Family Ties

On the Odyssey, Tali and Liara burst into the room.

"What's happening?" Tali asked as soon as she got in. As she got in the room, Bane looked at her. Garrus did not know what to think when he saw that Bane was stunned by the sight of the young Quarian.

"Tali," Bane breathed. Bane felt his jaw drop in his suit. All his life he never imagined he would ever see Tali again.

"Who are you?" Tali asked. "How do you know who I am?" Bane realized that he had suddenly become emotional. He could not be seen like this, so he just shook the entire thing off.

"You will know in time, Tali," Bane said. "All in good time." The bounty hunter began to type something into the computer. "I've uploaded the schematics for the bodies into your computers. We should find any flaws in their bodies through these."

"Tali, make sure that thing's on an isolated network," Garrus said. He was not going to let Bane plant any viruses into this ship. Tali rushed over to the computer and began checking the files.

"The file has no viruses," Tali said. "But, I'm placing it on a separate network and placing an extra firewall on our network."

"If Sovereign's still alive, I think we can assume he's going to the Citadel," Ashley said. "Joker, take us back to the Citadel," said through the radio.

"Got it, Ash," Joker said through the radio.

The Odyssey slowly turned around and, with a bang, it engaged its FTL and flew off towards the Citadel.

A small shuttle flew towards the Citadel. It was unusual for a ship this small to be traveling alone, especially after the hostage crisis they had earlier. C-Sec officers were deployed to the docking bay where the shuttle would dock.

"Keep your weapons steady, men," the officer said. They heard the click as the shuttle docked, and they waited for the doors to open. The doors finally slid open, but no one got off. The officers stared into the doorway, expecting someone to come out. Suddenly, all the officers were slammed by into the wall. Their guns fell do the floor, leaving them defenseless. The officers watched as Sovereign and his seven indoctrinated slaves got off the shuttle. The slaves now wore large cloaks and hoods that completely covered their entire body. They looked at the creatures, not realizing that they were now in the presence of a demon. Sovereign looked at the C-Sec officers. With a flick of his wrist, and with a sickening crack, the officers' necks broke like toothpicks.

Garrus was working at a weapons locker on the Odyssey. He had to make sure every weapon was ready when they encountered Sovereign. While Garrus worked Liara quietly entered the room. She did not even bother to remove her green armor since they were going to fight Sovereign soon.

"Garrus?" Liara said when she entered the room. Garrus just took a brief glance at her.

"Hey, Liara," Garrus greeted flatly.

"Garrus, are you alright?" Liara asked.

"I'm fine," Garrus growled as he threw a gun on the table. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You've been like this ever since we let Bane join," Liara said.

"He kills random people just for little extra money! Should've just shot him."

"It is only because of him we know Sovereign is still alive," Liara reminded Garrus.

"He's only telling us about Sovereign to protect himself," Garrus scoffed.

"I do not believe that he is as evil as you believe. Even if he is, his actions will be saving countless lives."

"And he'll begin taking innocent lives once this is all done!"

"I sense that there is more to him than you believe," Liara said thoughtfully. "Maybe if you talk to him you can get to know him better."

"I know him well enough," Garrus said firmly.

Bane was in another room on a different deck. He leaned against the wall beside the window, staring into the darkness of space. He heard the door open and watched Ashley walk in. She still wore her pink armor.

"To be honest, I'm surprised you let me join you," Bane said.

"Just because I let you join us doesn't mean I trust you," Ashley said. "It was the Commander's policy to talk to everyone on his crew."

"So you came here to talk to me?" Bane scoffed.

"No," Ashley said flatly. "I only want to know how you know Tali." Bane grew solemn when he heard Tali's name.

"How far would you go to protect someone you love?" Bane asked. Ashley just shrugged. She honestly had no idea how far she would go. People would do just about anything to protect someone they love. "Now, how far would you go to protect the daughter of the one you love?" Ashley felt her jaw drop when she heard this. "How far would you go, Ashley Williams?" Bane asked, turning to face Ashley. "Would you take the blame of a crime you never committed? Would you accept exile, knowing you'll never see your friends or family again? Worse, you'll be seen as a traitor in ALL their eyes."

"How does this relate you to Tali?" Ashley asked impatiently. Bane gave a tired sigh.

"I knew her father, Rael, and her mother, Iana. We grew up together."

"Tali told me her mother died from an airborne virus five years ago."

"Yes…this hit us pretty hard. I loved Iana and Rael was my best friend."

Ashley finally understood why Tali meant so much to Bane. Her mother and father meant a lot to him so their daughter would mean just as much. But, there was one question that has not been answered.

"Why were you exiled?" Ashley asked.

"Iana was a good person," Bane said. "But, she, like her husband, took unnecessary risks. She created a situation she had no control over."

"What happened?"

"Barely a week after birth, Tali grew sick. The doctors recognized the disease but had no antidote. Iana was not going to let her only daughter die a week after birth. She boarded one of the medical ships and stole a sample of the disease. From there, she was able to make a cure. The ailment she was dealing with is one of many known plagues. Doctors have been trying to work on cures for years. The only way to develop a cure was to hire a Batarian pirate who was known for creating biological weapons and their cures. Illegally experimenting with them, as Iana did, is dangerous. It would be the same as bringing an active geth aboard the fleet and just as dangerous."

"I'm gonna assume it didn't go well," Ashley said.

"There's a reason they say never to trust a Batarian pirate," Bane said darkly. "He used the diseases available to create a biological weapon he could have released on the fleet. He also decided to invite some of his friends over. Me and Rael stopped him and his pirate gang but the fleet already knew that something was going on. I was one of the marines working aboard the ship, so I willingly took the blame. The punishment for treason is exile."

"So, after you were exiled, you became a bounty hunter."

"Precisely," Bane hissed. "I've only done what I've needed to survive."

"You didn't have to become a criminal."

"When you gain a high stature you can either be respected or feared, and Quarians are never respected."

The intercom across the ship suddenly came on.

"We're coming up on the Citadel," Joker said.

The entire team gathered on the bridge, with their two new members, Bane and Sidonis. Liara looked around the bridge as the team gathered. The moment reminded her of the time they gathered on the bridge and prepared to land on Ilos. The only difference was that Sheppard was now gone and Bane and Sidonis were here. The team looked out the cockpit window and watched as they approached the Citadel.

"Sovereign's probably has a head start," Garrus said.

"If that is the case, then we have no time to lose," Liara said, exchanging glances with her friends.

"We won't make it in time," Sidonis said.

"We must!"

"He's right," Bane said flatly. "Even if we reach Sovereign before he reactivates the relay, we still have to fight his indoctrinated slaves."

"Can't we delay him?" Ashley asked, desperately trying to think of something.

"The power!" Tali gasped. "Sovereign needs to use the master control unit to reactive the relay. Those controls must be powered by something!"

"Probably the same power network that powers the entire Council Chambers," Wrex grumbled. "We cut the power to the Council Chambers; we cut the power to the controls."

"The controls to the Council Chamber's power grid lay a few floors below it," Garrus said. "We need to hack the system and turn it off first, then blow the rest of it. It'll slow him down, but it won't stop him. Backup generators will kick in if the power grid is not repaired after a while, and I don't know where the generators are."

"I can hack the controls," Tali said. "But, we don't have enough explosives on the ship."

"Let me worry about that," Bane chuckled. "I simply need to see your cargo bay." Garrus looked at Ashley.

"We don't have a choice," she said.

The Odyssey docked with the Citadel and the team got off.

"Joker, stay on the ship, in case something goes wrong," Ashley ordered. The door closed behind her as they all got off.

"This way," Garrus said, leading the team towards the power grid's controls.

A few decks above, Sovereign lead his indoctrinated slaves through the Citadel. They tried to avoid any crowds so they would not be delayed. He has not been inside the Citadel for some time and he now has trouble finding his way around. Sovereign looked out the window and saw Garrus and the team running through the halls.

"It appears we have visitors," Sovereign growled. "Snare." One of the indoctrinated slaves looked at his master. "Stop them."