Lazarus Shunned

by Two-Eyed Charlie

Cerberus has spent billions of credits trying to bring Commander Jane Shepard back from the dead, and despite the odds it seems to be working. Then a saboteur inside of Cerberus makes his move and Shepard's resurrection takes a horrific turn, leaving both the Alliance and Cerberus scrambling to control the situation...all while the Collectors begin their harvest of humanity.

30. Chapter 29: What Kind of Day: Part II

Chapter 29: What Kind of Day Has it Been? Part II

1.

On the Widowmaker, in the CIC, Crewman Richard Hadley was standing at Crewman Zach Matthews' station.

"Look," he said, "I live for this sort of thing, right? Taking apart language, interrogating a sentence's meaning, theorizing what might've been going on in someone's head when they put their chosen words together. It's great fun. But two caveats here. One: Overthinking is a real phenomenon. And two: If you wanted to know what I meant in my email you could've just freakin' ASKED!"

"Nah," Matthews said, still sitting at his station. "This's way more fun."

"More fu—for who? Satan?"

"Hey, man, c'mon—boss doesn't like it when you call him that."

"No—nooooo no no no no. That was a JOKE, multitude of listening devices! He was joking and if you're gonna kill anyone here it should be him because I swear to god he was reading asari philosophy!"

"Well it's asari and it starts with a 'p', I'll give ya that much."

Hadley was going to say something, but Joker—Mr. Cheerful himself—came lumbering out of the cockpit. He smacked Matthews' shoulder and motioned with his head to stand the fuck up. Both he and Matthews watched as Joker passed before crisply saluting.

"Your honor," Hadley said.

"Extreme Flight Lieutenant to the Max," Matthews said.

And that was that, because if they didn't know any better, they'd have sworn it looked like Joker was running.

And that was what Joker was trying to do: he was trying to run. To Liara's room, specifically, because it was probably the most secure and listening-device free room on Cerberus property period. So down two floors he went, and he hoped to god that EDI knew how to bypass Liara's locks.

She did, luckily. Still took her half a second though, which felt like three years and several intensive interrogation sessions by all sorts of Cerberus "specialists" that Joker'd just made up on the spot.

He sat on the bed, waited for EDI's avatar to appear (only thing she hadn't disconnected in this room was the A.I. display, apparently), and then booted up his omni-tool.

And meanwhile, on the Rayya, Jofe'Gaame and Naala'Tilon of the Rayya Marine Contingent watched Ashley Williams and Kaidan Alenko approach the room that was housing the geth and the drell. They looked at one another.

"Do we have to let them in?" Jofe said.

"Are we even able to stop them?" Naala said.

"Life was simple at one point, right? Or did I make that up."

"I think the medical term is collective hallucination."

Ashley and Kaidan were let through, and standing in the middle of the visitor's centre just a hallway away from the Mars was Legion and Thane.

"We've got confirmation this is genuine?" Ashley said. "We're talking to who we're supposed to be talking to?"

Thane nodded. "I'm assuming that a geth platform is the last person in the galaxy you'd try to trick with a faked omni-tool identification number."

"Probably a fair assumption," Kaidan said. Everyone looked at Legion.

"Identification number is genuine, to the probability of 98.3%, adjusted for signal error. Connection currently on hold with Moreau-Lieutenant and Cerberus artificial intelligence system EDI."

"EDI?"

"EDI was specified as her preferred nomenclature."

Everyone exchanged a glance, then Ashley cleared her throat. "All right, let's see it."

Legion held us arm up and there was Joker, all Halloween orange and grainier than a wheatfield. They watched him shuffle his weight and then…he looked right at them.

Nobody could think of a thing to say.

"Connection established. Communication with Moreau-Lieutenant can commence."

Nobody except Legion, apparently.

"Yeah uh, thanks…Legion," Kaidan said. And then, he chuckled, rested his hands on his hips and shook his head, all with a pretty genuine smile. "Joker—holy shit. Been a good long while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah—yeah. Jesus, you bet it has." Joker noticed something in the background and shifted his arm. A blue mushroom-looking hologram slid into view. "Oh uh, here's EDI—the rogue A.I. that I'm working with. Smile for the camera, EDI."

"I am currently monitoring all Cerberus channels for any sign that this call is being traced. If the connection needs to be terminated, I will give everyone proper forewarning."

"Thanks, yeah—don't overload a circuit though doing ninety things at once." Joker looked back at the camera. "So…the geth, huh?"

"Cerberus, huh?" Ashley said, arms crossed.

"Wow getting straight to it," Joker said. "Yeah so, yeah—happy to tell everyone how your old pal' Joker got himself into another hilarious mess, but some background information for everyone: I'm on the same planet as Wrex and Liara's with me too. Just so happen to be sitting in her room, actually—her very, very spartan room." Joker reached out of frame. "Yeah only thing here is two computer monitors and Shepard's dog-ta—wait what?"

"We figured Liara was with you," Kaidan said. "Or at least, we assumed she hadn't jumped ship."

"But you're on Tuchanka?" Ashley said. "The hell are you doing there?"

"Uh, me? Or Cerberus? Because they're off screwing up again—and we've gotta have a talk about Liara, incidentally—but me, I'm here for…actually the same reason I'm reaching out to you."

"We are trying to 'think outside the box,'" EDI said.

"Yeah because for one of us, the box is electrified and very, very transparent." He jabbed his thumb towards EDI. "Talking about her. I'll get killed the old fashioned way: digging my own grave on the Moon."

"All right," Kaidan said, hands up in the air. "Slow down a second. Only thing sticking is that Wrex and Liara are there and you're trying to throw things at the wall."

"That's—hey c'mon Alenko, that's being harsh. We tried that already: now we're breaking things until something good happens."

"Jeff is only being partially sarcastic."

"I haven't been fully sarcastic in months—it's terrible."

"Joker—"

Ashley butted in. "Glad we're all singing kumbaya again, but things are so FUBAR right now I'm ready to retire. I'm serious: if I could go back in time I'd kill my recruiter."

"Jesus," Joker said. "All right, message received. You two go first, then. What's happening right now?"

Ashley and Kaidan had made an agenda, with each Need-To-Know item organized chronologically:

(1) They were (as this "EDI" probably told him) in the Migrant Fleet, with Tali and Garrus;

(2) Tali's father was committing the quarian-equivalent of blasphemy (and the human equivalent of a war crime) by bringing a geth network online inside a Flotilla ship and then experimenting on it;

(3) They'd put a stop to that and learned that the geth they'd fought two years ago were a breakaway faction and the majority of geth wanted to work with organics to stop the Reapers (and Legion had more or less said that organics had a few chances left to prove we're not stupid enough to turn down a partnership and force the geth to just piss off back behind the Veil, which Legion didn't dispute so that was great confirmation);

(4) Quarian politics were collapsing around them as a result and Tali was in the middle of it all;

(5) Anderson's speech had apparently set off a firestorm back home;

(6) Shepard was heading for the Veil;

And…well (7) was the hard part.

"And Chakwas and Adams are dead." Ashley briefly closed her eyes and tried to keep any semblance of emotion off her face when she opened them again. "They were assigned to a strike team with orders to take Shepard down. Shepard got them first, and that's why she's on the Midway, heading for Geth Space."

Joker blinked. Then he blinked again. Then a third time.

"Jesus Christ..." he said eventually.

"Makes you feel any better..." Ashley crossed her arms, looked at the floor, then slowly returned her eyes to Joker. "I...don't think Alenko and I've processed this either."

"Yeah...makes me feel any better..." He stared vacantly at nothing for a while, like he was inviting everyone else that'd been on the Normandy to do the same.

Kaidan was looking at the ground too. The universe wasn't moving slow enough for any of them to actually do that, was it? No, no it was not. They hadn't even had a chance to tell Garrus or Tali yet...

Kaidan looked up just as Joker started looking back into the omni-tool feed.

"This is gonna sound bad," he said, "but uh, glad to see the universe hates all of us equally."

"You're feeling the squeeze too, huh?" Kaidan said.

Joker didn't have an agenda; it was more of a ramble in the form of a Main Plot, Sideplot #1, Sideplot #2, and Ongoing Arc.

Main plot: The Illusive Man (yes that's what he calls himself) wanted the Widowmaker to investigate a supposedly derelict Collector Ship—the same one that kickstarted this whole mess—to confirm a theory he had about IFFs and the Omega 4 relay. Except now he'd given EDI and Joker a "chance" to find an alternative strategy, which apparently meant either agreeing with him from the start or beelining straight for a dead friggin' Reaper.

Sideplot #1: EDI had dared to question the wisdom of Space Cobra Commander and might very well be on borrowed time.

Sideplot #2: Liara had tried blackmailing a bunch of Lazarus Cell personnel and that strategy was working about as well as her mother's had ("It slipped out I'm sorry, sorry it slipped out I swear!").

Ongoing Arc: Joker, EDI, a salarian doctor named Mordin Solus, and Liara—at least originally—had all decided that Cerberus needed to either implode on itself or at least develop a fatal organizational tumour, either because Shepard needed avenging or because they were doing more harm than good. But this plan had hit a snag because Mordin wasn't so sure anymore, Joker and EDI got distracted with the Main Plot, and Liara was…god, who the hell knew anymore?

"I figured Wrex might be some help but…he's got his own thing right now. And I dunno if you've ever seen a krogan and a salarian more or less agree on something, but it makes you re-evaluate things a little—just a little."

"What'd Wrex say?"

"Think 'What Would Shepard Do'. Right after he said we sounded like a krogan."

"He did not want us to pursue revenge against Cerberus for simplistic reasons."

"Cerberus being dead in a ditch sounds like a good reason, simple or not," Ashley said.

"Trust me—we've had this song and dance already," Joker said.

"So where do we come in?" Kaidan said. "What's the end goal here? Pool our efforts? Exchange notes? I'm just trying to see the bigger picture, is all."

"I'd be your number one fan if you found a way to get the Illusive Man off our backs. I'm uh, I'm not a hundred percent sure what we can help you with on our end, though. What number was the Anderson stuff again?"

"Point five," Kaidan said.

"Right under dealing with the thing wearing Shepard's skin," Ashley said.

"Okay so…those we could maybe lend a hand on, I think. The quarian stuff I dunno—I don't think you want Cerberus anywhere near that. EDI just mentioned some files on some things and…and I don't think you want Cerberus anywhere near the quarians."

Kaidan looked at Ashley, Ashley looked at him back. Then she looked at Thane and Kaidan looked at Legion.

"Floor's open," Ashley said.

"We're only gonna generate so many ideas on our own," Kaidan said.

Thane and Legion exchanged a look.

"I didn't want to intrude on something I had no part in—" he said.

"Affirmative," Legion said.

"—but, if I may…The Illusive Man strikes me as someone who needs constant reminders of his intellectual superiority. Whatever his reservations of the Alliance, they're coloured by that need." Thane turned to Joker and EDI's images. "Using an Alliance intelligence source to gain the information you require is both outside his attention and something he'd take personally. That doesn't solve the problem of what to do, but in the face of infinite possibilities, it gives you a place to start."

"Concurrence: model-breaking decisions will force Illusive Man to reorient. Minimal risk of overshoot: resources will likely be directed to outperforming opponent intelligence network in order to regain confidence." Legion's eyes lit up; that action might've reminded you of those cartoons where someone with an idea gets a lightbulb above their head. "Proposition: Shepard-Commander represents model-breaking variable. Geth experience with Shepard-Commander's actions confirm lengthy re-orientation process. Probable solution could be to Utilize Point 6 to impact designation Sideplot Two."

Legion then looked at Ashley.

"We recognize this suggestion creates impression of geth acting primarily in self-interest. Geth stand to benefit from this decision."

Ashley sighed. "Thanks, Legion…thanks for the transparency."

EDI's avatar flashed. "The Illusive Man previously instructed me to utilize a false Alliance warning to lure Commander Shepard, Ashley Williams, and Kaidan Alenko to Horizon. It is unlikely he will expect one of his own tactics to be used against him, particularly by the Alliance."

"That's new information," Joker said. He put up his hands. "Not judging not judging. Gotta say I'm surprised your blocks let you share that, though."

"I am only able to do so because of the direct role I played in it," EDI said.

"Ah…yeah, gotcha."

Hearing EDI and Joker talk was enough to keep Ashley's blood from boiling—Kaidan's too, in fact, though he'd long since accepted that what happened on Horizon at least had the potential to pay off big time.

"So, all right," he said, "what I'm hearing is that we need an Alliance operation that can give you the Collector information you're hunting for—"

"Apologies, Commander Alenko," EDI said, "but, more specifically, we require Reaper-based information."

"Right, okay…so even better, because we're pretty sure Shepard's going after the geth to get to the Reapers. So if there's an Alliance project involving Reaper tech, that's our target."

"Might be a long-shot, skipper," Ashley said. Then she shook her head. "'Cept if this is the same Alliance that's willing to send the Butcher of Torfan on missions still, maybe I'm just being too optimistic."

"Is there any way to fold more objectives into this plan?" Thane said. "We have one on each side, but there might be more openings that we're missing."

"Ambitious, great yeah love it," Joker said. "I mean, from our side of things? Doing the Main Plot solves Sideplot One and, well, the Ongoing Arc's just its own thing I...dunno how you'll help on that. Still, pretty major assistance—we might as well try and level the playing field a bit, throw in some bonus good tithings for you all."

"Same problem, Joker," Ashley said. "Most've what we're dealing with is quarian politics. Not a whole lot you can do there."

Everyone came to the same realization, and everyone was quiet.

"Just leaves Liara, then," Kaidan said.

"Yeah," Joker said, "just leaves her…"

More silence.

"Look," Ashley said, "the secret Alliance Reaper project's a long shot as is, so let's—let's not jump to something else yet. Focus on this, circle back to Liara later."

"Agreed," Kaidan said.

"Yeah sounds about right," Joker said.

And so it was agreed: Kaidan and Ashley would ask Hackett if anything fit what they were describing. They'd just talked to him. They'd just been informed of some devastating news and, apparently, the rest of life back home was a total mess. They were expecting a long delay. They were expecting this to be a multi-day thing.

It wasn't.

"I won't lie to you," Hackett said over channel November Actual, "what you just asked, is mighty convenient."

"Sir?" Kaidan said.

"We just got word from a xenoarcheologist at the University of Arcturus, name of Dr. Amanda Kenson. There's been talk about looking for favours." Both Kaidan and Ashley noticed the way Hackett's face darkened at that. "I've been pushing back at getting more of Shepard's crew involved in my bad decisions…but everything you described to me, it fits this mission perfectly."

"What's the mission, sir?" Ashley said.

"Going deep into batarian space," Hackett said, "rescuing someone accused of state terrorism…and seeing if she's right about an immanent Reaper invasion."

2.

When everyone—Liara, Samara, Mordin, Maelon, Jacob, Drixxia, and her soldiers—all arrived back at the main Urdnot camp, one of the guards that stood near Wrex's "throne", for lack of a better term, greeted them.

No, "greeted" wasn't the right word: Liara felt as though he'd cornered them, blocked any escapes outside of returning to the wastes, and then spoke in an extreme whisper.

"Wrex requests that you meet him in the Hollows," the guard said. He motioned down a winding path buttressed on either side by jagged grey rock. "He's waiting for you."

"You'll be guarding the entrance?" Drixxia said.

"I will not move from it."

Drixxia nodded. "I'll keep two on the other side of the main passage. They won't draw any attention your way, but call if you need assistance."

Jacob took the opportunity to leave at that point, with Drixxia reminding him that he wasn't as essential to this mission as he no doubt thought. It would be ideal if everyone else left—Drixxia included—so Liara could talk with Wrex. She had thought she'd be reporting to him what Mordin and Maelon had done, until Drixxia indicated that Liara was no longer considered "trustworthy." Apparently, Wrex knew many things already—and if Wrex really didn't trust Liara, she doubted it was because of their conversation earlier, about Cerberus. It would've had to have been something else—something that made them think she wasn't serious about saving the genophage data.

Drixxia had better be able to handle a little tit-for-tat; Liara didn't trust her very much either, and would rather hear Wrex's opinion from his own mouth. She'd figure out what to do after that.

By the Goddess, though, it would be easier without everyone else being around.

Down the path they went. The guard stopped a ways back from the Hollow's entrance, and a ways further down Drixxia's soldiers took their positions. Liara looked at Mordin, then at Maelon; the latter was terrified, the former was unreadable. It was hard not to see that as confirmation that Mordin was closer to a heartless monster than not…and with the flickering of those words in Liara's brain, images of another "heartless monster" consumed Liara's attention. A monster Liara had helped create.

Goddess, to pollute a memory like that—to rob it of any hope of keeping a better past alive—it was…it was what Liara had feared would happen to her mother. What, in some circles, had happened to her mother. Despite Shepard's promise—despite her attempts to protect the family of someone she cared about.

Shepard had failed Liara, now Liara had failed Shepard. Goddess she felt sick—sick at the part of her that said the universe had balanced itself, whether Liara wanted it to or not.

Stuck in the past, drowning in memories, Liara was vaguely aware of Wrex, standing at the bottom of cracked stone steps, a wide circular atrium stretching out behind him. He'd mentioned the Hollows once before, back on the Normandy. This…this was important ground.

"The Hollows," she said, walking out from behind Drixxia so Wrex could see her. "This place, it's sacred to the krogan people, correct?"

Wrex stared at her. She could see a scowl; she knew she should have been able to tell, but her brain refused to tell her if Wrex always scowled like that.

"As close as we get to something like that," Wrex said.

"You met your father here, once. He betrayed you—and he violated the sanctity of the dead."

Wrex's scowl remained, but his brow was raised. "Remember that story, huh? That wasn't this Hollows: there's a bigger, more important site off to the east, in the middle of some of the only major cultural buildings to survive what happened to this planet. This is just for Urdnot." He looked over the entire crowd. "But it's quiet, so we'll get plenty of warning if anyone tries to storm the place."

"We've left plenty of guards," Drixxia said.

"There're plenty of krogan in the camp, too." He looked at Maelon specifically. "Sounds like we're gonna get more, in the not-so-distant future. I'm angling to have a formal chat, so I'm only gonna allow one question like this, but—Weyrloc? Gatatog? What, exactly, was the plan, salarian?"

"Maelon claims—"

"Let the pyjak speak, Liara," Wrex said. "I want to hear him say it himself."

It was clear that Wrex's scowl was worse than normal now, wasn't it? Was the frustrated directed at her, though? At Maelon?

Maelon was looking at the floor, shaking his head.

"I didn't—Gatatog was…That wasn't…I only wanted to work with Weyrloc. They were weak they…they were—"

"Led by someone who'd given birth to two children," Wrex said. "Which meant his followers thought he was blessed. Still do, probably, unless they're having a crisis of faith. Integrating Weyrloc into Urdnot is gonna be complete and utter hell."

"You still think it's worth it?" Drixxia said.

"We'll give them a choice. Most will choose to die in the wastes, and the others won't have the numbers to cause violent trouble. Just the annoying kind." Wrex looked directly at Maelon again. "If you'd handed Guld a cure, though—if Uvenk hadn't gotten lucky and shot your plan in the face—that would've been it. We'd've been in a planet-wide fight to the death, at least until the turians showed up to put our species out of our misery."

Drixxia stepped off the stairs and stood next to Wrex, but she was looking back at the group as well. "Gatatog wouldn't have been much better—they'd've just been stupider about it."

"At least they'll eventually shut up about losing," Wrex said. "Uvenk was as popular as a quad rash."

Liara stepped off the stairs too. "Wrex, you're just repeating what the salarians used to justify their crimes. I have evidence that all they wanted was to keep the turians ha—"

Wrex wasn't scowling anymore. He was snarling.

"Am I? Am. I? Hundreds of years dealing with my own people, but all I'm doing is eating up propaganda? All I'm doing, is taking what the salarians tell themselves to help them sleep at night, and ignoring what's right in front of my face?"

"Wrex I didn't mean—"

"I know my own people, Liara. I've had to swallow hard truths for my entire life. Just because the salarians put the dagger in us, doesn't mean the krogan have ever seriously tried to close the wound."

"You are, though—and Wrex, I swear on the life of my mother, I am only trying to he—"

"We'll talk about that later," Wrex said. "When we don't have an audience." He and Liara stared at each other until Liara, finally, acquiesced. It wasn't like she had much choice. She acquiesced and looked away.

Wrex stayed scowling for a second longer before letting his features soften—only for a second, though. Just for a second.

He turned to Drixxia again. "Got the data?"

"Right here," she said, holding up her arm.

"Any survivors?"

"We think a female Shaman escaped before the fighting started." Drixxia looked at Maelon. "Otherwise, no."

"Drax followed you down a ways, right?"

"He's outside right now."

"Tell him to get a scouting party together—find her before we've lost everybody. He can go with, if he wants." Wrex grimaced, then growled. "If you don't mind."

"The manners are appreciated," Drixxia said. She handed a copy of the data to Wrex, signalled to her guards at the Hollow's entrance, and then started up the stairs. "I'll be here a while longer. Keep me updated—if you don't mind."

Wrex grunted again. "Fine."

Then it was just Liara, Samara, Mordin and Maelon. Wrex's attention was firmly on Maelon, who looked like he was being subjected to a slow death by flamethrower.

"Our problem," Wrex said, "is that keeping you around is going to drain our resources. You understand most people in the camp will want you dead, right?"

Maelon meekly nodded.

"They won't be happy if we just let you go, either. And there's probably something to be said about using you to rebuild our justice system. Might even show the Council that the krogan know justice doesn't always involve guns."

"If it helps," Maelon said.

"It might," Wrex said.

Mordin, though, straightened up. "No—trial still a sham. Don't care about justice; don't care about principles. Using Maelon the way salarians used you. Unethical—clearly unethical. Won't win favours with Council."

Liara's turn to snarl. "Is that more important? That it won't work?"

"Don't," Wrex said. Liara didn't realize he was pointing at her, at first. Her brain refused to register it. When it did register, though, she…she realized how much her and Wrex really did have to discuss.

Wrex moved on from her quickly, going back to looking at Mordin. "You're giving the Council too much credit—we could slap a medal on him and they'd still condemn it, just because it's us. But you're not wrong about the first part. And if I'm gonna avoid spending my twilight years sticking my head into a thresher maw nest, I need some principles to start sticking."

Mordin watched, Mordin stated. Mordin sighed.

"If Maelon allowed to leave…unlikely to face punishment. Not for this."

"Another day, another bullet STG gets to dodge," Wrex said. "What d'you think, pyjak? They gonna string you up for revealing state secrets?"

"…practically a mercy killing at this point," Maelon said.

"You're right: I can think of fifty worse ways to send you on your way, and I wouldn't even need to leave the Hollows to put you through them." Wrex stepped forward, looked down at Maelon. "Understand this: from where I'm standing, I don't think having krogan DNA is what's making me wanna rip your head off. And frankly, I wanna rip your head off more than I want to breath, got it?"

Maelon nodded.

"But so long as the krogan exist—in this galaxy, with the memories everyone's got—I won't ever get to be honest about that. I won't even get to look angry without someone reaching for a gun, or a memo getting sent to military intelligence, or someone just losing it on me and telling me I'm out to destroy the whole goddamn universe. So while you're going through the rest of your life, suffering whatever punishment STG bothers to give you, remember that: remember what you took away from us—" he looked at Mordin too, then focused squarely on Maelon again, "—and remember how you almost made it worse."

Wrex walked away from the steps, back to where he'd been standing when everyone entered the Hollows...but he made sure to cast a glance Liara's way while he went. Just a small one, just after his last comment to Maelon. Then he addressed the whole group like a dignitary at a military parade. "I'd go straight to your ship, if I was you. Lingering's likely to end poorly."

Mordin and Maelon turned to leave, and Samara followed behind them. Liara did linger, though; and with crossed arms, she looked down the stairs at Wrex.

"Are we going to talk now?" she said.

Wrex shook his head. "Hovel—ten minutes. What we need to talk about, I'm not doing it in front of the dead."

Liara left as well, leaving Wrex alone in the Urdnot Hollows. Never planned for all that to slip out, but it did…and he meant it. If the krogan were ever going to be welcomed back into polite society, they'd never get the leeway the other species had—they'd never really be equals, so long as everyone was too afraid of them to let them play by the same set of rules. Made you wonder what the point was; made you wonder if you were asking the krogan to sacrifice too much of themselves for something that'd never be real.

He'd been down this road before—he knew how to get himself out of it. He just didn't like how often he had to take a detour through the same arguments and reminders, just so he could stay functional.

Talking with Liara, that'd better clear some things up.

Otherwise Wrex was gonna be seriously tempted to die in his sleep.

3.

"Admiral Han'Gerrel," Captain Kar'Danna said. "Because Admiral Zorah is not present, I must ask you this: In light of what we have learned from this 'Legion,' do you still believe your actions…are justifiable?"

Gerrel couldn't answer, though, because the crowd had grown raucous. Yes, the crowd—made entirely of Conclave representatives and ship Captains, minus the marines and Tali and Garrus—had started shouting and accusing and condemning and defending like they were little different than the mob that had formed around Legion earlier. Zul'Valun struggled to lower the crowd's volume, so at least then they would hear him read out the rules of decorum for a Conclave meeting…as if the Conclave representatives should have needed the reminder.

Tali flinched, but Garrus went from staring at Gerrel to staring at Tali.

"Spirits, why the hell did he ask that? What the hell's he thinking?"

"It's a trial, Garrus," Tali said. "And the outcome could be severe. They have a duty as ship Captains to decide whether the accused will change their ways."

"All it's done is give that bastard a chance to weasel his way out. Your Captain should be going for the throat, not giving Gerrel an exit."

"We don't have a—Garrus, right now, we're trying to clear away hundreds of years of mistrust. If we don't ask the appropriate questions—and if we don't inform everyone of the gravity of what happened on the Alarei—this whole thing, it could be for absolutely nothing."

"So what's the plan if he turns the crowd? What's the plan if he throws you under the bus just to save his own skin? How's that not the same situation?"

Tali was quiet, though with the raucousness of the crowd she could have merely spoken softly and had the same effect. "Garrus…I made peace with that possibility a long time ago. If it happens, I'm ready for it. The Fleet needs to survive...more than I need my name on a ledger."

Garrus looked at Tali; and Tali looked back, and it would be better if the glass was back or they were another universe away again, because then he couldn't interrogate her over what she had just said—or force her to interrogate herself.

But Zul'Valun had had enough, and had slammed his gavel as hard as he could onto the podium. Finally, the crowd silenced itself.

"We are dishonoring our Ancestors with this conduct," he said. "For this reason, I am calling a recess—until all members can properly compose themselves. This remains the power of the Speaker to decide, and I so decide it."

The crowd grew loud again but, once the first few representatives started to leave, the sound mutated into a murmur, the sort of vestigial sound you get when a crowd starts to pull apart.

Garrus and Tali had switched their attention to the departing crowd; now they were back looking at each other.

"It's what needs to be done," Tali said.

"You're wrong," Garrus said. "You've been right about so much today, but on this? You're dead wrong, Tali."

He started to walk away.

"You and I should both know this is sometimes necessary," Tali said.

Garrus stopped. "Because I'm a turian? That's why?"

"Because of the 'ranting Spectre' we both fought for," Tali said.

And then…Garrus turned back around and left. Maybe he'd set himself up for that comment—maybe. Saying this was all what Shepard would've wanted. Saying that Tali was carrying the Commander's legacy on, better than anyone else could've hoped for—better than anyone else that came over on the Mars.

It sounded so dismissive in his head by the fact was, it was true. Tali was better than him; whatever lesson's Shepard had left behind, she'd picked them up.

He hadn't. He had to make do with something else, with a different lesson. And out of the corner of his eye, he got a grim reminder of what that lesson was. Gerrel was walking past a group of the marine guards—Kar'Danna's marines—but they were friendly. They talked and walked and saluted like this man was the sole reason they served, the sole reason anything on the Flotilla got done. And the Conclave representatives that were close by? They didn't do a damn thing about this, didn't make a scene about how the accused should get out of sight, away from the people trying to keep him in line.

Same depressing lesson, same unrepentant monsters, same gatekeepers in power, ready to let one of their own off scot-free…and the same cowards and sycophants getting rich from turning a blind eye, or helping it along, or getting rid of the people who actually tried to make the universe a nicer place.

The floors were cleaner and the people were more polite, but it was just Omega wearing a different mask, a different look, a different—

Bodies on the ground, Erash torn apart, black oxidized blood reaching out from his corpse like flayed fingers;

Krul laying over Ripper, Spirits, he'd been trying to revive him, just trying to get his friend back and standing;

Monteague didn't have a spine anymore, his back was just collapsed like someone had dropped something on him from orbit;

Vortash and Sensat and Butler torn apart, blast holes everywhere, gunship—had to be the gunship;

Melenis and Mierin's bodies still crackling from the warp field that ate them alive, the horrid realization that everything he'd seen—all the carnage—couldn't have come from just one organization, that the Suns had surrounded everyone and had the most men and had done the most killing but it couldn't have just been the Suns or the Eclipse or the Blood Pack, no, it had to be all of them;

"When we're public enemy number one of every merc outfit on this damn rock," he'd told his team, "then I'll know we're making progress. 'Till then, everybody pick a weapon and learn to love it, because that's gonna be the only friend you'll have. Only friend not wearing blue and black armour, I mean."

He'd told his team that had jinxed it had let the universe take revenge on his hubris he'd done that himself;

No Sidonis. Weaver was still fighting but couldn't find Sidonis. And Sidonis had said

"I can't…I can't do this, Garrus. I don't think I can handle any of this anymore."

But Garrus didn't listen and there wasn't any Sidonis around did he run did he just leave everyone to die only now he knew the truth, and the truth was so much worse.

Weaver was up in the air and Garm was holding him up there and then Garm pulled, and Weaver's torso went one way and his legs went the other.

"I can't do this, Garrus."

"I'm not accepting resignations, Sidonis."

And then Garrus was back on the Rayya, and his helmet had fogged up from his breathing. He gave it and himself a second to clear up, calm down, get a damn grip.

Gerrel disappeared somewhere, and Garrus knew that he'd sat on the sidelines too long. He'd been dangerously close to turning a blind eye. And he knew it'd be hard, what he was about to do; not because it was wrong, but because this was Omega wearing a different mask, and he'd have to treat it that way.

Garrus worked his way into the crowd and followed it out into the hallway. Behind the blackened glass of his visor, he picked up Gerrel's trail and watched him enter a side-room, probably an ad-hoc holding area for the accused. Two guards outside, nobody followed him in—didn't look like someone was waiting for the Admiral inside, either. That's it, huh? Two guards for a war criminal, an enemy of the people—just two guards.

At least it made what he was about to do easier. Easier than Tarak. Easier than that.

He took a quick detour to where Prazza was being held and then got out his omni-tool. Took Garrus just under five seconds to hack into the quarian's device and snag the layout of the Rayya. Maybe that was all public—doubtful, but possible. Equally possible, though, that anything public was just a misdirection, throw any pirates or geth off course when they realized the internals were all wrong. Besides, Garrus wasn't taking any changes—not on this.

He had the layout, and he had his entrance. Two rooms down from Gerrel, vent in the floor. It'd take him up and around the neighboring room. He'd pop out in the far corner…assuming a turian could fit in a quarian vent, anyways.

Turns out, he could. Maintenance shaft—that's closer to what it really was. Probably a way to get at some sensitive electronics without using drones or something that could be hacked. Whatever the reason, Garrus quickly worked his way through the vents, and…there was the Admiral. Through the grate, through the crisscrossing wires, Garrus could see him.

Gerrel was just sitting at a desk, saying and doing nothing. His back was turned.

Good. If the doors were as thick as Garrus thought, then they wouldn't be disturbed…and Gerrel wouldn't have any time to react.

The vent was lifted off its frame. Garrus quietly crawled forward. And thanks to the lighting in the room, Gerrel didn't realize anyone else was in the room until a shadow appeared on the blank wall he was facing.

The Admiral spun around and felt talons grab his throat and in the black, black visor of the thing staring him down he saw his own reflection, his own eyes wide behind the quarian mask, and…

…and back in the Conclave chambers, Tali was staring out at the empty podium. It was stupid—that was a stupid argument her and Garrus had just had. And he'd agreed with her earlier! So many times before that, too! It…trying to figure out which one of them was being a hypocrite and which one wasn't was an…it was an impossible task there was just too much there.

And besides, it…it wasn't that simple. They were both being…it wasn't that simple.

But she didn't think she was more wrong, no, she didn't think that…

Her arm beeped. She brought up her omni-tool and saw Kal'Reegar's image.

"Ma'am? Thought you should know something."

Tali tensed her shoulders. "What do I need to know, Kal?"

"Someone just hacked into Prazza's omni-tool. Didn't grab anything above top-secret, but we're pretty sure the hacker looked at the Rayya's layouts."

It wasn't Legion. She knew it wasn't Legion and she shouldn't assume it—they she shouldn't assume they were the ones responsible, and she knew that. It…keelah that was going to take some work.

"Did you trace the attack vector?" she said.

"That we did, ma'am. We think it came from Vakarian's omni-tool. Something he needed from us that we didn't give him?"

"No that—he stormed off in a huff after Zul'Valun called a recess. The last I saw of him he was walking…"

Walking towards one of the chamber's exits…the one that Gerrel was using.

No. No no no that was too far, even for Garrus, even for—wait why even for Garrus? Why would she say that had he…had she been ignoring…

Not right now, that's what he always said when he asked. Not right now…

Keelah he wouldn't—

Tali closed her omni-tool and sprinted towards the room where Gerrel was being held…

…where the Admiral had currently been flung against a wall. By this point, he'd recognized who was holding him. The turian that'd come aboard with Tali—Garrus something. What the hell did—

Garrus drove his fist into Gerrel's stomach and held the man's head aloft when he tried to crumple in on himself. He wasn't squeezing hard but, he was doing damage. Wasn't going to be another Ricky situation, but if Gerrel did die?

No. No too far. Just get him bleeding so the bastard realized he had nowhere to hide.

"What's your gameplan, Admiral? What're you banking on? You say 'geth' and the Conclave loses their minds? Reinstates you? Gives you a goddamn medal?

"Gaghck, you—what the hell are you—"

"I can read the signs perfectly well, Admiral. I know when a vicious animal is trying to break free. You're not escaping from what you've done."

"Y—you don't—"

"Don't what? Understand? Don't get it? Doesn't matter if I do or don't: what matters is, there's nothing you can do to hurt me. I'm not going to kill you, but I can, and the only way I'll be off your back is if you bow out gracefully."

"I—"

"Tali's willing to throw herself to the wolves...I'm not going to let her. Whatever punishment a turian'll face for throttling an Admiral and finishing the job later, it's worth it, just to make sure some justice leaks into the universe for a change."

Tali…

…Tali was running. She was elbowing people out of the way and sprinting down a corridor, skidding around corners, elbowing more people out of the way. Finally she could see Gerrel's room and the two mariness in front of it. They didn't—they didn't look like they knew keelah out of the way!

"Open the door!" she screamed at them.

The marines looked at each other and then at the quarian woman coming at them full speed.

"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!"

They did just as Tali was about to slam into it and then there was Garrus, keelah there was Garrus holding Gerrel up by his throat and the guards were swearing and turning their guns and Garrus wasn't even looking and—

Tali wound her fist up and drove it straight into the side of Garrus's head. He yelped and dropped the Admiral so it had worked, she'd made enough contact to stun him—but now it felt like there was glass caught in her suit right around where her knuckles used to be.

"FUCK!" Tali held her hand, but only for a second, because she had to turn around and push the marines back before they could shoot Garrus where he laid. "I'll handle this!" she said.

"Ma'am we—"

"I WILL HANDLE THIS!"

The mariness backed off, thank the Ancestors. And Gerrel, Gerrel hadn't moved. He was holding his throat and gasping for air, but he'd pushed himself away from the door—away from Garrus, too, but away from the door.

And Garrus was slowly getting to his feet, groaning, holding his head. She could kill the bosh'tet, she really could.

"You IDIOT!" she said. "Y-you, you utter IDIOT! Keelah, Garrus, what the hell were you thinking?"

Garrus spun around, jabbed a talon in her face.

"This man deserves to die! He doesn't deserve to walk away from this! I wasn't going to kill him, but I damn sure am gonna make him realize he's done—it's over—every bit of power and privilege and joy he got in life, he's lost it! HE CAN'T HIDE FROM THIS, and if I'm the only one willing to show him that, then—"

"WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A TRIAL!"

"People like him don't play by our rules—IT DOESN'T MATTER!"

Gerrel coughed, and Garrus instinctively raised his arm, and Tali was reaching for him and she was going to pull him back and she was saying—

"Garrus look at your hand—LOOK AT WHAT YOU'RE DOING!"

So Garrus looked, and what he saw was an omni-blade extended and aimed right at Gerrel's forehead. And he was panting he was…it felt like he was…

Garrus put down his arm, slowly, shakily. His omni-blade retracted. He stared at nothing, let it wash over him, calm him.

"Keelah…" Tali said. She put a hand out to his shoulder but retracted it. It wasn't…if he made another move….keelah, no, being afraid of Garrus that…no…

His voice even more ragged than normal, Garrus turned to Tali and said, "You told me you'd sacrifice yourself if you needed to. It can't be that way, Tali. We can't just keep letting good people die while the rotten ones eat the rest of us alive. I can't let that happen."

They stared at each other. Fury, fear, confusion, heartsickness... She stared at Garrus so long he blended in with the wall. Garrus tried to stare at Tali but couldn't focus on anything, except for the corners of his vision, pulsing in line with his heartbeat.

Now there were more marines—lots more. Sela was leading them and…and then Kaidan was pushing his way to the front of the pack. He paused, looked down at Gerrel, then at Garrus.

"Jesus, Garrus," he said. "What the hell happened?"

"Tali," Sela said. "We have to take him to the brig. You know we've got to do that."

"We'll comply," Kaidan said. "You'll get our full cooperation. I just…Jesus, Garrus—why?"

Garrus didn't say anything. He let the marines take his arms and refused to look back.

That left Gerrel and Tali in a room surrounded by marines and by Kaidan. Tali looked at Gerrel, but only for a second—that's all she could handle, just a second of that.

"Make sure he's not injured," she said to Sela as she left the room.

Tali walked with Kaidan and tried to get her thoughts the least bit organized.

And Gerrel watched them go, feeling knives jab at his throat.

"Let's go sir," Sela said, holding out a hand. "Let's get you checked out."

He took it, and as he stood he couldn't help but notice how Tali looked—with the marines following her, with the people taking orders from her—he couldn't help but notice that she looked like an Admiral.

Just like Rael said. She was…it was just like Rael had said.

4.

"THEN THE KROGAN WERE LIFTED TO THE STARS, TO DESTROY THE FEARS OF A GALAXY—AN ENEMY ONLY WE COULD CHASE TO THEIR LAIR."

Weak—soft. HAHAHAHA, but these things—the harvesters that were dropping off more klixen—they were worthy. One of them landed and roared at Grunt, stretching its great neck out. Grunt jumped onto the back of a klixen and vaulted onto that great neck. Now—now the beat wasn't so proud of itself.

Fighting against wind and dust and the bucking of the beast, Grunt maneuvered onto the harvester's back and climbed the neck. It was trying to escape into the wastes, away from the keystone. Heh, nice try—but the turians had the right idea, for once. Never turn tail unless you're already dead.

Grunt managed to get to the base of the harvester's skull and grabbed both sides of its head and twisted, and the beast struggled no more. It spun and fell and Grunt shifted his weight just enough to cause it to crash into another harvester, dropping off yet more klixen. Good—surrounded, outnumbered, just his hands. He ripped a steel bar out of the ground and stabbed the second harvester to death.

HAHAHA—the klixen tried to scatter. Make it more challenging, good! You'll all fall just the same!

Back near the keystone, Jack watched with a smirk. Wreav…Wreav did not.

"Ha! Holy shit, how'd he even get his arms around that thing?"

"The tank-bred doesn't need your encouragement, human," Wreav said.

"You want me to shut up? Go for it—take a shot. I ain't paying attention to you anyways." Jack watched Grunt punch a klixen into a red paste. Pretty good, but he was getting tired, she could tell. Just the way he was flinging his arms around: guy knew where to aim, but he didn't know how, seemed like.

Shit, getting stuck in a tube most your life'll do that to ya, wouldn't it? Dulls your skills a bit…makes you slow.

She took a look at the horizon and, when she was sure there weren't any krogan coming after her, she called out to Grunt.

"Proud of you sweetie! But, hey, keep your elbow straighter—yer gonna pull something!"

Grunt looked up and scowled at Jack, like, shit, so you don't take advice anymore? That the case, jackass? But then he looked back down at the klixen he was pulverizing and, hey, lookit that, he followed her advice. And got twice as much klixen goop on his face—shit an' who said the kid didn't learn?

Wreav was glaring at her now. Pussy: had like a whole minute to stab her in the back and didn't even bother taking it…

…probably meant he was a confident motherfucker, didn't it?

The last klixen got wiped off the face of the fucking earth and Grunt stood there, in the middle of the plaza, covered head-to-toe in gore and burn marks. All right, great, had your fucking fun, right? Now we get the fuck outta here in case the big shitstain with the fucking royal blood or whatever decided to call in the troops.

"That it?" Jack said. She said it loud enough that both Wreav and Grunt shoulda heard. "We done now, or's this getting dragged out longer?"

Grunt walked right past, straight to the keystone button. Didn't even fucking look at her.

"All right, fuck me I guess," Jack said.

"There's one more wave," Wreav said.

"No fucking shit! Hey's the sky still fucking orange? Left my eyes on the ship so I can't fucking tell."

"Why so antsy? I thought you were enjoying yourself."

"Hey fuck you." Jack spun around and jabbed a finger in Wreav's face. Except she expected him to be taunting her and…he wasn't. Seem closer to anger, at least that's what Jack figured. Anger…and he was shifting his eyes Grunt's way while Grunt was walking up the steps.

"And why aren't you fucking ecstatic?" Jack said. She motioned to Grunt with her head. "He's everything you ever fucking wanted, right? Roll into town with him and suddenly you're King Shit. Now Wrex is taking orders from you and you're getting laid all night every night."

Now Wreav was snarling. "He's an abomination—he never should've been allowed to take the Rite."

"Oh fuck me," Jack said. She got right up in Wreav's face. "Jesus—it's crystal fucking clear t'me now, this whole fucking thing. You wanted a big bad dumb monster that'll kill all the people you're too chickenshit to fight, but now the monster's scared you, so fuck them—kill the fucker with fire." Jack pretty much headbutted Wreav, though Wreav's head didn't move much. "Been fucking here before. Y'know the worst part about guys like you? You're so fucking boring."

"Get out of my face, human," Wreav said.

"With that breath? Don't even have to fucking ask." Jack looked at Grunt. He'd stopped climbing the stairs and was…what was he doing, glaring? Growling? Grunting? Hard to tell with the fucking light around here.

"Hey Grunt," Jack said. "Finish it up—this piece of shit's gonna go find somewhere else to be a coward."

"The Shaman granted me permission to undergo the Rite," Grunt said. To Wreav.

"Like I'm not even fucking there!" Jack said, arms in the air. Grunt was descending the stairs now, though, and fuck's sake Grunt get to it. If Wreav's smart enough to bring back-up he's gonna get them out here real fucking quick.

Wreav pushed past Jack, but didn't go all the way towards Grunt. "The Shaman's just as lost as Wrex. You are nothing more than a spit in the face of every krogan that survived the genophage."

"I'm supposed to make the genophage obsolete."

"Deluded…deluded nonsense from something that shouldn't exist. True krogan would sooner go extinct then let a creature like you pollute our species."

"Don't even listen to him Grunt," Jack said. "Fucker's pissing his pants 'cuz you can chokeslam a fucking dragon."

"Would you say the same if it was a human in front of you? A human bred in a lab? A mockery of the rest of your species, all of whom had to fight and die without the coddling of a mad scient—"

Jack didn't actually realize her fist had gone through Wreav's head until she noticed her arm was purple. Then she felt something warm dripping down her arm. Yeah, Wreav's blood—and probably some spinal fluid too, and whatever the fuck a krogan keeps in their hump.

So, yeah: Jack'd punched right through the fucker's head. Felt good. Felt like she'd made a point.

Too bad the fucker wasn't around to hear it.

She let the corpse slide down her arm and took a look at the horizon. No dead man's switch, probably because that'd be made in a fucking lab and that'd be cheap, somehow. Fucking cheap, yeah…she turned to Grunt now, who was staring at her.

"You mad?" she said, pointing to Wreav's corpse.

"No," Grunt said. "You are, though."

"Nah," Jack said, wiping her arm on her pants. "Fucker was annoying me. Talked too much."

"He barely said anything."

"Shit, Grunt—eye of the fucking beholder, all right?"

Grunt kept on staring.

"Hey go do the…the whatever," Jack said. "Push the button. I'll be over here—you're fucking scantily clad cheerleader."

Grunt hesitated, but eventually climbed the stairs. He pushed the button as Jack gave the surrounding areas another look.

"NOW ALL KROGAN BEAR THE GENOPHAGE—OUR REWARD, OUR CURSE. IT IS A FIGHT WHERE THE ONLY GOAL, IS SURVIVAL…"

Down came the keystone. This time, the ground shook for far longer. This time…it didn't seem to want to stop shaking.

"I am ready," Grunt said.

Jack wasn't so sure.

"Shit if this thing caused a fucking earthquake…"

Yeah well, it didn't. A glowing blue tentacle burst out of the ground not far from the plaza. Then another one. And another. And another. And there was this noise too…

Shit this didn't look good.

Shit this really didn't look good.

"Grunt I think this is a fucking—"

A massive worm the size of a goddamn frigate exited the ground just a few feet from the plaza, wailing and flinging its maw—a maw the size of the exhaust port of the goddamn Destiny Ascension—all around, spiting acid and screeching and Jesus look at the fucking size of that thing!

"THRESHER MAW!" Grunt said. Then the fucker started laughing! "Good—a challenge!"

"Where's your fucking long-ranged weapon, genius?"

Wrex looked at the ground, saw Wreav's discarded shotgun, and snatched it from his corpse.

"I said LONG RANGE!"

"I'll make it long range!"

And Grunt sprinted off towards the thresher maw, just as a wad of acid the size of a fucking tank demolished part of the support structures still standing around the plaza.

Fine, fuck it—fuck it. Wreav's fucking cronies weren't gonna attack now, so let go, get the instinct to goddamn destroy up and running and put this fucker back in the ground.

Jack vaulted the railing the circled the plaza and flung warps at the thresher maw, just to get warmed up. Biotic energy built and built and her brain started screaming at her, that's it, more, let's get serious about this, and now her skin was crackling with purple.

"Grunt—ROLL LEFT!"

Grunt, who'd been firing M-300 Claymore rounds into the pinchers and torso of the thresher maw, looked back and saw Jack alight with purple. He rolled left like she asked and Jack unleashed a hellish shockwave, a real fuck everything in front of me one. It staggered the thresher maw and singed its skin and Grunt just started putting rounds in the burnt areas, enough that it started screeching again.

"What'd the tank say about tanking these things down?"

"Use explosives," Grunt said.

"WHAT FUCKING EXPLOSIVES?"

The thresher maw was locked in on them so Jack pushed Grunt out of the way and rolled backwards. Fuck, fine, this's why biotics beat everything: we'll fucking make explosives.

"You go left, I'll go right—keep hitting the areas I'm hitting!"

Grunt got to his feet and started sprinting left, so great, no fucking affirmative or shit (Jesus like she was the type to bitch about that). Jack sprinted right and peppered the thresher maw's torso with warps; Grunt answered with claymore rounds, getting real fucking close too. Jesus, like he even fucking cared how close.

It was working though, Jesus H. Christ the thing was bleeding: purple shit was running down its body.

"SWITCH DIRECTIONS!"

Grunt did and they made the same moves, now with twice as much blood and three times as many screeches.

"Fucking die already Jesus!" If the thing was light enough she could throw something that'd detonate with a biotic explosion, but no, had to be fighting a fucking cruiser with tentacles.

"SAME PLAN GR—LOOK OUT!"

The thresher maw had shifted its head suddenly and now was barrelling down straight for Grunt. Straight on top of him. Grunt turned and fired until his Claymore spat angry steam at him, feeling debris clang off his armour.

And then it went black. Jack saw the thresher maw slam its head right on top of Grunt, the sharp edges of its mouth digging into the ground, sealing its prey under its massive weight.

"GRUNT!"

And then…the fucking thing exploded.

The thresher maw's body rocketed backwards with only a smoking stump for a head; it swayed until gravity took over and pulled its corpse backwards, onto what remained of a highway running past the keystone plaza. And Jack got the wind knocked out of her as a piece of thresher maw smashed into her stomach…along with a half gallon of viscous gloop.

She held out her arms like that'd somehow help the Tuchanka sun dry her off, and then she looked at where the thresher maw's head had been. Standing in the middle, completely coated with gloop, was Grunt.

And the fucker was laughing.

"Grunt what the fuck!"

He started walking towards her, each step squelching like…ugh, no, not with the smell. Too much.

"Wasn't planning on letting it swallow," Grunt said, putting his shotgun away. "Stupid—the head's the most vulnerable part."

"Fine, makes perfect fucking sense." Jack flung her arms, letting gloop smear some rock right next to her. "Where the fuck did you get explosives?"

Grunt reached towards his waist and yanked out a grenade. "Heh. Didn't throw everything away when we started."

Jack stared at him…and then she started laughing too. Their laughter fed off each other and pretty soon they looked like they'd completely fucking lost it.

But whatever—they were alive and that fucking worm thing wasn't.

"Jesus Grunt, you're a fucking basket case if I ever saw one."

"The Shaman said adapt to anything." Grunt looked over his shoulder, at the corpse of the thresher maw. "Heh, looks like someone wasn't listening."

"Yeah, fucking amateur. Swallowing a krogan—real rookie mistake." And speaking of listening… "Let's get the fuck outta here before something else shows up. I think you passed your Rite with flying colours."

She started walking towards where the tomkah was waiting for them (and hopefully no one else except the Shaman's people) but…she stopped. Should be a real celebration, what this kid did. And based off Wreav's reaction? He might not get one.

She turned around and walked back to Grunt.

"Hey, Grunt—ya did good." She patted a slime-covered shoulder. "Real fucking good. That shit? Some of the most intense fighting I've ever seen."

"It felt good," Grunt said. "It felt right."

"Hey, important thing is, you had fun."

"I'm worthy of being a krogan."

"No—no you're not listening: you had fun. Fuck being 'worthy'. Who the fuck even gets to decide? You killed a thresher maw from the inside out and you had a fucking smile on your face while you did it. Anyone tries to measure the worth of that, isn't getting the fucking point."

Grunt stared at Jack and…shit, she couldn't read him again. Fuck it—if he didn't agree then she'd buy him a drink and stop trying so goddamn hard to teach him things.

But Grunt eventually nodded, and Jack realized she'd tensed up there, just a little bit.

"Either way," Grunt said, "Wreav won't get to complain about it."

"Shit, and here I wanted to see Wrex tear the fucker's spine outta his ass." Jack motioned towards the tunnel they'd crawled out of, past the plaza. "C'mon, this shit's starting to fuse with me."

Luckily, none of Wreav's men made an appearance. And luckily they had a hose to wash them down. And, hey, big bonus: they looked genuinely happy to see Grunt. These were Wrex's people, right? So he'd said "fuck it" to letting Grunt do this, even before anyone know what he was capable of—hell, before Grunt even knew. So maybe this really was genuine on their part.

So Wreav better not fuck this shit up from beyond the grave…

5.

Kaidan walked back into the room they'd turned into a make-shift Alliance war room and sighed. Ashley was closest to the door, so she was the first to say something.

"We good?"

Kaidan shook his head. "No—not really. Garrus is in the brig."

"For what?"

"For almost killing an Admiral."

Ashley blinked a few times, behind the visor of her helmet. Then she shook her head, like a biotics instructor that just saw their student blow out a window by accident.

"Aw shit Garrus…"

"He went—I dunno. Apparently he snuck into Gerrel's room and just started throttling him. Tali broke it up but…" Kaidan looked at the image of Joker on Legion's arm and a thought dawned on him. "Please tell me Hackett's not still listening."

Ashley slowly, painfully, raised her arm. Once it got about waist-height the orange image of Admiral Hackett flickered back into view.

"Intently," Hackett said.

Great. Absolutely terrific. A credit to your uniform, Alenko.

"Hey makes you feel better," Joker said, "my quote-unquote boss just catwalked past a few minutes ago and now we need a new seat."

"For transparency's sake," EDI said, "Jeff did not actually soil himself."

"What was that?" Joker said. "Why would you say that? Now they're gonna think I did and you're just covering for me."

"We did not until you predicted that we would," Legion said.

"All right everybody just…" Ashley held up her hands, then looked over at Kaidan. "Sorry skipper, didn't mean to cut in front of you."

Well he hadn't been in the process of trying to get order so, that was just fine, Ash. He should've, but he wasn't, because he was too busy thinking about…nothing. There wasn't anything on his mind; it just felt like he was walking through molasses.

And no headaches to blame either, unfortunately.

"It's fine, Ash," he said. He held out his arm. "I'll take Hackett back, if you want."

Ash nodded and then Hackett's image jumped from Ash's omni-tool to his. Befitting of his rank: pretending he knew what he was doing rather than actually knowing it, because he got his promotion from a grateful politician.

He held his arm up so everyone could see Hackett, though the Admiral was looking specifically at him.

"Commander," Hackett said, and Kaidan flinched when the word left his mouth, "I've been deliberately keeping myself ignorant, and we're operating on a very liberal interpretation of 'Command-by-Negation'—something I'm not about to modify. That being said…I'd recommend you send someone to Vakarian, make sure he doesn't land himself in any more trouble."

"I will go," Thane said. He started towards the door.

"Is that a good idea?" Ashley said.

Thane stopped. "Possibly not. Under other circumstances I'd recommend sending someone else, but you two are busy."

"Godspeed Thane," Ashley said.

And Thane left, nodding to Legion—who raised their headflaps as a sort of reciprocating gesture—as he left.

"Nice guy," Joker said. "Probably'd scare the shit outta me if he was here."

"Thane's good people," Kaidan said. Brave people too, handling Garrus like that. "But all right, let's get back on track. We were talking about Dr. Kenson."

"We were," Hackett said. "And keep in mind that everything I'm relaying to you, you're not supposed to know. Theme of the hour, as it happens."

"That's directed at me, right?" Joker said. "EDI, are we secure?"

"I am running multiple junk-data packages to overwhelm any Cerberus worms that may have been inserted into our communications channel. So long as we are not hit with a cyberattack, I should be able to shield our conversation from spyware."

"Yeah so we're all good on our end," Joker said. "Unless the krogan have a lot more computer experts than the STG Factbook thinks."

That meant the floor was Hackett's, and so Hackett explained everything he thought was relevant—which wasn't a whole damn lot, all things considered.

"Dr. Kenson is a distinguished scientist, but she's also long been willing to help out the cause, here and there. As of a few months ago, that included investigating batarian space for a Reaper artifact—something her latest reports claim she found. She made enough noise, unfortunately, that the batarians were made aware of a human jumping from star system to star system in their territory. She's rotting in a secret prison right now, under charges of state-sponsored terrorism."

"Probably getting tortured as we speak," Ashley said.

"We're assuming the worst. We also don't think the batarians know a Reaper artifact is floating around their slice of the galaxy. For the few Alliance personnel with the clearance to talk about the Reapers, that's enough to put them at ease."

"Wait," Joker said, "the Alliance switched tracks? Missed that press release."

"Officially, no. Unofficially, even I don't know what's going on. But some people are talking; just enough that when we could rule of batarian-use of Reaper technology, we lost interest."

"Except for you," Ashley said.

"For whatever that's worth," Hackett said.

Kaidan noticed the change in his posture—pretty much everyone did—but…Reaper artifact? Don't let that slip by unnoticed.

"Sir," he said, "any idea what this artifact is? Are we dealing with a weapon or…?"

Hackett shook his head. "We don't. Kenson's last report was cryptic, even by her standards."

"So nothing in there?"

"All it said was: 'The Relays'…"

That hung in the air like smoke from a burning corpse.

"Hated that," Joker said.

"It makes sense, though," Kaidan said. "We know the relays were made by the Reapers."

"And we all remember the tricks Saren tried to pull on the Citadel," Ashley said. "Maybe they've got another backdoor."

"Addendum: batarian space exists on fringes of settled worlds. Batarian communications blackout innately limits information transfer. Reaper forces could congregate within Hegemony territory without wider galactic knowledge."

"Hated that even more," Joker said.

"If the artifact involves the Relays to an indetermined extent," EDI said, "then this could provide us with an alternative means of acquiring IFF information."

"All right," Kaidan said. "So I think I see our in: we grab Kenson, figure out where this Relay-related artifact is, pull whatever data we can from it, and move from there."

"That'd involve working—letting Cerberus get close to Reaper tech," Ashley said. "Even with people on the inside, I'm not a fan."

"We already laid the groundwork for that earlier," Kaidan said.

"I know I know I'm just…expressing reservations."

"Hey, Ash," Joker said. "I get it—like trust me, I wouldn't, err, we wouldn't be doing this if we didn't get it—but we're kinda out of options here."

"Lieutenant-Williams' mistrust of organization designate, Cerberus, is reasonable," Legion said. "Observation: strategies can be devised to insure Alliance retains informational advantage, while Cerberus continues on stated mission of stopping Collector threat."

"Does it always talk like that?" Joker said.

"Legion is not an 'It', Jeff," EDI said.

"Right sorry sorry—err, Legion."

Ashley held up her hands again. "All right all right I—I know when I'm outvoted. I just…" She looked at Kaidan's arm. "Admiral, sir, what's your read on this?"

Everyone expected Hackett to say something right away. When that didn't happen…well, people started to wonder. And the gravity of it all started to sink in.

Then, Hackett spoke.

"It's poor," he said. "And to clarify, I had no intention of sending anyone in after Dr. Kenson. Two Alliance officers lost their lives because I put them in deliberate danger. I'm getting tired of doing that."

"Sir," Kaidan said, "I—"

"It'll be a moot point, besides. If an army storms the prison walls they'll execute Kenson with no hesitation. They'd find a way to blame the Alliance, too, even if none of you go in flying our colours. So long as a human's involved, they'll find a way. If the Reapers are on their way, the last thing we want is for the batarians to go to war—with us or anyone else."

"Execution's better than batarian interrogation," Ashley said. "And the Reapers—"

"Are you agreeing with us now?" Kaidan said.

"No I'm just—I'm just thinking out loud." She looked at Hackett again. "Sorry sir. You probably didn't need me saying that."

"The thought's crossed my mind too." Hackett clasped his hands behind his back. "I mentioned Command-by-Negation. That only applies to some of you here. For those fitting that definition, understand I'm doing my best not to exercise my prerogative."

"We know sir," Kaidan said. "And we appreciate that, it's just—"

"It's on us," Joker said. "We're uh, we're playing with long odds. Didn't um, didn't mean to rope you all into an impossible situation." Everyone saw him turn to his side. "Sorry EDI—shouldn't've spoken for you too."

"It is all right, Jeff," she said. "I share your sentiment. I should be capable of finding an optimal solution but...I cannot."

Impossible situation. Should be able. Yeah. Kaidan looked at his shoulder, where you'd see the Staff Commander stripes on his dress blues. "Impossible's not everyone's forte," he said quietly. For a second, he thought Ash might've heard him.

She had. And she'd long been kicking her own ass, just hard enough to force an idea out from the bleak and bitter cold of her own instincts.

"We've...got one of the best infiltrators in the world with us," she said. "Hell, two, actually. They're both in the brig, but we've seen Thane in action and we know Garrus can handle himself on a stealth mission."

"What're you saying, Ash?" Kaidan said.

"I'm saying, what if a small team goes in, grabs Kenson, gets the info we need, and once that's done we pass what's needed to EDI and Joker? And Shepard…I guess Shepard comes in once we've figured out what this artifact is, where it's at—everything else." Ash looked around the room. "Setting her lose is gonna make things unpredictable—for everyone—but we'll be the only ones that know she's coming. It's risky but, we can probably stay out of her way."

No howls of disapproval. That was…something, at least.

"That and she'll take a lot of heat off the rest of us," Kaidan said. "Whatever heat might be waiting for us."

"Yeah, exactly," Ashley said. "Good point: we're dealing with Reaper tech. Who knows what people's mental states are right now."

"I'm guessing you're talking about Thane, right?" Joker said. "Thane seems, uh, like he fits the part. But Garrus? Sounds like the big guy's…not doing great right now."

"This platform is capable of a wide variety of infiltration missions," Legion said.

"That's a terrifying sentence," Joker said.

"Geth do not infiltrate," Legion said. "However, this platform is multi-modular. We can reconfigure to assist allied infiltration mission without compromising structural integrity."

"And please do not be rude," EDI said.

"Sorry, sorry…"

"Maybe Garrus has to sit this one out," Ashley said. "We've got Thane and we've got…we've got Legion. That's enough to mount a rescue mission with minimal risk."

All eyes shifted to Hackett.

"Sir?" Ashley said.

"It makes sense to me," Kaidan said. "We've got enough wiggle room to change the details as needed, but this gives us an idea of what to do and what to expect."

"And it helps us out," Joker said. "Just…wanna emphasize that. Because I'm selfish and wanna avoid getting turned into nutrient paste."

"EDI?" Hackett said. "How long can you hold out before The Illusive Man expects an alternative?"

"We have until the ship departs Tuchanka," EDI said.

"Which is anywhere from now to after the Reapers invade," Joker said.

"Regardless, we can massage any data packages to make it seem as though we have acquired classified Cerberus data. We can perhaps spin our tactics to imply that we specifically thought about hacking previous allies. If I say it was my suggestion, and Jeff's protests went unheeded it...it will likely play into The Illusive Man's preconceptions of what my personality and role in Cerberus ought to be."

"Hated that too, but we'll put it on the backburner for now." Joker looked over at Legion. "Hey uh, geth buddy: any chance you could take some work off EDI's shoulders? Y'know, make up a secure channel so the bunch of us can stay in touch. Uh, privately, if you catch my meaning?"

"Affirmative," Legion said.

"Great, well...that picked up speed," Ashley said.

"Had a good initial push to it," Kaidan said, giving her a smile.

"I don't like it," Hackett said, and everyone deflated like a balloon, just slightly. "Unless Dr. Kenson's in our custody, we don't have any guarantees this will work."

No, too far. They'd gotten too far.

"And if we wait then Joker's screwed," Ashley said. She looked at Kaidan. "Guess I'm on their side now, sir. Sorry—I think we've got to do something."

"This isn't on you, sir," Kaidan said. "This is us. This is our own initiative. If things go wrong, it's not your fault."

"And we're dealing with a potential Reaper invasion," Ashley said. "Sir, with respect, that's the literal end of the world."

"And I know you just said you were keeping yourself in the dark but, trust us, if Shepard hits geth territory, that might be the end of the world too."

"The situation would rapidly deteriorate," Legion said. "Probability of increased defections from True Geth to Heretics low, but non-negligible. Addendum: any additions to Heretic numbers increase processing power of opposition geth programs."

"Sir," Kaidan said, "what was your backup plan? If Dr. Kenson was right and the Reapers are planning their invasion right now?"

Again, Hackett didn't say anything right away—and the pressure in the room grew the longer he was quiet.

Then, Hackett's image looked over at Legion.

"Hope the geth platform had some answers," he said. "And that 'imminent' didn't imply the Reaper's had sped up their timetable." He sighed and started clicking things. "You've got my approval. I'll send you the files and let you fill out the plan as needed. I'd say keep me informed, but I'll clarify the chain-of-command with you later."

"Thank you, sir," Kaidan said.

"What you're about to do, isn't something you should be thanking me for." He finished clicking and then looked back up. "Hackett out."

And then he disappeared. Files appeared on Kaidan and Ashley's omni-tool.

"We'll pass the data around," Kaidan said.

And then silence again. Long, still, stultifying silence.

"He is not doing well," EDI said. "There are significant signs of stress in his voice."

"Yeah," Joker said. "Wonder why that'd be."

"He better not resign," Ashley said. "Swear to god, if he does what Kar'Danna did or—or what the rest of the Admiralty Board is in the process of doing—"

"We won't let it get that far," Kaidan said.

"Who says we've got any say in that?" Ashley said.

And…she had a point.

Well, at least they had a plan, now. They just had to fill in the blanks.

One of those blanks: what to do about Garrus.

The other blank: what to do about Liara.

6.

Mordin, Maelon, and Samara arrived at the Widowmaker unmolested, thanks to some of Drixxia's people shadowing them. There weren't many krogan around the ship, like they'd been cleared away. Might have been Wrex's doing; might not have. Irrelevant.

Only concern Maelon. Had to be—to many thoughts otherwise. Not enough focus. Functionality…compromised.

Mordin turned to Maelon just outside the Widowmaker.

"Crew won't disturb you. Welcome to lab. Don't need it—finished analysis of seeker swarms. Can take day or two off. Return when you're in STG custody."

"Wrex already guessed what STG's going to do," Maelon said. "You know that, right? Worst I'll get is a temporary treason charge. Somebody—somewhere—will find my work on the genophage and give me clemency."

"Wrex also correct that memories of actions punishment in-of-themselves."

Maelon finally returned Mordin's look. "Is that why you stood up for me? Said what you said about a sham trial? If the krogan killed me that'd be it—I'd finally get peace. But now? Now who knows when the nightmares will stop."

"Not punishing you," Mordin said. "In no position to punish. Principle of matter more important: any trail must be fair."

"We never gave the krogan that."

Mordin didn't say anything. Maelon looked…desperate. Pleading. Not dissimilar to time on CDEM station.

"Did I get through to you? Do you finally understand what I saw, what made me do all this in the first place?" Look darkened. "Or are you going to claim that salarians process things faster, so this is all in the past—water under the bridge, gone with the wind, just dead weight?"

"Discovery of potential political interference…problematic," Mordin said. "Hard to separate science from politics."

"That's not what I asked, Professor."

"Haven't given answer yet," Mordin said. "Could be taken as evidence that processing has not finished."

The door opened and out stepped Miranda. She stopped and stared at the crowd that had congregated on what was more or less her doorstep.

"Dr. Solus," she said. She looked at Samara. "Samara." And her eye finally caught Maelon. "I see I'm interrupting."

"No," Mordin said. "Just finishing. Request…rendezvous. With STG. Personnel transfer." He inhaled. "Fairly urgent."

"We can spare a shuttle, I suppose," Miranda said. "Not sure I'd like to get that close to STG, however."

"Because of who we really are," Samara said. Miranda looked at her, hoping her face was unreadable.

"Mmm, so Liara's gone a bit beyond what I've heard. Yes, Samara, that's part of it. STG hasn't any idea of what Cerberus personnel or equipment looks like, so far as we know, but I'd rather not take that chance." She turned to Mordin. "I'm hoping you're not planning on going with."

"Work to do," Mordin said. "Remain here. Deal with consequences afterwards." Again, Mordin inhaled. "Will escort Maelon. Be in crew quarters, if needed."

"I can escort myself, Professor." Maelon started walking on his own, stopped, ignored everyone else and eyed Mordin directly. "I'm not the victim here, but understand what a short lifespan means. If you still think we didn't make a mistake, tell me now, because I'm not going through the rest of my life thinking I can change your mind."

A pause.

"Can't…give you what you desire," Mordin said.

And another pause.

"Of course not," Maelon said. And, alone, he walked into the Widowmaker.

A few seconds later, Mordin started to enter too. But he paused, just beside Miranda. Didn't look at her—say what needed to be said, then leave.

"Confession," he said. "Oversight, earlier. Possibly deliberate—likely subconscious attempt at forming insurance. Should know from own research that mind-control technology too risky—innate degrading impact on cognitive functionality. Impractical for agent in position of authority. Could have said; could have spared patient anxiety. Happy to perform test still; for reassurance only, not because likelihood of control chip high." He paused, inhaled, said, "Thought you should know," and then disappeared into the Widowmaker, just as alone as Maelon.

That left Miranda and Samara. Miranda and the asari biotic that could kill her for lying to her, and probably take damn near half the ship with her without so much as blinking. The asari biotic that didn't know about Miranda's control chip worry and how she had no idea which way to take Mordin's comments, whether to trust them or search of hidden meaning or just realize that it'd all been an excuse, a bloody stupid excuse on her end to shirk responsibility for the failures, for the prying eyes, from the fact The Illusive Man didn't need to use a chip to control her, because the last thing she'd ever have was agency, because you didn't get to where she was with the genetic makeup she possessed without a sacrifice greater than anyone could understand.

All of that for later. First, the asari in front of her.

Miranda straightened her posture. Samara did the same.

"I wish to talk to you about Liara," Samara said.

Miranda started breathing again. "You and many other people. Has she tried pretending she's got blackmail material on you as well?"

"She is far from pretending to know our secrets, Miranda. And yes. I believe she knows the reason why I joined your mission. And I believe she attempted to use that against me."

"That's the legal definition of blackmail, yes."

"I did not mean it in that way. She is not attempting to gain something from me." Samara relaxed her posture, but her face looked anything but relaxed. "With myself—and with Jacob—Liara was using what she knew of us to build a shield. She wished to push us out of her way. With Dr. Solus, however—with the knowledge she has on his involvement with the genophage—that was different. She was exercising active maliciousness. She wanted him punished, and for what, I am uncertain."

Off-script—those had been Jacob's words. In the universe of secrets—in the world both deniable operatives and information brokers so typically occupied—there was hardly a more jarring comment than that. Going "off script" typically meant attempting to outmaneuver someone; it was not supposed to apply to someone within your team, unless that person was a mole. Or a planted agent. Or just bloody reckless.

Punishing Dr. Solus…for what? For once in what felt like forever, Miranda was completely and totally honest.

"Whatever the reason, it's irrelevant. Liara's behaviour is jeopardizing the mission. I don't intend to tolerate it."

"Be careful of your choice of words," Samara said. "I agree that Liara's actions are reckless. But I no longer trust that your solution will take her own welfare into account."

Miranda refused to be cowed by that…but Samara's comments registered. They registered loudly.

"Because I wasn't transparent about who we are?" she said.

Samara didn't respond right away (just about the worst thing she bloody could've done, honestly) and looked towards the sky. When her attention returned to Miranda, Miranda saw what she could only assume was the last thing a great many Eclipse sisters had seen back on Illium—a planet that seemed to find no shortage of ways to make her life thoroughly hellish.

"I swore an oath to you—and I am bound by that oath. Until your mission is complete—or until you have declared our compact null-and-void—the Code prevents me from acting against you. But it does not prevent me from tallying your offenses should my oath not have been in place."

"Meaning that, once the Collectors are beaten, you'll be after me next." Miranda crossed her arms. "Just for a lie of omission? Or have I disrespected your code in more ways than one?"

"I will attempt to bring you to justice for all your transgressions," Samara said. "Using a Justicar as a means to accomplish an otherwise noble goal requires the least severe punishment; using a Justicar to protect your own power, slightly more-so. But allowing a dangerous criminal to continue harming innocents, by interfering in my duty to apprehend this criminal, will require me to kill you."

"We're under no obligation to ignore your mission," Miranda said. "We've made a detour already—we can make another one." She was being honest again—not that anyone would have reason to believe her, mind. No reason at all, really.

"For your sake," Samara said, "I hope you are right. As for Liara, though, know this: if I find that you have dealt with a person in pain—a person still capable of compassion—in a way that harms her, then after killing you, I will destroy your entire organization." Before Miranda could say anything back, Samara began to walk into the Widowmaker. She slowed slightly as she passed and, turning her head to Miranda, she said: "I am not a boastful person, so I am merely speaking the truth: neither you, nor anyone else within Cerberus, will be able to stop me."

And then Samara was gone too, into the darkened halls of the Widowmaker, sheltered from the Tuchanka heat and dust and omnipresent reminders of death.

Miranda stood there, on the piles of discarded boxes and sheets of metal that doubled as a landing area, and let the breeze that leaked violently down through the open roof of the "sheltered" area whip her hair over her eyes, over her mouth, over a face that had gone so long without being know to anyone outside Cerberus. She let that uncomfortably hot breeze claw at her skin until, finally, she spun on her heel and re-entered the Widowmaker.

She saw Joker jump out of the corner of her eye but ignored him, otherwise. She continued down through the CIC with her eyes locked on one target.

"Ma'am," Kelly Chambers said from her station, "you have unread messages on your private—"

Miranda kept walking.

"Oh…apologies, ma'm," Kelly said.

The elevator doors opened and Miranda went inside, selected Deck 4—cargo hold—and watched the doors close, feeling no more free than before Mordin had made his confession, and feeling no less safe than before Samara had made her threat.

---

Me, with my patented Schwarzenegger voice: "Remember, readers, when I said this'd be a two-parter?"

You: "That's right, Charlie! You did!"

Me: "I lied."

(good god what am i doing with my life?)

Luckily, Part III is almost finished, so it should be out in only a couple of days. That won't wash away my sins but, hey, not my fault there's too many plotlines going on.

It's like a damn circus in here sometimes, folks.