"I don't know if you knew, but turians aren't huge fans of the cold." Garrus grumbled next to Shepard, looking the picture of misery. Shepard simply grinned in response. "I'm just saying, maybe next time we could pick somewhere a little warmer. With a beach."

"I'll make sure to put in your request with the geth." The commander chuckled.

Ashley rolled her eyes. The two never stopped. She didn't understand how Shepard was so at ease around these aliens but so cold towards everyone else. Her eyes glanced between the two as they walked down the hall towards the security checkpoint, then to Liara as the asari shivered. The bird did have a point. Even inside, it was freezing.

She looked outside through the window-lined walls and into the raging blizzard devastating Port Hanshan. Everything was white. It reminded her of Christmas with her family the years her father was stationed on Earth. Her lips turned downwards into a frown. God, I miss them. Ashley glanced back down the hall, noticing a few security personnel had gathered to greet them. Apparently, they hadn't been bluffing about verifying Shepard's identity.

Ashley watched the Spectre clench his fists as the guards grunted something about unscheduled arrivals. He did that a lot, she had noticed. She had heard stories about the man, about Akuze, about his misconduct charges in the months following. If the extranet could be believed, the man had brawled his way through the bars in Vancouver during his forced leave, even punching out a reporter covering the story. Alenko had told her the only reason he'd gotten back on his feet and into the N7 program was because of Anderson. Ashley didn't know what was true, but watching the man now, his shoulders set as he stepped menacingly forward, she couldn't help but think he was dangerous.

"I'm Commander Shepard." He growled. "I'm a Spectre, and I'm authorized to investigate this facility. Step aside."

The blonde snorted, looking at her surperior. "Load of horsecrap, ma'am."

"We'll have to confirm that. Also, I must advise you that firearms are not permitted on Noveria. Sergeant Stirling, confiscate their weapons."

The reaction was instant. Shepard drew his pistol, pointing it directly at the guard's head. Ashley and Garrus followed suit, Liara nervously moving her hand towards her own weapon. Blue light was dancing over the asari's skin.

"Try it." Shepard snarled. The man was in complete contrast to who he had been moments before with Garrus. None of the same light was in his eyes. It was unnerving.

"Captain Matsuo! Stand down." A voice cried out over the intercom. Shepard did not lower his weapon. "Commander Shepard's identity has been confirmed. Spectres are authorized to carry weapons here." The woman, Matsuo, sighed and gestured to the others to comply. Shepard waited a moment before doing the same.

"You may proceed, Spectre. I hope the rest of your visit will be less confrontational." The guard captain said grudgingly, stepping aside. Shepard walked past her without a second look.

Ashley watched, irritated, as some assitant named Parasini doted on Shepard. The soldier wasn't surprised as Parasini took every chance to flirt, no doubt making up for the less than warm welcome they had received. The woman's tight-fitted dress and heels didn't seem to distract the Spectre though; his face hard, mouth set in a tight line as he simply nodded to her directions and made blunt inquiries to the whereabouts of their goal. When Benezia came up, Liara's eyes grew wide.

"Benezia? She is here?" The girl gasped. Ashley sighed. This is going to be messy.

Shepard continued after casting a cautious glance towards the asari. He seemed to like T'Soni about as much as Ashley, if she was reading him right in their debriefing after Therum, but she could see a hint of worry in otherwise cold eyes. As their commander asked about the Matriarch and directions to Peak 15, Ashley caught herself staring again. She cursed herself silently. Focus on the mission. They left Pasasini, descending into the headquarters of the Noveria Development Corporation. Shepard pulled Liara aside into a stairwell, undoubtedly to have a chat about her mother.

Ashley thought back to the night before, to the little chat Shepard had had with her. What had started off as confrontational ended somewhere… nice. Friendly. Watching him laugh with her, tease her, had shined a light on a different side of him. He seemed younger then, his green eyes sparkling with good humor as they reminisced. And she was damn grateful he hadn't mentioned anything about her oogling him while he pounded that punching bag. He was just so damn hot, a fact he seemed to be completely oblivious to.

The man was sculpted flesh. It was hard to miss while he was wearing that tight grey t-shirt. And his rugged good looks, all scruffy beard and chiseled jaw. Those haunting green eyes. He was by all rights tall, dark, and handsome. She was surprised the female crewmembers hadn't all thrown themselves at him by now. Ashley shook herself out of it as the man in question walked back to her and Garrus, Liara in tow. This isn't the time to be daydreaming about your commanding officer, Williams. She scolded herself internally.

"Come on, let's move out." Shepard grunted, and the team followed him across the bustling business center.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ashley shouldered her assault rifle, picking off the skittering insects as they got close. She swore under her breath. Of all the things that could try and kill us today, it had to be giant, angry bugs. Shepard squashed a few under his boot and led them deeper into Peak 15.

The drive over had been treacherous, but after their first experience with Shepard's driving on Therum, she hadn't expected anything less. She was going to ask to drive next time. The man didn't seem to understand there were more options than full-speed ahead and complete stop. The turian and asari seemed to feel the same way, having stumbled out of the vehicle looking decidedly worse for wear.

She noticed Garrus was staring at the corpse of one of the insects he had gunned down a few moments before. Headshot. He and Shepard seemed to be insatiable showoffs when they had their rifles in hand. He didn't seem to be concerned with the wound though, strolling over to it and prodding the dead bug with a two-toed boot.

"What is it?" She asked, curious. Whatever else the bird might be, she had to admit he seemed to be observant. He looked up at her in surprise, twitching those odd mandibles.

"These things just look… familiar." He said quietly, adding with a shrug, "It's probably nothing." She nodded, turning to see Shepard staring at her in surprise. She rolled her eyes. I said I'd try, didn't I?

"Come on. That VI said we'd find Benezia in the hot labs. Let's get this tram online and find out what she's doing here." Shepard commanded, but kept her gaze for a few moments. She didn't look away.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Benezia was dead, Liara next to her in a sobbing heap. Shepard hovered a moment, his face haunted, before kneeling down beside the asari, rubbing her back in a soothing gesture. Ashley sighed, sympathetic. The girl had just helped them fight and kill her own mother. The distrust she felt towards the asari was beginning to fade.

Liara and Shepard stood as the man pulled her into a hug. Ashley felt her eyebrows shoot up. That had not been what she was expecting. Ashley hadn't taken the man as one that offered such compassionate gestures. The asari began to calm, murmuring her thanks to the commander as they pulled away from one another. He simply nodded, looking like he was about to say something else but stopping short as he pulled the woman behind him, pistol raised.

One of the asari commandos was now standing again, approaching the commander on slow, uncoordinated feet that reminded Ashley of the old Earth zombie vids. What the hell? Didn't we kill her already?

"This one serves as our voice." An eerie, dual-toned voice escaped the asari. Her eyes were lifeless. Ashley looked at Shepard, and followed his gaze towards the tank behind the walking corpse. The giant bug was now facing them, antennas flayed open in five-pointed stars directed towards the previously dead asari. "We cannot…sing. Not in these low places. Your musics are…colorless."

Her speech was choppy, straining. The rachni is controlling her corpse! Ashley realized with disgust, her grip on her weapon tightening. Shepard seemed to have come to the same realization, a snarl appearing on his face.

"You better have a damn good reason for controlling her." He spat furiously, not looking at the asari any longer. "What do you mean by 'musics'?"

"Your way of communicating is…strange. Flat. It does not color the air. When we speak, one moves all." The rachni queen/dead asari said by way of an attempted explanation. Ashley was left unenlightened.

"This is going to be a fun conversation." Garrus murmured next to her. She couldn't help but agree.

"We are the…mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced." The insect continued, "We are rachni."

We know that bit. Ashley thought warily, eyeing up the queen. She was huge, a lot bigger than her 'children'. Garrus and Liara had been shocked when they learned from the Peak 15 scientists of the insects' true identity: rachni. Ashley had heard of them before; some extinct race that had gotten their asses kicked by the krogan. But she hadn't paid much attention when being taught about alien wars in school. If the look on her two alien squad mates' faces was any indication of what that war had been like, however, she would probably have to start giving the crawling monsters a little bit wider berth.

"How are you talking through her?" Shepard growled.

"Our kind sing through touchings of thought. We pluck the strings, and the other understands. She is weak to…urging." The queen answered. "She has colors we have no names for. But she is ending. Her music is bittersweet. It is beautiful." This did not seem to do anything to help Shepard's anger, but he said nothing. The queen continued. "The children we birthed were stolen from us. They did not learn to sing. They are lost to silence." Her voice was sorrowful through the asari. "End their suffering. They cannot be saved. They will only cause harm as they are."

Her statement seemed to startle Shepard, his eyes widening slightly. "You want us to kill your children?" He asked, obviously baffled.

"These…needlemen. They stole our children. Sought to turn them into beasts of war. Claws with no songs of their own!" The queen cried, her horror apparent. "Our elders are comfortable with silence. Children know only fear if no one sings to them. Fear has shattered their minds."

"Makes sense." Garrus commented. "No child left alone while they develop would be sane."

"We'll end their suffering." Shepard murmured, a hand running through his hair. Ashley caught a glimpse of his face. He looked…regretful?

"It is lamentable. But necessary. This one sings gratitude." The queen replied sadly. "Before you deal with our children, we stand before you. You are not in harmony with those who would control us."

Her statement caused Shepard to glance back to the tank seriously. "What will you sing? Will you release us?" The queen's question sounded hopefully through the asari, "Are we to fade away once more?"

The commander stepped forward, staring at the rachni's many eyes. He can't be actually considering it. "Commander, I don't trust this thing – we know its kind are killers. We weren't here during the Rachni Wars, who knows what they're capable of in numbers." Ashley spoke up quickly, seeing the man debating it with himself. "That tank is rigged with acid. We should use it."

Shepard looked up at her seriously, studying her. Don't do it. She willed him. She couldn't think of anything good that would come from unleashing a giant insect broodmother on the galaxy.

"No! We can't judge her based on the actions of her ancestors!" Liara spoke up for the first time, her voice still rasped from crying. "They let the krogan go too far! This is our chance to atone. This queen has done nothing to us." Ashley gaped at her, then glanced to Shepard. He was looking back at the tank. No! She swung her head to the turian. He looked no more certain than Shepard on what to do, his mandibles clamped tight to his face as he watched their commander.

"If I let you go," Shepard started, his voice tense and uncertain, "would you want revenge on the other races?"

"No." The queen said firmly. "We do not know what happened during the war. We only heard discordance. Songs the color of oily shadows." Her voice was thick with disgust. "We would seek a hidden place. Teach our children songs of harmony. If they understand, perhaps then we would return."

"How do you know of the war? Were you a survivor?"

"No. We were only an egg, hearing mother cry in our dreams. A tone of space hushed one voice after another. It forced the singers to resonate with its own sour yellow note." Ashley thought she heard a hint of fear now in her words. "Then we awoke in this place. The last echo of those who came out from the singing planet."

Shepard sighed, hand coming to pinch the bridge of his nose. Everyone was silent, all eyes on the commander as he looked up once more at the tank. "I'm letting you go." He announced, his voice hollow.

"What! Commander, these things were hunted to extinction for a reason!" Ashley cried, stepping towards him. "Her 'children' just massacred the people in there! What if that had happened on Tokyo, or Armstrong, or even the Citadel? It's too dangerous!" Her voice was desperate. He can't do this.

"Killing this queen would be total genocide, Williams." Shepard growled back, turning to face her. His eyes were oddly sad though, lacking his usual fight. "I can't be the one to decide that." The Spectre looked back over his shoulder at the rachni. "She hasn't done anything to deserve death. She's only ever been their slave." His voice had grown quiet.

"But sir –"

"You will give us a chance to compose anew?" The queen asked, her voice joyful. "We will remember. We will sing of your forgiveness to our children!"

Shepard moved towards the console, forgetting Ashley's protests. The tank began to rise as he keyed in the sequence for release, its ceiling opening to the sky above. The queen was free.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The team was silent as they rode the elevator down to Peak 15's bottom floor. Shepard hadn't said a word after releasing the queen. Ashley was fuming. It was a mistake. His mercy had just doomed thousands of others whenever the queen began producing more of her 'children'. She knew it.

They stepped into an open room, Shepard approaching a lone man cautiously. Ashley stood a ways back as they discussed initiating the purge sequence to wipe out the remaining rachni. There was an ominous scuttling in the walls their whole way down. I can't wait to get off this damn planet.

A sudden commotion pulled her from her thoughts as Shepard's hand flew towards his gun. Too late. The Russian scientist's abdomen had been ripped open, an antenna unfurling from it in a bloody mess. The insect lifted him, then dropped him down in a lifeless heap. The squad wasted no time opening fire.

"Goddamn it!" Shepard snarled, kneeling beside the dead man. He pulled up the man's omni-tool with his own, finding the initiation code for the purge. He stood and stormed towards the back room without another word. Garrus glanced at Ashley, his eyes dark with concern, before following. Ashley looked at Liara. The asari was staring at the ground again.

"Come on." She said simply, unable to help feeling sympathetic for the girl. The asari's gaze snapped up to hers, and she nodded. They followed the others into the next room, there finding Shepard busy trying to convince Mira the VI he really did want to activate the neutron purge. When the VI mentioned the lethality of the purge to all known life forms, Shepard nodded, turning to his squad.

"Be ready to run like hell." He said simply. "Initiate the purge."

"Authorization code required."

"Code input 875-020-079. Code Omega location execution."

"Code Omega execution in 120 seconds."

"Let's move!" Shepard ordered, turning towards the door. A screech of metal and rachni cries sounded from behind them.

"Never easy, Shepard." Garrus groaned, hoisting his rifle.

"We need to get to that elevator. Pull up together, watch all sides. Do not break formation. Williams, you and I take point." The commander said quickly. "Move out."

The squad darted quickly into the main room, guns firing instantly as they were greeted by a mass of screaming rachni. Ashley blasted the bugs with her shotgun as they got close, rewarding a particularly determined one a kick in the face as it scuttled towards her. She heard Shepard firing shot after shot at her back, the thumps of falling bodies confirming he had hit his marks. Garrus pelted the creatures with his assault rifle - his shots were well timed even with the more rapid-firing weapon.

Liara was throwing out biotic singularity and warp fields as fast as she could, exhaustion still evident on her face from their earlier battle with the commandos. Ashley could tell the girl was powerful, but by the way her shoulders slumped now, she didn't know if she would make it to the elevator. There's so many!

"Liara!" The commander shouted, obviously having took note of the asari's struggle as well. The girl had stumbled. Ashley blasted a rachni as it loomed over her. Ashley ran forward, grabbing the asari by the wrist and bringing her arm around her shoulders.

"Cover me!" She shouted, half-carrying the drained biotic the next few paces to the elevator. Shepard and Garrus followed, fending off the pursuing rachni. Ashley pushed the asari the rest of the way into the elevator, the woman stumbling, her head lolling back as she leaned against the wall. The soldier turned, bringing her shotgun back up as a rachni broke through Shepard and Garrus' line. She fired, but too late – the insect had spat a projectile of burning green venom. It hissed through the soft materials of her armor, eating a patchwork into her flesh.

"Fuck, Ashley!"

Shepard caught her as she fell, and suddenly they were in the elevator. The commander held her up, slamming his hands on the controls and turning to fire his pistol a final few times before the closing doors cut off the rachni's screams. Her leg was on fire. She grasped tightly at the man's armored shoulder, clenching down on her jaw to keep from crying out.

"Joker, we need an immediate pick up." Ashley heard his voice, but her vision was fuzzy with pain. "Then do your fucking best. Tell Doctor Chakwas we have incoming wounded."

Then he was carrying her.