A/N: Ugh, sorry about this one. I am a terrible person. :(
Chapter 37 - The Butcher of Aratoht
"Whoa, Commander, I thought this ship could not get any emptier," Joker says, as Shepard joins him on the bridge, herself feeling a little disturbed by the void of living beings surrounding them.
"I know, it's pretty creepy," Morgan agrees. It is only her, Joker and Chakwas aboard the Normandy, en route to Hagalaz. Oh, and EDI, of course. "I hope that it's safe to fly like this, with only you and EDI taking care of the ship."
"If all ship's systems are operating to maximum efficiency as they are now, we are perfectly equipped to handle all tasks," EDI explains. "Of course, this is not an optimal setup, and a qualified crew is still required."
"Don't worry, EDI. I'm sure the Alliance will set us up just fine. Or... whoever ends up commanding this vessel," she adds.
"What do you mean by that, Commander?" Jeff 'Joker' Moreau sounds distraught. "Normandy is your ship! Everyone knows that!"
"There are no guarantees," Morgan shrugs, unwilling to continue this line of discussion, finding mere speculation of her future depressing. "We're getting close to Sowilo. I better get Liara on the comms and tell her to expect us soon."
"An open and secure channel is waiting for you in the briefing room, Commander," EDI helpfully informs her.
Liara's face appears before her, it looks as if she has been crying, a lot, but she also looks happy and relieved beyond measure. "I have not been able to... even sit down, ever since getting your message," her asari lover confesses. "I've been skipping around in circles like a damned fool, I think even Feron is starting to get worried!"
Morgan laughs. "You are so cute when you let that self-control slip, you know," she smiles. "Don't worry, I'm only two hours or so away. I'll be with you soon."
"Good. Good," Liara exclaims, looking as if a crushing weight of several tons has fallen from her shoulders. "I knew in my heart that you will come back, and you did. Thank you, Morgan... thank you for keeping your promise."
"You'll not doubt me again after this, I'm sure," Morgan winks, but before she can say anything else, Joker cuts in on the comms.
"Uh, sorry to interrupt Commander... but I got Admiral Hackett on the secondary line here, and he claims it's very important," the helmsman explains.
"Really, congratulating me on our victory against the Collectors shouldn't be considered this urgent," Morgan grumbles, looking apologetically at Liara. "Sorry, just going to disconnect you for a moment or two, be right back." Liara nods as Shepard quickly switches to the secondary channel, bringing up the face of Admiral Hackett before her. He looks... less pleased than Morgan had expected.
And he has not called the Normandy to congratulate her on their success against the Collectors, even though he does that as well. No, Admiral Hackett has a task before her, a very urgent task, and it concerns the Reapers, making it a time critical mission that can't be delayed. I hate my life, Morgan thinks desperately, as she makes her promise to Hackett to check out his concern immediately, before bringing the connection to Liara back online. Sometimes I really hate my life... she covers her face with her hands, not knowing how to tell Liara the news.
"Something... something is wrong, isn't there?" she hears Liara asking in a trembling voice. "Something is always wrong."
"Yeah," Morgan takes her hands away from her face, allowing a hollow laughter to escape her lips. "Hopefully nothing much, this time."
"What is it, tell me!" Liara demands, impatiently.
"I need to keep this classified, let's just say that it's a quick recon mission as a personal favor to Hackett," Shepard quickly says. "The Alliance will soon have to decide on how to interpret my actions during my time with Cerberus. I could do with scoring a few bonus points."
Liara nods, reluctantly agreeing. "That is true. Can you tell me where you are going?"
"Batarian space. Bahak System."
Liara's eyes widen a little. "That's... not so reassuring. I trust you'll be careful." Shepard smiles and nods in reply. "You'll probably be gone for at least a few days. I'm going to drive poor Feron completely crazy during all that waiting..."
"I... hate doing this to you, Liara," Morgan admits guiltily. "You deserve better."
Liara smiles sadly. "Just take care of what you have to do and come home. I'll be here... waiting."
"In that case, I'll do everything in my power to make your waiting as short as possible," Morgan smiles. "I'll see you soon, Liara. Take care of yourself."
"You too, Morgan. I'll pray for your safe return," Liara replies, ending the conversation.
After a small pause and lots of mental swearing, Morgan picks up the comm line with her helmsman. "Joker?" she asks.
"Yeah?"
"You're going to love this. Turn the ship around."
"...what?"
"Plot the course for Viper Nebula, Bahak System, planet Aratoht."
"You're kidding. You have got to be kidding," Joker's voice is thick with disbelief. "Wait... Hackett. You're not kidding. Fuck the batarians... what are they up to again?"
"Not at liberty to say, Joker," she replies, feeling tired and drained to the point of collapsing. "Just get us there. I'll be in my quarters. Sleeping. Or something."
"Warning. Activation of the Project will result in estimated 304,942 casualties. Do you wish to continue?"
What a question... Dry chortle escapes Shepard's blood-stained lips, as she considers the choice before her. But is there actually a choice to make? Can I afford 'not' to sacrifice all these innocent lives? If the Reapers arrive now... we are so horribly unprepared...
"Joker, do you hear me?" she tries to reach Normandy on the comms, in the same time activating the Project. "Joker, send a message to the batarian colonies, ASAP! Tell them to evacuate immediately!"
But even as Joker carries out the order, she knows that her efforts to save at least some of them are doomed. The Hegemony would never trust this kind of message sent by an Alliance ship. They would try to verify it, losing precious time... and with less than an hour left until the collision, she knows that all those unsuspecting batarians currently on Aratoht are doomed.
I just slaughtered more than three thousand batarians, most of them innocent slaves, to protect the galaxy from what most would still claim to be merely legends, fictional monsters, figments of my own demented mind. Morgan Shepard... your case in defense of these actions is worse than paper thin... the only thing that can exonerate you now would be nothing less than the Reaper invasion itself... she realizes with grim clarity.
Maybe they'll give me a nice title at least, Morgan smirks, watching the fusion torches slowly igniting. The Butcher of Aratoht sounds pretty cool.
The VI console beeps in front of her. "Project activation in progress. Warning. Collision with mass relay is imminent. Begin evacuation procedures."
"...a mass relay exploded and destroyed an entire batarian system," for the first time in three years, she receives debrief in person from Admiral Hackett, standing before her in the Normandy medbay. She has always imagined that this would be an experience she would relish. It is not. "What the hell happened down there, Commander?"
"Dr. Kenson believed she had the proof that the Reapers were about to invade through the relay of Bahak System," Morgan replies tiredly. "What I learned seemed to confirm her theory. Time was short. I saw no alternatives to destroying the mass relay. We tried to warn the batarians, but..."
There is a strange twitch in Hackett's face, as if he's about to burst out angrily about Shepard's inconclusive, uncertain answers, but he manages to control his temper. "They report no survivors from Aratoht," he says tersely. "At least you tried. Do you believe that the Reaper invasion really was a threat?"
Morgan briefly considers what to answer to this simple question. The absurdity of the situation makes her break out in inappropriate fit of laughter, angering Hackett even more. "The Reapers are merely a fiction, didn't you get the memo, Admiral? How can I defend my actions by appealing to the threat of something that is just my own fantasy?" she giggles, Hackett taking a step back, looking disturbed. "Or maybe I always wanted to repay them with something like this for what I had to endure during the Skyllian Blitz! Or maybe... maybe I am no longer sane, because of... what I just had to do!"
"Easy now, Commander," Hackett tells her, keeping his voice low and steady. Slowly, taking deep breaths, she calms herself, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "The batarians will want blood over this, Shepard. And with the Reaper invasion that we know is imminent, war is something that we cannot afford. If... if you and Dr. Kenson were correct, then all this is immaterial and you deserve a medal, Commander. But... if you were wrong, then what we have is three hundred thousand dead batarians."
"I know. I know..." Shepard says. "And there's no definitive proof either way. It will be just my word against three hundred thousand corpses. Not good odds."
"It is no secret that you have many detractors amongst the Alliance. They will push to hasten the investigation against you. Sooner, rather than later, you will need to return to Earth and face the music, Commander."
"I'm not going to wait for them to start hunting me down. I'll go back to Earth myself. Right now. And I'll turn myself in," she speaks quietly, falling heavily back in the bed. "I'm just... tired of it all. So... tired."
"Cooperation will speak in your favor, Commander," Hackett speaks, and she feels his hand on her shoulder, gently squeezing it. "I'm sorry, Shepard. When I sent you to rescue Dr. Kenson, I could not imagine I would be sending you into something this hellish. I regret that I made you go through something like this."
"It's not your fault, Admiral," she whispers through tears. "Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong..."
The comm line slowly comes to life, Liara's image is blurred and her voice sounds crackled, until EDI finally clears it up. Shepard immediately sees that Liara is upset, even if she has not yet delivered the damning news.
"Shepard… I'm reading some… disturbing news here," her voice is trembling. "The Bahak System is… no more, after its mass relay… exploded?"
Shepard faces away, turning her back to the screen before speaking. "I just killed over three thousand batarians by pushing a single button." Her voice is hollow, dead.
"What happened?" Liara prompts softly. "Morgan, I know you wouldn't do it without a damn good reason."
"The relay of Bahak System was a so called Alpha Relay. The Reapers were about to invade and use this Alpha Relay to quickly spread throughout the whole galaxy. I… I thought I had to stop them. Gods, I tried to warn the colonists, but there was no time."
Liara is silent for a long time. "I'm so sorry," she says. "I cannot think of a worse choice. You did what you thought was best."
"I killed thousands and thousands just to buy us more time to prepare," Morgan continues. "Unless we really make the best use of that time, this… genocide would have been for nothing."
"How soon can you be here?" Liara asks, distraught and worried. "You should not be alone at a time like this."
"Liara, I… I'm not coming home," Morgan confesses quietly. Liara silently waits for her explanation, saying nothing. "The batarians are furious, as you can imagine. Someone just launched a huge asteroid into their mass relay and wiped out an entire system full of sentient beings…"
"There will be retaliations," Liara realizes. "Just when we cannot afford another war, with the Reapers at our doorstep."
"The Alliance brass are pissed off as well," Shepard says plainly. "Hackett and Anderson will do what they can to soften the blow, but if they lean too much on the others, they risk their own necks. We need them to remain in their places, to continue building defenses against the Reapers. Liara, I… I'm going back to Earth to face the music. Alone."
"No! No, no, not after all this…" Liara exclaims, wringing her hands. "What do you think they will do?"
"I don't know. The crime I'm being accused of is… of incredible proportions, even if the batarians are our sworn enemies. Stripping of all military rank, facing the military tribunal, then likely a jail sentence," Morgan says bitterly. "But there you go… difficult choices have consequences."
"I'm not letting go of you, Morgan," Liara is defiant. "Not after all of this. I'll get you out of the deepest cell they throw you in, I promise you. I will come for you."
"No… no, Liara. At least not yet," Morgan says. "That will have to wait. I need you to help make my terrible choice matter. That way, you can aid me much more. Because we both know that the Reapers are coming. And this is all about us versus them."
"What do you want me to do?" Liara asks, her voice trembling.
"I told Hackett you would get in touch with him," Shepard explains. "Coordinate with him. Use whatever information Shadow Broker has on the Reapers and Protheans, do all you can to find something, some way to help us prepare."
A few tears roll down Liara's cheeks, each one like a dagger stabbing at Shepard's heart. "I will do all I can to help, I promise," the asari says, sad, but determined. "I will not let you down, Morgan. That much I promise…"