Chapter 39
Colonel Nicholas Reynolds came from a long line of military men. In fact his father, grandfather, great grandfather etc until the American civil war had done at least one tour of duty. He was the first to go through officer's training and receive a commission however, and part of the reason he did was due to the fact that he was unafraid to get his hands dirty. There were duties and tasks necessary for the success of any modern Military that were, less than tasteful. Colonel Reynolds however, never let that bother him. Any outsider watching him at work would be justified in thinking the man was a sadist and a sociopath, however this was not the case. One of the requirements for working in the "Active Interrogation" field was that you pass a monthly psych eval. Another was that you had to experience every method you use before you are cleared to use it, this was vital so that everyone who engaged in what was essentially torture knew first hand the pain they were going to inflict.
Reynolds was a man in possession of an unusually sturdy and balanced psyche and as such was uniquely qualified for the work. It brought him neither misery nor pleasure to bring pain to someone else, it was simply a method for extracting the information he required. Verifying its accuracy could be difficult, people will tell you what they think you need to hear when they have been awake for a week and frequently subjected to electric shock, but that wasn't his department.
Reynolds stood, in the center of the room in front of a bound Batarian prisoner that looked, to say the least, haggard. This one was either afraid of his superiors, or just insanely tough because so far he was the only one to not crack upon being led into the interrogation chamber, all of the others had spoken freely.
"Why did your people order you to attack Shanxi." Reynolds asked.
"Fuck you, human. My people will enslave all of you and there isn't shit you can do to stop it." Brun said for the fifth time. Reynolds lazily flipped a switch on his console that sent Brun into convulsions as a relatively small jolt of electricity was passed through his body. He only allowed this to go on for five more seconds and he turned it off.
"I'm really not interesting in hurting you or any one else, Brun. I don't enjoy this, but unless you answer my questions we're going to be in here all day, and into tomorrow, and the next day. Don't you want to just tell me the answer? Then you can go back to your cell and we'll let you sleep." Reynolds said in a soft, monotonous voice. Sleep sounded heavenly to Brun, but he'd been trained on torture resistance and he wasn't about to give into these soft hairless apes.
"Fuck off." Brun said, bracing for the next jolt. Reynolds sighed, his hand reaching for the switch again but then hesitating.
"You know what, Brun? It's awfully quiet in here. I think I could stand to listen to some music, how about you?" He asked. Brun glared at him in response.
"Rothschild, could you please play some music? Maybe something with an... avian theme?" Reynolds asked.
"Ladies and gentlemen you're listening to the Shanxi Banshee, DJ Rothschild, the master of musical mayhem here to saturate the airwaves with the greatest pop hits of the 1960s, this one is a listener request and an old favorite of mine, I bet you can guess what it is." Rothschild said in a hilarious and disturbingly accurate impersonation of a morning drive time radio personality. There was a brief silence before all of a sudden the sonic representation of everything foul and evil came oozing out of the speakers at maximum volume: 'A-well-a everybody's heard, about the bird! B-b-b-bird bird, bird's the word!'
"NOOOOOO!" Brun shouted as he began straining against his restraints in a vain attempt at freeing his hands to block his ears. Reynolds motioned for Rothschild to pause, which he did.
"Did you have something to say, Brun?" Reynolds asked.
"F-f-fuck you, I'll talk! It was the council! Councilor Valern and some Turian Spectre, they contacted my superiors and arranged for the invasion, promised us all the slaves we could carry." Brun said.
"I didn't ask who sent you, Brun. I asked why... Maybe we need a bit more music." Reynolds suggested.
"NO! Valern is specifically targeting humanity! I swear he didn't tell me why, but when I met with Saren before we left for your space Valern called him and instructed him to flee back to council space when the first shots were fired, he didn't want him being caught collaborating." Brun said
"That sucks. Anything else?" He asked.
"We were sent to test you, they're already amassing a bigger fleet in orbit around Kar'shan and it's destination is Earth." Brun said.
"That sucks more... Thank you, Brun. You've been most helpful. Go back to your cell, eat something and go to sleep." Reynolds said. Brun nodded and followed the armed soldier that seemingly materialized out of nowhere.
"Rothschild, how did you know that song would affect them like that?" Reynolds asked as he proofread his report.
"Have you heard that song? It's complete and utter dog shit." Rothschild said. Reynolds shrugged. It was a crappy song. He signed it off and transmitted it to Alliance Intelligence.
Meanwhile, aboard the Mayhem, Xen and Chambers were sitting in a conference room along with the projected holographic images of Prime Minister Shepard, Admirals Hackett, Raan, Zorah, Gerrel and Korris. They all had the same report and were discussing the ramifications of the information.
"It looks like multiple prisoners corroborated the fact that they were sent to poke our defenses, but the only one we have saying who and why is the commander." Hackett said.
"That's common in Batarian ship crews, only the Captain and first officer ever know the details of the mission, the crew was simply there to follow orders. Normally I'd say check with his XO but he died during the push into the ship." Xen responded.
"And the Council was holding the reins the entire time." Gerrel observed.
"Yes, but I'm not extremely surprised by this. Shame we don't have any proof though, I'm sure they'd love to hear about this on Palaven and Thessia." Shepard contributed.
"So we need to prepare Earth for Batarian attack." Chambers said. After a brief pause,
"Yes, we have plenty of ships, and with this latest batch of volunteers plenty of qualified crew, the only thing we are lacking in is commanders. Not all of the Quarian ship commanders were effective in combat." Zorah said.
"We've got a fair amount of officers who are either up for promotion, or whose commanders think they're uniquely suited for command." Hannah said.
"Your daughter is a prime candidate from what David tells me." Admiral Raan said, causing the Prime Minister to beam with pride.
"I had actually planned on discussing this after the meeting but since it's come up, I'd like to put forward Captain David Anderson's name for promotion to Admiral. We need more leadership up at the top as well, and between his administration of Arcturus station and his short tenure on the Normandy he has more than proven his worth." Hackett said.
"That's all well and good but we were talking about ship commanders." Korris said.
"Exactly. It is my intention to promote Lieutenant Commander Shepard to the rank of Commander and transfer the Normandy to her command." Hackett said.
"The only problem I see is that I will no longer outrank David." Admiral Raan said smirking. Everyone chuckled at that.
"So any objections to Either Anderson or Shepard's promotions?" Hannah asked. Everyone shook their head.
"Rothschild, any input?" Hannah asked.
"One meatbag is as good as another, as long as she doesn't touch my stuff." Rothschild said, petulantly.
"What 'stuff'?" Gerrel asked.
"If you have to ask, you'll never know. Later bitches!" Rothschild said as he dramatically disconnected from the conference, if one can dramatically disconnect from a conference call.
"It's agreed. Obviously, Shepard's promotion is your decision entirely, Admiral." Hannah said to Hackett.
"Yes, Prime Minister." He said. They separated and went to go start moving their assignments ahead. Much had to be done to protect Earth.
In Shanxi, Shepard was walking around the refugee camp that was setup following the evacuation of the ship. At first the colonists treated the former slaves with hostility, however when they were informed that each had been a chipped slave, and they had all voluntarily surrendered once freed, they went out of their way to help the refugees feel at home. Many Batarians were sleeping each night under hand-knitted blankets, having eaten food prepared by Colonists after their normal job's shift was over and reading novels and watching vids gladly donated by the local population. The Batarians especially, but also the Asari, Salarian and Turian slaves were unaccustomed to such hospitality, especially from people the day before they'd been compelled to attack.
Several communications kiosks were set up all over the camp so that refugees could communicate with their families and friends. Many a tearful reunion occurred in front of them, as people thought dead or forever lost were able to reach out and say with reasonable confidence that they would be able to return home soon. As it was, the Alliance was coordinating a number of ship departures and arrivals to bring the freed slaves home, now that everyone was on the mend.
Shepard wandered around helping where she could, and directing the repatriation effort on the ground. She was surprised when several of the Asari and Turians as well as all of the Salarians requested to stay within the custody of the Alliance, preferably on the colony of Shanxi. They had chosen a pale purple Asari woman named Vil D'inan as their spokesperson, who cornered Shepard in the mess tent as she was sitting down to eat.
"Excuse me, Lieutenant Commander Shepard, may I sit with you?" D'inan asked.
"Of course, please." Shepard said, gesturing for her to sit down.
"Thank you, I was surprised your people were so skilled at cooking Asari cuisine." D'inan said.
"Yeah we got that a lot from the Quarians too. It seems like humanity Is uniquely obsessed with food prep. We even enjoy making things we can't eat." She said, smiling.
"Your people are fascinating to me. The books I borrowed from the colony library were very enlightening. IS it true your people discovered nuclear weapons before space flight?" she asked.
"Ugh, yeah unfortunately. Shows you where our priorities were at the time. It took a lot of work and nine billion people dying for us to cut that shit out. Now we make even more devastating weaponry but we're a lot closer to knowing how and more importantly why to use them." Shepard said.
"I'm glad for you though. My own people nearly brought themselves to extinction several times before we learned what it took you one war to learn." D'inan said.
"Well nobody's perfect, and we still have a lot of time to screw things up down the road, but I think we're doing ok for now." Shepard said, taking a bite of her sandwich. D'inan paused at this, thinking carefully about her next words.
"I was asked by a group of slaves... Rather former slaves, to come to you and plead for asylum." She finally said.
"Beg your pardon?" Shepard said, totally unprepared for this line of conversation. Thankfully D'inan correctly interpreted what she meant by that.
"Some of us, quite a few really, have no desire to return to our homes. There are varying reasons of course, but we were hoping, if you could find a place for us, to stay here or perhaps work on a station or your homeworld or one of the other colonies." She explained.
"Why though? I've heard Thessia is a paradise." Shepard asked.
"It is, Thessia is beautiful, but I cannot ever go back." D'inan said, melancholy creeping into her voice.
"Why not? Oh shoot never mind, I'm sorry that's none of my business." Shepard said. D'inan smiled. These humans were by no means perfect, but they were the only ones who seemed interested in improving themselves and apologizing for their mistakes.
"It's alright, though I really can't talk about it here. Suffice it to say, I simply cannot go back, and I don't wish to spend any more time than absolutely necessary aboard the citadel." D'inan said. They were interrupted by Dr. Chakwas walking over and asking to join them, they welcomed her to sit down.
"Lieutenant Commander, I hope all is well. Who is your friend?" She asked, gesturing towards the Asari.
"This is Vil D'inan, one of the refugees from the dreadnought." Shepard said, then introduced Chakwas to her as well.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Chakwas said, offering her a hand in greeting. D'inan's eyes widened at this, but she grasped the human's hand, almost reverentially, and shook it.
"We were just discussing that some of the refugees would like to stay on at the colony or join humans elsewhere." Shepard explained.
"Well obviously I'm in no position to make decisions but I certainly don't see why not. We can hardly expect to be taken seriously as a galactic power if we're not willing to take in refugees and asylum seekers." Chakwas said. Shepard nodded.
"I can't make the long term call, but you can tell your people to stay behind when the ships depart, worst case we can find somewhere else in Citadel space for you, we're not going to force someone to go somewhere they don't want to." Shepard said. D'inan's heart lurched at that, she felt immense gratitude for these women in front of her.
"Thank you. Thank you so much." D'inan said.
"What I'm confused about is why you wouldn't want to visit Thessia. Everything I've seen of it is gorgeous, I can't wait to visit myself some day after all this mess with the Citadel is over." Chakwas said.
"I um.. Like I said to Lieutenant Commander Shepard here, I.. can't really talk about it." D'inan said.
Chakwas leaned in and whispered so that only Shepard and D'inan could hear, and said "Dear, are you an Ardat Yakshi?"
Immediately, D'inan's gaze dropped and she clamped her eyes shut to fight against the tears.
"I'm sorry, I won't bother you any more, I'll go now." she said struggling not to sob. She was stopped in her attempt at leaving by two hands, one from each woman gently placed on her shoulders.
"I shouldn't have said that, dear I'm so sorry, I just couldn't resist putting two and two together, not many Asari would refuse to go home unless they were either criminals, or... you know." Chakwas said.
"I don't know what that means, but it can't be all that bad. If you're willing I'd love to know more about it but I won't drill you." Shepard said, gently urging the distraught Asari to sit, which she did.
"Ardat Yakshi are Asari afflicted with a genetic disorder. When we meld with someone else, there is an intense, increased experience that results in addictive euphoria for the Ardat Yakshi and death for the other person. Because of that we are feared, and those of us not in the monastery work hard to hide it." She said.
"Why would that stop you from returning to Thessia though?" Shepard asked.
"We are feared... hated really. It's why Asari who have children with other Asari and their offspring are frowned upon. Babies born to Asari couples are called "purebloods" and it's an awful insult, it stems from fear of the Ardat Yakshi because such a union is more likely to produce them." She said, her eyes sad.
"Ms. D'inan, I'm sorry we upset you, we didn't mean to. I'm going to go ask the Admirals right now about granting asylum, the colonists already love you and there's always plenty of work for you guys to do." Shepard said.
"Please, call me Vil, and finish your lunch at least." She said, smiling. She felt hopeful for the first time in a very long time.
"Of course, you can call me Jane, or Shepard, whichever you're comfortable with." She said, finishing her sandwich. They spent a few more minutes chatting before Chakwas was called off by a colonist who'd fallen off a tractor and broken his leg. D'inan and Shepard stood, ready to part ways.
"Vil, if anyone gives you any grief, about... you know. Please let me know." Shepard said, surprising and thrilling the young Asari by hugging her before leaving. Physical contact is something she craved, but it had been denied her until she had been abducted by Batarian slavers. While awful and horrifying being enslaved had been, having the other slaves squeeze her hand or the occasional hug had been beautiful for her, to receive a hug from someone after they discovered her secret was overwhelming. She sat back down and cried unabashedly this time, this was the closest she'd been to happy in a very long time.