Liara looked down at the man on the sewer walkway in horror as he writhed and laughed and screamed; he'd been giddy, if entirely unstable, when they had happened upon him, and nothing that he had said had made any sense to her. She couldn't help but wonder if the lack of water and food had made him delirious, if he was descending into madness. Yet, he is entirely different than the rest in the colony, so…I am not sure what to make of him… she wondered as the man rolled onto his stomach, spurts of laughter still erupting from him, often followed by the occasional blood-curdling scream.
She couldn't help but feel it put a damper on their successes. They'd re-activated the water supply from the prothean-built aqueducts, and because of an earlier quick-fix by one of the Normandy engineers on the filtration unit, the colony would be supplied with running water indefinitely. Kaidan had managed to salvage on old power coupling from a broken down land rover, to provide help for an ailing generator at the colony, while she and Murakami had fended off a number of large varren; also securing their hunting grounds from a larger, disease ridden varren that had been infecting the other smaller ones in the pack. Finally, they had damaged a geth transponder and demolished access to the old landing site, to prevent geth from sneaking in on the colony from a different direction. Even with all that in mind, the man on the ground had her wondering how the colony was truly being affected by these issues, what the root cause of them was, and whether they had been exiling others for some reason.
"I don't think there's much we can do for him, and we've spent a lot of time here. We should get back to the colony." Murakami urged, drawing a nod from their team leader. Liara checked the chrono on her omni-tool, noticing they had been away for nearly an hour. So much accomplished in such a small period of time…I am glad lieutenant Alenko was assigned to guard the colony instead of gunnery chief Williams or…or Wrex. I fear they would not have remained as level headed…
As they reached the elevator to take the short trip back to the outskirts of the colony, Liara noticed Kaidan tense up, bringing his hand to his ear.
"How many geth?" she heard Kaidan ask hastily, slowly nodding seconds later. "Alright, thanks for the heads up Joker. We're a few seconds out."
"I'll guess that we've got a welcome party back at the colony?" Murakami asked, prepping his assault rifle with disruptor rounds.
"A small geth dropship headed our way. Nothing else inbound, so just keep your eyes open, and be ready as soon as we step out of this elevator." Kaidan asserted to the marine, before turning to Liara. "And I'm going to need you to keep a barrier up to stop any assault on us until we gain cover."
"Of course." She said quickly, nodding her head in agreement. Her part on Feros had provided little greater challenge than some of her more dangerous dig site run-ins, but she was pleased knowing that she didn't have to rely solely on herself at all. Though it would have been nice to be able to venture off to one of the nearby prothean ruins…I know this world has been mined for everything, but investigating a prothean city, or what's left of one, would be a nice break from all of this.
The trio rushed out of the elevator as it came to a halt, careening around the corner and down the stairwell toward the entrance to the colony. Liara's pace slowed as the other two rushed to the prefabs. The colony was silent, eerily still. She had expected to see them outside working on the infrastructure like they had been, or at least one person keeping watch, but the entire place seemed deserted.
"Doors are locked." Kaidan said, sounding baffled, as he moved to the second prefab and got the same result.
"Think they know the geth are on their way?" Murakami asked, turning to take a wider look at the colony.
"Not likely, their comm systems have been down for over a month, by the last log I was able to pull. Whatever they're doing in there, they want to be alone. Could just be a community meeting." Alenko said, though even he didn't seem convinced by his own words. Liara certainly wasn't.
Kaidan tapped away at his omni, then brought his hand to his ear. "Shepard?...Yes…we're good, Commander, but we've got geth incoming and the colonists are all hiding in their prefabs." Kaidan stated calmly. "No, they locked us out…we're going to try and get in later, but just wanted to let you know what's going on. …Yes, we can hold the colony, it's just a small dropship….We'll keep an eye out for them, thanks for the heads up. Good luck, Commander."
"Well? What'd she say?" she heard Murakami ask as her eyes were drawn to the horizon, where a number of geth ships were ascending out of the atmosphere.
Suddenly, a geth plasma round blasted by Murakami, prompting them to dive into cover behind a storage crate. The marine peeked his head up momentarily and ducked to avoid more incoming fire as the quiet mechanical march of geth became audible against the dry, rocky ground.
"Got a prime and eight normals. Moving into cover near the crane…bastards are milling away at the two prefabs." The soldier muttered over the constant patter of fire on their cover. "What's the plan, LT?"
"We need a better angle than this. You and Liara stay here. I'll…" Kaidan began, before a large explosion against one of the prefabs silenced his speech momentarily. "I'll sneak around the two prefabs and we can hit them from both sides. Target the prime, it's likely got the rockets."
Kaidan quickly spun out of cover and darted out of sight behind one of the buildings, seemingly studier than she would have thought. She gave a nod to the human beside her and tossed up a barrier in front of him, letting him issue a torrent of firepower toward the geth, picking apart their cover and two of their soldiers as the geth continued to focus their fire on the buildings. She couldn't help but find it curious as another rocket impacted on the same prefab, causing the groaning of steel to fill the air. The building wouldn't last much longer, she knew, and had to wonder what the method to the madness was. Surely they could try to fend us off first, then go back to attacking the colonists.
She felt Murakami take her hand as his other grabbed a string of grenades; she only saw his smile for a moment before he pulled her across the colony, dodging the odd attacks from the geth, some hitting Liara's hastily raised barrier, until they nestled in directly beside the geth, behind a large, damaged hover pallet. Liara could see Kaidan from their vantage point, invoking a lift underneath a duo of geth, sending them flailing aimlessly into the air, letting him pepper them with his pistol rounds freely as the rest of the geth continued to focus on the quickly deteriorating prefab.
Liara tossed a singularity into three more of the geth, Murakami sparing no time in following her attack up and tearing into the helpless geth. The huge red geth prime fired another blast into the building, cracking it open slightly, as Kaidan finished off the last regular geth soldier, leaving the prime isolated.
Just as her soldier partner's weapon gave the signal it had cooled off, she saw the prime move toward the building in quick strides. She barely had time to ready a warp before a massive eruption tore through the area, tossing the three onto the ground from the sheer force of it. Liara dragged herself up to her feet using the cover and saw the targeted prefab torn open violently, and a large black mark on the ground where the prime once was. It self-destructed?
"Shit!" she heard the soldier yell, as he leapt out of cover and bolted toward the prefab. "I'm going to check on the colonists!"
Liara looked over to Kaidan, who looked dazed as he got to his feet. He'd been much closer to the blast and made no effort responding to Murakami as the soldier ran past him and sidled up against one of the intact portions of the building's wall. Liara wasn't sure of what to do; she had no military training or ideas about the protocols the marines followed so she simply made her way over to the lieutenant, and gave him a look over.
"Lieutenant, are you alright?" Liara asked, noticing a number of small, bleeding wounds on the man. She was relieved that his eyes quickly focused on her, letting her know he wasn't concussed, at least badly.
"Fine, Liara. Where's Murakami?" Kaidan asked, holding his head.
"He went to see about the colonists." Liara said, happy that the geth threat was over with. The colonists will surely be given time to recover after this. I hope no one got hurt in the explosion…
"No…" The word slipped out of Kaidan's lips just as the sound of Murakami's assault rifle echoed out of the damaged building, a sharp, otherworldly wail quickly following it. She felt her legs move before her mind was able to catch up, running alongside Alenko toward the prefab, the missing marine's scream only spurring them forward. As she neared the opening Murakami has disappeared into, a cry caught in her throat.
Shepard knew she was driving too fast, by the panicked screams of the young exogeni researcher. More than that, she hadn't eased up on the throttle, blowing through the smaller armatures and geth rocket troops, and knew she was being more reckless than normal, though the rest of her crew didn't seem fazed. They know I need to get back fast…they know I wouldn't be driving like this if I couldn't handle it…at least…I hope they know that…
The Mako powerslid into the gateway to the other ruined colony and darted up the ramp, skidding to a halt beside the makeshift entrance. She hoped they would be able to get in and out, and back to Zhu's Hope as soon as possible. A nagging thought in the back of her mind told her to just leave and return later, but she needed more intel, if it was available. She didn't want to step into another Eden Prime or Edolus.
Shepard popped out of her favourite vehicle right after Lisbeth, and quickly took point, holding the scientist back slightly in case of any trouble. She could hear shouting from down the hall and felt her heart sink at the thought that this could be a longer delay than she'd hoped.
"You can't do this, Jeong!" she heard yelled out from the small meeting area; a number of terminals set up on shoddy, broken furniture and everyone else standing around them looking tense.
"Everyone shut up, let me think!" Jeong's panicked voice rang through the ruined settlement. It was obvious tensions were running high, and there might need to be some diplomacy. But diplomacy's slow…Christ, I need to get back to my team, make sure the rest are safe. I don't have time for this…
Shepard heard Lisbeth ask her something, but she was too focused on the scene unraveling in front of her, the researcher's mother coming into view, flanked by two Exogeni guards who were keeping a close eye on her.
"You won't get away with this." Lisbeth's mother practically growled, stalking the Exogeni rep. Jeong just waved his hand dismissively as he continued to pace wildly.
"Get her out of here!" he yelled, causing the two guards to apprehend the older woman; the chain reaction continuing as Lisbeth blew out from behind her, charging with her pistol toward the Exogeni holding her mother. Fuck…where's your head at Shep? You should have seen that coming!
The older Baynham woman broke free of her captors and rushed to her daughter, obviously thankful she was alive. Shepard couldn't help but feel happy for the two of them that they were able to reunite them, but knew it likely wouldn't aid the overarching situation at the moment. She stood up and walked out of cover, able to see more clearly just how flustered Jeong was getting.
"Damn it! Shepard, I knew it was too much to hope the geth would kill you!" the man raged, halting his pacing momentarily as he gave a wild-eyed look at her. "I found some interesting facts about you in Exogeni's databases. Read all about Torfan, about your illustrious deeds back on Earth…we don't need your psychopathic, murderous tendencies here!"
Shepard felt her eye twitch at the mention of her childhood. Exogeni has data on that? What the shit?! She fumed, marching up to Jeong, leaving a few feet between them. "I don't know what you have planned, but I have a team topside at Zhu's Hope that needs me, so we're going to settle this quickly. Up to you if my 'tendencies' are needed." She spoke, voicing each word as calmly as she could.
"Comms are back up, and Exogeni wants this place purged of all evidence." Jeong said, his voice low, his eyes darting away. He's not convinced it's the best idea. Play on that.
Lisbeth stepped forward before Shepard's mouth even opened. "We're a human colony, Jeong, you can't re-purpose us." The girl argued, though Shepard felt she was missing the depth of what was likely planned.
"It's not just you, there's something here more valuable than a few colonists!" the Exogeni rep blurted out in exasperation.
"The Thorian's not worth it, Jeong, even if it's a bit…unique. No way you avoid sanctions after what you've done here. After what it's done here." Shepard responded quickly, but calmly. She wasn't sure how far her Spectre authority could stretch, but she knew she wouldn't let Exogeni put any more lives at risk.
Lisbeth's mother was the next to wander forward, confused. "The Thorian?"
Her daughter's body language had shrunk at the mention of it, and she felt that if the girl had a pocket in space-time she could hop into and disappear, she would. "It's a telepathic life-form living under Zhu's Hope." Lisbeth explained, her voice quiet, meek; a drastic change from mere moments before. "It's taking control of the colonists there. Exogeni knew all along."
"Can't just sweep this under the rug, Jeong." Shepard said flatly, earning a skeptical look from the man.
"So people keep telling me, but no one's going to miss a few colonists." He said, a rare cockiness audible in his speech.
Shepard let her biotics flare across her body for a moment, hoping to intimidate the man, to great success. "As a Spectre whose duty is to the galaxy, I'll help colonists over a company mining for new bio-weapons tech that could kill thousands before you see results. Yeah, no… you let these people go, you write them nice fat bonus cheques, and then I take whatever evidence I find, after tearing that Thorian piece of shit from the ground, and I either burn it or bring it to the council."
The man paused for a few agonizing seconds, his indecision visible across his face. "Exogeni will send more assayers, they'll know what happened if I lie. I can't let any colonists be here when they come."
"You can't just kill them! Just…maybe killing the Thorian will be enough to stop their infection, and to save them?" Lisbeth openly wondered, drawing a shrug from Jeong.
"Worth a shot, but if it has control of the colonists, it's going to try and protect itself. Don't know if I can avoid them." Shepard said, feeling a pit in her stomach over what she might have to do to fix the madness they'd stepped into.
"And if that doesn't work?" Jeong asked, practically pleading for another solution.
"Tell them the geth killed the Thorian. Or say I did. I don't care, but I will have someone keeping tabs on these people, and if word gets out that anyone's mistreated, I'll make sure you and everyone responsible for this horror show hurt for this. You know my reputation." Shepard growled, turning away from him. "Now, if you excuse me, I have some lives to save."
She marched quickly up the hall back to the waiting Mako and quickly accelerated out of the tunnels and back out onto the skyway. Shepard cursed herself for taking as long as she did; despite the altercation taking just over five minutes in total, it was five minutes that the colonists might not have, that her team might not have. She'd seen the geth dropship fly away on their way to the ruined settlement, and figured more had landed during her short detour.
"Shepard?!" She heard over her comms, the voice broken up by a spatter of gunfire and a bevy of sounds humans shouldn't be able to make. "We're pinned in a wrecked prefab in the colony! We need assistance!" Alenko yelled out, before a loud grunt sounded over her comms.
"We're about three minutes out, we'll be there soon. What's your status, Lieutenant? How many geth are we looking at?" she asked, trying to keep her voice calm. She could hear someone yelling out wordlessly near Kaidan, and even stranger noises further away.
"No geth, ma'am! Murakami's got acid damage and T'Soni's doing her best to keep them out but there's too many of them!" Alenko yelled out, his words not making immediate sense. She felt a chill run down her spine from all the possibilities, and couldn't restrain her anger over how everything had spiraled out of control so fast.
"What the fuck is going on there, Alenko?!" She yelled out over comms, Ashley looking nervously at her from the passenger seat.
"Geth blew a hole in one of the prefabs! Murakami went to check it out and got ambushed by the colonists…at least I think they're the colonists!" Kaidan yelled out, pistol fire erupting over her feed. "Got a few dozen here trying to claw at us, shoot acid at us! We'll need-" A loud crackle of static exploded over her comms, forcing her to mute her connection from the volume. Shit… acid? What the fuck were the colonists storing in those things?
She ground the Mako to a halt as it neared the colony's garage doors, and motioned for everyone to evacuate the vehicle, the door needing manual entry. As she and the rest approached the smaller personnel entrance, a tall, pallid figure stumbled out of it, and lumbered toward them. For a split second she thought she recognized the figure as one of the colonists that had been repairing their main prefab, but this person was naked, had a sickly green tint to their skin, its veins dark across its body. Her eyes only needed to wander down to its sharp, bony stems where fingers were supposed to be to know it was a danger. Instantaneously, her hand shot back, grabbed her pistol, and leveled it toward the shambling figure, emptying three rounds into its skull, exploding the thing into a mixture of greenish goop and skeleton.
Shepard stepped closer, shaking her head at the thing, keeping an eye out for the door it came from. What the fuck are you? Are you a colonist? Or…what the fuck happened to you? Christ!
"What do we do from here, Shepard?" she heard Williams ask from behind her. She knew she'd have to give an order, and in most situations, she felt she would take the easy route. The best chance of survival, the best chance of getting her team safe. She knew what they expected her to say. She expected it from herself, but the words wouldn't come. She shook her head in misery of what she felt was the right thing to do, and hoped it wouldn't end up killing those she swore to protect.
"Melee and light biotics only, unless your life is threatened. They're armed with acid, and they're going to want to get in close range. Incapacitate them any way you can. Keep casualties to a minimum." She spoke, the weight of her words feeling heavy on her shoulders. "Let's get it done."
Ashley felt a pained scream erupt from her throat as one of the colonists' hands cut through the softer material in between her armor's neck and shoulder's plates. Her finger hovered quickly toward the trigger, but instead awkwardly grabbed hold of the base of her rifle as she swung it viciously at the offending colonist, her leg kicking out at another pushing toward her.
It had been madness when they had arrived; there were at least five dozen of the colonists concentrated near one of the burned down prefabs, and only after a number of moments did she realize there were two different types. The colonists, the 'real' ones as she thought of them, were pretty much human, though still quite greenish and sick-looking, and much stronger than the others. Those were like the one she'd seen Shepard dispatch outside of the garage, but while they were more fragile, they had longer, sharper claws, and they spit out acid. Neither was fun to deal with, especially since they both looked almost identical if you didn't have time for the minor details. Lucky I'm wearing some pretty heavy armor, or one of those things could have melted me pretty easily.
Her muscles were tiring from all the close quarters fighting; she hadn't had such a physical workout since boot camp, and wondered how close they were to finishing. It seemed when they began to whittle their numbers away, more would appear out of nowhere, usually the more dangerous ones, and they'd be back against the wall again.
A blue burst to her right caught her attention, Shepard bowling into a half dozen of the colonists, five of them exploding into goop while the other tumbled backward, out cold. Ashley swung the butt of her rifle out, catching one of their attackers in the jaw, exploding its head; through the grime, she saw Shepard turn and caught a look of remorse across the woman's face as she flung a high kick out at an oncoming colonist, exploding its head as a small stream of acid shot out against her shoulder. Ashley watched her simply move onto the next group, mauling her way through a small pack surrounding Tali, who'd been reaching for her shotgun. The woman's hands came out like a fury, blowing through some of them like butter, catching hard against the jaw of a real colonist as she followed it to the ground. She couldn't help but lazily watch as the woman's body mercilessly beat the civilian into unconsciousness, a stray tear streaking down Shepard's face as she got back to her feet.
The fighting didn't last very long. Ashley wasn't sure how many minutes had passed since they had arrived, forgotten in the presence of so many incapacitated colonists and so much green slime. What the hell happened here?
She saw Kaidan and Liara out of the corner of her eye, bringing what looked like Murakami toward a nearby hover pallet. As she moved closer, the injuries he'd sustained became clearer. His whole set of armor looked eaten away by the acid, his left leg mangled by the acid, massive lacerations, and what might have been bite marks. Even packed full of medi-gel, he was still bleeding badly. God…
"Garrus, Tali…I need you to bring Murakami back to the Normandy. Chakwas will be waiting with her assistants." Shepard ordered, turning to face the rest of them.
"Shepard, I'm not harmed, let me help!" Tali pleaded, bringing the commander's focus back to the quarian.
"Tali, it was enough of a risk having you in this fight with enemies spouting acid. I can't put you at risk anymore, not knowing what we do now. We'll be fine, I promise." Shepard explained softly, turning fully to Tali and moving slowly up to her. She could still see telltale signs of worry on the woman's face, reluctance in bringing her hand to rest on the engineer's shoulder, whose posture loosened at the touch. Shepard's lips moved for a moment, the words inaudible at Ashley's distance from them, but Tali's slow nod and the commander's small, relieved smile were enough confirmation to understand what was said.
Tali moved to catch up with Garrus as Shepard turned back toward the rest of them, her demeanor completely different, back to the steely seriousness she witnessed over at the Exogeni facility. Whatever the Thorian had in store for them, she was sure it wouldn't be enough. Four biotics, one who regenerates, and we're all pretty healthy. Kaidan's got some acid damage to his armor, but nothing serious, and I've only got a few minor wounds that medi-gel's taking care of. Liara and Shepard are a booster away from being a hundred percent, and Wrex…is always seemingly fine. And…
"We leave in ten. Kaidan, can you lift up the prefabs with the crane? There's got to be some entrance if the Thorian lives down there." Shepard said coolly. "I want shredder rounds in every gun. Any questions?"
Ashley saw Liara edge toward Shepard and stop, her oddly-marked brow furrowed as she seemed to struggle with words. Shepard, for her part, didn't even seem to notice the asari as she swapped out her ammo upgrades. By the time she pulled out one of her boosters, Liara had slunk away. Ashley hoped the asari would hold up under pressure, and wouldn't be a weak link.
She knew that they couldn't afford any mistakes, couldn't afford to lose any anyone.
The thorian was something out of a nightmare, looking more like a festering tumour or a grayish, mucous covered heart with octopus tendrils than a plant. And while the thorian was a magnificently disgusting mess, their situation had quickly escalated into a terrible mess in its own right . Shepard had expected some sort of pushback from the plant, but didn't expect so many thralls to be guarding it. There were likely over a hundred, though not all were active at once, something she eyeballed at around twenty. Must only have so much power over these things…makes it a lot easier to deal with though. Makes sense now that the things came in waves from the prefabs during that fight, and why so many were flat-out like statues until we got close enough. She thought, as her shotgun tore through another, her eyes quickly refocusing on the thick tendril supporting the massive, oozing, disgusting plant monster. Christ, Liara would probably love to study it and all the different types of thralls it's got here. Lots that I don't recognize…must be old as hell.
A familiar biotic blast narrowly blew past her, signaling her to yet another advance from the asari thrall. Well, more like one of the colonists…this one's a bit more unique, a bit tougher…and goddamn comes back to life again and again. Fucking tired of this!
She spun around and fired two shots at the green asari, who had flitted out of the gun's range already, launching a biotic blast with her feet. Shepard ducked and quickly holstered her shotgun, soon finding the asari on her, throwing her limbs with precision, aided by biotic energy; she was doing her best to hold her own against the powerful attacks, but she couldn't help but feel a bit tired after a previous seven rounds with the replica.
After a number of difficult evasive maneuvers and painful blocks, she saw the asari lead into a kick like she had nearly ten minutes prior, using similar motions and similar patterns of attacks. She narrowly blocked a warp, letting her barriers take some of the heat, and intercepted the asari's leg as it spun toward her. With both her hands gripping the leg, she quickly used her right foot to flick out a lift beneath the asari, letting her violently spin her opponent through the air, propelling her toward the Thorian.
She could feel the sweat dripping down her brow, the nausea building in her throat, and wanted it all over with. She was tired of killing colonists, prisoners, and slaves. She wanted the monster to hurt, but as she'd killed more and more of the thralls, she couldn't help but feel like her reputation had caught up to her. It needs to end now… she thought, grabbing two sticky grenades and tossing them over Wrex's head and at the last remaining tendril.
Five…
Shepard's eyes darted around her, noticing a pack of thralls pressuring Liara toward a wall; Ashley and Kaidan too busy dealing with their own masses of thralls, Wrex too busy slaughtering to likely notice. She burst toward her asari crewmate, pulling her shotgun from her backpack holster.
Four…
Her weapon fired at will, its shells erupting through the thrall's bodies as a few spewed acid toward Liara. She saw some pass through the asari's fading barriers, impacting on her armor, and tensed her leg muscles accordingly, readying her shotgun for close range impact.
Three…
Her body burst through a group of the creatures, the body of the shotgun decapitating a duo near her friend as it flung out of her hands, which hand plans enough of their own. Liara seemed to recover, a singularity forming in her palm. It merely meant a swifter end than could have been done alone.
Two…
Shepard's head rocketed forward in a headbutt, exploding an approaching creature's goopy skull as she focused her biotics into her hands and positioned herself in front of Liara. The pack of thralls was growing slightly, but it wouldn't for long, she was certain.
One…
Her arms flung out just as the singularity formed within the pack of thralls, channeling warp energy just at the edge of her fingertips, flicking both toward the floating biotic sphere at the last second, sending each hand's focus precisely between creatures to their target.
Zero!
Two explosions rocked the area as a horrific screeching echoed through the cavernous home of the thorian. She knew the last tendril had exploded, and the fading screams of the plant beast were enough to confirm they had dispatched the gruesome monster. The biotic explosion of blue energy and green goop directly in front of her let her know the threat was over. Her team was safe. The colonists would potentially be saved. I can rest now, if there's any justice in this galaxy…
"Shepard, are you hurt?" she heard from behind her, a quick look over her shoulder reminded her of the doctor, and what she'd just been doing. She looked herself over for a moment and moved around a little to test her body. Huh…fancy that…
"I'm…I'm fine." She answered, the words suddenly feeling hollow as memories of the colonists she'd brutally knocked out earlier filled her mind. "Let's make sure that thing's dead."
The walk back down to the pit took longer than expected. Shepard wasn't sure why it had grown suspended over a massive, seemingly-bottomless pit, but she wasn't about to complain. She peered over the edge and couldn't hear anything or see anything. Shrugging her shoulders, she turned around to look for the exit, only to find Liara prodding at a large sac on the wall. Shepard was about to yell out a warning when the sac burst open, an armored asari tumbling out of it and onto the sticky, grimy ground. What the shit? Who's this and how did she get here?
She quickly made her way over to Liara and the newfound asari, the rest of the crew following aside from Wrex, who made his way to the exit.
"I'm free." The asari said breathlessly between coughs, struggling to her feet. Shepard looked on as Liara studied the newcomer intently. "I'm…free! Oh goddess!" the mystery asari cheered, holding her head in disbelief.
"Shiala? Is that…is that you?" Liara asked uncertainly, her voice timid. The asari's head quickly flung toward the prothean researcher, her vision seemingly coming into focus.
"Little wing? Mistress Liara?" the asari asked, her already hoarse voice choking up with emotion. She quickly ducked into a type of formal bow Shepard recognized from her dabbles in asari etiquette. "I…thank you for releasing me! I thought I would never be graced with your presence again…please, forgive me!"
Shepard slowly moved toward the duo as Liara brought a gentle hand to the asari's cheek. She wasn't sure who the other asari was, and despite their familiarity, wasn't willing to put Liara in danger.
"Are you alright, Shiala? Are you hurt?" Liara asked softly, tears brimming her eyes. Shiala shook her head slightly as she moved away from the touch.
"I am fine. Or…I will be, in time." Shiala answered, shame visible across her face.
Shepard moved alongside Liara and gave Shiala an appraising look. Definitely the asari thrall I was fighting…but she's definitely a grayish blue, not green. Guess the thorian had a thing for that colour…
"Who are you?" she asked simply, wishing her tone was a little gentler. The asari clearly wasn't here of her own volition.
"I am Shiala… I serve house T'Soni…Matriarch Benezia, primarily. I was the captain of her personal guard, and followed her everywhere I was needed…eventually following her to Saren's clutches." The asari spoke, her voice familiar to Shepard. She sounds just like I did after Torfan…defeated, confused, knowing you're farther away from salvation than you could ever have thought…
"Why did mother follow Saren?" Liara blurted out, her eyes pleading for an answer that Shepard feared would only bring pain.
"Benezia foresaw the path Saren was traveling, what influence he would have on the galaxy. She…she only wished to steer him from such violence, to guide him toward a gentler path. But she lost her way…" Shiala's voice trailed at that, though Liara was having none of it, grasping at the asari's shoulders.
"How?! She…she always had a plan! She would never do any of this! She would never cause such pain throughout the galaxy!" Liara yelled out in frustration, earning only a sorrowful look from her mother's guard.
"Saren is compelling…he has a monstrous, unimaginable vessel, larger than any warship I have seen in my years. He calls it Sovereign…and he uses it to dominate the minds of his followers." Shiala explained, her voice taking on a bit of steel, despite her demeanor. Liara was about to interject, but Shiala brought up a hand, silencing her momentarily. "It makes little sense to me, and I am unsure how it happens, but…it is slow and subtle. As days, weeks, months pass…you start to become indoctrinated to Saren's will. I…was a willing slave when I came to this world."
"And…and mother?" Liara's dismay pained Shepard, feeling a dull pain in her chest as tears threatened to spill down the doctor's cheeks. Shiala's slow nod broke the levee.
"What did Saren want here?" Shepard interjected, hoping to spare Liara more pain by steering the discussion away from the Matriarch.
"I was brought here to communicate with the thorian and gain its secrets for Saren." Shiala continued, unable to take her eyes off Liara. "I was offered to the thorian as a thrall…my body's regeneration ability would resist the decay its other species succumbed to…leaving me to a life of servitude."
Shepard shook her head in disgust at the notion. Saren's selling loyalty he hasn't fucking earned…I want to strangle that damn turian! "He's pretty fucking quick to betray his own people." She growled, needing to vent her frustration.
"Betrayed the thorian too, and his clients who revealed the creature to him. Once he was given what he wanted, he ordered the geth to destroy it and all evidence that it existed." Shiala stated with a frown. "I am forever thankful that you all have rescued me from such a fate."
"What did the Thorian give Saren, though?" Williams asked, inching toward the group. She wanted to tell the marine that Shiala wouldn't bite, but she knew that Ashley was fairly paranoid when it came to other species. Though she DID help Garrus earlier…maybe I'm rubbing off on her…
"The cipher. Saren was plagued by debilitating migraines and nightmares after accessing the beacon on Eden Prime. He could not make sense of it, and needed answers." Shiala began, finally turning her focus away from Liara, moving it instead to Shepard. "Those beacons were meant for prothean minds. The thorian had…in its time…taken the lives of generations of protheans under its control, gaining it access to their thought processes, their history, their biology, their very nature. Through passing this essence onto me, I was able to provide it to Saren, to allow his mind to think as if it were a prothean's, in order to understand the beacon's message."
Shepard eyed the asari curiously, surprised that Liara hadn't asked the question at the tip of her tongue. "So…you have the essence of a prothean? What's it like?"
"I cannot describe or explain it…it would be like describing colour to the blind. Impossible." Shiala stated flatly.
"Can you teach it to me? I'm…kind of dealing with a bit of a beacon-related problem myself." Shepard explained sheepishly. She caught Liara glance over to her for a second, before turning her gaze to Shiala.
"The knowledge…this cipher…it cannot be taught. It merely exists." The asari answered, her tone reluctant. "I can transfer this knowledge from my mind to yours…if you promise to stop Saren, and if mistress Liara will allow it."
Shepard looked to the asari maiden, who looked too dazed to be able to form words. After a number of moments Liara gave a pained nod and turned away. Shiala walked over to Shepard and placed a hand on her arm.
"Try to relax, Commander. Slow, deep breaths…let go of your physical shell. Reach out and grasp the threads that bind us, one to another. Every action sends ripples across the galaxy. Every idea must touch another mind to live. Each emotion must mark another's spirit." Shiala stated calmly, as if performing a ritual. "We are all connected. Every living being united in a single, glorious existence. Open yourself to the universe, Commander." Shiala finished, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
"Embrace Eternity." She heard being spoken, but the visions suddenly filled her mind, forcing her eyes closed.
Where before, the savage slaughter and brutality was clouded, masked somewhat, it was clearly shown now. The cries of millions of souls filled her ears as a species' collective trauma roared through her mind, overtaking her own memories, inescapable in their tenacity as the horror built and built. Her body, her mind, reached out for something to stop the terror as a scream fell short in her throat, unwilling to enter such a reality, unable to add to the magnitude of such torment. Everything felt aflame, and she feared to open her eyes and see her team, her family cast down by such an onslaught. To know the screams were theirs. To know she had lost where entire civilizations had, that she had never had a chance at victory. She refused to accept that fate and let the vision peel her skin away, tear her flesh away, and shatter her bone; each grueling ministration no more harmful than the thought of her loved ones perishing. As the flames encroached upon her, she felt a gasp of warmth and slipped into a seemingly eternal darkness.
A/N: Alright, sorry for the delay. Didn't expect to have so much time filled by family this early into my trip home. Spent most of today baking, and most of yesterday visiting my grandma and helping my parents prepare for the days ahead. Not much computer time = not much time to write. Nevertheless, I have finally completed this chapter! Feros is done! Hooray!
Next chapter is actually close to done…has been close for about a month now. Only like, 2k to go. I'll see what I can do tomorrow, but xmas eve is always a busy day for me. I have pies and cookies and cinnamon buns to bake, and sauce to make, and presents to help wrap, and people to visit, and so forth. 35% chance of a Christmas morning gift. :) Otherwise, you may have to wait a bit longer!
Thank you to everyone who has shown patience with me through this month…it has gone differently than I had hoped, but I am still going to try for five releases this month. I am pretty confident that I can do that, still. I doubt I'll be able to do more, considering I'll be spending most of the rest of the month here and with access only to my parents' crappy laptop (I type slowly on laptop keyboards…they annoy me). So thank you all for the follows, for the reviews (and shout out to the guest review I just got today for Flotsam…I am thrilled that you enjoyed that line by Faridah, and that you enjoyed my story! Best wishes this holiday season!), and for…most of all…reading!
Happy holidays to all!