A/N: Lost my job, fell into depression, and I still don't have a lot of faith in this chapter. I'm trying to keep my spirits up by writing, and I hope you all are still enjoying the story. I'll try to do more.
Chapter 35
Brig – SSV Normandy SR2
It had taken a while to rig the spare omni-tool to allow the geth programs aboard. She could have let Shepard do it as she said she would, but Tali had to make sure that it was 100% safe. This wasn't a human AI like Val'Eda was, after all. It was a quarian creation. And nobody knew more about the geth than the quarians. Especially her, who had the benefit of her pilgrimage gift being a near endless data cache of information on the geth.
She now carried the omni-tool on her as she made her way to his last location. As an offering of peace, the geth had offered to stay behind bars without weapons to ease the worries of the crew. As she entered the brig, she saw the large krogan that was guarding the machine. Nodding to Grunt who continued to play on his omni-tool, she stepped up to the door and opened it. She felt chills down her spine as she saw it standing there unmoving with its ocular light focused on the floor.
"Geth," she snapped impatiently.
The light narrowed before it looked up at her, its flaps twitching curiously. "Creator Tali'Zorah. May we be of service?"
"I've done the alterations to the omni-tool. You can freely board it from your platform through this cable," she said as she held up a cord.
Legion stayed silent for a moment before finally speaking. "We appreciate the effort that Creator Tali'Zorah has put forward. However, we would like to wait until Spectre Shepard has returned to the Normandy to make sure the vessel is suitable."
"You're afraid I've tampered with it?" asked Tali in amusement at its response.
"Our caution is not without warrant. We sensed hostility within the creator…" it said before being cut off.
"Address me directly," she snapped impatiently.
"We sensed hostility in you as we arrived. We would like to show you, Tali, that we trust you. But the truth is that we do not," it responded firmly.
"Perhaps the smartest thing you've done since we've met," she said as she looked it up and down curiously. "Your armor looks beaten and old but you said that you were sent out to watch Shepard after she came back to life."
"This platform was originally chosen before Spectre Shepard's death to watch her and see if she were using the assistance of a true AI, or if what we detected as AI involvement was simply computer assisted tools. We followed her throughout the Traverse and kept track of her progress before being nearly destroyed. We were trapped within the terminal, unable to escape," it said in its monotone emulated voice.
"Then how did you escape?" asked the quarian bewildered. She knew anyone seeing a geth would react aggressively, especially after Eden Prime so it was no surprise it was nearly killed.
"Snow piled on top of the platform, protecting us from the much colder atmosphere. With a single working appendage, we managed to make enough repairs to function again in weeks and get off the planet in months. Once we returned, Spectre Shepard had already been reported as deceased. We left the platform and returned to the geth consensus," it said as it raised the flaps again. "When it was reported that Shepard had returned, the same geth were chosen to make contact."
"But that doesn't answer my question. Why didn't you repair this platform? Or choose a new one that didn't have a giant hole in it?" asked Tali as she eyed the strange cover for the massive wound. She could see that repairs had been made inside, but instead of repairing its own armor it had grafted some scrap of armor to itself for protection.
It stood for a long moment before returning with, "No data available."
She looked at it and glared, unsure of what all of this meant. She eyed the grafted armor it used and nodded. "How about that? What is it and why does it look familiar?"
"Before making our way back to Rannoch, we travelled to Alchera and confirmed the destruction of the original Normandy. We confirmed Shepard's death after having found pieces of her armor littering the surface of the world. We used a portion of her armor to repair our own as we did not have the resources available at the time to make a repair."
Tali's eyes widened as she realized why it looked familiar. It was Shepard's armor from two years ago that had been salvaged from the surface of Alchera. Looking at the arm of the geth, she noted the pitch black that had worn to dark grey and the faded red stripe down the arm that was a sort of signature for her. "Why did you use Shepard's armor to repair yours? Why didn't you use a newer body?"
"No data available," said Legion again.
Tali's frustration grew as she growled and walked out of the cell, ready to hammer her head into the wall. "This doesn't make any sense! The geth are not supposed to be sentimental! They're not supposed to be nostalgic!" she snapped as she turned back to them.
The machine flicked its brow plates quickly. "Creator Tali'Zorah prides herself on her knowledge of the geth. Perhaps she doesn't know us as well as she thinks."
The quarian inhaled deeply and exhaled, knowing she was going to have to calm herself if she wanted to continue the conversation with the automaton. As much as she wanted to blast it into space dust and dump it out of the back of the ship, she knew she could get some of the lingering questions she had answered without relying on what Shepard would call a biased source.
"Okay, I understand that I don't know the geth as well as I thought," she said turning back to it. "Are you willing to share how the geth have grown since their genocide of my people?"
"Perhaps if Tali'Zorah would share how you have grown since the creator's genocide of our own," said Legion firmly. She could detect no amount of spite in its synthetic voice. Of course she couldn't, it was a machine and even one as highly advanced as the geth would see no purpose in restructuring an audible language so as to emulate sarcasm or anger. But even so, the way he said what he did made her angry as well as unsettled her. She knew that they had advanced far in the few centuries they had been left alone, but how this one used her own words against her in such a condescending fashion without ever changing the tone of its voice unnerved her.
She sighed to herself and rubbed her head gently. "If you want to exchange information, I'm fine with that. But don't expect anything classified or that could endanger the Fleet. I'm risking enough just by talking to you instead of throwing you out of the airlock." She knew that she had gotten too comfortable with Val'Eda and EDI, both of which were human constructs that simulated emotions. At times she almost forgot they were also machines.
"The geth people would be happy to answer any questions that do not endanger our people as well," said the automaton as it seemingly eyed her up and down it's flaps rising slightly. "Though the geth do not wish harm on us for attempting to make peace."
She found herself struggling to hold her own against the supposedly benevolent machine. Instead, she ignored its last statement, noted the eerie way it spoke with organic fluidity, yet no emotion, and just turned around. "We'll talk again later when Shepard returns. Until then, stay here and do not attempt to leave the Normandy."
She left the brig feeling almost withered inside. When she went to the brig to question the thing, she had full control of everything. She had killed more geth than any quarian alive today. It should have been a simple matter, but it wasn't. Even the order she had given it as she left was hollow. It had already offered to stay isolated in the brig itself, making her instruction meaningless. It was just something she did to try and show authority because she was terrified of what was sitting before her. It wasn't just a geth platform, it was a potential bridge for her people to get back to Rannoch. And the chances of that bridge getting built or collapsing lied with her. She got into the elevator, hit the button for the crew deck, then sat down and held her helmet in her hand, knowing that her people's fate would rely on her making peace with her people's most hated enemy.
Dracon Trade Center – Nos Astra – Illium
It was infuriating how fast things had gotten out of control. All she had to do was clean up the crews that had screwed up and then get rid of the broker that was tearing a bloody wave through their information networks. Instead, she was deceived by a barely century old brat that made her look like an idiot. On top of that, the spoiled girl's wife was now a looming and terrifying presence in the investigation that she had to contend with and circle her way around.
The entire time they were in the apartment, and the entire ride over she felt as if an alert siren was going off in her head the entire time. Any time Shepard turned her back, any time she turned to examine something, any time she closed her eyes to think the warning signals only got louder. She began to wonder if such amateur moves were the other spectre inviting attack. What if she was doing it just to trick her into trying to get rid of her. For the first time in her life, she actually felt on edge around a human. Most of them were bossy pushovers who just need a reminder that she's older than their existence in galactic society. She'd met a few hard ones who had seen some shit and was willing to get their hands dirty. But she'd never met a human that instilled this level of instinctual anxiety before.
It was wild meeting the real thing after hearing so much about her. Of course, she was a famous spectre, which was kind of counter to the point of being a spectre. But she was definitely good at her job after having taken down Saren Arterius, one of the best spectres she had ever seen, and then somehow contributing to the death of Sovereign, Saren's ship. Hell, before meeting her at the apartment, she had even tinkered with the idea of taking out the doctor and replacing her at Shepard's side and in her bed.
But after meeting her, all she felt was dread, as if the woman was watching her from every angle at all times when she was in her presence. After they found the clue on the back of the painting, it was only the spare few moments she had alone in her vehicle before Shepard had gotten in that she was able to send a message to her goons to take out the doctor. But after seeing how they handled it, she was infuriated. If Shepard didn't kill them on her way up, a likelihood given she had sent the same men after her to stall her, then she'd kill them herself.
Now she found herself in a stairwell, her side in stitches as she exhausted herself running up the stairs. Her men had alerted her that they had pushed T'Soni up to the roof and held her there. But she stopped as soon as she heard a loud thumping one floor above her. Stopping, she waited until a volus trundled down the stairs and nearly ran straight into her. She immediately recognized him as the doctor's little crony that apparently replaced Tela's own after her untimely demise.
"Oh… uh… hi," he said worriedly. "If you would excuse me, I have to leave. The building is on fire."
He tried to get around her but she raised her fist and punched him in the side of the head, causing him to tumble down a few stairs and hit the landing, unconscious. Using her omni-tool, she cracked open the one he had on his arm and found exactly what she was looking for. Smirking, she fried his omni-tool's memory and took the files for herself. Now, all she had to do was take out the doctor a few floors above and she'd be set.
Unfortunately, she heard a call from her comm that spurred her into action. "Vasir, the other stairwell was collapsed by one of the bombs. I just took out an entire squad of men, presumably the ones that bombed this place and I'm headed towards your stairs."
A chill went down her spine as she gasped. "She killed them all! So quickly?!" she snapped as the absurdity of this woman hit her again. She knew it was too late for her to take out T'Soni. But then she looked down at her omni-tool and smirked. She really didn't have to take T'Soni out, at least not right now. She got the data the woman had come for, and nobody alive knew she was working with the broker. She looked down at the volus who wouldn't be able to ID her, but would be able to recognize her armor. She might have to take care of him later, but she couldn't now. Volus tended to explode when their suits depressurized and she'd be covered in his blood, making her extremely suspicious. Leaning over the railing, she heard the door open below. "Shepard, up here!"
The human looked up at her and smirked. Tela began to feel that original feeling of warmth again at the grin. When the human caught up, she looked at the volus in confusion. "Niftu Cal? What's he doing here?"
"Not sure. If he's your friend, tell him I apologize when he wakes up. He was running and I thought he might be with the bombers, so I slugged him," she said as an excuse.
"He's alive, so he should be alright. But…" said the spectre as she examined his omni-tool curiously. "Someone torched his memory."
"That part wasn't me. Maybe he did it in response to the bombing to make sure something didn't fall into the wrong hands," said the woman, realizing that despite her excuse for knocking him out, she was going to have to kill him later. He would likely remember his omni-tool being fine until running into her, which marked her as suspicious. And she couldn't have any threads leading to her with a blood hound like Shepard around.
"Maybe," said Shepard as she looked up at the door ahead. "The roof?"
"One of the men I killed on a lower floor said she came up this way," said Tela as she reached up and grabbed the handle of the door. "You ready?"
Shepard prepared her guns and nodded. As the door opened, they both headed out onto the roof to see a flat surface wet with rain. As soon as the red-haired spectre saw Liara standing at the far end of the roof, she ran to her immediately along the edge of the building and sighed in relief. "Liara!"
The doctor turned around with her eyes wide. "Jane!" she said in shock before her eyes settled on the other spectre present. Her oddly human brows furrowed. "And… who are you?"
"Spectre Tela Vasir," she said, hoping to assuage her. But her stomach plummeted at the look of spite that the doctor gave her. She knew the deception was over, but she still had the advantage with the distance between all of them. Raising her hands, she threw her hand up and trapped Liara in a stasis field, knowing her biotics were far more powerful than anything Shepard could summon. Then she aimed her weapon directly at the spectre's back. "Don't move an inch, Shepard. I'll have a dozen rounds in your body before you can even turn around!"
Shepard turned her head slightly towards Tela with a glare in her eyes. "You really think it's smart to point that thing at a trained spectre killer?" asked Shepard in a tone filled with ice.
Despite her vitriol, Tela smiled. "Sorry, Shepard. I really tried to spare you from all this, but bad luck for both of us. Now you both have to die, and I have to take this data back to the Shadow Broker."
"So, you took the data from Niftu Cal and fried his omni-tool," said Shepard, more a statement instead of a question. Tela felt the chills of her instincts again but knew Shepard couldn't change the situation. She had her back to her and was plenty far enough away for her to shred her with biotic or her gun should she choose. She had the upper hand here.
"It doesn't really matter what I did anymore. None of you will remember it," said the woman as she zeroed in on Shepard with her weapon. But suddenly the door to the roof blasted off and slammed into the ground next to her, embedding in the stone. She reflexively looked over at it and immediately knew she had screwed up. She was a biotic with a specialty in melee combat, which made her able to perceive things slightly faster than your everyday biotic. It helped when charging across battlefields or bypassing a wall of enemies to be able to change direction at a moment's notice.
And it was that enhanced ability that allowed her to see what was coming, even if she could do nothing to stop it. She felt her spine turn to ice as she saw Shepard almost directly in front of her. Her eyes and the scars on her cheek were glowing red with murderous intent as if she were an Oros-Yakshi that had jumped straight out of her nightmares. She tried to turn and stop her but somehow the legendary spectre had covered the entire distance between them in a fraction of a second. Instead, with no armor or weapon to attack with at the moment, the human slammed into her bodily, driving the wind from her lungs and sending them both over the edge of the building and into the abyss.
Dracon Trade Center Roof – Nos Astra – Illium
She had seen it a few times before during Shepard's purge of the Eclipse, so she knew Shepard had managed to craft her own unique style of biotics. But she had never seen it put into deadly action as she did right then and there on the roof. As soon as the door to the roof slammed opened and drew the second spectre's attention, the red-haired human vanished in an instant. So blindingly fast was her attack that she only barely saw the impact of Shepard slamming directly into the handler and sending them both over the roof.
She stood in disbelief for a long second before another asari ran up to her, startling her. "What the fuck are you looking at? We have to go!" growled the woman.
Recognizing the voice, Liara looked up at her father and glared. "What are you doing here?"
"Look, you can question why I'm here while your wingless angel hurtles towards the ground, or we can go make sure she didn't just die!" snapped Aethyta as she gripped her arm.
Realizing the gravity of the woman's words, she knew she was right. Shepard had just leapt off the building and took the other spectre with her. She sprinted to the edge of the building and stared down into the darkness below but couldn't see much of anything. "Damn," cursed Liara as she turned away from the edge to head for the nearby door. Suddenly, a blast of air startled them. Her father prepared her biotics for combat, but the doctor grabbed her shoulder as a shuttle dropped into view.
The door opened and the quarian inside waved to them both. "Get your behinds in the shuttle!"
Liara didn't know the quarian, but she knew what the new Normandy's shuttle looked like. Jumping inside, she grabbed the security bar above her head and helped the matriarch inside as well. "Who the hell are you?" asked the older woman as she eyed the quarian.
"Shepard's current shuttle pilot. You can call me Lia'Vael," said the quarian as she swung the craft around the building, descending rapidly as she zeroed in on the spectre's location. Liara hung out of the craft, her eyes looking desperately for any sign of Jane.
Within seconds, she spotted the redhead standing up at the foot of the building. "There she is!" she shouted and pointed to the battered woman. She immediately noticed there was no sign of Vasir. When the craft finally landed, Liara jumped out and immediately noticed the blood trickling from the spectre's nose. "Jane, are you alright?"
"She tried to use her biotics to catch herself. It didn't set us down too gently, but we both survived," said Shepard as she unceremoniously wiped the blood from her nose with the back of her hand. "Let's go. She's got a head start, but I put a tracking dot on her as we fell."
Nodding, Liara smirked at her love's ingenuity. The ship took off once more as the quarian pointed to the back. "I got your armor like you asked," she said with an amusing chirp in her voice. "At this point I don't know why you even take it off."
"Call it naïve optimism," growled Shepard as she used what little room the shuttle offered to put her armor on. As she dressed, she looked up at Liara curiously. "You seemed to recognize her, but only after she spoke. What's up with that?"
The asari grinned as she sat next to Jane and admired her. "I've been doing some work. Niftu Cal revealed a lot when he spotted my assistant, Nyxeris, passing off my security codes to someone at a restaurant. After I took care of her, I raided her information and found she had many contacts in Nos Astra that had been keeping tabs on me."
"You had to know that was likely," said Shepard as she secured her chest plate in place.
"Of course. I knew some of my employees and maybe even friends had to be keeping an eye on me for the Shadow Broker. But I didn't realize I had one of his agents so close to me," she growled as she recalled one of the asari Conclave introducing them. She'd have to deal with that later. "Anyway, I started cleaning house and going through her contact list to find out who knew what about me. The only information I could get on her was her voice, which I heard through the memories of her cohorts."
"Ah," said Shepard as she realized what had happened. "You knew what her voice sounded like, so when she introduced herself…"
"I recognized it instantly," said Liara with a sigh.
"Spectre," said Lia from the front. "It looks like she's gotten a vehicle. Your tracking dot is going far too fast for her to still be on foot."
"Just make sure we keep up with her," ordered the spectre as she finally fit on her final pieces of armor.
This time, her father spoke up. "So, she obviously didn't like you tearing ass through her turf. Is that why she tried to kill you?" asked Aethyta as she crossed her arms.
"Actually, this whole mess started because the Shadow Broker ordered heavier tracking on me. According to Vasir's henchmen, whoever they are, they seem to think that I have information that could get me close to them," said the doctor with a triumphant grin.
"That's why you were at Baria Frontiers?" asked Shepard curiously, getting a nod from the woman. "So, Nyxeris being exposed, you hunting down the henchmen, and Vasir's assassination attempt were all because you discovered how to find him?"
"Exactly. It's an algorithm linked with some kind of data on Cerberus that has been passed around for a few years. It's hard to explain at the moment, but just know that it may be the only link I have to finding the Shadow Broker and getting rid of them for good," said Liara with a solemn expression.
Shepard nodded as she stood and activated a feature Liara hadn't seen before. Small shield-looking plates slide up and over her forearms to cover her fists before sliding back to lock near her elbows. "A gift from Miranda," she said with a smile as she made her way to the front of the shuttle. "So, all we have to do is get that data from Vasir?"
"Why would she keep it?" asked the matriarch as if the concept were absurd. "If it's that dangerous, why the hell hasn't she destroyed it to keep you from getting it already?"
"I believe she thinks she can sell it to the Shadow Broker. Either way, we need that data intact," snapped Liara as she looked through the windscreen of the speeding vehicle.
"I've got a lock!" shouted the quarian as she pulled up faster. "Damn!"
"What is it?" asked Shepard as the shuttle took a hard turn that slammed all three of them into the side door.
"Her vehicle has anti-chase measures! This is going to get messy!" shouted the young pilot as she looked at them in the back of the vehicle. "Get your safety harnesses on!"
Normandy Assigned Docking Bay – Presidium – Citadel
The newly minted Spectre Williams eyed her turian companion curiously as he led her out of the docking bay. He had been in a very studious mood lately, and she doubted it had to do much with the protheans they had found on Alchera. It had actually been a while since they'd had a real chance to talk, as she never really had the chance to keep in touch. She wanted to ask him a lot of questions about what kinds of things happened after he left C-Sec for the second time. But she became very busy becoming a new N7 specialist, and he had all but dropped off the map entirely.
When he left, he wished her good luck and then simply vanished off the face of the galaxy. It wasn't hard to find out that he had kept up a lot more frequently with Tali. Which in all honesty shouldn't hurt the spectre's feelings, but it also kinda did. All of these things ended up leading to a surprising look on her face when he actually approached her and asked for a favor.
"You want a favor from me?" she asked as the pair of them left the docks and headed onto the Citadel proper.
"Why'd you say it weird?" asked Garrus as he eyed her weirdly.
"Sorry, I didn't mean anything weird. It just… seemed like you…" she said as she moved her hands around to try and formulate the words. "I dunno, after you left C-Sec you kinda cut contact, so I assumed…"
"You assumed we weren't all that great of friends?" asked Garrus with a chuckle. "Ash, I was on Omega trying to keep gang overlords off the civilians' backs. You were on Earth. Aside from being pretty expensive, the calls we make out of Omega are usually snooped on. I had very few people I could send a message to unfortunately."
"But you kept up with Tali?" asked Ash curiously as she digested what he was actually doing on Omega. She had been given the cliff notes by Shepard before, but hearing it from him made it sound more mundane.
"I didn't keep up with Tali. I called her every couple of months to check on everyone else. The more I tried to talk to you all, the more risk of me exposing myself. And a message to a quarian in the Migrant Fleet is a thousand times less suspicious than a message to a high ranking Alliance officer on Earth who just made special forces. They probably would have nailed me to the wall a lot sooner had I tried to contact you."
"Alright Vakarian, you get a pass. But you've gotta catch me up on this Batman shit you've been doing," she said as she eyed the scarring where his mandible used to be. "We've both been through some hell and back since the first Normandy. I don't want to feel like we're distant anymore, especially if we're going to be working together."
"Deal," he said as he tapped his crossed arm in thought. "How about we go back to that little sushi place we went to before Virmire after this. It's been a while since I allowed myself a treat and I could use the morale that comes with eating human-made food."
"Wait… I know they made turian sushi, but a human makes it? They don't have turian chefs?" asked Ash as she nodded eagerly and waved for him to lead the way.
"Not only do humans cook it, but the crazy bastard tastes them too to make sure they're right. Every other week I hear he's in the ER due to an allergic reaction," he said shaking his head. "You gotta love that kinda dedication. That said, there are strikingly few turian chefs. Turian taste buds don't track the same as humans. Our culinary culture is pretty barren compared to humans, salarians, and even krogan believe it or not. Not to mention the strict utilitarian soul that comes in turians. Many see food as a means to an end, and not an experience like humans do."
"That's depressing…" groaned the spectre as she shook her head. "I couldn't imagine living in a society where food wasn't an art form."
"You could say we got construction where you all got food," he said as he spun his hand with a shrug. "You all stopped focusing on artistic architecture somewhere around the 1980s, whereas turians even today are building and designing office buildings that hold up like bomb shelters but look like your Earth basilicas."
"It takes all kinds," said Ash with a shrug before spying him, her eyes narrowing suspiciously as he led them out of the ports. "So, you never said what the favor you wanted was."
He looked over at her for a moment before looking around them as if checking to see if anyone was listening. "I suppose it couldn't hurt. It's not really classified," he said before stopping and turning to her. "You remember our fight with Sovereign two years ago?"
"Hard to forget. That damn reaper bot nearly tore me in half, automated armor and all," she said as she tilted her head at him.
"After the battle was over, the Citadel Fleet along with the help of the Alliance gathered up what pieces of Sovereign they could find and per your instructions took a thousand and a half precautions to protect against potential indoctrination. But they didn't just throw it into a mineshaft and bury it. They began studying it and making schematics," he said, almost excited at the prospect.
But Ash looked horrified. "Should they be doing that? They're not going to-"
"No no no, they're not building a reaper. Or… if they are they're incredibly stupid and being extremely discreet about it," he said as he waved off her concerns. "No, it was more trying to find weaknesses within their structures. As you know, Shepard made it incredibly clear to the Council that this was only one of potentially thousands or millions more in dark space. The Council demanded that research teams try to find any and every weakness they could."
"Okay, less concerning. Go on," said the spectre with a small smirk at his reassurances.
He nodded as he queued a transit car on the terminal they had just arrived at. "On top of the defense schematics, they've also looked into its weapons."
"Giant space gun. I like it already," she said as she listened intently now.
"In a manner of speaking," he said with a chuckle as he looked down on her from his impressive height. "With the help of some of our old turian crew I may be able to convert Sovereign's main canon into a miniature version that we could put on the Normandy."
Ash's brows rose at the claim. "That'd pack a hell of a punch, even for a smaller ship. I saw those shattering dreadnaughts like glass!"
"Exactly," he said with fire burning in his predatory eyes. "The Alliance, the Citadel, they're thinking of the now and they're fine with modern weapons. But we on the Normandy? We're fighting collectors and reapers. We're fighting enemies kilometers long and powerful enough to cut through a space station like paper. We need to balance the scales a little."
"I see. So, you need my spectre access to get a hold of the schematics?" she asked, getting an appreciative nod from the turian. She then smiled brightly. "Alright, Vakarian. I'm game. But I'm gonna need you to include me in on the weapon making. After all, I'm getting my own ship someday soon."
"Sure thing, Ash," he said with a chuckle as the car finally arrived. "Come on. Let's go get some schematics, and then atakke sushi."
Nos Astra – Illium
"Goddess, Shepard! She's somehow both better and worse at driving than you!" shouted Liara as the quarian swung the shuttle underneath a line of oncoming traffic. Everything was already chaotic as the asari spectre tried her best to lose them by violating numerous traffic laws.
"Buckle your harnesses because it's about to get worse," snapped Shepard as she turned to the driver. "Lia, you're doing very good driving within the legal limits of Illium law. But I need you to catch up to her and help me stop her at all costs," ordered the spectre as she sat in the seat next to the pilot.
"Confirming order. You wish me to break local law in order to catch a terrorist?" asked Lia as she made her way between cars at an acceptable speed.
Shepard was taken aback slightly. Nobody had confirmed an order before, they either did it or refused. "Uh… confirmed." As soon as the word left her mouth, she felt the gravitational force of the vehicle speeding up nearly fling her into the back with the two asari.
"Holy hell kid! Do you do get away driving? I know a few…" started the bartender, but her daughter cut her off.
"Stop trying to corrupt the young quarian!" snapped the doctor as she too leaned back as the speed caught up to them.
But Shepard could see immediate results as they broke free of traffic and sped through the air. The vehicle that Vasir had taken had quite a lead but it was no longer gaining distance. "Nice!" shouted Shepard as she prepared her pistol in case they caught up. She had never been in a vehicle chase like this before, and wasn't exactly sure how to react. "Liara, once we get within range, use your biotics to stop her vehicle by any means."
"Any means?" asked Aethyta with a grin. "I got you covered kids," she said as she lit her biotics.
"Try not to tear the shuttle in half," ordered Liara as she secured the woman in to the safety bar.
"No promises. Would suck, but it'd be a hell of a way to go!" shouted the asari as the shuttle pulled closer. It was clear that Vasir knew they were catching up as her vehicle began dropping tail charges.
"Watch out!" shouted Liara from the back seat.
"I know!" shouted Lia as she swerved around the explosive.
"Dammit, I have to let law enforcement know she's dropping these before it kills someone," said Shepard with a sigh as she glared at the speeding car ahead.
"Later!" snapped the quarian as she dodged another explosive, causing Shepard to jerk the opposite direction in her seat and nearly strangling her with the safety harness. "This vehicle needs a speed booster!"
Reaching up, the spectre rubbed her neck gently, knowing it was likely going to bruise. But instead she focused on the quarian. When she first brought Lia'Vael aboard the Normandy, she was lucky if she didn't drop an entire armful of datapads at some point during the day. But now she was slicing clean through traffic in a human military shuttle. Whatever Joker had been teaching her had been working, and now she had confidence in her skill as well. Shepard wanted to smile at how far she'd come, but her smile was gone as soon as she looked forward.
Tela Vasir, it appears, didn't just have tail charges on her vehicle. She fired a rocket directly into the cabin of a freighter that was travelling through the tunnel they were following her through. The ship tilted and began to block off access to the tunnel as Vasir snaked her way past it. "Ship!" shouted Liara as she grabbed the rail.
"I know!" snapped Lia as she sped up the shuttle.
"Ship!" shouted Shepard as she too leaned back in her seat, bracing for impact.
"I know!" snapped the quarian even louder as she spun the shuttle sideways and squeezed through with only a scrape on the roof from the wall. Almost immediately an explosion ignited behind them and Shepard's face went placid.
"The paperwork I'm going to have to fill out for this is nauseating…" she groaned before looking back at the fiery explosion. "I hope they had proper cabin safety…"
Aethyta, who had been shaken and rattled the entire time growled in annoyance. "Kid, get me up right next to her!"
"I'm trying!" shouted the quarian as she looked up at the car ahead, then at the building it turned the corner of. "Get ready! This is going to be quick!" snapped the pilot as she opened the door on the side. The cover slid up and over the roof as she spun the vehicle and drove straight through the windows of the building shortly after Vasir began circling around it.
Shepard gasped until she realized the floor they were crashing through was mostly empty and only consisted of cubicles and furniture. "Holy hell if I don't die in this thing it'll be a miracle!"
"Seconded!" groaned Liara from the back as they burst out the other side of the building. Almost as soon as they did, Lia banked the vehicle and slammed hard into another. Shepard looked over to see the shocked face of Tela Vasir staring at them in surprise.
Immediately, Aethyta activated her biotics and crushed the engine of the vehicle like it was a grape in her hand. Seconds later, Lia spun the shuttle, bumping the spectre's car and sending it spiraling and smoking towards the balcony of a nearby hotel.
"Keelah! I hit her car harder than I thought! I need to set it down and make repairs!" snapped the quarian urgently.
Shepard looked out of the open shuttle door and down at the smoking ruin of the car. "Set us down there. We'll take care of her, you take care of the shuttle."
"Understood, captain," said the pilot as she set the vehicle down as gently as possible despite the sputtering engine.
Shepard and the two asari stepped off the vehicle with their weapons and biotics ready. "You two ready to kill a spectre?"
"Another?" asked Liara as she shook her hands and lit her hands in biotics.
"You two sure know how to party," said the matriarch with a grin as she lit her own as well.
Shepard drew her pistol and began moving towards the dinner party nearby where many guests were staring at the carnage. Immediately Shepard could tell these were high rollers, the wealthy elite of Illium. At some point in the accumulation of wealth you start believing yourself invincible. And instead of seeing the crash of the spectre's car and fleeing, they simply stayed and watched with fascination, believing their wealth capable of protecting them from anything.
Shepard raised her pistol as the three of them stepped towards the numerous dinner tables. "Get lost!" shouted the spectre as she fired a few rounds into the air. Some of them took the hint, but others simply sat in place, seemingly too frozen in either fear or fascination to move.
It was then that a scream erupted on the other side of the catered event. This caused more people to flee, and immediately Shepard's stomach sunk as she saw a now bleeding Vasir holding a gun to the head of one of the caterers. The event cleared out almost instantly as a result of the threats of both spectres, leaving the bleeding asari alone with her hostage facing off against Shepard.
"Don't you move a finger, any of you. If I even see you scratch your ass…" she said as she reached up with her arm around the woman's body and pulled her name tag off. Looking at it, she then smirked and looked at Shepard again. "Mariana here gets a new hole to breath through."
"What's your game, Vasir?" asked Shepard curiously as she threw her weapon down and crossed her arms. "Keep us holding still with a hostage until your backup arrives? I'm sure that'll work out in the end," said the redhead sarcastically.
"Don't you patronize me, Shepard!" snapped Vasir as she jammed her weapon against the woman's head. "If you want this bitch to live, then stay where you are."
"Shepard, I can…" started Liara silently, but Shepard shook her head.
"I've got this one…" she growled as she glared at Vasir from across the way. "Mariana!"
Immediately, the terrified human woman looked at her as she held her hands up in dread. "W-What is it?"
"Do you want to live?" asked Shepard sternly as she discreetly locked the shield plates on her arms in place.
"I-I do… Please, I have a son…" she gasped desperately.
"Then I need you to stay very calm. Okay?," said Shepard as her eyes narrowed.
"Whatever you're going to try, Shepard, you can't-" started spectre Vasir but she stopped as Shepard vanished again. The human spectre drifted through time slowly as her own mass shifted charge allowed her to bypass the asari's notice entirely. She wasn't sure if the asari were unfamiliar with her specific brand of biotics and how she could jump, but it seemed to surprise her as much as anyone else. Within seconds of her own perspective, she was behind the hostage taker. Reaching up, she pulled the weapon away from Mariana.
Tela spun around, surprise masking her face before Shepard hurled her through the air for her to land smack on her face. Turning to the human hostage, Shepard eyed her. "You alright, Mariana?"
The young woman nodded vigorously. "Y-Yes… thank you!"
"Good. Next time you see a goddamn air car crash into the side of your building, run and call the authorities instead of standing around like an idiot."
"I… I will…" said the woman as she took that as her cue to run off.
Shepard watched her go before turning back to Tela who was now rising to her feet and coughing heavily. "How the fuck do you keep doing that?"
"What can I say? I'm an innovator," said Shepard with a smirk as she locked her shields on and prepared for the woman. "Now, I'm going to give you one chance to hand over the data and turn yourself in."
"Turn myself in to who? You don't have authority over me!" snapped the spectre as she growled at Shepard. "Judging me for working with the Shadow Broker while you've got your Cerberus buddies backing you! Think you're so high and mighty but you're just a goddess-damned hypocrite!"
"First, I don't care that you're working with the Shadow Broker. I care that you're assassinating people at his request. If I were taking out people as a favor to the Illusive Man, then you might have a point," said the human spectre as she approached the limping woman slowly. "But the fact is that you blew up a building with a lot of innocent people in it, you hurt Niftu Cal and stole his property," she said as her eyes began to glow red again. "And you tried to kill my wife."
She could tell Tela was more terrified than angry at this point. She was going to try and escape. She saw the asari's biotics light and she turned to jump away from the encounter with a biotic charge. But Shepard knew that she was faster. Both Wrex and Jack were able to biotically charge like Tela was, and Shepard found out through training that her speed with her biotics far exceeded most who could charge.
Vasir lowered her mass and began speeding by, but Shepard sprinted directly into her path and pulled her fast back. Miranda had gotten her new additions to the armor on her arms, saying that her zipping around the battlefield was a waste of potential kinetic energy. So, she and Doctor Solus had created a weapon that could take advantage of her excess speed without the ramifications of her arms liquifying on impact.
She could see the horror on Tela's face as the woman, perceiving the encounter slower, donned a mask of terror as she sped towards her doom. When she finally came within reach, Shepard zoomed forward and slammed her fist directly into the woman's armored stomach. The impact immediately cratered the ceramic-metal hybrid and transferred both of their combined speed directly into her stomach. Jane didn't know if it was going to kill her on impact, but she would certainly be dead in moments as the force from the blow ruptured every organ in her gut and shattered the woman's skeleton.
In a normal zip and punch situation where the spectre attacked on her own, the damage would be great but not extreme. But the combination of her speed mixed with Tela's speed heading in the opposite direction spelled her doom. In fractions of a second, the asari spectre stopped dead in her tracks and began to spin on the spot as her lower body flew out from under her. Finally, Shepard stepped out of her charge and watched as the woman flipped up in the air multiple times before slamming brutally into the concrete patio. "Nobody lays a finger on my goddamn wife," growled Shepard as she stood over the broken body of the former spectre.
CODEX ENTRIES
Oros-Yakshi | Mythology | Asari
Translated as "demon of the self," the elzar-yakshi are a mythological creature said to inhabit the dreams of an asari host. Similar in concept to sleep paralysis demons, they terrify their host with nightmares and are believed to slowly erode the will of the host over time until they're weak enough to allow them to take over their body. In modern times, it's understood that the concept of the creature was early asari misunderstanding complicated symptoms of mental illness.
Atakke | Zoology | Palaven
A half-squid half-fish that slowly drifts through the oceans of Palaven. It has four large eyes on the top of a dome-like body with tendrils that drift down below it some three meters in order to catch the smallest pray and drag it up into the mouth in the underside of its body. A common ingredient in turian cuisine due to its high protein content.
Tail Charge | Technology | Military
Small sensory bombs that are often dropped out of vehicles to prevent said vehicle from being followed. They're small and very hard to see, especially at pursuit speeds. However, any sufficiently advanced omni-tool could easily pick up their presence due to the anti-gravity effects which allow it to float and the wide proximity field that triggers its detonation. While it can be used as a weapon, its original purpose was simply as a disabling tool for speeding vehicles with electronic charges.