Mass Effect How the fate plays us

by Sandbox47

This is a full story of ME, ME2 and ME3 that starts at 2177 and ends with the death of the Reapers. It is NOT centered around Shepard but around Min, though the characters you know and love will be in it.

2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Fogria and medals

'Well I'm not too sure. The burns, yes, but the rest?'

'There was a container of toxic waste on site. She could have been exposed.'

'Something had cushioned her system, I'll say.'

'She's waking up! Don't let her wake up!'

'Can you hear me? Don't move. You'll be fine now. Just don't move.'

Everything hurt like hell. But something in the back of my mind told me that I was alive. I decided to check for memory loss. Who was I? Min, or Numine. My mother, Agatha, is an engineer and my father is an Alliance marine. Or soldier, I'm not sure whether there's a difference. Going to have to ask that other Alliance soldier. The one who saved me. I tried to remember whether my plan to drown the bugs worked. I couldn't. I supposed that I must have lost consciousness. But seeing how I survived I guess that it must have had an effect.

I didn't open my eyes, trying not to think about what I might or might not see. Back to memory checking.

My biggest dream? I guess it must be stupid but I've always wanted to be a biotic. That power, to control something with you mind... I guess I must have some control freak in me, but if so then she's buried very deep.

My worst nightmare? I couldn't really think of anything worse than what had happened at Akuze. I guess that I have nothing else to fear.

My friends? This took a while to remember. There had been a boy in the class who had seemed interested but as best I could remember I didn't have friends. Maybe some part of my memory had gone then.

But I was sure that I was me. Myself. I opened my eyes and nothing I saw dissuaded me from that belief. I was just where I had thought I'd be. In a hospital. But which hospital? That explosion should have drowned the entire colony. Had they already set things up again? How long have I been out to start with? Too long if even an hour, but still.

'You're awake.' said a male voice from somewhere close by.

'Am I?' I asked, not too sure.

'Yes.' he chuckled. 'I am doctor Weglar.'

He checked my pupils, had me stick out my tongue and follow his finger.

'Do you remember what happened to you?' he asked, looking at me intently.

'Yeah.' I said, the images of thresher maws, bugs and dying colonists in my mind growing more and more violent.

'What is the last thing you remember?' the doctor prompted.

'Me and that soldier were about to blow the aqueduct. And then it goes blank. I guess that I must have been knocked out or something.'

The doctor nodded.

'And before that?'

'Ah, loads of huge worms killing people. A very helpful doctor telling me my mother is dead while curing my burning skin. That what you want to hear?' I asked in an unnecessarily aggressive voice.

'So your memory is intact.' he said, smiling at me with a sympathetic smile that made me want to punch him.

'What happened to the soldier?' I asked, lying back down. I held no illusion about my walking abilities at the moment. I felt as if I was tied to the bed, rather than covered with a blanket.

'The weapon did more damage than she anticipated. The shield caught most of it but she's still under.' said the doctor, pointing to a bed nearby. 'When the Alliance arrived she was still killing the straggler bugs. As soon as they reached you two she collapsed.'

I looked at her with respect, gratitude and awe. From her impressive kills of the thresher maw to her bravery against the bugs I couldn't help but feel very small and insignificant in comparison.

'You're going to stay here a week more. We have replaced your left eye with an implant, not wanting to risk necrosis or infection. Your liver took a lot of damage from the radiation so you will have to be careful of what you eat the next three months. There is a black spot in your brain that the scanners can't give us any information about. As best we can tell it's not dead nor is it corrupted in any way. It's just addled by the radiation so be prepared for minor hallucinations, throbbing, headaches and confusion.' upon seeing my look of horror he added, 'It's a tiny spec of darkness. Don't worry.'

As I remained frozen in my mask of horror his face grew dark and serious.

'You are lucky to be alive at all. Lucky that this marine decided to sacrifice her health for you. You owe her something.'

As I regained control of myself I nodded to him. He nodded back and left me in peace, to rest.

'I thought that he'd never go away.' muttered the marine, next to me.

'Ah! You're awake?' I asked, startled so badly that I almost fell out of my bed.

'Of course I am. I just can't stand all this melodrama, so I fake unconsciousness.' she winked at me. 'It's not hard to fake it with some practice.'

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. I laughed, my bubbly nature springing out at last.

'How are you? You've been having nightmares since you got back from surgery.' she said, concerned.

'I think that I'm fine. I cope, at least. But tell me something...' I hesitated.

'What?' she prompted.

'Do I have a cyborg eye?' I asked, wincing at the thought. 'Because if they've put in a piece of metal instead of something-...'

She interrupted me, laughing.

'It's an eye. They didn't make you half geth.'

I laughed too.

'But is it, you know, different?' I wasn't sure now what my problem was with the implant but I felt sad that a part of me was gone.

'They used your original eye to make the implant. I've seen it done to one of the marines. They just put in a sort of fleshy thing into your eye. That's it.' she comforted me. 'And now you can see infrared.' she smirked.

'I can?' I raised my eyebrows.

'Well no, you'll have to pay for an improvement.' she replied, shrugging.

'And how are you? What happened? Did it work?' I asked, anxious to see whether she was angry with me.

'Like a charm. They didn't die, not all of them, from the water but they got smashed by the buildings into which the water pushed them. The survivors were too confused, angry and shaken to be much of a fight.' she said, giving me a curious smile. 'What the hell did you do to the rifle? It felt like shooting with a Thanx cannon by hand, rather than attached to a ship. It melted after one shot.'

I hid my face in my hands.

'Well, you wanted explosion so I figured that-...'

'I'm not upset, though you could have warned me.' she laughed. 'I meant that it was an impressive piece of engineering. If you want, I could put in a good word on your behalf when you're off to find work.' she offered.

I thought about it. It couldn't hurt to have a soldier from Alliance military saying that I'm a good engineer.

'Yeah... Yeah, I'd like that.' I replied. 'What's your name, by the way?'

'I'm Jean. Jean Shepard.'

'I'm Numine, though most call me Min, Shin'ichi.'

'Nice to meet you, Min Shin'ichi.' said Jean, smiling.

We sat in silence for a while, both of us preoccupied with events past. And even after I had it all sorted out, as well as I could for the time being, the thoughts of my father returned to me, reminding me of the life that should be. I wondered how I could possibly go back from this. From seeing what I saw. And most importantly; surviving it. It couldn't not let it get to my head, but when it did get to my head funny things happened. There was no pride or joy that I survived. There was only terrible sadness. There was no hate nor desire for revenge because I felt for the bugs and thresher maws as well as all the soldiers and colonists. I knew that it was irrational but I also knew that they had suffered as much as we had.

I shook my head, trying to clear it of such stupid thoughts. I tried to force things back into perspective. I was attacked by them and defended myself. And everyone died.

If there is such a thing as heaven, then Akuze must weigh heavily on my bad side and not on the good one. I spent much of the day trying to rationalize both sides and did so until I was interrupted by a nurse who brought food. Food made me realize that I was starving. And that I still had no idea of where I was.

'Where are we?' I asked of Jean as the nurse left.

'Oh right, you wouldn't know. We're in the Citadel. This is the "human" district, which means that there are some humans about. Not only humans though.' she smiled. Then frowned as she realized there was no food for her. 'Time to awaken.' she said with another one of her curious smiles. How she could be so cheerful I didn't know. I wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

She pressed a button on the railing of her bed and a nurse came immediately, followed by the doctor.

'Ah, Shepard. You are awake.'

He did the same examination on her as he had done on me.

'What is the last thing you remember?' he asked, looking intently at her.

'I saw a light. And I was coming out of the womb. There are people around me. It's very confused.'

I snorted into my food with laughter.

'People do not remember the day of their birth.' said the doctor disapprovingly.

'I was making sure that no bug got through my hasty barricade. There had been a message saying that an Alliance ship was on it's way, if I could hold on for just two more minutes then they'd get us. So I waited for them. The blast must have given me a concussion and I don't remember anything else.' she replied seriously.

'Very well. I see that you are fine. You will have some scars from your encounter with the bugs, but no serious damage has been done. You are very lucky to be alive.' he looked at me and then back at Jean. 'Both of you.'

And with that he left in a very dramatic fashion.

'See.' she said to me as the nurse left. 'Mr melodrama.'

I shook my head in amusement.

The food wasn't too bad only trouble was that I couldn't figure out what it was. It was plain and green with white and reflective on the outside but soft and bread-like inside. And you were apparently supposed to eat it with knife and fork because they'd served it with them.

'What... is this?' I asked, poking the thing with my plastic knife, making sure that it's not moving.

'I don't know.' she said, frowning. 'On three, you recon?'

I nodded.

'One. Two. Three.' we both took a bite. It tasted like... well I couldn't really compare it with anything. I guess that it was a lot like bread with butter made very liquid. Or maybe rainwater and eggs.

It wasn't unpleasant but close to tasteless. I was sure, from Jean's expression, that she knew what to compare it with, that it was very similar and that she didn't much like that comparison.

'What do you think?' I asked, eating my food.

She looked at me with her eyebrows raised, thinking.

'I think that I'm the wrong person to serve this guff for.'

She closed her eyes and was asleep within minutes.

I was hungry enough to ignore both the remark and the odd taste of the food. I checked the watch and saw that it was past dusk already, yet the sun was up and shining. Come to think of it, the sun had been at the same place in the sky for hours now. How long was a day on the Citadel exactly? I closed the blinds with another button on the railing of the bed and went to a comparatively calm and deep sleep.

Exactly what I dreamed I could not remember but upon waking up I was sweating and shaking. Jean was already awake again and she was surrounded by journalists.

'And what of the response of Alliance fleet?' asked a rather nosey journalist.

'They came much sooner than I expected.' said Jean calmly. 'As I already said, this attack was, aside from absurd, very unexpected and the Alliance reaction time saved my and this girls life. There was no way this could have gone better, terribly bad as it went anyway.'

There were only the faintest hints of pain in her voice. Not physical pain but emotional. She was finally allowing the memories to sort themselves out, I noticed.

'But surely, with fifty marines dead and more than two hundred colonists, you have a criticism against Alliance efficiency?' persisted the reporter, almost desperate now.

'No. Had there been more marines on site then more would have died, not less. The one thing I can think of is safeguard against thresher maws. But when we first settled on Akuze, no such things inhabited the world, this you all know. I repeat, the Alliance did everything and more. That it wasn't enough is up to chance and not to them.' answered Jean dismissively.

'And what about the girl? Why didn't you save anyone else?' asked another reporter. No one had noticed that I was awake.

'I didn't save her per se. She came up with the idea of drowning the rachni and she was the one who blew up the canisters of acid that killed the thresher maws. After that was done, I could easily hold my ground until the Alliance came.'

I felt slightly proud of myself at those words.

'So you are saying that this girl prompted you to destroy the colony?' asked another reported and my heart sank.

'It was already destroyed. The blast hurt no one but herself, in her haste to find her mother. The flood knocked the rachni back and killed all the nearby ones. I doubt that any colonist suffered from it.' replied Jean readily.

'Alright! Clear out!' said doctor Weglar, waving his arms and pushing the reporters out of the room. He had realized that I was awake.

'But wait! Miss Shin'ichi, do you have any comments on the recent events?' asked one of the reporters but she was pushed out of the room and the door was securely locked.

'Gargoyles, all of them.' said the doctor, shaking his head. 'Trying to make the Alliance and the two of you villains rather than victims.'

'They are just doing their job.' said Jean airily. 'How are you, Min?'

I couldn't speak. Her words had removed such a weight of my shoulders that I wanted to weep, or maybe sing.

'Thank you.' I said to her in a faint voice. 'For, back there. And carrying me. And for what you said.'

She rolled her eyes. Then seemed to realize something and nodded instead.

'I did my job Min. You're the victim here. Soldiers should be doing what you did, not the other way around. The Alliance do have a few things to answer for. And to compensate for. And your father is here.' she added, almost as an afterthought.

'What? My father! Where?' I sat up and regretted it, my entire body hurt very badly. 'Ah, damn.'

'He went out as we let the journalists in.' said Jean, shrugging. 'I guess he'll be back soon. I've served with him before, turns out.'

'You have? Where?' I asked, surprised.

'We did a strike against a few pirate bases together. Nothing big. Didn't know that he even had a daughter back then.'

'My father has killed pirates?' I asked, the question sounded very cool. She laughed.

'They surrendered. A few of them have already been released for good behaviour.' she said in a disapproving voice.

'That must have been a while back.' I said.

'Yes. Two years back. I was pretty fresh out of the training camps back then.'

'Why did you decide to become a soldier in the first place?' I asked. This question had mystified me for a very long time. How could anyone want to settle disputes by killing people who matter?

'Ah, that's ancient history.' she said and though she didn't seem to be upset there was a finality in her voice that told me she wouldn't say anything else.

'Min!' exclaimed a relieved voice. I looked around and saw my father standing in the doorway.

His face had a scar on it and the beard he wore didn't suit him at all but it was my father. Kumora Shin'ichi, an Alliance marine. He was a rather short man but the way he was built made him look as if he was the right size, only smaller. If I had been standing upright I'd be as tall as he was.

'Dad!' I replied, my face lighting up. 'Dad, I'm so glad you are here.'

He hugged me tightly and said something in japanese. I couldn't really hear but he mentioned god and I made out that he was thanking them for me. That I had survived.

'Thank the soldier dad. She saved me.' I said soothingly.

'I didn't.' she said, affronted. 'Why do I have to repeat myself? I did the running and jumping.'

My father chuckled.

'I don't know who's story to believe.' he said, looking amused. 'Shepard tells me that you came up with a way to get rid of the worms and the rachni, god knows how they are still alive. And you tell me that she saved you.'

'Well, both are true... sort of. I told her what to do and then she helped me do it.' I reassured him.

'The Alliance aren't going to be happy about this.' he frowned. 'This will not only mean a trial but you will have to get involved and who knows how a civilian will affect this.'

'A trial? What have we done wrong?' I asked, worried.

'Not that kind of trial, it's a hearing. The board members of the Alliance council will hear us out about what happened and then award us a medal for survival and public service, etcetra. It's a publicity stunt.' said Jean, frowning. 'And I think we can say for sure that you'll get a medal. It's what they'll do to me that I'm worried about.'

'Why will I get a medal? I didn't do anything.' I pointed out.

'If you hadn't killed the thresher maws then they would have ruined the whole colony, infrastructure included. We would have been forced to nuke them from orbit, destroying the colony. Your way though, much valuable research has been preserved.' she explained. 'Now we can rebuild as well, if we ever get a masochistic desire.' she added, laughing at some private joke.

'Then why would they punish you?' I frowned.

'Because I never got permission to leave my post. I was supposed to have followed orders back there, but I disobeyed them and ran along with you. It might be nothing but they could also say that my squad died because of me.' she shrugged and I saw her hide a wince. This was hurting her a lot.

'I'm sorry.' I murmured.

'For what?' she said angrily. 'Do you think I would have been better off behind one of those barricades? Would there have been a triumphant return if I had followed orders?'

I didn't say anything.

'Lay off her, Shepard.' said my father warningly.

'Right. Sorry.'

There was an awkward silence. Father went to fetch a chair and then sat down by my side.

'Weren't you at Eden Prime?' I asked for something to say.

'I heard what had happened two hours after that it did. My superiors gave me leave to go to the Citadel.' he answered.

'Dad. Mother, she...' I wasn't sure what I wanted to say. I knew that he must know that she is dead. And I knew that I was the last person in the world who could comfort him. I am the legacy of his love, not a support of it.

'I know.' he whispered. 'I know.'

His voice sounded clear and strong but i could feel how he trembled. I couldn't tremble. I was still numb. Well, numb figuratively. Physically, I hurt a lot.

Somehow, though the scenery was perfect and the aftermath of the recent events still fresh in my mind it dawned on me how very tragically I was behaving. Almost too much so. I glanced at Jean and found that she was looking out of the window, at the trees and the buildings. I frowned, checking my memory. Didn't she say that I was on the Citadel? The Citadel was the huge space station in the middle of nowhere. How the asari found it is beyond me. So where did the tree come from? I craned my neck to see and was astonished when I saw several large trees, much larger than those surrounding our colony, standing just outside. Our room seemed to be on the first floor as it didn't really take me much craning to see the ground.

And why were we sharing rooms? Easier access for the doctors, I guess. Or maybe the rest of the hospital was filled.

I started when my father shifted in the chair, glancing up at me.

'You are dealing with this better than I had hoped.' he said, looking intently at me.

'So... much better than I should.' I replied.

'Yes.'

'Does that mean I'm dealing with it the wrong way?'

'No.'

'Oh good. I don't think I can start over at any rate.'

He shook his head.

'You haven't changed, you know that?'

'You didn't want me to change. People hate it when things change.' I said bitterly. 'I have acquired some hasty experience in the matter, so it's all true.'

He didn't reply and I wasn't sure if he agreed or disagreed.

I must have dozed off at some point because I was awakened by a nurse, bringing more of the same stuff to eat that I've already had.

'Look, don't you have pizza, or noddles? Noddles aren't bad for your liver, you know. They are, ah, noodly.'

But the nurse had her orders. Nonetheless she did have some good new for me.

'If you like, you can take a look around the Presidium. Just don't go too far, in case something happens to you. And you are not to stray beyond the embassy square.'

That meant that I had a good square kilometre to wander freely about. And now that I was healthy enough for some of the more powerful anaesthetics I could do so without the disadvantage of crippling pain.

'Hang on, I'm coming with you.' said Jean, getting up. I closed my eyes as she got dressed, a courtesy she had done for me in turn. 'I haven't been here on holiday before. It's supposed to be quite impressive.'

And it was. There were shops and stalls containing games, music, books and electronic equipment I have only heard rumours about on the colony. I felt a stab in my chest as I realized that no one at the colony aside from me was here to witness all these things. Jean seemed to either understand or share my feelings because she did a very good job of keep us both distracted.

In the "human" district, and the human part was indeed mainly due to a dozen or so humans that lived there and nothing more, there were items manufactured on Earth, things that weren't really a necessity but an indulgence. Make up, clothes and shoes that looked very classy and were very expensive. Most of the stuff, well really all of it, was for people who had seemingly unlimited wealth. The clothes cost five hundred credits per dress. Back at the colony I could have bought half a wardrobe in decent colours with that kind of money.

And the electronics, as if to counteract that, was ridiculously cheap. Fifty credits for an upgrade for the omni tool, add twenty more and you'll have a thousand songs on it as well. There were different coupons one could buy for different surgical procedures involving biotic upgrades. I stared at them for a very long time with a hungry expression until Jean called me over to look at something.

'What?' I asked, slightly annoyed.

'If you want to see infrared.' she grinned, pointing out an "ExoGeni – pinpoint colour" upgrade. From what the leaflet said, they would implant another iris set to supplement the original one.

'I'm not interested in being a security camera.' I huffed.

She laughed and pulled me over to see something else. And there was a lot of something else. The vegetables they grew here were different from anything I've seen before. Amongst them we found a red variety of the guff I've been eating at the hospital.

'Excuse me, could you tell me what this thing is?' I asked, pointing at the red, white and shiny thing.

'It's a fogria. They originate from the asari homeworld and are said to taste differently for everyone. But that's not true. It tastes different for every species because of it's chemical construct. The asari say it tastes sweet. If you're from Earth you'll know strawberries, right?'

I nodded, we grew them on the colony.

'For the quarians they taste salty. Much like... salt. And for humans they taste... well I don't really have a good example but I think that it tastes much like some perfumed mushroom.'

I saw Jean shift her feet. She clearly knew something about these plants that she wasn't about to tell me.

We ate at a coffee shop. Well I say ate, I had some tea while Jean ate and rank her way through the menu, reminding me that I was supposed to be careful with what I eat.

'Ah, look I can't pay for this...' I remembered belatedly. 'But I'll pay you back. Actually, my father coul-...'

'Don't bother. Alliance pays for this. See?' she produced a silver card with the Alliance insignia on it.

'A card? That's almost primitive.' I said, amused.

'Nah, that's just for show. It's all in my omni tool. The card is for Earth and human colonies and the like.'

We started towards the hospital, still looking about and met my father on the way. He was staying at a friends house for "as long as he had to" which could mean one day or one year. I didn't like the idea of him leaving soon.

All in all we had spent five hours outside before we had to return. I wasn't sure why Jean was being kept at the hospital because she seemed as fit as ever. Maybe it was standard procedure?

My pain meds had started to wear off and so I was glad when I could finally lay down and rest in my bed.

And I had to give them credit. They knew how to make a hospital. It wasn't the dreary and depressing place that I was used to at the colony, where the light would illuminate the ugliest corners of the tidy and sterile room. Though the walls were indeed white, they didn't seem sterile but simply clean, homelike. The light wasn't coming from some sickly-looking worker's lamp either but from the sun, through the open window. I noticed, with some amusement, as I realized that the sun was still in the same place on the sky as it had been... yesterday? I wasn't sure. I was used to measuring time by night and day but as there hadn't been any night here...

'How long have I been here in all?' I asked, worried.

'In all? Um, I think...' Jean creased her brow, counting. 'Five days now.'

'Holy..! Five days?'

'Well, you were out the first day, with the surgery and all and you woke up on the third day... so, yeah.'

'How do you know? There's no night here!'

'There a watch though.' she pointed towards the opposite wall at the digital watch.

'Well yes, but that could be morning or dusk!'

'And there is a tiny moon and a tiny sun at the bottom, see?' she pointed them out. The moon was bigger than the sun now.

'Ah. So it's dusk.' I sighed.

'Yes. Our internal watches work pretty well, don't they? If it had been morning we'd still have been out there.'

'No way. I wouldn't be able to walk.' I shook my head. Though I stopped the shaking it, the head didn't stay still. It seemed to revolve and spin, making the room blurry and making my heart beat faster. 'Wow.' I couldn't help saying.

'What?'

'My head is spinning like... it's spinning a lot.' I was too dizzy to come up with a good metaphor.

'Are you alright?'

'Yeah. Just woozy.' I nodded, which made the world do a few somersaults in rapid progression.

The pain was far away now. Everything seemed to be quiet and peaceful. And the worried voice, calling my name and shaking me by the shoulder or the cold floor? They didn't matter much. Not really.

I felt that, much as I liked to remain asleep, I had to deal with whatever was going on because it seemed urgent. There was a murmur of voices around me, a deja vu feeling sweeping over me with them.

They weren't speaking english, japanese or salarian and so I couldn't understand a word they said. I only grasped the final line of the words which meant 'thank you' in asari. I couldn't actually speak asari but you pick up tidbits from vids and commercials.

Salarian was the standard language for any Citadel space tech. And english had spread like wild fire as humans began taking places in the Citadel. People said that english and japanese sounded so poetic and cool. I couldn't really agree, but maybe I was just too used to them to notice.

'She's awake.' said someone in english and I opened my eyes.

'Are you alright? How are you feeling?' asked a new doctor whom I hadn't seen before.

'Ah, I'm fine. Why? What happened?'

They exchanged glances. I noticed that there were two salarians and one asari in the room as well as the human doctor. Jean was on her bed. I noticed the glances she was throwing my way, so she wasn't asleep.

'We have operated your brain for the chemical malgrowth.' said the asari awkwardly, making all the words round. 'You will be tested for motoric functionality and logical thinking.'

'Oh. Well did you get it? The malgrowth?'

No one answered.

'What? Don't tell me! You've had to replace my brain too!' I squeaked.

The doctors exchanged a half amused and half surprised look.

'Ah, no. The scans tell us of it's position but we didn't realize that it was a central point of synapses. We didn't actually operate. We merely opened, realized our error and closed. We do not expect that damage was done, but...' the human doctor shrugged as if to say 'you never know.'

They put forward what looked suspiciously like a MENSA test for my omni tool.

'Please answer the questions as fast as you can.' said the salarian in english.

'Of course.' I replied in salarian, smiling.

There were forty pages all in all.

'What the... Look, I didn't study for the test.' I said, amused by the amount of pages on my omni tool. 'As fast as I can?'

They merely nodded and one of the salarians made an exasperated noise. He clearly felt that this was too much a test. I did too.

The first few were fairly simple and I got through the five or six pages in about as many minutes. Then it got harder. The patterns were so subtle and secretive that I had to get out of my way to solve them. When I finally came to the last one I had to really twist my brain for the right answer. At first the last one seemed to be wrong, not having an actual answer and, fifteen minutes later, I decided to concede defeat. Just as I opened my mouth to say this though, a thought struck me.

'Could I get a pen and a paper?' I asked, frowning at the task before me.

By now, the doctors were sitting in chairs and talking quietly to each other. The asari quickly gave me what I asked for.

I drew up the patters in different varieties. Back to front, reversed and upside down. They all had logical solutions. Why didn't the original one? I looked at the solutions for the converted tasks. They were all different but made a pattern on their own. I put them together much like one would with a puzzle.

'Done!' I said triumphantly. 'I freaking did it!'

I sent them the test back through the omni tool.

They quickly sifted through my answers, hiding their thoughts from me. It seemed almost suspicious.

'Very well. Take this.' said the human doctor, giving me a ball.

They made me walk, run, jump and catch and throw the ball to show that all of me was working fine. Eventually, satisfied, they left.

'I must admit, you scared me there.' said Jean as soon as they were gone. I jumped again.

'Stop doing that! You'll give me a heart attack.' I said, eyeing her suspiciously. 'And what happened exactly. I don't really remember anything bad happening.'

'You said that you were feeling faint and then you fell down, head first, from the bed. You were delirious until the doctors came and sedated you.' she looked as if she was remembering something very disturbing. I couldn't remember a thing.

'Sorry.' I said, not sure what else to say to that.

'Again? You have a funny notion of being the bad guy when you bleed.' she laughed loudly. 'There definitely is something wrong with your brain.'

'Why are you here? Aren't you healthy?' I asked, remembering the question from before.

'I am. But seeing as I have no where else to stay and seeing as we're going to the hearing tomorrow together, I thought that I might keep you company.' she shrugged.

'But you're being starved.' I complained. That bothered me as well.

'I payed the nurse off to buy me some real food. I've had sushi while you were asleep. Sorry.'

'I like sushi.' I said, fingering the edge of my blanket.

In reply she pressed the nurse button on her bed railing. The nurse stuck her head in.

'We want you know what.' whispered Jean mock-conspiratorially.

The nurse smiled and retreated, returning a minute later with two plates of sushi. My portion was lesser than Jean's.

'What kind of fish is this?' I asked, smelling it. My mouth watered at the scent.

'Presidium fish.' she replied, grinning at another private joke.

I tasted a bite. It tasted like fish, much as I expected and the rice was, as far as I could tell, genuine rice.

'That is good.' I almost moaned with my mouth full. The veggie diet didn't suit me much. 'So we're going to the hearing tomorrow?'

'Yes. Commander Anderson will come to get us.' she nodded, already finished with her food. I looked at her figure. She was slender and muscular, a very athletic build. I wondered whether she usually ate this much or only now when she had the chance.

I couldn't fall asleep. The endless day and the memories of what had happened kept me awake throughout the very bright night. I couldn't tell whether Jean was asleep or just cunningly pretending to sleep, either way she was quiet until the alarm clock went off. Having extended my "awake" time by nine hours, I didn't feel cheerful, refreshed or eager to meet the head of the Alliance as I would usually have been. We got dressed in silence and had our breakfast, more of the same odd plant fogria, just before the arrival of commander Anderson. He was a dark skinned, neat military man with a number of medals on his chest. He had the look of a warrior who wasn't sure which side he should fight against, despite the fact that he was already on the battle field.

'You are awake and dressed.' he commented unnecessarily.

'Yes sir.' replied Jean, equally pointlessly.

This must be the famous military protocol. Ask a stupid question and then answer it while keeping a straight face.

'And I see that you are awake.' he addressed me now. I fought hard not to roll my eyes. 'How are you feeling?'

'I'm better.' I replied, attempting to imitate Jean's tone.

'Good. I am commander Anderson. Nocturne, my ship, was the first on site to get you out of Akuze.' he said in an explanatory voice.

I nodded.

'Let's go. We don't want to keep them waiting.'

There was a shuttle waiting outside, accompanied by two guard shuttles.

'Are we expecting an attack?' I asked, looking around.

'No. It's our escort. They are merely a precaution and to get through traffic if need be.'

I looked up at the skies, seeing the other side of the Citadel. There were no other shuttles about, and anyway, I doubted that there could possibly be enough shuttles on the Citadel to make enough traffic to cause a stop.

The embassy building was just like every other building on the Citadel only taller. It was white, rounded on corners and had a flashy look to it. As we entered the building I saw a green spider-like creature walking by, ignoring everyone around it. A group of salarians had to stop in order for it to pass by.

'What is that?' I asked Jean, tugging at her sleeve.

'It's a keeper. They are the keepers of the Citadel. And that is all anyone knows about them. They just walk about and do maintenance stuff.'

'Where do they come from?'

'They were on the Citadel when the asari came here.'

I looked curiously in the keeper's direction but it had vanished from sight.

We entered a large room with a very wide and open balcony. In the centre of the room stood three people. To the right stood a very muscular and quite attractive man with small eyes and angular features. In the middle stood a woman who looked the man's opposite. She was old, her hair was white and her skin looked fragile. But she had a good-natured look about her, aided by the faint smile she wore. To the left was a man who, in my opinion, shouldn't be allowed near matches, scissors or pens because he looked ready to snap at any moment. He had the look of someone who had been bullied during his teens and now wanted revenge for those painful years. I instinctively disliked him and the cool look he exchanged with Jean didn't improve anything.

'Welcome, Jean and Numine. Please sit down.' said the old woman to us, motioning towards two chairs that were placed before them. As we sat down the three of them sat down on the opposite side of the room on three raised chairs, much like thrones of the digital era.

'My name is Rebecca Octavius and I am the human ambassador here on the Citadel. This is head of trading and PR for the human embassy here on Citadel, mr. Toboe.' she gestured towards the handsome man who inclined his head. 'And this is head of intelligence and police interactions here on the Citadel, mr. Udina.' the other man inclined his head a fraction of an inch. 'First allow me to say that I understand your loss, for there were dear friends to me on Akuze who died as well. And congratulate you on your efforts to preserve the research conducted there. If not the people, then at least their accomplishments will live on and be of benefit to the humanity.' she cleared her throat. It was clear to me that the woman felt that this meeting was beneath her, me and Jean but had resigned herself to the "customs" of politics. 'You have had time to grieve in these past few days, though not without incidents I hear, and now you must tell me everything that happened back on Akuze in detail.'

I wondered why the Alliance people couldn't simply have taken a report on what had happened. There didn't seem to be a logical reason for them to summon us here.

Jean began telling her side of the story and for the first time I got to see how it had been for her.

'Workers in the mine had contacted the control tower, saying that there was a risk of earthquakes. This was around midday and the usual patrol had already returned along with two excavation Makos, one of which had received water damage due to a design oversight by the Alliance techs here on the Citadel.' she said this with very heavy infliction and her words seemed to be aimed towards Udina who looked as if he was sucking a lemon. 'We spread out throughout the colony in case of infrastructural damage and held our posts for a good quarter of an hour. Then the earthquake began.'

'There was an earthquake?' asked Udina sharply.

'Shut up and listen.' Jean interrupted, making me look at her in astonishment.

'How dare you, Shepard? I will-...'

'That is enough.' said the ambassador quietly. The words had the effect of a dojo gong being struck with heavy artillery. Everyone fell silent. I could see why she was the ambassador and I couldn't imagine how her will could possibly not go through with the Council. 'Please, continue.'

'The earthquake was caused by the digging of thresher maws that a moment later came out of the ground. Their appearance was mainly around the western turret tower and the northern gates where the bulk of our forces were. That only made it easier on the thresher maws. Artillery, infantry and tanks were deployed to minimum effect and only a handful of the thresher maws were brought down. I ran into Min outside the old tank garage, I think it was turned into a school building.' I nodded to confirm. 'There she told me that it would be more effective to strategically place a powerful chemical explosion containing the waste of chemicals that were stored nearby. To ignite them we had to use the head of the western turret gun which contains a good amount of high-calibre ammunition and a mass destructive reaction in case of incorrectly wired power settings and overload.'

I smiled at this. It had taken me a while to explain to her why the turret exploded when it crashed and why soldiers behind shields hadn't been affected by the radiation.

'Briefly after the detonation,' continued Jean in the same official voice, 'Min ran away from me, leaving the cover of my shield and exposing herself to radiation. I followed her to the central research platform where I found her already heavily wounded from the radiation. She was administered a number of injections, medi-gel and eye-drops by doctor Eleanor Smith. Before we could confirm that the thresher maws had all been killed by the explosion a swarm of rachni attacked us.'

She allowed these words to sink in. They had no real meaning to me. Jean had tried to explain how the krogan had killed all of the rachni long ago. It made sense to me though that they missed something. I knew from experience how hard it could be to kill a bug.

'Rachni.' said Udina derisively. 'They are long since exterminated, Shepard. Do you expect me to believe-...'

'No, I don't.' said Jean calmly. 'There is enough evidence that speaks for itself.'

'Go on.' urged the mr. Toboe. 'You were swarmed by the rachni.'

Hearing the story now it sounded much like an adventure, rather than something we accidentally triggered on a remote colony.

'Min had been left on the ground as people evacuated the site. I had to return, not wanting to see her dead. There was a squad of marines left with the colonists and I felt that they could spare me for this. Also, as I began to make my way, with Min by now, away from the swarm a good amount of them turned towards us, giving the marines better odds. To kill off our tail we blew up a carrying wall in a deserted building which collapsed on top of the rachni. Then we made our way towards a meeting point for an aqueduct and a hot water pipe. By then no more human life signs were detectable and we blew the "dam".' she finished her story with a curt nod.

'After that the Alliance ships arrived?' confirmed the ambassador.

'Yes. I believe that they cleared the immediate area with their turrets and after that all goes blank.' confirmed Jean, nodding.

'Very well then.' the old woman shifted her focus to me, 'Miss Shin'ichi, would you be so kind as to tell us how you came to be involved in all this?' asked the ambassador.

'Ah... Well I didn't plan it. The thresher maws were attacking and-...'

'A poor choice of words, I'm sorry.' said the ambassador, raising one hand. 'I meant, could you tell us your side of the story?'

'It's a lot like Jean's.' I said, shrugging. 'You know, only it's from my perspective.'

'Which is why I would like to hear it.' smiled the ambassador.

'Ah. I was at school and we were talking about turian death ships or something. There was an earthquake, which isn't odd, you know, because they are usually digging and blowing stuff up. But this time it was bigger and sort of rhythmic. I don't know why but I began to worry that something might have happened to my mother, she worked as an engineer on that platform Jean told you about. I didn't have time to get out of the building before I saw what was going on. And credit to Jean here, because she took out one of the thresher maws on her own.' I added, glancing towards her. She looked pleased. 'But they were too few, or too many. Either way, the soldiers were getting killed.' I had to swallow there because images that I had suppressed for a while now came back to the surface. I took a deep breath. 'I ran into Jean. And then everything happened as she said.' I summarized.

'If credit is given, then I should add that Min was the one who came up with the bomb idea and the flood idea.' said Jean in a way that made me feel as if we were competing for which one was to humblest. I tried not to laugh.

'Noted.' nodded mr. Toboe.

'Now then. Your account fits what you told us after your arrival here, and after examining the colony we have no reason to suspect otherwise. All of the dead colonists have been accounted for and your mother's funeral will be held here on the Citadel tomorrow.' said the ambassador, addressing me about the latter issue. 'We did discover something that neither of you mentioned, though through no fault of yours. The mining team were the ones who dug up the rachni from within a sealed laboratory complex. After having scanned the area we found an entrance to the facility and discovered a great deal of hidden research that was being done on Akuze. There were no bodies nor any evidence of human visitation of the place. Deeper within the complex we found thresher maw breeding grounds.'

I blinked. They found a facility where those beasts had been bred? Why? To attack us? Impossible. To study something? That was way too extreme to be true. But if they had discovered it...

'Investigations are still being conducted, headed by mr. Udina.' finished the ambassador.

They exchanged looks and then turned back to us. A kind of passive peace and cheerfulness filled the room as they did so.

'For your efforts to preserve human life and dedication to the colony we grant you the medal of bravery and raise you to the rank of commander. For the same reasons we also give you the medal of service in research.' said the ambassador, walking up to Jean and fastening the medals to Jean's attire. It had felt odd seeing her in the military dress, but I understood it now.

'For service to your fellow human being and bravery in times of desperation I present Numine Shin'ichi with this medal.'

She fastened it to my collar, I always wear shirts with collars, and took a step back. I couldn't help but feeling proud, elated and very smug though I knew the cost for this medal.

'You will be well compensated, of course, for the loss of your home and possessions and a residence of your choosing will be provided on the Citadel for both of you until you return to active service. You are both icons and examples for your fellow humans and other races alike. It is a sad occasion and I will not hold you here any longer, you are free to leave.'

With that we got up and left the room in silence. My mind was buzzing, though not for a very good reason. What did it matter to me why there was a hidden research facility that let lose monsters that devoured the colony? It was done with and couldn't be undone. I think that it couldn't be undone, at least. But I was still preoccupied with these thoughts as we returned to where the shuttles had been. Instead of the official looking shuttles there now stood another one, a black and shiny one. And my father was leaning against it.