Shepard watched hopelessly as his daughter was taken from him a second time, he could do nothing with so many enemies pinning him down. Liara and him were back to back, shooting at anyone who came to near. There were still so many, they couldn't hold out for much longer. Suddenly there was a voice in his head, or more accurately, his helmet. "Duck Shepard." He obeyed immediately, pulling Liara down with him.
"Hey!" She protested, but he ignored her and pushed her down under him, turning his back to the windows. Knowing what was coming, he grabbed onto the edge of a desk with one hand, and got a firm hold around Liara's waist. Suddenly the room was filled with a roar as bright headlights streamed in through the windows and two huge machine guns fired, filling the air with bullets. The Normandy broke through the glass, and a huge vacuum of air rushed through the new hole into space. Automatically helmets popped up, but those that hadn't known were left floating in the air as the gravity gave out. It would be a few seconds before it would activate again. Shepard turned and was surprised to see Liara so close to him.
They floated in silence, only inches apart, slowly twisting in the air, his arm wrapped around her, the starts shining in. It was as if no time had passed. She looked into his eyes with hers, they were so deep and clear and blue; he felt his heart constrict. He knew from that moment that he would not let her go a second time. It had been a mistake to wait this long. There was a bang and a crash as the artificial gravity engaged, and they crashed to the floor. A hand grabbed at his shoulder, pulling him away from Liara, and wrapped around his neck, choking him.
Udina had worked his was over and was now strangling the commander for all he was worth. Shepard hit his helmeted face with his elbow, knocking him back. Udina was caught into the flow of air rushing out the window, but at the last second, his hand caught onto a shard of glass, cutting him, but holding him there.
"Father!" Yane tried to run to him, but there was so much debris in the way his going was slow, "hold on!"
"You have failed me!" Udina yelled. Shepard could tell he was losing his grip.
"No, wait!" Yane struggled forward.
"You'll never see your mother now!" Udina screamed, insane. His own blood from his cut hand was his downfall. He lost his grip on the slick glass and was sucked through into space, hitting the windshield of the Normandy with a sickening crack on the way out.
"No!" Yane collapsed by the window, holding onto a pipe to keep from being sucked out. A moment later the roar died down as all the air escaped. Shepard walked silently over to the distraught teen, and put a hand on his shoulder. The boy didn't look up. Liara came from behind and nodded before launching herself out the window, a rope had been deployed from the airlock. Shepard grabbed the kid, who didn't struggle, and he too jumped into space. He grabbed the rope and was pulled into the Normandy along with Liara.
Sound regained itself as pressurized air hissed into the enclosed space. Shepard took off his helmet, panting slightly from exertion. The boy already had his off. He was doubled over, crying.
"Hey," Shepard said awkwardly, "I know he was your father and everything…" he started but the boy looked up with fierce eyes.
"I could care less about my dad," he shouted, "except that he had my mother, and now that he's dead, I'll never find her!" Shepard bent down and placed a hand on him.
"You know, I just recently found my daughter, but right now she is in trouble, and I could lose her. You wouldn't want to lose your mom, and I know you care about Mali. We need your help Yane to get her back. Your mother isn't in mortal danger right now, but Mali is." The boy sniffled.
"You know the only reason I ever helped him was because of my mom." He said. "I never did want to do any of the things I did. I do care about Mali."
"Ok," Shepard stood up, "then help us get Mali, and I'll see what I can do about your mom."
"Alright." The boy nodded. "You'll need a Kodiak to land on the relay. There is a room there specially built for Mali, but there is security, and Strojnik to deal with." He answered, wiping his eyes.
"We will just follow your lead." Shep nodded. They clambered out of the airlock with Liara, who had been silently watching the whole time, and they made their way to the hangar. "Joker, thanks bud. We are taking the Kodiak down. Message Anderson and tell him to get his fleet ready, there might be a reaper coming in soon."
"Roger." They shuffled into the small ship and Shepard sat at the controls.
"Alrighty then, here goes." He started it up and the hangar opened. They lifted off into space and the mass relay filled their vision. It was twice as big as the old alpha relay, its long silver arms not pointed toward the galaxy, but away from it, into deep space. The space where the core was usually placed was still dark and cold, the relay wasn't powered up yet. They flew as fast as they could toward the small docking bay that Yane pointed out.
Around them the Alliance fleet was arriving, coming in heavy still in FTL speeds. Huge dreadnaughts and thousands of fighters were surrounding the mass relay, but Shepard didn't know if it would be enough. Suddenly Anderson's voice came in through the speakers in the Kodiak. "Shepard. We are prepared in case the reaper comes through, but let's not let that happen."
"Yes, sir." Shepard responded. They slowed down as they came parallel with the dock. There was already another Kodiak there, a sleek black one. Alenko. Shepard docked and the doors opened. They all got out, unsure what to do next. The platform they were on was the weirdest he had ever been on. They were completely in space, surrounded by stars, but artificial gravity kept their feet on the ground. Small lights led the way down the short path to a glass door that was locked.
"How do we open it?" Shepard's voice came through with lots of static through his helmet speakers.
"I know the code, but once I enter it Alenko will know we are here. There are security mecs, be ready." Yane approached the door with his omni-tool and plugged in a few letters and numbers. The door opened, but almost immediately mecs spilled out. The white robots had deadly aim, but they were no match for Liara's biotics. She simply ripped them off the dock away from the pull of the gravity and they floated helplessly away into space.
"Nice." Yane gave her an appreciating glance. They ran through, there was only one hall leading down and curving to the left, glowing white. They stormed down it, and were met with more mecs. At this point nothing was going to stop them from getting to Mali, and there was nothing hunks of cheap steel and wires could do to stop them. After the mecs they were met with another door, this one steel. "She's through there. This one I will have to hack." He bent down and started doing his work. Around them the mass relay started to hum and vibrate.
"Hurry." Shepard urged. Yane keyed in a few symbols and the door slid open. On the other side, Alenko was bent over a control panel, furiously typing. Mali was suspended between two steel rods hanging in the air, connected to the exact middle of the mass relay. The core was incased in a glass cube below her feet, fitted into a spherical port that almost encased it. Around her two huge concentric metal blades started moving, sweeping around her, getting faster. It looked like Mali was unconscious, or very near to it. Electricity from her body was responding to the pull of the mass relay, it was snaking out of her body into the two metal rods she was connected to. Only a small metal walkway led to her, barely two feet across and suspended in empty space.
"Alenko!" Shepard shouted. The man turned around, smiling.
"You're too late Shepard, say goodbye to your daughter." He pressed a button on the control panel, and the mass relay fired. A huge shock reverberated through the rods into Mali, and her body responded immediately. Her body became stiff, and started to float in the middle of the increasingly blue surroundings, as if she was holding herself up and not the rods. Her eyes shined silver, biotic flames erupted from her skin and licked at the stars, the blades spun faster and faster. Liara was starting to be blown back by their massive force.
Shepard launched himself at Alenko. Guns forgotten, they went old style, locked in an intense melee combat. "Oh how I've waited for this day!" Alenko shouted, gleefully malicious.
"Mali!" Liara called out over the roar, but Mali stared through her, not seeing her. She looked like an angel that had fallen to Earth. Her skin had started to glow with a bright white tinge, her irises were pools of liquid silver.
"She can't hear you." Yane said. "Her body is in overload, she's literally having the life sucked out of her. The mass relay won't only suck her biotic energy, but her life energy as well if it has to."
"I'll have to go get her then." Liara said.
"Are you crazy?" Yane said. "If you pull her out now, the whole thing would get disrupted and it would blow!"
"Then what if I stayed with her? Would my added biotic power save her?" Liara asked. Yane calculated in his head.
"I don't know, it would be a close call." All at once in front of them a blast of pure white energy erupted from the girl and jumped between her and the core. Her power was filtered through the core, and amplified by a thousand, a huge surge of energy exploding from the arms of the relay a thousand feet away. The huge beam of blue light blasted into space, cutting the darkness in half and outshining the stars. It blinded the team and shook the platform, the temperature rose to a sweltering degree. "There is nothing that will stop the reaper from coming now." Yane shook his head, "but if you joined forces with her, maybe your combined strength would be enough to preserve Mali's life."
Liara nodded, "than that's what I'll do. Shepard!" She called to him. He had just finished pounding Alenko to a pulp, he turned, armored fists bloody, fire glinting in his eyes through his helmet. "Get back to the Normandy! That reaper is coming through. You can kill it. I know how to save Mali." Shepard took one longing glance at his daughter, than nodded and jogged back the way they had come. Alenko wasn't moving on the ground. "Yane, you tie him up, and make sure he doesn't cause any more problems." She nodded to the cyborg.
"Be careful." She handed him her gun.
"Not when Mali's life is in danger." She answered, and then stepped onto the catwalk. By now the blades were whipping around her so fast Liara could barely see them. Blue light was shining out in a huge sphere that encased the whole area in a giant ball of light. Electricity crackled everywhere, and the heat was scorching. In front of her Mali's body was starting to show strain, her muscles were corded and tight under her armor, her body seemed ready to split in half, so torn apart was she by the energy crackling from her. The huge beam kept pulsing outwards, no doubt pulling the reaper towards them at that very moment. Liara inched her way toward her, keeping her hand in front of her face in an effort to shield her eyes from the glare. All she could hear was the own pounding of her heart and her breathing in her ears. One slip and she would fall into oblivion.
I
Mali felt so hot she thought for a second that her dream had finally come true and she was on a beach in California, but then she opened her eyes and saw blue light suffused around her. Two huge blades swept around her, intertwining with each other as they circled. Her body was in so much pain Mali didn't even know it was possible. Her mouth opened and behind her helmet she screamed one long howl of suffering, electricity crackling across her teeth. She was going to be torn apart by her own power. She could feel it coursing through her body, she had never felt so powerful, but at the same time she was powerless. It came alive in her, but was then sucked out and into the core.
She threw her head back, it felt like her armor was melting into her skin. Bright light was everywhere, it blinded her eyes, she couldn't see anything. The mass relay was sucking her dry, soon she would just be an empty husk like the reaper she had ridden here. Suddenly there was a hand on her arm, pulling her away, no, pulling themselves closer to her. They grabbed onto her waste, and worked their way up to her head, which they then turned. Electricity jumped from her body to theirs, shocking them, but they didn't flinch. The person turned her head to look at them. Liara. How had she gotten here?
Mali tried to speak, tried to tell her to get away, but she couldn't. Liara put both hands on either side of Mali's helmeted head, making sure she couldn't turn away. Liara's body had been caught up in the gravitational pull around Mali, and so she was suspended in the air by her. The asari's eyes suddenly turned black, and Mali knew what was coming, having done this once before. Their nervous systems melded, and Liara joined the channeling process. Less energy was being taken from her, energy flowed from Liara's body to Mali's. She had given Mali enough of herself back so that she could think, and even amidst that torrent of chaos, Mali had an idea.
Shepard stood behind Joker's chair on the Normandy, hand clamped tightly on the headrest. He had hated leaving his daughter, but he knew he had had to. Besides, Liara was probably more capable then him to deal with what had been going on down there anyway. Part of him, in a detached fatherly way, reveled with pride at what his daughter was doing. Such a display of power and strength was incredible, powering a mass relay? Impossible except for Mali. But he also knew it was killing her, and that made it not ok.
He stared out the windshield into space, looking into the beam. A huge black spot was slowly working its way closer, being pulled in by its power. Sojourner. If Shepard could guess, it was probably three times bigger than the largest reaper he had seen. It was hard to discern, but he thought it looked mostly like the ancient race of the Leviathans, whom he had only met once, and was hoping to never meet again. "Target will be in range within three seconds." Joker said.
"Fire!" Shepard yelled. Kasumi, Oliver, and Cadence joined them on the bridge. The entire Alliance fleet opened fire on the reaper, and for a second, it looked like it would be destroyed. It hovered in the beam, held back by the barrage of ammunition chucked at it, but then it continued on, getting closer. "This won't be enough!" Shepard yelled. "It's just too big!" Then suddenly something changed. The beam of light was changing, turning from white to a light pinkish color. "What is going on?" Shepard asked.
"No, that's impossible." Kasumi shook her head. "No one can do that."
"What? What?" Shepard asked.
"Your daughter is changing the energy, converting it. That should be impossible. She's turning it from debrastional to abrational."
"English please!" Shepard yelled.
"The mass relay power is specifically designed to be energy that does not hurt a ship. The way it's built prevents the beam from hurting the ship, or you would be a metal crisp the moment you immersed your ship into the beam. That girl is changing it so it does hurt the ship. It should be impossible, it goes against everything the mass relay was built for."
"Unless she's drawing power from the mass relay and channeling it herself." Cadence piped up. "A total redirection of the flow of energy, a pull instead of a push, could be enough to convert it." Kasumi shook her head in amazement.
"No human could channel that much power and live." She said.
"If anyone could, it could be Mali." Shep said.
"Her name is Mali?" Kasumi asked, raising an interested eyebrow.
"Somali, Mali is a nickname." Shepard answered absentmindedly, watching the beam of light turn blood red, like a laser.
"Somali…" Kasumi smiled, recalling the mission. "She was worth it after all." She murmured.
Mali sucked the power right out of the mass relay, depending on Liara's added strength to give her breathing room to manipulate the flow of energy. She called it back to her, instead of her power going through the core and into the mass relay, it was the opposite. She pulled it from the core, and then blasted it back through the relay, changing the energy flow. She didn't know how she knew it would work, it was just a feeling she had. It burned though her but she held on, she had a job to finish.
Mali blasted it though the relay in front of her, red encasing them now. It felt like she was a part of the beam, like she was connected to it. She was the one that started tearing holes into the reaper's hull. She blasted huge chunks from its body. She set fire to its insides, blasting its protective shields away. She took it apart piece by piece, blasting every bit into oblivion. Yet it was not defeated. This reaper was old; more ancient than anything she had ever felt.
Its mind was filled with hatred so deep it terrified Mali. Its strength was enormous. It was going to win, if she didn't find its core fast. Mali searched inside the ship, tearing at it as she went. Mali tried to remember what Shepard had taught her about reapers; her strength was almost up. Mali could feel herself slipping. She poured the beam into every inch of the reaper and found it in the deepest, darkest place inside the reaper, almost like its soul.
When she got close to it, a voice started to fill her head. It was deep and powerful and battered at her senses as if to break them down. Some much hate and anger surrounded her. "I will destroy you. I WILL DESTROY EVERTYTHING!" The reaper overwhelmed Mali's defenses, surrounding her on all sides. Mali's mind was like a small island caught in a hurricane, so big was the reapers mind. She screamed as it pounded at her brain like a nail being driven into her skull. Outside, the reaper was emerging from the beam, its nose was clear. The Alliance were vainly firing at it, trying to keep it in. Mali closed off her mind, hunkering down as deep as she could to escape the reaper's soul. It screamed, searching for her. Mali knew this was her last chance; she summoned what strength she had left for one final push.
With one huge final surge of power Mali blasted through and into the core, striking it at its very center. It cracked and exploded, its energy blasting out and finishing itself off. With one last scream the reaper fell, and was pushed back into the beam, completely being incinerated. It was dead. Mali let go of the power, she pulled it in like a reel, Liara took over at this point. The asari closed off their connection to the core and energy field, and separated their minds. Mali was completely dry, she had nothing left. Her head hung and lolled, her body hung limply as the mass relay powered down. Her heart beat a slow, erratic rhythm, her muscles shook with exhaustion.
She was unclipped, and she fell to the floor of the platform. Liara fell, panting, next to her. "Mali." She checked for a pulse, and found a small, almost indistinct one. "You did great baby, now hold on, just hold on." Mali dimly heard her radio the Normandy. She saw Yane running toward them, he had a black eye. Then her eyes rolled back into her head and she went unconscious.