Thessia
Liara sat in a small room, once a conservatory, that she had made into a place of meditation and solace. The sole window in the room looked out to the sea, and Liara had opened it, but not even the sound of the crashing waves and the cooing of the nightbirds could ease the disquiet in Liara's soul. Treya Valen was still with Sen in the med-room, monitoring the cardiologist's condition as she came out from under the anesthetic.
The asari surgeon had looked at Liara, seen…something…in her stance, or her gaze, and had banished her from the room. Liara could not decide if she was grateful for it. On the one hand, seeing Sen so weak and so hurt felt like a bullet in the heart. On the other hand, away from the mind-diverting task of caring for Sen, Liara was left to think about the crime that had been committed against her friend.
She had ordered Glyph to pull all of the security footage from Sen's apartment and the outside streets. The recordings confirmed what Liara believed. Edward Dorsen had been the one who had done this to Sen. Needing to know more about him, to find his motivation and therefore his weakness, Liara delved deeper into his past…and discovered what she sought.
Gunnery Sergeant Edward Dorsen and his fire team had taken part in Operation Underground Railroad, an Alliance Marine and asari commando squad joint-op. The goal had been to infiltrate a batarian slave-ship and rescue three human and two asari captives. The five to be rescued were plants in the batarian slave trade, returning information to their respective authorities, but their identities had been compromised.
Liara frowned as she scanned the mission brief, distant memories worming into her mind. She remembered reports from her operatives concerning the captives…
I ordered that slave-ship to be waylaid, Liara recalled, her throat tightening at the thought. My operatives were supposed to make it look like simple piracy, exfiltrate the prisoners, and return them to their respective governments. But they never did…my lead agent went rogue and sold out the captive's identities and my mission to the batarian slavers.
The full recollection slapped her across the face. She had personally taken the lead on erasing that rogue operative from the galaxy. The former Shadow Broker might have forgiven the double-deal and found a way to profit from it, but Liara T'Soni was not cut from that same cloth. She had set up a camera and crushed the woman's throat under her boot, applying pressure until the bone of the human's fragile neck snapped. She had made certain that other agents of questionable allegiance had seen the recording.
Just as Serena did when she threw Sergeant Ledee out of the airlock, I needed that display of brutality to show the consequences of selfish, ignorant actions. No one is isolated in this galaxy. Our every action affects another's life, for good or ill.
Liara returned to her study of Dorsen's operation, realizing now that it took place only because her operative had betrayed her. The Alliance fire team had gone undercover as a mercenary band, boarding the slave-ship as hired muscle early on. Once the captives were located, the mission commander, one Second Lieutenant Damian Bell, had alerted the asari commando unit of the ship's flight path. Their plan, much like Liara's had been, was to hijack the slave ship, making it appear to be an act of piracy, and keeping the batarians from knowing the value of the operatives they had captured.
What they did not know was that Cera Larane had already sold them out.
The batarian slavers had intercepted the signal, rooted out the Alliance infiltrators, and pinned them down in the belly of the ship. With limited time and thermal clips, the marines had held off the enemy inside the ship for an almost unbelievable eighteen hours. Lieutenant Bell had lost his life in the first three hours of the miniature siege, shot through the head when he moved from cover. After he fell, Edward Dorsen had risked his life to get to the lieutenant's body and recover the code that had to be attached to any message sent to the asari. He had then sent a distress call.
Liara's brow furrowed and her lips tightened as she read further. The fire team had taken two more losses. Two marines had been killed…by non-fatal injuries. They had been caught unaware and had the minimum of medical supplies on them, but not enough to keep the wounded marines from bleeding out. The asari commandos had arrived late and, at the mission's end, claimed they never received Lieutenant Bell's first communication, or Sergeant Dorsen's distress call, but had intercepted the ship by pure coincedence and attempted to continue the operation. Later, after an investigation, it was discovered that the asari had received both messages, but the commandos who had taken part in the mission were not able to be found.
The reason why they disavowed knowledge of the communications from the Alliance marines is still unknown, Liara finished the last lines of the report. I wonder if Cera had anything to do with the commando's dishonesty…what they did was murder, and the reason for Edward Dorsen's grudge. But why did he…why take it out on Sen? And why now? That is what does not make sense. Beyond that, why do I even care? He beat her. That action is not excusable.
"Look at you, all wrapped up in a screen." a blessed, familiar voice filled the room. "Has so little changed in three hundred years?"
Liara shut down her omni-tool, rose from her seat, and turned to face the doorway. Breath flooded out of her lungs as she took in a longed-for sight, her eyes running over the familiar lines of Zhira's figure. The stance of a proud, fearless maiden had changed to that of a strong, confident matron, but, in spite of that, Zhira had not lost her look of casual insouciance. The amethyst eyes were tired, but still lit from within by the passion and caring that defined Zhira T'Aryn. Liara could see worry in those eyes. Worry that Liara knew all too well.
There were other things that Liara knew, but did not understand. She did not understand being able to hear the pounding of her own heart, or the blood rushing through her veins at an accelerated rate, flushing across her cheeks. She did not know why she stood there, transfixed, unable to say anything after three centuries of silence. Zhira's lips tilted upward in a familiar grin.
"You look like absolute shit, Li." Zhira broke the quiet and her use of the familiar nickname sliced through Liara's stillness.
Three steps later and Liara was enfolded in the warm embrace of the asari who had saved her life, steered her back towards a path of forgiveness and love, become her friend and confidant, and, at the end of the Reaper War, sacrificed everything. Zhira's arms felt familiar, but her embrace had gentled with age and matron-hood. Liara did not care. It felt familiar. It felt like comfort. The scent of salt and spice washed over Liara, triggering memories of Zhira, the tears shed together, the trials endured, the laughter shared, and the moments both sorrowful and sanguine.
Liara withdrew from the embrace, shocked to see tears shining in the amethyst eyes. Liara offered a soft, shy smile as she reached out, brushing Zhira's grief away with her thumb, letting the comfort of touching a familiar face infuse her.
"I thought this day would never come." Liara murmured, running her finger along the further-faded, but still visible, scar across Zhira's neck. "I wish things could have been different."
"We made each other a promise." Zhira shrugged her shoulders, but more tears fell. "One thing we've always managed to keep is our word."
Liara's face fell at Zhira's words and she asked, with downcast eyes, "Are you angry with me for breaking that word?"
"Look at me, Li." Zhira ordered in a kind tone, her warm finger catching just under Liara's chin and lifting the broker's face to her own. "You've always had the ability and the right to do that. I knew you'd wait until it was safe. I'm not angry."
"Still." Liara protested, feeling that she did not deserve the forgiveness so quickly granted. "I should have told you from the first, but I was…I was selfish."
"It took me by surprise; that is certain." Zhira admitted. "Sen called me and asked so many questions my head started spinning. I answered all of them…with as much as I could. As much I guessed you'd be willing to tell. To be honest with you, I was more concerned by where you met and why than I was anything else." Zhira's eyes filled with concern and Liara felt as though no time had separated them at all, because it felt natural when Zhira rested her hand over Liara's chest. "Be honest with me, Li." Zhira whispered, soft. "How's your heart?"
Liara's stomach clenched, because she knew that Zhira would accept nothing less than the truth, and that she would be able to see through any lie.
"Worsening." Liara admitted, hating the stiffness that overtook Zhira's posture and the pain in her friend's eyes. "My condition is as controlled as it can be, however, and…"
"Controlled my blue ass." Zhira muttered, the words reminding Liara painfully of Matriarch Aethyta, Zhira's mentor and Liara's father. "You need to get it fixed."
Liara swallowed the lump in her throat. "I cannot." she whispered, and knew that Zhira would say no more on the subject.
"Figured that." Zhira leaned against the wall and rubbed her eyes before looking back to Liara. "Let's not dance around the Reaper in the room." she stated, blunt as she always had been. "How's Sen doing?"
"She was very badly beaten." Liara answered, feeling the weight of guilt settle over her again.
It feels as though it is my fault…and perhaps, in some roundabout way, it is. My agents failed, necessitating Edward Dorsen's operation, which is what created his hatred of the asari. He watched his brothers and sisters die, and, for some reason, his trauma was triggered and Sen bore the brunt of his unexpressed hatred. All failures come full circle, and, as usual, an innocent pays the price.
"You sent me the medical details." Zhira nodded. "And I'm thankful for small mercies…and it makes me sick that I'm glad my daughter only has the injuries she does."
"Zhira, I am sorry." Liara apologized, her grief evidence in her voice. "I should have protected her…"
"Was it Dorsen?" Zhira interrupted, stunning Liara into a brief silence and curtailing her apology.
"How did…"
"She's my child, Li." Zhira's words, though not angry, sliced across Liara's heart like a razor's edge. "And she's a good daughter. Calls me every week, tells me about her life. I've hated that prick since she first told me about him and when…when Sen told me about Mira's accident and that Dorsen was coming to Thessia a thousand warnings went off in my head. I thought about coming, but she was with you and so I didn't. If you take blame for this, Li, I'm with you, because it's just as much my fault."
Liara shook her head and laughed at herself under her breath. "Three centuries apart and we first try to take blame for the event that brings us together. My, how we have grown."
Zhira stared at Liara for a brief moment before they broke out into the relieved, manic laughter of old friends whose connection is more than friendship, but less than love. For Liara, tears followed the laughter, tears of joy and of sorrow and of pain and of memory. Somehow, now, Zhira was holding her again, and it felt natural and right and comforting.
The laughter faded, the tears evaporated, and the embrace ended. Liara gathered her composure, feeling the weight of exhaustion pressing down upon her, but knowing that rest was far away.
"It was Dorsen." Liara confirmed Zhira's suspicion. "And he will be handled, the instant that I know how Sen is faring."
"She's awake." a voice sounded from the door and Liara and Zhira both turned, instinctually reaching for weapons they did not carry. Treya paled, but continued, looking at Liara. "She's asking for you."
"Of course." Liara made to follow Treya, but noticed that Zhira did not follow. She turned to her friend. "Zhira, do not remain behind. Sen needs to see you as well."
"I would not want to…"
"You are her…" Liara took a deep breath, the words clawing in her throat, not wishing to be said, but Liara had to force them into being. "You are her mother, Zhira." Liara managed. "She needs you. She loves you."
Zhira nodded, her eyes conveying that she knew how much saying those words cost Liara. They left the room and followed Treya through the halls. Needing support, needing comfort, needing touch, Liara reached for Zhira's hand, a warmth infusing her when Zhira laced her fingers with Liara's own, accepting both her invitation and intent.