MASS EFFECT: ENTANGLED
CHAPTER 23
**This takes place after Chapter 22 of "Solace." **
**One section here refers to Chapter 14 of "Entangled." **
Widow System:
The shuttle ride back to the Citadel was miserably placid. Cerak's passing and the events in Benning left a bleak chill in the air. Once they left the planet's system, they were ordered to the Citadel to be checked out at Huerta and report back to duty within two days: a very short shore leave. The brass knew they needed a mental break from the callous reality of the war, but death was all around. Many units deployed lost so many; they were fortuitous that it was just one of them that perished in the previous incursion. Fighting a war against two foes simultaneously was inexorable. Intel gatherers were stretched thin and Cerberus' sleeper cells buried deep within the Alliance caused major leaks.
Once they breached the relay's hold, Ulana ended the quiescence as her avian eyes accusatively flashed precipitously in Alivia's way. "You risked a lot back there, Lieutenant."
Her brusque action captured Alivia's attention from her private thoughts, but she knew this was coming. After all, she intentionally defied a commanding officer's order. The batarian's self-sacrifice weighed strongly on her mind. His death protected their lives and the rest of the colonists. Still, she couldn't forget that perhaps there was a way to save him. The entire way back, she practiced her slow breathing technique to refrain her body from experiencing a complete anxiety overload. Her mind flashed Cerak's final moments repeatedly as it overlayed the horrific events on Akuze. Her silver eyes met Ulana's and she stood up pridefully as she held onto the support ceiling bar. "With all due respect, mam, there was a need to save a fellow soldier and I reacted. The colonists were secure, and the pickup was inbound. There was a window of opportunity."
The female turian narrowed her eyes as she stood to face her from where she sat. "Do you know what we do in the turian military to those that don't know how to follow orders?"
"Knock it off," Torsk barked to Alivia's defense from his seat nearby. "I like her, and you should have saved the four-eyed."
Ulana gaped at him cynically at him taking Lykaia's side. "The batarian?" She miffed. "Spirits, you must be joking, Urdnot Torsk. You are only defending her because I'm a turian aren't you?" Her words were jagged like a blade's edge. She crossed her leathery arms and fumed. "Pffft, figures with the krogan."
Torsk slowly rose from his seated position as a threatening low growl seethed from his clenched teeth. "It's best that we don't save your pitiful asses on your homeworld. Let you fight the reapers alone, turian." Then he bellowed, "Your entire race would be annihilated in a week. Do the galaxy a favor."
"You're off this team, Urdnot Torsk," Ulana hissed as her mandible twitched in frustration. "I'll put the order in as soon as we dock." The krogan shrugged indifferently with a sarcastic grin. This seemed to egg her on as her talons moved to her holstered sidearm.
Seeing this, Alivia darted to place herself between them. "Hold up!" Her heart raced as she desperately tried to take control of the intensity of the moment. The spark that ignited the fire inside the shuttle was her and guilt consumed her. Ulana was the typical turian when it came down to following orders and part of her argument was accurate. Alivia's brash decision could have jeopardized the entire mission. She followed her heart instead of logic. Exhaling slowly, she glanced at Torsk's way first. "She's right. I disobeyed a direct order." Hearing a snort of satisfaction from her CO's way, she diverted her attention to Ulana. "Cerak was a part of this team just like we all are. We stick together and no one should be left behind. No matter the race."
"I agree with her," Rhodes spoke up as he moved over to join them. "I think this time on the Citadel will help us all."
"Um, Acalius, we have a situation with docking any time soon," The shuttle pilot's voice interrupted their dialogue.
Ulana moved over to peek into the pilot area. "What is it?"
"C-Sec is saying that there was an attempted coup by Cerberus yesterday. The station was on lockdown and now they are backlogged due to a more thorough screening process for all arrivals and departures to prevent any further attempts," The young brown-haired male officer answered at the controls.
"What else," Ulana groaned from where she looked on. "ETA?"
Alivia gasped loudly at the announcement and held her hand to her mouth to suppress any further noises from her. Was Thane alright? What kind of assault did Cerberus bring to attempt such a feat? Her knees began to buckle as she was unable to stop her eyes from watering. Sitting down quickly, her lips shuddered as her eyes stared down at the floor to avoid any eye contact. "Hey, Lykaia, you, okay?" Rhodes noted her sudden change of manner. "You have anyone back on the station? I'm sure they are alright." She couldn't talk. It was so arduous to say his name. She desperately wanted to cry and tell them to hurriedly land the craft. To her relief, the pilot finally received an update, "ETA: Fifteen minutes. Good thing we are Alliance. Comm chatter indicates some transports have been sitting outside the hub for over eight hours…."
"Eight hours?!" Torsk was dumbfounded. "I would just land the craft myself for that long. Screw them."
Taking another breath to fight back the tsunami apprehension attack, Alivia closed her eyes and said to herself, "Fifteen minutes…. I can wait…he is fine."
When the elevator doors opened at Huerta for the group inside, Alivia was taken back by the number of patients lined up all around the lobby floor waiting to be seen. Some of them had loved ones by their sides while a few were being attended to by physicians due to the lack of beds inside. Between the flux of wounded refugees and now residents, Huerta reached max capacity. The lobby noise was a mixture of sobbing, groans of pain, and chatter amongst medical staff running to and from patients. A monitor was playing the latest extranet news regarding the new reaper strikes that added to the somber stage she entered upon. A haunting chill hit her body as she desperately searched the crowd for Thane. To her left, she noticed a male drell standing at the overlooking window with his back turned to her and his webbed hands clasped collectively behind him. Diverting from the group, she hurried over to him. "Thane!" As she neared, she realized the drell was a few inches shorter and his skin was a deeper bluish-green than her lover's. Her heart stopped in her chest when she knew she was mistaken "Er, sorry-," she fumbled for her words.
"Are you Alivia Lykaia?" He inquired.
She tilted her head quizzically. "I am…. who are you?" Her mouth felt so arid; a lump formed in her throat. Her body tensed as she silently prayed for no bad news to befall her.
"My name is Kolyat. My father was Thane Krios. He spoke of you during his final hours. You meant a great deal to him."
The shock of the disclosure made her gasp loudly as tears streamed down her face in a flood. Her knees buckled as she fervently shook her head in disbelief. "No…no! Nothing happened to him! Please tell me that!" She sobbed. Unable to bear the intense pain of grief, she collapsed onto her legs and used her arms to prop herself up. She tightly closed her eyes as she cried. "Thane….no…you can't do this. You can't leave!"
The younger drell was at her side to console her. "My apologies, I thought you already heard of his passing."
She couldn't look at him and refused to open her eyes just yet. Alivia was not ready to face the weight of reality. In her mind, he was still alive and waiting for her. "H-how did he die? …What happened?"
"During the Cerberus attack, one of their assassins went after the salarian councilor. Thane gave his life to protect him. They failed in their attempt and retreated soon after Shepard stopped the hit on the remaining councilors. Udina was part of it."
Trying her best to pull herself together, Alivia wiped her eyes and avoided glances with anyone else around including her squad. She couldn't face them yet. "I should have been here with him," She angrily growled as tears still matted her cheeks.
"No," Kolyat softly protested as he caught her silver eyes. "My father knew his life was coming to an end before the attack. He told me that he accepted his fate years ago. When you came along, he found some light at the end." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small gold trinket and placed it in her right hand. In the center of the circular shaped object was a symbol that she was not familiar with. The closest thing to her mind was the Trinity.
As she gazed down upon it, she sniffed, "What's this?"
"My father kept this with him after his wife passed. It has the symbol of Arashu, the goddess of protection. He kept this close to aid him in his contracts. He wanted you to have it."
Clutching it tightly in her shaking hand, Alivia choked up again on her tears as she kissed it. "Thank you, Kolyat. I will always keep it with me. Your father helped me so much. I loved him," She admitted.
He smiled warmly at her. "I know. I am glad that you were there with him. He knew that his death would be burdensome to you and that you will fear what is to come. He wanted you to be strong and use the skills that he showed you. He will wait for you. You will not be apart."
Krysta playfully nudged the older one-eyed merc beside her as they strolled down the steps from the apartments to the hallway that led to the elevators of the Presidium floor. She was dressed in her Alliance uniform and the lesser weight from the lack of armor made her feel so much lighter on her feet. "I'm surprised you just didn't punch him," She teased, referring to her prior query that they left timidly shaking in the apartment: Din Korlack.
"I wanted to. Then again, I want to punch all volus. Most are swindlers and whimper when you threaten to put a bullet in their heads. They won't ever shut up," He grouched.
The reminiscence made her roll her eyes with a smile. "Is there any species that you don't hate?"
He thoughtfully paused then shrugged. "Krogan."
The type made her giggle. "Because?"
"They are straight to the point. No fucking dancing around."
"Ah, I see," She nodded her head as she stopped at the elevators. "Where you off to now?" She then playfully crossed her arms. "I have room on the Normandy for you."
He shook his head at the offer. "No way that you're pulling me on another goddamn suicide mission, Shepard. I have things to do. I wanted to retire if Cerberus didn't mess around."
"Would you give this up?"
"I wanted to," He nervously eyed their surroundings. "I hate it up here, Shepard. Too high-class for my liking."
"If you think this is, you should have been with me when I helped Kasumi on Bekenstein."
"Yeah, but you got to crash a party there."
"I can always find you one," She picked.
"Nah, I'm going to head down to the docking area for the refugees. May pick up a few small jobs down there while I'm at it. I also need to stop by the batarian camp."
"Batarian camp?" The divulging of the location caught her off-guard and made her uncross her arms to become less playful. "Why there? I thought you hated the batarians; one reason why you and Vido got into it twenty years ago."
The merc in front of her shifted his body in an uncomfortable state of mind. His voice lowered, "I need to make amends for something I did."
She light-heartedly tried to play into the situation. "Is this a confession, Massani?"
"You're fucking right, Shepard. I hate those four-eyed bastards. Even more so all those years ago. Soon after Vido left me for dead, I gathered a few men and went out to have a little bit of retaliation."
She listened intently as she knew there was a dark side to his story. "What did you do?"
"I knew that I didn't have a chance to hit that asshole, but I would hurt his operations; bleed him slowly. I remembered a mine that was worked by batarians for the Blue Suns, a big chunk of creds in Vido's pocket. We hit that place and killed all of them. I let my rage do the talking. Ironically, the batarians believe their eyes are important in their afterlife. I wasn't going to let them go anywhere. I removed some of their eyes to let their corpses rot in the sun," He spat with disdain.
His tale made Shepard's eyes widen at his extreme brutality and hatred towards the race. She didn't know how to comment on this and a part of her inside became angry towards her old squadmate. If he carried this same level of barbarism and bigotry toward the batarians, what would he think of Bray? What would he think of her and Bray? Her silence made him move past her to the elevator first. "I guess that's it. I'll be down in the camp if you need me, Shepard. I'm through being a big goddamn hero. I never was."
"Did you talk to Gryll?" Aria asked Narl as he approached her in Purgatory.
"He's good to go. I told him I would give him the word once Shepard checks in," The batarian reported, flashing a small head acknowledgment to Bray at her side.
"Looks like there's a chance with the Blood Pack and the Eclipse," She commented lightly in the air then her blue eyes narrowed. "I still need a way to get Vossk onboard. While the Blood Pack and Eclipse can give us vorcha and mechs, we need the number of bodies and ships that the Suns can provide. Shepard better hurry up. I want that asshole, Vossk, away from me or I may just have to kill him."
"You and me both," Bray muttered under his breath as he listened in.
"After I get the mercs under my control once more, I will have what I need to begin the assault to retake my station," She mused with a smile of pleasure on her purple lips. "Shepard can use the mercs once they serve their purpose, and my finger is on Omega's again." Bray furrowed his brow as he listened in. This wasn't the deal that she proposed to Krysta. She promised to immediately hand over the mercs once they agreed to work for Aria. All along, T'Loak was plotting to betray Shepard's trust and use him as a pawn in the bargaining. There was no sheer conscience in her logic. "Bray," His name broke him from his thoughts. "It's time to tie up loose ends before we leave this station." She rose from her couch and moved towards the hologram of Omega in front of her. "There are Cerberus spies all over this hellhole. C-Sec clearly showed this during the attack. The admiral has proven his usefulness. Get rid of him."