THE "BASTION"
SHADOW BROKER RESIDENCE
ILMNOS, IALESSA SYSTEM
23:22 HOURS, NOVEMBER 13th, 2188
BURIED DEEP beneath Ilmnos' scorching surface, the 'Bastion' was the new centre of the Shadow Broker's web, filling a small mountain encased in distortion fields and kinetic barriers, masked by intricately sophisticated holographic projectors that kept prying eyes away.
Exhausted from the seemingly endless collating and processing of reports and scans and information flooding in after the so-called 'Miracle', Liara T'Soni tossed fitfully in her chambers in restless sleep. Half-snippets of dreams and fragmented memories floated through her mind, flitting back and forth in no coherent pattern. A shadow passed over her face.
Liara came awake with a start and an imprecation, gazed around the room with wild eyes and then calmed just as quickly.
"Admiri!"
"Yes, Broker?" The even tones of the Bastion's slaved AI Admiri - 'watcher' in asari - filled the room.
"Scan this room!"
"Specify parameters."
"Anything that doesn't belong!"
"One moment, please. My scan indicates nothing out of the ordinary nor that which deviates from my standard security sweep."
Liara nodded slowly and rubbed her brow. Of course there was nothing different, she was in her own fortress, surrounded by trusted operatives and the best defenses money could buy. She'd awakened with an inexplicable feeling of dread that had threaded its way through her dreams and bordered on outright terror which had then shaken her into consciousness. Yet nothing now. Not a thing out of place.
"If I may, the Phoenix is inbound and expected in five hours local time."
"Thank you. Please wake me when it arrives."
"As you wish. Sleep well, Broker."
Liara sighed to herself and searched through her room with weary eyes. Her bedchamber was circular, half that circle girded with holographic projectors that resembled windows and could project anything she desired. Currently they showed the gentle hills of her childhood home on Thessia, Armali, down to simulated fragrant 'wind', and blowing filmy curtains. Soft light from the distant 'city' spilled from the 'windows'. Her bed was large and round like the room, piled high with pillows and silky creamy-white sheets. The room was tastefully appointed with imported woods and Prothean relics, mementos of her time on both iterations of the Normandy and a gift from Jack of all people, a statue of a Prothean deity - whose name and function had been provided by Javik – called 'Meitheimanamos', the only male god of a largely female-led pantheon. He had been the god of wisdom, war and resurrection. She hadn't asked how Jack had acquired it and Jack volunteered nothing.
As Liara lowered herself back to her pillows, the holodisplay fragmented with faint digital noise that crackled through the idyllic scene to the real Armali as it presently appeared. Liara was out of bed and halfway across the room, biotics at full flare before she'd realized that she'd even moved. There was no way that image could be there, those 'windows' did not have anything in their programs that would display anything even remotely similar.
"Admiri!"
"Broker?"
"Explain that!" Liara thrust a still-flaring finger at the scene, now one of destruction.
"That is scene 11515, projected Armali Province, Thessia, approximately 115 Standard years ago."
"No, it is not!" Liara insisted, the smoking ruins still too vivid before her. "That isn't what I'm seeing!"
"I apologize, Broker, but it is scene 11515, time-coded to accurately replicate the current time in your sleep cycle. It appears quite pleasant and placid."
"I see what it looked like shortly after the end of the War when Armali had been crushed under a Reaper hulk! I certainly did not program that into the simulation!" Liara rejoined, her anger growing. If this was some kind of joke it was in extremely poor taste.
"My apologies, Broker. I will run an extensive diagnostic on the programs within. Diagnostics complete. There is nothing anomalous in the projection software suite. I am currently relaying what it displayed presently to your omnitool."
Liara activated her omnitool and the serene vision of Armali floated before her.
"Rotating the display for confirmation." Serene Armali turned. Beyond it the scene on her walls did precisely the same. Liara blinked in surprise.
"Reset the display," she ordered and it flickered back to its beginning, Thessia's sun setting in rich blues and purples. "Go to timestamp just before I called you and run it." The scene shifted into the rich blue star-speckled darkness of Thessian skies, with the haze of the Athena Nebula a soft glow beyond. The dimili fly – a harmless cicada-like insect thrummed through the hills, its body glowing a pale crimson in the darkness. Liara watched it for a full five minutes. Nothing out of the ordinary appeared. Liara sighed and told Admiri to shut it down and run extensive scans on the equipment, including the wind simulator that replicated the scented air of her homeworld.
"Wind simulation terminated with the program, Broker."
"I can still feel the breeze and smell the air!" She insisted. Liara thought furiously for a moment. "Are there any anomalous signals within the Bastion? Where are our new guests?"
"There are no anomalous signals within the Bastion. Your guests are currently in the holo-observation lounge. There are no emissions from them of any kind. I assure you that my scans indicate everything is as I have stated. Perhaps…"
"Are you going to suggest I might need medical attention?"
"Not at all, Broker. However, since you have brought it up…"
"Don't be ridiculous!"
"Broker, you have been working very hard since the news of the Cessation was reported. I am not suggesting that you are in any way mentally deficient, but my scans do show you are bordering on exhaustion and that has been shown to lead to diminished cognitive functioning."
Liara began to protest again, then relented. She was very tired and it was perfectly possible. No one was invulnerable to the horrors the Reapers had inflicted on the Galaxy. She understood that some things she'd tried to suppress could easily come unbidden in a weakened state.
"May I suggest a delta wave induction emitter to help you sleep? This will allow you to maximize your sleep in the short time you have allotted yourself. I will continuously monitor your chambers down to a molecular level for anything anomalous until you awaken."
Liara dragged herself to her bed and climbed in.
"Yes… yes, I suppose you're correct. A delta wave induction would help quite a bit. Thank you, Admiri."
"Not at all, Broker. Sleep well." The AI activated the DWIE and Liara was soon into deep sleep. It set a part of its consciousness to scan the room continuously and logged the incident. No doubt the Broker would likely wish to review it when she awoke. Satisfied, the AI went back to data-sifting and analysis. Shadows without sources flitted through the room, passed over and around Liara and shivered across open spaces, jagged things that seemed to drip darkness as they moved, pieces of shadow falling from them like ash.
A shadow detached itself from the many that shrouded the room, sliding down to ooze off the wall until it stood free. Many more followed it, and in no particular haste they crossed to Liara's bed and lingered near it for long moments, seething and fluttering to pieces only to reform and shift. They all froze as one reached out to lightly touch her sleeping face.
An instant later they vanished as if hit by a clap of wind.
The holodisplay flashed suddenly and a shadow reappeared in it, the scene now one of the Citadel over Earth, specifically in the chambers of the quarian Ambassador.
The holodisplay went dark. The shadows deepened. From around her bed and from every corner, they began to move, spreading and thickening. Rising over her they suddenly burst into ash that rained lightly down to vanish before it reached her, all save one that floated slowly down to sink into her flesh and vanish.
Liara slept on.