Greetings!
OK, I really wanted to update sooner, really, but my brain has been disagreeing with me. That, and since I'm slowly becoming a fan of Warhammer 40,000, I spent a lot of time trying to grasp the basics of this universe. Oh, and my friend also distracted me with an offer to start our adventure in "Dark Heresy". In short: I am not a very good author. I'm terribly sorry.
Also, I said that I wanted this to be a two-chapter story, but the text in this chapter has become too big to fit the final parts here, so I had to split again, and make this a filler-chapter. Parts that relate to Citadel DLC and the ending will come later. Please bear with me, and I will do my best to make your wait worthwhile.
Enjoy the calm before the Doomsday-class s***-storm.
WARNING: this story is rated M for violence, swearing, and inevitable character death. Also, keep in mind that I did not pick the "Tragedy" genre for nothing.
COMPULSORY DISCLAIMER: Mass Effect belongs to BioWare and Electronic Arts. This piece of fan fiction is written for non-commercial purposes only.
Tevos was worried; she did not have any news on what was going in Parnitha system. If there was something she really did not like, it was the feeling of helplessness mixed with total ignorance on the flow of events. She knew that the situation in asari space was deteriorating very fast; it was the very reason why she actually told Shepard that a Prothean artifact was hidden in Temple of Athame on Thessia, without any fear of repercussion from the Matriarchs. After all, once the high and mighty fossils finally got it through their thick skulls that infiltration and sabotage was as useful against Reapers as tits on a hanar (Tevos laughed quietly, remembering how her personal spy delivered a recording of Aethyta and Liara conversing with each other; it did not happen too often that the young maiden could be thrown out of the loop, but Aethyta had an uncanny ability of having that effect on everyone), they became less constrictive on Tevos, and once the asari Councilor was sure that she would not suffer any consequences, she shared what she knew with Shepard.
Unfortunately, the right time did not come until Reapers were actually orbiting Thessia, and while Tevos had full faith that the first human Spectre hurried to Parnitha system at best possible speed, the room of opportunity was closing rapidly. While asari navy was not the largest, they possessed the best mass effect-based technology which allowed them to go head-to-head against turians and win – in theory, at least. In reality, asari did not dish out or absorb heavy assaults like turians did, so the question of who would win in a war between turians and asari was not that easy to answer.
But even if asari maintained technological superiority over other races, Reaper technology trumped everyone. Thus, asari fleet was facing unenviable odds, and only a fool could not understand that once Reapers appeared in orbit over Thessia, it was only a matter of time before the crown jewel of the galaxy was lost to a merciless genocidal enemy.
All the more reason for Shepard to hurry. I only hope we don't lose Destiny Ascension.
Tevos could not tell for how long she paced around in her office before she heard a blip notifying her of incoming QEC communication. At first, her heart leaped with joy – Shepard! Finally, I hope she succeeded – but her hopes were beaten into the ground once she identified the source of transmission – Destiny Ascension.
Still, she was the Councilor of her people, she could not afford to show weakness, even if she knew what kind of news she would hear in moments. Putting on a political face, Tevos accepted the call.
In front of her, she saw the familiar face of Destiny Ascension's CO.
"Councilor," came the weary voice of Matriarch Lidanya.
"Matriarch Lidanya. What's the status?"
"Our bloody status, Tevos?" Wow, Tevos mused, Lidanya rarely slips to swear words. I wonder if Aethyta rubbed off on her. "I am surprised we still have a Goddess-damned fleet. Of course, we landed several good kicks on Reapers, but it was a losing battle from the start. Once the Normandy gave the signal, we ran for our lives."
"And what about the Normandy?" Tevos inquired. Goddess, please, let Shepard be OK!
"We do not know. Rumours say that Shepard returned from her mission, along with T'Soni maiden, safe and sound, but they did not report anything. Lieutenant Kurin's squad was totally wiped out, so we lack any information."
Tevos felt as if the ground beneath her was about to crumble. Fear started creeping inside her. Did it actually happen? Did Shepard fail? Or did she lose anyone?
"I… I see. Lidanya, do you have any plans on where to go?"
"None whatsoever, Tevos," came the tired answer. Apparently, noticing Tevos' distress, and considering the circumstances, Lidanya decided to abandon the formalities. "Since the majority of these stuck-up bitches that I had the displeasure of tolerating have either collectively crapped their pants or perished, there's no oversight over me, except you."
"I grant you the authority to act however you need to preserve what remains of our fleet and soldiers, Lidanya," Tevos said. I don't know squat about leading the military; let Lidanya do her job. "Of course, I don't want to be kept out of the loop, but you know this stuff better than I do. If possible, evacuate everyone you can, but don't take any needless risks. Contact Admiral Hackett from the Alliance and offer him any help you can. I will contact Shepard and find out what happened."
"Understood, Concilor. Anything else?" Lidanya slipped back into formal military tone. Not coming up with any other topic, Tevos replied just as formally:
"No."
"Goddess be with you, then. Lidanya out." The image of an elderly asari flickered before disappearing completely.
Tevos stood alone, pondering what to do. She knew deep inside that her "assistance" was most likely to be very late, but she still hoped despite anything that her homeworld would be spared the terrible fate of Earth, Palaven and dozens of other Reaper-razed worlds. The asari Councilor now realized that the unenviable job of preserving what was left of her people, fleets, commandoes and what-not lied now upon her. Her. Tevos T'Semni. The rebellious child, the ex-commando, the successful politician, one of the youngest asari who ever served as representative of their race on the Citadel Council.
Probably the last Councilor, if the Reapers win.
Chasing the pessimistic thoughts from her head, she positioned her hands over haptic interface and entered the command to hail Normandy SR-2 via QEC.
Several seconds passed. No reply.
10 seconds passed. No reply.
20 seconds. Still no reply.
Did their QEC break or was it destroyed somehow?
Finally, Tevos saw the image of Shepard, and her heart missed a beat. Unfortunately, not from happiness this time.
Shepard's posture screamed defeat. Not something Tevos believed possible. After all, Shepard survived the odds no one would even dare to take on. But unfortunately, the asari matron forgot that Shepard, like every other being, had limits, and that the first human Spectre did not have any otherworldly or supernatural powers. And now, it appeared that it was time to pay for almost complete inaction and blind faith.
"Commander Shepard, are you there?" Tevos inquired. Goddess damn it, the signal strength is atrocious!
Shepard just stood without an answer, shoulders sagged and head bowed. It appeared as if she were fighting back tears, and Tevos noticed that her unwitting paramour had a good number of medi-gel patches on her arms and face.
"Commander?" Tevos repeated, worried beyond measure. Just say something, please!
"Councilor, the mission…" The voice matched the defeated posture perfectly. It was as if Shepard could not say the word "failed". Not surprising, considering that Shepard was given missions where defeat was not an option, especially after Torfan. People believed that in the first human Spectre's dictionary the word "defeat" never existed.
Tevos remembered that, and in a moment, she dropped into a state of desperation mixed with disbelief. It is not possible! How could it be possible? Momentarily losing her grip on reality, she pronounced, grasping at a sliver of hope:
"We've lost all contact with Thessia. The planet has gone dark. How soon will the Crucible be ready to deploy?"
Alas, the fates were not kind on Councilor Tevos again. Shepard's answer destroyed last vestiges of hope:
"Councilor… I wish the news was better. We didn't get the information."
The shock felt by Tevos was unexplainable.
No. No!
"What happened?" the asari voiced the primary thought on her mind.
"Cerberus was there. We were…" Shepard paused, not knowing how to soften the blow, but could not find the right words. So she chose to finish bluntly: "We were defeated. We don't know how to finish the Crucible."
The words hang in the air like a death sentence. The one given to a whole planet, which used to be the "crown jewel of the galaxy" and now became the latest victim of the invasion of genocidal machines known as Reapers.
Tevos felt as if her brain was suddenly ventilated and no words existed in her head anymore. Failing to get around that, she voiced this sudden feeling:
"I… I don't know what to say," and truly, what is there to say? You failed to do your part in protection of your homeworld, the uncomfortable feeling named "conscience" wormed its way into the asari's mind. Trying to placate it, Tevos inquired, "What was the situation on Thessia?"
"Deteriorating fast. The Reapers are there in strength."
An uneasy feeling crept inside Tevos. Later, she was not sure how it actually felt to hear these terrible words. It was as if a black hole formed in her stomach and its gravitational pull spread across her body; with acidic accretion disk around the event horizon. Councilor felt that all her strength was drained from her, into that black hole, and felt the urgent need to stop, before she was swallowed whole.
Part of her screamed that if she did that, it would only be worse, but it did not register in Tevos' brain.
"Then you'll excuse me. There are…" Tevos hesitated, trying to find the best words from her rapidly declining dictionary (apparently, it was being pulled into that black-hole-in-her-stomach, too), and failing, continued, "…preparations to make. Continuity of civilization to consider…"
Deep inside, Tevos remembered the things she considered after that fateful forced mind meld with Commander Shepard, when last vestiges of doubt about Reapers evaporated from her mind. Doing like Anderson used to say ("hope for the best, plan for the worst"), she insisted on implementing several defense measures, and devised several contingencies for the worst possible case. But, if she were totally honest, she never even believed that these measures would be necessary.
Unfortunately, Reapers decided otherwise.
"I never thought this day would come."
"None of us did. I…" Shepard muttered, trying to placate the Councilor somehow, but it was too late. Tevos disconnected. She knew full well what the human wanted to say.
I am sorry.
The 597-year old matron crumbled, landing rather ungracefully on the floor, and the dam holding her emotions vaporized, freeing the flow of bitter, salty tears, relinquished whatever conscious control of central nervous system had over muscle motions (thus leading to uncontrollable shaking) and gave way to wailing produced by asari's vocal cords.
Tevos sat on her floor, crying and weeping over the lives lost because of Council's short-sightedness, because of her failure to prepare the galaxy for Armageddon, because of her cowardice in front of the conservative Matriarchs and fear for her life, because of… the list could go on and on, but words truly could not do justice to Tevos' grief.
Could I have just doomed the galaxy to extinction?
The asari did not know the answer, which certainly did not soothe her nerves.
But hidden deep within, was one reason of Tevos bursting into tears, one she was not ready to show.
Shepard. The one person I am in love with. The person I treated unfairly, the one I did not believe until it was too late, the one I placed all hopes on, like everyone else in this Goddess-accursed galaxy.
After Aria, many sentients wanted my attention, wanted to be my lover. And I deemed them unworthy of me.
But Shepard, not knowing of my feelings towards her, chose to save me, Valern and Sparatus not once, but twice. Because it was the right thing to do, in her opinion. She even helped our High Command with Ardat-Yakshi monastery on Lesuss. And I was still blinded by my arrogance, thinking that my race would be safe, despite all evidence to the contrary nearly screaming in my face.
Now, Shepard most certainly blames herself for failure. Had I acted earlier, maybe Cerberus wouldn't have interfered. Maybe we wouldn't be teetering on the brink of extermination now.
Not bothering to wipe her tears, Tevos came to one startling conclusion in her mind.
It is I who does not deserve Shepard.
Slowly, her flow of tears stopped. She could not afford to cry for too long. Now, many asari will look up to her for guidance. And Tevos could not afford weakness. She needed her people to believe in her. She was the asari Councilor, after all.
But first, she needed to brace herself and wash the tear marks away.
After that, she needed to call Shepard and offer her some comfort, and find out about her plans, of course.
I will do my best to support Shepard this time. To hell with what others might think, it is time I stopped being an arrogant bitch and became actually deserving of Shepard.
The unwitting object of asari Councilor's affections felt like complete and utter shit. Failing her mission on Thessia not enough, she had to stop Liara from turning Javik into a stain on the port cargo bay wall and then play the role of the compassionate, galvanizing commander, so that Liara would not, God forbid, commit suicide, but pulled herself together.
To be honest, Shepard was fairly miffed at Liara as well. The asari maiden was a very loyal friend, but sometimes she possessed the ability to get under Commander's skin without realizing it.
When Liara set foot on ravaged Thessia, she nearly went into total shock and just stared, as if she hoped that wide eyes and jaw-in-danger-of-falling would somehow make the big bad Reapers go away. For Christ's sake, Liara knew about Reapers and their capabilities from the beginning of this clusterfuck; what did she expect?! And once she returned aboard the Normandy after the mission went FUBAR, Liara first decided to pay visit to Javik and give him a piece of her mind for destroying her cosy little world (or what remained of it) –good thing I intervened, at least Liara calmed down somewhat – and then locked herself up, wallowing in self-pity. Has she ever seen me or Garrus wallowing in self-pity or just… falling into pieces, or turning into a fucking fire hydrant? I don't have time for straightening everyone up, for fuck's sake!
And Joker, damn him, decided it was the best time to joke about "fewer dancers, more commandoes"… I agree with the sentiment, but boy, does he know how to choose the worst possible time!
Shepard's angry musings were interrupted once she heard EDI telling her that Councilor Tevos was calling her (again?!) via QEC. The first human Spectre pondered whether she should tell Tevos to stuff it where the sun never shines, but decided against it – after all, the asari Councilor lost her homeworld, too. Not sure she did not deserve it, though. Hiding the secrets until their asses are on fire, all in name of goddamn "political balance"… translation, "asari supremacy"… load of bullshit. And now it bit them in the ass. The vindictive line of thoughts disappeared from her mind, however, once she saw her boss (well, one of the merry now-trio, since Udina is dead). Tevos looked… humbled. Asari do not usually look like that, meaning that she went through one hell of a shock.
"Councilor," Shepard greeted Tevos curtly. "Is there anything you need?"
"Yes, Commander, there is," the voice, while not broken down, certainly did not sound merry, "but first, I would like to apologize for hanging up on you so suddenly."
"I thought you would have considered it karmic justice, Councilor…" Shepard replied dryly and humourlessly, despite the attempt to pronounce her answer otherwise, "…that is, if you knew what karmic justice is."
"As a matter of fact, Commander, I do know," Tevos allowed the corners of her lips to form a small smile.
"You do?"
"I worked with Admiral Anderson for two years, did you expect me not to learn at least something from human culture?"
"…point taken. And I do not know whether there is any need to apologize to me, Councilor."
"There is, from my point of view. It was noticeable that you were distressed over the… outcome of your mission to Thessia, extremely, I might add. I am fairly certain that the words you wanted to say before I cut the line were "I am sorry". Correct?"
"…yeah," came the answer from Shepard. Damn it, how come that she is so perceptive? Oh, whom am I kidding, she is a politician. This is most likely a necessity.
"And I am also certain that by hanging up on you I did not help your emotional state, given that you blame yourself for failure – "
"Of course I blame myself, Councilor! I thought that Cerberus was no longer a credible threat, not after the failed coup and multiple strikes at them! But they knew the perfect moment when to strike, and now the Illusive Bastard has access to the data on the Catalyst!" Shepard shouted at the hologram in front of her. Apparently, Tevos was not the only one whose dam of emotions was broken now. Embroiled in her renewed self-loathing, Shepard nearly missed Tevos' reply:
"And not once did you feel anger towards me?"
"…what?" Oh my, Tevos thought. That certainly threw her out of the loop.
"Or my government, that put itself in front of everyone else in the galaxy?"
"How come that you are not a…"
"…self-absorbed, arrogant bitch, or a muftascha frugheda now?"
"Muftascha frugheda? What on Earth does that even mean?"
"Oh. You do not have a translation matrix for Old Thessian dialect, do you? Muftascha frugheda means roughly "self-centered, corrupt functionary that does not serve their people".
"Well, I never thought that you were corrupt, but… well, yeah, my previous epithets about you were not flattering. Sorry," Shepard said. Wowzers, did someone drug me, or did Tevos get hit with a good heavy hammer?
"I take no offense. To answer your question, a good number of Matriarchs were still self-centered and arrogant enough to think that no one would dare to upset their cosy order of things. Now, that they're mostly gone and do not matter, I do not have to fear repercussions from them."
"I thought you had a lot of power at your disposal. How come that you had to fear them?" Shepard asked, bewildered.
"We Councilors, unlike what people believe, are not as powerful. We still depend in some degree on our governments, and while our decisions impact the galaxy, we still cannot go on against those who are responsible for appointing us," Tevos regained some of her confident posture, and her voice became steadier. "This is especially true for Asari Republics, whose higher echelons of power are… were, actually, a rather intricate web of alliances, conspiracies and rivalries between the Matriarchs. While decisions are made on plebiscites, the common asari normally subscribe to Matriarchs that happen to have sway over them."
"Thus meaning that the real power lies in hands of asari Matriarchs and their views?"
"You caught on well, Commander. In essence, yes. And remember that Matriarchs wield considerable power to back their views."
"Well, to your question about me being angry with you… honestly? Yes, I was angry. Especially since it turned out that the artifact was a thrice-accursed Prothean beacon!"
"What?!" Tevos was shocked. A beacon? A working Prothean beacon? Inside Temple of Athame? This… this is astounding!
"You didn't know?" Shepard arched an eyebrow, her posture saying I call BS. Something that did not go unnoticed by the asari Councilor.
"You are, of course, free not to believe me, but I swear in the name of Goddess Athame and on honour of T'Semni family that I only knew about the presence of a Prothean artifact in the Temple of Athame; not that it was a Prothean beacon!" Tevos took on what Anderson used to call "solemnly regal" pose, trying to show that she indeed spoke the truth. Please believe me, Shepard.
The said human scratched her head, clearly not knowing what to think.
"Er… OK, I'll bite if you explain how it is possible for you not to know about such things – or know only a part of them," Shepard finally relented, thinking that it would not do to further alienate her boss. The request was pretty bold, of course, but Tevos decided to go along:
"While I am indeed a very important person and enjoy a lot of control because of being the Councilor, I am still supposed to be subservient to the Matriarchs. It is not possible to become a representative of our race on the Citadel if you do not conform to those Matriarchs that can and are willing back you up; normally, this is not really problematic in our case. All that an asari Councilor is expected to do is to maintain the galactic status quo with Asari Republics being on top of the food chain."
"Sounds kinda… too simple," Shepard felt that she was baffled again.
"I merely explained that in layman's terms, Commander."
"So, this means that if you up and told me sooner, this would upset the goddamn status quo that the asari built? And the Matriarchs would get angry and… impeach you or something?" While she told that, Shepard couldn't help but think, typical politician, that Tevos. She should have sacrificed her career. Yep, she would lose the post, but our victory would vindicate her.
"Worse. They would have arranged my disappearance… and not just mine," Tevos shuddered visibly. "Most likely, you are thinking of me as a coward right now. Correct?"
"Er…" Damn it, why is she so perceptive? "Not really, no." Yeah, really convincing. "If I understood you correctly, they would have arranged for my disappearance as well?"
"Precisely."
"Damn it! I know that Matriarchs are supposedly very old and experienced and wise and staff, but they surely did not live up to that reputation! And now, I assume, they paid most dearly?" Shepard inquired. Would serve the stuck-up old farting bitches right! First they spy on Liara and plan her assassination, then they don't let us know that they probably hold a key to winning this war! Wisdom my ass!
"They did… in fact, once Reapers appeared in Parnitha system, their overwatch over me became less… stringent. This is what allowed me to tell you what I knew."
"And how did you know about this artifact in first place, Councilor? Just curious," the first human Spectre desired to know.
"While I am not omnipotently powerful, and, being a matron, am supposed to defer to the Matriarchs, my post still grants me a lot of power and insight into asari politics. As I rose in prominence, I paid attention to small signs, until I was able to deduce what was within Temple of Athame. But I never learned that it was a beacon, since I was… discouraged from further inquiries. Makes us look very hypocritical now," Tevos allowed some anger to show on her face, so that Shepard would believe that the matron was not amused herself.
Shepard did not react. She pondered over anything she heard, comparing the new info with her previous knowledge. Damn it, the asari sure have their own sharp thorns too. Who would have guessed? And Tevos probably sought to let me know without jeopardizing both our lives. But would the sutck-up Matriarchs really..? Oh whom am I kidding! I know full well that an experienced asari commando who knows her way with sniper rifle can ventilate a skull without a problem and remain undetected. Or they could use… poison, or whatever… Damn, Machiavelli must be laughing his guts off in his grave.
"Shepard?"
The unusually gentle (gentle? Since when?) and subdued voice of the asari Councilor brought Shepard out of her ruminations.
"Yes, Councilor?"
"If you would please tell me… what do you plan to do now?" You never give up easily Shepard. Please don't start now.
"We're trying to trace the Cerberus ship with the data. Our findings indicate that its signal disappears over planet Horizon, in fact, it is actively jammed. Not much, but this is our only trace now."
"Are you headed there?"
"I am indeed, Councilor," Shepard answered.
"Then may the Goddess watch over you and protect you in your endeavor, Commander Shepard," Tevos said. "In the meantime, I will ensure that remnants of our forces assist Admiral Hackett in whatever way they can."
"He will appreciate that," for the first time, some flicker of smile came across Shepard's face. "Are you sure there will be no repercussions for what you did?"
"Positive. I'm in the same position as Donnel Udina was after destruction of Arcturus station, and others are very unlikely to challenge me now," the asari hesitated for a bit, then added, "If possible, would you report to me after your mission?"
"I will," came the answer.
"Thank you, Commander." Stay safe. After a momentary pause, as if the Councilor was debating something with herself, she said, "Tevos out."
The image of Shepard disappeared, and Councilor Tevos, knowing full well that her object of passions could not hear her now, whispered, "I love you."
Now, there was nothing she could do to help the Spectre; but she still had duties to her people. Time to fulfill them.
Of all the crappy days in my life, this has got to be the crappiest of them. And I am only 109 years old, mused Liara T'Soni, ex-xenoarcheologist, and now the mightiest information broker in the galaxy, going by the moniker "Shadow Broker", and (half-officially) Commander Shepard's intelligence officer. Once she recalled the title used by her Therum saviour, her thought was continued:
Correction. The second worst day in my life. The first was when Shepard died onboard the Normandy SR-1.
Not to say that Liara did not care about what happened to her people. In fact, it was quite the opposite, which proved itself in endless coordinating and ordering the remains of asari commando squads and refugee ships to go here or there or lay low and do everything in order not to attract attention. And in other thing: Liara's almost complete inaction, before Shepard visited her room and entered "galvanizing Commander" mode, jump-starting the maiden into action.
Just like she always did. I am shocked to learn that my mother became a traitor. Shepard supports me. I am shocked to see the cruelties of the galaxy. Shepard helps me to learn how to overcome them. I am grieving the death of my mother and her ignoble fate. Shepard (once she got it rammed into her head that Benezia's death was not her fault) lets me cry on her chest.
When she died, I put her lessons to use, and risked everything for a chance to see her again… even her friendship.
And the risks paid off. When I got stuck in my hunt for the Shadow Broker, Shepard helped me, several times. When she got the data which could end that bastard for good, the first thing she does is to give it to me.
She saved my… what was the expression? Beef? No… bacon… numerous times. And now, when I am devastated beyond my imagination, she spurs me into action again.
The line of thought brought forward many good memories of them spending time together as friends. Shepard was truly a miracle; she found her way into hearts and minds of many people, and formed teams that spat in face of bad odds and wiped their boots with them. She was awe-inspiring, invigorating, beautiful, lovable… oh Goddess, there I go again!
Once again, the not-so-innocent thoughts about the human wormed their ways into asari's mind. If I do not switch to another thoughts right now, I won't be able to focus on my work!
Alas, this was not to be, and Liara stepped away from her terminals, frustrated. Then she noticed that she had worked for full 4 hours without a pause. She never did that previously, and now that she stopped her work, Liara felt that her head threatened to come apart.
Coming to sit on her bed, the asari maiden ruminated once again on her feelings for Jane Shepard.
Romantic feelings.
To be fair, Liara believed at first that these feelings were just a simple hero crush. It was not improbable, after all, that a shy young girl would find herself in a position that human poetry eloquently described as "damsel in distress" and then be saved by a dashing hero(ine) (for asari, genders did not really matter; thank the Goddess – scratch that – meddling Protheans and their experiments) and develop feelings for her saviour; such events were not unheard of. So Liara rationalized her feelings as a crush that would soon pass and (if not reigned in) would lead to a heart break.
Alas, the heart break did happen on that fateful day, when Shepard, following her "no-one-gets-left-behind-if-humanly-and-inhumanly-possible" policy, went to the cockpit of fatally wounded Normandy SR-1 to save Joker – and did not make it into an escape pod herself.
But it did not make the romantic feelings go away; in fact, it did quite the opposite. Only after that horrible event did Liara appreciate fully what she had with Shepard and in Shepard. Feeling guilty over the fact that she could not save her commander, Liara went out of her way to ensure that her paramour at least received a proper funeral. Instead, she came across a slim chance of seeing the first human Spectre alive in the future – and grasped it immediately. In the end, Shepard's body was in hands of Cerberus, a sworn enemy of asari race and Shepard herself, and her new friend, Feron, was in clutches of the Shadow Broker.
And after that, another feeling wormed its way into maiden's mind; something that Liara did not believe herself capable of prior to these fate-changing events.
An all-consuming desire to exact revenge on those guilty of the death of the person she fell in love with.
In Shepard's name, Liara started her own crusade against Collectors and Shadow Broker, doing everything she could in order to hamper their operations. Unfortunately, both her foes proved to be as elusive as the Illusive Man (no pun intended), the former more than the latter. And in spite of becoming more and more influential on Illium over time, the young asari still could not topple the positions of her enemies. Still, she refused to back down.
Just like Shepard.
And then, on one day, as she was threatening to flay someone alive with her mind (truthfully, asari were not capable of that, but the troublesome client did not bother with gathering proof for the rumours), she came back.
Liara nearly jumped her there and then. Alas, she could not afford to; she did not know if Shepard would reciprocate her feelings, and besides, her office was bugged.
Plus, she was afraid that if Shepard ever learnt the truth about how Cerberus acquired her body in first place, she would not be able to avoid another heart break.
Fortunately, once Shepard pressed Liara's back to the wall (figuratively, even if the asari maiden dreamt sometimes otherwise) and learnt the truth, she did not start hating the poor girl, even if she got upset a bit about Liara not wanting to speak with her about that. Within moments, asari's heart fluttered; is it real? Do I get another chance at winning Shepard's heart?
And then, the mind reminded: Shepard has to go through Omega-4 relay. They say it is a suicide mission. The mere reminder nearly crushed Liara again; but she could not distance herself from the human. Not another time.
Instead, Liara promised that she would assist Shepard in whatever capacity she could, while trying to keep the Shadow Broker off from their backs. Shepard was very grateful for that.
Things went on smoothly after that, until Shepard brought her the data from Cerberus that could help Liara in finishing the Shadow Broker once and for all. The asari knew immediately that she could not review it in her office; it was still bugged and she did not have the appropriate secure computers to check it out anyway in her office, so she asked Shepard to meet her at her place later.
But fates decided to screw the plans yet again.
Once Liara made a deal with her business acquaintance, a salarian named Sekat, her glass suddenly broke and she felt her barriers stopping the slug from mass-accelerator before it had the chance to ventilate her skull.
The whole business went downhill from there, turning into the blur of trade center bombing, confronting treacherous Spectre and Liara's would-be assassin Tela Vasir, merry aircar chase (during which Liara remembered why exactly she hated Shepard's driving), fierce battle against Shadow Broker's mercenaries, hostage situation, another fierce battle with Vasir followed by flight to Hagalaz and yet another battle against Shadow Broker's mercenaries, and finally, confrontation with the Shadow Broker himself.
When at last Liara's desire for revenge was satisfied, the asari thought that she should finally divulge her feelings about Shepard when she heard the voice of her nemesis' operatives, requesting whether the network still functioned.
At that moment, Liara understood that she had access to the resource she could only dream about. She only needed to stretch a hand and make several steps towards it.
Which she did.
Swearing to herself that this network would benefit Shepard in her anti-Reaper cause.
Alas, the new job did not allow for solidification of romance… but it provided an explanation as to why Shepard, being an attractive woman herself, did not agree to dating any of her potential romantic interests (both human and alien, like Garrus), of which there were quite enough.
Shepard's romances never had a happy ending. In fact, they ended with her lovers' deaths, for which Shepard would blame herself.
Her first crush ended tragically when her fellow gang member and object of her affections, Michael, took a bullet into his carotid artery when they were trying to escape from rival gang. He bought her time to get out, but bled out in seconds.
His death was, in fact, the primary reason why Shepard decided to put her life in gangs behind her and joined the Alliance when she became eighteen years old.
Her second attempt at romancing ended when her lover, named William Hosborne, died from taking a point blank shotgun shot on Torfan. The infamous AT-12 Raider shotguns used by Batarian Hegemony's Special Intervention Unit were super effective in that battle, and left those in stock armour zero chances for survival. And William (whom she affectionately called Billy Bones, much to his chagrin mixed with amusement due to him being slightly thinner than your average Alliance soldier; not because he resembled his "namesake" from Stevenson's "Treasure Island") was not from N7, he was a pretty simple guy who could not believe that the legend of N7 program showed him that much attention at first, but was ready to die for her in the end… which he did.
Finally, her latest romantic interest, a ship engineer called John Gladstone, perished when a freak incident led to drive core overload. Said incident turned out to be an act of sabotage by some anti-globalist terrorist group allegedly linked with Cerberus; before everyone could question what was going on, the terrorists started shooting everywhere. John rushed to the engineering deck, seeking to mitigate the damage, while Shepard was trying to defend the ship and led a counter-attack with a small team. Unfortunately, she had to defend CIC first and foremost, since it was the most heavily hit location; its safety was paramount. The time she had to spend defending said critical location gave terrorists the chance to infiltrate other areas of the ship, where defense was almost non-existent.
She arrived to engineering deck just in time to see her lover die from a barrage of armour-piercing bullets from an assault rifle.
Needless to say that none of those present survived.
After these traumatic events, Shepard convinced herself that it was dangerous for anyone to love her or to be loved by her, because she would bring death onto them.
This information, deduced by agents of the Shadow Broker, showed Liara a new angle to Shepard's refusal to date Kaidan Alenko back in 2183.
When Liara finally understood, she felt a mixture of sadness on Shepard's behalf and rage at the universe, which seemed fit to bang the human mercilessly straight into the heart. And she knew that the chances of her being together with Shepard took another (maybe final) beating. The first one back in 2183 was the fact that Shepard did not really seem romantically interested in anyone from asari race. Physical similarities between asari and human women did not mean that the latter were in a hurry to try and woo the former, much to the disappointment of many asari in the galaxy.
But hearts are never ruled by brains, and Liara's feelings did not evaporate. The asari vividly remembered her feelings when one of her few remaining agents on Omega got the footage of Aria kissing Shepard after the heavy battle in Afterlife club. Liara was very tempted to kick Aria's ass into oblivion once she saw the audacity of the Pirate Queen.
Before that moment, Liara did not really believe that she was capable of extreme jealousy.
Her ruminations were rudely interrupted when her info-drone named Glyph informed her of another call from Councilor Tevos coming.
Naturally, Liara felt suspiciousness. What would she want now?
Many did not know, but the Shadow Broker actually had surveillance devices onboard the Normandy SR-2 before Shepard took the ship to Omega-4 relay. Alliance techs were not able to remove them all, and one agent actually implanted others where necessary – comm room with QEC communicator being one of them. The devices already proved useful once – when Liara anonymously revealed to select few that Dalatrass Linron attempted to sabotage human-turian-krogan alliance (it was not exactly so, but the end result would have been as the asari said, and "unnecessary" details were omitted) and mount political pressure against her.
Now, Liara locked her room, claiming she wanted to "sleep off the stress", and enabled live footage from the bug hidden near the QEC, directing it onto one of her monitors.
After hearing the whole exchange between Shepard and Tevos, the asari maiden felt confused, because she could not discern Tevos' motives. Sure, the Councilor was in shock, and perhaps this shock finally "kicked her ass into gear" (as Shepard would say), but Liara knew better – she was not totally ignorant of politics, after all, thanks to her mother's nagging – and she was aware that Tevos always had some sort of motive. But if her earlier motives were easily discernible, they were not in this case.
It was not good when Shadow Broker could not discern the motives of a politician.
Liara decided that this matter warranted further investigation, and decided to tap into her archives and sources to discover what Tevos had in store, but suddenly her intercom chimed. Frustrated, she answered:
"Yes?"
"Liara, it's me." Shepard. "Are you feeling better now?"
"Sort of," the asari replied, not totally lying, "but I do feel a need to vent my frustrations against Reapers, or Cerberus."
"Wow, is that your quarter-krogan side showing itself, T'Soni?" the amused tones were unmistakable.
"Not funny, Shepard!" Liara exclaimed, half-annoyed, half-exasperated. Goddess, I wish she never heard Aethyta mentioning that tidbit.
"Alright, Liara, I'm sorry. I only want to tell you that we are in place to investigate Sanctuary, and if you feel good enough, I want you on ground team."
"I am coming," answered the asari.
"Good, I am taking Garrus too. See you in five on shuttle deck. Shepard out."
The connection cut, and Liara proceeded to change her outfit into battle armour. Delighted to have a chance to kick Cerberus real hard in a quad (as her, in human terms, "father" would say), she still did not forget her suspicions about Tevos.
I will have to investigate this later…
I can't promise anything about the date when this story is officially complete. The finale is not ready yet, and I do not release chapters until I feel they are ready.
I am not certain about the quality of this chapter, especially since I do not really like fillers, so criticism is welcome – but flaming without details as to what deserved such a reaction still warrants a fire extinguisher.
My thanks to:
Theodur, ChocolateTruffles and Zizania - for reviewing.
Rigel100, Starreh23, Zimbolical, cameronsadrock1 – for favouriting this story.
Rigel100, Soloist Programmer, Zizania, alwaysterkantoi, cameronsadrock1 – for following.
(Acknowledgements are given as of August 15th, 2014, 16:23 MSK.)
Thanks for reading and patiently waiting!
Galactic Alien out (for now).
