit of obtaining proof – visible proof, not something that can be dismissed – that the Collectors are a Reaper threat, that the Reapers will be back far sooner than we think, and that all of the galaxy must unite to prepare to fight the Reaper threat."
He gestured at Shepard. "Sara Shepard has already threatened my life – repeatedly – if I end up going off script in the slightest fashion. Thus, we do not take aggressive forward operations. We do not blow up, sabotage, or assassinate anyone in the way Cerberus once did. Instead, we focus on thwarting the actions of other groups acting in bad faith, and on protecting those who are unable to do so."
Harper smiled coolly, the blue circles in his eyes rotating as he did so. "Many will suspect us of having ulterior motives and will be looking for such. They will find nothing, because we are already prepared. We have the personnel, we have the assets, the money, and we have Vigil, who can create fleets from nothing and link us in a comm network that simply cannot be hacked."
The diminutive voice of Kasumi Goto piped up. "Ah, Harper-dono, not to be nosy… but saying we have the money seems hard to believe. We have expended an incredible amount of money that I've seen, billions and billions of credits. Are we stealing money to replace what we spend… and can I help?"
Shepard snorted, and Harper's expression turned very slightly amused. "I'm afraid that won't be necessary, Ms. Goto. You see, in the years before I chose to take down the first Cerberus, I was… frustrated. As a result of planning my separation long in advance, I had prepared a series of actions to kick off at said exit. I was able to siphon a staggering amount of money from the coffers of the High Lords as well as set up a long-term series of economic and real estate moves. Vigil has also assisted in our finances, in a number of ways."
The smile turned feral. "As a result… our current liquid assets are just upwards of forty-two billion credits, while our hard assets are a shade under ten billion credits."
The numbers washed over the group, and Shepard blinked, stunned. She spoke up. "Fifty billion credits?"
Harper's smile turned wry. "Give or take."
She shook her head. "No wonder you don't give a shit about blowing money."
Harper's voice rose. "Because of this, as well as the assistance of Vigil in both hacking and in construction, we simply have no need to commit atrocity. We can uncover such and expose it, and in doing so, siphon funds, both increasing our own strength while derailing plots and plans that are, shall we say, less than benign in execution."
His expression turned serious. "This leads me to my second point, our plan to interact with the Council races and the greater galaxy. As distasteful as I am sure it will be, our focus must be on dealing with the Broker, Collectors, and preparing for the Reapers, not going after slaver networks or people such as Aria or the rest of the Circle of the Fallen. In particular, Aria has agreed to let us into her space to access the Omega-4 Relay when we are ready to take the battle to the Collectors. This is preferable to having to fight our way through the entire Terminus Systems."
He folded his arms. "However, we need to keep that quiet, and we need to win the support and backing of the Council, and the races they represent. Shepard and I have enough blackmail and items of interest to get the Council to at least listen to us. We've already had meetings with most of them – Shepard will talk to the asari in-person tomorrow, when you leave for the Citadel meeting. So far, they've been cooperative if doubtful."
He gestured, and his image was replaced with an infographic of the galaxy. "That being said, Cerberus still has a cachet as a dangerous human supremacist organization, even after our recent actions. While Shepard is out talking to the Council, Cerberus forces will be acting to protect the edges of space. I know I said we can't afford to go taking down slaver networks, but that doesn't mean we cannot protect defenseless colonies – against both Collectors and slavers or raiders."
Several dozen systems flashed. "You will notice that most of these systems aren't even human colonies – mixed human and asari, or gatherings of outcast turians, asari, or salarians – and one exclave of quarian exiles. We'll take a hand in protecting all of these systems, and working with other forces to prevent the geth from pulling any more stunts like Ilium, hopefully."
Angel spoke up. "That's great and all… but what is Cerberus getting from this?"
The image flickered and vanished, showing Harper now sitting down, lighting a cigarette. "A few things. Public relations, obviously. But Vigil wants to deploy sets of sensor equipment across wide swathes of space to more closely track Reaper movements in distant and nearby galaxies, and the nature of such is that it cannot be stealthed or hidden effectively. We hope to build up the goodwill for systems and colonies to allow us to build these sensors."
He puffed on the cigarette, eyes narrowing. "Finally, having so many operations in motion will keep those seeking to infiltrate our works focused on the wrong groups. These protective forces will be completely separate from Shepard's own teams, and your own groups."
He tapped a control on his seat. "Which brings me into integrating the people who have joined with us or are thinking of doing so. Namely, Garrus Vakarian and his Angels, Matriarch Aethyta and her Black Blades, Spectre Tela Vasir, Commissariat Agent Morinth, and, of course, Lady Liara and Telanya Vakarian."
He dumped his ashes. "I'd prefer – and I suspect you would all prefer – to place and keep you under the command of Shepard. Taking down the Broker is not the end of the fight, it's merely the start – the Collectors are far more powerful, and Vigil informs us they weren't even using the highest-end weapons available to them."
His gaze fixed on Garrus. "Cera Vakarian, you and your team are a well-practiced group, and I have been told a few are training with some of our other personnel to increase their abilities. Assuming you have no problems with working for Shepard, I'd like your team to act as her primary backup."
Garrus glanced at his team, most of them wearing Cerberus jumpsuits, and gave a wry nod. "I think we can do that. I'll be honest, I'm not a hundred percent sold on Cerberus as a whole… but what I've seen so far is good, and if you keep faith with Shepard, we won't have any problems."
Harper nodded. "The alternative would not benefit anyone."
Garrus's voice was sharp. "Yeah, I get that. But from my point of view, you seem like the kind of person who won't shy away from the hard calls just because they're hard. Sometimes, you have no choice, but it is a lot to ask us to trust your discretion. If you could achieve your goals by selling us out, we're going to wonder in the back of our minds if you would, given your past."
Harper shrugged. "Breaking Shepard's trust with some sort of betrayal or the like would ruin the billions I have invested in her, derail my chances at establishing a dialogue with alien leaders as a figure of power, and – quite frankly – probably result in her doing her best to end my life. Shepard has laid out her terms – and what constitutes violating them – and we are in agreement on that."
He sighed. "I'm fully aware that for many of you, I am something of a tainted figure. Cerberus undertook acts which were unforgivable. No amount of remorse or statements of apology will change that reality in the slightest. I don't expect blind trust, nor do I demand obedience without caution – that is why you will all answer to Shepard, not myself."
He took a puff off of his cigarette and smiled thinly. "However, I do wish to make something clear. I am not implying that any of you are in a position to judge me. I will instead state that we have all made mistakes, Cera Vakarian – you have, Shepard has, Liara has. Everyone listening to me has taken actions we regret and have tried to move on from. It is no more fair to judge me based on that than it would be for me to assess you on such parameters."
Garrus flicked a mandible. "…Fair enough. What if one of us isn't happy with what you're doing and Shepard doesn't have a problem with it? Or if we think you are going in a direction we don't like and Shepard disagrees? If we're going to be working with you, why shouldn't we judge you?"
Harper's lips twitched into a sardonic smile. "I am comfortable – to a degree – with submitting myself to Shepard's ideals of justice. I am not extending the same to anyone else, for any reason. Shepard has the freedom to pick the goals and methods she wishes to use in her pursuits, but she leaves me to do what must be done in what I focus on."
He leaned forward. "I will not make up pretty lies and suggest the money we now possess is not free of criminality. Some of it was probably slated to help the poor, the homeless, to combat environmental damage. My acts to secure various technologies and funds have undoubtedly cause financial chaos, bankruptcies, perhaps even suicides. There is no clean demarcation between what is required and what may have unpleasant side-effects."
Leaning back, he dumped his ashes again. "But this is not a democracy. If you agree to serve Shepard, that is what is expected. How she will handle if you disagree with her choices is up to her."
Shepard waved a hand. "Kinda off-track. Trust me, I'm keeping an eye on TIM. But – and this is just goddamn sad – so far he hasn't lied to me or set me up to fail, which is more than I can say for my own government and the goddamned Council."
Garrus nodded, plates settling. "If you say so, Sheep."
Harper looked at Garrus for a few seconds longer before his gaze shifted. "Speaking of the level of trust we have in certain people, that brings me to you, Spectre Vasir. Based on what we know, you were the primary conduit by which Shepard was fed information – from the Broker – that led to her death at Alchera and the destruction of the Normandy, not to mention the deaths of a dozen Alliance sailors. You have been sponsored by the Broker for centuries."
Tela gave a small, weary smile. "Yes, that is true. Then again, you have at least two STG agents in this room, a krogan loresinger who was in the Ganar Clan for many years, and at least one other person who worked for the Broker."
His eyes narrowed again. "While that is true, none of them were aligned with the Broker for as long and as deeply as you were. Against my better judgment, based on the… request of Matriarch Aethyta, you've been brought into a sensitive location. I have to ask how you plan on proceeding from this point."
Tela's voice was soft and tired. "I have given that a great deal of thought, Cera Harper. Like you said, I've been working for the Broker a long time – and that has led me to ugly places and acts I should not have agreed to. I've made mistakes in my life. I can't just make them go away. But my family – or the family that cares about me to any degree – is here. Shepard and Liara are kin. Mirala is kin." She shrugged. "I'll use my standing as a Spectre to support whatever she tells the Council… and if they want to force the issue, I'd resign as a Spectre entirely and work with Cerberus."
She looked at Shepard, swallowing. "I understand trusting someone like me would be an issue. But I was already at the breaking point before any of this happened. It's been a long time since I felt I was doing 'good' – instead, I was just enforcing the whims of the Thirty or the Broker. Like Cera Vakarian said, I don't know if Cerberus is the right move… but I do know I will follow."
Harper looked at her for a long second, then nodded. "Given my own past, your comments on trust are similar to my argument to Shepard for trusting Cerberus. You very nearly died on Ilium fighting against the Broker, so we'll take that at face value for the moment."
Aethyta spoke up before anyone else could even get a word out. "I already decided, and so did my girls, we're tagging along. Liara has been hurt enough in this mess, and there isn't anywhere most of us can go. The fucking Alliance would freak out if we tried to join them and Aria… heh. That wouldn't end well. So we're stuck here."
She smiled cooly. "But don't get me wrong either. I don't give a flipfish's damn either way what Cerberus gets up to as long as you don't double-cross Shep or Little Wing. Do that and I'll kill you myself, and then roast your ass over a plasma fire."
Harper knocked ashes off the end of his cigarette before nodding. "The Black Blades are a formidable force. I'd prefer to keep you in reserve, to… if needed, remove hostile elements or provide a backstop to Shepard's own team. Splitting you up strikes me as diluting the Blades' power without need and at a high cost."
Aethyta shrugged. "We can wipe some relli for you, not a problem. Just keep in mind what I said and we'll get along fine."
Harper nodded and smiled. "As for Agent Morinth… I must admit to a bit of confusion as to why exactly you were on Ilium in the first place, although I have been enlightened as to why you were evacuated and brought along with Matriarch Aethyta."
Morinth gave a crooked smile, and a jerky asari shrug. "I was told there was information on a guy I've been looking to kill for a long time, on an invite from Nassana Dantius. I figured I'd kill her too while I was there, but I'm planetside less than an hour and the fucking Red Skirts come down with an army looking to 'kill all ardats.' "
She looked at Shepard, then back at the screen. "As long as I'm allowed to stay, I'd be… I would like to. I can fight – not on the level of some of these people, but I am an ardat and I can learn. I'm good at infiltrating and I know a lot of things about the more back-alley parts of the galaxy as well as my Commissariat bosses. I don't think they're going to like me working with you, but the deal with them was just to keep my mother from killing me."
She gave another shrug. "If you can do that, I'm all for it."
Liara smiled as Harper looked in her direction from the screen, her voice soft but strong. "As long as Sara is here, so am I. I believe Telanya is the same with Garrus." Her tone darkened. "I'm more than aware of what Cerberus was doing before and after Sara shattered the organization. Your acts thus far have been surprisingly benign, but I do not think you are doing this out of the goodness in your heart."
Harper actually chuckled. "I'm not. In essence, though, why I am doing it is immaterial. Stopping the threats to humanity is a function of not only taking down the Reapers and the Broker, but changing the leadership of both the SA and the galaxy as a whole. I am not against the aliens of the galaxy, but I think their leaders – the Thirty and the SIX in particular – are hazardous and immoral in the extreme."
He flicked ashes into his ashtray. "Expecting me to be motivated by goodness or a sense of moral outrage is inaccurate… but results should count more than intentions. I'm not going to sit here and say to your faces that I am telling you 'everything.' I am not, for a number of reasons."
He fixed his cool gaze on Liara. "Nor will I claim that what Cerberus may have to do will always be seen as 'good' by the public, and I certainly won't claim I haven't made mistakes. However, as I told Cera Vakarian, I'm not here for you to judge me, or my motives. You simply have to decide if working with Shepard – who works with me – is palatable."
Liara's voice was cool. "I suspect by the time we find out such is not, we would be compromised ourselves, Mr. Harper. But for the moment, we have no real choices. I cannot leave Sara, and thus, we will go along with whatever you have planned."
Harper nodded. "And that is not a small thing. Your skills are good enough that you stymied the best the Broker had for years, and in a handful of months, you did more damage to his Network than the rest of the galaxy combined. I don't quite know how to utilize the two of you, but I think for the moment, having you oversee the intelligence operations with Trudy and her AIS team would be best."
Liara nodded. "It will be a useful exercise of what we've spent two years learning. I'll assess our further cooperation after the Broker is dead."
Shepard leaned back in her seat. "Alright, so you said Cerberus is going to be more active everywhere. Problem is, we hardly have any manpower, and you lost a bunch of troopers down on Ilium. Vigil's robots can't be everywhere, so how do you plan on doing that?"
Harper's smile widened. "I am glad you asked, Shepard." He touched a control on his chair.
The viewscreen flickered, displaying ranks of troops. Many were humans, but many were also asari or turian. There were salarians, one or two batarians, a small group of volus, three quarians, and at the sides of the assembly, a pair of muscular-looking elcor. All wore the slick-suits and armor of Cerberus, each outfitted with a cut-down ODIN or Harrier rifle – or, in the case of the elcor, small turrets mounted to the shoulders of the armor they wore.
"This is Battalion One of the Cerberus Defense Force, one of five such groups. Most of these people are volunteers from the many, many slaves Shepard set free on her assault on Umlor, but several hundred are people we saved from the mess on Ilium. A handful are volunteers from Dirth, Mindoir, and two hundred from New Tokyo."
Harper's voice sounded smugly pleased. "All in all, the total is just over two thousand volunteers. Each of them are assembled at deep space bases with full amenities and space for their families, who can work in other Cerberus related tasks. These forces will operate with Vigil's ships to act as a rapid reaction force against geth attacks, piracy, and Collector attacks, as well as economic safeguards and other required tasks. Some of them will accompany you to the Citadel, so that the galaxy can see exactly what Cerberus stands for going forward."
Harper leaned forward. "I expect we'll have more such recruits as our activities increase, to the point where you will be in charge of a small but effective fighting force. We may need that manpower when we finally go to war against the Collectors, but until then, these people will safeguard the defenseless."
Shepard said nothing for a few seconds, then nodded slowly. "You said you had long-term plans as well."
Harper stubbed out his cigarette. "I do. In short, we need to unify the military and industrial capacity of the galaxy against the Reaper threat. Some of what Cerberus forces will be doing is evaluating and overstating the geth threat, to spur military investment. We will also 'leak' certain industrial and weapons technologies, work behind the scenes economically to spur more shipbuilding, and with your teams, find and present evidence that shows the Reapers as a near-term threat.
"In the aftermath of any conflict with the Reapers, we would have a short window of time where alien governments are vulnerable. At that point, I would like to dispatch Aethyta and her Black Blades to bring to justice any surviving High Lords of Sol, the SIX, and certain figures in the asari Council of Matriarchs. We would strike in a mass movement and then replace such figures with – hopefully – less criminal and cruel leaders."
Harper met Shepard's gaze. "In short, if we win, we would remove the people who keep our galaxy in a state of cold shadow war, and focus on things to allow us to rebuild. I will not be a part of any leadership scheme. I am not doing this to become the leader of the Systems Alliance, and I am certainly not doing it to conquer humanity. Nor would I want to promote humanity above other races – that only makes humans a target. What I want is a Council and races that work together instead of backstabbing each other constantly."
He glanced around the room. "That may sound both trite and a touch simplistic, but we are going up against the Reapers – beings who have been exterminating entire galaxies' worth of spacefaring empires since before the dinosaurs walked the Earth. We are not fighting against a foe that bleeds, or that feels. We are fighting near-gods, and the galaxy must be unified – and focused – in order to even have a chance of winning."
He spread his hands. "I do not know if we can bring this about, but I do know that things cannot stay as they are. We must stop the Broker and turn the Network to our advantage. We must stop the geth before they regain strength, and use them as a scapegoat to spur spending. We must identify a method to bring the fight to the Collectors before they complete whatever plans they have, and use evidence from destroying them to convince the Council the Reaper threat is imminent. And finally, we must find methods to actually defeat the Reapers, no matter how difficult that must be."
He smiled. "Miranda and Kelly Chambers will answer any further questions you may have, but for the moment, we should prepare for your Citadel trip. Miranda has my QEC accessline should any of you have more in-depth questions."
He stood, and adjusted his suit jacket. "I understand Shepard and Liara have a medical issue that needs to be resolved, so I'll go ahead and close out this call. Shepard, once you are done with Trellani and your… situation, please contact me via QEC."
The viewscreen went blank, and the assembled people sat there a second until Zaeed spoke.
"Well, that was just guddamned inspiring. Cerberus, Champion of the Little Guy. I dunno if I buy any of that shit or not, but what the fuck…" he trailed off into muttering, and Shepard suppressed a smile as she got up, helping Liara to stand.
"Alright, gang… just a few quick words. First, I don't know if I trust TIM and I'm not telling you to do so. I am giving him a chance, and that's what I'd like all of you to do. If he is on the up and up… then he's the only power figure in the fucking galaxy not drinking idiot ball tea by the gallon, and that's kind of important."
She looked around, and smiled. "We got some big days ahead of us. I want everyone who's coming on the Citadel trip to be ready to depart no later than 1900 – I'd get in a meal and nap before then, we got a wild flight and then landing on the Citadel is gonna be a media madhouse."
She turned to face Trellani, who was standing next to Aethyta, and took a deep breath. "Don't think you can ever be ready for this… but let's get it going, shall we?"
