There she was. He'd always thought of her as The Blue Lady. Though she was only a hologram, she held a certain appeal. The grace, beauty, and that other-world presence that was the asari were understated, yet still there to his alien human eyes.
"Greetings, Commander Shepard, welcome to The Presidium Commons. Your Spectre status has been noted. Enhanced VI is enabled. How may I help you?" the image inquired.
If people only knew, he thought. Your friendly neighborhood VI–the eyes of Spectre. He'd taken a quick look around and the object of his search wasn't in sight. "Is Dr. T'Soni here?"
The blue image's face remained impassive. Its eyes flashed a muted ruby, then faded. "Indeed she is, commander. She has been in the marketplace, Balcony C-4 for one hour and twenty-three minutes. Her biometric indices show her in stasis, modality blue." She paused as if in thought. "In your company, her indices show–"
"That's all, Avina. Thank you."
"May I also say that your indices in her presence–"
"Enough, Avina. Thank you!" he growled. I see Traynor's hand in this. When I get back to the Normandy…
"As you wish, commander. If you have further questions, feel free to speak to me."
He didn't hear her last. He was half-way down the mezzanine before he realized he'd missed his turn. With a resigned sigh, he retraced his path and took the steps down two-at-a-time in search of a shop.
In frustration, Arn almost gave up his search. After walking three times back and forth the length of the floor, he found it; A Taste of Thessia the sign over the door announced to all. He stood there, frozen by indecision, trying to make up his mind.
He took a quick look around and, seeing no-one he knew, slipped inside to make his purchase.
He found her in her usual place on a balcony just off the marketplace. In this quiet corner, there were few visitors. She was alone. In silence, he watched her reading for a moment, not wanting to intrude. Her laughter at what she was reading was unrestrained, almost child-like. Seeing her really enjoying her time off lifted his heart. Lately he hadn't seen her smile, let alone laugh at anything.
She paged down with a finger and hesitated, seeming to sniff the air. To his surprise, she looked up and around, right at him. "Commander… Arn, I didn't expect to see you here. Is something wrong?" Her hand fiddled absently with the comm-link in her right ear.
"No… it's quieter than usual. The fronts are apparently holding for the moment… " He hesitated, searching for the words. "It seems I owe you an apology." He couldn't find anything to do with his hands and clasped them behind his back.
"Apology? Goddess knows… why?"
He moved his parcel over, sat beside her, and looked moodily out over the garden, planted to look like a native forest. It could've been on Earth. "I don't know–Grissom Academy. I don't know what happened… two rounds went down-range before I realized it was you in my sights. It was crazy there, but that's no excuse." He couldn't look up at her. "It was just blind luck that I missed… "
Her amusement confused him. Taking his hand, she said, "And I thought you were just hitting on me." She searched his face and reached out with her mind only to find regret. "Seriously, I thought you were trying to warn me. I've shrugged it off. We've moved on, haven't we?" She studied him intently. "So I have that effect on you? Is that it?" She couldn't resist teasing him.
Her attempt to cheer him failed. "I'm trying to be serious here," he groused.
"You're forgiven," she said, giving his cheek a kiss. "Here, let me show you what I've been working on." Changing the subject had always worked on him before.
He shook his head in resignation. "Working on your R and R–why doesn't that surprise me?"
She gave him a withering look. "Our work never ends." She shrugged. "Sometimes, just moving my research in a different direction gives me a break."
His staring didn't seem to affect her. "Got a new look?" He pointed at a spot behind her left ear.
Her fingers went to a purple band and pulled out what looked like an article of clothing–a cap? She smiled. "This is my latest invention. It's a muffler of sorts. I got the idea from what our maidens would wear. She turned it over in her hands to show how it was made. "I've decided to call it a veil."
"Kinda like psychic ear-muffs?" He ventured a guess.
"In a way, yes. It is designed to attenuate, or in some cases, redirect psychic emanations." She carefully fitted it back into place. Turning her datapad into a mirror, she checked herself and adjusted one of the padded clips. "There. My latest idea is to fit a reflector to narrow the blind-spot we have straight ahead."
Again, he shook his head. "What you do in your spare time," he teased.
"For the common good," she murmured distractedly. "Here, look at this." She pointed to a page of graphs. "My veil was really a search for a counter to the reapers' sonic weapon. Though it's not technically a psychic emanation, it severely affects that ability."
"Right, it's impossible to sneak up on an asari… except when a reaper's sonic blast is keeping her busy." He was proud of his conclusion.
"So true." she was thoughtful. "I pray to the goddess my little contribution helps. Here, a student at Grissom Academy was doing statistical research–just crunching numbers. She wondered if we could somehow identify reaper units by their emanations, both electromagnetic and sonic." Liara looked at her graphs. "This student found something really interesting; She could tell their relative age." Her eyes searched Shepard's face. "Electromagnetically, in their radio transmissions, the reapers are almost identical. We have yet to break their communications codes. It's in their sound emissions that we hear a real difference."
"Their sonic weapons work two ways, right?" After seeing her nod, he continued, "They modulate their arms' servo-motors at infra-sound frequencies to shatter most hard materials–like a jackhammer–and the power disorients all the senses."
"That's true," she added. "The tone shifts down through the resonance of most solids. Hardened steel, reinforced concrete, and tempered resins don't stand a chance. Living flesh is within that range as well." She tapped the screen on her datapad. The graphs were replaced by an oscilloscope image. "This is a base waveform used by the destroyers. See the ringing on that waveform?" At her urging, the image zoomed to the front of the stairstep-shaped sonic wave. "The frequency of that little squiggle seems to be unit-specific. So much so, we call it a signature. Like a human fingerprint they're not all alike."
At her touch, the graphs returned. "There's no intelligence on that frequency, so we first thought it was a flaw in any one system–components deteriorating or values changing–but it's there on all the data we've collected."
"So how do we use this information?" He set the gift he'd picked up aside and looked out over the garden.
She though for a moment. "Well, identifying and tracking individual units is a good start." She brought up another page, a diagram of a reaper destroyer with a flashing red icon in its middle. "An example; This unit that attacked Palaven's moon had a defect that led to it being crippled and later, destroyed by turian forces." She thumbed up another page. "Another unit with a similar problem had a signature that was close to my first example. "This is the first time I've seen it reported; On the same battlefield, Palaven's moon, two other destroyers turned on that defective unit and destroyed it."
She now had the commander's attention. "That has possibilities," he said.
She breezed on, now hitting her pace. "The underlying question…" She studied a row of figures now on the screen, "If they don't update their hardware or a unit is sub-standard… the default is to terminate it? Natural selection? Your Darwin's theory applied to the reapers?" she wondered.
He had no answer for her. Who could use this information? He wasn't sure. Hackett would know. If not, he'd send it up the line. Maybe the Crucible people would have a use for it. When he looked up, Liara's eyes studied him expectantly. "Hmmh? Sorry, did you say something?"
"Yes. T'Soni to Shepard, do you read me?" She smiled. "What is that you're trying to hide from me?" Her nostrils had been flaring since he'd sat beside her.
"Peace offering," he said, holding out his recent purchase–a crystal globe a little larger than his fist.
"If it's what I think it is…" She examined it intently, her eyes bright. "Thank you, so much." Knowing fingers searched for and found a hidden latch. With a subdued hiss that was almost a sigh, the hydroponic ball opened to reveal a spray of tiny blue flowers.
"I wasn't sure you'd like it. They don't smell too good." He made a face.
Her amused smile removed all doubt. "To a human, they'd smell bad, terrible even." Her amethyst eyes danced. "But to an asari, any asari, me in particular…" She buried her nose in the blooms and inhaled deeply.
Eventually, she opened her eyes. They finally focused and found his. "Arn, do you know what giving these to me means?" she whispered.
"Yeah, I do." His voice was subdued as well. "The girl at the counter… I asked for a gift for someone special."
Her smile was radiant. "At A Taste of Thessia?"
"A Taste of Thessia," he agreed. "She called them something in asari that translates to Heart Violets."
She looked at him sideways. "Heart Violets huh? They're not on the Controlled Substance List, but maybe they should be. They can be very addictive."
His confusion brought on another smile. "She mentioned that. Said something about them being very rare," he replied.
She was obviously enjoying his discomfiture. "Inhaled, they are a mild euphoric." She demonstrated with another deep breath. When her eyes cleared, she continued, "When eaten, they are a powerful aphrodisiac." She watched him closely, a teasing smile twitched her lips.
He met her gaze with one of his own. "Then, it's a perfect gift, wouldn't you say?"
The hand that found his cheek was a little unsteady. "I–"
"Commander Shepard, Doctor T'Soni, please pardon my intrusion." The diplomat's courier was kind, but firm. "Councilor Irissa must speak with you at once." He passed his datapad over;
Commander Shepard,
Thessia is under attack by reaper destroyers.
In view of your concerns for the temple relic,
please come to the Asari Embassy as soon
as possible.
Councilor for the asari, Irissa
His hand found the comm-link at his right ear. "Normandy, this is Shepard. Recall all on shore-leave and be ready to answer bells in thirty, that's three zero, minutes. Plot a course for Thessia in under three jumps. I'll be on my way after a meeting with the Asari Councilor. Acknowledge."
"Normandy answering." It was Specialist Traynor. "Engineering can answer in fifteen, one five, minutes. A plot to Thessia, in two jumps, can be laid in in ten, one zero, minutes. Readiness is at ninety-four percent, no land vehicle. Normandy is awaiting your arrival, commander."
"Very well, Normandy. I'll call when I'm thirty, three zero, minutes away. Shepard out."
"If you are ready commander, I can escort you to the Embassy now."
Shepard's eyes never left Liara's. "Right. Can you give me a minute?"
"Certainly, commander." The courier retreated to the store fronts.
"My home… my asari sisters…" She blinked away the tears.
"We're on our way." He took her chin in his hands.
Their kiss seemed to last forever. It ended too soon, much too soon.