Chapter 100 - Thessian Recon Run
"You are enjoying this!" the face of Councilor Tevos is almost as completely white as her beautiful facial markings, the terrified asari matron gripping the nearby panel with shaking hands. "Aria, I demand that you stop toying with them and get us out of here right now!"
The Pirate Queen merely laughs at her secret lover's distress, concentrating on dodging the red particle beams of several oculus crafts hot in pursuit. The highly advanced Cerberus fighter that her mercenaries have liberated from one of the Illusive Man's bases responds to her commands with beautiful smoothness, though of course, Aria is making it look as if evading the enemy is much harder than it actually is, purely for the fun of tormenting Tevos.
The Reapers have placed scouts around the relay of Parnitha System, and a small vessel like theirs obviously does not possess any sort of stealth technology, getting discovered immediately after arriving in the system. However, Aria has been ready for an ambush, and also supremely confident in her ability to escape it. She is fortunately proven correct in her predictions that the Reapers will soon give up chase, not interested in a small fighter of this size, and shortly after the oculus fighters return back to the destroyers, lazily patrolling around the relay.
"We're in the clear, as I told you we would be," Aria says, finally allowing herself to relax, chuckling inwardly as she watches Tevos falling back into her seat, her brow dripping with perspiration. "It will be several hours before we reach Thessia."
"Goddess. What were you trying to do?" Tevos turns towards Aria, glaring weakly. "Force me into an emergency underwear change before I can meet with the Elders?"
"Please, Councilor... we both know that your underwear is coming off sooner rather than later," Aria replies with a knowing smirk.
"Oh, we know that?" Tevos attempts a challenging stare, but it is quickly deflated. The look on Aria's face clearly suggests that she knows that she is the sole weakness of Councilor Tevos, to whom she can't refuse anything. "...I should have never gone along with this crazy plan of yours. I should have informed Lidanya instead of sneaking out in secret..."
"Lidanya is loyal, dependable, and also terribly predictable, if I remember her correctly," Aria snorts. "She'd have brought the Destiny's Ascension here, and it would have attracted the attention of every Reaper in the system. A stealth run is what we need, and this comes as close as I can manage to a stealth run."
"Maybe I should have trusted Liara and Shepard. They could have brought me here on the Normandy," Tevos muses.
"Wait... does that mean you actually know where that artifact is and lied to T'Soni?" Aria quickly realizes, slapping herself on the knee in frustration. "Damn it, Tevos, you can be so... so irritating at times!"
"If the matriarchs realize I've lied to them and shared the intel with Shepard before I was authorized to... well, I can kiss the councilor's post goodbye," Tevos grumbles. "Of course, if the Reapers kill them all, it would be a moot point, but somehow I doubt I'll be as lucky."
"I could kill them for you?" Aria suggests, not entirely jokingly, her relationship with the leaders of the homeworld volatile at best.
"...tempting, but let's not be hasty," Tevos says after a moment of thought.
"Well... if you end up out of job, you can always come dance for me at the Afterlife," Aria offers, giving Tevos a fond stare. "You can always shake your ass at me, you know that."
"I am so very comforted now," the councilor sighs.
"So, are you going to tell me where we're going?" Aria demands a while later.
"Of course. Temple of Athame," Tevos says, activating her omni-tool and uploading the coordinates to Aria. "It must be some time since you last visited homeworld, isn't it, Aria?"
"Been a while, yes," Aria shrugs. "Can't say I've missed it. And judging by the reports we've been getting... it won't be much to look at this time around, either..."
"It will be... difficult to look at, yes," Tevos speaks quietly, her shoulders sagging a little. "If... if you had sent her to Thessia as you promised... she would have been down there, fighting the Reapers..."
"And very likely just as dead as she is now," Aria snaps, but then rare sadness reflects upon her harsh yet attractive features. "Are you still mad at me for not sending her to Thessia?"
"I... I don't know," Tevos shrugs helplessly. "I can understand why you did not. Someone was likely to find out the truth sooner or later and use it against us. Well, against me, really. I don't think such scandalous revelation would have discredited you in any way. I had almost managed to convince myself that it is better for her to stay on Omega where you can look after her day and night. Then... I learned of her death. I won't deny, for months I was mad at you, I was very mad... but those feelings have faded. Now I'm just... sorry about how everything turned out."
"Yeah," Aria grumbles unhappily. "It was a shitty feeling, looking at her, watching her grow up, always having to lie about her parentage. She deserved to know who her father is. Hell, I wanted to just say consequences be damned and send her to the Citadel so that you could meet."
"Now I truly regret not having met her. My Liselle. My daughter," Tevos hastily wipes a few tears away from her cheeks. "You'll find her murderer, won't you? Promise me."
"I will," Aria speaks solemnly. "I will find him, and I will kill him. Slowly. That I promise."
There is no great mystery about what has happened to the fuel reactors on Cyone. Short range scans suggest that it is under heavy siege from Reaper forces, and Shepard chooses to deploy her entire team, EDI's platform included, finding it strange to not be faced with Joker's incessant whining about decreasing morale and scratched frame of EDI's platform.
It would appear that the Alliance engineering team is still putting up some resistance, entrenched somewhere near the reactor core and desperately trying to survive until reinforcements arrive. Shepard has no way of knowing whether Captain Riley is still alive or not, for some reason the comms are out, likely some active jamming by the Reapers, for they have had difficulties getting a message through to Riley's squad from low orbit.
This leaves Shepard with the good old way of handling things, slaughtering all hostiles and reaching the friendly targets before Reaper brutes have stomped them into goo. The strength of the Reaper force clearly underlines the strategic importance of Cyone's fuel. EDI estimates that the initial attack involved at least two hundred troops, that quickly overwhelmed the security and the crew working on the reactor. After that, there are signs that point to the Reaper withdrawal and setting up an ambush, hoping to catch the inevitable relief squad unawares.
Fortunately, they have not anticipated the second recon team to arrive this quickly, and it gives Shepard and her crew a much needed opportunity to strike swiftly and unexpectedly, hitting the Reaper flanks hard and taking them by surprise. Garrus and Tali take Javik with them to lead an attack on the weaker left flank, which appears to have fewer brutes attached to it, leaving the others with Shepard tackling the right flank.
Javik seems to thoroughly relish the rare opportunity for slaughter, the green glow of his biotics whizzing through the air, pulling up hapless cannibals and marauders into the air, before he quickly mows them down with his favorite particle rifle. With Tali there to drain energy from the marauder shields, deploying drones to distract the foes and providing support fire, Garrus is free to concentrate on what he does best, the subtle and quiet dance with his sniper rifle, meticulously thinning out the Reapers one by one. It does not take long for the left Reaper flank to begin collapsing.
On the other side, Shepard's group face a slightly fiercer opposition, there are more brutes lurking about and trying to charge them, but by remaining mobile and switching their positions often, they manage to avoid getting cornered by the dangerous foes. EDI concentrates mostly on disabling the shields on the marauders, making them vulnerable to Liara's biotics. Shepard always relishes the sight of some cannibals and marauders pulled helpless in the air by the asari's singularities, then rushing to quickly snipe them before Liara has had her own fun, detonating the enemies with a heavy warp field.
The rest of the time, Shepard's main task is to assist James with the brutes, the Lieutenant usually not requiring her aid, unless a pair of the fearsome foes manage to show up at once. After a lengthy fight, the right flank begins to collapse as well, leaving the Reaper forces in the middle surrounded from three sides, and before Shepard has had a chance to stop them, the desperate defenders of the reactor core begin their own counterattack, which while being helpful, also results in two more of Captain Riley's crew getting killed when the last brute breaks through their lines and squishes the young asari providing biotic support, before turning around and taking off the head of the already crippled human soldier, trying in vain to protect the asari.
"Think we got them all," Garrus says, as his team catches up with Shepard's, Morgan happy to note that everyone appears to be alive and well.
"Let's not take any chances, this is too important," Morgan replies. "Split into two teams and do a sweep of the area, I don't want any surprises." Seeing that Liara is about to walk off as well, Shepard reaches out and grabs her by the hand. "You're with me," she says, leading her towards the remains of Captain Riley's team.
"As you wish," Liara replies, a little impassively, as they reach the survivors. There is a rather mangled looking human male, a young technician with blood flowing from wounds on his temples, shoulder, thigh and who knows where else, and a turian who has escaped any serious injuries, is already working to patch him up. The third survivor of the group is a human female, propped up heavily against the base of the reactor, holding her left side and appearing to be in a lot of pain, as blood slowly oozes from her armor with N7 insignia on it.
"Well, well..." she manages a dry chuckle, seeing Shepard and Liara approaching her. "Isn't this a turn-up for the books? You never write, you never call... and then you just one day ride in on a white horse to save us all. Typical Shepard."
"Good to see you too, Riley," Morgan allows herself a small smile. "Are you hurt?"
"No... I'm sitting down here and slowly bleeding out because I think it's a lot of fun," Riley grunts through clenched teeth. "You've always been the master at stating the obvious, Shep. Gave the last of our medi-gel to Nyrek. Kozlo over there needs it more than I do..."
"Alright, let's get to work, Liara," Morgan realizes the gravity of the situation immediately, both of them dropping on the floor next to the injured Captain, Liara pulling her away from the wall and taking off Riley's helmet while Shepard begins to undo the clasps on her armor.
"Damn it, Shep, you don't get to undress me after you've dumped me," Riley makes an ill-timed joke, breaking out in a nasty cough as the two others hurry to strip her from the armor and get access to the wound.
"I didn't dump you," Morgan says, lowering Riley back onto the ground, being able to finally look in the face of her ex-lover. She is much the same as Shepard recalls her, the strawberry blonde hair now of slightly darker hue than Morgan remembers it, but the blue eyes are instantly recognizable. They are not soft and warm like Liara's beautiful orbs, instead Riley's eyes speak of a more cold, ruthless and determined character, but Shepard remembers the time when she felt drawn to these sort of traits. "Besides, it's not like your omni-tool was permanently broken. You could have sent a message yourself, if you wanted to."
"I... I did want, but..." Riley starts, wincing pain as Liara removes the last layer of clothing to finally reach the wound, watching the asari swallow heavily and reach for medi-gel. "I just couldn't bear to tell you about another three month deployment to some nether region of the galaxy. There were... only so many times I could do that to you, Shep."
"Yeah," Morgan swallows bitterly. "Exactly the same reason I couldn't muster the courage to tell you... I guess it just wasn't meant to be, huh?"
"This is not pretty," Liara cuts in, slapping generous amounts of medi-gel on Riley's injuries. "I'm guessing a brute caught you when charging by?"
"Got it in one," Riley nods, smiling weakly as the medi-gel slowly starts to kick in. "It's been quite a ride for you, Shep, hasn't it? With two subsequent Rim missions, I've missed it all... got back a few months ago, having to catch up with news over the past three years... first human Spectre? Supposedly killed and then rising like phoenix from the ashes? Working with Cerberus? Taking down Collectors and blowing up their homeworld? Blowing up a batarian system and then being charged and facing a military tribunal? Didn't know whether to believe all of that or not..."
"It does sound a bit crazy when you list it like that, doesn't it?" Shepard chuckles. "But just look at what's happening with the galaxy now, and maybe it's not all that crazy in comparison. Could you see something like this ever happening, Riley?"
"No... you're right. Everything pales compared to the Reapers," Riley admits, color slowly starting to return to her cheeks as the medi-gel quickly takes effect. "How do you cope with all that, Shep? Leading the charge, it has to be an incredible responsibility."
"I'm not doing it alone, Riley," Shepard smiles, stealing a quick glance at Liara, working diligently to clean up around the wound. "Didn't the news feeds also mention something about me betraying the humanity by taking an asari lover?"
"There was something about that, yeah," Riley chuckles, but then her laughter dies as she notices the way Shepard is looking at Liara. "Oh... damn, I'm thick. That's her..."
"Dr. Liara T'Soni," the asari merely bows her head at Riley, her expression never changing from the professional mask it has settled into. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Right... Captain Lee Riley, as I'm sure you know already," Riley sounds a little hesitant all of a sudden. "Uh, listen... if I said something inappropriate, I apologize for that..."
"You did not say anything inappropriate," Liara replies simply, applying the last bandage and pulling Riley's shirt over the perfectly dressed wound.
"Well, in that case... what can I say, but congratulations, Shep... nice catch!" Riley reaches out with her hand for a quick high-five, Liara rolling her eyes at the antics. "She doesn't have any sisters, does she?"
"I don't even really know... Liara, do you have any sisters?" Shepard grins.
"Well, Benezia's side of the family ignores me completely, they are dead to me. I know that I have at least one half-sister on Aethyta's side," Liara replies, pulling back and glaring at them a little. "And by the way... that was an inappropriate question."
As Riley and Shepard share a brief chuckle, just at the same time as Garrus checks in on the comms. "Everything looks clear, Commander," the turian reports. "Orders?"
"Fall back to the shuttles, we're leaving in fifteen," Shepard says, closing the comms. "Any place we can drop you and your people off, Riley?" she asks her fellow N7.
"No need," Riley replies, slowly getting back up to her feet and strapping her armor back in place. "If the comms are up again, we'll get in touch with the local ground forces and tell them they're free to move in. Hackett will then send someone to pick us up, give me a day or two to lick my wounds and then throw me onto some other suicide mission."
"Are there any other missions in this war?" Liara wonders, making both humans grin broadly as they nod in agreement.
"Well... in that case," Shepard says, a little hesitantly. "We really need to be off. It was... good to run into you again, Riley. Take care, will you?"
"I will, but hell, what do I tell you in return then? You're the one charging down Reaper destroyers," Riley shakes her head. "Anyway... good luck, Shep, and try to get through all this in one piece. We need to go out for a round of drinks after this mess is over, the three of us."
With that said, they shake hands warmly, Liara and Shepard walking away. As they round a corner, Morgan feels the asari pressing closer to her, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Can I tell you something, Morgan?" she asks.
"Sure, what is it?"
"Well..." Liara says, snuggling closer to her. "I just think you have surprisingly good taste."
Councilor Tevos is silent for a very long time after returning from her meeting with the inner circle of the most influential matriarchs of Thessia, or at least those still daring to remain on the ravaged surface of their homeworld. It is only when they are past half-way back to the relay of Parnitha System, when she finally shows some reaction to one of Aria's questions.
"We need to get in touch with Shepard as quickly as possible," she says. "I should have brought them along to stand by, yes, I see it now... it would have saved so much time."
"Well, pointless to cry about it now," Aria shrugs. "So, I take it that you verified the intel?"
"They showed me the records of the information that our scientists have extracted from the beacon... yes, we've had intact beacon in our possession for who knows how many thousands of years... and I recognized the scans that T'Soni showed to me, it was the Crucible," Tevos explains. "Which means that it is likely the beacon has information on this Catalyst, too."
"Did those stuffy, tight-arsed elders approve of bringing Shepard and T'Soni in on this?" Aria asks.
"They said they will need to discuss it," Tevos snorts. "I'm done waiting. I know they have the intel, so I'm passing all the information over to Shepard. I no longer care what the matriarchs will think of it, and what the consequences will be for me."
"Good. Let's just hope we can get back through the relay in one piece," Aria chuckles, taking great delight in how Tevos instantly blanches from the reminder.
"Oh... yes, there was that," she sighs, feeling her hands starting to shake again. "You don't have anything stronger to drink, do you?"
"Afraid not," Aria shakes her head, grinning as Tevos lets out a very undignified curse. "I know just the thing that will relax your frayed nerves, Councilor, but it will have to wait until we get back to the Citadel..."
"I wish you wouldn't be so flippant about it, Aria. If we can't escape the system and deliver the news to Shepard..." Tevos sighs. "The days of the homeworld are numbered. We have been moving people off-world since the assault began, and the evacuation efforts will be intensified. Despite the krogan aid, Thessia can only hold for a week at best."
"Which means Shepard and T'Soni don't have much time," Aria nods. "This whole war has been a real reawakening for those armchair generals on Thessia, hasn't it?"
"Yes, exactly. Our people are panicking, Aria. Our leaders are too shocked and frightened to actually lead our people with any effectiveness. If not for Aethyta... I'm not sure we would have held out this long..."
"The old girl is still kicking? Always had a soft spot for her, despite, you know, the whole deal with trying to kill each other a few times," Aria laughs throatily. "I guess T'Soni will be relieved to hear that her daddy is still up and about."
"Yes. She got the krogan aboard. If Shepard hadn't wrestled me into sending her along to the summit... goddess, I've made so many mistakes," Tevos leans back into the seat heavily, her voice nearly breaking into sobs. "So many mistakes..."
For a moment, Aria feels conflicted, fighting the desire to say or do something to comfort Tevos, but the flashing warning message on the scans distracts her and she quickly turns to examine it. "Hmm, curious," she says, having looked at the scans for a while. "There's a ship approaching from the relay, heading towards Thessia."
"The Normandy?" Tevos looks at her, hopeful expression on her face. "They decided not to listen to me, goddess bless them!"
"No... it's a familiar looking signature... but it's not the Normandy," Aria mutters, trying to remember where she has encountered this vessel. "I think it's a Cerberus ship," she says eventually. I've seen it on Omega, when it brought Leng to speak with me.
"Cerberus ship?" Tevos sounds surprised. "What could they want here?"
"I have no idea, but..." Aria says, hesitating. Damn it, I bet he is onboard. Not much we can do against a Cerberus frigate with this puny fighter. But I must kill him with my own hands, I must!
"Aria, is everything alright?" Tevos' voice, soft and full of concern, brings her back to the reality. "Let's just get to the relay, shall we?"
Fuck. Not long ago I would have said, screw the galaxy, my need for revenge comes above everything else. But now... I guess living out the last days of the galaxy can change even a cold hearted bitch like me. Her eyes soften a little, as she looks back at Tevos. "Yes. Of course," she says. "Let's get us back to the Citadel..."