Acceptance

Allers: I have to say Commander I wasn't expecting that. At the time there were only rumours about what happened on Feros. We were told it was the Geth that were to blame.

Ashley: The Geth were to blame, but they weren't the only liable party. Exogeni still hold half of the blame. In a way if it wasn't for Exogeni keeping the Thorian a secret then it might have been different.

Allers: Maybe Commander. But now we'll never know. At least you had the information you needed and another crew member.

Ashley: That we did.

Allers: I take it you weren't too pleased about Shiala coming aboard.

Ashley: No. As crew mates go she was a liability. Not only had she been under the command of Matriarch Benezia but she became indoctrinated. And was then a slave to the Thorian, who had removed the indoctrination. Which we only had her word about. There was a lot of bad to negate the good.

Allers: Surely the same could be said about some of your later crew mates.

Ashley: True. Even know though Shiala was different.

The Normandy was heading back to the Citadel. Its mission complete, the Council wanted a word face to face with the Commander. Whereas we wanted a word with Shiala. It's hard to accept a new teammate, especially when not so long ago their clones were shooting at you. How do you accept the change? We'd been told to make her feel welcome but first we needed to get some things out in the open. Wrex had told Shiala to meet everyone down in the cargo bay for a proper introduction. We were all waiting for her in the cargo bay. When the elevator opened and she stepped out, she immediately saw us and made her way over. She had that arrogant walk that all Asari have, like she was the top of the food chain and nothing could harm her. I had a Krogan next to me who would have begged to differ.

"Shiala."

"Wrex."

"Pleasantries over, what is your intent here?"

"My intent?"

"Not long ago you were trying to kill us."

"I wasn't trying to do anything. They were my genetic clones, made from the Thorian. I didn't control them."

"They were still you. How can we trust you?"

"Trust me, why should I trust all of you?"

"I'll tell you why because we saved you from the Thorian. We were all handpicked by the Commander to serve under her in the battle against Saren. Who are you to just walk in and announce your coming with us?"

"The Commander agreed to it."

"But only after you'd been inside her mind."

"All I did was give her the Protheon Cipher, anything more than that and I would have perished with the joining."

"You were that far gone Shiala."

"I was Liara. Every time the Thorian created a clone it drained my life essence. I could feel myself getting weaker and weaker. I f you hadn't have killed it when you did then I don't think I would have survived the next creation."

"So you were a prisoner then, both to the indoctrination and the Thorian?"

"That's one way of looking at it Liara. I had no free will and no control over my body. But thanks to you I am free and I wish to help out anywhere that I can."

"Then why here? You could have stayed on Feros and helped the colonists."

"I wouldn't know where to begin in helping them out. I'm an Asari Commando my specialities are better suited here, with you."

"Show us then."

"Show you?"

"Your skills. Biotics, weapons training."

"Yeah Garrus, needs to know whether he's still the second best shot compared to Shepard."

"Very funny Wrex. To the armoury then Shiala, let's see you in action."

We all made our way to the armoury in order to see an Asari Commando in action. As we walked over to the armoury we all separated into our individual groups. Wrex, Garrus and Shiala all went into the armoury to log out a weapon each. Kaiden and I went to set up the targets, leaving Liara and Tali to hang around waiting for the combatants to emerge. We set up four different targets all at different ranges, setting up the basic range for an Alliance training ground plus the limited area in the cargo bay.

"Lt how about we set up some difficult ones as well."

"What do you have in mind Ash?"

"Place them all around the cargo bay, some partially hidden from view, some in plain sight and the rest randomly placed. Make it more difficult."

"Good idea Ash. Liara keep Garrus, Wrex and Shiala in the armoury until we've finished setting up. Tali, if I give you some targets will you place them around the cargo, hide some of them and put the others in view?"

"I can do Kaiden. Give me a couple of minutes."

A few minutes later Wrex, Garrus and Shiala had emerged from the armoury. All three of them held a pistol with a scope attached. Even with just a pistol in her hands she looked like she meant business.

"We've got three separate challenges. The first being the firing range, the second is a biotic challenge and the third is another firing range. Wrex you'll go first followed by Shiala then followed by Garrus. There'll be no breaks in between the challenges, I'll lead you in the two firing ranges and Liara will lead you in the biotic challenge. Apart from Garrus."

With Kaidens speech done Wrex took up his first position at the beginning of the firing range. Kaiden with his omni-tool ready to time it, he gave Wrex his first instruction. It was simple one shot per target. A bulls-eye gave the competitor 2 points and hitting the target anywhere else gave them 1 point. Wrex went straight into it; he fired four shots directly after each other hitting every target. From there he moved onto Liara's biotic challenge the objective was to hit all four moving targets with a biotic warp first time. He managed to hit three of the four targets with his warps and moved onto the final challenge.

"Excluding the four targets you've already hit, there are ten more targets spread out around the cargo bar. The same rules as before apply. One bullet per target also you may not move from this spot. Garrus, Shiala excuse yourselves from the cargo bay for the time being."

Wrex used all ten bullets allowed as he searched for the targets. Several of them fell to his bullets and others were just missed. With one target just staying out of his eyesight. It fell to Tali and me to pick up the targets, count the bulls-eyes and contacts and then replace the targets. When we came back, we sent the final amount to Kaidens omni-tool.

"Well done Wrex. Go retrieve Garrus and Shiala."

It was then down to Shiala to show her skills, she immediately fell to the floor and aimed at the targets, scoring herself four bulls-eyes. Moving quickly on to the biotic challenge she faired fairly well matching Wrex for three out of four targets hit. When she started the final round Garrus and Wrex left the cargo bay and she concentrated on the targets. Unlike Wrex she took her time and sought out the targets and carefully aimed towards the targets. Once her ten bullets were spent we went to work again counting the shots and replacing the targets. With the information sent direct to Kaiden again, he sent her away to get Garrus.

"Garrus, because you can't compete in the biotic round we've placed two extra targets for the final round. Enabling you to have the same maximum score as everyone else."

He began his first round straight away. His precision showed through as he hit four bulls-eyes and moved straight to the final round. For this Wrex and Shiala removed themselves from the cargo bay and let Garrus concentrate on his fourteen targets. He slowly started to scan the area for the targets. Whenever he found one he immediately fired and moved on to the next. Systematically bringing down targets only finishing when his fourteen rounds had been fired. We collected up the targets and sent the findings through to Kaiden who asked Wrex and Shiala to come back.

"Maximum points achievable are thirty-two. Wrex you achieved twenty-four, nine bulls-eyes all together, three hits and the three biotic targets. You also missed two targets. Shiala you achieved thirty, that's thirteen bulls-eyes, one hit and the three biotic targets. Garrus you achieved thirty-one. That's fifteen bulls-eyes and one hit. You're still the second best shot, but only just."

"Very funny Alenko."

With the show over and done with we packed everything up and we accepted her. Even if there still was some nagging feeling saying not trust her. She showed that she could handle herself well with weapons and biotics. She showed promise and would definitely be able to help us during our mission. After all she was an Asari commando. After everything was away the guys left leaving us four girls to ourselves. It had been a long day for all of us and we headed to our quarters. As we left Shiala followed as she had nowhere to go. When we reached our quarters she followed us in and we had a quick look at available space, and the same thought must have approached us all as we nodded in unison. Several minutes later we had managed to bring in a spare bed from storage for Shiala. She voiced her thanks and very quickly fell asleep. Leaving the rest of us awake.

"What do you think Liara?"

"She's good, she shown that she's competent and efficient with weapons and biotics. She should prove herself on every mission she goes on."

"Tali?"

"She's shown that she's good, but can we trust her after everything she's done. Ash?"

"I don't know anymore Tali. At first I was completely against it, I mean she was shooting at us not that long ago. But then the fact that Shepard trusts her enough to bring her onboard says a lot about her. But I still have a nagging feeling not to trust her. Even though she's proven herself. I think once she's been on a mission we'll find out. But she seems okay."

"So what do we do know then?"

"For the moment nothing, just get to know her better. Once she's proven herself on the next mission. There's nothing we can do."

It's a short chapter I realise, but I think it was necessary. Shiala only ever had a small role in the game, but in my world she's a lot more. If you found that she was going to be you team mate after everything that had happened how would you react?

The next chapter will come up soon, might be a while yet, looking to do a longer chapter, plus my band has a gig coming up so my concentration is in other places at the moment. As usual please review.