When Fates Collide

Chapter 2

~ ~ ~ Saving the Professor ~ ~ ~

Safely aboard the Sovereign ship which was orbiting the planet Therum, spectre Saren, Matriarch Benezia and Shepard carefully listened to the status reports from the ground forces.

Not taking any chances the turian in charge sent two squads of geth and an infiltration team led by a krogan battlemaster down to the prothean dig site to retrieve Matriarch Benezia's daughter; a prothean professor. She was supposed to be the leading expert in prothean technology and Saren wanted her badly to translate his visions from the prothean beacon on Eden Prime.

The Alliance Mako was making waste of the geth's ground forces despite their numbers. The krogan had located the girl in the prothean dig site, but for some unknown reason was unable to obtain her. Sensing the urgency as the Alliance Mako made its way closer to the dig site, Shepard peered at Saren awaiting direction. He waved his hand at her with displeasure.

The former Alliance officer adjusted herself and proudly announced as she strutted out of the room, "If you want something done right, then you sometimes need to do it yourself!"

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The rogue soldier entered the prothean dig site shooting down several geth that had mistakenly fired at her as if she was the intruder. She believed it to be Saren's way of "accidentally forgetting" to inform the geth she was authorized to enter the site. Perhaps it was his way of keeping her frosty.

Reaching the bottom of the pit, Shepard saw a pale blue woman hovering in a bubble behind some type of energy barrier. Holstering her weapon, the moppy redhead took a few steps towards the barrier curtain as the woman inside cried out, "Can you hear me out there?"

Ignoring the floating woman, Shepard slowly reached out her hand and touched the glowing shield. "I thought so, it looks solid enough."

Looking back at the helpless woman, the renegade soldier inquisitively questioned, "Professor Liara T'Soni I assume."

The susceptible and badly dehydrated woman was very happy to see the human. "Oh thank goddess! I thought for sure they had forgotten about me. Please can you help me? I accidentally trapped myself in here when I tried to escape the Geth. Can you believe it? Geth beyond the Vail!" The asari paused only long enough to take a breath before continuing, "I have been trapped in here for two days." Her deep rich blue eyes pleaded with the gray armored woman.

Dumbfounded by the period of time the asari had been hanging, the redhead repeated, "Two days?!" Shaking her head in disbelief, she yelled upward making her words echo off the walls of the elevator shaft. "TWO DAYS! She's been right here for two days, and you couldn't figure a way to get her out?!"

The professor nervously shushed her. "Quiet they'll hear you."

Shepard mockingly laughed out loud and again shouted up the shaft, "They are too stupid to use their brains to HEAR me!"

The prothean expert had a confused look on her face when the moppy redhead quickly turned away and jumped down the partially fallen cat walk. As her feet hit the dirt, the rogue soldier turned back to look at the blue skinned asari and reported, "I'll figure a way to get you out!"

Within a few minutes Shepard devised a plan to use the mining drill to open a path beneath the prothean expert's chamber. It worked. Crawling down the newly created passageway, the veteran warrior entered another large vertical shaft that went straight up as far as one could see. The matte redhead stood on some sort of circular platform that had what looked like a control panel in the center. Wiping a stray hair out of her emerald eyes, the rogue soldier stared blankly at the control panel, and it occurred to her that she was standing on some sort of lift. Not sure what buttons she punched, or even why she chose that sequence, but the platform rose one level to where the professor was imprisoned.

Shocked by human's presence inside the barrier field so quickly, the professor tried to peer over one shoulder as she uttered, "How did you? I mean…what…?"

Stepping closer to the bubble that imprisoned the prothean professor, Shepard was able to view the asari figure much clearer. She began to study the enchanting figure in front of her, and suddenly realized how young she actually was; how beautiful. It caught her by surprise how alluring the young asari seemed to her. The woman was tall and slender with a curvaceous form. Her skin was a ambient soft blue which encompassed her thick tentacle looking crested head. The asari had those most alluring piercing blue eyes, Shepard had ever seen among humans or otherwise. Thinking to herself, the redhead pondered, Whoa, she looks like a beautiful, younger version of her mother.

Fearing that she had been staring at the professor for a bit too long, the woman clad in gray armor shook her head to gain clarity. Clearing her throat, a firm voice informed spoke. "I'm Shepard. Your mother sent me!"

Liara's rich blue eyes widened, "My mother? But why would Matriarch Benezia send for me? We haven't spoken in years, how would she know I was in trouble?" The prothean expert was flush with confusion.

While the young asari's face tried to contemplate the reason behind her mother's actions, Shepard walked over to the prothean control panel. Studying the control station for a moment, the rogue soldier's fingers began to dance on the pad as she was again unsure why she entered that particular sequence.

Hearing the hum of the control panel activate made the asari professor resound, "It's very complicated, do exactly as I instruct." Immediately ending her sentence, the bubble dissipated and sent the asari maiden hard on the ground. Wiping her hands on her lime green X-05 lab coat, she looked at the pale skinned human in shock, "How did you know what to press? I had not yet correlated what to do?"

"Lucky guess" quipped the soldier.

Shepard could see the look of disbelief on the young professor's face before her attention was directed to the gun fire high above them. Motioning the asari with her outstretched hand, the seasoned soldier instructed, "We need to go now, follow me."

They boarded the elevator platform directly behind them and this time, the asari archeologist took charge of the control panel. As the elevator rose, Shepard watched the professor's gaze race between the control panel and herself. Mentally the redhead imagined the daughter of Benezia questioning, How did that human get the elevator to work the first time?

Without much time to think about it, the pair arrived at the top of the shaft only to find themselves in the middle of an intense volley of gunfire. The gray cladded soldier cursed as her exit had been blocked by the soldiers. It's those damn alliance people again. Don't they ever die?

Instinctually, the galactic warrior shoved the prothean expert off to the left side of the platform behind some crates for safe keeping. Watching the asari maiden take cover, the confident soldier retrieved her assault rifle and readied herself for combat. Glancing back at the confused professor, the redhead hesitated and simply observed the fight; waiting for just the right time to attack.

The large krogan battlemaster and several geth were taking refuge behind some scattered containers directly in front of the only exit out of there. The Alliance soldiers were on the right side of the platform and in prime position to defend against any new arrivals. Shepard frowned at her displeasure at not being able to make a quick get away. The rogue soldier would have to fight her way out of this one with the matriarch's weakened and unarmed daughter in tow.

Fearlessly shooting at the geth was an female marine donned in white armor with pink underlining and a distinctively red Alliance stripe running down her right arm. Shepard recognized the insignias of the armor to be that of a Gunnery Chief. She must be a special ground forces marine.

In Shepard's time with the Alliance so long ago, she used to tote around ground marines on her Navy ships. The space bearing branch used to joke that the ground marines were worthless had it not been for the Galactic Navy shuttling them around all the time. But the marines got their digs back saying, 'Without them, the Navy vessels would still be floating out in mid space with no where safe to land.' It was a love and hate relationship between the marine ground forces and the navy; as it had been for centuries. But let an outsider try to insult one or the other, and instantly the ground marines and Navy became as thick as thieves.

Shepard chucked briefly remembering the endless bickering that occurred while standing many late watches. However as pointless as it was, it certainly passed the time faster.

A male soldier shouted out over the gunfire, "Chief Williams, there she is! That has to be the asari we are after!"

The Alliance soldier, dressed in white and pink quickly scanned the room until her chocolate eyes found their intended target. The woman with bronze skin and jet black hair answered, "I see her Kaiden!" Chief Williams saw the young prothean professor dangerously close to the rogue soldier's side and yelled out, "We are from the System's Alliance and we're here to rescue you!"

The shaking professor questioned barely above a whisper, "Rescue me from what?"

Shepard retorted back at the intruding nuisances, "You aren't rescuing crap, you Alliance pigs!"

The young prothean expert haphazardly realized that the geth and the krogan were firing at the group of Alliance soldiers. As bullets made their way towards the rogue soldier and the asari professor, the maiden ducked behind another container before muttering, "Aren't the Alliance the good guys?"

The gunny chief again shouted over the shooting out to the disordered asari, "Don't listen to her, she's a traitor!"

Absolute confusion blanketed the asari's pale blue face and the rogue soldier at her side sensed that matriarch's daughter was about to bolt towards the Alliance soldiers. Quick on her feet, the moppy redhead grabbed the blue arm and exclaimed, "Professor, wait!"

Fixing her gaze into the professor's enchanting blue eyes, Shepard confidently reasoned with her as if no other sound was more correct than her own voice, "Your mother sent me! She's on a ship right now orbiting the planet; waiting for you! We need to go! You need to come with me now!"

Shepard was stunned that she actually followed her out of the unstable cavern, yet something about the look in the professor's expression hinted that she would.