THE CITADEL QUARTET: A MASS EFFECT STORY
Based upon the novel The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel
1 - The Last Performance
"But now that your lips are burning mine…"
"…I'm beginninnnnnnnnng…to see the light!"
Teyi T'Sera smiled and bowed in the human fashion as the applause washed over her. There was something so wonderful about performing in front of small crowds: the intimacy, the fragility of the performance, the knowledge that cheers could just as quickly be replaced by vicious boos from a small and vocal group. It was exhilarating.
And it would not be experienced again by any members of the Citadel Quartet for a long, long time.
-tcq-
Why was it the last performance?
Perhaps because the quartet members had come to resent their growing fame. Nutra and Zaal, the "suit rats", never received the credit they deserved for their backing duets in the article profiles of the Quartet. Mark and Teyi tried to push back on this, but both later conceded they could have pushed harder.
There were personal quarrels, of course. There are always personal quarrels: such is the nature of live performances with artists. But in this instance the quarrels had passed the threshold of tolerance; each of the four could no longer brush aside the subtle jabs coming from one another.
Artistic disagreements? Well, why wouldn't there be? All loved barbershop quartets and the songs of Bobby Darin, but that was where the agreement ended. Nutra wanted to sing the Ink Spots more often, Mark liked The Beatles, Teyi wanted more asari music, and Zaal wanted to adapt the songs of the human rock group Nirvana for some reason. The fragile balance of musical harmony could not be maintained forever.
Why was it the last performance? For the same reason musical and artistic acts have broken up for time immemorial: differences. Some big, some small, all collectively insurmountable.
2 - Lives Apart
For Teyi it is a time of learning and new experiences, as with all young maidens. Later, she reflected on this time and attempted to pinpoint the exact moment where she first began to use drugs heavily. She never could: "heavy" usage is hard to quantify, moreso when her brain was still constantly clouded by narcotics. Human cannabis and mushrooms, krogan dertra plants, red sand - she had or would try them all. Life without the Quartet was life without purpose, without fulfillment. It was life as we experience it when we float through our days without truly appreciating them.
For Mark it is a time of maturity. His father died a year after the Quartet broke up, and the family turned to him for emotional support. Music nags at the back of his mind, but he can pay it little heed. Returning to Earth, taking care of the family finances - all consume his thoughts, and all keep the artistic muse out of his ear. How can he possibly worry about music when his family is hanging on by a thread? And so it continued for the first few years - eventually, he would lose his artistic spark all on his own.
For Nutra it is a time of bitterness. The Migrant Fleet cares little for the musical skills she has learned, her unrelated Pilgrimage gift barely enough to get her on a ship. She thinks often of her friends, of the fondness they shared for one another. But fondness is mixed with anger, anger that poisons and clouds her memories of her fellow Quartet members. What did the time with them truly earn her, after all? (Such utilitarian calculuses are common in the Migrant Fleet.)
And for Zaal it is a time of wandering. The Migrant Fleet does not feel like home, not after the bitter arguments that punctuated his exit to ostensibly go on his Pilgrimage. In truth he knew most were hoping he would not return, even if they dared not say it. And so he found himself wandering from maintenance job to maintenance job, planet to planet, all without his spark. His reason for going day to day, for enduring the drudgery. What was it? He did not know.
-tcq-
All missed one another, but they would not admit it.
3 - Sixteen Years Later
2182…
"Teyi? Keelah, is that you? No offense, but you look horrible."
"Nice to see you again too, Zaal."
"Sorry, I'm not trying to be rude, it's just-"
Zaal paused, and suddenly stared at Teyi with those piercing white orbs that quarians used to great effect. The latter winced.
"You're high, aren't you?"
"Zaal-"
"I fucking knew it." Zaal shook his head, a human habit he had picked up from Mark and apparently kept over the years. "Teyi, why are you still letting drugs dominate your life?"
"Why do you think? Nothing has been the same since we broke up the Quartet."
Zaal stared, and didn't deny the observation.
"We were perfect together," Teyi continued. "All those old Bobby Darin songs, the Ink Spots ones you liked to do…we brought such joy to the Citadel. Why did it have to end?"
"You've been thinking about it too, huh?" Zaal put his head in his hands and stared at something off in the distance. "We were all so strong-willed. Each had our own vision for the Quartet. And so it ended."
His gaze returned to Teyi.
"But that is not why you asked me to meet you here."
"No, it isn't." Teyi looked to either side of her, then whispered: "Zaal, do you know how to get in touch with the Shadow Broker?"
Zaal's eyes widened. He knew Teyi well enough to know that she was not making a joke. She needed something from the Broker.
"What did you do, Teyi?"
4 - Red Sand
The past…
It was something of a misconception that asari were immune to red sand.
True, she did not experience biotic-enhancing properties from it or get "high" in the traditional sense. But it still stimulated her in such a way that reminded her of another human drug: caffeine. It kept her awake, kept the dreams at bay. And it worked especially well when enhanced with human cocaine.
The dreams were the reason for the drugs, and gradually the reverse became true as well.
-tcq-
In the dream she is friends with Mark and Nutra, but does not know Zaal. It is a different time, a different world. They bond over cannabis and their shared youthful exuberance. All goes well until the Machines come.
The Machines: those are what make the dreams nightmares. The baleful howl, mechanical and piercing. The eyes, bloodshot red and staring directly at everyone simultaneously.
And the knowledge that the Machines would be their doom one day.
-tcq-
Severe though her addiction became, it was not what would ultimately prove to be her undoing.
No, it was greed that would do that.
5 - The Night Of The Steal
Teyi couldn't ask her mother for money again.
She technically could, but her honor wouldn't stand for it. Maidens were supposed to learn how to survive on their own! Such was the unspoken assumption that grounded their exploration of the galaxy. She had asked her mother for help too many times. She needed to do this on her own.
Perhaps she should have picked a different method for acquiring credits.
-tcq-
Planning the heist was fairly simple.
Her friend Delen S'Leya was an amateur hacker, and Teyi had picked up a few of her tricks over the years. It would be a simple enough matter to short-circuit the camera feed that monitored the storage room with Dervok Gon's precious Red Sand in it.
Escaping would be tricker, but she had that covered too. The keeper tunnels. They were not monitored, at least not by C-Sec. It would be easy to slip away.
Ultimately she was half-correct: escaping the scene of the crime itself was about as easy as she'd anticipated.
Escaping Dervok Gon was another matter entirely.
-tcq-
"WHERE IS THAT *wheeze* BLUE BITCH?!"
"We don't know, boss."
"THEN FIND OUT! NOBODY *wheeze* STEALS RED SAND FROM *wheeze* ME! YOU HEAR ME? *wheeze* NOBODY!"
-tcq-
Zaal was well-informed of the underworld.
His endless wandering Pilgrimage had given him eyes and ears in many unexpected places. And so when a large quantity of red sand disappeared from Dervok Gon's custody, he called in a favor with one of the Shadow Broker's agents to find out why. What he found made him laugh, but something nagged at the back of his mind.
Years ago, when music had been a focal point of his life, he had a friend in the Quartet named Teyi. A friend that frequently professed her love for life on the Citadel, was incapable of saving money, and was also developing a nasty drug habit at the time they had broken up the Quartet.
Maybe…?
6 - On The Run
As the Citadel grew smaller in the ship's view and then abruptly disappeared from sight with the Mass Relay jump, Teyi thought about regrets.
Did she regret her drug usage? Perhaps. But drugs were more than just escape: they were inspiration. Creativity. Could she control their destructive affects - and if she could not, could she live without their creative spark? She did not know.
"I guess it doesn't matter now," she said aloud to nobody in particular. The other passengers in the ship stared, but said nothing.
Omega. Omega was, as the old human movie Star Wars said, a wretched hive of scum and villainy. But it was probably the only place she could keep herself safe. And it was the only place she was comfortable contacting the Broker.
-tcq-
SHADOW BROKER: Dervok Gon's behavior is becoming a liability.
AGENT: Not for long. I got onto his data terminal.
SHADOW BROKER: So you have the trade secrets?
AGENT: And more.
SHADOW BROKER: Good. Our intel indicates the Quartet member Nutra is on Omega. Have her and Teyi meet, and leak the location in a month's time. Dervok Gon will be dealt with.
AGENT: As you wish.
7 - An Unexpected Reunion
"NUTRA?!"
"TEYI!"
They both smiled and embraced each other warmly, their comforting gesture seeming strange amidst the chaos of the Afterlife bar. The patrons either pretended not to notice or smirked at them. The two reunited friends didn't care.
"What are you doing on Omega?!"
Nutra looked down at her feet, unsure of what to say.
"I needed to get away from the Migrant Fleet," she said finally.
"Why? What happened?"
"Nothing, really. Sixteen years of steady service was fine, but I just…felt restless. Like there was something drawing me away from my home, but I don't know what. So I left two years ago, and found myself here."
Teyi smiled, and then her expression suddenly darkened.
"Nutra, I need your help."
"Let me guess: you're on drugs again." Her tone was mocking rather than judgmental. Teyi was grateful for that small allowance.
"Yes, but that's not the issue. The issue is-" she paused to make sure nobody around her was looking or listening.
"I stole a bunch of Red Sand from a drug lord," she said in a quiet voice.
"Keelah, Teyi…what have you been up to since we last performed?"
"Traveling and getting high. Look, it's only a matter of time before he finds me here. Can you help me?"
Nutra thought for a minute. "I can, but you might not like the solution."
Teyi liked it more than her friend thought she would.
8 - The Only Solution
DERVOK GON: There you *wheeze* are! I've been at this rendezvous point for *wheeze* an hour!
NUTRA: My apologies for the delay. There was some business I needed to take care of.
DERVOK GON: Your business is with me, and that *wheeze* thieving bitch Teyi!
NUTRA: Watch yourself, volus. I don't take kindly to my friends being insulted.
DERVOK GON: Your *wheeze* friend? You're friends with the target?!
NUTRA: Actually, that's you.
DERVOK GON: What are you-NO WAIT!
[assassination.]
Epilogue: The Show Must Go On
1 year later…
"Just a shanty…in old shanty town!"
The crowd applauded loudly, and Teyi smiled warmly at her fellow Quartet members.
It was good to be back on the Citadel performing again. But even more than that, it was good to be with her friends again.
-tcq-
"Congrats on a month's sobriety!"
"Thanks, Mark. If I'm being honest, I don't know how long I can keep it up…"
"Come on, don't give me that, Teyi T'Sera! You sounded FANTASTIC out there, and you know you did. You don't need drugs to perform."
"Maybe not. But it's difficult to get out of their grip once they snare you in."
"Well, remember that no matter what happens, you'll have all of us here to support you."
"Thanks, Mark. That means a lot."