MASS EFFECT: ENTANGLED SERIES
CHAPTER 34
**This starts at Chapter 46 of "Solace" and goes through the ending of that series***
Krysta fired back salutes as she walked with Garrus and James into the FOB. The first phase of their attack was brutal. Many shuttles were taken out by the Hades canon and that meant numerous lives were lost. They needed all the boots they could take for the next phase. Her team went to take out the canon to get more shuttles inbound and the weapon was heavily fortified with Reaper ground forces. Her shields took a beating, and she was forced on numerous occasions to take cover to allow them to regen. James was not so lucky, and his armor suffered some damage; fortunately, it wasn't too major. As she neared the remote communications office in a battered down building, a familiar voice coming from within made her come to a dead halt, "No one be a damn hero here! Aria wants you back to Omega after this." Recognizing that it was Bray's, she stormed inside with her heart fluttering. How did he get to Earth? She sent him back to Omega with Moklan to keep him safe. Did he ignore her?
Inside the comm room was a long conference table surrounded by multiple parties branding different merc logos that she quickly identified: Eclipse, Blood Park, and Blue Suns. At the front of the table was a holo image of Bray's body. Her heart sank when she saw it. The batarian didn't pick up on her presence and was addressing the salarian, red-headed woman, and vorcha standing at the table with a map displayed in the center. Bray continued, "Gryll, you have the muscle. I want your men at the front."
The vorcha snarled by the command. "We lose lots of men! Why not send the mechs?"
Sayn crossed his arms at the proposal. "The mechs cost a lot of creds to replenish. You can dig up more krogan somewhere, I'm sure."
Gryll glared hard at the salarian. "Eclipse is puny in using mechs. Let them go first."
Celeste rolled her eyes and snapped, "Send you both dumbasses first! The Suns have mechs too. I will send some if Eclipse wants to be a pussy and hold back."
Gryll liked her idea. "Agree."
Sayn pouted. "You just want Aria's favor, Celeste. The Eclipse will send some mechs to the front line in a joint collusion."
Celeste huffed at his insinuation. "The Suns don't give a shit about Aria's favor down here, Sayn!"
"Enough!" Bray shouted over them to grab their attention. "Aria gave me command over the forces on Earth and you will do what I say or your territory on Omega will be taken away to the Talons. Is that clear?!"
Gryll hissed softly between his sharp teeth and remained still, "Gryll agrees."
Celeste glared hard at him before throwing up her hands in disgust. "Fine! Whatever. Ass kisser."
"I will abide by Aria's terms," Sayn chimed in.
"Good," Bray ignored Celeste's jab at him. "Back to what I said, the Blood Pack will be upfront with the mechs for backup support. I want the rest of the Eclipse out scouting ahead to use sabotage." His eyes diverted over to Sayn. "I know you have STG members, Sayn, don't give me any shit about this."
The salarian refrained from speaking out, "Understood."
"What about the Suns?" Celeste was becoming agitated. "Did we just hang back and paint our nails?"
"Your men will watch the flanks to help drive us forward. Keep your larger mechs in the rear. We don't want to be fucked."
Celeste scoffed at the reference. "You ruin the fun, Bray."
Gryll took notice of Shepard standing off nearby, looking on with great interest. "Shepard!" He chuckled in amusement. "You made it."
Bray overheard the vorcha and his eyes desperately moved to see her, but she was out of the visual perimeter of the program. Realizing this, Shepard swiftly moved to the table beside the salarian. "Getting the troops ready?" She grinned.
The batarian flashed a meek smile and returned to business. "You have your orders. Wait for the signal from Anderson. Dismissed." The others moved away from the table to address their groups while Krysta remained in front of the holo. "Glad to see you made it there," He smirked.
"Yeah, it was a rough ride. The rest of Team Hammer finally made it…well what was left of it. I would say…half."
"I should have been there with you," Bray argued.
"No. I want you there on Omega, Bray. Maybe, that will give me some damn hope to see to the end of this war."
"Hurry up and get your ass back here, Shepard." Bray felt hopeless standing there, talking to her. She seemed so exhausted and deep down, he could tell she was petrified of what she was enduring and what she was about to see. He wasn't too sure how well he would hold up if he was in London living through that.
"Heh. I'm counting on it." Krysta cracked a forced smile at him. "Drink a drink for me while I'm gone."
"I'll buy you plenty when you get here."
"You know I still hate your guts, batarian," She slyly grinned.
"And as do I, human," He teased, chuckling.
Air raids could be heard in the background and this distraction pulled Krysta's face away momentarily. She then looked back at him with the same strong neutral face he remembered when he first met her. "Bray, this is it. I love you."
"Don't give me that shit. You're Shepard, the great savior of the galaxy," He joked, hinting at where they stood first off.
Shepard shook her head from side to side hard in frustration. "Bray, say it. I need to hear it."
Without hesitation, he looked right at her. "I love you. Now go kick some ass."
Making herself move away, Krysta ignored the urge to go back to the holo and moved out of the building towards her destination: The meeting point with Admiral Anderson. Once she was outside, the small peace she had just minutes ago dissipated, and she was back into the dark reality of the war. Exhaling softly, she moved on.
Just outside the building, she saw some Alliance soldiers hanging around including a familiar face: Alivia. The redhead noticed her right away and moved to greet her. "Commander! You made it!"
"That I did, LT," Krysta shook her hand.
Rhodes saluted as he took the redhead's side. "Commander. First Sergeant Wayne Rhoades of the Ninety-Sixth Company. It's an honor."
Krysta returned the greeting. "At ease. How long have you two been here?"
"Arrived a few days ago," Alivia answered. "We lost our CO, and our krogan pal is chatting it up with Wrex."
Shepard smiled at the name of her colleague. "Glad he's here."
"Our group is heading out with the rest of the team when the signal comes. Glad to be a part of this," Rhodes said.
"That's commendable, First Sergeant. Stay focused and don't get cocky out there. The Reapers won't go down easy." Krysta then returned her attention to her friend. "Alivia, you got this. Thane changed you. If you start to freeze up, push yourself harder. "
The lieutenant beamed at the advice, "I will, mam." Then she saluted. "Good luck. I'm behind you."
A wave of cheers erupted all over the decimated city skyline as the towering reaper guarding the beam exploded into multiple burning parts as it was impacted by two missiles launched at it from the south. Alivia's comm became alive once more over the fray. "Shepard did it! Get to the beam! We are moving in!"
"This is it!" Rhodes exclaimed as he ran with the others. Fighters from all over poured into the streets together. Alivia was only a few feet away from Wayne. Torsk was lagging in the back. The fight so far was exhausting and intense. Rhodes sustained a hit to his arm that was quickly patched up with medigel and Torsk received several deep lacerations on his face by husks that swarmed him. The krogan appeared not to be in any physical pain and allowed only meds to cauterize the wound, ignoring any painkillers.
The trek on foot gave them a little window to rest their battle-worn-out bodies. It was only when they reached the pile of rovers nearby that they were allowed to stop as everyone began to regroup. Alivia found Rhodes and then looked back to see Torsk heading their way. Her silver eyes widened when she saw Krysta getting out of one rover with Liara and Garrus followed by another Alliance officer and Admiral Anderson. She felt revived being in the commander's presence more and a lot of the troops had the same sentiments. Many marines shouted out in jubilation and determination. "This is it, everyone!" Shepard yelled over the crowd. Just as she said that a much larger Reaper landed just on the other side of the beam. A terrifying horn blew from the sentient machine that ceased all hope they had left. Unlike the others, this one had four distinctive glowing yellow lights on its face that resembled the sets of eyes that batarians had. The ground shook hard from its landing and it towered over them in a haunting way. "Harbinger!"
"Oh my God…" Alivia's voice cracked as she looked up at the height of the reaper that ascended nearly to the top of the sky. They were within perfect striking distance of its deadly beam and more so if they dared to continue the charge forward.
"We go now!" Anderson shouted to them all with a wave of his hand.
"Don't hold back! Just run!" Krysa screamed as she followed him towards Harbinger with strong fortitude.
Marines and aliens gave a fierce yell as they followed suit. Rhodes, Alivia, and Torsk tried to remain tight together as rovers pushed forward to divert Harbinger's beam to a much larger target and gunships flew overhead. At first, the sentient was just sitting there as if it was not going to do anything. Alivia tried not to look at it and kept her eyes on the beam. "I have to make it!" Seconds later, all hell broke loose, and the hot laser shot out from the Reaper torching many troops including rovers ahead. The heat of its weapon was so great that there were no remains of the bodies and only the burnt metal of the vehicle. The reaper then directed its sights on the approaching gunships and fired at them, cutting through their armor like they were made from paper. The airborne fighters blew apart and it rained fireballs of metal from the sky, falling onto the forces below. Harbinger was brutal and unforgiving as it continued its assault, wiping out wave upon wave of forces. Their numbers were quickly dwindling!
The closer she got; the more fearful Alivia became. She lost sight of Anderson and Shepard in the disarray. Rhodes was still to her left, and Torsk was further in the back. Seeing allies being wiped out in the same direction that they were running in was disheartening. Was she simply running to her death? Were they all? What happened to Krysta? As the thought of death loomed in her mind, Alivia tensed up and began to breathe rapidly. Feeling the panic attack coming on, she stopped in her tracks and tried to block out everything around her. "No, no no! Calm down! Not now!" She could feel people passing by her, but she dared not to look at them. She just wanted to be somewhere else besides her current state.
A familiar voice shook her back to reality; it was Rhodes. When she fell behind, he came back to her. "Alivia! Alivia! You okay?!"
She shook her head intensely. "I can't! I can't do this!" She managed to look ahead and saw Harbinger still bearing down on the troops, slaughtering them like they were insects. Then the imagery changed from the machine to the thresher maw on the Akuze. All she could see now was the vicious monstrous worm tearing apart her friends. She screamed at the violent reminder. "No!" She jerked her head away and shut her eyes as tight as she could make them.
Suddenly, there was a nearby explosion as a rover was struck by the beam and the vehicle was flipped up into the air as if it was a toy by thirty feet, flipping over end to end and falling back towards their direction! Seeing the incoming danger, Rhodes shoved Alivia hard to the right. "Look out!"
As the rover tumbled towards them, pieces of it flew everywhere, Alivia felt an immediate hit by something hard to her left torso as she hit the ground. She covered her head as she felt the scorching vehicle fly miraculously past them, then it exploded. The boom caused her ears to ring. Her left side throbbed badly from pain, and she scrunched her eyes tightly closed to block out the sounds all around. The never-ending noise of gunfire from the gunships and the reaper's beam echoed endlessly. She had no idea where Rhodes and Torsk were. Were they hit? Was she dead? Her body felt paralyzed by the event.
Moments later, the sounds vanished, and an eerie deathly calm filled the air. Daring herself to reopen her eyes, she felt her head throb from the pain in her body and all she could see before her was the lateral view of the rubble and multiple lifeless bodies. She tried to move but something heavy was pinning her down. Flight or fight kicked in and she gritted through the pain as she desperately tried to free herself. She pegged it was something off the rover that fell on her. She couldn't see anyone else moving but her. The sounds of the reaper ground troops off in the distance petrified her. "I'm not dead…!" She clawed at the ground.
Seconds later, she heard large footsteps nearby and then the sweet relief of the burden on her body being removed. "I got you, human," Torsk grunted as he helped her off the ground.
As soon she stood, Alivia let out a loud cry of pain and held her side. "Damnit! I think I broke some ribs." It hurt like hell for her to make sudden turns. She noticed the krogan was missing half his armor as it was cracked from an intense hit of something, and his entire right arm was bleeding. "Torsk! You need a medic!"
He swatted her away. "Where's the other?"
Alivia looked around frantically and then spotted Rhodes on the ground on his back. The left front of his scalp was bleeding. Ignoring the pain of her injuries, she knelt to assess his damages with her omni. "He has a pulse! We need to get him out of here!"
"I agree. We are like sitting pyjaks in this hole."
"Hey! You okay down there?!" A booming voice shouted to the edge of the ravine they went into minutes earlier.
Alivia turned her head to see a large row of krogan looking on with Urdnot Wrex front in center with his trademark red armor. "We have an injured man down here! We need to get him medical attention right away!"
Wrex hopped down to go to where they were, and a few others followed. The yellow-tinted krogan glanced Torsk's way and grunted in acceptance. "You look like shit."
"Better than most here," The other responded.
Wrex then motioned to two other krogan next to him. "You heard her. Take this one back to the medics. The rest of you, we hold here." He looked around. "Where's Shepard? I heard they came this way."
Alivia gaped at the beam that was now gone and there was no sign of Harbinger anywhere. "I lost sight of her…you think she made it?"
"Of course she did!" He huffed by the offense. "It's Shepard."
Lykaia watched as the two krogan passed by with Rhodes. "Good luck. Hang in there, soldier."
"Do you need a medic? Or can you fight?" Wrex asked sharply.
Alivia winced as she tenderly touched her left side. "I can try. I think I fractured a few ribs back there."
He motioned a smaller krogan to his left to come up. "Grunt, you got her. Don't let those things touch her."
The younger one didn't smile or anything as he looked her way. "Got it. How many clips you have left?"
Alivia checked her stash. "Two. I'm biotic also."
"Good."
"What about you?"
He tilted his head in confusion. "Krogan get the job done no matter what."
A familiar shriek filled the air to remind them of the continuous hellscape. "Here we go!" Alivia grated her teeth as she spotted oncoming forces including three banshees menacingly hovering their way. Husks took the charge as they scampered over the debris.
"Let's show them that you don't mess with the krogan!" Wrex yelled to his team as they roared back in unison before running forward to meet the reapers fearlessly head-on.
"All units, Commander Shepard made it to the Citadel. Standby," Hackett's voice came through Alivia's comm.
This rejuvenated her fighting spirit, and she ignored the pain as she moved to follow the krogan up the hill towards the ground troops. "Shepard's on the Citadel! We are going to do this!"
"You heard her!" Wrex yelled. "For Shepard!"
Out of nowhere, a pair of Tridents raced through the air and bombarded the reaper ground troops depleting most of their numbers. The krogan struck the remaining ferociously, tearing limbs out of sockets and tossing them to the ground. Alivia used her biotics to throw a few husks away from a pair of krogan that found themselves surrounded.
Wrex head-butted one cannibal that lunged at him before taking a husk's arm and beating another with it. The blood of his foes soaked his armor almost changing the color from the familiar red to more of a blackened state. A banshee wailed as one moved in closer and used a biotic orb to take out three of the krogan that were careless and allowed her to get within striking distance. The cybernetic deformed asari turned her sights on the Clan Leader. "Wrex, look out!" Alivia yelled as she aimed her sights up and squeezed the trigger. Warp rounds pummeled the banshee's shields, redirecting her attention from her intended target. Alivia dodged behind what were the remains of a concrete barrier to shield herself from the orb that the banshee launched her way in retaliation.
Wrex took the diversion to fire several rounds of his Scimitar shotgun taking the banshee out completely. A horrific wail of pain escaped her lips before she scattered away into black gooey ash. Her sisters hissed in rage at what happened and moved forward to do a more unison attack. "Hit them up now!" Wrex yelled to his team as they started to fire nonstop at the approaching manifestations. Despite how powerful they were, the banshees could not withstand the numerous rounds hitting them from all angles and they too succumbed. This left the remaining husks and cannibals for now. Alivia utilized her impact to launch a shockwave attack, launching husks in all directions to their demise while her krogan companions took out the remaining cannibals. For now, a calm came over the battlefield.
Alivia panted to catch her breath, feeling herself becoming drained from the use of her powers so much in a short period. She had no idea how much longer she could do this without causing potential physical harm to herself. She looked over to Wrex who did a quick headcount on his team. "Damn," He murmured to her. "I lost at least six."
"You think we should change positions?" She asked him.
He shook his head. "No. Shepard left this spot so we will stay here until she returns." He then moved his glance over to his kind. "You hear that, princesses? We keep fighting here! Let's show all the other races that we are better than them!"
"Catalyst activated! I repeat the catalyst has been activated! All units outside Earth, move to the relay! All Earth troops, this is it!" Hackett's voice came through Lykaia's earpiece once more.
Alarmed by this announcement, Alivia panicked and looked at the sky. "She did it! Krysta did it!"
"I knew she would!" Wrex chortled happily.
Their premature celebration stalled when the sounds of oncoming brutes and more reaper ground troops heading their way could be heard. "We got this far!" He yelled over the cacophony. "Show what we are made of!"
Alivia felt herself roar through her throat as she met up with the krogan's charge toward the new wave of foes. Her adrenaline pumped through her veins. Just as they were halfway, the entire horizon lit up in a strange blue glow that was heading toward them like a giant tsunami! This made everyone stop abruptly in their tracks and look on. Before Aliva could ask what it was, she felt the powerful surge strike them, knocking them all to the ground as it continued. Her eyes closed momentarily and then she looked up, gasping for breath as if it felt like the wind was knocked out of her. Hyperventilating from the sheer fear of the unknown, she sat up and quickly cupped her hands to her face to take slow breaths to ease the momentum. Once she felt her heart rate decreasing, she looked around to see the rest of the krogan standing up looking dazed and confused by what had just happened. The Reapers were ascending back into space and the ground troops were moving back towards their transport ships. Alivia blinked at Wrex by this. "Did...did we win?"
Wrex barked at the sight. "They are leaving! We did it!" The krogan rejoiced loudly in jubilation as they struck each other on the arms with their fists in celebratory actions.
Grunt flashed Alivia a thumbs up. "You got a quad, human. Almost as good as Shepard."
She smiled at the compliment. "Thanks, Grunt. It was great working with you guys as well."
The Krogan Clan Chief turned to his team. "Let's head back and congratulate Shepard. Drinks of Ryncol back on Tuchanka are on me!"
Pain and loss hit Bray hard as he started to walk back towards Afterlife from where he and Aria were on the streets of Omega near her fortified bunker. He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails were digging into the flesh as his body shook from the horrific news. Minutes ago, the Reapers were decimating the asteroid station after it was still recovering from the Cerberus overtake. Aria and Bray were surrounded outside the bunker and all hope seemed lost for their lives. Then the attack came to a surprise halt and the Reapers began to simply leave the system and their troops were scurrying back. This change made Bray realize that Shepard managed to stop them once and for all like she intended to do from day one. Though, his happiness was shattered quickly when one of the Reapers spoke to him through Shepard's voice. It explained that Krysta sacrificed her life to restore the balance between the organics and synthetics. Now, the Reapers would be driven with a new purpose. This made no sense to Bray because he never believed that she would willingly allow herself to be killed to control the Reapers. All along, the only option was to destroy them. Why would she do this when millions lost their lives to the machines? To put it simply, she was dead and there was no way to bring her back. Now, all that would remain would be her as a Reaper. He tried to contain his emotions, but the walk to the club was too long and he couldn't hold the loss inside any longer. In a savage yell, he punched a wall with his fist near a street vendor in the marketplace. Ignoring the pain inflicted as the skin broke, he struck again, this time with his opposite fist. With each strike, he yelled ferociously. His hands throbbed in pain as blood now was plastered on the concrete from his wounded hands. "This is not happening!" He screamed. Aria looked on, this time, she stayed silent.
Hours passed since the war ended and search and rescue efforts were on going. The all-clear was not given yet for civilians and a shelter-in-place order was still active. Troops from various races were combing the streets to locate casualties: alive or dead. There were no signs of Reaper ground troops, and the Reapers seem to hover around the Earth's atmosphere, awaiting orders from their new directive. "Glad to see you are doing alright," Alivia smiled at Rhodes as he was sitting up in the staged medical center within the FOB.
He gave her a thumbs up. "I am. Sorry that I couldn't make the final push."
Alivia gingerly held her side to stifle laughter. "You did fine. It was an honor to work with you on this." She was under medical orders to stay within the FOB and to avoid any long periods of walking or heavy lifting until her fractures healed. Even with the advancements in medical science over the past century, the ribs would not be fully healed and strong for at least two weeks. The bone stimulator was working perfectly. Thankfully, there was no pneumothorax to worry about.
"Any signs of Commander Shepard?" Rhodes asked. "Everyone has been quiet. There's been no communication."
"No, not yet" Her eyes fell sadly. "I heard we lost Admiral Anderson. They found his body among hundreds onboard the Citadel."
"Damn…there were tons of Alliance officers stationed there and refugees…"
"Heard the Reapers allowed limited access to the station and now it's on lockdown. The Council is trying to engage in diplomatic discussions with the Reapers…," Alivia cringed at the next piece of information that she overheard from top officers discussing to the side more recently. "Did you hear the rumor that's going around, Rhodes?"
"I think…that Shepard is some kind of Reaper?" He scoffed at it dismissively. "No way. Why would she do that? I mean…I heard she sacrificed herself somehow to save us all…I sure as hell wish she still is astonishingly alive too, but to become one of them? No way."
"Scares the hell out of me," Lykaia wrung her hands. "Some of the smaller Reapers are assisting in removing debris for us to get into places to look for any survivors, and I wonder why they suddenly want to help us but to be Shepard in there. It can't be…" She teared up. "Krysta sort of knew she would die in this fight…heh, I thought it would be me instead honestly…."
"Shut that down, Lieutenant. You are one hell of a soldier. I mean, you remained on the battlefield while I was whisked away like some damsel in distress by krogan," He chuckled lightly. "I still think that the rumor about the commander being a Reaper is a ghost story. I won't believe it until someone that is credible states they had direct communications with her as one."
"Yeah, you're right. I don't think anyone has…"
Epilogue
Nearly a year later, Vancouver
A huge crowd gathered around the stage as many others that came to pay their respects at the memorial had to line up in multiple blocks to watch screens that portrayed a glimpse of the procession. Admiral Hackett was seated to the right of the podium along with a few more high-ranking Alliance officers including the Spectre, Ashley Williams. To the left of the podium was a large photo of the former first human spectre, Krysta Shepard, and next to it was a metal statue of her likeness proudly standing in her famed N7 uniform. Down below in the first few rows were all her old team and the Normandy crew and after that were Alliance officers followed by other prestigious mourners. Alivia was seated with the rest of the Alliance officers. To start off the memorial service, there was a moment of silence for all those who lost their lives serving in the war, Alliance, and outside that. Hackett came up next to talk about Admiral Anderson. Then the Council came on the stage to highlight the commander in her time of working with them to go up against Saren and the Collectors. They talked highly about how she saved their lives twice despite how rocky their relationship was. She never held it over their heads either. After the Council sat back down, Admiral Hackett came up again to speak on behalf of Anderson for the service of the fallen commander. Alivia noticed on the projection screen that the admiral appeared to have aged rapidly ever since the reapers struck Earth and he ended the eulogy with an announcement of his retirement from the Alliance. The service grew quiet as they did the twenty-one-gun fire salute nearby that new N7 trainee, James Vega, joined in with. With each shot, Alivia felt her heart grow sadder. Tears filled her eyes. The commander was finally declared dead. The media circumvented months prior that contact was finally made with the Reapers with top-ranking Alliance officials, and they confirmed that Krysta Shepard did give up her life to give her consciousness over to the Reapers to end the war. One would only admit that one reaper did speak to them through Krysta. Though, many various media outlets claimed that the AI was only using the commander's likeness to confuse everyone. Many even ventured out more saying the war was not truly over and the reapers were losing so they were simply deceiving us until they could strike again.
Conspiracy theories flooded the extranet and resistance groups were sprinting up like wildfires; many included anti-Alliance. The name, Cerberus, was cropping into the mix again. An overnight group calling themselves, "Worshipers of Apate," proclaimed that the Alliance lost power due to the fight on Earth and the aliens had control over them. They flooded the media with propaganda that Shepard died on the Citadel like the others, but the aliens wanted her to be shown as the bad guy. They said all reports of any reaper being "Shepard" were false and demanded that the Alliance provide time-stamped video of their conversations with the sentient being as proof and have it be available to the public for checks. It was unclear who started the group since every contact with them was a different person stating they were the leader. A small pocket of them managed to get into the attendance just outside the area and was causing mass disruption. They were chanting "Lies" and "No to Aliens" as loud as they could. Alivia could make out their shouts over the various pockets of quietness.
It was hard to block them out and she could see in the admiral's eyes when he talked earlier that even he was getting distracted some. As the gunshots continued, her mind thought to Bray. Traffic to the Terminus Systems was on lockdown unless it was official Alliance business. People who had families outside Earth had to wait for months to be processed and screened for a short-term visa. She tried to send messages to him, but she wasn't sure she was getting through to him due to no response. She wondered what kind of news reached Omega. Was he completely in the dark about everything? Was he even alive? She began to debate if she could put in a special request to Admiral Hackett directly to get some type of permission to make the trip. If anyone needed to know, it was the batarian.
Once the memorial service concluded, the crowd rose to give off one final salute and then everyone began to mingle to get in their greetings and memories with one another. Alivia stole the time to inch her way out of her group towards the front. She saw Shepard's team lingering from where they stood as many kept their eyes on the statue and photo displayed on the stage. Wrex picked up on her approach first and gave her a soft sad smile. "Glad to see you are doing well."
The blue asari turned after hearing his words and flashed Alivia a smile. "You must be Lieutenant Alivia Lykaia."
She blinked. "How did you?"
Wrex chuckled. "She can do that," He tossed a playful wink to T'Soni.
"The commander's journals talked highly about you. I'm sorry about what happened to Thane as well."
"It's okay," she said solemnly. "I wish he was here…more than ever." Alivia felt like hugging herself for comfort as the question of Shepard's death remained on her mind. "Do you believe what they are saying?"
Liara gave Wrex a guarded look. "I have my theories, but not here. Why don't you come with me, and we can talk."
Alivia glanced back at the Alliance gathering. A feeling of uneasiness struck her. "I-I'm not sure if I can leave my post."
T'Soni smiled as she pulled up her omni. "Leave that to me. You will want to hear this."
THE END
(CONCLUDED IN SOLACE, CHAPTER 50)
