The tank was secured tightly in the Aswa's hold, scorched and battered but intact. Crouching in front of it, Del carefully inserted a syringe needle through a thin membrane port at the base, filling the ampoule with a sample.
Hovering nearby, Mordin, Miranda, Chakwas, and Liara watched intently. At Mordin's feet was a portable lab kit, open and waiting.
"Will this be enough?" Liara asked, gesturing at the tank. Though large, it only held about fifty gallons of fluid.
Shepard, still crouching, withdrew the needle and regarded its contents. "Yes," she said. "Osco's missiles didn't contain much more than this, and the vaccine is self-replicating, the same way the plague is. Even if we run out, fluid contact with someone who has been vaccinated will transmit it just as easily. A simple blood donation will work."
Turning to Mordin, she activated the tiny lab screen in the kit, taking out a vial of infected blood and plugging it in, before plugging in the ampoule she'd just drawn. Taking a deep breath, she merged the two.
On the screen, as the new PMD appeared, the infected and mutated cells almost immediately began to revert to their normal forms. She let out her breath, grinning around at the others as Helen clapped happily.
"It worked."
"Now just need to get to Orizaba," Mordin said with a smile and a nod. "Disperse in quarantine zone."
"We are due to rendezvous in the next ten minutes," Liara said. "Once the Alliance has the vaccine we will put in a course for the Citadel. The Council has our reports on Osco and that dreadnought, and we need to see what our next step is. Merah, I want you to oversee the transfer of this tank onto the Orizaba."
"Of course," Shepard replied.
Miranda volunteered to stay and help her, and as the others left to their stations for docking with the Alliance ship, she watched Del triple checking the tank.
"I suspect that Captain T'Soni will consider my business with this mission concluded once we reach the Citadel," she said. Del glanced over at her.
"You don't sound happy about that. I would have thought it would be better than prison."
"It is, far better. And it is good to get closure on what happened with the Omega Four relay. I was hoping you'd be able to talk to her, however. Get her to let me stay."
Shepard's look turned scrutinizing. "Why do you think I could help you do that, and why would you want to? You've done what you came with us to do. Why not just take your freedom and go?"
"Because I think I can help," Miranda said. "With Osco, with this weird alien tech, and with the rakir."
"With the rakir? In general, or Sihra specifically?"
"Both," Miranda said. "The rakir are obligate predators, Shepard. Highly evolved killing machines. I talked with Ash and Sam. They saw her in action, fighting down with the krogan. They're unique both biologically and culturally-"
"So they're specimens to you? Something you can use, exploit?"
Miranda's expression darkened a little. "What have I done that has given you the impression I would want to use or exploit them?"
"I don't know- sending seventy people through a mass relay to die without proper testing or permission-"
"That's T'Soni talking," Miranda said angrily. "Listen, this may come as a bit of a shock to you, but I'm not an utter, selfish bitch only looking out for my own self interests. I'm fascinated by the rakir, and unfortunately, that fascination lead me to inadvertently insult Sihra very personally. They are a proud and a unique species and I want to do everything I can to make sure the Council allows them to be uplifted, that they are saved. They could be of an incredible benefit to this galactic community and they deserve to exist. I don't want to exploit them, far from it. I want to protect them from those that would. You know what the salarians and turians did to the krogan. It's not that far a stretch to assume the Council will look at the rakir the same way- as their own personal army, pawns to be used in exchange for 'allowing' them to live. I won't let that happen."
Shepard was surprised, lifting her brows. It was clear the woman was passionately serious about what she was saying. Miranda shook her head before she could speak.
"I'm not a bad person, Doctor, really. I did something that I regret horribly, and the faces of every one of those seventy people will look back at me whenever I close my eyes for the rest of my life. My sister was one of them, did Liara tell you that?"
Del paled. "No, I didn't know-"
"My baby sister, my own flesh and blood, and I sent her into that relay. I'm responsible for her death, as much as I am for the rest of them. I know that. I've owned it, and I have to live with it. I'm trying to do something good here. The rakir deserve to live and make their own way in this galaxy, and whatever it is Osco might do with that ship has to be stopped…you know that as well as I. I also don't want that falling into Council hands either. There's no telling what they'll do with that kind of tech, but unfortunately that may be out of all our hands to stop. I just want to do what I can do to make this whole situation a bit better."
Shepard looked at her sadly, then let out a breath and nodded. "I believe you. But why do you need me to convince Liara of that? Why not talk to her yourself?"
"Because she hates me," Miranda said. "And I'm not all that terribly fond of her, either. You, she'll listen to- a thousand years before she'll ever listen to me. I saw her when she brought you in to the infirmary. Never thought I'd see the ice queen's heart melt over anything, but you seem to have done it. Please, would you talk to her? Get her to let me stay on?"
Shepard colored a bit, then nodded. "I'll talk to her. I won't promise anything, but I can at least do that."
Miranda let out a breath, and nodded, her relief palpable. "Thank you for that, Shepard."
A light began to flash overhead and she looked upward. "Looks like we're ready to dock with the Orizaba. Let's get this vaccine where it needs to go, and take the rest of it as it comes."
They would not reach the Citadel until the following day. Once more, Shepard found herself standing outside of the door to Liara's quarters, staring at the portal and trying to will herself to press the call.
What if she's already sleeping? What if she's not? What if she gets angry with me for bringing up Miranda's request? What if-
"Shepard?"
Del jolted with surprise, whirling around to see the object of her thoughts standing behind her. At Shepard's reaction, Liara held a hand out, giving a faint but reassuring smile.
"I am sorry, I did not mean to startle you."
"I-It's ok, I just- I thought you'd gone in your room already. I wasn't expecting you to be behind me."
"I went looking for you," Liara said. "I was hoping you would join me for a drink before you retired."
"Yes, of course. I would love to."
Liara unlocked the door and they went into her room, the asari heading to the small drink service. Shepard stood awkwardly behind her a moment, before moving and sitting down on the sofa. As Liara poured, she glanced over her shoulder at Del and said, "You needed to speak to me?"
"Yes, I do. I wanted to ask you a favor."
"Favor?" Liara carried the glasses over and sat down beside her, passing one over.
"Yes, I…hang on." Del took a healthy taste of her glass, and Liara blinked, then laughed.
"This must be an incredible favor if you need to work up liquid courage before asking it."
Shepard colored and smiled a little, before setting the drink down on the tiny table. Taking a deep breath, she looked at the asari. "You haven't said, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but it makes sense that when we get to the Citadel Miranda's work with us will be over."
"That is correct," Liara told her. "She has done what we needed of her. She has her pardon now and she is no longer of our concern."
"That's what I thought. I…wanted to ask if she absolutely had to leave once we get there, or if…she could stay on, and help us with Sihra and Osco."
Liara straightened, her face going still and unreadable. Afraid she was angry, Del hurriedly tried to explain. "It's just that…she's afraid the Council is going to exploit Sihra and her people if they agree to uplift them, and she wants to make sure that doesn't happen. Also, I think she feels finding and stopping Osco would make up…well, not 'make up' for what she did, nothing can ever make up for that, but…she wants to do something good, atonement in kind of a way-"
"Atonement," Liara said, her voice as hard and neutral as her expression. "This is what she told you."
"She was serious, Liara. She's really concerned about the rakir, and what both Osco and the Council might do with that alien tech. She's got skills that could come in handy-"
Liara rose, setting her drink down as she did, and stepped away a little, one hand on her hip and the other on her forehead. Shepard looked at her.
"You're angry…"
"I am not angry with you," Liara said, and looked at her. "Why did she not speak to me about this? Why put you up to it instead?"
"She didn't think you'd listen to her."
"You truly believe her, that she is genuine in her fears and desires to help? She is incredibly manipulative, Shepard-"
"And I'm easily manipulated, is that it?"
Liara blinked at her. "That is not what I meant, Merah."
Shepard rose and walked over. "Look, I understand your personal feelings, Liara. I do. She's arrogant at best, and I don't in any way agree with what she did in sending those people through that relay to die. But yes…I truly believe her."
She could see the asari turning it over in her head. She knew she didn't like it, but she also knew that Liara was practical, sensible. She wouldn't let her personal feelings get in the way. She remained silent, letting her think without interruption.
Finally, Liara nodded. "Very well. If you believe she told you the truth, then so do I. She can stay as part of the mission until we bring down Osco, and I will allow her to speak before the Council on Sihra and the rakir's behalf."
Shepard smiled, looking down and nodding a moment, before meeting her eyes. "Thank you, Liara."
The asari hummed faintly, then stepped past Del to go over and pick up her glass again. "You will be coming with us in front of the Council tomorrow as well. I need you to share your experience with the black ship and the implants with them, help to eliminate any doubt as to what Osco can truly do with the ship she has become part of. We will need a full fleet to take down that dreadnought and they will be hesitant to give us one."
"You really think they'd refuse?" Shepard asked, genuinely surprised.
"These are politicians. The plague has been addressed, and they will be examining this from every political angle they can. Do I believe they will flat-out refuse us? No…but there is a risk of it."
"What about Hackett? He'd give you a fleet if he had to, if the Council refuses."
"Hackett is a good man, and he will go to great lengths to do what he sees as right, but he still must answer to others. They may be less willing."
"You will find a way, Liara," Shepard said with absolute conviction. "I know you will."
Liara looked at her again, before she set her drink down once more and walked over. Shepard felt her face flush as the asari reached up, pressing her palm lightly to her cheek and looking at her intently.
"Who are you, Shepard?" she asked softly. "What is it about you that has so easily turned my life upside down? Why do I feel so close to you?"
"Maybe we knew each other in another life," Shepard said, just as softly. Liara smiled slightly.
"Do you believe that?"
"I've never really thought about it. I'm a scientist, and haven't really given a lot of thought on spirituality or religion but…meeting you wasn't like meeting someone new. It was like…finding someone again that you knew a very long time ago, and had thought you lost."
"Yes," Liara replied. "Yes, that is just how it felt. It was not so much that I met you, as…remembered you, somehow. Why is that? I do not understand."
"I don't know. I have no more answers to this than you do. I don't think we'll ever know, Liara. In the end, does it really matter?"
"No, I suppose it does not."
Shepard lifted her own hand, lightly touching the hollow of Liara's throat as her eyes grew gloss. "We came so close to losing each other, didn't we?"
"We are both still here, Merah. Right now, you and I…we are safe, and we are here, together."
"Yes…I suppose we are."
Liara searched her face, before the hand that still rested on her cheek slid around to the back of her neck, tugging her forward gently. As their lips met, both felt that odd sense of relief once again.
Shepard wasn't really able to identify it until later, as they were finally just dozing off in one another's arms. Holding the asari close, feeling the slow pulse of her heartbeat under her cheek, Del finally knew what that feeling was.
Finally, they were home.
More than one C-Sec officer, led by a man named Bailey, was waiting for them as they disembarked the Aswa on the Citadel's docking ring. Though Liara was a Spectre, accompanied by two N7 marines, the Council thought the extra security might be wise as the first rakir ever to leave their home world finally set foot on the very hub of the galactic community.
Shepard didn't know if their decision was because they feared someone might attack the rakir…or that she might attack someone else. Del had known Sihra long enough at this point to feel more than a little insulted on her behalf if the latter were true. She wasn't an animal, wasn't stupid, and she had remarkable self-control when it was warranted. Del understood that the politicians considered the rakir a primitive species, but they could at least be a bit more respectful about it.
If Sihra was aware the extra security was because of her, she showed no indication. Wearing the cobbled hard-suit she'd grown rather fond of, but sans mask, she walked along with Liara and the others, trying not to stare around at all the new and foreign sights. Del didn't miss the fact that Sihra's second set of nostrils was clamped tightly closed.
The variety of smells, along with all the other sensory input, must be overwhelming.
Shepard was not feeling much better herself. She'd only been here once before, after all, and that was hardly the best day of her life. Now she was here again, and the prospect of standing in front of the Council was nerve-wracking at best.
Still, she- like Sihra- did her best to focus and hide her nerves. It became harder as they left the docking ring and headed across the Presidium.
All around them, crowds of people were stopping to stare at Sihra. Human, asari, salarian, turian, hanar, elcor, volus- all gaping toward the strange alien that walked in their midst. Of course, they had never even seen a rakir before. Most would never have even heard of them.
"Ignore them," Miranda told the rakir as they neared the lift, Sihra growing notably agitated with the attention. "You're just strange to them."
"Perhaps they'd like to see my second tongue," the rakir said, the translation band around her neck bringing the sarcasm through perfectly. Miranda blinked, then nodded.
"I deserved that, but I'm not your enemy, Prilekk."
Sihra only grunted. They moved into the lift, the doors closing and cutting off the crowd that had gathered, the elevator whisking them upward.
The Council Chambers almost looked like a park inside a cathedral. Everything was polished metal and marble, stairs sweeping past carefully manicured gardens and beautiful trees, lit by sunlight pouring in a set of enormous windows. A gathering stood at the top of the stairs, just before a promontory that jutted out over yet another park below it. Across the empty space, there was a kind of dais, on which stood the three Councilors.
Del knew their names and faces, of course. Tevos the asari, Sparatus the turian, and the salarian Valern. None of them looked very kind, each standing stiff and formal.
Shepard recognized Captain Anderson as one of those gathered, waiting with a pair of uniformed soldiers. As well there was another asari- a Matriarch by the look of her, a much younger commando at her side. A quarian, male, was there, and a pair of human men finished off the group. It wasn't until one of the latter turned around that Shepard felt her heart stop in shock, recognition shaking her.
Liara afforded only Anderson a respectful nod as they reached them. Despite her own surprise, Shepard didn't miss the way Liara looked over at the Matriarch in the group, before stepping past and up to the Promontory.
"Councilors," she said. "We were not expecting this gathering."
"There have been many discussions since your report, Captain T'Soni," Tevos said. "Now that you are here we can begin. You have Dr. Shepard with you?"
Del met dark eyes as she stepped past the familiar man with a softly murmured, "Sorry," before she stepped up to Liara's side. "I am Dr. Shepard."
"Doctor, let us begin by offering our deepest gratitude to you for everything that you have done. Your hard work and genius put an end to Gellian Osco's horrific plague, and saved more lives that can ever be numbered."
"Thank you, Councilor," she said, "but , you'll pardon me if I do not celebrate too hard."
Valern frowned a little. "It does not make you happy that the plague is at an end?"
"I'm sorry, sir, that is not what I meant. I am beyond happy that the PMD has been stopped and Osco didn't succeed in her plan, but it remains that horrible damage was done at her hands, and as a direct result of work I helped her with years ago. It grieves me to no end that what I had hoped to do to save lives ended up costing the quarian people everything."
"We understand, doctor," Tevos said gently. "Osco's crimes are horrific. She has perpetrated the genocide of an entire culture, and attempted to do so with the rest of us. I cannot begin to imagine how you feel, but it remains that we are not yet at the end of this road."
"The turian ships have been able to track Osco's vessel deep into the Traverse," Sparatus said. "We are not yet sure her final destination. Do you have any insights as to where she may be going, or what she might be planning?"
"I am sorry to say I don't," Shepard told them. "What I do know is that Osco has integrated with alien technology so advanced that their vessels could be considered a form of life. She is not just in command of that ship, she is part of it…she is its thinking brain- and Osco's brain is uniquely intelligent in and of itself. She can manipulate every system, every weapon on that ship with thought alone, and can even influence its structure down to the molecular level. It will take the full force of a fleet to even hope to bring it down, and there is no telling what may be in its databanks that is now driving her."
"I do not follow," Tevos said.
"Councilor, just as Osco is now part of that ship, it is now part of her as well. Whatever its mission was, whatever was in its databanks, it is part of her psyche now. She may not be following her own motivations any more- she may be trying to carry out whatever plan that ship was originally designed to do."
"That is…bothersome, at the very least. How do we even begin to understand the motivations of a species advanced enough to create this technology, and who have been extinct for millions of years?" Sparatus asked, looking at his companions.
"Doctor, you have at least touched that tech," Valern said. "According to T'Soni's report, you integrated almost fully with the black ship before it was shot down by Osco. Was there anything that you could remember from its databanks that might shed light on what she's doing?"
Shepard slowly shook her head. "I am not sure, to be honest. There is no doubt the same hands that forged the black ship also forged the dreadnought, but that doesn't mean they were created at the same time or were even on the same mission. We found the frigate in the galactic core- the dreadnought was buried on Tuchanka. There could have been centuries between their missions. If I was made aware of the frigate's mission during my integration, I don't recall it now. My…feeling has always been that it was for transport. The species that was being kept in stasis aboard both vessels are not the same hands as those that made the two ships to begin with. They were more like locusts- drones or soldiers set to do nothing more intelligent than infiltrate and attack where they were directed. I believe the frigate's purpose was to take the drones aboard her to a rendezvous point, perhaps even a ground battle."
"But you are not entirely sure."
"No, I'm not," she admitted. "There is much that we just don't know."
Tevos looked at her companions. "If any of the data from the frigate's databanks were transmitted subconsciously to the doctor while she was integrated, there may be ways to help her to remember."
"You are thinking of Sha'ira," Valern said, then nodded. "It may be fruitful, and certainly could not hurt."
Tevos looked back at Del. "Doctor, we would like to allow Sha'ira to do a meld with you, see if she cannot unlock any potential hidden knowledge in your subconscious."
"Sha'ira?" Del asked, confused.
"You have probably heard of her by her title," Sparatus said. "She is the Consort here on the Citadel, and a very powerful asari. If there is knowledge there, she will find it."
"Whether or not she is successful, we would like you to continue to accompany Captain T'Soni. You are still uniquely qualified when it comes to Dr. Osco, and-"
"No, absolutely not!" The voice rang out behind her, and both Liara and Del turned as one of the human men moved forward. "She has done what she was brought here to do. The only place she is going now is home."
Shepard stared at him in horrified disbelief. "Dad, there's no need for-"
"No, we are done here, Delilah. We are going home, and we are going home right now."
