SSV Normandy SR2

Shuttle 'Omaha'

Thessian Atmosphere

Two Days later…

Liara T'Soni, the Normandy's resident Asari, sits in her seat with her eyes glued to the shuttle's external camera feed. Several Reaper ships blast away at the team's destination; the capital city Armali. In the feed, a skyscraper collapses in the wake of a Reaper's energy beam. Liara is clearly perplexed. Thessia has not been the host of a battlefield for millenia, likely around the time Humanity was taking its first steps out of the jungle. Possibly even before. Other than the bumps from turbulence and entering the atmosphere, the shuttle ride has been silent, so Shepard attempts to distract Liara with conversation.

"Liara, is there anything more you can tell us about this artifact?"

The troubled young Asari finally looks away from the screen. "These coordinates the Councilor gave you are for the Temple of Athame. I've only ever been there once. The building is several thousand years old, and for some reason, it gets secret government funding."

"Sounds like we're on the right trail, then." Abby says from her spot on the other side of the shuttle.

"What if we're too late?" Liara asks, her fear beginning to return. "My people are being slaughtered down there."

"Did Benezia take you here?" Shepard asks.

"I was only a child." The Asari replies, standing up. "I thought it was merely a history lesson, but maybe there was more to it." Liara's conspiracy-theorist mind begins racing with possibilities.

"How so?"

"I went digging through some of my mother's old files." Liara says as she opens her Omni-Tool. "She had heavily encrypted files on this place, some dating back centuries. I haven't been able to crack all of them, even with Glyph and EDI's help. Whatever is going on, it's well hidden."

"From what I heard from Ash," Abby pipes up, getting the women's attention. "Benezia was indoctrinated. She tried hard to break free of it." The Commander nods, privately wondering what else Ashley has told her sister. "She also said the three of you were forced to kill her." The Assassin continues. "I couldn't even imagine that."

"All of this brings those memories back." Says Liara, sitting back down. "What if Thessia faces a similar fate?"

"I know it's difficult, Liara, but you can't think about it." Shepard insists. "You could spend all day counting casualties, but it won't solve anything." Abby nods in agreement.

"When you should be avenging them." The Assassin adds. "The Reapers destroyed Arcturus Station, my home. They killed my Brothers, my friends. I know what I'll be doing while I'm down there."

"Focus on getting what we need to finish the Crucible."

"I can't be that callous about my own people." Liara replies, shaking her head.

"War doesn't always give you a choice." Shepard points out glumly.

The shuttle begins its descent towards the landing zone, bouncing around from Reaper anti-air fire.

"Hang on, back there!" Cortez calls from the cockpit. "This is gonna be tight!"

"Huh." Abby muses. "I've never performed a combat drop from a shuttle before."

"First time for everything, right?" Steve asks. The shuttle door opens with a hiss, and the vehicle begins to hover just above the ground.

"No!" Liara cries at the sight. "This can't be happening! My home!"

Outside the relative safety of the shuttle is chaos. Bullets whistle by as a team of Asari commandos desperately cling to a tiny strip of a walkway. A machine gun is set up on top of a barricade made of destroyed Sky-Cars and pieces of building walls. One commando, likely the group's engineer, quickly makes a makeshift repair to a gunship. Several explosions hit the biotic barrier around the machine gunner, throwing her off of the barricade and damaging the weapon. The gunship flies away, and the engineer runs to the gun to try and repair it. A medic helps the injured operator over to a small triage of other wounded commandos.

"There'll be time to enjoy the view later!" Shepard shouts over the gunfire. "Move it! Down the hill!"

Cortez quickly retreats as the team steps off, the Commander taking her usual place in the lead. Abby runs to the small opening in the barricade to offer a hand. As she reaches the firing position, a few rounds tear into one of the commandos leaning out to fire. She falls to the ground, and a medic quickly swoops in to pull her comrade to safety. Abby jumps in to take the commando's place at the wall.

"The hell?" The wounded commando asks. "We're allowing civilians into battle now?"

The Assassin ignores the question, simply readying her M-12 Locust and blind firing around the wall. As she pulls back to extract the heat sink, a Husk appears. Abby deploys a blade and stabs it in the throat, securing the fresh heat sink and using the Husk as a shield to gun down a squad of Cannibals. Abby removes her blade from the Husk, with several holes blasted into its back and head, and lets it fall to the ground. She turns and shoots a smirk to the commandos watching her.

"She's no civilian I've ever seen." One says after a moment.


Meanwhile…

SSV Normandy SR2

C.I.C.

Comm Specialist Traynor had never pressed a mute button so hard in her entire life. Despite the return of the ambiance of the C.I.C., the voices of overwhelmed Asari fighters and desperate civilians begging for help still echoed in her ears.

"Any units nearby! Outpost Cythera has been overrun! Falling back to next closest posi-!"

"If anyone can hear this...please help. My bondmate and our children are trapped in-"

"We are taking heavy fire from the school! Requesting immediate assis-!"

It was all too much. Part of the young Specialist wanted to cry. To run as far away from this infernal console and that eternal spiralling galaxy map as possible. Yet the rest of her knew that was impossible. This is a relatively small ship in outer space. There was nowhere to go, unless she was ever selected for Shore Party, which is something that non-combatants rarely did, if ever. Especially if that Shore Party went somewhere Commander Shepard would go, which is anywhere from the Galactic Core, to Geth-infested planets, to a derelict Reaper ship, and everywhere in between. No, thank you.

Samantha began to wander away from her comm console, eventually finding herself in front of the galaxy map, resting her elbows on the railing with her head in her hands.

"How could anyone do this for their entire military career?" She asked herself. "The Asari homeworld is collapsing before our eyes. Before my ears! Liara is down there, and so is Shepard...and Abby."

The comm officer surprised herself by how quickly she had grown so fond of her newest crewmate.

"Abby is just so likeable. So easy, and yet so hard to talk to. Everyone else around here is so militaristic and hardened. Nothing fazes them. 'We lost a planet? Just another day at the office.' It's such bullshit. Does anyone in the Alliance possess empathy?"

Samantha pushes away from the railing, turning around to find Ashley standing in front of the elevator. The expression of worry and slight confusion plain as day on her face.

"You okay, Traynor?" Ashley asks.

"Yes...Lieutenant Commander. Fine." Samantha says, quickly fixing herself up. Despite her best efforts, the LC seems unconvinced.

"Sam? You sure?"

The Specialist looks down, letting out a sigh. "No...no I'm really not." She turns back to her console, her Marine friend following. "The defense of Thessia has so far been a complete disaster. All the local comm channels are completely full from people sending S.O.S.s and commando units requesting backup."

Ash nods with understanding. "I know how you feel. I hate that there's nothing else we can do." She looks over Samantha's console as page after page of data crosses the screen. "The Asari Councilor wants this to be a quiet op. And furthermore, the Asari opted out of the peace summit with the Krogan. They tried to stay out of the whole war all together, and now they don't have many friends to turn too. The Skipper said her hands were tied on this one. Supposedly a quick 'snatch and grab'. Clearly that isn't the case."

Traynor looks over at the woman at her side. Being with Shepard since the beginning, like Garrus, Joker and Tali, she's likely seen it all.

"How do you do it?" Samantha asks. "Keeping your sanity through all this? How did you keep it during the war with Saren, and with the Collectors?"

Ashley looks down for a moment, rubbing a fastener head on the deck with her boot while thinking of an answer.

"I just try not to think about it." She finally replies. "About Earth, Palaven, Thessia, my home of Sirona. Think about what's happening out there for too long, and you start to drive yourself crazy. You'll work yourself up, getting angry, depressed, and frustrated with how helpless you feel, and by the end of it you'll have no energy left. Then you feel even worse." Ashley steps forward, patting the Specialist's shoulder encouragingly. "Focus on the here and now, like these communications. Ask, 'Is there any way I can help this person?' If yes, do it. If not, move on to the next. If that gets too taxing...or depressing, try managing Shepard's advance through the city. Find nearby units to help her, or get an evac planned if things get too hairy."

Samantha lets out a heavy sigh, psyching herself up.

"Okay...support...intel...evac...that I can do." She steps towards her console again, unmuting it, but turning the volume down. Looking over her shoulder, she sees Ashley starting to leave.

"Thank you, Ash."

The Marine smiles.


Temple of Athame

Armali, Thessia

Half an hour later…

"Indoctrinated presence detected. Activating security protocol."

The 'Vendetta' AI reverts back to a glowing green orb and retreats back to the statue. Outside, a gunship with Cerberus markings veers away and a lone figure approaches. The man is none other than Kai Leng, the Cerberus assassin.

Shepard, Abby and Liara ready their weapons, N-7 Valkyrie, blades, and M-77 Paladin respectively, in unison.

"Kai Leng!" The Assassin jeers. "It's been too long."

"You killed the scientists." Shepard growls. "What do you want?"

"Your attention." Leng says simply. "Someone would like to speak with you." He pulls a small device, with an appearance similar to Glyph, out of his pocket and it hovers out of his hand. Tapping a few buttons on his Omni-Tool, the device flies towards Shepard, and a hologram of the Illusive Man appears.

"Shepard." He says in greeting.

"How did you find this place?" the Commander demands, lowering her rifle.

"The Archives. Or did your Shadow Broker miss that one?" TIM asks, looking at Liara with a smug grin.

"Show yourself!" The Asari shouts. "I promise I won't miss."

"Stick to your talents, Doctor." The hologram walks through Shepard and towards Vendetta. Behind it, Kai Leng paces around and watches the conversation, Abby not letting him out of her sight. "You've helped uncover the key to subjugating the Reapers."

That makes Abby turn her head.

"What did he just say?" She asks, looking to Liara and Shepard for an explanation.

"Or destroying them." Says Shepard, ignoring the question.

"Destroying the Reapers gains us nothing!"

"How about peace?"

"Wait, hold on." Abby presses, looking at Shepard. "He wants to control them?!"

"A little late to the party, are we Assassin?" TIM asks, giving Abby a pointed look. In a fit of anger and confusion, she throws one of her blades at the hologram. It misses the orb device, instead embedding itself in Athame's foot.

The Illusive Man laughs, walking through Shepard again and towards Kai Leng. "You Assassins are always predictable. I feel that this conversation does not need to continue. Leng, the Commander has something I need. Please relieve her of it."

"With pleasure." Leng replies, catching the device and drawing his sword. Abby pulls another blade from her belt and places it in the empty track as Shepard and Liara attack. The Commander throws a biotic Shockwave, while the Asari uses Warp. Combined, they create an explosion around Leng. He staggers slightly, but continues his advance towards Liara.

Blades ready, Abby jumps over several pues, attacking Leng from the air. The two duel for several seconds, before catching each other in a bind. The Assassin's blades are both blocked by Leng's sword and free hand. Her more skilled opponent breaks the bind first, pushing away one blade and kicking the other, finding a moment to stab Abby in the side. Before he can attack further, Abby is saved by Liara throwing another Warp, followed by Shepard squeezing off several bursts. The Cerberus assassin nearly loses his shields and quickly retreats.

"I've lost shields!" He shouts to the gunship. "Cover me!" As the gunship appears again, Shepard pushes the Assassin to cover and tackles Liara to get her to safety. The gunship's cannon rips into the temple, mowing down everything as Abby applies Medi-Gel to her wound. As the gunship finally flies away, she throws another blade. This one hits its mark, finding a home in Leng's leg and stopping him in his tracks. He angrily pulls the blade out, tossing it aside.

"There's only one way this ends." The man growls, stabbing his sword into the floor and running towards Abby. He knocks the Assassin's bladed hand aside, delivering a swift punch to the face, then picking her up by her jacket collar and throwing her across the room. Liara tries to take a shot, but is floored by the airborne Assassin. Shepard jumps over them, firing several rounds at Leng, but all of them are deflected by his shield.

"Target the supports." The Cerberus assassin orders. His gunship returns, firing rockets into the temple and knocking down the support columns as Shepard's team attempts to flee. The ceiling begins to cave in, with pieces of debris raining all around. In the chaos, the Commander becomes partially buried. She can see Leng, but can't fight back.

"Cerberus thanks you for all your hard work." Kai Leng says casually, walking towards Vendetta.