Chapter Sixteen
Jacana noticed the look of horror in Khalisah's eyes before she felt the searing pain in her own throat as she began choking on a thick liquid. Khalisah's arms were suddenly around her, holding her upright as she saw the human's skin was splattered with violet blood. For a moment she frowned, unable to connect the sight to the pain she was feeling until she coughed and more of the blood gushed from her mouth.
"Jacana!" Khalisah's voice was distant, scared and Jacana instinctively reached out a hand to try and comfort her but as she did, two arms grabbed Khalisah from behind and dragged her away with a squeal.
Without her support, Jacana fell forwards onto her hands, watching as her own blood covered the bedsheets. She could hear Khalisah's screams as someone wrestled her to the floor and tried desperately to call her name but the only sound she managed to produce was the gurgle of blood.
As the bed edged closer, the pain began to dull and her vision swam. Her head hit the sheets and everything went black.
"Jacana…"
The voice was a whisper, a gentle melody drifting to her on a breeze; familiar though she couldn't quite place why.
"Jacana…"
It filled her with the promise of protection and care but something else lurked beneath, resentment, hate. She despised this voice.
"Wake up, Jacana…"
She frowned and swallowed, wincing at the sudden, sharp sting it caused in her throat. Sore throat, why did she have a sore throat? She opened her eyes to a blur of colour that made her stomach churn and she groaned groggily, finding her voice dry and hoarse.
"Jacana," the voice was clearer now and as a face swam slowly into focus she thought she knew who was speaking.
"Father?" her question was barely more than a croak and as her vision cleared for a moment she almost thought… but no, it wasn't her father; of course it wasn't. Yet it was a face she associated with the word from the echoes of images that she had seen during her meld with Khalisah.
As the human man smiled, she could see Khalisah within him; the dark skin, the sharp features, the elegant jawline. Not the eyes though, these eyes were a watery, pale blue and unlike Khalisah's dazzling emeralds they held no fire, only cold scorn.
"There, that's better," he purred gently as she came round. She tilted her head to get a better look at him and found the skin at her neck was tight and restrictive; she tried to reach a hand up to it but discovered she couldn't move.
Looking down, she saw she was seated in a chair with metal restraints clasped around her wrists, ankles and torso. She was still in her dressing gown and briefly wondered why it was stained with blood, then in a flash the memories returned: the gunshot, the blood, the chaos. The fear in Khalisah's eyes.
A touch at her neck startled her and her eyes snapped back up to see Khalisah's father critically examining the wound. She could smell the stench of medi-gel and realised it must have been one hell of a patch job.
"I'm terribly sorry about this, my dear. My men did have orders to bring you in unharmed but it seems they got a little trigger happy. We've treated the wound as best we could for now."
His tone carried a strange amount of concern for someone who had her bound to a chair. Frowning oddly, she tested her voice with a cough and replied hoarsely: "I suppose you expect me to thank you?"
"Thank my daughter, I'm told she wouldn't stop screaming until they agreed to help you."
As he stepped aside, she saw Khalisah seated opposite her, several feet away and restrained in an identical chair. She was leaning forward as far as she could, concern glistening in her eyes as she met Jacana's gaze and the asari couldn't help but frown at the sight of her.
There were heavy bruises forming around her neck and her shoulders where she had been wrestled into the chair and her skin was still stained with Jacana's dried blood. It seemed no attempt had been made to spare her dignity and she was as naked as she had been when she was snatched, though she appeared wholly unfazed by it despite the dozen or so armed mercenaries who were lounging around the room, most of them making no attempt not to leer at her.
"Jacana? Are you okay?"
Jacana blinked and nodded, not wanting to strain her aching voice any more than she had to. She could taste the bitterness of the medi-gel that had seeped through the wound and realised it was unlikely to hold together without further treatment.
"You were unconscious all the way here and you'd lost so much blood, I thought…" she frowned as she trailed off and looked at the floor, apparently more uncomfortable with whatever she had thought than with anything else that was currently happening.
There was only one word of what she had said that Jacana was currently concerned with, however: 'here'. Where the hell were they? As she looked about she saw the room was windowless and mostly bare of furniture though the mercenaries made it feel cluttered as they hung around in groups, rifles slung over their shoulders as they muttered and joked to one another.
They must have still been in the wards, Jacana reasoned; surely a group of mercenaries couldn't have carried an unconscious asari and a naked human very far before they would be noticed.
Why would Khalisah's father have a hideout so close to her apartment? Did he know she was the agent assigned to his task? Had he known where Khalisah was all the time Jacana had been hiding her? And if so then why change his tactic now? She could only assume her conversation with the Shadow Broker had something to do with it.
"Why don't you just let her go?" Khalisah's voice suddenly became harsh, tinged with anger as her eyes flashed at her father, "She has nothing to do with this!"
He chuckled at that, leather-like skin contorting into folds around his gaunt cheeks. He was tall but painfully thin and the expensive suit he was wearing had very little to cling to as it hung from him gracefully. As he continued to smile he looked directly at Jacana with such a twinkle in his eye that she instantly realised he knew exactly who she was.
"I'm curious to find out exactly who could manage to sweet talk my daughter into bed when there is so much currently at stake."
Khalisah shifted uncomfortably as the mercs surrounding her began to laugh, their eyes never wandering far from her exposed body. Jacana wasn't buying it; there was no chance he could have known about her and Khalisah until his men had burst in and found them in the same bed together.
"You knew she was there all along, didn't you? Why wait until now for this?"
He looked at her sharply and then smiled, "Why don't you ask your employer about that? He's the one who cancelled my contract."
"What?" Khalisah's voice sent shivers through Jacana as the human looked at her, frowning softly, "What's he talking about? What contract?"
"Oh come now, Khalisah," he chuckled before Jacana could answer, moving up to his daughter and looking down on her pitifully, "did you really think I was just going to sit back and wait for one of the other families to torture the encryption key out of you? That I wouldn't find some subtler method of getting what I needed? Do you think her turning up when she did was just a coincidence? That she'd want you in her bed for any reason beyond learning what you know? She's an agent for the Shadow Broker Khalisah! She's been using you from the start!"
"The Shadow Broker?"
Jacana watched Khalisah's reaction carefully; she expected anger, waited for the glittering fury in her eyes but instead all she got was a curious frown, head tilted slightly as though she were seeing her for the first time.
"I was about to tell you," she heard herself blurt out, "before the mercs came in, you remember?"
Still there was no response. Jacana could see her running through everything in her mind; from their first meeting to Barla Von to Sha'ira's, piecing together every bit of the puzzle. She had told Jacana about Daniyah and yet Jacana hadn't betrayed her, surely she would realise…
"Oh, Khalisah," her father purred gently, trailing a finger carelessly along her jawline, "didn't I teach you never to trust anyone?"
Khalisah moved her head slightly, away from his touch, "You hired the Shadow Broker?"
"I needed someone who would get the job done."
"Then why did he cancel the contract?" she was looking at Jacana as she said it, something gleaming in her eyes that the asari couldn't quite read.
"Because I told him to," she replied quietly, watching cautiously as the smallest smile graced Khalisah's lips.
"Probably the single most stupid mistake of your life asari," her father sneered, "however many centuries that may be."
Khalisah's face fell sharply as she looked up at him, "This is a waste of your time father; I don't have the encryption key."
"Oh don't worry about that, darling, it's been taken care of."
"What? …How?"
"Nothing for you to trouble yourself with, my dear."
Jacana frowned, equally curious; more than anything, if he already had the key…
"Then why bring us here?" Khalisah voiced her question for her and merely got a smirk in response.
"All in good time."
"I am not in the mood for your games father!" she suddenly snapped, eyes flaring with the familiar rage Jacana was used to seeing from her, "Why are you even on the Citadel? How long have you been here?"
"A while," was all he offered, "I thought it necessary to keep a closer eye on you considering the circumstances. And as for my 'games'…" he suddenly moved in front of her, blocking her from Jacana's view as he leaned forward on the arms of her chair, "that seems rather rich coming from you. Do you have any idea how much is resting on this inheritance? Donovan controlled the balance of power across all of Bekenstein. The void that his death has left is enough to destroy the whole hierarchy if the right person doesn't take control of that money. While you are busy running around here thinking yourself too good to get involved, Bekenstein society is on the verge of collapse!"
"Good!" Khalisah spat, "It's the least you deserve!"
Her father hit her with a backhanded slap so hard that she yelped and Jacana instinctively lurched forwards, struggling against her restraints as she was overpowered by the sudden urge to rip his throat out.
It was a human impulse, she realised with mild surprise. Like the sudden, unpredictable rushes of emotion she had felt during her meld with Khalisah. The remnants of that meld still echoed in her mind now, it was unusual; throughout most of the night she had kept things quite superficial: linking their bodies and their senses but not their minds.
As the night had gone on she had eventually gone deeper and caught flashes of Khalisah's thoughts but it had only been a fleeting glimpse, surely not enough to leave such an impression? The emotions had been intense though, more so than any species she had melded with before.
What she had discovered within Khalisah's mind had been an ocean of turmoil; conflicting thoughts and opinions, emotions building suddenly in waves only to be swept away and replaced without warning. It had been overwhelming to say the least but also strangely enticing.
Khalisah's voice drew her attention again and she looked up as she felt the anger begin to fade, "Is that why you brought me here?" the human was demanding, "To punish me for inconveniencing you?"
"Nothing so petty, my dear. I assure you."
He smirked and moved away, still refusing to give her an answer and her and Jacana's eyes locked. Jacana tried to read her face, there was something bubbling beneath those eyes, making them glimmer and dance but she couldn't tell what. Anger? Amusement? Fear?
Whatever it was it unsettled her, Khalisah seemed more of a mystery now than she ever had before.
A knock at the door made every merc in the room jump and reach for a gun though Khalisah's father merely chuckled and waved them down.
"Someone answer that."
Two of the mercs obliged and Jacana froze as an all too familiar voice drifted in from outside.
"Hello, I've- oh dear," Quetzal's voice was abruptly cut off as the salarian was grabbed roughly by the neck and hauled inside. He blinked for a moment as his gaze fell first on the armed men, then on the two woman bound to chairs, one naked and one in a blood soaked dressing gown, "Jacana?" he sounded slightly alarmed, staring at her with as much surprise as she felt, until he suddenly fidgeted and turned away, "Uh-hu. Well, I can see you boys are busy, I'll just come back lat- AH!" a rifle butt hit him in the back of the head and he winced, "Ow. Okay."
"Who the hell are you?" one of the mercs asked, raising a pistol and levelling it right between Quet's eyes. In an almost comical moment, the salarian actually went cross-eyed.
"Me? No one! Certainly no one important. Bad memory too, I often forget what's been going on in a room the moment I leave it."
Khalisah's father laughed, "Stand down. Quetzal is a guest here."
"A guest?" Jacana demanded, feeling the anger rise again as every possible explanation for this flashed through her mind faster than she could interpret them. She closed her eyes and took a steadying breath.
Calm down.
The salarian cast her a nervous glance as Khalisah's father stepped up to him, placing both hands on his narrow shoulders and casually brushing down Quet's sleeves, "Do you have it?"
Quet audibly swallowed before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a data disc. In an irrational rush Jacana briefly thought it might have been the disc Khalisah had given her with Daniyah's location on it. But she had locked that well away in a secret safe in her apartment and as her thoughts steadied she realised what it must be.
"Will it work?" Khalisah's father was asking as he turning the disc over in his hands.
Quet nodded hurriedly, "Y- yes, I think so."
"Hm… you've been working on this for weeks Quetzal, what prompted the sudden breakthrough?"
"Ah… erm…" he started ringing his hands together, long fingers locking and intertwining as he continued to glance feverishly at Jacana, "I found out the finances were DNA encrypted."
"DNA?" Khalisah's father paused, frowning oddly before he glanced back at his daughter, "Your DNA?"
Khalisah didn't respond; the colour had drained from her cheeks and her mouth was half open as she seemed to try and think of a suitable lie that he might believe. In the end Quet answered for her.
"A- a human girl, sir. Jacana brought me a strand of hair from her mother," he blurted the last sentence out hurriedly and seemed to brace himself for some sort of fallout.
Jacana ignored him completely, keeping her eyes fixed nervously on Khalisah and as the human turned to meet her gaze, she felt her blood run cold. There was no anger, none of the familiar fire, just ice cold accusation and the slightest shake of her head.
"Her mother?" her father was frowning as he pieced it together and then he laughed softly, "Daniyah… Of course, I should have realised," he watched his daughter closely for a minute and then, in a flash he pointed at Quet, "tie him up."
"Wait! What?" Quetzal exclaimed as two of the mercs grabbed him. A second chair was thrown down next to Jacana and the salarian was wrestled into it, metal restraints locking him firmly in place.
"You're both agents for the Shadow Broker," Khalisah's father explained casually, "I don't trust either of you."
"You don't trust anyone," Khalisah muttered.
"And with good reason, wouldn't you say? After all, my own daughter is hiding my grandchild from me! At least now I know why you took her from Bekenstein."
Khalisah's eyes widened with rage, a rage Jacana now fully understood as she felt the echoes of it prickling in her own mind.
Calm down.
"You think that's why I took her? I am not like you father! Money isn't the only thing I care about!"
"You make me sound so shallow. I am trying to secure the future of Bekenstein!"
"You are trying to seize power for yourself!"
As the argument continued, Jacana became aware of Quet seated next to her; the salarian was breathing rapidly, a sheen of sweat across his skin as he fidgeted as much as the restraints would allow.
"Playing with fire, aren't you Quetzal?" she mused casually, keeping her voice low enough not to draw attention from the many armed men in the room.
He looked at her sharply, "I don't know what you mean."
"Really? Moonlighting as a hacker? The Broker won't approve."
"Oh yeah? Any more than he'd approve of you telling him to cancel a contract? Are we on his hit list yet?"
"Actually, he was surprisingly understanding about the whole thing."
"Oh good," he mused grimly, his eyes lingering on Khalisah's father, "Do you suppose he'll be understanding?"
"Why ask me? He's your employer."
"Oh lay off, Jacana! I needed the money! Have you ever tried living of the Broker's wages?"
"Believe it or not, yes!" she hissed sharply, stinging her throat so badly she winced and immediately closed her eyes as she tried to compose herself.
Calm down.
She should have been more understanding. Being an agent for the Shadow Broker was a varied, challenging and, occasionally, even an exciting occupation, but it was not particularly lucrative. The Broker didn't want his people earning their fortunes and then quitting so he paid them just enough to live on and just too little for them ever to be able to leave. Quet was not the first one to fall foul of this.
"You could have done anything with your life Quet; had your own computing company, invented your own software. If you'd used your skills professionally you might even have landed a job with C-Sec but instead you chose this."
Quet shifted softly in his seat, "I don't need the lecture, Jacana."
"Where is she!" the voice of Khalisah's father broke their hushed argument and they looked up to see him standing over his daughter.
"You'll never find her! You've got your encryption key, what does it matter?"
"She's my granddaughter! I'm tired of you keeping her from me, why do you think I brought you here?"
As he moved slightly to the side, Jacana noticed Quet craning his head to peer curiously at Khalisah, "So, that's her is it?"
"Yes. Don't stare."
"Hm, I've never seen one without their clothes on before."
"I said don't stare."
"Urgh, all flesh these humans, aren't they?"
"Quet!"
He turned to look at her oddly, "Why's she naked?" his eyes then fell on her own flimsy attire, "And why are you…? Oh," Jacana closed her eyes as he began to chuckle, "not the only one playing with fire, am I? After a century of loyal service, you betray the Shadow Broker for a girl!"
"Shut up."
"What did you think was going to happen? You'd heroically save her from her father and then whisk her off into the sunset? Cook her candlelit dinners and take her dancing on the Presidium?"
"Don't be ridiculous Quetzal, I am not a love-struck child! …And I can't dance."
"Really? I thought all asari could dance; all that natural grace and elegance."
"Yes, well, this particular asari happens to have the grace and elegance of a drunk krogan, particularly on the dancefloor."
As Quet chuckled and fell silent, Jacana's eyes lingered on Khalisah. What had she thought was going to happen?
She understood what is was that young asari saw in human women; they had curves in all the right places, the general anatomy of the two species was so similar it was only logical they should find it attractive. Factor in the different skin colours and the addition of hair and most asari saw them as a more exotic version of themselves, which seemed to be exactly how they were viewed in return.
But Jacana was not some young maiden looking for excitement, the thought of sex with exotic aliens didn't make her heart flutter or her mind race. She certainly hadn't looked at Khalisah and seen the chance for a conquest or a secret fantasy made real.
All she had wanted to do was protect her, show her the trust and the safety she had never known, prove to her that the galaxy was not the cold, ruthless place she thought it was. Looking at her now: naked, bound and covered in blood, she realised she probably wasn't doing a very good job.
"This Daniyah they're talking about," Quet suddenly piped up as Khalisah's father continued to demand her location, "is she the one in the private school? Because I could just tell-
"You will keep your fucking mouth shut or I will rip your tongue out!"
The words snapped from her mouth before she could catch them and her tone had Quet staring at her in alarm.
"Alright! Calm down!"
Calm down! She echoed his advice inside her own head as she attempted to get a hold of herself. Shaking Khalisah's feelings from her mind was proving difficult and the current situation probably wasn't helping.
"We need to get out of here."
"Oh? You think so?" Quet mused dryly, "I suppose you have a plan?"
"Of course," when she failed to elaborate she saw the salarian turn to look at her expectantly.
"Well?"
"Simple. We break these restraints, grab a gun and fight our way out."
"That easy huh? How are you planning to accomplish step one?"
"I'm still working on that."
He sighed heavily and looked around, fidgeting and wriggling as much as the restraints would allow, "Can't you use your biotics or something?"
Jacana winced, "Yeah… biotics have never really been my strong point."
"What? You're an asari! Every asari has biotics!"
"Everyone has a pair of legs it doesn't make us all medal winning sprinters! Just because I can knock a table over or throw a vase across the room it doesn't mean I can warp metal."
"Well couldn't you give it a go anyway?"
"I'm trying!"
"My patience is wearing thin, Khalisah," Jacana looked up to see Khalisah's father pacing up and down in front of her, "if you don't tell me where she is of your own accord, we may need to… persuade you."
He looked towards one of his men who promptly pulled a combat knife from his belt, letting the serrated edge of the blade glint in the light. Jacana shifted uncomfortably as she watched the blood drain from Khalisah's face; as much as she was trying not to show it, Jacana could see the fear in her eyes.
"You would condone torture on your own daughter?" Khalisah asked, barely disguising the quiver in her voice as the mercenary stepped towards her.
"If necessary."
"You can't touch me, father! I have records of all your activities, every dodgy deal, every death that can be linked to you. They're all stored with a VI that's been programmed to broadcast them to the galaxy the moment my vital signs start to weaken!"
"I'm not going to kill you, Khalisah. Just loosen your tongue enough to tell me where Daniyah is, actually you can tell me where the VI is stored as well, I'm tired of being held to ransom by you."
"You're tired of it!" fury flashed in Khalisah's eyes but as the mercenary with the knife began to circle her, Jacana could see her resolve was weakening, each threat now producing more fear than anger.
"Urgh, I despise violence," Quet muttered, turning his head away as much as the restraints would allow, "how are you doing?"
Jacana grimaced at the question. She was trying desperately to focus on the lessons her mother had given her when she was younger but even back then her attempts at creating stable mass effect fields had been pitiful and the current turmoil of her thoughts was not making it any easier, "I'm still trying."
"Focus on my wrists, these locks are electronically sealed, if I can access my omni-tool I should be able to hack them open."
She did as he said but still got no nearer a result. A kind of desperation began to build inside her. It was another human impulse, sudden and sharp, stronger than any asari equivalent; she tried to control it but found she had no idea how and it only built further.
"Quet, I can't do it."
"Well you're going to have to do something, if this is how the lunatic treats his own daughter I dread to think what he's going to do with us!"
A strangled cry drew her attention back to Khalisah and she saw the merc was on top of her, straddling her on the chair as he held the knife at her throat.
"What should we start with?" he taunted callously, his hand tightening around her neck, "A finger? A toe? How about we cut off one finger every time you refuse to answer?"
"No," Khalisah sobbed helplessly, choking under his grip, "father! Please!"
Her father had his back to her, casually adjusting the cufflinks at his wrists as he ignored her cries.
"Maybe an ear first, just to start with," the merc suggested, tracing the blade up her cheek as she finally dissolved into tears.
"I can make all this stop, Khalisah," her father's voice cut in smoothly, no trace of emotion within it, "just tell me where Daniyah is."
Jacana watched Khalisah steel herself, choking back the sobs as her despair turned to a snarl and she cast her father a bitter glare, "Never!"
"Have it your way."
Khalisah screamed as the blade dug into her flesh, Jacana watched the thick crimson blood spill down her cheek and suddenly the desperation was gone, wiped away in an instant and replaced with boiling rage.
The emotion was twice as strong and impossible to conceal and before she had time to think, the mass effect field she had been attempting to generate expanded beyond her control, metal twisted and warped, snapping like plastic as a biotic explosion shook the room. Quet was knocked sideways and at least half of the mercs were thrown to the ground as Jacana broke free of the restraints and leapt to her feet, fury gleaming in her eyes.