Chapter Thirty-three – Recreation
Three days passed and the repairs to the engines progressed without incident. Ereba was keeping the ship concealed in the shadow of an asteroid that helped to hide them even when the stealth drive was recharging, though no further ships seemed to have come looking for them.
Shrike had been kept under firm guard for the duration and had so far been behaving herself, though no one really seemed to know what to do with her. Instead, the crew were waiting for Jules' instructions on the matter. Liara was the only one who knew Jules had no idea what to do with her either.
After all the excitement that had followed in the wake of their arrival, the sudden lack of activity had made the crew restless and each night they had gathered in the mess and made their own entertainment. There had been everything from singing to dancing and even arm-wrestling at one point – not typically an asari pastime but Kyla had insisted.
She had done well too, beating half the crew before finally being defeated by Liara, though only after pestering her to participate over twenty times. Liara had cheated of course, by employing biotics, but it had still been satisfying to see the enraged look on Kyla's face followed by her indignant protests as Liara sauntered out of the room victorious.
Though the two of them were now on speaking terms, it was safe to say things were still prickly. They avoided important topics like Aethyta and Benezia and instead squabbled over everything else. Even putting aside the fact that they disagreed on almost everything, they simply annoyed each other.
Kyla tried to drag Liara into joining the crew's recreation like a needy child demanding attention; and when Liara refused, she seemed to take it as a personal slight. The truth was, Liara simply preferred to spend her evenings alone or with Jules rather than in a room full of babbling asari. It didn't help that she hadn't been sleeping much, giving her little energy to deal with other people.
So, on the third night, as the rest of the crew organised an evening of entertainment, Liara lay on her back in their cabin as Jules straddled her on the bed.
Jules' hands explored the familiar curves of Liara's body, charting paths they knew by heart. Her mouth was hot against Liara's skin as her lips moved down her jaw to her neck and continued down her body.
Liara, however, was barely aware of it and found herself staring distractedly at the ceiling. Her mind was running itself in circles. Not about Kyla, at least not solely. In fact, she would have loved to have been able to focus on the annoying asari, but it was the memories of the boy she had melded with on Piares that were plaguing her, and had been for the past three days.
Melding with someone at the point of death was… unpleasant. She had known it would be when she made the decision to do it. The assault on Myriad and all of the ensuing drama had been enough to distract her but now, in the silence of the cabin, the boy was coming back to haunt her.
She couldn't seem to shake him. His face obscured every image, his last thoughts echoed through her own, she could feel his lingering emotions like he was still clinging to the comfort of her mind. She screwed her eyes shut and tried to block him out, but he was as stubbornly persistent as any human.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Liara jumped at Jules' voice. She hadn't even noticed that the kisses had stopped, or that Jules' hand had moved from Liara's breast and was now resting lightly on her stomach as Jules propped herself up on her other elbow, her eyes twinkling in the dark.
"Sorry," Liara stated, wondering how long she'd been distracted. She shifted onto her side, slipping a hand around Jules' waist to encourage her closer, "I'm sorry, go on."
Jules chuckled, picking Liara's hand up and kissing her knuckles, "You're not in the mood. It's fine," she squinted inquisitively, "you look like something's bothering you. Is it Kyla?"
"No," she sighed, rubbing her eyes.
Jules nodded, "The boy."
Liara paused, gazing blankly into space and letting his voice echo in her mind until it got too loud and she shuddered to distract herself, "I can't seem to block him out."
"Well," Shepard reasoned, "you probably shouldn't be trying to. He's part of you now, right?"
Liara shook her head, she didn't want to talk about him, she just wanted him gone, "He'll fade in time."
"Maybe," Jules agreed, "might happen faster if you weren't trying to ignore him. He probably just wants to be remembered."
Liara frowned, annoyed. She just wanted to move on and be able to think again without his ghost intruding, "He's dead, Jules. All that's left is an imprint. He's not conscious."
"I know," Jules persisted stubbornly, "but it's an imprint of his last thoughts, it's no surprise that they're desperate to hold on to you," Liara didn't argue with her but that didn't mean she agreed.
After all these years together, Jules knew just as much about melds as Liara did but she'd always had a more romantic view of them. This wasn't the last wishes of a dying boy making themselves known. It was just the unfortunate side effects of an act of kindness. At least, that's what she was telling herself.
Jules must have picked up on her uncertainty as she nuzzled in closer.
"Do you want to show me?" she asked, "We might be able to deal with him better together."
Liara hesitated. Normally it was unthinkable to share anything you saw in a meld with another person, even a lover. But, under the circumstances, it didn't seem inappropriate, "It won't be pleasant," she warned.
Jules responded with a smile and a kiss on the jaw, "I'll survive."
Liara didn't allow the meld to linger. She took Jules to the alleyway and let her experience the boy's final moments for herself. But once the memory had run its course, she retreated from Jules' mind, letting her reflect on the event for herself. Sometimes it was better that way, it was all too easy to get lost in someone else's thoughts and fail to register your own.
She opened her eyes to find them lying side by side, temples touching as they both gazed quietly at the ceiling.
"Poor kid," Jules muttered after a moment.
"Yes," Liara agreed quietly.
"Some people never really get a shot at life, do they?" she continued. Liara didn't answer, she could tell Jules was talking more to herself anyway, "To grow up in a place like that, fall in with a merc gang just to survive and then end up dead in an alley before he even became a proper adult," she sighed heavily, "sometimes I hate being old."
Liara cast her a look, "You're younger than me, and I'm not even a matron yet."
"You're not far off."
Liara slapped a hand gently across Jules' forehead, making the human chuckle, "Jules, it amazes me how you manage to bemoan young death while also complaining about your own lifespan."
Jules paused. It was the kind of pause that you could feel lingering in the air, "It's not fun being the one who always survives, you know that as well as I do."
Liara sighed softly. Their differing approach to their long lifespans had been a bone of contention between them for decades. Jules seemed to see the side-effects of her implants as a curse. Liara saw it as the greatest gift the galaxy could have given her. She wouldn't have to try and cram a lifetime's love into a few meagre decades and then move on to someone new, all while kidding herself that the short time they had outweighed the loss that would follow.
Asari told themselves that nonsense because they had to, otherwise they'd never bother pursuing happiness with shorter lived species. Liara had believed it herself once. When it came to the friends and colleagues she'd lost, she could usually apply the same principle. But Jules was different. Once she realised that Jules could be hers forever, losing her became unthinkable and something she would never accept as inevitable.
But sadly, Jules could only see everything she had lost, not the chances she had gained. It actually annoyed her when Liara suggested that she should focus on the good, as though it meant she was betraying the memory of those she grieved for.
Whenever the topic was broached, it only ever led to passive-aggression and long conversations that changed neither of their views and ultimately achieved nothing. Liara wasn't in the mood for either right now so she kept quiet.
"How do you feel?" Jules asked after a moment.
Liara thought about it. Melds with Jules, however brief, always helped to ground her and put things in perspective. It hadn't stopped the boy's memory from echoing around her head but his presence seemed less insurmountable somehow.
"Better," she stated with a smile, "I think I just want to do something else for a while."
"What did you have in mind?"
Liara thought about it. The romantic mood had somewhat dissipated and was unlikely to be rekindled tonight. Instead, she smiled deviously and cast Jules a look that had the human grimacing before she even spoke, "I have picked out a few more vids I'd like to watch."
"Not more actions vids staring us as the heroes?"
Liara shrugged innocently, "Not all. One of them is actually a romantic comedy."
Jules groaned audibly, "Why are you so interested in these vids anyway?"
Liara laughed, it was partly because she enjoyed that Jules would watch them with her despite hating every second. But in truth, "I find them interesting. Don't you want to know how history remembers us?"
"History?" Jules exclaimed, "I haven't seen a single accurate vid yet and you've made me watch five of the damn things."
"Yes, but popular media has far more influence over how people like us are viewed than historical fact. Annoying as it may be, it's the truth."
"Hmph," Jules muttered, "so far, it seems like we're viewed as scantily clad goddesses with acrobatic skills that defy gravity, the biotic prowess of a dozen matriarchs and a very energetic sex life."
"See?" Liara smiled, "It's not so far from the truth, is it?"
…
Maia sat cross-legged on a storage crate, listening to the distant cheers echoing through the ship's corridors. While the rest of the crew enjoyed whatever entertainment they had dreamed up for tonight, she found herself in one of the ship's larger storage rooms which had, for the past few days, become an impromptu holding cell for Shrike.
The young salarian wasn't a prisoner, she'd been given free run of the ship but she had been supervised constantly with Maia and Barbet taking turns to watch her. With no spare cabins to offer her, the storage room had become Shrike's temporary home.
She'd been behaving herself so far but she was bored. Even with her eyes closed, Maia was aware of the salarian's restlessness. She was pacing the room, arms swinging, occasionally adding a hop and a skip into her stride as though to make the process of walking more entertaining for herself. Eventually she let out a heavy sigh and Maia heard her fling herself down onto the makeshift bed they had provided for her.
"What the fuck are you doing?" the girl demanded.
"Meditating," Maia lied, without opening her eyes. In truth, it had been decades since she had truly meditated, never having been as taken with the practice as most asari commandoes. What she was doing now could be more accurately described as daydreaming, a pastime that suited her far more.
Shrike apparently didn't see the merits of sitting in silence and letting one's mind wander like Maia did as she snorted dismissively, "Looks boring."
Maia felt her corner of her mouth twitch slightly, "When you live for a thousand years, you learn to embrace long periods of boredom, it can actually be quite rewarding."
She heard the girl snicker, "Are you really a thousand years old?"
Maia opened one eye and found the girl lying flat on her back, her head hanging off the end of the bed so she was gazing at her upside-down. It looked terribly uncomfortable.
"Almost," she replied, "why? How old are you?"
The salarian hesitated, sniffed and then looked away, "Old enough," she muttered indignantly.
Maia hid a smile, once again closing her eyes. Once she had no longer considered herself to be in danger, it was amazing how quickly Shrike had gone from formidable biotic to petulant adolescent. She still didn't trust most of the crew and her biotics still twitched at every unexpected noise or movement. But at moments like this when she let her guard down, it became abundantly clear just how much of a child Shrike still was. A child who had never been given the privilege of being allowed to act like one.
About her past, she remained tight-lipped, no matter how carefully Maia broached the subject. There had been no more mentions of Thessian Slave Maidens or anything else for that matter. If asked outright, she would just chuckle and say nothing, if Maia tried to pry information from her through longer conversation, Shrike would find ways to avoid and deflect any question she didn't want to answer. Which was most of them.
"I could kill you right now," Shrike commented casually, clearly trying to prompt some kind of reaction that might alleviate her boredom.
"No," Maia replied calmly, "you couldn't."
"I nearly killed you in the med bay. If your boyfriend hadn't saved you, you'd have lost the chance of seeing one thousand."
Maia smiled slightly, "I underestimated you."
"Ah," the girl dismissed, "don't feel bad, you're not the first."
"How sweet of you to say so," Maia said, opening her eyes again to judge Shrike's reaction.
The look she got was a dark one, "I fucking hate asari," the girl muttered, "you're all so fucking smug."
"You joined a gang of them," Maia pointed out.
Shrike made a face, "They have a scary leader. She liked the idea of a salarian with biotics like mine, thought it was hilarious. She's not the kind of person you reject when she offers you a job, you know?"
Maia paused, picking her next words carefully, "How did she recruit you?"
Shrike saw through the ploy immediately, however, and quickly shut it down with a hard glare, "Go back to meditating, I need a nap."
Seconds later, she was asleep. It was a remarkable talent she had, to spontaneously sleep at will wherever and whenever she chose, though she rarely slept for more than twenty minutes at a time and could be awake in a split-second.
Maia was quite surprised when the door opened and Samara entered and Shrike didn't even stir. Then again, the justicar moved like a shadow, never making a sound. She made most of the younger girls uneasy. In truth, she made Maia uneasy too.
She had only ever met one other justicar. It had been centuries ago when her commando unit had been assigned to assist her. She had been a cold, unforgiving woman with little to suggest she cared about the people she had to slaughter her way through to achieve her objective. And it had been a slaughter, Maia was still haunted by the memory of it sometimes. They had helped her massacre her way through an entire merc band to capture their leader.
True, the mercs weren't innocent. But there had been a cold calculation in the way the justicar had dispatched them, showing no mercy or concern. Some of them had been kids like Shrike.
Samara seemed to at least have more of a moral compass than that justicar had but it didn't stop her from being an unsettling presence.
For a moment Samara paused and gazed at the sleeping salarian, "How is she?" she asked eventually.
"Restless," Maia replied, "did you want to talk to her?"
Again, the justicar paused, "Eisheth has been my adversary for many years, I have yet to meet someone who defected from her and lived."
"You think we're putting her in danger?"
Samara tilted her head, "Shepard will protect her. I merely thought it might be useful to speak with her."
"Well, she never sleeps for long," Maia said, shuffling along on the crate to make room. Samara sat.
"I believe you were a commando before the war," Samara asked, surprising Maia a little. She hadn't been expecting small talk.
"And during," she confirmed.
"Were you on Thessia when it fell?" Samara asked, bluntly.
"No. We were on the far side of the galaxy, evacuating remote colonies, human mostly. We made it back to Earth for the final battle though. That's how I ended up trapped outside asari space."
Samara accepted that with a nod and the conversation petered out. Maia studied the mysterious justicar with a frown for a moment, wondering whether it was a good idea to say what she was thinking. Good idea or not, she found herself speaking.
"Does Shepard know your daughter is an ardat-yakshi?" she asked, spontaneously. Samara gave no outward indication of surprise but she did turn her head just slightly to peer at Maia and, for the first time in centuries, she felt the penetrating gaze of an elder. It was quite a novel experience.
When it was clear Samara wasn't going to speak, Maia decided to elaborate, "I knew one once, living in secret outside a monastery, on the run her whole life. I'll never forget that feeling of being around her."
Maia didn't elaborate further. She didn't need to. The same feeling followed Falere. It was like a tingle in the air. It made everyone around her relaxed and calm, unable not to trust her or be drawn to her beauty.
"Were you in love with her?" Samara asked, bluntly.
Maia hesitated, she wasn't sure that was a question she could answer honestly.
"I was infatuated," she admitted, "everyone was. Just like the crew is infatuated with your daughter. I can tell she's trying to avoid them, but it doesn't stop them admiring her at every mealtime."
Samara looked away again, "Do you think any of them suspect?"
"I doubt it. It's unlikely any of them have encountered an ardat-yakshi before, some may not even realise they exist. The likes of Egret have probably never even heard the name, the post-war generation of asari who grew up on Earth were mostly raised by humans."
"I can trust you not to say anything?" Samara pressed.
Maia blinked, "Does Shepard know?"
"Yes."
Maia gave a single nod, "Then I'll say no more about it."
A moment of uncertain silence followed before Samara opened her mouth, hesitating briefly before replying: "Thank you."
No more was said for several minutes, until Shrike's eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright. This was how she usually awoke, suddenly and sharply as though by a loud noise. As always, the first thing she did was snap her head around to make sure Maia was still where she'd left her, though when she saw Samara she recoiled, looking wildly between her and the door before scowling suspiciously.
"How did you get in here without waking me?" she asked, sparing no thought for pleasantries first.
The justicar cocked her head, "I am practiced in the art of hunting."
Shirke shifted uncomfortably at that, eyeing the asari warily. Maia had to wonder how their conversation hadn't woken her either. Perhaps the girl was becoming more comfortable on the ship than she realised.
Samara blinked calmly, "Do you know who I am?"
"Yeah," Shrike said, "I know you're Cadeyrn's champion and Eisheth really wants you dead." The girl then sniffed and shrugged, "I don't suppose that puts you in a very exclusive club though."
A twitch of something – perhaps amusement – crept onto the corners of Samara's mouth, "I wondered if you'd be willing to talk to me, about what Eisheth is planning."
The salarian snorted, "You think Eisheth plans? She does what she feels like, when she feels like. And I can't help you anyway. I'm just a grunt."
The girl dragged her knees up under her chin and began to rock back and forth boredly, apparently considering the conversation over. Samara cocked her head.
"Eisheth must have increased her numbers significantly in a very short space of time," the justicar pressed, "how long have you worked for her?"
Shrike shrugged, "Half a year, maybe."
Samara's stare was unrelenting but the girl avoided it, keeping her eyes down.
"You mentioned Thessian Slave Maidens," Samara stated and the girl froze, "I thought them to be nothing more than a rumour."
Shrike snorted grimly but said nothing.
"You came from Thessia?" Samara pressed. Maia felt herself tense as she watched Shrike closely. The girl had yet to open up at all about her past, even to Shepard. But Maia got the impression that had nothing to do with not wanting to help them. It was more about wanting to protect herself. After all, you didn't just start spilling your secrets to a group of strangers because they asked.
Shrike's gaze remained firmly fixed on the floor and she said nothing, but after a moment she gave two solemn nods.
"Did all of Eisheth's new recruits come from Thessia?" Samara asked again. She was being clever, careful to avoid asking anything too personal that would make the salarian shut down. Perhaps it was because she genuinely didn't care about the girl's past. Maia didn't have that luxury. Which might have been why her attempts at questioning had been less successful. Perhaps Shrike was more comfortable talking to someone who didn't care about her.
Shrike nodded again. Samara seemed to think about asking something further, but in the end, she merely nodded and said: "Thank you."
She exchanged a glance with Maia and then stood to leave.
"Where are you going?" Maia asked.
"To speak to Shepard," was the only answer she got, before she disappeared through the doors. Maia frowned. She had no idea what had just transpired or what the justicar had managed to glean from the cryptic conversation. But as she looked back at Shrike, she found the girl was uncharacteristically still, rocking only slightly as she stared into space.
"Are you alright?" Maia enquired.
The salarian looked up at her for a moment, then rolled her eyes dramatically and fell back against the bed, "Go back to your meditating, old woman."
…
"Dear god, Liara. This is the worst one yet."
In their cabin, curled up on the bed together as they were, Liara turned away from the action vid on the screen to throw Jules a look, "You chose it."
Jules pulled a face, "You gave me a choice between 'The Spectre Who Loved Me' and 'Blasto: The Hunt for Saren' of course I'm going to pick the one where I'm not being played by a jellyfish."
"Actually, Blasto plays the part of Major Kirrahe," Liara informed her matter-of-factly, "you're played by the asari actress from Vaenia."
Jules blinked at her, "Somehow that makes even less sense."
Liara seemed to hide a smile, "Well, the Blasto vids were never known for their accuracy."
Turning back to the screen, Jules immediately gave a snarl of frustration, "Did she just blow up that reaper with a single pistol shot?"
Liara was saved from answering by a knock on their door, "Come in!" Jules snapped, taking any excuse to pause the vid, right in the middle of the dramatic action scene.
The door opened to reveal Samara. The justicar stepped inside and paused at the sight that greeted her. The pair of them were clad in loose fitting hoodies and shorts as they cuddled together on the bed and they were obviously in for the night.
"Forgive the intrusion," Samara stated, her eyes flitting to the vid screen.
"Don't apologise," Jules insisted, "you're saving me from a fate worse than death."
Liara shot her a look, "There's no need to be dramatic, it's only a vid."
"Have you seen what the actress playing me is wearing?" Jules demanded, gesturing wildly at the screen, "When was the last time I got into a firefight, dressed in a leather bikini?" as Liara opened her mouth, Jules held up a warning hand, "Do not answer that!" she turned to Samara, "She's forcing me to watch every vid ever released starring me as the hero, it's her new favourite way to annoy me."
Liara's eyes twinkled as she threw Jules a demure smile and she would likely have said something were Samara not present. Jules leaned over her and fished a stool out from under the bed, kicking it towards the justicar.
"Sit," she insisted and the asari complied, "what's up?" she asked, knowing Samara wasn't likely to have knocked on their cabin door unless it was important.
For a moment, Samara merely looked between them and the smallest smile graced her lips. Perhaps she was amused to find them like this, or maybe she found it heartwarming. Jules had never been arrogant enough to assume she had the first idea what was going on in the old justicar's mind.
"The salarian," she began, "I believe she came from Thessia."
Liara perked up at that, "What gives you that idea?"
Samara gazed at her for a moment, "She mentioned Thessian Slave Maidens. There have been rumours for a long time that such a group do the bidding of the Thessian Order. Assuming the Order even exists. There are stories about slaves on Thessia who mine the eezo. Shrike has just told me that she and all of Eisheth's recent recruits came from Thessia. I knew she must have found a way to bolster her numbers quickly." She added the last bit almost as an afterthought.
"Okay," Jules said, frowning, "she tell you anything else?"
Samara shook her head, "She's unwilling to talk about her past, I saw little point in probing further. She will only shut down if pushed."
Jules agreed with that. Shrike had proved to be very tight-lipped about her past before Eisheth, yet oddly forthcoming about anything else regarding the asari gangster.
"So… is this really that important?" Jules asked, "You said people started emerging from Thessia a few decades after the war. It's getting in that's hard."
"That was then," Samara agreed, "there was a period where some people did flee Thessia. The planet is a lot tighter locked down now, it's very rare to meet anyone from the surface. How Eisheth managed to recruit a whole army of Thessians could be significant and if Shrike won't tell us…"
"Eisheth might," Jules finished for her, nodding. She could see what Samara was thinking, "we'll be ready to return to Piares in a few days."
"To stop Eisheth from taking control," Liara said, looking at Jules meaningfully, "we weren't planning on chatting with her."
"Don't you want to know what's going on with Thessia?" Jules challenged, "We haven't found anyone else who might know anything."
Liara looked at her incredulously, "By all accounts we have a Thessian currently on our ship!"
"Who isn't talking," Jules stated, "and may have good reason not to want to. I'd rather squeeze the information out of someone like Eisheth than force it out of a young girl."
Liara frowned thoughtfully, going quiet for a moment, "It'll be a lot harder to capture her than it would be to kill her. She has a whole army between you and her."
Jules thought about that, absently tracing patterns across Liara's shoulder as she did, "We'll need a foolproof plan, there'll be no room for error. And I think we'll need Cadeyrn."
"I agree," Samara stated, "he has the numbers to defeat Eisheth. But you stole two of his greatest assets when you helped Falere and I escape. He has little reason to want to work with you."
"We need something to bargain with," Liara agreed.
"Inside information?" Jules suggested, thinking of Shrike. The salarian may not have wanted to talk about Thessia but she had seemed more than willing to discuss Eisheth's operation.
"Shrike…" Liara agreed thoughtfully, her brow furrowed, "that could work."
"I won't hand her over to him, though," Jules said, "he gets her information but he's not getting her."
"That may make it a harder sell. He has little enough reason to help us as it is."
Jules gazed at her for a moment, then her eyes flitted to Samara, "Well…" she began slowly, "you said yourself, it's you he wants."
The justicar's large eyes widened in mild surprise, then she seemed to mull over the idea, "Offer to hand me over to him? I suppose that might entice him."
"How likely is he to believe you'll just give her back after all the trouble we went to breaking her out?" Liara questioned.
"He may not need to believe it," Samara cut in, "Cadeyrn will believe he can outsmart you, even if he thinks it is a trick. The chance of getting me back may be enough for him to risk it. I was quite profitable for him."
Jules sighed softly, resting her head against Liara's chest, "We're going to have to make this good."
"We'll start coming up with a plan in the morning," Liara decided, "if we get the whole crew together, we should be able to come up with something."
Jules felt a smile twitch at the corner of her mouth as she glanced over at Samara, "This'll be an interesting bit of role reversal," she said coyly. The justicar cocked her head curiously, "me using you as bait, for a change."