Chapter Nine
Geth On Ice Planet Noveria
Part Two

"Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see..."
Kansas: "Dust In The Wind"

Kate, led her squad and their civilian consultant, Dr. T'Soni to the guarded door of Port Hanshan's garage where she swiped the garage pass Gianna Parasini provided through the reader next to the door and breathed a quiet sigh of relief when it slid open.

"Welcome to the Port Hanshan transit garage, Captain Beckett," the port's male-sounding AI stated as if discussing the weather, "the first stop on your tour of the galaxy's most respected site for independent scientific research and development. An ERCS variant of the M35 Mako has been cleared for your use. It is waiting at the exit portal for Peak 15."

After a brief pause, the AI spoke up again.

"Warning: severe weather and environmental hazard alert in effect for the Aleutsk Valley. Shuttles have been grounded and ground traffic is not recommended. If travel is unavoidable, please remain inside the vehicle until you reach your destination."

Nobody saw the geth infiltration unit concealed behind one of the ceiling mounted cargo loader assemblies in active camouflage mode as it watched the door, noting the presence of both the asari and the human female it had been ordered to watch for. There were no other geth platforms in close proximity so its processing strength was limited, but it didn't need any higher cognitive functions to perform the task for which it had been assigned. It transmitted its video data feed to the nearest prime and awaited further instructions.

Kate and her squad followed the lighted walkway of the tour leading them to their vehicle when the outer doors slid open and fifteen geth mobile platforms stormed in firing forming a wedge in front of an eight foot tall geth prime. Castle and Garrus dove one way to find cover, shoving Liara down with them, Esposito and Beckett dove the other while Wrex roared, drew his shotgun and charged, at the prime, firing as he went. One geth was blown to scrap almost immediately, another was spun around – losing an arm in the process.

Castle and Beckett popped up on opposite sides of the garage, and opened up with their rifles, drawing the geth's fire to clear a path to the prime for Wrex, who tore into the geth mobile network hub, tearing it to pieces with his biotics with a relish that few who were not krogan could understand.

The presence of the geth infiltrator that had sounded the alarm had thus far gone unnoticed on the far side of the garage complex as it withdrew an M-98 Widow anti-materiel sniper rifle and sighted in on Kate - lining up for a head-shot. When asked later, Castle would not be able to recall what drew his eye to the exact spot the infiltrator had been located in the split second its active camouflage field wavered. But in the span of a heartbeat, his biotic field lit up, barriers hardened and he exploded forward, slamming into the geth back into the far wall with the full force of his biotic charge.

Castle hammered the geth with the butt stock of his M-7 Lancer again and again, well after the light in the center of its head went dark. He only stopped to look up at Kate when she stepped close enough to divert his attention from the permanently disabled platform.

Kate and Rick stared into each other's eyes for several seconds, all other thoughts flown away but each other, only a hand's breadth from touching... when into the tableau came the clatter of a squad of ERCS guards, led by Captain Maeko Matsuo .

"What the hell?" she shouted, shattering the spell between Castle and Beckett - who jumped apart as if burned - as she waved for her squad to move into the garage. "What are those things? Fan out and secure the area, nobody goes in or out... MOVE!"

When Captain Matsuo reached Kate, she had recovered her composure and her walls were once again firmly in place.

"What the hell happened in here, Spectre?" Matsuo demanded. It was the first time since they had met the woman that she appeared to have lost her cool.

"We were ambushed by the geth and fought back, Captain," Kate stated harshly, "preventing them from running loose in your port"

"Geth? You expect me to believe..." Matsuo choked out, clearly not wanting to believe it. "Where did they come from?"

"The asari bitch came with a load of cargo crates," Wrex rumbled, drawing an angry glare from Liara T'Soni, "They were probably packed in those."

"But... but..." Matsuo spluttered, "we did thorough scans of each and every one of those gorram crates before they were loaded on the cargo train. There were no power sources, no element zero masses..."

"If all of her cases were packed with geth," Castle pointed out, "there are more of them out there. A lot more."

"The geth are on the move in the Attican Traverse and Terminus systems," Kate stated.

"For three centuries," Captain Matsuo replied, finally able to wrap her brain around the idea that they'd been attacked by geth, "everyone has said 'the geth do not come out of the veil' what the hell is going on? I have to report his to the Executive Board. If word gets out about loose geth running around there may be an investor panic."

"I'll have my XO transmit what we know about the geth so far," Kate offered, "so you can prepare a proper defense. We need to get out to Peak 15, that's likely where they're most concentrated."

"All right, Captain Beckett," Matsuo stated, "good luck."

"Saddle up, people, let's move like we've got a purpose," Kate ordered as she cast a longing look back at Castle after he turned his back, still shocked that he had interjected himself between her and a sniper without a second thought. She couldn't wrap her brain around how a father with a young daughter waiting for him at home could do that. Those thoughts, however soon gave way to the more practical short-term concerns of making the trip to Peak 15 and dealing with whatever perversion of science Saren had commissioned up there and whatever useful intel she could wring from Benezia if Liara could do as she insisted she'd be able to and get her mother to come in quietly.

The group climbed into the Mako and set out with Kate at the controls. She carefully wound the troop transport through the snow-choked passes of the Aleutsk valley before the terrain gradually gave way to the steeper inclines of the Skadi mountains. It was rough going and some of the barely passable roads truly tested the Mako's climbing ability and traction assisted tires. The vehicle had clearly been well adapted and properly maintained for optimal functioning in Noveria's frigid environment.

Though they did run into a few pockets of geth resistance, it was clear that they had neither been designed, nor adapted for Noveria's environment - the bitter cold and winter storm equally deleterious to the geth mobile platforms and turrets they encountered as it would have been to synthetics - and suffered from breakdowns. The only significant resistance they faced took place at the few covered bridges over the most impassable of crevasses. Though those had not suffered nearly as much from the cold, the lack of processing strength due to their low numbers was an an equal disadvantage and thus they too were swept from their path relatively easily.

By the time they reached Peak 15, they were all glad to be up and on their feet while Garrus hacked the door to grant them access (which he did far too easily for Castle's liking). It wasn't that he was any less glad to be able to stretch his legs after hours in the passenger seat, but the very senses that had kept him alive on Eden Prime were warning him that this was some sort of trap.

Moments later, a mixed force of geth and krogan jumped them just inside Peak 15's main garage facility. Their numbers were relatively low, but they made up for their shortcomings with firepower and superior position. Wrex felt almost personally insulted that so many of his kind would follow Saren - or any turian, for that matter - so blindly. An insult which he redressed by unleashing savage, bloodthirsty violence upon them with his weapons, biotics, his bare hands and on one notable kill the bony ridge of his skull-plate.

Liara was more refined in her approach, laying down a warp pulse to force geth back and laying down a singularity in just the right spot to catch them all up in a neatly crushed package. Everyone else just kept shooting until there were no more targets. Afterward the garage area was eerily silent, but for the creaking of the superstructure from the wind outside.

They took a few minutes to breathe while Garrus and Castle got the outer doors working, brought the Mako inside to protect it from the elements and set its VI for automatic defense mode. Shortly afterward, they stacked up at the door, with Liara at the rear and made their way deeper into the facility,

Along the way, they noted powered down drones in the corridor, their extended weapons clearly pointed deeper into the facility instead of the direction of the garage as they'd anticipated.

"Why are the defense drones pointed the wrong way?" Liara asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Sounds like they want to keep what's inside, in as much as they want to keep unauthorized personnel out." Castle replied quietly, slightly freaked out that there was so little resistance after clearing the garage.

When they reached what had once been the outer atrium for greeting new arrivals it was finally revealed why. Dead geth and partially dismembered krogan littered the area and snow piled near shattered windows. Whatever had transpired there had been quick and struck with nearly overwhelming force... then just as quickly, vanished. The scene put all of them on alert, even the battle-hungry Wrex seemed subdued as they pushed on toward the central computer annex. If they wanted answers, they would need to get the facility's mainframe back online.

Once Castle and Garrus had reset the breakers on the mainframe's power supply and reinserted the system's core memory chips, the system began to power back up and a feminine avatar resolved in front of them.

"Welcome to Peak 15," the VI interface said, "this virtual intelligence unit is programmed to respond to the name 'Mira'. Please state your name and authorization."

"Captain Kate Beckett," Kate stated briskly, "Citadel Council Special Tactics and Reconnaissance division."

"One moment, please... processing," Mira replied, "Spectre authority confirmed. Under Noveria emergency guidelines, you are entitled to secure access of all primary systems. I am ready to process queries at this time. You may access me at any holographic interface panel within Peak 15. Please note that any queries about proprietary information requires Privileged Access, which is granted only to Executive level Binary Helix Employees."

"I need to find Matriarch Benezia." Kate stated.

"Lady Benezia departed on the passenger tram to Rift Station's subsidiary laboratories four standard days ago," Mira replied. "User alert: The passenger tram system is currently offline."

"Give me a full damage report," Kate stated.

"One moment, please," Mira replied, "diagnostics in progress. Critical failure: Main reactor shutdown in accordance with emergency containment procedures. Manual restart required. Critical failure: Landline connections to Rift Station disabled. Passenger tram system offline. Damage report complete. Do you have an additional system status query?"

"Why was the main reactor shut down?" Kate asked.

"Unknown," Mira replied, "my mainframe was offline when those events occurred. Shutdown could occur if a main reactor breach was imminent, or in the case of catastrophic laboratory containment failure. Emergency guidelines suggest that Noveria's frigid environment would neutralize any biologic contagions and theoretically cause critical damage to synthetic ones."

"Turn off the heat and hope the freezing cold puts whatever they've unleashed to sleep," Garrus stated. "Makes sense, look at what happened to the geth outside. Killing them was almost an act of mercy"

Castle and Beckett nodded in agreement, before she returned to interrogating Mira.

"Why were you taken off-line?" Kate asked.

"In the event that Peak 15 must be sterilized for security purposes, my program logs and archives would be disabled and purged of all proprietary data."

"What do the landlines control and why are they disabled?" she asked.

"The landlines connect my mainframe here at Central Station to the various sub-facilities of the Peak 15 research complex as well as communication to Port Hanshan. When emergency protocols were engaged in the hot labs, the cable interfaces were automatically ejected."

"What happened here?" Kate asked.

"I'm sorry," Mira replied, "I need a more specific inquiry."

"Give me the series of events prior to you being shut down." Kate stated.

"Accessing," Mira replied. "Stage one alert issued from hot lab pod gamma. Emergency protocols implemented. Stage two alert issued at hot lab complex: isolation tube breached. Passenger tram system shut down. Landline to hot labs disconnected. Stage three alert issued locally. Loose contaminants in tram tunnels. Station shutdown and evacuation initiated. Code Omega alert signal sent prior to main landline communications being severed."

"What sort of contaminants escaped?" Kate asked.

"I'm sorry, Captain, any queries about proprietary information relating to research projects requires Privileged Access, which is granted only to Executive level Binary Helix Employees."

"That will be all then, Mira," Kate stated.

"Very well, Captain Beckett," Mira replied before her hologram faded away, "logging you out."

Slowly but surely the group began re-initializing Peak 15's systems, occasionally hearing the skittering of small chitinous legs scritching along inside the walls and ceiling panels. Periodically ceiling panels would give way and they would be attacked by small spider-like creatures they were certain would be deadly if allowed up close. Thankfully most of them were easily swept aside using either biotic fields or short bursts from assault rifles.

Each time they requested Mira identify the creatures that attacked then they were met with the same answer: a concise apology and an admonition that they lacked "Privileged Access" to that information. It became almost infuriating, causing to Wrex to kick over one of Mira's holographic interface panels.

Eventually they were able to restore the landlines connecting Central Station to Rift Station and to restart the scrammed main reactor to provide power to the tram system. At that point, Mira informed them that the last, but most critical step to regaining full control of the facility would require them to take the tram to Rift Station and initialize the VI's direct access there.

There was token resistance from what Wrex identified as Rachni, mostly the drone or the larval stage of the so-called "contaminants" both of which were weak against biotics, though rifle fire seemed to be equally effective - both of which Wrex took particular pleasure in dispensing. He'd never actually seen one himself before, but his grandfather had been a war leader during the height of the Rachni Invasion. Grandfather's stories had been the stuff of both his and Wreave's childhoods and the urge to kill them called to his blood.

When the tram reached Rift Station, the waiting area was a mess. Bodies were strewn, mostly where there they were slain, many torn to pieces. Clearly all of the Rachni drones they'd fought had escaped through here and used the tram tunnels to get to Peak 15. If any had made it outside, the frigid weather had likely pushed them back into the facility where the trailing elements of Benezia's geth and krogan had put them down hard in order to survive.

Mira guided them to the elevator to the hot labs control area where they found a single dead woman sitting on the floor, propped up against the wall, dead sightless eyes staring at nothing, right leg clearly broken and hanging at an odd angle. A pistol at her feet and the back of her head blown out. A recording on her omni-tool flickered to life when they drew near.

" …name is Dr. Elena Sarkov. One of our scouting parties had found a Rachni ship in deep space and brought back an egg which turned out to be a Queen. After she laid her first clutch of eggs, we isolated her from them. After they hatched, we realized too late that we'd made a mistake."

"Separating them from their mother drove them insane. Now they're loose, Mira's been shut down and they're killing everyone. I tried to get to the secondary control room to set off the neutron purge, but one of them got me. I think I killed it, but my leg is broken, omni-tool says I'm bleeding internally and I'm fading fast. If anyone finds me, set off the neutron purge, it's the only way to be sure. The code is in my pocket. I'm so sorry, please dear god forgive me..."

"Idiot," Wrex grumbled. "Millions of my people died a thousand years ago to stamp these bastards out for a reason."

"Up that way" Castle pointed to a room marked 'Emergency Control Room: Secure Access and Above Only' After closing the dead woman's eyes and prying a plastic card out of her jacket pocket, "we should be able to activate the purge from there."

The door slid open as soon as Beckett stepped within range, revealing a small, utilitarian control room with a smaller version of one of Mira's holographic interfaces panels built into it.

"Mira, this is Captain Beckett, logging in."

"Connecting," Mira stated almost cheerfully. "Full access to Peak 15 research facility's systems restored. Please state the nature of your query."

"Activate the neutron purge system," Kate replied.

"Activation of the neutron purge system requires an authorization code from a level one supervisor," Mira replied. "Please enter the correct code authorization."

"Mira," Castle cut in, reading from the card he'd found, "authorization code: eight seven five dash zero two zero dash zero seven nine, code Omega, local execution."

"Authorization code sequence accepted," Mira replied as a timer appeared on the screen. "Code omega execution countdown engaged. You have two minutes to reach minimum safe distance."

"Back to the elevator!" Beckett shouted. "Double time! Move it!"

They ran. The elevator was barely three floors up when they heard the cracking sound of the neutron purge discharging it's deadly radiation into the hot labs and tram tunnel. Castle leaned in close to Garrus so he wouldn't be overheard.

"How good do you think the shielding is in this elevator?"

Garrus shrugged as they returned to the main level, where they crossed through the main laboratory where the floor was littered with bodies of scientists, ERCS guards and rachni drones. The neutron purge had killed them and the rachni with equal effectiveness leaving a sickening tableau of instant death. Both Castle and Garrus thought they were going to be sick and Liara dropped to her knees next to a broken desk and emptied the contents of her stomach into a wastepaper basket.

Beckett wasted no time getting her people herded through the area. She would never forget she had authorized the action that ended with their deaths. She was sure she'd be having nightmares about the charnal house they'd walked through for years to come, but the mission had to come first. Otherwise she had signed their death warrants for nothing which would make her no better than Saren.

As the door to the central staging area, the primary fallback position for the staff should the neutron purge system need to be set off, Kate was angered to find it nearly empty. Only one person stood to greet them at the door, Matriarch Benezia.

"You do not know the privilege of being a mother," Benezia said coldly, indicating the massive bulk of the Rachni queen trapped in the isolation chamber. "There is power in creation, to shape a life and turn it toward happiness or despair. Her children were to be ours, raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies."

Benezia, paused a moment, then turned to face them, turning a jaundiced eye toward Liara as if her daughter meant nothing. "I won't be moved by sympathy, human, no matter whom you bring into this confrontation."

"Dr. T'Soni is here of her own accord," Kate replied.

"Indeed," Benezia replied tersely, turning her unflinching glare back toward her daughter. "What have you told them about me, Liara?"

"What could I say, mother?" Liara choked back. "That you have gone insane? Should I have told her how to kill you? What could I ever possibly say to explain the evil you are doing?"

Benezia didn't bother to answer her daughter and once again turned to face Kate as two doors on either side of the room opened and a squad of armed asari huntresses - supported by geth troopers - emerged to flank them

"Have you ever faced an asari commando unit before?" she asked dangerously. "Few humans have."

Before the asari and geth could get into position, Kate signaled her team to fan out to meet them.

"So, I'm guessing there's no peaceful way to resolve this," Kate stated before ducking for cover.

"Indeed."

The battle was quick and by any standard, dirty. Wrex and Castle split off to either fork of the walkway and attacked. Castle's former Navy Seal and USMC drill instructors from Alliance boot camp would have been proud. Though the enemy put up a withering fire, the asari seemed to lack focus and cohesion, which was not at all what he'd been taught to expect of commandos from Thessia. They fought hard, to be sure – nearly suicidally in fact - but their effectiveness seemed to have been watered down. The battle was over relatively quickly, with only Benezia left standing. Wrex had pressed her hard, barely able to refrain from killing her in his blood raged state.

"This is not over," Benezia ranted, "Saren is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light, everything is clear."

"I expected better from Asari commandos," Castle and Beckett shot back in unison.

Benezia seemed distracted, like she was at war with herself, eyes fixed on nothing,

"I will not... betray him... you will... you..." Benezia sputtered, then a softness washed over her, like a different personality had fought to regain control and had - for the moment - won.

"You must listen," she whispered, "Saren still whispers in my mind. I can fight his compulsions... briefly, but the indoctrination is strong."

"Why were you only able to break free of his control now?" Kate asked, her blood still up from the fight, wary this was a stalling tactic.

"When I first realized what was happening to me," Benezia explained, "I … sealed away a portion of my mind from the indoctrination. Saved it for the right moment, when I might be able to help stop him. The fight weakened my body enough that I was able to reassert control. I will not last long."

"Are you saying he brainwashed you?" Castle scoffed.

"People are not themselves around Saren. They come to idolize him, worship him, do anything for him. One after another I watched my acolytes fall under his sway before I realized the truth. The key is Sovereign, his flagship. A dreadnought of incredible size and immense power."

"We saw it on Eden Prime," Kate replied. "Where did it come from?"

"All I know for sure is that the geth did not build it." Benezia replied, "It's technology is far more advanced than that of any known species. It was subtle at first, but the longer I remained aboard, the more Saren's will seemed... correct. I thought I was strong enough to resist, but, instead I became a willing pawn, eager to serve him. He sent me here to find the location of the Mu Relay, long thought lost."

"I assume you found its current coordinates?" Kate asked.

"Yes," Benezia replied. "Two thousand years ago, the rachni discovered it. Rachni share memories across generations, queens inherit the memories of their mothers. I took the location of the Mu Relay from her mind. I was not gentle."

"Why does Saren want this Mu Relay, anyway?" Wrex rumbled, his patience wearing thin.

"He believes it will lead him to the conduit," Benezia replied, "I would tell you more if I could, but Saren did not share his counsel with me."

"Give me the information," Kate stated, "you can still make this right."

"Everything I was able to obtain is on this OSD," Benezia replied her face awash with shame as she handed it over, "I was not... myself, but... I should have been stronger."

"Knowing the relay's coordinates is not enough," Kate replied. "Do you know where he planned to go from there?"

"Saren didn't tell me his destination, but you must find it quickly. I transmitted the coordinates to him shortly before you arrived."

Benezia looked at Liara sadly, knowing how difficult what she was about to ask would be.

"You will have to stop... me... I can't..." Benezia rambled.

"Mother!" Liara cried out, her eyes welling with tears. "Mother please, I... do not go... fight him!"

"I'm... sorry, Little Wing," Benezia replied softly, struggling to keep her mind focused, but losing, "Saren's teeth are at my ear... fingers clawing at my spine... you should... uh... you should... DIE!"

Nobody was prepared for the sudden burst of biotic power that flashed from Benezia as the indoctrination reasserted itself and she enveloped everyone but Liara in a stasis field, lifting them from the ground, a move Liara knew would precipitate the opening of a biotic singularity to crush then all.

Four evenly spaced pistol shots rang out, echoing in the now silent complex.

The first dropped Benezia's barriers, the second spun her completely around and the final two struck her high in the chest, slamming her into the glass of the observation window. Her purple tinged blood left a trail as she slid to the floor.

Liara stood, holding the pistol in both hands, eyes glazed over, tears streaming down her face at what she'd done, before the pistol clattered to the ground.

"Captain Beckett," Benezia muttered, crumpled and bleeding where she fell, "I... cannot go on. You will have to... stop... him."

"Hold on!" Kate exclaimed, not willing to let what happened to her befall Liara if she could help it. "We have medi-gel, we can..."

"No," Benezia replied as her vision began to gray out. "He is still... in my mind... I am not myself... I... never will be again... better to die... free."

"Mother," Liara moaned as she fell to her knees, her voice too choked with pain and regret to say more.

"Good night, Little Wing... I will... see you again...with the... dawn."

Liara sobbed quietly as her mother slumped down farther and began to lose consciousness.

"No light..." Benezia muttered incoherently. "They always said there would be a..." and then finally crumpled to the floor, her death rattle marking the last instant of her thousand-year lifespan.

Kate knelt beside Benezia and closed her eyes then watched helplessly as Liara crumbled, sobbing uncontrollably into Castle's broad shoulder, much like she had done into her father's the day they'd identified her mother's body. Kate's heart broke for Liara T'Soni, who had been forced to kill her own mother to save them all, another crime Saren would be made to answer for.

A beeping console drew her attention to the massive rachni queen in the isolation pod, her multi-jawed mouth pressed to the glass. She seemed almost peaceful, placid in the midst of all the noise and haste around her transparent cell. Nobody saw the dying asari commando rise stiffly from where she'd fallen nearby and dragged herself toward the observation deck like a zombie from an old movie until she'd collided with Kate's shoulder.

Kate yelped and jumped away, drawing her pistol as Castle rose sharply, shotgun in hand, pushing Liara behind him. The dying asari backed away from Kate until her shoulders were pressed against the reinforced frame of the observation window and began to speak.

"This one serves... as our...voice," she said, though the words felt like they were whispering in all of their heads as well as spoken from the mouth of the dying asari. "We cannot... sing. Not in these... low spaces. Your musics are... colorless."

"Musics?" Kate spluttered. "What?"

"Your way of communicating is strange to us," the queen explained, through her asari instrument. "It does not fill the air. When we speak... one voice moves all."

"This is gonna be a fun conversation," Wrex rumbled.

"We are the... mother," the queen explained, seeming to gain confidence in her link to the asari. "We... sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced. We are... Rachni."

"How are you speaking through her?" Castle and Beckett asked in unison.

"Our kind speak through... touchings of thought," the Queen explained. "We pluck the strings and the other... understands, she is weak to urging. She has colors we have no names for, but she is ending. Her music is... bittersweet. It is beautiful."

The queen paused for a moment, as if considering what she was going to say next.

"You are not in... harmony with those who sought to control us. What will you sing? Will you release us or are we to be silenced once more?"

"There are acid tanks rigged to her pod as a fail safe," Wrex rumbled. "Set. Them. Off. Millions of my ancestors died putting these things down the last time. Don't let them come back!"

"I think Wrex is right, Beckett," Espo agreed, "these things proved they were dangerous a thousand years ago."

"Your companions speak the truth," the Queen replied, "you have the power to free us, or return us to the silence of memory."

"If I were to let you live," Beckett replied, "would you attack other species again?"

"We do not know what happened during the war," the queen explained through the asari. "We only heard... discordance. Songs the color of oily shadows. If released we would seek a hidden place to teach our children harmony. If understanding could be reached, perhaps we would one day return to offer peace."

"Do you mean you could have calmed the others if I hadn't set off the purge?" Kate choked out, shocked.

"No," The queen replied, "Our minds are not as yours, without a mother to teach them to sing, those children were lost to silence. Do not sing of them in gray and violet. We would have stilled them ourselves."

"Are you a survivor of the war?" Liara asked, still choking back her own grief. "A clone?"

"We do not know, we were only an egg, hearing Mother cry in our dreams," the Queen replied mournfully. "A tone from space hushed one voice after another until it forced all of the singers to resonate with its own sour yellow note. We awoke in... this place, the last echo of those who came out from the Singing Planet. The sky is silent."

"I won't commit genocide," Kate replied, clearly moved. "I can't. You'll go free."

"Are you stupid?" Wrex boomed. "Your people didn't fight these things, so maybe you don't get it! They're dangerous!"

"I do get it, which is why they will make a very formidable ally," Kate countered.

"Do what you want," Wrex rumbled. "If my people are still around we will simply have to clean this mess up like we did last time for the salarians who stumbled upon them!"

"You will give us a chance to compose anew?" the Queen asked. "We will remember... and sing of your forgiveness to our children."

"Great, giant bugs will be writing songs about you," Wrex grumbled grumpily. "Mark my words, you'll regret this."

Kate nodded and Rick turned to the control board, lowering the isolation pod to the bottom level leading out to the emergency vehicle garage and programmed one of the escape trucks to take her to the more temperate region at Noveria's equator. As the queen drew away, the asari dropped dead to the floor.

"Okay, lets get the hell out of here," Kate ordered, "I've had just about enough of Noveria's hospitality."

She turned to face her crew as Rick took out an emergency blanket, covered Benezia with it and guided Liara toward the door back to the tram tunnel, taking another exit to avoid the central complex and its dead. Though Kate knew she would be making a full report to the council about what was done here, Binary Helix made this mess, they would be the ones to clean it up.

Upon returning to the Normandy, and ordering their departure from Noveria and back toward Council Space, Kate decided to forgo the meeting with her crew, Liara had enough on her mind without having to put on a brave face for their benefit, so she offered her the only consolation she could, time.

Allow her time to mourn the mother she had known and loved, not the twisted creature Benezia had become.

Her own report however, could not be so easily set aside.

"Mr. Pressly, transmit the Noveria report and patch me through to the council," she said, taking a seat in the comm room with a cup of coffee that Castle had presented to her from his own private stash. How he'd known she liked a hint of sugar free vanilla in her latte, she would never know, but it was most welcome.

"Aye Aye, Captain," Presssly responded as Kate took a seat and the holographic representations of the Citadel council coalesced in front of her.

"Is this report accurate, Captain?" Asari Councilor Tevos asked. "You found rachni on Noveria?"

"...and then released the queen?" Sparatus cut in,angrily, "Do you have any idea what you've done? How many generations until they overrun the galaxy?"

"I personally spoke to the queen," Beckett replied. "She gave me her assurance that she would teach her children to live with us in peace in exchange for letting her go."

"I hope your faith in her is not misplaced, Captain," Sparatus spat at her. "Our children's children will pay the price if you're wrong."

"We'll take care to monitor the situation and await your next report," Councilor Tevos stated before closing the channel. "If we find any relevant data about Saren's next movements, we will forward them to you immediately. Good day, Captain."

**Author's note** I bet none of you thought that the queen of the creepy, Alien inspired, crawling nasties would end up siding with the good guys, huh? I have never been able to make the choice to kill the rachni queen and commit genocide in the game and I doubt that Kate Beckett would be able to do so either. It just isn't in her DNA. This chapter went a bit darker than I'd originally intended, but this will lead to Liara's darker tendencies in acts 2 and 3.