Chapter 14: Leave the Light On
Liara was struggling to comprehend the hurricane that had rolled through the room - and her mind. Upon exactly 62 minutes, Shepard was up and already in mechanical mode, reciting a to-do list under her breath as she moved about to get herself ready and presentable. She contacted several people on her omni-tool to issue orders and the entire agenda to the day was set in stone within 5 minutes. Liara stiffened when the soldier's heels snapped as Lucy pivoted sharply to face the archaeologist.
"The infirmary is off-limits. Dr. Chakwas is running sensitive tests and only those with a rank higher than Staff Lieutenant are permitted to enter the med-bay. I will be forced to doll out a punishment if you disobey this, so..." Shepard's face screwed up uncomfortably for a moment. "So please do not."
"I won't," Liara sternly shook her head, before she ventured on hesitantly. "What about the meeting?"
"For now, I will have you sit this out and I will update you with need-to-know information afterwards. I apologize if this is a crude way to handle it as I acknowledge that Benezia is your mother, but-"
"I understand," the archaeologist readily reassured. "I trust you, Commander."
Shepard stood and stared blankly. She nodded with a small terse smile. "Good." She spun around as she relinquished her robe to hang in the closet. "Afterwards, I have a couple things I'd like to accomplish on my own. I will also personally oversee to setting up your living accommodations." She glanced over her shoulder. "Is there anything you need for your bedding? Do you have any skin allergies to specific materials?"
"No."
Liara was beginning the fight to suppress a frown or express guilt, understanding why this was playing out the way it was - but she still couldn't help but be disappointed that she was just a point on a to-do list.
"Good," Lucy remarked brusquely. Her hand faltered on the hanger and her thumb swiped back and forth of the plushy shoulder of the robe. "Good..." She spun around again, her rigidity back with newfound prowess as her omni-tool lit up to life. "I will send you the schedule of how this day should go. You may roam Armali if you desire, but please be back on board the Normandy by 1600 hours. It will be good for you to be put through the paces of what we do around here when we prep for departure."
"Understood, Commander."
"...Good." Shepard's focus honed in on her omni-tool as she plugged away at it. She seemed off though. Disturbed, almost. She shifted onto her synthetic leg, her concerns buried deep in her tone, her eyes glued to a needed distraction it seemed. "I wish to retain this cordial relationship with you, Dr. T'Soni. You may still call me Shepard, if it suits you." She cleared her throat subtly. "You will have to defer to me as Commander in front of the others, however."
"Goddess, she sounds so stiff and awkward," Liara noted with amusement. "I can see her as a baby pyjak making beady pleading and apologetic eyes with that."
She rose from her tentative seating on the stool and approached the soldier, making a point as she snatched and scooped up a hand before it could pull away. Though she could sense and feel the discomfort unfold before her, she wanted to make it this 'personal' to belay any other concerns that may take root and bloom.
"It suits me," she murmured serenely. She nipped her tongue before she blurted "Lucy".
Shepard's gaze soldered to their joined hands. Her fingers twitched, but ultimately, she stayed. A victory. She cleared her throat more obviously this time.
"Good." It almost vibrated with a jitter. "I, uh... I don't have much here to occupy you in the mean time. You're welcome to utilize my space. My terminal - oh, right, that's another thing I have to do." She pulled her hand away, but before her body followed suite, she had almost seemed to regard Liara for... Something. She seemed to hesitate for that fraction of a second where uncertainty guided her action rather than the usual confidence she carried herself with. The soldier stiffly walked over to her terminal and typed in her login. "I will create an account for you. You can use mine in the mean time. I encourage you to read past mission reports to familiarize yourself with the format, as well as how I typically handle things around here. You may be subject to filing reports yourself in the future - I will assist you, of course, until you accrue confidence to do so by yourself, but we will have to ascertain that my perspective nor bias will be going into your report."
Shepard droned on and on and eventually it seemed to become more disorganized rather than composed thought strung together. Liara approached and braved another risk as she slid her hand between the soldier's shoulder blades, striking the nail right on the head to stop this roundabout dancing.
"You need more sleep, Shepard. You still seem so exhausted."
"Is it showing?" Lucy wryly chuckled quietly. "I know. I usually have things planned a little faster and more coherently. Forgive me."
"There's nothing to forgive," the archaeologist reassured quickly.
"In any event, I've enough to pull me through for the day. Just the medication that's still making me drowsy, that's all." She charmed with a steady smile over her shoulder. "Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine, Liara. I promise. Don't worry so much about me, okay? One of us still needs to retain her sanity."
"Debatable if I have such a thing to retain," Liara quipped sheepishly, though was proud to have earned a chuckle. She glanced at the terminal and the list of mission reports the soldier brought up. "Alright, I'll get to work on these right away."
"Good." Shepard pushed off from the desk, her omni-tool alight again. "Let me send you that schedule before I forget. Oh, and no rush on these reports. Do you plan to roam Armali though?"
"Likely not, I'd like to stay on the Normandy and start to learn my way around here."
"Not the infirmary," the gruff sternness was somewhat off-putting. "Absolutely not or you will be reprimanded, Dr. T'Soni."
"I know, I won't go there."
Curiosity latched it's teeth, her instincts were trying to flag that something was amiss here. She didn't dare disrespect or disobey though.
"But why does Lucy seem... Nervous about it?"
Her thoughts were derailed by a ping on her omni-tool, and she brought up the edited schedule Shepard had just sent her. It was remarkably detailed, tasks timestamped as to when they were going to be started - or finished, depending how Lucy tackled her day. There was a task that stuck out like a sore thumb though.
"Take Chief Williams to Skymeadow beach?"
Something about that nestled in the wrong place inside of her, and she grew insecure when Lucy's smile wasn't so subtle. Her eyes lit up like she was excited.
"Yes, I'd like to show her the place you took me to."
"Why?" A question Liara didn't have the courage to ask aloud. She dove back into the task list to latch onto a distraction, finding a small measure of comfort - and excitement herself - upon a topic she was more than comfortable with. "Discuss Prothean visions with Dr. T'Soni?" She glanced at the allotted time between that task versus the next. There was only a meagre hour set aside for it. She needed far more than that. The Commander better be able to talk fast then.
"How rude," Liara inwardly sighed. "I must temper my impatience and tame my enthusiasm."
"Yes, from what I've read in your thesis papers and from some of the artifacts I've encountered-"
"Artifacts? It's not just the beacon you encountered?"
"Hm? No, there was another - not a beacon, but... I don't know how to describe it. It gave me visions too though."
Oh, this was going to be so heartbreaking to let the soldier slip through her fingers and watch her leave through that door. Liara was already burning with so many questions. She had to tear herself away and held on as valiantly as she could, though her mouth ran off without her brain.
"Please don't tease me, Commander. Not until we're able to sit down and talk about this. Thoroughly."
"I'm... I'm not meaning to tease?" Shepard circled around and rested a hand on the shoulder. "I apologize?"
Goddess, that she sounded so concerned and confused was only making all of this even harder on the archaeologist. She was screaming at herself to say anything but-
"Hurry up so that we may talk more about this at length," Liara practically pleaded.
Lucy chuckled and nodded. She seemed to have full understanding over this critical plight as she had left the quarters without another second wasted.
Warmth dissipated both from the air and the archaeologist's face. An impenetrable chill settled in her bones, an emptiness that slowly chiselled a hole in her. She had gotten so used to the soldier's constant presence these past few days, that it was jarring just to be left alone for - a quick check at the schedule - only to be 2 hours until the first task would bring Shepard back here. On that note, she spaced out the tasks, making it a routine to return here every few hours to do something with Liara. It only served to fuel her growing guilt that she was just a to-do list, a chore.
"Can we really continue to have a cordial relationship? She is going to have a remarkably hard time relaxing around here, and I don't exactly have many things at my disposal to distract her."
Liara dumped herself in the chair as she stared at the terminal. She took out the small boxes of the minerals and began to work on that, to distract herself from her infinite supply of worries and insecurities. It hadn't taken much work to deduce what the minerals were as soon as she plugged in the physical characteristics of what she had in her hands, along with 'Earth minerals' tagged with it.
Within minutes of reading and analyzing the traits of the minerals contained, she had deduced that they were copper and tellurium, respectively. What she couldn't deduce was why she was given these minerals, unless it was Shepard trying to educate her a little about engineering. She frowned as she read aloud, hoping to spark some ideas and theories behind the meaning of this gift along the way.
"Tellurium is usually added to copper to improve machinability - free cutting... ASTM specification B301 has 0.5% tellurium; at concentrations of up to 0.75% machinability is improved while electrical conductivity and hot working behaviour is maintained. Mechanical properties are similar to tough pitch copper, while machinability is similar to brass - the hardness of the alloy is increased by precipitation of the copper telluride: weissite. Tellurium copper is not suited to welding, but it can be welded with gas shielded arc welding or resistance welding. It can be readily soft soldered, silver soldered, or brazed. Tellurium copper can be used as the electrode in electrical discharge machining - EDM. The alloy is used to replace copper when grinding wheel loading occurs during fine finishing of the electrode, and the alloy retains the properties of copper in the EDM process."
That... Was a whole lot of incomprehensible jargon to her. Was it to explain how Shepard engineered and improvised the cursed flamethrower in Liara's apartment? Was it a cheeky joke, then? It wouldn't explain why Lucy appeared nervous and fidgety as to not demystifying what the minerals were on the spot, though. The archaeologist decided to table her discovery and figured the best way to find out Shepard's intention was to just ask her.
In the mean time, Liara dove into the soldier's mission reports with more fervour and eagerness, powered by her curiosity as to what Shepard has survived. The missions ranged from hostage negotiations to investigating missing persons, to lost freighters and lost marines. Each report was detached of emotion, not that Liara had expected that it would be allowed, but the stories painted in the reports seemed so... Mechanical.
"She arrived at this location at this time. She cleared the sectors, proceeded with caution, and ultimately uncovered a grisly end to many of these missions."
It enlightened the perspective and growing inkling she was beginning to have, suspicious as to why the human was so distant from that which made her human. She explained and tallied each and every kill, specifying what she had done to render the target's cause of death. The batarian deaths were surprisingly humane - a swift and merciful death that often ended with a cut to the throat.
"From what I read before, when it stated that Lucy burst with inconsolable anger when questioned about the batarians... Something isn't right, here."
Liara's brow pinched. Her gut didn't believe these facts in the reports. But the bodies would have been collected and affirmed with the report, right?
Regardless, it was not her place to judge or question. She - regrettably - understood. She fretted, but she understood. The next mission report she combed through was of Asteroid X57, which turned out to be another ploy by batarians. Perhaps it happened so often that Shepard simply did not harbour anger towards them, only exhaustion over how often she appeared to encounter them on her missions. But as Liara read on, dread snaked around her gut. There was apprehension tightening in her throat as, somehow, some way, the format in the report seemed to crack and show fragments of humanity - particularly how Shepard went out of her way to continuously specify that the engineer that remained in contact with her was named Kate Bowman.
Discoveries were plugged in along the way of the path travelled to shut off the fusion torches.
The body of R. Montoya: a single shot through his helmet presumably from a sniper. His body wasn't searched as he retained his equipment. The body of G. Mendel: evidence that the victim was badly beaten before executed at close range with a pistol shot to the back of the head. Speculation: likely surrendered, only to be executed by his sadistic captors.
"This is horrible... She had to investigate this, write about this..."
It became harder and harder to read these details, to unearth more fragments.
Body of C. Hymes: Dr. Hymes' body had severe burns and signs of major concussive trauma. A recording was salvaged that she was aware the batarians were at the door and attaching something - presumably the explosives responsible for her death. Her last words were of her family, but she did not have time to say what she desired for them to be told. This writer could not speculate.
"That she loves them," Liara thought sadly. "Lucy couldn't speculate that?"
The final confrontation took several breaks and tries to read through it. She was not surprised to read that Balak's second-in-command, Charn, tried to defect or appeal to the Commander for safe refuge to escape the asteroid, so long as Balak would be killed. Something shut off in Liara and died, her heart crying out in empathy with words coldly emphasized in a sentence of their own.
Decision with Charn's request and status of target: deceased.
It wasn't stated how.
The same precision with which Balak was dealt with was written in the same manner. All the details previously embellishing the report had suddenly deescalated to single short sentences. Balak was deemed too dangerous to let him go, and the price was paid when he detonated the bomb to kill the hostages - and Kate Bowman's name resurfaced. Shepard usually explained her decisions in her mission reports. That explanation was omitted with Charn and Balak.
There was a heavy veil of silence that hung like a curtain over Liara's brain. She possessed no thought, only emotion that weighed her down and exhausted her as if she hadn't slept in days. She exited the mission report and opened another one, but didn't have the capacity to go through yet another Balak and Kate Bowman. She rubbed her temples and decided to take a break, heading over to the bed. She moved the PDA aside to the night stand, where the screen lit up from motion. It was the final nail in the coffin when she saw the dossier of Kate Bowman on the screen.
{It sounds like you have many happy memories, Shepard.}
{I didn't before. Because I didn't deserve them. I still don't.}
Liara's legs lost strength and her rump found the edge of the bed. The pieces connected. Those fragments of humanity pieced together, though much of the puzzle was still missing - but enough of the picture was filled in to make Lucy make sense just a little bit more. She had glanced at this PDA when she said she didn't deserve happy memories. Was she aware that she was feeling guilt over Kate Bowman? Was she consciously bottling it up?
"I can't even begin to imagine what she's feeling - and what she's suppressing as a result."
Liara mustered enough to read through the details of Kate Bowman's life, to share the burden, to show solidarity for the tough times ahead. This was the life of a soldier. This was the life of Commander Shepard, thrust upon her without ever asking for it - until the batarians turned her own world upside down.
Doors hissed. She was so numbed from it all that she didn't react in time, her reaction impeccably delayed to hide the PDA. It only emphasized it instead when the soldier was already halfway towards her before the blasted datapad was being shoved under a pillow. Liara resolutely turned her head and closed her eyes when they suddenly burned, the weight of all the emotions slamming down upon her like a tidal wave. Her nails sought purchase as they dug into the thin fabric of her lap. She heard rustling and felt the soft thud of a pillow moved aside, the subtle suck of breath as a dull light illuminated beyond the archaeologist's closed eyelids. The datapad clinked on the night stand.
Tension embroiled rapidly and suffocated the oxygen out the air, the silence between them pervasive and terrifying. Liara felt as though she had done something incredibly wrong, but she was given permission to view these reports, to familiarize with the format - but it was just to warn her, wasn't it? Warn her that this was what her life was going to be like, from now on. She was going to be a witness to the galaxy's most violent, most perverted, most despicable. She was going to be thrust into the sick underbelly of crime, of slavery, of murder.
"Am I fit for this?" Liara asked shakily. She couldn't bring herself to open her eyes. "Can I actually do this, Shepard? Will I actually be helpful to you?" Her hand instinctively came up to her mouth, a layer of acid burning the back of her throat when she had suppressed and swallowed her vomit in time. She curled over her lap, feeling absolutely pathetic over it, her confession warbling. "I don't think I can."
"You will not be in those situations, Dr. T'Soni. I will never ask you of that."
"Then how am I to hel-"
"By being who you are now. You are a civilian. I need you to remain as one."
Lucy's synthetic hand searched and came upon it's resting place, sliding along the curve of the archaeologist's jaw to lift her back up. When she sat upright, her world was blotted and blurred a dark navy blue. It took several precious seconds until she had realized there was pressure wound around her head, and that she was being hugged the way she had done this for Shepard the last time they were in these quarters - after the soldier's haunting episode.
"I need you to stay as you are," Shepard's words were slightly muffled by the arms covering aurals, the vibration of her words rolling through her body instead. "Because it helps me feel sane. I'm running from what's in my head, Liara, but I can't escape. Or so I thought. You've changed that - changed and filled the emptiness in me. Those bad memories are still there and always will be, but you're giving me happy memories too."
There was a sense of desperation in her words, a rush to them as if she weren't thinking, only tumbling.
"I apologize for subjecting you through that, I shouldn't have but I was selfish. I was insensitive to the impact it would have on you. I... figured it would help - not just with the missions, but for me. Like to give insight. I don't know how to explain this, but do you understand where I'm trying to go?" She didn't give time for an answer. "People like me exist to deal with the things that you can't. But people like you exist to help me deal with the things that I can't. I can do the action, but I can't accept that action. Does that make sense? I need it to. I don't need you to pull the trigger, Liara. I need your help for me to come to terms when I have to pull the trigger."
It made sense, but a new wave of uncertainty recoiled through her.
"I-I'm not a trained doctor in that manner, Shepard, I-"
"Dr. Chakwas is, and while I appreciate and respect her profession, she hasn't helped me the way I need it - not because she's inept, but because I won't allow her to." Shepard abruptly released her hold and knelt on a knee, framing the archaeologist's face firmly with a plea in her eyes. "You are the only person I have come to trust to do things like this, Liara. To talk about things like this. Do you remember when I said you couldn't even ask about the circumstances about my synthetics?"
Liara nodded slowly. Within a breath, the pressure on her jaw disappeared as Lucy's omni-tool was brought up, and there were multiple pings on the archaeologist a few seconds later.
"There. All the reports, all the circumstances not filtered by Alliance intel, all the psychological tests I had to go through as a result. All the progress - both good and bad - as I worked towards qualifying for being fitted with cybernetics, and thus then being tested if I was fit to continue my tour of duty. You are the only person, Liara. That alone should express how helpful you have been, because it has been a huge burden lifted off my shoulders just knowing I have someone I can trust - to have someone who is also so readily committed to telling me that they trust me and my decisions."
Shepard chuckled wryly as her eyes darted to the terminal. "Well, probably not anymore, after reading all of that."
"Even more," the archaeologist croaked pitifully. Her throat tightened, her lips dried. She was overwhelmed by all of this information, this unusual pouring of desperate emotion rushing out of Lucy as if the dam has just broken, and all because she removed a single twig. "Even more," she tried again, "Because only you are capable of making such a decision and surviving it - I can see now what you meant that in your position, there is no such thing as making the right call. I would have fallen apart just from the first couple missions I had read."
Their eyes flicked about, each searching for something in the other. There was a newfound rush of intimacy in their positions, their closeness, where all Liara would have to do is lean forward a few inches to capture those lips and finally confess her feelings. She didn't have the courage to - didn't trust herself to be in a stable state of mind, didn't want to take advantage of this rare show of vulnerability in the soldier.
"You give me hope that I'm not hopeless," Shepard murmured. "You're turning me into an optimist, Liara." She smirked. "No other has nor ever will be able to accomplish such an impossible feat."
Laughter welled up in the archaeologist and skipped out in a weak breath. Her eyes fell down to her hands - and how there were hands enclosed around hers. When did this happen? It sent a heady rush to her head, this innocent act, this brave venture and intimacy and outcry of everything this human was trying to scream at her.
"I have many things I wish to explore, many things to talk about. If you had told me a week ago that I actually wanted to explore the possibility of building rapport with my subordinates, I'd threaten to shoot you or demand that you start talking things that made actual sense. I never desired a connection with anybody. Now I want to show off your beach to my whole crew. I want them to try Shirvan. I'm actually interested and see the merits of shore leave now, to hear out how theirs went, to hear why they chose the colour they want for their robes. Do you see, Liara? You are helping me so much more in being a leader than a killer. The support and wisdom you offer are more valuable to any Commander than your marksmanship."
This earnest downpour was alien to how the soldier usually was, her stoic ways completely cast away, her line sailing far into unknown depths. She wasn't being cautious in her uncharted territory anymore.
"Now I don't claim to embark on all these things that I want to do - which is why I am starting with Chief Williams rather than the whole crew, to experiment and see how to even build rapport, but... But even if I don't change, or make a lot of progress, I still want to try. You're responsible for that, T'Soni. I need you to keep being you, to keep doing whatever you're doing that's helping me want to try. I want to come to mean something to this crew - and to you. I don't want to hear my life summarized in a kill count and tactical victories."
Lucy reached and cupped the archaeologist's jaw again, her calloused thumb sliding across the cheekbone.
"So please stop crying already. I've run out of ideas to make you stop. I don't know what else to do but I'm here. Did you forget? The only tears I'll tolerate is if we're poisoned by your cooking."
"Crying?"
Liara hadn't realized, and felt the moisture spread when the soldier swiped her thumb again. Somehow, somewhere, a chuckle hiccuped out of her and she rushed forward, tuning in too late to the rising rigidity slamming Shepard in preparation for an attack. The archaeologist pulled in a firm embrace, her hands tangled in sandy hair until she decided to wind her arms around the shoulders and bring them together. She tucked her face in Lucy's neck, taking in a deep shuddering breath to compose herself.
"Thank you," she whispered as her eyes fluttered shut. She smiled when she felt just how much tension was in the soldier's body and decided to tease a little. "Goddess, it's like hugging a boulder."
There was a huff, but no sly remark. Lucy silently returned the embrace. It wasn't soft, but it was still comforting, this rock-steady presence. The archaeologist worked to compose herself, puzzled as to when or why she was crying to begin with. She was incredibly touched by everything that was confessed, but-
"I'm sorry about Kate Bowman," Shepard murmured.
"Ah... I see..."
And the waterworks started again.
"I couldn't let a terrorist free - not when he had proven how capable he was to organize an attack like that, and how he would surely attack humanity again. Kate was forced to sacrifice her brother in order to keep communicating with me. And then I was forced to sacrifice her." Lucy sighed, her tone softening to a guilty hush. "I read the dossiers of all the people I am forced to sacrifice like that. She's... Not the first, Liara. I am sorry to say that she likely won't be the last. That is the harsh reality of the work we partake in. While you will not be personally involved in those missions, I am now realizing that it is still taking an emotional toll on you. So I apologize - I was selfish to ask for your aid, earlier. If you wish to stay here on Thessia and not be part of this mission, you are more than welcome to. My only last selfish request then is if you're okay with it, I would still like to retain communications with you. Or if I am passing the area, I could visit you at your apartment, or-"
"I'm not going anywhere," Liara interjected. She buried her face deeper against the soldier. "It's taken a toll on you too, Shepard. I'm not leaving you alone. No longer are you a 'lone wolf', whether you like it or not."
There was a slight suck of breath, then silence. Lucy's hold had firmed the subtlest bit, as was true to her ways. She cleared her throat as quietly as she could. She always expressed the most when hidden in nuances.
"You are like a lighthouse," Lucy mumbled. "A place that's safe to feel your grace. A way to guide me back home no matter how far I stray."
The way the soldier sounded so uncertain, as if she was ridiculing herself in her head, had made Liara bite the flesh of her cheek to stop herself from smiling like a fool. But the arms only tightened around her. She adjusted herself to feel the texture of hair brushed against her cheek instead of the top of her crest, holding on just as tightly because she knew this moment wasn't going to last forever, and Shepard was doing so good for tolerating her great discomfort for this long.
"And I'll always leave the light on," Liara promised, "So you'll never be lost ever again, Siame."
It was a slip-up, and panic ensued when the soldier pulled away to look at her, brow arched with the question.
"Th-that's for you to find out, and you can't look it up on the ethernet or ask anyone."
Lucy frowned. "So how am I supposed to find out?"
"The same way you made me find out what your minerals are."
"Yeah, but you looked it up on the ethernet."
That caught Liara off guard. "What? How did you know?"
A tap of the omni-tool. "My terminal is synced to my omni-tool. Take a look at the time too, and what I'm supposed to be doing on my schedule right now - I'm still supposed to be in a meeting in the comm room with the Council right now. Soon as I saw you open up the mission report with what happened on Asteroid X57, I cut the meeting short with the Council and-"
"Pardon? You what?"
"-rushed here." Shepard cocked her head. "What?"
"The Council is more important!"
"I'll determine what's important to me," the soldier huffed brazenly. "Were they to contribute anything actually meaningful, I might be inclined to agree. But they were complaining about things outside of my control, so I was browsing robes on my omni-tool and checked in on you at the same time."
"You were shopping while you were in a meeting with the Council...?"
Liara was positively horrified. The Council was the galaxy's most powerful trio, able to start and end wars with a few words - whether they be deliberate or a poor choice of them. They determined the fate of a species as to who had power or not, who had a seat in diplomacy and a say in galactic affairs. Mother would have been absolutely appalled and floored at this behaviour, especially coming from one who had proven to be so serious and dutiful. And then Liara was witness to a new kind of smile, shedding a new kind of light.
She wasn't sure if she should leave the light on for the devil.
"And... What were they complaining about that are outside of your control?" Liara asked hesitantly.
"Oh. The asari police were being uncooperative in handing their riot shields over, so I snuck into their precinct and borrowed it from their armoury. It appears to have caused a diplomatic incident and Councillor Tevos is unhappy with my course of action."
"I regret asking. Lesson learned. Never ask Lucy anything ever again."
"I don't see what the issue is," Shepard frowned as if she was actually baffled by this conundrum. "I resolved it peaceably and did not incapacitate anyone."
"And that's your definition of a peaceful solution?"
"Well, yes, a violent solution often results in death and possible minor injuries on my part."
"Didn't I just say I wouldn't ask Lucy anything ever again?"
"I won't be keeping the riot shields permanently," Lucy continued justifying her act of terror. "I stated that I would personally return them at the end of my mission and rebuffed their questions about the parameters as the mission regarding Saren is, of course, classified. I made a simple and polite request for the shields, going through their process only to be denied unjustly in the end. I believe they were discriminating against me because they did not believe I am a Spectre, when I tried to call upon my authority to seize the riot shields. If anything, they should be the ones apologizing, not me."
"That's all Councillor Tevos asked you to do? To apologize to the asari police?"
"Yes, and ordinarily I would support and encourage such a simple and peaceful solution, of course."
Yes. Of course. This coming from the one who casually issued menacing threats like she's asking what the weather was like on an hourly basis.
"However, I shouldn't apologize for something I'm not in the wrong for. I understand the game of politics, but this is sending the wrong message. They should be the ones apologizing, but as I've stated, such an endeavour is outside of my control as I cannot force them to realize their wrongdoing, and I do not have the time to engage in negotiations to persuade them."
"Oh Goddess..."
There was going to be a lot of work with this one. At least the bright side was that it detracted Lucy from Siame, a much more immediately-dire situation at the moment. It seemed both their priorities could use some work.
"Liara, are you okay? You look concerned."
"That is an understatement." But she put on her best smile and held fast to hope. "I'm sure everything will work out just fine in the end. I believe in you."
It was a very tentative belief, but Shepard seemed to be of the fair sort. Perhaps that was where the Fair came in with her name. She would do what was right in the end - that was just the kind of person she was.
Goddess, please let that be the kind of person she was.
"Alright, well, I have an hour unscheduled now that the meeting with the Council is over," Shepard stated as she pulled up and walked over to her terminal. "Let's see here..."
Liara had to fight really hard - had to bite her tongue really really hard - to keep her comments to herself as to why this hour was unscheduled. She held on stern to her hope in these turbulent waves and tried not to drown in her struggle to keep up with this storm of a woman. Perhaps this was why humans named their storms.
"I wasn't talking about the EDM process when I gave you these, by the way," Lucy mentioned offhandedly. Her finger tapped beside the minerals on the desk. Her back didn't shed any enlightening answers, up until she made that small devilish smile over her shoulder again. "You're not allowed to ask anyone what I mean though."
"But I can still use the ethernet?"
"You already passed right by your clue even when you did." Shepard looked back at the terminal, then up at the ceiling for some reason. She spun around as she took the minerals and strode up to Liara, shoving the minerals in her hands. The soldier seemed to be nervous again. "Tell you what. If you figure out what I mean with giving you these, I will let you see the Prothean beacon's visions for yourself by melding with me. If you can do that. Can you do that?"
"Wh-what? I can, but such a discovery... I would be the first researcher to ever...!"
Lucy smiled that smile. Oh, she knew exactly what she was doing and how evil she was being right now.
"Exactly. The catch?" She tapped the minerals. "You have to figure it out right now. If you fail and need the ethernet, you'll learn the meaning, but you'll lose the visions until you earn them in a future challenge of my choice. I'll give you one hint that may or may not prove useful right now, depending on what you remember from what you read. The periodic table, Dr. T'Soni."
Liara stared.
She flopped back on the bed with a defeated groan.