The air was cold and dusty and slightly smelly as Kaiden Alenko made his way into the medic's room, looking about...seeing he was on his bed, head slightly hung...looking down at a bottle.
A beer bottle.
Nick...was drinking beer. Kaiden had never, EVER seen him touch the stuff. Nobody had seen him drink. He'd often bragged about not drinking. And now he was evidently not just downing ONE bottle, but a small pile of bottles had clearly fallen right off his bed and flopped onto the floor. The icy air conditioned room bit into her as Kaiden took in a deep breath, then sat next to him.
"Thanks for checking in on me." The medic muttered to the biotic. "But I'm kinda out of beer, so I can't share none of it." He added, turning the bottle he had upside-down, shrugging slightly, his voice sounding slightly off-kilter, as if out of sync as Kaiden sighed quietly.
"I know we had a bad mission."
"I couldn't TELL." Nick grumbled darkly. "I'm still finding BITS of that guy on me!" He added, dropping the bottle and scrubbing and scratching over himself, cringing and shuddering. "GGGHHH-GHHHH-GHHHGGH! BLAUH!"
It had been, without a doubt, the worst mission they'd ever, ever had. The greatest failure they'd ever endured. Everyone within the laboratory up at the icy Peak 15 on Noveria had died. Already Shepherd and the rest of the crew were trying to explain to the Council what had happened, each telling their own variant of the same, awful, awful story. But worse still was Nick's account. He'd gone first, getting it out of the way, quietly mumbling out the details before finally exiting the room...and immediately going to get drunk.
"I hate it!" He screamed out. "I hate feeling this much! I don't want to feel like this, I want to be numb, and stupid and drunk and empty right now! And it sucks that I KNOW I'm not drunk enough, but I feel too sick to drink any more and not sick enough to just pass out and let the beer help me forget the past twenty four hours!" The medic buried his face in his hands, taking in deep, horrific, rasping breaths. "His fucking chest exploded out all over me, Kaiden! And LUCAS is...he might..."
"Haven't you tried your gift?" Kaiden asked quietly.
"I DID try!" Nick insisted, shaking his head back and forth. "But it's like with Desolas! If someone's spirit is already slipping away, I can't yank it back! I can't UNRING the bell! Lucas is just so old that it doesn't matter if it's a bullet wound, nothing I've done is working!"
"So getting drunk, locking yourself in your room and turning this place into a freezer is going to make you feel better?" Kaiden asked bluntly. "Look, I get it. I've had failure stare me right in the face before. Drinking doesn't help you feel better."
"I don't wanna feel, Kaiden. You know what did make me feel better?!" Nick quietly asked, slowly taking his hands away from his face and turning to look into the quietly sad face of the biotic as the hazel-eyed human sniffled, snot slightly running down from his nose, his tone broken and sad.
Kaiden didn't say anything. He had a feeling he knew what Nick was going to say. Or at least, he thought he did. But then Nick took off his cross, and gently held it up in his palm.
"...do you know what aniconism is?"
"...what?"
"There's this...idea in the religion of Islam. This idea that..." Nick waved his free hand in the air. "The idea's kinda like...making a piece of art that resembles part of God's creation kinda LESSENS it, cuz you're making something finite out of something infinite. So in Islamic art, there's no humans or plants or the like, it's all just shapes and colors and it's so abstract, but because you're seeing nothing...you're seeing EVERYTHING. A seemingly simple thing is conveying the infinite. It's kinda like when you stare into a snowstorm for a long time or look at a single color or keep your eyes closed for a while you...you start to see things. Seeing nothing...begins to help you seeeverything."
He turned the cross over slightly, quietly continuing. "Music...was like that for me. I could just...just pop a seemingly simple, nothing of a little pop song into my ears, or some peaceful instrumental stuff from a game I loved, or a quiet little folk song and...and it would convey the infinite. I would just close my eyes, the song would drift through me, and I'd see...everything. Music was the infinite. Music connected me to everything that really mattered. And now?"
Nick began to laugh, his laughter shuddering and dangerous and fast and baleful, a broken, sad laugh.
"Now I can't listen to the things I knew and loved anymore without things I can BARELY control happening. It takes all my effort not to let something potentially explosive from happening! And even then all my focus makes me overwhelmed and I'm seeing things and feeling things that come almost out of nowhere! Music used to be an ESCAPE from danger and violence, it lifted me up into a realm of something greater than myself, and now? Now it...now it can only drag me down!" He hysterically laughed. "You know what that feels like?! Like...like at ALL!?"
"No." Kaiden admitted as he shook his head. "...I can't even begin to."
"This is probably one of the worst...FUCKING days of my life, and I...I can't, I...I..."
He couldn't say anymore. Nick just flopped onto the bed and turned away, curling slightly up into a ball as Kaiden bit his lip.
"I'm scared, Kaiden. I'm scared of myself and what I can do. And I think I'm beginning to hate myself and what I can do." He finally whispered out.
"...do you want me to leave?"
A shake of the head.
"...do you want me to just...sit here?"
A quiet nod amidst quiet sobbing as Kaiden just softly watched Nick's breakdown, letting him get it out, letting the pain flow freely as he bit his lip. What could he say? Was there anything TO say?
"If you want to talk, I'm here. Just...putting it out there. I'm not good at it, but...I'll try."
"...it means a lot that you'd say that." Nick finally got out.
The air was biting into my quad as I cringed, looking out from the MAKO, seeing that Benezia had left us behind some little "presents". More Geth. Oh, great, I thought. Just what I always wanted. Still, in about ten seconds we had run over them and was enjoying the CRUKKA-CRUNCH sound they made, realizing that they didn't stand a chance against us in their small little platoons.
But of course, then the larger Geth collosus landed down and we had to do some fancy manuvering. Our requistions officer was manning the MAKO, and he spun it about, making us skid slightly, close to the edge of the mountain as Ashley took aim. We blew the thing's head clear off as I hopped out with Garrus, and took off running for the platoon of snipers that were firing at us from behind some left-behind boxes. I ripped out my combat blade, enjoying the satisfying, faintly wet sound that rang through the mountain air. I buried it up to the hilt in one of the bastard's heads.
"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a GOOD KNIFE."
"Just what he always wanted." Garrus said, blasting the head of another Geth sniper clean open as the MAKO drove back up to us, Peak 15 not too far away. It was only a quarter of a mile, I'd guess. In ten seconds we were inside, and I didn't think it was possible, but somehow it felt even colder inside. It was ugly and empty and barren and cold inside the first halls and hallways, snow having broken through the roof and the windows as a train had been left behind, our only way to the main peak lab, or so we'd been told by that Turian Lorik.
Then I remember that...faintly chittering noise. An annoying, irritating chittering noise that rang through the air and made me think of bugs. And I wasn't far off, cuz out from the snow they came, bursting forth, with mouths almost like those Earth creatures, prawns, and long tentacle antanneas and UGH, did they smell! The SMELL, the damn smell was like rotting fish and seafood that had been left behind in a dumpster and bathed in mustard. Their eyes were beady and soulless and they let out this ugly shriek as they skittered towards us on their spiky legs.
One burst out right near Lucas and it struck him across the back and knocked him down. I saw the kid get so...so damn mad. He leapt at the thing and he ripped the thing's front arms off! Couldn't believe it. The kid was maaaaaaaaaaad. And he was screaming a lot too. "I'LL KILL YOU BITCHES!" It was hilarious.
I decided to join in. Getting physical feels GOOD against a proper foe. I ripped one of their heads clean off and chewed it.
Didn't taste that bad, actually. Like slightly bad seafood, but not THAT bad. Maybe a little butter...some wine?
Eventually the kid decided he was gonna try and heal Lucas up. But it wasn't working quite right, he barely looked healed, he was still bleeding. The kid looked confused, but Lucas insisted he would be fine. He could just sit in the MAKO and wait while they handled everything. He'd lock up the MAKO and just wait, he'd be safe inside and they wouldn't take long anyway. He could wait for an hour.
We agreed. One hour. Didn't think it'd take that long.
...it all went to shit from there.
The inhabitants of the Peak were all milling about, talking to each other. We had a collection of businessmen, guards, janitors and merchants who'd been stuck...all of them were talking about the creatures, most of them had no idea what was going on, the scientists seemed to all be dead for all they knew. I chatted it up with an elcor, he told me the train to the laboratory wing was only accessible by keycard, and he had no idea where we could find it. Luckily, the captain of the guards, Ventralis, offered a lead. He said that we should investigate the nearby hot labs, whilst a second team tried to get into the secure labs. Seemed like a good idea, after all, we'd done it so many times before, and we'd never lost a fight we'd been in. Besides, it wasn't a large wing of the peak.
The good news was that we heard from Shepherd that he, Ashley, Kaiden and Nick that they'd found out what was going on at the Hot Labs and what we were facing...the Rachni. THE Rachni. The very threat that the Krogan had been uplifted from their planet to fight against. Some stupid idiots in suits and labcoats had found Rachni eggs and had tried to recreate the species, and they succeeded...too well. Now they were out of control, and they had to get rid of them all.
Then I heard the kid SCREAM and something wet and foul splatter...and I heard the sound of guns cocking as we turned around, seeing Captain Ventralis pointing his weapons at us. Matriarch Benezia had ordered him to get rid of interlopers, the guards were all corrupt...and they were gonna eliminate all witnesses.
Well, we took up position, I managed to get winged slightly in the side, but I PROMISE you, that was the only shot they got off of me. I blew Ventralis's hand clean off, his gun spiraling through the air, landing with a CLAKA-CLAK on the floor as he howled, and I smirked, Grunt and Liara and Tali and I approaching the guards, feeling proud as could be. I told them right to their face, "Did you really think you were gonna stop us? We've beaten hundreds of guards, what made you think this time would be any different?"
And then we saw it oozing out of his mouth. The foam. That ugly, foul-looking greenish foam, and I knew he and the others had swallowed something. I forced Ventralis's mouth open, seeing the remnants of a pill on his tongue, a tooth opened up...
Now I understood how deep Benezia's hold on the guards was. She really was going to make sure there were no witnesses. And we realized there were still the others in the living quarters at the Peak, the ones we'd left behind to try and get into the true lab! I remember hoping, "Oh please, don't let them be, they better not, they WOULDN'T-"
But they did.
My pistol almost fell from my hands as I looked in disgust at the scene before my eyes, their blood staining the floor. Everyone else had been murdered by Ventralis and his guards. We and the Rachni and Benezia were all that were left alive on Peak 15.
Soon, not even THAT would be true.
"I'd only heard of the Rachni in stories." Ashley confessed to the Council as she stood in the meeting room in the Normandy, the holographic forms of the Council staring deep into her eyes as they listened intently. "But I believed the scientist when he said they'd brought the race pretty much back from extinction through their little tests. And he'd told us the Hot Labs were completely infested, they were crawling through the woodwork and had to be purged. He said his leg was broken and he couldn't move. I remember that." Ashley said with a calm nod. "The kid kneels down by him as Shepherd keeps talking, and Nick looks over the wound, but the man sounds so...resigned and depressed. He seemed broken. Hopeless. His face was sunken and he looked like he wanted to shoot himself."
"I imagine it was Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?" The Salarian Councilman inquired, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, faintly froggy eyes blinking a bit as Ashley shrugged.
"I guess. Shepherd was pretty mad about them bringing a species that dangerous back, especially for the whole "Use them as weapons" thing. I remember he covered his face with one hand, and he let out this long, loud groan, and his voice was digging deep into the guy was he spoke. "Did you learn NOTHING from the Rachni Wars", he said. And then he started laughing and he shook his head and said "Oh, wait. You did. But you got the wrong lesson". You thought "More of THAT, please"."
Ashley wryly smiled. "The scientist laughed. Tartakovsky, he says that the plan might have actually worked if Binary Helix hadn't stupidly kept the children away from their mother, the Queen Rachni they'd hatched out. And Kaiden said it made sense, if you keep a child in a closet for that long, they'll go insane."
"Understandable. What occurred next?" The Asari Councilor inquired politely as Ashley cringed shuddered a bit.
"I remember it vividly. The kid looked over the leg, he had a tourniquet over it. It was worse than broken, it was pretty much a stump, almost. So the kid said he'd just heal it up while Tartakovsky gave us the codes for the neutron purge. But just as he was giving us the codes, the floor exploded out, a Rachni rising up from beneath, one of its clawed tentacles shooting forth and impaling the man through his chest. I remember the heart-"
A wet, squelching, PLOP sliding against a red cross as a red heart slid down...down. Slowly sliding to come to a halt on the floor, blood having splattered across a young, innocent face. Pure horror is etched across the young man's expression as Shepherd lets out a cry, the unholy scream echoing through the room. An armored form's roar rushes forward, Kaiden acting out of instinct as it is lifted in the air, tossed against the wall as Shepherd fires on the thing over and over, reducing it into pulp as...
As the kid just sits on his rear, looking floored, hands gripping the floor as he just stares at the still faintly beating heart in front of him, a dead man's body lying just to its left. The kid isn't screaming. He just stares.
And stares.
...and stares.
"...it just...it..." Ashley trailed off. "...he was just staring at it for so long. Then I remember, he...his voice was kind of deadpan." The black-haired woman quietly confessed as she looked down. "So he...he tries to do his thing and sing, and...NOTHING. Just...nothing happens. And so he just quietly gets up and Shepherd can tell, he SEES the kid is just broken. And he tells him that Lucas probably needs him back at the MAKO, and he should go to him."
She cringed, rubbing the back of her head. "The commander was just trying to do him a favor, the kid needed all the help he could get. The boss was really concerned this might have been the thing that pushed him over the edge, I mean...he's seen things that would drive most people up the wall. The fact he still keeps smiling is a miracle every day. But this? Today it was like the levee finally broke. I guess you never know when the next crack that appears will be the one that makes the dam burst open."
"We'll remember your testimony." The Turian councilor sighed, cringing a bit. "It would appear we now must speak to Shepherd, then Liara."
"Liara might...be a while. Wrex went to go speak to her after Shepherd suggested they talk, said Wrex could understand cuz...well...y'know. Both, um...kinda had to kill their own parents." Ashley bluntly admitted.
"In that case, perhaps Shepherd's testimony will be sufficient. We need to know how things went so wrong...and about the Rachni Queen." Spartacus said, the Turian quietly gazing at the doorway as Shepherd entered the room.
...
...
...
...Shepherd was flanked by his crew, Nick and Lucas now back at the MAKO, his eyes quietly gazing at the faintly regal, yet intimidating attire of Matriarch Benezia as Liara gripped her pistol with so much force it looked almost like she'd break it. Nick, in turn, held Lucas's hand so hard he feared he'd break THAT.
"I don't understand. Why isn't it working?!" He murmured. "Why can't I heal you?"
"I'm too old, Nick." Lucas quietly murmured, his voice hoarse as he leaned back in the chair, eyes closing. "...never thought I'd be saying that. Ever since the moment we fell into that crevasse, I...I kinda figured thing's would be switched, y'know?"
"Yeah, I know, I-oh GOD, Lucas, I...I remember when you weren't even up to my BELLY BUTTON!" Nick whispered, feeling the tears brimming. "I...I just...you can't be-I mean...you have to be fine! This has to be fixable, there's-there's gotta be something I can DO, damn it!"
"Have you brought my daughter here, hoping she can, perhaps, 'talk some sense into me'?" Matriach Benezia softly inquired, her back turned as she stood in the center of the large laboratory room, in front of what appeared to be a closed-off glass case with tubes attached to it. "Do you know the privlege of being a mother? There's power in creation. To shape a life...turn it towards happiness...or despair." She intoned, pressing a panel nearby as the Rachni Queen was revealed in the immense glass case, Shepherd cringing a bit. The thing was looking right at them, with a much larger head and huge crests, almost like a kind of crown for a head. It made him gulp slightly even as Benezia continued to speak. "Her children were to be ours. Raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies."
"So that's who the army was for..." Shepherd murmured. "And I'll have you know Liara is here because she WANTS to be. Not because I asked her to."
"Indeed. What have you told your commander about us?" Benezia quietly inquired.
"What could I say? Should I tell her you're insane and evil? Explain exactly HOW to kill you?" Liara said, her voice almost cracking as she shook, clenching her fists tightly.
"As if you could. You shan't be winning this fight."
"I've faced down literally hundreds of people. We all have by now. But I LOVE...I really do..." Shepherd said with a deep frown. "How there's always the one. The one who thinks they've got my number. Everyone else has lost, but no, YOU'RE somehow special?"
"Have you faced a FULL Asari commando unit before, commander? Because few humans have." Benezia quietly inquired, shaking her head as she snapped her fingers.
"You're seriously gonna kill your own daughter?!" Ashley demanded, looking mortified.
"That's morbid." Garrus remarked.
Benezia growled, looking angered by this bit of backseat parenting. "I should have been stricter with her. I realize this now."
"Even surrounded by a blizzard, you're the coldest thing here." Wrex darkly intoned as Tali nodded, reading her combat drone as Shepherd saw a large, expansive platoon of Asari commandos in skintight armored suits making their way into the room, eyes faintly glowing with biotic power as he raised up his assault rifle.
"You don't stand a chance!" He roared out.
"Oh?" Benezia said, her form glowing like a star, with purplish/blue light that froze Shepherd in place as he gasped. A stasis field!? Oh no. Luckily Ashley tackled him, dragging him away just in time to avoid shots from the commandos as Kaiden erected a biotic shield to protect the three of them from their fire, Wrex, Garrus and Tali firing back in return.
"Commander, c'mon, work yourself out of it!" Ashley insisted, Shepherd feeling as though his body was wrapped up in a sizzling electrical cocoon, cringing and gasping as he struggled to break free. Finally, at last, he let out a gasp and shook free as Tali's drone managed to collide hard with a commando, putting some pressure off Garrus and Wrex.
Wrex focused and his huge frame was enveloped in biotic power as he charged forward with a roar at one of the other commandos, Garrus's sniper rifle taking aim. A harsh crack of sniper fire made the commando flinch, a bullet shooting clear through her arm, yet she kept the gun held up, cringing a bit as she used her biotic power to steady herself. She fired back at Garrus, making him gasp as he clutched at his shoulder...
Wrex, in turn, pile-drived right into another commando as Ashley launched a grenade through the air. The commando that had struck at Garrus reeled back, being sent flying into the wall with a THRA-THRUNKA as she slid down, moaning. Kaiden in turn fired back at another commando as more and more of them seemed to sweep in, Shepherd whipping out his assault rifle.
He fired at a canister of explosively hazardous chemicals, one of the Asari who'd been about to launch a powerful blast of biotic power reeling back, burning in flames as she tried to rise up, only for Wrex to plow into her, knocking her down and out. Benezia let out a gasping cry as Tali then let out a yell, her helmet grazed as the unmistakable sight of Geth raced towards them, firing away.
Liara would have none of it. She focused powerfully as the catwalk above, which held another commando, shuddered and shook and then collapsed squarely on top of one of the Geth, crushing it as Kaiden fired off a burning wave of biotic power at another Geth, Garrus's sniper rifle KRA-KRAKING through the laboratory as Benezia gasped again, as if in pain. It was almost white noise, a near-endless wave of commando assault rifles, the shuddering, faintly mystic roar of biotic power surging through the air, explosions echoing through the room as Shepherd tried to fire at Benezia, only to be sent flying through the air again.
He slammed into a large tank, barely rolling away in time before it exploded, sending shards flying everywhere. One embedded into his back and he flinched, white hot agony digging into him as a Geth charged right at him, its flashlight head beaming brightly, aiming squarely at Shepherd before Tali's drone shocked it from behind. Electrical pulsations tore through it, sending it collapsing as Shepherd took aim.
He fired on the last Geth sniper remaining, Benezia now visibly panting and he shuddered in horror as he saw foam beginning to seep out of the commandoes as his crew tried to lift them up, taking their guns away to incapacitate them and knock them out more fully. "Oh no." He murmured aloud.
"MORE suicide pills?!" Garrus gasped out, yanking one Asari's mouth open, seeing an opened-up tooth. "They've got them stuck in their teeth?!"
"What's wrong with my mother?" Liara whispered in horror, seeing Benezia twitching as she clutched at her head, collapsing in a near heap by the Rachni Queen as they approached her, Shepherd intensely looking her over, coming to a realization.
"She's physically connected to them!" Shepherd realized. "She's been feeling everything they felt."
"His...insurance policy to...ensure I did not hold back." Benezia growled. "Saren is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear!"
"I don't think so." Shepherd said, frowning. "We're not going to kill you, Benezia. You're going to be brought to our med bay and fixed up, and we're gonna get to the bottom of this. What exactly were Saren's plans with the Rachni? His next move?"
"I will not be-betray h-him, I-I will..." Benezia began to say, cringing as she clutched at her head, panting and heaving, sweat visibly dripping down her cheeks and forehead. "GODDESS! GAH!" She howled, falling to her knees. "L-Listen, I still hear the whispers in my mind! Saren's compulsions are...stronger than I thought. But I can briefly fight them while I yet draw breath, despite how strong his indoctrination is..."
"Indoctrination? Wait, Shiala talked about that!" Liara murmured. "Remember?" She inquired, Shepherd rubbing his chin and nodding, thinking back to what the poor trapped Asari who'd been stuck with the Thorian had said.
"Benezia underestimated Saren just as I did, we came to believe in his cause and goals. I believe it has to do with that warship he travels in, "Sovereign". Something about it seems to make you more likely to listen to him." The asari Shiala sighed, wrapping her arms around herself and cringing with a shudder. "It "indoctrinates" people, as he put it. The process is subtle, it can take days, weeks, but in the end its absolute if you're exposed just long enough."
"So indoctrination is brainwashing, is that it?" Kaiden asked.
"Sure SOUNDS like it." Ashley admitted.
"The more time you spend around Saren, the more everything he says seems to make sense. You come to idolize him. Practically worship him." Benezia confessed.
"That's disturbing." Wrex grunted. "Bad enough the Geth do that disgusting crap to your body, now he's going after people's minds?"
"When they say 'winning hearts and minds' I don't think that's what they MEANT..." Garrus wryly intoned.
"And they key is his flagship, right?" Tali inquired as Benezia nodded.
"Yes, Sovereign. It's power is extraordinary and it's mass effect drive is positively off the charts." Benezia confessed. "But that ISN'T it's true power. Not only can something so immense land upon a planet, it seems to amplify indoctrination. The longer you stay aboard Sovereign, the more Saren's will seems correct. You just sit at his feet and smile as his words pour into you." She whispered, clutching her face, taking in deep, long, pained breaths, her pupils becoming pinpricks. "I tried to resist...and...he tried not to let himself be swept up in its might. For a time, I believed perhaps, it wasn't too late. I had joined him to try and temper him, to try and sway him from going down a dark path. I thought I was skilled enough, my mind's mental power good enough of a barrier from the effects of indoctrination, but..."
She shuddered again, her body quaking. "He-he sent me here not JUST to get the Rachni for his army. He wanted the location of the Mu Relay, who's position was lost to history thousands of years ago. But the Rachni know of it. Their memories are passed down from queen to queen."
"So even this queen would know the location of it if a queen from eons ago knew it?" Shepherd asked, his eyes widening in surprise as Tali looked intrigued.
"Wow..."
"That's...fascinating, isn't it?" Liara admitted, looking over at the Rachni Queen.
"It would be if they weren't so damn ugly." Wrex muttered. "Then again, I ain't no looker myself."
"But how do you lose a relay?" Kaiden asked. "They're huge!"
"A star nearby the relay went supernova. It didn't destroy the relay, but it did propel it out of its system. But it was sent so far away, nobody knew where it went." Benezia confessed. "Then an entirely new nebula surrounded it!"
"But why does Saren need the Mu Relay? What's so special about it?" Garrus inquired pointedly.
"Simple. It can lead him to "The Conduit", which he believes will help him achieve his ultimate goal. Unfortunately he didn't explain more to me." Benezia confessed. "Luckily, I have the data on the Mu Relay on this OSD..." She admitted, reaching into the folds of her robe, tossing it to Shepherd as she then collapsed backwards, flopping against the wall. "UGH! My...my mind feels like it's on fire, the-the damage done to the commando platoon has been, in turn, transferred to me. This is the danger to psychically linking your mind to others, you can so easily suffer all they do. You feel what they feel, and...well..." She wryly smiled. "This body of mine is old...I can't really...fight as well as I used to."
"But knowing the coordinates isn't enough. Where was he going to go from there?" Liara wanted to know, kneeling by her along with Shepherd as Benezia's breath began to shorten, her chest heaving up and down.
"He didn't...t-tell me...but you must find out. He...he took the coordinates before I arrived, I've given you a copy of the original OSD, the first one I gave to Themis, they're already on their-UGH...ohhh...his...teeth are at my ear...f-fingers at my spine...I won't...be around much longer. I'd sooner die than have my body used as some puppet for that monster!"
"I'm here." Liara whispered, clutching her mother's hand. "Mother! Please! You have to fight it!"
"You've made me so, so proud, little wing. I will see you again with the dawn..." Benezia whispered. "How...how ironic that I...I can't see you NOW, I...why is everything so dark?" She murmured, her pupils growing larger...larger. "I can't...no light, I...they always said there'd be a-"
And then...a final, soft gasp...
And she was gone.
And yet, it wasn't over. For then the Rachni Queen rose up, its multi-segmented "lips" pressed against the glass as Matriarch Benezia's body slowly rose up, Liara gasping as Shepherd gently took hold of her in one arm, the others raising their weapons as a new voice now spoke through Benezia, her form slightly shaking, her eyes gianing an odd faint gleam to them. It sounded almost like an echo of many voices, all speaking at once, deep and commanding and powerful...
"This one serves as our voice. We cannot sing. Not in these low places. Your musics are colorless."
"What are you doing?!" Liara gasped out, her mouth agape.
"We apologize. We are the mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced."
"The Rachni Queen?!" Shepherd gasped out, Wrex frowning deeply as Liara grit her teeth.
"You're using my mother as a puppet to speak?!"
"We are sorry. We have no other way to speak to you." The Rachni Queen explained through the asari matriarch. "Our kind must sing through the touchings of thought. We pluck the strings, and the other understands. She is weak to urging, for she ending."
"Well she did just...well..." Shepherd cringed.
"She has colors we have no names for. Her music is bittersweet, and beautiful. And it is for you." The Rachni Queen said softly as it looked into Liara's eyes. "She knew you were different. Better. You were not in harmony with those that hoped to control us. She trusted in you. We shall do the same. Will we fade away once more? Will you release us? What shall you sing?"
"There are acid tanks attached to this cage she's in." Wrex said, gesturing up at the cage. "Set them off. Millions of my ancestors died to put these things down. Don't let them come back!"
"I...don't think we should." Liara finally spoke up. "There's been enough death today. Too much, I...we can't kill someone that's done nothing wrong to us. I want someone to get out of this alive. Just...someone."
The others could see the pain in her face, Shepherd folding his arms over his chest as he thought it over, head bowed. "If I let you go...would you attack other races again?"
"No. We...I...do not know what happened in the war. We onlt heard discordance, songs the color of oily shadows. We seek a hidden place to teach our children harmony."
"Wait, does that mean...you could have calmed the other Rachni if I hadn't set off that neutron purge?" Shepherd asked, a pit in his stomach forming as he gulped.
"No." The Rachni Queen quietly confessed through Benezia. "Without a mother, children are lost to silence. We can only sing in harmony. You should not sing of them in grey and violet. It was necessary."
"I understand." Shepherd murmured. "...and...I won't destroy your entire race. If I've learned anything, it's that...there's enough people who are hurt and killed every day in this galaxy, and we shouldn't add to it if we can. And anyone who can speak through song...well..."
He quietly smiled.
"They can't be that bad, now can they?"
"Ugh. Fine. My people will just clean up this mess later, like we did for the Salarians." Wrex grumbled as a smile spread across the Rachni's face.
"You'd let us compose anew? We will remember. And sing your forgiveness to our children."
"GREAT. Bugs are writing songs about you. Mark my words, you'll regret this." Wrex grunted as Garrus sniggered at this.
"Thank you, Commander Shepherd." The Rachni Queen intoned, giving a bow with her borrowed body, as Shepherd pressed a few buttons on the nearby console, the cage being lifted up, placed by a nearby doorway, to allow her to leave. Her many faintly whitish/blue eyes gazed back...
Her final words echoing in their mind...in their soul.
"May the light surround you."