Author's Note: Please review or favorite, or whatever! To those who take the time to read these little notes every chapter, you may remember that I had estimated this piece may go for 8-9 chapters. Well, you can discard that number. Recent... changes.... had led me to increase the length. Thanks for reading!
Chapter 4: The Answer
"Abyssus abyssum invocat..."
(One misstep leads to another...)
~Unattributed
Illium was hot. A millenia ago, it's sheer size had allowed a thin atmosphere to develop. Over time, it had built up sufficiently to support life. But for reasons lost it had been slow in attracting development, until five hundred years ago, when the asari had finally established a colony. Today, the world was home to nearly 85 million people.
Liara T'Soni was a scientist, an intellectual. To her, this world's history was an excellent scholastic endeavor, especially with the loose trade regulations that had come to define it. But it was still hot. And it was that heat that Liara could not get out of her mind. As she walked towards the local spaceport, Liara shifted her shoulders uncomfortably. The combat hardsuit she wore was of the highest grade acquirable, and its bluish hue just so happened to match the color of her skin. But it was heavy, and as Illium's star Tasale beat down on her, it heated quickly. She contemplated attempting to readjust the temperature control, but decided against it. Her destination was rapidly approaching.
The Normandy, SR-2. Hmm, she thought, it doesn't look that much different, despite it's increased proportions. But the information she had been able to glean from her sources had told her different. Cerberus had taken the liberty of increasing the deck size from three to five, along with rearranging most of the interior. The armaments had remained the same, but Shepard seemed to have been in the process of improving the various combat systems.
If only he had done that two years prior, she could still very well have been on his crew. But he hadn't, the first Normandy had been lost, and Shepard had died. Liara sighed at that thought, but would not allow herself to dwell on it.
More recently, Shepard had come looking to recruit her only a few weeks before Tali had... gone down. Fate, however, had deemed that request impossible. Liara had been so close to getting one step closer to the Shadow Broker, and Shepard had allowed her to finish her work. But applying herself after finally seeing him again had proven impossible, and "The Observer" she had been following had slipped away. That had been disappointing, but the regret she had felt at not dropping everything to team up with the Commander had proven far worse. As she approached the Normandy's airlock, Liara hoped this would make up for it.
Waiting for her was a young human woman with short red hair and deep green eyes. Liara extended her hand in what she had learned to be an appropriate human gesture for first encounters. As the woman took it, Liara smiled. "You must be Kelly Chambers?"
Chambers smiled in return, but her eyes displayed a sense of urgency. "Indeed I am. I hate to rush you, but this has gone on for too long. Please, follow me." Tapping a small control console, the doors to the Normandy slid open. Chambers hurried in, with a gesture for Liara to follow. She did.
"I must thank you again for coming so quickly. I've had to wait nearly two weeks to act on this little plan, and I fear for him. Cerberus is thinking of cutting this whole operation, and they are getting anxious. You are our last hope." As Kelly talked, she led Liara through the darkened confines of the Normandy. With it being so late, most of the crew was asleep or attending the nightly poker game that Daniels and Donnelly put on in Engineering. As if reading her thoughts, Chambers subsequently acknowledged she had planned for this when suggesting the time frame in which to act.
As they passed the Command Information Center, Kelly picked up a datapad that had lain next to an inactive terminal. She handed it to Liara. "That would have all the information I have on his actions since we docked here two weeks ago." They boarded the elevator. As she hit the "Deck 1" button, the young psychologist continued. "He has fallen apart. If you can't do anything tonight, Miranda is under orders from the Illusive Man himself to cut Shepard loose this coming morning."
A slight ding announced their arrival on the uppermost floor, Shepard's personal cabin. Kelly once again led Liara, stopping shortly afterward in front of a locked door. "Whenever you are ready, just enter this override code." she handed Liara a strip of paper adorned with a hastily scrawled set of numbers, and gave her a small nod. "I wish you luck." And with that, Chambers reboarded the elevator, leaving the asari alone.
Prior to this meeting, Liara and Kelly had entertained a lengthy correspondence. Looking down at the datapad she had been handed, Liara noticed that most of the information they had previously spoken of was simply reiterated there. She reread it anyway:
Since our docking here in Illium on the night of the 14th, nearly three weeks ago, Commander Shepard has fallen into a deep depression as a result of the loss of Tali'Zorah, his lover. I do not believe they have had sexual relations of any kind, given the nature of Tali's immune system and the brevity of their relationship. I must point out, however, that their romantic involvement was foreshadowed by a long friendship that dates back to the hunt for Saren. As such, attempting to reason with Shepard, in that he has not known her long enough to (bluntly put) care this much, would prove fruitless.
Two weeks ago, Shepard began shifting wildly between despair and anger, which happened to coincide with the delivery of a large crate of goods he refused to identify. Using the surveillance bugs Cerberus had planted within his room (which he has since destroyed), we have ascertained the contents of that crate. Some of it was an assortment of basic foodstuffs, with most of it requiring low to no preparation. The other two contents of that crate were far more upsetting to myself, knowing his psychological background.
The first was substantial amounts of alcohol. Shepard has never been to drink excessively, but the sheer volume he had acquired leads me to believe he may have recently changed in that regard. It should be noted that this is a natural, if uncharacteristic for Shepard, human reaction to sorrow.
The second, and to one of my profession most frightening, component of that crate was nearly a kilogram of Red Sand. In case you are unaware, Red sand is a stimulant with biotic-enhancing properties. When taken nasally, red sand creates a brief but intense euphoria, and gives the user very short-term telekinetic biotic abilities. Side effects include red-tinting of the user's vision, discoloration of the teeth and longer-term withdrawal symptoms. This narcotic, while technically legal on Illium, is incredibly expensive. I shudder to think of exactly how Shepard managed to acquire such a large amount.
Since returning with that crate, Shepard has sealed himself in his room. I believe that he intends to drown his anguish in alcohol and narcotics. If this does not kill him before that food runs out, I must warn he keeps a sidearm somewhere on his person at all times, and suicide is a likely outcome.
~Yeoman Kelly Chambers
Gently setting the datapad upon the floor, Liara stifled a sob. With all Shepard had come through, including death itself, who could have foreseen this coming? Upon hearing of Tali's death through her various contact and informants, Liara hadn't even expected a formal funeral. Knowing the quarian, she would have wanted a traditional "Silence Ceremony" aboard the Migrant Fleet. But if what Chambers had relayed was true, Tali's body remained in a sort of stasis on the lowest deck.
Shaking her head, Liara started entering in the long override code she had been given. A single thought continued to pass through her mind as she waited for the door's microprocessor to confirm the code.
If I can't rouse him from this stupor, I will just have to tell him about...it.
Thinking of that... possibility, sent a chill through her body. Those thoughts passed, however, as the door opened. The scene that greeted her filled her with dismay.
Shepard's normally immaculate room was strewn with garbage. From boxes of food to pieces of what had once been a sofa, Liara had trouble stepping anywhere without sticking an armored foot into some sort of mess. Most prominently, broken glass littered the floor, most of it seeming to have come from the shattered remains of numerous whiskey bottles. As she rounded the corner to come within sight of Shepard's bed, the glass was less the result of broken bottles, and more the aftermath of throwing a computer through what had once been a display case.
Raising her eyes from the filth that had become his room, Liara located Shepard. He was sitting at a desk with his head down, on which was displayed the N7 helmet he had worn when the Normandy had been destroyed. Next to that was an ugly piece of steel, which Liara recognized as some sort of archaic gunpowder based firearm.
"Shepard?" She tried. When he didn't respond, she made her way closer. Setting a hand on his shoulder, she tried again. "Shepard. Are you there?"
With a jolt, Shepard woke up. As he turned to inspect her, the face that met her eyes was almost unrecognizable to Liara. His normally blue eyes, once alight with the prospect of good times, now moved lethargically, entirely bloodshot. The pupils, dilated as they were, glowed with a slight red hue around their edges. Apparently the cybernetics Cerberus had installed had been acting up.
This all fled from her mind as Shepard suddenly lurched, the archaic pistol in his hand as he jumped to his feet, leveling the firearm at her. His battered eyes showed no hint of recognition. "How did you get in here?" He growled, swaying considerably, as if ready to collapse at any minute.
The asari raised her hands. "Shepard. It's me, Liara. Liara T'soni." Her words succeeded only in bringing a suspicious look to his face. Rubbing the beard he had recently grown with his free hand, he gestured with the pistol.
"Throw something at me."
His words confused her, but when she tried to get him to clarify, Shepard silently cocked the pistol's hammer. Apparently, he would brook no argument. So she bent down slowly, before returning to a standing position with a wad of plastic bags. Shepard hurried her on. "Come on, throw it at me."
So she did. Letting the pistol fall to the ground, Liara watched as Shepard's hands started to glow a faint blue. That same blue quickly appeared on the wad of plastic, stopping it in midair. Shepard was no biotic, which could mean only one thing.
"Commander, your high." She remarked quietly, while bending down to pick up the pistol Shepard had dropped. After awhile, the blue aura he had created started to fade, until the plastic wad fell to the floor. Sitting down quickly, Shepard let out a lazy laugh.
"Not for much longer." His remark was followed by silence, as Liara tried to find the words to address the situation. Finally, she asked a single question.
"Why?"
Shepard seemed to have been waiting for that. "Why? Why am I taking Red Sand? Why is "Commander Shepard", hero of the galaxy," he paused to rub his nose, as a line of blood slowly seeped from a nostril. When he continued, his voice was filled with contempt. "...doing this to himself? Because I am done. Ever since Elysium, ever since I stopped those slavers, people have done nothing but throw themselves at my feet. And Liara," Hearing him say her name returned some hope to the asari. Perhaps, she thought, a chance yet remains for reconciliation. He continued.
"...the woman have been the worst. I was a hero after Elysium, but I became the goddamn patron saint of humanity when we stopped Saren." His words were starting to run together, as the tempo of his dictation increased. "So then I had tentacle-heads, horny Krogan... hell, whatever female Elcor are, looking to get in my bed." He slammed a fist onto the desk, it's wooden exterior splintering under the pressure. But as he resumed talking, his voice had grown soft. "Until I met her, I had nothing but the next mission. But she intrigued me, and more importantly, she didn't whore herself out. So I pushed, and she actually resisted."
As he was talking, Liara slowly slid the pistol she had recovered into her belt at the small of her back. She knelt in front of Shepard, placing a hand on his knee. "She had her reasons."
"Your right." Shepard slowly shook his head in agreement. "But she still loved me. And not for saving the galaxy or defending a fucking colony. She saw past my accomplishments, past my medals, past the accolades. She loved me, dammit. Me." His words sounded increasingly hollow. How many times has he ran over this in his head? She thought, before pressing him to continue with a slight gesture of her hand. So he did.
"Before... Before she died, I made a promise. That we would work this out, that this was what I really wanted, and that she would be safe. I promised her. And Tali..." He paused, her name bringing him to the edge of tears. "-Tali died because I failed, Liara. It's my fault. But I can rejoin her, make this right." Liara watched it what she latter could only call 'slow-motion', as the Commander reached under the desk and pulled out a second ancient pistol, identical to the one she had taken from him. Cocking the hammer and placing the firearm against his temple, Shepard smiled. "Tell the Council to go fuck themselves."
And he pulled the trigger.
Liara had watched, frozen in surprise as it had taken place. As he spoke of the Council, she finally found herself able to react. "No!" With a dive, she threw herself at Shepard. Physics dictated the result. She had been too slow, the distance too wide, to reach him before the bullet would strike his skull.
Biotics, however, rarely have to worry about traditional physics. Her dive was accompanied by a frantic biotic push, directed at the pistol. The dark energy hit the weapon as the gunpowder was touched off. The result was close, but the bullet missed by mere micrometers, the gun slamming against the wall opposite moments later.
Shepard was yelling in dismay, wedging vulgarities between his various demands for her to get off of him. But Liara held him down, utilizing her biotic ability to augment her inferior physical strength. She said nothing, waiting as Shepard's demands turned to requests, then broke off entirely as the result of her actions finally hit him.
After nearly a minute of silence, Shepard finally addressed her directly. "Liara. I was going to see Tali. Why? Why did you stop me?"
Liara fumbled with that question, but there was no other way. She had to tell him about it. If she couldn't give him hope, Shepard would just try to kill himself again, given the chance. Closing her eyes briefly, Liara gave a silent prayer to the Goddess, before finally answering him.
"Because there is a way to bring her back. It's called Rezkruban 666." She started to explain.
Looking over Omega from a top-level penthouse, Harlan'Con contemplated his next move. Eventually, he turned his wheelchair around to face the assembled soldiers that stood ready. Looking at a heavyset batarian, Harlan asked again. "We are sure it was her?"
The batarian nodded, carefully choosing his response. His promotion had come about after Harlan had executed his superior. "After reviewing all existing surveillance of the attack, we are quite certain your assailant was Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. We were also able to ascertain that she died from the wounds you inflicted on her, coupled with the fall she sustained upon jumping off that balcony."
Harlan leaned his head against a hand, careful not to snag his glove on the spikes that adorned his mask. Your average quarian envirosuit was built for a utilitarian purpose. Useful, yes, in a fight, but not as strong as modern hardsuits. And useless against a shotgun blast at point-blank range. Since the attack, Harlan had rectified that situation.
"Shepard is relentless once he is committed. If the extranet rumors hold out regarding their relationship, he will try to bring her back, with or without Cerberus' help. There must be another way. Look into it, and prepare the Dreadnought as a precaution." With a wave of his hand, Harlan'Con dismissed the soldiers.
Tali'Zorah had crippled him, but he had killed her. The armored quarian laughed at that, returning to gaze out the window. He almost wished Shepard would succeed in resurrecting Tali.
Then he would hunt her down, peel off her mask, and look into her eyes as he sunk a dagger into her skull.
Continues in Chapter 5: Aggressive Negotiations
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