As the daughter one of the most powerful Asari matriarchs, Liara was trained from birth to follow in her mother's footsteps. She was expected to embody the best qualities of the Asari and use them to shape politics in the Republic and the wider Galaxy for hundreds of years to come, to ensure the success of the path her mother had set out for it. Instead she rebelled in a way that was completely unexpected, by taking up the useless study of Prothean archaeology, rather than shaking her ass in some strip club or working her way through the Terminus systems as an Eclipse mercenary. Non-Asari might see this as weakness, a sign of her shyness and inability to cope with the demands her mother's plans put on her. Asari know better. To defy the wishes of her mother, to defy a matriarch as powerful as her needed an iron will and a very strong personality, strong enough to survive being ostracised from Asari society for decades, if not hundreds of years. Liara had that personality. – Little Wing: the Childhood of Liara T'Soni, As told to Khalisah al-Jilani by Shiala
The next morning, when the dear admiral's wife had gone back home to the dear admiral, I started preparations for my assignment to the Normandy. I had only two weeks to prepare myself and my new crew for our shakedown cruise and those two weeks were some of the busiest of my life. While captain Anderson had done most of the work assembling a crew, I needed to deal with the inevitable stragglers and last minute replacements, as well as with the hard work of getting them ship shape and the Normandy supplied and ready. It left me little time to pursue any of my hobbies.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the Galaxy, somebody who had made her profession out of her hobby had a hard time of it as well. Doctor Liara T'Soni was heading to Omega after a fruitless dig on one of the many nameless, uninhabited planets out in the Terminus Systems.
People always tended to underestimate Liara, even after the Reaper Wars. Oh, not so much her fellow Asari. They tended to focus on the whole T'Soni, daughter of Matriarch Benezia thing and knew that young or not, the daughter of a powerful matriarch like her was nobody to fool with.
Aliens on the other hand, especially short lived species like Humans or Batarians, tended to see her as a naïve, young girl, a sucker easy to exploit. It didn't help that to Human eyes she looked like a teenager, not somebody who was well over a century old. On Omega this was worse than anywhere else. Compared to the hard bitten Eclipse mercenaries or cynical Afterlife dancers that made up the station's Asari population, a seemingly mild mannered and shy girl like Liara looked like easy prey.
Which was one reason, apart from its general sleaziness, that Liara was wary of coming there, but if you're an archaeologist who's looking for a Prothean dig that's not yet been picked clean by generations of other archaeologists, than the Terminus systems are your best shot and Omega is the only halfway decent place to get new supplies.
And she needed them badly. Four months on one site when she had meant to spent only three, with nothing to show for it, had seriously depleted her stash of food and other essentials. She needed to restock before she went on to her next dig. Therefore she was happy to finally dock. "Be nice to spent a day or two in a proper bed and with a real shower for a change", she thought as she guided her small yacht into the Omega docks.
Not long after, Liara locked her ship's door behind her, checked to see if her gun was in place, keyed up her biotics and stepped on the dock, duffel bag slung over her shoulder, keeping both her arms free. It's late in Omega's day cycle and there were only a few people around. Walking briskly through the docks and into Omega's interior, she barely noticed the human sitting in the shadows behind a garbage dump. Nor did she see him getting up and slowly start to follow her.
Liara knew where she was going and it didn't take her long to get to the hotel she had stayed in before. Her shadow stayed with her until she went into the hotel lobby, kept waiting until he was sure she'd gone to her room, then he went in. A two minute chat with the duty clerk, a couple of credits changing hands and he knew who she was.
"Jackpot."
In a backroom of the sleaziest bar in Omega, two Batarians sat watching a human counting credit chips.
"Fifty for me. Fifty for Grotto. Fifty for Zeke. Fifty for me."
"You're forgetting somebody Turk. Aria."
"Nuts. Why cut her in?"
"You know the score. She runs Omega, she gets her cut."
"So we skip her cut this time, what's she gonna do about it?"
The two Batarians looked at each other.
"Fifty for Aria, Fifty for me. Fifty..."
Suddenly the door flew open. Quick as a flash the Batarians stood up and drew their guns, while Turk grabbed the credits on the table and dropped them back in his bag.
"Turk, you gotta see this."
"For fuck's sake Crawley, knock."
Crawley grinned apologetically, "sorry boss" and sat down at the table, "but I've got good news worth its weight in credits"
Turk sighed. Crawley always thought he had golden tips and they were almost always crap. "So what's it's this time?"
"Well Boss, there's this Asari that just docked..." Turk interrupted angrily. "If I wanted an Asari whore I'd go to Afterlife". Crawley raised his hands to object. "It's not like that boss. This is that Asari the Turian was looking for, you know, T'Soni? The one with the million creds bounty?"
Turk nodded. "You sure?" "Positive. I've followed her into her hotel."
"Good. Get the boys together, we're going to pay miss T'Soni a little visit."
In a discreet backroom hidden away in Afterlife's VIP section, two Asari maidens were sitting drinking and talking. One was drinking honey mead, the other had a much more refined and expensive taste, sipping Serrice Ice Brandy. As Liara put down her glass, idly swirling her brandy, she felt happy to be in the company of one of her best friends, even if only for a few hours. Liselle T'Loak really wasn't suitable company for the daughter of matriarch Benezia, but Liara had broken with her mother in everything, including her ideas of what was and wasn't suitable company for her.
It was an unlikely friendship between the brash daughter of the queen of Omega and the daughter of a very prim and proper Matriarch, a friendship forged through their similar upbringing, both having grown up as daughters of powerful and domineering mothers.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay a couple of days, Liara", asked Liselle. "It's been far too long since we've ... been together." She wetted her lips and looked at her friend with a smile.
"Goddess." Liselle had been Liara's first real lover, years ago, when they'd first became friends, but their relationship had long since settled down in a comfortable friendship. But now she sounded as if she wanted to renew their love making. The abruptness of Liselle's desire threw Liara in confusion.
"N-no, I-I'm already overdue on my next dig. Sadly I'll have to leave tonight to get there on time." It's not that Liara wasn't tempted by the offer, but she didn't want to have to deal with Aria again. She was very glad her own mother never was as ...coarse... as Aria had been when she'd realised her daughter had taken Liara as a lover. "I would die of embarrassment if my own parent had behaved that way." Liselle though had taken it in stride, long since gotten used to Aria's ways.
"Okay. In that case, let me at least walk you to your ship. Omega isn't a very safe place for an Asari maiden as beautiful as you."
"Flatterer."
It didn't take long for Liara and Liselle, with Liselle's two Batarian bodyguards in tow, to make their way from Afterlife, through some of Omega's classier slums, to the dock area. The two Asari had little attention for their surroundings, too caught up in renewing their friendship. Had they noticed how quiet the streets suddenly were, they might not have been surprised when rough hands suddenly grabbed the both of them and dragged them off into an alleyway.
Their surprise was short lived however. Biotics flared as both Liselle and Liara threw their attackers away from them, Liselle to the left, Liara to the right, their bodies hitting the walls hard enough that neither assailant remained conscious. Liselle drew her gun, as did Liara and after they quickly checked each other for wounds, they ran back to the street they'd come from
There they found Liselle's two bodyguards under fire from a trio of humans. As the two Asari stormed out of the alley, one of the three turned around and saw them coming. Shouting a warning to his comrades, he barely had time to aim his gun before Liselle had shot him. Liara meanwhile threw a bolt of biotic energy at the second human, ensnaring him in her field, lifting him up from behind the trashcans he had hidden behind. Two shots rang out as each of Liselle's bodyguards shot him. The last human tried to run, but before he could get more than a few metres away, Liselle had caught him, disarmed him and brought him back.
Liara's heart was racing. This sort of excitement she could do without, seldom had to deal with on her digs. "Goddess, any idea who those people are and what they wanted with us?"
Liselle looked grim. "I don't know yet, but we will find out. Aria will be very interested in why scum like this thought they could attack her daughter."
Hearing this, her prisoner blanched and looked sick. He knew what happened to people who took pot shots at Aria or her family.
"Come on, you'd better get back to your ship, Liara, and forget about this. We'll find out soon enough why this scum thought he could kidnap me once mother gets her hands on him."
The two friends embraced and said goodbye. Liara's heart was still racing as she quickly moved to the elevator that would take her to were her ship was docked.
As she stepped out from the elevator, it was the silence that warned her something was wrong. Keyed up as she was from the ambush she and Liselle had narrowly escaped, she was hyper aware of her surroundings and the silence was wrong in a way she couldn't define. It was this awareness that saved her when two Batarians stepped out from the door of one of the offices directly next to the elevator when she passed it.
As they attempted to grab her, she whirled around and hit the first one with a biotic throw, landing a punch straight on his jaw, dropping him to the floor, unconscious. The second Batarian quickly tried to close the distance and Liara spotted a syringe in his hand. As he grabbed her with his left hand, he tried to bring it down with his right, but Liara managed to twist out of his grip and with another, harder throw she flung him away. He landed with a sickening thud against the elevator, neck at an unnatural angle.
All this had taken less than half a minute and as Liara looked around her, she saw several more Batarians as well as a couple of humans between her and her ship. Dropping into the inadequate cover of the office, she drew her gun and took a better look at her enemies. There were six in total, four Batarians and two humans, all armed, though none of them had yet drawn their guns. It looked like they wanted her alive, but surely she could make it to the elevator in time if she threw up a biotic shield first?
That was of course exactly when the elevator opened and a Krogan stepped through, followed by another human.
"Surrender, doctor T'Soni and we won't harm you", the human shouted in her direction. "Resist and we'll be forced to kill you".
Liara didn't deign to answer. Half hidden in the office doors, she worried furiously about what she could do. She had no desire to surrender and be taken goddess know where, but she was far from confident she could take out half a dozen mercs, let alone a Krogan. If only she'd stayed with Liselle to find out what their first attackers had wanted. It seemed clear to Liara now that she had been the target, not her friend. Cursing herself, she looked around for a way out.
Then she saw a fire extinguisher hanging next to the elevator. Without thought she sprung up, yanked it from the wall with a biotic field and threw it hard in the Krogan's face. Instinctively he put his arms up, grabbing the extinguisher, which was when Liara shot at it. One, two, three shots in quick succession were what it took for it to explode, the Krogan taking the full brunt, one hand blown off, the other no more than a stump, his face covered in shrapnel. The human was partially shielded by the Krogan and had avoided most of the blast, but looked dazed and in shock.
Switching her gun to rapid fire, Liara ran at the group of mercs between her and her ship, aiming at the nearest Batarian. His shields went down quickly and a lucky shot hit him in his forehead. As he slumped to the ground, the remaining mercs drew their own guns and starting firing back, their fire absorbed by Liara's shields. She aimed her own fire at the next closest merc, managing to score some solid hits but unfortunately not putting him out of action.
She knew she couldn't continue to just run into enemy fire, so instead she grabbed the merc with a biotic field and held him helplessly in front of her, as a living shield. His friends didn't hesitate but kept firing – "so much for honour amongst mercs", Liara thought. As her field weakened and the merc collapse, she threw him at the two humans to the right of her, momentarily putting them out of the fight.
Sliding into cover behind one of the docking clamps, she concentrated her fire on the two remaining Batarians, driving them into cover behind the other clamp. She needed to deal with them fast, before their comrades could rejoin the fight. She didn't hesitate, but sent a heavy warp to yank them out of cover, followed by a singularity. The results weren't pretty. Their light shields and armour were no match for Liara's biotic powers. A normal Asari couldn't have used her biotics this way, but Liara wasn't an ordinary Asari.
Unlike most maidens, Liara had never had the traditional Asari commando training. Instead she had had something much more useful, personal training by her mother's acolytes, especially Shiala, one of the most powerful and experienced biotic powerhouses the Asari had ever produced. From the first time her biotics had manifested themselves, at age ten, she had been trained daily in their uses, learning everything a commando would've learned, and much more that they didn't. The training had increased her stamina to the point where she could use her biotics for far longer than any but the most experienced Asari commandos. This had come in handy whenever she had had to fight off raiders at one of her digs, but now it was essential.
The Batarians dead or dying, she moved over to the two humans, one of who had just managed to get himself up from under the corpse of his comrade, before Liara shot him at point blank range. The other was still pinned, but raised his pistol in a desperate attempt to shoot her before she could shoot him, but it was too late. A shot in his neck, blood gushing out, put him out. He frantically tried to stem the blood flow, but it was too much. Within a minute he too was dead.
The docks were quiet now and Liara moved quickly towards her ship's airlock. It was more instinct than warning that made her turn around, just as half a ton of enraged, dying Krogan slammed into her. She managed to land on her back, but the Krogan on top of her, the stump of his left arm on her neck, choking her. Desperately she tried to yank his arm of her, bring her gun up, kick him off her, do anything to stop her choking her. She felt herself panic, more so as out of the corner of her eyes she saw the human who'd ordered her to surrender come at her as well, gun in hand.
"We tried to do it the easy way, but now that Turian will have to pay for your corpse."
Liara had no clue what the human was babbling about, but she knew that if she couldn't get out from under the Krogan choking here, she'd die here. As she started to black out, she tried to pull off one last biotic throw, but even her vast powers were momentarily exhausted. Just as she was going under she heard two loud shots and the Krogan on top of her suddenly collapsed.
She barely comprehended what was happening, but knew only that she had to get out from under him. As she used her last reserves and heaved him off her, she heard another shot and the human crumbled next to her, dead.
The next thing she noticed was powerful hands pulling her out from under the dead Krogan and as she was hauled to her feet she saw Liselle and Aria looking worried at her.
"Thank the goddess we were here on time. Liara, are you all right?"
Liara took some time answering, waiting for the black spots in front of her eyes to clear. She took a deep breath and answered. "Yes, thank you, Liselle, you two came just in time. A minute later and that Krogan would've choked me to death."
She felt wobbly now the fight was over, a bit shaken, but very glad to be alive. As Liselle looked her over, Aria asked the question all three Asari were wondering about.
"When Liselle brought her prisoner to me we thought it was her those mercs had targeted, but a quick interrogation made clear it had been you they were after all along. Any idea why these idiots wanted you?"
"Goddess knows. I've never saw them before, but for some reason they wanted to kidnap me. That last human you killed seemed to be the leader and he said something about selling me to a Turian."
Aria lifted up the dead human to look at his face. "Huh. Turk. He's just a two bit gang leader. Didn't figure him for an exotic slave trader. Better be careful when you go out again T'Soni. If losers like him now think they can kidnap Asari from my station, they won't have any problems when you're alone on some goddess forsaken dig site where Liselle and I won't be around to help.
"Don't worry Aria, my next dig is safely in council space. No would be kidnappers ever hassled me on Therum."