~ I don't own mass effect, Bioware and EA does ~
24.03.0005 PRW
Citadel Embassies
Krogan Embassy
Zaire didn't know how long they had been at the Krogan Embassy. The Human Embassy had delivered edible food and Zaire had barely left the rooms that Wrex had allocated for her. The bed was comfortable and Liara always stayed with her even as she slept, keeping her exhausted mind from breaking in two. Even now she felt her lovers mind, joined with her own.
Even in her state Zaire knew what was happening to her. PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The aftermath of so many Soldiers and Civilians alike, their lives after the War scarred.
She had 'talked' with Liara about what it did to humans, and Liara had done some research of her own. She was going to see a psychiatrist on Thessia, if the Council dealt with the Republic properly that is. Said Psychiatrist had apparently dealt with a number of high profile people, and her sessions were being kept off the books to ensure privacy.
The Galaxy at large had been in uproar upon seeing their 'hero' or 'champion' for the first time in five years. Media had been speculating on where she had been and what she was doing.
Stupidly, it had gotten out of C-Sec that the people who had attacked her and had been responsible for such a violent action were the Asari Republic.
Which was as entertaining to watch as a slaver ship crash though orbit. Impossible to look away from, even as you wince in unintended and undeserved sympathy.
Wrex had been very vocal in his anger against the Republic, and according to Liara, there was a few lower Matriarchs on Thessia who had been asking the Shadow Broker on the likelihood of a Krogan invasion of The Asari homeworld.
Liara had replied to the queries with: 'The Krogan are the least of your worries, no one crosses a agent of the Shadow Broker.' Which sent a lot of the smaller Asari household names clamoring to start demanding the heads of the Asari Government, and that meant that there was a good chance that the old bitches in charge were about to lose their jobs, which despite everything made her smile.
The Rachni had also made their displeasure known, and despite their insistence on their continual isolation from the rest of the Galaxy, there were mutterings that Rachni warships had been spotted on the border of Asari space.
The new Quarian/Geth, Vail Alliance had officially cut ties with the Asari Republic until those responsible were extradited to the Citadel for an independent trial, with the Turian Hierarchy making noise of doing something similar.
All in all, the Republic was on increasingly shaky ground, with the Asari people also crying out for a change in management, and C-Sec stepping up their game in getting the names of those who ordered the attack out of T'roaza, with the Shadow Broker confirming it, it was almost a done deal.
Zaire herself wasn't keeping tabs, Liara was doing so better than she ever could. What Zaire was instead focusing on was herself, and her past actions.
She had literary ordered Grunt to kill 100+ Asari Commandos, who had probably only been following orders. Hell, according to C-Sec they hadn't even known she was the target, only that it was high profile and that they were to deal with her escort.
She had done a similar thing before, leaving around 100 humans on a crumbling space station to die. They had been Orthius, sure, but over one hundred people. There was definitely something wrong with her head, and Zaire thought she knew what it was.
She had literary had a time skip from the most desperate time in Citadel history, to peacetime with those same people who she had protected turning on her. She had been force to make choices like letting one thousand innocent civilians die on one world, or a hundred thousand on another. Unlike the rest of the Galaxy, she was still subconsciously in Wartime. She was still thinking in grey areas unnecessarily and that the Reapers were still coming, because unlike everyone else, she hadn't spent five years having it reinforced into her head.
She felt Liara shift in their embrace, and a thought not her own entered her head.
Garrus and Tali.
Yes, one of the two good things to mention. When the news broadcasted the whole thing over the extranet, the Galaxy practically had an aneurysm. But both Tali and Garrus had taken a leave of absence from their respective governments and had used the time to get on a shuttle and come to the Citadel, where they were now dealing with the Council and the Board on Zaire's behalf.
Another thought, this time a combination of both their minds. Asari didn't marry like Humans did, but normally when an Asari met a partner and melded deeply enough they leave a mark, stating to all other Asari that they were 'Bonded'. But Asari still bonded with each other, despite the pure blood stigma, it was mostly considered scandalous in higher house holds. With common Asari, bonding with their own kind was rather common on colony worlds, and some of the more densely populated parts of Thessia too.
These Asari usually spent hundreds of years together, if not their entire lives, and an old but still used union was done when two Asari bonded for life. It was called Aethira. Where each Asari literary imprinted a piece of their deepest mind, some say soul, into the others mind.
While they had been at the embassy, Zaire had shown Liara everything. Even the parts of her life that she commonly suppressed and walled off in fear of hurting her Asari. No walls, there had been nothing between them. When they had both witnessed her pain, watching in detail some of the most horrific and damaging memories Zaire had, Liara in turn, done the same, and they watched as Liara's mother, Benezia, slowly became more detached. When Liara had gone to university, only to be ridiculed by the popular and elite. Watched though the Asari's eyes as her mother died at Novaria and when she saw Zaire in that cryogenic chamber as she handed her to Cerberus.
They didn't realise what they had truly done until they had exited the meld an hour later, and Zaire could still feel Liara's presence, and the Asari feeling Zaire. An hour of extranet reading and a few panicked moments talking to Yano and Wrex. They had eventually discovered that they had accidentally become Aethria, Soul Mates.
They had talked, and agreed that with Zaire's larger life span it had been inevitable. Yano joking that the couple didn't know when to calm down, and Wrex had simply busted one of his spare guts laughing over it. Personally Zaire didn't care what anyone said, she now would always have a piece of the one she loved with her, and Liara thought the same way.
Ashley had apparently tried to get to her, 'to speak' she had claimed. But Wrex had refused, telling her that if Zaire wanted to talk, then she would ask him to contact her. According to what the Broker network could dig up, Williams apparently had some resentment towards Zaire for apparently not being the Alliance ideal she thought she was. That she had really been alive and working for Cerberus after the SR1 had gone down, and that she was working with Orthius now.
She wasn't in any sort of stable mental state to be trying to change that opinion right now, and she was glad that Wrex had gotten her to leave. Never let it be said that Krogan hospitality wasn't friendly.
Another worry she was struggling to deal with was the media. Apparently a bunch of teens had been hanging out at the park, and witnessed the entire thing. All four of them had seen the skycar go down and had started recording it on their Omni-Tools, where they had then continued to record the entire thing from start to finish. Only stopping recording when C-Sec showed up in force. The kids had posted the video online, and it had been as Udina would have said, Goddess Damn his soul, 'a political and media shitstorm'.
She felt Liara shift again, and her lovers face appeared in her line of site, blocking her previous view of the white ceiling.
"Stop worrying Zaire, everything is getting taken care of."
It was slightly disconcerting that her loves lips didn't move, but she fought down a spike of irrational annoyance, it wasn't her it should be aimed at, and it was the PTSD talking anyway.
Liara closed the distance their faces, slowly inching her lips closer and closer, and Zaire could practically feel her Asari's breath against her lips. She locked her lips with Liara's, and the Human forgot she ever thought of anything ever, the bond they shared telling each other exactly what they were feeling, and right now, all Zaire wanted to feel was Love.
26.03.0005 PRW
Citadel Detention cell
C-Sec Main Ward
Aethyta had expected there to be some uproar when T'roaza, Sa'sya and the Republic Commandos attacked Shepard and her daughter, but She thought it was fair to say that the Galaxies collective Governments getting up and making a line to start giving punches was pretty unexpected, if unbelievably amusing to watch happen on prison TV.
The Krogan, the Rachni, the Quarians, the Geth, the Turians, the Volus, the Hanar. Athames tits, the Asari people were calling for a vote of no confidence. The rest of the Galaxy shouting out in rage and agreement.
Shepard was one hell of a human. She had united a Galaxy to fight an infinite fleet of Dark Gods, and she had won it too. Athames Azure, everyone was practically calling her a mortal goddess. Personally Aethyta hadn't liked Shepard, the alien having disappeared from her daughters life twice, leaving the poor maiden an emotional wreck both times. She had involved her only daughter with Nezzy with dark politics, extremist organizations and a Goddess be damned Galactic War.
She gave a depressed chuckle. She couldn't talk much, as she was being held under arrest and in questioning for possibly assisting in the assault of her own daughters escort. Attacking a Galactic War Hero, and where over 50 Republic Commandos had ended up killed. In a children's playground and park for Goddesses sake.
She had also seen Shepards mental breakdown, and it made Aethyta realise something.
She had originally believed that the human had dragged her forbidden daughter into the whole mess, without the Little Wing having any say in the matter. She had seen the Human as the rest of the Galaxy had, invulnerable, unbeatable. But the way that Shepard had appeared to let Liara guide her to the Embassy skycar, looking dead to the world and clinging on to the maiden as if the galaxy was ending made her realise something.
The Human had been affected by the War just as much as everyone else, if not more so. The choices that the leaders of war make were never morally just, barely grey at best. The choices that Shepard would have been forced to make were probably haunting her, and most likely would for the rest of her short 'by Asari standards' life.
Aethyta was so absorbed into her thoughts that she didn't notice her cell door open, and only realised that there were two Turians in C-Sec armour waiting was when one called her name.
"Matriarch Visir, your bail has been paid, your free to leave."
Frowning, the stubborn matriarch stood up and let the two aliens escort her to the front desk, where a Salarian removed her biotic restraint and a Human behind bullet proof and explosive resistant glass gave her back her Omni-Tool and credit chits that she had on her when she had been formally arrested.
"Who the fuck paid my bail?"
It had better not have been Leneta, her daughter should not be on the Citadel, and if the usually calm but incredibly stubborn matron of hers and Those-Who-Seek-Calm-Dreams had come from her home on Kajhe to only pay her bail, then she was going to have words.
Instead of answering, the Human behind the bullet proof glass pointed at a bulky Asari in black pants and an open blue jacket. She hadn't seen her before, and the Asari had been sitting in a seat in the corner, with a line of sight with all entrances, and when she rose, Aethyta spotted a concealed pistol on each hip.
The Asari herself looked like a matron, or perhaps a older maiden, and Aethyta roughly clipped her Omni-Tool back onto her wrist as she spoke.
"And who in the name of fucking Athame are you?"
The Asari stepped forward, and Aethyta got a good look at her face, she subtly tensed. She had commando markings, but she also noted the colony markings. They were angular, and seemed to highlight the eyes and nose, indicating that she was from the outer colonies.
Then she spoke, "Yano L'Voke, we met at the end of the battle. I'm the commander of the Commado team that provided Zaire her escort."
That made her pause, and the Commando crossed her muscled arms over her chest as she waited for the matriarch to think it through.
"Shepard paid my bail?!"
L'Voke snorted in amusement, a curiously human gesture, "of course not, Zaire hasn't left her room more than a few times since she got to the Krogan Embassy. Liara T'Soni paid for your bail, so let's go, she wants to talk with you."
This made Aethyta even more tense. Liara didn't know who she was, and the elder Asari was struggling with whether or not to tell her estranged daughter. Nezzy had made her promise, but Liara was far older than when she had last spoken with her ex-bondmate.
Exiting the C-Sec holding area, they moved past the gate and into the back of a waiting skycar with blacked out windows, the driver was also a commando, Aethyta noticed, and watched as the paths and people who walked on them became black dots and lines.
They were barely half way there when the Asari Commander spoke up again, "I trust I don't have to tell you to behave yourself."
Aethyta grunted. They were heading for the Krogan Embassy, any thoughts of violence ended when Krogan guards with diplomatic ties got involved. She had seen what the group that had helped Shepard do to the Republic Commandos, and didn't want to see if she was good enough to not end up like the fifty of those unlucky enough to survive.
The rest of the trip was spent in silence, though L'Voke never took her eyes off of her. She would have made a joke about the Commando checking her out, but the cold way she watched her body was anything but sexual.
Finally arriving at the Krogan Embassy, the skycar landed in an enclosed parking lot, where two Krogan in armour waited for them. Aethyta quickly recognized the one with blue eyes, the one who lead the Krogan at the park. The other looked like his second in command, or perhaps his best biotic, if the waves of biotic resonance she was getting off him was any indication.
Neither spoke to her either, everyone so far were hardened soldiers and warriors, all skilled in combat and heavily experienced, and her estranged daughter apparently worked with these people on a daily basis, definitely something to bring up if she tells Liara who she is.
Following the Former Commando through the door, the two Krogan stepping in behind her, shotguns in hand and serious looks in their eyes. They walked in silence, with only the thump of L'Vokes combat boots in front and the thunk of the two pairs of Krogan feet behind her.
Reaching a red door after two corridors and one set of stairs later and Aethyta watched as the Asari Commander swipe her Omni-Tool over the doors access panel, opening the door and stepping though, indicating that she should follow. The biotic Krogan stayed outside, probably to guard the door.
Blue Eyes however, followed in after her, shutting the door with a grunt and heading to one corner with a respectful nod to the only other Krogan in the room. This one she did recognize, and gave a huff of annoyance.
"Long time Wrex, looking good, few new scars as well by the looks of it."
Urnot Wrex was standing in the middle of the room, and Aethyta didn't fail to notice the lack of cover or objects that a biotic could use as projectiles. The big Krogan himself was in ceremonial silver and red armour. Like everything else with the Krogan, it could still be used as real armour, it just wasn't as up to date as some of the newer armours being sold.
Though Wrex gave a nod of respect and recognition. He kept his face inpassive and his arms crossed in a subtle sign of indifference. Not good, but not bad either.
There was an additional two Asari in Commando gear opposite to Blue Eyes, and L'Voke taking the remaining empty corner, all having rifles in hand save the young Krogan, who was idly stroking his Claymore Shotgun.
Judging from the broken up headplate, Aethyta guessed that the kid was big for his age, and with Wrex in the room, it meant that she could finally have some fun with the young Krogan.
"That's a big gun for such a young whelp, you sure you can handle it big guy?"
Insulting a Krogan was easy if you knew how. By saying that he was young, she had said he didn't deserve the weapon, and by asking if he could handle it, she had claimed doubt in his battle prowess.
But instead of inflating and talking back, or challenging her to her claim, he surprised her by instead keeping his eyes on her body, and just like with L'Voke, it was far from anything sexual. He was analysing her, noting weaknesses and strengths in equal number and coldly calculating scenarios.
Finally he turned to Wrex, who slightly worryingly gave a nod of his head. A grin creeping onto his scarred mug and as he watched the exchange with amusement.
Blue Eyes stepped forward, not threatening, but firmly. He wasn't going to charge her, which worried her more and more. Before speaking in a low growl.
"I have fought enemies of multiple kinds Matriarch, from Rachni to Collectors. I learned from the very best, and I lead the most highly feared and respected Krogan combat team on Tuchunka. I don't care what you say, I earned what I have. I am Urnot Grunt."
There was a few seconds of silence, before Wrex made a small grunt, and the now named kid, Grunt, backed up to his corner, his expression one of quietly controlled pride and anger.
Aethyta had to admit, for a young Krogan, he was probably more level headed and in control of his instincts than most fully grown clan leaders. She was seriously impressed, whoever his Battlemaster was, he had done a good job of both training and raising the boy to analyse strengths before attacking and the proper use restraint. A rare trait that few Krogan mastered, Wrex had chosen his people wisely.
Before she could tell Wrex that though, the only other door from the one Aethyta had entered opened, and in walked the reason she was in this mess in the first place.
Liara still looked young, but the look she had on her face was one that Aethyta easily recognized. A mask, made to make her look older and colder than the Matriarch knew she really was. The same one Little Wing had worn for two years on Illium when Shepard had up and left. Except this time it was being used on her, and she had to admit, it made her slightly uncomfortable to face against.
"Aethyta Visir, I have some questions."
Goddess, event her voice was cold. What she had been apart of had clearly upset the girl, but Aethyta took solace in the fact that she had only helped stop the attack, and it gave her leverage she could use to her advantage. Settling her hands on her hips, she went for a sassy approach.
"Like why I helped you instead of the Republic?"
There was a pause.
"No, that reason is known to me."
Aethyta scoffed.
"Yeah right, you don't know anything about me kid, trust me."
Another slight pause, and then the maiden made her freeze in her tracks.
"I know more than you think ... father."
Due to the length of this chapter, I have split it in two. The second part will be posted when I have finished writing and editing it, so some time next Monday or Tuesday.
Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review, Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more. Guests can leave one as well, and it only takes a minute, even if it's just a 'Good chapter, keep it up' as it really does help.
~ JunkMail