Mara Shepard Saga

Part 3: Liara

Authors note: this one was more based on the Therium level than a flash back. I felt the need to get it out of the way so I could get back to my character. Hopefully I will update it in the future but right now, it's a bit of a repeat. Though my take on the combat sequences is pretty cool, I recon.

Mara sat in the Mako. It took a second for her to get comfortable in her cramped seat. Tali slid in next to her and Ashley sat in the gunner's seat.

"So, we ready to go Shepard?" asked Tail

"Give Joker the green light." Replied Mara

A magnetic "hook" picked up the Mako; Mara felt a shake as it lifted the vehicle up.

"10 seconds until we break atmosphere Mam" said Joker.

The shaking increased as they passed through the ionosphere. Mara held on to the wheel to comfort herself. Soon the tremors subsided and the cargo bay door opened. An arm that controlled the magnetic clamp extended out. Mara looked out the wind screen. Lava flows extended in every direction. She could make out several small installations, what she assumed was the dig site.

"Ok Joker, begin your run" said Mara

"Um, Mara, is he going to drop us to the LZ?" asked Tali

"Hehehe, my favorite part." Replied Mara

The Normandy swooped down, dropping the Mako. Mara yelled in excitement as she looked at Tali, she couldn't make out the expression, but she assumed it was terror. It was a wicked bit of fun, the likes of which she didn't usually enjoy. Four jets underneath the Mako flared and the decent slowed. They landed with a thud.

Liara had been stuck for several days. She stared into the face of the Krogan leader.

"We will find away to get to you" said the Krogan

"Do as you will. Even if you do, I won't tell you any thing." Replied Liara. A tone of defiance seeped through.

"Hm, Saren has methods that are… persuasive."

The Krogan moved off, barking orders at his Geth.

Liara let out a sigh. Even though the Krogan could do nothing to reach her, she was still relieved that she didn't have to talk to him any more. She looked to her left and right; her hands were suspended, locked in position. She tried to free them with her biotics, but to no avail. How does an archeologist end up in these situations?

Liara hid in the ablative armor. The Destiny Ascension was a big ship, the biggest, yet it was only here she felt alone, at piece. Her mother knew where she was, no one knew Liara like Benezia, and so even though it was dangerous, Benezia allowed it. Liara hated the noise of the crowds. Even in sleep she got no rest as Asari slept together. She lay down underneath a view port and watched the Citadel as they passed by. She was in awe, the huge arms of the Citadel extended around the ship. It seemed as though the universe was trying to pluck the ship up with these huge metal fingers. She contemplated how her mother would react to her decision. She was a matriarch's daughter; things were expected of her, even though she was still so young. She had known her mother for fifty two years, and in all that time she had never told Benezia something like this; that she would leave her side to chase her dream. She knew of the supportive role she played with her mother; the matriarch listens to others problems, but who was there to listen to her? Liara spent many hours a day by her mothers side, listening to her mother, soaking up every word, learning from her and those she helped. A Turian curser flew in front of the view port. Her thoughts were interrupted as the titan blocked her view.

That evening she told her mother her plan

"Crowds and ships are your place mother. I love you and it tears me up to leave you but his is something I –"

"You have to do, I understand Liara. I've known for some time you've wanted to leave."

"I figured you'd have guessed." Said Liara

"Children often rebel against there parents, it's a natural part of growing up. Only I had hoped you'd stay a little longer."

"I am concerned about you, mother, what will you do if I leave?" asked Liara

"Don't worry about me little wing. Each of us has our own path." Said Benezia

"I can only hope ours crosses again." Said Liara

Benezia laughed in amusement "oh, you have the mind of a matriarch, but with the heart of a child, you'll do well Liara."

"Thank you mother."

So Liara left. She acquired an apprenticeship off a Silarian archeologist for 5 years and she absorbed all she could. The Silarian was fast, some times to fast for Liara, and lost his patience. Even so she learnt a lot. By her second year she had heard every theory about how the Protheans vanished. Wars, plague, famine, were a few of many. One had even postulated that they had ascended to a higher state of being, but all such things were pure speculation.

"Evidence is difficult to find. Artifacts are few and far between. Speculation is natural, but keep your theories yours until the appropriate moment and keep an open mind." Said her Teacher one day as they dug

The Silarian preferred digging as apposed to laser cutting. Lasers had the potential for damaging relics and he didn't like standing around doing nothing. The Silarian died at the end of Liara's training, but not before passing on everything he knew. Silarians didn't live long and he saw that Liara could continue his legacy. Liara didn't know how long it would take, but she felt as though she owed it to her Silarian tutor to find the truth.

Mara slammed on the breaks and the Geth trooper hanging off the turret was launched into the lava. She watched as the light from its eye flickered and died.
"Mam, Colossus, 6 o'clock, INCOMING!" yelled Ashley

Mara engaged the thrusters and leaped over the large projectile. Ashley retaliated with a barrage of slugs and artillery. Mara turned and slammed down the accelerator. She drove the Mako right into the colossus and right into a wall. The colossus was undamaged but the cliff had suffered enough to cause several rocks to fall. The land side crushed the colossus.

As the Geth exploded in a blue fire Ashley let out a loud "Hell yeah!!!".

Mara turned and looked at Ashley.

"Um… hell yeah mam." Said Ash

Mara just laughed as she pulled out and drove on.

The Krogan paced in front of the force field with what seemed to be an angered expression. Liara had difficulty guessing Krogans; they always seemed angry. Liara finally plucked up the courage to insult her hunter.

"Perhaps if you keep pacing you'll make a hole that can you use."
"Quiet, Asari bitch. I need you alive; I don't think Saren would mind what my definition of alive is." Retorted the Krogan

Liara went silent; she thought it unwise to provoke him further. No one was coming for her, she had concluded, and so it was only a matter of time before the Krogan got to her.

Mara put her foot down. "Time for unsafe velocities" she thought. The air conditioner inside the Mako struggled to keep the atmosphere inside at a tolerable level.

"Damn, it looks hot out there" said Ash

The Mako drove into a tunnel that cut through the volcanoes rock face. It was dark. As they turned the corner all natural light from this planets hostile sun ceased and only the head lights of the Mako lit up the road. The vehicle weaved its way through half of the tunnel with out incident but as soon as Mara could make out light at the end of the tunnel she was stopped by a derelict vehicle that blocked the road. She drew the Mako to a steady halt and left the vehicle. The heat was bearable, but only just. If her suit didn't have an intercooler, she'd be cooked by now. She inspected the vehicle. It seemed in working order, power cell was present and no fissures in the hull. Why, then, was it abandoned? Suddenly it hit her. She pulled out her weapon.

"Stay frosty, this reeks of a trap." Said Mara as the lights on her rifle lit up.

She walked to the maintenance access, carefully. She opened the door. Light poured into the tunnel. It took a second for Mara to adjust. There in the side passage stood a Geth, at least 2 meters high. Mara lifted her weapon ready to strike, but the Geth stood still, not even its eye was lit up. She cautiously approached it and tapped it with her gun. The Geth fell over with a hollow thud. Just at that second Mara heard a strange noise behind her. She turned to investigate. Tali and Ash still stood next to the Mako, also looking for the source of the noise. Mara noticed a light move towards her at a tremendous velocity. It knocked her down. She stared at a Geth; and it had her pinned. She struggled free and kicked it in the eye. As she did she heard the noise of particle fire. She rolled over and looked at the Geth. A blast mark from a high energy laser marked where her head used to be. She pulled out her pistol and unloaded a few rounds into the Geth's head. Tali ran over to Mara and assisted her.

"Are you ok Shepard?"

"Fine, but that was damn close!"

"Uh mam, I don't mean to rush you but I think we should be getting outta here." Said Ash

Mara looked down the tunnel and saw 20 lights moving down the road

"Tali, move that vehicle!" ordered Mara "Ash, get in the Mako and send some shells down their way."

Ash and Tail both nodded and preformed their task. Only Mara was left exposed. She picked up her assault rifle and lifted it, ready to fire. The noise from the Mako's cannon was deafening. She saw 3 geth light up in a yellow blaze. But still, the survivors grew ever closer.

"Tali come on!"

"Working as fast as I can Shepard, I've got to hot wire this thing!"

Soon Mara was surrounded. Ashley couldn't risk firing artillery at this close range, she could hit Mara. Mara switched to tungsten rounds, designed to penetrate armor more efficiently. She hit one of the Geth. It was stunned but not dead. She kept firing until her weapon over heated. Finally the light from its eye died. With the rest of the Geth more concerned with Ash, Mara took a second to examine the body. It shouldn't have taken that long to take out a single geth of this size. On closer examination the geth seemed more organic and muscular than normal. For this reason she switched to shredder rounds. She unloaded a few rounds into a geth that was harassing the Mako's turret; it seemed to have the desired effect. The derelict vehicle came to life.

"Got it" said Tali

"OK, dive that thing out of this tunnel; get these things on open terrain."

The wheels spun as Tali maneuvered the vehicle out of the Mako's path. Mara jumped back inside. As she tried to close the door as geth jumped in and held it open. The geth clawed at her, trying to drag her out. She reached for her shot gun. As she let the door go the geth leaped in. Mara unloaded a 32 gauge round right in its face. The geth fell, out leaking white coolant. Mara slammed on the accelerator and charged out. One of the geth leaped for the roof of the Mako but missed his mark. Instead he landed on the front wheel. The geth was crushed on the next revolution. As the Mako left the tunnel it became airborne. Mara saw Tali standing next to the derelict with a device in her hand. Mara quickly figured out what it was for and gave Tali an affirmative nod. Tali activated the device. Mara heard a low toned "bleep" followed by a large explosion. Geth came out of the tunnel at tremendous velocities. Five came out and hit a cliff wall, exploding in a shower of parts and coolant. Six others landed in the lava flow that ran adjacent to the road and one landed right in front of Tail. Damaged, it struggled to regain footing. Tail kicked it down, pulled out her shotgun and shot it in the face.

"That's for my people you bastards" said Tali

"Quick thinking Tali" said Mara

"It was nothing really" replied Tali

"That's going to make for a good highlight real." said Ash

Mara replied with a low "Hoorah".

The road stopped and only a small crack in the cliff allowed further access.

"Alright, looks like we're legging it from here, stay tight."

Liara focused on the orb locking her in place. The currents, the sounds, the field itself, she started to appreciate the consistency of the orb, its rhythms. She tried to break these with her biotics. With immense concentration she generated a small hole in the orb. It got larger and larger and…

"What are you doing? Contemplating how you are going to make this up to me?" said the Krogan, interrupting Liara's concentration. She opened her eyes and replied.

"I have no apologies for your current situation."

"Ha, you'll be begging for forgiveness by the time I'm through with you!" remarked the Krogan

One of the geth approached him.

"Really? Every one?"

The trooper gave an affirmative nod.

"Uh, you geth aren't worth the metal your made of. Outta my way!" said the Krogan as he pushed the geth aside.

Liara went back to her meditation.

"Get down!" yelled Mara

One of the geth launched a large projectile at Tali. Mara dived and pushed Tali into cover. Mara felt the heat from the projectile graze her head. It passed and hit two meters behind her. Her shield took the brunt of the attack.

"Ash, where's that sniper support?"

Mara heard the mussel sound from a sniper rifle

"Boom, head shot!" said Ash over the com

"Nice, but don't get cocky Ash"

Mara leaned against a rocky outcrop. She was taking lots of fire, so much so that she was wondering how long it would take for the geth to chip through her cover. She pulled out a disc shaped grenade and prepared to throw it. Only her hand appeared as she threw it but her heads up display registered 7 projectile hits. The grenade sailed through the air. The geth saw and dived out of the way, giving Ashley a clear shot. Mara heard 5 shots, meaning 5 geth now lay dead. She pulled out her assault rifle and dodged out of her cover. She dashed for Tali, who was now pursuing the remaining geth.

"Mam, enemy in full retreat." Said Ashley

"Ok, get down here and link up with us" replied Mara, still sprinting after the geth and a frenzied Quarian.

They retreated to a mine entrance. Their left flank was blocked by scaffolding, their right by a cliff and they had a good position. Mara launched an under stung grenade from her assault rifle in the hopes of forcing them to abandon their cover. It worked. The geth troopers dodged into the open to avoid the explosive. Mara and Tali quickly dispatched them with a barrage of bullets. Ash rejoined them just in time to shoot the last trooper.

"Ok, so now what?" asked Ashley

"I don't know. Joker? How far are we from the signal?"

"Its 200 meters west… feel like going for a nice sulfur swim?"

Mara wasn't in the mood for his jokes and was on the verge of reprimanding him for insubordination.

"Joker, there is a mine shaft west of us, could it be under ground?"

"Possab- Mam, take cover! I just picked up a geth drop ship coming in! Direction: North, North West. Repeat, get to cover!"

Mara noticed the drop ship as it passed. It dropped geth right in front of her. 4 shock troopers, 3 of those weird, organic kinds of geth and an armature.

Mara had barely enough time to get to cover before the armatures particle weapon got off a shot. The projectile landed 10 meters behind her but she still felt the concussive effect.

"Tali, flank left, concentrate your fire on the smaller geth. Ash, bait the armature, get it under that cliff." Said Mara as she backed off and ran up the cliff.

Tali had dispatched all but 2 geth shock troopers by the time the armature was in position. Mara jumped off the cliff and onto the armature. She grabbed its neck and placed a grenade on the joint for its head. She then jumped off and ran to aid Tali, who was now out flanked by the geth. The trooper was about to fire his shotgun at point blank, that would almost certainly kill Tali. But Mara gave the shock trooper a strong whack to the back of its head. Tali turned in response, distracted from the geth that was beneath her feet. The geth grabbed her foot and tried to drag her down but Tali casually picked up her pistol and unloaded a round into his head. The timer on the grenade expired and the armatures head came clean off. The metallic beast then fell into a broken heap. Mara smirked. Even though this had been a stressful engagement, Mara felt obligated to take pleasure in defeating the mechanical monstrosity.

"Ok, I think we'll try this mine entrance. Watch your back; we could get out flanked." She said to the squad "Joker, keep us informed of any reinforcements."

"Aye-aye mam"

The tunnel entrance was dimly lit; Mara could barely see, but using her flash light could give away her position. So she jogged down the tunnel with her compatriots in darkness. "Why didn't I take any light amplification hardware with me?" she asked herself. The tunnel opened into a large cavern that was lit up blue. Mara walked onto a cat walk and stopped, frozen in awe. The origin of the blue light was a large tower that had been buried under centuries of lava flows. There were numerous breaches in the tower, all of which were sealed by barriers. The glow of the barriers lit up the cavern. It took the ripple of her kinetic barrier to snap Mara out of her trance. She hit the deck as projectiles flew over head. Mara peered over the edge. 3 geth stood on the cat walk below. Mara got up and jumped down ton the geth directly below her. The trooper dropped to the ground under the force of Mara's maneuver. A quick shoot to the head dispatched him permanently. Mara dived out of the way. The two others were still active. Tali hacked one and it turned its weapon on the other. They killed each other in the ensuing confusion.

"Stay sharp, there' will be more."

Mara noticed an elevator to her left, but the scaffolding had taken considerable damage. So she simply jumped off the edge. Ashley paused, shocked that her commander had just jumped off the catwalk, and was now almost certainly dead. She rushed to the edge and looked down; her commander was fine. Mara had fallen about 50 meters and landed softly; she had done some tweaking to her kinetic barriers, they could also generate a Mass Effect field so she could lower her mass, it seemed that course in mass effect theory paid off. She landed with a velocity of 40 meters per second but only weighed 10 grams.

"Mam? How did you just do that?"

"Ah, she's adjusted her suits kinetic barriers, nice one Shepard." Said Tali thoughtfully

"Ok make your way down here; I'll keep this area secured."

Liara's concentration was broken by a strange noise. A person had just landed right in front of her!

"Hello? Can you help me?"

The person turned and cautiously approached the barrier. She was human, most likely military, or in league with the Krogan.

"Doctor T'soni I presume?" asked the woman

"Oh, thank the goddess; I thought that no one was coming for me."

"Its ok, what is this thing?" asked the woman

"It's a Prothean barrier curtain, its control console is on this side. But, but I can't reach it."

"Ok, my squad will be here in a few seconds, we'll find away around."

The woman put her hand on the barrier and observed the ripples her touch had generated.

"Mam behind you!" yelled Ashley

Mara turned to see a small squad of geth preparing to over run her. She ripped out her assault rifle and let off some rounds. The geth dove for cover. Mara jumped down onto the base of the cavern and ran towards the attacking geth. She gave a shock trooper a kick to the head and a shot in the stomach. Ash kept firing as she repelled from the catwalk, hitting 2 of the geth. Mara continued to chase after the enemy, like a berserker, and closed in on the final geth. She pulled out her pistol and shot it at point blank. The trooper fell to its feet. Mara quickly turned around and shot off two more rounds into the crippled pair of geth. She walked towards Ashley, who was recoiling from her rather hard landing.

"You've gotta give me that upgrade mam."

"Sure, but not now. Tali, how are we going to get around?"

Tali followed Ashley down the rope. She landed and looked around.

"If that mining laser still works I could hot wire it." Said Tail

"Ok, give it a shot."

Tali pressed some holographic buttons on her omni tool and the laser came to life. With in seconds it had cut a hole in the rock, down to an open breach in the tower. Mara raised her weapon and proceeded into the breach. An elevator took her up to Liara's cage.

Liara grew concerned. She heard a loud noise, then nothing. If something were to happen to her saviors, then she would be at the mercy of the Krogan. Just then she heard the click of the elevator behind her.

"Oh, good, quickly that control panel over there should deactivate the barrier."

"Hang on Mam, how do we know that she's not working for Saren?"

"I'd never side with that Turian bastard. I'm not my mother, and I don't know what possessed her to join with him. You must let me out, please." Liara said.

She felt as though she was about to cry, to be so close to freedom and to have it snatched away, the thought was unbearable.

"I think we can trust her, the geth wouldn't be trying to kill her if she was working with Saren." Said the woman

She walked over to the console and deactivated the orb. Liara dropped and fell over as she landed.

"Thank you, miss…?"

"Commander Mara Shepard, Alliance Navy, this is Tali and Ashley." Said Mara pointing to her compatriots.

The cavern shook.

"I think you entrance destabilized this cavern, we should get out of here"

They proceeded to a large platform in the centre of the room. Liara punched a few buttons on a control panel and the platform rose. As they reached the top Liara noticed the Krogan waiting for them. Ashley grabbed Liara and pushed her into cover. Tali also hid while Mara stood still in defiance.

"Thanks for dropping the barriers, now give us the Asari." He said
"In case you haven't noticed, this cave is coming down!"

"Exhilarating, isn't it? Hand her over and I might not kill you."

Liara noticed Mara make a gesture to Ashley.

"She'll stay with us, thanks." Said Mara

Ashley threw Mara her pistol. Mara caught it and grabbed hers. She took out the Krogans entire escort with 6 well placed shots. She then ran up and kicked the Krogans shotgun out of his hands. The Krogan then bioticaly threw her across the room. Mara hit the wall with a thud. Ashley and Tali then came out of cover and shot the alien dead with a barrage of bullets. Liara rushed over to help up Commander Shepard up.

"Are you ok?"

"I'll be fine" she assured Liara "but we won't be if we don't get out of these caves."

…

Next: Part 4, The Blitz