Bright light woke her. It was streaming through the enormous picture window, cutting a path through the shadows of the room. Shepard sat up, again shielding her eyes from the glare.
Thane sat on the floor in the sunlight, feet tucked under himself, hands resting in his lap, eyes gently closed. He was shirtless, and Shepard's eyes were drawn to the collection of scars that disturbed the smooth skin of his arm and back, and the trail of markings that started at the base of his skull and slid down his spine.
Thane's eyes slid open. He stood in a smooth movement, and closed the blinds.
"I'm sorry, Siha. I didn't mean to wake you."
He sat on the bed and took her hands. Always touching her hands when they spoke was a mannerism of his that she found both strange and endearing.
"No, it's alright." She said, then stopped. His facial expressions could be incredibly subtle, but she knew him well enough to see that he was upset.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
He relinquished her hands and stood, arms crossed over his chest, facing the window.
"I think I'll stay behind. I want to write to my son. There are things I would tell him."
Shepard didn't ask. Kolyat was still a painful topic for him.
"Of course." She said, standing. Abruptly he turned and kissed her fiercely, drawing her against him. His skin still felt warm from when he sat in the sunlight.
"I'll be back in a few hours," She said, searching his face.
He only nodded. "Of course, my Siha. I'll be here."
-
Shepard was outside lacing up her boots when the researchers appeared. The facility was small, with only eleven permanent residents. They were a mixed lot, three Human women, two Salarians, and six Turians from their government's science bureau. Haraji was technically in Turian space, and since the attack on the Citadel they had taken rather a vested interest in the ruins here.
"Good morning, Commander Shepard!" Nina Franks said, extending a weathered hand. They'd had a short conversation the day before, when they arrived at the facility. She was a stout, older woman with long grey hair and a kind face. Definitely the de-facto leader of this little band of archaeologists. Shepard had gotten the impression that when the Turians sent their people to Haraji they'd intended to usurp her, but with no success.
"But of course you're used to the early mornings from the Alliance, huh?" Nina thumped her on the back a few times for emphasis. She was almost alarmingly friendly.
The two other women were younger, more or less her age, and looked embarrassed at Nina's slight breach of protocol. One of them came forward.
"I'm Elaine, and this is Sara." They both shook her hand, looking vaguely frightened.
Indeed, the whole team introduced themselves, and all of them looked at her like she could potentially snap and kill them all at any second. Considering that she was now both a SpecTRe and technically a Cerberus operative, she didn't exactly blame them.
The dig site was only over the next rise, and they all loaded into two dusty utility vehicles. One of the Turians drove, and Nina shouted over her shoulder at her from the front seat, holding her hat to her head so it wouldn't fly off in the wind.
"I don't know how much you've heard, Shepard, but this is truly one of the best preserved Prothean sites in the galaxy. It's the only Prothean settlement we know of that was abandoned before their extinction. They left quite a lot behind. Dwellings, furniture, cooking items, tech."
"Oh yes?" She shouted back over the noise of the vehicle.
"Unfortunately most of it's under 50 meters feet of sand. We've uncovered the equivalent of about three city blocks."
"I'm excited to see it." Shepard said, legitimately pleased. It would be nice to learn about the Protheans without dozens of people trying to kill her. For years now she'd been running through archaeological sites with no time for anything but shooting and ducking and bleeding.
"I'm impressed, Commander! Most military types don't exactly get excited over this sort of thing."
"Yeah, well. I'm not in the military anymore." Shepard said, then they passed over a small dune and she became distracted.
Prothean towers like she'd seen on Feros reached out of a huge...opening...in the desert, reinforced by pre-fab walls. Inside, the bright Haraji sunlight illuminated Prothean architecture, some of which looked to be at least two stories tall.
They pulled up to the edge of the dig, and unloaded themselves and their gear. Shepard was overawed. Maybe Liara was right. If ever a working cipher would be discovered, this seemed like a likely place. The shifting sands must have covered this site only a few hundred years after the Protheans deserted it, preserving it from the elements.
They all loaded into the elevator, and Inido, a Salarian, hit the controls.
Creaking, the elevator lowered them slowly through the old settlement. Through huge holes in the crumbling walls, she could see what could have been furnishings, objects that might have been art. This was the most...personal evidence of the Protheans she had ever seen. They'd always seemed more mythical than real.
The elevator reached the bottom. Her boots crunched under the same gravel that once Protheans had stood on.
"My God," Shepard said, looking up. Sunlight filtered through the buildings, casting strange patterns of light on the researchers and the floor.
"How long have these ruins been under excavation?" She said.
"I never thought you would be the academic sort, Shepard." Someone said, but it wasn't Nina. Shepard's hand hovered over her belt, but of course her gun wasn't there.
She turned, and finally placed the voice.
It was Balak, and behind him, at least 20 of his closest friends. There were enough of them that they had the research team surrounded and still had a few left over to point guns at her.
Shepard carefully modulated her voice. "I let you live the last time we met, and this is how you repay me?" She said. He'd actually gotten away from her twice now. Once seven years ago at Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz, and again five years later when she'd ruined his plans to sink an asteroid into Terra Nova.
Balak laughed.
"Don't act like you had a choice, Shepard. It was me or a big pile of dead civilians on your conscience, and we all knew what the heroic Commander Shepard, Humanity's favorite daughter, would pick. As I understand it, they put up a statue of you on Terra Nova the last time somebody was lucky enough to kill you."
Behind him, one of the researchers started crying, and abruptly, she realized the seriousness of the situation. She had no weapons, no armor, and there were eleven untrained civilians to worry about. Balak and his men were Batarians, twice her size, heavily armed, and holding a grudge.
"Let them go, Balak. I'll go wherever you want, you don't need leverage."
Balak laughed again.
"I didn't become the leader I am by not learning my lessons. I'm not taking you prisoner, Shepard. We're going to go across the site to where I've arranged for you and your friends to die in a tragic accident involving one of the site's retaining walls collapsing. By the time the Alliance realizes that you've also been shot, I'll be back beyond the Attican Traverse."
Shepard wasn't really listening to him. She was taking stock. No weapons, no armor. What did she have on her? She was still wearing her jacket from the Normandy, but there was nothing in her pockets. Then she felt something against her collarbone. Of course! An ear-piece was wired into her jacket. She'd worn it when she was going after Samara's daughter on Omega Station, and radioed Joker with it when they arrived on Haraji. Right now it was dangling between her jacket and her shirt.
Shepard made a show of nonchalance, putting one hand on her hip and the other on her chest.
"Really, Balak, I'm flattered that you hold my abilities is in such high esteem, but you have twenty men with you. You don't need the civilians, and regardless of what they've seen, by the time help arrives I'll be dead and you'll be long gone."
She felt the tiny ear-piece under her ring-finger. It clicked as she pressed its tinier call button.
"No! No more talking!" Balak said abruptly. "Put your hands on your head. You, frisk her."
One of Balak's lieutenants made a show of searching her for weapons as roughly as possible.
"She's clean." He said finally, stepping away.
"You're an idiot, Shepard. So many enemies and you come out here without a weapon."
She resisted the urge to smirk. Obviously, they'd never heard of Thane.