Chapter 34

Captain's Quarters – SSV Normandy SR2

She sat on her couch in her cabin staring at Saren himself. It was a hologram, of course. A recording he left behind the last time he had come to the base. But she couldn't help but glare at the figure she hunted for nearly an entire year so long ago. The last time she saw him in holographic form was the trial where she had gotten his spectre status revoked, making this even more awkward. She stared over his flickering image, noticing that he was lacking the machine components that Sovereign had forced into him for their final meeting.

It was odd, as she started the recording, he sat perfectly on the couch diagonal to her, as if he were actually sitting in her room ready to talk. In his hand he had a turian talon-style blade and was slowly digging the tip into his exposed leg. He looked to be struggling against himself to even make the recording. After a few seconds of grunting he finally spoke.

"Shepard," he said, looking across the table and not at her at all. "If you're watching this, then you've somehow destroyed Sovereign and…" he began as he looked down in dismay. "And I'm dead." He snorted disdainfully before looking back up again. "I'm just going to get to the point. The facility you're standing in was the same place I found the beacon you used on Virmire. As much as I hate admitting that you of all people were right, I can no longer deny that Sovereign is in my mind. I'm only holding it at bay right now because of this," he said before digging the blade into his leg further.

She watched in fascinated horror as he hissed angrily at the wave of pain that took over his body. She recalled clearly how he began to become more coherent and more himself after Tali had taken her ire out on him. Then her thoughts went to Benezia, and how after Liara broke her arm, she became increasingly helpful.

"Pain is something a machine can't feel. It's something only organics understand, and it can also help sever the connection of indoctrination. All of the studies I did on indoctrination on Virmire culminated in that. Pain can fight its effects, but not permanently. As you suspected, I'm too far gone. The moment I stop this…" he said, grunting and hissing again as he dug the biting blade in deeper. "I'm going to begin sliding back into indoctrination. Unfortunately, I'm getting diminishing returns, and soon not even pain will be able to save me."

It was then that Shepard had noticed the numerous fresh wounds all over his arms that had been healed over with medigel. She was startled as she realized he had been torturing himself all the way from Virmire to Alchera to get this message off to her, and likely carrying Kaidan's unconscious body along with him. The sheer will it must have taken to do this with Sovereign pressing on his mind as he flew across the galaxy was staggering. It unnerved her how powerful this indoctrination was to poison the mind of even someone as tenacious as Saren.

As if he had heard her thoughts about Kaidan, he continued. "I got pulled your Lieutenant free from the lower levels and got him here before he succumbed to his wounds. The tanks… I knew they healed. Unfortunately, I don't know how to open them without killing the occupant. That's your problem now." He inhaled deeply before digging the blade in one last time. Then he looked up with a stare of frigid ice. "Maybe you can figure out how to open these tanks and the protheans inside can help stop the reapers. And I don't mean just Sovereign, you have to find a way to stop them all. Defeating Sovereign will only delay them. I d-" he said before letting out a groan and gripping his head.

Shepard stared at her hated enemy for a long moment. This man earned all of her hatred. He attacked human colonies, killed innocent civilians, killed her crew mates, and nearly wiped out all life in the galaxy over his arrogance that he could save them by getting them to surrender. He was a spectre, and he was the worst kind of spectre who should have known from his own deadly tactics that submission doesn't mean survival. She'd stake the new Normandy on Saren having killed people begging for their lives before. Yet, despite how much she loathed him, despite the fact that even if he hadn't been indoctrinated she'd probably have killed him if they eventually met, she couldn't help but pity him. It's one thing to go mad with power and get killed, but it was something entirely different to have your entire identity ripped from you bit by agonizing bit until you're no longer you anymore.

Getting off the couch, she stepped over to the table and knelt down so that his holographic blue turian eyes stared directly into hers. "I hear it calling again. I'm out of time," he said looking dead into her eyes across the table. "I hate you, Shepard, but I respect you. You're the only one that could have taken me down, and you're the only one that can stop what's coming. If you can't, then this message is pointless and everyone is dead anyway," he said with an amused snort before glaring back up at her. "Get out there and destroy those bastards. Not for me, not for Earth. But for every living thing in the galaxy."

Finally, the recording cut out as Saren reached over and touched the recording device. Shepard stood up and stared down at the recorder and projector sitting on her table as she turned and thought about her current situation. One of her former crew mates that she had thought to be long dead is now trapped inside a prothean stasis tube along with six protheans. And those were six protheans that had somehow weathered the fifty thousand years since the extinction of their race during the previous cycle. On top of that they had a weirdly friendly thorian that can't spore them into submission. She sighed to herself and headed down to the CIC where Miranda awaited her. "What's the situation?"

"We're going to need help from every prothean expert in the galaxy. According to the thorian, it was born over fifty thousand years ago in that very lab. It was given the purpose of watching over the sleepers inside the lab. This was a contingency plan that was meant to free the protheans after the reapers fled back into dark space," said the XO as she looked up from her datapad. "Unfortunately, as with all well laid plans, something went awry and the thorian wasn't able to reawaken them."

Shepard reached up and scratched her head gently. "Do we know what went wrong, and can we fix it?"

"No, I'm afraid not," she said as she laid the datapad aside. "Mordin has combed over the machinery and even he seems stumped. He even stopped talking for a few seconds."

"That is a surprise," said Shepard with a grin. "So, what can we do? I'm not leaving Kaidan in there to drift any more than I would one of you."

"This is going to require every prothean expert in the galaxy, Shepard. This isn't something we can just unplug and plug back in. This is working prothean technology that kept living protheans in suspended animation for over fifty thousand years," said the raven-haired woman in frustration. "I'm going to need doctors, biologists, archaeologists, herbologists, chemists…" she said as she flung her hands in the air. "We've just clumsily stumbled on potentially the greatest discovery in the galaxy, Shepard! Six living protheans who can teach us in the context of their time things we haven't been able to unravel in hundreds of years of study!"

"Speaking of doctors and archaeologists, you have an urgent message in the QEC from Doctor T'Soni, Spectre Shepard," said EDI as she popped up next to her.

"I'll take it in just a moment," she said as she turned back to Miranda. "You start the process of getting people out here. I don't care if we have to use the damn Normandy to sneak them out here, I want people in that lab figuring this shit out yesterday," she ordered as she turned and headed towards the comm room. "Once I'm off this call you have permission to use the QEC to do whatever it takes to make that happen." Then she stopped and looked over at Miranda. "Oh, and as we discussed."

"The Illusive Man," said Miranda with a nod.

"Right. He's going to find out eventually, but it's not going to be from me," she said as she finally headed into the comm room. Clearing all other thoughts from her head, she swiped the console and the QEC pieced Liara together in front of her. When her figure was complete, the asari had anything but a smile on her face. "Is everything alright?"

"Shepard, I need your help," stared the doctor urgently.

"Liara, you sound like you're in danger. What's the matter?" asked the spectre as any thoughts of breaking the prothean news to her mate flew from her mind.

"I've pulled a thread and now the tapestry is unraveling. I found a spy for the Shadow Broker among my staff. After getting rid of her and her little ring of cohorts, I discovered that their handler is now after my life. They've already made one attempt on my life, and I may need your help to figure out who they are and where they're going to attack from next," said the asari worriedly.

"Damn," said Shepard as she opened her omni-tool and looked at the time. "I'm ten hours away. Can you last that long?"

"Of course," said the doctor with a smile. "Jane Shepard, always flying in to save me."

"Please," said Shepard as she cocked a brow. "You hardly need saving. If anything, I'm going to make sure you don't blow up the half of the city that I missed."

Liara chuckled lightly and nodded. "You flatter me Jane. But I'm the scalpel to your sledgehammer. I like to make precision strikes, you like to send a message."

"A very clear message. And apparently I'm gonna have to send another one once I get there," said the spectre as she nodded. "Our shuttle doesn't have a QEC so I won't be able to contact you until I get there. Stay safe until then."

"You won't be bringing the Normandy?" asked the asari curiously.

"Look, it's a long story that I'll tell you when you're no longer dodging sniper shots," said Jane as she reached up with her fingers and kissed them before placing them against Liara's holographic lips. Though she couldn't tell through the QEC, she was sure the doctor was blushing. "I'll see you soon."

"Can't wait," said the asari as she ended the call.

Shepard turned around and exited the comm room knowing she was going to have to explain that she was going to be leaving the Normandy to make her way back to Illium alone to help her keep out of the hands of the Shadow Broker.

Stasis Chamber – Prothean Facility – Alchera

She stepped off the elevator and immediately she could see the effect that the discovery had on her crew. Ash and Garrus had faces of stone as they leaned against the rail around the walkway and stared up at the floating figure of Kaidan. The bottom half of the tube had been adhered over to respect his privacy. If Saren had put him into the tank in any clothing, it had long since dissolved in the fluids of the stasis tube.

She looked down at the foot of the tube and saw Tali sitting on her hind end, leaning back against the tube with him inside of it. Shepard knelt down next to the quarian and smiled. "How ya holding up, kid?"

Tali's eyes opened inside her helmet and she glared at Shepard. "The love of my life died two years ago and I've grieved every day for him since, and then I find out he's actually been inside a prothean laboratory that I could have come to find myself at any time since you died. Holding up is a bit of a strong assumption."

"Why would you have come back?" asked Shepard as she looked up at the others.

Ash shook her head. "Look, Shepard. You're not getting around us blaming ourselves for this one. You died here, you were convinced Saren sent you here for a reason. We could have come here any time after you died to finish your work, or to try and understand what you died for. But we all just wanted to avoid the pain and ran away."

"Okay, fair enough," said Shepard with a shrug as she turned to Ash. "Speaking of running away, I need to go for a bit."

"Something important come up?" asked Garrus from next to Ash.

"Yeah. Liara's in danger and need help as soon as I can get to her. But I'm leaving the Normandy in your hands. Specifically, you two," she said as she looked from Ash to Miranda.

The XO glared at her. "I'm the executive officer…" she growled impatiently as she planted her hands on her hips.

"And I'm a spectre," said Ash as her brows furrowed.

"You're both in charge of getting the teams necessary here from the Citadel. Use the Normandy and stealth anyone and everyone who can help figure out how to open these damn things out here," ordered the spectre as she looked at them both. "You're both adults, you can deal with helping each other out for a few days while I'm gone."

"Fine," groaned Miranda as she shook her head. "It's going to be mostly administrative work anyway," she said before walking away.

Shepard turned to Ash and nodded to her. "Keep the Normandy and my crew safe until I return."

Ashley, who seconds ago was giving Miranda the stink eye now stood straight, a look of almost shock on your face. "O-Of course, Shepard," she said before reaching up and slapping her shoulder. Shepard was shocked at the commanding glare in the woman's eyes. "And you keep your ass safe wherever the hell you're going. We're not there to back you up and pull you out of the proverbial fire."

Garrus chuckled to himself and shook his head. "Given what happened the last time she went to Illium I'd be surprised if anyone dared fire a single round at her."

Ash smirked and nodded. "Well, you'll have to tell me about that later. In the meantime, tell Liara I said hi and keep both of your butts safe."

"I'll try," said Shepard as she looked down at Tali. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Shepard, I've dealt with loss before. This is something different, and while it's devastating, it's nowhere near as painful as feeling that shockwave on Virmire was," she said before she reached up and gripped Shepard's hand. "I'll be fine. You go get your help your scary gangster wife."

Shepard snorted and Garrus dry coughed in the background at the title. "Alright guys. I'll hopefully be back in a few days. You all keep this lab safe and," she said as she turned to the rest of the crew as well who were also loitering nearby. "Do not let them step one toe out of line in here. This isn't in Citadel Space, and it isn't a ruin where they can just unplug things and cut these people open. They're living beings and they're going to get woken up the right way, they do not belong to the Citadel or anyone else. Do I make myself clear?" There was a loud shout of affirmation from everyone before Shepard turned away from them and headed towards the elevator again, waving her goodbyes to her crew behind her.

Command Center – Pluto's Gate

His altered blue eyes stared at the video in front of him as he stroked his chin thoughtfully. Shepard was fighting off an assassin on Omega, he believed they were an anti-Cerberus operative named Toombs from the old files. But it wasn't just any normal fight. The Illusive Man had known about Shepard's new ability to use biotics that had been suppressed by her parents. But he had never seen anything like this before.

She blinked out of existence and within the span of a split second, she reappeared to deliver an attack to her assailant. She did this twice before the fight had been broken up by the convict from the crew and her pet krogan. The Illusive Man shot jets of smoke from his nose as he looked over at the holographic face of Thanatos once more. "Still think you're capable of taking her out?" he asked sternly.

The Asian man was silent for a long moment before nodding. "I could find ways around it," he said confidently as the head of the organization sat back in his seat.

"You won't have to," said the Illusive Man as he looked at the paused video again. "Shepard may be strong, and she may be skilled, but she's human. Anything she can do can be replicated."

"You're going to reopen the R&D training labs?" asked Thanatos curiously.

"Lawson has kept me up to date on the situation on the Normandy. Apparently Shepard is a bigger miracle worker than I thought and managed to recruit a geth to fight for the cause," he said, smirking at the sheer balls it took to actually fight side by side with a geth.

"That's… impossible! The geth are working with the reapers!" stated the henchman in surprise.

"Apparently the geth have split apart. The ones that left Rannoch sided with Sovereign, and the ones that remained have sent a geth emissary to work with Shepard. I don't know how she did it, but she did," said the man as he pulled from his cigarette again. He could see that the small amount of praise was making the man uncomfortable. "Regardless of that, Shepard's skills are formidable, but she's already shown us once before that she can be stopped. And if we ever need to stop her, we need a plan in case something happens to the Omega Protocol."

"I am that plan," said the man with a growl.

The Illusive Man refrained from rolling his eyes at the subordinate but didn't hesitate to bruise his ego. "You're becoming intolerable in your ability to look at things objectively. You have skills, but Shepard is a trained destroyer. She turned a group of random people she met on the Citadel into a dead reaper. I need you to stop dwelling on your own inadequacies and focus on the mission," snapped the irritated man.

"As you wish," said the brooding figure as he bowed his head respectfully.

"If you run in half-cocked on your own ego, Shepard will turn you into space dust without even looking at you. I need you at your best to fight and kill the best. And the best is someone who is sure of themselves, but quiet about it. Do I make myself clear?" he asked as he shot another puff from his nose.

"Crystal," stated the assassin submissively.

"Good," said the Illusive Man as he brought up his hard-light terminal. "I'm sending the video you showed me to R&D and see what they can figure out with it. Once we've established the Phantom Program, you're going to be the first in and I expect you to be the best at it coming out."

He could see this boosted the man's morale greatly. Bowing his head again, the subordinate said, "Of course. In the meantime, I will continue to monitor Shepard's movements where possible."

"Good. I trust Miranda but even she misses some things we need to be aware of," he said before taking a drink from his beverage.

"Understood. Thanatos, out," said the man before the holographic version of him disappeared.

Liara's Apartment – Nos Astra – Illium

Shepard didn't like what she was seeing. She had gotten out of the shuttle with Lia flying it. Turning, Shepard nodded to the quarian. "Keep close but keep moving. And make sure you're not being followed."

"No worries, Captain Shepard! I got this!" said Lia as she gripped the wheel fiercely.

The spectre chuckled and nodded before closing the doors to the shuttle. Lia took off eagerly as Shepard turned around and looked at the apartment building in front of her with numerous police cars with their lights lit up in front of it. She approached the pair of officers out front and as soon as they saw her they took a step back. "Another one?"

"Another what?" asked Shepard suspiciously as she looked between the turian and asari officers.

The asari crossed her arms and nodded towards the building. "There's already a damn spectre up there poking around at the crime scene. We can't do anything until they leave."

Shepard looked up at the face of the large apartment building, wondering if she could see Liara's apartment here. She knew in her gut that this wasn't some coincidence. "Can you tell me what's going on here?"

Snorting, the asari nodded. "At least you have the courtesy to ask instead of just barging in," she said as she pulled up a datapad. "An attempt was made on the life of… oh…" said the asari as she looked up at Shepard.

The turian woman looked from her partner to Shepard, then back again. "What?"

"Uhh… it appears that someone attempted to assassinate your life mate, Spectre. Doctor Liara T'Soni came home tonight around midnight according to her door log. Shortly afterwards a sniper tried to take her out through her window," said the asari shyly as she likely realized why Shepard was here.

"By your liberal use of the word 'tried' I'm assuming they failed?" asked Shepard as she looked between them.

The turian spoke up this time. "She outsmarted them. We don't know when she did it, but at some point after renting the penthouse she placed a high tech film over the windows that projected a false image of what was inside the apartment. It also recorded her movements in the apartment and played them the next time she entered the apartment. Turns out she was incredibly paranoid that someone was watching her."

Shepard glared lightly at the officer. "Is it really paranoia if it turned out to be true?" she asked before she shrugged. "You said that another spectre was here. Who is it?"

"Tela Vasir," said the asari as she grimaced again. "Are you going up?"

"I need to check things out. Hopefully we won't be in there too long," said Shepard as she stepped up to them. They split apart and let her pass. Shepard sighed to herself as she stepped into the elevator. Liara had given her the address of her apartment and told her to meet up here. To be honest, she was happy Liara had chosen a private setting and was hoping to get a few moments alone with the asari before they started gunning down the shadowy info cartels of Illium. But the best laid schemes of mice and men.

When the elevator stopped, she stepped outside and found herself in a lonely hallway leading to several doors. It wasn't hard to tell which one was Liara's given the police tape around the door. As she walked through the holographic police markers, she stepped inside the door and looked around. The apartment was incredible for its size. It was surely small, but the modern design of the room was cushy to say the least, especially the view outside. It was then that her eyes locked onto a fist-sized hole in the glass window. Stepping up to the window, she noticed the film the cops were talking about bent inward with the bullet trajectory.

"Spectre Shepard, it's good to finally meet you," came a voice from above her. Turning around, she looked up and saw an asari in armor leaning against the railing from the small loft above. Her face was painted purple, a mark of being a civilian. And from the look of her eyes, she had on human eyeshadow as well.

"You've got me at a disadvantage," said Shepard as she turned and faced the woman fully.

"Tela Vasir, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance," said the asari as she stood up and dragged her hand along the railing of the loft almost seductively.

"Ah, so you're the spectre the cops outside were complaining about," said Shepard with a smirk.

"And you're the spectre who apparently can come back from the dead," said the asari with a playful grin. "Might get you to sign my chest plate before you clock out again fighting goddess only knows what kinds of nightmarish creatures out there."

"It'll be a long time before I let something get the drop on me like that again," said the spectre as she eyed the other woman curiously. "Care to fill me in?"

Nodding, Tela walked over to the window and motioned towards the entry hole like some kind of armored game show host. "As you can see, someone took a shot at your friend here, Shepard. Unfortunately, she didn't leave anything telling us who it was or where she went."

"She told me to meet her here, so she wouldn't leave me empty-handed," said Shepard as she crossed her arms.

"Unless whoever did this got to her before she could call you," said the asari spectre as she stepped away from the window. "But, if anyone can find a clue she left behind, it'd be you."

"You going to help me out?" asked the redhead curiously as she too began to walk around the apartment.

"You're one of our most famous spectres, Shepard. I wouldn't miss this for another hundred years on my life," said the woman as she followed her.

"Good to know I've got a reputation," said Shepard as she looked around. The walls were covered in paintings of old prothean ruins. She wasn't sure if Liara did them herself, or if she had them done but they were gorgeous. Front and center on the wall next to her degree were the Ilos Ruins which they barely got to stop and admire as they charged through the place blasting geth to pieces and chasing Saren from one prothean building into another. Not to mention the finding of Vigil in the deepest depths of the hidden ruins. She smirked at the realization that the facility she found on Alchera would now put Ilos to shame.

Near the kitchen door was a painting of the facility on Eletania that they had discovered entirely on accident and set the world of religion and Earth's history on fire with speculation of prothean involvement. She got no end of posts on the extranet threatening her with violent death and damnation for her involvement in finding the lost information. Not to mention the Children of Eden declaring war on her… again. She just shook her head and ignored the empty threats from chest beating authoritarians.

Then on the stairs leading up to the loft was a painting of Feros. The ruins were mostly underground, but the painting showed them overgrown with lush plant life from the world, leaving the structures of the tunnels below looking like giant chasms carved into the forested earth. The painting was gorgeous, and Shepard already felt her nose itch knowing what they had fought on the world. She was extremely grateful that the new thorian they had found didn't have its spore creation intact.

Finally, as she stepped up to the loft, she saw a small but comfortable bed with a painting of the Telsakka Ruins on the planet Therum. Shepard recalled first meeting Liara there. She had to clear the cavern of geth before approaching the terrified, delirious, and suspended asari maiden. It was the first time they had met, and Shepard had no idea at the time how important the asari woman would be to her in the future.

"These were all places you went, huh?" asked Tela as she eyed the curious paintings.

"They're all prothean ruins she used to explore before we met," said Shepard, only allowing for the obvious to be known. It was then that Shepard noticed a small cloth that was hanging off the bed. It was baby blue and had a small print of a flower on it. She had no idea what it was, or what it was for. But something inside her pulled at her. She felt as if knowledge was on the tip of her tongue, teetering back and forth, ready to fall off. But it refused, and she grew frustrated. Taking the cloth, she tucked it inside her jacket as Tela spoke again.

"Isn't that adorable," said the asari as she saw a small framed picture of Shepard herself.

The spectre picked it up and chuckled as she saw herself from years ago, staring down at a datapad with a pen jabbing at her nose as she was lost in thought. She looked goofy, and the fact that Liara had chosen this picture out of all of them to keep by her bed made her feel warm inside. Suddenly, a small electronic chirp sounded from the picture. "Ping! DNA Match," said the frame before the picture switched. Now, instead of the picture of Shepard, it showed a picture of Vigil. It was crude and no doubt taken from one of their armor cams, but she recognized it for what it was.

"What is that?" asked Tela as she tilted her head curiously.

"It was a prothean VI we found on Ilos," she said as she set the frame down gently. Turning around, she headed back down the stairs and stepped up to the first painting she saw of the Ilos Ruins. Gently reaching forward, she took it off the wall and turned it around to find exactly what she was looking for.

Tela saw it as well and read it out loud. "Baria Frontiers in the Dracon Trade Center," she stated as she gave a nod. "Clever. Looks like we know where she's going," said the asari as Shepard replaced the painting on the wall. Then she immediately turned to Tela and stared her down. Spectre Vasir looked at her curiously. "Is something wrong?"

"Not yet," said Shepard as she nodded towards the door. "Hopefully nothing at all. Let's go."

Dracon Trade Center – Nos Astra – Illium

It took less than ten minutes to reach the busy trade center. It was already sunset when she reached Liara's apartment and now it was dark but the trade center was lit like a yule tree. People were coming and going as if it was morning time, the darkness never bothering any of them as the brightly lit streets guided them home.

Within seconds of them reaching the building, however, chaos broke loose. As the asari went to park their vehicle, a shockwave ripped through the air and sent them spinning. Glass and stone slammed into the wind screen, shattering it as they spun to the ground and skidded to an unpleasant halt.

Shepard opened the door to the car and looked up as smoke and fire began billowing out of the now annihilated windows of the building. "Dammit…" she growled as Tela shook her head and recovered from the sudden jolt that the explosion caused.

"Whoever did this, I'm going to make sure they die painfully," grumbled the asari spectre as she tenderly touched her bruised nose.

"Prepare for more," ordered Shepard as she got back into the car and used both of her feet to kick the windscreen. It took one thrust from her powerful legs and the entire shattered window shot out and shattered on the ground.

"What are you doing? Why aren't we going inside?" asked Tela as she held on for dear life.

"We are!" snapped Shepard as she shoved the asari over and took over the driver's spot. With a glare burning in her eyes, she lifted the car off and hovered the vehicle in midair. "Where are the Baria Frontier's offices?"

"Fifth floor, east wing! Why? What are you-" started the spectre before the accelerator was punched and she slammed back against the seat.

Within seconds she drove the vehicle directly through one of the shattered windows on the east side of the building on the fifth floor. Shepard immediately got out of the car and could tell that the ground below the aircar was pitch black and searing, which likely meant that one of the bombs had gone off right near here. Pulling out a facemask, she wrapped it around her head and sealed it so she could at least breathe. Unfortunately, her eyes would still be exposed.

"Thanks for leaving me in the car," said Tela as she coughed heavily before putting her helmet on.

"I'm here to save Liara. No offense, but even you're a secondary objective right now," said Shepard as she pulled a twin pair of pistols off her back.

"Ouch. Way to tell me you aren't interested," said Vasir playfully as she pulled a submachine gun off her belt.

Shepard ran forward and kicked the door open. "Where the hell is everyone? There should at least be bodies here."

"Baria Frontiers is closed at night as far as I'm aware. Whatever she was doing here she was doing off the clock," said Tela as she environmentally sealed her suit. "The elevators will be locked down but there's a stairwell at each end of the building. You go that way, I'll go this way. We'll see what we can find."

Shepard didn't know if she could trust this woman as far as she could throw her, but she didn't really have any choice at the moment. The building was huge and she'd never be able to check the entire place alone. "Fine. Tell me if you run into anything hostile. Someone set that bomb here for a reason."

The asari saluted with two fingers before turning and sprinting back into the other direct. Shepard ran to the nearby stairs and looked up a flight and down a flight. She had no idea if Liara had even made it to the office, or if she was meeting someone. All she knew was that if someone were fleeing, they'd head down the stairs instead of up. But something in her gut told her that Liara wouldn't be fleeing the building.

Instead of heading down the stairs to search the evacuees, she headed up the stairs and directly into a small army. When she spun around the corner of the stairwell, she ran smack into a group of faceless mercenaries with military grade gear. She knew she couldn't get a shot off this close, and instead activated a searing hot blade, causing it to slide out of her gauntlet. The two on the stairway raised their weapons in a panic, but the first never stood a chance as she slammed the blade through their bullet deflecting armor. Gripping his collar, she backed into the doorway to the main floor as the other mercenary emptied round after round into their comrade's now cratered back.

Unfortunately, that didn't gain her any leverage as she knew as soon as she stepped into the main lobby of the sixth floor that there were more soldiers behind her. Ejecting the blade she sprinted towards the nearest cover as her kinetic barriers soaked several shots from all sides. She barely slid into cover as her shield winked out. Growling angrily, she punched the stone floor. "This is what my dumb ass gets for going anywhere without armor!" she snapped as she ducked low and snuck along the barrier she had made it to.

When she made it to the far end, one of the unmarked soldiers came around the edge just in time for another blade to lance straight through their gut. Leaving the blade behind, she used her biotics to flash across the room. When she reappeared, she pulled one of her pistols up and placed it up to the back an unaware mercenary's head and eliminated him before he even knew she was there. Then she sprang forward with another blade loose, knowing that the rest of them were going to turn any second and fire on her. Her pistols were all but useless at the moment, so she dashed forward at blazing speeds and flashed past one, her glowing blade opening his throat.

She managed to get several more through just her melee attacks bypassing their kinetic barriers, but eventually the strain was too much and she slide across the floor breathing heavily with gunfire still ripping at her cover. "Damn…" she growled, hoping she'd recover enough stamina to clear the rest before she ended up cooking her brain again. But suddenly, the soldiers out on the floor began to scream.

Out of the twenty odd mercenaries she had run into, at least seven were now dead on the floor or were slowly dying and incapable of fighting. She dared not poke her head up to see what was happening, but something had hit the soldiers from the other side and hit them hard. Perhaps Vasir had pincered them and gave her a moment to breath. Readying her pistols, she prepared herself to jump out again, but then a voice stopped her.

"You can come out now," said a very raspy feminine voice.

Shepard knew she'd heard the voice before, but had no idea where. It wasn't Vasir and it sure as hell wasn't Liara's voice. Whoever it was was trying to lure her out. "And why would I do something stupid like that?"

"Because you're here for Liara," said the voice from the other side of the fountain she was using as cover.

Immediately, Shepard jumped to her feet, ready to jump again in case they used biotics. But as she saw the asari woman's face, she almost immediately recognized her. "The bartender…" she said as she held her weapon up at her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said the matriarch as she lit a shield around herself.

"Are you the handler?" asked Shepard as she stepped out of cover, a glowing blade on one hand and a pistol aimed at the asari in the other. "Did you bomb this damn place?"

"Why the hell would I do that?" asked the woman in a clearly annoyed tone. "I came here to save your wife, you jackass."

"Why the hell are you even here? You say you're here to save her but how the hell do you even know she's here?" growled Shepard in a no-nonsense tone.

"Because we were spying on each other. I thought you already knew that," said the asari as she lowered her biotics and raised her hands to show she wasn't aggressive. "You're a pretty miserable spectre if you couldn't figure that out on your own."

Shepard glared at her, the attitude already grating on her patience. "I know you were spying on her. The damn Asari Conclave can't mind their own damn business. Now tell me how you knew Liara was here before I have to leave her fatherless."

The asari woman's face fell at the claim. "Oh… she, uh… knows that already does she?" she said almost timidly before standing straight and glaring back. "I have a number of contacts in this building who specifically kept an eye on her when she was here. They didn't know why, but they got paid to make sure I knew when she came here. And the last couple of days have been hell. Her damn secretary disappeared, she vanished and stopped working in her office, she's torn up multiple warehouses in Nos Astra, and her movements are erratic and scared! That's why I'm here."

Shepard heard the anger and worry in the woman's voice and felt herself somewhat warm to the woman instantly. "So… what then? We rescue her together. Then what? You report to the Conclave that you were forced to make contact with the target you were spying on?"

"The Conclave can kiss the bluest part of my ass. I'm not here for them, I'm here to save my goddamned daughter!" snapped the matriarch, causing Shepard to lower her weapon slightly.

Shepard stared at the asari woman for a long moment before finally lowering her weapon. "I'm putting my trust in you for now. Just know if you're lying and you hurt Liara, there won't be a seedy bar in this galaxy that'll keep you hidden from me."

The asari smirked and nodded. "Now we're talkin'." Lighting her biotics, the matriarch headed towards the stairwell and opened the door before looking up to see if any more of the mercenaries were coming. "So, technically you're my daughter-in-law, right?" Shepard gave her a stern glare as she aimed her pistol and fired into the head of one of the Shadow Broker's goons on the floor. "Right, time and place. My bad."

CODEX ENTRIES

Projection Film | Technology | Entertainment
A relatively new step in the entertainment business created by Nematol Electronics Co. Ltd. Most modern vid screens are light projections from a small computer device that allows the user to entertain themselves through the extranet, through movies, or other forms of visual entertainment. But Projection Film is a nearly unnoticeable transparent film that you can adhere to a wall, a window, or a ceiling, and instead the film itself becomes a screen when being used, and nearly unnoticeable when not in use.