The beam that passed over her face was soft yellow, reassuring. It crept over her face, making her blink as it passed over her eyes in a momentary flare, before continuing on.
Perched on the end of one of Sha'ira's soft couches, Del's faint flinch as the light flared in her eyes was purely automatic, as was the tightening of her grip on the delicately embroidered blanket that had been draped around her.
"Is she all right?" Liara asked, trying to ignore the pacing storm-cloud just behind her. Senator Shepard was not pleased he had been rebuffed from his daughter by the Spectre, even understanding that the medic needed to do a scan.
Liara could understand his feeling. Right now, all she wanted to do was hold the human woman, comfort her and find out what was wrong- make it go away.
After she'd vomited, Shepard had said nothing else, only started shivering, and then clinging to the asari as Liara helped her up and moved her so she could be scanned. Sha'ira's assistant had provided the blanket on seeing the shivers, and was now off to the side tending to Sha'ira, having discretely cleaned up the mess.
The Consort was in much better shape. Though still regaining strength, she was of good color and alert, communicative and more than aware of what was happening around her.
"Physically she's not injured," the medic told Liara, looking at his results. "However she is showing signs of extreme psychological shock. My equipment cannot read that odd thing on her wrist-"
"That is a known issue," Liara told him. "There are no traces of it left in the rest of her body?"
"None that I found. It's just that one spot. She needs rest, hydration."
"I will bring her some tea," the assistant said, and hurried off to fetch it. Liara turned, and gave the Senator a small nod. That was all the prompting he needed to hurry over and sit beside his daughter, gathering her in his arms.
Walking across the room, Liara pushed her own feelings aside for her duty, pausing in front of the Consort. "What do you remember? What did you see?"
"The meld began uneventfully," Sha'ira said. "We were at the helm of what I suppose must have been that black ship. I started to guide the meld deeper, into more suppressed memories, using that one as a starting point. The moment I did, I…I am not sure what happened. Everything went white. I had a momentary feeling that someone was standing with me, of- being examined, I suppose. I have a vague impression that it was some kind of medical scan, and then the next thing I was aware of, I woke up, poised over the doctor on the floor. The rest you know."
"That's all you have? You don't remember Pio?" Sam asked, lingering nearby. Sha'ira looked at the N7 officer with clear confusion on her face.
"This name is not familiar to me. Who is Pio?"
Liara shook her head. "Sha'ira, I am very sorry. I was negligent, and you were affected by it."
"I do not understand."
"Dr. Shepard has a kind of alien device on her wrist- tech that was implanted in her unconsciously when she was within the black ship. It allowed her to control the vessel with thought alone, integrating her as one with the ship itself. After the ship was destroyed the device seemed to neutralize. I should have taken it into consideration before you began your meld."
"Did you have any idea that the meld would activate it again?" Sha'ira asked. "Has it…reacted to a Joining before?"
"No," Liara said, ignoring the way Sam glanced at her. "It showed no activity of this kind until now."
"Then you could not have known this would have prompted it into activity again. It is curious that it did so, if the vessel it was designed to interface with is destroyed. I am hardly made up of alien technology."
"We have reason to believe that the tech somehow sensed the unique integration of your meld and…mistook it for the some type of preliminary joining necessary for it to integrate the two of you physically. Perhaps it was the depth of the meld itself that provided the prompting. When it realized you could not be integrated physically- and that you were not one of the vessels specifically designed for the task- it withdrew its attempt."
"How do you know this?"
"It told us," Sam said. Sha'ira looked at her in surprise.
"It told you?"
"Yes, using your voices," Liara replied. "I have the incident recorded on my omni-tool for analysis. I believe it was some kind of AI, a program used to facilitate integration between an organic mind and the biosynthetic vessels they employ. It seemed confused and a bit alarmed that it was 'alone'. It was gracious enough to find the information we were seeking and move it into Del's conscious mind before it returned to hibernation."
Looking past Liara to where Del was curled up under her father's arm, Sha'ira shook her head sadly. "If it caused that kind of a reaction- the information cannot be good. You should be with her, Captain."
"Her father is-"
"Not you," Sha'ira said gently. "She loves her father, but her love for you is quite different and much deeper. You are the other half of her soul, Captain. She needs you now."
Liara stared at the Consort a moment, then cleared her throat roughly. "You saw this?"
"I saw much in the beginning of the meld, but I did not need that to know. Any who look at the two of you together should know, unless they are willfully blind."
Liara's brows knit, and she looked back at Del, then to the Consort again. Sha'ira regarded her a moment. Feeling a bit awkward, Sam excused herself and withdrew out of hearing range.
"You have a question of me?" Sha'ira asked.
"I…it is a foolish question, perhaps. One borne only of fancy and unlikely one you can answer."
"I will do my best, if it is within my power."
"I have…I have long considered myself married to my duty. I am not one for romantic flights of fancy, and until recently such involvement with anyone was the furthest thing from my mind or desires."
"You are young, Captain. You are accomplished, but still- you are a Maiden. It is not unusual for a first love to happen at this point in a young asari's life."
"Yes, I know, but…it seemed to happen so quickly. Not only for me, but for her as well. It was as if we had-"
"As if you had known each other in another life," Sha'ira said with a gentle smile. Liara nodded stiffly.
"Yes. It is as if we had grown up together, and had only been briefly separated. It makes no logical sense."
Sha'ira laughed lightly. "Love is rarely logical, Captain. I daresay it is, in fact, never logical. Have you considered the possibility that you may very well have known each other in another life?"
"I do not believe in such things, Consort," Liara told her.
"Understandable, yet there is so much about this universe that we do not as yet understand. We are still infants, Captain. We have not even mapped the entirety of our galaxy, let alone travelled outside of it to the infinite number of galaxies that await. There are so many things we have still to learn. However, your story is not unique. While it is rare, I have met others like you and the doctor before. In my experience, the love between these individuals is not only enduring, but almost awe-inspiring to witness. They have a…completion about themselves that others do not, even other happy couples. All have told or revealed to me that almost immediately upon meeting, they felt they had known each other for their entire lives."
"You make a valid point, Consort, and…I admit, your notions are romantic, but-"
Sha'ira smiled again. "You do not have to believe me, Captain. In truth, what difference does it make? Whether we live one life or countless others- what matters in this life is only this life. You are together now- and that is a joy that far too few will ever know. Embrace it, whatever its cause."
"Captain?"
The senator's voice drew her attention, and she turned, striding toward the pair of humans as he gestured to her. Del was no longer leaning on him, though he still held an arm about her shoulders. Her color looked better, and she seemed a bit more focused.
"She was asking for you," he said as Liara neared. Brushing a hand over Del's hair, he kissed her temple. "I will let you two talk, sweetheart. I will be near."
She nodded and gripped his hand a moment, before he got to his feet. As he went to step past Liara, he paused and spoke in her ear. "We need to talk as well, Captain T'Soni. Later."
"I understand," she replied, waiting until he'd continued on before moving over and sitting down beside Shepard. "Del? How are you feeling?"
"Sick," she said, in such a small and weary voice that Liara could feel her worry growing again. "Don't leave me."
Reaching out, Liara took Shepard's hand, threading her fingers through the human woman's. "I am here, Merah. I am right here, and I am going nowhere."
Shortly after finishing some of the tea that the Consort's assistant had brought her, Shepard had started to doze against Liara's shoulder. On the suggestion of the medic- and with Sha'ira's permission- Liara and Jake helped Del into the Consort's bedroom and laid her down on the bed. In seconds, she was asleep. Though every atom of Liara wanted to stay there with her, there were too many questions that had to be answered. She still had a job to do.
Feeling guilty, she stepped out of the room and back into the main area, Jake remaining behind to keep an eye on his slumbering daughter.
They still didn't know what it was she had seen, that had caused Del to go into shock to begin with. Sha'ira clearly had not been imparted with the same information, and pressing Del for it now would serve only to further her condition. She had to recover her strength before she could tell them what she knew.
Within an hour, Miranda Lawson appeared with Deefa at her side. Ashley had remained with Sihra, but once she'd heard what had happened, Miranda had insisted on coming to see the footage for herself.
Despite the fact that Liara still did not much care for Miranda, even she had to admit she was a bit of a technical expert. Deefa, though a marine, was also a quarian- and when it came to technology, quarians were all but savants. Their very existence depended on it, after all.
With Sam, Miranda, Deefa, and Sha'ira as audience, Liara replayed the recorded footage of the incident between doctor and consort and the mystery known as Pio. Sha'ira hid whatever discomfort she may have felt very well- she never lost her serene calm. Miranda and Deefa looked far more concerned.
"Any thoughts?" Liara asked as the recording ended.
"Shepard hasn't told you what Pio put in her conscious mind?"
"Not as yet. Whatever it was, it was enough to frighten her terribly, put her into shock," Liara said. "She is in no condition to handle questioning at the moment. For now, I need to know if this will happen again. I need to know the nature of this…'Pio', and if it will return to threaten Shepard or anyone else ijn the future."
"I didn't get that sense from watching your video," Miranda told her. "It listened to you, immediately halted its efforts when it realized they were incorrect, and released both without harm. I don't think it's malicious or consciously dangerous-"
"That does not mean it cannot harm or even kill," Liara replied.
"Captain, I don't think it's an AI- at least, not a typical one. I think…it's part of a collective," Deefa said thoughtfully. Liara looked at her.
"Explain."
"To be honest, I think it's like the geth. I can't tell you much about how the geth are now- no one's even seen one since we were driven off our home world. However, from the records we have of the Morning War and studies of when the geth became sentient- well…this is incredibly similar."
"So it is hostile?" Miranda asked.
"No, that's not what I'm saying. A lot of quarians may not agree, but honestly- the geth weren't really hostile. What they did was in retaliation for an attack by us. They were only defending themselves and have never pressed the issue once they drove us away. You see, the way the geth were designed to function- the amount of information they were able to process efficiently increased the more geth were in proximity. During the war, we discovered that the 'geth' per se, were not their platforms. Instead, each 'individual' was shown to have anywhere from a dozen to thousands of 'geth' individuals within it- the geth were the software, driving their platforms around like an organic crew would man a starship. The more people you have working on board a starship, the more efficient and easy the task becomes. I think this 'Pio' is a synthetic sentience- a self-aware bit of programming that was designed to facilitate the link between an organic mind and the black ships. They're the intermediaries, what makes that level of combination even possible. Like the geth, Pio was designed to work as part of a group of other sentient programs just like it- now, it's stuck by itself in that implant on Del's wrist and was rather alarmed by that fact- just as you would be to wake up one day on the Aswa in deep space and discover everyone else was gone."
"So Pio is a sentient creature?"
"Yes, I believe so."
"If that is the case, then we have a sentient mind trapped in a prison it did not ask for, confused and alone," Miranda said. "Slumbering or not, no one should be subject to that. We need to return it to where it belongs, if we can."
"We cannot. Not to its original home, at any rate- the black ship is destroyed."
"Then it needs to be returned to the dreadnought."
"And if we cannot do that?"
"Death would likely be a kinder fate than life as a static prisoner," Deefa said. "Of course, that would mean finding out how to remove it from Shepard to begin with."
"Liara, it's my opinion that the 'brasa' are the organic species responsible for this incredible technology," Miranda said. "The 'gavoom' appear to be their name for the biosynthetic vessels- the 'bodies' the brasa can join with and control. More questioning of Pio may result in further answers on the brasa and their culture, and give us more insight-"
"I do not agree," Sha'ira said. "Pio was incredibly alarmed and uncomfortable at being alone. It had emotions, that much is clear. We must treat it as we would any other sentient being, and this situation is not of its making."
"I agree," Deefa said. "It was frightened, Miranda. You want to interrogate a frightened prisoner-?"
"If it gives us what we need, yes! I have sympathy for the thing but who knows what may be at stake here! We need to know what Osco is up to and we need to know it now."
"Pio said it imparted that information to Del's mind," Liara said. "We need to see if she has the answers first before I will condone any attempt to reawaken Pio. We do not know what risk that puts not only the prisoner in, but Del as well. No. Unless we have no other options whatsoever, then Pio needs to be kept asleep-"
"It's horrible."
The soft voice immediately turned the entire group. Shepard stood in the door of Sha'ira's room. She looked a far sight better than she had, but she still had a weary, troubled cast to her face. Standing with her was Jake, looking apologetic.
"Merah, you should be resting," Liara said, heading her way.
"She insisted," the senator said, even as Del shook her head.
"I'm okay, Liara. This…I'm not sure this can wait."
"Come sit down at least, you look like you're about to fall over," Miranda said, and Shepard headed toward the sofa, the others seating themselves around her.
"You know what the black ship's mission was, Merah?" Liara asked gently, sitting next to her and taking her hand. "You can tell us?"
Shepard nodded weakly, taking a stabilizing breath. "It wasn't here. I mean, it didn't start here…they weren't from here. They called their galaxy-…I don't think I can say the word. The…the closest translation into any language we know would be…the Holy Waters."
"They?" Miranda asked. "You mean the brasa?"
"Yes," Del replied. "There were dozens of species, like here…they were far in advanced to where we were. We've seen that, in their tech. The brasa were the most powerful…and eventually, they were the only ones with any kind of space flight. They quarantined the other species onto various worlds, used them for resource slave labor. No one was allowed to have any level of technology past…well, past the horse and cart, except the brasa. They maintained strict control."
"Just goes to prove that advanced technology does not impart advanced culture or ideals," Liara said softly.
"That doesn't explain how they got here, if they originated in another galaxy," Deefa said.
"They learned how to fold space," Shepard told her. "The archway on the black ship- the doorway in that moon facility and in the complex- they used those to travel around their galaxy almost instantaneously. At even a hint of insurrection on one of their slave worlds, they could simply open the doorway and send thousands of Enforcers in to take care of the problem, instantaneously."
"Enforcers…" Liara looked troubled. "Those brightly colored troops."
"Yes. Originally, they were one of the slave races, but they were far too delicate for any kind of real work. As their tech advanced, the brasa changed them- altered the molecular structure of their skeletons, genetically engineered their organ systems...basically making them into their own vast army of perfectly obedient, perfectly deadly super-soldier. They aren't even capable of independent thought or will anymore, they just do what they're ordered to do.
"The problem with folding space, however, is that it takes an incredible amount of energy, even for a small doorway like those we saw," Shepard continued. "The brasa wanted to expand, wanted to go beyond their galaxy, but they could barely send even scout ships through. Still, they were patient. They would open up a large enough fold to send an equipped probe through. The probe's only job was to build a connecting archway which would allow the fold to stabilize to one specific location. The probe would go through, find a suitable planet, build its archway, and it was done. Then, the brasa would send through a small scout ship- half the size of the one we found in the galactic core. That ship would be equipped with enough technology to build a…a manufacturing plant, on the chosen world. It would use the world's own resources to make the plant, and then it would begin manufacturing more ships, which would spread out to other worlds, set up similar plants, and manufacture yet more. Eventually, enough existed to create…"
Here, she began to look ill again, and paused a moment. Liara gave her hand a squeeze. "Merah?"
"I-I'm ok," she said, and took a shuddering breath. "Eventually, they could build…I am not even sure what to call them. Antennae, maybe?…but that word seems inadequate. They would dig deep enough in a given world's crust to reach the mantle, and build an unbelievably colossal structure whose only purpose was to tap that world's geothermic and solar power, focus it, and connect it in a massive web with other such structures on other worlds. Once powered and connected, the web would have enough accumulated power to open up a fold of colossal size, allowing an entire brasa fleet- larger than the combined Alliance, Asari, and Salarian fleets- to pass through into the new galaxy. There, they'd set up shop, colonize, enslave whatever sentient species they found, and start all over again."
"Is that what they are attempting to do here? The black ship, the dreadnought…these are just the preliminary stages to a galactic invasion?" Liara asked.
"Doesn't make sense," Miranda said. "The black ship and the complex are at least millions of years old. At their level of technological advancement, if they'd started that long ago, it would only have taken them a few decades to lay their framework down enough to open that fold and let their fleet in. We would not be here to have this discussion. Something must have stopped them."
"Yes, something…something happened," Shepard said. "The dreadnought was part of the colonization effort. It was built here, under Tuchanka's crust, to play a part in the opening of the final Fold. But my ship, the one we found in the core- that wasn't part of that effort. It was an escape vessel."
"Escape? From what?"
"After the initial drones were sent here to start the process, there was…something happened," Del said, looking pained. "There was a war, a huge war, in the ranks of the brasa themselves. They'd always had dissenters in their ranks, people who didn't like the enslavement of the other species and wanted it to stop. Those numbers grew until eventually there was civil war. The brasa faction who wanted to stay in power were desperate to stop the rebellion, which outnumbered them. The slaughter covered countless worlds, endless star systems. The butchery and chaos was horrific. In the end, those in power were nearly defeated. Crippled badly, they developed some kind of a weapon. The…the details are sketchy, but I can see entire star systems just vanishing…"
She choked off, tears spilling down her cheeks. Jake moved to sit next to her, putting his hand on her shoulder as Liara once again gripped her hand. Struggling herself under control, Del wiped her face.
"The black ship- my ship…it was an escape vessel," she said quietly. "The crew were part of the rebellion. They managed to steal one of the enforcer transports and used it, desperately passing through a Fold that linked here, just as the super-weapon created a devastating chain reaction that was sweeping through the entirety of the Holy Waters. Those aboard her knew that their enemy had been badly crippled, if not defeated, and believed that the super-weapon likely had destroyed them right along with the rest of the galaxy. Still, they didn't want to take the chance that some had survived, or that they may use the Web to start all over in this new galaxy that was being prepared. So, they destroyed the archway they had used and made it their mission to halt the Web ever opening here."
"So they saved us," Liara said. "This small handful of rebels…they saved us from the same nightmare that had enveloped their home."
"Except they didn't," Del said miserably. "They didn't…"
"Of course they did," Deefa said, trying to be reassuring. "If they hadn't, this 'Web' would have opened a long time ago, and none of us would be standing here. We'd all be slaves to these brasa."
"No. There were too few of them. They couldn't destroy everything that had been built, don't you see?" Del swiped at her cheeks again. "They could only…shut off the process, not undo it. When they came through, the Web was very nearly ready- only days away from opening! The Antennae are all complete, they've just never turned on because the rebels stopped them from doing so- but hey had no way to dismantle them, you see? They hoped the tech would stay buried, miles beneath the crust of various worlds. They took their ship to the galactic core in the hope it would never be found as well, and for millennia, that's where it stayed. Until-"
Miranda looked pale. "Until I sent ships in through the Omega Four," she said softly. "We know at least one crew found that black ship. They must have opened the archway-"
"And accidentally walked right into Osco's lab complex," Liara whispered. "She probably had no idea the adjoining arch was even there- it's just coincidence that she happened to hide on that moon, set up a secret base for her research, right on top of it."
"Imagine her surprise when a bunch of dazed people appear out of a crack in the ground," Miranda said. "They explain themselves to the few mercs she has as security guards, and they hold them captive while she goes and sees this archway for herself…and then walks right onto the black ship."
"Where she finds the tech that allows her to make the PMD," Del said with a sniff. "And using its navigation records, she finds the complex buried on Tuchanka, uses it to hold the bodies of the dazed crew and then the hired mercs, cloning them into her own unquestionably obedient army. She can't resist going deeper and deeper into its systems and in doing so, she wakes it up again, becomes integrated…and suddenly its mission is now her mission."
"By the Goddess…that is where Osco is going," Liara said. "She is going to activate the Antennae and open the Web!"
