Author notes: Oh, come on. You didn't actually expect me to kill Liara, did you? Shepard might be a thug and an asshole, but he hasn't gone completely over to the dark side... yet. ;)
Chapter 13: Ia! Ia! Thorian Fhtagn!
"I'm sorry, but you're a liability."
Liara dropped her C-Dis in fright and raised her hands. "W-wait! Please, I'm not-"
"Shut up!" he yelled. "Look, I'm sorry, but even if it doesn't have you now, we can't take the chance the Thorian will get to you eventually." He turned to the Geth. "Pluribus, can you knock her out without hurting her?"
"Yes." he responded, nodding his head once.
"Do it, and find something to bind her hands and feet. I'm sorry Liara, but until we're sure the Thorian is dead, this is absolutely necessary. You could hurt yourself or one of us if it gets control of you. We'll find somewhere safe to hide you, and then have the Normandy chrono you up when this is over." he finished sadly.
"I understand, John." she said meekly. "How will you…?" She trailed off and collapsed as Pluribus placed his hand on her shoulder near the base of her neck and squeezed. The synthetic caught her as she fell, and he set her gently on the ground, sealing her suit as he did. He pulled several lengths of wiring out of a nearby destroyed Geth platform, then tied her limbs together quickly and efficiently, as only a synthetic can do.
"Vulcan neck pinch?" asked Shepard, a little amazed. "I didn't know that actually worked."
"Asari have a nerve cluster at the base of their necks that allows for them to be rendered unconscious quickly and efficiently, with minimal side effects." replied Pluribus as he worked. "Most species have such clusters, with the exception of the Krogan."
"No kidding? I need to lear-" said Shepard. Just then, he was interrupted by a blinding white light that bloomed in his vision, followed by a powerful tremor in the ground and a massive, thundering roar in the distance. All of them, excluding Pluribus, were thrown to the ground as it continued to shake beneath them. After what seemed like hours, it finally stopped and they picked themselves up off the floor, brushing dust from their clothing and armor.
"Well, that's one way to fix a problem." said Shepard. "Just blow the fuck out of it."
"Is this really necessary, John?" pleaded Tali. "There must be another way."
He shook his head angrily. She needed to understand the gravity of the situation, but for any non-Human, even her, it was hard to accept. "There are other ways, but they're too dangerous. During the Psychic Dominator Disaster, entire city blocks were leveled and thousands we sacrificed to kill one Yuri clone. It had to be done. I'm half tempted to nuke the damn thing from orbit, colonists be damned, but we need intel on Saren. I get the feeling he was after the Thorian, and I need to know why."
Tali shivered as he spoke. "John, that's… that's not just ruthless, that's evil."
"It's a necessary evil, Tali." he replied dejectedly. "I'm sorry, but there's no safe way around it. Nihlus isn't responding because he's probably already compromised, just like the colonists. Fuck! That's why they were behaving strangely."
Pluribus interrupted him with a raised hand as he carried Liara to the burnt out vehicle and hid her in the empty engine compartment. "Shepard Commander, we believe that the Thorian's abilities may function under similar restrictions to the devices known as "Think Tanks." The behavior patterns of the distraught colonist suggest this, as he was able to resist the Thorian without training. Additionally, the fact that neither T'Soni Doctor nor the remaining vulnerable members of the team were compromised when they arrived indicates that the Thorian may be at or slightly above the limit for how many minds it can control effectively."
"Wow… I actually hadn't thought of that." said Shepard, slightly awed by the revelation. "In that case, we need to make sure there aren't any fatalities among the colonists or Nihlus. If there are, the Thorian could take someone else."
"It's probably already on to us, John. That nuclear explosion was a bit of a giveaway." said Tali with a small giggle.
"Oops." said Shepard, rubbing the back of his neck. "Guess I should've thought things through a little bit further. Still, we need to destroy the Thorian, and anything related to it. Experimenting on MC based powers needs to be done in a highly controlled setting, and what ExoGeni's doing doesn't qualify."
"I'd have thought that you'd be more open to psychic research." said Tali, moving towards the door they had entered from. "After all, Humans use psychic radar as an early warning system."
"Detection technology based on extra sensory perception was theorized as a possibility by the Geth, Shepard Commander, but never confirmed. Is the statement by Creator Tali correct?" asked Pluribus, sounding almost startled.
"Tali…" growled Shepard in an aggressive tone. "You do realize that the existence of psychic radar is a state secret, right?"
"It's an open secret, John, and you know it." she retorted, not fazed by his ire.
"Fair enough." he said after a moment, his anger melting. "Yes, Pluribus, it is. Besides, if the true Geth become our allies and make peace with the Quarians, I suppose they'll end up using it anyway. The point I was trying to make was that I'm open to the idea of experimenting with powers of the mind, but doing so is inherently dangerous. When Einstein and Oppenheimer helped create nuclear weapons, their initial tests were performed in the middle of a New Mexican desert. Leaving something like the Thorian here, uncontained and uncontrolled, could be unbelievably disastrous. It needs to be destroyed, and with extreme prejudice."
"I guess that makes sense." said Tali after a moment. "And if you didn't experiment on MC at least a little, you wouldn't have psy-radar. Wish we had some now. It would certainly come in handy finding Nihlus."
Shepard's hand suddenly darted out and stopped her in her tracks. "Oh, crap. Nihlus has a Mirage Inducer." Suddenly alarmed, Shepard checked their surroundings frantically, looking for anything that looked out of place: a rock, a pile of rubble, anything. "Pluribus, have you read about Mirage Inducers?"
"Yes. Geth have assimilated knowledge on the effects of many forms of Alliance technology, including Mirage camouflage fields."
"Good. Keep an eye out for something that looks out of place; something that wasn't here when we came through last. Damnit, that blast probably shook loose god knows how many things. I feel like a damn idiot now."
"We will watch for any objects which could conceal Kryik Spectre." said Pluribus, hefting his cryo rifle. "We will attempt to disable him with our cryonic weapon without causing permanent damage."
"Keep in mind he has a Riftblade as well. Don't get close. Tali, switch to pistols, and shoot to disable. I'd rather we not hurt Nihlus, but if it comes to that, I'd rather wound than kill."
Garrus' voice came in over their com units. "Shepard, do you read?"
"Loud and clear. We have a problem, though: Nihlus is being controlled by the Thorian, and we had to K.O. Liara to keep her safe. Can you get a fix on either of them?"
"One sec… OK, we got Liara, but Nihlus deactivated his direction finder."
"I figured as much. Chrono Liara up to you and have Chakwas take a look at her. She's unconscious, but she shouldn't be hurt." Deactivating his com unit, Shepard sighed softly. "I feel like kind of an ass for doing that to Liara. If for no other reason, we need to kill the Thorian for making it necessary."
Just then, the trio rounded a corner going back to the colony and they were greeted by the sight of… something. They creatures looked vaguely human, but they were green and plantlike. In truth, they looked more like Geth husks than anything else. Most of them had been crouched on the ground, hugging their legs to their chests, but when the group appeared, they rose and turned towards them.
"What the fuck are those?" asked Shepard, his voice hoarse.
As if his question had been a signal, the things let out a series of earsplitting screeches and rushed the team as one, their long, claw-like fingers stretched out towards them as if to rip them to shreds. A pair of quick blasts from Shepard's pistol dropped two of them to the ground without heads, but dozens of others rushed on. Tali managed to switch to Tesla Cannon, and the electrified shots tore holes in their ranks, punching through four or five in a line, setting them on fire as they went. Pluribus focused his cryo rifle at the things, but they were surprisingly resilient to it, taking nearly a full second to freeze completely, even at max power. Still, between the three trained soldiers, none of them got within three meters. Seeing the remains of the zombified plant creatures disintegrate and rot before their eyes sent chills up Shepard's spine.
The rush of creatures had been all the opening Nihlus needed. He came not from below or to the side, but from above, dropping down directly in front of Pluribus, his super-heated Riftblade striking for the synthetic's head. It could have been that Pluribus heard the whisper in the air as he fell, or sensed the heat the blade gave off; regardless, he managed to avoid being cleaved in half, if only just. The Geth sprang backwards with almost imperceptible speed, and lost only a single arm to the Turian Spectre, it having been melted clean through midway between the wrist and elbow. He also had the benefit of quick recovery: while Tali and Shepard were still trying to grasp what was happening, Pluribus raised his good arm, still clutching his cryo rifle, and fired it directly at the glowing weapon in Nihlus' hands. The mixture of cryogenic particles and plasma inducing heat was too much for the structure of the weapon: it shuddered violently, and then cracked at the sudden temperature change, blowing itself to fragments in Nihlus' grip. One particularly large fragment found its' way to his gut, and it punched an oblong hole directly though and out the other side, leaving a cauterized wound large enough for a hand to fit through.
Shepard managed to process all this in the three seconds it took to happen, and as he watched Nihlus fall, he saw images of the same thing happening over and over. However, these weren't images of the present, but of the past: seeing his squad cut down, one by one, the Thresher Maws at Akuze too powerful for them to kill or even harm. Next came images of Jenkins, dead before he saw his assailants, his body laid to rest on the colony he'd been born and died on. And now, Nihlus.
"Nihlus!" His cry was powerful, driven by emotion: fear, anger, hate, rage, and concern, all in their most primal forms. It seemed to reach the Turian, for he suddenly cried out in excruciating pain, as if he had just noticed the gaping hole in his abdomen. He clutched at it, thinking to stem the loss of blood that never came, the wound having been seared shut by the heat of his weapon. A small mercy, perhaps, but a mercy nevertheless.
"Pluribus, seal his armor and activate his locator! Use omnigel for the hole!" yelled Shepard, falling back on his Geist and N7 training instinctually. "Normandy, this is Shepard! Nihlus is down; we need medevac at my coordinates ASAP!"
A handful of seconds later, the Spectre's suit was sealed, and he vanished in an all too familiar cloud of lighting and smoke.
"Pluribus, are you OK?" he asked, the adrenaline coursing through his veins masking his shock.
"Affirmative, Shepard Commander. Loss of a limb does not cause us distress as it would an organic. However, our weapon proficiency will decrease by 18.256% as a result, and we will no longer be able to effectively wield a sniper rifle until the damage has been repaired."
"We need to get to the colonists before anything else happens." said Tali. "They could attack us just like Nihlus."
Shepard nodded. "Pluribus, try aiming for any weapons the colonists have, and set the rifle at 40% power. That should cause their weapons to jam or break without causing more than minor frostbite. Let's move."
The path to the settlement was littered with the plant-creatures, but they were fragile, and the power of the Alliance weapons tore them to shreds. When they rounded the last corner to the colony, gunshots rang out from ahead, from three unarmored colonists firing on them from behind a low wall. Pluribus was able to disable their pistols with relative simplicity, and they were easily dispatched when they rushed to melee range. Years of hand-to-hand combat training in the Geists made for laughable fights for Tali and Shepard, and even Pluribus was able to lend figurative hand, tripping one of the colonists as he drew close.
The battle wasn't over. Emerging into the colony proper, large crowds of the demented creatures rose and charged, heedless of the danger. Interspersed among them were a dozen or so civilians, and their light weapons fire peppered the shields of the trio as they dispatched the zombies. After the last of the plant horrors were dealt with, it was a simple, if somewhat tedious, process of disabling the colonists without harming them. Pluribus would incapacitate them with his cryo rifle, either by destroying their weapons, or causing them to slip and fall on patches of suddenly icy ground. From there, Tali and Shepard took over, their twin forms going through the motions as they fought with a combination of half a dozen martial arts, from judo and jujitsu, to Turian tlek'ma and Drell shiria.
Once all the hostile colonists had been safely neutralized, Shepard approached a nearby crane. Next to it stood Fai Dan, a pistol in his hand, which hung by his side. He was mumbling to himself, but looked up as he saw the Commander draw near.
"I tried… to fight it… but it wants… me to stop you… But I won't… I WON'T!" he roared, raising the pistol, not towards Shepard, but to his own head.
"STOP!" yelled Shepard, unwilling to allow the Thorian to claim more lives than it already had. Again, he was amazed when Fai Dan did exactly that, dropping his pistol from suddenly numb fingers.
"What… what happened?" he mumbled. "I was… I…"
"Look, we don't have time to explain. Where's the Thorian?" asked Shepard.
"Beneath the colony. I can move one of the prefab units to let you in." replied the colonist leader. He moved over to the crane controls and did exactly that, lifting one of the structures out of the way and revealing a set of stairs leading down into the darkness.
They progressed downwards through the eerie and oppressive silence of the ruins until they reached a large, open cavern. In the center of the space, there was a creature, obviously the Thorian. It was a mottled brown-green color, and it was suspended above a large, seemingly bottomless chasm by a series of root-like structures protruding into the walls. The sight of the monstrosity brought them up short.
"Well fuck me sideways." muttered Shepard, taken aback by the enormity of the thing.
"Maybe later." said Tali, a hint of amusement in her voice as she giggled lightly. "For now, we have work to do."
There was only one way that Shepard could think of to respond to that, and he did so, slapping Tali lightly on the back of the head. That only caused her to giggle harder, and she blushed slightly.
Suddenly, the Thorian convulsed, and an… opening… near the bottom of the thing gaped, spewing forth what looked like a green skinned Asari. As she stood, Shepard noticed that there was something familiar about her, but there was also something off, besides the color; he couldn't put his finger on exactly what made her look so unnatural, but whatever it was, the thing in front of him clearly wasn't Asari. It was… something else. Something wrong.
"Invaders." she intoned, her voice carrying a slight flange, as if there were two voices speaking at once. "Your every step is a transgression. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat, good only to dig or decom-"
She cut off suddenly as her… its'… head vanished in a shower of green fluid and gore, blown off by the power of a Union Tesla Cannon. Shepard looked over his shoulder at Tali, stunned that she had been the one to act impulsively for once.
"What?" she said, sounding mildly offended. "Are we gonna kill this overgrown cabbage or just stare at it?"
The Thorian let out an earsplitting roar, and suddenly it felt as if a boulder had been dropped on Shepard's mind. Thousands of images flashed through his head as he felt the Thorian try to bludgeon his conscious mind into submission so that it could rule his body in its' stead.
Fuck that.
"KILL IT WITH FIRE!" he screamed, priming a grenade and throwing his entire bandolier of them at one of the nearby roots holding the monstrosity aloft. Just as they impacted, the grenades detonated in a wave, shredding the root and causing it to snap. The sudden shift in weight cause the Thorian to groan ominously as the other roots struggled to support the load of its' immense body.
"Shepard Commander, if we destroy the roots, the Thorian will fall into the chasm below!" said Pluribus, his voice sounding somewhat frantic for once. Suiting his words, the synthetic focused his cryo rifle on one of the structures, freezing it solid after a few seconds. The suddenly brittle root snapped like a twig, causing the Thorian to let out a second bellow of rage and pain as it sagged further. However, as Pluribus leveled his rifle at another root, a powerful biotic wave slammed into him from the side, sending him sprawling.
Shepard swung his sniper rifle towards the source of the blast, only to be momentarily dumbfounded by the sight of the same green skinned Asari Tali had just killed. His shock lasted only a moment, though, and he quickly pulled the trigger. The slug from his rifle suddenly appearing inside her head caused it to explode with the force of a small bomb, shredding the not-quite-flesh at the base of her neck.
Even as she fell, dozens of the plant zombies from before appeared from every direction, closing on the small group, seeking to defend the horror that had birthed them. Tali's Cannon barked again and again, tearing into them and shredding them in numbers too great to count. Shepard fired his rifle from the hip, not even needing to aim at the dense crowd of assailants that closed upon him. The high caliber slugs tore fist sized holes in the things, punching their way through three of four before finally stopping. He emptied the remainder of the ten round magazine in less than six seconds before dropping the now empty weapon to the ground with a clatter. He quickly drew his pistol and leveled it, his two handed grip keeping it steady as he quickly lined up shots to take the shambling monstrosities down. He felt his back press up against something as he drew back from the hoard, and a furtive glance showed him it was Tali. She had dropped her Tesla Cannon; the powerful weapon long since having overheated, and was plinking away at the mass of plant-flesh with a steady rhythm, dropping one shambler after another with her pistol. Back to back, the two Spectres spun slowly in circles, eliminating whatever threat presented itself first, keeping the things at bay with only their side-arms. Just as he ran out of shots in his second to last thermal clip, one of the things reached him, swinging its' clawed hands towards his face, attempting to rip if off. His omnitool flared, and a blade suddenly sprang to life from it, severing the thing's arm at the elbow before decapitating it in one smooth motion.
While Shepard and Tali were busy fighting a full blown zombie apocalypse, Pluribus was using the distraction to deal with the true problem at hand. Having picked himself up from the ground after being slammed down by the unnatural Asari, he focused on destroying the Thorian's roots with his cryonic weapon. He had shattered two more, and was moving to the last, when a biotic singularity shot towards him from the far side of the room. He dodged with in-organic speed, the powerful actuators in his feet digging into the solid stone surface he stood upon, preventing him from being sucked towards the miniature black hole. His freezing weapon made quick work of the third clone, and he once again focused on the final support for the Thorian. When it gave way, the strain on the plant's lesser roots became too much, and they snapped as it plummeted downwards to its' doom, giving out one final scream as it fell.
The remaining zombies collapsed on the spot, their lifeless forms decomposing in a few short seconds. Panting and sweating as though he had run a marathon, Shepard turned to face his fellow Spectre, who turned at nearly the same time. Acting purely on impulse and instinct, he reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her close and twining his arms around her suited body as he brought their lips together, kissing her passionately. She struggled for a moment, surprised by his action, before returning the favor, reaching a three-fingered hand up to grab the back of his armored neck, pinning them together. The embrace seemed to last an eternity, but eventually, it ended, the couple pulling slowly back, saddened slightly by the loss of contact.
Their attention was drawn away from each other by a squelching sound emanating from the side of the room. A pod, a remnant of the now dead Thorian, burst open and disgorged an Asari commando. Shepard started a bit when he saw her face, which was identical to the creatures the Thorian had produced, minus the unnatural green hue. She stood slowly, and a look of relief and joy was painted on her face as she came to.
"I'm free…? I'M FREE!" she yelled, hugging herself in disbelief as a pair of tears leaked from her eyes.
A name suddenly came to mind, one he hadn't heard, or even thought about, in years. "Shiala?" he asked, only now realizing the Asari in front of him was one of Benezia's bodyguards. They had met once, very briefly, when he was younger, at a formal party his mother had hosted for various diplomats among the Council races.
"Who…? Johnny?" she asked, staring at him in shock. "Is that you?" She moved to embrace him, grateful for her rescue, but he was having none of it. His raised pistol stopped her in her tracks, and she raised her hands, suddenly wary.
"One, it's John. Two, stay right there until we can confirm you aren't still being controlled. Three, what the fuck are you doing here?"
She recoiled slightly, but remained composed. After all, she had dealt with a Shepard before. "John… Thank you for freeing me. I suppose answering your questions is the least I can do. When Benezia allied herself with Saren, I did as well. Benezia foresaw the destructive influence Saren would have, and joined with him in an attempt to guide him down a gentler path. But… Saren is… compelling: Benezia lost her way. As did I." she finished sadly, hanging her head.
"I suppose you could call mind control compelling." said Shepard, his voice laced with mild sarcasm.
Shiala started at that, but then slowly nodded her head. "That would explain why Benezia… changed. The magnitude of his power was unexpected, as was his penchant for manipulation. But I don't believe it was Saren who was responsible for what happened; not entirely, anyway."
"What? Is there someone else helping him?"
She shook her head. "Saren has a vessel: an enormous warship unlike anything I've ever seen, even among Humans. He calls it Sovereign, because it can dominate the minds of his followers."
"That ship… I saw it on Eden Prime. But I know for a fact that most Asari commandos are trained to resist MC, just like Geists and N7 marines. How could it control you?" he asked.
"The process of indoctrination isn't like typical mind control. It's… subtle. It can take days, weeks, even months, but in the end, no amount of training or technology can stop it, and it's absolute. Anti-MC gear and training helps, but even then, it only delays the process."
"Shit." said Shepard, holstering his pistol and slamming his fist into his palm. "I guess that would explain why Benezia turned. But why are you here?"
"I came here as a willing slave to Saren. He needed someone to communicate with the Thorian, to learn its' secrets. I was… traded, like a cut of meat, to secure an alliance between the Thorian and Saren." she said with a grimace.
Shepard let out a small, humorless laugh. "Let me guess: Saren got what he needed, then sent the Geth in to take out the Thorian and cover his tracks, right?"
"Yes. He knows you're following him. He sought to prevent you from gaining the Cypher."
"The what?"
She explained, pacing back and forth slightly as she talked, wringing her hands in frustration. "The beacon on Eden Prime gave Saren the same vision it gave you. It was… convoluted, disjointed. He couldn't understand it, because it was meant for a Prothean mind. The Thorian is old, hundreds of thousands of years at least. It was alive during the time of the Protheans, and it gained an… imprint of them. The Cypher is the essence of being Prothean. It allows those who have it to think like a Prothean, and to understand the visions the beacon gives."
"And the Thorian gave it to him." finished Shepard. "How does that involve you?"
"I was the liaison for the transfer. I joined minds with the Thorian to receive the Cypher, then with Saren to pass it to him. After I'd served my purpose, he left me to the Thorian to do with as it pleased. I would still be a slave to it if you hadn't freed me."
"We need that Cypher. Whatever it allowed Saren to figure out about that vision could lead us to him." said Shepard.
"I could transfer the Cypher to you as I did Saren." she offered.
"I've had enough people in my mind for one day." he said, shaking his head. Then a though occurred to him. "But I know someone who'd jump at the chance to think like a Prothean."
"Liara might enjoy that, John, but I don't see how that can help us. She didn't see the vis…" Tali trailed off as she realized what had happened. "You didn't?" she asked in a gasp.
"I'm sorry Tali, but I did. We need to find Saren before he causes more harm than he already has, and Liara had the best chance of understanding the vision."
"But you said… I can't believe this! You let her meld with you?!" she nearly shrieked.
"Damnit Tali, I didn't want to!" he yelled. "This mission is too important to let a potential lead go cold because of personal feelings! Do you think I enjoyed doing this to you?!"
She deflated as he spoke, and looked away from him, unable to meet his eyes. "No. And I know it's important… but that doesn't make it any easier." Her eyes suddenly locked with his, and a look of fierce determination burned deep within them. "From now on, though, you're mine, got that?"
"Yes ma'am." he said, snapping to attention and giving her a quick salute. That caused her to laugh lightly, and she returned the mock salute with one of her own.
"Shepard Commander, we suggest finding an expeditious resolution to personal problems." said Pluribus, snapping the couple back to reality.
"Ahem… yes, right." said Shepard, his cheeks flushing lightly. Tali blushed slightly as well. "Normandy, this is Shepard, come in." he said, putting a hand to his communicator.
"We hear ya, loud and clear, Commander." said Joker, his voice coming in over the com link.
"How's Nihlus?"
"Well, Doc Chakwas says he'll make it, but he's gonna need some major surgery. Whatever hit him did a real number on his gastrointestinal tract, and nicked his spine. All the damage can be repaired: no paralysis at least, but he'll be out of commission for a couple weeks."
"Damn. Well, I guess we may as well drop him off at the Citadel for recovery. He deserves a break. Is Liara alright?"
Joker laughed a little as he answered. "Physically, yeah, she's fine, but whatever Pluribus did to her is making her kinda loopy. It's like someone tied her tongue in a knot, 'cause whenever she talks, it's all gibberish."
That confused Shepard slightly. "Ask her to chrono to my position. I have something for her."
Liara arrived a minute later, none the worse for wear, at least on the surface. "Shplebard. I'm gladth to sheel you're welth. How than I helthp?"
The sheer ridiculousness of her speech finally got to him, and he couldn't stop the laugh that followed. She wasn't too happy about that, and a look of indignation came to her face.
"Whath's thso funthy? Shtop luaghlgling."
Her ineffectual protests only made him laugh harder. "I'm sorry… ahaha… but you're just… ahahaha… you just sound… hehehe… so ridiculous. Pluribus, you have got to teach me that… hehe… neck pinch thing." he managed to wheeze out between bouts of laughter.
"I could demonstrate the technique again, if you wish, Shepard Commander." said Pluribus, taking a half-step towards Liara. "With practice, I believe you could learn to replicate it in as few as seventeen attempts."
"You shtay awash from me, you methalish basthard." said Liara, her fist glowing with biotic power as she took half a step back. She looked genuinely frightened, though it may just have been mortification.
"We were attempting to lighten the mood with a witty remark, T'Soni Doctor. We were not serious." said Pluribus, his head flaps flexing repeatedly.
"Oh… Waith! You were jothkink?" she asked, sounding startled.
"Yes."
That, Tali got a kick out of. She soon joined Shepard in a fit of laughter. "I can't… ehehe… I can't believe it. Fooled… haha… fooled by a Geth."
Liara somehow managed to look even more indignant, but Shepard tried to calm her by explaining. "Sorry, Liara, but that just caught me off guard. Heh… Look, the reason I called you here was because of Shiala." he said, pointing at the Asari commando.
Liara, whirled, and a look of recognition came to her face. "Shialtha? Whath are youth doingk here?"
Shiala giggled slightly, but explained. "I was here as a pawn of Saren. He used me to obtain a Cypher which allows a person to understand Prothean visions. Commander Shepard believes you'd be willing to meld with me to acquire it. It would let you think like a Prothean, and understand their history and culture. Are you interested?"
"Gosthdess, yesth!" she trilled, giddy with excitement. "Shlow me, shlow me, shlow me!"
Shiala laughed again. "Calm down, Liara." She approached the younger Asari and placed her hands on her head. Her eyes closed briefly, and when they reopened, they had been replaced with endless seas of black. "Embrace eternity!"
The meld lasted for nearly a full minute, and when it was finished, Liara reeled back, looking stunned. "Gosthdess… thath wasth… increthdiple."
Shepard had mostly recovered from his mirth, and approached the pair of Asari. "Let's get back to the Normandy. Shiala, we need you to help report this to the Council." The reality of the situation came crashing down on him. "There's gonna be hell to pay when they find out." he said grimly.
"There's going to be hell to pay when I get my hands on whoever orchestrated this clusterfuck." said Hannah in a cold fury. She was ordinarily more controlled than her son, but unregulated experiments with MC, especially on unwitting civvies, got her more than a little riled.
"We have bigger problems than ExoGeni at the moment." said Shepard. "If Saren has a ship that can control the minds of people trained to resist MC, and even penetrate anti-MC gear, we could have another Yuri on our hands."
"This is even worse than Yuri. After all, he was only one man, and he had limits. This… Sovereign, though…" she trailed off, almost afraid to finish,
"You can't seriously believe this ridiculousness, Shepard." said Sparatus. "The entire concept is absurd."
"Sparatus, you can't possibly be this much of a fool." said Tevos. "I admit, it sounds impossible, but the evidence is staring you in the face, and your pride is blinding you to it."
"I concur." said Valern. "This development is disturbing. If an individual as powerful as Matriarch Benezia can be forcibly turned, then no one is safe."
"Even more disturbing is the fact that there could be hundreds of Reapers out there." said Raan. "If one can be this powerful…"
"You really believe this drivel about Reapers, don't you?" asked Sparatus. "Even if Sovereign can control minds, there is still no evidence that it's a Reaper, or even that they exist at all."
"Sparatus, with all due respect, stop being an ass." said Hannah, her voice filled with frustration. "Quite frankly, I don't care what you believe. My recommendation to the Alliance High Command is going to be for full scale militarization. If the Reapers are coming, and I believe they are, we need to be ready. I would advise you to do the same."
"And what good would it do?" he sneered. "The power of the Hierarchy is a pittance compared to the Alliance. We can't build more capital ships, even if we wanted to."
"Fine. In that case, why don't we alter the Treaty of Farixen to allow the Hierarch as many ships as the Alliance?" said Hannah flatly.
Sparatus' jaw dropped, and he looked at her stunned. "You can't be serious."
"You better believe I'm serious. In fact, we may as well amend the treaty to allow for equal and unlimited ship production for all Council species."
Tevos was equally astounded by her Human colleague. "But that would break the Alliance's stranglehold on the Council! You could be impeached, even imprisoned! Why would you do such a thing?!"
"Because there's more at stake here than Humanity!" Hannah yelled, her voice filled with iron. "Given the choice, I'd rather surrender our dominance than face destruction because the rest of the galaxy is hobbled! And I'd rather lose my job and my freedom than my life!"
It took the other Councilors a moment to recover from her outburst. "I… may have misjudged you, Hannah." said Sparatus, looking humbled. "In your position, I don't know if I could do the same."
"Meh. It's not so bad. We still have a significant tech edge on you." She put on a mischievous grin. "Besides, if it comes to blows, we could always put bullets in your heads instead of your beds." she said with a wink.
Sparatus started, but then laughed when he saw she wasn't entirely serious. "I'll admit, that was a rather… inspired message. I always wondered who came up with it. It was almost Turian."
"I'll take that as a compliment." said Hannah, her grin becoming a smile. Her mirth faded quickly as she faced her son. "John, I need you to report to the Citadel for a more complete debrief. Bring Shiala as well. We need a way to combat Sovereign's power, and I need to… pull some strings to get you the help you need. It makes my stomach roil, though." she finished in a whisper.
"We'll arrive in about sixteen hours. I'm having Joker push the engines a bit, but we should be fine. While we're there, we should transfer Nihlus to Huerta Memorial for some R&R. As good as the Normandy's medical suite is, theirs is better."
"We'll see you soon. And John… come directly to the Council chambers when you get here." she said ominously.
Shepard did exactly that, hopping on the rapid transit system with Tali when they arrived. Nihlus was in good spirits when he left for the hospital, if a bit put out that he'd be out of commission for so long. Liara hadn't been able to tell them much of anything else about the vision, even with the Cypher: it'd simply been too incomplete.
When they arrived at the Council chambers on the Presidium, they were surprised at what they saw. Nearly a hundred C-commandos, all synthetic, were waiting for them, arrayed in firing positions along the balconies and catwalks above their heads. Even stranger were the Geth. Nearly a dozen platforms were waiting, weapons raised, around what looked like a cryo pod near the Council podium. Shepard approached, but he couldn't make out what was inside because of the frost.
"What the hell's going on?" he asked the Council, now confused and slightly anxious. His anxiety shot through the roof when he saw that all five Councilors were wearing anti mind control headsets. He and Tali were given pairs, which they quickly donned.
"John… we decided you needed an expert on MC to help fight Sovereign, and there's only one of those in existence." said Hannah. She gestured to the guards near the pod, and they deactivated it, releasing a cloud of fog as the occupant thawed. As it opened, Shepard felt himself sway and his vision dim slightly as he saw the man, his mind almost unwilling to believe his eyes.
"Yuri."